Finally I can post this! I was unfortunately away from my computer for a couple weeks, and so could not post this when I actually had it written. But, it's here and I hope you enjoy it.

I was very pleased at the response to the boggart chapter. I thought a lot about that particular scene and considered several different things that the boggart could turn into, but I thought that the one I chose would perhaps be most accurate for Hitsugaya, a young Shinigami Captain that just fought in a war. Everything that he saw, and did, would have been very traumatic, and those memories and emotions would not just 'go away'.

Disclaimer: All rights for Harry Potter and Bleach go to their respective owners.

The class was whispering, filling the room with quiet murmurs. Toshiro Hitsugaya looked around at them.

He walked out.

He had peace for about two minutes before the Trio came rushing out of the door calling his name. Toshiro walked on, doing his best to ignore them until Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him into the nearest empty classroom. "What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron was even paler than usual, the splash of freckles across his face standing out. Toshiro looked calmly at him.

"That was my greatest fear."

"Y-yeah, but… What?!"

Toshiro shook his head and brushed past the three children. He paused with his hand on the door handle and said softly, "You know what I am. What do you think a Death God does, truly?"

Hermione spoke up, her voice quivering. "I thought… I mean, you said you send on souls, not – that."

"We are warriors. We must be, to protect humans and Shinigami from Hollows." Toshiro's hand tightened on the handle, and when he next spoke it was no more than an exhalation of breath. "And ourselves."

"Our–" Hermione gasped. "Civil war?"

"Not quite. Just…" Toshiro shook his head and opened the door. "I'm not going to talk about it."

This time they let him go, this time they didn't follow him and demand answers. Not that Hitsugaya was going to give them any. They didn't need to know the horrors that he'd seen, the things that people could do to each other and the lengths they would go to to achieve their aims. No, they did not need to know. They were only children.

Let them keep their naivety, he thought. He turned a corner and passed out of the castle and into the dimming afternoon light. They will not have it for much longer, especially if Potter develops his powers further. I must teach him control.

For all of our sakes.

In no time at all, the story of the boggart and Toshiro's greatest fear had spread to every teacher, student, and ghost on campus. The teachers, after he had had a long talk with Professor McGonagall, tried to act normally, but even they gave him worried looks out of the corner of their eyes once in a while. The students acted as expected – some avoided him, some tried to torment him, some tried to get the full story out of him, but most just whispered and stared. He was used to this, however, as the youngest Captain in the history of the Soul Society, and simply ignored them.

Toshiro wanted to work with Harry at least three times a week, but the boy always seemed to have something to do: one day it was homework, another day he had agreed to play wizarding chess with Ron, and one particularly irritating day he simply avoided Toshiro altogether. He knew that Potter's problem with him had to do with the boggart and Toshiro's fear, but just knowing the problem wasn't enough to fix it. Finally, Toshiro had had enough. He cornered the boy after a Care of Magical Creatures class after telling Ron and Hermione to leave them alone.

"Do you not understand the importance of controlling your powers?"

Potter stared at him, eyes wide, clutching his bag protectively to his chest. Toshiro turned his most fearsome glare on the boy.

"If you don't learn to control them you will end up hurting someone one day. They will explode out of nowhere, or leak and warp your surroundings, or they will destroy you from the inside."

Harry gulped and touched the restrainer around his wrist.

"That won't help you." Toshiro stalked up to him and grabbed his arm, forcibly holding it up so that Harry could easily see the restraining band. "This is temporary, only meant to stay on for as long as it takes for you to learn to control your powers on your own." He pulled out his wand and held it up. Harry's eyes fixed nervously on it and he backed up a step. "You don't honestly–" He broke off, looking to his right at the Forbidden Forest a few yards away. Hagrid had been showing them how to find flobberworms that day, who apparently liked the damp soil of the Forest.

A reiatsu was coming from in there, strange and tumbling over and over itself, as if there were two beings constantly fighting for dominance. Toshiro frowned, unsure what that meant. Then Potter shifted his weight nervously and he pushed the boy back, away from the Forest and behind himself.

