Castle Guards
Castle Guards
By Ammie Hawk
Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto or Harry Potter, last time I checked anyway.
AN: Okay, so here's the next installment. It feels like a filler chapter to me, but hey, I wanted to put in how Shika does his first day at Hogwarts, considering I did it for all the others.
The voting stands thus on the whole Draco/Harry thing, I have 3 for it, 1 opposed, and 1 middle of the road. If you want to see them together let me know, or if you don't, you have to let me know, I'm going with the majority no matter what.
Now, I'd like to address an issue one of my reviewers had with my scroll. I apologize if anyone finds it offensive, but it's not all that inconceivable in all reality. Considering it's at Hogwarts, it's obviously a magical item. It can be compared to a bingo book of the ninja communities, or a better item is Kabuto's cards that he used at the beginning of the Chunin exams. More will be explained about it at a later point in time, but that's the basics of it at this point.
Oh, and sorry about the promised lemon, I was planning it and then Shika and Gaara said no. However, Neji has once again gained control of the situation and has demanded that it take place next chapter. So there you have it.
Okay, enough of my stuff, there is a reason you're all here, right?
"Japanese"
"Kyuubi"
'Sorting Hat conversation'
Chapter 17: A New Slytherin
"Gaara, we need to talk," Naruto slammed the door as he entered the shinobi's bedroom on the last day of the holidays, a paper clutched in his clenched fist.
"About?" the Kazekage turned a calm gaze on his enraged friend.
"Shikamaru just handed me this," he tossed the paper onto the bed. "Since we're not in Konoha, he's playing it safe and wants both our signatures. He says Grandma Tsunade's okay with this."
"Did you not verify this information?" Gaara sighed, picking up the paper.
"I did, and she says its fine," the blonde replied sarcastically. "I don't know what's come over either one of them."
The redhead perused the paper, his eyes widening in silent disbelief at what he saw.
"Get Shikamaru in here, now!" he ordered sternly.
The Leaf ANBU nodded and left the room to find his comrade. Gaara's thoughts were jumbled. How the hell did Shikamaru come up with this? What the hell was he thinking? Why was he willing to protect Malfoy of all people? Of course, that thought was a bit biased, Gaara hadn't liked the pale blonde ever since he caught him with Naruto. But that didn't matter, he'd get to the bottom of all this when the ninja in question arrived.
It didn't take long for Naruto to locate his friend and bring him back to the Kazekage. When the door closed behind them, Shikamaru stood before the Kazekage and the ANBU captain. He wasn't worried, neither one really had any authority over his actions, he wasn't a Suna ninja and he wasn't part of Naruto's squad, they would both bow to the Hokage's demands in the end.
"Would you care to explain this?" Gaara said quietly.
"What's to explain?" Shikamaru shrugged. "I made the contract myself, it's all in there."
"What the hell were you thinking, Shika?" Naruto cut in. "Protecting Malfoy? Are you insane?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," the lazy ninja sighed. "He needed a viable way out of a troublesome situation, I gave him one. And I was helping protect Potter at the same time, he probably would've run after Malfoy if I'd thrown him out."
"You mean he was here, and you're just now telling us?" the blonde almost yelled. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"This is such a drag," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yes, he was here. Yes, I was going to tell you. Yes, I offered to protect him. Anything else you'd like to know?"
"I think I've already asked twice now," Naruto shook his head. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking," the brunette sighed, "that with me keeping an eye on Malfoy, I'd be able to keep him quiet. I'm not doing this for him, I'm doing this for all of us. For every village in the ninja community. Sometimes you have to do troublesome things to keep things the way they've always been."
"Explain," Gaara commanded, his brow furrowed.
"They found out about us," Shikamaru straightened slightly, going into report mode. "More specifically, you two. The Granger girl has a scroll that tells all about us."
"It's nothing," Naruto looked confused. "She's showed it to us before, and there hasn't been anything compromising in there, otherwise we would've taken it."
"From what I heard, that's not accurate," Shikamaru shook his head. "I've never heard of such a scroll before. But apparently if you know who you're looking for you can find whatever you want about them. At the moment, I stopped them before they could look into anyone other than you two, but that may have been too much for them to find out. They found out about our two highest ranking shinobi present."
