Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unto the Few ❯ Teachers, Tests, and Results ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five: Teachers, Tests and Results

~~

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a breeze for the Tantei and Kagome, providing only slight hitches for Yukina. Professor Lupin was a fun person to be taught by, as he was always coming up with creative ways to hold Yusuke and Kuwabara’s attentions for more than ten minutes. As their “class period” with him was three and a half-hours, Lupin certainly had his work cut out for him!

Through experience, the students learned that Snape gave lots of reading assignments, trying to make up for all of those lost weeks on theory of potions they supposed, and gave out many (as promised) essays. Professor Lupin, on the other hand, was another story entirely. He gave most of his assignments as in-class experiments and demonstrations. They rarely had a reading assignment, and over the course of the summer had only three essays, versus Snape’s eleven.

Their other two classes, Transfiguration and Charms, kept them on their toes, as these two teachers were also at opposite ends of the spectrum. On their second day of summer school, they were hauled off to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Transfiguration was first, and Yusuke decided right then and there that he would do everything in his power to make the old woman yell at him—which, as Kurama pointed out—could be disaster for Yusuke’s physicality…

Thus, the first lesson of the day was the three hundred and twenty-four different ways Professor McGonagall could transfigure Yusuke into a mammal of her choice, should he aggravate her any further.

Somehow, despite the fact that the troublesome leader of the Tantei was intentionally pressing McGonagall’s buttons, he was somehow her favorite of them all and Yusuke began to pass the class with flying colors. However, in Potions, he failed miserably to attain any level of average ability. If he didn’t manage to nearly cut his fingers off or burn his clothing on the cauldron fires, his potions rarely made it up to Snape’s lowest levels of expectancy.

Kuwabara, it seemed, took to copying Yusuke’s actions in most of their Potions classes, therefore resulting in explosions and the risk of poisoning at the end of every class period. Hiei took the incentive to point out to the ape-like man that, after three or so weeks of botching up potions (no thanks to his copying of Urameshi); he should have learned to depend on himself to make the brews. Kuwabara responded to that comment by crashing over to Hiei (in the process knocking over his cauldron and spilling its acidic contents all over the floor), and grabbing him by the collar.

Arrogant and sarcastic threats were exchanged until Snape cast a silencing spell on the both of them, then ordered them to clean up the mess and spend the rest of the period removing the intestinal tracks of small rodents.

Hiei himself was well off in his four classes. However, his Charms were below average. One day he got so frustrated while trying to get the "swish and flick” motion with his wand in order to perform “Wingardium Leviosa,” that he incinerated his feather and left a burn mark on the tip of his wand. In his other three classes he maintained the level of ability that was equal to average, considering his lack of wizarding background.

Yukina was doing well in Charms and Transfiguration. She had, as Yusuke and Kuwabara did, some trouble with her Potions class. She did nowhere near the damage that the two troublemakers did, but when given a knife and told to slice or chop, Yukina nearly always ended up coming close to taking off a finger. Most of the time, though, Kagome would catch her mistake in gripping the knife and would silently correct it before harm was done.

Snape wasted no time in loudly bemoaning the atrocities of half of his forsaken class, and daily took the time from his ‘busy’ schedule to berate Yusuke and Kuwabara, and to subject Yukina to his impatience at her inability to measure correctly. Hiei usually ignored this until it came to the point when Yukina was on the verge of crying, and then he and Snape found themselves in a verbal battle that was so fierce, you could feel the heat in the room emanating from Hiei, and Snape’s beady eyes were snapping with indignation. The issue was resolved by Snape turning his eyes away first, and after that, the Potions master left Hiei’s secret sister alone.

It soon became apparent that Kurama was bound and determined to go for Sainthood when it came to these new academics. He excelled in all of his classes, which included their four core classes. The other Tantei had rarely seen Kurama in his study-mode, as most of the time they were off fighting crime. Over the summer they realized exactly how much work he put into every aspect of his learning.

As for Kagome, she had decided from the beginningsto make up for her absences and poor grades at her former school. She made up her mind that nothing would stop her from achieving the highest she could in all of her classes, and indeed, she let nothing get in her way. As soon as they were dismissed from Grimmauld Place at 5:30, she would bury herself in her notes and study until their supper was done, at 6:15. Kagome would hastily excuse herself from the meal after eating very little, and would return to her room to study for another few hours, and then practice the new spells and techniques she’d learned about that day in class and from her books.

On the average night, Kagome would stay up until one in the morning, or later, if she had helped one of her friends (mainly Yukina) in their studies, and made up the lost time afterwards. Often, she would skip breakfast to do another fast review of the things she’d covered the night before. At least every other week Kagome would ask to review with Kurama on what he had learned and shocked him with the amount she had covered on her own.

“If you are not careful,” he warned her after one such review, “you’ll run yourself into the ground.”

Kagome simply smiled and said, shaking her head, “I haven’t been sick in two years and I’ve done much more strenuous things than reading and writing, Kurama.”

“Hmm…We’ll see,” He replied.

Indeed, Kagome did seem to grow tired and look a bit peaked, but she was still pulling strong. This wasn’t a large concern among the others, though, because everyone was beginning to show signs of constant stress—even Hiei.

The mid-week review helped greatly. The Saturday review was also only a half a day, as the teachers were restricted by orders from the Headmaster himself to not give out or expect homework due on that day. This fact was one of the only things that kept Yusuke from walking out and demanding to be transferred back to Japan on some days.

The time from noon until well after dark was devoted to physical activity and fighting practice. Mrs. Weasley was always sitting on pins and needles when she watched these events, even though the rest of the family saw it as a spectacular show that required popcorn and snacks. There were several times when Molly was just short of physically restrained from going to Dumbledore. For instance, the time when Kuwabara was recieved a concussion and was in a coma for four hours. Or the time when Kurama’s arm was slashed open and the cut hit an artery, resulting in his loss of blood until Yukina could heal him, with a little of Kagome’s assistance in making a poultice.

Kagome and Yukina also put on a bit of a show on Sundays, to provide an outlet for their idle, knowledge-numbed minds. Kagome was put up to tests of marksmanship—granted she still had trouble hitting the bullseye, but her aim had greatly improved. Her colorful hamayama varied in color from light pink to dark blue or purple lit up the dusky skylines.

