Hello dear readers,

Welcome back for the fifth time to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ! What a year is awaiting us, with many new events like the OWLs or chosing a career path. It wasn't the book of the Harry Potter franchise with the most pages for nothing.

After a disastrous fourth year, let's see how Akira will behave on this fifth one. She'll have many things to worry about as her job with Voldemort isn't done yet, especially not after the special training that she received from Slayer during the summer. What about becoming a Death Eater in the future ? It's perhaps a career for her, but only time will say.

I don't own Harry Potter or Naruto.

Chapter 1 : Embodiment of the law

The summer holidays were coming to an end, which meant the imminent start of the school year for the Hogwarts students. For some of them, being locked up in a castle to study far away from their family was depressing and they dreaded the arrival of September 1. But that wasn't the case for the others who were eagerly awaiting this day for various reasons. For Akira, it was to no longer have to cross paths with Slayer - a cruel wizard working for Voldemort who had been her Dark Arts Professor all summer - at least for an entire school year as she couldn't tell how her next summer would look like.

Because Slayer had given her a hard time, with his lessons on the three Unforgivable Curses and Occlumency. He had never held back, always pushing her to the limit until she cracked and wished to kill him. But Akira managed to repress that desire until the very last lesson. Slayer had tortured her with the Cruciatus spell, taken control of her mind with the Imperius curse or by Legilimency and killed an incredible amount of animals and insects before her eyes with the Killing spell, but Akira had still returned to her classes with him diligently day after day.

However, it was because of fear, not by choice. This is what happens when you collaborate with lawless dark wizards, you have to expect to suffer the worst without being able to escape if you don't want to be hunt down or have your family attacked. Akira was particularly afraid that Slayer would harm Arcturus who was kindly hosting her incognito in his family's house for the whole summer. In fact, his mother knew that Akira was in her house – she let her stay only to serve Voldemort's plan as Akira's blood status wasn't to her liking - but her oldest son wasn't made aware that she knew, rather complicated as a situation. What was more complicated was to not put Arcturus in the confidence that Akira was rubbing shoulders with Voldemort's group. And he was too busy to find out anything since their return from the Quidditch World Cup.

The last occupation of Arcturus was to spend his days hanging around his house with Akira - skipping work in the process by pretending to be sick, which displeased his boss from the Apothecary to no end - in order to intercept the mail before his mother did. Indeed, he was afraid that Akira's letter that the students were receiving at the beginning of each school year would reach his mother, revealing that a Muggle-Born was squatting in her house thanks to her oldest son even if she was in fact the one allowing it.

They both waited a long time for the letter to arrive, taking the most of it by simply chatting in a low voice while sitting on the floor in the shadow of the house which was hiding them from the sight of the bystanders or Arcturus' family who was peeking out now and then from a window. They were looking at the bright blue sky, and eventually their efforts paid off when Arcturus spotted a grey point that was coming close to them. Indeed, it was an owl aiming for the latter's house but before it could reach it, Akira managed to catch it mid-flight as it had tried to land on the ledge of one of the ground floor windows.

"Go ahead, take the letter." Akira ordered Arcturus as she was having some issues to keep the bird still as it was really unhappy to not having been able to reach its destination.

"I'm trying but that demon wants to eat my fingers." Arcturus stated as the owl was snapping its beak threateningly near the latter's hand.

After getting hurt four times, he managed to foul the bird by showing it something in the sky before taking quickly the package of letters that was attached to its paw.

"Ah ! In your…" He tried to say to it before getting pinched on the nose as he had put his face too close from the one of the owl.

Now that it was done, Akira released the bird which couldn't help but give Arcturus a nasty beak on the head before leaving. Meanwhile, Akira took hold of the letters as the latter was looking at the owl flying away with an angry glare. There were four of them. One for Arcturus, one for Sirius, one for Regulus and one for her. Once she removed the string that was holding them together, she got able to give to Arcturus - who was rubbing his head where he had been hit, grimacing in pain - his letter and those for his brothers before taking a look at hers. But this time, something was bothering her, the same for her friend.