"Shit!" the blonde ran his hand through his spikes agitatedly. "I knew we should've gotten that scroll earlier."
"I'll have Temari get it," Gaara waved the matter aside. "Then I shall bring it up with Dumbledore. Something like that, with so much sensitive information in it, has no place here."
"So I have your approval to take on this mission?" Shikamaru asked uninterestedly.
"Oh, yeah," Naruto shook his head and glanced at the redhead, who nodded.
"And what should we do about the five who know about us?" the brunette smirked. "Should I have Kakashi deal with them, to make them forget?"
"No," Gaara's look became calculating. "We have to keep an eye on them anyway, let's see how long they keep this information to themselves."
"What about Harry's connection to Voldemort?" Naruto cocked a brow in curiosity. "We could be giving him some very useful information, especially if he wants the Akatsuki's aid."
"We'll use a seal," the Kazekage nodded. "We'll put a block around those memories, we can't make them forget, that would be too suspicious, however, we can block them so no one else can access them. It is a useful seal that is placed on a spy during times of war. I will get on it tonight."
"Good, now will you sign the damn paper already, I have to have a meeting with Dumbledore tomorrow, and I can't very well do that if I don't have the contract signed."
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Harry wandered around aimlessly for most of the day. Yeah, he'd had to witness a confrontation between Sirius and Snape earlier, but that didn't mean he should waste the remaining time he had with his godfather, right? Besides, he had some questions he needed help with, and Sirius was the closest thing he had to a father, so he wanted to talk with him. He found him upstairs with Buckbeak.
"Hey, Sirius?" he knocked hesitantly on the doorframe, not wanting to startle the man, or hippogriff for that matter.
"Oh, hey Harry," Sirius looked up and gave him a half-hearted smile.
"Listen, about earlier," Harry began.
"Don't worry about it," the Animagus shook his head. "You surely didn't come up here to talk about that. Did you?"
"Not really," the teen shrugged. "I actually have a problem, and I was hoping you could help me with it."
"What's wrong, Harry?" Sirius patted the space next to him on the bed.
"Well," Harry sank down beside his godfather, but wasn't quite sure where to start. "I've been thinking recently…"
"Good thoughts or bad?" Sirius asked, trying to help him out.
"I'm not sure," Harry bit his lip nervously. "You see, the day Mr. Weasley was attacked, something happened."
"Oh?" Sirius encouraged gently.
"Well, this girl kissed me," Harry sighed.
"Ah, girl trouble," Sirius smiled knowingly. "I never could figure them out."
"That's not all of if," Harry said quietly. "I kinda told Ron and Hermione about it and Naruto," he paused, thinking about the new information he had on the shinobi, but shook his head, now wasn't the time. "Well, Naruto walked in in the middle of our conversation and asked me some strange questions, and then made me think of something I'd never taken into consideration before."
"Naruto, huh?" Sirius scratched his chin in thought. "Well, I don't know what he said, but that kid's got a pretty good head on his shoulders. You know, he kinda reminds me of your dad; smart, funny, and hard not to like, kinda like you. Anyway, what did Naruto say?"
"Well, first he asked me who kissed better," Harry muttered almost indistinctly.
"Oh?" the Animagus's brow shot up in surprise. "You mean you've kissed more than one person this year?"
"Yeah," Harry blushed. "The first one was actually forced. Gaara caught Malfoy and me fighting, and him and Naruto broke it up and then he said to kiss and make up."
"I'm sure he was just joking," Sirius gaped like a fish.
"He wasn't," Harry shook his head.
"Oh, my poor boy," Sirius wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders. "You had to kiss a Malfoy."
"In truth, he's a better kisser than Cho," Harry looked away, his second experience with the blonde still vividly clear in his memory.
"Ah, so Naruto asked whether you ever thought about the possibility of being gay?" Sirius asked, smiling.
"Well, yeah," Harry admitted sheepishly. "I've never thought about it before. But I'm beginning to think that I am."
"Are you worried about what your friends will think?"
"No," he shook his head. "I mean, Ron was a bit grossed out, but Hermione and Ginny are fine with it. In fact, they suggested I go out with Malfoy. Would you be disappointed with me if I was?"
"I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I was," Sirius chuckled slightly.
