~The Effects of a Boggart~
~ A Naruto and Harry Potter Fanfiction
~ A/N: Sorry about the long wait, but I haven't had much of a chance to write anything lately. I went to Chicago for a week for the Business Professionals of America National Competitions and got 20th out of 48 people in the Java Programming event, so yay! I also placed 21st out of over 400 people :D
Anyway, the hotel didn't have Wi-Fi and I only had a laptop for a few hours, so I couldn't really type anything =/
This chapter was written in short 'bursts' I guess you could say, so if it seems inconsistent, or the mood changes abruptly, that may be the cause. I did my best to keep it consistent throughout, but I hope it turned out okay. Also, I'm thinking of adding a Naruto/Hermione pairing – and perhaps another pairing or two – to the story as well, as you may be able to tell by this chapter :P I love fluff... even if I may not be very good at it.
Also, Naruto is not as much of an idiot as he appeared in canon in my fic. He's not a superpowered god that knows everything, but he's not a totally ignorant imbecile.
I will not bow,
I will not break,
I will shut the world away…
I will not fall,
I will not fade,
I will take your breath away…
Breaking Benjamin ~ I Will Not Bow
~Chapter 3~
Naruto woke up much earlier than he would've liked. Breakfast started way too early in this place! He debated between missing breakfast and getting another hour or two of sleep, but eventually the desire for ramen won out, and he managed to drag himself out of bed long enough to stumble into the bathroom that was joined to his bedroom by means of an intricate door. Dumbledore had really gone all out – he had his own private (At least he hoped it was private) bedroom and even a bathroom complete with a shower.
He turned on the shower and just stood under the hot water for almost a minute before beginning his morning rituals. He threw on an outfit almost exactly like the one he had worn the previous day and climbed through the portrait-hole leading to the Gryffindor Common Room, yawning.
As he approached the back of the painting he heard several ongoing conversations, but one seemed both quieter and more intense. They must have been near the portrait, because their voices carried through it and down the portrait-hole.
"…Just saying we don't know who he is, where he came from, or what he's really like, Ginny! He could be one of You-Know-Who's followers for all we know!" A hushed voice said – presumably to Ginny. Naruto got a sinking feeling it was Hermione.
"You can't keep thinking he's an evil wizard, Hermione!" Ginny replied stubbornly. "He looked genuinely happy to see me yesterday – several times, in fact – and he stood up to Snape for me! He doesn't even know any magic!"
"Well maybe he's just trying to get close to you! After what happened last year, you know that there are some people who still think you're dark, or a danger to the school and want to get rid of you. You don't know what his motives are for getting close to you. And I know he's hiding something." Hermione replied heatedly. "I heard him in Care of Magical Creatures yesterday, he knows magic, he's just not telling anyone."
It sounded like they were arguing about him. That must have been what had caused the slight rift between them the previous day during and after dinner.
"You said you were going to give him a chance, Hermione! Everyone has their secrets, even you and me, so you need to let him have his own," Ginny argued.
She was arguing in his defense. Rarely anyone ever did that, primarily because not many people were on his side. The only people who had defended him were Iruka-sensei, the Sandaime Hokage, the Ichiraku's, and perhaps Kakashi-sensei to a lesser extent.
Naruto chose this point to swing the portrait open, causing Hermione to stop preparing her counter-argument and Ginny to stop talking.
Naruto stepped out of the portrait-hole, allowing it to swing shut behind him, and gave both Hermione and Ginny pointed looks. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and Ginny gave him a nervous smile.
"It's rude to talk about people behind their backs," He said somewhat playfully. Hermione just made a 'Hmph!' noise and crossed her arms, while Ginny laughed nervously. "Maybe you shouldn't stand next to the entrance to my bedroom the next time you talk about me." He said in the same playful manner. Ginny rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly – maybe Naruto was rubbing off on her? Hermione gave him an unamused look.
"Anyway," He began. "I'm hungry, so how about we get some breakfast?" He questioned. Ginny seemed relieved that he hadn't grilled her about their heated quarrel – as did Hermione to a certain extent, though she looked like she wanted to continue their discussion.
"Actually, we usually wait for Harry and Ron to come down before heading to breakfast." She said with a note of finality.
"I'll go down with you!" Ginny piped up, sounding hopeful. Hermione gave her a somewhat shocked look, almost like she had been betrayed. Naruto grinned at Ginny and nodded, and she was halfway through the portrait-hole leading out of the Common Room before Naruto had even started moving.
"I still don't trust you." Hermione's voice dampened his mood as he made to follow Ginny. He stopped abruptly, still facing the exit. The din of the surrounding conversations only seemed to increase the tension.
"I know," He said after a moment of silence. "Where I come from, a lot of people don't trust me, or really like me at all. Most of the people in my home village can't even stand the sight of me, really. All because of things completely out of my control." He said, eliciting furrowed brows from Hermione. Naruto had gathered over the past few days that that meant she was thinking. "Point is, I'm used to people hating me. One more won't really make much of a difference, though you are one of the only people I know here, so I'd rather you didn't." He said solemnly before continuing out of the Common Room, leaving Hermione to think over what he had said while she waited for Harry and Ron.
Ginny was waiting for him outside of the Common Room. They grinned at each other and began walking down to the Great Hall.
"What took so long?" She asked him.
"Just… talking with Hermione." Naruto said with a small smile. Ginny immediately adopted a worried look.
"She didn't… attack you or anything like that, did she?" She asked with slightly wider eyes.
"What? No, no, nothing like that!" He said with a small laugh. "Though, I was kind of expecting it for a few seconds. She just told me outright what she thought of me." He said nonchalantly. She looked like she was going to ask questions, but stopped herself, which Naruto was grateful for.
They ate breakfast for several minutes – Naruto shoveling down ramen – before Harry, Hermione, and Ron strolled through the doors of the Great Hall. Hermione sent Naruto a look that said 'We're going to have a talk later'. Though Naruto supposed it was better than the glares she had been sending him previously, he wasn't looking forward to it.
The day wasn't as interesting or eventful as the previous day, though it wasn't dull either. Naruto sat in on several more classes, mainly Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He knew no one in any of the classes though, so he focused more on absorbing what the professors said, gaining a small understanding of whatever their lesson was about – though he did meet a Ravenclaw second year in Charms named Luna Lovegood who claimed to be a friend of Ginny's. She was an oddball, that much was certain, but she had an aura of innocence about her that made it hard not to like her. Others, however, didn't seem to think so. He heard many people call her 'Loony Lovegood', several of them being from the same house as her, and that frustrated Naruto a little. What had happened to camaraderie between housemates?
What had really angered Naruto though was when Luna had told him it was fine, and that she was used to it. She talked about it like it was an everyday occurrence – which from the looks of it, it probably was. And if it was, it was bound to go farther eventually – that was, if it already hadn't. It would turn into outright bullying, then perhaps abuse. Naruto knew that all too well. He resolved to do something about it, telling Luna that it in fact wasn't fine and that it would just get worse. A somewhat surprised look (or at least more surprised than she already looked) adorned her face at that, and she quietly thanked him for his concern before the bell rang and everyone rushed out of the classroom, Luna getting pulled along with the crowd.
At lunch, Naruto once again sat with the only four people he really knew at the school and chatted with them, confirming that Luna was indeed a friend of Ginny's. When he asked, she agreed that the way Luna was treated was a problem, but said that she didn't have the power to do anything about it, and she was afraid of just making it worse by trying and failing to help.
