Title: Subconscious Wishing

Rating: T

Genres: Friendship/Adventure/Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Humor

Summary: After his three years of being targeted by Voldemort, Harry is unsurprisingly angry and a little scared of the Dark Lord, even if he's won all of the times. Subconsciously, he wishes that there was somebody or something to protect him this year, even if he may furiously deny it. And the Hogyoku, in the hands of a Shinigami passing by Privet Drive, does its job—fulfilling desires.

Warnings: Swearing, violence, very mild homo/heterosexuality, crude humor, possible OOC, spoilers, post manga, un-beta-ed, the works.

Pairings: Only hinted at, and not very relevant to the plot.

Disclaimer: I own two laptops, a Wooper plushie, a fanfiction account, the fifth book of Harry Potter, and an iPhone, but I don't own Bleach or Harry Potter, nor do I wish to.

~oOo~

Shuuhei is hyperaware of the stone in the heavy box in his arms, of the many humans around, although they can't see him.

The houses are all very dull, the same color, same kind of lawn—it nearly gives Shuuhei a headache from seeing the exact same thing over and over again.

When he feels eyes boring into the back of his head, he nearly jumps but reminds himself that he is a lieutenant, and a competent one at that. He survived the war that killed thousands of Shinigami.

He turns in the general direction the staring is coming from, and surprisingly, it's coming from a young human boy, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, with vibrant green eyes. Shuuhei checks the boy's reiatsu, which is a small amount, certainly not enough to make it to seated officer, but enough to see spirits. Smiling slightly, he waves friendlily before continuing to head down the road.

Damn Urahara and his odd tendencies! Why is he in Britain of all places?

~oOo~

Harry is looking out the window when he spots the oddly dressed person carrying a small box walking past his house.

He stares a little, since it isn't every day you see an oddly dressed and tall sixteen to eighteen year old guy with three vertical scars and a sixty-nine tattooed on his face—doesn't he even know what that number means? Or is he one of those punks? His black clothing doesn't help at all with the "punk" look either.

When the person turns in his direction, meeting his green eyes with eucalyptus ones of his own, Harry stiffens. But instead of glaring at him like Harry expects him to do, the person smiles slightly but genuinely and waves before turning and heading on his merry way.

Harry blinks in confusion, but when a loud crash downstairs sounds, along with the familiar voices of the cheery Weasley family, he immediately races downstairs, grabbing his things on the way, the person all but forgotten.

~oOo~

Noting the presence of a Hell Butterfly, Shuuhei extends a hand, the insect landing in his palm before relaying the message it was sent to deliver. Muguruma-taichou just glances at it, sees who it's being delivered to, and goes back to grumbling about paperwork.

Hisagi-fukutaicho, you are to report to Kyoraku-sotaichou's office at five hundred hours tomorrow morning sharp. You have a new long term group mission, and details can be found in the file that is delivered to you by the Hell Butterfly sent to you. Please pack any essentials required for your long term mission. As soon as the message is over, the butterfly disintegrates, leaving a manila folder with various sheets of paper inside.

Repressing the urge to groan and burn the damn papers, Shuuhei sets aside the almost completed stack of paperwork, cleans the ink stains and his brushes, and seals the ink bottle and stores all of it into his desk drawer before opening the folder.

"New mission?"

"Yes, Muguruma-taichou."

"Long term?"

Shuuhei nods, and Muguruma-taichou rolls his eyes. "Sucks for you. I'll be missing seeing your face around. How long?"

Blinking, Shuuhei takes out the top sheet and scans it. "It says half a year at least."

"I hope they cut down on the amount of paperwork…"

He laughs a little. "That isn't likely, Muguruma-taichou. It says here that they'll be expecting weekly updates from me, and will be delivering paperwork to me as well. And you should know that Kyoraku-sotaichou is a sadistic slave driver when he's not the one doing paperwork."

~oOo~

Shuuhei had heard the Tenth Division Captain is punctual.

But he'd assumed that by "punctual" they meant maybe three minutes ahead of time.

Apparently, Hitsugaya-taichou had been waiting out here for twenty minutes now, and Shuuhei feels honestly a little guilty.

Reading the look on his face, Hitsugaya-taichou says, "I'm always first. Unless it's Soifon. Then we usually get here around the same time."

"A-ah, I see." That doesn't stop him from feeling guilty.

Hitsugaya-taichou rolls his eyes but says nothing more as Renji and Rukia appear right next to them, Kyoraku-sotaichou following suit.

"I hope you read the mission files!" Kyoraku-sotaichou says, smiling his trademark stupid grin.

