I'd like to thank once again my lovely beta, Karin Kinomoto! Also, in remind people, there are no pairings (no matter what you say), and everything is completely based off the books! I've never seen the Naruto anime, or the Harry Potter and PoA movie, and never ever will.
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The rest of the school returned with much hustle and bustle after the New Years. Oliver Wood starting crying once he saw the Firebolt, and then hugged Itachi frantically proclaiming his eternal love for him, weeping all the more, upon finding out it was because of him Harry could keep it (Harry and Ron had been threatened by the ninja to not bring up that it was because of Hermione that they almost lost it) much to Itachi's irritation. In little more then an hour of their return, the entire school knew of the broom, and the Slytherins were looking even more sullen then normal.
They had returned to classes the next day, and while most sane people dreaded spending time freezing their bums off (as Ron said) outdoors, Hagrid had set up a large bon fire full of salamanders, telling the class to keep the fire large, and they had a fun (safe) class.
Palmistry began in their Divination class, and the Professor promptly saw a quick death for Harry. Itachi attempted to show her his hand, but she oddly refused to read it, making up some excuse that she was too saddened by Harry's to attempt to read again. She never did foretell anything for him, and it made him wonder slightly.
They started Defense Against the Dark Arts class again, with Lupin looking very sickly indeed. Itachi wondered how bad the transformations were to cause such a strain. Harry, after the lesson, set up his anti-Dementor lessons, and Itachi made a mental note to come as well, but remain hidden. Thursdays, eight, History of Magic (which was one of Itachi's favorite lessons, using his zoning skills to their fullest and learning all about bloody wars) class room.
"Still looks ill, doesn't he? What d'you reckon's the matter with him?" Ron said as they walked down the hall, making for the Great Hall.
"Something very... violent." Itachi said in an almost sympathetic way.
Ron and Harry looked disgusted, but Hermione gave him a particular look. He gave her a look himself, eye brows bunching slightly. He motioned her to break off when they boys walked passed an opened and empty classroom, and quickly closed the door behind her.
"How do you know?" He asked, nearly forceful.
"I-I figured it out," She said, blinking at his sudden almost anger. "He's always sick during the full moon, he exhibit's the symptoms listed in our books, and his boggart turns into the moon. I've known since Professor Snape assigned the essay."
Itachi pursed his lips and ran his fingers over his lower lip, thinking of how to work this. "Hermione," he paused slightly, clicking his tongue before catching her eyes again. "You've come to know very sensitive information. Undoubtedly that was Snape's goal, but regardless, you must not tell anyone."
She blinked again, and then gave a half frown. "Hey, how do you know? And why should we keep this from anyone? They have a right to know what our teacher is!"
"I was told when I came here. For me to—" He caught himself before saying, 'be hired' and continued with only a slight pause. "—join this school, the Hokage, my village leader, required to know of all possible dangers. Had Dumbledore-sama hid anything pressing—Including Professor Lupin—my village would have retaliated and it wouldn't have been pretty." He glanced at the door, knowing their absence would have been noticed by then. "Look, I respect Professor Lupin too much to tell people what he is. You have no idea what would come if people—parents—knew what he was. You must promise me you won't tell." When she looked a bit hesitantly he leaned in a bit more. "Promise!"
"...A-alright, I promise. But... are you sure we should?"
"I am certain. There are far more dangerous people in this school, a lot you don't even know about." And I am the worst of all.
Her eyes widened. "Professor Snape?"
"I trust Lupin more then I do him," He avoided answering directly, but she seemed to buy it and they left the classroom, hurrying to the great hall. They brushed off the questions from Harry and Ron, and the boys scowled like they always did when Hermione avoided a question to where she had been, but they scowled even more as Itachi now seemed to know.
Later that week, Harry excused himself from the Common Room for his lesson just before seven thirty. Itachi nodded him off with Ron and Hermione, who looked up from their homework. The Uchiha waited about ten minutes, finishing his paper, before he, too, started to pack up.
"You done?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Yes. I will do my astronomy chart some other time. I will be in my room, meditating. I need to clear my thoughts."