"What do you mean?" Harry looked at him in disbelief, did that mean what he thought it meant?
"To tell you the truth, I was a bit insecure when I told my friends I was gay," Sirius shrugged. "Your father took the mickey out of me, that is until he found out who my boyfriend was."
"Who was your boyfriend?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, he's still with me," Sirius smiled conspiratorially. "Moony may have doubted my loyalty for twelve years, but he still loved me."
"Remus?!" Harry gaped. "You're boyfriend is Remus? I can't believe you two kept that fact from me."
"We didn't intend to, Harry," Sirius tried to explain. "But, well, every time we've talked there have been more important things to discuss, and I'm sure it just slipped Moony's mind."
"And then, of course, there's the fact that how do you start a conversation like that," Harry mused. "I mean what was he supposed to say 'Oh, Harry, by the way, I'm shagging your godfather'?"
"Who's shagging your godfather, Harry?" a bemused voice came from the dooway.
Both wizards turned and saw Remus standing there, leaning casually against the doorframe.
"Oh, you know," Harry shrugged, giving his godfather a playful wink, "this really good looking guy he met."
"Oh?" Remus didn't look amused.
"Yeah," Harry nodded, wanting to have some fun with the werewolf. "I think I've met him before, but I wasn't sure, so I was asking why he hadn't told me about them."
"Sirius!" Remus growled warningly.
Harry couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. Sirius soon joined in when he saw the confused look on his lover's face.
"We were talking about you, Remus," Harry finally controlled himself enough to explain.
"Oh, I see," Remus nodded. "In that case, it might interest you to know that your conversation wasn't as private as you thought. I caught this one eavesdropping."
He pulled Naruto in by the collar of his shirt. The blonde pouted sullenly. He hated that his cover had been blown, though he wasn't sure how Lupin had done it.
"Werewolf, remember?" Kyuubi supplied.
"Stupid fox," Naruto muttered under his breath.
"What did you call me?" Remus looked taken aback. "I can assure you, I am no fox, nor am I stupid."
Harry stared at the blonde for a moment before realization kicked in. Naruto could talk to the demon inside him! That was why he was always muttering to himself. It made perfect sense.
"He's fine, Remus," Harry finally shook himself out of his thoughts. "He was probably just wondering if I'd figured out if I was gay or not. Right, Naruto?" he gave him a pointed look.
"Uh, right," Naruto looked at the wizard in confusion, he knew Harry knew he was a ninja, why wasn't he telling or at least confronting him about it.
"Anyway, I haven't decided yet," Harry shrugged. "I can't let a couple of kisses rule my judgment either way, right?"
"Uh, it only takes one, actually," Naruto chuckled. "I mean, I kissed Sakura once and decided then and there I wasn't into girls. And that was my first kiss. Oh wait, no it wasn't, I'd forgotten about the bastard."
"You mean you forgot your first kiss?" Sirius asked, scandalized.
"Well, when trying to repress bad memories, yeah, that's the general idea," Naruto shrugged. "I tried to put that experience out of my head."
"So who's the better kisser, Naruto?" Harry chuckled, wanting to put the blonde on the spot.
"Neji, of course," blue eyes rolled playfully. "Then would be the bastard, even if it wasn't an intentional kiss, Sakura is the worst kisser ever, I honestly don't see what Temari sees in her."
"Well," Sirius pushed to his feet. "I hope you think about this Harry, before doing something stupid. But I trust you, even if you do decide to go out with a Malfoy. Now, I believe that the two of you should head to bed, you'll be returning to school tomorrow."
"Yeah, probably be a good idea," Naruto yawned. "Shikamaru will kick my ass if I don't get a good night's sleep, or if I keep him from getting one. Hey, Harry, can I sleep with you tonight? I don't want Shika to kick my ass, that hurts."
"Why don't you sleep with your boyfriend instead of your housemate?" Harry asked the question that had been bothering him since Christmas.
"I didn't think about that," Naruto cocked his head to the side in thought, causing the three wizards to laugh. "Anyway, if I tried to kick Shika off the bed, he'd kick my ass, and there's no way I'd ask Gaara to give up his bed, just so I could sleep with my boyfriend. He'd probably kill me just for suggesting it. Besides, between the two of them, I think they're trying to keep me away from him."
