This was just me having a bit of fun. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own only the plot. Nothing else.
A Clash of Cultures
Chapter 15 - What Came After
"Oh Merlin, what an adorable cat!" Pansy cried the moment she spotted Kirara laying on the seat next to her friend, Draco. She dropped her trunk onto the floor of the Hogwarts Express compartment and kneeled down next to the cat.
"Kirara, this is my friend Pansy," Draco said, looking down at the cat, "Pansy, this is Kirara."
Pansy gave him an odd look, before turning back to Kirara.
"Hi, Kirara, you are one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Oh. You have two tails. . . .Draco, why does your cat have two tails?"
"Because she's a Japanese demon cat."
"A demon cat, Malfoy?" a new voice asked from the doorway.
"Hello Blaise, and yes, she's a demon cat. She'll be helping us with quidittch this year too."
"And how exactly does your adorable little cat plan on doing that?"
Draco smirked.
Draco's first class of the year was Care of Magical Creatures. He had originally intended to drop it, but after the events of the summer, decided it might not be a complete waste of time. After all, he seriously doubted that even Hagrid could bring anything to class that was more dangerous than Kirara.
Who, to Draco's delight, had decided to attend classes with him on the first day. The look on McGonagall's face when she saw them enter the Great Hall was definitely a wonderful start to the school year.
Draco spent the trip to Care of Magical Creatures chatting with Padma Patil, who was crooning over his pet cat. With Kirara around, Draco noticed he seemed to be attracting the attention of a lot more girls. He couldn't honestly say that he minded. Except for the mudbloods: they were annoying. Unfortunately, chatting with Padma meant that he was distracted and didn't notice the topic for Hagrid's first class of the year until Kirara began to growl slightly.
When he caught his first glimpse of the giant spider, he froze.
"Well, now that yer all here," Hagrid began with a wide grin on his face, "I'd like ter introduce you all to Aragog. He's an acromantula. Can anyone tell me anythin' 'bout acromantulas?"
A few tentative hands slowly went up. Hagrid opened his mouth to call upon one of them to answer, when Kirara jumped off of Draco's shoulder. Pansy shrieked in alarm, as the two-tailed cat calmly trotted up to Aragog.
Kirara stopped directly in front of the giant spider and sniffed at it. The eight eyes staring at her didn't faze her one bit. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice.
Then something quite unexpected happened.
Aragog hissed as he scuttled a few steps backwards, away from the cute kitten standing in front of him.
"Hagrid," he said in a surprisingly shrill and frightened voice, "get that thing away from me!"
Hagrid was stunned. He looked at the cat with confusion, trying to figure out just how Aragog saw her as a threat.
"Yes, er. . . 'ere kitty, kitty," he said and began to slowly walk towards here with outstretched arms.
Kirara, however, had apparently seen enough, because she abruptly turned around and trotted back to the students, jumping nimbly onto Draco's shoulder. Draco scratched her behind her ear. Then he turned to Hagrid.
"Well, Kirara here thinks the acromantula's not a threat," he said.
"Not a threat! To what? Your virginity!" one of the Gryffindor boys exclaimed.
"But the spider was scared of it," Pansy said with a frown, "Draco, why would that thing be scared of Kirara?"
"Because she's a demon cat of course."
"So you've said. . . but she doesn't look very demonic. I mean, granted the two tails are odd, but not exactly what I'd call demonic."
Draco smirked and looked at Kirara.
"Kirara, would you like to go see how Professor Snape's first Defense against the Dark Arts class is going?" he asked.
Kirara meowed enthusiastically and leaped down to the ground again.
"Malfoy, what are you talking about?" Theodore Nott asked.
"Maybe he's finally lost-" Dean Thomas never finished his statement, because in that moment Kirara was engulfed in a ball of flame.
The entire class watched in stunned silence as Draco climbed onto the back of what now looked like a sabre-toothed tiger. He winked at Pansy before Kirara roared and flew off towards the castle.
Hagrid followed the two with his eyes, gaping. Slowly the look of astonishment on his face turned to one of excitement and a giddy grin began to show itself. He looked like a child, who had just discovered a new toy.
Professor Snape nearly had a heart attack when he turned around and caught sight of his prize pupil outside his classroom window. Especially since the window was several floors up. And the fact that said student was grinning like an idiot, waving frantically and had shouted "Hello Professor Snape!" so that the entire room heard him.
"Mr. Malfoy, please do explain what you are doing at my window," he stated evenly, once he'd recovered somewhat from the shock, "you are a prefect and should therefore be aware that flying around on your broom outside of either class or the quidditch pitch is prohibited."
"But professor," Draco beamed, "I'm not on my broom." He moved back a bit and another head came into view. "By the way, have you met Kirara yet, professor?"
