Castle Guards

Castle Guards

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto or Harry Potter.

AN: Okay, this is basically a filler chapter. I couldn't think of much more to put in it, but people kept asking what would happen to Iruka and Kakashi once Hagrid returns and this is what I came up with. This contains a lot of the book chapter it was based out of, though I rearranged some events so I could add in the ninja.

Another thing, I'm still taking suggestions on whether you want Kyuubi to have his own body or not. I have two votes so far: one, my bounce board, who is totally for it and thinks it would be highly amusing, and another which isn't really for it but says it might be good.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings.

"Blah" Japanese

Chapter 12: Gamekeepers

When the three Gryffindors returned to the tower, they sat down beside the fire, all of them thinking about the strange events of the day. Ron and Harry once again fell into depression over Quidditch, while Hermione was pouring over her scroll, but not finding out anything new, or useful. Finally, she rolled it up with a sigh.

"Well," said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. "I can think of one thing that might cheer you both up."

"Oh yeah?" said Harry skeptically.

"Yeah," said Hermione, turning away from the pitch-black, snow-flecked window, a broad smile spreading across her face. "Hagrid's back."

Harry sprinted up to the boys' dormitory to fetch his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from his trunk, grateful that no one appeared to be awake and Gaara was no where in sight; he was so quick that he and Ron were ready to leave at least five minutes before Hermione hurried back down from the girls' dormitories, wearing scarf, gloves, and one of her knobbly elf hats.

"Well, it's cold out there!" she said defensively, as Ron clicked his tongue impatiently.

They crept through the portrait hole and covered themselves hastily in the cloak—Ron had grown so much he now needed to crouch to prevent his feet showing—then, moving slowly and cautiously, they proceeded down the many staircases, pausing at intervals to check the map for signs of Filch and Mrs. Norris. They were lucky; they saw nobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who was gliding along absentmindedly humming something that sounded horribly like "Weasley Is Our King." They crept across the entrance hall and then out into the silent, snowy grounds. None of them noticed a lone figure sitting on the roof above the front door, his eyes following their tracks in the snow. With a great leap of his heart, Harry saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. He set off at a quick march, the other two jostling and bumping along behind him, and they crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last they reached the wooden front door; when Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called through the keyhole.

"Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice.

They beamed at one another under the cloak; they could tell that Hagrid's voice was pleased. "Bin home three seconds… Out of the way, Fang… Out of the way, yeh dozy dog…"

The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open, and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap.

Hermione screamed. Behind them, unheard underneath the scream, came a surprised gasp at the sheer size of the man in the doorway.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their heads, not noticing the figure hiding in the shadows of his hut, "Under the cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"

"I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the three of them squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the cloak off themselves so he could see them. "I just—oh, Hagrid!"

"It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door behind them and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze at him in horror.

"Damn," the figure outside swore softly, while unbeknownst to the four people in the hut a small trickle of sand slid in under the door and began forming into an eye in the corner. The figure sat down under the window, holding two of his fingers over his left eye.

Hagrid's hair was matted with congealing blood, and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple-and-black bruises. There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, which made Harry suspect broken ribs. It was obvious that he had only just got home; a thick black traveling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leaned against the wall inside the door. Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man and three times as broad, was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.

"What happened to you?" Harry demanded, while Fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces.

"Told yeh, nuthin'," said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?"

They proceeded to pester the half-giant until he explained to them what had happened on his trip. When his story came to a rather bad close, there was a series of sharp raps on the door. All of them looked toward the portal in horror.

"If you refuse us entrance, we'll be forced to break down this door," a deep male voice called from the other side.

"Oh my god," Hermione gasped, her mug slipped through her fingers and smashed on the floor, "it's the temporary game and grounds keepers. I'd completely forgotten about them."

"Get under here!" Harry said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak he whirled it over himself and Hermione while Ron tore around the table and dived beneath the cloak as well. Huddled together they backed away into a corner. Fang was barking madly at the door. Hagrid looked thoroughly confused.

"Hagrid, hide our mugs!"

Hagrid seized Harry's and Ron's mugs and shoved them under the cushion in Fang's basket. Fang was now leaping up at the door; Hagrid pushed him out of the way with his foot and pulled it open.

