Okay, I admit, I have slacked off a bit on updates. sigh Thank you for the reviews, especially hieibandit and Shadowcat241. Thoughts of discontinuing this fic crossed my mind, but rereading the reviews and then rereading my previous chapters have convinced me that this is one of my best works so far, and therefore deserves to be continued.
Also, I have already started writing a YYH/LOTR fic. For those of you who happen to be LOTR fans, tell me what you think of this idea, alright?
IMPORTANT NOTE: Reader responses will, starting from this chapter, be posted on my profile, as they seem to be taking up too much space in my actual story.
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Demonic GuardiansCh. IV: Rumors of the Forest
Dawn found Kurama already awake and sitting in the Ravenclaw Commons Room. Sitting on his lap was a copy of the sixth years' Herbology textbook, a green leather-bound tome titled The Complete Guide to Rare Magical Plants. He had been immersed in it for nearly an hour. Of course, he was well acquainted with most of the species listed in the book, but still found it fascinating to read about it from a wizard's point of view. It also came as a mild surprise that one or two of the common Makai plants were mentioned briefly throughout the book. I wonder how humans came upon them?
"It's a bit early to be up, don't you think?"
Kurama gave no sign that he was startled, although he hadn't seen or heard anyone else in the room. On reflex, he reached up into his hair and located a single rose seed. He looked up just in time to see a pearly translucent figure glide through the wall.
Standing – no, hovering – in front of him was the pale, silvery likeness of a woman. She looked somewhere in her late-twenties, and was unusually tall for a woman. Everything about her – the shoulder-length hair, eyes, clothes, skin – were varying shades of silvery white.
There had been several ghosts at the feast last night, but Kurama did not remember seeing this one. She was smiling brightly at him, as though not noticing the eerily expressionless look on his face.
"Reading your textbook already?" she asked cheerily, glancing down at the book in his hands. "No wonder the Hat sorted you into Ravenclaw. It was my old House, you know." She glided over and sat down in the armchair beside his.
Kurama relaxed and withdrew his hand from his hair. "Good morning," he said, closing the herbology book. "I find it fascinating."
The ghost ran transparent fingers over the cover of the book. "Ah, I remember this," she said wistfully. "I studied this book when I was in sixth year." At Kurama's inquiring glance, she laughed. "Yes, I went to this school once, a long time ago it seems. Hogwarts was my home for seven years before I graduated and became an Auror."
Her bubbly voice reminded Kurama of Botan.
"I'm Shuichi Minamino."
The ghost looked at Kurama with silver-grey eyes. "My name is Rosalinde." She looked up as sounds of the awakening Ravenclaws came from upstairs. "Ah well, I'll see you down at breakfast, Shuichi."
Kurama watched her phase through the wall just as the Commons Room began to fill with yawning students. He noticed a group of girls giving him looks he was all too well acquainted with, and decided to follow the ghost's example of leaving the Ravenclaw Commons.
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When Kurama entered Great Hall, he found it nearly empty, save for a solitary black-robed figure sitting the far corner.
"Hiei."
The fire demon acknowledged him with a curt 'Hn' before stating shortly, "The humans here are intolerable."
Kurama sighed. "Just don't kill anyone, Hiei."
Hiei scoffed. "As if I would waste my energy on them." He drew out a long thin piece of wood and glared at it. "Channeling their energy through such flimsy tools. Pathetic."
"Don't burn those yet; we need them," said Kurama when Hiei looked about ready to destroy his wand. "Even if they are…ah…fakes," he added as an afterthought.
-----Flashback------
"You first, Hiei," said Botan cheerily, her tone a stark contrast to the gloomy interior of Ollivander's wand shop. It was a week before the scheduled trip to the London train station, and Botan had been sent to accompany the Spirit Detectives as they bought their supplies in Diagon Alley.
Hiei glared at the ferry girl, but obliged. As he stepped up, the old wand-maker selected a long thin box from the top of a huge column of boxes and opened it.
Hiei reached in and pulled out a wand, eleven inches, rigid, unicorn hair.
"Go on, give it a wave."
The fire demon flashed Ollivander an irritated glare and waved the wand quickly.
Instantaneously, the shop windows shattered and several columns of boxes collapsed.
Botan gave a surprised gasp, but Ollivander took it all in stride, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. He surveyed the damage done, before turning back to Hiei.
"Oh dear…"
The wand was smoking a faint purple-black color, accompanied with a faint sizzling sound as the smoke intensified.
Botan and the other three detectives watched on anxiously. Ollivander snatched the wand and dropped it again with a cry. It clattered to the floor, glowing faintly like the embers of a dying fire. Then, without warning, it erupted into flames. Within seconds the wand was reduced into a smoking pile of ashes.
"Most peculiar," muttered Ollivander with a faint frown. He cleaned up the mess with a quick swish of his wand and took out another for Hiei to test.
"Nine and a half inches, phoenix tail feather."
Hiei looked at it skeptically, but nonetheless gave it a half-hearted wave. This time the wand spontaneously combusted in his hand. Ollivander had his wand ready and a jet of water doused the flames, but the wand in question was already damaged beyond repair.
Brow furrowed, the white haired man performed a banishing spell and the ruined wand flew into a wastebasket in the corner.
"Excuse me for a moment…" He shuffled out of sight towards the back of the shop.
They could hear him rummaging through boxes and several minutes later, Ollivander reappeared holding a wand with unusually dark, almost black, wood.
"Twelve inches, dragon heartstring," he murmured, handing it to Hiei. "A very powerful wand, this one is. Try it."
Hiei glared, and waved it. Not long after, thin tendrils of smoke rose from the wand. Ollivander accio'd it and inspected it for damage.
