Their five rooms were all on a single floor, the three women taking one room and the other dividing up depending on the number of beds; Allen ended up sharing a room with Lavi, Kanda, Krory and Bookman. The main reason for this was that no-one in their right minds would share a room with either Sokaro or Cross, so they ended up with their own rooms. Komui, who had dropped the serious act the moment Mrs Weasley had left, had tried to get Lenalee her own room until she kicked him, telling him that she would be fine rooming with the other women. When he didn't stop, she knocked him out and kicked him into his room, before heading into her own.
In their room, Lavi immediately claimed the bed closet to the rather small and grimy window and Kanda took the one furthest away from Lavi, leaving Allen, Bookman and Krory with the other three beds. They hadn't brought any stuff through, having decided that would be a little impolite, so would sleep in their clothes until tomorrow morning.
"So, guys, what do you think of them?" Lavi asked the others, sounding a little too excited for the time of day, or rather, night.
"As people? We haven't really met them; we only know their names."
"I know that." Lavi waved his hand at Allen's comment. "I meant their magic! It looks so cool!" Allen smiled at Lavi bouncing on his bed.
"Yeah, I guess it is. I'm quite glad we have the opportunity to learn it, it could come in handy when fighting akuma or the Noah, even if it doesn't work against them."
"But also, just think, if magic has been hidden from ordinary people for ages, they must have lots of history, right? Finally, I'll know more than panda about something!" The moment he reached the end of his sentence, a flying kick met his head and sent him into the wall.
The others laughed at Lavi's expense, glad to finally relax after the serious meeting, except for Kanda who made no reaction, already stripping off his jacket to go to bed. He was a little annoyed at this rather pointless exercise in diplomacy, and at the fact he just knew he would be forced to actually attend this stupid school, with the beansprout of all people.
The others took off their uniforms too, sleeping in their underclothes and stopped talking when Kanda threw a nasty glare at all of them (it only really worked on Krory, as Lavi grinned back and Allen matched his gaze, but they still decided it was time to go to bed).
*****CROSSOVER*****
The next morning, Dumbledore paced in his study. He had felt magic cores within all the Exorcists, though whether it was somehow induced by their innocence or it was natural was impossible to tell. If they were witches and wizards, though, surely they would have gotten invitations to Hogwarts? He turned to a portrait on the wall.
"Phineas?" The Slytherin former headmaster of Hogwarts slowly lifted his head from where he had been feigning sleep.
"Yes Albus?"
"What can you tell be of the Black Order and the Exorcists, for they appear to have magical cores, yet are not at Hogwarts or any other wizarding school?" Phineas snorted.
"The Black Order? They were under the control of the Vatican; I doubt they would have let any of them attend a school for magic. Besides, it is their weapons that somehow, I never bothered to find out why, induce a magic core within those few who can wield them, turning them into wizards. However, it was our agreement that none of them, even the children, ever received invitations."
"Why ever not? Surely a little education would be seen as an advantage." Phineas smirked, an expression Dumbledore did not like, for it meant Black was going to say something he would not like.
"Because those who wield Innocence are not human; they are weapons. Not children, but soldiers. Now, if that is all, I will go back to my nap." And with that he was resting his head on the arm of his chair again, leaving Dumbledore to mull over the words he had just said. They made him sad. Children should not have to fight a war; none of them should. But alas, it always seemed inevitable that the ones who should be kept out of war ended up being the most important in it. Such was the way of the world.
*****CROSSOVER*****
The next morning, Harry woke up groggily, having for once managed to sleep without any nightmares, probably because he was too busy thinking about the people who had come last night. They seemed strange, though he guessed that they appeared strange to them as well; the culture shock from coming to a different century must have been pretty severe. He sat up and pulled on some random, baggy clothes, ignored a snoring Ron and headed out of his room, downstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast.
Once there he was surprised to find several people from the Black Order standing at one end of the table, stood over a map. After focusing a little, it appeared to be the Generals and Komui, though only Cross, Komui and Sokaro wore their uniforms, Tiedoll, Nine and Allen all wore normal seeming clothes. He turned his attention away from them and towards the breakfast Mrs Weasley handed him, missing her glance over to the Exorcists who were talking too quietly for him to overhear.
