It was another normal evening as all the Hogwarts children gathered for dinner.
Ginny Weasley was on her way to dinner as well.
She passed by several people, yawning to herself.
She didn't know why, but she felt really tired the past few days, like she hadn't been able to sleep. Yet, every morning, her roommates had a hard time waking her up because she was sleeping so deeply.
"Did you go to Professor Medea's lesson this morning?"
"Of course! It's been crazy with how popular they've become! I heard that Professor McGonagall had to start forbidding anyone not assigned for the class hour from going inside because it was getting too crowded."
A few Ravenclaw students were talking as Ginny found herself listening in.
"I love it! It's so refreshing, isn't it? So many new things we're learning."
"Absolutely. Did you know my father even has me sending him a copy of my notes? He's even paying me! Doubling my allowance every week."
"I don't think you're the only one; those poor owls have been flying back and forth from Hogwarts all semester."
Ginny scrunched her nose.
Who would be so happy to do schoolwork?
She didn't understand. She wasn't like Ron, who wanted to spend all day playing chess or on his broom—not that she didn't love flying either—but she did at least have other aspirations.
Still, she treated schoolwork as…well, something to get through, not a matter to be enthralled by.
Ginny just shook her head, passing them as she entered the Great Hall.
She walked in to see Luna and Kunou sitting at the Gryffindor table.
Luna and Kunou both immediately waved at her excitedly.
She awkwardly went to join them.
"Hey Luna, Kunou." She greeted them.
"Merlin, Ginny. I hope you take a bath after eating with an animal like that; I can only imagine the smell." A girl at the end of the table held her nose, making a jab towards them.
Ginny furrowed her brow, about to respond, but Kunou did first.
"I don't smell! My nose is better than yours; I would be able to tell." Kunou pouted.
The girl and her friends laughed. "I heard that dogs can smell really good too. I guess it's the same for all animals?"
"Good enough to smell that you still wet the bed." Kunou deadpanned.
Ginny blinked, not expecting the insult flung back.
The girls seemed taken aback too.
"I don't wet the bed!"
"I can smell it from here." Kunou pinched her nose.
"T-that's a lie!"
Several people around the girl edged away from her.
Luna covered her mouth, holding back a laugh.
Even Ginny's lips were trembling a little as the girl got up and ran out of the Great Hall.
"So…why are you guys at the Gryffindor table?" Ginny asked.
"Food."
"Food." Luna nodded along. "And you only sit at the Gryffindor table; we wanted to sit with you too."
Both of them smiled at her, and Ginny felt a warm feeling in her chest.
"There's not enough food over at Slytherin or Ravenclaw?" She asked, peeking at both tables.
"More meat over here." Kunou said, piling up her plate high.
Ginny did a quick check; it looked like roast beef, sausage, turkey, chicken…
Yeah, she realized, they did have more meat over here.
Out of the corner of her eye, she also saw Luna grab a piece of meat and drop it on the ground.
Ginny was confused and peeked under the table but saw nothing. Even the piece of meat she dropped had disappeared. She didn't notice the two red eyes that blinked in Kunou's shadow under the table after she looked away.
"How—"
"Hey Ginny!" Ron came over with Harry and Hermione.
"Hey Ron." Ginny muttered, glancing at Harry bashfully. "Hi Harry."
"Hey Ginny." Harry smiled politely.
They all sat down, seemingly uncaring about both Luna and Kunou being there. Perhaps it was because this wasn't the first time they sat at the Gryffindor table.
"Merlin, Hermione, can't you put the books away for five minutes?" Ron grumbled as Hermione had already cracked open a book while she nibbled on a plate of food.
"Ron, this is important!" Hermione scoffed. "I can't fall behind."
"It's not even on the OWLS…"
"You don't understand, Ron! Professor Medea is teaching stuff I can't even find in any books in the library! This is…is unprecedented!"
"Oh, you've already taken Professor Medea's class? How was it?" Luna asked.
"Boring," Ron said immediately.
Hermione glared at him. "It was amazing. I heard that she's redefining a lot of what we even know about Magic." Hermione gushed.
"Yeah, and Dark Magic too." Ron muttered.
"W-well…that's…" Hermione swallowed. "She was approaching it from an academic standpoint."
"She was talking about human sacrifices." Harry pointed out. "I mean…she didn't seem all that bad, but…"
"She's not dark." Hermione defended. "If she was a Dark Witch, Dumbledore wouldn't have hired her!"
