InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Light in Dark Places ❯ Chapter 6: Immersion ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: Guess what, y'all! I'm back! And I swear I won't take a year hiatus EVER again. :o)

ooo

Light in Dark Places

By: Eilan-san

ooo

Chapter 6: Immersion

The space between your heart and mine

Is the space we'll fill with time.

--Dave Matthews, “The Space Between”

ooo

The next morning seemed oddly surreal. Harry and Kagome surprisingly slipped into an easy routine: she made coffee and he made toast and they sat at the kitchen table in a comfortable silence as they both read the paper, enjoying the other's company. It was almost as if they had been doing this for years instead of forty-eight hours, twenty-four of which they hadn't really been speaking.

Harry had especially enjoyed the easy banter on the underground as they made their way to the Ministry of Magic. They had laughed and recounted their first meeting at the tube station and for the first time in a long time, Harry felt completely relaxed.

However, upon entering the lobby at the Ministry of Magic, Harry noticed one woman's gaze lingering on his forehead. He felt himself tense as the woman turned to whisper to her companion with a none-too-subtle point in his direction.

Kagome quirked an eyebrow at him as she filled out the sign-in sheet; and he gestured to the woman pointing at him with his a tilt of his head. Kagome looked over at the older women and shook her head in disbelief. She gave Harry a reassuring smile and squeezed his arm before accepting her guest badge from the attendant and pinning it to her blouse.

Harry could feel the heated whispers and stares follow them down the corridors, into the elevator and up the stairs, going through him as if he was glass. His frown grew deeper and his temper flared with each passing moment.

Could they not understand that he could hear them, see them, feel them looking at him, talking about him?

He was about ready to scream at the portrait bowing to him nearby when he felt Kagome's hand on his arm.

He turned to her, confused, but she just smiled back with warm eyes. “You really weren't kidding about the whole being famous thing, were you?” she said. She leaned closer to him and her breath tickled his ear, “Too bad I know who you really are, hm?” she teased. “What would they say if they knew you snored at night?” Kagome pulled back, eyes twinkling with mischief, and suddenly all the tension flooded out of him again.

How does she do that?

And somewhere in the back of his mind he couldn't help but think that he never wanted to stop smiling as much as he did around her.

Unfortunately this feeling didn't last long, either. He was pointing out the doors to Hermione's department when they were rudely interrupted.

“Well, well, well, it seems that the rumors are true. He-Who-Defeated-the-Dark-Lord is being followed around by a muggle,” said a snide voice from behind them.

Harry whipped around quickly, Kagome close behind him, hand still on his arm. Leaning against the wall, a short distance behind them, stood a perfectly coiffed Draco Malfoy, his patented smirk at full volume.

“Malfoy” Harry bit out distastefully. “What do you want?”

Kagome wordlessly glanced from Harry to Malfoy and back again with a worried expression and Harry felt her move her hand from his arm down to his hand and clutch it tightly. He squeezed it, hoping to give her some reassurance, but she only held on tighter and refused to let go.

“I don't want anything, Potter, just thought I would come say hello to my former classmate and see for myself what on earth a wizard like you would want with a muggle,” Malfoy spat. He threw a falsely sweet smile at Kagome. “She's clearly not your servant,” he threw a pointed glance at their joined hands. “Are you having an affair, perhaps? I suppose muggles would make decent companions, I mean, one Imperio and they'll do whatever you want.”

Ordinarily, Harry would have been angry, but at the moment he was absolutely terrified of Kagome, who was glaring at Malfoy in a murderous fury, rivaling only Hermione during the bird incident in sixth year. He felt her begin to move forward, and he grabbed her arm to keep from assaulting Draco.

“Aw, you don't like me? Too bad,” Malfoy sneered. “Not that I would associate with trash such as yourself anyway, even if the precious `Chosen One' would.”

“The only trash I see here is you, Malfoy,” Harry snarled back, taking a defensive posture, hand floating above his wand. Getting involved in a stand off in the middle of the Ministry was something he really wanted to avoid. However, he thought it was strange that Malfoy didn't recognize that Kagome was clearly not just a muggle since she was in the Ministry at all.

Strangely, even though Malfoy's hand was also hovering above his wand, his attention abruptly shifted from Harry to Kagome and a look of confused and intense interest entered his eyes. Harry lowered his hand and watched in bewilderment.

“Who in the hell are you?” Draco asked roughly, still looking at her. He was looking at her almost… almost as if he was trying to place her.

