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The Fox Hole 42
🕑 Added 2025-01-11 05:07:34 +0000 UTCChapter 42:
– McGonagall –
Managing all of Hogwarts was, honestly, not as difficult as Headmaster Dumbledore had always made it out to be. Minerva McGonagall had realized, a few days into her new role, that she had already been handling the majority of his responsibilities anyway. Between her duties as the head of Gryffindor and as a teacher, she had essentially been keeping the school running for years.
Since becoming headmistress, McGonagall had passed her head of house position to Professor Babbling. While she still taught Transfiguration full-time, she had already begun searching for someone to take over the subject. Balancing her new role and teaching was manageable for now, but it wouldn’t be sustainable long-term.
She was in the middle of organizing her new office, carefully packing away the assortment of strange and occasionally dangerous artifacts that Albus had carelessly left lying around, when the door was thrown open without so much as a knock. She sighed as she turned to face the intruder. Of course, it was Severus Snape.
Brilliant potions master, yes. Terrible teacher? Absolutely.
She had been quietly searching for his replacement as well, though finding someone suitable would be a challenge given the damage he had done to multiple generations of Hogwarts students with his… unique teaching style.
Severus, as expected, had a scowl etched across his face.
"Did you need something?" McGonagall asked him.
"It’s Potter!" he spat, as though saying the name physically pained him. "He hasn’t shown up for any of his classes."
"We’ve been over this, Severus. As a Triwizard Champion, Mr. Potter is not required to attend his classes if he doesn’t wish to. He has his own private tutor… even if she is of the undead variety." McGonagall didn’t dislike vampires outright, but she certainly didn’t trust them either.
Severus smirked in that infuriating way he always did when he thought he had the upper hand. "Potter might be able to skip my classes, but his little girlfriend isn’t allowed to! She hasn’t been showing up either. They’re probably shacked up in some broom closet together, and nine months from now, we’ll be stuck with their little mistake."
McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Ms. Granger is responsible enough to be on the potion," she said, though inwardly she couldn’t help but feel a flicker of concern. Did she think the two were a bit young to be engaging in those kinds of activities? Absolutely. But then again, Hogwarts was a boarding school with little entertainment and even less supervision if she was being honest with herself.
"I’ll take care of it," she told him.
Severus scoffed, his robes billowing dramatically as he turned and stormed out of her office. McGonagall waited until the door slammed shut behind him before letting out a tired sigh. "When was the last time any of the castle’s paintings saw Mr. Potter or Ms. Granger?" she asked one of the nearby moving portraits that as it turned out were basically a secret way for the headmaster to spy on the students and teachers...
– Haru –
This was horrible!
Tears streamed down my face...
I didn't know if I'd ever emotionally recover from this!
I faced off against one of the fiercest ingredients a chef with super senses, like enhanced smell, could deal with: onions!
"Are you okay, nii-chan?" Kunou asked, holding her nose from halfway across the restaurant. "Those onions stink really bad!"
Little Sora growled from between Kunou’s legs. Dogs naturally didn’t like onions since they were toxic to them.
I blew my nose away from the food prep area before promptly incinerating the rag with a flick of my finger. "I’m fine, Kunou-chan," I said, waving her off with a forced smile.
"Do you want me to take over the chopping, Lord Haru?" Enri asked, concern clear in her voice as she stepped closer.
"No. Make him do it himself. This is fun to watch," Alice said, smirking while recording me on her phone. "The other girls are definitely going to get a kick out of this."
I inhaled deeply, fighting back another wave of sniffles, and finished chopping the last onion. Some sacrifices were necessary when preparing something as deadly as French onion soup.
The door to the Fox Hole opened, and I turned to see Harry’s teacher, Professor McGonagall, walking in with a stern look. She glanced around the mostly empty restaurant, her confusion evident, before making her way to the counter.
"Hi there!" Kunou called out, still pinching her nose.
"Hello again, little one," McGonagall replied with a faint smile before addressing the rest of us. "Have you seen either of my students here today?"
"Nuh uh," Kunou said, shaking her head.
McGonagall frowned slightly and turned her attention to me. "Harry and Hermione?" she asked.
I finished rinsing my hands in the sink and wiped them dry. "I haven’t seen them recently either," I said.
She explained that the portraits—whatever those were—had spotted Harry and Hermione heading toward Hogsmeade. She added that several villagers mentioned seeing the two headed toward the Fox Hole yesterday.
"That’s weird," I told her. "They definitely didn’t come in here. It’s possible they just wanted to head to Skyrim to see Serana and used the back doors without wanting to bother anyone."
