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Harry Hibiki and the Philosopher's Stone

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

Author Notes: Yeah, no real excuse why it took over a year to finish this chapter and update. It was honestly a combo of being just tired, writer’s block and having little to no desire to write or have anything to do with fanfics most days. My wanting to write is coming back mostly so hopefully this won’t happen again but either way just know the story isn’t abandoned just sometimes it takes longer to get that chapter out for this or any other of my fics.

Thanks to Blissful Wulf for going over the chapter for me.

Quick recap: Since it’s been a year since the last chapter, there’s a quick recap of the pervious chapter.

Gryffindors hold their Quidditch tryouts on a Saturday morning, open to all year. Harry tries out for Seeker while Ron tries out for reserved Keeper. That night Harry decides to investigate the third floor corridor to see what’s so dangerous there in his Nekomata curse form discovering Hagrid’s three headed dog Fluffy. The following morning, Ron wakes up everyone in the first year boy’s dorm to go see the posted results of the try outs; Harry is of course Seeker while Ron and Dean Thomas both make the serve team as Keeper and Chaser.

Right afterward Harry and Hermione go to the study room after Harry tells Hermione that he found out what’s in the forbidden corridor and Ron goes to write his mother about sending him a family broom. She chews him out for being reckless but Harry tells her he knows what he was doing then tells her about Fluffy which leads to a talk about sub-space or ‘hammer space’ pockets.

Later that same day Molly Weasley is finalizing plans with her second son Charlie for her, Arthur and Ginny to visit the reserve he works at during Christmas when Ron’s letter arrives. Charlie gets an idea in his head and contacts his older brother Bill about buying Ron a broom of his own.

Two days later during breakfast, the mail arrives including broom shake packages for Harry and Ron and a letter from one of Harry’s penpals Eddie Munster. Malfoy confronts Harry and Ron about the brooms trying to get them into trouble only to find out they were allowed brooms despite being first years. Enraged Malfoy challenges the other two boys to a duel in the trophy room at midnight but after he leaves Neville points out it wasn’t a proper challenge. After questioning Blaise, he admits Malfoy had planned so-called duel for a while just to get Harry into trouble. Harry, getting an idea how to turn the trick on Malfoy approaches Flitwick with Ron to be the judge for the duel so they wouldn’t be in the trouble after being out after curfew.

Also Kuno and Justin decide to sneak out of Hufflepuff dorms to watch the duel not knowing it’s not real due to coming into the room late.

Whew, hopefully that will refresh everyone’s memories.

Chapter 17

Draco strutted cockily into the common room, looking like one of his father’s prized albino peacocks, as he walked over to his chair by the fireplace. He gracefully sat down, letting his school robes flare out just a bit around him. Behind him Crabb and Goyle took their places on either side of the chair like good minions.

“You look entirely too pleased with yourself,” Blaise said in a tone that was a touched bored, not even looking up at Draco as he flipped through one of his school books. The dark skinned boy was sprawled out across one of the common room sofas near the fireplace.

“I just informed Filch that he’ll find those idiots Potter and Weasley in the trophy room tonight,” Draco said in a smug tone, a tiny smirk on his lips.

“Hmm…” Blaise turned another page in his back making Malfoy frown just a tiny bit.

“So they’ll get into trouble,” he added as if it should be obvious.

“Oh you’re so clever Draky,” Pansy gushed as she joined them sitting beside Draco. “Maybe they’ll be expelled, then we won’t have to have the dork-who-lived trying to always overshadow us.” Draco gave a tiny dramatic sigh.

“Sadly Pansy my dear, I doubt either Potter or Weasley would be expelled,” he said with a small flipping motion of his right hand. “After all Potter is Dumbledore’s golden boy and the Weasley’s are his most loyal boot lickers, he wouldn’t let either leave the school.”

“No one is going to be expelled over being caught out after curfew Malfoy,” Blaise said still not looking at his book. “It doesn’t matter who they are.” He was secretly pleased that he was right that Draco would end up snitching on the Gryffindors about the so-called ‘duel’ instead of going to the fight himself, nice to know he could still read Draco.

“I don’t understand what has gotten into you Blaise,” Pansy said crossing her arms. “Why in the world do you keep spending time with Potter and his little followers?” Draco turned his head toward Blaise interested in the answer himself. Blaise shrugged one shoulder slightly as he answered.

“Why should it matter to you whom I chose to spend my time with,” Blaise said. Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Leave it Pansy, he’s not going to give a straight answer when he’s in a mood like this,” he said. “He’ll come around, he always does.”

“If you say so Draky,” Pansy said pouting. Blaise rolled his eyes behind his book that did not make Pansy look cute like she thought it did. He was surprised the question hadn’t been asked before now; he did spend more time with Hibiki and his group than he did Draco now. Not that Draco and he had ever been great friends, as he had told the others; he and the Malfoy heir were more acquaintances than anything. Blaise could also say the same of Harry Hibiki, though out of the two Blaise found Hibiki more enjoyable to be around.

The others were as well, watching the Muggleborns had shown him that while not all where that great at magic, they were no worse at it than most Purebloods he knew. Better even since many dark families took to marrying close family members and that brought all sorts of problems. The book Hibiki had suggested to him during the summer had been informative and had opened his eyes a bit, he still didn’t like how some Muggleborns disregarded or mocked their traditions, but others like that Hufflepuff Justin seemed honestly curious. Granger was alright, though he didn’t like the way she went on about some things like the House Elves, but Hibiki was pretty good at calming her down.