Draco's eyes widened and Kagome's back stiffened quickly, “A friend of Harry and Hermione's, what's it to you?” she retorted, and peered closer at him. “And who exactly are you?”

Recovering rapidly, Draco broke the stare. “That's none of your business, mudblood,” Draco said scornfully.

Kagome's eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Clearly,” she began, her voice tight. “You are an wretched example of a human being and I don't want anything to do with you anyway. Harry is my friend, and if you don't like it you can go jump off of a cliff for all I care.”

Harry saw Draco's jaw drop, but didn't even have time to contemplate the shocked look on his face before Kagome had taken his hand and was dragging him behind her in the direction he'd pointed out as being towards Hermione's office.

Kagome found the door labeled Hermione Granger-Weasley and burst through the door to the office, Harry in tow.

“What's the matter?” Hermione asked, startled, and beckoned them to come in.

Harry closed the door and sat himself down in one of the armchairs near Hermione's desk, but Kagome, still seething, paced around the office. “Kagome just had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Malfoy,” Harry supplied with a wry smile.

“Oh,” Hermione said. “Sorry about that. He was supposed to be gone for lunch, I'd hoped you wouldn't run into him.”

Kagome stopped and took a deep breath before plopping down in the armchair next to Harry. “He is the sort of person I absolutely cannot stand - the sort that only associates with people who can get him somewhere. He obviously has a superiority complex for people who are different from him,” she said, eyes still blazing. Closing her eyes and rubbing her temples, she said quietly, “One of my best friends growing up was treated horribly because of his mixed parentage and it makes me very angry when someone uses that kind of language.”

She sighed and leaned back in the chair. “I'm glad we got out of there when we did. I might have slugged him, and poor Hermione here would have a lot of explaining to do.”

Hermione just grinned and exchanged a glance with Harry.

“How did he end up getting a job in the Ministry after everything he pulled during the war, anyway?” Harry asked.

“Unfortunately, money and old connections still talk in this day and age,” Hermione replied. “Although I do find it entertaining that I am his boss now. Poor boy, having a mudblood for a supervisor. If only he knew the Dark Lord had been one as well, I don't know what he'd do.”

Harry and Kagome laughed in unison as Hermione made a mental note of their physical proximity and smiled. “So, I understand you need to see the library, Professor. Harry, you'd better be off to your office before my husband has your tail. I'll make sure the Professor is safe from any more of Malfoy's malevolence.”

Harry nodded. “Meet you in an hour?” he asked.

“Yes, that sounds fine,” Kagome replied, eyes still closed.

Harry bade the girls goodbye and headed off down the hall towards the Auror Office.

“Shall we go?” Kagome asked.

Hermione nodded, nearly bursting with desire to ask the question she really wanted to ask, nosy woman that she was. Unfortunately, it wasn't until they were opening the doors to the library, and safely out of earshot, that Hermione broke down.

“So… how did you sleep last night?” she whispered slyly.

Kagome just rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile. “Enough with the matchmaking, we are stuck together now whether we like it or not. If something happens, it will happen on its own, and you will be the first to know.”

Hermione smiled mischievously at first, but then turned serious, “You honestly don't care about who he is? That he's a wizard? That he's famous? His whole life he's been `The Boy Who Lived',” she said, placing her bag down on an empty table near the shelves of books and Kagome followed suit.

“Everyone has baggage,” she said evasively. “We all have secrets.”

Meanwhile, Harry was in the middle of being asked the same question by Ron.

“Back off already! And tell your wife to do the same!” Harry said frustrated, as he collapsed into the chair behind his desk, and buried his face in his hands.

Ron, with an earnest look on his face, said, “We just want you to be happy, and we saw how you were looking at each other. It's obvious that you like her.”

Harry peeked out from behind his hands and sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do,” he said somewhat reluctantly. “She's pretty, she's smart and she stands up to me. She doesn't seem to care that I'm a wizard or the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived or whatever. I'm just a normal bloke to her, and it's a nice change.”

Ron didn't say anything, just simply stood against the doorframe, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh shut it,” Harry said, smiling back, blushing a little.

Ron opened his mouth to continue teasing his friend, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Uh… Mister… Mister Potter, sir?” The department's newest intern, Emma Macklin, stood outside of Harry's office door and was obviously incredibly star-struck. “There's, uh, been a report from the hospital on Professor Yamato's condition. I think you'll want to take a look at it.” The poor girl was obviously nervous, and Harry could see her hand shaking as she held out the piece of parchment.