Kakashi and Iruka surveyed the man before them casually. Neither seemingly surprised to see him, or apparently by his stature and state. Beside them, with his head bowed low, stood Gaara. The trio looked at the three of them in confusion.

"Sorry to bother you," Iruka smiled slightly. "We just saw lights on and figured we'd check it out. Iruka Umino, this is my companion, Kakashi Hatake."

"Yo," Kakashi waved cheerfully.

"An' him?" Hagrid pointed at the redhead.

"We caught him loitering outside your window," Iruka shrugged. "We figured we'd escort him back up to the school as soon as we figured out what was going on here."

"Rubeus Hagrid," the half-giant extended his hand, shaking each one in turn, nearly wrenching poor Gaara's arm out of socket with his exuberance. "Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, as well as Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"Ah," the brunette nodded. "I see. We were asked to fill in for you while you were away, I'm glad to see you returned safely from your trip."

"Can we come in?" Kakashi cut off anything Hagrid might say in reply.

"O' course," Hagrid moved aside, allowing them into his hut.

"Gaara, sit," Iruka led him forcefully over to a chair and pushed him down.

The Kazekage just rolled his eyes, not sure why he let these two rope him into their scheme. Kakashi and Iruka took a seat on either side of him, while Hagrid sat down opposite them.

"Tea?" he offered, pulling out three fresh mugs.

"That would be most appreciated," Iruka smiled bemusedly.

Just as they all settled in with their tea, there was a sudden outburst of rapping on the door, which set Fang off again. Hagrid went over and opened the door.

Professor Umbridge was standing in the doorway wearing her green tweed cloak and matching hat with earflaps. Lips pursed, she leaned back to see Hagrid's face; she barely reached his navel.

"So," she said slowly and loudly, as though speaking to somebody deaf. "You're Hagrid, are you?"

Without waiting for an answer, she strolled into the room, her bulging eyes rolling in every direction.

"Get away," she snapped, waving her handbag at Fang, who had bounded up to her and was attempting to lick her face.

"Er—I don' want ter be rude," said Hagrid, staring at her, "but who the ruddy hell are you?"

"My name is Dolores Umbridge."

Her eyes were sweeping the cabin. Twice they stared directly into the corner where Harry stood, sandwiched between Ron and Hermione. Though she didn't seem to notice the three men still seated at the table.

"Dolores Umbridge?" Hagrid said, sounding thoroughly confused. "I thought you were one o' them Ministry—don' you work with Fudge?"

"I was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, yes," said Umbridge, now pacing around the cabin, taking in every tiny detail within, from the haversack against the wall to the abandoned traveling cloak, but still not the other three occupants. "I am now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher—"

"That's brave of yeh," said Hagrid, "there's not many'd take tha' job anymore—"

"—and Hogwarts High Inquisitor," said Umbridge, giving no sign that she had heard him.

"Wha's that?" said Hagrid, frowning.

"Precisely what I was going to ask," said Umbridge, pointing at the broken shards of china on the floor that had been Hermione's mug.

"Oh," said Hagrid, with a most unhelpful glance toward the corner where Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood hidden, "oh, tha' was… was Fang. He broke a mug. So I had ter use this one instead."

Hagrid pointed to the mug from which he had been drinking, one hand still clamped over the dragon steak pressed to his eye. Umbridge stood facing him now, taking in every detail of his appearance instead of the cabin's.

"I heard voice," she said quietly.

"I was talkin' ter Fang," said Hagrid stoutly, not having remembered the shinobi.

"And was he talking back to you?"

"Well… in a manner o' speakin'," said Hagrid, looking uncomfortable. "I sometimes say Fang's near enough human—"

"There are three sets of footprints in the snow leading from the castle doors to your cabin," said Umbridge sleekly.

"That would've been us," Kakashi leaned back in his chair, finally catching the toad-like woman's attention. "Iruka and I noticed someone was in here, and as it is our job to take care of the grounds, we thought we'd check it out and then report to the Headmaster."

"And the third set?" she hid her surprise at seeing them there.

"Mine," Gaara answered in a monotone.

"And why are you, a student, out of bounds, or even out of bed, this late at night?"

