Chapter 6: Just a Lot too Much 1/2

Summary: Motivated, miffed, and magical, Shikamaru Nara was a force to behold. Whoever had placed him here was going to get it, but first, he'd have to get through a school for magic. And he'd thought ninjas could be stupid. Troublesome.

Rating: T, and should stay that way.

Genres: Friendship, Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, maybe more, I don't know yet.

Warnings: Language, implied/mentioned child abuse/neglect, whoa…angst ahead, non-canon stuff going on in here, near panic-attack, probably some OOCness, warnings are individual per chapter, might change next chapter or might not. No slash or yaoi, yuri, Shounen Ai, or Shōjo Ai. Or incest…just…no

Pairings: As far as romance goes, it's canon for both series. Friendship!Shikamaru/Harry&Ron&Hermione&Neville&Fred&George. Mentorship!Snape/Shikamaru. Hinted Parental!Lupin/Shikamaru. I might add more later if I think of it.

Disclaimer: I forgot to put one in the last chapter…so I'll do it now! Please stop throwing legal books at me. I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! Only the plunny.

"Speech"

Emphasis on words/thoughts

(#) A/N at end to explain stuff

Regular text

A Shadow in Wizard's Robes Chapter 6: Just A Lot Too Much

By: AngelicSilverWolf

'The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.' – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Age 8: Three years before Hogwarts

Shikamaru inspected the volumes before him. Not really what he was looking for, but he supposed that he would be hard-pressed to find what he wanted in a third-hand store. It wasn't like he couldn't take these concepts and apply them to what he actually wanted to learn...but he just didn't want to. And so, laziness struck again.

"Those books aren't very reliable, you know," a voice said from behind him. Shikamaru turned, suppressing a violent reaction that would have gone over very badly, and saw none other than Remus Lupin looking at him.

"Mr. Lupin," he greeted, "what a surprise to see you here." Though, considering that Diagon Alley appeared to be the only magical shopping complex in the area, maybe it shouldn't have been. Lupin smiled slightly at him.

"Just Lupin is fine," he said. "Or even Remus." Shikamaru inclined his head. Lupin studied him for a moment, and then said, "I'm surprised you still remember me. It's been two years since our very brief meeting."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Could say the same about you. As for me... I've got a perfect memory, and you're one of the less troublesome adults that I've met in the past eight years. Ergo, I remember you." By less troublesome, he meant that Lupin wasn't a complete idiot that let personal prejudices get in the way of treating a person with common courtesy. Maybe Lupin understood that for his smile faded slightly.

"That is unfortunate," he said. Then, he brightened again. "Tell me, why are you looking at these books? I know many better ways to have people lose all of their hair than a suspicious spell like this." He gestured at the book Shikamaru was holding, which did indeed detail a complicated spell to rid a person of all their body hair.

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "Ah. No, I was checking out the Transfiguration involved to see if I could apply the concepts elsewhere. Not necessarily...baldness," he admitted. More conveniently - turning it into a way of disguise. Lupin's expression shifted in realization.

"Perhaps, then, I was too soon to assume that there was a budding prankster in you," he said with a faint smile. Shikamaru tilted his head.

"Not necessarily." He left it at that. Lupin's smile turned a bit conspiratorial.

"I see." He was silent for a minute, and then- "Take a walk with me. We can get lunch. I'll wait if you want the books."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Don't have the money." And if he did, he wouldn't spend it on books like these. Well. Technically he had the money, but it wasn't in the budget for the foreseeable future (five years or so).

Lupin nodded like he understood the monetary problems of an eight-year-old, and they left the store. As they walked in comfortable silence, Shikamaru remembered a thought he'd had two years ago - that Lupin was just an incredibly easy person to be around. It was remarkable how relaxed Shikamaru found himself.

"Tell me how you're doing," Lupin said, leading the way to a small restaurant. "What's new?"

"I'll spare you two years worth of details," Shikamaru said wryly. At Lupin's chuckle, he considered how to summarize the past two years. Where to start… "Well, I got a therapist," he said casually.

Somewhat disconcertingly, Lupin flipped from laid-back amusement to intense concern. He seemed to understand the job description of a therapist. It was a first, certainly.

"Did something happen?" Lupin asked. Why he had such concern for a near stranger - they had met twice, including now - was over Shikamaru's head, but he did... appreciate it a bit.

