A/N: Here we go. Another chapter of my HPNaruto crossover. Experience Hogwarts' Golden Trio's first lesson with Kakashi- among other things. Enjoy.
Notes:
"…" speaking english
"…" speaking japanese
'…' thinking in english
'…' thinking in japanese
Yeah, I made up my mind about that. ;)
Chapter 7: Taijutsu(Hokage's Office, Konohagakure)
"This is bad."
That, apparently, was the first thing, that came to Tsunade's mind, after she had read the letter the Kazekage had gone out of his way to take it to her personally. Her honey eyes were hard, her hands clenched together, and she was biting her lower lip in frustration. She leaned forward to rest her elbows on her desk.
"What to do now?"The present weren't sure if she was talking to them or to herself, but considering that the Godaime hadn't looked up at them once, they couldn't be blamed. Hanabi decided, she was better off not saying anything. She was just a chunin after all and pretty sure, Tsunade didn't want to hear anything from her right now. If asked, though, she would be able to give a solution, though. Gaara just waited. He had a set of ideas, what he would do, if this were his men. The weren't, however, so it wasn't in his place to speak, unless directly asked to do so. The third person in the room, however, didn't have such inhibitions. He was fairly sure, the Hokage had talked to herself, hoping to get an inspiration, but cleared his throat to get her attention anyway.
"Yes?" she snapped at him.
"If I may be so bold-"
"You already have been, so just spill it out already!" the blonde woman hissed at him.
The man sighed. Why had he even agreed to replace the Hokage's secretary during her pregnancy?! He definitely didn't finally take his jounin exams for this.
"We could send a team. To gather information on Team Wolf's enemy. It could be a great advantage, if it ever comes to a battle."
"Not a bad plan, it has one major error, though. What happens, if this guy wants our shinobi to directly attack the school?"
"Im sorry, I didn't think that far."
"Obviously," Tsunade huffed, then a moment later, she sighed. "I'm sorry, Iruka, but since this whole mess joined in with Shizune's pregnancy, I'm completely wasted- I still want to wring Shiranui's neck for this!!!"
The Academy teacher chuckled, waving it off.
"But what do we do, now? Any ideas?"That was Hanabi's cue.
"We could sent the letter back, telling this Voldemort-guy that we can't spare any shinobi, because of the impending war with the other big Hidden Villages. We could thereby furthermore insinuate, that these ninja are from one of the neutral countries, that won't actively participate in the battles. That way, we ensure- most likely- that he won't go to ask Mist or any of our other big enemies after receiving our refusal."
"That's… all a little dubious."
"I did say 'most likely'."
The Hokage clicked her tongue.
"We'll try it, but I'll still send some back-up. Iruka, get me Bear, Swa-"
"Hokage-sama, I'm not ANBU. I don't know who you mean," Iruka explained patiently to her. "And even if I did, I don't have access to ANBU HQ."
"Oh, fine!" Tsunade grumbled. "Then get me Shiranui, Yamanaka, Sai and Yamato. Tell them to come right away and grab their gear on the way. I don't want any delay, am I understood?"
"But-"
"No buts. Just get them. I don't care, how!"
The rookie-jounin rushed out of the office.
"Oh and, Hanabi…" The Godaime addressed the young girl in a sugary sweet voice."The Hyuuga Elders are getting a little too cocky again. Hinata could need a hand."
Gaara almost rolled his eyes. He was well aware that the honey-eyed woman was actually talking to him, and why she didn't just say so, was beyond him. It wasn't like he would flip or anything. He had grown quite fond of Hinata, as she was the only one that outright accepted his relationship with her sister without casting him dark glances, when she thought he wasn't looking. And she'd always been very nice to him, anyway, when he visited for diplomatical negotiations. This continuous undermining of her authority by her own family members annoyed him just as much as it angered her, Hanabi or Neji.
Infact, his girlfriend was having another temper tantrum right now.
