Hogwarts' New Apprentices
by gyhardin

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'm out of my slump now so will be back to writing again. Once I finish this one, I'll try to finish my other stories. BTW, thanks for every one of you who reviewed. Anyways, one of the reasons this chapter took a long while to write was because I have to do some research first on wands and magical creatures before I can proceed. Ok, enough excuses and on with the fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH and Harry Potter. We all know who own them. Mine is just the story plot.

Chapter 4: Dispensing of Wands

The next day, the tantei team was standing on the last top step of the stairs leading to Genkai's temple. There was certain bleakness in the air brought about by the severity of their mission. They were looking at each other; the air of reluctance was palpable around them.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Get in here!" Genkai's voice could be heard through the gate. Still not one of them made a move, seemed like they were frozen in place. "What? Are you waiting for formal invitations? We haven't got all day!" sarcasm-laced voice thundered at them.

That broke the tension among them and started a short bout of chuckling and giggling. After a few seconds of that tension-relieving hilarity, they composed themselves. Yuusuke and Kuwabara pushed open the gate and led the team inside.

Genkai was sitting on the wooden floor of the entrance to the temple sipping some hot tea. Puu, Yuusuke's demon phoenix familiar, was running to and fro in the yard. Its ponderous body, chasing playfully at some squirrels, was causing some slight tremors in the grounds and trees. Yukina was sitting primly on the steps of the temple, listening to the chirps of the blue jays on her shoulders.

As soon as Yuusuke and his team entered the yard of the temple proper, Puu abandoned its chase and frantically darted towards its master. It buried Yuusuke under its fluff of feathers and rubbed its beak affectionately on his cheek.

"Get off me, you big oaf!" yelled Yuusuke as he wheezed and tried to gasp for air. He pushed his enormous familiar off of him and dusted himself off. Puu hung its head in apology and slowly trailed after him. It perked up quickly though when Yuusuke looped his arm fondly around its long neck.

"Kazuma-kun, you're here!" Yukina cried out happily. The birds on her shoulders flew away when she hurriedly stood up and rushed over to Kuwabara. Yukina had grown a few inches taller and looked more mature than a couple of years before.

"Yukina-chan! You're looking more beautiful every time I see you." Kuwabara gushed amorously at her. He took both of her hands in his, held them against his chest and gazed into her eyes ardently. Yukina looked up at him and blushed prettily as she smiled. Both them were too absorbed with each other, in a world of their own.

Hiei cringed at the sight before him. No matter how much he disliked the loud-mouthed ahou, he could not begrudge his sister her happiness. He, like his twin sister, had finally grown height-wise as well. He was not as tall as the other guys in the team, but at least he topped Botan some few inches. He still wore his usual outfit of black on black with his katana hidden beneath its folds.

Kurama and Botan went directly to Genkai and bowed in greeting. Yuusuke pushed Puu towards the forest to resume its play. The demon phoenix ambled away headed for the trees as Yuusuke approached his sensei.

"Knock it off, you two!" barked Genkai at the two lovebirds, startling them both back to reality. "This is not a social call. You are here on assignment. Let's get to it." She waited until the two joined the others, then she set her teacup down on the tray. She handed it over to Yukina who promptly took it to be washed in the kitchen. Then Genkai stood up and led them all inside.

As they reached the training hall, they were greeted by an unexpected popping sound. All four men leaped in front of the women and took on a defensive stance. At the center of the hall, where the sound originated, stood a distinguished bearded gentleman in blue and black robe.

"Ah just right on time. Ohayou gozaimasu, Tsukimoto-san," greeted Genkai with a deep bow of her head to the man.

"So formal, Genkai-chan. Ohayou to you too." Tsukimoto Keiichi gave a slight bow and a smile at her. "You are still the same. Small as ever," the elderly wizard teased her, eyes twinkling.

