Chapter 3 : The terrifying encounter

After almost a month of absence, Akira was finally back to Hogwarts to her great displeasure as she couldn't avenge the death of Tatsuno and Matsuo if she was locked in her magic school. However, leaving this place proved to be an impossible mission as Dumbledore had greatly strengthened the security to prevent anyone from entering and by extension leaving the school without an authorization. Akira had already tested one of his protective spells as she had hit violently an invisible wall that was surrounding the school Grounds. Because of that, the Forbidden Forest couldn't be used to escape but Akira was convinced that there were other ways to explore that were perhaps less obvious.

The only issue was to find one. To be able to focus on it, Akira gave up on her studies and the other activities that Hogwarts offered. It wasn't a big sacrifice as she had already given up on those things after the twins' death. However, she couldn't walk freely in the hallways with such a lifestyle. Her teachers and classmates wouldn't understand why she was there if it wasn't to study.

Fortunately for her, nobody - except Dumbledore - knew that she was at Hogwarts because during the first day of her arrival, she had only crossed the path of a few people that were strangers for her. After that day, she paid attention to hide her presence by spending her time in the Room of Requirement which she never left except to go get something to eat from the kitchen during the night. This room was perfect as it offered everything that she needed to kill time while thinking about a successful plan to escape.

Akira was also aware that a challenge was awaiting her once she would have left Hogwarts. And a huge one as it wasn't going to be easy to kill the mastermind that had led her and the twins into a trap to get themselves killed. To be prepared for that fateful day, she decided to take advantage of being in this room to practice.

Being short of material - she didn't have her kunais, shurikens or even her wand with her – she focused on training her ninja abilities. But ninjutsu and taijutsu proved themselves to take a lot of time to get better in these two fields. However, Akira knew some unique techniques that could be deadly if they were misused and that was medical ones. They required good chakra control and were used mainly to heal people rather than hurting them but she didn't care about that. All she wanted was to master in fight the use of chakra blades that acted as scalpels when you didn't have one in the nearby to perform a surgery.

No need to mention that her medical ethics was thrown out the window since the twins' tragic death as she would never have thought before this event to mutilate and kill a person with such sharp blades. It could be even more deadly to combine these blades with her ability to see through people skin as she could spot an artery and cut it with precision, leading to the person death within seconds.

After only four days spent in the Room of Requirement, Akira managed to surround her hands in an instant with chakra that could cut anything that was up to twenty centimeters from the tip of her fingers. It classified this attack as a close combat one and Akira soon found out that it could be risky to use it during a fight. Indeed, each time she tried to cut an object that the Room of Requirement made appear, she had to be more or less at an arm's length of it. It was an opportunity for her opponent to dodge and attack her in return. And since she wasn't an expert in taijutsu yet, she preferred to avoid being in such a position.

"It would be easier if my opponent was immobilized like this statue." Akira pointed out while cutting the arm of a two-meter stone statue representing a gargoyle with a chakra blade. "Or petrified…"

She smiled at this idea that she just got but lost it almost immediately when she realized one thing.

"But my wand is under my bed in my room at Konoha." She thought bitterly as she began to pace around the room. "Otherwise, I would have already used it to escape from this prison."

"Go steal one from a student. No one will know it was you if you go discreetly in the middle of the night." A little voice in her head advised her as it had become her only interlocutor after four days spent alone.

"I can't do that ! Magic wands choose their owner. I can't just take one out of the blue."

"Do you want to be able to carry out your revenge or you'll continue to feel sorry for yourself ? So go get that damn wand and practice casting spells with it !" The voice ordered her in an authoritative tone.

"Alright, alright. Just let the night come and I'll go steal one from my least favourite Gryffindor classmate." Akira grumbled reluctantly.

"And don't give up at the last minute. Wimps have never succeeded in obtaining justice for their comrades who died on the battlefield."

This statement gave her the courage to venture into the castle as soon as her watch showed one o'clock in the morning as the windowless Room of Requirement couldn't let guess what time it was.

