Dawning of Magic

by Goggleplex

Summery: To protect 'The Holder of Magic' Hogwarts itself invoked a spell that calls a group as protectors. But Konoha is too big a group and a single team is too small. Which group is the perfect size? The Akatsuki actually.

Chapter Four - Schooled

Potions. It was a fine subject, one that required precision, brains and the ability to follow instructions flawlessly. The potions laboratory and conjoining lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was cold and damp, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. Sasori loved it already.

"Wonderful," the redhead murmured the morning after the sorting ceremony as he hovered his hands over the various ingredients and jars in the cupboard he was browsing through.

Sasori sensed the person enter the room but thought nothing of it until the person firmly placed his hand on his shoulder and growled, "Weasley! If I find anything missing there will be a fifty point deduction to Gryffindor points."

"I do not care about Gryffindor's points." Sasori tonelessly said as he turned to glance into the teacher's eyes, "And I am not a Weasley. I am Sasori Akasuna."

'A first year Slytherin.' Professor Snape's mind recalled. A Slytherin first year up at six in the morning browsing through his NEWT level potions cupboard. Snape removed his hand from Sasori's shoulder and asked, "Are you interested in potions then Mr. Akasuna?"

"Of course I am. I develop my own poisons that help with vermin infestations as well as chemicals and solvents that help petrify wood and animal skins. I am interested in how similar potions is to my own art. I make puppets you see." Sasori lifted his hand to reveal a tiny doll made out of carefully carved wood that resembled himself held carefully in his clutches.

"I often tell my first classes that potions making is a subtle science and exact art," the dark professor said with a twisted smile, "Your little doll could never hold the power that a single drop of one of my potions could do. There is nothing similar to them at all."

The 'little doll' suddenly sprang to life, spinning and whirling towards Professor Snape's face until it stopped a mere millimeter away from his forehead, a little syringe at the end of the doll's hand threatening to inject its contents into Snape's bloodstream, Sasori's eyes narrowed less than what was perceivable to most people as he said, "There is enough poison in my 'little doll' to kill a thousand rats in a second if spread over their environment. I wonder what it would do if injected into a human body?"

Snape raised his eyebrow and said, "Impressive. No one I know has come up with such an innovative way of using potions in a wizards duel. Potions are difficult to use in a struggle. You must have had quite a lot of tutoring in charms in order to make your puppet so animated."

"I use solidified magic strings to control my puppets. Anyone could move a puppet if they dedicated themselves to learning the art of chikara puppetry." Sasori finally lowered the five inch threat from his teacher's face and placed it in one of his robe's over-sized pockets.

"And what exactly is chikara, Mr. Akasuna?" Professor Snape inquired, truly interested in the youngster's answer.

"It's an eastern word for magic, Professor," Sasori replied before flexing his fingers and stretching his arms out and turning to exit the room, "Have a good day sir."

'Hm, the kid can dish out civil words without turning into a suck up. I'll need to keep an eye out for this one...' Professor Snape ambled out of the room, he was so distracted by his encounter with Sasori that he didn't even notice the fact that a tenth of the ingredients kept in the storage cupboard were suddenly gone.

Sasori entered the Great Hall about two hours later, having placed his 'borrowed' ingredients in an undisclosed location. There was a commotion near the Gryffindor table that revealed itself to be some sort of monstrous feathered owl creature. Sasori narrowed his eyes at the sight. On the second glance though the 'bird monster' was revealed to be none other than Deidara who was flailing his arms around making Harry who was sitting beside him feel slightly nervous but glad as well since the attention on him had vanished.

"Get them off of me, hm!" Deidara wailed as the flock of owls swarmed him, nuzzling any exposed skin they could find with their feathered heads. They took turns settling on his arms, shoulders and especially the coveted spot on top of his head, not concerned over the blond boy's discomfort. "Sasori-danna! Help me, hm! Get them off!"

"You're an idiot Deidara," Sasori growled, feeling no sympathy whatsoever for his bird-flocked partner, "Have their owners take them if they are bothering you so much. Maybe this will teach you to use a different animal model as reference for your ridiculous sculptures."

