Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! See—look, a nice fast update for the holidays! =)
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Okay, and in response to GirlLoki's review, I apologize for not touching base on that yet—(to be honest I sorta forgot!)—but I will definitely address it in this chapter! Thanks for pointing it out! And thanks for your review!
"So you've got to survive underwater for an hour?" Naruto exclaimed in amazement.
"Yeah," Harry grumbled. "You don't happen to know any special jutsu or something to help me out?" he asked hopefully.
Naruto frowned for a moment then shook his head. "Sorry—no ideas."
"Worth a try," Harry sighed.
"You know this would have been a little easier if you had started working on it earlier than a month before!" Hermione hissed. "Starting so late—"
"You're supposed to aim at the boxes, not me!" Ron exclaimed in frustration. They were in Professor Flitwick's class, learning the opposite of the Summoning Charm—the Banishing Charm. Naruto, apparently, was having a little difficulty.
"I'm sorry!" he replied in indignation. "I've got the right amount of cha—magic focused, it's just the aiming that's hard," he admitted sheepishly.
"Besides, did the cushion really hurt that much, Ron?" Hermione teased as she banished her own cushion to fit perfectly in the box.
Ron went bright red and muttered something incoherent.
"What I'm interested is the middle part, 'We've taken what you'll sorely miss'," Hermione continued.
"Hey Harry—maybe you could just use the Summoning Charm!" Ron suggested eagerly. "You know, like you did with the Firebolt!"
"I think that the point of this task is for him to actually go into the water and fetch it though," Hermione frowned. "Besides, how do we know Harry's going to even know what it is before he gets there?"
"Judging by the way the song is structured it sounds like he will know," Gaara pointed out as he successfully banished his cushion. "Besides, having a previous knowledge of what was taken will motivate him to succeed in the task."
"Makes sense," Harry nodded. Then he and Ron eagerly discussed the matter of Moody searching Snape's office while Hermione sighed and shook her head in disbelief. The shinobi had learned early on that Snape was a popular point of discussion, and they didn't really blame them. He certainly made it easy, being such a simple person to hate.
"Hey—where's Kakashi?" Ron asked eagerly once they sat down for lunch.
"I think he's meeting with Dumbledore-sama and the other members of the Triwizard Board to discuss the next task," Naruto replied, pausing from devouring his ramen. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I need to congratulate him! I've never seen my brothers beaten like that at their own game!" he exclaimed with the same wide grin he wore when Malfoy had been transfigured into a ferret.
"I for one found it all rather childish," Hermione said indignantly, taking a bit of her pasta. "A grown man resorting to such . . . a barbaric prank like that."
The four boys glanced at each other in disbelief while Ron just shook his head, signaling that they shouldn't bother.
The evening before the second task Harry was beginning to panic. Hermione, Ron, Naruto, and Gaara had been spending the past couple of days in the library with him, doing their best to desperately find something that would help Harry breathe underwater for an hour. So far they hadn't found anything useful.
"Hey, listen to this!" Naruto announced. "There's a spell that will make someone's hair turn different colors every couple seconds!"
"And how will that help me breathe underwater?" Harry asked irritably. The stress of not having a proper plan coupled with the fear of looking like a fool in front of everyone (especially Cho) put him in a very bad mood.
"It's cool," Naruto huffed but resumed his search for a useful spell.
"I should have become an Animagus like Sir—McGonagall," Harry grumbled, catching himself in time. When it appeared none of the shinobi noticed he let out a silent sigh of relief. In reality, however, they had heard and understood perfectly.
Kakashi-sensei will be pleased to hear this new information! Naruto thought with a smirk.
"What's an Animagus?" Gaara asked curiously. There was no doubt Kakashi would know what one was when they reported back to him, but he wanted to be properly informed.
"An Animagus is someone who can transform themselves into an animal at will," Hermione explained, throwing Harry a dark look for messing up.
"So Kiba and Orochimaru must be Animagus!" Naruto exclaimed.
Before any of the wizards could ask what they turned into, Kakashi suddenly appeared next to their table.
