Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.

This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe ("Play with me" by kantellis on deviantArt) and the words are mine though so please don't take them.

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Chapter 10: The last artefact

Christmas came and went without much adventures for Harry. He managed to impress everybody with his Defence Against the Dark Arts knowledge, but Dumbledore, who came to visit, was not very impressed when he found out the reason for the knowledge.

Harry shook his head, remembering the lecture he got about being late to the lessons, not that he expected anything different. He was just shocked when Dumbledore said he would talk with Professor Kruspe to ask if it was really necessary to give Harry detentions every time he was late – at that point Harry simply stared.

Later he told that to Ron and Hermione and they were both just as shocked and wondering why would the headmaster do anything about the situation, especially if Harry didn't really complain. Of course he didn't appreciate to have detention almost every week, but he hadn't lost any points for Gryffindor and really the only thing he did was doing a bit of extra studying – if he was in the common room, he'd be doing homework anyway.

Hermione even went as far as wondering if this whole "detention for being late" was a big scheme to teach Harry more Defence Against the Dark Arts because if there was somebody who was going to need it, it was Harry. However, if it was the case, Dumbledore wouldn't have said he'd go and talk with the teacher.

Now he was back in the school with the strong desire to avoid any more detentions. It became a running joke in Gryffindor: "what day is it?" "Wednesday, Potter's in detention". He laughed at it, but it was annoying, especially since he needed now to put more effort into Quidditch to win with Slytherin.

'I have my book,' he spoke more to himself than to Ron, who was watching him with a grin. They already went through that a couple of times and always there was something that delayed Harry.

'You have your pants and they're clean,' Ron added, almost laughing at the memory when Harry realized that he had a huge stain on his ass and refused to go to class like that.

'Very funny Ron – whatever I sat on, it was damn difficult to remove from them!' If he knew who played that particular joke on him there would be hell to pay. 'Right, I have everything,' he said and they went for breakfast.

Feeling paranoid, he checked if his book was in place every two minutes – it was there every time he checked. Could he have really forgotten it so many times? It could hardly have gone back to the dormitory on it's own after all.

Mail arrived and Harry was surprised to get a letter as well. He quickly unfolded the note, as the owl waited. He read it three times, not able to believe that he had forgotten such an important thing as meeting with Sirius! Without much thinking, he grabbed the quill to scribble a reply

'Harry! There's no time!' Hermione hissed. 'You'll be late again!'

'No, I'll catch you on the way,' he muttered back and she left, pulling Ron behind herself with a "suit yourself". They were gone and Harry looked at the note. Yup, it was ready. No, wait – he got the hour wrong…

Ha attached the piece of paper to the owls leg with some problems and ran out of the Great Hall, so determined to not be late that he even forgot about the book.

In his haste, he bumped into Filch and has to stop to apologize so that he doesn't take any points from Gryffindor. As he rushed into the classroom twenty people looked at him, Ron and Hermione with incredulous glares.

'I am going to start thinking that you are enjoying your weekly detentions, Mr. Potter,' Professor Kruspe said, sounding almost surprised that Harry was late again. 'I'm afraid this week you will have to come tomorrow evening, rather than tonight.'

'Yes, sir,' Harry said with resignation as he took his place next to Ron. He knew better than to argue.

'How is that possible?' Ron asked him, sounding amazed. Harry shrugged, busy taking the notebook. Their teacher had already returned to the lesson.

After the lesson he told him and Hermione that he bumped into Filch and that it delayed him, that it truly wasn't his fault that he was late. He also told them that he would be meeting Sirius that night. That the note was from him and that Harry forgot to answer before and needed to do it immediately. Ron asked excitedly if he could join, while Hermione, who hadn't once said a good word about Sirius since he almost killed their teacher, didn't say anything.

})i({

Ciel knocked on the door of his uncle's apartment. They decided that keeping the habit of eating separately every week was worth the risk of people suspecting something.

'It's good to see you back in shape, sort of,' Ciel said as Cain came to open the door and he noticed that the man wasn't using the cane for once. He still kept it when he walked around the school. But it was obvious that he was doing better.

'I could almost think that you're worried,' Cain half-joked and Ciel made a face.

'You're helping me, you know,' he pointed out. 'It's not like I wish you anything bad.'

'Now, now – I didn't want to make you feel guilty. Come and sit please and let your butler do his magic,' Cain said and they settled in the armchairs as Sebastian came to ask what they wanted to eat.

'Nothing even remotely Christmas-y,' Ciel said immediately.

'Something that goes well with red wine,' Cain spoke a second later, adding that he had some wine and Sebastian should check what would go well with what. With a bow, Sebastian left only to return some moments later with a delicious starter, followed by a truly exquisite beef-based dish.

