Chapter 10: The Curse Called Group Assignments
Mikano could not figure out when and how she had managed to so thoroughly offend Professor Drizzle that it warranted this sort of punishment. Certainly, no teacher with only the best intentions would pair her up with Lestrange for a week-long project like the one Professor Drizzle had just assigned.
Today was Thursday and they would have until next Friday to brew the fever-reducing Pyretipoof Potion and write a one-foot-long report on it. In pairs. Pairs assigned by the teacher. The only option was death.
To finish the potion by next Friday, they had to mix the base today so it could simmer by itself until their class Monday. When Lestrange showed no sign of getting up to fetch the potion ingredients, Mikano got up with a disgusted huff and went to retrieve them herself.
Lestrange showed no recognition of the fact that Mikano existed, even as the latter slammed a jar of pulverized beaver teeth down in front of her. Mikano dropped a bundle of slimy seaweed on Lestrange's cutting board.
"Mince this seaweed. If you don't want to just be a deadweight, that is."
"Don't order me around," Lestrange hissed with venom. She grabbed a brass knife and began chopping at the seaweed.
"Brass is actually bad for the properties of seaweed," Mikano began. The recipe on the board specified the use of a steel knife to cut the seaweed and a note on page 345 of Magical Draft and Potions which also had the recipe explained how certain metals drew the magic from the sensitive seaweed. "You should use-"
"Keep your snotty shinobi-snout out of my business!" Mikano stiffened as Lestrange pointed her brass knife at her.
"Actually, the way you mistreat our ingredients is my business," Mikano replied archly, seething inside, "as they will go in our potion."
"There is no 'our'," Lestrange sneered, glaring up into Mikano's eyes, "only a stupid school project and a stupid tomato who won't keep her ugly nose to herself."
Mikano paled with anger. Her wand was in her hand before she knew what she was doing, but the hex never left her lips as a piercing scream and an angry sizzling made her jump and drop her wand on the floor. Her eyes snapped to the source of the noise while the class went quiet and Professor Drizzle shouted a word, a spell.
Ino, the Ravenclaw, was sobbing, clutching at the charred remains of her once waist-long, blond ponytail. "My hair, my hair," she whimpered.
"Oh, you silly girl, it's just hair!" Professor Drizzle chided as she vanished the content of the cauldron with a swish of her wand. "You're lucky you only dipped it in a seaweed base and not a Boil Cure Concoction! Then you would be missing a whole lot more than a few inches of hair! It was only a matter of time with that loose ponytail - five points from Ravenclaw for not observing basic safety regulations in the classroom!" The witch looked pointedly at the rest of the class. "Let that be a lesson for all of you."
Mikano furtively checked that the two braids Cherry had made of her hair during breakfast were still secured in a bun at the base of her neck. She cast a last glance at Ino, noticing Sasuke standing stone-faced beside her. Oh, that's right. She wasn't the only one who had had rotten luck in the partner department today.
"Are you just gonna stand there or are you actually going to be of any use?" Lestrange asked in an infuriatingly disdainful voice. Mikano took a deep breath and picked up her wand from where she had dropped it on the floor.
Don't hex her, don't hex her, don't hex her, she chanted to herself. She stowed her wand away at the bottom of her backpack to not tempt fate.
"Where are we?" she asked, forcing her voice to be civil.
Lestrange scowled at her as she steered the cauldron which was now half-filled with greenish-grey liquid. "Crush those dandelion roots," she commanded.
Mikano bit her tongue and picked up the first withered root.
"Of all insipid, incompetent…"
"At least your partner isn't provocation on legs!"
"My partner dipped her ponytail in our cauldron so we had to start all over! And all the seaweed left in the storage cabinets by then was mouldy!"
"Lestrange would probably do that on purpose just to make me mad."
"Guys," Cherry broke in exasperatedly, "what you need is a big, nice cup of tea and some cat therapy! Don't get all upset, it's just a school project."
Sasuke and Mikano exchanged a look.
"If Dash is otherwise useless, at least he's good for purring when you pet him," Eren added sensibly.
"Watch whose pet you're calling useless," Sasuke grumbled.
"Ha!" Mikano exclaimed. "You're the one who complains about that lazy furball the most!"
"That's not the same as giving everybody else permission to insult him too."