"And you're as incorrigible as ever, Keiichi-kun," deadpanned Genkai. "Make yourself useful, Keiichi. I don't want to stand all day!" She challenged with a glare.

Tsukimoto just ignored her and approached the others. "So these are the people that Koenma-san is sending to Britain ." He looked them over one by one. "Don't you think they're awfully young to be sent on such a critical mission? And to actually expect them to face and take out Voldemort and his cohorts, it's preposterous!" He shook his head in dismay then looked back at Genkai.

"Do not be deceived by their youth, Keiichi. They are all battle-tested and have successfully carried out all of their missions." Genkai assured him. "Be at ease, boys. This is my friend, Tsukimoto Keiichi. He is the headmaster of Mahounoichi Gakuen, our country's school of Magic,.He is here to assist you." She faced the team and introduced the wizened wizard.

"I can't really say that 'it's a pleasure to meet you' for the circumstance is hardly pleasant. Nevertheless, from what I have heard from your sensei here and the Reikai Lord, you are the only hope of both the muggle and wizarding worlds." Tsukimoto bowed deeply in respect to them after Genkai introduced each one of them to the wizard. "Still, I am indeed pleased to have met you and be of some assistance."

The guys merely nodded their heads in acknowledgment while Botan reciprocated the same courtesy towards the distinguished gentleman. The wizard looked around him and saw unlit wall sconces. He took out a long stick from his voluminous robe's left sleeve and waved it with a graceful flick of his wrist and whispered some words pointing at each of the sconces inside the hall. Eight sconces started levitating off their perch on the wall and were placed on the floor in front of them in an oval fashion and one in the center. The team merely raised their eyebrows at this display of magic. Nothing surprised them anymore. However, Botan gave a loud gasp of delight when she saw those sconces were turned into comfortable chairs and a long table. Tsukimoto-san merely nodded his head at them and gestured them towards the seats and table.

Genkai simply seated herself on one of the chairs as if it was an everyday occurrence. The others warily touched the chairs to ascertain the reality of their existence before they sat. Tsukimoto took the only one at the end of the table. Various things began to appear on the table in front of him. A couple of inkwell, five quills, and scrolls of parchment were among those that appeared.

"What you have seen me do is what we, wizards and witches, normally do. Magic is our way of life." Tsukimoto started to explain to them. "I know you have had no inkling that such magic exists but it does. Before I came here, I went to the Ministry and rechecked the registry list of children from nine years ago up to the present. Still none of your names have come up in the list, whether pureblood or muggleborn. So I am uncertain if any of you have an aptitude for it. Children with magic start their education at the age of eleven and this last for seven years. That's why in this instance, we cannot pass you up as exchange students when you go to Britain . You are all simply too old to be one. However, I have just recently heard from my friend, Albus, that they are offering apprenticeship at Hogwarts. We will make use of that opportunity."

He looked at each of the team's face and saw them in rapt attention. He nodded and carried on, "what I can do is to give you some background information on magic and provide you all with sufficient training in a magic you will be involved in. I will need your full cooperation if I am to gauge your abilities and find out which branch of magic you will most likely be apprenticed to. For the most part, I will be giving you some questionnaire that I will need you to answer instinctively and truthfully. The questionnaires are designed to find out what branch you have an affinity to. I can't teach you everything about magic because we simply don't have the time to waste. Afterwards, we will need to get each of you a wand. I will have my trusted friend, Eiji, to bring his array of wands with him so you can choose. Or rather, see if any of the wands respond to your touch, then we'll know if you can do magic."

"Is the wand that stick you were waving around when the sconces were taken off the wall and changed into chairs and table?" Botan interrupted the wizard and asked.

"Well, yes. That was indeed a wand. However, wands are specially made for wizards and witches. They are made from special wood that have magical substance at their core." The wizard explained. "I will let Eiji explain further on wands when he gets here if you want to know more about them."

