Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter
Naruto narrowly avoided being caught as the woman seemed to already have trouble makers who she deemed responsible for most messes.
'The Weasley twins.' Naruto remembered and decided to do something good for them. After all they did take the flak for him. Even if unknowingly.
He had also stubbornly avoided the awed eyes of the angry redhead making sure to stay far away so he didn't get bombarded by questions.
He really needed to find a way to read up about all these Wizarding things. He knew when he'd jump and reveal something he shouldn't by accident.
He shivered wondering what would have happened if he had summoned his clones.
He saw the class at the greenhouses as he sighed in relief speeding up.
Feeling something strange as he arrived just at the door he saw the man himself.
Gilderoy Lockhart!
Naruto narrowed his eyes before shaking his head.
Soon.
Very soon.
But not yet.
Walking inside the greenhouse he picked up the beginnings of a conversation.
"-can tell me the properties of the mandrake."
'Ohhhh! I know this one!' Naruto's eyes widened. The only reason why it immediately linked in his head was because he had already compared it to that freaky guy who used sound back in the forest!
Doku or something!
"Mandrakes kill people if you're too close to them when the scream! Some guy's head exploded because he picked up an adult by accident!" Naruto said aloud as the class paused turning towards him in horror and surprise.
"Oh that is correct yet perhaps not quite how I would word it and young man, who are you?" Naruto saw the woman turning to him with a confused frown as she hummed looking him up and down swiftly before her eyes widened.
"Ah! You must be that transfer student Minerva was talking about in the staff meeting? I did see your name on the register. Accio." Naruto watched with wide eyes as the paper zoomed across the room.
"Woah! Lady- I mean p-professor what kind of spell was that?!" The boy walked forward glancing at his peer mates before looking away finding the random zooming way more interesting!
The woman who was combing through the paper raised her head towards him then an eyebrow. "A curious one then are you Mr…Naruto Uzumaki?"
The boy nodded happily at her getting it right as the woman smiled kindly.
"That was the Summoning charm. It's incantation being Accio. You will learn it in your fourth year perhaps? My memory isn't quite the best on it…"
"Since you seem to share a nature with one of my students...Ms. Granger?" The woman called out.
"Yes professor?!" A bushy haired girl with buck teeth came front and center without hesitation sending glances towards the boy that screamed "You are a Rival!"
Naruto shifted feeling a bit threatened at the heat she was pouring on. Did she want to fight him!?
"Can I count on you to help out Mr. Uzumaki for this lesson? While he shows much competence I'd rather there be no accidents today."
Naruto watched the girl paused stiffly as she nodded.
"Of course, professor. I would be delighted." Anyone but the professor could clearly hear how hard she grit that one out.
'Uhhh. You don't sound very delighted…' Naruto hesitated walking behind the girl who seemed to have it out for him.
"Oh and Mr. Uzumaki before you go, do you know another property of the mandrake plant? Preferably less graphic young man."
Naruto turned and blinked as he thought about it. He would be honest and say after the head exploding bit he had lost a bit of interest.
Luckily the next part was just as crazy to him! Honestly this place was wild!
"They can turn people back from stone!"
"...I-I suppose your heart is in the right place young man. 20 points to Mr. Uzumaki. Now class, Mandrakes have many restorative properties that can be used in-"
The boy tuned her out as he followed the girl who's back seemed even stiffer than before if that was possible.
'The heck did I do?'
He immediately sought to clear the misunderstanding.
"Oi! Why are you so mad at me?" He poked her shoulder as she flinched at the touch twirling around looking down at him.
She took a long look at him as she sniffed. It wasn't a crying sniff either.
"Oh it's nothing significant at all. Please don't worry Uzumaki. I'm sure you're quite pleased with yourself." The boy's eye twitched at the way she said his name. He couldn't describe it but he was sure she wasn't being as pleasant as she acted.
Ugh. She reminded him more like Ino now that he thought about it.
