A/N: Hey everyone! How was your week? Good I hope! Well I decided to update rather quickly on this chapter! Seriously I was working on this chapter in school had it almost completely written the realized that if I actually posted it, it would completely throw my time line out the window....so I had to start over and save that for later. So now I have chapter 9 more or less written! Thanks to all those who review!
Quickest. Update. Ever.
First Dumbledore had mentioned letters from the shop keepers of Diagon Alley and suddenly he was being transferred by a rather nervous looking McGonagall. But he really had to focus on the task at hand:
So he had to head down to Defense against the Dark Arts...if only he had any clue as to where that was....
Toshiro wandered the halls as he struggled to locate the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom.
His hand flew to where Hyorinmaru's hilt would normally be at a sudden outburst of loud laughter. People were yelling happily and calling out the names of others in a room a few doors away from where he was standing.
He silently made his way towards the door and as he did a flash caught his eye and he looked down to find the blues and silvers of his uniform slowly blossoming into a deep crimson and warm gold; the Gryffindor colours.
He wasn't sure how he felt exactly about being removed from Ravenclaw. He'd quite enjoyed solving the riddles to ender into the common room and Luna had been rather interesting to speak with during classes.
Unlike the others she didn't stare at him or sneer in his direction when he passed. If anything they treated her the same way. He'd never been one for making friends, but he'd found one in her.
The white haired taicho peered into the room to see Ron standing in front of a large spider as upbeat music played. The red head suddenly gave a cry of what sounded like 'ridiculous' and the legs of the large arachnid fell away.
Toshiro carefully made his way through the doorway trying not to call undue attention to himself as he did. The spider had begun rolling across the floor and seemed to be heading rather quickly in his direction. He had to side step the thing to avoid being hit and when he looked back he found the eyes of all the students on him.
When a brown haired boy caught sight of his uniform he turned to his friend snickering, "Guess Ravenclaw didn't want him."
Lupin frowned at the boy as he turned off the music, leaving the room in complete silence. "Well," the haggard man cleared his throat "I received a note from Professor Dumbledore this morning and it seems Mr. Hitsugaya has been transferred to Gryffindor."
---
Harry choked after practically swallowing his tongue at Lupin's announcement. Only one thought came to mind: What the bloody hell?!
"Why, why, why, why, for God's sake why," he moaned to himself. Hermione was looking rather surprised as she stood beside him, "I didn't know they could do that."
Ron snarled, "Yeah well, why should he start being normal now? Just our luck the little freak gets put in our house!"
She glared at him before turning to Hitsugaya and smiling, "It looks like we're in the same house after all." He gave her a curt not but otherwise didn't reply as he continued to stand at the back of the class.
Lupin began calling the class to order again, "Alright who's next?"
Before anyone could put their hand up or call out to volunteer he turned to look at the new white haired addition, "How about you Toshiro? We're working with Boggarts today; do you know what they are?"
He shook his head as he stepped forward and stared at the still spider shaped Boggart. Harry smirked hoping the kid would be scared witless. "Well," the professor smiled as he started up the music again "After this maybe you can give me a full description. The spell is 'riddikulus'. "
Everyone stared and waited with baited breath as the creature began morphing. Harry shivered as the temperature began dropping.
Hitsugaya was staring confused as snow began falling from seemingly no where. The students were shaking in the cold but the white haired boy didn't move and he looked thoughtful as if trying to figure out what the Boggart was showing him.
The snow was falling fast and already it was piling up on the floors and more was swirling through the air. People were wrapping their cloaks tightly around themselves and soon it was if they weren't even in the staff room anymore.
Suddenly the scarred teen noticed a splash of colour in the sea of white. He could see Toshiro grow even paler as his gaze fell on the figure of a young boy standing in the middle of the storm.
He was wearing a thin layer of ripped black clothes and his skin was practically blue from the cold as he clutched a long sword. It took Harry a moment to recognize the half frozen boy as same boy standing in front of him.
Hitsugaya stared on as the other version of himself collapsed in the snow calling out a name as he did. But no one came. The boy was alone. The small body shuddered before seemingly sinking into the snow as splashes of blood began leaching into the white.
Harry felt a wave of nausea wash over him. Bodies. The bodies of slain people were everywhere, all swathed in black and painted red.
