I ran into an effing pole today in my bug. My engine wasn't even on, and the stupid damn pole came out better then my car! It was just at the beginning of Break, and I was leaving my auto-shop II class. As my teacher's car was right infront of me, I didn't want to risk running into him and loosing my precious A. So I put my car in neutral, and allowed it to roll out, advoiding the fense. Or so I though, as I ended up denting a foot or so deeply into the front fender. Now I'll have to get a hammer, and one, two, or five same-color nail polish for my car.

My car hates me, I just know it.

XXXXX

At dinner, all the team could discuss, in hushed whispers, was what Trelawney had said, and what it could mean. Hermione scoffed it off, and even Ron was questionable as well. But while Harry shrugged it off by the time dinner was over, Itachi still didn't let down his guard. From his encounter with his own prediction that Shisui would betray him and almost kill him, he learned to never disregard one no matter how frivolous it seemed. They made it to the common room, and Itachi told Sasuke to study from one of the scrolls the elder remaining Uchiha had written up for him. Scowling lightly, but obeying, Sasuke tromped up into the room to do just that. Itachi settled in a chair and listened to the conversation while he watched the room around them.

"Hey, what was Fudge doing here?"

"Yeah, and why did he go to Hagrid's?"

"Want to find out?"

"Oh, but Harry, you're not allowed—no one is—out after dark."

"Well, we can use the invisibility cloak."

"Still I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, Hermione! What's the worst that can happen? We have a dude that took on a dragon by himself without a wand and lived." Ron rolled his eyes. "Black is not worse then Norbert."

"Well..." She hesitated, but sighed in defeat when she caught the pointed looks directed to her. "Fine then."

Itachi didn't say anything one way or the other, just following them out the porthole without a single word.

They struggled under the cloak together; having to move especially slowly with Itachi's added mass. Itachi muttered to them how to step more quietly, and they followed his advice so they were walking in near complete silence to his pleasure and pride.

Soon they were at Hagrid's hut with no one the wiser. Silently, Itachi told them to wait for him as he sneaked to the window, peering in to see Hagrid all alone. At his motion, they knocked, and he joined them again.

"Hagrid, let us in!" Harry hissed, "We're using the invisibility cloak!"

Hagrid opened the door, and let them in. "What're yeh doin' here?" He asked, watching as they pulled off the cloak.

Itachi sat at a chair after petting the large boarhound, listening absently to the conversation about how Fudge was to see Hagrid about the Lethifold. Apparently, like many of his creatures, he wasn't supposed to have it, but this time the ministry somehow found out about it. Fudge hadn't said anything final, saying he just was shocked to see one captured, but to not get rid of it before it was assessed. He had come to Hogwarts himself—so he said—to check up on the 'Black' incident as well.

Just as Hermione said she was going to make some tea, Kneazle-Sasuke appeared in the window, catching the ninja's attention.

"Meow!" She called in her most frantic voice, one Itachi only heard once before when he lay dying, looking at him then behind her and back at him before darting off again. His eyes wide, he stood up and instantly dashed after her, leaving the door open in his wake and the confused calls of his team. Hagrid could protect Harry when he was gone, checking whatever she wanted out.

Running easily behind her, she bound straight into the castle, twisting and turning in the halls. They went as fast as the small cat could go, but Itachi was nearly snarling at the slow pace. Of course, as the destination came clear, he pushed every emotion away—a ninja does not bring feelings into battle.

He burst into the Gryffindor common room, barely giving the people time to register him as he zipped by, up into his dorm, robe billowing in his wake.

Kneazle-Sasuke darted into the dorm room before suddenly slowing to a normal, careless pace. There was nothing wrong, everything was just as it was supposed to be. Itachi looked at her, completely confused, as she lazily hopped to his still put away futon, purring as she settled down.

"Older brother?" Sasuke asked from his position against the wall, the scroll on his lap.

"..." Itachi activated his sharingan, but the creature who was cleaning her paws across from him was, indeed, the same Kneazle he got from Hagrid so many months ago. He sighed as he deactivated his blood limit, sitting down on Ron's bed, rubbing his palm into his forehead.

