The burrow, despite what the name suggested, was not a hole in the ground. Instead, it was built up the other direction, up into the sky. It was an oddly decorated little home built higher and higher with increasing plasters of walls that defied all laws of physics. Were it not charmed together by magic, the house would've likely collapsed in place ages ago. There was a hodgepodge of gnomes and other unusual trinkets decorated across the front lawn to match some sort of convoluted theme – now all Shuuichi needed to do was figure out what that theme was.

Arthur Weasley looked over at Kurama, and his smile growing wider as the teen's eyes grew at the sight of his new residence for the summer. "Unique, isn't it?" the man asked, voice filled with pride. Unique was an understatement, in Kurama's opinion, but he nodded all the same.

He was rewarded with Arthur's beaming smile. There was a skip in the older man's step as he hurried along, gesturing towards the door. "Come along, you two. The kids are dying to see you again," he directed at Harry.

"Coming, Mr. Weasley," Harry called out.

When the older man was far enough from earshot, Harry turned towards his cousin, an embarrassed laugh on his lips. "Don't mind Mr. Weasley, he can get a bit …" Harry took a couple of steps before he could come up with the proper adjective, "odd." The wizards frowned thoughtfully to himself before giving a nod, "Yeah, odd sounds about right."

Kurama let out a soft laugh, shaking his head endearingly, thoroughly amused.

Harry only hunched his shoulders and shrugged. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you when he starts asking you about plugs and electricity," the teen said with a sulk.

Kurama's amused grin persisted.

Arthur was already standing by the open door of the Burrow, chatting with his wife, by the time Harry and Shuuichi managed to catch up. "Ah, there you are," the man said, moving aside. "Molly, this is Shuuichi Minamino," he said to a short, plump woman whose smiling face warmed at the sight of the new redhead.

"Oh, my dear, you look so delicate! I'll fix you up a big healthy lunch!" she fussed, pulling the teen into a hug. "Shuuichi, was it? Both you and your cousin need to eat more!" With that, she turned her gaze onto Harry, a strict eye bearing onto the raven-haired teen. "Harry, have you been eating right?"

"Yes Mrs. Weasley," the teen said dutifully.

"I'm pleased to meet you as well, Mrs. Weasley," Kurama greeted, trying not to get swept up by her ever-flowing pace.

"Call me Molly, dear," the woman tutted before glancing over at his cousin. "How many times have I told you that as well, Harry?"

"Sorry Molly," Harry corrected, even though Kurama had a suspicion come tomorrow he would be back to calling her Mrs. Weasley yet again.

After a few more minutes of fussing, the two of them were finally allowed into the house - once Arthur reminded his wife about it, of course. The inside of the house was no different from outside. Everything was just as eccentric. Clocks forwent their normal two hands and were content with swirling eight in all directions. Paintings seemed to follow the rules of moving photos as seen by their movements – yet also had their own little quirk of talking to adjacent paintings.

The whole entire house was bustling with activity. It seemed like everything knew how to move on its own, dishes included. Frankly, the trampling heard from upstairs seemed quite normal in this lively house. That, and the yelling.

"Harry's here!" A female voice rang out. "He's here!"

There was a thud somewhere above, and then a sulking growl in a decidedly male voice. "Move it, Ginny."

"Make me," was the retort.

A calmer voice spoke up. "Oh really, you two. Must you always act like two-year-olds? Honestly, Ron. You're sixteen already; act your age."

"Why am I always the victim! Ginny shoved me," the voice rose.

There was a huff of annoyance, then a mixture of different tones as the children above talked in low mumbling tones. Finally some sort of agreement was clearly reached when there was shuffling, and then the stomping of feet as they descended the stairs.

The first one to reach the bottom was a sixteen-year-old boy, with ginger hair and freckled cheeks. If Kurama had to guess, he supposed this was Harry's best friend – Ron, if he remembered the name correctly. The teen, Ron, froze. With a gaped expression the boy stared at Shuuichi, taking in his appearance.

"Who're you?" the ginger finally asked, staring warily at him.