He smiled graciously at her, “Thank you, Emma.”

Emma squeaked and then flushed horribly. “You're welcome, Mister… Mister Potter,” she stammered, and promptly fled the room.

“You gotta tell me how you do that, mate,” Ron said, watching Emma run off to her cubicle down the hall and trying very hard not to burst out laughing. “It's bloody hysterical how you make them go all stuttery like that.”

He turned back towards Harry, but he was consumed in the parchment, eyes widening with each line. He jumped to his feet and Ron was forced to leap back and out of his way.

“Ron, I need an emergency portkey as soon as humanly possible,” Harry said, eyes never leaving the parchment in his hands.

“What's going on?” Ron asked, incredulous at the serious look on Harry's face.

“Things just got a lot more interesting,” Harry said with a grimace and quickly packed up his things and headed towards the library.

He found the girls towards the back of the reading room. Hermione was, as usual, poring over the dusty tomes, but Kagome was looking right at him as soon as he came into view, as if she was expecting him.

“Ladies, we have a new development,” he said, walking up to them and trying to shake off the odd feeling that was tickling his insides. Kagome simply continued looking at him with that peculiar look on her face.

“I just received a note from Dr. Yamato's attending physician. It appears the healers deduced that the nightmares Dr. Yamato has been having weren't really nightmares.” He paused. “Apparently, they were badly tampered-with memories.”

Kagome raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent.

“They secured one of the memories for us. It's waiting for us at the hospital,” he said, “We have to go now.”

The women hastily filled their bags with their notes, checked out their books, and by the time they returned to the Auror Office, Ron was waiting for them with the portkey.

Hermione had explained to Kagome how a portkey worked on the way over, but everyone was surprised that Kagome showed little ill effect from the trip. She landed with the rest of them and walked calmly towards the entrance to the hospital, leaving the three wizards staring in her wake.

Once inside, they were met by a resident near the information desk, “Ah, Mr. Potter, right this way,” he said, and led them to an empty office containing a small pensieve. “Dr. Laurie will be with you shortly.”

“Erm, Harry,” Kagome asked hesitantly, pointing at the pensieve, “What is that?”

“It's a pensieve. Wizards can extract memories from themselves and others and once they are put into the pensieve, they are basically recorded as you remember them at that particular moment. So, it's a fairly effective way of accurately retaining your memories for your own or other people's reference,” Harry said.

Hermione tapped her chin thoughtfully, “What I want to know is how this small hospital in Glastonbury got its hands on one.”

“They're rare?” Kagome asked.

“Yes, terribly so,” Hermione replied, “But I suppose they would have had one brought in for the Chosen One.” She glanced playfully at Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Oh, sod off.”

“You know it's probably true, though, mate.” Ron supplied.

“I know, but you don't have to bring it up,” Harry said as an elderly looking doctor entered the room.

“Hello, Mr. Potter, nice to finally meet you in person,” he said, extending his hand. “I am Dr. Laurie, Dr. Yamato's attending physician.”

“Doctor, thank you so much for helping us. Dr. Yamato's case has been of keen interest in the Auror Division,” Harry responded, shaking his hand. “This is Ron Weasley, also from the Auror Division, his wife, Hermione Granger-Weasley, head of the Muggle Mediation Division and Dr. Kagome Higurashi, one of Dr. Yamato's colleagues.”

“Pleasure,” the doctor said pleasantly. “Here is the memory your office requested,” he produced a bottle with the familiar pearly mist swirling inside and handed it to Harry. “I do hope it helps in your search to find out who did this to the poor doctor. The man may never recover completely.” Dr. Laurie shook his head. “I shall leave you to it, then. Let me know if there's anything else you need.”

Harry took the bottle from him and nodded in the affirmative, and the doctor left with Hermione shutting the door firmly behind him.

“Shall we begin?” she asked, hesitant.

Harry turned to Kagome, “I don't know if muggles can even enter pensieves, so hang onto me the whole time we're in there.”

Kagome turned pale, “Enter it? I thought we were just going to watch it.”

“Not exactly,” said Ron. “Basically, we will lean over the pensieve and sort of fall into it and we will watch the memory take place as bystanders, unable to act on any of the people in it, but as if we were really there.”

“That's why it's so important for you stick close to Harry, Kagome,” Hermione said.

Kagome nodded and moved closer to him. He wrapped his arm securely around her waist and tried very hard not to think about their proximity. Or how good she smelled.

