Going Magic
Chapter 2: First impressions
Characters: Gaara, Temari, Kankurou – gotta love the sandsibs – Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru and well, all the magic folk they run into over time
Pairings: Hmm, well they're kids so not so much. Possibly slight Temari/Shikamaru, and by the same definition you could consider there to be equally slight Hermione/Ron… I guess?
Set: Before Shippuden, after chuunin exams. During Book 5, Order of the Phoenix.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter
Note: It's been a good long while since I read HP so I'll probably be fuzzy on several details – however since I'll be writing primarily from the Naruto characters' POV I hope this won't be too annoying. The plotline would be altered if a gang of shinobi would enter the scene, right?
Warning: Crossover? Is that qualified to be a warning?
Italics - Japanese
Hogwarts, Kankurou had come to realise, was ridiculous. On so many levels. He had just encountered a new level when he and Shikamaru, followed by a heap of prattling brats, had climbed the stairs to what was supposed to be a common room for their house. Only the door wouldn't open and now the brass knocker in the shape of an eagle was talking to him.
"Brothers and sisters I have none but this man's father is my father's son. Who is the man?" it said.
"What the hell?" He muttered, glaring at the talkative piece of metal. "What the hell's that all about?"
"It's a riddle." A girl about his own age replied calmly but loud enough to let all the little brats hear her as well. "Here at Ravenclaw we value knowledge and wisdom. To get into the common room you need to answer the riddle."
"So what the hell happens if you get it wrong?" Kankurou asked, frowning and inwardly dreading having to decipher riddles at every damn turn. He hated riddles.
"You'll have to wait for a person to answer it correctly." The girl said as if it was the most sensible thing in the world.
"What kind of dumb…" Kankurou began but was interrupted by Shikamaru's lazy drawl of a voice.
"My son."
"What?" Kankurou asked, baffled for only a moment before the door clicked open, leaving him to glare alternatively between the offending door and the offending konoha shinobi.
"Come on, I want to get some rest." Shikamaru said, walking past him into the common room.
Kankurou snorted, gave the door one last annoyed look and followed.
To be honest, when Ino was told that she was going to sleep in the dungeons she hadn't been thrilled. Visions of dark and dank holes in the ground had filled her mind and none of them fit with her vision of comfort. In short; she'd been expecting the worst.
It hadn't helped that an arrogant looking blond guy had stopped the whole lot of them outside of the entrance and then had given them a longwinded speech about – well mostly it had been about how he was a prefect and therefore better than them. He had also made it a point of pointing out that he had the power to hand out punishments and detentions. The vain fool had been holding court in the Great Hall too, drawing hulking laughs from a couple of hunkering big lugs of guys.
By the time he actually let them into the dungeons her mood had not been shiny but had quickly brightened. The dungeons were not only luxurious but downright lavish. Stylish even, with their green and silver décor. The first room they entered was grand and looked like the type of space made for gatherings with the many sofas and armchairs and low tables standing around in varying sized groups. The most eye catching thing in the entire room however was a great fireplace set in one of the walls.
Immediately Ino knew that this was where she'd be conducting a large amount of her work. Part of the mission would be intelligence gathering after all. This meant playing the social game. Thankfully that was a game she aced in because even after the limited amount of time she'd spent in Gaara's general vicinity she suspected that she'd have to up the ante. Gaara just did not do social.
Kami-sama, why couldn't she have been placed on the same team as Shikamaru?
The next time she saw that stupid rag of a hat she'd… she'd do something horrible.
But for now she had a base-of-operation that met her needs just nicely.
When one of the girls told she and the other new girls to follow her so she could show them where they'd sleep Ino turned to Gaara.
"Well…" She said haltingly, glancing at her redheaded companion. Gaara looked at her impassively, giving no sign of any type of interest or disinterest. It was as if it was nothing more than an automated muscular response. "…Goodnight."
He said nothing in return only looked away leaving her to awkwardly follow the rest of the girl. Kami-sama, how am I supposed to survive this mission working with that guy?
"Woah! Temari! Do you see that? That armoured guy in the painting's talking!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, gesturing at his none too impressed companion to look.
"Shut up and calm down." The blond Sand shinobi ordered brusquely. "You're going to knock one of these brats over the railing with all that failing around!"
Tsk, Naruto was starting to think that the people of Suna had their humour forcedly removed as children. Scrunching his face up he blew a raspberry and turned his attention back to the armoured guy. It seemed to be talking to him but it was speaking so fast and using English words he didn't really grasp so he gave up trying to figure it out. Instead he peered closely, wondering how it was possible for a painted guy to be hopping around like that. He tried poking it but the little armoured man jumped aside, gesturing wildly and screaming at him in a loud voice. Grinning Naruto tried again, and again with the same result until the armoured guy seemed to have enough and did something amazing. He rushed out of the painting.
"Gah! Hey, where'd he go?" Naruto asked, looking around wildly. "Oi! Little armoured man where'd you go?"
"Oi, mate!" The redhead that was guiding them shouted from up ahead and Naruto turned. Yeah he did understand some English; however speaking the language… well it was a lot harder than any of his fellow shinobi cared to admit. It was a stupid language anyway. Mate, Naruto thought meant something along the lines of –san. Right, maybe the lanky redhead couldn't remember his name. These wi- wiz- magic people were pretty crap at pronouncing shinobi names anyways.
"Naruto Uzumaki!" He yelled back, stabbing himself in the chest with a thumb.
