:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D…
I got 50 reviews…
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D…
I am so happy right now…
This chapter is dedicated to Jumpingbeans480, my 50th reviewer! Thank you all so much! (Continues :D-ing)
The next few days were spent in a panicky atmosphere. Students stuck together in tight knit groups of friends. People started distrusted others and the Slytherins even more than usual. But most of all after the attack on Mrs Norris and Draco Malfoy, no one trusted the three Suna Siblings.
"Urgh, I take back what I said in the dungeons! This is just freakin' frustrating!" Kankuro exclaimed. Only two days of the new treatment and he had snapped. "I mean come on!" a group of first years squeaked and scuttered out of the way of the puppet master and his equally dangerous sister.
"Calm down Kankuro." Temari scolded. "Do you want them to fear us even more? Isn't that what you were raving about in the first place?"
"Yeah I know but it's just so infuriating! First it's the Chuunin exams that get people in Konoha against us three, and now this! It's getting ridiculous." He sad gruffly. "Come on, we've got to get to training." He cut his sister off before she could say anything else, signalling the end of the conversation. Sighing, she waved away a stray bug buzzing around her head and followed her sibling.
--
Different reactions, however, were displayed at the other house tables.
"Hey guys!" Naruto happily marched up to his friends at the red and gold table, but not getting the same response. Ginny and Hinata were sitting together eating quietly, both looked slightly paler than usual. Kiba was seated next to Hinata preoccupied by Akamaru who was, like he had been for the last couple of days, shivering inside his owner's coat. Lee was also unusually quiet, just staring at his food with a glazed over look in his eyes. "Geez guys, who died?" The blonde asked sarcastically, causing them to flinch.
"Naruto-kun, now's not the best time to be saying that." Lee said quietly.
"Yeah Naruto, Akamaru's already scared out of his fur by this whole thing." Kiba commented, not taking his eyes off his puppy. Hinata didn't say anything, but continued looking as if she'd pass out at any second.
"Come on guys, what's there to worry about? Gaara didn't do this, and what ever else did we can take on and bring down!" Naruto exclaimed to his friends to no avail. "You guys believe Gaara didn't do it right? He's on our side now!" Things continued looking like a funeral parlour, so Naruto sighed in defeat and sat down to lunch and, like the others, still thinking about it.
I am sorry Naruto-kun, I want to believe your words but, Lee still remembered his battle with Sabaku no Gaara only a short while previously. His fists instinctively clenched, I got lucky last time, I shouldn't be able to walk now let alone fight.
Over at the Ravenclaw table, the ninja were having whispered discussions about what might have happened, not to mention badgering Shikamaru about the details.
"I already told you, there is a lack of evidence supporting the theory that Gaara did it, and we have no other leads!" the lazy brunette said under his breath to his teammates and comrades. They all knew it was a smart idea not to go yelling it about during breakfast.
"Naruto did change Gaara during the Chuunin exams, so it's not completely in his character." Sakura agreed.
"But he has been acting suspicious since we got here," Neji noted.
"Really, how so?" Tenten asked her team mate.
"He's been wandering around on his own a lot, and he looks like he's at war with his mind from his expressions. He looks troubled to put it simply, and this hasn't only been after the incident." Neji said, watching said teen through the back of his head.
"We should be on our guard from here on out." Tenten quickly whispered, closing the convocation as she saw Snape striding towards their table. All four quickly but subtly returned to their breakfasts just as the sneering face of Hogwarts potions master came past them.
The Hufflepuff ninja weren't nearly as talk active about the whole incident. Ino fell off her seat when the owl post came, something that she hadn't done since the first day, Chouji was eating faster and more than usual, which in itself was a feat. Shino was as unreadable as ever but maintained a secretly open ear to all the conversations occurring around him. He stared intently at a stray kikai bug perched on the end of his spoon handle and before beginning eating.
--
Sakura sat at the back of the second year History of Magic class as the ghost, Binns wasn't it?; droned on about warlocks and other things. As a trained ninja she was able to stay awake and alert during the entire lecture, but her mind it was all a bit stale, so she continued to read a copy of Hogwarts; a History that she had issued from the library about a week previously. It was a good thing she had because the recent attack and the writing on the wall had meant all of the other copies had been checked out in a mass frenzy. Shikamaru sat next to her, most 'shockingly', asleep.
He had attended every history of magic class he possibly could accounting all the training that the 'banshees' (AKA Sakura and Ino) had forced him into. They were the best places to have a nice nap and not be late for the next period, due to all the noise everyone else make when leaving the class.
Sakura was just about to doze off herself that lesson (being in a dorm next to the first year girls who screamed at every little thing does that to you) when something she heard piked her interest.
"…about the Chamber of Secrets,"
This question summoned many others out of their stupor as well though Sakura still had to jab Shikamaru in the ribs to wake him up.
"My subject is History of Magic; I deal with facts Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He droned in his usual wheezing voice before trying to return to his lesson, but Hermione wasn't going to allow him to do that, and neither were the ninja.
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?" the brunette persisted.
