Chapter Three: Diagon Alley
Harry walked into the Leaky Cauldron, followed closely by Kurama and Hiei. He noticed how empty it was, now that the streets were no longer safe. Not with Lord Voldemort back and killing. Tom the Bartender was dismally cleaning a glass at the counter, but his face cracked into a grin upon seeing Harry.
"Why, isn't it young Mr. Potter? How have you been?" Tom greeted enthusiastically, setting the glass down and walking out from behind the counter. "Would you like anything?"
"Err…actually, we just ate…" Harry said nervously, immediately feeling bad as Tom's face fell, "Has business not been going well?"
"Oh, it's been rather slow," responded Tom gloomily. "There's nobody that will stay at the inn nowadays. By the way, weren't you here a few days ago with Professor Dumbledore?" Tom had spotted Kurama and Hiei.
Kurama nodded. "Yes, I was. I don't believe we've met before. I'm Youko Kurama, Harry's uncle."
Tom looked astounded for a moment, and then the astonishment turned into merriness. "Well, well! What spectacular news! I'm pleased to meet you…yes, very pleased! We need more wizards supporting Harry Potter, especially in these dark times." Tom seized Kurama's outstretched hand and wrung it furiously. Then he turned his attention back to Harry. "I know I may not be much, but if you ever need me, I'll be right here. Long live Potter, eh?"
"Thank you…" Harry said gratefully. "I'd really appreciate that."
Tom straightened up. "Well, now! I must return to work…those glasses aren't going to clean themselves!" Tom shuffled off, leaving Harry, Kurama and Hiei to head to the back, where a brick wall and a run-over looking garbage can awaited them.
Hiei eyed the wall and snorted. "Such a meager defense system." He tapped the necessary brick, and the wall literally 'opened up' to show them a great view of a bustling alley, full of wizards and witches. Harry saw that there had been a considerable decrease in the amount of people there, but nothing else much had changed. He bounded joyfully into the alley. He was in his world now, and planned to enjoy every damn minute of it.
"Hiei, thank you for dealing with all this for the past five hours." Kurama said, turning to Hiei. "I appreciate it. Only a little bit longer now, neh? Could you stay with Harry while he purchases his things? I need to go pick up an order."
Hiei looked at Kurama impassively. "Knockturn?" He asked.
"You know me well!" Kurama laughed. He turned to his 'nephew'. "Here, Harry, I'll be gone for around an hour, but Hiei will be with you. I have something I must take care of. Go to Gringotts first; Hiei will take over from there…and then go get your robes. I'll be back before you're done in Madame Malkin's." Not waiting for an answer, Kurama purposefully strode off, quickly disappearing in the throngs of people.
Harry blinked. "Well…if you say so," he said reluctantly. He wasn't used to Hiei yet, and felt rather nervous around him.
Hiei sighed. He wasn't too fond of Kurama's descendant yet, but of course…over time, Hiei was fairly sure he'd start liking him more. For now…he would try to be civil. "What do I call you, Harry or Potter?" He asked. Then, he added; "Or both?"
"Uh…just Harry will be fine."
"Hn. Come. Harry." Hiei headed off in the direction of Gringotts. He only got a few metres, however, before he saw a blur of brown and pink flinging itself at Harry. It didn't seem to be too dangerous, and so Hiei didn't take direct action…but was ready in any case.
"Ouch! What the…Hermione! Get off of me!" Harry was yelling, though Hiei could detect the barely hidden glee in the wizard's voice.
"Yeah, Mione…you're going to suffocate him…" A redhead. Hiei thought his name was 'Ron Weasley'. So the other miserable human clinging onto Harry must be Hermione. Go figure. Hiei remembered the two from one of the two times Kurama had been unable to keep on eye on Harry himself. Naturally, he had asked Hiei instead.
Managing to push himself out from underneath Hermione, Harry straightened up and beamed.
Ron raised his eyebrows. "What's gotten into you, mate? You're all…shiny…"
"Oh, Ron, don't be ridiculous. It looks like they're finally treating you right, those horrible relations of yours. They actually bought you clothes! And a new pair of glasses! You look great, Harry." Hermione observed approvingly.
"Yeah…actually, it wasn't the Dursleys that bought me this stuff." Harry said. It was around there that Hiei got impatient, and pushed his way back to Harry.
"Harry Potter." He growled with annoyance lacing his tone. "You either come right now of your own free will or you can get dragged by me."
Ron and Hermione immediately took defensive stances against him, but Harry quickly stopped them from taking out their wands. "H-Hey, don't! That's my uncle's best friend!"
"Your uncle?" Hermione echoed. "That horrible fat man who met you at the station last year?"
Harry coloured a bright tomato red. "No! Not that uncle! My Uncle Kurama…he's the one that bought me all this stuff. From my dad's side…he's a wizard."
"What do you mean, uncle? You only have one of those, Harry." Ron said, looking confused.
Hermione, on the other hand, seemed to understand the situation right away. She let out a high pitched squeal and hugged Harry. "I can't believe it! You have a relation left living on your dad's side? I'm so glad for you!"
"HARRY." Hiei snarled, louder than he had intended. Some people gave him looks.
"Ah…I need to go to Gringotts. Have you guys gone yet?" Harry spoke rapidly, hoping to not waste anymore time. Receiving two 'no's', he excitedly dragged his two friends to where Hiei stood. "Uhm…Hiei…? It's okay if I call you that right? Well these are my friends. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They're coming to Gringotts with us."
"Do what you want." Hiei grunted. "I don't care." Brooding, he continued walking. The three humans followed along behind him.
Meanwhile, Kurama was walking down Knockturn Alley, ignoring the suspicious looks sent his way. So what if he was dressed like a muggle? He didn't give a damn, and neither should they.
They were suspicious, but knew better than to interfere in his business. Kurama had unmasked some of his energy, so that the very air around him felt dangerous. Well, at least they had a sense of self-preservation. This was more than could be said for most other wizards.
The shop he was heading for was Gabsons and Co., a shop which specialized in rare, often dark objects not found anywhere else. It was a rival shop to Borgins and Burkes. Kurama didn't really care that he was dealing on the shady side of the law; he had ordered items and he needed them.
Entering the shop, Kurama eyed the various items on the shelves with distaste. He hadn't liked it the previous time he had come, and he still didn't. There was an obvious lack of hygiene, with the dust everywhere and the pickled body parts…and the atmosphere was too thick with magic.
"Ah, I see you have returned. Right on the date, as promised too." A middle aged man with overly large, fly-like eyes and trembling, thin hands was at the counter. He was the owner of the shop; Eric Gabsons.
Not being in the mood for small talk, Kurama immediately cut to the chase. "The items I ordered; I trust you have them?"
