Ch. 55 - I Solemnly Swear

Harry stared at Youko... Youko, who two seconds ago had been Kurama.

It can't be... it can't... where'd Kurama go?

The troll-like demon hissed in disgust. "Halfbreed!"

Youko sneered at him. "The word is 'traitor'," he said. "Get it right."

The demon lunged, his single remaining hand leading, bladed nails splayed.

Youko vanished. The troll-demon spun, blades whipping about; Youko reappeared, flinging himself back, the blades narrowly missing his throat. He lashed out with the whip, chopping another blade off, and leapt away, drawing the demon farther from Harry.

Farther from...? Harry scrambled up, drawing the Cloak back around himself. He'd been lying there for a good minute, completely visible and vulnerable to both demons! Scuttling to the far edge of the clearing, Harry ducked behind a tree and nearly tripped over Malfoy.

The blond huddled against the trunk, pressed against the ground and as far from the clearing and the fight as the vines trapping him would allow, shaking violently and gibbering, his eyes glassy with shock. "He's a demon he's a demon he's a demon he's..."

Should I...? Harry wondered. But... No. A near-silent, terrified Malfoy was a heck of a lot better than one screaming his bloody head off. Better to ignore the soft stream of babble coming from the blond's mouth than try to snap him out of it.

Peeking back over the tree's thick, trailing roots, Harry watched as Youko took to the treetops and vanished among the forest's eerie phosphoresence and flickering moonlight. The other demon slashed at the canopy wildly, nails lengthening and clacking together with metallic snicks as leaves showered down.

Harry slid his free hand into his pocket, taking out his wand. Who should I help? Who's on my side? Was it the demon Malfoy had summoned (Harry's wand flicked downwards to the troll-like demon), or the one who'd held Harry captive all those weeks ago and threatened to sell him to Voldemort (his wand wavered towards the treetops)? Who was on his side?

Malfoy had said something, before the summoned demon had shut him up and Kurama had appeared, before Kurama had been injured, before he'd turned into Youko. Before, Malfoy had said, "I am guide!" and had started to say something else...

"He-Who-Must..."

Harry mouthed the words silently, letting the rest of the phrase come naturally. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Malfoy was... a guide for the demon, sent by Voldemort? It had to be that. The demon was Voldemort's. He pointed his wand at the demon on the ground.

But Youko had threatened to sell Harry to Voldemort. Harry's wand slid back upwards. Only if Harry had proven to be a disappointment, but... there was no proof that he'd been serious. In fact, that would've gone completely against the bargain he'd had with Genkai, right?

Enough dithering, Potter! Harry thought to himself. It's either definitely-Voldemort or maybe-Voldemort! Go with MAYBE!

His wand fell to aim at the unknown demon. "Catenis Constringo!" he shouted, firing chains from his wand. They snapped around the demon, ends burying themselves into the ground, holding the demon fast.

Youko dropped from the treetops, landing in a crouch, his hand splayed on the ground. The demon strained, his chains creaking alarmingly. A flash of red light lanced over the clearing, and Youko smirked up at the demon. "Sayonara."

All the leaves that the demon had sliced from the canopy blasted from the forest floor.

-0-0-0-

Youko stood smoothly and stepped back, ducking the rain of gore and blood-stained leaves. This was always a particularly messy form of eliminating opponents, but it was almost completely effective. He turned away from what little was left of the demon, eyeing the large tree off to the side of the clearing where he'd dumped Malfoy.

The binding spell had come from here.

"We need to be leaving quickly," Youko said, facing the spot that Harry was probably at. "This much blood will attract every predator within five kilometers." Silence, except for Malfoy's near-inaudible whimpering. Youko stepped towards the tree.

"Don't come any closer!" Harry's voice, tense and flat. Youko could easily picture the wand aimed at him.

He raised his hands placatingly, cocking his head quizzically. "I'm not going to eat you, Harry." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm on your side, actually."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" Harry shot back, voice slightly shaky.

Youko rolled his eyes. "I'm sure I have no idea. We can argue about it after we get out of here." He directed a stern look towards Harry to quell any protest. "I promise... and you had better remember every single word of Genkai's lecture about that... to take you back to Hogwarts now, and not to harm you as long as we're in the Forbidden Forest or at Hogwarts." He could almost hear Harry blink. "So if you'd drop the invisibility spell so I can see if you're still ready to shoot...?" He trailed off, waiting.

After a few cautious moments, Harry's head suddenly appeared hovering in midair, followed more slowly by the rest of his body... and now Youko could see that the 'spell' was a cloak with a translucent sheen of rainbow swirls. And Harry's wand wasn't pointed at him anymore.

Youko lowered his hands. "That's better," he murmured. He stepped past Harry, who edged slightly away, and grabbed Draco by the boy's bound wrists, muffling the boy's shriek. "I'll deal with you later," he hissed. Draco's eyes went impossibly wider, flicking once to Harry and back, before they rolled back in his head and Draco slumped, unconscious. Youko sighed. "At least he didn't wet his pants," he grumbled, slinging the boy over one shoulder and turning back to Harry. "Let's go."

