Hmm. . . several people have pointed out that my story doesn't fit with canon. Especially with what happened in the last chapter (I do actually know the ending of HBP despite not having read the book yet). If you want this fic in a timeline then think of it as the summer after fifth year. That's sort of what I was thinking when I wrote it, but I didn't think it really mattered at the time so I never mentioned it (although I do believe they were discussing their OWLs in the first chapter. . .).

And even without reading the book, I realize that my Draco has gotten progressively more OOC as this fic has progressed. Although, it has allowed me to shove him into the backdrop a bit more and let Kagome take centre stage. Plus, I don't Kirara would able to like anyone as nasty as Draco's supposed to be. Meh, at least I've gotten Kagome right.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed: I had 19 reviews in my inbox the morning after posting my fic! I'm blown away, really, I am.

Shavaineth - Yes, that's true: the more human a demon appears, the stronger they are. Which is why the wolves could take such a beating before they were subdued, whereas Kirara was essentially incapacitated by a single killing curse (even if it was incredibly powerful). And even Shippo was in pretty bad shape by the end of the last chapter and he hadn't been fighting for as long as the wolves had. As for Sesshoumaru. . . well, he doesn't really strike me as someone who would go out of his way to help a bunch of humans. Nor do I think he'd get involved in a fight that doesn't concern him. But don't worry, he's not gone for good. He's my favourite character too, after all.

Uplifted - Thanks! I'm glad you like how I'm writing Kagome. I've never seen her as all-powerful: I mean, half the time when she saves the day with her powers it's either by accident or a spur of the moment thing (possibly instinct). As for Tom trying to become a demon. . . I've put some explanations into this chapter. Maybe I'll also put some more Jaken in there just for you!

Fuyu Taki - Er, nope, that was me thinking I was spelling it right. Oops. He he. I have something to fix in the chapter before that too, so I will go back and fix all the "yjaki" to "jyaki." Eventually. Thanks for catching that. Have some fluffy-shaped cookies.

Kaikura - Well, it does take place in England in the 20th century, so there's only so much "Inu Yasha" I can make it. And Sesshy is definitely returning. Inu Yasha. . . well, there's a story there. And you won't hear it 'till the end.

froggiesrcool - No mistakes? Yay! Good to know I can still edit when I put my mind to it. : P I don't think Harry, Ron and Draco's temporary truce was a conscious decision, just the result of fighting the same enemy. The only two people I know who can manage to fight the enemy and themselves are Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru, lol! As for Draco. . . so much has been going on, I don't think that particular reality has had time to sink in yet.

Disclaimer: I sorta own the snake. But that's it. Oh yeah, and the plot. But nothing else.

A Clash of Cultures

Chapter 12 - The Shikigami

Hidden within the Dark Lord's aura and wrapped around his body, was a giant snake.

As Kagome stared at it, it slowly opened its colourless eyes and met hers. An image of Tsubaki's shikigami flashed before her eyes. Except that unlike Tsubaki's snake, this one did not seem all that menacing. If anything, Kagome thought it looked slightly bored.

"Why didn't the Dark Lord use it in battle?" Kagome wondered.

"Why didn't he use what?" Draco asked, making her jump. She took a breath to calm herself.

"The snake in his aura," Kagome answered, "it looks like a shikigami. I guess I could be wrong about that. . ."

"I don't see anything."

Kagome turned to Draco in surprise. He was squinting and his brow was furrowed in concentration as he was trying to see what she was talking about.

"Can you see his aura?" she asked carefully.

"Umm. . . no," he looked at her thoughtfully, "wizarding magic doesn't really use aura reading. I've never been taught how to see them."

Kagome stared at him incredulously.

"I thought auras were important to magic," she said, "how can you tell how strong your opponent is or what kind of magic they use? Or if they are even human?"

"Wait, you can tell what kind of magic a person uses by looking at their aura?"

"Yes, that's how I knew about the mark on your arm: I saw it in your aura."

"Well, that could certainly come in handy." He paused thoughtfully. "I wonder if Dumbledore can read auras? He did seem to notice that I didn't have the Dark Mark anymore. . ."

"Dumbledore?" Kagome thought the name sounded familiar. Suddenly she remembered what the Dark Lord had said when he had appeared a little while ago. "Is that the name of the old man?"