Harry frowned in confusion. Arthur and Molly had soon left for the kitchen the moment Harry and his cousin entered their home, eager to give the kids some time alone to bond. Harry as certain one of them would've at least mentioned his cousin was staying over? "Didn't your parent tell you my cousin was coming along as well?"

"Well, yeah," Ron began, fumbling with explaining his shock, "B-but-" he waved his hand over Shuuichi as though that said everything. To be honest, it actually did. "Your Japanese cousin."

Shuuichi gave a placating smile. "Is it the hair?" he asked.

Ron nodded mutely, hands flapping in the air. "Aren't Japanese people supposed to be short with, like, black hair or something? You know, not like someone who could pass off as a decedent of our family," he asked skeptically tugging at his own red hair.

"True…" Harry agreed slowly, looking like he wasn't sure how to address the issue himself, "but -"

By now, Hermione and Ginny were watching the exchange. Hermione sighed when Harry looked clueless as to what to say next. "Hair colour depends on the genes. If you have a dormant alleles encoding red hair passed down through generations, it's theoretically possible to have a hair colour different from your parents," the witch lectured. "This of course is supposing er- … Harry's cousin's parents don't have red hair themselves."

"Shuuichi Minamino," Shuuichi offered when the girl visibly stumbled over his forgotten name. "And no, my mother doesn't."

"Hermione Granger," the Hermione returned with an equally friendly smile on her lips. "I'm a friend of Harry and Ron."

The ginger haired girl behind Hermione moved forwards, a grimace on her face. "Ugh, sorry about my stupid brother. I'm Ginny." The girl rolled her eyes pointedly at Harry and Ron, "Boys, huh?" she said with a condescending tone towards the two.

Ron scowled. Harry let out a low "Uhh…", turning towards the decidedly male Shuuichi. In response, Shuuchi's lip quirked.

"You're just being annoying 'cause there's finally more girls than guys in this house," Ron snapped.

Ginny planted her hands on her hips, "What's wrong with more girls? This house his male infested with all you stupid brothers."

"So the three of you are going to band together against us?" Ron scoffed, "She's Harry's cousin. She'll be on our side."

"You guys are slobs. As if any girl would be willing to put up with you."

Harry let out another "Uhh…", looking more and more mortified as the sibling's discussion continued.

Kurama supposed the fun had gone on for long enough. With a small cough, he caught their attention. "It appears I might have caused some confusion," he began apologetically, while Harry looked ready to bury himself into the ground. "I'm not-"

"Ha! She's not going to be on your side," Ron interrupted. Clearly he still wasn't quite over that argument yet.

"Ron," Harry practically pleaded, "Be quiet."

Kurama only continued, undaunted by the interruption, "- female."

It took a couple of seconds for them to piece that disrupted sentence back together. It took a couple more for the fact to sink in.

Ron sputtered. "W-what? What do you mean not a girl? You-" Ron's brain stalled, unable to start up, "You can't be a guy!"

Beside him, the girls flushed in embarrassment. "Merlin, what a first impression," Ginny wailed, horrified of everything she said.

"It was an honest mistake," Kurama pacified gently.

The girl only shook her head and moaned into her hands once more. It took a few minutes, but eventually Ginny finally pulled herself together. There was sigh on her lips as she mumbled, "Well, I can guess how mum's going to react. She's going be all ecstatic at the thought of another girl, and then we'll have to correct her, and then the whole family would have made a fool of ourselves in front of you."

"Don't worry, we met your mother by the door when we came in," Kurama said.

Ginny's eyes narrowed. "Does she know you're a guy?"

Harry thought back, suddenly realising how gender-neutral the conversation had been. The teen groaned. More things to clear up. Great.

Harry was surprised Shuuichi wasn't scared of his friends yet.

Morning was greeted with the sounds of the door banging. "Get up, you lazy boys! It's time to go get our supplies!"

