A/N In the spirit of the Holidays, I decided to gift you guys part one of the last part of National Magic. Because I want to get this up, I decided to cut the thing up, yet again. In other words, this installation neither ends in a cliffhanger nor an important moment... well a sorta cliffhanger anyway. Fun to write, but moreso just a leadup to the last installation. Don't forget; 75 reviews by the end and you guys get a sequel. I love all of you, you are a great following (and my first real one) so please enjoy, and tell yer friends. And btws, if any of you want to do a partner fic or fanart go ahead! I might even give a special prize to the first person to link me to their work. Spoiler; this chappie has a bit of language so please keep that in mind. Oh and, Iris is an OC. Love you all! ENjoy!

December 24, 1996

I haven't written since the start of winter break, I know. It's been crazy. Alfred has been even crazier with school out than normal; I'm constantly chasing after that doofus to keep him from getting in even more trouble with Filch. Why did he have to come, why? I don't have any time to myself between babysitting Al and trying to learn what I'm helping to teach.

For instance, I still haven't investigated that hallway yet; something always keeps me from being able to. Most of the time it's Al. Putting that moron in a dormitory with a bunch of teenagers was not a good idea at all. He's immature as it is. And what's more, he won't stop complaining about not being in the "hero dorm," how many times do I have to remind him that that was his choice? Why won't he leave Malfoy alone. Can't he understand that using a permanent sticking charm to attach a sign saying "Hello my name is Pussy " is not only inappropriate behavior, but dangerous? Jesus! Out of all the brothers I could have got, I got him…

God, I'm tired. It's been a crazy few months and I haven't been sleeping well at all. Kids are getting hurt, too. There are more werewolf attacks reported every day now; some children here have even lost family members. I can see why Dumbledore wanted reinforcement. Twice this week I caught Malfoy stalking around past curfew. I have a bad feeling about that kid he's very suspic-

Not a single one of Matt's journal entries that year had been finished. This time his eyes failed to hold themselves open and he threw down his quill in annoyance. There was no point in trying to write when he was more than half asleep.

I'll finish it tomorrow…He thought half-heartedly. Kumaguapo was already asleep on the end of his bed, pinning the blankets beneath him. Matt raised his wand and levitated them (sleeping bear included) just enough so that he could slip beneath the covers before gently putting the whole thing down again. Kuma was never the wiser. A moment after his wand and glasses had been neatly placed on the bedside table; Matthew zonked out and entered his now familiar dream.

He was in the corridor again, looking at the door. Always in the dreams, he walked toward it but it never opened. He never even got close enough since the door seemed to recede before him. He kept walking anyway. Sometimes, Matt even went into a sprint, trying to literally chase his dream.

This time, however, it was slightly different. He took a step to start the chase but was stopped in his tracks by two children who barreled past him, nearly knocking him off balance.

"Hey!-"

He stopped. It was him and Al from their first time at Hogwarts.

The two kids reached the doo rand Alfred reached for the knob.

"We can hide in her! that old man will never think to look behind this door!"

"That's because the hallway is marked off limits Alfie!"

"So? That just makes it more fun!"

The door slowly opened and Matthew felt a sense of dread as a foul wind blew from the darkness beyond. He tried to call out to the two boys, but his body was frozen. Then they were inside, the door was closed, and it was too late. A heavy feeling of being unable to breath enveloped Matt then and he-

Woke up to find Al sitting on his chest.

"MEERRRRYYY CHRISTMAAAASS!"

Feliciano had had a hard time of it. Trying to fit in with the other teachers was impossible, especially since his boss professor seemed to hate him. Feli couldn't think of why; he had tried to be very nice and hadn't even spoken in class since the first week of school. Actually, he really didn't do much assisting at all. Aside from handing out assignments and cleaning up after class (he was very good at cleaning, aside from cooking it was his specialty! ve~) there wasn't much he was able to do anyway. He knew nothing about D.A.D.A. aside from what he had learned from dealing with Romania and a few English curses he had had to endure during World War two. And Mister Snape was scary! It was worse than with Germany or even Russia…. wait no Russia was scarier. Feli shivered at the memory of the Barbarosa Campaign. Baaad times.

But aside from Snape and Professor McGonagall (she was an intimidating lady) hew was having fun being at Hogwarts. Luna was really interesting, if not a bit loony. Sure she knew about them, but she had promised not to tell. It wouldn't matter whether or not she meant to keep her promise, Feliciano would believe her. The others didn't know she knew, though. If he told Russia bad things were sure to happen. He didn't want his new friend at the mercy of that guy… Nobody deserved to be at the mercy of that guy. Except maybe this Voldemort fellow, he seemed like a douche. That was how Iris had described him, anyway. She was kinda weird, even weirder than Luna. He was actually on his way to see her right now.

