Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto or Harry Potter. If we did, HP would have ninja. Because ninja make everything that much cooler. Aurors would also wear ANBU-y uniforms, because the sexiness factor just makes it that much better. Although, can you imagine Mad-Eye in an ANBU uniform? Yes? So can we. All too well.

Moving on.

Authors' Notes: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! You made us squiggle happily and squeal like the fangirls we are. And many, many thanks to our lovely beta Phoenix of Eternity, who has put up with way too many crazy ideas and "Uh…maybe?" answers to count. Finally, special thanks to UE, who broke the 100-review barrier. Because we, like Naruto, like surprises, we're giving UE the special surprise of a drabble of her choice from either of us. Contact us by livejournal (links in our user profiles) for more information and to place your request, UE.

A note on pairings and the like. We really appreciate all the support we've been getting for this being a genfic (rawr, genfic!). But we do like us some pairings, and while they aren't a focus, we'll probably be dropping hints to pairings we enjoy. Whether anything comes of these or not, we'll have fun letting you guys try to pick our brains and find the various couples.

Furthermore, Kilerkki has noticed that she's had a lot more publicity from this story, and she thanks you all. However, remember that link no miko is doing just as much (maybe more?) of the work, and that Kilerkki is a huge fan of hers. Check out her stuff as well!

That said, thank you all so much for your support, and we hope we don't disappoint!

Masks and Shadows

Chapter Five:

In Which Harry Gets a Shock and Everyone Gets Some Answers

Naruto swore that the room hadn't been there when he patrolled this area two nights ago, but there it was: dark, gloomy, and damp, but surprisingly clean, off a narrow corridor on the seventh floor. Neji picked his way between various torture implements, ANBU mask firmly in place as he lined up with Naruto and the four Heads of Houses. Sitting before them, strapped to a chair, was the young ninja Naruto had just captured a few hours earlier.

"Severus, if you please," McGonagall said, and the severe-looking, dark-haired man stepped forward, holding his wand out and saying something in a language Neji had never heard. In the chair, the missing-nin stirred groggily.

"We're lucky he didn't kill all of the intruders," Snape said darkly, glaring at Naruto, and Neji's eyes narrowed beneath the mask. He didn't appreciate the way the teacher talked, but he had to agree—Naruto had gone rather overboard according to the rules of this place. The point was to fit in as much as possible and finish their mission as quickly as they could, not to cause problems.

Besides, Neji could have done the job quicker and quieter than his blond teammate any day.

The prisoner stirred again, and Neji went to take a step toward him when McGonagall stopped him, a hand on his shoulder. Neji shook off the contact and turned tolook at the elderly witch, displeasure radiating off him in waves.

"What?"

Her lips were pursed tightly together. "You will let us handle this."

"Why?"

McGonagall's lips tightened as she shot a glare at Naruto. "Because your methods leave much to be desired. And while we have hired you for protection, this is still our school…" The rest of what she said turned into a mass of large words to Neji. He thought he heard the word for "responsible," but wasn't quite sure. As it was, the first half of the sentence took a few moments to translate. Unlike Dumbledore, she did not speak slowly or concisely.

"How will you learn from him?" Neji finally asked, arms folded over his chest. "He is trained not to talk. You will learn no things."

The elderly witch looked back at the other teachers with her; the short one named Flitwick shook his head helplessly while the plump Sprout bit her bottom lip. Only Snape kept a neutral expression. Finally McGonagall seemed to come to a decision and turned back to Neji.

"We will use—"

Neji blinked, the unfamiliar word echoing in his mind. Veriterism? Baseritism? He had no idea what it was or why the two genial-looking teachers cast disapproving glances at each other, but he didn't believe for a moment it would work.

"But Minerva," Sprout said, taking a step forward, "without Albus here—"

"I will take full responsibility for its use," McGonagall said over top of the plump witch's words, staring straight at Snape. Neji realized he was right to think she'd used that term earlier. "As Deputy Headmistress, I have that right."

Snape nodded and turned, leaving the room quickly. As the door shut behind him, Neji shook his head and McGonagall cast him a scathing glance. "You disapprove?"

"It will not work. You do not know ninja. We do. We know how to asking the questions."

McGonagall bristled. "While you are within this castle, you will follow the rules we have set down."

"Rules do not help with this."

