2/2

Deciding that he was unequipped to deal with whatever problems the man had with Harry or Gryffindor in general at the moment, he merely nodded.

"About the dragon," he started. Snape gave him a look.

"If you are going to tell me that the bite you received was from a different animal..." the man warned. Shikamaru shook his head.

"No point," he said dryly. "I was just wondering if Madam Pomfrey knew about it." Snape gave him a calculating glance.

"She does not," he said slowly, as if measuring each word. "She believes that you are here because of the rogue potion. Nothing else."

Shikamaru huffed in relief. He hadn't been looking forward to that conversation. Then- "Why didn't you tell her?" he asked.

"It wasn't relevant. Besides, she could not have done more than I did anyway. Now if I may ask you a question." Snape didn't make it sound like a request. "Why would you have the venom of a Norwegian Ridgeback in your body? I saw the bite. It was quite deep."

Shikamaru sighed and leaned back on the couch he was laying on.

"It's a long story," he said, more tired than he was willing to admit.

"I have all night. Please...enlighten me." The Potions Master's eyes glittered.

…

Severus Snape did not know what to make of his life anymore, and it was all because of that insufferable Potter and his slightly more bearable (but still cheeky!) friend, Shikamaru Nara. The latter was a prodigy in Potions and apparently Occlumency, seeing as he could keep Severus out of his mind. The Potions Master had gone into the year fully prepared to believe that The-Boy-Who-Lived was an arrogant, self-obsessed child with more of his father's traits than his mother's (he may or may not have been in the process of being proved wrong).

And then there was Mr. Nara. The boy would have done well in Slytherin, he grudgingly admitted to himself, after being convinced to allow the children to continue on their quest for answers. If he was honest with himself (which wasn't very often), their determination to investigate into matters that weren't their business, while irking, was a little bit impressive. Just a little bit. It didn't stop him from glowering at them every class period though. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

Somehow, the Nara brat had managed to keep Longbottom from destroying any cauldrons (Severus had seen how many saves the boy had made), which meant that Goyle was officially the worst in his Potions class. Wonderful.

And when the Damaged Child went and collapsed from what everything pointed to as a flashback, Potter and his aggravating Weasley friend had turned to him and demanded that he fix the boy like the impertinent brats they were. As if he knew how to handle their friend's apparently fragile mental state. Still, he didn't want to get any heat from Minerva about letting a student of her's just lay on the ground, so he took the boy to the Hospital Wing (he levitated him, Severus Snape didn't carry anybody).

Things were satisfyingly quiet for some time, and then he overheard the Weasley boy shout at the top of his lungs (and what were they teaching children nowadays about stealth anyway?) the name Nicolas Flamel. Well, that was just suspicious. So, he took them to his office, ready to hear some cock-and-bull about a school assignment, but instead he got a legitimate answer.

The Nara boy could also have gone to Ravenclaw.

Somehow, he found himself agreeing, of all things, to the argument presented, and satisfied didn't cut what Genius Child of the Century Over There (for getting Severus Snape to concur with something) looked like when he didn't write the whole lot of them off. Fortunately, in exception to him ordering a few of his snakes to cooperate with minimal (but still some, because Merlin forbid he make those Gryffindors' lives easy) fuss, he was not interrupted. And then that Nara child passed out in his class again. He hoped this wouldn't be a recurring theme. Severus took him to his quarters to make sure that the potion didn't do any lasting damage...and perhaps because he was curious. As a former spy, he liked his information, and Mr. Nara was one mysterious child.

The boy awoke and seemed to get a hold of the situation quickly, for he didn't ask any inane questions like 'What happened?' or 'What's going on?'. Instead, he asked where he was and what had occurred during his recovery period. Perfectly reasonable. Again, Severus found himself approving, albeit grudgingly. But, he couldn't let the boy know this, so he retained his dark and distant manner to keep the genius (because he was sure that the boy was, in fact, a legitimate genius) off of his trail.

He decided to ask where in the seven circles of hell (or was it nine? He could never be sure, and he knew that he'd heard it both ways, probably) the child had gotten a dragon bite. A severe one too. The Nara brat gave him a speculative look, as if contemplating his worth, and then seemed to decide that lying was useless, for he told his professor to settle down for a long story.

It ended up not actually being that long.

