Boy Who Lived huh? They have no fucking idea. He couldn't believe he'd pulled a Kurama – and at twenty! He'd pushed Keiko out of the way of an out of control truck (a little bit of deja vu there, since the first time he'd died he'd pushed a little kid out of the way of a car), but this time he knew what the hell was going on and this time Botan wasn't there to collect him. He was in England of all places, visiting some of Keiko's relatives actually (his new in-laws), so Botan being on hand in her pink kimono would have been a surprise. Still, the whole thing was a shock to his system. It seems that even demons die when they get hit by an out of control tanker moving at eighty kilometres an hour with a tonne or two of petroleum behind them.

Yusuke had made a dive for the nearest only-just-pregnant woman in the street and bonded his soul to the barely-formed foetus. Like he said, he'd pulled a Kurama. He hadn't even been sure it would work. All he'd been thinking was that he couldn't just leave Keiko so fast when they'd only been married for two years and his body was in no shape to be re-occupied. Actually, he was kinda hoping that he'd end up in Keiko's womb, so he really wouldn't leave her... turned out his kid had a soul already. A couple of months and the kid was already a somebody. Yusuke was really looking forward to getting in touch with his family now that it looked like he had the money to make a trip to Japan without pissing off the supposed blood relations he'd been saddled with for the past ten years.

Oh his parents had been cool, Lily and James Potter. He remembered them, kinda. Everything's fuzzy when you're a baby, even if you're actually twenty-ish. James Potter's friends had been fairly alright too. Not sure about the one they called Wormtail, he was a bit too twitchy, but the other two were alright. Took Lily to handle them all though. She reminded him so much of Keiko when she was hexing them. That was a new thing though: magic. Not spirit energy or demon energy, actual magic. They used wands and all. Yusuke couldn't help but wonder if Koenma knew about these people – or Genkai. Hell, he wondered if Genkai was still alive some days. He had no way of knowing after all.

So there he was, eleven again (and didn't that just suck balls), a junior delinquent because there was no way he was going to hang around in class in this lifetime any more than he'd hung around in class in his last lifetime. He had a good idea of what his life was going to be and he didn't need to know about most of the stuff that got preached at him by teachers who didn't like him because of rumours spread by Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Hell, if he wasn't so good at lifting cash from the walrus's wallet, Yusuke would probably be a starved, stunted little weakling. No way he was going to allow that to happen.

He'd taken care of himself and his mother in his last lifetime, and here were these wastes of space and good air, forcing him to cook them greasy meals for breakfast and rich meals for dinner with manual labour in between -! Yeah, he stole money from Vernon, he skipped school, and he'd gladly beat up 'Duddy-kins' any day. Baby whale was weaker than Kuwabara. Yusuke also worked at the nearest place that did real food – which was an old lady down the street. She was Japanese, and he spoke to her in the language she'd grown up with and that he'd grown up with the first time. It was a comfort really, the woman barely spoke English so she didn't know the rumours about him, and she was half-blind so she had no idea he was supposed to be in school. As far as she knew, Harry Potter was a responsible and helpful young man. He wasn't about to correct her.

And it turned out that in one of those bits of his second baby-hood that was a bit more fuzzy than the rest, he'd somehow survived something that it was impossible to survive and was famous among people who waved sticks around, spoke butchered Latin (even he could tell that much), and were generally really dumb and prejudiced. He was willing to bet that because of his miraculous survival they expected him to save the day when things started to go down the tube too.

Fun.

Not.

He may be Harry Potter now, but dammit he was still Yusuke Urameshi: a guy with a kickin' ass fist, a general hatred of authority, and he'd already done his saving-the-world bit thank you very much. Ah who was he kidding? If he wasn't rushing head-long into something then he was bored out of his skull.

Well, since he was now in the local shopping district for wand-waving idiots, he'd see if he couldn't find some presents for all his friends back home. He sincerely doubted that he'd find anything that he actually wanted... Hang on, was that Puu in the window of that shop?

Yusuke darted in and stared in awe at his little spirit beast. Puu had shrunk back to the funny blue blob he'd been when he first hatched, but it was definitely Puu.

"Puu!" the spirit beast chirped happily, flapping its ears and flying straight into his chest.

Definitely Puu. Yusuke couldn't help but laugh as he wrapped his arms around his old friend.

