~The Effects of a Boggart~
~ A Naruto and Harry Potter Fanfiction
~ A/N: It's been a little while since I've read the books, so I don't know what the class schedules are exactly, but I looked on the HP Wikipedia and I'm using that for my source, so if they're different (And I believe they are) my apologies, just assume Naruto got transported to a HP world where the schedules are different :P
On a lighter note, that means that the classes won't be exactly like the book, so it'll be (slightly) new. Also, I have no idea how to type Hagrid's speech, but I'll do my best XD
~ Disclaimer: I forgot to put this in the first chapter, so here it is – the only disclaimer of this story. I do not own Harry Potter, Naruto, or anything related to the two. The only thing I own is the plot line that my mind created.
~Chapter 2~
Naruto awoke the next morning feeling exceedingly better than he had the previous night. When he thought about it, the Kyūbi was sort of a blessing. He may not have been very well liked in Konoha, but it was purely because of the Kyūbi that he had survived most of his missions – the ones above D-Rank, anyway.
Naruto groggily sat up in the hospital bed, which was actually quite comfortable. He looked down at his ruined jumpsuit and the T-shirt underneath that Pomfrey had ripped to get at his chest and sighed. He had spare clothing in a sealing scroll, but he didn't have an extra jumpsuit. Oh well, he'd just have to deal with it, though the absence of his favorite outfit would darken his mood slightly.
He took the scroll out of one of the ruined jumpsuit's pockets and unsealed a black T-shirt similar to the one he wore under the jumpsuit as well as a generic pair of black ANBU pants, complete with hidden kunai pockets and scroll pockets. He placed the scroll in one of the pockets and changed out of his ruined clothing.
With that, he looked around and found several papers on the bed adjacent to his marked with his name. Glancing at them he found them to consist of schedules for all first, second, and third year classes, along with which houses attended them and at what hours. Each class had a brief summation of what was taught.
Naruto almost immediately ignored the first year's schedules, he wouldn't be able to try anything they learned anyway as he didn't have a wand. If he was going to just sit there and watch, he was going to go to a class that would be interesting, not a boring beginner's class. He would (Hopefully) be learning the basics from Dumbledore anyway.
Defense Against the Dark Arts sounded kind of fun, as did Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Charms, and perhaps Potions, but History of Magic was right out. Anything with the word 'History' in it usually was not in Naruto's interest, and the passing glance at the description provided for said class confirmed it.
He glanced at the other papers and found a map of Hogwarts – which was apparently a freaking huge place according to the map – and a note from Dumbledore letting him know that he was cleared to leave by Pomfrey and could attend any of the first through third years' classes. He recommended not going to anything above third year though, because if Naruto was able to learn magic, he would already know something about it, and third year classes and below were basically the introductory courses.
Glancing at the schedule, he saw breakfast was about to start and walked out of the Hospital Ward, checking the map as he went. He passed several people in the halls, most recognizing and staring or openly gaping at him as he strolled through the halls. News of his wounds must have gotten out among the students who hadn't crowded around him when he arrived.
As he stepped through the massive door leading into the Great Hall he immediately felt self-conscious. At first, it was only the few people that had been looking at the door when he entered, but within fifteen seconds, the chatter and gossip of the school was gone and almost everyone was looking at him. Naruto glanced around, hoping for anything to distract either him or them, and saw Dumbledore sitting at the head table.
He sent a pleading look to Dumbledore, who had the twinkle in his eyes again, and Dumbledore motioned for him to come up to the head table. Naruto hesitantly approached and, once he was close enough, Dumbledore stood up, immediately gaining most people's attention. Naruto wondered how it was that Dumbledore had so much influence over the students.
"As most of you have realized, standing before you is the very person who so spectacularly entered the Great Hall last night," Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at that – something Dumbledore had soon realized was a habit. "He is stuck here at Hogwarts for the time being, and hasn't had the chance to learn any magic as of yet," Several people started mumbling to each other at this, and some boys at a table dressed in green laughed. Naruto decided he didn't like those boys, they looked like snobs.
"So," Dumbledore continued. "He will be attending several first through third year classes, to see what magic is like and acquaint himself with the school. At the end of the week – or sooner if he wishes – he will decide which house he will be staying with each night. I hope you will all give him a warm welcome," At that, Dumbledore turned to Naruto and said in a quieter tone "As I recall, you informed me last night that your favorite dish in your home was ramen," He said, earning a nod from Naruto. "I took the liberty of having the castle house elves prepare some ramen in addition to the usual meals, so… enjoy!" Dumbledore said with a smirk and another twinkle. He had added ramen to the meals? Naruto was really starting to like Dumbledore. He seemed to have a slightly mischievous side in him too, which was perfectly fine in Naruto's book. Without further ado, Dumbledore beckoned for Naruto to join one of the tables and sat down once again.
