Enjoy ^^

("Japanese")


-Snakes on a Plane-

The plane was dark; the only light came from the small video screens each seat was equipped with. Ichigo was staring at the screen in front of him, watching a random movie. He could not sleep like Urahara beside him and after several failed attempts at getting some rest he had surrendered and instead picked a random movie. It wasn't half bad actually, but he had preferred to sleep. Right now it was in the middle of the night in Japan and there were still a few hours till they landed in Heathrow. Hopefully he could get some sleep afterwards when they had arrived at wherever they were staying. The former shinigami substitute had no idea of the geographics of England, but apparently they were going to stay with some old geezer who was the headmaster of Ichigo's new school. There he was going to get better at English and be properly introduced to how things worked out in the magic society.

The movie ended. Ichigo glanced at the sleeping Urahara. Before they left for England they had fabricated a story about how the magic society of Japan functioned because no one, not even the headmaster could be told what shinigami really were. Thankfully, the magic society of Japan was almost non-existent. There were only a few priests and priestesses left, and those were the ones who had made up the main pillar of the magic in Japan. The rest had been swallowed by modern Japan. Ichigo inwardly shrugged and turned to find another movie worth watching. According to Urahara the wizards didn't use any electronic devices of any kind. That meant he would not get to watch any movies for at least half a year, until Christmas where he would spend the holiday at home with his family and friends. He sighed. Everyone except Ishida had complained, especially Yuzu and Karin who had started crying when he spilled the beans. He knew he was going to miss them, but he would do anything to gain power, and leaving them for a year was a smile prize to pay for being able to keep them out of harm's way. That was just the way he was.


It was a few seconds before Harry Potter realized he had left Privet Drive. He and Dumbledore were now standing outside in front of an airport, judging from the deafening sounds of airplanes taking off and landing, the lights on their wings shining as stars in the night air.

"Are you alright?" Albus Dumbledore asked, "the sensation does take some getting used to."

"I'm fine," Harry answered, "but I think I might prefer brooms."

The headmaster smiled and began walking towards the entrance of the airport with Harry quickly following behind, still quite dizzy.

"Sir," he said as he caught up to the older wizard, "what are we doing here?"

Dumbledore glanced at him but continued on with his long strides. "We're here to pick up two guests from Japan," he said, "they should be arriving anytime soon."

"These guests," he started, "they are magicians, right?"

"Of course," Dumbledore said and made a brief stop to look at a map of the airport, "or at least what would be the equivalent of it."

"Then why don't they just use magic to get here? I mean, it's a long flight from Japan to England, is it not? Wouldn't it be better to just use a portkey?"

Dumbledore turned his head away from the map and smiled at him. "I'm afraid such methods would cause us trouble. You see, their magical system is different from ours so one of the guests, a Mr. Ichigo Kurosaki is still a high school student. Now it wouldn't be a problem if he was just going to stay here during the summer, but Mr. Kurosaki is going to attend Hogwarts this year. It would be very strange for him to skip a whole school year and then suddenly show up with no proper explanation as to where he has been, wouldn't it? Not to mention the gap in his education which would cause tremendous harm for his future career. Instead we have arranged some formalities so that Mr. Kurosaki can attend an English boarding school as a study abroad student on paper while he actually attends Hogwarts. Of course he has to fly here and be registered by the authorities for that to work out. Suddenly appearing here would be very suspicious."

Harry's eyes widened as he followed Dumbledore who had apparently finished looking at the map. "He's going to stay at Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Mr. Urahara contacted me and asked if Mr. Kurosaki could attend. He believed it would be interesting for his student to learn our ways of magic. I can only agree with him."

The young wizard nodded, though Dumbledore couldn't see it. He wondered how wizards from Japan would be like. He had never given a thought to how the magic societies looked like outside of Europe. Not even when Ron had happily explained about his trip to Egypt 3 years ago.

Eventually they came to a halt. "I'm glad we made it," Dumbledore commented as he looked up at the information screens, "I was afraid the visit at your Uncle and Aunt's had taken too much time so we wouldn't be here on time to pick them up."

"Professor?" Harry began, "how come Kurosaki still needs to attend a muggle school? Wouldn't it be better to be in a magical school?"

