"Onopordum Acanthium," Light said as he entered the Slytherin Common Room. There was something with scientific names of flowers with the password this year. As expected, Ryuzaki was no where to be found. He rubbed his face, tired from saving three Slytherin Second Years from bullies. It wouldn't have created much of a problem, except the number of bullies were seven. Pathetic.

Hufflepuff would see a sharp decrease in their points.

Two months had passed. Dumbledore hadn't attempted to contact him again. The real Moody had returned after the first week, and they had an enjoyable learning session. Light had, of course known everything he was teaching and had managed to land a good impression on the Auror. Moody had been coolly avoiding Ryuzaki.

Ryuzaki's attendance was irregular. He would disappear without a trace for hours and Light would think that he had left school, and then come to find the boy having strawberry cake on the Astronomy Tower. The teachers didn't seem too concerned about his attendance. Firstly because, this was sixth year. Secondly, because Ryuzaki was after all, L, and Dumbledore had asked them to just ignore him, unless he specifically asked for attention. Light would never see him sleep, some nights when he woke up suddenly, Ryuzaki's bed would be empty, the curtains open. He would sigh and roll back, and get to sleep again, for trying to find the new student was beyond him. He had tried the first two nights and quickly given up when he almost ran into Argus Filch's cat Mrs. Norris. It would not do well to stain his perfect record.

The day was Halloween, and by some chance, Light had heard from the House Elves that it was Ryuzaki's birthday. Ticked off that he hadn't told him so and now he couldn't get a proper gift, he set to finding him first. This was the reason why he exited the Common Room with a sigh, trying to figure out where Ryuzaki was. He knew perfectly well that if the boy so wished, he wouldn't be able to find him. However the thought of leaving Ryuzaki alone, for he really didn't have any other friends, on his birthday struck as wrong to him. The House Elves said that they had no idea where he was, saying that he had just taken three strawberry muffins and disappeared somewhere.

He had been an oddity in the house of snakes, but in due course, the Slytherins had come to accept Ryuzaki and leave him alone for most part of the time. He had been insulted by some people, but he had just looked at them until they had backed off. Light, for a matter of fact, knew his actual name due to a chance glance at the Mauradar's Map but Ryuzaki had pleaded to call him either Ryuzaki or Ryuga to avoid people finding out that a Lawliet was alive.

Because, the last anyone knew of the Lawliets, a long line of inventors of Potions and Spells, was that a Potions accident had wiped them off existence. And Ryuzaki was more than happy to keep it that way. Light turned a corner and came face to face with the Ravenclaw, Near. Neither were fond of the other, and they kept their distance. Near was quite tall for his age, with messy white hair and an equally pale skin.

Light had zero clue of who he was, same with the Gryffindor, Mello and Hufflepuff, Matt. Like, he knew their names and all, but something felt really off about them. And some way or the other, they seemed to know exactly where Ryuzaki was, provided that he wasn't actively trying to conceal himself.

"Have you seen Ryuzaki?" Light asked him, hoping that he would answer. If he was in a good mood, he would answer, otherwise he would just ignore him. He really hoped that it would be the former, because it was almost evening.

Near looked at him and nodded, pointing to the Whomping Willow with the sock puppet that he had in his hand. Aye, that was another thing about him. He had a strange addiction to toys, Mello with chocolates, just like Ryuzaki with anything sweet.

"Thank you," he said, politely and went towards it, keenly aware of the first-year's eyes on him. He shook it off, after all what could a mere kid do to him?

Pressing down the knot, he went down, wondering what had possessed the boy to come down here. He became keenly aware of the coppery stench of blood, which hadn't faded in time.

Ryuzaki was standing there, in the middle of the bloodstained room, the bed that had once existed torn to shreds, the ceiling half caved in. Of course Snape hadn't gone down without a fight. The lingering traces of dark magic was still present, and the ghost of the man's memory lingered heavily on his mind.

Before, Light could open his mouth to speak, Ryuzaki started speaking, as if he had witnessed the scene himself. He had probably reconstructed the entire events from the crime scene itself.

"There were four of them, four well-trained Death Eaters. He had known that it was coming, he had been prepared. But, he couldn't hold them off completely, the Sectumsepra curse seemed to be there favourite, as is understood, now—"

"Ryuzaki?"

Ryuzaki looked more depressed, the more he spoke. He was standing, gazing blankly ahead, black eyes staring into space. Light's voice seemed to have snapped him out of his reverie and he looked at the other boy, who had come beside him.

"I get that you are a detective, Ryuzaki, but first off, this is Halloween and second off, today is your birthday. And reliving your mentor's death isn't the best way to celebrate it."

With that the slouched boy was dragged out of the room and out, into the open. Dusk was already falling.

He looked back at Light, who had started up with, "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday, I don't have the time to give you a gift, now—"

Ryuzaki cut him off, looking amused, some life returning to his otherwise dead obsidian irises.

"Oh, don't worry, I have the best gift I could get."

Light stopped, confused for the first time in a really long while. What gift was he talking about, now?

"Wha—"

Shaking himself off, Ryuzaki laughed and said, "Now, I don't really want to be late for the Halloween Feast. Come along."

They didn't pay much attention to the albino boy who gazed blankly at them before disappearing with his dolls.

Near wouldn't say that he knew L well. In fact, this was the first time he actually saw him. And that too because of a certain errant Dark Lord. L had realised that secrecy would only lead to his own death and had been forced to reveal himself to a secret few people.

Near, Mello, Matt and Light Yagami.

Light Yagami rubbed him off the wrong way. From proper deduction, there was nothing threatening about his existence, but somewhere Near figured, that if given the right circumstances, he could very well become a delusioned tyrant like the person they wished to defeat.

He twirled his hair in his hands, wondering exactly what L was up to. They all looked up to him as the most Supreme form of crime detection, as someone who could never be wrong. It was, in a way, quite alarming, how much they idolised him and set him as a standard for themselves. Ryuzaki was well aware of the fact but nothing he did would throw them off that belief, so he had given up hope. Light, to him, was an interesting person, and unlike Near, he wasnt wary of him, instead seeing him as a challenge, a match for him. For, it was the first time someone spoke to him in a friendly and equal way, even after gaining the knowledge of who he was. No actual manipulation, no flattery. It was, to him, quite refreshing and amusing.

Near and the rest's true identity wasn't known to Light and they would love to keep it that way. He sighed, realising that it was time for the feast. Grumbling something about too much socialising, he went up the stairs to the feast.