Chapter Four: First Class
Author's Note: A big smile to all my reviewers! This is my fourth chapter and it is the first baby-step to the real thing in the story, namely, the Triwizard. I'm happy, but for all my readers, the next chapter might be delayed a week because of my studies…
Disclaimer: I do not own the fantastical world of Harry Potter or Naruto. They are the rights of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto. The only thing I own in this story is Bridgette and the storyline plot.
"Where are we sleeping, sensei?" Bridgette asked as she and Kakashi paused before Minato, who remained seated in his chair. The students had filed past them rapidly, and the hall was almost empty but for a few stragglers.
"Professor Dumbledore gave the both of you rooms which are connected to mine. It's in the southern wing of the castle." Minato replied, rising. He glanced at them both. "Unless you wish to sleep in the dormitories with the other students?"
"No, it is fine, sensei." the both of them said hastily.
As Minato led the two of them to their quarters - having been shown the way by Dumbledore before the feast - Bridgette sped up and walked apace with her sensei, motioning for Kakashi to stay back. Thankfully, the silver-haired shinobi respected her wish for privacy.
"Sensei, Hokage-sama did warn me...but do you think there is a chance of meeting him here?" Bridgette asked quietly.
Minato gave her an unreadable look. "Do you want to see him, Bridgette? The reunion will affect you deeply, I know, and it might jeopardize the mission."
"That's the thing. I hate him for what he did but if there is a chance of seeing him..." Bridgette's eyes glinted, "...maybe I can have a shot at paying him back for leaving me to the dogs."
Minato thought about it, before nodding. "I will allow this only if you do not put anyone else in harm's way, Bridgette. I know that what the both of them did was a terrible thing and if I had not been around..." he quickly dropped the subject as her eyes darkened and her fists clenched, "...but do you even know what he looks like?"
"I'll have to find out. Don't worry, sensei, I'll handle this on my own. It won't affect the mission at all, I promise."
Kakashi flopped down on his back, relaxing under the softness of his bedsheets. He heard Bridgette stagger out of the washroom and sink on the bed opposite his own; there was a minute creak of wood. They could hear the constant splash of water as their sensei bathed in his bathroom.
The rooms they had been allocated to were definitely better than those they slept in during missions. The three of them were in a rather quiet wing of the castle's second floor, where only the occasional lost student came along; granting them space and privacy to do as they pleased. The rooms themselves were spacious, and came with two separate washrooms, bedrooms with four-poster beds, a kitchen-turned-dining room and large windows for easy access in and out of the castle, as Dumbledore said, "I hear that from Sarutobi that many shinobi believe that doors are simply windows with locks."
"Kakashi?" Bridgette's voice drew Kakashi out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"I know it's an undercover mission, but is it required for me to wear my mask and use a codename all the time? We are far away from home; no one is likely to hunt me down, and from the looks of it, none are even near capable." She paused. "It'll attract too much attention from the student body as well, and we do not need additional attention drawn to us."
Her words reminded him that though she was still a girl of fourteen years who had gone through the horrific experience of war—just had he did—she was still the youngest to ever make it into ANBU so far (merit be damned), and despite the factor of luck, was one of the best torture specialists to be emerging in Konoha, rumored to be a trio in terms of skill with Mitarashi Anko and Morino Ibiki, and almost as deadly a shinobi as himself, despite her usual casualness and apparent neutrality to all matters.
"You may have to confirm this with Minato-sensei, but I don't think so. After all, when we first entered the Great Hall, you weren't wearing your mask, so everyone had a good look at you; and also, a codename would sound suspicious." Kakashi tried very hard to resist his imposing of rules onto her. He had to change, he had to, if not for Rin's sake then for Obito's, and if he didn't change what did Obito die for? If he didn't-
"Okays then. What do you think of this place?"
The sudden change of topic caught Kakashi off guard, but he replied, "Nothing seems suspicious so far. Everyone acts differently, but that would be expected as they are from an entirely different world."
"…Kakashi, remember what Professor Dumbledore told us when we arrived?"
Dumbledore looked up as the three of them entered his office. He smiled, gesturing to the chairs. "Have a seat."
Kakashi recalled the old man briefing them about the friendship-spying mission, then informing them that the boy the 'Dark Lord' wanted to kill was called Harry Potter of Gryffindor, and had described his appearance to them.
"He's easy to identify: Harry's of middling height for his age of fourteen years, has bright green eyes and unruly black hair. Of course, the most noticeable feature in his appearance is the lightning scar on his foreheard. He also has a tendency to get into all sorts of extraordinary situations." Dumbledore smiled, "You needn't follow him around the clock, but I will be very grateful if you can keep him out of danger."
"Yes, Bridgette. What—"
"Not yet asleep?" Minato's voice rang in the darkness of the room.
"Almost," Bridgette chimed in, her voice taking on a weary tone.
"Well, get some rest tonight, because there's lots to do tomorrow morning."
"Alright. Goodnight, sensei."
"Goodnight."
"Today's not bad…going to be a wet morning outside with the Ravenclaws at Herbology, and Charms first thing in the afternoon…" Ron looked at the Monday column of his timetable.
