Harry Potter and the Karakura Crystal

Chapter 1

Summary: When a surprise delegation from Japan arrives at Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, Harry, Ichigo, and their friends find themselves in danger from not one but two evil villains. Not to mention the problems caused by cultural and language differences.

A/N: This story follows loosely from HP canon in Goblet of Fire, right after the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrive at Hogwarts, and from Bleach chapter 195, where the shinigami from the Soul Society go undercover at Karakura High to protect the world of the living from the attacks from Hueco Mundo.

I haven't seen a crossover that links these two events, so I believe this is an original story premise: exchange students from a Japanese high school visit Hogwarts to participate in a magical competition.

I'm playing fast and loose with canon; for example, both Harry and Ichigo are fifteen when the story begins, but Ichigo has already fought Aizen twice. I'm going to change the plot of GoF substantially after the arrival of the guest students, although I assume that all the events in the first three HP books as well as everything through Bleach chapter 194 took place. The story will be flavored by knowledge of Bleach canon up to chapter 559 (e.g. Grimmjow and Gin might be Ichigo's allies). So don't expect it to play out absolutely according to the canon timeline.

Everybody in this story is speaking English; the Japanese students, however, may not speak it quite fluently. This can lead to confusion and misunderstandings… so don't presume everything is the way it seems…

x-x-x-x-x

The Great Hall blazed with golden light from thousands of candles hovering above the long trestle tables. Brilliantly-colored silk banners, one for each of the four houses, hung from the walls. Red, blue, yellow, and green, they cast a cheery aura over the dinnertime crowd. The tables were packed with chattering students. Forks and knives clinked on the golden plates. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat next to Fred and George in their usual seats. With the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons joining everyone at dinner tonight, the hubbub in the Hall was louder than usual.

The doors to the Great Hall slammed open.

Ron elbowed Harry hard in the side. "Look! Who's that?"

Harry's jaw dropped. Framed in the doorway were some of the oddest-looking people Harry had ever seen.

Crowding into the entrance, they wore a motley mixture of black and white robes, but what made them stand out the most was their colorful hair—and the long swords hanging from their belts.

A teenager with a messy bright-orange haircut all too similar to his own glared in an unfriendly fashion across the crowded hall. Behind him slouched a tall kid with hair a shocking shade of cerulean blue. At his shoulder stood one who was completely bald, half-hiding another with a tattooed face topped by what looked like red pineapple leaves. Leaning against the doorframe, a voluptuous young woman, her face framed by a thick mane of wavy blonde hair that fell halfway to her waist, craned her neck to see into the room.

A voice rang out across the Great Hall. "Hey, Dumbledore." A tall, thin silver-haired man, his eyes slitted shut, pushed his way to the front. He grinned broadly and gave a jaunty wave with one skeletal hand. "I hope ya got the emergency bulletin from the captain-commander."

At the head table, Dumbledore rose from his seat, his white beard wagging slightly. "Er—yes, but we didn't expect you until tomorrow. I was going to give the students the chance to settle in and welcome the other competitors first. But since you're here—" He spread his arms wide and his blue eyes twinkled. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"

"Thanks! I s'pose we should introduce ourselves, since not everyone here may know us." The visitor placed a hand on his chest. "I'm Gin Ichimaru, acting Headmaster of the Karakura School of Magic in Japan, an' these here are some of our finest students."

The muted buzz at all the tables rose in volume.

"We've been invited by your Minister of Magic as special guest entrants to your Triwizard Tournament, in an effort to promote intercultural harmony," he said, grinning widely. "So we're all pleased to meet ya!"

Hermione shook her head, her eyes round. "There have never been any entrants from outside Europe in the entire history of the Tournament." She lowered her voice. "I need to go to the library. I'm not even familiar with Japanese magical history. I do know that their entire magical infrastructure is based on a completely different foundation than ours. For example, they don't use wands—"

Ron raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Hermione, for once can you stop being a walking encyclopedia?"