"Again?! Will those bastards never learn- sorry for the choice of words, Hokage-sama ("What, I didn't hear anything?")-, those old-fashioned morons, those…" Hanabi continued her rant as she was led out the door by the half-smiling Kazekage. He didn't need to stay, Tsunade would tell him later, anyway. And scaring Hanabi's relatives half to death was much funnier anyway.
The Hokage smiled for a moment, reaching for her cup of sake. She was about to take a sip, when four loud 'poofs' startled her and made her spill it on her shirt and pants instead. Growling, she put the now empty cup back onto it's place on her desk. The shinobi infront of her made a hasty step back, raising their hands into the air apologetically. Tsunade 'hmpfed' at them, before starting the briefing.
"You," she began in an accusatory tone, that made the men and woman gulp, "are going to England as Team Wolf's back-up. I'll inform DumbledoreYou will, however, not travel to the school, where your comrades and friends are. Instead you'll do information gathering and then use your summons to report back to them. I want you to be as discreet as possible. You will split up into two teams. The first will search through the ministry, because from what I can gather from Wolf's last report- these scrolls are always so damn short- the wizard- politicians are trying something new every day to bring the school under their control. The second team will watch figures called Death Eaters, closely. Lynx sent me a list with names of possible affiliates- good apprentice that she is… I want you to check on them and then you'll sent a message to either Wolf or Cat to inform them about your presence and what-"
"To either Wolf or Cat? What's that supposed to mean?" Genma asked from behind his Bear-mask.
"Isn't that obvious?""No," they all chorused.
"Well, Wolf and Cat are leading the team."
"Isn't that just killing the whole purpose of a 'Chain of Command'…somehow?" Swan (Ino) spoke up, unsure.
"Normally, yes, but both are in a fragile emotional state right now." Here her eyes began to gleam with mischief as if she was responsible for at least one of their situations. "And so, as neither is in the state of leading alone, I set them up together. They've worked as equal partners before, so that shouldn't be a prob-"
"That was ten years ago!" Yamato interjected, adjusting his Lion-mask a litte. In the hurry, he didn't have the time to arrange it properly.
"Grr… When I talk, no one else talks, clear?!"Everyone nodded anxiously.
"They'll get along just fine, I'm sure- which reminds me… It's been over a month and Wolf hasn't even mentioned that… I better remind him of our last 'conversation'…" The gleam in her eyes intensified and the ANBU took another step back. Even Sai wasn't emotionless enough, not to be frightened.
'Whatever this 'conversation' was about, I don't want to be in Hatake's skin right now…' Genma thought as Tsunade sent them off to get their ride by transportation circle organized.
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333
Thanks to the detention with Umbridge, he hadn't had any time to practise for transfiguration, hadn't written one dream into his Dream Diary, didn't paint that wood-like creature and hadn't written any of his essays. Which was why one Harry Potter skipped breakfast the following morning and hastily invented a few dreams for Divination. Surprisingly, he found Ron there to keep him company.
"Why didn't you do that yesterday?" he asked, while his red-haired friend tried hard to find an inspiration, looking all around the Griffidor common room. Ron had been dreaming peacefully when Harry had arrived in the dormitory. He said something about having had "other things to attend to", before he bent over his diary again.
"That's gotta be enough!" he exclaimed only moments later and smashed the little book shut. "I wrote that I dreamed about buying new shoes- she can't make anything strange out of that, can she?"
Harry was of the opinion that Trelawney could read a terrible death out of pretty much anything, but kept quiet while they ran towards the northern tower- Deer was lazily trailing behind them. It seemed the guards had targeted Harry more than any other student, because Lynx had even followed him into the guy's bathroom after she had caught up to him yesterday. But maybe it had just been an error, she did seem a little distracted …
"How was detention with Umbridge? What did you have to do?"
Harry hesitated for a moment, before answering.
"Had to write lines."
"Oh, that's okay, right?" Ron said surprised.
"Hm," was all he got for an answer.
