Author's Note

Hisashiburi, minasan! (It's been awhile, everyone!) I do apologize for the long wait, but you are getting a long-ish chapter. My excuses for the wait are a busy holiday season and the English release of the Bleach: Brave Souls app. I swear this chapter would have come out earlier in the week if that hadn't distracted me. There's a lot I could say about it, but I'll just say this: if you're a Bleach addict like me, you'll love this game.

Anywho, enough on that. Enjoy the chapter!

Hagrid was welcomed back to Hogwarts with mixed reactions on Monday morning, a select few were enthusiastic to see him back while the majority were less than thrilled by his return. Harry could understand the majority's reactions, even if he didn't want to. Hermione had gone to see Hagrid the previous day to try to convince him to have more tame lessons, but failed, and the wildness of the lessons is what tended to throw most people off.

And so it was with a good bit of worry that the trio went down to Hagrid's cabin for their Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid was waiting for them outside, announcing that the day's lesson would be inside the forest, causing Malfoy to panic. Malfoy's panic helped lighten Harry's mood as anything against the blonde Slytherin was a plus in Harry's book since the other had gotten him banned from Quidditch. Of course, when Hagrid walked straight into the forest, the trio hesitated to follow, remembering all the dangers of their previous trips, and thus they ended up following him after the Japanese trio, who had no such worries, with the rest of the class slowly following behind.

Hagrid brought the class to a clearing so over shadowed by the trees that there was no snow on the ground even though it was blanketing the world outside the forest. Most of the students stayed near the tree line as Hagrid called them to gather round after he had set a beef side on the ground in the middle of the clearing. He then proceeded to give off a shrieking cry that sounded like some sort of monstrous bird, explaining that it would let the creatures know it was him who had brought them food.

Uryu had kept his senses alert once Hagrid put out the call, having heard about some of Hagrid's more dangerous lessons and keeping in mind the general ban on going into the forest, and was surprised to find a presence he somewhat knew approaching. A good thing too, or our cover could go up in smoke, he thought as he tapped Ichigo and Orihime. They didn't turn, but he knew he had their attention.

"[The carriage creatures.]"Uryu whispers, just loud enough for the other two to hear. Hopefully a little warning is all we need to prevent anything like last time from happening.

It took a few minutes and another cry from Hagrid before the creatures that were the subject of the lesson to become visible. The skeletal dragon horse seemed to just slide out of the surrounding gloom and with of a swish of its tail laid in to the beef side, stripping pieces off with its sharp teeth.

There was a slight hike in Ichigo's reiatsu as he once more saw one of the creatures with wings like those of Ulquiorra, causing the creature to tense, ready to flee from the more powerful predator that it suddenly sensed. And then they settled, both the creature and Ichigo's reiatsu as the substitute shinigami studied the being before him more carefully. The wings were similar, but that was all. Its presence wasn't filled with emptiness and despair, and while its eyes were blank, it wasn't by lack of emotion but their coloring instead. No, there was little at all in these creatures that resembled Ulquiorra.

Ichigo lets out a breath of relief, small, but felt, as does Orihime, having reached the same conclusion. Crisis averted, the trio look to see how the rest of the class is handling the appearance of the dark, winged horses. To their surprise, only three seem to even realize they are there: Harry, Neville, and a boy from Slytherin. The reason behind this is soon explained by Hagrid and Hermione, being ever the good student. They are thestrals and only those who have seen death can see them. Uryu absently wonders if seeing a stray plus or killing a hollow counts. The trio has seen human deaths before, but a general "death" could mean anything from human to something of reasonable intelligence.

Before the lesson can get much further, Umbridge arrives and does her best to undermine Hagrid as she reads the notes she makes just loud enough for the students to hear. After Hagrid explains that the day's lesson will be thestrals, Umbridge asks him to repeat himself, as if she was hard of hearing, and when Hagrid obliges her, adding a description of them and some wing motions, just in case she didn't quite get the idea. Instead she raises an eyebrow and mutters as she writes:

"Has… to… resort... to... crude... sign… language…"

'Only because she's pretending to be deaf.' Uryu mutters. Only to shake his head as he realizes that he's doing exactly the same as Ichigo did in their first class with Umbridge. No, it's different. Kurosaki was just making fun of her, I'm commenting on her lack of honor in dealing with other teachers. Uryu reasons with himself.

