Chapter 18: Questions Asked & Back to School
“Hermione will be here for a few weeks from what Madam Pomfrey said.” Harry told his friends, looking to the entrance of the hospital wing.
Ron asked, “Why do you think Madam Pomfrey never asked about how Hermione got… you know… fur and stuff?”
Gohan shrugged, though knew the answer (read her mind cause he also wondered why); “She probably assumed since Hermione’s got the top grades in the class she tried to do a transfiguration spell too advanced for her.”
Harry looked amused, “That’s a pretty descriptive guess.”
Gohan grinned, “Wouldn’t you believe it if you didn’t know what really happened to her?”
Ron chuckled, “He’s got a point mate. I don’t think anyone will argue with that explanation.”
Harry had a grim look on his face, clenching his fists with frustration, “I can’t believe Hermione has to go through with all this, and we didn’t even make an inch of progress.”
Gohan nodded, showing very little emotion to this statement, “Malfoy was our only suspect, and now we have nothing. We have nothing to start from, nothing to add to, and nothing at all.”
Harry turned his head, to the empty halls of the school, “For all we know, the Heir could be anybody.”
Ron grimaced, “We do know one thing. Whoever the Heir is, they’d have to be in Slytherin, since they’re related to Slytherin.”
Gohan forced a laugh, “And that part we already assumed.”
As they were going to enter the wing to see Hermione, Harry said, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to get lucky now, won’t we?”
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After the boys went to see how Hermione was doing Gohan quickly told his friends he had to leave, so like before he ran out of the room and vanished without a trace. This gave Ron and Hermione some time to confide their rising suspicions of Gohan to Harry.
Ron retold Harry of all their suspicions to Harry (who got a light description of them after Gohan left the first time). They told of the Pixy attack, the huge creature in the Forbidden Forest, Gohan’s disappearing act in the Great Hall, and other things.
Harry insisted, “Oh, come off it guys. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of that. I mean, what do you guys see in Gohan that you would find him suspicious?”
Hermione answered Harry’s question without hesitation. As she spoke, Harry noticed that Madam Pomfrey had already made excellent progress in getting Hermione back to normal. Her cat ears had shrunk to a very small size, and her tail was almost gone. And some of the hair on her face was already going away.
“Well, besides him being super strong, fast, and shoot energy out of his hands, haven’t you noticed that something always happens when he’s gone? When that… that thing appeared in the forest, I never saw any sign of Gohan noticing it.”
Harry protested, “Gohan said he was asleep.”
Hermione rolled her eyes, “NO ONE could be asleep through that noise. It was so horribly loud; I doubt anyone didn’t hear that noise except for you. And another thing, I tried to find that spell Gohan said he used, but I couldn’t come across any spell, charm, hex, or curse that was remotely similar to the one he used.”
Harry paused, and then said, “Well I can’t explain that, but so what? It’s not like what he did was bad, it was the exact opposite.”
Hermione huffed, “Well what about what Ron said? Don’t you find it odd that Gohan just disappeared and reappeared into a different spot more than 30 ft away in less then a second?”
Harry thought about this. He knew Gohan was fast, really fast in fact, but was it possible to just do what he did as running really quick?
Harry sighed, giving in, “Alright, he is acting a little weird, I’ll admit that. But why are you concerned?”
Hermione answered, “Something just doesn’t feel right about him. I don’t know what but I feel uneasy around him.”
Harry then remembered what Dobby had told him about Gohan, and spoke, “Guys, I think you should know something else Dobby had mentioned to me. He said something about being careful around Gohan, that he was dangerous.”
Ron’s eyes widened, “Why did he say that?”
Harry shook his head, “I don’t know, but he also said something about me not knowing about Gohan’s race and past, whatever that means.”
Hermione wondered, “What does that mean? What did he mean about his race?”
Harry answered, “No idea. He hit himself over the head and left before I could ask.”
Ron suggested, “Maybe that house elf hit him over the head too many times. I mean, what else could Gohan be except human as his race?”
Hermione pondered this, and then had an idea, “What if Gohan was part magical creature? That would certainly explain what Dobby meant.”
Harry looked confused, “Um, you mean like his dad was a dragon or something?”
Hermione replied as Ron laughed in amusement, “No, that’s not quite what I meant. There are many magical creatures that are able to have relations with wizards or witches, and maybe Gohan’s parents are some of them.”