Knowing the castle by heart after having been there for three years, Akira reached the Gryffindor Tower in an instant. The only issue that she didn't think off was giving the password to the Fat Lady as she didn't know it but she didn't risk wandering during the night in the hallways to give up so easily.

"I'm a fourth year Gryffindor that you had known for three years. You've to let me in !" She snapped at the Fat Lady while taking care to speak in a low voice to not wake up the whole school.

"There's no point in taking this tone with me. I only let in students who can give me the correct password." The Fat Lady pointed out to Akira while looking grumpy as the latter had woken her up.

"Really ? And do you think that you'll still be able to do your job if your painting is reduced to ashes ?" Akira asked as she wasn't afraid of uttering such a threat if it allowed her to achieve her goal.

"You wouldn't dare !" The Fat Lady took offense. "You'll compromise the safety of all the Gryffindors and you'll surely be expelled for such behaviour."

"Are you challenging me ?" Akira asked her while lighting a flame at the tip of one of her fingers.

She began to bring it closer to the painting of the Fat Lady as the latter froze in place while looking with horror at the disastrous fate that was awaiting her.

"You won but for pity's sake, don't burn my painting." The Fat Lady begged her before turning on herself to let Akira enter the Tower. "And next time, just say "Hogsmeade". That will be enough."

Akira didn't say anything, not even a "thank you", as she had no regrets for her bad behaviour. Instead, she put away the flame and rushed quietly until she reached the fourth year girls' dormitory to steal a wand, any of them except the one of Alice as the latter was the only girl in her year that Akira considered as a friend.

When she entered the room, Akira spotted a wand lying on the nightstand next to Sandra Nielson's bed. She approached it carefully to take it but while doing so, Akira spotted from the corner of her eye a dark, rectangular shape located at the foot of an empty bed. Realizing that it was an ownerless suitcase, Akira moved towards it and crouched down next to it to see to whom it might belong.

"It's my suitcase." She realized with astonishment as she opened it to discover her school supplies from the previous years inside of it. "How did it end up here when I hadn't taken anything with me as I didn't intend to find myself at Hogwarts so suddenly ?"

But that question could wait as Akira looked in her suitcase until she finally located her wand that was well hidden in the middle of all her stuff.

"Jackpot !" She said to herself as she grabbed it without waiting. "With it by my side, my escape from Hogwarts can only be easier. I just need to come up with a plan. Or simply take advantage of the night to leave the school without anyone noticing it."

Exhilarated to have found her magic wand which gave her some powers, Akira hastened to leave the dormitory on tiptoe to not wake anyone up. She then left the Common Room as quietly as possible by passing through the painting of the Fat Lady. Noticing that the latter was strangely silent – especially after Akira almost burned her alive – Akira turned around to see that the painting was empty. But that didn't matter to her as she had other objectives in mind than finding the Fat Lady around the whole school.

"Good evening Akira." A calm voice suddenly said behind her.

It frightened Akira who turned around while pointing her wand in front of her but when she realized who had just arrived, she lowered it right away as it wouldn't be of much use against the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"I'm rather impressed that you managed to stay hidden for so long. It took a lot of patience and ingenuity." Dumbledore pointed out in a rather amused tone.

"I just came out to get my wand and now I'm leaving this school." Akira informed him to make it clear that she didn't give up on going back to Konoha.

"This isn't very wise. It would be better for you to continue your studies in security like all students of your age." Dumbledore told her while grabbing his own magic wand.

"You can take my wand or bind me to make me stay but that won't change my determination to escape one day." She threatened him while also feeling cold sweat running down her back as Dumbledore could stop her in a blink with one of his spells.

"I don't intend to take your wand or bind you. I have a much more effective way than magic to make you stay."

He lightly twirled his wand in the air and a shiny silver ball appeared to float in front of him. It then took the direction of the empty painting of the Fat Lady and crossed it to disappear into the Gryffindor Tower.

"With all due respect, it's going to take more than a glowing orb to force me to spend another minute at Hogwarts." Akira advised him incredulously.

