Key:
"Talking – English in an English setting / Japanese in a Japanese setting; Japanese heard by a person who speaks only English and visa-versa."
'Talking – Any other language than the "text in the quotation marks."'
'Telekinesis'
Thinking / Conscience

First off, sorry about the unicorn…?
No, actually, I'm not. The sadistic side of me that was still angst-ing needed that.
Anyway – I apologize to everyone (especially to those who caught it) about my "A"-class demon mistake. I haven't seen YYH in a while, so I guess I kind of forgot about "S"-class demons…eh.
In any case, I've got it fixed by now. Anything else I might have screwed up about, please tell me, Dearies – or, if I called them "A" in more than one place ('coz I only saw the one) again, tell me.

Rated T for Teen

Chpt. 10
In which there are "Plan B's"

Seamus was by far the worst off in group of English that had fought the demons. He'd had the poisonous stinger of a scorpion-like demon pierce his arm; and not long following the conclusion of the battle, he had gotten a dry fever, gone temporarily colorblind, and the skin around the wound had turned purple. Then, of course, a frantic Madam Pomfrey had insisted that Dumbledore stay and do something to help her (rather than deal with the foreigners straight off), being that all of her remedies were not working, and her only other solution was to send him to St. Mungo's. Dumbledore, since he hadn't wanted Seamus to loose his arm, or die, had called for the foreigners.

Minamino had made Seamus sit in a tube of ice water with an ice bag on his head (ignoring Pomfrey's exclamations that only muggles did silly things like that) and asked Professor Sprout to come up to the infirmary; and with her and Neville's help, as well as Sprout's greenhouses, they quickly worked out a balm that, when applied to the wound, almost immediately turned the skin back to its normal color. The ointment, he said, would have to be applied hourly until Seamus started to sweat again (then he could come out of the bathtub), he had full use of his sight, and his fever was completely obliterated.

And Seamus did not seem to hate Minamino so much after that.

Then, because that the rest of the patients were not suffering from life-threatening, demonic maladies, and thus those prominent in curing such aliments were not needed, Dumbledore had earnestly marched the foreigners up to his office. There were crowds of people outside the hospital wing, pushing to see what was going on, who was dieing, and how they might take pictures; but Dumbledore, with his commanding presence and headmaster-ness, and the foreigners, who had all descended into dark, threatening moods, easily cut through the thicket.

And that is how it had been for the past half-hour; aurors with some healer's experience, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Snape, and Neville were scrambling around to care for the gashes on Luna's leg, the burns Ron had on the back of his hands and arms, and other such novelties the masquerade of demons had left them with (Professor Sprout had gone back to her quarters, though she had left behind a vast array of herbs for their pleasure.) Lavender, Collin, Pavarti, and Botan had been allowed into the infirmary to check on their friends, and the latter two were currently trying to consol the foremost; who, having found out that the foreigners were being expelled for breaking plenty of school rules (twice), was crying something about never seeing Minamino again.

Harry wasn't suffering from anything significant, just the cuts from Minamino's grass and a bit of frostbite on his shoulder after a close encounter with an ice-oriented demon. So Neville got around to him last.

"Oh, your shoulder'll be fine, Harry, don't worry," He said almost cheerfully, coming back with a potion in a brown bottle, "Professor Snape had some frostbite balm in his supplies that he brought down, and since it's only a bit of skin, you just put this on it and wrap it up—," Neville picked up a roll of bandages as he spoke, "—and it'll be fine by Monday evening. You'll be better before break starts Tuesday."

"Er, Neville," Harry began as the boy began to dab some of the potion on with a cotton ball, "how'd you get so good at this…?" He hadn't seemed overtly apt at healing before.

"Well, you know how I like plants, right?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, of course," Neville had always been excellent in Herbology, and it had always been his favorite class.

"Well, ever since Minamino came here, I've – er…" And then he trailed off.

