Of Fists and Sticks
"Naruto quiet down" Sakura reprimanded punching said boy upside the head. Naruto grabbed his head as it throbbed in pain and then inched to hide behind Hinata, who was sitting the closest to him. All the ninjas were currently gathered in the Gryffindor common room in the early morning. Shikamaru and Ino were being cuddly on the couch, leaving some of the ninjas wondering just what the couple had been doing during their disappearance.
"Naruto, give us a brief of what you know so far" Neji commanded. Naruto tapped his head thoughtfully. Sakura rolled her eyes resisting the temptation to hit Naruto again, however Sasuke had beaten her too it. The two of them knew Naruto never put much thought into anything, so for him to be sitting there, his face screwed up in concentration, as if he were constipated was just his guise to try and seem smarter.
"Get on with it dobe"
"Teme and Sakura-chan make the perfect couple, they're both so abusive, boy do I feel bad for their children" Naruto muttered, not softly enough though. Sakura's face changed into ten different shades of red. Sakura snuck a look at Sasuke to gauge his reaction, however, to her disappointment; his face remained as impassive as ever.
"Naruto…focus!" Sakura seethed through clenched teeth.
"Let's see…Harry has a crush on this chick…I think her name was Cho or something" Naruto said as he looked left and right at Hinata and Lee for confirmation. The two nodded.
"Okay, we'll keep an eye out for that, anything else?"
"Harry-san and Seamus-san had a fight yesterday" Lee accounted.
*Flashback*
"Me mam didn't want me to come back" Seamus said.
"What?" Harry said, as he stopped unpacking.
"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts" It was clear that Seamus didn't have the guts to look Harry in the face.
"But – why?" Harry asked, somehow he knew why though.
"Well" Seamus began testing his own voice as, he turned towards Harry and looked at him for the first time since Harry had walked in, "I suppose…because of you"
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked. The other boys in the room were snapping their heads back and forth like the conversation was a tennis match
"Well, really it's not just you…its Dumbledore too" Now Harry was livid.
"She believes the Daily Prophet" Harry screamed, "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool"
"Something like that" said Seamus shrugging. Harry wheeled around in anger and started ripping articles of clothing from his trunk and then slamming it down onto his bed. The others looked at him in fright. There was an unsettling silence that lingered in the room. That was until Seamus spoke up again, Naruto thought that boy had a death wish.
"So…what really happened…you know…with Cedric?" he asked unsure, yet excitedly curious at the same time. Harry whipped his head towards the boy.
"I dunno, why don't you just read the Prophet like your mother" he snapped.
"Don't you have a go at my mother!" Seamus bit back.
"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!"
"Don't talk to me like that"
"Try me" Harry said, turning his back to Seamus and putting away the rest of his clothes, "If you've got such a big problem with this why don't you just ask McGonagall to switch rooms…that'll stop your mom from worrying"
"Leave my mother out of this!" At this point Ron had entered the room.
"What's going on here?" the red-headed boy asked. Naruto jumped up and looped an arm around Harry's neck.
"He's having a go at my mother" Seamus snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Harry.
"Look Harry wouldn't – we both liked her when we met" Ron said.
"That's before she started reading the Daily Prophet and calling me a liar!" Harry countered with equal fury, only to be restrained by Naruto.
"Maybe I should move"
"Seamus that's outta line!" Ron argued.
"Hey guys, lets just all calm down, it's been a long day, everyone's pissed" Naruto said trying to be the peacekeeper in the room. Harry and Seamus huffed and turned away from each other. Naruto couldn't believe how childish those two were, only Ino and Sakura acted like that anymore.
("Naruto no baka!" Ino and Sakura yelled bonking the boy over the head)
Harry collapsed on his bed and all that could be heard was Ron who was shuffling about grabbing his stuff from his trunk. There was evened out breathing coming from Dean's bed. Suddenly Neville spoke up.
"My grandmother and I…we still believe you Harry" the boy whispered.
*End Flashback*
"Interesting" Shikamaru mused, "Who do you think this Cedric is?"
"Brother?" Lee wondered. Sasuke shook his head.
