Disclaimer: If we owned Naruto, Chapter 328 would never have happened. As for Harry Potter, we're glad we don't own that. Getting each new chapter out is bad enough; if we had half the world hanging on our production of the last book, we'd be a quarter of the way to Mars by now!
Authors' Notes: First, exceptionally great thanks to our incredible beta Phoenix of Eternity for her exhaustive work on an M&S timeline; to Koorino Megumi for invaluable help with Latin; to PixiePilot for coming to our rescue with her copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; and to Tiarna Bronach for obtaining the first two HP books so we could verify Hagrid's dialect. Intervention of university and other real life issues have meant this chapter's taken quite a while to write; you may accredit this installment to a late-night planning session when link no miko actually managed to cross half a continent to visit Kilerkki and Phoenix of Eternity. Anyway, we had fun plotting it, so we hope you enjoy it.
A few notes: Some observant readers picked up on several mistakes we made in Chapter Seven. As a matter of fact, Fred and George should not be attending Hogwarts; we'd go back and correct that if we weren't so lazy. Also, there is a discontinuity with Hermione's realization about Hinata, but we're not correcting that either. Thanks anyway, Liallo and Sapphire Dragons, for pointing those out! I think we promised you drabbles, but we're just giving you this chapter instead.
Also, we do have the fic fully plotted out, at least in that we know where it's going and who's going to show up. But we're not telling you. For that reason, PLEASE do not leave reviews telling us to insert Sasuke-kun or Tenten or other favorite character of choice. It's kind of a long travel from Konoha, and we know where we're going.
As a final note, let us remind you again that this fic does not focus on pairings. In fact, pairings only appear inasmuch as we come across a place where we could insert a fun line relating to them. If one line seems to hint to Neji/Hinata, another could equally point to Naruto/Hinata. (Shikamaru refuses to get involved, as he has enough troubles back home in Konoha). Your reactions to the last few lines of Chapter Seven amused us a great deal, but just remember that even Hermione can be wrong.
Or, of course, she could be right.
Masks and Shadows
Chapter Eight:
In Which Naruto Acquires Allies and Neji Has A Very Bad Day
Wednesday morning dawned cold, wet, and far too early for Naruto's liking. He rolled over, groaned, threw an arm over his eyes, and tried to burrow back into the ridiculously overstuffed pillows of this British bed. He'd been dreaming!
Granted, he couldn't exactly recall what he'd been dreaming of--dark hair and pink hair and ramen seemed to dominate his thoughts, but that was normal--but it was the principle that mattered. Any release from confusing missions and languages and foods and people and places was to be devoutly welcomed, and this would have been his first full night of sleep in the last week...
"Get up," Neji said, unfeelingly. He prodded Naruto's shoulder again. "I'm taking patrol duty today."
"Don't need me, then," Naruto grumbled, and buried his head in the pillows. "Was up all night. Go 'way."
"You went to bed just after I did," Neji said. "Your kage bunshin were the ones up all night. They don't count. Get up. I need your report."
Naruto groaned again and threw the pillow at Neji, who leaned to the side smoothly, just far enough that the pillow didn't even ruffle his ridiculously silky hair. "You coulda waited," Naruto growled, throwing the blankets back and peeling his tee-shirt off. "Gimme my shirt. What's so important you need the report now?"
"I told you," Neji said blandly, picking out the skin-tight, sleeveless black shirt from the haphazard pile of equipment and uniform at the foot of Naruto's futon. "I'm taking patrol duty today. I need to know what your kage bunshin encountered during the night."
Squeezing his eyes shut had the admirable effect of shutting out the view of the infuriating Hyuuga, but it also helped him concentrate, filtering through the memories that had invaded his sleeping mind when the kage bunshin had disappeared with the jutsu's end at dawn. "Some kids sneaking around up on the tallest tower, but they skittered when I let 'em see me... Caretaker tried to yell at me on the third floor, but I just translocated into the next hall; could hear him yelling for ten minutes..." He sniggered. Neji gave him a blank stare. Naruto sighed and pulled the shirt over his head. "You must've been in the toilet when they were passing out senses of humor. Geez. There was something dark flying over the forest, but I didn't see what and it didn't show up again."
