Kittenn: Okay, here it is: the last chapter that was once Kait1991's! I tried hard to get this out as fast as I could!

Elmo: She's happy to be able to finally be able write it herself.

Kittenn: I promise you guys a chapter before next Monday! I really can't wait to write the next one, because I have big plans from now on!

Elmo: HUGE PLANS!

Kittenn: Lastly, this chapter wasn't even two-thousand words… only about 1,600… I just wanted to make a clean cut between where Kait1991 left off and where I start. I wanted to have her last chapter be ten… but I did not have a lot to work with. This chapter started with only 900 words… so I say that I did well.

Elmo: Actually, I have one thing to say. Can you guys please review? Kittenn usually hates asking, but she enjoys constructive critique, and even a little bit of encouragement is nice, so I won't say it again… I promise… but could you please review?


Murphy's Law

YYHHP: Kurama always thought his human family were normal, that was, until his step-father got a job offer for Hogwarts! As a "muggle" though, he ends up a Smeltings. There, the unthinkable happens!


Adopted from Kait1991


IX: In Which Kurama had a Very Stupid Plan


"What the hell was that?" yelled Kuwabara to his allies a second or so after the noise, shoving Ron away. The other two followed suit, releasing their captives. Hiei flicked their wands back.

The three took one more glance at Kurama before running off towards the sound.

"What's going on?" Yusuke wondered out loud as they ran in sync with each other.

Kuwabara shrugged, "I don't know. Do you think we should help?" By this time, they'd reached the chaos, which truly was chaos.

"No," Hiei stated flatly as screaming wizards ran by him, "this isn't our problem. We're here for Kurama."

"Then why'd we run?"

Hiei rolled his eyes at Kuwabara's question. "If we didn't react then they'd be suspicious."

"I don't know about you two," Yusuke mused, "but if I was them, I'd think we were involved in causing this right about now."

In a blink, Hiei was gone.

"Okay. C'mon Kuwabara. Let's run for our lives."

"But whoever sent these people screaming probably wouldn't be able to hurt us…"

"Yeah, but these screaming people don't know that. Pretend to be one of the screaming people."


"You guys all right?" Kurama asked, distributing the correct wands to the correct people.

"Yeah," Hermione said, rubbing her neck. "I think so."

"We should go help!" Harry said, jumping up from his spot on the ground that Yusuke had thrown him to. "I'd put money on Voldemort having something to do with this!"

Ron jumped up from his own place on the ground. "Yeah!"

"Not without us," Hermione said as Kurama helped her to her feet. She gave him a quick "thanks" and looked to where they heard the loud shriek.

Quickly as he could, Harry took off with Ron in tow. Eric grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her off behind the other two boys and Harry lead the other three to an alley and they crouched down behind a few crates.

Death Eaters were swarming around and dead people's corpses lied everywhere you looked. Harry shuddered.

"We need to get any students or-" he started as they saw what was happening.

"No," Kurama cut Harry off, "you all need to get out of here! I'll stop them; you guys get out of here." His tone was worried and urgent. He bit his lip and mumbled once again, "I'll stop them," to convince himself.

"We can't just leave you!" Hermione gasped, Ron and Harry agreeing indefinitely.

Kurama smiled as them softly, "Don't worry; they won't touch me… I think, at least. After all," he sighed now, "I am a Death Eater Son."

He jumped over the crates before they could continue to protest and walked around the corner and out of sight.

"Eric!" Ron whispered immediately, popping his head up over the crate, only to be dragged back down.

"No, If Eric is so determined to sacrifice himself for us to escape, we need to leave." Hermione said, her eyes tearing up at the thought of never seeing her new friend again.

"Let's go," Harry sighed, leading them back around the building. They saw a group of Hogwarts students huddled together, and joined them as they all walked carefully towards the school.


After Kurama jumped over the crate away from his friends, he had walked to the nearest Death Eater.

"It's me," he whispered, and paused, choosing his words carefully, "It's Eric Riddle. Take me to my father."

The man behind the mask gasped, then grabbed Kurama's arm and led him to the main square, straight to the largest group of the cloaked people, and in it was only one without a mask. Voldemort.

Kurama shook his arm free from the Death Eater and knelt on one knee before the snake-like man, "Father, greetings." He said clearly.

"Rise, child," hissed the man. "You have done well, but is you cover compromised?"

"No, but, I will probably be assumed dead," Kurama answered, standing up tall.

"Why then, have you come here?" snarled the man in anger. "You are of no use to me assumed dead."

