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Chapter Text

The entire great hall was buzzing with excitement. Tonight was the night that the champions for the Triwizard were going to be chosen.

Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. In doing so had redirected most of the attention to him. "Alright students, it's time to choose our three champions!" He declared.

The statement only had everyone clinging more desperately to the edge of their seats. Suddenly the goblet of fire roared to life as the flame turned bright blue before spitting out a piece of slightly singed frilly paper.

"The Beauxbaton champion is- Fleur Delacour!" He announced. Immediately loud cheers sounded from the Ravenclaw table where most of the french school was situated.

Once the cheers died down again, the goblet spit out another bit of paper, this one thicker than the usual piece of parchment.

"The Durmstrang champion is- Victor Krum!" The headmaster announced. Once again, the school in question cheered for their champion only this time most were sat with the Slytherins.

Then, after it was quiet again, the goblet lit up for what everyone expected to be the last time.

"The Hogwarts Champion is- Cedric Digory!" Dumbledore bellowed. This time the cheers were louder than before with most of the people in the room verbally displaying their excitement. Dumbledore himself had given the boy a warm smile too.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the Triwizard cup!" He said as a staff member unveiled the coveted cup while the audience continued to cheer with restored vim and vigor.

But before any more could happen, the cup started to light up once more, destroying the light atmosphere of the room. Everyone watched as Dumbledore cautiously inched closer to the cup. Suddenly it spewed a fourth name. Dumbledore plucked the paper from the air and examined it.

"Harry Potter?" The headmaster said quietly. The name shocked everyone.

"I-it can't be," Minerva said softly. Even though it was only slightly louder than a whisper, it rang through the hall like a gong.

Then, before anyone could speak, in a flash of blue fire, a disoriented white hair boy in a bloody and torn, black, skin-tight suit that had clearly seen better days was spat out on the ground directly next to the cup. He was initially standing precariously, eyes wide in shock. Unfortunately, only moments later, when he tried to speak, he ended up coughing up blood before toppling backward, leaving him sprawled out on the ground unconscious.

Dumbledore stood in shock for a second as his brain processed everything and then he realized a child was lying on the ground, most likely severely injured.

"Severus fetch Poppy now! Children clear a path," He demanded as he rushed forward and checked for a pulse. He felt the gentle thumping of blood being pumped through the boy's veins and sighed in relief as he realized that the boy was still alive. He didn't know much about healing, but he looked over the boy's body for any wounds only to find that there was nothing obvious. He moved the boy's bangs out of the way to check for a temperature only to be met with a small yet iconic lightning bolt scar. Dear Merlin!

Just then, Poppy burst into the room with a muggle stretcher (Because floating the body a lot could aggravate injuries and it was better to float the stretcher instead. Especially if you didn't know the extent of the damage.) with Severus following behind her. Her stride was full of purpose as she laid the stretcher down and pulled out her wand.

"Do you know who he is?" She asked as she used her magic to move Harry onto the stretcher.

"It's Harry," Dumbledore admitted. At the news, the children devolved into whispers as the Hogwarts rumor mill started turning. Poppy nearly lost her grip on the spell she was using to float the stretcher.

"So it is," she said as She flipped Harry's bangs out of the way and saw the unmistakable scar on his forehead.

"H-Harry!" Hermione yelled as she ran up to the stretcher with Ron hot on her trail.

They rushed quickly to the hospital wing, at which point Madam Pomfrey forced everyone outside as she set to work healing Harry.

Forty minutes later, Madam Pomfrey stepped out of the room.

"You can come in now as long as you're quiet. I've treated his wounds and given him some potions. He didn't have anything life-threatening, but he needs rest," her tone was worried as she spoke but most wrote it off as her usual overprotectiveness of her patients.

"How did he get so injured?" Hermione pondered aloud.

"I can't tell, either he was attacked by multiple things or whatever attacked him was irregularly shaped. There are blunt force trauma injuries but also knife-like wounds and even within those two categories, there's a lot of variation." Madam Pomfrey explained.

"Where could he have been?" Ron asked.

"We'll have to wait for him to wake up to know," Dumbledore answered.

They sat in silence for a moment before Madam Pomfrey cautiously spoke up again. "I-I'm not sure why he was covered in so much blood. He would've had to be bleeding out for a while and his wounds weren't that bad. There wasn't even a wound where most of the blood was so either, I missed something, or it's not all his," She admitted.

"Oh, lord! You don't think he could've done something, do you?!" Ron asked in shock. The word murder went unsaid but everyone understood what Ron was trying to say.

"Calm down Ron. I'm sure it wasn't anything like that. We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Harry will explain everything when he wakes up," Hermione explained rationally. Even still, she'd be lying if she said that her mind didn't wander to that scenario a few times despite how unlikely it was.

"Alright, say your goodbyes. You can visit him in the morning but for now, go to bed, it's late," she insisted.

As everyone left the room, Hermione looked back at Harry. Thousands of questions whirled through her head before she turned to face the hallway outside again. It wouldn't do to ponder them, they all needed some sleep.

"Good night Harry," she whispered as she left the room.

Chapter Text

As Kaneki started to wake up the first thing he noticed was how warm and comfortable he felt, it was a far cry from the coldness of abandoned building he'd grown so used to. As his eyes flickered open he realized that the room he was in was white, too white to have been one of Tsukiyama's properties. Then it hit him, the smell of antiseptic, and everything just clicked.

He was in a hospital. But why?

He tried to remember but immediately regretted it, not because he couldn't remember it but because it all came back far too quickly.

The raid, the fight with Amon, and- Oh god no!- Hide!

For a moment he tried to deny it, tried to convince himself it wasn't real, it almost worked, at least until it didn't.

With sickening clarity, he remembered the distinct sweetness of Hide's flesh, and then he realized that the flavor was still in his mouth.

Pain and sorrow pooled in his chest. Despite how hard he fought to keep his walls up he couldn't stop the agonizing sobs that escaped his lips.

He'd done wrong not only by Hide but by Anteiku, by his family! He'd fucked up and chosen to run away to try and protect them but underestimated how persistently they would look for him. He'd run, and because of that, he'd lost everything. He'd eaten his sun, his better half, his tie to humanity and now he was alone.

God it's dark, too dark, I'm drowning in it he realized as he clutched his face in his hands. Then the fight with Arima came back.

Was he dead? Was this his personal hell (because he'd fallen from heaven's favor the moment he'd first tasted flesh)? It would make sense, Kaneki had developed an aversion to hospitals after Kanou.

Kaneki let out a bitter laugh, funny that the place he'd woken up when he was dead was the same place he'd woken up after his "rebirth" so to speak. It was almost poetic, a sign that that day at the hospital had been the beginning of the end. He laughed again but this time it was a bit more genuine. You could take him away from literature but you couldn't take literature away from him. He still thought about life like he was analyzing a book.

It was a bit strange though, why wasn't he in the original hospital room where it all happened if this was meant to torture him? Was he still alive? No, In that case, he'd probably be with the CCG and this was far too cushy to be part of the CCG (or at least any part of the CCG a ghoul was allowed in). Besides, why would they treat him? They'd probably just shove some meat in his mouth and leave him in a cell somewhere, not bandage him up and leave him somewhere so unrestrained.

Despite not recognizing the room it felt familiar. It felt like somewhere he'd been before; somewhere warm, familiar, and safe.

Was it an underground ghoul hospital? No, once again, far too nice for that. Did Tsukiyama have an infirmary in one of his estates? He couldn't remember.

Infirmary seemed like the best way to describe it. It wasn't fancy enough to be a hospital and with the way the beds were sectioned off with cloth curtains it really did feel like something from a school, or at least it would've if the architecture didn't seem so medieval and European.

The more he looked around the stranger things seemed to get. Off to his left, there was a shelf full of potion bottles. It was odd how much they tried to push the fantasy aesthetic. It almost felt like a movie set with how magical everything loo- oh. It looked magical because it was magical! He was in Hogwarts! But why? Hogwarts had always been his second home, it rivaled even Anteiku in the sheer amount of good memories he had there! If magic was involved then could he still be alive? Could he have apparated here with accidental magic? He couldn't be sure.

Looking around a bit more, he saw a glass of water on the table beside him. It was odd he didn't realize it until he thought about it but he was really thirsty. He picked up the glass and found himself greedily downing the entire bottle.

Did people get thirsty in the afterlife? Ok so the signs were leaning closer to him being alive, that wasn't good! That would mean that he was going to have to contaminate his fantasy world with his monstrous body. No, he didn't want to do that! He carefully got up and walked over to the window. He could get down from the tower relatively easily with a little help from his Kagune.

As he went to open the window though, the door to the hospital wing opened. "Oh you're awake! Those potions worked faster than I- Oh good heavens you shouldn't be standing yet! Sit back down ." Madam Pomfrey said finally processing that the boy was standing.

"A-am I alive?!" He asked. Madam Pomfrey's heart broke a little at the genuine surprise that colored his voice. He'd really accepted and even expected, death.

"Yes, you're alive, and inside Hogwarts." She confirmed as she guided him back to his bed.

"But how did I get here?" He asked, still trying piece everything together.

"I'm honestly not quite sure, I wasn't in the room when it happened. Dumbledore should be able to explain it to you later though, he'll be here around 7 in the morning." She told him.

"What time is it now then?" He questioned with a slight pout.

"Around 5, Harry," She said while getting out a spoon of pepper-up potion.

"Harry? How did you recognize me? I imagine I look quite different." He asked.

"Scar dear," she supplied with a small smile.

Harry made an "O" with his mouth in understanding."It's strange having people call me that. I haven't gone by Harry Potter in years." He muttered.

Madam Pomfrey couldn't help it. Normally she'd be adamant about not questioning a patient who'd just woken up so quickly but her curiosity got the better of her. "Really? What did they call you then?" She probed as he handed him the spoon

"Ken Kaneki, though back in Japan it would be Kaneki Ken." He said before drinking the potion.

Really if his mind hadn't been clouded by sleep and potions he would've been more careful about what he revealed but as his (terrible) luck would have it there wasn't much of a filter on his mouth at the moment. Thankfully the pepper up potion got rid of most of his grogginess, but by the time the potion kicked in though he'd already given up enough information that anyone could probably do a background check on him.

…...

Madam Pomfrey was intrigued. Mahoutokoro was the smallest of the eleven great wizarding schools and tended to be a lot more secretive. It was supremely difficult to track down japan's magical community if you didn't know what you were looking for. Japan had some dark, well she wouldn't really call them secrets, people higher up in the British Ministry of Magic obviously knew about whatever was happening in Japan (some of the ones she was closer too had told her as much), they just didn't like to talk about it.

Despite her growing interest though, she decided it would be best to leave him to rest. "I'll leave you alone till Dumbledore shows up then," She said as she turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait," Kaneki called suddenly remembering something.

"Hmm? What is it dear?" she asked turning to look at the boy.

"Could I get a few books?" He asked sheepishly.

"Of course. I wasn't aware that your opinion on books had changed. Just tell me what you want and I'll go fetch them," She said a bit surprised. Back in first year he'd been known not to enjoy reading so she hadn't asked. Then again it seemed a lot had changed about the boy from the first time he walked in these halls. This was likely only the first of his differences, after all, a lot could change in three years she rationalized.

"Does the library carry muggle books?" He inquired.

"Yes it does," She answered with a smile.

"Perfect, could you get Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Dear Kafka by Sen Takatsuki, and-"

He paused debating the addition of the last book. The book had been one of his favorites only a few years ago but now it hit too close to home.

In the end, he decided to add it to his request despite not being sure if he'd actually be able to read it.

"-and Black Goat's Egg also by Sen Takatsuki," He asked

"Sure" Madam Pomfrey respond with a nod "I'll be back with them soon" she assured as she closed the door behind her.

As Kaneki settled back into his bed he sighed. This entire ordeal was looking like it was going to be complicated. He was going to have to put what he learned at Anteiku to good use he thought while trying to ignore the queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach at the memory of Anteiku up in flames.

Kaneki waited anxiously for his books to arrive. His mind was a place he didn't like to venture, so until then he was content to try and memorize the beautiful Scottish highlands outside.

Chapter Text

When Hermione walked into the hospital wing she was met with Harry sitting on his bed reading. Now this by itself wouldn't really be anything remarkable, no, what caught her off guard was how for a split second the entire scene looked like a painting.

The room was gently lit by the sunrise, the misty morning breeze tousling Harry's soft, white hair. Harry himself looked positively ethereal as he read his book, embodying a soft, delicate grace, but what added a layer of mystery to everything was the thick melancholy he was extruding.

Mind you, it wasn't like he was frowning or anything, in fact, a faint smile graced his face. Despite that though an air of elegant tragedy clung to him like a heavy smog. She tried to speak only to find her voice caught in her throat. Thankfully the sound of the door opening had been enough to get Harry's attention.

"Oh! Hermione?" Harry questioned. He hadn't seen his friends in so long that he wasn't quite sure what they looked like anymore. From the bushy brown hair though it wasn't too hard to take a guess.

The words caused Hermione to unfreeze and suddenly she processed the fact that she was standing in front of someone she thought she'd lost forever.

"Harry, is it really you?" she asked. The idea that he was here, in front of her, and not six feet under seemed too good to be true.

Kaneki couldn't get over the way his skin crawled when people called him Harry but he chose not to comment on it.

"Yeah, it is," he said with a soft smile.

"Merlin! I still can't believe it. I'm so glad you're back" Hermione said as she walked toward the bed.

"Yeah 'mione, I still can't believe I'm back," he admitted with a soft chuckle.

"Oh Harry! I have so much to tell you! I don't even know where to start!" She said as she transfigured an armchair out of a peach. The chair was still the same color as the peach which actually made it look cooler since the chair had a gradient from pink at the top to white at the bottom.

Harry chuckled "It seems no matter what's changed you're still great at magic," He remarked.

Hermione lightly blushed before she cleared her throat and tried to change the subject. "Anyway, what book are you reading?" She asked, unsure how to respond to the compliment.

"Ah this? It's one of my favorites, The Black Goat's Egg by Sen Takatsuki" He replied. He had managed to push all the pain associated with the book and read it after all.

"Oh! I've heard of her! Some of the muggle-born Ravenclaws have been talking about its recent English translation, I haven't gotten around to reading it though. What's it about?" Hermione said.

"The story centers around the relationship between a young man and his mother who's a brutal serial killer known as the "Black Goat". Though he is disgusted by his mother's cruel actions, he begins to discover the same depraved impulses exist within him as well. The writing is beautiful, and with how the book reads I wouldn't be surprised if Takatsuki-san actually lived the story. As for the English translation, honestly, I have to say I prefer the Japanese version, though I'm probably biased. I just felt like the English version lost some of the best quotes in translation," Harry said, jumping at the chance to gush over his favorite book.

"It sounds pretty goo-," Hermione started only to be cut off by the sound of the door opening.

…...

It was an understatement to say Ron was nervous. His best mate had come back from the dead, half-dead. He'd just disappeared off the face of the Earth sometime in the middle of summer and while he desperately wanted them to get along the way they had in first year he was terrified that maybe they'd changed too much to be friends.

He took a deep breath and carefully gathered his emotions before he pushed the door to the hospital ward open. His eyes were immediately met with two faces, the first one was Hermione's but the second one-. Even though he knew it was Harry he was caught off guard by how different he looked.

His cheeks were rounder, and his skin and hair were unnaturally pale. The bandages that wrapped around his torso almost blended in perfectly with his skin and his usual vivid green eyes were somehow a calm gray. Glass, he realized, he looked like glass.

It was Harry's laugh that broke him out of his musings. It wasn't a scathing laugh, quite the contrary. It was a warm, playful sound.

"Glass huh? That's a first," Harry said. It was the last thing most would've called the infamous Mukade (centipede) and he absolutely loved it.

Ron turned redder than his hair. Shit, he said that out loud!

"S-sorry" Ron stuttered out.

"No no! it's fine. How have things here been?" he said, gesturing for him to sit at the foot of the bed.

"Things were just as chaotic after you left," Ron said

"Yeah" Hermione seconded.

The pair then started informing Harry of their escapades from second year to the summer

before fourth year.

…...

"You got turned to stone!?" Harry asked Hermione worriedly.

"yeah," Hermione said through a wince. Ok so maybe she should have been more careful.

"And you were targeted by someone you thought was a serial killer and you didn't tell anyone!?" Harry asked Ron next to hysterically.

"Well uh- yeah ok in hindsight that was a bad idea," Ron admitted.

Harry's brows furrowed in a way that clearly expressed his displeasure. He would protect them, make sure he wouldn't lose them like he lost his sun.

They'd fallen into small talk at this point, obviously trying to avoid the elephant in the room when the door opened again. This time it opened to reveal Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore.

Chapter Text

"Hello Harry, I imagine you have as many questions as we do. Shall we get started then?," Dumbledore said as he conjured himself a chair.

"Straight to the point I see, professor. But yes, I think we can all agree that answers would be nice," Harry said.

"Alright then, we'll explain why you're here first unless anyone disagrees." when no one objected Dumbledore continued."This year we decided to resurrect an old tradition where schools compete against each other called the Triwizard tournament. The competitors for each school are chosen by the Goblet of Fire. It seems someone messed with the spell work of the goblet and made it think we had 4 schools in the tournament and then put just your name under the school. They really wanted to make sure you were entered in this tournament so it wasn't just a prank or a dare-gone-wrong. We're still not sure who did it though and the investigation isn't looking too promising, unfortunately." Dumbledore explained.

"Can't I just forfeit?" Harry asked.

"No. You see, the Goblet is a magically binding contract. If you forfeit you'll have your magic taken away." He told Harry.

Kaneki wasn't really using his magic anymore and for a moment he considered dropping out anyway. At least until he remembered something he came across when researching about his new ghoul body, his kagune was partly magical.