"Hey- I totally forgot- will she let you go on Friday?"
"No," Harry responded.
Ron groaned compassionately.
It became another bad day for Harry. He was the worst in McGonnagall's class, because he'd had no time to practise the charm. He had to sacrifice his lunch break for painting purposes and even better, he got even more homework from McGonnagall, Grubby-Plank and Sinistra, that again he wouldn't be able to do, due to his second evening of detention in Umbridge's office. And to add to the abundance of all this inconveniences, Angelina Johnson confronted him during dinner, telling him that he didn't have the right spirit and that she expected player, that wanted to stay in the team, to put their training infront of anything else!
"I have detention!" he shouted after her as she walked away. "Do you really think, I prefer sitting in a room with a toad over playing Quidditch?!"
"At least you just have to write sentences." Hermione reminded him comfortingly, when Harry glided back down into his seat. "That punishment isn't that bad, really…"
Harry opened his mouth and closed it again. He didn't know, why he couldn't tell Ron and Hermione, what was really happening in Umbridge's office. He only knew, he didn't want to see their shocked faces, because that would make everything just worse. Besides, he felt like it was something between him and Umbridge and no one else and he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of hearing that he had complained about it. It seemed like a very good reason to Harry, though he didn't miss the questioning look he got from Lynx, who would accompany him to Umbridge again.
'Stop! What questioning look? You can't even see her face, man! Get a grip!' he scolded himself, but deep inside he knew, that was exactly what Lynx was doing right now; giving him a questioning- and possibly a little disappointed- gaze. Harry had never seen her eyes, or any part of her face for that matter, but they seemed to pierce right through him, accusing him. Looking utterly disappointed in his lack of… trust ?… in his two friends. The dark-haired boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"I can't believe how much homework they gave us!" Ron 's voice got him out of his reverie. He immediately heard Hermione ask him accusingly why he hadn't done any of that yesterday evening. And where had he been anyway? "Oh… I…wanted to take a walk."
It occurred to Harry, that he wasn't the only one hiding something.
333
His second detention was as bad as the first one. The skin on the back of his hand had been completely healed when he had gone to bed the last evening- many thanks to Lynx- and now it was bloody and red again. Harry didn't doubt, that if Lynx wouldn't heal him, the words would be carved forever into his hand by tonight. Nevertheless he payed attention not to show any sign of weakness or give any exclamation of pain infront of the Toad-woman, from the moment he stepped into the office till the second he got out of the room. He didn't say a word in those hours, until finally giving Umbridge's office one last glance for the night and saying no more than "Good evening" and "Good night". He left, closely followed by the pink-haired guard. As soon as they were around the corner, Lynx stopped him to heal his hand, then gave him into the custody of Eagle and wishing them "Fair dreams", before turning around to go into the opposite direction. Eagle gave him a quick onceover, before nodding and guiding him to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Kokoro," Harry mumbled.
The portrait swung open and they stepped inside. The Boy Who Lived thought about doing his homework. He was totally exhausted, but he opened his books anyway to write his essay for Snape. When he was done it was half past two in the morning- and even that only because Eagle had stood behind him and looked over his shoulder. The ANBU guard had taken it upon himself to correct his essay( How did he know so much about potions?) and even given him a few tips on grammar and style. At that point, Eagle admitted he had to leave and do some rounds. Therefore, Harry was left alone to answer McGonnagall's questions and throw together a few things about how to treat those little, wooden beasts right. Afterwards he moved upwards to his dormitory and fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow- his clothes still on.
33333
Thursday passed in a fog of sleepiness. Ron too, looked quite dizzy, even so Harry had no idea as to why. They almost fell asleep during their last lesson and would have gone straight to bed, if Ron didn't have homework to do and Harry wouldn't have to got to detention with the Toad again.
"Where are you two going?" Hermione asked them with a raised eyebrow.
"Library," Ron said.
"Detention," Harry mumbled.