"I missed you too buddy," he whispered.

"I'm amazed," declared a man who, judging from the apron covered in bird-droppings that he was wearing, worked in the shop. "I've had that odd creature here for a bit over ten years and it's never once taken a liking to anybody before."

Yusuke chuckled. "You don't even know what he is, do you?"

The man blinked. "You do?" he asked, stunned.

"Sure I do," Yusuke answered. "He's mine, and he's been missing for a bit over ten years."

The man paled. "Ah, that would be why he wouldn't go with anyone else I suppose? Yes, er, glad you've been reunited."

Yusuke smiled. "Thanks for taking care of him for me," he said, reaching into a pocket and taking out ten gold coins. That seemed to be a little more than the going price for the other birds in the shop, and to Yusuke, Puu was infinitely more valuable than any of these feather-brains. "For your trouble. I can see he's been well cared for."

Leaving the shop, Yusuke looked around for places that would have something for his friends. Like hell he was actually going to buy school supplies. Still, there might be a book on plants that Kurama didn't have already in the bookshop... Or one that taught a person how to turn into an animal at will. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea for the fox. That was easy, and jewellery for Keiko, he'd go into regular London for that later. Something powerfully alcoholic for Chu, another easy one. Everybody else was considerably harder though.

~oOo~

When Harry Potter stepped out of the airport in Japan, he immediately headed straight for the nearest pay-phone and phone-book. He knew where everybody had lived a decade ago, and all their phone numbers, but considering his death it was possible that Keiko had moved. Hell, it was possible any of the others from the old crowd had moved too, so confirmation was in order.

Yes! Kurama was still in the same place. Perfect. If he could get Kurama on side, then convincing everybody else would be so much easier. After all, it was Kurama's trick that Yusuke had pulled, so who better to vouch for him? Puu would probably go a long way to confirming that he was who he said he was too, but best to play it safe.

"Minamino residence," came the polite, cultured tone that he hadn't heard for way to long.

"Hey Kurama," Yusuke sighed into the phone. It really was great to hear that voice again.

"Who is this?" Kurama demanded sharply.

Yusuke chuckled. "Okay, I know that I sound different, but you sound different when you're Yoko as well Kurama. It's Yusuke!"

"Yusuke... My god... Where are you?" Kurama asked, more desperate and hopeful sounding than a moment ago.

"The airport, but hey, I'll hail a cab and be around to your place in an hour or so if that's cool?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, yes of course. Have you called Keiko yet? She's still living in the house you bought for her with your son," Kurama said. He sounded almost frantically calm.

"Not yet, she doesn't take surprises too well ya know? I think better I tell her in person. Hey, what did she call the kid? We hadn't gotten around to discussing names yet when the accident happened," Yusuke asked, keeping an eye on how much time he had before the amount of change he'd put in would give out on him.

"Raizen," Kurama answered with a chuckle. "She almost called him Yusuke Junior, but Kuwabara talked her out of it."

"I owe him one then, and I can't wait to meet the kid. Look, I'll see you soon okay? I'm on a pay-phone and it's about out of time," Yusuke said.

"Sure thing Yusuke. I'll let everybody know shall I? We'll have a party at Genkai's tomorrow to let everybody know. She'll be glad to see you too I dare say."

"You'd probably be the only one to dare," Yusuke chuckled. "Sure. See you soon Kurama."

With that, the apparently eleven-year-old boy hung up the phone, grabbed the strings of his bag and headed for the taxi zone. Anyone looking would think the bag was big enough to hold a couple of days clothes, a week at most. It was the same style of bag as the one he'd packed back when he was a teenager the first time and gone off to the Dark Tournament and later Demon World. Anyone looking didn't know about all the spells he'd gotten the professional luggage-makers in Diagon Alley to put on it. It was as light as it appeared to be, but was big enough on the inside to hold all of the gold from his vault, all his papers, all the presents he'd bought for people, as well as the new wardrobe he'd bought for himself after swapping some gold for regular cash. No way he was going to meet his old friends dressed in the rags that the Dursleys had given him.

~oOo~

"Hey Cuz!" Yusuke said with a beaming smile when Kurama opened the door for him.

"Yusuke?" Kurama queried.

