Title: Flawed
Rating: PG-13, which would make it T by the site's new rating system.
Summary: Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...
Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Yu Yu Hakusho.
Pairings: none
Warnings: Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.
A/N: Sorry for the late update. I've been out of town and busy working. Plus, it's hard to write Snape and Malfoy!
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)) Chapter Four: In London ((
Headmaster Dumbledore,
My student and successor, Urameshi Yuusuke, has managed to attract a sizeable amount trouble to himself. Wizards that I and others suspect to be affiliated with Death Eaters have targeted him as someone of interest to Voldemort.
Through my correspondence with your brother Aberforth, I have learned of your school and your many stands against Voldemort and his followers. While he knows nothing of Western magic and less than that about actually using it, Yuusuke is surprisingly skilled in the various Eastern forms of wandless energy manipulation and is one of the few people in the world that could be considered an expert on demonkind. He would make an able, if different, addition to your staff or, if nothing else, a formidable watchdog for your school.
Despite his headstrong nature, quick temper, and immaturity, Yuusuke is a strong boy with unique abilities. If you can put up with him long enough, I'm sure you'll find something useful for him to do.
-Genkai
PS- If he gives you any trouble, tell him I said behave or I'll make Sensui seem like a spring breeze compared to what he can expect when I see him again.
Severus Snape scanned the letter one more time. "I can't decide whether this 'Genkai' person thinks the boy a fantastically skilled student or a bloody useless incompetent."
Seated in the warm comfort of his office, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, smiled in amusement. "From what Aberforth tells me, Genkai is a formidable woman. If she took the boy on as her apprentice, she must have seen some worth in him." The twinkle dimmed somewhat. "And if Voldemort--" Severus hid a small flinch. "--has such a great interest in the boy, then there must be something very extraordinary about him."
"This," Severus indicated the letter. "says that the boy is 'an expert on demonkind.' The Dark Lord has been preoccupied of late with researching the darker creatures of the lower planes. I suspect he might be seeking a way to build an army to bolster his Death Eaters."
"All the more reason to ensure that Urameshi is safe and out of Voldemort's hands."
"And he's coming here?"
"In a few hours, in fact. He should be arriving at the Ministry around ten o'clock this morning."
Severus raised an inquiring eyebrow. "A Japanese non-wizard wandering around the English Ministry of Magic. What poor fool did you enlist to babysit for you this time?"
Albus smiled benignly and plucked a sherbert lemon from the small dish upon his desk, placing the sweet in his mouth. His eyes twinkled brightly as he replied. "Now, Severus, you have been asking for an assignment away from the castle..."
The younger man's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Oh, no. No, you don't. There's no way I'm going to spend part of my summer playing tour guide for some foreigner who hasn't even touched a wand!"
"Severus, that's hardly fair," the headmaster chided gently. "Take Draco with you for company; he's been as restless as you lately, and I believe he's had lessons in various languages. You can even stop by Diagon Alley and visit the apothecary for those potions ingredients you were needing if you like."
"Don't try to manipulate me into this!"
"Manipulate? Severus, really, I'm merely asking a favor. The boy is in danger from Voldemort, and you are one of the best duelists on staff. Neither Filius nor I can be spared from renewing the school wards, and I wouldn't trust anyone else with this."
"I refuse," stated the Potions Master firmly, glaring. "I will not. There is no way in heaven, earth, or hell that I am going to let you guilt trip me into turning bodyguard for yet another spoiled, arrogant brat!"
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Severus glanced up at the hideously ornate clock tower set at the center of the Ministry of Magic's atrium. The garish monument, orbited by golden stars trailing multicolored sparks, had taken the place of the shudder-inducing golden statues that had resided in the Ministry fountain prior to the Dark Lord's attempt upon the Department of Mysteries several years past. The timepiece read fifty minutes past nine.
