Hey, people. School's starting Wednesday, so I won't be able to update every day anymore. Sorry! And I would've posted last night, but by the time I finished editing, it was two in the morning. Goddammit.
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Next one starts Hogwarts. ^^
Also, in advance, I really like Moody. Truly, I do. So don't take this as opinion (you'll see what I mean.
Disclaimer: Just borrowin'.
.
Chapter Four
When Kakashi woke up, the entirety of the downstairs party was in the room with him. For a moment he panicked before realizing that the weight of the forehead protector was still there, meaning they still didn't know about the Sharingan or the scar. He opened his one good eye and forced himself into standing position, causing Ginny to squeak in surprise.
"What happened?" he asked, feeling embarrassed and stupid and weak.
Shinobi did not succumb to fear. Ever. This had never been a problem for him. After the death of Obito, he went and continued to help fight the war the next day; during the invasion of the Kyuubi, he fought right up until the demon was sealed; he fought Orochimaru for two hours straight and kept his mind working properly until the bastard bit him (fucking creep). He'd been tortured four times since he was eight and never talked. When he found his father's dead body, he snapped for maybe ten minutes before running to Minato's (only to snap more, but he preferred not to think about that). He was trained to attack on sight, and he had never failed that before.
So what the fuck just happened?
"You were attacked by a boggart," answered Remus, and his face was a bit too serious for Kakashi's liking. "I never taught you the spell to get rid of one, so I left you defenseless. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I'm fine," he said automatically, hating the number of people around him and how worried they all looked. Maybe he got them to like him a little too much. "I'm sorry, that won't happen again."
Then the biggest surprise of the night happened:
Molly hugged him.
His entire body tensed, but he knew better than to make a move to get out. Apparently she understood though, because she immediately released him, and her face was flushed.
"It happens to the best of us," she said and there were many nods of agreement. "Especially with—well, thank you."
"You're welcome," he said, thoroughly confused. There was no reason to thank him. "How long was I out?"
"Not even five minutes," answered Remus. He nodded, not sure what to say. "Molly screamed, which is what alerted everyone."
So it wasn't him that screamed. Good. No reason give himself a worse image than he already did. And thank god Snape wasn't here. "Oh."
"Are you okay now, Kakashi?" asked Ginny, worrying her bottom lip.
Too. Much. Liking.
"Yeah," he said, forcing a smile. Damn these wizards and all their smiles and worry and kindness because this was making his job a lot harder than it needed to be. There was a reason shinobi were supposed to stay impersonal. "Like I said, I'm fine. It won't happen again. Ever. I originally left to go finish packing. Can I go do that, please?"
"Oh!" said Arthur. "You're all supposed to be packing. We're leaving early tomorrow."
Kakashi slipped away as the adults turned to talking about preparations, glad they were ignoring him now. Nice and easy. Until he heard the mismatched footsteps.
"What is it?" he asked, turning around. He was already to the room, the kids about half way there, but Mad-Eye was waiting for him, the only person who hadn't crowded him.
The man's face appeared to be turned into a frown, but sometimes it was hard to tell with all the scars. Kakashi crossed his arm and leaned against the door frame, wanting to end the oncoming conversation quickly. Mad-Eye said, "I'm just wondering if it's a good idea for you do be a guard for that school."
"And why wouldn't I be?" Without noticing, his eyes hardened to the glare that made even the strongest men and women afraid. One of Mad-Eye's eyebrows raised, and Kakashi knew the glare was having some effect on him, but he wasn't sure what.
Then the man tapped below the electric blue eye, the one the kids told him could see anything (which, in reality, was really damn creepy). "I saw the boggart through the floor, boy," he answered, "and I'm wondering if it's such a good idea to leave a traumatized kid to work his way through a different culture."
More harshly than he intended, he said, "What are you suggesting? That I be institutionalized? I'm not insane; it's how I grew up. If you like, I can rattle off my resume because some 'traumatized kid' can't do even half of what I've done."
You do talk to yourself.
Not helping. Come back later.
Oh, fine. You never—
He quickly tuned out the voice in his head, waiting for Mad-Eye's reply. He didn't seem happy, or even remotely placated. So much for trust. "Then do it," he said, and Kakashi knew this was going to happen eventually.
"I've been on three Unranked missions, a total twenty-two S-class missions, thirty-five A-ranked, seventy-two B-ranked, and I haven't been on a C-or D-ranked mission since I was nine," he stated, listening for when Harry and Ron were about to turn the corner. "I've never failed a mission. I can't tell you many people I've killed because even I don't know. I've never been sent for psychiatric—" Lair. "—evaluation because my mental health has never been in question. I'm considered one of the strongest shinobi in the Hidden Continents at thirteen. Doubt me now?"
Mad-Eye practically growled. "I don't know what happened to you, Hatake, but if your boggart's that bad, then maybe your higher up should be thinking into psychiatric evaluation."