Some looked to be only a little older than Hitsugaya while some appeared to be adults, but still young none the less. Swords lay broken some still clutched in the grips of the dead.
Harry turned to see Hitsugaya reaching for something on his back but his pale hand clasped the air and as if just remembering, pulled his wand from within the folds of his uniform and recited the incantation. Nothing happened and as he repeated himself a small brown haired girl pulled herself up from the ground.
Blood poured from a large wound making a sickening sound as the crimson liquid hit the snow, "Shiro-chan."
Harry flinched at the dead look in her eyes and realized that he was actually feeling sorry for Hitsugaya. He glanced around to find the others showing mixed emotions. Hermione looked horrified while Ron seemed to be entranced by the scene playing out in front of him.
He turned to find Lupin, wondering why the teacher wasn't stepping in to help the struggling student. But the man was standing still with a pained look on his face, making no move to rush to the aide of Hitsugaya.
"You didn't save us, you let us die."
As the words poured from her between her pale lips the white haired boy took a step back as if wounded by them, "Hinamori, I-
"You weren't strong enough, Hitsugaya-taicho," she slurred as the blood began dripping from his mouth and sliding down her chin. She pitched forward and he went to catch her before she hit the ground but as his hands came into contact with the fabric of her robes dust came away in his hands.
She slowly began disintegrating and he dropped his wand in an effort to hold her. Dust began filling the air and swirling along with the snow. Soon piles of dust were scattered across the ground and Harry could make out several strands of strawberry blonde hair and some of white.
He wondered if maybe the pile with the white had been a person that Hitsugaya was related to.
"Riddikulus," Harry heard Lupin say sadly and the scene disappeared in a swirl of colour and reappeared as a yellowy orb that resembled the moon.
The room was silent except for the sounds of the Professor banishing the Boggart back into the large wardrobe. Hitsugaya crouched down to pick up his wand and gave Lupin a withering look before leaving the room.
---
Toshiro took a deep breath as he slouched against the wall. Lupin should have warned him. He would have warned any other student and he had a sinking suspicion that Dumbledore had something to do with it. That or the man was simply afraid of him like everyone else seemed to be.
If he'd been told that he would see what was surely his worst nightmare, he would have refused to participate in the exercise. He hadn't wanted to know his worst fear. It seemed like such a pointless thing to know.
What was the point of gaining another fear and one that trumped all others? It was just one more thing to haunt your mind. Now he would be plagued with the thoughts of never being strong enough, dying and abandoning everyone and letting them go to their deaths. Having to bear the weight of that on his shoulders.
Surely, he would have nightmares for decades to come. He'd been well acquainted with death in his years as a member of the Gotai 13. He'd seen veterans slaughtered like they were nothing.
He'd heard the cries of the dying and the injured as they lay forgotten on the ground in the midst of a battle. He'd held a subordinate's hand and had his squeezed tightly as the young man fought the pain of a mortal wound.
He'd promised him everything would be okay; the man seemed grateful for the assuring lie.
How many times had be seen the light fade from wide eyed souls? Far too many to count. But he was still young, and there would surely be more.
Toshiro breathed deeply as he tried to calm his racing heart and ignore the need to empty is stomach contents-especially sense he had none-all over the stone floor.
He could hear the cheerful music echoing from the room, seemingly mocking him. He growled as he lurched to his feet and began making his way through the halls seeing as he had no desire to go back to the classroom.
Maybe he'd find Ran and sit with him for a while. He was curious as to how the kitten was fairing without him there to watch out for him. Considering he'd been transferred to Gryffindor he could assume that all his belongings had been move to their dormitories. And hopefully Ran had also been taken there as well.
He grumbled to himself as he realized that he had no idea what the password was. He'd heard some other students saying 'Gryffindor tower' before so he knew it was located on the opposite side of the castle from Ravenclaw.
With any luck he'd be able to slip into the common room along with another Gryffindor. He could only hope that luck would be on his side for once.
---
Lupin dismissed the class several minutes early after putting away the Boggart and made his way to Dumbledore's office. He needed to speak with the headmaster about the day's events.
It had pained him to watch Toshiro confront the Boggart and not be able to help him. After all, was that not a teacher's job? To help the students learn and better themselves?
He quietly uttered the password to the gargoyle and made his way up into the large office. He knocked and after hearing the normal, "Come in Remus" made his way into the room.
