Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Higher Learning ❯ Observing Defense; Nobody's Pet ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Arigatomina 
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.17.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.17.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Work In Progress
Author’s Note: Quick response to some of the reader questions. For animefreak my Kurama is only playful (nice) to people he likes, or enemies he plans to kill very slowly - he’s a fox. To Chris, you’ve read my mind - I’m considering it. Thanks go to CuriousDreamWeaver for the HP corrections - it’s been a while since I read the books. To Kyra2, Snape will stop disliking Harry when Harry starts paying full attention in his class, and proves he’s a wizard because he deserves to be one, not because of who he is - James Potter’s son, able to break rule after rule without ever getting in trouble for it. To Emily, Hiei wanted the students to notice him, that’s why he was amused (smug/satisfied) at how easily he got their attention, and why he was mocking of Harry’s distraction - it wasn’t contempt, it was dismissive amusement. Keep in mind that Hiei has heard all sorts of things about the Boy Who Lived - namely from Snape (bad things) and Lupin (good things). Hiei hasn’t decided who to believe yet, or if he even cares enough to form his own opinion.
Glad I gave a warning about the irregular updates on the last part. I got a little delayed.
Category: YYH/HP crossover, TWT
Warnings: None
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Higher Learning
Part 3: Observing Defense; Nobody’s Pet
She noticed him the moment she entered the room, but unlike her fellow students, Hermione had a quick epiphany at the sight of Hiei seated at the desk near the door – just like he’d been in Potions. With both classes he’d been there before any of the students. And there were two things Potions and Defense had in common today, besides the stranger’s presence. One was the Gryffindor students. The other was-
“Lupin!”
Hermione jumped a little, surprised out of her epiphany by the happy cry. Harry had spotted someone across the room that she hadn’t noticed. Sure enough, Lupin was seated near the window, off to the side of the professor’s desk but still at the head of the classroom. She pushed away her thoughts of the stranger as she joined Harry in greeting their old friend.
“I didn’t think you’d be here,” Harry was saying, his words coming in a quick rush. “You are teaching again, right Lupin? Er, Professor Lupin, I mean…that is…”
Harry trailed off, not sure how to address the man now that he was his superior again, instead of his friend. Lupin was smiling at him, seated in a comfortable armchair that reminded Harry of the one Dumbledore had used during his trial a few years back. The only difference was the mottled brown coloring, and the large silver fox reclining on the arm closest to the window.
“You are our new professor,” said Harry, “aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Lupin, “I’m going to be teaching you. But…I’m not your professor just yet.”
He caught Harry’s gaze and directed it to the desk at the front of the class, a hint of a sympathetic smile flashing past his face when the boy paled.
Sure enough, Snape was sitting behind the desk, watching Harry’s reaction with a dark ‘gotcha’ smile. Harry bristled and almost blushed as he stumbled for something to say, now that he knew Snape could hear every word.
“Erm, well,” mumbled Harry, “since you’re already here, couldn’t you…”
Lupin shook his head with that same, sympathetic smile, absentmindedly petting the fox when it tilted an ear at him. The rest of the students were arriving now, but Harry was reluctant to sit down. He frowned at the silver canine with a wash of grief as he remembered how Lupin had once pet Padfoot the very same way.
“Is that your new pet…?” asked Harry.
Lupin jumped, jerking his hand away as if burned. Heat swamped his face, and he ducked his head with an almost sheepish grin. The large silver fox was bristling with indignation, and Hiei’s low chuckle from across the room didn’t help matters any.
“No,” Lupin said quickly, “he’s not a pet. Certainly not my pet.”
Now that their attention was directed to the large fox, Hermione, who’d been standing back with Ron so as not to intrude on Harry’s reunion, noticed the extra tails. They’d been curled together before, but now they were in the air, the silky fur standing on end so that all five of them were clearly visible.
“What kind of fox is that?” asked Hermione.