"That's it?" Neji asked, handing Naruto his trousers.
"Apart from falling through a staircase, yeah." Naruto glowered at the trousers. "Sure, we'd set traps for each other at the Academy, but that wasn't the place itself setting traps for us... Hey!" Some lagging part of his brain had finally caught up. "Why're you patrolling today? I thought Shikamaru'n me were on."
A muscle twitched at the side of Neji's mouth. "I spoke to Dumbledore-san last night."
"Yeah, so?"
"So I'm running patrol today," Neji said flatly. "Is that all?"
"Hell no," Naruto protested. "You can't just do that. You're only field leader, anyway--Shikamaru's in command here. What's going on?"
"You're not in command at all," Neji said, and with a poof of smoke he was gone.
Swearing, Naruto struggled into the rest of his clothes and armor and headed into the main room. Shikamaru was lounging in one of the armchairs, munching on toast; Hinata was making tea. Neji was nowhere in sight. Naruto swore again, under his breath, and detoured into the bathroom before he joined the others.
"Neji's a bastard," he announced, accepting a cup of tea from Hinata and snagging the last two remaining slices of toast. Shikamaru mumbled something that might have been agreement. Hinata frowned.
"What makes you say that?"
"Woke me up just to say he was going on patrol today, and wouldn't answer any questions." Naruto crammed half a piece of toast in his mouth and added indistinctly, "Sah 'e tal' a Dum'l'ore--"
"Naruto-kun, you're getting crumbs everywhere," Hinata reproached, brushing his vest off. "Neji-niisan had a meeting with Dumbledore-san late yesterday evening, when you and Shikamaru-kun were patrolling. Did he tell you what they said?"
"Didn't tell me anything!" Naruto complained. "I swear, he likes seeing other people miserable... Did Dumbledore yell at him about his class yesterday or something? I think that would've been a good lesson, anyway. Prolly lot more interesting than those kids are used to."
"He wouldn't say," Hinata said, looking worried. "Did he tell you, Shikamaru?"
"Yes," Shikamaru said, draining the last of his tea. "And no, I'm not telling you. It's Neji's business. He's doing you a favor, anyway."
"How's poking me awake way too early just to tell me I don't have to run patrol doing me a favor?" Naruto demanded.
"Well, it leaves you free to do other things," Shikamaru said, looking regretfully at his empty tea-cup.
"Like?"
Shikamaru clearly wasn't excited by the idea of being pressured into providing Naruto with a list of acceptable alternatives to patrolling. He sighed heavily and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "troublesome..." Naruto took a quick breath, prepared to inform him exactly what troublesome meant--Shikamaru wasn't the one who'd had to wake up to a pissy Hyuuga's prodding!--but Hinata quickly intervened.
"Like talking to Lupin-san. Pomfrey-san mentioned him again yesterday--apparently he's taken the past few days off, and is just now back at work. You never did get to talk to him, did you?"
"No," Naruto said slowly, finishing the last of his toast and brushing his crumbly hand against his leg. "The full moon was Monday night, but I got distracted... I meant to ask Wednesday, but that was the night the missing-nin attacked, and I forgot." He turned the tea-cup in his hands, watching the dark liquid tilt against the inside of the cup. He hadn't had a chance to find out any more about what a werewolf was, either, but from what he remembered it still sounded suspiciously like a jinchuuriki, and he'd known for years that he and Gaara weren't the only ones... The man had had that same look in his eyes, the loneliness.
Naruto's second-worst nightmares were still about that loneliness, about what he might have become if he'd believed Mizuki-sensei... if Iruka-sensei had never--
He shook his head sharply, banishing the memories. "Going to talk to him," he said, and set the tea-cup down on the table. "Hinata, you got work in the infirmary today, right?"
"Right," she nodded. "I don't get off till dinner-time; is that too late?"
"That'd leave me the whole day with nothing to do!" Naruto did a pretty good imitation of appalled; Hinata looked as if she were trying to think of a way out. So of course Shikamaru had to choose that moment to interject his lazy drawl.
"You can send your kage bunshin off to patrol with Neji, and I'll come with you. I've been wanting to talk to Lupin, anyway." He finished his toast and regarded his empty tea-cup mournfully again. Hinata hurried to refill it. "Thanks. It's a pain, but it'll work better this way."
