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WaS Chapter 11

It was of no surprise to anybody that Dumbledore had called them up to his office later that day. It was of surprise, however, that he gratulated the Captain on his professional behaviour.

"The way you were totally surprised at that, " Dove chortled beside him. "Your chin would've hit the floor if you hadn't had your mask on."

"Yeah, yeah," Fox waved her of."Don't get too hyped on that, yo. He was always chiding us, before, so I really totally thought it would be like that this time around, too."

Dove pushed a fist to his shoulder. "Anything you want to change in actions, now?"

The hall was pretty empty, since all the students were at dinner by now.

Fox took a second to think through his answer. "Not right away, I guess. There is a lot for us to consider before we can just change plans now. We have known Umbridge would pose a problem the moment we set our eyes on her and Shikamaru and has calculated possible risks. Right now, nothing is worth risking our possible integrity over a minute change."

"Okay, but what about her detention with Potter? I can't be the only one getting a weird vibe from that woman."

"Well," he said with a lazy shrug. "I'm sure she won't kill him the first night. This is, after all, still a school."

"Didn't Mizuki try to kill you in Academy?" Dove deadpanned.

Fox send her a bewildered look."Uh, yeah, but that was kinda because he was a traitor. And it did take him a whole of six years to actually try something, first. Additionally, I guess he's dead now. Soo hey, no trouble."

They shared a small laugh at that. Both knew that even with them here, Dumbledore wouldn't risk potential harm coming to a student of his. Especially not harm done by a person like Umbridge.

"I heard tryouts for this Quidditch thing are later this week," Dove changed the direction of their talk. "I still have no idea what it's all about. Other than it is apparently all big and known around the world within the wizarding community."

Fox shrugged. "That's still more than I've heard about any of it."

Dove injected as much of a smile in her voice she could. "We can have a look if you wanted. Shika and Hanabi are invited by Professor McGonagall to join her, so…"

"And have Slug and Raven look over the school in the meantime? They won't be happy with that."

Dove pushed her shoulder to his. "As if that's ever been any consequence to you. Slug did complain about lonely nights before. It's her chance to see the school during daytime, at least."

He thought about that before answering her. "I'll talk to them tonight. Maybe this change of rhythm will be nice on them and us."

They arrived upon a busy Grand Hall with students whispering left and right. A look at the Head table was enough to gauge Shikas mood - what with his head nearly colliding with the backrest of his high chair. Fox could guess what all of it was about. It wasn't that hard to guess, either. The permanent whispering had dimmed prominently on their entering and had just gone back to steamrolling just across them.

Even after the timely arrival of Fox and Dove nearly every student in the hall was staring at Harry, talking about his shouting match with Umbridge. Some were even pointing at him. It came as no surprise to Shikamaru when he and his friends stood from the table, storming out. The whispers didn't stop after that.

"Potter probably relishes all the attention," Snape snapped over his goblet of wine. The potions master had watched Harry, just like Shikamaru had, with hawks eyes. It was strange to see someone close to Dumbledore behave in such a way towards the boy. Snape's frown was permanent, but the commentary – in such an unnecessary manner – threw Shikamaru for a loop. There were a hundred ways why Snape acted the way he did but most of them fell away at the second glance. There was a bitter rancor to his words, all personal hurt and anger. Probably something that happened in the past … and with the way Snape always kept to Harry's family name…

"I'm sure Harry is not responsible for his fathers' deeds," Shikamaru lightly commented, taking a bite out of the glazed carrot on his fork.

Snape glared at him. "What do you know of his faults – or that of his father?"

Shikamaru shrugged with lazy grace. "Nothing. I just wanted to know if I thought in the right direction. Obviously I did."

The potions master didn't answer but he didn't need have. Shikamaru knew what he needed to know. Grudges did tend to last as long as a lifespan. Sometimes even longer, like in his case.

Back home such a thing was normal, it was human, so why shouldn't it exist here as well.

Professionals, though, could work around that. Snape obviously could not.

"He is just like his father. Arrogant and egoistic."

