An Intertwined Spiral

Chapter 2

Naruto panicked when he opened his eyes, not remembering where he was. Red fabric hung around the bed, and he heard snoring outside of the hangings. He relaxed as the memories of yesterday returned to him. He really was at Hogwarts!

He grinned as he pulled the hangings open and hopped out of bed. He wasn't surprise to find that it was still dark out. He made it a habit to get up before the sun rose. It gave him time to think, a rare thing to come by at home with nine family members living together.

He padded over to the window, sitting on the ledge. He stared into the dark grounds. He was excited; he couldn't wait until his lessons started. Naruto had been waiting for a long time to be able to do magic on his own.

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the glass. He idly wondered if Sasuke would be in any of his classes. 'Wait! What the hell am I thinking? What do I care if that bastard is in my classes?' Naruto thought, a little annoyed with himself.

He pushed away from the window and looked up at the sky. There were pink streaks coming up over the mountains. It was almost dawn.

The sky turned from pink to gold as the sun rose over the mountains. Naruto smiled as the weak rays of light warmed his face. He stood, wanting to get dressed.

Just as he was pulling on his robes, Audrey opened his curtains with a groan. He looked terrible in the morning, his hair was sticking every which way and he still looked half asleep.

"Naruto, can I ask you a question?" he said sitting up. Naruto glanced at him from doing up the buttons. "Yeah, sure."

"Why the hell are you up so bloody early?" the other boy grumbled. Naruto laughed, "I'm always up at this time. I didn't mean to wake you, sorry." He grinned, his family were not morning people either.

"Argh!" Audrey flopped back into bed as a response. Naruto left the dormitories chuckling. He figured that it would be too early to go for breakfast so he went to the common room.

Looking around he spotted some comfy looking chairs by the fire. He jumped on to a dark green one and curled up.

He stared into the fire, mesmerized as it flickered and danced. His eyes slowly started to drift shut and he soon fell asleep.

He was looking down into a bubbling stream. Glancing up, he saw that he was on a small red bridge. Beside him was a pink haired girl. She was pacing as she muttered angrily to herself.

On his other side there was dark haired youth leaning against a pole, eyes closed and his hands stuffed in his pockets.

There was a poofing noise behind him. He and the girl whipped around.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

A white haired man was crouching on the railing, rubbing the back of his head. He looked apologetic, or at least Naruto thought so. The man had a mask covering the bottom half of his face while a headband was tilted to the side, hiding his right eye.

"Sorry, sorry. A black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around." He said, taking out an orange book. The girl twitched at the sight of it.

"Will you put that perverted book away while you're talking to us?" She growled. The man looked at her with his uncovered eye up turned, indicating that he was smiling.

"Nope. I'm at a good part." The girl growled again while Naruto smiled. The dark haired boy only gave a small 'hn', not showing any emotion.

"Naruto, we have to go!"

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that he was in the common room. 'Huh. I must've fallen asleep…'

"Naruto? Are you listening?" Ron poked his brother in the side of the head. Naruto swatted his hand away. Harry and Hermione stood behind Ron. Harry was smirking and Hermione was smiling.

"What?" Naruto yawned. Hermione giggle. "You were smiling in your sleep. Were you having a good dream?"

"I guess." He lazily got up and stretched. He thought back to the strange people freezing as he realized that the dark haired boy looked just like Sasuke! Naruto mentally shook his head. It was probably all the food he had eaten before he went to bed.

He followed his friends out of Gryffindor Tower. "So guys, how was the flying car?" Naruto asked casually as they made their way to the Great Hall.

Hermione scowled as Ron and Harry flushed a bit. "It wasn't our fault! We couldn't get through the barrier, and we missed the train."

Naruto laughed, "Hey, I wasn't telling you off. Why couldn't I have been there too?" He complained as they opened the door to the hall.

Hermione made a disapproving noise but didn't comment. They sat down and began to eat breakfast. Naruto played with the food on his plate, not paying attention to his friends as they started to argue again.

Soon Professor McGonagall started handing out timetables to all of the Gryffindor.

"Mr. Weasley! Will you please pay attention and take your schedule?" She told him holding out a paper. He reached to take it from her. "Sorry Professor." He glanced down and saw that he had potions first, then Herbology, Charms after and Defense against the Dark Arts.

Harry leaned over and was reading the schedule over Naruto's shoulder. "Aw, what a first day! Potions with Snape, and the rest of the Slytherins." Ron looked over at them. "Really? That sucks to be stuck with those bastards."

"Ron! Watch your language!" Hermione scolded him as she looked up from the book she was reading. Naruto rolled his eyes, putting his paper in his bag. He picked up his fork and started to eat.

