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Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, Pokémon to WB and Nintendo, and Ranma 1/2 to Rumiko Takahashi.

A Lost Friend

By: USA Tiger

Author note: Give thanks to my beta Tsuyu-the-Hanyou for going over this story.

Chapter 12

"We're heading for the Prefect meeting Harry," Hermione said as they found a compartment on the Hogwarts express. "We'll come back when the meeting is over."

"Yeah that's fine," Harry said as he stowed his trunk in the overhead rack then sat down. Ryoga, Ranma and Shampoo each took a seat in the compartment, Harry sitting next to Ryoga.

"What's a prefect?" Ranma asked once Hermione and Ron left.

"They help the professors with watching the students," Harry said. "They patrol the school at night to make sure students aren’t out of bed, things like that."

"Sounds boring," Ranma said as he leaned back.

"My Mum was a Prefect when she was in school." Harry said. "And so was Remus."

"So every house has a Prefect right?" Ryoga asked.

"Yeah, two for 5th, 6th and 7th years, one boy and one girl," Harry said. "Malfoy is a Slytherin Prefect."

"So what's up with that guy?" Ranma asked. "He looked all shifty at that Diagon Alley place."

"Malfoy has always been sneaky and a right pain in my arse," Harry said with a scowl. "His dad is a Death Eater, he was sent to Azkaban at the end of the last school year. I wouldn't be surprised if whatever is up with Malfoy, it has to do with Voldemort."

The door opened then, a small dirty-blond haired girl standing in the doorway.

"Hello Harry," The girl said with a dreamy look as she entered the compartment with her trunk. She stopped and looked at the other three teens in the room. "I do not know who you are."

"Hello Luna," Harry said with a grin, since becoming friends with the odd little blond, there was never a dull moment with her. "These are my friends Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome and Shampoo. Ryoga and Ranma are new students and Shampoo is our new potion professor's granddaughter. This is my friend Luna Lovegood," Harry said, introducing the blond girl.

"Hmm... You have a very bad infestation of Nergals," Luna said to Ryoga as she sat down beside Ranma across from the Lost Boy after sending her trunk to the luggage rack.

"Nergals?" Ryoga asked with a confused look.

"Yes, they are distantly related to Nargals," Luna said with a nod. "They cause people to get lost; they like to nest in traveling muggle men's hair." Ryoga looked at Harry who just shrugged, he had no idea what Luna was talking about. Still it was scary how she managed to nail on the head that Ryoga had a bad habit of getting lost, Harry never knew how she knew these things.

"Errr... how was your summer Luna?" Harry asked to change the subject.

"Very good, Father and I traveled to America, we were hoping to find a 'Bigfoot' to interview for the Quibbler," Luna said. "But we were unable to find any, they were scared off by a bunch of muggles that were looking for them as well in the woods we searched."

"What is Bigfoot?" Shampoo asked.

"I always thought it was some muggle thing but I guess they could be real, it's a really tall ape-like creature that lives in North America. I think they have another name for it but I don't know what it is," Harry explained.

"Sasquatch," Ryoga said. "They are nicknamed 'Bigfoot' as their feet are really big and make large footprints."

"Aiyah. Is like Yeren?" Shampoo asked. "Yeren wonder close to village during winter, Shampoo seen a white one before. Is really tall."

"Yeah, a lot like a Yeren," Ryoga agreed. "Sasquatches are very timid but if you’re really quiet and don't scare them, they'll let themselves be seen. One dragged me in my tent one time, it was very curious about the things I had." (1)

"Only you P-chan," Ranma snickered making Ryoga roll his eyes. The group continued to talk, more people who had part of the DA stopping by to say hello to Harry and to meet the two new students. Many of them rejoiced when they heard that they had a new potions professor only to groan in disappointment when it came out Snape was overseeing DADA now.

Ron and Hermione returned some time later from the Prefect meeting.

"Blimey I'm starving," Ron said as he sat down beside Luna, eyeing the pile of snacks on the other seat.

"Go ahead mate before Ranma eats all of them," Harry said with a wave of his hand. During the time at the Order Headquarters everyone learned that Ranma could out eat all of the Weasley boys any day of the week. Harry wondered how the older teen would react to the all-you-can-eat spread they got during Hogwarts meals. "I'll be back in a bit," Harry said as he stood. Now that his friends were back, that meant Malfoy was out of the prefect meeting as well.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked looking up from the book she had taken out of her bag.

