A/N: Hi everyone here's the next chapter. I hope you're all enjoying it so far, and thanks for your support. ^.^

"Thoughts,"

"Past thoughts,"

"Speaking/Dialogue,"

Chapter 7


"There is one thing I can tell you. I hope it will give you the courage to keep going..."

Leigh lied in her bed beneath her sheets on sunday morning as she thought about the words Ichigo said in her mind. Come to think of it, how did he get into her mind, she wondered. She remembered the feeling of robes underneath her head as she cried into his shoulder. She didn't get a good look at what Ichigo was wearing, but she thought it wasn't something he wore around the house.

"Get stronger," is what Ichigo whispered to her before his presence disappeared.

It seemed that almost soon after he said these to words she woke up to find herself with Ichigo sitting right by her side with Luna, Chad-san, and Orihime-chan on the other. Hovering over her had been a very persistent person who was healing the wounds Luna couldn't heal herself. Persistent being, when she tried to sit up, she was immediately forced back down to the futon. She finally gave up when she saw the look on the blond man's face, who she was told was the owner of the store named Urahara, Kisuke. She didn't say a word all the way through her healing process and soon after the blond deemed her ready to sit up, he told Ichigo to carry her home to not let her put any pressure on her healing legs. Luna followed close behind. They didn't say a word to each other as he took her home and settled her on the couch. He turned around and walked out the door, but not before giving her a small wave. As soon as Ichigo closed the door, Minerva came out and told her that she would be staying home for the following week. She was not allowed to go to school. Her main priority would be to rest and relax.

This is where we find Leigh in her room as soon as she was helped to her bed by Luna. As soon as they had arrived Luna didn't let go of her and kept hugging her for five more minutes.

"No matter what anyone says, I love you Leigh. You're the sister I wish I could have had growing up," Luna said before leaving the room. Leigh had nearly cried again when she heard those words. Her heart swelled with happiness.

"Get stronger. Those words keep popping up in my head," Leigh thought. Her head turned towards her closed curtains as if pretending she could see through them. She sighed and looked down into her lap as she contemplated going to the kitchen for something to eat.

"But the truth is I just wasn't trying. I wasn't taking my fight against Bellatrix seriously, so I caused Luna distress and everyone else to worry too. Even Ichigo's friends were willing to help."

Flashback

Leigh looked down at her bed inside her parents old room. Laying upon the bed was the Elder wand. As of yet, she hasn't had a chance to get hide the wand, but just an hour before she, Luna, and Minerva were going to leave for Japan she had to think of something to do so no one would be able to become this wand's master. Not that they would be able to anyway. They would have to find her first and defeat her.

She pulled one end of the bed to the side and pulled a lose floorboard from its hinges. She found a nice dark empty space under the floorboards that would be the perfect space to hide the nicely shaped piece of wood. She placed the wand inside and put the board back in place. She adjusted the bed back into place and put a notice-me-not spell on the floorboard, hoping that it would be effective for quite sometime until someone stronger than her came along and challenged her for the wand, but then again, the whole purpose was that no one else would be in control of the wand.

She stood up after placing the bed back into place and continued on finishing her packing. She didn't have much to pack due to her limited clothing choices, but she had several books that needed space to fill out in her trunk. It was a good thing Minerva taught her the space enhancer spell, so she would be able to do just that.

End Flashback

"I could have used the Elder wand," She thought. "No, I can't get into that. It's no use dwelling on what could have happened."

The truth was, as much as she didn't want to use the unbeatable wand, she couldn't seem to get rid of it. The strange thing she never mentioned was that when they arrived at their new house and unpacked her luggage, she opened her trunk and found the wand laying innocent next to her phoenix core wand. To say she was surprised was an understatement.

Leigh stepped out of bed after placing her oval-shaped glasses onto her face. She grabbed the Elder wand and went into the bathroom to test something. She first stood in front of the sink and unplugged the drain. She dropped the wand down the drain. While someone like Snape would call her reckless and stupid for disposing a wand in this fashion, she called it creative. She turned on the water on high pressure to force the wand down faster.

However, at the corner of her eye there was a thin object lying on a soft black towel that sat by the sink. She turned her head. It was the Elder wand.

"You are quite persistent," Leigh said, eye narrowed.

She turned towards the toilet and once again thought of Snape and his look of disgust at what she was about to do, but then again, it would probably change to intrigue at the fact that the wand came back to her from dropping it down a sink. She dropped the wand and flushed it down the toilet. She turned her head back to the black towel and as she expected, the wand was back, as clean and dry as it was before dropping it into the water.

"There's no getting rid of you, is there?"