"My sculptures are not ridiculous." Deidara said, puffing out his chest in indignation despite the fact that the act made him look more silly than he already did, "They are the perfect epitome of art."

Sasori scowled at the younger-though-he-didn't-look-it boy, "You are a fool, Deidara. There is no such thing as perfection unless it is made to be eternal. Your errant outlook on beauty is blank and without any appeal nor character. Art is flawless and eternal."

Deidara turned red with rage and he got into Sasori's face shouting, "Art is in the moment you coot! My art may have its distinct quirks but its scars and the impact my art creates is what defines it and what inspires emotion... for that single moment, any of my pieces become the true definition of art."

Hermione had been speaking with Konan when the 'artists discussion' began taking place. Watching Deidara fall into a string of shouting and incoherent ranting she felt exasperated and asked, "Konan, you probably know those two since Kisame was speaking to us last night and mentioned that he lived with you and several others in a group home. But I would like to know if those two argue like that all the time."

"Unfortunately." Konan said with an icy glare sent in the bickering duo's general direction, "Don't let their hostility fool you however. Those two are the closest comrades of anyone at home besides probably myself and Pein. Arguing about the one true perception of art with each other is their way of saying hello and goodbye."

"Hello Konan," Orochimaru said as as he plopped down beside Hermione and across from the blue haired girl, "Whose your brown eyed friend?"

Konan nodded in a silent greeting and without a trace of emotion said, "Orochimaru, this is Hermione. Pein and I met her as we traveled here. Hermione this is Orochimaru, he may look strange and act like a pervert but he's just interested in how things work."

"It's a pleasure to meet one of Konan's friends Orochimaru," Hermione said carefully committing the pronounciation of his name to memory so she wouldn't embarrass herself later.

"As it is a pleasure for me to meet such a promicing witch as yourself," Orochimaru said with a grin that came off as a bit leery.

Hermione fought down a blush and silently returned to her breakfast prompting Orochimaru to continue to converse with Konan, "Did you know thanks to the gossip mill around here there's a ten-to-one odds that a professor will ask if I'm related to that coot Voldemort today? What do you think about it Konan? Could I pass as a relative to that magical maniac?"

"Anyone with half a brain could see the two of you are as closely related as the Kazekage is to the Amekage. The dark wizard is bald, has red eyes, bad teeth and is physically weaker than a primary school athlete. You however have hair, gold eyes, straight teeth and could probably knock out a troll if you punched it correctly. The only thing you lack in when comparing the two of you is your magic is far inferior." Konan took a dainty bite of her muffin and waited for Orochimaru to reply while watching Deidara pelt school owls at an unamused Sasori.

"I'll just need to work on that for a bit," Orochimaru said with a slightly wicked grin. There was a slamming of the doors of the Great Hall to reveal an angry looking Kakuzu and a pointedly sleepy looking Pein while following closely behind them was Draco Malfoy who looked stressed and relieved at the same instant.

Kakuzu marched over towards Sasori and growled, "Oi, sawdust brains, you were supposed to wait for us this morning. Where the heck were you?"

"I had business to attend to," Sasori replied, giving Kakuzu a silent signal to back off. The dark haired money monger simply huffed and turned to the Slytherin table and walked over to get some breakfast. Pein was already sitting at the table but he had his head nestled into the crook of his arms and seemed to be sleeping peacefully even as Deidara noisily passed him with about eight school owls following in his wake, Harry shouting at him to hold up as they went to look for their first class of the year.

As the first days passed the only people to get much of a reputation from the teachers from the first years were Hermione Granger for being exceptionally gifted for a muggleborn and Pein Kouu who slept through more than half of every class he entered. It wasn't until Thursday evening in the block before dinner that Professor Snape got his first class meeting with Red Dawn members in the setting of a classroom. The first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were together and it proved to be an eventful experience.

"Ah yes," Professor Snape said as he eyed the slightly nervous first years who trickled into the room, "Well, come in and be swift about it."