"Yes, sir," Hitsugaya-taichou, Rukia, and Shuuhei say dutifully.

"Yeah," Renji says, a second late.

"Don't die! We still need you here!" Kyoraku-sotaichou singsongs.

Then they open the Senkaimon, a Hell Butterfly flying over them, and walk through to the other side.

~oOo~

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Renji moans as they manage to topple out of the sky from their Senkaimon.

Well, Shuuhei can't blame him since he and Rukia managed to land on him, so they got a relatively soft landing.

Hitsugaya-taichou lands on his feet, gracefully.

After they get up and dust their clothing off, Hitsugaya-taichou passes them each a ticket. "Come on. Let's get on the train." He makes no comment about the position of the Senkaimon, but clearly it's on his mind.

They ignore the looks they get from those who can actually see them, picking up their bags before running through the wall. Shuuhei instinctively closes his eyes, waiting for the crash before he feels a rush of reiatsu and he opens his eyes, revealing the large train.

"Wow," Renji says from behind him.

"Hurry up," Hitsugaya-taichou snaps, rolling his teal eyes before they board the train, searching for a completely empty compartment and completely ignoring the odd looks they get.

They find one in the back, and Hitsugaya-taichou clears his throat after they all take a seat. "Now, who here actually read the mission file?"

Shuuhei halfheartedly raises his hand while Rukia sheepishly smiles and says, "Does reading half of it count? I couldn't concentrate all that well because… you know…"

Hitsugaya-taichou sighs. "It counts. I can understand, considering those two third seats… Abarai, you didn't read it did you."

Renji laughs nervously.

With a roll of his eyes, Hitsugaya-taichou says, "Well, that's why I'll summarize it. We're here to protect this school, Hogwarts—don't laugh at the name, Kuchiki, Abarai—and kill any Hollows that come here. This year, apparently there's an event known as the Triwizard Tournament going on, and that it's quite dangerous. We're here to prevent too many casualties, and clean up the amount of Hollows and Pluses there are here. Additionally, there have been reports of a man who split his soul seven times, and we're here to clean up the mess that the wizards have made, since they're shit at cleaning up their own messes."

"Why's Urahara here then?" Rukia asks.

"He's here as the History of Magic teacher," Hitsugaya-taichou answers. "In other words, he's here to conduct research at the cost of being a teacher; however, he's still away in London. I imagine he will be here tomorrow."

The Captain's annoyance at being sent on a long term mission is clear.

They don't talk for the entire rest of the trip, letting the Captain simmer in frosty silence. It isn't as if they mind the lowered temperature, since they're used to it.

~oOo~

Deciding against crossing the lake, the four Shinigami flash-step above the water, hardening reiatsu beneath their feet.

They wait a while for the students to arrive, hanging in front of the doors to prevent getting too wet. Shuuhei casts a glance at Hitsugaya and Rukia who don't look cold at all, and is jealous of their affinity to ice and the cold. He glances at Renji, who's in the same boat.

He spots the boat with the large man—Hagrid—coming towards them. The person waves cheerily, ushering the children in. "Ye know, yer allowed to go inside ahead o' us," he says, smiling widely.

"It would be impolite," Hitsugaya-taichou says calmly. "Let them in first."

As the children enter the castle, giving them curious glances, Shuuhei recognizes the green-eyed boy from Privet Drive. Eyes widening, the boy halts and gives him a shocked glance, clearly recalling their first encounter. If it can be called an encounter, actually.

"Hey there," Shuuhei says warmly.

"You know this guy?" Renji asks, raising a tattooed eyebrow.

"I don't know him, technically, but I did see him at some point." Shuuhei ushers the children inside, following once the last one enters the hall, the doors swinging shut.

"You know, I'm kind of glad we didn't go in one of the carriages," Renji remarks. "At least I'm not soaked—ah, fuck!"

Shuuhei, dodging the water balloon at the last second, smirks at Renji's shocked expression. "You jinxed it," he informs his kohai.

"Shut up," Renji complains, continuing his way towards the Hall, following Hitsugaya-taichou and Rukia.

"PEEVES!" the stern looking teacher shouts (McGonagall, Shuuhei's mind supplies helpfully), running down the slippery hallway. Just as she slips, Shuuhei reaches out and grabs her arm.

"Don't run when the floor is slippery, McGonagall-san."

As Hitsugaya-taichou dodges the fourth water balloon, Shuuhei can see that the Captain is visibly getting ticked off. Shuuhei holds back a smile and nudges Renji. "You'll be getting your revenge soon."

