Disclaimer: Own Harry Potter or Naruto I do not
"Speaking"
"Alternate Language i.e. Japanese"
Book Titles
"Radio"
'Thoughts'
Flashbacks/Dreams
"Bijuu/Summon Speaking"
'Bijuu/Summon Thinking'
Chapter Six: Qudditch, Birthdays and Petrifaction
Jade sighed as she shuffled her feet waiting for her turn for the Qudditch tryouts for the position of Seeker her new Nimbus 2000 resting lightly on her shoulder humming slightly as if in anticipation for the coming flight. Ryu was sitting off to the side waiting for the Chaser tryouts, he flashed her a supportive smile and winked before readjusting his Qudditch robes, although he said he vastly preferred them to the regular robes. Jade smiled back at him before the Wood called her up. "alright, I'll be throwing these," he held up a golf ball "And your to catch as many as you can."
Jade nodded and quickly mounted and took off into the air smiling ferally at the feeling of rushing wind through her hair before signaling Wood she was ready as he took off from the ground, he immediately threw the small ball off and Jade shot right after it her shinobi trained eyes never losing sight of it and quickly nabbed it out of the air, pocketing it she saw Wood through another one in the opposite direction and Jade shot right after it catching it like the other, this continued another eight times and each time Jade caught them without difficulty.
Wood let out a low whistle when they landed "Fred and George said you were good," he commented "But I haven't seen anything like that since Charlie Weasley!"
Jade grinned and scratched the back of her head in a very Naruto-like manner "Heh, guess it just comes naturally to me." She mused before moving over to sit beside Ryu for the rest of the Seeker tryouts "He's right," Ryu agreed placing an arm around her "You looked amazing up there."
Jade grinned with a faint blush decorating her cheeks "Thanks." she murmured leaning into him. Their day thus far had been relatively the same from yesterdays, the only difference is that they didn't bother going to the DADA classroom that day and had just done some light sparring on the roof. "Ne, Ryu-kun," she said getting his attention "How do you think our friends are doing back home?"
Ryu smiled lightly "I'm sure their fine tenshi," he murmured softly rubbing her arm "Hinata isn't one of the fangirls and can fend for herself, then Shino is considered a prodigy for his clan, Shikamaru, while lazy, is incredibly smart and if Chouji is with him he'll flatten anyone who tries to hurt him."
Jade giggled a bit a relaxed slightly "I'm nervous Ryu-kun," she admitted "I feel like something's going to happen and I'll have no control over it."
"Of course you won't tenshi," Ryu said drawing her closer to him "There are things that will be out of our control and we can't do anything about it aside from standing together."
Jade nodded as she laid her head in his lap "I know," she whispered softly as he began to softly stroke her forehead "But it frightens me all the same."
Ryu smiled down at her reassuringly "Just remember I will be right beside you when that time comes," he stated "It's a promise."
Jade smiled back at him when the call for the Chaser tryouts echoed through the stadium "Good luck." She whispered kissing him as he moved off to the collected group.
"Alright you'll be throwing Quaffels at the goalposts as if you're in the game, It'll be the best out of five, so the person who gets the most will get the position of Chaser" Wood explained as he paced in front of the few Chaser-wannabes "I'll be acting as Keeper so make sure you do your best."
Ryu was the first up and quickly took to the air and accepted the Quaffel from Katie. He looked over at Wood as he planned out his attack strategy.
Stands
"What is he doing just sitting there?" Hermione asked confused "Won't they disqualify him if he takes too long."
"Nah, he'll be ready soon," Naruto reassured "Ryu is just planning out his mode of attack, although he works best when leading a squad."
"Really?" Hermione said shocked.
Naruto nodded "That's the only way we have been able to even touch our sensei during training," he explained "even if he was holding back... a lot."
Ryu
Ryu suddenly shot forward on his broom as he charged at Wood straight on surprising many only for him to suddenly drop at the last minute throwing his Quaffel through the far right goalpost shocking Wood who completely missed the maneuver.
