"Now what am I supposed to do?"
Kurama plucked a deep blue seed from his hair and showed it to Harry. "This," he explained, "is a seed from a plant in Demon World. It normally dies in its flowering stage, so most demons, or humans for this matter, won't find it a threat. But if it happens to grow beyond the flowering stage, it will grow at an alarming rate until it imitates that of a blue cherry blossom tree. In that stage, creatures with weak control over their energy will become drawn to it, and the tree will strip the being of all spiritual or demonic energy, leaving only a small amount of Life Energy left." A devious look was cast on the kitsune's face. "This is one of the reasons I find it quite useful to use as a weapon."
"So I'm supposed to grow a plant?" Harry asked, missing the point of the explanation.
"Kitsune's are especially powerful in controlling plants," Genkai put it simply. "We'll be trying to help you change different plants into different kinds of weapons. Kurama, show the boy."
The seed glowed a dull, light blue color, then transformed into a sword covered in blue vines.
"We don't expect you to do that the first time, you know," she said. "Just try to go for a weapon of your style. Do that, and we'll be done for the day."
"You have Youko's energy," Kurama added, handing another deep blue seed off to Harry, "and you already have determination. This will be an easy task for you."
After twenty minuters of hard effort, Harry Potter successfully created a bow and arrow from the seed.
"Good work kid," said Genkai. "Next lesson we'll need to teach you to use a bow and aim." (Gee, you know, that could actually come in handy)
"I apologize for bringing you into all of this," Kurama said sincerely. "I do think you'll be fine though."
"I'm just glad I know who you really are now," Harry replied. "I don't think I would have been able to believe it if someone other than you had told me."
"Thank you. In that case," the demon pulled out another seed, one that was pure white and looked like a tiny pebble, "I want you to take this. You don't need to do anything special with it, but just promise me you'll keep it near you at all times."
"Sure, but uh... what is it?" asked Harry, examining the small object as if it would possibly be hiding a foreign language in its shell.
"It doesn't have a proper name, but the best way to put it is that it's a Spirit Seed," Kurama answered. "In the next few lessons, I'll have you keep it in a pot near your bedside because it will have begun to grow. The Spirit Seed will feel off of your demonic and spiritual energy, and depending on the structure of your soul, it will grow to become a certain flower. That way, we will be able to see how quickly your powers are progressing."
"Okay," Harry responded. "So, erm, can we go back to the Griffindor dorm room now?"
"Be my guest. I'd love to actually get some peace and quiet for a while," said Genkai. "If only those portraits would shut up."
During breakfast the next morning, everything and everyone seemed to be bursting with excitement. The banners and decorations in the Great Hall had changed to fit the Halloween theme, and students were frantically scurrying to find last-minute dates for the dance. The only thing that seemed out of place at Hogwarts that day, Kurama noticed, was that neither Yusuke nor Kuwabara had written to him for a few weeks. And that latest letter from Hiei simply said-
Read between the lines
Nothing more, nothing less. Kurama was beginning to think that Koenma's suspicions about the team were proving to be correct.
"...taken."
Kurama looked up. "I'm sorry, what?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I said, if we're going to help Ron and Harry find dates to the Halloween dance, we'll need to know who's taken."
"Oh, yes, I suppose that would help. I'm guessing that you have an idea then?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." She pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment from her bag. "I took the liberty of asking a number of girls if they had dates and I wrote them all down on paper."
"Hermione, you're brilliant," Kurama smiled, looking over her shoulder at the list.
"Well, um, thank you," Hermione blushed, then got to business. "Luna Lovegood's up for grabs- not really any surprise there; Ashlee Lizor and Nicole Taylor from Griffindor still haven't found someone yet; there's always Moaning Myrtle, but I'd save that as a last resort if I were you, no one ever bothers to ask her..."
"Any luck?" Harry and Ron arrived to the scene.
"We've got a few ideas," Hermione retorted smoothly. "It'd be wisest to ask a girl from Griffindor, that way you two can meet eachother in the Common Room instead of having to wait for her to show up at the Great Hall entrance."
"Gimme that," Ron said, snatching the list of possible candidates from her. Harry joined him and examined the paper over his shoulder for names.
"Jeez, just about everyone's taken, huh?" Harry exclaimed.
"Sorry, but that's all there is," Hermione apologized.
"No, you did great, Hermione," Harry assured her. "Ron and I just should've found dates earlier, that's all."
"I'll ask Nicole," Ron announced suddenly, pointing entusiastically at the name. "She plays quidditch, so she mustn't be completely dull. You'll have to excuse me." And off he went down the table.
"Go ahead and ask Ashlee," Hermione offered. "I've heard that her parents were Muggles, so you two would be able to talk about things in that area."
"I didn't know that," Harry responded. "Sure, I'll ask her. Thanks a lot you guys, we owe you big time." He too got up from his seat and left.
"Those two owe me a lot more than 'just one'," Hermione said when both figures were out of earshot. "But they're my friends, and they could definetly use the help."
"Same with my friends," Kurama added. Hermione looked up at him strangly, so he continued quickly with, "I mean, it was the same way with my friends in Japan."
Harry and Ron hurried back to the duo together. "She said yes!" they exclaimed blissfully in unision.
Forgetting all about Yusuke and the others,Kuramasetted down with his Griffindor friends, and together they ate their morning meal, excited about the upcoming events just as any other student in the Great Hall.
"As I am sure you are all aware, your N.E.W.T.S. will be coming up near the end of the school year," Professor Snape snarled, "so I expect my students that chose to remain in my class from the previous year to actually attempt at passing this time." He glared at Harry Potter. "Now stand in the back of the room while I pair each of you up."
"Ron's lucky," Harry mumbled. "He decided to drop the class for his sixth year."
"Why didn't you?" Kurama asked back.
"I need to take Potions if I ever want to be an Auror," the boy replied. "I guess that would make sense, but I still don't like it. I'd rather eat dirt than listen to Snape."
"Urameshi, Potter," Snape called. "Granger, Patil; Malfoy, Minamino. Now take your seats! We'll begin the year with learning how to create a repellant for pixies. Your instructions are on the board, so get your ingredients from the storage closet and begin. Those who fail to complete this assignment will write me a report on the damage pixies cause to wizarding homes."
"You heard the man, bookworm," Malfoy sneered. "Get to work." The rest of the class went by uneventfully. Malfoy did little to no work at all, which was just as well because he'd probably have ruined the concoction if he had tried. The fox demon attempted in catching glimces of anything unordinary from Yusuke, but he couldn't find anything. Yusuke was just acting like plain old Yusuke.
"Slytherin, gotta hate 'em," Harry groaned after the class. "that Urameshi guy had no idea of what he was supposed to do! And because of that, now I've got a three inch thick report to do on top of quidditch practices and the rest of my homework I've gotta get done!"
"Pavarti wan't any help at all," Hermione complained. "I barely finished the repellant before the end of class. I kept having to stop her from trying to drop red root into the cauldron!"
"I can see why Griffindor and Slutherin don't get along," said Kurama.
AN: Yes, it's me, and I'm back and ready to write! I hope you all liked this chapter. It's not that eventful, but I need it there for future events that will be much more entertaining for you.
Great job! I got six reviews on chapter ten! Maki-sama, I hope you had fun on band tour, and thanks for the review! I heart the compliment, Time and Fate, in your last review! Big thanks to lionheart555, Animefouryou, Everqueen, and kyo's little koneko for reviewing last time as well! I'll try to put in another chapter later this week, so stay tuned!