"Not really. But it's been building for awhile," he said. As in, the last eight years of his life. "They-" being the orphanage adults "want a reason to pack me off to an asylum." Or, 'A special place for special people,' in the words of a particularly spiteful woman.

Lupin frowned.

"That's not right," he said. "They shouldn't be able to do that." Shikamaru shrugged philosophically.

"It is what it is. I've read up on wizarding rules and regulations, and children don't have a whole lot of rights; abuse is ignored and can be hidden easily with magic. (1) I just have a few paranoid adults to deal with," he said. Lupin frown deepened slightly.

"You still shouldn't have to lie. Is there any way to prove that you're mentally sound?" he insisted. Shikamaru let a sigh escape. He wished. How he missed the simple days, when he'd just had Temari, Shikadai, and Naruto to worry about.

But anyway.

It probably said something that he considered the days spent with Konoha's Most Unpredictable Ninja to be 'simple'.

"If it were that easy, I would have done it long ago. They don't like me and so they want to prove me clinically insane. They just want to push me off onto an asylum or something," he said simply.

"Is it that bad?" Lupin asked quietly. Shikamaru gave him a startled - for him - glance.

"Not really. They aren't physical or anything; they just...prefer to pretend that I don't exist. They also ward other kids away from me, but since most of the other kids there are brainless anyway, I try not to interact with them. Stupidity is contagious. The situation itself isn't too bad; it's just that the therapist gets on my nerves every time he visits - which is about three times a week. I think the number is actually increasing," Shikamaru mused. Well, actually, now that he thought about it, he saw how that could be alarming to someone who didn't know him.

"Neglect is still a form of abuse," Lupin said. Shikamaru stopped walking. Lupin continued for a few steps, checked himself, and stopped. He turned around.

Processing.

Error.

"They aren't abusing me," Shikamaru denied. Lupin said nothing. "Really. I'm fine. I don't care what they do so long as they give me food." Which, he knew, was not nearly enough for a growing child. "They house me," Shikamaru continued methodically, heedless of the sympathetic expression growing on Lupin's face. Well, in the loosest sense of the word they did. "They clothe me," Shikamaru said trying to retain his nonchalant attitude as the dots connected. By the understanding look in Lupin's eyes, he wasn't succeeding in being casual.

"It's not..." he trailed off. He took a deep, even breath - and then another two in rapid succession.

Remember - count to ten, and then backward, and repeat until you're calm, a voice that sounded eerily like Temari's advised.

So, he stopped and forced his breathing to calm, counting mentally just like he'd been instructed. He reached a relative equilibrium and pulled his neutral expression back on, but he didn't like how it felt forced. This really shouldn't be upsetting him so much. If anything, he should have been annoyed that he hadn't made the connection sooner. But, he wasn't.

Logically. he knew that his 'caretakers' hadn't been treating him really great. He also knew the signs of abuse. Somehow, he had never really put the two together. A hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to look up. Lupin was looking down at him with slight concern. Shikamaru knew what he would see:

slanted brown eyes that were blown wide at the pupil, struggling to retain their uncaring appearance, a paler complexion than usual, and a clenched jaw. Why was he reacting so strongly to this? He knew what abuse was, and sure, he should have identified it, but it wasn't actually that big of a shock now that he had processed it. The orphanage adults treated him like dirt, end of story. Or, well, it should have been.

"I apologize," Lupin said quietly. "I didn't mean to upset you." Shikamaru pulled away. No further sign of being emotional disturbance save for unsteady breathing and a changed face pallor - good.

"I'm not upset," he muttered, inwardly wincing at the obvious lie. Ino would have had his ass. Lupin didn't call him out on it. "I should have seen it. I'm an idiot."

"Don't say that," Lupin said sternly. "Many children don't know about or don't want to acknowledge any abuse happening to them."

"No offense to normal people, but I'm a bit more intelligent than them," Shikamaru said in a poor parody of his normal drawling tone. "I should have guessed or something. I've seen abuse in action, both physical and emotional. I don't know why I didn't see it sooner."

Images of a hurt and lonely Naruto filled his mind. Did Shikamaru look that sad now? So broken and...needy? Was that what Lupin was seeing? The thought made him rebel somewhat. He was many things, cowardly, smart, sarcastic - but needy? In denial? He was logical enough to know when something was true or not. Or, he had thought he was.

"Stop it. You're treating yourself like an adult. You may be more intelligent than most, but you're still young," Lupin told him firmly, ignoring the tone with apparent ease. Shikamaru shook his head.