"Only child"
"You don't think he's…you know" Naruto gulped, hesitantly. The others looked at him confused, "That way" Hinata blushed. Ino and Sakura turned towards each other, blinking uncertainly. Everyone else let out a long sigh.
"Of course not Naruto-kun, he liked that pretty girl from the train" Lee corrected. Naruto paused.
"Oh yeah" Neji let out an exasperated sigh.
"Okay let's list off what we know so far" he said looking at them sitting in a circle formation, his gaze rested on Sakura.
"Uh…we have a mysterious spy, likely ninja" she said, Neji nodded lifting one finger up. Shikamaru sat to Sakura's right.
"Harry is bugged by his past with a stranger named Cedric" Two fingers.
"A love interest named Cho?" added Ino. Three fingers.
"Disappearance of a teacher close to them" Shino said. Four fingers.
"Appearance of a lady from the hearing who bears a grudge with Potter" Sasuke muttered. Five fingers. Everyone settled into silence.
"Good" Neji said, closing his eyes in thought, "Shino, Kiba, get some rest" the two nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, no doubt heading to the quarters set aside for the ninjas, "Tenten, Shikamaru, Ino, get ready, they should be up soon" the three nodded, "Naruto, Hinata-sama, Lee head back to your rooms" the three disappeared, opting that 'poofing' into the room would be the stealthiest method.
"Sakura, you have patrol in quadrant A, Sasuke quadrant B, meet up with Tenten and Shikamaru at lunch time to switch shifts" Sakura and Sasuke nodded before disappearing as well in a swirl of leaves. Neji collapsed onto the couch next to Tenten exhaustedly.
"Maybe you should take your own advice and 'get some rest'" Tenten mocked, pitching the end of her sentence deeply in her attempt at his voice. Neji grunted but also disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Tenten crossed her arm and shook her head. She glanced quickly out the window at the sun, noting that the shuffling of life in the dorms above could already be heard.
Ron and Naruto were sucking up the food on the table like vacuum cleaners, all thought of table manners thrown out the window. Ron was muttering about a lot of homework through a mouthful of chicken, Hermione was reprimanding him, though her words fell on deaf ears. Tenten and Shikamaru stood – bored – behind Harry, the latter occasionally letting out a yawn. The morning had flown by uneventfully for the two, with a boring class of history and potions. Tenten's fingers were itching to twirl a kunai, but thought better of it, finding no need in absently scaring the kids. With that said, she was more than grateful when Sakura and Sasuke walked up to the pair, to relieve them of duty.
"Good luck" Tenten whispered as she passed by her pink-haired friend, who giggled, having past by some of Harry's classes in her patrol.
"Sakura" Hermione greeted enthusiastically and then turned shyly to Sasuke, "Sasuke" Sakura waved, while Sasuke let out an 'hn'. Sakura elbowed him in the ribs, causing the boy to glare at her; she met his gazes with her own fiery ones. Sasuke sighed in defeat. He nodded at Hermione with a small smirk on his face - a smirk he knew made girls melt into puddles at his feet – as a sign of greeting. Sakura watched as Hermione blushed heavily and turned back to eating avoiding Sasuke.
"So what class do we have next?" Naruto asked, leaning back casually. Harry looked up from poking his poor chicken breast.
"Defence against the Dark Arts" he replied.
"Wow a class dedicated to teaching kids to battle against all that is un-youthful" Lee exclaimed, stars practically dancing in his eyes. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto swung his legs out from under the table, knocking into Sasuke in the process, as he got up. The group left the great hall, leaving Hermione with Ino who had returned from wherever she had left to.
Harry and his friends walked into the defence room and immediately noticed that the normal space at the front of the classroom was cluttered with things, like a blackboard, and the rows of desks were spaced further apart to take up more space. Umbridge was already there sitting calmly at her desk, wearing her absurd pink clothes again. When everyone had finally seated she got up from her desk.
"Good afternoon class" she said in her shrill, grandma-like voice. She was greeted by less than enthusiastic mumbles and grunts. Rapping her wand against her desk she repeated her greeting. The students picked up on her hidden message.
"Good afternoon Professor Umbridge" the class chorused with a little more enthusiasm.