Lupin raised his eyebrows, and Hermione blinked when the fox turned to look at her. She had a brief impression that it was grinning at her. Then a whisper met with her mind, a single word that left her stunned to the point of silence.
‘Youko.’
Pale golden eyes glittered with amusement. Kurama let her stare for a moment before standing on the arm of the chair and hopping to the floor. He was not much more than two feet tall in his fox form – rather large considering he’d used it mostly for infiltration – but too small to see the students over their desks without craning his neck. He was sure they could see him, though, and that was what mattered.
Hiei sent a sideways look at Snape as the fox crossed the room, smirking at how irritated the human looked. Snape had been set against this sort of display, but Lupin and Kurama had gotten the last say in the matter. Now the man was pointedly ignoring all three of them, his twitching eyebrow the only sign that he knew what was going on in front of his desk.
Kurama padded slowly and gracefully – making sure the students were watching him. He hopped onto Hiei’s desk and turned to look back at the class, his legs curling into a half seated position. The humans were watching, but they didn’t seem to be anything more than curious. Staring at the students closest to him, Kurama shifted back to his redhaired form.
The reaction was priceless. Even Hiei smirked, mostly because Neville had fallen out of his chair in surprise.
Kurama gave a sly smile, pausing for a moment of silence up where everyone in the room could see him clearly. Then he looked away and the whispers began. Someone near him used the word animagus, and launched into an argument with another student in heated, if muffled tones. He listened with one ear as he turned his smug smile on Hiei.
Hiei rolled his eyes and flitted over to the window, leaving the chair for the self-satisfied fox. A few of the students noticed his movement, and to them it looked as if he’d disappeared and reappeared, reclining on the open windowsill. The rest of the Griffindor students only saw Kurama slide off the desk and into the empty seat as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Harry tore his gaze away from the strange redhaired wizard, for surely he had to be a wizard if he were an animagus, and blinked wide eyes at Lupin. His friend, and re-appointed professor, smiled back at him. He didn’t look the least bit concerned with what had just happened.
“You should take a seat now,” Lupin said gently.
Harry’s mouth opened and closed a few times as Hermione caught his arm, Ron helping her direct the boy back to an empty desk. Her mind was racing at the idea of the stranger being an animagus.
He’d have to be an unregistered one. She’d gone over the entire list not too long ago. There hadn’t been any wizards as young as the redhaired teen. And there were absolutely no foxes, certainly not small silver ones with five tails. But she didn’t see how he could be an unregistered animagus when he had just transformed in public – at Hogwarts, and in front of Snape of all people. The professor would jump on the chance to catch a wizard breaking the rules like that.
Hermione looked up to see how Snape was reacting to the display. His twitching eyebrow proved he was not happy. But the professor wasn’t so much as looking at the redhead. He was scowling over at Lupin, who was currently staring at the ceiling with an innocent expression plastered over his face.
She frowned in confusion and dropped her gaze, almost unaware of the whispered speculation Harry and Ron were sharing beside her. As unlikely as it was for an unregistered animagus to give a public display like that, she also had that word she’d heard earlier. She could swear the fox – animagus - had thought that word to her.
That decided it. As soon as her classes were finished for the day, Hermione was heading right for the library. Ron would have a fit. Their first day of classes and she already had a date with the library.
The whispering went on for as long as Snape’s patience held out. About four minutes. He just couldn’t stand to have students chatting like that, even if it were to his benefit.
He didn’t have to silence them. The moment Snape stood, the students – all Gryffindor students – shut up and glowered. From his position between the professor and the class, Kurama could almost taste the resentment on both sides.
“Defense,” Snape said, in a tone that was so mocking and demeaning that Harry bristled and went bright red, “is not just learning terms and tricks to pass a class. It’s picking up skills and being able to use them to save your life. Some of the people here are taking the class with hopes of becoming Aurors.”
Hermione winced when the professor sneered directly at Harry. She glanced at Lupin to see his reaction. He was looking off to the side and she had the distinct impression he was biting his tongue not to say anything.
