Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unto the Few ❯ The First Night ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: I believe that the correct term for foreigner (at least some sort of strange person, not of Japanese descent) is “gaijin”. I am not quite certain if it is “gaijin” or “geijin.” I have it as “gaijin”, but if I am mistaken let me know and I will fix it immediately.

Chapter Seven: The First Night

~~ Previously ~~

Don’t—Kagome began, but she could feel the magic in the Hat slipping past all of her mental blocks on her memories and she could almost feel the shock of the Hat when it came across all of her suppressed feelings and memories.

Well, well…It would seem that you, too, have another counterpart buried in you, Miss Higurashi!

I don’t. Know. What. You’re. Talking. About. Kagome replied steadfastly. She’d worked this hard to block out Kikyo’s last curse and it wouldn’t do for her to be surfacing now.

Oh, now, now, don’t be touchy! This will be for your own good!

What do you mean, my own—

“SLYTHERIN!”

~~

Gasps from the Gryffindor table were very audible, and Kagome nearly feinted dead away. “Again!” She thought in desperation, as McGonagall removed the Hat from her head and shooed her over to the green table.

“Again!” Her mental voice cracked as she forcibly held back tears. “Won’t I ever be free of her? All summer, that’s all that the Weasleys would say about the houses! Gryffindor is the brave and loyal, Ravenclaw is the book-smarts, Hufflepuff is the patient and unbiased, and Slytherin is the evil, demented, dark, kill-you-as-soon-as-look-at-you House!”

Kagome raised her head and scanned the Slytherin table; her eyes met with Kurama’s, who sat at the very end of the table, self-isolated from the rest of the students. “At least I won’t be alone,” she told herself, not even thinking to ask why Kurama would be put in Slytherin.

Kagome took a seat beside the kitsune and he smiled softly in greeting. “Welcome,” he said, jokingly.

“I hope,” Kagome replied.

Their conversations were silenced by the Headmaster’s voice resonating through the Great Hall. “Well, now that the matter of the Sorting has been taken care of, there will be just a few start of term notes before we begin the Feast. First of all, I would like you all to welcome Professor Remus Lupin back as our Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher!”

At this announcement there was a mixed response among the students—most cheered, but Kurama noticed that nearly the entire Slytherin table was reacting negatively, or not reacting at all.

Their Defense professor sat back down and Dumbledore continued. “Thank you, I know he appreciates your warm welcomes. Now, we also have a new class to be taught for all years, Sans Wands, and it will be taught by Professor Jerome Myer.”

A very tall, handsome man with curling black hair pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck stood, his black robes complimenting his dark features against his pale skin. Kagome rolled her eyes as she heard audible sighs of immediate infatuation arise from the female student body. Kurama caught her look and smiled. “Is he not suited to your tastes, Kagome?”

“I don’t know what this ‘Sans Wands’ class is, but I guarantee it just became the favorite study of about ninety-five percent of the female student body.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Kurama pointed out.

Kagome colored slightly and shook her head. “He’s too tall,” she replied simply, turning away.

“Now, now,” Dumbledore said, bringing attention back to himself as the chatter started to rise in volume. “You will all be getting your chances to meet with him in your classes. As always, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to any and all students. There will be no magic in the hallways between classes, and please see Mr. Filch for the newly updated list of items forbidden on school grounds. He asks me to remind you all that any student caught with an item from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes will have the item confiscated and the student will serve no less than three detentions. Now, enough chatter, it is time to eat!”

As Dumbledore said this, the tables filled with trays and trays of food, gasps of awe coming from the first years and the transfers.

Kagome looked in amazement at all of the options before her. “I don’t know what half of this food is…” she murmured, but took a little bit of everything that came her way. She was involved in dishing herself some mashed potatoes when there was a loud shout came to her ears.

“HEY, GIRL! ARE YOU DEAF? PASS THE BLOODY PASTIES!”

Kagome’s head shot up and she looked around to see a boy about her own age, with slicked back blonde hair standing up and waving his arms around, shouting at her. His words were over-exaggerated and too loudly pronounced. She shot a quick look at the people around him—all of them were laughing madly.

Looking around to find what he wanted, Kagome discovered that she had no idea what he meant by ‘pasties’. “Umm,” she said, trying to cover up in inexperience with the foreign food, “Wh—What kind do you want?” Kagome replied, looking up at the boy.

His laugh mocked her as he replied, “There’s only one kind! PASS. THEM. UP.”

Kagome took a deep breath and looked again for what he wanted. Kurama put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, “He knows that you don’t know what he’s talking about—he’s trying to embarrass you.”

“I know that! What I want to know, is why he’s being so rude! I never did a thing—I’ve never even seen him before!”

“Obviously he doesn’t need a reason.”

“HELLO? PASS THE DAMN THINGS UP!”