Dumbledore smiled down at him. "As I told you, their system is very different. Their real education starts when they are erased from the muggle system."

"Erased?"

"Yes, you can say they fake their own death. Well, at least some of them do. Others stay in the muggle society and have a muggle job."

"But why would they do that?" Harry was confused.

"I can't answer for every person, Harry. People have different reasons for doing the things they do," Dumbledore said.

After a bit of waiting the doors to the room where baggage was picked up opened and several people emerged. There were both Japanese tourists and businessmen coming to England and English people who just returned home from whatever they had been doing in Japan, plus Japanese tourists who was probably going to explore England. Several of them were greeted by friends or travel companies while the rest of them just walked through to get to their respective destinations. Harry could see Dumbledore's face lighten up in a bright smile and he followed the other wizard's look and saw two Japanese people coming their way. The oldest one who looked like he was around 30 wore a dark green shirt and short pants. On his feet he had some strange looking sandals. The younger one of the two looked to be around his own age and had orange hair, which made Harry wonder whether it was bleached or he was a metamophmagus.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Potter," the oldest one said with a slight accent and bowed politely before he shook hands with Dumbledore and proceeded to do the same with Harry who shook it as well. "I am Kisuke Urahara and this is Ichigo Kurosaki." He gestured towards the youngster beside him who also bowed and shook their hands.

"Nice to meet you," he said with a heavy accent.

After introducing himself Urahara opened his trunk and took out a white and green striped hat and placed it on his head. Kurosaki made some comment in Japanese which Harry did not understand.

"Are you ready to go?" Dumbledore asked and made a gesture towards the exit, "I still have some matters to attend to."

The statement earned him a loud groan from the orange-haired boy


Harry had only done it twice and already he had decided he did not like to apparate. This time Urahara and Kurosaki had been with them, but instead of going to the Burrow, they had landed in what appeared to be a deserted village square. The two guest's baggage had been sent to Dumbledore's house as soon as they had gotten outside public view.

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked the other two. Harry thought he didn't need to as they appeared to be unaffected by the action.

"We are quite well," Urahara said, "and I must say, it's an interesting way of traveling."

"Good," Dumbledore said, "this way." He set off in a brisk pace, Harry, Kurosaki, and Urahara in tow.

They turned a corner and Harry looked sideway to the Headmaster. "Professor, er — where exactly are we?"

"This, Harry, is the charming village of Budleigh Babberton."

"And what are we doing here?"

"Ah yes, of course, I haven't told you. Well, I have lost count of the number of times I have said this in recent years, but we are, once again, one member of staff short. We are here to persuade an old colleague of mine to come out of retirement and return to Hogwarts."

The young wizard glanced at Urahara who was walking beside them casually. "What about Mr. Urahara, sir? Can he not be a teacher?"

The Japanese man smiled. "I would love to, but I am only staying here until school starts. I am afraid I cannot teach you in the subjects you are used to, and especially not in the subject which you need a new professor for," he answered.

Harry nodded disappointed. He would have liked to be taught Japanese magic.

They proceeded up a steep, narrow street lined with houses. All the windows were dark. The odd chill that had lain over Privet Drive for two weeks persisted here too. Thinking of Dementors, he casted a look over his shoulders and saw Kurosaki who was walking behind him with his hands in his pockets, his eyes half lidded as if he was fighting back sleep.

They kept walking for a while, Harry asked questions and Dumbledore answered. The two Japanese wizards, however, seemed to be quiet, but Harry did not miss Urahara's interested expression.

They were nearing a small neat stone house set in its own garden. As they reached the front gate Dumbledore stopped dead and Harry walked into him. Kurosaki who had been just behind Harry had avoided swiftly and now looked to what the eldest wizard could se. He eyes were narrowed, all tiredness seemingly gone.

"Oh dear. Oh dear, dear, dear." Dumbledore said.

Harry followed his gaze up the front yard and felt his heart sink. The front door was hanging off its hinges. Dumbledore glanced up and down the street. It seemed quite deserted. Afterwards he looked to Urahara who closed his fan and tapped his chin with it. His eyes were shadowed by his hat.

"There is one person inside," he said and gave Dumbledore a knowing look, "but I don't know who or how strong that person is. Your kind doesn't have enough reiatsu to determine strength."