"Just to the loo," Harry lied. Hermione eyed him a moment then turned back to her book. Harry walked through the different cars on the train, looking for Malfoy and his group. Near the front of the train he finally found them. The rest of the car looked to be empty, allowing Harry to kneel down out of sight and slip one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears under the door, placing the other end over one of his own ears.

"Are you sure you're alright Draco?" Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl in Harry's year that always hung around Malfoy, asked.

"Just leave it Pansy, I'm fine," Draco Malfoy said. Harry could almost hear how tired Malfoy was, not that he cared per-say but it did show whatever it was the blond was up to, it was wearing down on him.

"Oh just leave it Parkinson, you know he's not going to tell you," Another voice, this one male, said. Harry couldn't place the voice and didn't want to chance standing up to glance through the window to see who had spoken.

"Shut up Zabini," Parkinson hissed. "Did you see the Weaslett, Draco-darling? Everyone was talking about her, how she was all dressed up."

"Why would I pay any attention to one of Scarhead's hanger-ons?" Malfoy asked in a sneer in his voice.

"Well, all the boys in the other houses were going on about how good looking she is," Parkinson said. "Even you think she's good looking, don't you Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!"

"I wouldn't touch a filthy blood traitor like her whatever she looked like," Zabini said with a disgusted tone. "Come on, we're almost at school."

Harry panicked as he heard the group in the compartment start to move around, yanking the Extendable Ear back. If he stood, the group within the compartment would see him and know he was spying. Harry started to reach for his pocket where he kept his invisibility cloak when he quickly changed his mind and instead changed into his Mew form.

'I need to be small and unnoticeable!' Harry thought. He was afraid that one of the others could brush up against him if he just stood around in his cloak. Harry's form glowed, shrinking Harry down until he was very close to the ground. His new small from raced over to hide behind the door as it opened, watching from around the side as Malfoy, Parkinson, Zabini and Malfoy's two grunts Crabb and Goyle exited the compartment as the train slowed down.

Malfoy was the last one to leave the compartment. The tall blond teen stopped, his silvery gray eyes narrowed as he turned and gave the train car a slow scan. The other Slytherins didn't seem to notice that they were leaving their 'leader' behind. Malfoy took his wand and waved it in a slow sweep, making Harry realize that Malfoy was at least aware that he was being watched and was trying to find the source. Luckily the boy didn't look down and notice the tiny yellow bug with large green eyes watching him from behind a door. (2)

If Harry had hidden under his cloak, the dark hair boy would have been found. But since he was a tiny bug-like creature, way beneath his rival's line of sight, Malfoy never caught him spying. Finally Malfoy frowned to himself and left the train car. Harry ran on four little legs up the wall and looked out the window to watch Malfoy exit the now unmoving train. Harry then caught sight of himself in the reflection of the glass.

"Joltik!" He said in surprise, his voice coming out as a small squeak. He seemed to quiver with energy and sparks of electricity arched over his body. He was tiny! This form, he mused, could be really good for spying or hiding away from enemies. Harry jumped off the window seal and changed back into his Mew form, teleporting himself to the bathroom close to his friends and walked out of loo back in human form.

"Sorry I took so long," Harry said as he entered the compartment where his friends were waiting on him.

"Harry, where were you?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah mate, we were just about to leave without you," Ron said.

"My trip to the loo took a little longer that I thought it would," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulder. "Let’s go catch a carriage before they all leave."

**

"What the hell are those things?" Ranma asked as he stared at the Thestrals at the front of the carriage.

"What things?" Ryoga asked as he looked in the direction Ranma was, he couldn't see anything.

"Is dragon horse," Shampoo said.

"You two see the Thestrals?" Harry asked.

"What-trals?" Ranma repeated.

"Thestrals, they are a breed of winged horse that only people who have seen death and understand what it means can see," Harry said as he walked over and reached up to pet one of the Thestrals. The skeletal horse snorted and nudged its head under Harry's hand. "The herd here at Hogwarts is the only tame one in the world I think."

"Don't worry mate, Mione and I can't see them either," Ron said as he slapped Ryoga's shoulder. Shirokuro whined and pressed closer to Ryoga's leg, he couldn't see the creatures but the ninja dog could sense them very clearly.

