EDITED – 27/02/2011

Thank you for reviewing so far! XD I don't think this version will reach the popularity of the original, I don't really mind much because I'm having more fun writing this one. So thank you.

Please give concrit on how to improve, especially feedback on the use of honorifics. Ta! :D

—CHAPTER TWO—
Magic

"My apologies, beautiful and youthful Blossom!" Gai crowed as soon as she had headed downstairs. She was only halfway down when she heard this, and she flinched instantly, whirling around and squatting to see her group seated at a table through the gap between the stairs. Blushing red, she stood and gazed around, seeing that the few early risers were looking at him.

"Oh no," she whispered to herself. Shakily she walked down the rest of the way and approached the table, dead set on not letting a few wizard or witch glares to deter her as she sat down beside Shino. The table was quiet and she risked a glance up at her guardian before she dropped her eyes to her plate, already filled with eggs and toast that she had been craving. "It's alright," she mumbled.

"Had I known, I would have covered more of my youthful body before rejoining the group," he added. As soon as he said that Sakura was reminded of what she had seen and found herself having to almost stuff her face into her food to hide her blush. Neji raised an eyebrow at her from across the table, while Lee, beside Shino, was fumbling with his knife and fork. Gai was busy pouring another large mug of pumpkin juice and was offering to everyone else—she had accepted.

Sakura sighed. She only hoped that not every morning until they left was going to be as eventful as this. As a result of her hope, Sakura choked on her juice and then glared at it, pushing the glass further onto the table.

It seemed she didn't like pumpkin.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Lee cried, swishing his wand roughly through the air. The mug of pumpkin juice he had brought up to his room stayed resolutely still on the other side of the narrow desk. He stared at it determinedly, as though the magic of the spell would spark and work if he glared at it hard enough.

"It didn't work, Lee-kun," Neji stated tonelessly, half leaning over the open book of Divination ('Unfogging the Future') sitting in his lap. "Sakura-san. May I try?" he asked, indicating to the packet of lollies Sakura had purchased after breakfast from the sweet shop they had passed the day before—Lee had gone with her, and it was at least two hours before they left the store. Never had they seen so many sweets in one place before. Ever. Normal sweets, not like this, were pretty much a delicacy in Konoha as it was.

The pink-haired ninja looked up from her book on Transfiguration ('Intermediate Transfiguration') to fumble through the box labelled 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans' to find a bean with a colour she thought was innocent enough and popped it into her mouth (it was red and tasted like sour strawberries). She had heard a group of young wizards back in the store exclaiming the assortment of tastes that the lollies had, which slightly unnerved her as she purchased it. Before the red, she had eaten a white, vanilla one.

After a second, she pulled out a dark brown one—she didn't like the look of it—and tossed it over to Neji across from her, over the small table in between the beds. "Give me one you didn't like, did you?"

"Honestly, Neji-san, I just opened it. I don't know what that one is like," she answered somewhat truthfully.

He popped it into his mouth after a moments' deliberation before he coughed it back out. "Who creates a bark flavoured jelly bean?"

Sakura was laughing into her book. Shino was reading Herbology (a book on watery plants) on his bed, ignoring everything that was going on around him.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Lee called in the background again.

"Ahh! Lee-kun! You spilt your drink over my bag!"

"Don't leave your belongings in the middle of the floor, Sakura-san," Neji chastised.

"It was in the corner, Hyuuga!"

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" Lee cried.

"No, I know. It's okay." Sakura, leaning over the side of her bed, patted at the juice stain on her bag. She mumbled in annoyance and settled the now empty mug on the floor. "Try it again, Lee-kun."

He did, and it slowly lifted from the floor and jiggled over back towards the table. Lee had it drop down gently, his forehead wrinkled in concentration. "Yosh! I did it!"

Sakura laughed in surprise, casting a look over to the Hyuuga who looked as though he had just eaten a lemon. "Great work, Lee-kun! Three tries!" The boy looked positively proud, his face slightly red at being complimented.

"Or maybe it was beginner's luck," Neji muttered from his end of the room but he was heard nonetheless.

