Disclaimer: If we owned Naruto, fillers would've been over six months ago, and we'd be seeing the Gaiden (and a lot more random!chuunin and random!jounin) by now. If we owned Harry Potter, well…seeing how slow we write, you'd never have seen Book One. Too bad for us all.
Authors' Notes: Once more we apologize for how long this chapter has taken, and we thank all of our readers who've kept waiting and encouraging us for this chapter. Please remember, however, when you read one chapter and beg us to UPDATE SOON, that we aren't getting paid for this. (Except in terms of boosts to Kilerkki's ego, which can always use some more boosting.) Kilerkki is a full-time college student, and link no miko is a full-time real worlder, and we both have other priorities. That said, we'll do our best to keep the chapters coming! Just don't hold your breaths, because we wouldn't want to be accused of inadvertently asphyxiating anyone.
However, because you guys are awesome readers and we love and appreciate your support, we're again announcing a gift. The reviewer who leaves the 300th review may claim a drabble or fic of his or her choice from either of us (subject, of course, to our whims; if you've read any of our other stuff you'll probably know the characters and themes we like). Check our livejournals (kilerkki dot livejournal dot com and squeakchan dot livejournal dot com) for further information.
Finally, exceptionally great thanks to our beta, Phoenix of Eternity, and to SpitefulMage, who has drawn several gorgeous pieces of Masks and Shadows fan-art for us (once again, check Kilerkki's livejournal for links). We're so thrilled you are all enjoying this, and we love to hear it from you!
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Masks and Shadows
Chapter Seven:
In Which Neji Curses Fate and Hermione Draws Conclusions
Anger was troublesome, but Shikamaru was most definitely Not Happy. Leaving Naruto with the three kids, he followed the toad Naruto had identified as Gamagerou back to the small village outside Hogwarts' grounds, translocating most of the way. Whatever the old man wanted, he'd chosen a hell of a time to come calling. Shikamaru just hoped it was safe to leave the loud-mouthed blond with three students infamous for causing trouble and sticking their noses where they didn't belong.
As he landed amid clouds of smoke in a dark alley and followed the toad to the outskirts of town, he figured that as long as the castle didn't blow up, their situation could still be salvageable.
Jiraiya was waiting for them on a large rock near a run-down, abandoned house. Gamagerou hopped up to his summoner while Shikamaru trailed behind, hands shoved in his pockets and shoulders hunched. It was cold out; what the hell was the man thinking?
"I brought him, so I'm gone," the toad croaked. "Don't call me back til it's warmer out, you got that?"
"Yeah, yeah." Jiraiya waved the toad's words off. "Whatever you say." He smirked at Shikamaru as the toad disappeared in a puff of smoke. "So you're the one he brought, eh?"
"Yeah." Given Naruto's propensity for loud noises and property damage whenever he argued with the Toad Sennin, Shikamaru had figured it would be best if he went to meet Jiraiya instead. "What did you want?"
Jiraiya shrugged, pulling a dark glass bottle out of his vest. "Checking up on you and all that. Can't let the kiddies go unsupervised now, can I?"
Shikamaru snorted. "Tsunade-sama made you come."
"Well, I wouldn't put it that way."
Sure he wouldn't. Shikamaru didn't bother arguing; Jiraiya was as whipped as any other man around their Hokage. He sighed and ran a hand over his head, up to his ponytail. Not that he had any call to accuse another man of being whipped, though fortunately he had the advantage of several thousand miles between him and the world's most troublesome women.
"And no, she didn't," the sennin continued, taking a swig from his bottle and resting his elbow on his knee. "Not entirely. I'm here because I want to be. And you're here because you're going to tell me what you've found out about this place so far."
The ANBU shrugged. "Not much. I think they're all insane, and some of the kids are annoying. Some enemy nin attacked a few days back, but Naruto and Neji took care of them." He frowned. "The clients didn't like that."
"What happened?"
"Naruto killed two of them and took a third in for questioning. It was the questioning part they didn't like—said Neji want overboard."
Jiraiya tipped his bottle back again, scoffing. "What'd they expect the brat to do, ask nicely? Other than that, did you find out anything about the bijuu?"
Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah, I think I did. And I'm pretty sure I know which one it is, too." He paused, eyeing the other man. "You know much about the Two Tails?"
This time, when Jiraiya took a drink, he wasn't smiling.
-
"Here."
Naruto scowled down at the finger Shikamaru had planted on the map spread over their small table. "We have to search in there? That place is huge!"
"That's why it's going to take a while, Naruto." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "No one said this would be easy."
"But we don't even know what we're looking for." Naruto pushed away from the table and the map Shikamaru had produced when he'd returned from his meeting with Jiraiya. Though Tsunade had told them that Jiraiya would be following, Naruto hadn't much cared to hear Shikamaru relate that the old pervert had followed them to England "to babysit," and he really didn't care for being told to search through the wizards' own version of the Forest of Death.
