A/N: Got a long one for you this time, 8000 words by my count. Enjoy!

"Not so precious now, Potter?"

Naruto heard that blonde Slytherin kid's voice drift upwards through the staircase, but he paid it little heed. The student's rivalries were annoying but not their concern. The blonde kid was tenacious though, admitted Naruto. But since he knew Sasuke tailed the Potter-kid today, he didn't storm down to break up the fight.

"Where's the other guard? Has the little boy run off looking for his mommy?"

Low blows, and not terribly witty either.

"Why don't we test if the guards have taught you anything, shall we? Ruptispecktis!"

A flash and a bang later Naruto sprinted down the stairs, cursing the round staircase, which meant he couldn't see what had gone down. He heard wild laughter coming from the blonde kid (Malfoy was his name, Naruto remembered). His two goons cackled at a much lower pitch.

Harry Potter and his pals were silent, and that worried Naruto. Three more seconds and he'd be there.

"Let your guard down?" Malfoy howled at his own joke.

Naruto burst from the staircase and his eyes immediately focused on the lone figure sitting on his haunches on the ground. Naruto's heart skipped a beat and he pushed the thoughts of immediate death out of his head.

Sasuke.

Potter and his pals slowly advanced on Sasuke, but they looked unsure as what to do. Malfoy still chuckled, but the red-haired kid (Remi?) looked pissed and worried at the same time. He didn't quite pull it off though.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded with his Serious Voice and Hermione answered.

"Malfoy came out of nowhere and said he wanted to test if you had taught us anything regarding defense. Then he shot a spell at Harry, but Crow pushed him out of the way and got hit instead. I think the spell targets the eyes but I'm not sure. We have to get him to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey can fix it for sure."

It took a few seconds before Naruto processed all that and translated it to a plan in his brain. Malfoy and his gang had wisely scattered before they had to face the wrath of the guard. That left Harry, Hermione and the red-haired kid Naruto was just going to call Remi hovering over a kneeling Sasuke, who had removed his mask and pressed his palms to his eyes.

The kids were afraid to touch him it seemed, and that was a wise approach. An injured shinobi is an incredibly dangerous shinobi. Naruto carefully approached Sasuke, letting his footsteps echo through the dungeons and he let his presence be known through his raised chakra levels.

He knelt next to Sasuke and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Can you see?" he asked in a soft voice. Sasuke shook his head but kept his hands pressed to his eyes. He didn't utter a word.

"What about your … red eyes?"

Naruto avoided naming the Sharingan. For all he knew, the library in this place had a book on that, and the girl was smart enough to pick out their jutsu names (or bloodline limits) from the jumble of syllables their native tongue must be to foreigners.

But Sasuke shook his head again. "Hurts," he said and that was reason enough for Naruto to hoist Sasuke up and force one arm over his shoulders. With his other hand Sasuke covered his eyes against the light, but Naruto saw the skin around his eyes was red and puffy. His eyes started to water too, judging by the tears that made their way down Sasuke's cheeks.

There was no way Sasuke would allow himself to be carried, so Naruto made do with supporting him. And if Sasuke admitted that activating the Sharingan hurt too much, something had gone horribly wrong.

"You know a shortcut to the hospital wing?" Naruto asked the Golden Trio and Harry nodded.

"This way." He swiftly walked towards a nondescript part of the wall. Remi sidled up to Naruto.

"Need a hand?" he asked, but Naruto shook his head.

"No, he can walk."

Besides, there was no way Sasuke was going to rely on Remi. It took Naruto at least four years and lots of life-or-death battles to get the Uchiha to trust him, so there was no way that a lanky civilian would so easily win the trust of Sasuke.

Harry called to them from a door. He somehow made a door appear in the wall, but at the moment Naruto didn't care. As long as they got to the hospital wing quickly.

The staircase was narrow, but thankfully wide enough to allow two people through, if they didn't mind practically hugging each other. They went up three flights of stairs before Harry veered off and led them through some other shortcuts, including one through a painting that swung open when told it looked beautiful.

Finally the door to the hospital wing came into view. And not a moment too soon, because Sasuke had gone pale (or rather: paler than usual) and the tears hadn't stopped. The redness had expanded to his forehead and cheeks, and the skin around his eyes showed purple streaks. Sasuke looked away from every bright light and leaned more and more on Naruto.

Harry threw open the door for them and called for Madam Pomfrey on the top of his lungs. The medi-witch appeared in the doorway of her office and scowled at Harry before Naruto saw her take in Sasuke. Then she was all business and fired off rapid questions. Before Naruto had a chance to answer though, Hermione intercepted and explained the situation and the spell.

Madam Pomfrey indicated a bed and Naruto hobbled over and sat Sasuke down.

"We're in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey is going to look at your eyes and fix them."

Naruto hoped for a snide remark from Sasuke that he was a shinobi and didn't need coddling or reassurance, but Sasuke nodded and sat on the bed without displaying any of his usual grace. That worried Naruto more than if his teammate went into seizures.

They both knew what it meant for Sasuke if his eyes couldn't be fixed. Konoha's council would force him to give up life as a shinobi and he'd be expected to find a wife and expand the Uchiha clan. He'd become nothing more than a glorified breeder.