Yukina herself had tapped into her creative side and took to seeing how intricate she could make ice crystals that she created. Mrs. Weasley grew very fond of ordering delicate teakettles that the koorime had a tendency to make, that ranged from two inches long to regular sizes. Using her nails, Yukina would scratch the intricate illustrations. It was mainly up to the Weasley children to come up with the most creative requests for ice sculptures.

The most inventive ones included a two foot high replica of Arthur, a colored ice sculpture of the family’s car (interior included), and a four foot high replica of the Burrow itself (which she accomplished in three hours, much of that due in part to Molly, who cast a spell to show Yukina any view of the house she desired, at any time). It was during these times that the bonds of companionship and friendship grew and solidified.

~~

The weeks flew by at top speed, and the student’s minds expanded hourly to hold the new information glued into their brains by the potion given to them by Snape. It was a week before their final exams, or the equivalence of the normal fifth year OWLS.

During that week they were all stressed beyond fathoming. Snape assigned a seven page essay on the major topics of Potion making and techniques, and required them to make the top three Potions that had given them each the most problems.

Lupin gave them in class reviews all week and a vague idea of what they would be tested on. The reviews were over the basics, then they expanded each day. No one, unsurprisingly, had any problems with that subjects.

McGonagall was more than a little overbearing with the fact that half of the class was having trouble transfiguring their turtles into tissue boxes and porcupines into pincushions. Therefore, she assigned all of the students three creatures to transform into binoculars, shoes, and a pewter statue of the creature they transfigured. It wasn’t much trouble to most of them, but Yukina, Kuwabara, and Hiei ran into some issues with their projects; Hiei’s shoes were for two left feet, Kuwabara’s binoculars (once an owl), still had feathers, pupils in the lenses, and a beak, and Yukina’s statue of a gecko was still moving when the transfiguring was complete.

Charms class review was mostly painless, Kagome and Hiei both managed to trip up in several areas of their questionings, but got it straightened out by the end of the week.

They had one full weekend off at the end of the summer before their big tests and nary a one of the teens wasted a moment of it—that is, if sleeping until nigh on noon wasn’t counted against them. Sunday night, Team Urameshi put on a show that surpassed even the wizards’ imaginations; even though, unknown to them, the team was just having fun and being dramatic for their audience’s pleasure.

Yukina outdid herself on her masterpiece—it was another one requested by Ron, and it was a life-sized statue of the captain of his favorite Quidditch team (whatever Quidditch was!) on his broom in full armor. George put a charm on it to make it zoom around until he melted and his limbs began to fall off. Kagome even managed to explode her target with an extremely powerful hamayama.

The first half of Monday was devoted to Potions, and each had to make a potion specifically selected by Snape as the most difficult in each of their ability ranges. Each student filed into the attic room one at a time to be tested orally by the Professor and to create the potion he selected for them. Kagome came out with a large smile on her face, however Yukina returned shaky and nervous, but Kagome assured her that she would’ve done fine. Kuwabara came out very last, and told everyone that they would have their scores in by Saturday.

From 1:30 pm until 5:45 that night was devoted to the testing of Defense Against the Dark Arts. They all had to face and ward off a boggart (in a private room with only Lupin involved). It was rather strange watching Hiei and Kagome’s fears, compared to the others’. All of the other boys’ fears involved their loved ones dying, or so they said. Kurama’s boggart transformed into his mother, lying dead and bloodied on the floor, while Yusuke’s took the form of a dying Keiko. Kuwabara saw Yukina dead, but on the other hand, Yukina herself saw just a black fog that Lupin later described to her as the fear of the unknown. Contrary to all of their fears, Kagome and Hiei stood out. They had done this in class before, and Lupin knew what to expect, but he never thought that they would show up in such detail…

Hiei stood firmly when the lid of the chest was released and the boggart came out; there was a pause as the creature considered what to change into, when all of a sudden, there was a POOF! And the mirror image of Hiei himself stood facing the fire demon. He glared defiantly at it, raising his wand and saying firmly, with fire in his eyes, “Riddikulous.” The boggart was forced back into the chest. Lupin thought that he might’ve killed to know what Hiei could’ve imagined being funny about himself, as nothing changed when he’d said the spell. But the look on the hybrid’s face as he left the room was more than enough to stay the professor’s questions.

Kagome’s turn came last and she stepped into the small room, where Lupin greeted her warmly. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for the scene that had given her nightmares after her first experience and nodded for him to unleash the boggart. The beast took not the form of a singular thing, but it replayed things beyond even a wizard’s imagination. It cast itself thinly over the classroom in a mist as it set up the characters to be played. In earlier practice, the fear was different every time and yet revolved around the same theme. This time, however, it appeared that all elements had finally come together.

The scene was of a bloodied field, a slain female who could’ve been Kagome’s double, and another, slightly older woman with a monumental boomerang over her shoulder. There was a young man carrying a staff with jangling keys, a large cat, and a little fox thing on its back.

In the center of the field was another young man in red with a gargantuan sword and a much taller, older man in white with a boa on his shoulder—both were faced off against an octopus of a thing. Long tentacles raced for the silver-haired men and both deflected the appendages, though now one could see the blood dripping from wounds on their bodies.

Helpless cries from an unseen girl begged the men in center field to be safe, although she should’ve been watching the ‘dead’ woman on the other side of the field. The woman rose again and came at the unseen girl and the other characters with her arrows.

Kagome was shaking and sweat was pouring down her face as she was caught up in the memory. Lupin had to shout at her before she snapped out of her trance to think clearly. Think funny, she told herself. She tried very hard and imagined the two silver-haired men in the clearing in pink frilly dresses and their hair up in braids and bow ties. “Riddikulous!” Kagome shouted. The boggart dispersed and Lupin forced it back into its confines. She continued to mutter the spell under her breath even after the beast was gone.

Lupin wordlessly handed her a piece of chocolate and opened the door for her.

When she finally re-emerged from the room, she shut the door behind her and collapsed back against it; she had to be carried by Kurama back through the fireplace and placed in her bed, as she had passed out cold.