"I know but stay patient and you'll see why I cast that spell." The Headmaster recommended her while crossing his hands in front of him.

Akira decided to obey as she was intrigued by what he was up to. A minute passed, waiting in dead silence for something to happen, and then they could hear a faint noise coming from the Common Room.

"What…" Akira exclaimed as the luminous sphere returned in the hallway to stop right next to her before disappearing.

This was followed by a commotion right behind the painting of the Fat Lady which opened to let out a student in wrinkled pyjamas who was rubbing his head where he had hit the closed painting in his semi-conscious state.

"It's here that the party is taking place ? There was a blinding light that... that... pulled me out of bed." Arcturus explained between two yawns.

He was obviously not completely awake as he didn't seem to realize to whom he was talking to. In the meantime, Akira understood what Dumbledore had in mind by making Arcturus join them and if she didn't leave right away, she would never be able to do so any time soon as Arcturus was very protective towards her. Therefore, she turned on her heels and was about to flee at full speed when Arcturus finally recognized her.

"AKIRA !" The latter exclaimed with delight before throwing himself on her to hug her which prevented Akira from taking one step. "When did you come back ? Did you receive my letters ? And why do you have a bandage over your eye ?"

This finding shocked him and he finally let Akira go so he could examine her from head to toes in search of another injury that he wasn't aware of. This moment of silence allowed Dumbledore to speak.

"Miss Chitsute had a relatively rough back-to-school and she would need all the help possible to catch up with what she missed to be at ease with her fourth year. Being also prone to getting in trouble more easily than any other students, I'll need someone to check on her all the time."

"I can do it !" Arcturus immediately replied excitedly. "I'll keep an eye on you while I'll tell you everything that happened at Hogwarts until today. But first, did you know that your suitcase arrived here without you ? Everyone was wondering when you were going to show up, we even speculated about it. So now that you're finally here, I want to know why you didn't join Hogwarts on time." He continued while pulling Akira by the arm to take her into the Common Room as she glared with hatred at Dumbledore who seemed particularly amused by the trouble in which he had put her.

Indeed, her plan to escape was completely thrown by the window in the following days as Arcturus kept his word by never leaving her side for a single second. Her only respite was during the night but she quickly discovered that she was trapped inside the Gryffindor Tower as the Fat Lady painting and the windows were sealed to not let her out when she was supposed to sleep.

As time passed, she had become everything that she hated, namely a student who lives a quiet life at her school and forgets that her two best friends had been brutally killed during the summer. She was going to her classes, ate with the other students and hung out in the same places as them. All this carefree life made her sick as she was afraid of not wanting to avenge the death of Tatsuno and Matsuo anymore.

She got even more conscious of that when she suddenly found herself on Halloween in the blink of an eye while having made no progress to get back to Konoha as she didn't make any effort to escape from Arcturus' supervision or find a way to flee from the highly secured school. This statement frustrated Akira and put her in a bad mood that was accentuated by everyone looking at her insistently because of the bandage on her injured eye. Therefore she had become very irritable and it was better to not be in her way even if she tried her best to keep her anger under control.

However, she let everything explode after a seemingly innocuous event that took place in the Great Hall. Akira had just spent a tiring day going to her lessons and hadn't had a minute of respite since she got up on that Halloween morning thanks to Arcturus. The evening had finally arrived and with it, the Halloween Feast. This event was long-awaited by the students who had been talking about it since the last few days. It had to be said that it was really something as the Great Hall was generally decorated with carved pumpkins of all sizes that were lit with candles and candies were covering all the tables.

And this year was no exception as Akira and Arcturus entered the room for the Feast. Only by doing so, they crossed the path of a Hufflepuff student who had a pumpkin in his arms as he was finishing installing them. The latter jostled Arcturus as he wasn't looking where he was going. This caused the pumpkin to fall and break on the ground but instead of apologizing, the offending student began to insult Arcturus for the disaster for which he wasn't really responsible.

"Look at that mess ! Do you think that carved pumpkins grow on trees or what ?" The Hufflepuff student snapped at him while pointing to what was left of the orange vegetable.