"Potions last thing with the Slytherins, though…" Harry groaned, also scanning through his timetable. "But look at this!" He pointed to the class directly after Herbology. "It's Art of Self-Defense with the new professor!"
At that, Hermione put down both her Ancient Runes textbook and her fork, reaching for her own timetable. "That's good. I want to know what he'll be teaching us…there weren't any books on the subject when we got our booklists, so I couldn't read up on it, but—" she paused, staring at the timetable. Harry and Ron stopped eating to look at her.
"A double-period Self-Defense with the Slytherins, of all things…" Hermione sighed and put away her timetable as Harry and Ron dove for theirs. There was a moment of silence as they looked at the timetables, then—
"No way!"
Minato watched as his thoroughly worn-out seventh years filed out of the classroom, leaving him alone with Kakashi. He turned to gather up the weapons scattered over his teacher's desk.
"Where's Bridgette, Kakashi?"
"She wanted to get a good plan of the school, I think. She'll be back soon."
Minato sighed. "These wizards seem rather unusual, even for their own kind."
"They're like shinobi, but lazy, pacifist-minded shinobi."
That comment made Minato turn around to stare at its source: Bridgette leaned casually on the doorframe, twirling her katana idly. A white wolf-Moro; Minato recognized the distinctive bloodshot eyes-was curling itself around her legs, its dark eyes glinting. Her wolf-shaped ANBU mask had been pushed up to reveal her grinning face. She flicked a kunai at him. "What, sensei?"
"I was thinking that too."
Bridgette stopped toying with her katana, fixing Minato with an incredulous stare.
Laughter echoed around the classroom.
Minato watched carefully as his fourth years filed into the room, chattering. His sapphire eyes wandered to Bridgette and Kakashi: the ANBU leaned against the door, intimidating the fourteen-year-old wizards and witches with her out-of-place ANBU armor and sharp kanata, which she was toying with again; Kakashi had placed himself a little to Minato's left—he drew less attention wearing a blue turtleneck shirt - where he observed the students.
Bridgette suddenly changed her katana-spinning from clockwise to anti-clockwise. Minato straightened. That was the signal.
All three watched (discreetly) as Harry Potter entered the classroom, one of the last, accompanied by the brown-haired girl and redhead boy from the train. Bridgette checked outside for stragglers before shutting the door—and grinning secretly to herself, she locked it with a very audible, dramatic click.
Kakashi stifled a snicker as the level of chatter decreased by half almost immediately.
"Good morning, class!"Minato greeted cheerfully, as he had done for the seventh years. Most of them mumbled a reply.
"I'm sure all of you have been wondering what this new class is about," Minato continued, making eye contact with every student. His voice was light and pleasant as he went on, "Firstly, I shall introduce myself. I am Namikaze Minato, and you shall address me as 'sir' or 'Professor Namikaze', and extend to me the same respect that you do your other teachers. To my left is—"
"Hatake Kakashi." the silver-haired jounin raised a lazy hand in greeting. "I'm fourteen, and a Jounin of my village." The students weren't quite sure what to make of it, but most of the girls present stared at him with dreamy eyes, and one very daring one winked suggestively at him. Kakashi ignored it.
"And to my right, leaning on the door, the one who terrorized you all as you came in—"
"Bridgette, Wolf. Pleased to meet you." Her smile faded and eyes narrowed. "Don't try to pull any pranks on me. I've killed people for less."
From the back came a loud and arrogant, "Yeah right."
Bridgette vanished from her spot at the door.
The class gasped and whipped around as her voice rang out from the back of the classroom, still light and friendly, but with a kunai pressed against Draco Malfoy's exposed throat.
Harry stared, and beside him Ron wasn't sure whether he should be scared or happy.
"If you cross my path, I won't hesitate." was Bridgette's warning as she reappeared by the door and replaced her kunai.
Minato cleared his throat, drawing the class's attention back to him. "Forgive my student; she is very dramatic—" from the door came a quiet hmph, "but she just demonstrated the point of this subject to you. Can you guess?"
"What, we're supposed to learn how to stick a knife up someone's throat?" Dean Thomas exclaimed. "That'll be so cool!"
Minato chuckled, "No. You see, while here I observed a trend of yours. Tell me, if you were a fat old wizard sitting in a chair, and someone knocks on your door, what do you do?"
"I'd wave my wand and the door will open for whoever it is." a girl with dark hair-Parvati Patil-answered. Minato nodded, then asked again, "Now, if I were an enemy you are supposed to attack, what will you do?"
"We'd cast a spell, of course!" Harry blurted, surprised at the question.
Minato eyed him critically. "Correct, Mr. Potter, but not quite. You will have to take out your wand to do that. And that is the problem that I shall be remedying."
"You mean you're going to take away our wands?" the shocked voice came from Hermione. There was an immediate hush in the students.
