Chapter 34: 2-5: Day of the Dead

Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.

The early fall term continued without major incident. As is always the case, there were still minor annoyances. Harry had complained bitterly about Draco Malfoy's father shamelessly buying his son a position as Slytherin House's new Seeker in Quidditch. Iruka pointed out that even with such superior brooms, the green-and-silver team would be fielding an untested rookie in a key position, one whose skills were likely not the best of those available given the fairly large bribe that six brand-new top-of-the-line brooms represented. The superior brooms would probably give the rest of the Slytherin team an advantage, but that was offset by the fact that their players tended to rely more on dirty play than actual skill. Gryffindor's entire team was made up of returning players, all of whom were said among the staff to be some of the best currently at Hogwarts. The match between snakes and lions would be one of superior equipment versus superior skill and teamwork.

One of the new Gryffindor first-years was being a bit of a pest as well. Apparently, Colin Creevey was thoroughly starstruck and was constantly following Harry around with a camera. Twice already the members of S.E.N. had needed to use the three second-years' superior knowledge of the castle to lose their shutterbug tail en route to weekend training. Seeing how uncomfortable the whole situation was making Harry, Iruka offered to speak to the boy after the next beginners' fuuinjutsu class; as with many of those not raised around magic, the enthusiastic first-year was attending Iruka's lessons. He'd already had to forbid the child from bringing out his camera during his classes (as had several other professors). As with Professor Lockhart, when the young Gryffindor was told that Harry was a very private person and preferred to avoid attention, and that his behavior was making the object of his hero-worship uncomfortable, he agreed to back off. Unlike Lockhart, Colin was clearly sheepish and apologetic about the whole matter. Hopefully the lesson would stick and encourage the rather hyperactive little boy to curb his enthusiasm somewhat.

Hermione's birthday was celebrated in the Room with S.E.N., Iruka hand-delivering a card, gift, and letter from her parents. They saved the cake for after training to avoid unpleasantness.

Near the end of October Harry reported that, due in part to a run-in with an irate Filch, he'd committed to attending the party for Sir Nicholas's five-hundredth deathday on Halloween. While not especially sad to avoid a large celebration on what he now knew as the anniversary of his parents' deaths, he was also less than eager to spend that evening surrounded by a morbid celebration of death. The rest of S.E.N., including Iruka, had quickly vowed to attend with him out of a combination of solidarity and curiosity.

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Even before the five had arrived at the party, Iruka had placed warming charms on everyone to combat the chill caused by the presence of so many ghosts. All five were sticking close together to ward off both the cold that still made it through and the increasingly dismal atmosphere created by the eerie icy blue flames of the torches. The grating, screeching undead equivalent of music didn't help matters any.

The room containing the party itself was as cold as a meat locker, though that clearly hadn't saved the food laid out on a long table, all of which was thoroughly rancid or otherwise ruined. They watched several ghosts pass through the table with their wide open mouths hitting one or more items. Hermione suggested that the food had been allowed to spoil in order to produce as strong a flavor as possible, even if that flavor was utterly disgusting. Iruka called Flippy to bring their living group of partygoers a small table of more edible food from the kitchens, which she did before departing in a shivering hurry.

As fascinating as a ghost party was to see for the first time, once the novelty wore off it became a fairly standard high-society party - in other words, S.E.N. mostly stood around feeling bored and uncomfortable while trying to find a good reason to leave. Thankfully Luna helped relieve the gloom a bit with her eternally sunny disposition.

"Hello, Lady Helena," she addressed the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw House Ghost, a young woman with beautiful features but an aloof expression, "are you enjoying Sir Nicholas's party?"

