Chapter Eight: Those Who Can Return

"-no…" The soothing voice sounded familiar, someone from long ago…how many years has it been since he had heard that voice?

"Ze...no…" There it was again, calling him. "…Zeno, wake up," It sounded like King Hiryuu's soft heavenly voice… Zeno vaguely registered himself turn over, still feeling too sleepy to get up.

"Hey Useless, you're drooling again. Hurry up and get your arse out of bed!" Hmm…that sounded like Shuten.

"Don't talk to Zeno like that!" Wait…was that Kaya? He must be dreaming again.

"Pukyuu!" Ao squeaked as several other familiar voices voiced their agreement.

"How long are you going to sleep for?" That must be Kija.

"They say that older people wake up early," Ah, Jae-ha's teasing him about his age again. Slowly, Zeno's blue eyes opened and the world around him came into sharp focus as he blinked away his drowsiness. At first, Zeno expected to be in one of the tents Yoon had made, with Yona and the rest surrounding him, in a forest somewhere in Kouka; but then he recalled where he had been living the past few months and sighed. A wave of sorrow splashed him over the head as he felt his heart drop at the disappointment.

The sound of cheering entered his ears causing Zeno to search for the source of the sounds. His eyes landed on the oil panting he had created the other day during the Art class he had attended. It can't be…can it?

Zeno then remembered watching them yawn and stretch, moving about like the other paintings in the school. He lifted the portrait and propped it up on top of the desk, peering at the now active people. They waved happily at him.

"When are you going to introduce us to these friends of yours?" Asked Yona, politely.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry, this is King Hiryuu and the first generation Green, White and Blue dragons," Zeno introduced, gesturing to the group with the male red-head. Yona and her group all looked at them in awe. "That's Shuten, Guen and Abi," they grinned back at the gawking group.

"The Blue Dragon's eyes certainly are beautiful," Jae-ha complimented before turning his attention to the new female in the painting. "Who's this lovely lady?"

"This is Kaya…" Zeno replied fondly, "My wife," Yona and Yoon gasped, the rest stared dumbfounded at Kaya who blushed at all the attention.

"Since when did you get married?!" Shuten yelled, Abi and Guen gazed at Zeno curiously. "Why didn't you tell us? Was it after we left the castle?"

"Yes…it was…long after you left, after you returned to Heaven," He replied solemnly, a sad smile on his face. "I'm sorry I couldn't visit you, Guen, I was scared," to see how old you all had become. Zeno finished the sentence mentally. He knew that he wasn't talking to his real friends, he had heard the Art professor explain how magical paintings worked, but he couldn't help but feel comforted by hearing their voices again.

"What about them? You haven't told us who they are," Abi pointed out, the bird on his shoulder chirped cutely.

"That's Princess Yona, Hak, Yoon, Ao and your descendants: Kija, Jae-ha and Shin-ah," Zeno cheerfully introduced, gesturing to each one. As the two groups in the painting began chatting and mingling, Zeno suddenly remembered something. "Zeno has to go now, otherwise he'll miss breakfast!" He yelled over his shoulder as he dashed out of the room.

"Wait! Zeno! We'll go with you!" Kija frantically called after him. As Zeno sprinted down the moving staircases and along several corridors, his friends of the past chased after him through the portraits on the walls, running beside him and shouting at him to slow down.

"Act your age, you Eternal Seventeen Year-Old!" Yoon's voice yelled from a landscape painting of an African savanna. "Be careful or you might-" his warning went unfinished as at that exact moment Zeno went colliding into someone, causing the two of them to collapse onto the corridor floor in a flurry of orange and black. "…crash into someone. Now look what you've done," finished Yoon, irritated.

Zeno quickly sprung back up onto his feet and assisted the wizard he had collided with to their feet as well. Professor Snape dusted off his inky black robes, glaring at the clumsy Ouryuu as he did so. "If you were a student…that would have gotten you a month's worth of detentions and fifty House Points deducted from you. Consider yourself lucky, Mr. Zeno," Sneered the DADA Professor. Professor Snape's dark eyes then locked onto the portrait closest to Zeno, the sounds of panting could be heard from the painting depicting a field filled with poppies. "Been befriending the portraits, have we?"

"Geez, sorry for all the trouble our idiot has caused you," Yoon apologised, bowing. Professor Snape, raised a dark eyebrow.

"Oh, Zeno painted them," he said nonchalantly, then he began introducing the Happy Hungry Bunch, "That's the Kid, oh and the Miss, Mister, White Dragon, Green-"

"Ah, what a pleasant surprise, Mr. Zeno, how have you been doing?" Interrupted the Headmaster, who now stood beside a rather annoyed Professor Snape.