"You just want to make sure I don't say too much," Naruto sulked.
Shikamaru smirked.
-
Monday night had been the full moon, and even after a full day of recovery Remus Lupin could feel the exhaustion tugging at him as he poked his wand at his office door. "Alohomora," he murmured. The door sprang open obligingly, and Lupin trudged inside to sling his satchel on the desk and turn to--
Stare straight into the masked faces of two of Professor Dumbledore's new guards.
Werewolf instincts were never far away, especially not this soon after the full moon; he could feel the hair rising on the back of his neck as his lips fought to curl back in a snarl. He tightened them into a thin line instead, and kept his wand steadily pointing at the two masked men. One had the dark ponytail and the Deer mask he remembered from the night Harry'd been accosted on the way to his office; the other had a wild shock of bright blond hair, and wore that ridiculous mask that reminded him of a grinning frog. They had both abandoned their cloaks and wore the skin-tight black clothing and silvery armor that Deer had worn the first time he'd...visited. Lupin couldn't quite suppress the thought that it meant they were serious.
He'd heard Professor Flitwick's story in the staff room, after all, even if both Snape and McGonagall had declined comment. The blond guard had killed two men; "Professor Hyuuga," his falcon-masked cohort, had coldly and systematically tortured another into a full confession--and later suicide. Whoever and whatever they were, they weren't wizards, and they certainly weren't members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Dumbledore still trusted them, though. And to a man like Remus Lupin, that meant more than he could explain.
So he lowered his wand after a moment, and stepped sideways, towards the tea-kettle he lit with a flick of his wand. "I know I offered whatever assistance you might need," he said warily, "but your method of asking is...a little unorthodox. How may I help you?"
"We have question," Deer said. He'd appropriated the seat in front of Lupin's desk, and he sat slouched, shoulderblades barely touching the chair back. "We apologize, but waiting in the corridor is not wise. We do not desire to alarm student."
The blond sniggered something in a snide tone; Lupin was suddenly reminded, very strongly, of the type of student who sat in the back of the classroom and spent the entire period cracking jokes to his mates. The type of student Sirus had been...
He wrenched his thoughts away from that, and focused on wondering exactly how old these guards were. Their voices didn't sound much older than the seventh-years', and certainly younger than his own. Surely no adult could manage that boneless sprawl, either--or those gleaming and perfectly toned muscles. Each had a scarlet spiral tattooed on his left bicep; the blond was rubbing his absently. Perhaps he could nudge Miss Granger's thoughts in a new direction, and put those research skills of hers to use...
"I thank you for your foresight," he said, prodding the tea-kettle with his wand encouragingly. "I would also prefer not to alarm the students...But I would hope very much that there is nothing of which they need to be alarmed."
The two guards traded glances through their masks. The blond's head cocked enquiringly; Deer murmured something in a low voice, and the frog-masked one choked on what sounded very much like a giggle. Lupin revised his age-estimate down another two years.
"Good gaki no fear," the blond said cheerfully. "Bad..." He reached for the closed holster bound to his right thigh. Deer hissed something, and Frog sniped back. Lupin checked the water, and very deliberately set about making tea.
By the time he'd finished, the two guards seemed to have reached some sort of consensus. Deer took his tea-cup with a murmured thanks and placed it on the table; Frog was a little more enthusiastic. It was only as Lupin was settling at his desk with his own cup of tea that the second guard seemed to realize what Lupin had been wondering about as soon as he'd started preparing it.
Were they really planning to drink through their masks?
Deer was evidently too polite to have refused, but Frog stared down at his tea with a tilted head and bowed shoulders that bespoke his bewildered regret more clearly than words. At last he sighed and leaned back against the wall, cradling the steaming cup in one hand. "Question," he said. "You are waaurufu, yes? This is jinchuuriki?"
Lupin blinked. Deer's English was broken, but at least the words were intelligible. This--man? boy? Lupin had him pegged at perhaps eighteen--had only the vaguest approximation of a language that might, in the god-forsaken future, be called English. "Pardon," he said, "but I'm not familiar with those terms."