"Again, welcome!" the old headmaster said. He gestured to the tables. "Please, make yourselves at home and share this delicious food with us." Another chair appeared at the head table. "And, uh, Professor Ichimaru, please join us here at the staff table."

"Don' mind if I do," said Ichimaru jovially. He strode up the central aisle, smiling all the way, not seeming to notice that the eyes of hundreds of students were following him.

There were loud whispers from the Hufflepuff table. "All the way from Japan?" "How does he see where he's going with his eyes closed like that?"

Hermione muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "Harry, stop looking so distracted. They're coming here!"

The remainder of the Karakura party approached the Gryffindor table. They slid into seats, jostling each other and looking uncomfortable.

The buxom blonde plopped down next to Harry and stuck out her hand. "Hi! I'm Rangiku Matsumoto, and you must be Harry Potter."

Harry wasn't surprised by now that even people in Japan had heard of him. He simply nodded as the blonde introduced the rest of the group. "This is Ichigo Kurosaki." The boy with bright orange hair grunted, scanning the dishes of food that had appeared on the table.

The diminutive black-haired girl beside him shoved him hard with her shoulder. "Ichigo! At least be polite and say hello!"

The boy muttered in an unrepentant tone, "Sorry." He picked up a bowl of rice and scrutinized it.

"That's Rukia," said Rangiku. "Sitting beside her is Orihime." An auburn-haired, equally buxom teenager smiled shyly and waved. "And the pineapple-head there is Renji and that's Toshiro."

The tiny, white-haired boy crossed his arms. "It's Captain Hitsugaya!"

Ron asked, "Aren't you too young? Don't you need to be eleven to go to school in magic?"

Hermione elbowed him. "Maybe it's different in Japan. Be polite!" she muttered under her breath.

But the kid was arguing in a low but carrying voice with Rangiku. "I still don't see how that traitor ended up in charge of this mission! How do you know the orders weren't forged?"

"Hush! Don't you remember we're supposed to be undercover here? Stop talking so loud," she whispered loudly.

By now everybody at the Gryffindor table was staring at the new arrivals.

"Now you've done it," hissed the blue-haired guy.

Rukia scowled. "Shut up, Grimmjow. It's better that they know." She glanced around the table and lowered her voice. "Yes, we're undercover, and I'm going to tell you an important secret that nobody else should know. We're actually here to protect you against the greatest threat your world has ever faced. We've received word of a sinister plot directed at Harry Potter here." She paused dramatically, as if waiting for multiple gasps of fear.

There was silence for a long beat. Then Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we already know He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is trying to take over the world and Harry is in danger."

Fred produced an elaborate yawn and went back to eating his steak-and-kidney pie. A couple of the others shrugged.

Rukia appeared taken aback at the lack of response. "You already know about him? How did you find out all the way over here? And why don't you want to use his name?"

The Gryffindors all glanced at each other. "Well, it's not too surprising he has operations all over the world. Hey, Britain isn't all that far from Japan if you can travel by magic," said George. "And about his name, er—"

Harry scowled. "Well, I think it's a silly idea to be so afraid of a name. I don't mind saying out loud that his name is—"

Hermione clapped a hand over Harry's mouth. "Not a good idea, especially right now." She raised her eyebrows at Harry, referring to the recent incident with his scar burning. "We think it's best to refer to him as You-Know-Who."

"Hah!" Grimmjow said, poking at a Yorkshire pudding with a pair of chopsticks, "I'm sure he has listening devices even here. It's probably a smart idea to avoid mentioning his name."

Rukia shrugged. "All right. In that case, don't you want to hear the details that we've learned about this plot?"

"If you want," said Fred casually as he took another huge bite of food.

Rukia frowned as the others continued eating. "You're taking this awfully lightly. Don't you even care that a super-powerful megalomaniac villain has designs on a fifteen-year-old boy?"

"Doesn't it happen all the time?" asked Fred. "At least in young-adult fiction," he murmured under his breath. "Besides, we're used to it here." He raised his eyebrows at Harry. "I mean, how long has it been now that you've been single-handedly saving the world, four years?"

