Rating: M (for Mud Puppies Baby)

Warnings: Slash/Yaoi, Het, blood and stuff, mentions of underage (I guess)

Diclaimer: Shut up.

Note: I posted an ANBU!Naruto fic recently, if anyone is interested in checking it out. It was a reward for Karasu Kagami-chan that I took forever in writing. It won't slow down updates on this one because I now have up to the seventh chapter written. Voting is closed on what animal Harry has as an Inuzuka bonded. Also, because I know some of you will bother me about it, I use the spelling from the manga that I have as far as rank and such goes in the shinobi world. Thats why I don't write Jounin or Chuunin. I use the "short hand" for it that actually comes from the way it's written in Hiragana.

When written in Hiragana, it's actually spelled jyo-u-ni-n. Though it is pronounced Jounin.

Harry spent the next few days in a foul mood. Anyone who approached him was chewed out so thoroughly that they wondered if Snape had died and Harry was somehow channeling him.

Because of this, it was understandable that everyone who had signed up for the dueling club was desperately hoping they wouldn't be pitted against the Boy-Who-Lived. Fortunately for them, Draco Malfoy was chosen to fight him.

"I heard your little project was caught by Slytherin's monster," Draco sneered. Green eyes narrowed on him and the pair bowed to one another.

Settling into a ready position more common to the Hyuuga fighting style than the Inuzuka one he'd been practicing, Harry waited for the countdown to finish.

"Good thing he was, or I was going to take him out myself!"

Harry snarled and darted forward, his hand lashing out to push against Malfoy's shoulder and knock it loose from it's socket. Malfoy cried out, but Harry didn't stop. He dropped so his hands and one foot were braced against the platform, then kicked out with the other.

Malfoy's whine stopped abruptly as his jaw was kicked shut and he flew back, falling off the edge. "You couldn't take out a snake if it were dead, let alone a person," Harry snarled.

The room was silent, both adults shocked at the physical end to the duel. Neither had expected such a thing to happen, especially not between those two.

Snape's face, which had been getting progressively whiter, suddenly turned red. He whirled around, turning

furious eyes on Harry. "Potter! What was that?! I said duel, not brawl like some muggle in a back alley!"

Cool green eyes turned on Snape and the professor had to work not to flinch back at the cold fury in those

eyes. "You only said we were to duel, not that we had to do so with our magic. Dueling is disarming your

opponent and making sure he can't get back up to attack you."

A loud wail from Malfoy snapped everyone out of their silence and the room suddenly erupted in whispers.

Snape threw him one more furious look before dropping off the platform to help Malfoy. Lockhart grinned a

little shakily and reached out to throw his arm over Harry's shoulder.

The Gryffindor shrugged it off and hopped from the platform himself. He'd barely taken two steps when his rivals angry voice shouted out.

"Serpensortia!"

Automatic reaction had Harry sidestepping the ropes that came at him from behind. Only, he noticed when they'd passed him that it wasn't rope, but a long snake. It's angry hissing filled his ears, sounding almost like words.

That wasn't what concerned him though. What caused a pinch of fear to rush through his veins was the direction of the snakes path. Instead of wrapping around Harry's neck, it was now coiled about Dean Thomas' shoulders; the black boy looked petrified.

No one moved, all of them to wary of being bitten to try and lend a hand.

"I will kill you for disturbing my nest…"

It was words that the beast was speaking! Perhaps it was one of the summoned snakes that Orochimaru had used?

"Wait, leave him be. He was not the one that summoned you."

Gleaming yellow eyes turned on him and Harry fought to keep his lip from curling in a snarl. He kind of wanted to grab the reptile in his teeth and shake it until it stopped moving.

"You who speaks, why should I not kill all of these creatures?" The snake asked, lowering it's head closer to Dean's frantically pulsing artery.

"Because they will kill you in retaliation. I could simply take you from here and release you into the forest, or even try to send you back to your nest."

It seemed to regard him for a moment before stretching its wedge shaped head towards Harry's outstretched arm. Gently sliding up the appendage, then settling a little more loosely over the Gryffindor's shoulders than it had with Dean, the snake hissed out a command to go before it killed them all.

Harry stifled a laugh at it's arrogance, green eyes taking in Dean's shivering form. "Seamus."

The Irish boy didn't need anymore prompting, his arms immediately sliding around Dean's shoulders. With the black boy's head buried in Seamus' neck, Harry was able to walk past them. Seamus eyed the reptile wearily, but he didn't bring attention to how close it was lest Dean panic.

"Potter! Where do you think you're going?" Harry tilted his head to look over his shoulder at the sneering potions master.

He took in the paler than normal skin, the tight line of his lips, and smiled. "I'm disposing of the snake that Malfoy so carelessly picked up Professor. It can hardly stay in a school of children now can it?" He was out the door before Snape could pick his jaw up from the floor.

That evening, after Hermione lectured him on how dangerous it had been for him to mess with a snake, and Ron accused him of hiding the fact that he was a parse tongue, Harry found himself in the dorm alone. He agitatedly removed his robes and shirt, leaving him in just the uniform pants intending to do some stretches before he turned in early.

It was not to be though, as slim arms wound around his stomach and a head pressed itself between his shoulders. Harry twitched, suppressing the reaction of violence that was so natural to him now.

"Thank you." The voice was quiet, tainted with an Irish lilt.

Another body came up to him, this time wrapping around his front and planting a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for saving me. I'm terrified of snakes."

Harry regarded Dean in surprise. "You're welcome." He finally mumbled, feeling heat flood his cheeks. It had been a long time since he'd been held like this, not since before his death as Shurachi.

They held him for several long minutes, the slight shaking that had taken over both boys slowing into nothing, and then separated to climb into their own beds. Harry glanced at the clock and decided he didn't have enough time to stretch before Ron came up.

Changing into pajama pants himself, the last of the Potter line settled in for bed. It was difficult to sleep without Collins small body pressed against him, as it had been since the boy was petrified. He did sleep however, and his dreams were filled with joyfully barking dogs and the laughter of his pups.

So how was it? There hasn't really been any voting on pairings yet. Maybe I should make suggestions? Haku is out, sorry guys. It would ruin my plot if he got together with Haku. Our favorite Ice-user isn't alone though, he has his lover so don't worry. Its fine if you vote for a Harry Potter or a Naruto character. Harry is the same age as Shurachi, so a bit of time travel was involved. This makes a little more sense once the Hidden Countries start to become involved so he likely wouldn't be with one of Naruto's generation. Also, he wouldn't be with Orochi cause he doesn't like being molested any more than Sasuke. XDDD

Taku