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Kakashi knew it, and he knew the Potter boy knew it too. They both knew Hermione had meant well about the Firebolt's confiscation, but that didn't stop the Potter boy and his other friend from hating the girl to the point she stayed in the library most of the time. The situation reminded him of one of his fights with Obito, and he mentally chuckled. That day, Obito was impatient as usual, and Kakashi was just as indifferent. They bickered for a while and then they began insulting each other to the point that Obito had kicked Kakashi in the shins.
In response, the son of Konoha's White Fang pinned Obito to the ground until the Uchiha began to curse in a very colorful language. At that moment, Rin was trying to get them to stop and then Sensei arrived. The usually happy-go-lucky Jounin was frowning and he instructed Obito and Kakashi on the lesson of teamwork…Which resulted in a few laps around the training ground tied to one Uchiha Obito.
Kakashi smiled behind the porcelain mask. This called for Professor Hatake Kakashi. It was about time he taught them about teamwork.
Hermione rubbed at her left eye, which had been watering. She felt saddened that Ron and Harry wouldn't talk to her, but she couldn't help it. She only wanted to keep Harry safe…She had done the right thing.
The library door opened, but Hermione paid no heed. She leaned closer to the book she was holding so as to hide her face. Maybe it was Ron coming to tease her? Or maybe Harry? She felt like crying again.
The sound of footsteps stopped near her. Hermione looked up from her book. Professor Hatake was leaning on the heavy oak table, grinning in a mischievous way.
"Yo." Was all he said, hand raised in greeting.
Hermione blinked. The teacher faltered momentarily, but smiled. "You're supposed to smile, you know." He gave a wide smile. "I heard about the Firebolt."
Hermione sniffed and nodded. "I suppose…that Harry and Ron are still mad at me?"
Professor Hatake thought of it, one hand supporting his chin. After a while, he smiled and spoke.
"Listen, you know about what I said on teamwork right?"
Hermione nodded, blinking.
Professor Hatake smiled again and put two hands on his waist. "Well, I think it's time for a certain trio to learn that one small mishap won't kill their friendship. Come on."
Professor Hatake put his hands in his pockets and spoke in a simple tone. "Walk with me?"
Hermione paused and gave a small smile as she nodded and stood up.
After rounding up the Potter and Weasley boys on the pretense of 'a lesson in Defense against the Dark Arts', Kakashi led the two of them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where they met up with Hermione.
Kakashi gave a grin. "Yosh. Today, I will teach you three on teamwork, since you three seem to complement each others skills greatly. This lesson will last for a whole week."
Ron groaned.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "And you four will eat, sleep and live in the Forbidden Forest until next Sunday."
Hermione's mouth was open in an 'o' of horror. Harry was staring at him like he was crazy and Ron paled, mouth quivering. Kakashi smiled sheepishly again and then conjured three packs filled with survival gear. The three backpacks dropped down onto the grass with a small thump. Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at Kakashi with fear. The teacher thought of something for a moment before conjuring three winter cloaks, three pairs of boots and three pairs of gloves.
"Wear these. It'll help." Kakashi encouraged. The three did so.
"B-but….aren't there werewolves in there?" Ron murmured in fear, eyes wide. Harry and Hermione gave vigorous nods. "And who's the fourth?"
Kakashi gave a smile. He coughed importantly and spoke. "Wolf."
There was a puff of smoke and the Gryffindor guard appeared carrying a survival pack on his back.
"Kakashi-shushou." The guard murmured, nodding. Kakashi grinned. "Y'see Wolf will be accompanying you during your brief stay in the forest. He will look out for you, he'll help you if you need help but mostly he'll watch over you to make sure you people can make it through. As much as possible, I want you three to start relying on yourselves, after all we adults will not be there to guard you always and you need to learn self-reliance."
Ron gulped. "With her? B-but!"
Kakashi frowned. "No buts, Ronald. You may need her knowledge especially when it comes to the edible plants." Kakashi left it at that.
"You mean we can't even take food with us?" Ron yelled out, appalled.
"There will come a time, Ron when there will be no House elves to cook for you. Your mother will not be there. If what Dumbledore is saying is correct, there will be a war. There will be no more fancy pastries or good food during a war. In wars, you have to fend for yourself and the more you learn about it now, the more prepared you will be when say Voldemort attacks your home and burns it to the ground." Kakashi smiled, seemingly unaware of how Ron's face paled even more.
"The faster you learn how to fend for yourself the more likely you will survive in the face of such an attack. I know you don't like to think about it, but as your teacher I have to make sure that you are ready in such an instance so you can save yourselves and those you care for."
Harry nodded, understanding.
Wolf made a sort of coughing noise behind the mask. Kakashi blinked and smiled sheepishly. "I suppose you'll have to leave now, oh and I've hid three bells in the forest. If you get those bells and bring them back by the end of the survival training, I'll give Gryffindor a hundred house points. Use whatever spells you deem necessary…" Kakashi trailed off, an evil gleam in his eyes. "You'll need it."
