Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Inuyasha, or Yu Yu Hakusho. Don't sue me.
Atsuko smiled and pulled Kagome over for a hug as well. The younger girl shot a glare at Yusuke, but hugged her mother-in-law back just the same. Atsuko let them both go, but kept a hand on Yusuke's shoulder.
"Go on Kagome, go finish up. I'll keep him down here," Atsuko told Kagome, noticing her unkempt hair. Kagome nodded and walked back over to the stairs of the boys' dorm, soon out of sight. To the normal eye, nothing seemed wrong at all about the way the seventeen year old young woman left the company of the crowded common room. Atsuko turned to face her son.
"What did I tell you about sneaking up on her while she's getting dressed after a shower Yusuke?" Her response was an embarrassed smirk and a shrug. She smiled and shook her head. "Honestly Yusuke, you're just like your father was… Give a girl a little warning next time, will you?" she chided gently. Koenma stood and approached his friend, chuckling.
"She's not going to forget that for a while, Yusuke. Might affect her reaction to more things than you might think," he said with a wink, throwing an arm around Yusuke's shoulders. Said prankster's eyes widened; his mother and his comrade laughed.
"Oh shit," was the Toushin-in-human-form's brilliant reply, causing the two to laugh harder. He sent an annoyed look at his mom, then shot a glare at Koenma. "Since when do you know so much about women?" Koenma's smile couldn't have possibly fallen off of his face any faster than it did. Yusuke sensed there was something that he didn't know, and quite possibly something big judging by the way Koenma had reacted to a simple question. "Forget it," Yusuke quietly said, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Koenma nodded and went back over to where he had been sitting previously.
By this time, Mrs. Weasley had recovered enough from her shock to find her voice and mind. She glanced over at her husband, Arthur, and could tell he was thinking along the same lines she was. There was something definitely wrong with this picture. Mrs. Weasley walked over hesitantly and tapped Atsuko on the shoulder.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley?"
"I was merely wondering how old you were, dear. You look quite young, in fact," Mrs. Weasley stated.
"I'm thirty-three," Atsuko answered with a grin. Hermione's eyes widened and she stifled a gasp as her mind flew through the math.
"What is it, Hermione?" Harry and Ron asked her quietly, so nobody else would hear.
"Yusuke is eighteen. She's thirty-three. That means she was fifteen when he was born! That's a year younger than Ginny!" she explained in a hushed whisper. The boys looked shocked, and Harry glanced over at Ginny. There was no way he could picture her with a baby, it was practically impossible for his mind to comprehend. Then again, you have to take the Wizarding World itself into consideration. Children spent almost their entire adolescence in boarding schools, where they were watched by adults. In their society, teenage pregnancy was virtually nonexistent.
The rest of the day passed somewhat normally –normal being defined by the standards rewritten specifically for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not the socially accepted version of "normal" popular in the rest of the world- as everyone settled into the new arrangements set for that year. Parents were meeting their children's friends' parents, and new people they did not know. Children were conversing in the far corners of the room about the injustice of it all.
As the hours passed, Atsuko kept Yusuke downstairs and away from Kagome. Yusuke had been trying to get away from his mom since five minutes after his "girlfriend" had left. By now, however, it was nearly time for dinner and yet she had still not returned. Atsuko waited until Yusuke was too busy talking to Koenma and that other kid Harry Potter before she snuck up the stairs. She quickly reached Yusuke and Kagome's room, opening the unlocked door and stepping inside. At the other end of the shadowy room, Kagome sat in the windowsill seat, her back against the cold stone. The girl had her legs pulled up to her chest, her head hidden in her arms, forehead resting on her knees. Kagome's long dark hair –now appearing to have been combed- fell over her shoulders and back like a sheet, concealing her face. When small sniffling sound reached Atsuko's ears, a pained, knowing look materialized on the older woman's face.
"Kagome?" Atsuko asked softly. When she didn't get a reply, Atsuko stepped forward and gave the girl a hug.
"Atsuko-okaasan!" Kagome cried, looking up. Tearstains marred her pale countenance; eyes were tinted a bloodshot pink from crying for who knows how long. Atsuko let go, and just looked into Kagome's eyes. She knew for sure then what was troubling the teen so.
"Kagome…" Atsuko began sympathetically, "I know this is hard for you. Seeing all of those parents with their daughters at once must have been a real reality shock, huh?" She continued at the slightest nod. "I know you were really close to your family, and now they're gone. But as rough as that seems, life goes on Kagome. You've got to look forward to what lay ahead. Don't try living in the past, it's not worth it. I've tried it, and it's not pretty. You've got every woman's dream goin' for you girl, I want you to reach out and take it. The guy to die for and who'd die for you, friends in high places, and a crazy mother-in-law who loved you from the second she met you among other things." Kagome's look turned thoughtful, her tears slowing. "Oh, by the way, I expect to see grandchildren sometime in this lifetime," Atsuko added, seemingly as an afterthought. Her daughter-in-law's face couldn't have gone from the deathly pale it had been to crimson red any faster then it already did. Atsuko chuckled and stood up.
"I guess I'm not really the one you were expecting to talk to, yeah? I'll send 'im right up. Just promise me one thing though, no more cryin' today ok? I think you've done enough, any more and you might get sick or something," she insisted, before smiling at Kagome one more time and leaving the room. Kagome went back to gazing out the window over the dark grounds, her mind kept intentionally blank. Indeed, she had not quite totally succeeded in shutting herself off from the world when a very, very comforting aura reached her senses. Kagome surrendered to the soothing emptiness of sleep once she was safe in Yusuke's arms.
The next day found the seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors back in Genkai's class. Lupin was sitting at a desk himself, so today the students knew that the floor belonged to the "Crazy Old Bat" teacher, as she'd already begun to be called. How ironic, she mused, after Koenma had told her of the nickname. I haven't even started the real insanity yet. Genkai sipped her tea and glanced around the classroom as all (including one Professor) but three students got out their textbooks.
"About those books I had you get…" she began. The students looked at her. "Throw them out. Those books are totally useless." Hermione's face contorted into a pained, confused look, and she timidly raised her hand.
"Throw our books… out, Professor?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Yes Granger, you heard me. That idiot author who wrote it doesn't know a thing he's talking about." Hermione nodded in response, as if on autopilot. Being told a book, a textbook, was useless was more than a bit of a shock to her. Genkai moved on. "Now take out your notes. I'm going to tell you everything you need to know, as I know it, and I know the people involved personally. This story begins four years ago in Japan, with a fourteen year old boy in a car accident…."