"Why do you even bother arguing any more?" queried his companion dryly, sounding far too amused for Snape's tastes. "That old man has you pegged. Give him five minutes and he'd talk you into dating Trelawney."
"It's the principle of the thing," he replied darkly. "And never mention that crazed woman in my presence."
"Oh, come on. I thought it was really funny when she tried to Palm-Read you last week during lunch. I never would have guessed that your fate was one of 'frightful hardships, battling the darkness clinging to your life'. Honestly. Who could see that coming?" The younger man's grey eyes glittered with amusement, though he maintained a blankly innocent expression through sheer force of will.
"She should have foreseen the Paranoia Potion in her tea, then, shouldn't she?"
"One of your better ideas, I have to admit. I never thought it would work so well. Really. Trelawney, on vacation?"
Severus smirked. "My lifelong dream."
The floo fireplaces were surprisingly uncrowded today, witches and wizards appearing only every five to ten minutes, and Severus supposed that it was because it was so late in the morning; travel would probably pick up in the afternoon. Thus, when one of the arrival fireplaces flared green, his attention was drawn to it immediately, just in time to see a strangely dressed, dark-haired individual pitch face-first out of the flames.
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There was no way to judge time's passing inside the sickening whirlwind of green flames, and Yuusuke soon gave up on trying at all. He had left the Japanese Ministry of Stick-Bearing-Miscreants at sometime near six in the evening, and he reminded himself that he would need to check how much time had passed once he arrived in England.
If he ever arrived. If he survived the Carnival Ride from Hell.
Blurred images whipped past, veiled by tongues of green flame, and it took a few long minutes before he realized, past the dizzy swirling of his thoughts, that he was looking out of fireplaces. His demonic sight allowed him to catch a few half-formed scenes: an old woman with a cat, a child on a rug, a man reading a newspaper. At first, the scenes had swirled past too quickly for him to make out more than basic shapes, but then it seemed as though the maelstrom of flame was slowing.
And he was hurled out of green fire into bright white light, his nose on a crash course for a gleaming expanse of dark, hardwood floor.
One arm shot out in front of him to break his momentum. His palm slapped hard against the cold floor, his chin tucking against his chest, and his shoulders struck the ground hard as he executed a tight somersault, his momentum rolling him forward and upward into a one-knee kneel. Almost as an afterthought, he reached out with his other hand to steady himself against the floor as he waited for the world to stop spinning.
"Whoa..."
There were reiki signatures all around, most of them distant enough so that he was not immediately on his guard, but two were nearer than the others and drawing closer. He clenched his eyes shut, shook his head in an ineffective bid to regain his equilibrium, and forced himself to rise to his feet naturally, swearing that he would never again agree to such a hellish way of travel. He would much rather call Puu from the Makai and hitch an international flight home on the back of the giant blue phoenix. (1)
The two reiki signatures belonged to two men, each as different as night from day. One was nearly a head taller than Yuusuke, clad in worn black robes, with long, black hair that was stringy with grease, paper-pale skin, and a nose that put Puu's beak to shame. The second was younger, nearly equal in height with Yuusuke, with shoulder-length hair so blond it was nearly white and grey eyes that reminded Yuusuke of Youko Kurama's eyes: cool, calculating, and always amused at a private joke to which no one else was privy.
Well, he was definitely in a place frequented by wizards. Now, were these the right wizards?
"Albus Dumbledore?" he asked cautiously. It came out as Arubus Dumburu-dor, but hopefully one of the pair would get the gist.
The taller man sneered and spouted off a string of meaningless syllables. Yuusuke caught the words 'damn', 'Albus' and 'English' and promptly lost hope for any semblance of a comprehensible conversation.
Surprisingly enough, the younger man stepped forward, dipping his head in a sort of half-bow.
"Boku no namae wa Maru-foi Dureiko desu. Douzo yoroshiku."
Yuusuke blinked and returned the bow. He certainly had not been expecting that.