"Alright then. Bye, Itachi." Hermione said, turning back to her work. Ron shrugged and went to work as well.
Itachi walked up the stares, into his room. He closed the door partly, and then went about setting up his futon as his habit for meditating. But he didn't sit down, instead summoning a regular Bunshin (to conserve energy). His clone looked at him a moment, before sitting down on the futon, closing his eyes and taking up the mediating stance. As long as no one tried to touch him, he was in the clear.
He made several hand seals, and then transformed into Kneazle-Sasuke. The real Kneazle-Sasuke, who was sitting on the ledge, stared at him, but didn't otherwise react.
Kneazle-Itachi walked through the door and then dodged between people's legs as he went through the crowded common room. He made his way to the door, mowing loudly as he rubbed against the door. Eventually a second year, who had been playing Gobstones, opened the port for him. Once he was out and down the hall, he dropped the henge and ran stealthily down the hall, without a single sound. He had appeared at the History of magic Hallway just as Harry reached the classroom.
Itachi snuck into the room after activating a jutsu he copied from a Stone Ninja. "Ninpou! Meisai-Gamure no jutsu!" (Camouflage Concealment) He whispered, his chakra forming around him so he blended perfectly in with the walls, paintings, and everything else. Utilizing his keen speed, he bolted into the room along with Harry, stealthily against the wall next to the door in the dark room without the other boy's notice. He hid himself into a corner without making a single sound, watching as Harry lit the lamps with his wand before sitting at a chair, waiting for Lupin.
And it wasn't long before the man walked in with a large crate. Upon being asked, Lupin explained. "Another Boggart." Itachi paled, and nearly dropped the illusion, but he saved it before he could be revealed. He would just stay here, in the corner, and the thing wouldn't come to him... Right? His mind suddenly clicked, and he nearly smiled. Boggarts reacted to humans. Itachi smirked and transformed.
He perfected turning into an animal shortly after McGonagall showed them it. He had asked a few questions, and found that the technique turned the user into an animal most like them, so he probably wouldn't have turned into a cat of he attempted to.
So now, Itachi the pure white (currently invisible) weasel was now where Itachi the (invisible) human once was. The Uchiha almost rolled his eyes predictably at the transformation. Itachi was weasel in Japanese, his ANBU mask was a weasel, and now Animagi-ed into one. The most unique things were the three tomoe situated evenly around each eye, in the white fur, if he activated his sharingan (it also made his eyes turn red like an albino). He couldn't use any chakra as an animal (no hand seals), but anything done before wouldn't drop unless he willed it.
So now, Invisible Weasel Itachi crouched in a corner, his red eyes never leaving the form of Harry.
As the Boggart-Dementor approached his charge, Itachi could tell it was feeding off the air, but he couldn't feel it. At all. And he wasn't even trying. He expended to feel at least a little bite of the sickening cold air, but... The weasel blinked, filing away the information.
He watched the situation, Harry indeed paling and fainting as the Dementor approached, then Lupin warding it off back into the box as it turned into the moon again. Shifting on his paws, Invisible Weasel Itachi licked his lips absently, looking at Lupin slapping the face of the boy after another failed attempt. The boy awoke and started tearing as he told what he heard, brushing them off as sweat. But, he admired the boy's determination that seemed so lacking in this place. Very few people here seemed to want to continue something if it hurt them, even if the benefit was large. Soon, after a third successful (ish) attempt, Harry and Lupin talked a bit before Harry left.
Itachi dropped his invisibility and crawled up onto the desk near Lupin, acting like the weasel he resembled.
"Oh, hello there." Lupin paused before turning out the last light, smiling as Itachi sniffed something on the desk for a bit before sitting on his haunches, sniffing the air near the man. "Sorry we caused such a bother—ah!" He jumped back a foot as Itachi suddenly morphed back into his human form, like a tree growing very quickly, his feet dangling off the edge of the desk, red sharingan giving off an eerie glow in the dim light.
"Hello, Professor Lupin." He said simply, eyes ever watching. "I'm letting you know that I will be sitting in on your lessons—of course. However, I will be undetectable in my weasel form so the boggart will not catch onto me."
