Normal Text
Thoughts
Flashback
Thoughts within a flashback
SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.
WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively
A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I now have 50 favourites and over 80 followers for this story!
Previously:
"Are you alright, Potter-san?" the blond ninja asked, but Harry didn't register the comment, staring at Draco's neck, where the knives were pressed, close to drawing blood. One move, and they could kill Draco – no, Harry said to himself. No, I...I have to protect him. Harry blinked, and everything looked different, his eyes felt unusual. He stepped forward, intending to do something, but the two ninjas dropped their arms. Harry was unsure why.
"Harry, your eyes, they're...weird", Draco breathed out, seemingly forgetting about the danger he was in, and that he had used Harry's first name in front of other people.
"Sasuke?" the blond ninja asked, looking at his teammate. "Why the hell does Potter have the Sharingan?!"
Now:
Sasuke stood motionless, staring at Potter's eyes, black swirling in red. Naruto was still looking at his teammate for some sort of explanation, while Draco just wondered what was going on.
"Er – I have to go", Draco said, causing three pairs of eyes to look at him. "Sorry, but I have a prefects meeting, and – er, well, talk later?" he concluded, looking at Harry. Harry nodded and Draco left. As he did so, the Sharingan in Harry's eyes faded, red and black turning briefly to blue before settling on green.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked impatiently. When no response came from the other shinobi, Naruto raised a genjutsu around the three of them, pulling the other two through the school and into the Room of Requirement, which became a simple room with a table and three comfortable chairs. Naruto pushed them towards two of the seats and sat down himself.
"What's going on?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Do you know what just happened to you?" Naruto asked. "Has it happened before?"
"The answer to both those questions is 'no', so could I please have an explanation?" Harry responded impatiently.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked again. The dark-haired shinobi sighed before he spoke:
"He's a Uchiha. The only other one left", he said.
"I'm a what?" Harry asked.
"How long have you known about this?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
"I found out just now", Sasuke responded. Harry cleared his throat, causing the other two to look at him.
"Oh, sorry", Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Your eyes...you have the Sharingan, a kekkei genkai. That means a bloodline trait – basically, only members of the Uchiha clan are able to activate the Sharingan. However, the clan is pretty much gone – Sasuke is the only Uchiha left. And you, apparently."
"So, I'm a ninja?" Harry asked, still somewhat confused.
"Well, you'd have to be, and if you're a Uchiha you must be from our village, so I don't really know why or how you ended up here. Sasuke? I think you should tell us both what's going on."
"Like I said, he's a Uchiha, the only one left except me", Sasuke replied. When the other two looked at him, expecting more, he continued: "What I told you before Naruto, about the message Itachi left me...there was more to it. He said that there was one more member of our clan left – a half-brother of ours." Both Naruto's and Harry's eyes widened at that.
"Sasuke –" Naruto began.
"Shut up, dobe, there's more. Anyway, he's the illegitimate child of my father. I don't know who with. My father's mother was a witch who had family in Britain, so when my father decided to send him away, apparently for his own protection, he sent him here, to some distant relative of his. I assume that relative was one of the people Potter believes to be his parents."
"My mother had no other magical relatives, so it must have been my father. Do you know exactly how they were related?" Harry asked.
"My father's mother was called Rosa, she was the sister of Potter Charlus, who had a son, James, my father's cousin."
"James is my father", Harry replied. "Or not, I guess", he added, looking at Sasuke.
"Okay then, so how is he a wizard?" Naruto asked.
"Because there's magic in our family", Sasuke responded. "I guess he has the ability to perform magic because he was raised here, while I don't because I was trained as a shinobi first."
"But if someone can't be both then he wouldn't have the Sharingan", Naruto pointed out.
"Naruto, I don't know, I've told you everything I know now."
"So, we're brothers?" Harry said, looking at Sasuke.
"Yes." Harry leant back slightly and closed his eyes. Naruto and Sasuke looked at him, both wondering what he was thinking.
After a moment, Naruto looked at his teammate again: "Why did it activate now?"
"I don't know", Sasuke replied. Harry opened his eyes to look at them.
"Draco and I are together, and I didn't want you two to hurt him. That was what I was thinking, that I needed to protect him."