"Who did you two see die?" Luna asked Ranma and Shampoo.

"Shampoo kill Musk that tried to kidnap Shampoo when only 14," Shampoo said. "Was Shampoo's first real kill."

".... I killed a god," Ranma said then pulled himself up onto the carriage.

"... A god?" Hermione repeated.

"Husband kill Phoenix people leader and god Saffron," Shampoo explained. "Ranma had kill to save lives."

"Saffron was reborn afterward, so he wasn’t really killed," Ryoga told the horrified looking teens with them. Hermione shook her head, she couldn't believe that Shampoo and Ranma had both killed someone.

"How could you speak so calmly of murdering someone?" She asked Shampoo when they were all in the carriage.

"Musk is Joketsuzoku lifelong enemy!" Shampoo said with a frown. "If Shampoo not kill, Musk force Shampoo back to Musk village. Make Shampoo into bride and force to have many children."

"The Musk throws animals into the Nyannichuan, the same spring I fell into, to make the animals into brides," Ranma said. "Or like Shampoo said, force girls to marry them."

"That's horrible!" Hermione said her hands up to her mouth.

"So Shampoo kill to save life," Shampoo said firmly.

"How can they be allowed to get away with that!? It's barbaric!" Hermione fumed.

"It's a region hidden deep in China," Ranma said. "It took Pops and me weeks to even get an idea where to go. Plus it's a different culture that yours, things are done differently. Of course the Amazons have their own rules too."

Anything else Hermione would had said was cut off as the carriage came to a stop in front of the school.

"Just leave it alone Hermione," Harry warned before jumped out of the door, holding onto Ryoga's arm to lead the older boy inside with Ron on his other side. Hermione scowled as she followed behind them.

"Miss Shampoo," McGonagall said as the teens entered the school. "You will be sitting at the head table with your grandmother."

"Shampoo wants to sit with Ranma," Shampoo said.

"You may sit with Mr. Saotome during normal meals, but during the opening feast you must sit with your grandmother as you are not a student."

"Shampoo understand," Shampoo said with a sigh. McGonagall nodded her head then turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, you are to report to the Head Master's office tomorrow morning after breakfast. The password is Ice Mice."

"Yes Professor," Harry said. McGonagall nodded her head and let them entered the Great Hall while waiting for Hagrid to arrive with the first years.

Inside the Great Hall the group split up as Shampoo headed to the empty seat next to Cologne at the head table while Luna headed to the Ravenclaw table. The rest of the teens headed to the Gryffindor, sitting with the rest of the sixth years.

"Who are they?" Seamus Finnegan, an Irish half-blood wizard that was in the Trio's year, asked as he pointed at Ryoga and Ranma as the two Asian teens sat down.

"Two new students," Harry said. "They're in our year. This is Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki."

"Hello," Seamus's best friend Dean Thomas said.

"Hey," Ranma said absently, wondering when they were going to eat while Ryoga at least took the effort to properly greet the two young wizards. The sound in the Great Hall died out as the main doors banged open as Professor McGonagall lead a line of first years in. At the head of the room sat a stool with the Sorting Hat which opened its 'mouth' and started to sing a new song for the year.

((I can't think of a good hat song so just make one up))

As the last notes left the old hats mouth, it bowed to each table then went still once again. The head of Gryffindor started to call up each new student, placing the hat on each student's head. The Sorting Hat either quickly sorted a student or took a little time to decide where the girl or boy belonged. Soon the last student was sorted, the hat and the stool it rested on taken out of the Great Hall by Filch to be returned to Dumbledore's office.

Albus Dumbledore stood and lightly tapped his spoon against the side of his goblet, getting the entire student bodies’ attention.

"Another year is here upon us, time to fill our heads with knowledge from days of old," The headmaster said, his voice ringing out over the Great Hall. "But first, I think we should fill our stomachs." Some of the student's giggled as he clapped his hands, signaling the House Elves to send up the feast.

"Whoa!" Ranma said as he turned back to the table, eyes wide as he took in all the food in front of him. There were even a few Asian dishes on the table for the two marital artists, Ranma quickly filling his plate with any food in reach. The students around the pig tailed boy watched in disbelief as he had more food in front of him than Ron Weasley did and had started to eat at almost a blur.

"Oh my god!"

"Merlin... where is all that food going?"

"He's worse than Weasley!" Were just a few of the comments coming from the other tables.

