Chapter Six

(An up-to-date glossary can now be found in my profile!)

Kurama eyed the Slytherin Common Room, careful to observe the minute details. On the way there, he had taken care to memorize the route, but if anything Harry, Ron, and Hermione told him was true, that path was likely to change from day to day.

The Slytherin dorms were located in the dungeons, contributing to the gloomy air brought about by the dark green and black drapery, highlighted only by the occasional streak of silver. Pansy, the simpering girl who had taken it upon herself to be his guide, pointed to a stone arch off to one side of the room. "That's the girls' dorm," she informed him. Swinging her arm off to the left, Pansy gestured at a second door frame. "That's the boys' dorms. The seventh year room should be the fourth door on the right. Bathroom is at the end of the hall." Kurama decided it would be best not to question how Pansy came to know this. "There should be a bit of extra room, too," the girl added, "since Draco and Nott…dropped out. You, Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle are gonna get the place to yourselves." The drop in Pansy's volume when she said this informed Kurama that she was hiding some – possibly important – piece of information, but he decided to hold off any interrogations until later.

As Pansy bid him farewell and headed toward her dorm, probably to gossip among the other girls, Kurama drifted to his own

The dimly lit corridor—candles shed flickering light at regular intervals—gave off a cold, slightly foreboding air. Kurama noted the serpentine brackets attached to the walls as he walked, feet sinking into the lush green carpet with each step.

True to Pansy's words, the fourth door on the right had a silver seven in the center, accented by the dark ebony wood that surrounded it, a mirror image of all the other doors in the hall, numerals disregarded.

Kurama hesitated slightly before he reached his hand towards the doorknob. The pause was minute, barely noticeable by normal folk, but still present. Twisting the knob, he entered the room.

Kurama's first impression was that it wouldn't surprise him to discover that the dorm was furnished more extravagantly than many of the students' rooms at home. Soft, four-poster beds hung with dark green curtains called out seductively from each of the room's four corners. The floor was covered in the same carpeting as the hall. Each bed was accompanied by a gilt end table on the left that held a silver washbasin with an escorting pitcher. At the foot of each bed were the students' trunks, apparently brought in from the train at some previous time. Although no windows brought light in through the cold stone walls, the room was illuminated by glowing silver baubles that clustered around the ceiling.

It took Kurama a second or two to realize that he was not alone in the room. Another boy was sitting on the bed across from the door, already unpacking his belongings.

"Minamino, right?" the boy asked, a touch of arrogance slipping into his voice.

Kurama nodded once. "Yes, I'm Shuichi. And you are…?" His voice trailed off expectantly.

"Zabini, Blaise Zabini," Blaise replied. "Your bed is over there." He gestured towards the one closest to the door.

Does he think I'm stupid? Kurama wondered. I wouldn't have guessed. I mean, the only clue was my name right there on my trunk. It wasn't really that obvious. Of course, he kept this piece sarcasm to himself and instead voiced the thought, "The other two belong to Crabbe, was it? And Goyle, right?"

Blaise grunted a silent 'yes', having begun to strew posters promoting one of the teams that played the popular wizarding sport quidditch across the room. "They're probably still down at dinner," he added as an afterthought.

Kurama opened up his own trunk with the silver key he kept safely in his pocket. I wonder what Yusuke and Hiei are up to, he thought. Hopefully, Yusuke has managed to prevent (or at least made an effort not to provoke) Hiei from killing anyone.

Harry couldn't help but wonder if Japanese wizarding culture was all that different from Britain's. If the way the two new Gryffindors were acting was any indication, it most certainly was.

Both Hiei and Yusuke had been suspiciously jumpy when food had appeared on the table out of thin air during the feast, and had been equally surprised when it had disappeared, only to be replaced by dessert.

Now, as the trio led the two newcomers to the Gryffindor tower with Hermione in the lead, Harry noticed that, while neither gave away and significant signals of having missed out on a normal wizarding upbringing, there were some miniscule signs now, and if he thought about, in the past. For example, when they had first seen magic performed at the Weasley's, all three had struggled visibly to contain their shock. Harry had at first marked it off as their unfamiliarity with western magic, but, upon consideration, it was still strange. Even at the present time, when the five walked through the halls of Hogwarts, Hiei was eyeing everything as if it were about to leap up and ambush him, while on the other hand, Yusuke was walking very nervously, shying away from moving paintings and the occasional passing ghost.