He was too paranoid. He had been so jumpy from the prediction Harry received that Kneazle-Sasuke had successfully played a prank on him, no doubt inspired by two certain red heads. "You're spending too much time with Fred and George," He told her, slightly exasperated and partly amused. Kneazles were amazingly smart creatures.

"Am I missing something?" Sasuke asked confused expression on his face.

"Nothing, Sasuke." He laid back onto the raised bed, feeling the adrenalin drain from his limbs. He had wasted over twenty minutes running after a playful Kneazle, leaving his charge and his friends in the care of an abnormally large man.

Forcing himself up, he glanced out the window from habit, but something caught his eye before he looked away. Quickly, he went to Harry's window for a better vantage point, and saw Harry and Hermione disappearing under trunk of the frozen Whomping willow.

He was just about to dash out when the flash of his last battle flashed through his mind, of the injuries he sustained that would have been avoided had he worn proper ninja attire. Ninja rule number two, always be prepared. To Sasuke's growing confusion, he quickly opened his trunk and retrieved his bone white ANBU uniform and adorned it after shucking off his school clothes. There was nothing he wasn't going to be prepared for.

"Older brother!" Sasuke said angrily, pulling off the pants that had been carelessly thrown on him. "What's going on!" First he was in battle mode, then he was careless, and now he's freaking out again!

"Sasuke, I need you to help me with something." Itachi said, hurriedly strapping on the armor with surprising quickness.

Sasuke's face drained slightly of color, watching his brother change into his battle gear. "What?"

He slid the mask over his face and turned to the gloves, binding on the bone white protective plates. "Take me out of the common room, into the hall." With that, he turned into the white weasel, bounding to the surprised Sasuke.

Knowing the seriousness of the situation, as Itachi would never idly wear his full uniform, Sasuke picked up the furry creature and hid it in his robes, hurrying down the hallway into the common room. People gave him a parting glance, too busy in their celebrating of the exams being over to care if the silent child was there or not.

Sasuke went to the porthole and opened it, letting the weasel drop to the ground below, wishing him a small good luck before going back into the room.

Itachi turned back into his human state, running at a light pace down the hall. He just glanced out a window on the fifth floor when a figure moving caught his attention. Professor Lupin was making his way to the Whomping willow, causing Itachi to frown slightly before resuming his journey.

Passing by a startled Snape holding a steaming goblet, he ran down to the entrance hall and left the building, dashing across the twighlight field to where the tree was, no Lupin in sight. Itachi activated his sharingan, approaching the motionless tree at a quick pass to sneak by it, but he suddenly had to jump out of the way as a branch swung where he was once. He attempted to dive for the base again, but no success. Mind racing, he thought back to what he saw in the dorm. Somehow, his team made the tree freeze. Lupin, the sickly man he was, couldn't have dodged the branches that strained to reach the ANBU. Hm. He stood just out of harms reach, eyes watching the tree wearily, before slowly making his way around the violent plant. There appeared to be a large hole at the trunk in this spot. His mind suddenly came up with that thought that if he was smaller, the tree probably wouldn't be able to get him. So, once again a white weasel bloomed into existence, and darted under and around the tree's swinging branches. With a flick of his tail, he vanished down into the hole.

Finding himself in a darkened earthy shoot, very much like the pathway to Honeydukes, he turned back into an human and jogged along the dark path, keeping his senses alert for traps or signs of struggle. There was fresh blood in the air, he could smell it, and it made his heart quicken just a bit, but he pushed the anger down at smelling it—his team had not come willingly—and cleared his mind. Emotions served no purpose, they were harmful luxury, a luxury shinobi cannot afford to have. He was ANBU, he had no emotions, he only had his mission.

He had caught up to Lupin by the time the tunnel revealed a trapdoor to the bottom of a house, silently moving behind him, up the stairs where murmurs were, all of which he recognized.

"We're up here!" He heard Hermione scream, though it was muffled slightly. "We're up here—Sirius Black—Quick!"

Following unnoticed, he ducked behind the wall next to the door in the hall as Lupin burst into the room, and then surprisingly collect all the wands with a charm. Instincts telling him to wait and not attack, he did, listening to the conversation. "Where is he, Sirius?" He asked, tenseness clear in his voice.

