Okay, as usual I do not own anything - unfortunately.

=Hell butterfly message=

==Eavesdropping bug==

||Japanese speaking||

:Zanpakuto speaking:

Ichigo talking to Zangetsu/Hichigo

:Inner hollow talking:

"Parseltongue"

Chapter 24

"Professor," Ichigo slipped into Professor Snape's office.

"Kurosaki," Snape looked up at him from the papers he was grading, "I understand you have some competition as best Potions student in the Sixth Year – and not from Miss Granger."

"Ah – that's part of what I wanted to talk to you about." Ichigo scratched the back of his head as he sat down in the chair next to the Professor's desk.

"You wanted to speak with me about Potter's new-found brilliance in Potions?" Snape raised a brow questioningly. Ichigo nodded. "Very well, I am curious as to how he is achieving this, as he never before showed any indication of having any promise in that field whatsoever. Professor Slughorn appears to believe I am the one responsible for it –"

Ichigo refrained from saying that the reason Harry had never excelled in Potions was because of Snape himself, and instead replied, "Actually – in a very roundabout way – you are responsible for it," Ichigo chuckled at Snape's incredulous expression and dug into his bag to pull out the old Potions book; he smirked when he handed it to him, and waited for the reaction he knew he was going to get... and was not disappointed. Snape stared at it, his eyes widening as he paged through it.

"This is… how… where…"

Ichigo explained how Harry had come to get the book and why Ichigo had taken it from him. "He's using my mother's right now, and I'm using this one," he finished.

"I do admit to feeling somewhat more secure with you using this one," Snape admitted, "this book…"

"Has a few extra tidbits written in the margins? Yeah, I know," the ginger haired Soul Reaper sighed. "I've been going through it, writing down what they do so he won't be tempted to try them out himself, but there are a few spells that I don't know…"

"You plan on giving this back to Potter?" Snape frowned down at it, and then raised his eyes to look at Ichigo appraisingly. He did not appear all that comfortable at the thought of Harry having the old Potions book.

"Well – I'd really like my mom's book back…" Snape nodded his understanding of that; of course Ichigo would want Masaki's Potions book returned to him; that was understandable. Ichigo suddenly grinned at him. "And I didn't get a chance to tell you – a couple of those spells you taught us last year worked really, really well against the Espada. If the spells in that book were able to help us against Aizen, then they're sure to help Harry against Moldy."

"Of course," Snape nodded once, in agreement, and quite pleased that he'd been of assistance to Ichigo and the others, "which spells did you need assistance with?"

Ichigo pulled out the list and they went over it, with Snape going through in detail what the spells did and how they were performed – and he even went over the counter spells, if there was one, knowing that Ichigo's group might need them if they ever used the spells. With some of the curses like Sectumsempra, Ichigo was relieved that he had taken the book before Harry had ever been tempted to try it out. If he had done the same thing he had with Levicorpus – the results could have been disastrous. (AN)

"Thanks, Professor," he said, putting the list and book away. "Have we made any progress on the Malfoy front?"

Snape shrugged. "I've heard – whispers – from the other students. Some of them are rather amazed that you have a pet snake, and they wonder why a Gryffindor would have one."

"Nothing from Malfoy, though?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if the Professor had heard anything from the teen.

Snape frowned. "Not yet – other than the complaint that he's partnered with you. He accused me of fixing the draw."

Ichigo gave him a long look. "And you didn't?"

"Of course, but I was not going to admit it to him," the Professor drawled slowly, "I told him to suck it up and learn to work with someone he may or may not get along with as a lesson for the future."

Ichigo snorted. "He's dodged all of my attempts to corral him to work on that project. I may have to bind him with kido to get him to stay still in order to talk to him."

"Whatever works, of course," the edges of Snape's mouth twitched, ever so faintly.

"I wish Slughorn had invited him to be a member of his little club," Ichigo groaned, "I'd have more interaction with him that way and you wouldn't have had to come up with this – this farce."

"I did think of that as well; I even went so far as to speak to Professor Slughorn, but he is resistant to having anything to do with Death Eaters or their family members – even if it would be of assistance to you. That is why I was forced to devise the project."