~~

The next morning rolled around and Kagome woke with the dawn, feeling none of the after-affects of her loss of consciousness. She was hammered with questions of her state of mind etc., but Kagome assured them that she was fine and it was just a passing thing.

What did she see in that boggart, I wonder? Kurama asked Hiei telepathically.

Her past, Hiei answered easily.

How do you know?

None of your business.

Kurama dropped the matter, since Hiei was obviously feeling obstinate. No matter; he could find out later.

Their Transfiguration tests all went excellently, and in Charms Professor Flitwick told them all that only two of them would be taking it as fourth years, and the rest had passed at fifth year level and would be ready to take sixth year Charms.

That Friday their results came in. An owl from the Headmaster himself was sent in, along with congratulatory comments on all of them passing most of their classes with no lower than a fourth year average. He also said that this was to be considered a phenomenal accomplishment (Yusuke, however, described it as mental suicide and a miracle that this whole ‘magic and mirrors thing’ had held his attention this long).

A list was attached to the paper with their classes and their grade level at which they would be taking them.

Kuwabara: Potions—4, DADA—6, Transfiguration—5, Charms—4

Yusuke: Potions—4, DADA—6, Transfiguration—6, Charms—4

Hiei: Potions—5, DADA—6, Transfiguration—5, Charms—5

Kurama: Potions—6, DADA—6, Transfiguration—6, Charms—5

Yukina: Potions—5, DADA—5, Transfiguration—6, Charms—6,

Kagome: Potions—6, DADA—6, Transfiguration—5, Charms—5

“That’s amazing,” Mr. Weasley said, looking over their shoulders. “Not a single one of you got a class below fourth year! Brilliant work, you all!”

“Wait a moment,” Yukina said, snagging onto Kagome’s sleeve. “We are just going into the sixth year, correct? Then why are there sixes on our reports? We aren’t skipping a year, are we?”

“Oh, I think that just means that we are ready to begin classes with the other sixth years, is all, Yukina,” Kagome reassured her. “The fifth year classes are the ones that we’ll have to take with the year below us—that’s not such a bad thing.”

“Oh, I see now!” The koorime nodded, smiling.

“This calls for a celebration dinner!” Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, smiling cheerily. “I’ll make anything you want!”

Orders of at least twenty different Japanese delicacies came flying at her and she amended herself apologetically, “Well…maybe not anything…”

Even if they didn’t get to eat any of their traditional cultural food that night, they did feast well; Molly saw to that! After dinner the teens sat down around the large table and began a few rounds of poker (except Hiei, who was merely a spectator), which led to bets, which led to the loss of a few belongings and more money. Until Mrs. Weasley found out that is, and they were all sent up to their beds.

Of course, they simply re-congregated in Yusuke and Kuwabara’s room and continued to play until Yukina fell asleep over her hand and Kazuma carried her back to her bed. Kuwabara himself passed out around 11:30, and the Weasley children, whom threw in their cards around midnight, left the five Japanese alone and bid them goodnight. After the twins, Ron, and Ginny had gone, the others continued to play until around one thirty.

“Okay, you guys,” Kagome said, rubbing her forehead and eyes with her palms, “I give in; Yusuke has sucked me dry of any more of my belongings that I’m willing to give up and Kurama has taken every yen I own, so I’m done!”

“Took you long enough,” Yusuke told her, grinning madly at her. “You’d think that you would learn after the twentieth losing game in a row that you’re screwed.”

“Thanks, Mr. Sensitivity,” Kagome said sarcastically. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

Kurama chuckled slightly, bringing her attention to him. “And you, ‘Mr. I’ll Go Easy On A Beginner’, can kiss my rear-end because you looked at my cards every single chance you got!”

Kurama shrugged carelessly, but his vivid eyes sparkled in merriment. “It was not a fault of mine that made you keep revealing your cards—it would be cheating not to look.”

“You have a very strange logic,” Kagome remarked dryly.

“That’s Kurama for you though,” Yusuke told her. “You see, he’s got it all worked out. At school, he’s Mr. Goody Two-Shoes, and on a mission, he’s all business and got that cool, calm, serious thing going on. But he’ll be the first one to suggest a good game of Strip Poker, I’ll guarantee you!”

“Yusuke!” Kurama exclaimed, the audacity of his friend surprising him. Then again, he told himself, this was Yusuke he was talking about!

Kagome turned to Kurama, laying her cards facedown. “Oh really? Strip Poker? That could be…” She got a thoughtful look on her face and then shook her head. “Not the way I play…I’d be the only one butt-naked!”

Yusuke got a perverted grin on his face and Kagome jabbed him in the ribs with her fingers. “Get your mind out of the gutter!”

“I can assure you, Kagome, his head was not in the gutter, it was in his—“ Kurama began.

Kagome slapped her hand over his mouth to silence the kitsune. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence!”

`

There was an odd pause after that, followed by soft chuckles that soon spread across the three of them into uproarious laughter. “Idiots,” Hiei muttered from his seat by the window. He’d watched them play the night away and the lack of sleep was making them act more unruly than they usually would—even Kurama was loosening up!

“What a waste of time,” he mumbled. He then decided to run to the opposite side of the house (via roof and some trees) to sit with Yukina for a little while. He hadn’t had a chance like this to spend one-on-one time with his twin since he could remember. So what if she wouldn’t know that he was there? It eased his mind to know that he could (and would) watch over and protect her. Quickly, he departed.

“Okay, well, that’s more than enough fun for me for one night!” Kagome said, standing and stretching. “Good night, guys!”

Kurama stood as well, his verdant eyes quiet once more. “I think I will be turning in as well…It’s almost three in the morning and we’ve got to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow for our remaining supplies, and the other Weasley children will be needing their school things as well. Good night, Yusuke.”

“Night, Kurama, night Kagome,” Yusuke yawned, stretching out, fully clothed, on his bed.

Rubbing his head, Kurama followed Kagome out of the room. He caught her just as she was about to enter the room she’d shared with Yukina this summer. Now was the time to bring up something that he’d been curious about since he met her earlier that summer. “Kagome?”