Shikamaru looked to his left. "I can't say. I didn't know his father."

"I figured."

"So why tell me things that aren't true. As far as I've seen Harry Potter is quite regular, nothing exceptional."

"You're only a boy yourself," Snape glared.

"Mh. That's probably why I can say as much, Professor. I don't like talking very much, but has anyone told you the story of Kakashi Hatake, yet?"

Snapes goblet was raised to his lips again, the last drop of wine drained. "Moody told us of the father-"

"As a boy and even through his early childhood he had to fight with his fathers' history and death. He had to live with his fathers' deeds overlapping his own - however exceptional they were. He carried that on his shoulders for a very long time, even though he had never been responsible for any of it."

Snape shook his head. "Those situations are not comparable."

"I guess not," Shikamaru agreed easily. He let Snape mull over his words. Time was not always able to heal wounds and scarring never looked like the real thing anyway.

Their meeting that night was a short thing. Except for Potter's shouting match and usual school scuffles nothing exciting had happened during the day. It was only the very first day of school for the students. Most of them had run straight off to their common rooms to study or work on their task given to them by the professors. Only a handful had found themselves on the school grounds, especially since the weather handed picked up the whole day and the heavy rain was still pounding on the windows.

Fox was sitting on Shikamaru's table as per usual while the other two – Dove and Slug had taken the customary seats in front of it. Hanabi had been brought back to Hogsmeade and Raven was doing a last sweep of the school before night patrols were starting.

"Anything you want to discuss, Captain?", Shikamaru asked with a prominent yawn.

Fox shrugged. "Not really. I mean all of us know about what happened between Umbridge and Potter, I don't need to get into any detail there. Question is, what we can do about it right now? If we do anything at all."

"I wouldn't," Dove shifted in her seat. "I'd wait for bit longer, see what else she's cooking up. He has detention with her the whole week, right? Maybe he'll come running to us afterward."

"If he comes running to anybody it will be his friends," Shikamaru told them, searching for a spare cigarette in his breast pocket. "We ain't number one on his trust scale."

"We could be," Dove held firm. "Or at least that close a second that if we met him first after an event he would tell us what was going on."

Fox chuckled while shaking his head. "I don't think so. Not in time. We did have the time to talk this afternoon after he got out of his talk with McGonagall. He's curious about us, he might even tell a thing or two, but I don't think he'd ever come running intentionally."

"It's not a bad idea, though, is it?", Slug asked. "I'm not trained in any special arts concerning interrogation – not more than a standard Jounin – but it sounds like it might work with a fifteen-year-old civilian."

Shikamaru sighed. "Not taking that into account – any other things up for discussion?"

Fox shrugged, as did Dove. Slug, though, leaned forward.

"Are we going to go and sit in on any classes?"

"Uh, no, it's not planned. We wanted to keep the disturbance to the usual school business as minimal as possible. But if you really wanted to, I'm sure I can arrange something with most of the teachers."

Not with Umbridge, but he didn't need to say it out loud.

"Any ideas which ones you would like to have a look at, yet?"

"Uh, yeah. Herbology at least," she answered. "That would be great."

"I'll see what I can do," he answered, turning to Fox. "One with McGonagall for you? You were enraptured with her transforming the goblet for you."

"I'm sure my discussions and interests in the different branches of transfiguration would blow her lectures," Fox said. He scratched the back of his head, fingers running through his blond hair. "But I really wouldn't mind if she'd let me."

"I won't need anything, yet," Dove said as all eyes turned to her. "I'm happy with what the library gives me, at the moment. Plenty to read in the normal part and more than enough in the forbidden one. My head is swamped with curses and counter-courses all day anyway."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Just say the word and I'll see what I can do. Hanabi at least is free to join in on any of the classes at a moments notice, or so Dumbledore promised me when I asked him about it. I'll see what I can get done about you two...and maybe Raven as well while I'm at it."

Soon after the meeting was concluded with the guarding plans for the next two days and specific instructions – especially to Fox – not to aggravate Umbridge any further.