In the silence that followed, Itachi slipped in completely unnoticed, using every stealth skill he knew, and then hiding in the shadows in the opposite corner where the door was located, away from everyone. He watched through his weasel mask as Black pointed a bony hand to Ron, who was clutching at a badly broken leg, not saying a word. It was then Itachi noticed the familiar lump in the boy's chest, quivering slightly in the pocket.

"But then..." Lupin stared at the convict for a long moment. "...why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless—" Lupin's eyes widened impossibly, "Unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"

Itachi's mind placed the final piece into the puzzle, and he looked at the completed scene as everything he had gathered until now fell into its correct spot. Black was not the Potters Secret Keeper, their friend Peter Pettigrew was and had betrayed them, faking his own death and cutting off his finger while blasting behind him. Peter was really Scabbers as well, and Ron had found him while at Hagrid's, hiding out. Very clever for a civilian.

"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "What's going on—?" And Itachi decided to make his presence known, before the situation spiraled out of (his) control.

He stepped from the shadows into the faint light, knowing his mask was grinning twistedly at all the people in the room.

Hermione shrieked in shock and jumped back, Harry jerked, eyes snapping to him. Ron's mouth openly gaped at him, eyes impossibly wide.

Lupin, realizing who it had to be (also recognizing the same outfit from Shisui, as the horrible scene was engraved into his mind) paled, but Black stared hard at him from his position on the ground, eyeing him apprehensively, having no clue about him.

He simply cocked his masked face slightly, his arms clasped behind his back, not saying anything into the dead silence around him.

"Q-quick!" Harry stuttered first, pointing to Black. "Guard, get him! He's Sirius Black! He's the one you've been searching for!"

Itachi looked at him, face just as emotionless as the carved porcelain. "No. I take out threats, and I see no threat here."

"It... It... It..." Hermione was stuttering, still looking at him. He turned to her, everyone did, as she pointed a shaking finger at him. "It...tachi?"

Itachi smiled behind his mask. "Recognized my voice?"

She nodded dumbly, still shocked, "N-no one else has sh-shoes like that, e-either. I've been thinking it f-for a while now, since you pulled me aside about Professor Lupin, but this just confirms it."

He chuckled lightly, amusement in his voice. "Clever as always, Hermione."

"Whoa! No way! You're the guard person that's been tracking Black! You can't be Itachi!" Ron said, confusion mixing with anger and shock.

Slowly, Itachi slid the mask back, revealing his face and twirling sharingan.

Of course, not only Team Six gasped, but Sirius as well. "Y-you again!" He gaped, crawling back in his spot, to get away from him.

"You're lucky that I didn't see you on Hogwart's soil." He said calmly, looking down at the squirming man emotionlessly. "After your second break in, I was ordered to kill on sight."

"No!" Harry said, looking back and forth between the two. "No! You can't be Itachi! Itachi wouldn't allow for us to get killed! Black tried to kill Ron! If Itachi was here, he'd save us!"

"I already said, I take out threats. I see no threats here."

"THAT MAN KILLED MY MUM AND DAD! AND NOW HE'S HERE TO FINISH THE JOB! HOW IS HE NOT A THREAT?"

"No he didn't." Itachi moved his gaze to the thoroughly shocked one of Lupin. "It was that last sentence that made it all click, but I had had an inkling for a while now." He moved his gaze to Black, "Which is why I didn't kill you when I first caught you."

"Why do you keep saying that!" Ron snapped suddenly, pointing at him and glaring. "'Kill this, kill that!' You're only thirteen!"

Silence followed, all expectantly waiting for the answer. "...Have you ever wondered what ANBU meant, Ronald?" He looked deeply into the eyes of the other boy, "It's actually an abbreviation; Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai—"

"Assassination Tactics Special Squad," Black muttered, finishing his description for him.

"Ah, you remembered." He didn't even glance at the man. "You see, the truth is, I really am ANBU, and a captain at that. ANBU is not a level of schooling; ANBU is a profession. I had been hired by Dumbledore to protect the student body from threats, and in particular," He turned to face Harry, his appearance nor voice breaking its emotionless state. "One Harry Potter."

