Summary: Motivated, miffed, and magical, Shikamaru Nara was a force to behold. Whoever had placed him here was going to get it, but first he'd have to get through a school for magic. And he'd thought ninjas could be stupid. Troublesome.
Rating: T, and should stay that way.
Genres: Friendship, Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, maybe more, I don't know yet.
Warnings: Language, SPOILERS FOR NARUTO AND HARRY POTTER, bullying, implied child abuse/neglect, serious amounts of mind-melting snark, some angst - not much, warnings are individual per chapter, might change next chapter or might not. No incest, pedophaelia slash or yaoi, yuri, Shounen Ai, or Shōjo Ai.
Pairings: As far as romance goes, it's canon for both series. Friendship!Shikamaru/Harry&Ron&Hermione&Neville&Fred&George. I might add more later, if I think of it.
Disclaimer: WILL NEVER OWN!
Edit (5/8/16): Small clean ups and miniscule changes that won't change much in later chapters, for those of you who have already read this.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
(#) Something to help explain a certain action or characteristic
Time period
Emphasis on words/Flashback
Regular text
A Shadow in Wizard's Robes Chapter 3: Talks and Birthdays
By: AngelicSilverWolf
'Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive that is you-er than you!' - Dr. Seuss.
Age 6: Five years before Hogwarts:
"Come back here!"
Shikamaru grimaced at the shout. Now, why on this questionable Earth would he possibly do that? He continued on and, upon running into a wired gate, looked around and spotted a fire escape. Freedom. Well. Temporary freedom, anyway. At the very least, deliverance. He heaved himself onto a nearby convenient dumpster and lunged for the fire escape above it.
Thankfully he made it. Barely, but it counted. He didn't even have to use chakra. He had his vigorous training to thank for that. He tugged himself up and was just standing up, when his pursuer dashed into the alley. He felt his lips tugging themselves into a smirk, but he restrained himself. It was quite amusing to see his attempted tormenter redder than a tomato with both exertion and anger.
"Hey!" the boy who was older by three years exclaimed, and talk about pathetic, going after a younger child. Even if he was a genius. "You can't be up there!"
Shikamaru shrugged. Technically he was neither allowed nor not allowed.
"I'm gonna tell on you," the boy continued triumphantly. Shikamaru shook his head in no small amount of derision (he'd never been like that as a child, right?) and climbed off of the fire escape, jumping to the ground below. He rolled off the impact to reduce pain to his legs. Then he offered a final sarcastic two-fingered salute to the boy behind him and ran out of the alley, enjoying hearing sputters behind him.
Now that he had dealt with that nuisance, he was free for the rest of the day. The orphanage had discovered his magic three years ago when they'd caught him walking up the wall (in his defense, he'd been using his chakra, not magic). From then on, they'd made something of an outcast of him and had been very clear in their dislike of his general existence. If he hadn't already lived one life, it would have been very soul crushing. As it was, he returned their sentiments and tried to avoid them all like the plague unless they deliberately sought him out, like today. Then it was all restrictions off and open season on whoever tried to push him around.
He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and consider where he would go today. There was that one place he'd heard about from the new woman…
"Are you okay?"
Shikamaru looked up to see a somewhat shabbily dressed man with light brown hair graying at the temples and green-brown eyes staring down at him in concern. He belatedly realized the picture he himself painted, thin and young with worn clothes. The fact that he was panting a little probably didn't do anything to make him less resemble a homeless or neglected child. Which, somewhat true but still. He didn't have to look the part.
It wasn't like he was Naruto though; this body had limitations and he wasn't terribly fit. Kind of hard to be with an unsteady source of food and good environmental hygiene.
"Yeah," he replied. The man didn't look convinced. To stave off further questions, he added a little suspiciously, "Who are you?" Best to at least try and act his age, though whether or not he would succeed was up for debate.
"You may call me Lupin, I suppose," the man - Lupin - said with an understanding smile. "And yourself?"
"Shikamaru," he said. "Can you tell me where I am? I lost the street name a few alleys ago." He had been trying to keep track, but it was more difficult than expected while also trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. His pursuer's complete lack of anything stealth made it pretty close to impossible without chakra, something he was trying to use only in emergency situations since it was a little suspicious to see a child running along rooftops like a pro parkor practitioner.