"Of course, sir." Gabsons reached under the counter and came up with two rectangular boxes. He lifted the lids of each one, showing a sleek wand nestled amidst velvet in the boxes. "They were most difficult to produce the materials for…and to make, but it is done. This one is 12 inches, made out of a combination of gold, steel, and melted ruby. The core is made out of ice dragon tongue fibers, Asian Ying Dragon scale slivers, and that peculiar black hair you gave me." Gabsons pointed at the box with a glistening, red and black wand. "The strange mix of cores seems to have changed the wand's outward appearance, as well. It was originally bright red, silver and gold. Moving onto this one…" Gabsons pointed at the next box. "It is much less powerful than the other, but still unimaginably deadly. Melted down pure sapphire mixed with flawed topaz, and reinforced marble. Eleven inches. The core is, as you requested, black unicorn horn slivers, crystallized dementor breath and the blue hair. The dementor breath was especially difficult…"
"Thank you for you hard work." Kurama said simply, tossing Gabsons a bundle of galleons. The price was actually fairly reasonable, for such difficult items. "There are 200 galleons in there, 100 for each wand, as agreed upon."
Gabsons grinned toothily. "Why, thank you! You are a most agreeable customer…I look forward to future deals with you."
After retrieving money from Gringotts (Hiei had a spot of trouble with some of the goblin guards) the group got their robes. Hiei, whom had been previously instructed to get at least one pair of robes for himself nearly lit the shop on fire, unknown to the witches and wizards. If he was called 'dear' one more time, he was going to snap.
Walking out of the shop, Hiei gladly sucked in the fresh air. Human buildings were so…stuffy.
The Golden Trio didn't speak to Hiei much, preferring to chat among themselves. Hermione and Ron were all over Harry, asking him questions about this newly discovered 'uncle'. Harry was trying his best to answer them.
What did Harry's uncle look like, was he nice, just how had he found out he had an uncle, was the uncle rich, was he powerful enough to protect Harry from Voldemort…on and on and on.
Hiei perked up when he heard a familiar voice in his head.
'Hiei, I'm heading back to your location right now. You're in front of Madame Malkin's, correct?' Kurama's voice said.
'Hn, you sure took a long time. These humans are starting to really get on my nerves. Did you get them?'
'Yes, I did. They seem to be properly made, but I won't know until you try yours out.'
'You got one for Botan as well?'
'Yes. I'll be right there, so be nice.' The mental link was cut off, and Hiei was left being bored, once again. Though not for long.
"Well, well, if it isn't Potty and his pathetic friends," A blonde boy sneered, walking up to them. He was flanked on either side by two goons. Hiei dug around in his memory. Ah, yes. Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Slytherins.
Malfoy continued, not seeming to have noticed Hiei at the back of the group. "How have you all been? Granger, did any of your pathetic muggle family members get killed by the Dark Lord yet? I would've thought that the Dark Lord would aim for mudbloods and blood traitors first thing."
In a flash, there were two wands pointing at Malfoy's throat.
"Ooh, Potty and Weasel think they can take us." Malfoy sniggered, and his two cronies mirrored his move. When a bright ball of red light shot past his head, Malfoy snarled and drew his own wand. "Now you're going to get i…"
"Put that wand down." Six pairs of eyes looked up in surprise as Hiei pushed past Ron to stand next to Harry, with a murderous expression on his face.
Malfoy sneered. "And if I won't?"
Hiei released a portion of his spirit energy. The air around him crackled dangerously. "Put. That. Wand. Down."
Malfoy, though intimidated, didn't back down. "Make me."
Hiei almost laughed. Well…Kurama wasn't here…so he could have his spot of fun.
All colour drained out of Malfoy's face as a dark form began to take shape behind Hiei. The shadows whirled, and took on the form of a gigantic black dragon head, its mouth open and ready to chomp down on Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle saw it too, and whimpered. Obviously, nobody else saw it, since there were no startled yells.
"Leave. Or else." Hiei warned. Stuttering threats, Malfoy backed up a few paces, only to have the dragon move forward as well. Then he turned tail and fled, followed by Goyle, then Crabbe.
Harry was startled. What was up with them? He looked up at Hiei uncertainly, and voiced his gratitude.
Hiei snorted. "They were pathetic. Hardly even worth it."
"I thought I told you to be nice Hiei." A voice sighed. "Scaring schoolchildren off doesn't qualify as being nice." Kurama walked out of the crowd.
"They were the same age Yusuke was when he first started working for Koenma. Older, in fact. I don't consider them 'schoolchildren'." Hiei folded his arms.
Kurama let out an exasperated sigh and turned to Harry. "He didn't seriously injure anyone, did he?"
"Tch. Stupid fox. If I had, then you would've known." Hiei reminded.
"I prefer to ask Harry, thank you very much Hiei." Kurama snapped.
Harry was confused, but replied. "No, he didn't…but the expression on Malfoy's face was priceless. Oh right. Hermione, Ron, this is my uncle Kurama. Uncle, this is Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley; they're my closest ever friends."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Kurama politely. He turned around and frowned at Hiei upon feeling a tap on his shoulder. "What is it?"
"Can I have my…wand?" Hiei stretched out a hand, obviously asking for it.
Sighing, Kurama tossed one of the boxes at him. "Don't lose it; I'm not stepping back into that stupid alley again for love or money." Kurama paused. "Okay, maybe for money."
Hiei was observing every inch of his new wand. "I traded in my katana for this?" He asked, disgusted.
Kurama rolled his eyes. "If you had your katana, you'd land yourself in Reikai prison, Demon Lord or not. If you're good over the next few months, I'll think about zipping back home and getting it…but you shouldn't expect too much. I probably won't."
Hiei growled and flicked his wand. Black flames burst out, forming into the shape of a black dragon and then disappearing. Hiei seemed unimpressed, but pocketed the wand anyway.
"So, Harry. Let's go get the rest of your supplies." Kurama said kindly.
After a long while of shopping, (during which Hiei had a difficult time not stabbing someone's eye out with his new wand) Ron decided to return back to his family.
"Mum was in a…meeting…all morning, and she was really pissed off when she came out." Ron said, catching himself before he accidentally said 'Order'. "I don't think she approved of something. Oh yeah, Lupin and Tonks came with us today too. For 'protection' or something like that."
It didn't take them long to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were in Flourish and Blotts. Mrs. Weasley was looking through a stack of books and Mr. Weasley was bugging Hermione's (uncomfortable looking) parents about how the internet worked. Harry was delighted to see them again, and was immediately fussed over by Mrs. Weasley.
"You don't look too bad…but dear, you really are too thin, you must eat more…" She straightened up when Harry backed away from her, and asked loudly; "So where's this uncle of yours Albus recently discovered?"
Seeing the danger waves coming off of the middle aged woman, Harry scooted back a bit more and silently pointed at Kurama, who was at the register paying for Harry's school books.
Mrs. Weasley started forward, dragging Lupin along behind her. Cackling, Tonks followed of her free will, and Mr. Weasley decided that leaving his wife to (probably) chew out poor Kurama wasn't the best of ideas.
"So," Mrs. Weasley said, putting her hands on her hips. Kurama looked startled.
"Uhm…may I do something for you, ma'am?" 'Don't interfere, Hiei, I've got it.' The fire demon, who had been ready to wrestle the woman to the ground if need be, immediately backed off…though reluctantly. This woman reminded him too much of Mukuro when she was angry for him to like her.
"You're Harry's uncle?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her tone polite but her eyes flashing. "The one Albus holds in such high esteem?"
"Yes, ma'am. Ah…if you would excuse my bluntness, who would you be?" Of course, Kurama knew full well who this fiery woman was. Ronald Weasley's mother, Molly Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley softened a bit at Kurama's politeness. "I'm Ron's mother. This is Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks. I was hoping I could talk to you about Harry…I heard he was moving in with you…"
Hiei almost snorted. He could tell all the woman wanted to do was see if Kurama was trustworthy or not.
"Wow, you don't reckon she'll traumatize him for life, do you?" Ron whispered to Ginny in the background. Ginny just shrugged and mouthed 'How-am-I-supposed-to-know' at her older brother. Hermione simply looked bemused at the scene.
Finally, convinced that Kurama was 'all right', Mrs. Weasley backed off. Kurama let out a sigh of relief, and glanced down at Harry's school list. "I think we're done everything, Harry. What do you want to do now?"
Harry blinked. They had already visited most of the shops he had been intending to, and seeing as he didn't want to ask for anything more of Kurama, he just shook his head. "There's nothing else but going home. Is he going to be okay with all those parcels?" He directed the last part towards Hiei, who was carrying most of the items bought that day in Diagon Alley.
To answer that question, Hiei picked up all the parcels at once with one hand.
Had Harry been an anime character, he would have sweatdropped. "Okay…I see you'll be fine…"
After a great deal of kissing and hugging, and promising to see each other at the beginning of the year, Kurama managed to tear Harry away from his friends. They loaded up the car and were on their way back to the Dursleys'. Being as tired as Harry was, (he'd hardly slept due to excitement the night before) he fell asleep with his forehead against the window.
"Harry…we're here." Kurama's soft voice woke Harry up from the light doze he had slipped into. Blinking groggily, the boy rubbed his eyes and waited until Kurama's face swarmed into focus before saying anything.
"Oh…hi." Harry managed stupidly.
Kurama chuckled. "Hello, Harry. We're at your…other uncle's house. Before you go inside, I'd like to talk to you about moving in."
Harry was wide awake at that. He sat up in his seat a bit straighter. "Y-Yeah? What's up?"
"Oh, just a few minor details. I will be rather busy for the next week, so I can't pick you up on Thursday myself, but I will send either Hiei or another friend of mine; his name is Yusuke. I have a kingdom to run, you see, and it's not fair dumping everything on Yusuke. I will keep your school supplies for now, so that you don't need to bother with moving it back and forth. I'll set up your room and everything for you before you come." Kurama smiled tiredly. "The thing is, Harry, I'm getting married in just two days, and it really is hectic."
At this news, Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't known his uncle was so busy. "Oh. Err…congratulations?"
"You'll meet your aunt on Thursday. Just pack and be ready by five P.M." Kurama took his hands off the steering wheel. He seemed to have remembered something. "I haven't spoken to you about this yet…damn. I forgot."
"Forgot what?" Harry asked inquisitively, curious to know what had annoyed his uncle.
"Headmaster Dumbledore offered me a teaching position at Hogwarts as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Kurama informed Harry slowly, not knowing how the boy would react. "Hiei and Botan…that would be your aunt…are also coming. We're not going to be taking any chances with you, not while Voldemort is at large."
Harry looked like his birthday had come early. "You're kidding me! No, wait, I can tell you're being serious. That's amazing! And here I was, worried that Snape was going to get the position!"
Kurama grinned. He was glad Harry seemed so accepting of the idea. "Well…we'll see if you like the idea of my being your teacher after you spend some more time with me. Have a good evening, Harry."
The boy clambered out, and waved furiously at the car until Kurama had pulled away and was out of sight.
Koenma was, as usual, stamping away in his office, when George came stumbling into the room, looking panicked.
"Sir! Sir! We have a dire emergency on our hands!" George yelled, waving his clawed hands around dramatically. He tripped halfway to the desk, and landed flat on his face.
Koenma, who had been hard pressed for time lately because of the extra paperwork coming in, (before he could bring Black back to life, as he had planned, he had to go through a lot of…dare he say it? Bullshit) merely looked up irately. "What is it, Ogre? I don't have time for dillydallying, you know."
"K-Koenma, sir! We've had a large scale breach of the Kekkai barrier!"
"WHAT?!"
"From w-what we can tell, we have eleven lower Super-S class demons and 34 mid-A class demons on the loose, as well as a variety of different parasitic demons. Their low spirit energy makes it impossible for us to see how many of them there are, but we've predicted that close to 70 low C-class parasitic demons have escaped." George babbled, shuffling through the papers hurriedly. "The Super-S demons seem to have blasted a gigantic hole in the Kekkai with their combined power, and escaped through there. We sealed it back up before anymore demons could come through, but this is disastrous! The Special Defense Force is useless at this stage!"
Koenma slammed his hands down on his desk. A few pieces of paper fluttered to the ground, but went totally unheeded. "Ogre! Patch me through to Yusuke and Kurama at once! I want a three way conversation going here…the news must be delivered as quickly as possible!"
"Wait, sir, there's more." George said hastily. "We think that these demons have rallied under the four Super-S demons, and the Super-S demons seem to have joined forces with a…a human."
Koenma's jaw went slack. "A human? Who, Ogre?"
'Tom Riddle, sir; he's an English wizard, also known as Lord Voldemort, and is at the level of a high C-class demon. He…"
"I know who Voldemort is, dimwit! Anything else?"
George looked down at his papers nervously. "We think that the demons are planning on aiding Voldemort to take control of Ningenkai, and then they want to kill him off afterwards to keep the spoils for themselves."
"This is ridiculously catastrophic! Get Yusuke and Kurama on the line…NOW!!!"
Yusuke, who had gotten the majority of the paperwork done earlier in the day, was pleasantly annoyed (was that possible?) to get a call from Koenma. He was sitting with his feet up on his desk and his hands behind his head; a perfectly relaxed, though rather unbalanced, position.
"Yo, Toddler-Bitch from Hell. What do you want?"
Koenma looked frantic. "Yusuke, how many S and A-class demons are in your Kingdom?"
Said Demon Lord frowned. "Uh…in mine alone? Around 120 A-classes and 40 S-classes."
"What about Super-S classes?"
Yusuke thought it out. "Twenty?" He estimated. "But they all live…a bit lower than us." He was referring to the lower levels of the Demon World, where the stronger demons lived. "I mean…they all acknowledge me as their king and all, but I don't interact much with them."
"Quick, do a check with that spirit sense of yours and check to see if all of your A-class and S-classes are still there!" Koenma was half-yelling by now.
Yusuke paused for a moment, his face screwing up with concentration. "Uh…that's funny…I'm short four Super-S classes and 16 A-classes. Whoa, what's wrong with you?" Koenma had turned tomato red, a deep purple, a peculiar shade of blue, a sickly green, and then paper white, which quickly turned in a mushy grayish shade.
"You didn't feel it?" Koenma asked his voice at a whisper. "We just had eleven Super-S, 34 A-class, and around 70 parasite demons blast a hole through the Kekkai Barrier and leave into the human world."
Yusuke was dumbfounded. He stood up immediately, his chair toppling over with a bang as it hit the marble floor. "They escaped? Hang on…" He did another check with his spirit sense, and found that Koenma was right…though a little off on the facts. "You're totally right. Four of my Super-S classes are missing, three from Hiei's kingdom and four from Kurama's kingdom. You're wrong about the A-classes though. There are 16 of mine missing, 18 of Hiei's, and 12 of Kurama's missing. It all totals up to 46, not just 34. I don't know about the parasite demons…too many to count."