Naruto looked over each of the tables. Dumbledore had described each of the Houses in his rough explanation of the school the previous night, and Naruto had to say he immediately disliked the Slytherins. He wasn't sure if it was the 'cunning and ambitious' traits that Dumbledore had said they possessed or the fact that their house animal was a serpent that reminded him all too much of a certain snake that had caused him all kinds of trouble.
The Ravenclaws seemed alright, but Naruto wasn't the kind of person to thirst for knowledge, so he didn't think he'd fit in with them. Hufflepuffs sounded pretty good to Naruto. Loyalty and friendship were two things Naruto hadn't had much of and for that reason they were two things Naruto valued significantly.
However, Griffindors sounded like the kind of people Naruto would like. Bravery and Courage were things that Naruto had in spades. He looked over the Gryffindor table and was surprised when he noticed a familiar redheaded girl beaming at him and waving enthusiastically for him to come over.
He gleefully complied and walked over to the Gryffindor table, a smile creeping onto his face with each stride. He didn't care that he was getting stares, or that several people were whispering to each other – he was used to things like that.
As he took a seat next to Ginny she leaned over and whispered excitedly to him.
"You're going to be attending classes?" She asked.
"Yeah, it's awesome, right?" He said exuberantly. "I get to sit in classes and see what they're like. I may not be able to do magic yet, but I can still see how it works!"
Now, that wasn't entirely true. The jutsu he could perform could be viewed as a type of wandless magic, drawing on and manipulating reserves of energy within the caster to create the desired effect, but Dumbledore had advised him not to display his abilities unless absolutely necessary.
"So do you know which classes you're going to sit in on?" She asked in anticipation.
"I'm planning on going to the third year's Care of Magical Creatures first, then probably second year Potions, then third year Transfiguration, then second year Charms, then third year Defense Against the Dark Arts, all in that order." He said with a nod while taking a rather large bowl of ramen from the table. He figured alternating years would give him the best balance of relatively simple stuff and more complicated but fun stuff.
Ginny quietly… squealed? That was really the only way Naruto could describe it. The golden trio, however, gazed at Harry with a surprised – and in Hermione's case, suspicious – look. Naruto was starting to get unnerved.
"What? Is something wrong with me?" He asked nervously, giving himself a once over.
"Well…" Ron started. Harry finished for him.
"We're in three of those classes…" He said with a raised eyebrow.
"Really?" Naruto said wondrously. "That's a pretty big coincidence. I only got the schedules today, but I couldn't stand to sit in the first years' classes, they'd be too boring!" He said with a groan.
Ron and Harry just smirked, while Ginny giggled a little. Hermione just gave him a wary eye. Coincidence, huh?
Naruto glanced at the head table and noticed several of the staff in intense conversation with Dumbledore – presumably about his presence. It must not have been normal for a boy to appear with a hole in his chest one night to be walking around the very next day.
Ginny and the golden trio chatted with Naruto over breakfast – pausing only to stare, surprised and a little horrified, when he began inhaling bowl after bowl of ramen – and Naruto learned about several of the teachers. Hagrid sounded like a stand-up guy, if a little on the strange side. McGonagall sounded alright, but Harry described her as a 'caring, but strict' type. Lupin sounded fairly nice, especially after he learned that Lupin was the first to approach him when Naruto arrived. Snape, however, reminded Naruto too much of the biased academy teachers back in Konoha. Maybe the three (Hermione wasn't agreeing with them, but then again, she wasn't denying their claims either) were being a little biased, but he didn't sound like a very friendly guy.
Breakfast ended and everyone started filing out of the Great Hall towards their respective classes. Naruto joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they made their way to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures.
The foursome, as well as the other third year Gryffindors and Slytherins that had signed up for the class, made their way out of the Great Hall and around the castle to Hagrid's hut, where he sat waiting with several strange looking creatures. Naruto noticed that he was a few inches taller than most of the people walking. Was everyone in the magical word short or had he gotten taller? He ignored it for now. For most of the trip, Harry and Ron were discussing what a class with Hagrid would be like – as well as telling Naruto all about his… quirks – and Hermione was giving Naruto suspicious looks while trying to stay in the conversation. Naruto made a note to pull her aside and talk to her – if only to gather why exactly she was so wary of him.
