Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Saiyuki
CHAPTER FOUR: MEETING THE COMPETITION
Goku sat next to Goyjo, practically bouncing in his seat as he waited for the food. "Are we going to eat soon?" He kept asking, "I'm starving."
The red-headed boy sitting next to him frowned. "Can't you wait?" He snapped.
Goku looked over innocently. "No!"
The red-headed boy looked like he was going to say something else, but he was interrupted as Sanzo and Hakkai came over, and sat next to their friends.
"Stop it, Goku." Sanzo told him. "You can eat in a minute. Now stop bouncing."
Goku stopped.
The bushy haired girl who sat next to the red-headed looked over at them disapprovingly. "I don't think your supposed to sit over here." She told the two students from other houses.
"Yeah, mate, especially the Slytherin one. We don't want an evil wizard at our table."
Goku looked over at his other table mates in confusion. "Sanzo isn't evil," he told them, "he's a monk."
His companion whacked him upside the head again, whispering in his ear, "We're twelve here."
Goku's face lit up in understanding. "Or at least, he's training to be a monk." he went on to explain, as though he had meant to the entire time.
The other Gryffendores looked at him accusingly. "Why do you defend him?" They questioned. "He must've cursed you!" The red head announced.
Goku still looked confused, and the bushy haired girl exclaimed, "Honestly, Ronald, they knew each other before they arrived, and if you were listening, you'd realize that they haven't been to a magic school before, so it would be impossible for him to be spelled."
The red head, Ron, frowned belligerently. "Why are you siding with them? Everyone knows Slytherins are evil."
Hakkai suddenly felt the need to speak up. "You can't really believe that Slytherins are sorted into their house because they evil, can you? Are you really that stupid?"
"Hey!" The black haired kid started, his wire glasses sitting uncomfortably on his nose, Ron nodding in agreement. "You can-"
However, Hakkai interrupted him, in a rare display of temper. "People aren't born evil. They make bad choices, but so does everyone. Do you honestly believe that everyone is irredeemable? What makes a person evil?"
Ron spoke up again, "They just are."
Hakkai gave a cold smile that sent shivers down the spines of the people at the table. "If I wanted to say evil was killing someone, then your very own Mr. Potter would be evil, and you obviously don't think that."
Goyjo agreed. "You're all children. What could most of you have done besides hurt someone's feelings? If that doesn't make ya evil, then what does?"
The Gryffindores remained silent, although the tense atmosphere reeked of how they were dying to disagree, but were unable to find a counter argument.
The rest of the dinner passed in silence, and soon everyone headed up to the dormitories to go to bed.
The next morning, the Sanzo gang found themselves waking up earlier then the other students out of habit, so they all met up outside the library to discus their next move.
"What have you found out?" Sanzo asked irritably, still half asleep.
Goyjo growled in annoyance. "The black haired one's Potter, the annoying red-head was Weasley, and the smart-aleck was Granger. They seem to be the one's most likely to be our competition, since, from what I hear, they solved the Sorcerers Stone last year. Overly curious, if you ask me."
"We didn't ask you!" Goku chirped, much more cheerfully then the other three. Even Hakkai, who was normally awake in the morning was drowsy.
"Shut up, monkey!" Goyjo snapped.
Goku was just about ready to yell back, and Sanzo was rubbing his temples in irritation, when Hakkai spoke up.
"Calm down." He broke into the impending argument, "It's probably just the jet lag speaking. I'm sure you will all feel better in a bit."
Goku looked at them curiously. "Are you sick?" he asekd.
The others groaned. The stupid monkey was as full of energy as ever, and none of them wanted to deal with it.
"No," Sanzo growled. "I want to go back to bed."
Goku nodded understandingly. "Right..." he paused. "Want to explore the school with me since your up?"
Sanzo nearly cried. "NO!" he exclaimed. "I'm going back to bed. Since we haven't found anything important, we can meet back up at breakfast."
Goku looked at him in disappointment. "What am I gonna do?" he whined.
Sanzo growled, and looked at Hakkai and Goyjo, who were already shaking their heads. He sighed, and looked at the boy. "You can explore the school by yourself." he decided.
Goku grinned. "Can I go into the Forbidden Forest then."
Sanzo wanted to shoot himself. "No! At least not yet. Just explore the inside, for now."
Goku nodded excitedly. "Okay! See you at breakfast."
Sanzo nodded wearily, and joined the other two in returning back to their dormitories for another couple of hours.
Goku watched until the other three were out of sight, before a wicked glint entered his eyes. He was wide awake, and he had Sanzo's permission to explore!
Maybe he would try to find that strange snakelike scent that seemed to permeate the school. It was a strong smell, so it was either a big snake or a lot of little ones.
He wandered around, talking cheerfully to the sleeping portraits who protested his rude awakenings (yelling in their face), but was unable to find the source of the stink.
Frowning, he wondered if this was the challenge that the Goddess had wanted them for.
He was going to continue his search, after an hour had past, but as he was passing through one of the empty hallways, he caught sight of something so hideous, he wasn't sure if he could handle it. Heck, he wasn't sure if Hakkai, with his limitless patience, could even handle it.
He ran to the dorm to warn his frineds about the monster.
Gilderoy Lockheart was left, looking down the abandoned hallway, and wondering if someone had just been there.
A/N: Well, here's the update for this one. It's been a couple months, so its due. However, I'm not sure if I got the characters right since it's been awhile since I read or wrote anything for this manga. Let me know and review!