Disclaimer: I still don't own this, but here's the disclaimer... 8)

Chapter 4, formerly chapters 7 and 8... Enjoy.

"Speech"

"Thoughts/Ichigo's hollow"

Letters/Newspapers

"Parceltongue"

***

Leigh bit her lip anxiously. What was she thinking agreeing to talk to Ichigo about her past. It's like the guy knew there was something wrong with her. "My mind must be floating into space at the most inconvenient times. I can't tell him that I was having a flashback about Voldemort, but I don't think I can tell him the truth either. I'll have to tell him a clever alternative version of what really happened," She thought nervously. She didn't want to talk about her past, but somehow it felt wrong at the idea of coming up with a lie. "What is that boy doing to me?"

As she was in her own little world, she didn't realize the dirty looks she received when she startled a couple of girls when she slammed her locker door shut after shoving her books inside. She got her P.E. clothes and went to class.

"Potter..."

Leigh turned around when she heard her name called. "What? Did you say something?" She asked the girls that she startled. They looked at her with raised eyebrows that nastily reminded of Dudley. The girls looked at each other, then back at Leigh and snickered at her. Leigh frowned in confusion. How rude. Weren't they the ones talking to her? And now they have the nerve to laugh at her. She turned around frowning and rolled her eyes when she distinctly heard the word "freak" come from one of the girl's mouth. "Hmph," An eye twitched irritated. She sighed. "Well if they didn't say my name, then who did?" She shook her head and ruffled her hair as she left for class.

Leigh went to the locker room, got dressed, and smiled happily when she found out that Luna was in the same P.E. class as her. They walked onto the field with arms linked together. She was also somewhat surprised to see Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime waiting for the class to begin as well.

"Ladies, gather around," The cousins were amused to find out that "Ladies," included the boys as well, but they didn't seem phased by the blatant insult. "Good, now you're going to be running all period," The coach said gruffly.

Leigh and Luna shrugged carelessly. That would be easily done. After all, Leigh spent a full year avoiding death eaters and Voldemort until all the horcruxes were destroyed and Luna had to deal with the Carrow twins until her father pulled her from school during Christmas break.

They all had to run the same path because the coach believed in equality for all when it came to physical education. Most of the girls except for Leigh, Luna, Orihime and Tatsuki complained that it wasn't fair that they had to run on the boy's trail. While some girls kept complaining about the long distance, others got over it and joined the four in stretching out their muscles when they couldn't convince the coach to let them run a shorter distance.

"Potter..."

There was that voice again. Leigh turned to Luna as if silently asking her if she was the one who'd spoken to her this time. At Luna's negative shake she glanced around trying to hide her worry. Luna pulled Leigh to whisper into her ear. "I don't understand what's calling you. Be careful," Leigh frowned and sighed. She automatically looked to the side and noticed Ichigo looking towards her.

Ishida was looking away, but he could tell that something was wrong when he felt Leigh's reiatsu spike.

"All right everyone, on the starting line," Coach barked. "You may start on my mark. Ready... Set... GO!"

Everyone started running at a different pace. Most were slow, so they could conserve energy, and some gave a quick start. Leigh was one of the quick starters. She decided on this so she could forget about the strange voice calling her name.

"Hey Leigh, you want to race?" Luna asked catching her pace.

"Sure, if you can keep up," Leigh returned playfully increasing her pace.

***

Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime, having run some distance away from everyone else were quietly discussing the shift in reiatsu coming from Leigh. Uryu had disappeared somewhere choosing not to run alongside them. Apparently, something about not wanting to be annoyed by Kurosaki. Ichigo grumbled in annoyance and called the dark haired, glasses-wearing guy a bastard.

"I hope she's okay. Leigh seemed distressed. Thankfully her cousin was there to cheer her up," Orihime said smiling.

"I'm not so sure," Ichigo replied.

"What do you mean?" Chad inquired.

"Do you see the looks she wears on her face ever since she's come here?" Ichigo said. "Something's happened to her. She frowns a lot,"

"Kind of like you," Orihime spoke up, but Ichigo ignored the comment.

"... And she never really smiles. Whenever she does, it's fake," Ichigo continued.

"I am curious. Why the sudden interest in her? You've never talked about a girl before, at least not to this extent. Normally, you're annoyed because it's about someone who snubbed your hair," Chad said, his eyebrow raised hidden behind his long, messy bangs.

Ichigo shook his head. "I don't know. Ever since she moved next door to me, it's like she's pulling me in and doesn't even realize it. I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to ignore her like I would anyone else," Ichigo said.