"Yep!" the only-just-eleven-year-old answered. "My new Ma was your mother's cousin, mother's side. That was weird to find out when I did," he added with a grin. It had also been important to find out. He'd need blood relatives of some kind on his mother's side to get the Supreme Mugwump off his back when it came to leaving Hogwarts for breaks. Yeah, he was actually going to be attending the damn school. Didn't mean he'd attend all the classes or do any homework, but he'd go. He'd read up on the damn 'destiny' bull-crap the wizards believed in after all. It was kinda nostalgic actually, reminiscent of his old Spirit Detective gig. "Can I come in or are you just gonna stare at me in your doorway Kurama?"

"Yes, of course," Kurama answered, a little numbly, as he stepped aside and made room for the child who carried himself exactly as Yusuke had to step into his home. "I hope you don't mind, but I thought that letting Koenma know before everybody else would be advisable," the red-head said as he led the way to the lounge room – where Koenma was drinking tea in his teenager form.

"Hey Pacifier Breath," Yusuke greeted. "How's Ogre?"

"He's well," Koenma answered, setting his tea down on the coffee table before turning in his seat and smiling at the boy. "It's good to see you again Yusuke. You've been missed."

Yusuke chuckled. "Even if I was officially discharged about fifteen years ago," he agreed. "Missed you too Junior."

Kurama brought tea for Yusuke and himself and they sat down on soft chairs to really begin discussing matters.

"So I pulled a Kurama, as you can see," Yusuke said, gesturing to his body.

"I feel I should object to the phrasing," Kurama quipped lightly, a small smile on his lips that said he wasn't really offended.

"What else am I gonna call it?" Yusuke asked. "It's not possession, because there's no other soul that I'm taking over. It's not inhabitation or occupation, because it really is my body now, not anybody else's that I'm gonna move out of later if I find a better one. It's not reincarnation, because I remember my 'previous life', and reincarnated souls don't do that. Just me with a new body."

"I'll find a better name for use in the files," Koenma said with a chuckle.

"Anyway, about a year after being named Harry Potter, some dweeb calling himself Voldemort breaks into my new folk's house, kills them and tries to off me, but Lily – that's the mother through whom I am now related to you Kurama – did some crazy sacrifice spell which interfered with the killing curse that got sent my way, and then my own spirit energy did the rest of the saving."

"Puu!" interjected the blue fuzz-ball from on top of Yusuke's head. It really was the little guy's favourite perch when he was small. It looked dumb, but it worked.

"Yeah, can't imagine that being a good day for you little buddy," Yusuke said softly, plucking the spirit beast off his head and sitting the blue bird in his lap, patting Puu's mess of black hair.

"Having him in existence at all probably also assisted in you're not being killed a fourth time," Koenma supplied.

"Yeah, well the curious thing is that there's a rumour going around the wizards that Voldemort's not all dead," Yusuke said flatly. "A fair sized cult believe that Harry Potter, I, me, has to be the one to finally finish him off in the eventuality of his returning."

"Spirit World would appreciate it if you did, but we're not taking you on as a Spirit Detective again Yusuke," Koenma said.

Yusuke waved it off. "Nah, the Potter's were loaded. I don't really need a job. I was just wondering if Spirit World had any idea of what the bastard had done so that he didn't completely die."

"I'll look into it," Koenma promised.

"Cool. Anyway, so I've been living with... ya know, it's really weird talking about these people as my relatives when I'm related to them by people who only had me for two years, including all the crazy shit that happens in the womb. Anyway, my aunt I guess, and her husband and son. I swear, they're worse than Ma was, and she was almost permanently drunk. Cared when she was sober though, so she's got the Dursley family beat hands-down. Then this letter shows up accepting me to a school for witches and wizards, I find out about all this shit that I don't really care about, get some serious dough, and here I am."

"Puu!"

"With gifts," Yusuke added with a grin. "But I'll hand them out at the party tomorrow. Man, I've missed everybody, and I've missed so much! You're all like thirty now, and I'm only nearing puberty again. I can't kiss Keiko without people hauling her in. This sucks!"

Kurama and Koenma just laughed at the frustrated boy.

"I'm convinced, that's Yusuke," Koenma said once he'd calmed his laughter.

"Agreed," Kurama affirmed, his chuckling completely under control once more. "Would you like to stay here tonight Yusuke? I'll drive us up to Genkai's tomorrow for the party."

"Yeah, thanks Kurama," Yusuke said, smiling. "I wonder if I can get the old hag to train me again."