"Did you forget? We still have a class," the bushy-haired girl reminded them. The two boys looked bewildered for a moment- astronomy should have been their last class for the day- but then it hit them: The new class! The one they had surprisingly found on their schedule and that Ron hadn't been able to pronounce.
"Is it Thursday already?"
"Hmpf!" Hermione huffed. "Yes, for your information, it is. Come on now- we have to go change."
"Change?" the boys asked.
"Yes, or did you intend to got to a hand-to-hand combat class in your school uniform?" she wanted to know indignantly.
"…er…No," they groaned.
"Then move," Hermione snapped, turning on her heels to walk away.
Harry and Ron stood there another few seconds.
"You know what?!" the raven-haired boy suddenly asked with a mischievious smile. "That means, I don't have to go to detention! And the Toad can't say anything, because it's an official class… Yeah!"
Jumping a little in his step, Harry made his way over to the Griffindor dormitories to change for class. Little did he know, that he would wish his detention back in a few minutes…
33333
They met on the field infront of the lake ten minutes later. Fox and Raven were already there waiting for them and when he looked a little more closely, Harry could see Cat sitting in a nearby tree, apparently reading a book from the library. She looked very relaxed, leaning her back to the trunk, one leg drawn up to accommodate the arm holding her book, the other dangling from the side of the tree. She almost looked too casual. Raven leaned against the same tree, but was standing below his teammate on the ground. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked in the direction of the castle, as if he was expecting something to come from there soon. It would have been an almost peaceful picture, if it hadn't been for Fox, who was anything but calm! The blonde guard was pacing infront of the group of students mumbmling incoherently, but definitely angry. He was, of course talking in japanese, so even those, who stood closer to him than Harry, didn't understand a word, but it sounded like a rant…
"That tardy, old bastard…porn-reading bastard… irresponsible…should've known…been here fifteen minutes ago, but of course…late as ever…stupid, old men…" were only a few things, Raven and Cat had to listen to, while their comrade's rage grew bigger still, and though it didn't look like it, their thoughts were mostly going in the same direction.
Cat, however, didn't feel angry about Wolf's lateness anymore. She'd lived with it for years, before she went on that mission. She'd thought that it would irk her, because she hadn't experienced it for a good ten years, but as soon as she'd been back at home, her inner clock seemed to have adjusted to her friend's constant tardiness again. Now, all it was to her, was amusing. It seemed like a part of an old game she'd almost forgotten how to play, though she had loved playing it in the past. It had been one of her favorite pass-times to try and predict just how late Wolf would be on different occasions. At one point she'd been so good at this game, people had asked her to tell them, what time to give him, when they wanted him to come at another. She had always just smiled and told them to give him a time about two or three hours prior to the actual appointment, though she could've been much more precise. It was all a matter of identifying his mood. If you could do that, you could foretell exactly how long he would be at the Memorial Stone or reading his book to push away bad thoughts about his past. Being this good at understanding him, she'd soon grown to be his closest friend and they'd been so ever since then. Therefore she knew that he would make his appearance in about a minute or so. Closing her book, she jumped down from the tree, careful not to land on Raven, who seemed to be very pissed- his hands were clenching and unclenching every few seconds. Activating her Byakugan, she noticed that his eyebrow was twitching dangerously, while he was biting his lip in annoyance. Cat decided it would be better to stay off him and went a few metres away.
"How long is he gonna make us wait this time?… no sense of appropriateness… of course, he's reading porn… rude to the bone…" Fox continued to rant on about his ever-late sensei, when Raven finally snapped.
"Shut up, dobe, you're annoying." That was it. No yelling, no movement, not even an exclamation mark!
But hey, what did you expect? He's Sasuke after all!
"Don't tell me to shut up, teme. The man is…" Fox began to argue, but was interrupted by a puff of smoke.
'Just as I predicted,' Sayuri thought, not without a good ounce of pride.
"You're LATE!" Naruto yelled.