As they drew closer to Hagrid, Naruto was able to see that the creatures looked like some kind of hybrid between a horse and some kind of bird. Many of the others were staring at the creatures, standing a little ways away from them as they waited for the rest of the students to arrive. The Slytherins seemed to be the most wary of the creatures, while some of the Gryffindors were slowly edging towards them, hoping to get a closer look. When Hagrid noticed this, he quickly told them to stay back until the class began, assuring them that they would be able to get close to them during class.
When everyone arrived, Hagrid explained that the creatures were called Hippogriffs – a mixture of a horse and an eagle – and that they were noble creatures. He explained and demonstrated how to approach them and announced that if anyone desired, they could approach one. Naruto was dying to try, but he wasn't sure if he should, as he wasn't really part of the class. Harry was – surprisingly – the first one to volunteer. Hagrid once again explained how to approach the creatures, and Harry nervously approached and bowed to the one called Buckbeak, who – after a few moments of tense silence – bowed back in respect and then got down for Harry to get on his back.
Harry gave a nervous, though slightly incredulous, look to Hagrid, who only nodded his head. Harry got on Buckbeak's back a little awkwardly, and was almost jolted from his seat when Buckbeak stood up and with a mighty flap of his wings propelled them into the air, flying above the hut and the castle for several minutes before coming back down to earth, the shouts of excitement and joy echoing down to the students remaining on the ground every so often.
Harry got off of Buckbeak's back with an exhilarating grin. He petted Buckbeak once again and went back into the crowd of awe-stuck students, getting a large pat on the back from Hagrid.
By this point, Naruto couldn't resist. He raised his hand and waved it around wildly, reminding several people – including the golden trio – of Hermione in her first year or two at Hogwarts, causing said girl to blush a little at the looks her two friends gave her.
Hagrid chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm. "Wha' is it, me boy?"
"Can I have a go at it? I know I'm not really a student of the class, but I just have to try that!" He nearly shouted.
"Of course yeh can! Jus' remember wha' I told ya about approachin' em'." He said as a precaution.
One of the Slytherins sneered at Naruto as he spoke. "It makes sense that Hagrid would favor the magically ignorant idiot." He said lowly, earning laughs from most of the Slytherins, as well as some of the Gryffindors.
Harry and Hermione – having substantial experience with 'masks' – were some of the only people that noticed the ever so slight change in Naruto's demeanor. His wide grin tightened just a fraction and his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
As he walked forward past the golden trio, Hermione was the only one to hear him whispering angrily.
"I know a lot more than you might think, you little pale-faced bastard…" His mumbling continued, but he was – to Hermione's relief, as she didn't know if she wanted to hear the rest – too far away for her to hear. She furrowed her eyebrows at this. Was he hiding something? She had been suspicious of him ever since his peculiar arrival at Hogwarts. She resolved to keep a closer eye on him.
Naruto approached a different hippogriff than Buckbeak and bowed. Surprisingly, the hippogriff immediately bowed back and got down for Naruto to get on. Naruto raised an eyebrow, but complied. Hagrid had a shocked look adorning his features. It was almost unheard of for hippogriffs to accept someone almost immediately. They were said to be able to gauge the personality, heart, and compassion of a person within the first minute of interaction, but this was almost unheard of.
"Tha' one's name is Sharpclaw," Hagrid explained after recovering. "She's usually a lot harder to tame, though – tha's why she's named as she is. I've even had some trouble meself."
Naruto had the decency to look sheepish. "I guess I just have a way with animals." He said with a somewhat nervous laugh.
Naruto got on Sharpclaw's back, holding on tight as she flapped her large wings and lifted herself and her passenger into the air. The feeling was exhilarating as he looked down and saw the hut and the crowd of students getting smaller and smaller as the two rose high into the air. Sharpclaw banked towards the castle as Naruto cried out in amazement. They rocketed past the castle, in-between towers and around spires. Several people cried out as they flew past the windows of their classrooms in the towers, wondering if they had actually seen something or if it was a figment of their imagination.
They passed low over the students waiting on the ground, causing several shrieks – one of which he thought emanated from the pale-faced boy, but he couldn't be sure – before rising, flying almost vertically through the air.
As they began their descent, Naruto got an idea. He had been using chakra to maintain a firm hold on Sharpclaw, but he didn't need even a tenth as much grip as he had at the moment. Thus, as Sharpclaw began to dive towards the ground, he shakily got onto his hands and knees, then slowly stood up on the hippogriffs back, using the chakra in his feet to hold himself onto Sharpclaw's back.
The hippogriff, when she realized what Naruto was doing, looked back quickly and motioned with her head for him to sit back down, concern in her eyes. Naruto had no idea if it was even possible for an animal to be concerned for him, but it was a magical creature, so he supposed it was possible. He merely shook his head and gave a confident smile, gesturing to his secured feet, – which under normal circumstances would have been ripped off of her back by now – hopefully reassuring the creature.
