Hikari no Daija (The Serpent of Light)
A Cabbit Patch Production by Miriani and Andrew Norris
Characters are the properties of JK Rowling, Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, AIC, Pioneer and the team at #Akane.

Chapter 04 – Halloween of Hell

- - -

The last month or so seemed to be more of the same. Classes were intruiging, Ranko continued to receive harassment from both Cho and Professor Flitwick, though for different reasons on each. Cho seemed to push her mystery grudge, while Professor Flitwick seemed obsessive about Ranko's joining the Quidditch team, despite the fact that Ranko would rather have her tonsils removed with a pitchfork at this time.

Nights were equally interesting, to the point where Ranko found herself wondering if she had more curses upon her than she was aware of. Every three or four days, she'd wander the halls of Hogwart's in her feline form, examining the various hallways and corridors. And practically every time, almost without fail, she would seem to have some mishap with the Weasley Twins. Fortunately for her, however, most of the misfortune seemed to rest upon the heads of those Twins.

It came to a peak, however, in the middle of October, a week before the Ravenclaw / Hufflepuff match. Ranko found herself in the shower, keeping her eyes away from the other girls as she usually did, still nervous as before that someone was going to find her out, or the bracers' magic would crap out on her or something.

"Ranko?" A voice called, causing Ranko to jump, causing eyes to blink as they see the redhead clinging to the ceiling. Shiriana asked, "Um... could I borrow your shampoo? I forgot mine, and yours smells nice."

Ranko blinked, and then dropped down carefully. "Uh, sure.. give me a second." She said, pouring some into her hand before handing the bottle off without taking her eyes off the wall. She started to relax as she scrubbed up with the shampoo, before enjoying the hot water pouring down.

Evidently Shir was not the only one who liked the scent, as the bottle was passed from person to person. By the time Ranko got the bottle back, it was nearly empty. Fifteen minutes later, the Ravenclaws made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Ranko was about to dig her fork into another bite of eggs, when she frowned. Years of awareness drilled into her from training told her something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what. She looked up - to find Mitzi and Shir with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" Ranko asked.

Shir bit her lip, trying to hide her amusement. "Your hair... it's..."

Ranko pulled her pigtail into vision, expecting the red locks she'd had at least part-time since Jusenkyo. What she found was something completely different - a blue and bronze mane that sparkled in the morning light. Her fingernails were striped in those colors. "Is... that supposed to happ..." She paused. "Uh, Shir?"

Shir shook her head. "No..." She then blinked at her own hands. Before everyone's eyes, the fingernails changed from clear to the same blue-and-bronze Ranko had. A moment later, the same colors spread from the roots of her hair to its tips.

"What the hell?" Ranko said as she watched the color spread from person to person. "What the hell is going on?"

Shir blinked a few times, frowning. "Weird. very weird." Her hands clenched softly, then she paused as she saw person after person become chromatic-zebra striped. "Ranko... where did you get that shampoo?"

"I've been using it for the last few months... Why?" Ranko said, then shook her head as she snagged the hand of the girl sitting next to her, turning the compact she was carrying toward her face. "Gah. I look like Herb..."

"Who?" Shir asked.

"Imagine what happens if a dragon turns into a girl and has kids with a human." Ranko replied, letting the girl's hand go. The girl winced and rubbed at her hand, glaring a bit at Ranko, before shuddering as she looked at her colored nails.

Shiriana stared at Ranko while Mitzi twitched a bit, staring at the hair dangling over her shoulder. "Interesting image," Shiriana muttered.

"So who do you think did this?" Mitzi asked a bit heatedly.

"I think I've got a pretty good idea," Ranko muttered, looking over Mitzi's shoulder at a pair of chortling redheads.

"So do we flay them or put them on the rack?" Mitzi replied.

"Oh, nothing so merciful," Penelope Clearwater hissed as she watched another girl's nails change. "Something tells me these little boys may need a lesson they won't soon forget."

"That may be difficult," Su Li pointed out. "The Weasley twins are very good at what they do. They'll likely see any attempt we make."

Ranko popped her knuckles and grinned. "Trust me, they won't see /me/ coming..."

- - -

Nothing seemed to happen for about a week, except for a good half of the Ravenclaw women weren't able to figure out a way to reverse the Twins' little prank. They frequently gave the twins ugly looks that, were they half a world away and a century back, would have implied they were thinking gallows and nooses.

Suddenly Luna burst into laughter, looking at the two Weasleys, as streaks of gold began to make their way through the Twins' golden locks. And at the same time, other Gryffindor ended up watching their hair change from their natural colors to Gryffindor Red and Gold. Ranko was looking in the other direction with a slight grin. From the other side of the Ravenclaw table, a large amount of Slytherins began to gasp and shriek in surprise as their own hair shifted to a silver and green color as well.

Ranko grinned as she looked toward Luna. "There we go..." she murmered as the Ravenclaw girls giggled at the changes.

