Once again, the night sky lacked any form of light, and the moon and stars were gone. The dark purple and empty canvas stared back at Sakura. She looked around. She was still in the clearing, where the rock had bled out stars. The pond it had made twinkled back at her. The dark rock still stood in the center of it, its form colorless. There were no snakes. Just her.

As she stared at the expanse before her, Sakura sat upon her bottom and picked up a light lavender stone from the ground to fiddle with. She rotated it in her hands, feeling the smooth, porous surface upon her fingertips.

The pool of stars started to swirl as if by wind, the glistening lights rotating like she was on a planet looking up instead of looking down. A green and purple nebula floated by until it stopped before her. The rotation, done.

Sakura took the stone in her hand and dipped it into the liquid of the nebula. The nebula sunk into the stone and began to creep further up it. The stone absorbed the black liquid, changing from porous to hard and lavender to black. Then the stars started moving again, rotating around the stone like a whirlpool. It didn't seem possible for everything that came from the boulder to fit upon the small palm-sized stone, but it did. Slowly, the liquid and stars were absorbed until no pond was left, not a single drop of liquid.

Sakura rose to her feet and inspected the stone in her hand. She ran her hands over it, but it was dry. The now smooth stone emanated warmth. No matter how she rotated the stone, the green and purple nebula from before looked back at her.

In the end, she tossed the stone into the air, and it sprouted wings like a beetle and flew away.

She stood there, watching it fly into the sky.

"You're undoing all my hard work."

Sakura turned. The snake man was there, sitting on the edge of the hill with the tall grass, his skin almost blending in with white tall strands. A brown adder curled upon his wrist, its tongue flicking at the same pace as the man's legs swinging back and forth. The man's yellow eyes stared down at her - and there was something in them. Something that pulled her to take another step closer.

She didn't feel afraid this time. No, something drew her another step closer. She could feel her back straightening, her shoulders pulling back. Purpose drove her forward until she was just within reach.

His body stilled like a snake about to strike. The adder beside him stopped tasting the air. It, too, tense, coiling its neck back, ready to leap forward.

She paused. "Do you want me to fix you too?" she asked.

His head tilted, and a ghost of a smile pulled at his lips. "Can you?"

Her stare never left his. "Yes." She extended her hand halfway between them. "But you must want it."

His lips pulled back, revealing long, thin fangs. A drip of liquid on the tips. "And if I don't?"

"Then you'll never be free." She kept her hand outstretched. A cold wind blew the air around them, the tall, luminescent grass bending towards her on its whim.

The smell of earth and sea pressed upon her nostrils.

The man stayed on the hill, looking down. The brown adder watched her unblinking. Moments passed. "Will it hurt?"

"Yes, worse than the first time." She remained, hand reaching towards him.

And that is how she awoke, still in her dorm but not in her bed. She was by the window, eyes opening to see the full moon. Her fingers pressed to the cold glass.

Sakura took a step back and then another until she was in the shadows of her four-poster bed. She gripped one of the wooden poles, feeling a bit disoriented. She hadn't slept walked in years, not since she was ten. Her mother used to catch her going to the kitchen a lot. But it was always disorienting to wake up standing.

She shook her head and checked the time, well, if she fell back asleep she'd only have an hour or two before everyone else got up. Might as well make use of her time.

Sakura pulled the Introduction to Dark Magic out of her bag and read in the moonlight. She kept a notebook open on the side and she scribbled notes on the paper she wanted to follow up on. Madara might have been onto something about being a rabbit and reading. At least this way, she could get her thoughts organized.

That being said, Sakura paused and leaned against the archway. She missed being beside Itachi and getting ear pets.

She puffed her cheeks. Now that she had the book, she had no excuse for ear pets. In fact, the only time she had a reason to see Itachi was for tutoring. Which… She gave a sigh, she had today.

Sakura put the Dark Arts book away and pulled out her Potions manual. She probably should study up, if only to have more time talking with nice Itachi instead of being whipped into shape by tutor Itachi.