The rest of the day was uneventful, though he was able to wrap his mind around the concepts of some of the spells in Transfiguration and DADA, even if they were just reviews of first and second year spells. He couldn't wait to find out if he could perform magic!
After dinner, where Naruto had chatted with Ginny and the golden trio again, Naruto made his way with Dumbledore to his office, the elderly wizard leading him through the twisting halls of the old castle. Naruto looked at Dumbledore like he was senile when he stopped in front of a stone gargoyle and said "Here we are."
Dumbledore just chuckled.
"Licorice." He said. At first nothing happened and Naruto began to doubt the man's sanity, but to Naruto's immense surprise the gargoyle moved aside – actually moved aside – and revealed a staircase heading up. He looked at Dumbledore and noticed a twinkle in his eyes. Whenever he got that twinkle in his eyes, Dumbledore's mischievous side showed. Naruto vowed to pull a prank on him at some point.
They started heading up the staircase, and it took Naruto several seconds to realize the staircase was moving for them. It carried them up until they reached a door, which Dumbledore opened to reveal an office full of all kinds of various oddities and objects, some on display on his desk, some in display cases, some on bookshelves… Naruto wouldn't be surprised if they were on the ceiling too. He glanced upwards just in case.
It was then that he noticed another presence in the room. Madame Pomfrey sat in a chair next to Dumbledore's desk, gazing at him with a calculating look.
After a moment, Naruto spoke up. "So… Am I going to learn magic now?" He questioned in anticipation.
"This meeting isn't so much about learning magic, it's about finding out if you have the capability to learn and perform magic." Dumbledore said sagely.
Naruto nodded. That made sense. "No offense, but why is Madame Pomfrey here?" He said, glancing at the matron with a bewildered look.
"We – and by that I mean Poppy and I – have managed to theorize that Poppy's diagnostic and healing spells – and by extension most spells in general – do not have as much of an effect on you because they affect the target's magical core and the magical energy in their bodies, which all people in this world have, even Muggles – whose cores are so undeveloped they cannot perform the simplest of magics, even if it flows through them. You, however, contain Chakra, not the magical energy wizards and witches do, so spells do not have as much of an effect on you." He said in explanation.
Naruto's look became down cast. If he didn't have the same energy as them, then how could he perform magic?
"Don't lose hope, there is still a chance – a very firm one, I believe," Dumbledore said. "The fact that spells even affect you at all reveals that your Chakra does in fact react to magic. Therefore, you should be able to learn magic, though it may be a little harder than it is for most wizards and witches."
At this Naruto's eyes brightened.
"So I can still learn magic?" He asked hopefully. When Dumbledore nodded he cheered loudly, eliciting a chuckle from Dumbledore and a smile from Pomfrey.
"I am going to be teaching you a simple spell to see how easy or hard it is for you to learn. After that is complete, we'll move on to seeing if I can use Chakra." Dumbledore told Naruto, who nodded his understanding.
"The spell I'm going to teach you will be Wingardium Leviosa, a first year spell and usually the first spell students at Hogwarts are taught."
Naruto nodded. Dumbledore had him recite the incantation a few times, then gave an example of the correct 'wand movement' and a demonstration of the spell, along with an explanation of what the spell did, allowing Naruto to get an idea of which hand seals to use to mold his chakra.
After fifteen minutes of trying to make a feather levitate with Dumbledore and Pomfrey patiently waiting, he saw one end flick up just slightly. Not entirely sure if it was due to his efforts or a draft (Maybe he was breathing too heavily?) he tried once again. The same end moved upwards about an inch this time. One more try and the entire feather actually lifted off of the headmaster's desk about two inches. Naruto cheered and Dumbledore gave a grandfatherly smile. Naruto tried once again, and it lifted several inches off of the desk and hovered there for a few seconds before falling back to the desk.
"How many things can you levitate at the same time?" He asked the elderly wizard excitedly.
"Students usually only have enough concentration to levitate one thing, but some older students and many adults can levitate several objects, though the heavier they are, the harder it is." Dumbledore said, giving Naruto a curious look.
Naruto grinned, before making a hand sign and calling out 'Kage Bunshin!'. When the puff of smoke was once again scourgified by Dumbledore, three Naruto's were standing in the original's place. All three picked a fairly light object on Dumbledore's desk – the feather, a parchment, an old fashioned writing quill – and performed the spell. To Pomfrey's surprise and Dumbledore's amusement, all three objects levitated an inch or two off of the desk before falling back down. Naruto laughed.
"That is so awesome!"
Dumbledore and Pomfrey shared a look. Naruto's clones could perform magic. The applications that had in the wizarding world were endless. With those clones, the boy could easily become one of the most powerful wizards in the known world. The ability to create a small army of oneself in a matter of seconds that could all perform as well as the original could have great effects in almost any battle. Once Naruto learned offensive spells, even just stunners or binding spells, he could defeat many wizards, even some aurors.
If he learned anything even more advanced… Well, he could become the most powerful wizard alive, even greater than Dumbledore… or Voldemort.
Dumbledore gave Naruto a grandfatherly smile. "You are certainly a remarkable boy, Naruto." He said, chuckling. Naruto gave him a large grin.
"Now, you know the basics of Chakra, yes?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well…" Naruto began with a nervous laugh. "There are a few things I never learned in the Ninja Academy…" He finished. Dumbledore and Pomfrey both raised their eyebrows in question.
"Well, the instructors didn't like me very much…" He gazed at the ground, his expression somber. "I rarely stayed in class for an entire week, I almost always got kicked out for at least a day for some reason or another." He explained. Dumbledore looked curious, while Pomfrey looked a little miffed.
"But I can still show you how to gather Chakra and perform jutsu!" He said quickly. Thankfully, this exclamation took their minds off of his previous statements, though Dumbledore filed it away for later thought.
Naruto spent the next hour to an hour and a half showing Dumbledore – and by extension Madame Pomfrey – how to gather Chakra, drawing on the physical and mental aspects of one's existence to create energy. To Naruto's surprise, neither Madame Pomfrey nor Dumbledore – who was supposed to be an extremely powerful wizard – were able to use much Chakra, their reserves were probably no bigger than an academy student's, if even that. In fact, Pomfrey had more than Dumbledore, and that confounded Naruto. When he informed them of this, Pomfrey looked beyond shocked and Dumbledore immediately adopted a thoughtful look.
Naruto proceeded to get them back on track and explained the regular Bunshin to them as best he could. He told them it required a minuscule amount of Chakra, and that almost any amount would give some kind of result, so it was the perfect test to see if they could in fact use their relatively small reserves of Chakra.
He demonstrated the hand signs required for the jutsu until they had them down, doing his best to explain how each hand sign molded the Chakra into certain shapes, and had them try the jutsu several times, going through them step-by-step to see if they were doing anything wrong. He wasn't going to have them try it too many times, because they would likely get tired easily with their small reserves. It looked pretty bleak for a little while, but on the fourth try, Dumbledore was able to get some results. The three occupants of Dumbledore's office were able to discern a blur in the air next to Dumbledore, roughly the width and height of the elderly wizard himself.
Naruto grinned at Dumbledore and congratulated him on his – if slight – success, while the wizard responded with a weary yet immensely satisfied smile. Pomfrey congratulated him as well, though she looked a little jealous. After a few more tries by Pomfrey – who achieved no results – the two wizards were too exhausted to continue, and the three occupants of the office decided it was time to call it a night. Naruto made the two promise to help each other train periodically – which caused them to smile warmly at him – before leaving the office for the night, feeling ecstatic that he would be able to learn the magic that was taught at the school.
