Carry Our Burdens.
Chapter Thirty-Five.
Confidence and a Dash of Magic.
Edit: 06.10.11
[This chapter is dedicated to all of last chapter's reviewers for making me laugh and want to write again and also to Zabuzasgirl for asking me to finish so nicely and persistently.]
[Did the four winds blow him away?]
"Move your feet, Hermione!" Slug called as she lazily threw yet another kunai in the girl's direction, narrowly missing said girl.
The members of the defense club had learned very quickly that wearing their school robes to the meetings was no longer advisable. Most came in loose, comfortable muggle clothes that they didn't mind getting a little cut up, wet, or singed; all three of these things came into play during their meetings now. Hermione herself was dressed in a pair of trainers, some loose shorts, and an old t-shirt that sported a huge smiling monkey wearing braces that said "Braces are Cool."
The three pairs of shinobi switched their groups at each new meeting, building simultaneously on each other's work. Slug and Wolf always taught how to avoid physical blows from non-chakra based attacks, Fox and Mouse taught how to deflect jutsu, and Sloth and Peacock worked with stealthy jutsu. There was a meeting almost every night and, with the students growing by leaps and bounds each night, when a student missed one they were liable to miss a lot. They were in their third week of training before someone asked about the absent Dove and Panda.
"Are Dove and Panda going to come help sometime?" Cho asked one day, surprisingly thinking about something else other than Wolf's abs, which she got to see a lot of since he had a habit of removing his shirt when he and Mouse worked with other students. She had gotten nearly stabbed several times while staring at him appreciatively. The shinobi did not answer so she assumed they hadn't heard and repeated her same question in a louder voice. "Are Dove and Panda going to come help sometime?"
Mouse tapped her on the shoulder and Cho whipped around, startled. "Dove and Panda have been removed from this mission until futher notice due to health concerns," she said in a level, almost mechanical voice. Several of the shinobi turned their eyes to the ground respectfully.
"Why would they be put on the mission if they had health concerns to begin with?" Neville asked.
"I never said that they had health concerns to begin with," Mouse said quietly.
Sloth suddenly spoke up, starting many students who hadn't heard him speak outloud before. "Maybe telling them what happened will teach them what they're up against," he suggested before taking a long drag on the cigarette in his mouth. Slug glared at him and made a motion to throw the cancer stick away, followed by a raised fist, which he did after taking another breath of smoke and exhaling it dramatically. At this suggestion, everyone grew still and silent.
Fox sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "About four weeks or so ago, Dove and Panda were captured by Voldemort and Orochimaru, the ninja who is head of those who are assisting Voldemort. Dove was brutally tortured for information and, for his and Panda's return, we were asked to hand over Harry."
Several gasps followed this announcement but he ignored them. "Obviously, we didn't hand over Harry but when we finally got Dove back, he was in too bad of shape to continue with the mission so he was returned to our village and Sloth's team was sent as backup. Panda went with him to ensure his safety and wellbeing on the way to and while he's recovering in our village. As far as we can tell, he probably will not return to complete this mission."
"Are we gonna get tortured?" someone squeaked.
"Nah," Wolf answered drily. "Voldemort and Orochimaru wouldn't bother with any of you. You don't know anything special so you're in the clear. They'll probably just kill you on the spot."
"Kiba!" Peacock barked, slipping up and saying his name in her shock that he would say something like that. She hoped that the students would just think that it was one of the shinobi's native words.
"Just saying what needs to be said," he muttered.
The students broke out into fearful whispering and shifty glances toward the shinobi, most of whom were sending glares Wolf's way. Harry watched them carefully, realizing belatedly that Julie hadn't partaken in the sudden, barely suppressed panic, and instead stoof off by herself, dressed in her customary black pants, black long sleeved turtleneck, and black boots, watching the shinobi with an expression somewhere between longing and attempted blankness. He logged that away in his mental file of "Odd Things about Julie Saito."
"Everyone, calm down," he said suddenly, stepping into the leadership role as if it had been tailored to fit him. "Stop talking." There was silence. "Thank you. What are you all getting so anxious about?" he asked. "We knew that there was a chance of this happening. Why are you getting nervous about it now when we've known it all along?"