When the rest of her 4th-year dorm mates began to yawn awake, Sakura tucked the manual back into her bag. The morning routine of getting ready with Chiharu had become her new norm, but Sakura needed to avoid the 2nd years, so instead, she just waved goodbye to all and took off to breakfast. The 2nd years were becoming a real problem. The new spell Professor Hatake had taught them made it almost impossible for Sakura to detect oncoming attacks.

Casting detecting spells, especially while moving in hallways, was difficult as the only ones they'd had found were ones meant to be stationary. Instead, the only signal that something was amiss was that her hair would rise on the back of her neck. Which gave her only a split second to cast a protego charm. Usually, she was late for the first volley and caught the rest. Her butt and back were sporting a decent number of speckled bruises.

Sasuke had gobstones club today, and Naruto was at Quidditch practice, so there would be less backup than normal this Sunday. So she opted to hide away in the east rampart windows overlooking the bridge outside. There, she flicked through pages upon pages of the Dark Arts book, finally coming to the spells. She practiced the wand movement and re-read the description with care.

"Pronunciation has to occur exactly during certain movements…" Sakura muttered under her breath. "Does it really matter, though? If so, why?"

Sakura tucked the book away and decided it was worth assessing a different spell to see if when words were uttered actually made a difference.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said as she swished and flicked her wand.

The bookbag in her lap lifted.

She canceled the spell.

She then swished, "Wingardium Leviosa," flick.

The bookbag lifted just the same into the air.

No change in speed. The exact amount of lift. Did it really matter? Or was it because the charm was so simple?

She canceled the spell again.

"Whatcha doing?" a child's voice asked in a sing-song tone.

Sakura raised her head to look into a young boy's face with a scar along his left eye. He stooped to look at her but seemed young besides being tall. With such a high-pitched voice, he couldn't have hit puberty yet. So, probably a second year?

"Practicing spells," Sakura said.

"Tobi knows that one. Do you want Tobi to help?" the boy asked. The Slytherin didn't wait for her answer and hopped onto the windowsill to join her.

He was big enough to be an older year, that was for sure, but clearly, he was a first-year student if he talked in the third person. There wasn't too much space left between them.

Sakura laughed with cheer, though. Her heart warmed at someone so young offering assistance — what a sweetheart. She had the itch to pinch his cheeks like her Dad used to do to her. At least she'd blame the urge on him. "I can do the spell; I was just testing something."

Tobi tilted his head, and she felt compelled to continue.

"I was seeing the impact of word timing and wand movements." She gave a shrug of her shoulders. "No difference."

Tobi tapped his lip in thought. "You think you'd be able to tell the difference with a bookbag?"

Now, Sakura felt like she was confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Tobi picked up the bookbag in his hands. "It's pretty light. It doesn't take too much effort for Tobi to lift it. If the spell had less power, would you notice the difference?"

"It would rise slower, wouldn't it?" Sakura countered. "The velocity would be impacted. That's physics and Newton's Third Law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Less force, less velocity."

"Tobi doesn't know who Newton is."

Tobi was a Pureblood then. "Newton was a very famous muggle," Sakura said, "Similar to how there are magical laws you'll study in transfiguration, he made some for the muggle world."

Tobi set the book bag down on the cobblestone between them. "Does Newton's muggle world laws apply to the magical world?"

"Yes," Sakura answered before shutting her mouth. Actually, she'd never even considered the implication of such before. Science always applied in some strange way to the magical world. They were laws of nature, right?

"I think." She pulled her knees up to her chest in thought.

"Asura's First Law of Drudaic Magic is that all magic is created by action, will, and thought – vocalized or not – and thus variable combinations of all three cause influential output."

Sakura blinked, turning her gaze to Tobi to reassess him. One, the kid sounded smart regardless of how he spoke. Two, this was the second time coming across Asura. Madara had mentioned him in the page she'd just read… well, read twice. And she'd yet to find him mentioned in any Hogwarts text.

"I've tried looking into Asura, but there is practically nothing on him in the library here. At least where I've looked." And she had; she'd scoured reference books in all library sections. Not a single book on faction magic.