'It just isn't the same, when Sakura isn't there to help him scream at me…' the Copy Nin thought."What excuse do you have this time?" Sasuke asked, only barely containing his anger. Because of this man, he had to endure a whole half an hour of Naruto's ranting, not to mention the bickering conversations of the bored brats. Unbelieveable that this was the man who taught him the Chidori!
And he had been in such a good mood since Monday too…
"I'm here now, am I not?… Sorry, I'm late, I got lost on the road of-"
"Life, we know, we know," Cat joked, but Raven and Fox weren't so amused.
"Road of Life my ass, sensei!" the blonde shouted at him. "You were probably just sitting somewhere, reading your per-" a glare from Cat made him change direction, "-stupid book, admit it!"
"So little faith you have in your old sensei?" Wolf asked melodramatically.
"What little faith we had in you, was destroyed on our first training session, to which you were five hours late- and then you just pulled out that disgusting book and read it right infront of us, when you should've been teaching us!" came the amused voice of Lynx, who walked towards them over the black water of the lake.
The students were stunned.
Wolf's head fell a little.
"Well, since Wolf is here now, we can begin the lesson," Cat announced to them. Lynx sighed deeply and said something about having to meet with Deer to report to him. She also informed the brown-haired guard, that said pineapple-head would come by and give them a summary of everything. He was, it seemed, scouting the Forbidden Forest with Eagle and Pakkun. The students that heard the last name were confused. They remembered only seven guards and five of them were here. That left two more and none of them was called Pakkun! Only Harry, Ron and Hermione understood what Lynx was talking about and more or less understood, when the pink-haired girl asked Wolf if that was okay with him.
"Sure," the man shrugged, seemingly uncaring, but Lynx knew better. He was a little offended, that she didn't inform him before. She shot him an apologetic smile, which he obviously couldn't see, but he seemed to sense it, because he nodded to her and ruffled her hair.
"Stop that! I'm not twelve anymore."
"You'll always be that little girl to me- and besides: Your pink locks just invite people to ruffle them a little." He smirked behind his mask at her annoyed expression, she just knew he was. Huffing, Lynx walked away. "Let's begin now, shall we?! First of all, I'd like you to form groups."
The students immediately went together with whom they liked, but Wolf shook his head.
"No, no. Not like this. Every group will consist of four people, one of each house," he informed the disbelieving students. He had to be joking. After all, there was a deathly feud between Griffindor and Slytherin- and the other two houses didn't like Slytherin either. What was the point of putting them together, when they would undoubtedly malfunction?!
"But, sir," Draco spat the word, indicating what he thought of the guards. (Naruto wanted to mutilate the boy immediately, but Sasuke put a hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him- even though, he too wanted to teach that brat a lesson.)
"He'll learn his lesson, dobe. Wolf will teach him." He whispered into the blondes ear. Suddenly Fox stopped trying to wiggle free, a wide, evil grin on his face- or so Raven imagined. He smirked himself. That kid would learn not to mess with Kakashi- and he would learn it the hard way!
"You can't… That would mean, that there would be a Griffindor and a Slytherin in one and the same group!" Malfoy cried indignatly.
"Brilliant conclusion, kid!" Wolf cheered. "I can't understand why you haven't quit school yet- and freed us of your presence here." Malfoy's face went beet-red. Some snickered at this. Harry was one of them. Listening to Wolf brushing off a Malfoy was almost a remedy for having to work with a Slytherin- almost! "Now, if you're done with complaining like a group of whining sissies, we can go on. Once you're in a group, you'll stay in that group for the rest of the year- with a few exceptions, but about that another time. You'll be a team and solve your tasks as such. And your first task is: To get one of these bells from me,Cat, Raven, or Fox."
He put a hand into his pocket and when it slid out again, there was a soft jingling sound. Three silver bells hang from his fingers. Behind him, Cat and the others had done the same. Wolf was deliberately shaking them a little to fill the stunned silence on the field with their sweet melody.
Too sweet to be innocent.
