I rewrote the ending of the previous chapter. I thought it was too rushed, so I decided to change it. But I still hate that chapter, though. As a matter of fact, I hate the way I wrote this fic.

Chapter 12

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm not. Look."

Fred gingerly took the letter from George, holding it as if it might explode anytime. He frowned, staring at the short message as though not really understanding it. "If this is fake, it's a really good fake," he commented. "Are you sure it's real?"

George, Fred, and Lee were in the twins' darkened shop – they had closed just over an hour ago, and with the help of the Digimon, cleaning up and counting the remaining stocks took very little time.

"Of course it's real, dumbass." George glanced at his Digimon partner, Lopmon, who was busy sucking on a huge lollipop. "You have to admit, it'll be great getting back together again, only that I'll have to get used to Draco, after years of pretending to hate the little brat."

"Really? I thought you hated him for real." Fred snorted, passing the letter to Lee Jordan, who took it with equal scepticism.

"It's been so long – how many years? Seven, right?" George sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Seven years is a lot of time for people to change," Lee said with a snort. "Apparently we've been a bad influence on Draco and Cho. Will you believe it? They're going to break out of Hogwarts and go to Japan with the Japanese Digidestinieds Dumbledore moved here? And I thought that Cho was the sensible one of our lot."

"I don't believe it either," Fred agreed. "But what I do believe is, they're gonna need a lot of luck. But since they asked for help, they'll get it."

&

Professor Slughorn was going on and on about one of his ex-students, who apparently was such a good potioneer that he was hired by St Mungo's right after he left Hogwarts to help brew some of the most complicated potions, but less than half of the class was listening. Slughorn either didn't notice or pretended not to, and the discussion taking place at the back of the classroom went quite smoothly.

At one table, Kouichi, Kouji, Takuya and Draco had given up all pretense of actually listening to Slughorn and were deep in discussion.

"Are you serious? How are we supposed to even leave Hogwarts without alerting Dumbledore? He's not stupid, he'll know that we'll attempt something like that. And if we're caught, he's going to keep an even closer watch on us."

"We'll be allowed to go to Hogsmeade this Saturday. We'll do it then."

"Won't Dumbledore be watching us even more if we're given the chance to leave Hogwarts?" Kouji said sceptically. He still was the same reasonable and calculative person he had been years ago when he had been to the Digiworld. He hadn't changed much – but then again, none of the Digidestinied had changed much.

Draco and Kouichi glanced at each other, having discussed it earlier in their dorm. "Cho and I spoke about it last evening," Draco said easily. "If you've gotten to know Fred, George and Lee, you'll learn quite a lot about these sort of things."

"What sort of things?" Kouji asked warily. In front of them, the potion they were supposed to be brewing had stopped bubbling, the fire under the cauldron long extinguished. None of them paid any attention to it. Kouichi wasn't even sure what they were supposed to be doing. Earlier in the lesson, Draco had simply dumped half the ingredients into the cauldron half full with water, and lit a tiny fire, and then completely ignored it.

"You'll see," Draco said evasively. "By the way, I checked with Professor Snape – we'll be allowed to go to Hogsmeade this Saturday, but the notices aren't up yet. That's when we'll do it."

"Wait, you and Cho want to come along?" Kouji interrupted. "Won't it be safer if you guys stayed here? That way, if we got caught, you and Cho won't get into trouble at school. It doesn't matter to us because it's not our school…"

Draco grinned slyly. "Our Digimon are in Diagon Alley. That's where we'll head first. You can't tell us to stay away. Besides, you don't know the area as well as we do."

At the table beside them, Davis, T.K, Ken and Kari weren't focusing much on their potion either; they were over-boiling their salamandar blood, which had turned into a strange diluted yellow liquid. However they were discussing another topic – the older Digidestinied back in Japan. Kari and T.K remained in contact with their older brothers frequently, and helped to transmit the news to either sides.

"They still can't get through to the Digiworld," T.K said absently. "Izzy says that Mimi has the same problem in America, so it's highly probable that all Digidestinied around the world are facing the same thing."

"And Izzy wants to try other methods of getting through," Kari added. "But he didn't specify what. If Voldemort is really messing with the Digiworld, then he could have done something to the gates so that Digidestinied won't be able to get through and stop him. Whatever he's doing, I hope that the Digimon are okay," she added worriedly. "It's been ages since we last went to the Digiworld, isn't it? We were so busy with school and stuff…"

"Have they tried the Dark Ocean?" Ken said suddenly. "It's connected to the Digiworld, so we might find some clues there."

"That's brilliant," Davis put in. "Only that you're the only one who can open the gate to the Dark Ocean… Hey, that's a good one! Why don't we try to go to the Dark Ocean from here? It's part of the Digiworld, after all, so we should be able to find something connecting them, and get to the Digiworld!"