"What? You can tell me, Neville, I won't laugh."

"Well, you just saw how well he can manipulate plants into medicine and stuff, and I, er, talked to him about it and some other stuff on the train, and asked a lot about his plants and how he does it all, and it sounded really cool, so I…I've been trying to do what he does."

Harry blinked.

"I mean I know I'll never be able to talk to plants and make flowers into weapons and stuff like that, but I've been trying a few different things with making salves and potions… It's been really helpful, because I'm in Care of Magical Creatures, and when we have to take care of the fire crabs, well – you know how they burn you and all… I can make a burn salve with only two ingredients. That's why I asked to help with Seamus, and that's actually what I used on Ron.

"And I can cure a really nasty stench with this one potion I make out of my mimbulus mimbletonia's stinksap!" He said as he finished tying the bandages, "See, Gran wrote me and was complaining about this ache she had in her knees, and I decided to play around and try something to relieve it – but then everything I tried didn't really work at all… Except, when I went up to the owlery to mail my letter back to Gran, I had a little vial of it in my bag, and while I was trying to find my letter I dropped it. When it smashed on the flagstones, the owl droppings smell was gone!"

"That's really great, Neville!" Harry said, though he didn't seem quite as excited as Neville obviously felt about this accomplishment. Neville hadn't been the smartest person in Hogwarts, mainly because it used to be he wasn't very magically able. He'd shown particular improvement in the Defense Against the Dark Arts when Harry had coached him in the DA last year; but he hadn't thought he'd improved in magical theory enough to make things from scratch, when he usually couldn't brew a potion to save his life. He was really advancing with Herbology.

"Yeah, thanks, Harry! Professor Sprout keeps telling me that I should be careful about experimenting, but she says it's still really good that I'm coming up with some stuff on my own."

"You should've told Minamino about it, I'm sure he would've worked on it with you."

Neville's smile fell. "No, I couldn't… Besides, they're getting expelled."

"But why not get his address, or something? You could write."

"No, it's just…I don't really like Minamino."

"Why? I mean, it's not like I'm best friends with him, but you have to say he's pretty easy to get along with…"

"Well, I… Have you seen him when he's just with his friends? I mean, it was really obvious back in October, but…"

"No, not really…he scolds them a lot, but I think that's just because they tease him."

"Well it's not… Look, on the train, he seemed friendly, but it felt like he was bored, like he actually didn't want to be there at all. But then at the same time, he felt nice, like he did want to talk to me, and it was just…it was like he was two different people at the same time.

"And it makes me really nervous to be around him, you know, because it's strange that he never seems quite right and…I don't like talking to him. It's embarrassing for me to think like that, but I can't help it… And I don't think I'd be able to write him, either," And Neville sat down in a slump next to Harry on a hospital bed, frowning. He added, "It's almost like trying to start a conversation with Yusuke. He seems really immature, but at the same time, he feels older."

Harry's mouth had fallen open. He quickly closed it and said, "Hey, erm, I'm gonna' go check on Hermione. Do you mind?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not at all," He popped up from his seat, "I was gonna' go ask Madam Pomfrey if she had any of that bruise-fixing potion left – Ginny's getting a really nasty-lookin' shiner, and I think she might want some of it before she goes back to class tomorrow…" And off he went.

Harry, in the mean time, walked over to the bed Hermione was sitting on without a clue how this information might help her conspiracy plot, when her conspiracy was being evicted.

lll

At first, Kurama had tried to persuade Dumbledore out of their expulsion; being that Harry, Hermione, and Ron had done such things before in the school.

Dumbledore calmly pointed out that Harry, Hermione, and Ron had broken rules, but they'd only broken rules in first and fifth year; in first year was when they broke into the vault where the sorcerer's stone was kept, and even then, if they hadn't, the stone would have been stolen, and such an action pardoned the rule breaking.

