"Not it!" Sakura snapped as soon as they saw Hermione peel off from the cluster around Harry. The three nin had been walking quietly, meekly, in the back of the long train of Hogwarts students heading down to the wizarding village. His cousin had made it more than clear over the last few weeks that none of Team 7 was invited to spend time around him and his friends anymore. They had had to adjust as best as they could. Classes were easy enough since one of them was always present. Following him in the halls had not proved too challenging either. With the three of them keeping up the façade of still attending classes, it was easy enough to happen to be in the same general area as Harry at any given time. It was the after-hours jaunts that his cousin seemed so keen on that were proving the most challenging.

They had, perhaps, spent a little too much time helping Harry develop an awareness for when someone was following him.

So now they were limited to staying as far back as they could and trying to keep an eye on his cousin when the other boy was at his most vulnerable. It was infuriating, but Sasuke was growing accustomed to constantly being equal parts enraged and panicked by his cousin.

"One of us has to go with her," Naruto pointed out. It was not strictly true, but they had learned to keep an eye on all three of them. More often than not, protecting Harry meant protecting both of his friends. Plus, they had learned that where one of them went, the others tended to follow. It was a logical, tactical choice. If it maybe also happened to one day endear them at least a little bit more to Harry by showing they respected and cared about the same things he did – well, that was also tactical, was it not?

"She's probably going to go look at books," Naruto added like the idiot he was. "You like books!"

"I like books," Sakura agreed tightly. "I also like hitting things. Maybe you should go and try to read one for once," she sniped, her temper flaring the same way all of theirs had as this mission descended further and further into failure. And none of them liked failing at things. "That girl hates the very sight of me. You go."

"Ugh! Fine," Naruto grumbled. He sighed as if he was the only one being an adult here before flickering off to catch up with the girl before she got too far ahead of them. They had only been to Hogsmeade once before and the layout was not as familiar to them as they would like. The wizards might not have much skill at subtlety, but they did like to obscure things almost as much as a nin. Navigating their alleyways and shops was not always as straightforward and easy as it should be.

Sakura sighed as soon as he was out of sight.

"What?" Sasuke grumbled. She ought to be happy. The idiot had volunteered to take the job she did not want.

"Nothing," she denied, but while she might have more tact than their other teammate, she was seemingly just as incapable of not commenting on something. "I'm just frustrated that we can't even get a couple of teenagers to like us."

"Who cares."

She glared at him. He did not bother to look over to see it, but he knew her mannerisms well enough to know when she was doing so. "Besides the obvious mission related aspects? It does seem like we're failing at a basic level of human interaction."

"Maybe they are the problem."

She rolled her eyes. "Because it couldn't possibly be us? I'm beginning to think we've forgotten how to be friends with civilians. It's kind of sad."

Sasuke frowned. "I thought you didn't like her. What'd you care?"

"She doesn't like me," Sakura clarified. "And I'm pissed I can't manage the simple task of being charming enough not to be actively disliked. So much for diplomacy."

"It's overrated," Sasuke muttered because he knew it would make her snort.

"And god help us we're sending Naruto to take over the task."

It did seem a bit counterintuitive. Naruto was known for having no tact or class or subtly. He was rarely trusted with anything that did not call for wanton destruction. And yet. Who was it that Sasuke's cousin actually listened to, even when he was fuming? It sure as hell was not Sasuke. Sasuke had long ago given up trying to understand how the hell Naruto managed to make so many loyal friends so quickly. He shrugged again. "It's Naruto," he pointed out. Even if it rankled a bit to have to admit that the blond idiot was better at something than he was.

Sakura groaned. "Just because it works doesn't mean it's not going to be a disaster."

And did that not sum up their teammate perfectly?

