Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Hunter X Hunter.

Author's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Harry Potter/Hunter X Hunter Crossover

Nen Wizard

Chapter 2

Confrontation X Cooking X Craziness

Haruto was starting to hate the swamp and with good reason too.

One, he was separated from his new friends when the fog started to thicken as they trudged through the marshy forest; his sense of direction was useless since visibility was rendered to almost zero (He could still see his hands which was a relief). Satotsu was no longer in sight so he was having problems determining WHERE the examiner was.

He was sorely tempted to use his aura to blast the fog away but he didn't want to reveal his abilities as of yet. Besides, if he did use Nen then Hisoka would be on him in a blink of an eye. Haruto knew that the Dark Magician was interested in fighting him though he had no qualms with that. However, fighting with so many non-users of Nen around would be tantamount to genocide to those without aura protections active.

No, if he was going to fight Hisoka at 100% then that would be somewhere with no living things around to be safe.

Besides, if he resorted to using Nen, then the exam wouldn't be fun anymore and he was enjoying it already that he wouldn't dare make it easy for him.

Two, his sandals were ill-suited for running or walking on soft, wet soil. He had to coat it with a bit of his aura so he wouldn't trip when it stuck itself deep into the muddy floor. His Hakama was a mess though he was thankful that his favorite kimono was clean. Thank the gods for small favors.

And three, he hated his luck for being the target of both the rabid man-eating animals that made Swindler's Swamp their home, as well as some examinees who thought it was a good idea to get rid of him since he looked weak. He just left a very large animal knocked out a gigantic animal that looked like a cross between an alligator and a hippopotamus when he was immediately surrounded by a dozen of examinees who had the idea to band together to eliminate the competition with sharp pointy things to make sure that they got the job done right.

They wish!

Haruto stepped to the side to avoid a sword thrust before quickly disarming the man and used some fancy footwork to position himself behind his opponent to land a quick chop to the back of the head, rendering the man unconscious. He continued to methodically put them down without killing them but he was sure that they wouldn't last long in their unconscious state considering the hungry animals living in the area. Even now, he could sense a dozen of them waiting for the more powerful predator (Haruto) to leave so they could enjoy the buffet.

Haruto spun in midair to avoid an attack from his last opponent – a spear wielder who was considered as the boss of the impromptu group - grabbed the offending weapon and used it as a pivot to give the man a hard kick to the head that was sure to give the man something more than a migraine when he woke up. The adopted Netero sighed as he snapped the spear in half and leaving the unconscious group to their fate.

However, Haruto immediately froze when he felt a burst of malice so powerful that could only come from one person.

Not wasting any time, Haruto channeled a bit of aura to his muscles and dashed forward at top speed towards the malicious aura in the distance. He wouldn't have been concerned if Hisoka chose to 'play' with the examinees but Haruto sensed Gon's life energy that was oozing with fear and determination near the killer.

He needed to get there fast to avoid losing his new friend from being slaughtered by the man.

Haruto arrived to see Hisoka strangling Gon. Cold-fear and anger gripped his being as he disappeared from the edge of the forest to appear beside the man to hit him with a powerful punch to the jaw that made him let go of the suffocating boy.

Hisoka didn't know what happened. One moment he was testing and strangling the boy then found himself flying with a dislocated jaw. Shrugging the pain off took a bit more than usual but he was able to manage a state of clarity that he righted himself to land steadily on two feet before putting his jaw to rights with an audible crack. He shook his head a bit to clear the cobwebs that threatened to addle his brain before looking to his left. His gaze met the angry green eyes of Haruto Netero.

"Mah, Haruto-kun, nice of you to…drop by." said Hisoka, feeling the shiver of excitement coursing through his veins at the gaze the boy was aiming at him. It was magnificently cruel to be subjected to such a stare. It was bliss.

However, Hisoka didn't have time to enjoy the feeling because Haruto was on him like a pack of hungry wolves. He was surprised at the boy since the punches and kicks he blocked weren't aura-enhanced but they were quite powerful, fast, and very accurate. Whoever trained the boy was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Tired of dodging and blocking, Hisoka decided to attack as well, just to see what the boy was capable of. This was a test, after all.

He was further surprised when all of his punches and kicks were being blocked or masterfully swept aside by the boy who didn't even bat an eyelash when he went into the offensive. He took things up a notch by channeling 20% of his aura into his attacks and was not surprised when the boy matched him. The boy was an Enhancement-type considering the ease of how the aura matched him in terms of speed and power.

