Disclaimer: I'd like to thank Rumiko Takahashi for her wonderful characters. They've been strategically placed in this fanfic, yet they don't belong to me.

Chapter Five:

Joy and Terror

"Hey, Jennifer! Did you fill out your entry form for the Tri-Wizard Tournament yet? I've got mine ready to go whenever you're ready to take them to the goblet to submit them."

"Yeah, I've finished mine, let's go!"

Ari and Jennifer trekked the castle to the Goblet in the Great Hall and dropped their papers into the goblet. Blue fire burst from within the maw of the magical artifact and consumed each slip as it was deposited. The entries were in. There was no going back now.

"Didn't Dumbledore say the try-outs for the Quidditch teams were today during lunch? We're going to be late if we wait much longer."

"Yup. Let's go!"

x x x x x x x x

"So, we have two from Ravenclaw, three from Gryffindor, one from Hufflepuff, and five from Slytherin. The teams only have room for one or two players each. Some of you will wind up disappointed, no matter how talented you are," Madame Hooch announced to those gathered near the Quidditch field. She tacked a chart to a nearby tree which said:

Gryffindor: 1 Chaser
Hufflepuff: 1 Keeper
Ravenclaw: 2 Seeker, Chaser
Slytherin: 2 Seeker, Beater

"I shall over-see your efforts to determine if any of you are worthy of playing Quidditch for Hogwarts, and then the leaders of the House teams will pick through those of you whom are left for their prospective players."

She remained true to her word. For the next half hour they learned and practiced, and some even showed off their tricks to impress the woman. They were all exhausted by the time they were signaled to return to the ground for the results of their assessment.

Madame Hooch looked over those who had turned up for the try-outs, her critical eyes giving nothing away, though making it clear she was making her final decisions. In the end, she pulled roughly three or four contestants for each House and turned it over to the Team Captains. "You will have five minutes to impress these four—and they will make their final decisions."

"This is it, Jennifer, let's give it our all, okay?" Ari whispered, nudging her friend in the side nervously.

The brooms were mounted once again and the prospective players took to the air, tired, but pushing beyond the pain to grasp that position they so dearly desired. After those five minutes, and a few more to enable all but one captain to have selected, only two positions hadn't been filled. The Ravenclaw spaces.

"Okay, I've made up my mind," he started, approaching the small band of four that made up the Ravenclaw House wanna-be's. "For our new Chaser, I've selected Jennifer Wangett, and for the Seeker... I believe Arianna Skydancer will serve us the best."

From there, Madame Hooch took over again to dismiss the group. "Thank you all for trying out. Remember there is always next year for those of you who did not make it. Those of you who did, practice should begin next week. Check with your captains for specific details."

"Oh my God, Jennifer, we made it! I wonder who else is on the team!" Ari squealed happily as they headed back to their dorms to shower before the next class.

"I don't know, but I guess we'll find out next week!"

x x x x x x x x

"Today the Goblet will choose three students to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Dumbledore stated in that voice of his that carried throughout the Great Hall without actually having to yell, holding up the Goblet. "After the meal is finished, it shall decide. Now, let us eat."

About half an hour later, Ari and Jennifer, and all the others who had dropped their fated slips of paper into the magical fire in hopes of finding glory waited nervously for the official 'end of the meal.' It seemed the whole Hall held their breath when it did.

"The Goblet of Fire will now choose three students to participate in this esteemed Tournament." Dumbledore set the Goblet in the special holding groove on the lid of its case as the fire turned blue and a piece of slightly charred paper emerged from its depths. "The first competitor is... Seto Kaiba."

"Did you know he entered...?" Jennifer asked in an excited, hushed whisper.

"No! I didn't! Shh! The next one's coming out!" Ari hissed in return as the Goblet ejected another sad little piece of paper.

"The next competitor is... Jennifer Wangett!"

"Oh my god, you made it!" Ari squealed, shaking her friend by the shoulders with glee. Jennifer looked ready to explode from the joy. The Goblet spat out yet another name, completing its function for this event.

"And the final competitor is... Arianna Skydancer!"

Ari joined Jennifer in dreamland. Meanwhile, the Goblet had definitely decided it wasn't done, that it wasn't going to sit there like a good goblet and wait for the next Tri-Wizard Tournament. Another name was spewed forth. Dumbledore snatched it out of the air with his gnarled hands and adjusted his half-moon spectacles to read what was on the piece. "It seems the Goblet is slightly confused. The last competitor of this Tri-Wizard Tournament is... Inu Yasha."

The two girls crashed back down to earth. "How could Inu make it? He's only a second year! He can't even enter!"