"Y... you mean... all this time...?"

"That I was undercover? Yes. I was placed near you at all points in time. The drawing was fixed. I joined all your classes, I followed you everywhere, I protected you from falling to your death—I was even forced to join the Quidditch team to guard you during those late night practices, despite the fact I hate flying, because to disappear suddenly with every one of those would have been suspicious."

"I thought you were our friend!" Harry shouted, glaring.

"ANBU have no friends. Friends are connections." He tilted his head to the side, sensing something approaching. "Connections can be killed, and in an ANBU's life, that is too much risk."

"W...what about your brother?" Hermione whimpered from her spot.

Itachi paused slightly, something flashing behind his eyes as he looked at the ground. "My brother... Is a connection I cannot sever. He has already cost me greatly," He spoke quietly, but it rang clear through the room. "There was no dragon. Shisui, my best friend in the whole world, came to kill me and my brother. To save Sasuke's life, I killed Shisui, and gained these." He raised his eyes, and the Mangekyou Sharingan looked at the other kids to their shock.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and all heads turned towards it. Lupin went to check, and muttered that no one was there.

"This place is haunted!" Ron groaned from his position.

Itachi reached behind him and pulled out a senbon. "I sense... A threat." He hissed and disappeared from sight. He suddenly appeared in front of the wall next to the door and seemingly upper-cutted the air. But a very loud oof was heard, and then Itachi moved to the side snapping his arm down onto something that then caused a very loud thump on the ground from the second hit.

Quickly reaching down and yanking off the cloak to fling it carelessly behind him, Itachi clutched at the senbon and plunged it down into the neck of the newly reveled Snape.

Hermione screamed a frantic scream and scuttled away, everyone did, but Itachi just stood there looking at the now still teacher and sent a look her way, "He's not dead. The only person I've been ordered—allowed—to kill is Sirius, and then only on Hogwarts grounds. Now shut up."

"B-bu-bu-but...! Y-you stabbed a teacher...!"

"I answer only to Dumbledore, and if I wanted to kill him, I wouldn't stab him with a senbon." He scoffed and crouched down, pointing to where the new wound bled slightly, finally deactivating his eyes. "There are two points on a human's neck that can be stabbed and not kill the person. One spot plunges the person into a deathlike trance that will cause them to be completely paralyzed for a few minutes, their heart stopped, giving all the symptoms of someone truly dead, and afterwards it will take about a week to fully recover from. The other makes them faint until it's removed or the body naturally overcomes the needle. I activated the first one." He yanked out the thin needle, wiping it off on the robe of Snape before putting it back into his pouch. He rolled over the seemingly lifeless teacher, hands running up and down his body until he found his wand. He stood effortlessly and handed the stick to the shocked Sirius.

"Y-you're in leagues with Black!" Harry sputtered, causing Itachi's eyes to narrow in irritation.

"Have you listened to anything I just said?" He looked to Lupin, who was looking quite helpless. "Why don't you explain things from your side? That might help with this situation."

Itachi turned to look at Ron, who was looking not very well. He made his way over to the bed, but Ron suddenly called out as he attempted to drag himself away feebly, "Get away from me!"

"No." Itachi positioned himself kneeling on the bed, but then had to grab the fist that weakly came his way. He looked sharply at the slightly green boy, "If I don't treat this leg, you could die. Now lay down, you stupid git." With a final glare, he let go of the hand and turned to fully assess the leg. It was a sharp break, but it wasn't splintered, so it would be easier to heal. After using a kunai to cut off the pant leg from just above the knee down, Itachi found the jutsu he needed—copied when he himself broke his arm a few years ago—made the appropriate seals, and his hands were encased in green chakra. He absently listened to Lupin as he placed his hands around the mangled leg, letting the healing energy flow into it, stopping the blood and muting the pain somewhat. He was no medic-nin, but all ANBU captains were required to know, and have the ability to do, a handful of healing jutsu.

While the boy was distracted by the fact his Defense against the Dark Arts teacher was a Dark Creature himself, he easily jerked the bone back into alignment with a loud crack. "Ahhh!!" Ron screamed, sitting up quickly and clutching at the leg.