"Minerva," Flitwick began, but she held up a hand, gaze trying to bore a hole in Neji's mask.

"You will follow our rules. If, for some reason, the--" she said the word again, and once again Neji could not understand it, "doesn't work, then we will allow you the chance to question the prisoner. If, and only if, it does not work."

Neji turned his head slightly see what Naruto thought, but the blond just shook his head slowly. More than likely he had understood none of what McGonagall had said. Sighing in frustration that he was stuck in such a place, Neji finally nodded.

"I agree."

McGonagall nodded curtly, the matter settled, and they waited until the door to the room opened and the black-haired teacher entered, pulling a vial from his robes and handing it to McGonagall. Neji pulled short, watching quietly. Naruto, on the other hand, was not so quiet.

"What that?"

Snape rounded on him, expression harsh. "What?"

Naruto pointed to the vial. "What that? No help."

"That," Snape said coldly, "is—"

Neji sighed as the word was used again. The word was hard to pronounce, with nothing like it in his own language to help him make sense of it. He made a mental note to check one of the books Shikamaru was always reading and to see what, exactly, the strange word was.

"What does it do?" Naruto asked, earning the dark-haired teacher's scathing look himself, but it was the tiny teacher—Flitwick, Neji remembered—who answered.

"It makes someone always tell the truth. They can't hide any of their thoughts."

As the words registered, Neji's eyes narrowed and he cast a glare at McGonagall. Well that was a rather stupid tactic. Did the woman actually think that would work? All ninja were trained to conceal their thoughts and objectives. How could one little vial of a drink with an impossible name destroy years of training? Neji was right when he'd told her they didn't understand the nature of ninja.

"It won't work," he said calmly, nodding towards the missing-nin as the teachers all looked at him incredulously. "They trained to hide thoughts." Although, guessing at this ninja, he could barely be at a chuunin level, but still.

"Regardless," McGonagall began, giving Neji a stern look, "this is how we do things." Neji had trouble following what she said next, but distinctly heard the words "violent ways" and saw her give a nasty look to Naruto. And while he was sure the other ANBU had understood less than him, Neji still noticed the blond man fidget slightly. He'd gotten quite an earful earlier about his "violent ways," and while they hadn't been able to follow that speech either, the elderly woman's tone was enough to let the men know how she felt.

"And even more so, we made an agreement," McGonagall finished, turning from the two ninja.

So Neji watched silently as McGonagall gave the vial back to Snape. He forced a few drops of the liquid down the nin's throat and stepped back, waiting patiently. The young ninja's head lolled to the side and his eyes glassed over as he stared out at the six people before him.

McGonagall took a step forward, robes swishing around her, expression stern. She eyed the prisoner for only a second before breaking directly into her questions, repeating one after the other.

"Who are you? How did you get in here? Who sent you? What were you after?"

Neji tried not to scoff. Not only did he find this to be a pointless interrogation tactic, he highly doubted the man knew enough English to be able to answer. McGonagall was undermining their agreement on her own—she didn't need the strange liquid to help her.

But the man before them shuddered, slack expression tightening for an instant as he fought the effects of the potion before his muscles loosened once again. "Chakra… walls…" he said suddenly, in very broken English. His glassy eyes darkened again though, and he clamped his mouth shut before he could say something else.

"Slower," Neji said suddenly, drawing the elderly witch's attention. "Too many question at once. Hard to understand. Not very good way to ask."

McGonagall bristled slightly but nodded. Turning back to the prisoner, she took a deep breath and tried again.

"Who are you?"

"No, not that. That he won't answer," Neji interrupted again, nodding his masked head towards the prisoner, who was still fighting with the potion. "No ninja will give up his name easy."

The witch paused and then nodded grudgingly. From the way she pursed her lips, though, Neji was sure that while she would agree he was correct on that point, she didn't appreciate his interruptions.

"Who sent you?"

The man groaned, head lolling to the side as his mouth opened and closed silently. "Name… No name… Dark." His eyes darkened again and his expression tightened, but only for a second.

This was not going well. The teachers were becoming frustrated because the liquid didn't seem to be working. The ninja were becoming frustrated because they had known it wouldn't work from the beginning. But McGonagall refused to back down and let Neji take over.

"Were there others with you?"