"Better" she said, "now…put away your wands and get your quills out" The class looked at her oddly. This even surprised the ninjas as they highly doubted that she was going to be teaching them any defence that didn't involve shooting colourful streams of light at each other. Most of the students hadn't bothered to follow her orders and instead, chose to sit there stare stupidly at her.
"Well, what are you waiting for, put away your wands" Umbridge ordered again, her eyebrows were furrowed in annoyance and her tone was less than inviting. Silently – and reluctantly – the class placed there wands back into the pocket of their robes. Smiling contently, Umbridge tapped the blackboard twice with her wand and words appeared on the board.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
A Return to Basics Principles
"As I have been informed, your defence class has been…how should I put this...choppy" Umbridge began, "You are not up to par with the standards, however I have taken the time set up a teaching plan that should meet the curriculum" There was a collective mumble from the class. They may no agree with her, but they weren't stupid enough to defy her either. Of course this didn't run for everyone as Hermione spoke her thoughts loud and clear.
"How are we going to practice any defensive spells through a book?" she asked agitation clear in her voice. Umbridge furrowed her brows.
"Hands please Ms –"
"Granger" she replied. Hermione raised her hand this time and repeated her question. This only seemed to further amuse Umbridge who laughed.
"Silly girl, now why would you need to practice these spells, knowing them is enough" the professor replied in an amused tone.
"How are we supposed to defend ourselves?" Harry screamed, jumping up from his chair.
"Hand, Mr. Potter" Umbridge demanded, her tone changing from amused to agitated. Sakura pushed the boy back into his seat when he decided to ignore his teacher and continually screamed about Cedric and Voldemort. Umbridge, whose face had changed 10 different shades of red during Harry's tirade, lashed back by giving him detention and taking 10 points away from the Gryffindor house. Surprisingly Naruto had been quiet during this whole ordeal. Never once did he decide to step in and help defend Harry, unlike some of the other students in the classroom.
The class settled into a silence, most of them deciding that a detention wasn't the best way to start off the week. Naruto, however, was not working. Instead he was trying to talk to Harry who sat behind him.
"So…who's Cedric?" he asked.
"Nobody" Harry mumbled.
"So you're a curly fry than" Naruto said, a blank expression on his face. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"A what?"
"A curly fry, you know, you swing that way" Still a face of calmness. Harry flushed in embarrassment and anger.
"No! It's nothing like that, he's–"
"He's?"
"A friend, who's dead because of me" Naruto chuckled.
"Wow and here I thought it was something important" Harry's eyes narrowed.
"It is important because if I hadn't been so noble, Cedric would still be here, Cho would still have a boyfriend and–"
"Oh, I get it; people are spreading rumours that you killed him to get to that Cho chick, right?" Naruto said, though, no matter how much of an idiot the others thought he was, Naruto could be smart…sometimes. Harry felt like a failure, a feeling Naruto knew all too well. However Harry would not divulge the information unless Naruto kept pressing other matters that would anger him. True to his words, Harry was practically fuming at his remark.
"No, everyone thinks Voldemort isn't back and that Cedric died of his own accord, there was nothing heroic about his death, but there is, Cedric died a hero" Harry seethed. Naruto laughed, catching the attention of Umbridge.
"Mr. Kyo care to enlighten the rest of the class about what is so humorous?"
"Nothing, but pink is so not your colour" Naruto said swishing his finger and bobbing his head from side to side in a manner he had seen Ino do whenever she criticized Tenten on her lack of fashion sense. Stifled giggles and muffled laughs were heard among the gasps from shocked students.
"Detention!" she fumed, her face now as red as a tomato. Naruto smirked, getting detention was nothing new too him, but it was needed in order to find out what that teacher is really scheming.
Hermione grumbled as Ino continued to follow her around for the rest of the day. That blonde was insufferable, it was like she knew exactly what Hermione was thinking and was just plotting many different ways to get under her skin. Hermione sat down in her seat and Ino stood behind attempting to look intimidating, but was attracting more ogling looks than fear.
"You sure take some boring classes" Ino remarked as she looked around the classroom.
"I happen to find them interesting" Hermione retorted. She was somewhat disappointed that Sakura was assigned to guard Harry, as Hermione had gotten rather fond of that girl. She was also saddened that Kari had been placed in all the same classes as Harry and only shared two classes with Hermione. Now she was stuck all alone with Ino.