The door bursted open a second later, and Ginny stood glowering in the doorways. She'd expected to find three boys sprawled out in their beds still. What she found was two boys still soundly asleep, and Shuuichi sitting daintily on the windowsill leafing through one of the Quidditch books her idiot brother left lying about. The Japanese teen turned silently towards her.

"H-hi!" Ginny managed to stammer out, suddenly feeling quite self-conscious. After embarrassing herself in the previous day, she was having a hard time trying not to feel like everything she did was only making her seem like more of a fool.

"Good morning, Ginny," Shuuichi replied, sounding so ignorant to her inner plight.

"Morning, Shuuichi," Ginny said carefully.

As luck would have it, Shuuichi did realise what was going through her mind. "Ginny, if you're still uncomfortable because of the assumptions made yesterday, please be at ease. It's not the first time I've been mistaken as female."

The girl blushed at the reminder.

"I believe Harry almost mistook me as well," the redheaded Japanese added.

In bed, under pillows, Harry groaned. "Why do you have to remind me?" the teen said, prompting a giggle from Ginny.

"Wha's goin' on?" Ron's groggy voice finally slurred out, full of sleep. The ginger glared over by the door once his eyes opened. "Ginny, wha're you doing here?" he demanded in an annoyed tone.

"Waking you up," Ginny snapped back.

"Humiliating me," Harry murmured at the same time.

Kurama chuckled at his cousin, and Ginny's grin reappeared from his words. "Shuuichi's the one blurting out your secrets, not me," the girl teased.

"Secrets?" Ron asked.

"Harry thought Shuuichi was a girl too!"

"Ginny!" Harry moaned, glaring at his all-too-amused cousin in betrayal.

Kurama smiled innocently back, before getting up from his seat and strode towards the door. "Thank you for waking us up," the teen said towards Ginny, walking around her. He descended down a step before he turned around and offered the girl a hand, "Shall we go and eat breakfast, while these two freshen up?"

Ron rubbed his eyes, watching as his sister beamed happily and followed the other teen down the stairs. "Hey Harry, is he flirting with my sister?" Ron asked, sounding like his overprotective side was starting to rear its head.

Harry sighed. "Ron, you're an idiot."

"Hey! He thanked Ginny for coming here and annoying us, then walked her down the stairs!"

"Ron," Harry sighed once more, heading towards his trunk to pull out some fresh clothes, "That's just the way he is. I swear. Shuuichi's seriously polite." Harry gave a shrug. "Maybe it's a Japanese thing?"

Ron huffed, eyes still narrowed at the empty doorway. "Fine," the teen muttered. "But I'm keeping my eye on him."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry laughed silently. "But you're honestly worrying over nothing."

x

The Weasley family plus three headed off to Diagon Alley shortly after breakfast was over and done with.

Kurama tried not to stumble as he slipped out of the fireplace. In front of him, Arthur held out his arms, ready to catch him just in case. Kurama nodded a thanks, but twisted past the older man.

Arthur laughed. "I guess it's not in the genes," the man said.

The non-sequitur made Kurama cocked his head in question, but his confusion was quickly cleared when Harry tumbled out, disorientated and fell straight into the collective group. If the Weasleys' expressions were anything to go by, it wasn't the first time. "I can't get used to the Floo," Harry groaned, clutching onto Kurama's arm for dear life as he let out a pitiful cough. "You alright, Shuuichi?"

Kurama's chuckle couldn't be contained as he brushed soot out of the younger teen's hair. "It wasn't too bad," he said, giving Harry's raven locks a good ruffle from the grey coating it was sporting. "Is this Diagon Alley?"

In the building around him, there were the buzzing murmurs of hushed, private conversations. Rather than any 'alley' of sorts, Kurama would sooner label the place as a pub. There were men and women (and possibly some non-humans) eating and drinking along the tables that lined on the floor. The smell of stale air tinged with food and booze only affirmed his thoughts.

"Oh, no, this is the Leaky Cauldron," Hermione replied as they led Kurama towards the rear of the building. "We can't Floo into Diagon Alley directly. The Leaky Cauldron leads to the entrance."