The guy pulled a confused face. "Whatever you -, mate."
Maybe he didn't get it. Tsk, dumb magic folk, he thought and repeated, slower this time: "Na-ru-to!"
The redhead looked even more confused.
"That's - name, Ron. Naruto." The bushy haired girl said and rolled her eyes. "He - you to use- name."
Yeah, she got it, Naruto was sure of it. Grinning he made a thumbs up at her. Improvised sign language was great.
"Oh, right. Well, - tell- to hurry up then."
Sighing the girl walked over to him, holding out her hand. "Hello, I'm -. I'm a -. So- need- help- me."
Somehow Naruto felt that he didn't really catch that and he glanced at Temari that were standing not very far away, arms crossed and observing the scene with a smirk. Maybe Suna people did have a sense of humour – just a really crappy kind.
"They want you to move your ass." She said. "They're trying to show us the way to our… house and you're lagging behind. So move it. "
Naruto huffed and crossed his arms. "That's all? I wanted to take a look at the moving paintings first. I can come later."
"Now." The blond girl snapped and glared. For a moment Naruto wondered if that glare of doom was a family trait or something he could learn – felling his enemies with a mere glare would be really cool. "I'm not running around looking for your sorry ass later just because you got lost."
Under duress Naruto finally gave in and followed the rest of the group, muttering under his breath while they were lead through a short hallway.
"As if I couldn't find my way in this stupid- woah!" He exclaimed once they cleared the hallway and entered a tower. "Look at that! Look, look! The stairs are moving around, Temari!"
"Naruto!" She yelled when he rushed past the whole lot of the other students and jumped onto the closest stair.
"Check it out. It's moving on its own." He called, jumping up a few steps and bending over the railing to get a better look, just in case something or someone was hiding under it to move the structure this way and that. "Huh, how's that even possible? Huh, Temari?"
Clonk!
Naruto's head spun a little when he was hit over the head none too gently. Rubbing the sore spot he turned to glare at Temari whom was glaring back with equal force.
"What the hell was that for?" He asked.
"For being an idiot." The blond girl barked back. "You're behaving like a damn rookie fresh out of training. We've got a mission so stop drawing so much attention!"
They glared back and forth at each other for a while before Naruto finally grunted. "Fine. But you didn't have to hit me that hard."
"Bonus." Temari smirked.
Meanwhile the rest of the students were trudging up the stairs. The redhead was pointing his finger to somewhere above and Naruto assumed that was where they were going so he filed in and played the obedient sheep. For now. Tomorrow, oh yeah, tomorrow he'd have a proper look around this place. Maybe he'd even manage to hunt down that armoured paint guy, he thought and grinned. Glancing at Temari he saw that that bushy haired girl was talking to her, looking somewhat upset.
"-not hitting-" he heard he say and pricked his ears. Snickering he realised that the girl was telling Temari off for hitting him. Hehehe.
"Whatever." Temari replied brusquely, abruptly interrupting the other girl and pushing past other students to walk somewhere at the front of the pack. The bushy haired stared after and for a moment she looked like she might hurry after her and continue her tirade but then she just frowned and waved a bunch of other students ahead while she walked at the end of the group. Naruto flashed a grin at the bushy haired girl before scampering after the rest of the students.
Eventually, after trudging up several moving stairwells, the redhead up front stopped in front of a portrait of a fat woman. This painted woman waved at them, crooning something that Naruto didn't catch, and he wondered if all the painted people could move and talk.
"So tell- fat- password- Mimbulus mim-tonia." The redhead said and the fat woman curtseyed and said something before the portrait opened to the side and revealed a passage. Naruto grinned in delight. A secret passage! That was so cool.
Soon enough the students were filing in, all except Temari and the two older students talking in excited whispers.
Naruto felt equally giddy as the rest when he passed through the portrait hole. He was in a house that had a secret passage and…
Naruto stopped short, some of the younger students behind him bumping into him when he saw what lay beyond the passage. The large room and fireplace barely registered in his brain because there was really only one thing his mind was ready to process. In the middle of the room stood a man that was transparent. He was speaking and coming closer and he was… he was… a ghost!
Snape was not a popular teacher, that much Temari had managed to deduce while eating breakfast that morning. From what she'd heard most of her 'house' considered the man evil, although she had decided that their opinion of evil and hers probably differed greatly. At any rate she was happy for the class, seeing as it was a joint class with the… oh, what did they call it? The house Gaara had been sorted into.
She hadn't been happy about Gaara being sorted into a different house than either herself or Kankurou the night previously. True, he had been… better… or at least more stable the last couple of months since the chuunin exams but… well, there always was a but in play where her littlest brother was concerned.
She descended the stairs leading to the dungeon with much more eagerness than any of her so called housemates. Apart from Naruto of course, since he had already bounced ahead of her. The blond had been a bit put out – theatrically so – when he'd realised that they didn't serve ramen at Hogwarts, but after some – excessive- grumbling, muttering and general grouchiness about the ineptitude of English cooking he'd still managed to devour more food than anyone else at their table. And probably any other table as well.
It wasn't hard to find her little brother amongst the other students. Even dressed in the generic black robes his hair alone stood out like a beacon. Ino was standing next to him, and from what it looked like she was holding court for a small group of girls.
