As consciousness began to approach Gohan, he was dimly aware that he was being restrained. However, that didn't register as a distinct threat. Whatever it was restraining hadn't killed him yet, so he was probably safe as of right now.

He went through a checklist of his senses to make sure they all worked. Sight? It was dark, and everything was blurry, but he could see perfectly fine. Smell? He could smell something rotting, it was distinctly weaker than it should have been, but at least he knew the sense was working. Touch was working, he could feel the full body restraint fairly easily. Hearing was also working, he could hear the rustling of leaves in the wind. His ki senses were working fantastically, better than they had in the castle, so that was a plus. Taste... he wasn't sure, but he wasn't willing to find out.

"Don't try to struggle little one," a deep voice requested, "You will only make things harder on yourself."

He glanced at the source of the voice, seeing a giant spider slowly making his way towards him.

"An Acromantula," Gohan greeted in return. "I didn't know there were any wild ones in Europe."

"You are right," the beast replied, inching ever closer, "I was brought here by Hagrid as an egg. He allowed me to live peacefully in these woods."

Gohan smiled as he considered this. Now that he was a little more aware, he could tell every part of his body was being restrained by nearly a foot of webbing. Not may things would have been able to escape, considering it was pound for pound stronger than cement, but it would hardly be enough for him. Still, he had a gut feeling that he would want to stay here for the time being.

"I see," Gohan replied, "So I suppose all these spiders are your children?"

The spider stopped it's advance.

"Yes Acromantula," Gohan continued politely, "I don't need to see them to know they are here."

"What are you? You are not human, yet you wear the robes of hogwarts."

Gohan grinned. So that was why it refrained from eating him in his unconscious state. And people said curiosity is was human trait.

"My name is Son Gohan, and I am a half-human, half-Saiyan," He began, "Saiyans are not of this planet, so I don't hold it against you to be ignorant of our species. I am a student at hogwarts regardless. Now than may I learn your name?"

The spider seemed to consider this.

"Hagrid gave me the name of Aragog," He slowly replied, "Now, Son Gohan, I must ask what has stirred in the castle."

Gohan blinked at this.

"I was hoping to ask you," He confessed, "I know that your kind is much more in tune with magic than my own."

Aragog moved closer, now standing on the saiyan's cocoon.

"The beast is what we fear above all else," He informed him, "I was mistaken for it last time, and Hagrid was taken."

Gohan's eyes narrowed. "Last time? This happened before?"

"Yes," Aragog confirmed, it's fangs inches away from the saiyan's indifferent face. "Fifty years ago, the beast awoke. It killed a girl, and I was forced to flee to the woods."

Gohan nodded in understanding. "And now you want me to kill it?"

Aragog chuckled. "Yes Son Gohan. You could have killed me at any time, and showed no fear at being eaten. You are in tune with the life energy of the universe, much like we are in tune with magic, I have the belief that you can slay the beast."

"Why?" Gohan asked, "Are you afraid it will come into the woods?"

"No," Aragog replied, "They will once again take away Hagrid under false accusations, and he is a good soul. I wish no harm to come to him. But furthermore, and more importantly, if they replace Hagrid than the castle may choose to try to exterminate us. Hagrid is undoubtedly a friend, but my family is my first and foremost concern, especially the young ones who ventured into the castle."

Gohan nodded in understanding, busting his arms out of his webbed prison.

"You are a good soul Aragog," He said, "I will be back after I kill the beast."

Gohan casually walked out of the forbidden forest, his robes torn to shreds. He had to admit that the forest was pretty dangerous, and he definitely wouldn't have been able to get out without his powers. Even than he'd taken a couple days, Piccolo's 'training' program paying off immensely.

But now was when things were going to get really intense. He HAD to kill this beast.

But first he had to learn what could steal the bodies of another, and than figure out how to remove it from said bodies.

"Gohan!"

He turned to see a paralyzed Hagrid, staring at him open-mouthed. Gohan frowned. He'd only been gone three days, surely they didn't worry this much over something so trivial. None the less, Hagrid's face became more solid and he raised his crossbow.

"Now, yer gonna stay right there," He growled, "Yer gona be in a LOT of trouble, that much I can 'ssure ya."

Gohan deepened his frown, but nodded. The gamekeeper made his way over, inspecting him thoroughly, before nodding to the castle.

"Dumbledores gonna wanna be speakin to ya," he said, to which Gohan nodded.

The two made their way to the castle, Hagrid keeping a close eye on him.

'Something happened,' Gohan guessed, 'and they are blaming me for it. Whatever the beast did after it escaped, They think I did it and ran.' Well, he supposed it was something he'd assume as well, so there were no hard feelings. It wasn't fair to hold different people to different standards.

As they entered the castle, he sighed at the crowd of children that had gathered to see his homecoming. They were muttering to each other, but not quiet enough that he couldn't hear if he tried. But he didn't try, it just didn't seem worth the effort.

"Gohan," Proffesor Mcgonigal called out from the top of the staircase, her voice surprisingly calm, "Dumbledore will see you now, follow me."

