Chapter 54: 4-2: Rough Play

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

The stadium for the World Cup was, simply put, spectacular. It was staggering to realize that here, in one place, were gathered enough magic-users to outnumber the entire Alliance Army from the Fourth War. Beyond that, this was just a fraction of the millions that existed worldwide. Even just the hidden magical portion of this world's population was comparable to the total population known in Iruka's home world; the prospect of a total population in the billions was still hard to truly wrap his mind around.

Other than the sheer scale of the stadium, there wasn't much novel to Iruka's experiences in the last few years. The long trek up the stairs to their box had left the other adults winded and the teens thankful for all the physical training they'd been doing in S.E.N., but the unobstructed high vantage point was likely to be very worth it come game time.

The Bulgarian team's mascots took the field, and Iruka felt a slight nosebleed start. They were a group of some of the most spectacularly beautiful women he had ever seen: Their long hair flowed behind them, unblemished skin almost luminous, every feature and proportion of their faces and bodies perfect. Then music began to play, and they started to dance...

"Kai!" Feeling something starting to affect his mind, the chuunin's automatic response was a genjutsu-release. Unlike the other times he'd tried such in this universe, it worked perfectly. Whatever effect these beings produced, it was either a genjutsu or so similar as made no difference. Looking around, he saw Hermione performing a release on Harry, whose eyes had gone somewhat glassy staring at the women on the field.

As her fellow teen tried to figure out what had just happened, Hermione turned to her father. Wendell was clearly also enthralled by the display. Monica had turned to him, but rather than outrage or jealousy her expression was predominantly one of concern.

Seeing the Granger party well in hand, Iruka checked on Remus, but the werewolf was clearly quite lucid. That's not to say that he wasn't enjoying the show, but presumably his greater experience with magic and magical creatures and beings was helping him resist the genjutsu.

From there Iruka glanced around at the stands, and saw the widespread effects: Everywhere he looked, boys and men (and some girls and women) were gazing down completely enraptured. Many of those so influenced were behaving oddly, making at least half-hearted attempts to garner the women's attention. Some, like the ones doing clumsy dances of their own, were amusing. Others were worrying; several fights had broken out, and more than one person seemed ready to leap over the railings and onto the pitch.

Whether because they recognized the growing risk to the spectators or because their allotted time was up, the Bulgarian mascots finished their little performance. The previously-enthralled crowd quickly became unsettled, with raucous demands for the show to continue (to the clear irritation of many wives and girlfriends).

"Well that was... unsettling." Wendell Granger looked less than pleased, turning to Remus. "Is mind-influencing magic like that common? I much prefer to remain in control of my own thoughts and actions."

"There are mind-affecting spells, even a Ministry division dedicated to modifying Muggle memories to hide evidence of our world, but for the most part such magics are only used in very limited fashions. Those ladies down there are Veela, and that effect we felt is one of their natural defenses. But perhaps we should discuss it later," he said, pointing up to where the Irish mascots were making their appearance.

The airborne light show that followed was nice, Iruka supposed, but even after only a few years around magic it wasn't really all that impressive. He was even less impressed when the glowing shamrock began raining Galleons down onto the stands; gold coins that size, dropped from a height, would probably leave more than a few people with bruises at least.

"Don't bother gathering them up," commented Remus, "those were leprechauns. Leprechaun gold vanishes after a few hours."

"Tell that to them," Emma said angrily, waving out towards the stands where numerous fights were breaking out over the apparently-temporary gold. "Honestly, does neither team care about the safety of the spectators?"

"Given how dangerous their sport is," her daughter replied while glaring mildly at Harry, "safety is probably a bit of a foreign concept. I don't know whether it's how quickly magic can heal a lot of injuries or if it's something else, but it seems like a lot of witches and wizards don't really care much for their own well-being, and even less for that of other people."

Iruka could only shrug when the adult Grangers' questioning looks turned his way. "Considering my background, I'm not sure I'm really in a place to comment one way or the other."

