Chapter 9: Majority Share 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, and not a lot of angst – just some good old fashioned bullying and exclusion, hmm…Shikamaru gets a little mad – but not without reason, non-canon stuff going on, 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. Incest? Hows about no?

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

Disclaimer: I cannot own either of these on account of…not mine.

Oh yeah, special thanks to Calmest Card for being the 100th reviewer! Ding, ding! No real prizes, but I appreciate it a lot.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Emphasis on words

(#) A/N at end to explain stuff

Time Skip or Given Time

A Shadow in Wizard's Robes Chapter 9: Majority Share

By: AngelicSilverWolf

'Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share it.' – Leo Tolstoy, A Confession

Age 8: Three years before Hogwarts

Shikamaru needed money. He would be going to Hogwarts in a few years, which meant the need for school supplies would be a thing. The Caretakers had agreed to provide for the very basics, but beyond that he was on his own. To be honest, he didn't trust them to keep their words, so. What to do about this. Obviously, no business in their right mind would hire an eight year-old, which meant working under a Henge or doing local jobs in a small neighborhood.

He could start out small and get some written recommendations that validated his work ethic (which would have to be diligent and hardworking), so that his Henge would stand a chance against the multitude of people who were actually the age they looked. So, he snuck a map from one of the orphanage adults and studied it until he was fairly comfortable with the city and its surrounding area. Then, he got himself banished from the premises of the orphanage for six hours and hitched a ride on a train that took him out of London and to another place an hour away from his orphanage. He made himself look like an innocent child just looking for some pocket money (when what he was working for was actually much more important), and readied himself to become naive and inexperienced.

He had researched the little neighborhood he was currently in, and the crime rates were practically nonexistent, and the population was big enough that he wouldn't have to go to the same people over and over again, but he could still build up a reputation. The first person - after inquiring about his parents - allowed him to take her small dog on a walk around the block for five pounds. Not bad, she was probably being generous because of his age. Twelve minutes later, he returned the dog and ventured to ask who else would be willing to let him work.

The woman smiled kindly at him and directed him to her friend down the street, promising that he would be able to afford that book he really wanted if he just kept asking around. Shikamaru thanked her with wide and innocent brown eyes that rivaled Naruto's begging ones, and a polite bow. He left her cooing to herself and skipped off to the friend, the perfect picture of a joyful young child thinking about their desire (on the inside, he was grumbling because his friends from Konoha would never let him hear the end of this if they ever heard about it. But they wouldn't because this was going with him to the grave).

The friend turned out to be a nice little granny who - after ascertaining his purpose for taking a job - sent him to get some groceries from the local market. She gave him a small sum with the promise that he could keep the change. Considering that there were only about three things on the list, fifteen pounds was incredibly generous. Therefore, he made sure to get her good quality items in return.

She sent him to her nephew's house a street over, and the process continued for another four hours. By the end he was quite weary and had over thirty pounds stuffed in his pockets. Some of it went towards another ticket back to London, and then he decided to treat himself to a nice meal from a small restaurant that sold Italian food. In the orphanage, Shikamaru carefully placed his money inside a blood seal on his arm, storing the amount in his head. He wasn't sure how much muggle money ran for in comparison to wizard money, but it would probably take him a while to compile enough to open his own bank account in Gringotts. He vaguely remembered someone saying something about it taking a hundred Galleons to open a vault (1), so it would probably take him all summer to acquire that amount.

Accordingly, he spent the next two months going back to that town at random intervals to take up jobs for different reasons. Whether it was to buy that "cool hat in the clothing store", or to purchase a set of science components for an experiment, the people there were always more than happy to give him little chores and generous amounts of money in return for a job well done. He was glad that such good people still existed. At the end of the summer, he had three notes of recommendation (which he'd told the people he needed because his father had made a bet with him), and about one hundred and fifty pounds, give or take a few pence. He made his way to Gringotts and exchanged it all for wizarding money. It ended up being just enough to open a vault, and he got his own little key that was gold, and the vault number three hundred and seventy-two (the goblins didn't care enough to ask any questions about his age, wizarding laws were different than theirs, after all).