"Hermione, Ron," he started, "I need you to come with me. McGonagall wants to see you." The three wizards glanced at each other fearfully, each of them thinking the same thing. Did she find out about them helping Harry out? Were they in trouble?
"And Naruto, Gaara—you need to come with me so we can discuss your duties for the task tomorrow." Harry's already ill mood dropped even further when he realized all his help was gone.
Great—just great, he thought bitterly. If only I could clone myself like Naruto does and search that way.
"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry as they gathered their things. "Bring back as many books as you can."
"Right," said Harry, his throat unusually dry.
Later on that night Harry was flipping through book after book, his patience and hope vanishing with each useless page. Madam Pince had kicked him out a while ago and he had carried back as many books as he could without dropping them. He was so focused on his task that he didn't even notice that Hermione and Ron hadn't come to help him yet.
At one point he saw Gaara sit across him out of the corner of his eye and reach for a book, the two of them silently searching. Once they were finished with those books the pair moved to the library, with Gaara bringing Harry there with his transportation jutsu, not wanting to waste any time trying to sneak around the castle.
While they were there Harry kept telling himself the answer would be on the next page, the next page, next page . . . next page . . . next page . . . .
It was around four in the morning when Gaara noticed that Harry had passed out, his frame draped across five books that were haphazardly strewn about, as if he had tried to look through all of them at once. He reached out to wake him up then thought better of it, realizing that it wouldn't do Harry any good if he fell asleep during the task.
Instead he continued to look through the books for another two hours, hoping to find the answer for Harry even though he knew it was cheating. He didn't know why he felt a need to help the wizard—maybe it was because he knew the boy understood some of the pain that he and Naruto felt. Plus there was the fact that he and his friends had still accepted Naruto and him even when they knew what plagued them.
At 7am Gaara knew he had to meet up with Kakashi to get ready for the task, so he gently shook Harry up.
"I'm up . . . I'm up," he said groggily, grabbing a book and bringing it up to his face on impulse.
"I have to get ready and I wanted to make sure that you were up," Gaara explained.
"Great—great," Harry muttered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Thanks, Gaara." The shinobi nodded and disappeared, leaving Harry in the library. The wizard shook his head as if to clear it and started reading through the books again, only to collapse a few minutes later.
"Where's Harry?" Naruto asked Gaara fearfully.
Gaara shrugged. "I left him in the library. He had fallen asleep so I woke him up again and left once he continued to search."
"How much sleep had he gotten before you woke him up, Gaara?" Kakashi asked, coming towards them.
"Two hours."
The Suna shinobi was confused at the grimaces that appeared on his friend and the jounin. What was so bad?
"Gaara—" Kakashi began, unsure of how to put it. "You probably don't know this, but staying awake after two hours of sleep is very difficult to do."
"But he was awake and he spoke to me," Gaara protested.
"I'm sure he was, and he most likely knew what was going on, but chances are he fell asleep again a couple minutes after you had left, especially if he continued to sit down."
"Should I go fetch him?" Naruto asked.
"That would probably be best, there's only a couple—" the jounin paused and he turned towards the shore. "Here he is now." The two genin spun around and noted with relief that Harry had indeed arrived, looking completely out of breath so they could tell he had most likely run all the way there.
There was a mixture of emotions at his arrival, with some overjoyed and some looking like they had just sucked on something sour, no doubt having consigned themselves to the fact that he wasn't going to show.
"Here we go," Kakashi said as Bagman stepped forward and began to explain the event.
While Harry had been attempting to catch his breath he glanced out at the water and was astonished at what he saw.
The shinobi were actually standing on the water! He made a mental note to ask them how they did that later. They were also wearing special clothes, which he attributed to the weather and whatever it was they had to do.
Each of them was wearing long, black pants that were similar to the ones Kakashi wore all the time. Along with that Naruto and Gaara were wearing long-sleeved black shirts, like the kind that Muggle trainers wore at sea parks, and Harry noticed Naruto's necklace gleaming in the light, standing out against the black clothing. To his amusement he noticed Gaara shivering slightly, his arms folded in an attempt to warm himself up and his pale skin stood out easily in the dreary weather.
