Winterspell

Chapter 2

Fateful Meetings

(A/N New chapter yay! Well, now let's see how things go from here for the two cool heros.)

SOUNDS/sounds

Thoughts

Telepathy


(Last Time)

Sandy nodded his head and gave her the thumbs up. Holly dropped her shoulders and rubbed the sides of head. She was already getting a large headache. She let out a moaning sigh but slowly nodded her head. She was not looking forward to this at all. Of all the rotten luck.

"Fine. It's a deal but only because I own Sandy something from a long time ago," Holly stated, looking down at the Sandman. "We'll leave for England at dawn."

"Ah, very, very good!" North said, clapping his hands together.

"Then why don't I feel so very good?" Jack moaned.

"Ah, c'mon, Jack. Cheer up," Tooth said with a smile. "Just think of it! You're going to a wizarding school! Isn't that exciting?"

"Oh, yeah, assumin' he doesn't blow his cover right off the bat," Bunny snorted. "If he does, it will be excitin' for completely different reason."

"Yeah, great," he drawled, walking off. I'm not going to like this. Not one bit.


(Present Time)

Toshiro couldn't be more happy to finally get off the plane and actually stay on the ground for a while. He was finally in England at the London International Airport. The plane had just docked and people were filing off. Well, this was it. He now had to play diplomat. He adjusted his clothes as he walked down the dock. Two people from the European Division were to meet him once he got off the plane.

Once he stepped of the dock he had a look around. The shinigami, or grim reapers as they were called over here, were known for their clean cut suits and glasses. For some odd reason grim reapers had a strange genetic defect that caused them to be very nearsighted and have strange green eyes. Toshiro tried to get a good look around but there were a lot of people around him. He really hated his height.

"Yoo-hoooo, over here," a high pitched voice sounded off to his right. "Little boy! Here we are!"

Toshiro turned his head to see an abnormally tall woman waving to him. She was dressed in a bright red suit and red glasses. She also had a full head of super long red hair. There was something slightly off, however… There was a man not too far behind her dressed in a black suit and glasses. His black hair was slicked back and he seemed rather annoyed at his partner. He was the holding the sigh that read "Hitsugaya Toshiro" in romanji.

That was obviously them. Toshiro sighed and walked over to the odd pair. This was going to be interesting. He stopped before them and bowed to greet them. They awkwardly did the same.

"Captain Hitsugaya," the man in black stated, putting his hand out as Toshiro shook it. "I am glad to see your plane landed safety. Welcome to London, England. I am William T. Spears."

"Awe, aren't you just the cutest little thing," the woman said, looking Toshiro up a down.

"Knock it off it off, Grell," William snapped as the woman stuck out her tongue.

"It's Gretel now," she snapped, shaking a finger angrily at him, before turning back to Toshiro. "You'll have to excuse my partner. He's rather quite rude at times."

"I believe you have that backwards," William stated coldly, pushing up his glasses.

"Fine, fine, whatever. Nice to meet you, Captain, I'm Gretel Sutcliff," she smiled, showing some unusually sharp teeth. "It is quite a pleasure to meet you."

She put her hand out and Toshiro wearily shook it. Was this a man or a woman? In this day and age there's no telling. He weakly returned the smile he was given.

"Thank you," Toshiro answered.

"Well, time is a precious thing," William said, looking at his watch. "Let us collect your luggage and carry on from there. We have much to discuss."

Toshiro followed them down to the baggage claim. He took his time to look around. The whole atmosphere was completely different from back in Japan. This was quite amazing. He was just taking everything in as he went along. Soon they arrived at the baggage claim and Toshiro waited to see his two suitcases on the conveyor belt.

He found one quickly and pulled it off. They had to wait a little bit for the second one. Well, that was it. William grabbed his bags and the trio headed for the main doors. The conversation was pretty dead at the moment but it would most likely pick up when they were in a more secure location. When they exited the door Toshiro look out at the skyline of London. This was certainly going to be new. He was just waiting for the culture shock to really set it.

"I thought Ronald was waiting for us with the car?" Gretel snorted, crossing her arms. "And who gave him a license anyway? He drives like an old man."

"He'll be here and he doesn't drive like an old man," William replied sternly. More like an 8 year old.

"Oh, I hope you don't find us rude," Gretel said, looking down at Toshiro. "It is rather unprofessional to be late. We usually don't have other societies visiting."

"It is quite alright. I'm not in that big of a hurry," Toshiro replied, looking at people getting in and out of cars. "There are a good number of cars lined up. Maybe he's just backed up. It's nothing to worry about."

"That had better be all," Gretel snorted.

"Captain, your English is impressive," William said, turning to look at Toshiro. "I must say that I am surprised. Your accent is bit a thick but your sentence structure or pronunciation is very good."

"Thank you, Mr. Spears," Toshiro nodded.

"Ah, there he is," Gretel waved, getting the driver's attention "Hey! Over here, Ronald!"

A shiny black car pulled up in front of them. It wasn't anything too fancy but it wasn't a cheap car either. The trunk was popped and William went to put Toshiro's luggage in there. A man stepped out dressed in another black suit and glasses. His hair was two toned; blond on top with black underneath. His black hair was greying just a little. He opened the doors to the car.

"I'm getting in the back seat with you," Gretel said with a wink, waiting for Toshiro to get in first.

Toshiro climbed first and Gretel climbed in right behind him. Toshiro wasn't going to lie. He would have preferred to ride with William in the back. William, however, got the front passenger seat. The driver, Ronald, closed the doors and quickly got back in the car.

"Good afternoon, Captain, I am Ronald Knox," he said, brushing back some of his hair. "How was your flight?"

"It was… Interesting," Toshiro paused on the last word. "As it was my first plane ride I have nothing to compare it to."

"Well, I guess that makes since," Ronald said, putting the car in gear and hit gas a little too hard and then the brake. "Oops. I'll get it!"

"For crying out loud!" Gretel snapped, grabbing the back of Ronald's seat. "Where did you learn to drive?"

"Will you back off," Ronald snapped turn around to glare at her. "I'm still new at this! At least I know how to drive! You wouldn't even try!"

"Turn around. Eyes on the road," William stated, pushing Ronald back around in his seat. "Ease the gas and turn on your signal."

Ronald grumbled something under his breath but did as ordered. Soon they were in moving traffic, leaving the airport. So this was it. His mission had officially started. He turned to see Gretel grinning at him with her shark-like teeth.

"It's really hard to believe that a child your age could make it to such a high level. It took me a great many years to get to where I am now," Gretel said, pulling out a compact from her skirt pocket along with a tube of bright red lipstick. "Ronald, don't hit any potholes. I'm trying to put on my lipstick."

A moment later just to spite her Ronald did hit a rather large one. The lipstick went right up the side of her nose and right into the corn of her eye. There was long heavy red streak running up her face. Ronald looked back in the in his mirror and started to laugh. William tuned around briefly but seemed to chuckling in a more muted tone. Gretel, however, was not at pleased. She turned to look at Toshiro who was looking rather intently out the window covering his mouth. Even the young captain found this to be funny.

"You did that deliberately! I told you specifically to not hit any potholes," Gretel snapped, her face turning a red as her outfit. "You have embarrassed me in front of the Far East Representative! If you weren't driving I'd—!

"We're in a construction zone. There are going to be potholes," Ronald replied, reaching to wipe his eyes before pulling handkerchief from his breast pocket. "You were the one stupid enough to put on makeup, Grell."

"It's Gretel and give me that," Gretel snapped, jerking the handkerchief out his Ronald's hand and started to wipe way the lipstick. "Honestly, you have no manners."

"That is enough," William said coldly, breaking up the argument. "Captain Hitsugaya, we need to start talking about what it is you need to be doing on your assignment."

"Yes, of course," Toshiro nodded, turning to look at William.

"I have a stack of papers for you to sign for both our Society and the Wizarding world," he said, opening the glove compartment and handed to the boy along with a pen. "There is an 'X' for areas where you need to sign your name. Fill out everything."

It was quite a hefty stack of papers but he immediately went to work reading them and signing them. It wasn't long before they pulled into parking lot. Toshiro looked and notice with an fairly tall building a looked rather old.

"We've managed to secure a building down here in the living world," William stated, getting out of the car along with everyone else. "It's not far from where you're going to be staying for the next couple of weeks so we will be in close contact."

Toshiro's luggage was picked up by Ronald and they headed inside the old brick structure. Toshiro was taken down a long corridor to a conference room. Ronald dropped off the suitcases just inside the door and left with Gretel. The door was closed behind them and Toshiro took a seat. He set the papers down and started working on them again. Only William was left with him.

"While you finish those I'll start describing things to," William said, sitting across from Toshiro. "You will be staying at a wizarding pub known as the Leaky Cauldron. It also serves as an inn. It is only two blocks over and is also an entrance way leading to Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley is a large wizarding market and you will find all of your school supplies there. There is also a large bank there call Gringgots. That place is a fortress and staffed with goblins. I would advise you not to anger any of them. Goblins can be very ill tempered. You can exchange your muggle money, as they call it, into currency used by wizards."

Toshiro turned up from his papers to look at William. Goblins? Okay, then. There was a lot of stuff he was going to have to get accustomed to. William continued to explain everything of importance while the captain finished up the last of his paperwork. Once finished, Toshiro was handed some more papers.

"That is your acceptance letter for Hogwarts and the other papers are just a list of reminders and contacts for you if you need anything," William said as Toshiro broke the wax seal on the letter and started reading. "We thank you greatly for coming such a distance to aid us. There is only so much we can meddle with in the wizarding world. Someone of your age would be far less likely to be detected."

"That's fine. I wasn't quite captain yet when Voldemort was at his height. I remember hearing the stories," Toshiro said, looking over the list in the letter. "Grant it most of his power was centered here but the shockwaves did stretch as far as our own wizarding community."

"That is another thing. Over here people do not utter his name," William said, running his hand over hair. "The mentioning of his name is quite taboo. You are to refer to him as 'you-know-who' and 'he-who-must-not-be-named.' Idiotic really."

"Yes, after all it is just name," Toshiro agreed, closing the letter and sighed. "That is quite a list of items."

"You of course will be going in as a first year student so the items list will be a bit larger than the others," William pointed out. "Please read the other papers at your leisure as they tell you more about the wizarding world. You have two weeks as a buffer to get accustomed to their ways."

"Yes, of course," Toshiro nodded. "Mr. Spears if you don't mind me asking where are you seated here?"

"Seated? Ah, yes, as of two years ago I became Assistant Director," he said, pushing up his glasses again. "That is basically the equivalent of your squad one lieutenant, I believe. I'm not much of a field agent anymore."

"I see. Also… This might be prying a little too much but Ms. Sutcliff—"

"Use to be a Mr. Sutcliff, yes. He is legally a she now and I'm still working it all out," William said, rubbing the sides of head. "Now, are there any other questions?"

"Not at the moment," Toshiro said, picking up his papers.

"Oh, hold on," William said, getting up and walked out of the room.

A couple minutes later William walked back in the room with a large jar with some sort of insect inside it. He set it down in front of Toshiro. It was a large iridescent green dragonfly with glassy purple wings. He had to admit it was a rather pretty creature.

"They are very similar to your Hell Butterflies. We call them Carrier Flies," William unscrewing the top as the insect flew out and landed on his finger. "They will be good for communicating with us here. With the Ministry sticking their nose into everything they wouldn't think twice about these. They will be looking more for owls than insects. I sure you know if you must send something by owl, encrypt it."

"Of course," Toshiro said as William handed the large insect off to Toshiro to look at. "I'll be using the owl for long distance messaging."

"Very good then," William said as Toshiro put the bug back in the jar. "If we are finished here I will have someone escort you to the Leaky Cauldron."

