Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter. I do own the plot and some OC's along the way.
Warnings: Language, OC'ness, Het, Slash, twists and turns, fluff, smut, and abuse to the author, Loss of Kei's cuteness.
Beta: FEARMEfrancis
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Slyther88 for the new piece of Kei fanart. Link on my profile. Thanks Slyther! And a special mention to Blade Of Shadows that has uploaded a Gallery of Newton Fanart. So check that out on their deviantArt pages!
"I am Japanese!" –Talking in Japanese
"That is not Japanese..."- Talking in English
Class Act Confusion
Makoto smirked to himself as he opened his suite door to reveal a disgruntled looking Kei. The younger shinobi looked absolutely miserable as he flapped his arms like a bird to show off the excessive cloth that came with the Wizarding robes.
"Dresses... I'm always stuck wearing dresses." Kei pouted.
"But they fit you so well." Makoto teased as he stepped aside to let his partner in.
"I think we should talk about something else." Kei suggested while he continued to pout. It was adorable and at the same time scary. A highly skilled killer that could lure anyone in with that childish pout and have him or her dead within seconds. Makoto loved being Kei's partner.
"I guess." Makoto agreed as he made sure the area around his rooms were secure, and closed the door. "It doesn't look like you slept well lately."
Kei gave a long drawn out sigh. "I couldn't sleep without smelling something familiar. Your scent and Nii-san's scent was completely absent and made me anxious. If this was a solo mission, I don't think I would be able to complete it." Kei admitted. He knew that his partner would pick up on the underlying fear.
"Mmm... without your presence I was on constant alert for attack. Our deep connection is a double edged sword."
"I can't sneak into your room every night. The probability of getting caught increases each time."
"I know, but the knowledge that you are in the same building should be fine. For you, since you can't summon your ninken in the castle, I can give you a shirt." Makoto offered.
"Even though we don't have to kill anyone or fight, this is becoming my most hated mission." Kei stated. It was honestly taking a toll on Kei. Being away for so long and in such a foreign area was playing on Kei's nerves. He hated not being able to understand everything he heard or read, not being able to use his shinobi skills in public, and most of being away from his Nii-san for so long. While gaining knowledge that could give Konoha an edge over everyone else was great, Kei would die in a year or two and he didn't want to waste it here in Hogwarts.
"Mine too... but with that we should get back to work." Makoto brought the conversation back to focus. "I placed several native Konoha herbs and flowers around the school to help you navigate to classes and the important places I have picked out. There is one in the Great hall that I am sure you have scented out by now, there's one near the Headmasters office, the main classrooms, and several notable places to train and the library. "
"How does the library look?" Kei asked.
"Informed. I have the night patrol schedule, and the library is practically a dead zone." Makoto explained. The blue haired shinobi walked over to an oak desk sitting against the wall, and opened a drawer to retrieve a blue and brown scroll. "This is everything I have gathered about Hogwarts, the professors, and other staff."
Kei lightly grabbed the scroll and flicked it open. He scanned the information and memorized as much as he could at his fast-paced reading. The Transfiguration teacher was a demon cat, the Defense teacher was an idiotic dog, the Potions Professor was more bitter than coffee, and several other professors seemed to possess bug or animal like qualities. Kei wondered what type of people wizards were if these were what was teaching the youth. Closing the scroll neatly, Kei stored the scroll away among the useless fabric making up his robe, wondering if the danger factor of the mission should go up. "Library?"
"Soon... but first I found a room I think you might like."
Kei perked up in curiosity, "Oh?"
Makoto smiled and led the way out. They didn't need to travel far, two hallways down and a flight of stairs, before they arrived at a dusty alcove. Makoto opened the door slowly and with a flourish he gestured for Kei to enter first. Kei didn't hesitate to walk into the room. The torches around the room lit up and revealed a long room full of weapon filled wall displays- blades of every size and shape, arrows of varying design, and whips, chains, and spikes. "Oh... oh my..."
"Beautiful isn't it?"
"They look dusty...are the wizards just letting them sit here all alone and unused?" Kei ran one finger down the nearest sword. It was broader than the standard katana. The hilt was thick and had several imbedded jewels. Kei couldn't see the practical use of them, but decoration wise they were pretty.
"As far as I can tell no one had been here in a long while. I figured that since we won't have ease of access to the weapons and supplies we are used to most of the time, that we can substitute some of these."
"If no one uses them...do you think they will notice them missing?" Kei asked.
"Mmm...I think we can find more practical uses for them besides dust catchers."