"Quiet; it wasn't that bad, now lay back down and be still."

Ron ignored him. "How the hell would you know?!"

"How do you think I learned this ability? I had it done to me. Lay still!" He forced Ron back down, resuming his attentions on the injury.

As soon as Lupin and Sirius got to the point of telling the children of Peter, said rat scrambled out of Ron's pocket and made a mad dash across the bed. However, with a flash of movement, Itachi had drawn out his senbon again and stabbed the excess skin, caused by the quick loss of a lot of weight, belonging to the rodent, effectively pinning him to the bed.

"Scabbers!" Ron yelled as the terrified squeals of pain erupted from the animal, and it was unable to squirm back and chew itself free from the positioning.

"I never did like the rat. And for the last time, lay still!"

The conversation progressed quickly after that, with Lupin explaining his werewolf-hood, then Black explained things about the whole Secret Keeper issue and such (How both Crookshanks and Kneazle-Sasuke helped him; Sasuke for the kunai, Crookshanks for the passwords), and then rat was lifted by in a firm grip a short while later, the senbon pulled out. Itachi, by that time, had finished with Ron's leg, and bound it quickly with some wrappings from his standard ANBU pack so it wouldn't be overly jostled while settling from the healing. Snape had also awakened by that time with a large gasp, and while he struggled to move, Itachi quickly tied and gagged him.

The rat was held tightly in Itachi's grip, who was heedless to how the bleeding creature sank it's teeth and claws into his hand, and then Lupin and Sirius pointed the wands in the direction of the rat and it was forced to grow very suddenly like a tree—a very ugly tree. Itachi didn't allow the man to get his bearings before a kunai was placed at his neck and his arm was twisted behind his back and pinned him to the ground with his own body. "You don't speak truthfully I will kill you," He said coolly into the man's ear. "If you try to escape, I will let Sirius kill you."

Soon the squeaky man was singing like a bird, but not without a little prompt. Every time he told a lie, or a half truth, Itachi would cut a little deeper into the flesh of his throat. The precision with which he held the danger, not allowing it to go too deep but controlling exactly how he wished it against the man's throat, unnerved all those who noticed.

But that small wound wasn't enough to deter Black's lust for Peter's death. After everything was said and done, Itachi noticed the gleam in his eye reach a breaking point. "Wait," He said to him, using his knee to pin the rat-man to the ground. He made a few seals, and soon there was a Kage Bunshin standing where there didn't use to be, to the shock of the others. "This is an upper ability of a ninja." He said before they could ask. "It's a solid clone, and it can interact on its own, but it will disappear with a good solid tap, and I can't sustain it for more then an hour or two at a time. There's a lesser form, of a pure illusion bunshin, but that's not what I need right now. This is the jutsu I used so my cover would not be revealed, and to deter interest with a supposed 'Guard.'" The new Itachi went over to where Ron was, and easily picked him up to the boy's sudden shocked and loud protest at being carried like a bride, so he was shifted onto the clone's back.

"Harry, Hermione. Go back down into the tunnel to Hogwarts, take Ron. Professor Lupin, Black, and I will catch up."

"But I want to stay," Harry said, frowning.

"You do not wish to stay, Harry." Itachi said in an odd voice. "What is about to happen is not something a child should witness. Now go." The bunshin started to herd him away, and with the help of Hermione, soon Harry was pushed out of the room.

The room was abnormally quiet as they listened to the children leave the room. Itachi reached up and slid down his mask, letting the porcelain cover his face as it was made to, before looking back down at the bleeding man.

"I want to kill him," Black said, eyes gleaming, hand clenched tightly over Snape's wand. "Don't kill him, Itachi. Leave that for me who's been punished for this death for twelve years."

"Now, now, Padfoot," Lupin scolded lightly, getting out his wand. "Share. James was my friend too."

"You two are going to use wands to kill him?" Itachi asked blankly, still holding the kunai perfectly placed as Peter started to babble and beg in fear.

"Yes, what else would we use?"

Itachi turned to them, "There are far worse ways he should be given." He noticed they were still a little unnerved by the mask to his small amusement, but he changed the focus. "Cornelius Fudge is currently at the school, because of the Lethifold Hagrid has. Why don't we take him—alive—to the Minister and then Black will be free of charges? We can kill him afterwards, or even give him to the Dementors to perform the Kiss."

