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Harry stared at the announcement board.
Hermione jumped in place, up and down at his side.
"Okay, but how is that relevant?" He asked.
"Think, Harry!" Hermione grinned. "Umbridge canceled the dueling Club, and Shikako has been pissed about it since then. Being petty about it and all. Possibly coaching the Twins into being menaces. And now she starts an History Club? Something Umbridge can't deem dangerous and that is as necessary as supplementary defense lessons since Professor Binns is about as useful as Umbridge as a teacher? She's up to something. Don't you want to at least see what it is?"
Harry sniffed and stared at the announcement board some more. He had his DA lessons to plan. This new club would take time...
"I'm game to at least see it." Ron agreed.
Well. Alright. It looked like Harry would be doing something on Wednesday evening.
"Hello everyone." Shikako grinned. She shot a jaunty wave at Umbridge fuming in a corner of the classroom that was almost full of curious Hogwarts Students. She had been right to assume that her being in charge of the Club would draw curious children after her dueling Club got disbanded. "Today, we will be talking about some foreign history. Is there anyone here who knows where I'm from?"
A few hands shot up. Students from the Ancient Runes classes. She waved at one randomly. "Japan!" The fifth year Ravenclaw answered.
"Correct. I am from Japan. And since this is a Club, not a Class, I decided to tell you about something entertaining for our first meeting."
She turned to the blackboard and drew the familiar Kanji for Shinobi 忍. It wasn't those she used at home, which was one who endures, due to the difference in roles that her ninjas had to this world's historical ones. Under the Kanji, she drew a shuriken, a kunai, and an Itai-ate.
"Can anyone take a guess at today's subject?" This question definitely favored Muggle-borns. They deserved to be allowed to shine from time to time, after all.
"Ninjas?" a young Hufflepuff guessed, before hunching and cringing like he was expecting to be ridiculed.
"Excellent!" Shikako grinned. "Yes, today's subject is ninjas. Or as I more naturally say, Shinobi." She wrote the traduction next to the Kanji, and then added = Ninja at the end, to make it clear. "Does anyone know what Shinobi are?"
"Not turtles?" A young Ravenclaw joked, drawing laughs from other muggleborns.
Shikako grinned. "You might be interested to learn that I actually did meet a ninja turtle. But it was nothing like the ones you think about. And an exception besides. We're an history Club, so of course, Ninjas, or Shinobi take us back to Feudal Japan. During the Edo period, which in this part of the world means about seventeenth century. True Ninjas, in essence. Is there anyone who can tell me the other most famous japanese figures of that time?"
This time, it was a sixth year Grifindor who raised her hand. "Samurais."
Shikako nodded and added the Kanji for Samurai 侍 on the Blackboard and it's English orthography next to it.
"Now, Samurais aren't the object of today's lesson, but they provide much needed context. If we were to compare Edo period figures to middle age European ones, Samurais would be Knights. They were respected. They had outstanding authorization to go most places armed or even armored, and most of them were considered alike to some kind of nobility. Samurais were Honorable. They had their rules and their code. A Samurai would rather kill themselves if they were defeated rather than live in shame. Shinobi... Shinobi were considered ruffians. Honor-less. A shinobi would do what was needed. They didn't shy from sticking a knife in someone's back rather than fight face to face. A shinobi would lie. A shinobi would poison. A shinobi would escape, a shinobi would demean themselves if it meant success in their mission."
Umbridge was starting to look thunderous. Shikako grinned.
"The thing is that while they weren't considered as honorable, Shinobi were on the whole more trustworthy than Samurai if you were a Lord. Samurais were know to rebel, or betray their Lords, while Shinobi, for all that they didn't overly burden themselves with Honor, didn't tend to do so."
"Why are you telling us Muggle History?" A Seventh year Slytherin asked snottily.
Shikako stopped, looked at the boy and then smiled. "What says this is exclusively Muggle history?" She asked back simply. "Can anyone there tell me the date of the international Statute of Secrecy?"
Once armed with the requisite 1689, she tilted her head. "And when did I say Ninjas were around?"
She saw the math go through their heads.
"So what says Ninjas were solely Muggle. Or that when Ninjas faded from memory to become nothing more than a legend at the end of the Edo period, it was only because peace set in."
The Umbridge boiled over and accused her of filling the children's heads with fancy tales and lies. "There is no evidences of what you're saying!" She growled.
"Wouldn't be much of ninjas if we left proof of our existence lying around everywhere for entirely different countries to find, would we?" Shikako asked innocently. As Umbridge kept saying she was lying and telling unfounded stories, Shikako nodded slowly. "Ah, sorry. I forgot that you knew Japan's secret magic societies better than me." She grinned.
The next day, History club got banned. Shikako started sneaking Muggle books on the first things fascist governments did (including banning history and books) to Ravenclaws she met. Soon after, the books in question got banned.
Such a shame that Umbridge hadn't left her the time to tell everyone at the Club that asside from Espionage and Assassinations, Ninjas also shone in sabotage and Psychological warfare. Umbridge was calling herself a fascist all on her own.
Once the children came back to school from their ill advised trip to the Ministery of Magic, Ron cornered her. "Are you really a ninja?"
"I never said I was. I never even said that Ninjas still exist to this day. One of the greatest talents of ninjas everywhere is lying with the truth, after all."