It seemed to work as the creature somewhat reluctantly faced forward once again and dived down towards the ground. Naruto was able to see several people pointing as they noticed his upright figure on Sharpclaw's back, and was even able to discern Hagrid's shout of concern.
Naruto smiled a little. It was kind of like a prank. A very enjoyable, exhilarating, and dangerous prank. Sharpclaw gained speed as she rocketed towards the ground, the whipping winds nearly ripping Naruto off of her back, but his chakra enhanced feet held and he was soon laughing the whole way down.
As they neared the ground, several people nearly ran from the group as they thought the pair would smash into the ground. However, Sharpclaw spread her wings suddenly and they slowed almost immediately, landing lightly on the ground. Naruto jumped off of the hippogriffs back, laughing almost hysterically as he landed.
"Oh, man, that was freaking awesome! You guy's should've seen the looks on your faces when we came down!" He said, gesturing to the group of students. Several of them looked at him, horrified, while others smiled a little, Naruto reminding them of the Weasley twins that many thought of as friends.
Naruto approached Sharpclaw once more and petted her head. "That was fun!" He said quietly to the hippogriff. "Do you think Hagrid would let me come out here to do it again sometime?"
The hippogriff merely nuzzled her head into his chest and made a sound that sounded very similar to laughter. Naruto laughed. "I'll take that as a yes!"
As Naruto walked back to the group, he got several incredulous looks, and Hagrid looked like his eye was twitching – though that must have been a trick of the light.
Naruto had barely gone back into the crowd when someone else elbowed his way out of it. Naruto looked out over the crowd once he was back with the golden trio and saw a blond haired, pale faced boy approaching Sharpclaw. His gait seemed to convey confidence, but it was the pompous kind of confidence. The 'I'm better than anyone else' confidence that Naruto had seen so much of from Sasuke in the early days of his experience as a genin.
The boy stood in front of Sharpclaw for while like he was expecting something, but when it didn't come, he spoke. "If you allowed that uneducated dunce to ride you then I should have no problem, so get down and let me on!" He said angrily.
Sharpclaw narrowed her eyes at him. Naruto was gaping at the idiot of a boy standing in front of the creature. Hadn't he been paying attention to Hagrid at all?
Eventually, he just moved forward to seize the hippogriff and climb on. Naruto's eyes widened and he moved forward to stop him, as did Hagrid, when the hippogriff raised her claws to slash the oblivious boy. There was no way Hagrid would get to him in time, he was just too far away – and frankly too large and cumbersome. Naruto ran faster than most people could see as he sped forward and tackled the boy out of the way as the hippogriff's claws came down. He could have just used a substitution, but that was a lot harder to explain to witnesses than sheer speed. As he tackled the boy, he felt the hippogriffs claws rake across his back. They didn't do as much damage, as he had been diving out of the way, but it still hurt like hell.
The two boys hit the ground as Hagrid came rushing forward. The boy immediately got up and glared at Naruto, his hands clenched into fists. "What was that for? Are you getting protective of the damn animal now?"
Naruto slowly got up, brushing off Hagrid's large hand when he offered to help him. He glared at the boy, his spiky hair shadowing part of his face. "If you haven't noticed, I've got some pretty large claw marks in my back now," He said calmly, turning slightly to allow the boy to observe his new injuries, the boy's eyes widening as he finally noticed the semi-deep gashes running down the length of Naruto's back, leaking blood down into his shirt.
"If I hadn't tackled you, it would've been you that had gotten slashed, so I would think you'd be grateful you stuck up bastard." He said, a hint of anger leaking into his voice. He could already feel the Kyūbi healing his injuries, sealing them together. "Next time you do something stupid, I might not be there to save you, so I would suggest thinking before you act all high and mighty." He said with contempt. The boy looked ready to kill him but stayed silent, his fists clenched, and leveled a glare at Naruto.
Hagrid immediately told Naruto to go see Madame Pomfrey, and Naruto resisted, saying he'd be fine, much to everyone's shock. Eventually, Hagrid finally convinced Naruto to go see Pomfrey – if only to get the wounds patched up and stop people from asking questions – and Naruto left several minutes before class ended. By the time he was halfway to the Hospital Ward, his wounds were almost healed.
When he entered the Hospital Ward and Madame Pomfrey saw his blood-stained shirt, she nearly had a heart attack and began fussing over Naruto. He quickly explained what had happened and that he'd be fine, he just needed an extra pair of clothing. Pomfrey – after physically checking his wounds, since her diagnostic spells still didn't work – reluctantly gave him clearance to leave, telling him to be more careful in the future and that his advanced healing didn't make him invincible.