Madam Pomfrey approached and Naruto stepped aside. The medi-witch was experienced at talking in a soothing manner. Her voice was soft as the finest silk, but as reassuring as a childhood plush animal.

"Alright, I'm gonna need to see your eyes to counter the spell. I know the light hurts, but try to bear. It'll be over in a few seconds."

Sasuke slowly lowered his hand and winced at the light. Hermione murmured something and the light dimmed somewhat, making it easier for Sasuke to force his puffy eyelids apart and he opened his eyes a miniscule slit.

Even from a distance Naruto saw that the whites of his eye were completely replaced by pink. Red veins stood in stark contrast with his dark irises, making it the kind of eye that haunts you in your nightmares.

"That's good, that's good, please keep them open," said Madam Pomfrey as she placed her wand on his temple. He flinched away from the contact and said with a hoarse voice:

"Wait. I have … special eyes." He let his eyes fall close and covered them with a hand again. "Naru- Fox…"

Naruto registered that Sasuke almost blurted out his name but understood what he tried to do. It was too much effort to talk right now for Sasuke, so Naruto had to be his voice.

"Explain what you're doing so he know it will not ... how do you say that… mess his eyes."

Madam Pomfrey seemed insulted, so Naruto hastily added: "He has very special eyes. Please."

She huffed but nodded and turned back to the still shinobi sitting on the bed.

"Alright, I'm going to reduce the swelling in your skin first so you can focus on your eyes while I mend them."

This time Sasuke didn't flinch away from the wand-contact and the medi-witch set to work. She worked swiftly, tapping against Sasuke's forehead and cheeks and murmuring complicated spells. Naruto saw that the swelling visibly reduced. The redness dissipated until all that remained of the attack was the redness in Sasuke's eyes.

With every tap of the wand the pain seemed to reduce, until Naruto could make out from Sasuke's body language that he would once again be able to form coherent sentences.

"All done, except for your eyes. But before I do that-" She waved her wand at some screens standing in the corner and they floated over to the bed, blocking their bodies from view. Naruto heard Remi exclaim: "aw".

Madam Pomfrey turned back to Sasuke. "Tell me what's special about them, so I can avoid 'messing them up' as mr. Fox so eloquently put it."

Sasuke lowered his hand and simply said: "This."

He opened his eyes and Naruto stared into the fathomless depths of the Sharingan. The three tomos spun rapidly, and his pupil kept dilating as if he had trouble focusing.

Madam Pomfrey gasped. "That's certainly special," she said and bent to take a closer look. While she studied the Sharingan Naruto moved closer to the bed and asked in his native tongue:

"Do your red eyes still work properly?"

"Yes and no," Sasuke answered. "Yes, I can see the chakra, and no, everything is blurry. But it doesn't hurt as much anymore."

Madam Pomfrey waited until Sasuke was done talking before she tapped with her wand against his temple. "I need to run some checking spells on your eyes. They won't interfere with your … special condition, but can you keep the spell up?"

Without bothering to correct her Sasuke simply nodded. Naruto stepped away from the bed to give the medi-witch space. He peered around the screen and focused on the students standing in the corner. They whispered amongst themselves, but when Naruto walked towards them they fell silent.

"Don't you have class?" he asked threateningly and all three of them nodded.

"Thank you for the help, now go to class." He pointed in the vague direction of the classes they were supposed to be attending and they started moving towards the doors.

"No problem. I hope Crow gets better soon. Is it alright if we drop by after classes to check up?" asked Hermione in a sugary sweet voice, and she clasped her hands in front of her which squeezed her boobs together just so… Yeah, definitely ero-sennin influence.

"Sure, but after classes. Don't skip out," Naruto warned and they quickly left, as if afraid he'd retract the 'sure'. Damn, he should have. Now three eager teenagers were going to stare at Sasuke's face. Hopefully they would keep their mouths shut before the whole school rushed in to see a maskless Crow.

He turned around and observed the situation from a distance. The medi-witch said spells in a mixture of English and a foreign language and making all kinds of interested noises. Sasuke endured it, his lidded red eyes staring at a spot on the wall. Naruto moved to that spot and signed "you okay?" once he had Sasuke's attention.

Sasuke gave the barest of nods before signing back with quick, stilted gestures: "silence, I'm okay". Naruto guessed he actually meant "shut up, idiot, I'm fine". They needed to invent some more gestures to communicate that particular message though.

After a few more minutes of poking and prodding Madam Pomfrey sighed and straightened.

"You've got a condition called 'conjunctivitis', or 'pink-eye' in layman's terms. The membrane over your eyes is irritated and that causes the light sensitivity and the redness in your eyes. Are they itchy too? As if you've got sand in them?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Usually I fix that with a spell or two, but your eyes… You've got all kinds of magic going on in there which I'd rather not disrupt, or you might not be able to cast any more spells with them."

"But you can fix it, right?" Naruto couldn't help but interrupt, because Sasuke was way too cool to ask such a question. Madam Pomfrey scowled at Naruto.

"I could fix it right now, but I don't know what the spells would do to his eyes, and if they'd even work. So I'm going to have to do this the old-fashioned way."