Blaise sighed heavily through his nose as more of his fellow Slytherins filed into the common room as the hour drew close to curfew and closed his book.

“I believe I will call it a night,” he said as he got up. It was too noisy to concentrate on his reading and he was getting tired of hearing Pansy fawn over Draco. The Italian boy wondered if she would ever figure out Draco would never marry her, never in a million years as he climbed onto his bed after changing into his night clothes and pulled the hangings around his bed shut.

****

Ron was nearly vibrating with excitement as he and Harry waited for Flitwick in the common room. They were going to get one up on Malfoy and he couldn’t wait.

“Wow Ron, you act like you’ve drank a whole pot of coffee,” Harry said with a laugh as he watched his friend.

“Sorry,” Ron said as he forced himself to sit down. He glanced over at Harry who was writing with one of those muggle ‘pen’ things in a thin book. He had seen both Harry and Hermione working out of those books a lot during the weekends. “What are you doing?”

“Hmm, just some math homework,” Harry said. “Mundane school stuff.” Ron’s nose wrinkled at that.

“Why in Merlin’s name are you doing that?” he asked.

“It’s silly not to keep up with school work from the non-magical side Ron,” Harry said. “They don’t teach maths or anything like that here. I live in both worlds so I need to keep up with both.” Ron didn’t see the reason for it, why would anyone want to do extra schoolwork?

“What are you two doing down here?” Hermione asked as she walked down the stairs from the girl’s dorm, her night robe wrapped around her. She reached the bottom of the stairs and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot. “You two are going to go out after hours aren’t you? To go do that duel.”

“Hermione-“ Harry started to say as he closed his workbook, looking at his female friend.

“I told you Malfoy is trying to get you two into trouble, Zabini even said so,” Hermione continued interrupting Harry. “You two are going to get into trouble and lose our house points and even end up in detention.”

“Hermione-“ Harry tried again then sighed as Hermione didn’t let him get a word in edgewise. Ron just stared at the girl as she got on a roll.

“I can’t believe you Harry, you know better than this,” she said as she walked over to them. “You two really need to forget about this, and-“

“Here we are Mr. Longbottom,” the common room door swung open interrupting Hermione’s rant as Flitwick and Neville entered the room.

“Thank you professor,” Neville said softly his face red in embarrassment. Harry stood up and walked over to meet his god brother.

“What happened Neville?” Harry asked. Neville ducked his head and rubbed his arm nervously.

“I forgot the password, I couldn’t get into the tower,” he admitted.

“There there Mr. Longbottom,” Flitwick said patting his hand. “Why don’t you head up to your dorm, no need to worry now.”

“Thanks again professor,” Neville said and quickly headed up the stairs to the first floor dorm room. Flitwick turned to Harry and Ron, the redhead jumping up to join them.

“Well boys, ready to go?” He asked.

“Hai sensei,” Harry said while Ron said, “yeah.”

“Go?” Hermione asked looking from one boy to the other then at their short charm’s professor.

“Yes Miss Granger, I’m escorting Mr. Hibiki and Mr. Weasley to their,” Flitwick reached up and coughed into his hand to cover a laugh, “’duel’. We shouldn’t be long.”

“What…” Hermione looked to Harry for an explanation.

“As I was trying to tell you, we asked Flitwick-sensei if he would judge the ‘duel’ for us, and he offered to be our teacher escort. So we won’t be breaking school rules since we have a professor with us,” Harry said. Hermione flushed and reached up to play with a lock of her frizzy hair.

“O-oh,” was all she could manage to say.

“Come now boys, we don’t want to take all night doing this,” Flitwick said as he escorted Harry and Ron out of the door. He stopped and turned to address Hermione. “Don’t wait up Miss Granger, we’ll be done in no time.” Hermione just nodded bringing a smile to the half Goblin’s face before he followed the two pre-teen boys out the door.

*****

Ron couldn’t help but think Hogwarts looked very different at night. He thought that after every Astronomy lesson, the halls were dark with the barest light from the few still lit torches that lined the corridors to light the way. The shadows from statues and the enchanted suits of armor moved and seem to jump out at you. Then there was movement out of the corner of your eye from a still awake painting that would spook you if you weren’t paying attention, the ghosts that drifted through the walls, and oh, let’s not forget Peeves. Yes Hogwarts was downright spooky at night. Ron stuck close to Harry and Flitwick, not scared but… a bit freaked out.

Harry, Ron noticed, didn’t seem bothered by their surroundings at all. But Harry didn’t really seem to be bothered by anything he observed; Ron kinda admired that about the other boy. Ron jumped and grabbed Harry’s arm as a sound came from by the wall and he glanced over in the direction the sound came from. Some small dark shadow darted away, Ron couldn’t tell if it had been a cat, rat or a s-s-s-spider.

“Alright Ron?” Harry asked.

“Yeah,” Ron said as he swallowed then berated himself. He was a Gryffindor! He was supposed to be brave! He was acting like a downright scaredy-cat! At that thought Ron straighten up and pushed his slight fears down. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” Harry nodded and flashed him a fanged grin.

“Here we are boys,” Flitwick said as they entered the trophy room. Several different trophies and plaques lined the walls and cases were filled to the brim. Flitwick waved his hand with a small muttered spell under his breath and the torches flared up filling the large room with light. Harry made a show of looking around humming.