If it were only that easy. He was an adult. An adult in a child's body, albeit, but still.

"Guess I need that therapy after all," he said wryly, absently noticing Lupin stiffen.

Two hands landed on Shikamaru's shoulders, quite firmly this time.

"Shikamaru, look at me." Lupin's tone was hard and unforgiving. Shikamaru lifted his gaze reluctantly, feeling remarkably like the child he currently was. "This is not your fault. Do you understand me?" Lupin asked. Shikamaru started to protest - he'd been joking. Mostly. "No. Hear me quite clearly; you are in no way, shape, or form, at fault for not seeing this situation for how it is. And if you do need a therapist, it is for emotional trauma and nothing more. Are we clear?"

Shikamaru found striking similarities between Lupin and a few shinobi he knew. Lupin would be a good ninja. He nodded slowly. Lupin sighed.

"You don't believe me," he said with mild resignation. "That's fine - you're still young. Just don't wallow in self-loathing or something equally as destructive." Shikamaru nodded again. Hell, Lupin would make a good therapist - better than that one at the orphanage. Not like that was saying much. "I'll take you back if you want," Lupin told him. Lunch was off the table then.

"I'll be fine," Shikamaru replied. Lupin gave him a searching look and probably noticed his desire to be alone with his thoughts.

"Alright," he agreed. Shikamaru didn't sigh in relief. It was a near thing. "Here, I'll give you my current address." Lupin whipped out a slip of paper and jotted something down, and then he handed it to Shikamaru. "The telephone number is on there as well. Call for anything. Okay?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Thanks," he said sincerely. Lupin hesitated and then settled for awkwardly squeezing the Shikamaru's shoulder.

"I'll see you around," he said. Shikamaru waved goodbye and then turned to start the long way back to the orphanage where he had an appointment with a certain therapist to look forward to.

Maybe he could skive off, just this once. He'd had enough of talking about his emotions for one day. (2)

…

Present Day:

"Harry is the King."

In chess terminology, anyway. Ron's eyes narrowed in thought.

"He needs to be kept safe at all costs, otherwise this whole thing is useless," he agreed. "Guess that makes you the Queen, Shikamaru." The 'Queen' in question raised his eyebrow. Ron lifted his hands in a self-deprecating gesture. "I may be halfway decent at chess, but you're a genius at strategies that don't just include where to move which Pawn. Besides, I always fancied myself as a bit of a Knight," Ron admitted with a somewhat sheepish grin. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Children.

"Continuing down this line of thinking then, Hermione is our Rook. Great for 'endgame' and can access the entire battlefield. She has knowledge of all sorts of subjects," Shikamaru mused. "If I'm getting the piece meanings right."

"You're good. Is everyone else a Pawn then?" Ron asked curiously.

"Unless you want to add more people to the equation. The more people we include in this, the more complicated it becomes," Shikamaru warned. "Snape we can figure out if he agrees to help us."

"But we also gain more allies and therefore more manpower," Ron reasoned. Shikamaru shook his head.

"For covert stuff like this, you want as few people as possible to know everything. We can have some people that just have bits and pieces of the situation, but the fewer people who know the whole truth the better - for them and us. If we get caught, there won't be as much collateral damage, and our allies can truthfully say they knew next to nothing about our true objectives. Also, there's less chance of a leak with fewer people in the inner circle," Shikamaru said, sinking into strategic mode. Ron nodded after considering it. Excellent. One step down out of...entirely too many.

Sometimes, Shikamaru just wanted to take a nap. For eternity.

"Makes sense," Ron said.

Suddenly, they heard the rush of footsteps, and then Hermione sank down next to Ron, breathless and flushed. She set down the stack of books she carried in her arms.

"So, I've been combing over the Daily Prophet articles for anything suspicious, and the only thing worth noting was a break-in at Gringotts on July thirty-first where nothing was actually stolen," she said so quickly the other two almost couldn't understand her. Ron snapped his fingers.

"I remember reading about that! Harry told us about it. Remember, Shikamaru?" he asked, turning to his friend. Shikamaru shook his head

"No, I don't. I must have missed that conversation," he said somewhat dryly. Ron adopted a sheepish expression.

"Oh, yeah. I think it was when you went to go 'talk' to Malfoy," he admitted.

"I don't know why you're saying it like that. It was just a talk," Shikamaru said. Again. For, was it, the...fifth time, now? Ron shot him a disbelieving glance.