Without awareness of the situation, the professors merely thought that people were preparing for the Quidditch game the next day and approved of the school spirit. Except for Snape, of course, who was rather irked at the seeming tomfoolery of his House.

Meanwhile, the Hufflepuffs looked at the other three houses and shrugged a bit. Then, almost to a man, the older Hufflepuffs tapped their wands to their heads, turning their hair bumblebee-striped. Quite a few people stared at the odd actions, but Ranko couldn't help but smile.

And so, over the next few weeks, a low-intensity prank war seemed to have sprung up between Shidou and the Weasleys. Nothing spectacular, merely probing pranks for the most part. And thus events fit into a pattern. Daybreak kata, morning lessons, large lunch, afternoon classes, evening homework, nightly prank attacks and counter attacks, and sleep.

It was not until the end of October that things started to change.

- - - It was the afternoon of Halloween, a holiday Ranma did not quite understand, but accepted the reduced classload of the day with some grace. Since she was not particularly tired, and the All Hallows' feast was still several hours away, she decided to explore the castle on her own. She found several abandoned classrooms, a few old storage closets, but nothing all that fascinating, until, while walking down a corridor, she heard a bloodthirsty voice.

"Come to me... let me kill you... let me rend you asunder..."

Ranma blinked. It didn't sound like Ryouga. And yet he was the only person who was after her hide, that she could conceive of, anyway, that could possibly have found his way to Hogwarts'. Unless... "Mousse? Is that you?" With Cologne-sensei here, it's possible that the blind moron could have come for some reason or another. "You know, I'm really tired of this crap."

Several sets of footsteps approached, but Ranma was so lost in her irritation that she actually missed the approaching people. "You know, just once, I'd love to go somewhere without some yahoo like you shouting 'Prepare to die!' or 'You foul sorceror!' or some crap like that. Would you just get lost?!"

The three students who approached froze as they stared at the redhead. Two of them looked confused, but the third, a bespectacled boy, seemed more than a bit shocked as he looked at her. "What are you yelling about?" He asked, only drawing odd looks from his companions.

As Ranma turned toward them, she paused as her eye caught a message scrawled across the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"What's that thing – hanging underneath?", the redheaded boy who accompanied the bespectacled boy said, his voice edgy with fear.

"It's... oh no..." Ranma said, rushing quickly toward the torch bracket from which a familiar cat dangled rigidly and quickly moved to lower the cat. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked stunned as the Asian girl cradled the oft-loathed Mrs. Norris in her arms. They found it difficult to believe that anyone could care for Filch's annoying spy. Yet Ranma knelt there, holding the cat as if it was a friend of hers that had suffered a grevious injury.

As people gathered around them, a voice spoke out, "Enemies of the Heir beware! You'll be next, mudbloods!"

Before anyone could respond to the insult, however, another voice spoke out, "What's going on here? What's going on?" The voice's source, Filch himself, had arrived, horrified as he saw Mrs. Norris lay in Ranma's arms, stiff as a board.

Arguments began to break out when Professor Dumbledore and others arrived. It was when Dumbledore explained that Mrs. Norris was still alive that the fist that had clenched around Ranma's heart began to loosen, sighing in relief.

It was when Snape began to cast aspersions upon the Gryffindor trio and they began to explain about the Deathday party that they had just arrived, that Ranma interrupted, "They couldn't have done it anyway." Everyone turned to look toward Ranma, making her a bit uncomfortable. Severus's expression was one of irritation, as Ranma explained, "I was here first before they arrived, and I was the first one to see the message and Mrs. Norris. I was just passing through and..." She paused, not wanting to explain her argument with her would-be assailant, so continued, "And I just saw the message on the wall."

Severus looked mildly frustrated that Ranma's explanation left him without any leg to stand on for further harassment of Harry, but for once, Ranma actually found herself grateful for the inane self-aggrandizement of Lockhart-baka, as they discussed a cure for the cat's paralysis, and the quartet were dismissed.

"Do you think I should have told them about the voice I heard?" Harry asked.

Ranma shook her head. "I'm sure it was just Ryouga, causing more problems. I swear, if I see his piggy butt, I'm going to make some fresh bacon." Harry looked at Ranma in surprise. Ron and Hermione looked at both of them in confusion, as if they were on the outside of the conversation.

Harry asked, "What was that Mousse you were talking about?" Ranma blinked. "Oh, sorry. He's the only other idiot I could have imagined being here and slinging death threats, but I don't think he's that stupid. Cologne-sensei'd probably tear him a new one if he showed up. So what do you think this 'Chamber of Secrets' is?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. I'll have to ask Bill. He used to be headboy, so maybe he heard something about this. Who are you, anyway?" he asked.

"Oh.. I'm Ranko. Ranko Shidou," She replied, bowing slightly.

The trio introduced themselves to Ranma, who looked at Harry, which unsettled him. But it wasn't the vacant, awestruck stare that people seemed to have when they attached his face and name to the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' persona. Nor was it the look of scorn that Draco's type seemed to have for him for daring to defy pureblood superiority. But rather, it was a searching, curious look.