"Oh, come off it, Neji-san," Sakura snapped, returning to her read.

The rest of the afternoon passed by quickly. There were still a few scuffles between Sakura and Neji, but other than that, the four of them were in a deep read. Shino seemed to be glued to his book on Herbology, muttering a few things every now and then in a language that they soon realised were exotic names of plants that were found around the world. Sakura had tried her hand at a few transfigurations, using her book as a guideline for turning one of her half-eaten jelly beans (it was pumpkin, enough said) into a button but it ended up looking like an orange slug. Neji, like Shino, was in a deep read with his Divination book, while Lee was excelling in his work with Charms ("It wasn't beginner's luck," Sakura had teased).

Gai, in the meantime, had been downstairs, talking to an aging wizard who was teaching him chess with difficulty. Shino had trudged down there at one point to refill his mug and had seen Gai cheering on what looked to be a knight as it trampled a peasant-like piece to death—his chess pieces had cheered. He was losing.

As each day passed in a similar manner, the wizarding calendar above an old and dusty bureau would automatically cross each day off. The rest of July came very quickly, the ninja realised, and in that time they had learned at least the first year and half of second year school work, but were probably quite rusty; like ninja skills, each of them had expertise in certain areas.

Putting aside their differences, Neji and Sakura, with the addition of Shino, had bundled up to study Arithmancy together but this had only worked for a day before the former two had started squabbling; Sakura because she detested the fact that Neji was talking to her like a little kid when he was explaining something, and Neji because she kept on interrupting him.

"I told you I understand! Why are you biting my head off?"

"Can't you wait til the end of my explanation, Sakura-san?"

"I could have but I get excited! Geez, you're a horrible teacher Neji-san. Isn't he, Shino-kun?"

The Aburame took no sides.

Meanwhile, Lee was catching up on Herbology, his eyes zooming across the pages, and Gai had grown bored of wizard's chess and resorted to refereeing chess matches downstairs—he loved watching them—and helping Tom out at the bar. Surprisingly, there were a few witches and wizards who passed through who had found his jolly nature like a breath of fresh air. Sakura was stunned to hear from Lee, after he returned from downstairs where he had helped for a bit, that there was a 'youthful' young witch who had started hitting on Gai-sensei because she liked a guy with muscles and a permanent smile.

On the thirty-first of July, Hagrid had arrived to check up on them. This was the first time they had seen him since their day in Diagon Alley—they had visited the alley several times between. Shino had taken the opportunity to ask a question he'd wanted to know the answer of since then; as well as... something else. But first things first.

Hagrid's eyes lit up. "Ahh, Quidditch. It's a popular wizard game where the players ride on brooms."

"Brooms?" Neji asked incredulously, bookmarking the page in his Potions book. He snorted. "You don't mean brooms you use to dust, do you?" In the background, Sakura was making sweeping motions with a confused look on her face, nodding to his question.

"O' 'course I do!" Hagrid said. "What other sort 'a brooms do yer know?"

"Uh." Sakura shrugged. "That's all, basically. Dusting... brooms," she said uncertainly. "Mind you, home is... different."

"Aye," Hagrid sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Lot like Muggles den, not knowin' 'bout the sort of magic things there are."

"Then tell us," Shino suggested.

"Oh, I intend ta," the giant said excitedly. "After I'm done explainin', yeh'd be back to Flourish and Blott's to find books 'bout 'em." True to his word, after he finished a rundown on Quidditch, its rules and roles and so on, some of them were very interested. Shino backed down from the idea, saying that he'd find watching it more enjoyable then doing it but wouldn't say no to a try on a broom—the thought was still rather ridiculous to all of them, and he, in particular, liked to keep his feet on the ground. It was one of the few things that Neji and Sakura actually agreed on to attempt, and Lee was psyched.

Hagrid had a look of uncertainty in his eyes when Shino had asked his next question. "'Arry Potter?" he repeated; the sun-glassed boy nodded. The other three listened, having been previously informed that a sliver of information had been heard about one of their tasks. "Well, whataya want t' know?"

"What is he like?" Neji asked.