“Huh?” Kagome asked wearily, looking at him in hooded, half-closed eyes.

The redheaded kitsune reclined casually against the door jam opposite hers and rolled his head back, speaking to her, but gazing at the ceiling. “It’s been quite the summer, hasn’t it?”

A bit taken aback, Kagome nodded but said nothing.

Kurama now changed his focus, looking levelly at her. “You came here with a mission, Kagome. I can see it in the way you throw yourself into our studies. What is it that you are trying specifically to accomplish?”

“I—“ Kagome began, backing against the wall, even though Kurama had made no advances.

“Everyone has a story,” Now he did push off of his resting spot and crossed the hall to stand in front of her in less than two steps. “I wonder…What is yours?”

There was a moment when Kagome thought, as his brilliant green eyes stared down at her, that he would kiss her. He leaned in, tilting her chin up to face him more fully. Kagome bit her lip in apprehension—she’d never been kissed before! Would her first be with this devilishly striking young man before her? He leaned in, tilting his head slightly and Kagome sucked in her breath through her teeth, in terrible apprehension.

“I’ve watched and wondered since you first arrived,” Kurama said abruptly, pulling away without seeming to realize the stress he was putting on her maiden heart that was now pattering unspeakably fast in her breast. “You share the look of my comrades and myself—you have seen battle and seen death.” Again Kurama tilted her head and his, but only to study her face more intensely. “Maybe…you have even been the cause of a death.”

Those words struck deep chords in the part of Kagome’s soul that she thought she had kept buried and hidden. Her breath caught somewhere between her nose and lungs, suspended momentarily as the sentences he spoke hit home.

“And yet, you retain the innocence that Yukina has, and still your eyes hurt like I haven’t seen in a long time. Why would you come so far away from your home, and carry such a burden? Are you running from something?”

These words were hitting too close to home! Kagome’s defenses came up, making her temper flare unusually high. “Why are you asking me all of these stupid questions!” she snapped, glaring balefully at the kitsune. “What business is it of yours what my past is!”

“You mean what your past was?”

“No! Yes!” Kagome stopped to think about this for a moment. Just as her temper was reaching its peak and she was about to say something that she’d definitely regret, Kurama managed to catch her off guard again!

He gave her a soft-lipped kiss right in the middle of her forehead, smoothing back her bangs with one hand and squeezing her shoulder with his other. “Good night, Kagome.” Kurama left to his own room, leaving Kagome dumbfounded in the doorway to her own room.

“What on Earth…just hap…” Kagome shook her head. It was much too early to be trying to figure this out—it could wait until morning. She turned to enter her room and almost had a heart attack when she saw glowing red eyes in the shadows of her bed, staring animalistically at her. She then saw that the eyes were attached to a short body encased in black and sitting in the way of a stray moonbeam, catching his eyes on fire. “Hiei,” Kagome exhaled, putting a hand to her racing heart. “You scared me!”

The short man stood from his position on the foot of her bed and gave her a bland look.

When he remained stationary and silent, Kagome began speaking. “What are you doing in here, anyway?”

“Yukina has a tendency to have bad dreams.” Was his indirect reply. Even though Kagome knew that he and Yukina were siblings, he still didn’t like to directly acknowledge the fact that his secret really wasn’t so much of a secret anymore.

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him oddly as he watched his sister. “Yeah, I know. I’ve had to wake her from them more than five times this summer.”

“I know you have.”

“How could you? Your room is across the hallway.” Kagome stated, her curiosity piqued.

“Just because that is where I was stationed does not mean that that is where I remain.”

“So you spy on us?” she asked, somewhat suspiciously. Don’t tell me he’s a short, dark version of Miroku! She prayed quickly.

“Not you. I keep an eye on her when I can.”

Kagome sensed the edge in his tone and simply nodded, deciding to let it drop for now. He was looking so softly and sorrowfully at his sister as he made his way to exit that Kagome’s heart ached to make him feel better. “Hiei, you can stay in here and keep watching over her, if you’d like.”

Hiei stopped and turned to face Kagome, a lightly surprised look on his face. His raised eyebrow was enough to make Kagome explain why.

“Well, it’s only a few more hours till sunrise anyway, and you need to spend more time with her, even if she is asleep. You can even have my bed, if you wanted to sleep close to her.”

Hiei’s eyes narrowed at the bold offer but simply shook his head. “I don’t need sleep.” He had apparently felt that he had outstayed his welcome, despite Kagome’s offer, and was out of the window in a second.

Kagome stared after him; he too sometimes reminded her of her InuYasha—quiet and moody when he felt crowded. Shaking her head and crawling under the covers of her bed, she felt the heat left by her feet where Hiei had been sitting. She smiled and looked out of the window where she swore she saw the glare of crimson eyes. “Good night, Hiei,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Kagome rolled over and fell quickly to sleep, readying herself for the nightmares she, too suffered from.

Outside the window, Hiei looked back inside the room, first to Yukina and then to Kagome. “Thanks,” he muttered briefly and returned to the room he shared with Kurama, sitting in the windowsill until dawn.

~~*~~

It seemed that Molly had known about the teens’ late night and fully intended to teach them a lesson about staying up on evenings before eventful days. It was at the meager hour of 5:00 AM that charms of foghorns, crashing drums and the popping of firecrackers caused a great ruckus. Mrs. Weasley visited each of her children’s rooms (including her “adoptive” children) with this army of annoying and startling sounds, making sure each of them was up and jumping.

Hiei had fled, hearing this coming a long time before Molly even reached his room, and Kurama had charmed his ears to block out the noise. Yukina and Kagome were both downstairs as soon as they heard the ruckus coming their way, grabbing their clothes and purse bags as they flew out of their room.

The Weasley children and Yusuke and Kuwabara were not so lucky. They were all woken uproariously by Mrs. Weasley’s devices, and all came downstairs moaning, holding theirs heads, and even cursing under their breath.

“Mum, what the hell was all of that for!” George demanded.

“First of all, watch your mouth! Second, I told you lot to get to bed, that we had a big day today! You all went upstairs and kept up with your game until almost sunup! I figured that you needed a lesson taught. Now, get the knots out of your knickers, go get dressed, and eat some breakfast! Your letters came and I want to beat the crowd."