“Well… I don’t see Malfoy or his second,” he said after a minute while Ron covered his mouth as he silently laughed. Flitwick’s eyes were shining with laughter as well and also looked around.

“Oh dear, I think you’re right Mr. Hibiki,” he said then took out a pocket watch from a tiny pocket on his robes. “Hmm… and it’s midnight as well. Well… if Mr. Malfoy isn’t here… I suppose that you and Mr. Weasley win by default.” Ron grinned widely while Harry gave a fist pump.

“Yes!” He said. “Take that Malfoy, think you can outsmart us.” Flitwick shook his head in amusement.

“I will pretend I didn’t hear that,” he said. A low ‘rowl’ came from the hallway catching their attention.

“Yes my sweet, I hear them as well,” Filch’s voice answered. Little feet padded against the floor as Mrs. Norris ran into the room from the doorway opposite of them. Harry grinned and leaned down letting the Maine Coon jump into his arms.

“Hello Norris-baba,” he said as he stood and petted the cat’s dusty looking fur. Ron watched in disbelief, Mrs. Norris was a right terror, he couldn’t believe Harry was holding and petting the cat or that Mrs. Norris was allowing it. Flitwick was surprised as well, he’d never seen Mrs. Norris act like that with anyone except Filch.

“Professor,” Filch said as he followed his cat into the trophy room. “I see you already caught these students out of bed. What are you doing with my cat?” he asked alarmed when he saw Harry holding Mrs. Norris. Harry looked up at Filch, scratching her behind the ears and along her neck making the cat purr happily.

“Petting her,” he said as if it was obvious.

“Eh-hum,” Flitwick coughed to get Filch’s attention. “Argus, I think there has been a misunderstanding. Mr. Hibiki and Mr. Weasley are here with my permission, they are under my watch.”

“B-but… Malfoy said…” Filch stumbled over his words looking out of sorts like the rug had been pulled from under his feet. Harry heard Ron grumble behind him, no doubt saying something negative about Malfoy since now they knew for sure the blond pureblood had set them up.

“Mr. Malfoy must have been mistaken Argus,” Flitwick said patting the squib’s arm. “Or maybe he overheard other students?” Filch stood straight and nodded.

“Yes, yes,” he said. “There must be other students out, come my sweet. We’ll catch them.” Mrs. Norris rubbed her head under Harry’s chin then jumped down to join her human in the hunt. Filch and Mrs. Norris swept out of the room, sounds of the squib’s grumblings echoing off the stone walls.

“Ehhhh…” Ron reached up to scratch the side of his nose, a small frown on his face. “Merlin, he’s a little too eager sometimes.”

“Argus does tend to be… enthusiastic,” Flitwick agreed with a small cough. “But he’s harmless; never take anything he says to heart. He knows he’s not allowed to harm any of the students, he just likes to talk.”

“Mrs. Norris isn’t that bad,” Harry said as Flitwick started leading them back to the Gryffindor tower.

“Are you mad?” Ron asked Harry, shock written all over his face. “That cat is a bloody menace!” Flitwick cleared his throat a bit causing Ron to flush. “Sorry Professor.”

“Well I like her,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Well you’re a bit mad mate,” Ron said as he clapped Harry’s shoulder shaking his head.

“Here we are gentlemen,” Flitwick said as they came to stand in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. “Now remember what I said.”

“Yes sensei, this is a onetime deal,” Harry repeated then gave Flitwick a short bow. “Doumo arigatou gozaimasu Flitwick-sensei.”

“errr… what he said I guess,” Ron said rubbing the back of his head. He never understood half the stuff Harry said sometimes. Flitwick smiled and gave his own little bow.

“Head on to bed boys,” he said after saying the password for the portrait and letting the boys into their common room. The half goblin hummed to himself as he headed to his own quarters, life was never boring at Hogwarts.

*****

“Which way?” Justin’s voice hissed to Tatewaki’s right as the two Hufflepuff boys crept down the hallway.

“Hmm…” Tatewaki looked around then pointed down another hallway. “This way.”

“Are you sure?” Justin asked doubt in his voice. He sighed as a look of confusion crossed his friend’s face and Tatewaki looked down the other hallway briefly then a look of determination took the place of the confusion as the taller boy looked back at Justin.

“Does thou doubt me?” He said. Justin had to fight not to roll his eyes, Tatewaki was starting to use his habit of falling into hokey sounding ‘Shakespearean’ talk less and less which Justin could only thank God or Merlin or whoever because it got annoying after a while, but Kuno would still fell back on it when he was irritated.

“No no, I trust you,” he said holding up his hands in a ‘surrender’ pose. “It’s that way.” Tatewaki nodded and headed down the hallway, Justin could only hope that Tatewaki’s guess was right. “I hope we get to the room in time to see Harry wipe the floor with Malfoy.”

“Indeed, Hibiki greatly outmatches Malfoy,” Kuno agreed. “It will be a pleasure to see Malfoy put in his place.” Luck held out for the two Hufflepuffs as the hallway ended in the trophy room, the room still brightly lit from Ron and Harry’s visit with Flitwick.

“Umm… where’s Harry and Malfoy?” Justin asked seeing no one in the room.

“I do not know,” Tatewaki said with a frown. “Nor do I see Ronald or that gorilla that follows Malfoy around.” Justin snickered softly and lightly hit his friend’s arm.

“Now be nice Tachi, there’s no need to insult gorillas,” he said then sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Did we miss the duel then?”