The headmaster stood up from his seat and distributed a scroll and a quill to each of those gathered, except to Genkai. The group unrolled their scrolls and then held their quill in hand. Yuusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei were all puzzled at what to do with the quill. Both Botan and Kurama just looked at the inkwell that Tsukimoto placed in their midst and shook their heads at the outdated mode of writing. Good thing though that each of them brought their own pens with them. So they discarded the quills and took out their pens from whichever pocket they were hidden in and started to read and answer the questionnaire. Genkai merely nodded at Tsukimoto for him to carry on.

"Please, do not ask each other for answers. There is neither right nor wrong answer and none of the scrolls have the same questions. The set of questions only appear as a response to your touch, you can say they are highly personalized. I will leave you to it for now. I will be back in an hour with Eiji and his wands," said the wizard before he apparated out of the temple.

They all knew that they had to take this seriously and so each was absorbed in answering the scroll. One by one, the tantei placed their pens on the table and heaved sighs of relief. Yuusuke was slouched on his chair with his left arm slung on the back rest, Hiei stood up and started pacing to and fro in impatience, Kuwabara laid his head on the table with his hands hanging on his sides, and Kurama had his arms crossed and his chin resting on his chest with eyes closed. Botan was simply doodling on the piece of parchment that she tore off from the blank end of the scroll to while away the remaining minutes before the hour ended. Meanwhile, Genkai got off her chair and left the room, leaving them to their own devices.

With the sound of a loud pop, Tsukimoto reappeared with another man who bore a large trunk. Yuusuke unslung his arm and sat up straight. Kuwabara was startled awake and wiped a small trail of drool dribbling down his chin with the end of his left sleeve. Hiei stopped pacing and went back to his seat. Kurama stood up, approached the men and peered at the trunk in curiosity, which seemed to be loaded with transparent slender boxes. Botan hid the scrap of paper she was doodling on in her pants' back pocket.

"Lady and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet Eiji Toshio. He's the only wandmaker in Asia . He will provide you with wands." He gestured towards the stooped man wearing a yellow robe with blue lining. "I'll leave them in your capable hands, Toshio," he gave the wandmaker a slight bow then turned to the tantei. "Please hand over the scrolls and I'll be assessing each of you based on your answers. While I do this, you can proceed with choosing a wand. One by one, please." The headmaster collected the scrolls; sat down and laid open one scroll on the table to begin.

Genkai returned with a tray of tea and manjuu. She placed a cup in front of Tsukimoto, poured him tea and served him a couple of custard-filled manjuu on a small plate. She sat down on the left seat next to the wizard, drank her tea and nibbled on a bun. The rest were anxiously watching the wandmaker choose a wand for Botan. It clearly showed that each box in the trunk held a wand inside.

Eiji held out an opened box to Botan that has a 10-inch dark stick, motioned for her to pick it up and then instructed her to wave it around gently. When she waved the wand, nothing happened. Eiji took back the wand and gave her another wand to try. She did the same thing and the same thing occurred, NOTHING. The wandmaker started to grumble under his breath when after twenty tries, still none of the wands responded. He started to think the girl had no magical ability whatsoever. Then he remembered the most unusual wand he had ever made in his life that he left it at the very bottom of the trunk. He rummaged through the boxes to get it.

"Aha!" Eiji exclaimed brandishing the wand and presented it to Botan with a flourish. "This wand was the first that I had made since I started my profession. I might have gone overboard a bit with it though. I was inspired to make one that represented healing, innocence and death during my experimental stages." He was met with wide-eyed apprehension from Botan, hands stopped mid-grasp as soon as he mentioned the word 'death'. "Come, ojousan. There's nothing to worry about. Take it and give it a wave."

Botan reluctantly accepted the ten-inch wand and hesitantly made a small wave with it. A gentle whoosh was heard coming from the wand, then it radiated a dark cold energy bound in pink and healing green spirals of light, then it dissipated in the air after it made a few rounds around the room. Despite the initial trepidation, Botan beamed a happy smile at her friends and gripped the wand with both hands.