Tobi gave a sad smile. "Tobi's family follows a lot of the old ways, so there are a lot of books at home on him. Most of the books on Asura are in the Restricted Section here, which is why you probably haven't found them. What were you looking into?"

"I was curious about faction magic, and someone had mentioned his laws were applied to determine the polarization of magic."

Tobi's eyes lit up like she'd given him a year's worth of cauldron cake on Christmas morning. "Are you interested in studying Dark Magic or Light Magic?"

Sakura gagged on air. Oh no! How stupid did she have to be? She shook her head no. "I'm just curious. I know Professor Hatake is a Dark wizard, and Headmaster Namikaze is a Light one. And – And–" Quickly, she needed a good reason to even know about Asura's law about polarity.

"It's ok. Tobi gets interested in stuff, too, and Tobi is a good boy."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief at the kiddish tone. Who would believe the word of a second year over the word of a fourth year, right? Well, as long as the second year never went to Professor Hatake with the information.

Sakura shuddered, just imagining Professor Hatake's one eye narrowing in on her. She could still say she was just curious. After all, he'd told her not to practice Dark Spells, so she clearly needed to learn to identify dark. Would it work? On any other teacher, probably. On Professor Hatake? Sakura gulped.

Tobi extended his hand to Sakura to shake.

Sakura gave a small smile. Well, maybe she could convince Tobi to not go to any teachers with this information. "I'm Sakura."

"Tobi's Tobi!"

"It's nice to meet you, Tobi."

"Tobi is happy to meet Sakura!"

Sakura gave a laugh at his innocent declaration.

He hopped down from the window sill and twirled around before looking behind him with a childish grin. "Should Tobi and Sakura try out Asura's first law?" He wiggled like a little kid that couldn't contain his energy, his butt moving like a dog attempting to shake his tail.

Sakura jumped down with excitement. Never before had anyone ever wanted to experiment with her! Her boys always got moody or bored with her theories. But finally, someone was interested. "Sounds like fun!"

Tobi grabbed her hand, and they took off. "Let's find something really, really big."

Running around with Tobi, looking for the heaviest object they could lift, reminded Sakura of her childhood before Hogwarts.

Tobi was a cool little kid.

They eventually found a fountain near the greenhouses. Sakura estimated it to be at least 300 kilograms by itself. It was taller than her and had three layers. The fountain had no water; instead, it was used as a garden bed. Adding the dirt required and bushes growing out of it, it must be nearly 400 kilograms.

"This looks tough," Tobi said, his face squinching as he sized it up.

The question was whether they could even get it up at all. Sakura pulled a spiral-bound notebook and pen from her book bag. "So how should we approach this?" she asked, drawing a table. "What's our hypothesis to test?"

"Our what?"

Right, pureblood. "Does saying the words at the proper time give us more velocity or enable us to lift the fountain? What exact effect will we observe by changing when we use the words?"

She labeled the rows: before, during, between - and the columns 'lifted,' 'speed,' and 'steadiness.'

Tobi peeked over her shoulder and then pointed at the column speed. "That'd be impacted by will, not by thought."

"Huh?"

"Asura's first law, the proof explains it." As if that answered anything, but she crossed out the word speed.

"Do the others look good, or do you want to put another column in it?" Sakura asked, unsure. Would action impact steadiness?

"Effort," Tobi said, tapping the column missing a header. "It's good to know how much effort it takes to cast a spell."

She wrote out the word at the top.

"And there are many variations in between, not just one. On the swish, end on the flick, before the flick, during the flick–"

Sakura blinked, of course. She attempted to capture the variations as Tobi continued listing them off."

"That's a good start," Tobi said at the end.

Start them off? There were at least twenty-five on the list. The question of whether or not any of these would work still hung high in her mind.

"Should Tobi and Sakura try casting them together?" Tobi asked.

Sakura gave a nod, feeling pumped. "Let's do it."