"I—"
But then the kids came around the corner and the conversation abruptly stopped. Mad-Eye walked away, and Kakashi hoped to god that he could feel the glare he was giving him.
"What happened?" asked Harry as he and Ron moved parallel to him.
"Nothing," he said through gritted teeth, not even bothering to hide he was angry. "He just had some words of advice, one veteran to another."
He didn't miss the look that passed between the two boys. He moved out of the way, letting them enter, following a moment behind and heading to his bed. Ron rubbed the back of his head and said, "Moody can be a little paranoid, so don't let him get to you."
"I'll keep that in mind," he mumbled, still in a thoroughly bad mood and not caring about how he came across to them. They liked him by now anyway; he could get away with this every once in a while. Then he turned around, facing the two older boys. He said, "Hey, Harry? This is going to be personal as hell, but what happened to your parents and why does Voldemort—" Ron winced. "—want to kill you?"
There was a moment of silence where none of them said anything, though it was clearly written on both their faces that they were completely shocked that he didn't know. Not that he cared at the moment. For the first time in a while, his face was completely impassive, and the familiarity felt wonderful.
After the silence passed, Harry jerked his head and said, "Voldemort killed them when I was one. My mom died trying to protect him and when he tried to kill me, the Killing Curse backfired. Now he's back and marked me as his mortal enemy. No one told you?"
It didn't take a psychological genius to understand that was a touchy subject. "Yeah, no one told me," he said, satisfied that he finally knew what was going on. "Any other important information I should know that everyone neglected to mention?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Well," said Ron, "do you know about the hearing?"
Kakashi shook his head, so Harry said, "I was attacked by dementors in July, before I came here, so I cast a Patronus. We aren't allowed to do magic outside of school except in emergency situations. I went to the hearing but I was tried in full court because Fudge is trying to convince everyone I'm crazy. Throwing me out of Hogwarts would've made me look worse and the Ministry look better."
Wow, this government sucks, said Obito.
You're right. A government shouldn't deny something because isn't good.
Pretty pathetic that only about twenty people are bothering to do something about it.
No kidding. And civilians complain that the Council is bad.
That's because they're all stuck up bastards, which is basically the same thing.
They're looking at me weird.
Better go, then. No need to be told to shut up every ten seconds.
"Are you okay?" asked Harry. Kakashi nodded. "Okay, important...Well, in my first year of Hogwarts, Voldemort possessed our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who tried to kill me so he could get this thing called the Philosopher's Stone that grants eternal life and makes gold."
"In our second year Voldemort's memory took over the school by possessing my sister through a diary," said Ron in a voice that showed this was a perfectly normal situation. "He also used a giant snake to petrify Muggle-borns. Oh, and all this was happening through the Chamber of Secrets, where in the entrance is in the girl's out-of-order bathroom haunted by an overly emotional ghost."
"His memory?"
Harry shrugged. "We don't understand it either. He said he locked his sixteen-year-old self into a diary. In our third year, Sirius escaped from Azkaban and everyone was panicking because they thought he killed thirteen people and was coming after me since he was Voldemort's most loyal servant. 'Course, at the end of the year we found out that the real person who did all of that was disguising himself as Ron's rat for twelve years. He got away, though, so now only people in the Order know that Sirius is innocent. So basically, don't mention him around others."
Confused, Kakashi said, "Wait—disguised himself as a rat? So he was an Animagus?"
"How do you know what that is?"
"I read. Is a werewolf like an Animagus?"
"Where did you hear about werewolves?" asked Harry, bewildered. "And they're people who turn into wolves every full moon. It's a curse, and you only get it if you're bitten."
"Hermione was talking to Remus about werewolf segregation at the party," he answered. "Is he a werewolf?"
The two boys nodded dumbly, as if they were too shocked to think up a lie. Mystery of why Remus smelled like a wolf was officially solved. "Just don't mention it to anyone," said Ron. "Most people don't like talking about werewolves."
"Okay. Is that everything important?"
Rather than look at each other this time, the two boys very noticeably avoiding eye contact. "No," said Harry, which was a blatant lie. "No, that's it."
He paused and looked at him long enough that the taller boy was aware that Kakashi knew he was lying before he casually shrugged and said, "Okay."
Relief passed over his face, so Kakashi let him think he won.
Because when he asked, he knew Hermione was going to tell him, no questions asked.
.
"Mum and Dad just sent Hedwig back," said Hermione the next morning as Kakashi struggled to get the bandages to lie at the bottom of his pack (thank god he didn't need to bring a trunk). "Are you ready yet?"
"Nearly," answered Harry; Kakashi succeeded in his attempts and snapped the bag shut. "Ginny all right?"
From what Kakashi managed to gather, the twins had sent their luggage flying down the stairs with magic, and one of their packs slammed their little sister from behind. Hermione said, "Mrs. Weasley's patched her up. But now Mad-Eye's complaining that we can't leave unless Sturgis Podmore's here, otherwise we'll be one guard short."