The deer-masked guard sighed. "He asked if you...contain a demon. We say bijuu, demon with tails. Those with bijuu sealed inside, we call jinchuuriki, power of human sacrifice. This is a way of controlling the demon."
Lupin took too large a gulp of tea, and scalded his tongue. "Demon?" He thought of adding I don't know what you're talking about (Sirius would have stuck a belligerent the hell in there) but his werewolf nature was no secret in the school anymore. Still, even the worst-educated foreigners should realize that lycanthropy was a disease, not a demonic curse. Much as it seemed like it... "Could you explain yourself a little more clearly, please?"
The two guards traded another masked glance, and Deer sighed again. At last he said, "We will share. First you explain the waaurufu."
He met Lupin's gaze through the eye-slits of the mask, straight-forward and challenging. Frog was leaning forward as well--headless of the small amount of tea that'd splashed over his cup to soak his gloved fingers and trickle down his pale vest. He must have an incredible pain tolerance, if he hadn't noticed the scalding tea dripping over his fingers. Lupin glanced back at Deer, chewing on his bottom lip.
When he spoke, it was in the slow and gentle voice he used for explaining difficult concepts to his students. "A werewolf isn't a demon; it's an ordinary witch or wizard who is stricken with a disease we call lycanthropy." Here he resorted shamelessly to Scamander's text, long-ago memorized. "Humans turn into werewolves only when bitten; there is no known cure, though recent developments in potion-making have to a great extent alleviated the worst symptoms. Once a month, at the full moon, the otherwise sane and normal wizard or Muggle afflicted transforms into a murderous beast." He paused for a moment, then finished the rest of the quotation in a quieter voice. "Almost uniquely among fantastic creatures, the werewolf actively seeks humans in preference to any other kind of prey."
Deer translated in a low voice for Frog, who nodded rapidly, sloshing more tea over his fingers. "Sick? You see Tsunade-baa-chan, she fix anything!"
"No cure," Deer said, a little harsher. "Do not be a fool." He turned back to Lupin. "I have also read this book. It says little. I wish to know, if--"
"If you know of bijuu!" Frog interrupted cheerfully.
His comrade's shoulders slumped; for a moment Lupin had the very strong impression that only his presence was keeping Deer from knocking his masked forehead against the table. "Baka," the pony-tailed guard muttered. "Urusai!"
Frog stiffened unhappily, and Lupin eyed him again. Was this really the deadly guard who'd killed two men and captured a third without sustaining a scratch himself? He acted more like an excitable third-year.
But the strength in that lean body and those corded muscles was obvious, and whatever strange magic they used, Lupin had no doubt that Dumbledore's chosen guards were very good at it.
"I think," he said gently, "that you'd better tell me a bit more about these bijuu."
"I will explain," Deer said, shooting Frog a deadly glance through the narrow eye-slits of his mask. "As I said...bijuu are tailed beasts, demons. We know nine--from Shukaku, the One-Tail, to Kyuubi, the Nine-Tails." He paused for a moment, as if waiting for an outburst, but Frog was curiously still. "They have the ultimate chakra--you would say magic? Stronger than any...wizard. But some are...sealed inside human host."
"Jinchuuriki," the blond said here, in a low growl. Deer acknowledged his contribution with a nod.
"Those who hold jinchuuriki hold power not imagined. We believe it is this your enemy seek." He paused again; Lupin could feel the weight of those hidden eyes, judging him. Finally the young man said, very quietly, "The book the thief try to steal contain hidden information about what we know is a bijuu. We know, because we know the bijuu. Dumburudoru does not, because he does not know. This book said that your Forest of Death contain such a beast. We would say, nibi nekomata. Two-tailed demon cat."
At this, the blond did burst out--flinging his cup straight at his partner's head along with a violent profusion of what could only be swear words. Deer inclined his head slightly to the left, and the cup sailed over the back of the chair and shattered against the opposite wall. Lupin winced. The house elves would not be happy.