Koenma let out a squeak, and sank down in his seat. "Oh…" He moaned. "What do we do? Yusuke, these demons seem to have joined forces with a man known as Lord Voldemort. You heard about him from Kurama, right?"
"With a human?" Yusuke questioned disbelievingly. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe."
"We believe they're planning on working with him for the time being, but then backstabbing him and killing him off at the end of their 'world domination' plan. I didn't realize our Kekkai was so weak!" Koenma howled.
Abruptly, Kurama's face appeared on screen. "Hello, is something the matter, Koenma? Your ogre assistant was really adamant that I contact you again right away…oh, greetings Yusuke."
"Hey fox-boy, are you aware that five of your Super-S class demons and 12 of your A-class demons have all just blasted holes through the Kekkai barrier Reikai set up and made their way into Ningenkai?!" Yusuke's face, which had adjusted its size automatically when Kurama's face had appeared on screen, shouted. "In total, it looks like we had a whopping-ass eleven Super-S, 46 A-class, and 70 fucking parasite demons escape! What're you planning on doing, Kurama? They teamed up with that Voldy…person!"
There was a clatter and a swirl of colours as Kurama's screen went dark. From the sounds of it, it seemed that Kurama had just dropped the communication mirror. His considerably paler face appeared back on-screen after a few seconds. "Please tell me this is an extremely bad joke on your part, Koenma."
"No joke. Where's Hiei?"
At that, another communication signal came through, and Hiei's face appeared below Yusuke's face. He seemed to be in the backseat of a car. The same car that Kurama was driving in fact, only he didn't seem to be in the mood to share communication devices with Kurama.
Seeing Yusuke's expression, Kurama added in; "Don't worry, I've pulled into the park so I'm not driving."
Hiei grunted. "I heard everything. How many of mine escaped, Yusuke?"
"Three Super-S classes, 18 A's, and God knows how many parasites." Yusuke paused. "On the other hand, no, God does not know how many parasites." He aimed a glare at Koenma.
"So we're all involved." Kurama muttered.
Beeping signaled another communication had come through. Botan's face appeared beside Hiei's and underneath Kurama's, so that there were now four panels with four different faces on screen. "Botan in England, reporting for duty, sir. Ayame gave me a ring and told me. What's our course of action?"
Koenma scrambled on top of his desk so that he could be seen a bit better. "Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei…I know that none of you are obliged to help…but they are from your kingdoms and technically your responsibility…"
"Oh, here we go again…" Yusuke muttered. "You're trying to wheedle us into doing the grunt work for you. I thought Spirit World was in charge of demons that escape into the Human World?"
"We are…but it would help if you three would aid us!" Koenma shouted.
"Yusuke, it is partly our responsibility; Koenma was right about that. They are demons from our kingdoms, and dragging them back does not seem to be too hard. Besides…I would have to go against them anyway, as they have joined up with Voldemort, and Voldemort is aiming for Harry."
Hiei chuckled grimly. "I think Harry is Kurama's new project. Now that he's 'bored', he's decided to try to protect and raise this kid." A car headrest went flying at him, which the fire demon easily ducked.
"You don't have to put it that way," snapped an irked Kurama. He refocused his attention on Koenma. "Hiei and I will help. It should not be too difficult, unless there are more of them than we expected."
"Bullshit!" Yusuke declared. "It's going to be downright hard. Even with our strength, it won't be a piece of cake. I'll help too."
Botan pitched in as well. "I'll try, but I think I'll get in the way more than anything."
"Nonsense, you're powerful enough to beat at least one of those A-classes, and probably most of the parasites." Kurama said, hoping Botan wasn't too discouraged.
Hiei was silent. Then he suddenly spoke up. "We can't rush into this. Think; we're dealing with eleven Super S-classes. The A's probably don't matter, unless they catch us off guard…"
"They're all lower Super S classes," Koenma said helpfully. "Maybe you'll be able to fight them all off."
"If they have even an ounce of a brain, then they won't attack one by one. They'll attack as a large group and launch a full scale attack." Kurama said thoughtfully, already planning out his moves. "I'm thinking that Lord Voldemort will send Death Eaters, dementors, giants…the works with them. I'm almost certain he'll attack Hogwarts, when all the students are there."
"Let's hope they don't have brains then?" Yusuke said weakly.
"No. I would like it much better if they attack all at once, rather than little by little. It's better than being chipped away at daily until we're so exhausted that we can't even resist the final onslaught." Kurama's lips pursed. "Waiting for them to attack would be a smarter idea; we don't even know the identities of those who escaped, and I doubt we'll find out until they reveal themselves. So we wait it out."
"You know, fox, I think taking that teaching position was a good idea after all. We get to stay at Hogwarts all year long, making sure the demons don't kill everyone. When they do attack, we get to meet them." Hiei smirked. "The only question is what to do with Yusuke?"
"I could arrange something with Dumbledore." Kurama suggested brightly. "Yusuke, how would you like to teach a bunch of children who likely have never exerted themselves physically how to fight in hand-to-hand combat?"
Yusuke looked at the silverhead as if he had grown a second head. "What?"
"I will take that as a yes. This is what I suggest. Hiei, Botan, Yusuke and I will all go to Hogwarts and wait there for a while, preparing the school for the inevitable attack without them knowing it. Voldemort will almost definitely attack within the next school year. We must prepare them, or it will be a bloodbath." Kurama stroked his chin thoughtfully. "When Voldemort does attack, we counter-attack full-force, and slay all the demons. The wizards will not find out our true identities until the day of the attack, and they will most likely be too preoccupied with battling to notice us turn into our true forms. However, on the chance that they do notice and question us, we can invent some creative, believable excuse or mass-mindwipe them. Though I'd prefer not to do that."
Yusuke's eyebrows shot up. "What about this mountain of paperwork? If none of us three are going to be at home to do it, then who will?"
"It's called a 'second in command', Yusuke." Hiei butted in. "I have one going by the name of Mukuro…and you have one named Chuu, remember?"
Kurama felt slightly uneasy at the thought of leaving Yusuke's kingdom in the hands of Chuu. Admittedly, the man was sober much more lately, but not by much. Ah well, at least Shishiwakamaru, Rinku and Suzuka were there to keep him in check. Truth be told, Kurama felt much safer with his own kingdom. The Shinobi were his second in commands, and were efficient. (To be precise, Touya was Kurama's second in command, but Jin counted as well.) Hiei was the luckiest. He got Mukuro, a former Demon Lord.
"What about Yukina?" Yusuke muttered, half to himself. "There's no way in Hell I'm going to leave her here."
Hiei seemed to second Yusuke on that, and both Demon Lords turned to Kurama. The silverhead squirmed slightly under their gazes. "I will…work something out with the Headmaster."
Yusuke shrugged. "As long as she's somewhere near me. She's pretty darn powerful, too; did you see her latest attack? Caused the entire castle to feel like an ice rink for ages. She'll be safe."
Kurama nodded. Then he shifted his serious gaze to Koenma, who looked considerably happier now that all three Demon Lords were willing to go. "The final matter is…Koenma; we can't win this battle without killing humans."
