Ahahahaha! Gaara wins, hands down. Next would have to be Haku, then…Itachi. Then Shika. Then Temari. Then Deidara, Hinata, Naruto, Shino, Kakashi, Juugo, Sasori, Sasuke, Sai, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Iruka…these are the answers people have given me.

This is in no way a real answer. It's just the people who read my story. Hah! They agree with me…somewhat.

As a side note, Sonic (the hedgehog) won, and Evanescence also won, although several people have the same issue as me—they can't decide. Hmmm… that means they're both rockin' awesome! I should listen to my song, right now…Nah, can't stop the Naruto CD.

Thanks: Kina Lupi, none, Shrimps of Mass Destruction, Not a FFnet Member, Shukoru, Shashuko the Paisley Maiden, ellabell, Fred Black, Favrite of Chaos, multi guy, The Crazy Evil Akatsuki Neko, craziness101, mintmelodygirl, Haku's No. 1 Girl, ElementalDarkness

Sorry it took so long to upload…high school…Stupid geometry and civics…They both gave me massive amounts of homework.

Draco was walking alone, and considered going to the Hogs Head. He was pretty bored.

"Draco!" He glanced up, and saw Sakura waving at him down the street. She was walking with a large group of Gryffindors, including Potter, two Weasleys, and Granger.

They looked a bit disgusted that she was speaking to him.

"Sakura, are you going to introduce us to your friend?" That was the blonde boy, the one with the impossible-to-pronounce name.

"Sure." They had reached him, now. "Naruto, this is Draco. Draco, Naruto."

"Hi."

"Hey! Why don't you come with us to Honeyduke's?"

"I don't know…" Draco said, glancing at Harry and Co. with some doubt.

"Let's go to Zonko's."

That was another Gryffindor, the name of which he didn't know.

"Okay, Meg," the girl who looked a bit like her, only she had white eyes and blue hair.

Maybe she's blind, he thought. That couldn't be right, though. She was looking around in crazed awe.

Sakura glanced at Hermione and Ginny. They exchanged a glance. "I dunno…" Ginny said at last.

Sakura frowned. "Fine. You guys go have fun at Honeyduke's."

Naruto looked torn. He grabbed Sakura's arm. "Hey! We can't just leave them."

"Then you stay with them."

"Alone?!"

"What, don't believe in yourself? I thought your catchphrase was 'Believe it!'" (Rabid anti-fan dub people—don't attack me. Since they're in England, they have to speak English. DUH! I normally prefer Dattebayo, as well, but we can't have everything in this life.)

"Yeah, but…"

"I believe in you, Naruto. Besides, Gaara will be there. Now go. I'll watch Draco."

The two girls who had announced they were going to Zonko's were discussing something. Meg giggled suddenly, and nodded.

"Hey, Sakura? We're going to go with them, okay?"

Sakura glanced at Hinata. They exchanged a look, and Hinata lifted a single shoulder, as though she were having spasms. Sakura nodded.

Some kind of signal, Draco decided.

Sakura turned and smiled at Draco. "It's just us, then." She grabbed his hand, and they rushed through the crowd.

Sasuke pretended to look at lollipops, until a store employee came up and asked him if he wanted to buy one.

He considered charbroiling the stand, and walking away, but he said "Sure. Two."

He gave the man his money, and took the lollipops.

He didn't know why he bought two, but he supposed if he didn't like it he could give one to Karin.

Speaking of the said red head… (About that-- I got two answers for red, one for dark, dark pink, so I just went with red.)

Karin tapped his shoulder. She smiled. "Let's walk. There are too many people here."

He nodded, and they walked outside. He opened a lollipop, and glad that he hadn't bought a huge pinwheel one, popped it into his mouth.

It was okay…but…not his cup of tea. "Lollipop?" he asked, offering her the other one, mouth still full.

"Thanks." She took and unwrapped it, but before she could eat it…

"TEME!"

"Oh, great…the Dobe's back." (Hero's Come Back is the coolest Naruto opening. Just wanna point that out. It's somewhat related—the dobe's back, Hero's Come Back…You know.) Sasuke and Karin turned to face Naruto.

"Oi, Teme! What are you doing here?"

"If you haven't noticed, I go to school here. Got issues with that? Take it to the Headmistress."

"Why is she here?"

"We're talking. Is that a sin?"

"YES!"

"…"

"Hi! I'm Karin! Sasuke has told me so much about you!"

"It's all lies!" Naruto cried, suddenly looking nervous.

"Oh, so you aren't a great wizard? An awesome Quidditch player?"

"Oh. Yes, those facts are true. I thought he was telling you I was a 'right foul git', or something."

"Nope. It was nice to meet you, Naruto."

"You too. Now, back to you, teme."

Sasuke, was however gone, seemingly having vanished when Karin was talking to Naruto.