"We are not alone," he said softly, but before he could elaborate a dark shape exploded from the bushes and slammed into Toshiro, knocking him roughly onto his back. He heard Harry shriek, but was occupied with the large creature standing over him.

It was a dog, a large one, with matted black fur clinging to its sides and sliding over protruding ribs. The dog's long ears were pressed back against its head, and it was leaning down over Toshiro with one heavy paw on his chest, claws tearing through his shirt and digging painfully into his skin.

Then it growled, showing inch-long, yellow teeth. Toshiro loosed a rumbling growl of his own that vibrated in his chest. Hyourinmaru was angry, and his power curled in his eyes. Toshiro was aware that Harry was running, his footsteps disappearing into the distance, but he was focused on his own fight. The dog snapped its jaws and he grabbed its head, wresting it away from his neck.

Suddenly, the dog yelped and scrambled off him, darting back into the Forbidden Forest. Toshiro rolled to his knees and twisted around just in time to see the shadow of a man also disappearing into the Forest. He sank back, breathing deeply, and pressed a hand to his chest. When he pulled it away it was spotted with flecks of blood.

"Hitsugaya!"

"To'iro!"

Hagrid and Potter were running across the grass towards him, the ground shaking in time to the big man's steps. Toshiro groaned and stood, brushing off his knees. Hagrid was in front of Harry and pounded to a stop before the Captain. "Wha' 'appened? You all righ'?"

Toshiro nodded and bent to retrieve his wand from where it had rolled when he had released it to grab the dog. "I'm fine. It's gone. Some – It's gone."

"'arry said – a dog?"

"There was, but…" He looked back at the looming trees of the Forbidden Forest. "It's gone now."

Harry took an anxious step forward. "You're bleeding!"

"Did it bite ya?" Hagrid suddenly looked grim. Toshiro shook his head and relief crossed the giant man's face.

"No, it had its paw on me – its claws scratched me."

The worry was back. "You need ta go ta Madam Pomfrey, get those cleaned up. Come on, I'll take ya."

"You don't need to. It's already stopped bleeding."

That was true. The four scratches were shallow and had stopped bleeding because of the pressure he had been keeping on them. Now they just stung.

"No, yall go to Madam Pomfrey." Hagrid's voice was firm, and he reached out to put his hand on Toshiro's back to steer him in the direction of the castle. "Now, b'fore they get infected."

Toshiro sighed but allowed this. He knew to clean them, and would have, but now he had no choice but to explain everything to Madam Pomfrey – and then she would call McGonagall, and she would report it to Dumbledore –

He shot a glare back at Harry, but immediately aborted it. The boy's expression reminded him of Momo's, the first time he had been injured badly enough to have to go to Division 4, when she had seen him wrapped in bandages. He swallowed and looked ahead.

"A dog? But why would it attack you?"

Toshiro sighed, then winced as Madam Pomfrey jabbed another needle into his arm. "I don't know, Professor. I didn't do anything to it."

Professor McGonagall looked like she wanted to scold him for something but wasn't sure what for. She settled on setting her lips in a thin line. "And why did it run off?"

Hitsugaya wanted to hit his head against a wall. Several times. "As I told you before, I stabbed my wand into its side," he replied icily. "It felt the magic and ran."

"Don't take that tone with me, young man!" McGonagall looked over at Madam Pomfrey, who was putting away her supplies. "Perhaps you should give him something to help him sleep, just as a precaution."

"A sedative!" Toshiro leapt to his feet and started backing rapidly away. "Oh, no. No, no, no. You are not giving me a sedative! They are just scratches! I am fine!"

Even Madam Pomfrey seemed surprised by McGonagall's request. "Minerva, despite his tone, he is right. He doesn't even need to miss any school."

"I am not talking about the scratches." She shot a significant look at the medi-witch. Toshiro frowned, then his eyes widened.

