Castle Guards
By Ammie Hawk
Disclaimer: I hate being sick.
AN: Hey, I'm alive! I'm terribly sorry for the exceedingly long wait. Writer's block is a bitch. Well, I have to say, my muses for this story aren't technically back, I've dragged one over from a new fic I've started. Of course I had to convince him that it was necessary to finish this fic first, since the one he's helping with is a type of sequel to this one. That's right, folks I've already started the sequels (yep no typo there sequels as in more than one) I've decided to chronicle the last two years of Harry Potter with crossovers of their own, mostly to get a closer look at the development of Draco and Harry's relationship.
Anyway, the pairing vote is still up, and it stands thus so far:
Itachi/Neville 3
Itachi/George 3
Itachi/Ginny 3
Sasuke/George 3
Itachi/Hinata 7
Hinata/Ginny 2
George/Hinata 2
Feel free to cast multiple votes for your favorites, I'm not keeping track of who is voting, just who is voted for. By the way this is for the actual Naruto/HP crossover sequel titled The Wizards of Konoha. The other two sequels, well I've only actually named one, is Gundam Siege and is a Gundam Wing/HP crossover, I haven't decided what fandom I'll steal to do the crossover for the seventh book yet. (any suggestions for that one are being taken, as long as it's not Naruto or Gundam Wing)
Anyway, I hope to finish this fic soon, but I can't make any promises, as I stated earlier, writer's block is a bitch.
So now on to the real reason ya'll are here.
"Japanese"
"Mind link"
Chapter 21: Thank God You're Awake
The next day, notices had gone up all over the school, announcing Umbridge as the new Headmistress. The school was in an uproar over Dumbledore's disappearance and wild rumors were flying around as to how he'd done it.
"Dumbledore will be back before long," said Ernie Macmillian confidently on the way back from Herbology after listening intently to Harry's story. "They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to this time. The Fat Friar told me…" He dropped his voice conspiratorially, so that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to lean closer to him to hear, "…that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her." Ernie smirked. "Apparently she had a right little tantrum…."
"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office," said Hermione viciously, as they walked up the stone steps into the entrance hall. "Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazed old—"
"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?"
Draco Malfoy had slid out from behind the door, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle, and a yawning Shikamaru. His pale, pointed face alight with malice.
"Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," he drawled, as Gaara, Temari, Sakura, Kankuro, and Neji appeared behind Harry and the others.
"It's only teachers that can dock points from Houses, Malfoy," said Ernie at once.
"Yeah, we're prefects too, remember?" snarled Ron.
"I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King," sneered Malfoy, shooting an almost unnoticed apologetic look in Harry's direction; Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. "But members of the Inquisitorial Squad—"
"The what?" said Hermione sharply.
"The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger," said Malfoy, pointing toward a tiny silver I upon his robes just beneath his prefect's badge. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, handpicked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points…. So, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new headmistress…. Macmillian five for contradicting me…. Five because I don't like you, Potter… Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that…. Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten for that…."
"Let's not leave the others out, Draco," Shikamaru gave the blonde a lazy smirk. "I'm sure they'd have said something if you hadn't interrupted."
"Oh, look, Neji," Gaara said in a monotone, as if on cue, "the toad has spawned and produced rather ugly tadpoles. Should we have Naruto call Gamabunta to deal with them? I'm sure he'd have no problem rounding them up."
"Maybe I should go ask him," the long-haired shinobi shrugged. "I have to go and check on him anyway."
"See," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "So that will be ten points for Sabaku's insults on both the headmistress and ourselves and five for Hyuuga going along with it."
"Don't forget to take fifty points from Slytherin, Nara," Gaara gave the other shinobi a level stare.
"Why would he do that?" Goyle asked stupidly.
"Because I said so," the redhead smirked slightly and strode away, with the other shinobi following him.
"And that'll be fifty points from Slytherin for asking stupid questions, Goyle," the shadow ninja said, shoving his hands into his pockets before following the other shinobi.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione just barely managed to school their features so as not to burst out laughing at the three stunned Slytherins. After shooting another look at Harry, Draco turned on his heel and walked away, with Crabbe and Goyle in his wake.
"That was too funny," Harry gasped, trying to regain his breath.
"He was bluffing," said Ernie, looking appalled. "He can't be allowed to dock points… that would be ridiculous…. It would completely undermine the prefect system…."