The werewolf found Dumbledore sitting behind his desk with a large tome set in front of him.
"I did what you asked me."
The headmaster smiled, "Ah yes, and how did it go?" Lupin frowned at the blatant disregard for the student's well being, "Horribly. Everything went according to plan."
Dumbledore went to say something but he cut him off, "I don't know why you had me do this but I'm telling you right now if you ever ask of me to do something like this again I will be forced to step down from my position as the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor. I have my morals, and this went against all of them."
The headmaster smiled, "A respectable decision Remus, but I cannot have you thinking that Mr. Hitsugaya is a normal case. I'll inform you of the details when I've completed my research but you must realize he isn't a regular boy."
The tired looking man felt anger swell in his chest, "You're right! He isn't a regular boy! He's a child who's been taken from his home country and thrown into a society that views him as a freak! A jinx that can only bring misfortune and death! If that was the norm for all children surely I wouldn't know what our world was coming to and I would appreciate if you would not patronize me."
The man blanched as he realized what he had just done, "Oh, P-Professor I'm sorry for snapping like that I was completely out of line. I-
"Think nothing of it my dear boy," The headmaster smiled "This only proves to me how dearly you hold your students."
"Yes well, thank you sir but—
"It's perfectly fine Remus. Now," he said clapping his hands together "Tell me about what Mr. Hitsugaya saw."
The younger man retold the story of what had happened when the white haired boy had confronted the Boggart. "Men and women dressed in black robes with swords?"
Remus nodded, "Yes, and they had all been killed. One stood up and told Toshiro that it was basically his fault for not being strong enough...he seemed rather shaken up afterwards."
Dumbledore intertwined his hands, "Well I can certainly see why. Someone so young having such a gruesome scene played out in front of him. Anyone would be affected."
"So does this help at all with your research?"
The elderly man laughed, "Oh why yes it does. In fact I think you've just assured me that my hypothesis is right on track." Lupin nodded; at least it hadn't all been pointless.
It turned out that luck was indeed on Hitsugaya's side. He was able to slip into the common room after he had spotted a first year that had seemed to have forgotten a book, walking through a doorway that was normally hidden behind a portrait.
When he entered the room the heat assaulted him like a physical blow. How did the Gryffindors stand it?
A few of the older students who had a free period stared as he staggered over to a door that hopefully led up towards the dormitories. He was mildly disappointed when he discovered that even the stone walls and stairs were warm unlike the ones in Ravenclaw that were cool to the touch.
He found his name written neatly on a list posted on one of the doors and slipped into the room. He scanned the walls and sighed in relief when he spotted several windows.
Like back in his old room his bed was the farthest from the door and next to one of the large windows that looked out onto the grounds. He quickly went around and threw them all open before crawling onto his bed.
He stopped when he heard a mew and looked to find Ran curled up on his pillow staring up at him with his big grey-blue eyes. He smiled at the kitten and shifted him over until he was curled up beside him and sunk down onto the bed. He knew he should try to get to his next class but he couldn't work up the will to go. Besides, now that the windows were all open the room was quite comfortable...
He woke with a start with the ghosts of a scream haunting his tired mind. Images off the dying and fallen comrades had plagued his dreams. Even those who were long dead and those who shouldn't have been able to move had been crawling towards him leaving bloody smears in their wake as they called out to him.
Their screams of his name had cut through the air as they said how he had failed them. How he had died and left them all alone.
As he cracked a teal eye open and the room came into view he realized that he wasn't alone.
News of the incident in Defense against the Dark Arts had spread like wild fire.
Everyone was talking about how the transfer student's fear had made several people vomit in the middle of class. Harry actually felt sorry for the white haired kid, but that didn't mean he liked him.
He craned his neck as he tried to catch sight of Hitsugaya wondering if he would actually show up for lunch. It hadn't surprised him in the least that he'd disappeared for the rest of class but he hadn't expected him not to show up for the remainder of the morning classes and now it seemed he wasn't going to attend lunch either.
The scarred boy sighed as he met Hermione's worried eyes, "Look do you want to go find him?"
The girl nodded as she stood up from her place across the table. Ron rolled his eyes and turned away clearly trying to ignore them. Hermione scowled after the redhead but otherwise ignored his attitude.
"So what did you think about the whole Boggart thing?"