Still Uzumaki Naruto knew how to bide his time. It was a trait he learned even better when he came to this world. So he said nothing following her watching as her stiff shoulders deflated steadily and her fuzzy hair became even more frazzled.
Weird.
He looked at the two boys she led him towards but not quite. As if she was taking a bit of space away from them for some reason
Again. Weird.
"Oh. You're that kid who tried breaking into my room yesterday." Naruto pointed out blandly as the two boys stiffened, turning slowly.
"Y-you that was y-you?!" The redheads' teeth chattered clearly having learnt his lesson.
Naruto didn't pursue the matter, turning back to the lesson to pay attention.
Afterall he did just prove he read about mandrakes didn't he? Wouldn't want to miss someone pulling out the things from what he saw up there and getting murdered.
That would be embarrassing.
He didn't even know if he could survive that and had no wish to test it.
However Naruto was really itching to ask why on earth they thought doing this was a good idea. The damn things could straight up kill you in seconds!
"Everyone come up and get a set of earmuffs. We will be repotting these mandrakes and it is imperative that you take the proper safety steps."
Naruto immediately walked forward swiping a set of fuzzy pink earmuffs not minding the giggles he got as he glanced at his two friends who were the main conspirators.
He had spotted them the minute he came inside but didn't make a fuss about it knowing there was a time and place for everything.
Still they would know pain!
"I will be demonstrating the proper methods of harvesting and repotting a mandrake. Now when I tell you to put on your earmuffs make sure they are completely covered otherwise…" The woman gave a grim smile of amusement.
"Well Mr Uzumaki has already said so correct?"
Naruto watched as the shudder ran through everyone except himself of course!
"However, do not worry. We would not put you in such danger. They are not fully mature as of yet so they will at most knock you out for a period of time. Give or take a few hours. I will signal when it is time to takes them off. Now on with your earmuffs."
Naruto placed them and began observing the following show.
'Man that is one ugly baby.' Naruto's face scrunched up seeing the wiggling nasty little thing being uprooted.
Predictably it began wailing though he couldn't hear it.
Soon after the mutant thing was placed into a pot.
The woman signaled and the boy took off his muffs along with everyone else.
The woman looked over them all as she began asking. "Is the process clear? Any questions?"
Hearing none, the woman moved on, giving them instructions on how to start.
And of course when the woman said four to a group the boy made a straight line towards his friends.
What could he say? He liked having friends!
"I bring gifts! Worship me!" The boy brought the collection of pots, dropping them to the floor as he smiled at the claps he got.
"Very strong Naruto. What would we do without you?" Hannah looked impressed seeing the many pots stacked up.
"Probably use the levitation spell but it's the thought that counts so thank you Naruto!" Susan added with a sweet smile.
Naruto deflated hearing how his super cool ninja power could be rendered useless but got over quickly when he realized he had ninja powers and wizard powers!
"Well girls I already have a work plan for us!" The boy clapped happily as the girl's looked at each other confused.
"Really? Just for this?" Susan was a bit confused at how enthusiastic he was.
"Of course! If you're going to do something you do it right! That's how you get the most out of your day!" The boy nodded sternly, imparting his hard earned wisdom on his young friends.
The girls both looked a bit uncertain thinking he was making a big deal out of nothing but still followed reluctantly.
"Oh hello Granger." Naruto blinked, hearing Hannah speak a bit blandly as he looked back.
"Eh? It's you? The heck are you doing here?" Naruto asked, confused and a bit more rudely than he intended seeing the girl stalking him.
The girl's nostrils flared widely and her eyes nearly sparked as if she was about to scold him real bad before she deflated like a balloon.
"It's four to a group and the Professor specified for me to stick with you. Did you somehow forget already?" The boy blinked, hearing the muttered gloominess in her tone.
"I ain't forget nothing you hear me?! In fact I have a very important role for you!" The boy gestured for all 3 classmates to come together grabbing 2 as the bushy haired girl dodged the arm expertly.