Strange. Definitely strange.

Hiei cursed violently as he entered the seventh year Gryffindor boys dorm, his (two-eyed) gaze coming to rest on his trunk.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked concernedly.

"Forget something?" Yusuke grinned evilly.

Forget something? You bet he had forgotten something! That stupid fox has my katana! And he hadn't gotten the opportunity to find out the Slytherin password yet, either.

Of course, that was probably what Kurama had intended all along. By now the sly kitsune had most likely devised a hiding place that would take Hiei weeks to uncover, even with the use of the Jagan. "Stupid kitsune…" he growled under his breath.

"Well," Yusuke announced, dropping onto his bed with a plop, that evil grin spreading even more widely across his face, "It seems that Shuichi has finally come to his senses and decided to deprive you of any sharp, pointy, and potentially lethal objects for the duration of our stay."

Ron found this to be amazingly hilarious and burst out in laughter, prompted by Harry's barely suppressed chuckle.

Hiei, meanwhile, was plotting up with ways to murder Yusuke. "I don't need any sharp, pointy, and potentially lethal objects to murder you," he informed the tantei seriously. Poor Yusuke (not).

Yusuke's only response was to toss a pillow towards the little youkai.

"These are the new transfer students?" Dean questioned disbelievingly, looking at the now squabbling boys. They had been briefly introduced during the feast, of course, but hadn't exchanged many words.

Neville watched nervously as Hiei and Yusuke engaged in a war of flying pillows and verbal assaults. Seamus had left (on his mother's strict command) only to be replaced by these people?! 'Maybe I should have listened to Gran,' he thought sadly.

"Yup," Ron confirmed. "Real psychos, both of them. Yusuke's an idiot and Hiei's just scary. Ouch!" Two pillows soared on a collision course with his face.

"Why you little—! Come on Harry, let's get 'em!"

"What? Okay! Let's!"

"Pillow fiiiiiiiight!"

Breakfast the following morning was interesting, to say the least. The owls had flooded in through the roof bearing the mail—and class schedules.

Kurama eyed his, glancing over Monday's (breakfast, charms, transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs, then double potions with all houses, followed by dinner), before his gaze slid to today's schedule. Since September 1st had been a Monday, their first day of classes came to rest on a Tuesday.

Shuichi Minamino
Slytherin
7th Year

…read the schedule. Following this were Monday's classes, and then today's:

Tuesday
7:00-8:50 Breakfast (Great Hall)
9:00-10:50 Free Period
11:00-12:50 History of Magic (Room 230-Binns)
1:00-2:50 Lunch (Great Hall)
3:00-4:50 Defense Against the Dark Arts (Room 607-Cardille) with Gryffindor
5:00-6:50 Herbology (Greenhouse 6, Grounds-Sprout) with Ravenclaw
7:00-9:00 Dinner (Great Hall)

Kurama frowned. Only one class together with Hiei and Yusuke? That didn't bode well. Neither had the self control or the desire to keep from causing trouble in their classes. Oh well, I suppose that it will be fairly noticeable if part of the castle blows up, he reasoned. On the bright side, I do have Herbology today, and History of Magic ought to be interesting; I've probably lived through most of it.

Over at the Gryffindor table, Hiei and Yusuke were comparing their (identical) schedules with Harry and Ron, who incidentally had identical schedules, too. Hermione had the same classes as the four, and more, including Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. It was her brilliant suggestion that they go compare schedules with Shuichi. Everyone agreed, but hesitated to go approach the Slytherin table. Harry, Ron, and Hermione abstained for obvious reasons, Yusuke did because the trio did, and Hiei…well, Hiei snorted in disdain, grumbling something about stupid prejudices, and stalked over to where Kurama was sitting, reading his own schedule and munching on a piece of western food that Hiei still had difficulty recognizing.

He prodded the fox none too gently in the shoulder in order to grab his attention. Kurama was still not forgiven for withholding Hiei's katana.