Harry wondered how on earth the foreign wizard could tell there was a person inside and what the hell reiatsu was, but had enough sense to wait with his questions till another time. Dumbledore opened the gate and walked swiftly and silently up the garden path, then pushed the front door very slowly, his wand raised and ready. Urahara was right behind him, then himself, and at last Kurosaki.

"Lumos."

When Dumbledore's wand ignited he saw the two Japanese guests glance at it before they disregarded it and followed the old wizard into a room to the left. A scene of total devastation met their eyes. A grandfather clock lay splintered at their feet, its face cracked, its pendulum lying a little farther away like a dropped sword. A piano was on its side, its keys strewn across the floor. The wreckage of a fallen chandelier flittered nearby. Cushions lay deflated, feathers oozing from slashes in their sides; fragments of glass and china lay like powder over everything. Dumbledore raised his wand even higher, so that its light was thrown upon the walls, where something darkly red and glutinous was spattered over the wallpaper. Harry's small intake of breath made him look around.

"Not pretty, is it?," he said heavily, "yes, something horrible has happened here."

Urahara went further into the room, careful not to step on anything, his eyes lain in shadows from his hat. He went over to a wall and inspected the darkly red substance. Then, and Harry could not believe his eyes, Urahara smirked. Something terrible had just happened here and then I smirked? The teenager glanced at Dumbledore to see his reaction.

"What do you say?" Dumbledore asked when Urahara faced him again, his fingers stained with red.

"I say," he started and walked across the room to an overstuffed armchair lying on its side, "that the man we are looking for is still here." He stopped in front of the armchair. "In fact, he is right here," he said and smacked the armchair hard with his fan.

"Auch!" the overstuffed armchair yelled.

"Good evening, Horace," Dumbledore said.

Harry's jaw dropped. Where a split second before there had been an armchair, there now crouched an enormously fat, bald, old man who was massaging his lower belly and squinting up at Urahara with an aggrieved and watery eye.

"There was no need to smack me that hard," he said gruffly and clambered to his feet, "it hurt." He stretched his back and looked at his attacker, inspecting him carefully. "And who might you be, to attack an old, defenseless man like me?"

"Wouldn't it be nice first to introduce yourself," Urahara asked politely with his slight accent.

Dumbledore chuckled and drew the former armchair's attention to him. "Allow me to introduce you to each other. "Mr. Urahara, meet Mr. Horace Slughorn, former professor at Hogwarts and Horace, meet Mr. Kisuke Urahara from Japan, former Captain of the twelfth Divison of the Gotei 13 and the founder of the research and development department in Seiretei."

Urahara bowed and shook hands with a slightly bewildered Slughorn. "Nice to meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you, Kisuke," Slughorn said after having regained his wit, "what gave me away?"

Urahara fanned himself smugly. "Your own minimal reiatsu. You can hide, but your presence will still be here. Besides I am quite experienced in the art of illusion myself."

"And my dear Horace," Dumbledore said, "if the Death Eaters really had come to call, the Dark Mark would have been set over the house."

"The Dark Mark," he muttered. "Knew there was something… ah well. Wouldn't have had time anyway, I'd only just put the finishing touches to my upholstery when you entered the room."

He heaved a great sigh that made the ends of his mustache flutter.

"Would you like my assistance clearing up?" Dumbledore asked politely.

"Please."

They stood back to back, the tall thin wizard and the short round one, and waved their wands in one identical sweeping motion.

The furniture flew back to its original places; ornaments re-formed in midair, feathers zoomed into their cushions; torn books repaired themselves as they landed upon their shelves; oil lanterns soared onto side tables and reignited; a vast collection of splintered silver picture frames flew glittering across the room and alighted, whole and untarnished, upon a desk; rips, cracks, and holes healed everywhere, and the walls wiped themselves clean.

With a loud yawn Kurosaki gained everyone's attention and threw himself in the sofa, his eyes closed and posture relaxed as if he had finally come home from a long, tiring day of work as Harry had often seen his Uncle do. Only, Kurosaki was a lot thinner than Vernon.

"I guess he was tired," Harry said and stepped into the room to follow the foreign student's example.

It was then Slughorn noticed Harry.