She turned back to Sasuke and Naruto noted that she didn't look straight into Sasuke's eyes, as if she was intimidated by the Sharingan.

"First we're going to flush your eyes out in a manner of speaking, to clean them. I've got some ointments that'll encourage your body to heal your eyes, and then we'll have to wait it out."

Sasuke nodded but Naruto detected the tiny scowl on Sasuke's face. All this magic, and all the witch could do was 'wait it out'? Then again, the Sharingan was complicated, so maybe the witch wasn't experienced enough. And sure enough, she followed that statement up with:

"I'd like to keep you're here for two days for observation. If your condition worsens, I'm going to have to transfer you to St. Mungo's. The hospital for the magical community," she clarified at Sasuke's raised eyebrow.

"They've got wizards and witches there who are specialized in more advanced medical magic and they're better suited to help you. But from what Dumbledore told the staff, you'd prefer not to expose yourselves too much, right? So I'm going to keep you here for two days and then you'll be free to go if you show improvement."

"Can I do anything to help?" asked Naruto. The sooner Sasuke was back on his feet, the better. He didn't like this pained teammate one bit. The medi-witch thankfully nodded.

"You can get your friend his clothes and some books to pass the time."

Naruto scrunched up his face at that suggestion. That was all?

"I'm going to get started on those ointments. I'll make sure that your privacy remains intact, mr. Tanaka."

She bustled off and rummaged around in her office. Naruto quickly switched back to his native tongue and moved over to poke Sasuke in the shoulder.

"Idiot," he admonished and leapt back from a punch aimed at his mid-section. Pain in his eyes or not, Sasuke still had perfect aim.

"What the hell did you do? Froze on the spot? Got Fuzzy Eyebrow's weights on your feet? Caught in Shikamaru's shadow-bind?" teased Naruto and had to twist and turn to avoid the various sharp pointy objects flung his way. At least he got a rise out of his teammate, though it was likely that Naruto had the honor of being the punching bag instead of that Malfoy kid. They couldn't hurt him because of the mission, though at the moment Naruto very much wanted to, and he knew Sasuke felt the same.

"Those spells move fast. We need to train to compensate," was all the explanation Naruto got out of Sasuke. Sasuke frowned as he looked at Naruto. "Stand still," he ordered, and Naruto froze mid-pirouette from the latest set of shuriken sent his way. From this position Naruto saw the three tomos spinning rapidly. When Sasuke blinked, his eyes were once again black.

"What?" demanded Naruto, but Sasuke shook his head and gestured for Naruto to come closer. Still worried about if his teammate was going to be alright, he obeyed, though he stayed out of immediate striking range. Sasuke blinked and the Sharingan was back.

"Mold some chakra."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the commanding tone, but twisted his fingers into the appropriate seal and began molding chakra.

"More," demanded Sasuke. Naruto pulled deeper and molded some more chakra. Sasuke stared intensely at Naruto, but made no comment. He wanted to know what this was all about, but he knew that if he asked now, Sasuke wouldn't tell him. So for once he remained quiet.

But Sasuke didn't seem inclined to enlighten his teammate. He demanded more and more chakra, until Naruto was ablaze with blue light. He felt some clones pop out of existence now that he pulled back the chakra, and he hoped that none of them were in any compromising positions. The memories he received didn't indicate so, but he didn't have 360 degrees vision, unlike a certain guy he knew. Someone could have been watching him.

"More," said Sasuke again, and Naruto retorted between gritted teeth: "There isn't any more, idiot. So tell me what you're looking for."

"The spell has damaged my Sha - red eyes. I'm unable to see the difference between your normal and your special chakra," said Sasuke in a way too calm voice. Naruto immediately let his chakra disperse and stared at his teammate in disbelief. Sasuke raised one eyebrow at the action, but before he said anything Naruto threw out his own answer.

"Are you retarded or just stupid?"

Sasuke wisely remained quiet.

"You could've asked me to draw out my special chakra instead of demanding more and more."

"I thought you understood," answered Sasuke. Naruto rolled his eyes at his teammate. Leave it to Sasuke to let him draw out all his chakra and then calmly explain that he wanted something else entirely. Bastard.

That bore repeating out loud, so he insulted his teammate before sighing and once again positioning his fingers. He saw the tension in Sasuke's frame. His teammate needed to check if he could still differ between normal and demon chakra (and therefore other kinds of chakra), and Naruto was the only one who could provide that information. Even if he was a bastard, he was still his teammate and best rivalfriend.

Naruto focused for a few seconds, clawing deep inside himself to free the always-burning chakra from its cage. He let a tiny fraction of the power seep out, encircling it and drawing it to his hands. Already he felt the effects of the chakra take hold, making him more fox-like in appearance. The wind generated by the demon chakra was so strong it knocked a couple of privacy screens over.

And of course, some students chose that moment to enter the Hospital Wing.

"Sorry, I left my quill-"

The words died on the red-haired's lips as his eyes rested on the two shinobi.

It had to be some sight, watching one of the Hogwarts guards standing there with red energy circling his clawed hands, and the other looking in intense interest. Maybe they saw a hint of red eyes through the eye slits of Naruto's mask, but they certainly saw Sasuke's spinning tomoe, along with the exposed Sharingan.

