Standing in the Headmaster's office in the dead of night, the Golden Trio realized how much trouble they were in as Albus Dumbledore's eyes bored into them. The normal happy blue replaced by cold ice that bore no forgiveness.

"I," He started out, "Am not a person that gives judgment before the story. I suggest you start explaining why you felt the need to enter the Forbidden Forest when I specifically said any trespassers would be expelled."

The three stood in silence before Harry finally broke it.

"It's all my fault sir." He began and told him of what had happened at Hogsmeade. How they had come to a conclusion that Voldemort was partially behind the disappearances. How they asked around and came up with nothing, meeting Emily and her Uncle, and the information they received from him. Harry admitted it was his idea to go into the forest and asked Hermione to find the counter-spell for the wards. After it all spilled out, he became quiet again.

"And not one of you thought that it might be a set up?" Dumbledore asked angrily. "How foolish! But that is not what angers me the most; what truly upsets me is that you didn't even think to go to a teacher with this. You arrogantly thought that you could take these creatures on by yourselves; that is what upsets me the most Mr. Potter! The fact that you cannot seem to trust the teachers here who are meant to protect you!" He ended with a roar causing all three to flinch. "And you two! Harry says you were unsure, yet you still followed him! Why? I understand loyalty to one's friend, but that does not mean you follow him stupidly as he does something irresponsible! If the exorcists had not been there tonight, you would have perished! Did you even consider the feelings of the people who would have been left behind to grieve for you?" He asked harshly, not feeling the least bit sorry that all three had tears running down their faces.

The air was thick with tension as he regained his bearing's.

"I am not one to go back on my word." He started coldly. "When I said those caught in the forest would be expelled I meant it." Hermione, in particular, sobbed harder at this. Expulsion to her was even worse than getting a zero or not passing a class.

"However, I feel if I do that, you will be painted targets." At his words all three felt a slight hope in their hearts. "The enemy has seen your faces and I do not fancy myself a child killer, so you will not be expelled." The Gryffindors broke into smiles at the news.

"That is not a reason to be smiling!" Dumbledore snapped at them. "In exchange for staying, Gryffindor's House points will be set to zero and it will stay that way for the remainder of the year. Any points lost will put you into negatives. Any points given will be taken away automatically. You will serve a detention every night for the rest of the semester and possibly beyond if I see fit. You will be writing to your guardians explaining what happened and the punishments you are serving. You are barred from all school activities, balls, parties, and clubs. In short, you will be excluded from everything except classes." He took a deep breath.

"Ron and Harry, you are both banned from Quidditch until further notice. Hermione, you may only enter the library if you have an assignment and need a book. You must have to have a note from a teacher and Madam Pince will get the book for you." That did cause an outburst.

"But sir-"

"No!" He bellowed, silencing the protest. "You can either accept these conditions or you can take the expulsion. The choice is yours. The point of these punishments is for you to understand the magnitude of your transaction. Do you accept?" He thundered, looking as powerful as the day he fought Grindelwald.

He saw them mull it over in their heads.

"I accept." Hermione whispered first, tears still in her eyes.

"I accept." Ron followed, his face still deathly pale.

"I accept." Harry ended, green eyes on the floor.

"Very well. All punishments are effective as of now. You may leave." As the three shuffled toward the door he called out. "Wait, there is one more thing." Turning to look, Harry flinched as his cloak and the Marauders Map appeared on the Headmaster's desk.

"These will be in my possession until I feel I can trust you with them. If that takes until your last day of school, then so be it." Dumbledore said, not even looking at them as he wrote something down.

They were about to leave when Hermione turned around to look at him.

"Um, sir, I-you probably won't tell us, but could you explain what we ran into tonight?" She asked nervously. He looked up, his expression giving away nothing, but after a moment he sighed.

"Since you've already ran across them, I suppose it would best to explain. If only to stop any other incidents. Spree!" Dumbledore called and a house elf appeared almost instantly. "Please tell our guests, if they are well enough, to come to my office immediately." He asked. The house elf nodded and popped away. Albus looked back at the students. "You might as well take a seat. This may take some time."

As the students settled on the couch he began to speak again.

"Over the summer, it was noted that witches and wizards were vanishing. I grew more and more concerned as the count was getting higher faster, and much closer to Hogwarts. Ripped clothing worn by these missing people showed up in the woods every few weeks and it was only after I looked through my pensive for any similar cases in the past that I realized what was happening. Once, long ago, a friend and I ran into something called an Akuma. It is a monster made up of a machine, grief, and a soul." He ignored their gasps and continued. "We were in an unfortunate position and decided to fight it. It only took a few minutes to realize our spells were useless."

"Which is where we come in." Cross said from the doorway as all the exorcists entered the room.

"Akumas are made by a very powerful man. You need a special weapon to defeat them." Cross explained taking over for Dumbledore.

"Powerful man?" Hermione asked.

