7th Year

Chapter Three: The Train

"Remind me why we have to take a train there again?" Yusuke asked snarkily as he, Kuwabara, and Kurama all climbed on board the large, red train called the Hogwarts Express. Hiei had ever so politely declined to ride a train filled with, as he called the students, a bunch of noisy brats.

"Because," Kuwabara answered. "Koenma isn't able to get a stable portal to the school since it's protected by something or other, he didn't say what. And I don't know about you, but I would much rather get there in one piece instead of, like, just a head or something."

"Whatever." Yusuke said as he put his hands behind his head and looked around the empty corridor for the way to the baggage car.

"I just wish we could get seats." Kuwabara put in as they took a left and entered the dark room. Botan had explained to them after the boys arrived at the train station that, because they weren't actually going to the school, they weren't actually supposed to be on the train, so they had to hide somewhere where no one would see them. Next thing they knew she was on her oar waving at them cheerily and flying away, probably trying to avoid any violent outbursts.

"Well, here we are." Kuwabara said as he sat down on someone's trunk and tried to make him self comfortable for the long ride.

"I still say we should join Hiei on top of the train." Yusuke muttered as he found a spot big enough for him to lie down in.

"Yes," Kurama spoke up from the corner. "It would be much better until you were pushed off by the wind and lack of hand holes."

Yusuke was quiet after that. All summer Kurama had focused on finding the Ice Maidens so that he and the others could go home as soon as possible, but being sent to Britain straight after they got back was breaking the last shred of patience he had.

The train's whistle broke their silence and making Kuwabara slightly jump. Then he snapped his fingers.

"Hey guys I think I have some cards, you wanna play BS or something?" Kuwabara asked as he pulled an old deck of cards out of his pocket.

Yusuke sat up as the train started to move. "Sure, it's not like we don't have time. How about you Kurama?"

Kurama sighed. "Fine." He said and slid over to the box Kuwabara had put the cards on.

*******

"Ah man!" Yusuke cried as Kuwabara won, again! They had been playing War for nearly an hour and a half by now and Kuwabara had won every game they had played. Go figure.

"What is it Urameshi? Not used to being beat?" Kuwabara laughed hysterically. Kurama allowed himself a small smile. Even though they were miles away from home and they still had to find the last girl in order to get Koenma off there backs, Yusuke and Kuwabara still managed to act like idiots.

Yusuke stood up, frustrated. "I'm going to find the bathroom." He said angrily, and then left the baggage car.

Kuwabara looked over at Kurama, shuffling the cards in his hand. "So you want to play again Kurama?" He asked cheerfully.

Kurama shrugged. "Sure," He said as he took Yusuke's spot and waited for Kuwabara to deal. After Kuwabara had handed out all the cards, Yusuke ran back into the room and shut the door behind him with a bang. Kurama took in his white face and freaked out look and figured out what had happened.

"Someone saw you, didn't they?" He asked calmly.

Yusuke nodded. "I accidentally told them that we were foreign exchange students and the kid went to go get some adult named Hermione."

Kuwabara started laughing. "Wow Urameshi, since when are you afraid of adults?"

"Since these adults might actually think I was telling the truth." Yusuke said angrily as he raised his fist.

Kurama sighed. "Really Yusuke, it's nothing to worry about."

Yusuke looked over at the red headed fox. "Yeah, how do you figure that?"

"Well," Kurama said thoughtfully. "Schools have a list of who is coming to there school as an exchange student. So since we will not be on Hogwarts exchange list, we can say we simply got on the wrong train or something similar. Then, once we have gotten the last Ice Maiden, we can leave and they'll think that we've gone to our real exchange school."

Yusuke calmed down after he thought about Kurama's explanation. "Okay," He said. "As long as they don't really think that we're actually going to go their school, I'm okay."

"Yeah," Kuwabara grinned. "You don't even go to our real school. Why should you go to someone else's?"

"Why you-" Yusuke yelled and then he and Kuwabara started hitting each other, causing a cloud of dust to fly up from the ground.

Kurama sneezed when the dust started to rise. "Guys," He said, and then sneezed again. He tried again, calling louder.

"Guys!" He called, but then his nose twitched and he started sneezing harder.

Eventually he gave up and went to the farthest corner so he could escape the dust.

*******

Several hours later, the train pulled to a wheel squealing stop. Yusuke had won the earlier fight and Kuwabara had a black eye and quite a few bruises to show for it.

"Man Urameshi, what d'ya do that for. I was only kidding. Well, not really...but it was a joke, get over it." He said, touching his black eye.

Yusuke looked like he was ready to punch him again. "Well, maybe that will teach you not to say stupid things. Oh wait, I forgot you can't do that can you?"

Kurama stepped in between them in order to stop another fight.