"Right," Ron drawled. "We'll go with that." Brat. Shikamaru probably should have cut down on his sarcasm - he hadn't known it was contagious. Hermione cleared her throat.

"Back to the subject," she said meaningfully. Right. That. Before they could actually return to the subject, Harry strode in, sweaty and tired from Quidditch practice.

"What subject are we on?" he asked. Hermione jumped but aimed a smile at the new arrival.

"Ron was just going to tell us about the break-in at Gringotts that you two have kept hidden this entire time," Hermione said, smile turning dangerous. The boys sans Shikamaru withheld shudders. Barely

"Right, about that," Ron said hastily. In short order, he relayed the article, with Harry chiming in with details from his trip to Gringotts with Hagrid.

"Harry, do you know what the dog is guarding then?" Hermione asked when they finished. Harry slowly shook his head and sat down.

"Not really. Hagrid was being extremely secretive about it. I just know that it was small and wrapped in cloth," he said. Hermione's face fell slightly, and she worked the end of her quill feather into her mouth.

"Well, we can always ask Hagrid," she said unenthusiastically.

"I don't know about that, Hermione," Harry said doubtfully. "I know he agreed to let us into his house for a base, but he's really loyal to Dumbledore - I don't know if he'd tell us without next to no doubt that it's what Quirrell is after. The other staff probably know, but I can't see them giving us any hints. I bet Snape wouldn't tell us anything even if we convinced him to let us help. How's that going, by the way?" he asked Shikamaru.

"It isn't. I haven't had a chance to speak to him yet. I've been too busy trying to secure my resources and find something on Quirrell first. I'm trying to keep our plans broad in order to make some margin for error, but we need something if we want Snape to listen to us and not just brush us off immediately," Shikamaru said. He'd shared that he planned to ask Snape for some guidance, at least, if not outright help, with investigating Quirrell. Snape would probably learn from his Slytherins in Shikamaru's research group anyway.

"What have you come up with so far?" Harry asked curiously.

"Not much," Shikamaru said somewhat ruefully. "The thing about plans is that they need information, which we don't have much of. If I knew what the school was guarding I could probably put something reasonable together, but as it is…" he trailed off. The others nodded.

"I do have an outline at least. First and foremost is keeping Harry safe, at all costs. If we have to tell a dozen more people to do it, than, fine, whatever. Second is finding out what this school is guarding; that way we can cross off the probable target. I'd like to have Snape in on it pretty soon, but it isn't necessary. The third is to try and get the help of multiple professors so that we can either catch Quirrell in the act or stop him before he makes his move. If all else fails...I can get into the Restricted Section of the library at night or something. We'll have to make it up as we go," Shikamaru admitted.

"Well, at least we can be more flexible that way," Ron said.

"Right. So, finding out what in Merlin's name is in this castle. To Hagrid then," Hermione said, clapping her hands. Harry nodded pensively.

"We can go down tomorrow after class to have a chat with him. If he won't tell us directly, we can get at least a hint from him," he said thoughtfully. Shikamaru grinned loftily.

"Look at you all becoming amateur strategists of your own," he said. They looked at him. "S'probably my influence." They looked at each other and shook their heads together.

"Nope. Sorry, the only influence on us that you have is making us lazier," Harry said with a grin.

"Of course, I am the one that makes everyone smarter with my impressively strategic brain," Ron said smugly. Hermione shook her head in mock despair.

"With all of these geniuses around, I guess my brains won't be needed anymore," she sighed. There was a beat of silence before the trio burst out laughing and Shikamaru's grin grew.

"What's so funny?" a voice asked from behind him. He resisted the urge of the violent variety - people had to stop startling him. Didn't they know the dangers of surprising people? Maybe if he told them about his weapons...

They all looked and saw the Weasley twins glancing down at them.

"Sorry," Hermione said with twitching lips. "Only intelligent people are allowed here."

"Oh. So, why are Harry and Ron here?" George asked innocently.

"Oi!" the aforementioned two exclaimed indignantly.

"Not so great minds think alike," Fred said sagely. He and George grinned while the other two spluttered. "Anyway, as amusing as it is to see Hare-Bear and Ronniekins show their staggering resemblance to a pair of tomatoes, we were hoping to borrow Shika over here for a moment."

"You don't let us call you 'Shika'," Ron complained. Shikamaru raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"You never asked," he deadpanned. He stood and followed the twins to a nearby corner.

"What's up?" he asked.