Harry took a half-step towards Hogwarts... then paused, staring at the gore-spattered clearing they would have to cross, and hurriedly scrambled off to the side to go around.

Stifling a bit of amusement, since Harry's reaction was understandable, Youko followed Harry and fell into step with him. Harry gave him a nervous, sidelong glance, but didn't protest.

Harry's shuffled steps, too loud for Youko's tastes, but far quieter than Draco's earlier crashing foray into the Forest, filled the tense silence between them.

Should I...? Was it more important for Harry to pay attention to their surroundings, or to his walking?

Surroundings, definitely, Youko decided. The tense silence continued as they made their way through the Forest.

Eventually, out of the corner of Youko's eye, he saw Harry perk. The boy tugged his Cloak shut, and his body vanished.

"Put that thing away!" Youko hissed, before Harry could pull the hood over his head. Harry froze. "Nothing out at this hour is going to hunt by sight," Youko continued, just barely above a whisper. "The more wary you are, the more likely we are to get out of here alive, do you get it?"

Harry met his eyes flatly, unyielding. Youko almost blinked. This wasn't the bewildered, suspiscious gaze from before. This was different... the look of someone who'd faced danger, grabbed it head-on and survived. Only the barest flashes of emotion flickered through the green.

Not emotion. Realizations.

"You can't fight it all yourself," Harry murmured. Youko froze, and Harry added, "Kurama's too badly injured." Harry paused, eyes widening as the next logical conclusion hit.

And in the pause, a rhythmic whisper of sound caught Youko's ears. He held a finger up to hush Harry, one ear swiveling to follow the soft noise.

It was coming closer.

Youko caught Harry by the waist, scooped him up and swung him under the nearest tree. Leaping, he pulled himself silently onto the first branch, hampered by Draco's limp weight, then reached down a hand to pull Harry up.

They climbed a bit higher, the sound getting closer and closer, becoming distinct, heavy footsteps thudding lowly through the leaves. At a wide split in the trunk, Youko pressed Harry against the rough bark, arranging Draco's dark robes and his own silver tail to a more random appearance among the streams of shadow and moonlight.

Two centaurs passed below, crossbows out and loaded. Their heads swiveled watchfully, faces hard to see from this angle. One glanced into the trees, and Youko lifted his arm just a bit, enough to block Harry's glasses and eyes, and narrowed his own to near-invisible slits.

The centaurs moved on. Once the steady thud of their hoofbeats had faded into indistinctness once more, Youko spoke. "We'll have to take a different route," he murmured. "Everything that's out of their territories is probably going to follow this corridor."

Harry shifted behind him. "How long do you have?" he asked quietly.

Damn. Something about mortal peril had to bring the boy's intelligence out like nothing else. "... I'd like to be back in the school by dawn," Youko hedged.

Silence. Then, "What happens if you're not?"

"Let's not think about that." Youko eased a branch aside, checking the area. "There," he pointed at a sharp angle from their original route, "If we circle around and catch the stream from the north, we can go upstream to the bowtruckles' territory and cut through to get bac..." On his shoulder, Draco stirred, groaning.

"Oh great," Harry muttered.

-0-0-0-

Draco's head felt oddly heavy, his stomach felt like somebody had cast a Corsetus charm on it, and his fingertips tingled, hanging... over his head... downwards? He blinked, a wavering streak of white over black resolving itself into a furry tail crossing a clear, if spinning, view of someone's feet... branches... and a good twenty or thirty feet below, ground. He sucked in a breath, abs protesting the pressure on his lower stomach, and...

Potter's voice. "Silencio."

..screamed in throat-tearing soundlessness. Fragments of memory poured into his mind.

Kurama.

The demon.

Kurama turning into a demon.

Kurama-the-demon murdering the other demon, and then grabbing Draco...

Draco screamed again, twisted, and the world spun on its axis, hands grabbing at his robes and limbs.

"Quit struggling before you fall, you idiot!" A deep voice. Whose? Someone yanked at the scruff of his neck, and he came face-to-face with Kurama-the-demon.

-0-0-0-

The fox jumped lightly to the ground, barely jostling Malfoy. Harry's descent was a great deal less graceful, and involved a skinned palm. As he landed with a knee-jarring thump, Youko settled Malfoy, sobbing, onto his feet. The blond half-crumpled, only Youko's clawed hand under his elbow keeping him upright.

Somehow, Harry couldn't muster any sympathy for Malfoy. Yeah, Youko was a big scary demon. But so had been the creature Malfoy had summoned, and Youko easily could have left Draco behind to get eaten.

Besides, Youko had something to do with Kurama, something which was currently saving the redhead's life. Possession of some sort that changed the body, or maybe something more like a werewolf, two minds and bodies sharing the same lump of matter... whatever it was, it had to do with the potion and it bloody well didn't matter since it was keeping Minamino alive, and Youko... Minamino... Whoever-it-was was trying to keep all three of them alive.