Koenma started. "But I can't let you kill humans! It's against every law concerning demons there is!"
"Then bend the rules. Don't make it even harder for us, Koenma. If we have to focus on not killing our opponents…even the Death Eaters…while we are fighting, then we'll be the ones to die." It was an overstatement, but hey, anything to convince Koenma, right?
The 'toddler' sighed and wrote on a piece of paper. He held it up to show the screen. "This is the temporary law that lets you three demons…and Botan…kill humans. I'm removing it the moment this is over, though." Koenma set it down and stamped the paper with his royal seal. "Permission for extermination of select humans; granted."
Chapter Four: Moving In
Ecstatic, Yusuke was jumping up and down on his bed. He had just recently moved into Kurama's England home, and was delighted. He even claimed that he liked it there better than he liked his enormous bedroom back in the Makai.
Kurama and Botan were watching this childish display with raised eyebrows. Botan, whom had married Kurama just a few days ago, looked worried that Yusuke was going to break the bed. Hiei was off somewhere downstairs, probably slaughtering the stash of candy Kurama had just recently bought.
The marriage between Kurama and Botan had been simple and quick. In the Makai, there was no such concept as 'marrying', only 'mating'. In the Reikai, there was no mating or marriage period. After all, why would dead people want to marry? So Kurama and Botan decided on a human wedding, and it had been carried out as simply as possible. They had decided against a honeymoon; things were just too busy. Maybe once this entire fiasco was over.
Now, three days later, they were preparing to welcome their first 'child' into their home. At least…that was how Yusuke had put it.
"Yusuke, will you please stop pounding on the poor furniture and go fetch Harry for me?" Kurama asked tiredly, sitting down on a nearby armchair.
Yusuke paused in his hopping and frowned. "What? Why me?"
Botan pitched in. "Well, Hiei doesn't have a driver's license, Kurama has to finish up the preparations for you three's leave in the Makai, and I need to make dinner. That leaves you, who has nothing to do except jump on your bed."
Yusuke scowled deeply. "Well, yahoo. He's your nephew, Kurama. I'm not going, and you can't make me."
Five minutes later found Yusuke sitting in the car, starting up the engine and muttering to himself angrily. "I can't believe they actually made me go!"
When the doorbell rang, Harry was just finishing up packing his things. Slamming his trunk's lid shut, Harry stuffed his wand in his coat pocket and sprinted down the stairs.
Vernon was already at the door. "Yeah, he's coming." He was saying. He turned around and gave Harry a vicious look. Sauntering off back to the kitchen, he let Harry deal with the 'person at the door'.
Confused slightly, Harry took a step back. There was a downright intimidating looking man at the door, with gelled back black hair and red-brown eyes. He was wearing a white shirt with jeans and a brown leather overcoat.
The man looked Harry up and down. "You Potter?"
"Yes…who are you?"
"Yusuke Urameshi's my name. Kurama told me to come pick you up. Where's your stuff?" Harry gestured up the stairs, and Yusuke marched right in. He emerged back from Harry's room loaded down with his trunk, Hedwig's (empty) cage, and Harry's Firebolt. He seemed surprised. "Is this all?"
"Yeah…" Harry trailed off, aware of how few things he had. "Uhm…I can take it all."
"Shut up and go say bye-bye to your relatives; you won't be seeing them for a while." Yusuke snorted, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the hall, where the Dursleys were all clustered.
Harry blinked, wondering what to say. "Uh…thanks…and…bye?" He said uncertainly. It was more of a question than a proper farewell.
Vernon grunted in reply, and all Petunia did was stare. Dudley, however, lifted a hesitant hand and gave a little wave. Surprised, Harry waved back, and turned to walk out the door.
Yusuke nodded at the Dursleys, and swept after Harry, shutting the door on his way out.
Harry was already seated in the car when Yusuke was done shoving the trunk into the back of the car, and he plopped in the driver's seat, grinning broadly. Harry was astonished at the sudden change in his demeanor. He had been gruff until a few seconds ago…
"Gods, I hated that. Kurama told me to be 'strictly professional', but heck; I can't manage that for my life. Sorry if I seemed like Hiei back there. It's great to meet you, Harry." Yusuke clipped his seatbelt in. "Hey, buckle up and hold on tight; I can't guarantee your safe arrival otherwise."
Hastily, Harry scrabbled for his seatbelt, and managed to clip it in not a second too late. Yusuke slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, and the car shot forward.
"WHOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!"
"They're a bit late, don't you think?" Botan asked Hiei, carrying a pot of stew to the vast dining room table. She had made all Western food that evening, just for her new 'nephew'.
Hiei, as usual, was unresponsive. He just sat in one of the seats with his arms folded.
Botan let out a disappointed sigh and put out the plates. She perked up right away when the doorbell rang. She dashed to the front door, and with some difficulty, managed to push it open. She beamed at Yusuke, but then the smile dropped off her face as she spotted Harry.
The poor boy was a strange shade in between green and gray.
"Oh, Yusuke, you managed to scare him! You should really do something about that mad driving of yours…" Botan reproached, ushering the two inside.
Yusuke rolled his eyes indifferently. "Try being a passenger on your oar. It's ten times scarier."
Botan huffed and pointed upwards. "Take those things to Harry's new room…the one across from yours…wash up, and then come down for dinner." As Yusuke set off in the opposite direction, Botan shooed Harry into a nearby washroom. "You can wash up in there. Don't take too long, or the food will get cold." She shut the door.
Harry managed to teeter to the sink without falling over, and set about scrubbing his hands and face. He never wanted to ride in a car with Yusuke again. Never.
Scuffling out of the washroom, Harry marveled at the sheer size of the building he was in. It was around half the size of Hogwarts, but that was a feat in itself. Following his trusty sense of smell, he made it to the dining room without much incident. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he saw the food laid out. It reminded him of the Start-of-the-Year banquet held at Hogwarts each year. Hell…he hadn't been aware so much food could be laid out in a simple household. Well…not a 'simple' one, per say, but a household.
"Finally, the Honorary Newcomer is here! Can we eat now Botan, damn it?!" Yusuke exclaimed upon seeing Harry. Without waiting for a response, he began piling food onto his plate.
Harry sat down, glancing about. There was Hiei, quiet and still. Yusuke had already begun, and the woman who had answered the door…Botan…was smiling at him cheerfully. She was a breathtakingly beautiful woman, with thick, aqua hair tugged into a low braid, and light, purple-ish eyes that sparkled and seemed almost pink in the light. Harry could only assume this was his aunt, and Kurama's wife. They were a well-matching pair…or at least, in looks.
Speaking of Kurama…where was he? Harry glanced around, looking for the silverhead.
Botan looked at Harry curiously. "What's wrong, Harry?"
"Erm…where's Uncle Kurama?" Harry asked hesitantly. He had been looking forward to seeing him again; Kurama was pleasant to be around.
Botan waved her hand dismissively and laughed. "Oh, you needn't worry about him. He'll be along in a bit; he had something last-minute to take care of. Until then, dig in!"
Seeing that everyone else had already begun, Harry tentatively began. He tried some mash potato, and noticed Botan eyeing him gravely. "Hi?" He asked.
"Do you like it?" Botan asked, her tone serious.