"Kami-sama Ranma… couldn't you, for once, eat like a normal person?" Ryoga asked with a groan as he rubbed his forehead. Ranma only paused for one second to look at his friend/rival confused then went back to eating as quickly as possible as much as possible.

Soon the main course was complete, the House Elves replacing all of the dishes with deserts. Ranma scowled slightly as the food was replaced with the sweets.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked around a mouth full of pie.

"Ranma won't eat sweets as a boy," Harry said very softly so only Hermione and Ron could hear him.

"Why not?" Hermione asked with a frown. She didn't eat many sweets either, but that was because her parents were dentist and had taught her to stay away from certain foods.

"Ranma's idiot father taught him that it's girly," Ryoga said with a roll of his eyes as he ate his own desert. "He'll only eat deserts or ice cream as a girl."

"That's... that's ridiculous," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "Eating this has nothing to do with being a girl or a boy," She told Ranma as she waved her hand at the dishes around them. "Look at how many boys around us is eating sweets."

Ranma knew that but he just didn't think it was manly to eat sweets. The desert dishes soon disappeared as well as dinner ended and Albus stood up again, drawing the students’ attention to him.

"Now that we have been fed and watered, I have a few announcements," The headmaster said as the room became quite. "Firstly I would like to remind everyone that Mr. Filch has banned all WWW products. If you need to see the full list you can drop by his office, it will be posted on his door.

"Secondly, the Forbidden Forest is just that, forbidden. No students are allowed into the forest without a teacher," Dumbledore looked in the direction of the Golden Trio as he said this. "Thirdly, let us welcome our newest professor, elder Cologne who will be taking over potions as Professor Snape has taken up the DADA post. With her is her Granddaughter and assistant Shampoo."

The students in the hall politely clapped as Cologne stood up in her chair, many of them talking about the very strange natures of their names. After all, who named their children 'cologne' and 'shampoo'?

"And lastly, if Mr. Saotome could join me by the head table," Albus called, motioning for Ranma to come up to the front. Ranma sighed, he hated people finding out about his curse even if he was used to it by this point but the Headmaster told him the students needed to know since Ranma had to go to classes as a female. "Mr. Ranma Saotome as joined us from Japan to continue his magical education. He is in a very unique position, Mr. Saotome is a squib..."

The Great Hall exploded into noise as the students began speaking all at once, not understanding what the old wizard was getting at, squibs couldn't use magic after all.

"Dumbledork has finally gone around the bend," Malfoy said to his housemates, many of this snickering or nodding in agreement.

"Quiet!" Dumbledore said loudly, raising his wand and sending out a bang to get everyone's attention. The students quickly quieted down, looking up at the man. "Now I'm sure many of you are quite confused as squibs like Mr. Saotome here are usually unable to learn magic. He is in a unique position, as with a little cold water," Albus poured a goblet of cold water over Ranma's head, some of the student's gasping as the handsome black haired boy turned into a cute, curvy red headed girl. "He becomes a she. Mr. Saotome has a very rare curse that changes his gender with hot and cold water that comes with a side effect. Because of the nature of the curse and because his family line is already magical, Mr. Saotome's female form is a witch and is able to use magic."

The students once again started talking all the same time, many of the older pureblood families’ interested in this new discovery as they saw that this could be the very solution to the squib problem in their families.

"Quiet down everyone!" Albus called to reign in everyone's attention. "As I was saying, Mr. Saotome's female form is able to use magic so it is necessary for him to attend classes as a young woman so do not be surprised to see him in one form or the other. As Mr. Saotome was naturally born as a man and identifies himself as one even as a woman, he shall be sleeping in the boy's dorm and will use their facilities even as a female. But this does not mean that the young men in Gryffindor are allowed to act... foolish... around her, do I make myself clear?" He looked at the students at the red and gold table, catching his student’s eyes to make it clear he was very serious. "I will not be responsible for what Mr. Saotome will do to you if you do not heed this warning.

"Now I believe I have prattled on long enough tonight. Prefects, if you would lead the first years to their new dorms," Dumbledore said, dismissing everyone in the great hall. Ranma quickly rejoined the Harry and his friends.