"You're just mad because your cat is dumb as a door and can't even walk straight!"
"You! Your owl is so addicted to sugar it would fly right into the jaws of a bear if you put an owl treat on the tongue!"
Cherry and Eren silently high-fived behind Sasuke and Mikano who were marching down the dungeon hallway bickering. Cherry was both happy and relieved those two were talking - and bickering - again. It had been so strained and awkward while they were angry at each other, and Mikano, even if she would not admit it, had been genuinely depressed. Cherry could tell.
Cherry just wished Mikano would rely on them enough to trust them with the (quite obvious) fact that her fall down the stairs and the concussion that had sent her to the Hospital Wing was somehow the fault of those nasty fifth-year Gryffindors. But she couldn't force Mikano to confess that; only hope she one day changed her mind.
No day becomes a good day by starting out with a faceful of Pimple Jinx before breakfast. The Gryffindors had been getting more audacious lately, hexing Mikano surreptitiously in public with a spell that nonetheless made it obvious that Mikano had been hexed. After all, your skin doesn't suddenly erupt into boils and blisters on its own accord.
Mikano moaned and felt the skin swell under her palm as she pressed her hands to her face.
Sasuke made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl as he and Eren each grabbed one of Mikano's elbows and half led, half dragged her back through the doorway leading from the Entrance Hall to the dungeons. They pulled her down the stairs and sat her down on the cold stone floor of a deserted corridor.
Her skin stung.
"Curse those gits!" Cherry swore vehemently.
"I think there is some Boil-Cure Potion in Professor Drizzle's classroom," Sasuke stated tersely. Though his voice was tightly controlled, Mikano could tell he was livid. "I'll go get it."
"That won't be necessary."
Mikano removed her hands from her swollen eyes, the right almost forced closed by a boil on her eyelid. Blurrily, she saw the outline of Kabuto who she had recognised by the voice.
Kabuto. He hadn't spilt, of that, she was almost certain. If he had told her friends, surely Sasuke would not have been acting as he had, and had he told a teacher, there was no way they would not have intercepted with the Gryffindor Gang's continued harassment. Kabuto had kept his promise.
"I'll heal it. That is the fastest way," he continued, coming closer. He crouched in front of Mikano. "May I?"
Mikano removed her hands and turned her face up. Cherry gasped.
Mikano closed her eyes automatically as Kabuto's faintly glowing hand hovered just above her skin. She felt the hurt ease and the swellings deflate. In a matter of seconds, the Pimple Jinx had been undone.
"If we hurry, we can still get some breakfast," Sasuke noted casually. Mikano opened her eyes and scowled at him as she got to her feet, helped by Kabuto's hand. Sasuke returned her glare challengingly.
Alright, she thought archly. If they were pretending Mikano wasn't being targeted by three mean fifth-years, Sasuke wasn't going to make it easy for her.
"Right," she said, fake-cheerfully. "Thank you, Kabuto." She looked up into his onyx eyes earnestly. He smiled, an ironic twist to the corner of his mouth.
"Any time."
In Spells, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff first-years were practising the Levitation Charm by making old, broken quills float in the air. Mikano was grudgingly levitating her quill, inkpot, and other small, available object. Beside her, Sasuke was reading a book on Charms theory which he had been given by Professor Flitwick after he, rather too smugly in Mikano's opinion, had hovered a whole stack of textbooks in the air to their tiny, old professor's delight. Show-off. Mikano couldn't exactly be faulted for having been too occupied learning actually practical spells or watching her own back wherever she went to have studied ahead.
Her mood did not improve during History where they were still on the topic of Goblin rebellions as they had been for the two last months. It wasn't that the Rebellions were not interesting. It was thought-provoking how often the wandless creatures had risen against their Wizarding masters - for that was truly what the Wizards were to them - demanding part in the wand-tied magics.
But Mikano was too restless to simply sit on her butt and dutifully write notes on Gorgor the Bloodless and Geswan the Giddy. When Professor Bellowicz eventually looked at the clock and with a cheerfully surprised chuckle exclaimed: "Will you look at that! Time sure flies in the company of the past! Off you go!", Mikano shot out of her chair. Bless Magic that next class was Brooms. Bless Magic.