"Y-Yeah, it's great. It melts in my mouth," responded Harry truthfully. A relieved grin broke out across his aunt's face.
"That's so good to hear! I've been working really hard on my Western dishes. They're so different from Asian ones…now that a Westerner's told me it tastes all right; I can start trying other kinds!" Botan stuck a spoonful of baked peas into her mouth.
Harry was soon immensely enjoying himself. Yusuke was shoveling food down his gullet like there was no tomorrow, and Hiei was staring up at the high ceiling, not eating at all…though the food on his plate was mysteriously disappearing at a rate rivaling Yusuke. The black haired teen and Botan were the only ones who were eating normally, while chatting. Harry found that he was just as taken in by Botan as by Kurama, and he was able to relax.
Halfway through the meal, there was a loud 'SLAM!' Everyone looked up from their food.
"It looks like Kurama is back." Botan said, standing up. Her eyebrows were knitted together. She hurried out to greet her husband.
Yusuke stared after her. "You know…Kurama very rarely slams doors. He usually comes in so damn quietly that we don't know he's there until we almost bowl him over." He commented through a mouthful of steak.
Harry jumped a good few centimeters when there was a loud shriek.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Botan's voice yelled.
Kurama's unmistakable voice, a bit louder than usual due to frustration, replied. "The Spirit Defense Force refused to let me past the barrier, even though I'm sure they knew I was one of the rare exceptions. It must be the entire deal with the S and A classes."
"Are they all…?" Botan asked quietly.
"They're not dead or dying; if that's what you want to know. I'll clean up and come back down."
"Harry's here."
"I know."
Botan walked back into the room, and Yusuke went back to eating. The food continued to disappear off of Hiei's plate. Harry, however, was too anxious to eat anymore. Kurama was home…and he didn't sound very happy. What had happened?
Botan gave him a comforting look. "Don't worry about it, Harry. It's not such a big deal."
Hiei looked up. "Kurama's not angry, so stop looking like your best friend died."
Yusuke snorted into his milk. "Oh, so that's how you guys looked back with Sensui when I…"
"Shut up, moron." Hiei went back to staring at his disappearing food.
While Hiei and Yusuke snarled insults at each other, Kurama walked into the dining room and took his place beside Botan. Yusuke broke off mid-sentence.
"Hey, what happened to your arm?" Yusuke asked, raising an eyebrow at Kurama's bandaged right arm.
"The Spirit Defense Force seems to play dirty nowadays as well." Kurama answered, starting on some salad. Yusuke looked like he was about to ask more, but a noodle came flying from Hiei's direction and landed splat on the black haired man's face. Yusuke started swearing vulgarly at Hiei, even fingering him.
Kurama turned towards Harry. "I apologize for my tardiness. I ran into problems on my way back, to say the least." He smiled at Harry, and continued his dinner, leaving everyone else to finish theirs off.
Kurama dragged Hiei to the kitchen, so that they could clean the dishes. As he walked out, he turned around and said to the three remaining at the table; "Yusuke, Botan, could you show Harry around while we do the dishes?"
Botan sprang up. "Ooh, sure! Come on, you two!" She said enthusiastically. Harry, Yusuke, and a chipper Botan headed upstairs.
Yusuke was strutting around, pointing at every door they came across. "That's Hiei's room, bathroom, Botan's study, another bathroom, spare bedroom, spare bedroom, Hiei's room for cutting stuff up, Kurama's study, library, washroom, spare bedroom, Kurama and Botan's room…otherwise known as the master bedroom…my room…my room for 'studying'…here's your room, and the one next to it is your study." Yusuke kicked open the half ajar door to Harry's bedroom.
The room was cozy and nicely furnished, with the furniture set Harry had picked out placed in spots here and there, an armchair, and a closet filled with his (new) clothes. Harry's trunk and broom had been flung on the floor without much thought, and Hedwig's cage was sitting on the windowsill.
"Well, I'm gonna go now. Have fun doing whatever!" Yusuke waved in false enthusiasm and sauntered out, leaving only Botan and Harry in the room.
Harry sat down on the bed carefully, and Botan plopped down beside him without such carefulness. "Aunt Botan…I have a question."
Botan smiled at Harry. "What is it?"
"Why is it that you call Uncle Kurama by last name?"
"What? Oh…actually Harry, Kurama's first name is…Kurama. Youko is just a title." Botan responded, flapping a hand in the air subconsciously. "His last name, if he had one, would be ether Youkai or Minamino. Yes…probably Minamino. I never bothered to change my last name, so mine remains Reikai."
"Oh. That makes sense."
Botan nodded, and fell over backwards onto the bed. "So, Harry, tell me about Hogwarts. I'm going as Kurama's teacher assistant, and I need all the info I can get!"
It was nearly three hours later that Harry ran out of things to say, and after running to get him a glass of water, (Harry's voice had started to crack) Botan shooed him into bed and left, claiming it was 'bedtime'.
Harry fell into a dreamless sleep easily.
Kurama sat down in the living room, letting the day's tenseness evaporate from his body. There had been much to do, the past week, and he was glad most of it was over.
Hiei sat down next to him. "Did you talk to Koenma yet?"
Kurama shifted so that he could look at Hiei instead of at the wall. "I did. He didn't have much to tell me, except that the paperwork for transferring Black is almost done. He should be alive again by the time first term at Hogwarts starts."
"And? What are we supposed to do with him while we're teaching the humans?" Hiei demanded. "We can't just have him walking around; we're not even supposed to let it be known he's alive again until our cover's blown."
"Mostly because if he was found alive and interacting with us, our 'cover' will be of no more use. It works both ways," said Kurama thoughtfully. "We could always tell him to stay in this house while we're at Hogwarts…though from what I've seen of Black, he won't agree."
"The toddler can't find a good way to bring the stupid human back to life, so he dumps him on us. Just because Black's death was unscheduled…why can't Koenma pull a stunt like what he did back with Yusuke?"
Kurama raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Because wizards make horrible Spirit Detectives? Remember Sensui and his wizarding tricks?" Hiei huffed and looked away. Yusuke shambled into the living room, followed by Botan.
"Yo, Potter kid's asleep. He's an okay person; I can't believe he's related to you, Kurama." Yusuke sat down, sprawling over the couch. "He's like…what…a great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great…"
"You can stop there, Yusuke." Kurama said hastily.
Botan took her seat next to her husband, flicking a strand of silver away from his face. "He's a darling child, Kurama…and believe it or not, he has your eyes."
Kurama shook his head. "No…he has Lily Potter's eyes." He corrected. "I believe I already explained that Shuuichi Minamino has nothing to do with Harry Potter whatsoever? Only Shuuichi has green eyes; Youko has golden."
Botan shrugged. "Oh, don't worry yourself over the trivial things." She drew her knees up to her chin. "So, have you three decided what to do with Yukina yet?"
"I spoke to Professor Dumbledore. He's perfectly fine with the idea of starting a combat class, and as Madame Pomfrey has recently been asking for days off, the Headmaster says Yukina can fill in on those days. That would be once every week; otherwise, she will be helping Yusuke. Inari knows how many injuries will happen while Yusuke is teaching." Kurama answered. "Hiei and I were just discussing what to do with Black while we're all busy."