"Hey, Gaara!" Naruto was already rushing down to join them, attracting curious stares from the other students. "Ino! What's up? Are your bedrooms as awesome as ours? Ours at the top of a tower. How cool is that, huh? They don't have any ramen, though, stupid English…"
Six months ago Temari would've feared for the poor guy's life, six months ago it wouldn't have been a stretch to think Gaara would just crush him like an annoying bug. Somehow though Naruto had changed things. He'd changed Gaara. It was still a tentative change but still somehow profound and the way she saw it, it was a debt that she'd never be able to repay. That little fool had done what she and Kankurou couldn't, and she was just grateful that someone finally managed to reach Gaara.
"Naruto!" Ino's shriek was loud enough to echo between the walls, causing even more people to turn and watch. "Stop rambling, can't you see we're talking? Che, really, you're so rude."
"Ah… ah… sorry, Ino-chan." The blond boy quickly apologised, waving his hands in a disarming manner. When Ino, mollified, humphed and turned back to resume talking to her new friends, Naruto scratched his head, turned to Gaara and said: "Wasn't like I was talking to her anyway. Really, talk about overreacting, ne, Gaara?"
Whether or not her brother was considering replying didn't matter as Ino swung around again, a deadly glint in her eye.
"Naruto, I swear…"
"Merlin's beard, they're the one's making all that noise? Thought a war broke out down there." Ron, having come down the stairs, said next to her.
"Yeah, Snape'll go mad." Harry said moodily.
"What're they even arguing about? I can't understand half of what they're bloody saying."
"They're speaking Japanese, or at least Naruto is." Hermione replied, sending Ron a look that Temari at least would label condescending. "I think he really struggles with our language. We should help him out."
"Why the bloody hell should we do that?" Ron asked, startled.
"Because, Ron," the girl said with more patience that Temari would've been able to muster. "He's a fellow Gryffindor and he needs help. Besides, how is he supposed to keep up with schoolwork if he can't speak the language? Honestly, you'd think Professor Dumbledore would've done something to help him. Maybe there's some translation charm that… "
"I still don't see how that's any of our…"
Hermione seemed to be about to reply when a loud shout of "Naruto!" interrupted them. Turning her head Temari saw that Ino gearing up for a world class punch to the other blonde's face when Gaara pushed off the wall and stepped between them.
"Stop."
And that was all it took for Ino and Naruto to straighten up; Ino looking slightly embarrassed and Naruto looking smug. Her brother didn't even bother looking at either of them, instead looking up, locking eyes with her. "Temari."
"Yeah, Gaara?"
He opened his mouth to say something, then cocked his head slightly to the side, as if listening, and shook his head: "Never mind."
Less than a second later the door to the potion classroom opened and a tall, thin man dressed completely in black stood there. Black eyes glared at them from a pale, thin face, and she had the instant impression that this was a man that spent his life with an angry look upon his face. Every student stood stock still when his glare passed over them, one, she thought his name was Neville, visibly cringed in fear.
"I assume, now that the deafening screeching has ceased, that whatever inane discussion was being conducted has been settled." He spoke softly, his voice deep and sharp. "You." His eyes settled on Naruto. "Explain to me why I've spent the past five minutes listening to a cacophony of mindless teenaged blabber."
Naruto, looking very much like a genin with a kunai at his throat, opened his mouth; "Er… sorry… er… oh man, oh man, help me out here guys, how am I supposed to explain anything when I can't speak this dumb language?"
"Very enlightening, Mr Uzumaki." Snape said, silkily. "Ten points from Gryffindor for fighting and the failure to vocalize the reason for doing so."
Obviously the man was not interested in explanations after all and since Naruto didn't really seem to understand what had just happened they avoided another longwinded fight. A moment later he waved them into the classroom. The room was dark and dank; every wall filled with rows of shelves that held containers of all sorts, that themselves seemed to hold ingredients that she would've imagined belonging in the lair of a mad scientist. Deciding to go with the flow Temari followed the other Gryffindor students' example and filed to one side of the room while the rest – ah, that's right their house were called Slytherin – filed to the other side.
"Settle down." Snape said, although as far as she could tell it wasn't necessary. It was so quiet that she could hear people breathing. Obviously this man was a no nonsense kind of teacher and the students knew it well.
Temari soon found out that she was utterly crap at this potion business. Starting out she'd figured it couldn't be that hard, kind of like cooking really. Not that she was a kage-class chef but she could manage feed herself, regardless of what Kankurou said. At any rate Potion making and cooking was nothing alike.
"A light silver vapour should now be rising from your potion," Snape just said, and with rising frustration Temari noted that hers was spitting lightning. Damn it all. Looking around the room she was somewhat relieved to note that she at least was not the only one having problems – hell Naruto's cauldron was emitting black smoke and flames that were steadily growing larger and hotter, leaving the blond shinobi scuttling about like a terrified hare while trying to calm it.
Snape had thankfully spotted it too as he quickly strode over and waved his wand at it. There was a deafening boom a second later, causing the students to duck their heads. The explosion had been contained within some sort of barrier though, and the only damage done was to Naruto's cauldron which had… scattered into a hundred pieces or so.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor, Mr Uzumaki, for attempting to kill every single being with a pulse within a two mile radius." Snape snapped, clearly annoyed.
"Er… sorry, sorry," Naruto said grinning and waving his hands around in apology. He probably didn't entirely understand what Snape had said to him but had to have caught the gist of it. Kind of hard not to with that vulture glaring at him. "Than… er… thank you." He continued, gesturing to the cauldron, then at the room at large. "No...er… no boom!"
