I do not own Bleach or Harry Potter the both belong respectively to Tite Kubo and J.K. Rowling
"Welcome to the Order." With that the tension slowly started to leave the room though not everyone was happy about having someone so young inducted into the secret society. The most vocal of which was Mrs. Weasley. Sirius and Remus were just surprised Harry had even agreed to work with Dumbledore. Then there were those like Moody that supported Harry's membership, seeing him as an important asset.
In the chaos of it all, it was Bill that caught the strange wording in Harry's demands.
"Wait, you said 'we want full access'?" he questioned.
"For myself, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny" Harry clarified. "They've been with me all this time; they deserve to be here."
"Absolutely not!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
"We've been with Harry every step of the way" Ron argued.
"We've even helped with his missions" Ginny added. "Besides, Harry would just tell us anyway."
Dumbledore quietly nodded his head in acceptance, while Mrs. Weasley turned to her husband for support. Strangely Arthur hadn't said a word about the whole affair, though Harry suspected the usually easy going man would be having a few words for him later.
Eventually Mrs. Weasley just had to give in, as nothing she said would convince Ron, Ginny, and Hermione to leave Harry's side. She did try to send Fred and George away though, but that didn't happen either as Mr. Weasley finally spoke to point out that the twins were now legally adults.
"I know your guarding the prophecy somewhere" said Harry, surprising the Order. "So what can you tell us about Voldemort so far?"
"So far Voldemort's been keeping quiet" said Sirius. "So far he's been focusing on researching the Peverell bloodline."
Probably has something to do with the Deathly Hallows, Harry thought. While he didn't like the hypocrisy, he thought it best to keep the existence of such objects as secret as possible.
"Severus has been keeping us apprised on their progress" said Dumbledore. Though Harry suspected 'us' meant 'me'. "In addition, he'll be focusing on rebuilding his forces. He knows you-and perhaps any other Soul Reaper allied with you-will be able to counter his Hollows. To compensate he'll most likely turn to a variety of Dark creatures. To this end I've sent Hagrid to go speak to the giants about joining us."
"But why would they want to help us?" Hermione questioned. "The Ministry of Magic has them hiding in the mountains."
"Even if he can't convince them to help us, we're hoping Hagrid can at least get them to not join Voldemort" Remus explained. "I've been doing the same for the werewolf community."
"Doesn't help that the Ministry's been denying You-Know-Who came back" said Tonks.
"They are?" Harry asked. "I figured they would've tried to bury it entirely."
"That would be my fault" said Dumbledore. "I've been doing my best to alert the people of Voldemort's return. As a result, Cornelius has become paranoid, that I am plotting to overthrow him as Minister of Magic. Am afraid it's already cost me my chairmanship of the ICW and my position of Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot. Though I am pleased to report I'm still on the Chocolate Frog cards."
"As for the prophecy about you and You-Know-Who, it's being guarded by those of us in the Ministry" Tonks explained. "Dumbledore suspect's he'll go after it eventually."
"And then I can finish him off" said Harry.
"That's my hope" Dumbledore confessed. "Now I believe that's enough for tonight."
"Not so fast, Albus" said Moody. "I've got a question for Harry. What can you tell us about these Hollows?"
So Harry gave an abridged version of what he knew about Hollows. Focusing on the key points that magic had next to no effect on them at all. And that they like any spiritual being couldn't be seen by ordinary humans, unless they were in a highly charged magical area. He even demonstrated this by leaving the house in his Soul Reaper form, and the Order watched as he slowly faded from sight as if he were being rubbed out by a pencil eraser.
Many of the Order members didn't like that it was standard practice for Reapers to alter the memoires of any human victim, but the Auror members of the group pointed out the Ministry did the same thing to muggles.
Eventually it was time for everyone to head home but to Harry's surprise Hermione ended up returning to Baker street with him, Sirius, and Remus.
"Um, Hermione shouldn't you be getting home?" Harry asked, unintentionally bringing tears to her eyes. "Hey, are you ok?"
"I-it's my parents" she sniffled. "I told them about what's been going on since the tournament. So they got angry when Dumbledore came to ask me about you."