"The library can wait. We have some inventory to take." Kei smirked as he happily skipped down the aisle grabbing two daggers and hiding them away on his person. Wizards never knew what they were missing.
o.O.o
Kei cuddled further into his sheets, and his nose into Makoto's shirt, when he heard his dorm mates moving about. He listened as the blonde one that slept furthest from Kei shuffled his feet across the floor and into the bathroom. The one that looked slightly like a monkey with his brown hair and over average ear size, talked to himself as he worked his way through his morning routine. The blonde one came out of the bathroom and paused before his feet started shuffling over to monkey boy.
"Should we wake him?" Blonde asked.
"Christopher... He looks so tired. Do you think he had trouble sleeping last night?" Monkey asked. "My older brother warned me about home sickness. First time away from home and everything can cause nightmares and stuff."
"but...he still needs to go to class." Christopher pointed out.
Kei decided to save the boys any more trouble. Rolling over, Kei stretched out and let out a sleepy yawn. He sat up slowly and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Kei didn't exaggerate but kept the routine simple and natural. Kei opened his eyes to see that two boys watching him curiously.
"Mor-Morn-ing." Kei said in heavily accented and broken English.
"Ah... Morning." Christopher replied.
"Good Morning!" Monkey happily sang, but in a slower than normal tone.
"Breakfast is soon. Um... get ready fast?" Christopher stated simply and slowly so Kei could understand. Kei found it amusing and sweet that the boy was worried Kei wouldn't understand.
"Hai hai!" Kei replied as he jumped out of bed, quickly hiding the extra shirt, and grabbed his clothes. Kei dressed rapidly adding a few stumbles and tumbles into the routine, and then finished with a triumphant pose proudly displaying his achievement at successfully putting on the elaborate wizards robes. The other two boys had amused looks on their faces and Monkey even gave Kei a soft applause at the performance, crumpled robes, and crooked hair ribbon.
"Kei Hatake." The little shinobi said pointing to himself as an introduction.
Monkey perked up, "Louis Pucey."
"Christopher Scott."
Kei nodded at that pair. "Breakfast?"
Louis started bouncing on the balls of his feet. "My brother says that food a Hogwarts is some of the best. I have been looking forward to it since Adrian started. They have huge feasts, and hidden passageways, and he said that seeing a real quidditch game is amazing! I hope to be a chaser just like my brother!" The boy rambled out quickly.
Christopher took one look at utterly bemused expression on face of the small undercover shinobi and burst into laughter. "Louis! You need to talk slower." Louis looked embarrassed as he realised his mistake. His face flushed and the boy started taking a great interest in the bed spread.
"Food?" Kei prompted to get them going again.
"Right! Food! We can explore some too." Louis cheered, and walked towards the door. Kei followed, covertly eyeing the door, and making sure Louis went through first and Christopher last. He would never get over his aversion to doors, no matter how many he had to walk through on missions. If Kakashi said they were evil, than they were- no questions asked. But he would find another way to avoid these doors.
o.O.o
Makoto absently smiled at the blonde idiot sitting beside him. He didn't know what he did to deserve to be stuck working with a total moron, but he smiled and just went along with it, suffering silently, and mentally counting down the seconds until he could slit his throat and watch the blood slowly seep out and run across the ground. Oh the dreams the blue haired shinobi had...his fingertips tingled and his hands felt warmer as if the blood was already there.
"-well then I had no choice but to graciously accept the villagers gratitude, money, and Christian the statue they built of me. Sometimes it's hard being a hero, but you know when danger calls, you just have to respond." Lockhart boasted.
"Chris...Christian?" Makoto said after repeating the only word he cared to hear. It gave the appearance that he was listening, but at the same time it would make Lockhart think he couldn't understand and hopefully give up talking to him. It hadn't worked yet but Makoto was always hopeful.
"Ah, yes, sometimes I forget that you came here from a less educated area. It means I allowed them to build a memorial in my honour. No worries, I am sure that a year here and you will be conversing with the best of us. Of course, when you do return home be sure to take a few of my books, and for your little help this year I may even give you a few autographs to take back with you. I am nothing if not giving. Witch Weekly even wrote an article about how I should permanently change my middle name to 'Charity'. Of course, I could not do that, it would not quite fit in with Gilderoy or Lockhart, and a name has to have a ring to it. You know I once met a-"
"Oh would you shut up you blithering fool." An acerbic voice cut through Lockharts monologue.
Makoto looked around the blonde idiot to the dour potions professor and gave the man a small friendly wave. Snape shot him a sharp glare, but the jackal shinobi smiled wider and turned his attention back to his toast and eggs.