Ryu smirked as he caught the Quaffel after George threw it at him, leaning down he shot forward again and suddenly raised up with Wood quickly following him, Ryu's grinned widened as he spun on his broom while holding himself up with a single hand and kicked the Quaffel into the goalpost scoring yet another one on Wood who looked on in shock as Ryu righted himself on the broom with a sly grin on his face looking over at Wood who narrowed his eyes speculatively at the brunette.
Of the next three attempts only one of them was stopped by Wood who had gotten used to Ryu's odd style and was able to actually counter his last shot.
Sighing Ryu dismounted and moved to sit beside Jade "Damn, I was hoping to get Five out of Five there." He grumbled making Jade giggle.
"Ah who knows, the others might do worse than you." She reassured as she leant into him to watch the rest of the Chaser tryouts.
Jade was right on the fact that people did do worse than him as many, after seeing his display of flexibility and balance tried to emulate his flying style, only to fail horribly, one actually had to be carried to the infirmary after a particularly nasty fall trying to copy the spin kick Ryu used on his second try. Standing in front of the contenders Wood looked over the result "All right after consulting the team we have decided for Seeker, Jade Potter is our primary, and Dean Thomas will be our back-up," He announced to an applause and a series of congrats for Jade who was smiling "As for Chaser, the position goes to Ryu Hisanaga." A smattering of applause met the second announcement as a couple of the Chaser-wannabes scowled "Alright, Jade, Ryu I'll talk to the two of you later about the times for practice."
The pair nodded and joined the others to going to go get changed "I bet she only got the position because of the fact she's famous." One of the girls who had tried out whispered to another unaware that Jade could hear them as if they were right next to them "Wouldn't be surprised if she offer to fuck the captain either."
Jade sighed as she pulled on her robes over a simple t-shirt and jeans and moved to leave before pausing and looking at the gossiping girls "You know something," she said loud enough for them to hear "You two probably only wanted to become a Chaser of Seeker because no guy would even look at you otherwise." With that she left the change room with laughter echoing after her and smirk on her face as she joined up with Ryu and the others.
"I know that look," Ryu said cautiously looking at her "Who do we need to bury?"
"No one," Jade replied innocently before adopting a thinking expression "Unless egos count."
Hermione looked at Jade confused "What do you mean?" She asked "What had happened?"
Jade snorted "Just some idiots that were trying to slander my name," she answered with a minor scowl "I just made one of my oh so witty retorts."
"Well it's good you didn't do what you did to Sakura," Naruto commented linking his hands behind his head "I did not know the human body could bend like that."
"I shoved her head up her ass." Jade explained proudly at Ron and Hermione's curious looks "She did the most grievous thing possible, accused me of being a fangirl."
Hermione looked shock and her mouth flapped open and close a couple of times "How is that even possible?" She finally asked incredulously.
The three shinobi simply shrugged as they had no clue themselves "One of life great mysteries I guess." Ryu mused as they entered the Castle for dinner "Wonder when sensei gonna show up though?"
Jade shrugged "Who knows," she stated "Knowing him though he'll attack us in the middle of something just to see if we've been keeping up with training."
Naruto shuddered before grinning "Well," he drawled getting his friends attention "We can only hope for the best, like Lockhart getting accidentally caught in the crossfire."
The nearby males snorted while Hermione looked affronted "He isn't that bad!" She protested as they sat down at the Gryffindor "He was only making sure we we read the book he assigned us!"
Ron snorted "Remember the pixies?" He pointed out "Practical experience my ass!"
Hermione sniffed and ignored the red head for the rest of the evening choosing to instead bury her nose into one of Lockhart's books instead while the rest chatted about the upcoming Qudditch season.
Timeskip, October
Jade smiled deviously as she and Ryu snuck out of their dorm room leaving Naruto sound asleep, and met up with the Weasley's and Hermione downstairs in the common room "Why did you have us wake up so early?" Ron complained between yawns "What could be so important as to wake us up at such an ungodly hour on when we have classes in..." He looked at the clock "Five hours!"