"Oh... Oh, yes. Just don't scare me like that." The man said, clutching at his heart, gulping down air, before his eyebrows suddenly bunched slightly. "You're an Animagi?"
"Yes, I copied the ability," He tapped next to his eye, showing what he meant, "Off of Professor McGonagall when she gave a lesson on them the first day back." He slid off the desk and walked to the door, pausing before turning back. "Oh, I would also like to warn you."
"Warn me?" The man asked, looking apprehensive.
"Yes. You see, Hermione Granger has figured out you're a werewolf. I have already made her promise not to do anything, and I believe she will follow my advice. But you should be more careful." He made a few seals, re-adopting the invisibility jutsu, and faded from sight.
Just to freak him out again. ...What? Everyone has their quirks.
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He was going to kill Wood. A slow, painful, agonizing death that stretched on an on, preferably with a few genjutsu terrifying the older boy even more. Just because some team beat the other does NOT mean he enjoyed being in the air five nights a week.
But as him and his team were finishing their work one of the evenings Harry had off, Ron suddenly questioned Hermione (who had the largest homework load of them all, and was showing the strain) on how on earth was she able to get to all her classes. Hermione ducked behind her pile of books and brushed off the question.
"I know," Itachi said. Hermione gave him a horrified look, which he ignored. Ron and Harry keyed in, listening intently.
With a perfectly serious expression, he leaned in dramatically as if to avoid eaves droppers. "Magic." He whispered.
The boys suddenly scowled and Hermione looked relieved. "If she could tell us," He waved off Ron, who began to tell him off for pulling his leg. "Then she would. However, since she hasn't, then we aren't to know, whether by her choice or another's."
"She should tell us, we're her friends!"
"Don't be a prat," Itachi cut him off, focusing on his potions essay. "Even close friends keep some secrets from each other. And, again, it may not be by her choice. Maybe there's a law, maybe whatever thing she does would be broken if someone found out. Who knows? However, what I do know is that it doesn't affect us at all, so we shouldn't poke our noses into it."
It wasn't five minutes more before Wood came up, "Oliver," He cut him off before he could speak, "If you break Harry from his homework—again—then I'll find your Quidditch clothes, shred them, and then force them down your throat! I understand you want to win. But if you over work a horse you kill it. And if you kill Harry, I'll kill you, and you'll never be able to play Quidditch again!" He looked up from his paper, glaring at the older boy. He was sick and tired of this man's obsession! Wisely, Wood muttered an excuse and wandered off.
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The month faded into February with no let up in the snowy weather. Having been used to a far warmer place, Itachi was commonly bundled up in his wool over cloak, scarf, and even the Konoha sweater with the decorative puffs Mrs. Weasley had kitted for him over his normal outfit, and had to ignore the teasing comments that came with it. However, despite it all, he still wore his ninja shoes to the astonishment of everyone.
In one of Harry's Dementor lessons, Itachi learned more about the creatures. But upon hearing Lupin ask if anyone deserved to have their souls extracted, he was shocked when a thought unbidden came to him. 'I do.' It said. Violently he shook his head to dislodge that thought. He settled down again to continue to observe, shifting on his paws to get the circulation back, but still unnerved at how easily that reply had come. Why would he think that? He was ANBU, a tool. A tool is not responsible for the death it causes, and surely would not wish its soul sucked out for it. Why would he think that?
Soon Harry left, and Lupin opened the door for him to scurry out like usual. He transformed into his human form and ran, passing by Harry without the boys notice. For this session, he had left earlier then Harry, saying he was going to visit Hagrid. So now, he was waiting a few feet away, at an intersession. "Harry, you're finished with your lesson?" He asked as the other boy approached.
Harry jumped and looked up before realizing the question and nodding to him. "Yeah..." He looked back at the ground nervously as they walked together. "Hey, remember the night at the Three Broomsticks?" He asked after they had passed a few classroom doors.
"Yes, I remember."
"Do you think... that Black deserves the Dementor's Kiss?" They stopped walking and Harry hastily explained it, though Itachi had already known. This habit had come around the end of November, in all the members of Team Six, asking him what he thought on any given situation. He supposed it was only a natural reaction, and they didn't even realize they were doing it, that they wanted to pass their decisions under a more powerful, wiser entity. The same thing happened in real genin teams, the genin asking the jounin instructor.
