Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Grim's Promise ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter books or Yu Yu Hakusho

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.

Warnings: Swearing

A Grim's Promise

Chapter Nine

July 5th

Kuwabara and Yusuke were grumbling about the stairs as they slowly climbed up the mountain. After five minutes of watching Keiko, Harry and Kurama talk Yusuke couldn't take it anymore. "Alright, I've got to know. How can you climb all these stairs and not be out of breath Harry?"

Harry blinked in confusion at the random question. "I'm used to it; I go to Hogwarts after all." Yusuke scowled. What kind of answer was that?

"How big is your school?" Keiko asked, sounding curious.

Harry chewed on his lip as he thought of his school. "Hogwarts is a castle. Not including the towers, it has at least twelve floors, eight of them that are above ground and the other four make up the dungeons and the basement. And I'm a Gryffindor so my dorm room is in one of the towers. And my year's dorm is at the very top of the tower. So every morning I have to walk down seven flights of stairs just to reach the common room then at least another seven flights of stairs down to get breakfast. Sometimes more if the staircases move. Then there are the days when the rooms move around. Those days are the worst. Once I was twenty minutes late for Transfiguration because the room had moved to the other side of the castle. Professor McGonagall took thirty points from me for that." He looked back when he realized only he and Kurama were still climbing the stairs. "What? Hogwarts is practically sentient. She likes to change every now and then."

Kurama smirked at their shocked faces. "Don't tell me you three thought a wizard's school would be boring?"

Yusuke crossed his arms, his facial expression a cross between a pout and a scowl. "It's not fair. He's had five years of training for climbing this mountain. My first time, I got suckered into doing it by Botan." He glared playfully at Kurama and Harry. "I'm not talking to you anymore." He mock pouted as he climbed past them causing Harry to snicker as he and Kurama followed him.

Kuwabara and Keiko were standing in the stairs staring at Harry like he was insane. His school couldn't actually do that, could it? They traded glances. They had to know.

"Hey, get back here!" Keiko called as she ran up the stairs, Kuwabara right behind her.

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Genkai tapped her foot impatiently as she waited outside for Yusuke and Harry to get back. Yukina had told her of this morning's dream and she wasn't happy. Harry had only had one dream the entire time after the will, one that he couldn't even remember, and now he had had a bad one his first day here. She had hoped that distance and the new wards would at least dampen the effect of the link, giving him a chance to learn Occlumency in peace. Instead his dreams were as powerful as before.

Genkai started pacing as she tried to think up a way to solve this. She glanced at the stairs once in a while, listening for footsteps. Yukina said they would be back before seven. It was half past six now. Where the hell were they? She stopped pacing when Yusuke, Kurama and Harry came running on to the grounds being chassed Keiko and Kuwabara. She was surprised that the boy could out run Kuwabara, let alone keep up with Yusuke and Kurama, even if the three other boys were staying to normal human speeds. Then again, there was the fact that he had spent the last five years running around a castle. He had to have built up some stamina from that.

"Dimwit, Harry; come here now!" Genkai yelled across the courtyard.

The trio jogged up to her, but while Yusuke and Harry stopped in front of her Kurama went ahead inside. Kuwabara and Keiko followed the red head in, looking back at the two teens. Yusuke and Harry had guilty looks on their faces. They weren't quite sure what they had done wrong, but when a little old lady who can blow holes in walls with a flick of hand starts barking orders like a drill sergeant you know you're in trouble. While Harry fidgeted Yusuke decided to act like he had done nothing wrong.

"What Grandma? We're here on time and," Yusuke looked her up and down, "Harry obviously didn't hit you with a prank. At least you don't have a tail that I can see. So what's crawled up your ass this time?" Harry stepped back when Genkai's eye twitched.

"Moron!" Genkai snapped. "What did I tell you two this morning? What?"

"Not to destroy the temple with a prank war?" Harry asked with a sheepish smile. Yusuke turned and smirked at him when Genkai's eye twitched again.

"That was before we left London. This morning, before you two went to sleep, I specifically told you to come get me if a vision occurred. I did not tell you to go to the arcade!" She glared at Yusuke when he opened his mouth. "Don't tell me you had a good reason, I'm sure you think you did. But you should have come and spoken to me before you left. I need to know when one happens so I can adjust the wards."