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Draco Malfoy bit back a satisfied smirk. It was such a good feeling when he was able to get the drop on Severus. It did not happen nearly often enough, and the dumbfounded expression on the older man's face was more than worth the annoyance of acting as the translator for this outing.
Of course, anything was better than being cooped up in the castle for the rest of the summer. With Voldemort's increased activity in the past months, Dumbledore had forbade any of the castle residents from going on solitary outings.
There was also the bonus that the stranger had aroused Draco's curiosity. After Severus' explanation that this Urameshi person had never used a wand yet was skilled in something called 'wandless energy manipulation', Draco was intrigued, wondering what the Headmaster's plans were regarding him.
The foreigner seemed just as surprised as Severus at Draco's greeting, if not more so, but he hid it quickly, introducing himself. "Urameshi Yuusuke. I'm pleased to meet you, Malfoy-san
"Call me Draco. I'm one of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors." Draco glanced sidelong at Severus, who seemed put-out that he could not understand the conversation. "This is Severus Snape, the Potions professor. We were sent to pick you up. Severus, stop glaring. You look like you're about to hex him."
The older man's glare lessened by a single increment (becoming his I-Would-Rather-Be-Anywhere-Else-But-Here-And-I'll-Make-Sure-Everyone-Knows-It Glare instead of his I-Feel-Like-Hurting-Something-Right-Now-And-You-Make-A-Very-Tempting-Target Glare). "I was unaware that you were bilingual," he admitted grudgingly, which was as close as he would get to asking outright how exactly Draco was fluent in Japanese.
"I'm a Malfoy," replied Draco easily. "I was taught how to make polite small-talk in nearly seven languages by the time I was eight."
"Well, stop wasting my time with small talk, and let's go. I have better things to do than stand around while you chat it up with the latest scruffy addition to the Hogwarts menagerie."
The Japanese man's gaze flicked between Draco and the Potion's Master, his eyes narrowed slightly. Draco noticed the odd color of the man's irises, an interesting shade of brown that could be mistaken for a dark red. Add that to his soot-stained robes (What sort of clothes were those? Draco certainly was not familiar with the cut.) and his almost ridiculously long hair, long bands hanging messily around his face, and he supposed that Severus was somewhat justified in describing the other as 'scruffy.'
Of course, the stranger's unexpected display of agility and reflexes upon exiting the floo had also identified him as a fighter of some sort. Any other wizard Draco knew would have cracked their skull open had they exited the floo in such a manner.
"Don't mind him," said Draco, waving dismissively at the still-scowling Potions Master. "I don't think he has any expression in his repertiore that isn't based on a scowl."
"Reminds me of a friend of mine." Urameshi smirked. "Does he grunt instead of answering questions?"
"Yes."
"I feel at home already."
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While he hardly felt safe enough to relax (Nearly every person he saw had one of those damned sticks in their hand!), Yuusuke managed to unwind somewhat as he followed the two men to the other side of the huge room... until he realized that they were heading straight for another fireplace, one of many lining the walls of the room.
Surely not...
"Where are we going?" he asked the blond man... Draco, he reminded himself.
The other glanced over at him. "Severus has some errands to run in Diagon Alley... it's a place in wizarding London... and then we're to drop you off at a safehouse until the school wards are renewed thoroughly."
"We're going through the fireplace?" The apprehensive ...again? hung on the end of the query so obviously that the blond wizard caught it easily and could not help but chuckle.
"Yes. Didn't you enjoy it? Most wizards consider it a popular pastime, hopping back and forth between places just to experience the floo."
Yuusuke wondered if he looked as green as he felt. "You're joking."
"I am." Draco was smirking openly, clearly amused. "Floo is a hellish way to travel, but you get used to it. Eventually."
"I don't believe you."
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Severus stepped from the floo into the dingy interior of the Leaky Cauldron with his usual deliberate ease. He had gone years without face-planting upon exiting the floo, and he was not in any hurry to have that change, thank you very much. The various patrons of the bar glanced up in idle curiosity, and the bartender Tom spared him a nod and polite smile, neither of which were returned.