"I thought it was on the ground, at least for the uncarved ones. Anyway, I'm sorry. I didn't see you coming with it." Arcturus apologized sheepishly.

"I'm not even surprised that it's you who caused this disaster because you've the reputation of being so clumsy. But you better stay away from the other pumpkins before damaging them as well, otherwise the party…"

BAM.

The student didn't even had the time to finish his sentence that a quick, violent and precise blow hit him right in the middle of the face. This caused him to fall backwards onto the ground before getting up on one elbow as the hit hadn't been strong enough to knock him out. His nose was still bleeding profusely as the student wiped it with the sleeve of his wizarding robe. Once the shock passed, he raised his head to realize that it was Akira who had punched him as she still had her hand clenched in a fist. Being afraid that she punched him a second time, he remained silent and began to pull back to get away from her as Professor McGonagall was rushing towards them after seeing the scene from the Professors' table.

"Miss Chitsute ! What has crossed your mind to behave like this ?" The latter said to Akira after reaching their group. "I take fifty points from Gryffindor and you'll get detention ! Now go to the Gryffindor's table if you don't want to lose any more points."

"Yes Professor." Arcturus replied instead of the culprit.

He grabbed Akira's arm to take her with him but the latter broke free immediately.

"Leave me alone ! If I hadn't had to defend you against this dumb guy, I wouldn't be in trouble right now." She advised Arcturus viciously before starting to run at full speed to disappear into the Entrance Hall and then into the marble staircase without listening to Professor McGonagall who was ordering her to come back right away.

Akira didn't really know why she had hit this student - especially for such a trivial reason - or why she had been so mean to Arcturus who only wanted to drag her towards their table to put an end to this conflict but she was completely beside herself. All she wanted was to leave Hogwarts and everyone at that school was just an obstacle towards that goal as they only managed to make her lose house points and get detention. And the worst was still to come as she would have to face her Gryffindor classmates who would be mad at her for losing so many points. Realizing that she was up to her neck in trouble after her sudden outburst, she decided to continue on this chaotic path since she had nothing to lose.

She had precisely reached the deserted floor of the library which was closed for the night. And who says library at Hogwarts says Restricted Section with books filled with forbidden spells, one of which would surely be powerful enough to break the protective spells that Dumbledore had put in place. This prospect – and also spending a night far away from her Gryffindor classmates - pushed Akira to open the door with an Alohomora. She then entered without delay in the dark room, closed the door behind her and lit her wand as she was trying to find her way towards the Restricted Section. It was the dream of every troublemaker to find itself in this place and Akira had the idea of using this Halloween night to see how she could break free from the school while everyone was too focused on enjoying the Feast to take interest in her.

She grabbed books at random, sometimes attracted by their chilling title which often included dark magic. She then began to go through them quickly, barely reading the text in search of key words that would give her a clue on how to escape a highly secured school. With all the books that were stocked there, she would eventually find something that would fit her needs.

Her intensive research had made her lose track of time and only a faint rustling in the middle of the night interrupted her. Thinking it was nothing, Akira resumed her research work before stopping again as the rustling repeated itself.

She was convinced that she was alone as nobody entered in the library at the end of the Halloween Feast. However, she began to not being so sure anymore as she had the impression that something was slipping in the middle of the bookshelves.

Both intrigued by what it could be and worried that it was perhaps a Professor or Filch who were checking the hallways during the night, Akira cautiously left the book she was reading on how to raise an undead army - she got a bit carried away in her research - and went towards the area where the noise was coming from, paying attention to not make the slightest noise. But each time she was close enough to see what it was, it seemed to wander somewhere else which made it difficult to follow it.

"Maybe it's Peeves who came to get another forbidden book in which he could find what he wanted to spice up the Halloween night." She thought after remembering her first Halloween at Hogwarts in which the Poltergeist did just that.