With both of the teams' mascots finished their displays, the players themselves flew out over the pitch. Soon enough, the referee kicked open the crate of balls, starting the championship game of the Quidditch World Cup.

What followed was to the games Iruka had seen back at Hogwarts as a deathmatch between jounin was to a match in the Chuunin Exams. The action was more skillful, more precise, more brutal, more tenacious, and so much faster that he had to wonder how civilians could even follow some of the plays. The Irish team's Chasers showed a polished teamwork that was beautiful to watch, something the Bulgarian Beaters began to focus on disrupting.

Suddenly, both Seekers turned into a power-dive, streaking towards the turf as fast as their top-of-the-line brooms could take them. Only Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, was able to pull up in time to avoid crashing, leaving his counterpart stunned on the ground he'd met so violently. "Apparently it's called a 'Wronski Feint'," Harry commented, looking through his Omnioculars, before smirking and adding, "something to remember next time Malfoy starts marking me."

"Harry James Potter!" Hermione scolded, "You can't be considering doing something so- so dangerous just to get an edge in Quidditch?! It's just a game for Merlin's sake!"

Harry scoffed. "I don't need an edge against Malfoy. I just figured next time he's annoying me during a game, insulting your heritage and my mum's, I should help him get a better understanding of mud - an up-close-and-personal look, a real taste of mud you might say."

"That sounded so much like James and Lily," Remus chuckled. Harry beamed in response.

Play resumed, and the Irish Chasers continued to dominate their opposition. As the Irish lead grew, so too did the desperation of the Bulgarian team, culminating in the game's first called foul as their Keeper violently elbowed an Irish Chaser. This in turn led both to the leprechauns taunting the Bulgarian team and its supporters and to the Veela enthralling the referee.

Once the mustachioed man was broken free of the entrancement, he was less than pleased. From his gestures, it seemed he wanted the Bulgarian mascots off the pitch. This drew the ire of the Beaters for that nation, who argued with him to the point of calling a second foul against their team.

After the third foul by the Bulgarians in a matter of minutes, the leprechauns formed into a rather rude gesture aimed towards the Bulgarian end of the stadium. In response, the Veela seemed to undergo a transformation: Their once-beautiful faces elongated into cruel, scaly bird-like heads as scaly wings grew out from their shoulders, and they threw small handfuls of flame from their hands as they attacked the leprechauns. This in turn drew a horde of Ministry witches and wizards onto the pitch to attempt to quell the violence, but so far they'd only succeeded in adding to the chaos.

As all that went on down on the ground, play continued in the air above. In spite of taking a Bludger to the face, Krum managed to beat the Irish Seeker Lynch to the Snitch. He'd also managed to plough Lynch into the ground again, where he was promptly attacked by a group of angry Veela. This spectacular catch, however, was too little too late, and Ireland won the match without catching the Snitch. Iruka felt that catch was still Krum's best option left at the time, though - the difference in score would have only grown if the game had continued.

"Well, that was certainly spectacular," Wendell commented as they made their way back towards their tent.

"Spectacularly unprofessional, you mean," replied his wife.

"Failure can be just as much of a spectacle as success," he defended mock-haughtily, "why else would people be so fascinated with horrific disasters?"

"It was a mess all around," Iruka agreed. "Both teams' mascots provoked fights among the crowd before the game even began, and their behavior only got worse from there. If somebody acted like that during an event in Konoha, they'd be lucky if they only spent a night or two in a cell. When your work is as dangerous as ours can be, you don't tend to have much patience for people needlessly endangering others."

"We also got to see the usual level of Ministry competence," snarked Harry, prompting a scandalized (and somewhat conflicted) look from Hermione.

Remus shrugged philosophically. "Speaking as someone who has occasionally benefitted from Ministry laxity, it does have its positives. If you want to change it, get involved in the Ministry when you get out of Hogwarts."

