Chapter 9
It's Time For Tea
Konekomaru Miwa always loved the technology and now he loved it even more. Thanks to the internet and forcing brothers Okumura to buy a decent internet camera, the whole group could still communicate with ease, even if they ended up in many different places. Which they did.
The Okumura brothers were travelling the most, sometimes not even together, but Suguro was the one who ended up stationed overseas. It wasn't a complete surprise. To tell the truth, Konekomaru would be deeply surprised if it wasn't element of some overly complicated plan of Mephisto. Still, for the first month he felt almost like an unlucky fish that got thrown onto the beach: completely out of his place and without a chance for returning to his comfort zone.
It was stupid of him and Konekomaru was painfully aware of that fact too. He was an advisor, after all. Before they even finished their training, he was already analyzing actions of his friend – who was the future head of the temple – and finding out more efficient ways to solve the problem.
But without Bon around, Konekomaru suddenly became a player himself and he didn't like this role much. Speaking out loud instead of whispering proposals into somebody's else ears, making decisions on the spot instead of spending time to further analyze all the available data… it just wasn't his world.
At least the Internet let him to go back to his comfort zone for a short moment, to play from the shadows and just keep an eye on all of his friends. Well, it usually did. Long messages written in English were not appearing every other day and it was even less usual for them to inform about somebody getting kidnapped by a group of magicians of all things.
"I have no idea what that message was about, " Rin whined. He showed up shortly after Konekomaru send the messages to the whole group about the odd message on the board. "Was he drunk, or something?"
"...did you just ran it through a translator?"
"Well, yeah!" Rin blinked, rocking left and right on the Konekomaru's bed, mangling the sheets and blankets he was sitting on. The bed was the only thing in the entire place that proved someone was indeed living here. The rest of the room looked more like a study of some religious–crazy informatician. There were high, heavy bookcases and cabinets filled either with books or electronic parts and tools, all of them in neat order. There was also a dark corner, shielded from the light coming through the window, that looked almost like a command center from some cheap sci–fi movie. A row of cute cat pictures hanging over the computer screen wasn't doing much against that impression.
"It was like a real gibberish, you know!" Okumura continued his pouting.
"No," Konekomaru sighed. "It wasn't. "You really should work on your English, you know!"
"I've finished school some time ago! No way I'm doing anything like that ever again!"
"Whatever," Konekomaru finally said. "Your brother is...?"
"At work, probably," Rin shrugged. "Considering the time..."
"And is he aware that you just decided to use the Key and pop at a different continent, breaking several laws by doing so?"
"It's not like anyone is going to ask me for my Passport when I'm here," Okumura rocked on the balls of his feet, still not looking at him. So Yukio hadn't known nothing, because otherwise he would at least make sure that the papers were dealt with.
"Whatever," Konekomaru groaned. "You're going to stay here, we're going to set up an Internet conversation with the whole group…"
"He made it sounds like Suguro was kidnapped by those people," Rin pointed out with a frown. "I don't like waiting when stuff like that happens. I want to– "
"So you do understand English after all?" he massaged his temples in hopes to keep the headache at bay. "Make up your mind, for crying out loud!"
"I guessed," Okumura shrugged. Then he pushed hands down his pockets and looked around the room, like he was trying to fake disinterest. "It wasn't that hard, you know."
"I bet it wasn't," Konekomaru politely agreed. "But we still can't just go there and hope that we will be lucky enough to find him. The place is way to huge."
"So what we are supposed to do?" Rin shook his head. "Just sit here and hope for the best?"
That was not an option and they both knew it perfectly.
"Try to talk to Sir Pheles, for the starters. He likes you and if somebody knows something about hidden places it would be him."
Rin blinked. "That sounds like a good idea."
Then he walked out, because as he said – sitting around wasn't his thing.
Konekomaru sighed. "Meanwhile, I'm going to make a call home."
He was probably too hard on Okumura. After all, he himself barely could force himself to sit and think things through instead of rushing to the other side of the world, to do… well, something. And he was the plan guy.
The sad thing about life was the fact that all the carefully crafted plans tended to be thrown out of the window pretty often. Especially, if Rin had something to say about the whole situation. Only few hours passed since Konekomaru talked with Okumura, and the reality already managed to crumble and fell into pieces.
Figures, Konekomaru though.
xxx
Fred still had fever, but at least he wasn't nauseous anymore. Just a bit drowsy. The muggle medicine made him feel a bit funny too. But that wasn't a problem, not at all.
The problem was the fact that Fred was bored out of his mind. Usually when he was in the Hospital Wing, his brother was there too, so they could kill the time in some way. Or at least bet how many minutes it would take Ms. Pomfrey to unleash her wrath at them.
Here, however, he was alone, safe for the muggle medical personnel and mom, who probably was way more out of place and scared than he felt. But while she was getting all sorts of talks about the funny demonic things that floated around and were invisible for most of the time, they all decided that Fred needed time to rest.
He was well rested now. Not in a mood to look at the bed, even.
Fred carefully looked around. There was no bag with water attached to his forearm right now, even if the Muggles decided that leaving this odd, plastic thing in his arm was a good idea. The lack of the bag was a good thing, since it would be hard to move around carrying something like that around.
Fred slowly slipped out of the bed and winced, when his bare feet touched the cold floor. He should probably move his legs back up and look around the room for some slippers or even socks, but Fred was stubborn and bored enough to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.
His legs were a little on the wobbly side and Fred needed to prep himself up with the small night table that stood on the side of his bed. After a short moment, he was good enough to walk around a bit, so he moved to the window.
The outside wasn't interesting at all. Unless your name was Arthur Weasley. All Fred could see on the outside, was a sizeable muggle parking lot, with a lot of people hurrying between the vehicles, minding their own business, parking their cars or driving away. He could see the stairs that led to the building too, same as a weirdly shaped path, that was slightly elevated and led around the stairs. It made sense only after Fred saw someone sitting on a chair with big wheels being pushed by another person. The odd path was wide enough to safely manipulate this odd invention and get the sick person on the ground level without using levitating spells.
"Dad would really love this," he said to himself - a clear sign that he was going insane because of all that boredom - bending, so he could see the outside a little bit better.
"Your Dad definitely is not going to like the fact that you're out of your bed, pal."
Fred jumped, startled by the voice. He hadn't hear the doors opening, steps outside, nothing! Were these people using cushioning charms on their shoes? But wait, they were Muggles...
He turned away, almost expecting to see Madam Pomfrey, even if it was quite impossible to happen in a muggle facility.