"Kindly cease your inane blabbering until you've learnt to speak the language, Mr Uzumaki. I have not time nor patience to listen." Snape snapped, turning away and marching on. He looked positively murderous.
Naruto turned and gave Temari a grin and a thumb up. She shook her head. He really needed to be taught English; she thought and glared furiously down at her own cauldron. Oh well, at least her concoction didn't seem about to explode.
Sneaking a glance across the room at Gaara she started, blinked hard once and hoped her jaw wasn't hanging open. The little brat's cauldron was emitting that fabled silver vapour Snape had talked about. Not shabby coming from a brat that couldn't fry an egg to save his life.
"How did you do that? Make that wretched potion, I mean." Temari asked her little brother the moment they stepped out of the classroom.
"I followed the instructions." He responded, the deadpan monotone indicating he thought it was a very dumb question.
Temari bit the inside of her cheek, hard, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her little brother had a way of misinterpreting the gesture.
"Come on." He said and led the way up the stairs.
They walked together, side by side, until they reached the Great Hall. For whatever reason the fact that they were walking side by side seemed to catch a lot of attention amongst the other students, causing whispering and some finger pointing to follow in their wake.
"What the hell's their problem?" Temari muttered, sending glares left and right at the offenders.
"Slytherin and Gryffindor are at war." Gaara replied.
"War?" Temari barked an astonished laugh. "These people have no idea what war is. Not a single one of them would survive five seconds in an actual battle."
Her brother looked up at her, then around at the other students. "They believe that Gryffindors and Slytherins shouldn't speak to each other."
"What, because we could exchange sensitive information?" She asked, mockingly.
Gaara said nothing which she took as an affirmative.
"Tsk, just when I thought these magic folk couldn't get any dumber…" she muttered, shaking her head. "Whatever. " She said and turned to walk toward the Gryffindor table, waving a hand casually over he shoulder. "See ya, Gaara. And eat a proper meal, will you?"
She didn't turn to watch him, but she got the intense impression that he scoffed at that last part and she smiled. Gaara was more fun being around when she didn't need to worry overmuch about getting buried under a ton of sand on a whim.
Hermione glanced at her when she sat down next to her, but then quickly chose to ignore her. Still annoyed with her then, Temari deduced but couldn't find it in her to particularly care.
"Why were you talking to that Slytherin?" Ron asked. The redhead was seated two seats down the table, next to Harry. Now he was leaning forward, sending her a suspicious look.
"Why would that be any of your business?" Temari snapped back, glaring.
"Ron, honestly, how rude can you be?" Hermione asked, sounding exasperated. Temari had the impression that the girl wasn't defending her in any way, only that she was annoyed at her friend's bluntness.
"Well, she was talking to that Slytherin and you know how Slytherins are." Ron defended himself. Poorly, in Temari's opinion. "Evil the whole lot of them."
"Gaara's my brother." Temari said tonelessly.
"Gaara no evil." Naruto's voice spoke up at the same time. Crappy English aside it didn't leave any doubt to the intended meaning. Where he had been seated across from them he was now standing, hands on the table and glaring vehemently at Ron. Temari couldn't help the smile that curled her lips. It was nice to see someone other than herself or Kankurou standing up for Gaara. Literally in this case.
"You know, being in Slytherin doesn't automatically make someone evil, Ron." Hermione said, adopting a lecturing tone of voice. Under the weight of their combined glares Ron seemed to hunch down in his seat. "Just like being in Gryffindor doesn't make someone bold. Just look at that squirming rat Wormtail."
That last part was said in a hiss but the words had no little impact, causing Ron to go red in the face and stammer while Harry's back stiffened. She also noticed his fist closing tight around the utensils these people used, so tight in fact that his knuckles grew white with strain. Shooting a quick look Naruto's way she noted that he'd noticed as well.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Harry." Hermione apologised quickly. "I didn't mean…"
"It's alright. It's true, right?" Harry muttered moodily and resumed eating. Hermione and Ron exchanged a look over his head and then, apparently deciding on a truce, also went back to eating.
"Don't worry about Ron." Hermione said to her and Naruto both. "He can be a complete troll sometimes."
"Yeah, I know a guy like that too." Temari said with a smirk, thinking of Kankurou who had definitive troll like tendencies. Provided that a troll was the equivalent of a loudmouthed dumbass, at least. It was a tendency that did have its uses though, particularly in uniting people and making them forget old slights even if it was only in the name of defeating a common enemy. At that moment Temari did get the impression that the other girl was willing to forgive their little spat. Unwilling to let the witch-girl slide back into remembering that she was annoyed at her Temari pointed at Hermione's plate: "Is that any good?"
"Well I like it." She replied. "It's Shepard's pie."
Temari hummed, reaching for the very same dish on the table and piling it onto her own plate. "You want some, Naruto?"
The blond sighed heavily, sitting back down finally. "Still no ramen. What's wrong with these people? Don't they know what ramen's the best food ever?"
"Ramen, ramen, ramen…" Temari huffed. "Is that all you ever think about? I'm getting sick of hearing you complain about ramen. Shut up and eat."
"Gah! It's not my fault! I haven't had ramen for weeks, I'm going through withdrawal." Naruto continued complaining even as he piled his own Shepard's pie on a plate. "Beautiful, wonderful ramen. With extra pork and eggs. And…"
Temari shook her head while Naruto continued his ode to ramen. It was just her luck to end up on the same team as a noodle obsessed brat.