Kakashi, on the other hand, still had his mask on, but instead of a long-sleeved shirt he was wearing a form-fitting sleeveless shirt, and even from here he could hear the giggles from witches of all ages as they stared at him. When Kakashi turned back to Naruto and Gaara, Harry noticed a strange tattoo of some sort on his shoulder that was red and some weird type of spiral, somewhat reminiscent of their village symbol.
Harry noted the jounin's well-defined arm and abdominal muscles with a slight twinge of jealousy. They weren't as large as some Muggle weight-trainers because theirs would be impractical for a shinobi, but for some reason he felt Kakashi would still defeat them in a battle even without ninjutsu—or whatever they called it.
What surprised the wizard was the fact that Kakashi didn't even look cold—even with a sleeveless shirt. His hands were stuck in his pockets, and while he appeared to be lazy and disinterested Harry knew from watching him train that it was most likely a ruse and he undoubtedly was observing everything intently.
"They have precisely one hour to recover what has been taken from them," Bagman announced, shaking Harry out of his thoughts. He quickly stripped off unnecessary clothes or else it would slow him down. He had to save Ron!
"One . . . two . . . three!"
"Oi, what's he going?" Naruto whispered. All the other champions had dived into the water while Harry simply walked in.
"I hope he has an idea," Kakashi muttered. They watched as the wizard looked around in embarrassment before stuffing something in his mouth.
"What did he eat?" Naruto asked, trying to get a better look.
"It looked like seaweed," Kakashi said slowly, racking through his newly acquired wizard knowledge in an attempt to find out what Harry's intentions were.
It appeared that not even Harry knew what he was doing as he stood there awkwardly, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly he gasped and grasped his throat. Gaara and Naruto stepped forward out of concern, but Kakashi held them back.
"Just watch," he told them. The two shinobi squinted and then knew what was happening—or at least they had an idea. With their heightened eyesight, they were able to make out the slits in his neck that were appearing as well as the way flesh was growing between his fingers to connect them together. A couple seconds later Harry seemed to get the idea and dived in.
"What did he do, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto wondered aloud.
"Gillyweed," the jounin answered.
"Gillyweed?" Gaara asked in confusion.
"It's a special plant that—when eaten—grants the user marine animal qualities, so they can breathe underwater with gills and webbed feet and hands," Kakashi explained.
"So they turn into Kisame?" Naruto smirked.
Kakashi chuckled as he ruffled his student's golden hair.
"So we wait?" Gaara asked. The jounin nodded.
"Now we wait."
After about twenty minutes had passed, Kakashi sensed some disturbance in the water, more so than there should have been. He bent down, placed his hands on top of the water and closed his eyes. Those who were close enough to see gasped as they saw ringlets of blue energy flow out from his hands like ripples.
After a few moments Kakashi opened his eye in alarm and quickly stood up only to dive gracefully into the water, leaving the crowd whispering as they wondered who was in trouble.
The icy water shocked his senses but Kakashi swam on, using chakra to propel himself deeper and deeper. Because of his chakra enhanced sonar that he used above the water, Kakashi was able to tell that the girl—Fleur—was being viciously attacked by some type of water creature that although was quite small, seemed to be moving alarmingly fast and he wondered how long it would be until her Bubble-Head Charm would break.
Finally he spotted her, with about twenty or so creatures encircling her, and it appeared that half were holding on to her body while the other half would zoom in and out all around her as if they were baiting her. He could tell that the Bubble-head Charm had been broken and she was squirming to break free so she could breathe.
As Kakashi swam towards her as fast as he could he racked his brains for a proper way to rescue her. Now that he got a good look at them, it appeared that the water creatures were grindylows, and while they weren't that much of a threat, with them being so close to Fleur like that it complicated things a bit. If they weren't so close he could simply use an underwater tornado jutsu to get them out of the way, but it wasn't an option; which left Kakashi with only one thing to do.
Get them to attack him.
He barely got within five feet of her when the ten grindylows that were on the outside circle immediately came after him, their tentacles swaying like a dress behind them and their green, razor-sharp teeth opened wide to swallow him up. Within two seconds he had already killed three of them, but the water slowed his movements and he cried out as the other seven either stung him with their tentacles or impaled their teeth deep into his skin.