Ginny had thought that Hanabi would never warm up to her. Or even talk to her again after leaving Grimmauld Place. The train ride had been a wreck, Hanabi had stared out the window – and staring with her strange eyes looked really creepy – Shikamaru had slept and nobody had dared speaking to Hanabi at all. Not even Luna, who usually just said whatever she thought appropriate and whenever a situation presented itself.

Hanabi was angry most of the time. Angry but proud. Sometimes, back at Grimmauld Place, Ginny had been reminded of other students, usually from Slytherin, because they behaved the same. With what she knew of Hanabi's background it fit too, because the girl came out of a noble family. Youngest daughter of the Clan-Leader, never to rule. Ginny had nothing in common with Hanabi and yet she could understand what was going on in her head. She thought so at least.

When Hanabi willingly came to her on the morning of the second day, Ginny was more than surprised. The brunette plopped down beside her, silently munching on a dry toast and sipping hot coffee. Now that they were at Hogwarts, Hanabi could have gone to everyone, could have hid in her room or stuck to Shikamaru. Instead she had sat there with Ginny just before she had to run off to class.

Hanabi didn't say anything, didn't even look at her once since sitting down. Somehow, though, Ginny felt like Hanabi's company might even be more enjoyable, now that they could effectively walk out of each others way if needed.

Over the course of breakfast Ginny chatted up with other friends, heard Ron's groan about the timetable from not too far away and craned her neck around to look for Luna at the Ravenclaw table. The moment she stood, Hanabi shot her the first look that morning. It wasn't the angry stare she usually featured, but a curious one.

"I have to go to class," Ginny said, even though she was pretty sure that Hanabi knew that. "I'll...I'll see you later?"

She instantly felt foolish about that idea. Hanabi surely wouldn't want to...it was probably only an incident that had landed the girl on the bench beside her -

"Sure. I'm probably at the library," Hanabi said, focusing her whole attention back to the mug of coffee in front of her.

At lunch Ginny did indeed find Hanabi at the library - somewhere to her far left she heard some cursing about potions..it really sounded like Ron -. Ginny needed to get an essay started because she didn't feel like doing anything tonight. Luna was with her, since they had shared the last class together and the blonde had decided to go along with her. Ginny didn't consciously look for the brunette, but passing the huge stack of history books was kind of impossible for anyone. Hanabi was frowning at a book about the goblin wars – Ginny knew the exact one, because the illustration on the far left corner was distinctive enough that even Professor Binns had one in his classroom.

When they found the volumes they needed for their own studies they sat down at Hanabi's table, unpacking their backs. Hanabi didn't greet them, she just scratched another note on a slip of parchment.

"Hey," Ginny piped up. "You remember Luna from the train, right?"

Hanabi glanced up at them, tired eyes blinking through a fringe of brunette hair.

"What are you doing, uh, beside reading up on history," Ginny asked her.

Hanabi sighed, rightening herself and stretching her arms. "Shikamaru gives me tasks to keep me busy and to learn about your world, your history and whatever he thinks might be interesting for me to know."

"Why?"

Hanabi shrugged, more open to answers than she had been in the whole weeks prior. "My trip here is to be part of my diplomatic studies, you know. Might be good to know why conflicts in your world developed different than they did in ours. Or the causes for such."

Luna's dreamy eyes slid from her already written text to Hanabi's face. "It must be hard not to have taken part in fighting while everyone else had to go to war."

Hanabi froze in place, her spine ramrod straight and her eyes round in surprise. Her mouth stood open, caught mid word. She caught herself after several seconds. "What? How do you -?"

Luna smiled at her, not answering.

Hanabi shook her head as if to clear it from fleeting thoughts. "You know what? Forget it." There was no snark in her words, just scabbed over soreness about the topic. It was like any kind of answer would have gotten around a reaction out of Luna, anyway.

They finished their tasks in silence, Hanabi even going so far as to join in on the occasional small talk they shared in between lines and lines of text. Ginny had to leave with Luna as the end of their lunch break drew near, essays not finished but close.