First one on the list, then. Both of them were able to lift the fountain separately. Still, Sakura immediately felt what Tobi had said about effort. It took effort, a lot of it. She looked at the list on paper, a bit concerned if the rest of them would feel this way.

"How do we want to measure effort?" Sakura asked, "1-to-10 scale? One is the easiest?"

Tobi tilted his head side to side for a moment.

1-to-10 was definitely a muggle thing, wasn't it?

Tobi gave her a small reassuring smile. "Tobi likes the idea… Although effort in the magical world is typically measured with the Arithmancy function called Conatus Movere, it can take hours to do the formula though... Let's do 1-to-10 instead."

"There is a formula for it? Do you know when they will teach it here at Hogwarts?" Then Sakura flushed. A 2nd year student wasn't going to know that. He probably hadn't even taken an elective class yet.

"It's not taught at Hogwarts. It's typically only used for spell crafting, so other, more common formulas are taught instead. Tobi will teach it to Sakura, if Sakura wants."

Sakura beamed a smile at Tobi. "I'd love to learn it."

Tobi smiled back. "Let's do it the muggle way first."

They began to fill in the column.

Sakura wrote down a 7. Her arm had felt pretty heavy, not to mention the after-effects of feeling out of breath. How strange that she'd never felt this way in casting the lifting spell before.

Tobi had written down a 5.

And then they moved on to the next.

Tobi was a much more skilled wizard than Sakura gave him credit for. He used his wand like it was another appendage. Regardless of how often he cast the spell, he used the same action. His movements were smooth, and his timing impeccable.

In comparison, Sakura felt a bit like a fraud of a witch. Especially when Tobi called her out about flicking a bit slower or having wider swishing movements than she did on her last cast.

Since they were only trying to change one thing, the vocalization, she ended up having to repeat the spell more often than not, attempting to remember exactly how she'd cast it the first time. After the fifth row, probably twenty casts later, she put her hands on her knees panting. Damn, the last one, with Leviosa right before the flick had winded her. Her ribs even hurt from the excursion.

"Hey, I have a question. Can you help?" A Ravenclaw Sakura knew to be a third-year ran up to the two of them and shoved a paper at Tobi. "Do you think I can use this equation for my essay?"

"What equation?" Sakura asked. She was only a year above, but she could probably help more than a second or… rather, Tobi must be in the third year, and this was his fellow student.

"Tobirama's 8th Equation for Atmosphaeram."

Tobi thumbed his chin.

"That's fifth-year material," Sakura said, blushing a bit for knowing the answer since she had read ahead by several years for Arithmancy, "but if you're reading ahead, you might as well use it if it applies."

"What do you think?" the kid asked Tobi. "You taught the equation in our class last week. Can we use it even though it's not in the book?"

Taught! Sakura's eyes widened; she would have heard of a new professor. But this couldn't be true. For one, Professor Funeno still taught her Arithmancy class. Two, Tobi…Tobi seemed so young, too young. He must be in his second year. "You teach Arithmancy?" Sakura asked.

Tobi pressed a finger to his bottom lip with a smile. "Tobi is Master Funeno's apprentice, so Tobi teaches first through third. Tobi is still in his 7th year, but took his Arithmancy Newt last year." Tobi then giggled like a schoolgirl and wiggled his hips. "Tobi made an Outstanding."

How did this kid manage to make an Outstanding in Newt in his sixth year!?

The 3rd year blinked, unimpressed by the antics. "So, do you think I could use the equation in my essay?" he asked again.

"Tobi doesn't grade essays."

The kid let out a sigh. "Well, thanks anyway, Mr. Uchiha."

Uchiha!?

"Bye-bye," Tobi waved as the 3rd year walked away.

Sakura felt the need to push up her chin to close her mouth. "You're related to Itachi, Sasuke, Shisui, and Izumi then?"

Tobi twirled around like a little kid and spread his hands out wide. "Tobi has lots and lots of cousins."

She took that to be an affirmative.

Tobi smiled, "Does Sakura want to keep playing?"