"That?" Hagrid sighed. "Well, that ye'd need to meet 'im t' know. Famous wizard; everybody knows 'im."

"Do they?" The giant nodded.

Lee looked enthused. "And what youthful thing has this Aruii Potteru done?"

Hagrid's face went slightly pale at those words, which hadn't gone unnoticed by any of them. "What? Yer 'aven't 'eard? Jus' how much do you ninja not know?"

"We're ninja," Sakura stated obviously.

The giant sighed, and from there he explained what he knew, making sure to keeping his voice down whenever he said 'You-Know-Who'. They thought it was strange that he'd avoid saying the true name of this dark wizard, and were therefore unable to learn what it really was. Regardless, his name was the least of their worries, and was little to no use to their task. The boy was said to be a legend, and while Hagrid had made it clear that he did not know how Harry Potter had survived the killing curse (he avoided explaining anything about said curse), it was obvious that he did not care, as long as the boy was well.

"Now, 'nough of the history lesson," Hagrid changed the subject. Lee, who was straddling a chair and had his chin cupped in his hands excitedly as the giant told the tale, shot up from his seat and punched the air.

"Yosh! What a youthful boy to live through such turmoil and pain!"

Hagird's eyes flickered to him, then back to the others. He tilted his head in Lee's direction. "Is 'e always like that?"

Three heads nodded simultaneously. Hagrid looked dubious.

"Well," he grinned. "'Arry's a good lad, he is. Mind you, he's gotten inta trouble a few times but, 'is heart's always in the right place."

"Trouble?" Neji pushed.

Hagrid inhaled before stopping, frowning. "Shouldn't 'ave said that." Sakura gave him a goofy grin. "Why'dya wanna know 'bout young 'arry? Bein' ninja an' all. Thought you were here for the learnin'." Neji froze.

"We are," Shino confirmed. "Just curious. How old is he?"

"Fourteen," Hagrid answered despite his uncertainty. The four ninja looked amongst each other briefly, and the giant was left to try and listen in on the English mumbling. "Whya doin' that?" He shook his head. "Never mind. Came 'ere for 'nother reason. Favour of Professor Dumbledore."

At the sound of their client's name, the four ninja hushed and turned their gaze to the giant still standing to the side of the door. "Yes?" Neji coaxed.

Hagrid smiled. "You'll be goin' to the Quidditch World Cup!" He spread his arms, making his words seem grand, but the four didn't react. He looked crestfallen at the lack of excitement. "Ya know. Quidditch."

Sakura smiled. "Yes, Hagrid-san, we caught that but... how are we going to pay for it? Shishou—"

Hagrid waved a hand at her in dismissal, and if it were any other person Sakura would have scowled at such a rude gesture. "Yer Lady Kage offered to pay—Shisho?" The pink-haired ninja shook her head. "Well," he brandished a wrinkled parchment envelope and glanced at it almost longingly before handing it to Neji. "There's yer tickets. Don't lose 'em," he accentuated.

"Thank you, Hagrid-san," the Hyuuga tilted his head; behind him, his teammates copied.

The giant seemed to blush slightly, shifting his feet across the weak floorboards and making them creak. "Oh. You'll actually hafta leave in a coupla weeks from now; two or three," he added swiftly.

"The game is then?" Shino asked.

Hagrid shook his head joyfully. "It's a big event, it is. Takes a lota time t' organise and find a place big 'nough to hold the game. Popular game, Quidditch. T' make it less con..spic... er, obvious to Muggles, witches an' wizards hafta turn up at different times. Those tickets there are good, you'll get decent seats but you'll still hafta get there at least four days earlier."

"We'll have to rearrange the schedule," Sakura reminded, peering up at Neji. His jaw was unusually tight and she made an internal note to herself to ask him what was up. Hagrid's beady eyes narrowed at them in confusion, and seeing this, she added, "Cramming." He nodded in understanding.

"Yeh'll do fine." He rubbed his large hands together. "Actually, ye don't mind if I come watch, do ya?"

"Why would Hagrid-san like to join us youthful ninja?" Lee cried.