"Zeno's been good, thanks," the merry reply contrasted with his next words, "Zeno should be the one asking you that, Mister Headmaster. You don't look too well," his wise blue eyes staring purposely at Dumbledore's blackened hand, then at the stress-worn face of Professor Snape. He could tell the Headmaster didn't have long left to live, the smell of death practically clung to the star-cloaked wizard.

"Sorry to interrupt but breakfast is nearly over. You were in a hurry, weren't you?" Hak said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the Great Hall. Zeno hurriedly excused himself and left the two wizards to their thoughts.


During breakfast, Zeno overheard the professors talking about why Hagrid wasn't present, so he decided to go and pay him a visit. As he left the Great Hall, Zeno had just rounded the corner when he heard several shouts of warning before he once again bumped into someone. Thankfully, it wasn't Professor Snape again, but Harry Potter the 6th year Gryffindor. The boy with the lightning-shaped scar re-adjusted his glasses that were knocked askew during the collision and accepted Zeno's offered hand.

"You idiot! What did I say about looking where you're going? That's the second time today," chided Yoon from the nearest painting. Hermione and Ron arrived on scene seconds later.

"Harry! Are you okay?" Hermione asked worried, then she noticed Zeno's presence, "Oh, Zeno, good timing. I wanted to ask you about something," Harry and Ron looked at Hermione, curious as to what she wanted to say. "Are you the Yellow Dragon Warrior?"

"Yes," Zeno cheerfully confirmed.

"Hermione," Ron started, confused, "I thought you said it was impossible to live for over-wait, what?"

"Yes, Zeno is the Yellow Dragon Warrior," repeated Zeno.

"You see, Ron, there is a way for Zeno to be a Dragon Warrior and that way is if the Dragon Warriors have descendants. That way the Dragon Warriors can be young and still exist today," Jae-ha, Kija and Yoon shared glances at Hermione's half-correct theory. Though, it was true that the other three Dragon Warriors had many descendants, but as Zeno always said, he was the odd picking of the four dragons: as Zeno is one of the original four who served King Hiryuu himself.

Ron and Harry looked at each other, both thinking about when Hermione had come up with this answer. When the two of them turned back to speak with Zeno, the Yellow Dragon Warrior had already disappeared. "You just missed him," Yona told them as the Golden Trio gazed down the empty hallway.

Outside, in the sky above, grey clouds gathered in mourning; scanning the castle grounds, Zeno found Hagrid's large form by a freshly dug pit, sobbing giant tears.

"Tha'…tha' should do it…" He hiccupped, blowing his nose on a large handkerchief that was more like the size of a table cloth. It was then that the Care of Magical Creatures professor realised he had company during this moment of grief. "Mr. Zeno…wha' brings yeh here?" Zeno kept his eyes on the Acromantula corpse, it reminded him of the form the Boggart took when he had first encountered one. Eight milky white eyes stared blankly at the sky, his eight furry legs curled close to his body, the fallen king of the spiders. Seeing Hagrid's sorrow for the poor beast's death, Zeno gave the creature's friend a few words to console him.

"Everything that lives…will return to Heaven someday. Your friend must be very touched to be given a proper burial by you, Mister," comforted Zeno as he held his hands together in a prayer. Giving Hagrid a sad smile, Zeno patted the large man's arm as Hagrid broke down into tears at those words. The professor barely managed to smile back as he choked out his thanks.

Everything except Zeno…he thought privately, a flock of crows swooped over the pair, soaring up high into the heavens where he cannot go.


The end of the school year was drawing nearer, the summer sun shining brighter than ever as the students lounged about basking in the warm rays of light. It was a calm before the storm, a moment of peace that wouldn't last, Zeno knew that. He could feel it crawling along his skin, it shivered in the air, quivering and coiling, preparing to strike. Something terrible was going to happen, an event that will send the school body to their knees. What was this unseen horror? Zeno didn't know, it could be anything, but he didn't have to wait long before he found out its true identity…

On the 30th of June, dark clouds loomed ominously above the castle as several unfamiliar witches and wizards patrolled the corridors restlessly. The tense silence that hung in the air was shattered when a loud bang resounded across the student-free corridors, Zeno rushed to where a fight was taking place amongst the chaos.