"Now the plan is-"
(Break)
Pomona Sprout scurried around the classroom, her wand out as she watched the children keenly making sure no tomfoolery was about.
While she had scared them about the Mandrakes being able to harm them, it was only so they knew to be cautious around these dangerous plants at all times.
It was not rare in skirmishes or even simple battles that wizards used external objects to get a better outcome.
Mandrakes of course, while inconvenient, were very much used, being able to kill an entire room if it was sufficiently old enough.
She didn't speak of course considering what they had on, however her wand did give a bit of a wave whenever she saw one of their earmuffs dropping off.
However she came to a stop at the end of the bench, her eyes opening wide, seeing the uncannily smooth process before her eyes. She did not quite remember the last time she had seen such a cohesive unit of lower years.
Miss Granger, one of her top scoring students but perhaps wasn't so much into the nitty gritty of herbology that she observed, was standing at the table looking down into the bed of dirt where the abundance of mandrakes were.
After a second she reached in ripping it out with strength she didn't quite think the girl had as she flinched turning backwards shoving into Miss Abbot's dirt covered hands.
Miss Abbott then passed it over to Mr Uzumaki who proceeded to shove it down with even more strength in a pot that already had compost inside before he picked it up, placing it to the side of Miss Abbot.
Ms Bones then came in taking the pot away not before leaving a compost filled pot that Ms Abbot began digging inside for much easier repotting before pushing it to Mr. Uzumaki.
'Well I'll be.' The woman took a glance behind, seeing the already filled pots feeling quite surprised at the high number.
'They're a well organized machine. In fact I may have to adopt this approach in my later classes. I hadn't thought about delegating tasks for each member but it makes much more sense. ' The woman nodded, feeling enlightened.
'I think that deserves an O for this assignment, yes?'
"10 points each for Mr. Uzumaki, Ms. Abbot, Ms. Bones and Ms. Granger for intuitive thinking and camaraderie without prompting."
(Break)
Naruto yawned as he walked towards the transfiguration classroom behind the bushy haired girl who seemed to have cooled down a bit.
Most of the other students had gone back to their dormitory apparently stating they needed to clean up, not that Naruto needed to do it.
His work wasn't hard or dirty so he couldn't really find a reason to go and it wasn't like he hated classes considering it was magic!
He squinted his beady little blue eyes however towards the girl who still hadn't spoken to him much but he didn't mind it much. She seemed a bit off the bend to him.
"Good morning Mr Uzumaki, Ms Granger take your seats and take out your textbooks. We will be starting momentarily." The woman glanced at the doorway, her glasses dropping a bit before she pushed them back up.
"Hey professor! How are you doing?!" Naruto beamed as he deliberately sat near the girl making her more uncomfortable shifting as he spoke.
The woman responded with a raised eyebrow and a tone of perpetual mild disapproval,
"I am doing quite well Mr Uzumaki, thank you for your inquiry."
Naruto waited for quite a bit but then his face fell when he realized she wasn't asking him how he was doing.
"Well ain't cha going to ask how I'm doing, professor?!" He ignored the deep scandalized gasp beside him as he turned to the shaking pale girl in confusion.
"What?"
"...I suppose my manners have left me for a moment. My apologies Mr. Uzumaki. How is your time at Hogwarts so far? Is it everything you thought it'd be?" The woman curled her fingers together deciding to engage the child in conversation.
Another gasp echoed and Naruto wondered if the girl had a breathing problem.
"No! It's even better! I thought this was some weird kidnapping place but man is it great here! I'm glad I decided to go here rather than getting hunt- I-I mean going anywhere else!" The boy expertly fixed his words as he spoke.
The woman too sent her eyes quickly to the other occupant of the classroom before deciding not to address it.
"I see. That is splendid however I will check back and see if you have the same mindset later this year. Unfortunately most students lose their enthusiasm when they realize magic is just as much work as anything else." The woman let out a bit of a not quite sigh as if lamenting it.