She continued to look ahead from her, "I'm not really sure what to think. But, his fears make everyone else's look like something to sneeze at. I don't know much about his life, but there's definitely something wrong with someone having to live with the fear of everyone around you being slaughtered and blaming them for it. It's not a normal fear."
The glasses wearing teen nodded, "Yeah, but like I said before there's something wrong with him. Just- something's just not right." His friend glared at him before asking, "But what I want to know is why Professor Lupin didn't step in. He did for you after all."
Harry grimaced at the memory of the Boggart turned Dementor and he had to admit that he had been curious himself, "Well Lupin's nice enough I guess we could just go ask him later if you wanted to."
Hermione smiled, "That would be wonderful! Harry I really think you should try and be friends with Toshiro. I mean really, he's having a hard time with everyone and these silly rumours. I think he could use the support."
Harry clicked his tongue but otherwise didn't respond as they made their way to Gryffindor tower. When they entered through the portrait hole they found the common room empty except for a pair of sixth years, "Um...have you seen...?"
Both students pointed towards the stairs, "Uh, thanks."
They made their way up to the boy's dormitories but half way up Hermione stopped and shivered, "Its freezing up here. Are all the windows open or something?!"
Harry pulled his robes more tightly around himself as he opened the door to his room. There was now an extra bed and curled up on it with a small kitten was Toshiro.
His breathing was shallow and his porcelain was even paler then it had been after the Boggart incident. Hermione appeared at his side, "Oh, should we wake him up?"
"I'm...not sure."
He was debating with himself as he tried to figure out what to do. Hitsugaya looked like he was suffering and it startled him slightly to see an actual emotion other then anger, smugness, or indifference on the boy's face. But, a part of him wanted to see him suffer. It gave him a twisted sense of pleasure to see the pained look on his face.
In the end the decision was decided for them as Hitsugaya cracked open a teal eye and quickly spotted them, "Can I help you?"
Harry went to respond but Hermione cut him off, "We just wanted to know if you were alright. You- you didn't go to any of the morning classes. Its lunch so we were starting to worry."
The white haired youth sat up as he sarcastically muttered, "Oh yes, I'm sure you were absolutely sick with worry."
Harry glared but decided to otherwise ignore the comment, "Well are you coming down to lunch or not? If you don't at least go to classes McGonagall is going to give you detention for a week."
The scarred teen could tell Hitsugaya was reluctant but he eventually agreed and climbed off of the bed that dwarfed him in size. He noticed that Hermione had been right, all of the windows had been thrown wide open, flooding the room with the cool autumn air, "Aren't you cold?"
Hitsugaya looked at him like he'd grown a second head, "What are you going on about?"
"The windows, they're— never mind."
He noticed how the kid seemed perfectly at home in the cold room; in fact he didn't even both with putting his cloak back on. The scarred teen could have laughed-but he didn't-; Toshiro's hair was even more ruffled than usual and his tie had been loosened around his next. All together it made him look even younger then he already did.
---
The trip down to the main hall was silent except for the sounds of their shoes scuffing against the floor— Harry turned suddenly as he realized he could only hear his and Hermione's steps; expecting to find Hitsugaya gone.
But, he came face to face with the boy who stared him down questioningly. Toshiro walked past him and Harry observed him as he went; he moved with a natural grace that he could only describe as fluid.
It was like he was water and as he walked he put Hermione to shame while she strolled along beside him.
Completely silent as he walked with a haunting grace.
'Just like a ghost,' he mused as he hurried to catch up.
-
Dear Readers,
So I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! It was my quickest update ever! Just before I was typing this out I was looking around on the site I normally use to watch my anime on and there's a notice saying that they're pulling the plug on Naruto Shippuuden...I'm horrified...but then again it is April Fools today. Oh god I hope it's a joke. Please let it be a joke. Of course they'll do all like 150 episodes of filler but once it gets amazing and awesome they pull the plug. Oh man. It had better be an April Fools joke...but that would be really unprofessional of them and it's a really good site. Aw man. This sucks. Now I'm all worried. Ugh. It would be really expensive to start buying the manga on top of all my others and then my book addiction. Hmph. If this its not a joke I'm going to scream. There's no way I'm going to go out and buy all of the Shippuuden volumes...I don't have anymore room on my book shelves... but I don't want to read them online....ugh. Thanks for reading
Yours Truly,
ForeverFalling.
PS. Don't foget to review.