By this time, the next class of the day would soon begin, and several students were hurrying though the halls to get to their next class. Naruto checked his mental list of classes to attend and made his way to the dungeons for second year Potions.
He entered the classroom just as classes were scheduled to start, earning a glare from Professor Snape. Naruto could already tell he wouldn't like him very much. He glanced around and found both Gryffindors and Slytherins sitting around at various tables with cauldrons and vials and the like prepared on each table. He decided to just stand near the back of the class – on the Gryffindor side, and observe the proceedings, seeing as he didn't really know anything about potions. Snape gave him a dirty look, but seemed willing to just ignore him for the most part, which was fine in Naruto's book.
He took another glance around and noticed Ginny in the midst of the Gryffindor's, smiling and waving at him enthusiastically again. He smiled back and gave her a small wave before Snape snapped at her to pay attention and shot a glare at Naruto, mumbling about bumbling intruders disrupting his classes.
They were learning a fairly simple (At least that's what Snape claimed) potion that was supposed to change the color of the drinker's hair for about an hour. He put the list of ingredients on the board, as well as what pages to find the instructions on, and then sat down at his desk. Naruto quickly grew annoyed at the so-called professor. All he even did was write the instructions on the board and let them figure it out themselves!
When Snape actually got up and started walking amongst the students he was hopeful that the man would actually start teaching the students, but his hopes were crushed as the man merely walked up and down the rows of tables, sneering occasionally and telling a student that they had done something wrong or how their potions had been badly brewed. Naruto noticed that most of the students he reprimanded were Gryffindors. In fact, Snape rarely commented on a Slytherin's potion, and if he did, the comment was usually something good. Snape was consistently giving points to Slytherin students and taking them away from Gryffindor's for various things as well.
Naruto could see why Harry, Ron, and Ginny (and Hermione, to a certain extent) viewed the man as they did. It was hard not to despise him if you weren't a Slytherin.
Naruto had been watching Ginny's potion making, and – reading off of the Gryffindor in front of him's book discreetly – had to say she was doing fairly well. The potion was the correct color, and was thickening like it was supposed to. Snape, of course, didn't think so. As the end of class approached, Snape passed by Ginny's station and stopped.
"Miss Weasley, I have no idea what potions book you are reading from, but this is not the potion we are making today." He said, sneering.
Ginny's shocked, then slightly rebellious look – as well as the looks of the Gryffindor's around her – told Naruto all he needed to know. However, nobody spoke up, and Snape smirked.
"There's nothing wrong with her potion professor," Naruto started, eliciting shocked looks from many of the students in the room and a dirty look from Snape. "Her potion is the right color and it's in its final stages, it's almost picture perfect." He finished.
"And just how do you know how to brew this potion? I was told you had no experience whatsoever with magic." Snape sneered, with a slightly smug look in his eyes. Several of the Slytherins laughed.
"Anyone can read, professor." Naruto said calmly. "It makes me wonder why you're even needed at this school at all if all you do is tell them what pages to read and let them figure it out by themselves, then tell them they're doing it wrong." He continued, earning a dark glare from the greasy-haired potions professor. "A proper teacher would tell them what to do and how to do it, even telling them alternate or better methods, and telling them how to fix what they're doing wrong, instead of focusing on how they did something wrong in the first place." Naruto finished, raising his voice just slightly. Several Gryffindor's nodded quietly, casting contemptuous glances at the potions professor.
Snape looked ready to explode. "That will be 50 points from Gryffindor for insubordination!" He nearly shouted.
"I'm afraid that won't work, professor," Naruto said, once again emphasizing his thoughts on the potion master's methods of teaching. "I'm not officially a member of the Gryffindor House; therefore you can't take points away from them due to my actions." At this, Snape rounded on Ginny, preparing to take points away from her. This angered Naruto further.
"That won't work either, Snape. You can only take points away from a student if they have done something against the rules, and Ginny hasn't." He said calmly.
In the Great Hall, two different magical hourglasses – one containing green gems and one containing red – began changing their contents, much to the surprise of anyone present.
Snape balled his fists. He looked ready to hit someone, and Naruto was actually worried he was going to strike Ginny for a moment. Thankfully, the bell for the end of class rung and everyone immediately gathered their things and sprinted for the door, causing enough chaos for Naruto and Ginny to sneak out with the crowd of haphazard students. Naruto heard Snape give a shout of rage before hurrying on.
