(A/N): I'll leave the responses to reviews at the end of the chapter. I'm sorry for the delay in updates; I have other works in other fandoms that need updating as well. The next one will be up in about a week or so, I hope - I'm planning a short chapter next, in a sort of mission report format. *shrug* I kind of wanted to experiment with form a bit. And maybe letters. So here's the tenth chapter (YAY! The furthest I've ever gone in a multichapter fic!). Enjoy, and as always, leave me a review and tell me what you think!
"On our way back to camp, I periodically checked on Winky the house-elf and the man she chaperones, but he remained unconscious until they reached Crouch-san's tent. Crouch-san went to check on the situation with the masked terrorists before going back to his tent, where he reprimanded the house-elf and gave her clothes. Unfortunately, I could not read his lips well enough to know what he told Winky. Afterwards, both Winky and the man with the genjutsu disappeared, and did not reappear within the range of my vision."
Kurenai sighed. "It's good that you weren't attacked. I must say, the security for the Quidditch match was extremely disappointing. Can you imagine - there were Heads of State present! I had hoped that we would have more time to prepare defensive tactics against their jutsu, but, ah. That was a mistake. We'd best correct it."
Hinata shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "I - I want to apologize, sensei, for my f-failure in the field. I should have kept an eye on the invisible man more closely, but -"
"It's fine, Hinata." Kurenai cut in. "You were able to warn me about the masked terrorists, and they were certainly more threatening than a single, malnourished man hidden by a house-elf. You made a good decision based on the available information."
"But, sensei! It is also my responsibility to gather as much information about the wizards!"
"And you have." her sensei replied firmly. "We have established that these wizards are not very good at security, that their government is incredibly inefficient, that one of their top officials happens to be harboring an outlaw, and that their people are easily terrified by a green skull."
Hinata made to protest, but, again, Kurenai cut her off. "Now, we'll have to follow up on those leads. We might not be able to meet those private businessmen Diggory spoke of, but we can use the extra day for research, hmm? Take the day to learn as much as you can about that symbol, and I'll follow up on those masked men."
And so Hinata found herself at Fortescue's ice cream parlor again, not even a day after the fiasco at the Quidditch Cup. As soon as she, Hermione, Ron, and Harry had gotten back to camp, Percy-san had taken them back to the Leaky Cauldron, apologizing profusely for what had happened. She wasn't even able to ask Hermione about the symbol that the man had conjured.
"Oi, Ms. Hinata!" Fortescue called good-naturedly. "You're back from the cup early! Will you be having the usual?"
She nodded. "Thank you, Fortescue-san." He waved his wand, and a sundae began to assemble itself, with caramel sauce drizzling over the cup, to be topped with chopped walnuts and cinnamon roll chunks. It floated gracefully to her usual table, and set itself down daintily, next to a spoon and a napkin. She settled into the booth with the translated history book she had bought, (A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, translated to Japanese by Motoyuki Shibata) and flipped to the index. Hermione had called the symbol the Dark Mark…
"So - is it true? Did someone really set the Dark Mark above the Quidditch stadium during the match?"
Fortescue-san had seated himself across Hinata, with a sundae of his own. It was still early, so Hinata was the only person inside the shop.
"Not at the match. The night after, and in the forest surrounding the camping area we were to stay in."
His jaw dropped. "You mean - it really happened? So the Prophet was correct!"
Hinata was taken aback. The newspapers had already managed to print it? "No one was hurt, so I think there is no reason for worry -"
"W-what do you mean, n-no reason?!" Fortescue-san sputtered. "It was the Dark Mark! The Death Eaters - if they were confident enough to come out, torture Muggles, and set the Dark Mark right above the Ministry's heads - You-Know-Who's got to be back!"
"Death Eaters…?" Hinata blinked at the manager's obvious distress.
"Death Eaters! You-know-who's followers… ah, I see." Comprehension spread through his face. "You don't know who, do you?"
Hinata shook her head. "Please explain, Fortescue-san. I was confused yesterday, when the Dark Mark was created. People were so afraid of it, but it was only a picture of a green skull with a snake…" she trailed off.
"The Dark Mark was You-know-who's symbol, you see. He was, er." He sat back, considering it for a bit. "He was a terrorist, of sorts. His followers were called Death Eaters, and whenever they murdered someone, or tortured someone, they'd set the Dark Mark over the building to let people know it was them."
"Ah, I see." Hinata nodded slowly.
"But, he was defeated nearly fifteen years ago, and the Death Eaters have either been arrested or scattered. Which is why everyone is so nervous - the Death Eaters appearing again, and the Dark Mark cast - everyone's been thrown back to fifteen years ago, suddenly, and they're not prepared."
"What do you mean, defeated? Do you mean he was killed? If he was, then he can't possibly come back, right?"