"Okay, fine! The next time this happens and you're up on the mountain I'll drag his happy ass through the forest to come talk to you." Yusuke pretended to ponder this for a minute. "Then again that may not be the best idea since creatures like Baldok live in there!" he shouted at Genkai

Genkai snorted. "And you could have come and gotten me in the time it took him to take a shower and get dressed." Genkai was interrupted by a voice from behind her.

"Excuse me, but Yukina wanted me to tell you it's time for dinner." Kurama said from the doorway.

Genkai grabbed Yusuke's arm when he tried to sneak past her and pushed him back. "Tell her we'll be there in five minutes."

"Yes Genkai." Kurama slid the door shut.

Genkai looked back at the two teens in front of her. "Harry, I don't expect you to tell me what you dreamed, but I do need to know if your scar has hurt you at all today."

Harry reached up to touch his scar briefly, thinking back on the day. "Not since I took a shower."

"Is that normal for it to stop hurting that quickly?" Genkai asked.

Harry shook his head. "Not unless it's a fake vision, but even then it hurts for a little while afterwards."

Genkai frowned. "And this didn't bother you?! Either of you?" She rubbed her forehead when they shook their heads. "Come here boy. I'm going to put the block on it for tonight. I expect you to start reading the book I left in your room later." Harry walked over to Genkai and let her trace the same symbol from before over his scar. When she was finished she looked at Yusuke. "Tomorrow morning Dimwit I want you to bring him with you to the training room. Both of you are going to get a crash course in meditation and mental shields."

Yusuke gapped at her as she turned around and opened the door into the temple. "Hold it Grandma. I already know how to meditate. I went through that the first time I trained with you."

She turned her head to look at him. "Can you defend your mind against the Jagan?" Yusuke scowled and looked away. "I thought not. Tomorrow morning at six am. Do not be late." She walked in, leaving the door open behind her.

Yusuke stuck his tongue out at her. "Damn it, I hate it when she pegs me with something like that. Come on, we better get in there." He stomped into the house grumbling under his breath about manipulative old hags. Harry followed him in thinking about something Yusuke had said. What was a Baldok?

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While Yukina was cleaning up the plates from dinner Harry was digging through his trunk looking for his photo album and Sirius's book. During dinner Keiko and Kuwabara had repeatedly asked him about Hogwarts and its ability to change at will while Yusuke had bugged him about the book the twins had given him. He was sure somewhere in his photo album he had a picture Colin had given him that would prove the castle moved, though the fact that the pictures moved might freak them out as well. Shoving his cloak to the side Harry picked up the two books, shut his trunk and headed out of his room, closing the door behind him.

Half a minute later Yusuke opened the door and snuck in to the room. He went over to the trunk and started digging through the bag next to it. He pulled out a small box. He opened the box and poured a few small candies into his hand. Yusuke smirked as he put the box back in the bag and put everything back the way it was before. He walked out of the room and rushed towards the kitchen. He needed to go help Yukina with the cake. It was payback time for that tail.

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Harry was sitting on the couch between Keiko and Kurama and flipping through his photo album looking for the picture he wanted. He occasionally glanced up at the… the… Well he wasn't sure what to call what Kuwabara and Hiei were doing. It wasn't quite a fight, but it definitely wasn't a conversation either. Hiei had shown up right as dinner was starting, glaring at everyone except Yukina. His harshest glares had been aimed at Kurama and Kuwabara. Now that dinner was over he and Kuwabara were throwing insults at each other. Occasionally Kuwabara would make a grab for Hiei but then Hiei would step to the side, sending the other boy crashing to the floor. The tall teen would then stand back up and they would do the whole thing over again. It reminded Harry of his insult matches with Malfioy, just without the wands and a lot more creative. He blinked when Keiko's hands suddenly covered his ears as Hiei was speaking. Damn it, he had wanted to memorize that one for the train ride to Hogwarts. He batted her hands away scowling.

"Don't say things like that Hiei." Kurama scolded softly.

