Over Christmas break, things were pretty normal for Gohan and the others. Vegeta and Piccolo trained with him, Gohan studied both magic and technical things, and he normally visited everyone since he would be leaving for an even longer time period. The day before he left back for Hogwarts however, Gohan spent with Piccolo, in hopes of him helping with the Chamber of Secrets.
Piccolo looked into the distance on the Lookout, listening to Gohan explaining what had happened.
Gohan continued, “So then I distracted Malfoy, and we ran out as fast as possible. Once we got to that bathroom again, we found out our friend Hermione got her hair sample mixed up with cats, and that turned out a mess.”
He stopped talking, waiting for Piccolo to say something about what he should do. There was silence for what seemed like hours, and then, he heard Piccolo chuckling. This continued for minutes, until Gohan had enough.
“Well I hope you find this funny, because I came up here for help, not an audience.”
Piccolo stopped, continuing to look at the clouds around the Lookout, “I apologize, and let me explain. You and your friends risked expulsion, allowed one of them to have cat features now, and you did all this to try and find out if this ‘Malfoy’ kid was the Heir, when all you had to was read his mind? Unlike your father Gohan, you aren’t so naïve, so tell me why you didn’t just find out.”
Gohan answered, “Believe me I tried, but you have no idea how dense that kid is. He’s like those small eggs inside big ones, and those inside bigger ones, you know what I mean. I finally stopped trying altogether once I just scratched the surface.”
Piccolo grinned, “Come on, this kid’s mind can’t be that bad.”
Gohan smirked, “This one’s head is filled with so much trash it could be a small landfill.”
Piccolo turned to face Gohan for the first time, “That’s beside the point. I don’t know what I can do to help you. My only advice for you is to keep up your guard. Whoever or whatever’s attacking your friends is either really fast or is really good at hiding, so I suggest you try and find its ki-”
Gohan interrupted, “I already tried that, but whatever’s doing this is either not able to use ki or knows how to conceal its ki.”
Piccolo continued speaking, “Let me finish. If that doesn’t work then try listening for whatever it is. You said you could hear voices right? Ever consider those voices were the monster?”
Gohan nodded, “Yes, I thought about that, and that’s something else I wanted to talk about. Harry and I are the only people who can hear it. What does that mean?”
Piccolo replied, “Well, is there anything else you and Harry have in common that could explain it?”
Gohan thought, scratching his head, “Well, I don’t know… (He snapped his fingers) wait a minute! We can both talk to snakes, we can even hear them! Maybe whatever’s attacking people is a snake!”
Piccolo smiled, “Now there’s that strategist I trained. But,” he turned serious, “I would suggest that you don’t tell your friends about those theories just yet.”
Gohan frowned, “Why not? They’re in this too-”
Piccolo cut in, “Which is why you shouldn’t tell them any of this. Unlike those kids Gohan, you can take care of yourself without the use of a wand. Actually, you can take better care of yourself using your power rather than your wand. But my point is, these kids look for adventure, and will only walk into trouble if you mention this to them.”
Gohan glared at Piccolo, but gave in, “Fine, but you have no idea what I’d do to protect my friends.”
Piccolo smirked, “I have a pretty good idea.”
Gohan asked dully, “Anything else you want to talk about?”
To his surprise, Piccolo nodded, “Actually yes. From what I hear you’ve allowed your peers to know about you, what you can do.”
Gohan knew immediately that Piccolo was referring to the whole Bojack tournament thing.
Gohan said, “Yes, but not about me being Saiyan. They only know as much as people who saw you and dad fighting in the World Martial Arts Tournament.”
Piccolo continued, “But what I wanted to ask you was if you were thinking of telling anyone what you really are?”
Gohan stopped, thinking very deeply for a minute. He had considered telling Harry and the others at some point, but he always wondered what they would say. If they were really his friends, they’d understand. But what about the rest of the school?
Gohan hesitated, but then answered, “When I feel I can trust them, I’ll tell my friends.”
Piccolo then asked, “But what about everyone in that wizard world? They wouldn’t really care about what you are, considering you beat Cell I think they’d welcome you with open arms.”
Gohan asked, “But what about you? If I were to tell them the truth, then I’d have to tell them about you to.”