"I guess you thought about what could happen and hated us for it", Sasuke said. "Hate activates the Sharingan."
"If the two of you are together, why did he attack you?" Naruto asked. Harry looked at him.
"He knocked me to the floor, you don't really consider that an 'attack' do you? Besides, we have to keep our relationship secret, his father is on Voldemort's side, and Draco would be in danger if anyone found out. Also, I can't let any of my friends know because they'd want to know about when we meet and what we do, and there are things I can't tell them."
"Like what?" Naruto asked curiously.
"It's complicated." Naruto rolled his eyes – definitely a Uchiha, he thought, keeping secrets and giving the shortest possible answers. "So, now what?" Harry asked.
"No-one can know about this", Sasuke asked, looking between the two of them.
"Sasuke, I've told you before, I'm not going to tell the Elders or Tsunade-baa-chan about anything to do with you unless I have to, and there's no reason why I would have to tell them about this."
"I have to tell Draco", Harry said. "He saw my eyes anyway, and he's not stupid, he'll realise that it's something to do with your world when he thinks about it. But I'm not going to tell anyone else."
"What about the Order of the Phoenix? Or Professor Dumbledore?" Sasuke questioned.
"They don't tell me anything, why would I tell them anything?" Harry countered.
"Okay then, well, we can teach you the basics of being a shinobi, then you'll be a better fighter", Naruto said excitedly. The other two looked at him.
"Er – okay, but isn't it more important for me to learn how to control my Sharingan? It won't be easy to keep it a secret if it suddenly activates, especially if the trigger is hate, as there are a lot of things which could affect it, Umbridge in particular."
"I'll teach you the Sharingan as well", Sasuke said. "But you'll need to learn other stuff as well."
"You guys follow us around, right?" Harry asked.
"Well, not just you and your friends, but yeah, we do know a lot of the things that you get up to", Naruto replied.
"Do you know about the DA?" Harry continued.
"Yeah, we've been in your meetings a couple of times", Naruto admitted, looking at Harry. "Why don't you look surprised?" he asked.
"I figured Dumbledore mainly hired you to follow me, and I also know that you did something before. When we came up here, you hid us somehow. I guess you can do that whenever you want?"
"It's part of something called 'genjutsu', but yeah, we have used it a lot to follow you", Naruto responded.
"Anyway", Harry said. "There's a DA meeting tomorrow night. Sneak in and watch or whatever, then we can stay in the room afterwards. I'll come up with an excuse for Ron and Hermione, and I'll also get Draco to be here as well, I need to explain all this to him."
"How will you get him here?" Naruto asked curiously. "You can't talk to him in the corridors right? Not if your relationship is a secret."
"I have my methods", was Harry's cryptic response. He stood up. "I do have to go though, I need to get back to the Gryffindor common room before Ron and Hermione finish with their meeting, or they'll wonder where I am. Also, I have a lot of homework to do, I don't really have many free evenings. Is there anything else we need to talk about?"
"No, we'll be here tomorrow night", Naruto responded cheerfully. "And the genjustu over you is down, so you're okay to leave, just remember people in the corridor can see you." Harry nodded before he left, mind racing with various thoughts about everything he had just been told.
As he walked through the castle, he wondered how everything was going to work out. I'm a shinobi, he said to himself, as well as a wizard, I'm related to that shinobi, they're going to teach me...I think I'm getting a headache. Harry reached the Gryffindor common room quickly, walking up the stairs to his dorm and closing the curtains around his bed, lying down. He put up a Silencing Charm over the curtains and wiggled out of his shoes, curling up slightly. He decided to take a nap, he was still tired from last night with Draco, and everything that happened was giving him a migraine. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply and clearing his mind, before falling into a dreamless sleep.
Harry walked around the room, watching various members of the DA practise. They were learning the Shield Charm, and Harry was having them practise by having the person's partner throw a Disarming Spell at them while the other used the Shield Charm to attempt to block it. Harry was only half paying attention, the rest of his mind wondering about what would happen after the meeting. As he realised it was getting close to 8.45pm, he ended the class, knowing that they would need some time to return to their common rooms and that they had to be back by 9pm. The members left in small groups until only he, Ron and Hermione were left, although Harry had sensed something coming from near one of the bookcases.