Not good. The students were, of course, the special charge and his friends.

Naruto let go of the gathered demon chakra, and reverted back within seconds. He glanced towards Sasuke, who gave a tiny nod. Sasuke's eyes were once again black. Naruto hoped that Sasuke's nod meant 'the Sharingan is OK' and not 'I'm going to kill you later for letting your guard down'. Not that he had per se, but some clones did poof out of existence, the one keeping an eye on the doors of the Hospital Wing included. That one was all Sasuke's fault.

"Wow," breathed the red-haired kid, and the girl looked at the shinobi like a woman on a diet eyes a large chocolate sundae. With strawberries. Naruto feared her judgment. What had she seen, and would she connect it to any theories she had on them? The library contained few books on the subject on shinobi, and what books they had were horribly outdated. She wouldn't be able to pinpoint Naruto and Sasuke as being a demon-bearer and the last (not-clan-murdering) Uchiha, but she could still do a lot of damage if the student body knew that the guards possessed more talents than they let on.

"What was that?" asked Harry Potter and turned subconsciously towards the girl, as if he expected a complete and thorough answer from her.

"That was something you didn't see," intoned Sasuke in a bland voice. "And you will not tell anyone about it. Clear?"

The killing intent was strong in this one, Naruto mused. Sasuke pored on everything he had to scare the kids into obedience. Too bad they'd trained them to shake it off, but the full force still seemed to be working, because the red-head lost a lot of color in his face and the girl trembled. Harry Potter shivered here and there, but managed to keep his head held high. Interesting.

"We won't tell anyone. We didn't even really see anything, except some wandless magic," said Harry Potter as he shrugged. "You don't have to threaten us."

"Good," said Sasuke. He let go of the killing intent vibe. "Get your stuff and go."

"Huh? Oh yes, of course," said the red-head quickly. He searched the ground for his quill, and found it had fluttered underneath a bed. With as much haste as possible he picked it up and ushered his friends out of the door. He seemed the most spooked by Sasuke's killing intent. Also interesting. With the kids once again gone, Naruto turned back to Sasuke.

"So, your red eyes are OK?" He asked, already knowing the answer, but he wanted to check anyhow.

Sasuke nodded and Naruto thought he heard him mutter "idiot" under his breath, but he wasn't too sure.

"Right, then I better get back to ... doing what we usually do," said Naruto. At a nod from Sasuke he left the Hospital Ward and left his teammate to the tender care of Madam Pomfrey. She was an okay witch, they had decided. Too mother-hen for them orphans, and she treated them like small children, but still... could be worse.

Five hours later Naruto had scoured the castle from the top tower to the lowest dungeon yet again, and had come across a new broom closet and a tiny nook which kept changing the color of its piece of marble floor every time he passed it. Time to check up on Sasuke.

He found his teammate asleep in the hospital bed, his eyes covered with a wet cloth. Madam Pomfrey had erected more privacy screens around his bed. When Naruto moved them to get to his teammate Sasuke awoke and pulled the cloth from his eyes. They looked better already, less red and swollen.

"Morning sleeping ugly," greeted Naruto cheerfully. Sasuke grunted.

"Castle's still secure, and I found a new room. And that's about it. You?"

"Read a book, drank some potion, fell asleep."

"And people wonder why we relieve our boredom by destroying stuff."

Sasuke snorted. "You mean, you relieve stress by destroying."

Naruto sat down on the foot of the bed and Sasuke grudgingly moved his feet.

"Yes, you're the stressless one. You only sulk and brood and mope and-"

A pillow to the face hardly hurt, but it shut Naruto up for a second. It was enough for a change in topic. "She gonna release you yet?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Sha- red eyes still hurt, and if I don't rest now the infection might get worse. Though if she stays like this all night, I'm gonna release myself early."

Naruto cocked his head and thought back to Madam Pomfrey's personality. He put hers and Sasuke's personality together and out came a jumbled mess of chaos and screaming and mayhem. Yeah, those two might not get along so well. She'd get all huffy about Sasuke's independent streak and Sasuke would get annoyed by her mother-henning. Put them together in a room where Sasuke had to depend on her and she could mother-hen all she wanted, and you had an instant sitcom classic.

"Grin and bear it, I s'pose. She's the only one who can heal you in this place."

Sasuke let himself fall back on the bed, despair in his voice. "Yes." He propped himself up on his elbows. "Get me some books on medical spells from the library."

Naruto got up and bowed to his teammate like he had seen an house-elf do to a teacher.

"Yess, masster, at oncce. Go ssuck a dick. Damn, now I sound like Sai."

Sasuke wasn't amused by Naruto's antics, and he let that know by glaring at his teammate. His hand clenched around the same pillow he threw before, but then he relaxed and closed his eyes.

"Just. Please."

"Wow, that must've hurt," commented Naruto casually. He wondered why Sasuke wanted for him to get those books so badly. Did his teammate really think he could learn those spells faster than Madam Pomfrey? Or was something else going on? Naruto knew he sometimes was oblivious about these types of situations, and he thought hard why Sasuke would want those books.

"Are you that bored?"

This had Sasuke open his eyes with a weary sigh. "I can only spend so much time thinking about how much I'd like to kick your ass. Are you getting those books or not?"

