Chapter 5: Slug Club

The last week of the summer break had arrived, but the question still remains as to what Draco was doing in Knockturn Alley. For Naruto, ever since he bought that new sword or rather gunblade of his, he had been currently improving upon it through the use of magic and fuinjutsu. Luckily Bill was around to help Naruto out when it came to applying some runes on the blade, as he wanted to infuse a bit of magic while Naruto wanted to infuse chakra to the blade. Originally the gunblade was only just a sword and wasn't really a gunblade along with it being really heavy to the wielder, but thanks to Naruto's use of fuinjutsu along with Bill's use of runes, the gunblade was now light to carry and it could finally turn into a firearm, but instead of shooting just regular bullets, it shot magically enhanced bullets dedicated to piercing tougher opponents such as trolls/ogres, werewolves, or any other dark creatures(except Dementors) that couldn't be killed by just a wand, as the blade had a magical ore that was recently infused in it. When it came to the chakra portion of the blade, a faint blue aura made the blade look extended, thanks to some fuinjutsu being applied.

Anyways for the group, they were right now discussing Draco and his suspicious behavior when he was in Diagon Alley. From how the conversation was going, it was sounding rather crazy. "He's a Death Eater," said Harry slowly. "He's replaced his father as a Death Eater!" There was a silence; then Ron erupted in laughter. "Malfoy? He's sixteen, Harry! You think You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join?" Hermione seemed to agree with Ron, "It seems very unlikely, Harry," said Hermione in a repressive sort of voice. "What makes you think — ?"

"Remember in Madam Malkin's shop how she wanted to do some fitting for Malfoy, but he refused by slapping her hand away, while he was clutching his left arm. I believe Draco was branded the Dark Mark," Harry stated. Naruto nods, "Right and from what I saw, the owner of Borgin and Burkes looked rather paranoid of something Draco was showing. I mean think about it, an owner of artifacts dedicated to the dark arts, being afraid of a sixteen year old, I have a feeling the ferret was showing the owner who he was dealing with, along with how paranoid he seemed when I entered the store and bought my gunblade," Naruto stated. "But still you two, there is no way You-Know-Who would allow Draco to join," Hermione stated. "That didn't stop him from hiring Menma," Naruto stated, which did make sense from a certain point of view. The conversation still went on, but there were more questions being asked and no answers were found.

Timeskip

The day of the train journey to Hogwarts had arrived, as everybody entered the train station to drop off the kids so that they could leave for Hogwarts. After saying their goodbyes, Naruto and Harry entered their compartment, while Hermione and Ron were patrolling the hallways as the train embarked on the journey. Some of their friends came by to greet them. "Hey guys," Daphne said, greeting the two as she entered the compartment. She was a blond Slytherin with blue eyes and was said to be the coldest person of Slytherin, but in actuality is a nice person if one gets to know her. "Hey Daphne," Harry said, as he tried not to blush seeing his girlfriend and all. Naruto notices this and smirks, "You know I could give you two some alone time, if that's what you want?" he said cheekily, as the two lovers blushed. She joins the two and sits next to Harry, as they begin to talk about stuff. "So how was your summer guys?" she asked. The two talked about their summer and when they mentioned what Naruto did to taunt Malfoy, she was in disbelief.

"No way, is it true about what you said to that little ferret?!" she asked, as Naruto nodded. "Yup and you should've seen the look on both mother and son, they were really pissed," he stated with a lot of pride, as Daphne laughed loudly. It was surprising to see someone like her laugh at something crude. "Phew that was a good one, Naruto you really know how to get people laughing," she said, patting the boys back, as she continued laughing. After a few minutes, they moved on to the subject regarding Malfoy being a Death Eater. "I don't know Harry, the ferret may be a full on bigot, but there is no way he would sign up for Voldemort's cause, let alone someone who is sixteen," Daphne said, sounding rather unsure about this. "Still from what we saw, he was doing some suspicious activity at Borgin and Burkes, and from how the owner looked, he seemed rather paranoid," Harry stated, still believing what he saw is true. Neville and Luna arrived at the compartment to greet them as well. They were talking about the D.A. lessons and if they are still going to continue, to which Harry shook his head, much to the shock of others. "No point now we've got rid of Umbridge, is there?" said Harry, sitting down. Neville bumped his head against the seat as he emerged from under it. He looked most disappointed.