Ghouls were actually classified as magical creatures. Even though they didn't have enough magic to be wizards their bodies did need a little magic to function. If he lost his magic it was very possible that any of the organs he got from Rize would shut down. He'd die from organ failure. Losing his magic wasn't a viable option.

Harry sighed "What are the rules?" He asked.

" Well, normally you'd have to take part in three different trials. The person who wins gets money and the Triwizard cup. Since we have four champions though we'll also be having four trials." Dumbledore explained.

"Wait am I supposed to attend classes again because I don't have any of my things. My wand and clothes are all still in Japan. I'm fairly certain that my friends are freaking out about the fact that I'm missing," Harry worried.

"I can take you there l some time after dinner tonight," Mcgonagall offered.

"Wait how did he end up here though?" Ron asked.

"Ah, the cup used some of its own magic to bring you here, now then if there are no more questions on your end may we have some answers?" Dumbledore said.

"Alright," Harry said confidently while internally panicking. He didn't know if they knew about ghouls but he wasn't going to tell them that he was a cannibal. Let it be known that he could act but he was a terrible liar.

"So why did you suddenly disappear and where were you?" Hermione asked immediately. She and Ron had been trying not to interrogate him at Madam Pomfrey's request but now they had a lot of questions that they desperately wanted answers to.

He decided that he'd probably do something to give himself away if he lied about where he was. He took a deep breath ad started.

"I was in Japan. I'm fairly certain I got there because of accidental magic. One moment I was in Surrey and the next moment I was in Tokyo. A woman took me in. I don't think she ever actually legally adopted me but she gave me a roof, clothes, food and education. For all intents and purposes, she became my mother and I her son. I never actually told her I was magical though and we were pressed for money. I couldn't ask her to buy me something as expensive as a plane ticket to Europe when she was doing her best to make sure that I was well fed even if she wasn't, not after everything she did. Then a little over 8 months after I met her s-she-" Harry's voice cracked and he took a sharp breath in.

"-She passed away from overwork and I went to live with her sister. My aunt wasn't- she wasn't a nice person-, so I didn't talk to her much. I moved out of my aunt's house to the dorms at my school, and then I ended up here," he finished.

His hand hadn't moved to his chin at all during that explanation. He hadn't lied per se, but he had left quite a bit out of that explanation. He didn't touch the topic of ghouls with a ten-foot pole and Hide wasn't talked about at all because he was sure he would have a break down if he said anything about him.

"Why's your hair white mate?" Ron asked.

His hand unconsciously touched his chin "It's just dye" He said with a smile.

"Oh! That's so cool mate! My mum would never let me do that!" Ron said with a grin.

Snape decided to make himself known "Why were you injured and covered in blood ?" He drawled.

Harry flinched. He had to lie and he had to do it well. He made a conscious effort not to touch his chin and started

" I went on a date with a girl who turned out to be part of the Yakuza witch is basically the japanese mafia. I didn't know anything about it until she tried to kill me. During my attempt to try and get away a bunch of steel beams fell and killed her and when I woke up in the hospital I found out that they had illegally transplanted her organs inside me to save me. The thugs she was alined with saw me as her killer and it turns out the girl had enemies, enemies who saw me as an extension of her." He lied

"The blood Mr. Potter? Pray tell, did you kill someone?" Snape asked in his usual threatening manor.

"The-The blood was from H-hide," He said trying to keep his voice even. He didn't need to act, Hide loss was a wound that would never heal. "He was my best friend and-and they killed him." He let out a sob full of agony. "I-I tried to stop the blood but- god there was so much," He said through tears and a shaky voice.

Even Snape's eyes were softer after seeing the pathetic state the boy was in after explaining.

Ron and Hermione were horrified by what they heard but they couldn't deny the relief they felt from knowing that Harry hadn't killed someone.

…..

Madame Pomfrey had returned after hearing sobs. When she saw Kaneki's Tear stained face she felt her usual protective anger swell.

"Everyone out now! Ken needs his rest!" She demanded. Not noticing hoe the boy flinched at the name.

"Ken?" Ron asked. The question made her forget about her protectiveness for a second.

"Oh, didn't he tell you? His name was Ken Kaneki back in Japan." She explained to the now curious group.

"Oh! Well then, what would you like to be addressed as Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

The boy in question was planning to let them keep calling him Harry but now that they were asking he wasn't so sure anymore. He didn't like being called Harry. Kaneki and Harry were two different people, one ghoul, the other, human. Being called Harry made him feel like he was stealing someone else's identity, the identity of a dead child. It was irrational, but since when was insanity rational?

"Kaneki. Call me Kaneki. " He responded softly.

"Wait so is Ken your last name?" Hermione asked.

That comment made Ron confused. "What?" He asked.

"In Japan, people say their family name before their personal name. For example, I would be Granger Hermione and you would be Weasley Ron," she explained to Ron who oh-ed in understanding.

"No, Ken is my first name. Only a few people called me By it but it brings up a lot of bad memories. Please just call me Kaneki." He said.

Suddenly Madam Pomfrey realized Kaneki still needed rest and shooed the others out.

On his way out Ron grinned and waved at Kaneki "Bye mate!" was all he managed to say before Madam Pomfrey threw him out but it still made him smile as he refocused on his book.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Madam Pomfrey fussed.

Kaneki had gotten out of eating anything for lunch by sleeping through it and avoided dinner by telling Madam Pomfrey that he wanted to get food from a restaurant back in Japan instead.

"Yes, I don't mind waiting," Kaneki responded politely with a soft smile.

…...

Kaneki looked up at the sound of the door opening.

"Oh professor, are we leaving now?" He asked the woman who'd just walked in

"We'll leave as soon as you're out of your rags and in some muggle clothes," Professor McGonagall responded handing the boy a bag full of clothes.

Kaneki grabbed the bag and walked into the bathroom. While he was slipping off his torn spandex suit he heard something clatter against the ground. When he went to see what it was he realized it was his mask. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn't thought about it before, his mask was something precious to him and he didn't know what he would do if he lost it. Noticing it was still covered in blood he scooped it up in his hands and started washing it under the tap when he noticed that his zipper was stuck.

He sighed, it was probably a side effect of him having let the blood dry all day. He'd have to make a pit stop at Uta's shop before doing anything else so that Uta would enough time to fix it.

Kaneki opened his bag and pull out a pair of comfy white pants with black accents and a black hoodie with white accents. He didn't notice it until he went to put it on but when he did he blushed. The hoodie was cropped, the japanese text on the shirt translated to something embarrassingly suggestive, He gritted his teeth, cursed his shitty luck, and put it on anyway. He'd worn a spandex suit with two-thirds of the back cut out so a crop top really was an upgrade. Unfortunately realizing that, did nothing to abate the selfconciousness eating away at him.

He decided to check the pocket's of his suit just to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything and pulled out his wallet and eyepatch.

Kaneki stepped out of the bathroom cautiously. He registered Mcgonagall furrow her brow in disapproval towards his crop top. He heard her mutter "I'll never understand why muggle kids these days show so much skin." because of his ghoul hearing but was immensely relieved when she chose not to comment on anything.

Well until she did.

"Why are you wearing an eyepatch?" McGonagall asked curiously.

"Ah, I have psychosomatic blindness in my left eye. There's nothing wrong with it physically but my own mind keeps me from seeing through it," Kaneki "admitted" as his hand moved to his chin.

She nodded in acknowledgment but kept her face too calm for him to properly gauge how much she bought it.

"Shall we go?" She asked Kaneki.

The boy in question nodded, took her arm, and braced himself for the ride. Unfortunately, when he landed he still felt like his stomach had turned inside out.

He didn't register it but the moment he landed in Tokyo his body language changed. Whereas before it was elegant yet friendly like a domesticated cat, now it was on guard and skittish but not like someone just being hunted. No. It was closer to the feeling of an anxious tiger.

He knew he could take on most ghouls but since professor Mcgonagall was here not only did he have to protect her as well, but he had to do it without letting her know he was a ghoul.

McGonagall would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed the air around Kaneki change but she thought it was because of the fact that ganglords were hunting him. He was back on their turf after all and even though Kaneki hadn't mentioned it, it was likely that he'd probably acted self-defense.

They'd landed in an empty alley relatively close to the street. Walking out of the alley, Kaneki could immediately tell they were in Shinjuku or the 4th ward.

"So, what are you planning to do?" McGonagall asked.

"I'd like to let some people know that I'm ok and tie up some loose ends before I get by bags if that's ok with you," Kaneki asked

"That's fine. Where are we headed first?" She replied.

"A friend's shop," Kaneki explained.

They spoke amicably about the sights as they walked toward Uta's shop. Kaneki considered asking McGonagall to wait outside but quickly tossed out the idea. Most ghoul shops were surrounded by ghouls and he couldn't, wouldn't risk leaving a human unattended like that.

Pretty soon they arrived at a shop called HySy Artmask Studio. Kaneki pushed the door open to reveal a store that screamed punk. A man covered in tattoos stood behind the counter talking to another customer.

McGonagall didn't know how to feel about the shop. On one hand, she would've loved this stuff when she was younger, on the other hand, she didn't feel safe but she wasn't really sure why and it was ebbing away at her.

Kaneki walked up to the counter, set his mask down, and politely waited for Uta to finish up.

"Just a moment Kaneki, I'm going to finish up with them, and then I'll help you," Uta said as he walked over to the back of the shop.

"That's fine Uta-san," Kaneki said respectfully.

The other man glanced at him and turned ten shades lighter after noticing the mask on the counter.

"Papa! I'm so excited! When is he gonna make my mask!" a little girl said.

The man's face got even paler at the realization that the infamous centipede was aware that his daughter was in the room.

"N-not now Rin. Let's talk later ok?" He told the girl who looked about seven.

The girl, Rin, peaked around her father and started staring at him intensely prompting Kaneki to raise an eyebrow at her with a playful smile, something that probably caused her father a heart attack in hindsight.

"You look pretty!" she blurted out. If her poor father hadn't had a heart attack before he definitely had one now, though Kaneki hadn't noticed.

"Oh? Thank you but I'd prefer handsome," He said with a smile. The girl still had that refreshing childlike wonder that ghouls tended to lose early on and Kaneki found out himself unconsciously relaxing.

"My name is Rin, what's your's?" She asked.

"I'm Kaneki. I couldn't help but overhear that you're getting a mask," he said.

Rin nodded enthusiastically "Yeah! It's gonna be so cool!" She boasted with a big smile. She pushed her long wavy blond hair out of her face.

Kaneki looked at her hair and an idea came to him. He pulled out his wallet and scrounged through it until he found one of the many hairbands he had laying around for Hinami.

"Come here, I'll do your hair," he offered

Her father, unbeknownst to Kaneki, was still frozen in horror as he watched her daughter walk into the arms of death. He wanted to move, to reach out and pull her away from the insane cannibal in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't. His body was frozen.

Kaneki expertly did her hair in a cute, braided, offset, messy bun.

"It's so pretty! How can you do hair so well even though you're a boy?!" She marveled innocently.

"I have a little sister just a little older than you and she likes when I do her hair," Kaneki explained.

"She's super lucky! You can make her hair look like a flower whenever she wants," she remarked.

Rin's father looked on partly in confusion, and partly in shock. Centipede hadn't killed her. He really had just done her hair. He didn't seem anything like what he'd heard about him. If he didn't know better then he would've assumed that the boy in front of him really was just a fourteen-year-old boy.

Just then, Uta walked into the room. "I can take your measurements now. Just head into the backroom" he told Rin and her dad.

"Bye onii-chan!" The girl said with an enthusiastic wave before walking into the back room.

…

McGonagall's mind was going a mile a minute. The entire interaction between Kaneki and the little girl had been very cute and wholesome even if she didn't understand anything because it was in japanese. What had got her confused was the fact that the father looked terrified of Kaneki.

He was expecting something bad to happen if the pure horror on his face was any indication and that begged the question of why.

What did a fourteen-year-old boy have on a grown man to make him so scared? Was he a part of the gang hunting Kaneki? No, that still wouldn't have warranted that reaction.

Something wasn't adding up. Had Kaneki failed to mention something important? She knew he probably hadn't been completely forthcoming before but right now the thought of not knowing was driving her up the walls.

…...

Around 15 minutes later Uta and the others came back from the backroom and Rin gave Kaneki a big hug before leaving the store with her dad.

"You know, rumor has it that you're dead. Am I looking at a ghost?" Uta joked.

"No, I'm alive and just as surprised as you are," Kaneki responded.

"So, what do you need?" Uta asked Kaneki.

"My zipper is stuck, I was hoping you could fix it and give it a deep clean. I'm going to disappear for around a year so I plan on not using it for a while." Kaneki said.

"I'll probably have it done in about two hours. Is that it?" Uta said, making a note of everything in a little notebook.

"Actually I was wondering if you knew where everyone was hiding out after-," his voice hitched as he thought of Anteiku burning.

"I don't but there's someone who does," Uta said.

Kaneki sighed "I know that she knows but I don't want to deal with her right now." He admitted.

"I guess it would be inconvenient to go there with a human" Uta relented.

"Yeah I don't have much time either," Kaneki said

"I was going to suggest asking around but if you don't have time then Itori is your best bet. She'll only take like 30 minutes," Uta told him.

"Yeah, but those 30 minutes are going to be full of probing questions and making sure the Human (he avoided using her name because it sounds the same in english and japanese) doesn't drink fermented blood," Kaneki muttered as he handed Uta the money for the repair.

"Well good luck," Uta said as Kaneki walked towards the door.

"Thanks," Kaneki said as he walked out with McGonagall following close behind.

Chapter Text

McGonagall had just apparated Kaneki into a back alley in the 14th ward. This happened to be a ward Kaneki had spent quite a bit of time in, mainly because of the high amount of cannibalism in the ward. It made it harder for the CCG to trace anything back to him. Speaking of the CCG, he should keep an eye on his rating and status. He was hoping to stay SS rated, and if the odds were in his favor, he would be declared dead. Unfortunately, with his luck, he would be bumped up to SSS and deemed as significant a threat as the Owl if they got wind of the fact that he was alive. After all, no one escaped the white reaper.

As they walked out of the alley, Kaneki decided it would be best to warn McGonagall about their next destination.

"Ok, so I don't know where my friends are right now. Their locations were compromised, so they had to leave and we have two options to track them down. We could go about this the long way and ask around, or we could ask Itori. She runs a bar here, but it's mostly just a cover for her information ring. Usually, I'd take the long way round because Itori's a pain to deal with, but we don't have the time for that. First, don't drink anything she offers you without my approval, it may not be what you think it is. Second, don't trust her, she only cares about her own interests," Kaneki explained.

McGonagall nodded in acknowledgment. She didn't like that a 14-year-old was going into a bar but it seemed like a last resort. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to drink, it was just like The Three Broomsticks

Arriving at a bar called Helter Skelter, Kaneki walked in.

"Itori-san?" Kaneki called as he sat himself down in a chair.

A woman with red hair walked out of a side room. The mild confusion on her face turned into short-lived surprise that quickly turned into sick devious glee.

"Well well, isn't it a bit early in the day to be out on the club Kaneki? What can I get you?" She teased.

"Information," Kaneki said, slipping into his emotionless mask.

Itori pouted, "No fun!" she complained.

"Where are the ghouls of Anteiku hiding, and how much are you asking for the information?" He demanded calmly. He'd long since learned not to fall for any of her attempts to be friendly. If you gave her any sort of weakness to exploit, she'd use it.

"Today I want to be paid in information," Itori said, suddenly locking her eyes on him.

"I want to know how you survived Arima. Rumor has it that you disappeared in flames. Also, who is she?" He asked while pointing at McGonagall who had also settled down in a chair.

Kaneki gave her a cold glare. Only for her to laugh in his face. "Please, we both know you're not about to try anything while there's a human here. Does she even know what we are? If you want to know where they are, you'll have to tell me how you survived. " She taunted.

"I can't. It's illegal," Kaneki replied vaguely.

"Please! Our existence is illegal Kaneki." She reminded him.

Kaneki's glare became a scowl. "People from out of the continent helped me. They're from a peculiar school that I used to go to. I haven't spoken to them in years, and I was prepared to die. I wasn't expecting them to help." he reluctantly admitted.

"And who is she? She's not Japanese. Is she from the school,'" Itori pried as she poured a drink.

"She's a professor," he confirmed as Itori placed a glass of what looked like red wine in front of McGonagall.

(anything italicized is english)

"It's on the house," Itori told her.

McGonagall felt uncomfortable. While the man at the mask shop had mostly ignored her, she could tell that this woman was talking about her. Despite that though, she couldn't understand anything they were saying. From what she could tell, Itori also seemed to be winding Kaneki up.

While she was contemplating her predicament, Itori placed a glass of something in front of her. Her hand twitched toward the cup as she went to pick it up when she remembered Kaneki's warning and stopped herself. She shot Kaneki a questioning look and got soft shake that clearly meant no.

"I see you warned her. Pity," Itori said with exaggerated disappointment.

"But if you want the information, she has to drink it. It doesn't have to be much. Just a sip will do," Itori added, sick glee coloring her voice.

Kaneki's patience had finally worn too thin. He wasn't just annoyed anymore, he was angry. He grabbed her shirt and pulled her forward. "I have no patience for anyone who tries to threaten the people I care about," Kaneki warned in english through an icy rage before releasing her.

McGonagall was the first person he'd met who treated him exactly the same as everyone else. She didn't fawn over him like some other professors or treat him like shit like the Dursleys or Snape. She was strict, but also kind, fair, and motherly, like what he imagined a grandmother would be like. Above all, she was human, and no human would commit cannibalism on his account.