Itachi looked up, eyeing the ceiling while touching his lower lip as his habit when he thought seriously. He honestly hadn't thought about it, after the shock of his own secret admission. "Hm..." Did he think Black, in all the information given to him, deserve it? "No. I don't."
Harry looked at him, eyes wide, a spark of anger behind them. "What? Why not?!"
"It's not because the situation is not worthy, Harry. You asked my opinion, and I gave it to you. My reasonings are my own." Harry glared at him, but he passively returned it, daring him to challenge his decision. But Harry didn't, and they continued walking, but this time in almost tense air.
They came upon Neville, who was pleading with Sir Cadogan, effectively drawing Harry from his dark thoughts.
"I wrote them down! But I must've dropped them somewhere!"
"You lost your passwords?" Itachi frowned slightly, and Neville drew back from the look.
"I don't know where they went! I'd made certain to keep the best track of them as I could, but they just disappeared!" He cried piteously.
"Good even, my fine young yeomen!" The Knight said, recognizing his supposed allies. "Come clap this loon in irons. He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"
"Oddsbodkins." Itachi said lazily, and the portrait swung open a bit reluctantly. He turned to Neville as the boy crawled in after him, and he took them off to the side. "Did you at least protect the words with a concealment spell?"
Neville shook his head miserably. "Please don't kill me, Itachi-san!" As they were always paired off in potions, Itachi had decided to start teaching the boy Japanese, so he could discuss things with him without Snape knowing what it was. Surprisingly, he had taken to it quite well.
"Don't worry, I'm not mad with you." He sighed at the dramatics. He never even raised his voice to the boy. "Look, I'll help you find them. Where was the last time you remember them? Start with yesterday, and work your way through the day."
"Well..." He said, his face scrunching in concentration and looking past Itachi's left knee blankly. "I woke up, got dressed and took the sheet from my night table, placed them into my pocket."
"Which one?"
"This one," He patted the one on his left side, not moving his gaze. "I don't use it very much, so it wouldn't've fallen out accidentally."
"Very good."
Neville flashed him a smile before dropping his gaze again. "And then I used them to get in during lunch—to drop off some books—and then I didn't need to use them to get in after dinner, because I came in with Dean. At night, I took out the sheet, put it on my nightstand, and went to sleep. And then I woke up got dressed and left..." His eyes widened. "They're probably still in my room!"
Itachi nodded, and then followed him as he scampered into their dorm room. But, to the rounder boy's displeasure, the note was not there. "But they were right here...!" He cried, searching around his night table.
The ANBU approached, black eyes flicking around. Something was off, his senses told him so. Hm, he's going to have to be on alert until the paper shows up again, or something happens. If anything, it would happen within the next week, before the bloody knight finally rotated out of the passwords. And, he could gain some information as well if something were to occur. Neville dejectedly left the room, absently turning off the lights as if he forgot the silent body that stood and stared at his nightstand intently.
"Sasuke," Itachi said, and soon his Kneazle came yowling up to him, rubbing onto his legs. He picked her up, petting her in a, what would be lovingly way, if it had been anyone but him. "Sasuke, do you know if someone strange was in the room?"
Kneazle-Sasuke just purred. "No?" She mewed, looking up to him as he held her before him so he could look into her slitted eyes. "Hm,"
Itachi brought her to his chest and continued to pet her, walking towards the door, glancing at the cage that sat next to Ron's bed, on Harry's side. His eyes glinted in the darkness as he paused slightly, before he turned and left the room.
"Ron," He said as he walked to them. Hermione had finally been convinced to let them help relieve her work load, as she was starting to look similar to Lupin from the strain, so Ron was currently looking up dates for her Muggles class.
"Yeah?"
"Your rat's gone."
"WHAT?!" Ron shouted, jumping up and storming up the stairs.
Itachi, still petting his cat-creature (who would remain a kitten for about a year before maturing, living about twenty five years on average) that was attacking his unmoving hand playfully, calmly sat down in the vacated seat as Ron's agonized yell echoed through the room.
