4

By the next week, everyone had settled into the new schedule. Sakura woke up in the Ravenclaw dormitory. She looked at her calendar and her schedule, and notes. September 7: Arithmancy, History, and Defense Against Dark Arts, mostly with Slytherins. Plus, she had an extra study session with the rest of the shinobi (minus Naruto who always forgot events like these) to catch up on spells they should have learned, and, in the middle of the night, she and the other shinobi were meeting in the library for a meeting to discuss current and future plans (probably minus Naruto again).

Her first class was Arithmancy. Professor Vector, as usual, was proud of the calculations Sakura did on her homework. Shikamaru, however, was reprimanded for sleeping in class. Yet…it was almost unfair whenever Shikamaru finally woke up to take a test and…aced it. Sakura grumbled. Oddly enough, Gaara always had a hundred percent correct too.

"Hi, Hermione," Sakura said to Harry's friend. And then she spotted Gaara starting to leave the class. She, with Hermione, ran to catch up to their red-haired friend.

"Gaara," Sakura said after class. "How come you're always getting higher grades than me?"

"Why don't you ask Shikamaru why he always gets higher than you?"

"I already know why!" Sakura pouted. "That lazy bastard always memorizes everything he reads the first time he skims through it!"

Gaara shrugged. "As Kazekage, I have to be better than others. I study at night, since I have nothing else to do."

"What about sleep?" Hermione asked him.

"I don't sleep," Gaara said.

"What?"

"Hitting on multiple girls now, are you, little brother?" Kankurou grinned, putting his hand on Gaara's head. Normally, had Gaara been a normal person, he would at least playfully hit his brother. But… Shukaku probably would have made that out to be an attack and would have killed him.

"Shut up, Kankurou. I do not acknowledge you as my brother."

"Where did you come from anyway?" Sakura asked him.

"Ah, I've had Divination with Trelawney," Kankurou said. "Ah, I will die of a bit from a rabid rabbit, and return, resurrected as one of the most evil necromancers in history, only to fall under the control of my even more so evil grandmother, who happens to be a zombie, and I will sire an evil son who will bring us the apocalypse. You know, she might as well have told everyone that I also carry the bubonic plague, the old bat…"

"Hi, Shikamaru!" Temari said. Shikamaru looked ready to bolt. She hugged him.

The brothers of the Sand glowered at Shikamaru. He tried to get away… Their glaring was a bit unnerving. So troublesome. He didn't want to die yet.

"Why are you carrying around that enormous fan?" Hermione asked her.

"I just do," Temari said, brushing her off. "Anyway, just had Defense Against Dark Arts with Neji and Tenten. All we do is take notes. He said we should have learned this stuff last year. Here. We just take notes. And I did some reports. Oh, I made copies. And here are Tenten and Neji's notes too."

She passed three scrolls of notes to Sakura. They pocketed each one.

"Isn't that cheating?" Hermione asked.

"Don't be silly," Temari said. "It can't be cheating. It's only notes. Ugh, I've got Care for Magical Creatures now. I swear, one day when Kakashi and Hagrid aren't looking, I am going to wipe the whole lot out… Oh well"

Sakura headed to class. History of Magic. Perfect. Hinata and Ino passed by and handed her five more scrolls. She sighed. More work.

She rolled open one of the scrolls that Temari handed to her. It had been an idea Shikamaru had, regarding their mission. They each gave a small report on the current happenings in school and recorded rumors and possible dangers.

"In the year 13868 BC…" Professor Binns began. Sakura began hurriedly skimming through their notes and copying down the most significant information.

The first one scroll was Tenten's.

Shinobi Chronicles: Tenten

-Today, September 7, 2005: our after school lessons will be a bit of an introductory lesson for Quidditch and a few Defense Against Dark Creatures lessons.

Irrelevant. She skimmed through and found nothing of any interest.

The next was Neji's scroll.

Shinobi Chronicles: Neji

-The Triwizard Tournament involves interaction of other schools. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are coming. The number of foreign students arriving is not sure.

-The Weasley twins are blackmailing someone.

-Naruto is a guinea pig for some snacks to be released by next year.

-Moody's eye is much like the Byakugan and can see through objects and the back of his head.

-Moody takes a potion very often.

-Moody is hiding something inside his trunk.

Shinobi Chronicles: Hinata

-The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin occasionally causes bouts in private places, such as the bathrooms.

-Naruto been acting strangely. You may want to see who he has met while he had been gone and training.

-Professor Moody's eye is like the Byakugan, only it cannot see everything at the same time, so it makes up for that by spinning inside his head.

-Professor Moody takes some type of medication whenever his hair begins to fall out.

-Moody has something strange in his trunk and often retrieves what appears to be hair from it.

-The scroll Naruto had was not important. The envelope he received with Kakashi's package is, I think...

Sakura smiled. The Hyugas were excellent spies.

Lee's scroll had…nothing significant in it. It had a list of people lacking the 'fire of youth'. Mostly Slytherins.

Shinobi Chronicles: Kiba

-At dinner, we are not served dog food. Akamaru is tired of cooked People Food and wants something REAL to eat. He wants it. I don't. I don't eat dog food.

-The Weasley twins have planted cat litter and set it off to fall on the Slytherin table.