"Ugh," Harry looked queasy, "politics..."

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As they were leaving the stadium, the group ran into the Weasleys once more. All of the children, even Hermione and Percy, were quickly lost in a spirited discussion of the game. "I don't think any of them are sleeping just yet," Arthur said to Wendell while casting an indulgent smile over his brood, "why don't you all join us back at our tent for a chat over some cocoa?"

Wendell turned to Monica, who responded with a shrug and a faint "Hn" sound. Apparently he, like Sakura, had learned to interpret such vocalizations as he turned back to Arthur. "Sure, better to let them get the excitement out of their systems now than bounce off the walls all night."

Of course, once they got to the tent the adults participated in the conversations just as enthusiastically as the kids. Eventually, though, some of the younger set started to droop, and Wendell and Monica decided it was time for their family to call it a night. Given how raucous the parties outside were, Iruka and Remus decided to go with the Granger four.

As they were making their way back to their own tent, Iruka's danger sense started prickling, and he noticed Harry starting to tense as well. It took the better part of a minute before he was able to pick out what was off: Buried under the noise of loud partying and cheering, but growing closer and more noticeable, were screams of shock and fear.

"Wands out!" he snapped, his own wand already in his hand. Harry and Hermione obeyed instantly, promptly scanning the surrounding area for threats.

Remus hesitated in confusion for a few moments, but then it seemed his werewolf hearing picked up what Iruka's ninja-trained senses had. "Back to the Weasleys?" he suggested. Iruka nodded assent and set Remus leading group back the way they'd come, bringing up the rear himself.

They arrived back at the tent they'd just left as the Weasleys were pouring out. All adult members of the family had their wands out and were rolling up their sleeves. Arthur spotted their recent guests and hailed them. "Remus, Iruka, we're going to help the Ministry. Wendell, Monica, could you two take the kids? Get into the woods and stick together. I'll come fetch you when we've sorted this out." Given the meaningful look he gave the twins, it was clear he wanted them to protect the unarmed Muggles, and the uncharacteristically-serious nods he got in return showed his message was understood.

The noncombatants weren't even out of sight yet when the trouble came into view. Campers were fleeing in terror towards the tree line, while behind them Iruka could make out the lights and sounds of spellfire. Whoever was responsible were apparently in high spirits, hooting and jeering in an ugly contrast to the screams of fear and pain surrounding them. At the center was a tight cluster of figures with their wands pointing up towards a set of four figures, two of which were the size of children. Iruka's anger spiked, before a green flash chilled him to the bone - he didn't know of many spells that color, and those he did know were not good.

Turning to the others, he began barking orders. "Weasleys, each of you pick one of the four victims. When the time comes, summon your person and get them away from this. Side-Along them if you have to. Remus, while they're doing that I need you to try and keep spellfire off them, then follow them out. I'm assuming you've got a spell that creates fireworks or something else bright, loud, and distracting?" The werewolf nodded. "Cast that near that group when you're all ready. I'll do what I can to make it hard for them to stop you all. Give me one minute to get into position, set off the distraction, then summon a couple seconds after." At their answering nods, he slipped into the shadows with a lifetime's worth of practice.

As he moved around to a flanking position, Iruka saw that the four suspended in the air were being forcibly moved around with spells, like puppets. From their clothing, the victims were likely Muggles, probably locals. Their tormentors had covered their heads and faces, hiding their identities. Occasionally, one of them would blast a tent out of their way, regardless of whether or not it was still occupied. While most of those camped in the area were fleeing (or had already), a small trickle of witches and wizards were approaching the masked wizards, pointing up at their victims and laughing. The display of wanton cruelty had Iruka wishing he had time to unseal his full kit - the only weapons he had ready to hand were a few kunai he'd worn as holdouts.

Ministry wizards were starting to arrive as well, but the growing mob was blocking their path. Iruka intended to help them with that, in a way.