They continued to trudge along silently after that. Now that they had passed the first few shops of the village, more and more students were peeling off to follow their own interests. Harry's unruly mop of hair stayed close to the bright red of his friend's. If nothing else, the tall ginger was easy to find in a crowd. Harry had an uncanny ability to blend in for someone not nin trained. Most of the shops were too small and crowded for them to reasonably loiter undetected in. Harry could be unreasonably stubborn about his personal space and his friend had a nasty habit of loudly and very not-subtly making comments that were clearly meant to be digs against Sasuke in particular. Being passive-aggressive was a fine art form among nin, but Ron seemed to have forgotten the passive part of it and went for crude thinly veiled rants that made Sasuke's skin crawl. So they waited outside until Ron also peeled off. Sakura sighed but did not bother asking. There was no question who would stay with Harry and who would follow his friend. She trailed along behind him, doing her best to look like nothing more than just another Hogwarts student out window shopping. Sasuke maintained his position on the roof across the way. At just the right angle, he could see Harry's shoulder peeking out from behind a shelf as the boy studied something in great detail. Harry was usually a fast shopper so Sasuke did not know what could possibly be taking so long. As much as Sasuke liked having Harry in one place, he had grown leery of the times Harry separated from his friends. He seemed to be much more cautious whenever he knew his friends were alongside him. And it certainly meant he was not off doing whatever questionable missions the Headmaster had devised for him. The longer Harry stalled by himself the more Sasuke worried.

And maybe that worry was what had him notice it. A nin was always on their guard – it was a basic principle to always expect the unexpected – but there was being on your guard and then there was actively worrying about something. After months of vainly chasing along behind his cousin, Sasuke had focused more and more of his attention to trying to notice every detail. With all of this magic and so many unpredictable things, he had to. And that was probably the only reason he felt it. A tiny flare of something. Naruto likely would have said it tasted like magic on the back of his throat. Which was a ridiculously stupid way of describing a phenomenon but apt. It tasted like magic but not.

In fact, it almost felt like chakra.

And not the expected reassuring chakra of one of his teammates but still familiar.

Itachi.

They had known this was a possibility. The bastard still was not dead, and while the more likely threat was assassins from another village out to either steal or kill the weakest living Uchiha, they had always known this was a possibility. Sasuke had lived for six months with that fear hanging over his head. A fear unlike any he had ever felt in years and years. That one day, his brother would try again. The others could cluck their tongues and tell him he needed to learn how to behave normally but none of them had gone from having lost everything to suddenly having only one thing left. Sasuke felt like he had been handling this all very well, thank you. All things considered.

So no, it was not a surprise. It was expected. But there were still decisions to be made.

Naruto had Hermione and Sakura should have caught up to Ron by now. That was good because it meant no other hostages to have to worry about. Sasuke did not value their lives nearly as much as his cousin's, but he was not stupid either. He knew damn well how stupid Harry could be and removing extra hostages from the situation would only make things simpler.

If only it had not cost Sasuke all of his back-up. Any other time, Sasuke would have argued that he did not need back-up. He was not a child anymore. He could face his brother on his own two feet and he was not afraid. But throwing yourself headfirst into a battle was very different than having something to protect. There were a million things that could go wrong as long as Harry was anywhere near the battlefield. One simple mistake, even just random chance, and it could kill the boy instantly. And Sasuke could hardly order him to take cover. It was pure luck that Sasuke had any warning at all. There was no time to get to Harry and get him somewhere safe. And the damn idiot probably would not listen to Sasuke. Even though Sasuke was trying to save his life. Trying to protect him. Harry did not see it that way, and gods above and below, what if he tried to do something like the complete moron he could sometimes be.

Sasuke breathed in slowly in the second or two it took for him to work through all of that and reach the only logical conclusion. There was no time to warn the others. Any attempt might tip Itachi off that Sasuke had spotted him. Sasuke had the upper hand at the moment, but only if he acted quickly. Harry would have to be safe enough staying here. After all, Sasuke was going to lead the threat away from him.

It was a risk. But in a nin's life, all things were a risk. Sasuke made one last check to confirm that his cousin was still obliviously puttering about the shopping before Sasuke launched himself up over the nearest roof. He moved as quickly as he could. He had a very narrow window of opportunity to move this as far away from the wizards (and Harry) as possible. He was not going to waste that. Not when there was so much at stake. The last time Sasuke had seen that man was before Sasuke had actually met Harry. The idea of a cousin was just that – a mere idea. He had had memories of cousins from before, fuzzy things that barely registered in comparison to the larger losses of that night. But Harry was a living breathing person now. He had a stubborn streak a mile wide. An inexplicable fondness for certain idiots. A sweet tooth. And a whole life ahead of him filled with magic and friends and plans.

Sasuke did not have that kind of motivation the last time he had fought Itachi. All he had was old hate and fury and pain. Things were different now. And maybe, just maybe, this would be the time he finally finished this.