Chapter Four
The weeks preceding the start of term passed with out incident for the Weasleys and their guests. For the wizards, the only noticeable occurrences were the occasional visits of an Order member or two, including that of Lupin and Tonks, who had dropped by to announce their engagement. That proclamation had been followed by a marvelous celebration during dinner and many questions that pestered the happy couple about the wedding date.
For the Tantei, the placid days were interrupted merely by the few calls received from Koenma on Yusuke's communicator offering instructions and mission notes as well as messages from Kuwabara ("You better not get into trouble without me, guys!"), Genkai ("Don't mess this up, Dimwit. And keep up with your training!"), Yukina ("How is your mission faring, Hiei-san, Kurama-san, and Yusuke-san?"), and Keiko ("How dare you leave Puu with me, Yusuke!").
On the morning of September first, Kurama was up at dawn, already tapping Hiei lightly on the shoulder and attempting to shake Yusuke out of his heavy slumber. The three Tantei had all packed the previous day at Mrs. Weasley's urging, but with a train that left at 11:00 am without fail, it didn't hurt to get up early.
The kitsune also had some additional preparations to make. He had promised to provide theft proof (although he doubted it would have proved to be any problem for him), magic proof havens for certain items the Tantei would not appreciate the wizards getting their hands on, either accidentally or on purpose. Yusuke and Hiei had consented to let him handle the matter, for who knew locks better than a thief?
Kurama, although he hadn't finalized the idea, was considering taking a normal container, locking it with a password in one of the numerous Makai dialects and leaving one of his more possessive plants as an extra safeguard. Of course, he had faced (and defeated) many more challenging defenses during his time as Youko, but it should be sufficient against mere humans. In the meantime, however, he had to attempt to get the stubborn Yusuke out of bed.
"Come on, Yusuke!" he exclaimed, shaking the resilient spirit detective. Poor Kurama had attempted to remove the blankets, wrench the pillow out from beneath his head, buffet Yusuke with the pillow, and whisper insults that were sure to drive boy crazy. The only response the kitsune had received was a mumbled, "Leave me 'lone, Keiko…"
Kurama groaned and looked pitifully at Hiei, who had watched the entertainment from his windowsill vantage point, not bothering to conceal the amused smirk that flickered across his face. "I had no idea that humans could be so impossible!" the fox groaned, blissfully unaware of the fact that his mother had once had the same trouble awakening him when he was younger.
"It's Urameshi; what do you expect?" Hiei smirked. "Let me show you how to do this." He hopped off the windowsill, snatching his katana from his bedside as he went. Unsheathing the sword, he approached the sleeping Yusuke.
The fire youkai pressed the katana blade to the Spirit Detective's throat. "Wake up now, Detective," Hiei growled. "Unless you wish to find yourself unable to get up at all."
The touch of cold steel against his throat seemed to do the trick for Yusuke; he literally flew out of bet at a speed Kurama didn't think possible for a human, or even most youkai. Yusuke was pointing a faintly glowing index finger at the impassive Hiei.
"Took you long enough," Hiei grunted, sliding the katana back into its sheath.
"That wasn't nice!" Yusuke whined, glaring venomously at the hiyoukai.
"That's your problem, isn't it?" Hiei retorted, smirking slightly at the spirit detective's annoyance.
Before the bickering could continue, Kurama interrupted to say, "Now, Yusuke, Hiei, what do you want me to store? I do need to know how large of a box to grow."
As it turned out, the only things that needed concealment were Hiei's katana, Yusuke's compact communicator, and a collection of letters. The other two watched as Kurama ran his fingers through his hair. Coming up with the appropriate seed, the fox set it to growing into a box long enough to fit the katana, but thick enough to hold all the other items. Under Hiei's indifferent gaze and Yusuke's awed one, the gnarly wood flourished and took shape. After the box had been created, Kurama removed another seed from his hair. This one belonged to a dark, thorny vine. The creeper wrapped itself around the box. It was carnivorous, so Kurama would have to remember to keep a steady supply of mice available.
