Responses:

KuramaIsFine—I sympathize with you… ::offers pocky:: And I have nooo clue why there are so many YYHHPs out there… it's like all of the fanfiction writers in the YYH fandom decided to link brains or something… Thanks for reviewing!

slave2anime—Oh. D'you know what's so cool about that? Thia originally did have dark red hair, like, before I posted YSUtS… Freeeaky… Thanks for the review!

DarkWarLordofDoomness—::blinking innocently:: Em… don't smack me with the Orc Sword? Please? ::blinkblink:: Ehm… Thanks for reviewing!

Time and Fate, poltergeist report 101, Icy Tears, samuraiduck27, Shadow Fox777, MirrorDarknessFlame, the-one-who-wears-a-mask, Yamashira de'Ryu—Thanks for reviewing!!!

Rose—::blinks:: You know, when I first read your review, I wasn't even half conscious? I was like, "Huh? Wait… huh?" And the sad part was that it wasn't even 9:30 at night. ::nodding:: Ah, yes, I remember when I read about Sirius's death. The day that OotP came out, I was on vacation with my family after getting the book at about 1:00 in the morning. I was in a restaurant when I read about the veil and stuff and, I swear, the entire restaurant must've heard me saying, "He's not dead, he's not dead, HE'S NOT DEAD, DAMMIT!"… Oh, cool, it's already started snowing there? I want snow! Lots of it! Of course, New York gets slush, so there's no chance of it ever turning into something that could get out of school for, but… ::sigh:: Hey, you got the longest response again! Thank you for reviewing!

Arano Honou—Oh, sorry for not putting that in! It's seventh year. Anyway, thanks so much for your review!

Spatial Monkey—::blinkblink:: Um… You're not going to get mad at me again… are you?... ::blinkblink:: Cool! Bobby: The idiocy strikes again. Thanks for reviewing!

Princess Krystal01—No, my mom's Filipino. She just likes to eat Korean and Japanese food a lot… I dunno why… Thank you for your review!

Long Live Asato Kido— No problem. Whee! Look Bobb—CHOCOLATE FROGS! MINE! Thanks for the review!

Sesshoumaru's Lady—KURAMA PLUSHIES! ::dives into pile:: Thanks for reviewing!

dizappearingirl—I'm sorry if I get a little confusing sometimes- I use the gray divider lines whenever there's a change in scene or place, but if there's still a little confusion, please tell me. About the psychics: There's some information (including pictures) of them on absoluteanime. com. Just to add to those profiles, though: Kaitou: Once inside his Territory, you can't commit a violent act no matter what. Asato: He had his spinal cord severed while fighting the Doctor. He's also sort of like a blond version of Yusuke. Yana: He also gains a person's memories when he uses his powers. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

I reeeeally hope I didn't miss anyone!!! The amount of reviews that this fic got was... staggering!


Disclaimer: Not very much of this story is mine, sadly enough… It belongs to JK Rowling and Togashi. Plot's mine, though, and you can't have it. Ever.

Chapter Three: You Haunt My Dreams

It was a vision—no, it wasn't. It was but a dream. A DREAM.

There he was, in the midst of a dark room with a lot of fungus. Where was he? He didn't know at all. But the walls were made of crumbling plaster and the ceiling, when he craned his neck up to see it, was peeling. The floors were made of seemingly unstable wood, as was the door, which had hinges that were rusting and needed oiling.

Said door slammed open, giving a shriek that caused him to clutch his ears. There was a tiny groan at the sound coming from the very corner of the room, and he realized that all the time he had been standing there, he hadn't been alone. No, there was another person there, though he couldn't turn around to see who it was.

"Have you found any ones worthy of initiation?" The reedy voice that came from the entrance caused a shiver to jolt him. He wanted to get out, out, OUT.

Let this stop! I don't want this to happen again-

That sense of premonition was racking his brain, sending ice up and down his back, and making him shiver uncontrollably. The fear that was buried beneath piles of summer homework now resurfaced with a vengeance.

"No… I am truly sorry, Master."

Somehow, that man, the one with the evil red eyes, was standing right before him, and facing another person who was undoubtedly standing right behind him. Then HE, the evil one they called the Dark Lord, drew his wand and pointed it.

Crucio!"

The curse flew right through the dreamer, sending a shock of intense pain ripping through him for a moment before it ceased and carried on its merry way to its original intent.

He would have screamed but for the fact that his jaw was sealed shut, by some extremely odd twist of Cruel Fate. Screaming was so much better than having to bear all this alone, in the silence, for the other man could not scream, either.

The Dark Lord raised his wand once more, and the Dreamer felt the bile rise in his throat.

How amazing that a mere dream could inspire such fear...


Molly Weasley shook at Harry's shoulder, marveling at the fact that he seemed so perfectly at peace. How many times, over the past few summers, had she peeked in on him and Ron, only to see his face crumpled in what was so obviously discomfort? But today, at least, there was very little showing on his face. The only thing was, he was so deeply immersed in Dream Land that Mrs. Weasley couldn't get him to wake up.

