Ichigo, unlike Harry, often woke up before the knocks and shrill, nonsensical shrieks of Petunia and was, as he woke up to the pale light of the sunrise just beginning to break through the gaps in the curtain, suddenly aware that he was the only person amongst his roommates that was used to being awake at such ungodly hours. He sighed to himself as he stretched and his joints popped, nether sound heard over the

almost comedically loud and consistent snores of the other boys as they continued to slumber on, showing no signs of stirring. Resigning himself to getting dressed into the awfully loose, heavy school uniform, he began to smell the cooking breakfast from the nearby kitchens.

Shoving his socks and shoes over his feet, he made his way into the common room, still empty of all other people.

A female prefect walked out from her own dorm a while later, pausing for a moment as she saw the first year she distinctly remembered from the sorting the night before - the one with the garish hair, the cold eyes, the Slytherin-esque face, and what must have been a record for longest time ever taken to be sorted. His scowling face, however, was not directed towards her, instead to the novel he held in his hands, old in a mundane way rather than by the Hogwarts definition, the pages slightly warped and the cover scratched.

She cleared her throat and he looked up as she had wished him to.

"Why are you up?" Ichigo just shrugged in response, unsure of what to say. She sighed, hands on hips but still smiling broadly "Come on, they'll be starting breakfast about now." She watched as he complied unsurely and rose to his feet, smoothing out his uniform before following, still feeling somewhat strange as he followed.

"I'm Amethyst," She said, pushing away a few strands of coily hair that had fallen out of place as they sat down beside each other at the grand table, followed by a small Gryffindor girl Ichigo knew. "Amethyst Dunn." She smiled again, flashing white teeth beneath subtly red-tinted lips "I'm the prefect this year so don't be scared to come to me or Gabe, gabriel Truman, if you have any questions."

He didn't smile back but the scowl eased a little "Ichigo Kurosaki," he introduced, it was the first time she had heard him speak.

They had been joined by Gabe about half an hour later as the table began to slowly grow in population, a few odd students scattered here and there, in groups not exceeding five.

"A first year is already awake?" he had asked the minute he saw Amethyst and the boy he would have had to have strained his mind to forget "On the first day, no less?"

"Yep." She had answered calmly as he took a seat and pile food item after food item onto his plate, creating a stack of breakfast foods before beginning to eat.

Ichigo had opted for the option of picking at bits of food laid across the table whenever he felt like it, making the amount he consumed appear to be less than he was sure it was if the fullness of his stomach meant anything at all.

When the rest of the boys from Ichigo's dorm walked down to breakfast, all clothed in robes they were stumbling over due to the remnants of sleep, the hall was nearing full but, in his wait for the schedule he had been told by Amethyst who had since left to reunite with the rest of her friends, Gabe included, Ichigo remained, tapping his blunt fingernails on the old wooden tabletop.

"Morning." he nodded as they filled in the space surrounding him, eyes still blurry and responses mumbled and muffled by yawns.

They woke up properly, however, as they ate. The conversation became alive. They were discussing people's experience within the magic community and who would know the most and least; they were talking about blood status even if they didn't wish to apply prejudice before it.

"I'm a Pureblood," Ernie explained as he leant on his elbows heavily, plate pushed away "But I really doubt I know any more than any of you have had the chance to learn. How about you, Ichigo?" he asked, thinking back to the previous night when the boy had been unperturbed to the point of oddness by the appearance of the ghosts, in a way no muggleborn could be.

Ichigo started, suddenly realising something he had not thought of yet. He drew his wand from his pocket and twirled it between his fingers as he fumbled around for a coherent response he had to eventually resign himself to being unable to give "I… don't know?" he began unsurely.

"What?" Wayne asked as he cocked his head to one side and the dark tendrils of his hair that were hanging in odd ways already fell over themselves.

"I don't know." Ichigo admitted with a bit more conviction and a shrug.

"How?" Justin asked, leaning closer to Ichigo from where he sat opposite.

Chigo flicked his wand though his fingers and back again. He exhaled. "My mum died when I was young, my dad never said anything and It's hardly like I can ask him anymore. Besides, apparently I know nothing about my mum anyway."

"Huh." Ernie said after a moment.

Harry overheard the conversation from the Hufflepuff table behind him mimicking their own and turned when he heard his cousin's voice.

"You really don't know," Harry turned on the bench, staring right at his cousin who sat behind Justin and across the table "All we know is that our mothers were sisters."

"And the surname I got from my mother should actually have been Evans. And that Masaki Kurosaki was not actually a person - Rose Evans, it's just weird."