“There is only one person in this class,” Snape continued, “I can imagine actually passing the tests necessary to become an Auror. And so far she’s still undecided about her future.”
This was directed at Hermione with a mocking smirk. She froze and blushed bright red. Harry was fuming next to her and she wanted nothing more than to sink into her seat and dribble onto the floor where no one could see her.
She didn’t even want to be an Auror. Harry knew that. She just liked the classes and wanted to learn. Why did Snape have to draw attention to her and make Harry mad at her like that?
Kurama turned in his seat and flashed the embarrassed girl a warm smile. She blushed darker in reaction.
Immediately it wasn’t just Harry sending her jealous looks, but Ron and half of the Gryffindor females as well. Hermione fidgeted in her seat, steam practically rising out of her ears from how hot her face felt. It had to have been the longest thirty seconds of her life.
Snape continued, his attention going from the Potter crew to the Griffindor class as a whole.
“What you’ll be doing this year is going through a series of tests. As you should have noticed, there are no new texts for this year’s course. You’ll be finishing off the magical creatures listed in the third year text, the practical application of defensive spell-casting you began in your fourth year, and, of course, the theory of when, according to wizarding laws, it is legal to use high level defensive techniques, as you began to learn in your fifth year. What this is, is a comprehensive course that will fill in the gaps in your lacking grasp of Defense, both in theory and application.
“So far, the only useful thing you’ve learned in the last five years is what the forbidden spells look like. And,” he sneered, “since recognizing them won’t help you when they’re cast on you, that’s not very useful either.”
Snape paused for a moment, his expression shifting to a cold, almost emotionless gaze. “There will be no unsupervised practicing of the spells you learn this year.”
He turned his attention on each former member of Dumbledore’s Army, making sure they were paying close attention. “All practice of restricted spells will be supervised. Any student found using one of these spells illicitly will be expelled.”
That cold look fell on Harry, and he almost squirmed in his seat. Somehow it was more frightening because Snape wasn’t smirking or glaring at him. He couldn’t remember Snape ever looking at him without one of the two expressions.
“Dumbledore has stated there will be no exceptions.”
Hermione shot a glance at Lupin after that eerie warning, but he was looking down at his folded hands with an almost melancholy expression. She turned back to her books with still more unanswered questions.
Snape was assigning them research on something called a wyvern. There were a lot of surprised looks going around the room because he didn’t assign a report on the creature, just the research. They were to be tested at the end of their next class.
Hermione nodded to herself as she made a note of the assignment. The test would probably be a real test, so that was all the motivation they needed to do the research. Even if they didn’t have to actually turn in proof that they researched it, their test scores would show who had done the assignment. And with her as a friend, Harry and Ron would be doing the homework whether they liked it or not.
She remembered wyvern as a sidenote in their old text, at the back of the book near the index. She’d read the entire book when Snape had assigned them the report on werewolves that year. There was an entire chapter toward the end on creatures that didn’t fit into the normal categories, many of which were considered chimeras – crosses between different subspecies. The chapter hadn’t said what the different creatures were, just the names and reference books.
If Hermione hadn’t been sufficiently distracted since then, she’d have looked all of the rare creatures up for the fun of it. But now she had the perfect excuse to drag her friends to the library with her. They’d have to get those reference books to complete the homework, anyway, so she could look up youko while she was there. Convenient.
After the class was dismissed, Harry went back to speak with Lupin again. Hermione followed warily. Snape was still at his desk, and he was watching them with that same cold mask he’d worn earlier. She couldn’t help thinking that he worried her more when he wasn’t sneering. And he’d probably sit there and listen to every word they said. He wasn’t the type to go away and give them a moment of privacy, but she wished he’d at least pretend he wasn’t listening to them.
Harry was just as uncomfortable at having his least favorite professor spying on him, but he put his back to Snape and tried to ignore it. “Are you in the office you used last time?” he asked Lupin. “I wanted to talk to you – after the rest of my classes, that is.”