"Okay," he announced, surveying his handiwork. "Now, I need you both to let the plant get a taste of your blood, so that I can tell it to memorize your taste and let you pass later. By the way, the thorns are hollow and filled with poison. It won't kill you, but it will paralyze you after a minute or so. I have an antidote here for after you let it bite."
Hiei approached first, letting the plant's thorny appendages wrap around his index finger, drawing a tiny red pearl of blood as the thorns sunk into his skin. As soon as Kurama commanded the plant to release his finger, Hiei hastily drowned the small vial of antidote the kitsune produced from seemingly nowhere. Already he could feel his joints beginning to freeze up.
Yusuke took his turn a bit more hesitantly, and released a startled yelp as the surface of his skin was broken. Really, Kurama thought as he handed Yusuke the antidote, his plant had done little more harm than a doctor's normal blood sampling.
Kurama used a little bit of his youki to ease the vine away from the opening of the box. He placed the vulnerable items inside and then packed the whole contraption away into his already stuffed trunk.
By this time, the sun, which was now filtering in through the parted curtain, had reached a slightly more respectable point on the horizon. "Why don't we head down for a bit of breakfast?" Yusuke suggested, grinning sheepishly as his stomach grumbled a bit in reply.
The Tantei found the kitchen abandoned, save for Mrs. Weasley, who was fixing breakfast, and Harry, who was sitting at the table, still half asleep.
"It's too early for you people to be looking so chipper," the boy complained, completely disregarding the fact that it was already 9:30 am as he shot a mock glare at the Tantei.
"Why are you up, then?" Yusuke demanded with a grin.
"Couldn't sleep," Harry replied shortly, apparently not willing to discuss the subject any further.
"Dreams?" Kurama questioned. Harry nodded reluctantly. "Ah." Kurama wisely remained silent. Although it pained the pride of his inner youko to admit it, he had had some nasty nightmares himself after the Ankoku Bujutsukai.
Mrs. Weasley butted into their conversation. "Breakfast is just about served," she announced. "Hiei, won't you be a dear and go wake everyone up?" Hiei had gained a notorious reputation for getting people out of bed and downstairs in five seconds flat. The fire youkai nodded and shot up the stairs, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye. Kurama sighed. No matter what he said, Hiei refused to control his speed. Fortunately, Kurama had managed to write it off as a weird genetic oddity. Most of the wizards bought it, but he wasn't so sure about Hermione.
Hiei had been gone for about a minute now. Considering that he had three people to wake, Kurama gave the fire youkai about five…four…three…two… Ah! And here they were.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, tumbled down the stairs, shadowed by a smirking Hiei. The smell of burning hair followed them.
"Where's Dad?" asked Ron blearily, attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes, but ended up missing and scratching his ear.
"He had to work overnight again," Mrs. Weasley replied distractedly, in the process of setting a plate heaped with thick strips of bacon on the table. "I'm afraid that he won't be able to accompany us to the station, either. Fred and George should show up, though."
"The ministry's been a mess ever since Dumbledore died," Ron said, nodding his head wisely as he dug into the food his mother placed on the table. "Everyone's freaking out. They figure that if the most powerful wizard in Europe can be killed, none of them are safe from You-Know-Who."
"I thought you said that Dumbledore was murdered by one of his own staff and that old Voldy-shorts wasn't even there at the scene of the crime," Yusuke frowned.
Everyone winced at the painful mangling of the Dark Lord's name. "That's why everyone's so nervous, Yusuke," Hermione explained. "If Professor Dumbledore could be taken down by someone like Professor Snape, who knows what V-Voldemort could have done."
Hiei snorted. "You all are just overreacting. It's foolish. Instead of worrying about some old man, you should be readying your own defenses, seeing as you are all clearly unprepared."
Mrs. Weasley shot him reprimanding look as she took her seat at the table. "It's not wise to talk like that, Hiei," she scolded, before returning to a discussion of popular wizarding music with Ginny.
Hiei muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "Ningen no baka," followed by several words that were not fit for polite company.
"Yeah, it's not like you would stand a chance against him," Harry told the irritated youkai. "And where did you here those words, anyway?"