Naruto got up from the bed and made a 'relax' gesture. "Back in ten," he announced, and slipped between two privacy screens.

"Make sure they're recent," called Sasuke after him.

"Yessss, masssster," said Naruto under his breath and ignored the follow-up call of: "did you hear me, Fox?"

Finding the books was easy enough. It was harder to convince Madam Pince that Naruto wasn't going to let any harm come to them.

"I've seen your destructive nature," said Madam Pince in her talking-down voice, "and these books are very valuable. If you even so much as scratch them..."

She left her threat dangling, which didn't impress Naruto. He looked at the already scratched books lying on the table and shrugged. They were just books, and he'd been threatened before. And some of his enemies actually followed up on their threats.

"It'll be fine," Naruto reassured her one last time and had to physically tug the books from her hands. She had a good grip on them and her long fingernails made her look like a vulture holding on to its precious meal. She scratched the soft leather of the cover herself, but she didn't seem to notice it, so hard was her death glare at Naruto.

When Naruto walked out of the library he snorted to himself.

"That lady needs to get a hobby," he said to himself, and some passing students looked him funny. He cheerfully waved at them and they scurried off, apparently afraid of more interaction. No matter, he had a mission to complete anyhow. Deliver the books and annoy Sasuke some more before getting dinner.

Alright, so it had been fourteen minutes instead of ten like Naruto had said, but that was all thanks to Madam Pince. Mentally he composed a sentence which would put all the blame on the old lady instead of on his tiny detour to the kitchen for a pre-dinner snack. When Naruto popped back between the privacy screens, he saw a recipe for disaster.

The blond Malfoy kid who had cursed Sasuke stood next to his bed. Apparently he had just arrived, because Sasuke was only starting to tap into his killing intent and prepared his glare of doom. Naruto saw that his teammate unconsciously reached for the pouch on his waist which wasn't there.

When Malfoy started talking, Naruto pictured him digging his own grave, make a coffin, arrange the funeral before spreading his arms wide open so Sasuke had better access to his vital points.

"My head of house is making me apologize for cursing you. I don't see why it's my fault, since you jumped between me and Potter, but-"

Naruto had heard enough. If the kid continued talking, Naruto would have to start restraining Sasuke. So he did the easier thing. He slinked up behind the kid and clamped his hand over the kid's mouth, making him utter a muffled yelp. Blondie struggled in his grip.

Sasuke apparently took this as an invitation to crank up the killing intent, and even when sitting in a hospital bed that move never failed to have an effect on Hogwarts students. Blondie stopped struggling and Naruto had to hold him up, as the kid apparently lost all feeling in his legs. Sasuke's eyes were slit and Naruto felt sure Sasuke would pull a muscle if he kept scowling like that.

"If you ever raise your wand against at me again," he said at a low volume, "I will kill you."

Blondie whimpered and Naruto took that as a sign that Sasuke had gotten his point across. He released the kid, who staggered before finding his footing again. He stared at Sasuke like a seal stared at a killer whale.

"Got it?" asked Sasuke in the same low tone, and blondie nodded eagerly. Sasuke dialed down the killing intent and finally the kid unfroze and ran off, leaving behind the smell of terror sweat.

"Congrats on terrifying a student, here are your books," said Naruto, and dropped the books in Sasuke's lap. Sasuke snorted.

"He deserved it."

"Yes, but he's a stuck-up bastard. The two of you should totally start a club, since you're one too."

Sasuke didn't answer. He was busy flipping through the three books Naruto had brought, and making interested noises.

"Next time, remember there are other kids in the room," said Naruto. Sasuke looked up at that remark, and Naruto was sure he saw an 'oh shit' expression flit over Sasuke's face before it was blank again. The privacy screens gave the illusion of a separate room, but by now the other kids in the Hospital Ward must be sitting up in bed, terrified that a nameless killing force would come knocking any second.

"Don't you have a patrol to do?" asked Sasuke, and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're impossible. See ya."

He turned around and jumped aside in the nick of time to avoid an angry Madam Pomfrey forcing her somewhat more-than-thin body through the gap in the privacy screens.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" she shrieked, and Naruto took that as his cue to leave. Sasuke would have a fun time explaining this incident.

"See ya!" Naruto called again, just to annoy his teammate, and disappeared through the old oak doors.

Two days later, after much book-reading, mother-henning and mysterious potions, Madam Pomfrey finally dismissed Sasuke from the Hospital Ward, and Madam Pomfrey found even that too soon. Still, it was either an early release or a sneak-out, thought Naruto. Sasuke's eyes had healed up fine, the only trace of the curse was a lingering redness of the white of the eye, and even that faded with each passing day.

When they came across the blond kid, he actually turned tail and ran. Alright, walked away swiftly, but Sasuke wore a satisfied smirk for the rest of the day. The kid never raised his wand against either guard ever again.

McGonagall didn't often summon both the guards to her office, so when she did, it had to be important. But this announcement didn't seem that important to Naruto.

"She wants us to join in as guests for the Yule Ball?" he asked in bafflement. Sasuke nodded. "Isn't a ball one of those things where rich people go and dance with big gowns and everything?" Sasuke nodded again. "And how exactly are we gonna fit in there?"