Green eyes glanced up at the hiyoukai. "Hai, Hiei?" Kurama asked in Japanese.

"Hn."

Kurama sighed before rising with a polite, "Sumimasen," to Blaise, who was chatting animatedly with Pansy (though as to why the boy would have any interest in that pug-faced onna was beyond Hiei), and to Crabbe and Goyle, who were far to consumed by eating to notice the redhead's departure. The kitsune then followed Hiei to the Gryffindor table, eliciting several questioning stares from members of the other houses.

Hiei returned to his seat and Yusuke slid over to make room for Kurama. "Ohayou!" Yusuke announced with tired enthusiasm.

"Ohayou Yusuke," Kurama replied with rather more energy than the detective. "O-genki desu ka?"

"Hai, genki desu," Yusuke replied with a grin. "Didn't sleep a wink! You?"

"I, like most normal people, went to bed at a reasonable hour and had a good night's sleep," Kurama informed him, looking down at the shorter boy disapprovingly.

"Spoil sport," Yusuke complained good naturedly as he returned his attention to his eggs.

"Hey! What are you guys talking about?" Ron interjected. "I can't understand a word you're saying!"

"Oh, sorry about that," said Kurama sheepishly. The three had all taken care to speak English while in the presence of native speakers during their three week stay with the Weasleys. However, the excitement of the previous night had caused them to drop back into Japanese again at first sight, forgetting momentarily that those around them couldn't understand.

"They introduced themselves and asked how the other was doing." The quiet comment from Hiei earned surprised glances from all present.

"Wow! I think that's the most I've ever heard you say at one time!" Ron exclaimed jokingly.

Kurama sweatdropped slightly as Hiei responded with a typical, "Hn."

Eyes turned to the fox for a translation. (Kurama had dubbed the official translator of 'Hiei-nese'.) He shook his head instead, declining the option of a reply. He didn't think it would do Ron any good to know that Hiei had meant, "That's the seventh time you've said that already, you baka!"

Changing the topic, Kurama asked, "So, is there any particular reason you called me over here, Hiei? Or did you just tire of being near Yusuke?"

"Hn."

"Ah, yes. Schedules. What classes do you have?"

Yusuke scrambled for his schedule, which had somehow found its way under the table and into Harry's schoolbag.

"Free period, Herbology, lunch, Defense – hey, we have that with you! – and then History of Magic before dinner," he recited, reading off the juice-stained parchment.

"Me and Ron are the same," Harry added, "and so is Hermione, but she has Arithmancy first period."

"Hey, since we all have a free period after breakfast, why don't me and Harry show you around the school?" Ron suggested, struck by a rare moment of inspiration.

Yusuke opened his mouth to answer, most likely to decline (Kurama suspected that he wanted to return to bed), only to be cut off.

"Actually," Kurama replied hastily, "I was just thinking of doing a bit of exploring myself."

Turning to Yusuke, he hissed rapidly in Japanese. "Baka. If we're going to protect the school, we have to know the layout, and who better to learn it from then students who have attended for almost seven years?"

"Shimeta, shimeta," Yusuke groused. "I see your point."

"Hn. I accept, but isn't it time for you to leave?" Hiei informed Hermione pointedly.

Glancing at her watch, Hermione let loose fearful shriek, causing not only Kurama (who had the most sensitive ears by far), but all present to cover the aforementioned appendages in pain.

"Aaah! It's already 8:55! I can't be late for my first day!"

"Mental, that one," Ron informed Harry seriously as Hermione vanished in a flurry of papers. "But I do suppose that it's time to go."

It was true, Kurama realized. As Ron spoke, the food began to vanish from the five lengthy tables.

Harry and Ron stood up, shadowed by the Tantei. "Er…" Harry begun nervously as he noticed the transfers' eyes all resting upon him. "Where do you guys want to go first?"

"Perhaps a basic overview of the inside of the school, including where all our classes will be, as well as other important landmarks?" Kurama suggested.

"Hn," Hiei added.

"Yes," the kitsune agreed. "Showing us all the entrances in and out of the school, as well as various points where and intruder could manage to sneak in would be helpful as well."

Harry looked at them a bit oddly at this comment, but the mood was shattered the instant that Yusuke broke in saying, "And the kitchen, don't forget the kitchen!"

