Hello, again!
Plain and simply, here's the other half. More or less.
Bold and Italicized is in a different language to the main language.
Don't own Harry Potter or Naruto.
There's far more to this than we thought
"You still willing to help me get through this?" asked Harry for confirmation. At Naruto's nod, he continued. "I might not be ready to start living as Jade, but that shouldn't stop me from both training and life itself."
Naruto smiled, happy that Harry was at least willing to accept the possibility in time.
"Although," said Harry. "I think I'll be asking Professor McGonagall if I can do something about getting myself both out of Divination, and out of my current dorm room. I don't think it'll be long before things become really awkward for me in there."
Naruto and Ginny chuckled, understanding Harry's words. Hermione, until they made it to the training site where Luna was waiting, was confused about most of what Harry was talking about. Naruto barely made it in time to keep her quiet when she learned the truth about Harry from the boy's own lips.
Even Hermione had to admit, while it was exhausting, the training was quite fun. Not too mention she learned quite a bit about Konoha and Shinobi. But she still had trouble getting Naruto to speak about himself.
He always manages to find a way to dodge the questions. Why? Wondered Hermione as they made their way back inside the castle to refresh for the rest of the day.
However, not too far from the main doors, Naruto stopped and stiffened. Harry and the others stopped upon noticing him.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry.
"Something...coming." said Naruto, gritting his teeth as he started shaking a bit. "Pain...anger...rising."
He hunched over some, his voice deepening as his tail became a bit more animated, while his hair grew darker and longer and his hands started giving off minute black vapors. His eyes turned purple with the occasional spark.
That's when the others felt it. The presence of cold and despair. However, as it came closer, it was being overcome by a far more powerful presence of darkness and anger coming from an ever increasingly monstrous Naruto.
When a red-haired and pink-woman pair of women, a black-skinned man, a man in a bowler hat, and a hovering creature in a tattered black cloak appeared in their sights, Naruto struck. Roaring, he lunged at the creature, hand becoming claws covered in lightning instantly.
"CHAOS!" the boy cried out, but it didn't exactly sound all that much like him to anybody that really knew him.
Wha...what's happening to him? Was the general thought as Naruto grabbed the creature, slammed it down on the ground, and started clawing away at it. But the adults watching were stunned when he actually managed to tear pieces of it off, actually killing it.
All the while, sparks and vapor poured off of the blond, growing with intensity each passing moment as a terrible storm brewed overhead and his rage overtook him.
It wasn't long before the creature was fully torn to shreds, the pieces dissipating into the wind. Naruto, seeing his victim was gone, reared back and roared "YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER, CHAOS!"
The collected audience watched with baited breath as the boy finally started calming down, the storm subsiding with him.
"Naruto?" asked Harry after he was back to normal. "Are you ok?"
Naruto looked at him, then at the others, then sighed a bit pathetically. "I wish you didn't need to see that."
"Mr. Uzumaki," asked Amelia. "what exactly was that?"
Naruto was silent for a moment before answering. "Void Heart, the Obliterator. And my curse. It comes out whenever my pain reaches a certain point, lashing out at whatever caused my pain to begin with. It doesn't have to be physical. It could be emotional, mental, or spiritual as well..."
"...And the dementor brought it to the surface." said Amelia, realizing what he was saying.
Naruto nodded. "It's been like this since I was five."
"And just what have I told about berating yourself in anyway, shape, or form?" asked Hinata, irritated at Naruto's tone. "And no buts. You did promise me that."
"Sigh. Yeah, I did. Sorry." said Naruto, to both Hinata and Void Heart.
"Pain is cursed." replied Void Heart, while Hinata merely sent over feelings of surety and love.
Naruto smiled back, and in real time, and was about to return to talking with Harry and Amelia, but Hinata said something that got him to slump down and sulk. This earned some scattered sweatdrops from the others.
"How many times are you going to make that suggestion, Hinata? I'm not a pervert!" grumbled Naruto, forgetting to keep it inside his mind, thus allowing the world around him to hear.
Why would he be acting like this just by being called a pervert? Wondered Harry. He then remembered that it wasn't the first time he had actually seen anything connected to either Naruto or Void Heart.
"Did Hinata happen to have blue-ish hair, pale eyes, and wear a beige jacket?" asked Harry, only to inhale deeply when Naruto nodded. "Then I one time helped stop you! You, er, as in Void Heart, chased this group of people that were being carried by a pink-haired girl-"
"-on a big hunk of rock." finished both Hermione and Luna, remembering themselves the same thing.
"But I thought that it was a dream." said Hermione, astonished at this revelation.
"I'm more concerned about the fact that the three of us all seemed to have the same dream." said Luna, her hand cupping her chin.
By then, the man in the hat finally had enough and attempted to intervene. "I've had enough of this! Amelia, he even admitted to being a Dark Creature, so arrest him!"
