Chapter 13: An Unexpected Friendship
Naruto wakes up after meeting the nine tails in his mindscape and learning the truth about why he's hated back home. At first he wants to finally tell his friends the truth about himself, but then he thinks for a moment about the timing of this revelation. He decides to hold off telling the actual truth to them for right now, as they are still focused on why Snape was jinxing Harry's broom and why he was trying to get past the three headed dog during Halloween. The boy gets out of bed and dresses for class. He gets out of the dorm and see's Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Morning guys!" Naruto greets the three. They soon greet Naruto, and the four head off to the Great Hall for breakfast before going to their classes.
Great Hall- Lunch Time
It was around lunch time, the four young wizards were in the Great Hall discussing something about their plan to talk to Hagrid about Snape. "Hey Naruto, so we're going to head to Hagrid's hut to talk about what happened this afternoon. Want to come?" Hermione asked. Naruto nods and is about to say more, when he hears a commotion. The four turned to see what was going on, and it was Draco Malfoy and his cronies harassing someone around the Slytherin table. That someone appears to be Daphne Greengrass. From what it looks like, she wasn't enjoying being around Malfoy and his posse. The squad frowned at what was going on, but what happened next will shock them.
"It would be wise to get your hands off me Malfoy," Greengrass said coldly. Malfoy smirks, "C'mon surely you wouldn't mind being with your fellow Slytherins no? After all, we are living in the same house," Malfoy said smugly as his posse agreed with him wholeheartedly. "Just because we belong in the same house doesn't make us friends, leave me alone or else…" she threatens. Malfoy scoffs, "Or else what-" he was about to finish until all of a sudden, a fist locked on to his jaw. Malfoy rubs his jaw in pain and looks to see who hit him, when it was actually Naruto who did that. Everybody in the Great Hall was watching what was going on. Naruto looks at Malfoy in disgust, "you bully people from other houses and you bully your own housemates for not agreeing with you. Have you ever learned to take a hint?" Naruto said to the boy in venom. Malfoy seethes at the boy, "Uzumaki! You'll pay for this!" he lashes out. "I like to see you try" Naruto said in response as he positions himself in a fighting stance ready to fight.
As everybody watches, Hermione tries intervening to stop the fight, with Daphne trying to do the same. But before the fight was about to begin, Professor Snape came to stop the fight. "What is going on here?" Snape demands as he looks at the students. Malfoy being the coward he is decides to say, "It was Naruto and Daphne! They tried to fight me!" Naruto was furious and wanted to get his hands on the boy, "What?! There's no way in hell I would do that-" he ranted, and as he wanted to say more a hand grabbed his shoulder. He looks to see it was Daphne who looks at him to be quiet. "My apologies for the situation, I was being harassed by Malfoy and his cronies. If it weren't for Naruto intervening, I would've been the one starting the fight, so punish me not him" she said while Naruto looks at her in shock for defending him. Snape looks at her with a raised eyebrow "Hmmm… very well then, five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Let this be a lesson Mr. Uzumaki and Ms. Greengrass the next time you start a fight. Mr. Malfoy detention in my office this afternoon" Snape declared. As Snape walks away, Malfoy and his posse look at the two in anger, in response Naruto flips the bird on them as he and Greengrass walk away.
As everything went back to normal at the great hall, the Gryffindor table was talking about what happened. "There's no way Naruto would go up and defend a Slytherin from Malfoy let alone someone like her," Ron said. "Oh stop it Ron! I'm sure Naruto had his reasons… I think" Hermione said. "Come on let's leave Naruto alone with her while we head on to Hagrid's" Harry said as he and his friends went to the hut.
With Naruto and Daphne
Naruto and Daphne were walking around trying to get away from Malfoy and his crew. It was rather awkward between the two as they haven't interacted with each other as much. Daphne breaks the silence, "Why did you do it?" she asked. Naruto was oblivious to the question, "why do what?" Daphne elaborates, "Why did you help me out back there? You could have minded your own business back there and left me alone to deal with the situation, so once again I ask why did you help me out?" Naruto looked at her and then replied, "I don't know to be honest." She looks at the boy as if he grew a second head, "What do you mean you don't know?! You must've at least had a reason to help" she nearly shouted. Naruto only smiled, "Maybe you're right… I could've had a reason or maybe I just don't like bullies," he said.
The two found somewhere to sit down as Naruto explains further. "Growing up as a kid, I was treated badly by the people from my old home for something out of my control. I was bullied endlessly and mocked for having my own dreams and ambitions. It was somewhere around my childhood where I saw a girl my age getting bullied by some people who were treating her for being different and I just couldn't let that happen. I stepped in even though I knew I'll get my ass beat."
As Naruto explained further, Daphne listened intently as she realized that the boy had a good heart even though she knew that was rather rare for a person. "Despite everything you've dealt with as a kid, you still haven't broken as a person, which is rather amazing" she stated. Naruto nods, "I mean what's the point, if the people won't accept me for who I am, then they aren't worth trying to find acceptance towards?" he said. The two talked to each other for quite some time as they got to know each other. "You know Uzumaki… you, Potter, and Granger aren't so bad for a couple Gryffindors… it feels rather nice" Greengrass said. "Well my philosophy here is that there aren't good or bad houses, it's just the people that define who they are" Naruto stated. Daphne looks at him, "Really then? Well I'll keep that in mind then… but thank you for helping me back there." Naruto smiled, "Well if you want we could be friends? I could introduce you to my friends so that way you could see that there aren't bad Gryffindors" he said as he held out his hand. Daphne thinks for a moment and then she accepts, "Alright then I'll take your word for it" she said as she shaked his hands signifying their friendship. For once Daphne smiled a rare smile as she had finally made a new friend. The two left to their respective dorms as they wished each other a nice day.
Gryffindor Common Room- Night Time
It was night time at the Gryffindor common room. As Naruto enters, he sees Hermione waiting for him. "Where were you?" she asked and so Naruto explained the situation. Granger was surprised at first but figured that Naruto had the ability to make friends with the most unlikely people so she accepted his reason. She also explained to Naruto about what happened at Hagrid's hut learning that the three-headed dog's name is Fluffy and someone by the name of Nicholas Flamel is involved in this mess.