"You may use every dirty trick you know. As long as you get the bells, it's fine. You may also use any of the following for your purpose-" He took a scroll and with a puff of smoke a whole mountain of weapons appeared infront of them. He held the opened scroll so that the side, where the words were written on, faced down and patted the backside of the scroll a little. After a moment a few more weapons fell out it. "You may use any weapon, wire, explosive tag or poison you find here- the poisons are non-lethal by the way- but be aware that you have to get the bell with your hands."
"And that means…" the class asked concerned.
"No wands."
"WHAT?" they shouted. "But, that's… we're wizards… you can't…"
"I just did. And it's because you're wizards that I banish your wands. You wizards are too dependent on it. If someone disarms you, you're helpless like a newborn baby. I'm trying to make that change. In order for you to accomplish that, there are a few things you'll have to learn. The first step, is to achieve something without using your little stick- sorry, wand. After that, I can really start to teach you. Therefore, whomever doesn't pass the Bell Test today, will come back Saturday and then Sunday and every weekend after that until he does pass, am I understood?"
The students grumbled.
"Very well. If there aren't anymore questions… Yes, Hermione- oh, I almost forgot to tell you: Don't expect me to call you Mr. or Ms., because I won't. To me, you're just kids and I won't address kids like adults, unless you show me that you deserve to be considered an adult. So, what is it, Hermione?"
"Um… well, Sir…there are only three bells."
"Yes, so?"
Sayuri, Naruto and Sasuke grinned. This was going to be funny.
"We're four people…"
"Yes, so?"
"There's one bell less than… well, us."
"Let me repeat that: Yes, so?"
"Um… someone will fail the test anyway."
"Yes, exactly," Wolf cheered.
"What?!" Ron shouted. "How is that fair?"
"It isn't," Cat replied.
"No one said, it would be," Raven added.
"Life is never fair, anyway," Fox grumbled.
The students growled.
"Let's begin."
33333
The forest was a very quiet place, Neji realized as soon as he had sat food into it. Once he, Shikamaru and Pakkun had trespassed it's borders, they were surrounded by complete silence. It seemed like the light mist that was floating between the trees, had sucked all of the outside noises out of the air. And the forest itself apparently didn't make any noises. Not even a bird was singing and it was still early afternoon- nowhere near dusk. Now Neji understood, why Dumbledore had insisted on them going at least in a group of two into the forest, since it was their first time.
They walked on for a while. Climbing over raised roots and fallen branches or trunks, sometimes even cutting their way through the bushes with their katana or simply jumping onto a branch and proceeding by tree-hopping. They didn't do the latter often though, as they wanted to get a good idea on the ground of the forest, since wizards weren't able to tree-hop- at least so they were told by Dumbledore. And it didn't surprise them. Every wizard they had seen up until now was either skinny or fat or looked weak in any other way, shape or form. None of them had been properly trained. The ANBU doubted that wizards even knew what real sport looked like! All they had was this Quidditch thing, where they most strenous task of the player's was to hold onto their broom.
It was ridiculous!
After a while they entered an even darker part of the Frobidden Forest, and everything became, if that was even possible, quieter still. Now, not even their steps cut through the thick silence between the trees. The ANBU and the summon had purposefully made noises in order to at least hear something. They weren't strangers to complete silence, welcomed it even, but the silence in this forest was just to uncomfortable, too… menacing. Besides, they had wanted to attract the wildlife, no matter how dangerous Dumbledore had warned them it would be. They wanted to know just how dangerous the beasts of this place were, in order to see if it was a possible route for the Death Eaters to invade the school.
So far, they hadn't found anything.
"This is weird," he told the others.
"This is troublesome," Shikamaru clarified. Neji sent him a glare.
"Very much so," Pakkun grumbled, then sniffed the air. Something was setting him off. It was just too quiet, but not only that. It was as if there was something watching them, but he couldn't smell anything. It was like a presence in the air and he knew it was there, but couldn't find it, couldn't indicate where it was or where it was going to be next. And that set him off.