"I liked the D.A.! I learned loads from you!" Neville stated. "I enjoyed the meetings too," said Luna serenely. "It was like having friends." Naruto turns to them, "Look guys, just because the D.A. lessons are over doesn't mean that the concept is over. You can still train together and utilize the skills we taught you, as you all have proven to us that you have the skills necessary for the future." Both Neville and Luna nodded, although they were disappointed that the lessons won't continue. They soon moved on to the subject of O.W.L. results and boy Daphne, Neville, and Luna were surprised by how Naruto got all Os. Ron and Hermione came back from their patrol, "Hey guys guess what, Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

This was surprising, as Harry asked the two for more details. They thought that maybe Malfoy was bored with his position so that's why he hadn't been doing as much. But before they could explain more, some third year girl arrived with four messages "I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, Naruto Uzumaki, and Daphne Greengrass," she said, sounding breathless, as she handed the four the messages. As she left, the others asked about what the message was. They opened it to see that it was an invitation from Horace Slughorn. "Who's Professor Slughorn?" asked Neville, looking perplexedly at his own invitation. "New teacher," said Harry. "Well, I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?" Naruto and Daphne nod, as the four begin to go see Slughorn. Harry decided to take his invisibility cloak just to investigate Malfoy. Soon the four arrive at the compartment to see that Slughorn was there and so were many others. "Ah Harry, m'boy!" Slughorn said warmly, greeting Harry. Slughorn was a short, fat, old man with silvery gray hair, wearing a tweed outfit that was rather old fashioned. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Uzumaki, and Ms. Greengrass!" he said, greeting the rest. Neville nodded looking scared, while Naruto and Daphne went up to the professor and shook his hand.

After some brief introductions, the lunch took place as everybody took a seat. From what was shown, most of the people here were from either Gryffindor and Slytherin. Surprisingly Ginny was there, as the four greeted her. Even though there were some Slytherins who were neutral or friendly with the Gryffindors, some of them here loathed them, which was mutual to the Gryffindors, due to their rivalry. It seemed that the reason why the four were here is because most of the students in this lunch meeting are either influential or connected to somebody famous. Of course an interview took place, as each and everyone introduced themselves and learned much about them. "I have heard many rumors about you, Harry, along with your friend Naruto. They say that your names were mentioned in a fabled prophecy," Slughorn stated, as both Harry and Naruto look alarmed. Luckily Neville, Ginny, and Daphne came to their defense, to which Slughorn points out that the three were also there on the assault at the Ministry incident. The professor goes on about how he had taught many of his students and how they were a part of this little club of his called the Slug Club. Needless to say it was getting rather boring to hear, but luckily the sun was beginning to set. Good gracious, it's getting dark already! I didn't notice that they'd lit the lamps! You'd better go and change into your robes, all of you. McLaggen, you must drop by and borrow that book on nogtails. Harry, Blaise — any time you're passing. Same goes for you, miss," he twinkled at Ginny. "Well, off you go, off you go!"

They all left, as some of the Slytherins threw both Harry and Naruto an ugly look, to which Naruto responded by flipping them off. "That was…interesting?" Daphne said, as the five were walking to their compartment. "I'm glad that's over," muttered Neville. "Strange man, isn't he?" Naruto nodded, "Agreed, but he seems alright." As they all were walking to their compartment, Harry notices Zabini enter Malfoy's compartment. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up," Harry stated, putting on his invisibility cloak. Before they could ask what was up, Harry had just left. Harry had infiltrated their compartment, as he hid in the top listening in on the conversation. From what the conversation was going on between Malfoy and his cronies, they were discussing this whole Slug Club thing. They were sneering at the names Blaise mentioned, which were Potter, Uzumaki, Longbottom, Greengrass, and Weasley. "I cannot believe that traitor of a Slytherin was in this club, let alone with Potter and Uzumaki" Draco sneered. The Slytherins continued on with this conversation, before moving on to another topic. "Hogwarts. What a pathetic excuse for a school. I'd pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower, if I had to continue for another two years," Draco sneered. "What's that supposed to mean?" Pansy asked, looking shocked. "Lets just say I don't think you'll see me wasting my time in Charms class next year," he said, sounding smug, as Blaise snickered. "Amused' Blaise? We'll see just who's laughing in the end."

Draco however heard something above him, as it seemed that his bag moved, despite there being nothing that was moving it. The train soon arrived at the stop, as everybody was getting ready to leave. "You two go on, I want to check something," Malfoy said to Crabbe and Goyle, as they nodded and left. When everybody left, Draco picked up his bag and closed the compartment doors and the blinds. "Didn't mummy ever tell you it was rude to eavesdrop, Potter?" he sneered, before firing the Petrificus Totalus spell on Harry. Harry, who was invisible, dropped to the floor, as he was petrified. Draco took off the cloak and coldly smiled, "Oh yeah…she was dead before you could wipe the drool off your chin," he said, before kicking Harry in the nose. "That was for my father. Enjoy your ride back to London," he said, wrapping the cloak on him to hide the evidence, before leaving the train.

Note: Alright I just wanted to answer some questions from what you guys were asking me in the recent reviews. First and foremost the question regarding how Hinata will react to Naruto and Hermione's relationship, well the answer is that I haven't come up with that scenario yet. Also the question regarding whether Naruto and Itachi are going to sabotage Malfoy's plan, we'll see about it