[Fic] -- IWoT chapter 09 (1st ed)
And here is the last chapter of the first edition. Wow. It's been a while.
---------------------
Mondays, Naruto decided, were the worst days to ever be created in the history of mankind.
It didn’t help that he was stuck in a classroom full of kids shooting spells across the room at each other with a midget of a teacher who looked to be as small as the shrimpy Konohamaru back at home. Never mind the fact that they were reviewing the last five years’ worth of material which he was supposed to know (or at least pretend to) by levitating pin cushions and navigating them into specific boxes near the teacher’s desk.
Naruto swore as a frilly pink cushion made a beeline for his head, ducking as he felt it graze his hair and collide with a ‘fwoomp’ against the wall. He shot his best intimidating glare at the perpetrator who was now cowering behind her best friend, making the other girl lose her concentration and send her own cushion flying straight into the teacher.
“Now class, I have to say tha-oof!”
Professor Flitwick was knocked into one of the gigantic containers before he disappeared from the students’ view. Because of the loop spell that had been placed on the bins, he soon after appeared on one of the Slytherin’s desks, earning a surprised shrill sound from the formerly inattentive Sixth Year male.
The scream caused others to turn towards its source, and before anyone knew it pillows were flying off in random directions, not at all going where they were intended. One of the cushions smacked straight into Malfoy’s face, abruptly stopping his sniggers at the Charms Professor’s predicament. Growling, he whipped his wand up and sent his own projectile at the offending Hufflepuff who was now frantically trying to get away from his seat while knocking a few of his classmates from their own.
After a huge domino effect in which even some of the books started bouncing out of their shelves, students were buried under heaps of cushions, and others were trying to help Flitwick from being trampled, the chaos started to subside a little.
Naruto looked around the classroom, suddenly feeling guilty for a crime that he didn’t necessarily commit.
‘Oops,’ he thought, pretending to be busy trying to get his own pillow-thing into one of the containers when people glanced his way.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Way of Trouble - Again...
Chapter 09: “Prophetic Chaos”
By Hikagi
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ginny Weasley was starting to drift off in to a deep sleep with the heavy incense in the air doing little more than to make her head as foggy as the crystal ball in front of her. Off to her right, she could see that her classmates were in the same state, eyes drooping until a sudden jerk made their heads snap up in momentary alertness. Some were desperately trying to stay awake by blinking rapidly as if to shake themselves out of their stupor. Others were taking full advantage of the props on their tables to hide themselves from the teacher’s view.
“Now I want groups of two to a crystal ball. Relax! Let the Inner Eye calm your mental state and fill your mind with visions! If you have any questions, I will be at my desk interpreting the dreams you have reported to me for last night’s homework assignment or delving into the future with the use of my own Inner Eye.”
Ginny bit back a sarcastic retort and turned to the girl next to her, eager to focus her quickly diminishing attention span anywhere other than on the hypnotic drone of the professor’s lecture.
Suddenly, there was a shrill shriek followed by the soft tinkering sound of glass shattering on the wooden floor. The professor sat still in her place on her cushion, head bowed so low that her chin was nearly touching her neck as if she were heavily sedated.
It was as if a heavy blanket had been lifted off of their heads. Some of the students rushed forward to see if anything was wrong; others lingered behind, unsure if this was the Professor’s idea of enacting what would happen if Saturn happened to be aligned with the Moon at the beginning of term.
"Professor Trelawney?"
"What’s wrong with her?"
"Is she okay?"
Ginny ventured forward, the most daring of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws combined, and knelt to place a hand on the frizzled-haired teacher’s shoulder.
“Professor, are you alright?” she asked with a hint of concern in her voice. Despite the amount of bullshit this subject was covered in and the little regard everyone held for it, no one actually wanted to see the woman get hurt. Trelawney started muttering something unintelligible under her breath.
"Merlin, I think she’s had too much sherry today."
"At nine o’clock in the morning?"
"Good point, there."