He suddenly looked up feeing someone's eyes on him. Looking around the room, his eyes settled on the Slytherin table. Sasuke was sitting there watching him, not looking away when their gazes met.

Naruto glared and stuck his tongue at him and went back eating. Then it happened.

Naruto looked up as the mail came in. Owls of all different colors and sized flew around the room. A slash and a shriek caught his attention again.

"Errol!" Ron gasped as he pulled the unconscious owl out of Hermione's cereal bowl, dripping milk all over.

"Oh know." Naruto whispered.

"It's alright, he's alive." Hermione said, poking the bird gently. Ron shook his head looking pale as a sheet.

"It's not that." He pointed a finger at the red envelope that Errol had dropped.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, looking alarmed as he noticed that it was smoking slightly, as if it was on fire.

"She-she sent me a Howler." Ron said shakily. Naruto winced, knowing what was going to happen.

"Open it. It's gonna happen anyways. Just get it over with." He said stuffing his fingers in his ears.

Ron reached a shaking hand out to grab the envelope and gingerly opened it.

"…STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE…"

Molly Weasley's voice rang through out the hall, rattling the cutlery on the tables. Everyone in the room were trying to see who got the Howler. Ron's face was beet red as he slipped down in his chair.

"…LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE BOTH DIED…"

Naruto saw that Harry was trying very hard to pretend that he wasn't hearing the Howler.

"… ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN ENQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT, AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME."

Naruto took his fingers away as the envelope fell silent and burst into flame. Ron and Harry sat stunned and Hermione opened her mouth looking very smug before Naruto cut in.

"Don't. Just don't." He muttered. He hated Howlers with a passion, noisy rude things. She closed her mouth with a snap and just shook her head.

For the rest of breakfast, both Harry and Ron just played with their food. Ron was still pink around the ears as they left the Great Hall for their first lessons of the year.

'What a perfect way to start…' Naruto thought sourly as he made his way down to Potions.

Naruto shivered as the cold air of the dungeons hit him. He was a few minutes early to class so he went in to find a place to sit. He looked around and inwardly groaned, he was right in assuming that Sasuke was in his class. So Naruto did the natural thing, and went sit in the other side of the room.

"Hi!" Naruto smiled at the girl sitting next to him. She had pretty gray-green eyes and long brown hair pulled back to a ponytail. "Hey! I'm Naruto."

"I'm Emmy." She looked around the room. "I hope that the teacher would hurry up. This dungeon gives me the creeps." As if listening to her words, the door banged open and a pale-faced man with long hooked nose came striding in. His long greasy hair looked like it barely moved as he walked to the front of the room.

Naruto immediately got the feeling of dislike radiating from the teacher as he coolly gazed at the class.

"I will not tolerate any foolishness in this class. Potion making is one of the most complex branches of magic, only a few can truly master and appreciated this art." Snape's eyes swept around the room, his gaze lingering a second longer on Naruto.

The corners of Snape's mouth twitched into a small smirk but he didn't comment. Naruto glared at him, crossing his arms.

"You will be making a fairly simple potion to start out." He drew out his wand and waved it in the direction of the black board. "Here are the instructions. You have an hour. Start." He turned and sat down at his desk.

Naruto sighed and looked at the board. It did seem simple enough. He got up and gathered his ingredients. He and Emmy grinned at each other and got to work.

10 minutes later:

"Naruto wait! Don't put that in!"

BOOM.

Naruto blinked. He looked down and saw his potion had exploded, covering him and the table with bright orange slime.

"Oh." Was all he could say. Emmy started laughing. "Wow Naruto. First class and you blew up the potion."

Naruto gulped as he saw Snape storm over. "Weasley! What did you do?!" he looked down and narrowed his eyes. "Tell me, can you read?" Naruto nodded still a little shocked by the explosion

"Then why did you add newt eyes before simmering for ten minutes?" Snape flicked his wand over Naruto and the cauldron, cleaning both instantly. "Twenty points from Gryffindor."

Naruto glared at Snape. He didn't mean to blow it up! It was an honest mistake! Emmy just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I hear he's always like this."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah I know. Still, he didn't have to be an ass about it." They gathered up their stuff and headed for the door. He stumbled a bit as someone bumped him from behind.

"Dope, can't even get a simple potion right?" a voice murmured in his ear. Naruto glared viciously as Sasuke's retreating back. He had to resist the urge to throw his bag at him.

"Hey Naruto? You alright?" Emmy was glancing at Sasuke and Naruto with a strange look on her face. Naruto sighed and nodded. "Yeah. What class do you have next?"

Emmy grinned. "Herbology!" Naruto brightened. "Same as me! You seemed to be excited for it. You like plants then?" She giggled clasping her hands together. "Uh huh. My parents breed rare plants, I love helping them out."

