Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter.

The students of Hogwarts separated discreetly as a furious raven marched down the halls, so that his pathway was clear. A few wondered what would happen if they were to bravely attempt to step in his path, but none bothered to try. Many agreed that it wasn't worth the risk.

The murderously black aura surrounding him, though, was punctured with bits of sunshine yellow. If one were to look closely, they would see that Sasuke's control was just barely simmering under the surface, but held in check by the cheerful blonde strutting next to him.

'I can't believe no one told me that Itachi was going to be a teacher at Hogwarts,' Naruto said conversationally to Kiba, who had Defense Against the Dark Arts first lesson as well. 'You'd think, being Sasuke's brother, someone would have thought it worth mentioning.'

Sasuke snarled in agreement. He wanted, very badly, to scream and throw something at someone. It didn't matter who that someone was, as long as he had fathomless black eyes, long black hair, and the legendary Uchiha smirk. Sasuke wouldn't have minded throwing something at a mirror, if it weren't for his, as Naruto put it, 'duck butt' hair.

But Sasuke didn't let any of this show. On the one hand, years of being sculpted as the perfect Uchiha didn't allow him to. On the other, Naruto was so bloody oblivious to his discomfort, and he didn't want to be the one to wipe that stupid, happy grin off the dobe's face.

They were on the first floor now, and within minutes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom came storming into view. A very smug looking Itachi stood outside it, leaning against the doorframe casually, as he observed the little charade led by the youngest Uchiha approached.

'Little brother,' he nodded, acknowledging Sasuke's presence, but with a smirk that seemed to be permanently fixed to his face.

'Itachi,' Sasuke replied coldly. 'A word, if you please?'

'It can wait till later, Sasuke,' Itachi said in a sickeningly pleasant voice, holding the door open. 'Now, if you would please get yourselves seated.'

They were the first to have reached the classroom, by the looks of it. Sasuke glared daggers at his brother, but stalked into the room and sat huffily in a corner at the back.

'Hi, Itachi!' Naruto said brightly. Sasuke's head turned a fraction of an inch to watch out of the corner of his eye. He was still fuming, but not enough not to be interested in the goings on.

'Blondie!' Itachi said, sounding genuinely pleased to see him. 'And how did your first night at Hogwarts go? You're a Gryffindor?'

'Yup,' Naruto said proudly, puffing out his chest.

'Ah, such a traitorous little one,' Itachi sighed dramatically. 'I was in Slytherin, in my day. So was everyone else in my family, except for that little black sheep over there.'

Sasuke stiffened as Itachi nodded in his direction. So he was the black sheep of the family, was he?

'What's wrong with being in Gryffindor?' Naruto frowned.

'Oh, nothing at all,' Itachi assured him. 'I was just hoping you'd have gone to my house, is all.'

'Oh.'

The rest of the class was filling in, so Itachi winked at Naruto, then swept impressively into the classroom. There wasn't anything particularly noticeable about it, being filled with desks and chairs, much like any other learning environment. An iron chandelier hung above them, looking particularly morbid with its rusted chains and dim yellow glow. Itachi now stood at the front, surveying his new class. Naruto hurried forward and slipped into a chair next to Kiba, who was right in front of Sasuke.

'Welcome,' Itachi began smoothly. He stood in front of the blackboard with his hands behind his back, head held high as his eyes searched every one of the student's faces. If Naruto didn't know any better, he'd say that Itachi was reading their innermost thoughts. 'My name is Itachi Uchiha.' As he said this, a piece of white chalk levitated behind him and grated across the board, so that his name was now scrawled across it. The students winced as the board shrieked with every scratch. 'I shall be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor as of now. And as I expect nothing lower than an E grade in your NEWTs, I suggest you start taking notes this instant.'

When the class just gaped at him, an eyebrow rose dangerously. 'Did you not hear me?'

Chairs scraped against the floor as the students hurriedly pushed back and yanked at their bags, pulling out parchment, quills, and bottles of ink.

Sasuke, while in not as much of a hurry as the others, did take out his books, albeit slowly. He wasn't going to hinder his learning, of that much he was determined, but he was equally decided that no one – no one – was going to make him move faster than he wanted to. He'd do everything on his own time.

If Itachi noticed his brother's agonizingly slow pace, he didn't comment.

'Professor?'

A hand had shot up into the air. A familiar blue-eyed blonde girl stared at Itachi expectantly.

'Yes, Miss…?'

'Ino Yamanaka,' the girl supplied.

'Yes, Miss Yamanaka?'

'I was just wondering,' she said, looking genuinely curious, 'if you had any idea what happened to our previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Orochimaru?'

Itachi smiled, his teeth gleaming in the dim glow. It seemed as though he had waited for someone to ask this very question.

'Orochimaru,' he began, and everyone noticed how he purposefully stressed the name without the professor in it, 'may have been involved in some…unpleasant…dealings, but it cannot be proved. He would have been shipped off to Azkaban, of course, but he does seem to have quite a number of friends in the Ministry, so instead, he's taking up a post where they can keep an eye on him, within the Ministry for Magic.'

'What did he do?' Ino asked eagerly.

