For those who actually bothered to read this far, I'm sure that you would have noticed that my style of writing has changed a lot. This is why I haven't been updating; I hated my previous chapters and I wasn't sure if I should continue writing in the same way or in the way I write in now. Sorry for the looong wait.

Kouichi couldn't help feeling slightly guilty as Saturday approached, when they had decided to break out of Hogwarts. The plan seemed rather risky to him, but Draco and Cho, who had planned everything, seemed confident. Draco had assured him that Fred and George had successfully run away from the school before the previous year, and after asking a few other students, Kouichi couldn't help but feel rather mixed range of expressions when he learnt about how the twins had played the prank on the former Headmistress – whom apparently most Slytherins liked. And he felt nothing good.

He wasn't the only one feeling nervous. The others too had mixed reactions – they all wanted to help the Digiworld, but running away from school just didn't feel right. Kouichi supposed that they had no choice now, since they already knew that it was Voldemort's doing. They wouldn't have felt happy just sitting there in Hogwarts anyway. But Draco and Cho hadn't explained everything – they had only given them the general instructions.

He hadn't much chance to speak to Kouji lately, but he had a feeling that Kouji was avoiding him. Normally when this happened, Kouichi would have immediately gone to him and persuaded him to snap out of his bad mood, but this time he didn't. Not that he didn't want to, but Draco had told him to let Kouji cool off on his own. They had had a small argument over this, but in the end Kouichi relented – Takuya could try to take care of it this time, leaving Kouichi to focus on preventing Draco from doing anything stupid.

"So are you planning to even tell us exactly what you and Cho are going to pull off?" Kouichi asked Draco firmly, the moment their lessons were over for the day. Draco smiled at him in what was apparently suppsed to be a reassuring way, but to Kouichi the smile just seemed cheeky.

"Er... Draco?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

Draco just smiled. "I'm perfectly fine. Why would I be otherwise?"

Kouichi stared. "You're scary."

"I know I am."

Saturday morning came too soon, and as planned, they left in small groups of three to five, grouped according to their Houses. Kouichi, Ken and Draco were the last to leave – mainly because Draco seemed in no hurry at all and relatively relaxed, as if in full confidence of what they were about to do. Kouichi wasn't as reassured – not only were they breaking out of school, they were also about to deceive Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in England. Even a fool would feel uneasy if placed in their situation.

Their plan was pretty vague. Each group would gather near certain areas where they had the best view of the whole village, and when a signal appeared in the sky. Draco hadn't specified what the signal would be – "It's just something extraordinary that you wouldn't expect to see" – and then they were supposed to Disapparate to the Leaky Cauldron in London. Draco and Cho had refused to give them details, as "if they knew what would happen they would just chicken out" and Draco added, rather mischeviously, it would take all the fun out of the plan. The Digimon partners of the Fire Academy students would be joining them shortly after all of them had left, under Disillusion Charms to avoid detection. They were confident that the Digimon would be able to pass through the magical barrier around Hogwarts, but doubted that they would be able to make it undetected, but Draco had advised them that if they were detected, it would help the plan greatly. "Just don't get caught," Cho had advised them later.

The caretaker, Filch, seemed in a rather bad mood today, but Draco assured them it was merely because the students were looking excited at the thought of a day out of Hogwarts. The caretaker grumpily checked their names off a long list that was trailing to the ground, and they left the school grounds with a small crowd of overly excited Hufflepuff third-years. Kouichi glanced around – not a single other Digidestinied was in sight. He hoped that it meant that they were all safely out of the Hogwarts compounds by now.

As soon as they were out of sight of the other Hogwarts students, Ken pulled out his D-Terminal. There was a small blinking light, indicating an incoming text message. "The others are moving into position," he announced, scanning through the message Davis had sent him. Davis, as planned, would be with the other Gryffindors – Takuya, T.K, Kari and Kouji – outside the Three Broomsticks. The Hufflepuffs would be near Honeydukes accompanied by Cho, while the Slytherins would follow Draco to the Shrieking Shack where Draco would set off the signal. They would have to delay leaving as long as they could, an attempt to assure the teachers – it was too much of a hope that they would be able to fool Dumbledore – into thinking that they weren't planning to do anything of the sort.

