Wow… I can't believe I surprised so many people! I thought I had dropped enough hints… Now, Ichigo just needs to get a clue about his relationship to Yamamoto… might need to hit him on the head with it, though…
The usual disclaimers apply.
||Characters are speaking Japanese||
:Zanpakuto speaking:
:Inner Hollow speaking:
=Hell butterfly messages=
Chapter 9
Ichigo sighed and pushed the sake bowl away from him – again. Someone kept pushing one at him, despite the fact that he had been refusing it all evening. They couldn't get it through their heads that he didn't like sake. One sip was enough for him to wonder what Kyoraku-san and Rangiku-san saw in it.
"No –" he said sternly, giving the highly inebriated Renji an exasperated glare. Kira and Shuhei were already out, Iba and Ikkaku were close to following them, so was Sentaro… Yumichika, at least, was a quiet drunk; either that or he was faking it. Zaraki ... Ichigo shuddered; Kenpachi, drunk, was a sight to behold, especially when he was sitting in a corner with an equally sloshed Byakuya, and they were singing – very badly off-key – at the top of their lungs. I'm scarred for life, he thought, staring at the pair of them. He wondered if he could turn that into good blackmail material… eh, probably not – too many people were seeing it. He just wished he had a damned video camera to take some video of it, because Chad and Uryu would never believe him when he told them about it… James, Sirius, and Isshin were in another corner with Ukitake and Kyoraku. About the only people missing were Urahara and the Vizards… Thank God. Heaven only knew what the evening would become if they were to add that group to the mix. Although he was going to get an earful for not inviting them… not that he had had any choice in the matter, since he had been shanghaied for the second time in as many days.
I'm definitely scarred for life, he thought again, shuddering. A hand pushed Renji away, causing the Ninth Squad Captain to sprawl in an ungainly heap. He struggled to get up, but he was so drunk it was like watching a turtle on its back trying to right itself. Ichigo grinned at the image, and turned to look at the person who had rescued him.
Gin sat down in the place he had semi-forcefully evicted its former occupant from and handed Ichigo a bowl.
"Here, try this," he said.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked warily as he stared at it. Gin did not look the least bit inebriated. Not one tiny little bit…
"I learned a long time ago that I couldn't hope to keep up with Ran-chan," Gin explained, "so this was my solution. It looks, smells, and tastes like sake, but it has a fraction of the alcoholic content." He grinned evilly. "Of course, I also needed to keep my wits about me for other reasons, so it served a dual purpose. But, if you don't like to drink, or have little to no tolerance…"
"It is a very good solution," a very deep voice said from behind him; Ichigo glanced back to see Komamura joining them. "Few are ever wiser."
"I see," Ichigo said thoughtfully. He looked over at Toshiro, the only other sober person present. The white haired genius shrugged. He was not drinking sake; he was sticking to soda water. In fact, when the barman had taken his order, Ichigo had looked at Toshiro and said, "I'll have whatever he's having," causing the other young Captain to snort with laughter.
A squeal of laughter, followed by a round of girlish giggles came from the other room.
"Really? Tell more!" he heard Matsumoto urge.
"I'm doomed," he moaned, as the others sitting with him all nodded their agreement. He'd been saying that a lot, lately...
#
"This is bullshit!" Ichigo griped, "Is this why we stay sober? So we can drag all their drunken asses home?"
He heard several laughs in response: Gin and Yumichika. Ichigo had been correct there – Yumichika had been faking being sloshed in order to be left alone, a rather ingenious ploy. Toshiro was also grumbling, and Komamura was silent. They were all carrying – or dragging by whichever body part was most convenient – at least two revelers. Ichigo had Renji slung over one shoulder and was dragging Hisagi behind him by the collar; Gin had Kira and Byakuya; Komamura his own Vice-Captain and Kenpachi; Yumichika was carting Ikkaku and Isshin; while Toshiro was struggling under the weight of James and Sirius, who was still singing softly to himself. Ukitake was staggering off in the other direction with Sentaro and Kyoraku, even though he himself was a bit unsteady on his feet. Hopefully the Eighth Squad Captain – who had consumed more than anyone but didn't appear to be affected – would get the Thirteenth Squad Officers safely to their barracks.