Allen studied the map in front of him carefully, taking in the large drawing of a castle surrounded by large ground with a lake and forest that was labelled ominously "The Forbidden Forest". Overall, it looked similar to the setup of the Black Order back home, though they admittedly didn't have a lake. Komui was saying something about it.
"We should set up patrols of the grounds, preferably not including those who will be attending classes. From what I can tell, the lake should be quite easy to check as it's in an open space; the real problem will be the forest. Who do you think should patrol that area?"
"Perhaps Marie?" Allen suggested. "He can hear the akuma coming, as well as anything else that lives in the forest." Komui nodded.
"Good idea. Miranda can help him too, just in case they get in trouble."
"I shall stay near there too." Klaud stated. "I heard Care of Magical Creatures is held near there, and I've been thinking of watching that class anyway. Besides, Lau Jimin needs some space to roam. The Forest is a perfect place." Again, Komui nodded, agreeing with the only female General.
"Okay, so the rest of those who aren't in classes will be patrolling the castle. We'll clean all the students of akuma the first night, so we'll need you, Allen, for that, however after that we should be okay. Now, if the castle is attacked directly, which is unlikely but still might happen, we need a plan of attack. We don't need a repeat of what happened at the old Headquarters, not with innocent children about."
"Embracing Garden will cover the castle and students in case of an attack; I doubt there will ever be a battle that really requires all five of us to fight." Tiedoll stated, confident in the abilities of those there. "Miranda and Timothy can stay inside too; so they are out of danger while activating their innocence."
"Level Fours should be eliminated first, by either us or Kanda and Lenalee, since they can keep up with Level Fours."
"I shall tell Timothy to deal with some level ones and twos; he can't possess a level three yet, though he's getting there." Klaud told them, knowing that Timothy probably wouldn't like doing that but would hopefully listen to her since he was her apprentice.
"I would prefer it actually if you, the Generals were to stay out of fights as much as possible during this mission, though I know it isn't always the case. We can't afford to lose you."
"We can't afford to lose anybody, Komui." Allen reminded him quietly. He didn't like being told to watch others fight for him; much less get hurt for him. Komui looked at him sharply.
"I know, but right now I'm passing this rule. If there are any other exorcists there, no General is allowed to fight unless there are either Level Fours, Noahs or the exorcists fighting are about to die. Those are the ONLY circumstances under which you can fight, do you all understand?" There was a round of nods from the Generals, though Allen was pretty sure he'd end up fighting anyway, unlike Cross who, in Allen's opinion, would likely just laze around doing nothing for the year.
"Also, Allen, you have an extra mission." Allen perked up, wondering why he had an extra mission when he was going to be attending a school for the first time in his life. "I have been asked, secretly, by Dumbledore that you keep an eye on Harry, Rona and Hermione, since they have a marvellous talent for attracting trouble and getting into dangerous situations. Therefore, if they leave the school or do something dangerous, you must go with them, and preferably contact us using a golem. You're doing this because you're in their year; Lavi and Kanda will be in the seventh year, Lenalee in the sixth year, you in the fifth year and Timothy in the first year. It is for this reason you should probably go in the same house as them as well since this will make it easier." Allen nodded, though he wasn't entirely sure why he was being asked to protect three kids in particular; why them and not just everybody? Clearly there was more to this story than they currently knew.
Allen's stomach chose that moment to announce itself, letting out a large grumble that caused everyone there to stare at him and his cheeks to go bright red. Mrs Weasley bustled over, grabbing his arm.
"Come on now, dear, I'm sure that meeting of yours can wait until after you've had breakfast. My dear, you're far too skinny, you really need to eat more..." The motherly woman started gathering breakfast together for everyone; having decided now would be a good time to feed them all. Of course, her comment about Allen needing to eat more had prompted a round of smirks amongst those who knew of his appetite.
"If beansprout ate more, he'd explode." Lavi stood in the doorway, a large grin on his face directed at Allen.
"My name is Allen, stupid rabbit." Allen snapped back as Lavi seated himself next to Allen. Lenalee and Kanda followed him, Lenalee smiling at Allen and the others as she sat down.
Hermione, Ron and several other people came down just as Mrs Weasley put out breakfast for everyone, gladly heaping extra on Allen's plate.
Lenalee decided to be brave and start up a conversation to break the tension.
"So, could you tell us what the houses are in Hogwarts?" She asked the wizards there, smiling at them politely. After some exchanged glances, Hermione began to explain.