Harry made a little murmur of agreement as Ichigo's roommates just stared at them as the contents of the conversation proved only to entirely bewilder them.

"I'm sorry," Ernie began "But what?"

That led to harry nudging Ron in the rib and both of them moving to the space the Hufflepuff first years had shifted to provide so harry and Ichigo could attempt to describe the situation to these people who had grown up in a magic environment yet were struggling to wrap their heads around the mundane oddities of their family lives.

"I give up!" Wayne conceded, raising his arms dramatically before falling forwards, arms impacting heavily upon the table top.

"Good," Ichigo shrugged as the bell chimed loudly, rising to his feet, picking up and crumpling slightly his schedule. "We have herbology - all of us." he gestured to his cousin and friend from the other house.

Ron sighed "How boring," as he pushed himself up to his feet, pushing his hair away from his face but not being bothered to tuck in his shirt that had promptly shifted from its place in the waistline of his trousers.

"At least my first lesson is with you." Harry shrugged as Ichigo offered him a hand up "You better not get us lost!"

"It's just as much your fault as it is mine if we get lost walking to a damn greenhouse."

"I s'pose."

They made their way through the halls, listening to their footsteps echo around the wide halls, and the paintings chatter in the large, old frames that were hung almost haphazardly to either side of them.

The halls began to fill a little more as they continued to walk, nearing the large, heavy doors they had realised as being characteristic for the old building. They walked out of the open door, into the cold of the outside, the damp of the air and the slightly overgrown grass that licked at the ankles of their trousers and, in Ron's case, the little sliver of his socks that were exposed.

In a moment or two, more first year Hufflepuffs and gryffindors, those unfamiliar with magic or with a particular liking for the subject looking excited, if perhaps, in the case of the former, a tad jittery, those who knew what was happening and, like Ron, were not too happy with the topic at hand walking with no particular intention to each step.

They were greeted at the entrance to the greenhouse by a stout witch with a face that, while not conventionally attractive, was certainly jolly and welcoming. She was dressed solely in earthy tones, her attire not particularly formal or well kept but certainly fitting for the archetype harry had constructed prior to their introduction of the herbology teacher.

She welcomed them into the greenhouse, full of plants, some that moved under their own jurisdiction. Some of the plants in the room were pretty in an unusual way, flowering in bright colours or strange shapes neither harry nor ichigo had ever deemed possible in nature, others somewhat grotesque and misshapen, formed in such ways it was almost an impossibility for their unaccustomed eyes to distinguish them as plants.

The air smelt just as strange as the odd classroom looked. Some plants smelled sweet and, as expected, flowery, there was a strong scent of soil and grass, among that the occasional tang of bitter unpleasantness wafting from plants overwhelmingly.

This was a wizarding lesson, Harry thought, catching Ichigo's eye as they both stared around, along with everyone else, And I now have to get used to this.

He almost scoffed at the prospect of finding normality in something that so far strayed from it. He very much doubted it was an accomplishable task but he didn't really mind - he would never mind a bit of childlike awe and wonderment.

Afterall, he had been robbed of his own childhood - he had been bullied both in his house and school, worked for hours on end, trapped in a cupboard under the stairs, left to befriend the spiders with whom he shared a room.

He was sure, should the Dursleys have had any modicum of a collective sense of humour between them, this whole debacle was far too surreal to actually be happening.

It just so happened, luckily enough, they did not.

A/N

This is kinda short - I promise most updates won't be.

Do you know how utterly ridiculous school uniforms are? Let me clarify, it's been about 30 degrees here this week, and we have still had to bring blazers to school we haven't had to wear them and were told explicitly we didn't have to wear them into school, out of school, in lessons, between lessons, or at lunch or break, but we have to bring them in! Why? All that'll do is make us lose them! Also, some gross old men have decided that they would like to approach young school girls in uniform around the area my school is in and try to get them into their cars - multiple occurrences within the last week and, apparently, men of different descriptions.

Then there's the boys' uniform! There was a news story recently about boys wearing their school's skirts (not because they wanted to, that really wouldn't make a news story) in protest to the school's lack of uniform shorts. At my school, boys were purposely ripping their school trousers, perhaps beyond repair and wasting the money spent on them, just so they could change into their PE shorts because it was 35 degrees on Wednesday!

They do realise we'd work better if we weren't overheating, being strangled by ties, and worrying about having to walk home, right?

I'll stop ranting now...

Anyway, a serious thanks to you all!

All the best,

We'reAllABitOdd