"So now he's getting an entire group to replace my job?" said Kakashi, turning around and decided that he really, really hated the man. Both Harry and Hermione looked over. "Podmore's an idiot anyway. I talked to him once and I think he'd be only slightly more helpful than Mundungus as a guard."
With a sigh, Hermione said, "I don't know, it's just what Mad-Eye says—"
"I'll see downstairs in a minute," he said, cutting the girl off and leaving before either kid could say anything. It was time to find Mad-Eye and put him straight because this wasn't making his life any easier.
His search was quickly put to an end after Molly finished screaming for Harry and Hermione. She turned to him and said, "If you're looking for Mad-Eye, dear, he's waiting for us at the station. I told him that it wasn't necessary with you here, but he gets like sometimes…"
"MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!" shouted the portrait of Sirius' darling mother. Her voice was so loud that with his sensitive hearing, Kakashi was vaguely surprised his ears were bleeding. If only throwing a kunai at her face worked. He tried his fifth day here with a shuriken to the mouth (much to Sirius' happiness), but it only caused her to shout louder.
"Harry, you're coming with me, Kakashi, and Tonks," Molly said as Harry came downstairs, having to shout over Mrs. Black. "Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage…Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"
Kakashi looked down to see a big black dog looking up at him, one that smelled remarkably close to Sirius. An Animagus, of course. To anyone who didn't have an excellent sense of smell though, he was didn't look any different from a normal dog. What was the harm? Rather than voicing this, he listened to Molly said, "Oh, honestly. Well, on your own head be it!"
She pulled the front door open and they walked out into the freezing September morning. The weather didn't seem to bother the other three, but to him this was only slightly warmer than a Fire Country winter. Though his sweater was warm, the shirt underneath was a simple black one meant to be worn in combat, so the material was relatively thin and meant to release body heat, not contain it. Not exactly the most idea thing to be wearing right now. When Tsunade said England was cold, he wasn't expecting this.
"Where's Tonks?" he asked, wrapping his arms around himself. If this was early September, then what was December going to be like? Behind them, Sirius entertained Harry by snapping at pigeons and chasing his own tail, which made Kakashi really miss Pakku. He was summoning the moment he had the opportunity.
"She's waiting for us just up there," said Molly, pointing to an old woman at the top of the hill, pointedly looking away from the black dog.
When they reached Tonks, Kakashi was again reminded of how unnerving her special…condition was. Transformations that complete could only be done through body altering jutsu, and that wasn't nearly as effective or permanent as what she could do.
"Wotcher, Harry, Kakashi," she said, giving them a wink. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?"
"I know, I know," said Molly, already looking strained from the walk. Tch, such a civilian. Then again, she was nearly fifty with seven kids, which could explain it. For all he knew, she was really in shape when she was younger and this was just the gradual deterioration of a mother's body. Still, it did suck having to keep pace with her. She continued, "But Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis…don't know why…"
I hate this.
What? That someone doesn't trust you?
What else, Rin? Have you ever seen someone go behind my back on a job before?
No…and they are supposed to be working with you.
Exactly! He doesn't have the right!
Well, you'll be far away from him soon. Then you can do your job however you want.
And have to deal with nightmare woman for a teacher.
Oh, stop you pessimism. You can handle her, easily.
I know, I know. It's just that—
No, I get it. You better carve our names into a tree or something by the way!
I was already planning on it.
And put a heart around mine.
Okay, okay—wait, what? I'm still talking to myself, aren't I?
The Rin voice giggle. Not really. You're talking to me. But I think I should go, because Molly's talking to you. Have fun!
This was getting bad. Really, really bad. Sure, he had Obito's voice in his head occasionally before, but that was always more a conscious thing, pointing out he should feel bad or something along those lines. But to actually have conversations with himself? That never happened before. What was going on with him?
Next to him, Molly was saying, "I'm sorry about Mad-Eye, Kakashi. He shouldn't be doing this. But, I guess old habits die hard…"
"I think he just doesn't like a kid taking over," said Tonks cheerfully as Kings Cross Station came into view. "He's always in control of these situations so that now he doesn't know what else to do with himself."
Kakashi looked to Tonks and asked, "How many years was he in service as an Auror?"
"Forty-two," she answered, "so he has experience."
He scowled, since the same spiteful mood as the night before, only made worse but this new arrangement. As the crossed the road to the train station he said, "Lucky him. I'm pretty sure the only person I know with forty-two years experience is the Hokage. Hell, I don't think I know any shinobi over the age of forty-five besides clan leaders, and they're usually only active half as often as normal shinobi, even during wartime to preserve their bloodline limit."
Molly winced and Tonks nervously asked, "So, do you retire early or something?"
"No, we usually die," he said, taking a sadistic sort of satisfaction at their obvious discomfort. It was his way of saying, Yup, that's right, I make his job look like nothing. "Like I said the first day, we have lower life expectancies."
Oh, now you're just being mean for the sake of it.
Of course. Why shouldn't I be?
Well, they haven't do anything to you.