"And wouldn't knowing why this is simply a legend be beneficial for everyone later on in life," Sakura chimed in.
"As to help our judgement be able to distinguish the true from the false in future experiences?" Shikamaru finished Sakura's reasoning smirking. Not that it ever showed completely, but damn Shika thought he was good.
The professor faltered for a moment before regaining his composure. "We-ll, yes that would be quite true, but whoever could believe that ludicrous and ridiculous is beyond me…" he started muttering to himself under his breath, but looking around at the sudden show of interest he finally gave in.
"Oh very well, as most of you know, Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by four people…" Binns started as the pinkette started jotting down everything she could, which wasn't hard seeing how slow the professor talked. While she listened and noted the things he said, Shikamaru took note of what he didn't say, something he had always seemed to naturally do. One subject particularly intrigued him.
The horror within… the heir of Slytherin alone could control… some sort of monster… purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic… disliked taking students of Muggle parentage… believed them to be untrustworthy… There was a great bang as Shikamaru's head had an unscheduled and unrequired meeting with the desk, cause; reality hitting him, effect; the realisation that from the moment that they stepped through this castle doors this year, they had made an extremely powerful enemy.
--
"So why are we all back here again?" Kankuro asked bluntly. "And where is everyone else?" he questioned seeing the small group of only Sakura, Nara, Neji Hyuuga, that Tenten girl Temari fought, Uchiha, himself and his siblings, all of the ninja from Ravenclaw and Slytherin actually. The other's in the room nodded and murmured in agreement as Tenten locked all fifteen different locks on the door.
"Why are there so many?" she whispered incredulously while closing the final padlock.
"I like my privacy," Came the monotone reply. "Especially after the previous incident."
Tenten froze at the voice. "H-hai, gomen Gaara-san." She stuttered out before returning to her place beside her team mate Neji.
"All right, the reason you guys are here is because there are some things we need to talk about as a group so we're all on the same page." Sakura started. "And the reason not everyone is here is because is simply because I thought that the other's might not be interested or have anything valuable to contribute, e.g. Naruto is too loud, ditto with Kiba and Lee, Hinata doesn't really talk much and Ino is more of the person to just want the answers handed to her on a silver platter via Shikamaru, am I wrong to think this?" All remained silent. And I get to spend some time with Sasuke-kun without Ino-pig or Naruto-baka interrupting, she thought happily.
"Am I right to assume that you are talking about the whole 'Chamber of Secrets' deal?" Temari queried. Just like her brothers, Subaku no Temari didn't beat around the bush when it came down to matters to do with anything concerning her.
Neji nodded. "Haruno and Nara picked up some interesting information about it in History of Magic today. Aparentally the founder of Slytherin made it so that his heir could cleanse the school of those he thought unworthy to study magic,"
"Hn, sounds like something your clan would do doesn't it Hyuuga?" Sasuke muttered, smirking. Neji glared at the Uchiha before continuing.
"Basically anyone of non-magical heritage or anyone who isn't pure blood." He finished.
"And seeing as he was a Slytherin, his heir will most likely be a Slytherin but it's not completely impossible for them to not be." Shika noted. "And there's also supposed to be a monster in the chamber, also called the 'horror within.'"
"May I say I think it's going to be a snake or is that too cliché?" Kankuro butted in.
"I think that's what we were all thinking." Tenten said dully.
"Yeah, that thought was completely original Kankuro." Temari said sarcastically.
"Hn." Came the reply from both Sasuke and Neji in unison.
The next half hour consisted of general chat about the matter (though they didn't really have any more facts to go on) and a ping pong match of glares throughout the 'brick wall's of the group. The girls unanimously agreed to call it a night when the saw two of the fore mentioned fingering their kunai in their pockets. It was about nine o'clock when they had all reached their respective dorms, the Ravenclaw's full of questions from their house mates, with the previous conversation still buzzing in their heads.
--
He wore an annoyed expression as he stalked through the hallway towards his destination, the early morning sun flittering through the castle windows. Madame Pince gave him a disapproving stare as he entered but said nothing of it and let him pass into the musty room. As he approached the location he desired, he quickly looked around before inconspicuously and stealthily entering. Little did he neither know nor see a pair of chocolate brown eyes following him as he went…
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Damn this is late. Don't get me wrong, I still have the motivation to continue and eventually finish this story but I lack consistency. On this chapter I will freely accept flames about this lateness though I'd also like some feedback concerning the chapter itself.
He he, here's some more good news for ya, I'M GOING AWAY FOR A MONTH! Another long wait but will be taking a book to write this and other stories in while I'm gone and I vow to do at least one chapter in all the hours I'm gonna spend lying around, waiting at airports, flying in planes and sitting on ferries while on this holiday, though my goal is to do 2 or more.
Bah humbug. I'm still quite pleased with this despite the procrastination, though I could still do with making these chapters longer, and the PLOT is COMING.
In the mean time, see if you can guess who the figure is. Thanks for everyone who is still sticking with me and putting up with my BS including NinjaWizardFred, who I now love dearly for all her reviews!