#

When Ichigo returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, it was to find the Quidditch team in one corner of the room muttering among themselves and casting nasty looks at Ron, while Harry was earnestly trying to convince him that he could indeed play, it was just his nerves that were the problem; if he could just get over those, Ron would be a very good Keeper, one of the best. Based on what Rukia had told him on how the other ginger was acting, it wouldn't surprise him if the team staged a revolt. Tatsuki in particular had no patience for the sort of behavior that Ron had been exhibiting lately. For that matter, neither did Ichigo – but he was already dealing with too many problems as it was to worry about Ron's nerves, so that was one problem he was going to have to pass on for the moment.

Hermione was sulking in another corner of the room, having had yet another spat with the same Weasley, so Ichigo went to join her, deeming her need of a friend to be the greatest. Besides, he liked her better.

"I hate Quidditch," she said to him, trying in vain to work on her essay for Transfiguration. She finally shoved it away from her and stared moodily at the pile of books in front of her. The situation was very bad indeed if Hermione was not able to concentrate on her homework. She had a one-track mind when it came to doing school work. Ichigo stared at her with some sympathy. He had been in her position once, and had used physical training to try to forget his angst. Unfortunately, they did not appear to teach any kind of physical exercise in wizarding schools – he felt this to be a fault of the wizarding society as a whole. With the exception of Quidditch, there did not appear to be any way for them to get any sort of physical exercise.

"Is Ron being a prat again?" He asked her, having a feeling that was in fact the problem. There was a reason why Ron was Ichigo's least favorite Weasley; it wasn't that he did not like the other boy – he just liked the rest of his family more. Well, with the exception of Percy… of whom the less said the better.

She nodded, sniffling, and wordlessly taking the handkerchief he conjured up for her. He and his friends were getting very good at conjuring those; Uryu told him he had bypassed the handkerchief and conjured an entire box of tissues the last time he had done something nice for Luna… He knew Rukia and Tatsuki were getting good at it, as well, since they shared a dorm room with Hermione, and Ginny also often sought them out there; Rukia had told him that the days before she had broken up with Dean had been rather – soggy.

Ichigo sighed, and had to restrain the urge to go over and smack Ron alongside the head, and settled for a glare. He fully agreed with Hermione; he hated Quidditch as well, but right now his fiancée, sister and long time friend were all on the team. He had no choice in the matter.

"You know his problem is all due to nerves; it was the same last year. The more nervous he got, the worse he played. I don't know why he's being such a horse's ass to everyone this year, though." Actually, Ichigo had a really good idea as to why; of everyone he knew, Ron was probably the only one who had never snogged anyone who wasn't a family member. It didn't help that his younger sister kept throwing that fact in his face and taunting him with it. If Ichigo were to hazard a guess, there'd even been a little bit of shy smooching going on between Orihime and Neville… not that anyone had caught them at anything. And then there was Uryu and Luna… although the Quincy was even shyer than Ichigo if possible, so that was debatable. It was probably preying on his mind – especially the fact that Hermione had actually kissed someone who was also a world-famous Quidditch player. He didn't know if he wanted to explain that to her, however. He wasn't quite sure she would understand it, or take it the right way. How was he to explain to her that he'd been listening to Ron's bellyaching about it? Plus he had Harry in the other ear, about Ginny. Sometimes he wondered that he wasn't deaf. When – and how - had he become everyone's confidant? Even he himself wouldn't be engaged if the old man hadn't bullied Byakuya into it! So why did they all suddenly think he was an expert?

"Still…" she sniffled some more, and was very resistant to Ichigo's attempts to cheer her up or let her cry on his shoulder. Ichigo watched out of the corner of his eye as Harry cajoled, sweet-talked and bullied Ron, trying to get a reaction out of him but to no avail. Ron went to bed, dejected and depressed, leaving Harry to drop his head on the table with a groan. Ichigo sighed, sympathizing with Harry. Tomorrow was either going to be a great day – or it would be an utter disaster.

