Chapter 8: Suspicions

Harry Potter walked to the history of magic classroom. Professor Kirkland had asked to meet with him on Saturday at ten o'clock in the morning. He came to the professor's class and knocked on the door.

There was a banging noise as if he dropped something and then footsteps approaching the door. The door opened revealing the professor's bushy eyebrows and emerald green eyes. His messy blond hair was cover by the hood of his green cloak. He threw the hood back.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. Forgive me." he said. "I'm not used to people being on time. Of course I sometimes forget your kind is different from my colleagues. Come in."

He opened the door wider and beckoned Harry in. He stepped in and the professor closed and bolted the door behimd him. The normally bright classroom was as dark as night. Black curtains covered the windows and the only light was coming from white candles.

"Vho is it, Arthur?" a familiar, Romanian voice asked.

"This is Mr. Harry Potter, Vlad." Kirkland said as a man with long brown hair and red eyes stepped into the candlelight.

"Alo Mr. Potter. My name is Vlad." the man introduce himself. He smiled revealing vampire fangs.

"You're a vampire?" Harry asked causing the man to visibly flinch. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

"Nu, it's fine. I am not a vampire. My fangs are just a reminder for vhat my old boss made me do." he explained. "I'd rather not talk about it. Anyvay, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter. Even in Romania you are famous."

"Thank you for your help Vlad." Professor Kirkland said. "Will Lukas come next time or will it just be you?"

"Nu, just Lukas. I cannot come next time. I have meeting vith Nikolai in Bulgaria. But I vill come if Norge thinks the defenses are veakened. And don't mention it. It keeps Elizaveta and her frying pan out of my hair." Vlad replied. "I will be going now." He turned to Harry. "Tell your friend Ron, that his brother, Charlie, says alo."

Vlad disappeared on the spot. Professor Kirkland chuckled and used his wand to open the curtains before blowing out the candles. He beckoned Harry to sit down before getting tea.

"Tell me, Mr. Potter, how are you liking your classes?" he asked. "Matthew tells me Umbridge's is the worst. But Alfred claims potions is. Then again, he doesn't attend Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"They're okay. Umbridge is a-" he stopped thinking the professor might rat him out.

"A real tyrant?" he finished. "I know all about those. I've had bosses like that in past. Those type of people are the reason Matthew's the only brother I really get along with."

"But you and Alfred seem to get along." Harry pointed out.

"Yes, but I think that's because I blindsided him by bringing him here. He hasn't believed in magic since he was a very young child and now he's forced to be around it. Right now he's clinging to familiarity. And Umbridge isn't helping any." the professor explained.

"But he's a wizard, why wouldn't he believe it?"

Kirkland sighed. "Certain events made him fear and doubt it's existence. And when he rebeled against me, I took his magic so the fight wasn't made worse. The falling out we had could have been worse if magic was added to the mix. And another thing that didn't help is when I got my revenge, Matthew helped, and together we used magic against him in a way we never should have. I really don't want go into detail."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories." Harry apologized.

"Oh it's fine, Mr. Potter. I have a very complicated family." he said. "You know, I knew your parents. They were fine people. I know they are proud of you and they would want you to fight for what's right. Don't let Umbridge and that corrupt organization known as the Ministry of Magic stop you from telling the truth and saving lives."

"What are you saying, Sir?" Harry asked.

Professor Kirkland leaned closer to him. "I'm saying do whatever you need to do. And if you're going to do something behind the toad's back, include Alfred, Matthew, Ludwig, and Feliciano. Believe me, they might be first years but they'll be a big help." He glanced at a watch on his wrist. Before Harry could ask how that was working in the school he said, "Look at the time. You should be going. It was a pleasure talking with you, Mr. Potter."

Harry got up feeling confused. Professor Kirkland can't possibly know about Hermione's idea, can he? And why does he have an aura of wisdom and importance around him?