He finished the rest of his tea while Frog continued to rant, and checked the time. His first class would be starting in twenty minutes, and he still had some preparation to finish. When Frog drew breath, he said quickly, "I do not know of a demon cat anywhere in the Forbidden Forest--or of any such beast as you describe. But I...have not been in the Forest much in recent years, and during my times there I haven't run into much." He surprised himself by a slight, wry smile. "Even most of the inhabitants of the Forbidden Forest tend to stay out of a werewolf's way. I'm sorry I can't help you."
Deer nodded and pushed himself up from his chair. "We thank you for your time," he said, with a slight formal bow. "If there is anything--you will contact us?"
"Of course," Lupin promised, though he wasn't quite sure why the words came so quickly to his lips. He didn't know these masked boys, after all, didn't really understand them, and certainly shouldn't trust them. But...
He had learned long ago, in the turbulent years of the war and the even more horrible years after James's and Lily's deaths and Sirius's supposed betrayal, to evaluate character quickly, ruthlessly, and accurately. Sometimes the balance between friend and foe could be disturbed with a word or a gesture, and survival--especially for a werewolf--had demanded that his decisions of trust be made in an instant, and be made right. Looking at those two masked faces, those tense bodies, those alert heads, Lupin made his decision.
"I don't know anything," he said. "But I can tell you who might..."
-
Midday on Wednesday found Harry, Ron, and Hermione braving the spitting rain and the slippery slopes to visit Hagrid in his hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was the first time they'd found to visit their friend since the start of term, and they had more than just the usual summer's worth of news to share. If any start of term at Hogwarts could be called usual, this was certainly not it.
But Hagrid's kitchen was already full when the door opened to Harry's knock, and Ron's mouth dropped open in outraged betrayal at the two sleek figures who sat around Hagrid's rough-hewn table, with their cloaks drying near the fire.
"You," Ron sputtered, in a tone that seemed to contain equal parts admiration and exasperation. "You're everywhere!"
Naruto, wearing his Toad mask once more, gave the three of them a cheery wave. Deer-masked Shikamaru just grunted, but Hagrid looked from one set of guests to the other, broad brow furrowing.
"Hol' on, here. Yeh lot know each other?"
"We've met," Shikamaru grunted. He glanced outside. "Rain will not stop until tonight. We had better go."
He and Naruto pushed out of their chairs and grabbed their cloaks, while Hagrid reached for his moleskin overcoat. Harry stared. "What're you doing?"
"None o'yer business," Hagrid growled, looking furtive. "Head back up ter the castle, hear? I'll come see yeh later..." He shrugged into his overcoat and reached for his crossbow. "No following us, now."
"We do know what's going on, Hagrid," Hermione said. "Some of it, at least. We could help, couldn't we?"
Deer shook his head swiftly. "We cannot divide attention. Protecting you would distract us. You will return to the castle."
"Can't you at least tell us what you're doing?" Harry demanded. "This is something to do with the monster, isn't it?"
Hagrid looked even more furtive, but the blank masks of the two guards simply swung towards each other, and then back to him. This time Naruto spoke.
"Go," he said, and there was no arguing with that tone.
They went, and as they climbed the slope back to the castle Harry glanced back to see two slender cloaked shapes and one enormous one slipping into the shadows of the Forbidden Forest. He clenched his fists. "They told us Monday night that we could talk, but they barely answered any of our questions. We saw him kill those guys, but--"
"But we're being treated like babies," Ron finished indignantly. "Like we've never done anything dangerous at all! Blimey, can't they just tell us what they're doing?"
Hermione's voice was oddly quiet. "Are you sure you want to know?"
Both the boys glanced at her, startled. She drew her cloak a little closer around her, defiantly. "You heard them last night; you saw them today. They're going into the Forest, and whatever it is they're going after, they think it's something they'd have to protect us from. Think of what we saw last week. We never heard what happened to that man Naruto captured..."
"You think--?" Ron asked, low-voiced, and didn't need to finish his question.
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I asked Professor McGonagall, and she wouldn't tell me anything. But I don't think Professor Dumbledore's brought those guards here to do a job the Aurors could have done."
"You think the Aurors couldn't handle this?" Harry demanded. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to argue with that; on the one hand, Aurors were the elite, the Dark Wizard catchers, the corps he was still planning to someday enter. On the other hand, those three attackers sure hadn't seemed much like Dark Wizards...