"ITACHI!" He surprisingly called, stomping down the steps. He was carrying his cage, its metal door flapping with his movements, still open.
"Yes?" Itachi said impassively.
"YOUR CAT ATE MY RAT!"
"Does this look like it'd kill anything?" He held up the still purring Kneazle-Sasuke, a contently happy expression on her face despite her hind legs hanging freely as he lightly gripped her chest, her tail twitching in playfulness.
"YES!"
Itachi drew her back, shrugging. "Prove she did it then. How do you know he didn't just escape?"
"LOOK, RIGHT THERE!! BLOOD!!" Indeed, there was a smattering of dried blood on the torn Newsprint Ron used as rat litter. "YOUR CAT HAS ALWAYS GOT IT OUT FOR MY RAT! EVEN WORSE THEN HERMIONE'S!"
Itachi tilted his head to the side, ever so slightly. "Have you ever thought there was a reason for that?"
"W-what?" Ron sputtered, taken back by the sudden question.
"Kneazles are amazingly smart creatures. They don't often take to wizards or witches, but make perfect pets when they do."
"This isn't a time for a Magical Creature lesson, Itachi!"
"Not only do they lead their owners to home if they become lost," Itachi continued, looking at Ron evenly. "But they have an uncanny ability to detect untrustworthy characters." His eyes hardened, "The fact that Neville's passwords disappeared around the same time Scabbers did is highly suspicious."
"There was NOTHING WRONG WITH SCABBERS!" Ron shouted, slamming the cage onto the table. "Let's see if you like it when your pet gets killed!" He made to violently grab Kneazle-Sasuke, but before he could reach her, his hand was suddenly twisted away, forcing him to bend backwards to keep his arm from breaking, pain bursting up his limb.
"Do not touch my pet," Itachi said icily, exerting a little more force, bending Ron back even more as the temperature around him seemingly dropped ten degrees. Still stroking the purring Kneazle, he didn't let go despite the cries of pain Ron was whimpering through clenched teeth. The entire room quieted and stilled, reacting subconsciously to the chilling almost anger Itachi was projecting and did not move to help Ron. "No matter how smart Sasuke is, she is still incapable of opening that cage. The last person who opened that cage was you. If you forgot to close it again, it's your own fault Scabbers was eaten. I did warn you. And it could have been a number of cats. Sasuke is also still too young to eat a fully grown rat if she even did kill him, but Kneazles would never allow another cat to eat their kill. If it was her fault, your pet is most likely decaying somewhere in the dorm room. In a few days, it won't be hard to find. However, if no body shows up, then you have no ground to stand on. Scabbers would have to be alive somewhere, or in the belly of another cat. Regardless, Sasuke will be completely innocent either way."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Percy came up finally as the deadly air left. "Knock it off you two, no fighting! Itachi, let him go!"
Itachi did so, and Ron crouched over his arm, holding it tightly to himself. "We weren't fighting, we were discussing." Itachi said in his calm voice, completely unruffled.
"You nearly broke my arm, you asshole!" Ron shouted, glaring daggers, still clutching at his arm.
Itachi turned to him, "You were going to attack my Kneazle. I stopped you. If I had wanted to break your arm, I would have."
Ron glared before turning and bolting up the staircase.
"Itachi, I'm going to have to report you for this." Percy said warningly, puffing up in a would-be imposing way.
But Itachi was still unaffected. "By all means. I do not regret my actions."
Put off by his indifference, the Headboy walked away, out the porthole door. The common room—who had watched the exchange from the first time Ron shouted—was abnormally silent and still, but bit by bit the noise returned, small murmurings at first, but then eventually back to it's normal dull roar.
"Itachi, why'd you do that?" Hermione said, looking very confused and torn.
"Why'd you hurt Ron like that? You could have just deflected him!" Harry said, giving a glare on behalf of his friend. They knew Itachi could fight very well, if one judged the way he handled the (now single three X per class, with two before hand preparing with information) beasts from Care of Magical Creatures class.