Youko pointed away from their route, deeper into the forest. "That way. This corridor is outside anybody's territory. Anything leaving its own haunts will want to use it to reach the commotion we caused," he repeated, probably for Malfoy's benefit. He glanced at Harry. "If we skirt the cusith pack's territory, there's a stream we can follow to Hogwarts."

"That works." What's a cusith?

The fox turned his back on Harry and led in the new direction, dragging Malfoy (fortunately still silent from Harry's spell) stumbling along at his side. Harry jogged to follow.

-0-0-0-

Some time later, after a good two hours of stumbling, skidding, a couple of stops to let the humans catch their breath, three panicked escape attempts and another fainting fit on Draco's part, and six reapplications of the Silencing spell, a long, ululating howl ghosted through the trees. It was deeper than any wolf's, seeming to vibrate through and over the ground rather than pierce the air.

Draco jerked in Youko's hands, trying to bolt.

Another howl answered, and another, and another, the cries rising and falling discordantly, echoes reverberating and multiplying until Youko couldn't tell how many of the pack were out.

A glance back showed Harry on the alert, wand out, eyes flicking warily towards every echo and behind them. He instinctively turned to walk sideways, his hand closing over Youko's tail for guidance. Youko suppressed the instinct to whip his tail from Harry's grip, instead letting the boy watch their backs without distraction.

"Youko..." Harry whispered, urgent.

Movement flickered deep in the trees, vaguely canine shadows slightly greener than black against the twilight blues of the forest. At least one on each side, two further back and keeping pace.

"We're fine," Youko murmured, edging past a tree and sliding into the hollow between the sprawling roots. "Cusiths only attack females." They carried them off to nurse pups.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"The library's sure," Youko muttered.

"Mind if I don't find that reassuring?"

"No, go right ahead," Youko replied, ears twitching towards the hush of running water. He pulled Draco over a rise, finally within sight of the stream. The creekbed lay lower than most of the land around, a sharply-cut, shallow wound in the bedrock, its banks nearly vertical and the hillside to it steep. Saplings grew in the few level spots on the hill, whip-thin and flexible, while older trees lay fallen on their sides, the victims of winter storms and their own girth.

Harry peered past Youko, down into the ravine. "So... now what?"

"Climb. It's not that steep." Pushing Draco forward, Youko guided the blond to slide down to the most stable of the nearest fallen trees. When Draco's feet hit, though, he kept sliding until he was cowering on his knees on the log. Youko nudged him less than gently with his foot. "Forward."

Nothing.

Harry glanced back; the shadowy forms in the trees were creeping closer, and seemed to be losing patience. He whipped back around, swallowing bile at his next, hissed words. "Grow a backbone already! Are you a Malfoy or a mouse? Get up!"

Draco shot to his feet as if stung. "Shut up, Potter!" he yelled shrilly. The silencing spell had worn off again. "You don't get it, it's not natural, he's..."

"Promised to get us the hell out of this Forest."

"Yes...no! He's going to KILL us and EAT us and..."

"Do absolutely nothing that your demon wasn't," Harry interrupted. "Just walk."

Draco moved a few grudging, seething paces down the log, glare focused on Harry. Youko stepped lightly onto the fallen tree and leapt down to another, skidding slightly. He turned, arms outstretched. Harry took Youko's place, crowding Draco down the tree, until the blond turned and slid down to the next log, catching Youko's forearms for balance.

And as they continued down towards the stream in this manner, Harry looked back up the embankment. Six green hounds, as large and shaggy as Shetland ponies, sat in a row at the top of the gorge, glowing eyes watching them leave the pack's territory, guarding and blocking the way back.

-0-0-0-

Draco stomped through frigid, shallow water in the slowly paling depths of the Forest. Great splashes of water went up at each step, squelching into his shoes and plastering the hem of his robes to his ankles.

After the initial shock... it was shock and consternation about Kurama-the-demon that had caused Draco to be so upset earlier. Really. Anyways, after the initial shock, he was regaining his equilibrium and sense of decorum.

Though he would no doubt be upset again if he thought about how he'd failed Volde... You-Know-...

I am not thinking about that. He was thinking about... about... how completely wrong it was for a Malfoy to be tramping up a filthy, freezing little stream. Just what was wrong with walking on the streambank? Kurama-the-demon's claims about stealth and being followed and footprints and scent trails... HA. Scent trails! Just how stupid did Kurama-the-demon think Draco was? It was just a ploy to make him slog through freezing water. Kurama-the-demon just wanted to humiliate Draco, just as he had earlier through his mere appearance.

Demons did that sort of thing. That was why they were demons. They were evil, unnatural fiends and as soon as he got back to Hogwarts he would be sure to tell the entire school about... it... Wait.