~oOo~

Keiko couldn't believe her eyes when she got to Genkai's temple. She'd know that cute little spirit beast anywhere, and the way it was sitting on that mop of black hair could only mean...

"Yusuke!"

The boy turned around and grinned. "Hey Keiko," he greeted. "Man I've missed you."

Keiko rushed the boy who couldn't be older than her son and swept him up in her arms, holding him tightly as she fell to her knees, crying into his shoulder, just repeating his name over and over.

"I couldn't leave you behind Keiko," he whispered into her hair, clinging to her just as tightly as she was clinging to him. "I'm sorry it took me so long to be able to contact you. Damn I've missed you!" He was sniffling a little and valiantly holding back tears, but he had missed her so much!

"Your son's name is Raizen Urameshi. He's at school right now, he brings home good grades even," Keiko said, wiping at her tears with the hand nearest her face, not releasing her hold.

Yusuke chuckled weakly. "He takes after you then," he said.

"Oh no," Keiko countered, her own giggle just as wet as Yusuke's had been weak. "He's a real punk, just like his dad. I swear he lives on Kuwabara's stories about you. He's the scariest little delinquent at his school. I just force him to sit down for an hour every night to do his homework before dinner, and there's usually someone around to help him if he's having trouble. I also withhold dessert if I find out he skipped class."

Yusuke laughed, more heartily, and squeezed Keiko a little tighter for a moment.

"Urameshi!"

Keiko released the ten-year-old as he pushed her back in reaction to the yelled name.

"Kuwabara! How ya bin man?" the little boy asked. "Damn, I even missed your ugly mug."

"You little punk!" the large carrot-top answered loudly. "Why I ought to beat you to a pulp for getting yourself killed like that, but I don't beat on kids."

Yusuke just laughed. "Well, I'm glad that Grandma doesn't share your morals. I need all the beatings I can take to get me back to where I used to be."

Genkai had agreed to train him just before Keiko had crested the top of the stairs. She'd been quite pleased to know that she'd get to have more time pounding her favourite dimwit. She'd been even more pleased to learn that, despite having regressed somewhat due to 'pulling a Kurama', Yusuke was still in possession of her spirit orb.

It meant she could have more fun with the kid. He had all this power, but he couldn't currently access or control it – which was why Puu was small. He had the potential, but he couldn't reach it yet. She was going to enjoy forcibly breaking down all those barriers again. She'd probably get his demon friends to help too. She was sure they'd enjoy that.

"Everybody is here," Kurama announced. "Even Hiei," he added with a small smirk.

"Great," Yusuke said, still grinning. "Then it's present time."

"Presents?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke chuckled. "Hey, this time when I died I got to bring you guys back souvenirs," he explained with a smile.

~oOo~

Yusuke stayed at Genkai's until Christmas. She wasn't going to let him go until she was satisfied with his progress. That training got interrupted on weekends by Keiko bringing Raizen to spend time with his dad slowed things down only slightly. It had been one odd conversation, explaining to the kid why his dad was younger than him. It had been even stranger how easily the kid accepted it, but then, he did know Kurama's story.

Upon learning that Yusuke was going to be attending a school for wizards, Genkai had added training in magic to all the other training she put him through. He'd had no idea that the old hag knew so much. Kurama had walked him through all the important basics of working with plants and mixing potions too, once they'd learned that those were two things taught at the school that Yusuke was currently missing to train with Genkai.

Took a bit of fast and smooth talking to convince Yusuke that it would be useful to him, but if there was one thing Kurama excelled at beyond anybody else he knew, it was winning people over.

Since there was no point in heading back to the UK before New Year, Yusuke decided to stick out the holiday season. It let him get some sparring in with old friends after all, which also helped bring him closer to his old level. Puu was visibly growing, which Yusuke decided was definitely a good thing. Okay, last time the little spirit beast had gone from plush-toy to private flight-service in the time it took lightning to strike, but Yusuke thought he liked this better for his little blue buddy.

Staying until the term was due to start again after New Years also meant that Yusuke got to spend more time with Keiko and Raizen. He was going to miss them when he left for this dumb school.

"Hey Koenma? Think you could stand to let me have a communication mirror or something? The intel Botan got me on this Hogwarts place says that they don't even have electricity, and definitely no phones."