"You are still in London, in case you were concerned, a few streets from Charing Cross Road," Lupin answered. He looked at him curiously. "Do you need help getting somewhere?" Shikamaru was caught between relaxing around this man's apparent innate likeableness and his training to stay away from strangers. Lupin's offer of aid was the most genuine thing he'd heard in literal years. It was refreshing - and dangerous.
"Well," Shikamaru said slowly, "I'm trying to reach this place I heard about, just to see if it's still around." If he phrased it correctly, he'd be able to tell if this man was magical or not. Rather small chance on the former, but he had to start somewhere.
"Ever heard of The Leaky Cauldron?" he asked. Lupin's eyes sharpened with interest and recognition. So either magical or related to a magical relative.
"It rings a bell," the man said carefully. "May I ask from where you heard about it?"
Shikamaru smirked a little at the reminder of what had happened. "I live in a nearby orphanage, and the patrons there are very talkative about places like that," he said. And by talkative he meant vindictive towards. How they all got saddled with over thirty children he'd never know. Realization dawned on Lupin's face, right before distaste flashed over it, only to be covered by polite interest.
So he'd heard about the orphanage then. Probably nothing good if his face meant anything, but also most likely true.
"I think I know what orphanage you're talking about," Lupin said. But he didn't extrapolate. Instead, he added, "I know where the Leaky Cauldron is. I can take you there, if you want."
Shikamaru nodded after a brief hesitation. He was moderately confident that if Lupin turned into a problem, he would be able to create enough noise to draw attention and escape, if not win in a fight. Maybe. He was still working out just how far this body could be pushed before it gave out. It was a bit of a painful and tedious experiment.
Lupin turned and started to walk, not even checking to see if Shikamaru was following, and damn, now he liked him even more. Shikamaru caught up to him easily and thought about starting a conversation. He ended up not doing so and remained silent until they stopped before a nondescript pub some time later.
"Here we are," Lupin said, gesturing to the building that other people's eyes slid off of and around. Shikamaru peered through a grimy window and saw what was most definitely someone drinking a glass of blood.
"They get all sorts of customers," Lupin said wryly, answering Shikamaru's expression of slight distaste.
"Clearly." Well, that was okay. So what if they served vampires and who knew what else in there - no use being xenophobic now when he would probably have to deal with other such creatures in the not so distant future. "Why don't non-magicals see this? It's obviously warded or something, but why so it in the first place?"
Lupin thought for a minute. "The magical community is very private. They don't generally think much of non-magicals - or, muggles. I think they just don't want to be subjugated to muggle whims, they just want to be left in peace," he replied. So basically they had magic and didn't want to share. Interesting; he wondered if the governments at least knew about each other.
"Well, thanks for getting me here," he said. Lupin smiled again.
"You're welcome. Would you like me to come inside with you?" he asked. Again, no condescension. What a nice person. He kind of reminded Shikamaru of Iruka - all quiet strength and sincere demeanor; until someone really pissed him off. Then it was everyone for themselves in an effort to escape the splash zone. Shikamaru shook his head anyway.
"No. I'll be fine. The owner is human, right?" he asked, just to check. Not that there were any problems with nonhumans, but he'd be a bit more comfortable if the person he was asking instructions from wasn't eyeing him like he was lunch. Lupin nodded.
"Ask for Tom. He's the owner and bartender. He should be able to direct you to wherever else you want to go," he said. "It was nice to meet you, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru nodded in agreement, and then entered the bar. He wasn't great at good byes. Besides, he was sure he wouldn't see Lupin again. What were the chances of that happening a second time?
…
Present Day:
Shikamaru stared at the cowering children in front of him. He took a moment to note the effectiveness of his I Am Displeased face for further study and then moved on.
"So, that happened," he said. They didn't relax. So they had some sense of danger after all. Too bad it hadn't flared up earlier. "And we almost got caught because some people snuck out past curfew to go to a false duel, even though they'd already established that it was probably a trap, because they're apparently incapable of rational thought."
Ron started to protest, but Harry quickly elbowed him into silence. Probably realized that they deserved whatever they were going to get, especially since Shikamaru had helped them not get caught. He caught Hermione's eye.
"And why did you follow them? You could have just let them go and not risk the extra house points your presence would add."