She rolled her eyes heavenwards as she realized she was talking to an inanimate object. "Great another reason to call me crazy. I hope I never did this with my other wand." She went back into her room and placed the Elder wand next to her own.

"It's a good thing I kept a few of Fred and George's fake wands with me otherwise I'd know longer have my first wand," She said picking up the phoenix cored wand. She ran her hand up and down the sides of the wand subconsciously.

She sighed when she looked back down at the Elder wand.

"Alright, I'll stop rejecting you, but I'm not replacing my first wand just for you," Leigh decided.

She flopped down onto her bed.

"Great, now I'm talking to both wands like they're human. If Ron and Snape were here, they'd call me crazy without holding back. Hermione would be a little wigged, but she'd be polite enough not to say anything. Dumbledore would have his usual twinkling eyes and smiling at me in amusement. Well, too late to change that I suppose."

Leigh closed her eyes. She really missed them, even the slime ball Snape and his charming sneers.

Her stomach growled in hunger. She looked at the clock to see the time. It was 11:30.

"I guess it's a good time to start lunch."

***

It was the third day of the week of Leigh's mini-vacation. So far, she was a little bit bored. She tapped her foot to the classical music Minerva had on, but she wasn't really listening to it, since her feet wasn't tapping on the right beats. She actually wished she had a book to read. It wasn't that she hated reading, quite the contrary, but it was just she had a hard time getting into text books, unless they were about Defense Against the Dark Arts. She didn't mind reading those kinds. Transfiguration and charms were fine mostly because her parents were good at the subjects, but potions on the other hand...

"Why aren't you in bed? You're supposed to be relaxing," Minerva said with a face of that spoke of reprimanding.

"I thought coming here was supposed to be the relaxer."

"Yes, but not if you're not doing it right."

Leigh's eye twitched and her face grew a look of disbelief.

"N-not doing it right, you say?" She asked incredulously. "Doesn't it depend upon the person to decide what's relaxing and what's not?"

"When it comes to you, of course not," Minerva answered teasingly, but her face remained perfectly normal, so it was hard for Leigh to tell.

Leigh's eye twitched again. A small vein bulged on her forehead. SHe tried not to feel too insulted by that remark as she found a sudden interest in her lap. She snickered to herself.

"But I thought you hated Gryffindors who are lazy."

"Of course. That hasn't changed even if I'm not your Hogwarts teacher anymore."

Leigh rose an eyebrow waiting for her to continue.

"Which is why I have something for you since you're having trouble entertaining yourself while you rest," Minerva said handing a book to her.

She looked at the cover with a slight frown. It was a potions book? WHY!? "Great, more work," was the first thought that came to mind when she opened to the cover page. Inside the cover page was a beautiful scroll. When she read the inscription inside she looked back at the cover in disbelief.

To Leigh Potter:
"May this book serve you well."
Love Dad and Padfoot

It was then that she noticed that the cover of the book was fake and took it off to see the very much real title of the book.

Animagi
By:
James Potter & Sirius Black

A big smile appeared on her face"I can't believe this! When did they... Why didn't Sirius tell me about this? How did you get this?" Leigh asked in one breath.

"I found it in Albus's office before we left for good. Now, I'm going to the store. We're running low on groceries. Enjoy your reading," She said leaving the room.

She smiled happily and managed to allow a few tears to fall. She wiped them away and turned to the first official page of the text. Hours passed away as she became completely absorbed in the book. She barely acknowledged the fact when Minerva returned with arm fills of baggage. Minerva didn't bother to interrupt her anyway. Leigh knew that her father and Sirius were smart, but some of the stuff they discovered together to make animagus magic easier to understand kind of reminded her when she had Snape's old potions book, "The Half-Blood Prince." In the end, it only caused her problems, but it was damn helpful when it came to the actual potions class. As she read through the book she wondered if those two were hiding their intelligence at times because this book was pure genius to anyone wanting to become an animagus. For some points in particular it talked about ways to properly relax your muscles, and guiding magic into your bones so it wouldn't hurt when shifting into animagus form. It also said that beginners should get into a position you'd generally find the specific animal the learner was trying to turn into, so it would help ease irritation. The last piece of advice given is for beginners to not bei in animal form for too long lest they accidently forget they are originally human if they don't have strong mind control.

"I think I'll give this a try now," Leigh thought excitedly. "Okay then..." She closed the curtains so no muggles would be able to catch a glance of her becoming an animal. When everything was ready, she concentrated on everything she read from her dad and godfather's book and recited the spell that would turn her into the beautiful black and red fox she sees in her mind.


A/N. unedited. I promise to fix any grammar mistakes later. ^.^ thanks for reading.

Next chapter summary: Ichigo's at school. More shinigami/hollow action, and a new visitor