"We're not."

Naruto made a dramatized movement. "Ah, once again left out. I feel so alone. Sasuke, hold me!"

He pretended to swoon and tried to grab his teammate in a hug, but Sasuke wasn't having any of that. He neatly stepped aside and Naruto barely stopped himself from an one-way trip to the floor.

"So cold," he cried, but Sasuke walked off.

"Seriously, though," said Naruto when he had caught up with Sasuke, "why does she want us to join?"

"Maybe because we're 'children' in her eyes, she thinks we should get to have some fun," Sasuke intoned.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, maybe. Or she wants to see you without your uniform. She has the hots for you and wants to jump your-"

Sadly, the world would never know how Naruto was going to end that sentence, because Sasuke clocked him across the face, which led to an impromptu training session. Or rather, the shinobi beating each other up, because that was the only way they could truly express how they felt about each other.

"Won't it be fun if-"

"No."

Naruto pouted as Sasuke shot him down so fast he could hear the sonic boom echoing in his ears.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"Doesn't matter. It won't be fun."

Naruto got a sly look in his eyes. Sasuke saw it too, and began to edge away. He had been roped into too many pranks to not know (and fear) that look.

"Are you saying that I can't think of anything fun?"

"No," Sasuke tried to defend himself, "I'm saying that what you're thinking of right now won't be any fun."

"And how do you know what I'm thinking? Developed a new power of the Sharingan, hm?"

Sasuke was quick to shake his head, but he still edged towards the door. "No, but I know you, I know what stupid plans you come up with."

Naruto pouted again. "They're not stupid, they're brilliant! You're so stuck-up you can't see the brilliance of my plans. Anyway, if we're going to that ball, we should learn how to dance."

Sasuke rolled his eyes upwards, as if praying for guidance and support from the heavens. "This is your idea of fun how?"

It was Naruto's turn to shrug. "Y'know, learn some new moves, interact with the students, learn about this culture."

"Naruto, you said 'learning' twice. You. And you are talking about culture."

Naruto huffed and looked away. "Pfeh, I can learn! And not just A-rank jutsu (Ithankyouverymuch) but also about culture. And stuff."

Sasuke got a gleam of his own in his eye, and Naruto recognized that gleam as well. And it didn't bode well for him. That gleam meant that Sasuke was about to say something which made Naruto look stupid in front of others. Luckily for him they sat in their shared room, which made it less embarrassing for Naruto to be confronted and bested in their verbal sparring. But he and Sasuke would know, and that was all that mattered.

"Then, in this culture, what's the significance of tea for the British?"

"I said: learn about culture. I don't claim to already know all that stuff."

Naruto grinned as he realized he had turned the tables back to the way they originally were. Sasuke sulked for a second and then seemed to realize what Naruto exactly had in mind. "You actually want to spend more time with those civilians?"

"Yes. I'm not the anti-social one here. You fill those shoes so well they made extra special ones, just for you."

Sasuke took another step towards the door. He knew what was about to go down. Naruto would drag him to that lesson, by force if necessary. Or sit on him until he promised to go, either one had the potential to work. But not if Sasuke wasn't there to wrangle a promise out of.

With lightning-quick reflexes Sasuke sprinted towards the door, threw it open and ran out. He was able to run two feet before three clones threw themselves on top of him and pinned him to the floor.

"You and your damn bunshin!"

Naruto grinned and made a victory-sign.

"I will kill you and burn your bones," threatened Sasuke for the twenty-seventh time that evening. So far he'd promised to slice and dice Naruto, electrocute him, stab him with needles, and the list went on and on. Naruto was hardly impressed, though he was getting put off by how creative Sasuke got with his death threats. But at the moment he didn't care, because he was dancing with a cute fifth-year Gryffindor who had a good sense of rhythm.

Mingling with the students proved to be a lot easier than anticipated. By now the student body had gotten used to their presence, though few of them had been this up close and personal with them.

Now that Naruto's English was getting better though, he found he missed talking with someone besides Sasuke. Sometimes he needed a break from the constant threat of emo-ing Sasuke threw around like the Easter Bunny spreads eggs.

And this dancing class was the perfect opportunity for that. Sure, Sasuke had just uttered his thirtieth threat, but that was in part due to the dance partner who dragged him around the floor. A fourth-year Ravenclaw girl with bad breath and a too strong sense of leadership would never be led around by a smaller boy with thin limbs so pale you'd expect him to start sparkling in the sunlight any moment.

"Oh, sorry," said the girl Naruto danced with once again. He hadn't caught her name, but mentally called her toe-killer. He regretted wearing open-toed sandals right about now.

"No problem," replied Naruto with a grin, even though she couldn't see it. "You danced before?"

The girl nodded shyly. "Yeah, when I was in elementary school, we had an ex-dance teacher as teacher, and she taught us the basic moves during PE."

"I see," said Naruto. "You move with music real well."

A fierce blush spread across the girl's cheeks and for a moment Naruto wished she was Sakura.

"I'm going to wax your head and use your scalp as my rice bowl," hissed Sasuke as he whirled past, still in the steering grip of the Ravenclaw girl. The top of his duck-butt hair reached the girl's shoulder, which meant that Sasuke's face was where Ero-sennin would like to be.