"I hate having to do that," Ranma said with a scowl as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You think you would be used to it by now," Ryoga said as they were lead up to the Gryffindor tower. "Everyone in your old school and most people in Nerima know about your curse."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Ranma pointed out. She wasn't even going to point out that Ryoga didn't like his curse to be broadcasted either even if quite a few people had seen the other boy change. Harry, Ron and Hermione, the two prefects able to come as only the newest 5th year prefects lead the 1st years, lead Ranma and Ryoga up to the tower that would be their home for the next school year. The rest of their housemates had already gone up after the feast so they were alone.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked as they approached her portrait.

"Bravery," Ron said. The tower guardian let the door swing open, letting the group of teens inside.

"Ruff! Ruff!" Shirokuro barked happily as he ran over to Ryoga, jumping up and placing his forepaws on his master's chest. While the black and white dog had rode up to the school with them in the carriage, he hadn't been allowed to enter the Great Hall and had been taken by the House Elves to the tower.

"Good boy Shiro," Ryoga said with a grin, petting the side of his pet's neck.

"Is he yours?" One of the younger year girls asked.

"He's so sweet," Another one said.

"I thought we couldn't bring dogs," One of the boys in the common room said.

"The dog is his familiar," Hermione explained. "True familiars are allowed in the school. It says so in Hogwarts: A History."

"He's not going to chase my cat is he?" One little first year asked. Ranma stiffened at the word 'cat', her blue eyes franticly looking around to make sure that it wasn't nearby. Thankfully for her, the girl's cat was up in her new dorm room.

"Shirokuro doesn't chase cats," Ryoga assured the little girl in a gentle tone. "He’s a very good dog."

"Ruff," Shirokuro barked happily, his tail wagging. Ryoga scratched Shirokuro behind the ears then told his dog to get down.

"Come on, I'll show you our dorm," Harry said, waving for Ryoga and Ranma to follow him, Shirokuro right by Ryoga's side. The two Japanese teens fell in step behind the smaller teen up the stairs on the boy's dorm. "We can't go up the girl's side because the stairs will turn into a slide... well maybe Ranma can when he's like this."

"Like I want to go up into the girl’s room," Ranma said. "I get enough of getting called a pervert back in Nerima." She also wasn't going to mention that she could just get in through the windows outside. Harry came to a stop at the second to last landing on the tower stairs.

"This is it," Harry said while opening the door. The round room was done up the same as the rooms below them, but instead of five beds placed around the room, there were seven. But even with the extra two beds, the room didn't feel crowded and Harry chalked it up to magic in some way.

"I could've just slept on a bed roll," Ranma said as she eyed the bed her travel pack at sitting at the end of. "Do they have to be so high off the ground?"

"Sleeping on a cold stone floor is pretty stupid Ranma," Ryoga pointed out as he walked over to his own bed. It wasn't a platform bed like he had at home, it was much higher off the ground than that but the curtain when closed would remind him of sleeping in his tent he thought. "It's better than sleeping on the ground so why complain?"

Ranma sighed, she just wasn't use to this type of bedding, even at Grimmauld Place it had taken her a bit of time to get use to those beds there, but they weren't quite like these beds. Harry watched amused, he loved the beds at Hogwarts, they were better than his cot in his bedroom at the Dursleys and anything was better than the small mattress he grew up sleeping on in the cupboard under the stairs.

"Well the bathrooms are over there," He said, pointing to a door on the other side of the room. Ranma headed straight for the door, the other two could hear the water run and a splashing noise. Ranma returned a moment later, male once again.

"Much better," Ranma said happily. At that time, the rest of the sixth year boys came up the stairs and into the room. Dean and Seamus were quietly talking about Ranma, quickly shutting up as they noticed the object of their discussion was in the room. Ranma, use to people talking about him, simply ignored the pair as he grabbed a muscle shirt and changed out of his silk Chinese shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers as he pulled his shirt on. The toned lean muscled body Ranma sported was surprising enough for the other boys but even more so Ryoga's own muscled form as the others, barring Harry and Ron who had seen the pair already, was shocking as no one at the school was that buff. Harry briefly admired Ryoga before blushing hotly as he realized that he was staring and quickly turned away.

"Blimey... they must have girls throwing themselves at them," Seamus whispered to Dean who just nodded. Soon everyone was dressed for the night and in bed, the lights going out as curfew came up.

***

That same day...

After the teens headed for Hogwarts, Sirius shrunk his and Hedwig's trunks, placing them in his pocket.

