Jesus, I'm sorry this took so long. School's been ridiculous, my weekends have been ridiculous, and my health has been ridiculous. And now on Friday I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled! I'm suffering what has to be the biggest fuck-my-life moment ever, though slightly lessened by the fact that I text my potential boyfriend every day now. :)

Anyway, away from all that. Here's chapter eight, and I'm not even close to being halfway finished! The beginning of the chapter and the end of the chapter mirror each other, so I'm saying ahead of time that I did that on purpose sort of. Also, yay, flying!

Disclaimer: Just borrowin'.

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Chapter Eight

Kakashi entered Dumbledore's early the next morning; after returning from his nightly training sessions, he found a short note on his pillow requesting a meeting as soon as possible. Out of habit, he absentmindedly burned it, heading out the common room. Harry was gone, too, he noticed, but didn't think much of it. The boy could survive until breakfast without him (hopefully, anyway). He ducked behind a tapestry that led to a shortcut, jolting awake its occupants, to avoid Peeves as he came around the corner. Kakashi had yet to have a run-in with the poltergeist, and he wasn't in the mood to have one at the moment.

In truth, he was worried. It'd been a whole week since he sent off Pakkun, and the little nin-dog hadn't come back yet, nor had a letter from Jiraiya arrived. As a tracker, it shouldn't have been too hard for him to find Jiraiya, regardless of where he was. So what was taking so long? Was it possible that the man was in enough trouble that Pakkun didn't have an opening to reach him? Or, worse yet, could it be because there was no Jiraiya to find?

Don't think like that, he told himself, shaking his head. There's no way he'd let himself be killed.

Of course not, said Rin, So don't worry about it. I bet it's nothing big.

Yeah, you're right.

But even his mind didn't sound too certain. Jiraiya was great, like Tsunade, but Orochimaru was good too. If they really fought all out, it was possible…And since Orochimaru was a traitor, it was definite that neither was going to hold back at all. Attacking Kakashi probably just gave Jiraiya a good enough excuse to go after him. God, that meant if he was dead, then this was another death that was Kakashi's—

Stop thinking like that. You aren't making it any better.

I know, I know.

You're just worried. Now go on and give the gargoyle the stupid password.

"Lemon drops," he said, sounding more miserable than he expected. The gargoyle slid out of place, revealing the spiral staircase up to the office. Once he was on the second step, it slid back, leaving him with the same trapped feeling as last time. He walked the few steps up and knocked awkwardly at the door. Kakashi didn't use doors much back at home, a quirk that usually made the Hokage yell at him, and this small adjustment, like having to be on time to things, felt even weirder than some of the larger forced changes. It swung open.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, and smiled as he entered. "Good morning, Kakashi," he said in greeting, motioning to the chair across from him. "Alas, we again meet at such an unfortunate hour."

Kakashi bowed before going over to the chair and taking a seat. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

In an instant, the old man's smile disappeared, which didn't prove good news. He pulled a letter from his drawer and passed it over. As Kakashi looked at the address on front (that simply read Albus Dumbledore and Hatake Kakashi in his native language), Dumbledore said, "I received this last night. Originally I meant to read it first, but I felt that it was in your right to do so."

"It's from Tsunade," he said quietly as he tore open the flap and took out the letter. All the words were written in her messy, doctor handwriting. "It's medical instructions."

There were two parts to it, one addressed to Dumbledore (in English, oddly) that Kakashi skipped over and one addressed to him. That second bit wasn't written like a typical mission report, and instead an actual letter, and it read:

Kakashi—

First things first: Don't be an idiot and tell someone if that mark bothering you. While Jiraiya's out looking, I've researched Orochimaru's curse and sent Dumbledore instructions on how to deal with what I found. That is, what he can help anyway. Since this is the first time we've ever seen it, Jiraiya's seal isn't perfect. I'm looking into ways to make it more manageable, but that might take a while.

From what I know so far, it pulls your chakra out when you use to much of it. With enough willpower, you should be able to hold it back, but especially if you get in a real fight, use the Sharingan as a last resort and stick mostly to genjutsu and taijutsu, and try your hardest to avoid using that Lightning Cutter of yours. I'm sure you know by that if you exert past your minimum, the mark starts to hurt. Stop there and don't go past that, because it can cause high fevers like the one you had right after your fight with Orochimaru, and will screw with your mind, giving you a power rush.

More on Jiraiya's seal itself and its effects he needs to tell you himself, since I haven't been in contact with him since he left. Be careful with that, too, though, because he had to figure that out quickly, so it was all guesswork. We'll fix it fully when you come back, since he or myself should have enough answers by then. Until you come back, watch yourself, practice real hard on taijutsu, and FUCKING TELL SOMEONE IF IT STARTS HURTING. HOKAGE-SAMA'S ORDERS, GODDAMNIT.

There, did I get my point across, Hatake?