"Four… Lake…monster…"

Neji raised an eyebrow. It made sense for them to be a four-man team, but what was this about a monster in the lake? From the looks the teachers gave each other though, they seemed to understand perfectly. And so McGonagall pressed on.

"What are you after?"

The man's glassy eyes widened, expression moving between taut and slack so fast Neji thought the man would bite his own tongue off soon. But McGonagall refused to back down, repeating the question over and over again until the man was nearly thrashing in his seat.

"Severus, Filius, please calm him!" The two teachers hurried towards the prisoner, but Naruto and Neji were there first, the blond holding the man from behind, Neji standing before the elder witch.

"Our turn now."

"But…"

Neji shook his head. "We make agreement. Your way not working. Our turn now."

McGonagall stared at him, lips pursed tightly, but after a few moments she held out a hand and Snape and Flitwick stopped where they were.

"Very well. But I will not condone any act of violence or torture, and neither does this school."

Neji didn't know exactly what the word "condone" meant, but could take a good enough guess. The Hyuuga nodded politely and turned back to the prisoner. As much as these wizard people might hope, no liquid was going to make interrogation of a ninja work. It took another ninja, one who knew the way they thought, who knew what drove them, to break their will.

Neji was ANBU. Best of the best, one of the elite ninja of Konohagakure no Sato.

He knew exactly how to break another ninja's will, and he wasn't going to let these civilians' sensibilities stop him.

It only took a few minutes for McGonagall to call a halt, her voice rough and coarse as she yelled. Neji paused, looking over his shoulder. The prisoner stopped screaming as his torturer's attention was drawn away, and Neji saw the plump witch shudder uncontrollably. Beside her, Flitwick patted her hand gently before leading her out of the room.

"Stop this at once!"

Neji saw Naruto's head tilt out of the corner of his eye, but ignored the blond ninja. He'd explain what was going on later.

"We made agreement."

McGonagall glared at him, although behind her, Snape nodded. "I also said that I will not condone torture!"

"What did you think we would do? Ask questions when we get no answer?"

"Yes!"

Neji stared at her, the prisoner all but forgotten for the moment. Across from him, McGonagall had pulled out her wand, the tip pointed straight at Neji's heart. He knew she would do nothing serious against him—her displeasure at what Neji was doing was enough proof of that—but he knew enough to be wary. He took a step away from the prisoner, intending to make his position perfectly clear, but Snape chose that moment to step forward, placing a hand on the witch's shoulder. Leaning down, he spoke softly and quietly, and Neji bristled that he could follow none of it.

When Snape pulled away though, McGonagall lowered her hand, although she continued to glare, not only at Neji, but at Snape as well. However, the fight seemed to have drained from her and she turned sharply on her heel, sparing only a quick glance back before she reached the door.

"Professor Snape has agreed to watch over the questioning," her eyes narrowed, "and to make sure you do nothing more than you need to. However," and she shot Neji a look that promised severe repercussions, "you, the Headmaster, and I will be discussing this later."

The door slammed shut loudly behind her, and Naruto flinched. Neji gave Snape a look from beneath the mask, but the black-haired teacher simply leaned against the wall, expression as neutral as ever.

Behind him, the prisoner groaned softly, and Neji returned his attention to his task.

When it was over, when the missing-nin's screams had finally stopped and he lay slumped in his chair, unconscious, only then did Neji allow himself a smile beneath the mask. Behind the chair, Naruto backed away, no longer needed to help hold the prisoner down. Behind Neji, Snape pulled away from the wall and opened the door, waiting for the two ANBU to leave. His expression gave away nothing as Neji and Naruto passed, but his eyes gave off an uneasy feeling.

But Neji didn't care. They'd found their answer in the man's last breath before he'd passed out. Found out exactly what these ninja had been sent for.

Bijuu.

-

Shikamaru was waiting in their rooms, flipping through the book Dumbledore had let him borrow when Neji and Naruto returned. He glanced up at them but said nothing, giving no second thought to the small splatters of blood in Naruto's hair or on Neji's hands.

"Long night?" Shikamaru asked casually as Naruto pulled his Toad mask off and hung it on the hook before collapsing in a chair. Neji nodded before removing his own mask and heading towards the bathroom. The gurgle of running water reached the other two ninja a few seconds later.