Toshiro got to his feet and followed William to the door. Toshiro grabbed his luggage, stuff the papers inside, and waited. Much to his dismay it was Ms. Sutcliff to greet him. Wonderful. Gretel had her creepy grin on. Toshiro felt uneasy.

"Well, I shall be taking you down to the nasty old pub," she said with a long sigh. "I don't care much for that place. It smells and it's rather dingy. Do come along, Captain."

Toshiro didn't utter a word as he followed her back to the front of the building. It was just two blocks and he would be on his own in the wizarding world. They walked across the parking lot to the sidewalk.

"I must say I was surprised when you stepped off the plane," she said, looking down at Toshiro.

"Meaning?" Toshiro inquired, looking up at the red head.

"Well… You are an interesting sight to behold," Gretel said as Toshiro tensed, coming to a crosswalk. "Bright white hair and those big aquamarine eyes. If you were older you'd be quite the fetch. But your looks are not too terribly common. No even around these parts."

Toshiro felt a small twitch of anger build in his gut. Did this person just hit on him? Anyway, he always caught hell for his looks. Especially, when he was younger. It wasn't his fault. It stemmed partially from his powers. It wasn't long before Gretel brought him to a stop. Toshiro looked up and saw an old wooden sign. This was it; The Leaky Cauldron.

"This is as far as I go. You're on your own now, Captain," she said, looking down at her painted nails. "Be careful in that world. Your very appearance will catch you a lot of grief, I'm afraid. Wizards can be bigots and nasty ones at that. Don't give them any reasons to hurt you."

"I'm not planning on it," Toshiro answered, bowing to her. "Thank you, for escorting me, Ms. Sutcliff."

"Oh, my dear boy, the pleasure was all mine," she giggled, acting like she was blushing. "Do run along now, Captain. Goodbye and good luck."

"Thank you," Toshiro said, walking towards the pub with his luggage in hand. Well, here it goes. Wizarding world here I come.

Toshiro walked down the few narrow steps and opened the wooden door. Indeed, Gretel was right about the place. It did smell. It reeked of unwashed bodies, smoke, and alcohol. Uck. Toshiro knew it would be rude to hold his nose. He walked the rest of the way in and shut the door. The place wasn't overly crowed but there were several full tables.

By the time he made it halfway across floor he noticed he had a good amount of eyes on him. He pushed the uneasiness back and continued to the counter. He was greeted by on older, bald man cleaning a pint glass. The man looked casually over the counter at Toshiro.

"New Hogwarts student?" he asked, setting the glass down before grabbing another.

"Yes," Toshiro nodded as man sat that class down.

"I suppose you're looking for a room, right?" the man asked and Toshiro nodded. "We've got a couple of rooms left. What's your name?"

"Toshiro Hitsugaya," the captain answered as the pulled out a book with a quill.

"How do you spell that?" the man asked, pausing.

"I'll write it," Toshiro said, as the book and quill was handed to him.

Toshiro quickly wrote down his name and give the items back. The man looked it over before turning back to him.

"How long will you be staying?" he asked.

"The last two weeks before school starts," Toshiro answered.

"Very good, then. I'll take your bags," the man said pulling out his wand, lifted them up off the floor and over the counter. "Follow me."

Toshiro quickly followed the man around to the other side towards a set of stairs. The man pulled a key off a hook and started up the steps. Toshiro quickly followed him down a corridor to a room on the end.

"Sorry all we have left are small rooms," the man said unlocking the door and opened it. "Most of the other rooms are occupied. Name's Tom by the way. Should you need anything just come downstairs and I'll see what I can do for you."

"Thank you," Toshiro said as his luggage was set down just inside the door.

Tom just nodded his head, handed Toshiro the key, and left. Well, here he was, finally. Toshiro walked in and shut the door behind him. The room was indeed small but nothing outrageous. The room looked fairly clean and the bed was nicely made. He went over to the window to look out. It was just the street below. He could faintly make out the rooftop of European HQ barely peeking over the surrounding buildings.