—Tsunade

"Thanks," he said and handed it back. Fuck if she really thought he was following those orders. Some he was perfectly willing to break, and that fell straight under the category. "The first part's for you. She's giving you all the information she knows apparently in case something goes wrong."

Dumbledore gave him a look that Kakashi swore meant he could read his mind. "And has what's on your shoulder been hurting since you starting going out to the forest, Kakashi?"

"No, sir," he said evenly, though he had a very distinct feeling that the man knew he was lying anyway, which was really damn annoying because very, very few people could see through his lies. Though, it was highly possible that something in the forest (Harry, Ron, and Hermione told him stories of what was in there) told him about that first night of training, when he actually collapsed from the—no, he was just being paranoid again. He would've sensed if someone was around and people couldn't read minds; he should know, considering that he tricked people into thinking he could. "If you reply, sir, please tell her that I understand and will follow orders."

And here I thought you were a stickler to following orders.

Shut up, Obito, it hasn't been that big of a deal. I don't need to kill my pride yet.

"You can write to her if you'd like," Dumbledore said, but Kakashi shook his head. "Very well then. Anything else you'd like to report?"

"No, sir," he repeated even if this time he didn't want to lie at all. "Except for Dolores Umbridge doing her whole The-Ministry-Is-God-Thing and half the school believing it, I haven't seen much happen."

One grey eyebrow rose into an arch. "The-Ministry-Is-God-Thing?" he said. "That's one I haven't heard before. I believe it's a nice way to put it, if not a little intense."

With a shrug, Kakashi said, "It's true enough. Also, thank you for giving those recipes to the house-elves, sir."

He smiled. "I thought you'd like that. Now, on the subject of food, I believe it's time for breakfast, where your friends will no doubt be wondering about your absence. You may leave now, unless you have anything else to add."

Kakashi took note that Dumbledore said your friends and not your charges. First the Sorting Hat, then his old teammates, and now his client? Damnit, did everyone doubt his ability to keep objectivity? Instead of showing his annoyance, he smiled and stood up, bowing again, and said, "Goodbye, sir. If anything happens, I'll be sure to tell you."

"Goodbye, Kakashi," the man answered, inclining his head. "Have a pleasant rest of the day."

With that, the thirteen-year-old exited the room, resisting the urge to run the whole way to the Great Hall because aggravation and frustration were hitting him hard, and he needed to do something to burn off even a little of it. Normally when he got like this, he went out to the training grounds or off somewhere private and worked himself to exhaustion. That, or took about four very strong sleeping pills and blocked out the world for a good twelve hours (a developing habit that rarely worked), so simply having to deal with it at the moment wasn't working out so well.

It was only when he entered the Great Hall ten minutes later that he realized he forgot to weasel information out of Dumbledore about Harry's scar, which only made him more frustrated. But the letter from Tsunade blew away any thought of his current charges, which wasn't good at all, because that was personal life taking over his mission. Though, in actuality, he was only here because of the reason behind that letter, but that was beside the point.

When he reached the three friends, he immediately saw their grim faces and asked, "What happened?"

As he slipped into the seat next to Hermione, she answered in a voice barely above a whisper, "Sturgis Podmore was arrested by the Ministry for trying to get through a door."

The three looked at him expectantly, waiting for answers. Well, unfortunately for them, he wasn't too sure either, because even if he sat in on all those meetings, no one bothered to explain anything to him.

Sort of like Tsunade, who told him what the curse did, but not what it was, which was even more irritating.

What he did know, though, was that there was something in the Ministry that the Order members were guarding. But they were just guarding. People who were guarding did not try to force open the way to what they were protecting. Sure, Kakashi said himself that Sturgis was about as reliable as Mundungus, but the man didn't seem stupid enough to fuck up his job that badly. He said, "Isn't Podmore the one that Mad-Eye insisted we wait for?" They all nodded. "How long he's sentenced for?"

"Six months in Azkaban," answered Harry. For a moment Kakashi thought, Six months isn't all that long, before he remembered he remembered about the dementors. "All for trying to open a door. There's no way a door can be that important, is there?"

Personally, Kakashi could easily see how a door could be that important, but that was only because he had experience with forcing open very important doors (it was an A-class mission in Kumogakure that really didn't deserve that ranking). Still, he didn't feel like telling this to the three of them, so he shrugged instead. He asked, "So what do you do on weekends here anyway, since there aren't any classes?" The three stared. "What?"

"How can be so nonchalant about it?" answered Hermione, eyebrows shot up in surprise. Again, he shrugged. "Wait—you know what's going on, don't know?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, sending her a smile. "I don't know much about the people or politics here in England."

Understanding now, she shut up. To answer his last question, Ron said, "Harry and I were going to head out early for a bit to practice some Quidditch. Want to join us?"