No, but it'll eventually get back to Mad-Eye, won't it?
"How long have you been active?" They were now inside the station, making a beeline for the brick column between platforms nine and ten.
"Nearly nine years," he said. "We just go through the brick, right?"
"Yes," answered Molly, hurrying them over. All in all, it took about twenty minutes to reach here. "Tonks, you go first. Kakashi and Harry can follow you."
Tonks, still as an old woman, nodded and leaned against the brick, sliding through easily. Kakashi really wanted to look at that with his Sharingan. Molly nudged him, so he followed Tonks' example, and was surprised to find that no feeling came from passing through the seemingly solid column. Harry came through half a second afterwards, followed by Molly. Now all they had to do was wait because Mad-Eye was a bastard and disrupting his job.
You aren't letting that go, are you?
No.
"I hope the others make it in time," said Molly, looking to the archway.
"Nice dog, Harry!" shouted a ridiculously tall boy.
"Thanks, Lee!" said Harry, and Sirius wagged his tale. Then the boy looked to Kakashi and added, "That's Lee Jordan, Fred and George's best friend. He's a Gryffindor, too."
Before he could answer, Molly let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good," she said, "here's Alastor with the luggage."
Mad-Eye came through the doorway, his eyes shaded by a hat, wheeling along a cart full of everyone's trunks.
"All okay," he said to Molly and Tonks, completely avoiding Kakashi. "Don't think we were followed." Before he could say anything to the man, Arthur showed up with Ron and Hermione, accompanied seconds later by Remus, the twins, and Ginny. "No trouble?"
"Nothing," answered Remus.
"I'll be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore," said Mad-Eye. "That's the second time he's not turned up in a week. Getting—"
Schooling his expression so he didn't glare or radiate off killing intent, he cut the man off with, "You know, you wouldn't have to if you let me do my job."
"Well, doesn't help to have too many eyes out there, does it, Hatake?"
This man has no sense of stealth, he thought.
"No," he said, still keeping his voice and expression perfectly even, perfection from years of shinobi emotional training, "but it does make you more conspicuous, especially since you bothered to separate the Weasleys. Logically, why would they travel apart? To anyone who paid attention, that'll seem pretty off in their family dynamic."
Next to him, Tonks grimaced, which meant there was no denying that he was right. Mad-Eye didn't answer, instead surveying him with his magical eye. Remus told everyone to watch themselves (singling out Harry, of course) before putting his hand on his shoulder and saying quietly, "Kakashi, I'd like to talk to you for a moment before you all head to the train." He nodded, letting Remus lead them off until they were in a quieter, empty part of the platform.
"What is it?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Goodbyes were being exchanged, which meant they had roughly two minutes to spend together before Kakashi had to run off.
The man took a deep breath and said all in one go, "If the Hat tries to put you in a different house than Gryffindor, beg it to change its decision."
"You can do that?"
"I'm not sure. Probably not. And you seen like a Gryffindor anyway, but I still don't know enough about you to be sure." He put on hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "Listen, it's better for you, and it's better for them. With the Ministry meddling in Hogwarts, it's going to get nasty."
"Sirius told me that."
"Harry saw someone die last year—" Well, that explained the lie last night. "—and that's one of the things the Ministry is picking at. Umbridge might—"
"Kakashi, come on!" Ginny called as the whistle blew.
"You need to go," said Remus, giving him a little push. "Thank you for all your help. Watch out for Peeves."
"I'm just doing my job," he said awkwardly as he walked backwards, not used to be thanked. "Who's—"
"Ask one of them on the train. Go. Goodbye."
"Bye, Remus." Then as he passed the group of others, he added for show, "Goodbye to you too. Thanks for letting me stay!"
"Oh, any time, Kakashi," said Molly, also playing her part, as Harry called for him. "Come around for Christmas. No go on, don't miss the train."
He didn't need telling twice. After quickly making sure no one was looking, he used about half his normal speed to end up right in the middle of the Weasley children and friends. They all shuffled onto the Hogwarts Express and for the smallest moment, Kakashi actually felt a bit of excitement. But it disappeared as quickly as it came and he leaned against the wall and watch Harry lean out the open window and shout, "See you!" To be the good little exchange student he was supposed to be, he waved along with the rest of them.
Then the train gained speed, and the platform was gone.
"He shouldn't have come with us," said Hermione anxiously, and Kakashi could only assume she meant Sirius.
"Oh, lighten up," said Ron, "he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke."
Clapping his hands together, Fred cut in with, "Well, can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later." Both he and his twin left, heading down the hallway. The train went a little faster. Kakashi had never been on one before, so all of this was completely new.
"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" asked Harry to his friends, who glanced to each other.
"Er," said Ron as Hermione more properly explained, "We're—well—Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage."
"Oh," said Harry. "Right. Fine."
"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," said Hermione, and Kakashi felt very much as an outsider, something so common it had almost no effect anymore. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."
"Fine," Harry repeated. "Well, I—I might see you later, then."
Ron said, "Yeah, definitely. It's a pain having to go down there, I'd rather—but we have to—I mean, I'm not enjoying this, I'm not Percy."
"I know you're not," said Harry with a smile and Kakashi wondered what was funny.
They and Ginny watched Hermione and Ron's retreating backs before the last girl of the group said, "Come on, if we get a move on we'll be able to save them places."
"Right," said Harry, and they all adjusted their holds on their luggage.
After a bit of walking in silence where many people pointed and whispered at the sight of Harry, Kakashi asked, "So who's Percy?"
Ginny tensed as Harry answered, "Percy Weasley. He graduated from Hogwarts two years ago and went into the Ministry. Apparently he—he—"
"He cut himself off from us," said Ginny bitterly, "because we sided with Harry and Dumbledore and not his precious Fudge. He pretends he's so good and everything, but all he cares about is himself like a bloody Slytherin."
I think all Uchihas would be Slytherins, said Obito.
Except you. You'd fit in with these kids way more than I do.
Hey, you're doing a good job. Don't count yourself out!
Once they reached the back of the train, they met up with a worried looking boy holding his trunk in one hand and a toad in the other. The toad reminded him painfully of Jiraiya, who he never thought he'd miss (after all, the man did used to use him to help pick up girls before he became a genin), and Minato-sensei. He reached up and touched the cursed mark on his neck, realizing it hadn't hurt once in the past week, and pushed away the memory of his teacher—his friend—standing on the head his massive toad summon as he faced off the Kyuubi.
For once, neither Obito or Rin had anything to say.
"Hi, Harry," said the boy, panting."Hi, Ginny..Everywhere's full…I can't find a seat…who are you?"
"I'm—"
"What are you talking about?" said Ginny, peering inside the compartment. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here—"
"I don't want to disturb anyone," the boy mumbled.
Ginny laughed. "Don't be silly, she's all right."
Then she slid open the door and the three boys had no choice but to follow.
"Hi, Luna," said Ginny to an odd-looking blonde girl with hair down to her waist and wide blue eyes. Harry and the other boy looked a little perturbed, but Kakashi didn't see anything wrong with her. She wasn't exactly conventional by wizard standards, that was obvious, but she wasn't blatantly deformed or anything. Or wearing an outfit of tight green spandex and orange leg warmers. "Is it okay if we take these seats?"
Luna nodded, so the three newcomers sat down. Automatically, Kakashi took the seat closest to the door. "Thanks," Ginny said, and he felt pathetic because he couldn't reach the luggage rack above the seat and it wasn't in his best interest to jump or propel his with chakra. In such a way that no one else saw, Harry helped push it up.
Embarrassing as hell, yes, but oddly considerate. He nodded his thanks because snapping didn't seem appropriate.
"Have a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked as they all sat down. Luna held a magazine upside down, and Kakashi had trouble figuring out what it said.
"Yes," she answered, looking to Harry. "Yes, quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter."
To which Harry said, "I know I am."
The other boy laughed quietly, causing Luna to look at him instead. "And I don't know or you are. Or you," she added, looking to him.
"I'm Ha—Kakashi Hatake," he answered. "An exchange student from Japan."
"How very interesting. You don't look Oriental."
"I'm nobody," said the other boy.
"No you're not," said Ginny, crossing her arms. "Neville Longbottom—Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
And so Mystery Boy had a name.
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," she said, and even through context clues Kakashi had no idea what it meant. It didn't help tha the never heard the word wit before. Luna raised her magazine to hide her face.
"Um, Kakashi, right?" said Neville after a moment, staring at the forehead protector. Kakashi nodded. "What year are you going into?"
"Fifth," he answered, highly displeased at the surprise the other boy's face. "I turn fifteen on September fifteenth."
Minerva was the one who suggested this lie, because going into fifth year and never actually being fifteen was going to raise a few questions. Not that Kakashi particularly minded; in a year filled with half-truths and secrecy, what was one more lie?
"Then shouldn't you be in fourth?"
Kakashi shrugged. As he doubted most students understood the reason why schooling started at eleven, he answered, "Our curriculum works differently than yours, since we start at ten. I'm the equivalent to a fifth year here. My headmaster arranged it with Dumbledore."
"So why Hogwarts?"
People here really needed to learn how to mind their business. "Our headmasters are apparently good friends. I was advanced enough in my studies that I had a chance to study abroad. With all the amazing things you hear about this place, I decided Hogwarts was the place to try."
"How do you know Harry and Ginny?"
"He stayed with us over the summer," Ginny said quickly. "You know, to learn English so he didn't mess up on his grammar every ten seconds."
"I could already speak it," he said before Neville could comment on how he learned an entire language in ten weeks, "sort of. I just needed some practice."
"Oh."