Snape stared, speechless.
"This is your. . ." he finally began.
"Yup."
"And Professor McGongall allowed you to. . . "
"Yup."
The greasy-haired professor closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I am going to murder that blasted woman," he muttered breath before opening his eyes again. Then he noticed the rest of the class watching the exchange between him and Draco and eyeing the flying cat with interest.
"Get back to work!" he yelled, causing the entire class to jump and quickly acquire an acute fascination with their textbooks. "And you," he looked directly at Draco, "get back to class."
"Bye professor," Draco chirped happily before heading back to Care of Magical Creatures with Kirara.
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Kagome was exhausted as she climbed out of the Bone Eater's Well for the last time. It was a week since Naraku had been defeated and even though she had spent at least half of that time sleeping, she still felt drained. And confused.
The deathblow to Naraku had been dealt by Kikyo using the completed Shikon Jewel. Kikyo's soul had then moved on into the next world. Of course, by then he had already been greatly weakened by the joint attack of Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru. The two of them actually managed to make quite the efficient fighting team, despite the pushing, shoving, name-calling and sword clashes. After the battle, Kagome had slipped Shippo the note with the date, time and place for him to be in order to help her escape from the Dark Lord in the future. She had also saved Jaken and Rin from having their souls sucked out by Kanna and had seen a new sort of respect in Jaken's eyes afterwards. He never did call her "lady Kagome" though. She figured that must have been something he developed later on. In return for saving his charges, Sesshoumaru nodded to her request for him to be in England on the same day Shippo would be. And Sango and Miroku had gotten married.
But Inu Yasha was still alive.
'Maybe he died sometime after we defeated Naraku,' she thought to herself as she walked out of the little wooden structure where the well was hidden.
Suddenly she felt a desperate need to find out what happened to Inu Yasha. She ran into the house and up to her room. There, she grabbed Shippo's cell number from her bedside table before running back downstairs.
"Shippo?" she asked the minute someone picked up the phone.
"Umm. . . yeah, that's me. . .but who are you?" came Shippo's voice on the other end.
"Kagome. Naraku's been defeated; I just got back, but Inu Yasha's still alive. What happens to him Shippo?"
There was a slight pause on the other end.
"I'll be right over," Shippo said and he hung up the phone. Kagome stared at the receiver in her hand with annoyance. Then she realized something.
'Wait, does he even know where I live?' she thought. Quickly she redialled his number and then cursed when she got a busy signal.
"Kagome?"
She looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway. It looked like she had just gotten home from work. She was smiling.
"Hi mom," Kagome said with a small smile.
"How long are you here for this time, dear?"
"Forever," Kagome whispered, the reality of the situation hadn't really sunk in yet. The word 'forever' just seemed surreal. Somehow she couldn't even begin to fathom that she'd never see Sango, Miroku or Kohaku ever again. Or Inu Yasha. She sighed and looked up at her mother.
"It's over. The Bone Eater's Well will become inactive soon and I'll never be able to go back again."
Her mother's face suddenly lit up with joy and worry lines Kagome hadn't even noticed were there, disappeared. She dropped her briefcase and ran to Kagome, hugging her tightly.
"Oh darling," she whispered, "I know you'll miss all your friends, but I'm glad that you're finally safe now."
Kagome hugged her back, thankful that, as usual, her mother had guessed what her problem was without her having to say anything. They stood like that for several minutes, both blinking back tears.
A gentle knock on the back door broke the moment.
"Ehem, am I interrupting anything?" a familiar voice asked. Kagome spun out of her mother's arms.
"Shippo!" she cried happily and ran to embrace him.
"Shippo?" her mother said thoughtfully. "Kagome, isn't that the name of the fox child who travelled with you?"
Shippo chuckled.
"Yeah, well, that fox child grew up to be a big fox," he answered. Kagome's mother stared at him. A few moments later, she seemed to recover and walked up to him.
"I'm Kagome's mother, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot about you. Er, well, about you as a child anyway."
Shippo laughed.
"It's wonderful to finally meet you Mrs. Higurashi," he said, "the woman behind all the wonderful food Kagome used to bring back with her to the Feudal Era."
Kagome's mother laughed.
"Would either of you like some tea?" she asked.
"Yes please," Kagome answered, suddenly feeling much better, now that Shippo was here.
"Sure, I'd love some," Shippo answered before turning back to Kagome again. "So, how long since you got back?"
"About 15 minutes, maybe a bit more."
"Hmmm. . . I'll give him five more minutes then. . ."
"Give who-?"
"Kagome!"
Kagome's eyes widened in surprise. She looked at Shippo and noticed the mischievous spark in them. Then she ran out the back door and into the courtyard of the shrine.