When Neji finished, walking out and drying his hands on a towel, Shikamaru set the book down. It was hard reading, but he'd managed to get through a small chunk of pages over the night. Unfortunately, he still hadn't found out anything that might give him a clue to what the bijuu was or where it was sealed.

"What'd you guys find out?"

"I got in a fight with three ninja. Killed two of 'em and captured the third," Naruto said simply as Neji sat down. "We just got done interrogating him."

"And?"

"None of them had hitai-ate, but one of them used a Doton jutsu, so I'm guessing they might be missing-nin from Stone." Naruto hurried on when Shikamaru just kept staring at him. "Oh! And uh, I got yelled at for making a mess and had to dispose of the bodies. That McGonagall lady is really mean when she wants to be."

Shikamaru sighed. "No, I meant, what did you learn from the captured ninja?"

"We found out some rather interesting things, actually, once the civilians allowed us to take over," Neji said from his place across from Naruto. "They're after the bijuu as well."

"Figures," Shikamaru muttered, leaning forward, fingers steepled together. "We already suspected as such. What else did you learn?"

"There's a monster in the lake," Naruto supplied, his voice slurred and half-asleep. Neji and Shikamaru gave him the look they reserved for when he said something stupid. Although in this case, Shikamaru had to admit to himself, knowing there was something in the lake was rather helpful.

"Only three managed to reach the castle—their fourth man was eaten, apparently," Neji continued. "McGonagall never bothered to ask, but I found out they broke through the protections using translocation. After that, wall-climbing through use of chakra allowed them to enter through a window."

"Where, I take it, they met up with Naruto." Shikamaru smirked. "Poor them. What else did you learn?"

Neji frowned slightly. "Not much else. The man was sent, obviously. Described his boss as having no name but as being 'dark'."

"Which leaves us with nothing, really." Shikamaru sighed and resisted the urge to rub his temples. Why could things never be simple? "This is a pain in the ass."

"Regardless, if the enemy ninja are already attacking this soon after our arrival…"

Shikamaru nodded. "I know, I know. Dammit. There's nothing for it but to keep an extra sharp eye out. Until I can figure out exactly where the bijuu is, there's not much we can do besides guard the castle."

Neji nodded and leaned back. His eyes darted around the room before resting on Shikamaru again. "Where's Hinata-sama?"

"Sleeping."

"We should let her know what we've found out." Neji stood. "I'll be back."

Shikamaru watched the older Hyuuga leave and leaned back in his chair. Across from him, Naruto's head was lolling to the side and his eyes were almost completely closed.

Sighing, the genius ninja picked up the ancient book and flipped to where he'd ended. He'd read a few more pages and allow himself a nap.

Yes, a nap sounded very good right now, and Naruto's snores weren't helping matters any.

Grumbling to himself, Shikamaru chucked a throw pillow at Naruto's head, smiling slightly when the blond ninja let out a muffled gasp. If only it was that easy to translate the damn book, they'd have finished their mission and been home by now.

-

Harry and Ron followed an almost bouncy Hermione to the library after dinner Thursday night, giving each other long-suffering glances along the way. Sure, Harry wanted to find out as much about those strange guards as she did, but…to be that happy about it?

"Sometimes, you just have to smile and nod," Ron had said earlier at dinner, when she'd announced they'd all be marching off to the Foreign Language section after eating. Harry just gave his best friend an incredulous look and Ron's ears had turned pink. "What? It's true."

"And when you start following it, I'll be sure to believe you," Harry'd said, making Ron's ears turn a darker shade. While Ron was a great friend, he tended to have a nastily obstinate streak, especially where Hermione was concerned. Harry suspected that it would take at least two rows before there would be any smiling and nodding, and that was being generous.

He couldn't deny that the trip to the library was needed, though. After their encounter with the blond guard last night, and once she'd calmed down some, Hermione had let them know she'd figured out the language the names were written in. Her previous foray into the library the other day, after Harry's encounter with Deer, had led to nothing—without knowledge of the language, she had no idea where to look.

"This is going to be boring, isn't it," Ron muttered sourly, earning himself a Look from Hermione. Harry grinned until she turned it on him.

"I'd ask you to take this seriously, but seeing who I'm talking to, I'd think it was a waste of breath."

"C'mon, Hermione, I was only joking." Ron leaned in towards Harry, voice low. "Except for the boring part."