Questions for the moment stopped, and the four in the compartment fell into what was a relatively comfortable silence. Kakashi adjusted the way he was sitting so he was leaning against the wall and could look out the window. Despite being so damn cold, the English countryside was gorgeous, he had to admit. Completely different from the Fire Country, as the trees weren't as big and more than half of it was purely moorlands and about a quarter all cities, but it wasn't an eyesore to look at. In fact, nowhere on the Hidden Continent looked anything like England, which was interesting.
After a while, as outside the train changed from sunny to cloudy, Neville said, "Guess what I got for my for my birthday?"
"Another Remembrall?" asked Harry. Kakashi, of course, had no idea what a Remembrall what (though he assumed it had something to do with memory), but he couldn't ask because he was supposed to be a wizard and this was some magic object thing.
Screw undercover.
At least this—
Please don't talk about that, Rin.
Neville was saying, "No, I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago. No, look at this…" Then he pulled the ugliest plant in the world from his bag, holding it like it was his pride and joy. "Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said, smiling broadly. The thing pulsed. "It's really, really rare. I don't know if there's on in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it from me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed with it."
From the corner of his eye, he saw Harry slide a glance of to him. He looked back for a second, only to look away quickly because he was on the verge of actually laughing. Him. Laughing. But the plant was so ridiculous that he couldn't help it. And if he kept eye contact with Harry, who obviously thought along the same line, he had a feeling the result would be disastrous to the Neville boy's self-esteem.
"Does it—er—do anything?" Harry asked, and Kakashi was glad to see a completely straight face.
Neville answered, "Loads of stuff! It's got an amazing defensive mechanism—hold Trevor for me…"
He handed Harry the toad to grab a quill from his bag, and a bad feeling told Kakashi it was a good idea to pull his wand out right about now. And right now, he bet his intuition was on to something, so he discreetly pulled out his wand, ready to do something if necessary. As Luna lifted her eyes above the top of the magazine, he hoped that it really, really wasn't. Then Neville poked a boil.
"Repello!"
Somehow, he and Harry were close enough that the Repelling Spell covered both of them, causing Ginny, Luna, and especially Neville to get drenched with the plant's juice thing. A rancid type of smell suddenly assaulted Kakashi's senses, amplified because of his sensitivity. He quickly covered his nose and mouth, not caring if it was rude, coughing violently in reaction. Moments like this reminded him why the Hatake face mask was really helpful.
"S-sorry," Neville was saying and Kakashi tried to calm his coughing, irrationally afraid more blood was going to come up (which is didn't, thankfully). "I haven't tried that before…Didn't realize it would be quite so…Don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous—really, Kakashi, it isn't!"
"I'm fine," he said hoarsely, deciding that probably wasn't his greatest introduction to his new classmates. The compartment door slid open; Kakashi looked up, expecting Hermione and Ron, and instead finding him incredibly close to a pretty girl with long black hair like someone from the Uchiha family, only not quite as pale.
She said, "Oh…hello, Harry. Um, bad time?"
Though Harry and Kakashi were completely fine, he saw her eyes flick over to the other three, sap covered occupants of the compartment.
"Oh…hi," said Harry and he could practically feel the awkward teenage hormones in the air, reminding him keenly of the multitude of genin and academy girls who repeatedly tried to converse with him when he was out of his ANBU uniform.
"Um…Well, just thought I'd say hello." Then she noticed Kakashi (which was pretty pathetic, considering he was the one sitting closest to her). "Oh, hello, are you a first year? Welcome to Hogwarts."
Harry and Ginny, those traitors, broke down laughing. Only years of practice kept his face from turning red. Though laughing, Ginny managed to clean up her side of the apartment as Harry said, "No, he's in my year, Cho. This is Kakashi Hatake, an exchange student."
"Nice to meet you," he said automatically. She blinked rapidly.
"Kakashi?" she said, as if that was more interesting than the once-a-century Hogwarts student from abroad. "Isn't that the Japanese word for scarecrow?"
"Yes," he answered, wondering how the hell she knew that. "And Cho's the word for butterfly. Chang isn't Japanese, though."
She shook her head. "I'm Chinese on my dad's side, Japanese on my mom's. You don't look Japanese."
"I get that a lot." He didn't know how to answer up an alternative. "Well, um—"
"How was your summer?" asked Harry.
"It was nice," she said, and the awkward hormones came back like the past half a minute never happened. "How about yours?"
"Same." Wow, this was riveting. "So, er…"
"Just wanted to say hello," she repeated. "Bye then."
"Bye…"
After a moment of nothingness, Ginny broke down into laughter again. "You should've seen your face, Harry! You were the definition of love-struck teenager!"
Though he scowled, he said to Kakashi, "Thanks. That could've been so much worse if I was covered in Stinksap."
"Sorry," mumbled Neville.
"Do I really look like a first year?" Really, he knew he was short, but he didn't look eleven for god's sake.
Surprisingly, Harry said, "No. You're just…you know—"
"Vertically challenged."
"Thanks, Ginny," he said dryly. "I really appreciate it."
Aw, c'mon, no fair! When I called you short you used to punch me!