"I am aware that Inu Yasha is indeed a second year here at Hogwarts, but the Goblet has chosen him, and there will be no further controversy on the topic. Will the contestants please come up here for the wand check?"

Kaiba, Jennifer, Ari, and Inu rose almost simultaneously from their House tables and walked up the rows to the teachers' table, the Hall eerily quiet save the whispers of the gossipers and entered a back room.

Mr. Olander, the wand shop owner, was there. "May I please see your wand, young man?" He asked, extending an old, almost withered hand to the corporate business leader. Kaiba relinquished his wand, if grudgingly. The old man seemed to come to life with the knotted piece of wood in his hands. "Oak. Dragon heartstring and phoenix feather. Bought indirectly. I have to say that this work was one of my better ones, and didn't seem to take well to those of little money." He gave the staff a flick and wine poured from the tip into a waiting cup. "You've kept it well. You pass. Next!"

Jennifer stepped up to the old man and gingerly extended her wand. "Here..."

Mr. Olander barely glanced at it, giving the illusion that he could tell what created the magical artifact simply by feeling it. "God wood. Phoenix feather. Demonic dog hair. Shikon powder." He flicked her wand and a bouquet of dark flowers burst forth from the tip. "Good... Next!"

Ari nervously stepped forward and presented her wand, worrying that hers wouldn't be as impressive as the previous ones. "Cherry. Phoenix feather. Unicorn hair. Celestial Valley river reed stem. Fused with dark sorcery," he recited, giving the staff a good flick with his wrist. More flowers appeared, though these had to have included one of every hue of the rainbow. "You're good. Last one?"

"That'd be me. Here." Inu handed over his wand seemingly without a care.

"Dog wood. Unicorn hair. Demonic dog hair. Shikon powder. A very unusual combination indeed." The wand dealer graced them with one final motion of his supple wrist, producing more wine. "Good, good. You're all set for your Tournament," he smiled ominously.

"Very well, then. Thank you, Mr. Olander. Go on now, young ones. Off to your classes. Go on." Dumbledore encouraged gently.

"C'mon, let's go! Transfiguration's next! I've been waiting forever for this!" Jennifer cried, taking off. The others followed at a slightly more sedate pace, still somewhat prepostered by the idea of having a Quad-Wizard Tournament.

When they arrived at their classroom, Professor McGonagall explained all about the day's upcoming lesson. "We will be transfiguring turtles into bowls. Keep practicing the wrist movements I've demonstrated until you feel you've got it down completely. Then you may try to create your bowls." She demonstrated the spell once more.

Suddenly, Inu hunched over, sick-like. "C-Can I... nnngh... go to the hospital wing,--Professor...?"

The elderly witch, though her countenance said otherwise, remained unflustered. "Yes, right away, Mr. Yasha. Go!"

Jennifer's brow furrowed in dismay. "Professor, may I go with him?"

"No, Ms. Wangett, he'll be fine," she all but scowled. "Get back to those wrist snappings! I don't see enough snapping!"

"But..."

"NO!"

Jennifer cringed at the retort and silently returned to her work, sharing a silent 'what's she so ticked about' look with Ari.

x x x x x x x x

Inu staggered down the corridor to the hospital wing, leaning on the wall occasionally for support. He was changing as he went. Rapidly. His hair was slowly making the transition from jet black to silvery white. His fingernails had already extended into claws. His incisors had grown into sharp fangs. His human ears had relocated at a higher location and now looked positively canine. The intelligent, violet human eyes had traversed the spectrum to an orangey amber, but weren't stopping. As he continued on his way, they became more and more red. There was only one thought in his mind. 'It... It's not stopping. I'm going to go the whole way, dammit. I've got to hurry...'

He finally made it to the hospital wing, much to the dismay of the ever-moving staircases. With barely enough control to keep himself in an up-right position, he threw the door open and clutched at the door frame, his claws digging into the stone wall. "Mad—Madame Pomfrey... it's happening... I'm changing. And it's not stopping. I'm going all the way," he said haltingly, as purple stripes rippled across his cheeks. The once violet eyes now shone red with unearthly green pupils. The fangs and claws grew to insane lengths.

The poor nurse witch took one look at the demon before her and sighed. "Oh, dear. I warned them, but no, they wouldn't let me put a finishing charm on you. Well, come along, I'll put you back."

Inu followed her to a back room where she applied a transformation spell on him, returning him to the human form the other students had become so familiar with. Then, with an indignant sniff, she applied a finishing charm.

"Now remember, the spell itself and the finishing charm are only so powerful. If a spell is used on you, purposely, you will change back. If you yourself cast a powerful enough spell, you will also be returned to your normal form. Give the spell a good time to sink in and establish itself, go back to your common room and wait a couple hours. Go on now, dear, while the halls are empty." She smiled wearily. It was still a mystery to her why the Headmaster chose to enroll the students he did.