"The Dark Ocean?" Kari shuddered slightly. "For some reason, I don't really like the sound of that, but I guess if that's what we have to do, we'll do it. Only… Open the Dark Ocean? Here? Don't we need some kind of a portal? I doubt that there'll be a portal in such a highly magical place like Hogwarts."

"Then what are we going to do then? If we-" T.K stopped, suddenly aware that Slughorn wasn't talking anymore – instead he was going from table to table, checking the progress of the potions of each group. "Shit."

T.K normally never swore, but when he did, it meant that they were in big trouble. Half an hour later, however, the class had ended and the Digidestinied were walking up to the Great Hall, Kari having sweet-talked Slughorn with a variety of the oddest excuses as to why they hadn't completed their potions. The moment they were a distance away from the other students, Davis pulled Takuya aside and asked the latter about the Dark Ocean.

"The Dark what?" came the bewildered reply.

"You don't know the Dark Ocean?" Davis asked, taken aback. "You know, the World of Darkness? The place with the big empty back sea, with the creepy beach and forest?"

"Davis, we've been through this, the Digiworld that they know is different from the one that we know." Ken joined in the conversation. Suddenly a thought came to him. "Say, Takuya, when did you guys go to the Digiworld?"

Takuya gave a small start. "Er… About five years ago, I suppose. Why? Is that important?"

"It is. We went to the Digiworld five years ago too." Ken frowned. "It's impossible that there were two teams of Digidestinied wandering about the Digiworld at the same time, so it could be that there is more than one Digiworld. How many times can the same Digiworld get into trouble anyway? Draco, when did you go to the Digiworld?"

"Seven years ago," he said casually, a slight edge to his voice – Harry, Ron and Hermione had just walked past them, deep in discussion as well, but not deep enough for Ron to turn around and flip Draco an obscene gesture, which Draco responded to with the same sign, making Kouichi hurriedly pull Draco aside to prevent any fights.

"Then who was your enemy?"

"Lucemon," Takuya said with a slight scowl.

"Millenniummon," Draco said at the same time.

"Myotismon," Davis added, just as Takuya and Draco were staring at each other.

"Wait, you fought Millenniummon?" Ken cut in, sounding astonished. "But-"

"Who's Lucemon?"

"You know Millenniummon?" Davis said, turning to Ken in surprise.

"We fought Myotismon twice-"

"But we weren't the first to fight Lucemon either-"

"You had to fight Millenniummon too?"

"Everyone stop it!" Kari suddenly shouted, and all the boys broke off and looked guiltily at her. "Don't you guys know how to speak in turns? We're not getting anywhere, nor learning anything if you keep at it. Now," she said, looking unusually fierce, "we'll wait until we've gathered everyone and we'll see what everyone has come up with."

They did as she said, with all the former Digidestinied meeting up in the school's back yards as soon as the lessons for the day were over. The Slytherins came first, they had had a free period before that. The Hufflepuffs boys came next; Zoe and Yolei were meeting up with Cho, since Yolei and Cho had Transfiguration together during the last period. The Gryffindors came fifteen minutes late, at a run – they had been held back by Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I hate Snape," was Takuya's first comment as he plopped down on the grass next to Zoe. "He wouldn't let us leave until everyone had finished their essays."

"Be careful," Draco said warningly. "He's a spy for Dumbledore – Well, at least I think so anyway. I'm not sure whose side he's on, but whoever he's working for, we have to be careful. We don't want either Dumbledore or Voldemort knowing what we're doing."

"So what are we doing anyway?"

A number of the group had moved naturally into the position of leaders – Draco and Cho, who seemed to be the only ones with the daring to break out of Hogwarts, Davis, Ken, Takuya and Kouji, the natural leaders of their respective groups, Kouichi, the only one who had encountered a Digimon so far, and T.K and Kari, who had the most experience. However, Kouji and Ken were more content to listen to the other's suggestions, offering only rather realistic advice to counter Davis and Takuya's, and Cho being more sensible.

"There's going to be a trip to Hogsmeade this Saturday," Draco said coolly. "Basically, they let us out in the morning, and obviously they'll be checking us when we leave, but we're free to go back whenever we want as long as it's before dark. And we're allowed to go anywhere we want within the village. Cho and I have discussed it briefly, we've got a general plan, but it'll be up to you guys to decide the details."

Cho took over from here. "We'll all leave for Hogsmeade in small groups early in the morning," she began. "We'll plan a diversion that appears to involve Digimon on the side of Hogsmeade farthest from Hogwarts, which hopefully will draw the teachers and crowds there, and away from us as we get out oc here. We'll go to Diagon Alley first, before moving on to Japan. What happens next is up to you guys."