"See you at dinner," Ginny told Hanabi who waved a hand in return but didn't look up from her work. Ginny shrugged, leaving with Luna in tow.

Hanabi sighed when the girls had finally left her alone to brood over her 'homework', as Fox had tauntingly called it the night before. She didn't like written tasks like this. It reminded her more of the academy than it did anything else and she had never particularly liked that place. She'd always loved working with her father on her own physical training or, and she hated to admit it, tea ceremonies.

She dreaded what kind of tasks Shikamaru would think up for her. The books she had to find for this special one were bad enough. The stacks on her table were huge and she had only worked through so many of them in the last three hours.

"At least I'm not the only one stuck in this place."

"...finding the counter spell for a curse is mandatory for survival...curses you can not defend yourself against...being flayed alive...being turned inside out...urgh..." Dove grimaced. That was an image she did not want in her head. She may have seen a whole lot of shit in the last years and there was probably more to come in the next if she did take up on that position offer of Ibikis' but right now all she had wanted to read about was how the magic of curses affected the body in general, not specific situations and descriptions. Obviously she wouldn't find that in this book.

Dove sighed, turning another page in hopes of finding at least something that would guide her to the right passage – or book – or at least some kind of reference which she could further use in her search.

She nearly threw the book across the aisle when she saw the picture printed onto the paper. It made her curious all the same, though and she could not help but stare at it at least a little while longer. She marked it with a turned over corner, careful not to rip the apparently ancient pages apart. Maybe, on another day ….

Dove closed the book, putting it on the ledge of the window beside her. It joined four others of its kind, all of them old musty tomes taken straight from the restricted part of the library. Dove did not have to wonder anymore how they had gotten their place there. Each and every one of them was filled with the darkest tidbits of knowledge this world possessed about its magic. But none of them told her what she wanted to know. What she had wanted to find out since she had gotten her hands on the books in the private library at Grimmauld Place. Maybe it was only professional curiosity, maybe it was more than that. She updated Shikamaru regularly about her finds, or the lack thereof, but he was not as interested as she had thought him to be in the beginning.

Shikamaru was the most intelligent person she had ever known, but he was not interested in the theory of magic, it was not anything he wanted to study. Far from it, really. But Dove wanted to know it and she had seen Slug finger her books more often than not after she'd gone to bed and Slug was bored. Neither of them had found the solution to their problems.

Tsunade had never outright stated that she wanted to know exactly how things worked but either way she would be grateful for the knowledge. The theory of it could help medical practices in the future. Or whatever.

Doves' head clunked against the window frame, the cold from beyond seeping into her skull. She could hear the pitter patter of rain on the glass, like it had been for the past few hours. She would find how this stuff worked. Normal civilians called their techniques, however easy and bland magic sometimes, too. She couldn't imagine for it to be vastly different and she had voiced that idea of a concept before.

While Slug looked at the problem the same way she did – with a medical analytical mind and background – Fox took the theoretical way. She hadn't ever thought to even start where he had, had never once believed for him to come to such a conclusion. Fox had studied seals. Fox had mastered the art of drawing chakra from the very nature surrounding him. Fox had a vastly different view to these things than the two women had. It had shown Dove a very different angle of perspective of this and she had taken it into consideration the next time she took a book into her hand. She'd asked him to try and draw chakra from the nature here but he'd only shaken his head, not answering her with a strange smile on his face. Dove didn't know if he just didn't want to or if he couldn't do it in this world. It was a worrying prospect to say the least. She hadn't yet confronted him about it again, didn't mind if he took the time to at least try once or twice again if he found the time to for it, or the state of mind for it.

Dove took the stacks of books back to a table were Hanabi sat, studying up on the History of magic for a task Shikamaru hat thought up for her. The girls mood hadn't been in the clouds for days but at least she didn't look at anyone passing her like she wanted to murder them. Dove sat opposite her, watching the girl scribble down another note on a sheet of paper. She herself had never been truly studious during her academic years, but nonetheless she'd done everything to appease her parents. At Hanabi's age she'd been deeply implemented in her teamwork and training with her team. She didn't know exactly Fox had gotten Hanabi to stay away from home for a whole year. Quite possibly that his - maybe-maybe not intimate - relationship with Hinata had something to do with it.

