Remus and Naruto

Disclaimer: None of these cut scenes 'officially' happen in the Connections series, so they may contradict what the original story shows.

"Valley of the Windswept Fields" was not the most exciting of paintings in Hogwart's illustrious collection, but it would always hold a certain sentimental value to Remus. The painting was animated like all of Hogwarts works, but instead of colorful characters or playful fruit, it was only a landscape. And a simple landscape. No raging storms in the background or dramatic waterfall. Just a field of tall grass, with a tree in the distance and a sky full of fluffy white clouds. It was peaceful but utterly forgettable and usually ignored by all of the students as they rushed in and out of the main doors. Remus really only knew it because Sirius had been intrinsically incapable of being on time for anything and this corridor had always been a good, out of the way place to wait. Remus had spent a number of mornings, afternoons and evenings waiting awkwardly in that hallway, trying to pretend that that wasn't what he was doing and staring moodily at the only painting around in a rather sad attempt to appear aloft and sophisticate and not as lonely and clingy as he felt.

Ah, to be a teenager.

Now Remus admired the painting as an adult. It really was well done. The simple subject matter left little room for error. Even the breeze and dappled sunlight was consistent. Dumbledore's special guest this year was late. At this rate, they would either have to interrupt the opening feast or wait until afterward to introduce him. Neither was an ideal situation considering the unusual set up for this year. Remus wasn't any more responsible for this tardiness than he had been for Sirius's complete lack of regard for timelines, but that didn't stop Remus from feeling responsible. Dumbledore had asked him to help get their visitors settled, since he was one of the few people who had actually interacted with them. It maybe wasn't the best use of Remus's skills, but it certainly beat the usual tasks he was sent out on by the Order. Hogwarts would always be a bittersweet place for him, but always one he'd jump at the chance to revisit.

"Hi!" a happy and very loud voice called out to him from halfway down the hall and Remus's hand automatically dropped to his want. Hogwarts was a cavern of secret passageways, Remus well knew that, but he had been certain he was in this corridor alone. All of the students had used the main hall to enter and should already be taking their seats for the feast. There shouldn't be any of them wandering the halls, and certainly not one of their special new guests.

Remus didn't flush or curse but he dropped his hand away from his wand quickly and with a sick feeling in his gut. He was embarrassed to have been so careless as to both let someone sneak up on him and also to have almost drawn his wand on a student. Even if Remus wasn't a teacher anymore, it was one of the few roles in his life that had felt like it was what he was meant to do and he liked to think he still carried a bit of that with him even when he wasn't at Hogwarts.

The boy in front of him didn't seem to notice. He was grinning brightly, rocking back and forth on his heels and looking quite pleased with himself and the rest of the world.

It was the look of a troublemaker if Remus had ever seen one.

It wasn't his place to police the pupils of Hogwarts any more, much less this odd boy from such a foreign place, but he also didn't want one of Harry's new friends to be lost. Harry had been so excited about them. "Hello," he replied back as politely and in as neutral a tone as he could manage. "Shouldn't you be in with the other students?"

"Oh, I am," the boy replied. "What are you doing?" he asked back with such open curiosity that it was more charming than impudent. But maybe that was just the impression of one old troublemaker of a new one.

Remus smiled. Harry did normally have good taste in friends. "I'm waiting for your teacher."

The boy exclaimed something sharp and not in English. "Kakashi-sensei isn't here either? Bah! He's always late. We've been wondering where he'd wandered off to this time."

Remus frowned. That – was a bit not good. Part of the arrangement for having these strangers accompany Harry was to build better ties with Konoha but also to provide extra security for the students. If this man couldn't manage getting from the train to here without getting into trouble, then he might prove more of a hindrance than a help. They did not need any more dead weight in the teaching staff. Not now. Not considering everything that had happened last year and what they all knew was coming all too soon.

"Do you think he might be lost?"

The boy's laughter surprised Remus. "Kakashi-sensei? Lost? Don't let him sell you that crap, Mr. Remus. He's a liar and full of shit."

Well. Remus wasn't sure if he should be encouraged by that or not. He settled on a far more impartial, if somewhat sarcastic, reply. "Your English is progressing well, I see." Harry had explained some of the theory behind the spell, or jutsu as they called it. While it sounded much more tedious than the methods he had used when traveling aboard, it certainly did seem to give the user a much more native – and colorful – tone.

"Thanks!" the boy replied, seeming to miss all of the subtle criticism of Remus's statement. Poor Minerva was going to have a difficult time with this one. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" the boy announced suddenly as if they had never met.

And maybe Remus didn't remember exactly what the boy's name was, but they had talked before and under somewhat memorable conditions. "We have met, you know," he tried pointing out gently. "I'm Remus Lupin, I came to find Harry?"

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, I know," he explained. "But I wanted to make sure you knew my name, so don't forget it, yeah?"

Remus certain wasn't likely to now. "I won't," he promised.

"Great! I'm gonna go now, bye. I'll tell Harry you said hi. He likes you a lot."

This time Remus did flush, just a little. Such an announcement was a bit more blunt than he was used to but it was also nice. "Thank you," he managed. "By the way, the hall is that way," he pointed out, gesturing the opposite direction than the one Naruto was heading in.

"I know!" Naruto called out cheerfully before disappearing around the corner and in the wrong direction.

Remus sighed. It was going to be another interesting year.