Kurama nodded thought fully. "Is it not dangerous for," the teen tilted his head towards the less human-looking customers, "certain patrons to be eating here where muggles could stumble onto them?"

As if that was an invitation, Hermione quickly launched into a discussion. "One would think so, however you have to keep into consideration the endless possibility of magic. There are actually concealment spells around the pub, you see? Muggles normally are incapable of seeing the Leaky Cauldon, let alone walk in." The girl delved into the history of the pub without further ado.

With a polite smile, Kurama kept an ear on her even as he observed his surroundings. By now, the group were standing in front of a bricked wall, watching as Arthur tapped away with his wand. Kurama supposed he was desensitized to the oddness of wizards when he didn't even blink when the bricks suddenly parted before his very eyes. Still, the sight of what had to be Diagon Alley did awe him.

Spanning down both sides of the road, pushed side-by-side against each other like a wall of trees, were endless shops buzzing with energy. The buildings looked like something pulled from the past, reminiscent of the early 1800s, but coloured with magic and excitement.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" Harry said with a flourish wave of his hand.

Their first stop was Gringotts. There was something exciting, staring at the challenge engraved onto the silver doors of the Gobin-run bank. Still, Kurama was alongside company and he knew better than to let the smirk itching from inside of him crawl onto his face. Nevertheless, his eyes might have gleamed mischievously at the sight of Gringotts. And well, if Harry saw anything, it was the trick of the lights. Really.

By the end of their tour into Harry's vault, Kurama's opinion of the Goblin rose a little more, given the sight of their security. The vaults were hidden underground in a maze like tunnel system, akin to an ant's nest, full of turns and dead ends and only one route leading out. The track leading to the vaults were wide enough so that there was only enough room for their high-speed carts – anyone trying to run on foot through the tunnels would likely be flattened by a cart before they could move away. Stationed around were dragons, bred to slaughter anything and anyone not accompanied by a Goblin.

Then again no security was without its faults. Though Kurama knew better than to give into his own amusements during a mission, that didn't stop him from planning out possible strategies in his head. It made the long shopping trip after their trip to the bank more bearable than it otherwise would have been.

"Merlin, Harry! Look at this; it's so sleek!" Ron crooned, dragging the raven-haired boy over to the large window of a store bearing the glittering sign of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

There was a sparkle behind Harry's glasses as he rushed along. "Too bad it's just a prototype!" the teen cried excitedly, sounding so much more like a teen than Kurama had heard him.

Curiously, Kurama snuck a peek as well, but the artistically carved broomstick spoke nothing to him. "Can you explain the appeal of a broomstick to me?" the redhead asked in interest.

There was a scandalised look on Ron's face at his words. "Appeal? Can't you see it?" he cried, arms waving frantically, "Look at that form! Do you know how fast this broom will go?"

"There's nothing like flying up in the sky," Harry added.

The appeal, it appeared, had nothing to do with the actual broom itself – or at least in Harry's case. Ultimately, it was the love of flying that enticed the kids, and so it was no wonder Kurama felt nothing for the broom. With his plants, Kurama could easily achieve flight, and in a form much more elegant than a stick of dead wood. Kurama could manipulate flora into something akin to large, looming wings and drift along the skyline in perfect bursts of energy, where speed and control relied solely on his own practiced ability. There was something unsophisticated about having to rely on a broomstick set with certain specifications.

With an understanding nod, Ron and Harry's attention drifted quickly, and Kurama's own drew to the wand he currently had stored in his jean pockets instead. Not soon after leaving Gringotts, Kurama had been lead towards Ollivanders. The wand shop was a curious place, feeling of muted magic due to the hundreds of stored wands piled on the shelves. The moment Kurama arrived, the owner, Mr. Ollivander, peered at him with wide moon-pale eyes before quickly ushering him into the back room, much to Kurama's companions' confusion.