A bit of surprise, bordering on shock, flitted briefly across the ghost's face before she favored the young Ravenclaw with a faint gentle smile and considering look. "As much as I can, I suppose. It's more a matter of being here to support an old friend than actually enjoying the party. Truth be told, I would much prefer a quiet evening in the company of a good book. I tend to tire quickly of most people's company, particularly those small-minded fools that treat what little they deign to learn as all that is worth knowing. From what I have seen of you the past two months though, you seem like one of the more interesting types to converse with - someone with a deep well of curiosity and a mind that is truly open and eager to learn."

"Minds are like books," Luna nodded with a bright smile, "they're so much more useful when they're open. Oh, but I'm forgetting my manners! Lady Helena, these are my friends Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, and Hermione Granger, and our teacher Umino Iruka. Everyone, this is Lady Helena, the Ravenclaw House Ghost."

The Grey Lady's smile became somewhat colder and more forced as she nodded stiffly to the other four, who nodded back respectfully, before turning back to Luna. "And what is it that brings five living souls to a deathday party?"

"Well, Sir Nicholas invited Harry after he and Peeves helped Harry out of a bit of trouble with Filch. The rest of us figured he'd be lonely coming on his own, and none of us had ever seen a party for ghosts before." A significant look passed between living Ravenclaw and dead, and the latter gave a near-imperceptible nod; she understood why they didn't want Harry alone tonight of all nights. "It's quite fascinating, really: I would have thought that without needing to stay touching the floor it would open up new dances, but the moves seem just the same as a regular waltz. Hermione was also wondering if the reason for the food being the way it is is to give it a stronger flavor."

"Indeed, you are correct Miss Granger." Lady Helena scoffed. "It's pointless, really. No matter how strong you make it, we still can't taste nor smell anything. We can't truly feel touch, either, even if we can sometimes affect things as if we still had a physical body. Oh, we can feel ourselves and each other, and we can see and hear, but all our senses are somewhat muffled, a bit like being drunk but without the pleasant warmth. As long as I've spent in this state, I'm afraid I cannot in perfect honesty recommend it. Far better to live a satisfying life and not leave anything important undone."

Luna stepped forward and reached out, making a patting motion at the Grey Lady's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll move on one day," she said gently, "when you're ready. Until then, you might as well enjoy all the new books that keep coming through the school. The wrackspurts will go away eventually, even if you still have quite a few. You should speak to the Bloody Baron - he seems to have a similar infestation, and he's alone so much there's nobody to help him with it. Maybe you could help each other?"

The Ravenclaw House Ghost speared the first-year with an intense, searching gaze. "I shall... consider your words, Miss Lovegood. If you would excuse me..." She drifted away, clearly deep in thought.

It was at this point that the Headless Hunt arrived in force, much to the chagrin of the night's guest of honor. "How terribly rude!" Hermione said none-too-quietly as they disrupted Sir Nicholas's speech with a game of Head Hockey. "They come to somebody else's party, mock the man on an important occasion for him, then cause a ruckus and distract people in the middle of his speech. I would have thought nobles in their time would still have been taught manners at the very least!" A couple of nearby ghosts nodded at her comments, while some others that had been cheering the game looked transparently abashed, or maybe abashedly transparent.

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The five had soon made their excuses and departed for warmer climes. As they made their way towards the upper floors, Iruka felt a large presence approaching, one radiating a sizable amount of sakki.

Instantly snapping into combat readiness, he stepped into a combat stance between his students and the oncoming threat. "Spearhead formation, wands ready." His words were quiet but held his full authority. All five students moved into one of the formations he'd worked on with them as part of their more combat-oriented training that year. This one spread them behind Iruka, in order to allow him to confront an enemy and protect his allies, while still allowing them to support him with their still fairly limited repertoire of hexes and jinxes. Many wizards scoffed at the seemingly harmless spells taught early in Hogwarts' curriculum, but even something as innocuous as a Tripping Jinx could turn the tide of a fight if timed properly.

