I do not own anything
The world has not ended yet. That's good... I think.
Why does there have to be a three week break in the manga? Ugh...
Anyway, enjoy the next chapter!
"But what's the point? You two hated each other on sight, but you never even met before that! I don't get it..." Liana mumbled. In the past week, she had managed to get through her grounding well enough, and, true to his word, her father had convinced Mrs. Weasley to let Ron and Hermione to come over for a day. The girls were currently trying to convince the boys to at least try and be friends, as neither really understood the purpose of the Malfoy/Weasley rivalry.
Their debate was interrupted as they heard her father speak in a dialect that was most certainly not English, or European for that matter.
"-Shihoin Yoruichi ka?" The four teens stilled before Liana peeked into an open doorway. She recognized the kido around the door as ones that kept reiatsu in, so that no one would be able to sense it from the outside. Apparently, the door hadn't been closed all the way, and had opened on its own. She looked in to see her father facing a large, disgusting looking purple screen. On the screen were two rows of people in a similar outfit to what her father was wearing in the Department of Mysteries, with an old man sitting at the end of the make shift path.
"Shihoin Yoruichi wa daijobu desu," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Rokubantai ka?"
Liana whispered a translation charm on the door so her friends could understand.
"Squad six is fine, sir," a redheaded man said from next to the braided woman Liana recognized from Yoruichi's memories. "Rikichi's been having trouble with the hell butterflies, but that always happens."
"What is the last thing you heard from Shihoin?" he asked.
"Lady Yoruichi sent a butterfly this morning," a short, severe looking woman reported from near the end of the left line. "She has recovered from the Avada Kedavra curse Riddle put on her and has reported that Riddle plans on attacking the Hogwarts school near the end of the spring school term."
"It seems Riddle is still leaving the major attacks to the end of the school year," a creepy, clown-like man grinned eerily from the other side of the row. "My research indicates that two of his horcruxes have been destroyed and the other five have been gathered. One is obviously the one that had been embedded into Kuchiki-taicho's daughter. The other is some old diary he made when he was sixteen." His nonchalant wave of the hand indicated how little he cared for the diary that had made their second year living hell. "Riddle doesn't seem to know of this, and it looks like it was Shihoin who got them."
"Do we know what she is planning to do with them?" asked the braided woman.
"Given her tendency to show off and general personality, I believe she is planning on using one of the forbidden kido to destroy them all at once during the battle at Hogwarts," her father said. "Has she been given proper authorization?"
"Yoruichi Shihoin has been given permission to use Hado ninety: Black Coffin for only this purpose," the old man said. "After Riddle has been defeated both she and you, Captain Kuchiki, will be ordered to return to the Seireitei."
"What of the rest of my daughter's education?" he asked. "Or her companions here in the World of the Living? Surely, captain commander, you cannot expect for Liana to be so obedient so as to come without a word? Shihoin has mentioned many times that she has inherited my temper and stubbornness. She will not want to leave her friends before finishing school."
"I understand this is partially a matter of the Kuchiki family, but I believe you have been absent from the Seireitei for far too long now, Captain Kuchiki. My decision stands," he said firmly.
"A thousand apologies, captain commander, but I cannot force my daughter to move to the Seireitei like this," he said, a long lost glint shining in his eyes, only recognized by those who knew him as a child. "And I will not. Ever."
"If you do not do as you are ordered, Captain Kuchiki, then I will have no choice but to bring you back myself," he declared.
"As you said, captain commander, this is a matter of the Kuchiki family," he repeated. "With all due respect, sir, I am afraid you do not have the authority to force the head of the Kuchiki family to the Seireitei when he has business he has yet to complete, nor do you have the ability to alienate the only heir to one of the Four Great Noble Families from her clan. As both her father and her head, I have all say over her education, and I wish for Liana to finish her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To ensure this, I will be staying in England to supervise."
"How interesting," the clown man sneered. "I seem to recall that you hated that place, Captain Kuchiki. I find it hard to believe you would want your own daughter to attend it."
"Opinions are rather easily changed, Kurotsutchi-taicho," he said coldly. "I would think that you know that better than the most of us, considering you went from being a despised prisoner of utmost security to the revered Deputy Department Head of the Department of Research and Development."
The old man's cane rammed into the ground. "That was uncalled for, Captain Kuchiki!" he admonished. "Enough of this foolishness. You gave an oath when you first joined the Thirteen Imperial Guard Squads that you would follow your orders without question."
"Not when those orders interfere with my family," he replied. "I may have given such an oath, captain commander, and I may be bound to the will of the Imperial Guard Squads, but my daughter has given no such commitment, and until she does, I will not allow it any amount of control in her life.
"The fighting forces of the Soul Society have no place interfering with the nobility, much less one of the Great Families. One of the reasons for the existence of the Thirteen Imperial Guard Squads is to protect our king, and by extension, our nobility, who are placed directly below him. By ordering me to return to the Seireitei, you are telling me to either drag my daughter there, where she will never truly be happy, or to abandon her here, where she would be put back into the care of abusive bastards who have no right to have a child in their custody," he said, his wording showing exactly how strongly he felt about all this. "The entire reason I have been in Magical Britain for so long is for her, as I told young Mr. Weasley just over a week ago. In any case, what of the Potter and Black accounts?"
"What about them?" a large, pirate-like man yawned.
"Not only is Liana the only known heir to the Kuchiki Clan, but to the Potter and Black families as well, both of which are incredibly wealthy. She is beyond inexperienced in how to manage them, and will have to deal with both eventually. It would be incredibly impractical to try and manage them from the Seireitei before arranging something, which could take over a year, and she would not be able to do so on her own.