"Why would they do that?" Sirius asked curiously, he liked the long-haired brunette, he was very practical and had a level head on his shoulders, though maybe a bit too serious at times.
"Oh, they're just worried about me," Naruto shrugged. "Never let it be said that Shika and Gaara don't care. I think both of them have threatened Nej to his face."
"He must really like you," Harry chuckled, "if he's putting up with that type of thing."
"Oh, he does," the blonde beamed. "He puts up with Gaara and Shika cause they're my friends, well they're his too but anyway. If that's not love, I don't know what is."
"Alright, you two," Remus shook his head. "Off to bed, both of you. I don't want to hear that either of you had a bad night's sleep."
"Yes, mum," Harry replied sarcastically.
"You're worse than Shika and Iruka-sensei combined," Naruto complained as he dragged Harry from the room.
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After a hurried breakfast, the shinobi gathered to one side to say their good-byes in a semblance of privacy.
"You take care of yourself, Ino-pig," Sakura said as she gave the blonde jounin a hug. "I want you to take it easy. No missions, you can tell Lady Tsunade I said so. And keep me posted. I want to know when this little one makes its appearance into the world."
"Don't worry, Billboard Brow," her friend smiled. "I'll be fine. You just be sure to come home safely, got it. I'd hate to lose my best friend."
"I'll take good care of her, Sakura," Choji shook the pinkette's hand. "Don't you worry about a thing. Keep your mind focused on the mission, alright?"
"You take good care of her, Choj," Shikamaru said as he hugged his best friend. "I'd hate to lose another teammate."
"Neji," Hinata hugged her cousin, just a short distance away, "you be careful, okay? And don't worry about father, I'll put him in his place."
"Thank you, Hinata," Neji smiled. "I'll never forget what you're doing for me."
"Neji," TenTen stepped forward to embrace her former teammate, as Hinata moved off to say goodbye to her former teammates as well. "You'll look out for my boyfriend, won't you?"
"Of course, TenTen," Neji nodded. "And I'm trusting you with my cousin's safety."
"You can count on me, Neji," she beamed at him.
"Well, bye everyone," Naruto finally said as the now nine of them made their way to the door.
The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them. They followed Lupin down the front steps.
"Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better," said Tonks, and Harry thought there was nervousness in the glance she threw around the square. Lupin flung out his right arm.
BANG.
A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backward out of its way, and was followed by all the shinobi.
A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down onto the pavement and said, "Welcome to the—"
"Yes, yes, we know, thank you," said Tonks swiftly. "On, on, get on—"
And she shoved Harry forward toward the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed.
"Looks like we'll have to split up," said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs, once everyone was onboard. "Fred, George, and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back… Remus can stay with you…."
"There's not gonna be enough room for all of us together," Kiba said quickly. "But we don't mind standing, so Shino and I can stay down here, too."
"Yeah, me too," Shikamaru said after a pointed look from Naruto.
"I'll stay down here, too," Kankuro volunteered, realizing they couldn't all go with their charges.
Tonks looked at them for a moment before relaxing slightly and nodding. She, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the remaining shinobi proceeded up to the very top deck, where there were two chairs at the very front of the bus and two at the back. Naruto, Neji, and Gaara followed Stan Shunpike, the conductor, as he followed Harry and Ron eagerly to the back. Heads turned as Harry passed and when he sat down, he saw all the faces flick back to the front again, but what he didn't see was the stern look that crossed the shinobi's faces to cause this reaction.
As Harry, Ron, and their shinobi guards handed Stan eleven Sickles each, the bus took off again, swaying ominously. It rumbled around Grimmauld Square, weaving on and off the pavement, then, with another tremendous BANG, they were all flung backward, well everyone except the shinobi, who managed to keep their feet by placing chakra there to hold them steady.
The ninja paid no heed to where they were traveling, they were more focused on the people getting on and off the bus to care about the outside world. Finally, they were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.
Lupin and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage and then got off to say good-bye.
"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, okay?"
"We've got it from here, Tonks," Naruto whispered reassuringly. "They're in good hands, alright? Besides, we've got men on the road, they'll watch our backs."
"Look after yourselves," said Lupin, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry last.
