§

Disclaimer: I don't own KUROSHITSUJI or HARRY POTTER.

Bet that Omake came as a shock to you all, huh?

Anyway…

Sorry for the long wait. What matters though is that I finished & posted the next chapter (short though it may be). Just because I'm lazy and easily distracted doesn't mean that I'm the sort to give up. By the way, this may come as a surprise to many of you, but I'm not a fan of HARRY POTTER at all and never have been. The only reason I read all the books and watched all the movies was because I was curious & wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate them or anything like that. If I did I would have given up after the first book. I found the series to be an okay read, but I have read better (in my opinion any way) stories about kids becoming wizards. WIZARDS HALL, SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD, EQUAL RITES, and SCHOOL OF WIZARDRY to name a few.

Still, I can appreciate the world that that author created, the details she put in, and the way that she breathed life into the characters she chose to populate her world with. Pretty much my only complaint is that she used the word "Muggle" instead of "Mundain" for those humans not involved in the magical aspects of the world.

I'd also like to thank lostangel21 for her help. Sorting out the right way to start beginnings is always a bit tricky and she helped give a well needed push and partial base to build on to get past a weirdly tricky spot...

Oh WIERD! Can't seem to copy & Paste hearts anymore.

Has anyone else noticed that?

.

҉

-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-

•-_XXx*-~·•*'¨-*-Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ-*-¨'*•·~-*xXX_-•

*•*•*Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ*•*•* ***Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ****•*•*Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ*•*•*

§

҉

.

.

CHAPTER 12

. (Alternating P.O.V., But Mostly Ciel) .

It took about 15 minutes of careful sneaking before they arrived at the entrance to the Ravenclaw dorms. This provided more than enough time for the demons to get an impression of the castle they traveled through.

Despite himself, Ciel couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer scale of the place. The Founders had certainly not skimped on either materials or effort when they set out to build their school. The place was as large as any palace with high vaulted ceilings and wide airy corridors, but it was also as sturdily constructed as any fortress, with large blocks of stone used instead of weaker, more easily obtained bricks.

This building put to shame any that the young demon had ever previously seen, and as a wealthy Earl, as well as the head of a very successful company, that was really saying something. Ciel had, after all, become accustomed to grand sights long ago and was rarely affected by anything anymore.

The businessman in him also could not begin to imagine the cost in both time and money that it must have taken to build something this massive.

All-in-all, Ciel Phantomhive was impressed. The overall effect was one of elegance and enduring strength, and if one ever wanted to build an impressive magic castle, it would be nearly impossible to imagine an edifice that could surpass this particular one.

By now, the sun had long since set and darkness filled the once overcast sky.

The darkness of night had blanketed the school and the deep gloom was only interrupted by the occasional pools of light shed by sputtering torches mounted here or there in the more commonly used corridors; though in truth it appeared more as if they cast more menacing shadows than any they chased away.

Despite the dimness, it did not take the demons long to notice that there was something rather odd about the paintings decorating the walls of hallways they were moving through.

Since the six of them (with Cho leading the way closely followed by Harry, Hermione, Ronald, Ciel, with Sebastian at the rear) were moving in a close-nit line as quickly and quietly as they could, it was easy enough for Ciel to give in to his curiosity and poke Ronald a few times on the back to get his attention.

"Oy," whispered Ronald fiercely, "leave off and quit poking me!"

Ciel spoke anyway, completely ignoring the irritation in Ronald's voice, "I have a question and I intend to ask it."

Ronald gave a sigh that showed his annoyance, "Fine. What is it?"

"Why, exactly, are all the paintings in this school portrait-style? This place is a school, so you'd think that at least a few of the paintings would be of sporting events, student-driven clubs, art made by students for the purpose of decoration, and of festivals hosted by the establishment. In point of fact, they are also all paintings, I have yet to see a single photograph among them."

He paused as they came to another hallway, listening carefully to make sure their small group were the only ones nearby. Satisfied they were still alone, he continued with his questions as they turned the corner and proceeded down another long hallway.

"But the even more puzzling matter is why on earth are they all of people sleeping? I do not see the relevance in such pointless pieces." Ciel stated in a very blunt manner, the male gesturing to the few paintings they currently passed by.

Ronald glanced over his shoulder towards Ciel, an expression heavily doubting the other's intelligence on his face, "This is not an ordinary school. Don't you know that by now? I thought you said you know a bit about magic."

"What is that even supposed to mean?!" Ciel whisper-yelled, he was not the patient-type and it seemed as if this guy was dodging his question, perhaps even trying to mess with him.

Giving a disgruntled exhale, Ronald continued with his explanation, "If I tried to explain, you'd be even more confused than you already are now since it seems like you don't already know."

Ciel gave him a heated look. Ronald Weasley didn't know how lucky he was that the young demon chose not to burn a hole right through his back with potency of his glaring.

At that moment they arrived at a wide set of spiral stairs headed up to the next level.

"Though I think you're going to get at least part of your question answered." Ronald added, "I think we've arrived at the entrance to Ravenclaw."

.