"Yeah, he's the headmaster at Hogwarts. They say he's one of the most powerful wizards in history."

"Oh."

She turned back to look at the Dark Lord and Dumbledore. The old man was slowly getting to his feet.

'He may be powerful, but he's old,' she thought, 'we have to help him. That snake. . .Draco says he can't see it, because he can't read auras. I wonder if Dumbledore can see it?'

This time, it only too her a few moments to find the snake. It was lazily flicking its forked tongue out, watching Dumbledore's every move with those colourless eyes.

Then it turned white and its eyes glowed red as it raised its head so that it was bobbing above the Dark Lord like an avenging angel.

Kagome brought her concentration back to the Dark Lord. He was casting a spell, binding Dumbledore with some kind of magical rope. She could see it winding around the old man, a thin black strand of magic that started by his shoulders and slowly made its way down to his knees. Then it tightened and the old man winced. The Dark Lord chuckled.

All of a sudden, something plopped down on the ground just behind Kagome. She spun around and gasped.

"Shippo!"

The fox demon looked terrible. He was bleeding profusely from a large cut on the side of his head and was covered in scratches. He looked exhausted. Kagome looked lower and saw that he was carrying Ron, who didn't look much better. There was blood streaming down his left leg and he had a slightly dazed expression on his face.

Harry slid off Shippo's back and helped him put the redhead down. The left side of his t-shirt was covered in blood. Kagome hurried to help him as fast as she could with her injured leg. Just looking at them made her realize how tired she herself was.

She quickly shook it off. The Dark Lord had to be stopped before more people died.

"Protect them," Shippo whispered, collapsing the moment Ron was placed on the ground.

"Shippo!" Harry cried. Kagome left Ron and kneeled down beside the fox demon. She felt his pulse and then put an ear to his chest.

"He's alive, just unconscious," she declared with more than a little relief in her voice.

"Good," Ron said softly, "he saved us. Never thought I'd be feeling grateful to a fox."

"Oh Merlin!" Harry suddenly gasped. "Professor Dumbledore! When did this happen!"

"Huh? What is it Harry?"

"About 15 minutes ago," Draco answered, "a bunch of death eaters suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of their duel and crucioed him."

As they all watched, the Dark Lord cursed Dumbledore with another one of the yellow curses. The old man screamed in pain and Kagome could feel fury begin to roll off Harry in waves. If she had looked at him, she would've seen his face set in an expression of deathly serious determination, his eyes boring into the Dark Lord with a force that should've killed any living thing that came within their field of vision. She also would've noticed Draco step away from him nervously.

But she wasn't watching Harry. Instead her mind was completely focused on the snake surrounding the Dark Lord. It was still hovering above the Dark Lord, its gaze fixed on Dumbledore. He seemed ready to strike. But he wasn't striking.

'He's waiting for orders,' Kagome realized, 'so why doesn't the Dark Lord use him?'

"Is it still there?" Draco asked. Kagome nodded with a frown.

"Is what still there?" Ron asked.

"Kagome says she sees a snake around the Dark Lord."

"I don't see anything," Harry said, snapping out of his rage for long enough to be puzzled.

Kagome's frown deepened at that. Then her eyes widened dramatically as a thought hit her.

'What if doesn't know it's there?'

She thought back to Tsubaki. The dark miko's shikigami had almost seemed like an extension of her powers.

Slowly, Kagome reached back into her quiver and took out an arrow.

"Uh, Kagome. . . I don't think you'll be able to kill You-Know-Who that way," Ron said from where he was laying on the ground behind her. She barely heard him. But Harry and Draco did.

"He's right, Kagome, you can't kill him," Harry agreed.

"Oh, and I suppose you're the only one who can, eh Potter?" Draco sneered sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact I am!" Harry turned to yell at the blonde, the force of his anger pushing Draco back another step.

Kagome paid no attention to the boys as she carefully took aim at the snake's head. She lined up the tip of her arrow at a spot directly between the two glowing, red eyes.

She let go of the arrow.

Through the air it sailed, glowing brighter the further it went. But by the time the snake looked up and saw it, it was too late to get out of the way. The arrow pierced the whirlwind of the Dark Lord's aura and was lost in the incorporeal mass of the snake. The fury of the dark aura intensified.