Hagrid tries to get the class back on track, but Umbridge's arrival and commentary have derailed him, leaving him to ask for a bit of help in finding his place from the students.

"Appears… to… have… short… term… memory…"

'Anyone would appear that way if they were interrupted and had to find where they left off.' Uryu mutters again, tempted to try interrupting her just to prove the point. The idea is quickly abandoned as a glance at Umbridge leads his sight over Ichigo who seems to be contemplating the same thing. I won't stoop down to Kurosaki's level.

Hagrid manages to remember where he was and begins explaining the thestrals' presence at Hogwarts when Umbridge interrupts him again, saying that the Ministry has classified the creatures as dangerous. Hagrid chuckles at the thought, thinking that the Ministry's view is a little skewed, explaining that the danger was only when a person annoyed them, earning the response:

"Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… the… idea… of… violence…"

'More like expressing pity with laughter at misunderstandings.'

Umbridge ignored Hagrid as he pointed out that even a dog would bite if baited and instead proclaimed that she would ask students about the class, adding pantomimes since she obviously believed his intelligence to be subpar. And of course she picked from among the students those she could get the poorest reviews of Hagrid from. Pansy Parkinson was all but too happy to play along with Umbridge's question about being able to understand Hagrid and while Neville wasn't really against Hagrid, Umbridge construed his nervousness at having to speak to her as fear of Hagrid.

"Students… are… too… intimidated… to… admit... they… are… frightened…"

'Of the toad, maybe.' Ichigo says under his breath to Uryu, having listened to the other's previous commentary.

Having concluded getting incriminating evidence against Hagrid, Umbridge informed him of her departure and that he would be receiving his results in ten days, accompanied by more hand gestures.

The class left a sour taste in most every Gryffindor student's mouth. The blatant disrespect and belittling of her fellow teacher, regardless of the somewhat questionable class, did nothing to endear Umbridge to them. Hermione was particularly upset with Umbridge's discrimination against half-breeds and her actions considering that, for Hagrid, it had been a particularly tame class while still retaining the edge of interest that Hagrid liked to give students.

The run up to the holidays was spent trying to keep up with the avalanche of homework that the teachers were piling upon them in an attempt to stuff a little more information into their heads before the break. Seeing as many were heading home for the holidays or at least not spending them at Hogwarts, the DA was going on break as well. The last meeting was a review and after it Cho caught Harry alone. Harry wasn't sure how he felt about it afterwards. On one hand he was happy to know that he seemed to have gained her affections, on the other, she had spent much of that time crying about Cedric. Still not entirely sure what to make of Cho's actions, Harry ended up falling asleep that night on the decision that girls were simply too complicated.

When Harry woke up, his scar hurt horribly and his mind was reeling from his visionary dream in which he had attacked Mr. Weasley as a giant snake. Ron was calling his name, but the pain was just overwhelming and he barely got rolled over enough to not vomit on his bed. He could feel hands start rubbing his back as someone, Uryu from the sound of it, ordered someone else to get help. He didn't have time to pay attention to it, he had to let Ron know what had happened. It was too important for his friend, his best friend, to not know.

"Your dad…" Harry got out, having to swallow back rising bile. Not now, not yet. "Your dad's… been attacked…"

"What?" Ron replies, not understanding. All he knew was that his friend had been struggling in his bed and then woken up and gotten sick.

"Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere…"

"Harry, mate," Ron says, cutting Harry off, an uncertain look on his face, "you… you were just dreaming…"

"No!" Harry vehemently replies. Ron has to know. "It wasn't a dream… not an ordinary dream… I was there, I saw it. …I did it..."

Harry could hear Seamus and Dean muttering to each other, Uryu was continue to rub his back in what was a rather soothing manner, even though it was Harry's scar that was really hurting, and in the background Ichigo was muttering to himself. He hadn't seen the other Japanese teen since he woke up. The pain in his scar was lessening, but then he retched again, leaving Ron to jump back out of the way.