"It seems like everyone's really learning well", Hermione remarked.
"Yeah, we'll be ready if You-Know-Who attacks now", Ron agreed. Harry looked between them – you really think you're ready? he asked himself. I don't even think I'm ready and I've been learning much more advanced stuff than you have, including stuff you would consider Dark.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, snapping him back to reality.
"Yeah, um – I'm going to stay here and read a bit", Harry lied easily. "I think it would be easier to work here than in the common room, and I have to finish that assignment for Snape for tomorrow."
"Harry, you still haven't done that Potions work?" Hermione chided. "Ok, but be careful getting back, even with the Cloak you might get caught." Hermione and Ron went to the door, peering out to check the corridor was empty before they left, returning to Gryffindor Tower. Harry sensed the same thing as a few moments ago, now behind him and turned to see Naruto and Sasuke standing there, having undone their genjutsu.
"Are we keeping you from homework?" Naruto asked.
"No, I already did it, but it was an easy way to lie as Ron isn't in the class. Plus, if Hermione realises I already did it, I'll just say the assignment was for my extra classes with him."
"Okay! Well, do you want us to start teaching you how to be a shinobi then?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"That is why we're here dobe", Sasuke reminded the over-excited blond. "Did you manage to get your...friend to be here?"
"Draco is my boyfriend, and yeah, I sent him a message last night telling him to be here at nine. Do you mind if I change to Room into mine and Draco's usual one?"
"We need somewhere we can train", Sasuke said.
"Yeah, I know, that's why I'm going to change it", Harry replied, a little impatiently. The Room changed around them, morphing from the room used by Dumbledore's Army into Harry and Draco's usual room. Naruto looked around:
"It looks pretty good", he pointed out. Sasuke frowned slightly as he also looked around – I understand the books and the practise dummies, but why are there plants and armchairs and a couch, not to mention a fireplace? he asked himself.
"In case you were wondering, the chairs and couch are so we can take a break, and the fireplace in case we get cold, we don't just come here to train after all. The plants and practise dummies are for us to train against, and the bookcases hold books which most wizards may consider Dark but often contain quite a few spells on blocking Dark magic and fighting", Harry explained. The three of them turned as a knock sounded at the door, before Draco slipped in.
"Hi", Harry said, walking over to him. "Did you manage to get out okay?"
"Yeah, I'm supposed to be on patrol around this area anyway, and Slytherins generally don't need to know exactly where their friends are at all times."
"Lucky you", Harry grumbled, looking towards the floor. Draco pulled his chin up and pressed a light kiss on his lips before looking to the two shinobi.
"Are you done?" Sasuke asked, annoyance showing through in his voice slightly. Harry wondered why Sasuke was annoyed that Draco had kissed him, unless the shinobi was just impatient.
"What are the plants for?" Naruto asked the two wizards, changing the subject. "How do you train against them?"
"They're for Harry", Draco responded. "He is something called a parselmouth, it's a really rare skill, and parselmagic can only be done by people like him."
"And it's much more battle-oriented than regular magic, at least from what I can tell so far", Harry added.
"Can you show us?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked mildly interested. The two wizards crossed the room and Draco stood back slightly, giving Harry room. In quick succession, the dark-haired wizard cast the two spells he'd been working on, freezing and shattering the hands of all of the dummies, and draining the moisture from all the plants.
"That's about all I can do at the moment", Harry said, stepping back to admire his work. Sasuke scoffed.
"Teme! Don't be so rude! He is your brother after all!" Naruto reproved. Sasuke stepped forwards, Harry moving back a little. Draco noticed Sasuke's eyes change, looking similar to how Harry's had the previous day, although Sasuke's had more spirals, before the shinobi moved his hands, so fast that the other three couldn't even see them. The two wizards watched in amazement as Sasuke released a fireball from his mouth, destroying the practise dummies and burning them to ash, the ice which remained being destroyed as well. He also did something to the plants, causing them to be chopped into tiny pieces, as well as cracking the pots they were in into multiple fragments. "That's not the point!" Naruto continued. "What Harry did is still useful and much better than what most of the wizards seem to be able to do!"
"Hn", Sasuke responded.