"There's just something about hearing someone actually say it," Fred offered morosely.
"What's so different than hearing you say it to yourself?" he asked. "My point is, stop freaking out over this. We know that this is going to be a risk but hey, look at these guys," he said, waving a hand at the shinobi. "They've been doing this for way longer than we ever will and they're still alive. We can do this too. We have magic, we have confidence, and there's no way that we are going to let Voldemort take that from us just because we're afraid of what ifs and maybes." There were several agreeing mumbles. He smiled. "So stop worrying about what might happen in the future and let's just get on with worrying about what's happening today."
And with that, it seemed like everything was back to normal. The students returned to their groups and the shinobi returned to teaching. But there was an energy and a passion for learning accompanied by a sense of urgency that the shinobi hadn't seen just five minutes before. They resumed their teaching but each nodded when he or she saw Fox tell them through sign language to meet back by the lake at midnight. Wolf looked at the ground when he got the message which had been accompanied by a stern glare that could have cowed Viper in seconds.
When they finished their training for that evening and the students made their way back to their dorms to crash, the atmosphere was one of fierce anticipation for the dangerous and thrilling rather than one of fear of the unknown and threatening.
[Haven't you seen me sleepwalking?]
The shinobi met out by the lake just a bit before midnight, each having discarded their disguises and sitting in comfortable, dark clothes. Hanabi was the last one to arrive, slipping away when she was sure that none of the other students or teachers were around. There were several minutes of silence after her arrival before anyone spoke.
"I'm sorry," Kiba said. Every shinobi looked at him curiously except for Sasuke, who was busily looking moodily out over the lake. "I should have realized that they're just like Academy students who don't know what they're getting into. I shouldn't have mentioned anything about dying. I apologize." He bowed low to his and Naruto's team before lowering his head and falling silent.
"We forgive you," Naruto said at last. "Everyone slips up, I mean, even Ino called you by your real name today."
"Hey now," Ino said, "Don't pull me into this. 'Sides, I think everyone there thought it was just a curse word or something equally as vulgar." She smirked at Kiba, "Because your name sounds like a curse word."
"Only when you say it," Hanabi said, punctuating her sentence with a yawn. Ino turned on her with a raised fist and the younger kunoichi cowered behind Shikamaru, who looked like he could teeter off into dreamland at any moment.
"Ladies, calm yourselves," Naruto said exhasperatedly, for once feeling like the only adult in the area. It was a very strange, unusual feeling. Generally he could count on Neji to be the mother hen, but Neji wasn't there.
"Did you call this meeting just to humiliate Kiba or was there a real reason?" Ino asked, having grown bored of threatening Hanabi while she hid behind a dozing Shikamaru.
"There is a real reason," Naruto answered. "And Shikamaru is going to tell you what it is."
All of the shinobi looked expectantly to the other captain, who was oblvious to everything going on around him. He didn't react to anything until Hanabi reached over and prodded him forcefully between his ribs, and even then all he did was swat her away with a mumbled "troublesome."
"Shikamaru," Ino said, "Wake up and tell us why we're out here in the cold for no reason?"
The lazy genius cracked one eye. "Naruto thinks that we should allow Harry to have more one on one training time with us. With his life being the walking epic story that is is, the chances of him being the one to face Voldemort, and by association, Orochimaru, will be the greatest."
"Is that all?" a very sleepy Sakura grumbled.
"Yeah."
"What about Hermione and Ron?" Hanabi asked, now lounging beside her captain.
"What about them?" Kiba asked.
"Should we give them specialized training as well? A shinobi always has to have backup so why should Harry be any different? It would be kind of pointless if his best friends were worthless and couldn't help him at all," she pointed out.
"We're his back up," Kiba reminded her.
"But we won't always be," she argued. "We're going to leave eventually and then he's not going to have any backup besides a couple of good friends who make lousy teammates."
"We will be leaving when the threat of Orochimaru is taken care of," Sasuke said blandly. "Once Orochimaru is gone then there wont be any need for Potter's friends to have to fight our kind."
