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:Don't own InuYasha or Harry Potter:

LostArtist

Last Chapter

Lying there on a velvet cushion was Tetsusaiga in its sheath.

Picking it up almost reverently she pulled the rusty old blade out. It looked almost as it had 500 years ago. Hugging the re-sheathed sword to herself she let out the tears she hadn't cried since she returned from the well five months ago.

That was where Hermione found her. Asleep on her bed hugging what appeared to be an old sword.

Chapter 8

Harry was worried. Kagome hadn't come to any of their classes the rest of the day. It was now dinner and Kagome still hadn't left the girls dormitory where Hermione had found her at lunch. What happened after Defense Against the Dark Arts to make Kagome skip class? It wasn't like her. She usual gave Hermione a run for her money when it came to her school work.

Finishing his food, Harry decided to head back to the common room before the others. There was a lot on his mind between worrying over Kagome, planning quidditch tryouts tomorrow, and Dumbledore's lessons.

The common room was practically empty with everyone still down at dinner. Heading over to his favorite chairs by the fire he noticed one other person there with him. Kagome sat curled in the chair, staring into the flames. What looked like an old sword rested against the armrest.

"Kagome?" Harry asked cautiously. She started and looked around.

"Oh, Hey Harry. I didn't hear you come in," she said with a small almost strained smile.

"You okay? You weren't in any classes today after Professor Kaza called you back," he said.

"Me? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

Harry looked at her skeptically before sitting down next to her. He stared into the flames like she was, wondering if she would say any more.

"You know, it really stinks sometimes," she said suddenly.

"What?" Harry said caught off guard by the sudden outburst.

"You can get so close to people and no matter how much you may love them they can still be torn away from you in the blink of an eye."

Harry nodded sadly, "I know," he replied, now having an idea of why she'd missed the entire day of classes. "Did that belong to them?" he asked after a pause, nodding towards the sword.

Kagome nodded. "His name was InuYasha, he was my best friend."

"My godfather Sirius…him too." Harry said, still not completely able to say the actual words.

Kagome looked at him for the first time since he'd sat down, her eyes filled with tears. Harry had a feeling they weren't simply tears for InuYasha now, but for him too. Then she surprised him.

One moment he was looking into her teary eyes, the next over the top of her head as she engulfed him in a hug. It felt…nice. She wasn't really crying, just hugging him, and for the first time since Sirius died he truly felt like everything was going to be alright. He hugged her back.

Kagome felt good. It was Saturday. Yes, she had lots of homework to do this weekend, and yes she had spent the whole of yesterday crying, but today she just felt good. She was sitting outside in the nice weather watching quidditch tryouts from the stands. It was actually a really interesting game from what she could see. Granted, it seemed as though half the people trying out had no clue what they were doing, but it was fun watching Harry narrow down the selection. He looked so comfortable on the broom, more so then she'd ever seen him on land. She blushed glad that no one could read her mind. She needed to stop thinking about him. Last night had been nice though. Without realizing it, they had sat there hugging each other until everyone started coming back from dinner. At the first sign of noise Kagome had jumped up, shocked that she had stayed in his arms that long. Luckily no one had seen or the rumors that would be flying today would have been ruthless. Not that she really minded, but she didn't want her friendship with Harry to become awkward. There was also the fact that she was still kind of friends with his rival. She wasn't sure Draco would ever speak to her again if he thought she and Harry were dating. Still...if Harry asked she might just risk it.

Kagome shook her head. "Stop thinking about him," she said to herself.

"Thinking about who?" Hermione asked from her side as Kagome looked at her startled.

"Oh! Uh, no one," she said, subconsciously looking towards Harry again. Hermione grinned before turning back to the field for the Keeper tryouts.

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He hid in the shadows watching as she walked in, laughing with her three friends. He needed something to get her away from them for a little. "Accio Kagome's wand," he whispered. Hoping she would notice the loss of such an important item. Unfortunately she felt the wand as it was slipping from her pocket and, thinking it was simply falling out, placed it back without another thought.

Damn, now there was no way she'd believe it had fallen out that…Maybe if he could somehow get that necklace she wore all the time, she might not notice that right away…

Kagome froze. The other three stopped their conversation to look around. "What's wrong?" Harry asked her. Her hand went to her chest as she shook her head.

"Nothing, just thought I heard something," she lied, not wanting to worry her friends. "You guys go get lunch, I'll catch up, okay?"

They looked at her skeptically but let it be, heading in to the Great Hall. Harry was a little more hesitant, but he followed anyway.

Watching them go, Kagome spread out her senses. She could have sworn she'd felt a tug on the jewel, as though someone was after it. That wasn't possible though, was it? She couldn't sense any demons nearby and no one here should know about the jewel anyway. She looked around raising her protective shield a little as she went.

"Kagome," a voice called behind her. She jumped, turning to see Draco Malfoy walking towards her from the dungeons.

"Hi Draco," Kagome said distractedly, still attempting to sense any demon auras in the vicinity.

"You alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah," she said confused after not finding anything. "It's nothing." She smiled at him then.

"I've been trying to catch you," he said smoothly. "I was wondering if you'd done the History of Magic assignment yet."

"Oh! No, I'd almost forgotten about that homework actually. I have so much going on. How come?" she asked curiously.

"Well I was wondering if you'd like to meet in the library later and work on it together."

"Oh! Um, yeah, sure," she said surprised. After all, they'd never really hung out outside of class before.

"Great!" Draco said, giving Kagome a dashing smile. "How about we meet there after dinner tonight? We can work on it until curfew then."

Kagome nodded and waved goodbye to Draco still feeling a little uneasy. She brushed it off and followed her friends into the Great Hall for lunch.

"What! What in the bloody hell were you thinking!" Ron cried outraged.

"Ron! She can be friends with whoever she wants to," Hermione replied annoyed at his loud outburst in the Great Hall.

Kagome had just told them about her run in with Malfoy. Needless to say her friends weren't too thrilled. They'd warned her to be careful and now she was going somewhere alone with Malfoy, in the dark hours between dinner and curfew.

"Well it'll at least be a chance for me to try and find out if he really is up to something like Harry thinks, right?" Kagome asked, trying to find an excuse they'd accept.

"Well that is a good point," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Unless what he's up to involves her," Harry said frowning.

Kagome frowned back. "I really don't think Draco would hurt me, even if he wanted to," she said as Ron snorted.

"You obviously don't know Malfoy like we do then," he said, receiving a glare from Kagome.

"Well I'm going. I can't stand him up after I agreed. That would just be rude," she said ending the conversation.

Yet as the four did their homework in the common room that afternoon Harry fashioned a plan.

After dinner Kagome waved goodbye to her friends and headed towards the library. Harry had filled Ron and Hermione in on his plan over dinner while Kagome was talking animatedly with Ginny. Ron had thought it brilliant while Hermione had given him a disapproving frown, saying nothing. Harry didn't really care, he was going to do it whether they thought he should or not. He left the Great Hall after Kagome, pulling the invisibility cloak on as he reached a deserted corridor. Properly hidden, he headed off towards the library to find out what Malfoy was really up to.

A little Harry/Kagome fluff in that chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Sorry I don't tell you what the pairing is. I prefer to let the story reveal itself in it's own time. Hope you don't mind too terribly!

Please keep up the reviews! You guys make my day.

LA