"I heard that."

The library was as dull and mind numbing as ever, Harry thought sourly as Hermione led them towards the Foreign Language section. Once there, she pointed them in the direction of certain books, grabbing some herself and finding them a spot on a small circular table. When she was settled, she pulled out her paper with the carefully copied names and set it beside her.

"So," Ron asked as he sat down, dropping two books onto the table before him, "what're we looking for again?"

"We're looking for Japanese," she said simply, already poring through a book. Ron sighed and gave Harry a pleading look, but the other boy just shook his head and set his own books down, opening the one on the top and beginning to browse.

He wasn't far along when he was stopped by Hermione's frustrated growl.

"What's wrong?"

"There are three alphabets," she said quickly, not lifting her head to look at them. Ron groaned. "We'll just have to figure out which one these are written in, first."

"Why in blazes would someone need three alphabets? That's rather daft, isn't it?"

"Complaining about it won't make this any easier, Ron." Hermione sighed and then looked up, dragging the paper she'd written on towards the boys. "Here, help me figure out which one these are written in."

Harry bit back a sigh and did as she told, looking between the chart of the three alphabets in his book and her handwriting. But even though she'd written the words carefully, he was still having difficulties comparing.

"This isn't going to work, sorry, Hermione," he said, reaching into his pocket. Next to him, Ron looked around, making sure no one was coming, then nodded his head. With a tap of his wand and a hastily whispered "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," all three of them leaned over to watch as the Marauder's Map magically appeared on the parchment.

"Okay, now we just have to find one of them," Harry muttered, scanning the small labeled dots for the strange characters. He checked the room on the third floor first, but it was empty. Naturally.

"Oh, here's one," Ron said happily, pointing. Two heads swiveled to look where he pointed. "It's not that one that we saw repeated, but it's one of the two matching ones."

Hermione frowned. "Ron, that's right down the hall from…" She stopped, eyes widening, and looked up quickly just as the dot reached a door and walked through it. Without canceling the spell, Harry folded up the map and hid it under one of his books as Professor Hyuuga entered the library, white eyes glowing eerily in the candlelight.

"Hah, I knew it!" Ron whispered triumphantly, earning a glare from Hermione and a kick to the shins from Harry.

The Divination teacher ignored them as he walked up to the counter, setting his books down and saying something quietly to Madam Pince. All three students craned their necks to hear, and Harry nearly fell backwards when Hyuuga turned around sharply, blank eyes looking right at him. Ron and Hermione's faces quickly disappeared into books.

He's as good as Snape is at staring, Harry thought, a chill creeping up his spine. Eventually though, the feel of the black-haired man's eyes went away, and Harry relaxed muscles he hadn't known were tensed.

"…Is he gone yet?" Ron whispered a few moments later, daring to peek over his book.

"Not sure," Harry said, just as quietly, eyes firmly glued to the book before him. "But I don't feel him staring anymore."

"He's back in the Divination section," Hermione whispered. "I can see him through the shelves." The two boys let out long sighs, and Ron dropped his book onto the table. "Ron! Don't mistreat the books!"

Harry tugged the Marauder's Map out quickly, unfolding it just enough so they could see the library. Hermione took the Map, her face so close her nose was touching.

"This first part of his name, I haven't seen it at all in any of these charts, so I'm guessing it's the third alphabet. But after it…" She pulled away and pointed to the first symbol in the second set, keeping her voice as low as she possibly could and still allowing for the boys to hear. "That looks like this alphabet, the katakana one. So try to find these two symbols, okay?"

"But we already know his name," Ron said, eyebrows drawn together. "Neji Hyuuga, remember?"

"I know that," Hermione snapped. "But if I'm right and his name is in katakana, the other names all looked like they were written in the same blocky alphabet. So we can focus our search to just katakana instead of going between the other two."

Harry had to admit she had a point, whether or not Ron looked pleased about it. He had just found the first character (which was indeed ne), when a sound behind him made him jump. Across from him, Hermione had already hidden the Marauder's Map.

"You."

Craning his neck, Harry caught sight of long black hair and white clothes, and his heart sped up. Please don't let him have seen the map…

"Yes?" Hermione answered, voice almost steady.

Hyuuga watched her carefully, as though thinking something over. "I saw you before. In here." His eyes narrowed.