Hermione snapped the paper closed. "I think we should tackle that essay for Sprout on Self-Fertilizing Shrubs first, and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus before you leave, since you have practice later as well."

"We can do it when we get back," said Harry hastily. "Kakashi can't fly during practice, so going out now is our best option."

"Do you even want to fly, Kakashi?" she asked, turning on him and he wondered how the hell he got stuck in the middle of this all the sudden. "I wouldn't have thought you'd ever want to go on a broom again."

Considering that he honestly did want to try flying, he wasn't pulling the whole traumatized excuse unless he absolutely sucked. "I think I want to give it another go," he said, pushing away from the table along with the other two boys. "I'll meet you in either the library or the common room when their actual practice starts, okay? Might be earlier…It depends."

"Fine," she said, and he pretended he didn't see how hurt she looked (because it was so blatantly obvious that it would take an idiot not to notice). "Meet me in the common room." She looked to Harry and Ron. "And unless you want to fail your O.W.L.s, I suggest you get your priorities straight, because you're not copying off of me anymore."

And with that, she was gone.

Once the three boys were walking down the slopping grass law towards the Quidditch pitch, the one place Kakashi hadn't been yet, Ron said, "I mean, we can do it tonight. And we've got tomorrow. She gets too worked up about work, that's her trouble…" After a pause, he nervously added, "D'you think she meant it when she said we weren't copying from her?"

"She did seem pretty serious about it," said Kakashi and thought that if she really did stop helping them, he'd probably step in. Then he shook the thought away because getting them to pass the O.W.L.s wasn't part of the contract. "Mind, I don't know her too well."

Harry said, "I think she meant it. Still, this is important too, we've got to practice if we want to stay on the Quidditch team…"

"Yeah, that's right. And we have got plenty of time to do it all…" Ron said, a bit more assured. "Besides, it's the perfect day to teach you how to fly." It was true; England was usually all grey skies and dampness, but today was sunny and dry. After glancing around, presumably to make sure no one was around, he added, "You've never flown at all, right? Without broomsticks, I mean."

"No," he answered, "no one back home can. It's basically considered impossible."

You should totally find a Suna-nin who can control wind and learn, said Obito.

I probably will. Eventually. Until then, a year of broomsticks.

So? You still get to fly! You know how awesome that is?

Yeah, basically. This could interesting.

Interesting? That's gotta be the understatement of the year.

The boys led him into the Gryffindor locker room where they grabbed the balls from a cupboard. As they walked out onto the field (which looked about as awesome as the castle), Harry said, "We'll show you how to fly first and if you want to, you can help Ron practice with me."

Do it, do it, do it, do it!

I was already planning on it…

Well—well—

Ron placed his broom on the ground next to Kakashi and said, "Start on this because it's slower. Now put your hand above it and say 'up.'"

Kakashi looked at him blankly. "Do you do that before every game?"

In response, Harry shook his head. "It's just how Madam Hooch—she's the ref and Hogwarts flying instructor—first taught us. Er, I guess after a while you just get used to it. Oh, and brooms can tell if you're scared to get off the ground or whatever, so just be confident. So, try?"

Deciding that magic lacked too much logic to argue about whether or not an inanimate object could really predict feelings, he stuck his hand out and said, "Up!"

Surprisingly, it worked. Weird, considering that he had a hard enough time looking at people like, well, people, and he only thought of himself as a tool, so logic said that inanimate objects should be treated even less than that in his mind. And they did, for the most part. So how the hell did he manage to show a broom enough respect to actually get a reaction?

He decided not to think about it.

"That's good!" said Harry. "Now mount it." Kakashi followed what he was doing and decided that it was really uncomfortable. But still, he was honestly about to fly, which meant he could deal with it. "Okay, now just kick off. I'll tell you the rest in the air."

So followed what Harry did, pushing off with his feet, expecting to fall, but—

He was in the air. Not incredibly high, maybe ten feet, but Harry was next to him, grinning widely, and Kakashi genuinely laughed out loud. Sure, he'd been much higher than this before, but this was in midair and he was just staying there, levitating, not waiting to use chakra to stick to an object however many feet away. Harry said, "Okay, to fly higher, you angle your broom upwards and lean forward. To fly straight, hold it straight. If you want to speed up, lean your body low against the stick part; this works no matter what direction you want. To turn, adjust your broom in whichever direction you want. To dive, lean forward and angle your broom down. Whether going up or down, always make sure to level out your broom out. To stop, lean your body backwards. Got that?" Kakashi nodded. "Okay, good. Now...follow me."

Harry, moving considerably slower than his broom could apparently go, turned to a left; as directed, he followed. They spent about five minutes turning before the black haired boy took an abrupt turn upwards and sky rocketed a good fifty feet in the air. When Kakashi was next to him again, leveled out, he grinned impishly and without saying anything, dived. Suddenly Kakashi was led on a mess of disconnecting, unpredictable movements because Harry seemed to be doing whatever the hell he wanted. This went on for maybe twenty minutes before they touched back on the ground, where Kakashi almost (very ungracefully) tripped over the handle because the damn broom still insisted on floating in the air.