"Oho," he said. His large round eyes flying from Kurosaki's orange hair he had previously been inspecting to Harry's forehead and the lighting shaped scar it bore. "Oh!"

"This," Dumbledore said and gestured towards Harry, "is Harry Potter. Harry, I'm sure you must have heard me when I introduced before, but just to be clear, I shall introduce you to each other. This is Horace Slughorn, and old friend and colleague of mine." He gestured towards the half-asleep boy in the sofa. "And to Horace, this is Mr. Ichigo Kurosaki from Japan. He is going to attend Hogwarts this year to learn our ways of magic."

Kurosaki sighed heavily, rose from the sofa very slowly as if he was fighting an intense battle with himself, bowed and said, "nice to meet," before he once again threw himself in the sofa.

"Very polite, I see," Slughorn commented and turned to Dumbledore, "so that's how you thought you'd persuade me, is it? Well, the answer's no, Albus." He pushed past Harry, looking like a man trying to resist temptation.

"I suppose we could have a drink at least," Dumbledore asked, "for old time's sake? And I think my two guests would like to sit down for a moment. They have come a long way."

Slughorn hesitated. "Alright then, one drink."

Dumbledore smiled at Harry and directed him towards a chair. he took the seat with the distinct impression that Dumbledore for some reason wanted to keep him as visible as possible. He then turned around to Urahara who leaned against the wall where blood had been just a few minutes before. He was watching Slughorn and Harry with hidden amusement as if he knew what Dumbledore was up to.

Harry was right. When Slughorn who had been busy with decanters and glasses turned to face the room again his eyes fell immediately upon Harry. He quickly looked away again.

"Here." He gave a drink to Dumbledore and Urahara and trusted the tray to Harry before he sank into the sofa beside Kurosaki. The Japanese boy opened an eye to observe his seat mate, and closed it again after having apparently decided Slughorn wasn't worth his attention. Neither were the drinks.

While Harry listened to the two wizards' conversation he observed Urahara taking out what appeared to be a cell phone from a pocket. He found it strange that a wizard would need an electronic device, but when his own questioning eyes met Urahara's, he just received a smile which told him to save it for later. Harry turned his attention back to the two old wizards who seemed to talk about old times and age. Dumbledore tried to persuade Slughorn into joining the teacher staff yet again, but the former professor refused.

"If you're going to tell me my life would be more peaceful at that pestilential school you can save your breath, Albus. I might have been in hiding but some funny rumors have reached me since Dolores Umbridge left, if that's how you treat teachers these days."

"Professor Umbridge ran afoul of our centaur herd," Dumbledore said, "I think you, Horace, would have known better than to stride into the forest and call a horde of angry centaurs 'filthy half-breeds.'"

"That's what she did, did she," Slughorn said, "idiotic woman. Never liked her."

Harry chuckled and both Dumbledore and Slughorn looked at him. "Sorry," Harry said hastily, "It's just… I didn't like her either."

Suddenly Dumbledore stood up.

"Are you leaving?" Slughorn asked, looking hopeful.

"No, I was wondering whether I might use your bathroom," Dumbledore answered.

"Oh." Slughorn explained the way to him, disappointment smeared across his chubby face.

Once the door had closed behind the headmaster, the fat, old wizard turned towards Urahara.

"What is that thing you have there?" he asked and pointed a finger at the cell phone Urahara had just started texting on again. "I've noticed the muggles use them for communicating."

The foreign man looked at him. "Yes, though these are not electronic devices as the ones the muggles use. They are made with magic and hidden in the form of a cellphone so it's easier for the officers to blend in while receiving an order. We call them denreishinki, but I guess the English translation would be Soul Pager."

"Why not use owls like we do?"

"Not to offend your owls, but they are rather slow. It's vital for an officer of the Seiretei to receive important orders at the time span of a few seconds."

Harry could see Slughorn would like to say more, but the cellphone vibrated and Urahara snapped it open, a smile spreading across his face.

"Yoruichi is here."