Now that the others surrounding Fleur noticed their fellow kin were being attacked they forgot about the unconscious girl and came after Kakashi. With Fleur now safe Kakashi quickly swam to his right, forcing the grindylows into range. Once he was a good distance away from Fleur he spun around to face the oncoming swarm.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" Kakashi spared a second to make sure the jutsu had forced them away and sped towards Fleur who was drifting slightly.
Upon reaching the girl Kakashi made a few quick hand signs, grabbed Fleur around the waist in one arm and pointed the other towards the ground.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" As soon as he had released the jutsu he almost wished he hadn't. The sheer force of the jutsu being used to propel himself to the surface felt like it was going to take his arm off, but he had to do whatever was necessary or else the girl would drown. He tightened his grip on the girl with the aide of his chakra and ducked his head down for when they broke water.
The crowd gasped in awe as an eruption burst from the water a mile or two away from the shore.
"It's the giant squid!"
"Maybe they had to fight it?"
"Look!" Everyone's attention was directed to the two shapes that were in the air about half a mile from the water's surface.
Kakashi gulped in the badly needed air and looked down, realizing how far up they were. Quickly he rolled over until he was in a standing position and adjusted Fleur so he was holding her bridal style and waited until he touched the water's surface. When he did he immediately took off in a sprint with a large water trail in his wake. In no time at all he had crossed the distance from where they were to the shore and carefully laid the girl on the ground while the officials ran over to them. Once assured that she was in good hands he backed away and coughed violently, trying to force air into his lungs that he hadn't had time to do because he had been so focused on getting the girl to safety.
Madame Pomfrey immediately bent down and held her wand to the girl's chest, muttering some spell as she slowly brought it up along her windpipe and once she reached her mouth was able to withdraw a small column of water and Fleur instantly began sputtering and gasping for air.
"There you go, dear," Madame Pomfrey said kindly, turning the girl on her side so she could breathe easier. "Just get it all out."
"What 'appened?" Madame Maxime asked worriedly, directing her attention to Kakashi as she knelt beside her pupil.
"A—attacked by grin—grindy—l-lows," Kakashi answered, still coughing. Hagrid was by his side and slapped the jounin hard on his back, almost causing him to fall over.
"Arigato, Hagrid," Kakashi said weakly.
"Will she be all right?" the Beauxbaton's teacher asked, watching her wheezing student.
"I'll just need to give her some Pepper-up Potion and get a warm towel around her, but I think she'll be fine," the nurse said kindly, helping the girl up off the ground. "Feel better, dear?" Fleur nodded and wrapped her arms around herself while she shivered. Madame Pomfrey then started working on the small burns and puncture wounds on the girl that she suffered from the grindylows and in no time at all there were barely any marks. Once she was finished wiping all the blood off she threw a towel over the shivering girl and conjured a steaming flask.
Neville walked tentatively up to Kakashi, being one of the closest to where they were.
"What happened down there?" the boy asked in concern, his eyes focused on the cuts and burns that littered Kakashi's arms, the blood flowing down like a thin river.
Kakashi smiled and rubbed his neck nervously, "Just a little attack by grindylows—nothing serious!"
"Merci beaucoup, monsieur!" Fleur cried happily, rushing to Kakashi and hugging him. "You saved me from ze grindylows!"
The jounin appeared slightly uncomfortable. "Maa, maa—I'm just glad to have helped."
Now that her priority patient was taken care of, Madame Pomfrey rounded on Kakashi. "Okay, let me see those arms."
"I'm actually all right," Kakashi said hurriedly, backing away slowly. "There's really no need—"
"I'm perfectly aware of your attitude towards receiving medical treatment," the nurse huffed, "but I'll have you know that while I'm around—"
"But I need to be ready in case any other champions are in danger," Kakashi protested.
"Which is why we have two other people out there," Madame Pomfrey smirked. "Or are they incapable of acting in your behalf?"
Realizing defeat, Kakashi sighed and allowed the woman to treat his wounds. As she did so he simply looked off into the distance, acting as if she weren't there at all. The Hogwarts nurse frowned, then pinched Kakashi—hard.