Then, in their fifth year, they left school grounds without permission; which had also adverted a more serious consequence, and besides wasn't serious enough to qualify for expulsion, being that much more dangerous things could be accomplished in a wizarding school.

"Such as," He said rather dryly, "taking on a hoard of demons when there were aurors positioned on grounds specifically for that purpose. To be sure, the others who participated in such an act will be punished as strenuously as you three were upon first offense – but not until their second offence shall they be treated as you are now.

"Mr. Minamino, Mr. Jaganshi, I am very terribly disappointed to inform you that the items I confiscated from you in November have mysteriously disappeared."

None of the three were bothered to even pretend to be surprised – especially since the way Dumbledore was looking at them over his spectacles made it obvious he knew what had happened to them.

"But I don't think that bothers you too terribly much."

They were silent.

"In any case, Hogwarts will be willing to pay you back for your lost possessions, should you request it – but Mr. Urameshi, I am afraid I'm not required to either return to you your cigarettes, or refund you for them."

Yusuke shrugged, "Naw, s'all right; my old school didn't, either."

"I see. From there on, we'll have to inform your parents – or perhaps your school? We need to figure out who will be picking you up from Platform Nine and Three Quarters once we put you on the train Tuesday, and as the only people we have listed as your guardians are a department in Magical Japan's government, I suppose I'll have to contact them about your expulsion, yes?"

"That would be correct, Professor. They will make the arrangements."

"Excellent, then. You three will be allowed to your dormitories to gather your things; if all goes as planned, you shall be on the train by Tuesday afternoon. Please prepare accordingly."

"Yes, Professor."

"Yeah…sir."

Hiei started at Dumbledore indifferently.

"Excellent. You are dismissed."

lll

Once the foreigners had left, Dumbledore had sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hand. So admittedly, the Japanese conspiracy problem had just taken care of itself, supposing that Japan didn't flip out and decide to retaliate against Britain – but something simply did not seem right. There had to be more to this than he saw.

Dumbledore sat that way for a while, until, ten minutes or so after, Minerva knocked on his door.

"Come in, come in…have they arrived?"

"Yes, Albus; the Minister is here to speak with you now."

"Good. Send him in, then."

She nodded and closed the door. A while later, Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic, barged in looking just as harassed and tired as Dumbledore felt. Four men entered behind him along with Minerva, two of which was Percy Weasley, and the other the wizard in charge of the group of aurors that had been posted at Hogwarts.

"Headmaster Dumbledore – please allow me to introduce you to Mr. John Piper, the new Head of the Auror office; Mr. Percy Weasley, my personal assistant; and Mr. Daniel Seymour, Head of Foreign Policies. You are of course acquainted with Mr. Largent."

"Yes, Rufus; how do you do, Mr. Piper, Mr. Seymour?"

And pleasantries were exchanged.

"Now please, you and your men have a seat; I have a feeling we might be at this for a while…"

"Of course, thank you," And, disgruntled, the Minister flicked his wand and an armchair appeared, which he then sat down in. The other four chose to stand, and Minerva still kept her place next to the door. Percy began to take notes on a clip board, utterly ignoring Dumbledore.

"I don't mean to sound too forward on this matter, Dumbledore, but I cannot even guess on how to begin otherwise…

"What in the world are you doing?"

"I apologize, Rufus, but I have absolutely no idea of what you mean. Please elaborate."

Scrimgeour frowned. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning, then… As you might have assumed, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been completely avoiding our attempts at finding him. We can't track the important death eaters because they have lowly ones do their work; and they, when caught, are ignorant of anything significant. We keep arriving at places where we've found out they might've been near, but every time, it's either a false lead, or we're simply too late.

"The weather is consistently more horrible than usual, and more and more Dementers are deserting Azkaban every day, so we know he's got them on his side again. We haven't seen much of the giants for a while, and chances are He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has gotten to them, as well.

"People are disappearing constantly – except then, unlike the last war, they turn up barely identifiable, entirely mauled, and we continue to find that any logical explanation for these occurrences we might have always contain faults.