'I'm afraid I cannot say,' Itachi said delicately. 'But it involved some offense to me, so I was offered his post as a professor, and frankly, this job pays better.'

Sasuke's full attention was now on his brother. So Orochimaru had done something, had he? Of course, the raven knew only too well how eager his old snake-loving professor had been to get his hands on the Uchiha fortune. Much as it pained him to admit it, Orochimaru was related to the Uchihas, but only through marriage of their ancestors several years ago. Apparently, according to the intricately weaved relations between them, and the fact that all other Uchihas were dead, once Itachi and Sasuke were deceased, Orochimaru had a claim to the money.

But why work? Sasuke thought, frustrated. They had, as had been pointed out numerous times before, several vaults full of Galleons at Gringotts. The only work Itachi would have to do, should he choose to stay at home and live a full life, would be the occasional Apparition to empty the vault a bit more for his living expenses. Even then, there'd be enough left for both Sasuke and any offspring the two brothers might bear.

Not that Sasuke would ever have any kids, the raven thought drily. He wasn't even bi. He was gay. No way would he be able to sire any children.

The point, in any case, was that Itachi didn't need to be here, didn't need to work at Hogwarts and worst of all, he didn't need to be in such close proximity to his younger brother for the rest of the whole, god-damned, bloody year.

There are quirks, the tiny voice in his head piped up. This means you're guaranteed teacher's pet.

Yeah, right, thought Sasuke, refraining from snorting out loud. With my luck, Itachi will probably force me to be his student lackey.

Probably, the voice agreed glumly.

While Sasuke was engrossed in this internal battle with himself, Naruto was studiously taking notes. The blonde was thrilled. The musty scent of the room, the dim lighting, the soothingly mixture of the sounds of his classmates' soft breathing and scrapes of their quills against parchment, were all enthralling his senses. His first real lesson in the magical world!

Itachi had decided to start off the first lesson by merely listing down their syllabus for that year, in terms of defensive spells. It was all in their N.E.W.T standard textbook: Confronting the Faceless. Naruto was thrilled to find that he knew almost every single one of the spells, and he knew the exact wand movement as well. He'd practiced, as Jiraiya had made him, with an old branch, and while he hadn't been able to make so much as a spark appear, he did get the hang of the correct movements. Naruto knew that he must have made some mistakes, but surely he couldn't be that far off.

The bell suddenly rang, startling the quiet atmosphere and making Naruto nearly jump out of his seat. Had it already been an hour? Time had really flown by.

'Naruto,' Itachi called over the scuffle of students shoveling their things into their bags. 'A word, if you please.'

Naruto slung his bag onto his shoulder and made his way to the front of the class, wondering why Itachi wanted to see him. He didn't notice Sasuke's suspicious eyes following him carefully.

'Yes?' he said, reaching the desk Itachi was standing behind.

'Blondie,' Itachi said, dropping his voice, 'why don't you drop by my office with Sasuke, for supper? I need to talk to you both.'

'Why?' Naruto asked, confused.

Itachi stood straighter, the legendary smirk now firmly in place. 'Just be there,' he said. 'It'll be worth it, I promise.'

'Okay.'

As Naruto turned to leave, Itachi's hand reached out and snagged the end of his robe. 'Blondie,' Itachi said, his eyes narrowing, 'did anything happen last night? Between you and my brother?'

Blood rushed to Naruto's cheeks as he turned his face away. How had Itachi known? Naruto hadn't forgotten last night…far from it. He had done everything in his power to push that embarrassing scene from his head. But had it been embarrassing, really? Naruto wondered. All Sasuke had done was pull down his pajama top, and Naruto, being the great big prat that he was, had blushed, prompting that insufferable smirk.

And the blonde was reminded of that smirk once more, as it made itself known on Itachi's face. He seemed to have taken Naruto's silence as an assent to his question.

Bloody brothers.

'My little brother seems to be awaiting your presence,' Itachi said, nodding at the door with his self-righteous grin firmly in place. 'I shall die in a few minutes, I think, if I kept you from him any longer.'

Not even wanting to ponder the meaning of that sentence, Naruto hurried out the door and toward a hesitant looking raven.

'So,' Naruto said casually, as he swallowed his last mouthful of chicken. 'Itachi invited me to supper tonight.'

The pumpkin juice Sasuke had been drinking while listening to the blonde dobe sprayed across the table, straight into Kiba's face.

'WHAT THE HELL?' two voices roared. One was Kiba's, furious at being spat at on his face, while the other was a disturbingly livid Sasuke.

'You're invited too,' Naruto hastily interjected before Sasuke could yell. 'He told me after class today, that he wanted to see me.'

Sasuke, still breathing hard, took a calming sip of juice. It didn't escape his notice that several people leaned away from him.

'Am I the only one who sees this?' Kiba asked angrily, gesticulating wildly at his juice-sodden robe. 'Will someone please tell me why I am fucking soaking in Pasty Panties' bloody drink?'

Hinata was attempting to make peace, dabbing at Kiba's enraged face, which only served to anger him even further as he pushed her away.