Kouichi couldn't help staring about Hogsmeade as they made their way through the streets. Hogwarts students were recognisable through their House scarfs and black robes most of them wore. Several times he passed by several rather rare part-human magical creatures, and once they passed a group of goblins haggling with a drunken-looking man outside a bar. The place was incredibly fascinating. Japan had very few wizarding villages, all in the secluded mountain areas, and the wizarding community in cities largely intermingled with Muggles.

It was a whole new experience, and the feeling he was getting right now reminded him of how he felt when he first entered the Digiworld – a mixture of eager fascination and curiousity. The lifestyle of people in Europe was interesting enough; the lifestyle of wizards in Europe even more so. He glanced at his fellow Japanese. Ken seemed equally interested, although Kouichi couldn't help noticing that Ken had his hands deep in his pockets, no doubt holding on to his Digivice and wand.

When did we all become like this? Kouichi wondered inwardly with a shudder. Their experiences battling evil in the Digiworld had matured all of them, and Kouichi had found it hard at first not to be so wary and see evil everywhere. It was as if all of them had been planted with a strong sense of justice and the urge to fight for the good. He had only discussed this with Kouji, and his brother had agreed that he felt the same way. Now, with a real-life threat at hand, the feelings were all coming back, the feeling of a deep anger against injustice and the desire to fight evil. It was as if they were... warriors.

We are the Legendary Warriors, Kouichi realised. A sudden thud accompanied with a rather colourful word interrupted his train of thought.

"Sorry," Draco said, not sounding sorry at all. Kouichi realised belatedly that they were now standing face to face with Harry and his friends. Harry was glaring daggers at Draco, while Hermione was helping Ron up from where he had previously been sprawled out on the ground. Kouichi smacked his forehead in disbelief. He had never really witnessed beforehand the rivalry between Draco and Harry, but he had heard that the arguments the two had symbolised the very fact that Gyrffindors and Slytherins could not get along well.

"You don't mean that, Malfoy!" Harry retorted, his wand already pointing at Malfoy.

"You can't hex him, Harry!" Hermione cried out. "You'll get into trouble for doing magic outside of school, not to mention attacking another student, even if Malfoy did annoy you."

"Well, I did apologise," Draco drawled with a sneer, gesturing at Ron with his wand. "For not being able to notice Weasley. I mean, blood traitors aren't really that worth noticing after all. You can't blame me." At this, Harry flared up, and Kouichi could see that he prepared to shout out a jinx when there was a sudden movement to Draco's right. Ken had pulled out his wand and was pointing it directly at Harry.

"I don't care about what inter-House rivalries you have here in Hogwarts," Ken stated calmly. He could have been presenting Harry a friendly argument over Butterbeer, the way he was speaking. "But what I know is that you have your wand pointing directly at a friend of mine. You can be very sure that I will not hesitate to attack if you attempt to hurt Draco."

Kouichi stared.

"You're just like one of them," Ron spat. It was obvious that the Gryffindor trio were rather on edge about something prior to the encounter with them in the street. All three looked close to losing their cool and the boys looked ready to take anyone on in a duel. "You're a Slytherin, just like the rest of them. No good can come out of you, or any one of you for that matter, if you're mixing with Malfoy. He's bad influence."

"Oh, so I'm a bad influence now, am I?" Draco asked mockingly. "I'm honoured."

Kouichi suppressed a sigh, but pulled out his wand too. "I don't want to fight anyone," he said clearly. "But if it comes to that, I will let you know that I don't mind duelling friend or foe." He knew very well that fighting was wrong, but the warrior inside him was burning, as though his whole self was raring to get into battle once more. He was sure the other two felt the same way. It was like all the frustration at not being able to do anything before this had built up, and was now urging him on.