Ron did not look too happy. He was pale and shaking but when Wolf gestured for them to be off, he picked up his bag from the ground and followed Harry and Hermione into the darkness of the Forbidden forest.
Kakashi the Kage Bunshin chuckled, and he then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The first day began eventfully. Ron's eyes kept shifting about, looking at the shadows suspiciously in a heightened state of panic. He was very scared and he kept looking back and forth from the guard to Harry. He felt comfort in the fact that the guard would not let them down. He jumped at the slightest noises and with a tight grip on his survival gear. But what if the guard was afraid of spiders too? No, he didn't look the type…
Harry single-mindedly looked around for sources of possible danger as they went deeper into the forest as well as things they could use or possible campsites. He understood quite well the importance of this exercise and felt somewhat proud that he and the others were getting special training. Hah, beat that Malfoy. He'd his newly confiscated broomstick that Malfoy wouldn't last ten minutes in this Forest. Prissy little git.
Hermione had mixed feelings about this. On one hand, she was angry and frightened that she was out here in the Forbidden forest with only the guard and two people clearly angry at her. On the other hand, she had a significant part in this and their new teacher thought highly of her. She would not betray that trust. She felt a warm glow of pride as she thought of making herself useful. Maybe she, Harry and Ron would be friends again after this.
Kakashi nonchalantly squashed a beetle the size of his ANBU mask underfoot while looking for clearings in which to pitch their tents. It was dark in the Forbidden forest and full of suspicious noises, well, suspicious to Ron, though Kakashi himself wasn't too worried. After all, this place had nothing on the Forest of Death.
After three hours, Kakashi made them stop in a clearing right next to a river and a cliff face. It was a natural defense. The cliff face would be protecting their backs and the river to their front would delay their opponents long enough for Kakashi to Raikiri them to hell if necessary. He could clearly see some fish in the water and he smirked to himself as he said aloud. "One source of food down. We won't lack for fish for lunch." He could also see some snails in here, but he was fairly sure that Ron wouldn't want to eat them.
He helped the trio set up camp, double checking their current fortifications and setting up a rudimentary fire pit for cooking. After that, he sent them to find firewood with a Nin-dog each. If anything went wrong, he'd be right there to get them out of trouble. He had warned them to find wood that would not send out much smoke in the air, but in a pinch any kind of wood would do.
After getting firewood (Ron asked plaintively where they were going to get lunch), the guard smiled behind his mask and said in an amiable tone. "We're going fishing for lunch." He seemed relaxed, and the trio felt quite safe.
However, the guard added to his words as he threw three kunais to their feet. "Take these, just in case. Find a way to catch fish, and if you don't catch fish by the end of…let's say...three hours I suppose you'll have to go hungry."
Ron looked at him with hints of annoyance before stomping off to find a stick and some string to make a fishing rod with. Harry stared at the kunai, before hiding it in his cloak before going after Ron.
Hermione however, thought the better of it and like Harry, stashed the kunai away but then she took out her wand and keeping it in hand, decided to try and get the fish in the river with magic.
While she was doing so, the guard simply reached in with lightning reflexes and managed to snare two fat fish, still wriggling as they tried to escape his grip. Kakashi conjured up a cauldron, filled it with water and put the fish in. There was no sense in killing the fish now when they could do it later. As an afterthought, he took out a small piece of bread from his back pocket and crumbled it to feed the fish.
Pointing her wand at a nice fat silver bass, she tried to concentrate on what possible spell to use to get the fish out of the water. After a moment, she pointed her wand at the bas and spoke.
"Expiscor."
The bass flew straight of the water, landing on the river bank, twitching in its death throes. Hermione gave a relived grin and pocketed her wand for now, gingerly picking up the fish by the tail before putting it away in a water-filled cauldron the guard suddenly conjured along with two other fish. After all, if the boys weren't able to catch any fish, she might as well get some for them in case the guard didn't fell like sharing.
A while later, Ron and Harry came back, holding two rather scraggly fishing rods. Trailing from the ends was a string of twine, apparently found in the pack. Harry was the one holding the squirming insects; Ron had been too disgusted to hold the worms. After all, there had been a spider nearby and Ron didn't look too happy even after escaping it.
Ron and Harry impaled two worms to their primitive fishing rods by the means of a hook found in their bags. One hour later, they each had one fish to themselves, and their future for assured a fact of which Ron was obscenely proud, since he had caught the biggest fish. Harry smiled.
A while later, they each had a stewed fish of their own to eat. The guard's extra fish had been used to feed the dogs the guard apparently owned and soon the guard hand decided to set up the guard roster.
"I will go first, and then I will wake Ron up. Ron will wake Harry up after a few hours and after Harry's turn it will be Hermione's. Should any emergency arise, wake me up, or send word with my dogs."