"If I had just knocked his hand out of line, or if I had held Sasuke out of reach, a fight would have broken out between myself and him, which wouldn't have ended well." He said, leaning into the high back of his chair as he closed his eyes. "He was blinded by his anger and loss. He was surely going to continue to assault Sasuke if I had not forced him to listen to my explanation. His arm will only be soar and have a thumb sized bruise in the morning. His ego will be worse."
"You know—you're a real jerk sometimes." Harry said, gathering his things before going up to the dorm room as well.
Itachi watched calmly, his eyes glinting slightly from the fire they sat next to. He rested his elbows on the arm rests and brought up his interlocked extended fingers under his nose, foot twitching slightly.
"I think you did the best option, Itachi." Hermione said quietly, quill pausing over her complex looking Arithmancy chart she had. "I know how Ron can get. And... Well, it was better then you two fighting."
"Hn," He said, looking at his now dozing, oblivious kitten. Just like Sasuke.
"Itachi, come with me." Percy came up again, placing a hand on his shoulder as if to make sure Itachi wouldn't flee. "McGonagall wants to speak with you. Now."
Itachi looked at him, then at the hand, then back at him. Percy removed his hand quickly. "Very well. Excuse me, Hermione."
He felt all the eyes on him, but he just continued walking behind Percy blankly, almost bored, out the Portrait hole. The walk was silent except for Kneazle-Sasuke's purring and the Headboy's footsteps. They made their way to a room he'd never been to before, and upon opening it, he found out why.
"Leave us," Professor McGonagall said immediately from her position at the table. She sat with nothing but her sleeping gown. Some papers were on her table—obviously she was grading them—and was the only mess around the bland brown and white themed bedroom with a small, simple kitchen.
"Yes, Professor." Percy said, following her order and walked out side, closing the door behind him.
McGonagall—her eyes all the more beady at the late hour—looked up and waved her wand at the door, after muttering something under her breath. Itachi assumed it was to block noise because the next thing she did was yell at him.
"What are you, a complete idiot?!" She glared at him, but he had had worse before. She called him quite a few names he never would have guessed she'd know, but he took it all in stride. Eventually, she got around to the topic at hand. "What were you thinking, doing that to Ron? You had no right! Dumbledore hired you to protect, not harm, the students! Explain yourself, before I throw you out of this school myself you insolent whelp!"
"Ronald's rat had escaped from his cage. He, upon seeing some blood in the litter, assumed my Kneazle, Sasuke," He held up the kitten, which mewed as if on cue. "Had eaten his rat. My pet and his have never gotten along, but given the facts of the situation, I knew Sasuke not to be responsible. Ron thought otherwise, and made to harm her. I grabbed his wrist and twisted it—there will be a thumb bruise there by tomorrow at his wrist's joint—out of the way and then explained to him why I thought what I thought. I believe that had I not stopped it, a fight would have been the result."
She stared at him for a long moment, trying to see if he was telling a lie but he gave away nothing, not a single hint to if he was lying, and of course he wasn't, and she realized that. He also realized his lack of overt denial was something new to her, something she didn't quite know how to work against, as she had dealt with mainly students who never felt they were in the wrong. She finally shifted, dropping her gaze to her papers. "Very well. Nothing will come of this here. Ronald was wrong to try to hurt your Kneazle, but if I ever so much as hear a rumor that you've hurt another one of my students, I'll send you packing so quick it will make your head spin. A letter will be sent to your leader about this."
"Understood." He bowed at the waist before he turned and left, leaving her to her paper work.
Itachi made his way back to the common room, deep in thought. The most logical reason he had not been given detention or other punishment was because of Harry. If he was in detention, then how could he guard the boy? But that wasn't what he was thinking about, instead something related. Why had he reacted the way he had?
It had been a while since he became possessive, especially over anything but his brother (who he guarded like a dragon over its eggs). Kakashi-sempai was right, this place was changing him. Itachi stopped, and looked out the window he was next to. The moon's light lit up the grounds, giving everything an unearthly glow. From his vantage point, he could see the Whomping Willow and the very edge of the lake, and both were as still as stone. He sighed, a long slow breath.
The question was, did he want to change or not?
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MDF: Itachi really likes his pet Kneazle. ...I want a kitten now. D: