A/N: Sorry I'm late in updating, I cancelled my annual leave so I have a little less time to play with than I had originally thought. This isn't going to be a long author's note because it's getting late and I have work tomorrow. Just so you know - because I can see the messages already - this chapter does NOT define any pairings in this fanfiction. For those who keep asking THERE ARE NO PAIRINGS IN THIS FANFICTION AS OF YET because they are eleven years old. Seriously. I'm not even thinking about pairing Tom, Dick and Harry with anyone yet; maybe in the later years, but not in the first or second years. So please stop asking. Honestly, I have no idea what eleven year olds do these days, but back when I was in Year Seven (11 y/o) we were pain in the backsides who loved running through Year Elevens' (16 y/o) "happy circles" and we couldn't care less who was dating who. I see why they hated us now.

Anyway, enough ranting.

Naruto characters, themes and scenes belong to Masashi Kishimoto whereas Harry Potter characters, themes and scenes belong to Jo Rowling.

Enjoy!

~Fox

Bill frowned as he prodded the blond with the end of his wand. "Try again."

Naruto nodded at the redhead and repeated the incantation; aiming his wand at the severed cushion on the desk in front of him. "Reparo!"

The feathers and the casing of the cushion slowly gathered together in a pile in front of the blond Gryffindor; but the cushion did not repair as it should have done.

"I don't get it." Bill furrowed as he pointed his own wand at Naruto's cushion. "Reparo!"

The cushion instantly repaired itself.

"Try the Severing Charm." Kiba suggested as he neglected his own cushion to watch Naruto and Bill's efforts.

"Diffindo!" Naruto tried; creating a small tare in the middle of the plump cushion. "W- why can't I do the Severing Charm either? I could do it last lesson, y'know." Naruto groaned as he his head onto the table.

"How the hell do you unlearn a spell?" Kiba enquired as he cast his gaze between Naruto and the cushion. "Maybe there's something wrong with your wand. Does it feel any different to usual?"

"No." Naruto shook his head slowly. "I don't think so anyway."

"Have you been feeling unwell lately?" Bill asked; turning in his seat to face his friends properly. "Sometimes, that can affect your magic."

Naruto shook his head again.

"Maybe you're turning into a Squib - you can get a job with Filch and his cat!" Kiba suggested in a teasing tone; earning himself a punch in the arm from his friends. The brunet rubbed his arm as he grinned playfully at Naruto and Bill.

"There must be something." Bill mused thoughtfully. "You can't just suddenly forget how to cast spells."

"I haven't forgotten!" Naruto snapped defensively. "I just - I can't… y'know." The blond let his sentence drop as he grimaced at the cushion.

"You just need to practise more." Kiba clapped Naruto's shoulder as he gave the blond a small, encouraging smile. "You're not going to cast spells perfectly all the time, so you've got nothing to worry about."

"Less talking and more practising, boys!" Professor Flitwick called out to the trio from the front of the classroom; causing a few of their peers to glance back curiously.

"Just have a little more confidence in yourself." Kiba muttered out if the corner of his mouth as he and Bill turned their attention back towards their own cushions. "You'll be back to your normal self in no time."

"Mm." Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he stared at his cushion with a worried expression.

Despite what Kiba had said, Naruto couldn't help but feel disheartened as his inability to cast spells as well as he had done so before became more evident. He seemed to mess up in all of his lessons - especially those that had required incantations and spells - and soon Naruto found that he had fallen behind in almost all of his classes.

Professor Snape had even picked up on Naruto's shoddy wand work during their potions lessons and - much to the delight of the Slytherins - has even used it as an excuse to deduct points from the Gryffindors.

Naruto had felt more embarrassed when he had been the only student who had failed to daze Professor Orochimaru's imp during the Gryffindors' Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"Not to worry." Professor Orochimaru reassured the blond boy in a chirpy tone - that didn't suit the man's appearance at all. "Just practise for about half an hour a night, you'll have the spell perfected in no time." He then raised his voice for the rest if the class to hear. "That's enough for today; I think we'll try something new next lesson, perhaps I can get some Fire Crabs or some Pixies to practise on. Then we can concluded our module on the Knockback Jinx and -"

Naruto stopped listening to Professor Orochimaru as he closely examined the wand in his hand.

"Maybe there is something wrong with my wand." Naruto murmured to himself as he checked the instrument for any signs of visible damage.

Naruto tried to ignore his troublesome thoughts during his History of Magic lesson; instead he focused his attention on taking class note or writing scribble messages and jokes to Kiba and Bill until the bell rang to signal the end of the teaching period; when Naruto quickly shoved his parchment, ink and quill back into his bag and departed - muttering something about overdue homework to Kiba and Bill as an excuse to rush off ahead without his friends.

