Harry Potter was five years old when he first meets the man in his mind. After a rough beating from his uncle, the injured five year old falls into a sort of coma once he reaches his cupboard.
His mind takes him to his inner world, a lush field with tall oak trees and a river nestled to the side. Harry has a second to admire the view, before his attention is taken by the figure slumped over beside a particular tree.
He strangely doesn't feel frightened by the figure, merely curious. Approaching them, he tentatively calls out to them. "A-are you alright sir?" The figure straightened at his voice, turning their head slightly. His emerald green eyes meet the figure's blue-green ones, and he wondered what or who the figure was. "That I can't describe to you all that well."
Harry jumped at the raspy voice coming from the figure. "So you're my host huh? Nice to meet you." They waved a bandaged hand in greeting before going back to the tree. Harry once more grew curious and walked closer. He couldn't find the right words to ask the man, not wanting him to grow angry. "Relax kid, I'm not gonna hurt you." The man leaned against the tree, a sigh leaving him.
"You aren't?" He learned from experience not to trust every adult he came across, but this one felt different then the others. The man chuckled softly before giving him a look. "How can I hurt myself? That's suicidal."
He's eight when their souls begin to merge. Harry had asked the man many times for his name, but he merely shook his head. "What's the point in learning it? We'll probably change it anyways." He kept asking though, even as the man began to fade and his body began to change. No longer the skinny small runt that his relatives tried to make, he now stood at a whooping '5,2' making him the tallest in his class.
His once green eyes had morphed into the man's blue-green ones, but his rats nest of hair had stayed the same. Harry didn't quite know what to make of the thousands of memories he had gained, but his zanpaktuo spirits had helped him sort through them one at a time. He really like the two of them, Gōsutoraidā was the only sane one of the duo seeing as he was a 'blade forged in hell' as he put it. The spirit was a skeleton like creature in the shape of a dog, while Hidoi kubomi was more insane, seeing as he was half hollow, a beast that feeds on the souls of the dead. His form is ever changing, never the same creature every time.
Harry wasn't scared of them, even when Hidoi Kubomi attacked his relatives, nearly killing them in the process. He kept both zanpakuto out in the real-world and strapped to his back in an x formation, for protection against hollows, seeing as he is unable to separate his soul from his body.
A letter addressed to him once he's eleven has him raising an eyebrow. Currently he was debating on which name he should take on, Harry or Usagi. Knowing how girly the other sounded he chose to remain with Harry until he found a better replacement.
The letter was discarded and swept away into the fireplace as he cleaned the empty house, his relatives having abandoned it once he merged with Usagi. It wasn't until hundreds of them were sent did he finally open one to investigate. Inside were several sheets of parchment paper, making him grin at the reminder of his old home.
Reading over the wording, his grin was replaced with a scowl before he tossed it aside. Magic? Wizards? He hadn't thought of them since the Salem Witch Trails back in 1692, and even then they weren't the winding waving, broom riding people they are today. Harry missed the good old days, back when he (Usagi) was a captain of a pirate crew and sailed the seven seas in 1601.
He missed those days, but now he's an eleven year old boy not a 2,911 year old Shinigami. Consoling with his zanpaktuo on what he should do he got his answer from Hidoi Kubmoi. "Why not go? It's not like you got nothing to lose, and if they kill ya then you can rejoin your prince back in the Soul Society." Gōsutoraidā had agreed, for once, with the insane spirit so Harry made up his mind and went to his room to write a reply. "Do either of you know how to catch an owl?"
Severus Snape was someone Harry wished he never met. Not because the man was so depressing and dark, but because of his soul. The wretched thing was as slimy and cold as it's body, making him believe that the man might turn into a hollow once he died. Harry ignored his sneers as they left for the alley to collect his things for the school year, entering a shady pub and meeting a strange character in the form of Tom.
Harry had given the man a sad smile, reminded of the Tom he had befriended seventy years ago who passed away from cancer. The entrance to the alley wasn't all that grand to the boy turned shinigami, seeing as he's been alive a lot longer than them. The duo passed by all the shops toward the bank, where the goblin guards bowed their heads in respect for a fellow warrior.