This was turning out to be fun.

Kurapika and Gon were dumbfounded at the sight in front of them – Hisoka and Haruto were fighting an intense battle. Each kicks and punches were blocked by hands or limbs; producing shockwaves that made their hairs stand on end. They knew how powerful Hisoka was but to see a boy that they just befriended matching the man blow-for-blow was both amazing and scary at the same time.

"Gon, did you know that your friend Haruto was this strong?" asked Kurapika in a daze as Haruto did an overhead axe kick that Hisoka easily blocked by crossing his arms over his head. The earth caved, causing a crater to appear on Hisoka's feetwhen the blow connected.

"No…I know Haruto was strong but I didn't know that he was this strong." said Gon as he gingerly rubbed his neck since it was stinging a bit due to Hisoka's grip. "Even if Haruto is powerful, we need to stop him. Hisoka is dangerous!"

"Stop them? How?" Kurapika exclaimed. He couldn't come up with a plan to get the two to stop considering how fast they were moving, not to mention how powerful their attacks were. If one of them stepped in, they would either end up critically injured or dead.

"I don't know." Gon said, shaking his head, as he saw his friend getting tossed by Hisoka.

Haruto cursed himself for overextending his punch that Hisoka was able to grab his wrist and threw him away. He righted himself in mid-air to see dozens aura-enhanced cards coming at him. Seeing that Hisoka upped the ante a bit by using Nen, he materialized his favorite bo staff and coated it with a healthy dollop of aura to increase its durability and offensive power. He twirled it with one hand in front of him as a shield, easily diverting the projectiles away from him before landing on the ground. He was about to launch himself towards the clown for another attack run but stopped when Hisoka clapped his hands, a wide gleeful smile on his face. He was confused as to why he could no longer feel bloodlust and malice coming from the man.

"Astounding, Haruto-kun. You definitely passed!" Hisoka announce, catching the trio off guard. Leorio was still unconscious so he didn't hear that announcement.

"Huh?" was the trio's dumbfounded reply.

"You didn't think that I would hurt Gon-kun, did you?" Hisoka asked with an innocent look on his face which was totally false in the eyes of the trio.

Haruto looked at the dead martial artists in the clearing before his eyes landed on an unconscious Leorio.

"Yeah, I think you were." Haruto said dryly, making his bo staff disappear with a twirl. This action surprised Kurapika and Gon since it was similar to how Hisoka would make his cards appear and disappear. "Why did you strangle Gon?" he asked coldly which made Hisoka grin.

"Before you came in and punched me, which by the way was quite strong, let me tell you that," Hisoka said while rubbing his somewhat bruised jaw since he was surprised by the sudden attack he was unable to muster a defense for it. "I had no intention of killing your friends. In fact, I was just testing the examinees to make sure that they were strong enough to be Hunter material."

Haruto merely raised an eyebrow at the lie but went with it.

"And the dead ones?" he asked plaintively.

"They attacked me with the intention to kill." Hisoka said with a shrug. "I was only returning the favor."

"And Gon?"

"He attacked me because he thought I was going to kill the blonde. I strangled Gon to see the extent of his determination…and I wasn't disappointed. Ku ku ku ku." Hisoka said with a chuckle before his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered. "Yes? Ah thank you. I'll be right there." He pocketed his phone and calmly walked towards the unconscious Leorio before hoisting the man over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "I suggest that you three mosey along since the exam is about to end. Toodles!" with that, Hisoka disappeared through the mist.

Haruto stared at the direction where Hisoka disappeared before sighing in relief. He knew, despite how well he held up against the man, there was a huge gap in their experience. He knew for a fact that if the fight dragged on, Hisoka would have defeated him easily. Sure, he had plenty of tricks to surprise him with;but with Hisoka's experience in natural and aura-based battles, he would eventually get over it and give him a smacking of a lifetime, though he vowed that if it ever happened, he would give as much as he would get.

He turned to his new friends and almost cringed at the awe-filled looks they were giving.

"Yo!" Haruto greeted casually, inwardly praying that his new friends wouldn't hate him or alienate him for being strong. What he got was totally unexpected.

Gon engulfed him in a tight hug that made his ribs crack. Kurapika eyes were twitching madly. Haruto breathed a sigh of relief if those were the reactions he got from his and Hisoka's impromptu battle. He was dead wrong.