The mysterious presence came closer, and instead of footsteps Iruka heard a sliding, scraping sound that even as muffled as it was he identified as the movement of a very big snake. While it wasn't strictly impossible that Sasuke or Mitarashi Anko (or even Orochimaru or Yakushi Kabuto) had managed to follow him to this world and decided to prank him before revealing themselves, the chances were so vanishingly small that he suspected that this was not a friendly snake.

Iruka had a kunai ready in his left hand with his wand in his right, ready to defend his students, but instead the presumed snake moved hissing past the group, somewhere behind or inside the corridor wall judging by what he could hear. As it moved upward and away, the chuunin stowed his kunai but kept his wand ready. "I'm following it," he told the children, "stay close and stay ready." No way was he leaving the four alone and undefended with something big and probably dangerous slithering around.

The five moved off in pursuit, Iruka restraining his speed to allow his students to keep up. Thankfully, all four were by now in pretty good shape and were able to dash after him at speeds most of their classmates would have had trouble maintaining beyond a brief sprint. When the cacophonous babble of voices from the Great Hall drowned out the snake's movement as they passed through the Entrance Hall, they continued up the stairs hoping it didn't double back. On the first floor, Harry suddenly shouted out, "It's going to kill someone!" Iruka glanced back in confusion as his student pushed his pace faster. Had he felt its sakki?

Continuing upwards to the second floor, S.E.N. chased the hostile serpent through numerous corridors before rounding a corner and coming upon an ominous sight. Meter-high words were scrawled high across the wall above the torch sconces, in what Iruka's nose told him even at this distance was blood:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

The stiff form of Mrs. Norris hung from one of the sconces by her tail, and the entire macabre scene was reflected in a large puddle of water extending from the door of a closed girls' toilet.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the presence Iruka had sensed was fading fast, and he couldn't tell what direction it had gone from here. It was already far enough away that the sakki he had first sensed was faint, almost imperceptible, and the sounds he'd been using to track its movements were simply too quiet to be heard through the intervening stone. Rather than make a desperate and probably hopeless attempt to continue chasing the creature, Iruka decided to handle the more immediately-accessible situation.

"Flippy!" The house-elf appeared with a crack. "Go to Professor Dumbledore and ask him to come here as quickly as possible, along with Mr. Filch." Responding with a quick nod, she popped back out. A quick general-purpose Disspelling Charm failed to release Mrs. Norris from whatever had afflicted her, meaning she'd need more knowledgeable help than he could provide; if the Headmaster couldn't do it, he'd probably at least know who could or if it was impossible.

Iruka turned to his students. "You can put your wands away, I think. Whatever that was, it's gone far enough that I can't tell where it went, so we should be safe enough. Headmaster Dumbledore will be here soon; hopefully he'll know more."

It wasn't the Headmaster that was first to arrive, however, but a mass of students leaving the just-ended Halloween Feast. Their rumbling footsteps and excited, sugar-amplified babble trailed off into shocked silence as they came upon the tableaux. After a few moments, that silence was broken by a triumphant, high-pitched shout:

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

It took only a moment to identify the source of the bigoted crowing. "That will be ten points from Slytherin and a night's detention, Mister Malfoy, for using that disgusting slur, and another fifty points and a week's detention for threatening your fellow students." Unlike the blonde second-year, Iruka didn't need to raise his voice to make himself heard.

"You can't do that!" The boy shouted at Iruka, shocked. "When my father hears of this-"

"I suspect that he will tell you to moderate both your language and behavior when in polite company." Headmaster Dumbledore's calm voice cut right across Draco's budding tantrum. "I cannot, of course, be truly certain of that, nor what his response will be to his son espousing such a toxic viewpoint." His tone of voice managed to clearly imply that he knew it was the elder Malfoy from whom the younger had learned his bigotry. "Regardless, I would ask all students save those accompanying Professor Umino to return to their House common rooms for the evening."

As the student body slowly departed, clearly reluctant to miss out on any further entertainment or gossip fodder, Argus Filch stomped forward. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?"