The muttering ceased, and the Professor rose with a vivid fluency that hadn’t been present before. Even before she stood up, Ginny had a gut feeling that something was wrong with the woman. The appearance of blank-white eyes only served to confirm her suspicions.
Then with a voice that wasn’t quite normal, she started saying something that brought shivers down to the very bone of every individual present in the room. The tone - the supernatural power present - made them all freeze. The words that came from her mouth rushed through them like a tempest bursting from the heavens with such intensity that they could do little more than stand there frozen. And like a dam-broken flood, it swept the students senseless until it gradually receded, ending with nothing more than a few trickling words at the end, the shock of witnessing an actual prophesy gradually wearing away.
There was a ringing silence as the prophesier ended her speech with her arms raised in the air and the children just stared at her warily. They remained rooted to their places, not daring to even breathe lest she would start another verse with her horrific voice.
“What the bloody h-”
Slam!
And before any of the students could move, the professor was out cold on the floor, glasses awry, shawl slipping off her shoulders.
Ginny was the first to snap out of the trance everyone seemed to be under. With a sense of authority she didn’t know she had, she turned quickly and grabbed the first person she saw.
“Quick,” she hissed. “Go get Madame Pomfrey.”
As soon as the boy stuttered with a nod, Ginny grabbed the girl next to him. “And you, go get Professor Dumbledore. Tell him that something’s wrong with the Divinations Teacher.”
“S-sure,” the girl squeaked before disappearing after the boy down the trap door. The buzzing of whispered noise began instantly.
“What do you think Trelawney means?"
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? ‘Until the earth runs red with the cries of the dead’? Hogwarts is going to be attacked!”
“Attack? Hogwarts? B-but, I don’t wanna die!”
“Nonsense! I bet the old fart was just making all of that up! Doesn’t she like predicting students’ deaths?”
“Though, it was a bit strange how she targeted all of us instead of just one person this time.”
“And everyone else,” Ginny said as she glanced over to the professor’s still form. The whispers that had started after Trelawney’s collapse quickly died down again. “Don’t breathe a word unless the Headmaster says otherwise.”
And even though Ginny didn’t show it, she was trembling inside. She wanted to say to everyone that Trelawney would be all right, but she couldn’t. She wanted to say that Dumbledore would come up and fix things right away, but she couldn’t. She wanted to say that this wouldn’t be a repeat of their first years when they all lived in horror and fear of being killed, but she couldn’t - not just after what had been said.
Because whether or not the other students realized, Ginny was positively sure that at least this time around, Trelawney wasn’t faking her vision. This time around, it wasn’t even Trelawney speaking. She was close enough to see that what ever had possessed her teacher’s body had been intent on getting the message across. And right now, Ginny wanted to be anywhere except trying to organize the mess and calm the rest of the class down.
Just then, Dumbledore practically swept into the room with Madame Pomfrey and the two Second Years following closely behind. Seeing that the situation was taken care of, Ginny stepped away from the commotion and sat down on a nearby cushion, wrapping her arms around her legs in a fetal position, burying her head so that no one could see her face. Just before she passed out, one thought ran across her mind.
‘Merlin, is this what Harry went through last year when we pressured him into forming the DA?’
----------
During lunch, Sakura grabbed Naruto’s arm before he could sit down with the rest of his Housemates. Some of the Slytherins shot glares at her audacity.
“We have a situation here,” she whispered into his ears she nearly dragged him outside into the courtyard. “It seems like there’s a rumor going around about us. The Divinations Professor apparently had a vision.”
“Who cares?” Naruto shrugged after he brushed himself off and straightened his shoulders. “She seems like a quack to me. I don’t see why anyone would believe her. Most of the time, she’s as crazy as they come.”
“But that’s exactly the reason!” Sakura said and she wrung her hands together in a nervous fashion. “This time she wasn’t acting like herself! And when I asked Granger, she mentioned that Trelawney had given two authentic prophesies before.”