“I don’t see how but…” Tatewaki checked the wizarding watch given to him by Remus, a useful gift for both of the Kuno siblings as normal muggle watches didn’t work at the school. “It is past the time the duel should have started.” Justin opened his mouth to comment but was interrupted by a low feline yowl by one of the doors. Both boys gulped and turned to see Mrs. Norris standing in the doorway they had just come through. Her red eyes were zeroed in on them and she stalked toward them with her dusty fur standing on end. She hissed loudly catching the attention of her human.

“Yes my sweet I hear you,” Filch’s voice came from the corridor. “Did you find the students out of bed?”

“Oh bloody hell,” Justin hissed softly.

“I believe now would be a good time to run,” Tatewaki said as he backed toward one of the other doors. He usually didn’t run from fights but this wasn’t a fight and they were out after curfew, it would go on his school record if Filch caught them. Plus Filch and his cat freaked him out.

“Yeah,” Justin agreed as he and Tatewaki turned on their heels and sprinted down the hallway. They could hear Filch’s pounding feet behind them as the man gave chase. “This way,” Justin hissed as he grabbed Tatewaki’s arm and turned down another hallway. “We need to get back to the common room before Filch and his bloody cat catches us.”

“Agreed,” Tatewaki said. “The stairs are this way.” This time it was Tatewaki who grabbed his friend’s arm and pulled toward a darkened hallway. Justin glanced back, seeing Filch run past the mouth of the hallway but Mrs. Norris stopped and turned their way. She caught sight of the fleeing boys quickly and yowled for Filch. “There!” Tatewaki said drawing Justin’s attention back to running, up ahead were the moving staircases.

The boys raced out of the hallway and jumped onto one of the stair cases, their footsteps pounding as they ran down the steps. The stairs jerked and swung around when they were midway down, Tatewaki and Justin grabbing the rail lest they fall off.

“Damn,” Justin cursed. “That isn’t the way to the Hufflepuff dorms.

“We’ll just have to find another way,” Kuno said as he continued down. “Come on!” Justin huffed and quickly followed after the taller boy. Neither boy was sure which floor they were on so had no idea where to go to get to the lower floors.

“They’re here somewhere my sweet,” Filch’s voice said from one of the side corridors. “Sniff them out.” A meow followed Filch’s command.

“Bloody hell, how did he get down here so fast?” Justin whispered as he and Kuno slid to a stop.

“I don’t know,” Kuno said. “Come on before that cat spots us again.” He dragged Justin toward a corridor that was swamped in shadows, cobwebs filling the corners and Justin felt like he was in a bad horror movie. He heard Mrs. Norris behind them somewhere.

“Tatewaki, we need to hide,” Justin said as they came on a dead end. He looked around and spotted a door, grabbing the handle and cursed as it refused to give. “Damn it all, it’s locked.”

“Move,” Tatewaki pushed Justin out of the way and made a backwards ‘S’ movement while whispering, “Alohomora.” A small burst of yellow light spilled from Kuno’s wand and the lock on the door clicked open. This time when they tried the knob the door opened easily and both boys slipped into the room behind it.

“Where did you learn that spell?” Justin whispered as they shut the door and leaned their ears up against the wood to listen for Filch and his cat.

“Hermione-san, I twas studying ahead with her,” Tatewaki whispered back. “Tis one of the spells in our charms text.” (1)

“They didn’t seem to come down this way,” Filch’s voice said from the other side of the door. “Come on Norie, let’s try this way.” Justin and Tatewaki sighed softly in relief as Filch’s footsteps faded into the distance.

“That was close,” Justin said.

“Indeed it was,” Kuno agreed. They leaned against the door a moment more trying to catch their breaths and calm their racing hearts. A warm, humid breeze started blowing on their back and necks, ruffling the boy’s hair.

“Did someone suddenly open a window?” Justin asked.

“I do not know… but it smells like Armadillo’s breath,” Kuno said as he wrinkled his nose. His small pet dog, which had been left at the Kuno estate as the Lupin twins tended to terrorize the canine, had a habit of eating anything the dog could get his jaws around. It was as if the dog had no taste buds and a cast iron stomach. It had a side effect of making Armadillo’s breath smell really bad. (2)

A deep growl vibrated through the air, Justin and Kuno looked at each other in fright before slowly turning around. In front of them were two very large heads of what appeared to be two very large black dogs but as a third head shifted into view both realized it wasn’t three dogs but one dog with three heads. Three heads with large fanged filled mouths and eyes that appeared filled with murder.

“Oh-“ Kuno squeaked in fright.

“Bugger,” Justin finished just as scared pants less. One of the heads barked at the boys and snapped its teeth at them. Tatewaki and Justin yelled and quickly scrambled out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them. They ran down the hallway away from the room with the monster dog, not caring if Filch caught them or not. “What the bloody hell is a thing like that doing in the school?!”

“I don’t know but I’d rather be far away from it,” Tatewaki yelled back. They arrived back at the stairs which worked with them this time and swung them around to a hallway near the ground floor. A few portraits yelled as the Hufflepuff boys ran past but didn’t run into anyone living or dead as they headed down to the kitchen corridor and the barrels that lead to the Hufflepuff common room.

Both were panting as the collapsed into the overstuffed chairs by the fireplace, the room void of any other students.

“Kami-sama… and I thought Mr. Green turtle was frightening,” Tatewaki said after a few minutes.

