Mischief Managed
First year.
With 11, Shinichi learned that the cat like magical creatures in the forest were called matagots. It shouldn't be the last magical creature he would fight in his first year though.
It was a normal sunny day in April, when Mōri-sensei, the teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts, stumbled visibly upset into the moya, right in the middle of lunch and began to shout:
"There was a breach on the school grounds! Everyone get into their houses, follow the prefects. Under no circumstances, leave the temple. Teachers, to me! All the students that are outside right now, need to be evacuated inside at once."
Many students sprang up from their seats in great shock and fear, some even screamed, while prefects and teachers alike tried to calm everyone by shouting orders through the room. It was pure chaos. Shinichi, who was sitting at a table with Heiji, sprung also up and followed Ran, who ran up to her father.
"Otō-san, what's going on?", she asked scared, just as Shinichi and Heiji had reached them.
"It's a creature... A very dangerous one. It's called a Hidebehind. It's probably feral and out of its mind. Please, Ran- don't argue, just follow your prefect into your common room for now."
"Otō-san-" But he already turned around, wand in hand. Shinichi saw his parents following him outside, a concerned and serious look on their faces.
"A Hidebehind?", Shinichi mumbled, his hand on his chin. He tried to conjure up everything he knew about this creature in his brain, but didn't come up with much, except that it was normally nocturnal, dangerous and deadly, even for experienced wizards and witches. Then something else occurred to him. Fear spiked and adrenaline rushed through him.
"Ran, did you see Ai come back inside before?", he asked sharply. She frowned.
"No, she went outside to sit by the lake..."
"Oh no..." He and Heiji shared a dark look.
"But Shinichi, my father said-"
"I know what he said. Stay here, I will go look for her. I know where she usually likes to wander off to and her favourite place by the lake is also near the forest." He wanted to run through the doors after his parents, but a familiar voice held him back.
"That's a really stupid idea...", Kaito Kuroba drawled, who was standing not very far away from them in his red robe, performing a kind of coin trick with his hands he was doing often.
It was a big silver coin he was rolling over his knuckles and fingers, making it disappear and appear again, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Shinichi scoffed. Over the months, a somewhat rivalry had formed between the two boys.
He had no time for this guy's usual dramatics though, his best friend's life was in danger... But Heiji's mouth and short temper was faster, as always.
"Oh yeah? Why should we care what you think about it?", Heiji snapped back. Kuroba came up to them.
"Get out the way", Shinichi grumbled. Kuroba made a disapproving 'tsk' sound and shook his head, ignoring Heiji completely like always. His best friend fumed.
"You misunderstand. You won't find her by foot. It's much faster and safer, searching for her from above." His smirk became smug and Shinichi narrowed his eyes.
"Get to the point."
Kaito sighed dramatically.
"Flying, of course. Don't you have a broom?"
Shinichi's eyes widened. Of course, I‘m an idiot... He felt hot embarrassment in his stomach for not getting it faster and hoped he wasn't blushing.
"Oh, uh- You're right... Thanks."
Kuroba waved it off.
"Don't thank me. Just try and don't get yourself eaten by the ghost bear..." Kuroba winked, as if Shinichi wasn't about to get in serious, possibly deadly trouble. Shinichi huffed and turned. Heiji was right beside him.
"What are you doing?", he asked irritated, even though he already knew the answer. His best friend sputtered.
"Coming with you, of course! Don't ask stupid questions, there is no time."
"Be careful, Shinichi!", Ran called after them, standing beside Kuroba, looking worried.
"Always", Shinichi answered and smirked more confidently than he felt.
"Oh and Kudō?", Kuroba yelled after them.
"What?", he asked impatiently over his shoulder.
"The window in the divination classroom is always open."
Shinichi froze and nodded at him, expression grim but thankful.
"Thanks Kuroba."
Later, they found Ai, who was of course about to be attacked by the Hidebehind. Heiji threw a spell at the beast to distract it, but it just shook it off fast, getting even angrier and it roared loudly.
That was the moment his father apparated near the Hidebehind, followed by Mōri-sensei and Kettleburn-sensei. The three of them threw excessive spells at the beast, but it was in such a state, it almost didn‘t register them. Shinichi yelled at Ai from above, flew by slow enough for her to catch up, grabbed her hand and swiftly pulled her up on his broom.
He could swear he could feel the jaw of the beast almost close around his foot, as another curse hit the beast hard and he could hear it roar loudly as they quickly flew higher and back to the school.
When the three of them landed safely back on temple ground, or more like, on the floor of the divinations balcony under the open window, two professors where already waiting for them inside.
One of them was his mother, who looked more furious and scared than Shinichi had ever seen her in his entire life. She had pressed her lips so hard together, they looked almost like a white line. He gulped.
The other was Vineyard-sensei, the potions teacher, who was the only teacher he actually disliked in school. The woman gave him a sharp look, once he climbed inside and he let his head hang low, studying the floor very intensely, as they waited for Hattori and a very pale Ai to climb in too.
"I‘m very disappointed in you, Shinichi! That was very irresponsible of you... both of you. You too, Hattori-kun. You two are lucky to be alive. 10 points from both of your houses" , his mother stated sternly and Shinichi didn‘t dare to look up, just nodded, gripping his broom harder.
"We‘re very sorry", Hattori mumbled and Shinichi‘s mother snorted amused, raising her eyebrow. She sighed, as she seemed to calm down a bit, when she looked over at Ai. Concern washed over her face then.