"Let's just get out of this car, before people come to get their luggage." He said quietly, then opened the door and, seeing no one was out, quickly got off the train. Yusuke and Kuwabara both followed him to the side of the train that passengers were not using. They walked down the side of the train looking for Hiei, while also avoiding the students and few teachers that were on the other side of the red train.

"Hey!" Someone called from behind them. All three of them turned to see who it was. Standing there with her hands on her hips was an elderly woman wearing black robes with small spectacles perched on the tip of her nose. "What are you three doing here? You were supposed to get off on the other side. You know that." She started to walk forward in order to see which students she was talking to.

But Yusuke and the others decided that it wouldn't be good if some old lady thought they were students and dragged them off to that school. So they quickly walked away, trying to escape by going between the cars and blending in with the crowd on the other side.

Unfortunately, Yusuke (who was in front) ran into someone as soon as he got out from between the cars.

"Hey watch it." Yusuke said in his slightly broken English as he and the other dark haired boy fell to the ground.

"You watch it." A freckled face kid said as he helped his friend up.

"Excuse me." Said a stern voice from behind Yusuke. "But who are you and what are you doing here?"

Yusuke turned around to see the old lady that had been following them standing there.

"What?! How did you get there so fast?" He exclaimed as the lady eyeballed him, Kurama, and Kuwabara.

The old woman grinned almost mischievously. "Why I walked of course. Now," Then her face grew sterner. "Who are you three?"

"They're the exchange students Professor." The boy with black hair and glasses spoke up from where he and his friends were still standing.

At first the woman looked a little bewildered. "The exchange...? Oh yes!" She said at last, leaving Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara to look at each other. "Yes. I'm sorry. You must be our new student teacher," She motioned to Kurama with a smile. "And you two must be the students from the Japanese University. It is a pleasure to meet you all." She said as she bowed to all three of them.

Yusuke exchanged a look with Kurama, leaving Kuwabara to figure out if he should bow back to the woman. They both saw the confusion in the other's eyes, so neither of them had arranged this. Kuwabara wouldn't know how. That left...

"Hiei." They both whispered and looked toward the top of the train, where they saw a subtle shadow flit off into the darkness.

"He's probably smirking at our misfortunes as well." Kurama thought to himself as he put on a smile for the Professor.

"Yes," He lied smoothly. "I am Shuichi Minamino and these are my friends Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara." He pointed to his friends as he introduced them. Fortunately, neither bothered to point out that they had no idea what the woman was talking about.

"It is very nice to meet all three of you. Now, I'm afraid that I have to help the younger children to the school. Perhaps Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger can show you the way?" She looked over at the dark haired young man, his friend with freckles and reddish hair, and a young woman who had just joined them.

"Yes Professor." The one that Yusuke had run over said unenthusiastically. His two friends looked worriedly at each other over his head.

"Uhhh...thanks." Kuwabara said as the other three began to walk away from the train. When they were a safe distance behind their guides, Kuwabara started to whisper to Yusuke.

"Well thanks Urameshi." Kuwabara muttered darkly. "Now they think we're really going to stay here all year."

"It's not my fault!" Yusuke whispered harshly back. "How was I supposed to know that that kid was going to tell that lady? Or that we'd get caught?"

"It's probably a good thing that Hiei stepped in and altered her memory a little bit so that she would think that we are exchange students." Kurama spoke up softly. "Now we don't have to worry so much about people seeing us when we look for the last Maiden."

"Yeah, I guess so." Yusuke grumbled as he kicked a rock that was on the path. "But I also noticed that Hiei didn't include himself in his little "exchange student" memory, and we're not going to be here that long anyway. So there really is no point in them noticing us at all. It'll just become a problem later when we leave."

Kurama sighed. Yusuke was right about that, but hopefully Hiei could alter the teachers and students memories again so they could leave quietly.

"Well, we'll just have to deal with that later Yusuke. First, let's just find the Ice Maiden." Kurama said, getting nods from the others.

"Here we are." The young woman called from up ahead. Kurama looked up to see a carriage attached to a pair of demon horses.

"What the...?" Kuwabara and Yusuke said at the same time.

Kurama realized with a start where they must really be. "I don't think we're at an ordinary school guys." He said softly.

"Gee, what gave you that idea?" Yusuke whispered back.

"No," Kurama said. "What I mean is that this is a magic school. I remember learning about such schools and that they also sometimes used creatures that were more demon then magic."

"You mean those things." Kuwabara asked slowly.

Yusuke gave him a look. "No Kuwabara he means the carriages. Of course he means the horses!"

"Hey are you guys coming or what?" The freckled faced kid called from the carriage.

"We're coming." Yusuke called then said to Kurama and Kuwabara, "We'll talk about this later." The other two nodded their heads and followed Yusuke into the carriage.