Karin frowned. "I hate it when he does that. Toodles, Naruto."

Gaara came and stood next to Naruto. "She was a shinobi."

He glanced at him in surprise. "You think so?"

"Yep. Her hair was red. How many wizards do you know that dye their hair? None. Plus, she had red eyes, and was dressed all skanky mugglish."

"You're right." He paused. "I had no idea you even noticed girl clothing."

Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Let's go. Hinata might die, being all alone with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny."

Gaara shrugged. "With Meg there, she'll be okay."

"Yeah…but we shouldn't leave her alone."

Gaara held in a snicker, but couldn't stop the smirk that spread across his face.

Naruto shoved him. Furiously blushing, he said, "Don't say anything."

"I won't, I won't."

Sai raised an eyebrow. "You only want me to go?"

"You're going to join their team, as a 'caretaker of the grounds'."

He smiled.

"Here." She tossed him a boot. "Portkey no Jutsu!"

Tenten and Neji weren't in fact, in the library. Well, Neji was. Tenten had left a little earlier, and had gone on a walk around the grounds. She was twirling senbon needles between her fingers. (She had told everyone they were quills, and surprisingly they believed her.)

She was thinking about Neji, and his gorgeous hair that she was somewhat jealous of—who wouldn't be? —So she didn't see the girl, and nearly ran into her.

It was some Gryffindor girl, who she didn't know.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there."

"It's cool."

Tenten was about to continue her walk, when the girl said, seemingly out of the blue. "This school gets weirder and weirder."

"What do you—oh, Sai, you're so stupid!"

Sai had chosen the perfect time to fall from the sky.

"Stupid hag," he muttered, dusting himself off.

"SAI! WHAT IS YOUR ISSUE?! Appearing in front of a student!"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "And what are you supposed to be?"

Tenten ignored her.

"It's the hag's fault…Little Mouse." (I don't know what he calls Tenten, but this seems to fit.)

She threw a senbon at him, but he caught it between two fingers, and examined it closely.

"Now there's a student who knows about us!"

"Oh, man, are you dark wizards?!" the girl gasped.

"What? No. We're shinobi," Sai explained.

"Sai, this is reconnaissance!"

"Coulda fooled me."

"What's a shinobi? And who are you really?"

"I really am Tenten, but I don't have a last name." Tenten decided she should just tell her everything.

"I'm Sai!" he said, with that false cheery smile. "Who are you?"

"I'm Patricia Edwards. Anyway, what's a shinobi? And are you…like…bad guys?"

"Well, Patricia Edwards, shinobi are more commonly known as ninjas, from Japan."

"We aren't going to hurt anyone. We're here to protect Harry Potter."

"Oh, like Aurors?"

"Sure."

"Why did you fall from the sky?"

"Portkey."

"Oh."

"You know you can't tell anyone, right?"

"…Yeah, I guess. But wait! How do I know you're telling the truth?"

For a minute, Tenten and Sai pondered this. Then Sai smiled. "You don't. You'll just have to trust us."

Patricia thought about it.

"You know we'll be watching you now, right? Well, someone in Gryffindor will be. Sakura or Naruto. Maybe Hinata. Or Gaara."

Sai raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Little Mouse? That's so many people."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"But the book said to have nicknames for everyone! For instance, Patricia Edwards is…Snowflake. See? She has white skin, and almost white hair. And you have buns on your head, so you're Little Mouse."

Patricia frowned. "Snowflake?"

"The book said to have nicknames for your friends."

"Friend?"

"Don't you want to be my friend?"

"Don't be his friend, he's irritating and difficult."

"Sure, I'll be your friend. Whatever. How many of you are there?"

"One each, although we can clone ourselves," said Tenten.

"No, I meant, how many shinobi?"

"Hundreds, back home," Tenten said.

Patricia blew out a breath of frustration. Tenten could be just as difficult as she claimed Sai was. "How many shinobi are here?"

"Oh, in that case…13. Well, actually, 14. We're not sure the other one's on our side, yet…"

"Make that 15."

"Oh, Raccoon, it's you!" Sai was smiling cheerfully at the newly arrived Gaara.

"Don't call me that. There's some girl named Karin here. She's aligned with Sasuke, whoever he's aligned with. I can't stay long, but may I ask why we're telling Patricia what's going on?"

"Mr. Genius here fell from the sky in front of her."

"Ah. Tell the others about Karin. I have to go back to Hogsmeade to watch Harry."

"Okay. Bye, Raccoon! By the way, Snowflake, why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

Patricia shrugged. "Didn't feel like it, I guess."

"That's too bad. Where's Ugly, Little Mouse?"

"Sakura is in Hogsmeade with everyone else."

"Ah."

"Sakura isn't that ugly," Patricia pointed out.