At that thought, Naruto decided that since he still wasn't going to attend the first year classes (he may be able to learn, but that didn't mean he was willing to sit through boring introductory courses) he would go to the library and read up on the first years' curriculum. After all, reading the books would take less time than sitting through the classes.
Naruto quietly made his way to the library, moving along the ceiling and using the shadows to conceal himself from the occasional passer-by. There weren't many students wandering the halls, but there were some – usually couples – that snuck through the halls, likely making their way to their common rooms.
Naruto snuck into the library, giving the librarian (who looked more like she was a security guard) a wide girth. He had heard from the others about how stingy the librarian was about… well, everything in the library, apparently. The scowl on her face as she looked over several books that had been returned that night wasn't a very pleasant one, and Naruto didn't doubt that their claims held some truth when she started mumbling about 'troublesome kids ruining her books'.
At this, Naruto was reminded of the lazy, yet skilled, comrade that he had performed several missions with back in Konoha, always muttering about how 'troublesome' things were. What was happening back in Konoha, anyway? He hadn't really thought about it much, the stress of getting used to a different world entirely was burdening, and he had been preoccupied with all of the different things about this world – the magic, the muggle technology described by Harry and Hermione (some of which he realized they had in Konoha, which was weird). Were they looking for him? Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Sakura, the others in the rookie nine… Someone must be looking for him, right? Then again, they might not be able to spare any manpower on a mere missing genin with the recent invasion from Orochimaru, his Oto followers, and the Suna shinobi.
Thoughts of his home darkened Naruto's mood. He did his best to put them out of his head for now, but the slightly depressing thoughts still lingered in the recesses of his mind.
He made his way to the first year area and found the section for textbooks. Thankfully, it was a ways away from the librarian, so he didn't have to worry as much about making a little noise. Taking a copy of "The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)"off the bookshelf, he found a spot at a desk along the wall and quietly started to read the text, skimming over most of it until it got to theories and how to perform spells.
As he started reading in more detail, he created a couple Kage Bunshin as quietly as he could, getting a faint 'pop' and a small puff of smoke in return. He glanced around and listened to see if the librarian was rushing over to investigate the slightly louder than comfortable noise, but relaxed after several moments of silence. He sent the Bunshin to pick several more first year textbooks off of the shelf for the original Naruto to read later.
After fifteen minutes of reading, Naruto was almost a quarter of the way through the textbook – skimming over the historical parts, of course – and dispelled the Bunshin that were now seated in various chairs around him.
When Naruto suddenly knew information from two more first year textbooks he blinked. What had just happened? He realized that he knew what had happened because he could remember going up to the shelf and taking several more books off of it, then reading them out of curiosity when he got bored.
It took Naruto almost a minute to realize that he had received the influx of information from his Kage Bunshin that he had sent out while he read in the corner of the library. He created two more to test his new theory out and sent them off to do something where he couldn't see them. After a minute or two, he dispelled them and received memories of playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with himself.
Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what he could accomplish with this new information. He still remembered what the Bunshin had read earlier, so it wasn't just a temporary thing – at least he hoped it wasn't – and he even had some memories of Bunshin from his adventures in Konoha. He created at least a dozen Kage Bunshin – one by one to make sure the faint pop and the smoke would go unnoticed by the librarian – and sent them off to find and come back with the rest of the first year books, as well as some second year books. He had them read whatever book they had obtained, continuing to read his own textbook, but he could barely concentrate anymore, he was too excited to find out if his idea would work. After another fifteen minutes he dispelled half of them, receiving information from more than a dozen textbooks as a result. Naruto nearly cheered – and would've if it hadn't been for the librarian. Some of the info he had gotten didn't make sense, as he hadn't read whatever prerequisites were needed, but that could be dealt with later.
His clones had read "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration", "The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection", "Magical Drafts and Potions", and even "A History of Magic" among several other more advanced books. He was fairly sure that he had learned enough to have a solid grasp on several of the concepts he had learned earlier in the day. After another half an hour of reading, Naruto decided it was getting late and it was time to head back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
He dispelled his Bunshin – quietly of course, to make sure the librarian wouldn't notice – and received another welcomed influx of information from various books before sneaking out of the library the same way he snuck in.
He made his way to the seventh floor, dropping down from the ceiling when he reached the Fat Lady and earning a scolding from her for "scaring the daylights out of unsuspecting portraits". He climbed through the portrait hole and into the common room, which a quick scan revealed was deserted, as it was past midnight.
He went over to the portrait of a ninja (who opened without a word about a password) and was about to climb into the portrait-hole when he noticed movement on one of the rather comfy couches to his left.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Hermione. Naruto mentally groaned. How had he missed her when he scanned the room? He did not want to have a 'chat' right now.
Hermione stood up from the couch – she must have been sleeping, because her bushy hair was bushier than usual and several blankets fell off of her figure – and crossed her arms over her chest, giving Naruto an expectant look.
"You and I need to talk."
Oh, joy. Naruto sighed.
"About what?" He said reluctantly.
"I think you know." She said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah… I know…" He said somberly. "You've been suspicious of me ever since I arrived here. You keep saying I could be a dark wizard, or one of Voldemort's followers."
Hermione gave him a surprised look. "How do you know about Vol – You-Know-Who?" She said quickly.
"Relax, relax," Naruto said, holding his hands up. "Dumbledore told me who Voldemort was when he explained the wizarding world to me. I'm not one of his followers, I can assure you of that. He reminds me too much of someone from my home…" He trailed off. He wasn't sure who was worse – Orochimaru or Voldemort.
She gave him a skeptical look, but didn't say anything about it.
"That's one of the reasons I don't trust you," She started. "You never say anything about your home, or where you come from, or who you really are."
"So that only leaves the option that I'm a dark wizard?" Naruto questioned with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well if a boy my age appears in the middle of one of the most prestigious magical schools in the world in a giant ball of lightning and fire, I'm not going to accept anything but a complete and total explanation of who he is and where he came from. The way you've been acting gives me reason to be suspicious. You're good – very good – at steering the conversation away from yourself." She replied heatedly.
Now that Naruto thought about it… She was pretty much right. He hadn't really given her a reason to trust him. Sure, he had helped Ginny out and was pretty friendly (or at least civil) to most of the students, but those were both basic infiltration tactics: Be friendly and helpful and less people will be suspicious of you, it was fairly simple.
"Well, okay, you've got me there," He started, getting a satisfied look from Hermione. "I'd be pretty suspicious too if someone just appeared in a spectacular ball of energy in the middle of the academy back home. I can give you my word that I wish no harm upon anyone here at Hogwarts," He said, crossing his hand over his heart for good measure. "Well… except, possibly, for Draco Malfoy. I pretty much think he's an asshole at the moment, considering how he's acted since I got here." He added, making Hermione reprimand him quickly for his language, telling him 'not to joke about such things'.
"So then why do you keep steering the conversation away from yourself when the subject of who you really are or where you come from is brought up?" She questioned curiously. He seemed to be gaining her trust – if only bit by bit.
"Who I am and where I come from…" He trailed off, looking towards the ceiling. Should he tell her about his past? He had told Dumbledore and Pomfrey, but (unless they had told someone else, which he didn't think they had) they were the only two who knew. He was actually considering telling Ginny about his past – toned down, as he didn't want to scare her or anything – but had been debating the idea with himself for a little while. Was it safe to tell her?