The hallways were just starting to grow a bit lighter with dawn leaking through the windows and stroking the living portraits with its soft fingers.

"Goodmorning, Mister Vargas! And a jolly Christmas to you as well,"

"Hi Iris! Why did you want to see me so early?"

"Several reasons. The first being that Luna gave me something for you," She reached into her cloak pocket and pulled out a small brown package, "she left it for me the day before break with instructions to only let you have it on Christmas."

The package traded hands and Feliciano looked at it with interest.

"That was nice of her."

"Wasn't it? So I guess you're staying on for the whole of break then?"

"Yes; Mister Dumbledore wanted us to "keep an eye on things." I don't think anyone would do bad things on Christmas, though,"

"Hrm, I guess so."

"What about you? Aren't you going home to your family?"

"Nope. Me Mum and dad don't know I'm alive and the only real family I had died last year," she smiled sadly "But don't worry about me Mister Vargas, I've got everything I need here," she gestured to the castle around them "Me beau is the only thing missing. Which brings me to the other reason I called you down: about Luna, I think she fancies you.

"Whaaaaa? Really?" He stared at her in disbelief

"She won't quit talking about you when she visits the kitchen. Keeps goin' on about her theories about you and your friends; vampires, fire people… don't make no sense to me anyway. Plus, have you ever noticed how she seems to know exactly where you are? A bit odd. I could be wrong, but I just thought you should know so you don't accidently lead her on. Anyway, I should be going. I've got to get an owl out to Fred ASAP. See you at the banquet, Mister Vargas."

"….. Wait what did you say about her theories- Iris?"

She had disappeared around the corner by the time he could regain his tongue. Feli looked down at the package and decided to wait to open it until he was in his room. Turning around, he found himself face to face with Russia.

"Oh, hello Feliciano. Were you takink a wolk as well?" He smiled and Feli flinched.

"Ah, yeah… so Merry Christmas? You celebrate Christmas, right? Oh, heh heh, how silly of me of course you do! I was just-a talking to a friend…ve…"

"That is nice," He put a hand on the Italian's shoulder, "It is good to have friends, da?"

"Da, I mean, si signor… oh wow, look at the time I have to go do… a thing…"

Feli scampered away, leaving the Russian staring after him in befuddlement.

"Hmm. Oh well, some people are strange, da?" He smiled and went on his way.

It was the day before the end of break and students had started trickling back in. Alfred stretched out on his four poster and stared off into the distance. He missed his homeland; much less rain. The castle was neat and all, but he preferred the bright and airy feel of his own house. He hoped Jersey remembered to take the horses out for rides every now and then, not that she'd forget. Chick was crazy about everything equine.

Al rolled over and pushed his hair back as he sat up, shirtless. Then Malfoy walked in.

"Woah, dude you've got some weird timing!"

"Dammit! Why couldn't you have gone back to your bloody America by now? We don't need you here!"

"Says the guy so desperate he hits on ghost chicks."

"Shut up! At least I don't have a childish fear of them… unlike some people."

"Watch it dude," America pointed at him threateningly, "You don't know what I've been through regarding ghosts."

"Oh yeah, and what terrible thing is it that happened to you as a kid that makes you fear harmless spirits as a grown man?"

"Harmless? Hah!" Al laughed bitterly and Malfoy stared at him in shock. Al's whole tone had suddenly changed; he was like a different person "Kid, when you see your brothers drop around you by the hundreds and hear their voices in your dreams and see the blood on your hands from the millions who have died because of you, then you can come back to me and call spirits 'harmless'. See you at breakfast, McCoy."

And Malfoy stared after him with a furrowed brow. It was confusing to describe the emotion rushing through his brain. Maybe it was just confusion itself... Draco shook his head and sneered.

"If he thinks he can scare me with some stupid fable he really must be a fool."

But in reality, Draco was unhinged. There was something about the look in Alfred's eyes that told him everything he had said was true. But what did that mean?

And then another thought crossed his mind, "suppose I am successful and can kill him, will his voice haunt my dreams? No, stop stop!" He squeezed his eyes shut and knealt on the floor in anguish. "You can't afford to have second thoughts; you have to go through with it now. If you don't… if you don't he'll kill you."

And he tried to ignore the last part of that train of thought, but it persisted. He picked himself off the floor and tried to forget that 'I don't want to do it' had even crossed his mind.