As the fifth water balloon splatters by Hitsugaya-taichou's face, the white-haired Captain whirls around. "Listen up, Peeves-san," Hitsugaya-taichou growls in an icy tone, the temperature plummeting as the students all turn towards him. "Throw another water balloon, and you will regret it."

Peeves cackles, slightly nervously. "Why should I be scared of a short kid like you?"

A collective gasp come from Shuuhei, Renji, and Rukia. "Ohh, he just said two taboo words to Hitsugaya-taichou," Rukia murmurs, sounding far too pleased.

Hitsugaya-taichou immediately launches into the air and latches onto the poltergeist's ghostly ear. "Call me short or a kid again, and I will kill you. Again," Hitsugaya-taichou hisses into it. "Do you understand?"

Peeves positively swallows. "Y-yes."

"It's 'Yes Hitsugaya-taichou'. Or 'Yes Captain Hitsugaya'."

"Yes Captain Hitsugaya!" Peeves squeaks. "Now can you let me go?"

Hitsugaya-taichou releases the ghost, huffing and looking slightly pleased with himself as he drops the reiatsu around his feet, landing on his feet like a cat.

Immediately whispers break out around them.

"Did you feel the temperature drop?"

"How did he grab a ghost?"

"How did he float?"

"He's terrifying!"

"Remind me to never call him short or a kid…"

"Silence," Hitsugaya-taichou growls. Immediately they all shut up.

McGonagall vanishes the water on the floor so that they don't slip and heads towards the Great Hall, looking curious.

Shuuhei follows them into the Great Hall, closing and standing by the door as soon as all the students are seated.

Shuuhei completely tunes out what the talking hat says, the Sorting, the eating (since he isn't actually hungry…), and most of Dumbledore's speech, and Shuuhei only pays attention when they actually mention the Shinigami.

"We also have more than just the Triwizard Tournament this year, actually," Dumbledore continues. "We also have four guards to ensure that there are no casualties this year. Please welcome them with open arms, and as they are foreign, please do not try to offend them."

Renji gives a lazy wave while Hitsugaya-taichou just leans against the wall.

"Could you do me a favor and introduce yourselves?"

Hitsugaya-taichou straightens up, adjusting the sword on his back before bowing. "Good evening. I am Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of the Tenth Division of the Thirteen Court Guards. It is a pleasure to meet you, and I hope to work well with you all," he says monotonously.

"I'm Lieutenant Rukia Kuchiki of the Thirteenth Division of the Thirteen Court Guards. Ugh that was a mouthful," Rukia says distastefully. "But good evening, nice to meet you, yada yada…"

"Lieutenant Renji Abarai of the Sixth Division of the Thirteen Court Guards, nice to meet you, hope to work well with you, blah, blah, blah."

"Lieutenant Shuuhei Hisagi of the Ninth Division of the Thirteen Court Guards," Shuuhei says politely. "It's nice to meet you, and I look forward to working with you all."

"Now that you've been introduced, bedtime! Chop, chop!" Dumbledore announces cheerfully. "You can get acquainted with our new guards at a later date!"

~oOo~

The first thing that is said at the meeting in Dumbledore's office is, "They're so young!"

Rukia rolls her eyes at Pomfrey, who made the comment. "Actually, contrary to popular belief, we're older than Dumbledore is. All of us, except Hitsugaya-taichou, but he comes close."

Snape narrows his eyes. "That isn't possible, unless you aren't human."

"Snape-san, do you believe in the afterlife?" Hitsugaya-taichou asks coolly. "If so, what did you think it is? A Heaven and a Hell? Nothingness? Both are wrong. There is no Heaven or Hell. [1] After all, who decrees what is wrong, and what is right?

"In this world, there must be an equal amount of souls in the afterlife and the world of the living, or else everything falls to ruin. Creatures known as Hollows run rampant in the world of the living and occasionally the afterlife, and eat souls. Put those drawings away, Kuchiki. Souls with a large amount of reiyoku or reiatsu, spiritual energy and spiritual pressure respectively, like us, undergo extensive training to become Shinigami, or Death Gods, Soul Reapers, Grim Reapers; take your pick. We keep the balance between the two worlds."

Hitsugaya-taichou pauses for a moment. "Do you know what that means? We are dead. And we have been for decades."

There is only silence in the room.

~oOo~

[1] I am aware of the fact that there is a "Hell" in Bleach, but I'm breaking canon a bit here simply because it's barely expanded upon in Bleach, and also, I've seen some characters who do a lot of wrongdoing.

A/N: Whelp, I hope you enjoyed this chapter : I do hope I will continue to update this story, since I like the idea…

Drop a review and tell me what you think, or if you think I've gotten anything wrong, or if I've made any grammatical errors. Thanks! :