"So Jii-san and I have been stealing the notebook from each other all week. I keep trying to hide Tomu nii-san from his exorcisms but Jii-san is really motivated."

"You've talked to Tom-san?"

"Yeah! He's so cool! And he's been helping me with my English homework! Why have you been hiding him?"

"You've been writing in the notebook?" Kagome held her younger brother's shoulders and examined him closely. The boy chattered on about Tom's stories of Hogwarts.

"How can you even understand half of what Tom-san writes?"

"I watch a lot of American TV. And his hiragana and katakana is perfect. And his vocabulary isn't too bad for someone who has only been learning for a couple months. And he draws me pictures!"

Kagome shook her head at his excitement.

A voice from the yard cut through Kagome's thoughts. "I BANISH YOU, DEMON!"

The Higurashi siblings jumped and sprinted outside to witness their grandfather dunk a sutra wrapped book into holy water.

"Jii-san! What are you doing?!" The girl ran up and fished the book from a bucket. She peeled away soggy sutras and gave the diary a few shakes.

"Kagome! Watch out for that cursed object! Your grandpa will purify it and free you from its spell!"

"I'm not under some spell. He's my friend. Stop trying to exorcise Tom-san," the granddaughter scolded. The diary was already halfway dry but she kept waving it anyway.

"The demon was speaking in tongues and looked strange!"

"Inuyasha has claws, amber eyes, and white hair that reaches his butt. My friend doesn't look any weirder than Inuyasha." She rolled her eyes. "He doesn't really speak Japanese. He's foreign. Not strange. And not a demon."

The old man pouted as Kagome pat his head. "You must have more faith in your cute granddaughter's judgement."

The elder eyed the diary with suspicion. "If you say he's your friend, why has he not appeared again to explain himself!"

Kagome explained how Tom had used up all her energy to put out the fire so he couldn't manifest again. "And speaking of that, why'd you have to put yourself out anyway? I thought there were charms or spells or whatever to protect your diary from things like water and fire damage," Kagome wondered. She didn't really expect an answer from her invisible companion, doubtful he had any reiki left to hear. But she did note that the journal felt completely dry now.

"You can meet Tom-san when he's stronger." Kagome turned to walk back into the house before the petite man could protest. She trickled bits of reiki through her fingers but knew it wasn't enough to form any sort of mental connection.

"Sorry Tom-san. I can just imagine what you went through…," she whispered as she climbed the stairs to her room.

Her brother stuck behind her and listed exactly what Riddle had gone through. "Set on fire four times. Put through a blender once. Then the toaster oven. Then stabbed with an ancient knife. Then wrapped in sutras and thrown into traffic. Then wrapped in prayer beads and thrown in the river. But I fished him out. Then stabbed with an arrow to the goshinboku. Then put through the shredder but the shredder broke." Souta kept count with his fingers. "Taped up with ham and mauled by a dog. I even found him in the litter box but I didn't tell Tom that one…."

Kagome arrived at her desk and whipped out a pen. "I AM SO SORRY!" she scribbled.

The words erupted onto the page. "Kagome, your grandfather is absolutely mad! From what your younger sibling has described through words and rather detailed drawings, I am glad I used up all the reiki in one go so I wasn't witness to all his shenanigans. That first fire, although it could not actually burn me, bloody hurt! I don't want to feel things anymore. Keep your reiki."

Kagome scrunched up her face and thought Tom was being overly dramatic but didn't voice it. "Gomenasai, Tom-san. Jii-san won't bother you anymore." Tom erased all his words, and Kagome could just imagine the boy turning his back and pointedly ignoring her out of spite.

A/n: According to Pottermore, my patronus is a Bassett hound. What's yours? What do you think Kagome's would be if she was a witch? Since a patronus need the wielder to think happy, hopeful thoughts, do you think Voldemort and/or Tom was ever able to cast a successful patronus charm?