Voldemort didn't know. Voldemort wanted Minamino, wanted the Slytherin boy's power on his side... but he didn't know. Draco had failed, but Voldemort didn't know about Minamino...!

I just might get through the summer! Draco thought, following Kurama-the-demon's directions out of the stream. He could see the lightening sky through the last line of trees, and he had a plan, and he just might get out of this night's fiasco smelling of roses.

... though that was a bad metaphor under the circumstances.

Kurama-the-demon's hand clenched above Draco's elbow again... bloody git, I bruise easily!... and he tugged Draco down next to him just behind a tree at the very edge of the well-tended grounds. Draco shot a glare at the demon, but Kurama wasn't watching; his yellow eyes were focused on the lawn. Draco followed his stare.

Two figures stood close together near the front door: Dumbledore, unmistakable with garish nightrobes and long white hair, and a centaur. The centaur held something in a cupped hand, pointing at it as he spoke to Dumbledore. For his part, Dumbledore was rubbing his beard, shaking his head pensively.

The sky continued to pale, dawn creeping ever-closer.

Harry glanced at Kurama-the-demon. "We need another way in."

A shake of white hair, eyes never moving from the distant figures. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Harry echoed.

"If this conversation is what I think it is..." Kurama-the-demon trailed off, clearly refusing to say more.

The centaur abruptly dropped whatever he held into Dumbledore's hands and trotted away, heading back to Draco's original entry point into the Forest. Dumbledore himself turned back into the school.

Draco moved to stand, as did Harry, but Kurama caught them mid-move. "Wait for it..."

Dumbledore paused at the threshold, casting a long look over his shoulder at the Forest's edge. Then he vanished into the building proper.

Kurama-the-demon pulled both boys up. "Go!"

They dashed across the grounds, feet pounding on the dewy grass, the demon running almost too fast for Draco to keep up. He skidded up the damp stone steps, nearly crashing into the door even as claw-tipped hands shoved the weighty oaken door open as if it were a feather. Draco spun in Kurama-the-demon's grip, the demon halting as sharply as he'd burst into a run, catching the door before it slammed against the wall and easing it shut behind Harry. He put a finger to his lips, shushing before either human could protest, then slipped boldly across the entry hall and into a smaller corridor, dragging Draco along.

The torches burned low, some only embers, some trailing the thin smoke of a fresh extinguishing. Draco's shoes squelched and slapped unnervingly on the cold stone, as did Harry's; Kurama-the-demon walked in unnatural silence. A flutter of gleaming shadow, boldly-patterned robes, turning corners far ahead was their only company.

Some turns and hallways later, Kurama slowed at the telltale sound of grinding stone. The staircases were moving. He tugged both Draco and Harry into an alcove just out of sight of the end of the corridor.

"Now what?" Draco snapped.

"Quiet," Kurama replied, ears flicking watchfully. "He's going down."

"So?" Harry asked.

"Professor's wing," Kurama answered shortly. "Get out your Cloak."

"What?"

"Unless you want to get caught?"

Harry bit his lip, then dug into a pocket and pulled out...

"An Invisibility Cloak?" Draco yelped. Kurama's hand clamped over his mouth. Of course Saint Potter has an Invisibility Cloak! Draco thought, struggling and trying to yell past the hand. Everybody caters to him! Kurama flipped them around and pinned Draco against the wall, hand still firmly over his mouth. I bet all the professors are in on this (except Professor Snape), they're all blinded by his stupid scar and let him do whatever he wants and bend the bloody rules for him and-

Harry shook the Cloak out and cast it over the three of them. "Silencio. Petrificus totalus."

Draco's arms and legs locked up, muffled cries cutting off. Without even a glare, Kurama-the-demon propped Draco up against the wall and adjusted the Cloak more securely. Then they waited.

Perhaps five minutes later, McGonagall and Flitwick dashed by in their nightrobes.

-0-0-0-

Harry held his breath as his Head of House rushed down the hallway in a flurry of tartan flannel, the tiny Charms professor in her wake. When both vanished around a corner, he relaxed marginally. "How did you know?" he whispered to Youko.

"Later," Youko replied, tense. "We've got only minutes before we're discovered missing now." Before Harry could ask further, since McGonagall had a direct Floo connection to the common rooms and didn't need to run through the halls, Youko added, "A few extra for you, since McGonagall's probably checking the Infirmary first. But Snape's in the Slytherin dorms by now."

Oh. Harry peered out of the alcove, quickly ducking back at the sight of Dumbledore rushing up the stairs. Stone ground against itself again as he passed the ground level, continuing upwards, and fell back to silence.

Youko snatched up Draco, the blond still frozen stiff, and slid out from under the Cloak. "Quick," he murmured. "Before he comes back."

They dashed into the staircase atrium and down the stairs, Draco's shoes thumping against the limestone steps, and into another corridor. This one was lit, pedestal torches blazing urgently against the dawn, and draped in tapestries. Youko stopped before a scene of scholars at work, growling in a language Harry wasn't sure could fit in a human mouth.