"Then she would also have to arrest you for accepting bribes, obstruction of justice, and embezzlement." retorted Naruto. "Alongside having an affair with Rita Skeeter, who you know is an unregistered animagus."
That caught all of them off guard, turning to face him slowly. With a little more assurance, Amelia called in a cold voice "Tonks! Shacklebolt! Arrest Fudge! Once the finishing touches on Black's pardon are put in place, we'll be seeing just how corrupt Fudge really is."
Surprised as well by what they just heard, it took Amelia another shout at them in order for Shacklebolt and Tonks to actual arrest Fudge. Unfortunately, for him, he added 'resisting arrest' to his crimes as they took him away, leaving Amelia with Naruto and the students.
Amelia sighed. "All that would explain a few things, but I can't believe none of us actually noticed until you mentioned it just now."
"How did he get bribed then?" asked Ginny, saying what Naruto's expression was perfectly.
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly at that, realizing that the girl was correct. Just who exactly was Fudge answering to? But getting answers would have to wait a little longer, since she wanted to not only speak to Naruto and Harry, but also Dumbledore and see her niece Susan.
Ron was still in a bad mood with Naruto when they met him again. He barely talked to any of them all through Herbology, even though he, Harry, and Hermione were working together on the same puffapod. Naruto, meanwhile, was assisting Professor Sprout in overseeing the class.
"How're you feeling?" Hermione asked timidly as they stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail.
"Why would any of you care?" said Ron angrily, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor. Or at least would've if the beans hadn't suddenly been covered in a black energy and then floated into the pail.
"Be more careful." said Naruto as the dark energy returned to him before their very eyes.
They had Transfiguration next. Harry, who had resolved to ask Professor McGonagall after the lesson whether he could get another dorm for himself and Naruto, joined the line outside the class trying to decide how he was going to argue his case. He was distracted, however, by a disturbance at the front of the line.
Lavender Brown seemed to be crying. Parvati had her arm around her and was explaining something to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were looking very serious.
"What's the matter, Lavender?" said Hermione anxiously as she, Harry, and Ron went to join the group.
"She got a letter from home this morning," Parvati whispered. "It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox."
"Oh," said Hermione, "I'm sorry, Lavender."
"I should have known!" said Lavender tragically. "You know what day it is?"
"Er-"
"The sixteenth of October! 'That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right, she was right!"
The whole class was gathered around Lavender now. Seamus shook his head seriously. Hermione hesitated; then she said, "You – you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?"
"Well, not necessarily by a fox," said Lavender, looking up at Hermione with streaming eyes, "but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?"
"Then you are a fool." said Naruto, walking out of the classroom. "A motherly fool, but still a fool."
His words confused everyone except Harry, having already been explained to about how mothers tend to act in regards to those under their care, such as their children.
Parvati glared at Naruto.
"I said 'motherly' because Binky was a baby." explained Naruto, "I said 'fool' because not only she listened to Trelawney, she didn't listen as well."
"You mean because she appears devastated when she should just be upset because she knew something would be revealed today?" asked Harry, having an idea on what Naruto was saying.
Naruto nodded, glad that Harry's training was working properly. "Brown-san is currently beyond the normal reaction for this. Plus, it could've been her mother instead."
Hearing those words calmed Lavender quite quickly, realizing that it could've been one of her family members instead of her pet.
Naruto led the class into the room at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Ron was looking daggers at him, and when they got into class, he seated himself behind Harry and didn't talk for the whole class.
Harry still hadn't decided what he was going to say to Professor McGonagall when the bell rang at the end of the lesson, but it she who brought up a good opportunity to speak to her about it.
"One moment, please!" she called as the class made to leave. "As you're all in my House, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!"
Neville put up his hand.
"Please, Professor, I – I think I've lost-"
"Your grandmother sent yours to me directly, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that's all, you may leave. Mr. Potter."
"Yes, Professor?" asked Harry a bit nervously.
"I understand from Mr. Uzumaki that you have something you'd like to speak to me about." said Professor McGonagall. "Something about the dorms."
Thank you for the opening, Naruto, but you've really got to let me deal with this sort of thing from time to time. Thought Harry as he nodded.
"Yes, Professor. Yesterday, Naruto revealed...something...that rather surprising. I'll need time to fully accept it myself, but in the meantime – er – if you don't mind, I'd like to ask about getting a new dorm for, uh, me and him." said Harry, surprised with how easy it was to get out.
Professor McGonagall looked over her square spectacles at him but didn't say anything.
"Er – because...I'm not...exactly...male." finished Harry, courage starting to give out in hope that she would accept it as logical reasoning.
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes minutely, but still enough for Harry to notice.
"Explain."
Harry scratched the back of his head. "Um, I'm afraid you'll have to get that from Naruto. At least according to him, I'm currently male thanks to Dumbledore."
Professor McGonagall took in hand the papers that were on her desk.