"Harry, you're not well." Ron informs him, voice shaking. "Neville's gone for help…"

"I'm fine!" Harry shouts back. Ron still doesn't get it. "There's nothing wrong with me, it's your dad you've got to worry about. We need to find out where he is- he's bleeding like mad. I was- it was a huge snake…"

"Be that as it may," Uryu finally speaks up, voice calm and in control, "there's little we can do about it without an adult. And you are not fine. You are shaken up in a state of near shock. Stay down and wait until the nausea passes before you even think about going anywhere." He may not have liked Ryuuken much, but Uryu had learned enough about medicine to know how to deal with things like this.

"I'll open up a window, get some fresh air in here." Ichigo says coming out from his curtained bed, nose wrinkling at the pool of vomit on the floor. The opening of the window prompts a breeze of cold winter air to enter the room, swaying the curtains on the beds. Harry has to admit that the cold air feels nice on his burning scar and the scent of fresh snow is certainly a more pleasant one than vomit.

It was only a minute or two before Neville came back with Professor McGonagall in tow.

"What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?"

"It's Ron's dad." Harry quickly explains, glad that it was a member of the Order that Neville had unknowingly retrieved. Someone who could do something to help Mr. Weasley and not play along while trying to medicate him. "He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen."

"What do you mean saw it happen?" Professor McGonagall asks, a serious, if not slightly confused, look on her face.

"I don't know… I was asleep and then I was there…"

"You mean like a dream?" Ichigo asks and it makes Harry want to shout because Ichigo's supposed to be on his side helping him.

"No!" Harry shouts in frustration. Why couldn't any of them understand? "I was having a dream a completely different dream at first, a stupid one… and then this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it. Mr. Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake. There was a load of blood, he collapsed. Someone's got to find out where he is…"

Those who were listening were staring at him in horror, even Ichigo was, which was strange when he had alluded to violence greater than this being part of his life. Actually Uryu was the only one not looking horrified, but that didn't matter much to Harry.

"I'm not lying, and I'm not mad!" Harry burst out, hoping volume could somehow convey the truth of his words to McGonagall. "I tell you, I saw it happen!"

"I believe you, Potter." McGonagall replies curtly, her look of horror disappearing. "Pu on your dressing-gown –we're going to see the headmaster. Weasley, you ought to come too." She adds as an afterthought.

Both boys are quick to comply, following after Professor McGonagall past their silent dormmates, Ichigo giving them an awkward wave goodbye. She led them confidently through the hallways of the school and Harry wished that they were running instead of moving at a brisk walk. Mr. Weasley was dying. If the blood loss didn't get him, there was the chance that the snake's bite, because he was trying so hard not to think his bite, was fatally poisonous. But Harry just kept on McGonagall's heels, not wanting to push too hard and possibly land himself in the hospital wing. Soon enough they were before the door to Dumbledore's office and, from the sound of things, they were not the only ones that would be speaking with Dumbledore tonight. When Professor McGonagall knocked on the door the voices went silent and then the door opened of its own accord.

"Oh good, you're here, Professor McGonagall with…"

"Ichigo?!" Harry can't help from shouting the name in surprise because standing rather casually next to Dumbledore's desk is none other than the carrot top Japanese himself, once more decked out in black robes with a sword at his side and back. "You –but –how?"

"That's not really important right now. What is important is that vision dream thing you supposedly saw." Ichigo replies, ignoring the shock on the faces of the new arrivals.

"There's no 'supposedly' about it!" Harry bursts out. This was his chance to explain it to Dumbledore and Harry truly hoped that the aged headmaster would really listen where others hadn't. "It was real… I saw it happen…" He takes a deep breath, "Ron's dad, Mr. Weasley, has been attacked by a giant snake."

Dumbledore thought about the information, studiously working to never look Harry in the eye. It would appear that the connection forged between Voldemort and Harry was getting stronger, at the least more open. There was a simple way to check if it was a wild dream or information from the Dark Lord's mind.