"Oh my god." Cross muttered, annoyed that he had to explain everything. "Alright, it's like this; back when everything was still new and Father Time still banged Mother Earth on a regular basis, he knocked her up on accident. She was excited 'cause she never had a kid before but he had other plans decided to split town and started doing Sister Moon because she was still hot. Mother Earth was pretty pissed about this and all that negative energy affected her baby. When she gave birth to her deranged child she named him Adam, but in true fashion to teenage rebellion, he changed it to the pimp name Millennium Earl. Bunch of time passed and he got bored. So he started stalking people for fun. He watched them with their families and became jealous at how happy they were. All that teenage angst built up to the point where he decided he'd destroy everything. He created an army of unstoppable machines to help him out. God saw this and wasn't havin' it, so he made Innocence to smack him and his machines back into place. Since then it's been a tug-of-war for everyone involved. The end." Cross finished with a yawn.

Complete silence.

"Ok, that is NOT what happened." Ravi said after getting over his shock. "He got the stuff you needed to know though, so let's skip the history lesson. Point is, we were called here to help you guys out." The eye-patched wonder grinned.

"Well then why weren't you just introduced like that? Why the teacher and student gig?" Ron asked bewildered.

"I suggested that so as to stop any panic before it started." Dumbledore explained.

"Hey!" Hermione yelled suddenly at Allen, making him jump. "Your arm's back! How?" She asked remember how he only had one arm when he was fighting.

"That was my Innocence." Allen explained with a smile. "It has different levels. I can either make it a white cloak I call Crowned Clown, or use it as a sword. Otherwise it's just a regular arm. See?" He said as he undid his glove and pulled his sleeve up.

After they saw it, he realized he had made a mistake. Even though they were his friends, he read their horrified and disgusted looks. Feeling ashamed and mentally berating himself, he quickly pulled his sleeve down and put his glove back on in record time. "Ah, you know what? I think I'll go back outside and make sure we didn't miss anything." He told the other exorcists, already heading for the door.

"Idiot apprentice!" Cross barked out, making him stop but he didn't turn around. "Just go to bed. You have class in the morning." Allen nodded mutely and left. After the door clicked shut, Cross turned his cold gaze on the children.

"I'm telling you right now." He grounded out harshly. "If you alienate him in anyway, I will personally make sure you look worse than his arm ever could, regardless of consequences. That kid came here to protect you; he doesn't need you freaking out over something stupid like how his arm looks. He got enough of that shit as a child."

"Of course sir." Hermione said. "We didn't mean to make him feel bad. We just weren't expecting that, that's all."

"It better be." Cross replied and Ravi noted that for all their fighting and complaining, Cross really did care for Allen.

"Um, just to make sure, you guys aren't here specifically for me, are you? That isn't why Allen wanted to be my friend, right?" Harry asked meekly.

"What? No!" Ravi shot out, shocked. "Even if he was just here to watch you, Allen's not that type of person." Ravi assured him.

"Che. Moyashi likes to make friends with everyone." Kanda grunted out, speaking for the first time since entering the office.

"That's right! I mean, yeah, we know who you are, but that's because we were given a list of students that might be tempted to go into the forest. It just so happens you were first on the list." Ravi explained.

Harry didn't reply but his relieved smile spoke volumes.

"Now that you know what's going on," Dumbledore cut in. "I suggest you return to bed. You also have classes in the morning." He reminded them and gave them a pass so they wouldn't get in trouble for being out after curfew. This time none of them argued. Ron took the pass and they silently filed out the door.

"No offense, but your students are kinda stupid." Cross complained as he sat down on the couch.

"Now, now, everyone is allowed to make mistakes." Dumbledore admonished. "This is worrying though, Severus told me nothing of this attack."

"He may not have known. There weren't any other Death Eaters there." Ravi pointed out.

"True, but then who was the girl and man that they spoke of? They do not sound like any Death Eaters Severus has described for me."

"They're with the Earl, let us worry about them." Cross cut in, wishing that he had a drink. "In any case, tonight wasn't wasted completely. We know they're after Innocence hidden in the woods."

"And what do you suggest we do about that?" Albus asked and Cross just shrugged.

"Best we can do is go look for it."

"I'd rather you didn't do that." Dumbledore cut in. "Allen suggested that in the beginning before we came up with the Transfer Student plan. I told him that that forest is huge and it holds many dangerous creatures and plants. It's very easy to get lost."

"We'll figure something out." Ravi said cheerfully before letting loose a monstrous yawn. "In less there's something else, I'm going to bed."

"Of course. You'll all dismissed." Albus said with a smile. "Thank you for all your hard work."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get pissed if I cancel my class tomorrow." Cross told the old man before leaving with a silent Kanda and sleepy Ravi right behind him. Dumbledore just shook his head with a small smile on his face. He stood up from his desk and walked over to his fire place and stuck his head inside.

"Severus!" He called. "Severus are you awake? Ah, sorry my dear boy, I didn't mean to wake you. Since you're up though, could you come up to my office please? I have something to discuss with you. Thank you."

Several minutes later a very sleepy Potions Master stepped out of the fire.