“But Mum, we’re not even going this year! We’ve got the shop to run, but it’s not open for another three weeks!” Fred told her. “Why did we get the short end of the stick, too?”

“Because you still live under my roof, therefore my rules, and I told you to go to bed with them, and you didn’t, that’s why!” Molly retorted. “You don’t have to go with us to the Alley, but you weren’t going to be excluded from the wake up call.”

“Damn the luck,” George whispered to his brother.

“GEORGE!” Molly hollered, over hearing his curse.

“Ah, sorry Mum.” George looked properly abashed—most likely due to years of experience of cowing down before Molly worked herself up.

“Well, now that you’re all up, go get dressed, and then we can eat a bit of breakfast and go.”

“We’re back to bed—you crazy lot can go on and go shopping, have a fun time of it,” George said, bidding them goodnight, or rather, good morning.

“I’m with him,” Fred said, following his twin back up the stairs.

“Lucky little—“ Ron began, but stopped before his mother caught his next words. He and Ginny, who remained half-asleep on her feet, wandered back up the stairs to get dressed.

Kagome headed for the bathroom and quickly showered and changed, leaving the room open for Yukina’s use. Kagome dressed in one of the outfits that she and her mom had bought together the day before she’d left to come to the Burrow. Just thinking about that shopping trip, Kagome decided to try something spur of the moment.

She went to her trunk, and at the very bottom, she discovered the three pairs of torture devices she swore to never wear. Just as an experiment, she put one on, and found that it was on backwards. “Well,” she said, talking to herself in agitation, “it’s hard to tell with this thing! You know something is too small when the washing instructions are sturdier material than the actual underwear!”

Deciding quickly that these thong things were indeed every bit as terrible as she’d thought they would be, she once again, buried them at the very bottom of her trunk. “Mom,” Kagome told her mother mentally, “those things were a complete waste of money! Speaking of Mom, though…I need to write her soon…” Kagome did a mental review and found that she hadn’t written her mother in almost a week and a half! She immediately resolved to do so at the next opportunity.

Just as she finished re-dressing, Yukina returned with a well-restrained look of frustration on her pretty face. “Kagome-chan, I believe those Weasley twins have been playing jokes again.”

“What do you mean, Yukina?”

Yukina removed the towel wrapped around her head and revealed a duplicate of what Kagome’s hair had looked like at the beginning of the summer, when she’d tried those new brushes. “I looked that bad, huh? Poor Yukina!” “Well, call Mrs. Weasley up here; she fixed mine earlier this summer. I thought she’d done away with those brushes, though!”

“I did, too! That’s why I didn’t think anything of using one of them!” Yukina cried.

“Oh, it’ll be alright, Yukina! Here, I’ll go down and get her, you just wait.”

Soon Kagome returned with Molly, who set about re-awakening Fred, who glumly handed over the combs that would de-tangle and undo anything the brushes had done. Slowly, in about twenty minutes, Yukina’s hair had returned to normal, versus the neon yellow spiked hair, tipped in flaming rainbows that had shot up at odd intervals all over her scalp.

“There you are, Yukina. Now, come downstairs; everyone else is already begun eating.”

The two girls followed the robust woman down the stairs and took their places at the table, selecting a few pieces of the breakfast, still, even after the entire summer, finding the Western food to be too heavy to eat much of. The girls were the last ones to sit down to eat, and so once everyone was done, Mrs. Weasley called them all up to the fireplace and the nine of them took turns using the Floo Powder to get to The Leaky Cauldron.

The famous pub was mostly empty at six in the morning, but there was a steady stream of people all heading out back to get into the Alley. “Trying to beat the crowd then, Molly?” Tom asked, wiping off a glass.

“Yes, Tom. And we’ve got a bit more to get for this year, you can see!”

“Ay,” Tom said, nodding his head and eyeing the exchange students. “I hear you all passed yer exams and are ready to go, then?”

Various sounds of agreement rose from the six students, the girls smiling slightly in pride of their work.

“Going to the Alley to get your supplies?” He asked, looking up at them again.

“No,” Hiei muttered to Kurama. “We just spent the entire summer studying for nothing and passed those exams for no reason at all and now we’re just going to Diagon Alley for the hell of it.”

Kurama chuckled slightly, covering his smile with his hand expertly.

“Well, you lot, let’s get going,” Molly said, closing her conversation with the innkeeper. She led them out back for the second time that summer, the lists of Ron, Ginny, Yukina, Kagome, Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, and Hiei in her hands. “We’ve got to go back to Gringotts for some money, first.”

“MUM!” Ron cried out suddenly, “What about Harry!”

“What about him, dear?” Molly asked.

“How’s he gonna get his supplies?”

“Oh, Lupin is taking him tomorrow.”

“We won’t get to see him until the Train, then!”

“I’m sorry, dear, but with these circumstances, we just couldn’t get him here this summer.”

“And what about Hermione? She should be back from that vacation thing she was taking with her parents! She couldn’t come with us today, either?”

“Well, I suppose she could’ve come with us, but you didn’t think of it earlier, so maybe you’ll spot her today.”

“Damn it all,” Ron cursed.

“Ronald!” Molly said in warning.

“Sorry, mum,” he muttered, but kept repeating under his breath, “Stupid, stupid…Don’t get to see any of my friends all freaking summer, “There’s not enough room under these circumstances…”! Stupid…could’ve stayed with me an Ginny…damn!”

Kagome overheard his mutterings and whispered to Yukina, “He resents us being here because that meant that his friends couldn’t come over?”

“I hope not!” Yukina replied, surprised at Ron’s words, and hurt too. “I thought that Ron liked us…”

“He does,” Kurama assured the girls, coming up behind them after hearing their words. “He is just upset right now. Come, it will pass.”

After another round-trip ride into the depths of the bank on the wild roller coaster of a track and Kurama passing out more of his herbal stomach-calmer, they were off to the Apothecary’s, Flourish and Blots, and the bookstore. For the first time, the Weasley children were able to go to the good store for their robes because of the money Dumbledore had paid to keep the transfer students. The two Weasley children got their robes and a brand new, expensive dress or (in Ron’s case) dress shirt and cape for the Yuletide Ball.

