Summary: HPxNaruto First it started out with just Orochimaru and Voldemort. Then add in their personal pet: the Seven Sins. Toss in a wizarding war and what do you get? Chaos.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or Harry Potter.

Notes: This story is totally ignoring the fifth year plot of Harry Potter. Yes, Sasuke has gone to Orochimaru, but he has returned and his punishment has been fulfilled and lifted. Itachi is dead, but Orochimaru isn’t.

Talking in italics is spoken in Japanese.

Talking in bold is spoken in spells.

--

Tsunade-san,

Tsunade, I must confess that I have not been entirely honest with you. My first letter to you was something of an appetizer; I had hoped that wizarding politics would not force my hand to do this. Forgive me, I am speaking in riddles.

The creature that terrorizes Hogwarts was indeed my first priority and problem that I presented to you. Now, however, I must tell you that which will affect the mission of the shinobi you have graciously sent me.

I do not assume you know wizarding politics. Voldemort, the Dark Wizard who allied with your Dark Shinobi, Orochimaru, wreaks havoc upon Britain as he has done so for many years; 21 to be exact. His followers are known as Death Eaters and are willing and supportive to his cause, which is to say, to wipe out wizards and witches with non-magical ancestors. He wants a pure wizarding society, with no taint of Muggles.

He has shown no mercy as to show how far he will go to achieve his goal. He embraced Dark Magic, tortured Muggles and wizards and witches alike, and killed more than I would have imagined any human possible.

Voldemort is not a stupid man. Far from it. He plays the political game well, and is a master at manipulating people not only through fear, but through persuasion, power, temptation, and lies. He has gained control of the media this way, of which I’m sure you will understand how disastrous and catastrophic the situation became. He has also burrowed his way to the top of the Ministry of Magic. Our Minister is now dead and Voldemort’s puppet stands in his place. He now controls not only the media, but our government.

That is not all. He has attacked several well known, well guarded and secured, populated areas: Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, to name a few. They are equivalent to… or rather, similar to your smaller Hidden Villages. I can’t tell you what a blow it did to the public’s morale. They are frightened, with nowhere and no one to turn to. Our Auror (wizard equivalent to shinobi) count is down drastically by fifty percent trying to be everywhere at once.

The Light side has created its own army of defense: The Order of the Phoenix. The Order of the Phoenix aims to defeat Voldemort and spare as many people as possible. We do not care about a wizard’s bloodline. We care that Voldemort does and has forced his views on other people. We have been trying everything to stop him, but our numbers have depleted as well. We are also growing divided; fear drives many of us now.

For sixteen, almost seventeen years now, he has targeted Harry Potter, the bane of his existence – or so he has made it to be. But forgive me; that is a tale to be told another time. There are far too many other pressing details to sort out.

Hogwarts is another one of Voldemort’s targets. It was his old home, as schools are to those who learn and thrive under their roof, and the one place he has not touched. Yet. Hogwart’s defenses are impressive, and even Voldemort will need time, skill, and power to break them, more time than he is willing to give. He sent the seven-sinned demon to break down the inner sanctums and in hopes of weakening me. Be careful of this demon: we are made half of sins ourselves. It affects all those who come into close proximity very dangerously.

There is only one conclusion in this: time is drawing near for Voldemort to act. Harry and Hogwarts are his targets. He will stop at nothing at capturing both. He will have an army of wizards, witches, Dementors (a creature which feeds on fear and terror after drawing away happiness from a person), trolls, Inferni (animated corpses), and other horrors unknown.

You are a strategist. No doubt you know there are countless battle tactics that can be deducted. But whatever happens, Hogwarts must stand free in the end.

This is beyond what I had originally asked of you. If you do not wish to involve yourselves in our war, then I respect that. It’s a wise choice. You will still receive the amount we previously agreed on, and you are welcome to call in a favour should you need it.

Your friend,

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Tsunade looked up from the letter.

“Aw, fuck.”

--

Team #19485,

Here’s the deal. There’s a wizarding war raging on outside of Hogwarts. Dumbledore-san has managed to keep Hogwarts mostly out of it until now. Now, Voldemort and Orochimaru have a strong handhold and upper hand on the wizarding society. Their next target is Hogwarts and Harry Potter.

Confer and decide. Respond ASAP.

Tsunade

Godaime

Hinata blinked as she processed the blunt, precise, short note.

“As our superior, shouldn’t she decide this?” Hinata asked confusedly. Under regular circumstances, Tsunade would’ve – but these were hardly ordinary times.