Days passed into weeks then months went by as things began speeding up and becoming more extreme. The latest attempt on Dumbledore's life had demanded an investigation and Russia had been set on a 24/7 guard. No one wanted to cross him in the hallway which was probably best since it kept students from wandering at night. Harry had a special pass for his sessions with Dumbledore and Kumajiro just didn't count. The bear was constantly under everybody's feet as he roamed around looking for snacks. Many questions had cropped up regarding his presence at Hogwarts so it was probably best that he practiced selective muteness while there. Mattie hadn't heard him speak for five months… it was actually pretty creepy.

OWLs were coming closer, as was something else. The whole staff was tense, especially the four nations. Unlike other normal people, they were aware of the full dangers facing the world at large if Voldemort was successful. This was because, in early March, England had come to check up on their situation. He was in bad condition. It was pitiful how weak he looked which was a good thing in one respect. His neighbor had come along with him and they hadn't argued even once while he had been at the school. That was a bad sign, but she alright. Aside from looking a bit paler than usual (if that was possible) and having a limp, Ireland seemed to be strong enough all things considered. She didn't look happy though. Alfred had had a conversation with her alone and had learned that England's state was worse than they'd thought. He'd been talking to himself in the middle of the night and had been seeing things that weren't there. Al thought that that was pretty normal, but Brigit had assured him that they were thinking two different things.

"Unicorns, fairies, and Flying mint bunnies are real and I'm surprised you haven't figure that out yet, I'm talking old memories and dead generals, stuff like that."

The meeting had been pretty pointless since Dumbledore knew exactly who was behind the attempts and seemed to not want to tell the four there anything. Arthur also knew something he wasn't letting on to, but not even Matt could draw it out of him. Overall, seeing Proud old Britain shaking like an old man and jumping at little sounds had done nothing but depress the North American brothers and increase the overall tension. Before he left though, Arthur had demanded to see Harry. That had been a strange encounter.

Harry had been called from History of Magic to McGonagall's office without any warning that day. Ron was still in the Infirmary by that point but Hermione watched him go uneasily. Al had watched Hermione watch Harry walk out the door from where he was perched on the edge of Binns' desk. He stalked over to her and nonchalantly whispered.

"Go ahead Granger, maybe it will help your research."

She looked up at him in surprise.

"What are you talking about Mister Jones?"

"You know, looking up dates, names, stuff about us. Don't think I haven't noticed you taking notes on my behavior. I've been to enough psychiatrists to know observers when I see them," He winked and yawned loudly, much to the Professor's irritation and to the class' amusement. He addressed the professor now, in a speaking voice instead of his previous whisper "So, I don't really get it… what was the point of seducing her half brother again?"

"What?"

"You know, Morgause. The whore witch lady?"

"Mister Jones I am teaching about the Gringotts crash of 1834-"

"YEAHHH, but King Arthur's times were way more interesting. What about Morgan Le Fey? I hear SHE was a real fox ;)."

"Mister Jones I am teaching about- where did Miss Granger go?"

"I dunno, bathroom. Or do you call it the loo? Do ghosts even go to the bathroom? How would that work btws?"

"Mister Jones! I understand you American's are curious by nature, but that gives you no right to be rude!"

"Hey, hey, don't get offended! I'm just wondering. Like you said, my peeps is curious by nature."

"Is it just me, or is this class way more interesting now that we don't learn anything?"

"Mister Thomas, please hold your tongue!"

"Yeah Dean! You better not let that sucker get loose or you won't be able to eat anymore of them English 'pies'."

"MISTER JONES!"

It takes real talent to piss off a ghost professor.

"You wanted to see me Professor?"

"Hello Mr. Potter. This is Lord Kirkland, an old friend of mine."

"Hello Harry. You really have grown up since I saw you last."

Green on green their eyes met and the man smiled. This was all he had needed, really. The plan was set in stone now that he had seen his last hope in the flesh. That knowledge gave him the strength to get up and shake the boy's hand before he abruptly turned around and left the office, coming face to face with Hermione Granger. He eyed her for a moment then bent close to her ear, brushing her hair aside. He straightened up again, looked around for Ireland (who muttered an apology to the Professor, Hermione and Harry) and the two of them dissaparated.

Hermione stared after the two for a moment in speechlessness then found her voice at last.

"Aren't you not supposed to be able to do that?"

"Lord Kirkland can bypass a few of the protective spells of Hogwarts, Miss Granger. The school knows we'll never have anything to fear from him. If he has to get here quickly, aparation is the quickest way. Now please, return to your class both of you. I suppose Mister Jones will be causing a commotion as we speak... do you really want to miss it?"