No one answered. He sighed. This was going to be his life now, he knew it. Bailing them out when they made decisions like this. Trying to get Harry and Ron to use their limited common sense, and working on Hermione's desire to tell people off if she didn't agree with whatever they were deciding. It would be good for his patience though, maybe not his health. Or it would drive him insane.
He'd just have to see which happened first, the tipping of his mind over the edge, or the Idiot Trio gaining a healthy amount of self preservation. He really couldn't say which would happen first.
"I'm going to bed," he said, waving a hand. "Think about what I said." He wanted to add 'and maybe your life choices too', but felt that this wasn't the time for humor. He was mostly serious, but it was just a little funny to see them shrink down where they stood. Mean? Maybe. But he got his kicks in where he could get them, and they deserved it for motivating him into making a resolution about something so soon into the school year. He'd let them stew tonight and then subtly let them off the hook tomorrow.
…
"But don't you want to know?"
Shikamaru heroically didn't sigh. It would have come out explosive and frustrated and they would have gotten their puppy eyes out and no one would've been happy.
"No," he said instead, very patiently in his opinion, because this was the fourth time they'd brought up this subject today, and it was dinner time. Perhaps he should have waited longer to let them know he'd forgiven them. "I don't. Why? Because it's none of my business." Great. Now he sounded like Shino. He hoped that they got the implied message that it wasn't any of theirs either, but no such luck.
"But, why have an enormous dog in a room like that? Where anyone could enter," Harry persisted, for the fourth time.
"It was locked," Shikamaru reminded him again, despite himself. He had to interject some logic into this conversation, even though its topic was none of their business (he didn't want to get involved but dammit, this would end up in danger and possibly death if he didn't step in to try to mitigate the damage).
"So, they were guarding something then?" Ron interjected, looking far too invested in the conversation to be healthy. Shikamaru sighed and gave up. Logic and reason had clearly left this conversation for good. He'd missed its brief presence.
"Not necessarily, maybe it was a ploy," Harry said knowingly.
"What; like some kind of spy movie?" Shikamaru asked, deciding that he might as well try to add some reason. He couldn't beat it, so he'd join in and all that. "No, I don't think so. Besides, what would they have to guard in a school, anyway?"
"Something valuable or rare," Ron said, almost dreamily. Well, it was a magical school, to be fair.
"Or both." Harry grinned in excitement. And hope of relative normalcy dead. Burnt up and shriveled and rapidly disappearing in the wind. Never mind, he changed his mind, he couldn't do it. "Shikamaru? Why are you thumping your head against the table?"
Anyway.
After dinner, Shikamaru bid goodbye to his friends, with no small amount of relief - they could handle themselves for a few minutes, right? - and went in search of the person who'd started this whole thing. It was an unfair place of blame, but he did have some justification and he was sticking with it. He caught Fred and George as they were coming out of the hall.
"Shika! Can we call you that? How's it going?" Fred said in delight. Shikamaru ignored the slight pang of nostalgia that name caused and nodded with a lazy half-smile.
"S'good," he said. "What're you two up to?" Fred and George exchanged mischievousness glances and he raised a hand. "Never mind. I don't want to know. Gives me plausible deniability when McGonagall finds you."
George gasped dramatically while Fred placed a hand over his heart and did his utmost to look mortally offended. "Mister Nara!" he said, wounded tone lacing every word. "I can't believe that you would doubt our ability to have a proper getaway plan. Especially with the tools you so kindly gifted us."
Shikamaru raised an unimpressed eyebrow, unmoved by the theatrics. They had nothing on Lee's and Gai's Rainbows of Youth (those who saw that were scarred forever and were never the same again). "I meant that McGonagall will suspect you regardless of your escape, and I don't want to accidentally get pulled into it somehow," he said. Fred and George dropped their pretend offended tone and grinned good naturedly.
"Well, so long as we're clear," Fred joked. Shikamaru titled his head.
"You don't happen to know where Draco Malfoy is, do you?" he asked. They raised their eyebrows in tandem, and he took a moment to wonder whether it was from practice or coincidence. Or one of those legendary twin soul connections.
"Probably his common room, why?" George asked slowly.
Shikamaru shrugged. "I want to have some words with him."
Their faces lit up in identical expressions of unholy glee. It was disconcerting, how in sync they were. It also brought back some unpleasant memories of the two hellions in Konoha.
"Oh, is Malfoy Jr. in trouble?" Fred asked.