McGonagall had almost agreed to Itori's request. After all, it was just a sip, right? Before she could get a word in edgeways, Kaneki had pulled the woman forward. She hadn't expected it, and she'd been too shocked to try and stop him, let alone speak. It was something totally out of character for the calm, polite boy that he'd established himself to be.

Itori's grin never left her face. "It seems I overestimated how calm you'd stay in front of her," she said

McGonagall stared wide-eyed when Itori confidently drank the glass even though she had admitted that something had been very wrong with that drink. She'd assumed that the wine had been spiked, but in that case, why had she still consumed it? Had she built up an immunity (she'd spent enough time with her muggle wife to know that much)?

"Most of your group and Anteiku are hiding at the Tsukiyama Estate. Touka and Yomo are probably in the 24th ward though." She said, finally relinquishing the information.

Kaneki's eyes widened the 24th ward consisted of an underground labyrinth of tunnels created by ghouls desperate to escape from the CCG. It was by far the worst ward due to the ghoul to human ratio. There were almost no humans, and subsequently, cannibalism was rampant. Touka and Yomo had to have been seriously desperate to go there.

"I see, I'll be on my way then," He said as both he and McGonagall got up and walked out.

"I need to grab something from the butcher before we go see my friends," he told McGonagall once they got on the street. He'd heard about a butcher shop that sold jerky made out human for ghouls and while he had never gone before because he normally cannibalized, he decided it would probably help him blend in at Hogwarts.

"Butchers? Why? We have any meat you'll need at Hogwart," She said obliviously.

Hogwart definitely didn't have any of the particular meat that he wanted, at least none that he would be able to eat without killing a student.

"It's a special kind of meat," Kaneki said with a soft, convincing, false smile.

The store was only a few blocks away, so they got there quickly. Considering how awkward the atmosphere had become, it was a blessing that he didn't have to endure it for too long. Walking in, Kanenki noticed a young man behind the counter with a friendly aura, not the type of person you would expect to be running a shop like this.

"Hi! How may I help you?" He asked with a polite smile.

"I'm looking for the meat jerky,"

"Umm? This is a butcher's shop. We have tons of types of meat. Could you be more specific? " He asked with a tilt of his head and genuine confusion.

Kaneki hesitated. He didn't want to say 'human meat' out loud because you couldn't ever really be sure who was listening.

"Your specialty jerky?" He ultimately decided

By the confused expression on the boy's face, Kaneki could tell he wasn't getting anywhere.

Suddenly, a woman poked her head out a door that led to a back room. "Haru, leave it. He's my type of customer. I'll be there in a sec," she said.

"Oh!," He said, recognition flashing in his eyes as Kaneki realized what happened.

The entire shop smelt like ghoul so he hadn't noticed, but now that he was looking for it, the boy in front of him was definitely human.

A few seconds later, the girl stepped back out in a slightly bloody apron with a "customer service smile" that reminded him of Touka when a customer accidentally spilled coffee on her.

He pushed the painful pang in his heart down. Now wasn't the time to take a trip down memory lane.

"Right, How much Jerky would you like?" She asked. Kaneki subtly sniffed the air and realized the woman's sent was the ghoul smell all over the shop.

"Sorry for the short notice but I'm going to need enough to last me a year," He said

"A year supply of meat?! All at once?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Why?" Kaneki asked.

"Just checking. Let me see if we have enough." She said, walking into the back again. She came back with a bag full of vacuum-sealed packages of jerky. Kaeneki was rather surprised by the fact that the bag wasn't all that big.

"Since it's dehydrated, it doesn't take up as much space, but It still has all the RC cells you need to feel full," She explained, answering his unspoken question.

"Thank you. How much for it?" Kaneki asked

"60000 ¥," She said.

Kaneki pulled out his wallet and paid her what she asked for and she and she dragged out a cartoonishly huge sack from the back.

"Dear Merlin! What's in there?!" McGonagall asked, completely and utterly floored. She had thought he was being shifty before but this was too much.

"It's nothing. Could you shrink this? I can get it over to an alley," Kaneki said with a straight face that just made him look more suspicious.

McGonagall wanted to pry but she decided that in the middle of a butcher shop wasn't a good spot for it. She sighed and held all her questions back for England. Was it strange? Sure, but after so many years at Hogwarts, she'd seen worse. Besides, It wasn't like he was hurting anyone.

"Fine, Let's go," she said vaguely exasperation coloring her face.

And with that he walked out with McGonagall once more.

Next up, the Tsukiyama Estate.

Chapter Text

McGonagall had shrunk down the sack of jerky so that they could apparate and had taken them to a spot a little aways from the Tsukiyama Estate.

When McGonagall saw the huge mansion she was a little startled. Sure, Hogwarts was bigger, but this place felt so suffocatingly elegant that she felt underdressed. Hogwarts found beauty in chaos while this place found it in symmetry and order.

Kaneki was walking up to the manor when the guard at the gate stopped him.

"I'm sorry this is private property. I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said said. His tone of voice wasn't kind, but it certainly couldn't be considered rude either.

"I'm here to talk to Tsukiyama-san, please let me through," Kaneki asked politely.

"And what would he want with a kid?" He asked with a bit of sarcasm spilling into his voice.

"Oh! K-Kaneki-sama! Shuu-sama's been looking all over for you! P-Please forgive him, he's new. You can head inside. I'll let Shuu-sama know to come and meet you at the door," Another older looking guard said hastily with a deep bow. As he bowed, he pushed his junior's head down in apology, only daring to stand back up once Kaneki and his companion were a respectable distance away.

"Hey! What was that for!?" The new guard demand, disgruntled.

"You idiot! Didn't you read over the training packet!? He's one of the people with constant access to the manor. That was Centipede. Treat him the way you'd treat Shuu-sama!" The boy's senior admonished.

"What?! No way!" The younger boy said wide-eyed and shocked. He wiped his head back to look at the boy getting further and further away. Was that kid really the monster so many people were afraid of?

"You know someone made a similar mistake once, only, Centipede had been a bad mood that day. When I got back from my bathroom break Centipede was goring himself on the guy. In the end, Shuu-sama had to calm him down. I know the unlucky guy who had to go through the security camera footage too and I can tell you that there's a reason everyone's so afraid of the bastard," The older man warned.

The junior gulped nervously and counted his lucky stars that he was ok. That encounter could've been worse. He vowed to read his pamphlet before his next shift,

Kaneki would never know it, but his visit led to someone (other than Hide) going home and doing their homework.

…

Kaneki walked swiftly toward the ornately decorated main entrance of the manor. No matter how many times he saw it still amazed him how much of a flex this was to most ghouls who tried their best to scrape by.

Kaneki knocked on one of the dark Mahogany doors which promptly opened to reveal Tsukiyama.

"Kaneki!" he exclaimed as he moved toward the boy in question - only to slap him in the face.

"I thought you were gone! Rushing into the middle of a dove's nest like that!" He said letting some of his genuine concern and fear through his mask of false bravado.

Kaneki clutched his check-in surprise before smiling sadly at him and averting his eyes.

"I thought I was gone too," he admitted.

Tsukiyama flinched at the idea that he'd given up but cleared his throat and composed himself.

(English is italicized)

"Mon ami! Who is this?" He asked clearly referring to McGonagall.

"I'm one of his professors. You can speak English?" McGonagall said cautiously, his english was certainly better than Itori's. She had been surprised when the man had slapped Kaneki and expected him to react the same way he had with Itori. Instead, he had just smiled unhappily and it had thrown her for a loop.

She felt a particular type of dread pool in her stomach the moment that he composed himself. A type of dread that was usually reserved for the Marauders and the Weasley twins. His energy reminded her of the way a prankster lulled you into a false sense of security before pulling the rug from under your feet mixed with heavy amounts of eccentricity.

Despite all that he felt wrong. He didn't feel as off-putting as Itori or the mask man but it was still there. She reminded herself that she didn't really know any of the history behind them that would have contributed to why Kaneki had acted so out of character toward her. Which brought up the question of what was in her drink in the first place again.

"Ah Yes! I have a passion for western language. Would you excuse us for a moment Madame? I'd like to speak to Kaneki in private. I'll have Kanae tend to you until then," he said gesturing to a very pretty woman next to him.

"O-oh-um-alright," she said, surprised at being pulled out of her thoughts.

Tsukiyama gave her a polite smile before walking off with Kaneki.

…

The moment they were alone in Tsukiyama's study he relaxed slightly.

"How did you escape the reaper? The rumor is that you disappeared in flames," Tsukiyama said

"The rumor is right," Kaneki responded

"Non! That can't be!" Tsukiyama said. It just wasn't possible. Fire didn't do that. This really was a pathetic lie even for Kaneki

Kaneki made sure the door was closed and locked before he spoke again.

"I wasn't always Kaneki Ken. Tell me Tsukiyama-san, do you know anything about the magical community?" He said dead seriously.

"Non. What magical community?!" He asked, shocked.

"Don't beat yourself up over not noticing. I couldn't find the Japanese magical community and I'm part of it. It's much better hidden than the British one. Let's sit down for this, it's a lot," Kaneki said, leading Tsukiyama to the chair in his study.

"Explain Mon ami," Tsukiyama said.

"Ok, so I was born in England as Harry Potter and my identity as a somewhat normal child went out the window on my eleventh birthday," Kaneki stopped to gather his thoughts. He really hadn't expected to have to tell anyone in Tokyo about who he used to be.

Taking a deep breath he started again. "There's a world out there hidden among ours, a world of magic, wizards, and witches. I was a wizard and my parents were magical too and when I turned eleven I was invited to a school of magic called Hogwarts. The year I spent there was honestly one of the best years of my life. During the summer between my first and second year though, I accidentally transported myself here to escape my relatives and the rest is history," Kaneki explained.

"Did you teleport like you did to get here?" Tsukiyama asked.

Kaneki sighed tiredly, "No, it's a lot worse and much more complicated," he conceded.

"I'll do what I can to help," He responded without hesitation.

Kaneki smirked playfully. "You haven't heard the details yet?" He reminded.

"Please mon chéri, I want my food as unmarred as possible," he said with his own sly smile.

"Thanks you food obsessed bastard," he said, genuinely thankful.

"It would be helpful if I did know the details of the mess you've gotten yourself in though," Tsukiyama said.

"Fine fine. So, basically, someone illegally entered me in a magical tournament and I got teleported back to Hogwarts because of it. The fact that it saved me from Arima is just plot convenience," he said.

"Right, and did you forfeit?" Tsukiyama asked.

"Nope," he responded in English, popping the p.

"Of course not, why make things easy for me?" Tsukiyama asked sarcastically while relaxing into his chair.

"To forfeit would mean losing my magic which wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't a ghoul, there's a magical portion of the Tokyo Metropolitan Library and I went there to research ghouls after I got here. I found out that ghouls have a limited amount of magic that they need to keep their bodies functioning properly, most of it resides near the kakuhou, stomach, and tongue. This limited amount of magic also makes it virtually impossible for a ghoul to be a wizard since the genes for both cancel each other out and result in a stillbirth," Kaneki told him.

Tsukiyama pinched the bridge of his nose, this was going to be a headache to deal with.

"Only you could get yourself involved in something so convoluted," he said with a sigh.

"I'm staying there for at least a year," Kaneki said.

"What are you doing for food?" Tsukiyama asked.

"Jerky made from humans," Kaneki divulged.

Tsukiyama raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Mon Chéri how long can you last without eating ghoul?" He asked.

Kaneki grimaced "I don't know," he admitted.

"Right, I'll deal with it. I'll make sure it blends in. Is there a mailing address I can use?" He asked.

"Wizards use owl post," Kaneki replied with a straight face.

"You've got to be kidding me- is there no way for me to reach you?" Tsukiyama inquired.

"Probably, but I need to ask my professor about it," He said.

"Alright, make sure to ask before you leave. Before you go I suppose you want to see the others," Tsukiyama said.

"Of course! Little Hinami must be so worried!" Kaneki fussed in big brother mode.

At the mention of Hinami, Tsukiyama froze. "Actually, I was trying to figure out how to bring it up but Hinami is- she's missing," Tsukiyama said pain coloring his voice. It was unexpected but the two were surprisingly close.

"What?!" Kaneki demanded, wide-eyed.

"Touka found out somehow and now she's out there looking for her. The CCG knows That Touka's a ghoul though and they're going after her before the trail goes cold," Tsukiyama told him.

"No! Is that why she's in the tunnels?!" Kaneki asked.

"You know?" Tsukiyama asked, kind of surprised.

"I had to go to Itori to find out where you all were," Kaneki explained.

"Mama Mia! This is quite a pickle," Tsukiyama said.

"What's going through her head?!" Kaneki asked him.

"The same thing that went through your head when you found out that Anteiku was in trouble I imagine," Tsukiyama responded, causing Kaneki to flinch. He'd made Tsukiyama this worried when he did that, hadn't he?

"Don't apologize, but understand that somehow you've become our king. If you were to suddenly disappear then this little Empire would fall with you," Tsukiyama said, guessing the words that Kaneki was about to say.

Kaneki simply nodded in response but Tsukiyama knew he understood that he couldn't treat himself like a sacrificial pawn anymore.

"The others have turned my game room into the base of operation for the "Find Hinami and Touka" project. Tsukiyama said before opening the door to the aforementioned room.

The moment the door opened Kaneki got a face full of yelling. Absolutely no one noticed the two figures who had just entered the room.

"We should go out there and look for them!" Banjou yelled

"No! We should plan first!" Ayato yelled back.

"What about Kimi!" Nishiki yelled.

Kaneki's smile became forced and a vein popped out of his forehead. This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

"Tout le monde! Look who's here!" Tsukiyama announced.

Everyone turned to tell Tsukiyama to bugger off when they noticed the white-haired boy next to him.

"Kaneki!" Banjou exclaimed in happiness.

"Oh thank god! I thought the rumors of you facing Arima were true!" Nishiki said, a wave of relief washing over him.

"They were," Kaneki said seriously.

"N-no way! You actually weren't planning to survive!" Ayato said wide-eyed.

Kaneki shook his head no and the atmosphere in the room dropped as everyone tried to process the fact that Kaneki had basically admitted to trying to kill himself (because anyone who faced Arima had to be suicidal).

"H-how? How did you escape the reaper?!" Banjou choked out.

"We don't have the time. Tsukiyama will explain everything later but right now we need to figure out how to find the girls," Kaneki said, taking charge of the situation like usual.

"Nishiki-senpai is Kimi-san Alright?" Kaneki asked.

"I'm not sure if the CCG knows that I used to work at Anteiku but we've been careful about how we communicate. We think they're interested in her but it could be paranoia. She was almost so nervous that she tried to take a sudden trip to her grandparents' house but I convinced her not to since it would make her look more suspicious," Nishiki told him.

"Ayato-kun, Banjou-san are the CCG on either of your tails?" He asked.

"Nah they're not interested in me," Banjou said.

"Since they're after white rabbit they're interested in me too but they don't really have any lea- wait! What's up with your shirt?! ," Ayato response devolving into laughter.

Once Ayato pointed it out everyone started laughing. Nishiki didn't bother to hide his laughter and Tsukiyama's fufufu was clearly audible in the background. The only one seemingly apologetic about finding the situation amusing was Banjou who could honestly say he tried his best.

"Shut up or you'll regret it!" Kaneki said through anger that was significantly less effective thanks to his blush.

"But I didn't -hic- take you for the type- haha- Masochiststic Bi-?" before Ayato could finish Kaneki sucker-punched him right in the stomach leaving him incapacitated and in pain.

"Alright, Nishiki-senpai don't contact Kimi-san or leave the Estate unless you absolutely have to. Make sure Kimi-san knows to act normal and eat food outside. Banjou, have your gas masks look for them, I don't mind if you go out sometimes. Ayato, don't do anything stupid-" Kaneki continued like normal until he got cut off.

"Oi! Shitty 'neki!" Ayato interrupted but Kaneki ignored him and kept going.

"- don't do anything that could get the CCG interested and take care to make sure nothing can be traced back to you. Other than that you're pretty good at reconnaissance so try and get more info on them. Don't do anything rash- actually, scratch that- don't do anything not on the plan without asking. Tsukiyama is handling things while I'm away," Kaneki quickly explained.

"Wait! You're going away?! Where?!" Banjou asked.

"I'm going to be stuck in Britain for a while," Kaneki confessed.

"What?" Ayato asked, confusion apparent on his face.

"Tsukiyama will explain later. I leave in a few hours and I still need to pack so I have to leave." Kaneki said apologetically as he opened the door to leave before remembering something.

"Hey, would any of you happen to know the father of a young, peppy, little ghoul with blond hair named Rin?" He asked.

"Oh! That sounds like Takamaki's daughter! He's one of my gas masks. Why?" Banjou said.

"Ah, do you think you could tell him that I'm sorry for scaring him? I did his daughter's hair but I forgot how many people are scared of me and I probably freaked him out," Kaneki asked sheepishly.

"Sure. Bye Kaneki-kun," he replied which prompted the other two to say bye as well. He walked out of the room with Tsukiyama next to him. Tsukiyama pulled out his phone and rang up Kanae to let her know that they were heading back to the entrance.

…

When Kaneki saw McGonagall again she looked positively radiant. She looked years younger, relaxed, and just overall very happy and Kaneki was shocked. Kanae was most definitely a witch because magic had to be involved to do all that.

"What did you do?" Kaneki asked Kanae in awe.

"The poor woman hasn't had a spa day in years. I just helped her relax a little," Kanae said rolling her eyes.

"Professor, is there any way Tsukiyama can mail me while I'm at school?" Kaneki asked her

"Oh sure! Just address it to Inverness, Scottland (a town in the Scottish highlands not too far from the lake Loch Nis) with the words "Special Delivery" and the intended recipient's name somewhere visible and the postage system will do the rest," She said with a smile that looked odd on her usually stern face.

