Disclaimer: I own nothing from either JKR's or Kishimoto's amazing worlds.
"Up, up, up!" chimed Mrs. Weasley, prodding her son, Ron, awake.
"Uhh… Mum!" Ron complained, groaning as he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes sleepily. Light was already flooding the room. It was surprising the two boys weren't already up and dressed. Well, maybe not.
"Morning, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, stretching before succumbing to the yawn that was about to overtake him.
"Ronald!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, "You're not packed?" She scowled at the clothes strewn across the floor.
Harry and Ron exchanged an embarrassed glance before leaping up to hastily shove the offending articles into their trunks.
Molly shook her head at them.
"Mum! The bangers are burning!" Ginny yelled nonchalantly up the stairs.
Mrs. Weasley sighed and flicked her wand at the remaining clothes on the floor which dutifully folded themselves nicely and placed themselves in their rightful trunks before she trotting down the stairs to save the sausages.
Harry and Ron changed and went downstairs for breakfast. They ate quickly. With a loud pop, Tonks, Kingsley, and Remus appeared. Kingsley walked in and shook her hand.
Tonks walked in, beaming, and reached for Remus' hand. She looked up at Remus. He smiled shyly and nodded at her. Tonks squealed and held out her left hand, her once naked finger adorned with a simple-but-elegant gold ring with a diamond.
Hermione and Ginny reacted at the same time, both jumping on Tonks and squeezing her tightly.
"It's so beautiful!" Hermione gushed, grabbing her hand.
"I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!" said Ginny.
Harry was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and Ron walked over and shook Remus' hand.
"Congratulations, mate," said Ron enthusiastically. Harry just dropped all formalities and pulled Remus into hug.
Mrs. Weasley clapped her hands excitedly and joined Hermione and Ginny in their admiration of Tonks' ring.
Once they had all settled down a bit and Mrs. Weasley had them all eat three servings of everything on the table, Kingsley broached the subject of the visitors at Hogwarts.
"All right. The ninjas arrived yesterday at Hogwarts. No one's allowed to know they're ninjas. They will be called mercenaries who use wandless magic. Hermione, if they need any help, I'm going to have them call on you, all right?"
"Of course"
"Wait, Ninjas use magic?" asked Ron.
"They use something called ninjutsu. It's kind of like wandless magic," Hermione replied shortly. "All right. Mercenaries it is. I'm guessing we're not supposed to know about them and should act surprised?"
"Yes," said Kingsley. He glanced at his watch, "Molly! Look at the time! We've got to get them on the train."
Everyone jumped up, shocked, and hurriedly grabbed their things and shoved them in the car.
Off they drove, swerving in and out of the muggles as they rushed to get to King's Cross. They slipped onto through the platform and onto the train.
"Phew," said Ron, leaning against a window pane on the train, "I was sure we wouldn't make it in time."
"Heh…" Hermione said, catching her breath from their mad dash through the station.
They started walking along the corridor, dragging their heaving trunks behind them, looking for an empty compartment.
They found one with only Neville and Luna in it.
"May we sit here?" Harry asked.
Luna looked up. In a swift, fluid movement, she had her arms around Harry.
"Of course!" she said, turning to the other three and giving them loving hugs before sitting down and crossing her legs, her hands placed lady-like upon her lap. Neville helped them with their trunks, and they all crowded in together.
"How've you been, Luna?" asked Ginny, smiling at her.
"I've had the most wonderful summer in the world. The Quibbler's become very popular since Harry's article with Rita Skeeter. Daddy took me on a trip to Sweden to find crumple-horn snorkacks. We didn't see any, but we got so close once. We ran across one of their nests! It was so exciting.
"Then, of course, I spent a lovely week at the beach in Brighton with Neville," she said happily. Neville grinned and went a bit pink.
Ginny grinned and smirked. She thrust her hand at Hermione. "That'll be 10 sickles," she said.
Luna's tinkling laughter filled the compartment. "Oh I do love bets," she said.
Hermione laughed, "Seeing you so happy is well worth the 10 sickles."
The group fell into a comfortable silence. They wasted the hours away playing gob stones and chatting happily. Soon, the train slowed down, and the group got off the train and into a horseless carriage. After Luna gave the thestral a loving kiss on the muzzle, they headed up the drive to the castle.
----------------------------
Hermione walked in the large wooden doors and smiled contentedly. Hogwarts was her home, and she was glad to be back. She hoped Harry would soften and let her and Ron help find horcruxes once they came back, and he remembered all they had done together, for the side of light.
After giving Neville a peck on the cheek, Luna split off to sit with the Ravenclaws, and the 5 Gryffindors settled at their own table.
Hermione looked up and noticed immediately an extra table seating 10 people. Those must be the ninja she thought, head cocked, looking at them with pure fascination.
"What about you, Hermione?" Ron asked, pulling Hermione out of her reverie.
"Sorry, what?" Hermione asked, looking embarrassed.
"Your favourite dish they serve at Hogwarts," Harry filled in for her.
"Oh. Hmm… probably the Sheppard's pie. The treacle tart is very good, too, though," Hermione said. The others nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, the doors opened and all heads turned to face the frightened first years file into the hall to be sorted.
--
"They're puny," Shikamaru said to Shino who shrugged.
"I think they're adorable," Ino said.
"So cute!" Hinata said. The other girls nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, the old hat on the stool broke into song.
"Wait, it sings? Does it make any sense to you?" Kiba asked Akamaru quietly. The other ninja just shrugged and watched it in awe.