Hanabi's mouth twisted into a thin line as she glared around the room. "You'll cause unneccessary tension between the three of them if you only allow Harry to learn from you, even if he accepts it," she began her last argument, "And if there is tension between Harry, Hermione, and Ron then he won't do as well and will undoubtedly either try to get you to teach them as well or won't accept your help. That's the kind of people that they are."
"Annoying ones," Ino muttered.
"Harry-kun sounds a lot like Naruto-kun," Hinata said thoughtfully. When there were a few surprised glances cast her way she blushed and corrected herself, "Not that Naruto-kun is annoying at all. He just values his friends more than himself, like Harry-kun does."
Hanabi looked triumphantly at her captain and Naruto. "See? If he's anything like Naruto he will always try to get is way and we don't want to bother with that it would be so... troublesome," she said, grinning at Shikamaru.
He sighed and let his head fall back and a mock snore escape his mouth. "You're the one being troublesome now."
"Think of is a little trouble now to escape greater trouble in the future," she said, having already won him over to her side.
Naruto considered her proposition for several minutes, weighing the pros and cons in a decidedly uncharacteristic way. Each shinobi had noticed that, on this mission, Naruto seemed to have grown in seriousness and personality. Perhaps it was because on this mission the lives of hundreds of innocent children were on the line and he had someone to save rather than someone to kill.
"Alright," he said after a while. Hanabi let out the breath she hadn't even noticed she had been holding. "But you have to suggest it to them."
"What? No way!"
[I've been waiting for you]
"And that's why that we, or at least the three of you, should ask the ninja if they will train us personally," Hanabi, disguised as Julie Saito, said, trying to not let a tinge of anger enter her voice. She could see the rest of the shinobi lurking in the shadows on her peripheral vision, hiding out in the corners of the common room, Naruto giving her a huge thumbs up and an irritating smile that she wanted to slap right off of his face.
"You want us to quit letting them come to the Defense Club?" Hermione asked.
"No, just let us do some stuff with them on the side, so, like, Harry can be really super prepared for when, or if, he has to face Voldemort," she assurred. For once, she didn't have candy in her mouth, a testament to her agitation.
"I don't know..." Harry said.
"Why not?" Hermione asked. "Having extra help could be really useful and it couldn't hurt to ask."
"But what if the other kids in the club think that we're acting like we're more important than them?" Harry asked.
Hermione tapped her chin with her finger. "We could... ask the ninja if they could do even more classes that are much harder and make them optional for everyone in the Defense Club. That way people can not come and not feel guilty and we can have more training."
"Guys?" Ron interrupted in a squeak. "We kind of do still have classes here, you know. 'Mione, you're really smart and you can get away with skipping classes or not studying but I can't 'cause I'm... dumb. And so's Harry."
"Hey!"
"Listen, Ron, we'll get through this, okay?" Hermione said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll take extra time to be with the shinobi and I'll promise to help you with all of your homework. I think that, dare I say it, right now our lives are more important than school work."
"Just right now? So later on those two might be switched?" Harry asked wryly. Hermione's only answer was to stick out her tongue at him.
"Did you just say that it's okay for us to skip out on schoolwork?" Ron questioned disbelievingly.
Hermione threw a pillow at him, which he caught elegantly with his face. "I said that it was okay for us to spend more time with the shinobi and that I would help you a little bit in our free time while you are slaving over homework."
Hanabi turned away from them as if she was looking into the fire while she took a handful of candy out of her pocket (her bribe from Shikamaru in return for suggestion the extra lessons to Harry). Ino was nestled in the shadowy corner of the room nearest the fireplace and she offered her teammate a hidden thumbs up. Ino flashed her bright smile and slinked over to the rest of the group to spread the word. It was hard to hear what Harry and Co. were saying over the chatter of the rest of the students crammed into the room.
"Julie?"
She turned when Ron spoke her name and saw that he had gone white as a sheet and was staring at her as if she was a ghost. "Yes?"
"How did you get in our common room?"
She popped a piece of candy into her mouth accompanied by a feral smile.
[Why are you so far from me?]
"Faster, Harry!"
Harry felt as if his lungs were going to burst with the force of his breathing. His wand quivered as his hands shook, his knees quaked, and he stumbled with every quick turn he was force to make while he tried to follow Peacock's flashing movements.