Kunou's stuffed cheeks emptied as she swallowed a mouthful. "No, Aunt Medea is Dark."
They were sort of surprised that she chimed in.
"That's not true!" Hermione quickly countered.
"See, even she says so!" Ron looked smug, like he had finally won the argument.
"Wait, Aunt?" Hermione blinked. "She's your aunt!?"
Kunou tilted her head. "Yah huh. Aunt Medea and Daddy are friends, so I call her Aunt Medea."
Hermione's mouth gaped. "Then why are you calling her a Dark Witch?"
Blinked and blinked again. "Because it's true? I don't know why everyone is so weird about it. Daddy said that you all here have delicate um…sen…sens…"
"Sensibilities?" Luna offered.
"Yeah, that. Delicate Sensibilities." Kunou nodded. "Thank you, Luna."
"Of course." Luna smiled. "My daddy says the same thing too, don't worry."
It was as if Hermione's brain was fritzing; she was seemingly having trouble finding the words to respond with.
"Maybe… It's just a difference in culture?" Ginny offered as she noticed the weird tension now as her brother and his friends looked at Kunou strangely. "She's not human…." The youngest Weasley pointed out the obvious.
"Right, yeah." Harry nodded. "I don't know how it is back home, but it's not really a good thing to be labeled a Dark Witch here." His tone was a little light as he said that, keeping it a mite hushed.
"There are humans back home too. One of Momma's newest guards is from here too, and they never said anything about 'dark' or whatever." Kunou said flippantly. "And my grandpa is human, and Daddy is half-human. You guys are the weird ones to everyone else."
"We're not weird." Ron grumbled.
"Actually, Ronald." Luna spoke up. "England is the only magical society that has such a black and white outlook on what's considered 'dark' magic or thereabouts. Durmstrang teaches 'Dark Magic' as part of its curriculum, and it's done that since its founding. And Beauxbatons doesn't advertise it, but they do the same. Not because they're hiding anything, but because it's just a normal thing to them. A lot of what we consider 'Dark' Magic here is just something that the Ministry gives the label to control it and keep the population in check."
They all stared at her.
"Daddy wrote several articles on it last year, and I helped him do the research." She said proudly. "Oh, by the way, Kunou, I made these for you; they'll help you see the Wrackspurts better."
"Ooh, I like them!" Kunou said excitedly as Luna handed over a pair of plastic sunglasses, missing the lenses, with doll shoes glued to the frame.
"Now that you have those, we can go hunting Wrackspurts after lunch."
"I bet there will be some in the Slytherin room."
"Do you think!?" Luna asked excitedly.
Ginny shook her head in disbelief. One moment they were acting so…and the next, this. "I heard a strange rumor that you both got detention after burning down Professor Lockhart's classroom?"
Luna and Kunou shared a look.
"...maybe." Kunou looked away.
"It was an accident." Luna looked a little bashful as well.
"You both burned down a classroom?" Hermione's eyes widened.
"It's not our fault!"
"Yeah, we were trying to save that poor creature! Who releases a magical creature in the middle of a classroom and tells everyone to 'capture' it?" Luna huffed. "It's a very unethical use of magical creatures, and I intend to write a sternly worded letter to Dumbledore protesting such actions in the future."
"He did that to you guys too?" Harry seemed to snap out of his own unease from before. "He opened a cage of Cornish pixies, and they caused chaos."
"Bloody mad, that one is. Doing that on a bunch of first years? What are they supposed to do, use the lighting charm?" Ron shook his head.
Harry let out a low hiss as he rubbed his forehead, and it didn't go unnoticed by the others.
"Harry, is your scar acting up again?" Hermione asked in concern.
"Yeah, I don't know why, but it's been stinging all day." Harry replied.
"Maybe you should go to the nurses?" Hermione offered.
"Didn't Daddy tell you to go see Aunt Medea?" Kunou tilted her head. "He said you had something in your scar."
Harry paused, and the others also sort of froze a bit. "Well…I didn't want to bother her, and it didn't seem that bad…"
"And she's bloody scary." Ron muttered.
Harry also didn't deny that either.
Kunou recalled when her father gave Harry the advice and just shook her head. "Boys are so stupid."
"Hey!" Ron took offense, but the girls there all shot him a look.
"You have no idea." Hermione shook her head. "Harry, if you were told to go see Professor Medea, maybe you should listen."
"Fine." Harry sighed. "I'll go see her after the next class."
