I was packing my thing up. The new year was starting and meant we'd be moving to a new room. Kuro had gathered up all his toys and was ready. I gathered all my things before meeting Snape in the Great hall. Like last year Snape was accompanying me to Diagon Alley. 

I finally wrote my report for the year to Mori and in return, he sent me back 1/2 of my pay for the year which was about 100,000 yen. I took half the money before sending the rest back to my bank account. 

I was about to leave before running back and putting on the opal hairclip before I made my way down to the Great hall. Snape was waiting in front of the fireplace. 

"You're just on time", Snape says before flooing into Diagon Alley. I followed after him Kuro following me. We made it to Diagon alley and I quickly exchanged my 50,000 yen for wizard currency. I grabbed the Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts before we left to gather my supplies for the year.

We made our way to the bookstore curious about the people gathering. 

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"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter? Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page", Draco says descending the stairs to the group below. 

"Leave him alone! He didn't want all that!", Ginny defends Harry. 

"Look, Potter. You've got yourself a girlfriend!", Draco teases. 

"Like you can talk with that freak as your boyfriend!", Ron says defending his friend. 

"How dare you!", Draco says marching forward. 

"Silence, Draco! Ah... Mr. Potter. I don't believe we've met", Lucious moves as if to shake Harry's hand but moves his hair out of the way to show his lightning scar. "Forgive me, Mr. Potter. But your scar is a "legend. As, of course, is the wizard who gave it to you". 

"He was a murderer", Harry says with contempt. 

"Yes, a pity about your parents.Curious that you yourself should escape with a mere flesh wound. Curious, too, that you speak of him in the past. Surely, you don't think He-Who-Must-Not-Be- Named is gone forever", Lucious says gaining a smirk. 

"His name is Voldemort", Harry says with confidence a chorus of gasps could be heard behind him.

"You must be very brave, Mr.Potter, to dare speak his name. Or foolish", Lucious says. 

"I wonder that quite often myself ", A new voice chimes in. 

"Professor Snape!", Hermoine says shocked. 

"Gryffindor bravery seems to stem from stupidity from my personal experiences", A familiar voice said. 

"Kaiyo", Draco says walking over to his friend. 

"What are you doing here?", Ron says with contempt in his voice. 

"If you've forgotten Weasley. I'm also a Hogwarts student", Kaiyo says turning to face the Weasley family, Harry, and Hermoine. Kaiyo looked to be slightly taller as they all did over the summer. His body was more toned, but instead of gaining muscle, he slimmed down staying at a lean body figure. His hair was longer, but not long enough to tie up. 

"You must be Miss Granger. Draco told me all about you... and your parents. Muggles, aren't you?", Lucious says not trying to hide his contempt for the muggles. 

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"Ron! Harry! It's mad in here. Let's go outside", an older man says coming into the shop. The man had ginger hair and seemed to be Weasley's father. 

"Well, well, well... Arthur Weasley", Mr. Malfoy says visibly looking down on Mr. Weasley. 

"Lucius", Mr. Weasley says glaring at Mr. Malfoy. 

The two exchange taunts and insults as the situation continues to get heated before Mr. Weasley moves to attack Mr. Malfoy. I step in between catching his fist. 

"I see where your son gets his aggression from. You both are grown adults, act like it", I say with a slight glare looking back and forth between the two men. 

"I suppose Mr. Kurayami is correct", Mr. Malfoy says before calling Darco to leave. He waves at me bye before walking after his father. 

I felt a hand on my head and looked up to see Professor Snape patting my head before gesturing for me to go grab my books. I left to grab the unreasonably large amount of books we were required to buy for this year. I grabbed the books scrunching my eyebrows in confusion at the contents that were questionable at best, and unbelievable at worst. 

"You, the young lady would you like me! Gilderoy Lockhart to sign your copy of my brilliant series "Magical Me", I heard someone say from behind me. I ignored it as he was talking to a female. 

"Um, Excuse me young lady I'm talking to you. She must be too shocked to respond", I heard the same voice say. The voice irritated me to no end. "young lady! You with the white hair". Wait... He was talking to me.

"Excuse me, but are you talking to me?", I ask turning around to face the man with a visibly confused face.

"Yes! You young lady who's reading my book. Would you like me to sign your copy of my book Magical Me? Of course, you would!", A man with blond hair and blue eyes said. The man who I assume was Lockhart walks over to me before grabbing my shoulder. I hated it. I don't know why I felt disgusting. His touch felt worse than Mori san's. I wanted to shove him away and run, but I felt frozen. 