Just as Hermione has suggested, the ninjas had agreed to make optional, harder classes. Unfortunately, it had turned out differently than expected and everyone had started to come to the harder classes, still pushing themselves with the drive to create the best chances of survival. So that lead to evenharder classes that knocked a few people out at a time until the only ones left were Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
They spent most of their night hours in training with the ninjas, constantly attacking and defending as they were put through series after series of grueling tasks that ranged anywhere from dodging and spelling away incoming knives to doing as many sit ups as they could until they couldn't breath anymore... and then doing more. And the strange thing was, even thought they had been sneaking out at night for nearly two months and had nearly been caught dozens of times, everytime a teacher spotted them, it was like their eyes just slipped over them and they went on their way. Harry wondered if it was the ninjas's doing or if they had just gotten lucky so far.
The divergence in thoughts cost him a needle in the arm, a feeling which he had grown unfortunately accustomed to over the past weeks. Peacock didn't stop moving though, throwing more projectiles and every once in a while leaving just enough of a teasing opening to goad him into attacking. Once Peacock decided that they were finished Slug would patch him up and he would either be dismissed or would go on to another arena with another ninja. He shot an offensive spell at her that she dodged with ease but he followed in the wake of his spell and managed to get close enough to clip her leg with a second, faster incantation that forced her to duck into a roll to keep from sprawling on the ground. She suddenly held up her hand, breathing hard. Harry had noticed that they more often he and his friends trained the ninja, the harder the ninja breathed at the end of their sessions.
"That's enough," she said with a bright smile. Her blonde bangs stuck to the side of her face where they had come loose of her ponytail. She patted his shoulder. "Good job. That last one hurt."
"I'm sor-" he started.
"Ah!" she reprimanded as if he was an unruly puppy. "No apologies. Come on, let's get Slug to fix you up right and send you over to Wolf for a while."
Harry groaned in spite of knowing that Peacock hated it when he voiced any kind of complaint. It was one thing to be stuck with Peacock for an hour and a half and it was quite another to be stuck with Peacock for an hour and a half and go immediately to the physical, bruising, beating tornado that was Wolf. She let his groan pass for once and just laughed and patted his shoulder again before steering him in Slug's direction where she was carefully removing a splinter from Ron's leg while he whimpered in pain while trying bravely to surpress the sound.
Harry sat down beside him. "Wolf get you?" he asked without preamble. He barely had enough energy to breathe, let alone talk. Ron nodded mutely.
Slug looked at Ron, then at him, then back at Ron and suddenly ripped the splinter the rest of the way out. Ron yelped. "It can't be helped," she said. "If you get a knife in you during a fight you have to able to just pull it out and keep going. No time for nice easy pulling."
A shout made them all look over to another part of the room where Hermione was deep in combat with Sloth. The shout had come from Sloth.
They watched in amazement as Hermione drove the ninja back with spell after spell, lighting up her part of the room to cut down on the amount of shadows her could use, creating a circle of light around them that nearly reached Slug and the boys on the other side of the room. Sloth, for once, appeared awake and was having a difficult time dodging her spells. An incendio flashed from Hermione's wand as she murmured the spell name, trying to cut down on how much Sloth knew about her spells before they went for him. It caught the end of Sloth's pants leg and lit it on fire. When he bent down to snuff it out she followed it with a swift impedimenta that he barely had time to move around. She had physically followed her spell and ended up nose to nose with Sloth when he rolled to his feet, her wand pressing to his stomach.
"I win," she said triumphantly.
"You did," he answered with a sudden small smile.
The rest of the ninja applauded while Ron and Harry whooped their appreciation of Hermione's abilities. She beamed at them, looking away from Sloth.
Suddenly he ripped the wand from her and, in the same movement, planted a foot against her stomach and shoving her back with enough force to hurl her head over heals. While she lay on the floor trying to catch her breath he formed the necessary handsigns for his shadow possession and caught her. She stood immediately in his jutsu and stepped in time with him as he walked closer to her. Once they were near enough to touch each other he handed her wand back to her and released the spell.