He was a summon. A spirit entity, if you will. He wasn't anywhere near being a normal, mortal dog. Hell, he'd been around for longer than Kakashi and his team lived- put together! And he would be around for much, much longer than any of them or even their memory. When no one will remember these kids anymore, to him it will seem like just a day had passed since they had lived all their adventures together. With so much real life experience and centuries of training his senses, he should be able to detect pretty much anything, but alas, this was different. His senses were keener than any human's, including Kakashi's, and he had been in the magical countries before and was not unknowm to magic and the multitude of it's possible appereances… but he just couldn't make out what set him off!
He just knew, that something wasn't right.
A forest without any sounds didn't exist. Something was off here, very off.
"Take a look with your Byakugan, Eagle. Maybe that will tell us more," Shikamaru suggested, still using Neji's code name even though, they were obviously very much alone. Better to be on the safe side, though. The long-haired ANBU nodded quietly, only a whisper of "Byakugan!" disrupting the silence that ensued between the three of them and the forest afterwards.
They had halted all movements in order not to distract the young Hyuuga genius. Of course, the boy would be able to concentrate even with Naruto dancing the Salsa right infront of him- he wasn't called a genius for nothing, after all-, but, as stated before, they liked to stay on the safe side. They were ANBU. Neji stood perfectly still, while looking around the forest. He didn't have to move either, because his Byakugan gave him an almost 360-degree field of vision, and to see what he missed through his blind spot, he just needed to turn his head just slightly. When the Eagle-masked boy suddenly stiffened, Pakkun knew his eyes had found, what his ears and nose couldn't.
"Don't. Move."The brown-haired ANBU told his comrades. Immediately, they stiffened, readying their muscles to fight or run away, whatever their expedition leader thought wiser in this case. After another minute of complete and utter silence a loud thump could be heard, then another… and another… and then the non-Hyuugas realized.
They were steps.
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An hour later sixteen teams had tried to get at least one of those stupid bells, but neither Wolf, nor his comrades, had shown any kind of weakness to their attacks. They had blocked each and every attack the students launched at them, they had caught the shuriken and kunai that flew at them out of the air, and just danced through all the wires, drenched in poison or with the explosive tags attached to them. At the beginning of the test, the Hogwarts students had been hesitant about using any kind of weapon on their guards, but they had quickly changed their minds after seeing that the guards held no such inhibitions towards them. Bloodied and bruised, Harry and Hermione let themselves fall into the grass. Their two teams had tried to work together on an attack, but it had ended in nothing, if not the triumph of having at least touched the bell jingling at Wolf's hip once- with the tip of Hermione's finger.
"I'm sorry," she panted.
"It's not your fault. They're just too good for us."
"Yeah, now I know what they meant, when they said "helpless like newborn babies"- why they think of us as weak. They're right, you know. Wizards tend to depend very much on their wands, and only a few of them do sports."
"No wonder they're slaying us!" Ron coughed up a few drops of blood as he sat into the grass beside his friends. He looked pale and had scrapes and bruises all over his face. Harry almost pitied him. Ron's team had to take Raven on and the dark-haired guard was anything but soft with them. Harry had noticed the difference in the ways the guards fought. While Raven didn't show any mercy to them, Fox tried to avoid every physical contact in order not to have to hurt them. Wolf pretty much ignored them completely, reading the book Cat had brought with her, while fighting them. The only woman teaching them had the strangest fighting style out of all of them. Harry, being raised in the muggle-world, had seen a few Martial Arts movies, but never had he heard of a style were you fought with your palms.
"Okay, that's enough for today," Cat's soothing voice floated to their ears. "If you wish for healing after the lesson is dismissed, you may come to me. But before that, we'll tell you who passed the test. Anyone that doesn't hear their name in a few seconds, will meet us here on Saturday, understood? Now, let's do this…
Passed:
Boot, Terry
Brown, Lavender
Granger, Hermione
Longbottom, Neville
Macmillan, Ernie
Patil, Padma
Patil, Parvati
Potter, Harry
Thomas, Dean
As for the rest of you, please meet us here on Saturday at 8 am."