"The story of my life is not a very pleasant one… I can guarantee you that much. As I said before, most of the people in my village can't stand me, and some… some even want my death," He said solemnly. He lowered his gaze from the ceiling and looked her right in the eyes. What Hermione saw surprised her, to say the least. His eyes were no longer the exuberant, jovial, bright cerulean eyes she had seen him displaying previously. They weren't lifeless, but they seemed… tired of everything, of life. They were the eyes of someone who had taken so much shit in their life they didn't really care anymore. It scared her a little.
"The only two I've actually told the story of my life to are Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey, and I didn't even tell them everything" He said, getting her attention. What had his life been like?
"I… I want to know," She started hesitantly. "I have to know."
Naruto sighed. "It's not going to be pleasant, you know that, right?"
"I need to know. I don't want to be distrustful of you but it's hard when I know almost nothing about you. I want to be your friend, I really do, but I can't do that until I know who you really are." She said. She seemed sincere about it too. Naruto made an impulse decision.
"Okay… I'll tell you my story," He started, getting a slightly hopeful look from Hermione. "But you'll have to come into my room first, the common room is a little too… public." He said, moving towards the portrait that swung open once again before crawling through, Hermione right behind him.
As they emerged from the portrait-hole into Naruto's bedroom, Naruto turned to Hermione, who was looking around in awe.
"Why is your bed bigger than the beds in the dorm rooms? And you have your own bathroom, too!" She seemed somewhat angered by his accommodations and looked towards him for answers. He just shrugged and she pouted a little before they turned serious once again.
"You know, I'm surprised you actually followed me in here," Naruto started. "I would've thought you'd prefer to stay in a public place, considering that you don't trust me yet."
"Well, it's not like you can just kill me or something like that," She said, gaining Naruto's interest. "People would wonder what had happened to me when I stopped showing up in classes or at the library." She said confidently.
"There are many more things that someone could do, some of them are even worse than death…" He said cryptically. It sounded like he was speaking from experience, but that couldn't be right, could it? "Anyway, you wanted to hear my story, right?" He questioned, earning a nod from Hermione. Naruto walked over to the couch and plopped himself down onto it, Hermione following a little more gracefully.
"Well, the first thing you need to know… is that I'm not really from this world," He started, getting a look from Hermione. Before she could say anything, he continued. "I'm not sure if they're different dimensions, different times, or what, but the world I come from and this world are both very different and kind of similar as well." Hermione adopted a surprised – yet still skeptical – look at that.
"Where I come from, there is no such thing as magic – not the kind that you use here, anyway. There are no wizards and witches, no Ministry of Magic, nothing like that," Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. "I come from the village of Konohagakure, 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves', lead by the Hokage. The military component of the village – and almost every other village in my world – is composed of Shinobi. The Hokage is the strongest of these Shinobi." He explained.
"What are 'Shinobi'?" She asked curiously.
"Well, Shinobi is the general term for a Ninja, though female Shinobi are called Kunoichi."
"Ninjas?" She asked incredulously. Naruto chuckled a little.
"Yeah, Ninjas are the best way to describe us. Though we don't always use stealth and assassinate people: we do other things too. Anyway, each ninja has an arsenal of 'Jutsu' that they can perform as long as they have enough energy and have learned how to perform it correctly. It's kind of like the spells wizards and witches can perform, though we don't need wands. These 'Jutsu' are divided into several categories – much like magic. The energy that makes these Jutsu work is called Chakra, and is composed of both the spiritual and physical aspects of one's being." He said in explanation. Hermione gave him another skeptical look.
"Need proof?" Naruto questioned. Hermione gave a nod, eliciting a sigh from Naruto. "Okay, okay, just don't freak out too much." He said ,smirking and getting a half-hearted glare from Hermione.
Naruto made a few hand signs before there was a loud pop and he was engulfed in a puff of smoke, causing Hermione to jump and squeal quietly. She heard a chuckle come from the dissipating cloud, but it didn't sound like Naruto at all. In fact, it sounded extremely familiar…
The smoke cleared and before Hermione was… well, Hermione. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head while her doppelganger smirked and chuckled, before speaking.
"Believe me now? This is the 'Henge'. It's a transformation technique that allows me to take the form of… well, anything I can imagine, really." Her doppelganger – now revealed to be Naruto – said. There was another puff of smoke and Hermione jumped again – though she didn't squeal, she was proud to say – before the regular blond-haired Naruto was sitting in front of her once again with a mischievous smile on his face.
"What?" She said quickly. "You surprised me, that's all!" She said insistently. He just kept smiling at her, causing her to pout a little. He just chuckled again.
"So…" She began after a moment of silence. "You can perform these 'Jutsu', so that means you're a ninja, right?" Naruto nodded slowly in confirmation. She was getting at something, he just didn't know what it was. "So… that means that you're part of Konohagakure's military force?" She asked.
"Well… yeah, I guess," Naruto started, getting an incredulous look from Hermione.
"How old are you?" She asked insistently.
"Well…" He started hesitantly. She was probably going to go off on a mad rampage, judging by her look. "I'm thirteen right now." He said sheepishly.
"You're thirteen and you're in the military?" She nearly shouted. It took Naruto nearly a minute to calm her down, she was shouting about how wrong it was that people could place thirteen year-olds in the military. He eventually got her to calm down by telling her it was his choice to become a Shinobi. She stared at him like had grown a second head.
"You chose to become a Shinobi at thirteen?"
"Well, not really, the decision came around age seven or eight. We need to go to the Shinobi academy for a few years, so we make the decision earlier…" He said. He was about to continue, but she looked like she was going to have a seizure. "You need to understand that being a Shinobi is a great honor for people in the village. Shinobi are the only defense against invasion and are considered the protectors and guardians of the village and its inhabitants. I didn't really have many other job opportunities, either. You have to remember that not many people in the village liked me very much. The only reason the academy even took me in was because the Hokage forced them to. He was one of the few people in the village that actually liked me and talked to me, but he was always busy. Being the leader of one of the largest villages in the world leaves you with little free time." He said quietly.
"Why were you disliked in your village, anyway? You said it was because of something completely out of your control." She questioned innocently. Naruto sighed. It was a heavy, world-weary sigh.
"That's where we begin my story…" Naruto began. "Thirteen years ago – where I'm from, at least – a massive demon called the Kyūbi attacked Konoha. The Kyūbi is one of the legendary Bijū, the ninth and final demon in a series of tailed-beasts, each having one more tail than the last, and each containing far greater strength. I'm not sure why the Kyūbi attacked Konoha, but it was the nine-tailed fox, the strongest of the Bijū, and no mortal could ever hope to kill it. It was on a rampage, and the Konoha Shinobi were being slaughtered by the dozens." Naruto said. Hermione was hanging on his every word, waiting for him to continue.
"The Yondaime Hokage – the fourth Hokage – was considered one of the strongest Shinobi in the world at the time. He had created several original ninjutsu, defeated entire armies by himself, and was a master of Fuinjustu, the art of Seal-Making. He devised a seal that would be able to contain the Kyūbi, imprisoning it and effectively eliminating the threat," Hermione looked awed. "Only there were a few catches… one was that he had to give up his own life to seal the beast away," Hermione's eyes widened. He was willing to go that far to protect his village? "The other was that he had to seal the beast into a newborn infant." He said, gaining a far off look in his eyes. Hermione looked absolutely horrified. Sealing a bloodthirsty beast into an infant?