Naruto didn't slow his pace down until he reached the Library; he had been checking over his shoulder every now and again to make sure that his friends hadn't followed him. The young Gryffindor was relieved to see that there was only a handful of other students in the Library - the rest of the school would have probably returned to their Common Rooms or (for those unlucky few) serving detentions with the Professors while they waited dinner.

Naruto grabbed a few books off of the closest bookshelf without paying any attention to their titles or authors and settled himself down at a table hidden away in the corner of the Library; where he propped one of the books open to conceal himself from the hawk-like librarian before he dived into his school bag for one of his spare quills and his wand.

"D-Diffindo!" Naruto murmured; pointing his wand at the quill after hastily casting his eyes about himself.

The quill remained intact.

"Diffindo!" Naruto tried again; but he only achieved the same result. "Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo!" Naruto gave a frustrated grunt as the quill remained unscathed.

Madam Pince coughed over Naruto's shoulder - startling the blond. He whipped his head around to face the woman with a sheepish grin as he hid his wand up the sleeve of his robes.

"Dropped my quill." Naruto chuckled as he held up the feather.

Madam Pince raised a sceptical eyebrow at Naruto but moved away from the young Gryffindor; eyeing him suspiciously while he pretended to study one of the books until she was out if sight. Naruto withdrew his wand his wand again when he was sure that the woman was gone.

"Diffindo!" Naruto whispered and was pleased to see a small split in the stem of the quill; this feeling quickly passed when he remembered that he had successfully cast the spell several times during the previous week. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The blond tried a different spell; knowing that he was definitely good at this spell, but the quill remained flightless on the wooden table. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Naruto chanted more urgently.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice reached the Naruto's ears.

The Gryffindor peered over the top of the book that he had propped up in front of himself to see the pink haired Ravenclaw staring at him with a curious expression.

"You've got a lot of books there, are you studying for something?" She approached his table and picked up the first book on the top of the large pile. "A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, Human Transfiguration, The Theory of Transfiguration -" Sakura gave Naruto an incredulous look. "Naruto, all of these books are NEWT level!"

"Huh…" Naruto three the books a calculating look before he shifted his gaze back toward the pink haired girl. "I guess that I just really like Transfiguration, y'know." Naruto chuckled lightly; he felt the heat rise to his face.

"Really?" Sakura asked with an intrigued look upon her face as she slid into the chair opposite Naruto. She lowered her voice so that only Naruto could hear her. "Are you trying to become an Animagus?"

"Uh huh." Naruto nodded with a grin - he didn't know what an Animagus was, but he would rather lie than admit that he couldn't cast simple charms to Sakura.

"That's really impressive." Sakura whispered in awe.

"Um… I've just got one question to ask you." Naruto stated as his blush deepened with embarrassment.

"What's that?"

"What's an Animagus?"

"What's an -?" Sakura blinked at the blond Gryffindor in confusion, before her expression quickly changed to realisation and ten once more to annoyance. "You're not really studying Transfiguration, are you?"

Naruto gave a small, guilty laugh as he ruffled his hair nervously. "Uh, no." He confessed with a defeated expression.

"Then why did you get all of these books out?"

"I wasn't paying attention, y'know."

"And why did you lie to me?" The Ravenclaw enquired angrily as she shook her head at the boy.

"Well… uh… why are you here anyway?" Naruto countered; trying to change the subject as he stowed his quill and wand away in his bag.

"I - what's it got to do with you?" Sakura snapped defensively as her face flushed red; clashing with her pink hair.

As Sakura replied, a familiar ebony haired Slytherin caught Naruto's eye - making the blond stare around at the table in the parallel corner to where he was sat with Sakura.

"Sasuke. I should've known." Naruto muttered; casting his gaze between Sakura and the Slytherin. "Wait a minute!" He glanced back towards Sasuke's table and realisation dawned on his face. "Are - are you using me as an excuse to sit here and gawk at that stuck up bas-"

"Shut up!" Sakura swatted the blond over the head and then pretended to read one of the Transfiguration books as Sasuke glanced in their direction - Naruto pulled a face at the ebony haired boy; making Sasuke turn his attention back to his own work with a snort.

"He's not looking." Naruto grunted irritably while he watched Sakura peek at Sasuke over the pages of The Theory of Transfiguration. "Why's he got so many books?"

"Probably because he's actually studying." Sakura suggested; narrowing her turquoise eyes to glare at Naruto. "He comes to the Library quite a lot; sometimes he'll skip meals just to keep studying."