The woman that stood in the doors looked vaguely familiar. Was she one of the people who were talking to mom back when they first arrived here? Fred honestly couldn't tell.
She looked like she was in her twenties or thirties - it was hard to tell. Her big, dark eyes were making her look considerably younger and Fred was pretty sure that her deeply tanned skin was perfect for hiding things like winkles too.
"Uh, sorry?" he said with a goofy smile on his face. "But I'll get crazy if I stay in the bed any longer."
"A little bit of madness might be of some use," the woman snickered.
"I'm crazy enough, I assure you, Ma'am!" Fred was about to bow in a theatrical manner but this time his body protested against such a movement, so he had to stop half-way through.
The woman shook her head with clear amusement written all over her face.
"Look," Fred sighed. "I'm just good enough to be bored out of my mind. And I've slept for like a day or even more, so I can't do that anymore...!"
"So what, you're going to promise me to be a good boy and go back to bed if I find you something to do?"
"Um, yeah?"
"So what do you want then, a gameboy?"
Fred only blinked in confusion.
"Honestly!" the woman sighed. "You people!"
"I uh... I wouldn't mind if you could bring me a business management book, or something?" Fred muttered. "My brother and I... we sort of borrowed some of these out of Suguro's bag and they were pretty interesting!"
The woman stared at him for a short moment, then started to chuckle.
"You're probably the first person I ever knew to call something like that interesting," she explained. "But sure, I can find something like that for you. Or send somebody else to do that."
"And take the credit?"
"Well, that's the chain of power for you," she shrugged. "Now get back to bed before I drag you there myself."
Fred obediently moved away from the window and returned where he was supposed to be in the first place. His feet were rather grateful for that too; they were ice-cold already and he wasn't walking around for too long.
The woman stayed long enough to make sure that he actually was going back under covers, but left before he actually wrapped himself up with the sheets.
"Huh," Fred blinked, rubbing his feet against each other to get them warm a little bit faster. "Who she was anyway?"
He probably wasn't going to meet her again anytime soon, considering the fact that she was going to send somebody else for the book - if she wasn't saying that to just humor him - she was too high on the ladder to actually do stuff like that. Fred was curious, why she decided to check on him in the first place. He felt, like there would be a lot of waiting, before he will get an actual answer to anything at all.
"Well," he mumbled. "Guess now I know, how Harry felt like."
Bored out of his mind, freaked out by the lack of answers while the evil was lurking in the shadows and pure annoyance at the people who decided that they knew better.
Fred moved a bit to the right, trying to find a more comfortable position, then decided the problem was in his pillow. But no matter how he smacked it, it just wasn't good enough. Because of the fever, his skin was oversensitive and every winkle on the sheets felt like it was rubbing painfully right against the burnt marks the ghoul left on his body.
At least his feet were not painfully cold anymore.
Fred dropped onto the pillow with a painful sigh, feeling defeated and still not tired for even a tiniest bit.
The universe seemed to have some mercy in store for him; shortly after Fred started to believe that the woman actually lied to him, someone showed up to drop a bunch of books on the night table. And then was startled by the enthusiastic reaction Fred had at the sight of the textbooks.
Well, maybe, just maybe, he spend a little bit too much with Hermione and she rubbed on him a little.
On the other hand, the Muggles did a really fascinating thing, turning running a business into an actual science, with rules and tactics and a lot of reasons behind even a tiniest little thing.
A big part of each book was mostly about the - surprise, surprise - muggle market and banks, and other stuff that wasn't even existing in the magical world. It was interesting anyway, but Fred felt like he was lacking a whole bunch of information on how the Muggles developed all these things and why. He would bug someone to bring him more.
For the moment however Fred was satisfied with reading all about selling tactics, uncomfortable pillow completely forgotten.
xxx
Right after the front doors of Grimmauld Place nr 12 hit the floor, a giant, horned cat landed in them with a menacing roar, shocking all the members of the Order of The Phoenix who flooded the corridor.
"What!" was all Moody could say, because there simply were no words to describe the situation. Then he quickly looked at Suguro; the exorcist didn't seem to be too stressed about the sudden break in. More like pleasantly surprised. So the danger wasn't that dangerous, even if it still made Alastor question the reality.
"Is that your cat?" It wasn't a question the old Auror planned to ask, but it somehow slipped out anyway. Mostly because the beast was huge, pissed off and right in front of him.
"I told you that somebody is going to show up," Suguro answered with a mocking smile.
"Is this a cat?!" Sirius gasped, pointing his wand at the beast.
Whatever it was, it wasn't alone. There were two riders on top of it, which was even more ridiculous than just a monstrous black cat breaking in a place that was supposed to be hidden from everyone.
The first rider jumped down and landed on the floor graciously. It was a young man, lean and with the most startling blue eyes Alastor even seen. Which was quite weird, considering he was clearly Asian. There was also a katana in his hand, the blade still unsheathed.
The other person followed him. This one a woman, with an eye patch and long, blond hair, fashioning a white kimono of all things. She looked around, a single muscle twitching on her face like she was trying to not grimace with disgust and finally, she looked straight at Suguro.
"Suguro–dono," she said. "You appear to be in quite interesting relations with your kidnappers. Was your mind tampered with?"
While she was talking in English, her accent was heavy. When Ryuji was speaking, he sounded almost like he spend his entire life on the British Isles and she was just the opposite. The words were still easily recognizable, but they sounded just… off.
"O'Callaghann hadn't explained that this would be impossible?"
"I would expect a gratitude instead of nitpicking, Suguro–dono."
The blue–eyed stranger was looking back and forth between the two, the frown on his forehead deepening, like he was unsure how to react. Then he said something in Japanese. It sounded almost like he was protesting. The answer came, also in Japanese – it seemed it was the Order's turn to feel excluded from the conversation.
"Oh, you decided to show up too?" Suguro said, like he had noticed him only now. He knew mercy – mostly over his own nerves that wouldn't be able to stand more of his friend jumping round and demanding to be included in the conversation – and switched to Japanese.
"Hey, I'm here to save you and that the welcome I get?!" Rin protested. "You really are hopeless, you know!"
"I never planned to get kidnapped," Suguro shrugged. "As you can see, it turned out weirdly."
"Well," Rin pouted. "At least you're not in the another castle, Princess."
"Hadn't I told you enough times already to drop that nickname?" Suguro groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"It's getting funnier and funnier," Rin snickered.
"Boys, focus," Mamushi reprimanded them. "I would like to know what exactly is going on."