-I do NOT eat dog food. Ignore anything Naruto says about it.

Shinobi Chronicles: Shino

-The Triwizard Tournament's impartial judge is a cup. Don't ask.

-The skrewts have learned to blow fire, and I am in need of new winter robes.

-The skrewts are also growing larger, more dangerous, and more aggressive. I am running out of sunglasses.

-Gryffindors are in general dislike for Cedric and Slytherins in general.

-Transferring one of us to Hufflepuff would be useful, but not necessary, as my insects are enough as spies. In fact, several of us on this mission are unnecessary. We should sent some back to Konoha so they may take on other missions that may be vital. I suggest cutting off several of us. Kakashi is especially useless.

Sakura laughed at that. Still, Kakashi could relay some things to other teachers. They needed him so that they could use his status to their advantage.

Shinobi Chronicles: Sasuke

-Malfoy is irritating me. Somebody stop him. He may disappear.

-In the girls bathroom where Moaning Myrtle territorially haunts her toilet, there is— He didn't finished the comment and scratched out the rest of the sentence.

Was that all he wrote? Sakura sighed at her former love. He was still cute but…he changed. Ino was still in love with him, but Sakura only gooed over him for old times sake. It was almost sad, really. Now what was she supposed to do with her time? Gushing over Sasuke had been her favorite hobby, but now, she had too much free time to think. She shook her head. Keep on reading.

Shinobi Chronicles: Ino-chan

-Professor Snape's hair is unhealthy! There are between 90,000 and 140,000 good reasons, and that's because that's the average number of hair on a man's head. Each hair has its very own oil gland. The production of oil is caused by muggle pollution, strenuous exercise, hormones, sweat, and excess residue from hair products. However, hair color does make some difference. Redheads with thick, coarse hair rarely have problems with oily hair, while blonds with silky, baby-fine hair have the worst problems. Basically…Professor Snape's hair is probably smooth and silky, if it weren't for the greasiness of it. What he needs is to take a daily shower and GOOD SHAMPOO. And when I say good, I mean REALLY good. It's obvious that if he DOES take a showever, he needs really really really really good shampoo. Extra strong. Try clear, see-through shampoos. They've got less goo in them and clean away oil more effectively and don't leave a residue. Or, one teaspoon of apple cider kitchen vinegar added to a pint of water makes an excellent finishing rinse that adds shine and luster to your hair while removing soap residue that can weight down oily hair. A thorough rinsing with plain water will remove the vinegar smell. Or, squeezing the juice of two lemons into a pint of distilled water makes another excellent rinse that helps cut oiliness. If your hair is oily after a difficult, tense day, I suggest using a temporary 'dry' shampoo by sprinkling a tiny amount of talcum powder. Rub the powder first into the scalp, and then the hair with your fingers. It'll absorb some of the white. Of course, we can always give him a little bit too much, because then it'll make his hair turn white and dully and static-y! That'll be interesting…

Sakura sighed. Leave it up to Ino to pay too much attention to appearances. So much extra information…! Anti-wrinkle cream for Professor McGonagall. Weight-loss treatment for Professor Sprout. Uselessness! This information was all useless!

Sakura sighed. So much of these reports weren't even needed. Gaara, who was sitting next to her at the edge of the 'Slytherin side'. He looked over at her papers and frowned.

He wrote something down on his parchment next to her.

'Is that all you've been getting for reports?' he wrote.

'Some of it is useful,' she replied.

'Calling rubbish like this USEFUL cannot be justified. It's trash. Give it.' Ah, how articulate. The Kazekage says, 'GIVE IT!' The pride of the Sand...

'I can do it. You don't need to waste your time on these.'

'Wasting time? I waste my time doing nothing at night but reading the same drivel from these textbooks that these professors give us over and over. I think that time is something I have surplus of. Now give it.' Gaara has the verbal finesse of a butcher and a scholar. Interesting combination.

Sakura had a sudden vision of Gaara Sabaku Kyu-ing her and shuddered. Gaara scowled (even more) than usual at her face and sent her another note.

'I will not kill you for such trivial matters. With all this spare time I have, I get bored. And Ino's right about Prof. S, although I have a feeling the advice won't help much. It would be easier to shave his head clean bald.'

Sakura giggled at the mental image. Gaara's scowl of a scowl lessened, returning to his usual glare. She didn't even notice the fact that this was a moment to be celebrated, for it was predicted that hell would freeze over before something like this would ever happen. Gaara made a joke.

Earlier that day, Naruto had been causing mayhem in all his classes. He couldn't wait until Defense Against Dark Arts. Sure, Moody was some kind of freak, but he was an interesting freak. He also hinted at something of a surprise in his class during the first lesson.

In Charms, he and Kiba were competing for the better Banishing charm, flinging pillows across the room at each other in the face. And then they started banishing each other, until Naruto flew at Flitwick, knocking him down behind the desk.

"Argh, Kiba! I'm gonna Banish you out the window, stupid mutt!"

Vulpes and Akamaru, sitting on the sidelines, laughed at their pets—er, owners.

"You know," Ron said, "they've got waaay too much energy. Look at what Naruto did with the cushion and the door! His aim's a bit off too."