They chatted as they made their way to the green houses on the grounds. Naruto was really happy; he loved to meet new people and learned new things.

Herbology was interesting to say in the least. Emmy was of course his partner and a good thing too. Apparently plants didn't like him one bit. He sat on the stool sulking as Emmy lovingly petted a giant plant with moving tentacles that had just tried to strangle him.

"That is just not fair." He muttered as he eyed the plant warily. She rolled her eyes. "Oh stop pouting. So what if you're not a plant person." Naruto just groaned and half collapsed on the counter.

"How much longer until this torture is over?!" Naruto complained loudly, shrinking down slightly as the Professor gave him a look.

"About now." Emmy smirked as the bell rung. Naruto practically ran out of the green house. "Thank god! I don't want to die by getting strangled by a crazy plant!" He said dramatically falling on the ground. People laughed as they watched his performance.

Emmy sighed, shaking her head. "Why do I have to be stuck with him?" She asked the air in a self sacrificing way. "Hey!" Naruto called indignantly from the ground. They both burst out laughing as she pulled him up.

xXxXx

Naruto sat slouched in his seat, his head being held up by his hand. He was in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which he though that it was going to be good.

Boy, was he wrong.

The teacher was called Gilderoy Lockhart, and he was a fool. All the girls in the class swooned at the sight of him though. Naruto had to admit Lockhart was good looking. He had blonde hair that was swept back, blue eyes and a blinding white smile.

But his personality made Naruto want to bash his head against the desk. The man was so chipper and he bragged repeatedly about his adventures and how he defeated banshees and vampires.

To make matters worse, Naruto was late to class because he had misplaced his textbook and had to tear part his trunk to find it. When he got to the class, the only seat left open was right beside Sasuke Malfoy.

"Well class! I'm going to be telling you a very old legend." Lockhart dramatically swept to the front of the class and grinned. "This will be on a test, so pay attention!" Everyone hurried to take out parchment and quills to take notes.

"Nearly two thousand years ago, there was a great demon that had nine tails. It had great power, and it had attacked many people, killing all. Once it had attacked a village where is had met its downfall."

Naruto suddenly was standing in front of a large blood red fox; its nine tails slashing at the air. It was growling, standing over a village, which had over half the buildings destroyed. There were people fighting the fox with swords and strange spells but nothing seemed to work against it. It roared, slamming a tail down crushing people who didn't jump out of the way in time.

Naruto looked away from the fox, to a cliff. It had four heads carved into the stone, and a lone figure stood atop of the statues. A blonde man was holding a small bundle of cloth in his arm, gazing down sadly at the destruction and violence.

He slowly rose on arm, while cradling the bundle gently to his chest. The man said something but the wind carried it away the sound. Naruto didn't need to hear it, he read the man's lips forming the words, 'I'm sorry." Then-

Naruto crashed back to reality. He glanced up and saw that he was looking into dark eyes watching him worriedly.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke whispered. He pulled back slightly, removing his hand from Naruto's arm. Naruto looked at him confused. "Huh?"

"You had your eyes closed and you started shaking."

"Oh. I'm fine." Naruto blushed, and he refused to look him in the eye.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Weasley! Would you kindly pay attention!" Lockhart called out to them. They straighten and turned back to face the teacher.

"Now as I was saying. The demon attacked the village but was sealed into a newborn child. After the child died, the demon had apparently died along with it. But now some of the creatures from our very own Forbidden Forest had been complaining to the Headmaster about a source of power coming from the forest. None of them wanted to go near it."

Naruto rubbed his forehead feeling a headache forming that surprisingly had nothing to do with Lockhart.

"They asked Professor Dumbledore to go and look to make sure it was nothing harmful. What the Headmaster found was so completely astonishing I almost didn't believe it myself!" Lockhart laughed as he moved toward his desk where something was covered by a deep purple cloth.

"He found a statue, one that was very strange indeed. It had a sense of ancient magic around it that was steadily getting stronger. And we are very luckily that he is letting us see it for ourselves!" He whipped off the cloth, revealing a small stone statue.

It was rough and in the shape of a flame. There were some runes on it, and they were faintly pulsing with light. Naruto leaned in to see the runes properly. One in the middle looked like a fancy spiral with squiggles attached to it. The rune to the right was a fan of some sort, with a line in the middle of it. The last was just a plain spiral.

Naruto rubbed his forehead. There was a faint buzzing in his ears. He tried to concentrate on what Lockhart was babbling on about but his head was hurting too much.

He tried to stand up to tell the teacher that he wasn't feeling well when he pitched forward and crumpled to the ground. He barely noticed the screaming around him. He gritted his teeth, holding his head.

All he remembered before passing out was a deep chuckle.

"Finally."