Hiei snorted. "He's not a child. I'm sure he's heard worse." He glanced at the young teen's scar. "Probably been called worse too." He stepped to the right when Kuwabara tried to grab his tunic again. He smirked when the orange haired teen fell down again.

Keiko frowned at Hiei. "That's no reason to do this in front of him. You two are giving him a very bad first impression."

Harry thought she sounded like an older version of Hermione as he started flipping through the album again. He stopped when he found a picture from his second year. "I found it. You still wanna see it?" he asked Kuwabara.

"Yeah." Kuwabara said before flipping Hiei off and sitting down on the floor across from Keiko. "So this picture will prove that the castle moves?"

Harry smiled as he put the album down on the coffee table. "See for your self." He pointed at the picture. In it he, Hermione and Ron were standing on a staircase holding on to the railings as it moved back and forth. It wasn't the best picture he had, considering it had been taken in his second year and they all looked a little freaked because of the Basilisk. It also didn't help that they were attempting to flee Colin and his camera at the time, but it was the only one he had with the staircases moving.

Keiko looked at the picture, rubbed her eyes, and then looked back. That couldn't be right. Pictures don't move. But no matter how long she looked at it, it still moved. The girl's hair waved in front of her face and all three teenagers froze then quickly spun around started climbing back up the moving staircase. "Is it supposed to move like that?"

"The staircase or the picture?" Kuwabara asked. "Because they're both kind of freaky."

Kurama chuckled. "I don't know about the school but all wizarding pictures move Kuwabara. Even sketches done with the right kind of pencil or inks can move."

Harry looked at Kurama curiously. "I knew the paintings could move and talk but I didn't know that sketches could."

Hiei snorted as he sat down in a chair near the group. "You're a wizard. How could you not know?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "My Aunt and Uncle raised me. They hate magic."

Noticing his discomfort Kurama sent Hiei a glare which he ignored. Kurama looked back at Harry. "Sketches can move but they can't talk. I believe that is only something that paintings can do."

"Hold on! Paintings talk?!" Kuwabara shook his head disbelievingly. "I don't believe it." Hiei barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Keiko smiled ruefully as she turned the page of the photo album. "Five minutes ago we didn't believe castles could change and pictures could move. Why is it so hard to believe paintings can talk?" She looked at the new set of pictures focusing on a large picture of a very tall man playing fetch with a large black dog. "Harry, who is this?"

Harry smiled when he looked at the picture she was pointing at. "That's Hagrid and Fang."

Keiko was going to ask about another picture but the door to the room opened letting in Yukina and Yusuke. Both of them were carrying trays with thick slices of ice cream cake. Yusuke handed a plate to Harry, Keiko, and Kuwabara before plopping down on the floor next to Kuwabara. Yukina handed a plate to Hiei and Kurama and put her tray down on the table. She sat down in a chair next to Hiei with her own slice.

Hiei's eyes lit up when Yukina handed him his plate and he immediately started digging in to the ice cream while the others ate theirs a little slower. Harry, on the other hand, poked at his with his fork. Yusuke's grin was making him a little suspicious. He looked apprehensively at the slice of ice cream cake, specifically the purple roses with the jelly bean centers.

"Is something wrong Harry?" Yukina asked when she saw that he was poking at the ice cream flowers on his cake.

Harry shook his head. "No. I was just wondering where Genkai was." After checking to make sure Keiko's slice also had jelly beans, he picked up his fork and took a bite of the ice cream rose. He frowned when he ate the peanut butter jelly bean then shrugged. Muggle jelly beans also had lots of different flavors.

"Grandma said she was going to do go look up some spell to add to the wards." Yusuke said, trying to keep the triumph from his voice when he saw Harry eat the other ice cream flower. He looked at Kuwabara and smirked at the face he was making. "Something wrong?"

Kuwabara swallowed the ice cream, glancing at Yukina. He didn't want to insult Yukina but he could have sworn he just tasted tuna, crunchy tuna. "No, nothing's wrong." He took another bite of the ice cream. This time he tasted heavy cream, like the kind used in cooking. He shook it off, thinking it was his imagination.