“Your sister’s pet alligator, right?” Justin asked as his friend had mentioned Kodachi’s completely insane pet before.

“Crocodile and yes, tis her pet,” Tatewaki said with a slight wave of his hand. “That dog could have easily rivaled that blasted lizard in size.”

“What was a three headed dog even doing in the school?” Justin mused as he tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. “Hmmm… you don’t suppose that was the corridor that the headmaster warned us away from do you? The one on the third floor?” Tatewaki sat up suddenly and pounded the fist of one hand into the palm of the other.

“Yes! That must be it,” he said then slumped back again. “Still, tis an odd and dangerous thing to keep in the school. Why not send the beast away?”

“Who knows but there’s got to be some reason right?” Justin asked with a shrug then yawned widely. “Well that was enough adventure for me tonight. We’ll tell the others what we saw tomorrow, right now I just need some sleep.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right,” Tatewaki said as he yawned behind his hand as well then stood to follow his friend back to their dorm room.

****

Early morning was one of Hagrid’s favorite times of day. The crisp morning air, the dew shining off the grass, the in general quiet except for the sounds of nature appealed to the half giant. Breakfast had already passed and the loveable groundskeeper had already completed many of his usual chores. He thought about inviting Cinnamon around one morning to share the time with him, a very light flush lighting up Hagrid’s cheeks as he thought of the other half giant. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked Cinnamon.

Hagrid wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the quiet mornings, beside him the Care of Magical Creatures professor Silvanus Kettleburn sat beside his co-worker as they both sat outside of Hagrid’s hut, his hands resting on top of his cane that he used to help himself get around since one of his legs was completely wooden having lost bits and pieces of it over the years to different creatures. Hagrid and Kettleburn had a really good friendship as both greatly enjoyed dangerous creatures and dragons. Now a-days Hagrid often assisted Kettleburn in many of his classes due to both the man’s age and just how many parts of himself Silvanus no longer had.

“I say, what is that?” Silvanus’s voice drew Hagrid out of his thoughts.

“What’s what now?” Hagrid asked.

“That there,” Kettleburn pointed at the Black Lake with his cane squinting his eyes. “There’s something on the edge of the lake.” Hagrid turned and looked, also squinting his eyes. Just like Kettleburn said there was a huge mass by the lake.

“Let’s see wha’ it is,” Hagrid said standing. Kettleburn excitedly stood and followed Hagrid toward the lake, he might have mellowed out a bit over the last few years but the CoMC teacher was still as excitable as ever.

As they approached the creature it turned and hissed at them. A large smile crossed Hagrid’s face and he knelt down in front of Mr. Green Turtle.

“Aren’t you a beaut’,” he cooed and reached out to scratch the giant crocodile under his chin.

“I say,” Kettleburn said as he stood a few feet back. “It’s a saltwater crocodile. What is it doing here?”

“Don’ know,” Hagrid said as he snatched his hand back as Mr. Turtle tried to bite him, still smiling widely. “But it’s lovely. Wha’s this here around its neck?” He reached out to touch the pink collar around Mr. Turtle’s neck and yelped as it gave him a shock. His flailed his hand then stuck his burnt fingers in his mouth. Silvanus used his wand to turn the collar until he could read the tag hanging off it.

“Mr. Green Turtle,” he read out loud.

“He must be somebodi’s pet,” Hagrid mused. “I wonder where they got hi’.” He was already started to imagine his own little pet crocodile, why it was almost like having a dragon!

“Hmm… I don’t think crocodiles are on the approved list of pets,” Kettleburn said as he tapped his wand against his leg. Mr. Green Turtle started to surge forward, these nosy creatures were interfering with his sunning time, only to be caught by Hagrid who laughed.

“Feisty little fella aren’t ya,” he said grinning as he easily held Mr. Turtle with one arm while petting the crocodile with his free hand, careful to avoid the shock collar this time. Kettleburn cleared his throat then slowly approached the giant crocodile and Hagrid since the half giant had the giant lizard’s attention.

“Levioso,” he said as he tapped Mr. Green Turtle and lifted the surprised lizard into the air. He hissed and thrashed around while Kettleburn guided the crocodile out over the lake then released the spell. Mr. Green Turtle landed in the water with a large splash, surfacing for a moment hissing and snapping his fangs at the pair on shore then turned and swam away. “Remarkable specimen for its species, I do wonder how it got into the lake.”

“You think he belon’s to one of the students?” Hagrid asked as they started walking away from the lake.

“I doubt it my good man,” Kettleburn said. “I can only assume that it must belong to someone in Hogsmeade and must have come up to the Black Lake. You spend a lot of time in Hogsmeade lately don’t you Hagrid? At that new shop? Think it belongs to someone there?”

“Err… I havn’t hea’d any of them mention anythin’ about a crocodile,” Hagrid said as he stroked his beard.

“Ah well, I suppose I should tell Albus about it, wouldn’t do for one of the students to come across the beastie now would it,” Kettleburn said sighing. “At least then he can have a ward or something put up.”

“Dumble’ore will figure it out,” Hagrid agreed.

***

“Why haven’t the points changed?” Malfoy asked as he frowned at the giant red and gold hour glass that kept track of the Gryffindor house points. They were unchanged from the night before, he was sure their rival house would have lost some points after being caught out after curfew.

“Maybe they didn’t show up,” Crabb suggested.

“They showed up, Gryffindork pride wouldn’t allow them not too. Plus Weasley is too stupid to realize it was a trick,” Malfoy said.