"Alright then, we should get going," Kaneki said, grabbing ahold of the doorknob.

"Ah Kaneki! just a question before you go," Tsukiyama said, stopping him.

"Hmm?" Kaneki asked while tilting his head.

"If you crossed a Parrot with a centipede what would you get?- A walkie talkie!" Tsukiyama joked.

"Make another centipede joke and I'll stab you." Kaneki threatened with a smile.

"Oui oui. Au revoir!" Tsukiyama said, ignoring said threat.

Poor McGonagall just stood there confused and not understanding what just happened. Why had that of all things gotten a rise out of him when a slap hadn't done anything?

Chapter Text

McGonagall and Kaneki had appearated to the apartment Tsukiyama had given him after he (regrettably) had to drop out of school.

Kaneki stuck his hand under the welcome mat and pulled out the key and for the first time in a while entered the little apartment. The place wasn't squeaky clean, but for the most part, it was orderly.

The first thing he did once inside his house was to go to the closet. It wasn't to pack though, no, he simply swiftly changed out of his embarrassing shirt.

He'd been living mostly in revealing spandex battle suits that weren't really his style so it felt a little heavenly to finally be back in his preferred, more formal, clothes.

"It's a nice home," McGonagall complimented.

"Thank you," Kaneki said casually.

Moving to one of the many bookshelves that littered the apartment he scanned for a particular book and pulled it out to reveal another book hidden behind it. When he opened the book instead of pages he was met with the hollowed-out space that he made to hide his wand.

When he touched it, it felt like when he had first held the wand at Ollivanders'. A piece of him was back after years of being suppressed and though there weren't any sparks it still felt magical.

Tucking the wand into his back pocket he went to the closet and rummaged around for a suitcase. Unfortunately, all he had was his backpack and for a second he wondered how he would fit all the clothes he needed in it until he realized he was being stupid.

"Professor, could you put an expansion on this?" He asked as he walked back into his living room. He didn't really remember much magic so it was probably better if he let her do it.

McGonagall nodded and pulled out her wand. "Expandus," She said with a wave.

The bag shimmered for a second but looked otherwise the same. Then Kaneki suddenly remembered the Asian hospitality that was beaten into his very being as he realized she was still standing awkwardly by the door.

"Oh god! Pardon my manners! Please come inside, just take off your shoes first. I'll be a while so feel free to watch the TV or grab a book. Before I go would you like coffee? I was fancying a cup myself," He said quickly.

"I'll take a cup if you're making one," McGonagall said with a yawn, realizing that it was about 11 pm at Hogwarts.

While Kaneki made the coffee she looked at the mini-library the boy had amassed. She looked through them until he noticed a set of books that seemed much more worn than the others (Can you guess the author?). Since the writing was in Japanese though she didn't pay it too much mind.

She sighed discontentedly. She was garbage at any and all translation charms so she'd come without one and now she was regretting it. She should've asked Flitwick for one, it would've made Japan so much less mysterious.

Kaneki turned on a speaker that looked like a radio that Hide had gotten him because it fit well with the dark academia aesthetic of the home as he got out his coffee beans. A soft melody rang through the room and McGonagall found herself enjoying the melody even though the words were Japanese.

Kaneki, on the other hand, froze the moment the vocalist started singing. This wasn't Ikura singing, no, this was a voice he knew intimately. A voice that had professed that Kaneki was a better singer, a voice he loved from the very bottom of his heart.

Hide

He'd been here before the raid. Before he said he'd known the entire. Before he professed his love to Kaneki. Before he told him to live. Before he asked to go home.

This was Halzion by Yoasobi. Hide wasn't a big fan of the song, it just wasn't his type of music. No, Yoasobi was Kaneki's favorite band. Hide hadn't ever really been confident in his ability to sing so why-

The lyrics were different.

It was just one line but it recontextualized the entire song. The line "No matter from now on, even if you're not here" was "No matter from now on, we will never be alone".

And then it all clicked. Hide had been broken up over Kaneki's disappearance but instead of finding other people, better people, he further intertwined himself with Kaneki. Hide vowed to find him and did, connecting the past and future, and making sure they would never be separated again.

Hide had been prepared for the fact that he might not survive, and of course, he was the only one who would try to cheer up Kaneki even after death.

"-ki? Kaneki!?"

Kaneki was startled out of his thoughts by McGonagall's worried voice. He hadn't noticed that his knees had given out, leaving him on the floor.

"S-sorry," Kaneki said clutching his forehead.

"Are you alright? You gave me quite the scare though. Do you need to sit down? don't push yourself too much," She said as she helped him up

"No I'm fi-." he started when he was interrupted.

"Please don't lie. You just collapsed, you're clearly not fine." She warned.

"It's just old memories," He reassured.

"Alright, but if you feel faint, sit down, ok?" She said not entirely convinced.

"Ok," Kaneki said before falling back into the routine of making coffee. At this point, the ritual was muscle memory. He managed to ignore how McGonagall kept checking up on him and enjoyed the amazing smell of hot coffee that slowly seeped into everything in the house.

"Would you like cream and sugar?" He asked, never noticing how much he sounded like a barista.

"Just a little," She said pulling out one of the few English books in the house.

Kaneki nodded grabbing some powder creamer and a small jar of sugar.

Moments later he gently handed her a mug. She took a sip and almost immediately her eyes went wide. "This coffee is amazing!" She said softly, in shock.

Kaneki smiled softly and politely at the compliment. "Thanks," he said, not realizing that she'd spoken too softly for most humans to pick up.

Kaneki walked away leaving a mildly surprised McGonagall.

…

He had just about finished putting most of his clothes in his bag. Most of it was his usual dress shirts, slacks, and sweaters but he threw in a kimono he had too because he wasn't sure what he'd wear if he needed something nicer than usual.

Then, when he thought he was done, he remembered the fact that it would be hard to find japanese muggle books at Hogwarts. He then proceeded to empty most of his extensive book collection into the bag along with his coffee beans, manual coffee grinder, and a pour-over coffee maker.

By the time he was done the bag was heavy even for him and his ghoul strength.

"Alright professor, I'm done. I just need to pick up what I dropped off at the mask shop." Kaneki said.

"Ok- Oh! Do you need a feather-light charm on your bag?" She asked.

"Ah, actually, that would be really helpful," he admitted.

She tapped the bag with her wand and mumbled a spell under her breath and instantly the weight disappeared from his shoulders.

McGonagall then apparated them to an alley right beside the mask shop. Walking in, Kaneki noticed that Uta wasn't up front and assumed he was in his workshop.

"Uta-san?" He called out.

"I'm back here. Just let yourself in," Uta replied.

"Professor, do you mind if I go back by myself?" Kaneki asked her in English, knowing that Uta+human=chaos. Uta apparently overheard what he was saying though and interjected.

"She can come back too," Uta said, the smirk audible in his voice.

Kaneki face momentarily scrunched up in destain at the realization that Uta was going to make this troublesome.

Pushing open a door that said employees only, he saw a workshop where Uta was sat making a mask. Before opening the door completely and slipping through he scanned the room for any "snacks" that Uta usually had laying around. After finding none he relaxed slightly and stepped in with McGonagall following close behind.

"How was itori?" Uta asked never taking his eyes off of the mask he was currently making.

"Annoying, where's my mask?" Kaneki said, surprised that Uta hadn't tried anything.

"It's on my desk. Since you said it wouldn't be on the field again for a bit I took the liberty of putting it in a nicer box so the leather doesn't get bent out of shape," Uta said

"I'll be on my way th-," Kaneki started only for Uta to cut him off.

"Actually I was wonder if I could make a mask for her," Uta said finally looking up from his project to point at McGonagall.

Kaneki went to say no only for McGonagall to surprise him.

"Really?!" She asked excitedly getting a nod from Uta in response.

"I've wanted one for a while but personal masks are expensive and I wouldn't be able to wear it much so I've put it off," She said.

Kaneki just stood off to the side slightly awestruck as Uta took measurements. McGonagall had always been so professional that he never thought that she would be interested in muggle alternative fashion.

The two seemed to get along surprisingly even with Uta's shitty English and by the time they left they could even be called friends.

Kaneki let himself absorb the sights and sounds of Tokyo as they stepped out of the shop. After all, he wouldn't be able to see any of it for a while. This time when he closed his eyes he prepared himself for more than just apparition. Fifteen nauseating seconds later he stood in front of an imposing new challenge, distinctly different from what he'd faced before.

Hogwart's, a world of magic.

Chapter Text

Kaneki yawned as he sat up in his bed in the hospital wing. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He'd gotten back from Tokyo rather late and even though he was used to odd hours thanks to hunger his body felt particularly stubborn about waking up. Normally he would've slept in but that wasn't an option today. He was discharged from the hospital wing today and that meant he had classes to get to.

Hermione and Ron would be here soon and he internally patted himself on the back for coming up with a decent excuse for not eating again.

He'd told them that he'd eat something in the Hospital wing since he didn't want to deal with the stares that would undoubtedly be directed at him if he walked into the Great hall.

"What are you going to eat Kaneki?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Actually I have some jerky in my bag. Could you hand it to me?" Kaneki said.

"Sure, but are you positive that you don't want something else too?" She queried as she picked up his backpack and handed it to him

"Yeah, I don't like heavy meals. Something small and light is more my style, especially in the mornings," Kaneki reassured as he dug around in the surprisingly organized bag. The shrinking charm on the sack of jerky had worn off at this point but since it was in the expanded bag it wasn't a problem.

He pulled out two strips of jerky to eat but the moment it touched his tongue he felt the skin above his kagune burn.

He expertly pushed his longing for more flesh down and ignored the organ's painful plea. The meat tasted so much better than ghoul flesh.

Ghoul tasted like it should've been inedible but he always managed to choke it down. Unfortunately, it was also incredibly addictive.

His body was most certainly addicted if the withdrawal symptoms were anything to go by and if you developed a half kakuja then you were in too deep to try and quit. At this point, his only option was to eat more ghoul to try and stabilize his kakuja.

Kakujas (both half and full) also had to eat more than the average ghoul since they had two kagunes to maintain, so where most ghouls could go a month without eating he started to reach insanity-inducing hunger at two weeks.

All he could do for now was hope Tsukiyama would send ghoul meat before withdrawal started. Kakujas without ghoul meat were like ticking time bombs. Once you reached zero you mindlessly stuffed anything digestible in your mouth until you either found a ghoul or got killed by CCG.

Kaneki dragged himself out of bed and lugged his heavy body to the bathroom. He slipped out of his clothes and into the shower only to immediately realize that he fucked up.

In his sleep hazed mind, he just turned the water on without checking the temperature and had to pay for it by being doused with cold water. Jumping back out of the shower at hyper-speed he switched the water to the right temperature and stepped back in.

The warm water helped all of his muscles relax and the cold water hadn't been a complete waste since it had woken him up and gotten his brain working again.

After toweling himself off, brushing his teeth, and changing into his usual slacks, dress shirt, and oversized cardigan combo, he went back to his bed, grabbed a book from his bag, and waited.

…

Around 15 minutes later Ron and Hermione walked into the hospital wing.

"Hi Ha- sorry! I mean Kaneki," Hermione said, correcting herself.

"It's fine. Good Morning as well. Should we head to class? McGonagall told me to attend whatever classes you guys go to until they get everything sorted out," Kaneki said.

"Sure but, umm, shouldn't you change into your robes first?" Ron asked.

"Actually I don't have any robes that fit. Besides, I'm so used to muggle clothes that I don't think I could be comfortable in robes again," Kaneki said sheepishly.

"Oh! Ok," Ron said understandingly. It was a much more tactful reaction than what the old Ron might have done, Kaneki noticed.

"I presume that your ordering books by owl?" Hermione guessed as they headed to class.

"Yea- oh god!- Hedwig! Is she ok?!" Kaneki panicked remembering his owl.

"Yeah mate, don't worry! She showed up at our place in the middle of summer. It's actually what got the search for you going," Ron said.

"Oh thank god. But how though? The Dursleys had her locked in her cage and bars installed on my widow." Kaneki explained.

"Really?! I have no clue how she got out then." Ron said with a newfound respect for the bird.

"Do you know where she is now?" Kaneki asked.

"Yeah, she's been living in the Hogwarts owlery. I visit her some time to bring her snacks. She won't deliver letters for anymore, though hopefully, that might change now that you're back," Hermione told him.

"I'll go see her during lunch," Kaneki resolved as they entered the still mostly empty transfigurations classroom.

"Kaneki, could you come here a second? It's about getting you caught up with the curriculum," McGonagall said.

"Sure Professor, what is it?" He asked waking up to her.

"Most of the other professors and I have put together packets to help you get caught up. If you need help feel free to ask us but Hermione can also probably help you. You should be able to finish it within two weeks since this is what you'll be doing in class and as homework till you catch up. The first trial is at the end of this month and we need to get you caught up enough to get through it," McGonagall explained while handing him the aforementioned packets.

"Ok, thanks," Kaneki said, taking the packets and sitting down next to Hermione and Ron.

By now most of the class had arrived and taken their seats and only a few minutes later the class began. Overall the class had passed by rather smoothly with Kaneki getting through more of the packet than he expected to.

…

"What class are we going to next Hermione? Ron asked.

"We have CMC (care of magical creatures) and then Defense, both with the Slytherins, before lunch," she answered as they left the class.

They talked about random stuff like new books and quidditch theories as they walked out to Hagrid's hut.

CMC, being an elective class, was one of the classes he didn't have a packet for so he was kind of excited about what they would do.

(I'm sorry I can't write Hagrid's accent)

"Harry! Merlin, it's been so long!" Hagrid exclaimed as he gave him a hug.

"I know Hagrid!" Kaneki said with a smile. The strength of the hug was a bit much but not too bad considering that he regularly got worse from an over-excited Hinami.

Hagrid had been the one who'd saved him from a life of pain and suffering at the hands of his family and seeing him again made all the feelings from that day resurface.

"Umm Hagrid? Could you let me go now?" He asked awkwardly.

He loved the big oaf but this was getting uncomfortable.

"Oh oops! Sure," Hagrid said, setting him down.

…

Now that most of the class was standing outside of Hagrid's hut he'd decided to start class.

"So for this year, we'll be focusing on a specific animal. There's actually some specialists coming in but they won't be coming in until the end of this month so we won't really be talking too much about it till then. Till then we'll be working mostly with unicorns. Today will be focused on going through the curriculum though. Yes, Hermione?" Hagrid asked, stopping in response to her putting her hand up.

"I was wondering what creature we're focusing on," She said.

"Oh! I nearly forgot about that. We'll be studying Ghouls," Hagrid responded.

Kaneki froze, blood pounding in his ears.

Oh. Oh fuck no.

His stupid luck had hit rock bottom. The experts coming in a month were probably going to be CCG and if Arima came he would recognize Kaneki from their fight (Kaneki hadn't had a mask on). Even if he didn't come, someone would, and they wouldn't just know what to look for. They were going to teach the entire student body to spot a ghoul.

Everyone else erupted into chatter voicing their dismay at being forced to study ghouls, of all things, at varying volumes.

Unsurprisingly, Draco was the loudest. "What's so impressive about ghouls that we need to study them for a year? He demanded.

"QUIET!" Hagrid bellowed. There wasn't any anger in his voice as it rang through the grounds though.

Once Hagrid had everyone's attention again he started again. "I'm not talking about the type of ghouls we're used to. We'll be learning about Japanese ghouls," he continued.

"What's so different about them?!" Draco sassed back.

"Everything. They may be called Ghouls but they're nothing alike. I honestly don't know too much about them so I won't say anymore," Hagrid said.

Even after everything Hagrid had said though no one was really hyped for the year, after all, how impressive could a ghoul be?

The rest of the class went in one ear and out the other for Kaneki as he struggled to figure out what he was going to do against the CCG. He didn't really focus on anything other than his impending doom until they started DADA when their teacher clunked into the room on his peg leg

"When it comes to the dark art's I believe in a practical approach, but first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" He said taking his spot at the front of the classroom.

"Three sir," Hermione tensely responded.

"And why are they called that?" He asked.

"Because they're unforgivable, The use of any one of them-" Hermione said.

"-Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban, correct. The minister says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different! You need to know what you're up against. You need to be prepared. You need to find another place to put your chewing gum Finnigan!" He finished causing everyone to look at the boy in question with different degrees of disgust.

"Oh god! he can see out of the back of his head," Seamus muttered under his breath.

"And hear across classrooms!" He said turning to look out at the class.

"So which curse shall we see first?" He asked everyone ominously.

"Weasley! Stand!" The professor said loudly, causing the boy in question to flinch before reluctantly standing.

"Give us a curse," he told Ron.

"Well- my dad did tell me about one. The imperious curse?" He said so nervously that came out as a question.

"Oh yes, your father would know about that. It gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." He said before pulling out a spider from a jar and casting and engorgio on it.

"Imperio," he said.

Suddenly the spider started darting around the room doing various tricks. People were either screaming in fear or laughing and through all the commotion no one noticed Kaneki hunched over clutching his ears.

It was loud. He could stop the ring in his ears no matter how hard he squeezed them! Too much, too much! His brain couldn't focus on anything and he felt disoriented.

Slowly through the screaming and laughter, he heard the scuttle of little feet. They were soft at first but they grew louder and louder. Horror gripped him as he realized what was happening.

CeNtIpEaDs CrAwLiNg ThRoUgH hIs EaRs!

He had to get it out.

"Kaneki? Are you ok?" Ron asked carefully.

Suddenly the hazy black void he was trapped in snapped back into a classroom. He noticed that most of the class was looking over at him and he was thankful that he hadn't tried to "get the centipede out". Hyperventilating was a bad way to start the school year but self-mutilation was worse.