Kagome’s patience was giving way to her temper and she turned to snap a reply, but Harry’s voice joined the fray from the Gryffindor table. “Leave her alone, Malfoy!”

The blonde turned and snipped back, “Got a problem, Potter? Keep your nose in your own business! I’m trying to convey my message in a way a that she’d understand.” Malfoy said, saying his last sentence directly at Kagome, over enunciating and making a face with every word.

“I’m not stupid and I can understand every word you say!” Kagome replied hotly.

“Could’ve fooled me!” Malfoy called back.

“Quit picking on her, Malfoy!” Harry shouted back.

Kagome turned to tell Harry that she could handle this herself and saw that Yusuke was barely restraining Kuwabara from pummeling Malfoy. “Chill out, Kuwabara! She can handle it!” Yusuke said, keeping a firm grip on his buddy’s robe.

“I don’t get how you can just sit by and let shit like this happen, Urameshi! One hit and that little punk would be out!”

Malfoy heard this and in an instant his wand was drawn on the tall carrot-top. “Just try it,” he challenged.

“GENTLEMEN!”

The shout silenced the entire Hall. Kagome looked up to see Professor McGonagall striding towards them full-bore. She stood in-between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, and gestured Malfoy, Harry, and Kuwabara over to her.

“I would think,” she said sternly, eyeing the two British boys, “That you would wait to begin your petty rivalry until at least the first day of classes. Obviously I was mistaken. I was hoping to not have to dock any points from any Houses on the first night, but I was proven wrong on that turn as well. Ten points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin.” McGonagall looked at Kuwabara. “You, young man, have your priorities in order, but you must learn when and how to act upon them. Mr. Malfoy, you will refrain from making fun of the transfer students. You are dismissed.”

Malfoy flipped Harry the bird as soon as the Professor’s back was turned, and Harry returned it, earning a reprimand from Hermione.

“Harry, what on Earth was all of that about?” Hermione demanded.

“That blonde brat was starting something with Kagome, that’s what,” Yusuke answered before Harry could.

“And you were the one holding me back!” Kuwabara replied to his friend.

“You need to take the Professor’s words to your frail human heart,” Hiei said, silencing all the Gryffindor Tantei.

“Wait, what do you mean, human hea—” Harry began, but was silenced by a swift kick in the shin from under the table. When he looked around the table for who was guilty, he saw Urameshi looking all too innocent. “What was that—”

“Well, looks like it’s time to be going,” Hermione said, standing up, and they realized that the Hall was emptying. “Come on, you lot. Classes start tomorrow, you know.”

“How do we know what we’ve got?” Yusuke asked.

“They pass out our schedules in the morning at breakfast.” Ron said as they made their way up the huge staircases.

“AH!” Kuwabara shouted.

“What now?” Yusuke asked, almost bored.

“Those stairs—they just—they just—”

“Man, you are new to our world, aren’t you?” a boy said, coming up beside them. “Fred and George told me all about you lot. I’m Lee Jordan, by the way.”

“Damn strange gaijin,” Yusuke said, rubbing his head as they made their way up another staircase.

“What’s a—” Jordan began, but stopped, as they had arrived at the painting that was the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.

“Password?” A fat lady in pink silk demanded regally from her seat on a plump settee.

“Pay attention you all, especially you first years and transfers!” a girl with a long black braid and brown eyes said from the front of the group.

“Remind me again why Parvati Patil got picked to be a Prefect?” Ron said to Hermione.

“She earned it with her grades last year, that’s why,” Hermione said back, but her voice held some disdain as well.

“The password to get into our Tower is to be kept secret from all other Houses. The password will change monthly, and the one for next month will be posted in the Commons Room three days before the end of each month. This month’s password is Pepper Imp.”

The painting-door swung open obediently and the gathering of Gryffindors entered their Commons.

“There now.” Parvati said. “Girls’ dorms on the right, boys’ on the left. Your last names will be on the outside of the door that you will be staying in.”

“She’s certainly taking her duties to heart,” Hermione said dourly.

“What, and you didn’t?” Ron said right back.

Hermione arched her eyebrow and glared stuffily at him, but said nothing.

“Where’s all of our stuff?” Kuwabara asked.

“In your rooms, by the bed that was chosen for you,” Hermione replied. “I’ll see you lot later, I’ve got to unpack.”

“Hey, where’s Hiei going?” Kuwabara asked, craning his head to see where the short man was going through the crowd.

“Probably to find our dorm,” Yusuke said, “Let’s go too.”

The boys, Ron and Harry included, followed after the two, and past the first story of dorms. “Weasley, Potter, Urameshi, Kuwabara, Jaganshi.”

“Hey!” The voice belonged to the round boy from earlier on the train, Neville Longbottom. “They’ve moved our rooms!” Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas complained, approaching the group.

