Chapter 4 : The worst student ever

There had been dunces at Hogwarts. People who don't do their homework, people who don't listen during classes, people who act stupidly to the point of receiving a remark or even people who disobey the rules which earns them detention or the loss of a few house points.

There were students like that every year since the school exists but this year, Akira broke all records. Since Halloween during which she had hit a Hufflepuff student who had attacked verbally Arcturus over a broken carved pumpkin and after her encounter that same night with a bloody kunai and a letter that had reminded her of the tragic death of Tatsuno and Matsuo, Akira no longer cared about obeying.

She no longer went to classes, nor did she attend the detentions that she earned for such bad behaviour or did really care about being the one who was emptying the Gryffindor hourglass at full speed of the few rubies that it contained. This last point was delighting the Slytherins who told her to continue like that until the end of the school year while she had become the outcast of the Gryffindors.

Despite all the troubles she was getting into, Akira didn't hesitate to wander around Hogwarts in broad daylight as she was looking for another secret passage that led outside the school since the one that was going to Hogsmeade was no longer exploitable. Indeed, students couldn't go there during daytime when there was no trip planned and during night time, Aurors would watch over Hogsmeade to prevent shady people from venturing there as the village was close to Hogwarts which is under maximum protection against Death Eaters and Voldemort. Akira knew about it as she tried once to escape by the village during the day and during the night only to be sent back to the school right away.

Walking freely around the castle all day long inevitably led Akira to come across her teachers who would ask her the same question, namely why she didn't take part to their lesson, and with more and more insistence as her absence was repeated.

Flitwick, Kettleburn and Sprout asked her this question more with concern than with reproach as they wished for her to get back on the right track as she had always been a good student.

Watterston, Slughorn, Corvi and Binns asked her because it was their job to do so but they didn't really get interested in the response that she would give them since she was only a student like many others for them.

Deloney – the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, with messy short brown hair, a pencil behind the ear and piercing dark eyes that could spot everything, who was before that a field journalist who had the habit of infiltrating into Death Eaters camp to get first-hand information about their plans that he then disclosed in the press, which made him a person to get rid of by the people he was spying on - questioned her with insistence about her motivation to neglect her education all of a sudden after three years of flawless records. This made Akira particularly suspicious towards this Professor who was capable with his journalistic methods of making her confess what she really had in mind, namely leaving Hogwarts to go kill a criminal.

But Deloney wasn't the worst. Rather, it was McGonagall who fumed every time she would spot Akira wandering in the hallways instead of being in class, especially since she was also the Head of the latter's house who was in charge of the discipline among the Gryffindor students.

McGonagall had already inflicted everything on Akira : she had made her come to her office to find out why she was suddenly acting like a bad student, she had given her increasingly ungrateful detentions, she had made her come to her office again to know why she was skipping these mandatory detentions and McGonagall had even gone so far as to take away from Gryffindor the few house points they had left in hope that this would make Akira react and go back to the student that she was. But the latter remained insensitive to everything, which forced McGonagall to take one day an irrevocable decision.

It was on a Wednesday morning, in the middle of November as the weather was gloomy like Akira's mind. The latter was supposed to follow her Potions class but instead – and after managing to avoid Arcturus who was constantly trying to take her to their lessons every time he would spot her – she was looking behind every statue and armour on the first floor for a hidden passage. But this floor was also the one where McGonagall's office was located, which the latter eventually ended up leaving to go to her classroom only to bump into Akira which exasperated the Professor to no end.

"Don't you have Potions this morning ? I don't even know why I'm still asking when it's been almost a month since you stopped going to all your lessons for some reasons that are beyond my understanding." McGonagall told her in a tone that she tried to keep neutral even if Akira saw her eyes throwing lightning behind her square glasses.

"And I don't know either why you're still asking me about this when I already told you that I stopped going to class for reasons that concern only me." Akira snapped on the verge of insolence.

"That's exactly the problem. You haven't given yet any satisfactory answer that could justify such behaviour." Professor McGonagall continued as she had more and more difficulties to restrain her anger. "Ever since you hit this Hufflepuff student over a silly argument regarding an accidentally destroyed pumpkin, you've been acting as if the school rules don't apply to you anymore which made me wonder if you still have your place as a student within these walls if you no longer want to study."

"What do you want to do, expel me ? Please go ahead then." Akira replied while starting to display a small smile as it was what she wanted more than anything else to be able to return to Konoha.

McGonagall immediately took her satisfied look for distrust and this reinforced her decision that Akira should leave Hogwarts.

"Come with me. I'm taking you to the Headmaster to formalize your dismissal."

"Do we absolutely have to go through Dumbledore for this ?" Akira asked her as her smile disappeared as she knew that Dumbledore would never approve her dismissal since he was the one who was keeping her captive at Hogwarts.

"Yes, and your father will also be informed of the final decision." McGonagall added while wondering if Akira's father had told anything to his daughter about her bad behaviour as McGonagall had informed him several times about it through letters.

