"My word! What on earth happened to you!" Professor McGonogall demanded to Chouji, Shikamaru and Ino as they stepped out of their boat. Both were soaked to the bone. With the exception of Lust and Gluttony, all the newcomers had been given the job of crossing the lake with the first years. Some, like Neji, Tenten and Riza, had done their jobs quite well, and others hadn't.
"She pushed me in," snarled Chouji.
"He pulled me in after him!" whined Ino.
"I fell in after I tried to fish them out," Shikamaru grumbled.
"Something big with long tentacles pushed them out," Asuma added.
"Never mind that," McGonogall dried them off with a spell. "All Konohans, Sunagakureans and Amsterians to the back of the line! Homunculi, you stay at the front with me. All first years line up single-file and follow me!" Everyone scrambled to follow the commands of the no-nonsense headmistress. "Everything under control, Hagrid?"
"Yes ma'am," Hagrid called, tying up the boats.
"Good! Everybody, follow me!" McGonogall started off towards the castle with a small parade following her. She led the students, ninja, Amsterians and homunculi into the colossal building, stopping once they reached the Great Hall. It was crowded once more. It seemed that every student had returned. McGonogall went up to the microphone to deliver her message. "Welcome to another year of Hogwarts. The sorting will now begin. Will the Amsterians, homunculi, Sunagakureans and Konohans step aside for just a moment. The First Years will stand in front of the stool. When your name is called, please sit on it and put on the hat."
"Ahem!" the hat cleared its throat.
"Oh, right. The hat has a poem to deliver."
"A thousand years I have lived
Millions of things I have seen
The joy of peace I have known
And the ugliness that warfare brings.
The evil we face now brings fear
But it has brought together friends
Allies that were once strangers
Will now together defend
We are from separate worlds
Now we battle as one
We must join forces and armsAnd be brave until the villains are gone
Things will not be easy
The road is drab from now on
Nevertheless, do not give up
Remember, it's darkest before dawn
We must not dawdle
Time we have not much
We must go and save the worlds
From this foul, evil touch
So fearlessly go forth together
Go as one and fight
Do not waste by arguing
Or it'll be too late for what's right."
The Great Hall erupted into applause. When they finally calmed down, McGonogall had the first years sorted. She gave a short speech, introduced the new teachers, and dinner started. But the ninja, Amsterians and homunculi remained standing, looking rather awkward. All eyes lingered on them, even though delicious-smelling food had popped up on the tables.
"I want any human 15 and under to come forward," she announced. She counted all of them. "Okay, Alphonse, you can go back. You too, Winry. Don't worry, you won't have to be a guard. The rest of you write your names down."
McGonogall swished her wand. Pieces of paper and quills floated in front of each child. They took them uncertainly, following her instruction. McGonogall summoned up four pieces of paper and a quill for herself, and wrote the names of each house on a parchment. When they were done, she took the Sorting Hat and turned it around. She put each of the articles with the house names in, and passed it around, collecting the names. When it was passed back, she held onto the mouth and swished it madly. After thirty seconds of that, McGonogall set the hat back down on the bench, except on its side. The Hall watched expectantly. After a few seconds, the hat gave a great wheeze.
"Gryffendor!" it called out, and the paper with the name written on propelled out of the end. It exploded into fireworks that spelled the word, just as its successors would. "Hinata Hyuga! Sasuke Uchiha! Kankurou of the Sand! Neji Hyuga!" The Gryffendor table burst into applause.
"That is the house you will be guarding. I will give you more information after dinner. Please go take a seat." McGonogall instructed them. The Genin marched over and seated. Hinata sort of hid herself between Hermione and Ginny, trying to avoid Neji's gaze.
"Ravenclaw! Shino Aburame! Tenten! Gaara of the Sand! Shikamaru Nara!" Gaara plunked himself down beside Luna, shoving aside a shocked student who was always rude to Luna. When the student tried to protest, Gaara gave him a sharp glare to let him know who was boss.
"Hufflepuff! Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru! Rock Lee! Sakura Haruno! Chouji Akimichi!"
Chouji bounced over to the table, starting his dinner as soon as he sat down.
"Slytherin! Naruto Uzumaki! Temari of the Sand! Ino Yamanaka! Edward Elric!"
Ino shrieked in glee, practically Apparating to a spot beside Draco Malfoy. Edward couldn't help but notice that they didn't look too friendly. Temari could hear snippets of whispered conversation, containing the words "dirt" and "muggles". The rest of the ninjas, Amsterians and homunculi were invited over to the teachers' table. Dinnertime flew by, especially for Chouji, who was quite enjoying the food there. Finally, the dishes were cleared. Attention was directed back to the front.
