Harry trudged his way to the Newspaper stand, too tired to even care how terrible he looked. He slumped into the chair behind the stand and fell asleep almost immediately.
Moka frowned as she watched her beloved wizard. The bags under his eyes were dark and distinct, and he walked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Then again, she supposed, he kind of was.
Ever since Christmas, three months ago, Harry had been in constant contact with the wizarding world and that damned headmaster, Dumbledore. He kept Harry up to date on the progression of the war, and Harry suffered for it.
With the threat of the Death Eaters constantly hanging over Harry's head, Harry had immersed himself in preparations. His steadfast training and studying had slowly morphed and devolved into paranoia and obsession.
He hardly slept, and they rarely saw him outside of club or training time. In fact, no one did. They had all tried at some point or another, but when the conversation drifted too far into the territory of concern, he would find some way to slip away.
Harry couldn't even see that all of his overworking was doing him no good. Moka and the others had spoken to Sirius and Remus(Harry had asked them to teach him DADA shortly after returning to Youkai Academy). According to them, Harry was slower on his feet these days, and he learned slower too. He was destroying himself, but he couldn't see it. The constant exhaustion and paranoia were deteriorating his health.
This had to stop. It had gone on far too long.
Harry dodged another hex, just barely clearing the little beam of light before another came rushing at him from another angle.
Sirius was a master duelist, and his teachings were invaluable. Remus taught him the spells, and Sirius taught him everything else. He taught him how to be aware of everything around him and how to use a battlefield to his advantage.
It was during these sessions that Harry was reminded that before Sirius was an infamous criminal, he and Remus were war heroes. For good reason, Harry soon learned.
Sirius was appalled at how little Hogwarts had actually taught his godson. Other than Remus, Harry hadn't had a good DADA teacher. He had very little knowledge of dueling and a limited spell arsenal. Harry had asked him to correct that, and he was glad to, but something was off about him godson. He rarely came to visit him and Remus outside of training, and every time he saw Harry in the halls, he looked exhausted. He wanted to ask him about it, but after they were finished, Harry would take off to another activity. It was becoming worrisome, and Sirius had no doubt that Remus had noticed as well.
"Come on, Pup, you can do better than that!" Sirius teased as he dodged around Harry's hexes effortlessly. Sirius dodged under another spell and feinted to the right only to send a stinging hex at Harry's unguarded left. "You've got to be quicker with your protego. If that'd been a bludgeoning curse, you'd be puking your guts out."
Harry nodded, recovering quickly from the hex due to his youki absorption.
"I want to see you putting up protegos silently and in your sleep. It's the most important spell you've got. You ought to be able to use it. Again."
As always, Sirius thoroughly defeated his godson, and as always, Harry made a speedy escape before Sirius could speak to him. Sirius growled in frustration. "Does that boy ever slow down," he griped.
Remus leaned into him and sighed. "I can hardly catch a glimpse of him these days."
"If those friends of his don't sort him out soon, I'll end our next session with a jelly legs hex and I won't lift it until he tells me what's going on."
Remus snickered. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that, Love."
Harry was leaving his last class of the day. If he finished his homework fast enough, he might be able to get through his magic studies in time for a decent amount of rest tonight. The thought put him in a slightly better mood than the near-constant frustration and tiredness that had sunk in some time around the beginning of his self-appointed training increase.
He saw a group of students chatting amongst themselves and sighed. It was fine. It wasn't like he didn't see his friends anymore. After all, there was always Newspaper Club and afternoon training to look forward to.
Harry shook his head like that would force his thoughts into order. It was fine. He still got to spend time with his friends, and if he didn't get strong enough in time, there would be no friends left. He just had to keep going until he was strong enough to protect them and then he could slow down and everything would go back to how it was before Christmas.
But how strong is strong enough? When will you stop? his treacherous thoughts whispered.
Before he could be bothered to dispute himself, a small hand clasped around his arm. Harry was shocked back into awareness and almost hexed whoever snuck up on him until he registered that he only knew one person that small. Harry put away his wand and gave Yukari a small, apologetic smile.
I need to be more aware. No one should be able to sneak up on me that easily.
Constant vigilance, his thoughts taunted.
Harry almost shivered at the comparison. He returned his attention to Yukari. "Hey, Yukari. I was just about to head back to my dorm. Did you need something?"
"We need to talk."
This time Harry did shiver. If there was one thing Harry had learned from Gin's stories about his many, many relationships, it was to fear those words.