"Strange power you have there, my dear," the wandmaker marveled, looking at her as she hurried back to her seat. "That wand was created from sandalwood with unicorn tail hairs and the essence of barghest for its core and the base bound tight with a strip off a dementor's shroud. That is the only wand that I have made and to ever exist with substances taken from two different and opposing magical creatures for its core and bound by yet another magical substance. It would seem that I had been guided to make this wand specifically for you." He explained as he shook his head, "most unusual, indeed." Eiji clapped his hands and rubbed them together, "Okay, next!" He pointed at Hiei.

Hiei warily approached the wandmaker and glared at the wand that was shown before him. The fire demon snatched the wand and gave it a snappy flick of his wrist. There was no response. He tossed it back to Eiji in complete disdain, sneered then turned his back from the wandmaker and started to walk away. 'I don't need any ridiculous sticks to do my job,' Hiei muttered to himself but it was loud enough for Eiji to hear.

"Matte!" Eiji grabbed the koorime's cloak and pulled him back. "We're not done yet. I still have hundreds more wands for you to try. We won't stop till you find the right one." Again, he rummaged through the trunk hoping to find one that would actually suit the boy. He didn't exactly like the way the young man glared and sneered at him, it was too malevolent to his liking. He found one box off the side that housed a quite temperamental wand as the young man before him. Inside was a nine-inch very dark, almost black, ash wood with claw shavings of a fire salamander at its core. "Here, give this a try."

Hiei peered at the wand curiously, drawn by the dark hue of the wood and the muted fire-crackling energy that the stick seemed to exude. Before he could stop himself, Hiei found himself softly caressing the length of the stick with the tip of his forefinger. He snatched his hand back, looked up at Eiji and glowered when he saw him smiling benignly, urging him to try the wand. He cautiously took the wand and made a single flick of his wrist. Immediately, he was suffused with dark crimson flickering flames. He could tell that the wand was trying its best to dissuade him from choosing it. Unfortunately for the wand, its holder was in fact a fire demon who found its antics quite laughable. Hiei held on to the wand until it conceded that he could and would wield it competently.

The flames surrounding Hiei subsided, showing him holding the wand triumphantly with a smirk on his face. It was a telltale sign to Eiji that the wand had indeed found the young man acceptable. He was relieved that it only took the lad two tries to find a wand that would respond to his touch. He shooed off Hiei right after he told him about the properties of the wand in his possession.

"Me! I'm next." Kuwabara waved his hand frantically in the air. He skipped over to the wizard, clasped his hands behind him and rocked on his heels.

The wandmaker merely raised his right eyebrow at his antics and presented him with a wand. Kuwabara, though, shook his head and declined from touching the wand. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply then slowly his body started to emanate an orange aura. He, then, reached out his hand inside the trunk. He skimmed his fingers through boxes of wands for a minute or so, and then withdrew a box containing an eleven-inch wand made from acacia wood with a griffin feather at its core. Kuwabara gently took out the wand from the box, and whispered softly to the wand, "It's okay. I'm here now. I'll take good care of you. We'll be partners from now on."

Eiji was taken aback when the wand actually responded to the young man's gentle murmurings by suffusing the boy with a yellow glow. That was the first for the wandmaker to see one respond to mere talk from its handler instead of the normal wand waving and this to a wand that he thought was a dud. It seemed to him that these youngsters were a strange bunch. He now wondered what would happen to the remaining two lads on their wand selection. Seemed to him that lad with long red hair, was to be next in line since the other one left the room. He braced himself within for the next odd occurrence to happen as the young man approached him.

Kurama approached the wandmaker at a leisurely pace. The young man exuded extreme confidence in his stride that struck Eiji as odd for one so young. Eiji shook his head in amusement at the lad in front of him. "Now, let's see what wand would suit you." He started to turn to the trunk when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He straightened out and looked back at Kurama. "Eh? Is something wrong?" he inquired.