"Do you perhaps need a prank to settle the score?" George added.
"Do you even know what he did?" Shikamaru asked. Maybe in amusement. Maybe not. And when did his word quota stretch without his noticing? He'd have to think about his disturbing increase in word count later on.
"No, but we figure that if you, Neutrality Nara, are going to 'have some words' with the little twat, then he did something," George said. Shikamaru had to concede his clever word play.
"Nothing big," he said. Well. Besides where he almost caused the probable expulsion of three Gryffindor students through an indirect attack. Other than that, nothing big at all. "I just want to clear some things up." Fred waved him away easily.
"Stay enigmatic then, we'll find out eventually. You'll come to learn that the Hogwarts gossip mill is unmatched by even the Daily Prophet in terms of time it takes for rumors to spread," he said cheerfully. Shikamaru acknowledged this with the slightly immature eye roll that it deserved and turned towards the Slytherin common room. He had Hogwarts a History to thank for the location. Really, 'dungeons' was not a particularly vague hint. He looked around, saw some Slytherins entering and leaving a certain corridor, and followed subtly. He stopped in front of a dead end stone wall and knocked, lightly enough that it could've been mistaken for someone being nudged into it.
It sounded hollow. He smirked in mild triumph. Amateurs. They didn't even bother to make anything real except for the looks and texture. He knocked again, harder, twice. The sound echoed in the damp corridor. He took in his surroundings while he waited. Mostly stone wall and ground, and a few windows from which shone the green light of the lake, casting strange lights over the stone.
He supposed it made sense that the house of green be lit with green light, no matter how eerie. The door melted away and dozens of haughty and slightly hostile eyes looked his way. They'd guessed he wasn't one of them, then.
"Gryffindor," an older student said, standing up. "What do you want?"
"To speak to Draco Malfoy," he replied. He could feel the hierarchy that was in place here. Slytherin was a place where respect was earned and position fought for. Seniority mattered, and words meant the difference between being an outcast and being heralded as important. Good thing he had excellent practice in both politics and damage control as Naruto's advisor (as charismatic as the blond was, he still stepped on quite a few toes with his rather brash nature).
And one thing he'd learned was that people were caught off guard with honest intentions. It made them wonder about the genuinity of it and whether there was an ulterior motive. It wasn't good practice to be consistently honest, but every now and then threw others off.
The Slytherin looked quickly at a nearby housemate, who shook his head, before turning back with a blank expression.
"He isn't here," he said.
Shikamaru quirked up one side of his mouth into a dangerously sharp grin. It wasn't friendly. The surrounding Slytherins leaned away unconsciously. "Shouldn't the house of Snakes be able to lie better?" he asked nonchalantly with an undertone of menace. The Slytherin before him stepped back, and then seemed to catch himself and hastily stepped forward again.
"I can wait here all night," Shikamaru said. "I won't hurt him. I just want a word." Now, what Malfoy did after the aforementioned word to possibly cause consequences was entirely up to him.
"For Salazar's sake," someone Shikamaru vaguely recognized to be Marcus Flint grumbled. "Malfoy! Get your pasty arse out here."
Respect for the nobles indeed. Age probably took priority. Malfoy pushed through the crowd, and his white complexion paled considerably when he saw Shikamaru casually leaning against the stone doorway.
"Nara," he said a little unsurely. Then, remembering that he was surrounded by classmates who would love nothing more than to knock the Malfoy heir down a peg, he straightened up. "What is it?"
Shikamaru let himself remain deliberately loose when he shrugged. Like he couldn't possibly care about all of the tension in the room. "Just a talk about Harry's and Ron's late night activities," he said. Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "Would you prefer to do this here or outside?" Shikamaru asked. It sounded like he was being nice and giving him a choice, but he was really taking control of the situation by only giving him two options to choose between. Malfoy paused, and then jerked his head towards outside the room. Shikamaru led the way and was sure to cast a silencing spell so that no one could eavesdrop on their conversation (1).
"So, Malfoy. About the duel," he said, and then turned to look the younger boy in the eye.
…
"Say, Shikamaru? Why does Malfoy look so skittish around you?"
It was breakfast time the day after Shikamaru introduced himself as a person to be wary of to the entirety of the Slytherin house, and the birds were (probably) singing (he couldn't really hear them from inside the castle), the sun was (mostly) shining, and he was feeling much more content with his lot in life now that he'd fixed a minor problem that could have developed into a much larger one later on. Oh, and Malfoy was now avoiding him as much as possible. A win for both sides (2).