"He can turn into a dog, can't he? Why can't he just be your pet or something?" Yusuke yawned.
"Because, moron," Hiei snapped. "The members of that flimsy 'Order of the Phoenix' all know exactly what Black looks like in his canine form. He would be instantly recognized. And in case you've forgotten, we don't want that."
"Keep talking, Hiei. It might land you in trouble one of these days." Yusuke snapped, looking away and huffing childishly.
Kurama coughed into on of his hands politely. "Black?" He reminded them.
Yusuke laughed embarrassedly. "Yeah…right. If they're going to recognize him, why don't we change his appearance a bit? He can go from big Grim dog to tiny toy poodle, if we ask Koenma the right way."
"Black would never agree to that." Hiei retorted, sounding superior. "He's too stubborn and vain." He glanced over at Kurama pointedly as he said the last word.
Botan clapped her hands together. "Well…if Sirius won't agree to that, why don't we change his species? Koenma won't mind turning him into a wolf or a coyote or something…and Sirius will agree as long as his new appearance isn't too ridiculous."
There was a brief silence, during which everyone considered the new idea.
"A wolf might work, if it doesn't resemble his dog form too much," Kurama agreed.
"A coyote." Hiei said approvingly.
"A KUNG-FU PANDA!" Yusuke exclaimed excitedly, leaping up and striking a kung-fu pose. He received three ogling stares. "What?"
Kurama sighed exasperatedly. "Let's avoid pandas…please." Botan nodded in agreement.
Hiei, however, seemed to be concerned about something else. "Hn. That's not a proper kung-fu stance." He received a few raised eyebrows and sweatdrops.
Kurama cleared his throat after a moment, once again the one to bring them back on-topic. "I will suggest that to Koenma. But…ah…there is a minor glitch. While Mr. Black is with us, he must maintain the guise of a proper pet. Who…will take care of him?"
"No. I hate that man." Hiei said immediately. "He reminds me of Jin too much."
Yusuke shrugged. "Well, he's not a blue teddy bear with a beak…and I actually like him…but I dunno squat about taking care of animals; human wizard in disguise or not. I'd probably lock him in the closet after he annoys me and then forget about him for two weeks. Keiko's the one that used to take care of Puu…" He trailed off, a slightly pained expression on his face.
Botan hastily chipped in. "I don't mind much, but we all know I have an attention span worthy of rivaling Yusuke's…and besides…Kurama probably doesn't agree with me taking care of a man." She looked over at her husband.
The slightest twitching of Kurama's eye showed that Botan was correct. "You are not taking care of Black." He snapped curtly. He looked over at Yusuke. "You, Yusuke, need to bring Puu with you. Phoenixes are allowed, fortunately, so get Koenma to shrink him down a bit. You're not going to leave him with Jin, are you?"
Yusuke looked horrified. "Heck no! I'll bring him. So what about Black? I definitely can't take care of him, if I have Puu…Hiei will most likely fry him to a crisp, and Botan and Yukina are a no-no too. That leaves you, Kurama."
"I have a pet. The phoenix who gave me the tears and tail feather for my wand. Or…demon phoenix would be more precise. He's waiting for me in the Makai." Kurama pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is a problem. Hiei, you're the only one without a pet…"
"Shut up. I refuse."
"Hiei…"
"NO."
Kurama let out a groan. Even he couldn't get Hiei to do something after he had totally decided not to. "Fine. Be that way. I'll take care of him."
"Wow, Kurama; you certain about that?" Yusuke asked uncertainly.
"He will mostly be taking care of himself anyway…besides, I'm the one most fitted for keeping up the act of a pet owner, am I not?" Kurama didn't look pleased, despite his words. "I'm sure Black won't be more trouble than he's worth."
"I believe that's what they call your 'famous last words'." Botan said cheerfully, earning a full on glare in her direction from the other three occupants of the room. She shrunk a bit and laughed nervously, waving her hands innocently in front of her face. "I was joking. Really! Joking!"
"Your words give me such confidence, Botan." Kurama said sarcastically, though not unkindly. "I'm sure Black will turn into some ultra-powerful beast we can't defeat and devour us all."
Botan blushed, looking away. "I didn't mean it that way…" Then she blanched. "An ultra powerful beast that you guys can't defeat. That's a scary thought."
There were sweatdrops all around, and a mutter of agreement from Yusuke.
"Come to think of it…I didn't expect these developments. What are we going to do for Yukina and Yusuke's wands?" wondered Kurama out loud, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"Can't you give me a plain old stick off a park tree and let me fake magic by manipulating spirit energy?" Yusuke complained.
"No, Yusuke. You need to channel your energy through the wand, or it won't look convincing. You'll need a specially reinforced wand for that…so will Yukina." Kurama was thoughtful as he stared up at the ceiling vacantly. Then he snapped out of it and said, "For Yukina, I think sapphire and koorime tear gems with icefire tree wood as the outer layer will do…perhaps a bit of reinforcement with silver. Then her core can be…one of her hairs, obviously, and powdered tear gems…and a few of her tears in their liquid form. Those are all easy enough to come by with our resources…and for Yusuke, the outer layer can be…rhinestone and steel…and definitely some diamond…and the core will have to be one of his hairs, a tail feather from Puu…and a Thestral wing scale. Hmm…I get to make that all, splendid…"
"Why don't you just go back to that shop in Knockturn Alley?" Hiei asked, stifling a large yawn.
"Because Hiei. Not only will it take two months for completion, but I don't want to. I was lazy last time, but this time…making it would be simpler." Kurama abruptly reached over and yanked one of Yusuke's hairs off his head, causing the half-breed to yelp and fall off the couch.
Swearing angrily, Yusuke reemerged. "You'll have to fix that floor." He had accidentally broken through the floorboard. Kurama let out an impatient sigh.
"I wish you wouldn't break apart the house. Next time, you'll be boarding it up yourself." Kurama said. "I need a tail feather from Puu by tomorrow morning, along with some diamond, steel and rhinestone. I'll leave up the methods of acquiring the last three to you. Hiei, you can find me the Thestral wing scale…I only need one…and sapphire for Yukina. I'll provide the icefire tree, and I'm sure I have some of Yukina's tear gems in liquid and solid forms somewhere in the castle…I'll find it somehow. That leaves Yukina's hair, and she herself can give me one when she arrives here tomorrow afternoon."
"Yukina's coming! What the hell?! Why wasn't I told?!" demanded Yusuke in shock. "You people never tell me anything anymore!"
Hiei, likewise, seemed to have not been aware, since he gave Kurama killer glare (which the silverhead shook off easily, being used to it).
"You weren't told, Yusuke, because I heard from Koenma just earlier this evening. Yukina's lonely, it seems." Kurama stood up and stretched. "I have other matters to attend to. Let me get our covers straight, before going to bed. There will be no mentioning our demon heritage, Yusuke, and no threatening Harry or any other wizards, Hiei. Do not drop hints for fun, and do not drop hints on accident either; I know all of you are plenty intelligent. As far as any humans know, all of us are a normal group of human friends who live together solely because we find big groups more interesting to be with…do not laugh, Yusuke."
