SO SO SORRY! MY COMPUTER BROKE, AND IT TOKE FOREVER TO FIX! WHEN IT BROKE, I HAD NOTHING WRITTEN, SO I HOPE THIS WILL DO FOR NOW!
13. Prelude to a Party
Rukia arrived back at Grimmauld Place to find Ichigo had returned. He looked pretty pissed off about something, so she decided not to give him Grimmjow's message just yet.
Something else she wanted to avoid, if at all possible, was him seeing her wounds. He'd completely flip out if he knew that she'd gone and fought an Espada-class Hollow without enlisting Toshiro's help.
Then, if he did inquire about it, she'd have to tell him about Grimmjow, and she was unsure of his reaction towards that news. He might be miffed that he hadn't saved Rukia, but rather one of his rivals; or he might be glad that Grimmjow had saved. He probably wouldn't take well to the news that Grimmjow was in the area either way, though.
So, of course, the best thing to do would be to just avoid Ichigo until she could get some privacy to heal her wounds with Kidou.
"Where have you been?"
Scratch that...alright, Plan B.
"Nowhere, but I did kind of fall down the stairs," Rukia said, holding out one of her bruised arms.
"Liar," Ichigo growled.
"...Would you believe that I..."
"No, because you started off your excuse with 'would you believe.'" Ichigo interrupted.
He narrowed his eyes at her, "I'm not in the best of moods, Rukia. So tell me where you were."
"Fine, I was out fighting an Arrancar. But I killed it, so don't worry."
"By yourself? Where was Toshiro?" Ichigo's voice grew dark.
"It would have been suspicious, Ichigo! And to tell the truth, I did end up having some trouble with the Arrancar, you're right, I shouldn't have gone alone. But Grimmjow's in the area and he helped me!"
"Grimmjow?" Ichigo's surprise helped break through his foul mood.
"Yes!" Rukia grabbed the life-line as she saw it. "And he gave me a message to tell you that he wants to see you as soon as possible!" Though definitely not in those exact words.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Why would he want to see me?"
"You idiot, does it matter!? We're leaving for Hogwarts in less than week, and you'll be hard pressed to go see him before we leave!" Rukia scolded, poking Ichigo in the chest.
Ichigo scowled, but it was his usual scowl, as if he had gotten over his funk.
Good, I don't like dealing with him when he's like that.
And then they heard Mrs. Weasley's shriek.
They turned towards the voice, "What's wrong!?"
"Booklists have arrived," Ron said casually, "About time, I thought they'd forgotten, they usually come much earlier than this..."
Harry quickly scanned his...
"Only four new ones...The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk; Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard; Magick Creatures of the Nighte by Katherine Creepe and Youkai, Mononoke, Ayakashi and Other Japanese Monsters by Haraura Sukeki."
CRACK.
Fred and George Apparated next to Harry, who wasn't even surprised.
"We figure that book about Japanese monsters was assigned because of all the Shinigami," Fred said casually.
"Haraura Sukeki is a weird name though, even for someone from Japan," George commented.
Meanwhile, Ron had gone slack-jawed, looking into his envelope.
"What's wrong with you, Ronnie?" Fred asked, getting up to look at what Ron what staring at over his shoulder.
...
"Prefect? Prefect?"
George lunged forward at Fred's words, grabbing Ron's envelope and turned it upside down, causing a gold-scarlet badge to fall out.
"There has to be a mistake," George said.
"No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect."
The twins turned to look at Harry, "We thought you'd get it for certain!"
"We thought Dumbledore was bound to pick you!"
Ron held the badge out to Harry, as if he really was holding Harry's badge, and that this was all some huge mistake.
Harry took it, and as he was examining the badge, Hermione, closely followed by a black cat, burst through the door.
Her eyes locked onto the badge immediately.
"I knew it! Me too, Harry, me too!"
"No, not me, Ron's the prefect."
"...What?"
"Ron's prefect, not me," Harry repeated/
"What? But, I mean...you're sure?"
She turned around almost guiltily to face Ron.
"It's my name on the letter," he said glumly.
"I...I, uh...well, wow! Well done, Ron! That's really..."
"Unexpected?" George suggested.
"No, no, it's not...Ron's done loads of...he's really..."
In the middle of this awkward moment, Mrs. Weasley came bustling through the doorway.
"Ginny said the booklists have come at last. If you give them to me, I'll take them over to Diagon Alley this afternoon and get your books while you're packing. Ron, I'll have to get you more pajamas, these are at least six inches too short, I can't believe how fast you're growing...what color would you like?"
"Get him red and gold to match his new badge," George said in a not-very-subtle voice.
"Match his what?" Mrs. Weasley asked absently.
"His badge. His lovely...shiny...new...prefect's badge."
"...His...but...Ron, you're not...?"
Ron held up the badge that he had just retrieved from Harry.
Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek of joy.
Ichigo and Rukia ran to the boys' room the moment they heard Mrs. Weasley's scream, but Toshiro was faster.
"Is something wrong!?" he asked frantically.
Unfortunately, this made him vulnerable to Mrs. Weasley's joyfulness. After just releasing Ron from a death-hug, she turned around and promptly suffocated Toshiro in another hug.
...Why me? Why does this always happen to ME? Toshiro thought desperately.
"I know! We'll have a party for Ron tonight, right after I get back from Diagon Alley!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed excitedly, bounding off, leaving Toshiro standing there, mildly disheveled.
"...Will someone explain to me what just happened?" he asked cluelessly as Ichigo and Rukia came running up.
"Is something wrong!?"
Toshiro turned to them, "You tell me."
"Let us explain," Fred offered.
"You see, Ronnie here just got a prefects' badge; meaning that everyone in the family has gotten a prefects' badge!" George said mock-joyfully.
"Except for us, because apparently we're the next-door neighbors," Fred commented.
"And Mother is so happy that little Ronnie is a prefect that she's decided to throw a party~!"
"Tonight!" Fred added, feeling the need to get the last word in.
"A party won't be bad!" Rukia exclaimed. In fact, it might cheer Ichigo up some more!