As Harry panicked, Yukari pulled Harry into the Newspaper Club room. Inside were Ms. Nekonome, Gin, Moka, Kurumu, and Mizore. Harry was getting concerned now. Everyone looked so serious. Had something happened?
"Erm, what's going on?"
Moka spoke first. "Harry-kun, we're worried about you."
Oh great, an intervention. Yukari had closed the door, and everyone in the room had almost subtly surrounded him, clearly a measure against Harry's disappearing habit at this very subject.
He decided to play dumb instead. "I can't imagine why."
Flat looks were leveled at him from all across the room.
"Do you want a list?" Mizore asked dryly.
Harry cursed in his head. Playing dumb was definitely going to backfire. On to plan 2(3?): denial. "There's nothing to be worried about. I'm doing just fine."
Moka pouted at him with big, hurt doe eyes. "I can't believe you'd just lie to our faces like that, Harry-kun. Do you not trust us?"
Harry winced. Low blow, Moka. Super effective, though. Unfortunately for Harry, even he knew there was no way for him to get out of this. He wasn't stupid. He knew what this was about, but he couldn't stop. If he slowed down, he was giving Voldemort even more time, and he was already so far behind. Slowing down simply wasn't an option.
But how could he possibly get his friends to see that?
"Look, you've been acting really… off lately, okay?" Gin said, trying to bring them back on track.
"Understatement of the year, Gin," Mizore said, not moving her gaze off of Harry. Her tone was as icy as always, but her eyes showed her concern.
"I haven't even been that off schedule, though. I've been going to all of the club meetings and classes. So what if I do a little extra studying and training? It's not like I've just dropped off the map," Harry protested.
Kurumu put her hands on her hips and gave him a scolding look. "It's not just "a little." No one ever sees you outside of class or the club. I've seen more of Mizore in the past few months than you. Mizore!"
Harry winced again. "Okay, that's fair… What if I come study in here instead of my room? I can spend more time with you guys that way," he suggested hopefully.
Kurumu sighed and softened her harsh look. "It's not just about us not seeing enough of you, Harry-kun. We're worried about you. You've been running yourself into the ground."
"I'm fine," Harry insisted.
"How many hours of sleep have you had in the past week?" Yukari asked.
Harry opened his mouth, but Mizore cut in. "And don't lie. I'll know if you do."
Harry closed his mouth and actually thought about it. "I don't know. I guess… maybe somewhere around…" Harry scratched the back of his head nervously and winced. "25?"
Kurumu and Gin tried not to look too confused, but Moka kindly informed them that this was a little over 3 hours a night if the hours were consistent.
"What? If you keep going at this rate, you'll burn yourself out!" Gin exclaimed.
"Well, what else would you have me do?" Harry finally snapped. "If I don't get stronger, I can't protect everyone!"
"We just want you to take care of yourself," Yukari said, attempting to de-escalate the conversation. It didn't help.
"I don't have time to be worrying about myself when people's lives are in danger!"
"You can't protect everyone, Harry-kun. And you'll be useless to them if you're too exhausted to lift your wand," Ms. Nekonome stated, her expression oddly serious.
The frustration and bottled-up emotion of the last few months finally burst. "THIS IS THE ONLY THING I CAN DO! Why can't any of you understand?! If I stop, everyone dies! Do you really think he'll stop with Europe? It's not just my family on the line here! You all said you'd help, but I only agreed because I was foolish enough to believe I could protect you! I can't! I can't even win again my godfather, so how do I expect to defeat Voldemort himself?! I'm not ready and Voldemort is still on the move, and if I'm not ready when or before he is, EVERYONE WE KNOW AND LOVE IS GOING TO DIE ALL BECAUSE I COULDN'T HANDLE A FEW EXTRA HOURS OF TRAINING!"
Harry's hands were balled up into fists, his breathing heavy as everyone stared at him. His outburst hung in the air, and Harry looked everyone in their eyes, suddenly guilty but unwilling to back down. "I'm not going to stop and I'm not going to slow down. If you can't handle it, then keep it to yourself and leave me the hell alone," he hissed.
Harry apparated away, leaving everyone to stare at the space he once filled.
Harry collapsed into his couch and groaned loudly. He felt absolutely ridiculous. He really hadn't meant to yell at his friends. They'd only been trying to look out for him. And then he'd gone and apparated away like a little kid stomping away from an argument.
