The Dangers of Reporters
On Monday, it was clear to the shinobi which of the professors actually listened. Bets were then placed on how long it would take other professors to understand, if they ever understood; the Nara even got to place bets which just made the whole thing even funnier.
All but the Nara wished the professor’s the best in ever trying to motivate a Nara.
Tuesday though when there was a glaring difference in cultures.
It was breakfast and the Hall was more than half full. It was when the owls came flying in, dropping off letters and packages, that Ino turned to Hermione and asked, “You read that almost every morning, what is it?”
Hermione looked up slightly startled, but she glanced back down at the Daily Prophet and held it up for the shinobi to see, “It’s a newspaper. Even if some of the journalist are lying gossipers.”
At once, both Ino and Chouji looked towards Shikamaru, who was sitting up for once though slouched and had half-lidded eyes. “Don’t look at me, I don’t know what that is either.” Shikamaru finally mumbled.
“Is it a wizard thing?” Chouji then asked Hermione again.
There was an awkward silence as Hermione answered, “Actually, almost every country has newspapers and journalist.”
The shinobi glanced at each other but none of them looked like they understood. This made Hermione narrow her eyes slightly in suspicion; she had been telling the truth, almost every country had journalists at minimum. She had initially thought that they were just from Japan with how their language sounded, but apparently it might not be Japanese. She had been so sure it was Japanese though, especially with a few words she recognized.
“So, what are journalist?” Ino finally powered on after the silence went on for a few more seconds.
Harry was also looking at the shinobi, but mainly in curiosity. Ron was more focused on food and they weren’t trying to engage him, plus he had started getting into the habit of tuning out when Hermione and Ino start talking to each other.
Hermione still looked suspicious but tried to explain, “They are like writing investigators. They go around and report anything news worthy to the general populace.”
Ino looked like he slightly understood, while Shikamaru looked more awake. “You give the general populace that knowledge?” Ino asked.
“Well yes, if something happens, either nearby or country wide, or even internationally, the people have a right to know. Even if it is something unpleasant, and sometimes even secret, journalists will try to share it.” Hermione stated now with a slightly passionate undertone.
Chouji and Ino looked uneasy at the thought while Shikamaru was sitting up, her eyes sharp and attentive. “So, these journalists can just say anything?” Shikamaru asked.
“Well yes. But usually, journalist try to be as truthful as possible with evidence. But there are some journalists, like Rita Skeeter, who just posts anything that will make people read what they wrote.” Hermione started a little hesitantly but turned to slight anger at the mention of Rita Skeeter.
“So, what happens when they print lies?” Shikamaru asked, much more attentive than usual.
“Well, I suppose, you hope that the other journalists reporting the same thing will actually tell the truth. And usually, journalists can respond to other journalists relatively quickly.” Hermione said a little more hesitant now that she was actually thinking about this function.
“But that takes time to spread, and by then the lies could be believed by hundreds. And then what if those people never follow up and see information that says otherwise and thus only believe the lie?” Shikamaru asked while taking her hands out of her pockets and on the table.
“Then I guess those people will believe what they read, which would be a lie.” Hermione admitted.
Ino and Chouji both looked alarmed at the idea. Shikamaru just looked serious with her eyes sharp with intelligence as she seemed to scrutinize Hermione and the paper she was holding more.
Hermione squirmed a little under the scrutiny, it felt heavy and judgmental. “May we borrow that? I want to show the older trio.” Shikamaru finally asked after a second of silence.
Hermione tried to give a smile but it felt weak as the air was charged with something heavy and dark. Still, she handed the newspaper over.
The air had changed enough that people surrounding the 2 trios were shooting them looks. Harry had been looking back and forth as Hermione explained; Hermione was the smartest and thus could explain the best. It was also so heavy that Ron had immediately paid attention to the conversation when Shikamaru started to look awake.
Shikamaru got up immediately and started to make her way to where the older trio were sitting with Snape. The Golden Trio exchanged uneasy looks; they hadn’t been expecting that type of reaction.
Chouji gave a smile, but it was slightly tense on the edges, and Ino smiled. Ino’s smile was completely normal, but there was a warning on an instinctual level that everyone should not draw the blonde’s attention; Harry internally wondered if it was a Yamanaka thing as he was vividly reminded of the first time a smile like that was directed to him.