“Everyone ready?” Harry asked, looking at his companions. Hermione and Ron nodded, and Kagome squeezed his arm. Harry took a deep breath and plunged in.

The impact of their feet hitting the cold, hard cement, made a ringing noise throughout the room, indicating the room was mostly empty. Harry turned briefly and saw Ron and Hermione land nearby out of his peripheral vision and noted that Kagome was still safely attached to his side. He looked around and ascertained that they had landed in a stereotypical dark, dank basement of an old house.

In one corner there was a chair behind a table with a small lamp hanging above it, and an older man was sitting in the chair and two figures were lurking just outside of their line of sight.

This was definitely a muggle memory, and it had been tampered with. Only a muggle with small delusions of grandeur would have an altered memory like this. It was straight out of the cinema.

Kagome poked him in the side, ruining his amused reverie. “That's him,” she whispered, “That's Dr. Yamato. In the chair.”

He was an short, older man, ethnically Japanese, with thinning hair and a weathered complexion. He was tied to the chair and was obviously unable to move. “What do you want with me?” he yelled. “I have no idea what you're talking about. The damned thing isn't real! It's just a story!”

One of the shadowy figures came forward, a portly man in with mussed, dark hair. He smacked the doctor across the face, hard enough for him to cry out. “Our information says otherwise, Doctor.”

Dr. Yamato was breathing heavily now, and a mark was appearing where the man had struck him. “I am not even the leading expert on this particular subject anyway, why are you concerned with me?”

“Well, give us a name and we'll go talk to him instead,” the other figure said cruelly from the dark.

“Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She's the leading expert on this legend. Her family's shrine was the original caretakers of it, or so the legend goes, anyway! Please, let me go!” he begged, his voice cracking.

“So far his information's been accurate,” the first man said, bemused. “Maybe we should talk to this woman.”

The other man, significantly taller than the first man, finally entered their field of vision, carrying a bowl of herbs that he set down on the table, and scowling.

“The boss wants us to do this first,” he replied shortly, producing a match, which he struck on the table and dropped into the bowl.

It took only seconds for the room to fill with smoke; Harry and his party began to cough from the sickly sweet stench of it. The world around them turned muddled; it made Harry so dizzy he had to close his eyes.

“The Shikon no Tama is but a light in the dark places, her purity lighting the darkness of the hearts of men!” the doctor cried out suddenly in the darkness.

He felt Kagome stiffen against him.

“Find the Guardian!”

And all Harry was aware of at that moment was Kagome burying her head in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

And as suddenly as the fog appeared, it dissipated, although Harry's vision was still blurry.

“Well, I guess it worked,” he heard the second goon say soberly.

“What in the bloody hell was he talking about?” the other asked.

“I haven't the faintest idea,” he replied. “The boss will definitely want to hear about this.”

There was a brief silence, and Harry saw the first guy move the bowl of herbs away from Dr. Yamato and his vision began to sharpen.

“Have you noticed the boss acting a bit off lately?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, you know, off. Like he's possessed.”

“Bollocks. Stop talking nonsense.”

“So you think we should go find this Higurashi woman?”

“We'll have to see what the boss wants.”

Kagome shuddered in Harry's arms. He turned to Ron and Hermione, “Let's get out of here,” he said. They nodded grimly.

In a matter of moments they were back in the conference room at the hospital. Harry pulled back from Kagome and looked at her with concern, “Are you alright?”

She nodded and broke away from him, but stumbled. Harry moved to help her, but she just shook him off and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Harry, did you recognize the taller of the two men?” Ron asked gravely.

“Sure did. It was Crabbe,” Harry replied. “Which means it's likely that Malfoy is behind this.”

“But how on earth would Malfoy have even heard of the Jewel? It doesn't make any sense,” Hermione said, lowering herself cautiously into one of the chairs. Even she was shaken.

“Because he is possessed,” Kagome said quietly, finally turning around to face them. “That's why I felt so uncomfortable around him. It's been a long time since I've felt a youkai's presence, so I didn't recognize it at first.”

She smiled dourly at Hermione. “And that's why Auror Intelligence thought it was a dark wizard when it only could have been a youkai or a miko. The jewel is effectively worthless to a wizard.”

She turned towards Harry, her eyes bright with tears, “Harry, I…” she said weakly, stepping towards him, but she stumbled and fell to the floor and dissolved into tears. Harry crouched down next to her and took her gently into his arms. He glanced at Ron and Hermione, who looked as bewildered and helpless as he felt at that moment.

`What on earth is going on?' he thought.