"So what d'you think?" asked Harry with another grin as Kakashi handed the Cleansweep back to Ron. "Brilliant, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he answered, legitimately enthusiastic about it, which scared him more than he'd like to admit. Rin and Obito were chattering on in his head about how lucky he was, but to each other, not to him, which was even more bizarre. He ran his fingers through his hair. "You were amazing. I guess five years really pays off."

"You were great too!" said the other boy. "S'pose I shouldn't be surprised, though, considering how quickly you pick up on things."

In truth, he found flying a lot harder than any spell work so far. Maybe it was because he didn't quite trust the broom (which apparently had feelings, something that still freaked him out) or just because it was more difficult than it seemed at first sight, but he had to tug considerably harder than Harry did to get his to turn, and he had a feeling that wasn't supposed to happen.

You know how great these would be in Konoha? said Obito. I mean, damn, imagine how much faster you could travel.

Without him meaning to, Kakashi's mind jumped back to running after his friend to rescue Rin and decided that yes, going that fast on a broomstick really could've helped.

I think it could help with stealth to, he said. It doesn't have a chakra signature and it's silent. Sure, not as fast as Shunshin, but it'd give you a complete bird's-eye view. For once, these wizards have something practical. Shame it's wasted on a game.

But think about how cool that game'll be! And you get to see it!

Well, you and Rin do too, you know.

'Course. When's it again?

I think not until—

Ron's voice suddenly cut through with, "Kakashi? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered quickly. "Why?"

Maybe I should get out of your head for a while.

"I asked if you wanted to help me practice," he said. "You know, switch off brooms with Harry, and you didn't answer."

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good idea.

"Sorry, just—" Just what? What could he say? "—remembered something," he tried, knowing how weak it sounded, "and lost concentration for a moment. And I'd say yeah, but I promised Hermione that I'd meet up with her once you started practicing."

"Okay," said Ron, but he sounded doubtful. "What was it?"

Damn these wizards and their inability to keep curiosity to themselves. "I was wondering what my friends back at home are doing," he lied, though he wasn't sure if he ever mentioned having friends before. "They'd love this, and I can't exactly bring one back. Or tell them about it."

"Why can't you tell them?" asked Harry.

"This mission is highly ranked," he answered, glad no one was around so he didn't need to use any form of code, "which means it's classified. This information never goes past the Hokage and I back in Konoha, and the Order and you here. Basically, I pretend that this never happened."

"So you…can't tell them anything?" said Ron sounding as disappointed as Harry looked. He shook his head. "Oh. You know, can we still write to you? I meant to ask before if we could keep in contact…"

His answer caught in his throat because he was torn between yes and no. Yes, because that's what his cover would say (but just his cover, since under no circumstance were the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione his friends), and no because he didn't want them too, so he copped out by saying, "That's a grey area. I'll find out during my next correspondence with Konoha."

That seemed the cheer the two boys up and Harry said, "If you can, that'd be good. So, you sure you don't want to keep flying? I'll be willing to switch the Firebolt with you."

Technically, he told Hermione he'd come back when the actual team practice started, and currently it was just the three of them, and it wasn't like he cared about their feelings anyway, so he felt perfectly justified in saying, "I'll stay. I don't know the next opportunity I'll get to fly without having to pretend to have a panic attack or something."

As Ron mounted his broom he said, "Fair point, mate. Maybe I shouldn't've made a Quidditch accident be your excuse."

"It's fine," he answered and hopped up so he sat on the wall that separated the stands from the field. Neither boy looked particularly surprised to see him jump six feet with ease. Maybe he should just walk up a wall one day, because he missed their "wow!" reactions. "When should we switch off, Harry?"

"Er, every fifteen minutes?" suggested the boy as he lifted into the air after Ron, Quaffle tucked under one arm. Kakashi nodded. "Good, that works."

This, time, it was Rin in his head.

I haven't seen you this exited about something since you heard you became an ANBU.

Hey, I'm not excited about this and I wasn't about tha—wait, you weren't there for that.

So you think.

Only Obito was talking to me then.

Just because I didn't say anything doesn't mean I wasn't there. You totally were excited.

I wasn't! I only did it because it was my last option.

And the idea of you becoming captain? That doesn't make you happy either?

If it does, then I'm more fucked up than I thought.

You aren't crazy, Kakashi-kun.

So says the voice in my head.

You're talking to me, not yourself.

Which is—nevermind.

Stop thinking too much about it and watch the kids fly. Harry's amazing.

No kidding. I'm assuming you're like Obito and want to see the game.

Of course! And I want to see Gryffindor win.

Why?

Because it's your house and I don't really like any of the others.