"Um… can you please switch back to English?" Sirius waved his hand at the unusual guests. "We… sort of would really want to know if we are fighting or something."
xxx
If there was any situation Harry wasn't expecting to happen at all, it definitely was it.
Never in his entire live he would suspect that Muggles would decide to just break in like that. Not into a building that was kept safe by magic - and most powerful of the known kind! - and definitely not while riding a giant, horned cat.
The world was definitely not done with making fun of him, because somehow instead of fighting, they all ended up sitting around the kitchen table, drinking tea.
Because that was making so much sense!
It was so very awkward too. Remus was trying to make a good impression, while Sirius was just openly staring at the cat, who decided that switching to more cat-like size was a good idea sometime after they learned that the wizards were not hostile. Now the cat was sipping the cream out of a small plate, but didn't seem to be too satisfied with it.
Meanwhile Moody wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at the young man who barely could put two sentences together in English.
Harry had no idea what exactly set the old Auror so off about the guy. He seemed nice. Spend most of the time bugging Suguro for translating the conversation for him, while the other exorcist was answering from time to time with clear annoyance in his voice or even pushing the man away. Then he was being pushed back. It was probably the first time when Harry saw Suguro doing something well… bratty. Only now, he noticed how tense the exorcist was for entire time he was at the Grimmauld Place. It made Harry feel a pang of jealously, though it wasn't making any sense at all.
Of course Suguro had every right to be tense, forced to live with his kidnappers, even if the wizards actually hadn't had any bad intents behind their actions. He also had every reason to feel comfortable with his friends around. if Harry understood it completely, then Suguro and the blue-eyed man found side by side and not only once. Harry knew exactly how it was to be sure that someone got his backs no matter what and how bad it was to suddenly not have that sort of backup.
The woman, who apparently belonged to Suguro's temple as far as Harry understood, looked like she was the scary one. Especially her stare was just plain terrifying and the sharp, red line of her make-up wasn't helping at all. It only made her pale eyes with pupils that seemed to be unnaturally small even sharper.
"You truly decided to stay kidnapped?" she asked, clearly annoyed.
"There is a long explanation to that, but yes," Suguro said and shrugged. "And it was a good thing, too."
"I still would prefer for you to leave the place for a bit, just to inform us that you are fine!"
"That is more complicated," Suguro grimaced. "I doubt I would be even able to get back to this building once leaving, so I had to plan accordingly."
She frowned. "That doesn't make any sense! All you have to do it to follow the address...!"
"I'm afraid that's not so easy," Sirius snickered. "Try to tell him the address."
The woman opened her mouth, then frowned.
"Interesting," she said after a short moment.
"What is interesting is how you people managed to find this place," Professor Moody grunted, his magical eye barely leaving the blue-eyed man even for a moment.
"Here," she produced a piece of parchment out of her sleeve. The middle of it was covered with writing of nobody else, but Albus Dumbledore and looked exactly like the pieces of parchment all of the members of the Order of Phoenix had to read before being able to enter the headquarters. But these were destroyed on spot, so it wouldn't be possible for them to end up in wrong hands. Even Mung was careful about that. Or so said Sirius, but he had no reason to cover for the shady wizard. Not with something so big as keeping the safehouse actually safe.
"This is impossible!"
"Please, do remember what we have at our disposal," Suguro rolled his eyes.
"I might not be able to see these thing, but I can smell them just fine!"
"And by now you should be aware that the ghouls are not the only thing at our disposal."
The old Auror grunted something under his breath.
"Anyhow, everything is possible and that's it," Suguro decided to finish that topic. "That Dark Lord of yours is a whole other problem. Since I was actually able to exorcise him..."
"He's part of our business now, yes," Mamushi nodded. "But that you were aware of before you decided that getting kidnapped is a good idea."
"Originally I was planning on keeping an eye on their world through Harry," Suguro admitted in a matter of fact voice. "And ask him to contact someone reasonable for me, after I manage to gain enough information to have a vague idea what's exactly going on.
"Through Harry?" Sirius instantly stiffened.
Harry himself wanted to ask about that. Was the exorcist just using him, like the magical world seemed to be just to discard him without a second thought when he was done? It wouldn't be all too surprising, people were just like that, but still–
"Bad choice of words," Suguro grimaced slightly. "After such long contact with a spirit as Harry experienced, there's a possibility for another spirit to make appearance. I think somebody already explained it already, no?"
Harry nodded. Suguro did that himself, they day he exorcised Voldemort's spirit. Harry still felt uneasy about that one. To walking around with that thing stuck on his forehead... He actually had a nightmare or two of the wraith coming back, trying to force its way back into the scar.
"However yes, I was also interested in learning more about your world. Especially with crazies running around."
"Which shouldn't be your business in the first place," Alastor grunted. "Magical should stay in magical world."
"The Dark Wizard of yours," Mamushi said, her voice even colder than her expression. "He was exorcised, or not? That makes him our deal."
"Not to mention, you people tend to screw with brains of normal humans and we end up with the effects," Suguro snickered. "It's nice to at least know what is going on."
"Sounds like I need to have a word with some people," Alastor grimaced.
"...you do remember that you are retired, right?"
"That changes nothing," the ex-Auror shrugged. "If the people are sloppy enough for their job to be noticeable, then they need someone to set them straight."
The moment she finished her sentence was also the moment chosen by Albus Dumbledore to finally appear. Flames suddenly blossomed in the midair and upwards with a roar, just to take a shape of a man a short moment later.
The old wizard probably expected to appear in the middle of a battle or something like that. He looked very serious, which was quite a feat in clashing, colorful attire he was wearing. But all he saw, was a group of people sitting by the too big, ancient table, all of them very stiff and uncomfortable, while the untouched tea was getting cold.
"Woah!" Rin gasped, bending in an odd way to see better, miraculously not falling from his chair. "What an entrance!"
"...you were the one to walk in there with the front doors, you know?"
"I was saving princesses, it doesn't count!"
"I think he was doing the same thing here," Suguro shook his head.
Considering how nervous the wizards were after the ghouls decided to show up, it wasn't that surprising to see the old wizard putting a show like that. Especially after hearing that something managed to break into their super secret hidey-hole. He also had to admit that showing up with sudden burst of fire in the middle of the room was impressive. Well, Kuro was more intimidating, but Ryuji was so used to the Cat Sithe, he barely even noticed the scary part anymore.
"Suguro-dono? Would you please return to using English?"
"But I don't speak English!" Rin protested.