*******

The ride to the school was uneventful and unnervingly quiet. Kurama was glad when the carriage finally stopped in front of the large front doors of the castle that served as the school.

Yusuke whistled when he saw the ancient stone structure. "Wow," He said. "And I thought that your school was fancy Kurama."

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed as he craned his neck back to see the top of the towers.

"Come on," The brunette said as she jumped out of the carriage. "The Great Hall is this way." She pointed up the stairs to the huge wood doors that led to the inside of the castle.

"So," The girl said when the three "exchange" students caught up to her and the others. "You're from Japan?" She asked trying to dispel the awkward silence that was trying to take hold.

"Hai." Yusuke said staring straight ahead.

"Well," The girl said nervously seeing that the conversation, if you could call it that, was going absolutely nowhere. "My name's Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

Yusuke pretended not to hear her and kept walking.

Kurama sighed. "I'm sorry, he isn't very social. I'm Shuichi Minamino and this is Kazuma Kuwabara and you've already met Yusuke."

She looked annoyed as she answered yes. "Anyway," She continued. "Please tell us if you need anything. What class are you helping to teach, by the way?"

For a moment Kurama simply looked at her, and then he remembered that Hiei had seen it fit to make him a student teacher instead of just a student.

"Oh, well I am very good with plants." Kurama said, not quite answering her question.

"Really? I think you would probably like talking with Neville then. He loves things like that. And I'm sure Professor Sprout would love your help."

"Thank you." Kurama said politely. "So do you know where our rooms will be or has that not been decided yet?"

"I think that you'll have to be sorted with all the first years. That's how everyone else gets there rooms, by being sorted into a house." Hermione gave him a sideways look. "Don't you know anything about Hogwarts? Or were you just randomly sent here?" Kurama was sure that that last part was supposed to be a joke, but since she had said it...

"Yes." Kurama smiled at her shocked face. "Since there are too many students from our school that wish to visit other schools, our principle has us draw names out of a hat so that the process is fair."

Ron Weasley gaped at him. "Are you serious?" He asked.

Kurama nodded. "Why would I joke?" He said, and then he smiled at them before catching up with his friends.

"I don't think I like them." Ron said to Hermione after Kurama left.

"Well, we can't do anything except watch them. But if they do anything strange we'll tell Professor McGonagall."

Ron snorted. "Like she'd ever listen to us."

"She would if we thought they might be after Harry." Hermione whispered harshly. "Just because Voldemort is dead doesn't mean that his followers aren't going to go after Harry."

Ron looked at the three strangers again. "You don't think-"

"I don't know." Hermione admitted. "But since Harry is so out of it we need to keep a closer watch on anyone we think might have worked for Voldemort, especially those three."

Ron nodded then followed her into the Great Hall with Harry shuffling in behind them.

"You guys are supposed to stay here." Hermione told the exchange students as they tried to follow them into the Hall.

The guy with dark slicked back hair looked at them. "Why?"

Hermione sighed. It was like dealing with first years. "Because you two haven't been sorted yet," Hermione pointed to the two younger boys. "And I don't know about you since you're basically a teacher." She quickly turned around and followed her friends to their table.

"Whatever." Yusuke said once Hermione was out of ear shot. "It's like she's Keiko's twin sister." He leaned back against the wall to settle in for the most likely long wait.

It wasn't actually that long before a professor should up and started explaining things to the scared first years and the bored exchange students.

"Of course we're last." Yusuke said frustrated and threw his hands up in the air. The professor had just mentioned that they would be going after all of the first years. Kurama looked out over the sea of black robed kids and sighed. Even though he was supposed to be a teacher, he had to go through the whole sorting as well. Apparently, the emphasis was on student teacher, since he couldn't just choose a room or something.

After they had stood there for what felt like an hour, the professor came back and told them that it was their turn to be sorted.

"About time." Yusuke said and followed him into the large Hall.

As they walked between the two middle tables, Kurama noticed that a seat was empty at the Professor's table. He suddenly got a very bad feeling about that they wouldn't be able to go home as quickly as they had thought.

The sorting went much faster then Kurama had thought it would. Yusuke and Kuwabara were both placed in Gryffindor, while Kurama was put in Ravenclaw. They had all been seated when the same woman that had tried to stop them at the train station got up and welcomed every back. Kurama distractedly listened to Headmistress McGonagall as he looked around room, hoping to see the last Ice Maiden.

"One more thing," The headmistress said as she finished. "Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher won't be here for another few days, so in the meantime..." Kurama stopped listening altogether when he heard that. He looked over at Yusuke and Kuwabara and saw their looks of astonishment.

They were stuck here until the Ice Maiden showed up.

Joy.