The night before their first DA club meeting, Hermione cornered him in the library and asked to know what his plan was. Which was normal for Hermione and absolutely baffling for Harry.

"Plan?" he parroted back, trying to catch up on which one of the many things he was juggling at the moment that he was supposed to have a plan for. Team 7 insisted that despite not having magic, they still had infiltrating a magic school well in hand and had their own plan for how to deal with whatever might come. Which of course meant that Harry spent a lot of time worry about a backup plan for when theirs inevitably ran into the insanity that was Hogwarts and fell apart. Then there was also planning for his own training in trying to learn chakra. And trying to keep it a secret that he was sneaking out of the castle once a week without a group of highly trained and obsessive spies figuring it out.

That was all in addition to his normal worries. Such as having a plan for quidditch this year. And a plan for how to survive another year of Potions with Snape – that one focused mostly on not getting detention and less on actual academia. And he really did need to come up with a plan for how to manage Malfoy. The other boy had been far too quiet for him not to be up to something. So really, there was a lot of plans to choose from. He just hoped she wasn't asking about his Charms homework, because honestly the only plan he had for that one was to wing it and hope for the best.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "DA club and your new friends. You do have a plan, yes? For how to make it look like they can actually cast spells and not just fail at everything?"

Right. That plan. He'd sort of been avoiding thinking about the disaster it was going to be having Professor Northstein and Team 7 in the same room again. Harry set aside the work he was already doing and rubbed at his temples. "I guess I'd figure that I'd do my best to keep Northstein busy somewhere else, then help them out on the side."

"And which spell do you plan on having them achieve?"

"Um, which spell do you think I should have them achieve?" Harry tried. Because when in doubt, ask Hermione.

And sure enough, she pulled out an entire list.

"You're the best," Harry told her with a grin, scooting over so they could study it together.

"Don't get too excited," she informed him. "This is going to be complicated." And she wasn't lying. Harry had had Qudditch planning sessions with less diagrams.


Northstein was used to running young witches and wizards through their paces. He may not have specialized in teaching young Aurors, but all Aurors took a turn at it. It was a time honored tradition to take the most eager of them down to the Ministry's dueling salle and run them ragged putting them through their paces. It reminded the young that the old still had something to bring to the table. It built character and helped develop comradery. It took the vain down a peg or two when needed and helped the weak learn to cover their blind spots or get forced out.

So a dueling club really was right up his alley, he supposed. Even if the students were meant to be the ones leading this little gathering, Northstein supposed it was only right that he be on hand to offer guidance and a sharp rebuke or two if needed.

What he could not even begin to fathom was why in the seven hells the foreigners had decided to come.

School had been in session for over a month now, and so far Northstein had seen nothing but incompetence, laziness, and a distinct lack of application. It seemed very much as if none of them knew even the first thing about magic – and even worse, that none of them had any intention of even trying to learn.

So Professor Northstein stared, aghast, as that man Kakashi came strolling into the hall. The man had a book up in front of his face and nearly knocked over some poor third year who crossed his path. He wasn't wearing a proper robe and he hadn't combed his hair. His students were little better. They at least had managed a proper wardrobe and were at least making an effort to talk to their classmates. Potter even made it a point of coming over to welcome them. The boy had shown a great deal of passion for his own development in the craft and in helping others, but Northstein feared he was going to be far out of his league with this lot.

Ridiculous, all of it. But people were saying Dumbledore was getting more and more questionable as the years crept up on him. Northstein roused himself from his comfortable position sitting on the sidelines. He had meant only to observe. A bit of professional oversight, as it were. But this simply could not stand.

Potter glanced over at him as he approached their huddle. He looked worried. There had been a touch of self-consciousness to him that evening that Northstein had not seen in classes. The boy seemed to be trying very hard to make this dueling group a success and it was just a pity that he had such complications to work with. Perhaps a good learning experience – there was always going to be at least one in every group – but Northstein didn't intend to let the boy get overwhelmed by it.

"Professor Hatake," Northstein announced as soon as he was close enough that using his firm Auror Voice would come off as just a touch more authoritative than normal and not sound like he was struggling to be heard. "I don't think this is an appropriate activity for your students."

"But Professor!" Potter yelped and Northstein waved him off.

"One first has to master the basics before you can start them on anything more advanced, Mr. Potter. I'm sure their time would be better spent focusing on their school work."

"We were told this was a study group," the girl replied.

Northstein frowned back at her. She seemed oblivious to the fact that there were plenty of good reasons for them not to be included. And in addition to that, she seemed to be ignoring what he thought was a perfectly clear message. "An advanced study group, Ms. Haruno," Northstein corrected her. "For a level that none of you have managed to achieve.

"Oh, don't worry, professor!" Potter interrupted. "I'll make sure to keep an eye on them. We've been studying together and I'm sure they just need a little bit of extra practice. You'd be amazed how much progress we made last year with some of the others who were struggling."

Northstein could guess which ones those were, just by their fighting styles. And while he was impressed the Potter boy had taken such a keen interest in it, Northstein knew this wasn't going to end as well for anyone involved. But you could only lead the young so far. Sometimes they had to make their own mistakes.

"Fine. But keep them away from the others. I won't have them endangering anyone."

Potter flushed, perhaps now finally realizing the position he had put himself in. "We'll manage," he answered. "Hermione! Can you, um, help find a good spot for them to join in?"

The three strange students seemed disgruntled to be singled out from their peers but Northstein had very little pity for them. None of them seemed to be able to follow even the most elementary of instructions. There had been more than one mishaps in class already.

"Ehhh," drawled a voice from behind him. "They won't learn if you don't let them," the man complained.

Northstein snorted. "They aren't going to learn regardless. What are you lot teaching in those schools of yours? Ridiculous to assume the standards would be the same. The Headmaster should have placed you more accordingly to your actual skill levels."

The idiot man grinned back, too stupid to even be properly affronted to what was a rather scathing – yet much deserved – assessment of his character. "Hmm, I doubt the Headmaster has a level fitting for us. Might cause a bit of scandal if he did."

Scandal was one word for it. Northstein respected Dumbledore. He really did. He'd seen some of the work Dumbledore and his people had done during the last war. You couldn't ignore that kind of skill level or tenacity. But that didn't mean that the old man couldn't make some remarkable foolish decisions. There had to be some kind of political motive to it, Northstein just couldn't work out what. It was hard to imagine people like this having anything the British Wizarding world could need, but the Headmaster had certainly taken an interest. Maybe they had some old artifacts that would be better off in Britishing hands. Or something like that.

There was always some kind of political explanation for schemes like this. No choice but to put up with it as best he could. Northstein grunted and shook his head. Well, at best maybe it would teach Potter something about working with difficult people.