"You'll get used to his lack of verbal communication skills", Naruto said to the two wizards.
"Okay, so you get do better things than I can", Harry admitted. "But if shinobi as a whole were weaker than wizards then Dumbledore wouldn't have hired you – he did it because you are better at fighting and that sort of stuff, so I expected what you can do to be better than what I can. But, rather than scoff at me, why don't you teach me?"
"I will", Sasuke responded. "But you should know that it's a lot more difficult than just ordering the dummy to freeze and shatter, or the plant to dry up."
"What do you mean 'ordering'?" Harry asked.
"That's what you did, you said something along the lines of 'freeze and shatter' and then 'dry up'."
"You can understand parseltongue?" Draco asked, looking at Sasuke incredulously.
"How rare is it?" Naruto asked.
"Parseltongue is snake language. Only descendents of Salazar Slytherin, like Voldemort, can do it. Harry has it because of what happened when he was a baby", Draco explained.
"You mean when he was attacked by Voldemort-dono? The scar on his head?" Naruto asked.
"Dumbledore told you about that? I figured he would just leave you with little to no information", Harry said.
"Our information actually comes from two of our group reading books and old copies of the newspaper", Naruto pointed out. "You're correct that Dumbledore-san has told us almost nothing."
"Either way, I wonder why you can understand it?" Draco mused, referring to Sasuke.
"He can summon snakes", Naruto responded. "Although summoned animals speak the common tongue, by which I mean Japanese, I guess it would make sense for Sasuke to understand their language as well." Sasuke didn't say anything, although he did think for a moment, modifying the room slightly so that the training area was larger, and replacing the practise dummies which he had destroyed. "Hey, do you think there's a toad language?!" Naruto shouted out suddenly.
"Er – I've never heard of one", Draco replied, looking at Harry.
"I guess you can summon toads?" Harry added.
"Yeah, and I wouldn't mind having my own secret language", Naruto continued, attempting an evil chuckle.
"Shut up, usuratonkachi, it's not like it really matters, I'm a shinobi, not a wizard, and even if I could learn magic, I don't want or need something so weak. Now, come here", Sasuke continued, looking at Harry. "I'm going to teach some basics involving kunai and shuriken." Harry complied, although he did look somewhat indignant at Sasuke's comment about wizards, as did Draco, although both knew that Sasuke was correct, that their magic was weak in comparison. Although, Draco did wonder how easily the shinobi would be able to fight Dark magic, especially if it differed so much from what they were used to.
"One thing though", Draco heard Harry say. "You may say magic is weak, but if that had been your hands which I had frozen and shattered, would you actually have been able to do anything?"
"Hn", Sasuke responded. He didn't answer the question, instead demonstrating some techniques, teaching them to Harry. Draco moved to sit down on one of the armchairs, which was further away now that Sasuke had enlarged the training area, and Naruto joined him.
"For the record," Naruto began, "while a shinobi may continue to fight using taijutsu, Harry is correct that destroying someone's hands would be a very useful skill. However, he would need an opening to cast the spell, which wouldn't necessarily be easy to find." Draco didn't respond, so Naruto continued: "Can I ask you about the politics here?"
"What do you want to know?" Draco asked.
"Well, whenever we try to find anything out, we are just told that the political situation is complicated and it would be better for us to remain uninvolved. What little we do know is drawn from books and the newspaper, as I mentioned earlier."
"Well, basically, what happened when Harry was a baby caused Voldemort's body to be destroyed. However, because of some sort of spell he had used to try and gain immortality, his soul stuck around, and last year some of his followers constructed an elaborate spell, involving Harry, which gave him his body back."
"Why does no-one believe it?" Naruto questioned.
Draco sighed: "Harry was the only one there, besides Voldemort and his followers. There was another student, but Voldemort killed him. The Ministry have done as much as possible to discredit Harry, and Dumbledore for believing him, in order to convince everyone that Voldemort isn't back."
"Why?"
"It's difficult to explain, and I don't really understand – but, I believe that one of the main reasons is that there are some undercover Death Eaters high up in the Ministry. It seems they have convinced the Minister that Harry was lying, so the Minister has had the paper print various propaganda to make sure everyone else thinks the same way. That's also why Umbridge is here. The problem is that there are holes in the Ministry's story – particularly Cedric Diggory, the student who was killed."