Hiei looked up sharply at that, and Harry blinked, shifting with more discomfort. He’d forgotten the stranger was so close since he’d been half hidden by Lupin’s chair.
Lupin gave Harry a regretful smile, shaking his head. “Maybe in a few days, once I’m teaching full time.”
“Don’t you three have classes to be getting to?” asked Snape.
Harry bristled but refused to look back at him. He and Ron were out of the room in a matter of seconds, leaving Hermione behind as she gave a rushed goodbye to Lupin.
“Great to have you back,” Hermione said quickly.
On the way out the door, she noticed the redhead smiling at her again. She ground to a halt, her eyebrows drawing into a frown. He wasn’t mocking her, or flirting with her. His smile was simply that, a friendly smile. She turned back to him and shifted for a second before asking, politely, what his name was.
Kurama blinked in surprise. A teasing glitter sprang to his eyes and his smile widened. “Kurama. And you are?”
“Hermione Granger.”
“Nice to meet you, Hermione.”
The teen’s voice was soft, and higher than she expected. But it was the accent that caught her attention. Hermione’s eyes shown with suspicion and a bit of exhilaration – maybe she hadn’t known what youko was because it hadn’t been an english word.
“Are you Japanese?” she asked.
“Something like that,” said Kurama.
He had an idea what was going through the girl’s mind, and he couldn’t help but be smug about it. A glance toward the doorway and he let out a little laugh. “Your friends look worried. You should probably go to your next class.”
Hermione turned to find Ron and Harry frowning from the hallway. With a quick wave for Lupin, and a hesitant look at Kurama, she left the room.
Kurama watched until they were gone. Then he shot a conspiratorial smirk over at Lupin. “That went well.”
Hiei snorted from the window, folding his arms and looking outside irritably. “Of course it went well,” he scoffed. “She’s female.”
Lupin smirked at that, but the expression disappeared when he looked at Snape. “I suppose Malfoy would ask you before asking Hiei so much as his name.”
“Hufflepuff is next,” said Snape, distaste coating his tone. “They’re guileless, more likely to be forward with their…curiosity.”
He glowered over at Lupin for a second before shifting his glare to Kurama. “There won’t be any need for another vagrant display.”
Kurama grinned, not the least bit embarrassed. “That’s too bad. I was wondering how the students would react to having a real youko in their midst. Maybe I should save that for the Slytherin students.”
He leaned forward on the desk and looked over at Hiei. “I take it none of them commented on your accent?”
Smirking at Lupin’s curious gaze, Hiei tilted his head against the window and said in English, “what accent.”
Lupin gave an appreciative look, while Kurama just shook his head at the conceit. Hiei had said he knew dozens of human languages, so Kurama wasn’t really surprised.
“You have a way with languages,” said Lupin.
Hiei’s smug look faded a bit and he shrugged, now dismissive about the subject. “It’s easy when you remember every word you’ve ever heard since the day you were born.”
With a wince for the bright light filtering in around the dark clothed demon, Lupin turned away. “I see...”
A sharp look from Kurama, and Hiei hopped of the window. He moved so he could see Lupin’s eyes, not minding how the man warily leaned away from him. It only took a glance to see the spell had worn off.
Typical. A single dose of the right plant would have shielded his eyes for days, but no, wizards had to use their short-term magic tricks.
He rolled his eyes at Snape and returned to his position on the window. “Reapply it before the next class starts.”
Lupin winced at the dirty look Snape shot both him and Hiei. But he winced a lot more when the professor approached him with his wand raised. He blinked at it warily, a pained smile pulling at his face.
“You know,” Lupin said slowly, “it goes against my instincts to sit still when you point that at me.”
Snape sneered, years of enmity flashing behind his eyes. “I’m sure it does.”
