Hi, I'm backk :D Sorry if this chapter's a bit weird, spending too much time in China has an effect on my English. Look, you can notice it already :P
I planned on a whole renovation thing but decided against it in the end since it would take too much time and I'd probably have to re-publish it. But some of the first chapters have been edited and stuff so yeah. And I changed parts of chapter 7 so yeah…
This story is more than a year old now! Happy Belated Birthday, Ice and Lion! :D Btw, I still have to change your name :P
Disclaimer: Same old, same old.
The Duelling Club had, despite its reputation, managed to get quite a few members, but really they didn't expect much out of it. It was after all, taught by the infamous Professor Matsumoto. Why then, did so many people sign up? The answer was simple. Hormones.
Nah, it's not that. Despite her questionable skill in teaching, Professor Matsumoto was likeable and easy to be around. And besides, dueling was cool, regardless of who was teaching it.
"Somehow, my excitement is dissolving when I think about Snape." Ron declared as the three of them made their way to the Great Hall. "I mean, duelling's cool and all, but Snape?"
"Come on, Ron, you wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like this, would you?" Hermione said, "You were quite enthusiastic about it last year."
"Yeah, but last year was a boogey set up by Malfoy," Harry cut in, "And we almost got killed!"
Hermione pouted. "Come on, it was your idea in the first place to join the club, Harry? Why are you complaining now?"
"I'm just pointing it out, Hermione," Harry shrugged. They reached the large double doors of the Great Hall, and proceeded to push them open. The four tables had been pushed aside to make space for the long stage in the middle. People were milling about, trying to get to the front of the stage, others practicing shooting spells at each other that occasionally produced rather… drastic results.
"Come to think of it, where's Toshiro?" Harry asked as the trio took their spaces on the side of the stage. "I thought he was coming?"
"Apparently he has some urgent business to take care of," Hermione replied, wincing as a first year boy stepped on her foot trying to get up front. She gave them a long and heated lecture on manners in public before carrying on, leaving the annoyed first year scowling at her and muttering about his mother. "You worrying about him, Harry?"
"Well… no, I'm just curious…" He flushed, annoyed that they had figured it out so quickly. He figured that he had to make up for all these months of suspecting him, even accusing him of wanting to kill him.
"Oh my gosh, I forgot!" he said suddenly, causing a few people to turn and stare. He looked at them sheepishly and apologized before turning back to a bewildered Hermione and Ron. "The letter!"
There was a pause as his friends tried to figure out what he was going on about, then Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth in shock.
"Oh my gosh, how could we forget that?" She turned to Harry, looking at him accusingly, "See, I told you! You shouldn't have stolen it! Now look at what you've gotten yourself in!"
'Hermione, you can't blame me for all that!" Harry retaliated, fuming that he was to be blamed for everything when it wasn't entirely his fault. It was mostly his fault, though, he just didn't want to admit it. "You're the one who cast the spell that disfigured it completely!"
"No Harry, you're the one who went and stole it from him, translated it with a maybe-faulty spell, and you're the one who made it unreadable!"
"Guys, guys, don't fight…" Ron said meekly, for once being the voice of reason in the trio. His friends wouldn't listen though, and continued bickering.
"I was curious, okay?"
"You're always curious, Harry, but for once you have to think of the consequences of that curiosity!"
"I'm not a cat!"
"I never said you were!"
"Guys…" It was useless, and Ron knew it, but it wouldn't hurt to try, right? After all, he never got to play these kinds of roles. To his surprise, they did shut up, but then so did the whole hall. They turned to see Matsumoto striding up the stage, smile on her face as she reached the middle and looked down at the students.
"Hello everyone," she said cheerfully, casting an eye on the trio who had momentarily stopped their argument. She looked slightly worried at the absence of a certain white-haired youth, but it left her face before they could see it.
"So, today, I'll be teaching you how to duel." She paused, "Professor Snape is slightly late today…" she said, twirling her wand between her fingers and smiling mischievously. "But we don't need him," Most of the room laughed, except for the sulky looking Slytherins who were shooting exasperated looks at her and muttering crossly. "So anyway, on with the lesson,"
"You've got to admit," Ron muttered, chortling, "She's a pretty awesome teacher,"
"You're going red, Ron,"
"Am not!"
~xXx~
Hitsugaya was standing in front of the stone gargoyle, which was supposed to lead to the headmaster's office. Problem was, he couldn't figure out how to get past it, and Matsumoto had conveniently forgotten to mention this one point.
"I supposed I'll need a password then?" he muttered, half-hoping the statue would reply (staying too long in this place was frying his brain). The gargoyle stayed predictably silent, like a normal statue should have, leaving Toshiro feeling rather stupid.
"Thanks a lot, Matsumoto," he muttered, thinking of all the possible passwords the headmaster would use. But really, he knew zilch about the old man, so how exactly could he?