You don't? I thought you would've liked Ravenclaw.

Well, Cho irritates me for some reason, Slytherin's made of dicks, and Hufflepuffs are boring.

Made of dicks? Really, Rin, really?

Yes, absolutely.

Harry pulled level to him, hovering about three feet from his knees and said, "Want to give it a go?"

"Sure," he said, and jumped off the wall. The other boy followed, touching his feet to the ground and holding out the broomstick.

"I know it's probably useless to tell you this," said Harry, "but be careful on that. It's a lot faster than a Cleansweep and you only just started."

Kakashi smiled. "I'm sure I'll be fine, Harry. I've moved faster than that Cleansweep on my feet before—I'm pretty sure I can take this."

"You've moved faster than a naught to sixty broomstick?" said Ron from the air. Kakashi flew up and the redhead passed him the Quaffle. "How's that possible?"

"Because I'm just that amazing," he said and experimentally threw the ball; Ron caught it, and chucked it back. "Though, a lot of people in Konoha can move faster than that—not faster than a Firebolt, though. Ready?"

"When you are."

.

"That's definitely Percy's handwriting," said Ron hours later as his brother's owl interrupted yet another argument between he and Hermione. The actual Quidditch practice had apparently been bad, and left Harry and Ron in terrible moods. Thankfully, he wasn't there for that mess, but back in the common room talking with Hermione about whether cats or dogs were better.

With the argument now forgotten, Hermione leaned over and said, "Open it!"

Harry nodded; Kakashi watched on warily as he unrolled the scroll. Even before he started reading, Ron had a scowl on his face, but it progressively got worse as his eyes went down. When he finished, he thrust it at the three of them. Luckily, Percy's handwriting looked like it came straight off a text book page, even more so than Hermione's, so he clearly read:

Dear Ron,

I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister of Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect.

I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations. I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the "Fred and George" route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility.

But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post. Hopefully you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions.

From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter. I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternization with that boy. Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this—no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favorite—but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different—and probably more accurate—view of Potter's behavior. I shall say no more here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing—and see if you can spot yours truly!

Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school too. As you must be aware, given that our father escorted him to court, Potter had a disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and he did not come out of it looking too good. He got off on a mere technicality if you ask me and many of the people I have spoken to remain convinced of his guilt.

It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter—I know how he can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent—but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's behavior that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a really delightful woman, who I know will be only too happy to advice you.

This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not in him, but to the school and to the Ministry. The Minister has told me that even now, he went so far as to invite an exchange student to study for a year at Hogwarts without clearing it with the Ministry, a boy that, according to Professor Umbridge, you are also acquainted with. I urge against this as well; from what I hear, he disrespected Professor Umbridge the first day of class, and while it may easily be explained as a culture shock, it may be in your best interest of stay clear if you want to keep your badge.

I am also very sorry to hear that so far Professor Umbridge is encountering very little cooperation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week—again, see the Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this—a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well placed for Head Boyship in a couple of years!

I am very sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticize our parents, but I am afraid I can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore (if you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders). I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of associated with such people—the Minister really could not be more gracious to me—and I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realize how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a fully apology when that day comes.

Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.

Your brother,

Percy

Just as Kakashi finished, Harry said, "Well, if you want to—er—what is it?" He checked Percy's letter. "Oh yeah—'sever ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent."

Kakashi snickered. "I just love how he said to stay away from me because of I'm suffering from 'culture shock.' Ron, your brother's a bastard."

"Give it back," said Ron, holding out his hand and started tearing it to pieces. "He is the world's biggest git. You're right, Kakashi. He doesn't know what he's talking about." He threw the tiny shreds of parchment into the fire. "Come on, we've got to get this finished some time before dawn."

Then Hermione said, "Oh, give them here," which should be signal for the world to blow up because so far she needed to be begged for an hour basically doing their homework.

"What?" said Ron, apparently not comprehending it either.

"Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them."

"Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a lifesaver. What can I—"

"What you can say is, 'We promise we'll never leave our homework this late again,'" she answered as she held on essay in either hand. While the boy's were practicing, she and Kakashi already checked each other for mistakes, so, since he knew all the answers too, he took Harry's essay (he had neater handwriting) from her hand and went to correct it himself. Even if he didn't particularly care about these three, after a shocker like that, they deserved a bit of help.

Harry sat in an armchair and said, "Thanks a million, Hermione—oh, you're doing it?"

With a shrug, he answered, "Why not? That way she doesn't need to work all night either."

The boy gave him a small half-smile. "Thanks, Kakashi."

"Yes," Hermione said and she leaned down over Ron's, scanning for errors, "thank you."

"It's fine."

After a few minutes, Hermione and Ron were discussing his mistakes, but on Harry's, Kakashi found no glaring ones. Both his introduction and conclusion paragraphs were good, and those were the two Hermione said what the most important. "Just so you know, Harry," he said, turning around so he could give it to the boy, "Europa's covered in ice, not mice—what're you doing?"