The tapestry swirled open, becoming a darker hallway lined with doors. Youko stepped hastily in, pulling Harry, the tapestry snapping closed almost on their heels. Harry caught sight of only a couple of doorplates as Youko hustled him along the corridor.

Pince.

Sinastra.

Flitwick.

The door Youko stopped and growled (again) at, though, had two writings on the nameplate: complex Asian writing, and Genkai. This door swung open almost before he'd finished speaking, revealing the old woman... eyes burning with irritation that quickly snapped to fury, as Youko brushed past her without a word and dropped the Petrified Draco on her couch.

Genkai slammed and locked the door. "Do I want to know?" she asked flatly.

Youko ran a hand through his hair, sighed, and slumped to lean against the couch. "No. But you need to."

Harry sagged into an overstuffed armchair, taking off his glasses as Youko quickly ran through the night's events... starting from when he, Kurama, had seen Draco sneaking out.

He really is Kurama.

Following Draco into the Forest.

Harry rubbed his eyes. He really...

Watching Draco summon a demon.

... somehow...

The wind, the demon catching Kurama's scent. Starting the fight.

... despite there having been two of them...

Harry's sudden appearance out of nowhere.

... for days on end...

The broken potion, injected directly... as far as Kurama could figure... into his heart, by the demon's claws.

... is Kurama.

Youko finished with, "Then I finished the demon off, and we've been avoiding curious and hungry Forest residents since."

The fire crackled and danced at the corner of Harry's blurred vision. Then, "Well," Genkai muttered with a huff. "You've done your job, then, and there's no avoiding the fallout. How long will the dose last?"

Youko treated her to a wry look, head and ears tilting cockeyed. "I have no idea. The potion's never been tested in the bloodstream."

"Take a guess," she snapped.

A shrug, Youko... no, Kurama's... half-smile twisting unpleasantly. "Staying like this is eating away at my reserves as is. It won't last past breakfast."

Harry flinched. He'd guessed right, so much earlier in the Forest. Kurama was too badly injured to use much power without reverting. He glanced out Genkai's window at the bright colors in the east: it was nearly 4 am. By breakfast meant less than four hours...

"Two last questions, then," Genkai said. "One: who cast the chains?"

Chains...? Harry wondered. Youko pointed silently at him. Oh. Yeah. I did cast chains on the other demon before Youk... Kurama... before he killed it.

"Two: what did Malfoy use to summon the demon?"

Youko shrugged. "I didn't see. Something shiny."

Use...? "Wait," Harry muttered, digging into his pockets. "I grabbed it. Broke the portal." He pulled it out and tossed it on the table. "There."

It was a silver disk, just about the size of Harry's palm, the rim scratched with the runes Hermione had never been able to identify from Harry's visions. Unlike real silver, the smooth material didn't shine or reflect, and it had an oddly sticky quality to the sheen. Harry had seen something like it before... but where?

Genkai and Kurama leaned in, curious. "What do you make of it?" she asked.

"Hm..." Kurama poked at it with a claw. "The writing looks like Western Makai... upper levels, perhaps." He leaned closer, sniffing. "Smells like blood."

"Of course it does," Genkai replied, pointing at several small reddish blots in the center. "You have to be from Reikai to activate a portal without blood."

"Not that paltry amount," Youko replied. "I mean it reeks of it."

Like... it was made of it, perhaps? Harry wondered. Like... "Unicorn blood." Their eyes shot to him. "Um. It looks like unicorn blood. Only it's, well..." he gestured at the amulet, "...solid."

Genkai and Kurama exchanged looks. Genkai snorted. "That would do it."

"You wouldn't even need an innocent to activate it," Youko added.

Unfortunately for us, Harry thought. If even Malfoy can work the thing...

Three raps at the door. Youko leapt to his feet, eyes wide.

Genkai gestured to a door on the far wall. "Go," she hissed, crossing to the entrance to her suite. Youko darted into the other room, shutting the door silently behind him. Genkai immediately flung the corridor door open, revealing Dumbledore. "Professor, so sorry to bother you again so early..." his eyes slipped past her, landing on Draco Petrified on her couch, and Harry in her armchair, "... but it seems you've found two of our missing students."

Genkai nodded curtly. "They just arrived." A note of lighter emotion entered her voice. "And Minamino's in the next room, if you were coming to inform me he was missing."

A pause. Then Dumbledore smiled blankly, and shifted subtly to gesture Genkai towards the corridor. "If you would, Professor?"

"I'd rather not," Genkai replied. "Minamino's overcelebrated solstice. I'd like to remain within earshot until he recovers. But please," she stepped back, "come in."

Dumbledore gracefully accepted the invitation, stepping into the professor's living room. His gaze passed over Draco again and met Harry's.

"Good morning, Harry."

Harry put his glasses back on, blinking rapidly as Dumbledore lowered himself heavily into the armchair across from him. "Morning, Professor." The headmaster's eyes were as unreadable as always, he noticed, but the usual twinkle was missing.