At his order the students upped their speed and sat at their tables, the Ravenclaws with parchment and quills out already while the Hufflepuffs sat frozen in fear. With the exception of one silver-haired boy who simply looked irritated. He slowly called out names on the roll sheet, and once that was through he began his usual speech for the first year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making, many of you will hardly believe this is magic as there is very little foolish wand-waving. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew knowledge and even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads and know-it-alls that I usually have to teach. Those who don't know anything will learn something here and those of you who believe you know everything will learn that they are sadly mistaken."

Tobi looked desperate to start learning new things and he even pulled out an extra quill in case his ink in the first one ran out. Beside him Zetsu was thoughtfully chewing on the edge of a piece of parchment, feeling the skin of it stating his cravings for flesh for the moment. He had already informed the odd looking cooks that he had a special diet and that all his foods were to be as meaty and rare as possible, otherwise fellow students would start to look more and more like appetizers than people... Neville was wringing his hands nervously in the aftermath of Professor Snape's short speech. He felt like a dunderhead already. On the other side of the classroom Snape nearly met his match in the icy glare department when it came to Konan. Itachi looked uninterested and Orochimaru seemed amused and interested by the speech.

Snape began to lecture on the properties of healing cures and how they were similar to detachment potions with a chinking sound constantly ringing from somewhere in the classroom. Finally he was completely fed up by it so he swiftly turned in the direction where the noise was coming from and hissed, "Whoever is making that infernal racket would be advised to stop creating it."

Snape zeroed in on the silver haired Hufflepuff kid. While scribbling notes with his left hand he was patiently pulling together and rubbing silver and red beads on a long rosery with his right hand. Hidan noticed Snape glaring at him almost instantly and simply asked, "What the hell are you looking at? I'm taking the damn notes."

"Don't tell me you're a Catholic," Snape said with a slight sneer, "You would never pray enough Hail Mary's to get out of purgatory if you're actively preforming magic anyway, according to your belief system."

"Fuck no professor," Hidan replied causing a few of his more sheltered peers to flinch slightly, "I worship the fucking almighty and awesome god Jashin. And magic can be used by me since I am a Jashinite Acolyte. I just need to do these fucking tedious prayers so I don't have to purify myself until after midnight tonight."

Professor Snape sneered at the annoying chain rattler and in a very condensending voice said, "Your little make believe Jashin has no place in this classroom Mr. Daikoto. Gods do not exist, only magic. That ridiculous chain is not a part of your uniform so remove it and get back to taking notes."

Hidan had better not blow our cover over that remark. Konan thought silently as an unholy fire sparked in Hidan's eyes.

"Fuck off you heathen-assed bastard," Hidan growled back, "I have the full authority of Jashin to completely purify you for speaking in such a way about him. Had I not completed my nessissary prayers before I entered this fucking cold castle I would fuckin purify you in Jashin's name in the most painful way I could imagine! So once again, fuck off." Hidan then sneered at his professor's enraged expression. His cocky visage brought to Professor Snape's mind the undesired image of Luicius Malfoy for a moment.

"Five points from Hufflepuff for your disrespect, Mr. Daikoto."

"I'll give you my respect when you treat me with respect first you dried out, grease faced, old fuck-off. And for your information my last name is pronounced Daitoku, so stop fucking up the translation."

Snape's eyes swept over his classroom. The remaining Hufflepuffs were still in shock over their peer's language with the exception of Zetsu who looked bored and Tobi who still looked eager to learn something. Neville's face was as white as a sheet. The Ravenclaws looked shocked as well but a few of them seemed to agree with Hidan's point. The professor had mocked an unknown person's belief and had showed not an inkling of respect towards it. Itachi, like Zetsu, had a bored expression on his face while Konan still glared with her icy disapproval towards everyone and everything. Orochimaru was laughing his heart out as visibly as he could without having Snape turn on him somehow.

"A detention on Saturday at seven for your language Mr. Daitoku. As for the rest of you, partner with a person in your immediate vicinity and start the potion on page ten of your textbooks. Now."