"I just don't understand why he took them from us," Hermione whispered to Harry, a look of confusion on her face. "I mean, I thought we were past all this."
"Oh, come on, Hermione," Harry gave her a pointed look. "It's Malfoy, he's a git."
The witch gave a silent 'oh' of comprehension and then nodded.
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After they left the wizarding students the shinobi split up. Gaara and Shikamaru doubled back to keep an eye on their charges, while Kankuro, Temari, and Sakura headed into the Great Hall for lunch. Neji went, as he said he would, to check on Naruto, who hadn't woken up yet.
The long haired brunette sat down next to the blonde's bed, staring at the two figures lying there. Naruto had not moved since Kyuubi had laid him down the night before, Kyuubi, however, had his arms wrapped protectively around the blonde. Neji sighed quietly, feeling a slight pang of jealousy against the nine-tailed fox. It wasn't fair that the damned fox got to be with Naruto while he suffered through the routine that had been established for this mission.
With a final shake of his head, he got up from his seat and made his way back downstairs.
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As soon as Harry followed Umbridge out of her office, solely intent on finding the source of the disturbance that rescued him from her inquisition, he was grabbed roughly by the arm and dragged into an unused classroom. Once the door was closed he turned to his captor, a wry smile forming on his face.
"We need to stop meeting like this," he said with a slight chuckle.
"Listen, Harry," Draco sighed, running his hand through his hair in frustration, "about earlier, I'm sorry."
"I know you didn't mean it," Harry shook his head, leaning back against the wall. "I understand, I really do. You have to keep up appearances. In fact, I would've been suspicious if you hadn't done what you did."
"It doesn't make me feel any better about it," the Slytherin bit his lip.
"Listen, Dray," the brunette sighed, pushing off the wall and putting his hand on the blonde's shoulder, "I know how you feel, I do. But if it makes you feel better, you can always drag me into an empty room after every occurrence and tell me how bad you feel about it, okay?"
"There'll be a lot of dragging you around then," Draco smiled slightly.
"Just don't make it too obvious," Harry shrugged nonchalantly, his voice taking on an aggrieved tone. "Other than that, I think I'll manage to suffer through it."
Draco chuckled slightly at Harry's tone.
"That's better," Harry beamed at him. "You really should laugh more. That way it doesn't appear that you have a broomstick shoved so far up your…"
He was cut off abruptly as Draco's lips crashed down on his own in a searing kiss.
"Shut up, Potter," the blonde said as they broke apart.
"Make me, Malfoy," Harry shot back, a little breathlessly.
"I believe I just did," Draco pointed out needlessly.
"Oh shut up," Harry swatted playfully at him. "Anyway, you have to admit that what Gaara did earlier was as funny as hell, so it completely covered up anything that might have come between us."
"I think it was funnier that Shikamaru actually went along with it," the Slytherin chuckled. "It was worth it to see the even more confused looks on Crabbe's and Goyle's faces."
"Oh, don't start that, the look on your face was priceless," Harry shook his head, laughing slightly. "Besides, I think Shika had several reasons for doing that."
"Oh?" a blonde brow rose curiously. "And what might those be, oh esteemed Gryffindor guru?"
Harry fought to control his laughter at the new nickname, "Well, first of all Gaara's his superior; second, if it came down to a fight between them, I don't think Shika could, or would, win; and lastly, Shika likes him."
"What makes you say that?" Draco asked in confusion.
"Oh right, you weren't there in Madam Puddifoot's," Harry chuckled. "Well, on Valentine's day, Shika took Gaara to Hogsmeade. He said it was just an act to keep the girls away, but if that was all it was I don't think he would've kissed him like he did."
"He kissed him?!" Malfoy asked in disbelief.
"Yep," Harry nodded. "And if you know anything at all about Gaara, then you know it's almost life threatening to get too close, so Shika had to have some feelings for him to risk his wrath like that."
"That or he's just insane," the blonde shrugged. "Anyway, you should go. See you around, Potter."
"You wish, Malfoy," Harry scoffed as he opened the door and headed back toward the Great Hall.
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That night, as everyone was preparing for bed, Kyuubi sat up and stretched, yawning widely and showing off his fang-like eye-teeth. His yellow cat-like eyes then surveyed the room, taking in all the boys, his eyes lingering on each for a moment. When Neville realized the stranger was watching him change, he gave an 'eep' of surprise and quickly leapt onto his bed, drawing the curtains around him. The fox demon chuckled slightly before continuing his scrutiny.