"You seem to have had a difficult night. Were you in the Forest?"

Harry glanced down at himself. Wet shoes, muddy robes, a rip along the hem and one sleeve, a couple of broken twigs snagged in the cloth... "Yessir," he mumbled.

"Ah." Dumbledore pondered this for a long moment. "Then perhaps you can explain this," he said, placing a twisted link of chain, spattered with dried-brown blood, on the table before Harry.

Oh. Crap. "Um..." If he said anything, he'd incriminate himself. More than he had for having to admit to being in the Forbidden Forest (again) in the first place. But if he didn't, Draco would get away scot-free, and Kurama...

Was it murder if it was between two demons? Did Kurama give a damn about the kill?

"Firenze found it in the forest," Dumbledore continued. "It's unmistakably conjured wizard chain." A pause. "The centaurs believe it to have been used to restrain a large animal sacrifice, Harry."

Sacrifice. First-year Defense class, they'd had a full six-week unit on the difference between Dark Arts and live animal use in Potions. Sacrifice was the word for the Dark Arts usages.

"I dunno what it was," Harry muttered. How to get out of this? "Malfoy did something. Made a massive... hole in the air, it looked like, and something kind of like a troll came through. Minamino stopped it, but he's been pretty weird since. We dragged Malfoy back here and Minamino went to..." Harry shrugged.

Fortunately, Genkai took the cue. "Minamino's exhausted himself. He's passed out on the futon and is recovering, as I said." Dumbledore frowned, but Genkai plowed on. "You can't see him. As for Malfoy here... I think we can all guess exactly whose orders he was following, if not what he was specifically doing."

Dumbledore's eyes rested on Draco's petrified form. "Indeed," he murmured.

Genkai made a soft sound of assent, that sounded rather like a cough. "If we're up to the agreeing-with-everything stage, gentlemen, and can glean nothing more... I have a student to monitor." It was a pointed dismissal, and Dumbledore met Genkai's stern eyes for a long, tense moment before he stood, acquiesing.

He walked to the exit, lifted the latch, then paused.

"Professor... is there anything you're not telling me?"

Genkai rolled her eyes. "Plenty. You have your secrets, I have mine. Now do beat it so I can check on Kurama's recovery without you violating his privacy. Potter, go find Hiei and tell him I want Yukina down here as soon as she's able."

Harry stared for a moment, then levered himself slowly from the exceedingly comfortable chair. "Where is...?"

"Try the kitchens. Then go get some sleep, Potter."

-0-0-0-

Youko had eavesdropped on the entire conversation, waiting for Genkai to chase Dumbledore off. He hadn't expected her to kick Harry out as well, but come to think of it...

He opened the door and leaned against the jamb. "Good idea," he said.

Genkai ignored the comment. "Plausible deniability," she muttered, jerking her thumb at Draco. "What do you want to do with him?"

Smirking, Youko raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I have anything in mind?"

"You went through too much trouble to bring him back."

True, that had its implications... but... "Perhaps I just want him where I can keep an eye on him," Youko said. "Can you imagine the mess if I'd left him to die and he didn't?"

"Yes," Genkai snapped. "It's almost exactly equal to the mess we have now."

Youko chuckled. "'Almost' being the operative term," he murmured, crossing the room to sit on the couch, almost on Draco's legs. The boy's eyes, huge with renewed fright and rising hysteria, snapped to him. Youko leaned in just slightly, looming over the Petrified, helpless boy. "By now, he's discarded the idea of announcing my species to the school and press, in favor of using the information to cover his failure to Voldemort." Draco's eyes flew impossibly wider. Youko purred, "Haven't you, Draco?"

Genkai rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

"Ah," Youko continued, "but he hasn't taken me into account here, yet. It doesn't matter if he announces me to the entire Wizarding world, or just Voldemort." He stroked the back of a claw along Draco's cheek. "They'd banish me, or try to kill me, and guess what, Draco? That would annoy me. And I would know exactly who to be annoyed with, wouldn't I, Draco?"

No answer. Not that Youko would have expected one, even if Draco had been able to talk at this point.

"It seems to me that you're in a terrible position here, aren't you?" Youko murmured. "Either you go crawling back to Voldemort with your failure, and hope he allows you the time to share my little secret... thus making a demon very, very unhappy at you... or you don't. Voldemort will still be angry with you, but at least I won't be... and I can be convinced to safeguard you from Voldemort." Youko sat up. "Take your pick. The Dark wizard with no need to protect you, or the demon with a vested interest in doing so."

Draco stared in open, dead-white horror.

Youko took up his wand and broke the Body-bind charm. "I'm waiting."

-0-0-0-

Two more buckets of ice. The sky light in the east, the corridors cool, windows spotted with dew, and an empty bucket in each hand. Hiei darted through the same shadowy corridors of the school, back and forth between the kitchens and Yukina's ritual room, this time on his way down once more to the kitchens.