“Let’s get to class before we are late.” Chouji finally chirped but his eyes were hard.
“But what about Shikamaru?” Harry couldn’t help but ask as he rushed to get up and away from the almost oppressive atmosphere.
“She’ll catch up eventually, plus it’s only History of Magic.” Ino pleasant replied as the warning seemed to recede.
The wizards rushed a little to catch up with Ino and Chouji. The further they got away though, the more the atmosphere seemed to lighten thankfully. Just before they completely left, Harry glanced back to where Shikamaru was.
The serious look on all the foreigner’s faces caused all the alarm bells ringing in his head, and he never wanted those looks directed at him.
Harry quickly turned around and started a conversation with Ron about Quidditch, which then turned into an explanation to Ino and Chouji. Hermione had also shaken off her unease and was interjecting with historical facts like always, and the golden trio just relaxed back to normal.
But none of them forgot the foreigner’s reactions, and in the back of their minds, an instinctual seed of danger was planted.
The older trio didn’t quite know what to expect when they saw the atmosphere change around the younger trio, followed by Shikamaru getting up and making her way to them, her posture straight and her eyes open and attentive.
But they had immediately quieted down and focused their sole attention on the approaching girl. “I think this is something you need to know Commander.” Shikamaru said softly but strongly in their native tongue.
She handed them the paper she was holding which Shikaku accepted with utmost seriousness. This wasn’t his daughter in this moment, this was a fellow shinobi finding something alarming and reporting to a superior.
She turned to Inoichi and made eye contact and he skimmed her thoughts. His face hardened though with whatever he saw and he indicated that they should go somewhere secure. Inoichi then projected the thought of the shared common room where they were sleeping into his companions’ head.
Shikamaru nodded and almost instantly slouched her posture, but her eyes remained focused and attentive as she lazily made her way out of the Hall.
The elder shinobi also relaxed subtly, but were now hyper focused on their surroundings and the people around them. “Come on, I saw this interesting book on creatures that I think you would like.” Inoichi finally said almost cheerfully in English.
Shikaku huffed and groaned a little as he got up while Chouza just smiled, amused at their antics.
“You’re as bad as your daughter.” Inoichi pointed out playfully as they made their way out of the hall and towards the rooms.
The elder Nara shrugged his shoulders, it wasn’t a lie.
As soon though as they were in their room, guaranteeing that the door was completely shut, they lost their easygoing aura as they found Shikamaru sitting on the floor, posture straight.
All of them were serious when they sat across from the sole girl. “Report.” Shikaku almost demanded in their native language.
Shikamaru stared at him for a second before holding out her hand and confidently responding in their native language, “I think it would be better if I just showed you.”
Shikaku searched his daughter’s face before tipping his head in agreement. Inoichi immediately reached out and took Shikamaru’s hand in a firm grip, while his teammates put hands on his shoulder.
It took mere seconds before they were all pulled into the memory as Shikamaru was actively concentrating on it.
After a minute, all of them blinked as the connection broke. The elders looked grim though, Shikamaru simply dropped her arm.
“You are free to go, act like nothing has occurred, and if you encounter any…journalist, you immediately but discretely leave.” Shikaku finally told her.
Shikamaru gave a nod of her head before she smoothly stood up. It was almost like a switch flipping as she immediately went into her slouched position, hands in pockets, eyes half-lidded.
With a yawn, she lazily left the room.
The adults merely moved positions slightly so they were all looking at each other, and then entered into a mental conversation; no need to have a physical one where someone might overhear.
This provided a problem though; not only could misinformation be easily spread, but shinobi were supposed to not exist in general. The general populace of the outside should never know about shinobi, it was bad enough that some wizards knew about them, not counting the wizards that knew about them specifically.
Before it had been easy to misdirect and lie about their home and past. But if there was now a possibility that whatever they said was spread to the masses, this changed the whole game. They would need to actually iron out their stories so nothing could be picked up from anything they said.
This tournament already put a spotlight on them a little for Hogwarts and the other foreigners, but these were secluded masses currently. Now there was the possibility of information about them leaving their current bubble.
With their names they should be fine, with how much time they spent in the outside, especially meeting with Severus, they had time to build up actual stories. Shikamaru had the easiest time as she had a birth certificate also naming her an Evans. But the rest of the younger trio didn’t currently exist. This could prove to be a problem if anyone decided to look them up.