No... Wait... That's the Darkness...

Kouichi struggled to clear his mind. One trait of wizards of the Darkness element was that they had a very strong sense of justice about what they felt was right, and harnessing their inner strength they were able to acheive their goal. There was no hesitation or inner conflict for them. The only problem was that even a small feeling of annoyance could expand into a blown up feeling of anger, which was why they all had a natural inner instinct of discipline and self-control.

It was Hermione who broke up what would have surely been a disastrous duel. "Stop it," she cried out, sounding extremely exasperated. "Are you boys all so much of dunderheads that you have to draw out your wands for every single petty argument? Harry, Ron – let's go get a drink first." It wasn't a request, more of a demand, and the two boys finally lowered their wands, but not without scathing glares directed at all three Slytherins. They disappeared off down the street fairly quickly, at Kouichi heard Hermione and Ron start bickering the moment they moved off.

Ken lowered his wand stiffly. "I know I shouldn't have done that," he said, sounding rather rebellious. "But there's one thing I can't stand about Harry Potter. He reminds me of... someone... from my past. I get the feeling that Harry always attempts to take responsibility for everything. It's... It just makes me angry."

"You feel the same way too?" Draco snorted. "From what I heard, yeah, Harry's that sort of chivalric Gryffindor."

As the tension gradually subsided, they moved on. Kouichi stole a glance at Ken, noticing the rebellious and slightly sulky expression on Ken's face. At Ken's explanation, Kouichi was distinctly reminded of something – no, someone – from his past as well. It made him feel rather shameful and annoyed, but then his irritation overshadowed his shamefulness and he fell into a feeling of moodiness.

I was such a fool, to be fooled into becoming Duskmon. I was such an idiot. Arghh... I feel like I could hit something right now.. No, no... No! What's going on? Why do I feel so angry all of a sudden?

"I have a bad feeling about this," Draco muttered, sounding rather edgy. "I don't know why I lost my temper earlier all of a sudden. This is our fight, not theirs. Why must Potter want to step in?"

A shrill beep made them all jump. It was the D-Terminal. "The others are all in position," Ken said, his voice strangely calm now, but it was obvious he was fighting hard to keep his cool. "The Hufflepuffs didn't have much trouble, as they have Cho with them. The Gryffindors are okay to go too, just that Harry and his gang are in the Three Broomsticks, so they moved a few shops down the road. So that just leaves us."

"Good," Draco grinned, suddenly taking on a look of cunning. Soon they were outside a rather rundown hut standing miserably by itself among overgrown weeds and bushes. It was starting to snow – the snow had apparently come early that year, and the ground was speckled with white. Draco frowned as he noticed the snowflakes.

"It's not supposed to snow around now," he said quietly.

"The disturbance of the Digiworld?" Ken guessed. "It happens sometimes, causing havoc to the weather in this world."

Draco sighed, and for the first time that day, his face creased into a worry. It was a mark of how worried he actually was. No matter what the Gryffindors say about him, Kouichi decided on the spot, I know Draco actually cares about something. The Digiworld. It's a mark of a true Digidestinied.

"Ken!" a small, disembodied voice cried out somewhere behind Kouichi, making them all jump. A tap of the wand to lift the Disillusionment Charm, and Wormmon scrambled up onto Ken's shoulder.

"How was it?" Draco asked at once. The confident, jaunty tone he had in his voice was gone now. It was as if there were multiple sides to Draco Malfoy – the mischevious side brought on by the legendary Weasley twins, the serious one associated with the Digiworld, and the aloof one Hogwarts knew.

"I think we caused some sort of disturbance to the magical barrier," Wormmon said uncertainly. "You were right, Draco – the barrier is designed with magical creatures and humans in mind, so we weren't stopped by it, although I don't dare to say that we got through undetected." Suddenly the little green Digimon shuddered. "I don't like it here. There's something wrong... I don't feel quite right..."