"It's heavier than the ones of the previous years, right ?" Arcturus asked while weighing his envelope.

"We probably have a lot to buy since it's the year of the OWLs." Akira suggested.

"Oh no, I hope not. Otherwise I won't have enough money to buy everything." Arcturus worried before starting to tear open the envelope.

Akira imitated him and they both took out two parchments from each, like for the previous years. One for general information, one for the list of books to buy. Only, there was an object left at the bottom of the envelope. With the same gesture, Akira and Arcturus turned them over and a metal object fell onto the ground.

"No. Way !" Arcturus exclaimed while Akira was picking up the two objects before giving him his. "These are Prefect badges, isn't it ?"

"Looks like it." Akira said after having completely forgotten that it was in fifth year that the new Prefects in charge of maintaining the order at school were chosen.

"So cool !" Arcturus enthused while pinning his badge on his T-shirt and pricking his finger with the needle in the process.

Once it was in place, he swelled his chest with pride as he looked at the badge which was shining in the summer light. Akira wasn't feeling the same enthusiasm as she could already see the mountain of additional tasks that was awaiting them with this position. And she already had enough on her mind without having to make sure that her comrades behaved properly. She even hesitated to put the badge in the envelope and send it back so that someone else more eager to occupy this post could be chosen in her place. That was until Arcturus spoke up.

"We're going to rock out ! The best team that the school ever had." He said as he was overflowing with joy at this nomination. "I never thought for one second that I would be chosen, however. With my legendary clumsiness and my interest for all Muggle objects and sports, I'm more a weirdo than someone who can be the embodiment of the law."

"You're not a weirdo." Akira rectified right away as it was a word that had never come to her mind when she was thinking about Arcturus. "And in my case, I thought that I would never be chosen after my rather… eventful fourth year that I almost failed. I did so many questionable things that I should probably give this badge to another girl in the class. I'm sure that Alice would make a better Prefect than me."

"What ? No, no, no, no, no. You have it, you keep it." Arcturus said in a panicked tone while closing Akira's hand on her badge. "It's yours, you deserve it, and if Dumbledore decided that…"

"It's Dumbledore who chooses the Prefects ?" Akira asked while frowning at this news.

"Yes. Well, partly I think. McGonagall must have surely something to say for the selection." Arcturus replied at her suspicious tone.

"So, that's why I got it." Akira thought bitterly to herself. "Dumbledore wants to force me to stay at Hogwarts because of this Prefect job. He hopes surely that it will prevent me from running away and badly behaving like last year."

It was smart of him. But useless since Akira had been planning to join Hogwarts this year without making a fuss to comply to Voldemort's plans.

"Are you okay ? You seem upset." Arcturus intervened worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm good." She lied.

"So, are you keeping the badge or not ? Let me be the small voice in your head giving you some good advice. Yes, yes, yes, yes, …" He repeated until she got enough of it.

"Fine, fine. I'll keep it. If Dumbledore chose me, I've no choice but to comply." Akira advised him to make him stop right away.

"That's what I wanted to hear ! Come on, I'll take you out for an ice cream to celebrate." Arcturus suggested enthusiastically while helping her getting up from the ground on which they were kneeling. "And this time, I'm paying for them !"

After this unexpected news of being one of the two new Gryffindor Prefects, life went back to normal for Akira who wasn't as flattered as Arcturus to have been selected among the other students of fifth year from their house. She continued her lessons with Slayer and took a morning to buy all her school supplies and those of Arcturus who no longer had the leisure to miss a single day of work after having missed too many of them to intercept Akira's school letter.

Then, the last day of the holidays finally arrived. Akira had waited so long for this Saturday - which marked her last lesson with Slayer - that she was almost happy to go to Borgin and Burkes to finally be rid of him forever. But first, she had to survive the training for three hours. And even when the course was almost over, Slayer gave her one last instruction.