"The beast's corrupted Chakra is so great that only a newborn infant's chakra coils – the part of the body what holds Chakra – would've been able to adapt to the massive influx of tainted energy. If it were sealed into an adult, the overwhelming amount of Chakra would overload the person's Chakra coils, likely resulting in death and the escape of the beast. If it were sealed into an inanimate object, the Kyūbi would have escaped within seconds, as the primary force preventing the beast from escaping is the willpower of the container." Naruto explained. "The Yondaime, being the honorable man he was, couldn't ask anyone to offer up their newborn, so he took an orphan born just hours before – the youngest he could find – and sealed the Kyūbi away into the infant's stomach, sacrificing his own life to protect the village. He was hailed as a great hero for what he did, and his final wish was that the infant be seen as a hero as well for holding back the malicious power that had threatened to annihilate the village. The infant, however, was most certainly not seen as a hero." Hermione's eyebrows furrowed once again at this piece of information.
"The infant was seen as a demon, the Kyūbi incarnate, by the civilian population. Most of the Shinobi in the village were smart enough to know that the Yondaime had sealed the Kyūbi, and that the child was only it's jailor, but the civilians were blinded by their hate. The boy was scorned as he grew up in the orphanage, and was thrown out at the age of four. The Hokage at the time, the Sandaime – the third Hokage – gave the boy an apartment in the red-light district – the only building that would take him – and gave him a monthly penance to live off of. Most of the villagers wouldn't even look at him though, much less sell him anything. The people who did sold him old and rotten merchandise, charging him twice the cost of premium goods. What should have been more than enough to live off of was barely enough to get by."
Hermione was staring at Naruto in horror at this point.
"Any attempts to become friends with children his own age were foiled by their parents or caretakers, who told them to 'Stay away from the demon child'. Most of the children began imitating their parents' behavior and the child was quickly isolated and left to fend for himself, with no friends or caretakers."
Naruto paused for several moments, several less than welcome memories surfacing in his mind. This gave Hermione a chance to speak.
"Y-you're… this child is you, isn't it?" She asked shakily. She didn't want to believe it, but Naruto knew too much for him to be recounting someone else's story. She had thought that she had a rough time growing up because of her bookworm nature, but this was just… wrong.
"Yeah…" Naruto said quietly. "I told you the story of my life wasn't going to be pleasant, didn't I? It doesn't exactly get better, either." Hermione actually looked afraid of the rest of it, but eventually nodded and quietly asked him to continue, insisting that she had to know. Naruto sighed once again. She knew it had to be hard for him. If it were hard for her to hear, it must've been infinitely worse to live through.
"I was ostracized from pretty much all social interactions save for the occasional talk with the Sandaime. I became self-sufficient fairly quickly without anyone to care for me, which I'm actually kind of grateful for. I knew how to live without any outside help by the age of five." Hermione was no longer hanging on his every word. She looked like she didn't want to hear anymore, but she didn't say anything, so Naruto continued.
"The assassination attempts began around the age of six."
Hermione was starting to shake a little, and Naruto actually felt kind of sorry for her.
"I was born on October 10th, the same day that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha. As a result, many decided that was the best day to get their 'revenge' on me, as most of them saw me as the Kyūbi incarnate. They hadn't really gone very far before, primarily due to the protection of the Sandaime, until my sixth birthday. One of the guards assigned to protect me that night had lost most of his loved ones when the Kyūbi attacked, and viewed me as the Kyūbi just like most of the civilians. He rushed into my room before any of the other guards could react and nearly severed both of my arms from my body before they managed to restrain him. I was in the hospital for a few days after that… One of the few good things about holding the Kyūbi in your gut is that it gives you amazing regenerative powers. That's the reason I was able to appear here with a six-inch hole in my chest and be walking around the next day."
Hermione was now shaking like a leaf. She didn't really seem to be looking at anything in particular, she was just gazing off into the distance with a blank look.
"There were three more assassination attempts after that day, until the age of eight, when I entered the Shinobi academy and the Sandaime assigned a full-time guard to me to ensure that nothing else would happen. I've officially died twice in my life. The first just after the second assassination attempt, when I was declared dead for nearly ten minutes before my regenerative powers brought me back, and the second only weeks ago, during a battle against the right-hand-man of Orochimaru, one of the strongest Shinobi Konoha has produced who betrayed the village and went rouge."
Hermione was hugging her knees to her chest now, curled into a tight ball on one side of the couch.
"My life got a lot better after the Academy, I'm happy to tell you. I took me a while, mainly because the teachers tried to stunt my growth as much as possible, but I graduated eventually. I was placed on a team with two other Genin – Shinobi fresh out of the academy – and a Jounin sensei – an elite Shinobi with experience – and went on missions with them. We got into a lot of tight situations – so much so that I've been near death too many times to count – but I think it's safe to say we all became friends."
Hermione's withdrawal into herself seemed to lessen slightly after that. Naruto decided that he wouldn't tell her about all of the trouble he had gone through as a genin. If she reacted that badly to his childhood, she would probably start shutting down when he told her how his best friend had shoved a lightning-covered hand through his chest not even an hour prior to his arrival at Hogwarts, or how he had battled and defeated the massive Shukaku, the one-tailed Bijū, by summoning an equally massive toad that could speak and wielded a rather large blade.
Seeing that her condition wasn't exactly getting much better – he thought he saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes – Naruto turned to Hermione.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked quietly.
When she didn't respond and only continued to shake, he scooted across the couch and cautiously wrapped his arm around her shoulders, hoping to offer what little comfort he could. He had known that his story was bad, but he hadn't expected her to react so harshly. If he told anyone else, he would have to tone the story down a little bit. His attempts at comforting her appeared to have a slight affect, as her shivering and shaking lessened marginally.
"Is it all true?" She asked quietly after several moments of silence. Naruto held back a chuckle. She was shaking like a leaf and she still wanted to make sure he wasn't just lying to her to gain favor or something along those lines. Instead he just held her a little closer.
"Yeah… it's all true." Naruto said just as quietly. He felt like if he spoke any louder, she would curl back into a ball and never come out again. "I had… an extremely hard childhood. But it only made me stronger and prepared me for life as a Shinobi, as much as I hate to say it."
"But nobody should have to live like that, ostracized from society and left to fend for themselves…" She mumbled, leaning her head onto his shoulder and shuddering a little. "How…" She hesitated, but seemed to gather her resolve. "How did you turn out to be such a compassionate person? From what I've seen at Hogwarts, you're one of the kindest people I've known, and you act civil to everyone, even people you don't like very much. Why didn't you turn out…" She trailed off, searching for a word.
"Evil? Dark?" Naruto finished for her. She nodded and sniffed a little. She seemed to be recovering a little faster now. "You know… I'm not entirely sure." He said, earning a surprised gaze from Hermione. "I've never wanted to harm the village or anyone in it, nor felt the urge to do anything 'evil'. The worst I've done is prank them into oblivion by turning all of their underwear pink, or defacing the village's greatest monument." He told her, chuckling slightly.
She gazed at him with wonder and curiosity before accepting his answer and leaning into his shoulder more. They sat like that for several minutes, Hermione recovering from her shakes and just leaning her head on his shoulder, her eyelids suddenly becoming much heavier.
"I think it's time for you to get to sleep," Naruto said, noticing her losing struggle to keep her eyes open. She looked at him with a hint of surprise.
"You're not going to try to grill me about what I think of you?" She asked curiously, her words slightly slurred in her weariness.
