Of Stranger Magic
Harry Potter x Naruto Story
Of Stranger Magic Chapter 11.
Summary 1: "You two will be taking this mission it'll probably be one of the most important missions of both of your lives." stated Tsunade tiredly, "Is there a particular reasoning for that Hokage-sama?" asked Shikamaru standing just a tad more straighter in his slouched posture. "Dumbledore-sensei is an old friend." stated simply by Tsunade. "But Shishou-" "I said he was a friend, not that he was mine."
Summary 2: "I'm trusting you to do this for me Severus. It is of the upmost importance that you get those two to the headquarters as soon as possible." "Of course headmaster, but are you sure about these ninja?" "Absolutely. I believe we are in need of a stranger magic than our own."
Chapter Excerpt: Shikamaru glanced in Sakura's direction lazily; he was pretty sure Sakura felt the same. He didn't like the pink toad, and he liked where she was taking this conversation even less.
Pairings: Shikamaru Nara x Sakura Haruno; Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger.
Minor Pairings: Sasuke Uchiha x Hinata Hyuuga; Naruto Uzumaki x Ino Yamanaka; Ron Weasley x Luna Lovegood; Harry Potter x Parvati Patil.
Rated: M
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Previously:
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"Hmmm." replied Sakura moving towards the pile of paperwork near her bed.
"We should see Dumbledore." he muttered quietly as Sakura once more hummed in agreement.
"I don't like being kept in the dark." finished Shikamaru opening the window and jumping out quietly.
"Aah. But it's so nice there." Sakura giggled to herself completely alone.
"Have to be careful, Potter. Bad things happen to those who don't take note of what's happening around them."
She did not give him time to reply back to her advice before she turned her back to him and began walking towards her and Shikamaru's current quarters.
She allowed a smirk to grace her masked face, as she chose to ignore the footfalls of the running boy.
"I don't know though. Something about Owl and Jaguar … they're just off, somehow..." said Harry as Hermione nodded her head in agreement.
"I think I'll go off to the library see if I can find anything at all about where they're from or just something ..." said Hermione a new determination set in.
"Hi, Harry." waved Parvati, a smile lit up Harry's face as he waved back enthusiastically and after a brief nod from Ron, made his way over to the girl.
"Think I'll go upstairs and take a nap, before starting on that potions essay."
The five Gryffindors stood in the exact spots Shikamaru left them in, none of them moving for a good few minutes before they all trudged off to bed and fell into fitful sleeps.
Not one of them said another word.
"Hermione. Draco." Jaguar spoke quietly, "It's five minutes past curfew and I'm afraid I'll have to escort you back to you dorms now. If not for the fact it isn't safe then how about to spare the two of you detention?" bribed the pink haired woman upon seeing the two stubborn children wanting to argue.
They both soon lost their gusto at her words and solemnly nodded moving to put back their picked out books, though Jaguar stopped them.
"I do so enjoy a good book every now and then and once I mentioned it to Dumbledore he told Madame Pinch not to be surprised should a few books go missing every now and again. As far as I'm concerned I won't tell if you won't tell." and with that she turned her back to Hermione and Draco much like she did to Harry and began walking away only stopping shortly to allow them time to pocket the books and catch up to her.
Madame Pince glared at the three of them until Sakura slammed the doors to the library shut after them.
Draco's whole body stilled. Not that it was any concern for Jaguar or himself, they were merely a few meters away from the entrance of the dungeons anyway. His mouth went dry with shock and the only word he found himself uttering was, "Why?"
"Because you remind me of an old friend," was her simple answer, "and I pray you turn out differently from him."
Before he could reply back she had already vanished.
Olde and Forgotten: Sorcery or More
The book almost glared at Hermione as she sat across it. She had already read through half the chapters and already some of these creatures were so vague about forty-two of them could be described as what Owl and Jaguar are. From certain Nymphs to Erlkings to Djinn it just seemed impossible to figure out what exactly Dumbledore had guarding the school.
More importantly though, Hermione found her will to continue reading slipping. She kept going back to the book Draco had picked out. There were only a few books beginning with that title but her mind kept going back to a certain one. The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Hermione was almost without a doubt positive that this was the book Draco had picked out. If not because the Rise and Fall of the Goblin Wars and Rise and Fall of Ministers: The Good the Bad and the Dirty was something she thought Draco would really care less about. Though it made her wonder exactly what he could want with that book. She remembered reading it before school, in fact this book is what helped her recognize Harry on that first train ride. It was littered with references of him and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. More specifically she remembered with a shock an entire chapter being dedicated to The Dark Mark.
She really hoped that that chapter wasn't why he was going to check out the book.
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Now:
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The next morning was met with uncharacteristic silence. Everywhere in the Great Hall hushed whispers could be heard of some of the older students claiming to have seen the guards. The only thing more talked about than the strange mask wearing new comers was one Delores Jane Umbridge, no so more than after her first classes.
"What's got you two looking so down?" asked Hermione as the twins sat down a few seats from herself, Harry and Ron.
"You got Defense today?" asked Fred darkly and at their nods, George continued, "You'll find out then."