"It's a perfect time to practice your skills then."
Rin moaned "So cold!"
Then he lay down on the wooden surface of the table with an annoyed moan, showing his tea aside. The movement was too sudden and a bit of the tea spilled over onto the place and the table itself, but that Rin choose to ignore.
"Well, I'm glad that this time nobody got hurt," the old wizard said with a small sigh. "Though I must ask, how our... guest managed to find this place?"
"Yeah, that must be quite a story," Moody muttered, producing the scrap of paper with the address.
"I have no idea how the paper was acquired in the first place," Mamushi said. "It was given to us."
"It was alluded to us that you have a very interesting set of friends," Moody said with an annoyed grimace that he wasn't even trying to hide. "But this... This is just ridiculous!"
Rin nudged Suguro under the ribs, demanding to hear the translation and after hearing it he just shrugged.
"Eh, you just have to get used to it!" he said loudly.
The wizards looked at each other, each one with an odd expression.
"So…" Sirius started slowly. "This time nobody is fighting with anyone, right?"
"I sure hope so," Suguro answered.
"Good," he exhaled with relief. "I think I still have bruises after the last one!"
He wasn't the only one who relaxed. Remus looked like a huge weight finally lifted from his shoulders and the old wizard definitely looked much less tense too. Actually, he looked like he was trying to hide his amusement over Rin's behavior and failed.
It was a really good thing that Okumura decided to show up and not anybody else, Ryuji decided. He couldn't even imagine how messy the whole situation would look like, if it was Izumo instead. Or Moriyama. The girl would definitely completely trash the place beyond any hope of repair, terrify the wizards beyond any reason and all that with a warm, sweet smile never leaving her face. The mental image made him shudder.
"Mind if I ask," the old wizard said, while sitting by the narrow side of the table, probably to keep an eye on both sides with ease. "How young Mr. Weasley is doing?"
"As far as I know, the kid should be in fine condition by now," Mamushi answered.
"That's good to hear," the man nodded. "And what about Mrs. Weasley?"
"No charm will come to her," once again it was Hojo who answered. "Especially now, when we've decided we're not enemies."
"That doesn't change the fact that they are still Merlin knows where," Moody snickered. "All we have is the word of yours and I'm not sure if that's even close to being enough."
"What then? Do you truly think that we were the party who send the ghouls?"
"Well, since nobody else knows how to find this place…"
"We already went through that, didn't we?" Suguro cut in, before Hojo decided she had enough and send her familiar after the grumpy wizard. "And the woman would be back as soon as it will be safe for Fred to leave the hospital."
"And you can guarantee that?" Alastor snickered.
"Since we already found a way to talk to each other," Ryuji shrugged, unable to keep the smile from creeping onto his face. Then he exhaled slowly. "That doesn't change that fact that our two words are now mixed together. You can't just ignore that or sweep it under the rug and expect that nothing else would even happen."
"After what I've already saw it would probably just eat the fucking carpet," Moody groaned. "But what do you want then?"
Ryuji exchanged looks with Mamushi. The woman merely glanced at him, before she, barely noticeable, nodded. Suguro smiled.
xxx
Hermione bit her thumb, looking at the doors. When the odd... guests arrived, freaking the adult wizards enough that they actually were not arguing against letting Harry join the whole conversation. Hermione considered discreetly sitting by the table too, but in the end, decided against it. Ron and Ginny and especially George needed her much more, even if for most of the time she felt like a third wheel.
She was sure that Harry would share whatever he was going to learn during the meeting with the rest of them. Maybe he would wait a bit with that in a little act of vengeance - and they deserved it - but in the end he would share the information.
It was hard enough for her, to not know what exactly was going on or if Fred was better now. For his family, it was definitely unbearable. Hermione couldn't even imagine, how hard it was for Mr. Weasley, who had to still go to work and act like nothing had happened at all. The Order of Phoenix was a secret that could land everyone in trouble if it ever come out.
Since the moment Fred disappeared, George was acting… off. He was still smiling and joking, but it was hard to not notice the pauses in his speech patter, like he was waiting for a punchline and it was never there. His laughter didn't sound genuine either. More like he was an actor in a middle of play, or something like that.
The most painful thing was to catch a glimpse of him, while he through nobody was looking at him. That sober, gloomy expression didn't fit on his face at all, turning him into a stranger.
Now George was sitting on the sofa in a room they used to do their homework or talk with Suguro about this odd, scary stuff. Ron was next to him, quiet and awkward, nervously glancing between his brother and Ginny, who just looked pissed and walked in circles around the room.
"I'm sure he's doing just fine," Hermione said quietly, though she had no idea what she was hoping for. They all really wanted to believe that nothing bad was going to happen, but the reality happened to be a very unmerciful thing. Especially since the last year, when the evil incarnated demonstrated that it was possible to cheat the death. Now it only got worse, because they learned that the Death Eaters were not the only thing to be afraid of.
"He didn't look fine," George said, not raising his head.
"Yeah, but he heard Suguro, he got the help he needed," she said softly. "And he's not alone either."
"That's not making it any easier, you know," Ron grunted. "You heard how Moody made it sound, like they are going to keep them as prisoners, or something!"
"They are not bad people," Hermione said. " It's all one, big misunderstanding, but they are straightening thing up right now. Everything is going to be fine."
"But Hermione!" Ron protested. "People are like All Flavored Beans. They come in all the flavors. Well, not really, but you know what I mean, right? Some of them are fine, but sometimes you just find the one that's really nasty, like that Umbridge woman from the Ministry, who wanted to throw Harry out of the school."
She nodded, quite surprised how deep he managed to go with this candy–related metaphor.
"You're right," Hermione said, sitting next to him. She let her hand rest on his shoulder, not doing anything besides that. "But… we all saw at least a glimpse of whatever these things were, right? I don't think a bad person would risk life fighting against something like that just to help others."
"Suguro's not evil, I'll give you that," Ginny shrugged. "But you really think they all are like him?"
"Well, they rushed here to save a friend, right? Not knowing much what they were going to face… kind of like Harry."
"I'm not sure…" Ginny muttered, eyeing the doors with a frown on her face.
"Did you… You've seen something?" Ron asked, looking at her. "I mean, in a way we don't because of whatever?"
"There's something about those two," she muttered, angrily brushing hair behind her ear. "I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something really off about them."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, that's what I'm telling you!" Ginny grit her teeth. "The guy is like… edgy. Too many edges on him. Sort of like the veela chick from Beauxbatons, but she was the other way around. "
George chuckled. "Those are supposed to fill at some point, sis."
