Kurama, Hiei, and InuYasha looked at each other in surprise. None of them had expected Karasu to be so forthright about his intentions. Sesshoumaru was watching Karasu, seemingly apathetic to the statement made moments before. The other Gryffindors were watching the three new boys with interest. It was quite obvious that they had not understood the last sentence of the speech. "Lastly, go ahead and eat; you'll need to keep your strength up for this year," Karasu finished, with a final look at Kurama before he sat down. Chattering then broke out among the students, until food appeared on their plates. There was fried chicken, roast beef; there was even some chicken noodle soup! There were different kinds of juice to drink; there was pumpkin juice, apple juice, and some banana juice. The students made short work of the meal, and proceeded to have dessert. There were about seven different flavors of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, peanut butter chocolate fudge, mint chocolate, raspberry, and cherry chocolate vanilla. The students kept trying to get thirds of the ice cream, but every time they went to scoop for their third bowl, the ice cream magically moved away from their spoon.

When dinner was finished, the congregation separated into house groups. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws walked out of the Great Hall in a large mass and walked down the hallway toward the dungeons. The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors went the opposite way, up the stairs toward their towers. Yusuke, with the Slytherins, was already bored. The conversation at the lunch table had all been about who had snubbed who (Pansy Parkinson had snubbed Neville), which Gryffindor was the goody-goodiest (Harry Potter, unanimously), and why Professor Snape had gotten Defense Against the Dark Arts. The only thing that interested Yusuke happened as they were exiting the hall. He saw Malfoy hang back, with the thug Crabbe and another thug that Yusuke did not recognize. He stepped back to the back of the throng and started walking just in front of them. "Who is this Professor Sesshoumaru, anyway?" Yusuke heard Draco ask. He seemed to be talking to himself, because no one, not even his cronies, was listening; no one but Yusuke, at least. "Sesshoumaru is InuYasha's older brother. No clue how good he is at Potions, though. When you have class with him, call him Lord. And, no matter how hard it is not to ask, don't ask him about the mark on his cheek shaped like Hiei. Long story," Yusuke said to Malfoy. "Don't you mean when we have class?" Malfoy asked him, glaring at something over Yusuke's shoulder. "Maybe. But probably I'll be on the roof. Or training. Or practicing something I need to know. Oh yeah, that's training. Whaddya know?" Yusuke replied, looking over his shoulder trying to see what Malfoy was glaring at. Yusuke almost twisted his head around all the way before he saw Hermione pass through the hallway across from them. Yusuke grinned, and said, "What's up with you?" and walked forward through the crowd.

Kurama, InuYasha, and Hiei were walking toward the Gryffindor common room with all of their housemates. There were many conversations flying around at where Karasu had come from. There were several very farfetched guesses, like one of the second years who said they thought he was Professor Dumbledore's reflection from an evil mirror. Then there was Dennis Creevey's guess, which was uncomfortably close to the truth. He thought that Karasu was a ghost with a body. Kurama wasn't participating in any conversation; he was thinking too hard for that. Now that Karasu definitely knew that Koenma was sending people in to Hogwarts, he would begin making his moves more quickly. Hiei was also not participating, though for a different reason. He had moved away from the group and was exploring the corridors surrounding the hall that the students were in. He found a tapestry with a bowl of fruit that was concealing a passage, and snorted. He couldn't believe that the disguise of the passage was so revealed. Then he remembered that humans couldn't see through magic, and revised his opinions a bit. He teleported into the passageway and was immediately accosted by a small, elf-like being. "What are you doing here?" he asked it. It was obviously some sort of demon, though what kind Hiei was not sure. "We is working, sir! I is a house elf, you is acting as if you sees something else, sir." Hiei was stunned for a moment. These house elves were completely subservient! No self respecting demon, or any magical creature that he had ever met, would ever have subjected to that kind of humiliation. He left abruptly, disgusted. He followed the others' reiki to the Gryffindor tower, and then realized he didn't know the password. It was already past eight o'clock at night; he had things he needed to do. He decided to enter the tower from outside. It would serve as an exercise, seeing as how he hadn't gotten to do any training for the last four days because of packing and last minute supply shopping. He teleported outside of the tower, and started to climb. It wasn't as easy as it had looked from the ground, which suited Hiei just fine. He jumped from window ledge to outcropping of stone, while ancient traps were sprung and reset. One particularly nasty trap that even Hiei hadn't seen in time to duck was a bucket of Mrs. Skower's Magical Mess Remover, which seemed determined to follow him all the way up to his destination, scrubbing his hair vigorously the entire time. He finally made it to the Gryffindor common room window, and tapped it impatiently. He had things to tell the other spirit detectives.