"Once we get the okay from the others, I'll set off the signal," Draco said, visibly relaxing slightly now that all of them, Digidestinied and Digimon alike, were out of the school. He settled himself down on a bit of fence that was miraculously still standing, for some reason glancing at the Shrieking Shack with a calculating look on his face. It wasn't long, though, before Ken's D-Terminal beeped. It was the Hufflepuffs, with the short message We're okay, meaning that Hawkmon and Armadimon had joined them safely. No sooner that Ken had reported this to his fellow Slytherins that the Gryffindors sent that V-mon, Patamon and Gatomon were with them.

"That's it," Draco exclaimed, jumping up. His face was flushed with excitement and anticipation. He drew out his wand and pointed it at the Shrieking Shack, then upwards at the sky. "Go, go, go!" he shouted, gesturing hard. "People will be coming soon to see!"

A light flared up in the Shrieking Shack. At first Kouichi thought that Draco had set the hut on fire, but a second later, small balls of colourful light flew out of the dirty windows and erupted into brilliants fireworks in the sky, forming the unmistakaeble shape of a huge, capital 'W.' More orbs of light shot out, but there were already screams and shouts of surprise through the village. Ken grabbed on to Wormmon and Disapparated, being most at risk since he had a Digimon with him. Kouichi hesitated, waiting for Draco, and caught the briefest glimpse of what looked like a dragon appear in the blue sky before Draco gestured wildly and the two of them vanised with loud cracks.

&&&&

Ron and Hermione bickered all the way to the Three Broomsticks, while Harry walked a little way off sullenly, obviously rather moody about something. They passed by the group of Japanese Gryffindors and entered the warm bar, the soothing and comfortable atmosphere helping slightly with their tempers. They were all rather edgy lately, what with Malfoy taunting them about fighting Voldemort, and Harry, as usual, was annoyed at being left out of the whole affair. They had sent an owl to Remus Lupin as a wild attempt to figure out the truth behind Malfoy's words, but Remus hadn't responded positively.

The trip to Hogsmeade was only made grudgingly, with Hermione deciding firmly that all of them needed a break from studying and worrying about Voldemort. At first their moods managed to lift a little as they left the castle, but once they stepped into Hogsmeade the tension arose as they noticed several Wanted posters of Death Eaters plastering the walls. Running into Malfoy only made it all the more worse.

Hermione slipped off to order drinks, while Harry and Ron found a place in a corner. The place wasn't as crowded as usual, people preferring to stay indoors now that Voldemort was back. Nevertheless Madam Rosmerta had managed to maintain a cheery and comfortable feeling about the bar, and they relaxed slightly. Hermione was soon back with three Butterbeers, and settled down beside Ron.

"You know," Harry said, the moment she had sat down, "I've been thinking about Voldemort."

"Oh, can't we not discuss anything that's going to make us argue all over again?" Hermione sighed, ignoring as Ron gave a little groan at the mention of the name. Despite using the name himself, Ron was never really comfortable with it, only saying the name because Harry and Hermione did.

"But this is important," Harry said stubbornly, swirling his Butterbeer around. "There's been no report of Voldemort himself coming out in the open ever since what happened at the Ministry, and the only thing that qualifies enough to be news about him is all the strange sightings in Japan, and it can't be coincidence that this year we're having Japanese transfer students."

"Coincidence," Hermione said firmly, sounding as though she would very much like the discussion to end as soon as possible. Her idea of dragging them out to Hogsmeade was for them to relax, not pull up more ideas about Voldemort and work themselves up into a fury for no reason at all. "Even though there could be a relation between the two, I don't think that the Japanese students are evil or Dark wizards in any way. Can we continue this later?"

"Kimura and Ichijouji are in Slytherin though," Ron pointed out.

"Not all Slytherin are bad, Ron. Some of them turn out okay enough."

"Let's see... On one hand, we have You-Know-Who, we have the idiot who hid a giant killing snake in school, we have the Malfoys..."