The fifteen of them struggled up the slippery drive toward the castle dragging their trunks, well the nine shinobi pretended to have as much trouble as the wizards.
When they entered the school, Naruto and Shikamaru went off toward the headmaster's office, needing to get Shika settled in for the remainder of the year. Naruto cussed out the gargoyle in Japanese and they were allowed entrance to the hidden staircase. Once at the top, he knocked three times and a soft "Enter" was given.
"Hey, sorry to bother you and all," Naruto beamed at Dumbledore. "But something's come up and we need to put this man into a house."
"Oh?" Dumbledore's brow rose in question. "And why should I do that? I haven't hired anyone else."
"This is why," Naruto handed him the document he and Gaara had signed the previous day.
"He is to be protecting Mr. Malfoy?" the headmaster looked confused. "Why?"
"That's really our business, headmaster, no offense," Naruto said politely. "But we need him there, and hey, Malfoy's paying him. He will be reporting to either Gaara or myself, so there's no need to worry."
"So I assume you want to put him in Slytherin house?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
"Well, that would be best," the blonde nodded. "I mean, if you had told us about the different houses, we would've demanded to be in the same house as our charges, as it was, we lucked out. You can't very well keep an eye on someone from clear across a castle."
"Very well," Dumbledore nodded. "I'll call up the Slytherin Head of House and we'll have you placed immediately. Thank you, Naruto, you are dismissed."
"Hai!" the blonde bowed and left the room.
"Now, my boy," Dumbledore turned his attention to Shikamaru, "I'll call Professor Snape in a moment, I just need to ask you a few questions."
"And that would be?" Shikamaru said calmly.
"First off, what is your name?"
"Nara Shikamaru," he answered evenly, "ANBU specialist, tactics and strategy. Just to answer your next question."
"Very well," the headmaster's eyes twinkled as he surveyed the shinobi before him. "Quite impressive, I must say. Now, why are you actually on this mission? I know that protecting Mr. Malfoy is not the reason."
"Sir, if I may be so bold," Shikamaru gave the old man a piercing look, "you might want to keep your nose out of shinobi business. You have been given all the information you need, any more is classified until my superiors deem it necessary to tell you."
"As you wish," Dumbledore bowed his head in acquiesce. "Now, I shall call up Professor Snape, but before he arrives I must ask that you request the Sorting Hat to place you in Slytherin house."
Dumbledore went over to the fire and did something Shikamaru didn't really pay attention to and then returned with a beaten old hat in his hands. He placed it on the shinobi's head and it fell over his eyes.
'This is such a drag,' Shikamaru thought, sighing audibly.
'Hmm…' said a soft voice in his ear. 'A sharp mine, resourceful, loyal, you'd be best suited for…'
'I don't really care where I'd be best suited,' Shikamaru rolled his eyes, 'I have to be in Slytherin. So if you could please be accommodating, it'd be appreciated. Troublesome hat.'
'Very well, then,' the voice sounded a bit put off, "SLYTHERIN!"
"Well, Headmaster, it seems you knew this boy would be in my house," a sneering voice said from across the room, causing Shikamaru to whip off the Sorting Hat.
"Merely a fortunate coincidence, Severus, I assure you," Dumbledore said amiably. "I was just about to call for the other Heads when the hat made its choice."
"I see," Snape glared at the newest member of his house. "What is your name, boy?"
"His name is Shikamaru Nara," Dumbledore smiled, shooting the shinobi a quick glance.
"Whatever," he shrugged. "Can I be shown to my room please? I'm tired and I want to go to bed."
"I'm sure you would like some dinner first, my boy," Dumbledore interjected, giving the newest Slytherin a curious look.
"Whatever," the lazy ninja moved toward the door.
Professor Snape fell into step with his newest charge, which was difficult for the Potions Master, as Shikamaru seemed to be taking his sweet time getting anywhere.
"Now, Mr. Nara," Snape began curtly, "you are now part of the noble house of Slytherin…"
Shikamaru drowned him out as they walked to the Great Hall, where the rest of the students were already eating. After showing him to the correct table, Snape made his way toward the staff table. Shikamaru sank down into an open seat next to Malfoy and began filling a plate.