"This is about the boggart, isn't it?" Both witches turned to face him, pitying expressions on their faces. He scoffed and shook his head in disgust. "This is about the boggart. Look, there's nothing wrong with me! That was just–" He cut himself off. Whatever he said about the matter, the fact was that a child his 'age' shouldn't have fears like that. They should fear normal things, like spiders and the dark. Not blood and death and ruin.

In truth, there was nothing he could say to excuse what the boggart had turned into. He closed his mouth and looked away.

"Mr. Hitsugaya."

McGonagall's voice was soft, softer than he had ever heard it before, and in surprise he looked up to see a gentle expression on her face. It was quite disarming.

The old witch searched for the right words. "It's just… We want to help you. We want to make sure that you – that you are all right."

Toshiro's eyes narrowed. "I am perfectly all right." His tone was full of warning, but that only seemed to make McGonagall more concerned.

"Physically, yes. But…" She trailed off and Toshiro sighed again, seeing now what they wanted.

"My mind is also fine."

The lines deepened in her face. "Perhaps you think that, but–"

Toshiro scoffed, cutting her off. "Perhaps? All due respect, Professor, but I know my mind much better than anyone else, and if I say it is fine then it is fine."

After a steadying breath, McGonagall continued in that sickeningly worried voice. "You are defensive. As a teacher, I have seen many cases of students who have been…traumatized in some way before they come to school."

Traumatized? Oh, Hitsugaya knew what trauma she was talking about, but if anyone tried to traumatize him he would tear them apart. In fact, he had torn several people apart. Literally and metaphorically.

The temperature in the room dropped as McGonagall continued to speak. "And it's okay. You can talk to us – we're here to help students, in whatever way they need it. I'm sure, whatever it is you are dealing with at home, we can contact someone in your government and they will do whatever is necessary to help."

Whatever it is. Oh, how he would like to tell her – show her – exactly what he had to deal with at home. See if she would be nearly so willing to help after that. But if she was serious and actually sent a letter home – that first owl had somehow gotten through by magic, so he did not doubt that they could get another one – If they sent a letter home and ruined everything that he had worked so hard for– I signed up to be a Shinigami because I had to. But I will be damned if they take that away from me. Not after Aizen and the War and the pain. Not after we won. We survived.

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his angry thoughts. "Kindly bring the temperature back to normal, young one. You are going to turn us all into icicles."

With a start Toshiro realized that the temperature had dropped so much that Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were shivering. With an apologetic murmur he cut off the stream of furious reiatsu leaking from him and the air once again warmed up.

"Thank you." Headmaster Dumbledore smiled gently and removed his hand from Hitsugaya's shoulder. "Now, what got you so worked up that you preformed accidental magic?"

He's right. I'm a Captain – I should be able to contain my reiatsu. Silently berating himself, Toshiro spoke. "Professor McGonagall believes that something is wrong with my life at home. I am firmly against that."

"Are you? Then we should take your word for it."

"Albus!"

McGonagall spoke sharply but Dumbledore shot her a pointed look. She closed her mouth. Dumbledore turned back to Toshiro. "Now, I hear that you were attacked by a dog. Are you injured?"

"No, Headmaster. Just a scratch."

"Then you should go to dinner and replenish your strength. Such accidental magic will have taken its toll on you." He gave Toshiro a firm push in the direction of the door. "Go on, now. I wish a word with Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall."

Bristling a little and yet relieved at the abrupt dismissal, Toshiro closed the door behind him. He took the time it took to get down to the Great Hall to compose himself, and when he walked in and sat down not a trace of his previous anger was evident in his features or body language.

And if he ate a little more than usual that night, it was because he hadn't eaten since the day before.

When the door shut behind the small boy, Dumbledore's gentle expression shifted into a thoughtful one. So that boy was the one responsible for destroying the monsters the past two years. He was the one with the crisp, cold presence that would wink out of existence once it entered the school.

Well, one question was solved. But now a whole new set had sprung up in its place…

"Albus?" Poppy questioned, breaking into his thoughts. "You wanted a word with us?"

"Yes, I did." He turned his gaze on the two witches. "That boy, he is different from the others."