"To each his own," Sai said with a shrug.

Patricia frowned.

They walked back to the castle.

Ha! You thought Patricia was just there, didn't you? Wrongo!

Whoop! Do you favor Sprite, Sierra Mist, or 7up? That's the question of the day. (I prefer Sierra Mist. If you don't, good for you.) And if you like the Sam's club or K-mart brand, props to you! Tell me about it. IBG wants your feedback.

I have no idea why I ask these questions…maybe because it's fun. Well, it's fun for me, anyway. Hahahameow! (That's my friend's 'evil laugh'.)

Oh, my gosh. When I type Itachi, spell check says: itchy! Deidara (this was too funny) says deodorant. Draco equals Drano. Some kinda pipe cleaner. Oh, and Neji is a Nazi! Ha, ha. Gotta love spell check…always laughable.

OH, News of the Day: Chouji is PHAT, not FAT!

-Insane laughter, interrupted by Janet hitting me-

Janet: Stop that, or I'll hit you again. (Janet: violent inner voice)

Me: Owie. That hurt.

Whitney: Yes, it did. Do that again, Janet, and I'll kill you. I actually can. –Grumbles angrily- (Whitney: in case you forgot—Inner Me!)

-General argument emerges from the rest of my voices…and me-

Alyssa: Yay! The people are reading our conversation, Brittney!

Brittney: Cuz we're the only one's not fighting.

Alyssa: it makes me happy!

Brittney: …You're always happy. That's what I love about you!

Alyssa: That also makes me happy. EVERYONE LOVES ME!

Me: You're scary--like a clown. How can you always be happy?

Alyssa: Like this! –Beams with teeth brighter than the sun-

Me: Yay, TOOTHPASTE!

IBG (and voices) out!

Ha! We're doing a bonus upload today! This means twice as long for you guys.

That Author/and voices note was planted! –Cackles evilly-

…You don't think that's worth an evil laugh? Dang it. I was never good at this type of thing…

Though the note was planted, it all is true…except for the IBG (and voices) out! Bit. Obviously I'm still here, and trust me, the voices are giving me a headache…-sobs-

As a side note, I listened to three CD's to write the first half, which were the Naruto CD, One-X by Three Days Grace, and Pieces of You by Jewel. (The last one made me go all emo.) I'm currently listening to a mix, with Avril Lavigne, Evanescence, Green Day, Hoobastank, Josh Groban, Journey, Mandy Moore, Plain White T's, The Fray, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Three Days Grace. Hah! I'll keep you posted, I guess.

Anyway, here's the rest of the chapter. It takes place like…two months later. Enjoy!

Everyone knew something was wrong. That much was apparent. Temari was pissed off, and Shikamaru quit smoking.

Like he was worried.

Very worried.

They still hadn't made up—they were avoiding talking to each other, which proved difficult, as Shikamaru was in her Muggle Studies class.

Neji and Tenten watched them skirt around each other in Muggle Studies.

It was sort of funny…in an ironic way.

Another point of interest was the budding relationship between Haku and Usagi. All the shinobi had known, of course, that they'd end up together…all of them but Haku and Usagi themselves.

They were all waiting for Naruto to confess his undying love to Hinata. He was still too shy, apparently.

Then there was Sakura's little romance with Draco Malfoy, which had shocked everyone, least of all Sasuke…

Flashback

"Sakura?"

She gasped, spinning, her hand still in Draco's. "Sa-Sasuke…"

"HIM? Of all the people, you chose HIM?"

She stiffened. "Shut up. You don't make decisions for me, okay?" Nervously, she stepped closer to Draco.

Sasuke wasn't going to hurt him on HER watch.

Sasuke spun away, filled with hurt.

-Later-

"Sakura."

"Sasuke."

Sakura was walking the moonlit grounds, and had come across Sasuke…

He reached for her, but she said, "Don't," and pulled away.

Don't walk too close
Don't breathe so soft
Don't talk so sweet
Don't sing
Don't lay oh so near
Please, don't let me fall in love with you again
Please let me forget
All those sweet smiles
All of the passion
All of the peace, the heat, the pain
All those blues skies
Where your words were my freedom
Please, don't let me fall in love with you again
Too many times
I've cared too much
I stood on the edge
And saw that you held my hand
And knowing too well
I couldn't hide from those eyes
Please, don't let me fall in love with you again. (I don't own 'Don't'by Jewel)

Sasuke watched her vanishing figure, and then gazed at the full moon.

"I guess this is…somewhat of a good bye, Sakura-chan," he murmured aloud.

Flashback Ends

And Quidditch! How could we forget? (And yes, she means we…as in IBG refers to herself in either the third person, or as 'we' or 'us'.)