As soon as those words had left his mouth, the orange haired boy's eyes widened and he flew up from his comfortable seat in the sofa. In midair he blocked a kick and dodged a punch from an unknown woman who had appeared out of nowhere. Kurosaki landed on the sofa again, having being pushed back by the impact, nut he had landed on his legs, towering up over a startled Slughorn. The woman landed gracefully on the floor with a big smile plastered on her face. Her skin was dark and she had long purple hair put together in a ponytail. But what really caught Harry's attention were her big, yellow eyes which shone with smugness. She said something in Japanese, but the only thing Harry could make out of it was Ichigo. Kurosaki himself answered rather irritably and scowled at the woman before he abruptly sat down again, ignoring Slughorn who was watching the newcomer and Kurosaki with awareness. Unlike before, Kurosaki never dozed off again. It was as if his tiredness had disappeared with the arrival of the young woman. Harry wouldn't judge him. From what he had seen, the newcomer was nowhere near innocent and could attack at any moment.

"Did I miss something?"

Everyone's attention turned to Dumbledore who just stepped into the room. His eyes fell upon the young woman.

"Ahh, Ms. Shihoin I presume." He went over to her and shook her hand.

"Don't call me that Dumbledore-san, just call me Yoruichi," she said and gave him a smile.

"Ms. Yoruichi then."

"Excuse me?" Slughorn said, "but who are you? It is rather rude to just barge into someone's house."

Harry could laugh at the irony while the woman just blinked curiously at Slughorn before she turned her heard towards Dumbledore for some sort of explanation.

"Ahh yes, more introductions." The old Wizard cleared his throat. "This is Yuroichi Shihoin, former captain of the 2nd division of the Gotei 13 and former commander of the Onmitsukido," then added, "is that pronounced correctly?"

"It is," the woman, now known as Shihoin said.

He then proceeded to introduce both Slughorn and Harry

After the introductions Urahara cleared his throat. "Now that the formalities are done, can I get Benihime back, please?"

"Of course, Kisuke," Shihoin said and tossed a cane, which had previously been strapped to her back, to Urahara who caught it perfectly and carefully as if it was his dearest treasure, opened the cane and revealed a sword.

"A sword?" Slughorn exclaimed, worry hidden in his small eyes.

"Yes" Urahara said, inspecting it, "Benihime would unfortunately set off all the alarms at the airport so I had Yoruichi bring it here for me."

"What would you need a sword for?" Slughorn said and eyed the blade suspiciously. Harry could tell he did not trust the stranger at all.

"What would you need a wand for?" Urahara remarked, "while it is true that I am perfectly capable of using spells without her, Benihime is a part of me. Not to mention that she also serves as a cane." He smiled innocently.

Harry was confused, though he did understand the part that the sword was very dear to the foreign wizard. "You mean," he said, "the sword can use spells?"

"Yes, I believe that is what I said, though it is not all Zanpakutou who has that ability. It depends on the user's personality."

The young wizard did not feel any more clever than before. Urahara's answers explained questions but new ones popped up his head afterwards. Like, what did he mean by getting orders from that cell phone? Or what exactly a zanpakutou was besides swords, and why only some of them had the ability to perform spells. Wouldn't they just be normal muggle swords, then? There were so many questions Harry wanted to ask when the subject changed.

"Would you like to sit down and have something to drink?" Dumbledore asked Shihoin and gestured towards the small table.

"No thanks," she said and yawned, "I better get going, I have many things to take care of at home now that Kisuke is here."

"Understood. Though I suppose this room is too small so it would be better to set up the portal outside."

"Agreed," Urahara said and closed his cane, "it's better to do it outside. Kurosaki-san would you come with us?"

"No," was the short response he got. And that earned Kurosaki a smack in the head from Shihoin. Her face was turned up in a smug catlike grin. Kurosaki groaned and got up while he muttered something in Japanese which Harry was sure included a lot of curse words.

Everyone left except Slughorn and Harry. Harry had a feeling it was Dumbledore's schemes which had brought him in this position.


Ichigo drew in the cold night air. He could not see why he was dragged up from the nice and warm sofa and out into this cold night. Hell, he couldn't even see the senkaimon for crying out loud, so why the need for him to get up? However, he had a feeling that Dumbledore wanted Harry to be alone with that fat, old teacher. He couldn't care less, it was not his business.