"Do you think that I'll let you leave like that, with knowledge in your possession that you could turn against the Dark Lord's side ? Because from what I saw in your head, you don't fully share our ideals. You joined us only to serve your interests which consisted in seeing your two deceased friends again. You're a threat for us, and I can't tolerate that you use my teaching to help Dumbledore's side. So in order to avoid this betrayal, you and I will make an Unbreakable Vow."

"What's that ?" Akira asked after hearing these two words together for the first time in her life.

"It's a pact where you'll promise to not use the three Unforgivable Curses against us. So that you won't have the possibility to decimate our ranks because if you break this vow, you'll die on the spot. However, I spare you from making this promise on Occlumency because it's likely that you'll often close your mind by reflex in front of one of our followers, unlike the spells that you have to formulate willingly."

"Are you kidding ?" Akira got carried away as she was starting to get tired of his whims and threats. "These spells are awful, and I've no intention of using them against a human being, no matter what side they are on. There are other methods to deal with someone."

These words greatly displeased Slayer as his face darkened suddenly. Without saying anything, he advanced towards Akira and raised his wand to the level of the latter's forehead as she tried to not move an inch so as to not show her fear.

"I don't believe you. And you know why ? Because some of your school friends might inevitably be killed by our side if they rose against us, and the temptation of revenge will then be too strong for you to just sit back. At that time, I can assure you that you'll be ready to use these Unforgivable Curses and for that to not happen, an Unbreakable Vow is mandatory."

Slayer was right. When Matsuo and Tatsuno died, Akira was so upset that she had been ready to kill the culprit without the slightest hesitation. If the latter was still alive somewhere, it was only because she hadn't got the chance to find him yet. Slayer's concerns were therefore completely founded.

"If you don't do this vow, I'll be forced to kill you." He announced with a delighted smile. "I've been dreaming of this for a long time. And the Dark Lord won't even blame me since I do it for the good of our community."

"Okay, I accept to do it, whatever it is." Akira resigned as she was squinting at the tip of Slayer's wand from which green sparks were now escaping.

"I prefer this." Slayer added with a grimace as it forced him to not go ahead and kill her right away. "In that case, wait here."

He strode towards the door leading to Borgin and Burkes and flung it open. A few seconds later, he was already back with Mr. Borgin, whom he was dragging by the arm behind him.

"Hold out your hand." He barked at Akira once they had reached her level.

Akira reluctantly complied and she hesitated to remove it when Slayer reached out his own hand to grab it. However, she left it in place since those were the instructions to follow and Mr. Borgin was then able to place his magic wand on their joined hands.

"Do you promise to not use on purpose the three Unforgivable Curses against the Dark Lord's followers or against him ?" Slayer stated in a loud voice while looking at Akira with a severe glare.

"Euh, yes." She answered after he made a pause to let her say something.

Immediately, a chain of reddish fire sprang from Borgin's magic wand and wrapped itself around their hands. Seeing this, Akira wanted to withdraw her hand but Slayer prevented her from doing so by tightening his grip to the point of crushing her fingers. He only released her hand when the chain dissipated, visibly signifying the end of the spell as Borgin was putting his wand back into his pocket.

"Now, you're bound by this vow so if you break it, you'll die right away. Ah, I almost forgot. I must also give you this message." Slayer said while throwing at her a torn piece of parchment that Akira caught mid-air. "Now, get out of this place. I never want to see you again unless I have to." He added menacingly before taking the exit which meant the end of this last lesson.

"Same for me." Mr. Borgin stated while grabbing Akira by the sleeve before dragging her unceremoniously after him. "I don't want to see you hanging around my store anymore. Never."

He repeated the word "never" once more while throwing her out into the street before slamming the door of his shop on her.

Akira also never wanted to see them again, she just hadn't had the chance to tell them this face to face. And she wouldn't have it anymore as she was leaving Knockturn Alley under the invisibility cloak that Slayer gave her and forgot to ask back. While paying attention to not bump into anyone, she read the message that the latter had given her.

"Meet at the same place and during the outings like last year." The unsigned message stated in a mysterious way.