" 'm fine Ron," he said shakily as he reassured himself that he was safe.

Moody cleared his throat, thankfully causing everyone to turn their attention away from Kaneki.

"Another," he asked the class. This time Neville hesitantly raised his hand.

"Longbottom is it?" Moody called causing Neville to stand up nervously.

"T-the umm-mmm C-cr-cruciatus curse," he stuttered out.

"Correct! Correct! The torture curse," he said before pointing his wand at the spider again.

"Crucio," he said. Only seconds later the little thing started curling up in agony, even letting out screams of pain. Kaneki couldn't help but feel sorry for the spider, the ones in his cupboard were always rather friendly.

Rather quickly though it became obvious that Neville was uncomfortable.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him? Stop it!" Hermione implored causing moody to let go of the curse.

"S-sorry, perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse ?" He asked.

Hermione looked on the verge of tears as she shook her head in denial.

"Avada Kedavra," he said as a green flash of light burst out of his wand.

"The killing curse. Only one person is known to have survived it, and he's sitting in this room," Mad eye said as he looked at Kaneki.

"Class dismissed," Moody said as he walked back to his desk.

When Kaneki, Ron, and Hermione were just a little ways out of the door Draco appeared behind them.

"What was that Potter? Are you that scared of spiders?!" Draco mocked.

"Hey!" Ron said angrily as he turned to defend Kaneki only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Looking over he was met with tired eyes and a reassuring smile.

"Ron, it's fine. I don't care if he insults me. What he says doesn't matter to me. You don't need to drag yourself down to his level for me." He said with a bunch of subtle jabs at Draco.

"W-well, I mean if you say so mate," Ron said, the fight draining from his body causing the smirk on Draco's face.

Draco was after all just a school bully and a child. His anger was reserved for the likes of Aogiri and the CCG.

Hermione was a little surprised by how graceful Kaneki handled the entire situation as the three of them turned their backs to Draco.

Draco grit his teeth, his rage at being dismissed finally bubbling over as he pulled out his wand.

"Bombarda!" He yelled.

Immediately everything slowed down. The walls turned into skyscrapers and office buildings while the ceiling became the night sky of Tokyo. Ron and Hermione were replaced by Tsukiyama and Nishiki and Draco by a pesky Dove. Kaneki heard the muffled sound of cars and people a little ways away but the thing that caused him to move was the sound of a gunshot.

Quinque bullets

Reflexively RC cells rushed to Kaneki's arm as he prepared to catch the projectile.

The moment it collided with his hand everyone who was paying attention went wide-eyed. The air was thick with rage as the spell hit Kaneki's hand and shattered, almost like a sparkler.

The temperature in the room dropped as Kaneki's turned his head to address the dove behind him.

"I don't care what happens to me but my friends are off-limits. Hurt them and I'll kill you," He threatened. The little dove was quaking in his boots and it was clear that he was just a fledgling. He had probably just graduated from the academy and likely didn't have any blood on his hands. He was never a threat and it would be a waste of time to kill him.

When he turned to leave though he was taken aback when he didn't see Tokyo and for the second time that day he realized that he was at Hogwarts.

He was hallucinating

Shit

Chapter Text

How the hell did you do that mate!?" Ron asked in awe.

Kaneki laughed nervously. " Ehhh- umm it was nothing. Just a thing I learned back in Japan," He said, scratching his chin. They didn't need to know that he didn't actually know what he did.

"Could you teach me how to do that?" Hermione borderline begged.

"Umm- It's genetic like parseltongue. I'm sure that neither of you could do it but then again most people can't," Kaneki explained anxiously while holding his hands up in a placating manner.

"How do you know?!" Ron asked huffily

A dark expression fell over Kaneki's face "Because the gene has horrible side effects."

"Wait then why don't you have side effects?!" Ron asked tactlessly.

Kaneki laughed a sad, bitter, laugh that made Ron immediately regret asking. "Oh I do. In fact, I know the pain it causes intimately,"

"S-sorry," Ron stuttered out.

"It's fine," Kaneki responded with a small forgiving smile. "You two head-on without me. I'm going up to the Owlery,"

"Aren't you going to have lunch?" Hermione asked.

"Nah, I'm not hungry. I had a big breakfast," he explained as he scratched his chin.

"Oh, Ok. See you during afternoon classes then," She said as they split ways.

…

Kaneki sighed after climbing all the way to the top of the Owlery. He wasn't really tired per-say since he did much more physically intensive things during his day to day life in Tokyo. Normally though he either took the elevator or scaled the building with his kagune and was therefore used to speed. The sheer amount of time it took to get up all those steps had gotten to him.

"Hedwig?" he called out, causing a few owls to give him the stink eye for waking them up. He scanned his eyes over the room for white but he didn't seem to see her. Right when he was about to call her name again though, he heard a soft, almost hesitant, hoot from above him.

In a nearly inaudible flutter of feathers, Hedwig flew down to sit in front of him.

Kaneki had a look of awe on his face as he looked into her beautiful yellow eyes again. They were filled with surprise and pain, almost like she thought he was a hallucination.

"Hey girl. I'm sorry I left you alone for so long. Could you ever forgive me?" He asked softly.

She nipped his fingers gently before leaning into his hand, prompting him to pet her. Kaneki was delighted to find that they could still understand each other in a strange uncanny way.

They spent the rest of lunch just having conversations that to an outside observer looked insane.

…

The rest of the day had been pretty uneventful. He had met up with Hermione and Ron and done his packet for most of class.

Finally, dinner time was upon them and he really didn't have an excuse to skip since Hermione and Ron knew that he didn't have lunch.

When he walked into the hall there was a moment of unusual quietness before the hall exploded in a lot more chatter than before.

Kaneki kept his eyes to the floor as he made his way to the Gryffindor table. This was a hall filled with clumsy children, most of them had injuries that ranged from papercuts to skinned knees.

He hadn't noticed it before but magical people smelled so much better than normal people.

Fuck.

He made a note to himself to put perfume on his scarf next time as he sat next to Hermione.

"Blimey! Harry, is that really you?" one of the twins asked.

Kaneki looked up at them with an uncomfortable smile plastered across his face.

"Yeah, Umm uh I actually go by Kaneki now," He said awkwardly. He hadn't eaten anything but meat in so long and he wasn't sure that he could convincingly enjoy it. The stench coming off of the food really wasn't encouraging either.

His anxiety was eating him alive (pun intended).

Kaneki thought carefully about what he was going to eat since it would either make or break his act. He grabbed two slices of bread and just a little bit of soup with coffee on the side to wash the taste of food out with.

Bread was one of the easiest things to eat since it just tastes like cardboard. Compared to the sewage water some things tased like, bread was tame. Soup was a lot worse than bread but since it was so liquidy it made it easier to throw up later.

Kaneki smiled as he pretended to chew. The food burned his tongue with its horrible taste but despite his body's protest he bit back his gag reflex and swallowed. He laughed and talked with Hermione and Ron while fervently trying to ignore the horrible stomach cramps that were developing in his core, after all, hunger pains were still somehow worse.

Kaneki never thought he would be so thankful for sound proof bathroom stalls. Any of the stalls in the communal dorm showers were charmed so that no one could hear you from outside. It really was too bad that this only applied to the dorm toilet and none of the other bathrooms that peppered the castle.

Kaneki downed some water before shoving his hand into the back of his throat. Thankfully his choice of food had meant that he puked everything up on the first try. Kaneki still felt incredibly winded by the ordeal though since he hadn't done this in a while. Brushing his teeth he lugged himself into bed.

Hopefully the dark circles would fade after a good rest.

Too bad he forgot to take into account that today was his first day off dreamless sleep since coming back to Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

"Hey Kaneki! Time to wake up," Ron called, opening the canopy on his bed.

"Hmm? Ok ok, I'm up," He said groggily, shading his eyes from the bright sun light as he sat up in his bed. He'd just been about to get up when he froze, it hadn't been Ron who had woken him up.

"H-Hide?" Kaneki stuttered. He felt terror and pain rise in his chest at seeing his face again.

"Yo 'neki! How have you been?" He asked like he wasn't supposed to be dead. Kaneki didn't move, he couldn't.

"Hey? Did I taste good? When You ate me?" Hide asked as his body began to corrode in front of his eyes.

"N- No!," Kaneki yelled as Hide's guts spilled out of his half-eaten stomach. The dorm room lost clarity, turning into a muddled black as he was surrounded by all the people he'd killed. Most were ghouls, but some were human too, Their faces were indistinct but Kaneki didn't notice as he clutched his head while hunched over in the center of all this.

Slowly the people were gone and the room began to fill with blood. He was drowning, drowning in guilt and the blood of his victims. He was about to die, to give up and take his final breath when he woke up still in his bed, safe and sound.

Then he moved his hand to try and grab some water from the nightstand when, from where his hand had previously been, a familiar white flower bud sprouted. They kept sprouting around him, faster and faster until he was back again in that familiar field of white. As the flowers bloomed they went from spider lilies to a checker tiled floor with a chair and a bucket in the center. A boy with black hair was strapped to the chair begging someone who wasn't there to not put a centipede in his ear.

But Kaneki knew how this ended. He'd read this story before, it was his.

Kaneki bolted awake with his screams still ringing in his ears. He looked at the clock and sighed. It was only 4:23, breakfast didn't start till 6:00. He was tired, so very tired. But he wasn't just about to go back to sleep after that.

Finally, he decided to go for a walk before class. The lack of physical activity was bothering him since he was used to regularly fighting so finding a private spot to practice would be nice.

Slipping on his invisibility cloak, Kaneki walked through the quiet castle. The sun still wasn't out but it didn't really bother him. He softly moved through the halls until he was outside. It had only been a few days but he still became a different person as soon as he was doing something familiar.

He hadn't really been focusing on where he was going since it was less about the destination than the journey but soon he found himself at the edge of the forbidden forest. He hesitated for a second as he contemplated if it was a good idea to enter. It almost didn't feel like his choice when he did decide to though, something about the forest was intoxicating.

He let his instincts take over as he walked further and further into the forest. For some reason he expected it to be lifeless and silent even though forests weren't ever like that unless someone was very wrong.

As he walked he noticed cornish pixies buzzing around fairy circles and small ashwinder slithering through the underbrush. It was different from the concrete jungles of Tokyo, the usual habitat of ghouls, but not something he would mind getting used to.

He got so caught up in the beauty of his surroundings that It took him an embarrassing amount of time to realize that he could finally stretch out his kagune.

He used his biological weapon to travel through the huge trees. Swinging through them was almost as good as flying. Unlike usual he wasn't in a life or death situation which meant he was free to just enjoy himself.

The happy, satisfied laugh that he let out when he landed was when he realized what a big impact that actually had on him. He'd been letting his human and ghoul mix unlike he'd been able to before and god it felt amazing.

After a while of that, he landed in a nice little clearing and started using a tree as a sandbag as he worked on his martial arts. At this point, they were well memorized so he just went through the motions because it felt good.

Once he finished that he looked up at the sun. He had to leave now if he wanted enough time to take a shower he realized.

It wasn't too hard to find his way back to the castle but sneaking in without bumping into anyone was a little tricky.

He slipped into the common room behind a random girl he didn't know before going back up to his room and putting his cloak in his trunk. Most of his other dorm mates were in the shower right now too it seemed. He sighed, he should've come back a bit earlier, then he would've had the bathroom to himself.

He walked into the bathroom that heavily resembled a public bathhouse. The first room was full of cubbies to put your clothes in where he stripped down. From there there were two other doors, one lead to bathroom stalls and the other to the bathing area.

He went to the bathing area which had an area to wash yourself off and a few different types of large pool-like tubs for soaking in and relaxing.

He walked over to the washing area next to Ron and waved. "Good morning Ron," He said, causing Ron to turn to look at him.

"Oh he- bloody hell mate!" Ron said, immediately making Kaneki once again regret not taking a bath earlier!

"You're covered in scars!" Ron exclaimed loudly. Loud enough that all eyes were locked on him. Loud enough that Kaneki threatened Ron, not dissimilar from the way he did with Tsukiyama.

Kaneki carefully pulled his "I'm pissed off" emotions behind the mask of a sheepish smile.

"Most of it's because of an accident I was in" he "nervously" explained.

Once Kaneki addressed the issue most of the crowd went back to doing their own thing while Ron winced both in sympathy for Kaneki's injuries and at the realization of how insensitive his question had been.

"What happened?" Seamus, who was next to Kaneki, asked.

"Steel beams," Kaneki said shortly and sweetly.

"Even the one on your spine?" He asked, pointing to the scar from his Kagune implant.

Kaneki's eye twitched slightly in annoyance. Why couldn't they keep their noses in their own business? He was too tired for this shit. If Seamus had been either Nishiki, Ayato, or Tsukiyama he would've stabbed them at this point.

His stroll through the forest had been nice but he was still running on a few hours of sleep and the lack of ghoul meat was starting to affect him. He was perpetually pissed off but not actually anywhere near dangerous yet.

"It was from the operation after the accident," Kaneki responded while washing his hair.

"Woah! When'd you get ripped!?" Dean Thomas asked in admiration

That was a comment he hadn't expected. His body was a by-product of his insanity. He wasn't like this because he was trying to better himself, only out of necessity. It felt wrong to be proud of becoming more of a monster.

"Umm- after I started working in a dojo themed cafe," He lied. 'Wow, That wasn't even a convincing lie!' he panicked as he berated himself in his head.

"What?! Man Japan really does have the strangest cafes," Dean said.

Outwardly nothing about Kaneki changed but in his head, he was screaming. 'They bought it? They actually FUCKING BOUGHT IT!' he marveled internally.

The rest of his morning was, for the most part, uneventful and he was thankfully able to get away with only eating jerky for breakfast which gave him some of his strength back.

…

Haise walked out to Hagrid's house with Hermione and Ron and he immediately noticed how excited Hagrid was about the upcoming lesson. The bell rang just moments after they arrived and Hagrid jumped right into the lesson.

"I've got a surprise planned for today! I have two animals I think you're all gonna like. Follow me." He said before guiding them into the forbidden forest.

They didn't go deep into the forest, just a little ways in until they reached a pen. Most of the class expressed they're awe at the animal with gasps.

Unicorns

"Beautiful aren't they? Girls go up first, they prefer women. I've got sugar cubes if you want to give them a snack." Hagrid instructed since at this point the class was still quite a distance away from the enclosure.

Kaneki watched the girls from a distance and marveled at how elegant the horses were.

"Ok boys, you can head up. Make sure to move slowly and let them come to you. Unicorns are sensitive to people's hearts. Since you're children though, you have an inherent pureness so it should be fine ," Hagrid said.

Kaneki hesitated at that. He was the furthest thing from pure and he suspected that the unicorns would realize that. Suddenly he wasn't excited about the prospect of approaching them anymore.

He moved towards them with soft steps but it was for naught. The moment he was too close the unicorns were in a frenzied panic, neighing frantically as they tried to get away from him.

Hagrid immediately rushed over to try and calm them down. Kaneki dejectedly and walked away from the pen. Once Kaneki left the unicorns calmed down quickly.

Not many people understood what caused the unicorns to freak but when Hagrid saw Kaneki away from everyone he realized that the unicorns had probably reacted to him. Once the unicorns were calm and the kids were interacting with them again he walked over to Kaneki.

"Sorry about that. I've never seen them react like that to a kid.," He said while making sure to keep an eye on the kids

"No, it's fine. I expected it," Kaneki said, leaning against a tree and looking at the ground. He didn't trust himself to convincingly fake a smile, rather than just let people see his emotions though he unconsciously slipped into the indifference of Eyepatch.

"Really? I thought they'd like you. You're quiet, friendly, and calm. That's usually a great combination for them. Don't worry too much about it," Hagrid tried to console.

Kaneki responded with a nod before Hagrid went to supervise the class for a bit longer.

A little while later, Kaneki heard Hagrid round up everyone else as he slipped back into the crowd. Rather than go back to the castle though, Hagrid led them deeper into the forest

Rather quickly they reached another fenced off area, only this one looked empty to most people, Kaneki wasn't one of those people. He saw the skeletal, winged horses that were the total antithesis of unicorns.

"Now not everyone can see these beauties but this pen is full of Thestrals. They're what pull the carriages every year and they're actually very closely related to unicorns. Can anyone tell me what you have to do to see them?" Hagrid said.

"Only people who've seen death can see them and as such it's been wrongly associated as an omen of death," Hermione said.

Hagrid nodded in approval "Yeah, can any of you see them?" He asked.

Kaneki watched as a few hands hesitantly went up before he slowly put up his own hand.

"Good good! You all go up first then. They like meat more than sugar, I've got some if you want to feed them," Hagrid encouraged.

Kaneki was prepared for rejection again, after all they were relatives of unicorns but unlike last time the animals didn't panic. In fact, they seemed to really like him.

He didn't realize it but he released a large portion of the tension within himself by playing with Thestrals. It wasn't a permanent fix but it was better than nothing. Without thinking, Kaneki pulled out a little bit or his jerky and gave it to one of the horses closest to him. As it turns out, Thestrals apparently really liked human meat and Kaneki quickly became overrun by them.

"Kaneki, what meat did you feed them? They really like it," Hagrid asked, suddenly making Kaneki aware of what he was doing.

"Uhh- it's fancy pork, It's really hard to get your hands on but I know a guy," he responded, trying to keep his voice even and panic-free as he scratched his chin.

"Oh ok, if it's hard to get it would be terrible if they got hooked on the stuff," Hagrid said with a nod of understanding.

After that conversion Kaneki was careful to avoid feeding them his food, making sure he only gave them Hagrid's stuff. Surprisingly though it didn't diminish his popularity with the thestrals, so a lot of people stood around Kaneki making it impossible for him to slip into the shadows like he usually did to calm down when he was in a pissy mood.