When they were far enough away from the dungeons, Ginny approached Naruto, who stopped near the edge of the hall for her. The hall soon grew fairly empty, as it wasn't one of the most popular passageways, being so close to Snape's classroom.
"Thanks…" She mumbled, blushing and looking at the floor. She glanced up, noticed Naruto's slightly confused look, and decided to elaborate. "For standing up for me," She said with a small smile. "Not many people have the guts to stand up to Snape." In fact, she realized, Harry was one of the only people she knew of who did.
"Don't worry about it, I always stand up for my friends," He responded. "And I probably would've done it anyway. I don't like people like Snape, biased towards certain people and never helping anyone, only hurting them."
Ginny rushed forward – before her confidence failed her – and hugged him tightly, burying her face into his chest. Not entirely knowing how to react, Naruto wrapped his arms around her loosely.
"Some people don't think very highly of the Weasley family…" She started. Was she crying? "We're a pureblood family, but we aren't very wealthy and we don't have as much standing in society compared to other pureblood families, so some of them look down on us."
Naruto thought that sounded very much like the Clan system back in Konoha. He had always hated the system, how some people were viewed as better or worse than others purely because of their name or the clan they were born into.
"Am I really your friend?" She mumbled quietly into his chest. The friends she had made in her first year had soon drifted away once she started becoming consumed with the diary that had contained a piece of Voldemort's soul.
When it was revealed she had been attacked – and Harry consequently came and saved her – any friends that had remained left her for fear that something else would happen and they would get caught in the crossfire.
She had also learned that many of her 'friends' had only gotten close to her to make it easier to become friends with Harry – and hopefully gain fame or money. Ginny had become wary of any potential friend's motives and soon found it was a similar case for many prospective friends. The only friends she had maintained throughout her Hogwarts experience were Hermione Granger – who was already close to Harry, and so had no ulterior motive for becoming friends – and Luna Lovegood, who – while a very nice friend – wasn't the best person to share secrets and gossip with like normal friends did.
If this boy, who had quite literally appeared out of nowhere, could call her a friend in a matter of not even two days and stand up to the most despised professor in Hogwarts in her defense… it gave her a warm, fluttering feeling in her stomach. It was a good feeling, even if it was a little strange. Naruto's voice broke her out of her thoughts.
"Of course you're my friend, Ginny," He said quietly, tightening his hold on her slightly. "I may not have known you very long, but you were the only person that cared enough to see how I was doing, and you even invited me to sit next to you at breakfast today." He said, chuckling. "I can tell you're a kind-hearted and friendly person, you're just a little shy." She buried her face a little deeper into his chest at this and gripped him tighter.
After several more moments she seemed to realize what she was doing and released him quickly, blushing as red as her fiery hair, causing Naruto to chuckle quietly. Ginny pouted at him before smiling once again and – gathering herself – walking off to her next class.
/~{~(~)~}~\
The first two classes of the day were the most eventful ones by far. During third year Transfigurations Naruto learned that McGonagall was an excellent professor – helping her students and giving them tips and strategies like a teacher should. She was a little strict, which some people (Slytherins) complained about, but that was a good quality in a professor, it kept the kids in line.
Naruto thought the concept of Transfiguration was awesome. It was like the ability to henge something else, only it actually transformed into the desired object instead of just appearing different. The ways that could be used in a ninja career were uncountable.
Lunch was a lot better than breakfast in Naruto's opinion. Not as many people stared at him (although some still did) and he was able to recognize several people. He sat down next to Ginny and chatted with her, Harry, Hermione, and Ron about various things, asking questions about magic that they enthusiastically answered. Thankfully, nobody was asking questions about where he came from or what had happened – he figured the ordeals with the boy from Care of Magical Creatures (Who he had learned was named Draco) and Snape had caused enough gossip to keep them away from those subjects for at least a day or two, which was perfectly fine.
Naruto (After ample convincing from Ginny and Ron) tore himself away from his ramen long enough to try several different foods that Hogwarts offered, mostly the desserts. The Pumpkin Pastries and Treacle Tart were good, he had to admit, but it was still nothing compared to ramen.
Dumbledore called him over once lunch was over and told him that they'd meet in his office the next night to see if Naruto could use magic or if Dumbledore could use chakra, which Naruto agreed to.
Naruto took the opportunity to ask if he could stay with the Gryffindors at nights. Dumbledore merely raised his eyebrows and asked if he was sure. It was, after all, a rather fast decision. Naruto explained that there was no way he was going to be in Slytherin – for various reasons – and that he already had a few friends in Gryffindor. Dumbledore nodded his head sagely and merely said, "I'll have a separate room prepared for you."