"I see you were put into Slytherin," the blonde said quietly. "That's good, I'd hate to have to associate with the likes of a Gryffindor."
"Listen, Malfoy," Shikamaru gave him a pointed look, his voice for Malfoy's ears only, "if you can't keep your mouth shut I'll force you to. You make my job any more troublesome than it already is by saying something you shouldn't, there'll be hell to pay. Now, you're paying me to protect your ass, try and keep it out of trouble."
Malfoy gulped and forced himself to eat calmly and talk with his friends around the table. Who knew having a ninja bodyguard would be so bloody terrifying?
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The next day was rather trying for the newest Slytherin. Well, not so much for his sake, he managed to fall asleep in all his classes, but the teachers and other students found his lack of interest vexing, at best. Everyone was surprised that even Snape was finding fault with a member of his house.
"Mr. Nara," he snapped, not five minutes into the first Potions lesson of the term, "do my eyes deceive me or were you sleeping in my class?"
"Nope, I was sleeping," Shikamaru shrugged, causing Malfoy to elbow him sharply and Naruto to giggle slightly.
"Would you care to tell me why?" Snape asked patiently, a tone he only used with the Slytherins. "Is it, perhaps, that your bed is not comfortable enough? Or was being in a new environment too stressful for proper sleep?"
"Nope," the brunette yawned. "I slept fine, in fact better than I have for the past two weeks or so, it does help when someone's not kicking you every five minutes."
This statement caused Naruto to bow his head sheepishly.
"They why, pray tell, are you sleeping in my classroom when you should, in fact, be brewing a potion?" Snape almost sneered, but managed to contain himself.
"Cause I saw no point in brewing this particular potion," Shikamaru sighed, propping his head on his hand. "There is no value for it, so why waste my time making it. It was too much of a drag."
"In that case, Mr. Nara, you shall bring me one foot of parchment on the uses and benefits of the Pepper-up Potion by next class," Snape crossed his arms, daring anyone to say his punishment was unfair.
"Whatever," the lazy ninja shrugged and laid his head back on the desk.
"Sit up this instant, Mr. Nara, or find yourself in detention," Snape spat, finally loosing his calm demeanor. "And five points from Slytherin."
"Troublesome," muttered the shadow shinobi, who sat back with his hands clasped behind his neck and resting his stool on the back two legs, in which position he proceeded to fall back asleep.
His other classes weren't much better and by the end of the day he found himself in three different detentions and had lost Slytherin House a grand total of fifty points.
That night, Shikamaru lounged around the Slytherin common room, keeping tabs on Malfoy as he did his homework for the day. He had to hand it to the blonde, he was a very hard worker. About halfway through, Crabbe and Goyle, who he found out were basically Malfoy's 'bodyguards', went off in search of something to eat. Those two reminded him of Fuugin and Raigin, thinking of nothing but food all the time, not even Choji was that bad.
A few moments later, a tall black teen sank down on the couch next to the shinobi, and even though his eyes were closed, he sensed Malfoy tense.
"So you think you're pretty funny, losing us all those points today?" the teen said angrily.
"What were you thinking?" a girl, he thought he'd heard Malfoy call her Pansy, said.
"Troublesome," he muttered, opening one eye to peer at the two intruders on his nap. "What's it to you?"
"What's it to us?!" Pansy practically shrieked, she reminded him of Ino honestly. "We're finally in the lead over the Gryffindorks and you're going to ruin our chances for the House Cup."
"Like I care," Shikamaru shrugged, closing his eye again and feigning sleep.
"You should care," the boy spat.
"Blaise, Pansy, enough," Draco said quietly. "We'll get the points back, it's not that big a deal. And besides, he'll learn soon enough that sleeping his way through school isn't the way to do things."
"Never bothered me in the past," the shinobi sighed, realizing they weren't going to drop it. "This is such a drag. If you are through bothering me about my work ethic, I fucking need a smoke."
He began patting the pockets of his robes as he stood up, finally locating his pack of cigarettes in his inner breast pocket.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm heading outside for a bit," he started toward the entrance to the common room.
"You can't smoke here!" Pansy said in outrage, yep, definitely like Ino. "Besides, that's a filthy Muggle habit."