“Yes,” Shino was the one who replied, his normally passive face pulled into a frown. “But I think that she’s decided the situation fell under Code Red-Alpha.”

“Code Red-Alpha?” Sakura repeated, wide-eyed. She stopped tossing the apple she had been about to eat, almost letting the fruit slip through her fingers in the process.

“Isn’t that the plan when the situation gets so out of hand or… unique that the team as a whole act independently from their superior’s orders?” Falcon asked from her position by the stair leading to their dormitories.

“Yes,” Gai nodded gravely, serious for once. “In this case, Dumbledore-san is technically our boss but Tsunade-sama all but said that he would leave matters in her hands.”

“Which were then dumped on us,” Naruto groaned. He had an arm slung around Hinata on the couch and grinned slightly when she leaned her head against his shoulder.

“So, thoughts anyone?” Tenten asked after the room went silent.

“We don’t have to rush on our decision,” Shikamaru muttered from his end of the room. He was lying on the couch, an arm over his eyes. “We should take this day to think about it. When we have our meeting tonight, we should decide then.”

“Good plan!” Gai beamed. “That is most excellent!” Everybody groaned at Gai’s antics but Neji and Tenten, long-time students of Gai, saw how his eyes creased at the edges in worry.

“We should get going now,” Kurenai suggested dryly. “Else the students will get into all kinds of mischief.”

“Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, Shino, Falcon, remember that you have that special training with your partners today. You have all day; try to cram in as much as possible,” Neji instructed.

“It should be easier, since you guys have a shared bond with your partners,” Shikamaru added. “I would say have fun, but I think I’ll just say good luck.”

“I don’t even want to know how some of them will react when they see they’ll be working side by side,” Sakura groaned.

“Like I said,” Shikamaru’s dry voice was addressed to her as he got up from the couch, “good luck.”

--

“Yeaaahhhh, happy birthday Luna!”

“LUNA!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”

“Hey Luna! Happy birthday! You’re turning sixteen, right?”

“Haha, happy sweet sixteen on the sixteenth of January!”

“What?! Bollocks, I put the wrong age on her card then…”

Shino was a bit perplexed at the riot down at the Gryffindor table’s end. Students swarmed around his bond-partner, patting her, wishing her happy birthday, and giving her presents. He had no idea that she was rather popular.

Borrowed popularity, Shino thought, with no malice. He had noticed that Luna was rather peculiar, peculiar enough to isolate her from what was considered normal. No doubt people were being nice to her because she was a close friend to the famous Harry Potter.

Still, Shino made a mental note to wish her happy birthday. He had grown rather fond of her and her quirky ways over the last couple of weeks. They had met up several times, practicing chakra and magic control. They were far form mastering their techniques, but they had come a long way since they bonded.

“Oi, Shino,” Sasuke had crept gracefully over to where Shino was positioned: directly overtop the Gryffindor table on the ceiling. “Could you attach one of your listening bugs to Kabuto?”

“So we’ve determined that it’s him?” Shino asked quietly.

“Basically,” Sasuke replied. “Were you here for Kakashi’s debriefing?”

“If I recall correctly, I was assisting Professor McGonagall in disposing of some of the snake corpses.” It was rather disquieting. At least ten snakes found its way to different shinobi over the course of a week.

“Kakashi never told us when or how he did it, but he brought back proof that it was Kabuto.”

“And?” Shino asked, patient as a stone.

“He brought back some hair from a comb found in Kabuto’s bathroom. He infiltrated his quarters when there was a staff meeting. Sakura ran some DNA tests and confirmed that it was Kabuto.”

“And Kabuto was careless enough to overlook a detail like that?” Shino asked bluntly.

“There were strong protective spells and traps around his quarters, and even in his quarters, Kakashi had said,” Sasuke told him, unperturbed by his abruptness. “Both the magical traps and our kind of traps. Sakura had to perform emergency chakra infusion to burn out the poison and Dark magic in Kakashi’s system.”

“Ah, I see then,” Shino murmured."Unfortunately, Hinata asked me to keep tabs on him already, so there are already listening bugs on him and around his office."

"How did your bugs get in?"

"The wards were set to repel only human trespassers apparently."

Sasuke shrugged and moved away.

He watched as the Cho, Snape, Draco, Hermione, Luna, Harry, and Ginny made excuses to their friends, claiming that they didn’t feel well or forgot something in their dormitory. Or in Snape’s case, just get up and leave the staff’s table.

All took different routes and different times getting out of the Great Hall. Professor Dumbledore had sent out notes of instructions the night before to each individual, telling them how and when to get to the Room of Requirement. This was to prevent any of them from finding out who else was chosen as bond-partners. Shino could only imagine the chaos if Harry and Snape found out that they were working side by side, or Draco and Hermione.

As each person drifted out, the corresponding shinobi partner left also. Shino shadowed Luna as she waved good-bye to her well-wishers and left the Great Hall, taking numerous short-cuts to reach the Room of Requirement.

Shino caught the look that Kabuto/Hiratio gave them as they snuck out. Shino resisted the urge to glare at the other man when he turned his foul gaze unto Luna.

Now, it must be understood that Shino had no romantic feelings regarding the queer, blonde-haired witch. Rather, he felt like an older brother to a sister he never knew he had.

Idly, he wondered if this was a product of the bond, or if it would’ve occurred naturally on its own.

He also wondered about the new dilemma that Tsunade had placed before them. But immediately, Shino had a gut feeling: he must stay. He didn’t know if it was because he was already too deeply connected to the whole scheme, or if it was because he wanted to make sure Luna would stay safe. What he did know was this: if he left, there would be a whole, a gap in a circle that had to stay complete.

A sense of dread grew in the bottom of his stomach as he watched Luna approach the Room of Requirement door. He leapt down from the ceiling to land silently beside her.

“Ah, there you are,” Luna greeted him with a queer smile. “I was beginning to wonder if I was wrong on the reason why I’m here.”

She’s good, Shino thought as she opened the door. She would’ve made a good kunoichi had she the chance.

The door creaked open and the pair stepped inside.

Shino didn’t know what to expect when he stepped into the room. He certainly didn’t expect to see Dumbledore seated at the head of a very large, circular table. But while Dumbledore looked like a part of the circle, Shino hesitated; the old wizard looked just wrong sitting there. Like the odd man out.

Even Luna hesitated when she stepped in. But she straightened her shoulders. Shino strode towards the right of Dumbledore with her, sitting in the chairs that had the word ‘Patience’ carved simply into them. They sat, and waited.

Pair by pair, the others trickled in. Tenten and Cho Chang came in soon after Shino and Luna had sat down. The Asian pair sat down on the left of Dumbledore. Falcon and Ginny strode in confidently seconds after, taking their seats two down from Tenten and Cho. Naruto and Draco came in a few moments later, Naruto looking relaxed and assured, Draco looking apprehensive. They took their seats next to Shino and Luna.

Sakura and Hermione came in five minutes later. Both sat down next to Naruto and Draco, much to Draco’s displeasure. Naruto saw the disgust flash across Draco’s face before it disappeared, and clamped a warning hand on his shoulder. Draco’s face tightened, but didn’t say or do anything.

Hinata and Harry entered smoothly. They paused at the door, taking in the intimidating scene, but sat calmly beside Falcon and Ginny.

They had hardly sat down when the doors opened yet again. Sasuke and Snape strode in, neither looking friendly nor excited. In fact, Sasuke’s face could be accurately compared to thunderclouds. Snape didn’t look too happy either, but when he saw Dumbledore, he relaxed.

Harry, on the other hand, almost leapt out of seat when he saw his least-favourite teacher sit down next to him. Hinata curled a strong hand around the younger wizard’s arm, anchoring him to his seat. Her fingers squeezed in a silent reminder to behave.

Draco looked blown back as well when he saw Snape, but he didn’t make a move to do anything. Everyone else stirred a bit uneasily, but accepted Snape’s inclusion to the group.

“Welcome,” Dumbledore spoke when they were all seated and quiet. “You all know why you’re here. I will not detain you from precious training hours, but remember: you are fighting towards the same goal. Now is not the time let petty disagreements and family feuds divide you.” His unnerving gaze misted over them, settling on Harry and Draco. “Train hard; we do not have much time.”

There was a contemplative silence for a couple moments before Dumbledore stood. As he stood, the unmarked chair on which he sat on disappeared. The table seemingly shrank, until the space which had been occupied by Dumbledore’s chair disappeared.

“As you can see, I’m not a part of the circle,” Dumbledore’s blue eyes twinkled in good humour. “You make the circle that cannot be divided.”

Shino resisted the shudder that threatened to erupt from hearing his own thoughts echoed back at him.

Dumbledore gave them all a smile, one that showed his trust and faith in them.

“Good luck.”

Silence reigned when Dumbledore left. The wizards looked uneasily at each other, and the shinobi looked uneasily at their counterparts.

“Can you take your masks off?” Hermione blurted out, pressured by the silence and the intimidating atmosphere. “I-I mean…” she turned a bright red as everyone stared at her.

“No, it’s a good idea,” Sakura backed her partner up. The pink haired medic was the first one to untie her mask and set it gently on the table. Her gaze darted around the table, taking in everyone’s reactions.

Tenten followed suit. Her eyes darted towards Falcon. She knew Falcon’s true identity, and had guessed and put together reasons why she never took her mask off. Would she now?

She didn’t.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to keep my mask on for this,” Falcon murmured.

Tenten felt a rush of irritation. Rin wasn’t the only one with something to hide.

Naruto moaned.

“I have speak English for this?” he fumbled over the unfamiliar language.

“Yes,” Sasuke replied mercilessly, pulling his mask off. “Shouldn’t you have been studying that scroll?”

“Not as much as he should,” Hinata already had her mask off. Her gaze was affectionate as she looked at her fiancé.

Shino had switched his mask for his sunglasses, making the transition so fast that no one save Luna saw.

The mood in the room was considerable lighter due to the shinobis’ bantering.

“Let’s get started then,” Sakura chirped. But no one made any move to get up. No one really knew what to do.

“So…” Ginny said slowly, hesitantly. “What do we do?”

“To tell the truth, I don’t really know,” Sakura confessed.

“I have an idea,” Hinata spoke up. “We should have one shinobi and one wizard duel each other. Then we can see how our techniques oppose and meld together.”

“That aren’t partners,” Luna added, her dreamy voice effortlessly floating over the occupants.

“She could almost be a kunoichi,” Falcon commented. Shino hid a smile.

“Who’s up?”

“I will,” Snape muttered, standing up in a swish of robes.

After a moment’s silence, Falcon got up as well.

“We need room to duel,” Snape snapped. That drew frowns and glares, but the remaining shinobi and wizards got up from the table and settled themselves on one side of the room. The table and chairs disappeared, leaving a smooth, wide duelling area.

Snape made no move except to ready his wand. Falcon shifted into ready position. They stood still for a couple of seconds.

“Conjunctivitis!” Snape said precisely, striking quickly. Rin rolled out of the way, but Snape allowed her no time to recover. “Imperius!”

“Kanashibari no jutsu!” Falcon leapt neatly over the curse, sticking onto the wall. Her hands flashed over the seals.

“Difffindo!” the spell knocked Falcon out of her concentration, but her ninjutsu partially succeeded. Snape’s legs were frozen, minimizing his movements. He hissed in annoyance. Falcon flipped down from the wall, coming straight onto him with taijutsu and weapons.

She threw three shuriken, shadowed by five kunai. She had more ready in case Snape wasn’t able to block them.

He bent sideways, surprisingly flexible. “Reducto!” Falcon was forced to leap out of the way. “Reducto!” Again and again, Snape fired the same curse at her, forcing her away from his form and buying himself time. Snape concentrated on the jutsu freezing his lower limbs and pushed. Something cracked, and he found himself able to move again, but his manoeuvre had cost him time and energy. He was forced to go on the defensive.

“Doton,Doryuudan!” Falcon’s gloved hands slapped the ground. The Room of Requirement shifted to meet her demands. The smooth, wooden floor became compact dirt. Hermione squinted, surprised to actually see the chakra flow from Rin’s hands into the ground. Seconds later, a mud dragon roared out of the ground.

Snape wavered: “Diffindo!” The spell split the dragon in half, leaving it to crumble onto the ground. “Duro!”

Falcon dodged the flying spell; it hit the clock on the wall, which instantly turned to stone.

“Katon, Karyuu Endan!” she yelled, her hands hovering in front of her in the sign of the tiger. She drew a deep breath and breathed out a fire dragon, which roared towards Snape.

“Aguamenti!” A wave of water doused the dragon before it roasted the wizard. This time, Falcon was ready.

“Kirigakure no Jutsu!” Immediately, a thick, heavy mist coated the area, effectively blinding the wizard. He cursed under his breath. “Kanashibari no jutsu!”

Snape felt something hit his mind. Grimly, he shoved it back and strengthened the shield around his mind. If the Dark Lord couldn’t penetrate it, then there was no way this silly chit of a shinobi would. Sure enough, he felt her try a second time, this time more persistently and demandingly. They locked into a brief struggle for his mind before he broke free.

“Crucio!” He pointed to his left, where he thought he had heard the rustle of cloth. He knew he hit as he heard her drop to the ground with a thump. No sound came, which impressed him; the curse attacked the person’s nerves, turning their functions against themselves. It was highly painful and more often than not drove the person to insanity.

The mist disappeared and Snape just caught a glimpse of the writhing body on the ground before it disappeared with a pop, leaving just a log behind. Acting utterly on instinct, he whirled around in a flurry of robes, his wand aimed straight unto an oncoming Falcon.

“Impedimenta!” The spell caught her by surprised and she found herself tripping her own feet and stumbling when she tried to get up. She fished a kunai out of her holster and threw it towards Snape’s wand. It made contact and the wand was knocked out of his hand, skidding towards a corner of the room.

Both parties were breathing heavily and in bad positions. Falcon felt herself moving in slow motion and Snape found himself in no position to fetch his wand, lest he wanted his back turned towards her, leaving her a clear, open target.

“Shintenshin no Jutsu!” Falcon’s steady, clear gaze locked with Snape’s.

“I thought that was Ino’s signature move!” Sakura hissed to Sasuke, who was seated next to her. “How did she learn that?”

Sasuke didn’t answer, but he wondered the same thing. How many more things was this woman hiding?

Falcon felt her spirit and mind float over towards Snape. She breached the first defenses easily and was met with a very unpleasant surprise.

“OUT,” yelled a great and terrible voice. Wincing, she retreated, finding herself back securely in her own body. She swayed, exhausted from all the chakra she had spent. Snape seized his chance and lunged for his wand. He was cut off when Falcon appeared before him in a burst of movement, her kunai pressed against his throat.

Gritting his teeth, Snape willed his wand to come to him. The burst of magic that exploded from his fingertips drew his wand into his hand, the grip fitting perfectly with his palm. A split second later, he had it aimed and pointed towards Falcons throat.

It was a tie. A very close one, at that. Both remained there for a moment before backing off, respect clear in each other’s eyes.

“That was incredible!” Hermione was the first to speak, her brown eyes shining. “I didn’t think that we would be evenly matched with you guys, but…”

“Quiet,” Snape snapped, feeling a headache grow. He badly needed a chair to sit in and some Butterbeer. Both appeared a split second later, as for Falcon. She also collapsed in the chair gratefully, but eyed the Butterbeer with a little more suspicion.

“It’s good,” Ginny reassured her as she stood up to walk towards her partner.“It’ll restore you a bit. Almost like a power-drink, but better.” Warily, Falcon took a sip and found that it warmed her pleasantly and relaxed her tense muscles.

“It look like both you was holding back,” Naruto commented as he joined them. Sakura cringed and covered her face when she heard his mangled English.

“I didn’t see a need to tap into that… side of me,” Falcon admitted, referring to her newfound power from the bond, when she saw that Snape wasn’t going to speak. “And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t feel it. It was like it was hovering just outside my reach.”

“It showed, in your fighting,” Shino commented.

“Maybe you can only tap into that when you’re fighting alongside your partner?” Hinata suggested, trying to examine the situation logically.

“That would make the most sense,” Tenten agreed. “But what surprised me most was, well, how easily Snape seemed to block most of Falcon’s attacks, even though they were mostly all ninjutsu. I thought only those trained in our… arts could break them like that.”

“Not necessarily,” Hermione disagreed thoughtfully. She had one finger tapping against her chin, as if considering something. “Our spells are pretty clear and straightforward, like Reducto. Just a straight beam of magic, easily avoidable for people like you – or ninjas, I should say, I suppose. But your form of attack is pretty to deflect as well. The elemental… spells?... you used are fairly easy to negate. After all, it’s pretty basic: water beats fire, fire beats earth, etc… And with the mind attacks, well, Professor Snape is very proficient in Occlumency, which is a high form of mind defense.”

“That would explain why I couldn’t get into his mind,” Falcon said thoughtfully. “I’ve never had so much trouble before.”

Before? Sasuke thought. She’s done the Yamanaka bloodline technique before?

“But you not stand a chance if we use… taijutsu!” Naruto brightened at this, not even noticing how everyone cringed at his terrible English.

“Taijutsu is physical attacks,” Shino clarified for the witches and wizards. “Theoretically, what Naruto says is true. If we ever had to go one and one against each other using just fists, we would undoubtedly win.”

“I think Harry would be a good match for you guys,” Ginny argued hotly. “He’s had Quidditch training. That’s improved his instincts and strength.” Then she turned a shade of pink as said wizard turned to look at her.

“Very well,” Hinata sighed. “You play Quidditch as well, don’t you, Ginny?”

The redhead appeared startled, and a little regretful that she brought up the subject.

“Yes,” she admitted reluctantly.

“Go one on one with me, then,” Hinata beckoned a hand. “Surely all that Quidditch training would’ve honed your strength and skill just as much as Harry’s.”

Harry recognized the look in Hinata’s eyes. It was the look that said that she was going to teach a lesson to someone the hard way, but he knew it was inevitably also the right way. Sometimes the hardest lessons, the bitterest medicines the swallow were the ones best for you.

“Alright,” Ginny agreed. “Do I get my wand?”

“Why not?” Hinata shrugged gracefully. Everyone else cleared the floor, giving them room. Snape and Falcon took their Butterbeers with them, their chairs disappearing in a poof of smoke.

“Would you like the first move?” Hinata asked graciously.

Now Ginny was starting to get pissed. “Doesn’t matter.” She drew her wand out.

Hinata didn’t answer. She stood there, her moon-white eyes staring intently into Ginny’s clear brown ones. Then she disappeared.

Ginny’s grip on her wand tightened, and she was aware of the very slight movement of air behind her before she was able to react. Unfortunately, she was too slow and got dumped on her back as Hinata swept her feet from under her.

Ginny rolled to her side and hovered in a crouch, staying on the defensive. Hinata leapt straight at her, her arm drawn back in a punch. Ginny evaded the punch, barely, swiftly bringing up her wand for the tiny second Hinata was exposed.

“Petrificus Totalis,” she hissed, but was too slow. Of course. Cursing, Ginny rolled to her left, acting purely on instinct as Hinata swung a roundhouse kick her way. The Hyuuga followed the move up with swooping down and plucking the wand out of Ginny’s hands.

Ginny was more than pissed now. She was embarrassed, and then angry at Hinata for humiliating her so. She attempted to redeem herself by throwing herself onto offense, rolling up onto her knees and then driving a fist straight towards Hinata’s face.

Hinata was a little startled at the sudden switch in tactics, but recovered quickly. Her left hand came up to catch the fist. Her right hand caught Ginny’s other arm, twisting it behind her back.

“Yield,” Hinata’s voice was soft, yet firm.

Ginny blushed a deep red, ashamed at being beat so thoroughly and so damn fast. “I give.”

“Definitely not on par with us,” Sasuke muttered as Hinata and Ginny walked over to join them on the floor. Hinata was moving at probably two-thirds the speed she normally would’ve in a regular shinobi battle.

“You have enough instincts and unpredictability to save your necks,” Falcon added bluntly. “In terms of battle plans, I think it would be best for us subdue it physically first before we attack together.”

“You probably think we’re a bunch of weaklings,” Cho sighed. Snape made a sound suspiciously like a snort.

“In terms of physical strength, yes, you would most certainly be overpowered by us. But everywhere else we’re actually pretty evenly matched. It doesn’t really seem that way though, doesn’t it?” Sakura asked.

“It might be just the look of you,” Luna put her two cents in. “You’re older and you look a lot more intimidating than a clutch of schoolchildren – and Professor Snape, of course,” she added graciously. “And we’ve seen the extent of your skills. For us, who are still learning about magic, it’s frightening to see you and your mastered skills.”

“Not as frightening as hearing you sound as smart as Shikamaru,” Tenten murmured under her breath.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Sakura said firmly. “We’re human, you’re human. We might have different essences running through us, but we’re still made essentially of the same stuff. We’re even.”

Sasuke’s face looked like he was deciding whether he should contradict her last statement. Eerily enough, Snape’s face mirrored Sasuke’s.

“You have abilities beyond our own too,” Sakura continued on her thread. “You can speak to snakes-”

“But that’s just Harry,” Hermione pointed out. “It’s actually very rare among us.”

“Tenten and I can speak it as well,” Sasuke added.

“But Tenten got hers as a side-effect and you learned it,” Sakura argued. “You weren’t born with it. Oh hey! Weren’t we trying to figure out who the Parsletongue user was?”

“Well, congrats,” Tenten told her dryly. “You found out-” Whatever else she was going to say was drowned out by the sudden, incessant banging on the front door.

They all exchanged perplexed and slightly wary looks. Sakura got up to answer it.

She opened the door and was nearly knocked off her feet when Krum staggered in, seemingly drunk. Hinata automatically activated her Byakugan, and Sasuke’s Sharingan flipped on.

“Viktor!” Hermione cried, rushing to help her friend stand properly. Sakura swiftly closed the door, barring Krum’s only escape and even going as far as standing in front of it.

“Don’t!” Krum cried. Hermione stopped in her tracks. “Don’t touch me…” Then he doubled over, as if he was going to retch. Instead, he groaned and clutched his head, panting heavily.

“Viktor?” Hermione hedged hesitantly forward. “Are you alright?”

“No, no, no…” he mumbled. Almost unconsciously, his hand crept up to rub his shoulder.

Sakura recognized that motion. It was the same move Sasuke did whenever his curse seal was bothering him.

A glint of purple shone in Krum’s eyes as he straightened up, seemingly haven gotten his bearings.

“Ah, I’m very sorry,” he apologized. “Hermione, could you help me with something?”

Before Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, could answer, Sakura materialized directly behind Krum and knocked him out, catching his limp body as he crumpled towards the ground.

“What was that for?” Hermione cried.

Sakura gestured towards Hinata. The Hyuuga walked towards them. It was only then did Hermione notice the Byakugan. She stared, fascinated.

“This is my bloodline technique,” Hinata explained. “It enables me to see chakra and magic. What I saw in him,” she pointed at Krum’s motionless body, “was magic that we’ve seen associated with the seven sins beast. I don’t know how it got in there or how he managed to isolate within himself for that long, but it’s there. And it’s particularly potent within this area.” She unbuttoned Krum’s cloak undid the first few buttons of his school blouse. She pushed it aside to reveal Krum’s shoulder. Stamped onto his skin was the kanji for ‘pride’.

Silence reigned the room.

“Well that certainly explains more than it doesn’t,” Tenten sighed.

“What are we do with he?” Naruto asked. Sakura sighed in annoyance.

“After this, you’re going to spend all of your free time studying from that scroll,” she ordered him. Naruto scowled at her, pouting.

“Dumbledore should be informed immediately,” Shino said. “And perhaps Hiratio? Or maybe not. This would give Kabuto and Orochimaru an advantage, knowing that their plan didn’t work.”

The witches and wizards weren’t the only ones staring at him.

“What plan? And how is Krum afflicted with those two?” Falcon queried.

From his vest, Shino pulled out a sheet of paper.

“I was planning to reveal my bugs’ findings to you later tonight, but perhaps it’s better if we all knew about this sooner rather than later.” The paper was unfolded on the floor and everyone crowded around it, momentarily abandoning Krum’s body.

On the paper was a plan of Kabuto’s office.

“Wait, wait,” Draco spoke for the first time. “Who the heck is Kabuto and how is he simultaneously Hiratio? And how’s he connected with Orochimaru?”

“And where did the bugs come from?” Harry added. “For that matter, what’s the deal with your eyes?” He pointed at Sasuke’s Sharingan activated eyes.

“Hiratio is really Kabuto in disguise, isn’t it?” Luna commented in her usual dreamy voice. “He’s a ninja, and he used the art of concealing to hide his true identity. And I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say he’s also Orochimaru’s henchman, isn’t he?”

“Correct,” Shino answered her. She was as bright and as perceptive as Sakura, but just a little more unorthodox in her ways. “And the bugs are part of my clan. We struck a deal with them. We feed them our chakra and allow them to be sheltered in our bodies while in return, they become our soldiers.”

“They live in you?” Cho repeated incredulously.“And if they feed on your chakra, doesn’t it… well, kill you?”

“They don’t have full reign over us,” Shino informed her. “We keep our colonies tightly under control.”

“Oh,” the Chinese/British girl mulled it over in her head. “What about him then?” She gestured at Sasuke.

“It’s my bloodline limit too,” Sasuke answered her shortly. “I can copy ninjutsu moves just by looking at the hand seals and it gives me heightened sight and perception, thereby allowing me to ‘see’ the future.”

“Or predict it well enough, anyways,” Sakura added.

“Continue with what you were saying before,” Snape prodded Shino.

“Right here,” Shino pointed to a part on Kabuto’s desk, “is where my bugs found some files on Krum. All that was said on it in terms of his current state was ‘successfully infected but waning’. I would assume that meant he was infected by the sins, or at least one of them, but its power over him is waning. My bugs also found traces of Orochimaru’s chakra around here,” he pointed to a spot between the desk and the door. “It was fresh too, only about a day or so old.”

“You but said plan,” Naruto spoke up. “What you mean?”

Shino pointed to the spot of the files again. “I had said ‘successfully infected but waning’. There was a date beside it too: Dec 18. I’m assuming that was when he was injected, or bitten, or infected in some way. We already know how infectious the sins influence is. I’m guessing that their plan was to get Krum to spread the sin’s influence throughout the student population, crippling us inside out. We were assigned to protect the students, but what would – what could we do if the students were the ones attacking us? And when Voldemort leads his siege onto Hogwarts, what could we do if he had not only the sins by his side, and Orochimaru to boot, but the students of Hogwarts themselves?”