"Well we Gryffindors turned out... traitors as well, so we can't just accuse them," Hermione said, faltering slightly as she realised she was about to mention Pettigrew. She wasn't too sure, but Harry might still be a little edgy about the man who had betrayed his parents. "Which means that the Gryffindor ones have the same chance of going bad as the ones in Slytherin. I don't know much about Ken Ichijouji, but Kouichi Kimura seems quite okay most of the time. I mean, look at Kouji."

"Kouji and Kouichi... How to put it? They're remarkably identical yet unidentical at the same time," Ron said, snorting slightly.

"I get what you mean," Hermione said with a smile. She sipped her Butterbeer. "So... What did you guys think about yesterday's Charms lesson? I personally think that our lesson time should be lengthened, we hardly get enough practice with Flitwick supervising us."

"Don't change the topic, Hermione," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "I mean, what do you guys think about the Japanese students?"

"They could teach us a thing or two about inter-House relations," Hermione said with a small smile. "The way all of them are close friends regardless of their Houses..."

"Inter-House relations?"

"Oh, honestly, don't you remember? The Sorting Hat warned us to stay united..."

"No we don't," Harry and Ron said simultaneously.

"Oh, well... I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up... But anyway..." Hermione cleared her throat, giving up on Harry abandoning the subject of the Dark Lord. Might as well just tell them what I think. "What I think is, it's highly improbably that Voldemort would be content with lying low for so long. We all know that last year, he was after a Prophecy. He didn't get it. So now this time, what does he want? His main aim is to take over the wizarding world. To do that, he would need to eliminate his enemies – Dumbledore and the Ministry. He hasn't gotten at either of them yet. Most of his precious Death Eaters are locked away in Azkaban, so what he needs now is more power. That's what he needs to get before he tries anything new. The question is, what kind of power is he seeking, and where?"

"The Giants," Ron said wisely. "Magical creatures that wizards shun."

"Maybe the hags, werewolves, and goodness knows what else," Harry added. "But I'm sure we can leave out centaurs and goblins from that group."

"There hasn't been news of a mass revolt yet," Hermione said. "I've been keeping all the Daily Prophet to check and recheck everything. If there were any evidence that those creatures went over to his side, it would make the news. They would want to warn the public, wouldn't they?"

"So it has to be something that we missed out," Harry said thoughtfully. "Something that could give Voldemort the power he wants..."

Ron snorted. "You-Know-Who actively recruiting, and we have no idea who he's after to employ. Ironic."

&&&&

"Let go of me! LET GO OF ME I SAY! I'll teach that bastard a few lessons, let me go!"

Kouichi had barely time to orientate himself to his new surroundings as he Apparated in a small backyard with a high brick wall before more loud cracks signalled the arrival of more Digidestinied. Zoe and Tommy appeared on either sides of him, Tommy looking a bit disorientated, stumbling over with a small cry before Cho suddenly appeared out of nowhere and steadied the younger boy before he fell to the ground.

"I don't-" Tommy started to snap but managed to catch himself in time. Upon realising that he had almost been rather rude to an elder person, a taboo in the Eastern society, Tommy looked horrified and went red, mumbling an apology.

"What's going on there?" Zoe scrambled around a corner to see Takuya and Kouji snarling at each other, Takuya being restrained by Davis and T.K only barely managing to hold Kouji back. Kari was attempting to break the boys apart but with very little success, and was standing back a little in uncertainty.

"Stop it!" Cho suddenly came up between the arguing boys and pushed them apart with surprising strength. She frowned around at all of them, noting the less-than-happy looks on all their faces. Kouichi shuddered slightly as her dark brown eyes gazed upon him for a brief moment, but she soon moved on to observe Kouji. Even as the last two Digidestinied – J.P and Cody – joined them, they did not dare to break her glare.

"Now..." she began, her voice steady and firm, as though addressing a bunch of misbehaving children, "who here got annoyed back in Hogsmeade – or got close to losing their temper over small matters?"