“Alright, Ron, Ginny, we’re going to Menagerie to get these six their animals. You may not get anything!” Mrs. Weasley told her children sternly. “Now, we’re going to a place to get your animals,” Molly told the six Japanese students as they made their way to Magical Menagerie.

“We have to what.” Hiei said in a dead tone, disbelieving as they stood abreast of one another just inside the doorway of the Menagerie.

“Just pick out an animal. Kurama, I know you said that you wanted to buy an owl for your mother, and as it turns out, the owl will simply have to fly to the Ministry of Magic instead of all the way to Japan. The Ministry is where some wizards will be specifically set to transport your owl to Japan, so your mail isn’t delayed by the time zones the Muggles have set up. So, you should have enough to purchase another pet…

“The most popular ones are cats, owls, rats, and frogs. But, Menagerie has lots more to pick from!” Molly Weasley told them all. “Well, just go find one that you like, then!” She said, turning them loose.

Yukina wandered over to the cats with Kuwabara, and was glancing through all of the nice tabbies and grays, and blacks and others, when one tiny thing caught her eye. In the corner, all huddled up was a…blue kitten?

“Lady?” she called politely to the worker on duty. “Why is this one blue?”

“Oh, that one…we sometimes take in strays, or the ones people don’t want. That one got caught on the end of a permanent dyeing charm, so I’m afraid he’s stuck that way.”

“Oh, the poor thing!” Yukina was instantly scooping up the tiny thing, cuddling it to her breast with concern. The kitten immediately nuzzled the soft silk of her kimono and suckled on her finger for a bit of time. All it took was one look into the one black and one pink eye of the tiny baby for Yukina’s heart to be won. “This one!” she proclaimed to Kuwabara proudly. “I think I’ll name him Kawaii!”

In the meantime, while Yukina had been picking out her cat, Kuwabara himself had found the feline he dubbed “Eikichi”, in honor of his former cat. The tabby had green eyes, was a female, and half-grown. It also seemed to have an infatuation with Kuwabara’s Elvis-reminiscent hairstyle.

Yusuke, Kurama, and Kagome each got an owl. Yusuke had a large and brawny female Screech owl whom he named “Rei,” as was suiting for his pet. Kurama purchased a darkly colored female Barn owl named “Koi,” and Kagome couldn’t take her eyes off of a Great Horned owl that had dark feathers sprinkled with white, and she named her Aisling.

Kurama wandered over to the cages where exotic animals were kept, his owl on his shoulder. His eyes caught on one certain creature, his Youko side awakening at the absolute irony of the animal. It was a snow-white arctic fox with golden eyes that had a sharp, intellectual look about him.

“Yeah, that’s a sad one, that is,” the saleswitch said from behind Kurama, seeing him looking over the fox.

“Why is that?” Kurama asked, still sizing up the baby.

“His mum was killed for her pelt a few days after he was born. It was lucky someone found him, elsewise he’d be dead now.”

Kurama didn’t hesitate to pull out his money. “I’ll take him.”

Kagome had meandered over to the cats by this time, and saw Yukina cuddling an adorable—however strange—looking blue cat that seemed just as infatuated with her as she was with it. Without even thinking about it, they slipped into Japanese. “Yukina, is he yours?”

“Hai!” she replied happily. “Someone permanently stained his fur blue and changed his eye color and so they sent him here! No one has wanted him before, because he looked so different.”

“Oh, well now he’s got you!” Kagome told her.

“Hai, Kagome-chan! His name is Kawaii!”

“Well that’s suiting,” Kagome replied. “I think I’d like a cat, too…”

“But, Kagome-chan, you already have an owl…”

“I know, but this one is for my Mom to be able to send me her mail. I told her that she could just keep her at home, so I’d like something to keep me company. Would you help me pick out a cat?"

Yukina brightened. “Of course!” The koorime placed her kitten on her shoulder, where it promptly crawled underneath her hair, which was tied back in her usual red bow tie.

The two girls skimmed the different cat cages carefully. They considered a beautiful gray female, but it was became apparent that she was aggressive when she was nuzzling Kagome’s hand and another cat came up, the gray swiped at the other cat. Passing that one by, they looked over an orange and white cat, a tabby and calico. Kagome couldn’t really decide on anything, and was just about to give up when her eyes caught on a very pale, furry kitten that was weaving its way through the others to get to the food bowl. It had dark-tipped ears, tail, and paws, and blaring blue eyes, with a beige body.

“Kirara…” Kagome breathed, staring at the baby in wonder. Then she shook herself out of it, calling herself ridiculous at even thinking that Kirara could’ve survived this long—even if she had, how on Earth would she have gotten here? But, real Kirara or not, Kagome’s heart was now set on this little cat. In honor of the past and fierce Kirara, that was what Kagome called her. Kagome willingly paid the extra amount for a purebred Himalayan cat and set her on the shoulder opposite Aisling the owl.

Hiei had been sweeping through the store, watching as one by one his teammates and would-be peers chose a pet to keep by their side. Hn—stupid people. He didn’t need anything to keep him company—he liked his own companionship just fine, thank you.

“HEY!” was the shouted call that sent Hiei on full alert, looking through narrowed eyes for the source of the noise. He spied the worker on duty chasing madly after a white blur that was darting around the entire store, knocking over cages and tanks intentionally before spying Hiei. The thing clawed its way up his leg, then continuing up his chest, only stopping at his face because Hiei snarled inhumanly at it. The thing was identified as a long, thick haired white cat with large blue eyes in a squashed face, which paused and looked him right in the eye. It then purred at him, blinking slowly.

“Baka.” Hiei snapped at it, brushing it down off of his body where it had been clinging.

But, as soon as the cat touched the ground, it wound around Hiei’s ankles, purring happily. “Get away.” Hiei ordered it, moving his left foot around, trying to dislodge the animal. “Stupid creature, go!” When the insolent cat refused to listen, Hiei mentally sighed in exasperation. “Baka!”