"Yeah, just like you find Sasuke interesting" Ino replied, a rather coy smirk plastered on her face, one delicate eyebrow rose in a mocking manner. Hermione didn't even bother to deny her rather obvious crush on the boy.
"So I like him big deal, I happen to find him very attractive and manly" Ino laughed, almost cruelly.
"Honey, you and practically the rest of this planet and sorry to say but you wouldn't last 10 seconds on a date with him" Hermione didn't respond partly because she didn't know what to say, but also because she knew Ino was right. The guy only has one emotion, anger and the only other person that he seemed to acknowledge on more than a work level was Sakura. Hermione sighed. Of course he would like someone like Sakura; she was pretty, kind, strong and smart. So she isn't as beautiful as some girls she knew, or Ino, but she wasn't butt ugly either.
"Nice try, but your not his type" Ino said, though this time she was genuinely nice about it and Hermione couldn't help but sigh, maybe Ino wasn't as dumb as she looked.
Dinner with Harry was unexpectedly quiet among Harry and his friends, though the others in the hall were quite boisterous after hearing about Harry's shouting match with Umbridge. Harry barely ate, opting to stab his food viciously and glaring at it as if his meal was the reason for all his troubles. Harry couldn't stomach the food, after his chat with McGonagall he was slightly afraid at what Umbridge had planned for him. Turn his head slightly to the right he could see Naruto talking away with Hinata, who only managed to throw in her two cents every so often between Naruto's words.
"So I guess your not going to come watch the try-outs then" Ron said looking at Harry. Harry turned to Ron.
"I will, I'll just ask Umbridge if she would be willing to change the time or date" Harry mumbled not all that sure of himself. The murmuring around him was getting more intense as Harry placed his fork and knife down.
"I'm going to head back to the dorm" he announced, Hermione mimicked his motions, forcing Ron to do the same. Together the three got up and headed up to the room, Sasuke, Sakura and Ino following not that far behind. Naruto stopped blabbing nonsense to Hinata as he looked at the departing wizards.
"What an emo, can't even take a few jibing words" Naruto snorted. Hinata shook her head disapprovingly.
"Kyo-kun he's not like us, you can't expect him to turn a blind eye to everything like we do" she explained. Naruto looked deep into her eyes. Hinata had just as much of a troubled past as he did.
"I guess, still…" Hinata silenced him with a look, "okay, why don't we grab Kisaru and do some of this homework" Naruto spat the word 'homework' out like a disease. Hinata looked around.
"Where is he?" she asked. Naruto looked around too, but neither spotted the green spandex-clad boy. Then two girls walked by, giggling foolishly and whispering.
"Did you see that weirdo outside?" one said, the other nodded vigorously.
"Well at least he's strong, look at him doing those one-handed push-ups" the two burst out into another round of giggles as they walked towards their table. Naruto and Hinata look knowingly at each other.
"Stupid assignment, god I hate this so much!" Naruto yelled in frustration, slamming his quill down and getting shushed by the librarian. Hinata on the other hand was scribbling furiously away on her parchment. Naruto looked over to see that she was practically done her potions essay.
"Suigoi, your amazing Hinata-chan" Naruto said, amazed at her productivity. Hinata blushed.
"How much have you done, Naruto-kun?" she asked. Leaning over she looked at his parchment which only had two words on it, 'Potions Essay'. Hinata sighed. She began brainstorming ideas, leaning over to point at crucial notes in his textbook. Naruto, unable to concentrate, was staring at Hinata's face, her words unregistered in his ears. He never really realized how pretty she is. Her eyes captivated him. They were meant to be white, a signature of the Byakugan, but if you looked closely – like Naruto was doing – you could see the faintest hint of lavender. She was breathtaking. Hinata stopped and looked up, noticing that Naruto was staring. She flushed and jumped back and started babbling about incoherent stuff before returning to finish her essay.
Naruto – snapped out of his reverie by Hinata's sudden movement – smiled in spite of the awkward moment and began to write his essay. Though he found himself writing the word 'lavender' more than once when trying to talk about herbs. Naruto was thankful that Ino and Sakura were not around at that moment.