By the end of it, Severus was somewhere between exasperated (because of course that oaf Hagrid had picked up a dragon egg, of all things) and, dare he think it, amused. The boy in front of him also would have done well in Hufflepuff for all the things he did for his friends - Severus knew he'd had something to do with that atrocious prank pulled before the holidays. He, of course, didn't let this show, and instead remained blank-faced. He relayed to the Gryffindor in front of him, that could honestly have gone to any other house, precisely how his friends were caught (forgetting the invisibility cloak...no words needed) and nearly smirked when Nara shook his head and muttered, "Troublesome idiots, who forgets the stealth in a secretive operation?" Then, the boy gathered himself and asked, "So, it's Sunday, right? Which means that they probably haven't had their punishment yet since it's most likely going to be a week of detentions, or something."

"Yes. Your...friends also managed to lose one-hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor house, at fifty points per person," Severus said, savoring the words. The boy looked at him in faint disbelief.

"What? That shouldn't be possible," he said blankly. "Ron shouldn't have been there because previous...events have proven that his stealth capabilities aren't very... stealthy. Even though they got caught, it should only have been one hundred." He appeared to have forgotten about Longbottom, then. Ah, well, Severus would enjoy reminding him. (3)

"That would be true," the Slytherin Head agreed, "if they had been the only ones out that night. Remember, young Mister Longbottom somehow got caught up in the mix. So did Mister Malfoy, unfortunately." The boy sighed.

"And how is the house taking this setback?" he asked. Severus sneered.

"I don't keep up with other houses, Mister Nara," he said. The child gave him a look. "But...I suppose that rumors of dissent and reasonable anger towards a certain trio of first years have circulated enough for me to...overhear them."

Instantly, Nara's eyes hardened, and while his tone was still casual, it had a grain of steel in it. Severus found himself reluctantly impressed. The boy would have been intimidating to any other person of the Hogwarts age range.

"And I suppose that every house bar Slytherin is participating in this dissatisfaction?" the boy asked in a dangerously calm manner.

"Of course. It is probably a good thing that Gryffindors are not noted for their loyalty. It would be seen as false advertising, in this case," Severus drawled. The boy stood up and - surprisingly - seemed quite steady when doing so.

"Thanks for the help, Professor," he said a little stiffly. He turned around to start walking away.

"And where are you going?" Severus asked. "Off to comfort your friends?"

He heard the boy scoff quietly.

"No, Professor. I'm going to go talk to the idiots that apparently reside in my house. Confrontation is a more... Gryffindor thing to do, isn't it? It's probably for the best that I'm not in Hufflepuff," he said mildly.

And in that moment, Severus Snape admitted that perhaps the Sorting Hat had done its job and - Merlin forbid - That Genius Child truly belonged in Gryffindor. Funny. The thought didn't have the same amount of bitterness as usual. Something was wrong with him, perhaps a contaminant in the air.

Yes. That's what it must have been.

…

The Gryffindor Common Room was calm for all of two days. That was long enough for Shikamaru to assess the treatment his friends were getting, and for him to get thoroughly sick of it. So, after seeing Neville's downtrodden face, Hermione's despair, Harry's sudden introverted behavior, and Ron's complete lack of enthusiasm for anything, and the rest of Gryffindor House's sneers of derision - even the twins were colder than before, with whom Shikamaru had talked to before about similar behavior - he'd finally had enough.

Randomly, in the middle of a free period when most of the house was studying or interacting quietly together - ignoring the subdued trio of first years in the corner - he said, "One-thousand, two-hundred and five points."

He didn't even bother to keep his voice down. If anything, it was said quite loudly. The room went quiet. Confusion emanated from the majority of the occupants. He ignored this and continued, arms crossed, stare piercing, voice flatter than cardboard, "That's how many points Fred and George Weasley have lost, collectively, since they first arrived at Hogwarts due to pranks and misbehavior."

The twins in question blinked.

"And yet," Shikamaru drawled, eyes narrowing as he tipped back in his chair, "not once have they been treated as outcasts by their own house. They've been scolded, cheered on, teased, but never ignored, disdained, or excluded." His eyes drift away and land on another, a girl he only knows because for the last two days he's been asking the best person about who in Gryffindor House has lost the most points in the past few years. Filch had been more than happy to pull up records. "Alicia Spinnet, you once lost two-hundred house points for charming a Bludger to smash Marcus Flint's face in mid-game because, and I quote, 'He called your mother a dirty, muggle-fucking whore'."

Someone gasped. Alicia went pale. Shikamaru kept staring at her, ignoring Hermione tugging on his arm. "And yet, you were treated like a queen when you come back from detention. No one gave a flying fuck that you'd lost Gryffindor House the lead, but I guess it's different, isn't it, defending your mother's honor and stopping a friend from going to prison."