"And we saw the corpses outside; we have our agents gathering them for testing. But good God, Dumbledore, what if demons never really became extinct? They would certainly be the type of species to side with Voldemort, and then we would be in trouble – because those details alone would cause a panic that the Ministry certainly doesn't need to deal with. We knew no one was going to believe that those creatures back in November were butchered trolls for long, and it's starting to happen. Before things get out of control, we need Japan, practically the only country that still has a legitimate amount of demon slaying expertise, on our side. And expelling their students for doing what they have been taught to do is not the way to forage alliances!"

"Mr. Dumbledore, I'm afraid he's right," said the Foreign Policies, "Normally, expulsion cases like this are not a big deal between countries, but Japan and Britain, let alone Europe, haven't been remotely accommodating to each other for the past three hundred years; in addition, this is not a case they will sympathize with. Demon slaying is the basis for Japan's type of magic, and is not looked down on even if the slayers are children. This has bound to have some negative reverberations, especially since Japan was the one to reach out first."

"I am quite aware of the consequences of my actions, but I have to take them. The foreigners have broken rules I specified were there for not only their safety, but also the safety of my other students. I believe Mr. Largent briefed you on the situation, correct, Minister?"

"Yes…"

"Don't you think, perhaps, the students who fought beside Mr. Urameshi, Mr. Jaganshi, and Mr. Minamino who were injured would have gone inside had the foreigners done so also? What would have happened if any of my students – or the foreigners for that matter – had died? Wouldn't you suppose Japan, not to mention Britain, would have been even more livid with that outcome?"

Scrimgeour was silent, as was Mr. Seymour.

Then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Snape, looking somewhat paler than usual, stepped into the office. "Headmaster, there's someone here to see you. He's at the front gates."

"Well, if you would be so kind as to inform him that I will be there shortly—,"

"I'm afraid this cannot wait, Sir."

"However so, Severus?"

"It's Japan's Minister. Come personally to address you and the Minister."

Scrimgeour stood up suddenly. "What does he want?" And then he threw a disapproving look over to Dumbledore.

"He requests you sign a temporary peace treaty, valid for the next week; he will not see you until the Minister has signed it, and it is in his possession."

"Why all the trouble, Severus? Did he say?"

"He said he wants to forage an alliance between Great Britain and Japan."

lll

It was the only solution they had. Admittedly, the plan to keep demons a complete secret had long ago been trashed, ever since that Voldemort had ordered a trio of "C"-class demons to publicly enact destruction at the Hogwarts quidditch match (for there were certainly a significant population in Europe who believed that demons still existed, between the ridiculous excuse the Ministry told the Profit, and the sudden plethora of very unhelpful small-time magazine articles on demonology) – and that had no longer been the focus so much as maintaining general discretion and watching out for Potter's neck.

General discretion had been thought to've been kept relatively nicely – until the conspiracy had been discovered.

Now, with the expulsion of Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama, Koenma's office was in tatters with ogres sprinting around to get five-second plans approved that would, hopefully, save the mission, and their asses. It was highly unlikely that Botan would be able to continue the part of the mission that included protecting Potter, and it would be catastrophic if she failed – thus mending things earlier would have to be their choice of action. Koenma had been trying to contact the team for the past ten minutes, but all four of his temporary Reikai Tentai had their communicators turned off.

And then Koenma had to be off to make an appearance to his father, to explain about and persuade him to sign a temporary and long-standing treaty with magical Great Britain.

After much sweating and assuring that the only thing the boys had done to be expelled was to protect the school from demons, nothing in the way of blowing their cover, King Enma finally agreed, and signed. He gave his approval on the other documents Koenma had made up, given specific instructions on how to go about everything and what to do if Britain refused – and then Koenma gathered up a calling party made up of the royal guard and his most reliable ferry girls.