Kurama was the first one to notice a short person standing outside the common room window, and he immediately stood up and opened it. InuYasha looked up from his latest quarrel with Kagome, which seemed to be about which one of them packed Kagome's wand. When InuYasha looked up, Kagome sighed frustratedly and put her hands inside her robe sleeves. She pulled her right hand out to find her wand inside it. She looked surprised, and then a thoughtful look came over her face. Hiei walked inside the room, looking interestingly windswept and slightly damp. Ginny walked over to him, and said, "Have you been flying?" Hiei shook his head silently. He made for the table were InuYasha was at. "The defenses on this place are absolutely horrible. The only one that actually is any good at hiding is ridiculous." Kurama nodded thoughtfully. "So, we have to strengthen the defenses outside, as well as defend inside. Interesting project for next week's full moon," he murmured. Kurama opened his dimensional pocket and took out the Towa no Shirube. It was time for the Towa to live and speak. She appeared in front of him. "Hello, cutie! What are you looking for? Call me To To, everyone does!" she said excitedly.

Yusuke's group had made it to their common room in the dungeons. To everyone's surprise, the teacher waiting there was not Professor Snape, but Sesshoumaru! "I am your new head of house for this year. If you decide to disrespect me, I will not hesitate to break your arm," he said, watching the students' reactions. They were gazing at him with mingled respect, fear, and distrust. He liked that.

Yusuke was following Malfoy. The boy was tapping the walls on every other wall, three times each. Yusuke decided to scare him a bit, so he walked up behind him and poked him in the back. Malfoy jumped and hit his head on the wall; that was the third hit on the wall. It opened up a small passageway, large enough for a thin boy about Malfoy's size to fit through. Malfoy walked into the passage, with a glance at Yusuke. Yusuke was delighted to find out that there was more to this school than classes and gossip, and followed Malfoy through with a grin.

While walking through the tunnel, Yusuke almost ran into several sharp spikes that were protruding from the walls. "Whoa!" he said as he ran into Malfoy, who had suddenly stopped. "Shut up," the pale boy hissed, as he pressed his ear to the wall. Yusuke could hear sounds coming from the other side of the wall. It sounded like there was someone on the other side reading. Malfoy tapped the wall three times with his wand and a door opened to the left of the two boys. Malfoy stepped through and said, "Hello." It was the first thing that Yusuke had heard him say that didn't sound like he was being stuck up. Yusuke walked to the opening and saw Hermione greeting Malfoy. "Hi!" Yusuke said, watching her. Malfoy was conjuring his schoolbooks out of nowhere, along with several pieces of blank parchment and quills with ink. Yusuke sat down on the floor to watch them. "What's going on? I thought you hated people with non-magical parentage? You sure gave me and my friends problems about it," Yusuke said to Malfoy, who shrugged. "I normally don't. Hermione is the reason I don't need tutoring in Charms. She saw me in an empty classroom at the end of last year, practicing the Charms work that we had been given. She helped me, so we made a deal: I'd leave her alone, if she helped me with my Charms." "Well, if all you are going to do is study, I'm going down. If she's here this must be Gryffindor Tower, so the others should be downstairs, am I right?" Yusuke said, and when Draco nodded, he walked out of the room and down the stairs.