He spent a week looking for a more permanent job, and ended up getting one as a janitor in a small business. There he was known as Lee Kotetsu, and he only got about four pounds an hour since he was only working part time. He took another job, part time, as an evening waiter named Winston who, while he earned less than half as Lee hourly, more than made up for it in tips. It was tiring, especially since he had to start sending in Shadow Clones to act as Lee during school, but he slogged through. At least he was building up a good nest egg. He would quit during his time at Hogwarts, but until then...he built up his arsenal of magical items.

He bought books on the basics of subjects he seemed important, like wandless magic and herbology. He went into Knockturn Alley and managed to get someone to remove the annoying trace on his new wand, for a somewhat expensive price, but privacy was more important than any number of Galleons. He built up a small supply of potion ingredients and instruction books, and found himself enjoying the brewing process; it was quite relaxing. He taught himself a number of household charms to make living in the orphanage easier, and he learned that he had decent aptitude with Occlumency. Of course, it was hard to know if he was doing things correctly without proper instruction, but he was nothing if not determined, and he used clones to help him with his potions and mental testing.

Overall, his eighth year wasn't too bad. He had some income, a starting point for Hogwarts and life as a wizard, and he was actually feeling pretty satisfied with everything. And then that damn psychologist showed up.

…

Present:

Shikamaru couldn't say that he was happy with the fact that the mirror was still intact, but since it was being used as a part of the defense system to guard whatever it was that Quirrell wanted, he couldn't go and remove it himself. He did wonder, though, why the hell someone would just leave something like that out in the open for students to find. Surely, Harry wasn't the only person who managed to wander around at night; the fact that a student had managed to find it only made Shikamaru more suspicious of Headmaster Dumbledore.

That man bore watching. No matter his change in ideals; clearly, he was still okay with manipulating people. Normally, Shikamaru wouldn't care too much; he'd even respect it as a strategist and coordinator. However, this man had no qualms about using and manipulating school children, and this wasn't a militaristic society. Even in a world like Shikamaru's, most at least considered options. Maybe Dumbledore had, but regardless. If he thought he could manipulate Harry for his own gains, he had another thing coming. Esteemed wizard or not, Shikamaru wouldn't be afraid of moving against him.

For now, though. He'd watch, and plan. Everyone had skeletons in their closet; Shikamaru would have to make sure Dumbledore's didn't touch the Golden Trio. (2)

...

To say that the next half of the year would be busy was an understatement. Hermione returned and discovered that Nicolas Flamel was the creator of the Sorcerer's Stone.

"No wonder Quirrell wants it," Ron said as he stared at his friends. "A stone that gives immortality and turns things to gold is just asking to get stolen."

"The question is: why would they hide it here?" Zabini - who had been part of that particular research team - drawled. "Yeah, Dumbledore is here, but there are hundreds of children here as well. Do they want collateral damage?" An excellent question. Hiding it among a sea of children seemed...idiotic at best and deadly at worst. Was it the aspect of unpredictability or something else?

"Maybe they thought that Dumbledore would be enough to keep people away," Harry murmured.

"And we're sure it's Quirrell?" Bulstrode asked. Everyone knew that Quirrell was a person of interest, just as a precaution to be careful around the man.

"Pretty sure, yeah," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "If the attempt on Harry's life wasn't enough, Harry overhearing his conversation with Snape is pretty damning."

The Quidditch match concerning that particular conversation had occurred just two days ago and had been overheard and relayed by Harry, who had said that Quirrell was a scary good actor. If he hadn't already been convinced that the man was up to no good, he would have felt very sorry for him, facing Snape like that. Neville was enjoying some positive attention from the study group that had been so vigorously researching Flamel, since it had been his Chocolate Frog card that had led Hermione to have her epiphany. The others no longer looked at him with derision in their eyes, and he was more on a neutral standpoint, which was a major improvement from the cutting remarks he had gotten beforehand. It almost made up for what Malfoy had done to him.

Almost.

Shikamaru had been sitting in the Common Room studying, and then the door swung open and Neville toppled in. People started to laugh as he struggled to rise, face twisting in shame and frustration. Not a prank, then, but-

Shikamaru stood up as Hermione quickly cast the counter-curse. Neville remained where he was, clenching his fists as the people who should have helped him laughed and jeered instead.