“What were those prophesies about?” he asked, already knowing the gist of what she was going to say.
“She said she didn’t know, but I suspect that that’s a lie.”
Naruto sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than what he thought he had initially signed up for. “In any case, that just means that we’ll have to put up our defenses faster. Our last patrol didn’t cover nearly as much ground as I would have liked.”
Sakura nodded, already heading back to the Great Hall. “Yeah. You want to go tonight?” Naruto nodded and he folded his arms behind his head and followed in a leisurely pace.
“Sure.”
When they got to the Great Hall, everyone else seemed to be too busy eating to notice anything going. Sakura split from Naruto as he made his way back to his table with one lasting whisper exchanged between them.
“You tell Sasuke, I’ll tell Shikamaru.”
----------
Harry’s curiosity was getting the better of him. Hermione said that it was because he had a thirst for finding out about suspicious activities (“Shame that it isn’t the same with your studies,”) and was just inertly drawn towards danger. He had an almost sixth sense when it came to strange and unusual occurrences within the vicinity, like that one time with the Chamber of Secrets…
Shaking his head, he tried to forget about that incident. After all, not everything that had come to pass from his adventures had worked for the better.
Especially not Sirius…
Harry was brought out of his thoughts when he stumbled upon a sweet melody in the air. At first, he thought that Hagrid was playing his little recorder nearby his hut again, but something else made him think otherwise.
It didn’t sound the same as their first year when the Golden Trio was looking for clues as to what was being guarded in the corridor on the 3rd floor.
Harry slowed to a sedate pace as he tried to creep up on whoever was making that beautiful sound.
In fact, if he listened carefully, it almost reminded him of… Fluffy, believe it or not.
He paused behind a large tree, and peered over to see a figure sitting on a rock. The figure finished his tune with a note in the lower register before resting the instrument on his lap.
“You can come out now,” he said without having to turn his head around. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite. Much.”
Harry tried to wipe off the look of surprise from his face. He stepped out of his spot and slowly made his way over.
“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced to each other,” the figure said, extending a hand. “Sasuke Uchiha.”
“Harry Potter,” Harry said, nodding. And before he could stop himself, “Is that a flute?” (1)
Uchiha slightly raised an eyebrow as if amused.
“Yeah. What about it?”
“N-nothing! I was just curious, that’s all.”
Uchiha shrugged as he started to attend to his instrument, shaking out the moisture from the head joint. “You know what they say - curiosity skinned the kitten’s tongue in a bag.” (2)
Harry looked at him with a very confused expression and the Ravenclaw grumbled.
“Dammit,” he swore quietly. “These translation spells don’t always get everything right.”
Harry laughed as the tension gently lifted between them. They spent a few minutes in silence as the international exchange student cleaned and swabbed the rest of the flute.
But wait a second… If Dumbledore said that they were foreign exchange students, then who did they switch places with? Did the Headmaster actually say that they were part of an exchange, or were they merely coming to study at Hogwarts for a year? He needed to ask Hermione on what she thought about this…
A snap followed by two clicks brought Harry back to the present as Uchiha closed his case and put it somewhere in the small pouch-like bag next to his side.
“So what makes you come out here with your flute?” Harry asked with mild interest. It sounded like such a vague and obvious attempt at making conversation, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he really was interested.
“I like the sound it makes in the open air,” the other boy replied. “It sounds… dead in the stone rooms in Hogwarts. The acoustics aren’t exactly the best out there.”
“I see,” Harry said, not actually understanding what it meant when sound sounded dead. It wasn’t alive in the first place or anything, so how could it…
“Have you ever played one before?” the boy asked, now that all his belongings were safely stored away.
“Yeah, once,” Harry said. “It was my first year here at Hogwarts. I was trying to… put a dog to sleep.” He grinned sheepishly at the obvious twist in his story. “It worked for a while before I nearly passed out from the lack of air. When it woke up, it tried to shred me to pieces. But I didn’t sound nearly as good as you.”