Harry was on his knees in front of the hearth, staring intently at the flames.

"Er—Harry?" said Ron, worrying his bottom lip. "Why are you down there?"

"Because I've just seen Sirius' head in the fire," Harry answered.

"Sirius head?" said Hermione, which was exactly what Kakashi was thinking, though slightly more confused. "You mean like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament? But he wouldn't do that now, it would be too—Sirius!"

Very few things in life could shock Kakashi to the point that he actually jumped a bit in surprise. Even here in Hogwarts, nothing got to him that much, because whenever he saw something he didn't understand, he just thought to himself magic, and there was his answer. But for some reason seeing a living head in a fire actually caused the rare, extremely embarrassing reaction; Sirius laughed.

"Sorry to scare you, Kakashi," he said, grinning. Then he addressed all of them with, "I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared. I've been checking every hour."

"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" asked Harry.

"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear yet," he answered.

Hermione frowned and said, "But what if you'd be seen?"

"Well, I think a girl—first year by the look of her—might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry, I was gone the moment she looked at me," he said, "and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."

"But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk—"

Sirius said, "You sound like Molly. This was the only way I could come up with answering Harry's letter and pass on a message to Kakashi without resorting to code—and codes are breakable."

"And you guys aren't exactly professional coders," he said at the same time Hermione said to Harry, "You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!"

The boy answered, "I forgot—don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out it, was there, Sirius?"

"No, it was very good," said Sirius and shot a glance at Kakashi, "for someone who doesn't make a career out of it."

"I—" Kakashi began.

"Anyway," he said, cutting him off, "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed—your scar."

"What about—" said Ron, and Kakashi again guiltily remembered forgetting to get the information from Dumbledore.

Hermione said, "We'll tell you afterwards, go on, Sirius."

"Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"

"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion," said Harry, and Kakashi listened more intently. No one told him about that. "So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had detention."

"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often," said Sirius.

"So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I had detention with her?"

"I doubt it. I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater—"

"She's foul enough to be one," said Harry, prompting Ron and Hermione to nod and Kakashi added, "And enough of a bigot."

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," answered Sirius. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though—you should hear Remus talk about her."

"Does Lupin know her?" asked Harry.

"No," said Sirius, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."

"What's she got against werewolves?" asked Hermione.

Kakashi turned to her and said, "Didn't you hear what she said in class about 'dangerous half-breed?' The woman's a bigot, like I said. Honestly, I think if Voldemort ever ends up seizing the Ministry, she'll be perfectly all right joining him, or eventually become a Death Eater anyway with a personality like that."

"I think you're right," said Sirius. "It's not just werewolves she has a thing against either—she campaigned to have the mer-people rounded up and tagged last year too—"

"And next she'll be campaigning for genocide or something," said Kakashi, shaking his head. "The woman just keeps getting worse."

Sirius nodded. "Steps of evil," he said, and even if Kakashi knew that there was no true evil or true good out there in the world (because as a shinobi, he got called everything from an angel to a monster, so he knew this grey area as fact), he had to agree. The woman had no redeemable qualities at all. "What're her lessons like? Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"

"No," answered Harry. "She's not letting us use magic at all!"

"All we do is read the stupid textbook," added Ron.

"Apparently," said Kakashi, "no one out there in the world wants harm sweet little children at us. Sirius, why is the new Ministry curriculum doing theory-learning?"

"That's what I was going to tell you," he answered. "The other day, our informant from the inside the Ministry said that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

As Kakashi laughed, Harry repeated, "Trained in combat? What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army? And what's so funny?"

"Think about what I do and what I'm here for," said Kakashi. "That's just ironic."

"And that's exactly what he thinks you're doing," said Sirius, "or rather, that's what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing—forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take down the Ministry of Magic."

How fucking ironic.

Ron said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with."

Rather than the boys' surprised reaction, Hermione looked furious. "So we're being prevented from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?"

"Yep," answered Sirius. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge."

Trump-ed up? What the hell did that mean?

Harry, apparently having thought of Percy's letter, asked, "D'you know if there's going to be anything about Dumbledore in the Daily Prophet tomorrow? Only Ron's brother Percy reckons there will be—"

"It sounded more like it'd be about Umbridge than Dumbledore," said Kakashi, running his hand through his hair. "Have you heard anything?"

"I don't know," said Sirius, shaking his head. "I haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend, they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here…"

"So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?" said Harry and Kakashi suddenly became very interested in a burn mark on the carpet, because Hermione's eyes zoomed to him.

If they figured it out on their own, fine, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell them.

