Chapter 1:  Houses

Professor Minerva McGonagall stood in a small chamber just off the entrance hall of Hogwarts, properly intimidating all of the First Years gathered there as she ran through the introductory speech.  Well, almost all of them.  Even McGonagall's famous glare faltered and failed when it encountered the group in the back of the room.

There were four students there who did not fit with the rest.  They stood together like a small island in the sea of eleven-year-olds, too old and too tall for the children around them.

                The largest of the group was a young man of around fifteen with short red hair falling to a point over his forehead and a small cat in his arms.  There was another red-head next to him, but this one wore her -- his?  McGonagall was not sure which pronoun applied -- hair long.  Quite a lovely child, whatever the gender.  The third was definitely female -- a young woman with pale blue hair (McGonagall wondered if the color was a statement of youth fashions or simply the result of a bad potion) who was currently glaring at the last member of the group, a boy with slicked-back dark hair...

                ...who had apparently fallen asleep, and was starting to snore.

                McGonagall opened her mouth to both wake up and reprimand the student when the blue-haired girl took care of it for her.

                SMACK!

                "Ouch!  Damn it, Botan, what was that for?" the dark-haired boy said as he rubbed at the rising bump on his head.

                (McGonagall blinked, wondering why the blue-haired girl was holding an oar, and where she had gotten it from.  Granted, the strange students had arrived on the boats with the rest of the First Years, but the boats around Hogwarts did not use such mundane means to propel themselves.)

                "Shh, and pay attention!" the blue-haired girl hissed at him.  "This isn't like your old school, you know!"

                "Yeah, here you can actually see the ghosts.  That would have come in pretty handy, once," the boy said, oblivious to McGonagall's glare.

                The taller of the two redheads shivered and hugged his cat closer.  "I don't know, Urameshi.  I think it's kind of creepy.  Did you see the one with all the blood on him?"

                One of the First Years in front of the strange group snorted and muttered "Fool."  The voice was quite a bit deeper than the average eleven-year-old's.  McGonagall took a better look at the speaker.  Deep red eyes met her own, under a shock of dark hair that chose to ignore gravity.  The boy's glare could match McGonagall's best. 

                The professor mentally upped her Strange Student count to five.  She turned to leave and found Dumbledore waiting in the doorway.

                "Good evening, Minerva," he said with a smile that encompassed everyone in the chamber.  "They are just about ready for you in the main hall.  I thought that I'd stop by and greet the new arrivals before they were sorted."  And with that the headmaster moved through the room, exchanging a few words with the First Years.

                The children from wizarding families all knew Dumbledore and looked at him with something like awe.  Whispered rumors of the headmaster's reputation quickly reached the muggle-born students as well, most of whom grew even more intimidated.

                Yusuke, on the other hand, had his customary reaction to authority and stared challengingly at the old wizard.

                "Yusuke Urameshi, I presume?" the headmaster said with a twinkle in his eyes as he stopped by the Urameshi team.  "Master Genkai has told me quite a bit about you."

                "You know Genkai?" Botan asked.

                "We are old friends.  In fact, I was hoping that she would teach our Defense Against the Dark Arts course this year.  Unfortunately, she said…now how did it go?  'One student is more than enough trouble, Albus.  There's no way I'm taking on several hundred.  Besides, do you really think your school would survive my teaching style?"  Dumbledore sighed.  "I must admit she has a point.  Still, I've never met anyone with quite as effective a 'defense' against dark magics.  Oh, well."  Dumbledore nodded at them.  "Welcome to Hogwarts, and now I believe it's time to begin the Sorting."

*************

                All of the new students except the five strange ones had been sorted into their houses when Dumbledore addressed the hall again.

                "I would like to express my greetings to all of our new arrivals, and wish you all a good first year.  Now there is some additional business to take care of before we begin the feast."

                Dumbledore looked around the room and laughed.  "Before any of you get too worried, Quidditch matches will take place as usual.  And there will be five new students to see them."

"This year we have the honor of hosting five students from Japan, who have come to learn about Western Magic.  They will be joining our Fifth Year class, and I am counting on all of you to make them feel welcome here.  Now, if the students would step forward to be sorted…"  Dumbledore allowed his speech to trail off, and smiled over to McGonagall.

                The Transfiguration professor scanned the scroll in front of her for any hints of what to do with these new students.  She saw nothing.  Then, in sudden suspicion, she flipped the scroll over.

                Five names were written on the back.

                McGonagall sighed and read them off.

                "Botan!"

                The blue-haired girl (minus the oar, which had disappeared at some point) bounced forward and let the Hat settle over her hair.

