Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Grim's Promise ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Okay, I have a vague idea where this is going now. This will not, under any circumstances, be a `YYH team goes to Hogwarts to save the day' story. This will be more of a `welcome to your new family' type fic.

A/N 2: Going by what's in the HP lexicon and OotP Sirius died the night of Thursday June 13th and the following Monday (the 17th) is when Harry went home via the express. This chapter starts out on the 18th, nine days before Genkai receives her letter. A quick run down of everyone's ages: Harry, 15 years old, Yusuke, 17 years old and Genkai is in her 70s.

A/N 3: Just in case the italics don't show up on Mediaminer the short scene with Remus is a dream sequence and almost all of it with Harry is another dream sequence. Harry's ends when Sirius says "So here's the plan…" I'm really hoping the italics show up but better safe than sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Harry Potter.

Warning: Possible spoilers for books one through five and the YYH series.

Summary: Two years before his death a powerful psychic made Sirius a promise. Now Genkai and Yusuke travel to London to keep it and throw the British magical community for a loop.

A Grim's Promise

Chapter One: June 18th to June 19th 1996 Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

Remus glared at his old friend. "Wait just one second Padfoot. What do you mean Harry's out of the Dursleys? Just what the hell did you do?!"

Sirius took a step back. He knew this was a dream and that Moony couldn't actually hurt him, but damn he was scary. "Remember that woman I wanted to send Harry to live with last summer?"

Remus nodded. He remembered alright. They had argued for hours about it.

"Well, I sort of made her Harry's new guardian. He's out of there Moony. Dumbledore and Fudge can't do anything about it. Wills are magically binding. It's the perfect solution."

The werewolf pinched the bridge of his nose. Even dead Sirius managed to pull something crazy. "There's one small problem Sirius."

"What? I've thought everything out. Genkai's strong enough to protect him. Plus all the other people who hang out around there are damn powerful too. He'll be safe. And then there's the bonus of being in a country that could care less about his fame and of getting away from those arsehole muggles. I don't see a problem; all he has to do is show up at the reading."

"That's the problem. Sit down, this could take a while."

June 19th to June 20th, Surrey, England

Harry was confused. For the past six days he had repeatedly dreamed of his own personal hell; a swirl of his godfather's death, Dumbledore's confession, and the prophecy with Voldemort's laughter in the background. But this dream was different. It was peaceful, calming, comforting. While this was a welcome change Harry was confused for one very simple reason.

"What in Merlin's name am I doing in the Slytherin common room?"

"Good question," said a voice behind him.

Harry spun around and saw a man poking at the knickknacks on a bookshelf. The man looked like his godfather but different, less like the haggard man he knew and more like the laughing, mischievous man from his parents wedding photos. Harry took a cautious step forward. "Sirius?"

Sirius turned around and pulled the teenager into a warm hug. "Hey kiddo." He pulled out of the hug and guided Harry over to the large, dark green leather sofa. "We need to talk and I don't have much time."

As he sat down, Harry looked even more confused than before. "What do you mean you don't have much time? This is dream, right?"

"Have you ever heard of dream talking?" Sirius shook his head in disgust at Harry's lost look. "Dumbledore should be hexed for hiring all those twits. This is basic second year defense stuff. Dream talking, kiddo, is where two people speak in their dreams. Normally it's done between two soul mates but the recently dead, that's me, can use it to say good bye or pass on final messages."

Harry snorted. "You really expect me to believe that. For all I know this is just some freak thing caused by Aunt Petunia's bad cooking."

"You don't believe me?" Sirius' expression was one of mock hurt.

"If this," Harry waved his arm around gesturing to the Slytherin common room and the man sitting next to him, "is real, then why have this conversation here?"

"Oh, that. I was curious, so I pulled the memory of it from your second year so I could look around. Moony, Prongs and I never did make it back in here after they redecorated. They really didn't change much though, just new carpets and a couple more sofas. Kinda disappointing really." Sirius looked at the room with a pitiful expression. "I was expecting major changes, like windows looking into the lake or something. Slytherin's have no imagination. Doesn't matter, we're taking this conversation elsewhere." He waved his hand and the room around the duo insistently changed to the Gryffindor common room.

Harry looked at his godfather, amazed at the sudden scene change. "H-how did you do that?" he asked curiously.