Sirius said, "Ah…well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what happened to him. But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you three get yourselves in a state; I'm sure Hagrid's fine." Hermione's eyes went from Kakashi to Harry to Ron in a matter of a half a second. "Listen," Sirius added, "don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid, it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back, and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be okay." After a pause, he said, "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I was thought we could—"

"No," said Kakashi firmly, effectively cutting him off; Harry and Hermione looked on verge of yelling. Before Sirius could ask why he continued, "These three aren't my only charges, just my top priorities, so I'm heading up to Hogsmeade with them. Hogsmeade, as a village, is a hell of a lot more open than Hogwarts for attack, which means I need to be in town and if you come, Harry, Ron, and Hermione'll have to wonder off, and I refuse to let that happen."

"Bu—"

"I'm not halting my job so you and Harry can have a reunion," he said, crossing his arms. "Sorry to both of you, but Sirius, even if it isn't technically part of my job, I'd really like to avoid having you be recognized and thrown in Azkaban, and Harry, you can wait 'til Christmas—End of discussion, Sirius. At the moment, I get the final word, and that's a no, understood?"

Though he didn't say anything, the man gave a jerky nod, and Kakashi found himself very thankful for his authoritative ability, because he just stopped a potential argument before it could even start. Sirius seemed angry, but the three kids seemed relieved.

"I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I?" he asked, and Harry nodded. "All right. G'night then."

There was a chorus of goodbyes, and with a pop, Sirius' head disappeared. Kakashi stood and stretched. "I'm done with everything, so I'm heading out for the night. You three going to bed?"

"Yeah," said Ron, looking away from the fire and standing as well, quickly followed by Harry and Hermione. "I'm exhausted."

"Well, goodnight," said Hermione when they stood at landing of the two staircases. Then to Kakashi she added, "And you, we might have History of Magic, but don't wear yourself out too much, because an hour of sleep won't do you much good."

"I won't, I won't," he said. As she nodded and headed upstairs, he added, "I'll see you in the morning."

The three boys headed up their staircase in silence and once they were inside the dormitory, Ron gave a sleepy goodnight and made a beeline for his pajama drawer. Harry hung back though, just for a moment, and gave Kakashi a barely audible, "Thank you."

Then Rin said, Face it, they're your friends.

"I was just doing my job."

And for the first time: You know what, Rin? Maybe you're right.

.

"You wanted to see me again, sir?"

Once again, Kakashi found himself standing in front of his client in hand-me-down pajamas, and knew he should feel like a fool, but was too damn tired to care. After all, the headmaster had never actually seen him in his uniform so anything was informal—pajamas were just particularly embarrassing.

Dumbledore's mouth was set in a line of strict disapproval, bordering on angry. His finger tips were pressed together and Kakashi had a distinct feeling that if Dumbledore had ever been trained as a ninja, his killing intent would be damn scary. He nodded and gravely answered, "Cornelius Fudge has again invoked power over Hogwarts."

Because of Percy's letter last night, this really didn't surprise him. "What can Umbridge do now?" he asked.

"You know of the Educational Decree that Cornelius set during the summer," said Dumbledore, "even if it's not by name. In this 'Educational Decree' it was stated that if a position at Hogwarts is not filled within the time of deadline—at the time one month—then the Ministry could choose the new instructor."

"Which is how you ended up with Umbridge."

He adjusted how he was sitting in his seat and held down a wince; though he wasn't planning on telling Dumbledore or anyone else, he overexerted himself a little during training, causing the mark to flare up in pain again. Even if the worst if it had gone down, it was still a little sore, and this was not how he wanted to have a meeting at all. Dumbledore's calculating gaze suddenly turned sharper, and Kakashi was fully aware that the man knew more than he was letting on. At the moment though, Kakashi was still stubborn enough not to kill his pride.

Yet, anyway.

"Yes," said the man, eyes still scanning him. "Yes, unfortunately, and now a new Decree has been passed, and Dolores Umbridge has been named High Inquisitor.

"Now I know the term is unfamiliar to you, as it's not one you're likely to come across in a textbook. Or so I assume. Is this correct?" Reluctantly, Kakashi nodded. "As I thought. Now, a High Inquisitor is one who may inspect others for failings, as well as given the ability to pass more Decrees without running it through the Minister.

"I am powerless to stop this, as my high standing and excellent reputation has fallen as fast as the Ministry's common sense." Now that was unexpected; the entire statement was said with no malice at all. From a man who never received emotional training, the tone was surprisingly well crafted. "Dolores now has the power to inspect my teachers and sack them if she deems necessary, and give the school changes as she sees fit. Simply put, she is given a status only slightly less than my own, and above Minerva's. The Minister is coming very close to make me take a temporarily leave of absence. Which is what we need to discuss."

"Continue, sir," Kakashi said when there was a moment of silence. Dumbledore nodded and sighed wearily.

"As you know, I'm your employer," he said, "the one who signed the contract. In all technicality, this means that if I am forced out, the contract is then broken and you are free to return to Konoha. But I know you're a smart enough boy to figure out how your specific services were offered to me."