He turned, finally, away and to the rest of his house, chair legs thudding to the ground and making a few listeners jump. "A few nights ago, three first years of Gryffindor House were caught after curfew, after just having handing off a highly illegal baby Norwegian Ridgeback that our resident gamekeeper had received as a gift. They were served detention and had fifty points deducted, each. But that's not the interesting part of this story. No, the interesting part is that instead of being supported by their house, instead of being praised for helping a friend despite great risks to health and possibly education, instead of being asked for their side of the story, their house and nearly every other damn person in this school, as one, turned their backs on them, only looking to spit on them for doing what their house so values."

He leaned forward, hands steepling together as he stared at those who could no longer look him in the eyes. Hermione's hand had fallen limp.

"Isn't Gryffindor supposed be for the brave and the bold? Where did that go? All I see is a group of people that care more about worthless house points - a good deal of which, by the way, are made by one of those despicable people - than the people in their house." His voice drops some of the casualness, becomes darker, harder. Indignation was boiling his blood, and anger was freezing it.

"Hermione, Harry, and Neville are eleven. They're going to be stupid, they're going to make mistakes; they should be allowed to mess up without fearing the retaliation of their own damn house. Did you know that the Slytherins have some ground rules? The first of which is to always stick together, no matter what. Personal issues aside, when it comes to one of their own being attacked, they come together in defense, and God help anyone who tries to take all of them on. When did Gryffindor become so low that we have lower moral standings than Slytherin? A house known for self-preservation."

"Now, listen here," someone - braver, stupider than the rest because he had heard but not listened - said indignantly. His protest was cut off when slammed his quill into his desk, driving it in almost to the feather.

"No," Shikamaru said, "you listen, you disloyal, addlepated cretin. And I'm talking about everyone in this house that isn't sitting at this table.

"How is it that when Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom make a mistake that gets rid of a few house points, it's unacceptable?" Shikamaru asked, letting his eyes rove around the room. "Is it because the Golden Boy himself messed up? Unforgivable, isn't it? After all, The-Boy-Who-Lived can't be held to the same standards as us mortals, can he? We push him to be better in every other aspect of his entire life, why can't he be perfect this time too?"

This caused a few people to flinch guiltily.

"Or, Miss Granger. She's smart, smart enough to not get caught...except this once. But, instead of congratulating her for her bravery in helping her friend, despite how well-known it is that she follows rules to the letter, all she gets is disgust. Is this supposed to encourage her later? The first time she breaks the rules, and every single person in the school, except for the Slytherins ironically, turn their backs on her. What a show of support and friendship." Shikamaru's sarcasm was bordering scathing, sharp, pointed, aimed to bleed.

"What about Mister Longbottom? The boy who was just trying to do the right thing out of concern for his friends because some Slytherin fed him a story? He deserves to be cursed for being brave for once, even though he's also been told that he's not brave enough to be in this House. Apparently, he dodged a jinx on that one, because he missed out on the second trait - ignorant stupidity."

No was meeting his gaze anymore, which was probably a good thing, all things considered.

"And then, there are the other houses. They've joined in on this bullshit, all because they can't get enough points themselves. And Gryffindor is letting them," he said. "It's not like Gryffindors aren't known for sticking together or loyalty, so maybe this shouldn't be much of a surprise. Still, its competitive nature clearly has some downsides if it's allowing the other three houses to look down on a few of their own that generally get sneered at for not being Gryffindor-ish enough."

Shikamaru stood.

"Either way, I've had enough. When all of you feel like being decent human beings again, start by apologizing to the three people who have been dealing with cruelty like this for the majority of their lives," he said. "I don't know what you call this sort of thing here, but you're bullshitting yourself if it's anything but blatant bullying." Then, he walked out without a backwards glance.

Almost no one slept well that night.

…

"Shikamaru."

The boy didn't turn around from his perusal of a particularly interesting book on stealth spells. Harry frowned slightly.

"What, Harry?" he asked after a second of silence.

"Nothing...just...wanted to thank you, I guess. A lot of people apologized to us after what you said yesterday, and the rest have stopped excluding us. The twins even told off a group of Ravenclaws for glaring at us," he said.

"I didn't do anything except stop what shouldn't have been happening anyway," Shikamaru said.

"Still...thanks. I know that Neville and Hermione are feeling better now," Harry persisted. Shikamaru turned to face him, and Harry was struck by how old his friend seemed. How weary.

"And how do you feel?" Shikamaru asked. Harry shrugged self consciously.

"Mostly glad that it's over, I guess. It's a relief for this to end," he said. Shikamaru hmmed and turned back to his book.