Naruto thanked him and headed off to second year Charms. Naruto almost thought Professor Flitwick was a student until class started and he was standing in the front teaching! They were going to start with a revision of what they had learned last year – like many of the classes on the first day did. Professor Flitwick had the students cast Wingardium Leviosa – a spell that caused things to levitate –and Lumos – which created light at the end of the casters wand – as well as Incendio, a spell that set things alight. Naruto just had to learn how to use magic now, if he (And by extension his clones) could do all that, there was no way he'd lose another battle!
When Charms was over, Naruto made his way to third year Defense Against the Dark Arts – or as the student body had dubbed it, DADA. When he entered, Professor Lupin almost immediately pulled him aside, looking slightly concerned.
"Are you sure it's alright for you to be walking around so soon?" He nearly whispered. "When I saw you yesterday you had a six-inch hole in your chest! How can you be walking around at all?" He questioned.
"I've got amazing regenerative powers," Naruto said with a nonchalant shrug. "Just ask Pomfrey or Dumbledore, they cleared me to leave, but they have no idea why I heal so fast."
Lupin looked at him suspiciously.
"But you know exactly why, don't you?" It was more of a statement that a question.
"Yes," Naruto said quietly. "I do. But I'm not going to tell you, or anyone. It's pretty personal." He said firmly.
"Hey, I get it," Lupin said, holding up his hands. "Everyone has their secrets – even me. Just make sure you don't get anyone hurt," He said cryptically.
As their discussion ended, Naruto realized that the room was dead silent and that nearly everyone had been listening to their conversation.
Naruto quietly went to stand in the back of the room as Lupin cleared his throat and directed the class's attention back to him.
The class was fairly boring – mostly a rough run-down of what they'd be doing over the school year. Though Lupin did mention something fairly interesting about halfway through. He said they'd be dealing with something called a Boggart the next class – or perhaps the one after.
A Boggart, as Lupin put it bluntly, turned into your worst fears. The closest person to whatever was being used to contain it was usually the victim. Apparently, few – if any – people had ever seen what a Boggart actually looked like, and it hadn't been documented in anything as of yet. They were, of course, going to be learning the counter for a Boggart at the same time, so he encouraged students to study the Ridiculous spell before their next class.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Naruto had an hour or two until dinner, so he explored the castle. After over half an hour – and only searching a fraction of the castle – Naruto decided to speed things up a little.
Naruto found an abandoned classroom (He noticed there were a lot of unused classrooms) and made just over a dozen clones. He had them all henge into fairly unremarkable and easy to forget students of various houses and years and sent them off to explore the school, with orders to find a safe place to dispel if they thought they were going to be found out or – for any reason – attacked.
As he made his way down to dinner another half hour later he knew much more of the school than he had only an hour before. His clones had even found several secret passages hidden throughout the halls, behind tapestries, and even on the ceilings.
He once again sat with Ginny and the golden trio – though Hermione seemed much colder towards him now. Ginny seemed to be a little less friendly with her, so he just figured they'd argued over something.
Naruto tried several more foods found at Hogwarts, but still didn't find anything comparable to ramen.
When dinner was almost done with, Dumbledore once again called Naruto over to talk. Naruto complied and strolled over, just catching the mumbles from the student body as he once again made his way to the head table. Dumbledore gave him a grandfatherly smile as he approached, reminding Naruto greatly of the Sandaime Hokage.
"I have had a room set up for you in the Gryffindor Common Room. It's next to the staircase leading to the boys' dormitories, behind the picture. The password is 'Konohagakure', as I'm fairly certain nobody knows how the name relates to you." Dumbledore said.
"But how will I know what picture it is? You told me they there are dozens of pictures in every common room!" Naruto replied.
Dumbledore chuckled, a twinkle in his eyes once again. "You'll know which one, I'm certain of it." He said with a smile. With that, he sent Naruto back to the Gryffindor table and rose to give his 'end of the first school day' speech, informing students of any last minute rules or additions to Filch's list of banned items.
The students began filing out of the Great Hall towards their respective Common Rooms, and Naruto followed Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny towards the Gryffindor Commons, many students passing them as Naruto conversed with the four (Mostly Ginny and Ron, really) about the wonders of magic. As they reached the seventh floor of the school, the group stopped and Hermione turned and gave him an expectant look.
"What?" He said, looking from Hermione, to Ron, to Harry, then to Ginny, and back again. He began checking his clothes – just to make sure he hadn't gotten any food on him during dinner – when Hermione spoke up.
"Each of the Common Rooms has a secret entrance and a password, so you'll have to leave before we can go in," She said, exasperated.
Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck once again.
