Magic and Mystery Coil by Allegory_for_Hatred

Little Red

Dazai ducked his head as he walked down the hall, keeping his eyes low to the ground and his senses elsewhere. He probed his focus around the school, but felt no sign of the powerful magical creature he'd felt just earlier that day.

Gone. Without a trace.

But Dazai still had the nagging feeling that it was close. With the speed it had been able to move at, Dazai didn't doubt that it could strike at any moment.

The whole situation had Dazai more on edge than he would have liked. Between this new magical threat and the students (who now had more of a reason than ever to hate him), Dazai was facing enemies on all fronts. And unfortunately, in a place like Hogwarts there was really nowhere to hide. There were even fewer chances for Dazai to just wait for things to blow over, seeing as every time he took a moment to breath it seemed as if the Daily Prophet had one more awful thing to say about him.

After today...

Ugh. Dazai could imagine the inflammatory headlines already.

Wind rustled his hair as Dazai walked out into the courtyard. He took a deep, steadying breath and let the mid-autumn air wash over him. It was nice out—sunny and blue-skied. Too nice out for all the doom-laden thoughts currently riddling holes in his brain.

After his meeting with the headmaster it was only more obvious than before: everyone here saw him as a threat. Even the professors had been distinctly hesitant to trust him despite being given Pomfrey's certain testimony. Dazai wondered if they were aware that he saw them as the threat in this situation. Probably not.

Dazai sighed as he tore his focus away from the walls. Whatever creature he was looking for must have decided to lay low after its attack. Searching right now would be useless.

In the meantime, he needed...

Dazai frowned.

If he were back in Yokohama right now, with access to all the resources he could ever want, what would he ask Mori for..?

Dazai meditated on this while he walked. So deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice—

Something sharp and hard suddenly cut into his cheek.

Dazai jumped, hands instinctively raising to his chest protectively. His eyes whipped around the courtyard.

Two students sneered at him from several feet away.

Dazai recognized them immediately as Pansy's new friends—the two students he'd met earlier that year on the train. Millicent Bulstrode and Tracey Davis. Both were holding stones.

Millicent tossed a stone up and down. Meanwhile, Tracey was crouching down in the stone garden, rolling a dozen pebbles between her fingers.

Something wet slipped down Dazai's face.

When he raised a hand to catch it, his cheek stung.

For the second time today, Dazai's glove came away wet with fresh blood.

"You threw a stone at me," Dazai commented numbly. He flexed his fingers, watching how the blood shined in the light. "I'm getting sick of people hitting my face. Everyone will see the see the bruise."

Tracey and Millicent didn't pay him any heed.

"You killed Mrs. Norris!" Tracey spat, vitriolic and unapologetic for it. "Everyone knows what you did. What you are."

Dazai regarded them with a cold eye. He had half a mind to just keep walking and ignore them.

Actually... that wasn't a bad idea. These brats had nothing to offer him but stones. Dazai had more important things to do, like writing an update to Mori and hunting down a magical creature. Everyone here hated him, and that was hardly new. There was no need to dwell on it. No need to bite back at kids who barely understood what they were angry about.