Only Cherry's arm linked through hers prevented Mikano from dashing all the way to the flying fields. She settled for a brisk walk instead, pulling ahead of her classmates.
"Gee, Miki, no need to pull like that," Cherry complained good-humouredly. "The brooms aren't gonna fly off without you, you know."
"I need to get in the air," Mikano answered simply.
"Class won't start in ten minutes."
"Madam Hooch lets us warm up if we get there early."
Cherry laughed. "Wanna play broom tag then? I don't think Sasuke and Eren would mind joining. Or your brother when he gets here."
Mikano flicked one of her two full, red braids over her shoulder, inhaling the cold October air as they stepped outside the walls of Hogwarts. "I'll beat you all into the dust."
"Believe it, sister!" Naruto yelled as he dashed past them onto the grass. "Race me to the brooms!"
"Talking about the sun," Cherry mumbled.
"No way naphat, I'm not you!" Mikano formed a tract with her hands in front of her mouth to make her voice carry over the wind's howling in the half-bare tree crowns.
"And thank Merlin for that!" Cherry shook her head and smiled impishly as she glanced at Mikano. "He's loud."
"Tell me about it," Mikano snorted. "We share a bedroom at home."
Cherry made a sympathetic noise.
Mikano watched as Naruto reached Madam Hooch and the stack of school brooms. He threw his hat on the ground as he crouched to inspect the brooms for a second then grabbed one. As he mounted it, he gave Madam Hooch a military salute then kicked off. He soared high above the ground, Madam Hooch's head turned to watch him. He began pulling all kind of stunts, swerving, zigzagging, barrel-rolling. When he began looping like a demented rollercoaster (Kushina arranged yearly trips to Muggle theme parks for the children at Konoha Orphanage and her own offspring got to tag along), Mikano had enough.
"Sod it, I'm running." She dislodged her arm from the crook of Cherry's elbow and ran the last hundred metres to where the brooms were lying.
"Hi Professor," she said breathlessly without looking up. Her eyes swept the brooms in search of the least crooked, chipped, and frizzle-bristled specimen. She chose one that didn't look too battered thinking to herself, as she did every time she had to ride one of Hogwarts' pitiful old Cleansweeps, how terribly annoying it was that you couldn't bring your own broom. She had the nicest Nimbus at home.
"I'll just go warm up," she told Madam Hooch who nodded once. And off she was.
The wind wasn't too bad today though one still had to take its direction into account when executing manoeuvres. Mikano closed her eyes for a second simply feeling the wind pulling on her garments and tugging at her hair. It was fresh and chilly, a promise of winter hinting in the smell of cold and late autumn.
"Hey, Miki," Naruto appeared beside her, dipping up and down as if he was riding a bucking horse. Mikano knew he was doing it on purpose. "Wanna race?"
"Cherry wanted to play tag."
"We only have five minutes…"
"Eat my twigs - YOU'RE IT!" Mikano hit him on the shoulder as she pulled her broom sharply to the right, zooming upwards. Below her, Naruto laughed delightedly and gave chase.
Mikano adored flying though she had never cared for quidditch. At home, she would zoom around in the sky until her finger joints ached and her butt was so sore she could barely walk. A broom dare was the only sort of challenge she would accept from her brother who liked to make everything a competition. Too bad he was as good a rider as she.
They shot across the sky, Mikano twisting and turning to stay out of Naruto's reach. Slowly, the air filled with the other students and Cherry joined the game. Naruto immediately tapped her foot by rolling underneath her making her it. The game was now almost unfair as the twins were much better fliers than Cherry. Mikano quickly took pity on her friend who cried out with delight when she smacked Mikano's jutting elbow.
Mikano pulled her broom around, searching for a specific black, chicken-butt-haired head among the fifteen or so students now hovering in the air. But Sasuke was still on the ground talking to Madam Hooch. What a bore. Her friend was probably too much of a sissy to risk being beaten fair and square in a game of broom tag.
Mikano's terrific, flying-induced good mood held all the way through Societal Studies and right into Defence where they were practising rudimentary Shield Charms. From Sasuke, who enjoyed physical training far more than Mikano and followingly had a greater interest in practical combat tactics than her, Mikano knew dodging was almost always better than shielding, but for somebody like her who straight up lacked the coordination to move out of a kunai's (or spell's) way fast enough, knowing some solid Shield Charms seemed very sensible, why Mikano had already looked into them in her own time. Unfortunately, it was rather hard to practice shields alone as you needed someone to test them, someone to batter them with spells.