"What'd you do that for?" he said angrily as he wrenched his arm away from her.
Madame Pomfrey simply smirked and continued cleaning his wounds. She never had a patient quite like him before and it was infuriating.
"I swear you're just as bad as Tsunade-sama," he muttered darkly under his breath in Japanese.
A few minutes later Kakashi was back out by Naruto and Gaara in a slightly irritated mood. Madame Pomfrey had tried putting a towel over him, instructing him that he wouldn't be allowed to go back out until his internal body temperature had returned to normal, but he simply used the body flicker jutsu and landed back out in the water, leaving a furious nurse in his wake. Not that he didn't appreciate or understand the gesture, but it always bothered him when others fussed over his well-being and that was part of the reason why he hated hospitals. It's not that he was ungrateful—just that he wasn't used to it.
Finally the first champion to make it through burst through the water with the person he had rescued. It was Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang. Gaara bent down and heaved Cho out of the water while Naruto helped Cedric. Once they had caught their breath the shinobi body flickered to shore where they were then attended to by Madame Pomfrey.
Krum and Hermione surfaced next, and the genin brought them to shore in the same fashion.
Now all that were left were Harry and Ron. Gabrielle would be brought to the surface by the merpeople once Harry had left, as part of a previous arrangement between Dumbledore and the merwoman leader should any champion fail to retrieve their hostage.
Everyone waited and waited until most began to get uneasy as the hour time limit passed.
"Should we go and get them?" Naruto asked fearfully.
"Give it another five minutes," Kakashi assured him.
When five minutes had passed Naruto turned to him again.
"I'll be sure to check," the jounin said as Naruto opened his mouth. Kakashi knelt to the water's surface and used the chakra enhanced sonar again to pinpoint the wizard's location. "He's making his way over here, but he's a good distance away, and it appears that he's brought both Mr. Weasley and Gabrielle," he announced, standing up again.
"Shouldn't we—"
"No," Kakashi said firmly. "They aren't in any eminent danger and if we help Harry will be disqualified as well. He seems to be doing fine so we just have to wait until he arrives." With that he body-flickered back to the shore and quickly explained the situation to Professor Dumbledore, who nodded.
"Why does he have Gabrielle with him?" Naruto asked. "She's not the person he was supposed to find."
"Probably took the song literally," Gaara said in dismay. "Did he really think that Dumbledore-sama—or us—would suffer an innocent life for a stupid tournament?"
About ten minutes later the group of three burst the surface, with Harry gasping for air and the shinobi noticed that his gills were gone and they wondered for how long. Kakashi grabbed Harry by the wrist and helped him up while Naruto helped Ron and Gaara picked up the small girl.
Once on shore Ron rounded on Harry. "Why'd you bring her along?"
"Fleur didn't show up. I couldn't leave her!" Harry panted.
"You prat! Did you really think Dumbledore—"
"Gabrielle!" The two wizards turned and saw Fleur running towards them and she eagerly grasped her sister and started talking to her in rapid French.
Seeing that all the champions and hostages were safe and accounted for the official judges starting conversing in hushed tones, Kakashi included.
As Hermione congratulated him and Ron pestered him for being stupid, Harry watched as Dumbledore broke away from the group and bent down close to the water and spoke Mermish with the chief merwoman. His observations were cut short as Percy wrenched Ron away from them and started asking if he were all right, looking concerned and frightened.
"What would mother have said?" he asked angrily.
"Geroff, Percy! I'm all right!" he protested. He was soon rescued by Madame Pomfrey who insisted that she see to it that he didn't catch a cold.
"You saved 'er," Fleur began as she turned her sister over to the school nurse. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."
"Yeah," Harry replied somewhat gloomily, furious at his stupid mistake. She then bent down and kissed him twice on each cheek, warming him up faster than any Pepper-Up Potion could, and she turned to Ron and Gaara.
"And you two as well—you 'elped—"
"Yeah," Ron said eagerly. "Yeah, a bit—" Fleur quickly kissed him as well and Hermione looked furious as the Weasley turned bright red with a love struck expression on his face.