"No!" Black nearly roared, looking frantic. "I've waited so long, plotted so much, I've been to hell and it's because of that man! I will not be stopped now, when he's in my clutches!"

Terrified, Peter started to squirm violently, attempting a last ditch escape with a burst of adrenaline fueling him. Somehow he squeezed away from Itachi, and scrambled up. But in a flash, he was pinned to the wall, Itachi's katana, blade parallel to the ground, through his hands in a common ANBU holding technique, allowing for no hand seals. He howled in agony and dropped his head, sobbing pathetically as he twitched from the pain, but Itachi ignored him as if he was a mere insect. "If it would placate you, I can do an illusion on him. My Mangekyou Sharingan can send him to a level of hell only I can control. I can do anything you wish to him for seemingly days, but an instant will have only past. Allow me, who has already blood drenched hands and soul, to do this, and then we can take him to suffer the fate he has set for himself while you become a free man." Itachi said, standing before Peter, his hand on the blade's handle. "To take a life is harder to deal with then you think, and there is more to gain with him being alive—for now."

Black and Lupin watched as Itachi stood nonchalant in front of the bleeding man, before they exchanged a glance between each other. "Alright, but tell me what you're going to do to him in that illusion." The dark, waxy looking man finally said.

"I will show Peter exactly what it is he has to look forward to, once we've used him for our own purposes, for no less then seventy two hours." Itachi said, turning his face to the man he would test the Mangekyou for the first time on. "He will want to, but I will not allow him the pleasure of dying." He used his hands and grasped the man's head, forcing him to look deeply into the holes in his mask.

Lupin and Black didn't see anything happen, they just saw him look at Peter, but then the betrayer stilled, before started to convulse, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, unintelligent sounds escaping as he twisted and flailed while pinned to the wall, toes hanging a foot off the ground.

Itachi, surprisingly drained from the use of his eyes but refusing to show it, reached up and yanked the blade out, allowing the twitchy man to fall over his shoulder. "I will take him. Will you take Snape?"

"Yes," Black pointed Snape's own wand at him, and muttered the incantation for moving a body under his breath.

They left the room, Snape floating eerily behind Sirius like a string less puppet, with Lupin clutching at the indivisibility cloak.

They made their way down into the hole, and Itachi sighed, sensing three chakra that should have already been half-way to Hogwarts. "Why were you three waiting here? And what did you do to my KageBunshin?"

"He got a little pushy, so I kicked him, and he disappeared." Ron said sheepishly while being supported by both Hermione and Harry. "We wanted to wait for you, he didn't." His eyes were attracted to his once pet. "Is... that Peter?"

"Is he..." Hermione asked shakily, staring at the body draped over his shoulders.

"No. Not yet anyway." Itachi shifted the weight, not bothered at all by it. The man was light. "Come on then, to the castle. We are to see the Minster of Magic; I can locate him as soon as we reach the building."

They walked in near silence. Itachi walked next to Lupin at the back of the group while Ron and Hermione hobbled along the middle, and Sirius and Harry were in the front, using the motionless Snape as some sort of banner. Crookshanks appeared sometime in the trip and lead them along the tunnel, big bushy tail just within vision of the light off their wands.

Black made light conversation with Harry, saying how he was his Godfather and wanted Harry to live with him (to the boy's immense delight. It was Itachi's delight to remember Harry very much wanted to kill Black not two hours ago).

But while they were walking, Harry slowed his pace to walk next to him. "Hey, Itachi..." He said, peering at him.

"Hm?" Itachi looked at him, acting as if carrying a man almost twice his age who just spent the last twelve years as a rat slung over his shoulders was perfectly normal.

"You said... That shinobi don't have friends. Why is that?"

"Because," He turned to peer into the darkness before him. "As I said, connections can be killed. The place I live at is very dangerous. There are people out there who wish to kill me for who I have killed, or otherwise what I have done. If a shinobi has friends, those friends can be found out, captured, tortured, and killed, all to lure or harm the ninja in question. That is why we ANBU wear our masks; to not only hide our emotions, but our identity, to keep our privet lives hidden. But sometimes, even that is not enough. We refuse friendships to save ourselves the pain of loosing them."