"You're looking for any traces of a chakra seal, Naruto," Neji said calmly, not even bothering to glance up from his perusal of the map. "I doubt there would be more than one in this country, let alone one forest."
"And you're the one with the weird eyes that can see them," Naruto growled back, folding his arms stubbornly. "So why do I have to go?"
"Because," Shikamaru cut in wearily, "you're the one carrying a bijuu in your stomach. You know best what to feel for. And you'll have Hinata with you, so shut up."
Surprised, Naruto turned to stare at his fourth teammate, who had been quietly studying the map while the men argued. "You're coming too, Hinata?" He grinned. "Well, that's not so bad, I guess. Least I'm not gonna be searching by myself."
Hinata blushed slightly. "It's safer to travel in pairs outside the castle, so…"
"We need one of us on constant duty here while you're gone," Neji said, standing up straight and stepping away from the table. His eyes narrowed slightly. "And I have a class to prepare for."
"Heh, good luck with that, sensei."
Neji didn't bother dignifying that with a response.
-
The forest wasn't exactly what he would call pleasant, Naruto decided on Saturday morning. Not as bad as the Forest of Death (although that had a lot of memories attached to it, so it was hardly fair comparing), but still not the kind of place he'd like to spend his morning. He and Hinata had been traveling through it for almost an hour, jumping from branch to branch and following a very vague, overgrown trail to keep themselves from getting lost. But even with the Byakugan engaged and Naruto keeping his senses fully alert, they hadn't sensed anything at all. And from the way Hinata talked, it seemed they had a lot of forest left to cover.
So when he finally sensed something off to their right, he was more than happy to pursue it, veering away and calling out to Hinata to follow. Truthfully, it didn't feel like a bijuu, but it was something different and could maybe help lead them towards their goal.
Well, and the long hour of finding nothing was getting really, really annoying.
Naruto was never one of the most patient people in the world. Even being in ANBU couldn't completely erase that part of him. He was not, however, entirely stupid, and he did slow down as they approached their target, moving as silently as a ninja could when he had to. Foolhardy and headstrong, sure, but Naruto did know when caution was the better part of valor.
"Hinata," he whispered a few moments later, crouching on a branch with a hand stretched out to steady him. He turned to glance at his partner as she landed beside him, masked face turned to his. He tipped his head forwards and lifted a hand to his eyes—Can you see what's out there?She nodded, turning again, refocusing—
And then freezing, every muscle tensing. Naruto had a second to wonder what was wrong before an arrow hissed through the leaves and sliced into the branch just below his wrist. He didn't waste time looking for his assailant; in one heartbeat he'd grabbed Hinata's shoulder and flexed his legs, and in the next they were ten meters above their previous position, balancing warily on another branch. Eyes narrowed, adrenaline racing, Naruto looked down.
A handful of creatures milled around on the leaf-strewn forest floor, heads tilted back to watch the two ninja, arms still lifted with bows drawn and arrows nocked. They were holding their fire for now; had that first arrow been a warning shot? Naruto recognized the beasts, half-horse and half-human, from Neji's description of one of the teachers he had worked with, but he couldn't remember what they were called and he didn't much care to.
After all, they'd just tried to shoot him.
The largest one, a chestnut stallion, stepped away from the others after a moment, dark gaze still locked onto the two ANBU. He yelled something up at them, but Naruto lost it with the distance and the fact that he still had difficulties understanding English when the speaker wasn't trying to kill him.
"We're searching," Hinata called back down, drawing Naruto's attention. It was definitely a good thing if she knew what the hell those things were saying. "Have you seen—"
Another arrow flashed up at them, plunging into the bark just below their branch. Naruto growled low in his throat and shoved himself out of his crouch, glaring down at the archers. If these assholes weren't going to help them, then that was fine with him. And if they wanted a fight, he'd damn well give them a fight.
He started forming the seals almost automatically, and two kage bunshin appeared beside him in a puff of smoke. He barely caught Hinata's startled exclamation, her quick rise to her feet, as he sent the doppelgangers down. He would have followed if not for slender hands on his arm, stopping him as effectively as if she'd tied him to the tree.
"Naruto-kun, stop. We don't have time for this."
"But they tried to shoot us! If we leave them behind—"
"We're not here for a fight, and we can't afford to get caught up in one. We need to leave before that happens."
He stopped at that, frowning behind his mask. In the lowest branches of the tree the two bunshin stopped as well, hesitating uncertainly, before Naruto dismissed them in two puffs of smoke. Hinata was right. Focus. Gotta focus.
Besides, if they were delayed because of some stupid half-horse creatures that couldn't aim worth a damn, he'd never hear the end of it.
So he jerked his head, silently letting her know that he agreed, and then both he and Hinata were gone, darting off in another direction and away from the strange, angry creatures. Only when they were far enough away that Naruto could no longer sense them did he relax, still angry but holding it back. He didn't make his way to any of the lower branches, though. Sucky aim they might have, but why tempt pain if he didn't have to?
"Well," he finally muttered, jumping from branch to branch and glancing over at Hinata, "that didn't go so well."
Which, as it turned out, was truer than Naruto could ever imagine. They continued on through the forest, careful to skirt any presences that they couldn't identify. Which meant they spent most of the time high up in the trees, moving quickly and silently. And for all that they were in another country—another part of the world—well…
It looked exactly the same as if they were back home.
"Anything yet, Hinata?" he asked, jumping a particularly large gap between branches, muscles straining. They'd been moving nonstop for hours, and he was starting to think it was time to head back. There was a lot of forest left to cover, but time was running out before they needed to be back at the castle.
And he was tired of feeling like he was going in circles and not doing anything.
Hinata shook her head slowly. "No… I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but…"
"It's okay," he said, pulling to a stop. She halted as well a few branches ahead of him and turned to look back. "Let's go back," he suggested. "This isn't getting us anywhere."
"We still have a few hours of daylight, though."
He shrugged her words off. "Yeah, but—"
His words died in an instant, all of his senses alert as he jumped up and sideways. Hinata mirrored his movements as something huge smashed through the tree where he'd been standing. "The hell?"
There wasn't time for anything else as a huge shape barreled towards them, shoving trees out of its way. Not nearly as large as Gamabunta, but still bigger than any human Naruto had ever seen, the thing bee-lined right towards him, reaching forward with hands large enough to crush him. A quick kawarimi put him out of harm's way, but the branch he'd been on crunched to splinters as the giant's hand closed around it.
"Dammit, Hinata," he hissed, as the young woman dropped onto his new branch. He pulled her down low, behind a dense bunch of leaves. "The hell is that thing?"
"I don't know… I can't read the chakra pathways at all."
It turned to face them then and both ninja tensed, springing away when it started moving. Naruto whipped around to attack it as soon as he landed, hands molding the seals for the kage bunshin, but then Hinata was there, latching onto his arm and tugging at him.
"Naruto-kun, no. Leave it be and let's go back to the castle."
He shrugged her off, shaking his head. "I'm not gonna leave it behind to attack us!"
"Our mission was to find the bijuu," she continued, gripping his arm again, "not fight unknown creatures. If there's an enemy like this, we have to let the others know."
"Or I can get rid of it now and— Look out!"
The giant smashed into the tree, hitting so hard half the branches broke and the trunk nearly snapped in two. Naruto grabbed onto Hinata and jumped away, darting from tree to tree until they were a good distance away. As soon as he stopped, Hinata ducked from his hold and grabbed his wrists, pulling him into a run before he could stop her.
"We're going back, Naruto-kun," she said, and Naruto was surprised at how hard her voice sounded. It was rare when Hinata demanded anything, and rarer still when she sounded like she did just then.
The blond shinobi looked back once at the destruction they were leaving behind, glaring through the eye slits of his mask before taking the lead and hurrying back to base.
There was no way he was going to let things end like this.
-
In a classroom on the ground floor of Hogwarts, Neji spent Monday afternoon sitting stiff-backed in his chair beside Trelawney, listening to Firenze teaching his half of the lesson and the adolescent girls continuing to giggle behind their hands. Not that Neji gave them much mind. With the patrols he'd been running to make up for Naruto and Hinata's excursions in the forest, he'd had no time to thoroughly read and translate the books he'd borrowed, nor to devise even a basis for a "lesson." He had more to think on than the silly antics of people he could barely understand.
He disliked being unprepared. That he was in a foreign country and around people who spoke a different language made his error worse. But he was quick on his feet, and while he hadn't retained a large amount of information, he had skimmed the books.
So when Firenze turned and addressed him, Neji stood, confident as always, and strode to join the centaur at the front of the room.
"Hello," he began, voice slightly clipped. "Today I am teaching that Fate is bad." He frowned slightly, thinking of a phrase he'd heard Naruto trying to learn the other day. "That it sucks." There was an audible gasp from Trelawney, and Firenze raised an eyebrow, but Neji had expected those reactions. The woman was crazy and the centaur only a little less so.
What he hadn't expected was the giggling to burst into varying cries of surprise and shock or even more laughter. Had he said something wrong? The book said that phrase meant something was undesirable, so what had he done to warrant such a reaction from the students?
"Professor, I can't believe you'd say that," one of the girls in shock said, glaring up at him. "There's nothing bad about Divination!"
Neji eyed the girl coolly, pushing his confusion away for a moment. "Why not? Telling the future is not something you can know. Even the best guess."
"Professor Trelawney doesn't guess," the girl beside her said. The rest of the class quieted down at that. "What kind of teacher are you?"
"I was hired to teach my way," he answered, eyes narrowing slightly as he met the girl's gaze. "I do not believe Fate rules complete. So I will teach that Fate does not rule complete."
In the back of the room, Trelawney looked like she was about to have an apoplectic fit. The few students that had burst out laughing wore huge smiles, and Neji was reminded a bit of Naruto when he was about to jump into a fight. Apparently, idiocy knew no boundaries.
"Now see here, Professor Hyuuga," the shawl-covered woman finally ground out, voice high-pitched and trembling, "one does not mock the Sight like that! I've always known you were a fake—"
"What about me is fake?" Neji glared back at the older woman, white gaze locked with her pale eyes behind huge lenses. "Fate traps everyone if you let it. They should know this. You cannot teach one thing without showing its bad sides."
"So then why would Professor Dumbledore even hire you?" the first girl shrilled, pulling Neji's attention back to her. "You're a fraud!"
"Hey, just because he doesn't follow your precious Divination doesn't mean anything," another boy called out. He was soon joined by a few other students until the room was filled with the sounds of shouting adolescents.
It didn't take long for Neji to grow tired of it.
"Quiet!" Silence fell immediately as the students turned to look at him and froze, eyes wide. The veins around Neji's eyes bulged out, and the very edges of his pupils showed as he activated the Byakugan. Trelawney gasped again, and while the centaur showed no outward sign of surprise, his heart rate had sped up, if only for a moment. Neji allowed himself a small, inward smile at that.
"Now," he said once everyone was still and he was sure they would stay that way, "you will all quiet down. I am teacher now." When there were no protests, he gave a curt nod and released the Byakugan, his eyes returning to normal. He'd long since become used to the jump from completely spherical vision to normal, but there was still a small second of disorientation that came with it.
"I say that Fate is bad because it is. If you let it take you, it will rule everything of your life. We cannot know Fate, but we try." He paused and looked out over the students. "This is what is the danger in it. One person becomes lost in it, and everything becomes about what we cannot know."
"N-now see here, Professor Hyuuga!" The older witch seemed to have found her voice again, something for which Neji was not glad. "You cannot say things like that! You're a disgrace to everything we stand for!"
His eyes narrowed at the insult. Before he could say something else, however, one of the girls gasped and pointed towards him.
"What did you See, professor?"
"What?" Anything he might have been about to say to Trelawney was forgotten as he looked at the dark-haired girl in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Before, you told us your eyes change when you See," she said, expression almost awed. Hadn't she just been angry at him? To switch so quickly from one emotion to the next was never something Neji could completely comprehend. Hyuuga did not give away their feelings so easily, and while Hinata might be overly emotional, she seldom had such quick mood-swings. "So what did you See?" the girl pressed.
Trelawney pulled her shawls tighter around her, expression dark. "Now, Miss Patil, you must not believe anything this—" She used a word Neji didn't know; he filed it away to look up later. This inability to completely understand was beginning to grate on his nerves. "He has no Inner Eye."
"But he told us—"
"Enough," Firenze ground out. Everyone turned to look at the centaur as he stepped forward, arms folded across his bare chest, frown darkening his features. The ANBU stepped away to allow the horse-man to stand before the class.
"Professor Hyuuga has given us his lecture," Firenze said flatly. "While it might not be what you wanted to hear, you will still respect him." He turned to look at the Hyuuga then. "You may sit down, Professor."
Neji obliged willingly, returning to the back of the class to take his seat beside Trelawney. He remained silent throughout the rest of the lesson, giving up his effort to understand fairly quickly and instead focusing his efforts on paying attention to the way the words were said and trying to infer meanings that way. This class was a waste of his time, but he might as well try to get whatever he could out of it.
Once the students had filed out—not without hesitant, wary, and outright distrustful glances at him, as well as some poorly concealed grins and thumbs-up—he stood and prepared to leave himself. There were more important things he could be doing. Firenze stopped him with a quick word though, and Neji turned to the Divination professor.
"Yes?"
"It would be best," the centaur said quietly, "if perhaps you did not return." He sidestepped to allow Trelawney to pass him, all fluttering shawls and huge lenses. But all the shawls in the world couldn't mask the glare she sent Neji's way before wishing Firenze a very clipped farewell.
"I understand," Neji finally said once the woman had slammed the door behind her. "However, I was hired for this. I am not sure what might happen if I go." If he could get out of this, he would gladly take any reason, but he wasn't sure that Dumbledore would allow him. Especially not after the interrogation and the Headmaster's reaction to it.
Firenze was quiet for a moment before he finally nodded and turned away back towards the center of the room. "I will speak with the Headmaster. Good day, Professor."
Neji bowed to the centaur's back before he turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.
-
The invisibility cloak barely reached the ground when it was draped over Ron, a fact which never served to make him happy when he had to hunch down and walk. Being the tallest was usually nice, but not when they had to creep down corridors near midnight and Hermione kept scolding him for scuffing his feet. It wasn't like he could help it! Either crouch and scuff, or stand tall and let their ankles show.
They were being especially cautious tonight. Parvati and Lavender had returned from Divination class with stories of how Professor Hyuuga had gone nutter and used his Sight, and the entire Gryffindor Common Room was awash with theories of just what his eyes could do. The girls were sure all he could do was tell the future, but George and Fred had started the rumor he could see through clothes and look at girls' knickers. Everything had just spiraled further from there. And the stories didn't help Ron's eagerness to help Harry sneak their way to the man's room—especially not when the Marauder's Map indicated the rooms were in the same third-floor corridor where they'd found a giant three-headed dog in their first year at Hogwarts.
"This really sucks," Ron muttered after a while, tilting his head in an effort to get the crick out of his neck. "Hermione and me are Prefects. I don't see why we couldn't just walk normal until we got near their rooms and then get under the bloody cloak."
"Shh, Ron, you're going to get us caught."
"I am not, Hermione, I'm just saying—"
"Yes, and not thinking—"
Harry held up a hand to silence them before they could start in on one of their rows. He clutched the Marauder's Map in his other hand, and his face was tight with anticipation. "C'mon guys, not now. We're getting close."
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione whispered. "It's just that—"
"What's that?"
They all stopped at Ron's question, freezing along the wall. Ron strained his ears to catch the noise again, but he heard nothing. Harry shook his head at last and urged then slowly forward. When they were a few more yards down the corridor he stopped them; the sound was weak, but audible now.
People were talking.
And either they were still too far away, or the people in question were speaking gibberish—or maybe both, Ron wasn't sure. No matter how hard he listened, he couldn't understand a word that was being said. He was about to kick Harry on again when he did hear a familiar name.
Neji.
True, something he couldn't understand followed right after it, but Ron didn't bother to try to figure out what it might mean. They'd found one of the people they'd come to see (spy on?), but he wasn't sure what to do now.
He was sure it was only a story and nothing more, but he wouldn't put heat-vision out of the way completely when it came to Hyuuga.
Harry looked back at them, brows lifted questioningly, and Ron nodded slowly. Hermione pursed her lips and then nodded as well, and all three worked their way forward silently. Ron was rather pleased with himself that his feet didn't scuff at all.
The other boy stopped before they rounded the final corner; the voices were loud enough now that Ron could clearly hear them. They still made no sense though. He turned to look at Hermione, intending to see if she knew what was going on, and before he could even ask anything she'd mouthed "Japanese" to him.
Which made sense, Ron had to admit sheepishly. What foreigner spoke English when he wasn't around other English speakers?
They stayed huddled under the cloak for a few more minutes, listening uselessly to the conversation in the hall. The other voice, now that they could were close enough to tell the difference, was definitely feminine. That the professor said the name "Hinata" more than once didn't hurt in the process of Ron's deductive skills, either.
Not that he could figure out much else. All the words were different, and though he could catch the rising pitch that probably meant a question, knowing Hyuuga had asked a question didn't help much when he had no idea what the question was. When he glanced over at Hermione, he saw that her eyes were narrowed and her lips tight in thought. He wanted to point out that there was no way she could ever understand what was being said, but he bit the comment back. With all his luck, he'd just give them away.
But if they didn't do something soon, the sound of his back cracking from being bent over so long would give them away. Ron reached out to tap Harry's shoulder to get his attention, but the tone of the conversation shifted suddenly. Hinata's voice sounded defensive and almost hurt, and suddenly Harry was moving and it was all Ron could do to not slip out from beneath the cloak.
You bloody idiot, he wanted to yell at Harry as they walked out right in plain view of the two foreigners. Cloak or not, it wasn't very comfortable being out in the open like this. But after a quick glance at the cousins, he relaxed slightly. Hinata definitely looked upset, and from the professor's posture, he wasn't exactly happy himself. They would never notice the trio walk by as long as Ron and his friends stayed near the wall and kept quiet.
Except that they did.
As soon as Harry started them towards the slightly open door behind the two in the hall, the conversation stopped and the white eyes flicked right to where Ron was standing. He froze with one hand on Hermione's arm, not even daring to breathe. Oh hell oh hell oh hell! How did they see us? They can't see us!
Hyuuga barked a sharp order in his own language. Ron stiffened even more. Maybe they hadn't been seen? Had he only scuffed his feet? When no one said anything else, he slowly let out the breath he'd been holding and tapped Harry's back with one of his fingers. As soon as they looked away…
And then that thought was dashed to pieces as veins bulged out around both the man and woman's eyes and Hermione sucked in a quick, almost silent breath. Everything Lavender and Parvati had told them about their class earlier in the day came flooding back to Ron's mind, and it was only a matter of seconds before he used his heat-vision and—
There was a flutter of cloth, a cry of disbelief from Harry, and suddenly the invisibility cloak was gone, held in Hyuuga's hands as he glared at them. How'd he move so fast? Ron wanted to yelp, but he saved the breath for moving himself, snatching his wand out and pointing it at the man. Harry and Hermione had their wands out as well, but in Harry's left hand, where the Map had been, was the strange knife the guard Naruto had left behind the night before.