"I just had a talk with him," he said to Ron. The redhead became more interested.
"Really? What about?" Harry asked, looking up from the Daily Prophet.
"Underhanded schemes to get others in trouble. Nothing big."
"Is this a threat? Potter and Weasley almost got in trouble so they sent their guard dog after me?" A pale but sneering face, and he had to give some credit for the sheer levels of condescension in light of clearly being wrong.
"No. A warning. From one heir to another. They can handle themselves, and probably will deserve it when they do get in trouble, but I'm telling you to back off now before you do something else moronic and get them and yourself hurt." He spun gracefully on his heel and prepared to leave. "Just a warning, Malfoy. Heed it or don't. But think about what it would do to your reputation if you actually got caught because you weren't careful enough." Then, he walked away to let the Malfoy scion think about his words.
No harm done. Hopefully he'd just inspired a thinking-before-doing mentality.
"Right." Ron looked positively gleeful with all of the things he was imagining said or done to Malfoy. All of them incorrect, of course.
"Oh, right! For some reason that reminded me," Harry said suddenly. He dove for his bag and dug around while saying, "Ron and I were talking when I remembered this article from the paper." He pulled out a clipping with a picture of what looked like the Gringotts goblins.
"So, when I went to the bank the first time with Hagrid, we went to this vault to get something out of it. The very same day, it gets broken into. Very suspicious, yes? So, we figure that whatever Hagrid took out of the bank, it must be what that dog is guarding," he said excitedly. Shikamaru personally thought that it was a bit of a leap from A to D, but pushed it aside for the more pressing problem.
"Again, does it matter?" he asked. The two gave him startled looks, like they couldn't fathom why it wasn't important. It was times like these that caused him to occasionally entertain the fantasy of what his life would have been like in another house. Like Hufflepuff. They seemed to know when to leave well enough alone. "This should be the sort of thing to leave to the officials and the professors."
"But don't you want to know?" Harry prodded.
"No," Shikamaru said flatly. They startled a little at his tone. He sighed. God save him from the horrors of children. Shikadai had not been this bad. Hell, Naruto hadn't been this bad and he'd chased after Sasuke for how many years? "It's dangerous for one," he continued. He didn't tell them that the only form of attack the Cerberus had intended on doing was one that involved much licking and wagging of its tail.
"Not to mention," he added when they opened their mouths - probably to protest this clear cowardly act as members of the house of the brave, "We would probably get into lots of trouble by butting in. And if we didn't, it would be incredibly dangerous not to mention hubristic of us to think that we could handle it if the staff couldn't."
Harry clearly didn't agree, but didn't say anything to refute it, seeing that Shikamaru wouldn't change his mind. After a rather tense pause, Ron said with the air of randomly casting around for any other topic at all, "So you went to the bank on your birthday? I dunno whether you're lucky or not that it isn't during school. Mine is March first."
"Yeah. I mean, I understand why you would want to have it during the summer, but I think I would actually like to have it during school more. The Dursleys aren't real big on acknowledging it," Harry said thoughtfully, mercifully going with the change of subject. Ron winced and his face darkened.
"Tough luck, mate," he said bracingly. "We'll just have to give you extra good presents to make up for that sorry lot."
Shikamaru murmured an agreement as Harry went pink.
"You don't need to do that," he said weakly. The prospect clearly excited him though. Shikamaru made a mental note to get Hypatia on memorizing Harry's address. She'd sooner peck out some eyes than fail a delivery, so if Mr. Dursley tried to stop her...well, Shikamaru hoped that he had good medical insurance (except not really because that would be just a little bit funny).
"We want to," Ron said firmly. He turned to Shikamaru. "When is yours then?"
Shikamaru shrugged absently, studying the article on the break-in in spite of himself. There was something interesting about it all.
Whether by coincidence or some strange twist of fate, his birthday was the same as it had been in his previous life. "September twenty second."
There was another silence, and when Shikamaru looked up his friends were wearing horrified expressions. Even Harry.
"That's in, like, three days!" Ron said. "What the hell? You didn't say anything."