Ron grinned in concurrence. "Righto, mate! To the kitchens!"

Harry groaned and said, "Just be glad Hermione isn't here."

"Yeah," Ron agreed seriously. "She'd be going on and on about not 'exploiting the house elves.'"

"What's a house elf?" Yusuke wondered.

"Magical creatures that are bound to wizarding families or institutions. Make wonderful cooks and are downright helpful around the house," Ron explained. "Hermione thinks that just because they don't – and don't want to – get paid for their work, they're slaves."

"Yeah," Harry said, nodding his head vigorously. "Hermione thinks that Britain should be more like America. They outlawed house elves back in the late 1800s, right around when the muggles were having their civil war."

Ron shot his friend a strange look. "How did you pick that up, mate? I thought you didn't take those sorts of views."

Harry gave Ron an equally strange look. "Hermione was sprouting off about it all summer. How could you not remember?"

"Oh." Ron grinned sheepishly. "Forgot." He then turned suspiciously to Yusuke. "How come you don't know about house elves, anyway?" he demanded. "They're pretty common."

Kurama hastily intervened. "We actually don't have any in Japan. Instead, spirit-summons generally do the work. Because of Japan's long isolation, we don't possess many of the more common magical beings."

This seemed to satisfy Ron, at least temporarily. He never had stopped jumping upon the tiny peculiarities that the foreigners occasionally revealed.

By this time, the group had already made their way towards the basement, and were currently traipsing past a row of empty, unused classrooms when Kurama noticed the faint buzzing generally attributed to a cellphone on vibrate coming from his pants pocket.

Recognizing almost instantly what it was, Kurama hastily excused himself, although he probably could have tried for a rather more subtle manner.

"Erm, excuse me, but I just realized that there is something terribly urgent that I must discuss with Yusuke and Hiei."

"Uh, sure–" began Ron, but was cut off by Kurama.

"In private, if you don't mind," the fox added hastily, grabbing his companions by their wrists and dragging them into one of the empty classrooms, firmly shutting the door behind him.

"What was that for?" Yusuke demanded indignantly in Japanese. Hiei was carefully brushing himself off.

"This." Kurama's abrupt comment was expounded upon by his removal of a round compact from his pocket. It was vibrating furiously in his palm.

"Oi! That's one of Koenma's communicators!" Yusuke exclaimed. "I lost mine a while ago. I didn't know you could set them on vibrate!"

Hiei rolled his eyes. "And what does the brat have to say that requires such an obvious breach of cover?"

Kurama glared at his friend. "I was getting to that. Koenma-sama contacted me several days ago saying that Botan and George had come up with a rather important piece of information, and that he would call me back as soon as they had cross-referenced it to check the accuracy."

"Hn."

Kurama flipped open the compact communicator. "Moshi moshi."

"Kurama!" The face of the toddler ruler of Reikai appeared where a mirror would normally reside. "What we–" ("You mean Botan and George," Yusuke grumbled.) "–discovered is very important to your mission!"

"Hai?" questioned Kurama. "And that is…?"

"I can't hear a word they're saying, can you?" Ron complained to Harry. Both boys had their ears pressed to the door of classroom No. 128, attempting to listen in on the conversation that was being held within to no avail.

"Well, it's more of that I can hear it, but can't understand a word," Harry explained, grinding his teeth in frustration.

"Same here," Ron agreed.

"I keep hearing the name 'Kinmasama' that we heard a couple times this summer. And 'Button'. And 'George', too. 'Kooma' has been mentioned a few times as well."

"But it doesn't do us any good if we don't know who these people are though," Ron sighed. Then he brightened, listening closely. "I just heard your name, too, Harry!"

"Well, I was going through some of our records, when I came upon an interesting anomaly," the demi-god explained. "I decided to check and see if it was a mistake or was really true. Turns out it was."

"Well?" Hiei demanded. "What did you find out?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to add another task onto your workload for this mission, guys," Koenma apologized, his tiny face on the screen the very epitome of sorrow.

"Just get to the point! Okay, Pacifier Breath?" Yusuke exclaimed angrily, the suspense clearly killing him.