"Him too ?" Akira asked angrily as her father was the second person who was forcing her to be at Hogwarts as the Second Great Ninja War was in full swing in Konoha. "Can't you just sign a paper yourself saying that I'm the worst student this school has ever seen and have me permanently expelled ?"

"In my entire career as a Professor, I've never heard a student say such nonsense." McGonagall told her with astonishment. "Whether it was to pursue their studies until the end, out of personal pride, for their parents or for the friends they made at Hogwarts, no one had ever begged me to have them expelled. This is beyond comprehension !"

"And I might shock you even more but I refuse to go see Dumbledore. He doesn't want me to leave the school so I might as well save yourself the trouble of talking to him during hours to plead for my dismissal which he won't even considerate."

"I beg your pardon ?" Professor McGonagall replied as she was becoming more and more offended by Akira's attitude.

But the latter didn't clarify her point. Instead, she just took off while skillfully dodging the restraining spells that McGonagall was casting on her as ordering her to stop had no effect on her.

Putting McGonagall out of her mind was just one more offense to add to Akira's list, which she hoped would be one day long enough for her dismissal to become unequivocal. And to pursue on this slippery slope, she managed to argue with a sixth year Gryffindor student after simply passing next to him once she entered in the library where she took refuge. This student was particularly angry against her for all the points that she had lost for their house and he began to pick on her out of the blue which wasn't a good idea as her clash with McGonagall made Akira upset.

"You still dare to show yourself when we've zero points because of you ?" The Gryffindor student murmured to her sharply once she arrived at his level.

"I've the right to come to the library like you until proven otherwise." Akira said to him while continuing to walk to sit at an empty table far away from everyone.

But the student made her stop as he grabbed her arm before getting up from his seat.

"We did quite well in Quidditch, we made an effort to stay out of trouble and we worked hard during lessons to gain a few house points here and there. And you, you arrive in the middle of the school year, you don't do well at school and on top of that, you make us lose everything that we've won so far ? I'm telling you, it won't continue like this for long."

"We can settle this with a quick fight. We'll see then if you'll still dare to talk to me like that after it." Akira threatened as she felt her blood boiling in her veins.

"A duel you mean." The Gryffindor corrected her before starting to display a confident smile. "That's not very fair, considering I'm in sixth year and that I know a lot more spells than you."

"You know how to talk but you don't know how to actually fight ?" Akira provoked him as she needed to vent her anger on someone.

"You asked for it. I'll take Derek as my second." The Gryffindor announced while gesturing to his friend sitting in front of them who had followed their quarrel in silence. "And you, who could you take as your second when everyone hates you since you're disrespecting our house ?"

"I don't need a second." Akira replied immediately. "As soon as we leave the library, I'll knock you both out."

"Sure. We're going to have a nice noisy duel in the middle of the hallway, right in front of the library full of students and with the old Pince who'll just have to open the door to put us in detention. No, we'll rather find a quiet place like the Trophy Room to settle things." The Gryffindor suggested before heading towards the exit with his friend as Akira followed them outside.

Despite the reluctance of her two opponents to duel in the hallway, Akira didn't intend to wait any longer to fight as there was nobody around.

"I advise you to get ready right now because I won't restrain my hits." Akira warned them once she closed the library door behind them.

"I just told you that we're going to the Trophy Room !" The Gryffindor reminded her harshly while turning his head towards her.

But Akira wasn't okay with this decision and instead of discussing about it for the next ten minutes, she decided to prove to him that she wasn't joking when she was telling him to start the fight right away. And what better ways to do so than attacking the poor Derek, even though the latter was only present to support his friend. Akira rushed at him, jumped into the air and sent him flying away with a side kick that was hard enough to make him crash into a wall before falling unconscious on the ground.

"What was that ?" The Gryffindor stammered while trying to clumsily take his magic wand from his pocket to compete with Akira.

But the latter who was close to him didn't give him enough time to find it. She quickly crouched, spun around to kick in his legs to make him stumble and as he was falling forward, she suddenly stood up while punching him under the chin. Suffice to say that it was enough to make him collapse and he remained perfectly still on the ground like his friend.

"As agreed, a fight right in front of the library. That will teach them to not mess with me anymore." Akira told herself as she wasn't feeling the slightest remorse for her action.

She was now thinking about leaving the place quickly because she got a bit carried away and if anybody from the library saw this carnage, it would be hard to keep secret that she was a skilled hand-to-hand fighter. Everybody would want to know where she learnt to fight like that and so on until they found out – especially with Deloney around to investigate - that she was a ninja, resulting surely in her banishment from Konoha for revealing this secret.

Therefore, Akira turned on her heels to flee before freezing on the spot when she saw a second year Ravenclaw student that was staring at her with wide eyes. When he realized that she spotted him, he startled a bit before shaking like a leaf as his legs were unable to move.