Fortescue shrugged. "All I know is that he killed James Potter, then Lily Potter, and when he tried to kill young Harry, his curse bounced and got him instead. Left Harry with a scar, though - lovely lad, he was here in the shop a lot last summer - and ever since then he hasn't been seen."
"Harry - Harry Potter?" Hinata asked. "He was with Weasley-san's family yesterday at the Quidditch game. You're certain it was him?"
"Yes, he's the Weasley''s family friend. 'Course, he was just a baby at the time. I expect he doesn't know much of what happened, either, but Dumbledore is sure that You-Know-Who was beaten that day he tried to kill Harry."
The bell tinkled, and a small group approached the counter.
"I've got to take care of this - I'm sure everything is in the Bagshot book. You can read it all there. If you need some help with the words you can always ask me."
He got up, and left Hinata to her books.
She spent the whole morning reading the section on the man called Voldemort, (although they only mentioned his name once, and then referred to him almost exclusively as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) and then spent the afternoon making notes, and drawing up a list of people she would have to read up on. First, of course, was Voldemort himself. Next would be this Albus Dumbledore - he appears to be a great wizard, from everything that's been mentioned about him, but he is currently running a school. That just doesn't add up for Hinata. Shouldn't the wisest and most powerful wizard be involved in governance, even just a bit?
And most curiously, the name "Bartemius Crouch Jr." was included in the list of convicted Death Eaters that Bagshot had included in the appendix.
Could it be..?
Hinata hurriedly packed up her things, thanked Fortescue-san for his time, and made her way back to the Leaky Cauldron. It was past the time Kurenai-sensei had said she would be back, and Hinata had unearthed a lot to report to her. She wouldn't be surprised if her sensei already managed to get the same information on her own though.
However, she was surprised to see her usually calm sensei in a discussion with a blonde woman. A piece of parchment was suspended between them, with an bright green feather zipping across rapidly.
"- as I have already mentioned, Konoha is not, and has never been, in contact with the man you call Voldemort. I myself have never heard of him until you had mentioned him just now. But I'm sure that the Ministry is taking - or has already taken - measures to apprehend those responsible for yesterday's events."
"Of course!" the woman interrupted silkily. "Very good, very good - if I may ask, Ms. Yuuhi, what was it exactly that reignited the relationship between the British Wizarding community and your home country of Konowa? It's been years since a shinobi has stepped foot in Europe -"
She made to approach the two women, but Kurenai caught her eye and subtly jerked her head up. Taking the cue, Hinata headed to their room upstairs instead, and waited for her sensei to come up.
Five minutes later, Kurenai came in, still looking vaguely irritated.
"When it comes to the media, remember - never say anything remotely critical of the government you are attempting to negotiate with. Never say anything that can be misconstrued as critical, and never give any information at all without published precedent from those in charge. Understood, Hinata?"
Hinata nodded vigorously. Her sensei sighed. "That was Rita Skeeter, from the Daily Prophet. I saw the paper this morning - I couldn't read all of it, of course, but the headlines were obviously about the fiasco yesterday. It had a photograph as well, and the story was credited to her."
"It was wildly inaccurate, from what I heard from Fortescue-san. Apparently the article made it seem like the Dark Mark was cast above the Quidditch pitch during the game itself."
"Ridiculous." Kurenai muttered. "Be mindful of what you say around that woman, and people like her, Hinata. No doubt she'll attempt to interview you next. Can you check if she's gone?"
Byakugan activated, she scanned the pub downstairs. No blonde flanked by a photographer. "It seems that she's left."
"Alright then. Let's get dinner, and you can report the results of your history lesson while we eat."
Hinata related everything she had found over the day to her sensei over the shepherd's pie and butterbeer that Tom-san had brought up for them at Kurenai's request.
"So they used the Dark Mark as some sort of claim note, then, whenever they murdered? I can understand the panic it caused now. It makes sense now - the invisible man is most probably Bartemius Crouch Jr." Kurenai said grimly.
"But the book said that he was imprisoned, with the two Lestranges, for torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity-" Longbottom, Hinata realized with a jolt. Neville Longbottom, whose grandmother brought him to Diagon Alley to buy school books because Frank and Alice Longbottom never recovered from the Cruciatus Curse, and have been admitted to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
"He might've been imprisoned, but his father was a high-ranking Ministry official. Never mind that he seems to be a stickler for rules. Family does that to a person." Her sensei gulped down the last of her drink. "What I still don't understand, though, is why he cast the Mark. He wasn't part of the group of masked men - I've heard whispers that those men were Death Eaters, although I didn't understand what they were until you mentioned them- so he can't have been claiming the tortures of those civilians."
"What did you find out about those masked men, sensei?" Hinata asked.