"We all did," Kari said, glancing around at her fellow Gryffindors. "A – a hag, I think... It came up to us and insisted that we donate in support of the Dark Lord's cause, or something like that. It wouldn't leave us alone. That was right after Gatomon, Patamon and V-mon joined us. Then we saw the fireworks, and Apparated here, but Takuya..." Her voice trailed off nervously.

"We nearly got into a fight with Slytherins," J.P said sheepishly. "They were calling us some names." He stopped at this, not wanting to elaborate further, but Cho nodded anyway. The older girl then turned her piercing gaze to Draco.

"Draco?" Her tone was firm; she knew how to deal with the stubborn Slytherin.

"I nearly cursed Potter and his stupid friends," Draco mumbled. At the mention of the name, Cho's lips pursed slightly, and an unreadable expression crossed her face. It was gone in a moment, though, and she turned back to addressing the group as a whole.

"I don't know if anyone's listening, but at this rate it's probably too late to be careful, considering what we've done we might as well left a large 'Goodbye' sign on Dumbledore's desk telling him what we've done. The thing is, I think Voldemort's making his move already. Don't tell me you guys didn't sense that something was wrong."

"I felt bad the moment I entered Hogsmeade," Gatomon offered, shuddering slightly. "Like... Like I was so angry. I don't know what I was angry at, but now the feeling's gone. I don't like it. I could have attacked anyone or anything that annoyed me then."

A shocked silence greeted this. Finally J.P spoke.

"I've heard of Dementors spreading despair to people, but I don't know if there's any creature that, like Gatomon said, capable of spreading anger."

"Let's move then," Kouji said resolutely, voicing out what everyone wanted desperately to do at that moment. "The sooner we can get back to Japan the better. I hate the feeling of this."

Kouichi wondered about the dragon he had seen in the air above Hogsmeade less than a minute earlier, but before he could get the question out, Cody asked it for him. Draco and Cho glanced at each other; Cho rolled her eyes while Draco shrugged innocently.

"It's something the Weasley twins came up with," Draco explained. "Mass Optical Illusion – it creates a sort of magical illusion that causes people to see what the person who sets it off wants them to see. Fred and George modified, made it stronger than usual, it so it would cover all of Hogsmeade, and added the illusion of a group of creatures fighting. Not magical creatures though, but some that resemble Digimon. That way, if Dumbledore sees it he won't suspect that we've run away because he'll think that we're fighting there."

"Simple, but brilliant," Kari admitted, even though she wasn't the type who normally advocated such matters. "Now... We go to the twins, right?"

"Yup."

Cho had already opened up the entrance to Diagon Alley as Draco had been explaning the trick to them earlier, and they set off at a quick pace without trying to appear too rushed. Cho led the way as they hurried through the desolate street. Few people came out in light of the current danger, while the ones who were out were either huddled together in nervous, frightened groups or walking about confidently by themselves with an air that suggested they weren't as innocent as they made out to be.

"We look suspicious," Kouji murmured, falling into step beside Kouichi. Kouichi was slightly surprised at this; they hadn't been talking to each other much for the past few days, but it was clear that their concern for the Digiworld was more important than any petty argument. "Everyone else who's out are mostly adults, but we're a bunch of teenagers, obviously of school-going age, wandering about here by ourselves with no adult escorting us."

They hadn't bothered to check their appearances, but once Kouji pointed this out Kouichi realised his brother was right. Draco was still wearing the green and silver Slytherin scarf hanging loosely at his collar, while a quarter of them were dressed in black robes, the usual robe colour of Hogwarts students. The Digimon had hidden themselves away in bags, while Zoe and J.P carried rucksacks containing Muggle clothing for all of them once they got to Japan. They had decided that it would be too suspicious to wear Muggle clothing to Hogsmeade but now it seemed like a bad decision once they had reached Diagon Alley.

"Here we are," Draco said suddenly. He needn't have announced it, however, it was rather obvious they had arrived at a joke shop. One window was covered with bright, colourful posters emblazoned boldly with words poking fun at Voldemort and the wizarding community in general. The other was full of their merchandise on display, including a furry pink and yellow ball the size of a football whizzing around but somehow not knocking over anything.