"I don't sleep," he shrugged.

"We apprehended him outside the cabin," Iruka rubbed the back of his neck. "We were going to take him to the Headmaster after we looked into this disturbance here."

"I shall take him up to the castle when I leave," she eyed the two men, daring them to contradict her. Receiving none, she turned back and began questioning the half-giant once more.

Harry listened to the conversation between Hagrid and Umbridge but his eyes were locked on the three shinobi. He watched them as they communicated in their native tongue.

"I shall go with her," Gaara said calmly. "But I need the both of you to look after our charges."

"We'll be sure to keep a good eye on them," Kakashi ran a finger over his eye-patch, seeming to rub it in irritation.

Harry had to quickly stifle a gasp as Gaara looked straight in their direction. The redhead stared for a moment and then turned back to the other two.

"They are in the corner," he replied stoically. "I'm sure they shall reveal themselves before either of you leave, especially if you continue the jutsu."

"Of course we will," Iruka shook his head. "You have about as much faith in us as Naruto, and we were his senseis."

"Oh yes," Harry quickly tuned back in to what Umbridge was saying. "The Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Good night. Mr. Sabaku, if you please."

Gaara pushed to his feet slowly and preceded her out the door. She left, closing the door behind her with a snap. Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist. Even though he'd been watching them, he seemed to forget that the other two men were still there.

"Not yet," Hermione breathed in his ear. "She might not be gone yet."

Hagrid seemed to be thinking the same way; he stumped across the room and pulled back the curtain an inch or so.

"She's goin' back ter the castle," he said in a low voice. "Blimey… inspectin' people is she?"

"Yeah," said Harry, pulling the cloak off. "Trelawney's on probation already…"

"Nice cloak you've got there, Potter," Kakashi chuckled, raising his hand to his masked mouth.

"Uh… shit!" the raven haired teen's eyes widened comically as they fell on the two foreign men.

"You've been hanging around Naruto too much," Iruka shook his head sadly. "I swear that boy could use a good talking to."

"Come off it, Ruka," Kakashi stretched lazily. "If it wasn't for his foot going into his mouth at every turn, he'd be rather boring. You're just too uptight. I can fix that for you." He winked suggestively at the younger Chunin.

"Poor Gaara," Hermione passed nervous glances at the two senseis, deciding she didn't like where their conversation was heading. "He's stuck with the old toad."

"'Poor Gaara' she says," the silver haired jounin chuckled ruefully. "I'd say poor you. You've been caught, what was it that toad said, 'out of bounds and bed at this hour'? Consider yourselves lucky we decided to cover for you. It won't happen again, just be grateful Gaara decided to be helpful."

"Kakashi," the brunette rolled his eyes. "Of course it won't happen again. Besides these three probably learning their lesson," he shot them a pointed look, "we're leaving tonight. Hagrid is back, we're no longer welcome on the grounds."

"I'm sure that's not true!" Hermione looked aghast, Dumbledore wouldn't be that heartless.

"Ah, but you see, it is," Kakashi shrugged and pulled a bright orange book from his pocket. "Our contract states that we are to stay until such a time as the prior gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, returns."

"Is that your contract?" Harry tried to contain his laughter. "Or did Naruto actually let you borrow his book? And if he did, I'm jealous, I've asked to read it for weeks now."

"No, that's his book," Iruka shook his head sadly. "And if you can ever find him without it, then I'd suggest running for your lives."

"So where will you go?" Hermione asked, disregarding the book altogether, which for her was highly unusual. "Will you go home? I'm sure Naruto and the others would miss you if you did."

"No, we'll be staying in Hogsmeade," the silver haired man said, not taking his eyes from his book. "Iruka has been made temporary guardian of Naruto and the Sand… Ow!"

Iruka had slapped him over the head, "I'm currently acting as Naruto and the Sabaku children's guardian, as they are all orphans. So, as such, we cannot return home until the term ends."

"I see," the witch nodded, filing away the jounin's slip for examination later. "Um… what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?"

--

Ammie: I know this is a really short chapter, and I'm sorry, the next one will be longer, I promise, and will also be back to our poor couple. Please tell me what you think, I love reviews, they make me smile and want to continue writing so much more.