When dawn broke on Saturday, it was evident that it would be a gloriously good day for a game – bright, shiny and with clear blue skies. Lavender gave Ron a bright smile and wished him luck, blushing at the same time as Parvati pushed her along, rolling her eyes as she did so. Ichigo, who was sitting with a hyped up Rukia and Tatsuki, raised both of his eyebrows at this. Well, well, well…

"When did that start?" Rukia asked Ichigo after watching Parvati Patil glance over at them with an expression that indicated that she'd been having her ear talked off. Lavender continued to shoot Ron shy glances from where she sat with her friend, which Rukia found to be very like the way Orihime had used to act around Ichigo… and Lavender was an oh-so girly-girl, very different from any of their friends, even Orihime. In fact, Lavender was even girlier than their friend, if that was even possible. Rukia raised an eyebrow appraisingly at this, and waited for Ichigo to answer.

"Ah, well…" he thought that one over, "She did wish him luck rather loudly at the tryouts…"

"Hnnnn…" Rukia looked around for Hermione, to see if she had noticed, but she was only just arriving and had luckily missed the exchange. Hermione, who had avoided going down to breakfast with any of them, and Ron in particular because of the shortness of his temper, stopped behind Harry and Ron.

"Um…" she said hesitantly, "How are you both feeling?"

"Fine," Harry said, handing Ron some pumpkin juice and glancing over at Ichigo as he did so. "Here Ron, drink this. You need something in your system."

"Ron! Don't!" Hermione suddenly hissed, her hand jerking as if she were going to grab the glass away from him.

Ichigo had been watching, alert – and had seen Harry's sleight of hand. But he had also talked to Harry the evening before, and that morning, and had helped him come up with the plan to bolster Ron's self esteem... the pair had stayed up for hours last night, just to work out all of the details… and even practice.

"Why not?" Ron asked, confused, his gaze going back and forth between the three of them, while Rukia and Tatsuki looked on bemused.

"Harry – you put something in that drink, I saw you!" Hermione said in a low voice, her expression shocked. She turned to look at Ichigo, only to see that his own expression was shuttered – and he appeared to be trying to warn her not to make a fuss when he shook his head slightly. Her eyes widened even more. Whatever Harry was up to – Ichigo was helping him do it? Was that possible?

"Excuse me?" Harry stared at her, playing dumb.

"You heard me," she said in a low voice, unable to believe what was happening. "You just tipped something into Ron's drink. You've got the bottle in your hand right now!"

"No I don't," Harry showed her his empty hands.

"Ron, I mean it – don't you dare drink it!" but Ron had already picked up the glass and drained it in one gulp.

"Stop bossing me around, Hermione!" Ron declared, standing up at challenging her.

Hermione gaped at them, then leaned over and hissed, "You should be expelled for that! I would never have believed it of you, Harry! Or you, Ichigo!"

"Pot, kettle? Confunded anyone lately?" he shot back. She paled at his comeback, and then reddened.

Ichigo watched her storm off and sighed, knowing that she had not liked being reminded of the fact that she had confunded McLaggen at the Quidditch trials so that Ron would get the Keeper position. Ichigo had found out about it the next day, by accident; of course the fact that Ron had actually done well at the trials, on his own… would have gotten him the spot because the rest of the team did not want McLaggen. Although, Ichigo thought, right now they were probably wishing they had him instead of Ron… even though the arrogant wart was a pain in the ass in practices, according to the three women in his life. Rukia was staring at him, her eyes narrowed dangerously; he leaned over to kiss her gently on the cheek, and murmured, "I'll explain later; there's nothing for you to worry about. Trust me!"

She and Tatsuki left, still giving him doubtful looks, and glanced over at Harry and Ron, who were also just leaving. Ichigo sighed. The next few hours were going to be very uncomfortable for him… he wondered if he could sneak off and sit somewhere else.

#

Ichigo stood between Hermione, who was very unhappy with him, and Neville, with Dean and Seamus right behind them. Hermione had given him a pointed look when she had seen him trying to avoid her, so he'd groaned internally and given in to the inevitable. Her very loud, "Ichigo – over here! We've saved you a spot!" had left him with no other choice.

"Hey – Malfoy isn't playing!" Neville exclaimed when he noticed that there was a replacement Seeker, "I wonder why that is?"