"Not only that," Ichigo continued to grumble, "I'm the one who ended up paying for everything! Tell me how that's fair!"
"It is not – and I shall make certain that I have the Head Captain deduct the cost from their pay in order to reimburse you for it," the deep voice of Komamura assured him as he shifted Kenpachi to a more comfortable position. This brought several devious sounding laughs from the others as they imagined the various reactions to having their pay docked. No, it wasn't going to go over very well – and the only other person who could truly afford to have their pay docked was Byakuya.
"The ladies sounded as if they were having a lovely time," Yumichika said.
Ichigo winced. "I'm afraid to find out."
#
Momo groaned and put her head down on the desk; apparently at some point during the night some boggarts had invaded her brain and were banging around in there. She wondered if anyone else was this bad off. She whimpered when she heard the door open and close.
"Momo?" She heard Ichigo say her name, and his voice sent shooting pains through her brain.
"Momo is not here; Momo is somewhere else," she moaned.
Ichigo stared down at his hung over Vice-Captain and sighed. Had it been any other day, he would have sent her home and dealt with things himself. Unfortunately, they had an important meeting later that morning that they could not put off.
"Sorry Momo – we have to go over to the Academy, remember?"
She slowly raised her throbbing head and squinted up at him. "Oh, damn. Is that today?"
"Yes."
With an expletive, she dropped her head back on the desk, and wanted to stuff her Captain head-first into a privy when he had the gall to laugh at her. She heard him walk away, and fiddle around with something. She could hear china clinking and a moment later he returned.
"Here, drink this," he ordered.
"What is it?" was her muffled reply.
"Something my mom came up with for hangovers."
She eagerly reached for the steaming cup. If Masaki came up with it, then it was guaranteed to work.
"It's hot," he warned.
She didn't care if it evicted the seventy-six trombones having a parade through her head as she drank down the scalding, bitter brew. A half hour later she was at least semi-functional, though not fully. She felt she'd at least be able to get through the meeting.
"I knew it would work," he smirked at her, "it helped Rukia."
Momo sighed. Last night had been a disaster. Oh, it had started out fun enough; but then the sake had started flowing… she forgot what happened after someone – Matsumoto? – had asked Rukia what Ichigo looked like with his clothes off… and Rukia had been just drunk enough to start to answer it. Masaki, however, had clamped her hand over her future daughter-in-law's mouth before the girl was able to get too graphic – proving to all and sundry that their relationship had indeed progressed to that point. She wasn't about to tell Ichigo that, though – her Captain could actually be a bit – well, prudish at times. That was why they had had to help Rukia sneak into his room last night, as she had been determined to get her drunken hands on that delectable body of his… whether or not his fiancée had actually stayed awake until Ichigo returned home to do so, however, was debatable.
Several hours later when they left for the Academy, they were met by Toshiro and Rukia, who, Momo thought, looked like she felt. The two Vice-Captains trailed behind the two Captains, who kept glancing behind them, and frequently had to stop and wait for them.
"Maybe we should just leave them behind?" Toshiro suggested, disgusted. Momo shot her 'brother' a dirty look. Ichigo sighed as he pondered his response.
"I thought about it; but do you really want to take your own notes?" Toshiro scowled. Although from the way the pair of Vice-Captains was reacting – they would get written faster if he and Kurosaki did take their own notes. And went by themselves. In fact, at the pace they were walking, they were never going to arrive at all.
"At this point it might be preferable; we could always just stop at the Fourth Squad and borrow someone from Captain Unohana…."