Kurama looked at Harry oddly when he muttered something softly under his breath and dropped his plate on the table. He dropped his fork when he saw Harry's ears start to disappear and two lumps appear under his hair.

"I should have known!" Harry glared at Yusuke as he started to rapidly undo his braid. Whatever was growing on his head was really starting to hurt. "I will get you for this Yusuke." His eyes narrowed when he heard a ripping sound come from not only his pants but Kuwabara's as well.

Yusuke snickered as he put his empty plate down. "I told you I'd get you back for the tail." He stood up and ran from the room.

Kurama put his plate down and began helping Harry undo his braid when the teen whimpered. "I'm going to kill him." Harry muttered as he reached up to rub his now free black fox ears. He turned to Kuwabara when he heard the snickering. "I wouldn't be laughing cat boy. You got a new look too."

Kuwabara put his plate down and reached up to touch the top of his head gently. He turned to Keiko when he felt two pointy ears. She was too busy laughing at him and Harry so he turned to Yukina. "Yukina, what's on my head?" he asked, whining.

Yukina was giggling at him. "You have bright orange cat ears Kazuma."

"And a tail." Hiei said in between bites. Nothing was going to separate him from his ice cream. If anything happened to him, he could always kill the detective later.

Everyone looked at the doorway when a camera flashed. There stood Yusuke, leaning against the door frame wearing a shit eating grin. "Ah, I love a good prank." He waved the Polaroid picture of Harry lazily. "So Harry, how does it feel to be a fox?"

Harry glared at him. "So Yusuke, how does it feel to know you're going to die soon?" His new ears were twitching in time with his tail.

"Keep dreaming Harry." He raised the camera and took a picture of Kuwabara. "Hey there kitten man." He pulled the photo out of the camera and tucked both into his pocket. He tossed the camera to Keiko as he got ready to run.

"Urameshi, he isn't going to get the chance to kill you." Kuwabara growled as he stood up. "I'm going to do it first!" He lunged at Yusuke, missing him by inches as he ran down the hall laughing. Kuwabara tore off after him, screaming promises of a major ass kicking when he caught him.

Some things never change Kurama thought as he watched the two boys run from the room. Shaking his head, he looked away from the door and at the quiet teen sitting next to him. He had expected Harry to be with Kuwabara chasing after Yusuke. Instead he was calmly eating the rest of his ice cream. "Aren't you going to go after Yusuke as well?"

"No," Harry said taking another bite. "It's pointless for me to try to take him on in a fight, he's stronger than me."

Hiei gave an affirmative grunt as he ate the last bite of his ice cream. He glared at his empty plate. Kurama rolled his eyes and handed him his which Hiei promptly began eating after pushing the jelly beans to the side, just in case.

"So what do you plan to do?" Keiko asked, once she stopped giggling. She reached out to touch his ears and she and Yukina started giggling all over again when they twitched.

Harry glared weakly at Keiko as he put his plate down and picked up the book next to his photo album. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Kurama asked, watching the boy leaf through the small book. He raised an eyebrow when the boy stopped at one page and smirked. That wasn't a nice look. In fact, it was almost evil.

"Yes, nothing. For now anyway." Harry looked up at Kurama, pushing his hair over his shoulder. "Is there a wizarding shopping center near here?"

"Yes." Kurama said slowly. Where did that question come from?

"And you know where it is?" Kurama nodded. "And are you and Keiko still going shopping with Yusuke and me tomorrow after our lessons with Genkai?" Kurama nodded again. Harry grinned at him, his new tail swishing happily. "Great! Is there any way we can go? I really need to get some supplies!"

"I don't mind taking you." Kurama said, looking down at the book in his hands. He briefly felt sympathy for Yusuke as he read through the potion ingredients before his kitsune playfulness got the better of him. It had been a very long time since he had done something as childish as this, at least a hundred years or so but… "Do you want some help with that potion?" he said, smiling back.

`I believe you're right Hiei,' Kurama thought at his friend, `having him around will be fun.'