"Harry, dear, you're going to be late," she reprimanded him softly.

"Mm? Late for what?" was his somewhat groggy question. Molly straightened up before answering matter-of-factly, "Your Apparating test, of course!"

The raven-haired boy shot up and scuttled out of bed as fast as possible as Molly moved on to Ron.

Well, he certainly was eager! But then, they all were, weren't they? Each and every one of her children had done much the same thing: Studied late just to get everything perfectly ingrained into their memory, slept at round 3:00 in the morning, and then gotten up bright and early to go to their testing site. It was a pity that it would be all over next year, once Ginny took her Apparating test and (hopefully) passed.

Harry, even though he was not one of Molly's children, was no exception to the rule.

It was then that Molly realized she had been so deeply in thought that she'd been shaking Ron for much longer than necessary, and he was awake.

"Mum! I'm up!" he said loudly.

"Oh, sorry, dear. I was just remembering-"­

"MUM! No embarrassing stories in front of Harry! Or anyone else! Please!"


"So it's like getting your driver's license?" Thia asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Harry answered as he fiddled with a shoelace.

"What's the use of it, though? You can't use it on Hogwarts gr-"

"Today's the day!" Hermione said cheerily as she strolled into the kitchen, perfectly at ease. Of course, as her birthday was September and she was therefore not eligible for the Apparating tests, she would be. Ron, trudging alongside her, made a rather helpless face, signifying his complete worry.

No sooner had he done that than owls seemed to appear in the kitchen. One flew into Harry's face, and two others went to Ron and Hermione. It seemed like a madhouse of feathers, spilling juice, and parchment paper, not to mention the Daily Prophet, which was dumped right onto a pile of toast. Of course, then several of the adults (namely Mr. Weasley and Lupin) swooped into the room, grabbing the Prophet and then nipping a piece of toast or eggs, congratulating the two who were about to take the test and slapping them on the backs.

"Oh, it's our Hogwarts letters!" Hermione exclaimed, and ripped her letter open excitedly.

A huge gasp rang throughout the kitchen.

"What now?" Asato Kido (who'd been eating his breakfast in silence up until this point) asked, looking as though he wanted to roll his eyes. The drama, oh, the DRAMA! EVERYTHING was such a big deal here! The next thing he knew, someone's long-lost sibling who escaped from the insane asylum would be back with a vengeance!

"You- he- she-" Ron looked from Harry to Hermione to his letter.

"Pronouns?" Thia suggested under her breath.

"But then who is it?! Shake out the envelope! Shake it out! It's in there, I know it is!" Harry followed Ron's instructions, although he knew full well that there was nothing left inside the parchment envelope.

"Oh well." Harry put on a bright (however false) smile. Hermione smiled, too, though hers was a sunny as daylight.

"Let's get a move on it, boys!" Mr. Weasley called to them, and Ron and his friend walked out of the room.

Personally, Thia's head was spinning with all of the weird excitement. No doubt Asato felt much the same way.

"Hey, are you as confused as I am?"

"A lot more," was his answer right before he downed a glass of OJ.


Apparation was simple. Just think of the exact place you want to be, remember the magic word, and with a crack- you were there. The problem was Ron and Harry had never had any actual experience. After all, any wizard caught violating the 'No Apparating until you've passed the test!' rule was, well, dealt with.

So, the Ministry had proclaimed their view on the matter of 17-year-olds needing Apparating practice, and it was rather like Dolores Umbridge's theory on teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts: If you read it, you will know it.

"We're screwed."

Thanks for the confidence boost, Ron, Harry thought.

"We can do this. We read it, right? We read it a thousand times. So, er… we can do this."

Ron was silent, apparently contemplating his best friend's pep talk.

"I still say we're screwed."


Hermione was extremely happy. All right, so she couldn't take her Apparating test with the boys, but she had gotten It. The Badge. The one that she'd been expecting since, well, forever. She was the most responsible of all of the Hogwarts prefects, so of course she got The Badge! Hermione repressed the need to stamp her feet on the floor in excitement.

Ron didn't get one… I was expecting Harry to get it, maybe, even if he wasn't a prefect, but he didn't… So then… Who got it?

"What's up?" Thia asked suddenly, and everyone else at the table looked up for a moment. "You look… annoyed at something, to say the least."

"Er… Well, see, in Hogwarts, there's a certain position that a student can achieve, called Head Boy or Head Girl. Two seventh years are assigned to this position, and it's almost like being the top prefect."

"So you didn't get it?" There was a hint of laughter in Thia's voice.

"Oh, I got it! It's just that neither of the boys did, so..."

"Maybe it just didn't come yet."

Hermione shook her head. "It always comes in the letter."


All right, Harry… We can do this… Hold on there… When did I start talking to myself?

"All right, dear. Now this is where we want to get to—see, right here on the map."