Settling into a concealed spot to the side of the marchers' path, the chuunin began gathering as much chakra as he could, knowing he'd need to make his first shot count. When fireworks seemed to erupt around the rioters, he took that as his signal and flashed through hand seals.

Suiton: Bakusui Shooha!

A torrent of water erupted from Iruka's mouth, forming into a violent wave of turbulent water that blindsided the rioting wizards, sweeping them off their feet and battering them against each other and the ground as they were carried off in the tightly-contained flash flood. Those in the group most directly hit probably had at least a few broken bones among them. More supporters, and even a couple of the Ministry workers, were knocked down or at least drenched by the fringes of the jutsu. The four victims dipped momentarily as the spells holding them up were abruptly cut off, but were soon flying towards the Weasleys.

Iruka slipped away into the darkness, sweating and panting hard, his vision graying at the edges. He would have preferred to use a fire jutsu - less exhausting and more likely to incapacitate the targets - but the suspended rescuees and nearby Ministry response made the risk of collateral damage too high. Unfortunately, from the growing number of cracks he was hearing, most of the marchers and their supporters were still functional enough to Disapparate.

Moments later, green light suddenly washed across the fields. Iruka whirled in alarm to see what could only be the Dark Mark hanging over the woods.

The woods where his students and other innocents were hiding.

He paid no heed to the sudden and drastic increase in Disapparitions, pushing his exhausted body in a sprint toward the forested area. As he moved between the trees, he heard over a dozen voices incanting "Stupefy!" and saw the woods light up red from the stunners being cast. Figuring this probably indicated where the trouble was centered, he angled towards the lights and shouting.

What he found was a group of Ministry wizards about to revive an unconscious Bartemius Crouch. A petty, vindictive part of Iruka's mind took some satisfaction from seeing the pompous man so badly rumpled after the miscarriage of justice he'd inflicted on Sirius Black.

"Is everyone all right?" the chuunin called to the group, "I saw that Mark, and with all the people running into the woods..."

Many of their eyes widened in realization. Amos Diggory (the only one besides Crouch that Iruka recognized) began barking orders. "Hopewell! Finch! Perry! Grab a partner each and spread out! We need to know if anyone's been hurt, and get them help immediately! The rest of us will stay here, ready to help at need, while we figure out what the bloody hell Barty Crouch of all people was doing under a Dark Mark." The witch and two wizards he'd called on nodded, and soon three pairs were searching out through the woods.

"Some students and friends of mine are in here somewhere," Iruka chimed in, "has anyone seen Arthur Weasley's kids?" He was met with only shaken heads. "Arthur and his older sons are taking care of the people those rioters were tormenting, so I need to find his younger ones and the others with them, make sure they're all right. I'll let you know if I find anyone hurt."

"Thank you, Professor," Amos said, "and could you keep an eye out for Cedric as well? I know he's nearly an adult, but..."

"Of course," Iruka nodded, "if I see him I'll keep him with me. Better together than apart, anyways." With a nod of his head to the assembled Ministry personnel, he wearily moved off into the woods himself.

Fortunately, the group he was seeking were relatively nearby, so it only took about five minutes to find them hunkered down in a small clearing. All present (save the adult Grangers, obviously) had their wands in hand and were warily watching in all directions. Most looked about as tired as Iruka felt, the late hour after a long, exciting day only compounded by their recent surge of activity; they also showed the signs of adrenaline starting to leave their systems, which would do none of them any favors.

"Iruka-sensei!" Hermione called, "We saw the Dark Mark! What happened? Who cast that? Is everyone all right? Where are the others?"

"Mr. Weasley and the others are fine," he replied, "last I saw them, at least. There was a group rioting through the campground, tormenting what looked like a Muggle family. We got the Muggles away to safety, but then I saw the Mark. None of you are hurt, are you?"

"Maybe a few scrapes or bruises from rushing through the woods at night," Wendell answered, "but nothing to worry about."