Ichigo got a thoughtful look on his face as if he was seriously considering it. Hanataro was probably available… however, the vindictive, vengeful look that his fiancée was giving him convinced him that it was not worth it. Not if he wanted children in the future.
"No, I guess we better not."
Upon becoming Captain of the Fifth Squad, Ichigo had been surprised to find that one of his duties was to oversee the Academy; this struck him as being somewhat ironic, seeing as he had not even graduated High School yet… and he was doubly surprised when he learned that the Head Captain fully intended to have the Fifth Squad oversee the Japanese School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ichigo foresaw towering stacks of paperwork in his future - and he hadn't needed to take Divination to foresee that one.
"Oh, shit…" he muttered when he saw the eager faces lined up waiting to see them. Apparently visiting Captains were a big deal… especially when they were the two youngest Captains in the Gotei 13…
"Eep," Momo squeaked, and nearly dropped her notepad.
"Okay," Toshiro whispered, "Just pretend they aren't here."
"Easy for you to say," she shot back at him, glaring at him with slightly blood-shot eyes.
The Head Master of the School, Gengoro Onabara, was waiting for them at the end of the column of eagerly watching students. He started speaking when they reached him, but Ichigo and the others could barely hear a word he was saying over the babble of voices. Behind him, all of the teachers had also lined up to greet them. Ichigo could feel his face start to flame as he heard the female voices – and even some of the male – exclaiming over him and Toshiro. Toshiro's face was just as red, and Rukia was muttering angrily behind him. He just hoped her muttering did not include any kido spells aimed at the students.
His mother, standing among the instructors, was giving him an amused if sympathetic look, as was Lily. James and Sirius simply looked amused. Once the Head Master was done, he indicated that they should follow him, and they were finally able to enter the school.
Onabara led them to a room where a young man was laying out several pads of writing paper; he was dressed in the student uniform, but he had a wand tucked in his waistband. An old man was already sitting there, waiting for them. In front of him was a box of different types of branches. The young man looked up and smiled at them when they entered the room.
"Have you met young Diggory yet?" Onabara asked the two Captains. They all looked over at the young man with interest. So this was Cedric Diggory…
"No, we haven't," Ichigo said, smiling.
"But we've heard a lot about him," Toshiro added with a nod.
"Captain Kurosaki, Captain Hitsugaya," Cedric nodded at them, "It's a pleasure to meet you both."
"And you," Ichigo stepped slightly to the side, "This is my Vice-Captain, Momo Hinamori, and this is the Vice-Captain of the Thirteenth Squad, Rukia Kuchiki."
"Ladies."
"And this is Mr. Gerbold Octavius Ollivander…" Onabara then introduced the elderly gentleman, who did not rise, but did incline his head. (AN)
Ah, they all thought; the wand maker. So then the branches in front of him would be the various types of woods he was investigating for wands…
"If we could get started?" Onabara suggested, as he walked around to a seat at the table. They followed suit, and once they had all taken their seats, they were able to get their meeting started.
As meetings went, Ichigo thought, it certainly wasn't the worst one he'd ever been to. James and Sirius kept it at a livelier tempo than it would normally be had that pair not been present. Since they'd both been passed out the night before, he wondered if his mother had given them some of her brew, as they did not appear to be feeling any after-effects. Either that, or they were like Matsumoto and Kyoraku – it didn't affect them as badly. He was correct about the box in front of Ollivander; they were in fact various woods that he was investigating for wands. He reported that he'd made a new wand for all of the existing witches and wizards; Masaki's wand, even though she still had it when she arrived in Soul Society, had not worked as well as it had in the world of the living. Once he had replaced it with one that had Thestral tail hair, however… she found it worked even better than her old one. Neither of the Potters had had their wands on them when they had been killed, and Sirius had dropped his before he'd fallen into the Gate. Cedric had been in the same predicament as Masaki. They all had new wands with Thestral hair cores, and they all felt that they worked better than their old wands did. On the other hand, Byakuya had best watch out for his cherry trees; apparently it reacted the best with the Thestral core…
"So does Professor Dumbledore know you raided his herd at Hogwarts for Thestral hair?" Rukia asked Ollivander. The old man smiled at her.