"Quite right." Minerva stared at the door through which Hitsugaya had gone. "I worry about him – now more than ever. After last year, and now the boggart… I have this weird feeling that I need to keep an eye on him, keep him safe."

"I expect he can do that well enough on his own." Dumbledore didn't even blink at their questioning looks. "How did he say he warded off the dog?"

Minerva snorted in a very un-ladylike fashion. "He said he poked it with his wand. A lie, if I have ever heard one!"

"What can we do about it, though?" Poppy was holding a bottle of antiseptic and spinning it in her fingers. "He is obviously not going to give us the truth. Hagrid was there – perhaps he saw."

Dumbledore was shaking his head before she had even finished speaking. "No, I spoke to Hagrid when he told me of the incident. When he and Harry arrived the dog was already gone. He knows no more than we do."

The witches seemed to take a step back. "Then–" Minerva began.

"We shall let him be," Dumbledore said firmly, his mind made up. The witches started to protest, but he held up a hand and they fell silent. "Trust me on this. That boy is different. There is something about him… I shall look into the matter. Do not question him. Allow him to do as he wishes. If he does not want us digging into his home life, then we will honor his wish."

"But Albus, there is something not right at his home. His greatest fear – no child should fear that. We are his teachers – we have to make sure he is all right."

"We are his teachers," Dumbledore said, forestalling Poppy's agreement. "But in this case we shall leave him be. Trust him to come to us when he is ready. You know him. Would he readily give up his secrets if we constantly question him?"

Reluctantly, the witches shook their heads. He pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "Very well, then." He turned, strode to the door, and paused. "You are right in that something is off at his home. But something tells me that what we believe and what is actually happening are two very different things. Leave things be for now. In time we will know."

With that he strode through the doors and headed for the Great Hall. Toshiro Hitsugaya… Or Hitsugaya Toshiro, as the boy probably preferred, was a mystery. One that he had never come across before in all his years at Hogwarts. He was not just a simple student – that much was clear. His presence likely signaled that things were about to change. For better or worse…well, they would see. In time.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore was in the mood for pudding.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was soon every student's favorite class. Professor Lupin always made each lesson interesting, even if nothing as extraordinary as the boggart happened. On the other hand, Snape was downright hostile. His reputation as the Bat of the Dungeons was never more true.

Toshiro's detention with him had been bad, but not as awful as expected. Snape had not talked to him the entire hour, except to tell him to scour the cauldrons clean or polish the beakers. He sat behind his desk with a large stack of parchment piled in front of him, occasionally looking up to make sure Toshiro was not somehow using magic to speed up the work.

His tolerant mood probably had to do with the boggart and the dog. All of the teachers seemed to be giving him an easier time, but after a few days their new moods were really grating on Toshiro's nerves. He wanted to snap at Flitwick when the man gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder during a particularly difficult Charms lesson. He seriously considered performing a Soul Burial on Binns, and he wished he could freeze over the whole school during McGonagall's lessons.

Surprisingly, the only teacher who did not seem to get on his nerves was Lupin, who didn't act any differently around Toshiro. He found it strange – the man who had witnessed the boggart first-hand treated him no differently than a student whose greatest fear was a severed hand. Still, it was refreshing.

After the dog, however, Harry was more open to training. He seemed to be under the impression that Toshrio had used some sort of powerful Japanese magic to ward off the dog, despite the fact that the Captain continued with his 'poked the dog with his wand' story. Toshiro set him to meditating in the dorms before dinner when no one was there. Even if the boy was unable to do it, at least it gave the Shinigami some relative quiet time. After five weeks people were finally starting to ignore Toshiro again. He was no longer stared and whispered at if he walked down the halls.

When he went into the Forbidden Forest to try to track down the dog or that strange man, however, he was unable to find a single trace of either. It irritated him, but after so long he gave up looking. They would be miles away by now.

During one of Harry's attempted meditations, he threw up his hands and cried, "I just can't do it!"

Toshiro had jumped at the boy's sudden shout, and glared at him. "You can do it. It just takes practice."