"Shall we then?" He asked the owl-turned-woman, holding his hand out for the white hair woman. Hedwig took Sirius's hand and let him lead her over to the fire place. Sirius tossed floo power into the fire, the flames turning green. "Remember what to say?"

"Yes," Hedwig said as she stepped into the flames. "Headmaster’s office, Hogwarts!" she called, the floo sweeping her away. Sirius grinned and tossed another hand full of floo powder into the flames, calling out the same.

As Hedwig reached the other end, she stepped out of the fire place, only stumbling a tiny bit.

"Ah, Miss Potter," Albus said with a smile, motioning for Hedwig to come closer just in time for Sirius to step through the floo. "Sirius my boy. Now that you are both here, I will show you to your rooms."

The Headmaster led the pair through the hallways of the school toward the third floor.

"Headmaster, I..." Severus called as he stepped out of the doorway of the DADA classroom, stopping short when he discovered that Albus wasn't alone. "Black!" He spat while Sirius smirked and waved his fingers.

"Hey Snivelly!" Sirius greeted cheerfully.

"What is he doing here?" Severus asked in an acid tone, glaring at Sirius.

"He is here as my guest," Albus said with a twinkle in his eye. "Sirius has already agreed to stay out of your way, Severus... I do not think it needs to be said that Sirius and Hedwig's new living situation shall remain quiet," He added, looking at the younger man over the top of his glasses. Severus seethed but nodded.

"Of course, Headmaster," He bit out. He hated Sirius Black with all his dark little heart and wished the man had stayed dead. The fact that Black would be living at Hogwarts year round was worse than when Lupin had been there teaching DADA three years ago. But Severus would keep quiet on the fact the man and Potter's owl was at the school as much as he didn't want to. As he turned to head back into the classroom behind him, a small part of Severus hoped that Draco's task of finding a way for Death Eaters to enter the school worked and Bellatrix finished what she started.

"You really shouldn't antagonize him, Sirius," Albus lightly scolded as they continued to where the rooms for Sirius and Hedwig were set up.

"He shouldn't teach Harry like he does but that doesn't seem to stop him," Sirius said, all joking out of his voice. "Tao is more like Lily than he is James."

"Of course, I agree. He has her big heart and her fiery temper," Albus agreed with a chuckle. Soon they were in the corridor that the Philosopher's Stone had been hidden in during Harry's first year of school. "None of the students come down this way very much. As long as you are careful, no one should tell you are here," He said as he came to a stop in front of a painting all the way at the end of the hall.

"Password?" The door guardian, a painting of a white dragon with a dog-like face, asked.

"Hello Falkor," Albus said with a smile. "The password is 'Luck.'" The painting, a gift from a German painter who was a huge fan of the Never-ending Story, laughed and swung open. "You can change the password to whatever you like of course," he told the younger witch and wizard as they entered the rooms. They were a very nice set of rooms with a large sitting room with a kitchen area just off to the side. There were three other doors in the room, one to a bath room and the other two to the bedrooms.

"This is nice," Sirius said as he looked around. "I love the color scheme." He added with a grin.

"Yes, I thought you might like the red and gold," Albus said with a chuckle. "Now... Dobby!"

With a pop, Dobby the House-elf teleported into the room.

"Hows can Dobby bes helping Dumblydoor?" Dobby asked.

"Dobby, Sirius Black and Miss Hedwig Potter will be staying here in Hogwarts. Could you please assist them while they are here?"

"Yes!" Dobby said. "Dobby woulds be happy to serve Master Harry Potter's Dogfather and Owl."

"Speaking of House-elves," Sirius said. "Kreacher!" Kreacher appeared with a pop of his own, glaring up at his master.

"What can Kreacher do for un-grateful master?" Kreacher said as he appeared, bowing low. "Poor poor Kreacher, being keeps from his rightful mistress," He added under his breath.

"Shut up Kreacher," Sirius hissed. "You are going to work in the Hogwarts kitchen. You are not allowed to leave Hogwarts or to speak to anyone unless I approve of them."

"NO!" Kreacher yelled, not wanting to be trapped at the school. "Won't, won't, won't, won't!" He threw himself to the ground, throwing a royal fit. Sirius growled under his breath.

"Be quite!" He yelled back. Kreacher's voice when silent as he continued his fit. "Dobby, would you keep an eye on him to make sure he follows my orders?"