"How about I make this easier for you, Eiji-san," he offered to the wandmaker. He extended a graceful hand, pointed at the trunk and asked, "Do you have one in there with kitsune hair?"

"Hmm... Now that you mention it. Yes, I do think I have one here." Eiji began rummaging through the boxes until he brought out a box with a 10-inch greyish brown-coloured wand inside. As he showed the wand, Eiji explained, "This one was specially-made from a branch willingly given by the only existing whomping willow in the world. The tree is especially fierce in its protectiveness when the moon is full. The magical substance at its core was not just from any kitsune hair, but those from a kyuubi. They were actually given to me by Kuzu-no-ha years ago. She told me that someday, someone from her family will need them. So I hope you understand if I feel some trepidation on letting you try this one."

The wandmaker was reluctant in giving the wand to Kurama when he held out his hand to try it. "Don't worry, Eiji-san. If this wand won't accept me, then you can find me a different one." Kurama reassured him. However, as soon as the wand touched the redhead's palm, a brilliant flash of light illuminated the whole room. When the light dimmed, a spectre of an enormous ethereal silver vixen was right beside Kurama. Its nine tails were curled around him and its muzzle rubbed his cheek in affection before it disappeared. A collective silence ensued. An air of melancholy permeated Kurama.

"Oi, Kurama! Was that your mom?"The silence was broken by the loud yell from Yuusuke. When everyone looked back at the kitsune, they could see the tears that started to bead at the corners of his eyes. Finding everybody's attention was on his face, Kurama quickly dabbed his eyes with his sleeve and gripped the wand hard. "I'll take this." Kurama uttered fiercely and quickly left the room without waiting for a response from the wandmaker. Eiji simply nodded his acquiescence, staring wide-eyed at the retreating back of the kitsune.

The Toushin went out to play with Puu when he got impatient at the tedious process of obtaining a wand and awaiting his turn. He let twenty minutes pass by before he went back in. He sped along the hallway when he saw a burst of light coming from the training hall. He skidded to a halt though when he was greeted by the sight of an enormous ghostly image of a silver nine-tailed vixen coiled around the Youko. From what Yuusuke could see, the vixen seemed to have a motherly tender expression on her face. This made him surmise that this female fox just might be Kurama's mom. Yuusuke instantly regretted his outburst when he saw the sudden stiffening of the kitsune's body and the tightening of the expression on his face. He quickly stepped out of Kurama's way when the Youko barreled out of the room.

"Kurama!" cried out Botan. Worried about him, she tried to follow Kurama outside. A firm grip on her shoulders kept her from going after the guy. "Leave him be, Botan." Yuusuke whispered to her firmly. "Allow him his space to regain his composure." The Toushin brought his arm around the girl, shouted rudely at the wandmaker as he led her back into the room, "Oi, O-jiji! Is it my turn now?" The wandmaker nodded and gestured for Yuusuke to approach him.

Yuusuke sauntered over with cool arrogance and stood next to the trunk of wands. He peered over the wizard's shoulder and took a peek at the trunk. "Judging from the wands that the rest of your companions had obtained, I would rightly guess that yours, too, would be an unusual one." Eiji muttered resignedly over his shoulder towards the Toushin. "If I'm lucky, the last one I made will probably be for you. This one was created when I was struck by a powerful compulsion to make as soon as I picked those three large odd blue-black feathers that littered the entrance of a cave just outside of Tokyo half a decade ago." The wizard complained unceasingly while looking for the elusive wand. "Aha! Found you at last!" he exclaimed triumphantly. Eiji turned around, holding a box of another 10-inch wand and took off the cover. "Here, take it!" He shoved the box to Yuusuke and murmured, "This one is probably yours." The wizard didn't even wait for the result before he magicked away his wandsful of trunk and apparated out of the temple. Kurama returned inside to join them andwatchedthe old man take off in a huff.