"Idiots... completely surrounded by idiots." Snape muttered. Lockhart seemed to have missed it as he was still ruffled like an agitated peacock but Makoto caught it.
Makoto's eyes darted to the door when he sensed his partner coming. His eyes held a hint of amusement when the doors opened to show Kei and two other boys. One boy with brown hair was pointing at the doors and enouncing slowly "Door-way.."
"Doorway." Kei responded.
The boy pointed to the nearest table and said in tone like he was trying to teach a puppy "Table..."
"Louis, I think he knows what a table is." A blonde boy interrupted.
"I just want him to be able to understand the world we live in." Louis argued.
"I don't know how pointing out every tiny little thing and naming it is helping him understand our world. Plus I think they have tables in Japan."
"They do but their really low and close to the ground. The height could be confusing him." Louis pointed out logically.
"A table is a table and he ate at one last night."
"Table..." Kei said.
Louis seemed to perk up. "See Kei knows I only have good intentions! Now let's eat."
Makoto smirked to himself. Kei seemed to be fitting in just well.
Down at the Hufflepuff table, Kei was still repeating everything word Louis tried to teach him. He already knew them, but for Louis' sake he was acting ignorant. It was also slightly entertaining watching the other boy dance around trying to teach Kei everything that he could find. The items in the sixth year bathroom were slightly embarrassing for all three boys, but once one the older Hufflepuffs caught them, they ran away- stopping any further new discoveries. Kei still couldn't figure out why there were so many bottles of lotion hidden around the room.
"These are scrambled eggs, and this is bacon, and this is toast, and this is-"
"Louis!" Christopher cut the other boy off. "How about you spend less time talking about the food and more time eating? We do start classes today."
"Mr. Scott is correct." A cheery voice said from behind. The three boys turned to see a sweet looking plump woman standing there with a stack of paper. "Now dearies, these are your schedules, and I am your Head of House Professor Sprout."
The boys each took their own schedules and thanked the woman. The cheery woman smiled at them heartily and walked away to finish her rounds. Once she was out of earshot Louis started to slightly bounce in his seat. "Don't worry Kei, we have the same schedule so I can help lead you to every class." Kei gave the boy a few confused blinks before a slow nod.
Christopher gave a huge exasperated sigh. "Slow, talk slow."
"Uhh... right. Well we have potions first, that should be fun." Louis responded in a slower pace.
Kei smiled and nodded at them- amused at their interaction.
o.O.o
Kei pretended to jump with the rest of the class when a bitter and greasy looking man loudly announced his entrance by slamming the door open. The Potions Professor, Severus Snape as was written in the board, stalked across the room, sneering at every single student in the room separately, as if he was trying to ensure that everyone felt his negative emotions deep in their souls. Kei stared back at him, and acted scared but he was secretly giggling at the man's act. Kei could see past the general loathing in the professor's eyes and see the weariness that hid.
"I will tell you now that I will not put up with any of your childish antics, tantrums, pranks or emotions. In this classroom, you will be serious and respect the fine art of Potion making. You will follow all rules, and heed every caution I tell you. Of course I can say this and hope that you will listen, but since this is only a room full of dunderheads like last year, I am wasting my breath."
Kei thought that was a bit harsh.
Snape looked around the room before he settled on Kei. "Ah yes... the transfer student. As if the teachers did not have a hard enough time trying to hammer knowledge into the empty boxes of the British students mind, they bring in a language challenged brat."
Kei didn't respond just stared at the man. When it looked like Snape was waiting for a response, Kei smiled at him. "Nice to meet you." Kei said, speaking slowly to make his accent more pronounced.
"Just as I thought... Mr. Hatake while I seriously doubt you understand a single word I am speaking at you, I will like to inform you that even if you are from a foreign country you need to adhere to the Hogwarts dress code. That...feminine ribbon in your hair is not prohibited." The dour man slowly stalked across the room. Kei didn't respond. The pale professor gracefully lifted his hand and untied the ribbon, holding it lightly so it slipped through his fingers as if to mock the little shinobi.
Kei gave the man a bemused look, and then pretended to frantically scramble for the ribbon. He let out a desperate squeal and fell off his stool, curling into a ball and hiding from the view of the rest of the students. When Kei looked up, he was desperately clutching the ribbon in his closed fists. Snape smirked down at him, but Kei's bangs fell to the side slightly, exposing his scar and mutilated eye. Luckily for Kei, the potions master only saw the scarred section that once contained a matching unique green orb. Snape gave a small and barely audible gasp of surprise.