Several days after their arrival, once all the vital information had been exchanged, Hiei had stopped taking the translation potion. For about a week, Kurama had had to translate for him until Hiei's youkai abilities were able to pick up the language, which took several weeks of complete immersion. Not that the wizards were aware of that, though. They believed that 'Shuichi' had been giving Hiei extra English lessons before going to bed.
Hiei simply snorted in reply. "Hn."
Mrs. Weasley, who had been paying attention to the teenagers' words despite her intense conversation with Ginny, now looked up and turned her attention to Ron.
"Did you teach him?" she demanded of the poor boy, despite the fact that he was shaking his head 'no' quite vehemently.
Hiei, for once, decided to take pity on Ron and come to his rescue. "I heard it from the detective," he informed the woman in a bored tone of voice.
The nickname 'Detective' had become another commonplace in the Weasley household after Hiei had accidentally slipped and used it to refer to Yusuke. Kurama had hastily covered up the mistake by explaining that Yusuke had an annoying habit of sticking his nose in other people's business, earning him the name "Detective" from his friends.
After Mrs. Weasley chewed Yusuke out for teaching Hiei English swearwords, the rest of breakfast passed without anymore untold happenings. Kurama did think that Mrs. Weasley had overreacted a bit, though. From his experience, that was the first thing kids picked up when learning a new language. For example, an American transfer student at his school who barely spoke a word of Japanese still knew more curses than he had heard used since he came to Ningenkai.
Just as everyone was finishing off the remains of their last home cooked meal before Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley thought to take a glance at her watch. "Ah! It's far past time to leave!" she exclaimed frantically, shooing everyone away from the table and upstairs to retrieve their trunks. "Hurry! Hurry!"
Despite Mrs. Weasley's worries that they would be late, she and the seven teenagers arrived at King's Cross Station and slipped through the barrier to Platform 9¾ with nine minutes to spare.
To Kurama's surprise, the platform, although it was packed with bustling students and parents, possessed a slightly nervous and subdued air. Hidden not-so-inconspicuously in the shadows were numerous guards, cloaked in black, who were staring at each passerby, wands clenched beneath their robes, as if they were all suspicious dark wizards.
The Tantei, Ginny, and the golden Trio boarded the scarlet steam engine and began to look for an empty compartment, lugging their trunks behind them. Whispers followed them down the hall. Kurama supposed that since Harry was the one who witnessed Professor Dumbledore's demise and since Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were his best friends, it was only natural for them to be the subject of the curious murmurs. Also, because he, Yusuke, and Hiei were foreign faces clearly too old to be first years, they were sure to attract some attention as well.
Lost in his thoughts, Kurama almost rammed into Harry, who was walking in front of him, when the boy drew to a sudden halt, peering in through the frosted glass of one of the compartment doors.
"This one's empty!" Harry announced, tugging open the sliding door. They all piled into the compartment. After stowing their luggage away on the racks overhead, everyone settled down into their seats and prepared for the long ride ahead of them. Hiei and Ginny took the two window seats. Kurama, followed by Yusuke, sat beside Hiei, while opposite them Hermione sat closest to the door, Ron took the spot beside her and Harry squeezed in between him and Ginny.
Everyone got comfortable, Hermione and Kurama both pulling out books, Harry, Ron, and Ginny getting involved in a discussion of quidditch tactics, Hiei staring out the window in silence as the scenery flashed by outside, and Yusuke resigning himself to an incredibly boring train ride, since he had no interest in windows, books, or quidditch, and because Kuwabara wasn't there for him to argue or fight with.
Soon, however, Harry, Ron, and Ginny's conversation turned to the inevitable subject of the upcoming school year. This topic was interesting enough that it prompted Hermione, Kurama, Yusuke, and even Hiei to turn their attentions to the discussion and join in.
"This year is going to be so different," Ron groaned. "According to that poll that they mentioned in the Daily Prophet, one out of every three Hogwarts parents say that they aren't gonna let their kids come back to Hogwarts."
"Well, so maybe it'll be a bit emptier than usual, but is that necessarily a bad thing?" Ginny pointed out. "What I want to know is who the new Defense professor will be. I hope McGonagall managed to find someone good this year."
"Hmph," Hermione snorted. "What we should be wondering is who will be taking her place as transfiguration professor. She won't be able to teach anymore, now that she's the headmistress."