"How did you see this?" Dumbledore asks, still avoiding eye contact. No reason to test the waters any more than necessary tonight.

"Well… I don't know." Harry replied angrily. Dumbledore took no offence at Harry's tone. He knew that it wasn't the reply the boy was looking for. No, Harry wanted action because he was a good person who cared for others and someone he knew was in danger, but checking the facts was too important at this point. A wrong move in this game could cause the kind of trouble Harry would not wish upon Mr. Weasley. "Inside my head, I suppose…"

"You misunderstand me." Dumbledore replies, tone calm and unruffled. "I mean… can you remember –mm –where you were positioned as you watched this attack happen? Were you perhaps standing beside the victim, or else looking down on the scene from above?"

"I was the snake." Harry says. "I saw it all from the snake's point of view…"

No one spoke, but Dumbledore noticed the slight tensing of Ichigo's shoulders. It would seem that Mr. Urahara had not lied when he said that the kids who came with him were quite perceptive when the times warranted it. He turned his attention to Ron. His next actions could very well condemn one of his student's parents, but a decision had to be made.

"Is Arthur seriously injured?" Dumbledore asks, voice sharper now.

"Yes." Harry answers and from his tone Dumbledore can tell that this is the message Harry has wanted delivered and acted upon this whole time. His desperation makes the decision easy and now that it's made there is absolutely no time to waste.

"Everard? And you too, Dilys!" The order is sharp as Dumbledore stands to better address the portraits of headmasters past. "You were listening?"

"Naturally." Dilys replies, Everard nodding alongside her.

"The man has red hair and glasses. Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people."

That done, Dumbledore kindly explains the purpose of what he did, knowing that they have entered a brief lull as the painted headmasters carry out their tasks. He has McGonagall provide some chairs for the boys and herself to sit in, though Ichigo chooses instead to lean on the edge of his desk, arms crossed across his chest, watchful eyes showing that contrary to the semi-relaxed position, he is ready to act if need be. Dumbledore wakes Fawkes to go watch Umbridge and warn them if she has gotten wind of this meeting in the night. Then he tinkered with one if his many unique devices to make sure that that the connection between Harry and Voldemort would not slowly turn them into one being. It was a relief to find that they were, in essence, divided. Then Everard and Dilys returned with news of Mr. Weasley. Everard had seen to it that Mr. Weasley was found and on his way out while Dilys confirmed that Mr. Weasley had indeed made it to St. Mungo's.

"Minerva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children." Dumbledore says after thanking the ex-headmasters.

"Of course." McGonagall replies, swiftly heading for the door to go and accomplish the task. "And Dumbledore, what about Molly?" she asks, pausing in the doorway.

"That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching." Dumbledore answers. "But she may already know… that excellent clock of hers…"

Ron was looking quite pale and shaken by this turn of events and Harry couldn't help but feel sympathy for the horror that his friend was being subjected to. Ichigo walks over and gives Ron's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before going into stand-by behind the two boys. Ichigo knows what it's like to lose a parent and hopes, for Ron and his siblings own sakes, that Mr. Weasley will survive this night.

Dumbledore pulls a blackened old kettle from a cupboard and turns it into a Portkey before working to get the stubborn and lazy portrait of Phineas Nigellus to take a message to Sirius.

"You are to give him the message that Arthur Weasley has been gravely injured and that his wife, children, Harry Potter, and Ichigo Kurosaki –you will go, won't you?" "Of course" "–will be arriving at his house shortly. Do you understand?"

"Arthur Weasley, injured, Wife and children and Harry Potter and Ichigo Kurosaki coming to stay." Phineas lists back in a bored voice. "Yes, yes… very well…"

As Phineas Nigellus left, McGonagall and the rest of the Weasleys entered. They were of course all anxious and frightened, having been woken up in the middle of the night to be told their father was injured. Dumbledore was quick to explain that Mr. Weasley's work for the Order had landed him in St. Mungo's and that they had been awakened so that they could be moved to Sirius's house due to its convenience in getting to the hospital as opposed to the Burrow. He also explained that they would be going by Portkey since the Floo Network was being watched.