"Mr.… Hitsugaya,"
Said person cringed at the voice of the 'slick git' walking up the corridor, his dark eyes surveying the boy in front of him. "Exactly… what are you… doing here?"
"I need to see the headmaster, sir," he replied, his face impassive.
"And why would you need to do that?"
"It's urgent," he said simply. Snape looked at him.
"It's… urgent?" He spoke very slowly, as if Toshiro was a little kid who wouldn't be able to understand him if he spoke any faster. The other party felt a vein starting to pop in his forehead in annoyance at this guy.
"Yes, sir."
Snape leaned in, and Toshiro instinctively leaned back. "I'm afraid, Mr. Hitsugaya, that the headmaster won't be seeing anyone unless they have… real reason… to see him."
"I assure you, Professor Snape, that my reason is real enough. Could you please allow me to see him?" He cringed inwardly; asking anything of this teacher was hardly his cup of tea, especially when he really needed his help. Ever since coming here he'd been rendered so helpless he wanted to bash a wall in.
Snape smirked, his eyes showing the 'and-here-I-thought-you-had-some-sort-of-dignity' look. "I'm afraid I cannot help you, Mr. Hitsugaya, and besides," He turned, his robes swishing so exaggeratedly even the great indifferent Toshiro had to hold in a laugh. "I must be going."
Vein pop. If you had somewhere to get to, why did you bother even talking to me? "It's about the Chamber of Secrets!"
As expected, this got Snape's attention. He froze, then turned slowly, his dark eyes surveying Hitsugaya's turquoise ones for any hint of a lie. Hitsugaya stared back, unflinching.
"What do you know about it?"
Hitsugaya smirked; he had him now. "I am only willing to discuss it with the headmaster." This was something Matsumoto used on him all the time, and he'd come to learn a few tricks. Snape cringed and this new tactic, then tried to hide it. Obviously he was unsuccessful under the sharp eye of Hitsugaya Toshiro, whose smirk grew wider.
"Very well, I shall allow you to see the headmaster." Snape finally said, albeit reluctantly. "However, should you… waste his time with nonsense-" A vein pulsed in Toshiro's forehead at his frankness "-I shall make sure you are properly… punished."
"Yes sir," Toshiro murmured, silently congratulating himself on the victory, then mentally kicking himself at his slow transformation into a cheeky school boy. What happened to his renowned maturity?
"The password is 'sherbet lemon,'" the potions master said, before turning and swiftly leaving the corridor, the pride in his step damaged enough to make a visible difference. Bested by a student. It was like being bested by Matsumoto, but then again, Toshiro wasn't the normal student. It was what Snape thought… at least.
Wasting no time to celebrate this victory, Toshiro turned to the statue and said the password. He was expecting it to jump away or something. Instead, there was a low thump, and a flight of stairs spiraled out of the ground and around the gargoyle before the whole thing started spiraling upwards on a slab of stone that had appeared out of the ground. Toshiro's reflexes, as quick as ever, jumped onto the moving staircase and watched as the ceiling moved down to become the floor of the level above. The structure came to a halt, and Toshiro found himself staring at large double doors, although not as big as those to the Great Hall. Still, they were big, bigger than the ones to his office, he noted irritatedly.
He stepped off the stone staircase, which fell back into the ground the moment his feet left them. He cringed at how dangerous that must be, supposing a student lost their footing and ended up falling backwards onto the gargoyle's pointy head. Or maybe Dumbledore himself, who was an elderly man. A cheerful and energetic old man, but an old man nonetheless. How tragic it would be if the school lost their headmaster thanks to this dangerous contraption.
He walked forward and knocked twice on the large doors, the sound of his knuckles against the wood echoing across the small stone room. There was a pause, then a small voice came from the office. "Come in,"
Tentatively, Toshiro pushed open the doors to reveal a huge room filled with books, strange tinkling instruments, and a magnificent red phoenix perched on one side, grooming its feathers. It was just as Matsumoto had described it: huge. Toshiro found himself wanting an office like this, but he quickly dismissed the thought and turned his eyes to the main character of the whole scene. Apart from him, of course.
Dumbledore. He was sitting at his desk situated right in the middle of the room, writing something on a piece of parchment. Toshiro bowed, like the 'good student' he was pretending to be. But then again, the reason he was here today was because he would probably have to throw away that façade and reveal himself, at least, to the headmaster. Then he straightened, and looked straight at the amused looking headmaster.
"Hello, Mr. Hitsugaya. I must admit, I have been expecting you for some time."
Toshiro did not comment. "Professor Dumbledore sir, there are some things I would like to discuss with you."
"But of course. Why don't you take a seat?"
Toshiro did so, pulling out the armchair in front of Dumbledore and sitting down on it. This was the first time he had seen the famous headmaster this close up. Matsumoto had described him as a mixture of the Captain Commander and Ukitake-taicho, and she was quite right. Not just in appearances, this man gave off the aura of being kind and caring, yet severe and with the power to chop someone's head off mercilessly if they deserved it. That latter part was probably hidden behind the cheerful side most of the time, though.