“You underestimate Harry-sama and his other friends,” Kodachi said from behind them. Malfoy grit his teeth and turned to face his house mate.

“All Gryffindors are the same Kuno,” he drawled. “No, I bet Dumbledore or McGonagall pulled some sort of strings so their beloved house wouldn’t lose points.”

“Or your plan was not as smart or crafty as you thought it was,” Daphne drawled back, her nose upturned so she was looking down at him. Draco snorted and waved his hand in a dismissive was.

“Why waste a good plan on a couple of Gryffindorks,” he said then turned on his heel and strode into the Great Hall. Tracy snickered into her hand and grinned at her friends.

“I think Drakie-poo is put out,” she said.

“It was a horrible plan,” Kodachi said shaking her head.

“And how would you have done it Kuno?” Millicent asked from behind them. The other three girls turned to face the fourth whom stood with one hand on her hips.

“I would have challenged them then ambushed them beforehand, forcing them to forfeit and winning by default,” Kodachi said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “Striking first. If it was really necessary to have them caught, then the ambush should take place in a well traveled area then leave before you are caught as well.”

“Sneaky, I like it,” Tracy said.

“Ruthless,” Millicent agreed with a grin. “You seem like the ‘do it yourself’ kind of person.”

“Well if one wants the job done properly,” Kodachi said with a small laugh. “A lady always knows how to get the job done.”

“You’re something else Kuno,” Millicent said with a shake of her head. “I think I might like hanging out around you.”

“And why is that?” Daphne asked. Millicent shrugged her shoulders.

“Who else am I gonna hang out with? Parkinson and her little gang? Malfoy?” she said. “I could, but let’s face it, they’ll look down on me for being a half blood. Kuno here on the other hand, she’s friends with Davis who’s also a half blood and with Hibiki-Potter.”

“I’m a half blood,” Kodachi said tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. Daphne, Tracy and Millicent looked at her in surprise.

“Y-you are?” Tracy said gaping like a fish.

“Yes, our father is non-magical,” Kodachi said. “A ‘muggle’ as you would say. Ugh, that is such a crude word.” She wrinkled her nose when she said muggle.

“That is… well I was not expecting that,” Daphne admitted. “I assumed you were a pure blood.”

“The Kuno family is an old blood family but we do not hold the same standards of blood purity,” Kodachi said.

“Huh… well I’d keep that fact hidden until you got power and backing Kuno,” Millicent warned. “Some of the pure blood families look down on anyone not pure blood. You’re still a better choice to hang out with either way. You’re way more interesting than Pansy any day.”

“A toad is more interesting than Parkinson,” Tracy drawled as she rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s go already, I’m starving here.” She headed toward the doors of the Great Hall with Kodachi and Daphne. Kodachi paused and looked back at Millicent.

“Are you coming Millie?” she asked. “I believe we are sitting with brother-dear and the Hufflepuffs today.” Millicent grinned and hurried after the other girls. She got a few looks from the Hufflepuffs as she sat down at the yellow and black table but was greeted with smiles by Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott.

“Wow, Malfoy looks ticked off,” Tracy said when she glanced over at their house table. “What’s the matter with him?”

“Professor Snape doesn’t look happy either,” Daphne added glancing up at the head table where Snape was glaring daggers at Malfoy in a way that promised a painful death.

“You guys missed it,” Justin said grinning then told them what had happened a few minutes prior.

****

Harry and Ron were sitting at the Gryffindor table, telling Hermione and Neville what had happened the night before after they left the common room.

“Oh Harry, I’m so sorry I jumped to conclusions,” Hermione said when they finished.

“It’s fine Hermione,” Harry assured her. “Just next time ask us first, we would have told you what we had planned.”

“I-I think it’s brilliant,” Neville said admiringly then stiffened as he looked at someone behind Harry.

“Well well Potter, enjoying your last breakfast here?” Malfoy asked. Ron growled and turned in his seat.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked half standing from his seat. Harry turned also while Hermione scowled at the blond boy.

“I’d hardly call it a last breakfast Malfoy,” Harry said. “And all that bleach must be going to your head if you can’t remember my last name is Hibiki.”

“Bleach?” Malfoy asked with a frown. Ron shot a look at Harry just as confused while Hermione got it and started giggling.

“Well yeah, how else do you get your hair that light?” Harry asked innocently. Malfoy’s lips curled as Ron started laughing as he caught the joke.

“My hair is natural,” Draco spat at Harry. “And at least mine doesn’t look like a rat’s nest.”

“Who would know, with the amount of gel you put in it,” Harry said. Draco gritted his teeth in anger, Crabbe and Goyle shifting behind him.

“Is there a problem gentlemen?” Flitwick asked as the tiny professor walked up.

“No, no problem sensei,” Harry said pleasantly. “Malfoy-san and I were just exchanging hair care tips.” Ron started to snicker harder, burying his face in his arms on the table. Hermione and Neville weren’t much better.

“Yes,” Malfoy said as he forced a bored look on his face. “Hair care tips.”

“Nice to see you two getting along,” Flitwick said, a twinkle in his eye knowing that this wasn’t the case at all. “Oh, and let me congratulate you two on your duel last night Mr. Hibiki and Weasley, as your opponent didn’t show up you technically won by forfeit.”

“What!?” Malfoy yelped.

“I believe I should award you both 5 points apiece,” the Charms professor continued.