But Akira immediately recognized Rookwood's touch there. Apparently, she would still have to meet him to give him a summary about Dumbledore's moves, which wasn't very encouraging since this mission was hard to fulfil without the latter getting suspicious. However, Akira pushed this bad news into the back of her mind since she had to concentrate on her back-to-school to Hogwarts taking place the next day.

Her school supplies for her fifth year were bought, her suitcase was packed and she had to go to King's Cross Station with Arcturus, whom she would pick up from his job which he had to attend until the very last minute before the train trip to make up for his missed hours.

"My boss didn't want to let me go since they're so many things to do at the Apothecary. Luckily, we're still on time." He commented when they had set a foot on the platform 9 3/4 after having crossed the barrier that led to it.

"And plenty of time. We've more than ten minutes left to find a compartment." Akira pointed out while heading for the back of the train out of habit.

"Wait a second. We're Prefects now, and from what I know Prefects have reserved compartments. We just have to find them." Arcturus told her cheerfully before turning towards a seventh-year student who was in a deep discussion with his friends. "Excuse me, my good man. Do you know where the Prefects' compartments are ? Because we're both Prefects from now on, if I could just put my hand on my badge." He added while searching in his pocket to prove it.

"I don't know and I don't care." The student replied while shrugging his shoulders indifferently before turning his attention back to his group.

They got better luck with a sixth-year Hufflepuff Prefect who was passing by and gladly took them with him to show them the way. They headed to the front of the train, where the platform was much less crowded than the rest of it since there were only Prefects, Head Girls, Head Boys and their families around there.

It was strange for Akira to no longer do like the majority of students, namely jostle for a free seat in crowded compartments. It was as if she had arrived at a new school, with new habits to take up as she had now some privileges that she didn't ask for. However, she soon realized that being a Prefect didn't only have advantages such as a reserved carriage, but also many obligations as the Head Boy of Gryffindor - a guy named Eric with blond short hair and blue pale eyes who was taking his job very seriously – pointed out after joining them in a compartment where Akira, Arcturus and the sixth-year Prefects were awaiting his instructions now that the train had left King's Cross Station.

"We're all here so I'll begin right away and spare you the list of the school rules. It will save us a lot of time since you already know them all." Eric said as he seemed impatient to move on.

"I've read them, but some time ago." Arcturus intervened while lowering the hand that he had raised very high to speak. "They didn't mention to read them again with the shiny badge that we received by owl. It's a very nice and cool badge by the way."

"Except that it's common sense." Eric replied while passing a hand over his face with an exasperated air as the meeting had barely begun and he was already interrupted. "You have to enforce the law, so you must know it better than anyone else. Does that mean that I'll have to go over all the rules ?"

"Yes please. So that I'm sure nothing new was added since I last read them. And you won't have to repeat yourself. I'll memorize everything the first time." Arcturus advised him happily before tapping his index finger on his temple.

Akira was glad that he made this request because she wasn't so sure about all the school rules herself, unlike the older Prefects of sixth year who sighed loudly before slidding down on their bench while their leader listed the rules one by one in a rather dry manner. Akira was the only one to notice their annoyance as Arcturus was too focused on listening to the Head Boy instead as he was going over all the rules whether they were obvious or not.

The trip quickly became boring with this long monologue, but it got interesting again when the Prefects were sent to patrol in the other carriages to ensure that order reigned there, with the possibility of giving detentions to bad-behaving students if it wasn't the case. And the occasions were numerous as Akira quickly discovered.

But nobody was as annoying as James who had made fun of her Prefect status which was forcing her to follow the rules and stay in line while he was still free to do whatever he wanted. He then started to break the rules right in front of her, like stealing candies from second-year Hufflepuffs – even though they asked him if he wanted more of them as they were happy to share to get new friends - or using spells on all the Slytherins that he came across. He was trying his best to make Akira give him detentions, which was really tempting for the latter, but Arcturus quickly intervened before it happened as he was acting like the nice cop during their patrol.