T.K spoke up next. "Once we get to Japan, Kari and I should go over to our older brothers – Tai and Matt. We'll contact them later, to tell them to get ready to meet us. They've been working on reprogramming the portal to the Digiworld. If it works, then we'll use that portal. And Ken will try to open the portal to the Dark Ocean, where we might find some clues as to what's going on."

"And we're going to the train station in Shibuya," Takuya chimed in. "If the Digiworld's in trouble, the Trailmon should be there. If not… Well… We'll see what happens next."

"No," Kouichi said suddenly, his voice so deathly quiet that everyone sitting near him was startled. "That's not going to work at all. The first thing we do, is we look for Voldemort and get answers out of him. He's blocked the the Digiworld, but the portal cannot be locked if there's a human in the Digiworld, only closed temporarily. If the portal is locked, we look for him in the real world. If we can't find him, we'll just get him to come to us."

Everyone stared at him, lost for words. Kouji jumped up. "How did you know about the portal?" he demanded. "Kouichi, are you okay?"

Now the group's attention was solely focused on the twins. Kouichi stood up too. "I'm fine," he said, looking surprised at Kouji's outburst. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean. Ever since we came to Hogwarts, you've been acting off."

"Kouji-"

Kouji suddenly reached out and grabbed Kouichi's wrist. Before Kouichi could protest, Kouji was already dragging him off, away from the group, towards the Forbidden Forest. The others stared at the pair in confused silence, until Takuya spoke lightly.

"Typical Kouji."

&

Kouji only released his hold on his brother the moment they were surrounded by tall, dense trees. Kouichi stared at his brother. Kouji rarely got so agitated, and normally when he did, it was about these few things – Kouichi, their parents and Kouichi. It was getting annoying, Kouichi had to admit, but had let his younger brother go on with his incessant worrying over him. Sometimes it seemed that Kouji was the protective older brother, not Kouichi, who preferred to watch out for Kouji from afar and only help if needed.

"What was that about?" Kouichi said, trying not to sound annoyed. "Are you okay?"

"You know what I mean," Kouji repeated steely. "I hate to say this, Kouichi, but… Is Duskmon coming back?"

"What?" Kouichi gave a start, feeling the usual pangs of regret he had never really gotten over with. This time he was more worried for Kouji than for himself, and managed to maintain calm. "Kouji, I don't feel anything different. You should stop worrying so much, it's not good. It's just that I-"

"I don't want to lose you again," Kouji snapped, and suddenly Kouichi realised that Kouji actually sounded scared… Kouichi had known long ago that the tough and silent Kouji was only a façade around people he didn't trust. Kouichi reached out and grabbed Kouji's shoulder firmly.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said firmly.

"Hey."

It was Draco Malfoy. He had followed them into the Forest. For some reason, he looked very white. "There's something I need to tell you guys," he said shakily.

Kouichi's concern moved to Draco from Kouji. Draco looked as if he was extremely sick, he looked so white. "What's wrong?"

"Voldemort knows about you guys," he said, his voice trembling. "I'm so sorry… He knew about Dumbledore's plan to move the Digidestinieds to Hogwarts, but he didn't know who… He threatened to kill my parents if I didn't tell him about you. And I did, I told him that Dumbledore brought over a group of Japanese students… And he made me put the Imperius Curse on Kouichi, but I didn't do it very well, that's why he attacked you, Kouji…" He turned towards a tree and leant his forehead against it. "Damn it," he mumbled. "I'm no use as a Digidestinied."

Before Kouichi could think of a suitable reaction to this confession, Kouji reacted, lunging forward and punching Draco in the face, moving so fast that neither Draco nor Kouichi had time to respond. Belatedly, Kouichi grabbed Kouji and for a while the two of them had a quite silent scuffle before Kouji stopped struggling and they broke apart, panting hard.

"Sorry," Kouji said rigidly, straightening up. Then, looking at Draco, as though expecting what the latter would say, he said quietly, "Now's not the time for the others to hear that. Just focus on helping us to get back to Japan, 'kay?" Then, without a backwards glance, he stalked off back to where the others were waiting.

Kouichi glanced after Kouji and decided to ignore him for the time being; he was all too familiar with Kouji's sulking, especially when he had just lost his temper. He turned back to Draco. "I'm sorry about that," he said quietly. "Kouji's right, though. It's not the time for that now."

Draco sighed. "I was the youngest in my group when we went to the Digiworld, and they made it clear that they weren't going to watch my back for me all the time. Don't get me wrong – Fred, George, Lee and Cho are great people. And that was when I learnt to be independent. They taught me a lot, things that I wouldn't have learnt if I hadn't been a Digidestinied. And now that they're not with me, I mess up."