'I'll pay for a new robe,' Sasuke said coldly.

'And you'll get it delivered here, I suppose?' Kiba sneered. Clearly, he was in no mood to think rationally.

'Obviously.'

Naruto grinned. If Sasuke was thinking about Kiba, and not him, surely that meant he wasn't as angry as he looked. His mind wandered back to that morning, a few minutes after a sputtering Sasuke had discovered who their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was.

'Itachi,' Sasuke said in disbelief, shaking his head. 'Itachi!'

A package dropped in front of them just then, sending a fork clattering to the ground. Naruto looked at it in surprise. Where had that come from?

He got his answer a moment later, when the sun suddenly seemed to duck behind a cloud, but was actually, Naruto discovered upon looking up, hidden behind a mass of feathers.

Black, brown, white, and even blue owls swept across the Great Hall, bearing letters and packages that they seemed to be dropping in front of several students, and even a few members of staff.

'What in the world is happening?' Naruto asked in amazement.

Sasuke remained mute, but Kiba answered for him. 'Owls deliver post.'

'I know that,' Naruto said, rolling his eyes. 'I sent a letter this morning. But what's…this?' Seemingly lost for words, Naruto indicated the throng of birds swooping above them.

'Every morning, if there is a package to be delivered, the owls do it at breakfast,' Hinata explained. 'It saves them from having to look through the entire school for a student, and it maintains a certain order. Basically, this is how we get our letters.'

Naruto nodded, still staring incredulously as each owl successfully delivered their packages to the respective students. Their precision was mind-boggling. Who knew birds could be so useful?

His mind felt suddenly at ease. Maybe Jiraiya would get that letter he sent after all.

'Why didn't you mention this earlier?' Sasuke asked suddenly, interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

'Couldn't find the right time,' Naruto shrugged. Then he suddenly turned his baby-blues onto the raven, full wattage. He knew he could never be denied when he was like this. 'Are you mad at me?'

Sasuke gulped. Naruto's eyes were big, blue, and pleading. He could have sworn, in that moment, that no human being on the face of this earth…scratch that, no being on the face of this earth, could have told Naruto that they were pissed, no matter how true it was. 'No,' he said harshly, then grabbed his glass and gulped down its contents hurriedly.

Naruto grinned. Sasuke, having set his glass down, paused to stare at the blonde.

Suddenly, Naruto was very aware of the raven's presence. His heart thrummed faster as he felt himself pinned under that onyx gaze of his. Who had been staring down whom?

Sasuke was slowly leaning closer. Naruto, as if pulled by some unseen force, moved forward as well, his gaze locked onto soft, kissable looking lips. He could almost taste Sasuke's breath, they were so close.

'Sasuke!'

The spell was instantly broken. Both boys pulled away from each other awkwardly, looking away. Sasuke mentally kicked himself. He had been so close. If only he'd moved faster-

'Sasuke!'

The raven nearly groaned. He knew that voice.

Ino.

'Neji told Shikamaru, who told me, that you'll be at team practices this weekend?'

Sasuke sighed. If Ino knew that Sasuke was going to try out for the team again, then her whole house, Ravenclaw, knew. And if there was one thing Sasuke hated, it was intelligent girls that could corner him in any godforsaken place. They were too smart for his own good, in his opinion.

'Yes,' he said, defeated. No point in lying to her. Gaara would only be too happy to rat out his favourite Seeker.

'Brilliant, I'll see you then,' Ino said brightly.

Naruto was feeling slightly disgruntled as he listened to this conversation. Why on earth did Ino have to be so forward with Sasuke? Surely he didn't like her approaches?

Naruto stole a glance at the raven. He looked down. Of course, that might be because of his impending supper with his brother tonight. Naruto chose to think it was because of Ino, though.

'Naruto!' Ino greeted cheerily. 'Will you be trying out too?'

It took all of Naruto's effort to grin at her. He didn't think he had ever disliked anyone so much. Well, except maybe for those bullies who'd wanted a blanket party. 'I don't think so,' he said to Ino. 'I don't know a lot about flying.'

'Well, it's easy,' Ino said, waving a hand dismissively. 'I'll tell you what, meet me on the grounds tonight, and I'll show you how to fly.'

Naruto was tempted. Oh, how he was tempted! To be able to fly…the feeling must be amazing. But he had dinner with Itachi tonight.

'I'll teach him how to fly.' Sasuke's icy voice cut through like a knife. 'You'll not be needed, Ino.'

'Oh.'

'Sorry,' Naruto said sheepishly. 'I'm busy tonight, anyway.'

He felt slightly bad as he watched Ino walk back to the Ravenclaw table. But still. He had lessons with Sasuke! He had no idea why that made him feel so thrilled, but he was.

The bell rang just then, signaling the end of lunch.

'Come on,' Sasuke said, rising. 'Let's go.'

And they were off to their next class.

A/N: Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I love you all!

I shan't be mentioning my favourite reviewers from here on out, mainly because there are too many of you. Please don't let that stop you from reviewing. I love you all anyway! If I'm really, super pleased with your review, I'll drop you a line.

So anyway, thanks for following the story so far!

Review, please!