The eyelid was only slightly scarred over, and he could see a bit of milky white and pale green peeking through. The thick ribbon like scar still didn't look new, and Snape felt a slight pang in his heart at past hurt. He looked away quickly. "You can keep the ribbon. Now hurry up and retake your seat there will be no slacking in this class." The dour man didn't spare another glance at the foreign kid as he walked away- old memories crawling their way to the forefront of his mind.
Kei retied his ribbon, and returned to his stool, glad that the table blocked anyone besides the professor from seeing his face. Letting his hair move had been a risk, but he was willing to bet that his bigger injury would distract the man. A small scar didn't compare to the large spectacle that was his cut up eye.
"Now then..." Professor Snape cleared his throat, using it as a method to regain his composure from such a grotesque sight. "We will be starting with a Boil Cure Potion today." No one moved. "Well get to work!" the man snapped at them. Suddenly stools were scrapping and dozens of nervous feet were scurrying over to the supply cabinet.
Kei just followed Louis and grabbed everything the other boy did. When they returned to work table, Kei copied everything Christopher did to set up his cauldron and fire. He started his fire, placed the cauldron, and poured in the base liquid. He wasn't sure how much so he filled it half way, and moved onto step one. Reading English was still a small struggle for Kei but he did understand snake fangs. The young ninja grabbed the snake fangs and dumped them into the cauldron. He frowned when he noticed his fangs weren't melting like Louis' did. Hoping to speed up the process, Kei pushed some chakra into the cauldron to heat up the liquid faster. Suddenly his cauldron was bubbling, and Kei smiled. Well that was easy.
From the corner of his eye, Kei saw Louis reaching for his slugs, so Kei grabbed his and threw them in. The little shinobi picked up the stir rod and quickly mixed the cauldron around. The bubbling intensified, and Kei's gut told him that wasn't a good thing. When the liquid volume got higher and higher the white haired shinobi knew something bad was about to happen, "Ano..."
"Get down!" Professor Snape yelled as he watched Kei's cauldron. In a heartbeat, the entire class dropped and hid under their tables. The room was silent for a moment before a loud explosion rocked the ground and walls. When majority of the smoke cleared, heads started appearing over the table edges. Professor Snape stood up fuming, and stalked towards Kei's smouldering workstation.
"Never... Never in all my years has a student managed to destroy a cauldron within five minutes and I had Neville Longbottom last year!" The barely restrained anger was heavily present in the dour man's voice. "Out... Get out!" He screamed.
Kei felt that any sympathy he had gained from his eye was now gone. Kei scrambled from under the table and ran out of the room. No pretend confusion was necessary. The flaring nostrils and deadly glare was the same in every language. Kei was in trouble. Well damn...that was a bad first class.
o.O.o
Makoto sighed when he felt the ground under his feet vibrate only moments after he sensed Kei's chakra flare. Something happened, and he didn't need superior shinobi knowledge to know that Kei was in the middle of some unfortunate accident, and it wasn't even lunch yet. Deciding to ignore it for now, Makoto returned to the group of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fourth years in front of him.
"Today...we run." Makoto said to them in simple English.
"Run?" A Gryffindor snorted.
"Yes... Now run." Makoto commanded. The group of students stood in place staring at him blankly. Deciding they needed a little help, Makoto took out several rubber balls and threw them at the human statues. The area filled with yelps and screams of pain when students got hit, but the taller shinobi got his point across. The Students shed their outer robes and took off at a sprint to run laps around the Black Lake.
"20 laps!" Makoto yelled after them, pulling out more rubber balls for the students who looked like they would be trouble. Makoto kind of liked this teaching job.
o.O.o
Lunch at the Hufflepuff table was lively as everyone spent time catching up and talking about the first classes. The sixth year girls were blushing as the giggled about Professor Lockhart, while the boys were nursing bruises from Professor Shindo. The first years were chatting excitedly about Kei's rather colourful first potions class, and the seventh years were moaning about the workload McGonagall had dumped on them. The second years were debating on when Sprout would introduce more dangerous plants, and the third years were still yawning from Binn's class.
Slowly all the groups quieted down at a rare sight. A lone Slytherin was walking the length of their table, and not dropping rude remarks. Adrian Pucey ignored all the stares he gathered not only from the dumbfounded Hufflepuffs but from his own house. When he reached his destination, he sighed as he watched his little brother laugh in such an open and honest way.
"Louis..." he spoke evenly.
Kei watched as the older student spoke with Louis. He wasn't sure about the relationship between he brothers, but he did know that Louis worshipped his older brother.
"Adrian!"