'They can tell I'm a Shinigami?' "Kinda, they only feel your reiatsu, which tells them you're an old soul reborn.' Gōsutoraidā commented as he whacked Hidoi Kumboi into a tree with his tail. The hollow zanpakotu cursed loudly in several different tongues causing Harry to laugh slightly.
"Is something funny ?" He nearly forgot the sour professor was with him. "No, it's just the voices in my head." He didn't elaborate on that, grinning when the man's eyes widen. Once receiving his money, ("Not as big a pile as the one hidden in the Caribbean.") the two headed off to collect his things. Harry wrinkled his nose at the robes the wizards wore, missing his Shinigami uniform all the more. He didn't see the reason for a wand, but the sour man had dragged him to Ollivanders to get one.
the pale man had crept up behind the boy and was suddenly glad he didn't scare him, seeing as there were two blades pointed toward his neck. "Sorry for that sir, reflex." Harry didn't sheathed his blades until the man was standing before him, and even then he didn't want to part with them. But he wanted to leave quickly, so he sheathed them and waited for the man to speak.
Ollivander spoke all about his parents, something the old Harry would have died to know, but this Harry listened on with a sigh. It seemed where ever he went people were congratulating him on something he didn't do. It was his mother that did all the work, he merely took the praise. The thought made dark emotions swirl inside him, stirring Hidoi Kobomi.
"Now Mr. Potter, which arm is your wand arm?" He showed both. "A true warrior uses all the resources he has, I'm ambidextrous. I wield two blades." He gestured to his back. Ollivander gave the Zanpakuto a wary eye before setting off to find the right wand. "Looks like you spooked him King." Hidoi Kobomi commented as they watched the man run around.
'You think he can sense you like the goblins could?' Harry asked as a stick was shoved into his hand. Ollivander motioned for him to wave it, taking it back immediately after. "Nah, I think it's more like instinct. He probably felt a bigger predator in the room." Hidoi Kubomi said as another stick was handed to him. This process continued for nearly two hours before a match was found.
The wood was an odd mixture of blackthorn and yew , Ollivander once more giving him a strange look. The core was fur from a Zouwu and a wing from a thestral. The wand itself was a deep black colour, almost blue in a sense, and gave off a feeling of death. Harry felt right at home with it, seeing as he's practically dead in a sense. Paying for the wand the two finally left the alley and headed their separate ways.
The bright red train near the tracks brought many sad emotions to the front of Harry's mind as he boarded the metal beast. The cries of hundreds of jews resonated against his skull as he looked for a place to sit. Hidoi Kubomi and Gōsutoraidā did their best to keep the memories from clouding his mind in despair. 'I really wish there was another way to this Hogwarts place.' "You could go through the Senkaimon." 'I can't exit my body just yet, so that's out.' "Then I guess you're stuck taking this metal death trap then." He scolded lightly as Hidoi Kubomi laughed.
Choosing not to comment he instead focused his attention on the animal he bought from Diagon Alley. The bird was rather large, with orange and black feathers and piercing amber eyes. The man behind the counter had told him the bird was a Bearded Vulture, something he shouldn't have as the letter said a cat, toad or owl, but the animals had been frightened off by Hidoi Kubomi's reiatsu.
The only animal that even approached him was the vulture, who had ripped open it's cage and flew over to him. The huge animal had landed right on his shoulder, nearly sending the boy to the floor. Harry and taken one look at the bird and fell in love. He had happily paid the man 60 gallons for the beast, ignoring Snape's sputtering, and named the beast Berry.
"You ready to freak out the kids, Berry?" The bird gave a wailing screech as his answer, causing him to grin. An hour passed slowly by, people wandering past his cabin, some to scared to even open the door at seeing the large bird of prey. Harry didn't mind, he was more focused on beating the bird at poker. "How the hell are you winning?! You don't even have hands!" Berry merely chirped as he set down a winning hand.