"Ah… it gets better than that," he replied. "He brought two adults and a youngling here, to Soul Society; they are housed at the Kido Corps compound."
"We – have Thestrals?" Ichigo said, a little weakly. Masaki gave him a look that told him she knew about his nightmares, and the uneasy feeling that Thestrals gave him.
"Hm. He initially only brought one over, a male; when it first arrived here, it apparently got very – excited, and started exploring everything, and then – vanished. A few minutes later, it was back, with a female and her foal. Apparently Thestrals, while living in herds, don't have the same kind of herd system that normal horses – or even other winged horses have. The way they live and reproduce is more like a bird of prey. Apparently the male liked it here so much, he brought his mate his mate and their young back with him." They all stared at him for a long moment at the revelation of this heretofore unknown skill of the Thestrals.
"I suggested we keep them at the Fifth, but Kurosaki-san was here, and he said that since neither of us is here most of the year, it would be better to keep them elsewhere. So the Captain of the Kido Corps said that since Ollivander-san had his workshop there, it made sense to keep the Thestrals there, as well," Momo explained to Ichigo, who silently thanked his father for sparing him the Thestrals. He knew that they were something that he was going to have to eventually come to terms with; but even Zangetsu and Hichigo hadn't been able to come up with a solution, although Hichigo's was the most novel idea – trying to get a Thestral into Ichigo's inner world. He probably just wanted to try riding it, Zangetsu had muttered under his breath.
They spent two hours in the meeting, going over the plans for the training of future wizards and witches among the students. The problem was determining what was going to be valuable in teaching them; everything could be argued for, or against. Charms certainly wouldn't always be helpful – why would you want to make a hollow turn cartwheels, unless it was to make it dizzy so you could get in close in order to kill it? But Accio would, if you were in a fight and dropped your zanpakuto… Potions was a sticky point as well, as Unohana loved Masaki's healing potions… but they were not always useful. Everyone agreed that History of Magic, Divination, Runes, Astronomy, and Arithromancy were all out - for the moment. However, Ichigo brought up a good point.
"Occlumency and Legilimency should be considered for advanced students. Not that I want to be able to get inside Aizen's brain… but being able to keep someone out… I'm not sure what kind of power that over-sized marble gives him, so Occlumency and Legilimency might actually be useful."
"Think of the trouble we could have saved if we had known before hand what he'd been up to," Toshiro agreed.
"The problem is, none of us knows those skills," James pointed out. "You're the only one here who's been taught it."
Ichigo sighed. That certainly put a damper on things. He couldn't go to Hogwarts, protect Harry, and teach at the same time. He truly didn't think that there was a spell that would allow him to be in three places at once, not since Harry and the others had inadvertently destroyed the entire collection of Time Turners at the Ministry.
"It was a good thought though; it just might have to be put on hold for a bit," Masaki smiled at him.
"Well," Onabara stood, signaling the end to the meeting. "I think we definitely have enough to get started with. Now we just have to determine which of the students are eligible for the classes."
"Lily has a knack of finding talented young students," Sirius said, "So she's going to be doing the testing."
"Actually, I think the Thestrals have a better knack than I do," she smiled at them, "they appear to be inordinately interested in anyone who is going to be a witch or wizard."
"As long as they don't mind donating their hair," Rukia said, standing as well. She grimaced when she heard one of the chairs squeak loudly against the floor, and Ichigo noticed Momo did as well. The four Soul Reapers bid farewell and left, hoping that the crowd would have dispersed by then and they wouldn't have to fight their way out of the Academy grounds.
When they reached the Fifth Squad Barracks, having walked as quickly as they could, Ichigo turned and took the notes from Momo.
"Go," he told her, "Get some sleep. I can manage without you for the rest of the day."