All their information was stored in Japan as that was the nearest access point to the outside, and where the cultures were most similar. So, they could pass off as Japanese easily, customs and language were similar enough.
The biggest downside though was now there were 3 civilians that knew the shinobi didn’t know what journalists were. It had been an innocent question mostly out of curiosity, but now held a much deeper implication.
When Shikamaru had returned during the middle of History of Magic, she was no longer attentive and almost immediately fell asleep as soon as she sat down. The unseen tension in Ino and Chouji fully dropped; if Shikamaru was acting normal and unaffected, so were they.
But Hermione now had a mystery in how they grew up not knowing about journalist. Harry was mainly just curious of where they were raised, especially if things go his way, he’ll hopefully be living part time with them. Ron just thought the foreigners were weird but didn’t give it extra thought.
Everything was back to normal almost instantaneously to the point that the mystery was forced to the back of Hermione’s mind as more homework was assigned. Harry was still curious, but he had the common sense to not ask anything yet, plus he didn’t even know if they had power to affect his living situation.
Then it was Friday. The shinobi were running late as over the past couple of days, they had been intensely ironing out their stories and what information they could and couldn’t give away.
A bright side to this though was that Tsunade’s response had arrived Wednesday morning.
In her response, she gave full approval for them staying, but assigned them to also gather and even buy as much information as they could about the outside world, both magic and non. There were separate letters for everyone from main family members which was nice. The most noteworthy thing though was that storage scrolls had been sent which means that the shinobi weren’t jut relying on their emergency supply.
The storage scrolls were relatively complex, so many things were sent as it was inferred they would be there until the end of the school year.
One of the things that surprised Shikamaru that she saw included was the Nara beads.
Nara beads were special made hair beads that not only strengthened their ties with the shadows, they were also blessed for protection and healing. And as soon as Shikamaru was able to, she cast magic on all the beads in the clan to add more protection in general, but mainly from magical attacks.
The number of beads depended on a couple of factors, but every Nara had 1 customized bead. That bead was only ever worn by that Nara, though the general beads could be worn by any of the Nara.
One of the key components for the number of beads was the strength the Nara had to the shadows in general along with circumstances. During war, not only would they wear their custom beads, but they would tie in 2 or more depending on what they were doing and their strength.
Yoshino had sent Shikamaru’s custom bead along with 3 others which was a bold statement. 1 to 2 was normal for just missions in general, it rising to 2 or more only during war. 3 was for those with a strong strength to the shadows, but would also require the extra protection that each bead gave. Shikaku had worn his custom bead and 3 others during the war, even adding a 4th once.
Shikamaru fingered her custom bead in her hand; apparently her mother had gone specifically to the alpha pair and asked them what number of beads Shikamaru should have. Normally the alpha pair didn’t even consider interacting with a non-Nara, but for the sake of not only the head, but the heir, they were willing to interact with another Nara as a between.
And apparently the alpha pair had chosen 3 for her and 2 for her dad.
Not only the number was startling, but it was startling that they were sent. Well, after reading the letter Shikamaru supposed that them being so far from home and in hostile territory did warrant Nara beads. They were usually used only during war, during extremely difficult missions, or even just for ceremonies where every Nara just wore their custom bead.
Not even the Ino and Cho part of the trio knew about the beads. Every once in a while they would see a Nara wearing them, but the Nara were very restrictive on who knew what they were. Even Inoichi and Chouza only vaguely knew they provided protection, and that was only because they saw it in action during the war. Outsiders didn’t even know about the custom beads, they looked all the same until you got close enough, and a Nara would never let someone get close enough to really study the beads to that extent.
Shikamaru internally debated if she should wear them constantly or only during the tasks. The fact that 3 were sent though was a loud thought in her mind. She decided on wearing her custom bead and 1 regular bead, only adding the other 2 for tournament tasks.
She glanced up and quickly located her dad who was going through the extra supplies that was sent. He glanced up when he felt eyes on him and quirked an eyebrow in question. Shikamaru just held up one bead, and understanding dawned in Shikaku’s eyes.
His eyes softened slightly as he gave a slight nod before going back to the supplies, though he did catch a genuine smile on the edge of her lips.
The best thing that had been sent for the younger generation though was warmer clothes. As a gennin, shinobi were allowed to wear custom clothing, becoming more generic when they were a chuunin. Shikamaru had slowly been transitioning between her custom clothes to standard clothes but still kept some things like her mesh shirt under her vest.