- - -
TBC
--nonsense and notes--
What do you get when you take two rivals for the “most evil” award, two mischievous yet soft-spoken peacemakers; one pair of trusting allies, one pair that will never trust each other, and mix it all together in the middle of lots of unsuspecting kids? This fic. ;p
Note the language barrier – Lupin and Snape are wizards, professors, if they don’t know Japanese, they can cast a spell to learn it so they understand Kurama and Hiei. Kurama and Hiei understand english, but they only speak it with the students – since the kids wouldn’t have easy access to a translation spell. It would be too much trouble for them to bother using English all the time when the professors can understand Japanese with a flick of a wand (assuming they don’t know it already).
Next up, Kurama plays watchdog…er, watchfox. o.O
Glad I gave a warning about the irregular updates on the last part. I got a little delayed.
Category: YYH/HP crossover, TWT
Warnings: None
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Higher Learning
Part 3: Observing Defense; Nobody’s Pet
She noticed him the moment she entered the room, but unlike her fellow students, Hermione had a quick epiphany at the sight of Hiei seated at the desk near the door – just like he’d been in Potions. With both classes he’d been there before any of the students. And there were two things Potions and Defense had in common today, besides the stranger’s presence. One was the Gryffindor students. The other was-
“Lupin!”
Hermione jumped a little, surprised out of her epiphany by the happy cry. Harry had spotted someone across the room that she hadn’t noticed. Sure enough, Lupin was seated near the window, off to the side of the professor’s desk but still at the head of the classroom. She pushed away her thoughts of the stranger as she joined Harry in greeting their old friend.
“I didn’t think you’d be here,” Harry was saying, his words coming in a quick rush. “You are teaching again, right Lupin? Er, Professor Lupin, I mean…that is…”
Harry trailed off, not sure how to address the man now that he was his superior again, instead of his friend. Lupin was smiling at him, seated in a comfortable armchair that reminded Harry of the one Dumbledore had used during his trial a few years back. The only difference was the mottled brown coloring, and the large silver fox reclining on the arm closest to the window.
“You are our new professor,” said Harry, “aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Lupin, “I’m going to be teaching you. But…I’m not your professor just yet.”
He caught Harry’s gaze and directed it to the desk at the front of the class, a hint of a sympathetic smile flashing past his face when the boy paled.
Sure enough, Snape was sitting behind the desk, watching Harry’s reaction with a dark ‘gotcha’ smile. Harry bristled and almost blushed as he stumbled for something to say, now that he knew Snape could hear every word.
“Erm, well,” mumbled Harry, “since you’re already here, couldn’t you…”
Lupin shook his head with that same, sympathetic smile, absentmindedly petting the fox when it tilted an ear at him. The rest of the students were arriving now, but Harry was reluctant to sit down. He frowned at the silver canine with a wash of grief as he remembered how Lupin had once pet Padfoot the very same way.
“Is that your new pet…?” asked Harry.
Lupin jumped, jerking his hand away as if burned. Heat swamped his face, and he ducked his head with an almost sheepish grin. The large silver fox was bristling with indignation, and Hiei’s low chuckle from across the room didn’t help matters any.
“No,” Lupin said quickly, “he’s not a pet. Certainly not my pet.”
Now that their attention was directed to the large fox, Hermione, who’d been standing back with Ron so as not to intrude on Harry’s reunion, noticed the extra tails. They’d been curled together before, but now they were in the air, the silky fur standing on end so that all five of them were clearly visible.
“What kind of fox is that?” asked Hermione.
Lupin raised his eyebrows, and Hermione blinked when the fox turned to look at her. She had a brief impression that it was grinning at her. Then a whisper met with her mind, a single word that left her stunned to the point of silence.
‘Youko.’
Pale golden eyes glittered with amusement. Kurama let her stare for a moment before standing on the arm of the chair and hopping to the floor. He was not much more than two feet tall in his fox form – rather large considering he’d used it mostly for infiltration – but too small to see the students over their desks without craning his neck. He was sure they could see him, though, and that was what mattered.