"Remember that even if you win in a fair fight there is always a chance that your opponent won't be so keen on taking a defeat," he said. She nodded, the triumphant smiled wiped clean from her face and replaced with her now-customary one of determination. She accepted her wand gravely and bowed to Sloth in thanks and hobbled over to Slug when he waved her away. She flopped down beside them with a gust of breath.
"Ow," she moaned.
"Well that was harsh," Ron said. "And I haven't even been able to put a serious wound on any of them yet." He glared over his shoulder at Wolf where the ninja was having a flirting match with Peacock.
"We can't injure them," Hermione said. "We have to be able to trap them."
Slug moved her glowing hands over the puncture wound made from the needle in Harry's flesh. "The fact that you got that close to Sloth-taicho is amazing, Hermione," she said. At Hermione's questioning look she expounded. "Sloth-taicho is regarded as the greatest tactical mind in our village and possibly all of the Hidden Countries. His ability to think ahead and plan is unmatched by anyone in our village except, perhaps, Dove." She gave Hermione a sweet smile. "The fact that you got that close to him, or that he allowed you to get that close to him speaks greatly to how he views you. You've won his respect with your ability to reason and plan," she reached over and tapped Hermione's head with a non-glowing finger, "and that is a very valuable reasource."
"And then he kicked me across the room," she groaned in reply, unable to cope with such a compliment in any other way.
Slug laughed. "That comes with the job. You were too close to him anyway."
[I know everything you don't want me to.]
A knock on the door to the Room of Requirement caught Naruto's attention immediately. The Room provided a peephole obligingly as he stepped up to it, perfectly at his height. When he glanced down he immediately recognized Hanabi's undisguised face. She looked agitated, shifting from foot to foot and glancing around nervously. He pulled the door open just enough to peer the the crack. Every time they had an extra training session with the Golden Trio, they left Hanabi outside as a lookout.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"You need to get out of there," she hissed. "Umbridge is coming. Someone's told her about the room and she's coming to look at it right now." She suddenly looked behind her as if she heard something. Her Byakugan flared wildly, tugging almost violently at the veins around her eyes, and he didn't miss the sudden wince of pain that crossed her face. His brow furrowed. "I'll try to hold her off as much as I can. Get out of there!" Her face suddenly shifted into something much younger and Julie Saito stood in her place, hissing one more impatient "go!" before running off down the hall.
Naruto whirled back into the room. "Guys! We have to get out of here now!"
"What?" Harry asked. He was just standing as Sakura finished healing him and was moving onto the prone Hermione.
"Umbridge is coming, we need to get out of here now!" Naruto hissed. He looked over at Sasuke and Hinata and they were suddenly beside him, pushing the door open and slipping out on the unspoken command to stall Umbridge as much as they could. Kiba slipped his arms around Hermione and cradled her bridal style against his chest. She didn't make a sound, suddenly stricken by something like terror. Ino forced Ron to his feet before he had a chance to say a word and grabbed Harry's arm, propelling them both toward the door. They slipped out into the dark hallway.
"That way," Naruto said, pointing in the opposite way he had seen Hanabi run. They took off at a run, steps muffled by a swirl of blue-purple chakra that belonged to Ino. After rounding several turns and finding nothing waiting for them they slowed to a walk.
"That was close," Ino said with a relieved sigh.
"Indeed." The Headmaster stood before them in all his starry wonder with a decidedly unhappy expression on his grizzled face.
[I see black smoke up around the bend]
Hanabi ran down the hall in a full spring, her crestless robe billowing behind her as she ran in her child disguise. The only thing out of place was the lack of a blank, vague expression on her face, replaced by one that was full of determination and a tint of fear. There wasn't much that could stop them from training Harry but Umbridge and her ties to the Ministry could certainly cause political problems that would throw a sizable wrench in their plans. When she got close enough to feel the presence of the toad-woman she slowed to a stroll and calmed her breathing. She purposefully ran into Umbridge as she rounded the corner, knocking the woman over and allowing herself to fall into her behind. She squeaked.
"Professor Umbridge!" she exclaimed as if surprised. She scrambled to her feet and held out her hand to help the portly woman up.