Harry reddened and applied himself to his black pudding. Ichigo glanced at him with a strangely sympathetic look in his eye.

"Don't you realize you're all in terrible danger?" Rangiku said. "The leader of our, uh, magical community sent us here because he heard that there was going to be an attack at Hogwarts, so he sent notice to some of our strongest fighters, and here we all are to help you!"

Toshiro crossed his arms. "I still think there was some kind of mistake. I was supposed to be in charge of this mission, but somehow the orders stated Ichimaru was placed in command." He lowered his eyebrows and glowered at the silver-haired man who was now engaged in animated conversation with Dumbledore at the head table. "He's a traitor!"

Rangiku glared back. "No, didn't you hear what the orders said? Yama-jii didn't think the mission commander should be someone who looks like a ten-year-old. Besides, Gin's been on our side all the time, along with Grimmjow here."

Toshiro's face reddened. "And I don't understand why in the hell a hollow was dragged along on this mission. What if he decides he's hungry? Aren't all these kids here in danger from him?"

"Nonsense!" Rangiku waved one hand airily. "We're all on the same side now. He's a double agent. Didn't you get the memo?" She took a large gulp from the golden goblet beside her plate, and lowered her voice. "Just last week, the captain-commander called us into his office to let us know that Ai-, I mean, uh, You-Know-Who was sending some uh, terrible monsters to attack Hogwarts School in Britain. We're here to prepare for a direct confrontation with them and stand by your side." She turned to Toshiro. "What's the English word for 'Arrancar'?"

He shrugged. "What's the English word for soulless monsters who eat the souls of their victims?"

Hermione set down a forkful of meat and turned pale. "Dementors. He's sending Dementors to Hogwarts?"

Rangiku nodded. "A huge army of them. He's been modifying them to make them stronger."

Ron's eyes were as big as saucers. "Even stronger than they already are?" He looked sidelong at Harry. "Are you going to be ready for that, mate?"

x-x-x-x-x

Ichigo caught up with Harry as the crowd of chattering students exited the Great Hall. Everybody was talking about the Triwizard Tournament and arguing about Dumbledore's explanation of the rules, but no one was walking with Harry. Hermione had rushed off to the library, and Ron had tagged along because he needed to pick up a reference book for some overdue homework.

"Hey," Ichigo said. He fell into step beside Harry.

Harry shot him a sidelong glance. "Hey."

"How long have you known?"

"Known what?"

"Known he was after you."

Harry snorted. "Well, consciously, since I turned eleven. What about you?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Actually, I only found out a few months ago that he had been stalking me since I was a baby."

Harry stopped in front of a suit of armor, ignoring the crowd of students shoving past. "He's been after you since you were a baby too?"

"Well, I—"

Harry brushed his hair back from his scar. "He gave me this when I was one year old."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Is that—"

"He used a Killing Curse on me when I was a baby and it rebounded for some reason." His tone shifted and became sardonic. "Ever since then I've been the hero of the British Wizarding world."

Ichigo felt a pang of sympathy, although he didn't completely understand—he still hadn't gotten the hang of translating the English terms into the kido categories he was more familiar with. "How many times have you faced him?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean by 'faced.' The first year it was the back of Quirrell's head. Then there was the time he enchanted his school diary and I fought his boyhood self. Then—"

"Wait." Ichigo interrupted. "We don't know much about his childhood. What was he like as a boy?"

"I don't know. An evil git? Handsome, of course—"

Ichigo nodded.

"…Brilliant as all get out—"

"Yeah, yeah, we know all that already," Ichigo said impatiently. "But is there anything you were able to find out that might tell us something about his weaknesses? I know that when I crossed swords with him I could detect loneliness…"

Harry snorted. "Yeah, I'll bet he was lonely. He never really had any friends, only minions. … Wait. He knows how to use a sword?"

Now it was Ichigo's turn to eye the other boy. "Um, yeah."

Harry turned and began to stomp up the grand staircase. "Great. Just great. Now I have to learn sword fighting on top of everything else."

"Hey, wait." Ichigo followed him up the stairs. "I can teach you."