“Blimey,” Ron said lifting his head with a grin and high fiving Harry while Malfoy stood there gaping like a fish.

“Return to your table Mr. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle,” Snape said as he swept down the aisle between the tables. The trio of Slytherins quickly scattered to the silver and green table knowing better than to disobey their head of house. Flitwick walked quickly to match Severus’s stride as they headed to the head table. “And what was that about? What duel?” The younger teacher asked in a low tone as they sat.

“Yes, I would like to know as well,” Minerva said as she leaned around Severus to look at Filius.

“Yes well,” Flitwick said as he climbed onto his boosted chair at the head table and started preparing himself a cup of morning tea. “Yesterday after Mr.’s Weasley and Hibiki received their brooms, it seems Mr. Malfoy challenged them both to a midnight duel.”

“He what?” Severus hissed in anger. “That foolish boy.” He turned a cold glare in the direction of Malfoy who felt the stare and looked up. Seeing the look of cold rage on the potions professor’s face he gulped softly and ducked his head.

“He never intended to go through with it Severus,” Flitwick informed him. “He was hoping the lions would be foolish enough to sneak out and go to the duel while he informed Argus of students that would be out after hours, hoping they would be caught. Argus confirmed that this is what happened last night.”

“Well considering you just gave my house 10 points, that didn’t happen,” McGonagall said. Filius chuckled, his mouth stretched out into an amused grin.

“Mr. Hibiki saw through Mr. Malfoy’s ruse, according to Mr. Longbottom it wasn’t even a properly issued challenge,” the tiny professor explain. “He and Mr. Weasley asked me to ‘referee’ the duel as I was once a former dueling champion.”

“And you agreed why?” Severus asked with an arched eyebrow. Flitwick shrugged, the amused grin never leaving his face.

“It was only in good fun Severus, I am up to that every now and then,” he said. “The boys and I had an understanding that this was a onetime deal and if I had said no they wouldn’t have gone. Honestly I thought you would be impressed, they turned Malfoy’s little attempt at getting them into trouble around on him.”

“Yes, well clearly it’s Lily’s brains Hibiki inherited,” Severus said with a drawl. “If it was Potter’s, the boy would have gone out after hours. Or his father taught the boy how to use his brain.” Minerva’s face twisted a bit, clearly disagreeing. Over the years of keeping in touch with Ryoga Hibiki and becoming friends with the young man, she’d heard some of the wild stories from Nerima about Ryoga and the rest of his friends’ younger years. Stories that made her believe that if Ryoga or Ranma had been Harry’s age, they would have gone to the meeting without informing anyone.

“I agree with Severus,” she said surprising Severus just a tiny bit. “Lily’s influence clearly.”

“Whatever the case, I thought it deserved a few points,” Flitwick said as he prepared himself a plate.

“Well I will certainly not say no to that,” Minerva joked.

“Of course not, your house needs all the points it can get,” Severus snarked with a smirk. “And still my snakes will win the house cup at the end of the year.”

“I don’t know, I think my lions have a very good chance,” Minerva snarked back.

“My young ravens can give both your houses a run for your money,” Filius happily joined in, they went through this every year after all, all in good fun of course. The subject of the so-called duel was dropped as they moved on to other subjects.

*****

Millicent shifted slightly as she followed the other Slytherin girls to the study room.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here?” she asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Tracy asked as she tossed her arm around the larger girl’s shoulders. Millicent had spent the whole day with the other three, sitting with them during classes and joining them at lunch. Parkinson had thrown up a bit of a fuss, she hadn’t been happy that Millicent had decided to hang out with Kuno and her friends instead of taking her proper place with her own group. And by proper place, Pansy wanted Millicent as some brainless lackey who did everything she and Draco told her to do. After all she was just a half blood and considered a disgrace having come from one of the families that were considered one of the so-called ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’ for having muggle blood. Not as badly as say a Weasley, who were also a part of the same group, but still low in the rankings.

If Kodachi wasn’t such a force in the Slytherin house and clearly not following Malfoy, Millicent would have accepted her lot in life and Merlin only knew how that would have warped her over the years. It would be interesting to see how her life was going to turn out being friends with Kuno rather than a follower of Parkinson’s.

“The room isn’t just for us, the idea was for the study room to be available to everyone,” Kodachi said. “No matter the house or blood status.”

“As long as everyone gets along and follows the rules that the professors have set for us,” Daphne added. “You’ll have to excuse Weasley’s mouth sometimes, it runs away from him before his brain can catch up but he’s gotten better.”

“Yeah, now he mostly keeps his ‘slimy Slytherin’ comments to when he’s talking about Malfoy,” Tracy said with a laugh. “And I can’t blame him, Malfoy is more like a slug than a snake.” Millicent let out a small snorting laugh. They reached the former dueling room where many of the others were already inside.

Millicent looked around and saw Blaise sitting with Longbottom at the table along one wall, going over what looked like their last Herbology lesson. Weasley was sitting on the other end of the table reading one of those Martin Miggs comics. But what had her gaping like a fish were Kodachi’s brother and Hibiki, they were on the other side of the room fighting.

Kuno was using a wooden sword, wielding it like he had been using it all his life while Harry fought with a green bamboo umbrella of all things. And it wasn’t just the unusual weapons, the pair were dodging, leaping, blocking and moving around faster than she had ever seen anyone before outside of professional duels her dad took her to sometimes. There were also a lot of kicks, flips and punches thrown in as well, mostly from Harry.