"Out," Shikamaru ordered, coming to stand by his friend, dangerously calm. "If you're laughing when a housemate gets bullied, then you should all go take a walk in the forest and consider which house you really belong in."

People took one look at him, and then Neville, and then quickly fled. More than a few looked ashamed of themselves After a glance, Hermione, Ron and Harry quietly left as well. Shikamaru turned to Neville.

"Who?"

Neville didn't meet his eyes. "Who is it always? Malfoy, isn't it? Always surrounding me and taking shots. Well, this time he did it literally. Couldn't do nothing as those trolls held my hands behind my back, could I? But, no, you only hear that poor Longbottom's gone and jinxed himself again."

Shikamaru put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen: I could do one of two things: I could go, right now, and get Malfoy and everyone else to back off, and you'd have peace for a while. Not too long, because that's not how people like him work, and I can't be around you all the time." Neville met his eyes, his own red and watery and angry. That's good. Shikamaru can work with that. It's far better than resignation. "Or, I could teach you how to make him back off all on your own. It would take time, some patience, and a lot of practice, but it would work. Do you know why?"

Neville shook his head mutely.

"People like Malfoy are cowards. They're perfectly fine so long as they know they have you beaten. But when you can fight back and make it hurt? They'll back off after a taste or two."

"How," Neville said, voice cracking as he gestured to himself, "will you turn this into something that'll make Malfoy run scared?"

Shikamaru lets himself grin, dangerous and lazy. "You don't think I've just been sitting on my ass here, learning basic charms and such, do you? By the time he catches up to you, you'll be halfway through school and he won't want to touch you."

Neville thinks, and then he nods. "Yeah, okay. Teach me."

…

"Troublesome girl, tell me one more time to study and I will lose my mind."

Hermione scowled at her exasperated (tired) friend.

"But the exams are important!" she insisted. "If you don't pass, you could get expelled."

"I'm sure that's a myth," Ron offered reasonably. "I mean, look at Goyle. He's still here, isn't he? I dunno know about you guys, but I don't know how he's passing his classes - if he even is."

"And, I already know it all," Shikamaru added. "I've been studying all year, and I just want to take a nap or something." He had been spending three evenings of his week for the past month teaching Neville how to get out of holds, how to deal with multiple opponents, and a few hexes and jinxes that would get him out of sticky situations in addition to his normal load. He wanted a break.

"But-!" Hermione started, when Harry interrupted her.

"Hagrid? What are you doing in the library?" he asked curiously. The enormous man in question shuffled awkwardly, hiding a few books behind his back.

"Nothin'," he said. Everyone could see past that blatant lie. "Jus' lookin'. An' what are yeh lot up to? Not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel?" Since they had come further in their investigation, they had more or less just been using Hagrid's place as a safe spot to unwind. Since he was extremely loyal to Dumbledore, Shikamaru had made sure not to say too much of what they had found out.

"Eh, we found him weeks ago," Ron said dismissively. "Anyway, are you sure you're alright? You seem...a bit nervous, or something."

'Tact, thy bane is Ronald Weasley,' Shikamaru thought dryly. Hermione appeared to be thinking along the same lines and smacked Ron's arm.

"Way to be subtle," she hissed.

'That too,' Shikamaru added mentally, rolling his eyes. Ron scowled.

"What? What's wrong with asking a question? Blimey," he said. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning back to her book.

Words like "hopeless" and "no discretion whatsoever" were muttered, causing Ron's scowl to deepen.

Before they could start to argue in earnest, Harry spoke up.

"Hey...guys? Hagrid left," he said nervously, as if fearing a blow up. He apparently had good reason.

"See? You scared him off!" Hermione said, pointing an accusing finger at Ron. The redhead looked incredulous.

"Me? Scare him off? He's like, three times my size!" he exclaimed. "Besides, it isn't like I insulted him or anything."

"Ronald Weasley, you are impossible," Hermione responded furiously. And then she settled into a sulky silence and refused to look at any of her companions.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said wearily. He stood up and looked at the books Hagrid had been looking over. What he saw didn't make him feel any better. 'Please don't tell me he...' he mentally begged the universe.

"What's that?" Harry asked curiously. Shikamaru looked up with a hint of dread on his face, enough that Ron went silent and Hermione looked up.