The back doors of the restaurant also connected to other worlds and were mostly used by the yokai who worked for my mother, Yasaka. They preferred those entrances to avoid disturbing customers, and the doors were larger, which made them ideal for transporting cargo across dimensions.
I glanced over at the stove and turned the soup down to a low simmer. It would take a couple of hours to finish cooking, and I knew Enri would keep an eye on it. "I’ll go ahead and look for them in Skyrim," I told McGonagall.
"Thank you, Haru," she replied. "And remind Hermione that she’s still a student. Unlike Harry, she isn’t supposed to be skipping her lessons!"
“You seem a bit stressed out,” I chuckled. “Do you want some scotch before you head back to school?”
“Damn right I do!”
…
The doors to Jorrvaskr were thrown open wide, the loud creak of wood on hinges echoing through the hall. All the fierce warriors inside looked up from their meals and conversations.
Standing in the doorway, Kunou dramatically posed with her tiny fists on her hips.
"The mighty Kunou-chan is here with her fierce wolf, Sora!" she declared, her voice carrying through the room. She jumped onto one of the tables, drawing even more attention as she held up her little puppy for all to see.
Sora growled softly, more out of confusion than anything else, his tiny tail wagging behind him.
The room erupted into laughter and cheers, the tension breaking instantly.
"That is quite the fierce beast," Farkas said teasingly as he reached out and gently booped Sora on the nose. The pup sneezed in response, which earned another round of laughter from the assembled warriors. Farkas looked back at us. "Are you two here for Aela or Agnar?"
Kunou hopped down from the table while I stepped further into the hall. "We were mostly stopping by to look for Serana and her apprentices," I explained, glancing around.
Farkas scratched his chin before nodding. "Pretty sure Serana went out with Aela and Agnar this morning. They’re dealing with a newly discovered Silver Hand base. Her apprentices weren't with them. I don't remember seeing them either."
He turned to the rest of the companions and they all shook their heads as well.
Hearing that, I frowned. So Harry and Hermione weren’t in Skyrim either. Where the hell were they? The thought crossed my mind that they might have been abducted on the way to the Fox Hole, but that felt unlikely. Still, the uneasy feeling in my chest wouldn’t go away.
"Meh, I’m probably just being paranoid," I muttered to myself. Maybe they decided to go on a date to another world or something and didn’t bother to tell anyone. For all I knew, they were running around the Citadel or something.
This elevator is really freaking slow," I muttered to myself as I leaned against the wall, tapping my foot impatiently. I had been riding it for almost a full minute before it finally reached the top of the Citadel Tower.
This was the last place connected to my restaurant that I had to check for Harry and Hermione. My tails swayed nervously behind me as I considered the situation. At this point, I was starting to get the feeling that the two teenagers weren’t just running around somewhere on a date.
I had even gone out to Hogsmeade and personally tracked down their scents. It was as if the two of them had stopped right outside my doors and then vanished without a trace. Of course, it wasn’t like the Fox Hole or Hogsmeade had any security cameras to help me out, either.
The elevator doors finally slid open, revealing the bustling top floor of the council government. Alien politicians and members of the C-Sec space police turned to stare at me as I strolled through the area. I ignored the looks and kept my head held high, walking like I absolutely belonged there. Confidence was the key to bullshitting your way through most situations.
I strutted up the stairs, my eyes landing on Councilor Tevos, who was standing with two other councilors. They appeared to be listening to two different asari who were loudly arguing with each other.
"No! She’s in violation of the contract, and those eezo mining rights should be forfeit and revert back to us!"
"That’s not true! We paid everything in the contract. It’s not my fault your faulty systems couldn’t keep track of the credits!"
"You lying bitch! You never paid us at all!"
All three council members looked visibly irritated as they listened to the two beautiful but clearly exasperating blue women arguing about contracts and space mining. However, their attention quickly shifted when they spotted me approaching.
"Ha—Haru! What are you doing here!?" Tevos stammered, clearly surprised.
"Harry and Hermione are missing," I said bluntly. "I wanted to check the cameras on the Citadel to see if they came here by themselves."
The turian councilor crossed his arms and shot me a sharp look. "If your friends are missing, then you should have gone to C-Sec! Do you even know where you are? This is the heart of the entire galaxy! We’re currently handling a very delicate matter."
"You looked like you were about to fall asleep, though," I pointed out casually.