Uchiha looked like he was thinking about something as he nodded. “You have an… interesting curriculum here.”
Harry laughed with surprising ease. It was strange. Here he was, talking to some stranger from halfway across the world, and he felt more relaxed than when he was around people he knew. Even compared to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, or any of the other Gryffindors he had become close to.
Maybe it was because Uchiha didn’t expect anything in return from him. Maybe it was because Uchiha didn’t know the full extent of the reputation The Boy Who Lived held in the Wizarding World. Maybe it was because they had just met and were conversing about something neutral that had no significance whatsoever on the future of the world.
But that in itself was strange. I mean, surely news about him had even reached Japan at some point? Unless, the Japanese Ministry was all hush-hush about Voldermort these days like here…
“Potter-san,” Uchiha said as he waved his hand to catch his attention. “Is something wrong?”
Harry shook his head.
“Say, would you mind if I took a look at it?”
“The flute?”
“Yeah…” Harry grinned while scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment. “Sorry I didn’t ask before.”
“No, no. Don’t worry,” Uchiha said while digging through his pouch. “Here.”
“Thanks.”
Harry took a few moments to inspect the instrument inside of its case.
“That’s odd,” he said as he noticed something off. “It looks different than the one I remember. For one thing mine wasn’t made out of…”
“Metal?” the Ravenclaw asked, already used to that particular comment. “This one is one of the more expensive ones I have. From where I come from, most people have theirs made out of wood; saves money for when they break. One of the pluses of having one made from silver is that they’re more durable and don’t spoil as easily.”
“Oh.”
“Of course, this isn’t my favorite make because it came from a foreign company,” Uchiha trailed off as he stared at the flute without really seeing it. Harry noticed this and quickly snapped the case shut.
“Do you think you could teach me?” he asked as he handed the instrument back to its owner.
“To play?” the Ravenclaw asked in clarification. Harry nodded. “I see no reason not to… Except, you need your own. It’s inconvenient to have to borrow people’s all the time.”
“Where can I get one?” Harry asked as the instrument was put away for the second time. Uchiha shrugged.
“With the exception of the one you just saw, mine are all custom-made. My personal favorite was made by one of my uncles who was a skilled craftsman. My other wooden flutes were presented to me by my cousins on my seventh birthday. They were lost during a fire, so I made myself new ones.”
“So does that mean I have to order one?” he asked, wondering if the Wizarding World actually sold something that wasn’t exactly magical.
‘I have enough Galleons for something like a flute, I suppose…’
“Saa…” Uchiha said as he stretched and settled down into a more comfortable position on the rock. “Who knows? Unless, you can find the right materials to make one yourself.”
‘Me… Make something?’
Uchiha seemed to have heard the unspoken thought and gave a small smile.
“It’s up to you,” he said as he looked up into the sky. Harry recognized the look as being one of past reflection and decided not to ask what was on the other student’s mind. “My family was really keen on emphasizing a balanced individual. If we didn’t show signs of being specialized in anything, they made sure that we had more than enough skills in other fields to help support ourselves in the future. Apparently, carving art works and building instruments pays really well.”
He was about to ask how the other student knew something like that when it was so obvious that Uchiha was a skilled wizard, but then remembered how the Ravenclaw seemed to be so far away when they were literally a few feet away from each other.
‘What did you experience that makes you look so lost?’
“Is it hard?” Harry broke in after a few minutes of contently listening to the wind rustle against the grass and leaves. Uchiha frowned a little as he closed his eyes.
“In a way, I suppose,” he said after a while. “I personally wouldn’t be able to tell you. If people weren’t capable of becoming outstanding shin- wizards, then they were considered a disgrace to the family name. Even though my uncle was really good at his job, he was considered somewhat of an outcast to the rest of us.”
‘It sounds like the Slytherins and their obsession with the purity of their wizarding blood.’