Hiei sent a sideways look at Snape as the fox crossed the room, smirking at how irritated the human looked. Snape had been set against this sort of display, but Lupin and Kurama had gotten the last say in the matter. Now the man was pointedly ignoring all three of them, his twitching eyebrow the only sign that he knew what was going on in front of his desk.
Kurama padded slowly and gracefully – making sure the students were watching him. He hopped onto Hiei’s desk and turned to look back at the class, his legs curling into a half seated position. The humans were watching, but they didn’t seem to be anything more than curious. Staring at the students closest to him, Kurama shifted back to his redhaired form.
The reaction was priceless. Even Hiei smirked, mostly because Neville had fallen out of his chair in surprise.
Kurama gave a sly smile, pausing for a moment of silence up where everyone in the room could see him clearly. Then he looked away and the whispers began. Someone near him used the word animagus, and launched into an argument with another student in heated, if muffled tones. He listened with one ear as he turned his smug smile on Hiei.
Hiei rolled his eyes and flitted over to the window, leaving the chair for the self-satisfied fox. A few of the students noticed his movement, and to them it looked as if he’d disappeared and reappeared, reclining on the open windowsill. The rest of the Griffindor students only saw Kurama slide off the desk and into the empty seat as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Harry tore his gaze away from the strange redhaired wizard, for surely he had to be a wizard if he were an animagus, and blinked wide eyes at Lupin. His friend, and re-appointed professor, smiled back at him. He didn’t look the least bit concerned with what had just happened.
“You should take a seat now,” Lupin said gently.
Harry’s mouth opened and closed a few times as Hermione caught his arm, Ron helping her direct the boy back to an empty desk. Her mind was racing at the idea of the stranger being an animagus.
He’d have to be an unregistered one. She’d gone over the entire list not too long ago. There hadn’t been any wizards as young as the redhaired teen. And there were absolutely no foxes, certainly not small silver ones with five tails. But she didn’t see how he could be an unregistered animagus when he had just transformed in public – at Hogwarts, and in front of Snape of all people. The professor would jump on the chance to catch a wizard breaking the rules like that.
Hermione looked up to see how Snape was reacting to the display. His twitching eyebrow proved he was not happy. But the professor wasn’t so much as looking at the redhead. He was scowling over at Lupin, who was currently staring at the ceiling with an innocent expression plastered over his face.
She frowned in confusion and dropped her gaze, almost unaware of the whispered speculation Harry and Ron were sharing beside her. As unlikely as it was for an unregistered animagus to give a public display like that, she also had that word she’d heard earlier. She could swear the fox – animagus - had thought that word to her.
That decided it. As soon as her classes were finished for the day, Hermione was heading right for the library. Ron would have a fit. Their first day of classes and she already had a date with the library.
The whispering went on for as long as Snape’s patience held out. About four minutes. He just couldn’t stand to have students chatting like that, even if it were to his benefit.
He didn’t have to silence them. The moment Snape stood, the students – all Gryffindor students – shut up and glowered. From his position between the professor and the class, Kurama could almost taste the resentment on both sides.
“Defense,” Snape said, in a tone that was so mocking and demeaning that Harry bristled and went bright red, “is not just learning terms and tricks to pass a class. It’s picking up skills and being able to use them to save your life. Some of the people here are taking the class with hopes of becoming Aurors.”
Hermione winced when the professor sneered directly at Harry. She glanced at Lupin to see his reaction. He was looking off to the side and she had the distinct impression he was biting his tongue not to say anything.
“There is only one person in this class,” Snape continued, “I can imagine actually passing the tests necessary to become an Auror. And so far she’s still undecided about her future.”
This was directed at Hermione with a mocking smirk. She froze and blushed bright red. Harry was fuming next to her and she wanted nothing more than to sink into her seat and dribble onto the floor where no one could see her.
She didn’t even want to be an Auror. Harry knew that. She just liked the classes and wanted to learn. Why did Snape have to draw attention to her and make Harry mad at her like that?