It only got worse when Kaneki was forced to eat again at lunch. He didn't eat too much but his stomach still twisted painfully because he hadn't gotten a chance to throw up as he got dragged off to potions, because of course it had to be potions.

Kaneki was doing his best to hide his annoyance but Hermione and Ron picked up at least on how on edge he was.

"Are you ok Kaneki?" Ron asked as they waited outside the potion's classroom.

"I'm fine! Don't worry," Kaneki said, trying to, ironically enough, force himself to relax.

"You look tired, did you sleep yesterday?" Hermione asked, clearly disregarding Kaneki's assurance.

"I did, please don't worry about me," Kaneki said, scratching his chin now that he'd put his books down.

"Quiet," Snape growled as he walked in, his cloak bellowing in a way that he thought was only possible by the likes of Tsukiyama.

Snape hadn't directly addressed Kaneki yet, which he was immensely thankful for as he hoped that the class would pass uneventfully. He really didn't want to deal with anymore shit today.

Unfortunately, his luck didn't hold out when Malfoy knocked Kaneki's potion over and pinned the blame on him.

"Potter! Just how incompetent are you?!" Snape berated his voice never raising above what would be allowed in a library.

"But-' Kaneki tried to retort only to be cut off.

"Oh are you talking back to a professor now too?!" He asked

The soft, enticing whisper of Mukade buzzed in his head as the familiar burn of rage that he'd been trying to hold back started to leak into his coherent thoughts. He wanted to beat someone up, let out his anger.

CRACK!

The sound combined with the animosity that Kaneki was leaking made Snape and quite a few other's flinch, not that Kaneki was really aware right now. At this point, he was struggling to keep himself from lashing out. He WaNtEd BlOoD! He CoUlD kIlL hIm. He WaS aN INSECT!

No! That wasn't an option! He wouldn't taint this world with the blood of tokyo!

Kaneki shoved a stick of jerky in his mouth and though it wasn't much it was enough to calm him down.

"Sorry," He said with an unnervingly bright, genuine-looking smile before he turned to restart his potion.

Chapter Text

The potions class had been tense after Kaneki's little stunt. His entire day had been kind of shity but he let Snape of all people be the straw that broke the camel's back.

He was also way more worried about this than he'd been before. He'd gotten too close to being a danger to the people around him. The "what if" of losing control was now at the forefront of his mind, looming over him like.

He'd been in the middle of gathering his supplies when a boy popped into the room and said something to Snape who scowled in response.

"Potter, go with him." He said curtly.

"Hmm?" Kaneki questioned

"They need you for the weighing of the wand ceremony, for the tournament," the boy said anxiously.

"Go ahead mate, I'll put this back for you," Ron told him.

Kaneki nodded in thanks and left the room, happy to be out of the uncomfortable atmosphere.

Their walk wasn't too interesting, they made small talk, Kaneki found out the boy's name was Colin Creevey. Kaneki let him know that he preferred to be called Kaneki and Colin respected that.

Viktor Krum was standing moodily in a corner as usual and not talking to anybody. Cedric and Fleur were in conversation. Fleur looked a good deal happier than Kaneki had seen her so far; she kept throwing back her head so that her long silvery hair caught the light. A paunchy man, holding a large black camera that was smoking slightly, was watching Fleur out of the corner of his eye.

Bagman suddenly spotted him and got up quickly, and bounded forward.

"Ah, here he is! Champion number four! In you come, Harry, in you come.. . nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment -"

"Wand weighing?" Kaneki asked.

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore.

…

Eventually, they all gathered for a photo, and his snowy hair, muggle clothes, and age gap in comparison to the other champions made him feel out of place.

He gently rubbed his eyes to try and abate his tiredness when the flash of a camera nearly made him jump.

A woman with blond hair, vibrant green clothes, and an air of trouble, sauntered confidently into the room.

"What a charismatic quartet! I'm Rita Skeeter and I write for the Daily Prophet, but of course, you know that don't you? It's you we don't know! You're the juicy news." She said as she strolled toward them.

"What quirks lurk beneath those rosy cheeks? What mysteries do those muscles mask? Does courage lie beneath those curls? In short, what makes a champion tick? Me, myself, and I want to know, not to mention my avid readers. So? Who's feeling up to share? She said, slapping Fleaur's cheek, running a finger down Krum's arm, ruffling Cedric's hair, and wrapping an arm around Kaneki, ignoring how uncomfortable the four of them were with the contact.

"Who wants to go first?" She asked.

She pouted at the silence that she got in response. "Right then, let's start with the youngest," She said before trying to pull Kaneki into a broom cupboard.

Key word tried. Kaneki was a lot more stable underneath his chunky sweater and he reflexively pulled away leaving the reporter mildly surprised.

If he hadn't just blown up at Snape he might have felt angry but as it was he just tired. "Sorry, could we do it out here?" He asked, running his hand through his hair in a self pacifying gesture.

Rita smiled sweetly "of course," she said, but it was clear that she wanted to do this privately.

"So tell me Harry, where have you been for the past two years?" She inquired.

"Asia, I would rather keep the details private but I go by Ken Kaneki now," He responded. His tone wasn't hostile but it couldn't be classified as friendly either, merely formal.

"Oh? Have you been at Mahotokuro then?" she prodded.

"No. As I said, I would prefer not to talk about it," he said.

"But then how have you been continuing your magical education?" She pushed resulting only in Kaneki raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Fine, Fine, How did your name end up in the goblet then?" She asked.

Kaneki deadpanned at the reporter. "I was on another continent minding my own business, I have no clue" He shot back.

"What about the eyepatch? A fashion statement?" She asked.

"No. I thought this was about the tournament?" he said.

Rita feathers were ruffled by the deflective, vague, and sarcastic answers. She'd been expecting a meek child, something that Kaneki just wasn't in the mood to be today.

"How do you feel? A mere boy of 12 about to compete against three students, not only vastly more emotionally mature than yourself but who've mastered spells that you couldn't attempt in your ditziest daydreams? Champions have died in the past, haven't they?" said Rita Skeeter briskly. "Have you thought about that at all?"

"I'm not worried. I'm not aiming for victory, all I have to do is survive and the one thing I can never seem to properly do is die," Kaneki said, scratching his chin. He was unstable and with his luck, the tasks would make him do something incriminating in front of everyone.

"Of course, you've looked death in the face before, haven't you?" said Rita Skeeter, watching him closely. "How would you say that's affected you?"

Kaneki thought about it for a moment "I'm not afraid of death, only of the prospect of not being able to protect the people I love," he admitted, that was probably the most truthfully he answered any of the questions.

"What do you think your parents would say if they knew about this. Would they be proud or disappointed?" She presented.

The words reverberated in his head. Would his mother be proud?

"It's better to be hurt than to hurt others"

Would his mother be angry for disobeying her? Would she hurt him again? Please no, please!

He stood lost in his thought for a second when he realized he still had to answer a question. "I'm not sure," he said scratching his chin. No, he was a killer. If his parents knew they'd be rolling in their graves!

"Shall we move on to the others?" Madame Maxime said

"O-of course," Rita said though she clearly wasn't fond of the idea of ending Kaneki's interview yet.

…

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander," said Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

Kaneki was looking around, when he noticed an old wizard with large, pale eyes standing quietly by the window. Oh! That was the guy he'd bought his wand from Kaneki noticed in mild surprise

"Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first, please?" said Mr. Ollivander, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room.

Fleur Delacour swept over to Mr. Olhivander and handed him her wand.

"Hmm..." he said.

He twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it close to his eyes and examined it carefully.

"Yes," he said quietly, "nine and a half inches. . . inflexible . . rosewood . . . and containing. . . dear me-!"

"-An hair from a veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmother's."

"Yes," said Mr. Ollivander, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands...however, to each his own, and if this suits you.."

Mr. Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, "Orchideous!" and a bunch of flowers burst from the wand tip.

"Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," said Mr. Ollivander, scooping up the flowers and handing them to Fleur with her wand. "Mr. Diggory, you next."

Fleur glided back to her seat, smiling at Cedric as he passed her.

"Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" said Mr. Ollivander, with much more enthusiasm, as Cedric handed over his wand. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn. . . must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches. . . ash. . . pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition...You treat it regularly?"

"Polished it last night," said Cedric, grinning.

Mr. Ollivander sent a stream of silver smoke rings across the room from the tip of Cedric's wand, pronounced himself satisfied, and then said, "Mr. Krum, if you please."

Viktor Krum got up and slouched, round-shouldered and duck-footed, toward Mr. Ollivander. He thrust out his wand and stood scowling, with his hands in the pockets of his robes.

"Hmm," said Mr. Olhivander, "this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I. . . however. ."

He lifted the wand and examined it minutely, turning it over and over before his eyes.

"Yes.. . hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he shot at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees. . . quite rigid. . . ten and a quarter inches. . . Avis!"

The hornbeam wand let off a blast like a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open window into the watery sunlight.

"Good," said Mr. Ollivander, handing Krum back his wand. "Which leaves. . . Mr. Potter."

Kaneki got to his feet and walked past Krum to Mr. Ollivander. He handed over his wand.

"Aaaah, yes," said Mr. Ollivander, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."

Kaneki could remember too. He could remember surprisingly well considering that most of his time at Hogwarts felt like a fever dream.

Mr. Ollivander had been very surprised that Kaneki had been so compatible with this wand. "Curious," he had said, "curious," and not until he'd asked what was curious had Mr. Olhivander explained that the phoenix feather in his wand had come from the same bird that had supplied the core of Lord Voldemort's.

Kaneki had never shared this piece of information with anybody and he really hoped that Mr. Ollivander wasn't about to tell the room about it. He had a funny feeling Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill might just explode with excitement if he did.

Mr. Ollivander spent much longer examining Kaneki wand than anyone else's. Eventually, however, he made a fountain of wine shoot out of it, and handed it back to Harry, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.

"Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now - or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end -"

Feeling that at last something had gone right today, Kaneki relaxed as he walked down to the great hall.

Chapter Text

Kaneki sighed as he puked up his lunch. It had been a few weeks since he’d arrived at Hogwarts. Thankfully he’d gotten used to school life and human food over the past few weeks though nightmares still plagued his sleep.

He’d switched out his contacts for glasses only this time the frames were oval and much nicer looking (imagine Haise) and his hair had surprised him by starting to come in a black again (again think Haise)

The cool stone seared against his flushed body as he evened out his breathing. He stretched as he got up from the floor and noticed how stiff his body felt. He hadn’t been able to train since that time in the forest so he’d been expecting it. He’d need to find some time for it later.

The more troubling thing though was how his kakuhou burned painfully. He hadn’t had ghoul in multiple weeks which was a stark contrast to his daily binges back in Tokyo and it was getting harder and harder to ignore. Humans could only do so much for him and Tsukiyama was taking too long to ship him something more substantial.
……………

Kaneki was doing homework at the library when Ron walked up to him.

“Oi Kaneki, Hagrid wants to see you at 12 tonight. Take the cloak, I’ll be coming along too but with a pass. After we get back there’s someone I need to introduce you to,” Ron said discreetly.

Kaneki nodded as he got up to head to class when a stabbing pain blossomed through his back. He gasped and hunched over as he tensed up from the pain, vision going spotty as the world swam.

“Woah! You ok?” Ron asked as he rushed to check on Kaneki.

The warm smell of flesh invaded Kaneki’s nose and assaulted his mind. His mouth watered at the prospect of gorging himself on the tantalizing smell and it took too much effort to stop himself.

“Sorry, yeah, I’m fine. My muscles just got a bit cramped,” Kaneki lied with a reassuring smile as he pushed his urges down.

“Do you need help?” Ron asked.

“N-no I’m fine,” he said, accidentally catching another whiff of meat. Pulling out a small bottle he rubbed a bit of lavender oil on the collar of his clothes and hands which gave him some temporary relief.

“All right, but I’m gonna come with you just in case, ‘sides, we’re both headed to charms,” Ron said, still concerned.

Kaneki nodded before he straightened out his back and continued walking, pretending that each step didn’t hurt.

It was when he got to the courtyard that everything went to hell.

“Hey, Potter! My father and I have a bet you see. I don’t think You’re going to last 10 minutes in this tournament, he disagrees. He thinks you won’t last 5!” Draco mocked arrogantly.

Kaneki’s face scrunched up in annoyance but he didn’t acknowledge the insult.

“Bugger off Malfoy!” Ron said without looking back.
……………

Normally owls didn’t drop packages off during dinner but occasionally there were time-sensitive things that were. All this to say people hadn’t been expecting a large cooler carried by 4 tired owls to drop right on top of the Gryffindor’s chicken roast and fling it across the great hall.

And of course, like all troublesome things, this could all be tied back to Kaneki.

Said boy’s eyes flashed with recognition and excitement when he saw the loopy, extravagant writing on the attached letter. Quickly tearing open the envelope he read the note and far too loudly said “Tsukiyama, I love you!”

In the commotion, most people completely missed the smaller red box that Kaneki grabbed first as he gathered everything up. As he walked out of the hall everyone had their eyes on him, quite a few whispering as he stopped at the head table.

“It’s from Uta,” he said, putting the box in front of McGonagall. The confusion in her face replaced itself with a smile as she took the box.

“Tell him thank you for me. What’s the other thing?” She said.

“It’s from Tsukiyama. Do you mind if I go put this in the dorms?” He told her.

“Good idea,” she replied with a grimace as she thought about him lugging that with him for his last two classes.
……………

Kaneki pulled out the biggest stake he could find in the cooler, hands trembling as he hastily fumbled to rip open the plastic seal. His mouth salivating in anticipation as the rancid smell of ghoul flesh had him hanging off the edge of his seat. His eyes glimmered with sick glee as he slid it out of the packaging.

As his teeth finally ripped into the meat he felt euphoric relief wash over his body for the first time in weeks. All the built-up pain that had been plaguing him dissolved away as his mind turned foggy and focused only on food.

It was pure ecstasy, he imagined it was comparable to being high on drugs.

He’d gotten through three large chunks before he finally stopped cramming food down his throat. His body was full of energy and his mind was surprisingly clear as he pulled his wand out and cast a stasis charm on the meat and a cleaning charm on his clothes.

He smiled as he prepared for astronomy with an extra pip in his step.
……………

Kaneki’s good mood had been shoved in everyone’s face as he practically glowed with happiness. Looking at the clock, now it read 11:39. Only he, Hermione, and Ron were left in the common room.

“Ok, that’s all our homework. You two should leave for Hagrid’s soon. I’ll stay here and wait for the call,” Hermione whispered as she closed her book.

“Right, we’ll see you when we get back,” Kaneki said as he pulled up the hood of his invisibility cloak and Ron grabbed his pass.
……………

“Hi, Ron! Is Kaneki here?” Hagrid asked.

“Yeah,” Kaneki said without taking off his hood.

”Right then follow me,” he said walking into the forest.

“Where are we going?” Kaneki asked as he followed.

“You’ll see. Though I gotta ask what’s with the flower Hagrid?” Ron said.

“Well I thought I might try this dating thing again,” he said awkwardly.

“Good for you!” Kaneki encouraged, his warm smile practically audible.

Just then a deep rumble made Hagrid stop.

“Hagrid?” A voice called out.

“Over here!” He called out. Just then a head popped through the forest brush before the headmistress of the Beauxbaton walked over.

“Ah ‘agrid!” She said as she said with a smile “Oh! What is a student doing with you?” She asked, facing Ron.

“My brother is one of the tamers,” he explained casually holding up his pass.

“Tamers? Does this have anything to do with what you have to show me?” She asked Hagrid.

“Yeah, it’s just past here,” he said as he pulled back a few branches to reveal fire, lots of fire.

”These are for the next task,” Hagrid told her.

“Oh god,” Kaneki muttered softly

Dragons

Ron shot a quick look vaguely in his direction as he walked up to his brother which he took as his cue to leave.

Kaneki quietly made his way back to the Gryffindor tower. Entering the fat lady’s portrait door he noticed Hermione was talking to the fireplace and he did a double-take.

“Oh, he’s back!” Hermione said softly to the fire.

“Kaneki, this is Sirius Black, the “murder” from last year and your godfather,” Hermione said putting air quotes around the word murderer and gesturing to the fire.

“What type of magic is that? I didn’t realize you could use a fireplace to call people!” He said in slight awe.

“It’s called the floo and you can even teleport using it,” Hermione explained quickly.

“Hey Kaneki, it’s nice to finally meet you! I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there when you were younger,” Sirius said apologetically.

”It’s fine, I heard the full story from Hermione and Ron.” He sadness that leaked into his voice.

“It’s not fine, I should’ve been there for you. Not locked up in prison because I wanted revenge!“ he pressed.

“No, I understand the feeling of wanting revenge. I certainly didn’t feel remorse when I killed Quirrell.” A knot caught his throat, he didn’t say it but he thought of everyone else he’d killed. So many of them had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, they hadn’t deserved death.

“Huh, I heard you looked a lot like James but I don’t really see it. Actually, you don’t look much like either of your parents.” Sirius remarked, trying to change the topic.

Kaneki gave a sheepish chuckle “Eh, I looked more like them back in first year but I think my magic unconsciously made me look more like my adoptive mother as I got older,” he told him.

“Oh, I’ve heard of accidental magic doing that! It happened to me a bit too,” He said without getting into the specifics.

“Siri? Who’s calling?” a sleepy voice asked while sticking his own face in the fire too.

“You're awake?! Sirius asked in surprise before smiling “It’s Harry,” he told the new addition to the call.

“Oh! Professor Lupine! Hello!” Hermione said happily.

“Please, I’m not your professor anymore. Feel free to call me Remus,” the tired man said with a polite smile. “And I take it that you’re Harry. Merlin, it’s been years since I’ve seen you!”