"I'm not talking about boobs!" she huffed at him angrily. "And he's not worrying me too much. I mean, I don't think that Suguro guy would be so chubby with a nasty person."
"He got stick up his ass, I'll give you that," Ron nodded.
Hermione smacked him, just a little, and hissed something about language.
"The woman is what I don't get," Ginny continued. "There's something unpleasant about her. "
"She sure looks scary," George shrugged. "But that's not it, isn't it?"
It was not. While for whatever reason Ginny found herself wanting to trust the kidnapped exorcist, it was exactly the other way around with the woman. Who, as far as Ginny was able to understood was a member of the same temple as Suguro.
Ginny dropped heavily on the sofa next to her brothers, angrily staring at the old painting on the wall, her glare heavy enough to make the few people on them move out of the way, like they were expecting that she would burn holes in their canvas at any moment.
"We're going to ask Harry as soon as the meeting ends," Hermione declared. "I'm sure if we will need to know something more he could bug Suguro for some answers."
Ginny nodded. For whatever reason, the exorcist seemed to have a weak spot for Harry. She wasn't sure if either one of them was aware of it, but it was hard to not notice, when you were constantly hanging around them.
xxx
Joseph found himself hanging around instead of heading back home and doing anything useful. It could be because there was a pile of paperwork waiting for his return – because of the whole kidnapping situation his usual duties were simply not as important as solving the problem and getting the kid back. There was also a possibility that he stayed just to poke fun at Chavez. She was sometimes way too serious. Especially after she decided to climb to the very top of the British totem pole. Though that one could be related to many helpful people, who wanted her to take it easy, since she just returned from the motherly leave… Joseph knew all too well that Chavez was not a person who would just sit back and take things easy.
"Are you satisfied now?" Joseph asked with a small smirk, when she walked into the room, her flowery dress clashing horribly with a grumpy expression on her face.
"No," Marie hissed. "And you are perfectly aware why."
"This is a housewife and a teenager," Joseph pointed out.
"And both well trained in withholding vital information," she coldly cut in.
"What were you expecting?" Joseph shook his head. "Safety of their entire community could be endangered if somebody spilled the beans."
"Oh, yes," she rolled her eyes. "Entire community so very prone of messing with brains of other people, you said it yourself."
"Harsh, but true," he nodded. "But I hope..."
"You hope, that's the problem!" Marie groaned. "They kidnapped a kid that was under your protection and you do what?"
"What are you expecting me to do?"He asked, feeling the anger slowly rising. "Interrogate a teenager, while the kid is still healing from a ghoul attack?"
"Don't pull that card on me, O'Callaghann," Marie hissed through her teeth. "Don't you dare!"
"What even are you expecting to get out of those two, hm?" Joseph humorlessly snorted. "Something important, perhaps?"
"Their kind is having a secret war of their own and normal, innocent people are suffering because of that," Marie growled. "And they don't even care enough to warn people about it!"
So, it was personal, at least a little bit, Joseph decided. Chavez was one of the kids, barely in her teens, who were under his protection after Hell literally rose up and spilled over the world. Back then, nobody tried to warn normal people either. There wasn't even a way to do so, because the best reaction they could hope for after babbling about Satan would be a polite nod.
He could understand that, to not want your kids to share a similar fate, because something once again was crawling out of the dark corner, dangerous and unknown.
"I don't plan to defend them," Joseph sighed. "I don't agree with what they are doing, but I don't think they agree with it either. For what we managed to gather, they all answer to a government of theirs."
"And that's another problem, how come they have a country inside an already existing country?"
"I really don't have answers for you," he shook his head. "And I want to wait at least a little bit before making any sort of decision."
"You were singing a different song just few days ago."
"A few days ago I had no idea what was going on."
"Yes, because now you got all the facts," she snickered. "Civilians or no, they know much more than we do. Whatever is going on, I don't want to jump into this situation unprepared."
xxx
Molly couldn't shake the uneasy feeling off, even with the knowledge there was no immediate danger to Fred anymore. Probably it had something to do with being confined to a small space.
It wasn't a cell or anything. Just a room, even cozy if a bit smaller than places she was used too.
There was a bed, a table and two chairs, small wardrobe stuffed into a corner by the window and even a bathroom; everything a person needed.
It was surprisingly easy to get used to the muggle side of how things worked too - it didn't took a lot of time to learn that you had to push a plastic switch on the wall nearby instead of just walking into a space filled with dim light. She had to admit, it wasn't that bad idea, the light charms were annoying with the constant need to be recasted in the whole house almost every other day.
With a heavy sigh, Molly sat on the bed. She would prefer to recast any sort of household spells at the Burrow, than just sit here, doing nothing.
She could try to run away; even without a wand a witch was still a witch and even if Molly wasn't proficient at casting wandlessly, she could at least try.
Sadly, it wouldn't lead to anything; as far as Molly understood, the Key she used to get help for her son was like a very powerful Portkey - able to snatch the user to any place it was locked onto. What would be the point of running away, if she didn't know what direction to run into. Not to mention how difficult it would be to find her way around some foreign place, where people spoke a complete different language... And there was Fred. Her poor boy still needed help and she could clearly see that the Muggles knew what they were doing.
So, waiting it was. Molly just hoped that she and Fred won't be used like some sort of leverage against the Order, or even the magical world as a whole. The consequences... she dreaded them greatly. The mere existence of the Order of Phoenix was a secret. If that came out, and in a situation like that, no less!
"You look worried," Molly jumped, completely surprised.
There was a woman standing in the doorway, with a crooked smile.
"W-when did you...?!"
She was one of the people that talked to her, right? Molly was so terrified back then, that she had trouble with recognizing the face. But the woman looked familiar.
"I've just entered," the woman - Marie, it was? - shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh."
"I decided to show up and ask, if you need anything."
"And besides that?" Molly raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem to be low enough to serve as a maid."
"Point taken," Marie smiled brilliantly and sat down on one of the chairs. "I just wanted to talk."
"What about?" Molly frowned. "You already know what happened to Fred and that Suguro's alright..."
"Oh, nothing much," Marie said, lazily resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "I just wanted to know more about the place you came from."
"I can't name it, it's under protection," Molly responded instantly.
"Oh, not that," she slowly blinked. "The magical world."
"Why do you want to know more?" Molly smoothed her skirt. "It doesn't concern you!"
"Oh, on the contrary," Marie grinned. "You see, as far as I understand, you people use a lot of... morally questionable methods to stay in hiding."
