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"Talking-English"

"Talking-Japanese"

Thinking

"Kyuubi/demon/summon/animal talking"

Kyuubi/demon/summon/animal thinking

Mariko's pov

After we arrived at 'The Leaky Cauldron' we settled into our rooms. Sakura, Hinata and I all shared a room. Naruto and Sasuke shared a room and Lee, Shikamaru and Kiba shared another room, since they did NOT want to be in the same room as the two lovers.

After a good night's sleep we made our way downstairs to eat breakfast. That's what we were doing now. Eating. Well… some of us were eating. Naruto and Sasuke had gotten into another lovers tiff and me, Sakura, Kiba and Hinata were watching while eating our breakfast. Lee was once again running around the room screaming about 'the joyful youth'. This was how Snape found us.

He stood staring for at least 15 minutes before taking the empty seat next to me and whispering;

"What the hell is going on?"

"Well, Kiba is filling himself and Akamaru, who Tsunade shrunk and Kiba put in his coat which is why we didn't notice him before during the journey, up on bacon and watching Sasuke and Naruto who got into yet another fight this morning… no-one knows what it is about this time. It was just funny to hear them screaming profanities and each other coming down the stairs this morning. Shikamaru is sleeping as per usual and Hinata is still the walking dead… Sakura is trying to wake her up, while watching the fight, while eating breakfast, while keeping an eye on her boyfriend, Lee, who is running around screaming about youth of some sort and basically just being Lee."

"What about you?"

"Me? I am enjoying my breakfast-time entertainment very much."

He laughed slightly at this and pulled out his wand. I stiffened slightly when he pointed it at me.

"It's ok. It's just a spell to make it so that you can understand English. You will definitely need it for your school work and for shopping Diagon Alley."

I nodded once and he flicked his wrist muttering something under his breath in a language that I couldn't yet understand.

"Testing, testing. One, two. One, two… YEY! I can speak English!" I squealed slightly and hugged Snape who looked extremely uncomfortable, but I didn't care. I pulled away and gestured to the rest of my friends. He seemed to understand because he waved his wand again but this time over all of my friends. After the spell was finished they were still speaking in Japanese and it confused me.

"They can choose which language they speak in." I nodded before getting their attention.

They all turned to look at me and I said in English;

"Right then, kids… we're heading to Diagon Alley. So shut up and let's go, now. Oh right but before we go… Professor can you please return Akamaru to his original size? The damn puppy version of him annoys me so much."

"Of course." With another flick of the wrist Akamaru popped up, back to his original size. I let out a heavy sigh of relief as did some of the others. Kiba just pounced on him, gave him a hug and sat on his back. Strange child.

"Can you please stop calling us Kids… you are the same age as us!"

"Yes but I graduated earlier which means I reached adulthood earlier which means I have been an adult longer than you which technically means that I am older." I ended the statement by sticking my tongue out at the one who had spoken; Naruto.

Everyone laughed and we made our way out of the dining area of 'The Leaky Cauldron' and into the back wall. When we were all cramped into the little room Snape took out his wand and tapped a pattern onto the bricks. I watched in awe along with everyone else as the wall opened up and let us into Diagon Alley. Led by Snape, we first went to Gringotts; the bank.

"How may I help you?" Asked one goblin sat at a desk.

"We need to go to three vaults."

"Do you have the keys?"

"Yes, I have the keys." Snape then took out three tiny keys and handed them to the goblin that nodded and made his way around his desk to lead us out of the room.

He sat us all in some sort of boat and started making his way past the vaults. He stopped at one and said;

"Vault 629… Jiraya and Tsunade Sannin… joint account, for the use of Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno, Lee Rock, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha." He read off a paper and then led the six of them into the vault. Through the open door we could all see piles of gold, silver and bronze coins and other expensive looking objects. Naruto and I gasped at the sight of all the gold and it got me wondering. How much gold would Naruto and I have in our vaults? After everyone had grabbed as much as they could carry they got back in the boat and we made our way to the next vault.

"Vault 969… Uzumaki family vault." He led Naruto inside and again through the open door we could see everything inside. Naruto had at least 10X what Jiraya and Tsunade had! Naruto came back grinning broadly and carrying a large photograph in a frame.

"What's that?" I asked.

"My parents." He showed us the picture. When we looked we saw Kushina and Minato. They were moving around and then they talked to us! After we said hi and introduced ourselves to the photograph version of the fourth Hokage and his wife Naruto turned away with Sasuke to have a full conversation with his parents. Sasuke sat beside him quietly, only speaking when spoken to.

"Vault 510… Akane Family Vault." I nodded and followed the goblin into the vault. As soon as he opened the door I gasped. The vault was full to the brim of coins and gold and other extremely expensive looking item. The only thought running through my head was; This was all mine?

I grabbed as much as I could carry and ran from the vault. I dived back into the vault and snuggled into Shikamaru's side. He laughed slightly and I laughed with him. I was rich!

"You never told me that your name was Akane." Snape said quietly. Many people would hear his voice as cold and emotionless but I heard a hint of sadness in there too.

"Yes. My full name is Mariko Rose Akane… my mother was Ai Akane. Why?"

"How is Ai?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Dead. She didn't survive child-birth… she was alive long enough to name me and then she died." I answered. Sadness consuming my own voice.

"She has been orphaned her entire life."

"What about your father?" Snape asked me.