"What do they say happened to him?"
"They don't say anything, and if asked, they just avoid the question. Last year there was a competition going on, a tournament with two other schools, and the last thing they did was this maze. Harry was involved as well – it would take too long for me to explain everything – but, basically, the Death Eaters made sure he would get to the middle of the maze and the trophy there, which was rigged so that it would transport him to Voldemort. Harry reached the trophy, but so did Diggory, at the same time, and Voldemort killed him because he didn't need him. I think the Ministry wants us to believe that he died in the maze, which is actually possible, the tournament is pretty dangerous."
"I see", Naruto said, thinking over all this information. "I assume so many people believe the Ministry as they want to trust their government, and they haven't – yet – been given any reason not to", he continued.
"Yet?" Draco asked.
"Well, we are here because Dumbledore believes there will be an attack at some point. However, if Voldemort-dono did attack, then people would realise he is alive. I guess, by convincing the Ministry he is still dead, Voldemort-dono has some level of freedom in his actions, as no-one is searching for him, as well as keeping down Dumbledore's forces, as only those especially loyal would follow Dumbledore."
"Can I ask you something?" Draco asked suddenly.
"Sure."
"Are you the one in charge?"
"Yeah, I guess so...I'm the Rokudaime Hokage, one of the two people in charge of the shinobi village we come from, so everyone here is under me. Why do you ask?"
"In Britain, people generally assume age to be a factor. I expect most people will have considered the older two of your group to be the ones in charge. I didn't necessarily think they were in charge, but I wasn't sure, but you seem to think very...politically."
"Well, I guess I have to, right?" Naruto laughed slightly, rubbing the back of his head.
"What are you two talking about?" Harry asked, as he sat down on the arm of the chair Draco was in. Draco pulled Harry into his lap.
"Just politics", he replied, as Harry settled himself, smiling slightly.
"Sorry, I guess we weren't really paying attention", Naruto said sheepishly.
"He did fine", Sasuke said, realising that Naruto was about to ask. "But we should go, as should you two", Sasuke continued. "It's around 10pm, and you did say you'd hide this from your friends."
"Yeah, I guess you're right", Harry said, reluctantly standing up from Draco's lap. "I'll use the Cloak to get us back?" he asked, looking at Draco. Draco smiled and nodded.
"The Cloak?" Naruto asked.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak, so we can keep ourselves hidden", Draco explained. "Harry inherited one from his...from James Potter. They're not that common, but they are useful."
"So that's what you use", Naruto said. "We knew you had some sort of hiding magic that didn't seem to be on the syllabus, but we weren't actually sure what it was."
"Well, it's this", Harry said, sliding the Cloak around himself, his body disappearing. Naruto looked at him curiously, while Sasuke remained expressionless. Harry motioned to Draco and the two wizards left, both hidden underneath the Cloak. After a moment, the two shinobi followed, returning to their room.
When they arrived, they both changed for bed, as they had been patrolling all day. The other shonobi were aware that Naruto and Sasuke had been watching the DA meeting, but that was all, as Naruto had kept his promise to not tell anyone about Harry or the other things Sasuke had revealed to him.
"Sasuke, I still don't understand why you didn't just tell me you had a half-brother when you told me the rest of what Itachi told you."
"I told you, I didn't want you to be forced to share the information. Besides, I was going to use him to restore my clan –"
"What do you mean use him?" Naruto asked. "Wait...do you mean you were going to restore your clan by having children with your half-brother?!"
"Naruto, it isn't that uncommon among noble clans for clan members to intermarry, especially among those with kekkei genkai, like mine. In fact, it's happened before in my clan –"
"With siblings?!" Naruto interrupted.
"Yes, at some times. Besides, he's the only other Uchiha left alive, and it would ensure the Sharingan would get passed on. If I had a child with someone else with a kekkei genkai, then the child could get either, both or neither. If I had one with someone without a one, then there would only be 50% chance that the kid could activate the Sharingan. But, if both parents had it, the odds would be raised to 95%."
"I see", Naruto replied tersely.
"Naruto, there are jutsus which allow men to get pregnant..."