Ron groaned. His name hadn't been on the list, but he knew better than to protest. Someone else on the other hand just didn't know what was good for him…
"Why did they pass, they didn't get a bell!" Malfoy protested. "None of the Slytherin passed."
"Then maybe these kids have something you guys don't," Wold declared. "Now, you may-" He was interrupted when a messenger hawk landed on Raven's arm. Wolf took the two scrolls out of the envelop and looked at them strangely. He opened the first-
-and found himself enveloped by it in a second. A strange hissing sound came from it and vapour lifted from where the parchment touched his armor or skin. Soon, blood was spilling out in between the man and it's attacker. Wolf had fallen to his knees and was struggling to come free. The students were too shocked about the sudden attack to do anything. Suddenly Harry jumped for his wand, which he had left on the ground, but Cat appeared beside him and stopped him, before he could cast a spell.
She shook her head at him.
"So, you're gonna do nothing?! He's your teammate!"
"He's not in any kind of danger," her silky voice soothed him again, but Harry didn't want that.
"He's being eaten alive by a scroll! How can you say, he's in no danger?"
"Because it isn't him," she answered, her voice betraying her gentle smile. "Look!"
He did as he was told. And indeed, just a second and a 'poof' of smoke later, Wolf had transformed into a log, just like Cat had done when Umbridge tried to stun her. The real Wolf was currently strolling towards the log. He took a deep breath, two fingers infront of his mouth and when he let his lungs relax again, he was breathing fire, burning both the scroll and the log in a giant fireball.
"Your family really doesn't like me, hm?"
"Maybe it was meant for Eagle…" Cat suggested.
"No, it was my name on the envelop. It's definitely me, they don't like."
"Well, I didn't like you very much either, when we first met- but I always knew you would make a great lo- friend, once you'd let someone get behind your shell!" Cat added at seeing his crest-fallen slouch and laughed. "Well, what's in the second envelop?"
"I'm not sure I want to know…" Wolf grumbled, but opened it anyway. To everyone's relief it didn't try to eat him, but it made him angry, that much was clear when he threw it into the air and blew it up with an explosive tag a moment later. The students and even the guards were frozen in place, when Wolf announced them to be "Dismissed!" and stalked off furiously, almost knocking Deer out as he came towards them. Bewildered, the pineapple-headed teen stopped in his tracks for a moment to watch his superior walk away.
"Dobe?" Raven's voice resounded over the silent field.
"Yeah?"
"Did he just use a Katon no jutsu without making any handseals?"
"Yeah."
"…"
"Teme?" Fox aked.
"Yeah?" Raven asked back.
"Is he angry?"
"Yeah."
"Damn."
"No, worse than that," Cat spoke up again.
Everyone looked at her.
"He has never been like this before… Angry."
"What do you mean?" Deer wanted to know.
"I've seen Wolf in a bad mood, annoyed, ferocious even. But I've never seen him angry and I don't know about you, but it scares the hell out of me!" she explained.
Everyone gulped.
"I'd better go looking after him. Maybe I can find out the reason why he's acting so strangely. Deer, you discuss with Raven and Fox, whatever it was, that you wanted to tell us. You can tell me later okay?" she said, but didn't wait for an answer as she started running after her comrade.
"Uhm… yeah…"
Suddenly all attention was on him and he shifted uncomfortably, knowing what kind of impression he must be giving right now: Pants and gloves torn, his hair down and disheveled, a long, bloody scrape over his left arm and shoulder and another three over both his legs, one even going up to his hip.
End of the seventh chapter!
A/N: I know this is shorter than the others, but I wanted to put it into an own chapter what happens next. I hope you liked it anyway and thank you for understanding, please leave a review.