"Damn it! You missed!" Harry exclaimed. And then shook his head and added: "I knew it wouldn't be that easy."

Kagome huffed.

"My arrow went exactly where I had wanted it to go," she said.

Raspy laughter rang through the park and Kagome looked around her, searching for speakers of some kind, or a megaphone. She saw nothing.

"It's a spell," Harry whispered to her.

"Oh."

"My dear Kagome, I didn't think you were foolish enough to stay. How very Gryffindor of you."

Kagome jumped as the Dark Lord's voice boomed through the park. She looked at him and their eyes met. His held amusement and contempt.

"As truly remarkable as you seemed to be, I certainly was not expecting you to be stupid enough to waste your arrows on me. You don't actually think you can kill me with those, do you?"

Kagome's eyes narrowed.

"A simple arrow wouldn't kill me, no matter what magic you added to it. Even if you did learn to shoot it properly."

The minions that surrounded him laughed. Kagome felt her blood reach boiling point.

"There is nothing wrong with my shooting!" Kagome yelled back at him. "Just because you can't see what I'm shooting at, doesn't mean I missed!"

The laughter stopped. Everyone stared at her.

"Pray, do tell: what were you aiming at exactly? The ghost behind me?"

Kagome heard several chuckles. The Dark Lord opened his mouth to say something else, but all that came out was a strangled cry of pain. His eyes widened in surprise as his whole body suddenly started to convulse. Kagome noticed that his aura had slowed down considerably since her arrow had disappeared in it.

A few of the dark sorcerers approached him nervously. The convulsions stopped for a moment. He pointed at Kagome and the boys with a pale, bony hand.

"Kill them," he commanded.

The first few spells that sailed through the air were deflected by Harry and Draco.

"So what in Merlin's name do we do now, Potter?" Draco asked.

"How should I know?"

"Well, you are the expert on getting out of impossible-to-get-out-of situations, aren't you?"

"What is it Malfoy? Scared already? Expelliarmus!" Ron mocked. He had somehow managed to get to his feet and was now awkwardly standing beside Harry, firing curses as fast as he could.

Suddenly a huge ball of youki impacted with the ground just in front of the masked sorcerers. Everyone's eyes few upwards.

Sesshoumaru's dragon opened its mouth and another ball of youki flew towards the sorcerers. The smart ones disappeared before it hit. The not-so-smart ones were divided between those with singed robes, those with singed bones and those who were far enough away from the blast that they weren't affected by it.

Riding atop the dragon, was Jaken. Still staffless he seemed to be yelling agitatedly. However, Kagome wasn't quite sure who he was yelling at, because he was too high up for anyone to hear him.

When the smart sorcerers reappeared again, they immediately began throwing curses at the dragon. Unlike Kirara though, the dragon didn't even bother trying to avoid getting hit. Its tough scales took in all the curses as if they were nothing. They even deflected a few.

However, then a well-aimed curse struck Jaken. With a cry of surprise, the small demon fell to the ground below, landing with a plop.

The dragon spit two more youki balls and then flew off.

A fairly large group of masked sorcerers began to surround the spot where Jaken lay spread-eagle on the ground. He wasn't moving.

One of the sorcerers fired an experimental curse at him, hitting the side of his leg. Jaken jumped off the ground with a yelp and turned his head frantically in all directions. He looked absolutely terrified.

"Oh look, now that he doesn't have his stick or his dragon anymore, he's quite harmless," taunted one of the sorcerers.

"Hey, let's have some fun," sneered another.

"No. We don't have time for that." A third one raised his magic stick and pointed it at Jaken.

Green light flashed through the air.

Wow, that's the second chapter I've ended with green light. Hmm. Oh, well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!

Author's note:

Shikigami - I hope I've done a good job of describing what this is within the body of the story, but just in case I haven't. . . From what I can gather, the closest English definition would be a familiar. Except that it's created by your own magic. I gave the example of Tsubaki's snake, but the two girls that accompany Kikyo in later episodes of the anime are also shikigami. I'm kinda figuring that having a shikigami would mean that you're pretty powerful. But that's just a guess.