Harry smashed his face into a cushion and groaned again. He'd have to go back and apologize, wouldn't he? Harry tried to summon up the will to slip off of his couch now that he'd gone and gotten himself comfortable. Maybe he should take the rest he was given and apologize later. After all, they had been trying to encourage him to sleep more anyway, right? What was the harm in him getting a little shut-eye?
The Newspaper Club had dispersed shortly after Harry's outburst, and Moka was walking back to her room. She'd fallen behind the other girls, hoping that Harry would come back after he realized how mean he'd been. Normally, Harry would hex himself before hurting any of their feelings, but it would seem that he wasn't coming back today.
Moka sighed, so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the figure about to pounce on her until her rosario glowed in warning. By then, it was too late.
Harry woke up a few minutes later to the sound of pounding on his door. He groaned and lifted his face off of his couch cushion, wincing as he peeled his cheek off of the seat. Harry stumbled to his door and opened it. He was suddenly wide awake as he took in the panicked look on the face of the girl at his door.
Kurumu panted as if she'd just finished running a marathon. "Harry-kun! I can't- I can't find them! They're gone!"
Harry felt dread pool in his stomach. "Kurumu slow down. What's going on?"
Kurumu looked into his eyes, and Harry knew the answer before she spoke. "Everyone. All of our friends, they've disappeared."
Harry was out the door before she finished speaking. "Let's go."
Harry checked his watch almost every minute as the hands of the clock graciously remained on scared instead of injured or… anything else. He and Kurumu looked all over the campus. The Newspaper club room, the forest, classrooms, hallways. They had just finished checking their bedrooms. The only one left was Yukari's.
They walked in, and on the desk was a single black envelope. It was addressed to Harry. Harry swallowed nervously and opened it. Kurumu read with him over his shoulder. It was a short letter.
If you want them back, you'll meet me at the bus stop.
Harry crumpled the note in his fist and raced out the door toward the bus stop, barely registering Kurumu's footsteps behind him. Anxiety clawed at Harry's stomach. He just hoped that none of his friends had been hurt.
Harry rushed through the trees and burst into the open only to be immediately tossed back by a large fist. As he pulled himself away from the tree he'd crashed into, the moon illuminated his opponent. He was some sort of snail creature with shells on his back and fists. No wonder his punch hurt so bad.
He actually seemed vaguely familiar… if only Harry could remember through the foggy haze of his sleep-deprived mind. Harry reached for his wand, but all of the sudden the ground seemed to sway beneath him. Harry caught himself on a tree.
The yokai before him chuckled. "I thought you would be a bit trickier to deal with, Potter-san. I've heard about you all over the school… and of course, my little brother had much to say about you."
"Where're my friends, arsehole? What're you going on about?" Harry slurred angrily, rubbing his bruised cheek.
The yokai chuckled again, ignoring his first question. "Come now, can't you see the family resemblance? I guess not. After all, the pheromones you're breathing in are meant to cause disorientation. I can't blame you, really. How about I help you out? My name is Nagare Yugameru. My baby brother is Nagare Kano."
Harry's eyes widened, and Kurumu gasped from where she was crouched behind him.
"That's right, Potter-san. You and your little club messed up my little brother real bad, and he told me all about it. Now I'm your problem."
Harry glared at him the best he could in his current state. "Your brother was a manipulative perv," he hissed. "But what do the others have to do with it? If you're that upset about it, you could've just come and fought me like every other pissy monster at this school."
Yugameru scoffed. "No, I don't think so. You bastards travel in packs. Take out one and the rest come and team up on you. I'm not that stupid." He smirked wickedly. "No, I think the best way to take care of you is to get rid of all of you in one go, starting with the little skank who started this whole shitshow."
The snail yokai turned to Kurumu hauled Kurumu up by the front of her uniform and reared back his fist. Harry clenched his hand around his wand and shot off the first hex he could think of. The flipendo was weak, but it did its job, knocking the monster away from Kurumu. Unfortunately, it was unfocused and knocked Kurumu away too.
Harry scrabbled for purchase against the tree he was up against and forced himself into an almost-standing crouch. Yugameru came closer, and his pheromones grew more potent with the proximity. Harry immediately fell back against the tree. He blindly threw himself away from the blurry fist coming toward him. The wizard landed harshly on the ground and tried to hex the yokai, but he missed by a longshot.
"The hell was that supposed to be?" the snail yokai sneered.