"Hyuuga," he said after a moment, "take over. I'm going for a walk."
"You can't, Kyuubi," Neji glared at the fox. "One, you cannot leave Naruto until he is better, and two, we don't trust you to walk around on your own."
"Listen, brat," Kyuubi growled softly, "the kit is fine, all my chakra has returned, he just needs to wake up now. And I give you my word…"
"Why would that make things right?" a dark brow rose in curiosity. "Your word means nothing to me."
"Fine," yellow eyes rolled in annoyance, and he placed a hand on Naruto's forehead. "I swear on the life of my kit that I won't… kill anyone, maiming and attacking are exempt though," he muttered the last part under his breath.
"Not good enough, Kyu," the Hyuuga held his gaze, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Alright!" the demon growled. "I won't do anything to anyone, but I'm about to go stir crazy in here, and you really don't want to see me like that. Think about Gaara on a bad day with Shu, and multiply it by nine."
"Very well," Neji sighed in defeat. "But if I hear of anything suspicious in the morning, I will shut you down."
"Yeah, yeah, you'll 64 palms my ass, I got it," was the sarcastic reply. "See ya in the morning, Hyuuga. Night boys."
And with a final wave over his shoulder, the fox demon left the dormitory. The other boys turned their attention to the long haired teen, curiosity radiating from their every pore.
"What did he mean by that?" Seamus asked, biting his lip slightly.
"What do you mean?" Neji countered stoically.
"He said all Naruto had to do was wake up," the Irish boy shook his head, dismissing the rest. "So why hasn't he?"
"Ya know, that's a good question, Nej," Kiba scratched his head. "Why hasn't he woken up yet? Unless…"
"Unless he's retreated to his healing zone," the Hyuuga nodded, picking up on the dog ninja's train of thought. "In that case…"
"Kyu would want to be as far away from Naruto as possible," Gaara said from the doorway. "Shu always tried to stay longer when I let him out. He's going for one last walk, as it were."
"So Kyu knows he'll wake soon, and is preparing for it," Shino spoke up from his place beside Kiba. "He probably has Naruto's consciousness in his mind."
"He went away so as not to cause as big a scene should Naruto pull him back," Gaara shrugged. "We should prepare for three more days."
The wizards had no idea what the shinobi were talking about, well all except Harry but he wasn't going to say anything, and quickly dismissed it as they crawled into bed.
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Kyuubi wandered the halls, muttering darkly to himself about jumped up Hyuugas and damn promises. To the casual observer, the tall redhead looked like he had a purpose to his stride, but in reality the demon fox had no real destination in mind, he just wanted to get away from that stuffy tower and the annoying brats residing therein. He had just decided to head outside when the doors of Hogwarts opened.
Using the stealth provided from living years inside a ninja host, as well as his natural demon abilities, Kyuubi melded into the shadows at the bottom of the stairs. A dark clad figure stumbled into the castle and only the quick reflexes of the fox kept the new arrival's face from meeting the floor.
"You're a wreck," the redhead sneered, his nose crinkling as he caught the man's scent. "Damn, you smell like Moldywarts."
A dark, pain-filled eye cracked open and a dark brow rose in incredulous disbelief, "Excuse me?" he managed to croak out before doubling up in pain.
"Moldywarts, Kyu?" Naruto's chuckle rang through the demon's head. "Honestly, and they say I'm bad at giving out nicknames. I fall asleep for a few hours and you decide to go roaming around giving out horrible nicknames to evil villains. Let me back in control and I'll fix this."
"Kit," Kyuubi growled but it was too late, Naruto had shoved him back into the recesses of his own head.
"Sorry bout that… Professor Snape," blue eyes looked down at the figure in his arms and helped him regain his footing. "I meant Voldemort."
"Get back to your own body, brat," Kyuubi snarled, pushing Naruto out of the forefront of his consciousness. "I'm sure the Hyuuga brat wants to have a word with you."
"What do you mean, my own body, I'm the one in charge here," Naruto scoffed, pouting slightly.
"Do you not remember giving me my own body with that stupid 'spell' you cast? Now get!" With a final push, Naruto's conscious was driven out of the demon's body and back into his own. "Damn kit, doesn't know what's good for him," he muttered under his breath.
"Internal problem?" Snape asked, having slightly overcome his pain, at least enough to stay on his feet and regain some of his former dignity.