"What is it that is so important that it can't wait 'till morning?" He grouched because Severus Snape happened to love sleep. If he had the choice he would rather sleep than teach but it wasn't a choice so he sucked it up and went with it.

"Something has happened tonight involving- Severus, please stay awake long enough for me to explain." Albus said with a smile as he watched his friend curl up on the couch. Clearly, he wasn't awake enough to guard his actions. How fun.

"Sorry." Snape mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "I'm awake, go on."

"Tonight some students were caught in the forest."

"Let me guess; it was Potter and his merry band of men." Snape said as confidently as a sleep deprived man could.

"I-yes. How did you know?"

"I've been doing nightly bed checks to make sure my Slytherins are accounted for. I know Flitwick and Sprout took to it too when I told them. Minerva felt inclined to give her students a chance. Also, despite what he thinks, I know Potter. Boy can't keep his nose out of anything if he had it removed." Severus said before yawning. "Anyway, continue on."

"Yes, well, they ended up running into some akumas."

"Did they die?"

"Severus!"

"Sorry."

"No, thankfully. They may not have been so lucky if the exorcists hadn't shown up when they did. But that's not the most troublesome part." Albus took a deep breath.

"Voldemort was there." He told his spy and instantly all sleep was gone from those dark eyes.

"What? But, I wasn't called." Snape said. "He didn't say anything about a surprise attack like this Albus. You can look at my memories but I know he never mentioned this." Severus told the man, honestly confused about the turn of events he had just been informed of.

"I believe you, Severus." Albus said once he realized how worked up this information made the man. "Calm down. At best, I think this was something he put together at last minute. There were no other death eaters in the vicinity."

"Still, if he's losing trust in me. . ." The spy trailed off, "It won't be good." He finished.

"I doubt this had anything to do with trust. I think he was testing to see how well the akumas worked."

"Let us hope that is the reason." Snape sighed. "So, what did you do to the idiot trio?"

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore asked, blue eyes innocent.

"Come off it, Albus." Severus scoffed. "There's no way you'd expel them. Others? In a heartbeat no doubt, but your favorite three? I don't buy it. Just tell me now if you gave them points for being brave so I can go throw myself into the lake to drown."

"Severus!" Albus said, scandalized. "I would never award them points for something like this. It was dangerous and stupid of them."

"There was a time." Snape said softly. "When you did." And Dumbledore knew he was thinking about the werewolf prank.

"I did not handle that well situation, did I? For it to still haunt you so badly. . .did I serve justice that night Severus?" He asked and the Potions Master shook his head.

"You served favoritism." Severus replied.

"This time is different though. While it's true I did not expel them as promised, that is because I did not wish for them to be easy targets. He and two controllers of the akuma saw their faces. I feel safer with them in Hogwarts. That does not mean they have gone without punishment. I won't go into detail, but they are under house arrest more or less. I shall write up in better detail of their punishment and make copies for the teachers. And Severus. . ." Albus said with a smile. "If it's any consolation, chances are Slytherin will at least take the House Cup this year. They've been remarkably restrained this year. I take it that's your doing?"

"Yes. The little fools and I made a bet. I told them if they could behave themselves I'd tell them some stories from my school days." His nose scrunched up. "Apparently, someone's parent spilled that I use to be quite the prankster." He snorted.

"Is that so? You never were caught red handed, were you?" Albus chuckled. "I enjoyed the one with the exploding cakes. I thought it was quite ingenious myself."

"I admit to nothing." Severus wisely said.

"What would you do if I told you that the Marauders drove themselves crazy trying to figure who did all those pranks? I do believe they wanted to meet you."

"I would have to laugh in your face and tell them to go kiss a troll."

"Are all former pranksters as sarcastic as you?"

"No, that's a gift. I am tired though. Happy but tired. Is there anything else I need to know?" He asked stepping back towards the fire place.

"No that's all. Have pleasant dreams Severus." Albus called out.

"The same to you Headmaster." Severus replied before stepping into the fireplace. "My bedroom." He called out and disappeared right after.

"Tomorrow will not be a good day, will it Fawkes?" The old wizard sighed to his phoenix. Picking up his quill he wrote a quick, detailed letter to the teachers about what happened. After making several copies and calling a few house elves to deliver them, he sat back with a groan.

"Would you like to be the one to speak to Minerva when she barges in tomorrow?" He innocently asked Fawkes. Fawkes, who was use to the wizard's ways, gave him an undignified squawk and then flew out the open window. It had been awhile since it had visited the owls and tonight seemed like a great night to do it.

Albus just gave another deep sigh a popped a lemon drop in his mouth for comfort. Getting up, he shuffled on to bed because he had a feeling that tomorrow would be as wretched as the day he fought Grindelwald. Hmm, if he had to choose between Minerva and Gellert, who would he choose to fight? His mind didn't need long to think it over.

"Gellert, most definitely Gellert." He shuttered as he climbed under the blankets. "At least I had a chance at winning with him."