He yawned. The jetlag was really getting to him. Oh, how he wished he could have slept just like Urahara on the plane. If he had, he wouldn't have been this tired right now. He felt slightly dizzy as if he was standing on an escalator, and his senses and reactions had slowed down a great deal. Yoruichi had taken it easy on him when she attacked earlier, and that was the only reason he had been able to block her attempts. Damn, this human body was nowhere near as good as his spirit body. Sure he knew how to fight and sure his body was way above normal human speed, but it still needed to sleep.

("Yosh Ichigo, I'm leaving now,") Yoruichi said to him in Japanese.

("Goodbye then,") he answered half-hearted and suppressed a yawn before dodging a kick to his abdomen.

("Is that how you say goodbye?")

("Says the one who just tried to kick me,") he mumbled, ("just get going already. Weren't you supposed to hurry up and get home?")

("Cheeky boy.)" The cat woman's face lit up in a smile. ("Just take care of yourself, will ya?") She pointed a thump backwards at Urahara. ("And make sure the fool doesn't make any stupid experiments here. Knowing him he would cause quite the ruckus.")

"Oi!" Urahara said, looking quite offended.

Ichigo suppressed a laugh and watched Yoruichi turn her back and disappear into the senkaimon. Of course he couldn't see it, but he knew it was there.

"Well," Dumbledore said and broke the silence which had fallen upon them, "I think Harry and Horace might be done with their talking now. Mr. Kurosaki, would you mind fetching Harry?"

"Hai." The teenager shrugged and went inside again.

Slughorn jumped up startled when Ichigo entered the living room.

"Where is Albus and Kisuke?" the wizard asked and looked behind Ichigo to get a glimpse of the two.

The former Shinigami representative shrugged and stopped his hands in his pockets. "They are outside. They asked me to get Harry. I think we are leaving."

The young wizard jumped to his feet. Apparently he, like Ichigo, had had enough of being in this overstuffed room anymore.

"Leaving?" Slughorn said surprised, "already?"

"Yes," Ichigo answered and moved to get his jacket from the sofa where he had left it. He didn't say anymore which left Slughorn fidgeting in his seat.

"Oh well… Goodbye then," the fat wizard said.

"Sayonara." Ichigo waved a hand over his shoulder and left the living room.

"Bye," Potter said and followed him out

They had just gotten outside with Urahara and Dumbledore when Slughorn came rushing out.

"Alright, alright I'll do it," he said breathless. Apparently the physical activity had been hard on him.

Dumbledore's arched his eyebrows. "You will come out of retirement?"

"Yes, yes, Slughorn said impatiently, "I must be mad, but yes."

"Wonderful," Dumbledore said, "then Horace, we shall see you on the 1st of September."

"Yes, I dare say you will," Slughorn responded, "I want a pay rise"

The headmaster chuckled and led his companions outside the front yard. They walked for a bit, Dumbledore talked to Potter, praising him for persuading Slughorn into joining the staff at Hogwarts again. Ichigo wondered what the boy had done,while fighting off the tiredness which had once again lain over him. When they came to the church Dumbledore stopped.

"This will do," he said, "before I leave you at the Burrow, Harry, would you mind if I dropped off Mr. Urahara and Mr. Kurosaki? I have something to discuss with you which I am sure our guests would find very boring." He glanced at Ichigo who was in the middle of a big yawn. "And perhaps they would also like some rest."

Potter nodded.

"But of course you are still coming with us," Dumbledore smiled, "we cannot leave you here alone, especially not in these dark times."

Potter sighed deeply and Ichigo had a feeling the boy did not like to apparate.


Dumbledore had left again with Potter so now Ichigo and Urahara stood alone in the darkness of the headmaster's home. When shown his room, hw did not even bother turning on the light or even undress himself. Instead he threw himself on the bed with a deep sigh, finally able to get some sleep, now having been deprived it for about 30 hours.


Now, I hope you don't think Ichigo is OOC because of the Jetlag I gave him. I simply just described it as I felt it when I went to Japan last summer. You know, being forced to walk around when not having slept for that long is torture! Trust me! One of my friends actually threw up because of it.

And for those who are wondering, the flight time from Narita International Airport in Japan, which lies about an hour by train outside Tokyo, to Heathrow in England is about 11 hours without intermediate landings. With an intermediate landing the flight time is longer.