Harry cursed, flinging the cards into the air. "Bloody hell!" A knock startled the two before Harry opened the door. "Anything off the trolley dear?" He looked over the trolley, eyes wide. "I'll get one of everything if that's alright?" The woman gave him a smile as she handed him one of everything. "That'll be 3 gallons." He handed her the money and took the treats into his cabin. "Look at this! Such strange candies." He fingered a box of jelly beans before opening the package and tossing a handful into his mouth.
He cringed at the assault of horrible flavours. Nearly gagging he swallowed the mouthful, wincing at every gulp before gasping when it was gone. "Maybe next time you should just have one at a time." "Let this be a lesson for you." Harry nodded as Berry handed him a bottle of water. After that fiasco, he took his time to taste every treat he had, sharing some with Berry who quite liked the bone-flavoured jelly beans.
Once the snacks were gone Harry leaned back into his seat with a satisfied sigh, he looked over at his friend who was nested on the other seat, head under his wing. Already dressed in the school robes he shut his eyes for a quick nap before the door to the cabin rattled and opened. A brown haired girl stood before him, with another boy peeking out from the side. "Hello there, Neville here lost his toad we were wondering if you saw it?" He blinked at that. A toad? Did someone really bring a toad to school?
Harry ignored his zanpakuto laughing as he answered the girl. "No, and I hope you never find it." He raised a hand before the girl could yell at him. "Whoever had given him the creature obviously didn't care for him, if someone had given me a toad I would shove the animal right up their ass." Both greened at the mental image as Harry sat back down.
"It would be better for everyone if you just leave it." Berry took that moment to drop a bloodied toad right into his lap. Giving the vulture a scowl he plucked the near dead animal and held it out to the boy. "Neville right?" A nod. "Take my advice, people will walk over you if you don't grow a spine. Don't take to heart what people say or do, they're just misguided." He waved the toad around. "You still want this?" Neville gave the amphibian a look before shaking his head.
Harry shrugged before banishing the thing off somewhere. "Sorry you spent so much time looking for him." He said as the two children looked at him. Neville just shrugged. The girl took the silence as a chance to ask him something. "Why do you have a Bearded Vulture? Aren't they nearly extinct?" Berry didn't pay the three much mind as he nosed around for some bones that Harry hide in his trunk.
The older of the two merely turned back into his chair. "I can't?" "No, the letter stated that first years could only bring a cat, toad or owl with them." Berry hopped right up to the three, a question in his eye and a bone shard in his beak. "He's not gonna hurt anyone,at least I don't think he will." Harry wasn't all that concerned about his pet, but it seemed the girl was. "We should tell a Perfect about your bird! He could be a danger to anyone." The girl raced out of the cabin, followed by a sheepish Neville. Harry watched them go with a blank stare. "When the hell did children get so annoying?"
Hagrid was someone Harry would have loved to meet any day of the week. The giant man had cooed over Berry, running his fingers through the vulture's feathers and smiling. "He's a right beauty, never seen this type of owl before." Harry didn't have the heart to correct him so he nodded along with him. Having jumped in the same boat as the giant, he was surprised the boat hadn't tipped over yet.
Hidoi Kubomi had commented that it was magic, earning him another whack from Gōsutoraidā. Once the boats reached the shore he had stood beside Hagrid as the first-years waddled by. He caught the girl from before looking for him in the crowd, so with a grin he left Berry with Hagrid for the moment and crept into the back of the line. "First-years line up, there will be no disorder in here." A stern woman towered over them, share eyes looking them over.
Harry had frowned as the scent of cat hit him. 'She smells kinda like Yoruichi,' He thought as they lined up in alphabetical order, him being never the end as his last name started with a P. Once lined up, the stern woman opened the doors to the room. Hundreds of eye landed on them, causing Harry to twitch. 'I feel like I'm gonna be executed again.' "This would be your thirty-fifth time getting killed." 'Why the hell are you keeping track?' "No reason~" He didn't want to know as his name was finally called.