"What's he talking about?" Hermione asked. "I mean, what's this ramen thing? He's been saying that a lot."
"Yeah, like every single meal." Ron commented.
"It's a dish." Temari replied with a shrug. "It's no big deal, Naruto's just… he just really like ramen a lot." When Hermione sent Naruto a look that clearly said 'no kidding', she decided it was time to change topic. "Snape doesn't like Harry much, does he?"
"You mean in class…? I guess… He's never liked Harry, no." Hermione admitted, glancing at Harry who looked as cranky as ever.
"He loathes me." Harry clarified.
"Snape hates all Gryffindors. It's the only way for him to gets his jollies, I'd wager." Ron grumbled.
"Honestly, Ron, I'm sure the Professor doesn't hate Harry," Hermione said and when her two friends both turned their heads to stare at her with equal amounts of astonishment she quickly continued. "I mean, if he did would he really be helping with… you know. But it really was unfair of him to vanish your potion Harry." Hermione amended. "I did think he'd be better this year."
"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots." Ron said sagely. "Anyway I always thought Dumbledore was cracked to trust…"
"Ron!" Hermione's voice interrupted him sharply. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were talking about the order of the phoenix and the role Snape played in it. Temari had to fight the urge to roll her eyes and thought that these kids wouldn't have survived a minute in the elemental countries.
"Oh, shut up the both of you." Harry said suddenly, interrupting the bickering that had passed to and fro between Hermione and Ron regarding how much loathing Snape really had for Gryffindors. Abruptly he stood from his seat and snatched up his schoolbag. "Can't you give it a rest? You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad."
With that he marched off and out of the Great Hall. Temari followed him with her eye, wondering if she should follow him but decided that it'd look suspicious if she did.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron said, baffled.
"He's in a bad mood." Hermione said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Because of the whole You-Know-Who business and with Seamus and now Snape, but I'd prefer it if he didn't take his temper out on us."
"Yeah, that's for bloody sure." Ron agreed, turning back to his meal which was almost finished now anyway. "I get it, you know. Why he's in a bad mood and all, but it's not like it's our fault. We're on his side, right?"
"Right." Hermione agreed. Then she turned to Temari again. "So how about eight o'clock tonight?"
"What about it?" Temari asked, truly baffled.
"English class for Naruto. I thought perhaps you could… help out a little, you know translate and such. If you want that is?"
Yeah, she was well and truly forgiven, Temari decided.
"What?" Naruto interrupted, obviously he'd overheard them mentioning his name. "What're you guys talking about?"
"I guess we never asked him if it was alright with him." Hermione said somewhat contritedly.
"I'll do it now." Temari brushed off her concerns easily and locked a commanding glare on Naruto. "You. Eight o'clock. Tonight. Common room. Got it?"
"What happens tonight?" He replied doubtfully.
"You're learning how to speak English." She said brusquely, stood up and marched off. She had another lesson to get to.
She met up with Kankurou high up in one of the towers, where he was leaning against a wall while looking out a window. To anyone else he'd look just like any other bored student but Temari noted the little signs that told her that he was keeping a careful eye on Harry. The student in question was standing some ways further up, close to what looked like a door in the ceiling. He looked as moody as ever.
"Yo, Kankurou." She said as she ascended the stairs towards her other little brother, and he turned his head to give her a lazy smirk.
"Hey." He offered in ways of response. "So how's magic school treating ya, Temari?"
"It's annoying." She replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest casually. "All of these kids, they're our age more or less but they behave like children not yet out of training." Then she smirked. "It was a treat watching Naruto come face to face with the teacher in History of Magic this morning though."
"Oh yeah? What's he like?" Kankurou asked, interest poked awake.
"He's a ghost." She revealed watching with some satisfaction as his eyebrows rose on his forehead. "And, here's the kicker, Naruto's terrified of ghosts."
Kankurou gave a howl of laughter at that, causing Harry and several other students to look his way.
"Oh man, I wish I'd have seen that!"
"Che, it took me five minutes to chase his sorry ass down and get him back to the classroom. And last night he fled from that house ghost thing too." Temari said, rolling her eyes. Never the less the smirk didn't leave her lips.
"Scared of a teacher…" Kankurou snickered. "A ghost teacher… that kid never ceases to amaze me. He went head to head with Gaara without a second thought but he's scared of a fucking ghost teacher."
"Yeah well, he is an idiot." Temari supplied.
"Yeah…" Kankurou agreed, shaking his head and they exchanged a look that said it all. Idiot or not he had saved their brother. Somehow. "Oh man, sounds like you got the better end of the deal there. At least you get some action. My house is full of… Hey, watch it!"
The last part was directed at the redhead that accidentally bumped into him on his way past them. Instantly Kankurou was in offensive mode and Temari sighed when she saw who had bumped into him. Ron. Of course. It must be fate.
"Are you blind or something?" Kankurou drawled, scowling at Ron who scowled back. "Can't you see I'm standing here, brat?"
Ron seemed to be about to retort so Temari, knowing her brother's temper, stepped in before the situation escalated. "Cut it out, Kankurou. It was a damn accident."
From the look her brother sent her she could tell he did not want to 'cut it out', the dumbass really was itching for a fight. Without remorse she elbowed him hard in the side and glared at him. Kankurou grunted and looked more than a little disgruntled but eventually he held up his hand: "Yeah. Alright. Sorry 'bout overreacting for ya nearly knocking me down the damn stairs."