“They can’t do that, can they?” Harry asked, noting that he and Ron had been put with all of the Japanese men.

“They did, so obviously they can,” Dean grumbled, coming up behind them. “We’re on the first level now.”

“Got stuck with a load of snotty little first years,” Seamus said, crossing his arms.

“That stinks,” Ron said, frowning slightly but moving on. “Well, we’ve got to get our things put away. We’ll see you guys in awhile.”

“Yeah,”

“See you,” Neville said, following the other two boys back down the stairs.

“I didn’t know that they could change our rooms,” Harry said.

“Well, hate to say it, but it looks like you two are stuck with us for the year, huh?” Yusuke said, punching Harry on the arm as he entered the room, looking for his bed.

“Ow…” Harry muttered, rubbing his arm, but following the others inside.

Harry and Ron were still beside each other, on the left wall, with Kuwabara beside Ron, and Yusuke by Kuwabara. Hiei’s bed was in the corner, beside the row of windows looking over the lake stories below. With Kuwabara in-between both Hiei and Yusuke…There was bound to be trouble!

~~

Yukina made fast friends with many of her new housemates and found her new House very comforting and suited exactly to her personality. Her kitten, Kawaii, drew the attention of the other four girls in her dorm, and the poor little one had never had so much positive attention.

“You were telling us about Japan, Yukina! What was it like to live on a shrine?” Eleanor Branstone asked eagerly, leaning forward on her elbows in their dorm.

“And you said you wore…Keem…oh…nose…” Hannah Abbott said, just as eagerly.

“Oh, of course!”

Laura Madley rocked back on her ankles and chewed on her hair thoughtfully. “Did you bring one with you?”

“Ha—Yes. Would you like to see them?”

“Oh, yes!” Jenny Hanson, a tiny little fourth year, said instantly. “That would be simply marvelous!” She threw her arms up in the air as she rolled onto her back.

Hannah shoved her gently off of the end of the bed. “You think everything is ‘simply marvelous’!”

“Well, let’s see, then!” Eleanor said.

“Alright,” Yukina said, slipping off of Laura’s bed (they all had been sitting on it), and going over to her own, unlocking one of her two trunks. She flipped open the lid and poked through her clothing until she uncovered her two kimonos. One was her old turquoise with blue obi, and the other was new—Genkai had bought it for her before she’d left.

Yukina smiled at the remembrance of the feisty old woman. She recalled her exact words when she had given her the gift, minutes before she’d left for Britain.

“Here, Yukina,”

“Lady Genkai, I can’t accept a gift from you!”

“Then don’t consider it a gift. Take it as a token of appreciation for helping out around here.”

“Oh, Genkai,”

“Unwrap it now, so you can pack it away somewhere where it won’t get torn.”

“It’s…beautiful. Thank you!”

“You needed something different to wear, anyway.”

Yukina shook herself out of her reverie and took out the other kimono, wrapped in a protective scarf. The girls nodded in approval at the first, plain yukata, but when Yukina unwrapped the second one, they cooed in admiration.

It was a lovely, warm winter kimono, pristine white with vibrant orange flowers and trains of light blue rivers and tan and pink sakura tree outlines, completed by a dark purple obi that was decorated in bronze leaves.

“Oh, Yukina, I’m sure that you look simply marvelous in that!” Jenny giggled, fingering the fine silk.

“Thank you,” Yukina said, blushing and laughing.

“So, tell us about your friends,” Eleanor prodded.

“Yes, those boys were simply—” Jenny began, when Laura cut her off.

“Don’t you dare say ‘marvelous’ one more time!”

“I wasn’t going to!” Jenny replied, miffed, but all in good fun. “I was going to say that they were simply scrumptious!”

“Do you have to use such big words all the time, Jenny?” Hannah asked.

“Yeah, I don’t even know some of the ones you were saying earlier!” Eleanor added.

“Yes, I do have to use those words! It keeps you all on your toes to know that a lowly little Fourth Year knows more than you!”

Laura laughed and shoved Jenny again. “Very funny,”

“What were we talking about?” Hannah asked.

“…I don’t remember.”

“You said that the men I was with were…simply…scrum—scrumpt…” Yukina struggled with the new word.

“Oh, yes! Those boys were so handsome!” Laura raved.

“Did you see the one with the slicked back hair? You know, the one that was standing with his hands in his pockets?” Jenny asked.

“That was Yusuke Urameshi,” Yukina provided. “But he is…how would you say…taken? Keiko Yukimoto, she is back in Tokyo.”

“Oh, darn!” Jenny said sadly. She perked back up and said brightly, “What about that really short one? You know, the guy with the white in the front of his hair and the white bandana on his forehead?”