All of them transformed into their human forms and dressed up in human garb, because Japan couldn't seem to have pacts with demons; it would make the British trust them more if they were allowed to believe their own narrow-minded opinions of demons, and just allow everything in general to go along more smoothly (it was all stated in the Reikai's portion of paper work).

And so it was that, not even an hour after the damning incident had occurred, Koenma was seated in his elaborate foot carriage, four ogres in front and back to carry him and an additional four as guard (more for look, in their uniforms, than need). Three ferry girls floated behind the carriage on their oars, including Ayame. They were in a room that transported that which could not fly from Reikai to the other worlds by cutting through dimensions. Koenma signaled they were ready for transport to Hogwarts' grounds, and the directing operator (in a different room with a window that looked in on them) appeared to have readied the instruments, and, with a nod to the other operators, pressed the button that issued a ten-second warning bell; and then the one that would teleport them.

Nothing happened.

Koenma's eyes narrowed.

Just then, the miniature television screen mounted in the carriage in front of him beeped and lit up.

Botan appeared to be sitting in a bathroom stall, completely clothed with the toilet lid down. She had a worried look on her face as she whispered, "Koenma-sama, you saw it…?"

"Of course I saw it! What do you take me for? Incompetent?"

Botan flinched, "Please, sir, I know you're upset, but it wasn't their faults—,"

"I know, I know – but this is very stressing business, besides," The operator had nodded again to the others, the warning sounded, and they attempted to teleport again; nothing happened. "Do you know how long I have been trying to get a hold of you?"

"Yes, sir, but I've been busy with the English – I only just got away. But, Koenma-sama, what are we going to do?"

And Koenma explained for a good five minutes, while the operating crew continued to fail at ripping a hole into Ningenkai, what was to take place.

"Are, are you sure this is the best course of action…?"

"That Dumbledore man will not be bribed. We've thought it over, and chances are, whatever we throw at him short of war (which would be insulting, so we don't want to try that, just in case we end up having to do our work around England again) would not make him waver. I told you, we're not mentioning any demons, and it should be that you and those three will be able to keep things quiet in that regard – after all, that Granger kid hasn't suspected that aspect yet…" Koenma sighed, "I can't wait until they let them spar regularly – that way Winter Solstice won't be so completely crazy…"

And once again the operators failed to teleport them.

Koenma shoved his door open and screamed, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?"

Everyone in the room jumped; Botan flinched again.

The operator's voice broke out through the speakers in the room corners, "Er, I'm very deeply sorry, Koenma-sama, but there appears to be some sort of force-field upon the Hogwarts grounds. We have been unsuccessful at breaking a portal through."

"WHAT?"

"Oh! Yes, I heard of that!" Koenma's attention switched to Botan, "It's impossible to teleport onto Hogwarts grounds – there's an enchantment that prohibits it!"

"Well you could have said something earlier, Botan! I've been waiting for the past ten minutes!"

"Erm, sorry, I suppose it just slipped my mind…"

"So how are we to get there?"

"I think the front gates aren't enchanted…you could appear there and send a running up, if you'd like?"

"Humph," And Koenma yelled Botan's instructions out to the operators. They agreed to find the location, and, with the warning bell, Koenma pulled the carriage door shut.

The portal way suddenly opened, ripping apart its air seams until it was a healthy-sized hole leading to a dark abyss of squares with a faint light at the end.

The ogres picked up the carriage and began to walk, the ferry girls floating along behind.

"We're off, Botan. We'll be seeing you in no less than ten minutes, considering we don't have another fiasco… Get yourself and the boys ready, I want you to be there when I'm meeting with the Minister and Dumbledore."

Botan nodded, and then the screen went black.

lll

A trio of fourth year boys suddenly ran past the doorway of sixth years' dorm, down the spiral staircase that led into the common room, shouting something along the lines of a giant Chinese take-out box.