Hinata said something in their language then, her voice soft. Her cousin huffed and held the cloak back for her to take, muttering something quickly without taking his eyes off the trio. She took it carefully, turning it around in her hands before folding it up neatly—just as a loud crash rang out behind the cousins. Hyuuga didn't bother turning around, but he did as a familiar blond man in a toad-faced mask darted out of the room.
Naruto called out to Hinata, but halfway through the sentence he seemed to notice Ron and his friends. He cut his words off, stiff with astonishment. For a moment, anyway. In another second he was waving over Hinata's shoulder, calling out a loud "Harii!"
Harry paused, lowering the knife. "Hey, Naruto," he said, cautiously.
Both the Hyuuga's eyes widened then, Hinata's a little more than her cousin's, and they stepped back to glance between Harry and Naruto. Professor Hyuuga said something in a low voice, and the blond shrugged. They exchanged a few words Ron really wished he could understand, and then the veins slipped away from the two Hyuuga's eyes, and Naruto quickly forward.
"Is fine," he said, waving a casual hand at the two behind him. "Sorry. Why you here?"
Ron glanced over at Harry and Hermione, not quite sure what to say. They'd come here to talk more to the guard who'd almost revealed himself to them, and here he was, along with two of the other three people they'd found on the map. Both of whom looked less than pleased to see them, and all three Gryffindors still had their wands held out at the ready.
In the end, Hermione pocketed her wand and took a step forward. "We thought maybe now we could speak with you," she said slowly, glancing back at the boys. Ron and Harry exchanged glances; Harry nodded, and Ron sighed and stuffed his own wand back into his pocket. He kept his hand hovering near it, though.
"Talk with me? How you—oh, my kunai!" Naruto stepped towards Harry, reaching out for the knife the other boy still held in his left hand. Harry hesitated only a moment before handing the blade back to its owner. Naruto twirled it around his finger as if showing off, then stuffed it back into a pouch on his hip.
When the guard made no move to finish what he'd been saying before he spotted the knife, Ron cleared his throat. "Uh… So you think we could talk now?" Hyuuga frowned, and Ron tensed again, though the man didn't move.
"Oh! Right!" Naruto crossed his arms. "How you find us?"
"Not here," Hyuuga cut in. All five of the others glanced over at him, but Hyuuga ignored them as he walked towards the open door. He paused for a moment, only long enough to say something to his cousin in a low voice, and then vanished beyond the door.
"Please, come inside," Hinata said softly. Her accent was much lighter than Naruto's, and Hermione's eyes widened in sudden surprise.
"You! You were the other guard with Naruto, weren't you? I just realized!"
"I-I'm sorry…" The dark-haired girl looked between the three Gryffindors, raising one hand to her lips. "I don't know what you mean."
"It's been bothering me for days," Hermione continued, not seeming to notice the other girl's words. "But I couldn't place you exactly until just now. The other guard that came to talk to us with Naruto, the one who translated for him. That was you!"
Ron looked from his friend to Hinata to Naruto and back, bewildered. How did Hermione do things like this? He'd argue with her (that was a rather large leap of logic, after all), but from the way Naruto's shoulders stiffened and Hinata looked at the blond, he thought she might be right.
Harry stepped forward before anyone could say anything else, jerking his head towards the door. "I think maybe we should do like Professor Hyuuga said, and go inside." When Naruto and Hinata turned towards the door, Harry glanced back at Ron and Hermione, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Be careful, okay?"
"We will," Ron assured him, but he took another deep breath all the same before they headed into the room.
It was a little smaller as the Gryffindor common room, furnished with several armchairs around the fire and four straight-backed chairs pulled up to a table in the center of the room. Hyuuga sat stiffly at the table while another man with his dark hair pulled up in a high ponytail sat across from him, feet up on the table and a book open on his thighs. He glanced up when they entered, frowned and muttered something Ron didn't catch, and then closed the book and dropped his feet to the floor. He said something quick to Naruto, sighed at the blond's response, and then turned to face the trio.
"Nothing said leaves the room."
Hyuuga huffed again, obviously angry. Hinata glanced at him and the others, then asked a soft question Ron (again) really wished he could understand. The other Hyuuga shook his head, but he stood anyway and followed her into an adjacent room.
"Hey, where are they going?" Ron demanded.
"Tea," the pony-tailed man said, sounding bored. He glanced up at Naruto, tapped a finger against his own chin, and raised an eyebrow as he asked the other man something in their own language. Naruto paused, then chuckled before reaching up and removing his mask. He didn't look much older than Ron's brother Percy, and he grinned cheerfully at the three wizards, blue eyes dancing, the three parallel scars on each lean cheek crinkling. Ron had never seen scars that looked so perfectly like whiskers before—but then, compared with blue balls of light that tore people apart, and white eyes that suddenly bulged and could see through invisibility cloaks, whisker-like scars were almost normal.
"Are you Mr. Shikamaru Nara?" Hermione was asking the dark-haired man, obviously already moving on to more important things. "Or, wait, you say it the opposite way."
The man paused, dark eyes suddenly alert. "Nara Shikamaru, yes," he answered after a moment. Ron thought he might have actually caught a change in the man's bland expression, but it could have been a trick of the dim lamplight. "We know you. Harii, Ron, Her—" He cut off at that, frowning. "Herumee-onay."
Hermione winced slightly. Harry sniggered. "Better'n Krum," Ron muttered to Hermione out of the corner of his mouth. She glared at him.
"Yeah, that's us," Harry said finally, stepping closer to the table. He glanced at the map laid out on the table, then quickly away—thinking of the Marauder's Map he'd quickly hid when Hyuuga pulled the cloak off, Ron guessed. They wanted to learn more about these guards; that didn't mean they wanted the guards to know their secrets.
"Why you here, Harii?" Naruto plopped down in one of the armchairs, lounging back with his long legs stretched out towards the fire. He waved a hand towards the other armchairs.
"You said we could talk later." Harry hesitated, then sat down across from Naruto. Hermione quickly took the chair next to him; Ron snagged one of the straight-backed chairs from the table and pulled it up next to Hermione. Naruto was beyond cool, but Ron wasn't sure he wanted to sit next to him yet. Harry glanced back at his two friends, then told Naruto firmly, "So we came to find you."
Shikamaru tapped his fingers against the table, eyeing Naruto. The blond guard's grin turned a little sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his head. Ron swallowed. Had Naruto not told the others about his meetings with them? Neither of the other two men seemed anything like friendly, and Dumbledore's warning about the guards being willing to kill kept echoing in his mind.
The tension eased a little as Hinata and Hyuuga returned to the room. She was carrying a tray loaded with what Ron guessed were tea things, though they didn't much resemble the china pots and cups he was used to. Hyuuga stepped away from her as soon as they entered and took up a place near the closed door that led back into the hallway, watching the others with his arms folded and his face set. Ron shifted uncomfortably under his pale gaze. Harry looked just as disconcerted, but there was something else in Hermione's expression that Ron was all-too-familiar with.
Either she'd just figured something out, or she thought she had. The small smile that curved her lips a moment later only confirmed it.
Shikamaru waited until Hinata had passed out small glasses of tea and took the seat next to Naruto before he spoke. "How did you know where we are?"
Harry shrugged casually. "We're familiar with the grounds. This is the most probable place you'd be kept."
Ron had to admire how quickly his friend had come up with the half-truth, but he wasn't sure the guards would buy the second part. Neither Shikamaru nor Hyuuga looked very convinced. But there was no way they were telling about the Marauder's Map, even if all the guards had seemed as friendly as Naruto.
"And why is that?" Shikamaru demanded.
"Because," Hermione cut in smoothly, "this area is still restricted to student access. You won't be bothered by students, and you can come and go freely." When none of the guards argued, she continued, leaning forward with her hands clenched around her tea-cup. "Why are you here? What are you, exactly? You have magic that doesn't use wands—magic like I've never seen, and you don't act like any wizards I've ever met—which is saying a lot because wizards are a pretty assorted lot—and you wanted to know about monsters on the grounds."
"Uh, Hermione, I think—"
"Right, right." She cut Ron off, flushing a little with embarrassment. Taking a breath, she started to repeat herself much more slowly, and the strained looks on the guards' faces slowly faded away. At least until what she said registered, and then they all glanced at each other, expressions guarded. Shikamaru muttered something in Japanese to Naruto, and the blond man answered in a near-growl. The conversation continued for a few more minutes, with even Hyuuga joining in every now and then, short and sharp. Harry was visibly growing impatient, leaning forward with his mouth set in a thin angry line, but it was Ron who exploded first.
"Hey, look," he snapped, standing so quickly that his chair scraped back and nearly pitched over. "We know you don't trust us—I mean, you'd be daft to trust us completely, right?—and we're not so sure about you, but could you at least not talk like we're not right here? It's bloody irritating!"
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, outraged. He turned, ready to justify himself—and then turned again quickly, straightening defensively as Shikamaru stood. He wasn't sure what he expected, but the spiky-haired guard didn't attack, just stared at the three for a moment before muttering under his breath and running a hand through his ponytail.
"Fine, we talk," he said. Ron grinned in triumph, and even Harry let a smile turn up the corners of his mouth. "But we only say what we need. Only that."
"That's fine," Harry agreed immediately, setting his untouched tea down. "So, first. What are you?"
"We are guards hired to protect the school."
Ron gritted his teeth. That was no different than what Naruto had told them before. "Yeah, but what are you? You're not wizards, that's for damn sure."