“Hiei!” Yukina said in surprise.

The others were instantly on the trail of that comment. “Oh, do you think he’s cute too?”

“I think you’d be cute together!”

Yukina was turning redder with every comment. To get them to stop she waved her hands and said loudly, “No, no! Iie! Iie! Hiei is…he is…like a…well, he is like a brother to me.”

“Oh,” they sighed. “How sweet!”

“After all, my own brother is…” Yukina trailed off.

“What do you mean, Yukina?” Jenny prodded.

“My actual brother has been missing since I can remember. You see…”

How do I explain this without giving away my koorime background? Genkai said we were not to reveal our demonic histories at any cost!

“You see, we are only half siblings, my brother and I. But my mother had a…an affair with the…enemy of my family line, and my brother was conceived. He was rejected from the family and my mother was forced to be rid of him. Since I have been old enough, I have been hoping to find him. Hiei has…well…Hiei is like a surrogate brother to me.”

The four other girls said nothing for a few moments, then sighed in sadness and hope. “How sad…It’s like it’s right out of a Muggle drama novel! You fall in love with the man of your dreams, only to find out that he is your long-lost brother!” Jenny said, basking in the possibility of angst.

“You’ve been reading too much smut, Jenny,” Eleanor chastised the younger girl.

“Besides, she’d have to fall in love with Hiei first and then find out that he was her brother!” Laura pointed out, none of them really noticing that Yukina was turning almost the same color of green as her hair at that thought.

“I hope you find him! Your brother, I mean!” Hannah said, griping Yukina’s hands.

“Thank you,” Yukina said, just barely aware that she should not allow herself to cry, lest the gems start to fall.

“So,” Eleanor said, flopping back onto Laura’s bed. “Hiei and Yusuke are out. But that other guy…The red head? You all saw him, didn’t you?”

“Kurama Minamino,” Yukina supplied.

“Oh, him! I was curious what his name was…” Jenny said, smiling dreamily. “I’m going to say it this time, and Laura, you cannot stop me! Kurama,” she seemed to savor the namesake. “is simply marvelous!”

They all laughed at the younger girl’s antics and even Yukina had to smile.

“And dreamboat grassy green eyes!” Hannah said.

“Dreamboat?” Laura repeated incredulously. “Since when do you use words like dreamboat?”

“Since I lay eyes on Kurama!” Hannah replied. She flopped over dramatically again, “Oh, be still, my beating heart!” The other girls giggled.

“But didn’t you see? He got Slytherin! He can’t be very nice or polite or anything if he went there!” Eleanor said.

“Oh, but he really is the nicest person—” Yukina tried to get a word in edgewise.

“I don’t care if he is Slytherin! He’s HOT!” Hannah replied adamantly.

“Kurama is not really interested in—” Yukina interrupted their chatter.

“Oh, no! Don’t tell me that he’s…gay!” Eleanor gasped, and the other girls fell over themselves trying to give Yukina puppy eyes and make her deny what Eleanor had just said.

“Oh, no! No!” Yukina replied instantly, shocked that they would think such a thing. “He is not…He just…has not taken any interest in dating. He is very academically motivated.”

“You’ve spent an hour with Jenny and already her big vocabulary is rubbing off!” Laura moaned.

“Well, did you see that other guy that came?”

“Kazuma!” Yukina replied.

The girls rounded on her instantly. “That one sounded like an admittance of infatuation!” Jenny said, smiling eagerly.

“Well…yes…”

“Him?” ; Eleanor said, wrinkling her nose. “He’s not cute at all!”

“Oh, I find him very handsome!” Yukina assured them. “He is a very sweet man! And so kind and gentle!”

“Sounds like somebody’s in loooovveee!” Laura sang.

Yukina blushed and that was all it took for the other four to go off about him spouting sonnets and singing serenades out of their window, talking well into the night.

~~

Kagome and Kurama strayed behind the line of Slytherins that were going out into the Main Hall and down a long, cold passageway. They came to a stop in front of a plain stone wall, along with the other two hundred and forty-five or so other Slytherins.

“Attention!” A male’s voice called from the front. “All of you First Years, and…Transfers…” the voice was dry and cold with disdain.

“That’s…” Kagome said, standing on tiptoe to see better. “That’s that…that Malfoy boy from the Hall!”

“Pay him no mind,” Kurama urged her. “He is only trying to get under your skin.”

“I know, I know,” Kagome replied hastily, still trying to get a better look at the blonde brat.

“Since you all are new to Slytherin House, I will grant you some leeway when it comes to making mistakes.”

“Who does he think he is, anyway?” Kagome muttered underneath her breath.

“That’s Draco Malfoy. He’s been a Prefect two years running,” a short, curvy girl with shoulder-length black, shiny hair said from Kagome’s left. “Don’t cross him or he’ll make life for you a living hell!”