"It takes longer than a few minutes to decide if you trust someone or not, so I'm not going to push it. Besides, it's past one in the morning and you need to get to sleep, so it can wait. However, I will ask you not to share my story with anyone, not even Harry, Ron, or Ginny." He said seriously.
She nodded her consent – it was a pretty personal matter, after all – and her eyes widened a fraction. She hadn't been expecting to stay awake this long, she still had classes the next day, and she was already exhausted from her daily use of the Time-Turner that extended her days by several hours. She began mumbling about getting back to her dorm room, attempting to get up when Naruto scooped her up in his arms and began carrying her out of the room, eliciting a small 'eep' from the girl, who glared half-heartedly at the blond-haired boy.
"You wouldn't even make it halfway up the stairs before you fell asleep," Naruto told her with a chuckle. She mumbled her thanks as Naruto made his way up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, leaning into his chest. Ron and Harry had thankfully informed him earlier that the stairs were charmed to turn into a kind of slide whenever a male stepped foot on them to keep boys out of the girls' dorms. Naruto was slightly glad the Hermione was asleep, as realizing that he was walking on the wall up the staircase would likely cause her to freak out again. Either that, or she would demand that he illustrated more of his Shinobi abilities.
He found the third year girls' dormitories – the third door up, since they were sorted by year – and quietly snuck into the room after making sure that the other inhabitants were asleep. He placed her into the bed and pulled the covers up as quietly as he could, earning a mumbled 'Thanks' from Hermione before she fell back to sleep. He snuck out of the room and back down the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could. Hopefully, she would be able to trust him at least a little now. He knew Hermione was not the gossiping type, and she seemed incredibly trustworthy, so he had faith that she wouldn't tell anyone.
He made his way back to his room, the portrait opening once again without mentioning a password, which slightly irked Naruto, as it wasn't doing its job (even if it was nice to not have to say a password to come and go).
He quickly changed into his night-clothes and got into bed. He wasn't worried about the time, as Shinobi had to live off of only a few hours of sleep each day on some missions, and Naruto had dealt with that on the mission to Wave several times, along with the Chunin Exams.
The telling of essentially his life story had brought back many memories of both his childhood and his genin career, most of them unpleasant. He grimaced at the unwelcomed memories and focused instead on his friends and comrades. He was certain Tsunade and Jiraya would be looking for him – if he hadn't been declared dead or KIA, that was. He really hoped that that wasn't the case. If anyone had a chance at finding a way from his world, time, dimension or whatever to this one, it would be Jiraya and his mastery of seals. Either him or Orochimaru, and the prospect of the latter coming to this world – and perhaps meeting Voldemort – was… he didn't even want to think about the effects it could have. One madman was bad enough, but unleashing two insane and powerful people upon the world? He decided it was best not to dwell on such things and slowly drifted off to sleep.
/~{~(~)~}~\
Naruto once again woke up much earlier than he would've liked. However, his desire for food once again dragged him out of bed and he began his morning rituals. After a quick shower, he dressed in another black T-Shirt with a red spiral design on it and another pair of black ANBU pants, placing various ninja tools into its many hidden pockets – it made him feel a little more comfortable.
He proceeded to climb through the portrait-hole, emerging to find Ginny and Hermione once again waiting in the common room – this time without arguing. He gave Ginny a smile – which she returned enthusiastically – and said hello. He turned and greeted Hermione, who smiled a little (though it seemed slightly forced) and greeted him politely in return. He still didn't know what she thought of him after the previous night, but at least she seemed to be a little more relaxed around him now.
"Ready for breakfast?" Ginny asked him. He assured her he was and they left the common room, Hermione quietly saying that she was going to wait for Harry and Ron to come down before eating.
As they walked, Ginny turned to Naruto tentatively.
"Hermione was… different this morning," She started. "Last night she said she was going to wait in the common room until you returned, but I went up to the dorms before you got back. What happened? I've never seen her attitude towards someone change so much in one day." She said. She seemed somewhat amazed that Naruto had been able to change her attitude towards him in so short a time. The previous morning she had been arguing about his trustworthiness, and Ginny had been prepared for another 'discussion' (this time a little further away from the portrait of a ninja), but Hermione hadn't argued against her at all.
"Well, she was waiting for me when I got back late last night," Naruto began. "We… had a very long chat, before she got tired and we decided to turn in for the night. I'm not quite sure what she thinks yet, and I'm not going to push her decision, but I'm confident that when she decides, she'll tell me."
Ginny wanted a much more thorough explanation about their late night 'chat', but respected Naruto's privacy enough not to pry if he didn't want to tell. Besides, she could always press Hermione for information later, even if she had been unsuccessful while waiting for Naruto to come out. She sincerely hoped that Hermione would see him as a friend now, or at least not be so untrustworthy of him. Naruto was one of Ginny's only friends at Hogwarts – the others being Luna and the Golden Trio – and she didn't want to have to chose between Naruto and Hermione. She had grown fairly close to Naruto over just the past few days (largely in part to Naruto's defense of her in Potions on his very first actual day in Hogwarts and the resulting interactions), and desperately wanted to keep his friendship intact, though she hoped she wasn't coming off as clingy.
They continued on to the Great Hall, where Naruto once again started shoveling ramen into his mouth like it was a black hole.
Breakfast was relatively uneventful, and Naruto, Ginny, and the Golden Trio proceeded to go to each of their classes for the day. Naruto first went to Charms with the second year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. They were beginning their textbooks, the first chapter of which explained how to power up spells by gathering energy prior to the actual casting of the spell. Professor Flitwick had the students work on this by casting Wingardium Leviosa in this manner (He cast a repelling charm on the ceiling so that the overpowered spell wouldn't send objects flying through the classroom above them). Naruto – curious about the tactic and wanting to practice with magic – discreetly tried the method in the back of the classroom. He focused on using Chakra the same way he had the previous night during his lessons with Dumbledore. He first tried the spell normally, making sure he had the hand signs right, then – when he was successful with a quill he had 'borrowed' from one of the students (He was planning on putting it back in its place when class ended) – tried using the method that Professor Flitwick had explained.
He gathered a fairly large amount of Chakra and then tried the spell once again, sending the quill rocketing up to the ceiling, which promptly repelled it down towards Naruto before it could even touch. Satisfied with his success, Naruto tried it once more, this time gathering much more Chakra than he had the previous time. When he performed the overcharged spell, he felt a strong shock travel up his arms and the quill flew up towards the ceiling so fast he could barely track its movement. However, the quill did not come back down. What did come back down was a small pile of ashes and the faint scent of something burning. Naruto glanced towards the rest of the class and the professor walking up and down the aisles of students, and thankfully they had not noticed anything peculiar. He glanced upward and found an angry scorch mark on the ceiling.
Naruto quickly stopped his attempts at the spell and tried to figure out what had happened. Had he put too much Chakra into the spell? He decided to try the spell again later that night when he had some privacy. The rest of the class was fairly uneventful, several students had not quite gotten the hang of the trick, but their classmates were helping them and Professor Flitwick assured them they'd have another chance to practice the next time they had class. The class ended and everyone scurried out of the classroom and into the now hectic corridors of the castle.
Naruto stood in a fairly abandoned corridor just off the main hall a ways away from the classroom, pondering on which class to go to next, when Luna appeared in front of him seemingly out of nowhere and looked at him with that 'perpetually surprised' look she always seemed to have adorning her face. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin at her sudden presence. How had he not noticed her approach? He was a ninja for Kami's sake, twelve-year-olds shouldn't be able to surprise him!