"I promise I won't tell… anyone about… what you did… so please, don't… hurt me." He begged Akira in a tearful voice while the latter was wondering what to do with him.

He was an inconvenient witness but at the same time, he was only a kid younger than her so Akira wanted to get rid of him but not in a brutal manner. Therefore, she appeared at lightning speed in front of the student before placing a hand covered in chakra on his head and putting him to sleep using this technique. Now that there were no more bullies to beat up or witnesses to silence, Akira reached the Room of Requirement to be left alone and also to pursue her training to master cutting with chakra blades as she still had some negative energy to spare.

Fighting against students who were mistreating her – even if it was only verbally - was particularly vivifying for Akira who was able to let her anger explode at being held captive in Hogwarts without her consent. So she couldn't help but start again in the days that followed while always using the same procedure. As soon as a student – or a group – attacked her for one reason or another, she would drag him to the first deserted place that she could find before giving him the beating of his life. And since her heroic soul wasn't completely gone, she applied the same modus operandi to bullies who attacked poor defenceless students. Plus, it allowed her to practice taijutsu in preparation for her encounter with the criminal who caused the twins' death, so it was all good for her.

However, it soon became more and more difficult for Akira to find guinea pigs on which to train while measures had been taken to put a stop to these mysterious attacks which didn't have any culprit since the victims were too much confused thanks to the hits they received on the head to tell what happened to them. The students no longer dared to walk alone or even in small groups around the school and the patrols of Professors or Filch became more numerous.

But when someone really got on Akira's nerves, she would always find a way to lure the student somewhere before teaching him a good lesson. Only Arcturus was spared, even if his goofy behaviour was what irritated Akira the most.

"Phew, I got here in one piece." Arcturus said to Akira after arriving in the Great Hall for a lunch at the end of November.

He then threw himself on the place next to her as she was sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table which was completely deserted as most of the Gryffindors were avoiding her thanks to her behaviour that tarnished the reputation of their house. However, she didn't manage to eat quickly enough to not run into Arcturus who was coming from his morning lessons.

"I got here in one piece" was a phrase that he had gotten used to repeat in the last few days, thinking obviously that he was lucky to not have been badly beaten on his way. Little did he know that he was sitting right next to the culprit that happened to be his best friend, which guaranteed him to never become the target of her attacks that were carried out without distinction on students from all the houses ranging from first to seventh year, the only difference being that she was going easy on the young ones.

"By the way, Dumbledore wants to see you." Arcturus suddenly announced as he was helping himself with food.

This caused Akira to half choke on her mouthful as she had a vague idea on the reason why the Headmaster wanted to talk to her. He had surely found out that the wounds of his students weren't done by magic but rather by someone with hand-to-hand combat skills. Someone having ninja skills. Someone like her. Dumbledore being the only one in this school to know her secret, she was sure that he would confront her about it. She was also sure that he wouldn't expel her from Hogwarts despite her bad behaviour since her life was at risk in Konoha. He would simply scold her for several minutes to make her stop and that wasn't what Akira wanted. For her, it was being expelled or continuing to mistreat the students who deserved it. Nothing else.

"I'll go see him as soon as I have some time." Akira lied in a conversational tone.

"No, you can't postpone this meeting. Dumbledore is waiting for you in the Entrance Hall right now." Arcturus added after realizing that he had forgot to tell her that part of the information.

This declaration caused Akira to choke once again on her food as this time she was no longer able to dodge this discussion with Dumbledore. Instead, she was forced to get up immediately and head towards the door as Arcturus was happily wishing her a good interview as he wasn't aware at all about what they would talk.

Before finding Dumbledore outside, Akira was a bit tense but she tried to convince herself that she was within her rights to act this way, that she only wanted to leave but Dumbledore was preventing her from doing so. That he was in her way to avenge the twins' death. The memory of her encounter during the Halloween night with the bloody kunai and the letter achieved to assure her that it was Dumbledore who was wrong in this case.

So it was with strong determination and an angry face that she faced the Headmaster who was waiting for her near the Marble Staircase. The latter was standing still with his hands crossed in front of him but the neutral face he was displaying was a proof that he wasn't approving what she had done.

"We need to talk about the recent events." He told her in a calm tone while his voice had lost its usual warmth.

"Definitely." Akira simply replied as she wanted to tell him her way of thinking.

Hello dear readers,

That's it. Akira completely snapped after the traumatic Halloween night that she lived. It was too much for her to stay trapped at Hogwarts as she would have been more useful in Konoha, finding the trace of the culprit responsible for the death of her two dear teammates. She perhaps acted a bit violently but she never went further than a boxing match that finishes when the opponent is KO.

But for sure, Dumbledore won't approve what she did. What will he do against it ? Will Akira still be allowed to stay in Hogwarts ? If yes, what will be her next move to escape ? If no, will she be able to find the culprit that she really wants to kill ? Lot of questions that will be answered in the next chapter that I intend to publish in the middle of the month this time.