"Fine," Koenma sniffed haughtily. "If Harry Potter is not dead by Voldemort's hands or through some other means by the end of the year, you are ordered to kill him."

…

"Nani?!"

"…!"

"I must have misheard you, Koenma-sama," Kurama said slowly, the look of shock on his face mirroring that of Yusuke, and surprisingly enough, Hiei. "I swear I thought you just said that we were now supposed to murder Harry Potter."

The small artificial image nodded sadly in confirmation, "I'm afraid so," he said. "You have no idea how many times I had Botan and George double check."

"Please tell us what brought this about," Kurama suggested, his eyes narrowing suspiciously to glare at Koenma.

"Well," Koenma began, "I was looking at the death records for 1981 when I noticed a mistake. One person was listed who I knew for sure was not dead, and another was missing who had been killed."

"Who were they?" Yusuke inquired with interest.

"Harry Potter was marked for death by Lord Voldemort. Instead, the death of Lily Potter occurred."

This last comment earned confused glances from all present tantei. "Why did your ferry girls not realize the mistake the instant it happened?" Hiei demanded at last.

"All they were told was that there would be one death among the Potters on October 31, 1981," Koenma explained. "The ferry girl for that region had no way of knowing that she had ferried the wrong spirit."

"If Lily died instead of Harry, then what was supposed to happen?" Kurama wondered thoughtfully.

"Lily would take Voldemort's offer to spare her life, allowing Harry to die instead. After killing the infant, the Dark Lord would have fled the house, only to encounter Sirius Black. In a fight to the death, the two would ultimately die. Albus Dumbledore would hunt down and destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes before eradicating the fraction of his soul still in existence. Lily would fall into despair over the loss of both her husband and son, becoming an alcoholic and drug addict before denouncing magic, moving in with her sister, and eventually committing suicide at the age of 36. But all of that changed when she decided that Harry's life was worth more than her own."

Hiei, Yusuke, and Kurama all stared at the communicator in a shocked state of silence. "Wait a second," Yusuke said suddenly, breaking the thick silence. "All of that is in the past. Since it's already happened, what will killing Harry now do to change it?"

Koenma shook his head. "You don't understand, Yusuke. The balance is all out of whack. Voldemort, who should be dead, is killing indiscriminately in order to reach Harry, who should also be dead. People who should live are dying, and those slated for death are still among the living. It's simply havoc."

Kurama frowned. He got the logic, but the solution made him no happier. "I understand."

Yusuke turned his glare towards the fox. "What! Are you kidding? I mean, the kid can be a brat, for all that he's older than me, but that's still no excuse for killing him!"

Kurama glared. "I said I understood the reasoning, not that I particularly approved of the plan. However, the task still needs to be done."

"But—" Yusuke protested.

"Shut up, Tantei," Hiei growled in annoyance as Koenma cleared his throat nervously.

"Glad you see my point of view, Kurama. I take it that you'll be the one to perform the deed? Wonderful! I'll be sure to make an exception for the no killing of humans law— Eeep!"

"I said I understood the importance of it, not that I was in any way supporting the child's death. I do not mind standing by as the Dark Lord kills him, but I will not do it myself. I may be a murderer, but I am not a killer of children. Do you understand me,brat?" Kurama's voice had sunk an octave, matching the yellow flicker of his eyes. The changes shocked his audience.

"H-hai…" Koenma stuttered nervously.

"Good." The words came out as a low, threatening growl that was obviously meant to invoke fear in the mind of the listener. And if Koenma's input held any weight, the snarl sure worked.

Then, Kurama shook his head as if to clear it, his demeanor lightening noticeably. Hiei noted that the fox also appeared to loose a good few inches of height, as well as a few silver hairs that had prematurely appeared in a matter of seconds.

"I'm sure that Harry and Ron are waiting for us outside. We ought to continue this…conversation later," he announced, voice having returned to its normal pitch.

Hiei and Yusuke both nodded in agreement.

"Sayonara, Koenma," Kurama told the demi-god.

"Until next time," Koenma agreed, still on edge after the strange occurrence.

"Hai, until the next." Kurama flipped the communicator shut with a sharp 'snap', effectively saying goodbye. He then followed Yusuke and Hiei as they left the room to rejoin Harry and Ron. He only hoped that he would be able to keep the worry and unsettledness he felt away from his face.