Yukina's fever, a side effect of her reaction to the power high of the summer solstice, had melted enough ice that Hiei had needed to also bring towels since sunset. It was enough that Kuwabara's worry superceded any inclination to notice Yukina's figure in her soaked robes... so Hiei hadn't needed to suppress an overwhelming urge to beat Kuwabara to a bloody pulp.

But the ritual was almost over. Just a few more trips, maybe three at best, before Yukina's fever should break. Then a day's rest. Then a few days to pack, and they would get the hell out of this school, and he would have a full summer alone to regain some equilibrium and train.

Just two more buckets of ice.

Hiei sped around a corner and nearly crashed into an exhausted, muddy Harry Potter, leaning against the food portrait entrance to the kitchens.

"You look like shit."

Harry raised his head, eyes focusing on Hiei. "Thanks. Is Yukina up?"

Why the hell was he asking about Yukina? "No," Hiei said curtly.

"Oh." Harry yawned, not budging from in front of the portrait.

"You're in my way," Hiei told him.

A shrug. "S'posed to tell you Genkai wants to see Yukina soon as possible."

Demands for the only healer on the team besides Genkai, plus Harry's condition, factoring in Yukina's condition, equaled... one hell of a mess that I've missed, Hiei concluded. "Fine. I'll tell her. Get out of my way."

Harry pushed himself off the portrait, leaving a faint streak of dirt over a cluster of grapes. Hiei shoved past, tickled the pear, and ducked into the eternal chaos of the House Elves' domain. Refilling the buckets quickly, he returned to the corridor to find Harry still there.

"What?" Hiei snapped.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "It's... um, it's Kurama." Hiei's blood curdled, as Harry continued, "Just thought you might... want to know."

That didn't warrant a response. Hiei darted to the side, speeding past Harry in a blur.

He was busy.

He had a ritual to finish. His sister. He couldn't break her ritual now, after nearly 24 hours of work. He'd finish. She'd wake. And then...

Then he could think about it.

Bright, thin sunshine splashed at low angles across the corridor floors, flickering past like old film reels as Hiei ran at top speeds back along the route he'd run hundreds of times in the last hours. Harry had delayed him too long, Yukina would be waking on this return...

He skidded to a stop outside the heavy oak door, nearly going to his knees to do so, and set one bucket down. Gently opening the door, he entered the dark, cool room for a last time.

Yukina still lay unconscious, robes floating in her tub of icemelt, the deep red black with water. Tendrils of hair stuck to her pale face, some stiff with sweat, but most not. Kuwabara's large knuckle under her chin kept her face tilted out of the water, and even as Hiei entered, the human boy scooped up a shallow handful of water with nearly-blue hands.

"Don't," Hiei murmured before Kuwabara could pour it over her forehead. It was the first word Hiei had said in this room except for the ritual sutra Kuwabara couldn't pronounce.

Kuwabara's hand slipped, pouring the icy water over her neck as if that was where he'd intended to do so all along. Otherwise, he gave no outward sign that he'd heard Hiei.

Hiei dumped the bucketfuls of ice into the bath, one on each side of his sister, just as he had the entire day. Rather than pick the buckets back up, though, he leaned in and set the back of his hand against her forehead.

The skin was cool to the touch. Hiei pressed his hand to one cheek, pale rather than flushed with fever, and found it equally cool.

"Her fever's broken," he murmured. "The ritual's over." Kuwabara didn't answer, so Hiei glanced up. "You can acknowledge that I exist again. Get a dry towel while I wake her up."

Kuwabara swayed a bit, closing his eyes and sighing noisily in relief, then pushed himself off his stool and looked around the room. One large, dry towel lay folded on a shelf with a thick terrycloth bathrobe and a cotton witch's summer robe, and he fetched both. As Hiei slid an arm under Yukina's shoulders, plunging it into the bath and ignoring the frigid water, and lifted her to a sitting position, Kuwabara shook out the towel. He knelt and wrapped it around her hair, squeezing the water out gently to blot it dry.

Hiei used his free hand, forearm braced against Yukina's collarbones to keep her upright, and lightly tapped her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Yukina. Wake up."

No response.

Hiei tried again. This time, Yukina flinched. "Wake up," Hiei repeated.

"'N...'niisan...?"

Kuwabara beamed, nearly dropping the towel. "Yukina-san! You're awake!"

"...Kazuma?" She let her head roll a bit to the side, peering up at Kuwabara out of one slitted eye, and smiled weakly. "Kazuma."

Enough of this. Hiei dipped forward, scooping Yukina right out of the tub in a rush of water and wet silk. She squeaked, and he set her on her feet, pulling one arm over his shoulders to keep her standing and steady.

"Oniisan..."

"Genkai wants to see you as soon as possible," Hiei said.

"Hey!" Kuwabara yelped. "You jerk, she needs time to recover and..."

"She'll recover faster if she's not coddled," Hiei interrupted, slipping out from under Yukina's arm, putting a hand on her shoulder just in case. Yukina swayed slightly, but remained standing.