Gaara looked absolutely horrified as Fleur came towards him and he tried to protest but he just couldn't find the words so Fleur happily kissed him twice on each cheek before rushing back to her sister. Naruto stared at his friend while Gaara stared straight ahead out of shock, his eyes wide with a faint blush on his cheeks.
"Oi!" Naruto called, trying to get his attention. When that didn't work he smirked and drew back a hand to punch the redhead but a small wall of sand emerged from the ground and blocked his path. The genin pouted, thinking that because Gaara hadn't taken his sand with him because they were going to be on the water he wouldn't have to deal with the wall of sand, but apparently Shukaku had other plans.
The Suna shinobi turned towards him. "D-did she . . . "
Naruto chuckled. "First kiss?" Gaara nodded slowly.
"Ever," he whispered.
"Well, you have something fun to tell your brother when you go home," Naruto teased, putting his arm around the boy.
"When are we going home?" Gaara wondered.
Naruto frowned. "That's a good question. Let's ask Dumbledore-sama when this is all done!"
Just then Bagman announced the results of the event to all of them, surprising everyone when Harry was given enough points to tie with Cedric, the judges making the call on Harry showing moral fiber.
"Really?" Harry asked Kakashi in amazement when he walked over to them.
The jounin chuckled. "It's true. You were lucky this time. Let's hope you start preparing for the next event once you hear about it though this time, ne?" he added in an undertone.
Harry blushed with embarrassment. "Yeah—I'll make sure."
"Ossan! When will we get to go home?" Naruto demanded when all the shinobi were present in Dumbledore's office. They had time to change into their regular clothes and it was the evening of the second task.
McGonagall was in the room as well and her eyebrow arched at the foreign word. "Ossan?"
"Means 'old man'," Gaara informed her.
At her indignant look Kakashi said quickly, "Don't worry—coming from him it's a sign of friendship and respect." She still didn't look appeased but when she turned to the Headmaster he merely chuckled and waved her off.
"I can assure you, Mr. Uzumaki, that I am doing all that I can do to find out how to send you home," he said calmly. "I have confirmed the fact that you are from another dimension as a race of beings that have the same form of power as us, although you have developed the ability to expel it from anywhere in your body whereas we require our wands to channel the energy on most occasions," he explained. "While this is helpful, it regrettably makes this slightly more difficult to be able to send you back to where you belong."
Naruto was the only one who outwardly showed his disappointment, although it was obvious the others felt it as well. McGonagall took pity on them, knowing it must be hard for them to be so far away from home. But if anyone could find a way, it was Albus.
"I have been studying and examining Mr. Longbottom's cauldron," he continued, gesturing to the object on the far right of his desk, "for clues and I am researching all the important books we have on related matter. I assure you that as soon as I have reached a safe conclusion I shall inform you immediately." He smiled warmly at them with a bit of pity in his eyes. "I know it must be hard but I am doing all that I can."
"Arigato, Dumbledore-sama," Kakashi bowed gratefully, with the two genin following suit a few seconds later before leaving the office.
"Do you need any help, Headmaster?" McGonagall offered.
"I appreciate the gesture, Minerva, and if I do I shall send for you," he said gratefully. The Deputy Headmistress smiled and took her leave.
Once she was gone Dumbledore sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbed his eyes wearily. Fawkes noted the chance in his master's demeanor and flew next to him, singing a soft song. The man smiled softly and stroked the phoenix's feathers.
"Sometimes it is so hard to make things turn out for the greater good," he sighed. "But those three still have a part to play."
The next morning the shinobi came to breakfast and noticed the three wizards bent over a letter and whispering about it intently, looking rather afraid and slightly furious.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked. The wizards sat up immediately, looking like they had been caught doing something bad and Harry stuffed the letter into his pocket.
"Just a letter from Hagrid," Hermione said offhandedly. The shinobi shrugged and settled down for some ramen for breakfast, then gulped and reached for some eggs and toast once he realized Kakashi was glaring at him. Seemingly appeased the jounin set off for the teachers table, making a mental note that the wizards were most likely hiding something about this Sirius person again. He was going to have to keep a closer eye out.