The fireplace flared again, and the foreigner Urameshi exited with slightly more grace than his last attempt, looking somewhat dazed and drawing no small amount of attention by his clothing and general appearance. Another moment, and Draco stepped out of the flames with all the poise and dignity that came with being raised a Malfoy.
Severus strode for the back exit of the Leaky Cauldron without a backwards glance. He could not wait to rid himself of the strange boy with the knee-length hair and garnet eyes, and if it meant rushing his visit to the apothecary, then so be it.
Soft footsteps followed behind him as he entered the back alley that led into Diagon Alley. Draco was conversing with Urameshi in small spurts of incomprehensible gibberish that grated on Severus' nerves, especially when he could occasionally catch his own name amongst the other sounds.
No wonder Albus had insisted he bring the younger man along. Severus sometimes wondered whether Albus had the blood of a True Seer in his veins; it would certainly explain how the old man always seemed to know everything.
The Potions Master drew his wand from where it was concealed in a sheath on his forearm and rapped the tip impatiently against the correct brick. The wall went through it's normal show of bricks folding and flipping out of the way, and he took the chance to resheath his wand, glaring at the delay. The bricks at last fell into place, and the newly-formed archway seemed to exude an air of pride at its accomplishment.
"Bloody showoff," he groused, striding forward.
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When Genkai had told him that the oddities at the Japanese Ministry of Magic were 'the least of what's ahead', he had not really taken her words to heart. Now, though, Yuusuke was realizing just how right the old martial artist had been.
People clad in robes bustled back and forth across the wide roadway stretching before him. Voices were raised in a cacophony that he was not certain he would be able to understand even if he was fluent in English. Owls fluttered overhead, letting out shrill cries, some carrying envelopes, others packages, and Yuusuke restrained himself from asking about the phenomenon, telling himself that he would probably find out later whether he wanted to or not. The overwhelming scent of humans lay over everything, along with the smells of animals and food and a faint scent like that of lightning which he was coming to associate with magic. There were wands all over the place, making his instincts sit up and pay close attention, and stalls were set on the sides of the road, selling odd things that Yuusuke was unable to identify, and the Toushin was almost certain that he was better off not knowing.
He followed closely beside Draco and behind Snape, whose mood seemed only to worsen as time wore on.
"This is Diagon Alley?" he asked in an attempt to ignore all of the strange looks that his foreign garb was drawing.
"It is. The wizarding shopping district of London," replied the blond. "Anything magical that money can buy can be found here... or in Knockturn Alley, but I don't suggest you explore there on your own. It can get a bit rough."
"And why are we here now?"
"Severus is a Potions Master, and he needs a few ingredients." Draco's mouth quirked into the smallest of smiles. "It won't take long. He hates crowds with a passion. By the time we get into the shop, he'll probably be passing us on the way back out, ready to leave."
Potions? "What sort of ingredients?"
The blond wizard tilted his head slightly to one side in a sort of shrug. "Probably basic things. Bat livers, veela hair, ivera blood, fox claws..."
Yuusuke resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose. "And you can make things out of that?"
"Of course. It's a very respected profession. Everything from medicines to pranks to poisons. Almost anything you can do with a wand you can do with a potion. Wands are just quicker... and less expensive."
Ahead of them, Snape veered into a small, dark shop that seemed to skulk between its two neighbors. Like a bat coming home to its cave, thought Yuusuke wryly, and followed Draco inside.
Snape had already disappeared into the maze of shelves and their various arrays of bags, bottles, and boxes. Yuusuke took a long minute to examine several clear jars on a nearby shelf, containing small, shriveled things floating in an unidentifiable liquid, and he decided that he really was better off not knowing what the Roman letters on the jar's label said.
"Rabbit testicles," came Draco's voice, sounding darkly amused.