"Potter, Harry." Ignoring the whispers he calmly walked up to the dingy old hat and sat down. The brim of the cap fell over his eyes, giving him complete darkness. "Well aren't you a character." The boy jumped at the voice. 'Who are you?' "I'm the hat resting on your head and must I say you have a very interesting mind, Shinigami." Harry's demeanour changed as he channeled his older persona.
'I do hope you won't rat us out to the higher ups, least Hogwarts be without a sorting hat." He could feel the hat's panic at that. "Now now, no need to get defensive." 'I will not have knowledge of Shinigami given to people who will try and control us.' "I won't tell a soul, I'm bound by Hogwarts to keep all information I find secret." That answer only calmed Harry down a bit. 'Sorry, years of being killed by people has made me a bit paranoid.' "Understandable, now where to sort you." Harry really didn't care where. "You wouldn't fit in with the Ravens, your knowledge may be fast but you despise learning." 'Eh, depends on the thing I'm learning.' "You're as cunning as a Snake, but not as ambitious." Harry rolled his eyes. "You've got a lot of bravery, not so much for Gryffindor but enough." The hat tsk'd softly. "Loyalty is something you treasure above all else, you're like a mix between every house it's hard to decide which one will suit you." Harry had yawned. "Well, The only place to put a misfit like you is-" "Hufflepuff!"
The common rooms of Hufflepuff weren't all that special in his opinion. But the rooms were, he had claimed the bed farthest from the others and had dumped his things on top of the bed. Unnoticed by all he unhooked his zanpaktuo from his back and set them aside the bed. 'Finally. I'm exhausted.' He changed into his night clothes and crawled into bed. His swords were slipped in beside him and Harry could feel Berry burrowing his way inside the covers. He hoped his first week here would be as grand as everyone claimed it was. Harry was peeked right on the forehead by Berry, making him curse as he got up. "Alright you bloody thing I'm going." He clambered out of his warm bed to begin his morning workout.
100 push ups, 50 crunches, 160 sit-ups. He was a sweating mess by 6:20, his body not used to the exercise. "After two years of doing this I'm still not used to it." He made his way to the showers where he cleaned himself of sweat and tossed on his robes. "Oh if the others could see me know, they'd be laughing their asses off." Taming the mess of hair with a comb he left the bathroom and called Berry to him. "Let's get some breakfast." They left the room. Harry back-tracked into the room. "Almost forgot." He grabbed his blades and then left once more.
Breakfast was the most fun he had in his 2,911 years of living. The look of dumfound was priceless as every person turned their heads to get a look at Berry. Harry had called for a house elf, who was excited to serve a Shinigami, and asked for a bowl of bones shards. And a cup of the blackest coffee they had. The two sat the farthest from the hufflepuffs, eating their breakfast in silence. Harry was on his fifth plate of bacon when the professor handed him his schedule. Giving the piece of paper a once over he stood form his seat and headed off to find his first class. Berry had left the hall as soon as he did, going to where he usually went. "Go left." "No, go right." Harry's eye twitched as he listened to his two zanpaktuo argue in his mind. He had Transfiguration with the stern woman from the sorting, so he hoped to find her class before the others did to get a good spot.
"Wait a minute." His palm met his face as he remembered. "Reiraku." He could feel his zanpakuto chuckling at his forgetfulness as he closed his eyes and focused. He was searching for the stern woman's ribbon before his eyes snapped open and he grabbed something from the air. "Alright, it's leading right." He once again ignored the bickering in his head as he followed the ribbon down several halls before ending up infront of a single one. "The trail ends here." He pushed open the door and was greeted by silence.
"Whoops, looks like I'm early." He wandered inside, marvelling at all the things lined around the room. Taking a seat in the front he waited for the teacher to enter. "Look." Hidoi Kubomi hissed as a cat wandered inside. Harry would have dismissed the feline if it didn't feel so human. 'Looks like the teacher's here.' Seeing the cat's eyes widen he assumed he wasn't supposed to be here so early. "Sorry Professor, I won't give away your secret." He winked at her before rummaging through his bag for a sheet of parchment.