"We just don't want to be bothered."
She said that before she had a time to really think about the answer, but wasn't it the right one? With magic all the machines muggles were building were not needed anymore; a lot of their problems would just cease to exist.
"And what do you mean by morally questionable?"
"We already learned that you are prone of manipulating mind and memories, just to prevent people from learning about you."
"But that doesn't charm anyone!" Molly protested.
"Oh?" Marie raised eyebrows. "Then would you let someone do that to your kid?"
"What? No! Why someone would even have a reason, he's magical-!"
"Ha!" Marie clapped her hands together. "Now, see, I don't want anyone to toy around brains of my kids either."
"But those are done only by people specialized in-" Molly stopped in the middle of explaining what the Obliviators were. Was she even supposed to talk about things like that?
The exorcist seemed to be aware of the possibilities that lied in magic. On the other hand, telling them everything about how the Ministry worked didn't seem like a good idea.
The wolfish smile on the exorcist woman face was a proof of that.
"So, you have even a structure to solve that problem, huh?" she mumbled. "That's interesting. The schoolbooks sadly are not mentioning anything about that... though these are just for kids."
"Schoolbooks?" Molly blinked.
"Ah, Suguro decided to borrow a few of these from his newest magical friend. Even made a notes, which is a lot of help," Marie explained. "After he disappeared we went through his stuff and found this and that."
That... wasn't too bad. Molly decided. Harry had only the books for the first four years and there was nothing that parents of the muggleborn hadn't seen.
"I'm really curious about how much of things in the history books are real," Marie continued. "Some of the things in other books doesn't seem to be very logical either. Like these parts about burning witches on the stakes."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, let's just say that in the rare occurrence when the inquisition got indeed to the burning people alive part, the so called witch wouldn't be in any shape to put two words together," Marie shrugged. "Not to mention that the fire is not the source of the death in most cases like that either."
"Why are you telling me such morbid things?"
"Because you teach your children to be ignorant."
"They don't need to be afraid of Muggles," Molly argued. "If we were, then-!"
"Then what?" Marie snickered. "Let's be generous and say there's about twenty thousands of you in the British Isles. Probably similar amount in the rest of the European countries, which gives you... a population of one city. Not even very big one."
Molly was silent. Because the numbers were much bigger than they were in the reality.
"I'm not saying that you're bad people," Marie continued in a soft voice. "at some point hiding probably made perfect sense. You just went too far and it's hard to find a way back."
Molly smiled bitterly. "I don't think many of the people would share your opinion."
"Ah, but you are starting to think about it," the exorcist smiled. "And that's how it starts."
She didn't explain what she meant by that and Molly couldn't help herself, but feel uneasy. There just was something definitely off about the lady exorcist and her switching between harsh and sweet tones wasn't helping.
Not long after Marie left, some other person - a very awkward young man who chuckled nervously and avoided eye-contact - brought her food and even showed her how that strange, black item called "TV" and introduced Molly to the bizarre world of soap opera. It was hard to stop looking at these; the people were acting so odd and unnatural, it was unbelievably fascinating. How one could even come up with so strange stories?
xxx
"Found something interesting?" Joseph knew it was a bit unfair and definitely more than just a little bit hypocritical of him, but he couldn't help himself. He was curious. She had the data he was interested in. It was hard to not use the situation, even if it was unfair.
That's why he was still in the small lobby, sipping and awful, thin coffee when Marie finally decided that she was done for today. She didn't look too surprised to see him, when she walked into the room to get her purse from the locker.
"Nothing we were not expecting, " Marie shrugged, apparently not minding doing the dirty word. "A tad of propaganda, a bit of the odd need to shield children from the horrors of real world, a really bad view on how science is supposed to work."
"So now you're done with questioning underage kids?" Joseph snickered. "Or are you going to continue bugging the magical brat?"
"Right now I have my own brats to bug," Marie brushed her long hair aside. "But don't think I won't be back."
"The world would surely end first," Joseph rolled his eyes. If there was a contest for a title of true workaholic, then Suguro would have stick to the consolation prize. Chavez was definitely beating him with ease, she and her strong need to climb on the very top of the totem pole just to show people what she was made of. It could kill her and Joseph was a little afraid that it will kill her.
"Really?" she raised eyebrows. "Aren't you worried?"
"I am," he admitted. "But I can't chew on my fingers or just rush in there and hope for the best."
"As far as I know somebody else did that for you," Marie snickered.
"You sure knows a lot."
"And you are aware of the fact that from the moment I was back in the game I was planning on becoming the man around here," Marie replied coldly.
"I never wanted to go very far and you know that to," Joseph shrugged.
"And that's what I don't understand!" Marie groaned. "You could be so much more!"
He could, of course. It would be a matter of formality, to go and pass an exam for another specialty or just demand a promotion. There was no reason for him to not get it, if not for the fact that he didn't want to. That was exactly what Chavez couldn't comprehend.
"Marie, I'm an old fart," Joseph chuckled under his breath. "And you pointed it yourself, I'm starting to slip. If you are looking for a competition, then I'm the wrong person."
She shook her head with a groan.
"You sure got the impression of annoying old man perfected!"
She turned on her heel and walked away, stomping on the floor hard with each step. She even closed the door with a loud thud, like she suddenly turned into a very frustrated teenager.
Joseph sighed into his awful coffee and took another sip. There was no reason to blame Chavez for freaking out. To suddenly discover existence of something like a whole new society and under her very own nose was probably a nasty shock for someone as proud as her. Everything that was going on in that new, odd community was making the situation even worse.
xxx
Usually when Kreacher was quiet, the blaster elf was making trouble in some of the many dark corner of the Grimmauld Place.
Since the elf hadn't shown up to spill his usual nonsense about dirty blood entering the house of Ancient and Noble family, Sirius found himself suspicious.
After all the excitement of the past days some nasty surprise, like infestation of a nasty, dark creature the little stinky bugger managed to put his claws on was the last thing they really needed. Sirius knew the elf well enough to expect him to dig something up, bugger was annoyingly resourceful when he wanted to be.
So, while the unusual guest who didn't quite understand the idea of knocking were occupied by other people, Sirius went for a little hunt of his own. Not that other member of the Order really cared where exactly he was, as long as he was in this blasted mansion.
Sirius had to admit, rushing back to England was pretty damn stupid thing to do, but he couldn't just bake in the sun, while Harry was on the same continent as the Dark Lord. still, since he was still an escaped convict, he couldn't exactly show his face anywhere and everyone on the Order knew that all too well and was treated mostly like a necessary evil. Though meeting each member - especially the Aurors - for the first time was an amusing experience.