"Louis, did you remember to write home to mother and father? I am sure they are anxious to hear about your sorting." Adrian stated. Kei noticed that Adrian spoke in a more refined tone than his brother. But going off the house differences that could be because Adrian needed to work harder to be accepted in his own house.
"Um...I'll get right on that!" Louis dug into his messenger bag and pulled out some spare parchment a quill and some ink.
Adrian rolled his eyes slightly before he leaned down and whispered. It was quiet enough that only Louis should be able to hear, but Kei was there. "I'm proud of you no matter what my body language or actions suggest. I love you little brother." Adrian squeezed Louis' shoulder before he straightened up. "Now just remember that and don't embarrass the House of Pucey more than you already have."
"Yes Adrian." Louis said in a monotone voice, like all the happiness the boy usually possessed had been taken away.
Nodding Adrian turned and walked away. As he got further away his presence seemed to have the opposite effect as it did before. The Hufflepuffs started talking louder and louder. A few even came over and tried to comfort Louis from his evil brother, but Louis would only smile and wave them off. Kei was intrigued. It seemed that Makoto and him weren't the only ones having to act the whole year. Kei's opinion of wizards was constantly changing.
Kei looked towards the Head table and was amused to see Makoto looking helpless as Professor Snape ranted and raged about something. Kei's money was that Snape was talking about him. Kei would ask about it later, leaving his partner to suffer alone, Kei returned to his meal as Christopher talked about their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
o.O.o
Kei listened as the group around in talked over each other. Christopher, Louis, and Kei returned to the common room after dinner when Susan appeared and dragged them all over to a group of couches full of second years. She had introduced Kei, and then prompted the other two to say their names. Once everyone was named, the second years jumped at the chance to educate the poor first years all about Hogwarts.
They learned about all the teachers, and even the secret entryway to the kitchen located beside the Hufflepuff entrance. Apparently, it was like a rite of passage that the Hufflepuffs needed to discover how to enter the kitchens on their own. The older students liked to watch as they tried various methods and words to gain entrance. Louis had been excited at the news and wanted to try it right away, but Christopher told him no, and that they needed to start their homework.
That led to one Zacharias Smith speaking up, and immediately taking charge of the situation. He ordered everyone to gather their homework and settle down. Once that was down they had descended into a bout of silence. It didn't last long as soon Louis got restless. The younger Pucey started fidgeting and looking around. He was twirling his quill around and sending splatters of ink onto Hannah Abbott's work but the girl ignored it, and merely wrote 'DRAFT' on the top of her work. Kei watched the boy as his actions built up and up. Finally he seemed to break and Louis let out a long drawn out sigh."This is so boring!"
Unfortunately, Louis quill went flying with is exclamation and sailed across the room. The group of second and first years watched as the innocent and still dripping quill landed on top of an older students head. The ink stained sandy brown haired head turned slowly, and two grey eyes landed on the group.
Justin, the quiet boy of the group spoke for the first time and summed up the situation quite well. "Well...damn..."
Piggyback on the Kitchen idea...
OMAKE
Zacharias Smith stared at the fruit painting. It was an old foe. Every night since he came to Hogwarts he stood in front of this door, attempting to gain access to the room behind. He had tried everything he could think of- numerous passwords, searching for a secret switch, walking by and suddenly trying to scare the painting. He even took out a wizard's dictionary and spent five nights reading out every word in it. But nothing worked!
After the first month he thought the older students were playing games with the first years, but then one night he saw a seventh year leaving from behind the picture, and his faith was restored! If they could figure it out so could Zach!
Behind the painting, an army of house elves sat around watching as the young Hufflepuff valiantly tried again to gain access. House elves generally don't get a lot of entertainment in their line of work, but for the Hogwarts house elves, every night they were guaranteed a show.
The little Hufflepuff gave a sigh, and then raised a hand to run his fingers lightly over the fruit. As they neared the pear, the elves held their breath, wondering if he would finally figure it out. But just before Smith touched the pear, he laughed and dropped his hand. "Yeah like that will work..." Giving up for the night the Hufflepuff turned and entered his common room.
With collective sigh of disbelief, the elves sat back and laughed. So close yet still so far away for that one.
Thank you to everyone who forgave me for playing pokemon! Some even shared my pain...
Okay! Battle results.
Battle 1: Lucius- 24, Danzo- 45, Tie- 7
Battle 2: Neville- 65, Ino-2, Tie 7... I don't think a Naruto character has ever been so utterly crushed by a HP character...
BATTLE ROYALE!
Battle 1: Who is the wiser old man? Dumbledore vs. Third Hokage
Battle 2: Who is more shy? Neville vs. Hinata. (wonder if Neville can keep his winning streak...)