The other four in his team looked at Yuusuke in question at the sudden departure and the Toushin merely shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Well, don't just stand there, take out the wand and try it." Kuwabara egged him on as he slapped him on the back. When Yuusuke grabbed the wand, three playful blue-black wisps of light appeared and trailed all over his body from toe to head. As soon as the wisps reached the crown of his head, they went back down to his body to converge in front of his chest, circled in frenzy before they entered his heart as one and vanished. Yuusuke smiled because when thhose lights disappeared, he was left with a feeling of wistful affection for his familiar. The tantei gazed at each other and grinned, well, except for Hiei who simply smirked. Armed with the proof of their magical potential, the team approached the remaining wizard.

"Uhm... Sumimasen, Tsukimoto-san." Botan tiptoed towards the wizard. Tsukimoto held up his forefinger to cutoff the ferry girl and finished his assessment on them. Botan clamped her lips shut and waited the wizard out. Everyone was silent, waiting. After a couple of minutes, the old man finished with a flourish, exclaiming, "There! I'm done!" He looked up, his eyes twinkling. "So, do all of you have your own wand?" he asked them merrily. All five nodded positively. "Good. Toshio..." he trailed off as he looked around the room and couldn't find a trace of the other wizard. "Hmmm... what happened to Toshio?" the headmaster wondered. He eyed Yuusuke for an answer and got a shrug in response. "He left," the Toushin simply stated.

Tsukimoto's brows furrowed thinking at the departure and merely rationalized that the wandmaker must have an urgent business to attend to. "Oh well... I guess you would like to know the result of your assessment, now. At the nod of their heads, Tsukimoto motioned to the chairs, "Please take a seat and I'll begin."

...to be continued

A/N: Just received a review on this chap commenting on its slow progress. See, I don't like half-baked stories and I certainly wouldn't write mine as one. Besides, it only seem slow because the readers only get to read one chapter at a time. On one hand, none of the tantei have knowledge on the existence of a wizarding world. On the other, one of the main points of their mission is infiltration. I want to do away with these explanations in this chapter so that the next ones will proceed more smoothly and go to the meat of the story. (To t.a.g.0 - thanks for the heads-up, I have modified the name. )

Update (06/24/2005) - It will take some time before I can post the next chapter. Life caught up with me and I have to take care a lot of things before I can go back to this. I've already started with the chapter and outlined it but I still need to do more research before I can continue. Anyways, in the next chap the tantei-tachi will be learning their respective branch of magic,then will travel to Britain and meet up with the HP charas.

To Mini-MoonStar - Kurama is not a weepy kitsune, it just so happened that the sudden appearance of his mother's spectre had caught him off-guard, thus, resulting in an onslaught of tender emotions for someone he had not seen for a long, long time. If you read closely, you would know that there were no tears falling so you can't say that our fave kitsune was being weepy.

To LaBOBuren - No need to be angry. I'm sorry but it is Yuusuke. In the English version, it is indeed Yusuke but in the original it's Yuusuke (romanji).

Next - Chapter 5: Learning Magic

JAPTIONARY:
Ahou - moron
Katana - japanese long sword
Ohayou gozaimasu - good morning
Manjuu - a small roll-like bun with filling (very tasty )
Ojousan/o-jousan - calling a girl 'miss'
Matte - wait
Koorime - an ice youkai. Hiei is actually half koorime and half hi-youkai. (Thanks goes to Aiiro-bara for correcting me on this info.)
Kyuubi/kyuubi no kitsune - nine-tailed fox. A kitsune granted with most power and have won favor from the god of fertility, Inari.
Kuzu-no-ha - one of the benevolent kitsunes in history that was the anti-thesis of a famous kitsune in history, Tamamo-no-Mae, who is known for her cruelty and death that her presence brings.
Oi - hey
O-jiji - a familiarly way of calling an old man. A play on the word 'ojisan', meaning uncle.
Sumimasen - excuse me