Foxes, Wands, and Fire

By KitsuneGirl911

Chapter 11: Escape

Disclaimer: Roses are Red, Kurama's eyes are Green, The person who owns Yu Yu Hakusho is not me (or mean)… Roses are Red, Puu is Blue, I don't own Harry Potter so don't sue…

(People seem to like the disclaimer…Is it really that good?)

AN: Here's another chapter! Sorry that they're shorter, but I can post them more often this way.

"EnglishBlah" means Japanese speech

(Used when talking in total Japanese around others)

'blah' means thought speech/telepathy

'blah' is personal thoughts

Also (blah) gives the translation of something left in Japanese.

((AN: blah)) author note… yeah

Dumbledore shut the heavy door and locked it with a complex spell, sealing Kurama's prone fox form lying across a long table in a small room. The headmaster looked at the prefect with absolute trust in his eyes.

"No one shall enter or leave this room until I return, understood?" Dumbledore received a curt nod in return. Satisfied, he left the girl in order to go find Professor Kuronue and get his expertise in this matter. As soon as Dumbledore left, Hiei appeared inside the room, seeming to come from the shadows themselves as he made his way over to Kurama.

"What have you gotten yourself into now, fox…?" Hiei said quietly, waking Kurama slightly as he picked him up carefully. There was a single window in this room; Dumbledore left it locked but unspelled, obviously thinking no one could reach it or jump out from it from this high of a height. Hiei kicked the window open and ducked down through it, nimbly leaping down many floors to reach an outside entrance to the dungeons. Meanwhile, Kuronue was deliberately stalling, because as soon as he heard 'silver kitsune' he knew right away who it really was. Kuronue made a show of collecting some mysterious-looking objects that were secretly useless here. Snape soon grew suspicious and impatient, snapping at the new professor.

"Might you hurry it up a little? We don't have all night…"

"I just want to be prepared. Would you rather it escaped when we open the door? Besides, you locked the kitsune in with a strong enough spell, correct?" Dumbledore nodded affirmative. "Well then, there you have it. A few extra seconds isn't going to kill anything." Kuronue shut everything he'd opened quickly now, and gestured to the headmaster to lead the way. And of course when they reached the room and unlocked the door…

"It's gone!" Snape shouted, glaring at Kuronue. For his part Kuronue just looked surprised but not too concerned.

"Way to be captain obvious…" Kuronue said under his breath. Snape heard him anyway.

They searched the room thoroughly, but found no trace of the creature.

"What if it attacks a student? We should alert everyone!" Snape cried out, glaring at Kuronue.

"Judging by the open window, I'd say the kitsune hopped onto the roof and got out that way. That means it's most likely outside, not inside. This door was still spelled shut when we got here. Unless you think it found a wand to use to reseal it, I believe we'll be safe." Kuronue replied, crossing his arms across his chest with an air of finality.

"How did it get here in the first place? Aren't kitsune native to Japan?" Dumbledore spoke up to try and ease the tension.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have been living in the Forbidden Forest all this time. It could have been attracted out by the others of its kind." Kuronue thought of a story they'd believe quickly.

"Should we be expecting any more of these beasts?" Snape asked.

Kuronue shook his head.

"No, I don't believe so. It's a rarity to see even one outside of their native land… Someone must've put this one here a long time ago; maybe it was a powerful wizard's pet." Kuronue was laughing inside at the thought of Kurama as anyone's pet, but it didn't show on his still-serious face.

"You don't think… You-Know-Who could be involved, do you?" Dumbledore was worried now.

"Kitsune are fairly harmless creatures. They are known for their trickery, not their brutality. I doubt You-Know-Who would wish to use such a creature as fickle in their loyalty as a kitsune."

"Well, if you say so. You are the expert here; I trust that you know what you're talking about." Dumbledore was smiling again, worries eased somewhat.

"If you'd like, I can cut the lesson short and bring the kitsune back to Japan. That way there's practically no chance we'll see that silver one again…"

"Yes, I think that's best in this case. Thank you Professor Kuronue."

"Always glad to help."

Snape walked back to the dungeons deep in thought.

'If there's some connection between those transfer students from Japan and this beast… I'll have to check on them now- they would be just getting back from their prank, I think.'

Hiei and Kurama had indeed just finished sneaking back in and pretending to be asleep when Snape barged in. The other boys woke up at the noise of the door flying open, except for Draco, who stayed sleeping like the dead. Snape first looked for the beds he thought would be empty, but Hiei was asleep where he should be, and Kurama sat up groggily. In truth, Kurama wasn't groggy from interrupted sleep; he still hadn't fully recovered from being Stupefied. Thankfully, Snape thought they weren't possibly to blame, so he turned and left. Everyone stared at the door after him.

"Ugh, it's like three in the bloody morning… What's he doing?" Someone grumbled as everyone went about going back to sleep.

Kurama flopped back down onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. He felt a bit beat up after getting hit with that spell, and was relieved that Hiei found him at the same time. Hiei stared at Kurama for a while in silence. Kurama was the red-haired Shuuichi yet again. Next time, Hiei decided, he'd go with the fox instead of staying behind.

Next morning, Hermione had completed most of her research, and was about to show her findings to Harry and Ron, when she overheard the news that was buzzing around the Great Hall. (It was supposed to be a secret, so naturally, everyone knew.)

"Did you hear? A silver kitsune was found wandering free around the Forbidden Forest!"

"I've never heard of a silver fox before…"

"How can we stay safe?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open. Harry and Ron looked at her like she'd suddenly turned purple or something equally odd. It was the first time they'd seen her do that.

"Oh! That makes sense…" she said after a while.

"What does?" Ron asked, feeling just as confused as Harry looked.

"Do you remember Shuuichi and Professor Kuronue's reactions to the boggart?" she asked them.

"Yeah, it was really weird." Harry replied, thinking back to the incident.

"Well, I spent some time in the library looking for an explanation. I'd heard of beings like what the boggart transformed into-"

"Really? What?" Ron exclaimed, before shutting up when Hermione glared at him for interrupting.

"They're called 'spirits' or apparitions'."

"Wait, they're ghosts?" This time Harry spoke up. Hermione ignored him.

"We know them here as demons."

Harry and Ron exchanged a worried look.

"Demons exist?" they asked.

"Well of course! You've both seen demons before." Hermione informed them exasperatedly. There was a confused silence on the other side of the table. Hermione rolled her eyes. "The kitsune. They're also known as 'fox spirits'. But when I looked for information on these demons, all I could find was a single passage in one of the older books… It appears there was only one well-known silver kitsune that could possibly exist today. His name is Youko Kurama."

"Wait, 'he' has a name? I thought they were animals!" Ron wondered aloud.

"Kitsune are known for changing into human or partly human forms to trick people."

"And you think the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is afraid of that specific kitsune?" Harry questioned.

"Yes." Hermione paused to let that bit of information sink in before she continued, "And this Youko Kurama was said to have worked with another demon- a bat demon."

"Hold on- Shuuichi's boggart had bat wings… But it looked almost exactly like our professor!"

Hermione nodded.

"I noticed that too. I found one last thing in all my research, and I think this is our most important clue… The bat demon that Youko Kurama worked with- his name was Kuronue."