It made Harry wonder why the boy had been chosen to be Sorted with the Ravenclaws when he had traits that belonged in the other House as well. A voice in the back of his mind piped up at this train of thought.
‘Am I any different?’
Thinking back, it made the Gryffindor question just how accurate the Hat had been when it had made that decision almost six years ago. What if there were others who could have fit into two or more Houses, but because of some piece of fabric had been herded into one corner of the school? Would he himself have done any better if he had chosen to don the silver and green colors?
“How much would they cost if I want to buy one instead?” Harry asked as he tried to break out of his train of thought. No use of thinking about that now… Uchiha didn’t seem to notice the slight lapse in time.
“It depends. I know that my uncle’s flutes would have sold for more than,” Uchiha paused here. “Three hundred thousand En.”
“That sounds like an awful lot of money,” Harry commented as he tried to guess how much money that would convert to. What was the rate of yen to pounds? Or better yet, to Galleons? “I don’t know if I can figure out how many notes I need for that.”
“Betsuni,” Uchiha replied. It took him a moment to realize that that didn’t come out in English.
“Um…”
“Gomen,” the Ravenclaw said as he pointed to the castle in indication of excusing himself.
“Translation charm starting to wear off?” Harry asked. The other boy nodded, and Harry took this as a sign that their conversation was over.
“Ja ne,” Uchiha said as he waved goodbye.
“I’ll see you around later then?” Harry asked as the figure disappeared into the castle.
---------
“What was that for?” a figure said from above as the genin walked through the front doors.
“I was only trying to keep a better eye on him,” Sasuke said as he kept walking down the hallway.
“But then you’re going to be spending an awful lot of time around that kid.” The voice came from one of the upper corners of the corridors. The genin figured that the other person was currently standing on the ceiling.
“What about it?” the Ravenclaw asked as he turned to go towards his dormitories.
“It’s troublesome. What if you’re in the middle of that and something happens?”
“I’ll figure something out,” Sasuke said as he looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he jumped onto the wall and started running sideways.
“You’d better, otherwise we’re in for a lot of trouble,” Shikamaru said as he slipped into the shadows and disappeared from view.
----------
Hogshead pub. A safe haven for all those looking for a nice, quiet place to settle down for the evening for a good drink or two. A place where all those running from their spouses could go to when looking for a shelter to wait out the storm. The perfect hideout for shady dealers and other suspicious activities going about at Hogsmead.
Kakashi was here for reasons number one, three, and two. Yes, reason number three especially, though he supposed that the second option would do him some good in order to buy him more of a cover if he played it well enough.
Other people sat about the bar, milling about as they waited for their drinks to be served. Kakashi sat by himself on a dimly lit table near the corner of the room, sipping his own butterbeer contemplatively. He was waiting for his contact who was supposed to have shown up a quarter of an hour ago. Well, he supposed that sitting like a miserable fool didn’t hurt his image any more than it would have had the other inhabitants of the room caught wind of who he really was. But still, that didn’t prevent idiots from acting like… Well, idiots…
Nearby, to his two o’ clock, was a group of strangely dressed people who were obviously not native to the lands. They reminded Kakashi of people who were desperately trying to mimic the latest fashions but failed miserably somewhere along the way. One of them was twirling a sharp knife around his finger while sipping at a small glass of water.
“And then, you know what I said?” another said with a slur as he downed the rest of his Fire Whiskey. “I told that sonuvabitch to get lost before I decided to kill him and his family.” He took a swig from his jug and hiccupped. “And -hic- you know what he did?”
The company crowded around the storyteller as he dramatically lowered his voice.
“He tried to fight back!” the man yelled after he caught everyone’s attention. The rest of the table save the man with the twirling knives joined the drunken man in a collective roar as he slapped his leg with his free hand and pounded the table. The others followed suit in raising more noise with bouts of heavy laughter.