“Who are—”

“Shh! Listen now—no one else in this House will give you any help later.”

Kagome silenced herself and listened to the blonde hot-air bag talk.

“This is the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room and Dorms. Girls are on the left, boys are on the right. The password to enter is always pure blood. Don’t forget it.” He said as the stone wall swung open on hidden hinges.

The gaggle of black-and-green robed students emptied into the Commons, leaving Kurama, Kagome, and the girl that had sidled up to them out in the cold hall.

“I’m Orla Quirke, by the way. One of the few half-way decent people in Slytherin House.”

“Half way?” Kurama asked, arching a brow at her phrasing.

“Yes, half way. I’m a really nice person, but I have another half that comes out at odd times—Evil Orla. She’s not to be trusted, and she can access all my thoughts and knowledge, so don’t ever tell me anything you don’t want used against you.”

“…Oh…Thanks for the…advanced warning…” Kagome said.

“Come on, the door’s closing,” Orla said, ushering them inside the Commons. “Who’s the carrot top?” She asked, gesturing at Kurama.

“I thought you said not to tell you anything that you could use against us later?” Kagome replied.

Orla laughed and a dark glint was in her eye. “You catch on fast. Faster than most, I’ll give you that. But I swear that I won’t use it against you, girly.”

Kurama’s own eyes got a golden gleam to them. “And that you won’t use it against myself or the other people that we are involved with.”

Orla’s look soured and she pouted for a moment or two. “You, Red, are too smart for your own good,”

It comes from having an ancient kitsune thief living inside your head since you could remember. Kurama thought.

“Thank you, Madame,” Kurama replied with a slight bow.

Orla immediately brightened. “Oh, but you’re gentlemanly! I don’t know what to think of you yet, Red. And since your little girly-friend here isn’t going to give up your name, I’ll call you Red.”

“Whatever suits,” Kurama replied, with another bow.

Orla applauded and smiled, straight, white teeth showing un-nervingly sharp points. “I’ll see you two later,” and she walked off.

“What was that all about?” Kagome asked, rounding on Kurama.

“What do you mean, Kagome?”

“That bowing and scraping and “Yes, Madame,” and “No, Madame.” All of that!”

“She is one not to be dealt lightly with, Kagome. You must try to stay on her good side, and even then she may turn on you. It is best to be polite and courteous to one such as she; it would help you later to start…brown-nosing now.”

Kagome wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Do I have to call her “Madame” and bow?”

“No, but just be courteous and stay out of her way if you can, but when you are in her presence, keep your mouth shut about any personal information and don’t turn your back on her.”

“It’s excellent advice, you know. You’d do well to follow it. Then again, that wouldn’t be helping me any, now would it?”

Kagome turned around quickly, and there was Orla, standing with a smile that was way too benign to be real.

How did I miss her standing there? Kurama pondered.

“Come on, Kagome. Let’s go find your dorm.”

“Wait, how did you get my name?”

“Red said it,” she said simply.

“Oh,” Kagome said, as Orla latched onto her wrist and pulled her away from Kurama.

Later, Kurama mouthed to her, and Kagome answered with a nod as she rounded the corner and ascended the staircase with Orla.

They went past three levels and were just passing the second doorway on the fourth floor of the Slytherin Girls’ Dorms, when Orla stopped suddenly. “Oh, you’re in here with me!”

Goody for me, Kagome replied mentally as she spied her name, ‘Higurashi’ emblazoned in green lettering on the bottom of the plaque of names. Along with her own last name, there was Orla’s (Quirke), and Chastinston, Bullstrode, and Parkinson.

“You must’ve taken the place of that snotty Emily McFetters. She graduated last year, whoring bitch!”

Kagome turned wide eyes to look again at Orla, who seemed to be having a conversation with herself, but silently, as only her facial features changed. Kagome noted that Orla’s eye color, usually a shade of blue, had darkened to a muddy brown with yellow lights in the irises. She wore a dark scowl, which was replaced quickly with a razor-toothed crocodile smile that she turned on Kagome. “Sorry about that; Evil Orla strikes again. She knows that I don’t like it when we swear—that’s why she does it every chance she gets.”

“…Right. I see.” Kagome said, trying to be agreeable.

“No, you don’t, but that’s alright. Come on, you’re in here with Pansy, Millicent, and me now. Stay away from them—they’re both evil, conniving little wenches—but then again, come to think of it…so am I…Ah, well, if we stay on that thought too long, we’ll both end up with headaches. My bed is over there, in the far corner, away from the window. Millicent has the one by the door, and Pansy has the one across from her. Oh, and Mary is in here, too. She’s a quiet one—never heard a word from her. She’s alright, I guess, but I couldn’t tell you anything about her since I never hear anything or talk to her. She’s got the bed by Millicent, and looks like, lucky you, you get the bed by the window. It’s the only one on this level of the Dorms. Since we're so far down in the Dungeon level here, we don’t usually get much sun, and besides, the light only comes through there at sun rise.”

“She sure is talkative,” Kagome thought to herself. “What would Kurama say about her right now…Hmm!” Kagome laughed mentally. “Probably that she talks just to be saying something—she speaks and yet she says nothing. She seems more approachable than she really is, only to get people to talk. She keeps going to seem more open and knowledgeable, but she’s really not giving anything away at all! At least, nothing I couldn’t figure out on my own! Kurama was right. Orla is really smart!

“And stay away from our animals,” Orla continued. “My owl has an eye for shiny objects, so keep your valuables locked up,”

“I’d say that was a hint that if you don’t watch your stuff, it will disappear into her pockets,” Kagome noted.

“And Millicent’s cat is a real nasty one, too. Gave me a scar last year,” Orla held up her arm and showed Kagome a jagged, light pink scar that went from her elbow to the first joint of her pointer finger. “Pansy’s got a real brat for a cat—ha! I made a rhyme! Anyway, just don’t touch any of Pansy’s things, because that cat guards better than any dog I know. Do you have a pet with you?”

“Well, yes, actually. I have an owl that I’m sending to stay with my Mom, and a cat named Kirara.”

“Oh, and how did you pay for all of these animals? They do get to costing quite a bit, you know.”

“Ah, well, actually, the school gave us all a small allowance and I brought some of my own money, and—” Kagome stopped because she saw a gleam of yellow in Orla’s left eye. “Too much information!” Her senses told her. “I told her too much—I told her that I had money on me and that the school favored us by giving us money they don’t give to other students—Ooh, I need a subject change.”

“Go on,” Orla urged her.

“Uh, actually, I think I’d better get unpacked, and then I’m going downstairs to talk to Ku—ah…Red.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Kagome! I know his name isn’t Red! I heard it when they called him up to be Sorted, I just forgot it. I’ll discover it soon enough, though.”

“Okay…Well, thanks for the…tour I guess you’d call it, but I’d better get unpacked now. Thank you.”

“You’re all too welcome!” Orla said, exiting the room and leaving Kagome breathless.

She’s going to be hard to deal with, Kagome thought to herself.

She walked over to her bed and let Kirara out of her kennel, and the kitten sprung out, happy to be able to move and stretch freely. Kagome pulled her two trunks out to the side of her bed and began to sort through them. She’d been sort of rushed to pack, and had thrown most of her clothes helter-skelter into both trunks. On the lid of her second trunk she found seven Slytherin badges to attach to her robes. Kagome looked sadly at the green and silver badges with the serpent wound around the shield, emerald eyes glinting mysteriously in the poor light provided by the torches on the wall.

“Kikyo…” Kagome sighed. “Even five hundred years after you truly died, you still return to haunt me…And I can never be rid of you because of what you’ve done.”

Kagome came out of her reverie when Kirara batted playfully at the sleeve of the undershirt she held in her hand. She kneeled down to be eye-level with the tiny kitten. “Are you helping me?” Kagome asked her. Her response was a tiny “mew” and unblinking, large blue eyes staring innocently up at her. “Alright then, if you’re going to help, why don’t you start by moving the clock back to before I left home to come here, so that when that letter came I could refuse it?”

Kagome was startled as there was a heavy fluttering sound at the window, and her owl came flying in! “Aisling!” Kagome cried, surprised. “I was wondering when you would get here! I hope you had some good hunting. They said that you’d be able to find me even after we left.” Kagome placed Aisling on the bedpost nearest her, as she hadn’t bought a stand for her at the pet store. She winced as her owl’s razor-like talons easily dug deep into the finely-grained wood of the bed.

“I’d better finish putting all of this away, before the rest of my dorm-mates decide to come up, huh?” Aisling hooted softly in reply and Kagome hurriedly finished up, stashing her trunks at the foot of the bed and locking them with the lock she’d gotten that wouldn’t allow them to be opened by anyone but her—not even with a lock pick or Alohomora. She put Kirara back into her kennel, despite her protests, and told Aisling to keep an eye on her things, and went back down to the Commons.

~~

It was still relatively crowded in the Commons, as people were catching up on summer news and talking and even conspiring already, but Kagome was searching for a red-crowned man in particular. She found him in a corner near the fireplace, sitting alone at a table with the most unusual set of Chess pieces she’d ever seen. Kurama looked as if he was trying to figure out how to work it.

“Having troubles?” Kagome asked, taking the seat across from him.