But at least they learned the moves and Naruto foresaw many dances with cute girls. If only he could score a pink-haired one, his life would be complete. But for now he'd settle for this Gryffindor girl, as long as she stopped stepping on his toes.

"Come out."

"No."

"C'mon, I've seen you in lots of questionable situations. Remember that one mission at Wave Country? With the pageant-"

The opening door interrupted Naruto, and Sasuke stepped out, his head held high. Naruto's eyes immediately dropped to Sasuke's body.

"Man, you do not look good in wizard dress robes," said Naruto unthinkingly. He waved his hands to indicate he meant nothing by that. "Err, not that you look good. Ever. You're like, butt-ugly."

Sasuke smirked at Naruto's remarks, and Naruto gave up and hung his head. Sasuke took off the ridiculous blue dress-robes and rooted through his backpack. With a small "ha!" he procured a package from the pack, folded in brown paper. The way it limply hung suggested the package contained clothing, and when Sasuke opened it, a navy-blue and white cloth fell from it.

"Now there's something I recognize," smirked Naruto. Sasuke turned warning eyes on him, and Naruto backed off, literally. The blonde went rooting through his own pack and tugged a similar cloth from his pack, though his was less neatly folded and packaged.

"Think this'll do?" he asked, and held the clothes up for Sasuke to see.

"You didn't pick that out, did you?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind halfway and the words came tumbling out like a dead body from a closet in a horror movie. "Yeah, I- No, it was a present from Ero-sennin."

"Figured," replied Sasuke.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his teammate. "And what," he said, "is that supposed to mean? Think my taste in clothing is bad, do you?"

Sasuke snorted so loud Naruto feared for a second the guy had snorted out his lungs. "You wear orange," he said in a tone as if that explained everything that was wrong with Naruto.

"Orange is an awesome color, mr. 'I've got such a wide collar my shoulders poke through it'."

"Better than misfit clothes which look and smell as if you've stolen them from a bin."

Naruto surreptitiously smelled the clothing he held and only smelt the laundry detergent he used. And perhaps a faint scent of crushed and molded bread which had been piled on top of the clothing. He'd straight away forgotten about that emergency ration when they'd gotten to Hogwarts, with its splendid meals. Only last week he'd discovered the emerging bacteria staining the backpack, and the scrubbing had been vigorous.

"Hey! At least it doesn't take me ten minutes to dress myself, with all those bandages you use."

"It's a surprise you even know how to dress yourself."

They kept bickering about clothes as if they channeled Ino and Sakura, and their comments only ended when Sasuke walked into the bathroom, slammed the door and refused to be goaded into screaming through the door. Soon after Naruto heard the sound of running water.

"Orange is awesome," said Naruto one last time, and put the clothing back into its proper place. He was going to need it later this month.

After a few more disastrous dance lessons where Sasuke's threats began to borderline on psycho axe murderer, the Yule Ball loomed. Sasuke tried every trick in the book to get out of it, but sadly Naruto had read the book cover to cover as well, and he was the one who often went beyond and/or above it.

So Naruto grinned as Sasuke donned his blue-white yukata and mask and walked towards the door.

"You coming?" he asked, and Naruto grinned and nodded at his teammate.

"Let's do this!"

"Got enough clones?" asked Sasuke.

"Always. Half of them disguised as statues or paintings, half of them roaming around as students. I've had to invent new fancy dress robes for eight people, y'know." Naruto stilled. "I miss Sakura," he said softly. "Bet she'd have loved this."

"Yes," said Sasuke. He didn't look Naruto in the eye and they both stayed silent for a few seconds. Naruto strolled up to the door and threw it open, the bang of the door hitting the wall jerking them from their homesick thoughts.

"Let's go score some bootay!"

Sasuke felt his eye twitch. When had Naruto picked up that phrase? And what did it mean? Would he ever care enough to find out?

His mind didn't stay tuned.

Walking through the Great Hall at the Yule Ball was like walking through Konoha during a festival. People in bright-colored clothes were everywhere, the food was delicious, and the students laughed and talked and mingled as if they were Hollywood stars, at least for one night.

And the dancing. Oh, the dancing.

The school champions started, but soon afterwards the dance floor was populated by lots of students (and teachers). In the dark corners of the floor stood couples, swaying to the beat, hands and other parts of their body entwined.

Naruto was having the time of his life. As soon as his feet hit the floor of the Great Hall he got separated from Sasuke, and he didn't mind one bit. Like a sponge he soaked up the positive energy, the way the students behaved towards him. Some were still wary, but most of them had gotten used to him by now.

So he chatted with some students (as far as his limited vocabulary allowed him to), danced with a couple of girls and gobbled down all the food he laid hands on.

Tonight he felt like the weight of this mission was lifted from him, and he could enjoy this strange culture. It was ... liberating.

"Would you like to dance?" asked a girl to his right, and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, sure, why not," he said. He let her lead him through the throngs of students towards the dance floor, where he spun her into a foxtrot and managed to not stumble for once.