There was a scurrying of motion and there was a tense silence as everyone created their boil cure potions and that night there were disbelieving whispers being spoken throughout the school all talking about the story of a first year Hufflepuff who had actually stood up for himself in spite of the dreaded Professor Snape.

The next morning it was the first year Gryffindor and Slytherin's turn to meet Snape for the first time. Professor Snape started the class by taking the roll call and to the notice of everyone he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new -- celebrity."

Draco Malfoy glanced over at the bespeckled boy and merely rolled his eyes in contempt, Potter wasn't a person he wanted to be associated with any more. He looked like a raggedy, ordinary and most of all boring kid. Kakuzu, Sasori and even that lazy Pein were much more important to have ties with. How Draco knew this he wasn't sure but he was positive that there was something important about those three. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black and held iciness and contempt. After yesterday's escapades with the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class he wasn't in the mood for being anything close to nice.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began, unknowingly drawing in Deidara's attention with his words. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort with a certain first year Hufflepuff the now only notable exception. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

More silence followed this little speech. Harry felt a little sick to his stomach and Ron exchanged a bewildered look with Kisame as they both considered the teacher's words. Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. Pein appeared to be falling asleep at his seat.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly, causing Pein to suddenly startle awaken with a start, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Deidara, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air. Pein began to fall asleep again.

"I don't know, sir," said Harry.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer.

"Tut, tut -- fame clearly isn't everything."

Kakuzu watched the exchange in slight amusement. This teacher clearly hated the boy but for what reason? Snape ignored Hermione's hand as well as Sasori who had calmly raised his hand as well.

"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at the more amused Slytherins such as Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter. Pein's head slumped forward and Snape glared briefly at the ginger haired punk before glancing back at Harry.

"I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. Did Snape really expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi? And why was he only interrogating him when there was another Gryffindor and another Slytherin who clearly knew the answers to the questions?

Snape focused on Harry, still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand and Sasori's nonchalant one.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione was about to stand up, but Kisame, who was sitting next to her placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She shot him a look of contempt but huffed and sat still, her hand stayed up stretching toward the dungeon ceiling though.

"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione and Akasuna does, though, why don't you try one of them?"

A few people laughed; Harry caught Deidara's eye, and Deidara sent him an amused wink and a slight thumbs up. Snape, however, was not pleased.

"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione.

"Mr. Akasuna, answer the question for Mr. Potter."

Sasori, his voice calm and unwavering as usual, spoke to the class, "Asphodel and wormwood make a powerful sleeping potion known as the Drought of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will serve as an antidote for most poisons. Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant."

Professor Snape nodded curtly and said, "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter. Mr. Kouu! A detention tonight at 6:30 for falling asleep in class! Wake up immediately!"

Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone while battling Pein's state of consciousness, the only person whom he seemed to like was Sasori. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Mr. Akasuna had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud explosion filled the dungeon. Deidara had somehow managed to blow Kisame's cauldron into a coagulated mess, and their potion was all across the stone floor, walls and even the ceiling. Deidara didn't look too concerned about the burning holes in people's shoes and acid dripping onto tables. In fact he looked almost proud of himself. Within seconds, the whole class, with the exception of an again snoozing Pein was standing on their stools trying to keep themselves from being burned while Deidara seemed unfazed by the boils that blistered across his skin.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the scattered potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

"Yup, I added extra fangs too which made it blow up instead of just fizzling out. Isn't the pursuit of knowledge like art, hm? Learning new stuff is a blast!" Deidara seemed not to notice the boils that had started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Kisame. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Deidara.

"You -- Potter -- why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.

"Don't push it," he muttered, when Harry glared at him, "I've heard from my brothers that Snape can turn very nasty."

"And for the last time Mr. Kouu, wake up!"

For the first week it was pretty mellow considering who the Akatsuki really were...

End Chapter Four

( ) Questions you have about Pein's 'laziness' will be explained in the next chapter. The poor guy's exhausted with the weight of finding who the Magic Holder is as well as figuring out how to impersonate Magneto/Voldemort/Dr. Gero/villain of the week... ( )