There was something about this place that left Sasuke constantly feeling like he was just short of understanding what was really happening and Sasuke hated it.

But Harry loved it here.

That was a bit hard to wrap his head around, but it was clear from the moment they had entered the school that Harry considered this his territory. His preferred grounds. It was there in the subtle things. Not just a familiarity with the space, but an instinct for it. Half of this damned castle liked to move around, and Harry seemed to move along with it as if he expected these changes. Enjoyed them even.

It was peculiar. Harry had seemed to take a great deal of delight in most of what Kohona had to offer. Even the more mundane things like target practice and dumpling shops had captured his attention and curiosity. But watching him here, now, it was clear that there was a distinct difference between when Harry felt like he was an outsider and when he did not. Harry did not hesitate about anything here. He did not look to his wizarding friends the way he had constantly kept glancing at Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura when they had been out places in Konoha. Instead they looked at him, just slightly, barely even noticeable, but they waited to see what direction he would go in before they made their own choice.

Harry had managed to make it to class in one piece and did not appear to have suffered any kind of trauma in the night. That was good. Sasuke had not truly believed that the other boy would be in danger (he would not have agreed to splitting up if that was the case). But it was still a relief to confirm that nothing untoward had happened during the short time the other boy had been out of his sight. So far, nothing about this place had made Sasuke comfortable about trusting it with the safety of his family.

Watching Harry battle plan in the middle of class was...enlightening.

Sasuke had not bothered looking at the list he had been given. The translation jutsu had its limitations and the written word was always going to be a struggle. But even reading it would not do him much good. He knew he would know nothing in front of him. That was a distinctly unique feeling for him, but he was a nin. He knew how to focus on what he could and could not do. Watching the other students told him far more about how this magic thing was supposed to work. It would not necessarily do anything to improve his own ability, but at least it might expand his understanding.

Harry skimmed through the list with something bordering delight. It was not until it became clear who each of their opponents would be that Harry's expression changed. It was a look Sasuke had seen a time or two on Naruto's face. That should have worried him more than it did. But he managed to keep his calm and trust that his cousin was not about to declare all out war in the middle of the classroom. Maybe he was getting better at the not hovering thing. Harry did not look scared, after all, just focused. Sasuke could afford to hold back in this case. He was fairly confident of that. It was a classroom. A controlled setting. And Sasuke would be on hand if anything did get out of control.

But Harry managed to get through class without a scratch.

Without even coming close to one.

It did not take an expert to figure out that Harry's assigned opponent for the class was a lumbering idiot. No one seemed surprised to see the other boy fail time and time again. Though it was possible that not all of that was because the boy was inferior.

Apparently, Harry was quite good at magic. Far better than Sasuke had realized without having a comparison to judge him by.

Sasuke did his best to watch not just his cousin's movements but also how the rest of the children responded. Harry never hesitated in the task assigned to him. He seemed to know most of the spells already. And most of his classmates didn't seem surprised by that. It was not that Sasuke had expected Harry to fail or thought he was substandard in any way. He just had not realized that compared to his cohorts, Harry was certainly in the top of his class. Maybe even more than that.

It suggested things about Harry that Sasuke had not really considered before. About his future and his capabilities.

Granted, this kind of fighting would not last a minute in a real arena. Sasuke could have killed all of them before they'd gotten much further than their first attempt. They all seemed to insist on waiting to take a formal position before attacking. And each attack was more of a display than an assault. They clearly had no concept of focus or intent. Sasuke had had more killer instinct in some of his entry level Academy sessions than these nearly grown wizards had. Even Harry hesitated for some reason. As if he thought it made it better to give the other boy a chance to fumble at the incantation before quickly finishing the match.

The only exception was Malfoy.