"I wonder," Ichigo muttered, glancing back at the castle curiously. He'd heard that bit of news earlier – directly from Professor Snape – and they had asked Yoruichi, Noba and Ririn to discretely try to locate him, or see what he was up to if they could. Ririn's power of illusion should be able to ensure that no one would be able to see them. Too many questions could get asked if anyone saw a black cat wandering around with a pair of animated plushies… Ichigo scanned the stands; he could sense Luna, Uryu and Toshiro standing together with the rest of the Ravenclaws, and over in the Hufflepuff section, Mizuiro, Momo, Orihime and Yuzu. He was a bit surprised he was able to pick out Luna's reiatsu so well in this crowd…

"Not only that – their best Chaser is not playing either! He was injured in practice and still isn't right in the head…" Dean told them, grinning, and pulling Ichigo's attention away from his thoughts. "That's really, really good for us!"

"How… lucky," Hermione drawled, giving Ichigo a dirty look. He returned it with one that was bland and gave away nothing. Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets, and wrapped his fingers around the tiny little bottle that he had wordlessly summoned from Harry under the table so that the other boy could show Hermione both hands…empty.

The players had just taken the field and they watched as Harry and the Slytherin Captain shook hands, while still glaring at each other.

"…I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year…" the commentator's voice started, and Ichigo groaned as he realized that this game would be spent with gritted teeth. "…of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help…"

"That's it!" Ichigo snarled, "I'm turning him into a damned rabbit and locking him up in a hutch for the rest of the year!"

The Gryffindors standing around him agreed with Ichigo's turning his distant Hufflepuff relative into a rabbit. They all heartily disliked Zacharias Smith as much as Ichigo did. Even Hermione chose not to argue with him on that point.

"…Urquhart streaking down the pitch…"

Ichigo held his breath.

"…Weasley saves it; I guess he's bound to get lucky sometimes, he was truly erratic last year…"

Hermione gave Ichigo a long look but this time she didn't say anything. Ichigo tried to concentrate on his sister, his fiancée, and his longtime friend, and not the angry looks she kept shooting him.

Half an hour into the game, Ron had made some truly spectacular saves, and Gryffindor led sixty to nothing. Smith could no longer pick on the Weasleys since Ginny had scored four of the six goals in addition to Ron's saves, so even if Gryffindor lost because Slytherin caught the Snitch, they had both redeemed their family name. He tried to say something about second years and lack of experience, but Karin went and scored the next two goals in quick succession, and performed a dizzying steal from one of the Slytherin Chasers and streaked back down to score the second goal before they even realized she'd taken the Quaffle from them. Smith at that point started in on the Beaters – Rukia in particular because of her diminutive size.

"…Beaters generally have a bit more muscle…"

"Hit a Bludger at him!" Ichigo shouted, not knowing that Harry had shouted the same thing. The bastard had just called his Midget a midget, and no one did that but Ichigo… Rukia, however, with an evil grin, hit one squarely at the replacement Slytherin Seeker, Harper. There was a loud thunk that everyone heard as it hit and he was knocked off of his broom. Don't ever underestimate the strength of my Midget, he proudly thought with a satisfied smirk as he watched the other teen hit the dirt hard. So much for needing a bit more muscle. She had hit that as hard as either Fred or George could have.

Another hour later, the score was one hundred to zero. The Slytherin Seeker was back, if a bit woozy, Ron had made some more spectacular saves, Rukia had permanently knocked two of their Chasers out of the game, and Tatsuki had eliminated a Beater. The only way Slytherin could win was by catching the Snitch.

The crowd booed when Harper collided with Harry, nearly knocking him off of his broom; of course Madam Hooch was looking in the other direction and didn't see this obvious foul. Harper raced off, with Harry after him, determined to get back at him.

"Look – there it is!" Seamus pointed, drawing everyone's eyes in that direction.

Ichigo nodded, seeing the little golden ball fluttering above them. Harper had his hand on it; then for some reason, he fumbled it, and it slipped through his fingers. What, Ichigo wondered, did Harry shout at him to make him fumble like that? Whatever it was it had worked – Harry made a swipe for it and caught it, ending the game.

As the whistle blew signaling the end of the match, and the crowd (three quarters of it) cheered, Hermione gasped.

"What's Ginny doing?"