"I can't do it!" Potter flopped down onto the bed. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"Not as far as I can see."

"Then why can't I do it?"

Toshiro hated to admit it, but, "I don't know. I never had a problem meditating."

And since he had never had a problem meditating, he had never had to attend classes where the instructors worked more closely with students. Thus, he didn't know how to help Potter. He would ask for help from Soul Society, but he was reluctant to ask for help in this area. The Head-Captain had given him reluctant permission to teach him this to help him control his powers, but hadn't wanted the information to get out that a Captain was teaching a boy in the World of the Living how to use Shinigami powers. They had just gotten used to Kurosaki, but a new Substitute may not go over well.

"What happens when you clear your mind?" Toshiro asked. Harry shrugged.

"I can't."

Well, at least that gives him a goal to work towards. "I'll look up how to clear your mind."

Five weeks after the incident with the boggart and the dog, people were finally starting to ignore Toshiro again. It was a nice change, to go back to the way things were. He had never liked being the center of attention, and it was so much easier to win a fight when an opponent underestimated you.

One day after classes Toshiro was curled up in his corner reading a book with Athena perched on his knee when the Trio arrived and looked at the message board. There was a new flier announcing that the first Hogsmead trip was coming up, and if they hadn't gotten their permission slip signed yet then they had better send it by owl to their parents.

The Head-Captain had signed Toshiro's during the summer, when he had briefly gone back to Soul Society. It had been one of the most embarrassing moments of Toshiro's life, having to ask the Head-Captain to sign it.

"You aren't going?!"

He was shaken out of his concentration by the loud, baffled shout from the other side of the room. Athena screeched, flapped her wings, and dove out of the window. Toshiro glared at the children.

"The Dursleys wouldn't sign it."

Well, no wonder. He did blow up the aunt.

"But, how are you going to go?"

Toshiro groaned. "He isn't," he called across the room. The three turned to face him. "If his permission slip isn't signed, then he is not going to Hogsmead. It's that simple."

"But what about McGonagall?" Ron looked to Harry, who looked dejected. "I bet she'll sign it."

"She won't," Toshiro muttered. They didn't hear him.

"I'll try," Harry said, but he didn't sound very confident.

Hitsugaya was correct that McGonagall wouldn't sign Harry's permission slip. He was present after Transfiguration class one day when the boy asked, and although McGonagall was sympathetic, she refused to sign it. She was not, as she explained while shooing frogs back into their box, his guardian. Therefore she had no legal power over Harry, other than what was given to her as his teacher and Head of House. And those powers did not extend to signing permission slips.

And when Harry protested, telling her what had happened over summer and that there's no way the Dursleys are going to sign it, the witch shook her head and replied that there was nothing that she could do to help him, and that Potter would just have to find some other way to occupy himself that day.

As they walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower, Toshiro said that he would stay at school and they could work on Harry's meditating, but the boy refused. He would not, as he said, subject himself to torture while he was supposed to be out having fun with the rest of the student body.

Toshiro's response was to say, "You are over-dramatizing the subject," and let it go. If the boy wanted to sit and sulk instead of getting work done, that was his choice.

When the day came, however, and the students gathered to travel down to Hogsmead, Harry argued one last time with McGonagall, and when that provided no results, stood sullenly in the corner. After his papers were checked by Filch, who was muttering about muddy students hyped up on sugar, Hitsugaya went over to the boy. Hermione and Ron were already there.

"What if we sneak you out?" Ron was saying. "There's so many kids here that no one'll notice you."

"With McGonagall here? Not a chance," Hermione said, then tilted her head in thought. "What if you wear your Invisibility Cloak?"

Hitsugaya snorted softly, making the three jump. "Granger telling Potter how to break the rules? What is this?"

Hermione blushed. "I'm not - I just…"

"Don't worry about it." Toshiro gave her a nod. "It's not as if the rest of us are going to tell the teachers."

Hermione looked only a little reassured, but just as she was about to say something Filch yelled, "Get moving! Make sure you're back by nightfall or I'll stick you in the dungeons!"