"I... think I understand. But..." Harry made a small noise in his throat, as if undecided what to say. "But isn't it worse not to have friends? Before I came to Hogwarts, I never had any friends, and I was really lonely. It was one of the worst things about my life. People need friends, don't they? You may be an ANBU, but you can't ever stop being a human. You're a person, not just a ninja, and... well... I just want you to know, you're still my friend."

"Hn..." Itachi looked to the ground, and shifted the body across his shoulders, but didn't reply anymore then that or look back to the other boy. Eventually Harry quickened his pace until he was next to Black again, and the group went on in the quiet dark, lit by a handful of wands.

Soon they were walking across the lawn in happy silence, but then Itachi suddenly stopped, causing them all to pause and to look over in confusion. He stared at the sky, covered in clouds but letting a single ray of moon light through, before he suddenly threw the still lightly convulsing body into the others, using it to shove them away from him and the teacher, screaming at them.

"LUPIN FORGOT HIS POTION, TAKE PETER AND RUN!!"

Indeed, at that moment, Lupin started twitching himself, but Itachi was on him in an instant, knocking him to the ground and pinning his arms with his knees as Itachi made to do a jutsu that would paralyze the werewolf. However, feet came up impossibly behind him and dug into his hip and up to scrape against his back armor on one side, before he could lung off to avoid more damage, gritting his teeth as pain flared up at the profusely bleeding wound. Lupin twisted till he was on all fours, face turning into the snarling one of the growing werewolf. Fur grew, his back hunched, hands curled into paws with mad claws.

Seeing a human, also crouched to the ground, the werewolf sprung at him with a loud howl. But, while Lupin was a mindless killing machine, Itachi was still a cold and calculating killing machine. He used the bone armor along his forearms to block the wide swings of the claws and snap of the jaws, not allowing himself to get scratched or bitten. To do so would be a fate worse then death.

Itachi saw an opening and took it, kicking a perfect roundhouse kick into the man-beast's chest, sending the full wolf flying a distance away. "I told you fools to run!" He yelled at the frozen group of children and three not well adults. Hearing his voice, they scrambled into action. Black picked up Peter and lugged him on his back, beginning a mad dash towards the castle while the others ran along side him.

The ANBU turned back to the wolf creature that had stood and shaken itself, throwing off the powerful kick before roaring again and lunging. But it wasn't at Itachi, no, the wolf made for the retreating prey. However, Itachi appeared before him time and time again, blocking him from getting to the wounded and children. The werewolf snarled in anger, and attempted to vent it's fury onto the being in front of it.

Itachi was glad for his armor, using it to its full ability and blocking the wolf. He had to end this, without killing the thing, and a good way was... there! He placed a solid punch on the wolf's skull, disorientating it just for a moment when he flung back his mask and grabbed the tufts of fur around its head, forcing the big, yellow eyes to meet the black blades of his blood limit.

For the second time that night, he used his eyes. But this time he didn't torture the person—wolf—he drew in to the red and black world. He merely exhausted the beast, forcing it to fight, run, flee, and defend until it passed out from it all. Itachi blinked and the werewolf in his hands let out a low moan, an almost whimper, before collapsing to the ground. Falling to a knee, he braced himself with his arms, panting with exhortation. The Mangekyou Sharingan was very draining, he realized. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and went about getting out some bindings, wrapping the legs and muzzle of the still whining beast while he remembered and could. But then a sickening cold drew a shiver down his spine before he pushed it away instinctively.

Itachi turned to see a hundred Dementors gliding to where his team and black were. They all attempted a Patronus, but Ron—already weak—fainted with the effort and Hermione—never really made a solid Patronus—soon joined him. Sirius seemingly lost his wand and transformed into a dog to escape the torment of the hundred black gliding creatures, but it only did him so much good.

Harry's own charm was little more then a wisp, futilely trying to ward off the creatures.

