Here's another chapter. From now on, I think things are going to be a hell of a lot more interesting.
Chapter TenIchigo's Mistake
Umbridge asserted her authority quicker than she had the year before, but thankfully, Dumbledore still held a good amount of power over her decisions.
"The nerve of that hag trying to take control again! She's ruining everything!" Orion raged as the Shinigami met up with him in his office. They made sure there was a Silencing Charm so that no one could overhear.
"Yamamoto-sou-taichou will need to be informed of Aizen and the Ministry of Magic being stupid. Taking action will be difficult. We will need people who can work outside Hogwarts." Renji pondered.
Ichigo thought of the two Vizard working as double agents but he knew he couldn't tell anyone about that.
"But they can't let more Shinigami come because Seireitei is still being rebuilt." Hitsugaya said with a frown.
"How about Inoue, Ishida, Chad and Rukia?" Ichigo suggested. "I'm sure they can help."
"We'll contact them about it, then." Matsumoto decided.
"If the agree, plant them in Hogsmeade. It may be the best place." Orion suggested. "We'll also need to find out how to get in with the Order."
"That is the organization Professor Dumbledore set up to fight against Voldemort, is it not?" Hitsugaya inquired. "It may come in handy to know what sort of plans they have for fighting Voldemort."
"We could get Professor Dumbledore in on everything." Ichigo suggested. "It would be better than working as sporadically as we have. We still haven't got anywhere in working against Voldemort, other than protect Harry."
"Not yet." Hitsugaya said. "Yamamoto-sou-taichoou told us to try keeping knowledge of Shinigami to a minimum. We will only tell him if the circumstances ask for it." Hitsugaya said firmly. The other three Shinigami agreed to that.
On Monday, the results of the Quidditch tryouts were up.
Hitsugaya and Ginny had made it as Chasers and Ichigo and Renji had made it as Beaters.
"You did it!" Matsumoto exclaimed happily, glomping all three men. Hitsugaya looked absolutely immune to it while Ichigo and Renji were blushing heavily.
"Wish she'd hug me like that…" Ron muttered under his breath only to have Hermione and Ginny smack him upside the head. "Ow! What did I say?"
"Have you heard the latest news?" Neville asked as they walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
"What?" Harry queried, looking curious.
"Umbridge got her Inquisitorial Squad again… and guess who's the leader?" Neville said.
"Malfoy!" the Golden trio said all together, grimaces set on their faces.
"He'll screw around with us for sure." Ron said sullenly.
"He'll target Hitsugaya a lot too. He really seems to hate him for always showing him up in class." Hermione said.
"He asks for it." Hitsugaya said with a nonchalant shrug. "He can try what he likes. It won't bug me."
"You sure about that? Malfoy can be really horrible." Neville remarked, sounding concerned.
"I've handled worse." Hitsugaya responded, keeping his cool.
In Potions, Snape tried to get into another Shinigami's mind: Hitsugaya's. this led Snape to understanding a certain concept up close and personal: brain freeze.
The Golden trio's prediction had been right as Malffoy tormented them all constantly. They ignored him for the most part, until Aizen's class.
They were practicing the fourth Way of Destruction, Byakurai. As Ichigo wasn't exactly adept at kidou, he was bound to be mocked.
"You're pathetic, Kurosaki." Malfoy sneered, looking downright gleeful. He was taking advantage of the fact that Ichigo couldn't hurt him without getting in serious trouble. "I doubt you could protect your own mother!"
Malfoy gagged as Ichigo's hands wrapped around his throat in a tight death grip. Malfoy met Ichigo's eyes to see that they had turned into a frightening gold color with black sclera.
The other students screamed out in alarm.
"Let him go, Ichigo. You're killing him!" Hermione cried out in alarm. Harry and Ron tried to pry Ichigo's fingers off of Malfoy with little avail.
Seeing how dire the situation was becoming, Hitsugaya acted quickly.
"Hado 4: Byakurai!" Hitsugaya cried out and the white burst of light went straight through Ichigo's shoulder. He instantly dropped Malfoy.
"Malfoy needs to be brought to the Hospital Wing!" Hermione said and Crabbe and Goyle took Malfoy out of the classroom.
Professor McGonagall had arrived, hearing the commotion and she was staring with a mix of anger and shock at Ichigo.
"Never have I seen such aggression!" she exclaimed, sounding outraged. "Come with me, Mr. Kurosaki."
Ichigo followed her without a sound, his eyes shadowed by his hair. The moment they left, the whispers started.
"He nearly killed Malfoy!" Seamus exclaimed. "I know Malfoy's a right git but that was going a little too far."
"I've never seen anyone get that angry before." Harry said. He'd only felt anger akin to that when Sirius had died.
Hitsugaya, Renji and Matsumoto looked at each other. This incident was bad… this new found fear everyone had of Ichigo would only make things worse for their mission.
No one noticed that Aizen looked downright pleased with the turn of events.
I would have had more for this chapter but I got confused over what I should do. There are two different ideas I have… both with an equal amount of pros and cons (I think). So I'll leave it to you to decide which path sounds better. Both my beta and I are stumped over this, so in order to go on, I'll need some input.
The Shinigami erase everyone's memory (save Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall) of the incident and things go on accordingly.
The Shinigami don't erase the memory and Ichigo shunned (for the most part), dealing with Umbridge and Ministry for incident, etc.
Choose which one sounds better for the long run. My mind's on the verge of exploding from trying to choose by myself.