"Not really," the redhead grinned evilly. "Seriously though, you should head to the hospital wing. I'm sure you'll want to be in top condition for classes tomorrow. Wouldn't want the kiddies to see their evil Potions professor looking anything other than intimidating, you'd lose your edge. For a mortal, you've got the whole scary persona perfected."
"I thank you for your assistance," Snape held up his hand to silence the demon's babbling. He nodded briskly before heading off in the direction of the hospital wing.
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"Hey Neji?" Harry asked, once all the others were safely enclosed in their beds, with the curtains drawn.
"Yes, Harry?" Neji looked over from his place by Naruto's side, the even breathing around the room telling him the other boys had fallen asleep.
"I was wondering, well Hermione was wondering," Harry sighed in through, "if you guys would be willing to teach us Japanese. By us I mean, me, Hermione, Ron, and Draco. But that way we would be able to talk without running a big risk of others knowing what we're talking about."
"Why can't you just perform the translating spell Dumbledore placed on us?" dark brows narrowed in thought.
"I asked Hermione the same thing," the wizard chuckled slightly. "She said for that spell to work you have to have at least a basic grasp of the language you want things translated into."
"That makes sense," the long haired teen nodded. "I will speak to Gaara and see if we can arrange something for the four of you."
"Thank you," Harry said quietly, and lay back in his bed to try and go to sleep.
The two boys fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly the peaceful sleepiness of the dormitory was shattered by a rather loud and obnoxious, but much anticipated, voice.
"Goddamn it, you no good, fucking fox!"
"Naruto!" Neji sat up straight and wrapped his arms around his now wide awake boyfriend.
The other occupants in the dormitory shot up at the loud noises, looking over to the blonde's bed. There wrapped up in Hyuuga's arms was the formerly comatose jinchuriki. Three boys jumped out of their beds and ran over to Naruto, prying off Neji and enveloping him each in turn.
"It's good to have ya back, Naruto," Kiba grinned impishly.
"Welcome back," Shino gave a half smile.
"Well, squirt," Kankuro chuckled, "how's it feel to be back among the living. Gaara was so sure you'd be out for three more days."
"What can I say," Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I've always been a fast healer."
"Naruto," Neji said quietly, breaking into the excited babble of the other three shinobi, "where's Kyu?"
"What do you mean, Nej?" blue eyes looked over at him in confusion. "He's where he's supposed to be, isn't he?"
"You don't remember, do you?" Neji sighed. "You let Kyu out, when you tried to copy a Patronus charm."
"He has his own body, doesn't he?" Naruto's eyes widened in realization of what Kyu had told him before he woke up. "He told me and I didn't understand."
"Understandable, you've been unconscious for over a day and you passed out before he fully materialized," the brunette said softly, wrapping his arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Are you going to call him back to his cage?"
"Has he hurt anyone?" Naruto asked quietly.
"No, but then tonight is the first time since he brought you here that he's been out of this room," Neji shook his head, not sure what his boyfriend was getting at.
"I'll talk with him, okay?" the blonde sighed. "I know you guys have no reason to trust him, but I do. I don't know if I feel confident enough to keep him out of his cage, but it might be for the best, ya know?"
"Do what you feel you must," Neji nodded in acceptance of his captain's words. If Naruto trusted Kyuubi to be out, he had no right to question that judgment
Naruto stared out the window as a firework zoomed past, but his vacant eyes didn't seem to catch it.
"Kyuubi, where are you?" he asked the fox.
"Outside," the demon answered quietly. "Whenever you're ready I'll go back."
"Can I trust you, Kyu?" Naruto sighed. "Can I trust that you won't hurt anyone if I leave you out?"
"Do you even have to ask, kit?" Kyuubi bowed his head, awaiting his sentence. "You know I'd do nothing to hurt you. If that means not hurting anyone else, then so be it. That is unless they threaten you, then you know as well as I that I can't be held responsible for my actions."
"Alright," a smile crossed Naruto's face. "Go run, Kyu, I know you want to. Just don't make me regret trusting you."
"I won't, kit, I promise," and with that the nine tailed demon fox took off into the trees of the Forbidden Forest.
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AN: Okay, so I know it's rather short and it jumps around alot, but it's here. I wasn't completely satisfied with this chapter, but it's not horrible. I'll just have to give a good kick to my muses so they'll get their butts in gear and help me out.