A literal world away, Koenma sat at his desk, thinking hard. "Youko Kurama…" he mumbled, lost in thought. "Botan!" he called, a sudden moment of inspiration illuminating his mind.

The blue-haired ferry girl came rushing to her master. "What is it, Koenma-sama?"

"Research the effect of large concentrations of reiki on demonic possessions," he requested seriously, his tone of voice just short of what could be considered a snap. "Now, please."

"Ossu!"

White Day Omake

"What is the meaning of this, George?"

The poor oni winced, faced by the wrath of the irate ruler of Reikai. Koenma was currently surveying the mission bill that was sent to him every month by Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke.

"The meaning of what, Koenma-sama?" George queried nervously.

"This bill lists a total of costs for February as being 1,386,453.83 yen! That's about 1,268,224.38 yen over their monthly budget!"

"Perhaps it's a typo," George suggested uneasily.

"I doubt it," Koenma growled angrily. "Kurama sent this note." He thrust a piece of paper under George's nose. "Read it."

George carefully unfolded the letter, which was written on thick, old fashioned parchment, wondering what horrors it could contain to make Koenma-sama so mad.

"Dear Koenma-sama," George read aloud. "This Valentine's Day was fraught with numerous dangers. I very narrowly missed being killed by a large pile of letters which included drugged candies, explosive envelopes sent by childish adversaries, and love-notes filled with sickeningly sweet mush that was enough to make one faint. Because of this, I decided that it was appropriate enough to pay for White Day gifts with the mission budget. Sincerely, Kurama," George finished. "Well, he does have a point," the oni mumbled under his breath.

"And the kitsune is supposed to be the responsible one!" Koenma despaired miserably. George sighed in relief, hoping that his less-than-submissive reply had escaped his liege's notice. His hopes were dashed, however, when Koenma now looked up sharply and demanded, "What was that, George?"

"N-nothing!" he exclaimed nervously.

Koenma just sighed and shook his head. "Dad's gonna kill me."

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.

Notes:
-Thanks to Alishah, Sarah, and Eric for doing a bit of proofreading!
-Sorry if this story has been too Kurama-centric for some. (Has it?) It just so happens that he tends to be the easiest character for me to write.
-I actually wrote up a schedule for both Slytherin and Gryffindor 7th years. Yes, I do have a life, contrary to how it may appear.
-Yes, 9/2/1997 was a Tuesday. I checked.
-I am looking for a beta reader! After all, I am only human, and we all make mistakes. Unfortunately, I cannot spot them all, as I have noted during a few of my rereads. If you are interested, please, tell me. Doumo arigatou gozaimasu! (Thank you very much!)

A/N: I'm so sorry for the lateness of this chapter; one week turned into three! I do have a valid excuse, though. Last week was not only a big orchestra performance for which we received a score, but also the culmination of several months of rehearsal for a ballet performance. Our company did Graduation Ball (Johann Strauss II). I had multiple after school practices for each that left me far too tired to write afterwards. Now, enough of my sob story! My goodness! I reread the interlude, and trust me when I say to expect an edited repost sometime soon! It was horrible!! Hopefully this chapter makes up for what you had to endure. And yes, I am reposting the glossary in my profile. As the story progresses, I will add on to it.

Attention! Reader Challenge!!
"Harry and co. research Horcruxes." That was an extra special sneak-peak at what is currently on my "to do list" for this fic. Not very descriptive, ne? Now, I have a request. I need four months (from September to Christmas break) worth of plotless filler chapters while Harry and co. research Horcruxes. Thus, the challenge. Send me your ideas for events you would like to see happen during those four months. These can be anything, and I'm not gonna be too picky. It can be anything from Yusuke challenging the giant squid to a duel to Hiei ganging up with Peeves and almost burning the castle down. In fact, why don't we see if we can change that "general" category into "humor"! Now, if I get the response I hope, I will have too many ideas to use. Just know that I appreciate all of them, and would use all if I could (and maybe I'll be able to!). Please help me; this will cut back on update time, since I won't have to waste the time I could be writing thinking up ideas for a filler chapter or four.