"Stalker." Naruto sniggered; earning himself another hit from the girl. "Ow, I was joking! Anyway, he can't be that far behind on homework, can he?" Naruto added; drawing the girl back to their conversation.

"With the amount of work he does?" Sakura gave a short laugh. "No way!"

"Have you ever asked him what he's up to?"

"Ino has." The pink haired girl informed Naruto. "But he told her that it was personal research."

"That excuse again." Naruto murmured to himself and he cast his watchful gaze towards the Slytherin. He then leaned back in his chair with a sigh as he spotted a few more girls lingering around the Library staring at Sasuke with keen interest. "I don't get it, why is he so popular?"

"He's smart, he's good looking and he had a natural talent for magic." Sakura replied easily; smiling fondly at Sasuke.

"He's a stoic, stuck up bastard, more like." Naruto grumbled to himself. "Hmph, seems you're not the only one who's learnt Sasuke's routine, y'know." Naruto smirked as he spotted Ino Yamanaka and the usual group of spying girls sneaking around the nearby bookshelves to catch a glimpse of Sasuke Uchiha.

"That sneaky little -" Sakura glowered at the blonde Slytherin as she rose to her feet; tossing her long hair over her shoulder as she stood up. Naruto had no doubt that she was going to confront the other girl; Naruto quickly decided that he wanted nothing to do with the whispered argument that would ensue between the girls and turned his attention back to his own business.

Naruto hitched the strap of his bag more comfortably over his shoulder as he left the Library and headed down the Great Hall for dinner; trying to ignore the headache that was given to him after Madam Pince had chewed his ear off for practising spells in her domain - not that he had particularly paid the woman much attention, but he snappish tone had somehow penetrated through his ignorant deafness and he had found himself mocking her words in his mind and snorting irritably.

"It was just a small scratch on the table." Naruto huffed to himself quietly. "And it's fixed now anyway." He had Kakashi to thank for that; the teacher happened to be in the Library at the time and had overheard Madam Pince's lecture. After assuring the librarian that he would give Naruto a proper punishment, Kakashi steered the blond out of the woman's earshot, advised Naruto not to use the Library to practise spells in future and offered his own classroom instead - but this didn't stop him from taking five points away from Gryffindor for vandalising school property. "I've gotta admit, the guy seems fair. At least it wasn't another week of detentions" Naruto sighed as he reasoned with himself.

"Look at her eyes!" A voice reverberated from the end of the corridor; stirring Naruto out of his stupor. The voice belonged to a boy but it wasn't a voice that Naruto was familiar with.

"Creepy, right?" Another boy's voice joined the first. "And what's with the weird haircut?"

"Please, just leave me alone." A third voice - this one belonging to a girl - pleaded; she sounded tearful.

"I'm surprised that you can even see. You haven't got any pupils!" The first voice heckled.

Naruto rounded the corner of the corridor in time to see a boy pull on a Hufflepuff girl's hair; making the girl drop all of the books that she had clutched to her chest while she attempted to step away from the two boys. Naruto was angered to see an older boy with long brown hair and the same pale eyes as the girl wearing Ravenclaw robes walk past the commotion without intervening - even when one of the boys harshly grabbed the girl's upper arm.

"Hey!" Naruto called out to the boys; feeling more irked that the Ravenclaw still hadn't stopped to help or at least respond to Naruto's call; instead he just walked around the corner and continued until he was out of sight and earshot. The blond curled his hands into fists and marched up to the two boys who were assaulting the Hufflepuff girl. "Why don't you leave her alone and pick on someone your own size?" Naruto challenged the two boys - despite the fact that he barely teacher their chins in height; they must've been in their third year, at least.

"Look! Whiskers has come to save you." One of the boys sneered at the girl. "How cute!"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto growled at the boys; dropping his school bag to the floor. "And you better remember that!"

"Alright, Naruto." One of the boys drawled; he took a step closer towards the blond with a cocky grin; leaving the other to keep hold of the Hufflepuff. "You wanna duel?" He asked; whipping his wand out of his sleeve. "If you win, we'll leave your little girlfriend alone."

"Fine." Naruto smirked; withdrawing his own wand as the two older boys shared a disbelieving glances and began to snigger.

"Expelliarmus!" The boy yelled; pointing his wand at Naruto - forcing the blond to duck out of the way as a red jet streaked past him; narrowly missing the side of his face.

"What the -?" Naruto dodged again as another red spell rushing in his direction. "Dammit." Naruto clenched his jaw. "I forgot that these guys would know more offensive spells." Naruto dived behind a statue of an one eyed witch as another spell was shot at him.

"Oi! This isn't a game of hide and seek!" The boy teased as his friend roared with laughter. "I thought you came to help the girl!"