When he reached the Gryffindor Common room, he saw Hiei and InuYasha arguing about something. He walked up behind Hiei and said, "Ice cream." Hiei's reaction was comical. He stopped arguing with InuYasha instantly, and you could almost see his ears prick up. "Sweet snow? Where?" he asked, talking faster than usual. "In the kitchens, I'd expect. So, Yusuke, how'd you get here? Would it have anything to do with the passageway from the girls' dorms?" Kurama asked him, not really needing an answer. Hiei disappeared, most likely to go to the kitchens and get some ice cream. "So, what were they arguing about?" Yusuke asked Kurama, watching InuYasha start talking to someone who pointed a lot at his ears. "I believe that Hiei said that the defenses on this castle were ridiculous, and InuYasha asked him why it mattered. Hiei doesn't like explaining himself, so that is why they started shouting at one another," Kurama answered him.

Hiei was traveling toward the kitchens. He met Sesshoumaru coming from what looked like a room, but that disappeared when he looked closer. It wasn't even a magic barrier; he would have been able to see through that. It just disappeared. Sesshoumaru suddenly stopped walking, and sniffed the air. He then took out his whip and within a fraction of a second, had swung it and cut off several strands of Hiei's hair. Hiei stopped moving, and had his sword at Sesshoumaru's throat in the blink of an eye. "Where were you, and why did you attack me?" Hiei asked brusquely, as if he did not have his sword at Sesshoumaru's throat and they were just talking. "It's my business where I've been. I attacked you because you smelled like someone else," Sesshoumaru said, and drew the Tokijin while extracting himself from Hiei's sword point. Hiei did not reply to this; he had lost interest in the interrogation, and had left the hallway. He walked through the painting barrier for the second time that night, and was greeted by a different house elf. "Hello, sir! I's name be's Dobby! I is told that you don't like servile things, so we's decided I is the best to serve you!" it said, and bowed happily. Hiei was rather more impressed by this elf's apparel than the last; apparently this elf like clothes, instead of reviled them. "Sweet snow," Hiei said curtly to Dobby, who looked confused. "Ice cream!" said Hiei exasperatedly, and sat down to wait for his order. He decided to take this opportunity to survey the castle with his Jagan. It opened under his bandana, and glowed. Where Hiei was looking, the best defense was the forest. There was a herd of centaurs, a giant, a werewolf, and a herd of thestrals, as well as other beasts that would be useful in a fight. He changed his view to the inside of the castle, and was immediately drawn to a circular room with many pictures on the walls. Karasu was there, as well as someone that Hiei didn't recognize. They were talking softly, but then the dark one seemed to sense something and raised a concealing barrier. Hiei came back to himself suddenly, and growled angrily. The barrier was strong enough that he needed to completely open up his Jagan to see through it. That meant chancing a student or teacher seeing it.

Dobby the house elf appeared then, bearing a large bowl of chocolate ice cream. "Here you go sir! I hopes you decides to come back!" he said as Hiei was leaving. As Hiei stepped outside, he found Sesshoumaru waiting outside the painting. "You are needed in the dungeons," Sesshoumaru told him, and turned down the hallway toward them. Hiei followed him warily; he still didn't trust the dog demon. They made their way toward the dungeons, when Hiei saw Kurama come running toward them. "There is a demon loose in the dungeons. Yusuke, InuYasha, and Kagome are already there, but they said they wanted you two there," he said, and ran off back the way he came. Hiei flitted there, followed closely by Sesshoumaru.