They were in the middle of the meal, when Cain suddenly dropped his cutlery and gripped his left forearm with his right hand, a wince of pain twisting his face. Ciel watched it happen with some fascination.

'What do you do when that happens in public?' he asked when his uncle's expression relaxed. Cain looked at him as though he forgot that he had company.

'It's always an issue, but usually it doesn't catch me off guard,' he replied, a bit annoyed at himself.

'You know, Sebastian could remove it for you before he takes my soul,' Ciel said, surprising even himself. Cain gave him a long and careful look. 'It will always mean something and I personally think it's awful to be branded by whoever,' he added, a hard edge to his voice.

'Can Sebastian really do that?' Cain asked, not wanting to voice his thoughts. He didn't particularly regret having the tattoo, but he knew that after the fall of the Dark Lord, it will be a rather uncomfortable decoration.

'It will hurt,' Sebastian said out of the blue, as he came to pour more wine into his glass. 'But if my master so desires then who am I to fail him?'

'The Dark Lord would know.'

'I can have Sebastian do it after he's dead.'

A long while of silence fell between them as Cain looked in the fire, thoughtful and Ciel looked at him, observing. He was almost sure what they final decision will be, but he assumed it took time to decide. After a couple of minutes, Cain looked at the clock on the wall.

'I have to go on my patrol now, we'll talk about it later,' he said, getting up. As Ciel also got up, Sebastian cleaned instantaneously and Cain put on the outer robes and took his cane.

'Do you still need it?' Ciel asked, wondering if he was just playing up to make everybody around more careless.

'Not really, no,' Cain replied with a smirk. 'But let's keep it our little secret, Earl Phantomhive. After you,' he added, opening the door and letting Ciel and his cat out.

})i({

Hidden under the Invisibility Cloak together with Ron, Harry walked down the corridor quietly. It was already past curfew and they needed to avoid the teachers patrolling the corridors and get to the Shrieking Shack, where Sirius would be waiting.

They turned the corner, so far lucky, but Harry didn't even dare to comment on that to Ron and, from the silence, he guessed that Ron felt the same. Another corner.

In the last moment, Harry managed to stop the two of them and move aside to let the patrolling teacher pass. He would have cursed if he could – it was the very least person he wanted to see out and about that night. Even Snape would have been better.

Next to him Ron groaned and Harry looked to see professor Kruspe meeting with Snape, giving him a polite nod and then saying something Harry couldn't hear. Harry decided that he should not think things like that again – Snape out in the hallways was also bad.

What the hell? – Harry thought when Snape stopped and replied to whatever the other teacher said.

'Let's come closer, I can't hear them,' he whispered to Ron, hoping that the teachers wouldn't hear them either. Ron nodded and they took two steps forward, but froze when Snape looked at them, the other professor following his gaze, raising an eyebrow to see Snape glare at nothing.

'If it is you, Potter, in your silly Invisibility Cloak, you're going to regret coming to this school,' Snape hissed. Harry and Ron stood frozen in the spot, not even daring to breathe, as Snape tried to grab for the cloak. His hand was millimetres away and Harry was sure he was going to try again, but Kruspe spoke at that moment.

'You're growing a bit too paranoid, Snape,' he said with the slightest hint of mocking in his voice. Immediately, Snape looked at him. Harry couldn't see, but he supposed that he must have said something, because the other man's expression changed into surprise first and suspicion moments later. Then Snape stormed away and Harry and Ron remained frozen under the thoughtful gaze of Kruspe who couldn't see them, but they didn't dare to make a sound in the dead silence of the night.

It seemed like eternity has passed before their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher smirked in a way that made a shudder run down Harry's spine and turned to go his way.

'That was creepy,' Ron breathed when they were sure none of the teachers should be able to hear them.

'Let's go, we're late,' Harry said and they rushed as fast as they could, while still staying quiet. 'And don't mention who we met to Sirius. Just let me do the talking about that, ok?'

'Why? Oh,' Ron said. They went the rest of the way in silence and reached the shack without a problem.

'You're late,' Sirius said when they appeared in front of him. 'I almost thought you weren't coming,' he added with a tone of sadness and insecurity that Harry hated to hear in his voice.

'We had a run in with the teachers patrolling the corridors, needed to take the round way,' he said smoothly. It wasn't that he as afraid Sirius would go on a murderous rampage in the school, no – his godfather seemed to fall into himself every time his victim was mentioned or even hinted at. And Harry wanted to spend some nice time with him.

Thankfully Sirius didn't ask why Hermione didn't come with them.

})i({

With some satisfaction, Sebastian grabbed the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw – the last of the Horcruxes he needed to find.

Without a hesitation, he inhaled the piece of soul hidden within, ignoring the bitter and rotten taste.