Ginny was speeding past the team group hug, straight at the commentator's podium, where she crashed, causing the crowd to shriek and shout with laughter as she caused Smith to be trapped under a heap of wreckage. Even the Slytherins enjoyed the sight of this carnage. The girl has guts, Ichigo smirked with satisfaction, watching as she apologized to an irate Professor McGonagall for 'forgetting to brake.'

"Come on," Hermione ordered, giving Ichigo a look; he sighed and followed her, having a feeling that he knew exactly what she was up to as he trailed after her to the changing room. They arrived just as Karin came barreling out of it to wrap her arms around him in a joyful hug.

"Ichi-nii!" she screamed, "Did you see? Forty points! I scored Forty points!"

"I saw," he grinned at her, "You did great, Karin. I really liked that steal you pulled off."

"I have to find Yuzu and Toshiro!" she said as she raced off.

Harry and Ron were the last two in the changing room.

"I want a word with you Harry," Hermione said. Ichigo leaned against the door, watching her with a solemn look on his face. She appeared to be fighting with herself. "You shouldn't have done it. You know it's illegal…all of you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry had his back to them, and was hanging his robe up.

"Yes you do!" she argued, "You spiked Ron's drink at breakfast! You used Felix Felicis!"

"No, I didn't."

"Yes you did – that's why everything went right – the weather, Slytherin players missing the match, and Ron saved everything…"

Harry turned around, grinning. "No – I didn't. Ichigo?"

Smirking, Ichigo pulled his hands out of his pockets – and in each hand was one small bottle of the golden liquid. He'd brought his along as well so that Hermione would know that they were telling the truth and hadn't used one, saving the other. Ron gaped at them, as they were both full and also both sealed tightly.

"See? We worked it out last night; how to convince you that you could play, that it was only your own nerves holding you back. You did it all on your own Ron," Harry said to his friend, "That was all you – no potion involved."

"That was all me? No potion?" Ron gawped at the two tiny bottles for a moment, blinking owlishly. "There really wasn't anything in my juice?" he swung around to look at Hermione angrily, his voice mimicking hers in a rather nasty tone. "You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything!" Well, apparently I don't need lucky potion to save goals! I can do it without help, Hermione!"

"I didn't say you couldn't! You –"

But Ron was already gone, having stormed out past them.

"Er…" Harry looked at Hermione, then Ichigo, who was scratching the back of his head. "Do you want to go up to the party?" he asked her weakly.

"You go! I am utterly sick of Ron right now, I don't know what I should have done…" and she bolted off in the other direction, leaving the pair to stare at each other.

"Well, that went rather well," Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Swimmingly," Harry moaned.

"I suppose we had best go up," Ichigo handed Harry one of the bottles. It really didn't matter which one he gave Harry; they were both the same.

"Do we have to?"

Ichigo chuckled humorlessly. Harry sounded like a little kid asking if he had to go to the dentist.

"Yes, now come on, Gryffindor Team Captain."

The pair was immediately surrounded by a crowd of girls so thick Rukia would need her bat to beat them off in order to get to him; Ichigo could not even see his fiancée in the crowd, although he saw Karin in the midst of a group of year-mates – all boys. Now that was interesting…he wondered what Toshiro would make of all that, seeing his sort-of girlfriend suddenly popular with boys... that could be interesting… she caught his eye and winked at him. He raised an eyebrow.

Oh, that's going to get messy…

By the time the pair managed to get to the drink table, they had at least found Ginny, although Ichigo still hadn't located Rukia. He did sense her reiatsu, over in the direction of the fireplace; but he as of yet had not been able to get there.

"Looking for Ron?" she pointed, "The little hypocrite is over there."

They looked in the direction she was pointing… and both jaws dropped.

"Holy…"

"It looks like he's eating Lavender's face, doesn't it?" Ginny chortled at their nauseated expressions, "Honestly, you'd think he'd learned something from watching you and Rukia all last year… like how to behave tastefully."

"Ah… thanks, I think…" Ichigo sighed, shaking his head. He was going to have to scrub his eyeballs later.

"Well, I suppose he has to practice on someone," Harry sighed with resignation, which earned him a gasping chortle from Ginny. Arnold the Pygmy Puff, perched on her shoulder, nearly fell off. Ichigo held out his hand to steady the poor little guy, who probably would have been stepped on and seriously hurt.

