I wish I did, but I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Harry Potter.
"Harry, are you alright?" the kistune asked, concern for his friend growing incredibly by the second.
"Tell us what happened, Potter," Genkai demanded,carefullyexamingthe wound.
With a moan, Harry answered them. "Some... someone attacked me... stabbed me as soon as I got into the hallway... would've killed me if you hadn't come-"
While Kurama looked over the gash on Harry's arm, he asked, "Did the person that attacked you say anything? Did you see or remember anything of importance? His appearance? Girth? Clothing style?"
"I was being attacked, Kurama! Like I'd be interested in how fat the guy was!" Harry exclaimed, then winced again from the sudden movement.
"You merely need to sit still for a minute or so," Kurama ordered. "Then your demon side should stop the blood from escaping, and the pain will go away along with it."
"That's at least one upside to being part demon," the boy sighed. After a moment of silence, he continued with, "Now that I think about it, I could've sworn that the person who attacked me was wearing one of the school's robes, because it brushed by my legs when he ran away. Other than that, all I could really say is that he stabbed me with a pointy object, and that already seems kind of obvious, doesn't it?"
"So that could mean that there's someone in this school that possibly attacked me," Harry figured.
"'Possible'? I'd say probable," the fox demon corrected. He turned to Dumbledore. "Sir, I don't know what this means, but I was sent to protect your school and its students within it. I will try to the best of my abilities to track Harry's attacker down, if you give me the authority to do so."
"I will let you," Dumbledore agreed, "but if, and only if, Professor Genkai and myself assist you. I take it as my responsibility as well tolook aftermy students."
'I'm missing the team anyways,' thought Kurama. "That will be fine, professor."
Weeks past uneventfully. The weather at Hogwarts began to grow colder, and the semester had now reached the beginning of December. Students were already making plans about their week-long break over Christmas, and that appeared to keep them going through the piles of homework they kept receiving- sixth year students were studying close to two extra hours a night preparing for their upcoming N.E.W.T.S.
Kurama, Harry, Dumbledore, and Genkai attempted to hunt down the culprit that had tried to take Harry's life, but to no avail. There just didn't seem to be enough clues to find him (or her), and so by the time December rolled around, the quartet had pushed the idea further back into their minds.
"Kurama, how's about you come with me and Harry and visit me mum for Christmas?" Ron asked one cold day in the coziness of the Griffindor Common Room. "Unless you've got other plans," he added quickly.
"That'd be terrific, Ron," the demon thanked his friend. He was just glad Ron wasn't as much against the whole Shuichi-Hermione pairing. Granted, he grumbled a bit whenever they held hands or kissed around him, but at least he wasn't running off in a different direction. "Do you think your mother would mind if I went along with you? I wouldn't want to be any trouble.."
"Oi, Kurama, she personally told me that she'd take my Christmas gifts away if I couldn't convince you to come," Ron laughed. "You're doing me a favor by coming, trust me. Of course, since you're coming along, me mum's going to knit you up a sweater for the holidays, I'm warning you in advance. She'll do that to almost anyone she even thinks I'd consider to be my pal."
Kurama chuckled. "Well, that's very kind of her. You've got a wonderful mother, Ron. I'm looking forward to meeting her." He made a mental note to himself to buy his pals Christmas presents before the holidays.
"Kurama... Ron..." Harry huffed, catching his breath when he reached them. "You'll never guess what just happened."
"No, I suppose we won't. So why don't you go ahead and spill it," Ron urged.
"Ashlee asked me if I could be her boyfriend," Harry confessed.
"Ashlee? Ashlee Lizor?" Ron asked, exasperated. "You mean that girl who went to the Halloween Dance with you? Harry, that's bloody brilliant!"
"Congratulations, Harry," Kurama nodded. "And what did you tell her?"
"I said yes," the boy stated plainly, beaming. "She seemed really excited, so right after I answered her she kissed me and ran off, to tell her friends, I suppose."
"Lizor kissed you!" Ron exclaimed. "You're amazing, Harry, don't you know that? You haven't been drinking a good luck potion lately, have you, mate? Well, now I'm the only mate here without a match-up! Excuse me!"
"Where's he off to?" Harry wondered, watching the Weasley push through and down the hall.