Sirius checked the favorite hidey hole, but Kreacher wasn't there. And hasn't appeared, even after Sirius kicked the pile of random stuff the elfish hoarder managed to stuff in the tiny place.
With a small shrug, Sirius proceed to search the house. There was no house-elf under the bathroom sink on the first floor and he wasn't in the closed in one of the guest rooms the Order wasn't using. Since the hippogriff was occupying the bedroom of mother dearest, there was no way Kreacher crawled in there - the huge beast didn't like him much - Sirius ignored the room entirely and climber higher up.
Finally, he found Kreacher. The house-elf was in the dark corner of the attic, as far away from where all the people were as possible, curled into a ball and scratching at the wall, like he wanted to dig up a hole in the old wood and run away.
"You're weirder than usual," Sirius muttered, eyeing the creature with distaste.
Kreacher ignored him, still scratching at the wall, his eye wide-open and not blinking.
"If I wasn't all about not kicking a dog that's already down..." Sirius muttered.
Kreacher made a small noise and scratched at the wall a little bit more desperately. Even in the dim light Sirius was able to see the pale lines carved in the darkened wood.
"Uh... What exactly are you freaking about?" Sirius asked. He considered poking the elf with his shoe, but considering the state Kreacher was in, he would probably end up with bite wounds.
"Monsters!" the elf screeched. "Monsters in the house!"
Sirius blinked. That wasn't what he expected.
"Uh, the monsters were dealt with. Two days ago."
"No, no, no!" Kreacher shook his head with enough force that his ragged ears flapped around and smacked him in the face. "The monster walked into house, scary, scary! Blew up the doors, the monster did!"
Sirius blinked.
"That was just a cat, you know. A big one, but only a cat."
He was completely ignored, because Kreacher apparently preferred to continue freaking out over his imaginary monster.
With a sigh, Sirius decided to leave him alone. The old house-elf finally lost it and really, it wasn't too big of a surprise if Sirius was to be completely honest. Kreacher for a long time was a tad on the off side and apparently what was left of his brain left with the front doors.
He probably should thank the merry invaders, or something. He would buy flowers if not for the whole being a prison escapee issue.
He also wondered if there was any catalogue with the doors in it. The Grimmauld Place was in sudden need of something just like that. Even if the building was unplottable and hidden with Fidelius Charm to top the defenses up, it was still just weird to have only a barely standing front doors. Because the male invader actually picked them up and put back where they belonged, giggling awkwardly. And here Sirius was, thinking that there were no Muggles stranger than that Suguro guy.
xxx
After a talk that seemed to be as awkward for the both parties as it was long, they still hadn't decided what to do with this whole mess. The wizards were currently stirring among themselves, trying to make sense of all the new facts about the world and universe they currently learned. Meanwhile, the exorcists were about to deal with the results of the past weeks. Those were not pleasant either.
"You really should call your girlfriend," Mamushi pointed out. After several days of being kidnapped and then staying another few as an act of goodwill, some issues really needed to be dealt with. "And your boss. And your mother."
"Yeah," Suguro groaned. "She's going to kill me. And then O'Callaghann will bring me back just to kill me again. But I can't do that here."
"Why?" Mamushi asked, her gaze immediately wandering towards the group of magical people.
"My battery is dead," he explained. "Besides, the magic around - don't make that face at me, it's not my fault it is called magic - is doing something to the electronics. They pretty much refuse to work. Or can't get the connection for shit."
"Oh," Rin blinked. "That actually makes sense. After we're out of here you can borrow mine, I guess. The sooner we're done here, the better."
"I'm afraid it's not going to be that easy."
"What do you mean?" Mamushi frowned.
Suguro tapped his cheek with obvious annoyance, trying to find a way to explain what was so troublesome about the whole situation.
"You have noticed that this building was hidden in an odd way, right?"
Mamushi nodded. "If it is about us being unable to said the address of this place out loud-"
"Yes, that!" he quickly cut in. "I'm not sure if I can find my way back. That's one of the reason why I never tried to go out for awhile. There's also the fact that I don't want to leave. Not now at least."
"What do you mean, you don't want to leave?" Mamushi hissed. "Did they actually succeed at screwing up your mind? Or it's just–"
"Look," he cut in with a resigned sigh.
"If you are going to say something about how you can't just leave them after a kid was wounded…" she warned him.
"Nah, not that," Suguro shook his head. "As far as I know, the group they are fighting with is rather prone to attack non–magical people. Sometimes just for kicks. And the family that resided here before the dog guy decided to turn it into secret headquarters was on the nasty side of things. The library is still filled–"
"Ah!" Rin smacked himself in the forehead. "So you're just on your cute little nerd–spree!"
"…shouldn't it be geek–spree?"
"Hell if I know," Rin shrugged.
Suguro shook his head. "Seriously, though. Many of these spells can be mistook for some nasty spirit having a field day. I would hate to get fatalities only because we currently know nothing about how the magicals can hurt us."
Mamushi wanted to groan. To call him an idiot and then drag him all the way home by the ear. Or just to scream at him on this very spot, but she swallowed all the nasty words. While she didn't like him of all people to do the job, she also knew it was important to learn as much as possible. Suguro was currently the best man for the job. He already gained at least a bit of trust and if needed, could play on their feelings too.
"Fine," Mamushi pinched the bridge of her nose. "But as soon as we find a way around the communication program, someone else is going to take the job. Knowledge is useless if you don't share it. "
Suguro had memory good enough to memorize most of the stuff and was clever enough to at least be able to guess how it all was supposed to work. Later on, he would be capable of dealing with the data gathered by other people and teach it to the other, while safe and sound, like he was supposed to be in the first place.
"I am going to tell those people that you require time to contact your family," she said. "After that, I will use the Key and check on the wounded kid and report in your place. If there's something you want to add, now is the time."
Suguro shook his head and let Mamushi do what she decided was best. While she wasn't an exorcist for over six years now, she still was working with them. Nobody protested too much, since such unofficial asset could be useful in some situations. Many of them, not to pretty.
Ryuji sighed.
"She knows what she's doing," Rin said under his breath, noticing the change of mood.
"That's exactly what worries me," Suguro answered. He was lazily observing the group of wizards interacting witch each other, hands crossed on his chest, fingers tapping a melody of some pop–song that got stuck in his head awhile ago.
