Naruto and Sakura both sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Everyone had already gone upstairs to bed. The only one's that remained besides the two of them were Ron and two other people that Sakura assumed were friends of his, although the red-headed girl could have passed as a cousin or something to him.

"Man, what the heck is taking Neji so long? I'm getting tired and quite frankly I am sick of the hushed whispers going on behind us," Naruto complained.

"Yeah, well get over it. We need to discuss with Neji about our classes and whatnot. We also need to find out about this Harry person and…"

"Who cares about some Harry-what-his-name! All I care about is beating the pervy sage to a bloody pulp for calling me out like that! Who does he think he is?! I am not some showgirl that he can display for his own personal…" The portrait door swung open and in walked Hermione followed closely by Neji.

"Neji! Where the hell have you been man? We've been waiting forever!"

"I got lost," he stated flatly. "Hermione here helped me find my way."

"You? Got lost?" Naruto asked raising his eyebrows. "You have 360 degree vision and can see through walls yet you got…lost?"

"Oh leave him alone Naruto. In case you didn't know, it's rude to just look through walls especially when you're staying in unfamiliar territory. I'm sure Neji was just being polite."

"You're right," Hermione chimed in. "He um…well you get the idea. He didn't want to mess around and accidentally end up spying on the girls."

"It's ok," Sakura said bowing her head.

" 'Mione we've been waiting on you. Aren't you going to speak to Harry? He hasn't seen you all summer." Hermione's eyes went wide and a broad grin crossed her face. She quickly ran past Ron and threw her arms around the scruffy haired boy who was wearing glasses. He had beautiful, piercing green eyes but he looked as though he was lacking proper nutrition.

"I'm sorry Harry. I was helping one of the new students find their way."

"Better you than Malfoy," Harry answered. Sakura watched as they pulled away and turned their attention back towards them.

"Psst. Hey Sakura, why are they staring at us?" Naruto whispered.

"I don't…" Sakura started but Hermione motioned for her to come over. Sakura smiled as she hurried towards them.

"Sakura this is Harry Potter."

"Huh? Oh…I'm…It's a pleasure to meet you Harry." They shook hands before Harry frowned.

"What's this about 'Mione?" he asked.

"Well…you weren't downstairs for dinner this evening."

"No, I wasn't hungry but what does that have to…"

"These new students are ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is one of their legendary sanin and they are here on a mission that I believe closely involves you."

"What do you mean?" At this point Sakura chimed in and offered her apologies.

"I'm sorry Harry. I don't know too much about you or that guy who's been chasing after you but we're here on a mission to catch someone who is probably even more powerful than your You-Know-Who. He's um…" Sakura lowered her voice so that Naruto couldn't hear. "He's probably after Naruto too and so…"

"I HEARD MY NAME! WHY ARE YOU WHISPERING?!" Naruto yelled. Sakura let out a sigh before turning and eyeing him angrily.

"I mentioned your name because I was explaining to them how much of an idiot you are!"

"I'm no idiot," Naruto huffed. "I'm just misunderstood," he grinned. There was a loud snicker that caused Naruto to grin. It came from the red headed girl standing next to Ron. Naruto smiled at her but she only blushed and looked at the floor.

"Uh…I'm sorry about that. Naruto's just…"

"Special," Ron added with a snicker.

"WHAT YOU SAY?!" Naruto yelled.

"You heard me. I said you were special. And no, I don't mean that as a compliment…damn idiot."

"Why you…" Naruto ran at him his fingers positioned for shadow clones but Neji grabbed him from behind. "HEY MAN! LET ME GO! I'LL TEACH HIM A THING OR TWO!"

"Calm down Naruto. Whether or not you're really an idiot doesn't matter. All that matters is that we successfully complete this mission. In order to do that, we're going to have to make friends and get along. Besides, you can show off all you want tomorrow in class. I'm sure you can work off some of that steam against Sasuke. Also, I'm pretty sure Sakura's not in the mood to heal you or Ron if you two try and kill one another."

"He's no match for me," Ron said flatly. At this point, the red head popped Ron upside the head and glared at him as if daring him to say anything else. Naruto burst out laughing before shrugging his shoulders.