Aren't you the one who keeps telling me to play nice?
Still, that's just…I wish I was there right now!
Why?
'Cause then I could say whatever I wanted and you couldn't do anything about it.
Well—well—
"Any time," she said cheerfully.
Conversation changed again as Neville started drilling him on what he knew about Hogwarts. Here, he found out several interesting things, such as who Peeves was and how it was a good idea to run when he came around. He was also warned of Sir Cadogan, a portrait on the way to the Divinations classroom, and given the full description of the horribleness of Filch and his cat. He was asked if they had Quidditch in his old school, so he lied and said yes and Harry and Ginny helped him through the multiple questions that followed, considering he only learned about the sport a week and a half ago.
By the time Hermione and Ron showed up an hour or so later, the trolley had come around and the three Gryffindors keep trying to get him to eat Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans, which he was vehemently against. Maybe it could've worked if Ginny hadn't given him a very in depth description about what they meant by "every flavor." Right as the door opened, the three of them gave up and went to eat everything else in the pile of sweets.
Ron put the puffball he called an owl on the rack and said, "I'm starving." He flopped down next to Harry and grabbing a Chocolate Frog, looking absolutely exhausted.
"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," said Hermione, taking a seat next to Ginny. "Boy and girl from each."
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, leaning his head against the window.
"Malfoy," answered Harry, mouth turning into a grimace. Over the past three and half weeks, Kakashi heard quite a lot about this Draco Malfoy and his family, which further solidified his want to not be in the Slytherin house.
"'Course," said Ron, taking another Chocolate Frog.
"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," added Hermione. From what Kakashi managed to gather, calling a girl a cow was the English way of saying whore. He didn't like whores very much. "How she got to be prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll..."
"Who's Hufflepuff?"
"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," answered Ron.
Hermione said, "And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw."
Suddenly, Luna decided to speak. "You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil." Again, she looked over the edge of her magazine.
"Yeah, I know I did."
This girl had a way of pointing out the obvious.
"She didn't enjoy it very much. She doesn't think you treated her very well because you wouldn't dance with her." Then she added, "I don't think I'd have minded. I don't like dancing very much."
As she disappeared behind the magazine again, Ron stared in disbelief before looking around at the others for explanation. Ginny was biting her hand she was trying that hard not to laugh. Then he shook his head and said, "We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often, and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something…"
"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!"
"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all."
"So, you're going to descend to his level?"
"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."
"For heaven's sake, Ron—"
"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said Ron, then deepened his voice into what Kakashi assumed was an imitation and screwed up his face, writing in midair. "I…must…not…look…like…a…baboon's…backside…"
Everyone laughed, so Kakashi made himself laugh too, even if he didn't get it as he only heard complaints but never actually met the boy. Luna, though, didn't stop laughing to the point that she woke up Harry's bird.
"That was so funny!"
Ron, being as utterly confused as everyone else, looked away from her, again searching for answers.
"Are you taking the mickey?" he asked her, and Kakashi had no idea what the hell he meant.
"Baboon's…backside!"
As most of the compartment's occupants watched Luna laugh, he watched Harry picked up the magazine on the floor. Now that the title was actually upright, Kakashi saw that it read The Quibbler.
"What is it?" he asked, looking over it to see a ridiculous picture followed by ridiculous-looking article titles. Harry shook his head in the universal sign of I don't know.
As Harry seemed to have no complaints in the matter, Kakashi read over his shoulder, becoming more and more weirded out. According to this, Sirius was secretly a musician and the Minister of Magic ate goblins in pies. Halfway through the second article, Harry quirked a brow at Kakashi before riffling through, still not complaining that he was reading over his shoulder.
When Harry closed the magazine and Kakashi backed away, Ron asked, "Anything good in there?"
To which Hermione answered, "Of course not. The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."
"Excuse me," said Luna, suddenly sounding clear, focused, and annoyed. "My father's the editor."
"I—oh. Well…it's got some interesting…I mean, it's quite…"
Luna, apparently not wanting to hear any more stuttered apologies said, "I'll have it back, thank you," and plucked it from Harry's hands. She turned it upside again and hide her face again.
The compartment door opened.
From description, Kakashi immediately recognized the three boys as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. All had varying degrees of smugness on their faces. "What?" said Harry before the boy could say anything.
"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," he said, Kakashi hated him instantly. This wasn't a very common reaction, as he normally didn't particularly hate or like anyway, usually keeping a middle balance of indifference and dislike (or annoyance, in Green Spandex Man's case). But Malfoy officially made the second on his list of hatred, closed following Mad-Eye, though both were still pretty far away from Orochimaru. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."
"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."
Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny laughed, which only angered the pale boy more.
"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?"
Kakashi, deciding to end this before it turned into a full on verbal warzone, said, "You know, if you're a prefect, shouldn't you be patrolling rather than sticking around in one compartment to show off?"
"And who are you?" Malfoy sneered. "I haven't seen you around."