Kurama turned in his seat and flashed the embarrassed girl a warm smile. She blushed darker in reaction.
Immediately it wasn’t just Harry sending her jealous looks, but Ron and half of the Gryffindor females as well. Hermione fidgeted in her seat, steam practically rising out of her ears from how hot her face felt. It had to have been the longest thirty seconds of her life.
Snape continued, his attention going from the Potter crew to the Griffindor class as a whole.
“What you’ll be doing this year is going through a series of tests. As you should have noticed, there are no new texts for this year’s course. You’ll be finishing off the magical creatures listed in the third year text, the practical application of defensive spell-casting you began in your fourth year, and, of course, the theory of when, according to wizarding laws, it is legal to use high level defensive techniques, as you began to learn in your fifth year. What this is, is a comprehensive course that will fill in the gaps in your lacking grasp of Defense, both in theory and application.
“So far, the only useful thing you’ve learned in the last five years is what the forbidden spells look like. And,” he sneered, “since recognizing them won’t help you when they’re cast on you, that’s not very useful either.”
Snape paused for a moment, his expression shifting to a cold, almost emotionless gaze. “There will be no unsupervised practicing of the spells you learn this year.”
He turned his attention on each former member of Dumbledore’s Army, making sure they were paying close attention. “All practice of restricted spells will be supervised. Any student found using one of these spells illicitly will be expelled.”
That cold look fell on Harry, and he almost squirmed in his seat. Somehow it was more frightening because Snape wasn’t smirking or glaring at him. He couldn’t remember Snape ever looking at him without one of the two expressions.
“Dumbledore has stated there will be no exceptions.”
Hermione shot a glance at Lupin after that eerie warning, but he was looking down at his folded hands with an almost melancholy expression. She turned back to her books with still more unanswered questions.
Snape was assigning them research on something called a wyvern. There were a lot of surprised looks going around the room because he didn’t assign a report on the creature, just the research. They were to be tested at the end of their next class.
Hermione nodded to herself as she made a note of the assignment. The test would probably be a real test, so that was all the motivation they needed to do the research. Even if they didn’t have to actually turn in proof that they researched it, their test scores would show who had done the assignment. And with her as a friend, Harry and Ron would be doing the homework whether they liked it or not.
She remembered wyvern as a sidenote in their old text, at the back of the book near the index. She’d read the entire book when Snape had assigned them the report on werewolves that year. There was an entire chapter toward the end on creatures that didn’t fit into the normal categories, many of which were considered chimeras – crosses between different subspecies. The chapter hadn’t said what the different creatures were, just the names and reference books.
If Hermione hadn’t been sufficiently distracted since then, she’d have looked all of the rare creatures up for the fun of it. But now she had the perfect excuse to drag her friends to the library with her. They’d have to get those reference books to complete the homework, anyway, so she could look up youko while she was there. Convenient.
After the class was dismissed, Harry went back to speak with Lupin again. Hermione followed warily. Snape was still at his desk, and he was watching them with that same cold mask he’d worn earlier. She couldn’t help thinking that he worried her more when he wasn’t sneering. And he’d probably sit there and listen to every word they said. He wasn’t the type to go away and give them a moment of privacy, but she wished he’d at least pretend he wasn’t listening to them.
Harry was just as uncomfortable at having his least favorite professor spying on him, but he put his back to Snape and tried to ignore it. “Are you in the office you used last time?” he asked Lupin. “I wanted to talk to you – after the rest of my classes, that is.”
Hiei looked up sharply at that, and Harry blinked, shifting with more discomfort. He’d forgotten the stranger was so close since he’d been half hidden by Lupin’s chair.
Lupin gave Harry a regretful smile, shaking his head. “Maybe in a few days, once I’m teaching full time.”
“Don’t you three have classes to be getting to?” asked Snape.
Harry bristled but refused to look back at him. He and Ron were out of the room in a matter of seconds, leaving Hermione behind as she gave a rushed goodbye to Lupin.
“Great to have you back,” Hermione said quickly.
