I'm sorry it took a while to get this chapter up. School started and I was getting adjusted.
My apologies with being wrong about Renji's gikongan, but I suppose it works either way.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or Bleach.
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Chapter TwentyGrowing Mysteries
Forgetting all about the mystery behind the transfer students and their strange doubles, Harry aimed to head out of the room to investigate.
"Wait!" Hermione explained. "Have you forgotten we're under lockdown, right now? We can't leave the Gryffindor Tower without getting in serious trouble!"
"That's what the Invisibility Cloak is for." Harry replied, still desperate to find out what was going on. How could Sirius be alive? He'd seen him fall through the veil himself… But hope was beginning to stir in Harry and his impatience to check to see if Sirius was really there grew exponentially.
Seeing that Harry was adamant to go see, Hermione relented. "We can't all fit under it."
"You, Ron, and Harry go." Ginny said. "We'll keep an eye on the 'imposters'." She wanted desperately to go with Harry, but she knew that this was such a personal matter to him and that Ron and Hermione were better suited to dealing with it, much to her chagrin.
The Golden Trio headed off under the cover of the cloak, straight for Professor Kuroba's office. Harry's eyes were trained on the pacing dot that was his godfather. It couldn't be anyone else… the map never lied.
Bursting in, they only saw Professor Kuroba in the room, but there was no dot for him, meaning…
Removing the cloak, Harry stared at the man dumbly. "Sirius?" Orion looked startled before his eyes fell on the map. He looked resigned.
"I should have taken that into consideration." He remarked, running a hand through his hair. "Hello, Harry."
Shock quickly turned to bitter anger as Harry glared at his godfather, feeling the biting effects of betrayal. "You've been here all this time… and you didn't even bother to tell me?"
"I had my reasons, Harry. You've got to understand…" Orion, no, Sirius tried to reason with his angry teenaged godson.
"What reasons? What was big enough to keep you from telling me that you were still alive?! From telling all of us?!" Harry exclaimed, angry tears threatening to escape his eyes.
"There are forces in this world that are bigger than you and me, Harry." Sirius declared, rubbing his temples. "My return to the living plane was complicated. It can't be explained without revealing some things that this world is not yet ready to here… in terms of what's there to look forward to after death. Thus, my life as Sirius Black was brought to an end and a new existence for me was set into place. Telling you would have threatened the very purpose of my new life."
"Care to explain? You're being rather vague." Hermione said. She wanted to know why Sirius, of all people, would deceive the one person, besides Remus, that meant the most to him.
Sirius sighed. "Look… right now, we're in a state of high alert, and you all know why. I don't have the time to explain things to you when there are risks of people overhearing. I can assure you I meant no harm by keeping my identity from you. Just… be a little more patient with me."
Harry relented ever so slightly at the sight of the pleading look on his godfather's face. He didn't even look like himself anymore, but now that Harry knew he was, he could see Sirius' familiar traits shining through from the façade.
"Fine… but after all of this is over, you better give us a good explanation." Harry said. Sirius gave him a relieved smile and nodded.
"I'll give you my word on that." The emissary of Soul Society promised.
Suddenly, a black butterfly flew in through the window, landing on Sirius' finger.
"What is that?" Ron asked curiously.
"A hell moth." Sirius explained before listening to the message it gave. His eyes hardened. "It's begun."
The Golden Trio looked at each other, unease in their eyes. Meanwhile, Sirius had taken hold of his wand and placed a black cloak over his form, covering his head with the hood. A sudden realization came to Harry.
"You were the hooded wizard?" he gaped and Sirius nodded.
"Keeping Orion Kuroba out of the limelight is something I'd prefer greatly, unless a desperate situation calls upon my revelation. I'm going to be doing things differently than I did in my last life." Sirius said. "As I said, I'll explain everything afterward. Stay here. I'm sealing this door. No one will be able to get in or out."
"But I thought you said we could help out in battle!" Harry argued, displeased.
"I'd like to, but for this battle… it's best that you remain safe. Please, trust me." Sirius pleaded with his godson.
"Listen to him, Harry." Hermione reasoned, seeing something in Sirius' eyes that convinced her of his intent. Harry grudgingly agreed and Sirius headed off through the window, after summoning his broom, sealing the room with kidou.
Sirius joined Ichigo, Renji, Matsumoto, Hitsugaya, Rukia, Ishida, Orihime and Chad on top of the roof, seeing a large group of Death Eaters pouring out from the Forbidden Forest towards the school. The last four had joined the four Shinigami stationed at Hogwarts when they'd first seen signs of the Death Eaters arriving through Hogsmeade.
"This battle is going to be big." He surmised, crossing his arms. "It will determine which side holds the advantage."
"Then let's get in there and make sure that the advantage is with us." Rukia declared, violet eyes narrowed with determination. The others nodded and they leapt into the fray, to delay the Death Eaters' advance until the other Professors and Order members could come to help out.
Voldemort led his troops with a malicious smirk on his face. His very presence there showed that this battle would be incredibly significant. It was about time he showed his strength to the Wizarding World.
As he led the forces out of the Forbidden Forest, his eyes fell on nine distinct black clad figures perched on the roof of the school. He smirked. It looked like the mysterious warriors that interfered in his last attack would head the attack front. He didn't know how they'd predicted his attack but he wasn't the least bit worried. No matter how powerful they were, they were no match for him and his forces (at least that's what he believed).
'Let the games begin.' He thought maliciously as he saw nodded at Hirako, eyes focused on a certain masked opponent.
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I know this chapter was relatively short but I want the battle chapter to be by itself, so I can focus solely on that and hopefully make it even better than the last one. Please be patient with me.
Also, the karaoke interlude is going to come up soon. If you guys have any song preferences for some of the characters feel free to suggest. Characters are:
Ichigo, Renji, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Malfoy, Rukia, Ishida, Orihime, any others you'd suggest?
Duets between characters are acceptable too. I'd like to see what you guys think would fit for them.