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:Writing:
Thoughts
"English" (unless otherwise stated)
"Talking" (Japanese, unless otherwise stated)
Japanese Vacation
Chapter 12:
Letters Tell a Lot of Secrets
The next day, all five of the exchange students were very subdued, though all of them were prepared to act as though nothing was out of the ordinary when they encountered anyone from the Host Club. Suoh-san had warned them that Kyouya was a very determined individual. They would have to be on their guard.
Draco was probably the safest of them all, being a Slytherin, as he knew how to lie fairly convincingly, not that any of them were in a ton of danger. Fred and George knew how to keep secrets, and Harry and Hermione weren't exactly newbs at slipping around the truth.
--
Haruhi yawned as she entered the classroom and sat down in her seat. She looked at the twins, who were hunched over a desk whispering to each other.
"What is with them today?" She looked at them then looked to Draco. "I'd be careful if I was you, the twins are plotting something and you don't want to get in their way."
As she said this, she still had no idea what the twins where planning, neither did she know what Kyouya had found.
Hikaru looked around quickly before ducking his head back down, continuing to whisper with his brother.
Draco nodded, his eyes narrowing at Hikaru and Kaoru. "Don't worry, I have had plenty of experience avoiding those who plot against me," he tried to make it sound teasing, but didn't think he succeeded, as he was concentrating more on making eye contact with Potter and Granger.
He caught Potter's eye first, shifting his eyes to the twins before glancing back to Potter with a raised eyebrow. Potter's own eyes flickered to the twins before giving Draco a barely noticeable nod.
Good, he'd noticed. He continued watching long enough to see Potter hand a slip of paper to a reading Granger (when did she ever do anything else?) before turning back to his own desk.
Haruhi frowned a bit. "That doesn't sound good." She shrugged after a moment and picked out her notes and suck from her bag.
--
:Twins plotting. Might be because of Ohtori. Be careful.:
Hermione glanced up towards Harry, nodding once before slipping the note into her bag as she pulled out another book. It was nice to be informed
--
Hikaru looked over at Draco, and after hearing what Kyouya had told him he trusted the boy even less, as long as he was around Haruhi. He knew that he was being a hypocrite, but at least Harry and Hermione hadn't hurt him and his brother like Draco had hurt Haruhi.
Kaoru turned to Harry and gave him a simple friendly smile and a wave. "Hi Harry-neko. How are you?"
Harry shrugged. "Tired," he replied truthfully. "What about you?"
Hikaru nodded. "Eh I'm ok. We had to get here early today to finish fitting the other hosts for their suits." He smiled for a moment then thought. "Hey you guys should go to the ball next week. We host it here at the school."
--
Kaoru got up and sat in the empty seat next to Hermione. "Hikaru's not wanting to say anything, but I didn't think it was fair to keep it from you guys. We talked to Kyouya-sempai last night. He called us." He looked down at the desk for a moment while talking. "Look we don't want to have to snoop but we are very good at it." He looked up waiting to catch her eyes. "Please just tell Kyouya what he needs to know. You don't have to give him your whole life stories, just why all the stuff turned up the way it did." He sighed. "If you don't then things might get a bit," He thought for the right words. "Well, uncomfortable around here. We want to keep you guys as friends."
Hermione looked at Kaoru, eyes half-shuttered. "I'm afraid I don't know what to say, Hitachiin-san," she said, her voice fairly cool. "We are who we are, and we are exchange students from Hogwarts. There is nothing special about us except that Harry, the twins and I are practically family."
Of course that was only partly true, but she couldn't very well tell them about their adventures, could she? That would defeat the purpose of not telling Kyouya anything.
--
Harry paled at the mention of a ball. "A ball?" he said, thinking back on his own disastrous one held last year at Hogwarts. "I don't think I'll be going. Last time I attended one I made a fool out of myself." He shook his head.
"That's too bad, Potter-san." Hikaru flinched at his own words.
At the words 'Potter-san', Harry knew that they were involved. Neither of the twins had ever called him by his last name. Harry simply shrugged back before pulling out a book.
--
Kaoru sighed, defeated. "Oh well, I guess it was worth asking wasn't it?" He gave her a weak smile before standing. "I'm sorry to say that things around her are going to be a little rough for you and your friends. We won't let anyone get hurt though, and you have my word as far as that goes." He walked back to his seat and shook his head at Hikaru, who only gave Harry a sad smile before turning in his seat.
Haruhi looked at the twins and then to the others. Something was up and she wanted to know. She stood up and walked to the twins. "Guys what's with you?"
"It's nothing, Haruhi-chan. You don't have to worry." Kaoru smiled at her, waving a hand. They weren't going to have her become a part of this fiasco. She was becoming such good friends with Draco, and he didn't want that to change.
Haruhi glared and grabbed the twins' arms. "Come on, we're going to talk out in the hall."