“Don’t tell me,” Tenten spoke up, epiphany dawning in her eyes. “Those snakes…”

“Infected, most likely,” Shino nodded.

“How do we know how many he’s infected though?” Sasuke asked, frowning. “We didn’t know about this before. We’ve never kept tabs on the students.”

“There were a couple of cases, but they’re quarantined in the Hospital Wing,” Hinata assured him. “Neji-nii-san(1) and I noticed odd flashes of dark magic in their systems and immediately had them removed. I think it’s safe to say that Krum battled with the magic enough for him to keep a large amount of control, at least in regard of him spreading the influence around.”

“How can you guys just deduct this on the spot?” Ginny asked curiously. “I was stumped at first.”

“Practice,” Tenten replied, her smile curling up wryly. “And we’re specifically trained for this kind of thing. Plus most of this is common sense and logic. And we know our enemies pretty well, well enough to deduct their actions fairly accurately. Hopefully, anyways.”

“You see Shikamaru do this,” Naruto gestured to the paper excitedly. “He’s genius. 200 plus IQ.”

“Really?” Hermione asked a little dubiously, a little awed.

“He’s smart, that’s all you really need to know,” Snape said curtly.

“Now that we have that all sorted out, what are we going to do about him?” Falcon jerked a thumb towards Krum’s prone body. Everyone was quiet as they mulled over possibilities in their mind.

“We could send him to the hospital wing-”

“Send up to Dumbledore-”

“Keep him here-”

“How about,” Ginny suggested, “We find some sort of thing to keep him under control and keep him here? He has one of the sin’s influence running through him. He should be able to help us fight the sins pretty well then, shouldn’t he? We could learn a lot from him.”

“See?” Tenten said, “Common sense. I like it.”

There was general agreement, but Snape scowled. “He’s a dangerous being and could be attacked here. We should bring him to Dumbledore.”

“So he could get attacked?” Sakura pointed out. “Dumbledore’s a key player in this game. Wouldn’t want to have him checkmated so early on.”

“Does it mean more guard duty with him?” Naruto asked with a sigh.

“Maybe,” Falcon admitted. “We should probably ask Dumbledore for help on this. And probably Shikamaru too.”

Shino folded up the paper and tucked it back into his vest. Just as everyone was straightening up, a knock was heard on the door once again. Sakura answered it, surprised to see Kakashi there.

“Kaka-sensei-”

“Attack, Potions classroom, second floor dungeon, subdued but need immediate back-up. Two students injured, cause undetermined.” Sakura looked back at the group behind her.

“Well?” she asked them with a tired smile. “Ready to try out our shiny new skills?”

“Not really,” Tenten was the one who answered, “but hell, let’s go. You never know what might happen.”

--

AN: Out of the fire, into the frying pan. That’s kind of what I feel like, writing and trying to incorporate so many characters and plots at once.

I really, really, really suck don’t I? I keep promising to get chapters up on breaks/vacation (spring break, anyone?) but the promised chapter never shows up. Reasons (because if it were me, I know I would like to know the reason(s) why a chapter shows up more than half a year later… wow, jeez, I really am sorry.): school (I know, I know, lame but entirely true), lack of interest, laziness, procrastination. I can’t even blame it on writer’s block this time.

You can kind of tell I’m losing a little bit of steam with this story. The chapters aren’t as long as they’re used to… but to make up for that a little, I rolled the plotline along a lot and finally got around to bond stuff. And I changed where the story is heading, just a little bit. Just to keep things a little more realistic.

I’m really, really, really sorry. I know I hate it when authors don’t update stories I like for a long time, and I hate being a hypocrite. But unfortunately, that’s how it worked out.

I’ll try to at least get the next chapter out by the end of the year. Really. I’ll really, really, really try.

Chapter totally unbeta-d by anyone. My beta disappeared and my beta-ing skills have also taken a break. It seems to be always on a break… So there's bound to be a lot of mistakes. I wrote half of this chapter in one sitting at twelve in the morning. My brain's not functioning right right now. Also, this site's formatting screwed with this chapter a LOT. I had to manually go through the solid chunk of text and seperate everything. So sorry if some things don't make sense because of that.

So… was this worth the wait? Please tell me in a review! :D

Notes:

(1) “Neji-nii-san and I noticed odd flashes of dark magic in their system…: The reason why I put the names in italics (or vice versa, in the case of Dumbledore’s letter to Tsunade) is because their names are in Japanese/English and are meant to be read and spoken in Japanese/English.