Chapter Nine
Harry let out a choked gasp as he was pulled into a hug by Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh, Harry! I'm so glad you're alright!" she sobbed, squeezing him harder. From over her shoulder, the occupants in the room could see Harry's face turning blue from lack of oxygen.
"Molly, perhaps you should let him go; he's probably tired and…" Mr. Weasley began, only to have Mrs. Weasley interrupt him.
"Oh, yes! That's right!" she exclaimed. "You need rest. Having Death Eaters attack at two in the morning must be taxing, and…"
"…Can I just please use the bathroom already!" Harry cried.
At that moment, Yusuke and Kurama entered. Mrs. Weasley let out a cry of relief, seeing that 'Ron' and 'Hermione' were alright. Seeing this as an excellent diversionary tactic, Harry slipped away unnoticed to the bathroom.
However, this happy atmosphere didn't stay for long. When Hiei entered, wands were pointed at him. Snape followed. This hardly did anything to alleviate the now hostile atmosphere.
The kitchen door opening, and the Headmaster and Draco entering, did help ease some of the tension in air though (not Draco so much).
Draco let out a tiny little gasp when he saw Hiei. "That's him Professor! The one at the meeting who started killing the Death Eaters!" Draco told the Headmaster. He conveyed the image of a little child tugging on a mother's sleeve (1).
"Why did you attack the Death Eaters?" Dumbledore questioned Hiei. In his mind, Hiei could join the Order and help to rid the world of Voldemort all together.
"Would the fact that they are stupid obnoxious bastards satisfy you?" Hiei answered back.
"Mr. Malfoy told me about you. You're a demon, so why would you involve yourself with the affairs of humans?" Dumbledore pressed on, seemingly not the least bit daunted by Hiei's personality.
"What does it matter to you?" Hiei snapped. "With the way you wordered your previous sentence, you placed demons at a higher rank than humans. Since you are a human, why should I, a demon, and therefore a superior being to yourself, have to answer your questions?"
The sound of a toilet flushing from upstairs, and the yelp that accompanied it, slightly offset the serious mood. The water that began dripping through the ceiling definitely ruined the serious atmosphere.
………………..
"Alright, so, where are you going to be living for the rest of the year?" Kuwabara asked Hermione and Ron.
"…We thought you would help us find a place to stay," Hermione said, looking at Ron for confirmation.
"Yeah, Koenma did say that you'd figure that out."
"I don't see why he can't find you a magical hotel or something. I mean, he is Koenma, he could just…do something," Kuwabara finished lamely. He didn't know what Koenma was allowed to do without his father's permission.
"I know; we said that too," Hermione sighed irritably. "Then he just said that, as the substitute Spirit Detective, it's your job to take care of this."
"Reminded me of Ferret face," Ron added thoughtfully.
Kuwabara stared at him blankly.
"You don't want to know," Hermione said to Kuwabara. Turning around, she addressed Ron, "What have I told you about maturity and House relations?"
Ron glared at her. "What? Going to make a S.P.E.W. for the Houses now too! What are you going to call it? Slytherin-Prats-Exclude-Wankers? God only knows where Malfoy would go if that was formed."
Hermione sniffed. She didn't dignify that statement with a response.
"Okay, now I know that I don't want to know."
…………………
…..What occurred in the bathroom…..
Harry entered the bathroom, intent on doing what any teenage boy would normally do in bathrooms (take that anyway you'd like). Therefore, the sight that met his eyes didn't quite fit the 'normally' in the above sentence. You don't normally meet random strangers who wore yellow hoodies (2) in the bathroom of a private residence.
Harry quickly looked around for a fire place. There wasn't any.
"So, what are you doing here?" he asked, nervously. "And how did you get here?"
There was no response. The boy took out a pocket knife, and instead of attacking Harry with it, cut himself.
"….Can you go and be suicidal in your own home?"