The turian sputtered indignantly, but before he could respond, the salarian councilor spoke up. "He is not wrong. Based on my observations, you were approximately 36 galactic seconds from nodding off."
One of the arguing asari strutted over to me with a confident smile. "Hello there, handsome! I’ve seen pictures of you on the net and didn’t believe you were real until now. I thought male humans were attractive, but you blow them out of the water! I’d love to get to know you better later, but I’m in the middle of something important. That con artist over there purchased an asteroid full of eezo from my company and then welched out on the credits!"
The other asari scoffed. "That’s a lie! You just lost track of the payment. That’s not my problem!"
I sighed and walked over to a nearby pot filled with strange purple alien plants. I waved my hand over the pot, and the plant burst into blue flames, causing everyone nearby to jump. Several security guards reached for their weapons, but Tevos quickly commanded them to stand down.
"Relax," I said, demonstrating by placing my hand over the flames. "They’re perfectly safe—unless you’re lying. This is a basic spell. If you place your hand over the flames and tell a lie, you’ll get burned."
I placed the burning pot on the floor. Tevos and the other two councilors watched it with fascination. The salarian in particular looked like he wanted to grab it and study it right then and there.
"Place your hands over the fire, girls," Tevos ordered the two asari.
The one who had been flirting with me stepped forward without hesitation. As promised, she wasn’t burned when she stated that she was telling the truth. The other asari, however, suddenly looked very nervous. She turned and tried to make a run for it but didn’t get far before security guards tackled her to the ground.
"How long will that pot burn?" the salarian asked, his curiosity plain.
"A couple of months," I told him. "But if you’re interested, I can get you a more permanent magical lie detector. It saves everyone a lot of time in the supernatural world when people can’t blatantly lie."
"Fascinating!"
"Although," I added with a small grin, "it does make some people very good at wording things carefully. That’s why you have to be extra cautious when making deals with yokai and devils."
The salarian nodded quickly, already pulling out a datapad to take notes. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his enthusiasm.
Tevos led me into her private office after the whole scene outside. She gestured for me to take a seat, which I did, while she sat behind her high tech desk.
"Thanks for almost causing a bunch of simultaneous diplomatic incidents, Haru," she said, though there was a slight smile tugging at her lips. "How did you even get to the top floor of the Citadel Tower?"
I shrugged. "I just rode the elevator up."
Tevos blinked at me, clearly caught off guard. "And no one stopped you?"
"Nope," I said simply.
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Huh… that sounds like a major security risk. I’ll put your name and face in the system so you can’t be bothered next time—or so you can’t wander around unchecked. Not that you were really bothered this time," she muttered, shaking her head.
"Works for me," I replied, leaning back slightly in the chair.
With that out of the way, Tevos turned her attention to the monitors on her desk. She pulled up the security footage from around my restaurant for the past two days. I leaned forward, watching intently as the various camera feeds cycled through.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of Harry or Hermione on the Citadel at all. They hadn’t come through here, not even briefly.
I felt my stomach sink. That made it official—they were missing. Something had happened to them.
"Do you want me to assign some C-Sec specialists to help you find them?" Tevos offered.
I shook my head. "No… I have someone else I’ll ask." I stood up, brushing off my tails. "Thanks for your help, though."
Tevos nodded, standing as well. "If you need anything, let me know."
I gave her a small smile. "Actually, I’m making a big pot of French onion soup back at my restaurant. You should stop by later."
Her expression softened slightly, and she chuckled. "I’ll be sure to do that, Haru. Take care."
…
Knowing I was out of options, I slumped into an empty booth, my mind racing as I tried to think of what else I could do. The others in the restaurant watched me in concern.
"Couldn’t find them?" Kunou asked.
"Nope," I admitted, shaking my head. "I’m going to have to ask the goddess if she knows anything."
Honestly, I probably could’ve asked her earlier, but I hadn’t wanted to bother her when I’d thought Harry and Hermione were just out on a date. But now, with no trace of them anywhere, I didn’t have much choice.
As expected, a couple of seconds after I said that out loud, a scroll appeared on the table in front of me. I opened it quickly, reading the single sentence:
“I don’t know where they are…”
My ears drooped as disappointment settled over me. But then, another scroll landed in front of me. I opened it immediately, my heart racing when I read its contents:
“But I can find them… if I show up in person to check.”
My eyes widened, and I could feel my heart thumping nervously in my chest. I was really going to meet the goddess who made all of this possible? After all this time? My tails swished slightly as excitement mixed with a twinge of anxiety.