The cat looked up at him expectantly.

“Oh, no…” Hiei muttered. He’d unintentionally named the thing, and now it was only answering to him and to her name, Baka. “Will you not leave me alone?” he asked it again, only to get a quiet “meow”, in response. Sighing aloud this time, Hiei walked over to the counter. “Come on.”

Hiei took the cat up to the front desk and slapped down payment for it, then stalked over to where Kurama was just buying the rest of the supplies for his animals.

At Kurama’s inquiring look, Hiei said simply, “Her name is Baka.”

“Ah,” Kurama replied, trying to hide his amusement.

“Shut up.” Hiei told him, red eyes snapping.

Kurama covered his smile with his hand, deciding not to point out the fact that already the cat had shed long white hairs on his black suit, and walked over to the door, where the others had been waiting with the Weasleys.

“All ready?” Molly asked them, eyeing their selections to see if anyone had picked up anything particularly…dangerous. Luckily, there wasn’t. “Good, then get your animals in their cages and let’s go back home.”

The group cast, “Locomotor trunk!” on their school supplies, marching their new belongings back up the Alley and into the Leaky Cauldron, where they had to sit on their trunks and hold onto their creatures in order to get all of their things back to the Burrow.

The children took their things upstairs with Mrs. Weasley’s order to get their things in line for school, since they were leaving for the train in two days. Kagome, Yukina, Kurama, and Ginny all followed this order immediately, whereas Ron, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei all blew it off for later and went outdoors. The twins were out back on their broomsticks, practicing Quidditch, and Yusuke, who had been practicing with them lately, started up a game to practice. The other boys went out to watch.

Kagome set her kennel for Kirara on the floor and let the kitten out, setting the litter box for her on the floor at the foot of her bed. She set Aisling’s cage on top of her bed, after explaining to them both (in Japanese) that they were not to leave the room. Surprisingly, they both seemed to nod in understanding. “That’s interesting,” she said quietly. Kagome shrugged and went back to putting her things in their individual trunks.

~~

The last two days of their vacation went by quickly, with the eight students of the house scrambling to get last minute things packed and put away, and Fred and George standing by every minute, laughing and poking fun at their younger siblings, and giving tips to the Japanese students about homework and teachers. “It’s a shame, though…” Fred said, looking at their trunks, stacked by the door. “Gonna miss it, you know?”

“Not gonna miss the work, mind you, but our Trading is going to suffer a bit…but Jordan said he’d take it over. No Quidditch, this year, either…” George said sadly.

“Hey, Urameshi’s good enough to take a spot—Beater, I’m thinking…Maybe Kuwabara’ll get the second?”

“That’s presuming that they make it into Gryffindor, dear twin.” George reminded his other half.

“Oh, they will. You know it, I know it, and I know they know it too!”

“Where’ll the rest of ‘em go, you think?”

“Ah…Hiei might go to Slytherin…Kurama will make Ravenclaw, easy. Koorime’ll go to Hufflepuff, for sure. Higurashi’s probably gonna go to Ravenclaw.”

“Yeah, well, you lot make sure to write us back and tell us who went where, alright? And Urameshi, you and Kuwabara make sure to give everybody hell—Peeves can’t handle it all himself.”

“Peeves?” Hiei asked.

“You’ll know him when you see him.”

“Believe us, you will.” Fred said, a grin on his face.

“When is your shop opening?” Kagome asked the twins.

“Next month, we think. We’ve just got to duplicate all of our pranks and package the foods, and move it all in. If you’d like, we can give you a catalogue for ordering ahead of time. Beat the Christmas rush, you know.” George told them, pulling out a two-inch thick ordering catalogue from nowhere.

“And,” Fred said, jumping on the bandwagon for sales pitches, “since you all are so dear to our hearts, we’ll even give you a twenty percent discount on all feature-altering foods and give you all a two-week supply of Skiving Snack Boxes!”

“What?” Kagome said, not sure she heard right.

“Skiving Snack Boxes! You put one in your mouth and it makes you sick to get you out of class. Once you’re excused, spit it out and you’re free for the rest of class!”

“Sounds like fun!” Yusuke said, arching an eyebrow.

“You can’t skip classes like you did before, Yusuke,” Kurama reminded his friend. “You will get caught.”

“But if I’m sick…” he left the sentence open suggestively.

“Well, if you’re really sick or not, most of the time the teacher will send you to Madame Pomfrey’s; we wizards have a cure for about anything.” Ginny said, jumping into the conversation as she came from upstairs, her trunks following behind her obediently.

“Damn!” Yusuke cursed, slamming his fist into his palm. “I knew there’d be down sides to this whole transfer deal!”

“You’ve had all summer to figure that out, Yusuke,” Hiei told him dryly.

“Thanks for the input, Hiei,” Yusuke replied sarcastically.

“Hn.”

“Has everyone got everything ready?” Mrs. Weasley said, bustling in. “Arthur should be home any minute, so we can have a bit of supper. Ginny, go and set the table, please.”

“Yes, Mum.” The red head set off, getting out the plates and silverware that had been jinxed to set themselves once taken out of the cupboard.

“Now, the train leaves at 11 o’clock sharp, so we’ll have to be to London by ten…Why don’t I wake you all up at eight?” There were nods of agreement and Molly smiled at the ease of which that was decided. “Excellent!” The door opened and Mr. Weasley stepped in, gray in the face. “Arthur! Are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Fine, fine, Molly. Just…work.”

“He says work, he means Percy,” George whispered to the six students.

“Percy? Who’s that?” Kuwabara asked, leaning down to join the conversation.

“We don’t discuss him. He disowned us and our name, and Dad helped him to do it. He got his knickers shoved to far up his arse and got all uppity about having a higher position at work than Dad. Couldn’t take it anymore, and we had a right good argument—damn near a brawl! Percy moved out and we haven’t had much contact since. Sometimes they’ll have a go at it at work, and that’s when Dad comes home all shaky.”

“Oh, I see.” Yukina said, nodding with wide eyes.

“Well, let’s sit down, and have a nice meal, then it’s an early bed for you all! And I mean it!” Molly said, giving the children of the table “The Eye.”