"Inu Yasha!" she called out.
Suddenly a red and silver blur came out of nowhere and she was being pulled into a tight embrace.
"I couldn't wait five hundred years to see you again," Inu Yasha whispered and Kagome squeezed back as hard as she could. She could feel tears welling up behind her eyes, but refused to let them fall.
Suddenly Kagome felt Inu Yasha go rigid. She eased her way out of the embrace and stood back to look at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I can sense a demon nearby," he answered with narrow eyes. Kagome sniggered.
"Well it's about damn time you did, Inu Yasha. Don't tell me you're getting rusty all ready."
Inu Yasha stepped in front of Kagome protectively. His right hand was already holding the hilt of Tetsuaiga.
"Do I know you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Inu Yasha, it's good to see you again," Shippo said with a wide grin as he started walking casually towards them, "it's been a while. Well, it has for me anyway: for you it's probably only been about two mintues. Right after we told you about Kagome getting attacked when she was in England. Of course, we forgot to mention the part where we rescued her. . ."
"Sh-Shippo?" Inu Yasha asked, looking thunder-struck. He looked the fox demon up and down, before sniffing cautiously.
"Yep, that's me alright. Only I didn't get here the easy way; I had to actually survive for five hundred years in order to get here." Shippo paused, considering something. "Which now makes me your elder, so you'd better show me some respect, kid."
Inu Yasha growled and Shippo laughed. Kagome giggled, realizing that the fox demon was right. Other than her, Inu Yasha was now by far the youngest in the group.
"Oh, and by the way, Kagome," Shippo turned to her, "Ayame sends an invitation for you, your family and Inu Yasha to come over for dinner tomorrow night. Think you can make it?"
"Huh?" was all Inu Yasha had to say to the invitation.
"Well. . . I'll have to ask my family, but I'm sure they'll all love to go," Kagome answered. "I know Souta will be very excited to meet you all."
"Tea's ready!"
"Thanks mom!"
Kagome and Shippo turned to go back into the house. Inu Yasha slowly followed after them, watching them carefully for signs that something was amiss.
"Oh, by the way," Shippo said casually, "I'd better warn you not to be alarmed tomorrow night; Kouga and Ayame's cubs can be quite the handful, but they don't mean any harm."
"Kouga!" Inu Yasha cried. "And wait. . .cubs!"
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It was an hour into the opening quiditch game of the season: Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Slytherin was in the lead, but barely. The snitch had yet to be spotted, but not for lack of trying on the part of the seekers. Both Harry and Draco wore looks of intense concentration as they scanned every inch of the quidditch pitch, before scanning every inch of it again.
Draco was the first to see it. It was hovering in the air about half a metre away from him, slightly to his right. He didn't reach out for it, though. Instead he cocked his head and observed it with a wary and rather confused look on his face.
The reason for this was that the snitch was acting rather, well, oddly.
First of all, it was bouncing up and down. Secondly, it was saying "Here I am! Catch me!" in a squeaky, high-pitched voice. And lastly it seemed to have grown a pair of rather large, goofy-looking eyes.
Slowly, Draco reached out and his hand closed around something cool and round. There were wings fluttering furiously out of each end of his clenched fist.
". . . and what a wonderful save by Ronald Weasley! I wonder what Slytherin's going to say to that one. As of right now the score is still 40-30 for Slytherin and the seekers have yet to catch sight of the snitch. No, hang on. . . Holy Merlin! I think Malfoy's got the snitch!"
Draco looked down at the announcer (some seventh year muggleborn from Hufflepuff) and caught the blonde girl staring back at him in amazement. He frowned and looked back at the fluttering wings. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Harry streaking towards him on his broom, no doubt wanting to see the snitch for himself.
Carefully, Draco shifted the snitch in his hand so that he could get a better look at it, without losing it. He hadn't imagined it: as he looked at the snitch, it winked at him.
"What is it Malfoy, never seen a snitch before?" Harry sneered from behind him.
"You mean one with big, round eyes that actually begs you to catch it?" Draco answered, still examining the snitch. . . which now had a furry red tail sticking out of the other end. "No, can't say that I have."
"One that what!"
Harry flew until he was along side Draco and looked over the Slytherin's shoulder. His eyes widened as he too got winked at by the snitch.
"Ok, I think I speak for the entire school when I say: what the bloody hell is going on there? Both seekers seem to be having some sort of conference. And it's not an angry one!"
"Harry, mate, what's going on?" Ron asked as he joined them. "Did Malfoy catch the snitch or didn't he?"
"Well, umm. . . he seems to have caught a snitch, but. . . hey, have the twins been creating a new line of joke snitches by any chance?"
Ron looked at Harry with an expression of complete and utter bafflement. He blinked several times.