Temari rolled her eyes. "This is my brother Kankurou. He's an idiot."
Kankurou shot her a dirty look but she ignored him.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Ron muttered. "Sorry about barely touching you, mate." She just knew Kankurou was going to protest that so she elbowed him again. "Anyway, I thought that sl… er, redhead was your brother."
"Gaara? Yeah, he is. Can't a person have more than one?" She shrugged.
"Well, yeah. I've got a whole bunch. You know Fred and George? They're my brothers and then there's Charlie and Bill as well. And Percy." That last name was said with some disdain. "It's just, you're all in the same year and you don't exactly look like twins, or triplets, or whatever."
Temari was surprised. She'd have figured that if any of the people she'd talked to so far would've asked about it, it would've been Hermione. Certainly not Ron. She was still waiting for someone to ask about their not very Asian looking hair and features.
"Yeah, well it was this whole thing about transferring grades and shit." Kankurou said nonchalantly – giving the agreed upon explanation. "Didn't seem to translate well between our old school and Hogwarts so they just chucked the lot of us into the same year."
"Yeah. Alright." Ron nodded, starting up the stairs again. "Class is starting."
Looking up she saw that he was right; the rest of the students had already disappeared up the ladder that led into the ceiling.
"Let's go, dumbass." She smirked at Kankurou and followed Ron.
She heard Kankurou muttering something – probably nothing flattering – while she climbed the ladder but chose to ignore him. She had better things to…
"What the hell!" She exclaimed, nearly choking on the smell of perfume, or possibly incense, when she reached the top of the ladder. Coughing she forced herself the rest of the way up, and suddenly grateful for the wide sleeves of the robes she wore she covered her nose and mouth with it.
"What is it?" Kankurou asked from below, he was halfway up the ladder.
"Come on up and find out." She replied bitterly. If she had to deal with the nasty surprise of this room her brother sure as hell would too.
Seconds later she heard him cussing and his face appeared above the hatch.
"Fuck, what's that smell?" he complained, scrunching up his face in distaste and causing several other students to snicker. Although they couldn't understand a word it was pretty obvious what the problem was for the two new and unsuspecting students. Pushing his way up Kankurou managed to not cough or gag but the annoyance on his face was clear. "Smells like shit up here."
At that comment, unfortunately spoken in English, the class erupted in laughter, all except for a couple of girls that were sitting together and sent Kankurou nasty glares. Temari, however, couldn't agree more. Perhaps it wasn't as bad for the other students but for any shinobi worth their grain it was less than pleasant. She'd be surprised if she got out of this class without a headache.
"Good-day." A dreamy voice said and a scrawny woman walked into the room. Dressed in all sorts of colours, bangles and glitter, along with a pair of large glasses she reminded Temari of one of those rare sun-beetles in the western parts of Suna. "And welcome back to Divination. And a first welcome to my new students. Please have a seat."
Groaning inwardly Temari went further into the room and settled onto one of the cushions, Kankurou crashed down next to her, holding his head. At least she wouldn't be the only one with a headache after this, she thought and felt a little better for that.
To be honest she didn't listen much to what the teacher was saying after that, the smell in this room was just too bad to be able to concentrate, until they were doing what the mad woman called 'dream interpretation' and she somehow managed to turn Kankurou's dream about building a puppet army into meaning his impending death.
When the class was finally over the shinobi were the first two down the ladder and were a far stretch down the stairs before coming to a halt, both breathing in deep gulps of fresh air.
"Never again…" Kankurou decided, massaging his temples.
"We have to." She replied and leaned heavily against a wall. Kami-sama knew she hated herself for saying that.
"Fuck…" Kankurou groaned.
"Yeah…" She agreed.
"Blimey, you guys look really sick." Ron's voice sounded and moments later both he and Harry was in front of them, peering at them. "Sure you're alright? Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey?"
"Don't tell me that's another crazy bug lady." Kankurou groaned, straightening up. "Besides we're fine."
"If it's about her predicting your death, don't worry. She does that all the time." Harry said.
"Yeah, she's predicted Harry's death - what is it, mate? Ten times?" Ron agreed, grinning.
Harry shrugged.
Temari snorted and straightened as well now that the urge to heave had lifted. "Obviously the woman's a fraud. Why the hell do they keep someone like that as a teacher?"
"Who cares?" Ron said. "It's the easiest subject we've got; all we've got to do is make up some dreams and pretend they mean something. If homework keeps piling up like this we're going to need at least one easy subject."
"Come on. We should get going so we're not late for Defence." Harry said and began his descent. Ron quickly joined him.
"You should get going." Kankurou drawled. "Don't want to keep the pink hag waiting."
Temari huffed out a none-word reply and stalked off after her housemates.
Numbers.
So many numbers.
Even a good while after finally getting out of that class – Arimacy? Or something like that – he could still feel an almost physical sensation of panic just thinking about all those numbers. They were still swirling around in his head like ghouls. If Hermione – lovely, wonderful Hermione - hadn't been there to help him he'd have gone mad. That lazy bum Shikamaru hadn't been any help at all. Still he suspected that something was wrong with him being dumped in a class consisting of eggheads – he'd had a look at the people taking that other course – Div-something or other – and they seemed like the less academically inclined types. Ron, whom he hadn't liked all that much since he made that comment about Gaara, took that class after all and he didn't look all that smart. And if Kankurou could do it he was certain it couldn't be that hard.