Yuusuke grimaced and stepped away from that shelf, hefting the small pack he bore higher on his shoulder.
Draco smirked at his discomfort and continued. "Most of the cheap fertility potions require them. More expensive ones need the placenta of a newborn griffin, but---"
"Don't make me hurt you."
Yuusuke ignored the wizard's satisfied chuckle and wandered down one of the dimly-lit aisles, scanning the various displays without any real interest. Draco followed behind him, occasionally picking up a jar to have a closer look at the contents.
He was halfway down his third row of shelves when he felt a prickling at the edge of his mind, and he froze in the middle of the aisle, stretching out his senses, searching...
"Yuusuke?"
He turned toward the back of the shop, following the dim spark of youki that lingered on the edge of his awareness, ignoring the puzzled blond wizard following at his heels. What was anything with demonic energy doing in a wizard shop?
Several turns later, he found himself at the back wall of the room, staring into a glass showcase with no small amount of dawning horror.
He could not read the labels, but he could still recognize many of the objects in the case: the hind paw of a kitsune (recognizeable by the sixth claw at the back of the paw, from an immature adolescent by the size), the claw, and part of a toe, from some specie of dragon (razor-sharp on both top and bottom, a feature unique to demon dragons), an eyeball with a scarlet iris and slit pupil (from a cat demon, perhaps?), the distinctive metal feathers of a demon shrike, and a pale, shrivelled hand complete with neatly-trimmed, triangular claws.
Other items were scattered upon the shelves, less easily identifiable. Scraps of skin and tufts of hair. Claws. Teeth. Scales and feathers. Bones and skulls. The entire display was lit from within, like some sickening trophy case.
A strange voice rasped something from far to his left, and he glanced up to see a bent old man, his hair a messy halo of grey strands, limping toward him, dark eyes weighing him.
"He's asking whether your interested in any of the items," translated Draco. Yuusuke glanced back at the morbid display, and his eyes followed his senses' guidance to one of the back corners of a lower shelf, to a small fold of dark cloth, upon which rested a small, smooth object that might have been mistaken for an oblong, grey stone.
Not by Yuusuke, though. Not by someone who could sense the waning spark of youki still residing in the small egg.
"That," said Yuusuke, his voice sounding odd in his own ears. "What sort of egg is that?"
Draco rattled off a long string of gibberish, and the old man snickered, showing stained teeth as he replied.
"He says that case holds all of his rarest ingredients. All of his demonic ingredients." Draco sounded dubious. "He's had that egg for years. It's from something called a heeriyu, a flying serpent of some kind."
"A hiryuu," murmured Yuusuke. In the Makai, they were called Wind Snakes, near-immortal serpents with feathery wings and one hell of a mean bite. They were little more than imp-class creatures, weaker than E-class, but they defended what they considered to be theirs with a fierceness that left higher level demons leery of them. "How much for it?"
When Draco translated this time, the old man laughed outright and barked something. Draco looked impressed.
"More money than you have on you, I'm sure," replied the blond wizard. "It isn't that important, is it? It's probably gone far beyond rotten by now."
Yuusuke growled. The thought of leaving an fetal demon alone in the shop to either die or become part of a potion experiment disgusted him. "Hardly," he replied tersely.
"Yuusuke, you could probably buy half the shops in Diagon Alley for what he wants for that egg. Let it go."
"No." Yuusuke remembered Kurama's comment about adding some gems from Yuusuke's hoard to the pack, and Yuusuke swung the small bag off of his shoulder, kneeling on the floor to rummage in the pack. He felt more than saw Snape's arrival behind Draco, and the Toushin ignored the tense conversation that ensued between the two.
There were the three robes, and further down he saw his hairbrush, his toothbrush and toothpaste... another hairband... a pouch of some sort, but not heavy enough to contain any sort of stone... and another pouch, this one heavy with many small, hard objects. He drew it out and undid the drawstring.