"A prank," Fred said. Shikamaru manfully resisted the urge to groan. He sighed instead.

"Why me?" he asked.

"You tend to cover bases. We just plan an escape route, not a deflection plan," George explained.

"Yeah. When pranks happen, people automatically think, 'It must be the two genius Gryffindor twins,'" Fred agreed.

"They actually probably think something more along the lines of 'Damn those two troublemaking Weasleys'," Shikamaru corrected. The two waved their hands dismissively.

"Whatever. We won't argue the details with you," George said.

"Anyway, we wanted to do an enormous prank," Fred continued.

"Something that would go down in history," George said with a nod.

"And why do you need my help specifically?" Shikamaru asked slowly.

"Well, you see, we've never done something so widespread and ambitious before. Your brilliant brain - combined with our less brilliant but still awe-inspiring minds - can surely come up with a way to pull off what we're planning. This would be a little send-off before the holidays, to give you a time frame," Fred said.

"How large are we talking?" Shikamaru asked warily. Identical evil grins appeared.

"Oh...how about the entire school?" Fred tried. "Does that sound good, brother of mine?"

"Very good," George agreed with a serious nod. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Does that happen to include the professors?" he asked. Regret, what a familiar friend, was slowly creeping into his mind.

"Of course! Wouldn't want them to feel left out," Fred said. Shikamaru sighed again.

Because nothing could possibly go wrong with this idea.

"I could see the school, but the professors? You do know that includes Snape, right?" he asked. Just to be sure.

"Yes. He will just have to participate, kicking and screaming if he must," George said.

"I was visualizing with many hexes and curses," Shikamaru muttered, the little kernel of hope dying a fiery and explosive death.

"Now, now, Shika," Fred said sternly, "being pessimistic about this won't help anything."

"Besides, if we do get caught, you have our full permission to - what do the muggles say? 'Throw us under the bus'," George assured him. Shikamaru huffed.

"I guess I'll just have to make sure we don't get caught; there's no way in hell I'd do that," he said. All for one and one for all, right? The things he did for his friends. "Tell me what the prank is so that I can start planning."

The twins beamed.

"We were thinking that the houses of this school need to get in touch with their mascots. After all, those fine animals represent the students!" George said.

"Wait," Shikamaru said, backtracking swiftly. "No, you can't possibly think...that's probably illegal and more than likely impossible."

"Afraid not, my friend. We've done research. We'll have Lee help us as well if it makes you feel better," Fred said with a grin. It didn't.

Shikamaru was pretty sure these two were going to get him arrested one day, 'research' or not.

"It really doesn't," he informed them.

Why not add another thing to his already sky-high pile of plans, schemes, thought-tangents, and all around stress? He wanted to call for a time-out from the universe, but he knew he wasn't going to get it.

He was torn between weariness from sleep deprivation (pesky thing, insomnia, until it turned hazardous to the health) and nightmares when he could snatch a few hours of the former, worry for the safety of the Idiot Trio (aptly named, in his personal opinion), worry that investigating would bring more danger to them, or that maybe he wasn't acting soon enough, stress from school assignments (which were only growing in number and difficulty, unfortunately; it was like professors had no lives outside of assigning homework...), worry that he wasn't training enough and the desire to find time to do so, but the thought that it should honestly be the last thing on his mind plagued him (but it had been drilled into him that training was life and without it came death, and hell if he could get rid of a lifetime's worth of teachings), strain from trying to come up with a way to convince Snape not to blow them off, worry that the Slytherins would go back on their word (history supported him there), stress that someone would discover what they were doing before they could do anything at all, and now he had this to add to the frankly alarmingly large list of things already crowding his mind.

Unfortunately, because of his increased mental and physical fatigue, his chakra reserves were lower than usual, which crossed off using a few Shadow Clones to help shorten the list of stuff he needed to do, and he couldn't really pile more of his workload onto someone else since Harry was struggling with Quidditch practice and homework, Hermione studied almost as much as he did, and Ron was having difficulties with his classes alone. Fred and George weren't on the table at all since they weren't aware of the fact that Shikamaru was helping foil whatever evil plans Quirrell had, and any adults wouldn't even bear considering in the way of lightening his load.

How he got into these messes, he never knew. It was funny; people said he was lazy, but Temari called him a workaholic.

He was beginning to see her point.

"Shika?" Fred asked with concern. Shikamaru refocused out of his mental sorting of priorities and saw the twins giving him identical looks of worry.