"I don't see a bokken. That's good news."

"A what?" Harry said in confusion.

Ranma shook her head. "Nevermind."

- - -

Neville stepped into the library to see the redheaded exchange student flipping through a book, muttering to herself in what he presumed to be her native language. He paused a moment as he tried to remember her name, before blurting out, "Rango?"

"Ranko," the girl said without looking up, then blinked as she turned toward him. "Hello?"

"Uh, yes... did you need help? I'm Neville." he offered.

Ranma blinked a moment, then nodded. "Uh, sure." she said as she pulled herself completely out of the distraction to assess the boy. "I'm trying to find out about this 'Chamber of Secrets'. Not having too much luck on it though."

Neville paused, then nodded. "I can help look for that I suppose," he said hesitantly.

Ranma looked at him, then closed the book before her on the desk, stood up, and walked toward the boy. "Is there a problem?" she asked him, confused at his timidity. Oddly enough, she hadn't really encountered much of that in his life. Most of the people in her life were so extroverted, it was ridiculous. Of course, it may have just been that only the extroverts pushed themselves into her life.

Neville blinked in surprise, before shaking his head. "No... it's fine." He said, backing up a bit. "If I'm bothering you, I'll go away." Even if she was apparently a year younger than him, she seemed to give off ... well, the only way he could describe it was a feeling of strength or something that he had never felt in someone that wan't an adult, or even some adults.

"No, I need the help," Ranma replied, then paused, before saying, "If you want, I can teach you some thing in return?"

Neville shook his head. "You don't have to-" he started, but Ranma promptly interrupted.

"It's alright, I don't mind. Besides, I would like practice teaching anyway." She said.

Neville paused a moment, trying to formulate some protest, but gave up as he said, "Ok... I guess so."

Ranma nodded and smiled. "Great."

- = -

"What have I gotten myself into now?" Neville groaned as he dragged himself out of bed at a first year's urging. Barely awake enough to put on some clothing, he walked out of the doorway behind the Fat Lady's portrait, where the redheaded asian woman waited, tapping her feet in boredom.

She paused as Neville emerged and then grinned. "Come on, Neville," Ranma urged as she dragged the Gryffindor down the staircase, leading him out to the Quidditch pitch. Both of them, however, froze in surprise as they saw a sight that strained the eyes.

Luna Lovegood stood at the entrance of the pitch, dressed in a kempogi. Well, it was either a gi or an emergency sign for the incredibly colorblind. It was diagonally striped, alternating between hunter-orange and neon green.

Ranma commented, "Is that a martial arts uniform or a distraction device?"

Neville shrugged. "Maybe both?" he said, blinking a bit as if to clear his eyes of the glare radiating from Luna's outfit. "

Would you mind if I joined you?" Luna asked her fellow Ravenclaw.

Ranma nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, that's fine." She shrugged, rubbed at her eyes a bit as if to clear them herself, then began to explain martial arts as they jogged a few laps around the pitch at a slow pace.

And then a few more.

And then some more.

About half an hour later, Ranma looked at her gasping and exhausted students. "I've got a /lot/ of work ahead of me," she murmered to herself in her native language. "Ok, you two, go ahead and wash up, relax a bit until breakfast."

A rusty chuckle preceded an amused comment, also in Japanese. "Now you know how I felt, Ranma." Cologne bounced over next to the girl.

"I wasn't that bad," Ranma complained.

"No, not at all, but I know exactly how you feel, when I realized just how very much I had, and have, to teach you," Cologne replied.

"True," Ranma remarked, then shrugged. "And how are your classes so far?"

Cologne lit up her pipe before explaining, "Rather well, for the most part, though I must admit a bit of aggravation with some of my associates."

Ranma tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm sure I know one, and I might be able to guess the other." Cologne looked toward Ranma with a grin. "I'm sure Lockhart-baka has to be one of them." The amazon nodded in amusement at the 'honorific'. "But I'd have to guess the other is Snape-sensei. I haven't had too many issues, but I noticed he's not the best of teachers, despite his knowledge."

"Very observant," Cologne remarked.

"I don't necessarily have to be observant. Even a blind person would notice the distaste on many faces whenever Snape-sensei's classes are mentioned, though most of them stem from Gryffindor and to a far lesser degree, Hufflepuff," Ranma admitted.

"Just keep your wits about you, child," Cologne remarked. "To mangle the local playwright, 'Something is Rotten in the Castle of Hogwart's.'"

"Speaking of that, do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets that the message spoke of?" Ranma didn't think she had to elaborate, considering news of the bloody scrawl traveled faster than apparation.

"I'm afraid not," Cologne admitted. "I've only heard it rumored about in events that happened quite a while ago, and the rest of the staff either weren't here for it, or aren't saying anything about it."

"Lovely," Ranma muttered and shook her head. "And I thought I could relax for once."