"Attention everyone!" A loud voice came over the room; everyone looked up to see Professor Lockhart holding his wand to his throat to project his voice. "Can I have everyone's attention, thank you. I have an announcement to make."
Even the teachers seemed surprised that he suddenly got up and started to say something.
"Ahem." Dumbledore's voice rose as well, and the whispers and muttering that were happening abruptly ceased. "It appears that Professor Lockhart has an announcement he would like to make; let us show him the respect he…deserves."
"Thank you, Headmaster." Lockhart did a little flourish of his hand as he acknowledged him. "Now, as I was saying. I would like to announce that the teachers and I have decided to restart the Dueling Club."
There was a brief moment before all the students began to clap and shout excitedly.
"Yes, yes." Lockhart ate up the attention. "I'm sure you've all heard the rumors and such, but allow me to be the first one to say it all to you."
Several of the teachers had sour looks on their faces.
It's not that they hadn't planned on restarting the Duel Club; it's that they already had plans for it, and Professor Lockhart wasn't going to be involved in any way.
Frankly, they had no idea how he even knew about it because they never told him.
But now, they couldn't exactly contradict him in front of the entire student body. It would make everyone look back if the teachers began to argue in front of them.
They were going to make use of it as a way to make sure that the students had extra…studying for things revolving around Defense.
But clearly, that plan went right out the window.
"And of course, give a hand to the headmaster for allowing this to happen." Lockhart chuckled, giving his signature smile as he gestured to the headmaster at the table.
"Yes…we're most excited as well." The headmaster forced a smile.
"And of course, I will be taking charge." Lockhart said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And I will be enlisting our fellow teachers. A rotation! Having a new teacher join each club meeting—wouldn't that be exciting!"
And of course, he never once asked any of them.
"Why, I'll invite our own Muggle teacher!" Lockhart gestured to Professor Kuzuki. "I'm sure he can provide some insight on how witches and wizards should handle a Muggle when it comes to matters of defense!"
He laughed, and there were a few students who laughed along with him.
Medea's eyes, however, narrowed ever so slightly.
Professor Kuzuki simply kept his expression blank, not reacting at all to the provocation.
While not blatant, there were plenty of witches and wizards in the school who weren't particularly enthused by the fact that one of the professors was a Muggle.
Plenty of them felt that Muggles were beneath them and had no place in Hogwarts.
Before he could continue, the doors to the great hall slammed open. The caretaker, Argus Filch, stormed in looking distraught and in tears. "Dumbledore, Mrs. Norris!" He cried out.
Dumbledore, while not knowing what he was talking about, could easily recognize the panic and could easily sense that something was wrong.
He quickly got to his feet and ran to Argus, and the teachers with him. "Argus, what's wrong? What happened?"
"Someone killed Mrs. Norris, Albus!" He nearly wailed. "Blood, blood on the walls! Someone killed my poor Mrs. Norris and used her blood to write a horrible message on the walls!"
Dumbledore quickly looked around. "Students! Dinner is over, everyone; follow your prefects back to the dorms. We're enacting an early curfew!"
The teachers moved, beginning to gather their students as Dumbledore gestured to the others.
"Argus, show me what happened." Dumbledore helped him to his feet and steady.
"This way!" He wiped his tears and led them out of the Great Hall.
He led them up the stairs; the moving staircases dared not to play their games with but a glare from the headmaster and fellow teachers.
On the other side of the castle, Argus ran and nearly fell to his feet as he pointed up at his cat, hung on the wall, and a message written in blood.
'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.'
Dumbledore let out a sigh, looking at the message, then at the handful of children who had snuck away and followed them.
"That's chicken blood." Medea spoke up. "And your cat is still alive."
Their eyes snapped to her.
"Mrs. Norris is alive!?" Argus all but yelled.
"It appears—" Professor Snape drawled. "That your cat has been petrified."
"Petrified?" Medea repeated. "How interesting."
Argus did a double take but focused more on the fact that his cat wasn't dead.
"Miss Medea, you say this is Chicken Blood? How can you be certain?" Dumbledore looked at her.
Medea paused for a moment, considering that question. "...do you want me to answer truthfully?"
Dumbledore wisely decided not to follow up on an answer.
[Line break]
A/N
Well, the plot is starting to kick in. The Chamber of Secrets is starting, and the Duel Club is starting; it's going to be a fun time for Kunou.
Just a heads up, may be having surgery this coming week, so if I go silent for several days, that may be the cause.
Anyways, I realized that I hadn't done a Kunou chapter this month, so here you guys go.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name.