DISCLAIMER: Yu Yu Hakusho and Harry Potter don't belong to me. If they did, this entire fanfiction would actually be in the books/show/manga.

Chapter 12: News, Advice, and Fights

"Look at this! Just look at it!" Hermione slapped the Daily Prophet down on the table the moment that she arrived back at Hogwarts.

AZKABAN JAILBREAK! the headline read in huge black lettering.

"What the hell is Azkaban?" Yusuke questioned, not really caring about the answer, though if it helped him to get out of this dump, he was willing to listen.

"Azkaban is a wizarding prison. It used to be guarded by the dementors, but they joined You-Know-Who. We were kind of expecting this a while back, but it never happened until now. I kind of wonder what took them so long."

"You were expecting this, Hermione?!"

"Who's You-Know-Who?"

"Um... He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, Kuwabara. You must've heard of him!"

Both boys wore vacant faces until Yusuke finally remembered: "Oh, you mean Voldy-pants!"

"Voldy-pants?" Now it was Ron, Hermione, and Harry's turn to gape. "Harry...Tell me he just said 'Voldy-pants'."

"He just said 'Voldy-pants'."

"I don't know whether to laugh or to kill them."

"We're right in front of you. We can hear you, ya know?"

"Harry, does You-Know-Who still use you to hear stuff?"

"Shut up, Ron! Of course not, right Harry? You practice Occlumency all the time now, don't you?"

"Erm...Yeah," he lied.  "Why?"

"'Cause I wanted him to hear this...Whoa, he'd be pissed off." And with that, Ron began to snigger, Harry joining in soon after. Hermione soon relented and laughed, too.

"I don't get it," said Kuwabara earnestly.

"Me neither."

That was about the only mildly positive thing that happened for the entire week. Piles and piles of homework, dozens of tests, and bad news just seemed to swoop down on them and burden the already burdened sixth years. And aside from classes, both Ron and Harry had Quidditch practice, Ron and Hermione had prefect duties, and Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Thia, and Kurama had fighting practice.

Not to mention the escaped Death Eaters and the demon threat.

The only break from the world in general that Harry Potter was really able to get was on Thursday evening. Ron and Hermione had prefect duties and most of the others were in detention. Though his first thought was to go to Hagrid's hut, Harry felt the need to be alone. For some strange reason, all of the deaths that the 16-year-old had witnessed were bearing down upon him like the sky upon the legendary giant Atlas and anger was roiling in his stomach like a virus. And so, he wandered on the path to the hut, not wanting to go any further, and yet wanting to get away.

Frankly, it made no sense to him.

"Going somewhere, Harry?" a girl's voice asked kindly from behind him. Harry spun around.

Thia.

"Not really." Go away. I want to be alone.

"Then may I join you?"

"I'd like to be alone now, thank you."

The girl surveyed him a moment, weighing his statement. Then: "You really don't want to be alone."

Harry struggled to keep his anger in check. "I don't think you know what I want and what I don't."

"I'm telling you that you don't."

"I don't need your advice! And what are you talking about, alone? You've got all of the others with you!"

"Harry, you don't understand."

"What don't I understand?"

"Alone gives you time to mope, to get angrier, to destroy yourself, if you let it. Feelings like that are a burden, and usually only upon yourself. You push others away and then you have more alone time and it becomes a cycle. But if you share the weight of your thoughts with others before the cycle even begins and before you get any alone time, then you only feel relief."

"Yeah, well what would you know about it? You haven't had both parents murdered by Lord Voldemort, seen an innocent person murdered by Lord Voldemort, or had the closest thing to a father murdered! DON'T TALK LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT I FEEL!" The fact that this girl hadn't so much as blinked at the name of the most evil wizard in the world completely deprived Harry the satisfaction that it usually did.

"How do you know that I haven't? Haven't had so much of my family decimated by some force or another?" She cocked her head slightly to the side, and most of the anger dissipated in Harry's stomach.

"You don't."

"What's your point, Ron?" Hermione asked exasperatedly. "So what, Thia got kissed by Suichi under the mistletoe!"

"Well- because- I thought, you know!"

"If you are once again insinuating that I like Suichi Minamino, I'm going to hex you. The boy is dazzlingly handsome, I'll admit, but may I (once again) remind you: Outward appearance doesn't matter."

"CoughLockhartCough..."

"That's really getting old, Ronald."

Malfoy was tired of being afraid of Hiei. Crabbe and Goyle were getting bored just staring at the empty table. And Yusuke and Kuwabara were waiting for a fight.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Oh, look, it's the spoiled wimp," Yusuke commented as Malfoy walked by in the halls.

"And it's the boy with the cutesy little penguin," was the retort. "What, did your girlfriend give it to you?"

"You do not want to mention Kayko," Kuwabara warned quietly.

"I'll bet she's as ugly as-" Malfoy wasn't able to finish his thought, after being thrown several feet away by Yusuke's fist.

"Woohoo!"

The hall erupted into pandemonium. Both Yusuke and Kuwabara swung at the Slytherins who leapt at them, from Crabbe and Goyle to the Slytherin Quidditch captain.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" McGonagall roared above the intolerable noise. "URAMESHI, KUWABARA, CRABBE, GOYLE, AND MALFOY, MY OFFICE NOW!"

"...Yusuke...Why in the blue hell would you do that? No, nevermind, I don't want to know."

"And you all got three weeks' detention."

"Yup." Kurama sighed, totally and utterly exasperated.

"I'm impressed, Detective," said Hiei, apparently thinking this was hilarious and so giving a sort of laugh.

"Would you mind telling us how you're going to keep to the mission if you're going to be in detention for three months? There's no other team mate of ours in the Gryffindor house, is there?"

"Ah, Genkai can do it. No sweat."

"DON'T YOU DARE THINK YOU CAN JUST HAND THIS OFF TO ME, YOU DIMWIT!!!"

Author's Notes: All right, not a very good chapter for me, hardly anything really meaningful going on (except for the jailbreak)... To tell the truth, I was having major writer's block in the middle of this. And then I didn't want to risk another cliffhanger by starting the next chapter too early...sigh. There's a reason for the chapter numbers so far. hint, hint

To tell the truth, I have no idea why I created the Thia-Harry scene. It just seemed to fit. Bobby: She's gone mad... Mad, I tell you! Like Mad-Eye Moo- gags Bobby Anyway, please review, criticize, whatever... Anything to either inflate or deflate my ego! It needs a little prod once in a while.

Responses:

Rose Yay! I love your long reviews!!! swoons over the mention of X3 Superman... cool! hands Rose pint-sized bucket of Vanishing Vanilla Ever-Freez Ice Cream Free when you mention the word 'kissage'! Thia: I gave Kurama Miracle-Gro plant food for Christmas. No, not really, I'm just messin' with ya. Oh, yeah, I was thinking of making like a 'deleted scenes' type of thing. evil grin I'm thinking about Quidditch... I'll try to put in the House Cup part.

Phinixofthezodiac, YYH-Yu-Yu-Hakusho-Fan, and EverKitsune Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Slave2anime lol. Um... checks story I posted the pairings on chapter 8, but I'll put them up again.

Pairings: Slight Ron-Hermione and Thia-Kurama. If I get any more brainstorms of any other couples, I'll be sure to put 'em up.