"This young lady will be an amazing wizard especially after reading my incredible feats of bravery", He said posing in front of the crowd. I slip out of his grasp before running to Professor Snape who was still at the front. I could feel myself shivering. His touch was disgusting, it felt as if he stained that part of my body. 

"Can we leave", I asked paying for my books and trying to keep my shaking voice stable. 

"Yes, we may that self-absorbed peacock is causing me a migraine", Snape says preparing to leave as I pack up the books in my bag. 

We left the store and after I bought everything I needed I expected us to go back to the castle, but he took us to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. I questioned him about it, but he told me he'd explain after. After we got Ice cream, I got vanilla with cookie crumbles while Snape got chocolate with nothing on it. 

"I saw how that man was back at the bookstore. I thought you'd like the distraction", Snape says as we were eating our cold sweet treats. 

"Thank you", I said looking down at my lap with a small smile. He ruffled my hair again with an annoyed face. After we left Diagon alley and returned to the halls of Hogwarts. I head to the infirmary where I was sleeping for the night so the elves could clean the room properly. I fell asleep with Kuro on my stomach sleeping as my eyes closed my consciousness faded into the dark. 

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The next day came as my eyes opened to see the morning light. Kuro was trying to burrow into my stomach with how much he was rolling around on my stomach. 

"Come on Kuro wake up", I said rubbing his ear with my thumb. He mewed in pretest to being woken, but he eventually got up. 

Since there wasn't anything for us to do we'd be helping the teachers set up for the day. I already showered the night before and Professor Snape would be allowing me to use the prefect's bathroom to wash up for the day. After we were both finished we met up with the teachers in the Great hall where Dumbledore would be introducing the new DADA teacher. 

"Do you know who the new DADA teacher is?", I asked Professor Snape as we walked to the Great Hall. Kuro walking right behind us. 

"No, I do not. But I have my suspicions", Snape says with a glare fixated on the giant doors of the Great Hall. We opened the door to see the teachers all wandering about, Dumbledore nowhere to be found.

"Where is that man, I have so many things to prepare for before the year starts!", McGonagall says pacing around. 

"I still need to move my plants to the Greenhouse for my lessons!", Professor Sprout says her hand on her mouth. 

"Greetings!", a voice that made my stomach drop.  

"Hello to my fellow wizards!", I took a big step back fading into the shadows and staying hidden. Kuro followed close behind jumping in behind me. 

"I see you've all met our new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Gilderoy Lockhart", Dumbledore says stepping in after the man. 

"Where is Young Kurayami? I'd like to introduce him as well", Dumbledore says.

"Right here", I say from behind him with Kuro in my arms. The shadows were unnoticeable. I made sure to make it seem as if I appeared out of thin air. 

"The young lady from the bookstore!", Lockhart said looking happy to see me. 

"I'm a boy, not a lady", I say correcting his mistake with the blank face I mastered a long time ago. 

"Ah I see my apologies", He says with a tone that reeked of false platitudes. 

"I'll leave you to your own. I know we all have many preparations for the coming school year", Dumbledore says before leaving the Great Hall. 

"Well then! Young Kurayami? was it? Why don't you help me set up my classroom?", Lockhart says walking closer. Kuro hissed at him with so much aggression that I could believe he was a lion. 

 "Unfortunately Mr. Kurayami is already helping Professor McGonagall, Sprout, and myself", Professor Snape says walking over to me. Putting his hand on my shoulder pushing me behind him. Kuro was mewing at me in a softer tone nudging my face with his paw. 

"Come with me Mr. Kuryami", Professor Sprout says walking me out of the Great Hall. 

==============================================================

"These are Mandrakes. They'll be a part of my first lesson- Careful now!", Professor Sprout explained to me as we carried pots filled with Mandrakes. Kuro was carrying a bag of seeds in his mouth looking incredibly proud of himself. 

"Sorry", I say after steadying myself after tripping and almost dropping the pot. 

"It's alright dear, just be careful", Professor Sprout says setting her own pot on the table. "I've heard you've gotten close to the Whopping Willow", she says making conversation. 

"Yes, I've been using the Willow to help me catch up on my training", I said placing the last pot down next to hers. I picked up Kuro and let him place the seeds down. 

"Thank you deary", Professor Sprout says to Kuro rubbing his head. "Now to get the equipment for this year", Professor Sprout says walking out. I followed behind carrying Kuro on my shoulders. Kuro had gotten relatively bigger than when I first got him. He could still sit on my shoulder, but I doubt he would be able to for long. 

We left for the storage closet the shelves were filled with gardening supplies. There were shovels, rakes, and many other supplies that were small enough for kids to use without hurting themselves. We carried them to their respective places in cabinets spread throughout the greenhouses. 