The ninja watched silently as the first years were sorted into their houses.
"Wait, they get in that easily? No Chuunin exam or anything? They just put on a hat?" Ino cried in outrage. A couple people gave her funny looks. "Sorry…."
After the sorting was over, Professor McGonagall stood in front of the head table. "As some of you have already noticed," she said, "we have guests staying with us at Hogwarts this year. They are mercenaries helping to protect the school, and they use their own form of wandless magic. You are not to get in their way and are to treat them with the utmost respect
"As always, the Forbidden Forest is, of course, forbidden to all students.
"Argus Filch informs me he has banned new Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products. You may find which are acceptable and which aren't if you stop by his office.
"You may now dig in."
Food suddenly appeared on the plates, and everyone started eating.
Chouji's eyes lit up as he grabbed the serving spoon and mounded food high onto his plate. Tenten looked at him disgustingly and tucked into her own dinner.
--
Hermione watched awkwardly as Ginny was trying to flirt with Harry. She made polite conversation with Neville and tried to ignore Ron's gross eating habits.
She glanced up to see how the ninja were faring and saw that Luna had gone over to greet them. She gave an amused chuckle and turned back to Neville.
--
Sakura turned around, startled, to stare at the girl who tapped on her shoulder.
"Hello. I'm Luna Lovegood. What's your name? You have the most beautiful hair," she said, reaching out as if to touch it but stopping short and dropping her hand. She looked at her intently.
"Sakura. My name's Sakura," she said politely.
She cocked her head at the group. "Ooh! Ninjas! I've always wanted to meet ninjas. Wow…"
Rock Lee stood up and thrust his hand jovially at Luna. "YOSH! It's great to meet people with the springtime of youth interested in ninjas," he said happily. The other ninjas jumped on him and slammed his mouth shut.
"You imbecile. They're not supposed to know we're ninjas," Neji whispered furiously through clenched teeth.
"Ninjas?" asked Ino asked incredulously, trying to cover up. She laughed nervously. "OK, listen. If that's a compliment, thanks… but we're just mercenaries."
The others smiled sadly at her.
"Oh! It's a secret! OK, that's fine. Well, it was nice meeting you!" Luna said in a sing-song voice. She waved merrily and traipsed away.
--
Dinner ended and everyone walked up the stairs to his or her bed.
Professor McGonagall pulled Hermione into an empty class room. "A word, if you would."
"Of course!" Hermione said, waving for her friends to go on.
"I've told our guests about you, Miss Granger, and that you would be visiting them this evening in their rooms. You know the picture of the cross dresser? On the stairwell up to the Astronomy tower?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Yeah, yeah."
"The password is 'Ramen'. They're expecting you this evening, so you can head up there now. I trust you'll help them feel at home."
"Yes, of course," said Hermione, "I'll run up right now and do that." She gave a nod to Professor McGonagall and trotted up the stairs.
--
"I don't know. A girl with the password will show up. Professor McGonagall says she's nice, so –" Neji stopped and looked up at the girl who appeared in the doorway.
"Hi. I'm Hermione. I know you're all ninjas. I'm the one who figured out the clue, and yeah. Thanks for coming, I guess. Do you mind if I…?" she gestured towards the couch.
"Oh, no! Come in!" Ino said.
"Thanks. So your names are…?"
"I'm Shikamaru. That's Hinata, Ino, Chouji, Neji, Tenten, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, and Rock Lee," Shikamaru said, pointing to everyone.
"Nice to meet you all," said Hermione. "OK, you all understand what your mission is? Yes? Hogwarts is already pretty well protected, so you probably won't have to worry about fighting much."
Hermione passed around a basket of coins. "OK, these are coins that look like real wizarding money. If you ever have a question to ask or need a bit of help in any way, focus a bit of your chakra into your thumb and forefinger and picture me or say my name. My coin will alert me when you're calling me and bring me to you."
"Very cool…" said Rock Lee, holding the coin in his hand.
"Well, I've got to go to bed now. Nice meeting you all! Remember, don't hesitate to call me if you need anything! Good night!" she called as she left the room.
--
Hermione made her way back to the portrait hole and climbed into the room. Harry and Ron were there, waiting for her.
"Hey. Where'd you go?" Ron asked.
Hermione glanced around to make sure nobody was listening and leaned in to say, "Professor McGonagall just had me check in with the guests."
Harry shrugged, "Well, that's fine. I'm headed up to bed."
Ron didn't look like this was OK. He frowned. Then, yawning, "I'll go to bed, too." He gave Hermione a quick peck on the cheek and went up the stairs. Hermione looked after him, shocked. Since when did Ron become so straight forward?
Ginny got up and walked over to Hermione, "So…" she said, looking at Hermione with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, because seeing three seconds of somebody lets you know if you like them or not," Hermione said sarcastically. The two girls laughed. "How are things with Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"He's so aloof these days. I can tell he still wants to be with me, but he's just not acting upon it."
Hermione nodded her head sympathetically. The two girls fell silent, looking around the empty common room.
"All right. I'm going to bed," said Ginny.
"Good luck with Harry!" Hermione called jokingly.
"Thanks," Ginny said sarcastically over her shoulder.
Hermione went upstairs to grab a book about the four Hogwarts founders and started reading. She didn't care what Harry said. She was going to help find the horcruxes.
Well, I did cut the end because—after all this time—I wanted something different to happen with the story. I'll try very hard and get an update soon; sorry it's taken so long! I'll see if I can't get Xero-Tom to write one, too. We'll try to start this up again.