The week ticked by slowly for Harry. The dread built up in his chest as he stood emptily outside Umbridge's office. The sound of a quill scratching at the table could be heard from the other side and Harry knew that Umbridge had not forgotten about detention. To Harry's right stood Naruto who wasn't even fazed by the scheming woman behind the door.
"So while I shave off my century old beard do you mind knocking the door?" Naruto asked impatiently. Harry grunted, but did as he was told. The disgustingly sweet voice of Professor Umbridge could be heard beckoning them in. Naruto gripped the door knob and opened the door, pushing Harry in first and then following suit.
*Flashback*
The room had been in much the same condition it was when Harry had first entered it, though Umbridge had added some of her stuff to the room. Like some pictures and frilly doily's that everyone's grandmas had. It felt like a little old lady's house out in the country, Harry felt like they were Hansel and Gretel, being lulled falsely by a wicked witch who planned on swallowing them whole.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Kyo" Umbridge greeted as she stood up and rounded her table, "come, take a seat" she gestured towards a table with two chairs a parchment in front of each. Harry and Naruto reached for their quills when Umbridge placed her hands over theirs to stop them.
"No need I have prepared special quills for you two" she said in her falsely, poison laced voice. The two boys looked sceptical. Harry, not wanting to have another detention interfere with Quidditch, obeyed. Naruto, wasn't so sure, but obeyed anyways. Umbridge handed them a quill each before instructing Harry to write 'I must not tell lies' and Naruto to write 'I will shut my goddamn trap'.
"You forgot the ink" Harry pointed out. Umbridge smiled.
"Oh honey you won't be needing it" The two boys shared a look before writing dryly on the parchment. The moment both of them had written one line, the blood red ink on the parchment was now scratched onto the back of their hands. Harry cried out in sudden pain and grasped his hand. While Naruto rotated his hand looking at his wounds as if nothing happened.
*End Flashback*
"You know what to do" Umbridge said. The boys sat down and wrote quietly, occasional gasps and groans coming from Harry as the pain ebbed away at him. The final detention session ended quickly, much to Harry's liking, and the two boys walked out of the classroom. As usual, either Tenten and Shikamaru or Sasuke and Sakura stood outside waiting for Harry. Though Harry wasn't sure why they had not gone in with him and defended him from the woman, it was there job wasn't it.
Today, however it was just Sakura as the two spotted the familiar head of pink standing next to the classroom door. She smiled at them in greeting.
"Wow, took you guys long enough, now let's go get you guys cleaned up" She grabbed them by their uninjured arms and pulled them towards the Gryffindor common room. Harry was slightly embarrassed to be dragged around in the halls by a girl, especially one that looked younger than him. When they finally got to the room she tossed them both on the couch with ease. She crouched down so that she was level with Harry and she grabbed his injured arm gently. Harry quickly shrunk back from the touch, attempting to yank his arm back, but failing.
Sakura rolled his sleeves up and Harry could do nothing but watch as her hands glowed green and floated over his arm. The feeling was very soothing as he felt the burning pain subside and a cool energy flow through his arms. He watched the scars from previous sessions and the new wounds vanish, leaving no trace that they were there before. When Sakura finally let go he noticed that his hand looked perfectly fine, not a scar nor blemish. Whatever she had done it was far more advanced than any healing magic he had learnt of. Harry looked up from his hand to see that Sakura had moved on to help Naruto.
"Thanks" he muttered, thoroughly embarrassed though he didn't know why. She smiled warmly back at him before replying that it was no problem. Harry watched as Naruto exchanged some words in Japanese with Sakura, causing the girl to laugh.
"How come you didn't heal us before?" Harry asked.
"If she found out that she wasn't causing you any pain she would only drag out your detention, besides a little pain never hurt anyone" Sakura replied. Harry agreed.
Harry started to understand why the ninjas were being conservative around Umbridge. She had probably cooked up many schemes and knowing her, would find some way to backlash at his bodyguards, should she find out what they are capable of. Knowing this, they probably were aware of what she had planned to do and decided that it wasn't of any immediate danger to Harry, therefore chose not to arouse suspicion.
Dolores Umbridge was not someone to be taken lightly.