Hiei and Yusuke stopped their careless packing for a moment, and Kurama's tilted up from where he was lounging against the wall; they all slowly turned to face each other, raising their eyebrows.

Then abruptly there was more shouting, something about a person not allowed to do something.

Footsteps, someone running; and then Botan appeared in the doorway, panting. She glanced back down the hallway, shrieked, and darted inside the dorm room. She bolted up to Yusuke and hid behind him, gasping, 'Make them stop—,'

The fourth year boys skidded to a halt in the threshold, two of them with their wands out. They glared at Botan for a moment before they took in the demons.

Yusuke, angry at failing something spiritually relevant for the first time, was glowering in an abnormally demonic way; Kurama, because he now had to find another way to pay for college himself (or, more importantly, find a legal way to do so, as to not bother his mother financially or lawfully), wore his signature cold eyes; and Hiei was Hiei was Hiei, so with one imploring step forward from him (coupled with the other two's melancholy), the group fled without further investigating Botan's presence, or even questioning Kurama's.

'Th-thanks, I didn't want to be expelled, too, for hitting them with my oar…'

'That's not funny.'

'Oh, don't be so gloomy, Yusuke! It's so unusual for you – besides, everything's taken care of,' Botan collapsed back onto the bed that had once been his, 'I just talked to Koenma-sama – he says that we're making a treaty with Britain.'

'I thought he wanted to take care of the problem without getting tied down by anyone,' And Kurama rested back against the wall.

'Well, at this rate, he said we'll never get rid of the demonic activity in Europe without some form of honesty, because while we could bribe Dumbledore, he's already under the impression we're some sort of evil conspiracy, and so he probably wouldn't take anything. Then, sending more detectives might end up being just as fruitless as before in the sense of defeating Voldemort (what with our other detectives being rather unskilled, and you three guarding Potter-san); and so Koenma-sama and Enma-sama have decided you'll need Britain's help if you're going to take care of everything. A treaty will be something of a compromise, but it's not like we'll loose if we get sucked into a war supporting Britain, between our armies, our Spirit Detectives, and the Spirit Defense Force.

'But the catch is, we're not going to tell them about our association with demons, or the fact that Magical Japan's government isn't mortal. First of all, we don't want to have to deal with the whole gods-thing, especially with such a large group of people with a completely different religion. Secondly, if they're allowed to think that all demons are bad, it'll justify eliminating the group from Europe, and they also won't have to adjust to working with them. The ogres coming with Koenma-sama are all in their human forms, and the ferry girls are also pretending to be human, because what with Europe's broomsticks, the oars will have a good enough explanation – or at least, that's what I told McGonagall when she interrogated me about it, and she believed me.

'Koenma-sama and Enma-sama will pretend to be normal Emperors, not gods, and Koenma-sama will appear in his tall form.

'And you three, of course, will be completely human 18-year-old boys. You can tell them about how you got to be Spirit Detectives, the things you've been through, that you're only temporary now – and Koenma-sama encouraged the idea, since if they know all you've done for Ningenkai they'll probably trust you more – but just leave out all the demonic stuff.'

'But I am nineteen, Botan.'

'Well, you know what I mean…' She said, shrugging, 'Hiei, you'll have to come up with some sort of past, but…I think you'll manage!' Then she smiled, 'And I don't have to pretend to like you anymore!'

Kurama started then, his eyes wide.

'What, Kurama?'

'Oh Inari, what am I going to do about Brown? And every other girl in the castle…' He dropped his head into one of his hands, groaning.

Botan and Yusuke started laughing. Hiei threw down the shirt he'd been "packing," grabbed his katana from the bottom of his trunk, and began to tie it with his sash around his waist.

'Well Fox, you're screwed, but I don't have to use that stupid spirit sword every time I want to chop something up anymore.'

'As long as the situation pleases you, Hiei, it will surely suffice for every other curse upon my head.'