"He's going off to ask someone special something imparticular, I suppose," the kitsune replied with an amused smirk. His Hogwarts friends kept reminding him of the friends he'd originally come to the school with, and all of the good times that they'd experienced. He only hoped they would continue to experience such memories after the mission at the wizarding school was completed. No one was acting like themselves since they'd arrived at the school. Even Hiei was behaving strangely. It was as if the fire demon was trying to avoid the fox demon. And that letter he'd written, "read between the lines", what could that mean?
"Bloody Malfoy, what's with that constant beeping? It's driving me up the walls," Harry complained. Kurama recognized it as his communicator, excused himself from the room, and went upstairs to the Griffindor Tower to fetch his locket.
"Nice to speak with you again, Koenma sir," the fox demon greeted kindly. "Am I supposing correctly that you called me for something of importance?"
"Darn tootin'!" the prince of the Spirit World answered. "I should've called you earlier, Kurama, but do to the fact that I've had so much paper work and filing to do around here, I completely forgot."
"That's quite alright, Koenma," Kurama forgave.
"Yes, well, what I need to discuss with you is about my suspicions from our last meeting," Koenma informed. "Were you able to do what I'd asked of you last time we talked?"
"Yes. I followed Yusuke and Kuwabara for any signs out of the ordinary," reported Kurama. "Hiei was never close enough for me to learn anything though. I'll admit, I didn't want to get to close; it may have revealed what I was doing, and I didn't want that to happen as long as I could help it."
"Alright, alright," the prince nodded impatiently. "Then what'd you find out from watching Yusuke and Kuwabara? Anything, even minor coincedences could prove important to my suspicions, after all."
Without even a pause as to whether or not he should tell Koenma his accusations, Kurama answered, "I have reason to believe that Yusuke and Kuwabara have forgotten about their pasts, and that someone replaced them with false memories of their childhood up to this year."
"What?" Koenma yelled. "Are you positiveabout this, Kurama? It could be possible they're just playing a stupid prank on you and me, you know-"
"No," Kurama confirmed with an edge in his voice. His face was completely serious. "Yusuke would never treat innocent students as cruely as he has been this year, and Kuwabara didn't even blink when I mentioned Yukina's name. I'd know more than anyone if one of them were lying to us."
"Fine, okay, I believe you!" Koenma said loudly. "To tell you the truth, Genkai shares similar suspicions with you; she told me about them shortly before I first called you. She says Yusuke acted like he'd never seen her before, didn't ask about her coming, and... that he didn't talk back or call her an 'old bat', I think is the term she used. As for Kuwabara, he hasn't yet asked her how Yukina was doing, and Genkai had been with her before I put her on the school staff.
"That's when I decided to ask you a while back to check up on the two of them." He folded his arms across his chest. "Sadly, that confirms that Yusuke, Kuwabara, and possibly Hiei are out of the picture for this mission."
"I've acquired some help during the others' absence," Kurama added casually.
"That's great news! Who did you find?"
"A new friend of mine," explained the demon. "His name is Harry Potter, and I know he'll be able to help me protect this school." Pause. "Koenma, tell me, what are we protecting this school from?" Koenma still had not told them that piece of information, and it seemed the right time to ask the prince what it was.
Koenma sighed. "Ever since Hogwarts opened, the Spirit World's had recruits stationed in different parts of the school, in case an attack of some kind were to occur." Kurama recalled of when Dumbledore had told him that Botan and Genkai had once been his schoolmates. "Like one time a basilisk came loose in that school. It was thanks to us that more students and teachers weren't attacked, although regretibly we couldn't save one girl. I hear she's a ghost at the school- Botan was off duty and never did guide her to the Spirit World."
"Are you saying that there is a basilisk loose in the building, sir?" the kitsune questioned.
"Of course not! It got killed off somehow a few years ago." Koenma cleared his throatand continued on. "I sent you and the rest of the team to Hogwarts because of a dark wizard that is supposedly planning an attack on the school this year."
"Do you know his name, Koenma sir?"
"His name is Lord Voldemort."
AN: Duh duh dun. Did anyone guess that was gonna happen? Well, I guess you figured the guy's name was going to show up sometime in the story. Also, I got a lot of writing done this week, so expect another chapter to come out sometime this week!
I'm glad to see that bissek, Maki-sama, kyo's little koneko, silverkaze013, and CEED reviewed chapter 16! Thanks a million, you guys! And don't worry, I have something special planned for Hiei; he'll be showin' up soon! Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter- I'll make the next one as soon as I get the chance, promise!