"They tortured the proprietor and his family with what Bill Weasley called the Cruciatus Curse. Apparently it's a spell that causes intense pain. It's illegal - it's apparently one of the three forbidden spells in this country - and supposedly the Ministry has a way to track down all wands that perform the spell. However, nothing turned up in their records about last night."
"So that means they've managed to remove the records already, or they've managed to remove the surveillance on their wands. Either way, they had to have had help from the inside to accomplish that." Hinata finished.
Kurenai beamed at her student. "Astute of you. Alright - here's what we'll do. Percy has informed me that they won't be able to meet with us as planned for the next three days. We will, however, still be meeting with McGonagall as planned. That will be on Wednesday. Tomorrow, I want you to go into every shop here on Diagon Alley and speak with the proprietors - just casually - and look at what they're selling, for how much, the works. Compare it with the prices of similar things back in Konoha. We're meeting with the Gringotts bankers on Friday, and I want to know the real values of these Galleons and such. I'll see if I can nose about this business with Crouch and the masked men some more. Wednesday, we meet with the Hogwarts people, and on Thursday, if I don't have enough information, we can get back to investigating Crouch. Friday we meet with the bankers. Any questions?"
"Um - why do we need to investigate Crouch-san so much? Shouldn't it be the Ministry's job to investigate their own officials? Wouldn't they get offended if we interfere with their business?"
Kurenai pursed her lips. "Something just doesn't feel right about him. I don't want to be blindsided by whatever is going on. Technically, we aren't supposed to be allowed to do this, but what they don't know won't hurt them. In the meantime, I would like you to prepare the week's mission report for Hokage-sama."
Hinata's head shot up, eyes wide. Report writing was usually left to the team leader, and it was a big responsibility, as the writer would obviously select the information that reaches the Hokage's ears.
"I'll look it over, of course." Kurenai said, amused at her reaction. "But I want you to write it. I want to see what you think was relevant in everything that happened last week. Besides, it'll be good practice for you; you're chuunin now, and you're going to lead your own squad soon."
Hinata blushed, but nodded determinedly. "Hai, Kurenai-sensei!"
"And don't forget to practice that spell McGonagall assigned! I think I can manage to get them to agree to let you in, even if you're unable to do the spell, but it will help a lot if you manage it."
Hinata nodded again. "I won't let you down, sensei!"
(A/N): Responses to reviews:
warpwind: You always bring up great questions and comments! Let's tackle this in order, shall we? First - I had already noted in my response that while the approaches to making things invisible might be similar, the way these approaches are executed by a wizard and a ninja will be very different. I suppose that magic would look different from chakra to a person with a Byakugan - going by what I had written in previous chapters, wizards don't really use their own chakra to cast spells, but rather draw energy from the wand to cast magic. Hence, it's likely that their chakra, and any invisibility spell they cast would look very different to Hinata, compared to a genjutsu cast by a ninja. Because her previous experience of invisibility had been that of an invisibility genjutsu of sorts, it's not surprising that she would assume that it was a genjutsu. The same can be said for Kurenai. Neither of them have enough experience of magic to be able to correctly analyze the spells they encounter, and only time, research, exposure, and hanging out with Hermione can correct their assumptions. I already had Hermione do this in Chapter 8, I think. Secondly - thank you for this comment - I've attempted to follow your advice in this chapter. Tell me what you think! Third - I did say that Hinata can't read English properly yet. I don't think it would be unreasonable for her to have learned the alphabet in two weeks though; I suppose she'd have trouble with the grammar and the vocabulary instead. Which is why I had her read in Fortescue's rather than alone - so she could have people to ask. Short adverts should be fine, I guess.
Thanks again for the comments! I hope I managed to address them satisfactorily for you!
TrenchcoatMan:I disliked Crouch the very first time his name appeared in the books. I'd been suspicious that he was hiding something from the get-go, and it turns out I was right! What happens to him is sad, though. Even if he was a jerk, he didn't deserve to get turned into a bone.
No, I did not do well in my exam. :( But thanks for the concern anyway. :
Silawatsi: Noted! I'll try to distinguish the POV characters more. To be sure, I'll change the chapter titles to the name of the person whose POV it's told in - a la Game of Thrones haha.
Mystoriesaremybabies:It will always be difficult to get over a stutter. But I am trying to integrate her growth out of the stutter here - I've stopped her stuttering in non-stressful situations, and with Kurenai, at the very least. I guess I'm being too subtle, or something?
Wickedjewels94: We'll see about that! :)
Apocalypse owner: She still gets clothes in the end, though. :( #ElfRights
Sephiroth Crescent-Valentine: Well, she did make chuunin at 13/14! If the first season is anything to go by, people aren't really expected to be promoted until they're 15/16, given that Kabuto was still a "genin" at the time, and he was supposedly average! They'd be mad not to acknowledge her skill.