"He sent them away" said Remus, noticing how difficult it was for Hermione. "He memory charmed them and sent them off somewhere."
"Said it was for their protection" Sirius spat. "Can't believe we ever worshiped that guy."
"What about the Order?" Harry asked. "No way the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley wouldn't stick up for Hermione?"
"They don't know" said Hermione, calming down. "No one in the Order knows. I don't want them to. Dumbledore probably did it as insurance."
Harry realized Hermione's theory made sense, as she would surely fight in order to bring about the return of her parents. And if Hermione fought, Ron, Ginny, and most importantly Harry would be fighting beside her, even if they refused to work with the Order.
"First Voldemort, then we go after Snape and Dumbledore" said Harry. "But there's something I need to tell you guys, and I don't want the Order to know."
So Harry told them about his meeting with the Central 46 and their decree. Needless to say they didn't like the threat of extermination any more than he did. Eventually Sirius and Remus decided that there was no problem as they'd finish off Voldemort before the Gotei 13 was forced to step in. Hermione on the other hand thought something was odd about the order.
"It just seems so extreme" she said. "With the Quincy they tried to handle things peacefully before anything else."
"That true" said Harry. "Plus even after the Wandenreich Invasion, they didn't go after the other Quincy like Uryū or Tonks and her dad."
"We must be missing something" said Hermione. "Something that would make them immediately take such extreme action. Plus, this Soul King's involvement."
Harry wasn't sure how to take the involvement of-for all intents and purposes-God in these matters. But he did suspect the mysterious being had more to do with the Central 46's orders than merely having him present.
"Alright, that's enough mystery tonight" said Remus. "Go to bed, you've got to catch the train tomorrow."
The next day, they met up with the Weasleys at the platform. Harry had sensed that had indeed been an increase in Hollow activity in London, and with it several more Reapers had been assigned to watch over the city. So for now he decided to leave it to them and focus his efforts on dealing with Voldemort.
As each of the kids boarded the train, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside asking for a quick word. Harry couldn't keep the worry off his face as he was afraid the man would tell him to stay away from his family. Instead Arthur had something to ask of the boy.
"Keep them safe, Harry" said Mr. Weasley, surprising the boy. "Molly and I had a long talk about everything. And while we aren't happy that you, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny are involved in something so dangerous, I realized you've all also saved lives as a result.
I won't pretend to understand whatever problem you're having with Dumbledore, or this Soul Reaper stuff. But if these people have earned your trust, then I trust your judgment. Merlin knows, those three would follow you anywhere. So all I ask is that you keep them and yourself safe."
"I will" Harry promised, touched by the faith Mr. Weasley had in him. "Thank you."
With that Mr. Weasley wished Harry a good year and let the boy board the train
Once onboard, Harry sensed out Ron and Hermione's positions inside the prefect car, reminding him that she had informed him about her and Ron's new status. So he went to go find Ginny.
As he moved down the corridor towards where he sensed Ginny sitting alone, Harry couldn't help noticing a lot of people looking out of their compartments to stare at him with great interest. For the life of him he couldn't understand why.
Eventually he tracked Ginny down but to his surprise, she wasn't alone. Sitting by the window was a girl with straggly, waist long dirty blonde hair, and silvery gray eyes that seemed to hold a permanently surprised look.
Strangely even at such a close distance, Harry couldn't seem to sense her soul at all. Yet at the same time there was a strange aura about her. Maybe it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of butterbeer caps, or that she was reading a magazine upside down. But there was definitely something odd about this girl, that seemed so apart from the world, yet when her eyes landed on Harry, he had the feeling she could look straight into the core of his being, with a level of understanding beyond anyone he had ever met.
"Oh, there you are Harry" Ginny greeted, inviting him into the cabin. "This is Luna Lovegood. She's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" Luna recited in a singsong voice.
Harry raised an eyebrow, as Luna raised her upside-down magazine to hide her face and fell silent, while Ginny struggled to suppress her laughter.
"So did you have a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked, prompting the girl to lower her magazine.
"Yes. Daddy and I went searching for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks" she smiled.
"A what?" Harry asked, trying to ignore the strange uncomfortable feeling Luna gave him.