'Ooo, look!' And Botan pointed out the window next to Kurama, 'They've arrived! Okay, okay, Koenma-sama wanted us there to greet him, so come on, you guys! – Hiei, are you really going to wear that in front of everyone before they know the truth?'

'It's not the truth, Reaper, it's a fabrication. And besides, you think I'll actually hand it over, considering I don't have to limit my abilities any longer?'

'…Just, don't break any bones, that's not a good way to start things…'

lll

Ayame had returned with the treaty, and had given to it Koenma; who had sent it back, via one of his other ferry girls, to his father for safe keeping, especially if they decided to try anything after the treaty was in affect. He had then ridden all the way to the castle in his box, hoping the ogres were acting at least semi-tired after hauling around a giant, heavy, ornate carriage (and being human at the same time), when the subtle swaying motion ceased and there was a polite knock on the carriage door.

Koenma slid the small window-shutter on the door sideways slightly, and gave a haughty look at the bright blue eye that greeted him.

"Good afternoon, Minister," For it was certainly nearing twelve by then, "I hope you will pardon me for being rude and ignorant on this matter, but won't you introduce us to yourself?"

"I am Prince Enma Junior, son of King Enma Senior, though you could call me Koenma-sama if it suited you," He still had to be somewhat polite.

"Ah, your English is excellent, Koenma-sama," The eye said pleasantly, "I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a pleasure to meet you, Koenma-sama."

"And the same to you, I suppose… May we proceed to a secure place to talk of matters?"

"Yes, of course – my office will do just fine. I am assuming you're here to speak with Minister Rufus Scrimgeour, as well, Koenma-sama?"

"Yes."

"If I may probe so boldly, how did you come across the information that he was visiting me at this time?"

"That is unimportant," Koenma replied, nonchalantly, "Not as important as matters pressing."

"Of course, Koenma-sama. Would you care to step out, then, and continue your journey on foot? I'm afraid your lovely carriage will not fit inside my office."

"As long as I may bring my three best guard and my two head ferry girls."

"I believe that is in order, if the ferry girls are the young women on the oars."

"Yes, they are."

And Koenma knocked on the front of the carriage, and the ogres set it down. He opened the door and stooped out, before standing up to Dumbledore's great height; he was at least a foot shorter than the wizard.

Dumbledore blinked at his appearance (probably the youth of his features, the Jr. on his forehead, and the pacifier he had clenched forcefully between his teeth) before graciously bowing. Koenma exchanged the gesture with him, and then with the stunned Minister standing to his left. Then he said, loudly, "Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama?"

The entrance hall, full of whispering students and teachers, fell silent at this.

And just as Koenma had planned, there came from somewhere in the back of the silent group watching the proceedings:

"Yes, Koenma-sama?"

"Yeah, Koenma…er, sama?"

"…Yes, sir?"

"You heard Dumbledore-san," He replied, without turning away from the two before him, "I may bring my guard."

Koenma waited rather patiently until the three had pushed their way through the crowd and, with a bit of prodding from Kurama, properly positioned themselves behind him. Dumbledore and the Minister looked stunned.

"Botan, Ayame?"

And Ayame, clad in her black and purple, floated down from behind the carriage and stood on his left, at attention with her oar. Botan hurried through the crowd and over to Koenma's right; she called up her oar and also took position.

"I am ready, now, Dumbledore-san – Scrimgeour-sama. Let us proceed."

Dumbledore blinked out of his shock, and smiled strangely – Koenma could not decide whether he was remorseful or ironic or entertained by this development.

"I see we have much to talk about, Koenma-sama."

"Indeed we do, Dumbledore-san."

Footnotes:

None again. Whee—!
I am liking this 'cut-off-before-you-write-twenty-pages' business.
This is fun.
Hell, I don't think I have any notes, either. Lemme' check—
NONE!
Whoo. 'Coz I took care of the "A"-class thinger in the top…
Alright, then. See you lot next chapter.