"Those are meant exclusively for Spirit Detectives," Koenma answered, giving his old friend a speculative look before following Yusuke's gaze to where Keiko was helping Raizen with his homework. "On the other hand, I believe that some wizards actually made their own primitive versions of the device once, and the mirrors break often enough that they're being made new all the time. I suppose I could list a couple of mirrors as lost on the field."

"Thanks Koenma," Yusuke said softly. "I don't want to leave Keiko alone again like I did before. I need to be able to at least call her some how."
"And there's also the issue of your half-dead wizard, Voldemort, real name: Tom Riddle," Koenma added. "Thanks to you alerting us to the fact he'd actually done something, we've been able to send shinigami to collect the pieces of soul he'd locked into things. We haven't quite got all of him yet though."

"Shinigami are different from the usual ferry girls like Botan I take it," Yusuke said.

"The shinigami are somewhere above spirit detectives in ranking, not quite as high as the SDF though. Their job is to track down over-due souls that are hanging around by using illegal means to do so. Once a shinigami finds this over-due soul, the shinigami actually kills it, actively hunting it down if the soul tries to flee. Ferry girls just greet and guide souls of the dead. With Riddle, the shinigami had it a little easier in that he couldn't run, but they're really pissed off about his splitting his soul up into pieces the way he did," Koenma explained.

"Right. So I'm gonna be up against a real pain in the ass. Perfect."

~oOo~

Koenma provided a portal from Genkai's residence to the train station that would take Yusuke to Hogwarts. Keiko and, to Yusuke's surprise, Hiei came to see him off. Raizen had started school earlier that week and (as much as the kid wanted to) had been unable to come.

"Do pay attention in class Yusuke," Keiko begged softly.

"I'm not gonna write essays for these jerks," Yusuke answered flatly, then sighed at the look in her eyes. "But I'll do the class work as I get it," he promised resignedly.

"And on that note, don't skip class as often as you used to," Keiko added, more firmly. "You're going to a boarding school."

Yusuke chuckled. "No promises on that one Keiko," he answered. "It depends on if the classes are actually interesting. I will call though, every day. I want to know everything that's going on in your life, and Raizen's, and everybody's while I'm not there."

Keiko nodded, but she had one more thing to say. "Try and make friends?"

"Yusuke is two decades older than the children he is being put into classes with," Hiei reminded Keiko shortly. "It is one thing for him to become close with his son, it is another to ask him to lower himself to be on the same level with spoiled little humans with delusions of power."

Yusuke just chuckled as Keiko sighed in resignation herself at Hiei's minor speech. As always, he was very to-the-point with what he had to say.

With one last hug from Keiko and a salute for Hiei, Yusuke adjusted his bag over his shoulder and stepped onto the train just before it started moving.

Inside, he found a compartment to himself, locked the door, and settled down. He wasn't exactly looking forward to wearing a uniform again, especially one as dumb looking as the one he needed for this place. But he'd made some adjustments to the damn thing with a little help from Hiei and Koenma (since the uniform was somewhere between the coat worn by Hiei and the robes worn by Koenma), and he'd be able to move freely and fight in it now, without having to worry about it getting caught on his limbs and slowing him down.

When the train finally came to a halt it wasn't just dark out. It was pitch black. But that's what you get in the upper reaches of Scotland when the winter solstice had only just passed: evening by four, night by dinner time. Still, there were lanterns along the platform that led the kids to the carriages that were waiting for them. Carriages that were pulled by really weird horses that looked like something from Demon World, but didn't have any demon energy to go with the look.

"Puu?" enquired the spirit beast from where it sat (as usual) on Yusuke's head. He wasn't small any more, not by a long shot, and he actually looked more like the bird he'd once been, but perched on his head was still Puu's place of preference while he could sit there without crushing Yusuke. Since Puu was only the same size as the eleven-year-old boy he was perched on top of (and considerably lighter), this was still possible, however strange it looked.

"Got me buddy," Yusuke answered it. "But I expect we'll find out at some point," he added, giving the strange animal one last, curious look before taking Puu off his head and setting him on one of the seats before climbing into the carriage himself.

A few minutes later he climbed out of the carriage again, Puu hopping through to resume his perch on Yusuke's head, and found himself faced with a man dressed all in black who, actually, reminded him of that shinobi Kuwabara had fought back in the Dark Tournament: tall, skinny, pale, lanky hair, and just about radiating attitude.