"A book on dragons," he sighed, closing his eyes at the impending migraine. Why did his life suck?

…

A dragon. A dragon egg. Words couldn't even begin to describe what he was feeling. Shikamaru attempted to get his breathing under control. It didn't work.

"Seriously? Why the actual-" he cut himself off and took a deep, deep breath (something dark was bubbling in his throat, and he'd be damned if he let it out in front of a bunch of grade-school children). "Illegal, dangerous, a hazard to your health; should I name any other reasons as to why you picking up a random egg from a suspicious stranger was a terrible idea?"

"Calm down, Shikamaru," Hermione said, looking a tad alarmed.

"I refuse, until he tells us exactly what the hell he was thinking!" Shikamaru said irritably. "He could go to jail. He could burn down his house and let an extremely dangerous animal loose on the school grounds. This is one of the worst ideas ever, of all time."

"I wouldn' do that," Hagrid protested weakly. The enormous man shrank away at the genius' thunderous frown.

"Oh, really?" Shikamaru drawled cuttingly. "What exactly was your plan, then? Would you raise it to become completely useless in the wilderness? Were you thinking of keeping it as a pet that would become bigger than your house?"

"I-I hadn' thought that far," Hagrid mumbled. Shikamaru ran a hand down his face. It was like dealing with Naruto's idiocy all over again! At least Naruto had been a child when he'd been this level of stupid. Shikamaru had forced him to plan at least a little bit over the years, in case he was absent and couldn't do it for him, because he'd flat out refused to deal with that as an adult.

"A-alright, we tell Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said desperately. "He'll know what to do."

"Yes, let's tell the headmaster that his employee is storing a very illegal creature in his hut. That's a fantastic idea," Ron said sarcastically. She flushed.

"I don't see you having any better ideas," she said angrily.

"What it would be like to have a normal life," Harry sighed. Shikamaru was in complete agreement. They just couldn't seem to catch a break. "Wait a minute," Harry said slowly. Everyone looked at him, and he looked at Ron. "Charlie," he said.

"I think Hagrid's contagious," Ron said flatly. "I'm Ron, remember?" Harry shook his head.

"No. Your brother, Charlie. Doesn't he work with dragons?" he pressed. Ron frowned.

"Yeah? So?" he asked.

"So, we can owl him and ask if he can take the egg," Harry suggested. There was complete silence for a minute.

"You're brilliant," Hermione said faintly. She turned to Hagrid. "How about we send it to Charlie? It'll be better for it in the wilderness anyway, and it'll probably be with it's own kind." Hagrid thought about it and reluctantly agreed (though perhaps Shikamaru's dark expression at the thought of him refusing helped the process along).

With that out of the way, the quartet started to plan it out. Ron owled Charlie with Hedwig, and the response was a very enthusiastic agreement. Then came the hard part because creature hatched. Before they could send it, because of course.

Shikamaru had honestly never disliked an animal more than he did the dragon that had decided to attach itself to his arm. With its teeth. Hagrid had been burned, Ron had been scratched, and now he had several teeth sticking into his arm. He hated his life.

The thing leapt away as chakra surged under his skin and magic shattered the closest lamp, and it proceeded to squeak in terror as he clenched his jaw in an effort to keep his anger at bay. The pain really wasn't helping. Hagrid hid Norbert (the damn thing had a name, and hadn't he told Hagrid to not get attached?) while Hermione wrapped up Shikamaru's arm with shaking hands.

"Y-you should go see Madame Pomfrey," she said. "He might be venomous."

"And tell her what? A dragon bit him?" Ron asked sourly from where he was nursing his own wound.

"It's fine," Shikamaru muttered. "I'll look up dragon bites later."

Hermione pressed her lips together disapprovingly, but Harry's exclamation of surprise startled them all.

"Malfoy was just here," he said faintly. "He was looking through the window."

Shikamaru bit back a groan; because of course someone saw them. His life could never be simple.

"What d'you think the chances are of him telling someone?" Ron asked dubiously.

"Far too high," Shikamaru said through gritted teeth as pain flared through his arm. "When's Charlie coming?"

"Tomorrow night, it was the soonest he could make it," Ron said. "Will it be enough?"