"I didn't know she moved next door to you. Do you talk to her often?" Orihime asked curiously.

"Yeah, whenever I can get away from the old man bothering me constantly. She's pretty smart. I've seen one of her drawings too. Hell of a lot better than Kuchiki's drawings that's for sure."

"Don't let Rukia-san here her say that," Orihime giggled.

"I'm talking about both of them actually. Rukia and Byakuya are really crappy artists," He replied.

"D-Does Kurosaki-kun have a c-c-crush on Leigh-chan?" Orihime asked suddenly in his face.

Ichigo's inner hollow made his appearance known once again when he started cackling. "Really, Aibou. You're so easy to figure out. I'm surprised she didn't know sooner."

Dark clouds surrounded his head. Great, even the ever oblivious Inoue, Orihime was able to figure him out. That means that Chad must have figured it out as well. Ichigo usually got good grades, but Chad's were always a little better than his own.

Chad's eyes were wide then narrowed as he thought about something worrying. "I see."

"But?" Ichigo continued.

"But I'm concerned. We only just returned from Seireitei the bounts destroying the place, and before that Aizen betrayed them as well," Chad continued.

Ichigo frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"How much do you know about her Ichigo. What if she's working for Aizen or a new threat? I'm not trying to accuse her of anything but..."

"She doesn't," Ichigo said at once defending Leigh. He closed his eyes to contain the small flash of anger he was feeling.

"How do you know?" Chad asked. Orihime turned her head worriedly to her friends.

"Because I saw one of the pictures she drew. It was a hollow."

"So, she can see them too?" Orihime asked.

"Yes, but when she showed me the picture she said she didn't know what it was and I didn't tell her what it was either."

"Ichigo, are you sure?" Chad asked.

"I don't believe she has anything to do with Aizen or anyone else who's caused us trouble in the past. I don't know why. That is just what I believe," Ichigo finished going back to running.

"Aibou, this isn't just your protective nature talking. It's instinct," Ichigo's hollow said to himself. He didn't allow Ichigo to hear him.

***

Thanks to Leigh and Luna's amazing endurance they were able to bypass anyone who was in front of them, not realizing that the two cousins were racing each other. They weaved in and out of other people's way before they were finally ahead of most people. Leigh didn't see Ichigo, Orihime, or Chad anywhere. She guessed that they were up ahead, but considering the pace she and Luna were running she figured they'd catch up soon enough.

"Potter..."

"Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign." Hermione said that to Leigh in second year when she was hearing voices that no one else could hear. Then soon after, people and pets were turning up petrified, but never dead. It turned out that Hermione had the answer before she ended up petrified herself. It had been a basilisk she was hearing through the plumbing, so no one else would be able to hear it or understand it, unless they spoke Parseltongue, the snake language.

Leigh's eyes widened as she realized what she was hearing. "How could I be so stupid? Luna, no wonder you couldn't understand it. You saw a snake talking to me didn't you? That's what I'm hearing."

"Yes, that's what I saw," Luna replied nodding.

The two ladies stopped running and suddenly forgot about their race. "But, where is it, and how does it know my name?" Leigh asked.

"My guess, is that it's following us, because you heard it again, didn't you?" Luna said. Leigh's life was very important to her. She was the only person she had left besides Professor McGonnigal, who pretended to be their grandmother. However, she felt more connected with Leigh because she was the only one who hadn't seen her as a freak because of her odd abilities while others gave her odd looks and turned their backs to her. Ginny had been a good friend too, but they hadn't been very close and Hermione was smart, but too logical for her to connect with, unlike Leigh.

"Did you see anything else? Should I be worried?" Leigh asked looking Luna in the eyes.

"You meet the snake, but after that, it goes blank, so I don't know. I try to catch as much as I can, but sometimes, the future doesn't let me because it knows that I'll tell you, but just to be safe I'd be on my guard if I were you," Luna admitted.

Leigh shook her head. "It's okay. My future is just something I have to find out for myself, instead of relying on you all the time."

They began running again and Leigh remembered their race when Luna suddenly took off at a higher speed than her. She snickered slyly when she guided just a tad bit of magic to her feet. It helped her a little bit, but it didn't give her too much speed boost. It usually happened naturally when she wanted to get away from something. She used to do it when she was younger and aware of her magic when she wanted to avoid Dudley and his gang of stupid following idiots, but did so unknowingly.

Luna smirked when she saw her cousin cheat. It didn't bother her one bit. In fact it pleased her when she saw Leigh cheating like that because it meant she was having fun. Luna was able to do it too. They continued running. Once again they passed everyone who managed to get ahead of them while they were stopped and others, such as Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, Uryu, and Tatsuki, who were usually the fasted people in the class.