So she welcomed Obito's practical. Sasuke had claimed her as his partner almost before their teacher had finished explaining the drill in which they, in pairs, would take turns casting Tutor, a very simple, weak, and easy Shield Charm which they had practised the last lesson, and trying to break the shield with a number of simple jinxes they were expected to have studied for today.
From the way Sasuke looked at her, that little quirk playing on his lips, Mikano knew he was not going to go easy on her. Mikano steeled herself for the prospect of getting her butt kicked.
Sasuke was simply better than her. There was no way around it. She wasn't jealous of him, not per se. It just felt like every time she climbed a mountain, Sasuke was already having a picnic at the peak. She knew that wasn't true. Sasuke worked hard. Very hard. Even if he was a prodigy by any reasonable standard, he wasn't up against reasonable. He was up against Uchiha. And no Uchiha would be proud to have a child who even approached ordinary in terms of skills.
Furthermore, Sasuke was under even more pressure than just about any other Uchiha too because of two things: Firstly, because his dad, Fugaku Uchiha, was the Uchiha's Clan Head. Secondly, because his older brother Itachi was already hogging all the limelight. Mikano was sure Itachi didn't mean to, and she knew Sasuke knew too and harboured no ill feelings towards his brother for raising the bar of success even further above his head. If anything, Sasuke adored his brother and Mikano would bet her life the feeling was reciprocated. Mikano usually thought Itachi was almost impossible to read but the way he looked at Sasuke when he knew his little brother wasn't looking spoke of oceans of devotion and love so deep Mikano could barely begin to grasp its depth.
Mikano was pulled from her contemplations rather forcefully when a spell hit her in the chest making her legs involuntarily spasm off in a tap dance on the classroom floor. She shrieked, too surprised to remember the appropriate counterspell at the moment. Lestrange, who had turned around to watch the spectacle as a number of the students had, snickered meanly while Sasuke cast a second spell with his wand pointed at Mikano.
"Finite! Mikano, pay attention."
Mikano's legs stilled and she glared at Sasuke petulantly. She realized her classmates had begun the drill while she was contemplating her best friend. She clamped down on an angry retort and instead changed the position of her feet so her stance would be firmer.
"I'm ready now," she bit out. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Tarantallegra!"
"Tutor!"
As Mikano was about to head for the Defence door, her legs sore from jerking violently every time Sasuke's spell had shattered her shield or she simply hadn't cast the Tutor fast enough, Obito's voice halted her.
"Ms Uzumaki? Would you mind staying for a minute?"
Sasuke raised an inquiring eyebrow at her and she shrugged. She had no idea what her Uncle Obito wanted.
"Just go ahead. You'll be in the common room, right?" She addressed her question to Cherry, the heart of their little group of four.
"Sure," Cherry said cheerfully. "Shikamaru needs a haircut and he's getting one today, whether he wants it or not."
"I might be out," Sasuke said cryptically.
"Itachi?" Mikano asked.
Sasuke hummed noncommittally and she gave him an unimpressed look. She wasn't going to dig in a room filled with classmates though, and with Obito waiting for her. But it wasn't fair he never brought her along when he went to seek out his big brother. She was sure Itachi was teaching Sasuke all kinds of supercool magic or telling him more about the secrets of Hogwarts, like that treat about the location of the kitchens.
"Right, see you later then," Mikano grumbled and picked up her back.
She approached Obito who had just stood up from behind his desk. As she reached him, the last stragglers left the classroom and they were alone.
"What's up Uncle?" She regarded him curiously. He grinned, the mask of authority he wore while teaching melting away.
"Wanna come to my office and have a cup of tea? We haven't had a proper talk since August. It won't be long; I know how busy my students are." He winked at her and she stuck out her tongue at him.
"Alright. But only if you let me brew the tea."
Obito huffed but gestured for her to follow him through a doorway which had materialized in the stone wall behind him. "I'm not that disastrous a tea brewer."
"Obito," Mikano looked at him seriously, "the tea you make could be used as a pesticide."
Obito laughed as he shut the door behind them and shrugged off his robe. He was wearing a loose, V-necked Uchiha shirt under it. "I'll be sure to tell Professor Longbottom."