"She is also a very well known figure in the Wizarding World, as we all know. Before she had Dumbledore to keep the media from her, and at the moment I am doing so. She does not know how to ward off the press, and given the seats the Houses of Potter and Black have in the Wizengamot, she will be thrown into the political world as well, where she will be used and eaten alive." Sadly, he was being extremely realistic about this.
"I will not allow for such things to befall my only child. I do not care whether or not the Thirteen Imperial Guard Squads view this as treason. As a noble, I was raised to believe that the well being of the Kuchiki Family comes before everything else, and I will never abandon my daughter."
A laid back looking man with scruffy brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail chuckled lowly. "C'mon, Old Man Yama, you can't win with him. We all know that Ginrei taught him how to play political games, and how to find loopholes in everything. Take a good look at him. It looks like the World of the Living somehow managed to bring his spirit back, and we know how bad it gets when you argue with him then. Remember when he wanted to marry Hisana? He's never gonna give up, and frankly, I agree with him."
"I'm sorry, Master Genryusai, but I agree as well," a man with long white hair said sheepishly.
"It would be awful if another one of our noble families fell, captain commander," the braided woman smiled sweetly.
The old man grumbled before sighing. "Very well, Captain Kuchiki. You may stay in the World of the Living until your daughter has graduated from Hogwarts School. But only until then."
He inclined his head. "Understood."
"Wow, mate," Ron said in awe as they drew away from the door. "Treason? I know Mum and Dad would do that too – they did do it, actually – but they've known you for six years now. Your dad's only known he had a kid for about a year!"
"Looks like he's really committed," Hermione whispered before glancing up and asking, "Isn't that your cousin?"
The other teens looked up to see Dudley swaggering towards them as though he owned the place. "Oy, Potter!" he bellowed as talk inside the room ceased. "If you can have friends here, so can I," he claimed arrogantly. "Get Piers here."
"Bugger off, Diddykins," she drawled, rolling her eyes. "Even if I could, I wouldn't bring Rat boy. I hate rats."
"Make me," he sneered. "What can a bunch of freaks do?"
"Don't make me hex you," she growled.
The blond scowled. "Braver here than you were before, aren't you, freak? I remember, y'know. The way you were always moaning at night." His pitch rose in a poor imitation of Liana's voice as he made a screeching sound, "'No, don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric! Help me! He's gonna kill him!'"
"Shut up!" she snarled, her wand falling into her hand.
"Put that thing away!" he demanded. "You're not allowed! You'll get expelled from that freak school you – PUT THAT THING AWAY!" he hollered, hysteria growing as she held it level with his head. "I-I'LL TELL DAD! PUT THAT THING AWAY!"
"What can your dad do?" she yelled. "He isn't even here!"
"I SWEAR I'LL TELL DAD! HE'LL BEAT YOU TO DEATH! PUT IT AWAY! I SWEAR I'LL TELL DAD! HE'LL F*CKIN KILL YOU, YA LITTLE FREAK!"
"Impendimenta!" The boy squealed as he was thrown back.
His bushy-haired attacker blinked before admitting, "That felt good."
"Wicked, Hermione," Ron grinned. "Second blond git you've gotten, that is."
"Thanks, Weasley," Draco said sarcastically.
"What on Earth are you doing?" The door fully opened as gray eyes narrowed, flickering momentarily to the cowering bully.
"Nothing of importance, Lord Kuchiki," Draco said smoothly. "Dursley just decided to bring up a few things he shouldn't have and Hermione made sure to show him his place."
He didn't seem to believe this was the whole truth, but really didn't care as far as the Dursley boy was concerned. "Try not to make so much noise then," he said sternly before shutting the door.
"The doors are soundproof," Liana said, canceling the translation charm. "He probably locked it. Let's get out of here before his parents," she jerked her head at Dudley, "get here."
~oOo~
The rest of summer break was much more bearable for Liana. A week before September 1st, her father received a letter at breakfast.
"What is it?" she asked curiously.
"'Dear Lord Kuchiki,'" he read aloud, "'Due to the fact that one of the two of the magically capable persons in your household will be relocated at eleven o'clock, September 1st (thus losing half of the battle able persons within your home), the Ministry of Magic has made arrangements with Headmistress Minerva McGonagall to, for their own protection, escort Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An official will meet you at Platform 9 ¾.
Please have a good day,
Department of Magical Families
Christopher Enoch'"
"My family and I are not going to that freak school!" Vernon snarled. "It's bad enough being here."
"Trust me, we don't want you there," Liana said dryly. "Why can't they just stay here?"
Her father sighed. "The servants here have never been trained for anything but their chores. Should death eaters attack while you are gone, I will be the only one here capable of fighting them with any hope of succeeding."
"So what? Are all the half-blood and muggle born families coming too?" she asked, not really expecting a positive answer.
"No. I imagine the only reason for these measures is because they are concerned about the relatives of the Girl-Who-Lived, and they decided the lowly shinigami are not trustworthy enough to properly defend them," he said somewhat bitterly.
"The Ministry's always been bollocks," she shrugged. "I guess it didn't change, even though Fudge is out of office."
"No." He shook his head. "It's human nature to fear and distrust what you cannot understand." He glanced at the Dursleys, they were a prime example.
"That sucks."
Bad ending, I know, but it seemed to be the best place to end the chapter...
Review!