Now there was one looking to kill somebody. Sasuke did not care what Harry thought. Sasuke had a much better understanding of that kind of fire in your bones than Harry did. If Harry had been the one going up against him over and over again, Sasuke might have had to handle the problem directly. Nothing maiming, but just enough to take care of the issue. But since that was not the case, and since Harry's little friend did not seem to be in immediate risk of death, Sasuke did not need to worry about it.

He only had to focus on his own spectacular failure.

They had known going in that this was not going to be graceful. They were not going to be presented as the elite nin that they were. With a little luck, once they figure out a work around to combine spells and chakra, they would be able to tailor it to their needs. Show these wizards how to really do something instead of half-hearted attempts and showmanship. It was just, for now, they were going to have to gracefully fall on their swords.

Or not so gracefully fall on their asses.

The first time was the easiest. Harry had shown them a number of spells of course, but he had always balked at casting them at them directly. The school boy who took up his position across from Sasuke did not have the same compunctions. He took great pleasure in getting off the first shot. That had grated, but there was something fascinating about seeing magic at work. So similar to chakra, it was like something he could feel on the edges of his awareness, but always only as if trying to understand a muffled conversation through a thick wall. Or the color of a shape he could only see the outline of. The cold fire had been fascinating. Almost sentient. Useless in most respects, but interesting. Focusing on his curiosity was preferable than dwelling on the blow to his ego this class was going to be.

The next round and the round after that and the round after that were increasingly worse.

Sasuke knew how to take a hit, damn it. He knew how to fake a weakness to lure an opponent into a false sense of security. What he was not well versed in was in maintaining that illusion over time. Or with letting civilians walk all over him. He was not accustomed to the charade of weakness actually being the truth.

It did not take long for the whispering and not quite so subtle comments to start.

"I think he's frightened. Think he'll go crying home about it tonight?"

"Careful! You might break him."

"Maybe the Professor should talk real slow for him. Think he'd understand then that he's supposed to fight back?"

"Mongrels. Not much better than a mudblood."

Even the Professor had his own commentary.

"If whatever…institution…you previously attended could not even manage to cover the basics, then perhaps it would be best to reconsider your class placement now. I'm sure it would be understandable that you would need to move down a grade level coming from such a…different standard."

Sasuke was not a fool. He could read the subtext of that all too well. Incompetent. Inferior. Backwards. Foreign.

It was not a prejudice many nin had to worry about. The only thing most nin cared about were what your allegiances were and your capabilities. One's abilities tended to speak louder than any form of inherent difference. Even philosophical differences paled before the standard of what you could or could not do. Only a few villages gave a damn about superficial things like that. Most of those ones had self-imploded like Mist. Sasuke had certainly heard worse said about the Uchiha line, and at least some of that had been true.

It should have been easier to ignore the derision. Sasuke at least knew that there was more to the situation than these children realized. That there was more to him. And that their mockery was a result of their ignorance not his. But for some reason it still grated.

At least none of it was loud enough for Harry to hear on the other side of the room. His cousin had his hands full trying to help his friend manage her own problems. He certainly did not need to try coming to Sasuke's defense, and Sasuke had learned enough about the other boy to know he would try without hesitation if he thought it needed.

And maybe he would rather not have Harry hear just how much of an embarrassment Sasuke currently was.

…though nothing was more embarrassing than Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke had maybe been a little bit grateful when the man had timed his own arrival so that it drew all of the Professor's attention away from Sasuke's inability to do even the most basic of tasks. He could even, objectively, appreciate that Kakashi's continued shenanigans meant that the Professor was much more focused on censuring him than drawing attention to Sasuke's continued inability and failure to blend in properly. But none of that made up for having to publicly be connected to the man when he eventually fell back on his favorite method of pissing people off – reading trash in public.

Professor Northstein actually burned the book. That was somewhat entertaining. Kakashi-sensei looked about a moment away from shoving a senbon in the man's eye. But the man was a trained nin and merely smiled in a way that made it clear the only reason Kakashi refrained from killing the man was that they had clear mission parameters not to.