“Sort of,” He replied, glancing up only briefly. Kagome caught her breath—the flames from the fireplace were reflecting back in his eyes, making the green appear solid gold. He looked away and the moment was gone. “I cannot figure how to move these things. I try and pick them up, but they won’t lift.”

“Hmm…” Kagome remarked softly, gazing at the pieces. “Remember, this is the wizard’s Chess board. Maybe try just directing them.”

Kurama squinted his eyes for a moment and nodded. He ordered a pawn out onto the board, and sure enough, the black pawn, in the shape of a hunched-over soldier, moved forward into place. “Play with me?” Kurama asked, looking up at Kagome.

“Well…I’m not much good…”

“I’ll help, don’t worry.”

Kagome gave him a considering look. “That’s what you told me that night we were playing Poker with Yusuke and Kuwabara, too…Oh, well. At least we’re not betting,” Kagome ordered her pawn to meet Kurama’s and in an instant the white piece had drawn its swords and slashed through the black one. “Oh, Kami!” Kagome gasped. “I wasn’t expecting that!”

“Hmm,” Kurama murmured. “Neither did I. They must piece themselves back together at the end of the game, otherwise the expense for these things would be ridiculous.”

In what must’ve been the shortest game of Wizard’s Chess in history, Kurama beat Kagome hands down. “Good game, Kagome.”

“I told you I wasn’t very good!”

“You’ll learn quickly. You just have to strategize.” At Kagome’s silence, he steepled his fingers and looked at her inquiringly. “What troubles you, Kagome?”

She sighed and rubbed her thumb over the queen piece. “That boy—Malfoy. What he said…how he talked to me…I don’t think I’ve ever been so insulted! He had no right to say what he said. And then Yusuke and Kuwabara and the Potter boy got into the mix, and it was just…” She sighed. “…A mess. And I get the feeling that we haven’t heard the last from Malfoy.”

“I imagine not.”

Kagome turned considering blue eyes on him. “You seemed a little upset that Yusuke and Kuwabara got involved. Why?”

“I was frustrated because we are supposed to maintain a low profile. We don’t need any trouble from these people. From the information that I’ve gathered, the House we’ve been placed in is the most…the House that is generally looked upon as the ‘worst’ or ‘darkest.’ The enemy of these wizards came from this House, and every one that has followed him as well.”

“Well that’s nice to know! Now Ron and the Weasleys will think that we were lying all summer and won’t trust us anymore!”

“I don’t know about that,” Kurama said, trying to console her, but he, too, felt the same doubt. They stood and wandered around the room.

Kagome squeezed her hands tightly until she felt her nails bite into the flesh of her palm. After holding them like that for several moments she released all of the tension of the day in a deep sigh. “Aren’t you going to unpack?”

“I did, while you were up in your dorm.”

“Oh… Who are you bunking with?”

Kurama arched an eyebrow. “Of all of the ironies, Draco Malfoy, a Goyle, Crabbe, and a Flint.”

“No!” Kagome said in surprise. She dropped onto one of the black leather couches dramatically. “Of all of the rotten luck!”

“Indeed.” Kurama replied, sitting down on the same couch, but leaving enough room between them for another person, out of polite respect. “Youko also left me a ‘surprise’. It seems the kit is too smart for his own good—he figured out how to open his kennel and got out. He tore up the beds and I had to half-tie him into a cage I made from my plants.”

“Won’t your dorm-mates notice that? And besides, I heard that we were really only supposed to have cats, owls, or toads as pets here. I don’t even think that foxes are allowed.”

“They let me in, didn’t they?” Kurama asked, his eyes shining merrily.

Kagome laughed and shoved him lightly. “Very funny, Mr. Minamino. Won’t he be able to chew through plants, though?”

“Not mine.”

“Oh, of course not,” Kagome replied, winking over-exaggeratedly. “So what are you going to do about Youko, anyway?”

“Let him out on the grounds during the day and cage him at night, probably. A young kit like him needs to explore and gain his surroundings.”

“What she doesn’t know is that my little fox kit is actually a baby kitsune in his true form. He’s lost and looking for something, he can’t tell me more.” Kurama grimaced at the puzzling thought, but decided that the time to think of such things was not on the night before he began a new school. He looked casually around the room, and noted that, other than a few first or second years, the Commons had emptied—that wasn’t surprising at all, since it was going on eleven o’clock. Kurama looked over at Kagome, and did a double-take.

Kagome was sitting in her new robes, with her legs drawn up to her chest, the black shiny material draping over her shoulders and she sat on the excess. She had on a pleated gray skirt with black trim and a white button-up shirt with a black vest. Her silky hair hung in graceful waves and piled over her shoulders. She had her head flung back, relaxing against the high back of the couch, exposing her pale neck vulnerably.

Look at me, part of him urged. Just look at me and it will be perfect!

Kagome didn’t open her eyes though, and simply rolled her head around to rest on her chest, heaving a sigh.