"I think I can guess what this is about." Dumbledore said, smiling at him. His eyes were a startling blue.
"Then I'll go straight to the point, sir," Toshiro replied, steeling himself for it. It had been inevitable, he knew the moment Dumbledore had expressed his suspicions to Matsumoto that it would come to this. He just hoped it would happen later. No such luck, he guessed.
"Professor Dumbledore, I know that several months ago, you told someone to watch over me," He couldn't mention Matsumoto's name, suspicion to himself was bad enough, dragging Matsumoto into this would completely compromise their mission. At least this way, if he got kicked out, Matsumoto would still be there to complete the task.
"Oh? And how, may I ask, did you come to this knowledge?"
"Observation," he simply said. Then he leaned forward slightly, his icy eyes meeting with Dumbledore's "I would like to hear the reasons for this invasion of privacy, sir,"
"An invasion of privacy?" the old man inquired, smiling, "I'm sorry if you thought of it like that. I was simply concerned for my students."
"I don't see others being tailed and spied on, sir,"
"Yes, well, you're quite right," The smile had faded slightly, to be replaced by a much more solemn expression. "Well, it would only be fair for me to tell you why I chose to do this,"
Toshiro bit his lip, listening intently.
"I'm afraid you must forgive me for being direct. I trust you remember the tragedy regarding Mr. Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris?"
"Of course,"
"And a few weeks before, when Mr. Potter unfortunately fell ill and lost consciousness for a short while?"
"Are you saying these two are connected?" Toshiro asked suspiciously. One of their theories for Potter's illness was vast exposure to their reiatsus, but this had never been proven or investigated. He added this on his list of things to tie up.
"This is what our informant thought when he came to me and expressed his suspicions. I'm afraid to say I already had a… feeling… when you entered the school, that something was… off,"
"Off?" the boy inquired skeptically. First Potter, now Dumbledore could sense reiatsus?
"Forgive my choice of words, but yes." Toshiro waited for him to continue, but he didn't. So he leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, and tried to figure the old man out. He was being unexpectedly honest; he had expected at least some sort of resistance or some ingenious way of getting round the subject so that even the great Matsumoto was fooled. But no, here he was spouting everything. It was suspicious… or was he being paranoid?
"Professor Dumbledore, regardless of what Po-Harry may think, I had nothing to do with the incident regarding the caretaker's cat."
"No, of course not. My concern was in something else."
He raised an eyebrow. "Does it have anything to do with what happened at Ollivander's, sir?" This had come out on an impulse, and almost immediately he regretted saying it. Dumbledore, however, only laughed.
"Yes, that is quite right. You remember, I assume, the incident that happened at the shop?"
"Of course. But it was an isolated incident. It's never happened again."
"Of course," That smile really was getting irritating. "Eleven inches, maple and dragon heartstring, am I correct?"
"And how did you come across this information, professor?"
"Ollivander is an old friend," He blinked, "Was he correct?"
"Y-yes…" Toshiro answered, faltering slightly. This harmless looking old man was really creepy, and coming from Hitsugaya Toshiro that was saying something.
Dumbledore leaned forward. "Mr. Toshiro, what do you know about the 'Ice Ring?'"
He blinked at the unexpected question. "The… Ice Ring, sir?" Dumbledore nodded. "I'm afraid I've never heard of it before."
"You haven't?" A look of disappointment flashed across his face, but it was gone in a second. "My mistake then." However, this had piqued Toshiro's interest, so he asked:
"What is it, sir?"
"The Ice Ring? It is what we call the monster of the Chamber of Secrets."
"It has a name?" he asked incredulously. And McGonagall had said it didn't exist, yet they even went to the trouble of naming it.
"Well yes, it's a nickname the students have come up with. It is quite appropriate, considering the way the… 'attacks' are staged out. You yourself saw the state Mrs. Filch's body was in."
Toshiro nodded. "And how does this have anything to do with me?"
"Well, I hope it has nothing to do with you. But Mr. Ollivander described something quite peculiar about the day he met you."
A pause. "Ollivander described seeing a 'chunk of ice with crimson eyes'."
Another long pause. Dumbledore looked like he was waiting for Toshiro to catch up. He however, had been fearing this from the beginning.
"You think it was me."
The second that ensued were some of the longest ones in his life. He stared at the elderly headmaster, whose piercing blue eyes burned into his teal ones. A relieved and sad look crossed those eyes: something inevitable had happened. After this, there was no going back to those ignorant, carefree days.
"Correct."
Sorry it's late and short, I'm just too busy right now, what with school starting and high school and stuff… arghh it's horrible :( I'll try to update quicker, though :D
Thank you to all those who reviewed, it makes me so happy every time I get a new one, really. Thank you for supporting me all the way through this.
Candied Sweets xD
R.I.P. Victims of the Manila Massacre 23/8/2010.