"Hello, Naruto." She greeted, tilting her head to one side slightly.
"Uhh… Hi, Luna." Naruto said lamely in return. She blinked owlishly – almost as if she were confused.
"What were you doing in the back of the classroom in Charms?" Luna questioned innocently. Crap! Naruto had thought nobody had noticed him working. Well, he figured someone was bound to have seen him with a class that big, so he was just glad that he was acquainted with the person who had.
"I… I was trying to perform the spell like Professor Flitwick said, but I didn't have much luck." He half lied. He didn't want anyone to know that he could perform magic.
"Really?" She asked, fiddling absently with one of her silvery-blond locks of hair. "Because I saw you perform it twice on a quill. It was remarkably strong, really. I thought you might have been distracted by some Blubbering Humdingers at first."
Naruto laughed nervously, deciding not to ask what Blubbering Humdingers were in light of the recent information. "You saw me, did you? You aren't going to tell anyone, are you?" He asked. How had he not noticed her watching him? She must have been watching him for a while if she knew that much, but he hadn't noticed anything!
"I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to." She said politely, a small frown adorning her features for some reason or another.
"Thanks. I don't really want anyone knowing that I can perform magic." He said with a sigh of relief.
"Okay," She said almost breathlessly. Naruto was going say something when she hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest. Before he could do anything in response, she had released him. "Now I feel much better." She said with a grin. Was it just him or was there a hint of slyness in that grin?
"I'll see you later, Naruto." She said, waving. He bid her goodbye and she turned and walked off to whatever class she had after Charms. Naruto stood there for several moments, wondering what the hell had just transpired. She felt better after she hugged him? Had she been feeling bad? Naruto hadn't noticed, and it kind of made him feel like a jerk. He chalked it up to Luna being an odd individual – though he wasn't going to start calling her Loony.
Naruto shook his head hoping to clear some of his confusion (It didn't work) and proceeded to third year Defense Against the Dark Arts, hoping he wasn't late. Professor Lupin's mentioning of the Boggart had gotten his attention, and he was curious now.
He arrived in the classroom just before class was scheduled to start and received a slight grin from Professor Lupin.
"Ah, Naruto, come to watch the class again?" He asked politely. Naruto nodded in the affirmative and Lupin cleared his throat to quiet the class.
"Good afternoon," He began. "You may all put your books back into your bags, Today's lesson will be a practical lesson, and you will only require your wands." He finished, as the students began putting their things away.
Naruto met up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and they followed Lupin through the deserted corridors, encountering a poltergeist named Peeves on the way (Who Naruto thought he may come to like, if the stories about the ghost's prankster nature were founded), before they reached the staffroom. They proceeded inside, and as they did, a sneering Professor Snape quickly exited the room with a quick comment towards one of the Gryffindors, who turned beet red. The Golden Trio informed him that it was Neville Longbottom, a shy boy, and that he was horrible at potions, a trait which Snape of course despised.
Lupin said something to Neville, and then walked towards the back end of the room, towards an old wardrobe. As he approached it, it began shaking, making several of the students jump. Naruto grinned mischievously at Hermione – who pouted and glared half-heartedly at him again – and focus on Professor Lupin. He explained that contained in the wardrobe was a boggart, and that each student in the class was going to face the boggart one at a time. He explained that boggarts became confused in large crowds, and that he would call out students one by one to face the creature. He taught them the spell to defeat it – Riddikulus – and had them try it out a few times, explaining that a boggart was actually defeated by laughter, and that it would change the boggart into something humorous or amusing that caused people to laugh. Naruto tried the spell a few times and soon got the hang of it (Hadn't Dumbledore said it would be harder for him to learn spells than justu?).
Neville was the first one up to face the boggart. Lupin cast a spell unlocking the wardrobe and the boggart immediately turned into Professor Snape – apparently Neville's worst fear. Neville cast the spell, which caused it to turn into Snape wearing Neville's grandmother's clothing, before Lupin called out the next student – Parvati – and the boggart turned into a mummy. While the students were dealing with the boggart, Naruto approached Professor Lupin somewhat cautiously.
"Uhm, Professor Lupin?" He started nervously, earning an encouraging gesture to continue after Lupin called out the next student. "I was wondering if I could face the boggart after the class is done with it…" He requested.
"Well…" Lupin began, after calling for someone named Dean to come forward. "I've been thinking about hosting a 'Boggart Night', so to speak. If you want, I'll post the information after class today and you can decide if you want to come." He said.
Naruto was slightly disappointed that he couldn't face the boggart immediately, but consented and confirmed his participation since he would be able to face it anyway.
Naruto watched the rest of the class deal with their boggarts in slight anticipation. Truthfully, he had no idea what his boggart would turn into. Many of the students' fears seemed fairly simple: Ron's was a spider, and that seemed to be a fairly common one.
Naruto noticed that Lupin stopped the boggart immediately when it turned to Harry, which caused some suspicion to surface. Something was going on with Harry – or perhaps Lupin. Either way, Lupin did not want Harry to face the boggart, and both Hermione and Harry seemed to catch on to this as the former furrowed her eyebrows once again and the latter frowned a little. He seemed fairly used to being treated differently.
Lupin stopped the students and used some spell to force the boggart back into the wardrobe it had originally been stored in before locking the wardrobe with another spell and leading the students back to the classroom.
After class ended, Naruto walked out of the room to find a growing crowd around one of the boards placed along the hall. There were several announcements posted on it, as well as several things from Filch, Hogwarts' caretaker. The thing that had caught the students' attention, however, was fairly obvious. Lupin had been prompt in his promise to post information on his 'Boggart Night', and it was apparently making quite a buzz. Naruto managed to make his way through the throng of students surrounding the board and read the post. The event would be held in the Great Hall the next night – Saturday night, to allow people some sleep if the event dragged on – and anyone could attend. There would be several professors overseeing the whole event, and only third years and higher could actually face the boggart, but anyone was allowed to watch.
Naruto was almost giddy with excitement. Sure, there was a little apprehension at facing something he feared, but it couldn't be too bad, could it? And the professors would interfere if things got out of hand, anyway.
"What's all the fuss about?"
Hermione broke him out of his thoughts as the golden trio approached the ever-growing crowd of students. He broke through the mob and made his way back to the three standing on the edge, not wanting to risk getting trampled in the mass of bodies crowding the board.
"I asked Professor Lupin if I could have a go at the boggart earlier, but he told me that he was holding a 'Boggart Night' that would let people who decided to attend fact the boggart. He just posted a notice about it on the board." Naruto explained, causing Harry to adopt a determined look which neither Naruto nor Hermione failed to notice. There was definitely something going on with Harry.
"So I take it you're going to come?" Ron asked curiously.
"Yup," Naruto confirmed. "I have no idea what my boggart will be, but I can't pass up something like this, can I?" He said with a laugh. Hermione didn't seem to think it was very funny. She pulled him aside quickly – out of hearing range of her two male companions – and confronted him in a quiet, yet heated voice.
"You don't know what your boggart will be like?" She asked incredulously.
"Nope, not one clue." Naruto responded.
"Are you crazy? You told me how absolutely horrible your life was for years, and you want to face a creature that turns into something you fear?"
Well… when she put it that way, it did kind of make sense…
"I can understand what you mean, Hermione," Naruto began, continuing before Hermione could get started with another argument. "But the way I see it, this will probably be one of my only chances to face a boggart safely, and I don't want to pass it up. Besides, if anything bad happens, the professors that will be watching over the whole event can interfere and stop the boggart themselves." He said with a nod. Hermione seemed to be slightly comforted at the thought of the professors' presence at the event, but she still looked worried.