The door had a whole in it where the cushion had made a head-on collision. It was about ten feet off from the baskets lined on the wall that they were supposed to be aiming at.

"Aw, crap!" Naruto swore. His wand had cracked.

"Again?" Kiba asked. "Just how many times has that happened?"

"This is the fifth since school started!" Naruto moaned. "I've got to give it to Kakashi to fix now! Bye, Professor Flitwick!"

The dazed professor staggered from behind the desk.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Uzimuka…"

"Maybe someone should get him to the infirmary…?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Naruto was running when he found Kakashi reading Icha Icha Paradise in the middle of teaching some third-year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff classes while stepping his foot on a skrewt, pinning it's stinger onto its back at the same time.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said. "It broke again in the middle of Charms!"

"Shouldn't you have a pass to get out of class or something…?"

"Professor Flitwick didn't give me one so I guess not. Anyway, can you fix it?"

"Sure, give it." Kakashi took Naruto's wand and used the Henge no Jutsu. All fixed. "There you go." They seem to forget that genjutsus are illusions and the wand has never been fixed in the first place the last 5 times...

The bell rang. Classes were over and Naruto would have to run back to the classroom to gather his belongings and then to his next class. "Kuso! Uh, thanks, Kakashi-sensei! Seeya!" Naruto shouted, running back to class.

"Uh-huh..." Kakashi returned to his book and to stepping on the skrewt.

Naruto's third class of the day was Defense Against Dark Arts with Professor Moody.

"Hey, Kiba!" Naruto said. Kiba grumbled, his body aching from the constant Banishings. Naruto was hardly affected at all!

He held up a familiar mischievous fox.

"I believe you left this thing behind," he muttered, tossing Vulpes at him. Vulpes landed in Naruto's arms and bit his hand. "Ow! Stupid fox!" He waved his hand in front of him maniacally. "Get off!"

"Problems with your pet, Mr. Uzumaki?" Moody asked.

"It's not a pet, it's a furry little disaster!" Naruto growled. "C'mere, Vulpes! I'm going to shave you!" The fox seemed to stick its tongue out at Naruto, as if to say 'My name is not Vulpes.'

Ron snickered loudly. He, Harry, and Hermione were sitting in the front of the classroom. Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, Chouji, and Ino sat next to them, trying to get good seats. Gaara, Shino, and Sasuke sat behind them in mutual silence. And behind them were the freaky fangirls. They all took out their books when Professor Moody stopped them.

"You can put them away," he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "those books. You won't be needing those."

They returned their books to their backs. Ron looked excited.

Moody took attendence, taking a good long look at each and every single student when he did so. It took a while.

"Right then," he said. Naruto sighed. FINALLY. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Ot seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures—you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

There was a general murmer of assent, although Naruto had no idea what the professor was talking about. At least the other shinobi, however, skimmed through the other textbooks. A kinky punk and a red hat? Weird…

"But you're behind—very behind—on dealing with curses." Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—"

"You aren't staying?" Kiba asked.

Professor Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at Kiba, who looked extremely apprehensive and uncomfortable, being the object of attention of that creepy blue eye. It's worse than the Byakugan! At least the Byakugan wasn't so flashy and stood out so much. Moody smiled, as twisted and distorted as ever, making his face look even more disturbing, but it was nice to know the man could smile.

"Yes, Mr... uh...Inuzuka. Only one year," Moody said. "It's a special favor to Dumbledore. Then I'm back to my quiet retirement. There's a rumor that the job's jinxed. If I stay any longer, I might die." He gave a harsh laugh and then clapped his gnarled hands together.

"So—straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you was illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves. He reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under her desk. Apparently, Moody's magical eye, as Gaara had read from Neji and Hinata's reports, could see through things.

"So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's. Gaara also knew them, having read something about them several times.

"Eh, my dad told me about one. Is it called the Imperious Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," Moody said appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperious Curse."

Moody heavily, got to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Harry felt Ron recoil slightly next to him. Ron hated spiders. Sasuke watched with interest in his red-tainted eyes.

And behind Ron, Shino was glaring at the spiders through his dark lenses. Was he growling? Nah, it must have been the insects buzzing under his skin, a bit louder than usual, sensing the enemy to all insects: Spiders. Damn spiders! Eating his insects! Shino hated spiders.

A Slytherin, seated next to Shino, heard this strange buzzing sound and sensed his 'angry aura' and inched away from his bespectacled classmate in his seat.

Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"

The spider leapt from Professor Moody's hand and began to swing back and forth as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its leg rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.

Everyone was laughing—everyone except Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter died away almost instantly. Geez, what a party pooper.

"Total control," Moody said quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…"

Ron gave an involuntary shudder.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody. Harry knew he was talking about the days in which Voldemort had been all-powerful. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will.

"The Imperious Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped. Naruto even fell out of his chair, knocking Vulpes off of the desk along with him. The only ones who didn't react were the three Slytherins. Of course, you could never tell when Shino was doing anything, and nothing ever surprised Sasuke and Gaara.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and tossed it back into the jar.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand flew into the air again and so, to Harry's slight surprise, did Neville's. The only class in which Neville usually volunteered information was Herbology, which was easily his best subject. Neville looked surprised (more like horrified) at his own daring.

"Yes?" Moody said, his magical eye rolling right over from Lavender to fix a stare on Neville who shrank even more.

"There's one—the Cruciatus Curse," he whimpered in a small but distinct voice.

Moody was watching Neville very intently. With both eyes.

"Your name is Longbottom?" he asked, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again

Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to more.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea." He pointed his wand at the spider. Engorgio!"

The spider swelled. It was not the size of a small dog. Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible, bumping into the front of Shino's table, where he angrily buzzed. Ron stared up at Shino behind him with a puzzled face. And then he went back to gawk at the giant spider in fear.

Moody pointed at the spider. "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body. It rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but it probably would have been screaming, had it had a voice like a human.

Kiba covered Akamaru's eyes and Hinata tried to look at something else, although that was a useless effort. Naruto looked at Vulpes, suddenly intrigued by the very red fur. Sasuke watched, suddenly full of interest, unlike usual. Ino had to look away. So she ended up turning around and staring at Sasuke, who had been watching Moody the whole time with a hint of crimson in his eyes. Vulpes groomed his fur indifferently. Chouji was busy paying a lot of attention to his bag of chips. Low calories! No! He'd have to switch to BBQ Lay's now! And, to everyone's surprise and fear, Shino was laughing. It was hard to hear, but it was there. Just as Ron had scooted away from the spider, the class slowly shuffled away from Shino.

Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently.

"Ano...Neville...a-are you o-okay...?" Hinata asked.

"Stop it!" Hermione said in a shrill voice. Harry looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Harry, following her gaze, saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white. His eyes grew wide and horrified.

Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.

"Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its normal size. Shino sighed sadly. He put it back in the jar.

"Pain," he said softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse… That one was very popular once too."

Naruto frowned. This guy was exactly like Ibiki…

"Sooo…anyone know any others?"

Gaara rose his hands, much to his own surprise. What the hell was his hand doing?

"Yes, Mr… Sabaku?"

Mister Sabaku? That sounded stupid! He was too used to 'Kazekage-sama' during conversations with formal idiots and 'Gaara' and 'Gaara-san' with everyone who thought they were close to him and 'Sabaku-san' and 'Sabaku-sama' for everyone in between.

"It's Kazekage…" Gaara said, while most of the students and Moody wondered 'Why have a nickname if it's longer and harder to pronounce?' Nevertheless, the look he gave them all told them not to question him. "There is the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra," he said. Hermione sulked. She hadn't gotten the chance to say anything…

"Ah," Moody said, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and the worst. Avada Kedavra… the killing curse." Gaara frowned. He just said that.

Moody put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.

Moody raised his want, and everyone felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.

"Avada Kedavra!"

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisibly soemthing was soaring through the air. Everyone in the class flinched from the brightness (except for Shino, since he had his sunglasses). Instantaneously, the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead, with it's legs curled up. Several students stifled cries. Ron threw himself backward and almost toppled off his seat as the spder skidded toward him. He would have falling over if it hadn't been for the fact that he had already been pressed against the front of Shino's desk.

Moody swept the dead spider off the desk and onto the floor.

"It's not nice," he said calmly, as if barely anything had happened. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it's effects of instant death, and he's sitting right in front of me."

Harry's faced went read as both of Moody's eyes held his own gaze. Everyone was staring at him. Sasuke's eye returned to their normal fathomless black hue and turned around to look at Harry as well. Now Naruto understood why he was so famous here. The only person in history who had survived a killing curse. Cool. Harry stared at the blank blackboard as though fascinated by it, but not really seeing it all.

So…that was how his parents had died. Just like that spider. So they had been unblemished and unmarked too? Had they simply seen the flash of green light and heard the rush of speeding death before life was wiped from their bodies?

He had been picturing their deaths over and over again for three years now, ever since he had found out they had been murdered. Ever since he had found out what had happened that night: Wormtail had betrayed his parent's whereabouts to Voldemort, who had come to find them at their cottage. How Voldemort had killed Harry's father first. How James Potter had tried to hold him off, while he shouted at his wife to take Harry and run. Voldemort hat advanced on Lily Potter, told her to move aside so that he could kill Harry. How she had begged him to kill her instead, refusing to stop shielding her son. How Voldemort had obliged and murdered her too, before turning his wand on Harry.

He knew these details because he had heard their voices when he had fought dementors last year—for that was the terrible power of dementors: to force their victims to relive the worst memories of their lives, and drown, powerless, in their own despair.

Moody was speaking again, from a great distance, it seemed to Harry. He pulled himself back to the present and listened to what Moody was saying. He looked around that the class.

Naruto looked like he was deep in thought, contrary to his usual idiot self. Sasuke, behind him, looked captivated by this curse…

"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it—you could get all your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed." Sasuke looked disappointed.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" The whole class jumped again. This time, Naruto was not the only person to fall out of his seat. And once again, the Slytherin shinobi were completely devoid of any reaction.

"Now…those three curses—Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus—are known as Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills and copy this down. Now, those are the three Unforgivable Curses. There are several other curses that are looked down upon, such as the Dismemberment Curse, the Sealing Curse, the Evil Releasing Curse…" He went on for a while.

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang—but when Moody dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a torrent to talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices. On the way out, Shino made sure to stomp on the dead spider on the ground.

"Did you see it twitch!" Naruto shouted.

"And then it just died..." Kiba said, in daze.

"Hey," Ino said suddenly. "Doesn't Moody remind you of another certain nutcase back at home? You know...that guy... Hint-hint. A certain crazy guy with interrogation scars and corkscrew scars all over his head...?"

"Ibiki and Moody must be twins," Chouji muttered. "Or clones."

"Hn...this class is pretty useful after all..." Sasuke murmured. "I don't need to."

"Don't you go getting any ideas, Sasuke-bastard," Naruto warned. "Not after all the trouble we went through getting the shit beat out of us the first time we tried getting you back, failing, and then all that crap that EVERYONE went through to get you back for good."

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm not running away, Naruto."

What was that about? Harry wondered.

"Hurry up," Hermione said tensely to Harry and Ron.

She dragged them over to Neville, who was standing alone, halfway up the passage, staring at the stone wall opposite of him with the same horrified, wide-eyed look he had worn when Moody had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse.

"Neville?" Hermione said gently. He looked around with an odd, confused sort of look on his face.

"Oh hello," he said, his voice much higher than usual. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner? I'm—I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Neville, are you alright?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," he gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. "Very interesting dinner—I mean lesson—what's for eating?"

Ron gave Harry a startled look.

"Neville, what—?"

But an odd clunking noise sounded behind them, and they turned to see Professor Moody limping toward them. All four of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard.

"It's alright, sonny," he said to Neville. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come one…we can have a cup of tea…"

Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody turned his magical eye upon Harry. "You all right, are you, Potter?"

"Yes," said Harry, almost defiantly.

"You know, it seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point in pretending…well…come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you."

Neville looked pleadingly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but they didn't say anything, so Neville had not choice but to allow himself to be dragged away, one of Moody's gnarled hands on his shoulder.

"What was that about?" Ron wondered, watching Neville and Moody turnd the corner.

"Some lesson, eh? Fred and George were right, weren't they. He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did the Avada Kedavra, the way the spider just died, just snuffed it right—"

But Ron fell suddenly silent at the look on Harry's face and didn't speak again until they reached the Great Hall, when he said he supposed they had better start on Professor Trelawney's predictions tonight, since they could take hours.

Hermione did not join in with Harry and Ron's conversation during dinner, but ate furiously fast, and then left for the library again. Harry and Ron walked back to Gryffindor Tower, and Harry, who had been thinking of nothing else all through dinner, now raised the subject of the Unforgivable Curses himself.

"Wouldn't Moody and Dumbledore be in trouble with the Ministry if they knew we had seen the curses?" Harry asked as they approached the Fat Lady.

"Yeah, probably," Ron said. "But Dumbledore's always marched to his own beat, and Moody's been getting himself into trouble for years, I reckon. Attacks first, ask questions later. Remember the incident my dad said about the dustbins? Balderdash."

The Fat Lady swung forward to reveal the entrance hole, and they climbed into the Gryffindor common room, which was crowded and noisy.

They went up to the dormitory to get their books and charts to find Neville up there alone, sitting on his bed, reading. He looked much calmer than at the end of Moody's lesson, though his eyes were a bit red.

"You alright?" Harry asked him.

"I'm fine, thanks," said Neville. "Just reading this book Professor Moody lent me…"

He held up the book: Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean.

"Apparently, Professor Sprout told Professor Moody I'm really good at Herbology," Neville said. There was a faint note of pride in his voice that Hary had rarely heard there before. "He thought I'd like this."

Harry grinned at his friend. He and Ron took their copies and found a quiet table in the common room, working on their predictions for the next month. An hour later, they had made very little progress.

Naruto joined them.

"Hey, working on the Quack's homework?" he asked them. They nodded. "Good. I haven't got a clue what this junk is supposed to mean," he said, staring at his long list of calculations and doodling. "Apparently, I've got three moons and a planet Zenon on my sky map. What the hell is Zenon…?" Harry snorted.

"Join the club, mate," Ron said. Naruto sat down.

"Man, Hinata's already finished and won't let me copy," Naruto said. "She says I shouldn't do that because I won't learn anything if I do. What do we learn here anyway! Staring at the sky is Shikamaru's thing, not mine, darn it!"

"You know..." Harry said. "There might be a reason she didn't let you copy. For example, you'd have the exact same fortune."

"Eh...I hate this junk," Naruto sighed, banging his head on the table. "Yay! A star! I'm going to have ten kids, two wives, and crazy load of in-laws! What joy! And then I'll die at fifty, have my body dumped in a river, and everyone will sing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow!'"

Harry snickered at the thought.

"You know," Ron said. "I think it's tome to go back to the old divination standby."

"Eh?"

"Making it up?" Harry asked.

"Yup. He swept the jumble of scrawled notes off the table, dipping his pen into some ink, and started to write. "I am likely to develop a cough, owing the unlucky conjunction of Mars and Jupiter. You know her, Harry. Just put in loads of misery. She'll lap it up."

"Okay, on Monday, I will be in danger of...burns. Yeah."

"Yeah, we will be," Naruto said darkly. "We've got Care for Magical Creatures on Monday. I heard from Shino that the skrewts are learning to make fire."

"Fire!"

"The dude with the sunglasses? You heard him?"

"Yup. They've got fire. Lucky us, huh? No more sparks. And Shino does talk from time to time if you listen really closely. He usually just... buzzes though."

Ron flipped through the book. "On Tuesday, I will…uh…"

"Not be chosen for a special event in class," Harry suggested.

"Good one," Ron said. "Because...Mercury?"

"Hey, Harry, why don't you get ditched by a friend?"

"Yeah, because Venus is in...the twelfth house.

"On Wednesday, I lose a fight," Naruto said.

"Aah, I was going to do that," Ron said. "Okay, I'll lose a bet."

"Yeah, cuz you'll be betting that I won!"

"Harry, you could be subject to Ron's brothers' pranks."

"Cool."

Kiba and Chouji soon joined them, and they continued to make more predictions, which grew steadily more and more tragic. The common room began to empty as people went up to bed. Crookshanks wandered over to them, leaping lightly into an empty chair with Akamaru and Vulpes, staring inscrutably at Harry, rather as Hermione might look if she knew they weren't doing their homework properly.

Looking around the room, trying to think of a kind of misfortune he hadn't yet used, Harry spotted Fred and George sitting together against the opposite side of the room, heads together, quills out, poring over a single piece of parchment.

"No—that sounds like we're accusing him. Gotta be careful…"

Harry looked away as George (it was probably George) saw Harry watching them. After several moments, George and Fred went up to the dormitories and went to off to bed.

Moments later, Hermione largely charged into the room, startling Ino out of her seat when she announced, "I FINISHED!"

"And so have I!" Ron cried triumphantly, throwing down his quill. She inspected his predictions. And then Harry's. And Naruto's. And Kiba's. And Chouji's.

"You're all having a pretty bad week, aren't you?" Hermione said apprehensively. "Ron, you've drowned twice already."

"Oh? Okay then. I'll be trampled by a rampaging hippogriff."

"Yeah, and Naruto, you can't fall down the stairs at Care for Magical Creatures. It's outside. There are no stairs."

Naruto fixed it. He drank Neville's potion and went into a coma.

Hermione sighed. "Isn't it a bit obvious that you guys made this all up?"

"How dare you say so!" Ron said in mock outrage. "We've been working like house elves here!"

Hermione raised a brow.

"Just an expression…"

Harry finished off with his death by decapitation, setting down his quill. "What's with box?" he asked her.

"Funny thing you should ask," she said. She removed the lid and reveled the contents.

Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colors, but still bearing the same letters: S.P.E.W.

"'Spew'?" Harry picked up a badge, looking at it. "What's this about?"

"Not spew," Hemione said impatiently. "It's S-P-E-W. It stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Never heard of it," Ron said.

'Of course you haven't," Hermione said. "I've only just started it."

"Really?" Kiba asked. "How many members do you have?"

"Well, if you two join, three."

"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges saying spew?"

"S-P-E-W! I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but it wouldn't fit. So that's the heading of our manifesto."

"How about Society to Help Individuals Treat elves right?" Naruto suggested. "It could come out to be S-H-I-T-E-R. The I is short." Shitter?

"Hey, that's a good ide—idiot!" Hermione threw a badge at Naruto. She brandished a sheaf of parchment at them.

"I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now."

"Hermione, open your ears!" Ron said. "They. Like. It. They like being 'enslaved'!"

"Yeah," Kiba said. "If we freed them, they'd start some rebellion force us to take them all back again."

"Our short-term arms are to secure house elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."

"And how do we do this?" Harry asked.

"We start by recruiting members. I thought two Sickles to join. You're treasurer, Ron. Harry, you can be secretary, so start writing down everything I say. Are you guys going to join?"

"I got no cash on me," Naruto muttered.

"Oh well, you're not going to be anything major than. Just a normal member."

"Cool."

Hermione paused to grin at them all. Harry sighed, and Ron looked amused. The silence was broken by a soft tapping on the window. Hedwig had arrived.

"About time!" Harry said excitedly.

"An answer?" Ron asked.

"What answer?"

Another bird flew inside from the window. Hinata recognized it to be Takamaru, the fastest bird from the Sand. After sending a message all the way from the Sand to Konoha, it was supposed to be on a break until it was prepared to take flight once again. Only it was supposed to be going back to the Sand. Why on earth was Konoha using the Sand birds? Well, as allies, the birds were shared, after all.

"For us?" Hinata wondered. The shinobi looked around, confused. Two messages for each groups at once.

About that time, when Harry was closing the window, a black dart flew at Naruto and climbed into his shirt.

"AAAH!"

"Stop drop and roll, Naruto," Kiba shouted. "Stop. Drop. And roll!"

"Idiot, he's not on fire! He'll smush whatever's in there!" Ino said.

"That's the point!"

Naruto froze.

"Uh...it's gone," he said, patting himself down.

Everyone looked around the room. Naruto got up from the floor. "I think I need to go to the bathroom... I feel so violated."

Naruto went up to the dorms. Lee was asleep already; Kiba and Chouji were still out there. A tiny bat was perched upside down on his finger as he rolled open the scroll with the other hand. Naruto read the letter that Kurogane had sent him. Unlike most of his other letters, Kurogane must have not written five drafts for it. It lacked his usual finesse.

Kyuubi and Naruto,

The Akatsuki know where you and Gaara are, and the Sound are crying for Sasuke's return for betraying their side. Lord Orochimaru means to take him back. The damage you placed on his body is great. All sides are gathering. They do not, however, believe you are stupid enough to attend the chuunin exams with such dangerous figures running about loose in the world crying for your demon. Despite this information, I have a feeling you will attend anyway. I know you better than them. Therefore, I am heading your way at this very moment. Madoka and I are coming to help you train. Yes, we are aware of the spells that prevent the entrance of outsiders, but we have found a weak spot in this magical defense. The answer lies in the Forbidden Forest. Centaurs, among other creatures, leave the forests in the winter. Should the spells remain strong in the forest, they would be stuck outside of the forest upon their return. I have actually managed to reserve a room at an inn in a nearby village called Hogsmeade. When I arrive, which should be soon, I will send for you and call you for another meeting. Take care of Kouha.

Also, news of your fox intrigues me. When I send for you, bring him with you. It may be more than just a fox, but Madoka says I am being paranoid again. And rumors of Nekomata and Isonade are flying. They and their hosts may have survived. Either that or one of the vessel's caretaker has. The chances, however, are slim to none. I still believe them to be quite dead.

The Sand is aware of the sudden movement of the Sound and Akatsuki. They are rushing the Chuunin exam preparations. I believe you have one less day to complete this tournament; in other words, it starts on October first and ends on the ninth. I will probably arrive the day after you read this, so prepare for my coming.

Kurogane must have been in a hurry when he wrote this! He didn't even insult Naruto or sign his name in fancy letters. Naruto scratched his head.

Kurogane was coming. To Hogwarts. Naruto appreciated the gesture, but this was getting way to serious! And complicated. It was nice that Kurogane actually cared enough to go so far to the West just to help him out (not that he'd ever admit to being a nice guy), but what of his loyalty to the Sound? When the time came to obeying orders from the Sound or helping a friend out, Naruto was sure that Kurogane would not hesitate to return to his own people. Which meant if the Sound wanted Sasuke, it would be up to Naruto to keep them away from each other. But…back to the present. Thinking about the future hurt Naruto's brain.

He was supposed to prepare for Kurogane's arrival…? Like, do what? Shower him with presents and food? Whatever man, Kurogane's crazy.

"Come on, guys," Naruto said to Kou and Vulpes. "Henge no jutsu!" Naruto became a bat the size of Kouha.

"You're ridiculous," Kouha said to Naruto. He wished that summon animals didn't talk… Kouha still wanted a meal. He and Kouha buried themselves in the fox's fur under his belly.

Vulpes, looking quite uncomfortable two stowaways in his fur, seemed to sigh. Running out of the Gryffindor common room, Akamaru barked to wonder where Vulpes was going. Everyone else turned around to watch. Hidden in the fur, Naruto noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in one corner of the room with Harry's bird's letter. The others were on the other side of the room, probably discussing something important without Naruto.

In response to Akamaru's question and everyone's staring, Vulpes seemed to stare at them with skeptical eyes, as if saying, 'It's private but if you wanna know…'

Vulpes lifted his leg.

"No!" Kiba said. "Bad fox! Not inside the common room. Just head for the dungeons."

Vulpes snickered and ran out of the room inconspicuously. The moment they hit freedom, Naruto and Kouha detached from their fox cab and all three sped out of the building, running over Ms. Norris and running/flapping for dear life. It took a while with Naruto's below average navigation skills, but they finally exited the castle towards the Forbidden Forest.

Harry was freaking out. Sirius was coming to Hogwarts! He looked at the other students in the common room, who were reading their own letter, except for Naruto who had just left, and looking like they were freaking out themselves. Ah, the irony.

Harry—

I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore—they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is.

I'll be in touch soon. My best to Ron and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry.

—Sirius

"He's flying north?" Hermione whispered. "He's coming back?"

"Dumbledore's reading what signs?" said Ron, looking confused. "Harry, what's up with all of this?"

Harry just hit his forehead with his fist. "I shouldn't have told him!" Harry said furiously. The shinobi across the room looked up at him at his sudden outburst, but returned to their own business, panicking at their own message.

"What are you on about?" Ron whispered."

"It's made him think he's got to come back," Harry said. "He's coming back, because he thinks I'm in trouble. And there's nothing wrong with me! I—I'm going to bed… See you in the morning."

As if on cue, everybody stood up and began to head to bed when, all of a sudden, Kiba came running out. "Hey, guys, Naruto's gone!"

This is a message to everyone:

The Akatsuki know and the Sound are gathering. Not together, of course, but they are both preparing for something big. Orochimaru is probably still after the Sharingan eye—he wants it more than ever now. His body has been damaged. Either he will move to a new body and things will quiet down for a bit or he will move quickly and attempt to gain a perfectly able body.