"Hmm. Well I won't speak for the future but I'm sure I won't! Now can you tell me where is the best place to start exploring here?!"
The woman gave him a deep look that he couldn't decipher before she seemed to come to a conclusion.
"While exploring Hogwarts is a wonderful idea, remember to be mindful of the rules and stay within safe areas. There are many fascinating places to discover, but I expect you to conduct yourself responsibly." The woman ended the conversation with that swiftly as Naruto blinked confused.
"Eh, but you didn't answer my question?" Naruto mumbled as he finally took out his book, moving the pages already knowing what it was.
"A beetle huh?"
(Break)
"Hey shrimp. The name is Astoria right?" Naruto took a bite out of his apple as he glanced around at the table before settling on the girl with brown hair and blue eyes.
It was lunch and the Uzumaki, still getting into the swing of things, had been going along with the flow until he found something interesting.
So seeing the girl seemingly sitting by herself he decided to go over for no other reason than her helping him out before.
The girl frowned, however, looking down at her body in sadness. "Shrimp? Really?" She squeaked out as Naruto back pedaled a bit seeing she was taking it way too seriously.
Uzumaki Naruto didn't bully little girls! Believe it!
"No no no. I mean cause you're a first year and I'm a second so…" He tried explaining his line of thought as best as he could as the girl nodded slowly.
"So I'm not small to you?"
"Eh…I mean I wouldn't say that exactly but hey I'm sure if you eat more you will get as big as me!" He pulled down his robes and flexed his newly developing muscles having gotten a bit more buff considering he trained his body more than before.
"Wow…"
The boy rubbed his head a bit embarrassed when he got the tiny applause from the impressed girl as he put his arm back down.
"Well I don't think eating will make me bigger but thank you for suggesting it." The girl turned to her food with a sad small smile as she began eating her lunch.
"Huh?" The boy wondered if she didn't know how putting on weight worked but decided maybe it was some more magic crap.
He was starting to see a pattern here.
"Oh have you seen Luna? I know you too are both in the same class soo…"
"Huh? Oh do you mean the blonde girl? Well she came inside class but I don't quite remember seeing her come out…maybe she's wandering? She does seem quite…" The girl paused looking into his blue eyes before she changed her wording.
"Unique so I imagine it's true."
Naruto scratched his cheek with a sigh, feeling like it was most likely true. They really needed to sit down and come to a conclusion on how to do this friend thing!
"Thanks Y'know." The boy told her as he glanced down the table finding himself becoming more familiar with the faces.
"Ah your welcome." He heard the happy hum and began wondering why she sounded so pleased with herself.
'Oh it's Colin. Wait, No! He's my minion!' Naruto grumbled feeling betrayed seeing the boy look up with stars in his eyes to that one that had on glasses. He spotted fuzzy hair next to him, along with the red hair home robber.
'These three…they are definitely trouble. I'll have to watch out for them.' The boy narrowed his eyes.
Turning away he spotted the redhead Ginny, playing with her food looking like she was a bit drained.
'What the heck is that about?' The boy raised an eyebrow not remembering the volcano being so docile.
Maybe she met her match? Well it wasn't his business to watch out for Miss "I have 6 siblings."
'Or was it 7?'
Turning away from all of that he engaged in conversation with Astoria finding her willingness to answer him weird but helpful.
"So what were your first classes and how were they? I'm new here if ya couldn't tell."
"New? Well we had class with history Professor Binns and Defense Against the Dark Arts with-" the girl was interrupted as the boy spoke.
"Gilderoy Lockhart…yes how was his class? Was it good?" The girl shivered as she saw the wide smile on the Uzuamki's face.
For a minute it looked like she was too timid to answer but under his gaze she soon broke, spilling everything.
Naruto had one thing to say as he listened to it all.
'Oh man that's bad.'