"Well, there are four, and you get sorted based on your personality traits. Gryffindor is those who are brave; Hufflepuff the kind, Ravenclaw the clever and Slytherin for the cunning. There are some other things, but those are the main traits that each house uses. They are named after the four founders' of Hogwarts; Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin." The exorcists nodded.
"Right, so one of us four needs to be in each house." Allen nodded to Lenalee, Lavi and Kanda. "We may as well decide now who should be in each."
"The Slytherins are all evil though." Ron said in between stuffing his face. "I don't see why they need protecting; half of them are on You-Know-Who's side." Lenalee looked at him harshly.
"Akuma attack without discretion; they will kill an ally just as easily as they would kill and enemy. We won't let anyone go unprotected."
"But hey," Allen started, having polished off his snack of a breakfast very fast and with rather good manners considering the speed, "at least we know which house BaKanda should go in." He smirked, unable to resist the jab at his rival.
"Tch."
"The house of the cunning? Are you quite sure that isn't you, beansprout? Or does the word "poker" not mean anything to you?" Lavi grinned at Allen, who blushed a little.
"That has nothing to do with it, stupid rabbit." Allen huffed. Meanwhile, Mrs Weasley had noticed Allen's plate was empty and offered him some more, to which he gladly accepted. Lavi just laughed.
"You should know, madam, that Allen can and will eat several times his own body weight as a snack, he's just too polite to say it." Several people turned to the white-haired, now red-cheeked boy in slight shock.
"Lavi, you're making me sound like a glutton!"
"But Allen, you are." Lenalee patted him on the arm, deciding to have a little fun teasing her friend.
"Lenalee!"
Hermione peered at Allen, looking him up and down as much as she could from where she was sitting.
"You don't look like you eat much." Allen turned to her, still blushing a little.
"It's because my Innocence, my anti-akuma weapon, is parasitic, so I have to eat lots of food in order to get the energy I need."
"There are different types of anti-akuma weapon?" This knowledge perked up Hermione's interest.
"Yeah," Lavi answered since Allen had gone back to inhaling food. "There's three types that we know of; equipment, parasitic and crystal. I have an equipment type," here he pulled out his hammer, twirling it in his hands. "I have to use words to control it, but it doesn't require tons of energy to restrain as the power of the Innocence is contained within my weapon. Allen is a parasitic type, as you know, which means the Innocence is actually inside his body and he can transform that part of his body into a weapon. A parasitic type is controlled using the accommodator's emotions. The third type is crystal, which is where the Innocence merges with the accommodator's blood to form a weapon outside of the body. It's controlled by emotions like a parasitic type, but doesn't require the extra energy."
"Oh." Hermione nodded, absorbing all this information for future use. These weapons sounded so strange; part of her really wanted to see them in action. Another part never wanted to see these akuma things at all. They sounded horrible.
"So," Allen started after he had inhaled far more food than most people would have thought necessary, causing a large pile of plates and dishes to have stacked up next to him and slightly scarred several people sitting at the table, "what houses do you think the rest of us should go in? We still need one of us in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively."
"I'll go in Ravenclaw." Lavi decided, grinning slightly. Hopefully Ravenclaw would have all the knowledge he needed to satisfy his curiosity.
"That just leaves Hufflepuff and Gryffindor for Allen and I." Lenalee said, wondering who should go in which house. Thinking about the traits that made up each house, she came to her own decision. "Allen, I think you should go in Gryffindor and I'll go in Hufflepuff."
Allen just nodded, blushing a little at the thought that Lenalee thought he was brave. In his mind, she was really brave too, but he didn't argue.
Just then, breaking the relaxed mood, a rather flustered looking Lupin ran in, his hair dishevelled and his jacket slipping off his left shoulder.
"There's an akuma attack in a village in Yorkshire."
The pleasant atmosphere disappeared, tension suddenly filling the air as eyes turned to Komui, who did some very fast thinking.
"Can you take some of us there?" He asked Lupin, who nodded in response.
"Not too many, but I can take a couple of you there right now."
"Okay, Allen, Kanda, I want both of you to go and see if there are any akuma left and destroy them. Oh, and Allen, remember what I said earlier." Allen nodded a little stiffly, but headed out with Kanda and Lupin anyway.