"Like t' see how yer goin', is all," was the casual response. He leaned forward. "Your, er, guardian isn't gonna be 'round all the time, izee?"

Sakura clapped her hands around her mouth and fell back onto her bed, collapsing into peels of silent laughter as Neji gave a slight smile and shook his head. "No. Gai-sensei is enjoying himself downstairs, but he does occasionally come up to watch."

Hagrid looked slightly relieved. "Well," he straightened. "Hafta leave now. Will see you four later on, I s'pose."

Sakura crawled downstairs later that night, curious with where Neji had disappeared to after dinner had been served by Gai who was wearing a sky blue apron with grinning sunflowers animatedly twirling their petals. The Hyuuga had just upped and left as soon as Tom had come in and taken their dishes, reminding them that if there were in any trouble, they could simply just ask him.

Soon enough, the single female spotted Neji by the lit fireplace down in the almost vacant bar area, his eyes gazing into the flames in deep concentration. His head snapped up at her when the staircase annoyingly creaked. Uncertainly, she approached him and stood by him while he rested his eyes back on the crackling fire.

"What's up?" she popped out.

Neji snorted. "I do not think you truly care for how I feel, Sakura-san."

"Hey, we're stuck together for the next year, we live in the same bedroom and we're on a first name basis." She shrugged. "Has to start somewhere."

He groaned. "That's the problem."

Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"

The Hyuuga sighed as he took off his translating-charmed necklace, Sakura copying his actions. Whatever he wanted to say, it was clearly confidential. "I don't like this," he said—hearing Japanese was somehow strange to her ears.

"Like what?" Feeling it off her tongue was even stranger.

"This." He gestured to the fireplace. "All this magic. All these people." He gazed around the room. "We're ninja, Sakura-san, and I most definitely do not feel safe having to live around so many clueless people and having to trust them. This is my first mission as a jounin and as a leader, and I am responsible for all of you; I do not trust any of these magic-folk. I do not like having to trust them. We're like children; clueless to this world, having to rely on them to tell us where to go and what to do. How is this even showing my capability as a leader?"

He quickly ended his rant by burying his head into his hands, his fingers weaving into his brown locks and lightly brushing over the white bandages covering his forehead. The few occupants in the room didn't seem to notice the two of them, save for one or two who had looked their way and stared with curiosity at hearing Japanese in Britain. Sakura ignored them as she sat down on the moth-eaten lounge beside him.

"That's why you froze earlier, when Hagrid was talking to us. We're having to rely on him to act as the informant between our client and us. He's feeding us the information on some of the basics in this world of magic, and is passing on documents regarding our mission, when he doesn't even know it—neither does Tom, for that matter." Her eyes briefly flickered over to the bartender wringing out a grey wash cloth.

Neji's jaw tightened. "This is not what a ninja should do. We're supposed to get information with our abilities."

"Well that's going to be difficult, considering we can't use many of our techniques, in case of any effects."

"Why did Tsunade-sama send us on a bizarre mission such as this? She should have known what this magic could do. This is ridiculous." He covered his face again, shaking his head. "We're hardly ninja anymore. That side has been practically stripped away."

"We still have chakra. We still need it to be even able to perform magic," Sakura protested. "All this mission is doing, Neji-san, is reducing us to a more feeble state to give us room to branch out. Think—Think of how we'll have grown when we have developed the ability to further control our power by the end of the year."

"If that was the case, Sakura-san, why did they bother hiring ninja, if not for our expertise?"

She was stumped. He was right. Why bother hiring them, people from a different plane but was still miraculously connected to this world, if not for their skill in information foraging? That was their main task, after all: to find the moles in Hogwarts. How could they possibly do that without their jutsu?

It relied on what they caught, she supposed. Their observation was something that chakra couldn't amplify, and as ninja, they were naturally in tune with any abnormalities; yet these abnormalities would be all over the place for them. How would they be able to tell what's normal from what's not?

She felt a pricking sensation in her head, telling her that she was thinking way too hard on this after a long day of studying.