"We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back… I wish to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you –"

A flash of fire in the middle of the room leaves behind a golden feather. Dumbledore catches it and hopes that Phineas will hurry, otherwise he may have to send his students to be unexpected houseguests at Grimmauld Place. He certainly can't let these students be caught in his office by the Ministry Official sent to do all she can to get him fired and Harry expelled. With no time to waste, Dumbledore sends Professor McGonagall off to hold up Umbridge as long as she can. Luckily, Phineas reported back right after McGonagall left, saying that Sirius would be delighted to have them.

"Come here, then." Dumbledore instructs the assembled teens. "And quickly, before anyone else joins us…" They quickly did as Instructed, gathering around his desk upon which the kettle had been set. "Just touch the Portkey until you arrive at your destination." Dumbledore says for Ichigo's benefit as he's fairly certain the rest of the children have used a Portkey before. They all reach out and touch some part of the kettle. "Good. On the count of three then… one… two… three."

Traveling via Portkey was not a fun experience Ichigo decided. As soon as "three" left Dumbledore's lips it felt like someone had hooked his lower back and used it to yank him off his feet, his hand was glued to the kettle, and he was getting jostled around so that he banged into the others, all while speeding through a ridiculous swirl of colors that even his honed sight couldn't make sense of.

And then the swirling stopped and they were dropped to the ground, hard. Ichigo wasn't sure that he could have kept his feet on the landing if he wasn't in his shinigami form and he certainly knew that he wouldn't have been able to catch Harry and Ginny by the back of their robes to keep them upright if he had been in his human body.

"Back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying…?" says a wheezy voice.

"OUT!" roars a second voice.

A quick glance shows Ichigo that the portkey has taken them to the gloomy basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Having confirmed that they have arrived where they were supposed to be, he moves forward and hauls the twins to their feet by their robes while Sirius comes over and helps Ron up. Sirius asks about what happened and the rest of the Weasley children are just as eager to know, so Harry tells them of his vision, but edits it so that he was a bystander instead of the snake. The story visibly stresses the Weasley children and they are quick to set their sights on getting to St. Mungo's. Sirius tries to tell them all the reasons that they can't: the ministry can't know about Harry's visions, their dad was doing work for the Order, how there was no way for them to know so quickly without revealing everything, but the kids are hardly willing to listen.

"We don't care about the Order!" Fred shouts.

"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" George yells.

"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up or the Order!" Sirius angrily argues back. "This is how it is –this is why you're not in the Order" he could hardly believe he was making that argument when he was the most supportive of the children's involvement "you don't understand –there are things worth dying for!"

"Easy for you to say, stuck here! I don't see you risking your neck!" Fred shouts back, only realizing the cruel mistake of the words after they've been said.

Sirius looks like he would very much like to punch Fred in the face, but it is Ichigo who replies, "Sometimes doing nothing is harder than doing something." How hard had it been in those first months of powerlessness to sit back and let Ishida or Chad or Inoue run off to fight hollows on their own "Right now there's nothing you can do to help your dad. Making yourselves sick with worry doesn't help and even if you did get to the hospital, you still wouldn't be able to see him. You'd just be stuck in a hallway or waiting room waiting for news. So wait here where you won't put at risk everything that your dad risked his life for." The twins still look mutinous, so Ichigo decides to add a final guilt trip for staying. "Or do you not respect what your dad is trying to do for you?"

"What?" It is a quiet, horrified whisper that escapes Ginny's mouth and even the twins pale at the scathing words.

"People like to talk about grand goals of saving a country or the world, but the truth is that they are always fighting for themselves or the people they love." Ichigo explains, thinking back to the fight against Aizen and Soi Fon's words. "Parent's especially do dangerous things so that their kids can live in peace and safety."

The Weasley kids still look shaken, but they see the reasons, so they sit down to wait.

"That's right," Sirius says as comfortingly as he can, "come on, let's all… let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!" The bottles come flying out of the pantry upon Sirius's command and come towards the table, only or Ichigo to snatch them all up.