Playing? Is that what it was to Tobi being so much older? But she looked down at the list they'd made. She was just starting to feel like she was beginning to understand the importance of timing the words of a spell. So much variation and the changed results. She was tired, but. "Yes, please."

"Yay! Tobi wants to keep playing too! Tobi likes this muggle system. It's much faster, and Tobi can then fill in the equations for the ones he likes best."

They spent the rest of the morning going through the list. It turned out the one they taught in class caused the least effort but was the least steady to lift the fountain. In fact, a pile of dirt had been dumped in the process.

Over lunch, Tobi showed her the Arithmancy equation for calculating precise spell numbers. It even took into consideration the phases of the moon! Tobi wasn't kidding when he said it took hours to do. Sakura wasn't sure it would be worth calculating unless she was serious about creating a spell or refining an existing one.

Tobi, while still odd in that he spoke in the third person, was absolutely brilliant at teaching. His excitement was catchy, and Sakura didn't even feel time go by as they worked on the equation together.

"I heard some spells backfire or can even get improper results when cast incorrectly. Is that true?" She asked.

"Oh yes. Even a variation of Wingardium Leviosa can cause a major headache; Tobi didn't put that one on the list because Tobi didn't want Sakura to get sick. It always levitates the object, though. More advanced spells are fickle and go awry easily, sometimes not even doing what they intend. So it's essential to cast advanced magic correctly."

"Is this accounted for in the formula somehow?"

"Tobi will show Sakura—" and he proceeded to teach her a different formula, or rather an even more involved extension to the current one, to ensure that the movements and words would not significantly affect the caster physically.

Sakura barely remembered she had tutoring that evening until Itachi stopped by the Slytherin table, where the two had sat through lunch and into dinner together.

"Ready for potions tutoring?" Itachi asked.

Sakura looked up and blinked owlishly.

"Tonight, we will be working on the upcoming water-breathing potion," Itachi said. "You read ahead like I asked, right?"

Sakura gave a grimace but nodded. She had looked at it. She slowly gathered the papers they'd been working on. "Thanks for all your help today, Tobi."

"Anytime, Sakura! Tobi likes to be a good boy."

Itachi sat on the bench beside Tobi, waiting while Sakura gathered her things. "Did you have fun?" Itachi asked Tobi.

"Tobi's had a blast, and Tobi made a new friend." Tobi giggled and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Sakura has Tobi's vote to join the Akatsuki."

The Akatsuki? Itachi's exclusive club?!

Sakura looked back and forth between Tobi and Itachi.

Itachi merely raised his hand and pressed a finger to his own lips for silence upon the matter.

Well, guess she wasn't going to be able to ask about it.

She buckled her bookbag and then stood, and Itachi rose beside her.

Together, they made their way down to the dungeons.

"How did you like Tobi?" Itachi asked. "He wasn't forcing you to work on Arithmancy problems, was he? Konan told everyone you'll be voted in, and he likely sought you out. If he was bothering you, I could definitely speak to him—"

"What?" Sakura asked, a bit stunned. "Not at all; in fact, I had a great time. I learned a lot. I was the one asking him about the timing of spells with words and how it might impact them. He wanted to help. I wish they'd taught us about it the first year… Well, maybe not the equation, but why and how it matters. I wanted to learn the equation when he mentioned one existed. I hope I wasn't bothering him. I didn't realize he was a seventh-year student."

Itachi's smile softened. "Good. Tobi wouldn't have done anything with you if he found you bothersome. And I'm glad you've made a friend in Tobi." Itachi opened the door for her to the tutoring classroom.

"About the Akatsuki," Sakura started as the door shut.

"I'm afraid that I can't say much more about it. You'll be put to vote on Wednesday, but you'll likely get in with Konan, Kisame, Tobi, and my vote. Be prepared to swear a vow, though."

"A vow?"

Itachi pulled a chair up. "To keep each other's secrets."

"Secrets?" Sakura asked, prodding for more information, "What kind of secrets?"