It took a few minutes into the dance before he recognized the girl. In her dress robes she looked different from what he was used to, but when she looked at him with a blush on her face and a look in her eyes, he knew who she was.

"Thank you again when you bringed my forehead protector," he said, which only deepened the blush on Parvati's face.

"No problem, mr. Fox," she said, an inquiring tone in her voice. Naruto smiled at her behind his mask. Did she think he'd tell her his name if she asked politely?

"You are enjoying the ball?" he asked and frowned as the grammar struck him as weird. But before he could correct himself Parvati answered.

"Yes, very much so. But I've got something to show you."

Naruto raised his eyebrows at her, his interest piqued. What could this girl show him that he hadn't already seen on the grounds? Did she know a new shortcut?

But when he asked, she didn't reply and kept on dancing, a mysterious grin on her face, joined by the deepest blush Naruto had seen in a while. When the song ended, she kept hold of his hand and tugged him away from the dance floor.

"What you want to show me?" asked Naruto, but Parvati only giggled and pulled him deeper into the specially-created rosebushes. In a dark area she turned around and pointed at him.

"There, we're all alone, you can take off your mask," she finished her sentence by softly tugging the mask off his face. Naruto let her, curious what she'd do. She drank in the sight of his face and Naruto pulled self-conscious on the collar of his yukata.

Then, without warning or even consent, she stepped forward and pressed her lips to his, capturing his head between her hands. Naruto had to kick his brain into gear when a rush of teenage hormones kidnapped his attention and ran off with it. With a muted cry he pulled back and pointed accusingly at her.

"You're a chakra-sucking devil woman!" he yelled, remembering the weird woman who had tried to kill him by kissing him. Why did woman feel the need to turn something nice into something vile?

"What did you say?" asked Parvati, a frown on her pretty face.

"You tried to take my chakra," said Naruto in English, but he hesitated when tears appeared in Parvati's eyes. His mind flew back to that mission. When the woman had kissed him, she immediately drained him. This girl... might have meant it in a whole different way.

"Oh," he said, and then: "Oh!" He grinned at her. "Awesome."

Parvati slapped him.

"You're a jerk!" she screamed and stormed off, leaving a bewildered Naruto in her wake. He cupped his cheek where the slap had landed. Now he was blushing, although in an one-sided way, and why she had done that...

A snort from one bush over made him aware that he stood dumbstruck in a rosebush with his face exposed. He pulled down his mask and flipped the mysterious person off, who stepped from the bushes and revealed himself. It was Snape, the weird greasy-haired guy Naruto kept clear of. He didn't possess an inviting personality and Naruto already associated with one brooding guy, he didn't need any more this year.

"What," snapped Naruto, "do you want?"

It wasn't polite, but Naruto didn't care at the moment. He blew it, the first time a girl approached him on her own will, and he had told her she was a vile devil-woman. He missed Sakura, who'd have bopped him on the head and would tell him to not be so dense.

"I hardly think it's appropriate for a guard to associate with a student." The way the man said the word made it sound like an improper profession.

"Hey, she kissed me," said Naruto indignant. Snape raised one eyebrow, a move which Naruto loathed on all those broody types. Only they seemed to posses the gen necessary to control one eyebrow, and one eyebrow alone.

"It's a shame you're not part of any House, or I'd subtract so many points it'd dangle at the bottom of the list," said Snape slowly, as if speaking to an idiot. Naruto snorted at the empty threat.

"Yes, it's a shame. Now I must go."

He wanted to get back to the party, see if he could get the incident out of his head by dancing with some other girls.

"But I can report this to Dumbledore," said Snape. Naruto sighed as he walked away.

"You make too much noise over a small thing. A life, get it."

Snape's scowl disappeared in the darkness as Naruto ran away, back into the heart of the party. He didn't let his thoughts of the greasy-haired teacher distract him long from the party. He finally spotted Sasuke, sitting alone at a table nursing a Butterbeer. Naruto fought his way over through the throngs of students and stopped next to the table.

"Anything?" he asked, signing the word 'danger' at him at the same time. Sasuke shook his head, and Naruto took that as his cue to leave. He left Sasuke at the table, for once not caring about his teammate's fun (or lack thereof).

This was one night he had completely to himself, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it, being slapped, threatened and glared at notwithstanding.

Much later that night Naruto finally found his way into bed. He didn't bother taking off his yukata, he just fell down. The lump on Sasuke's bed indicated that his teammate had also already found the bed, although Naruto couldn't remember seeing him leave. He didn't remember a lot of things, actually, but at the moment he didn't worry about that.

"Hey, bastard," whispered Naruto, turning his head to look at the lump of teammate. Sasuke didn't move.

"Oi!" yelled Naruto, and Sasuke stirred.

"You do know that someone upped the alcoholic content of the Butterbeer," said Sasuke in a hoarse voice. Naruto blinked. He did not know that. "Which means that you're either drunk or on the verge of," continued Sasuke. "So shut up or I'll wake you up at the crack of dawn with a gong."

"Fair enough," replied Naruto, turned his head and was asleep within seconds.

The next day, he really regretted not learning the make-headache-go-away-spell.

"Not a word," warned Naruto, but Sasuke's chuckles finally died down and was replaced by a much worse smirk as he held a gong in his hands.