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Kurama sighed as he closed the door to the temple and walked out into the courtyard. It was a little past midnight and he was still awake. Being a demon had its perks, but when you're sharing a room with Kuwabara enhanced hearing definitely wasn't one of them. Yusuke's snoring was loud but Kuwabara's was far worse. Sometimes Kurama couldn't help but think they did it on purpose. Those two competed so much why not compete over who could snore louder too?

Kurama was walking over to the shrine stairs when he saw Yusuke sitting there. As he got closer he saw the younger teen was smoking a cigarette. "You do know that those things can kill our kind as well as humans right?"

Yusuke snorted. "I know that Kurama. But it's not like I do this regularly." He took a drag and blew the smoke out slowly. He looked up at the red head standing next to him, "You can't sleep either?" He flicked the ashes down on the stairs.

Kurama shook his head as he sat down next to him. "No I can't. Kuwabara's snoring is even louder than yours. How did you two ever manage to sleep in the same room during the Dark Tournament?"

Yusuke smirked as he took one last drag before grinding the cigarette out on the steps. "Easy, I knocked him out or I'd sneak into Keiko and Botan's room and sleep on the couch." He put the butt in his pocket to throw away later. "So…what do you think?"

"What do I think about what?"

"Don't play innocent with me." Yusuke said, rolling his eyes. "Kuwabara told me about how curious you were about Harry. He also said that you really wanted to meet him. So…what do you think of him?"

Kurama shrugged slightly as he looked down the stairs. "He's not what I expected."

"What were you expecting?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama snorted softly, smiling. "Not someone so strong yet so completely unaware of it." He looked at Yusuke. "Did you know he spotted me as a demon? He didn't realize it of course, but he said we `feel' alike."

Yusuke nodded. "I kind of thought something like that might happen. He's got a high spiritual awareness. No where near Kuwabara's but it's enough." He scowled absently as he starred off into space. He turned to look at Kurama. "Do you think I should tell him?"

Kurama smiled sadly. "I'm the last person to be asking that Yusuke." He sighed softly as he looked down at the temple stairs. "But if you think he can handle it, it might be better to tell him sooner than later."

"Yeah, I know." Yusuke was quiet for a minute before standing up. "Screw it; I'll worry about this in the morning. Is Kuwabara's snoring really that bad?" he asked suddenly, looking down at Kurama.

"Yes, it's that bad." Kurama replied as he stood up, dusting himself off.

"You can crash in my room then. I'll grab a sleeping bag or something and sleep in Harry's." Yusuke smiled. "And if I'm lucky, Hana will freeze his pillows again."

Author's Notes:

1) When I was checking out the floor plan for Hogwarts at the hp lexicon I saw this little note about the rooms moving around. After that I just had to have Harry complain about being late to class because of it. By the way, including the ground floor Hogwarts does have eight different levels above ground. I'm not sure how far the dungeons go down, couldn't find any information on it. So I randomly picked a number that sound plausible.

2) Baldok is the English version's name of the bat trainer/demon that Yusuke fought during Genkai's tournament. Not sure if he had a name in the Japanese version, the subtitles are messed up on my copy of that DVD.

3) Yusuke replaced the jelly bean flower centers in Kuwabara and Harry's ice cream with Wingers and Tails. Kuwabara had tuna, which gave him cat ears and cream, which gave him a cat tail. Harry had peanut butter, which gave him fox ears and vanilla, which gave him his tail.

4) Even though this will come into the story later I'm going to give a brief explanation here about the wards just in case there are any questions. Not including Kurama's plants, there are two levels of wards surrounding the shrine. There are those that repel anyone wishing harm on the residents of the temple and then there are those that Genkai put up to ward off dark magical auras. I don't mean demons or dark creatures but people like Lucius Malfoy or Voldemort; people who enjoy and willingly perform dark or black magic. Genkai had hopped that the second level of wards would prevent Voldemort's energy from leaking through Harry's scar. Eventually Genkai will be able to perform a sort of spell/ritual warding that will tie Harry to the temple and its residents, making it his home magically. That will block most of the dreams. There's only one small problem, the wards are based on trust.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and cookies to everyone who figured out that Souta was Kagome's kid brother. I'm a little to busy to do it right now, but I will get to everyone's questions next time. Promise. Happy New Year everyone.

Kel