"Come with me, Argus," the Headmaster said, "You too, Iruka, and your students here."

"My office is nearest, Headmaster..."

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Lockhart had unfortunately managed to tag along with Professor Dumbledore, and it was his offer that led to a group of staff and students meeting in the Defense Professor's office while its current occupant hovered around making unsolicited suggestions and boastful claims. After an extensive examination, the Headmaster was able to determine that Mrs. Norris was alive but petrified, a state that apparently acted as a form of suspended animation and could be cured with a potion made from the Mandrakes being grown by Professor Sprout. How this petrification had happened was less clear.

Given the presence of people outside their circle of complete trust, Iruka had quietly informed his students en route to let him take the lead. He fully intended to bring the four of them together with the Headmaster for a more private meeting later.

In his distress over the attack on his cat, Filch had accused Harry of being responsible because he knew the caretaker was a Squib. That revelation certainly explained to Iruka why the man had such a sunny disposition: It couldn't be easy being born to a magical family and living surrounded by magic without being able to use it oneself. Regardless, Iruka promptly refuted that accusation with the fact that Harry and the other three students had been with him the entire evening.

With no more information forthcoming and no further action to be taken, the impromptu meeting broke up as everyone left to retire for the evening. Madam Pomfrey took Mrs. Norris down to the Hospital Wing with her and Iruka walked his students back to their Houses before turning in himself.

A/N: Again, a Halloween with subtle but potentially far-reaching changes. As pivotal as the scene is to Book 2, it was treading a lot of canon ground (and quoting the book a lot), so I felt that both for pacing and IP reasons it was best to cut to a summary.

As much as I love Luna as a character and love reading her in other people's stories, I must confess that I tend to find her a bit difficult to write. It's hard for me to really get into her head properly, to make good use of her various 'creatures', and to decide exactly how much unexplainable insight she should show. I can only hope that I'm doing her justice.

When writing the scene outside Myrtle's bathroom, I obviously referenced that scene in the book quite a bit (as I write, I have whatever book I'm currently working through the plot of sitting beside me so that I can re-read sections as needed). It really struck me reading the canonical description of Draco's reaction just how evil the little bigot was. If you read that scene, it's obvious that he's not just yelling out his announcement to intimidate those of 'lesser blood', but that he's intensely eager and excited for what he thinks is coming. What may be the most intense positive emotion he shows in seven books, and it's in anticipation of the mass murder of children - let that sink in a bit. The only thing that made him redeemable (other than author fiat) was the fact that he was still too young and sheltered to truly grasp what it was he was celebrating and endorsing; that understanding didn't come until Half-Blood Prince, and it was enough of a harsh shock that he no longer wanted anything to do with it. I genuinely believe that if Lucius had done what I see in some fics, and provided Draco with kidnapped Muggles to practice on from an early age and eased him into the violence and horror gradually, he'd have passed the point of no return sometime in his teens.

I've also added this to the A/N of the previous chapter, but for those that read that chapter before the edit: Thanks to everyone for your reviews and support! I try to respond in at least some way to reviewers, but I felt like continuing to send generic form-letter PMs to frequent reviewers wasn't really doing more than bloating their inboxes. From now on, I'm going to mostly keep review responses to new/infrequent reviewers and those reviews for which I have more to say than simply thanking the reviewer for the nth time.

Another item of note: It was pointed out to me by guest reviewer Sage (among others) that Death's cloak was immune to Summoning Charms, so I tweaked chapter 25 / 1-15 to have Quirrellmort blowing it off of Harry with a blast of wind instead. Thanks for catching that!

Fic Recommendation: "Monstrous" by The Mad Mad Reviewer - a long one-shot in which... something shows up in the Forbidden Forest, and more than that is spoiler territory. Some drama, some tragic backstory, and some great comedy (including Voldemort complaining about Ministry bureaucracy).

Posted 17 June 2018

Current WIP Chapter: 62