Though it wasn't the answer they wanted, the Trio continued eating lunch and discussing other topics instead.
"I thought that with becoming a Prefect we'd be able to patrol the corridors, and get other privileges outside of some of the other years. But Jaguar and Owl have pretty much taken them away. Though I suppose it does give us more time to study our O.W.L.s" spoke Hermione finally looking up from her toast to glare at Ron who was fully ignoring her then sigh tiredly when Harry merely hummed slightly in agreement. His eyes lighting up as he saw Parvati entering the hall then leave from Lavender's side before making her way over to Harry who nodded her over.
"Harry." she greeted as she sat down across from him and next to Hermione's side.
"Parvati." he said happily, not noticing Hermione roll her eyes at the obvious display before her.
"Hermione. Ron." she said happily, though that was probably because she and Harry couldn't take their eyes off of one another.
Hermione discreetly kicked Ron under the table who was still staring gobsmacked at the newest addition to their group.
"Ow. Hermione!" Ron bellowed quite loudly which finally drew Harry and Parvati's attention away from each other to look at the tall boy in surprise then two Hermione who had nothing but a face of perfect innocence upon her.
"Whoops. My foot slipped." she said happily with a smile before standing up and gathering her books before continuing, "I think I'll start heading towards Potions. If I want Gryffindor to lose points I'll leave it to you two." she joked before Harry nodded and started a conversation with Parvati seemingly forgetting everything else.
Hermione was making her way down towards the dungeons replying to different portraits and ghosts whom she passed, and it was about twenty minutes before she finally came upon the doors to Snape's classroom, though familiar voices, stopped her from entering.
"You know perfectly well that I do not wish to do either of those things." Snape's voice drifted into her ears as an almost whisper, Draco's was much easier to hear and there was no denying the obvious contempt he held in his voice.
"You'd better stop telling me to come to your office then!"
"Listen to me!" Snape's voice was solid, yet did not hold the same ire as the younger male's own voice, "I am trying to protect you. I swore to your mother I would protect you. I made the Unbreakable Vow, Draco –"
"Looks like you'll have to break it then, because I don't need your protection! It's my job, he gave it to me and I'm doing it, I've got a plan and it's going to work, it's just taking a bit longer than I thought it would!"
"What is your plan?" Hermione felt herself leaning closer to the door as she anticipated the arrival of Draco's voice once more in their conversation.
"It's none of your business!"
"If you tell me what you are trying to do, I can assist you –"
"I've got all the assistance I need, thanks, I'm not alone!"
"You were certainly alone last night, besides the sudden appearances of Miss Granger and that ninja, which was foolish in the extreme, wandering the corridors without lookouts or backup, these are elementary mistakes –"
"I would've had Crabbe and Goyle with me if you hadn't put them in detention!"
"I daresay, Draco, I'd rather see my Godson with Jaguar and Miss than with those two oafs who can't tell their wands apart from their shoelaces. At least those women are sure to know how to spell their names. Now keep your voice down. We'll finish this discussion later, I'm almost positive the other students will be arriving shortly." snarled Snape back, and Hermione felt her heart warm a little. That was the closest to a compliment Snape had ever given her, anyone really who wasn't a Slytherin.
She decided to lounge about from the other side of the door for a few more moments, until after she heard Draco begin to gather his needed supplies.
It was another few minutes that Snape began his lecture of the importance of their O.W.L.s and how displeased he would be if some of his students were to receive less than pleasant marks that would reflect poorly on his class.
Hermione had yet to look up at Draco. She found she could not meet his eyes after eavesdropping on what was apparent a highly private conversation. She realized however it did not stop the young heir from staring at her.
She was scared by herself when she realized she actually didn't mind all that much.
…
"It's so boring here." intoned Jaguar pouting under her mask as Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her.
"It's a school of special civilians." deadpanned Owl tiredly walking towards the Care of Magical Creatures class currently taught by the strange looking woman, Grubbly-Plank. "How interesting did you think it would be here?"
"Hmm. I'm not really sure." she said sadly, "But it's hardly what I was expecting though."
"Hmm." agreed Owl quietly, "This is the third time we've done our rounds... Perhaps we should create clones to take over for a little bit, while we sit in on a few of the classes?"
Owl's suggestion was exactly what Jaguar needed to hear as she made a clone of herself allowing Owl to do the same before dragging him off towards the Defense Classroom.
When they entered the normally neutral looking classroom they discovered it was not what they were expecting and their somewhat already low opinion of the wizards and witches decreased just a little as they took in the pink frill and fluff surrounding the toad woman who knew must never have the honor of meeting their more eccentric friend. There was no telling what Fox would do to her.
The woman was already seated behind her pink desk with about five different pictures of cats on them all moving about the different frames. She was wearing the same pink cardigan from the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head.
"Excuse me," at this she decided to insert her now infamous coughs of the welcoming feast before continuing on, "What do you think you are doing here?"
"And by here you mean?" asked Owl wanting to hear her say what he already knew
"In the school dear. In my classroom. Whichever you feel like answering first. What are you two doing here? This is a safe place where students can learn and prosper their magic."