There most definitely was a demon there; it was not of the sort that one usually found in Human World. It appeared to be a wind demon, like Jin, but was apparently a mercenary. It was wearing its money around its neck like jewelry. Yusuke, InuYasha, and Kagome were doing okay against it, but it was powerful. "Oy, Kurama! Should we kill it, or should we question it, d'ya think?" Yusuke shouted to Kurama. "Answers are more important right now," Kurama replied, and in a sweep of his rose whip, the demon was missing an arm. Hiei warded the room, before stepping forward and pulling his bandana off. There was a sharp intake of breath from Kagome, as his Jagan was revealed. "Naraku sent it. It's a female. She is a wind demon. She's a mercenary. Apparently, Naraku doesn't think much of our skills, because this mercenary was only paid the Makai equivalent of 2,000 yen. She was sent to kill InuYasha, Kagome, and Sesshoumaru. She doesn't think Naraku knows how powerful Kurama, Yusuke, or I am," Hiei said, as a rush of images and thoughts hit him. "Hey, Kurama! I think next week you could find something out on your trip, like does Naraku know who you really are," InuYasha said. It was a good suggestion.

Kurama nodded slowly. He was wondering the same thing. "He's working with Karasu, so I would think that he does," Kurama said, and turned to the female wind demon. "Would you prefer to die now, quickly, or to lose your reputation and be killed slowly by a competing mercenary?" he asked her. She spit on the floor, then said, "I think I'll take a quick death. Don't tell anybody, though. I couldn't stand being thought of as a coward." Sesshoumaru stepped forward and pulled out one of his two swords on his hip. He cut the wind demon's head off, which rolled to the other side of the room.

"Hello," a voice said. Hiei looked up sharply. His barrier should have kept anything, including voices, out of the room. InuYasha's ears pricked up, and he bared his fangs. Sesshoumaru lengthened his claws, and Kagome reached for an arrow. "There is no other ki in the room except ours. His voice is coming through the walls, and my barrier," Hiei said, and blinked. "So, InuYasha. You've made yourself some powerful friends. I doubt even Kanna could beat you three; your souls are too different," the voice continued. "Naraku. Why are you here? You're helping a human; that's not like you," Sesshoumaru said. Suddenly, the room felt different. "He's gone," Hiei stated, and flitted away. Kurama left the room as well, followed closely by Yusuke. Sesshoumaru was left standing alone in the center of the room. "Feh, Naraku, you have sunk to a new low. At least before, the things you sent after my brother and I were part of you. Now you think to kill me with a pay by the hour mercenary? Did you really believe that this would kill me?" Sesshoumaru said, with a glance at the dead demon on the floor. The Hiei mark was quite visible; the cloaking spell had worn off. He turned and walked out of the room and toward his office.

The rest of the group was walking back to Gryffindor Tower when they were accosted by Ginny and Malfoy. Ginny looked out of breath, as if she had been running; Malfoy looked merely disinterested. "Where did you guys go in such a hurry!" she asked frantically. Yusuke laughed. "We had something to take care of. What's wrong with you?" he asked her. InuYasha walked up next to him and unsheathed his claws again. Kurama took out his wand, Hiei put a hand on his sword, and Kagome grabbed her necklace. "There is a toddler in Gryffindor Tower asking to see you. I also think Yusuke and I should be getting back to the Slytherin dungeons," Malfoy said, and walked off. Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei looked at each other and laughed. "Koenma's here after the fight. He's a little late, don't you think?" Hiei asked the others, in a rare humorous moment. InuYasha and Kagome stared at them. "Wait a minute. Is this the same toddler that made us come and help you?" Kagome asked them. Kurama nodded. "InuYasha, don't you think you should go tell your brother?" she said, turning to him. InuYasha shook his head and stared determinedly at the wall. "You make me so mad! SIT!" Kagome yelled at him. He dropped face first into the hard stone floor. "I'll go get him," Kurama said, and walked back the way they came. They others continued their ascent up to Gryffindor, Ginny included.

Kurama, on the other hand, was going after Sesshoumaru. He sniffed the air, following Sesshoumaru's scent. He finally found him going into the potions room, and said, "Koenma is here in Gryffindor Tower. He wants to see all of us. He has already attracted enough attention." Sesshoumaru looked at him appraisingly. Kurama had his wand out. Sesshoumaru finally said, "Fine. I have to get something first." He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a bottle of pop. He drank it in two minutes and followed Kurama out the door. He had a bone to pick with Koenma.