"Should I have? It isn't a big deal," Shikamaru said, raising an eyebrow. And, compared with Harry who seemed to believe that he wasn't good enough for one or something, it actually wasn't. This was, after all, his second time turning twelve. Not something particularly momentous to celebrate.
"B-but, how can't you like celebrating your own birthday?" Ron protested, scandalized by the very thought.
"It's hard to appreciate a birthday when there are dozens of people around you who don't celebrate theirs either," Shikamaru said dryly. Both Harry and Ron's faces twisted in confusion.
"Dozens? How many siblings do you have?" Ron asked.
"None. I'm an orphan in the overcrowded orphanage, Hope's Wishes for Young Children. Or, the 'Orphanage from Hell', known as such by its younger residents" Shikamaru told them. After a second of the information sinking in, their eyes widened. It was amusing how in sync they were. From expressions to timing on feelings - they could have been brothers. Even Hermione, from a few seats down where she was valiantly trying to pretend that she wasn't eavesdropping, whipped her head up from the spot in her book that she hadn't changed since the beginning of breakfast.
"You're an orphan? So, you're parents are…" Harry trailed off uncomfortably.
"I'm not sure. I don't know if they're dead or not, but they did leave me on the steps of the orphanage," Shikamaru said. Not that he was incredibly beat up about it; his real parents weren't in this universe - one wasn't even alive anymore. He slouched at their aghast faces. "Don't worry about it. I got over it a while ago." Twenty some odd years or so was a while by anyone's standards. Not that he would tell them that part.
It was still a little awkwardly silent on the way to Potions. Shikamaru mildly regretted it but figured he couldn't do anything to help it pass besides perhaps not mentioning anything else about his personal life. Thankfully he was paired with Neville, so he didn't have to deal with both Ron and Harry's (and he'd thought that the latter at least would know better) sympathetic and considering glances. He felt absolutely no pity whatsoever for Ron's apprehensive expression when he was given Hermione for a partner. Maybe it would get him to stop shooting Shikamaru looks when he thought he wasn't looking.
The Forgetfulness Potion that they were assigned wasn't particularly difficult, so Shikamaru focused mostly on helping Neville understand what certain ingredients did when used in certain ways. Neville would never be an expert but this would hopefully help his performance enough to let him pass the class.
"Just don't touch the Lethe River Water," Shikamaru advised him as he poured some of the substance into the potion. Neville tilted his head in confusion. "In Greek mythology, the water was strong enough to wipe the memories of those who touched it, permanently." He had found that Neville did better while being distracted by little bits of trivia, and there was some truth to the myths. It wasn't a complete memory wipe of course, that would happen with some combinations of other memories, but it did cause temporary loss of memories of the past hour or so. Not a particularly desired condition.
In any case, Neville paled a little and eyed the bottle distrustfully. Now he would watch his movements more. Shikamaru was working to get complete stability in the hands by the end of the year. His eyes tracked Snape's movements, narrowing in thought as he snidely interrupted another Gryffindor table. He muttered to Neville, "Get ready in three...two...one…"
Snape swirled over to them. Shikamaru's eyes remained on him but his head bent over the cauldron to check the consistency and color. Correct on all counts, but an actual Potions Master could probably find some faults in it if he was being picky. Neville was tense and clearly frightened, but thankfully his grip on the bottle of Lethe River Water didn't loosen. In order to keep his friend from losing his commendable control, Shikamaru looked up and met the eyes of his Potions teacher. Immediately he felt another mind touch his.
He didn't smirk but it was a near thing. Instead, he slouched even further and pointedly yawned. Snape's eyes narrowed and the probing became more forceful. Because he'd been using the exercises Ino taught him, the assault wasn't as painful as the first time Snape had tried this on him. He could play this game all day. He kept him out with a nice wall of uncaring attitude, and after another few seconds the man moved on with a thoughtful yet annoyed expression. It took skill to display both of those at the same time - Shikamaru commended the emotional mixes the professor could combine.
Well, at least he hadn't taken another cheap shot at Neville. If Shikamaru could engineer it so that the two of them had little to no interactions for about two months, he was sure that Neville would vastly improve in both Potions and confidence. And if he had to garner some attention with his unusual mental fortitude...he had to start act on that resolution some time, right? Besides, it would be good practice.
After class, Ron and Harry accosted him outside of the classroom.