"Like you, several members have dabbled in 'illegal arts' such as your branch, Transfiguration magic."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. Animagus magic was very different than other forms of 'illegal magic.' "What other kinds?"

Itachi pointed at his mouth. "I'm afraid I can't say or reveal anything you don't already know. The magic protects them like it would you. I can't even give a slip of the tongue by accident without a tingle to warn me."

"Warn?"

"It isn't an unbreakable vow being taken. But you will have to forfeit something should you reveal the information. It wouldn't be a vow if there wasn't a consequence. The vow will also alert others in the vow."

Sakura tapped her lip. "So people will know who snitched?"

"Yes, everyone in the Akatsuki would know that confidence has been broken and who broke it. What specific information was leaked will be unknown — sadly. At least until Pein and Tobi have also found a way to embed that into a spell."

Sakura began setting up her cauldron and burner. "So what's the consequence?"

"Several broken fingers."

Her eyes widened.

"On your non-dominant hand. And you'll likely need to vanish and regrow the bones. It's more of a shatter than a break. "

"What?!"

"There must be some consequence. Just like you'd face imprisonment for skirting the law, they would also. Would you prefer nothing happen to the person who might tell the aurors on you?"

That was a good point. She finished setting up the rest of her kit and opened the page to the water-breathing potion.

Itachi settled into his chair. Curling in it like a cat about to nap, his eyes never closed, and they were sharp as ever. No detail escaped his gaze, and his expectation for perfection was only too well known to her.

Sakura focused on getting this right - so they could both turn in early for tomorrow's classes.

The water-breathing potion did require a decent boil, though. She couldn't stir it until after it turned green. As she waited to start stirring, her gaze would find Itachi's unwavering one, only to look immediately back down. Finally, she couldn't help herself.

"I was thinking…" Sakura began. It seemed a shame that, as friends, this seemed like the only excuse she had to see him now that the midnight reads were no longer on the table. "That if you need help on your patrol —" Sakura flushed, feeling her cheeks warm. "I mean - if you want company on your patrol. I could… you know, flop around." Her ears warmed. "I'm kind of capable, not in navigating stairs going up but finding people. I could help you sniff them out. Well, if they use deodorant or lotion." Her gaze lifted from the cauldron.

Itachi just blinked at her.

"Never mind," Sakura said, dipping her head and feeling like a fool. "You've been a prefect for a while and clearly don't need help. Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that you were incompetent-"

"I would like that."

Huh? Sakura raised her head.

"It has been a lot lonelier without Bunny on my routes." Itachi gave her a gentle smile. A small tint of pink lined his cheeks. "I could use a… flopper." His cheeks darkened slightly.

Sakura tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I can definitely flop."

Pfssh. Both of them looked back to the cauldron, whoops, it definitely wasn't supposed to be blue or smell like a fart.

She winced but already knew what was coming.

The contents were vanished by Itachi. Sighing, he propped his head on a knee and stared at her. The pinking of his cheeks was gone. His smile, too. His eyes narrowed on her. "Again. From the beginning."

Sakura gave a groan but began measuring out ant abdomens again.

"How can you have such advanced magic that you are an animagus but suck so bad at potions."

"I'm not that bad!"

"Your grades say differently."

They made their way up to the Ravenclaw dorm twenty minutes before curfew. As she walked through the doorway, Sakura sniffed the air; the faint smell of dirt seemed familiar. As she turned to follow the scent, her shoulder slammed into someone else's. "Ouch."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you—?" A tall young man asked his Gryffindor necktie loose around his neck.

"Sakura. I wasn't paying attention to you either— umm?"

"Kabuto," The young man with glasses said, extending his hand... "I can be quite clumsy."

Sakura shook his hand.

"I've never found you to be klutzy, Kabuto," Itachi said from behind them. "But everyone makes mistakes from time to time."

Kabuto blinked and his smile flickered a bit before stilling in place. He stepped aside and let Itachi enter the room. "Itachi, how are you?"

"Good," Itachi said and turned to Sakura. "Kabuto has the best grades in Transfiguration in our year. Even Professor Yuhi can't tell the difference between a real goblet and Kabuto's."