"I… don't know who he is. And I doubt he even knows that I was born. All I know is that he is a wizard and that he was at Hogwarts with my mother 16-17 years ago." He stiffened at my comment. He stared at me for a while until we were told that our visit to the bank was finished so we left. Once we were outside Snape turned to us and said;

"I have to go and talk to Dumbledore… You guys go shopping here is the list and all the shops you will need to go to. Do not, I repeat, do NOT leave the Alley and I will be back to pick you up later ok. Bye." With that said he quickly teleported, or apparated I think is what they call it here, out of the Alley.

"That was weird." I muttered.

"Right, well we are a big group so I think that it would be best if we split up into smaller groups. Four of us will go and get our books and cauldrons and stuff while the other four get their robes and then we switch… that'll be easy enough to do since the shops are right next to each other… then we can meet up and all go to get our wands and explore the rest of the Alley. Is that ok?" Everyone nodded at Shikamaru's idea and we split up. Me, Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke made our way to 'Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions' to get our robes. After getting our school robes and a few casual robes as well as some dress robes (for the guys, I got an actual dress) we decided to head outside and see is the others were ready to switch. They were so we went to get our books. We hadn't picked our elective classes yet so we had to buy all of the books for all or the lessons. After that we went to get our wands. It didn't take long at all to get the books and the robes because we knew that it would take longer to get our wands and we really wanted lots of time to explore.

We walked into the small, dusty shop and a little old man came running towards us making us jump. I glared down at the creepy looking old man until finally he moved over to Sasuke. The rest of us stood by the wall at the side of the store and waited for our turn to find our wands.

Sasuke got his on the first try. Ebony wood with a dragon heartstring core. When he gave it a wave a small burst of fire came from the tip.

The old man smiled and Sasuke came to join us by the wall examining his new wand. The old man, Ollivander I think his name was, shuffled forward with him and pulled Naruto into the middle of the store.

After ten wands Naruto was getting bored and he was muttering in Japanese about 'Damn Uchiha's genius prodigies getting their wants on the first try' I was trying, and failing, to contain my laughter. Naruto shot a death glare in my direction before the old man claimed his attention with another wand. Beach wood with a mix of dragon heartstring and fox fur core. That was his wand. When he waved it orange sparks shot from the tip. He literally jumped for joy before running over to Sasuke and starting up a new conversation while examining his wand.

Sakura got hers on only the third try. Cherry wood with a snowy owl feather core. When she waved it Sakura petals floated from the tip.

Lee took a little bit longer than Sakura but not as long as Naruto. He got his on his seventh try. Elm tree, mimblus mimbletonia core. Green sparks shot out of the end when he waved it.

Shikamaru got his on the second try. Willow branch, shadow dragon heartstring core. When he waved it shadows shot out of the end and stared to dance around the room.

When it was finally my turn… I was nervous. What if I didn't have a wand? What if I couldn't find it? What if-

"Which hand do you use?"

"Right hand." He nodded and shuffled off into the back room. When he came back he handed me a want. Cherry tree, dragon heartstring core. Nope. That wand blew a hole in the ceiling when I waved it. Second one was no better… Elm tree, snowy owl feather core. No… that one smashed all the windows. Ollivander was muttering under his breath after the second wand.

"She is too powerful… this had better be the right wand my poor little shop can't take much more of this!"

A normal person wouldn't have been able to hear him but my Shinobi training allowed me to. I almost laughed, almost.

"Ok, I hope this is your wand. Oak tree with a Phoenix feather core. Please don't destroy my store!"

I giggled slightly at his antics before hesitantly reaching out for the wand. I gasped quietly when my hand touched the wand and I knew straight away that it was mine. I gave it a quick wave and black and white flashes sparked from the tip. I smiled slightly looking over my wand. I ran back to my friends who were already making their way out of the shop after bowing and politely saying 'thank you' to Ollivander.

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around my waist and we walked through Diagon Alley. Naruto stopped and pulled all of us into another little shop. It was a pet shop.

"This is where you can find your familiars… I have Akamaru so I can teach you how to find and bond with yours." Kiba explained.

Kiba explained that to find our familiars we would have to flare our magic or chakra or both and go to the animal that gives a response. Lee went first. He flared his magic and then wondered of into the shop coming back with a turtle that changed colour. He named is Bari.

Sakura went next. She did the same but came back with a snowy owl. He is called Yuki.

Hinata got a white dove called Haru. She was sitting on Hinata's shoulder.

Naruto got a fox called Natsu. He was curled up in his arms.

Sasuke got a snake called Serena. The only thing he said when she got back was;

"Careful. Serena is poisonous."

Shikamaru came back with a deer called Kage. He was obediently following Shikamaru around. He was adorable.

When it was finally my turn I flared both my chakra and my magic. I felt a response and followed it to a little basket of kittens. I looked inside and all of them shuffled backward slightly. Only one walked forward and it made me smile. She was a beautiful Grey tabby kitten, probably about the size of my palm. She was called Tora. I picked her up and she nuzzled her face into my hand. She was purring. I carried her back to the group. I smiled at everyone before carrying her over to the counter. The lady behind the counter told me that she wasn't just a normal kitten. She was spell proof and fire proof. Also, one she is spiritually linked a person, namely me, she will not die until I do. I smiled and petted the tiny kitten again. she was definitely my cat.

After everyone had paid for their animals we were tired and sat around waiting for Snape to come back. Where the hell was he anyway?

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