"Yes, Dobby keep close eye on disgrace Kreacher," Dobby promised, scowling at the other House-elf. He grabbed Kreacher and popped them both out of the room.

"Really Sirius, you shouldn't treat Kreacher that way," Albus scolded softly. "If you would treat him kinder, he wouldn't act the way he does."

"Albus, that thing has done nothing but made my life hell. If I could, I would get rid of him in a heartbeat," Sirius said. "He disobeys orders unless I yell them at him half the time and even tried to get everyone killed at the ministry by not telling me Harry was trying to contact me by floo. So sorry, but I can't treat him any better than that. He brought it on himself." Albus sighed, knowing he was fighting a losing battle on that front.

"Just think about it at least, Sirius," He said. "Well, I shall leave you two to settle in. I'm sure Harry and his friends will be by tomorrow to see you." The headmaster gave the pair a smile then left the rooms. Sirius let out a sigh of his own as the door closed and shook his head. Albus didn't seem to understand that there was too much bad blood between him and Kreacher, the two of them would never get along. It wasn't like Sirius hated House Elves, the ones at Hogwarts was friendly and the House Elves the Potter's employed were the complete opposite of the Black Elves.

Sirius absently wondered what happen to the Potter elves as he wondered over to the door with his name on it. The room was nicely furnished and decked out in Gryffindor colors, a large comfy looking four poster bed against one wall and a small sitting area in front of a fire place. There was also a large wardrobe along another wall while a large window took up the last wall, letting in plenty of light.

Hedwig meanwhile had walked over to her own room. It was decorated differently from Sirius's, made to look like an open sky. A smile tugged at the owl-turned-human's lips, it did help her feel more at ease, her window opened up to a balcony that looked over Hogwarts and its grounds. Oh, how she wished she could open those doors spread her wings and take-off flying. But she was locked in this strange form now, she would never feel the wind in her feathers again. Still, maybe she could still fly, her Harry-chick promised to teach her to ride one of those broom things that the humans liked to fly around on. It wouldn't quite be the same, but it was better than nothing.

All in all, both witch and wizard were satisfied with their new home for the next year.

***

Harry gasped as he sat up in his bed, his fingers pressing against the scar on his forehead. The area around it was burning, meaning that Voldemort was in a bad mood again. Oddly he didn't get a vision this time like he usually did and wondered why for a moment until he felt the comforting warmth of the Snitch charm against his chest. He grinned slightly as he realized that Ryoga's gift had stopped him from seeing whatever it was that had his enemy in a right mood. If Voldemort tried to get into his head on purpose he didn't think the spells on the charm would stop the man but it was nice to know that at least he wouldn't have the dreams.

Slowly the pain in his scar died down to a very dull ache that had started up almost as soon as he had returned to England. It made Harry miss Japan, at least there the distance between him and Voldemort had kept the scar from hurting and kept all the visions at bay. Still, the ache was bearable and for the most part easy to ignore. Harry sighed and slipped his hand under his pillow to grab his wand.

"Tempus," Ghostly numbers floated from the end of Harry's wand and he winced as he saw that it was very early in the morning. Canceling the spell, Harry sighed as he flopped back onto his pillow. He felt wide awake now and didn't really feel like just lying in his bed for hours trying to either go back to sleep or waiting for when everyone else would wake up. After a few minutes Harry sat up with a grin as an idea popped into his head, he could go exploring in his Mew form a bit.

Harry opened the curtains surrounding his bed and poked his head out. Everyone's curtains were drawn around their bed with the exception of Ranma who left his open. He could hear the snores coming from Ron and Seamus's beds and could only assume Neville, Dean and Ryoga were fast asleep as well. He could see Ranma was the older teen was sprawled out on his bed in deep sleep. Satisfied knowing his dorm mates were asleep, Harry quickly closed his curtains and popped into his Mew form. He wasn't sure if he could teleport in Hogwarts, there were wards up that stopped apparition from happening within the school groups but then again, the House Elves were able to pop up anywhere they wanted within the school and its grounds.

Concentrating on the Common Room downstairs, Harry felt popped out of the dorm room and into the room below.