Umbridge spat curses and practically rolled to her feet, swatting Hanabi's hand away and dusting herself off, thoroughly embarassed to have been laid out in front of her lackeys which was comprised of Draco Malfoy and his brainless monkey goons.
"What are you doing out here so late?" Umbridge demanded angrily as she straightened her skirt.
Hanabi treated her to an innocent smile. "I thought I heard something passing down the hall when I was in the common room so I decided to investigate," she dropped her voice to a whisper and murmured conspiritorially, "there could be an intruder, you know. Professor Dumbledore isn't all that great as keeping people out."
Umbridge look caught between being pleased at the remark against Dumbledore and infuriated that Hanabi was out of bed. "Well, you don't need to worry about that. Off to bed now, I have things well in hand." She stalked past Hanabi and when she was barely a hairsbredth from Hanabi's side the girl whispered:
"So you think."
Then she vanished in the darkness, using her Anbu abilities to blend into any scenery along with the mysteriousness afforded to her by her student character to appear to dissolve into the darkness right before Umbridge's astounded eyes. She watched as Umbridge was torn between trying to find her and going after the lead that Harry Potter was out of bed after hours and in the company of the guards that she so hated. Umbridge muttered something about finding "the brat" later and marched down the hall.
Hanabi followed them, hoping that she had offered enough time for her teammates to get out of the Room and also hoping that she wouldn't have to make another appearance. She hated having to jump back in after leaving mysteriously. It really ruined her whole night terror effect. Thankfully by the time Umbridge and her crew of Slytherins reached the Room it was empty, just another closet in the wall. While Umbridge was growling angry words at the wall and opening and closing the door as if would make Harry appear, Hanabi slipped off down the hall toward the feeling of her team's chakra. She didn't use her Byakugan. It made her eyes hurt.
[Darling, if you please, don't go without me]
Harry looked up in shock at Dumbledore's face. He had never seen the headmaster so grim before. Dumbledore held to envelopes in one hand, both weather worn and wrinkled from dried water. Surprisingly, the headmaster didn't say a word beside his monotone affirmation of their situation and held out the letters to Fox, who took them with a bow and glanced at the addresses written. The captain looked up at Dumbledore.
"Have you read them?" he asked.
"I have not," Dumbledore answered.
The captain frowned and ripped one of the letters open, handing the other to Mouse and quietly telling her to open it for him. She did so but waited for him to finish the other one and read it first. The writing, from what Harry could see, was foreign and artistic, running down the paper in neat lines but blurred in places where rain drops had hit it. Fox did not speak for a long time, even after her finished reading and folded the letter neatly and handed it to Viper.
"It seems that we have less time than we previously thought," he said to the headmaster.
The old man nodded. "So I suspected. These were sent by means of messenger falcon instead of owl and it looked harried."
Fox ran a hand through his hair and Harry was surprised to see that it turned gold in the wake of his palm before shifting back to the brown that he knew was a disguise. The original guards had not released their disguises when they went around Harry and his friends unmasked. "Orochimaru has begun moving the majority of his troops out of his home base and we have received word from other countries that they are moving steadily in one direction... here."
"How long do you think we have?" Dumbledore asked grimly.
"Two weeks, maybe three if Voldemort and Orochimaru don't get along," Fox answered.
"And the other letter?"
Fox held out his hand to Mouse and she placed it in his palm. He read it quickly and a surprising smile stretched his face. "It seems that we will be having some amount of backup. Tsunade couldn't send much but Dove and Panda are on their way back at this very moment." He folded the letter.
Dumbledore looked concerned. "He was very badly injured. Is two months really enough time for him to heal from his injuries?"
Fox smiled wider. "Tsunade-obaa-san is a miracle worker and she had the rest of her staff with her, that and Dove is notoriously stubborn. He wanted to come back and he made it so that he would. They should be here in a few days." The smile suddenly left his face. "You know that we have been having secret training sessions for your students."
Dumbledore nodded. "I do."
Fox looked pensive. "I want permission to pull those students from classes and train them exclusively for the next two weeks."
"I can't do that."
"Why not?" Fox demanded, crossing his arms. "You are the headmaster here."