"If you want to have drinks, don't give them something with an alcohol content, even if it is low. Alcohol is a depressant and could just make their moods worse." Ichigo scolds as he returns the Butterbeers to the pantry. "Let's make some tea or hot chocolate instead. Warm drinks are more soothing."

The others just stare at Ichigo. It was strange for them to see his gruff demeanor turn into a sort of bedside manner. It was the sort of thing they might expect from Orihime, not Ichigo. Ichigo just ignores them and rummages around until he comes across some hot chocolate mix.

"Do you have any milk, Sirius?" Ichigo asks without looking back as he searches for a teapot or something to heat the requested milk, or water if there was no milk, in.

The question startles Sirius of his surprised stupor. "Ah, yes. Let me help you. I've got a good teapot around here somewhere." He says as he gets up to help.

Soon enough they have six mugs of hot chocolate to pass around. The kids take theirs and sip at it listlessly, but the warmth of the drink is nice, they think. Harry looks over at Ichigo just to try and get his mind off of the thoughts of how the dream made it feel like he was the one to attack Mr. Weasley and the hostile thoughts that had run through his head when he met Dumbledore's eyes when he notices something.

"Ichigo, where's your hot chocolate?" For the Japanese teen did not have a steaming mug before him.

"I'm not thirsty or stressed out that much about this, so I'm not having one. It also leaves a refill or two in case one of you needs it." Ichigo calmly explains. The truth is that he actually would like some hot chocolate, but since he was a spirit he couldn't actually partake in any physical food or drink. But there really was no need to get into those details with them.

After Ichigo finished explaining his lack of hot chocolate, there was a burst of fire over the table and a scroll of parchment fell to the table alongside a golden feather.

"Fawkes!" Sirius exclaims, realizing that they have received some news via the phoenix as he snatches up the parchment. "That's not Dumbledore's writing," he says as he inspects the message, "it must be from your mother, here."

Sirius gives the letter to George, who is quick to open it and reads it aloud for everyone, "Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."

They all look at each other around the table.

"Still alive … but that makes it sound…" George says slowly without finishing the thought, as if saying it that way might somehow change the implied meaning.

"Looks like we're in for a wait." Ichigo simply replies, looking down at the screen of his denreishinki that he had pulled out without any of them noticing. "I would suggest taking a nap while we wait. It'll help you feel better and make the time pass faster."

"How can you say that?! Do you even care what happens to our dad?" George angrily asks, seeing that Ichigo's attention seems to be on the device in his hands as Fred grabs the letter from him to read himself.

"Of course I care." Ichigo replies, not even sounding disturbed by the accusation as he finishes tapping at the buttons before flipping the denreishinki shut. "But I can't do anything for him except see to it that you are all safe and taken care of. So excuse me if what's good for you isn't what you want." He says, looking George in the eye until George looks away.

"Why's it going to be a wait?" Ginny asks quietly. Like the twins, she doesn't much care for the thought of sleep, but Ichigo's calm and self-assured demeanor leaves her trusting that what he's said is right.

"If he's not stable now, it's probably going to be a while. People usually get stabilized quickly or it's a long fight. I figured we'd be in for a wait in the first place due to the level of his injuries, but I could have been wrong, so I didn't say anything earlier." Ichigo explains.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Harry asks, seeing as Ichigo's unexpected knowledge makes a good distraction.

"My dad runs a clinic that's attached to our house, so I've been helping with medical stuff since I was a little kid. We don't often get more serious cases like this since it's just a little local clinic, but people will panic even about smaller things, so I've got practice dealing with people who are freaking out and worried about someone that my dad's treating." Ichigo's thoughts go back to those times, all the little things his dad has said about helping the distressed, trying to make sure he's doing everything right while following the number one rule: be calm and in control. "I may not have formal training, but I can do the basics well enough." He says with a shrug, as if to say it's no big deal. "Now try to get some rest, I'll wake you up if any news comes."

They lapse into silence and time seems to drag by. The Weasleys and Harry are resistant to sleep, but when they start to nod a bit Ichigo decides to help things along with a quick, unseen tap to the back of their necks to send them into unconsciousness. When all the other kids were unconscious a quiet request to Sirius got blankets for them all and some help arranging them into more comfortable positions. Seeing that Sirius was looking tired, Ichigo told him to rest as well.