"But…"
"That's an order, Momo."
She gave him a grateful look and hurried off, thinking only of her bed and a cold compress for her aching head. Rukia watched her go, feeling almost a tad resentful and wishing Ichigo could order her around like that as well; but he wasn't her captain, Ukitake was….
"You'd better get back to your squad, Kuchiki," Toshiro told her, noting the wistful look on her face as she watched her friend hurry off. He was almost certain her Captain would do the same thing when he saw the state she was in.
"Yes, sir," she nodded, giving Ichigo a last, longing look and wishing they could be alone for just one moment… she could just lean against him, letting him prop her up… Ichigo looked over at Toshiro, his cheeks flushed, when he heard a faint snore coming from where her face was pressed against his chest.
"Go, Kuchiki," Toshiro said more firmly, which got a cough from Ichigo. She jumped a bit, and blushed when she realized she had indeed fallen asleep on her feet. She ducked her head quickly and hurried off. Ichigo stopped a squad member and asked that he follow her at a discreet distance – just to make sure that she got to her squad okay. The officer nodded with a knowing expression, having heard about what happened the night before (and having seen the state his own Vice-Captain had been in) before doing as Ichigo requested.
"Tea?" Ichigo asked Toshiro when they entered his office.
"Please," Toshiro nodded, taking a seat. "So, why did you signal me to follow you?"
"Because I needed to speak with you, and I couldn't do it at the meeting. I also slipped my mother a note, asking her to follow us and join us here…" Ichigo replied, bringing the tea over to the table he had set up in his office for small meetings.
"Oh?" Toshiro raised an eyebrow at his fellow Captain, wondering what was up. A few minutes later, Masaki, Sirius and the Potters entered his office.
"All right, Ichigo," she said, walking up to him to give him the hug she hadn't been able to give him earlier, "we're here; what's so important you couldn't speak with us earlier?"
"Well, this isn't something the others would really be able to address," he replied, holding a chair out for his mother and then pouring her a cup of tea – the way she preferred it, he still remembered from when he was young. "But the four of you would."
"We're listening," Lily urged as she accepted her cup from him.
"What can you tell us about Horace Slughorn?" he asked once everyone had been served.
"Slughorn? Good lord, that's a name I haven't thought of in years!" Sirius exclaimed, pausing in adding sugar to his own tea.
"Nor I," James agreed, "Why are you bringing him up?"
"Well, what does he know about DADA?" Ichigo pressed.
They all looked at each other, puzzled.
"It wasn't what he taught…" Sirius said, frowning with bafflement.
"Although being Head of Slytherin, I suppose he knew more than most…" James hedged a bit.
"Why?" Lily asked him.
"Because Professor Dumbledore brought Harry and me to, ah – persuade him to come out of retirement."
"Did he agree?" Masaki asked slowly, giving her son a long look.
"Eventually, yes he did. That's why I wanted to know what he knew about DADA – since that's the post that's open," Ichigo replied, frowning, "I know from your journals what his specialty is… which is why I wondered why Professor Dumbledore went to him in the first place."
"What did this Slughorn teach?" Toshiro asked, trying to remember if he had come across the reference. Slughorn, Slughorn… The name was familiar… Ah – he remembered now: The Slug Club!
"Potions," Lily told him, sipping on her tea, "Slughorn was the Potions master. Severus replaced him."
"Hm," Toshiro frowned down into his cup, thinking hard, "Dumbledore is bringing a second Potions Master back?"
"Yes," Ichigo looked over at his mother, "And apparently he knows about us."
"Oh, dear – I forgot about that…" Masaki's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand.
"What?" Toshiro looked between the two, "What do you mean, 'he knows about us'?"
Ichigo sighed, and explained the situation they had found when they had arrived. "So, when he found out who I was and saw Zangetsu – he put two and two together. Thankfully, he never came right out and called me a Soul Reaper, or we'd have been modifying Harry's memory. As it is, he just thinks Slughorn was talking about kido users."