"Are we going to sing the Hogwarts song?" asked a student.
"No. It has been a long day. The prefects will now take you to your rooms. Will the guards please come here? The teachers and I want to talk to all of you."
When the doors of the Great Hall slammed shut, McGonogall looked at everyone sternly.
"These are the people you will be guarding. Their parents have entrusted them in your care. What we face is not something to be taken lightly. Before I begin telling you of your duties, do you have any questions?"
"What if Scar comes back? We're just kids. We can't beat him!" Naruto yelled.
"I will address that issue later. I would like the children to move aside for a moment. I will now divide the remaining adults in three groups." McGonogall counted them, and then wrote on a piece of parchment. "Okay, listen carefully! Shift 1, line up over there to my right, Shift 2, line up here, and Shift 3, line up there to the left when I call your names!"
The military and ninjas saluted here.
"Shift 1! Alex Louis Armstrong! Kakashi Hatake! Asuma Sarutobi! Ibiki Morino! Alphonse Elric! Riza Hawkeye!" The assortment of guards rushed over to form a line.
"Shift 2! Iruka Umino! Anko Mitarashi! Vato Falman! Roy Mustang! Jean Havoc! Jiraiya!" They formed another line. Jiraiya looked around, disappointed that the number of beautiful women legal for him to flirt with was very few.
"Shift 3! Maes Hughes! Maito Gai! Hayate Gekko! Kurenai Yūhi! Kain Fuery! Heymans Breda!" They owner of the names followed the last line. Rose was still left, and she stood there rather uncomfortably, waiting.
"Rose and Winry, you will not be guarding the school. I know that you are only innocent citizens of Amsteris. You will be under my protection." McGonogall now turned to the homunculi. "Gluttony, Lust has requested that you be her assistant. Now, as for the rest of you… Mr. Filch, do you still require an assistant?"
"Always!" the caretaker replied gruffly.
"Good. Envy, you will be Mr. Filch's assistant. Sloth, you can be my assistant. And Wrath… Hagrid, will you make Wrath your assistant?"
"Sure," the groundskeeper replied.
"Fine. The Dark Lord has grown stronger, and gained allies. Dangerous allies. No one is safe, not even you, the guards. For increased safety, I'm putting all of you on the buddy system."
"The what?" Edward asked.
"All of you- even the adults- will choose a partner from their group. You will be doing your patrols together. I would like you to choose your partner before we go any further."
"Hey, bean sprout, wanna be partners?" Temari elbowed Ed.
"Don't call me short!" Ed snarled. "Why the hell would I wanna be partners with you?"
"Look at your other options," Temari pointed out. Naruto was exploring the interior of his nose, and Ino was trying to get Kankurou to switch partners. Ed quickly agreed.
"Let's be partners, Hinata-sama," Neji requested of his cousin.
"Um… if it's okay with you… I'd rather…"
"Kankurou and Sasuke already partnered up," Neji informed her. Hinata looked around hopelessly, confirming the truth in his words. She reluctantly complied.
"I'll be your partner, Mustang-kun!" Anko announced. Much to Riza's displeasure, Roy complied.
"Riza? Would you like to be my partner?" Ibiki asked.
"Fine," shrugged Riza. And so, after five very noisy minutes, everyone had formed teams of two.
"The people who will be guarding the houses will be keeping guard the whole day. Some will patrol on even days, and some, on odd. You will be staying up all night, and the next day, you will sleep while the other team patrols. The teachers and prefects of the houses will be patrolling the corridors, so you needn't worry about that. We will start tomorrow. You can discuss who patrols on which days later, with the others in your group." McGonogall continued. "Shift 1 will be patrolling the outside from 11 p.m.to 7 a.m. Shift 2: 7 a.m.to 3 p.m. Shift 3: 3 p.m.to 11 p.m. Stay with your partners. Teams should try to spread out and cover the whole grounds, except the forest. You start tomorrow as well. Any questions?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Good. The heads of the houses will take their guards to the common rooms. I will show the rest of you the rooms you will be staying in for the duration of your visit here. I appreciate your cooperation. See you tomorrow." McGonogall saluted everyone, and they saluted her back.
They went their separate ways in the hallway. McGonogall led the adults to a different part of the school, where she had the House Elves prepare beds, closets, and other assorted necessities. They passed talking paintings, moving armor, and ghosts. The Bloody Baron passed particularly close to Riza, nearly giving her a heart attack.
"Weird," she commented to Jean. "I thought I just saw Fuhrer King Bradley."