Gon let go of Haruto and smacked him on the head. Haruto was about to the same to the kid when Kurapika followed it up with one of his own.

"What did you do that for?" Haruto asked, rubbing the back of his head, hoping that he didn't get a concussion from the smacking he got from the two.

"Why in the world did you fight Hisoka of all people?" Gon started. "He could have killed you!"

"That was the most stupid thing you could ever do in your life!" Kurapika almost screamed at him.

"What? I just can't stand there and let Gon get killed!" Haruto whined, happy that his friends were concerned of his safety, and angry that they treated him like a kid. Well, he was. That definitely shut the two of them up before giving out a tired sigh. "Let's forget this alright?"

"It's kind of hard to forget how strong you are considering you went toe to toe with Hisoka." Kurapika quipped before frowning. He leveled a curious look at Haruto who tilted his head to the side.

"What?" Haruto asked immediately, seeing the question in Kurapika's face.

"How did you get that strong?" Kurapika blurted out, curious.

"Huh?" Haruto manage to blurt out, surprised at the question.

"Hisoka is practically the strongest candidate here, there's no questioning that. Not only did you fight equally with him, you employed some skills that were also similar with him in some ways." Kurapika explained. "Now, how did you get this strong? If I was to hazard a guess, you're no ordinary 12 year old."

Haruto eyed Kurapika for a few moments, noting the lack of animosity or jealousy in the teen's eyes. He turned to look at Gon who was also giving him curious looks. He smiled seeing that these two were definitely his friends, not afraid of him or jealous of his abilities.

"I'll tell…IF you pass the exam." Haruto said slyly before skipping merrily out into the fog leaving two shocked friends behind.

Haruto couldn't help but palm his face when he saw WHO was going to proctor the second part of the Hunter Selection Exam. Gon, Kurapika, Killua, and a now-awake Leorio didn't miss the action. They didn't notice Hisoka looking at them curiously.

"What?" asked Leorio, curious as to why their new friend was showing exasperation upon finding out who the examiner was.

"We are so going to hate this part of the exam." Haruto said with a sigh. Upon seeing the curious expression on his friends' faces, he decided to explain what they were up against. "Those two there on the stage are Gourmet Hunters so expect the next part of the exam to involve food. Now, that doesn't sound so bad but the existence of Menchi makes things difficult for us."

"Why do you say that?" asked Kurapika. He wasn't worried that the next exam was cooking since he was a pretty decent cook thanks to growing up on his own. If this was a cooking test then he was good as passed.

"Easy, Buhara, the giant over there, is easy to please. He'll eat anything though what he would assign for us to cook might be dangerous since he likes exotic food. No, Buhara is not the problem, its Menchi."

"Menchi?" asked Killua, frowning before giggling when Buhara, the giant of a man, slapped one of the examinees after insulting their strength. It proved that these Hunters were no pushovers considering the sumo wrestler examinee was down on the ground, bloody and bruised with a single slap.

"Menchi is a 1-Star Gourmet Hunter and a very picky eater. She attained the rank of a 1-Star Pro Hunter at the age of 21 by discovering exotic food that any first-class chef would give his life for. As I said, she is a very picky eater so you can be sure that she would judge HOW we cook the food, as well as its taste. You can be sure of that."

"You don't think it would be that bad, do you?" Gon asked, grinning a bit nervously since he couldn't cook anything aside from roasting.

"With Mechi, expect the unexpected."

"How do you know so much about them, Haru?" asked Killua.

"Haru?" Haruto asked, amused at being given a nickname. He liked it since he was somewhat tired of either being addressed as 'Haruto-sama' or 'Netero Haruto' by the Hunters in the association.

"Haruto is such a mouthful." Killua replied dismissively with a wave of his hand before leveling him a finger. "From this day onwards, you will henceforth, be known as…Haru."

Haruto, or Haru, bowed to Killua.

"As you wish, Killua-sama." Haru said expansively, laying it a bit too thick which made everyone snicker.

"Alright you two, cut it off, the big guy is about to speak." Leorio interrupted the joking duo which caused everyone to turn towards the stage.

"I'm hungry so my test is for you to cook…PIG!" Buhara exclaimed in a loud voice that made everyone look at him incredulously.

Silence descended before a loud exclamation scared the predators in the forest.

"EH?"

AN: Sorry it's a bit short but my muse took a vacation. ^_^ Please be patient for the next update.

End of Chapter 2

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