Hermione didn't miss a beat, although her shoulders seemed slightly more tense than normal. "I'm here often, yes."

Harry would have been surprised at the way she seemed to be giving a teacher attitude, but he knew how she felt about all things Divination. He was fighting down a smirk when Hyuuga leaned over, hands slapping hard against the table. Even Harry jumped slightly in his seat. The air around them crackled coldly, and a faint glow outlined the man's hands. Harry barely had time to blink before the glow faded away and something like an electric shock sparked from the table to his hand. From their surprised gasps, he knew the same had happened to Ron and Hermione.

"Spying is not for students," Hyuuga said coldly, blank white eyes seeming to look right through the bushy-haired girl. "Do not do it again."

And as quickly as he'd appeared, he was gone, striding from the library with two books in his arms. Everything was silent but for the harsh rasp of their startled breathing.

Eventually though, Hermione found her voice. "I think we're done here now," she said quickly, chair scraping the floor as she stood and gathered up her books. Madam Pince looked over from her place behind the counter, giving Ron and Harry dirty looks as though they'd been the ones to make the noise. "You can put the other books back; we should be fine with this one."

Harry watched her take her book up to sign out, then helped Ron silently put the other ones away. When they finished, they met with Hermione beside the door and left for the common room.

As Ron gave the password and the Fat Lady opened up for them, Harry knew another trip to Professor Lupin's office was definitely in order.

-

Hinata padded through the halls, following closely behind Naruto as he led her towards the tower she'd been told belonged to the Gryffindor House. She wasn't quite sure why he'd come to grab her from their rooms, but she'd donned her mask and followed him without complaint.

When they finally reached their destination, Hinata looked around, confused. She'd never been to any of the House common rooms, but so far as she could tell, they were in an empty corridor, and she had no idea why Naruto was pointing at a picture of an overweight woman.

"Yes, Naruto-kun? What is it?"

His finger jabbed at the woman in the picture. "That, I need help with that."

Hinata eyed the picture and blinked in shock as the woman tried to swat Naruto's finger away. "N-Naruto-kun…?"

He noticed where she was looking and turned his head, and from the noise he made Hinata could guess he was snarling at the woman from beneath his mask. The overweight woman glared right back at him.

"I told you already," she said in English, "you can't get through without the password."

This time, Naruto's finger did jab the painting, and the woman huffed indignantly. "See? She won't let me through and I have no idea what she's saying!"

Hinata smiled softly behind the mask. "I'm afraid I don't know how to help, Naruto-kun." His face fell and she hurried on to explain. "She's asking for a password, but I don't know it. We'll have to ask McGonagall-san—"

Naruto shook his head emphatically, effectively cutting Hinata off. "Noooo, no no no. No asking her, she's pissed off enough at me and Neji as it is." Neji had explained the torture session to her—or at least, told her all the important details (she'd pieced the rest together with her own knowledge of how Neji dealt with questioning). Hinata wasn't surprised that McGonagall would be angry with the two ANBU.

"Well then, I'm not sure what to do…" She folded her arms beneath her breasts and regarded the painting a moment, then stepped forward and gently pushed Naruto away. "Excuse me," she said in slightly stilted English, "but may we pass?"

The woman gave her a look only slightly less scathing than the one she'd given Naruto. "No."

Hinata sighed. "We really need to get through, I'm afraid." She turned her head towards Naruto and continued in Japanese. "Why do we need to get through?"

"Harry-kun lives in this House and I told him I'd talk to him soon. I have free time now, so why not?"

Hinata was tempted to point out the fact that the sun had long since set and there was no telling whether or not Harry was even still awake, but stopped herself short. Her mission was to find out all she could from the students in the hospital wing, and so far she hadn't been able to find out much. This was a great opportunity to find out things from the most danger-targeted student Hogwarts had to offer.

"Well, if you can't get in the normal way, why not just translocate?" He couldn't see her face, but she knew he could tell she was giving him her You did something without thinking again, didn't you? look. She could always read his body language, just as Neji could always read hers.

"Well…that would make sense…" Naruto muttered quietly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. The overweight lady in the picture kept giving them dirty looks, and Hinata wasn't sure if it was because they were still there, or because they were speaking in another language, or both reasons together.