"You can't beat me," Luna taunted as she inched ahead of Leigh when they were near Ichigo and his friends.

"Oh yeah?" Leigh asked taking the bait.

Ichigo was shocked and impressed by the speed Leigh was achieving. He was a fast runner in his human form, but she would no doubt be easy to catch up to if he was in his shinigami form. The girl definitely confused him. He wanted to know more. Hopefully, he'd find out after school, like promised. Most importantly, he wanted to know why her smile was fake.

The final class of the day arrived more quickly then Leigh was prepared for. Her conversation with Ichigo was drawing closer by the second and she was worried about his reaction towards her. The only thing keeping her mind occupied at the moment was the fact that she was in art class with a canvas and paint in front of her. Today, the assignment was merely to paint what was in your heart, so to cheer herself up she decided to start working on Dumbledore's portrait of a candy store background with the headmaster's chair she once saw in the Great Hall.

The sound of brush strokes making their way across the thick material relaxed Leigh as she carefully made the interior building of the candy shop. She easily forgot about the people around her as she focused on her own painting. She wasn't even aware when the person standing next to her was watching her paint with an impressed expression on their face. In fact she became so absorbed with a butterfly candy cane that the sensei had to call her name a third time to catch her attention.

"Potter-san!" Sensei said voice raised.

Leigh nearly jumped out of her shoes when she finally heard sensei's voice.

"I'm impressed you're so focused on the painting, but you're being called to the headmaster's office," Sensei said.

"Oh, sorry," Leigh smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine. Go on and clean up. Go ahead and leave your painting where it is to dry. You can finish it tomorrow if you don't return to class," Sensei said gently.

Leigh nodded and set out to thoroughly clean her brushes and hands before setting off to the office with her back pack and homework. Leigh sighed as she walked down the empty quiet halls to the office to see what the principal wanted. She thought back throughout her day. She couldn't think of anything she might have done to cause trouble or risk her life for anything.

When she arrived to the office door she pressed her hand to the knob and slowly turned it before stopping when she heard voices behind the door. The reason she stopped herself from further opening the door was because she heard her name said by someone terribly familiar and it wasn't from her fake Grandmother.

"May I ask why you are interested in this job, and how a student by the name of Potter, Leigh could be able to reference you?" Mizuki-sensei asked.

"I simply love seeing children learn and being the one who taught them. I've taught Potter-san in the past and would possibly like to have the opportunity to do it again when I heard that she attended school here. I ask for her because I hope that she'll tell you about all she's learned from me," The lady replied.

"Potter, I've come to warn you," Leigh heard hissed from behind her.

"Where are you?" Leigh hissed in reply.

The snake came out. Leigh sighed at her bad luck. It was a freakin' King Cobra.

"I've came to warn you-"

"I got that. Now what is-"

"Mizuki-sensei, could you see if she's here, I think I just heard her voice,"

Leigh stiffened in shock. This lady was definitely no muggle. Muggles couldn't hear snake language when spoken. All they would here is hissing noises. Then again, it wasn't very loud unless you understood the language or had magic as well. At the moment Leigh, thought "witch" when she saw the door to the office open, so she decided to raise her arm, like she was about to knock on the door.

"Ah, Potter-san. Good you're here. Please come in," Mizuki-sensei held the door open for her to walk through.

Leigh walked nervously through the door thinking of any spell she may need to use if this person was a threat. She stopped short of breath when she saw the person sitting behind the headmaster's desk. She hissed the bitch's name when she saw Bellatrix Lestrange sitting so casually and innocent like a muggle.

Leigh reached for her wand. Bellatrix hummed and tauntingly shook her head no. She pointed in the headmaster's direction. Leigh looked to the corner of her eye. Behind the portly man was a knife pointed at his back. Leigh guessed that the man had no idea of the position he was in, and it seemed she was in a shitty one again.

She glared back at Bellatrix. "Bitch," She thought. "I should kill her where she sits, but I'd be risking innocent lives. It would hit the headmaster if she dodges it. What should I do? I can't fight her in the school."

Bellatrix giggled and drew her wand. "Avada Kedavra."

Mizuki-sensei slumped to the floor in dead with a shocked expression on his face. Leigh gasped as the green light struck the man faster than she could protect him.

"Why thank you very much for getting Potter for me dear headmaster, but you've served your use, so I don't really feel like allowing you to watch as she dies." Bellatrix giggled and turned to Leigh. "Well, now that you've just allowed another human life to be killed. Come with me Potter, or I won't hesitate in adding to the list of deaths caused by you. Don't even try to apparate away. The school is surrounded with the Dark Lord's remaining followers."