Catering for the 'magic' of demons was apparently a difficult thing. The problem was that demons normally didn't need accessories like wands in order to channel their magic. Any attempts with normal wizarding wands charred and abused the poor wands until Ollivander finally slapped Kurama's hand away and refused to let him touch another. They'd hastily turned to a different path after that. Actually, Ollivander had been expecting to have to make Kurama's wand from scratch, and that was why he had lead Kurama towards the backroom in the first place.

There, the two of them collaborated to create a worthy wand. Since demons knew how to efficiently pull energy from themselves, they concluded that, unlike with wizards, using a wand core from another creature as a conductant would only interfere with their 'magic.' As such, using something that represented himself as the wand core would help him transfer energy into the wand to be let out. A strand of hair from Youko Kurama seemed to do the trick.

The wood of the wand, by Kurama's suggestion, was that of a demon plant. Not only more durable than wood of the human world, but it also emitted the same aura as the type he used – demon energy. Hopefully, it would be more compatible.

In the end, Shuichi came out of the wand shop with a new wand that felt miles more harmonious to his demon energy than any of the other wands that he'd tried. Kurama had a feeling he would still prefer not using one, but as far as props went, this wand was usable.

After shopping for his robes and school books, the large group has split up, which was why Kurama was with Ron and Harry while they were staring enamored by the broomstick on display.

Kurama took a glance at his watch. "I believe it's about time to meet up with everyone else at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour," the redhead said to the groans of the two teens before him. "We wouldn't want to worry them." Besides, it was well past time to head home, in Kurama's opinion.

Kurama was settled on the floor of Ron's room, watching the Ron and Harry sleep. The buzz of magic around him made Kurama's senses constantly alert, not used to such feelings in the human world amongst humans. It was a bit disorienting, to be honest, feeling this much energy around him when he normally associated this amount when around other demons or the scarce few spiritual beings he knew.

The window was propped open and Kurama was just deliberating closing it when he a sudden spike of energy drew his attention. It was approaching him from the outside, and fast. Kurama knew who it was immediately. He shifted off to the side immediately, bracing himself.

Seconds later, in a gush of wind in her wake, a female flew into the room, only barely stopping before impacting anything hard.

"Kurama," she said.

Kurama's eyes flickered towards the two boys, bearing his keen emerald eyes on their sleeping forms. He held in a worried breath as Ron's snoring tapered off. Then, abruptly, Ron turned over in his sleep, muttered something unintelligent, then stared snoring again, albeit a bit softer.

He didn't have time to sigh in relief, nor observe for any longer when the girl started to talk once more. "Wha -"

Immediately, Kurama pressed his hand against her mouth, bodily dragging the girl out the window and into the garden below with one sturdy jump. She wiggled and shrieked silently behind his hand until they landed. In condolence, Kurama gave her a comforting pat on the head. "I apologise, Botan," he said, "But what do you think you are doing?"

The ferry girl stumbled out of his hold, leaning onto her oar. "I have a message to deliver," she replied, a hint of confusion at his abrupt movement to relocate her.

"Right now?"

Botan nodded wordlessly, before gesturing the house behind him. "You're always around them in the morning and afternoons."

As true as that was, that was no reason for her careless actions. "What if they heard you, though?" Kurama chided the girl and the way she flew inside without a second thought.

The blue-haired girl only tilted her head with a blank look on her face. "Humans can't see me," Botan reminded him.

"Ordinary human, Botan," Kurama corrected gently. "I realise wizards aren't normally your jurisdiction, but please recall they're used to seeing ghosts and spirits."

Her eyes grew, face red. "Ah! Oh dear!" She gave a half-bow in apology, "I'm assigned to lingering souls. I usually don't have any interaction with wizards."

"I realised," Kurama commented. He offered her a smile. "Nevertheless, the message, if you please?"

Botan nodded, brightening up. "There's been a change in the mission."

"What happened?"

"Last night, there was a breach in Japan's Demon-Human World Barrier – it's been weak after it broke during the Sensui incident. The Spirit World's got everyone working twenty-four seven to fix it up, but it's not enough. The damage is considerable, and our hasty patchwork isn't holding back most demons from making it through. A lot of lower class, and even some higher class demons have managed to take advantage of the whole mess. Lord Koenma sent Yusuke to take care of them, but we don't think he's going to make it back in time for the start of the semester."