Harry disappeared in one of the rooms, probably to tell rest of the kids about what was going on and how they all failed to do anything at all; Suguro couldn't quite wrap his mind around why exactly these people were even wasting energy on trying to keep the teenagers oblivious to what was going on. Meanwhile, Moody and the almighty boss of all the wizards were arguing quietly, while a young woman with bright colored hair was observing them, odd fascination clearly visible on her face. All that missed from the picture, was a big bowl of popcorn. Especially after the dog–wizard returned and sat next to her, clearly commenting something right into her ear.
"Here," Rin forced his phone into Ryuji's hands. "The battery is full, so you can blab all the time you want."
"Thanks," he smiled, pocketing the phone. "I'll owe you, I guess."
Rin rolled his eyes. "I just hope you're not talking money now."
"Only partially," Suguro admitted with a small shrug, then frowned. "I should probably go there before she decide to send snakes after these people."
"Rright," Rin chuckled. "Better hurry. She looks pretty annoyed."
That she did indeed. Though Suguro hoped that in the last few years summoning naga's was not her first response to troublesome situations anymore.
"I assure you..." Dumbledore started, probably trying to explain something, but stopped, when Mamushi raised her hand. Ryuji always wanted to learn how she was doing that, silencing people with a single gesture, not even trying very hard to do so. Looked like the trick worked perfectly well on the wizards, too.
"I don't care what you can tell me," Mamushi smiled sweetly. "You see, we are aware that your kind doesn't shy from modifying memory of non-magical people."
Moody frowned. "Aren't you guys supposed to be immune?"
"Doesn't mean you couldn't find a way around it, keeping a prisoner for such long time."
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Sirius groaned. "Just let's go on a stroll back and forth! It's not like we're talking about a trip to freaking America!"
It was hard to not agree with him. Even harder to find a counterargument, but some people just needed to have the last word. Or so it seemed.
"You do remember that you will be lucky if they only kill you on sight, right?" Moody snickered.
Sirius dropped back on the sofa with an angry grunt, with his arms tightly wrapped around his torso.
"I can go with him!" Tonks chirped happily.
Ryuji looked at her.
"Weren't you guys concerned about not catching an eye of the wrong people?" he asked carefully. "No offense, but..."
"Ah, no worries!" The young woman chuckled. "I can change thing or two about myself!"
With a playful wink, she started doing just that. Her bright pink hair darkened and grew. It looked almost like something taken out of a documentary show, that kind about growing and evolving. It was disconnecting, to see it in real life and not on the TV screen.
"...That's actually helpful," Suguro mumbled, as soon as he managed to put himself back together.
"I wanna go with you!" Sirius moaned.
"Aren't you supposed to sit put?" Moody hissed at him. "They are looking for you all around the place!"
"They are looking for a man, not a dog," Sirius responded with a shrug. "Nobody knows..."
"Some of them were at the same school as you, you dolt," Alastor hissed. "Do you really want to risk it?"
"Well, even if they are looking for a big, black dog, they are looking for one that hangs around wizards, right?" Sirius shrugged. "Muggles can own a dog if they want to. Nobody is going to care."
Moody grunted something under his nose, but when he looked back at Suguro, he had a crooked smile plastered on his scarred face.
"The question is," he started, his tone suspiciously serious. "What color of collar would you prefer?"
Sirius yelped, only now realizing what he just stepped into.
xxx
"Those clothes are oddly comfortable," Tonks said, when they sat on one of the benches. She magicked her stuff to look like things she saw on the photos. Rin showed his phone right into her face and then spend quite a lot of time helping and commenting, just to make her look right. Tonks ended up with a bit over the top punk-rock image, but didn't seem to awkward in clothes so far from what she was familiar with. On the other hand, the woman was constantly changing everything about herself, gender and body-mass included, so things like that probably were not an issue at all. Suguro still had trouble with wrapping his mind around that piece of magic.
"I had no idea... people are seriously buying stuff when it is so ragged?" Tonks asked, pulling at one of the many holes in her jeans.
"Sometimes you're paying mostly for the stylization," Suguro chuckled. Then eyes the third person in the party. "...are you sure he's fine?"
"He just hadn't been outside. You know, being who he is," she shrugged.
The big black dog was currently running in circles a few meters away, galloping on the slightly yellowish grass like there was no tomorrow. Ryuji wasn't sure if he was disturbed, knowing it was a guy with a bright collar on his neck that was running around like crazy, or just baffled by how quickly Sirius managed to forget all about his new leash.
"That doesn't answer my question, you know."
Tonks winkled her nose. "Don't you have a phonecall to make?"
"I'm procrastinating," he admitted without an ounce of shame. "And he's looking like he's having fun."
Sirius wasn't the only one. After getting stuck for so long in the dark, gloomy mansion that somehow managed to be pretty cold in the middle of annoyingly hot summer, being back on the outside felt good. Even with the sun mercilessly trying to bake him alive.
Right now, even sunburns were welcome. Suguro was starved for fresh air and he was unable to resist the temptation of staying on the outside as long as possible. Hell, if he could he would squeeze a Key straight home out of Mephisto, just to waste a whole day in the fields and forest around the abandoned temple. It was nice during this time of a year, lots and lots of wild trees were bearing fruits, small and more sour than sweet.
"You want me to go away for a moment?"
"And since when are you able to understand Japanese?"
Tonks smacked herself on the forehead. Of course. Of all things to forget, her brain managed somehow skip over the fact that Suguro wasn't exactly from around here.
Still, right now she looked somewhat Asian, just to fit the image they were trying to create, so she shifted to the other side of the bench. She just hoped the day wasn't going to end up with her with sunburns. Methamorphomagi or no, her natural skin color was on the fair side.
A/N: This chapter. Holy shit, this chapter. If not for Rin, I would just have them all duke it out. Defeat Means Friendship! is one of my favorite tropes. And it worked once before... But since Rin is ridiculously overpowered, the characters had to act like adults. For the sake of balance, mostly.
Another holy shit goes for the reviews - I was expecting a bit more, since a main character was making a guest appearance, but... holy shit, I wasn' expecting that many. It was slightly frightening, to see the number growing every time I refreshed the page... ^^'
I was fully expecting to be done with the Grimmauld around this chapter - but because of all that reason and logic floating around... most of the next chapter was actually this chapter in the first draft. But that's a good news, Rin is going to stick around some more.
Useless trivia time - the princess joke. It was bad, I know. But that's the actual reason why I started writing this story in the first place. Me and common sense - we never get along too well.