"Well, let me get started," he muttered, stepping back and went to his suit cases.

He opened one and pulled out his money bag. The first thing he needed to do was exchange his money. That was obviously to be done at that bank William had mentioned. Gringgots? Toshiro even pulled out that large yen note Urahara pinned to his shirt as a joke. Okay, off to exchange his Japanese currency for Wizarding currency.

Toshiro walked back out of his room and locked the door. He slipped the key into jean's pocket and headed back down the corridor. He needed to know how to get into the alleyway. He should have asked when Tom took him to his room. He hurried down the wooden steps nearly bumping into an older boy in a deep blue hoodie.

"Sorry," he said quickly, walking up to the counter. "Excuse, me, sir."

"Yes?" Tom answered.

"I forgot to ask how you get into Diagon Alley," Toshiro said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, you might want to catch up with those two. They're headed there now," Tom said, pointing towards another door. "Better hurry, boy."

Toshiro turned his head to see a strawberry blond witch and the boy in the blue hoodie he had nearly ran into.


"Jack, will you please pay attention to me," Holly snapped, hitting the boy in the back of the head. "Stop spacing off. You don't need to get into trouble here!"

"Ow! Okay, sheesh," Jack said, rubbing his head as he was lead out of the back entrance of the pub. "So, what's back here? It looks empty."

"This, Jack, is an entranceway to Diagon Alley," she explained, pulling out her wand and walked up to a brick wall in the small courtyard. "Now watch."

She took her wand and tapped it in certain order on the bricks. A moment later the bricks started file back and make an entrance way. Jack stood there in shock as he looked down the long alleyway full of shops. The streets were flooded with witches and wizards of all ages and sizes.

"Well, that's interesting," a young voice said from behind.

The two turned to see a boy. He was thin and rather small in stature. However, it was his dazzling white spiked hair and aquamarine eyes that really caught their attention. Jack felt like he was almost looking at a miniature version of himself. Almost.

"What?" the boy snapped, noticing he was being stared at.

"N-nothing," Jack said, walking up to the entrance with the young boy in tow. Holy cow this kid… It's really sort of creepy. I've never ever seen anyone else that looks so much like me.

Holly and Jack stepped in as did the boy before the door closed back up. They watched as carried on down the street. This was very odd indeed. Jack's curiously started to get the better of him. He started after the boy and until he felt Holly pulled his hood and stop him.

"Where are you going?" she asked, glaring at him.

"I was just going to…" his voice trailed off.

"You have to stick with me. That spell could wear off at any time," she stated, letting go of his hood. "You can't just wonder off and I'd leave that kid alone."

"What? Why?" Jack asked, fixing his hoodie.

"Just trust me on this," she said letting a deep breath. "He's not something you want to go dealing with."

"I'm no following," he said as she started down the cobblestone alley.

"Don't worry about it. Today we're just here to look around," she said, looking back at Jack. "I want you to get a rough idea of what the wizarding world is like. Everything you need for school will be found here. However, they will be expecting someone to be in their 5th year. You're going to need a load of supplies that aren't on your list."

Jack groaned and rolled his eyes. Holly started to give him the grand tour of the place; every little nook and cranny. He had to admit it was a quite interesting place. The amount of strange and exotic items that could be purchased here really amazed him. He didn't like walking in the sneakers he was given and he missed his staff a good bit. He was ordered to keep his staff in room at the inn. He knew the next two weeks were going to brutal. Holly was going to give him a crash course in the culture whether he liked it or not.

Quite a few minutes had passed by and Holly took Jack over to an ice cream parlor. There were some odd flavors he had never seen before. He decided to go with a more traditional flavor like vanilla. Double scoop. They took a seat just outside the shop taking in the afternoon sun. Jack wasn't overly fond of it but the ice cream made up for it.

He paused mid-lick when out of the corner of his icy blue eye he saw that child again. He turned his head as the kid made his way through the throng of people in the street. He was clutching a large heavy sack. He remembered that sack being less than half that size.