However, it wasn't its style to be discreet and run away when she approached it. On the contrary, Peeves would confront her and threat her to go get Filch to put her in trouble. But then if it wasn't Peeves, what else could it be ? There weren't hundred things in Hogwarts that could move so easily between the maze of shelves while remaining inconspicuous.

Akira was hesitant to leave the library right away but as she still had several hours in front of her to look for the helpful spell she needed to flee from Hogwarts, she didn't really want to leave empty-handed so she continued to follow the mysterious rustling. It lasted a while as it was clearly running away from her to avoid her but at some point, it hid in a cupboard as she heard a wooden door open and close with a loud slam.

"Dang it." Akira grumbled as her heart was pounding after such a sudden noise that surprised her.

Now she was absolutely sure that there was a living being with her in the library and it was hiding in a cupboard that she could see from afar. The cupboard was moving from time to time as the intruder seemed cramped inside and Akira decided to dislodge it without delay as she didn't want to let the intruder escape with the possibility of denouncing her for wandering in the Restricted Section.

"It's you or me and I prefer it to be you." Akira thought while pointing her magic wand in front of her as she approached discreetly the cupboard.

Once in front of it, she stopped and stood ready to intervene as she placed a hand on the trembling handle. She opened the door at lightning speed and cast immediately a Petrificus Totalus on what was inside. However, the spell didn't have much effect as the cupboard was empty, except for objects that fell from it and crashed on the ground in front of her feet.

Akira lit what she had just found with her wand and it was rather gloomy as it was a kunai covered in blood – whose blood ? - that had stained the ground with a large puddle of the red liquid after its fall. Next to the weapon and also covered with blood was a piece of paper folded in half.

Surprised that the cupboard contained such type of objects instead of a person as she was sure that she had seen it move a moment before, Akira carefully knelt down next to the kunai and the paper and mistrustfully grabbed the latter. For some reason, it looked familiar to her but it wasn't until she unfolded it that she realized what it was. Although the text and the drawing of a map were blurry, her brain immediately made the connection between the letter covered in blood and the message that she had received at Konoha and which had led to the death of Matsuo and Tatsuno.

This observation frightened her to the highest point as she quickly threw the paper on the ground in the puddle of blood that continued to expand until even reaching her knees and her shoes. She then stood up awkwardly before starting to walk backwards until she collided with the shelf behind her. Her breathing had become uneven as her heart was racing in her chest upon seeing these two objects that reminded her of the tragic death of the twins. She even began to wonder if the blood that was staining the floor wasn't... theirs.

Suddenly finding herself in front of this awful vision terrified her and she forgot the reason for her presence in the library in the middle of the night as she was now only thinking about running away as far as possible from this place. It was easier said than done as her legs were shaking but her fear of these objects full of signification for her proved to be stronger and Akira started running like crazy among the shelves before breaking through the library door to find herself in the deserted hallway.

Despite the fact that Professors or Filch might not be far away, Akira ran at full speed through the school without bothering to be discreet. Instinctively, she went to the Room of Requirement and entered it without delay. However once she got inside this secret place, she didn't get the impression of having escaped this painful recollection of the tragic events of the summer. The bloody kunai and the letter were still etched into her mind to the point of making her fall to her knees on the ground as she began to sob uncontrollably.

Happy Halloween everyone (with some delay) !

Akira shouldn't have cast a Petrificus Totalus on the thing that was hiding in the cupboard but rather a Riddikulus. It would have changed it in something more pleasant as she had crossed the path of a Boggart, for those who haven't guessed yet (and the shiny silver sphere cast by Dumbledore was a Patronus). There were better ways to spend a Halloween night than being confronted to the weapon that killed her two best friends - stained with their blood that was spreading in a gory puddle on the floor, ew - with the letter that led them to their awful death. That was a cruel reminder of the events and Akira didn't need it as she was already tortured enough by the twins death for which she still felt responsible.

Her mind was already broken - making her hit that Hufflepuff for a silly reason, even though it taught him a good lesson - but now it will be worse. Far worse. If people at Hogwarts won't let her go back to Konoha, they'll regret it bitterly in the next chapters.