Hanabi's hair looked more frizzed than it had been an hour and a half ago when Dove had hidden herself away in the restricted section. Her paper was filled to the brim with scratchy notes, her handwriting getting worse with every single one of them.

"So, anything special happening?" Dove quizzed her, reading the titles of Hanabi's books.

The girl just stared up at her, a still tolerable frustration barely visible in her eyes.

"No."

Dove grinned, not that Hanabi could see her. It was such a...Neji answer that she had to smile. She did miss the guy, really, even most people still barely connected her to him. They had not been in the same year at academy and their peer group had circled each others just so, but they had met each other often enough that Dove had fallen in love with Neji's rare jokes and absurd humor. He didn't want to amuse people, didn't want to make her laugh, her or anyone else, really, but maybe that was why it helped in dark and dreary days. She was often reminded of him after he had fallen. She had been at the graveyard in Konoha often enough to see Hinata there as well as TenTen and Lee. Everyone in the so called Rookie Nine (or Twelve however you wanted to count it) had cried for him or at least shed one silent tear.

Dove hadn't liked him one bit in the beginning but he grew on her quick enough, especially after he got hurt that badly on the mission to retrieve that idiot Uchiha.

Hanabi was his mirror image in a very strange way. She was his cousin, younger and faced with very different difficulties in life. But there were facettes of her character that were so similar to his that Dove could not begin to imagine how much it must hurt Fox to look at her. Or Hinata for that matter.

"You sure?"

Hanabi shrugged carelessly. "Sure. I'm still at it."

"I can see," Dove chuckled. "Have you gotten any further, yet?"

"I'm stuck in the middle ages somewhere..dunno...i don't really understand their way of thinking anyway."

Dove flicked through one of the books on the table, very strange illustrations crossing her way through it. "Mh..I know what you mean."

"Yeah," Hanabi responded with a smear of ink on the bridge of her nose. She threw her pen away before stretching and groaning. "I can't look at any more of this today. Can I do something else?"

Dove looked up at her. "Like what?"

Hanabi shrugged. "I dunno. Training, maybe. I do have to do my katas sometime soon, anyway or I'm losing my touch."

"Well, I can't teach you anything useful, at least not for your preferred way of fighting. We'll have to ask either Shika or the Captain, maybe even Raven. Amongst the three of them at least one should be able to help you stay in shape."

Hanabi stared at her. "You suggest I train with an actual ANBU agent?"

"You do know, that most of us are actually ANBU, right? I for one do not wear this mask just for blatant fun, Ms Hyuuga." Dove shrugged her blonde ponytail off her shoulder. It was freely swinging around mid back.

Hanabi didn't stop staring at her.

"What?"

"I..dunno. It's just..I know who the Captain is behind that mask and if he trusts you and the others I guess I should know you as well."

"You mean who we are in private?"

The brunette took a stack of books in her arms and stood from the table. "Yeah. He has quite a handful of people he trusts his back to but the way all of you...behave with each other, it is as if you belong at his side."

Dove took the rest of the books and followed Hanabi with a lazy gait. She didn't answer, waiting for Hanabi to finish her train of thought. They meandered through the halls in silence for a while, Hanabi looking at Dove from time to time. It was companionable. They reached Shikamaru's office soon after. Dove didn't enter with the girl, having to bring the books to Hogsmeade and follow up with patrols again.

Shikamaru might have noticed something by the way that Hanabi was quiet and she ducked her head when she noticed the look he was shooting Dove across the room.

Dove smiled at him, not that he saw that. She shrugged, showing him the books in her arms.

"Book run?", he joked when he noticed a similar stack in Hanabi's arms.

"Girl talk," she replied with a grin. "See you later, Shika. Bye Hanabi. Don't think too hard about it."