"That could have been a problem; thankfully he didn't say anything. Why did he look you up?" Lily looked over at her friend, who sighed.
"Well, he wanted to make sure I was okay; you had just died, and we were always his favorite two students. He didn't want to lose both of us…" Masaki gave Lily a bittersweet smile. "Isshin was being – Isshin, and let something slip, or was it Urahara? I don't remember, really…" she sighed and shook her head. "He was more than a little upset that we had sealed Ichigo's powers because he felt that he was such a promising student – boy, did he get that one right! But he eventually understood and promised he wouldn't say anything, and then left."
"Huh, so that's why he said he should have recognized the hair," Ichigo muttered to himself. Slughorn had actually seen Ichigo when he had been around two years old.
"So Horace Slughorn is returning to Hogwarts," James mused. Ichigo nodded. "Well, he was a decent teacher; for a Slytherin."
"I suppose. He wasn't as bad as some Slytherins, at any rate…" Sirius agreed, "He didn't have the same House prejudice. He'd deduct points equally fast from a disobedient Slytherin as he would anyone else, I will say that for him. Award them as well."
Toshiro had been listening and thinking, his mind working quickly to analyze the situation and reason out why Professor Dumbledore would go to a retired Potions Master to try to talk him out of retirement… and return to teaching at Hogwarts. And he could come to only one conclusion.
"He's not going to be teaching DADA," Toshiro said suddenly.
"That's pretty much the conclusion I came up with, also," Ichigo sighed.
Sirius frowned at the two of them. "I can't see Dumbledore giving in on that, though; he's been standing firm for – how many years, now?" The other three appeared a little baffled, as only Sirius, Ichigo and Toshiro seemed to be following this line of thinking.
"It's the only logical conclusion," Toshiro replied, shaking his head. "Dumbledore has something in mind that makes the one-year jinx null and void; after this year, things will change. For the better or worse, I don't know. But it's the only logical answer."
"What are you talking about?" James finally asked.
"Slughorn isn't going to be teaching DADA, Prongs – he's going back to teach his old specialty – Potions," Sirius explained, using their old nicknames.
"But…" James appeared to be very baffled. What about Snape?
"For some reason Dumbledore has finally given in and is giving Snape the post of DADA instructor. It's the only logical conclusion," Toshiro nodded. He looked around the table at the others, looking at the expressions on their faces: worry on Ichigo and Lily's; puzzlement on Masaki and Sirius's; curiosity on James's. He could only hope that whatever Dumbledore had in mind, he didn't keep it to himself for too long. It could prove to be a fatal decision – for one of them.
Author's Notes:
A boggart is a shape-shifting creature that takes on the form of the viewer's worst fear. When facing a boggart, it is best to have someone else along, to try to confuse it. Because of their shape-shifting ability, no one knows what a boggart looks like when it is alone, as it instantly changes into your worst fears when you first see it. The charm that combats a boggart is Riddikulus. The correct way to perform the charm is to concentrate on something that will make the boggart look amusing. The charm does not repel a Boggart; it forces it to assume a shape that the caster will find comical and inspire laughter, which will defeat a boggart. Boggarts do not have the same strength or magic as what they imitate, for example, a Boggart transformed into a Dementor has weaker magic than a real Dementor, according to Remus Lupin. Boggarts are particularly fond of inhabiting certain places that are dark, such as in wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, and the cupboards under sinks and desks. On at least one occasion, a boggart was found hiding in a grandfather clock. In Celtic mythology, a boggart (or bogart, bogan, bogle or boggle) is a household spirit, sometimes mischievous, sometimes helpful.
(http colon /harrypotter dot wikia dot com/wiki/Dementor)
Gerbold Octavius Ollivander is the Grandfather of the current owner of Ollivander's, Garrick Ollivander. (http colon /en dot wikipedia dot org/wiki/List_of_Harry_Potter_characters#O)