There was no response to Harry's statement.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Harry asked anxiously. The stranger, who were all know now was Seaman (if the yellow hoodie hadn't given it away) dripped the blood into the toilet bowl. A monster rose out of it, breaking apart the toilet, and flooding the bathroom with a few inches of water.
"He-" Harry's cry for help was cut off. The monster had encased him within a watery dimension. Seaman grabbed hold of his monster, and took out a Portkey. He disappeared as the people within the building entered the bathroom.
…………….
Seaman reappeared in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor. Peter Pettigrew was waiting for him.
"Our Lord has been awaiting for your arrival," Pettigrew said. He didn't wait for a response, he just started walking.
…………….
"Well, this is nice," Yusuke said sarcastically. "A couple more inches, and we can charge admission for the world's most unsanitary kiddy pool."
"Harry was just kidnapped, and all you can do is joke!" Mrs. Weasley screeched. Mr. Weasley looked at him in disapproval.
Yusuke looked down. "Sorry," he said, trying to make it sound heartfelt and sorrowful, "I'm just trying to deal with the shock."
They seemed to buy it. That is until Dumbledore spoke up.
"It's alright, you don't have to pretend anymore. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley informed the Order the moment that your letter arrived."
"Alright Kurama, you heard the man," Yusuke spoke up, "let's change back. This is reversible, right?" the last part was addressed to Snape.
"Of course it is," Snape stated, sounding a bit miffed. "Why would I brew something that would need to be reversed and not create an antidote?"
"Because you're a sadistic bastard."
"That happened to be a rhetorical question Mr. Urameshi."
"Excuse me, but I happened to hear the name 'Kurama' mentioned earlier. Is he perhaps playing the part of Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore interjected.
Snape looked smug. "Here are the antidotes," he said, holding them out to an angry looking Kurama.
………………
The day had been spent looking around the city searching for a place to rent. There seemed to be nothing suitable. Half the places didn't even allow pets.
"Well, there seems to be only one option left," Kuwabara groaned.
"And that would be…?" Hermione pressured even though there was no real need to.
"Genkai's temple."
"Gee, you make it sound like it's a death trap," Ron commented. "Will it come crashing down around our ears or something?"
"You never know," Kuwabara replied earnestly.
"Do you think that it's actually possible that we could rent part of a temple?" Hermione asked. "And if we do, do we have to begin training in some religion?"
"No, no training in a religion," Kuwabara looked around hoping for an escape. Hermione had come uncomfortably close to the truth. Those who went to Genkai's compound almost always ended up learning something.
"Well then, let's go!" Ron said happily. "Will there be food there?"
Hermione hit him.
"Joking!"
A/N: Yes, it's short, and yes, I haven't updated in a long while. School took an unexpected turn for the worst. This week (and maybe next week) is tech week. That basically means that all the people in the school play are going to be in school for 16 hrs a day, all school week. It sucks. I'll probably work on pieces of paper (library is closed after 5 PM usually). I lost the piece of paper for this chapter, and ended up with a completely different chapter, and all this other stuff. And now I'm ranting.
1. That's actually pretty disturbing. Dumbledore as a mother…
2. Did I spell that correctly?
kit-kit: Lucius is as dead as a…yeah, he's dead. Draco might or might not take that well. I guess it really depends on your version of "well".
hyperdude: I don't like to add pairings. I have enough on plate with school and the different mini plots, and making sure there are no plot holes. And there are plenty of plot holes that I'll fix eventually. I just don't have the time to add in more complications.
mistressKC: Thanks!
genny62890: I had to add in a Hiei-killing-large-masses-of-people scene. Anyway, I didn't realize that I messed up in clarification that badly. Uh, well, Shotaro is my OC (kind of), and a completely different entity than Seaman. And you won't find out why Seaman is there until the next chapter, or the next, or the next…
RR!
PPS: This was supposed to be up two days ago, but I accidently posted it on the wrong story, or something. Sorry!