Kuwabara all but growled. "But..."

"Kazuma..." Yukina murmured, straightening up, arms outstretched instinctively away to minimize contact with her wet robe, "I'm fine. I feel much better already, see?" She smiled, quelling Kuwabara's next protest. "I'm sure Genkai just wants to make sure I'm all right."

Hiei let her go and stepped back, crossing his arms. Not true, but he would wait until Yukina had at least changed into something less plastered-to-her-skin. Speaking of which... "Let her change," he snapped, turning his back on his sister.

A squawk from Kuwabara, and some hasty rustles of movement; Hiei listened to Kuwabara nearly shove the fresh, dry robe into Yukina's hands, to the human boy turning sharply away, to the audible gulps and other noises of embarrassment Kuwabara made, hidden by the wet slap of Yukina shedding her ritual robe. Another minute where Hiei could almost hear Kuwabara's blood pressure rising, and Yukina announced that she was finished.

Hiei turned to face his sister once more, noticing from the corner of his eye that Kuwabara's face was Gryffindor red. He ignored it. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Yukina replied. If she was bemused at Hiei's haste, she didn't show it.

Kuwabara wasn't so discreet. "What's the hurry?" he asked brusquely.

I was going to have to mention it before we got there, anyway, Hiei thought. He directed his answer towards Yukina. "Genkai doesn't want to check on you." She blinked. "She sent a messenger. Something happened to Kurama."

-0-0-0

After talking to Hiei, Harry wandered back towards the professor's wing. But the tapestry was closed, and no amount of trying to repeat Youko Kurama's growled password worked. He considered heading back to Gryffindor Tower, but no doubt somebody had to have woken for the bedcheck, and he didn't want to answer more questions.

That left one place to go. The Hospital Wing, to sit with Hermione. Harry trudged upstairs, stopping in a bathroom to wash his hands and face, and shake a bit.

A demon.

He'd spent the night running around the Forest, working with a demon.

And, glancing into the mirror over the sink, he looked like it. Harry pulled out his wand, muttering, "Scourgify." The mud and twigs vanished, the couple of tears in his robe repairing themselves. Now he just looked rumpled and tired, rather than fresh out of the Forest.

He left the bathroom, and shortly reached the Hospital Wing. The doors stood half-open, and the wing was empty, save for Hermione and Keiko, asleep in adjacent beds. Harry stumbled to and collapsed into a hard little chair next to Hermione's bed.

A demon...

"Morning, Hermione," he murmured. She slept on, oblivious.

Demons, summonings, unicorn blood amulets... all whirled in Harry's mind. "I wish you were awake. I could use a little smart advice right now." Runes and blood. Demons on each side. Malfoy and Kurama.

"Hey..." Harry went on, coughing a puff of wry laughter. "I found out what the visions meant. You'd love the research opportunity, but it's... it's pretty bad." Understatement. And he hadn't found out why. Just uncovered more secrets, more questions, more...

Harry folded his arms on Hermione's mattress, laying his suddenly-aching head on them, peering at his best, smartest friend. "It's just so complicated, Hermione..." he mumbled. "What do you do when you find out an otherwise nice guy's a monster?"

Silence.

Slowly, the room darkened, Harry's eyes growing heavy. He blinked slowly, Hermione's sleeping face going in and out of focus. And in the last moments before the world went dark, he remembered...

I covered for you... I trusted you... Harry, he's a werewolf!

Two out of three, Miss Granger...

So that was it.

-0-0-0-

Genkai's suite degenerated into the controlled chaos of an emergency room within seconds of Yukina, Kuwabara, and Hiei's arrival. By the time Hiei entered the suite, Yukina sat on the couch next to Youko Kurama, who lay on a thick layer of towels.

Hiei did a double-take. Youko? Harry hadn't mentioned Youko, but... Hiei flicked a glance at the rest of the room, spotting Malfoy huddled in an armchair... this meant trouble. He pulled the boy from the chair and dragged him to Genkai's kitchen.

"Ow!" Malfoy yelped. "Let go..."

"I want the situation in your words," Hiei snapped, shoving Malfoy onto the footstool Genkai used to reach the countertops.

The blond gulped, and began to speak. Hiei listened with half an ear, correlating his story to the answers Kurama was giving Yukina in the living room. The stories didn't match in vital places... no mention of Kurama's human injuries, only that the potion had been in his wounds to turn him into Youko. Nothing said of the pierced heart, the lung damage, the broken sternum and ribs, the lacerations through other vital organs...

Malfoy didn't know. That was good. Enemies shouldn't know the extent of one's injuries; they could exploit that, and Malfoy no doubt would.

"Genkai!" Yukina yelped, shrill. "Genkai, Kurama's reverting...!"

"Start working now!" Genkai snapped. "Kurama, fight the reversion, get it as slow as you can, do you hear me? DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Hiei kicked the kitchen door shut.