I told the others, and their reactions were mixed. Kunou, of course, was bouncing in place. "I get to meet another nee-chan!? I hope she’s super pretty!"
Alice raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued, while Enri simply nodded, though I could tell she was a little nervous.
We all waited, the anticipation building. I kept expecting someone to walk through the front door at any second, but after a full minute passed, I couldn’t help but ask out loud, "What’s taking so long?"
A third scroll popped up.
“I’m sorry… I’m too nervous to show up in front of you now! Can you go into the back room?”
I sputtered a little. "Really??"
A fourth scroll landed in front of me.
“Yes…”
"Do the others have to leave too?" I asked.
A sixth scroll appeared.
“No… just you.”
I let out a small huff of disappointment but decided not to complain. This was the goddess who’d done so much for me and everyone connected to the Fox Hole.
"Tell me what you think of her," I said to Kunou, Enri, and Alice before standing up.
Kunou grinned mischievously. "Awww… this is so romantic!" she teased. "Don’t worry, nii-chan. I WON’T tell you anything!"
I rolled my eyes and made my way to the back room. As soon as I stepped inside, I heard the door to the main room open.
"Wow, goddess nee-chan! You’re so pretty!" Kunou declared loudly.
That was all I managed to hear before a spell of some kind washed over the restaurant. All noises and smells from the main room were suddenly muted. I sighed, realizing just how shy she must be if she was going to this extent. I took a seat in a nearby chair and decided to wait. It took about five minutes before the spell finally lifted. I got up and walked back into the main room, my curiosity practically eating away at me.
Kunou was sitting at the counter, grinning smugly. "I got to see her before you did!" she said proudly.
"What was she like?" I asked, trying not to sound too eager.
"Not telling!" Kunou sang, clearly enjoying this way too much.
I turned to Enri and Alice next. "Well?"
Enri shook her head slightly. "I apologize, Lord Haru, but I promised not to say anything..."
Alice leaned back against the counter, smirking. "I didn’t promise anything myself, but… she doesn’t seem like the kind of person I want to piss off. Her presence felt… big. Like I was tiny compared to her. I'd much rather go up against an army of zombies any day."
That didn’t tell me much of anything. I already knew she was incredibly powerful. "You’ve got nothing else?" I asked, feeling a bit exasperated.
Alice smirked again. "I did get one thing. She asked me if you were fine with her not having red hair? Apparently, she was originally born with red hair but doesn’t have it anymore... Due to reasons."
"It didn’t matter! It was still a very pretty color!" Kunou pouted, clearly offended on the goddess’s behalf.
I felt my face heat up a little but chuckled to cover it. "While it’s true that I do have a slight… very slight… preference for girls with red hair, I wouldn’t hold it against the goddess who’s done so much for all of us. I’m sure she’s incredibly beautiful, and I can’t wait to meet her when she’s ready."
As if on cue, a final scroll fell in front of me. I caught it before it hit the ground and opened it.
“Thank you, Haru… Your friends ended up in a new world somehow, although I’m not quite sure of the exact location. I’ve connected your restaurant to that world, and you’ll have to search on your own from there.”
With some time left before the soup was done, I figured I’d step out and check out this new world real quick. Leaving the others in charge of the restaurant, I walked out the front door and took a look around. We’d landed right in the middle of a mountain range. Jagged peaks stretched in every direction. I sniffed the air, trying to pick up any hint of humans, but didn’t find any nearby.
What I did smell, however, made the fur on my tails stand up! There was something else nearby. Something powerful.
My gaze instinctively shot upward!
Hovering a few hundred meters in the air was a massive dragon with black and blue scales. The magical energy radiating from it was massive. This thing was easily in the Ultimate Class!
Its large eyes locked onto me. For a moment, neither of us moved.
…Then, the dragon opened its massive jaws and let out a thunderous roar that echoed through the mountain range!
"Well, shit..." I muttered.
XXX
Comments
Ricardo Torres II
It ranni the witch
Aeden Emrys
Thanks for the chapter. Looking forward to reading much more.
WhatAFungi
YOU TEASE!!!
High Simp of Mephala
Most likely the second one, in terms of raw power Acnologia is probably a bit weaker than Haru, but they are pretty much immune to all magic and durable enough to tank most other things as well. And that’s only at this point in Fairy Tail Canon, later on they get even stronger.
Ototsu_Yume
Can't wait to see Haru either give Acnologia a spanking or invite the guy in for a snack. xD Thanks for the chapter.
General Stupidity
StarWaves, you salty wench! A cliffhanger, right at the good part!