Shikamaru was silent for a moment, his eyes closed in thought. When he finally opened his eyes again, his dark gaze met Harry's. "No, we are not wizards."
"That didn't—" Ron began hotly.
"And your magic?" Hermione cut him off—again, the bloody girl! "Why can you Apparate on school grounds? And what was that Resingan thing?"
"Rasengan," Naruto muttered under his breath.
"We do not Apparate," Shikamaru said, shooting Naruto a hard look. "And Rasengan is chakra. Like your magic."
"Like it?" Hermione's eyes brightened, and Ron was sure he could hear her brain working away extra hard. "There are other forms of magic? We've never learned of those, and no texts mention them."
Shikamaru shrugged. "Is chakra. That is all." He crossed his arms over his chest, his bored expression turning a little hard. "Is that all?"
"No," Harry said, glancing over at Naruto. "What about the monster? You mentioned a monster last time. Why?"
"Because of the water monster," Hinata intervened quickly. "For our safety."
"But that can't be the only reason," Harry pressed. "There's something happening, and we want to know what. If there's something dangerous about, we should know. This is our school."
The door creaked open now, and they all turned quickly; Ron was sure he wasn't the only one reaching for a wand. But it was only Hyuuga holding the door open and glowering at them. "Enough questions now. You can go."
"But—" Hermione protested.
"You can go."
Ron glared at him, but Harry nodded. "Fine. Can we come back?"
The three adults all looked towards Shikamaru. He sighed. "Yes. But now you go."
If the guards were willing to let them come again, Ron figured, they must have questions in turn. He wasn't really looking forward to answering them, especially if Hyuuga was going to be around. The man wasn't as nasty as Snape, but he didn't exactly make anyone feel welcome.
Hinata returned the Invisibility Cloak to Harry, and he led the way out of the room, with Hermione following and Ron bringing up the rear. Hyuuga closed the door on his heels, and they were left standing alone in the empty hallway.
"Well," Ron said, slouching and shoving his hands into his pockets, "that was bloody useful."
"Oh, hush," Hermione chided. "It wasn't that bad. And we have permission to return, so that's good."
"Yeah," he countered, "and I'm not so sure I want to. Did you see the way those two Hyuuga's eyes bugged out like that? And they saw us through the cloak!"
Hermione caught her breath, her eyes narrowing. "That's what I should have asked next! The only thing that can see through invisibility cloaks is the Marauder's Map. Or at least, I thought it was."
"It's not, quite," Harry said, but he shrugged off Hermione's instant questions. "We can ask next time. We've got that at least." He shook the cloak out and held it up. Ron groaned. His back was still sore from their last trek through the halls!
They kept silent the rest of the way back, apart from the odd grunt or scuffle or groan when Ron's stooped shoulders twinged a little too much. He threw the cloak off with relief once they reached the Fat Lady's portrait, ignored her grumbles about being woken up as he gave the password, and scrambled through the portrait hole and into safety in the deserted Gryffindor Common room.
At the moment, bed sounded like bliss. But Ron had one more thing to find out before they separated for the night. He caught Hermione's elbow as she headed for the fire. "So what were you smiling about back there, when Hinata and Hyuuga brought the tea out? You look like you figured something out."
"Oh, that." She shrugged, sitting in a fat armchair and pulling out her notebook. Knowing her, it was probably to jot down everything they'd just learned. "I just thought it was sweet and all."
Ron blinked. "Sweet?"
"How he tried to make up for their lovers' quarrel, with the tea," Hermione explained patiently.
It was Harry's turn to blink. "Who're lovers?"
Hermione sighed and turned back to her notebook. "Professor and Madame Hyuuga. I thought it was obvious."
Ron traded confused glances with Harry. Dumbledore had introduced the two Hyuuga as cousins, and they obviously looked like they were related. That didn't preclude them being lovers, of course—among pureblood wizards marriage between closely related people was almost the norm, and Ron was fairly sure his own parents were cousins of some sort. But unless Hermione had understood more of the conversation they'd overheard than either of the boys had… "It looked like they were fighting."
"Well, of course it would, to a boy," Hermione said scathingly.
"Y'know," Ron said heavily, scrubbing a hand through his hair, "you make no sense."
Hermione made a noncommittal sound, still scribbling away.
Harry shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm getting to bed. See you in the morning."
"Night, Hermione," Ron said, turning to follow Harry out of the common room. She didn't look up, but at least she acknowledged him with the same small 'hmph.' Ron rolled his eyes and headed up the stairs. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were already in bed, and Ron and Harry changed quickly and quietly before sliding into their own beds. Ron was just nodding off when Harry whispered to him.
"A lover's quarrel? What's she on about?"
Ron grunted and punched his pillow. "Who knows, mate. Sometimes there's just no understanding her."
Harry laughed in agreement, but if he said anything later, Ron didn't hear it. He was fast asleep, dreaming of masks and secrets.