Beyond the Veil: Black-Winged Great Demon

Lefu and Oszlár quickly made their way to the castle, Bellatrix, as yet unnoticed by the short redhead, following close behind. Miraculously, they managed to avoid getting into any battles.

"Do you know where they are?" Oszlár asked as they climbed through the shattered remains of a large window. Both Oszlár and Lefu ducked behind a large tapestry, clutching their still-unleashed Zanpakutou, when Kira and a shaggy-looking wizard ran by, chased by an Arrancar with the appearance of a giant hawk.

The taller man shook his head. "No, I don't. But they're in danger, so we have to go help them."

Oszlár frowned, a little confused, but followed his companion as they ran down the hallways. Battles were raging all over the castle, and it was impossible to tell who was winning. Oszlár thanked any deity who might be listening that the enemy leaders were still safely trapped behind Yamamoto's fire.

In the end, it was Sirius who found them.

Oszlár barely had time to react to the sudden appearance of a body flying through the air before it slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"Oh, Prongs, it's you," Sirius said a little dazedly.

The redhead just scowled and shoved the taller man off him. "How much do you weigh? A ton? If I break a rib, I'm going to shock you."

"How will you do that with a broken rib?" Sirius asked cheekily, until he saw that Raishika was completely uncovered. Sirius then felt afraid.

Very afraid.

Before Oszlár could shock him anyway, a cold voice cut across the clamour of battle.

"Are you sure it is wise to turn your attention away from your opponent, Black Sirius?"

Sirius swore and rolled to the side, pulling Oszlár with him, just as a thick green beam crashed into the ground, cracking the place they had been sitting just seconds before. Lefu jumped back and had to swing his spear to fend off the projectiles.

"I had my eyes on you the whole time, Ulquiorra," Sirius spat back, jumping to his feet. "Harry! You okay?"

In answer, Harry shouted spell that Ulquiorra easily deflected. The Espada was forced to Sonído away when Hermione and Ron followed up with several rapid-fire curses of their own.

"You're fighting an Espada?" Oszlár said incredulously.

Satoki suddenly appeared beside him, clutching her right arm, which was bleeding heavily. "Yes, he attacked us as we were attempting to climb the Astronomy Tower."

"Watch out!" Lefu cried, swinging his spear to block Ulquiorra's attack. The Espada made no expression at having his sword stopped, and simply swung his other hand in an attempt to grab Oszlár. Satoki grimaced and let go of her injured arm to claw at Ulquiorra with her Zanpakutou. At the same time, Sirius aimed and fired a bolt of black reiatsu at the Espada.

"Your teamwork is flawless," Ulquiorra commented as he Sonído'd to a safer spot, as if he was merely stating the weather. "I have even had to draw my sword against you."

Suddenly Ulquiorra's sword flew out his hand, and a brief expression of shock flashed through his normally emotionless eyes. He was forced to raise both his hands to block Lefu's and Sirius's attack from either side. Oszlár was using the chance to help Satoki heal her wounded arm a little.

While Ulquiorra was occupied with Sirius and Lefu, the three student wizards launched their own assault.

"Stupefy!" all three of them shouted, aiming their wands at the Cuatro Espada.

Ulquiorra disappeared, the spells nearly hitting Lefu and Sirius as they fell into empty space. Sirius realised what Ulquiorra was going to do the moment he vanished.

"Harry!" Sirius shouted, Shunpo'ing to knock his grandson away. A split second later Ulquiorra reappeared, his sword back in his hand, and sent Sirius flying with a flick of his wrist. Lefu Shunpo'd behind Sirius to catch him, and they both crashed into the wall behind them, cracking the masonry.

"Denso!"

Suddenly Oszlár and Satoki appeared on either side of Ulquiorra, with Hermione and Ron advancing from in front and behind. Giant lumps of stone were racing through the air, guided by Satoki's Kakusuja. Ulquiorra was trapped.

Ulquiorra felt his body freeze up, a result of foolishly reaching out to try and knock away Raishika. His other attackers were quickly closing in.

Foolish trash.

"Enclose," Ulquiorra said, raising his Zanpakutou, "Murciélago."

Sirius immediately started running, a hand on what he was sure was a bruised rib. "Get away from him!"

"Protego!" Harry shouted, his spell quickly backed up by Hermione and Ron's. A shield rose up just as Ulquiorra's Zanpakutou released, its heavy reiatsu cracking the magical barrier. Both enemies and allies alike fled as the black reiatsu rained down upon them, no one wanting to get caught up in the battle. Oszlár and Satoki quickly pulled the three student wizards away from Ulquiorra.

When the reiatsu cleared, the Espada's appearance was vastly changed. His white Espada uniform was now a single-piece white robe with a thick black line running down the middle. Two giant black wings sprouted from Ulquiorra's back, and his hair had grown longer. The green streaks running down his face had also become black. Ulquiorra's helmet now resided on top of his head, with two wicked horns rising from it.

"Consider yourselves lucky," Ulquiorra said tonelessly. "It is not often that I must resort to my Resurrección. Your luck ends there, as you stand no chance against me now."

Sirius simply tightened his grip on his staff. The others mimicked his actions. No one was going to back down.

Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow. "It is impossible for you to win, yet you still insist on throwing your lives away? For what? What purpose will your deaths serve?"

"The only one who's going to die here today is you Ulquiorra," Sirius growled.

With a flick of his hand, Ulquiorra summoned a long, narrow beam of greenish light. Then he suddenly disappeared.