"I dunno," Harry said, "But I'm sure they won't let anyone bad get the positions."
"So." The conversation now turned to the Tantei. "What houses to you think you guys will be sorted into?" Ginny asked.
"Well," Kurama began. "Judging by the qualities that you've told us are exhibited by each house, Gryffindor being bravery, confidence, loyalty, Ravenclaw being intelligence and studious habits, Hufflepuff being loyalty, diligence, and hard work, and finally Slytherin being slyness, cunning, and ambition, I would probably say I would be a likely candidate for either Ravenclaw or Slytherin."
Yusuke frowned at the kitsune. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Shuichi," he said. "You could probably worm your way into Gryffindor with me! Now Hiei, he's definitely a Slytherin. All that 'I'm gonna take over the world' stuff, you know?"
At that remark, said hiyoukai just glared and snorted, "Hn. I think that the detective might be a Hufflepuff."
"Actually, Yusuke," Kurama interjected, "I think that Hiei could be considered a Gryffindor. He certainly is confident and he has displayed huge amounts of bravery in the past. I know for a fact that Hiei is also quite loyal; once he picks a side, he stays with it."
"Wow," Ron said, looking at the transfers with interest. "I don't think most people are quite so frank when discussing what house they'll go to."
"Well," Harry grinned, "I hope all three of you will join us in Gryffindor. You seemed to think it was a possibility for all of you."
The remainder of the train trip passed with out much further occurrence. The plump old witch who used to push around the food trolley had been replaced by a younger, more sullen one. They all pooled their money to purchase a mountain of sweets and other confections, which she handed to them with a bored, "Here you go."
To Harry, the ride seemed incomplete without the annual confrontation with Malfoy in their compartment. He supposed that it would just be one more change in the long line of changes he would have to adjust to, though.
As the sun slipped below the horizon, giving way to the gathering darkness, the train wheezed to a shuddering halt beside the platform of Hogsmeade Station. About forty-five minutes previously, a light drizzle had begun to descend from the sky. Now, the rain had picked up to a heavy sprinkle, splattering the ground as well as the disembarking students with heavy wet droplets.
Above the black masses of students, the bulky, looming form of Hagrid was visible, illuminated by the pale, flickering lights of the platform. To Harry's relief, it appeared that the half-giant had been able to remain at Hogwarts, despite the absence of the former Headmaster's protection.
As the older students began to gravitate towards where the thestral-drawn carriages were waiting patiently in a long, dark line, the tiny shivering first years looked around nervously, peering through the hazy drizzle, unsure of where to go until Hagrid's loud voice boomed out overhead.
"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here! Japanese transfuhs too! Firs' years an' Japanese transfuhs!" Hagrid waved the lantern he was toting over his head, the light and his size making him an easy to find destination for the new and confused students.
Hiei, Yusuke, and Kurama gave Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny their hurried farewells and pushed their way over towards Hagrid. The half-giant, after checking to make sure that at least the majority of his charges were present, led his flock towards what appeared to be some sort of a dock on a lake.
After giving a few basic instructions, Hagrid took a seat in the foremost boat, hanging his lantern on a hook that hung off the front.
The Reikai Tantei all gathered together in a boat, shifting around nervously as it rocked precariously beneath them, praying that it wouldn't capsize; they, with the obvious exception of Hiei, were all quite larger and heavier than the average first year.
As the boats began float silently across the lake under their own power, two youkai and one human mentally prepared themselves for the official start of their latest mission.
Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi and all related industries. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and all related industries. I make no profit off this work of fiction.
A/N: Chapter Four! By far the longest chapter yet. Almost 3200 words is definitely akin to a record for me. This encompassed the journey on the Hogwarts Express and the arrival at Hogsmeade Station. Next chapter shall be the sorting! I hope you don't mind that I skipped a lot of time, but I felt that writing out the whole three weeks spent at the Weasleys' was rather unnecessary. Also, I wanted to avoid saying this, but it seems to work when other authors do it: Please read and review! By the way, I was considering making a side story telling about Youko's great robbery of Hogwarts. Tell me if I should!