Itachi scrambled towards their spot with a small spurt of adrenaline born of fear, but his legs were too weak to support himself fully and he crashed to the ground again. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HARRY?!" He yelled instead. "CAST THE BLOODY SPELL LIKE YOU HAVE BEFORE!"

His words broke through the clearing, and Harry seemed to gain a second wind. He stopped the weak spell before he bellowed the incantation, and a stag burst into life in front of him. The stag head butted the creatures in front of it first, causing a few of the Dementors to vanish, before spinning and getting the ones that were attempting to get to the group from behind.

Itachi's vision was blurring and he collapsed fully to the ground, forced to drop his sharingan to recover faster. He watched through the blades of grass as the fuzzy looking stag came back to the blurry Harry, bowed its head as its caster reached out to touch it, but vanishing before that could happen.

Groaning at his weakness, Itachi focused, trying to scrounge up the energy to move as his vision blacked out in small flashes before he squeezed his eyes shut to block it out. He vaguely registered the pounding footsteps that came to him, before he was rolled over onto his back. "Itachi! What happened, are you alright?" Harry asked him.

"Apparently... If I use the Mangekyou Sharingan... more the once... I loose all my... energy." He panted slightly, reaching blindly into his pouch. Finding the small bag, he brought it out and fumbled with it slightly in his gloves wet with blood and sweat. Eventually he pulled it open and withdrew a soldier pill, putting it in his mouth and chewing. Energy flowed through his limps as he swallowed, and he allowed himself to sit up, shaking his head to remove the fog in there as the pill's energy traveled through him, revitalizing things that were weary.

"Where's Lupin?"

"I tied him up over there. Come on, it's safer to allow him freedom outside. Let's get the others to wake." He stood up and took out four more pills. "Give one of these to Hermione, Ron, and Sirius, and take one yourself. They're called soldier pills, and will revive your strength."

Harry nodded, holding the small brown pills as if they were priceless diamonds. Itachi watched him for a moment, before going over to the odd lump on the ground where Black had dropped Peter in his mad dash to get away from the Dementors, still convulsing slightly from the genjutsu he had been induced under and oblivious to the world around him. Itachi wearily picked the scrawny man up and put him back over his shoulders, like he had before. He reached up and slid his mask down back to his face, and made his way over to the newly arisen Sirius, Hermione, and Ron.

All but him and Peter—who was unconscious—were slightly hyper from the affects of the pills, and they made their way to the castle with a little more energy then they normally would have. Sirius transformed again into a dog so not to cause a sudden panic should anyone see them at this late hour, and walked along Harry's side, head up to his chest. Snape (who had been left to 'hang around' and fend for himself when they went off to their separate battles) had been covered with the invisibility cloak for similar reasons. However, they met no one, and Itachi lead them to Dumbledore's office, past the Gargoyle and up the moving flight of stares, where Fudge's energy was located.

Before opening the door, Itachi motioned them to wait a moment. He went in first, to the shock of both men in the office, who stared at him as he made his way to before Dumbledore's desk, dropping the twitching, sluggishly bleeding body on the ground as he crouched, fist on the floor and other hand on his raised knee.

"Reporting, mission successful." He said, and that was when Ron and Hermione limped in, followed by the eerily floating Snape then Harry, and then the once again human Sirius Black.

Fudge instantly yelled in near panic, and groped for his wand, only to find it had vanished from his vest pocket. Dumbledore's, which had been set on the table, had also gone missing.

"Forgive me for disarming you," Itachi said, still crouching, but now there was the two wands laid before him. "But I can't have you attacking us."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Fudge nearly screamed in an abnormally high pitched voice, looking from Itachi to the almost skeletal convict. "Who are you?!" He asked Itachi, before pointing in disbelief at Black. "Why is Sirius Black just standing there?!"

Itachi stood up, the wands in his grasp, and moved to the door, having noticed the way Fudge's bulging eyes had darted to it, as if planning to make his escape when they weren't looking. With care, he let the door creak shut in an ominous way, slowly clicking into place.

"Let's have a little... Talk."

XXXXX

MDF: Next chapter is the last! Man, I've come a long way, huh? But, I worry about this chapter--I don't know if the Lupin scene was very believable, or not. I really enjoyed in the Shrieking Shack scene, but... after...