With this though, she eagerly put on the jacket before returning the vest to its proper place. It was so cold here that she couldn’t even really doze off if she was outside, didn’t stop her from trying though.
Though now it was slightly awkward in that it was very clear that Chouji and Ino didn’t own chuunin vests while Shikamaru did. Shikamaru did see Ino frown slightly though when he noticed the chuunin vest thing and Shikamaru quickly focused on others before it might start a fight.
Even with Ino trying, when Ino got upset, he reverted back to what was usual. Though he did usually stop himself when Shikamaru started to shut down but even then, sometimes he went on.
The main incidents were of course in their native language without the dads being present but Chouji was starting to step in more frequently because he felt he would finally be heard. Though, when Ino looked like he was about to steam roll the Akimichi, this is when Shikamaru started to shut down which then got Ino to usually stop himself.
At least it was something. But Shikamaru being the only chuunin in their entire class was a rather sore subject. Chouji was also slightly upset at not making chuunin, but he never viewed it as a negative thing for Shikamaru.
Shikamaru really didn’t want to start a fight, it was already tense enough with yesterday’s revelation.
She couldn’t help but notice that she looked even more like her dad with the jacket now on.
Yoshino was always trying to get Shikamaru to be more feminine, so she had sent a variety of clothing for Shikamaru to wear. Considering the clothing and that Shikamaru was just going to wear the standard jacket for now on, maybe it was time to decide to change her outfit. Eh, she’ll figure it out later, it wasn’t a pressing matter.
Back to the wizards though, the shinobi weren’t currently there. So, when they did show up, it was to Harry and Ron having detention, and Hermione was forced to the hospital wing.
Shikamaru literally just looked at Harry and commented, “This better not be a regular thing.”
Harry sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as Ron was trying to make eye contact to tell Shikamaru that it was a regular thing. Shikamaru just slouched further while Ino snorted.
They hadn’t even started when there was a knock on the door and a younger Hogwarts student entered.
Snape leveled an unimpressed look at the kid and the kid managed to quickly announce he was here to pick up the youngest Evans for the weighing of the wands.
Shikamaru did nothing more than merely raise an eyebrow at the declaration and wondered if they even knew her actual name. Actually, they might be able to use that, if the populace only knew her as the youngest Evans, that might add some protection to the shinobi, definitely a thought to consider.
“Alright lead on.” Shikamaru drawled as she stood in front of the kid.
The kid stared wide eyed at her for a second before quickly walking away with Shikamaru barely behind him.
The kid kept glancing at Shikamaru throughout the journey. She had only changed slightly in that the mesh part of her shirt was on her wrists and forearms and there was mesh on the skin part from the bottom of her pants and top of her boots.
The most interesting addition though was Shikamaru now had some braids intertwined with beads that was all pulled up into her normal pony tail. No one really knew how or where the beads had come from and the populace were insanely curious, but Shikamaru would just stare at them with a bored expression until the person would awkwardly walk away.
Though relations started to become a little tense between Ino and Shikamaru and Ino would sometimes get on Shikamaru before he kind of stopped himself. The general populace never knew what was said because it was in their native language, but the tone of voice made it a reprimand at minimum.
Sometimes Chouji would get involved and that’s when it did get tense because Ino might turn his ire on the kind boy which in turn actually made Shikamaru upset. But usually, Ino stopped before actually going after Chouji and there was just an awkward silence before they branched out in conversation, back in English.
The kid quickly gave a “Good luck!” before Shikamaru entered the room.
Shikamaru lazily took in the room before spotting her father, slouching against the wall. Though, his eyes were sharp with intelligence and were calculating, so something else was going on. “Ah, here she is! The fourth champion! Come in we are just doing the weighing of the wands ceremony-“
To be honest, at this point, Shikamaru just zoned as the man prattled on about what they were doing as she leaned against the wall with her dad.
Shikamaru immediately started listening though when she felt a shift from her dad, in time to hear, “This is Rita Skeeter, she’s doing a piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet.”
And now it made sense why the elder Nara got Shikamaru to start paying attention; they were just recently worrying about journalist, and here was one that was known to print nothing but gossip.
“Can I have a word with the fourth champion before we start, to add a big of color?” Rita immediately piped up.