Leigh grit her teeth and ignored the bitch. She drew her wand. There was really no point in hesitating anymore now that the headmaster was dead.

"Stupify!"

The spell was easily knocked aside.

"Expelliaramus!"

"Silly baby Potter. Are you still using baby spells like that? Come on now? Where's the Potter that managed to defeat the Great Dark Lord?" Bellatrix taunted.

"Still obsessed with him, huh? Just leave him be. He's dead now." Leigh said disgusted.

Bellatrix's laughter turned insane as she continued to speak.

"Defeated, oh no. Not for long."

Leigh raised an eyebrow. "What? What the hell are you talking about? I destroyed his very soul. He is gone. Get a life." Her wand raised again. Now two wands were pointed at each of the witch's faces. "Better yet, keep doing what you're doing. I'd like to have the pleasure of sending your soul to hell after what you did to my friends!" Leigh screamed.

"SECTUMSEPRA!"

Bellatrix screamed with glee as she dodged the spell and flew out the newly broken window. She disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Leigh grabbed to the the magic that was left of the apparition and disappeared in her own white cloud, not caring where it lead her.

***

Luna's eyes snapped open as she saw Leigh leave the dead headmaster's office. She stood up quickly knocking over her chair and desk and ran out the room as fast as she could, wishing she could apparate. She didn't bother dealing with the sensei this time, her makeshift cousin was more important. Even if she couldn't apparate without Leigh's help, she still knew where she was going to end up.

She quickly flipped open her phone to call Minerva a call, but cried in frustration when there was no answer. If Minerva wasn't answering her phone, this was definitely not good.

***

Leigh yelled in frustration as she grabbed onto one apparition gate after another.

"Stop running you cowardly bitch. You are the one who came after me, so stop fucking running and lets finish this!" Leigh screamed angrily.

"Oh? This will never be finished. Not as long as you're still alive and the Dark Lord dead." Bellatrix giggled from behind.

Leigh stiffened.

"What? There you go again. You mean you intend to bring him back to life? Sorry, but I'm afraid that ship has sailed. Like I said, his soul is completely dead, so how do you intend to bring him back if there's another way?" Leigh replied thinking about her next curse.

"Why, with your magic of course. You will give me your magic, and help me revive him so he can continue to live and take over this pathetic place called existence" Bellatrix replied. "Get her now!" She commanded the other Death Eaters.

***

Visions flashed before Luna's eyes as she ran to the junior section of the school. The person she was looking for was not Leigh, but someone who could help save her. The bell rang when she finally found the correct classroom she was looking for. Most of the students rushed excitedly out of the classroom since it was the weekend. Only three remained in the room; Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime.

Luna rushed into the room with tears running down her face as she felt a small sense of relief that she found Ichigo, but she so desperately wanted to be where Leigh was.

"Ichigo! Please, I need your help!" She cried.

Ichigo turned from his desk to her and caught her before she fell. "What's wrong?"

"Luna-san, what's the matter?" Orihime asked.

"Calm down. Tell us what's wrong," Chad responded.

"Please, please, just hurry up and go into your shinigami form." Luna pleaded.

The three were shocked at what the smaller blonde just said. "H-How do you-"

"Please, just hurry. You're the only one who can help. Leigh's going to die if we don't hurry!" Luna cried. Tears continued cascading down her cheeks.

"WHAT!" Chad and Orihime shouted in shock.

Ichigo didn't know what the hell was going on, but at the moment his gut told him to believe Leigh's cousin, and the thought of hearing the words Leigh and death in the same sentence didn't sit well with him. Without another thought he took out his shinigami badge and jabbed it to his chest. Ichigo's soul came out of his body and strapped to his back was his large zanbakuto, that was always in it's shikai form.

He gave his body to Orihime.

"Take my body home and put Kon into it," Ichigo said. "Chad?"

"Of course I'm coming Ichigo," Chad replied.

Ichigo nodded. He turned towards Luna. "All right. Where is Leigh?"

The King Cobra that spoke with Leigh and was unable to complete it's warning, came into the room. Luna pulled out her wand and aimed it at the snake.

"Why are you doing this?" Luna shouted.

The snake changed it's form as fast as it could. A tall middle-aged man with long blond hair appeared where the snake should have been.

"Believe me, I wanted nothing to do with this. I only came here to warn Potter, but you really should be careful when you send unprotected letters. Especially when it's her..."