In Potions later on that afternoon the group of five were disheartened to realize that there was something unpleasant waiting for them.
"You might find something to interest you in there, Granger!" Pansy said loudly, throwing the magazine, Witch Weekly, at Hermione.
"Oh, and this for you too, foreign freaks!" Malfoy called out, throwing them the Daily Prophet. Harry and Ron looked back and forth between Hermione and the shinobi, then consented to look with their best friend first.
Frowning, Gaara quickly translated the magazine into kanji so Naruto could read along but just then Snape opened the dungeon door, signaling for them all to go inside.
Once they were inside and at a table, Naruto and Gaara bent down to read the article by Rita Skeeter. At the top was a picture of the three shinobi as they stood upon the water during the second task. The picture was moving, but they simply stood there, with Naruto fidgeting a little.
DANGER AT HOGWARTS?
It has come to my attention that at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the month
of October, three curious people suddenly appeared with no explanation of where they were from. These
people in question are Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara Sabaku, and Kakashi Hatake. From my own personal
encounters and from those of students who have come in contact with them it can be said that they
are of Japanese descent, but they can speak English remarkably well—most likely from the aide of a
translation spell. The most curious part about them lies in the fact that they can perform wandless
magic—and powerful ones at that. Indeed, it appears that they know more wandless magic than
actual magic that requires a wand! Some example include controlling an unknown amount of sand
by Mr. Sabaku, control over water by Mr. Hatake, and the ability to clone himself by Mr. Uzumaki.
They have also demonstrated other abilities like being able to stand on water, like they did during
the 2nd Triwizard Tournament Task. While this may not seem to cause concern but merely curiosity,
one must also take into account a certain incident that occurred the day before the 1st Task.
While yours truly was not there to witness the event, I have been able to procure a few
remarks from students who were there to witness the event themselves, although you should note
that it was difficult to get them to discuss it at all they were so frightened. Apparently it all started
off with them coming into contact with a boggart (and it should be pointed out that it appeared the foreigners
had no idea what a boggart was) which first appeared to Gaara Sabaku then Naruto Uzumaki. What
the boggart showed in of itself was frightening, but students were unwilling to give me the details,
just that it was terrifying. Then it seems that Ron Weasley was able to dispose of the boggart and
then things started to get out of control. What appeared to be orange flames began to encircle Mr.
Uzumaki and they made Mr. Weasley crash into a wall when he came too close, knocking him
unconscious.
Then the adult, Kakashi Hatake, suddenly appeared as if he had Apparated (another one
of their strange abilities. No one should be able to Apparate or Disapparate in or out of Hogwarts)
and tried to reach the boy, but he was thrown back as well. Then the two boys changed into
what one student describes as "monsters." Naruto Uzumaki seemed to be covered in some
"strange, orange and tangible glow with an orange tail" while Gaara Sabaku looked "half-human,
half-dog made out of sand" and proceeded to attack. Naruto was busy with the adult while Gaara
went after Harry and his friends. Students fled, screaming in fear while the two boys destroyed a
lot of school property. At one point Gaara returned back to normal, with the half of him that was
described as a dog turned into sand, while the other boy continued to harm Mr. Hatake, until
finally burying him underneath some rubble of a destroyed pillar.
The incident was ended when some students cast Stupefy and Petrificus totalus at the
same time, causing the second boy to return to normal. Kakashi Hatake then was able to free
himself by creating a ball of lightning in his hand but shortly thereafter passed out. All three of
them, along with Mr. Weasley, were then taken to the Hogwarts infirmary and released the
next day, with Mr. Hatake a few days later. No explanation was given as to why this happened.
One can obviously tell that these two young characters are extremely violent and dangerous
and while one would wonder as to why Dumbledore is allowing such people to remain at
Hogwarts, it must be noted that he is the same man who keeps half-giants and werewolves
as staff members.
It has also come to my attention that Professor Dumbledore has given permission for
the adult to give taijutsu lessons, which apparently means "hand-to-hand combat" lessons.