"Umm. . .not to my knowledge. . .why?"
"Alright boys, what seems to be the problem here?" interrupted Professor Hooch sternly. "Mr. Malfoy, do you have the snitch? And for Merlin's sakes, do make sure that cat of yours stays out of the quidditch pitch!"
Draco turned around on his broom just as Kirara flew up to him. She sniffed at the odd snitch. Then she gently nuzzled it.
"Aaaww, Kirara, it's good to see you too," the snitch squeeked, nearly causing Professor Hooch to fall off her broom.
Draco looked from Kirara to the snitch and suddenly everything clicked.
"Shippo?" he asked carefully. There was a loud 'pop'.
"Congratulations Draco! You know, for a minute the-aaaah. . ." was all the fox demon managed to get out before Draco's broom overbalanced and they both went careening towards the ground.
Draco's fall was stopped by something soft and furry. He grabbed clumps of fur with both hands in order to stay where he was. When he finally managed to make his heart stop racing like it was running a marathon, he looked at what he was laying on. It was Kirara. Slowly he shifted his position so that he was riding on her back.
"Thanks girl," he said, rubbing the back of her neck. Kirara roared her 'You're welcome' and slowly circled to the ground, where Draco noticed a very odd-looking bird was also landing.
With a loud 'pop' the bird was gone and Shippo stood in its place.
Two brooms landed on the ground at the same time as Kirara.
"Shippo!" two Gryffindor voices cried out and suddenly Shippo found himself in the middle of a three-way hug.
"What are you doing here?" Draco asked, trying not to sound as excited as he was. And failing miserably.
"Meh, was in the neighbourhood," Shippo shrugged.
"How is everyone?"
"Well, Naraku's been defeated in the Feudal Era, so Kagome's back for good now. But she's in school, trying to make up for the fact that she was never there last year. And Inu Yasha's getting a crash course in living in the 21st century. Which is actually quite fun. Well, for us anyway. . ."
"Who's Inu Yasha?" Ron asked.
"Lord Sesshoumaru's half-brother," Draco answered, annoyed by the interruption.
Both quidditch teams had by now assembled around the group, looking confused. Suddenly one of the Gryffindor chasers realized where she had seen Shippo before.
"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed. "You were there at the park, when You-Know-Who attacked! You're that-that. . ."
"Fox demon?" Shippo suggested helpfully. There were gasps all around.
"Aaahh yes, Shippo, I believe it was?" Dumbledore said from behind them. Harry, Ron and Draco turned around to watch their headmaster approach with Professors McGonagall and Snape on either side of him.
Shippo nodded.
"Welcome to Hogwarts then Shippo. To what do we owe the honour of your visit?"
"Like I told these guys, I was just in the neighbourhood. Plus I was kinda curious. I've heard so much about Hogwarts and figured that visiting these guys is just about as good an excuse as any to come and see the school for myself!"
Then Shippo looked at McGonagall.
"Hm. I remember you; you were at the park. Arrived with all the red-heads. By the way, were they all related to you?" He looked at Ron during the last part.
"Yeah, I'm the youngest of six brothers," Ron answered.
"Wow, I didn't think humans had that many young anymore. Or maybe that's just Japan."
"No, his family is a very notable exception," Draco said. And that was all he said. Ron's eyes narrowed and everyone else (except for Shippo, who didn't know what was going on) held their breath, waiting for the inevitable insult that was to come.
It never came.
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape's smooth voice broke the silence, "for those of us who have not idea what is going on, could you please explain who this person is and how you know him?"
Shippo looked at Snape.
"You know," he said thoughtfully, "if I was five hundred years younger, I think I might be intimidated by you."
"Remember I told you about Cho Chang's cousin, Kagome? The miko?" Draco said, now that almost everyone was staring at Shippo again. "Well, this is Shippo, one of her friends from Japan that showed up to help her. He also happens to be a fox demon."
"He happens to be a fox demon?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know, there's something very 'Sesshoumaru' about this guy," Shippo commented to no one in particular. Then he turned to Draco. "What does he teach again?"
"He teaches Defence against the Dark Arts," the professor answered, a twitch in his right eye indicating just how annoyed he was getting.
"Suits you," Shippo said. Then he turned his attention back to the three boys he was here to visit with. "By the way, what are you guys planning to do over your Christmas holidays?"
Finis
Well, I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it and reading your reviews on it. I also hope I've managed to answer most of your questions in the last two chapters. If there's something that's really bugging you and you want it answered, then let me know and leave me your e-mail address (or make sure I can access it on your profile) and I'll e-mail you back .
Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing my story. I really appreciate your feedback.
Also thanks to everyone who took the time to read this story, even if you didn't review it.
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