"Maybe after we have dabbled in this magic," Sakura started, "and tested a few small jutsu, things will be better."

"Maybe," Neji repeated darkly. "Maybe."

The conversation between Sakura and Neji wasn't brought up again, and even though none of them showed it, all four of them were looking forward to the Quidditch match. Gai had been invited along as well. In the mean time they continued studying, mixing in a few occasional Diagon Alley trips whenever Sakura and Lee had run out of lollies.

Lee liked the chocolate frogs and chasing after them whenever they hopped away (he had even started collecting the cards) and Sakura was just feeling experimental whenever they visited, so she grabbed whatever she hadn't tried yet, though avoided the black lollies that bit back. She wasn't quite daring enough, but Lee had bought a bag of them and had accidentally let them loose in their room. It was just pure anarchy as the two, plus Gai, ran around the room trying to catch them, ignoring their sharp bites as they sunk their tiny black teeth into their skin. It was just 'unfortunate' when one had latched itself to Neji's hair...

Over the days it had become clear that Lee was more than good with his practice, often succeeding in spells in just a few tries while it took the others much longer. None of them could guess how it was possible but they ignored it—though Neji couldn't help the heated glares he sent the miniature copy every now and then.

All of them had eaten their way through textbooks on Potions, History of Magic (though Lee had fallen asleep and Sakura was well on her way) and Herbology. Lee had mastered Charms, while the others were above average with their skills. Transfiguration was one of Neji's hardest classes. At one point he had tried to transfigure one of his kunai into a shuriken, only to fail miserably. Sakura and Lee had a lot of trouble trying to stop themselves from laughing at the result. The kunai had been transfigured badly, in a way that it somehow had sprouted wings and became animate, fluttering around the room in short bursts and almost stabbing Hagrid in the eye as soon as he stepped into the room.

Shino was having a spot of trouble with Charms, unable to get the spell 'Alohamora' to work, among a few other things. There were combined readings with Defence Against the Dark Arts, where the four worked together to understand it, and were quite put out by some of the horrid things they would have only expected in their world. Because there were changes in time-tables, they often grouped together depending on subjects together—though, with Neji and Lee, they had to study at a higher level as they were in fifth year.

Like Sakura, Neji was also completing three electives. She, himself and Shino all studied Arithmancy (with a little more luck as the days wore on); Sakura, Shino and Lee studied Care of Magical Creatures; Lee and Neji studied Divination and Sakura and Neji studied Ancient Runes. Their heads felt as though they were about to explode, and several times they had come to Sakura to alleviate the pain of headaches but realised she was unable. Gai had asked Tom, however, if there were any pain killers and he had conjured up a simple potion to help (it smelled of old socks and tasted just as bad).

In that time, though none all of them would admit it, the four had become friendlier with each other. It could be seen briefly in the flicker of smiles, ridiculous jokes that none of them got unless explained or the gales of laughter. Sakura thought that she may just enjoy this year yet.

It was August 16. A witch dressed in flowing, maroon robes coming off the streets of Britain shook her straggly, black mane as soon as she entered the Leaky Cauldron. She beamed as the familiar tall, dark-haired man had appeared beside her and offered a hand to a table. "Ghastly weather," she told Gai. "Clouds coming over this city, erratic showers. Was worried I'd mess up my hair on the way here."

"You look as lovely as ever!" Gai exclaimed; she punched him jokingly, laughing.

"I bet you say that to every young witch coming through here, Armstrong." She didn't notice a certain pink-haired ninja coughing into her orange juice at a table near the fireplace. "Hmm. I suppose Diagon Alley is exceptionally crowded today, filled with witches and wizards desperate to talk about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. Seems to be the only topic these days. Are you going, Armstrong?"

Gai laughed as he guided her into her seat and slipped off the white hand towel that was resting over his shoulder. "Of course, Madam Beatrice. Not rain nor hail will keep me from seeing this youthful match!"

She clucked her tongue. "Just pray that the weather clears up in time for it." And by then Tom had served her usual drink and Gai was dismissed, drying a wet mug as he waited by the counter.