"Oh, hehe…" He started. "I forgot to tell you I'll be staying with the Gryffindors from now on, didn't I? Guess it kind of slipped my mind." He said with a laugh.
Ginny's eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
"Really? You're staying in the Gryffindor Common Room?"
At Naruto's confirming nod she squealed slightly and hugged Naruto tightly. Hermione leveled an intense glare at Naruto, who responded with a raised eyebrow as Ginny let go of him.
"You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?" She said with narrowed eyes.
"Dumbledore gave me my own room, he said it was next to the staircase leading to the boys dormitories." He said in his defense.
Hermione looked ready to argue, and was opening her mouth to do so when Ginny spoke up first.
"Come on, Hermione, just give him a chance! You can't go on thinking he's an evil wizard forever, can you? He even stood up to Snape for me!" She argued before Hermione had the chance.
"Seriously, Mione', just give him a chance." Ron decided to add his piece to the discussion.
Hermione just glared at him and Naruto, turning to Harry, who just shrugged with a nervous look.
"I'm not taking sides, but he seems like a nice guy from what Ginny's told us. Anyone who gives Snape a hard time is a pretty stand-up guy in my book." He said.
Hermione just sighed. "Fine," She said. "I'll give him a chance." She turned to Naruto. "Just make sure you don't try anything funny." She warned, before turning to a portrait of a rather Fat Lady and muttering 'Wattlebird'.
The portrait swung open, muttering about ungrateful kids keeping her waiting over some petty argument, (Dumbledore had told Naruto about the moving pictures of the wizarding world) and Hermione climbed through a circular hole that was hidden behind the portrait, soon followed by Ron, Harry, Ginny, and lastly Naruto.
The portrait swung shut behind them and Naruto had to say the common room was a lot better than he had expected it to be. There were extremely squashy and comfortable looking armchairs all around the circular room, as well as a few couches and a large fireplace that adorned one wall. Two large windows looked out over the school grounds and two staircases lead off of each end of the room towards what Naruto assumed to be the boy's and girl's dormitories.
Ginny showed him which one lead to the boy's and Naruto looked around for a clue as to which painting was the one leading to his room, the other four – as well as several occupants of the room – following out of curiosity. After almost a full minute of searching excruciatingly for clues, Naruto resisted the urge to bang his forehead into the wall repeatedly, muttering to himself about smart-ass headmasters much to Hermione's ire.
About three feet to the right of the staircase was a fairly large painting, about as tall as Naruto himself. However, that wasn't what gave it away as the entrance to Naruto's room.
The painting was that of a stereotypical ninja, dressed in all black, complete with a facemask, a kunai, shuriken, the works. Naruto nearly slapped himself. How had he not noticed that?
The ninja seemed amused.
"So you finally managed to figure it out, huh? Took you long enough…" He muttered.
"Hey!" Naruto nearly shouted at the painting comically. "I wasn't expecting it to be that obvious!" He said, getting several curious looks from the bystanders.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you know the password, right?" The ninja replied coolly. Naruto was vaguely reminded of Kakashi-sensei.
"Yeah, I just don't want to say it in front of a crowd," He said, gesturing with his head to the crowd of just over a dozen students behind him, who tried to look like they were minding their own business. The ninja chuckled.
"I hear ya…" The ninja agreed. "You gonna turn in now or wait an hour or two?"
Naruto suddenly realized how tired he was. Maybe it was the events of the day (namely the hippogriffs and the interaction with Snape) or maybe he was still fatigued from his painful arrival at Hogwarts, but he felt like some sleep was in order.
"I think I'll go to bed now…" He trailed off. He turned and said goodnight to Ginny and the golden trio, who bidded him a good night, and the onlookers returned to their own business, the golden trio plus one heading to their respective rooms for a little extra rest themselves.
Naruto climbed through the hole behind the portrait, just barely having to duck his head to avoid injury, and emerged in a fair sized room containing a four-poster bed that was fairly large for one person, a desk with a chair, and a couch for whatever reason. Maybe Dumbledore was expecting him to have company? Naruto didn't give it any more thought. After taking in his surroundings for all of a minute and dressing himself in his night-wear, he threw himself onto his extremely comfy-looking bed, pulled the covers up and drifted off to sleep.
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Original Post ~ 2/24/2012 ~ 7,783 words
Edited Post ~ 4/29/2012 ~ 7,840 words
~ A/N: Voila! The second chapter. Hopefully it meets everyone's expectations :P A few parts were a little rushed or forced so I hope it turned out well. A quick notice: I usually only write when I'm in the mood, so updates will be hard to predict. They may be a few days, a few weeks, or months depending on the situation, as real-life does come first (lol),so just bear with me here ^_^