"You can't punish him as the school year hasn't officially started yet. Let's leave him alone, at least until we get to Hogwarts." He whispered to her while dragging Akira away from James so she wouldn't see his antics anymore.

But the latter wasn't done, so he followed her around which made Akira fumed with rage. James made the trip really painful, and Akira was relieved when it finally came to an end as they arrived in the village of Hogsmeade.

There, the Prefects had little to do. Just put some order in all this crowd and make sure that everyone was going for the carriages pulled by sinister winged horses - or in the case of the first years, for boats - to reach the school. The respite continued during the start-of-term Feast. Then as soon as it was over, the Prefects of fifth year got their first important task, namely leading the new students to their respective dormitories. It wasn't complicated and after four years spent at the school, it was no longer holding any secrets for Akira and Arcturus. The latter, however, managed to take wrong turns because of the pressure on his shoulders. Or rather the pressure that he was putting on himself for no reason. Luckily for him, Akira was there to guide everyone safely to the Gryffindor Tower, otherwise they would all have ended up lost in the dungeons.

"Here we are. You can give the password." Akira said to her colleague as she was eager to get rid of this group of first years who were so excited about being at Hogwarts that they were exclaiming over the slightest little thing that they saw along the way.

"Of course." Arcturus replied while coming to stand in front of the Fat Lady painting.

But after some very long seconds not telling anything, he turned towards Akira while scratching his head.

"Uh, and what's the password again ? I was looking for the Bertie Bott's Bean that I let fall under my seat when the Head Boy revealed it in the train."

"No password, no access." The Fat Lady advised while rolling her eyes at this carelessness that was letting a group of dozen Gryffindors at the door of their common room.

"Try "Quidditch World Cup"." Akira recommended him which was more helpful.

"Really ? That's easy to remember since it happened this summer. Can we go in now ?" Arcturus asked happily while turning around to face again the Fat Lady without worrying about repeating the password to her. "Because I'm sure that our ducklings are dead tired." He added in an affectionous tone.

"What did you call us ?" A rough-looking new student asked him.

"Don't pay attention." Akira advised the latter while pushing him inside after the portrait of the Fat Lady rotated on itself.

Now that the first years were in the common room, they were no longer under the supervision of Akira and Arcturus after they told them where their dormitories were. Their job was done so the two were able to breathe by letting themselves fall on armchairs while the first years would scatter to take a look at the cosy room. But Akira and Arcturus were quickly called to order when the Head Boy saw them slumped.

"Don't forget, you now represent authority. So keep your eyes open and send the first years to bed right away as it's already late." He told them in a serious tone before going to reprimand two third-year students who were removing some notes on the board to pin instead their unauthorized advertisement saying that they were selling their old school supplies.

"He's taking us for their parents or what ? They'll go to bed when they are… they are… tired." Arcturus replied in a low voice before yawning until his jaw dropped.

"Like you." Akira added.

"Indeed I am. I never thought that it was that exhausting to be a Prefect when I was seeing them wandering in the hallways." Arcturus defended himself.

"And still, we just patrolled on the train and took the first years to the Gryffindor common room. I'm sure we'll have many more tasks in the future." Akira pointed out rightfully.

"Surely. We must deserve this shiny badge." Arcturus said with apprehension.

On this realization, they called it a day and headed to their dormitories, falling asleep right away from exhaustion unlike the first years that they got to send forcefully to bed, making it really difficult for the latter to close their eyes. Still, they had to manage it as tomorrow was the first day of school for everyone.

Glad to see you again for this September 1 ! Okay, so it's a good start for this fifth year. Akira even became a Prefect, which was very unlikely after breaking most of the school rules during her previous year.

But perhaps getting this position is what she needed to stop misbehaving and seeking for revenge over Matsuo and Tatsuno death. Have too much work to be unable to think about anything else. That's what Dumbledore surely planned for her in one of his many attempts to make her stop taking a wrong path. But will it work ? We'll see it with the progress of this story, the next chapter being published at the end of the month.