Piccolo shrugged, “I’ve been around for so long, I doubt people would think of me differently if I told them I was a former guardian and alien. Besides, they have their own secrets to keep. While I have had to hide my true origin (which isn’t that hard of a job), they have to conceal a whole separate world, as well as their magic and lifestyle. I doubt they’ll want to make enemies who could expose them. And I’m positive all the others would care even less if you told those people about them, except for Vegeta of course, but when has he ever taken an opportunity from talking about “The mighty power of the Saiyan race”?”
Gohan grinned, “Very true.”
Then, Dende came running in, panting, “Gohan, you’re mom wants you to come home so you can spend some time with her and Goten before you have to leave for that school you go to.”
Gohan looked puzzled, “How do you know that?”
Dende looked frightened, glancing behind him, “She yelled so loud even I heard her, and besides that she threatened whoever was with you with her new frying pan.”
Gohan smiled, “I bet that got you nervous.”
Dende bitterly laughed, “Why do you think I ran?”
Gohan said to Piccolo, “I got to run. See you later.”
Piccolo nodded, “Take care of yourself kid.”
Gohan waved a hand to the two Namekians, and then flew down to the Earth like a rocket, flying faster then usual to spend his last day away from school with his mother and baby brother. He thought about what he and Piccolo had talked about; he wasn’t sure about all the answers he had given Piccolo; he had to really think and convince himself about all that he and Piccolo talked about and believed.
If whatever is attacking these people really is a snake, then this thing has gotten a whole lot more complicated. How’s it moving through the school, something like that isn’t going to be unseen? And how is it Petrifying these people? Is it a sort of venom, or something that involves more of this magic?
He sighed; more and more complications and information were piling up on his lap by the second ever since his uncle Raditz showed up so long ago. He could just never catch a break, could he? Gohan then thought about what Piccolo had said, about if he would ever tell people about what he was. He had never really thought about it very deeply, telling himself they would understand if he told them.
I just can’t believe that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would care if I was only half human. They went through a lot for their age, not as much as me but more then most people. They’re my friends, and if they truly think of me as a friend then if I tell them they won’t care. But what about the students and teachers of Hogwarts, would they trust me? What about the whole magic world? How will they treat me when if they ever find out? I know I won’t have every person’s vote for their trust, but how will they react if I decide to say anything.
Gohan groaned, “And to top it all off, mom’s going to kill me if I’m any slower.”
He powered up, and then shot into the sky ten times as fast as he was currently going. He put all of his worries into the back of his mind, worrying about what he would be doing and what was currently happening.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
It was the next day, and Gohan had to get up early to leave for Hogwarts. He bid Chi-Chi and his little brother goodbye.
He hugged his mom, who returned the gesture gratefully.
She said to him, “Now be sure to stay out of trouble, I don’t want you to come home so soon.”
Gohan smiled, “I always try to stay out, but trouble usually finds me and the others just as fast.”
She laughed softly, “Just like your father. And make sure you get all your work done.”
Gohan nodded, “I will mom.”
Goten made gestures with his arms and hands, clearly wanting to say goodbye to Gohan. Gohan chuckled, and picked his little brother up, who laughed with glee and squirmed in his brother’s arms.
Gohan chuckled, “I’ll miss you too little bro.”
He handed Goten back to his mother, and floated upwards a dozen feet above the ground. He then floated higher and higher until he was four times as high. He saw his mom and little brother waving up to him, Chi-Chi with her free hand and Goten waving his arms around frantically.
Gohan waved back, “See you guys later!”
He then powered up, and blasted off towards his school. He kept flying, thinking about what new things he would learn in his classes, and thinking about how they would stop the Heir. Half an hour later he was over the snowy castle, seeing students arriving and coming out of the castle on the ground. Gohan landed on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, so as not to draw attention to him in the sky, hovering over so many people who could spot him. His feet landed softly on the white snow covered grass next to Hagrid’s hut. Gohan then walked casually up to the castle, getting a few glances from students he passed. He began walking into the Great Hall, hearing his stomach growl as loud as it could, telling him to find food and fast. He grinned, and then once he arrived at the Great Hall spotted Harry and Ron not too far away.
As he made his way toward them, they saw him looking towards them, and started walking to them.
Harry muttered, “So, we don’t say anything to Gohan about our conversation?”
Ron made a dumb face, “Well, I thought that’s what we might do, since it’s him we were talking about. Just act normal, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong.”
Harry disagreed on that. We are doing something wrong, not trusting our friend. If there was anything we needed to know, I’m sure Gohan would tell us. I mean even if there is something he’s no telling us about, I’m sure it it’s nothing, right?