“Hey Blaise, where’s Hermione and Justin?” Tracy asked as she dumped her bag on the table.

“They went to pick up a couple of books from the library,” Blaise said, glancing up from his text book. “I see you brought Bulstrode.”

“She is a recent addition to our group,” Kodachi said as she watched her brother and their friend with a critical eye. “Tch, brother do cover your flank, you’re starting to get sloppy there.”

“Is… is this normal?” Millicent asked. “Is he fighting with an umbrella?”

“It’s not the oddest choice of weapons,” Kodachi said as she turned from the fight to sit at the table. “Harry-sama’s mother uses a giant spatula and owns several smaller throwing spatulas.”

“Yeah, Harry can use those too,” Ron said looking up from his comic book. “What’s she doing here?” He added pointing at Millicent.

“We’ve become a 4 member girl gang in Slytherin,” Tracy said. “Hey, is that the newest issue? Let me borrow it when you’re done!”

“Millicent sit down, Harry and Tatewaki will be done soon,” Daphne said. “You get use to this after a while, you should see Kodachi fight.”

“The whole thing with the ribbon right?” Millicent asked as she slowly sat down, watching amazed as Blaise and Neville bent over one book as the Longbottom heir explained something and as Ron and Tracy talked about the Martin Miggs comic series.

“It is more than just using a ribbon,” Kodachi said with a little huff. “I practice Rhythm Gymnastic Martial Arts.”

“I have no idea what that is,” Millicent said, figuring it was a muggle thing. She jumped and yelped as the wooden sword that Kuno had been using flew over their heads suddenly, bounced off the middle of the table knocking over a pitcher of pumpkin juice and glasses that the House Elves had set out for them, then falling off the other side of the table. The others yelled as they quickly jumped up and backed away from the table, some grabbing books while others complained about getting juice on them.

“Whoops… sorry,” Harry said with a blush rubbing the back of his neck, his combat umbrella held in a loose grip at his side. Tatewaki stood beside him with a scowl as he rubbed his hand where Harry had hit him and made him lose his grip on his bokken resulting in it going flying.

“Bloody hell Harry!” Ron said as he looked at the mess, House Elves appearing with a series of pops to clean up the mess and hand out towels.

“Sorry!” Harry said again sheepishly. “I think that’s enough for now, don’t you Tachi.”

“Hai… at least until I can feel my hand again,” the older boy said as he flexed his injured hand.

“Wow, what happened here?” Justin asked as he and Hermione walked into the room, a couple of books tucked under his arm while Hermione carried a small stack.

“Training accident,” Harry explained as he put up his weapon while Kuno retrieved his from the floor, accepting the towel from one of the House Elves to clean it off.

“Nearly giving us a heart attack, that’s what,” Tracy groused as she squeezed a bit of the pumpkin juice out of her robes. Ron pouted when he saw his comic was stained at the edges from the accident, it had been almost brand new having traded a couple of his repeat chocolate frog cards for the book.

“I said I was sorry,” Harry said. Hermione sighed and shook her head but had a bit of a smile on her lips as she put her stack of books back on the now clean table then spotted Millicent.

“Oh! Hello,” she greeted her warmly. “My name is Hermione, you’re from Slytherin right?”

“Yeah… you don’t have a problem with that do you?” Millicent said, she had seen how a lot of her older house mates talked about and fought with the Gryffindors.

“No, why would I?” Hermione asked as she sat down. “I’m friends with everyone here, as long as you don’t have a problem with me being mundane born.”

“… Don’t you mean muggle born?” Millicent asked in a puzzled tone.

“Well yes, technically but I’ve adopted Harry’s way of saying it,” Hermione said.

“Oh…” Millicent said wondering why.

“Okay, now that everyone is here!” Justin said grinning as he closed the door. “Tatewaki and I can tell you what we found last night!” Whispers sprung up among the group as the two Hufflepuffs stood at the head of the table and quickly launched into the story of how they snuck out to see Harry and Ron’s duel which in turn made Harry groan and sweat drop while Hermione face-palmed.

“You guys know that there was never going to be a duel right? Malfoy told Filch so he could find us and get us into trouble,” Harry said. “Ron and I just turned the trick around on him with Flitwick-sensei’s help.”

“Well that explains what Filch was doing there last night,” Justin said. “He and that cat of his chased us down the hallways and when we tried to use the stairs it moved on us.”

“Yes, we ended up on the third floor,” Kuno added. “We thought we got away from the caretaker but somehow he caught up to us and we had to hide in a locked room.”

“You’ll never believe what we found in there!” Justin said grinning. Harry’s eyes widened and he quickly exchanged a look with Hermione whose eyes were just as wide. “We found a three headed dog!”

*****

(1) Kuno can be a bit of a clueless idiot about some things, like Ranma's curse and social matters, but school wise he seems to do pretty well. So while not as powerful as the others, there's no reason why he shouldn't know the spells pretty well and be Hermione's study buddy.

(2) Armadillo is Kuno's small pet dog of unknown breed though I'm sure it's some sort of purebred considering Kuno is of rich, snobby stock. He used the dog the first time he was a teenager to test Kodachi's cooking since Kodachi enjoyed poisoning her brother so I gather both Kuno and his dog are immune to a lot of stuff.

End Author Note: I also have a twitter account now under @usa_tiger1983 if you wanna follow me. I’ll post updates on my fics, answer questions and post story recs if anyone is interested.