Somehow, Kurama had a feeling Yusuke was taking it easy in hopes of dragging out his new mission so that he could miss as much of the Hogwarts mission as possible. That kid would go to any lengths to miss school. Who knew, Yusuke could strategize after all.

"Until Yusuke finishes up with them," Botan continued, "you'll have to work solo on this for a little while."

"And Hiei?" Kurama wondered. Fixing the overrun demon problem in Japan seemed like a one-man job to him. Kuwabara was always there to help if necessary too. Thre was no reason why Hiei would have to miss attending Hogwarts.

"Oh right." Botan clapped her hands together in remembrance, "Lord Koenma sent Hiei to the Demon World to find out what happened. Demons don't just start rebelling out of no where, especially with that many together." She leaned in, "Actually, Lord Koenma personally thinks it's that Voldemort behind this."

Kurama hummed thoughtfully. It sounded like Voldemort had this planned out for quite a while. It was impossible to contact so many demons on a short notice, yet Spirit World was only aware of his plans to involve demons in a possible attack against Hogwarts a short while ago. It seemed like the Spirit World was behind in their intelligence.

"I'll do what I can, to protect Harry," Kurama replied firmly. "Is there anything else I need to look out for other than demons and Death Eaters?" he asked, just in case.

The ferry girl tapped her lip in thought before she shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of. Thanks, Kurama." The redhead nodded and she continued, "I need to report back to Lord Koenma now. Good luck." With that, she hopped back onto her oar and took off to the sky.

By himself, Kurama stretched his senses to the window above, trying to listen for any sounds. He was certain there was no one by the window – actually, he had been keeping an ear on that ever since he jumped down with Botan – but now that he focused, he could hear sounds further away, like the soft moaning from Harry and soft snoring from Ron.

Carefully, Kurama jumped back into the room through the open window. He landed and was only just by his sleeping bag when Ron sat up abruptly, snore immediately cut off. The Weasley blinked at him a few times, pulling his covers over his head. "Uhh, washroom?" he slurred out.

Kurama wasn't sure if the kid was asking him or stating it, but he nodded with a "yes," because that explained when he wasn't in his sleeping bag yet.

"Oh, you first then," Ron said, waving his hand while scrubbing his eyes with the other, "I'll go after."

"Thank you," Kurama said with a nod, leaving even when he didn't need to. It was better to go with the flow.

What he didn't know was that the moment the door closed behind Shuuichi, Ron narrowed his eyes into a glare. The teen pulling his hastily stuffed Extendable Ear from under his blanket. Ron had woken up when Kurama had jumped out of his window. He didn't dare move from his bed in case the other redhead heard him, but that didn't mean he couldn't hear when Shuuichi started talking outside. Armed with his ever present Extendable Ears, Ron had slowly inched the ear towards the window from the safety of his own bed.

Harry would laugh if he ever found out, but honestly, Ron had expected a secret rendezvous between Shuuichi and his sister. Call him paranoid, but he thought Shuuichi was too polite to be anything but faking, trying to charm Ginny and other girls. So, like he'd told Harry, he was keeping an eye on Shuuichi.

And when Shuuichi suddenly decided to slip out at night, Ron thought he could catch the teen redhanded trying to woo his sister, or something.

A secret meeting with some stranger was not what he expected, especially a stranger in England who also knew Japanese. And the more he heard, the more distrustful he was of Harry's cousin. Sure Ron didn't know any Japanese, but names were universal. Somehow the words Hogwarts, Voldemort, Harry, and Death Eater, painted a rather suspicious picture, especially when used together.

And if Ron wasn't mistaken, Shuuichi had been called another name. Something like Kurama. If using a false name didn't sound fishy, Ron didn't know what did. He knew Shuichi was trouble. No one was going to dupe Harry without him kicking their arse all the way to the Romania and back. Especially if they were one of Voldemort's minions.