"Naruto's birthday tomorrow," Ryu explained quietly as everyone stiffened "We've never been able to give him a big party before and we want to be able to celebrate it properly for once."
The group looked confused at his words but nodded all the same "So what we need you two to do is..." Jade started as she whispered their plan to the pair with smirk that the twins mimicked "So you guys understand your roles?" She asked smirking as everyone nodded before the headed off "I hope this works."
"Don't worry Tenshi," Ryu whispered softly hugging her "We'll knock his socks off," he chuckled softly "Pranking the prankster for his birthday, only you tenshi."
Jade grinned up at him before they moved off to get ready for the day.
The next day, evening
Naruto frowned as that persistent tingling sensation he felt all day returned in full force as he walked up the stairs to the common room, with today being his birthday he had spent the majority of the day away from everyone as was his custom, sure he had celebrated his birthday with Jade, Ryu and Sarutobi-jiji before, but that was normally in the hospital after being chased and beaten by a drunken mob, ever since the incident three years ago where Jade and Ryu attempted to defend him he decided to disappear on his birthday. He knew no one knew about the Kyuubi here, but old habits die hard "Wattlebird." He said tonelessly to the Fat Lady ignoring his flaring danger senses as she saw him smirk and swing open to a tremendous shout of "SURPRISE!" Nearly bowling him over before a grinning Jade and Ryu dragged the petrified blond into the common room.
"Happy birthday bro," he greeted happily as he dragged him to one of the tables in the common room that sported a massive cake "Did we get ya?"
Naruto stared in shock at the cake that sported thirteen candles along with the words 'Happy Birthday to the Future Hokage!' "W-wha?" he questioned weakly looking at his smiling teammates.
"We wanted to give you a proper birthday Naruto-kun," Jade explained "And we originally only wanted to involve Hermione and the Weasley's, but.." she trailed off waving her hand to the gathered crowd of grinning Gryffindors with a shrug "Once the word got out more and more people got involved."
Naruto stared in shock at the gathered crowd as tears started welling up in his eyes "T-thanks guys," he whispered softly as he wiped the tears away "It means a lot."
Jade and Ryu pulled him into a hug "What's a family for Naruto-kun?" Jade asked rhetorically "Now you better blow out those candles, 'cause I want some cake!"
Naruto laughed as he turned to the cake and blew hard leaving a single candle untouched "You know what that means bro," Ryu teased "Ya got a girlfriend you not telling us about?"
Konoha
A certain pale eyed kunoichi sneezed vioently in the middle of her spar with with Kiba spraying him with snot.
Hogwarts
Naruto sputtered as he violently denied the accusation to the laughter of the common room and started to get swamped with gifts, while most of them where candy and such from the collected Gryffindor students he received more meaningful gifts from his friends, Ron had gotten him a wizard chess set, the twins gave him a large supply of pranking objects, most of them banned from the school, Percy, in addition to ignoring the twins gift, had given him a book on Herbology that contained information on some of the more dangerous plants in the wizarding world, Ginny shyly handed the blond a book on antidotes before blushing and scampering away Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had sent him a tin of Mrs. Weasley's fudge along with a card saying they were always welcome at their home, Hermione had given him a book containing large scale charms and counter curses.
Teuchi and Ayame had sent the blond a packet of coupons for free ramen at their stand while Sarutobi had sent a set of gleaming Kunai that were guaranteed to never dull or brake while Hachi had sent a blond a scroll containing several shadow clone based jutsus that had him jumping for joy, It was his adoptive families gifts that affected him the most however as Ryu handed him a package that had Naruto's eyes widening when he opened it revealing a brand spanking new wakazashi that Ryu forged himself short before coming to Hogwarts and had actually managed to not only incorporate several seals into it but a couple of Charms he had found useful guaranteeing the quality of the blade for generations to come, Jade handed him a scroll containing several fuuton jutsus she had secretly swiped from the library. The party was still going when midnight rolled around the corner forcing McGonagall to barge in shouting about the fact they needed to be in bed and enforcing the fact as well, but not before slipping Naruto a box of Honeydukes best chocolates along with a note saying it was from the staff of Hogwarts.