Iruka sighed in relief, slumping back against a tree as his exhaustion started to catch up with him. "Some Ministry people are already at the spot where the Mark seems to have been cast from. Bartemius Crouch was there unconscious - don't worry," he reassured Hermione, "I could see him breathing - but no idea if he was already down before they got there or if he got hit by the Stunners they were casting. Hopefully they'll catch whoever cast the Mark, but either way I'm sure we'll find out in the next couple of days. For now, I think we could all stand to get back to our beds for the night." This was met by a unanimous round of tiredly enthusiastic nods.

Since the Weasleys' tent was closer, that was their first destination. By the time they got there, Remus and the Weasley men had returned. The five did look slightly worse for wear, suggesting they'd been cast at before they could pull out, but there were no major injuries. All of them looked profoundly relieved to see the younger set coming back unharmed. "All right there, Iruka?" Arthur asked.

Iruka nodded wearily. "Nothing a good night's rest won't fix, though I'm sure a few of us will be a bit sore in the morning." Bill and Charlie chuckled at that, with Arthur and Remus giving halfhearted grins. "How about your end? Did you get them out safely?"

"Yes," Arthur answered, "a few of the blighters tried to curse us while we were busy Summoning them, but between Remus's spellwork and the fact that half of them were staggering drunk, nothing serious actually caught us. We got Mr. Roberts and his family to one of the first-aid tents set up by St. Mungo's. It'll take a couple of days before they're healed fully, but by this time next week they should be fine at home with no memory of what happened to them, something I'm deeply glad for." His eyes grew distant and angry for a few moments, before he shook it off. "You didn't happen to see who cast that water spell, did you? Powerful thing, but whoever did it was hidden from where we were."

"I can't say that I did," Iruka said, before mouthing 'later' to the red-headed man. Arthur gave a minimal nod in acknowledgement. "Regardless, we still have a walk back to our own tent, which I really hope is still standing after that mess. I'll see you later, Arthur, everyone."

They made it back to their thankfully-intact tent without further issues or interruptions, and all promptly fell into their bunks, cots, or bedrolls after doing little more than removing their shoes. Within minutes, everyone in the tent was sound asleep.

Omake: Another Defense Professor Rumor

By: setokayba2n

Professor: Lord Voldemort, claiming he's been redeemed

Reason for Leaving: Falling into a randomly-occurring magical black hole after slipping on a banana peel discarded by Harry Potter

A/N: The first scene was originally going to be part of the previous chapter, but I decided to split it for length reasons after the Grangers' arrival grew way beyond what I'd expected to write. Throw in the realization that I'd forgotten to bring up the Weasley and Diggory families being camped nearby-ish, and my decision was made.

Also, I'm probably going to get in a little bit of trouble with my wife for a line in this chapter. It's a risk you take when basing characters on people you know.

Detail-oriented readers might note that the Weasleys came out of their tent before the rioters reached the area, unlike canon. That's because hanging out with their guests kept them all out of bed longer, so they were more awake and got out faster. Writing the rioters' arrival was tricky, since the scene in the book seems to have Harry watching things for at least 15-30 seconds (possibly a lot more) before Arthur tells them to run to the woods. It does a good job of making clear what's going on, but thinking about it makes the scene make a bit less sense. Much of the chapter caused me similar issues.

The jutsu Iruka used is the same one Kisame(ish) used in his fight against Team Gai, with a name that is translated as "Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave". Used by an S-rank chakra beast, it created a lake from nothing; by a past-his-prime chuunin with no available water source, it's a lot less impressive and a lot more tiring.

For those who are confused about the circumstances surrounding the Mark's casting, I do know exactly what happened. It's obviously different from canon, but rest assured that there are reasons for everything which will hopefully be made clear when all is revealed.

Fic Recommendation: "Got Your Number" by Afalstein - a crossover between NCIS and Person of Interest in which Abby's number comes up.

Posted 24 March 2019

Current WIP Chapter: 71