Kabuto's smile got a bit more natural, "Well, Konan sure gives me a run for my money."

"Sakura is quite good at Transfiguration as well."

Sakura elbowed Itachi in the side. "I'm not that good."

Kabuto's smile grew even further. "If Itachi thinks you're good, you probably are. If you ever need help with more advanced theories or just want to chat, I'd be more than happy to share with you what I know."

"Thank you! That would be awesome," Sakura said. "I'll probably take you up on that at some point."

"I'd love that. Well, I didn't mean to delay either of you. Have a good evening." Kabuto dipped his head and left the Ravenclaw common room.

"So he's better than Konan?" Sakura asked.

"Much better, he's a prodigy. He achieved an animagus form in his second year — without having to go through the month of silence. He is registered, although I've never seen his form."

Sakura turned and watched the white head disappear down the hallway. 2nd year! Sakura was just beginning to master her wand at that age. But… Her mind wandered to Tobi, a complete encyclopedia for Arithmancy, and now she was hearing about Kabuto. She looked at her own hands. Everyone was different. And the world was better for it. And while she may not be at their level today. Her grip tightened into a fist. One day, she would.

She smiled at Itachi, energized. "Being human is pretty cool."

Itachi's head tilted to the side. "Being human is pretty cool?" he recited as a question, clearly not following her trail of thought.

Her face flushed. "You know — er. That humans are all unique, and being a magic human makes us even more unique," she stuttered.

Itachi looked even more confused.

Her neck hairs raised, and if her wand wasn't in her pocket, and if she wasn't distracted by making a fool of herself, she would have been able to protego in time. However, none of those had been true.

Instead, a stinging hex landed upon her right buttocks.

Sakura jumped forward with a yelp and face-smashed into Itachi.

And it could have been a kiss, given just a few more centimeters of difference.

Instead, her chin slammed into his lips, her mouth encased his nose, one tooth definitely catching on a nostril as she jolted away.

She stumbled back, face on fire.

Itachi, too, looked abashed, cheeks reddened.

By the time the rumor mill of Hogwarts made its morning rounds, the awkwardness of the incident had transformed into something far more illicit. Hogwarts's most eligible clan heir had open-mouthed kissed a 4th year by the name of Sakura Haruno and declared her his new fiance.

But for the record... it wasn't a kiss. And there had been no declarations of love.

Side Story

Unbeknownst to Sakura, in her studious heads down nature, she and Tobi were not the only ones to sit in the great hall through lunch and almost to dinner.

At the table closest to Slytherin's, Hufflepuff sat a group of second-years glaring daggers upon the back of her pink hair.

"I don't understand," Eshima hissed. "It worked fine yesterday. I don't see her casting a protego. What's going on?"

"Do you think Professor Hatake may have nullified the effect in the great hall?" Tsubaki said, thinking carefully.

"Why didn't he do it yesterday?" Doi asked.

Tsubaki continued her explanation, "Well, maybe he wanted us to try out the spell, and now that we have it down, he plans to make it more challenging. A moving target is harder to hit than a still one."

All the girls then nodded in agreement. That made the most sense, after all.

Sakura's sitting partner looked over at them and gave a little wave. His smile dimpled in the corners.

The group turned away to not get caught staring. Eshima got up from the table. "Alright, new plan. Operation Codename: Hit the Moving Pink Duck."

"Duck?" Tsubaki asked. "Eshima, you always come up with the oddest names."

"It's… It's a muggle thing. Just go with it."

Yoko raised a brow. "Are you sure it's a muggle thing and not just an Eshima thing?"

"Do you want to hit the duck or not?" Eshima said.

All the girls reluctantly nodded.

Eshima stood straighter. "Good. Then, let's animate a bunch of spell dummies in the practice room. We'll color three of them to be our main targets. We'll compete and see who can land the most on our targets without hitting the others. The winner can pick a Bunny and Itachi picture from the shared photo album to put by their bedside. But only for the week."