"We are delegates here as well as employees, Madame Undersecretary, we are merely here as added security, to add to the safe haven of this school. Here by Dumbledore's orders. And he has even been so kind as to allow us entrance into which ever classes we find interesting." the way Jaguar worded her little declaration left no room to doubt the words she left unspoken.
"Dumbledore hired us. Dumbledore brought us here. Dumbledore is the only one with authority to dismiss us."
The class chose that moment to start entering the classroom and the quiet, somberness that exuded from the students drastically changed to hope upon seeing the two ninja there as well.
"Well. Good afternoon!" she said happily, once all of the students had taken their seats.
A few replied back with a quiet, "Good afternoon." in return and the forced smile she wore upon their arrival quickly morphed into a disgruntled frown.
"Tut, tut." spoke Umbridge decisively, "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply, 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"
"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." they chanted back, tiredly.
"There, now." said Umbridge sweetly, "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out please."
Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks at the order, "wands away". They had yet to have a lesson they found interesting followed by that particular order.
Owl and Jaguar took this time to realize that in this class was Potter and his friends. The two managed to exchange worried looks as they realized that this would more likely than not, not end well.
Umbridge had taken the time to take out her own, unusually short wand and tap it against the blackboard, causing words to appear on the board at once.
Defense Against the Dark Arts
A Return to Basic Principles
"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" started Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. Year. You will be pleased o know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following please."
She rapped the blackboard once more, the first message vanished to be replaced by:
Course aims:
Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.
Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.
Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.
"Now has everyone gotten their copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"
There was a dull murmur amongst the students confirming Umbridge's question. Owl quickly read over the words on the board sighing disappointedly as his gaze moved over to the students before finally landing on Jaguar's form her own gaze glaring scathingly at the pink clad menace. He wondered when one of the students would notice the one thing missing from the course aims.
It wasn't until Umbridge ordered the class to begin reading the first chapter of the book, and Hermione frowned in realization did that happen.
With a determined look in her eyes, Hermione raised her hand. And waited, and waited, until finally the other students were more interested than her than in the text and Umbridge was finally forced to answer the girl.
"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione as if she had just noticed her now.
"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione
"Well, we're reading just now," said Umbridge, showing her small, pointed teeth, "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."
"I've got a query about your course aims." said Hermione as the professor merely raised her eyebrows in response.
"And your name is –?"
"Hermione Granger."
"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," said Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet voice.
"Well, I don't," answered Hermione boldly, "There's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."
As her words finally sunk in several of the students who still had had their books open quickly shut them, looking towards the new teacher and Hermione.
"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh, "Why I can' imagine any situation arising in my classroom hat would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"
Owl glanced in Jaguar's direction lazily; he was pretty sure by her distasteful snort, Jaguar felt the same as he. He didn't like the pink toad, and he liked where she was taking this conversation even less than that. The students appeared to feel the same as several more hands were raised in he air. Jaguar's included.
It was with a quiet chuckle after fifteen minutes and Umbridge called the students' claims that Jaguar finally stood from her seat and made her way towards the more noticibly shorter woman.
"Is there a problem dear?" she wore a smile that matched her sickeningly sweet voice, and Jaguar wasn't sure which of the two made her skin crawl more.
"I have never, in all my days, met someone so interested in where concerns are always found." she made sure to word everything she was saying carefully, this woman worked for the ministry and she and Owl were here to 'strengthen our two world's relations'. "I congratulate you on your fever, Umbridge-sensei, though Owl and I have found ourselves thoroughly worn from your teaching methods and would prefer to continue with our other duties. Good day, Madame." she inclined her head slightly before nodding to Owl who at the same time as she shunshined away, the fifth years glaring at where they once stood enviously.
It was an unspoken decision that they would no longer be sitting in on any of the classes offered at the strange school.
…
"Naruto. Ino."
The two spoken ninja stopped their sparring session and turned towards their comrade who landed to the left of them within training field 9.
"Yamato-taicho." Naruto spoke, nodding to Ino who in turn placed her mask on.
"Tsunade-sama has requested our presence. Something has … occurred."
Naruto's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he too donned his mask and shunshined into the familiar office. Ino glanced towards the older man for a few moments before she too followed after Naruto. She hid her ire very well when she saw that he had beaten herself and probably Naruto there already.
"I'm so glad you three are here." Tsunade finally looked up from her desk to stare at her only three ninja in the room before finally looking towards the corner behind them, their own gazes turning in her eyes' direction. "I would like you all to meet your next client."
"Well, still see you aren't Hokage, gaki. What have you been doing since the exams just sitting on your ass?"
Ino recognized the voice, but it wasn't until she stepped from the shadows that she finally realized who the woman before them was.
She always did have a certain charm that made her just so annoyingly blunt and sarcastic. Though a smile broke out on her face under her mask anyway.
Temari was just who she needed to see to break her away from the depression she stepped into when Naruto landed her on Tora duty. And if the growing tick mark on his head that she could just sense was any indication, the sand girl's arrival was going to be fun.
She for one couldn't wait.
…
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Dark Wolf Love