"Can I help you?" Yusuke asked, arching an eyebrow at the man.

"You were not here at the beginning of the school year," the man answered shortly. "I recognise even the shyest of first year students by this time. You will need to be sorted into a house."

"Whatever," Yusuke agreed with a shrug. "As long as there's room wherever I'm going for Puu," he said, jerking his thumb at the bird on his head.

"Puu!" chirped the spirit beast happily.

"Follow me," the man instructed.

Actually, Yusuke thought this guy's attitude was somewhere between Genkai's and Hiei's. Someone who didn't take shit from anybody and played least favourites more often than he played favourites.

"What is your name and why were you not here in September like the rest of the students?" the man asked.

"I was busy getting the shit kicked out of me," Yusuke answered, a shit-eating grin taking over his whole face. "Had to make up for lost time, and I get the feeling there aren't all that many stick-waving pansies who could give me a good fight, so I had to get my licks in while I could."

"And your name?" the man asked again.

"You haven't introduced yourself yet either pal," Yusuke pointed out, then sighed, slipping his hands behind his head and locking his fingers together over his hair, Puu's tail-feathers making the action invisible from behind.

"I am Professor Snape, I teach the potions class."

"Harry Potter," Yusuke admitted. He wasn't any more fond of his new name than he was of his old one, but he had a hell of a lot more experience of being called Yusuke Urameshi. A lot more people had called him Yusuke Urameshi. As Harry Potter, people hardly ever talked to him or called him by his name. Even the old Japanese woman in Privet Drive called him Yusuke, since he and she both knew that Harii was a girls name. "And I really need to find those damn authors, editors and publishers who wrote all that shit about me," he added in a dangerous growl.

"Puu," cooed Puu, bending his long neck to rub his face against Yusuke's cheek, calming him down only a very little. "Puu?"

"Nah buddy, I'm not gonna kill 'em," Yusuke promised, patting Puu's neck. "I'll just break all their fingers and smash their faces in or something."

"Amazing, a Potter who doesn't revel in his undeserved glory," Professor Snape drawled, an eyebrow arched speculatively.

~oOo~

In the office of Headmaster Dumbledore, Yusuke was instructed to put a ratty looking hat on his head so that they could determine which house he would be placed in. Since he didn't really care one way or another about this, he obliged.

"Harry Potter. Well hello there," the hat whispered... only the sound seemed to completely bi-pass his actual ears. If he weren't friends with Hiei he'd have been worried he was going crazy. "You're one full of secrets, aren't you Mr Potter? But not really all that cunning. You're a more 'on the spot' sort of chap. Loyal though, to those who have earned your loyalty. I'd not put you in Hufflepuff though, they're the sort to want to be intimately loyal, and you'd share more classes with the curious Ravenclaws. No, I think the place for you is where they like bravery, impressive displays of daring-do, and generally don't look past the surface to make proper, lasting friendships. Oh make no mistake there have been friendships forged there that have lasted lifetimes, but that's what you'll get for sharing a room with a collection of people for seven years. Happens in every house. But yes, you'll do quite well in Gryffindor."

Yusuke registered the really odd word with his ears as well as just in his head.

He also noticed that the old guy seemed suspiciously happy with this proclamation, and considering what the hat had just told him about the 'house' he'd just been sorted into, Yusuke began to form an idea of why. He wasn't stupid after all.

~oOo~

"Gryffindor," Professor Snape growled as he led the way through the corridors to another area. "Of course a Potter would be in Gryffindor. No hope for a brain between a Potter's ears."

"Puu!" snapped the spirit beast as Yusuke followed the man.

"If you must know Professor," Yusuke said as he followed behind, bag over his shoulder, "the enchanted headgear put me there because they're less likely to ask intelligent questions that I don't want to answer."

Snape snorted in contempt. "That is true," he allowed. "Especially since that obnoxiously nosy Granger girl went home after the troll incident."

"Troll?" Yusuke asked, curious.

"Somehow it got into the school during the Halloween feast," Snape informed blandly. "The girl was bawling in a bathroom because she couldn't stand up to an idiot boy her own age who has a propensity to put his foot in his mouth. The troll found her. She was injured before she was found. Her parents, being the sensible, concerned guardians they are, withdrew her. Longbottom blows up his cauldrons all the more regularly for her absence," he added with a sneer.