"Well, here goes!" Naruto began making the seals and Hinata followed suit quickly, and within seconds the world around them warped and blended together, and then suddenly they were standing on the other side of the door and three very surprised adolescents were jumping to their feet, arms outstretched and holding wands. A large cat fell off the lap of the girl and began to hiss and growl.

"Whoa, whoa!" Naruto held up his hands to show he was unarmed, and the dark-haired boy blinked before his eyes widened and he said something to the other two. They gave him odd looks but nodded and lowered the wands they'd been aiming at the two ninja's chests. One of Naruto's hands went up to scratch his hair as Hinata took the time to look around, noting the fireplace and the chairs and couch. She was pleased to note that the only students present were Harry and his friends.

"You… You're the one we saw before!" This time it was the red-haired one speaking, and Hinata glanced over to him quickly. He was pointing a finger at Naruto, and his face seemed to have lit up. Beside him, the bushy-haired girl sighed and rolled her eyes.

Naruto turned to Hinata, and from the way he stood, shoulders angled forward slightly and hands held limply at his sides, she knew he was feeling unsure. And then she realized that, more than helping him to get into the common room, Naruto had needed her help with communicating with the children he'd promised to talk to. While it made the most sense he'd ask her and not their other two companions (Shikamaru would have declined due to laziness and Neji would have declined because he refused to be used like that), Hinata still felt happy Naruto had turned to her.

"Hi," Naruto finally said, his accent thick even to Hinata's ears. "I come. We talk." He glanced over at Hinata and she took a step closer so he could whisper: "You gotta help me, please, because they speak so fast I can't understand a word they say."

Hinata nodded. "Yes, I figured as much." His ears turned the slightest bit pink and she smiled. "What would you like to tell them?"

Movement from the trio caught her attention. The bushy-haired girl was saying something in a hushed tone to the red-haired boy, whose ears turned red. The dark-haired boy she assumed was Harry smirked and nodded at his friends, and then they were both shoving the taller red-head towards the two ninja.

"Um…um…" The boy sent a nasty glance back at his friends, but received no support. If Hinata wasn't so confused she would have smiled. Grumbling under his breath, the boy held out a sheet of paper and what looked like a feather towards Naruto. "Could you sign this please? You know, an--"

Hinata had no idea what an ottograf was, and from the way Naruto's shoulders slumped, he definitely didn't. But she was wary as the boy handed the paper and feather to Naruto, who simply held them.

"Hey," he whispered to her, "what am I supposed to do with it?"

"I think he wants you to sign it," she whispered back, eyes never fully leaving the trio of students. She couldn't understand what these children wanted with Naruto's signature, and from the way they were acting she didn't think it could be for anything good.

"Sign?" He chuckled softly and picked the feather up off the paper. There was a drop of ink where the tip had been setting, and Hinata realized the feather must be a pen of some sort. "I can do that."

Across from them, the bushy-haired girl's eyes shone and Hinata's skin prickled along the back of her neck. The children were definitely up to something.

She turned back to Naruto to warn him and nearly gasped. Naruto had begun to write his actual name, but seemed to have noticed at the same time Hinata did and hurried to scratch it out, replacing it instead with the name "Toad" in very blocky and unsteady English letters. Finished, he nearly shoved the paper and pen into the red-haired boy's hands.

"Eh-heh…"

Hinata sighed quietly and turned her attention back to the three children. They really weren't all that much younger than her—no more than four years, at the most. She still couldn't seem to think of them as anything other than children, though.

"What did you want to ask?"

Harry took another step forward, and while he looked calm, he still held onto his wand. "Who are you guys? You don't act like wizards, you don't use wands, there's nothing about you that fits in with this school." He looked right at Naruto. "You fought those guys like they were nothing."

Hinata swallowed and bit her lip, suddenly understanding exactly what Naruto had meant about how quickly these people spoke. And even though she couldn't see beneath his mask, Hinata knew Naruto was giving her his best pleading look.

"We are guards," she finally said, and from the way the three wizards twitched slightly, she knew they'd been expecting Naruto to speak. "Guards to keep you safe. That is all."

Harry shook his head. "No, that's not all. We know you're guards, but what are you guys?"

Hinata stood firm, although her shoulders tensed slightly. There was no way she could explain to them who and what they were in any other way. Ninja guarded their secrets. "Guards. That is all."