Kanda made no attempt to talk, practically ignoring Allen completely, the white-haired boy returning the indifference, making Lupin feel a little awkward around the teenagers as he took them outside.
"If you could both take hold of one of my arms, I'll apparate us there." The werewolf held out his arms to the two, who looked a little confused at his request but did so anyway.
The next thing they knew was a horrible squeezing sensation as though they were being pushed and pulled through a very narrow tube; Allen could almost swear his shoulder popped at one point. Luckily, the sensation disappeared after a few seconds and the exorcists stumbled a little away from Lupin, a little green in the face.
Kanda recovered slightly quicker than Allen and looked around. They were on the edge of a small village in a valley surrounded by green, rolling hills. The houses, or at least, what remained of them, looked rather quaint, though they didn't have any time to observe the scenery, for the akuma were still there.
Kanda drew Mugen, activating it before leaping at the nearest akuma, quickly slicing them up and ignoring the blood that shot out of them. Allen hung back, his eye activated, gritting his teeth at the fact that he wasn't supposed to fight; though he doubted these level ones could actually harm him. Lupin on the other hand was terrified. The akuma were much scarier in real life than in the photo, and somehow the devastation they wrought was much more real now he saw the smoking remains of a village for himself. This sort of thing belonged in the past when Voldemort reigned, not now in the present.
He was distracted by a whirring sound close to him, pulling his eyes away from Kanda and the akuma and towards Allen. His left eye, the one with that strange curse-scar on, now had a mechanical wheel, and when Allen turned to him he saw the eye had gone red and black and appeared to bulge out beneath the wheel. Another sound wrenched his eyes away again, and this time he saw an akuma in front of him, its guns pointed in his direction. For some reason, he suddenly felt more terrified than he ever had in his life. The moment before he closed his eyes, he caught a glimpse of pure white in the corner of his vision.
The sound of guns never came, instead a strange feeling washed over him, akin to what he believed a holy man might feel in the presence of God. He opened his eyes. A figure stood there, wrapped in a flowing white cloak with a strange fur hood. Its right arm was thin and white, whereas the left arm was black and ended in sharp elongated claws. The figure turned around, revealing its face covered in an engraved silver half-mask and its white hair standing up as though charmed there.
"Are you alright?" Allen's voice asked the shocked werewolf, who nodded in response.
For some reason, looking at the boy, Lupin realised why he was a general. He felt that strange, peaceful aura that made him feel as though he could trust this boy, as though he could safely put his own life and the lives of many in his hands and he would not only try to protect them, but succeed. It calmed the agitated wolf that dwelled within him. This was the true power of the Exorcist's weapon; Innocence. And Lupin now believed they would win this war.
After receiving an affirmative answer from Lupin, Allen scanned the area with his eye quickly, finding that Kanda had already disposed of the rest of the akuma, which luckily had all been level ones. The village was a mess though. Sighing and deactivating his innocence, Allen began the horrible task of searching for survivors, attempting to ignore the piles of ruined clothes that were all that was left of the citizens, as well as that horrible pang in his chest that came with each life he knew he had failed to save.
In the end, they found only a few survivors, each of whom were informed of the Millennium Earl and the akuma as Allen tried to prevent any more being created. Finally, before they left, he took one last glance at the village, tears filling his eyes at the thought of everyone who had been lost, everyone they had failed to save. The sadness in his eyes was striking; he looked, for once, like an adult who had seen too much of the dark side of war.
"Tch, idiot beansprout, stop crying. It makes you look even more pathetic than normal."
"Shut up, BaKanda." Their relationship wasn't as hostile as it had been; becoming more the teasing of friends or rivals than the enemies they used to be. Each took hold of Lupin's arm again before they were whisked back to Grimmauld Place.
As they made their way back inside to give a report, all present hoped for a peaceful stay for the rest of the summer. Then again, when had life ever been peaceful for an Exorcist?
-CROSSOVER
A/N: *dodges random thrown objects* Okay, I can explain! Basically, I have a load of pretty important exams coming up, and kind of had my computer taken away so that I could "concentrate on revising". Yeah, so I haven't had much time to write. However, once my exams are over, in June, I will hopefully get back up to pace, though I can't guarantee anything. Thanks for all the reviews (which I'll start answering now), and I'm really glad you like it so far. I was going to have more content in this chapter, but it sort-of spiralled out of control...yeah. ^^ Review? Pretty please~?