Light caught on the pouch's contents, and Yuusuke's eyes widened. Apparently, he and Kurama had different definitions of 'a few gems.' He easily identified a black opal, a demon emerald, a fire-ruby, several diamonds, and at least one demons-eye stone. Smaller stones had settled to the bottom of the pouch, and Yuusuke dug deeper, his suspicions proven right as his fingers closed around a small, chilled stone, drawing it out.
With smug satisfaction, he closed the pouch and replaced it in the pack, closing the larger bag and rising, settling it on his shoulder. Now, if only the shopkeeper was not ignorant about the value of certain stones.
He held up the small jewel between his thumb and forefinger, letting its sleek surface catch the light, winking like a star. Yuusuke was gratified to see the old man's eyes bug in disbelief and hear at least one startled intake of breath behind him.
"I take it he knows what this is."
The shopkeeper rattled off another string of English, and Draco translated, his voice sounding strained. "He's asking whether or not that's a real tear-stone of an ice demon."
Kurama, Yuusuke thought happily, you smug bastard, I really could kiss you right now.
"The old geezer's smarter than I gave him credit for. Tell him he's right. This is a bona fide hiroseki tear-gem from a koorime ice maiden. I'll trade it for the egg."
"For the egg?" asked Draco, sounding as though he had swallowed something wrong. "Do you have any clue how much that gem's worth!"
Yuusuke suppressed a laugh. "I have a very good idea. Go on, ask him."
It seemed, though, that there was no need for Draco to translate, for the shopkeeper was already hobbling toward the case, his wand in hand. A muttered incantation later, and the glass front vanished, allowing the old man to reach in and pull out the egg, the glass reappearing a scant second later.
Yuusuke accepted the egg with a satisfied smirk, placing the tear-gem into the old man's trembling palm. "Nice doing business with you."
The shopkeeper bore an expression similar to that of a child catching his first glimpse of the presents waiting for him beneath the tree on Christmas morning. Turning, Yuusuke saw that Snape and Draco both looked as though they had just swallowed live jellyfish. He cradled the egg in one palm, covering it with his other hand, arching an eyebrow. "You look like you're about to be ill. Come on, aren't you ready to go yet?"
Snape's arms were full of jars and bottles of various sorts, but when he moved stiffly to pay for them, the shopkeeper merely laughed giddily and waved off any payment, his hand still closed tightly around his new acquisition even as he cast a spell that enclosed the ingredients in a bag for easy transportation.
Draco ranted all the way back down Diagon Alley.
"For an egg? What were you thinking? Those bloody stones are one of the rarest gems on Earth, and you gave it up for a stinking, rotten egg?"
Yuusuke rolled his eyes, feeding small, nourishing threads of youki and reiki into the small egg as he walked. "It isn't rotten, baka. Really, I think you and Snape should have snatched up as many ingredients as the old man would let you take while he was so happy with his new prize. Too late now, though."
Draco rolled his eyes heavenward. "Merlin, help me! You just gave up a stone worth nearly all the merchandise in Diagon Alley for a potions ingredient! You're insane!"
Yuusuke sent a cool glance toward the wizard. "I traded a gemstone for a life. Personally, I think I got the better end of the deal."
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)) To Be Continued... ((
(1): Puu... giant blue phoenix: SPOILERS! When Yuusuke is killed (yes, again) and resurrected as a demon, Puu is transformed into a giant blue bird with red eyes, a long yellow-gold tail and a thick mane of black hair down his neck. He looks really awesome. Look it up!
Boku no namae wa Maru-foi Dureiko desu. Douzo yoroshiku. : My name is Malfoy Draco. I'm pleased to meet you.
A/N: Much thanks to everyone who helped me find that long-lost story! I truly appreciate it!
Next time on Flawed ... Well, I'm not really sure what's coming next, so you'll just have to stick around and see!
)) Kurome Shiretsu ((