Naruto peered around the hump of the witch's statue; catching sight of a suit of armour just behind the boy who had a right hold of the Hufflepuff. The blond then moved his gaze to the stone walls thoughtfully.

"I can't get close enough to hit him with all these spells flying about but if I can make enough noise, maybe I'll get the attention of a teacher." Naruto mused to himself quietly; remembering that he had just seen Kakashi in the Library minutes ago. The Gryffindor carefully aimed his wand at the helmet of the suit of armour. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The head slowly lifted away from the rest of the armour as Naruto carefully guided it with his wand towards one if the stone walls - with the helmet in mid flight towards the closest wall, Naruto's spell failed; causing the metal to plummet towards the ground. "Crap! Please not now!" Naruto swore through gritted teeth as the head of the armour fell onto the duelling boy; encasing the boy's head and obscuring his view with the visor.

"Get it off! Get it off!" The boy screamed at his friend while he tugged at the helmet.

The boy's friend let go of the girl and rushed forwards to help. "I can't! It's stuck!"

Naruto stepped out from behind the statue and watched the pair struggle with an amused expression; barely believing his own luck.

"What's going on here?" Another voice issued from behind Naruto; making the blond jump and pivot on the spot until he was facing another boy.

This boy had white hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He wore Slytherin robes and had round glasses. Pinned to the front of the boy's robes was a gleaming badge with the letters "HB". If Naruto had to guess by appearance alone, he would say that this boy was in his sixth or seventh year at Hogwarts.

The blond Gryffindor was sure that he recognised this boy from the Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch match that had taken place at the beginning of the month - if his memory served him right; this boy was the Slytherin Keeper that Kiba had called a four eyed freak.

"Fighting in the school corridors." The newcomer shook his head and tutted at the younger students disapprovingly. "You two should know better." He added; giving the two boys who had bullied the Hufflepuff a stern glare. "I'm taking ten points from each of you."

"What gives you the authority to do that?" The boy with the helmet stuck on his head burst angrily as he tried to get a glimpse of the white haired boy through the visor.

"I'm the Head Boy; Kabuto Yakushi." The newcomer replied coolly.

"You're going to take points away from your own house?" The other boy protested as he gave Kabuto an incredulous stare and signalled towards his own Slytherin robes.

"Yes, I am." Kabuto glowered. "Now, I'd take your friend to the Hospital Wing to get that helmet removed before I decide to deduct anymore points, if I were you." Kabuto threatened; flashing his glasses dangerously.

The two bullies didn't need telling twice. They gathered their belongings and rushed through a door that led to the Grand Staircase; leaving Naruto and the Hufflepuff girl alone with Kabuto Yakushi.

"Hinata?" Naruto blinked at the girl when he turned to face her; he recognised her instantly now that he could see her properly.

"If you're being bullied by older students, you should really inform a teacher rather than try and take matters into your own hands." Kabuto informed the two first years as he watched Naruto help Hinata gather her books off of the floor. "You would've been in serious trouble if I was one of the professors." Kabuto stooped down, grabbed Naruto's bag off of the floor and handed it to the blond. "You shouldn't go picking fights with older students either."

"N-Naruto was trying to help me." Hinata spoke up; fiddling nervously with the books that were now back in her possession.

"And Hinata was being picked on, she didn't do anything wrong, y'know." Naruto replied defensively.

Kabuto gave the pair a calculating stare. "Alright, I won't take any points from Hufflepuff." He concluded. "But you still shouldn't be fighting, so I'm still taking the ten points from Gryffindor." He added to Naruto.

The blond gave an understanding nod.

"Just count this as a warning though. You two should probably move along now." Kabuto advised. "Don't worry about the armour, I'll fix it."

Naruto and Hinata hurried through the door and onto the Grand Staircase while Kabuto watched them closely; they were relieved to see that the other two boys were long out of sight as they descended the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked; surveying the girl closely.

"I- I'm fine." Hinata smiled gratefully at the blond. "Thank you, Naruto. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't have been there."

Naruto frowned as his eyes focused on Hinata's slightly ruffled hair where one of the boys had grabbed her bangs. "Bastards." Naruto murmured to himself. "You shouldn't let people pick on you like that, Hinata. I'll wipe the floor with them if I ever see them bullying you again." Naruto growled to himself. "That's a promise, y'know."

Hinata cast her eyes downwards with an expression mingled with embarrassment and gratitude. "I wish I had your confidence, Naruto." Hinata mumbled in an inaudible tone.

A/N: Again, friendly reminder that Naruto and Co. are ELEVEN years old. Thank you.