"Fine then. I'll wait. Since I know ero senin very well, I'm sure most of our lessons will be 'hands on'. The person that ends up going against me will be in for one hell of a fight."

"Uh…right," Neji said shaking his head. Hermione stifled a giggle before turning her attention back to Harry.

"They're really quite alright Harry. They are just here trying to catch this Orochimaru person before he can cause you any problems considering who you are and everything."

"Yeah but we don't know if Voldemort is even back in power yet," Harry stated frankly.

"That may be but Wormtail did manage to escape last term. Anyway, the least we can do is cooperate. We're on the same side here. That goes for you too Ron."

"Yeah whatever. Just keep the idiot away from me and all will go well."

"He's going to get enough of calling me an idiot." Naruto glared at Ron his eyes a dangerous red.

"Uh…Ron, I am not taking sides or anything but you should probably leave Naruto alone. He's um…well he's like Harry in a way," Sakura said softly.

"How so?" the red head asked. Sakura stared at her for a moment but the girl quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. My name is Ginny. I'm this git's younger sister although there are times when I feel like I'm the oldest. Ron's probably the biggest git in this school next to Malfoy."

"Oh well Naruto deserves a lot of the grief that he gets; most of the time he brings it on himself. Anyway, I'm sure you'll hear all about Naruto in class tomorrow. If you want a head start, you can find information on the Kyuubi in your library, or at least that's what my master told me."

"I'll get started on it right away," Hermione said excitedly. "Anyway, we'll leave you guys to talk. I told Neji here how to get around so you shouldn't have any problems in the morning. Night all." Hermione grabbed both Harry and Ron as she departed up another set of stairs leaving Sakura with her friends.

When they had left, Sakura punched Naruto in the side.

"Hey, what the hell…was…?"

"Because you were being rude again! I told you that we have to be nice to them for the sake of this mission. Besides, they are really nice people and I'm sure Ron is just looking out for his friends like we look after one another. You are after all, are an idiot and it's not hard to tell either when you act like such a fool all of the time."

"Yeah well he's got it coming for sure tomorrow. He's in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class with us so…"

"Hey…how do you…?"

"I read it off of the list over there near the fireplace." Neji and Sakura looked at each other curiously before Neji used his Byakugan to find the list. Sure enough it was hanging near the fireplace and it had all the Gryffindor classes divided up by year. It listed everything including which other houses that would be taking each class with them.

"He's right Sakura. It has down here that we have…what the hell is Lyrical Studies?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"Oh…sorry. Yeah so we have something called Lyrical Studies with Kakashi sensei in the morning. That class we will have with the Hufflepuffs."

"Isn't that Hinata's House?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, and I'm quite relieved. Let's see…Next we will have…Potions with the Ravenclaw students."

"Oh good. That means I can chit chat with Ino Pig," Sakura noted.

"Later on alternating days we have a class about broom riding."

"Fun, fun….what else?" Naruto asked.

"We have Charms, Divination, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. All of these we will have with the Slytherins."

"Sasuke's group. Gahh, I can't stand…"

"Yeah, yeah get over it Naruto. Anyway, we need to make sure we listen out for anything. Tsunade-sama told me that Dumbledore doesn't trust everyone here more specifically a few of the people in the Slytherin House," Sakura said grimly.

"Well we'll just have to warn Sasuke tomorrow. In the meantime, I say we retire for the night. Magic is not particularly our thing and we need to be prepared for anything tomorrow," Neji replied. They all nodded before departing to bed.

GRYFFINDOR

RR--RR--RR--RR--RR--RR--RR--RR

Neji and Naruto headed up the stairs. Their names were on the door to the right. When they entered, they found themselves face to face with Harry and Ron. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Neji spoke up.

"Is there a particular reason why you both are staring at us? I don't mean to be rude but I get the feeling that we're not wanted here."

"No, it's not that. I'm just…I'm curious about the two of you," Harry said quickly. "Why…how is it that you are supposed to be like me…Naruto?" Naruto just stared at him for a second before a wry grin crossed his face.