"Mew!" Harry did a flip in the air in joy. The wards didn't stop his type of teleporting and now he should be able to go anywhere in the school without any trouble! Elated by his discovery, Harry popped himself into the hallway outside the tower and flew through the long dark corridors. The magical moving paintings seem to be asleep and didn't see a kittenish black and watch Mew flying through the school. When Harry reached the moving stair cases he giggled in happiness as he flew around the moving stairs. The school seemed to be playing with him as Hogwarts moved the stairs to where Harry could loop around them.

"What seems to be the trouble, pet?" Flich's voice could be heard from down one of the hallways. Harry froze, he didn't think the squib caretaker would be awake at this time of night. He heard Mrs. Norris yowl and realized she heard the grinding of the stairs moving and his mewing laughter. He didn't want to be seen and quickly teleported away to somewhere no one could find him.

When Harry reappeared, he gagged as a horrible smell hit him. Wishing for anything that would get him away from the smell, Harry was surprised when a large clear bubble appeared around him, giving him fresh air to breath. Torches flared to life around him, lighting the area so Harry could see where he was.

'Bloody hell, I popped into the chamber,' Harry thought as he saw he was in the Chamber of Secrets. He hadn't been in the chamber since the end of his second year. At the end of the chamber stood the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin and several feet away laid the slain corpse of the basilisk. Or what was left of the basilisk anyway.

Most of the giant snake had rotted away, leaving behind mostly bones with a few pieces of rotted meat clinging to it and a strong smell of decay. Harry didn't know much about decomposition so he didn't know if it was normal for the basilisk to be decayed to this point after only four or so years.

"Mew..." Harry shivered as it looked at the rotten basilisk remains, remembering what it had been like to fight the giant snake. As he imagined the large snake that had nearly killed him, Harry was surprised when his shape shifting ability kicked in. He felt himself become larger and taller very quickly. When the growing stopped, the wizard let out a noise of surprise.

"Gira!" 'Bloody hell! I'm huge!' /Harry thought as he towered over the basilisk remains. This was the largest form he had taken on so far. 'I wish I had a mirror,' /He thought to himself as he looked down at himself. He was vaguely snake-like at least but he could see six yellow-tipped spikes, three on each side of his body, sticking out of him. Looking further down he saw he had four more yellow spikes at the end of his tail. There was also some sort of thing sticking out of his back but he couldn't get a good look at whatever it was.

Looking around, Harry spotted the pool of water surrounding the statue of Slytherin. Moving over to the water so he could see his reflection, Harry noted in shock that he wasn't touching the ground, instead he was floating just like he did in his regular Mew form. Filing that away to think about later, Harry leaned over to get a good look at the rest of his new form. While he had a snake like form, Harry couldn't really see why the thought of the basilisk turned him into this.

"Giratina..." Harry said softly to himself, turning his head this way and that. His head looked like it was covered by a large golden mask and had three open gold rings surrounding his neck. The thing that was sticking out of his neck turned out to be six ribbon-like appendages that were tipped by a red claw each while the rest of his body with gray with red and black stripes. (3)

An impressive form to say the least. Harry took in all the details of his new body and committed the name of Giratina to his memory. He would have to show his friends and his godfather at the first chance he got. Turning away from the pool of water Harry lowered himself to the ground and changed back into his human form. He gagged as the decaying smell hit him again and quickly cast a bubblehead charm. There had to be a way to get rid of that smell for good. He always wondered, did this place just contain the basilisk or did it have some other chamber that had things that belonged to Slytherin.

'That's something to think about later,' Harry thought while casting another tempus charm. He had wasted over an hour playing with Hogwarts then finding himself a new from he could change into as Mew. The excitement had worn him out a bit, he thought he could maybe go back to sleep. Smiling, Harry popped back into Mew and teleported himself back to his bed in the dorm. Once there, he changed back to human then peeked out of the curtains around his bed. No one had seemed to move since he left and casting a freshening charm on himself to get rid of the lingering smell from the chamber, Harry crawled under the covers to go back to sleep. This time he managed to sleep till morning without Voldemort waking him.

***

(1) A friend of mine has an uncle who swears this happened to him once while camping. Don't know if it's true or not.

(2) Joltiks are really, really small. They are barely 4 inches high. They are one of the smallest Pokémon, that is other than one of the new Fairy-type Pokémon in X and Y. /Flabébé/is 4 inches high as well.

(3) Giratina has two forms. One with legs and another that is snake like sometimes called the 'basilisk' form.

Edit 7-8-14: Got the spelling errors and changed some of the words use to the right ones.