Yusuke sighed. Yeah, he was really going to enjoy this place. Looked like he'd missed the only fun to be had all year, with that troll not still hanging around.

"Minerva, an errant student for you," Snape announced, rapping his knuckles on a heavy wooden door.

"Already, Severus?" a female voice answered, clearly exasperated, even as the owner opened the door. The woman revealed was old; grey-haired and wrinkled, but tall and stately, and with a firm line to her mouth that even the slave-driver Genkai didn't have.

Yusuke was fairly sure that she was going to not like him before very long. She looked like she'd forgotten how to have fun.

"He wasn't here for the Sorting at the beginning of the year," Snape clarified. "The hat just put him in Gryffindor, your house, a few minutes ago. Potter," Snape said, turning his attention to Yusuke. "This is Professor McGonagall, your head of house. You are now her problem, not mine," he declared before sweeping off down the hall and away.

"Well isn't he just a ball of sunshine?" Yusuke said sarcastically, smirking at the back of the black-clad man, thinking of how his attitude was like Hiei's.

~oOo~

Classes at Hogwarts weren't as impossibly dull as they'd been at his old school – the chance of an explosion in two out of six of them helped towards this factor. He did skip the history class though. If he wanted to know about what had happened a long time ago, as unlikely as that was, he'd find a demon who'd been around at the time or ask Koenma. He skipped out on Herbology more than half the time too. Plants were Kurama's thing after all, not his.

In the copious free time that he had – because really, six classes in five days isn't a lot, and it wasn't like he did the homework – Yusuke kept up the torture that Genkai put him through, supervised and cheered on by Puu. Supervised and cheered on by a growing Puu.

He was rarely caught out of class by one of the teachers, since they were all teaching during class time. The ones teaching the core subjects had seven years worth of students to teach in seven days, those teaching the electives had five years worth of teaching to impart, and all teachers had assignments to grade and lessons to prepare, which took up a lot of the rest of their time. As for detentions, he never went. The teachers gave up on assigning them after a while and just took points for the missing homework or the skipped classes.

For all of these reasons, as well as his status as 'boy who lived', Harry Potter was both revered and reviled by his peers. It didn't help matter that despite having missed the first term he was pretty much the top brewer in potions class. He'd been a self-employed ramen chef before he'd died, and worked part-time at Keiko's parent's place – not to mention pretty much raising himself since his mother Atsuko was such a lush... correction, raising himself twice since the Dursleys didn't give a damn about him. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to cook.

He may never do the assignments, but he sure learned well through practical application and watching the other students mess up – and hearing Snape go on about exactly what had caused the mistake filled in some of the theory stuff that the assignments were supposed to get into his skull. It was impressive, if you listened to gossip. Despite his never turning in assignments, Harry Potter was one of Snapes favourites among the first years. That he held this position despite being not only a Gryffindor, but a Potter – there was apparently some nasty history between Snape and James Potter – was something for the history books. According to the student population. There was some speculation that Snape liked not having to read assignments from Harry, and part of the reason he liked Potter so much was the invitation to take points from the house regularly for failing the written portion of the syllabus.

He also got along really well with the groundskeeper, one giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid. They met because of Puu and Hagrid's dog Fang. The large man had a thing for animals that were... a little more extreme than the usual kind of pet, and was fascinated by Puu, since he'd never seen anything like the big blue bird. Phoenix was closest he could think of, but a phoenix was a) never blue and b) never that big!

"Hey, Hagrid!" Yusuke called with a grin, waving as he approached the man's hut.

"Hello 'Arry! 'ow're you t'day?" Hagrid answered with a smile.

"Bored," he returned with a smile. "What are you up to?"

Hagrid gave a wink and invited Yusuke inside. The air in the hut was stifling hot, and Yusuke quickly peeled off a couple of layers, leaving only a sleeveless white top covering his upper body, even as he grinned.

"Salamanders or ashwinders?" he asked jovially.

Hagrid chuckled. "Neither," he answered. "I finally get to 'ave the one pet I've always wanted," he said, waving Yusuke over to where a pot was hanging over the fire. "Tha's a dragon egg," Hagrid announced proudly.

Yusuke laughed. "Sweet!" he declared. "You might want to re-build the house out of something non-flammable though," he added, knocking his knuckles on the wooden walls of the hut.