Kakashi proceeded to ignore the rowdy table and turned his attention back to his drink. A sudden draft made him dart his visible eye towards the entrance as he sensed something enter into the building. After a moment’s glance, he decided that it wasn’t the person he was looking for. But something about the new figure made him wary, so the jounin decided to keep an eye on him.
The group of rowdy individuals was still talking. Noticing their unusual attire, the stranger made his way towards them. He stopped when he stood in front of their table, as if waiting for them to acknowledge him in their midst. They didn’t pause to greet the newcomer, but instead continued on as if the stranger had no part in their conversation.
“Are you Yohsuke Nishida?” the figure finally asked underneath his hooded robe after he had tired of waiting silently.
“That’s Nishida-san to you,” the drunk man replied as he took yet another large helping of alcohol into his system. The hooded man took this as an invitation and lowered his voice to an almost whisper.
“The Dark Lord was wondering if he could entice you to join his servic-”
“I’m on vacation,” the man who was presumed to be Nishida interrupted. “Tell your boss to go suck his own dick.”
The stranger bristled.
“Fool!” he hissed. “Don’t you know who the Dark Lord is? I could kill you right here for such impu-”
And before anyone could react, the man fell hard to the ground.
“Stupid wizards,” the man with the knives said. Kakashi noticed that he had a few less knives spinning around his fingers. “Going up against them is like an insult to our skills.” The man sat down after retrieving the ones that had punctured the hooded man.
“What did you do that for, Nishida?” the drunken man who had been talking with the wizard said. Kakashi saw that this man was clearly not drunk anymore. Had it all been an act?
“And you, Inoue,” the knife-wielding man said with just a hint of disgust in his voice. “You were supposed to just accept his proposition before things got out of hand. Even if he got us mixed up.”
“I could have taken him on!” Inoue yelled in return, jumping out of his chair in a challenge of authority.
The first man sneered as he wiped his knives clean of the blood.
“You are only considered a chuunin in our ranks,” he said as he inspected them one last time. “Remember your place. Go back to acting drunk.”
Inoue clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood before slamming back into his seat and picking up his drink in earnest. Kakashi sighed and rolled his eyes as the two shinobi who had been trying to blend in with the English community were joined by their other two companions. The crowd that had gathered at that table before for the storytelling was dispersed by this point due to the hooded man’s interruption (and death).
“Let’s go,” one of the four said. “Our clients do not like to be kept waiting.” And with that, the four shinobi left, leaving the infamous Copy-nin all to himself in that quarter of the building.
If this Inoue person was considered a chuunin, did that make Nishida a jounin? If so, then these shinobi were vastly under trained and experienced to be sniffing out his genjutsu anytime soon. After all, even Sakura as a genin had seen through his guise after she had gained the skill to do so. Of course, it helped if you knew what to look for and had a legendary San-nin guide you…
Just then, a haggled looking woman walked in with slumped shoulders carrying a broom and a tattered purse.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow in mild amusement and surprise.
That, was certainly an interesting costume for his contact to come in. Well, he supposed it was no better than his own. To all others, Kakashi looked to be a wrinkly old man with gray hair wearing a bundle of rags that had been sown together.
The old hag sat down across from him and handed him a piece of paper, frowning at him as she did so.
“I hope you never return until you get these groceries picked up,” the woman said with clear disdain in her voice.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get it done,” Kakashi slurred as he tried to brush her off with a wave of his hand.
He tried to reach for his glass of butterbeer but the hag slapped his hands with her weapon. Kakashi rubbed his hands where they stung, feeling the blood pound in his veins where red marks appeared on his skin.
“Goddammit, woman!” he yelled a little too loudly. The other people in the bar turned to look at what they had assumed to be a normal elderly couple. “Can’t you ever leave me in peace when I’m trying to drink!?”
His ‘wife’ decided to drag him out of the pub at this point.
“You can’t get anything done when you’re getting dead ass drunk! Hurry on up and get out of this place!”
The other married men gave Kakashi sympathetic looks as his presumed wife proceeded to haul him with almost inhuman strength. Kakashi decided to play the drunkard husband a little more and made it hard for the woman to carry him through his staggering.