"Only for the duration of this lesson. Once it is over, I will return your wands back to you." Minato replied calmly. He indicated the box on the teacher's desk. "Please place your wands there. We will be training in the school grounds. Oh, and—" he paused as the students rose, wands emerging, "—the next time you come in for my lessons, do wear…less billowy clothes. Something like Bridgette's will be ideal, but shirt and pants are fine too." Minato stifled a chuckle as the class stared; Bridgette's ANBU armor was not an outfit recommended for those with soft hearts. The girl grinned back at them as she unlocked the door for them to go out.
Once outside on the grounds, Minato was all business. "Alright," he shouted to get everyone's attention, "listen up: the art of self-defense will be practiced throughout the entire year, and you are not allowed to use your wands unless I permit it—" There was an outbreak of angry muttering, "—and I do not tolerate disobedience. Got that?"
The class murmured in assent.
"Good." Minato's face broke into a brief smile. "Today, we shall start by doing some warm-up laps. I want you to run three rounds around the lake and back in under five minutes. The time starts…now."
The students looked at him and each other in alarm, but some had already begun to run. Some simply stood, either in defiance or in shock.
"What are you waiting for? Time and tide don't wait for no one, you know. Start running or I'll be docking points from your house." Minato waved them off with the threat and the class reluctantly began their run.
Minato nodded at the last students who returned from the run huffing and panting as though they'd just run from England to Konoha and back. Minato glanced at his watch—none of the students had made it back under five minutes, though Kakashi and Bridgette ran with them and came back under a minute without breaking a sweat—before saying, "Good job, everyone. I'll give five points to every student who came back under ten minutes…but bear in mind that you'll be running three laps after every outdoor lesson, so wear less restrictive clothes." The class groaned as they seated themselves around Minato in a circle. Those closest edged away as Kakashi and Bridgette made their way towards their sensei.
"For the next part of today's training, I will be splitting the class into groups of three. I will create a clone of myself for each group and—yes, Miss Granger?"
Hermione seemed surprised that Professor Namikaze knew her name already, but asked, "Professor, I'd like to confirm if you said to clone yourself."
"I did say it. Something wrong?" Minato cocked his head.
"Professor, that is impossible!" Hermione protested, "I mean, you can brew a potion which changes your appearance to look exactly like someone else, and you can use magic to change certain parts of your body to look different—but it is statistically impossible to create a clone of yourself!" Some of the students nodded in agreement. Minato just directed a very cleverly faked look of surprise at Hermione.
"Miss Granger, am I to understand that none of you can clone yourselves? It is a pretty average technique…I mean, most ten-year-olds can do it in Konoha, and both Bridgette and Kakashi here can create quite a few clones."
The class simply gaped at him.
Draco Malfoy's voice came up. "Well, if it's so easy why don't you show us?"
Kakashi gave the pale-faced boy a 'you-don't-learn-from-lessons-do-you?' look and he wisely shut up.
Minato shrugged and folded his hands into the basic hand sign of a cross.
There was a puff of smoke and there were audible gasps as an exact replica of Minato stood grinning next to the real Minato, who gave his clone a light shove to prove that he was solid and real.
Hermione had gone white as a ghost when she saw the clone, and Malfoy was making gulping motions like a fish. Many broke out into disbelieving gapes and stares. Ron, who looked genuinely impressed, turned to Hermione with a smirk, "What did you say about impossible, Hermione?"
Hermione was too shocked to form a coherent snap in reply.
"Wow," Harry said softly as he watched Minato's clone take out one of Bridgette's kunai and began toying with it.
"Anyway, you won't be trying to make clones for a long time to come." Minato said, eliciting some grumbling from the class. "It's too advanced for you. However, for today, as I split you into groups of three, you will attempt to…" he paused, capturing their full attention, "…take two bells."
The class stared again.
Minato held up a pair of bells and jingled them. They rang with a soft, pleasant sound.
"Bells?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Yes, Mr.…"
"Ron Weasley."
"Well, yes, Mr. Weasley. There will be two bells for every group to take."
"Professor?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"There are three of us on each group. But you only gave each group two bells. Are we supposed to fight for them? Is this a test of who's the best?"
Minato chuckled. "That's for me to know and you to find out. Oh," he added, "for those who fail to retrieve a bell, you will be doing another three laps around the lake after class."
There were angry protests on all sides, until Bridgette reached around her shoulder and drew the katana slung to her back. "If you don't want to be doing laps for the rest of your lives or end up as meat for werewolves at my katana, you'd pick yourselves up and start strategizing on how to get those bells." she threatened, allowing a fraction of the shinobi's suffocating killing aura to stifle the class.
The class immediately choked on their words and sputtered into silence.
"Okay, class. Listen up." Minato waited until he secured every student's complete attention. "You're allowed to resort to any method short of illegal that you think suitable to take my clones on, understood? That includes trying to kill me or paralyze me or any other method of creativity that you can think of."
"Yes, Professor."
"I'll warn those who feel up to a prank, though: don't try anything funny, because I don't forgive pranksters easily. My two students will be watching for pranksters as well, and I doubt you'd want to cross them."
"Now let's get started."
Wow, this is a really long chapter!
Think Harry's team can bag the bells next chapter?
Please review!