He nodded, and moved through the crowd, indifferent to their accusing stares, catching up to her as she walked away.

"I can't believe her," McGonigal muttered, "She is amazing, down to the second."

"Baba."

The witch grinned. "You have quite the teacher there."

She nodded her head, and they continued the rest of the way to Dumbledore's office, which they entered without a password. It seemed the gargoyles remembered him.

Dumbledore welcomed them with a smile. the rest of the staff lined the walls, although they were a lot less welcoming. Lockheart was of course pale faced and cowering.

Coward.

"Good evening Gohan," Dumbledore greeted pleasantly, "I trust you had a pleasant trip?"

Gohan shrugged and motioned to his shredded robes, "It was exciting. I've got to tell you, I wasn't expecting Centaurs to be that good of shots."

The wizard chuckled. "They are quite good. Now than, First things first, I have a message from Baba. She asked me to say this word for word before we started. 'Son, would you please'. Now than, can you tell us what happened?"

Gohan blinked. Of course he got the instruction. It was her favorite saying. 'Gohan, would you please SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE YOU TELL THEM EVERYTHING!'. He heard it gradually less during their travels, and she began to shorten it down to just 'Son, would you please.'

"I wish I could," Gohan said with a frown, "All I remember was taking a walk, and than waking up in a forest. So, I chose a direction and began walking. It turns out i chose the right direction."

Dumbledore suddenly went stony faced, and than shot him a sharp glare. "Son," He said with intensity he hadn't seen from the man, "You have been given the benefit of the doubt. Do not lie to me, I cannot tolerate this right now. Now, tell me what happened."

Gohan glanced around the room, meeting eyes with each teacher.

"In private," he finnaly said.

"You don't get to-" Snape began, before being cut off by dumbledor's hand.

"Very well," the headmaster conceded, "leave us alone."

The staff hesitated before one by one filing out. Lockheart was incidentally the first, while snape was last, keeping a steady glare on the saiyan.

"So?" Dumbledore demanded, and Gohan began his story. He retold everything he could about the evil presence, including the new information he got from Aragog. He did however, decide to leave out Harry, deciding to make the relay comment anonymous. Dumbledore listened quietly, his face growing particularly dark when he heard about the encounter he had with the beast.

Once the story was over, Dumbledore got up and began pacing.

"Gohan," He said softly, "I believe that you may have just had an encounter with something terrible. If it weren't for your extraordinary abilities, the odds of you being alive right now would be slim to none."

"What happened while I was gone?" Gohan asked, a bit surprised at the professor's seriousness.

The older wizard paused.

"Do you know of the chamber of secrets?"

It was two in the morning and Gohan still hadn't left the library. A week after learning about the chamber of secrets, he was still going through countless books, looking for potential assailants.

Petrification.

This really narrowed it down. The most obvious answer would be a basilisk going through the pipes in the walls, but that didn't add up. Nothing could control a basilisk, and it certainly couldn't be a simple messenger. Nothing could understand it. He supposed it was possible the body snatcher had taken a basilisk over, but that also didn't make much sense. In that case why would it take over a first year?

He laid back. Apparently the first year had woken up with nothing more than slight joint issues, showing whatever he was chasing had impressive recovery capabilities.

He leaned back and stretched. Whatever was going to be done, he would have to do it while it the thing was in a basilisk form.

If it really was a body snatcher and not a shapeshifter who had just used a first year's face because it was loosing.

He growled and brushed the books off the table in frustration. How was it possible to figure anything out? For all he knew, it could be a snake controlling diary from a dead wizard that possessed little girls. Quite literally anything was possible. Heck, it could be the girl from an alternate timeline who grew up a snake charmer, and thinks a basilisk is a cool pet. It could be a dark god using a spirit to gather information for an invasion.

Kami he hoped it was a God, they were usually pretty simple to deal with. He had no idea how he'd deal with the diary.

He stretched, and moved to pick up the books again, when he saw a flicker of... something.

Immediately he reached out with his Ki senses, ignoring the nausia, it being favorable to potential death. However, nothing was there. He sighed, deciding his senses must be playing tricks on him. Perhaps it was time to go to sleep afterall...

He saw another flicker, and his eyes immediately shot towards it again. He heard a series of thuds, like a heart beat-

A bug was moving across the books fifty feet away.

He relaxed. Sometimes his senses were more of a curse than anything. Still, he had never mistaken insect footsteps as a heartbeat before. Too much adrenalin was definitely unhealthy.

He gathered up his books and began heading back to the common rooms.

Hermione was frozen in fear under the invisibility cloak. She had been following him all day, and settled down for a long wait once he hit the library, but not even she stayed there that late. She had moved to get a closer look at the books he had thrown, and her hands left the cloak for only a moment, but he somehow saw it. When she scooted backwards, her toe had only gone outside the cloak for a split second, and he caught that too, and if she didn't know better, she would have sworn he could hear her heart racing.

But she did manage to glance at the topic of the book he had been reading.

Salazar Slytherine.

And just like that he became her number one suspect.

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