"Well, if the professors are in attendance, then I guess things can't get too out of hand… I'm just… worried about you Naruto."
"Well you shouldn't worry about me," Naruto said as they began walking back to the other two. "I can take care of myself if things get a little out of hand," He leaned in close, his voice quieting in a playful manner. "I'm a ninja, remember?"
She chuckled a little and then nodded, eliciting a smile and a one-armed hug from the blonde, which in turn earned curious looks from both Ron and Harry as they approached.
The foursome walked away from the group of students discussing what their plans for the next night would be. Both Harry and Naruto were determined to face the boggart. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it), there were no more classes for the day, and the weekend was just around the corner, so there wasn't much to distract him from his thoughts. They ate dinner without much excitement, though the 'Boggart Night' was quickly becoming the talk of the school. Students were even beginning to place bets on what certain people's boggarts would be (Discreetly, of course, though Naruto thought several of the teachers had caught on), and Naruto seemed to be a fairly popular focal point, along with Harry, as well as a few other students that had claimed they wouldn't miss the event for anything in the world. Several people even approached him and questioned him on his fears or just asked what he thought it would be outright.
Ginny seemed pretty excited when she appeared at the table, as well. She claimed she wanted to see what Naruto's boggart would be more than anything, which and the golden trio agreed with to a lesser extent.
Naruto almost had to beat the student body off with a stick when they wouldn't leave him alone on the way to the common room. Luckily, however, the golden trio helped him get some distance between him and the interrogators using secret passages and shortcuts.
The five young teens spent the night discussing their plans for the weekend while they started on their homework assigned to them over the period (or at least Hermione did), and Naruto didn't realize how late it was until the clock struck midnight.
Naruto bid them goodnight and strolled through the portrait of the ninja (which once again opened without a password—Naruto was starting to think it was doing that just to annoy him!) and adorned his nightly wear. He fell into a slightly restless sleep, the thoughts of the coming night plaguing him. What would his boggart be? Hermione had actually raised a fair point—his boggart could turn into a large number of horrible things, mainly because Naruto had experience with a large number of horrible things. It could turn into an assassin, or Orochimaru, or—Kami forbid—the Kyūbi itself. He could only hope that the boggart couldn't change size if it came to that, because it would likely destroy the castle if that happened.
Whatever the case was, Naruto would go to the event all the same. The temptation of the multitude of possibilities the boggart held was too great to turn down.
In hindsight, Naruto should've known something would happen. Something always did.
/~{~(~)~}~\
Naruto woke up at a reasonable time the following day. It was Saturday, so breakfast was served pretty much right up until lunch began, allowing students to sleep in if they wished.
And Naruto definitely wished to sleep in.
Unfortunately his anxiety wouldn't let him.
Naruto tried his best to stay asleep for several more minutes before groaning and forcing himself out of the bed. He stumbled into the bathroom and took a hot shower before dressing casually for the day (He still kept hidden weapons on his person, just in case) and strolling out into the common room.
There were several groups of students gathered in different sections of the room. One was doing homework, another looked to be discussing something rather heatedly, and a third just seemed to be screwing around. He spied the golden trio plus one sitting on a set of couches and armchairs in the corner (mainly because Ginny was frantically waving at him) and sauntered over to them, seating himself on a cushion next to Ginny.
He found out it was almost lunch time from the group and decided he'd just skip breakfast and have a large lunch. Hermione was once again scribbling away at some homework (Seriously, how much did they get?) while the others were just chatting about this and that, looking up and contributing every so often. After several changes in topic and discussion, Naruto caught some interesting tidbits. He was able to ascertain that a mass-murderer named Sirius Black was after Harry and that they suspected he would try to get the young boy—even if he was at Hogwarts, which was supposed to be one of the safest places on the continent.
Yeah, there was definitely something going on with Harry, Naruto just didn't know what it was. He supposed he should ask Hermione.
After another uneventful half-hour, they decided to go down for lunch.
The Great Hall was only about half full when they arrived, as lunch was also served right up until the next meal. The talk of the school still appeared to be the upcoming 'Boggart Night' and people from all four houses were talking and discussing what they thought someone else's would be.
Once Naruto was done inhaling several dozen bowls of ramen, he caught a glimpse of Dumbledore beckoning him over, and approached the head table.
Dumbledore told him that they wouldn't have lessons that night—due to the upcoming event—and that they'd postpone it until the next night. Naruto voiced his acceptance and returned to Gryffindor table.
He responded to the Golden Trio's questioning with "Dumbledore's been teaching me how to perform magic, so he was just telling me tonight's lesson was postponed because of the Boggart Night" and it seemed to satisfy them, though Hermione seemed to want to know more. Naruto chuckled a little. She just had to know everything there was to know, didn't she?
As they walked back to the Gryffindor common room he suddenly realized something.
He should be using Kage Bunshin to train as often as possible! He had unknowingly used them to explore the castle just days earlier, and he could still remember what they had found, so he figured he could use them to train himself in ninjutsu, possibly genjutsu (since frankly he wasn't so great at that) and even magic. Hell, he could make them read books from the library and gain knowledge on dozens of subjects in a matter of minutes!
As soon as they entered the Gryffindor common room, he disappeared into his room to create over three dozen Bunshin, ordering them to train in various things stretching from chakra control to using his newfound magical abilities properly. He was glad that Dumbledore had given him a large room, but he'd need to find somewhere else to train soon. Maybe the forest near Hogwarts was a good place? It was 'Forbidden', so not many students went there, and he was certain he was fast enough to outrun anyone who happened to stumble across him.
He would also need to find a way to get his Kage Bunshin into the library so they could read up on different types of magic. Perhaps they could henge into students like they had when exploring the castle? He'd figure something out later.
He made his way back out to the common room, where Hermione gave him a questioning look that he that he dismissed with a wave of his hand, saying it wasn't important. Harry and Ron were in the middle of a game similar to Shougi, though the pieces were different and they moved on their own—another feat of magic, he supposed. Judging by how Ron was doing, either Harry was an extremely horrid strategist—which wasn't likely—or Ron was an amazing strategist—which, based on his moves, he was. He would have to keep an eye on him, as he didn't look like the 'strategic' type, he looked more like the 'charge in headfirst' type.
The next hour or two were just spent watching the two young men play various games, sometimes tuning in to their discussions or listening to the consistent scratching of Hermione's quill on her parchment. It took Naruto some time to realize that Ginny—who he had sat next to again—was clutching his arm and resting her head on his shoulder while passing time in the same manner.
Naruto turned a slight shade of red at the close contact. He hadn't grown up with much physical contact at all, but he wasn't utterly oblivious to women, and the point that Ginny wasn't too bad on the eyes didn't help lighten the redness any.
The sound of Hermione's quill scribbling away stopped and Naruto glanced over to see her eying them with an eyebrow raised in amusement and a slight smirk. She shook her head a little bit and chuckled before the scribbling continued.
Naruto was starting to like it here.
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Original Post ~ 4/29/2012 ~ 13,188 words
~ A/N: Well, sorry again for the long wait, but on the bright side this chapter is over 13,100 words long, nearly doubling the word count for the story :D As always, reviews are greatly appreciated (as long as they are not flames or mere complaints, which will be promptly ignored). However, simply 'cool chapter' or 'update soon' are not reviews, they are requests. If you're going to review, please tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what I should change, etc.
~F.A.R.