"What was that thing with Snape just now?" Ron asked. Shikamaru gave him a somewhat flat look.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Ron made a noise and gestured with his hands in a way that increased his resemblance to a flailing duck.
"That thing where you two just stared at each other for like, ten minutes straight," he said impatiently. Shikamaru shrugged.
"Bit of an exaggeration. It was more like two, if that," he said. He couldn't help the half smile that curled his lips when Ron glared at him for dancing around the topic.
"Why did he stare at you like that?" Harry interjected, coming into his friend's rescue.
"He was attempting to probe my thoughts via a magical process called Legilimency. I kept him out with a bastardized version of the mental defense, Occlumency. When he couldn't get in, not for lack of trying though I doubt it was full force, he left. You noticed the eye contact? That's how he skims thoughts," Shikamaru told them. They both looked rather horrified at the thought of one of their professors reading their minds.
"Snape's a mind reader?" Harry blurted out, looking deeply uneasy.
"So you said that he looks at the eyes, right? All we have to do is stop from looking him in the eye?" Ron added a little desperately. Shikamaru nodded slowly. In theory it should work, but he didn't know enough about the mental arts to give them a definitive answer and told them so. "Better than nothing. I can't believe that slimy-" Ron cut himself off, looking highly disgruntled. "No wonder he always catches us when we lie."
"No, you're all just terrible at lying," Shikamaru corrected him. "Gryffindor first years are some of the worst liars I've ever seen." And that was something considering that Naruto couldn't lie to save his life. Then, predicting their next train of thought, he said, "And no I won't teach you to lie better. Learn to do it yourselves or just don't lie."
They disguised their pouting as moody scowls, but since they weren't teenagers yet it didn't quite work. Shikamaru just smirked at them and continued on with his day. Ah, the benefits of being a man in a child's body - he couldn't succumb to peer pressure or any form of thereof.
…
"Wake up!"
Shikamaru was torn from his sleep (the one that happened once in a blue moon, there had better be a good reason for this) when something soft smacked him in the face. His eyes opened instantly, and he was holding someone's wrist in a crushing grip before he could think. Then, upon seeing who it actually was, he let go and sank back onto his bed with a groan.
"Ron," he said, voice muffled in the pillow that hadn't been used to wake him up, "why are you hitting people with pillows? Is this a new hobby I should be worried about?"
Someone snorted.
"Sorry. We just wanted to wake you up for your birthday presents. Anyway, here you go," Harry said from somewhere to his right. Shikamaru cracked an eye open in time to catch a present that was tossed in his direction. Shikamaru felt a twinge of gratitude and surprise underneath the rising irritation at having been awoken from an actual REM sleep cycle.
"Any particular reason that he's waking me up like that in the first place?" he asked. He wouldn't talk to Ron for fear of how he would retaliate for this atrocious crime. Harry opened his mouth a little apologetically, but Ron beat him to it.
"You wouldn't wake up when I called you earlier, so pillow time it was!" he said unapologetically, lobbing a wrapped object at the prone figure. "It's seven o'clock anyway."
"Could you all shut up, please?" Seamus growled from behind his bed curtains and at least two pillows.
"Not my fault," Shikamaru muttered. Then, he drew up short as the sentence processed. "Seven?" he clarified. There was absolutely no hint of a whine in his statement at all. Harry shrugged.
"We wanted to do it early. Apparently it's tradition," he said, rolling his eyes. Right. Pretty sure that wasn't how tradition worked.
His brain was taking a bit to kick into gear, but to be fair; this would have been difficult to comprehend on a normal day. He shook his head. "Alright. Let's take this outside so that we don't wake anyone else up."
The two nodded agreeably and left in relative silence. Shikamaru sighed. Really, the things he did for these people. He dressed quickly and was out of the dorm in record time
"So how does this work…" Shikamaru trailed off, looking in some astonishment at the small pile of presents on a table.
"Here, from Hagrid, Fred and George, and me," Harry said cheerfully. Hermione and Neville grinned next to him, each holding their own presents. "Tradition states that you open them now." Well, who was he to break tradition? The peaceful atmosphere was ruined completely by Ron telling him emphatically to hurry it up. He was just breaking all sorts of unspoken rules today, wasn't he?
"Don't be rude. It's his birthday, he can go his own pace," Hermione scolded him. Neville took one look at the impending argument and wisely stepped away.