"But Haruhi, class-."
"Isn't going to start for another ten minutes." She dragged the two out into the hall and looked at them. "Now spill it."
--
As soon as the door closed behind the twins and Haruhi, Harry turned in his desk to face Hermione.
"They're involved," they both whispered simultaneously. Harry then glanced over at Malfoy, but the blond was busy elsewhere.
"So?" Harry asked.
Hermione shrugged. "We carry on as usual. Oh, I told them that the only thing special about us was that we were practically family."
Harry nodded. "How do you think the twins are holding up?"
Hermione shrugged. "Normally, I'd say they were doing better than us, but they've got Ohtori-san in their class."
"Do you think he'll badger them?"
Another shrug. "I don't know, Harry. Fujioka-san's back."
Harry turned in his seat once more, going back to his book, looking for all the world as if he hadn't moved.
Behind him, Hermione did the same.
Both of them were wondering why they couldn't, just once, have a normal school year.
--
The two looked at each other for a moment then sighed. "Ok, ok, Kyouya-sempai called us last night and told us what he found out about the exchange students and their teacher."
"Why was he doing research on them?"
"Why do you think? He's Kyouya-sempai. He does that with everyone." Hikaru shrugged. "Well, he found out that there aren't records on any of them, 'cept for Granger-chan and Harry-neko."
"Even those stopped when they were a bit older then eleven." Kaoru put out his hands, motioning them as he spoke. "There isn't even anything on their school. For all we know it might not even exist."
"And what did Granger-chan and Potter-kun have to say about this?" Haruhi asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"They won't say anything." Hikaru looked down at the floor and shook his head. Haruhi did the same.
"Leave them alone." She said angrily before turning and storming back into the class. She took her seat next to Draco and let her hand rise to her head, rubbing her temples. "What am I going to do with those two…?" She asked quietly.
Hikaru and Kaoru sighed and went back into the room, taking their own seats. After exchanging sad glances at each other they began to get ready for class.
--
Draco turned and raised an eyebrow at Haruhi. "Hmm?" he asked, though he had a fairly good idea. By asking, though, he got confirmation.
Haruhi looked up at Draco for a moment then sighed. "I'm so sorry that Kyouya and the others are trying to pry into your lives." She shook her head then looked at her desk. "I'm not going to ask you guys anything about anything that Kyouya-sempai found out because it's not my business, though I can't say the same for the twins."
Draco nodded, a small smile appearing on his lips. "Thank you for the warning. We had guessed as much. It does get irritating though," he sighed.
Haruhi nodded. "I can see how that would be irritating. Just be careful around Kyouya-sempai. He's not only scary, he's smart. Plus he has an entire army at his disposal." Haruhi sighed again and set her head on her desk. "This is too troublesome."
Draco's eyes widened. "An army?" his voice was a touch more squeaky than he would have like it, but there wasn't anything he could do about that at the moment.
Haruhi nodded. "Yeah. Why do you think I haven't jus up and left the club and the school?" She smiled. All she wanted to do was keep everything as normal as possible.
Draco shrugged. "I had wondered. I guess I just thought you really cared about that debt." He gave a small smile back.
Haruhi smiled and began to take notes that were being wrote on the board. "I only wish that were the reason why I stayed." She laughed a bit as she wrote.
--2-A--
Fred and George whispered over their desk. The subject was the recent obsession Kyouya seemed to have gotten with them. They were trying to find ways of distracting the other teen. Unfortunately, they did not know enough about him to know if anything would work.
Kyouya had his laptop open and was typing furiously. So far all he had gotten was information on the Granger family. He had all the information he would ever need on them but when he went to look up the Potter's he didn't find anything. So he went to looking into Harry's uncle and aunt's family. Soon he found that there was a girl by the name of Lily Evans who had no information shortly after her own eleventh birthday.
Just like Potter-san and Granger-san. This is odd. Could she be his mother? If so why is there no information on his father, or the Potter's?
He continued to type and after much digging and a bit of hacking on his part he found himself looking at a letter from a Professor Dumbledore to…the Dean himself. His eyes grew wide as he read it:
:Suoh Yuzuru,
I am contacting you for a matter of great importance. I would like your permission to send a few of my students to your school for them to learn how you live.
Normally, I am sure this would be no problem, however, these students are not normal, nor are the circumstances involving them, as some of them will be completely oblivious to some of the most mundane things.
We are in the middle of trying times, and it is our hope that some of our students' eyes are opened so they can see that our two people's are not as different as they appear to be at first glance. If you are agreeable, and can give a binding contract that you will tell no one of this, then please sign the bottom of this letter.
I will know and promptly send the next.
Most sincerely,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Order of Merlin; first class:
Kyouya gaped for a moment before regaining his composure. He found a second letter and clicked on the link before he began to read once more:
:Suoh Yuzuro,
Everything has been finalized, and you will be receiving six students and one teacher chaperone. On behalf of all of us, I thank you for you part in opening our children's eyes.