"To maintain my cover, milord. I was with a group that wished to fight you: Harry Potter's group. If I was seen there are a few Death Eaters that would be very thrilled to see me suffer. They would have blown my cover with them." Kurama paused carefully, "and speaking of my cover, that crazy old man should be arriving any time now with all sorts of reinforcements. I should be 'taken care of'. " Kurama grinned his trademark mischievous smile, making air quotes.

The man grinned evilly back, "You really are my son, you know," then set his wand on the boy,. "Crucio!" Kurama's screams rose above the silence of the Death Eaters, echoing in the trees. He was under the curse for nearly two minutes by the time Dumbledore arrived.

"Let the boy go!" Dumbledore ordered.

Voldemort complied, taking the spell off, leaving the willing victim unconscious and twitching on the ground at his feet.

"Well, Albus, you seem to be a bit late." Voldemort said pleasantly as he could, grinning evilly before disapparating. The Death Eaters followed suit.

Albus Dumbledore sighed, "Assess damages and casualties!" he yelled to his reinforcements, running towards his fallen student. He cautiously rolled him over. Kurama seemed to be still feeling the after pain of the curse he was just subjected to. "Idiot boy!" the Headmaster scolded, summoning a stretcher and floating it after him.


"You know, Kurama's an idiot right now." Kuwabara said, leaning up against the wall of the pub they had ducked into when the aurors arrived.

"Yeah, I agree. He never did anything like that for us!" Yusuke whined back.

Hiei shook his head, "There was something up. He was too calm."

"You got that too?" Yusuke asked quietly. "He had something up his sleeve. I know it."


The Golden Trio stood with some of the other older students to protect the younger in their ever growing group. Professor McGonagall had come a little while ago and told them to go to the carriages immediately. Before she left Harry, touched her arm, "Professor, we got separated from Eric in all the confusion. Have you seen him?"

"I haven't yet, but if I do I'll tell him you asked for him," she said, a sad and worried look in her eyes before rushing off back into the village.

"C'mon," Ron spoke up to ease the silence that had overtaken them, the trio taking up the rear cart. The ride back to the castle was silent, almost foreboding.

They left the carriage and escorted the younger Gryffindors to the common room. There they found Neville, Ginny and Dean watching the door eagerly.

"Ron!" Ginny said, throwing her arms happily around her brother. "I thought you were dead!"

"Ginny, I'm fine, it's Eric… he did something really stupid…"

"Got himself hurt doing something stupid?" it was Dean who spoke now. "Seamus broke his arm trying to get out of the tree he had climbed before the attack. Fell out, he did." Dean grinned slightly. "He's down in the Hospital Wing, but he's non-life threatening." He shook his head he finished, "Some kid got himself Crucio-ed real bad though; I didn't see much but I could tell that kind of scream anywhere."

"What did you see? We heard someone scream just before it got really quiet," Hermione pushed.

"Crucio isn't the curse you want used on you for long…"

Dean shuddered at Neville's cryptic response before saying, "It was a guy, I hear, around our age, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, somebody told me they saw yellow on his robes" He frowned. "Do you think its Eric?"

Hermione nodded grimly, the group sitting at the couches near the fire, always glancing at the portrait hole whenever it opened, waiting to see if one of their friends came through it.

People would join them. Whenever somebody came in alone, they'd ask about their friends, and if their friends hadn't returned they'd sit too and wait.

By the time that Professor McGonagall came through it with Seamus at midnight, there was only a small group there: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny (asleep on the couch), and a couple others.

A grim look was on their Head's face. Seamus scurried over, joining his friends, a frightened look on his face.

She began, "Everyone under fifth year, please got to bed now. Anybody you're waiting for should be back before morning." The few younger students still awake complied. There were a couple asleep on the floor too, but the others woke them up.

The second they were all up the stairs McGonagall set up a silencing charm then readdressed them, "There have been no deaths from our house but," she paused. A couple people looked around worriedly, expecting her to announce the deaths from other houses, which they were almost sure there were. "Eric Riddle has been transferred to St. Mungos, for injuries in the attack. He may not be joining us for several months."

She turned to leave, setting an envelope on the table beside the portrait hole, but stopped, turning to address them once more.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked Hogsmeade, and all trips are cancelled until further notice." She left.

The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. This lasted about a minute before Hermione's soft sobs broke it. Ron reached over and wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't worry Hermione, Eric will be just fine." He tipped her head up and wiped away a tear. Hermione pushed her face into his shoulder.

Though her words were muffled, both Ron and Harry could hear her whisper, "But what if he doesn't come back?"