"Then," the bushy-haired girl spoke up, "we'll accept that. But how do you fight without wands? What was that spinning thing Toad made to fight those people?" Naruto fidgeted and Hinata sent him a questioning look.

"Rasengan," he said simply.

"Yes, you said that," the girl continued, "right before you… Well, right before you killed those men. But it's no wizard's spell, not even dark magic."

"You used Rasengan?" Hinata asked her partner, and Naruto shrugged. "Why such a high-level jutsu?"

"Because I was trying to keep these three safe and get rid of the missing-nin as fast as possible. 'Sides, it's my specialty anyway."

"How should I answer them?"

Naruto shrugged. "However you want. I don't have any idea what they asked."

Hinata giggled softly and turned back to the confused-looking trio. "Rasengan is special," she said, changing over to English. "No need to worry." The three wizards cast glances between each other, but before they could ask anything else, Hinata began speaking again. "We have question for you now. Will you answer?"

Harry blinked, obviously taken aback, but the bushy-haired girl nodded that it was okay. "Uh yeah, sure."

Now came the hard part. She needed to know if they'd heard anything about a possible bijuu, but she couldn't ask outright. These children were smart and crafty, she could tell that much. If they suspected the ANBU were there for any other reason…

"Bad things happen here. Has bad things happen here before?"

Harry blinked and turned back to his friends, and it was the girl who answered. "Hogwarts has never been outright attacked like this, no."

Hinata bit her lip, arms folded beneath her breasts. "Like this" implied that Hogwarts could have been attacked in other ways. And if the bijuu was imprisoned on the grounds, could it have been the cause of an attack in previous years?

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked her quietly.

"I think they may have been involved with something about the bijuu… But I don't know how to ask if they have information about it without giving away our mission."

"Well…just ask if they've heard of a strange monster?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, we shouldn't, because then they'll know we're after something else. As far as they know, we're only here as bodyguards…"

Naruto shrugged, the tension in his shoulders loosening, and Hinata suddenly had a bad feeling he was going to do something she might regret. "Don't worry, I can handle it!"

"N-no, that's really not necessary…"

If he wasn't wearing a mask, she'd swear he'd just winked at her.

"Ne," he said, turning his attention back to the trio. "We hear monster here. Where is?"

"Monster?" Now it was the red-haired boy's turn to talk. "There are no monsters at Hogwarts. Well…there was the Basilisk in our second year, but that's dead now. And there's the Giant Squid in the lake, and there's Aragog in the Forbidden Forest."

Hinata didn't know what an Aragog was, and it didn't sound like a bijuu name, but…

"Aragog?" Naruto asked, folding his arms across his chest. "What that?"

The red-haired boy shuddered. "You don't wanna know."

"Why are you looking for a monster?" The bushy-haired girl asked casually. Hinata didn't think the question was casual at all, and was going to answer when Naruto tapped his chest and pulled his shoulders back in what he thought was a macho pose.

"I want fight it!" Naruto said proudly. "Beat it good."

"You want to test yourself against a monster?" Harry asked suspiciously. Hinata didn't blame him.

"Yeah!"

"Capture man said," Hinata interrupted, drawing the trio's attention, "he said there was monster in lake. One of his team got eaten. We worry if we don't know about enemy, we get eaten too."

Harry and the red-haired boy exchanged a look that could almost be sympathy, and the girl made a small "Oh," sound.

"…My way sounded cooler," Naruto grumbled to her, and despite all her training and everything they'd gone through, Hinata started giggling.

"What'd he say?" The red-haired boy asked, confused by her reaction.

"He said his words were better," Hinata supplied, still giggling. "Because he not sound so scared that way." A little white lie wouldn't hurt, especially if it would keep their excuse intact.

Naruto mumbled something under his breath that she didn't quite catch, and then he formed the first seal for the translocation jutsu. "Late now," he said in English, and Hinata recognized it as his way of saying goodbye. "We go."

"Y-yes," Hinata said, bowing her head towards the trio. From the looks they gave her, they weren't quite ready for the ANBU to leave—the girl especially looked like she had many more questions to ask. Hinata, however, was fine with what they'd learned during the short encounter—there was at least one monster in the strange forest.

What kept there from being more?

"Goodbye," she said politely, and in a poof of smoke, both she and Naruto were gone.