Harry considered this, “That could explain why he doesn’t talk about his father often. But what did he mean by past?”
Ron added, “I thought I heard that name Piccolo before, the guy Gohan said trained him. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in a good way I heard it.”
Hermione said, “Okay, I’ll try and find out more about that (once I’m better of course), since it’s the only thing we can go by.”
Harry insisted, “I understand you guys want to find out what Dobby meant by what he said about Gohan, but don’t worry. Gohan’s not any more dangerous as you or me.”
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“TRI BEAM HHHHAAAA!”
“SPIRIT BALL!”
“DESTRUCTO DISK!”
Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin had all sent their most powerful attacks towards Gohan (in his Cell games clothes), who was just standing still, waiting for the energy based attacks to hit him. Many of the guests that had stayed at Capsule Corp. decided to watch the fight, interested in seeing if Gohan had gotten stronger during his break at school, just like his father would be after a period of isolation from his friends. Gohan was well over 200 feet away from his friends; it would take the attacks less then half a minute to close in and hit him. The attacks were closing in at great speeds, all aligned up in a pattern, as if to combine their separate power. Tien’s Tri Beam was last, with Yamcha’s Spirit Ball in front of it, and Krillin’s Destructo Disk in front of both of them. At the last second just before the attacks were at point-blank range, Gohan cupped his hands at his side; blue energy began to form in them and beams of light escaped through the cracks between Gohan’s fingers.
Gohan chanted, the cold air showed his breath with each syllable, “Ka...Me...Ha...Me...HA!!”
He released the blue and white beam of energy, thrusting it forward towards the oncoming attacks. It collided with the attacks, and for the first few seconds looked like they were both of equal power. But then the Kamehameha Wave plowed through the attacks with ease, and now the combined power of all four attacks headed towards the three humans. Krillin and the others tried to dodge the blast, but their efforts were in vain. While they escaped the full damage of the Kamehameha (along with its extra power), they were seriously injured as the blast grazed their sides. Most of the beam had landed in a mountain of snow, causing cold wind and snow to blow in all directions, steam from when the scorching beam met the freezing ice to rise and expand throughout the whole area, and everyone to become blinded by the sudden winds and ice being flung at them. As the steam had cleared, bystanders saw that Gohan was standing tall, as still as a statue with his eyes looking fiercely forward, in the direction where his friends/ opponents were. Once they came into view, all three humans were slouching, with cuts and grazes all along there bodies. Their clothes were ripped in so many places, and they were all having trouble standing up. But, all three fighters suddenly powered up, and launched themselves at the young warrior. As they were all about to strike, Gohan smiled mysteriously, and phased completely out of sight. They canceled their onslaught automatically as they saw this, halting in midair. For several seconds, all was quiet. No one had made a move, wondering where and when the young Saiyan would appear.
Then, they heard a noise behind them, knowing Gohan had made his move. Once they had turned around, Tien cried out in surprise, and fell to the ground, beaten. Yamcha and Krillin looked around frantically, trying to locate where Gohan had gone to now. Then, Krillin heard Yamcha say “UUHH”, and turned around immediately. Yamcha fell to his knees, groaning, and then passed out in the snow. Krillin was now looking scared, his eyes wandering in all directions, trying to find Gohan fast and end this. He did this for a minute, and then, heard footsteps in the snow approaching him. He turned around, and saw Gohan’s shadowy figure approaching him from a distance. Krillin freaked, and turned around to run. But once his head turned along with his body, he stopped. Gohan was inches away from him, frowning. Krillin looked from where Gohan was, to where he is now. Krillin stuttered, knowing what was about to happened. Gohan raised his hand, gold energy forming in it as electricity surrounded his hand. It grew, doubling in size with every second. Krillin readied himself, seeing Gohan’s hand about to release the ball…
“GOHAN! DINNER’S READY!”
Gohan’s head turned, the ball slowly disappearing. His stomach growled loudly, the only sound heard amongst the people and the only fighters still standing.
Gohan happily cried out, “DINNER?! ALRIGHT!”
He dashed into the house, leaving all the onlookers, Tien and Yamcha (who were just getting up), and Krillin standing in the cold and shocked at the sight that they had just witnessed.
Krillin muttered, walking to the house of his dead friend, “Why am I not surprised?”
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