They had seen this shop before on their previous trip to Diagon Alley to buy their school supplies, but they hadn't really explored the shop. Draco pushed open the door but didn't step in immediately. The reason was soon clear: there was a loud sound like someone farting and a hidden pipe over the door sprayed the entrance with bright yellow string.

There weren't many people there, owing to the fact that it was in the middle of the school term, but a good number of customers were browsing around nevertheless. "Weasley!" Draco called, stepping in, just as the yellow string vanished into thin air.

A few people turned to look at him, but Draco ignored them all. From the back of the shop came a young man with flaming red hair and in a brilliantly green robe that looked rather horrible with his hair colour. The young man broke into a mischevious grin.

"My favourite Slytherin brat," he said, offering them all a low bow. "And I suppose all of you are our honoured entourage from the Land of the Rising Moon?"

"It's not the Land of the Rising Moon, Fred." Out came Fred's twin brother, George, his appearance similar to his brother's down to the very last detail.

"Sorry, my deepest apologies. The Land of the Sinking Moon, then." Fred looked at the Japanese Digidestinied. "Ah!" he exclaimed with exaggerated surprise. "More clones!" He went up to Kouji and Kouichi and linked his arms with theirs. Kouji scowled heavily; Kouichi managed a sheepish grin. Fred, quite ignoring Kouji's indignance, patted each one of them on the head before turning to his brother.

"Business as usual, then?"

"Business as usual, Fred," George grinned. "By the way, Cho, Draco; you'll find what you want upstairs, the second door on the left."

A grin broke over Draco's face like he had never smiled before, and without another word or a single thank you he sprinted for the stairs, followed closely by Cho who at least seemed more controlled than the younger Slytherin. Kouichi had never seen Draco that excited before, and the Gryffindors were seriously reconsidering all the stories they had heard about him in Hogwarts. Never would anyone expected that the Slytherin-brat-cum-prince of Hogwarts would look so gleeful at something that didn't involve anyone getting hurt.

"So," George said, his tone suddenly brisk and business-like. "Name, age, date of birth and if you don't mind, your Social Security number as well." With a flourish he pretended to pull out a quill and parchment out of his robes and poised over his empty palm to take notes.

They laughed, feeling their previous tension disappearing at the twins' antics. One by one they introduced themselves, and as each one of them was done the Weasley twins pretended to cheer and clap. They were incredible, easily making all of them feel amazingly at ease and much less worried about their problems.

"Now... We can't have Cho and the little brat having all the fun, can we?" George motioned to the stairs. "Come on, upstairs, and we'll get down to serious business then."

They found Draco and Cho in a cluttered mess of what appeared to have been a liveable bedroom, surrounded by four Digimon. Kouichi recognised two of them; a Terriermon and a Lopmon, rabbit-like Digimon with long ears. Lopmon was a dark grey while Terriermon was white; colour the main thing that contrasted the two Digimon that were otherwise, quite alike in appearance. The other two he couldn't put names to was a small white Digimon cuddling up to Draco and a fox-like Digimon chattering happily to Cho.

"Guys, meet our Digimon." Fred grinned. He pointed to Terriermon. "Terriermon."

"Lopmon," George said, motioning to Lopmon as said Digimon flew across the room clutching an open packet of popcorn, spilling out yellow kernels everywhere.

"And this is Coronamon," Cho said affectionately, hugging her red Digimon close. "I missed you, Coronamon! Don't go back to the Digiworld, will you?"

"And Kudamon." Draco gestured to his partner, his eyes sparkling in a way that none of them could have imagined he was capable of. He looked genuinely happy, Kouichi noted. So different from the Draco Malfoy whom he had seen taunting the Gryffindors and bullying the younger students at school.

"Looks like a ferret," Takuya commented, staring at Kudamon. The twins dissolved into gales of laughter at this, and Malfoy scowled.

"Shut up."

&&&&

Ken