Shaking his head he dispelled any further numbers crawling around in it and decided to focus on the next class. Defence Against the Dark Arts.
This time the grin came to him easily. Finally he'd get a chance at seeing how these magical people fought! Maybe it'd even help him in learning a new awesome jutsu in the future – yeah, that'd show that snake-bastard Orochimaru. He wouldn't know what hit him!
By the time he and the other Gryffindors that had been in the same class reached the Defence classroom Naruto was excited. Even the sweet but false smile on the toad lady's face didn't discourage him – in his mind there was no way that even a really bad teacher could completely muck up this class.
It didn't take him very long to figure out that he'd been mistaken when she set them the task of reading – reading! – for the start of the class. As if anyone would learn anything about defence from a book!
To make matters worse the book was written in English and he while he'd started to snatch up more and more words from listening to people talk he still couldn't read the language. Groaning he eventually banged his head against the heavy tome and wished he'd never accepted this mission – this was worse than when Iruka…
"Naruto." Painstakingly looking up he saw that Hermione had he wand out. " – me help -."
Scrunching up his face in confusion he didn't sit back until she retrieved her stick from her robes and carefully, probably so the toad lady wouldn't notice, pointed it at his book. Then she said something he didn't understand in a low voice and nodded at the book.
Looking back down Naruto let out a sound of surprise when the previously incomprehensible drivel written there made perfect sense. Well at least in the sense that he could actually read these characters.
Grinning wide at the witch he decided that Hermione was the best magical person in existence. Alright! Now all he had to do was to read…
…Chapter one, Basics for Beginners? Hold on, hadn't these people been taking this type of class for years? They were still at beginners' level?
Confused he turned towards Hermione again and found her staring straight ahead and holding her hand up in the air. Curious at what she was doing he craned his neck and followed her gaze straight to… the toad lady. Ah, Naruto got it now; she was trying to get the teacher's attention.
On the other hand the pink clad woman was ignoring her – deliberately it seemed and he was not the only one to have noticed. Actually the majority of the students were watching Hermione now, having given up on reading. Which Naruto could understand wholeheartedly. Bah, reading when they should be training on some cool new moves! On an impulse he shot his own hand up, flashing a grin at Hermione when she looked at him. Hey, she'd helped him now it was time for him to help her – that was his way of the ninja.
Eventually, when there were almost none left reading; the toad lady finally gave up and turned to Hermione.
"- to ask something - chapter, dears?"
"Not - chapter, no." Hermione replied and when Temari elbowed him Naruto took down his hand and glared at her. She smirked at him and crossed her arms. She's such a sadistic girl; he thought and remembered the battle between her and Tenten at the exams. When she caught Tenten across that monstrous fan of hers Naruto had been almost sure she had broken something. Tenten must've had bruises on her back for a month afterwards.
"Hermione Granger." Hermione said next to him and he looked her way again, realising that he'd missed out on a large part of the conversation between his latest friend and the toad lady.
"- Miss Granger, I think- perfectly clear if - read-" Said the toad lady and her voice were sweeter than usual.
"- I don't." Hermione replied. Her face and voice were both set in a determined scowl and Naruto silently cheered her on. "There's - written on- using defensive spells."
At that there was a short silence and Naruto noticed that many of his peers turned their eyes to look at the blackboard where the toad lady had scribbled three lines earlier. None of which he could read.
"Temari what's going on? Why's everyone looking at the board? Did she write something dirty?" he asked.
"No," The girl replied and frowned. "But that pink hag up there hasn't written anything about using any spells for this class."
"Not using any spells? But it's a defence class." Naruto said, craning his neck to take a look at the lines written on the board before remembering that he still couldn't read them.
"Using defensive spells?" The toad lady interrupted the questions he wanted to ask and Temari gestured for him to hold it. With an extreme amount of self-discipline worthy of any shinobi he bit his tongue and let the toad lady say her piece. "- I can't - - any - - in- classroom that would - - - use - defensive spell, Miss Granger. - surely - - to be attacked - class?"
"Damn." Temari hissed.
"What? What is it? What's the toad lady saying?" Naruto asked in a whisper that probably only Temari could hear.
"The hag has no intention of letting any of these brats use defensive spells." Temari said, her frown not decreasing a bit. In fact she looked down right angry at this point.
"What?" He exclaimed loudly.
"- not- to use magic?" Ron that was seated in front of them said at the same time and equally as loud.
"Students - hands when- - - to speak in - class, Mr -?" The toad lady said, eyeing them both sternly.
"Weasley." Ron said and thrust his hand in the air while the toad lady looked expectantly at Naruto. He stared back.
"Uzumaki." Temari said, making him turn his head and wonder what she wanted. But the other blond wasn't looking at him; she was looking at the teacher. " - doesn't speak English -. Put your hand up. It'll annoy her." She hissed the last part at him while raising her own hand.
Still a bit confused over this latest exchange he did as he was told; he sure didn't mind annoying the toad lady. Umbridge smiled widely and turned her back on them. Next to him Hermione raised her hand and right in front Harry did the same. Alright, these people had spunk!
The toad lady's eyes lingered on Harry for a moment and then on him before addressing Hermione again.
"Yes, Miss Granger? - wanted to ask something -?"
"Yes." Said Hermione. " Surely - - point - Defence Against the Dark Arts is to - defensive spells?"