"That's not the point!" Naruto shouted. "Why did you start something with me if you were planning on going off with someone else? You can't actually have thought I'd be okay with it!"
"I started something with you because I wanted to. And, if you listened dobe, you would have heard me say that I was going to use him to restore my clan. Or are you forgetting that you promised you'd do whatever you could to help me restore the Uchiha clan?" Sasuke asked teasingly. Naruto's hurt expression did not change, and he got into bed, facing away from Sasuke. "Naruto, I'm sorry", Sasuke continued seriously. The blond did not respond. "Naruto?" He still ignored Sasuke, settling in his bed. "Okay, I understand why you're annoyed. But you should know that I changed my mind because I chose you, because I...I care about you." Sasuke knew Naruto wouldn't respond, so he got into bed as soon as he had finished speaking, turning out the lights in the room.
Naruto rolled over in bed, facing Sasuke through the darkness. Even if he chose me, the fact is that, for at least a while, he was sleeping with me while planning on going off with someone else, Naruto said to himself. How can I know what he's telling the truth about? Did he come to Britain for me, or to find his clan member? And if he came for his relative, had he already chosen me by that point? When did Sasuke decide on me over him? Naruto fell into a restless sleep, plagued by these questions.
It was now the beginning of February, and a Hogsmeade weekend. For the last few weeks, Harry's schedule had been so full that he was surprised he hadn't had some sort of mental breakdown – the DA was meeting twice a week, and after the meetings he would stay in the room for an extra hour, training with Naruto and Sasuke, his friends believing he was using the time for homework. He also trained with Sasuke another night each week, working on his Sharingan. On top of that, he met Draco every Saturday night, to train and just be with his boyfriend, and he had Occlumency one evening a week as well. He also had homework, friends and Umbridge to deal with, so he was surprised that he had any time to himself!
Harry was currently wandering around Hogsmeade, just enjoying a morning of doing nothing. Hermione had arranged to meet him at noon before he left the castle that day, before running off to the library for some reason, and Ron had elected to stay in bed, so Harry was alone for a change. As he wandered around, glancing through the windows of various shops, he remembered that he had never actually gotten Draco a Christmas present. He was looking around, trying to find something appropriate for his boyfriend, who he would see that night, when he noticed Hagrid. As a customer left the Three Broomsticks, Harry noticed the large man before the door closed, also noting that he seemed down. He went in and walked up to Hagrid, squeezing through the cramped tables and greeting the other man, sitting on a chair beside him.
"Oh, it's yeh, Harry. Yeh all righ'?" Hagrid asked.
"Er, I'm fine. Are you okay?"
"Me? I'm fine, grand in fact, just grand." They sat in silence for a while before Hagrid spoke again: "In the same boat, yeh an' me, aren' we, 'Arry?"
"Er –"
"Yeah...I've said it before...both outsiders, like", Hagrid said. "An' both orphans. Yeah...both orphans." He paused to take a large gulp of his drink, before continuing: "Makes a diff'rence, having a decent family. Me dad was decent, so was your mum an' dad. Guess I thought half-brothers..." Hagrid broke off into a half-choked sob, hiccupping at the same time.
"Er – what?" Harry asked, wondering what was causing Hagrid to be acting so strange. There's no way he knows who I am, Harry said to himself, or Dumbledore would too – unless he's known all along. After all, my parents may have been in hiding, but they had contact with some people...maybe he's talking about something else? "Hagrid – er – what are you talking about?"
"Family – whatever yeh say, blood's important..." he broke off to wipe a trickle of blood coming from his eye, prompting Harry to question him again about his injuries. "Jus' normal bumps an' bruises", Hagrid responded dismissively. "Got a rough job, don' I?"
"Sure, but Hagrid, can you be more specific about what you meant? Half-brothers, I mean –"
"Oh, Harry, you're already here", Hermione practically gushed, grabbing his arm as she reached where he and Hagrid were. "Oh, hi Hagrid! Are you okay?"
"Jus' fine. Better be goin', see yeh both", Hagrid said, putting some money on the table before leaving. Harry considered going after him for a moment, but he realised that it was noon, when he had arranged to meet Hermione, and she wasn't going to let him go off after Hagrid. Besides, if Hagrid was talking about something else – which he probably was, as the amount of alcohol he had consumed (based on the money on the table) suggested it was personal – then Harry asking questions would only arouse suspicion. Harry allowed her to pull him over to a table on the other side of the room, quickly noticing that she was with the most unlikely people – Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter.