"I was just doing what I should have done for another person a long time ago. Besides," there was a slight grin cracked here, "I can't allow Gryffindor to act so troublesome for an extended period of time. Since the teachers are busy, someone has to keep them honest."

Harry grinned.

"I know a few seventh years that you scared yesterday. They didn't think you were so cute or ickle anymore," he said. Shikamaru's grin grew distinctly mischievous.

"Of course. That's your job," he agreed. Harry spluttered, but his amusement shone in his green eyes. The more light-hearted manner continued for another couple of weeks, and then the trio that had been caught was given notice about their punishment detention.

Right. Truthfully, it had been all but forgotten, which is why it was a nasty surprise when the letter alerting the three about their future nightly excursion in the Forbidden Forest was delivered.

"We have to do it with Malfoy?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "What are they thinking?"

"Probably something about keeping night time visits to the forest at a minimum," Shikamaru said dryly, reclining in his chair. Hermione shot him a disapproving look, but didn't say anything.

"But why in the forest?" Harry lamented. "I'd rather...I dunno, clean some trophies or something."

"It probably correlates with being out after curfew. I'm sure that if you'd defaced something than it would be cleaning," Neville said thoughtfully. His confidence, much to Shikamaru's satisfaction, had been creeping up due to their lessons. He'd been drilled on situational reactions, defensive maneuvers, and how to hit hard and then get out. When Malfoy had tried to jinx him and he'd ducked and then sent back a neat hex of his own that caused Malfoy's shoes to stick to the floor and trip him, he'd look so elated that Shikamaru hadn't been able to help gently knocking a fist against his shoulder and telling him to keep it up.

"Great," Harry sighed. "I'll keep that in mind the next time we decide to get caught."

"This wouldn't have happened if you had put on the invisibility cloak," Shikamaru reminded him. Ron shook his head.

"I can't believe you just left it on the tower like that," he said. "And I thought my stealth was bad..."

"That's because your stealth doesn't exist, Ronald Weasley," Hermione snapped crossly. Ron huffed, but surprisingly, didn't say anything back.

Shikamaru wondered hopefully if he was learning the value of silence. Then, the redhead brightened and opened his mouth, and he rolled his eyes.

Or not.

…

"A centaur." He was reaching an unidentified plane of existence.

"Yup. Pretty wild, huh?"

"Wild." The flatness was just a little unnerving. Just a little.

"Oh, don't forget to tell him about that unicorn you ran into."

"What."

"I think you've broken him, mate."

"Shut up, Ron."

"Yes, sir. Yeesh."

Harry snickered and Hermione giggled. Neville looked somewhere between lost and confused, but he smiled gamely all the same. Ron pouted and Shikamaru thumped his head down on the table in front of him. Repeatedly.

"Stop, you'll lose brain cells," Ron said cheekily.

"At least I have some to lose," he said with a voice muffled by the wood. Ron scowled petulantly. "So, go on, tell me about your disastrous detention in the forest."

"Well, I paired up with Malfoy to look for a unicorn - a dead or wounded one," Harry said, growing serious. "And we found it alright. Someone was drinking its blood."

"Drinking its blood? Like a vampire?" Shikamaru asked, looking up with a slight frown. Harry shook his head.

"No, I'm sure it was a human. But Firenze - the centaur who saved me from death by a creepy blood sucker - said something about only Voldemort - sorry, You-Know-Who - being desperate enough to drink the blood of a dead unicorn, which apparently means having a cursed life," he explained. Hermione gasped and Neville paled. Shikamaru's frown became more pronounced.

"Voldemort. As in, the Dark Wizard that you were supposed to have defeated as a baby?" he said, slowly. His life. Harry nodded morosely.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he came back as a ghost and possessed Quirrell or something. There's probably some dark magic out there that could make him do that, right?" he asked wearily. Shikamaru sat back in his chair. That taught him to discount things, and he thought he'd gotten the 'anything can happen' memo with Kaguya and Madara.

"Do you think Professor Snape knows?" Hermione asked timidly. Shikamaru frowned. That was a good question. How much did Snape actually know? The man hadn't volunteered the information, though to be fair, no one had asked.

"Possessing Professor Quirrell?" Neville blurted out. "Is that why we were researching him? Is he evil?"

The other four exchanged glances.

"We can't tell you everything," Harry said slowly.

"On account of Snape skinning us alive," Ron added dryly.

"But," Harry continued, shooting his friend a look, "we can warn you to be careful around him. Something is...off about him, and I-we don't want people to get hurt because we're investigating."

Neville stared at their solemn faces and nodded slowly.