"It'll have to be," Hermione said tartly. She was pale, but she looked more determined than ever. "I refuse to let this thing be for nothing just because of a prat like Malfoy."

"Right. So, keeping Malfoy quiet and Norbert safe," Harry said. Shikamaru stared at him in disbelief.

The attachment was spreading!

"Who would Malfoy tell?" Hermione asked pensively.

"Snape?" Ron suggested.

"His father?" Harry said.

"So, we keep him from owling anyone," Shikamaru said. "Hypatia can do that for a couple of days."

"She can fight off an eagle owl?" Hermione looked skeptical. Shikamaru shrugged.

"She's smart. She'll figure out something. Besides, I think she's wanted to knock it down a peg for a while now," he said. "I'll also talk to Snape if there is a need for it."

Unfortunately for him, there was a need sooner rather than later.

He went to Potions the next day, feeling worse than ever and under the uncomfortable impression that his arm was on fire. What he'd read about Norwegian Ridgebacks stated that their venom wasn't deadly, just mildly painful. He was going to find the author who had written the book and would proceed to have a dragon bite his arm - mildly painful his ass. His homicidal thoughts were not curbed as the class wore on sluggishly, and as he watched Snape sneer at his friends.

In a mixture of coincidence - the unfortunate kind - and plain bad luck, the effects of the venom coursing through his body, which the book had assured him would run its course in a week, but medical care was still advised, and he was going to burn the thing for not giving extra warnings, reacted badly with the fumes of the potion they were brewing - which he didn't even know the name of, he was so out of it - enough so that the pain amplified as he became more sensitive and caused him enormous mental and physical strain, which is why when Crabbe managed to explode his cauldron, Shikamaru didn't react in time and some of the stuff landed on his body.

The reaction was nearly instant. It dug into his skin with what felt like real claws, met with the dragon poison already in his body, and decided to have the biggest bitch of an offspring (interestingly enough, this had happened exactly once before in the history of the world, though the person wasn't alive any longer, and the substance had been most appropriately named 'Pure Bloody Hell'). The results were hallucinations, burning pain all throughout his body, and him collapsing again. To be fair, he had at least managed to keep his chakra in check before he did so, which he felt to be an enormous accomplishment considering that all of his instincts screamed to attack anything and everything nearby.

As his vision tunneled and then turned black, Shikamaru heard the panicked shouts of his friends, and had the briefest second to feel remorseful, of all things, that he would probably miss Norbert's (damn it, he was using it too) departure. And then he felt nothing at all except for pain.

It was dark. He was dark. And pain. He was just a big bundle of nerves that were being blow-torched individually with a high caliber flamethrower.

...

"Awake, Mister Nara."

Interesting. That sounded like Snape.

"You have been sleeping for two days, and you're taking up room. Get up."

Shikamaru's body reluctantly followed the chain of command and he opened his eyes blearily. Being faced with cold black eyes with a foot of space between himself and them was not the best thing to awaken to, and he spasmed in an attempt to jerk away. It didn't work.

The man leaned back and eyed him thoughtfully, to his relief. He really didn't like people in his personal space. His arm throbbed, but when he looked down, it was nearly bandaged and it looked far better than it had...two days ago.

He cursed in Japanese, causing Snape to lift an eyebrow.

"You are obviously feeling better," the man said sardonically.

"Something like that," Shikamaru muttered. Better, but not any less homicidal. Those spiders in the forest were looking real tempting again. "Where am I?"

"In my quarters."

He raised his own eyebrow. "Okay, why?" he asked slowly.

"It was partially due to the actions of one of my students that you ended up in such a severe condition. Either way, while Madam Pomfrey is a suitable medi-witch, she is not equipped to deal with dragon venom," Snape answered, though Shikamaru felt like he was hiding something - but he really didn't feel like pressing. Ah. So that was why his arm didn't feel like it had magma running through it anymore.

"Thanks, I guess," Shikamaru said. "Did anything happen when I was out?"

"Indeed. Young Miss Granger and Mister Potter, as well as Mister Longbottom and unfortunately, Mister Malfoy were all caught out of their dormitories last night, and house points and detentions have been taken or given accordingly," Snape answered. He hid it well, but Shikamaru could discern a small amount of satisfaction in his voice.