"Ah, yes, yer prolly right about tha'," Hagrid acknowledged. "But a dragon!"

Yusuke reached out a careful hand and extended his spirit/demon energy towards the egg, getting a feel for the critter inside. "It's a girl," he announced, even as he used his energy to probe carefully and give the critter the message to behave itself.

"Eh? How can ye tell 'Arry?" Hagrid asked, surprised.

Yusuke chuckled. "By the way her energy moves under the shell," he said. It was a trick he'd learned from Hiei when he'd finally gotten engaged to Keiko – he'd wanted to be able to know what sex any of their kids would be without having to wait for the doctors. "And I'd suggest you move the egg to the nest right about now, too," he added, backing away from the egg just as it began to twitch in the pot where it was being kept warm.

"Oh!"

~oOo~

Hagrid's dragon was discovered, and removed, by Dumbledore not a full week later. The giant took comfort in the first year who had helped him take care of Polly (that was the name Hagrid decided to give the dragon instead of Norbert, upon learning that it was a girl). That was how Yusuke met Fluffy.

"I don't think the name suits him Hagrid," Yusuke said, head tilted to the side as he looked calmly up at the giant, three-headed dog that the half-giant was feeding.

"What d'you mean 'Arry?" Hagrid asked.

"Well, dogs that get called 'Fluffy' generally have fur that's more, well, fluffy than this guy's got. I mean, I could understand Rover or Fido, or even Fang if your other dog wasn't already called that, but Fluffy just doesn't seem to suit this big guy," Yusuke explained. "And he's got three heads, so shouldn't each head have it's own name?"

Hagrid blinked in surprise at the suggestion. "Oh, er, I suppose 'e could," he allowed. "But names are for callin' with dogs, and they're not gonna leave one 'ead be'ind jes 'cause I don't call tha' one. What about Spot for a name?"

"He hasn't got any that I can see," Yusuke pointed out. "Though I get your point about him not needing three names. He comes when you call him?"

"No," Hagrid admitted, a little sheepishly. "'e's still learnin' tha' kinda stuff. Mostly 'e jes know's 'is food and I play a bit of music to send 'im to sleep. Still workin' on obedience lessons."

Yusuke chuckled. "How about Surebec? That's 'ceberus' spelled backwards, and he is a ceberus, isn't he Hagrid?"

Hagrid nodded. "Aye, he is tha'. I don' think tha' name suits 'im though. What was tha' name you said earlier? Started with an 'R'?"

"Rover," Yusuke said.

Hagrid nodded. "That's better for 'im," he said.

The newly re-named Rover was soon finished with his meal, and the boy and the groundskeeper were leaving the corridor when Professor Quirrel barged in, wand drawn and at the ready while a harp hung from his other hand, playing itself. Clearly enchanted.

"Oy!" Hagrid objected. "Professor Quirrel, what are you up to?"

Yusuke didn't bother asking, just cocked his finger at the professor's head. He'd been wanting to do this for a while now, but there had always been too many witnesses. A small blast sent the turban flying, revealing the sickly looking face of a parasitic soul on the back of Quirrel's head.

Hagrid didn't notice Yusuke's action, too busy taking the enchanted harp from Quirrel and smashing it. The gentle giant was not pleased that someone might be messing about with one of his precious pets. Then he saw the second face.

"Dinner!" Yusuke called to the ceberus, pointing at Quirrel with one hand while in his pocket he was pressing the alert button on his communicator with the other hand. There would be a reaper on hand ready to collect very soon, regardless of whether or not the three-headed dog actually did eat Quirrel or not.

It turned out to be not, since Hagrid bailed all three of them out before Rover could wake up properly from the early strains of enchanted harp music, but he had a very firm hand around the neck of Quirrel's robe. The man and the parasite on the back of his head wouldn't be going anywhere.

Correction: Quirrel wouldn't be going anywhere. Since Botan had just shown up, it seemed that the parasite would be going to Spirit World.

"Yay!" Botan said. "Another case solved, and you're not even official. Thanks Yusuke, that's the rest of him!"

Yusuke just nodded silently. No good would come of acknowledging a reaper who couldn't be seen by his two companions. He did wonder if Spirit World would send someone to deal with all the ghosts inhabiting the castle next though.

~The End~