"Okay…" he said. "I'll be careful."

"Great, but what do we do about Quirrell?" Ron asked. "We can't really just go confront him."

"If we tell Professor Snape, surely he'll do something about it?" Hermione asked.

"He'll also make sure we stay put. I want to do something. Like...I don't know, something to stop him," Ron protested.

"Us against a Professor and potentially the Dark Lord who killed hundreds? I love those odds," Shikamaru said sarcastically. "We don't have to fight. We probably should try to keep from fighting him by ourselves. Let the Professors handle it, they're more equipped."

Ron scowled.

"I don't like that," he said, "but, I can see where you're going."

"Either way, I don't think he'll make a move until our finals are over," Shikamaru said pensively. Harry furrowed his eyebrows.

"How d'you figure?" he asked.

"Everyone's all tense at the moment. If he makes a wrong move now, there will be people all over him. But, after finals is when people relax, when they're vulnerable. Thus, the best time is to wait when everyone's guards are down. It's what I'd do," Shikamaru explained. "It isn't definitive, but I'm pretty sure."

"So...what are you guys going to do?" Neville asked quietly. Shikamaru let out a wry grin.

"I'll let you know as soon as I figure that out myself," he said wearily.

What a troublesome mess.

Charms/Curses (Spells):

Leg-Locker Curse(Locomotor Mortis): Curse that is used to bind the legs of the target together.

Ninjutsu (Techniques):

Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique): Can change the user into other people, objects, plants, or animals. E-rank, hand seals are Dog – Boar – Ram, in that order

(1): Probably not true, but whatever. I couldn't find the actual number, if there is one. Any other things regarding muggle money vs wizard money probably isn't true.

(2): So, this isn't Dumbledore bashing at all, but Shikamaru is a naturally suspicious person, and after witnessing what the machinations of the likes of Danzō could do, he wants to make damn sure that the Golden Trio won't experience anything close to that. This will probably cause friction later on, but we'll see.

(3): To keep this realistic, Snape won't be doing a complete one-eighty in character, so he will therefore generally despise Gryffindor and will take a while to stop doing so. Shikamaru will just...eventually, become something of an exception. Don't go thinking that Snape is going to be Gryffindor or Harry Potter gung-ho (something like enthusiast) all of the sudden, for you will be sorely mistaken.

Guest Reviews (Bottom to Top):

Guest: I'm very glad you like it! I'm also glad that you see my point in keeping Shikamaru by himself, and without other Naruto characters. Yeah, I don't know about the shadow thing, I might have been having a brain cramp or something, because now I don't know what I'm going to do about it. Oh, well, I'll think of something. And yessiree, Shikamaru is changing things and will continue to befuddle and generally mess with all sorts of people, including Snape. He will get out of the orphanage eventually, don't worry, it will just take another book or two. And Dumbledore. Shikamaru won't have complete trust in him, he's too paranoid for that, but he will respect him – mostly (not so much for raising Harry to believe that near-death experiences are 'brave'). Thanks so, so much for the lovely review!

A/N: Just a few more to go in regards to re-writing. Most of the rest shouldn't have too much changed since I'm already fairly happy with how they came out.

RECOMMENDATIONS: (Tell me if you like them and if you have any of your own)

A Right Hufflepuff – opalish: (HP) A pretty nice one shot in Ron's PoV concerning his best mate. Friendship and bromanship ahead! Rated K for fluff and warm fuzzies.

The Birds and the Bees – Yokomi: (Naruto) Another one shot with chibi Kakashi and his wonderfully adorableness, and Minato in all of his clueless glory. It's pretty damn funny, and sweet enough to give you cavities, so prepare that dental appointment. Rated K+ for talking about…things, and hilarious fluff.

Changes to Chapter 8: Sorry if they're not detailed, but I'm sticking with bigger picture ideas.

Shikamaru is not happy with Dumbledore; he becomes more suspicious of his motives, but without any hard evidence or rational, he decides just to keep an eye on him.

Silly me; they're not going to wage war on Quirrell...however, Shikamaru will do everything in his power to keep Harry safe, which may or may not include prison, death, or dismemberment. Severus has no idea what he's getting into.

The Golden Trio joins the 'inter-house study group' temporarily, thinking that Shikamaru wrangled up some help from other Houses as a one-time thing, and have no idea that Shikamaru is building his own spy/info-network.

Shikamaru goes to talk to Snape about the mirror, and Snape has a realization about how dangerous his student is. Albus had better be careful, because Shikamaru is so out of shits to give about other people that it isn't even funny.