Kaneki smiled softly “Yeah, I go by Kaneki now though.” He explained. ”You both knew my parents right? What were they like?” He asked.

“Well James was your standard jock and I’m pretty sure he’s been pining after Lily since his first year. Lily was the brightest witch in her generation, a lot like Hermione in that sense.” Remus replied nostalgically

“They were good people. I miss them a lot,” Sirius said, his voice full of pain and guilt.

Remus had so much he wanted to ask but before he could Sirius brought up something much more important.

“So how are you going to survive this tournament? Do you know anything about the first task? He asked. Causing Kaneki to frown.

“They’re facing dragons,” Ron said walking into the common room. “I talked to Charlie about it a bit, he said he wouldn't mind helping you out since you weren’t supposed to be a part of this,” He finished as he melted into a big soft chair in front of the fire.

“What did he recommend?” Remus asked.

“Water, lots of water. It’s effective against all the types of dragons you might face. Other than that, various shield charms, the fireproofing charm, and the summoning charm.” Ron replied “Sorry I couldn’t get more information, Charlie was busy.”

“No, this is plenty,” Kaneki muttered, his eyebrows scrunched up in thought.

Hermione let out a long yawn before covering her mouth and blushing “Ah I think it's time we go to sleep,” sleep.” She said rubbing her tired eye.

“Oh god! I didn’t realize it was so late! You three need to sleep,” Remus said.

“Bye you three,” Sirius said before he and Remus left the floo call.

The trio each said some form of “bye” before quietly sneaking back to each of their dorm rooms.

Chapter Text

Kaneki had an unusual reaction to stress considering what he was. Cooking wasn’t a normal hobby for ghouls but growing up as a human who was often forced to cook as a child he’d grown rather fond of it.

That’s what he’d been planning to do when he snuck into the Hogwarts kitchen one night. As he cracked open the portrait door though he quickly realized another kid was already there. She was younger than him and, judging by her robes, seemed to be a Slytherin. Currently, she was teary-eyed and curled up in a corner eating comfort food.

“Hello?” Kaneki softly called out as he poked his head through the door.

The girl startled out of his stupor and looked up at him.

Kaneki sighed, the poor girl looked absolutely distraught and he wasn’t just about to turn around and leave her there. Also, even though he would never admit it, he had a soft spot for spoiling younger kids. He didn’t have much parental love and a part of him wanted to give them what he never had.

“Are you ok?” He asked, eyes full of concern.

She blushed as she rubbed at the tear tracks under her eyes.

“I- I’m fine,” she said her voice coming out shakily.

“Do you want to talk about it? It might help you feel better,” He asked sitting next to her.

“U-Umm, I-I don’t know,” she stuttered out.

“Ok that’s fine, I was going to make some food do you want some?” He asked.

“Oh, uh- what are you making?” She asked him.

“I was going to make cookies, coffee, and some dinner for myself,” Kaneki responded.

“Alright then I’ll have some too,” she said as she snuggled into a blanket the house-elves had gotten her.

The two had fallen into a comfortable silence as Kaneki began to systematically cook various cafe pastries. At around 12:20 AM there were multiple cute bunny-themed sweets and 2 cups of coffee in front of them.
She grabbed a pink and brown pastel cookie, her eyes lighting up more and more with each bite.“Wow! These are really good!” She exclaimed.

“Where did you learn?” She questioned.

“From my family,” He said, purposefully avoiding naming anyone specific.

“Wait are you a Gryffindor?!”

“Yeah, why?” He responded hoping she wouldn’t fall into the Slytherin stereotype.

“Wait really?! You're nothing like other Gryffindors. A lot of them are really horrible. I’ve heard so many horror stories,”

“Most Gryffindors feel the same way about Slytherins.”

“Oh.”.

They were trapped in awkward silence when he noticed a charms book on the ground. “Are you learning expelliarmus?”

“Yeah, but I’m having trouble with it” she admitted nervously

“Would you like me to help?” He asked.

“Really?! I don’t want to be a bother.”

“No no! It’s fine!” He reassured her “I don’t mind.”

“Thank you so much!” She said, surprising Kaneki by giving him a hug.

A few hours later as they were about to leave she spoke up. “Oh hey, I didn’t get your name. I’m Kate.”

“Kaneki Ken,” he said, pausing halfway out of the portrait hole before leaving, wholly unaware of Kate’s shock and mild horror at the realization that she was crying in front of one of the most famous people in the wizarding world.
……………

About a day later Kaneki noticed a lot of the younger kids had started looking at him oddly. Don’t get him wrong it wasn’t like they were glaring at him or anything, in fact, it was almost the opposite. No one actually talked about whatever it was, but still, if no one was going to acknowledge it he wasn’t going to either. He just kind of put it out of his mind and continued as if nothing was different.

It had been a fairly casual day when he saw a few Ravenclaw 3rd years being unnecessarily rude toward a few Hufflepuff 1st years. He hadn’t really thought about it when he lightly (and I emphasize, lightly) karate chopped the Gryffindor boys on the head.

“Geeze stop being assholes guys, head to class,” He reprimanded lightly.

“Sorry about them,” He said, giving a shallow bow apologizing to the kind of awestruck Hufflepuffs almost like a mother apologizing for their disruptive child.
……………

Slowly but surely kids started showing up in the kitchens for help with their own issues. A few came just to see if the rumors were true. The theory was that there was a “fake” Kaneki, someone or thing looked like him but wasn’t that would listen to your problems and help you.

Ironically enough Kaneki, in a school full of literal magic, had bassicially reached cryptid status. He was at the same level as Hanako-san of third stall bathrooms. and he couldn’t help but smile at the thought as he headed to divinations.

Honestly, he thought he would be more upset about people cutting into his cooking time but he appreciated their small talk and enjoyed helping people. Whether it be talking, offering a shoulder to cry on, or helping someone out with their school work it felt both fulfilling and like some sort of small act of repentance for everything he’s done.

Kaneki walked up to divinations with Ron since it was the one class Hermione didn’t take with them. He’d only just finalized his schedule and usually actually liked arithmancy with Hermione better so he usually went there. Unfortunately, the workload for the class was a bit too much and he had enough to deal with considering the tournament. All this meant that today was actually his first divination class.

“Come on, the class is up this way,” Ron said as he rushed up a large stairwell until they reached a ladder. Ron climbed up it first and opened up a hatch in the ceiling.

Since the entrance to the room looked more like an attic than a classroom Kaneki couldn’t help but wonder what the room looked like. Whatever he’d been imagining it hadn’t been a nauseating amount of perfume and smoke though.

He wasn’t even all the way up the ladder but the moment the hatch opened his nose was assaulted and his ghoul senses made it all so much worse. The smell burned and he almost fell off the ladder in his attempt to get away from it.

“Woah mate! You ok?!” Ron asked as Kaneki caught himself before he toppled over.

“Yup sorry, I just wasn’t prepared for that smell.” He explained.

“Oh Yeah! Trelawny has a habit of doing that. Here, Hermione taught me a filter charm, it helps,” Ron said before charming Kaneki’s red and gold scarf. “Just make sure your scarf is over your nose.”

“Thanks Ron,” He said with a smile . He didn’t know what he would’ve done if he had to sit through that smell all class.

Sitting down at a table with Ron he pulled out a book as he waited for class to start.

Around 5 minutes later Trelawnly started talking about how to read crystal balls. Half the time Kaneki paid attention and the other half of the time he was lost in his own world thinking about Tokyo or the new book he was reading.
……………

“Ah, Mr.Potter, do you mind if I use you as a demonstration?” she asked.

“Uh yeah sure,” he responded automatically.

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth he wanted to kick himself, what if she saw something about him being a ghoul!? He shouldn’t have let social norms dictate his reaction but there wasn’t really a way to bail out at this point without looking suspicious.

Looking into her ball she dramatically gasped. “Poor boy! I see a you being killed by a man dressed in white with some sort of lance,”

Kaneki's eyes went a bit wide in panic. That sounded like Arima.

“I wouldn’t worry, Tralawny’s made loads of death predictions but none of them actually ever come true. Only Lavender and Parvati and really take her seriously,” Ron whispered, noticing how Kaneki looked.

Looking around Kaneki realized most of the class had rolled their eyes or snickered at the prediction but unless that had been an oddly specific coincidence then Trelawny was more than the fraud everyone thought she was.

After all, it might not have been his future but it most certainly had been his past.

He looked up and gave Ron a quick smile. It was best to let everyone think Trelawny was just making it all up again.

Momentarily though, he couldn’t help but wonder if Trelawny had even realized she’d been right.

Chapter Text

McGonagall sighed as she took a sip from her fire whisky. “It was the strangest thing!” She said to the other teachers with her “Something just felt wrong about Tokyo!” She said, her face flushed with alcohol.

“I don’t know, are you sure you weren’t imagining it? You didn’t have a translation charm and it can be unnerving to be somewhere foreign,” Flitwick asked.

“It felt like being a deer among wolves. Like when the Marauders or twins plan a prank in front of you,” She said causing everyone to shiver at the thought.

Watching prankster work was kind of terrifying.

“They’re scared of Kaneki. I saw him do a little girl’s hair and it should’ve been cute but her dad was terrified of him. That’s not a normal response to a child!”

“He was being targeted by a gang, right? Maybe he joined a rival gang?” Pomona suggested.

McGonagall’s eyes went wide as she considered it and realized how well it fit but she sighed when she realized it was still all just speculation. Taking another sip of her drink she hummed in acknowledgment.

“He doesn’t act like he’s part of one though! He’s polite, has a humble elegance, and seems well educated in a proper muggle education. Nothing about him screams thug, so why would a rival gang take him in? How would it benefit them?” Flitwick asked

“But that’s just it! What if he was high ranked?! He would have money, Probably not dissimilar to a pureblood student. Besides, it explains how that man recognized Kaneki!” Pomona insisted.

“Oh! You might have a point!” McGonagall exclaimed, “One of the places we visited was Tsukiyama Manor. The place was huge, it screamed money! Kaneki seemed to be good friends with the master of the house too. I would say it adds up,”

“Did you know the younger Slytherins have taken a liking to him? Honestly, most of the younger years like him. Apparently, he’s pretty motherly and doesn’t have much house bias. He really reminds me of Lily at the age,” Pomona said.

“Potter’s keep you on your feet don’t they?” Flitwick reflected, getting two getting some sort of affirmation from the other two.

……………

Tsukiyama was eating breakfast, “bacon” to be precise, when a rather large albatross flew into his large dining room. He’d gotten rather used to them but back when the first one flew in it had given Kane quite the scare.

He smiled, Kane had finally confided in him about his gender dysphoria. It wasn’t like he hadn’t suspected it when he had years ago asked to be called Kane instead of Karen but it took courage to come out and he was glad his cousin trusted enough to confide in him (Just a stab at what JK Rowling has been tweeting recently. It rubs me the wrong way as a part of the LGBTQ+ community).

He took the letter from the albatross, no doubt something from Kaneki, and gave the bird a bit of his food and some water. She cooed happily at the food (yes the birb just ate human) and Tsukiyama pet her gently. Hinami would’ve loved to see her, he thought with a sad sigh. Four weeks and they were no closer to finding the girls.

Tokyo, Japan

21st Ward

Tsukiyama Estate

The Largest Bedroom

Looking at the letter he was surprised to see the unnervingly specific address and the crest in the wax seal. It wasn’t how Kaneki usually sent his letters meaning this was probably from someone else. The idea had him both curious and on edge as he tore the envelope open with his letter opener and began to read the odd letter.

Dear Anteiku,

As the people, Kaneki most considers his family (according to a charmed quill) you are invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to watch the first task of the Triwizard tournament. There's a portkey included and when you’re ready to leave make sure everyone is holding it and say “Boggart”. We look forward to your arrival.

Tsukiyama grinned widely, far too widely to be anything good.

……………

“Kaneki! Charlie told me something great! Ron said excitedly.

“Ron! Keep it down!” Hermione admonished, following close behind “we’re in a library at least try to be respectful!”

“Sorry!” Ron said both quietly and sheepishly.

“So, what did Charlie tell you?” Kaneki asked, smiling fondly at the two’s playful bickering.

“These dragons are from a preserve. That means they’re trained to recognize certain commands from dragon tamers. That means if you learn the commands you could effectively buy yourself a lot of time!” Ron explained animatedly.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! Most animals that work with humans have some sort o training. That super helpful! Could you tell Charlie thanks for me?” Kaneki asked.

“They are still wild animals though. They can be unpredictable, protective, and incredibly food motivated so you shouldn’t rely too much on commands and still work on expanding your spell arsenal,” Hermione warned, telling Kaneki the parts Ron had forgotten to mention.

“Yeah, I wasn't planning on skimping out on spells. I was just working on a few actually,” Kaneki told her.

“Oh! Before I forget here’s the explanation of the commands,” Ron said, giving him a thick letter, of multiple pages.

“Thanks, I’ll meet you two back in the common rooms later, “ Kaneki said with an amicable smile before shifting his focus back on to his book.

……………

Kaneki had been busting his ass off learning as much as he could about how to face dragons with helpful pointers from Charlie along the way. Unfortunately, he was already sick of this tournament before the first task even started.

One day during class the champions got called up to the headmaster's office. Honestly, Kaneki hadn’t been paying too much attention to it though. Rize had a bad habit of getting more annoying whenever he was stressed or anxious about something. Naturally, it was a bit hard to focus when everyone had Rize’s face randomly and suddenly superimposed over their own. (Think DDLC Monika vibes) So when the headmasters told them about family day he’d been too busy trying to block out the rising sense of unease from seeing Rize’s young, feminine face over Dumbledore’s old man body.

It really was disturbing how good Kaneki had gotten at hiding how broken his mind truly was.

He had just assumed that since his parents were dead and the Dursleys certainly wouldn’t agree to come to Hogwarts. He thought he would just be alone again (as per usual).

He really should’ve known that things never went that smoothly.

……………

When the day arrived Kaneki had seen Fleur, Cedric, and Krums family appear in the great hall back to back in around two-minute intervals at breakfast. It had been 10 minutes since Krum's family had arrived and there didn’t seem to be any indication of anyone else arriving when Hermione got too curious to not ask.

“Kaneki?”

“Hmm?”

“Isn’t your family coming?” She asked. At this point, Ron was also glancing over at the two.

“No,” He said in a flat but polite tone.

“Not even your aunt and uncle?” She asked.

“Especially not them!” Kaneki said, a shiver running down his spine at the thought of seeing them again.

Just as the words left his mouth though, he heard the “Oomph” of people and luggage being deposited on the ground via port key and felt an impending sense of doom when he turned to see who had just arrived.

“Please don’t let it be the Dursleys, please don’t let it be the Dursleys!” He chanted over and over ad he looked over.

. . .and for once it wasn’t the Dursley. No, it was arguably worse.

“OI GET OFF OF ME YOU STUPID SNAKE ASS!” Someone swore loudly in Japanese.

“SHUT UP ILLITTARATE BUNNY BOY! DO YOU THINK I'M NOT TRYING!?” Someone else yelled back.

Kaneki physically winced when he heard the familiar voices. He slowly and stiffly turned to look and, of course, there was Tsukiyama (the only one who landed on his feet), Ayato, Nishiki, and Kimi.

Kaneki just sat there openly gaping at the sight in mild horror. While Kimi tried to calm down Ayato and Nishiki, Tsukiyama looked around before enthusiastically waving in his direction. “Ka-ne-ki kun!” he exclaimed in glee.

God, why was it always him? He thought as he proceeded to deliberate if it would be that bad to just punch one of the ghouls to relieve some stress.

Chapter Text

Kaneki sighed as he massaged his temples. Including himself, there were currently four ghouls inside Hogwarts! One was much but four was laying it on more than a bit too thick!

Eyebags seemed to materialize from nowhere as he got up from the Gryffindor table.

He walked toward the odd group with a forced, sickeningly sweet smile slapped on his face.

(A/N: Anything italicized is Japanese)

“What the hell are you doing here?!” He asked, tensely smiling at Tsukiyama who was steadily growing worried that he was going to pop a blood vessel.

“Hehe, we were apparently invited by the school. Sorry!” Kimi said sheepishly.

When Kaneki turned to address Kimi his demeanor completely changed. “Oh no don’t worry you’re fine,” Kaneki said waving his hand in dismissal and momentarily losing all his threatening aura.

The two idiots hadn’t stopped fighting yet and almost as soon as Kaneki looked away from Kimi his smile became forced again in annoyance.

“Excuse me, is that arguing I hear?” he asked, placing a hand on both of their shoulders causing them to jump.

“N-nope not at all! We’re buddies right?” Nishiki said nervously.

“Yup, friends. 100%. No doubt about it.” Ayato said with a borderline frantic nod.

“Good,” Kaneki responded with a slow nod “Let’s get you guys speaking English then.”

The one thing Ayato and Nishiki could bond over, their shared trauma of being on the wrong side of Kaneki.
……………

“excuse me professor would you mind helping us out with a translation charm?” Kaneki asked Flitwick politely.

“Oh of course,” He said, pulling out his glowing wand.

“What - the hell did he just do?!” Ayato started in Japanese and ended in English.

“Language Ayato!” Kimi reprimanded

“Hmph- whatever,”

“Merci professor, not all of us know English so that makes things much easier,” Tsukiyama said, thanking the short man.

“Not a problem,”

“Oh! I forgot to ask,” Nishiki remarked, “How many days are we staying? I have a pharmacology test later this week,”

“You may stay for the remainder of the school year if you wish to observe the entire tournament. Otherwise, we’ll have another portkey set up for the morning after the trial and you can come back right before each trial,” explained Dumbledore

“Thank you, If I may inquire where will we be sleeping during our stay?” Tsukiyama asked.