Damn! Kurama sighed, the moment broken.

“What time is it?”

“Five after eleven.”

Kagome groaned and flipped onto her back, unknowingly revealing much of her upper thigh to Kurama’s careful speculation. “I’m so tired, but I don’t want to go up there.”

“Orla?” Kurama asked.

“That’s part of it. But I saw that Malfoy talking to these two girls and he called them Millicent and Pansy—those are the names of my other two roommates. They looked hideous—Millicent was just ugly and Pansy had on too much make-up. They were laughing and talking, but it was all fake. I could feel their negativity from over here! And with that on top of Orla, I could open the door to my room and have it knock me out!”

“Are you that sensitive to people’s aura and energy fields?” Kurama asked, looking at her curiously.

“I haven’t been in a long, long time.” Kagome replied, her eyes far off. “A really long time,” she whispered.

Kurama seemed to sense that there was an un-told story behind her words. “I see. Just focus on a barrier between them and you and they shouldn’t be able to get to you.”

“That’s not it. You see…” Kagome began, but stopped. “I just haven’t been used to that much wild energy in awhile. Anyway,” she said, sitting up and shaking her head. “I think I’d better go to bed—you should, too. First day, tomorrow!” Kagome shot Kurama a grin and with a graceful push she was off of the couch and walking up the stairs to her dorm, her black robes billowing out behind her.

~~

Kurama did go to bed, but it wasn’t until nearly midnight, because he was staying up thinking about the situation with his little kitsune. The kit was about twenty-five years old right now, and it was generally between twenty-five and thirty years that they would begin to take on humanoid features: voice, demon-level intellect, demon (and some human) knowledge and instinct, even features that would pop up then disappear. If he began doing this during his new schooling here at Hogwarts…Kurama got a headache just thinking about the consequences!

“He is already forming coherent thoughts to me when I speak to him—not much of a vocabulary—about the level of a five-year-old human child. But from there on, once he’s started doing that, then it will all come faster…Until one day, I’ll wake up and have a kitsune in the form of a little humanoid fox-boy in the cage.”

Kurama put his head in his hands, damning his recessive other half for not warning him before he bought the creature. “Then again,” he told himself, “it’s better that I were the one to get him, because imagine what would happen if a witch or wizard bought him and had him turn into a child one night!”

Kurama rubbed his temples and sighed. “Bed,” he told himself. He wandered up his own set of stairs and reached his dorm’s door, marked with “Malfoy, Flint, Goyle, Crabbe, Minamino.” Opening the door, his first instinct told him to be wary of the others in the room. Indeed, as soon as he reached his bed, the energy fields around it showed that it had been booby-trapped by magic.

With a flick of his wrist and a whispered incantation, the lines of invisible magic that were draped all over his bed were illuminated, glowing soft orange. “Simple spells. I have been underestimated,” he muttered with dark humor. “Deletrius,” he commanded, and a silent jet of red jumped from his wand’s tip, briefly lighting the room, and the spell was wiped out.

“Too simple, really.” His eyes narrowed fractionally. “I do not like being underestimated…So,” Kurama smirked slightly and he allowed the ki to rise in his soul, warming his body pleasantly. Youko Kurama shifted in their soul at this and the fox kit that was his namesake yipped softly, recognizing the energy.

Kurama’s eyes were now a glowing gold, and he turned to look down at the noisy kit. A tiny vine broke off from the main branch of the cage and twined its length around the kit’s nose. “Shh,” Kurama said softly. The vine released the kit and he looked properly ashamed.

Saying no more, Kurama silently began the task of installing vines in the rafters of his canopied bed, weaving them around the bed posts and feeding them enough energy so that they would be content to stay in the spots he placed them in. He fed the plant not images, really, but more like the scents and the feelings that he associated with all of his friends, so that if they came near, the plant would not tie them up.

And anyone the plant did not recognize…well…they’d find that out for themselves if they got within two feet of the bed or if they tried to cast a spell on it.

Halfway through, though, one of the other boys stirred.

Kurama paused his growing spree and looked briefly over his shoulder—there were no windows in this room, and the torches were just about burnt out. Expanding his senses, he let his energy take over his exploration and found two very large, apish teens sound asleep, and a very physically fit boy sleeping lightly. But there was one, also fit, who was awake—and he was watching Kurama. How the kitsune knew that the boy could see him clearly in the pitch black, Kurama did not know, but he had come to understand not to second-guess his gut feelings.

Caution, his instincts warned him. Kurama sniffed the air briefly, sifting through the scents, identifying the only familiar one as Malfoy being in the bed two over on the right from his own. And, just as he had suspected, the sound of Malfoy’s breathing was off from the rest of the other boys’.

Malfoy was watching his every move.

~~