"I'm new," he answered. "An exchange student."
An uncomfortable gleam came to Malfoy's eyes. "Well, then you should know that this lot isn't the type you want to associate with." He raised the one visible eyebrow. Like Neville, the boy's eyes were focused on the Konoha symbol over his left eye. "You haven't been Sorted, have you? You should hope for your sake that you don't end up with them."
"Who? The Gryffindors?" he said mildly, looking up at Malfoy with a bored expression. "They're all right. Know it's rude to stare for one, thing. So no thanks, I think I'll choose them if you don't mind."
He looked furious, but couldn't come up with an answer before he jerked his head in the direction of Harry instead and said, "Just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."
"Get out!" yelled Hermione, standing up and slamming the door in their faces. As she went to sit down, she caught his eye for a moment and an understand went between them.
He knew about Sirius.
Ron, apparently noticing nothing, said, "Chuck us another Frog." Since no one else seemed about to do something, Kakashi picked up one and threw it lightly. "Thanks," said the redhead as he caught it.
After another few hours or so of unimportant chit-chat, the sky darkened, rain pelting the window, and another bubble of excitement sprang up before fading.
"We better change," said Hermione after Luna put away her magazine away.
Without much talking they all pulled their robes from their bag and changed, trying not to bump into each other. After making sure no one was looking, Kakashi snatched his weapon holster from his bag and attached it to his leg, glad that the school uniform completely hid it from view of others. It was also a relief, because he felt secured and slightly more normal with kunai and shuriken so easily accessible. When the train began to lose speed, Ron and Hermione left to go supervise, leaving their pets behind. Kakashi made sure to stay away from the cat.
"I'll carry that owl," said Luna, taking Ron's cage from Harry's hand.
"Oh—er—thanks."
Then they left the train and he was hit by the wonderfulness of the night air to his face, not bothering to hide his small smile of happiness. It smelled like trees and water and familiarity.
"First years line up here, please!" said a female voice, her face showing up a half a second later, visible by lantern light. "All first years to me."
"Where's Hagrid?" said Harry.
Ginny answered, "I don't know, but we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door."
"Oh yeah…"
Kakashi shuffled after Harry, trying not to get lost in the crowd or have the woman spot him and in the darkness assume he was just a tall eleven-year-old like the Cho girl did. Then the coaches he heard about came into view and he couldn't help but say, "What the hell are those things?" when he saw the creepy horse things pulling them.
"I don't know," answered Harry, also staring. "They've always been horseless before."
Damn, those things are creepy.
You can say that again. Did they even have skin?
Looks like just fur to me.
"Where's Pig?" said Ron, materializing behind them.
"The Luna girl was carrying him," said Harry, turning around, leaving Kakashi to awkwardly stare on his own. As no one else was staring, he didn't want to seem obvious and turned around. Harry asked, "Where d'you reckon—"
"—Hagrid is? I dunno. He better be okay…"
He's looking for giants, Kakashi found himself wanting to say, but knowing it wasn't a good idea to betray the Order's trust. Now, if they ever figured it out on their own, he wasn't going to stop them, but he couldn't just go and blurt it out. Actually, why did he even want to?
Oh, these attachments were worrying him.
As Hermione appeared, she said, "Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year back there, I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever…Where's Crookshanks?"
"Ginny's got him," said Harry. "There she is…"
"Thanks," said Hermione, taking the wriggling cat from the other girl's arms. "Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up."
"I haven't go Pig yet!" yelled Ron, but Hermione was going off to the nearest empty carriage.
"What are those things, d'you reckon?" Harry asked, pointing Ron in the direction of the creepy horse things. Kakashi perked up, wanting to hear this, too.
But he was sorely disappointed when Ron answered, "What things?"
"Those horse—"
He was cut off by the appearance of Luna. She handed Ron back his bird and said, "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"
"Er…yeah…He's all right," he said. "Well, come on, then, let's get in…what were you saying, Harry?"
"I was saying, what are those horse things?"
"What horse things?"
"The ones pulling the carriages!"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about—look!"
Kakashi looked at Harry, glad that he wasn't the only one who could see them because he was already worrying about his sanity. "I think we're the only two seeing them," he said, ignoring Ron's questions.
"What—but that's—" He looked to Ron. "Can't…can't you see them?"
"See what?"
With a sigh, Kakashi shook his head. Harry looked to him, disappointed. "I'm—I'm not imaging them, am I?" Again, he shook his head, feeling very uncomfortable.
"Shall we get in, then?" said Ron, obviously worried for their mental health.
"Yeah, yeah, go on," said Harry.
"It's all right," said Luna's voice from behind them. "You two aren't going mad or anything. I can see them too."
"You can?" said Kakashi.
"Oh, yes," she answered. "I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You two are just as sane as I am."
As they climbed in after her, Harry said under his breath, "I don't think that's a good thing."
Kakashi was greatly inclined to agree.
.
Yup, Mad-Eye's a bit of bastard here. Review please! :3