Harry found Hermione in the library. She and Ron were arguing about something but not loud enough to attract Madam Pince's attention. Nearby, Professor Kirkland's younger brothers, the German, and the Italian were doing a potions essay. Well everyone except the Italian was working on potions. Feliciano already had his work done and he was painting.

"Ve~ do you think Kiku will like it?" he asked showing his friends a painting of Tokyo. "It's the capital of Japan after all."

"Yeah dude. That's awesome. Can you do New York?" Alfred asked.

"Ve~ sí! Of course I can." Feli replied while carefully tearing the painting out so it could dry. He stuck cardboard under another piece so he could paint another. "I can do Berlin, Moscow, D.C., London, Paris, Rome, and more too."

Harry continued to the table where Hermione and Ron were. They stopped arguing as soon as they saw Harry. Neither one said a word about Hermione's idea for Harry teaching DADA.

"Hey Hermione, I think that Professor Kirkland and those first years that hang around him aren't human." Harry whispered. "It's just the way he talked to me today, I think he was referring to the American Revolution or something. And the way he talks about the Roman Occupation and Viking Invasions, it's like he witnessed them first hand."

"And did you notice the way he rants about other countries, he calls the 'he' or 'she' like they're human or something." Ron added softly. Little did they know, Matthew was nearby listening in. "And I think I heard that Feliciano kid call hI'm 'Inghilterra.' What does that even mean?"

"It's Italian for England." Hermione answered. "And that Ivan fellow was calling Alfred 'little America.' He also mentioned Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia."

"So I wasn't the only on that heard that. Good, I thought I was imagining things." Ron said.

"I've been meaning to look up that mirror so I'll see about countries being personified too." Hermione announced before getting up and leaving.

Matthew was about to go back to Italy, Germany, and America when Alfred stepped out of the shadows and scared him. He forgot that Alfred's Cold War spy days made him sneaky. One look at his face told the Canadian that he heard everything Harry Potter and his friends spoke about.

"We need to tell the others, Mattie." he said in a serious tone. "And we need to make sure all texts that mention us are out of the library."

This was serious if America wasn't laughing or joking. The two walked back to Italy and Germany. Immediately they sensed something was up.

"Vhat have you done now, Alfred?" Germany asked.

"Nothing. But we have a huge problem." he replied.

Italy opened his eyes. His honey brown orbs were full of worry.

"Ve~ what is it?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Harry Potter and his friends are onto the five of us." Matthew told them.

"Vhat do you mean?" Ludwig demanded.

"He means they've caught our slip ups and Ivan didn't help things By calling me 'little America.'" America told them. "They also figured out what 'Inghilterra' means and we'll be in even more trouble if they figure out what 'Doitsu' means, because that's not even Italian. We might be able to explain the country names as translation slip ups but how are we going to explain that an Italoan native knows Japanese when he's supposedly never been to Japan."

"Ve~ But I can't say 'Germania' because that's who killed Nonno." Feliciano said.

"No more saying the names of countries unless you're talking about geography." Alfred said. "And we have to stop talking about historical events as if we were there. And stop referring to countries as 'he' and 'she.' Artie included."

"I'll go tell Arthur. You guys start hunting down any books that mention the possibility of countries even being personified." Matthew told them.

"Ja. Feliciano, you help Alfred. I'll go vith Matthew." Ludwig added. "It might be best to have two people break this news to him. He might get angry."

"Okay, you have a point. Come on Feli, dude, let's start lookin'" America agreed. "If you could, can you have Iggy write a note so we can get into they restricted section?"

"Oui." Canada replied.

Uh-oh the Golden Trio's suspicious. Anyway a lot of you have noted I update fast and that's because 1) I enjoy writing this and 2) it's the weekend so I'm not in class. It helps that I missed school last week so I don't have homework. But should warn you I won't be updating as fast this week because I have a ton of work to make up. Thanks to all my followers and reviewers. Your support means so much to me. I don't own Harry Potter or Hetalia.