"Look, I would have done the same as you," Kouichi said, in that quietly firm tone he normally used when he wanted to reason with Kouji. "If anyone threatened Kouji, my parents, or even my friends, I would have done anything to protect them. Besides, we are Digidestinied after all – we can take care of ourselves."

Draco forced a small smile. "You're good at persuading people, you know that?"

Kouichi grinned. "Comes with the territory, especially if you have someone like Kouji for a younger brother. I'm sorry that he hit you… But he's actually a nice person if you get to know him," he ended loyally. "Now, come on, we need to get back to the others and continue with our planning."

They left the dark trees together, but Draco pulled back. When Kouichi looked questioningly at him, Draco gestured towards a small group walking down from the castle. After a while, Kouichi recognised them as the three Gryffindors Draco particularly hated. If he was correct, the redhead was the younger brother of Fred and George…

"They're going to Hagrid's," Draco whispered.

Kouichi had only met Hagrid once, and on that occasion it was because he and Draco had been caught in the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid hadn't seemed like a person to hate at that time, but Kouichi never really dared to greet Hagrid – apparently Hagrid was more of a Gryffindor. Takuya and the other Gryffindors, however, knew him quite well. Kouichi watched as Harry, Ron and Hermione went up to Hagrid's cabin, knocked, and entered.

"Let's go!"

"Where?"

Draco pulled at Kouichi's hand. "I want to see what they're doing."

"Isn't that… rude?" Kouichi said uncertainly, before realising that Draco probably didn't care if what he did was rude or polite, especially when it invovled Gryffindors. With Draco leading the way and Kouichi following hesitantly, they crept up to the vegetable patch behind Hagrid's house, where they were hidden from sight in all directions. At Draco's urging, they went right up to a high window on one side and crouched beneath it, Kouichi having more and more doubts about what he was doing.

To his shock, they were just on the other side of the window, so it was easy to hear what they were talking about. Kouichi had a feeling that this wasn't Draco's first time eavesdropping here, but didn't dare to point it out. Instead, he just focused his attention on the discussion – and was even more surprised.

"- and that brat Malfoy hinted to us that Voldemort is up to something, but he wants us to stay out of it. I'll say that it's a very poor attempt on his part to keep us away. He's been acting strange lately. I don't understand why he's so close to – what's his name again?"

"Kouichi Kimura," came Hermione's voice. "Kouji's twin brother."

"Then why do they have different last names?"

"Ron, we've been through this, it's probably their private matters so don't pry."

Under the window, Draco shot Kouichi a what-did-I-tell-you look. Kouichi shrugged and went back to listening.

"Look ere, I know that the three of yeh don't trust the non-Gryffindor Japanese much, but it's not good ter keep on talkin' about them behind their backs like this. I've spoken to the Gryffindor ones, and they're decent folk. Very respectful too, the lot."

"And remember, Kouichi's partly a Gryffindor too," Hermione's voice said firmly.

"But's he's so close to Malfoy."

"Anyway, back to the topic of Voldemort," came Harry's voice. He sounded rather insistent. "Hagrid, did Dumbledore ever mention anything about him? I'm sure you at least have a general idea of what Dumbledore suspects about Voldemort. We've discussed it so much, but we can't figure out anything."

"It's got nothin' to do with yeh," Hagrid said at once. "I meself don't know what Dumbledore's thinking, too… He's pretty mum on this, hasn't let many of the Order know anyway."

"The Digiworld?" Kouichi mouthed to Draco, who nodded distractedly.

"I can't just sit here knowing that Voldemort's doing something and I'm pretty much useless here," Harry was saying in frustration. "And I hate the way Malfoy looks at me nowadays… Like he knows so much more than I do."

"Well, his dad is a Death Eater, of course he'll know," Ron said at once. Hidden beneath the window Kouichi gave Draco a look, but Draco shrugged it off, looking sheepish. "And he's probably one himself…"

"As much as I hate Malfoy, I don't think that he'll want to be a Death Eater," Hermione responded. "He's bad, but not evil. I can't imagine him as a Death Eater."

"Fred and George used to call him 'little brat' to his face," Ron put in, chuckling. "I never knew until I found them teasing him in the corridor. Suits him, you know. Spoilt, rich kid, with everything that he wants chucked right at him… He'll never know what it means to work hard, all he deserves is to be stuffed down the throat of a Blast-Ended Skrewt…"

Kouichi had to lunge at Draco, who looked so indignant that he was almost about to jump up. Deciding that it was enough spying for the day, Kouichi silently dragged Draco away from the cabin and back towards where the others were still waiting. After a while, though, both of them began to grin in amusement.

"Little brat?"

"Yeah, they did that," Draco said with a sheepish smile.

Kouichi grinned, and the two of them began to laugh, their problems temporarily forgotten.

&

For some reason I really hate this fic.

Ken