"Holly, can you get me something to drink?" Jack asked, turning toward the Halloween spirit.

"What would you like?" she asked.

"Oh, surprise," he quickly answered as she got up and went back inside.

He quickly got up from his seat and navigated his way through the crowed. He knew he was really going to get it good from Holly but he just wanted a moment to talk to the boy. It wasn't long before Jack was almost on top of him. He reached out a touched the boy on the shoulder. The boy stopped and turned to look at him.

"Can I help you?" his Japanese accent was thick.

"Well, uh…" Jack said, rubbing the back of his head. I actually have no idea what I was going to say to him.

"Have you nothing to say?" he asked, half turning back around.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" Jack blurted out as the boy raised an eyebrow.

"I am," he answered, dully. "My first year."

"Oh, that's great! I'm going too!" Jack laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, great," the boy, drawled. He looked a little unsure of Jack. "Anything else?"

"Uh, no…" Jack said as his smile fell from his face. Well, that didn't go as planned.

"And you are?" the boy asked.

"Jack. Jack Fro—Faust," Jack grinned but the boy's face remained neutral "And you are?"

"Hitsugaya Toshiro," the boy spoke clearly. "Hitsugaya is my family name, just so you know."

"Oh… Right you guys switch your names around," Jack said, tucking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "So do I call you—"

"Hitsugaya," Toshiro interjected.

"Okay, then. Hi-su-guy-ya… Did I say that right?" Jack question as Toshiro gave him a look.

"Hee-tsu-guy-a," Toshiro stressed. "There is no 'ya' at the end."

"Okay… Hee-tsu-gay-a"

" It's 'guy' not 'gay,'" Toshiro groaned, turning to leave. "Forget it."

"Hitsugaya," Jack said as Toshiro turned back around. "See. I got it."

"JAAAACK! JACK, WHERE ARE YOU?" Holly called out.

"Uh-oh," Jack said, biting his lip, turning to face the voice.

"I do believe you are being summoned," Toshiro replied and a strawberry blond witch, rushed towards them. "Have fun. She looks rather upset."

Holly got right up in Jack's face. Her freckled cheeks were a close color to her hair. She was not at all pleased that he just ran off. He was going to get it when they got back to the inn. It was Holly's job to get him integrated into this world and didn't need to be gallivanting off until he knew what he was doing.

"We're going back to the Leaky Cauldron," she snapped, grabbing him by the front of the hoodie. "I don't believe you did that to me. I got worried something happened to you!"

"I'm glad to know that you care but I just wanted to talk to—" he was cut off.

"To who? To him?" Holly quickly pointed down at Toshiro. The captain did not look at all pleased. "Jack, can't you just behave for a little while? I know you're a restless soul but you can't just take off when you feel like it. Not here, anyway. I don't want you to get hurt."

"It's just that I…" Jack voice faded and his shoulders dropped in defeat. "Never mind… Let's go back to the inn."

He knocked her hand off his hoodie and stared back up the stone street towards the inn. Holly watched as he slowly started to shuffle away into the crowd. She then looked down at Toshiro. He was looking up at her with his large sack of money still wrapped in his arms.

"Have something you want to say?" Toshiro asked as she just shook her head. "No? Then don't' you think you ought to catch up so you don't lose him again?"

She scrunched up her face at the comment but quickly took off after Jack. Toshiro readjusted his sack and started back down the street. He might want to catch up with them. He was suffering from jet lag as it was. He'd like to climb into bed and get a good night's sleep. He needed to get adjusted to this time zone.

Suddenly something dawned on Toshiro as he raced after them. Those two weren't what he thought they were. They hid themselves quite well. They were spirits. Very powerful ones at that. He had heard of them back at the academe but he never thought he'd see one, much less two of them. They were a special type of spirit much like shinigami but far rarer. Oh, this was going to be quite an interesting night.

(A/N Yep, I'm leaving it there. Tell me what you think so far. It didn't get quite where I wanted it to be but hey it's getting there! Thank you please review!)

Millie M. Banshee