After that class Harry was excited for the rest. It seemed he had every class with RavenClaws, who had given him looks of annoyance as he fell asleep in History of Magic. The teacher, he forgot his name, seemed like the dullest soul he ever met. Every fibre in his being wanted him to send the soul off to the Soul Society, but he held back. Who knew what trouble that would cause? Plus he didn't want to be in Soul Society's radar just yet, he wasn't strong enough yet. Maybe in a year or two. Potions had nearly sent him into a rage.
The sour man was there, Snape something. He was really bad with names. The man had singled him out for every thing, to answer questions, deducted points and overall piss him off. Harry had promised himself he wouldn't kill the man, after all he couldn't kill humans least Hell be on his ass for unnecessary slaughter. Besides, he's heard better insults from the Americans he fought with in WW2. Herbology was something he wished wasn't required. He's sent nearly every plant he touched scurrying away in a panic, none wanted to die and his reiatsu wasn't helping the matter at all.
Hidoi Kubomi had cackled loudly as he watched, cheering the plants on as they tried to get away. Professor Sprout had to send him away so that the other children could learn the lesson, making him both happy and embarrassed. He had other classes that day, but he really didn't bother with them, charms was fun though. The tiny professor reminded Harry of the goblins, and he was almost tempted to ask if the man knew what he was but held back.
Soon dinner hit and they were sent off to bed, but Harry had vanished from the crowd of Hufflepuffs and had instead followed a strange Reiraku trail toward the third floor. He didn't really care about what was hidden there, but the giant three-headed dog kinda reminded him of Gōsutoraidā so he remained to play a game of fetch with the beast. If the first-years saw him at that moment, stuck between the middle head's jaws, they'd piss themselves in fear. After tiring the mutt Harry wandered off back to the common rooms to sleep, hoping the next day wouldn't suck as bad as the first.
The mirror hidden away in some unknown room should have caused alarms to ring through his head, but Harry was distracted by the images it showed. War, lots of war. Death surrounded his person in the mirror, soaked in blood and laughing. He couldn't turn away, even as the mirror image was brutally killed and hung. Harry didn't feel a thing, even when the image changed to his time as a Shinigami, to his banishment. It was only until the image of his lover's death did he turn away. "I show not your face but your hearts desire? The mirror must be broken." He tried to console himself, but in truth deep down he wanted to suffer for his crimes, death was his only option. Taking a moment to glance one last time at the mirror, he took his zanpakuto and sliced it clean in half. "Magic may not have been able to destroy it, but Hidoi Kubomi has been bathed in the blood of demons, he's able to cut anything." Watching the glass shatter he left the room with a much more heavy heart.
When he entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, he was ambushed. "Who destroyed the mirror Potter?" Professor Quirrell had a deranged look in his eyes as he tried to strangle him with his hands. Harry could feel the man's twisted soul and reacted. In a flash Gōsutoraidā was drawn and shoved right through the man's chest.
Quarrel gurgled, blood spilling from his lips as his soul was devoured by the blade, along with the soul piece that was attached to him. "So the Dark Lord split his soul? Even I'm not that mad." He shoved the body away from him and stood, blade dripping with fresh blood. "Hidoi Kubomi takes the blood of the damned, while Gōsutoraidā takes their souls." Harry sheathed the blade just as a group of teachers burst in. 'Late as always.' He had spun a tale for the teachers, saying how Quirrel had attacked him, only to be burned by something. Old Dumbledore had said it was his mother's protection, but he could see the doubt in his eyes as he regarded the stab wound to the chest. Harry refused any trip to the nurse, saying he was fine before racing off to the dorms.
Harry's first year at Hogwarts was interesting, he didn't' make a single friend nor did he get to kill the troll that got in at the halloween feast he skipped to go play with Fluffy. But he did learn cool things he defiantly will practice over the summer, after he figured out how to take the tracker off his wand. Sitting alone once more in the cabin of the death trap, he once again played a losing game of poker with Berry, who nearly took all his gallons. "Maybe I can melt these down and get more money from them?" Berry merely brushed his pile into a bag he had beside him. "One day I'll beat you." He swore as the train headed home.
End of year 1