====================================================================

I headed to McGonagall's room next. Kuro left to play with Raito, Nureta, and Amai. They had been moved to the Forbidden forest since they no longer had to defend the stone. McGonagall was walking around arranging the tables from their rows against the wall. After the school year ends the teachers usually move the desk into rows against the wall. 

"Mr. Kurayami, you're here", McGonagall says walking over. "There isn't much for you to do, but I do need you to bring my chalkboards into the room and help me tidy up", She was right. The cleaning took most of the time, but McGonagall's constant complaints about Lockhart made the time fly. 

"Lockhart! Tell me! How to do spells! I've been doing spells since before he was born!", McGonagall yelled waving her wand the tables floating around as she directed. 

"His arrogance is... interesting", I added not knowing what to say. 

This continued for the entire time. When we finished McGonagall gave me a cookie and sent me off to Professor Snape.

================================================================

"You're here", Professor Snape says as I walked in the door. 

"Professor McGonagall's ranting about Lockhart may have prolonged the cleaning process", I admitted walking over. 

"I need you to organize the potion ingredients and make sure the pots are clean", Snape says looking through stacks of papers that I assume are this year's lesson plans. 

I started to grab the jars from the table organizing them alphabetically. There were two sets of a few ingredients, most meant for a different shelf. The cabinets were organized to have higher ingredients that were meant for the upper years who were significantly taller. The lower shelves were made for the younger kids namely the first years. This was to make sure the first years or any inexperienced wizards or witches never got their hands on materials that could potentially hurt them. 

We spent the time in comforting silence. The only sound with the glass jars on the wooden cabinets and the flipping of paper. I was almost done with the jars only having three left. 

"Ah! Professor Snape, I was wandering the halls and was wondering if you needed my help", Lockhart says slamming the door open and breaking the silence. 

"Unfortunately", Snape says sarcastically "There is nothing for you to do. I am done with my lesson plans for the year and Mr. Kurayami here is almost finished organizing my ingredients and already finished cleaning the cauldrons". 

"If he is almost done then may I borrow Mr. Kurayami after to help me", Lockhart says that making the room go silent. 

"Unfortunately I was going to have Mr. Kurayami rest after helping for so long. Since the rest of the students are arriving later tonight I believe it would be in Mr. Kurayami's best interest to allow him to rest wouldn't you agree?", Snape says with a raised eyebrow at the end making Lockhart sweat a bit. 

"O-of course", is all he says before leaving in a hurry. 

I finish and grab my sling bag before heading to the Forbidden forest for a walk. The wind whistling through the trees allowed my nerves to calm. My own breath faded into the wind. My footsteps made light thudding sounds creating a calming melody. I headed further in the sun shining through openings in the leaves. 

The spiders usually left me alone. They've gotten close and observed me from the trees, but they've never confronted me or gotten closer than 10 feet. I kept walking till I reached a wall of vines. 

The magical creatures native to the forest live at the heart of the forest. I moved the vines walking in. The wall of vines wasn't thick and I easily passed through. The sun blinded me as I walked through. The green lush grass reflected the sun and the lake in the middle shimmered as the light reflected off the surface. A light thud made me look down at the black cat that ran into my leg. 

"Kuro, did you have fun", I ask picking him up and carrying him in my arms. A thud of hooves comes closer and a familiar unicorn comes over. 

"Yuuki", I say petting his head.

Yuuki introduced me to the unicorn herd during the summer. The head mare didn't like me at first, but as the summer passed and I visited more the herd unofficially adopted me into the herd. 

Yuuki started to nudge my pockets looking for something. 

"Okay, okay! here", I say taking out a sugar cube from my bag. Yuuki takes it and eats it quickly nudging me for more. "Later", I say petting his snout, lightly pushing him away. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the herd. Playing with the foals, grooming the older unicorns, and napping on the grass. The day was going fast and the whistle of the Hogwarts train woke me up from my slumber. 

The foals sleeping next to me were also woken up along with Kuro who was sleeping on one of the foal's back. I stood up brushing off the dirt and grass that stuck to my body. Kuro jumped up onto me sitting on my shoulder. One of the foals nudges my hand asking me to stay. 

"Sorry, but I need to get back to the castle. I'll be back eventually", I say petting his head. I made my way to the vine wall and leave the heart of the forest. I make my way back to the castle and into the Great Hall. The other houses haven't arrived yet and most of the teachers are sitting at the front table waiting. 

I make my way down to the table under the green banner. The door burst open with the other students. 

"Welcome!"