He gives the excuse that this is necessary if a wizard or witch find themselves without their wand
and need a way to defend themselves, but to be honest a black belt won't do much good against
a well executed curse now would it? A student has disclosed the information that Kakashi has
admitted to the fact that where he comes from (wherever that is) he is an assassin. When I
suggested that he was most likely lying to give clout to his teaching position, the student
shook his head vigorously and informed me that it was very believable that he was.
So my question is, why is a man like this allowed to teach Hogwarts students? Isn't
Professor Dumbledore concerned about their safety? Should these people even be at
Hogwarts at all? One would hope that he comes to his senses, before tragedy strikes.
Naruto and Gaara simply stared at the article, too stunned for words.
"What will happen to us now?" Naruto asked fearfully. Would they be thrown out? Hunted down by those who thought they were a threat to their children? It's not like it hadn't happened before.
"Reading the paper under the table? Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape's voice interrupted behind them. The two shinobi jumped slightly, having been too focused on the article that they hadn't sensed him coming up behind them. Snape grabbed the newspaper before they could do anything and turned to the three wizards.
"And magazines as well?" he said in mock shock before snatching it. "Another ten points from Gryffindor."
"Well, I suppose Potter and his friends must keep up with their press cuttings . . . " Snape said with a sneer as he glanced back and forth between the two articles. The dungeon rang with the laughter of the Slytherins and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's thin mouth.
"Clearly both articles hold much more value than my Potions lesson, so why don't we all benefit as well?" the Potions Master taunted as he walked to the front of the class, setting the papers on the desk.
"Why don't we start with Potter's?" To Harry and Hermione's dismay he started reading the entire article aloud, pausing at the end of every sentence to give time for the Slytherins to laugh and jeer. Harry and Hermione's faces were burning, though Harry's was more due out of anger while Hermione's was out of embarrassment.
"' . . . next time he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.' How very touching," he sneered, rolling up the magazine. Naruto and Gaara knew that not a bit of that article was true, seeing as how they both could tell Hermione had eyes for Ron (and Krum).
"'Danger at Hogwarts?' . . . my, my, what a depressing way to start off . . . " The two shinobi looked up in fear, knowing they could do nothing to stop the Professor from reading the article without incapacitating him and that wouldn't go over well.
As he read he still gave time for the Slytherins to laugh and ridicule the shinobi, but he appeared slightly more interested and wary of what he was reading. Of course, he had already heard what had happened, being a teacher and all, but now that it was all out for the open he was somewhat worried about the repercussions. They couldn't be thrown out—they had to stay at Hogwarts. He knew that Dumbledore would never do that though, so he was slightly appeased.
"' . . . Should these people even be at Hogwarts at all? One would hope that he comes to his senses, before tragedy strikes.' I must admit that was an enlightening article and I do hope you have Hogwarts' best interests at heart before you turn into fearsome cats and dogs," he chided, no indication of any misgivings in his voice.
"It's apparent that I must now separate the lot of you, seeing as how Miss Granger and Potter feel too strongly towards one another and Misters Sabaku and Uzumaki are dangerous." The Professor then proceeded to direct the wizards and shinobi to different spots in the room, making sure to place all those but Harry by a fellow Slytherin while Harry got to be up by his desk. Once they were situated Snape quietly began speaking to Harry, no doubt antagonizing him.
As Hermione ignored Pansy's taunts, she stole a look back at Naruto and Gaara, biting her lower lip. When Snape first started reading the article they looked like frightened, cornered puppies, but after the first sentence they replaced the look with one of indifference, hardly seeming to hear Snape at all. Just . . . emotionless. Even now they continued on with the assignment over the sneers of their "partner" as if they knew of nothing but potion-making. It broke her heart to see them like that and it was enough to momentarily distract herself from the harsh treatment she had received herself.
There you go! Sorry to leave on such a depressing note, but the next chapter is entitled, Let Loose the Dogs of War and a certain shinobi gets to meet Padfoot! (I've been waiting to write this one for a while) They go into Hogsmeade a few hours later and what happens then will all be included in the next chapter. Plus—I'm exhausted, I don't think I can write anymore, and I just got this back from my wonderful beta. Thanks for reading! =)
In case any of you are interested, I have some sketches of this chapter posted on my deviantart account. The link is in my profile.