Oh, yes, Orochimaru. The man who quite effectively ruined his life.

C'mon, said Obito, that's kinda drastic.

Oh really? How so?

Rin told me you agreed with her last night.

Yeah—well—it isn't—

Aw, my little Kakashi is growing up.

"Excuse me," said Dumbledore politely, causing Obito to abruptly disappear. "I know this dilemma must be a lot to take in, but I would really like you to eat at least a bit of toast after last night, and we're running short on time."

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I just—well, I guess I'm trying to figure how what I'm going to do. You're right, through a technicality I can leave the moment you leave, but like you, Hokage-sama is pretty well aware of my intelligence level and probably won't be too pleased for me to show up before Orochimaru can be killed or at least temporarily neutralized." Think fast, he told himself, even if it was useless because he was trying anyway. "I think I came up with something if you want a contract to stay to make my continuation of the mission official, but I'll let you know now that I'll stay regardless. I'm in too deep now to pull out; I suppose you could say it's against my moral code."

Whoa, talk about babbling.

Obito, please, not now.

Sorry.

Again, Dumbledore nodded, and the pause was perfectly timed for Kakashi's half-second conversation to end. "While I'm very pleased to hear this, I find it in the best interest of both of us for various reasons that we keep this official. Alastor's trust in you is thin, and I believe he would not hesitate is force that technicality." Kakashi's mouth twisted in a scowl. "I'm terribly sorry about that, but I'm not quite sure Alastor trusts anyone at all.

"Anyway, we have temporarily left the topic. I see that this is really the only situation, which means we both came to the same conclusion: we get someone else to co-sign the contract along with my name."

"And I'll co-sign alone with Hokage-sama's," he said, because, yes, it was the same solution. "I'm not actually sure if it's written anywhere that we can do this, but I know that it's not written anywhere that we can't, and I've learned that sometimes exploiting loopholes can be useful and the right action for the mission to succeed at its full potential."

Damn, I taught you well, said Obito, and Kakashi effectively ignored him.

"Oh, excellent," said Dumbledore. "Now, we face the question of who becomes my co-signer. Minerva, of course, is the ideal choice, but as a member of the Hogwarts and my known close friend, she is under as much risk as I am. I believe we should be looking outside the perimeters of Hogwarts. Any preference on your end?"

"Kingsley," he answered instantly, having already thought through the situation. "He's involved in the Ministry, but isn't associated with you and Fudge trusts him. I'd say Remus or Sirius, but one's a convicted conflict and the other also has the possibility of having something done to him if Umbridge manages to get a legislation through. She's the reason he's having such a hard time getting a job, right? Sirius told me that over the summer when they found out she was the teacher."

With another sigh, Dumbledore answered, "And he's right, unfortunately. You make a fair point with Kingsley, though, so I will contact him immediately. Is that everything, or is there something else you wish to discuss?"

He knows about the mark.

Still, he lied. "No, sir. I better be going, though, if I'm going to get that toast."

The man smiled benignly. "Very true. Enjoy your day, then, Kakashi."

He stood and gave a short bow. "You too, sir. Goodbye."

Breakfast time was almost over, and he needed to talk to the three who undoubtedly saw the information just given to him in the Prophet by now. So, when he was outside Dumbledore's door, instead of walking or running, he flew through the hand seals for a Shunshin and reappeared in the empty dormitory. He changed quickly, throwing on a pair of robes and pulling the bandages off his face before tying his forehead protector. Then he went through the hand seals again, ending up in the empty classroom he, Harry, Ron, and Hermione used a week earlier. He slipped outside and entered the Great Hall, coming up quietly behind the—your, said Rin—friends to detract from any attention from anyone else. He slipped into the seat next to Ron, the Daily Prophet laid out in front of Hermione, the article about Umbridge opened.

.

"Oh, this horrible!" she said, turning to him as he sat down. "Umbridge has been declared—"

"The High Inquisitor," finished Kakashi, reaching over and taking some buttered toast. "I know, I just got out of a meeting." Before any of them could ask what took him so long if it was just about the article, he quickly added, "Half of it was just explaining to me what a High Inquisitor was. I hate this whole second language thin—What?"

Unlike Harry and Hermione who seemed absolutely terrified, Ron was grinning broadly. He answered, "Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected. Umbridge won't know what's hit her."

Hermione stood and said, "Well, come on, we'd better get going, if she's inspecting Binns' class we don't want to be late…Kakashi, just eat on the way."

They hurried off to class, but she wasn't there. Instead, like every day, Binns' floated through the blackboard uninterrupted. Honestly, though, he couldn't see how he could get in trouble at all—he was only slightly less boring than she was. About ten minutes into class without the stress of Umbridge there, those three sleepless nights of rigorous training caught up on him and he lay his head down in his arms and promptly fell asleep.