On a rather large table by the fireplace, the four ninja were hurriedly finishing the last of what they could, fully aware of what was meant to be happening that day. Sakura, who was wiping away any juice from her chin after her fit of laughter, was still giggling to herself. In front of her was one of her last subjects; History of Magic. It was Lee's as well, considering they hadn't paid much attention to it the first time they had to study it. He was beside her, his legs constantly jumping up and down beneath the table as his glazed eyes rolled over the small writing.

Neji and Shino were leafing through what they already knew, having studied amply when they heard the news from Hagrid that he was going to visit them on August 16 to take them to the World Cup. The books were merely there to waste time as they waited, as well, of course, to reinforce what they were semi-confident in already.

"Oh, come on, guys," Sakura said. "Armstrong? How did he even get that nickname?" she asked.

A slight smile curled its way onto Neji's lips. "I heard, Sakura-san. Taken a look at his arms?"

Sakura lost her smile. "No," she said quickly, shaking her head. "No, I haven't. Nor would I want to."

"Well, there's your answer."

"It seems women here like the oddity," Shino added in. Peering over his glasses, he indicated back to Gai who was serving another witch with a huge smile, looking every bit as a tavern man. Gone was the bright green—at least until his mission was over—and new was the khaki green singlet and black jeans. Around his waist was a dull green and dirty apron, with the greying towel over his shoulder to complete the image. What stood out most was his huge smile and bowl-cut hair; he still remained physically hygienic.

"Yeah," Sakura mused, circling her finger around the brim of the mug. "This place is strange."

"As opposed to ninja?" Neji quirked an eyebrow.

"Touché."

At that moment the door opened and Hagrid's massive bulk was blocking the entrance, the grey street of London barely seen behind him. He stepped in, his hair matted with rain pellets, a large black bundle in his oversized hands, and greeted Tom before quickly locating the four ninja; Gai followed after him, his hands drying the cup at such an alarming rate that Neji feared he'd start a fire.

"How yer goin'?" he asked upon approach. "Yer packed fer ten days?" His beady, brown eyes hovered over them to locate their belongings.

Neji closed his book with a surprising slam. "Yes, yes we have. They're upstairs."

"A'right. Go get 'em." Hagrid turned to Gai as the four ninja scampered upstairs, Sakura handing an empty mug to Tom on the way. "Yer comin' too, right?"

Gai beamed. "Of course, I am, young Hagrid!" The giant could be visibly seen grounding his teeth as he surveyed the older ninja. "I have informed Tom that I will be taking some days off from this youthful establishment!"

"A'right." He nodded. "And yer got... yer stuff?"

Before he realised it, Gai had handed him the drying cloth, the apron and a dry cup before disappearing upstairs, his footsteps loud on the wooden case.

It wasn't long until the five ninja had returned downstairs to see Hagrid waiting at the Leaky Cauldron exit, Tom by his side and chatting to him. "Haven't been to one in years," they heard the bartender say as they came up to them, carrying a small bag that held basic necessities though Sakura's was slightly bigger.

"Ready?" Hagrid asked and received a chorus of nods.

They were off ("Have fun, Armstrong!"), closing the Leaky Cauldron door behind them as they took a step onto the streets of London. The first things they saw were the rows of stores around them, and the fact that nobody was really looking their way until they had to merge into the crowd of Muggles. Only then did people look up and stare, but only at Hagrid who was at least two and a half heads taller than the tallest people around.

"Hagrid-san," Neji called out as he wormed his way beside the giant, growling at a man who had bumped into him all of a sudden—curse the lack of proper ninja reflexes. "How are we getting there? You refused to elaborate on that."

He could see the hairy man grin through his thick mane. "Need ter catch a bus to the outskirts of London, an' from there walk t' the portkey."

"Porky?" Lee piped up, suddenly beside them as well with his hands firmly grasping his backpack straps. "We are going for some youthful and tender pork?"

"No, Lee-kun," Neji said firmly. "He said...'portkey'?"

"That wasn't on the definitions list," Sakura mumbled beside Shino.