Sirius chuckled softly. "It's a dream Harry. While I'm really here talking to you, it's still a dream. And all dreams can be changed with just a thought." He bent his head down a bit and looked Harry in the eye. "Believe me now or do I need to start telling you of every prank I pulled on Snivellus for you to grill Moony about later?"

Smiling, Harry shook his head. He didn't but he could humor his subconscious for a while. "No, you don't need to do that, I believe you. But I would like to know why a picture of Snape with kitten ears just appeared on that wall over there." He pointed to a spot right over the fireplace.

Sirius turned a little to his right to look at the picture his godson had pointed at. He smirked when the picture-Snape scowled at him. "Actually they're fox ears. Funny story goes with that; have Remmy tell you about it later. And it appeared because I was thinking about that day."

Harry tilted his head to the side, looking pitiful. "Can't you tell me?"

The animagus shook his head. "Sorry Harry, no time. I sorta ditched the ferry girl that picked me up just so I could come and talk to you and Moony. I need to tell you some things before Botan finds me. The last thing I think you need is the Dursleys finding a blue haired girl in a pink kimono sitting on an oar floating around in your room."

"What's a ferry girl?"

"Ferry girls are the ones who take souls to the land of the dead. We would call them Grim Reapers."

"The Grim Reaper is a girl?! No way!" Harry shook his head in disbelief.

"I said the same thing and she hit me with her oar." Sirius rubbed the back of his head, wincing at the old memory. "If everything goes the way I planed, you might meet her so be polite. That oar hurts."

Harry's face paled as he processed what Sirius had just said. He scooted back a little, looking at the man in shock. "Wait. You want me to die?!" Harry shrieked.

Sirius winced again before pulling Harry in for another hug, rubbing his back to calm him down. "No, I don't want you to die. Botan just happens to be friends with someone you're going to be living with. Sorry kiddo didn't mean to scare you like that." He settled back against the couch, keeping his arm around Harry's shoulders. "You okay?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Just don't scare me like that again."

"Don't plan on it." Sirius snorted. "Now, for the reason I'm here. You know that your parents made me your guardian right?" Harry nodded. "And you know why couldn't live with me while I was alive?" Harry nodded again. "And you remember how I promised that someday I find a way to get you out of the hellhole known as the Dursleys?"

Harry nodded again, leaning into the half hug. "I remember, but what does that have to do with anything? There's no place else that has the kind of warding powerful enough to prevent Voldemort from finding me. Dumbledore said so."

Sirius snorted derisively. "Bullshit. Anyone with enough power and the right knowledge can cast wards like this. The only drawback is that you have to live with the person who cast the wards. Dumbledore just took the easy way out by using blood magic and tying the wards to Petunia instead of himself. I can think of at least eight people who are most definitely powerful enough to pull off wards like this. And two of those people have the training to put up those types of wards." [1]

The green eyed boy's eyes went wide with surprise. "Then why do I live here?"

"Well, I'm not too sure why you don't live with Dumbledore. He could pull off wards like this if he had to. As for the other person, she didn't even know you existed until two years ago. Before you ask, I didn't meet her until it was almost time for you to go back to school. I would have sent you there last year but Moony convinced me that might not be such a good idea." Sirius shrugged.

"Why would Remus do that? He knows what Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are like."

"She lives in Japan Harry. You would have been on a plane full of muggles." Sirius scowled slightly. "As Moony so kindly pointed out that would have been like a two for one sale in old Moldywort's book. If he hadn't said that I would have owled her to ask, and we would have had you on the first flight out."

"Portkey?" Harry asked.

"I have two words for you; Fudge and illegal."

"Oh." Feeling sleepy, which in his opinion was quite odd for a dream, Harry leaned further against his godfather's chest and closed his eyes. "So I'm still stuck here, aren't I?" he asked, yawning.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders, waking Harry up. "Don't slip out of REM sleep yet. Still talking here."

"Sorry."

"Not a problem." Sirius shrugged again. "But as to your question, no you're not staying at the Dursleys. Not past the reading of my will, anyways. Until my death I was your legal guardian. But because I was either in jail or on the run while I was alive, that didn't mean much. Now that I'm dead though…"

Harry pulled back to look at Sirius when he trailed off. He raised an eyebrow at the man's mischievous grin. He knew that smile. It was the same one Peeves wore while he drove Umbridge insane last year. "I don't trust that look. What are you planning?"