On the way out the door, she noticed the redhead smiling at her again. She ground to a halt, her eyebrows drawing into a frown. He wasn’t mocking her, or flirting with her. His smile was simply that, a friendly smile. She turned back to him and shifted for a second before asking, politely, what his name was.
Kurama blinked in surprise. A teasing glitter sprang to his eyes and his smile widened. “Kurama. And you are?”
“Hermione Granger.”
“Nice to meet you, Hermione.”
The teen’s voice was soft, and higher than she expected. But it was the accent that caught her attention. Hermione’s eyes shown with suspicion and a bit of exhilaration – maybe she hadn’t known what youko was because it hadn’t been an english word.
“Are you Japanese?” she asked.
“Something like that,” said Kurama.
He had an idea what was going through the girl’s mind, and he couldn’t help but be smug about it. A glance toward the doorway and he let out a little laugh. “Your friends look worried. You should probably go to your next class.”
Hermione turned to find Ron and Harry frowning from the hallway. With a quick wave for Lupin, and a hesitant look at Kurama, she left the room.
Kurama watched until they were gone. Then he shot a conspiratorial smirk over at Lupin. “That went well.”
Hiei snorted from the window, folding his arms and looking outside irritably. “Of course it went well,” he scoffed. “She’s female.”
Lupin smirked at that, but the expression disappeared when he looked at Snape. “I suppose Malfoy would ask you before asking Hiei so much as his name.”
“Hufflepuff is next,” said Snape, distaste coating his tone. “They’re guileless, more likely to be forward with their…curiosity.”
He glowered over at Lupin for a second before shifting his glare to Kurama. “There won’t be any need for another vagrant display.”
Kurama grinned, not the least bit embarrassed. “That’s too bad. I was wondering how the students would react to having a real youko in their midst. Maybe I should save that for the Slytherin students.”
He leaned forward on the desk and looked over at Hiei. “I take it none of them commented on your accent?”
Smirking at Lupin’s curious gaze, Hiei tilted his head against the window and said in English, “what accent.”
Lupin gave an appreciative look, while Kurama just shook his head at the conceit. Hiei had said he knew dozens of human languages, so Kurama wasn’t really surprised.
“You have a way with languages,” said Lupin.
Hiei’s smug look faded a bit and he shrugged, now dismissive about the subject. “It’s easy when you remember every word you’ve ever heard since the day you were born.”
With a wince for the bright light filtering in around the dark clothed demon, Lupin turned away. “I see...”
A sharp look from Kurama, and Hiei hopped of the window. He moved so he could see Lupin’s eyes, not minding how the man warily leaned away from him. It only took a glance to see the spell had worn off.
Typical. A single dose of the right plant would have shielded his eyes for days, but no, wizards had to use their short-term magic tricks.
He rolled his eyes at Snape and returned to his position on the window. “Reapply it before the next class starts.”
Lupin winced at the dirty look Snape shot both him and Hiei. But he winced a lot more when the professor approached him with his wand raised. He blinked at it warily, a pained smile pulling at his face.
“You know,” Lupin said slowly, “it goes against my instincts to sit still when you point that at me.”
Snape sneered, years of enmity flashing behind his eyes. “I’m sure it does.”
- - -
TBC
--nonsense and notes--
What do you get when you take two rivals for the “most evil” award, two mischievous yet soft-spoken peacemakers; one pair of trusting allies, one pair that will never trust each other, and mix it all together in the middle of lots of unsuspecting kids? This fic. ;p
Note the language barrier – Lupin and Snape are wizards, professors, if they don’t know Japanese, they can cast a spell to learn it so they understand Kurama and Hiei. Kurama and Hiei understand english, but they only speak it with the students – since the kids wouldn’t have easy access to a translation spell. It would be too much trouble for them to bother using English all the time when the professors can understand Japanese with a flick of a wand (assuming they don’t know it already).
Next up, Kurama plays watchdog…er, watchfox. o.O