"What is this portkey?" Gai cried over the crowd, and Hagrid suddenly shushed him loudly, fingers to his lips. The giant glanced around at the few people who looked their way and continued on his way.

"Gai-sensei. They are Muggles," Neji whispered. "They do not know about magic-folk."

"My apologies my youthful student. It seems I got a little carried away."

Sakura felt like face-palming herself. She could just tell; the trip was going to be long.

It was at least early afternoon now, having left the Leaky Cauldron late in the morning. Hagrid had explained that since magic-folk have to arrive at certain intervals, they pretty much had their own booking of when they arrived. To their annoyance, he didn't elaborate. Secretly, the four swore he enjoyed their cluelessness about magic.

They stopped in a grassy area, the ground slightly elevated like a hill with a thin forest not too far to one side. They had been walking from the bus stop—the bus was one thing that they did not want to experience again—for at least half an hour, and were slightly agitated to find that their destination was a single object perched behind a rock, hidden from view.

"Ta-da!" Hagrid beamed, showcasing a black broken bucket which had a large hole on the side.

They stared. "Hagrid-san. That is a pail," said Shino.

"A broken one," Sakura added.

Hagrid frowned. "Yeah, that's true, but this... is the portkey."

Gai stared at it inscrutably, his large fingers caressing his chin. "There's something strange about this bucket." Lee nodded behind him.

Sakura groaned, grabbing her head. "I'm getting tired of all these magic tricks," she moaned.

"As am I," Shino concurred.

"Yer have t' hold onto it—oh, and take this," Hagrid instructed, setting it back on the ground where it had been before and then handing his large bundle to Gai. He gestured to the bucket. "Well, go on." Five sets of eyes peered up at him in confusion.

"Mind giving us a quick lesson, Hagrid-san?" Neji asked.

The giant glanced at his watch and sighed. "It leaves in 'bout two minutes, so..."

Lee suddenly punched the sky. "We shall endeavour to figure out what it does by our lonesome! It's a challenge I will undertake! Right, Gai-sensei?" Flames were in his eyes and in almost the same manner, Gai's own grew fiery.

"That's right, Lee-kun!" His large hand enclosed over one side of the bucket, with Lee's right beside his own. He nodded, approving, before turning his eyes to the three remaining ninja and staring right at them.

Unnerved by the look she was receiving, Sakura timidly reached out and put a finger on the grimy bucket. She felt silly squatting there, and hoped that no one else would come.

"Neji-kun. Shino-kun." Gai tilted his head towards it roughly. The two shared a look, seriously uncertain about what this 'portkey' could do, and if it could actually do anything.

"One minute," Hagrid sounded in the background.

Sakura gaped. "Are you not coming, Hagrid-san?"

He shrugged, looking slightly crestfallen as he said, "I didn't 'ave the money."

"Where is your youthful spirit?" Gai cried animatedly. Sakura swore the man was more than ready to reach over and grab the boys' hands and glue them to the bucket. If that didn't work, then Lee's tearful puppy eyes—sort of—would.

"Four."

Pleadingly, Sakura peered over her shoulder and said, "If I have to, then you have to."

"Three."

With the combined effort of Gai's venomous 'show-your-youth' eyes, Lee's puppy ones and Sakura's pleading, the two eventually caved and grabbed the bucket around the brim just as Hagrid got to 'one.' The effect was instantaneous. It was like a wire had been hooked to their navel as they were suddenly thrust into a spinning, dizzying world where everything was a blur except for the person across from them. Sakura was screaming... at least she thought she was. There were gales, hair tossing and turning, clothes waving and whipping. Fearing for what was happening, she sealed her eyes shut and tried to let go, only to find that her fingers were not obeying her. It was as though they were glued to it.

It was over in an instant.

They landed heavily onto dew-filled grass in tangles. Their heads were still ringing and spinning with the lurching sensation of the travelling and their backpacks felt unusually heavy as they slowly peeled themselves from the ground. Sakura was glad to note that she wasn't the only one with greenish tinge to their face; they were all the same.

"What is with this place?" Neji asked no one in particular.

"One thirteen from Arrington's Meadow," a voice said.