Each spell lit up the dark corridor in brief bursts of light, revealing the dark, malevolent glint in the invader's eyes. One of the hooded attackers, Death Eaters he heard the others call them, was indiscriminately sending all sorts of harmful spells at everyone in sight, with a majority of the barrage being a bright emerald green colour. When another hooded figure entered the fray, one of these green spells hit the man and he instantly collapsed like a puppet cut from its strings, a shocked expression with unseeing eyes fixed on his face.

Zeno was instantly reminded of the time when he was hit by a green spell himself and now he was certain of what it can do to someone who wasn't immortal. A spell that instantly kills your enemy. Frantically, Zeno scanned the shadows and during the short bursts of light, he could see Ginny and Ron caught up in the skirmish. If they get hit by this spell, it would be all over for them, the thought scared him. Caught up in his thoughts, Zeno wasn't aware of the Death Eater lurking behind him and as a consequence, received a deep slash in his back. However, due to the magic in the air, the gash healed rapidly despite being extremely far from Hiryuu Castle and its divine protection.

As he was pushing himself back up from the ground where he had fallen, Zeno spotted one of the Death Eater's aiming for Ginny and tackled the wizard with a battle cry. "Miss! Look out!" Zeno briefly felt the sensation of passing through some sort of barrier before falling in a heap at the base of the staircase, the Death Eater was knocked unconscious upon impact with the solid stone. Sparing a glance at the stairs, Zeno glimpsed the end of a billowing black robe; thinking it could be one of the invaders chasing a student, Zeno shadowed it.

Bathed under a green glow on the top-most level of the Astronomy Tower, was the Headmaster slumped against a wall surrounded by several Death Eaters. Zeno had just arrived in time to hear Dumbledore's quite pleading. "Severus…" Professor Snape's name was spoken softly yet it held a hint of urgency. Professor Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed, what looked like a Slytherin student, roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters backed away without a word.

Severus Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched into the harsh lines of his face, though Zeno could tell that it wasn't at Dumbledore.

The Headmaster looked worse for wear than when Zeno had last seen him, "Severus…please…" rather than sounding like a plea to live, to Zeno it was Dumbledore's words were a plea for death. It was a tone he had heard himself use during those dark moments of his past; when he would beg the Heavens, the Ouryuu and King Hiryuu to let him die so he could join them.

Professor Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore, carefully masked and locked away underneath all the loathing in Snape's eyes was his anguish at what he was about to commit.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light, not unlike those Zeno had seen earlier, shot from the tip of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. The Headmaster of Hogwarts was blasted into the air and then, like a rag doll, he fell backwards over the battlements and out of sight.


"Out of here, quickly," Severus Snape's voice snapped everyone into action so that they could flee from the scene. The area was quickly vacated and thinking it was empty, Zeno was startled when Harry Potter revealed himself before he shot a retreating Death Eater in the back with a blinding blue spell. Harry then clambered over the Death Eater, disappearing into the darkened staircase, Zeno a few steps behind him.

The fight in the corridor at the bottom of the spiral staircase was still on-going, spells ricocheting off the walls around them, disturbing the dust from the collapsed half of the ceiling. Harry ducked a jet of green as he ran headfirst through the fighting, the spell instead hit Zeno who happened to be right behind him. It was a painless spell that knocked him unconscious for several seconds, making him fall behind in the chase.

Luckily, Zeno was a fast runner and was able to catch up to the fleeing Death Eaters before they fled the grounds of Hogwarts, he skidded to a halt in time to see Severus Snape and Harry Potter locked in a one-sided wizard's duel. It was obvious to Zeno that the Ex-DADA Professor was reluctant to harm Harry, who on the other hand, was fuelled with despair. That, however, changed as Harry must have said something to set him off.

"DON'T CALL ME A COWARD!" screamed Snape as he slashed at the air, causing Harry to be slammed backwards into the ground. Next, Zeno heard a rush of wings as a silver-grey Hippogriff flew low over him before landing protectively in front of Harry and aggressively attacking Snape, slashing him with deadly claws. Severus Snape staggered backwards before taking off in the direction of the school's gates, running as fast as he could to get away from the screeching magical beast.

Not giving it any second thoughts, Zeno sprinted after the retreating figure and lunged forward, grabbing hold of Snape's back moments before a horrible feeling of compression took over, plunging the world into darkness.


Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed Chapter Eight.

I'm sorry I ended up posting it later than usual, I struggled a little on making it transition well from scene to scene, so I hope it turned out good. Don't be shy to let me know what you think.

Just a little note, Zeno's pretty observant so he'd notice things like what's going on with Dumbledore and Snape, so yeah.

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy your day and see you next time. :)

~PurpleFlyingBird