Cap 11: The first hurdles

Lots of small scenes in this one as Sasuke and Naruto explore the wonders of Hogwarts, and Hermione tries to find out more about them. Oh, and Sasuke sets his hair on fire.

"So?" asked Ron as soon as they entered the Gryffindor common room.

"So what?" asked Hermione in puzzlement. Ron made a broad gesture with his arms. He tried to imitate Dumbledore's voice, but he was better off hitting the broad side of the Burrow.

" 'Why, welcome to Hogwarts, oh, by the way, I've hired some foreign guards to patrol the hallways every night."

"Oh, that," said Hermione. They maneuvered their way through the throngs of Gryffindors talking in the common room and managed to secure a beat-up sofa in one of the darker corners of the room.

"Honestly, Ron, what'd you expect after the Death Eaters arrive at the Cup?"

Hermione's tone suggested that she'd figured it out months ago, but Harry knew that wasn't the case. She merely used her famous logic on the situation and managed to make Ron sputter once more.

"I don't know, but not two pint-sized guys with masks!"

"They're from the Hidden Countries, of course they're smaller there."

"Or," said Harry, "you're too big."

Ron looked from one friend to another as they continued teasing him. His ears got redder by the minute.

"I'll bet they'll view you as a Hagrid," said Hermione.

"Heck, I wonder what they think about Hagrid!" interjected Harry.

"Imagine that being the first contact ever with the wizarding world," grinned Hermione, and that made Ron and Harry grin.

"Imagine that," said Harry, thinking fondly back at the time Hagrid banged on the door on his eleventh birthday on that little island in the middle of nowhere. They shared a few more grins and meaningful looks before Ron's impatience brought them back on the subject at hand.

"So: guards. Hidden Countries, you said?" asked Ron, and Hermione's face settled into her lecture-mode. She told them about the countries which kept to themselves (so to her eternal regret she didn't know much about them), but they practiced some form of magic there. The countries warred over territory, resources and of course politics had a hand in it, making them strong nations with a huge army. Not much was known (at least: Hermione didn't know much) about the way they fought, only that it was vaguely linked to magic, albeit in a different form.

"Let me guess," said Harry after she'd once again expressed her regrets that she didn't know much about the Hidden Countries. "Your next words are: I'm going to the library."

"No, actually, I'm going to bed. And you should too," she said and got up from the comfy sofa. "First day of school ahead of us, fill those empty heads with knowledge!"

"You're starting to sound like Dumbledore," accused Ron.

Hermione flashed him a winning smile. "Thanks, Ron." She bade them goodnight and disappeared through the door leading to the girl's dormitories. When she'd disappeared Ron turned to Harry.

"I didn't mean that as a compliment," he said, a baffled look on his face. Harry burst into laughter and together they followed Hermione's example.

Sometimes it didn't pay being a shinobi.

Like when an employer dragged you all the way from Konoha to Scotland to watch over a few hundred kids and guard a huge castle from intruders. Learning a foreign language and mastering foreign chakra was all part of the deal, so perhaps it wasn't all bad.

Except on nights when you had to argue with the civilian caretaker, who refused to go back to bed.

"I've been patrolling these halls for longer than you have lived. So do not send me back to my room."

Sasuke was getting close to knocking the man out and saving himself the trouble of arguing with him, but he didn't think the employer would be pleased with that. So instead, he used his words.

"Mister, we have been hired to do this. The other teachers trust us with this task, and Dumbledore also entrusted this task to us. Go back to bed, and you can patrol at day."

The vile old man raised his finger and wagged it. Sasuke swore he felt a vein pop.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. I'm not a teacher, I'm the caretaker. I've guarded this castle all my life, and I know it like the back of my hand. There is no way any student sneaks past me, whereas for you young ones, you barely know the way from Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall. So how are you going to catch any wandering students?"

Must not hit. Must. Not. Hit.

"Mister," began Sasuke, and mentally added 'dumbass' to it, but refrained from saying it out loud. "you're alone. My teammate and I can cover the whole castle, catching any 'wandering students'. So go back to bed and let us worry about them."

"But there are only two of you!"

"We know a spell which can duplicate any person," Sasuke tried to explain in terms the man would understand. "That's how we're able to cover the castle."

The man glared, for some reason, and asked in a snide tone:

"Why don't you teach that spell to some of the teachers so they can use it?"

"Because they'll die if they use it," Sasuke's answered bluntly. He wondered why the man hadn't demanded that Sasuke taught the spell to Filch himself. In fact, he had never seen the old man handle a wand. He did all the cleaning by hand, or as the wizards said: 'like a Muggle'. Intriguing.

"So why can you use it without risk?"

The man used 'you' as if it was a vile word. Sasuke felt tempted to walk away, but knew that he must respect the employer's subordinates, even if they smelled like his garbage can after a long mission, with some forgotten food still inside. But he laced his voice with as much disdain as he could muster, and perhaps a tiny bit of killing intent slipped out.

"Because we're not wizards. We're shinobi."

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