Shikamaru stared deadpan at the woman and before Bagman could answer, quickly stated, “No.”
Bagman floundered slightly at the immediate rejection. “Well, she doesn’t seem willing to..”
“Ah, but we could include her guardian, that should be better, right?” Rita tried again, giving a wide grin that she was probably hoping was enticing.
Shikaku basically mirrored his daughter and clearly stated, “No.”
“Can I at least know the name of the fourth champion?” Rita finally forced out, though people could tell she wasn’t happy at being denied.
“As far as you need to know, I’m the youngest Evans.” Shikamaru drawled confidently and took her hands out of her pockets to cross her arms over her chest.
The people in the room could almost clearly hear Rita grinding her teeth, but the smile surprisingly stayed as she took out a parchment and an acid green quill. As soon as she had sat it down, it started immediately writing. “Well then, I can just ask a few questions here. I use a Quick-Quotes Quill, it frees up my attention, of course you wouldn’t mind.” Rita clearly stated as the quill went racing across the page, but giving them no option in actually refusing.
The other people in the room were silently fascinated at the intense show down between the Nara and the reporter. But before Rita could even get started, Dumbledore walked into the room followed by Mr. Ollivander.
Rita immediately honed in on Dumbledore and immediately commented, “I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards’ Conference?”
“Enchantingly nasty, I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat.” Dumbledore replied before gesturing at Mr. Ollivander.
Rita didn’t even look abashed.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow slightly at the comment and this reinforced her decision to not be alone with the woman.
Mr. Ollivander looked exactly the same as Shikamaru had last seen him. Though, there was a mischievousness in his eye that she didn’t trust as she vividly remembered his statement of causing headaches.
He quickly went through the champions, each showing their wand worked properly. Before he turned to Shikamaru, “Ah young one, I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
Well, at least the man knew to be discreet with not giving away names at minimum. Dumbledore’s eyes were twinkling and the female Nara didn’t trust that fact.
She shrugged and commented as she stood in front of him, “I wasn’t expecting this either.”
Mr. Ollivander barked out a laugh and gestured to hold her wand.
The rest of the room were watching in fascination as the old wand maker seemed to come alive when interacting with the youngest Evans.
“Ah yes, my finest work…Elm and Hickory with a hint of a third.” Mr. Ollivander spoke while examining the wand.
He and the shinobi both knew he wouldn’t be able to use the wand as it was only wood. But might as well try to keep the ruse. The others were now staring at the wand, it was almost unheard of for 2 woods but to have a 3rd wood, this had literally never occurred.
“Oh, and what is the third wood?” Rita piped up from the corner she was in, her quill still writing frantically.
“It’s a wood that makes anyone else unable to use this wand but the owner.” Mr. Ollivander explained promptly before giving the wand back and gesturing at Shikamaru to do magic.
That was actually pretty smooth of the wand maker. Now others assumed the third wand made it unusable by others instead of it having no core. Shikaku had to internally tip his hat at the old wand maker, he might be having fun but he at least wasn’t giving vital information away.
Shikamaru had to stop herself from snorting in mirth at the wand maker’s blatant play. With a swish of her wand, she just had red wine shoot out of it. “Perfect condition I see.” Mr. Ollivander commented.
There might be a spotlight on Shikamaru for her wand, but nothing vital was given away, plus her name wasn’t said which was a given bonus. She knew her dad was smart enough to catch on to her plans of never using her true name around reporters and others.
Dumbledore started to dismiss them before Bagman cried out about photos. The Nara exchanged a quick glance before both coming to the conclusion, they would do everything to not be in that photo.
They both resolutely refused and the photographer was getting frustrated before he finally stated that fine, they didn’t have to be in the photos.
After that, the process went rather smoothly, though Rita was just staring at Shikamaru, the quill never stopping for a moment. Finally, they were allowed to leave, and the Nara were the first ones out the door though everyone else in the room swore they didn’t see them move. Rita’s eyes crinkled in anger as she was hoping they stayed around so she could get a photo or get more answers.
Shikamaru groaned as she sat at the table. Chouji patted her on the back in sympathy as she mumbled out, “It was all so troublesome.”
The Golden Trio just glanced at each other, but figured whatever it was, wasn’t that important. They would learn to regret not asking what Shikamaru had been doing the next day.