The chuunin exams, however, are approaching. They will take place from October 1st to October 9th. Sasuke needs not to attend. As we have recently realized, Sasuke, while in the Sound, had already been promoted to chuunin level almost the moment he arrived. Sasuke, it would have been a much less hassle should you have told us in the first place. With Akatsuki and the Sound loose, Naruto and Gaara should both return to the Sand through the 'Portkey' that Kakashi had sent us. Temari and Shikamaru, as voluntary judges who supervise the chuunin exams, may come. It is a choice, not a command.

A letter similar to this has also been sent to Kakashi and the Headmaster of this school. We may arrive soon, on the day Naruto leaves, both through this 'Portkey'. Naruto and Gaara: don't do anything stupid.

As for everyone else, keep them out of trouble. PLEASE.

—Kurenai-sensei

(and Gai, Shizune, Iruka, Asuma, Tsunade, and Jiraiya too)

"Kurenai-sensei's…coming. Here." Kiba looked horrified. "This can't be happening! This is horrible! She'll make us do work! And more work! And once we're through with that, she'll probably force of to do even moretraining!"

"We should also tell Naruto about the dates of the chuunin exam," Chouji said. They all stood up. Kiba went straight to bed when he ran out, looking distraught.

"Hey, guys!" he cried. "Naruto's gone!"

"Where?" Ino asked.

"I don't know. He just isn't in his room!"

"Kiba…" Ino said. "He said he went to the bathroom."

"But Akamaru's using it!"

"Akamaru uses the toilet?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Kiba said. "You don't think I brought in a dog that wasn't housetrained, do you? I'm better than that, and Akamaru isn't the type of dog to just go on the ground in public. He's shy. So you've only had animals go anywhere they please? Honestly, there's just no discipline these days."

Harry and Ron stared at Kiba skeptically, although Hermione looked pleased by Akamaru's 'civility'. Nevertheless, Naruto was still gone.

"Hinata could find him," Chouji said.

"Right!" Ino said. She ran into the dormitories and woke Hinata up.

"Nani...?" Hinata muttered. She put on her hitai-ate band. "What's wrong, Ino-san?"

"Naruto's gone off somewhere," Ino said. "Can you see him?"

Hinata searched the castle and didn't find him anywhere. "Um...m-my sight does not reach as far as Neji's. I'm sorry. You might want to try with him."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Ino asked her.

Hinata rummaged through her bag next to the bed and found a piece of parchment. "Gaara, Sakura, and Shikamaru have given one of us from each house a piece of parchment to send messages to one another. This is just an experiment to them and they are working on a notebook for I have not studied so far into the other classes that sixth years take, but whatever I write on the back side of the parchment will appear on the front of theirs. It's like…instant messaging, that muggle use of an 'internet'. They also say that they had gotten the idea from a group of wizards long ago, but they didn't say anything further."

Hermione passed by the room.

Hinata flipped the parchment over onto the back and wrote: "Neji-kun, Naruto has gone off somewhere, and I can't see as far as you. If it is no trouble, can you tell us where he is?"

Neji's response immediately came. "Naruto is outside of the castle in front of the Forbidden Forest speaking with Kakashi. He's fine, Hinata-san."

"He's fast," Ino said. "I'll just tell the others that." Ino left.

Meanwhile, Neji and Shikamaru were playing shogi. Tenten was sitting next to Neji, watching them play and reading some class notes. She stood up and pulled out a warm parchment from her pocket. "Hey, Hinata's sending a message. Awesome, I was wondering if this thing worked or not," Tenten said. She unfolded it and read the message with a frown. "Hm... Naruto's gone... Neji, can you see him?"

Neji sighed, focusing his Byakugan eye around the castle until he realized that Naruto was not wearing his uniform or his sleeping clothes, but rather his bright orange jumpsuit. Of course, that was almost all that Neji saw. It was rather dark outside. He was talking to a man with light, silvery hair. Kakashi. They were talking about something. Not that he could hear anyway, but it seemed like they were in the middle of a serious discussion.

Kakashi sighed and Naruto grinned, jumping up and down excitedly, waving a piece of parchment in the air. So Kakashi was either treating him to ramen or talking about his rank. Neji had received a bird, Takahashi, that flew into the room and sent them a message from their teachers. The chuunin exams were coming up. So it all came together: Naruto was probably just asking to get time off his classes to train or something.

But still, couldn't he have just told someone?

"Naruto, why are you dragging me out in the middle of the night just to ask about training?" Kakashi groggily asked him.

"This is really important, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto begged, holding out a normal pen (much more convenient than quills) to him. "Please just sign this?"

"Fine," Kakashi muttered. "What is this?"

"Permission to train in the forest," Naruto said. "In all my free time."

"Couldn't this wait until tomorrow?"

"No, 'cuz I wanna start tonight!"

"It's two in the morning, Naruto."

"Well can't I start? All I need is for you to sign this, and then I'll have permission to go into the forest past curfew!"

"Why do you want to go into the forest past curfew…?" Was Naruto meeting a girl behind his back?

"I told you already. So I can train!" Oh, of course not…Naruto never got the talk before. Wait, never? Never ever? Never ever ever! Uh oh.

Kakashi sighed and signed the paper. "There you go. Don't get yourself killed." He waved him off. Naruto jumped up and down excitedly, waving the parchment back and forth. After several minutes, Kakashi fell asleep on his feet and Naruto ran into the forest.