We are trusting them into your care, and I am most sure that they will return to us better than they came, each of them with more insight and knowledge about our non-magical brethren.
Most sincerely,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Order of Merlin; first class:
Kyouya raised an eyebrow.
Now, surprisingly, this makes everything make so much more sense. The reason for why they have no files or are missing things is because, to us, they no longer, or never did, exist, Kyouya thought to himself.
He nodded his head and saved the files onto his own compute in a locked folder. Later he would print them out to show the others and then burn them. Just because he knew these new things about their new friends did not mean he was going to spill it to everyone. He closed his laptop after erasing his trail from the school's memory before grabbing his phone to text the Hitachiin twins.
:Found all I need, do not say a word to anyone outside of the Host Club. Wizards.:
--1-A--
Hikaru looked at his phone as he received the text. His eyes grew wide and he snapped his head around to look at Kaoru who was giving him the same look. Then both turned and looked at Harry.
"No way…"
Harry, being bored out of his mind, and not really interested in his book, glanced up at the twins, frowning. "What?" he asked, his eyes switching between them.
After looking at each other then at Harry, Kaoru handed him his phone so that he could read the text.
Harry raised his eyebrow at Kaoru, but took the phone. He read it silently, his eyes freezing on the last words. He literally felt his blood run cold. He also felt the color leave his face. Without saying a word, he glanced up and waited.
Kaoru smiled carefully. "That does explain a bit." He winked at Harry. "Don't worry." He took his phone from Harry and the two of them made it very obvious as they erased the texts. "Your secret is safe with us."
"Well aside from the other Hosts, but no one will say anything about it outside of the Host club." Hikaru smiled at the shorter boy.
Harry shifted his gaze from one to the other a moment, at a loss for what to do. They had not even considered that they might actually learn anything. How had they managed it? There was nothing that would have pointed them in the right direction, nothing. Right?
Finally, he nodded once and turned back to his desk, knowing that he was confirming what they already knew. With a sad sigh, he picked up his pencil and wrote two words on it before making sure the teacher was not looking in their direction and passing it back to Hermione.
She took it after a look at the teacher. :They know.:
Hermione paled.
--
Draco went to say something to Haruhi, but happened to glance over to where Potter and Granger were sitting. They looked awfully pale. He frowned, wondering what had happened.
"How much more do you have to pay back?" Draco asked, starting in on his notes as well.
Haruhi thought for a moment. "I don't quite know really, perhaps about seven million or six and a half. They said I would be working on it till graduation." She looked up at Draco. "Why do you ask?"
Draco shrugged, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Just curious." It was ridiculous, really, he shouldn't even be considering it. She was a muggle. Beneath him . . .
Yet, here they were, talking like equals. His father would never allow it.
His father didn't have to know.
His father would find out.
Draco closed his eyes and ran a hand over his temples. His head hurt.
Haruhi looked at Draco, a small trace of worry in her brown eyes. "Are you ok? Do you need something for headaches?"
Draco glanced up and smiled again. "No it's okay. It's just a little one. I've had much worse."
Briefly he wondered why he seemed to smile so often.
Haruhi nodded. "Alright. If it gets worse, tell me and I'll give you something for it." She turned and went back to her work.
--
Harry glanced up at the clock then tore off a section of his paper, writing another quick note. He may not have liked Malfoy, but he deserved to know. So did Fred and George, for that matter. He frowned and twisted in his seat, quickly glancing up at the teacher, who, once again, was paying no attention to the class.
Seeing that she was writing, Harry tapped his pencil on Hermione's desk. She jumped, startled, and glanced up.
'Twins,' he mouthed.
She frowned, glancing at Kaoru and Hikaru. Harry shook his head.
'Fred and George?' she mouthed back.
Harry nodded. She tilted her head to the side.
'Galleon?'
Hermione's eyes brightened. And she nodded. Carefully she reached into her bag and pulled out a galleon. She had gotten the idea last year when reading a book, but had only recently figured out how to do it. She'd been planning on giving one to Harry and Ron so that they could plan on meeting without anyone knowing. With how their school years went, it was better to be prepared ahead of time. Hermione had made these the night before in an attempt to help.
'Lunch?'
Harry nodded.
Hermione quickly put it in.
--2-A--
Both Fred and George felt their pockets warm. They shared a look before pulling the Galleons from their pockets, careful not to let them be seen.
A time and place had appeared on them. They shared a look, one thing running through their minds.
What now?
--
Allanasha Ke Kiri: Hey all, sorry for the long delay between the last post and this one. Life kind of got in the way. On the upside, it shouldn't happen again . . . Hopefully.
Aku-Hitokiri-Kitsune: Hey guys I know it's been awhile but we've had stress to the max. Well, review please!!