Yugameru snatched the wand from Harry's hand and struck out. Harry's head snapped back, and his body followed. Harry wiped a drop of blood from his lip, and more dripped steadily from his nose. The world swayed even more violently around him. Yugameru pulled Harry up in much the same way he did Kurumu and hit him again, and again. Harry could do little else but roll with the punches without his wand.
A loud growl from behind the snail yokai gave both of them pause. Yugameru looked behind him to see that Kurumu had found and released their friends while he was distracted dealing with Harry.
Harry chuckled. "You said it yourself, Nagare. We travel in packs."
Nagare whipped around with a frustrated growl. "Fine, then I'll just take out the alpha!" He reared back his fist once more, but this time the shell on the outside grew spikes all around it.
Harry flinched away, but the blow never came. A firm hand grasped the offending limb, and moments later, a barrage of tarot cards slammed into the snail yokai's side, sending him flying away from Harry. Gin caught Harry before he could fall once again. He made sure that Harry was alright as Mizore, Kurumu, and Yukari ganged up on Yugameru.
However, none of them got the chance to attack.
"That's enough, girls." Everyone paused at the familiar voice. A figure emerged from the forest, tail swaying leisurely behind as if they were merely taking a stroll.
"Ms. Nekonome?!" they chorused.
The teacher smiled, eyes closed as always. "That's me!"
"What's going on?"
"Why are you getting in the way?"
"Didn't you see what he did to Harry-kun?"
Ms. Nekonome smiled, ominous shadows falling over her eyes. "Of course I did. After all, I'm the one who told him to do all of this."
"WHAT?!"
Ms. Nekonome stood between the girls and Yugameru, unflinching in the face of their outrage, and still keeping her blissful, creepy smile in place.
"Who are you and what've you done with the real Nekonome-sensei?" Moka demanded.
"Oh, it's still me, girls!" Ms. Nekonome tilted her head. "What's wrong? Oh, don't give me that look. I told him to go easy."
"Why would you tell him to do it in the first place?" Kurumu snarled.
"Think of it as a lesson. I am your teacher, after all. I noticed that you kittens were having a hard time learning a few on your own, so I stepped in!"
"What are you talking about?" Yukari asked.
"Well, you should know. You were all trying to teach Harry-kun earlier that he shouldn't tire himself out so much. What better way to teach than through experience?" Ms. Nekonome turned to Harry. "Didn't you notice how badly you do when exhausted?"
Harry looked at his teacher incredulously. "Notice? If I were a muggle I'd be hospitalized!"
Ms. Nekonome shook her head. "Not true~ If you were a muggle, you'd be dead!" Somehow, she retained her cheery tone.
A chill went down Harry's spine. Ms. Nekonome could be really scary. He would've never expected it, but this was a world of monsters, so he really should have.
Ms. Nekonome smiled mischievously at him. "I do hope we won't have to repeat this lesson, Harry-kun. I suggest you learn it well. As for the rest of you, you all are too focused on Harry-kun and not yourselves. All of you would've been able to evade Yugameru if you'd been paying any amount of attention to your own well-being. You all have to work on improving yourselves, just don't overdo it like Harry-kun or there'll be another lesson in store for you too~"
The Newspaper club shivered at the thought.
"And as for you, Yugameru-kun, well I hope you've learned your lesson about causing disruptions in my class~"
The previously bold snail yokai withered as Ms. Nekonome turned her frightening close-eyed smile on him. "Yes, ma'am."
"Huh?" Harry murmured.
"Oh, didn't I mention? This is Yugameru-kun's detention."
"Wait what? Then what was all that about revenge for your little brother?" Kurumu asked.
Yugameru laughed. "Oh, that? Well, the part about Kano being my little brother is true, but I'd never go out of my way to get revenge for that little shit. Especially since he deserved it."
Harry sweatdropped. "That so? Well, you really had me convinced."
Yugameru grinned at that. "Really? I'm part of the drama club, but they never wanna cast me in the good roles. I always thought they weren't giving me enough credit!"
Yukari chuckled awkwardly. "Well, good luck with that I guess. Come on guys. Let's get out of here already."
"Yeah, this place still makes me a little dizzy," Mizore grumbled.
Moka looked at Harry hopefully. "Is it alright if we help you to your room?"
Harry smiled guiltily. "Yeah. I'm really sorry about everything I said earlier. I-" Harry paused, the words on the tip of his tongue, but held back. I love you guys. He should say it. His heart longed to let the words through, but— his heart gave an uneasy lurch— they were finally getting along; what if he ruined everything? He couldn't risk it. "I'm really grateful to have all of you in my life."