“You can stay in the temporary family quarters then. During the day you’re allowed to follow Kaneki to his classes so long as you don’t interfere with the lessons. I’ll have Nick show you there. Would you like to stay for breakfast?”

“No-,” Ayato butted in.

“Of course we’ll stay. Though I should say that we ate before we left,” Tsukiyama interrupted with a deceptively sweet smile.

Ayato glared at Tsukiyama with both shock and disgust. Almost immediately Kaneki stepped on his foot with a passive but intimidating stare.

“Ayato didn’t you just say how much you were looking forward to trying the food here?” He asked seriously.

“I-I did but I don’t want my opinion to be clouded by the fact that I’m full,”

“Oh? When did you become a gourmet?!” Tsukiyama teased.

“Besides, young Kimi hasn’t eaten yet. Be more considerate!” Nishiki said through masked passive-aggressive anger.

“Oh no it’s fine if you want to skip eating. You’re already stuffed so I don’t mind missing a meal!”

Kaneki sighed and pinched his forehead “Ayato, be respectful while you’re here ok? If you understand that then you can head up to the room with the other two. I’ll stay with Kimi,”

“R-right boss,”
……………

McGonagall’s suspicion that Kaneki was involved with gangs almost went through the roof when she heard Ayato call him boss. That painted a new picture though, he didn’t just look like just a high ranking member now, he looked like the leader of the gang. That was a level of involvement in crime she hadn’t expected.

Granted she was probably jumping to conclusions a bit too fast. You could just call some boss casually but when she added on everything that happened in Tokyo made her suspicious that this was deeper than that, something she shouldn’t write off.

She kept her face professional and blank as she watched them split up and leave when she noticed that feeling again. The same unsettling feeling of danger that she felt in Tokyo. That hadn’t just been her imagining things this time!

“-neva? Minerva?!”

“Oh sorry! What was that?”

“You were right, they are weird,” Pomona confirmed, “Something about them makes me way more nervous than I should be. They don’t feel right.”

“Yeah,” she agreed a bit absent mindedly. She set her calculating gaze on Kaneki and Kimi trying to ignore the little part of her brain trying to tell her she was reading too much into it. She was almost sure that there was something bigger under all the small inconsistencies and if there was one thing she couldn’t help but indulge herself in it was a mystery.

Chapter Text

Amon sighed as he sipped on his coffee. Leaning next to the door to room 843 he raked his hand through his hair.

About 2 minutes later his partner, Akira Mado, came out of the room.

“How’s he doing?” He asked voice laced with worry.

Akira solemnly shook her head “No improvement.”

Amon’s eyes filled with grief “I see,”

“He’s physically ok to leave. The operations all went without a hitch but his psych eval. . .”

Amon nodded “to be fair anyone could feel depressed after an injury like that,”

“That’s the thing Amon, he claims he doesn’t care about the injury but I’ve heard him talk about it before and it’s inconsistent. He sees the injury as ugly and doesn’t like people seeing his face but he also treats it like it’s something precious.”

“Most of the best agents have some level of insanity but I can’t believe it got its hooks in some like him, especially at such a young age. He used to be so bright and full of life but ghouls broke him too,”

“You know, Juzou is only a little older than him,”

“You're comparing them?! He’s that bad? We all know Juzou’s- well not the picture of mental stability,”

“He’s not even remotely that bad,” she said, rolling her eyes fondly. “Are you going to go in and see him?” Akira asked

“Yeah, will you wait for me?”

“Always”
……………

Amon braced himself before pushing open the door to the hospital room. “Hey Nagachika, how are you?”

The boys in question didn’t respond. Instead he curled further in on himself so he was even less visible under his blanket.

The lights were still off so the room was only lit by the rising sun.

“Do you need anything? Water or maybe something other than hospital food?”

Hide made no move to face him but right when Amon thought he wouldn’t react a soft slightly metallic voice answered “eating in front of people is hard. I’m mostly tube feeding at this point.”

“Ah, I’m sorry-“

“Don’t be. I'm closer to them this way,”

“Who?”

“The person I love most,”

“Ah she must be a lucky lady,”

Hide shifted in his bed so he was sitting up and looked Amon in the eyes before saying “not she, he,”

“Huh- oh! You’re gay?”

“Yeah” this time there was a little amusement in his voice. It made Amon a bit surprised by how far voice prosthetics had come. They caught so much detail now.

“Well then he must be lucky”

Hide let out a sad laugh “He didn’t evacuate the ward in time. I gave up my face because I thought he might be able to live-“ his breath got caught in his throat. “- I- he didn’t make it,”

“I’m so sorry,”

He laughed softly again “geez you apologize too much. It wasn’t like you were the one who killed him or anything”

“If I ever find the ghoul who did this to you-“

“You won’t. . . He’s gone now”

For a second Amon couldn’t tell if he was talking about the ghoul or his boyfriend.

Amon sighed and leaned against the wall. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was leaning and suddenly the light flooded the room

He flipped the switch

Abruptly he saw the grizzly wound clearly for the first time. The flesh from below his nose, past his collarbone, and down to his upper chest was completely missing. His lips and most of his cheeks were gone. It was one of the worst injuries he’d ever seen on an investigator who was still alive.

“No! Turn it off! Don’t look at me!”

The exclamation pulled Amon out of his stupor and he quickly turned the lights off again.

“Amon can you go now?”

“But-“

“Please!”

“O-ok I’m sorry,”

For the first time since entering the room, Hide didn’t tell Amon not to apologize.
……………

Hide moved his hand over his scar tissue, he gently stroked the tough red skin.

“I told you I wouldn’t give up on you no matter what and even if I have to spend the rest of my life looking I promise I’ll find you,” whispered to himself.

He paused before chuckling wistfully “Besides I don’t want to live in a world that doesn’t have you in it, so if you really are gone I’ll follow you. I’ll always be by your side no matter what,”

“Rabbits die of loneliness”

Yes, he’d always been the type of person to die if he was left alone.
……………

Amon and Akira walked to the office together. Amon had expected another day of filing paperwork since his group hadn’t had many cases since the owl suppression operation. Evidently though the CCG had other plans because he was called into the chairman's office.

“Sir, what did you want to see me for?”

“Amon, I want you and your team to go educate a private school in Scotland about ghouls. The school values its privacy so before I give you too many specifics they want you to sign nondisclosure agreements. I’m aware your team is currently short-staffed so we’ll be adding Tamaki, a new trainee to your group,”

Amon thought about it for a bit before speaking again “Actually sir, I spoke to Nagachika this morning and I would prefer if he could be on our team,”

“Nagachika? Oh, you mean the boy who lost half his face. Is that a wise decision? If I’m correct, isn't he still in the hospital?”

“Yes but he’s doing much better. I believe the isolation might be part of the reason his mental health hasn’t been great.”

“So you believe it would benefit his recovery?”

“Yes I do,”

He sighed “I’ll look into it but till then Tamaki’s on your team,”

“Thank you!”
……………

He’d later let Akira know about the assignment and after hearing that not only was the assignment low risk, it also included an all-expenses paired vacation to Britain, she pounced on the offer.

So that only left Nagachika. He couldn’t force him to leave the hospital and frankly, he didn’t want to but he desperately hoped he would. He didn’t want to leave him cooped up alone in a hospital room for the next few months.

It had been years since he’d been inside a church. After Donato the cross that had once given him comfort became a symbol of pain and twisted intentions hidden behind the mask of a smile. Still, he was raised to be the picture-perfect christian boy and it seemed something from his childhood other than trauma had stuck around as he kneeled on his floor and prayed to god that Hide would be ok.

He’d already lost Takizawa, he couldn’t lose him too. Even though Hide was still physically with them he’d seen what survivors' guilt and trauma could do to a person.

When he arrived in the chairman’s office the next day it seemed his pleas had been heard because there in front of him stood Hide.

“Investigators you’re all up to date on the assignment parameters correct? I trust the paperwork is all done,”

All three of them said yes in their own ways and the chairman sighed as he pressed his fingers to his nasal bridge.

“You're all going to be teaching at a magical school.” He said tiredly.

Amon blinked.

What??

Chapter Text

Kaneki led Kimi down to the Gryffindor table “Guys this is Kimi, she’s one of my friends from Tokyo. Kimi, these are my friends Hermione and Ron,”

“Pleased to meet you! I’m Hermione Granger. So Umm how did you meet Kaneki?”

Kimi laughed nervously “Oh it’s quite a story,”

Hermione laughed “Don’t worry, I became friends with him when we fought a troll together. I don’t think anything can be stranger than that,”

“Ah well, I got kidnapped and my boyfriend, Kaneki, and another one of Kaneki’s friends had to save me,” she explained sheepishly.

“Oh Merlin! That is quite the story. You ok?”

“Oh yeah, but it’s still a bit of a tender subject so…,”

“So uh what school do you go to?” Ron asked, getting the hint that she wanted to change the subject.

“Kami highschool. It’s one of the best upper secondary schools in the country,”

“Huh I thought the biggest magic school in Japan was Mahotokuro?” Hermione asked

“Oh I don’t know about magic schools. I’m in an accelerated program for med school,”

“Wait, are you a muggle?!” Ron asked in surprise.

“Muggle?”

“Non-magical,” Kaneki explained

“Then yes I am,”

“Ah that makes sense. Kaneki’s been living in the muggle world,” Ron remarked to himself.

Hermione’s eyes were sparkling with excitement “I haven’t talked to someone scientifically literate in forever! I’m keeping you!”

Kimi laughed “yeah I guess in a world where magic is so readily available science would get forgotten but i mean it can’t be that bad,”

“Here watch this. Hey Malfoy, I bet you don’t know what makes people sick?”

“Obviously it’s magic. Wow and here I thought you were smart mudblood!”

“Oh boy! That’s- wow that’s way worse than I thought. How haven’t Wizard exposed themselves yet?!” Kimi asked in surprise.

“That’s what happens when science is an optional subject,” Kaneki explained.

“Yeah…I’m keeping up to date on my muggle education over break. I wanna make sure that I can go to college and stuff if the whole idea of a magical job doesn’t pan out,” Hermione said

“Probably a good idea, the magical world is kind of a mess,” Kaneki admitted.

“What do you mean?” Ron asked, feeling a bit left out of the conversation.

“Well, it’s just that the magical world is a bit over dependent on magic. They’re not willing to admit when the muggle world is better,” Kaneki said

“The magical community is also terribly far back in human rights with things like blood purity and the way they treat werewolves. For Merlin sakes, they still practice inbreeding!” Hermione explained.

“inbreeding?!” Kimi asked in shock.

“Wait I don’t get it, why is that so bad?” Ron asked.

“To explain it properly I’d have to explain genetics but to simplify, babies that are inbred are much more likely to be born with some sort of illness. There are quite a few horror stories including one with blue people. Keep in mind that I’m not even touching on all the ethical issues either,” Kimi said.

“Huh that’s strange. I don’t think I know any sick purebloods but they are all a little loony. Hey wait a minute! I’m a pureblood!”

“Not everyone is born sick. All of them just seem like normal people. You might actually be on to something with how crazy some of them are though,” Hermione started mumbling. “Maybe I should try to get muggle studies to be a required class,” she said to herself.

“Oh god please don’t!” Ron begged.

“So what do you guys miss most from the muggle world?” Kimi asked.

Hermione and Kaneki gave each other a look before both responding at the same time.

“Internet!”

Kimi laughed “Understandable. I don’t know how I would live without my phone.”

Ron looked confused. “What's internet?”

Kaneki opened his mouth to try and explain it before snapping his jaw shut “Oh wow explaining the internet to someone with no frame of reference is surprisingly hard, especially considering It’s something we all just grew up with.”

“I think I got it! It’s a global network of information and entertainment. It’s like if you put books, stores, painting, pictures, mail, games, and a bunch of other things all in one place.”

“That sounds like magic! Are you sure it’s not?”

“Yes! Unlike magic science has rules and laws that can be understood,” Kimi told him.

“You can use the internet through something as big as a wall called a TV or something small enough to fit in your pocket called a smartphone. The best part is that science is always getting better. Every day we can use it to do a little more,” Hermione said.

“Phone? You mean like that spinny thing dad has?”

“No. Smartphones are completely different. You can do a lot more than just all people with it.”

“Did you know that we don’t have a gym class here?” Kaneki said to Kimi.

“You don’t!?”

“No the closest thing we have is a magical sport called quidditch that’s played of brooms,” Hermione told her.

“Wow, the magical world is weird. It’s amazing but I’m so glad I live in the muggle wor- My fork!” Kimi exclaimed as her utensil slipped from her hand.

She dove under the table to pick it up again but as she came back up her shirt shifted to reveal her scar.

Hermione’s eyes caught the strange mark, jagged with scalloped edges. She only got a glimpse but if she had to guess she would say it looked like a bite mark. Maybe she had a dog or something she thought absentmindedly.

“Are you done eating?” Kaneki asked.

“Oh yup!” Kimi said

“Great then we have enough time to go drop off your stuff before I have to head to class,”

“I’ll meet you two in herbology,” Kaneki said before walking away with Kimi.

……………

As they walked through the halls Kimi took in all the magic with all the awe of someone seeing it for the first time. It made Kaneki smile in nostalgia, is that what he looked like when he’d been shoved into The magical world for the first time?

“Here’s the family quarters,” Kaneki said, stopping in front of a big painting.

“Where?”

Kaneki grinned mischievously “Right here!” He said before pulling the portrait hole open.

“Woah!” You could practically see the stars in Kimi’s eyes “That’s awesome!”

Kaneki laughed, really laughed, for the first time in a while. He was with people who understood him better than anyone at Hogwarts could but unlike Tokyo where danger was everywhere, Hogwarts had a feeling of safety.

His first home, his nest.

The rooms were laid out kind of like the dorms but instead of a separate section for boys and girls it was separated by family. 4 separate sleeping areas plus a common room.

In the common room, Ayato was draped on a couch as he struggled and failed to sleep while Tsukiyama read a book.

Kimi yawned tiredly “Where’s Nishio?” She asked in Japanese.

“He’s sleeping upstairs. Perhaps you should join him mademoiselle?” Tsukiyama said

“Mm- I think I will,” she said rubbing her eyes

Ayato huffed “There’s nothing to do here!”

He complained.

“Well I’m heading to class. You two can come with me if you want,”

“Ooh! Magical classes? Sounds interesting,” Tsukiyama said as he got up.

“Anything’s better than this. I can’t even sleep because of jet lag!”

“Isn’t it night in Tokyo right now?” Kaneki asked incredulously.

“The tree does most of their shit at night,”

Kaneki nodded in understanding as he quickly grabbed his stuff and rushed off to first period with two shadows following close behind.

……………

He got to the green house in the nick of time and felt a bit of himself perk up as he noticed the class was with Hufflepuff and not Slytherin.

“Kaneki!” Ron waved, prompting Kaneki to sit with him and Hermione.

“Bonjour! I’m Shuu Tsukiyama Shuu,”

“Kirishima Ayato,”

“Family name comes last in the west” Kaneki corrected.

“Tch- whatever! Ayato Kirishima,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“He’s Ron Weasely and I’m Hermione Granger,” she said with a polite smile.

“Today we’ll be working with whipping hedges, a smaller, more docile relative of the whomping Willow,” Professor Sprout started.

For the most part herbology proved to be fun and Professor Sprout even helped Ayato and Tsukiyama take care of some of the easier plants.

……………

“Do you know what class we have next? Ron asked.

“Potions,” Hermione said with a sigh.

Kaneki grimaced

“Hmm? Why the long faces?” Tsukiyama asked.

“Snape,” Ron said darkly.

“What?” Ayato asked not knowing who or what “snape” was.

“The professor is biased. He especially seems to have a problem with me,” Kaneki said as they walked into the dungeons.

“Just beat his ass,” Ayato suggested.

“That’s not an option,”

“I forgot just how much you let humans walk all over you,”

Kaneki laughed “You make it sound like your not human Ayato,”

He blushed, seemingly because he was embarrassed about messing up his grammar, only Kaneki and Tsukiyama would know any different.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Of course but anyway I can’t exactly afford to get expelled. Losing my magic isn’t an option for me,”

They’d just arrived at the door to the potions room. “Try and be civil you two,”

Kaneki pushed open the door and settled down at a table next to Ron and Hermione with Tsukiyama and Ayato close by. They chatted a while, mostly pointless conversation, as they waited for the class to start.

Sure enough at the hour on the dot Snape waltzed out of his ingredients cupboard, robes billowing like there was a breeze in the classroom. That’s when the thought passed through his head, had Snape been waiting in his closet for a minute just to have a perfect entrance?!

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So It's been a while! I'm here to say that I think this fic needs some major re-working and that I plan to start a rewrite. I never actually storyboarded this thing which in hindsight was a big mistake. I also haven't read Tokyo Ghoul in like 4 or 5 years so I need to refresh my brain with the plot. Like i straight up didn't explain why Ayato was working with Kaneki's group until a chapter ago!

There are plot holes, my writing style has changed, and this story could use a fresh coat of paint, the old one's a bit crusty. I've also been focusing a lot more on school. I just barely passed last year and I refuse to let myself fall into that again. My plan for how I'm going to format this is going to be to add the rewritten chapter under this same story and delete the old chapter as soon as the new one is up.

My redone chapter one should hopefully be up and out by mid-February. For the most part, a lot will stay the same, most of what's changing is just things like excessive dialogue tags, typos, and random mid-story author's notes.

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Hey guys I was wondering how you all would prefer I publish the rewrite. Should do what I suggested last time, where I delete old chapters as I publish the new version, should I leave all the old chapters up even when the new ones are out, or should I just make it as a different story, or something else?

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Hey everyone! As per popular request I'll publish the rewrite as a new story. I'll be renaming this one so it'll be called Black Goat's Nest [Draft]. The new one is already up!