"Somehow I really doubt that, Hattori-kun... Are you alright, Haibara-kun? Do you need to go to the nurse?" Ai shook her head.
"I‘m fine. I‘m very lucky my friends found me this fast... Otherwise I would be dead now." Shinichi‘s mother sighed again and gave her a small smile, her anger melting away.
"Yes... you were very lucky."
"Still, it‘s very peculiar... How you managed to pull that off. Almost extraordinary..." , Vineyard-sensei said and Shinichi looked up at that. It hadn‘t sounded like a compliment, but nobody else seemed to notice her dry tone and the sharp smile she was giving him then.
His expression was grim as he looked back at her with a flat stare. It had been like this between them, since the first potions lesson with her. At first, he thought he was imagining things, but after a few weeks, he understood, that not only didn‘t he like potions to begin with, since he just didn‘t have a talent for it as it seemed, like that annoying Kuroba for example...
She didn‘t seem to like him as well, always giving him harder tasks than anybody else, asking him questions, he couldn‘t possible yet know and taking points from him whenever she could. He didn‘t know why she was so hard on him, but it made him angry and stubborn enough to study for potions even harder, just to spite her.
The only thing that comforted him in a way was the fact that she seemed to dislike Kuroba even more than him. But that probably was, because Kuroba lived to bring chaos into every class he was attending. The guy seemed to collect detention hours as if they were special prize points for their house and enjoyed it too.
But this time, to his shame, it was his turn to receive detention. The detention they received was astronomical, to say the least...
He could feel Ai‘s small, shaking hand take his, behind his back and thought it was worth it though. He smiled. He would do it again in a heartbeat.
At breakfast the next day, Shinichi was up earlier than his friends were. He was sitting alone, until two older girls sat down at the same table, were he was eating. He couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"Did you hear what happened yesterday?", the blonde third year asked in a hushed tone. Shinichi discreetly eyed the badge on her red robe, so he knew what year she was in.
"Yeah, the Hidebehind. Everybody knows..."
Her friend rolled her eyes.
"No not thaa~t. The break-in", she whispered.
"What break-in?", the other girl asked intrigued. Even Shinichi leaned in, but he kept his eyes on his newest edition of the Swift Feather the whole time, pretending to read an article about brooms. His eyes already had read the advertisement for 'Vroooms Broooms' three times now and it was getting on his nerves.
"Apparently, someone tried to break into the headmaster's office yesterday, while he was away at the ministry... Everybody was out, searching for the Hidebehind, so nobody noticed it at first", she said, kind of lurid. The brown haired girl raised her eyebrows, she didn't seem convinced.
"So, how come you know about it then?" The blonde waved her off impatiently.
"My older sister works at the minister's office as a secretary. You remember Hikari, right? I already told you about her so many times now. Well, she told me, headmaster Agasa was at the minister's office in the middle of a conversation with minister Megure when he suddenly had to leave. Apparently, the break-in triggered some security spell and it went off like a loud, old alarm clock in his pocket. She said, he looked very upset, paled and left right away."
"Wow...", the brown haired girl said.
"Yeah, right? But apparently whoever it was, didn't manage to break into the office." Her friend shuddered visibly.
"Still, that's creepy... Doesn't that mean, there was a thief in this school? How could they get into the school in the first place? There are so many security measures..." Shinichi agreed to that in his mind, but kept chewing his rice ball, still pretending to read.
"My father says the headmaster is getting old and is losing his touch...", the blonde murmured. Shinichi had to hold back his protests, since he didn't want them to notice he was listening in on their conversation so shamelessly.
"That's mean", the brown haired girl protested. The blonde rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, but it's kinda true though. How else could that have happened? Think about it... to get by all the security measures, you would need to be... a trusted person. Also, don't you think it's suspicious that this Hidebehind beast was breaking through the defences, the exact day, the headmaster was away? They must have known he would be away. And-"
"-and what? Smuggled a Hidebehind into the school? Or apparated it here? Aren't they originally from America?", her friend finished for her, disbelieving. The blonde shrugged.
"So? Weirder things have happened... Beasts are smuggled all the time, all over the world. Also, it must have been treated horribly to act the way it had." A pitying look crossed her face. Her friend snorted.
"It's a beast of category 4... It's always dangerous and deadly, Rumi."
"Still, normally it's nocturnal. It would never run around like that, bloodthirsty, crazy and attack completely out of its mind..." The brown haired girl shuddered again, she looked uncomfortable.
"What kind of person would do something horrible like this? Many students could have died. And for what? Just to break into an old, dusty office?" The blonde girl named Rumi nodded, a thoughtful look on her face.
"Thankfully nobody got hurt."
"Yeah... I heard, it took three teachers to kill it though. I also heard, a first year student almost got eaten." That was his cue to leave. Shinichi stood up abruptly and went to class. The conversation played in his mind repeatedly the whole day though.
He even discussed the topic with Heiji in the evening, while they played a round of wizard‘s chess in the library.
"I agree with you, Kudō. I really do. But we are only first years, you know? What can we do about it? Try and give it a rest...", his best friend said placatory. Shinichi huffed and still couldn‘t stop thinking about it, when he already laid in bed later that night.
He stared moodily into the darkness, his hands behind his head. One day, he thought, one day, I will get to the bottom of this. It took some time to forget about his theories, but eventually, he did and the year went on without another incident.