And so Harry was subjected to an hour long lecture on the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and the other creatures Luna and her father researched for the magazine she was reading, The Quibbler. Right around that time, Ron and Hermione turned up, just missing the food trolley.
"I'm starving" said Ron, stowing his owl Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, accepting a Chocolate Frog from Harry, and taking the seat next to him.
"Rough meeting?" Ginny asked, as her brother leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Well, there are two fifth year prefects from each House" said Hermione, looking displeased as she took a seat. "Boy and girl from each."
"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, eyes still closed.
"Let me guess, Malfoy" said Harry.
"Course" the Weasley boy said bitterly.
"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermione viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll."
"You should probably handle that Harry" Luna suddenly spoke up.
Harry was about to ask what she was talking about when suddenly the door to their compartment opened revealing Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.
"Hi, Cho" Harry greeted, trying to figure out how Luna knew she was coming to their door.
"Um…well" Cho said uncomfortable, as everyone sans Luna, focused on her. "I just thought I'd say hello…bye then." She closed the door and left, blushing heavily.
"How did you know she was there?" Harry asked, making more of an effort to try and sense Luna's spiritual pressure. Yet he still failed to register anything from her.
But Luna didn't explain herself, instead focusing on her magazine for the rest of the trip.
Upon their arrival Harry was disappointed to see Prof. Grubbly-Plank was once again substituting for Hagrid, meaning his friend hadn't returned yet. Needing to speak freely, Harry nudged Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to a separate Carriage from Luna, where finally told them what he had or rather hadn't felt from the girl.
"I'm telling you there's something weird about that girl" said Harry.
"But Harry, how can anyone not have a soul" said Hermione.
"Luna can be strange but she's definitely not soulless" said Ginny. "You've shown us plenty of times what a soulless person looks like."
Harry had to admit they had a point. If his senses were correct Luna should've just been a lifeless shell, not walking and talking. Still he couldn't shake the feeling there was more to Luna than meets the eye.
Deciding to shelve the Mystery of Luna for the moment, Harry filled Ron and Ginny in about the situation with Central 46.
"So basically we got stop Voldemort or the Soul Reapers wipe us out" Ron summarized. "Bloody fantastic. You sure you can trust them not to just do it anyway."
"I trust the Gotei 13, Ron" Harry said honestly. It was the Central 46 that he was wary of. "Oh, that reminds me, here" he hands each of them a slip of paper with the same skull symbol of Harry's combat pass. "They're Soul Tickets. Ichigo gave them to me before I left. They used to belong to his friends but they never needed them, so he thought we might find a use for them."
Hermione, Ron, and Ginny stared at their tickets in wonder as they realized they would allow humans access to the Soul Society. They each carefully stored them away for emergence use before returning to their impromptu meeting.
"Well, we know the Death Eaters are looking into the Peverell bloodline, so that's probably a good place to start, to find out anything about the Deathly Hallows."
"Luna's dad likes to look into strange wizarding myths" said Ginny. "I'll ask her if he could maybe send anything he might've found on legends matching the Resurrection Stone. Maybe there's a clue on how to stop its powers."
While Harry wasn't sure about reaching out to Luna, he did like the idea of doing more than just waiting on Kisuke's research back in Karakura Town.
"And I'll try to pump Dumbledore about information on Voldemort's Horcruxes" said Harry, rolling his eyes when his friends shivered at the name.
With a plan set they quietly enjoyed the rest of the carriage ride up to the castle.
As with every year the entrance hall was ablaze with torches and the students' footsteps echoed out as they marched to the great hall and the start-of-term feast.
The four long House tables quickly filled with students, and again Harry noticed many of them were whispering about him. From the looks on their faces, he suspected his friends knew exactly the reason why. But before he could demand an explanation Hermione pointed up towards the staff table.
Follow her eyes, Harry initially spotted Dumbledore sitting in the center of the table, in his usual golden chair. The headmaster's head leaned toward the woman sitting next to him, allowing her to better whisper in his ear.
The woman was squat, with short curly brown hair, in which she wore a horrible pink hair band, that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. When she turned to take a sip from her goblet, she revealed a very pale toad like face.
Harry didn't know who this woman was but somehow he got the feeling this year was already on a very poor start.