Yusuke let out a giggle. "Sorry, Kurama…but you're telling us we're supposed to be one big, happy, dysfunctional family? Oh, sure…like that'll happen…"
Hiei picked up a nearby cushion and threw it at Yusuke. The half-demon dodged just in time. The cushion sailed through the air and smashed into the far wall, causing cracks in the plaster.
"Hiei, I just finished telling Yusuke not to break apart the house!" Kurama threw his hands up in exasperation. "What's the use? I'm going to go sleep now…I don't care if we're attacked, you guys deal with it. If one person other than Botan walks into the room tonight, expect to die of natural causes."
To others, it might have sounded vaguely like a foolish joke, but Yusuke and Hiei got the true meaning loud and clear.
Hiei stood up as well, his hands in his pockets. "Yusuke, if you prank me tonight, I will have your hide. I don't give a damn if it's you or God that walks into the room before eight tomorrow; I will set the dragon on you. In fact…I'd like it if God walked in." Hiei grinned, picturing Koenma burning. "Have an unpleasant night." He breezed out of the room, disappearing so quickly that not even Kurama could quite keep up with his movements. If there was one advantage Hiei had over any other opponent, it was speed. He could outrun Kurama, Yusuke, Mukuro…you name them.
"Well, I will be turning in now as well. Good night, Yusuke. Botan, are you…?"
"I'll be up as soon as I'm done cleaning up a bit around here, darling. Good night, Yusuke!" Botan chirped, disappearing into the kitchen a bit beyond the living room.
"Night, Kurama…were you serious when you said you don't care if we're attacked?" Yusuke asked.
"Naturally; you and Hiei are more than enough to take down a Lower S class." Kurama marched off in the direction of the stairs.
Yusuke made a face and followed.
The next morning, Harry woke up, refreshed and warm. He didn't recognize his surroundings for a split second, but then the previous evening's events came back to him and he let out a contented, blissful sigh. He was with his uncle Kurama…a wizard…who actually liked Harry to some extent…
Harry couldn't have asked for more.
Glancing at the digital clock on his bedside table, Harry saw that it read '9:45 A.M.' Well…he had slept in a bit. Hoping his aunt and uncle wouldn't mind, Harry quickly dressed and washed, and stepped out of his room.
The first thing which greeted him was the sight of Yusuke in his boxers and nothing else, wandering out of his own room with a disheveled look to him. Harry's eyebrows shot up at the Asian looking man.
"Oh…ohiyo…I mean, good morning…" Yusuke muttered.
"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" asked Harry curiously, staring down at Yusuke's blue and white striped boxers.
"Clothes…? Oh yeah…right…clothes. Don't tell Kurama…" Yusuke slammed his bedroom door again, obviously going to put on some of the mysterious 'clothes'. Shaking his head in both amusement and puzzlement, Harry made his way downstairs, managing to wander into a bathroom instead of the dining room once. When he entered the dining room, the smell of sizzling bacon and eggs filled his nostrils.
Kurama was already at the table, reading a book while sipping a cup of coffee, and Hiei was wolfing down bacon. Botan was somewhere in the kitchen, making more food.
Kurama glanced up as Harry sat down in the seat he had occupied the previous evening, and gave his nephew a smile. "Good morning, Harry. Did you have a pleasant night?"
"The best," agreed Harry enthusiastically. "I slept about as well as I do at Hogwarts after a Quidditch match. I didn't expect you guys to still be eating breakfast…you seem like the early rising types."
"Well…Hiei, Botan and I are early risers…but Yusuke isn't. We put off breakfast to around this time for him." Kurama replied. "Botan should almost be done making your portion…" As if on cue, the blue haired ferry girl pranced in with a plate loaded down with eggs and bacon. She put it down before Harry, looking pleased.
"I made bacon and eggs today! It's my first time, so you're allowed to spit it out if it doesn't suit your tastes." She glanced up as Yusuke trotted in, a pair of dark blue shorts and a white t-shirt. He was barefoot, unlike the others in the room. Botan scowled. "You're late again, Yusuke! Didn't I tell you to wear shoes?"
Grunting, Yusuke slid into the seat beside Harry. "Yeah, but I'm not in the mood." Botan let out an exasperated sigh and waltzed off, obviously to grab Yusuke's food.
"So…Harry," Yusuke drawled, "what do you want to do today?"
"Huh?" questioned Harry stupidly.
"You're stuck with me all day because everyone else has things to do." Yusuke answered.
"Oh…well…we don't need to really do anything…" Harry trailed off as Yusuke shot him an annoyed look.
"I'm not going to stick around in the house all day. Do you have anywhere you want to go? How about an amusement park? I'll drop you off at a friend's house if you want…heck, I'll take you to Japan if it'll keep you occupied!" Yusuke announced, grinning widely.
Kurama, not looking up from his book, interrupted. "Not Japan, Yusuke…you know Koenma would have a fit if you went there for a day and didn't do anything except for accompany Harry. You know how he's been begging you to clear up that area."
Yusuke let out a disappointed sound. "Oh yeah…sorry Harry, not Japan."
Harry was more concerned about something else. "Who's Koenma?"
"Yusuke's former boss," Kurama was the one to reply. "He used to work as a detective, of sorts, back in Japan. He was fired after almost getting killed, but Koenma still relies on Yusuke heavily to keep one area of Japan clear of criminals." Yusuke almost snorted. Kurama had messed up the facts a little bit, but most of it had been truth. This was why Kurama was one heck of a liar; he actually told the truth, but a veiled truth.
Hiei, likewise, seemed half-amused. "Criminals, fox? Some of those apparitions are actually fairly peaceful."
"Yes, Hiei, but they're still breaking laws by being in the human world in the first place. We all decided that was an essential law years ago, remember?"
They cut off the mental connection.
Botan walked back into the room, with Yusuke's food in one hand and her own in the other. "Here you go, you lazy bum. You'd better not be late for breakfast tomorrow, or there won't be any breakfast for you at all!"
Yusuke laughed it off, waving a hand dismissively. "You know you love me despite it all!"
Kurama's eyes shot up from the pages of his book. "I'm growing many new plants outside in the garden, Yusuke. I don't think they're the type you'd like much though…"
Harry stared at Kurama, wondering where that had come from. Why had Yusuke blanched such a pale white shade? Did he have an intense fear of flowers or something? He voiced his questions out loud, and Kurama let out a chuckle while Yusuke fumed.
"Well…it depends on what kind of flower, Harry. I doubt Yusuke would be afraid of a harmless daisy or a sunflower…but who knows? He just might be scared of roses."
Hiei rolled his eyes skywards, as if to say 'harmless my ass'. Even Botan looked faintly amused.
Yusuke, on the other hand, looked completely embarrassed. "I'm not scared of roses…or daisies…or sunflowers…except for the ones that have come in contact with you."
"Yusuke, I said no hints!" Kurama's voice rang out in Yusuke's head.
"Yeah, yeah…but it's an extremely little hint…it's not any bigger than the ones you've been dropping. You could always say you have a special knack with charming plants or something."
"True…but the hints I've been dropping, I already have plausible answers for."
Yusuke cleared his throat nervously, and turned to Harry. "So…about our activities today…"
Harry blinked. "Well I was thinking we could go to an amusement park…if you don't mind…"
Yusuke grinned. "An amusement park it is!" He announced, and began on his eggs.