When they had finally made it outside and walked in the direction of the Shrieking Shack, Kakashi dropped his genjutsu. The old hag did the same.
“By George, you’re as heavy as an ox and as stubborn as one too!” ‘she’ said in a hoarse voice as the female attire was transfigured back into male clothing.
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Dung,” Kakashi replied as he flexed his fingers. Cripes, his hands still stung.
Dung flashed him a smile.
“Well, this is the only info I could get around the circles. They say that there’s been surges of dark magic performed around this area. Most of the folks I know are too afraid of reporting to the Ministry because of their track records though, so it almost never gets released to the people who need it. And most of the people in the Order don’t trust my sources anyway.”
Kakashi looked down at the ‘shopping list’ from earlier.
“I’ll look into it,” he said while he pocketed the paper. “Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.”
Kakashi gave the other man a small bag that made a jingling noise in return.
“No problem. Just call me again if you need anything else.”
“Will do.”
And then Dung Apparated out. Kakashi then looked around, and seeing no one else around, teleported himself to a nearby treetop. He recalled the contents of the information to mind.
“Riddle Manor,” he said out loud in a quite voice. “Dead bodies found near area. Flashes of ominous light. Chants and secret meetings. Coincides with phases of the moon.”
This was going to be an interesting stealth and infiltration mission.
To Be Continued…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author’s Notes:
1. Flute: I’ve planned the flute part for a reeeeeeally long time. It was inspired by one of the manga covers, I think. It’s been so long, that I don’t remember which… But I think it was one of the chapters earlier on in the series.
2. Expression: “curiosity skinned the kitten’s tongue in a bag” - was a spin-off on “curiosity killed the cat,” “more than one way to skin a cat,” “cat got your tongue,” and “cat in the bag.” Sasuke’s charm happened to combine all four together, which resulted in an interesting phrase.
Houses: Okay, okay. Last time I talk about this subject, promise. First off, thanks to all the guys who understood why I made the houses the way they are. Sometimes it takes a good reader to truly comprehend what’s going on; all the little stuff tends to go over people’s heads. Secondly, most of the people hit it right when they figured it was for the plot purposes. I mean, people have tried pointing out some of each person’s characteristics and why they would fit into a certain house, but they forget that over half the fanfics out there have very OOC Narutos and likewise. How many of you have read a fic where Naruto turns all angsty and decides to betray his village with the help of Kyuubi? I know I’ve stumbled across no less than ten within the last few months. Besides, I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. If you want to correct me, then please do so only after you find out where I’m going with all of this. Don’t shove your opinionated ideas into my face; it’s called artistic license. Everyone interprets things differently, so please don’t try to argue over whose interpretation is correct or whatnot because that just discourages me from continuing on. And I’ve even warned people in previous chapters that they might not like what I was going to incorporate here due to the fact that I’ve decided to make this slightly AU. I’ve already mentioned in the first chapter that this wasn’t going to be strictly following canon.
----------
Cheers everyone! Today is the second anniversary since the beginnings of IWoTA here on FFN! And with the exception of possibly one or two other discontinued fanfics out there, I believe it’s the first NRT/HP crossover?
Hmm… This chapter was a little easier to write than the others because I’ve had the flute part in mind when I first started this story. And now, exactly two years after it’s beginnings, I finally get that part done. Haha… Plus the concept of the prophecy was something that I always wanted to include as well. Of course, I don’t put down the prophecy in its entirety up here just yet. Coughthat’sbecauseIdon’thaveallofitplannedoutcough. Ahem! I mean, because that’s for me to know, and you to find out as the story progresses! Aren’t I evil?
And don’t forget to check my profile every once in a while for spoiler notifications! I’ll be working on the one for the next chapter, so hopefully I’ll get it done soon…
Spoilers for next chapter:
----------
Yatsuka Hikagi
07.I.06