"Oh – that's –" she leaned against Harry, laughing. Ichigo watched with a smirk as Harry blushed. He saw the look Ichigo was giving him and blushed harder.

What are you waiting for, Ichigo thought at him… she's giving you the perfect opportunity. Don't let it pass…

Ichigo felt something twine around his ankles, and without looking, he bent over to pick up Yoruichi, who purred at him, and then ever so gently, dug her claws into him to signal that she needed to speak with him.

"I need to find Rukia," he said to them, with another meaningful look at Harry. "Talk to you later."

"Ah – yeah, right," Harry stammered, blushing even more.

"I think she's over by the fireplace," Ginny said helpfully, still leaning against Harry.

"Thanks."

Ichigo slipped away, after squeezing Yoruichi gently to let her know he had understood her message. He found Rukia with Tatsuki and several other girls near the fireplace, like Ginny had said.

"Hey," he dropped down in the seat that suddenly opened up for him.

"We skunked 'em," Tatsuki crowed, thrusting a fist in the air. "Two hundred and Sixty to nothing. Nothing! Who scores nothing?!"

"I have a feeling that the Slytherin team is getting a real earful right about now," Parvati Patil laughed, as she pulled up the image of what they were likely enduring from Professor Snape. She was quite determinedly not looking in her best friend's direction.

"Hey, how come you didn't hit that Bludger at Smith?" Ichigo asked Rukia. She smiled back at him.

"I thought you would rather turn him into a rabbit," she replied demurely, which got a chuckle out of everyone.

"I just might do it, if Ginny crashing into him didn't teach him a lesson," he felt Yoruichi dig her claws into his hand again, and winced slightly. Rukia caught this and her violet eyes widened slightly with surprise. He took her hand and wordlessly he pulled her out of the room and down the hall, looking for a place where they could talk undisturbed.

They almost walked in on Harry and Ginny – but Rukia noticed in time and dragged him farther down the hall until they finally found another open classroom.

"Okay," she asked, folding her arms over her chest, "what's going on?"

"Yoruichi?" he asked her, as she leaped out of his arms and onto a nearby desk.

"It took us a while, but we did finally locate Malfoy today," she admitted grumpily, "Ririn had the idea, based on a few things you've told us."

"Oh?" Ichigo didn't say anything else; he guessed she was put out because she hadn't been the one to figure it out first.

"He's the one who's been in the Room of Requirement when you haven't been able to get in."

"Why that little…" Rukia nearly exploded, "What's he doing in there that's so damned important that he has to hog the room?! Doesn't he know other people want to use it, also?"

Yoruichi gave her an amused glance; she had long ago figured out what this pair was using the Room for, but hadn't said anything. If she had been in their shoes, she probably would have been doing the same thing. In fact, she was surprised more people hadn't thought about it. Rukia's frustration and anger came from not being able to get in there more often… alone. She actually wondered who had jumped who the last time they had been able to get in there, considering how long it had been… or if it had been a mutual attack.

"He's been trying to repair the companion to the Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burke."

Author's Notes:

Sectumsemprais a Dark curse invented by Severus Snape (under his alias of "The Half-Blood Prince") for use against his enemies, and it soon became one of his specialties. The effect is the equivalent of being slashed with an invisible sword; it slashes the target repeatedly and inflicts horrific scarring and internal bodily injuries, to the point they are disfigured or possibly killed. There is a counter-curse, assumed to be Vulnera Sanentur, most likely also invented by Snape. The first time it is used, the flow of blood eases up; the second time causes the wounds to knit; the third time removes the worst effects of the curse near-instantly. The victim would still require medical treatment, and if Dittany is applied immediately, scarring can be avoided. Though the counter-curse can heal the wounds, and Dittany can prevent scars, any body parts that have been severed by this curse cannot be grown back, as seen when George Weasley lost his ear to it in Book 7. Snape used it against James Potter when they were students in Hogwarts (seen by Harry when he witnessed Snape's memories during his occlumency training in Book 5) and Harry used it against Draco Malfoy in Book 6, injuring him badly, and requiring Snape's intervention to heal him up.