The hidden demon made his way back up to the Ravenclaw tower, drained both physically and emotionally from the changes he had endured. He honestly didn't understand why his being there was necessary.

x x x x x x x x

"Inu, are you alright? What happened? Why didn't you come back to class?" Jennifer bombarded the poor soul with a horde of questions the instant she had a free moment from classes to fly up to the tower.

The dark-haired boy sighed. "Oh, it was nothing, just a simple stomachache. It hit me a bit harder than it should have, though."

"But McGonagall made it sound like something really serious was going to happen. She got all standoffish and tried to keep the issue hushed. I think you're lying when you tell us it was only a stomachache." Ari accused, staring him right in the eyes. There was something ancient and powerful in those bronze eyes that commanded one to obey.

"Really, it was nothing," he said quietly, averting his eyes.

"Inu, you can trust us. Please, tell us what happened." Jennifer pleaded, the worry showing in her dark eyes. They might as well have been puppy dog eyes for how well they worked.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence in which the violet eyes darted around the common room, gauging who was there incase something were to happen. "Fine. Follow me." He led them to his second-year dorm and closed the door securely behind him. "Whatever you do, don't scream. And if you must scream, at least don't tell anyone why you did."

The girls were a bit confused, but they agreed nonetheless. They could tell there was something weird going down. "Well... here goes." Inu allowed himself to change into his true form. A half demon. He knew it wasn't exactly following his agreement to be doing this, but he also knew that it would be easier to deal with them if he showed them. Besides, if the transformation was willing, it didn't affect the spell keeping him permanently a human. He hoped.

Jennifer gasped sharply and Ari looked on in a bit less disbelief than one would expect from a human who had just seen something that was only supposed to exist in a book. Then again, they were at a magical school.

"I... I shouldn't have shown you two. This would be a shock to anyone, probably even some of the teachers. They'll expel me if they found out I told anyone... much less showed anyone..." Inu stated quietly, his eyes flicking between the two of them.

Suddenly, the door opened and someone came in, brutalizing the somber mood the demon's revelation had brought about. "Wah! Don't come in, don't come in!" He wailed, diving into one of the four-poster beds that furnished the dorms and pulling the hangings closed around him.

"Jennifer, you stay here. I'll be right back," Ari grinned, grabbing the intruder by the arm. "C'mon, Kaiba, follow me." It was tempting to wink at the man who was completely confused as to what he had walked into, but she didn't and dragged him out of the room.

"Who or what was that in there?" Kaiba asked once his heart rate had returned to normal.

"Just Jennifer and I. She lost a quill and we were looking for it," Ari smiled.

"In a boy's dorm?" Came the skeptical response.

"Umm... Hey. You're on Fast Track. Why were you in there?" She replied, thinking on her feet, as was one of her strong traits.

"Err... I was..." A slight coloring had risen on his cheeks and Ari cocked an eyebrow in response. Kaiba cleared his throat and continued. "I was looking for you. Someone said they spotted you headed up there."

That stopped the girl in her tracks. "What? Why were you looking for me?" Her heart picked up speed, and pounded loudly in her temples.

"Well... there's a ball—the Yule Ball—coming up... well, on Christmas Day... and I was wondering... I was wondering if you would care to go with me." His cheeks were positively flushed by this point, and his ears had been dyed a lovely crimson shade as well.

Ari was taken back. Sure, she was attracted to him... She knew about the ball and had planned to ask him herself, but it came as a shock that he would be the one to beat her to the punch. It didn't seem part of his personality to do such a thing. She managed to keep her mouth shut as her brain functioned around this road block, preventing any of the omnipresent uhs and ums. There was one dominant thought running through her mind.

'What if he's an enemy? What would Potter do?' Normal teen-aged rationality won over. "Well, sure. I'd love to."

The look on Ari's face was nothing compared to the one on Kaiba's when he comprehended her answer. "Great! S-So, I'll see you at 7:30, Christmas Day..."

"Right," she sighed, watching him as he blushed and retreated to the common room, his goal accomplished. 'He's so wonderful—and so mysterious. He never really does tell anyone anything about himself. I wonder...' Another thought interrupted the train she was on. 'Oh, I wonder how Jennifer and Inu are doing...?'

Ari re-entered the boy's second-year dorm. "It's okay now; he's gone back down to the common room. And it's almost time for dinner."

Inu poked his head out from the break in the hangings and looked around cautiously before throwing them open. Jennifer had apparently decided she had better hide herself as well, as she was exposed when the hangings were opened. Ari chose not to comment on the fact. Inu placed his feet on the floor and glared at her. "Well, I can't exactly march down there and get it myself, now can I?"