Mikano smiled as she looked around at the room. It wasn't large and the messy shelves and assortment of furniture certainly did not make it look bigger. It had a single narrow window which offered a view over the entrance to the castle and the road to the Hogwarts Gates. Books, some large, some ancient, most very battered, were stacked on the floor behind the desk in piles as tall as a man. In a corner, upon a pile of cages stood…
"Is that a stuffed manticore?" Mikano gasped.
"Just a baby. I promise you I found it like that. Stuffed, I mean. They are a very endangered species, you know, and protected under international Wizarding law. I think there is only a handful left." Obito pointed his wand at a stack of books on the frayed rug in front of the fireplace and they turned into two old-fashioned armchairs with matching leg rests and a little three-legged table between them. He lit a merrily crackling fire in the fireplace with a flick of his wand and a mumbled incantation before striding towards a heavy door opposite the fire. "Wait a moment," he said, disappearing through the doorway.
Mikano moved over to the fireplace warming her hands by the flames. October was only getting colder as it drew to an end. She studied the fire, the way it flickered and lapped at the logs, relaxing.
"Here you go." Obito put down a tea set and an assortment of teabags.
Mikano smiled and set about preparing the teapot while Obito lowered himself into one of the armchairs.
"So," he cleared his throat. "How are you? How do you find Hogwarts? What about the snake pit?"
Mikano snorted. "Don't tell me you buy into that whole Gryffindor-Slytherin thing too."
Obito chuckled. "Of course not. First of all, I'm a teacher. Also, my best friend was a Slytherin."
"Huh? Uncle Kakashi was in Slytherin? I didn't know that." She wasn't very surprised though. Kakashi just had that vibe.
"Well, Houses never mattered much to us shinobi." The flames reflected in his eyes danced as he stared at the fire. "And Kakashi isn't really one to share personal information regardless." The corner of his mouth curved up.
"Now, that's a fact," Mikano grinned. After a moment of silence, she declared: "Tea's ready," and poured the amber liquid into the two mugs.
Obito picked one up and sniffed it. "Nice."
"I miss good tea," Mikano said wistfully.
"Ask your family to send some. Talking about your family…" Obito sounded somewhere between amused and embarrassed.
Mikano straightened.
"I went to visit last week because I had an errand in Konoha in any case. Your mum told me to scold you for not writing home enough. Minato is all twitchy for news." Obito laughed. "An owl arrived, a tabby one, with a scroll, and Minato looked terribly crestfallen when he realized it wasn't yours. You know how he gets."
Mikano grimaced. Her Dad could be such a mother hen. But in truth, she probably should write home more often. Or her mother would have it in for her when she had to go home in December.
"I'll do better," she promised Obito, sipping her tea. It was nice and bitter without being unpalatable.
Obito grinned, lifting his cup towards his own lips.
"Obito? You here?"
Obito's hand holding the teacup jerked as he started out of his armchair, spilling most of his tea down the front of his shirt. "Rin? Yeah, I'm here." He cursed as he looked down at himself, the sodden trail of hot Earl Grey materializing as a large, dark patch.
Mikano blinked, confused for a moment before her brain caught up with the fact that Aunt Rin's head had just appeared in the fireplace's dancing flames.
"Obito!" Rin exclaimed, laughing. "Don't use that sort of language in the presence of students! Hi again Miki." She aimed the last comment at Mikano twisting the outline of her face in the fire. "How's your head?"
"Hi Rin," Mikano smiled as Obito dried his clothes with a wordless spell. "Got over that weeks ago."
"Thought you would," Rin said approvingly. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm in a bit of a hurry…" As always, Mikano supplied mentally, "I just wanted to…"
She caught Obito's eyes as he stowed his wand and swigged the poor remains of his cup before setting it back on the saucer. He crouched down to be closer to Rin's eye level, rubbing the back of his head.
"Listening," he said, grinning sheepishly.
Rin answered his awkward grin with a smile that to Mikano's eyes was obviously affectionate, though the twirling flames made expressions harder to determine. "Kurenai and Asuma are having their anniversary dinner tonight, remember?"
Obito's eyes turned so blatantly nonplussed that both Rin and Mikano laughed. Obito looked even more sheepish.