They followed the stairs up to a landing that ended in a dead end. There was no door. The only thing there was a large painting of a sleeping man with a pencil mustache and van dyke beard dressed like Shakespeare and seated in a comfortable looking red leather chair. Next to him on a small table was a book weighted down by a skull with a raven perched atop it, asleep with its head tucked under its wing.

Cho stepped forward and lightly tapped the paintings frame a couple times.

"Psst, Howard," she said. "Wake up!"

Just as Ciel was deciding that the school's taste in art wasn't the only thing worth questioning, the image of the man began to stir and the raven gave a startled CAW as it wakened and fluffed out its feathers.

"It's past curfew, you kids shouldn't be out of your rooms."

Ciel stared at the seemingly living painting.

Suddenly the worth of all those other paintings he'd past on the way here took on a whole new value.

The implications of such devices as part of security alarms and free spies was staggering.

But the for-most question that blurted past his lips was:

"Why 'Howard?'"

"What?"

The man tried to pier around Cho to get a better look at his questioner. She obligingly stepped back so Howard could see them all.

"Why are you called 'Howard' when you are clearly a painting of William Shakespear?"

Ciel was a highly educated and long-lived boy and as such had seen many sketches, drawings, and paintings of his favorite playwright. He knew him when he saw him and that was obviously the proper name for this portrait's subject.

Howard scowled at the boy while Cho mentally rolled her eyes & groaned, thinking that of all the things Harry's new friend to say he just had to comment on that. Every student in Ravenclaw quickly learned to never mention that Muggle within hearing range of this painting.

"Now see here boy, don't you compare me to that scoundrel! I was a very famous wizard back in the day. My advancements in numerology and their correlating relationship to arithmancy made me the toast of the Wizarding world! I'm far more famous, not to mention that I conducted myself far more respectably, than that womanizing drunkard! Just because some of his scribbling got a bit of attention he thought he could get away with anything, and the whole family sided with him over me! ME! HIS ELDER BROTHER!"

As one the entire group had started hissing at Howard to be quiet as soon as he'd started shouting. Even the raven seemed to have an irritated glint in its eye as it tilted its head to regard its companion.

Howard paused for a breath and only then seemed to notice his listeners trying to shush him. With a glare he continued his ranting, but had lowered his voice.

"They disowned me, you know, the moment my magic talent started to make itself known. Poured all their affection into him, they did." He said sneeringly.

"Little Willy, would have been nothing without me. I'm the one that insisted we should learn our letters and better ourselves. I'm the one that got old Mister Wiggins to teach us to read & write in exchange for coming over every day to help around the house. And you know what else? He had the nerve to marry the girl I liked and then ran off to London to bed any tart that wanted him AND she still preferred him to me! It made no sense at all! I was his big brother and you better believe that I was bigger than him in more ways than one. Age wasn't the only reason I called him Little Willy!"

Howard clearly had issues, but they had better things to do that listen to him whine all night.

Harry tugged on the dark-haired girls sleeve to get her attention.

"Hay Cho," he said, "hurry up with the pass word."

She blushed, "Oh sorry Harry, I forgot. Even though he's just a painting he's got lots of charisma and is surprisingly intelligent. He only ever gets like this when someone mentions his brother. We think that he's like this because whoever made this portrait was either too talented or put too much effort into making it realistic."

Turning back to face the portrait, she asked, "what's the riddle of the day?"

.

Howard frowned at her, not liking getting interrupted.

"Fine it's: Which is mightier, the wand or the sword?" He said, before going back to his endless ranting about his brother.

Of course buy then they were all ignoring him.

.

"Hmm…What do you think, Harry?" asked Cho, looking thoughtful.

"What? Isn't there just a password?"

"Oh no, you've got to answer a question." Cho said.

"What happens if you get it wrong?"

"Well, you have to wait until somebody comes along and gets it right," she said, "that way you learn."

"That makes sense I guess," Said Ron, "but we can't really afford to wait for just anyone to find us here."

"I see what you mean." She said, "Then let's try to figure it out."

Ciel snorted, "The answer is simple enough, circumstances determine which has the greater advantage over the other in any given situation."

Howard stopped mid-rant, "Well reasoned," he said, and with a barely audible click the painting slid to their left, revealing a plain handle-less door made of aged wood with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. As they watched, the door soundlessly opened in to the dorm common room.

.

_-XXXxxXxxXX-_

.

-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-~*'¨¯¨'*·~-

Again, Sorry for how short this was.

I'll try to do better on the next one.

You all probably noticed already but there is no Howard painting in either the HARRY POTTER books or movies. The fact of the matter is that this chapter was hard for me to write. it had elements that I felt NEEDED to be included but at the same time it was a bit boring. And short. I'd already written Howard in before I looked up that section in the book, but I decided to keep it as is because:

(1). The chapter was already short & boring and Howards presence made it slightly more interesting.

(2). A plain door & an annonymus voice was dull.

So just consider Howard an invention of my imagination and bear with it. Thanks.

Also: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

.

.

.

10/30/13