"It's really a long story and to be perfectly honest with you, I don't know enough about you to understand it myself but I'm sure Sakura or Ino can tell you. I have people after me but…I don't want to talk about that right now. I am just super excited about tomorrow. That old coot better let me summon a toad or else."

"A…toad?" Ron asked.

"Yeah a toad. Do you know what a toad is?" Naruto asked.

"OF COURSE I KNOW…" but Harry cut him off.

"Never mind Ron. Alright then. Well um…you two are bunking on the other side of the room."

"Thank you," Neji bowed before dragging Naruto to bed.

EXPECTO!

xx--xx--xx--xx--xx--xx--xx

Sakura entered her room and saw that Hermione was sitting on a bed reading a book by candle light.

"Hey again. I hope you don't mind but I was doing some light reading." Sakura glanced at the cover of the book and saw that it was a book on the ninja arts.

"It's alright."

"I find all of this ninja stuff very fascinating!" she exclaimed

"Oh well, it's alright. I'm sure magic is just as fascinating."

"Mmm…maybe but everything you do is just by using your body and your own skills. Not muttering magic spells and whatnot. You guys train so hard and I'm sure that Professor Jiraiya will prove to be equally fascinating."

"Oh you have no idea," Sakura said laughing.

"So um…I know that it's really none of my business but I really want to know about Naruto. If he's like Harry then that means he must have had a pretty rough life." Sakura sighed before taking a seat on the bed next to Hermione.

"Yeah…Naruto's life hasn't exactly been the easiest one. He's had it pretty rough since he was very small. I am ashamed to say it but I didn't help much either. I was just as bad as everyone else in the village, ridiculing him. I…" She wiped her eyes as Hermione continued to stare at her wondrously. "I can tell you some things about him but can we wait until tomorrow? I'm really tired and it's going to take me a while to get used to being separated from everyone."

"Oh yeah. That's quite alright. Good night Sakura."

xx--xxx--xx

The next morning, Hermione and Sakura awoke extra early so that they could meet the others for breakfast. Sakura and Hermione headed down the stairs and much to their surprise, all the other ninja were already waiting outside the great hall.

"You're late," Sasuke muttered.

"Oh shut it Sasuke. It's not like you were that much earlier," Naruto mumbled. He was sprawled out on the floor in front of the double doors to the Great Hall. Sasuke just mumbled something that sounded like 'bitch' and reverted his attention back to the floor.

"Yeah, sorry guys," Sakura mumbled. "Anyway, I just wanted to wish everyone good luck today. Although we all won't be in the same classes just do what you're told and listen out for…things. Kakashi-sensei is supposed to keep each of us updated on things and I will be sending Tsunade-sama a report keeping her in the know as well. Hermione has agreed to help any of us in any way that she can if needed and…NARUTO PAY ATTENTION!"

"What? I am paying attention. And besides, I don't need any help. Her friends are the ones that are going to need help once I'm done…"

"Yeah yeah. Get a move on," Sakura snapped. They all headed through the double doors and into the great hall. Only Hinata and Neji stayed behind. Neji kissed the back of Hinata's hand before running his hands along the sides of her arms.

"I wanted you to stay behind because I needed to make sure that you were alright princess."

"Yeah…I'm fine. People treat me nice in my House. I just…I still feel somewhat alone Neji." She lowered her head but he lifted it back up cupping her face.

"You know you have me."

"But…"

"I know you are still somewhat afraid of me but I'm okay with that. I know it's going to take a while for you to get used to me treating you like the princess that you are but I promise you that you'll never have to worry about anything as long as I'm around."

"Hai…thank you Neji-kun."

"Anytime princess." She grabbed his hand and led him into the Great Hall feeling much better than she had before. It was going to be a long day full of surprises that nothing or no one could possibly prepare them for.

AN: I know. Long chapter. Not a whole lot of action. I'm getting there it's just taking a while. Love you lots. The next update will be he classes. It's taking a while since I have so many POVs. Anyway...R&R...Ta Ta! Oh btw, don't get used to insinuated pairings. I tend to do that a lot but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll get together. You've been warned.