"Do not think so highly of yourself, trash," Ulquiorra said, suddenly appearing beside Sirius. He batted away everyone else with his large wings, but slashed at Sirius with his light-spear. Sirius had no time to react, and was thrown into the ground, a deep cut on his chest. "No matter how brave you think you are, nor what you feel you must protect, I am simply too powerful for you to defeat."

"Sirius!" Oszlár shouted, Shunpo'ing behind Ulquiorra with his weapon raised to strike. Almost lazily, Ulquiorra raised his spear to knock Oszlár away, having learned not to physically come into contact with Raishika.

At the same time, Satoki and Lefu attacked from two other angles. Ulquiorra was forced to turn his attention away from Sirius, who was quickly dragged away by Harry and Ron.

"Sirius, are you alright?" Hermione asked and began peeling away the torn fabric of Sirius's uniform.

The black-haired man nodded. "Yeah, it's just a scratch." He winced when he sat up, and Hermione looked sceptical at the so-called 'scratch. "We need to slow his movements. There's no way we can land a hit with him running all over the place."

Hermione frowned. "Our spells do not have much of an effect on him…"

"That'll be the Hierro," Sirius said. "Steel-like skin. If you three can work together, you should be able to get past that. We'll keep him distracted, you three work on something that'll at least slow him down a bit."

The three student wizards nodded, and Sirius pulled himself to his feet.

Suddenly everything when black, and Sirius fell back to the ground.

When Sirius's vision cleared, he was staring up at a forest's canopy. He was in his inner world.

"Karu no Riken!" Sirius roared, jumping to his feet. He instantly regretted the action, and fell back down to his knees as pain swept over his body.

You idiot, if you move too much your body will be split in half, the dog spirit growled, appearing silently between the trees. I pulled you down here to prevent you from dying.

"I have to go back, Ulquiorra will kill them," Sirius protested.

And what difference do you think you will make, pup? Karu no Riken said, her eyes narrowed to slits. You will be nothing more than a burden to them.

Sirius scowled. "Then at least I can provide some distraction before Ulquiorra kills me."

HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?

Suddenly Karu no Riken pounced on Sirius, knocking him to the ground. Her claws dug into his shoulders, and her bared fangs were mere centimetres from Sirius's face.

Do not dare give up so easily, Sirius Black, Karu no Riken snarled. You will never throw away your life like it is meaningless. I have not waited all these decades simply for you to waste your second chance at life!

Sirius froze, for the first time absolutely terrified of his Zanpakutou. Finally, the dog seemed to relax a little.

But do not think that I have given up either. Come, Sirius, and let me show you what I can do.

OoOoOoOoO

"Hermione, what's wrong with Sirius?" Harry demanded, almost panicking. Sirius had collapsed for apparently no reason.

"I don't know!" Hermione returned, shaking her hands in agitation. "He's stopped bleeding, and he's still breathing…but I don't know!"

Ron brought both of them back to the present. "Sirius is fine for now, but we need to help them."

Indeed, Ulquiorra was quickly wearing down the three shinigami students, who were as yet unaware of Sirius's situation.

Hermione nodded tightly.

"Yes, I think I know what we can do to slow Ulquiorra," she said. "We need to hit him with the same spell at the same time, or at least as close together as possible. But we have to use a wordless incantation; otherwise he'll know what we're doing."

Both boys paled a little at the thought of trying to do a wordless incantation. Out of all the students in their year, Hermione was one of the few who had managed to be successful at such a thing. The most either boy had done was make a pillow wiggle a little half-heartedly.

"You have to try!" Hermione encouraged, knowing exactly what was going through their minds.

Without letting them protest, Hermione showed them where they should stand to attack Ulquiorra.

"Harry, you go under this," Hermione said, throwing the Invisibility Cloak over the green-eyed boy. "I don't think Ulquiorra can sense you with it. If something happens, you can ambush him. And keep a hand on your DA coins. The moment you feel them get hot, cast a Stunning jinx."

Ron nodded and pulled his coin out of his pocket. Hermione could only assume that Harry had done the same. The three broke apart, creeping around the battlefield. They had to continuously dodge the rocks and boulders that Satoki was flinging about, her claws giving even the heaviest rock magnetic properties.

"Denso!" Oszlár cried, finally managing to get a hit on Ulquiorra. The Espada spun around and lashed out at the redhead. Oszlár screamed as Ulquiorra's claws raked down his face, destroying his blind eye and mauling the right side of his face. The paralytic effects were greatly lessened in the much more powerful Espada, although his movements had slowed fractionally.

Satoki had Shunpo'd to save Oszlár, leaving Lefu alone to face Ulquiorra. Hermione saw her chance when the Espada moved to slice through the black man. She put a hand on her coin and sent the message to the other two, at the same time casting a Stunning jinx.

Two more jets of red light followed a split second later. Ulquiorra, who had not been expecting an attack from the shadows, was hit straight on by three jinxes. Although the force of the three spells may have killed a weaker man, Ulquiorra was not even Stunned.

He was, however, surprised to find that he could barely move, and was reduced to the speed of a lowly shinigami.

Before he could react and launch a counterattack on the three student wizards, his hand was stopped by another.

"I would say 'don't touch them or I'll kill you', but I'm going to kill you anyway, so there's really no point," Sirius said with an insane grin on his face. "Forget about me?"

I suppose this would be a good time to remind you that the Bleach power levels are greatly reduced, so we don't have a bunch of freakishly powerful God-like monsters running around destroying Hogwarts. Six fighters on Ulqui-kun can make even him work a little. I had to go back and read through Ichigo's battle with him, so I could stay true to how Ulquiorra would react in this kind of situation. I'm also throwing my own little twist on it, as you can see.

Now Siriusly (HAHA U C WUT I DID THER?), who knew who we would be seeing in this chapter from the title?