Ollivander fixed Hiei with a strange, almost calculating look, which the fire demon met with a cold glare. "Tricky customer, eh?" he said wryly.
"Oh…well, why don't you try the others first?" suggested Botan.
And he did. One by one the Detectives tested out wands, all of which ended up burnt, shattered, or destroyed by some other means. Finally, Botan bowed apologetically and reached for the money pouch.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir. Here, I'll replace those – "
She all but shoved the coins into his hands and ushered the Tantei out.
"What happened?" asked Kuwabara once they were outside.
A moment of silence, then…
"Those wands weren't made for people with energy levels as high as ours," said Kurama thoughtfully. "I suppose it makes sense then, that trying to channel too much energy would cause them to…overheat."
"What now? How are we supposed to pass as students if we don't have wands?"
"Koenma did predict we would run into problems," said Botan. "That's why he signed you up for mostly wandless classes."
Kurama took the course list from his pocket. "Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies…" he read aloud. "You do realize that even if the classes we have don't necessarily require wands, it will still be highly suspicious if we do not have them."
"Yes, I know that," said Botan dejectedly. "If you can't use real ones, I suppose we'll have to replace them with something fake, just for show…"
-----End Flashback------
"It won't take long before Dumbledore figures it out. He doesn't strike me as a fool."
"Hn."
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When Harry woke up that morning, it was to the sounds of two unfamiliar voices conversing none too softly on the other side of his curtains. The boy wizard moaned and rolled over on his stomach, smothering his ears with a pillow. Even so, he could still hear them speaking quite clearly.
"Oy, Kuwabara, toss me that shoe, will ya?" The first voice was had a cocky, flippant tone, with an unmistakable arrogant swagger to it.
There was dull thump sound and then a "Thanks."
There was a brief moment of silence, in which Harry tried to fall asleep again, but all hopes were dashed as the second voice said,
"The shrimp's probably up already." This voice was lower, and rougher than the first.
Shrimp? Who was that?
"Kurama too, I'll bet. Well, let's not keep them waiting."
Kurama? Harry found himself listening, albeit unintentionally.
"Oh, and don't forget your stick."
"Wand?"
"Yeah, that."
This was followed by some rustling, and Harry heard footsteps leading away. The dormitories were silent once more, but Harry was already wide awake by then. He sat up in bed and stretched, pulling the curtains open in time to catch a glimpse of two boys – one raven-haired and the taller one with orange hair – disappear through the door.
He recognized them vaguely as the two Japanese transfers sorted into Gryffindor last night. What were their names? Harry wondered vaguely as he stood up and reached for the glasses at his bedside. Oh yeah, Yusuke and Kazuma.
"'Mornin' Harry," mumbled someone behind him.
Harry turned to see Ron's head poking out from between his bed drapes. "Oh, hullo Ron."
Ron acknowledged this with a sleepy nod and stepped out, yawning. He took a few steps and suddenly slipped. Instinctively, he reached out to break his fall and his flailing arm slammed into a water pitcher on the window sill. The pitcher shattered with a loud crash and both boys winced.
"Keep it down, it's Sunday morning," came an irritated voice behind the curtains of the bed closest to the door.
"Sorry, Dean," said Harry as he walked over to help Ron up.
An incoherent moan was his only answer.
"What's this?" Ron held up a small glass ball that fit comfortably in the palm of his hand. Its interior was filled with a smoky purple-black vapor. "I must have stepped on it."
"Well, you were walking half-asleep," was Harry's bemused reply before he cleaned up the mess with a wave of his wand. He took it out of Ron's hand for a better look. "I think this is Seamus'."
"What about me?" A sandy-haired boy emerged from a tangle of blankets.
"Is this yours?" asked Harry, holding out the round object.
Seamus reached over and took it. "Ah yes." He held it and studied it for a while, brow furrowed slightly.
"What?"
"Nothing," said Seamus lightly. "My uncle bought this for me ages ago – he's a Auror – said he got it at some run down old store selling antique magical items."
"So what is it?"
"It's called a Demon Detector, works a bit like Neville's Rememberall. Supposedly, when it turned purple, it means there's demonic energies nearby."
"Demons – ?"
Seamus shot Ron a small smile. "Don't worry, this thing doesn't really work. Even Uncle says it's useless. Said something about it being purple the whole time he toured Japan a few summers ago."
"Besides, Professor Binns told us in fifth year that demons don't exist anymore."
Ron gave Harry an incredulous look. "You actually learned something in that class?"
Harry frowned. "It was in a chapter on the histories of extinct magical races, don't you remember?"
"I think Hermione's rubbing off on you, mate," said Ron, shaking him head in mock-disappointment.
"Hey – !"
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Deep in the heart of the Forbidden Forest, the light of the rising sun did not penetrate the thick foliage of the canopy.
The forest's inhabitants were roused. Something was coming to pass, something that the wizarding world had not seen the likes of for several millennia...
"I have read it in the stars, Ronan."
The broad-shouldered auburn centaur did not turn to regard the speaker. "This I know, Magorian. The message written in the heavens have not changed for many nights now."
A second centaur walked to his side. "The entire forest whispers of it."
"Demons in our midst," said Ronan in an almost inaudible murmur. "What brings demons back to the human world after so long?"
Magorian did not answer for a moment. "The spiders rumor of three demons living in the castle."
"The school?" Ronan snapped around to face Magorian. "What interest would demons have in that school?" Silence. He sighed. "The Potter boy. He draws enemies from all sides."
"Not all demons are creatures of evil."
"Then let us hope that these are not like the ones that have joined the Dark Lord's forces."
"Yes, let us hope indeed."
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I hope that was an interesting chapter. Please don't ask about the OC ghost introduced at the beginning. No she is not just a random OC I slipped in, she's important. She's also named after my wonderful muse, Aria-chan.