"Thought so," Rin chuckled. "Which is why I'm Firecalling you from my boss's office while on duty to make sure you're on their doorstep by seven tonight. Don't be late," she said teasingly, "and wear something nice."
Mikano could have sworn Rin winked as her face disintegrated in the flames.
Obito stepped back and let himself fall back into his armchair.
"Hokage," he breathed, threading his fingers through his short, black hair making it stick up.
Mikano noticed his fair Uchiha skin was tainted with colour over the cheekbones. Now, this might be attributed to his recent closeness to the lit fireplace, but Mikano knew better.
"You should ask her out already," Mikano noted matter-of-factly.
Obito slumped in his chair, digging the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Mikano, I've been in love with her since before you were born. It's not that easy."
"I think you're making it hard. And I don't think Rin would be… averse to going on a date if you asked her out." Hell, at this rate Rin might just go ahead and ask Obito out herself with the tortoise-pace he was setting.
"Averse? What sort of word is that even for an eleven-year-old to use? Mikano, you read to many books." Obito laughed wearily. "I didn't have half your vocabulary before I was twice your age."
"Don't sell yourself short." Mikano furrowed her brows. "And don't change the subject. You're being a chicken about it." He scowled at her sideways but she soldiered on. "Even if you're a teacher now and rarely does missions, the shinobi life is still, and always, life on the edge. You never know when some chance spell is gonna put you out on the battlefield or an ambush takes you unprepared. You know that I know that. Rin knows that. You're wasting your love, and both yours and Rin's time, by being a damn sissy about asking her out. You're almost, what, 30? How long are you going to wait? And how long is Rin gonna wait for you?"
"Enough!" Obito growled. He glared at Mikano sullenly cross. "Don't you have a Tutor or something you should practice? We have tests next week, for your information."
Mikano emptied her cup of tea, which had cooled by now, before throwing her hands up. She wasn't intimidated by her Uncle's bad temper, suspecting, hoping, it was directed as much at himself as at her, but she wasn't going to hang around if he was in a mood. Also, she really did have to study. She stood up.
"Right. I just thought someone should call your bull-"
"Out!" Cranky arse.
"Remember to dress nicely," she said, her comment playful but with a veiled touch of a sneer. He really didn't have to be so rude just because someone gave him a piece of their, very right, it should be noted, mind.
She stalked to the door leading to the classroom, opened it and slipped out. Before closing the crack behind her, she sneaked a peek back inside. Obito had gotten up and now stood with his back towards her, his hands folded behind the small of his back, looking out the window overlooking the Hogwarts Entrance. Pensively, she could imagine. He had better be thinking carefully about what she told him today. She only wanted for him and Rin to be happy, after all.
Silently, she slid the door closed.
October snailed to an end. Mikano and Lestrange's partnership ended exactly as horrendously as it had begun with Mikano almost scratching Lestrange's eyes out when the latter 'accidentally' dropped the report on the Pyretipoof Potion that Mikano had spent all evening yesterday writing. And this happened Thursday, the day before the joint potion and report were due. Mikano had in no uncertain terms informed Lestrange that she could have the pleasure of writing a new report herself now that she had so demonstratively explained her dissatisfaction with Mikano's - though her choice of words at the specific time had been a little different, resulting in Professor Drizzle deducting ten points from Slytherin and giving Mikano a detention to be served over the weekend.
Bloody brilliant. Mikano had not uttered a single word to the sleazy, smug-looking, infuriating, hood-eyed brunette since then, and had not at all been surprised when their report was returned the week after with the grade 'P' for 'Poor' along with the explanatory note: Distressing teamwork with substandard results.
Mikano had never before been told by a teacher that her performance was 'substandard' and subsequently spent the last Friday evening in October with her three friends coming up with exceedingly creative ways to rid the world of the tiresome presence of Delphini Lestrange. Eren had some surprisingly inspired suggestions while Cherry kept looking around nervously, terrified said Lestrange might come within earshot of their conversation.
As the evening went on, Mikano was almost able to forget Lestrange and the fact that Sasuke, the bastard, (unsurprisingly) had gotten an O despite his group's rocky start, and instead feel smug about her quarter test scores in the rest of the subjects which were certainly not substandard. 'Focus on the good stuff,' as her Dad would say.