"Now, ask me if I care," he gave her a patronizing look, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "It's not killed me yet, though I have killed someone else with this filthy Muggle habit, as you so graciously put it."
All three wizarding student's eyes widened at that declaration. Once he disappeared, Blaise and Pansy hurried over to Draco's side for a conference.
"Do you think he means that?" Blaise asked quietly.
"I think he does," the blonde shook his head, he knew he couldn't tell them anything, not that he really wanted to anyway. "He's not what he appears to be."
"That's obvious," Pansy sighed, cuddling up to Draco, causing him to flinch slightly. "So what should we do about him?"
"I think we should start covering for him," Blaise answered, looking to Malfoy for approval. "I mean, he is in Slytherin, the Sorting Hat hasn't made a mistake yet."
"That would be best, I think," Draco nodded, at least this way his friends wouldn't get suspicious of him hanging out with the shinobi. "I mean, how hard can it be to keep the teachers from noticing if he's asleep in class. And we'll help him with his homework too. I also want you two to try and befriend him, find out what he likes, get him to open up to us."
"Alright," the other two agreed at once.
When Shikamaru returned to the common room about ten minutes later, Pansy and Blaise met him at the door and practically dragged him to their corner of the room.
"Fancy a game of chess?" Blaise asked politely.
"Why?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Why are you being all chummy to me now?"
"Well, you are a Slytherin," Pansy batted her eyelashes at him flirtatiously, throwing her arms around him. "And we stick together. So we figured, instead of yelling, we'd help you out."
"First of all, I'm not interested," he pried her arms off him. "Secondly, I don't need your help."
"Oh, you'll need our help, alright," Pansy said, not in the least put off by his rude behavior, she'd never had a man tell her no yet. "The classes around here aren't a piece of cake, after all."
"You have no idea how troublesome a piece of cake can be then," Shikamaru shook his head. "And I've already done my assignments, I finished them at dinner. If you'd like to look over them, feel free. But if you copy from them, let me know ahead of time. And I think I will take you up on that game of chess, Naruto was telling me about it over the holidays."
Pansy gaped for a moment, but then went and collected his bag from the couch beside Draco and began going over his work. Blaise smirked as he began setting up the chessboard.
"Hey, Draco," he hollered across the room, "can he borrow your chess set?"
"I've got one," Shikamaru shrugged and slouched over to his bag and produced the set that Naruto had gotten for his birthday.
"Alright then, you go first," the black teen offered.
"Whatever," the shinobi sighed and commanded his first piece.
"So you know the Gryffindork foreigners?" he asked curiously, trying to find out some information, then commanding his first piece.
"Yeah," Shikamaru nodded, commanding another piece. "I actually live with Naruto."
"You his boyfriend?" Blaise's brow rose in surprise, before making his move. "Cause if you are, you should know he's been pretty chummy with that Hyuuga kid."
"No, I'm not his boyfriend, just live with him," Shikamaru made another move. "Checkmate."
"What?!" Blaise looked at the board in disbelief. "It's only been three moves."
Blaise was the best chess player in Slytherin, apart from Draco. His pride told him he could even best Weasley if he wanted to but this foreigner had bested him in three fucking moves.
"And you're in checkmate," the brunette sighed. "Ever played Shogi?"
"Can't say that I have," the Slytherin looked up in confusion.
"Its Japanese chess," Shikamaru smirked. "I'll get my board."
"Um, Shika?" Pansy called as he headed up to his room.
"Yes?" he turned to look at her.
"Um, well, this Potions essay Snape assigned you today," she said hesitantly, "well, you've done it wrong, he won't appreciate you telling him different ways to make the potion. He wanted you to give the uses and benefits of the one we were assigned."
"And I did," Shikamaru went over to the table she was working at. "One foot, as he asked," he pointed to the top foot of the paper. "The rest is just pointing out how to better the potion."
"Oh," she said inanely and went back to checking his work.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, it's late," he turned back to look at Blaise. "Sorry, we can try that game tomorrow. I'm going to bed."
"Good night," the three wizarding students called after him.
Ammie: Okay, so the last bit was just a look into the Slytherin common room. I mean, I couldn't have him just lose points and no one make a deal of it. And Draco making them play nice is how I figure things would go. Anyway, there it is, the next chapter. Please tell me what you think.