Sloth suddenly stepped in, placing a hand on Fox's elbow and forcing him to lower his arms. "There is a lot of politics at work here, Fox. Umbridge will have a field day if she found out about students being pulled from class for no reason. There's no way that we can have all of them." Dumbledore nodded his agreement.
"Just Harry, Hermione, and Ron then," Fox pressed.
"I'm sorry, Captain," Dumbledore said, "That would arouse even more suspicion."
Fox groaned. "Is there anything that you can do?"
The headmaster peered off into the distance, thinking hard. When he looked back at them he was expressionless, which worried Harry more than anything else. "No, I don't suppose there is," he answered. "Any attempt to give you any more time with the students would result in suspicion. I am aware that Umbridge has found the Room of Requirement and it is no longer safe there for you to practice." He glanced away again. "I can tell the teachers to give lighter homework that would allow for the students to feel less stressed over balancing their schoolwork and lessons with you. That is all."
Fox ran his hand through his hair again, resulting in the odd streak of color a second time. "I guess that will have to do."
The headmaster looked honestly unhappy about it. "I am sorry that there is not more that I can do," he said, "but my hands are tied."
Fox nodded and bowed respectfully. The rest of his team followed suit. "I thank you for that then, Headmaster," he said formally, "We understand your position." He straightened. "We will take care of everything from here and inform you when Dove and Panda arrive and if we find out anything more on Orochimaru and Voldemort's position."
Dumbledore nodded his head sagely, his serene expression firmly back in place. "Very good. I would suggest that you return the students to bed then. Umbridge shall be coming this way very soon to make try to make a scene about students out of bed at night."
"Thank you," Fox said again.
Harry suddenly had the very peculiar sensation of being sucked into a high powered vacuum and being spat out again and suddenly he was no longer in the dark hallway with Professor Dumbledore, but in the warm, dimly lit common room that was cast into dancing shadows by the low burning fire. One of the ninjas held his arm as he swayed, his legs suddenly feeling like jello.
"Sorry about that." It was Wolf. "Normally we wouldn't do that without due warning but we were cutting it a little close with the toad and all." He offered a cheeky smile. "Transporting'll get you if you aren't ready for it, won't it?"
Harry could only nod mutely, feeling faintly queasy. Wolf pushed him down to sit on a couch and placed a finger over his lips to warn him to be quiet. Everyone else in the dorm was asleep still.
The last thing Harry heard before he drifted off into a sleep brought on by physical exhaustion and an adrenalin crash was the opening of the portrait door and a very familiar, young voice calling the all clear followed by some very high-pitched excited chatter in a foreign language. Then he fell asleep, snuggled up against the arm of the couch in the fading warmth of the fire, feeling safer than he had in a long time, surrounded by the people that a small part of him had come to trust wholeheartedly.
[Author's Note]
All lyrics belong to The Civil Wars.
Holy mushrooms! It's an update! Okay, guys, you all have to thank Zabuzasgirl for this one. If she hadn't pestered me to write then this never would have been finished. I was actually presently surprised to find this already started when I pulled the document up. I just had to check it briefly for grammatical errors and add another four thousand or so words and put it up for the world to see. I really wanted to get to some action but I guess my plans didn't work. But hey, if there's the promise of action then that just might goad me into writing more.
Now, my dear, strung out, abused readers, I would like you all to know that it was the reviews from last chapter that really got me in the mood to write. Whether you realize it or not, your reviews are really what cause us crazy fanfiction writers to put another chapter out there for the you all critique. I love getting reviews. Everytime I got another one asking me to update it added another brick to the wall of effort necessary to build this chapter. Of course, it was a message from Zabuzasgirl that finally get me off my lazy butt (figuratively, I was sitting comfortably on my bed while writing all of this) and write another chapter.
So here it is; I tried to make it longer than usual and it was actually twenty-pages of 12 point, .5 spaced font (I love the way .5 spaced lines look). It clocks in at over 6000 words which means that it is, I believe, my longest chapter yet and puts me officially over the 100,000 word mark. Whoo!
I beg you, my dear readers, to review. Nothing makes me happier (that's a bit of a hyperbole but for the sake of this argument I will leave it thus). Sayonara, my dears. Have fun waiting another four months for the next update!