There were various forms of “Yes Ma’am’s” from the eight going to school the next day, and the meal continued in general chaos until the dishes were washed and put away.

“Kurama?” Kagome said, approaching the redhead after dinner.

“Yes Kagome?”

“Aisling is out hunting and I need to send my Mom a letter. Could I borrow Koi?”

“Actually, I was going to write my own mother tonight. It’s a relief now that we don’t have to borrow the Weasley’s owl for our mail. Perhaps Koi could carry both letters?”

“Sounds good! Let me write her one really fast, then I’ll get it to you, okay?”

Kurama nodded and followed Kagome up the stairs, parting ways with her at their separate doors. “Damn!” Kurama muttered when he entered his room, surveying the damage. The sheets from his bed were laying on the floor in shreds, the coverlet in not much better condition. Pillow feathers were strewn all over, courtesy of their explosion by a certain over-curious young fox kit breaking in his new teeth. Scratches and gnaw-marks littered the bedposts and the feet of the two chairs in the room. A stench from the corner of the room told Kurama that Youko had not yet discovered the litter box he’d bought for his use.

Scratch that, Kurama thought, seeing the chips and gravel-like substance sprayed across the right side of the room. He found it all right.

“Youko…” Kurama sighed. Hearing his name, the fox came trotting out from under the bed Hiei was supposed to sleep in (supposed), one of the fire demon’s spare bandanas in his mouth. The namesake for the other part of Kurama’s soul had an innocent and happy-go-lucky look about him, and an air of self-satisfaction.

“Look what you’ve done! This is terrible…” Kurama said in exasperation.

The kit cocked his head to one side, as if to say that he had no idea whatsoever of what he’d done, and if he had done anything, he most certainly wasn’t sorry. Slapping a hand to his head, Kurama drew his wand out from behind his left ear and said, “Scourgify!” to each area of the tattered room. The bed re-made itself neatly, although the sheets and coverlet were in shreds and the pillowcases (now empty of their former feather stuffing) were put back on the bed. The litter gathered and poured itself back into the pan, and the wood gouged out from the legs of the furniture swept itself into a pile in the middle of the room. To the pile of shavings, Kurama held up his wand, “Deletrius.” The pile disappeared.

As for the goose down feathers littering the room like snow, took a bit more work. Finally deciding to gather them all easily would require a spell with more concentration. Focusing his mind on what he wanted accomplished, Kurama said firmly, “Accio feathers!” Not only did he get all of the goose down from the room, but the spell also brought his owl, Koi, who was hooting in indignation.

“Sorry, Koi,” Kurama said, smoothing down her ruffled wings as she perched on his arm. The owl hooted softly, nipped his ear in a reprimand that reminded him of his mother’s attitude when he’d done something bad.

Once his room was put back to sorts, Kurama went over to the large desk put there for their homework and grabbed the letter addressed to his mother. Koi was placed on his shoulder and Kurama went back across the hall, knocking on Kagome and Yukina’s door.

“Come in,” was Kagome’s reply.

Kurama did so, and looked around the room in quiet wonder. He’d been in this room only a few times over the summer, when tutoring was needed or he had to carry one of the girls to bed after they’d fallen asleep over card games or the like. He saw the change of their room over the summer.

At first, the room was new and clean and fresh. The paint was new and stank of the putrid acids of the coats of soft yellow, cream, and pastel pink. The desk that the girls shared was identical to the one in his own room. But what was earlier covered in Kagome’s pictures from home, was now empty…packed away for school. One of the large Western beds had been removed so that Yukina could have a place on a homemade futon; she had complained (quietly, of course) that she hadn’t been sleeping well on such a soft mattress with so many quilts and pillows. The Weasleys had appealed to the Headmaster, who had supposedly paid for all of their furniture, and he immediately had the bed removed, and replaced it with her current one.

Also, there was now a strong scent of chilly morning dew and late-afternoon sunrays—that was Yukina’s signature scent. There was also Kagome’s personal scent, which could be described by Kurama as ocean water, heated by noon’s sun, and balmy sandalwood. The two girls’ smells were engraved into the very essence of every piece of furniture in the room. Not only that, but there was quiet evidence that they’d truly moved in and adopted that room as a safe haven.

The rug in front of the window over the garden was out of order—someone had tripped over it recently and not put it straight yet. There was a wear mark on the cushion of the bay window—someone had spent hours watching out of that glass. The wooden floor glistened in cleanliness, but the corners were dusty. There was a barely distinguishable wear mark in the soft floor wood of the clear figure-eight pattern someone had paced into the wood. No doubt that wear mark would only get clearer as the years the girls had to complete their courses rolled by.

It was as he was taking all of this in that Kurama realized that Kagome had been trying to get his attention.

“Kurama!” Kagome yelled quietly, slapping her hands together in a loud clap.

The kitsune’s eyes widened, but there was no other sign that he’d been caught off-guard. “Yes, Kagome? I apologize, I was not listening.”

“Obviously!” Normally such a remark would be considered sarcastic, but Kagome said it kindly and with a smile. “Anyway, I finished my letter—here it is. It’s just that I’m starting school tomorrow, wish me luck, write me back often, I’m doing fine, my results were good…you know. The regular stuff.”

“My letter as well,” Kurama said, nodding as he took Koi off of his shoulder. “Let me attach these…And…There. Take this to the Ministry, Koi.” Kurama opened Kagome’s window, mindful of the “Tripping Rug” and let his owl out with their letters.

“Thanks again, Kurama!” Kagome said, smiling brightly.

“Not a problem,” he replied, making his way out of the room.

“Hey, Kurama?” Kagome called, uncertainly.

“Yes?”

“About last night…Umm…To answer your question…Well, as best that I can for now…I came here to start over. So I wanted to make a good impression.”

“You say to start over, but make sure that you have made peace with your past and are not simply running from it. If you just run from your past, I have a knowledge that it tends to show up in your future.”

Kagome seemed taken aback by this and Kurama watched her walls and barriers strengthen to keep his words from affecting her. It’s a shame that she has to do that to keep her emotions in her control, Kurama thought. It will end up hurting her more than helping.

~~