"I most certainly will." she said, standing up. Her expression softened some. "But if it is true, then I'll see what I can do about that. It would make sense as to why you're asking to get out of the current dorm you're in, not wanting to cause a problem by being a girl in a boy's dorm, but I have to ask. Why have Uzumaki stay with you?"
Harry chuckled some at that. "If there's one thing I learned about Naruto, it's that he actually sulks at being called a pervert. He wouldn't do anything to any girl if they didn't practically force him to."
On Halloween morning, Harry ended up getting a small break from early morning training, allowing him to wake with the rest. It was only after he arrived for breakfast did he remember about the fact that he wouldn't be allowed to visit Hogsmeade.
"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," said Hermione, looking desperately sorry for him.
"Yeah, loads," said Ron. He had finally forgotten his anger about Scabbers in the face of Harry's situation.
"You'd probably have to help him remember, Hermione." said Naruto. "He'd most likely eat it otherwise."
"There is something I'm wondering about," said Harry, not quite caring about Hogsmeade at that moment. "When was your birthday, Naruto?"
Naruto stumbled a bit at that question coming from Harry. Not only was it rather random in his opinion, he didn't quite expect any of them to truly care about that.
"October 10th," said Naruto, wanting to make it quick, "and-"
"The Tenth!" cried Hermione. She literally had Ron trailing behind her as she ran out. "We'll be back with at least something for a present!"
"Well that was peculiar." said Hinata, with Naruto agreeing. "She just barely heard the date and started panicking about giving you a present for your birthday."
"But she doesn't know that so far it's been the worst day of my life." said Naruto, sighing. "Too late now."
"Sorry if my question caused problems for you, Naruto." said Harry apologetically. "I just wanted to know."
"It's okay. Haven't been the most forthcoming." said Naruto. "Let's just say I've never had a nice birthday and leave it at that. Now, I know about your record with today, so how about you spend it with Professor Lupin. Learn more about your Potter half today. I'll be by the lake."
"Okay. See you later then." said Harry, hugging Naruto before separating for the day.
"There you go," said Ron. "We got as much as we could carry."
A shower of brilliantly colored sweets fell into Harry's lap It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives.
Thanks," said Harry, picking up a packet of tiny black Pepper Imps. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"
By the sound of it – everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides.
"The post office, Harry! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!"
"Honeydukes has got a new kind of fudge; they were giving out free samples, there's a bit, look-"
"That reminds me." said Hermione, looking around but not seeing Naruto. "Where's Naruto? Honeydukes was nice enough to give a few extra samples of various sweets when I mentioned about Naruto's birthday. Want to go ahead and give them to him."
"Not sure." said Harry. "We went different ways after he suggested I spend some time with Lupin, talking about the Potters. Lupin made me a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in..."
He told them all about the goblet. Ron's mouth fell open.
"Lupin drank it?" he gasped "Is he mad?"
Hermione checked her watch.
"We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes..." They hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape. Hermione had set aside the gift she had gotten for Naruto in her dorm to help preserve it until she could give it to him.
"But if he – you know" - Hermione dropped her voice, glancing nervously around - "if he was trying to – to poison Lupin – he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry."
"Yeah, maybe," said Harry as they reached the entrance hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.
The food was delicious; even Hermione and Ron, who were full to bursting with Honeydukes sweets, managed second helpings of everything. Harry kept glancing at the staff table. Professor Lupin looked cheerful and as well as he ever did; he was talking animatedly to tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. Harry moved his eyes along the table, to the place where Snape sat. Was he imagining it, or were Snape's eyes flickering toward Lupin more often than was natural?
The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Howarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading.
It had been such a pleasant evening that Harry's good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy who shouted through the crowd as they all left the hall, "The dementor send their love, Potter!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.
"Why isn't anyone going in?" said Ron curiously.
Harry peered over the heads in front of him. The portrait seemed to be closed.
What I wouldn't give for permission from Naruto to actively start using chakra outside of training, thought Harry, it would help with this.
"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password – excuse me, I'm Head Boy-"
And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."
People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tip-toe.
"What's going on?" said Ginny, who had just arrived.
A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was.
"Oh, my-" Hermione grabbed Harry's arm.
The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that the strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely. Alongside that, a part of the stone wall right beside the portrait was cracked pretty severely.
Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes somber, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying toward him.
"We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"Check the fourth floor, landscape." said Naruto, dropping down to Dumbledore. "Just got down dealing with her attacker. Idiot."
"You know who did this?" said Dumbldore quietly.
Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Yeah. Idiot didn't know about Pettigrew being imprisoned already, so attacked to get at him. Too bad Sirius Black was up against a shinobi, otherwise he would've escaped again."
Now we'll be getting a bit more of the underlying big problem: Naruto's, or rather Void Heart's, reaction to the dementor. And above all else, why did it classify the dementor as a part of 'Chaos.'
Until next time. Please let me know what you think.