"And leave a kid to keep an eye on things? It's nice of you to offer Ichigo, but I'll stay up, thanks." Sirius says with tired grin.

After another half hour, Sirius nods off anyways, leaving Ichigo alone with his thoughts.

Hopefully Kon wouldn't make a mess of things in the short time that he'd have to impersonate him. Ichigo almost hadn't used the mod soul when he decided that Dumbledore should know about Harry's vision on the off chance it was real, but considering all the commotion, it was easier to go shinigami and slip by with shunpo while Kon played his part. He did it well too. Kon may not always be ideal in day to day substitutions with his booty chasing ways, but he pulled together well in more serious situations and the ad lib with opening the window had made for an easy exit. Using Kon also had the added benefit of fooling the toad. She would never know that there was one more student that had slipped out from under her nose.

Ichigo pulled out his denreishinki, checked the time, 3 in the morning, and set to work typing out a more detailed account of what had happened for the others. All he had sent out earlier was a quick message to Uryu and Orihime to let them know he was fine, keeping an eye on Harry, and that they should keep Kon in line. This one would go Urahara and Shinji as well, since the adults of the Japanese group had all been away that night. Shinji was in the Soul Society doing his duties as a captain while Urahara and Yoruichi were tracking a lead on Voldemort's more "spiritual" new recruits.

Once the report was written and sent, Ichigo settled down for the wait.

Harry woke to a sharp poke to his cheek only moments before Mrs. Weasley came walking through the kitchen door. He was startled to find out he'd been asleep because he had been worried that if he went to sleep he might become the snake again and attack another person, but the thought was quickly sidelined in the face of whatever news Mrs. Weasley brought with her.

"He's going to be all right." She announces with a tired smile, voice quiet from her weariness. "He's sleeping. We can all go to see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."

The relief sweeping through the room could be felt as the Weasley children heard of their father's survival. Tired but happy grins spreading across all faces in the room.

"Breakfast!" Sirius proclaims as he jumps up from his seat. "Where's that accursed house-elf? Kreacher! Kreacher!" But the house-elf did not appear at Sirius's call. "Oh, forget it then." Sirius mutters, hardly letting a little disobedience dampen the joyous mood. "So it's breakfast for –let's see –eight."

"Seven, Sirius." Ichigo cuts in. "I had something to eat while you were sleeping earlier."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure there'll be extra if I change my mind."

"Good enough. I'm thinking bacon and eggs, some tea, and toast..." Sirius says as both he and Ichigo head over to the stove to start cooking.

Harry hurried after them to help, not wanting to intrude any more than he already has on the Weasleys' happiness, but Mrs. Weasley was quick to catch him and thanked him for his early warning, for saving her husband's life. Harry felt he didn't deserve it, not when he had been the snake, but before she might notice something was wrong, she released him and moved on to thanking Sirius and Ichigo. Sirius was quick to offer his home as haven while Mr. Weasley was hospitalized, which she accepted, leaving him happy to have guests for the holidays.

Mrs. Weasley put on an apron, ready to help with breakfast, but Ichigo shooed her away, saying "You've had a long night and I'm sure your kids will appreciate just sitting with you right now." She was reluctant to listen, but Ichigo was firm, so she finally went and sat down with her kids.

During this, Harry pulled Sirius aside to tell him about the true version of his vision and how in his brief eye contact with Dumbledore he had once more felt he was the snake. Sirius assured him that everything would be all right before going back to help Ichigo with making breakfast, but Harry didn't really feel reassured at all.

What am I becoming?

Author's Note

So what do you think? I'm honestly curious, how many of you realized I made a swap before Ichigo showed up in Dumbedore's office, or before I explained it? And yes, Ichigo cooks, in my opinion. He was a mamma's boy and I can't imagine that Isshin and him would let a 4 year old do all the cooking right away after Masaki died. Not much more to say here.

Please comment/review to tell me how I did.