"Planned, Harry. I'm dead, remember?"

"Okay, planned then. Seriously, what are you talking about?" Harry asked, yawning again.

"Oh nothing much. Just you going to live with the old lady, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's all completely legal, so Fudge and Dumbledore can't stop it. Its times like these you just have to love old wizarding inheritance laws." Sirius was practically bouncing with joy at this point. "I managed to not only get you out of here but pulled one over on Fudge, Dumbledore and Moldyworts. I am so good."

Harry looked at the animagus like he was insane. That, now that Harry thought about it, was a distinct possibility. "But you had to die to do it! How in the world can you be so happy about something like that?"

Sirius' smile turned a little sad, but he was still smiling. "Harry, I've known for the past two years I was going to die. Botan accidentally told me. I just didn't know how." He reached a hand out and ruffled Harry's hair. "I'm just glad my death is going to do some good for you and Moony."

Harry's face fell as it finally hit him that the dream was real, that it wasn't a product of Aunt Petunia's fish sticks, and that when he woke up his godfather would be gone again. He pulled his legs up on to the couch and wrapped his arms around them. He buried his face in the small hollow and tried not to cry. "But you're still dead, and it's my f-fault. If I had just used the m-mirror instead of talking to Kre-kreacher I would have known and…" Harry's voice trailed off as he started to cry, rocking back and forth slightly.

Harry might not have noticed when the room started to turn dark in response to his emotions but Sirius did. When the portrait of Snape changed to the scene of him falling through the veil on repeat he did the first thing he could think of.

"Ow! What was that for?" Harry's head jerked up and he glared weakly at Sirius while rubbing the back of his head.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief as the room brightened considerably and the picture started to change back. "For being stupid, my death was in no way your fault. I told, no matter what, I was going to die. The Grim Reaper herself told me so."

"But…"

"No! If I hadn't died at the ministry I would have died doing something for the Order. It was going to happen. At least this way I got to die while fighting instead sniffing around in London as Padfoot. It. Was. Not. Your. Fault. Got it? " He gave Harry a gentle smile when he nodded. He was still crying, but it was a huge improvement from earlier. "Now, back to the reason I came here in the first place. There is a small snag in my master plan."

"Huh? I thought you said…"

Sirius looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah well, when I was planning this out I didn't take into account Dumbledore being a meddlesome pain in my ass. He and the Order added a few new wards to the Dursleys' house. One of them has the nasty little side effect that prevents any owl that hasn't been here before from finding this place. Which means the Black family law firm isn't going to be able to notify you of when the reading of the will is."

Harry wiped his face off with his sleeve. "Why is that a problem?"

"You know those inheritance laws I was so happy about a minute ago? Well they state that if the recipient, that's you, isn't there for the reading you won't get anything. That includes my naming someone else as your guardian. If you're not there the Dursleys automatically become your guardians in both worlds. This means you're magically bound to them until you're twenty one." He snickered when Harry's face crinkled up in disgust. "My thoughts exactly. So here's the plan…"

Sirius smiled sadly as he stood up from sitting on Harry's bed. He knew this idea was risky but he'd be damned if he was going to let his godson be stuck in this hellhole for the next five years and some change.

"I hope you're happy. I just spent the last week hunting you down." Botan snapped from her perch by the window.

"Sorry for being such a bother, but this was important." He gave the oar she was sitting on a wary glance. "You're not going to hit me with that thing again are you?"

Botan shook her head. "No, not this time." She glanced at the sleeping boy then back at the ghost before her. "So that's Harry I take it?"

"Yep."

Botan floated over to get a better look at him. "I didn't notice the night you died but he looks a lot like his mother." she said with a gentle smile.

Sirius looked up from Harry, surprised. "You think? I always thought he looked like James. Wait a minute. You knew Lily?"

Botan snickered. "I was the one who escorted her and James to Spirit World after they died. They argued the entire way. It was quite funny. Now climb on, we need to get going."

"Botan?" Sirius asked as they flew out the window and up to a portal.

"Yes?"

"I'm not in too much trouble, right?"

Silence.

"Botan?"

She giggled.

tbc….

[1] Sirius is referring to Dumbledore, Genkai, Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yukina, and Harry. Only Dumbledore and Genkai have the training though.