                "Quite unusual," said the Hat, inside her head, "I don't think we've ever had a Grim Reaper in the student body before.  I would have expected something darker.  Hmm…let's see…not a bad mind, if a bit forgetful…a dedicated worker…a great deal of loyalty to your friends, and the courage to act on it…quite a bit of courage, but I suppose if you're going to watch out for your particular friends, you need it.  Well, that's an easy enough decision.  GRYFFINDOR!"  The last word was shouted to the hall, and the Gryffindor table started cheering loudly.  Botan laughed a little nervously and walked over to take a seat there.           

                "Jaganshi, Hiei!"

                If the Sorting Hat possessed the ability to sweat-drop, it would have done so now at the mind under the hat.  Here was ambition enough, and a great deal of raw power to back it.  This child -- no, make that demon -- had already tried to take over the world once.  Add in a flash-fire temper and general bad attitude just for good measure.

And all that was locked behind an honor code so deep that any old-fashioned samurai would shave off his top-knot in envy.

                All that power, and the will to use it...but if the Hat tried to place this one in Slytherin, he'd most likely burn down the school within the month.  Besides, that House didn't really fit with the honor code.

                The Sorting Hat thought hard and decided to place this one in the house he was least likely to blow up.

                "GRYFFINDOR!"

                "Kuwabara, Kazuma!"

                If Kuwabara had thought the ghosts were creepy, it was nothing compared to how he felt about a talking hat.  At least he'd dealt with ghosts before.

                The Hat didn't seem to care at all and muttered away.

                "Hmm, another one with an honor code…though a lot of it seems to deal with kittens…a great deal of loyalty to your friends as well…  Oh, no.  I should have guessed.  Another one with more courage than is good for them, who'll jump into a fight without thinking of the consequences…and you had to be in the fifth year class as well.  No help for it, I suppose.  You're GRYFFINDOR!"   

                "Minamino, Shuichi!"

                "Hmm...you would have fit quite well into Slytherin not too long ago, wouldn't you have?  But that's not the place for you anymore.  Quite a good mind, though no lack of courage or loyalty...Ravenclaw should do..."

                But before the Hat could shout its decision to the hall, Kurama sent it a quiet thought.  I would rather be with my friends, if that is all right.

                "Are you sure?  You would be more at home in Ravenclaw, you know."

Kurama smiled.  The Sorting Hat was suddenly aware of just how many plants Kurama carried in his hair and exactly how much destruction they could cause.  And the Sorting Hat, for all of its magic, was still just a thing of leather and glue. 

                "Maybe Slytherin wouldn't be so far off after all," the Hat muttered.  One of the thorns on Kurama's trademark rose lengthened dangerously.  "All right, all right, be GRYFFINDOR!"

                Kurama calmly handed the Hat back to McGonagall and walked over to join Botan, Kuwabara, and Hiei.

                "Hey, all right!" Kuwabara said, slapping him on the back.  "I thought for sure you'd end up in Ravenclaw."

                Kurama just smiled again.

                "Urameshi, Yusuke!" 

                The Sorting Hat was placed on Yusuke's head and sat there silently for some minutes.  Yusuke's expression changed from mild apprehension, to boredom, to irritation.  And Yusuke did not take well to irritation.  

                "Hey, hello?!  Could you get on with this 'Sorting' stuff already?"

                "Oh, sorry," the Hat told him, still sounding distracted, "That's easy enough.  You're another Gryffindor."

                "So why don't you tell everyone else and let me out of here?"

                "Umm...curiosity.  I am supposed to be able to see all of a person's characteristics and a fair share of his or her history as well.  Even with that, I can't tell whether you are quite clever or just insanely lucky.  First time that's ever happened to me."

                Yusuke gritted his teeth and thought about spirit-gunning the Hat.  The Hat called out "GRYFFINDOR!" in a hurry, and Yusuke joined his friends at the Gryffindor table.

                At the teachers' table in the front of the hall, Dumbledore hid his smile behind a glass of wine.

***********

                The students had been led off to their dormitories hours before and still McGonagall paced around the great hall, thinking over the events of the day.

                Watching over her house was difficult enough with Potter in it.  Now she had five more children to worry about (besides the ordinary first years), and all of her witch's instincts were telling her that this group was a trouble-magnet to rival Harry. 

It was odd that all five of them had ended up in Gryffindor.  Did they have some special need for courage?  Or were there other forces at work?

She shook her head at the last thought.  The only wizard she knew with the power to rig the Sorting was Dumbledore himself.  And, being Dumbledore, he would never do such a thing.  Still, he had seemed pleased with the Hat's choices. 

                Alone in the hall, McGonagall sighed.  "Albus, what have you gotten us into this time?"