She snorted softly. "Honestly, Harry, you were watching, weren't you? Those men weren't Muggles, but they weren't wizards, either. Shikamaru said their chakra's like our magic, but it works in ways we've never heard of... And the guards said they aren't wizards, either. I think they're the same type of people as the men who attacked. And I think Professor Dumbledore hired them because he knew what we'd be facing, and they're the only way we've got to fight it."
"So what about this monster?" Ron asked.
She shook her head. "I don't know. I've been reading as much as I can, and I can't come up with any possibilities. We know about Aragog, of course--"
Ron shivered. Harry patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Aragog doesn't seem exactly the type of beast they're looking for, though," he said. "And anyway, if they were going to fight him, Hagrid wouldn't lead them straight to him, would he? Same with Grawp."
"There's gotta be loads of worse stuff in the forest," Ron added ghoulishly, cheering up. "Fluffy's in there, isn't it? And there's the car..."
"Somehow," Hermione murmured, "I don't think a wild Ford Anglia is exactly the kind of beast they're looking for."
They bickered amicably the rest of the way up to the castle and crowded quickly into the entrance hall. Hermione shook her hair back, groaning.
"Oh, it's gone all frizzy again from the wet—"
"Hard to make you look worse," a scornful voice drawled from their left, "but congratulations, Granger, you've managed it."
Harry gritted his teeth as he turned to face Draco Malfoy. Ron wasn't quite so circumspect. "Bugger off, Malfoy," he snapped, and grabbed Hermione's elbow. "C'mon, 'Mione..."
The Slytherin boy wasn't quite so ready to leave it at that, though. His regular cronies Crabbe and Goyle tromped up the stairs from the dungeon as well and spread out behind him, glowering. Malfoy's hand was hovering perilously near his wand, and his pale face was tightened in a malicious sneer.
"That's right," he said softly. "Start running. It's all you lot are good for, anyway... All you'll be able to do..."
"What d'you mean by that?" Ron demanded belligerently. He dropped Hermione's arm and reached for his own wand. "You're the one who's picked the wrong side in this!"
"Oh, I don't think so," Malfoy said lazily, his cold grey eyes still fixed on Harry. "You'll get what's coming to you...same as Black did."
Harry's fingers closed around the warm wood of his own wand. "You're not fit to speak his name," he hissed. "He was--"
"A pathetic, flea-bitten fool?" Malfoy interrupted, and laughed. He had his wand in his hand, now. "Who're you going to lead to their deaths next, Potter? The Mudblood, here? Poor stupid Longbottom? The little Weasley b--"
His insult ended in a yelp as Ron whipped out his wand and shouted "Expelliarmus!" Malfoy jumped out of the way just in time; the force of the spell sent Goyle tumbling down the stairs. In the next moment all of them had their wands out, and Harry heard his own voice shouting hexes--
Just as a flash of black and silver rocketed between them, faster than any spell, and spun on its heel. "Kaiten!" Black hair whipped in a sudden blue cyclone, and to his astonishment Harry saw the rocks that'd shot out of Crabbe's wand hitting the spinning ball of blue energy and ricocheting away.
But the bolt of light from Harry's Impedimentia hex struck the blue wall and vanished inside, and the spinning staggered suddenly, slowed. Through a haze of horror, Harry saw the guard's tattooed arm and a Falcon-masked face--
And Malfoy shouted at the top of his lungs: "Caecare!"
The blue light vanished; the guard staggered, dropping to one knee as his long black hair fell loose around his shoulders, and reached for his masked face with a strangled cry. Hermione gasped. Harry might have asked her what that spell was, but he was too shocked to speak. Malfoy stood frozen across the entrance hall, his wand drooping from his fingers, as they stared at the guard kneeling on the cold stone floor, covering his masked eyes with one hand and reaching for the knife-holster on his leg with the other...
And then Snape was there, sweeping up from the dungeons in a flourish of black robes, pushing past a recovering Goyle and a stunned Malfoy to stand at the guard's side. "What," he demanded, in a voice like a whip, "did you use?"
For a long moment no one spoke. Then Hermione said, in a tiny voice very unlike her own, "He--Professor--Malfoy hit him with Caecare. He's blind."