Shikamaru ended up getting The Standard Book of Spells Grade 3 from Hermione ("Well, I figured it would do since you're always practicing spells I haven't heard of before from other books," she told him with a hint of embarrassment), a truly ridiculously sized box of sweets from Ron that had Neville and Harry gaping in surprise (and he completely blamed the redhead for any and all future cavities he would get), the book Owl Breeds from Harry, an excellent wooden and leather wand holster from Neville that was much nicer than his current second-hand one, another book (interestingly enough) on pranks and tricks from the twins, and a tin of fudge and rock cakes from Hagrid. He'd soften those up by the fire before trying to eat them.
He looked them all in the eye and thanked them one by one with all of the sincerity in the world. Harry and Hermione went pink and muttered replies, Ron just grinned, and Neville (as the only normal one of the lot, really) replied with equal honesty that he was happy to do it. Shikamaru hoped that Neville wouldn't be corrupted by the Idiot Trio's strangeness.
Afterwards they all went and visited the grounds, equally glad that it was Saturday, while Shikamaru worked out when he would thank the twins and Hagrid for their presents. They ended up doing nothing except some chess matches, some cloud watching and some amiable talking. Well, Harry, Neville and Shikamaru were amiable. Hermione and Ron spent a lot of the time sniping at each other, much to everyone else's chagrin. Still, it was a nice day in the scheme of things, and Shikamaru appreciated it for the one of a kind that it was. They would probably be few and far between, so he'd enjoy it while it lasted.
(1): Before anyone asks, no, this is not muffliato. Shikamaru wouldn't know that spell. I imagine that there is more than one spell to prevent people from listening in on conversations.
(2): Shikamaru will, later on, attempt to decrease the gap between the houses, but right now he doesn't really have cause to and therefore won't try that hard.
Guest Reviews (bottom to top)
Guest: Thanks so much! Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoyed it!
Guest: Er, I didn't know that Hypatia was from the golden age of porn, but I'll take your word for it. I just named the owl that because Hypatia was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher in Egypt. She taught in Alexandria in Rome, and I want Shikamaru's owl to be intelligent so, but sorry? Is this a complaint? Anyways, thanks for reviewing!
Guest: Yes, hello. Sorry for this terribly late reply, but anyway. As you can see, I changed the prank target. Originally it was because Ron made fun of Shikamaru, but anyway. And yes, I'm glad you agree with me on the motivation level. There isn't a real amount of danger right now besides the trio's innate curiosity, so he isn't particularly determined to do more besides be the sole voice of reason. Thank you so much for your review!
A/N: Why hello there. I finally finished this chapter remake. Gosh was it hard. Remember that talk I promised? Plot demanded otherwise, that jerk. Anyway, hope you enjoy, sorry for the wait and such. Please review and tell me if you like the changes.
RECOMMENDATIONS (Yes, I decided to do this now. Recommending Naruto and Harry Potter Stories, including crossovers. If you've already read them, sorry, but next time will have different ones!):
The Unbound Soul – Mrs. InsaneOne: Crossover where Harry was experimented on by Orochimaru along with Yamato for bloodline stuff. Shikaku is in it, if anyone is interested, but it IS rated M (sorry).
Sticks, Stones and Broken Bones – Littleforest: Not a crossover, but an AUish story where Harry is homeless and meets Ron, guess what happens next? It hasn't updated in a year and I'm sad. Rated T.
Changes to the Story in Chapter 2 (forgive me if I miss some details, but I'm focusing on the big stuff for you who care):
Shikamaru has a normal nightmare instead of one induced by that chakra thing that I made up. Yeah, I ditched that because I ended up disliking where it was going - nowhere. Yin chakra just causes some more intense nightmares for now.
Shikamaru is much more snarky and introspective, if that counts as a change to a single chapter.
Shikamaru more or less stops the confrontation between Malfoy and Harry from happening instead of threatening Malfoy, and the two end up racing out of childishness instead of a stolen Remembrall.
Shikamaru asked for a prank on a chosen subject after he gifts the smoke-pellets to Fred and George instead of wishing it on Ron.
Hermione is present when the three boys sneak out at night, and Shikamaru consequently dubs the Golden Trio, the Idiot Trio.
Shikamaru is motivated by the urge to keep them from doing stupid, life-endangering stunts instead of some argument with Malfoy.