"Thanks you two." Naruto said in the privacy of their dorm as tears slipped from his eyes "This means so much to me."
Ryu and Jade sat on either side of him with their arms around his shoulders "It's what families do Naruto-kun," Jade explained softly "Besides if anyone deserves it you do Naruto."
Ryu grinned "Got that right," he agreed cheerfully "And we are willing to do it because we know you would do the same bro."
Naruto smiled happily as the three did something they hadn't since the night three years ago, they fell asleep on the same bed with grins of triumph on their faces.
Next Day
The next morning not very many people got up early in the Gryffindor Tower as a result of the celebrations from last night, although Naruto did wake up earlier than usual and slipped out of the room leaving Ryu and Jade be as they slipped closer together unconsciously, opening the portrait door he apologized to the Fat Lady for waking her and ghosted down the stairs heading to the Great Hall hoping to get some breakfast as his mind whirled from memories from last night 'Is this what it means to have friends?' Naruto wondered to himself as he walked 'I've never had a celebration like that before, so many people giving me gifts, even if they didn't know me, is that what it means to be accepted?'
He sighed heavily before freezing his sharp senses catching the scent of something unfamiliar, and foreign to the castle, his ears twitching as he caught the sounds of a snakes hiss and slithering, he frowned, snakes weren't allowed as pets on the school premise, closing his eyes he concentrated on the sounds only to frown as they had faded away "Weird." He muttered before continuing on his way only to freeze again as he rounded the corner and caught sight of Mr. Filch's cat Mrs. Norris hanging from a torch bracket by her tail with the words 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE' emblazoned on the wall above her.
"Holy Crap!" He cursed in shock at the sight before him before quickly forming a pair of bunshins, one to get his teammates, and the other to het a teacher.
Later, Medical Wing
A small group had gathered around the frozen stiff Norris as Dumbledore inspected the frozen stiff cat. The group consisted of Madam Pomfrey, Snape, McGonagall, Lockhart, who was spouting off rubbish as usual, Mr. Filch who was heaving dry sobs for his cat and the three genin shinobi, Ryu himself was inspecting the cat himself as well with a seal on the back of his hand as it glowed with green chakra "Nothing is wrong with her physically," Ryu muttered in confusion "It's similar to a stasis seal, but I see no chakra around her coils that would signify the use of one."
"It was probably a curse that killed her," Lockhart rambled ignoring Ryu's statement "Maybe Transfiguration Torture, nasty stuff."
Ryu rolled his eyes and turned to Dumbledore who nodded with Ryu's assessment "He is right Argus," Dumbledore said causing everyone to freeze in the room "She isn't dead, she is Petrified."
"Aha, I thought so!" Lockhart exclaimed even though everyone ignored him.
"But I am curious as to how." Dumbledore admitted continuing on as if Lockhart had never spoken "But you have no need to worry, there is a cure for it, especially with the Mandrakes Professor Sprout managed to procure."
"I can take a look through my seal book to see if there is anything of use in there," Ryu offered "Who knows, I might be able to design one off of the stasis seal."
Dumbledore nodded gratefully at the genins offer "Thank you Ryu," he said kindly "In the meantime I will have a potion made up as well."
Ryu nodded "I can make it," Lockhart claimed "I can whip them up in my sleep."
"I believe that I am the Potions Master of this school," Snape interjected with a sneer before turning to the shinobis "Would you also be as kind to compile a list of known plants and ingredients you use for your antidotes?" He asked reluctantly "I may be able to find something that can be used as a substitute while we wait for the Mandrakes to mature."
"I can do that," Naruto offered "I'll get it to you as soon as I can."
"Thank you," Dumbledore said once more "You three may go now."
"Oh before I forget," Naruto said pausing at the door "Before I found Mrs. Norris I had heard something, a snake of all things, sounded pretty big too."
Dumbledore nodded before the three shinobi disappeared from the room 'This is not good.' He thought to himself as Sarutobi's warning rang through his head.
END CHAPTER