Naruto, who was reasonably certain he got the gist of that, nodded along fervently. Training before books – everyone knew that! Except for Kakashi who tried to combine them and Pervy-sage who claimed to be a writer on a quest for research – but they were both perverts and he was pretty certain that the toad lady never would try to peek into the men's bath.
"No, but -" Hermione replied to whatever litany the toad lady had laid out – Naruto had only managed to pick up the occasional word, the most damning being 'Ministry'.
" - I'm afraid - - to - what - - point –"
Naruto shook his head furiously – not being able to understand more than half of the words being spoken, or even less when they started using the more difficult ones, was driving him insane.
Next to him Temari stood up abruptly, banging her hand down on the desk forcefully while she stared straight at the teacher.
"Secure - risk-free - don't go hand in hand with danger, Professor Umbridge. How - - to prepare for - if we only read -?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto agreed, glad that his fellow shinobi might understand English better than he but at least steered clear of most too difficult words. "Tell her that we need to practice real fighting and defence! "
"I just did." Temari snapped at him, still glaring at the teacher.
"Told - to - - hand, Miss Sabaku." The toad lady admonished. For a second Temari looked more inclined to punch the woman in the nose, then her jaw tensed in a determined and angry expression and she sat down with a thump and thrust her hand up. Naruto wondered if the toad lady had a death wish - the only one worse to tick off than Temari would be Gaara. Come to think of it that woman better not tick off Gaara tomorrow when he'd be in this very class for the first time. Nah, what were the chances of that happening?
By now a lot of other people had their hands in the air too and the toad lady turned to Dean, one of the boys that Naruto shared a room with.
Again the toad lady slapped his protests about the lack of training aside, asking him if he expected to be attacked in class.
"I do not wish to - - way things - been run in - school." She said loudly when he tried to protest again. " but - - been - to some very irresponsible wizards in - class, very irresponsible -. Not to mention - dangerous half-"
Again Dean attempted to protest only to have the woman bark "Hand, Mr Thomas!" at him and he thrust his hand up again.
"- been frightened into believing - - are likely to - Dark attacks every - day."
"No we -" Hermione interrupted only to be told once again to get her hand in the air. Naruto glared furiously at the toad lady, frustrated that he couldn't add any fuel to the fire just because of such a stupid thing as a language.
Not long after that there was a shocked silence in the room when Harry said that Dark Wizard's name aloud and the toad lady took points from Gryffindor in retaliation. When she proceeded to explain how the rumours about Voldemort's return were all lies though Harry became furious. Soon enough he was handed detention and sent to McGonagall's office.
"Damn it." Temari muttered next to him while all around them students went back to reading.
"What?" Naruto whispered but the only answer he received was a 'later, brat.'
"I don't see what the big deal it." Naruto insisted stubbornly when a while later they were walking from class.
"It's a big deal because we'll need to find a way to keep watch over him while he's in detention." Temari said curtly and began climbing the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. "You don't trust that woman do you?"
Naruto shook his head with every fibre of seriousness he possessed. "Nu-huh, the toad lady is a creep. But it's still not a problem, I'll just do a henge and-"
"And what? The way I understand this detention thing it'll just be her and Potter in the room while she punishes him – even one of these magic folk could notice you in the room. It's too risky. If you're caught you'd blow our cover. Not to mention that it'd be in front of someone that we don't need to know about us- hell we don't want her to even know about shinobi."
"Oh yeah? You got a better idea?" Naruto challenged, glaring at her because he was convinced he really could surveillance one measly Harry Potter under the beady eyes of the toad lady.
"Gaara could do it." Temari said suddenly, sounding very certain.
"Yeah?" Naruto asked with an interest that he tried to mask; wondering what it was that Gaara could do that was so great and that he couldn't. "How?"
Temari didn't answer but instead quickened her steps up the stairs. "Come on. We'll talk to him tomorrow."
"Wait! Hey, what'll Gaara do?" Naruto asked again, quickly forgetting that he was annoyed at the other shinobi as he scrambled after her. "Come on, Temari, tell me! Tell your old buddy Naruto what Gaara will do. Is it a ninjutsu? Can he turn himself into sand and sneak under the door?"
An image of Gaara dissolving into thousands grains of sand flashed in his mind and he pulled a face. Nah, there was no way Gaara could do that. Right?
"Temari, come on!"
Author's notes:
I have some musings regarding the Naruto characters that I thought I should share.
First of in this little story of mine they're supposed to still be genin, so they'll behave (hopefully) more like they do during the chuunin exams. I imagine this to take place not that long after the chuuning exams actually.
Naruto I think is the one that this will be the noticeable in (if compared with the shippuden episodes). I've always liked Naruto as a kid though – it's so easy to take him for a complete blockhead (truthfully he can be) but then he'll sprout out absolute brilliance on occasion. I love a hero that's not omnipotent and uber-strong but rather needs help and teamwork to succeed on occasion.
Oh, and thanks for the reviews! Very much appreciated.
I changed the chapter – I wasn't very happy with it. Heh, that's me. Sorry to anyone that preferred it the other way but I want to feel semi-satisfied with something before moving on. I feel a little better about it now. Still slightly annoyed with it too but you reach a point sometimes when you just got to let it go, you know?
Heh, my computer wanted to "correct" my spelling of Pervy-sage into Percy-sage, that made me oddly happy. Very weird imagery ensued.