The supervisor for the test was about 80 years old, and according to the rumors in the waiting room, she'd been doing this job for about 60 years. Madame Crucibe was deaf, a tad blind, spacey, and a little too much of a kindly old lady for Harry to be at ease. (a.n.: she seems like Ms. Lorenzo, my ex-homeroom teacher…)

"Now, on the count of three, my dear. One… Two… Two-and-a-half… And three!"

Harry closed his eyes, remembered the place that he wanted to go, and whispered that magic word…

There was no sound. Harry heard nothing, no crack like that of a whip, no snap like a rubber band, not even a little click.

Meaning: he failed… Slowly, he opened his eyes, ready to face the tester, who was undoubtedly standing beside him, a sympathetic look of, 'I'm terribly sorry, but you've flunked!' on her face…

And realized that he was standing in Daigon Alley, in one of the lanes near the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes store was. Beside him stood Madame Crucibe, looking quite perplexed as she plastered a smile on her wrinkling face.

"Very good, my dear! Very good! Now let's get back to the Ministry, shall we? There's a good boy!"

Did she just treat me like a dog?

Wait… I passed… I PASSED!… I PASSED!!


In the waiting room of the Ministry of Magic's Apparating test area, Ron just sat, looking rather green. Oh, the stories that were being passed amongst some of the others in the room… They were making him nauseous. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten before coming here. Who cared if he was hungry during the test? Wasn't it worse if he threw up the entire contents of his stomach during it? YES!

"Ah, yeah, an' my cousin Donny, right, 'e took 'is seventeenth test on O'tober 13, a Friday. First, 'e got there later than late, 'e did. The tester, she was 'opping mad, an' threatened to fail 'im on the spot! But then, when 'e finally went and took the test, guess what 'e did? Guess. 'E splinched himself! Went and left 'is organs on the pavement, 'e-"

"Ron Weasley?"

"I'm here!" Ron yelled, and ran to his tester.

Pleasedon'tletmegetsplinched, pleasedon'tletmegetsplinched, pleasedon'tletmegetsplinched!!


"WE DID IT! WE DID IT, WE DID IT, WE DID IT!!" Ron shouted at the top of his lungs, not even caring when Mrs. Black woke up. Somehow, he managed to yell above it.

"Keep your foolish racket to a minimum, will you?" Hiei snapped after being woken from a rather nice catnap.

"WE DID IT, WE DID-"

Hiei's katana was suddenly unsheathed and pointed at them. In response, Ron blinked once and—

Crack!

—Apparated. Backwards.

Hiei blinked once before smiling rather evilly.

"Hn. So you can move backwards. Unimpressive. The noise itself would alert any enemy in the vicinity."

Ron flushed, rather peeved at being made out as childish. Harry looked to Kurama, who was standing in the doorway, watching the showdown calmly, a mysterious smile on his face. Apparently, the red-head knew that Hiei was about to do something, and although Harry didn't exactly think that it was going to be good, Suichi appeared to be… enjoying the spectacle, actually.

Hiei stood perfectly still and then-

"Bloody HELL!"

-blurred, coming to stand right before Ron's eyes, right before he blurred again, and again, and again, each time appearing in a new place.

"Much more efficient," Kurama commented, his eyes laughing.


Author's Notes: Bobbyyyyy! Ano? You've been talking to Kazuya again, haven't you?! There are so many evil little foreshadowings, you know! Hey, for your information, HE was the one talking to ME! But in any case, if you want to know who the Dreamer was, you'll have to keep reading this. It was OBVIOUSLY not Harry… or was it?

—There's a debate about what Hermione's age really is. From what I understand, it's like, "Was Hermione 10 when she first got her Hogwarts letter and she turned 11 that September, or was she 11 when she got her letter (like Harry technically was) and turned 12 in September?" For the sake of my sanity, I'm just going to use the first one because it's the one that I chose when doing eenie-meenie-miney-mo.

—I'm sooooo sorry that I updated so late! Right after posting up chapter 2, I went to Best Buy and got Born Anew on DVD… And then I had to do some major work on this chapter. If some of the stuff that I wrote in the past chapters doesn't correspond with the conclusion of the Chapter Black Saga, then PLEASE TELL ME and I'll come up with an excuse for it. (Spoilers ahead!) I already know that Yana and Yuu and Asato are forbidden to use their psychic powers ever again by Genkai, and that's one of the parts where I went, "HOLY SHIT!" and scrambled to my laptop and fixed in future chapters (not that I actually have any…). But: If there's something else, TELL ME, DAMMIT!

—This was the last Grimmauld Place chapter, I SWEAR. Sorry I had to drag it out so long… Sorry I couldn't update sooner, too. I just couldn't decide about the whole Head Boy/Girl issue… And I'm still thinking about it. I just had the distinct urge not to give Hermione or Harry The Badge, but then, just as I was about to post up the chapter, I changed my mind and gave it to Hermione… sue me. NO, I'M JUST KIDDING! Don't sue! Pleeeease!

And, em… review? Next time we won't ask so friggin' nicely. We'll--::gags Bobby::