Here's what the list said:

Seeker: Harry Potter
Chasers: Ginny Weasley, Naruto Uzumaki, and Patricia Edwards
Keeper: Ron Weasley
Beaters: Hinata Hyuuga and Meg Ryder

One should note that Hinata nearly had a heart attack when she read the list.

Especially since she received a joyful hug of congratulations and excitement from Naruto.

But what of Orochimaru and Sasuke? And Karin? Let's find out…

"It's not time yet," Sasuke said tersely.

Karin leaned against the wall, behind Orochimaru, observing.

"Sasuke, how much longer will you make Orochimaru-sama wait?" Kabuto asked.

"Until the time is right. We shouldn't rush this," Sasuke snapped. "There's shinobi all over the place guarding Potter."

"And there always will be! We need to act NOW!"

"But—"

"Fine. Two weekssss…and then…"

"Too soon!" Sasuke was frustrated and depressed. Karin saw that. Orochimaru probably did, too, but he didn't know why.

Karin, of course did…She knew about Sakura, and how Sasuke had always liked her, but refused to admit it. (First stage of a crush: denial. Second: anger. Third: acceptance) That's why he was depressed. He was frustrated, because he wasn't prepared to take down Orochimaru.

"NO EXCUSESSSSSSS! We attack in two weekssss. Currently, he isss unaware that we plan on attacking him. This isss perfect…"

Sasuke sighed. "Fine." His eyes landed on Karin. "Can we talk?"

She nodded.

When Orochimaru and Kabuto didn't leave, Sasuke sighed. "Alone?"

They took the hint and left.

Sasuke fell back onto the couch, and put his face in his hands. He blew out a frustrated sigh.

Karin didn't move from the wall. She could tell now wasn't the time for flirting…

His head snapped up to look at her, Sharingan blazing in his eyes.

She took in an involuntary gasp. The murderous intent…

He blew out a breath of frustration, and his eyes returned to the dark shade again. "It's…not…fair."

She shrugged sympathetically. "Nothing is. You of all people should know that."

He clenched his fist. "Itachi…"

She sighed. "Now isn't the time. We need to figure out what to do."

Kabuto suddenly leaned in the doorway. "You two sure are spending a lot of time together…"

"…" Karin remained silent.

"Maybe we are together. Could you briefly get out of my life, for just five minutes?" Sasuke snapped. Karin colored slightly.

Kabuto frowned. "Aren't we grumpy?"

"Just get out."

Kabuto grumbled and walked out.

"C'mon." Sasuke motioned for her to follow him outside.

She closed her eyes as he opened the door. When she opened them, he was watching her expectantly. "Coming?"

"Yeah…" she murmured, and followed him out the door.

"I don't know what to do," he sighed after he closed the door. "I won't be ready in time…"

"I hate to suggest this…but maybe…"

"What?"

"Maybe you should get help from the Konoha shinobi."

He stared at her like she was crazy. "They won't help me…but you're right. That's the only way this'll be successful."

"We have to try…"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

Meg stared at the envelope in her hand.

It was a normal envelope, just come by the owl post.

And yet...

There was this deep feeling of foreboding. A feeling that she really didn't want to open the letter.

And so she hesitated.

But she couldn't sit there forever looking like a total idiot.

She slid a finger underneath the envelope fold, breaking the seal. She drew it back, along with drawing in a breath. She pulled out the contained letter, and slowly unfolded the letter.

Her eyes blurred before she finished the first sentence.

Ms. Ryder,

We regret to inform you that your father has passed…

She stood, and ran from the Great Hall.

"Meg?" Hinata cried out as Meg nearly bowled her over. "Meg, what's wrong?"

But Meg kept running, running to the common room, pushing past students.

When she reached The Fat Lady, and was asked for the password, she was unable to remember it in her agony.

For a few brief moments, she crumpled to the ground and just sobbed, sitting outside the portrait hole.

Gaara's voice spoke from behind her. "Bollocks."

The portrait swung open, and Gaara leaned down to help her up. She took his hand, and allowed him to guide her into the common room.

Still sobbing, she clung to him, arms tight around his neck, refusing to let go.

He didn't speak—she didn't want him to.

He just held her.

That was enough.

Okay, here's the real end, I guess. Sorry to end on a sad note, and sorry it took so long. You know…high school.

Anyway, I also listened to The Open Door, by Evanescence. That makes five CDs…for one chapter. Do you know how many hours that is?

I had to watch the Republican debate for Civics, and it was actually pretty cool. In case you didn't know, I'm a conservative. And I support Romney...MORMON POWER! (Yes, I'm Mormon. Before you ask: no, we don't have horns, I cut my hair, I have electricity, we're Christian...and we aren't the ones who knock on your door all the time and annoy the crap out of you.)

The question is still Sprite, Sierra Mist, or 7up…or generic.

Review, please!

IBG out!