"What are you up to?" he asked Hermione, as they both sat down at the table. He noticed that unemployment did not sit well with Rita – her hair, which used to be set in luxurious curls, now hung lank and unkempt about her face. The scarlet polish on her two-inch nails was chipped and there were a couple of false jewels missing from her winged glasses.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to give her fodder for any more stupid stories about the two of us", Hermione replied.
"Yes, well, he hardly needs my help being completely discredited, does he?" Rita pointed out. "But how do all those stories make you feel, Harry? Betrayed? Distraught? Minsunderstood?"
"He feels angry, of course", Hermione responded for him. "He's told the Minister for Magic the truth and the Minister's too much of an idiot to believe him."
"So you actually stick to it, do you?" Rita asked Harry. "You stand by this garbage that You-Know-Who is back? Even though you were the sole witness?"
"I wasn't the sole witness", Harry countered. "There were a dozen-odd Death Eaters there as well. Want their names?"
"I'd love them", Rita breathed, digging in her bag for her quill and some parchment. "I can see the headlines now...but, I bet Little Miss Perfect wouldn't want that story out", she said, staring daggers at Hermione.
"As a matter of fact", Hermione replied sweetly. "That's exactly the story Little Miss Perfect wants out."
"You do?" Rita asked.
"Yep. All the facts, exactly as Harry tells you – unreported Death Eaters, what Voldemort looks like now – all the details." She rolled her eyes at the squeak Rita let out when she used Voldemort's name, before continuing: "That's the story I want printed."
"There's no market for a story like that", Rita pointed out.
"You mean Fudge won't let the Prophet print it", Hermione remarked. Harry, who had been looking back and forth between the two women during their exchange, now looked at Luna, realising why she was there.
"I think the Prophet is an awful paper", Luna said dreamily. "My dad thinks so too."
"What, does your father run some stupid little village newspaper?" Rita mocked.
"No, he's the editor of the Quibbler", Luna replied.
"Important stories he thinks the public need to know?" Rita continued. "I could manure my garden with the contents of that rag."
"Well, this is your chance to raise the tone of it a bit", Hermione put in. "That's who'll be publishing it." Rita stared at them both.
"You think people will take him seriously if he's published in the Quibbler?" she asked amid loud guffaws.
"Some people will, some people won't", Hermione responded evenly. "But I do know people are looking for a better version of what happened with the Azkaban breakout – they're wondering if there's an alternative version, as some parts of what the Prophet reported just don't hold up. So, if a story which offered another opinion were to be published, even in a – well – an unusual magazine, then I think people would read it."
"All right, let's say for a moment that I am going to do it", Rita said. "What kind of fee am I going to get?"
"Oh, Daddy doesn't pay people to write for the magazine", Luna responded in her usual dreamy voice. "They do it because it's an honour, of course, to see their names in print."
"I'm supposed to do this for free?!" Rita almost shouted, glaring between Hermione and Luna.
"Well, yes", Hermione replied, taking a sip of her drink. "Otherwise, as you well know, I will inform the authorities that you are an unregistered Animagus. Although, I suppose the Prophet may pay you well for an insider's story on life in Azkaban."
"I suppose I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" Rita asked coolly, adjusting the parchment on the table in front of her.
"Daddy will be pleased", Luna said, smiling. "It will be printed in the next edition, which is released on the first Sunday of March."
"A month away?" Rita reproved. "Well fine then, are you ready?" she asked, looking at Harry, who had remained silent for a while as the women had been talking.
"I guess so", he said, somewhat uncertainly. I suppose there's no way I can get out of this, he sighed to himself, so I may as well just do it. Besides, it might shut Umbridge up, at least for a bit, and more people on my side wouldn't be unwelcome.
"Fire away then, Rita", Hermione said serenely.
A/N - Please read and review!
Next Chapter - The Quibbler article and the reactions to it, Harry's continues training with Naruto and Sasuke, and Naruto's issues with Sasuke's original plan to restore his clan!