"Chill, we'll bring you something. Be back in an hour or so—c'mon, Jennifer!" Ari grinned, grabbing her friend by the arm and pulling her towards the door.

"Ari, what's the big deal? You're all... bubbly now. That's my job."

"Guess!" She beamed.

"Nngh. I'm not in the mood for guessing. What happened?" Jennifer groaned. It was amazing she could still manage to do this to people after hating it so much herself.

"Kaiba. Asked me. To. The Yule Ball. Him. Not me. He asked me to the ball!" She gushed, all but squealing and bouncing around her friend like an over-excited puppy.

"No way. He did NOT."

"Did too!"

"Oh my god. You're going to the ball with the richest guy in the school." Of course the money was the first thing on her mind. If it wasn't edible or shiny, Jennifer had no interest in it.

"I know! Isn't it great?!"

"So what are you going to wear? It has to be special, you know. Any ideas?" Jennifer asked smugly.

Ari stopped, thinking about the finery she had back home—though that home had long been abandoned to her, or rather, by her. "No, actually. I don't have the faintest." She replied, taking a seat at the dining table.

"Do you even have any dresses with you?"

"Come to think about it, no. What am I going to do?!" Ari realized, turning to her friend with begging eyes.

"Leave it up to me! I brought like ten different ones. You can raid my closet later, okay?" Jennifer offered cheerfully. She liked to dress others up when offered the chance.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She gushed, grinning from ear to ear. The expression changed suddenly to a smirk and she elbowed friend in the ribs. "Hey, all Tri-Wizard competitors have to go with someone. When are you going to ask Inu?"

"Uhh, I dunno..." Jennifer trailed, a faint coloring coming to her skin.

"You're embarrassed! Well, you had once chance already. Don't blow this by waiting too long. Inu is popular, you know. He's bound to get some offers—if he hasn't already. Make your move soon, girl!" Ari continued smirking.

"You're one to talk, you didn't have to do the asking! And plus... what if he says no?" Jennifer replied, an eyebrow arched in annoyance.

"Then pursue! Don't give up. If you want something, then go right ahead and claim it. I know a good deal about doing that much, trust me. You can do it," the bronze-haired girl smiled.

Jennifer regarded her food for a few minutes, letting the words sink in. "You're right, Ari. I will! I'm gonna march up to that dorm room and ask him. First thing in the morning."

"Oh no you don't. You'll do it right after this meal!" Ari glared, her elbow finding the other girl's ribs again.

Jennifer seemed to take a physical slap at that moment, and her resolve took a complete 180. "Of course I'm gonna ask him! My confidence went south for a few minutes there, but I've retrieved it, and I'm not letting it go on vacation again."

With that said, they finished their meals and grabbed some extra stuff for Inu. They headed up to the Ravenclaw tower, navigating the ever-moving staircases and stopped dead as the portrait hole came into view. Both had to stifle a scream. The portrait of the demonic dog had been brutally slashed to ribbons. Chunks of frame and strips of canvas lay scattered sadly on the ground.

A large figure emerged ominously from the shadows of the entrance hole. It looked something like Inu, but evil. It had purple stripes down its cheeks, long fangs and claws, and deadly crimson eyes with green pupils.

"Inu...?" Jennifer asked uncertainly, taking an involuntary step backwards. "What happened?"

"I've... I've reverted to my... my full demon form... Get Madame Pomfrey... NOW!" He managed through the bloodlust that had consumed his being. There was enough caring in there that he could get out a warning.

"Jennifer, you stay here, I'll go!" Ari called, already racing towards the hospital wing. She could only pray her feet were swift enough to carry her there in time.

Jennifer looked after her friend for a moment before turning her attention back to the beast before her. "Inu..." she asked gently. "Why did you change? Was it... was it because you showed us your demon form?"

"No," it growled. "It is because I seek Kikyo Skydancer's soul. I will put her to rest, finally, if it is the last thing I do. I will relieve her of the pains this world had inflicted. You, girl. You host it. Her soul. I'll rip you limb from limb to free it."

"Wai—what?! Inu... Wake up! Snap out of it! Inu, STOP!" Her scream could be heard echoing down the corridor.

Oki, y'all. I'm lazy and don't really want to continue those character bios I've been doing. Y'all know the anime/manga characters well enough, and I don't exactly remember the plans I had for them (it's only been four years since I wrote this... ;). So yeah, that's the explanation as to why there isn't a character bio. And! The reason it's taking so long for me to type up chapters is because I'm editing this as I go. Looking back on it now, the writing's horrible, and half the time I can't even tell whom I wanted to be speaking.

But here's chappie five. Hope you enjoyed!