"Thank you, Mr. Filch," McGonagall said hurriedly. "Be safe, children, and have fun. Follow the older students until you get to town."

With that the students started milling their way down the trail, with the upper classmen ahead and moving quickly. The third years trampled after them, chattering eagerly about what they were going to do. Toshiro heard something called 'Honeydukes' mentioned often.

Hermione turned to hug Harry. "We'll bring you back lots of stuff, don't worry!"

"Thanks," Harry muttered, staring after the students.

"Cheer up, mate." Ron slapped Harry on the back. "McGonagall'll come around eventually."

No she won't, Hitsugaya thought, but nodded to Harry and turned after the other two.

The walk down to Hogsmead only took about half an hour, but it seemed to take much longer to Toshiro, who had to listen to Ron and Hermione planning what they were going to do. Toshiro quickly excused himself from their plans once he learned that 'Honeydukes' was a candy shop and once they said that they were going to get butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. He seriously doubted that any bartender would give thirteen year olds beer, but then again, these were wizards. Who knew what their legal drinking age was.

So, once they arrived at the town he broke off from the children and decided to wander around until he found somewhere interesting to pass the time.

Wizarding towns were very odd, he decided, watching a vender trying to sell what appeared to be self-sharpening scissors. Did they rely on magic for everything?

He reasoned that they must, as nearly everything that moved was powered by magic. A door opened by itself when a wizard approached it; chairs scooted back for several witches to sit on; there was even a fan hovering above the door to a shop that would blow cool air on customers.

While Toshiro could see why the Wizarding community would like these things and want to use magic all the time, he wondered if there was a point at which too much magic was actually bad for the wizards. At some point they were bound to lose the ability to do anything by themselves, and would end up depending on magic for the most basic and everyday things. And private things too, though he supposed someone had already thought up that idea and was using it for their pleasure (wizards are human, after all).

As he walked around the town and watched its inhabitants go about their lives, an uncomfortable sensation came over him, one that he knew only too well.

He was being watched.

Trying to act calm, Hitsugaya turned down a side street to cut down and out of the main streets quicker. If it was that man that had driven the dog off of him, he would definitely like to talk to him. And if it was the dog, well...there would be less talking going on.

As he passed into a small residential area the feeling lessened and he paused, wondering what to do next. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, and when he turned to look the edge of a dark cloak was disappearing around a corner. He followed it.

In this way he was led out of the town, away from the witches and wizards and magical objects. He briefly stopped to retrieve his wand from his boot. Now armed, he continued after the man.

It has to be that man, he thought, slowing to turn a corner. That reiatsu - it has the same...depth.

Soon the town had disappeared behind him and he had to run to keep up with the man, who had lengthened his lead in the rolling hills so that Hitsugaya would only continue to catch glimpses of him. If he was inexperienced he would have long ago used shunpo to catch up with him, but many factors, not the least of which was the fact that he was a Shinigami surrounded by wizards, kept him from doing so.

Toshiro growled, growing tired of the chase. If it didn't end soon…

And then, it did.

All of a sudden he crested a hill and looked down to see a small house, built of wood and badly sagging, in front of him. He looked around, but both the man and his reiatsu had disappeared. Toshiro sighed and studied the house. Its paint was chipped so badly that he wasn't even sure what the original color was. The roof was bowing in the middle, and the windows were boarded shut. It didn't look like anyone had been in there in many years, and yet…

Hitsugaya watched the house for a few more minutes before turning away. He wasn't nearly so foolish as to go blindly charging into an unknown house in the middle of nowhere when no one knew where he was, and especially after being led here by an unknown man with strange reiatsu. He would gather information on it and come back later.

Hidden in the bushes not far away, a man watched the boy turn away from the Shack. He nodded, glad to see that the boy had some sense. He had even had his wand out during the chase.

I need to find out who - what he is, the man thought. But first… He turned towards the Shrieking Shack. It looked less ominous in the morning light than it had the previous night. I go after my prey.