Okay, to the anonymous reviewer Ash who questioned the age of the characters… When Bleach starts, Ichigo is 15 and his sisters are 11. Over the summer, probably sometime during the invasion of Soul Society (or shortly before/after), Ichigo turns 16. His sisters are then 12. After the Winter War, while they are being tutored by the visiting wizards, his sisters turn 13, and Ichigo turns 17 over the summer. The current year, Ichigo's sixth and the Twins' second, he is 18 and they are 14. Since Draco is 16, there is less than two years separating Draco and Yuzu. Does that answer your question?

I opted to publish this chapter early to give everyone a 'Christmas' present. So enjoy!

As always, I do not own either Bleach or HP, just this story which may not be reproduced or published anywhere else without permission.

=Hell butterfly message=

==Eavesdropping bug==

||Japanese speaking||

:Zanpakuto speaking:

Ichigo talking to Zangetsu/Hichigo

:Inner hollow talking:

Chapter 38

That weekend, as Hermione and Ron were in Hogsmeade, and Harry was wandering around aimlessly he ran into Tonks.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her. She looked better than she had the last time he had seen her; she was not as thin, although her hair still appeared mousy and unkempt.

"I came to see Dumbledore."

"His office is on the other side of the castle, behind a gargoyle –"

"I know; he's not there…" she sighed, "he's gone away again."

"Has he?" Harry puzzled this one over, "do you know where he goes?"

Her eyes shifted away. "No," she replied.

She's lying! He thought, she does know where he is, or thinks she knows! "So what did you want to see him about?"

"Oh – nothing in particular," Tonks shrugged, "I thought he could tell me about some of the rumors…"

"Yeah, I've seen them," Harry nodded, he'd been going over some of them earlier that day with Uryu, "That little kid trying to kill his –"

"The Prophet's often behind the times," Tonks said vaguely, "Have you heard from anyone in the Order lately?"

"No, no one writes to me," Harry shook his head, internally sighing over her lack of focus; apparently she was not as improved as she appeared, "not since Sirius –"

"Right – well, I'll see you around, Harry," she said, wincing as she hastily left him. He watched her leave, and feeling even more depressed, went down to see if Ron and Hermione had returned yet and were at lunch.

Ron looked up at him when he arrived, a happy grin on his face. "I did it!" he gloated, "Sort of. I was supposed to be Apparating to just outside M. Puddifoot's Tea Shop, and I overshot it a bit and ended up near Scrivenshaft's, but I moved!"

"Well, at least it wasn't Greece," Ichigo cracked, which caused all of them to laugh.

"How'd you do, Hermione?" Rukia asked.

"Oh, she was perfect, obviously," Ron said, before she could. "Perfect deliberation, divination, and desperation, or whatever the hell the three Ds are. You should have heard that old guy going on about her – he'll probably pop the question –"

"Please – he nearly burst an artery last year when Ichigo, Rukia and Momo all Apparated on their first try!" Hermione protested, blushing furiously.

"And what did you do today?"

"Homework," Rukia sighed, while Tatsuki nodded. Ichigo laughed. He, Uryu and Toshiro had been with Draco in the Room of Requirement, testing out the Vanishing Cabinet. He couldn't say that, however; too many people might overhear. The one in Borgin & Burke's was not quite ready… if their results were anything to go by. Needless to say, one of the cabinets needed more work. He did not think it was the one in the room; the reiatsu on it felt even, uninterrupted.

"Oh, hey," Harry said, softly, "I saw Tonks earlier!"

"Tonks? What was she doing here?" Tatsuki blinked at him, surprised.

"Yeah, she said she'd come to visit Dumbledore, but he wasn't here, he'd gone away again…" he described his conversation with her.

"I think she's cracking up a bit, if you ask me," Ron shook his head, "Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."

"It is a bit odd," Hermione agreed, appearing concerned about the Auror. "I do know she's supposed to be guarding the school; so why did she abandon her post to come and see the Professor when he isn't even here?"

"I wonder…" Harry mused, wondering if he should bring this thought up. "You don't think…. I mean, do you suppose it's possible… Could she have been, I don't know, in love with Sirius?"

They all stared at him as if he'd grown a second – or even a third - head.

"What on earth made you think that?" Ichigo finally asked after he had finished choking on what he had been eating. Harry shrugged.

"Well… I dunno," Harry shrugged, now embarrassed that he had brought it up after seeing everyone's reactions, "but she nearly started crying when I mentioned his name, and her Patronus has changed shape: it's a big, four legged thing now. I wondered if it hadn't become – well, you know – him."

"It's a thought…" Hermione said slowly, while Ron shrugged.

It was the reaction of the Japanese, however, that caught their attention. Rukia and Tatsuke were trying to hold in their laughter, and Ichigo was shaking his head slowly.

"What?" Harry asked them, suddenly getting the suspicion that they knew – or suspected something – that the rest of them didn't. But that was something that he should be used to by now; they always appeared to be one step ahead of him.

"Harry – there's someone else we know who ah, is a four-legged thing part time," Ichigo said gently with a faint smile. For a long moment the three of them stared at him, before Hermione gasped.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. Tatsuki nodded at her. Of course Hermione would be the first one to figure it out.

"Yep. Now, wouldn't you be all depressed if that were the case?" she said, seeing the realization dawning in Hermione's eyes.

"Oh, poor Tonks!" Hermione sighed, and put her fork down, losing her appetite. "And of course he wouldn't do anything – he just wouldn't…"

"What?" Ron asked, his mouth full of mashed potatoes. Ichigo glared at him; that was one habit he absolutely detested – speaking with a full mouth.

It was Hermione who turned to look at the other two. "Harry, it's not Sirius she is in love with."

"Then who -?" it suddenly dawned on him that she used the present tense, not the past.

"It's Remus Lupin."

#

Tatsuki and Rukia returned from Quidditch practice, to find Hermione alone in their dorm room. Not unusual, since Lavender wanted nothing to do with her because of Ron. She was, as usual, reading.

"Anything interesting?" Tatsuki asked as she stowed her broom away, indicating the book. Hermione looked up at the pair of them, her expression serious.

"Very interesting," she said, raising her wand and sealing off the door.

The other two looked at each other, and then back at Hermione. She held out the book to them, and it was Tatsuki who took it and looked at the title, which was, she saw, in Japanese. Tatsuki held it out to Rukia, who, seeing the expression on her face, took the book with some trepidation – and blanched.

"I don't suppose you'd care to explain what I read on the pages I marked, would you?" Hermione asked in a level voice.

Rukia opened the book up to scan the pages, and found herself sighing.

"Well," she said reluctantly, closing the book, "I suppose it was only a matter of time. Where did you get this?"

"The restricted section. I'm not sure entirely why it was there. There isn't really anything in there that should be restricted."

"I have a feeling Professor Dumbledore probably put it there – to try to keep students from finding out the truth," Rukia admitted. "Although I'm a bit surprised he didn't pull it, the way he did all the books with information about the Horcruxes."

"So – am I going to get an explanation? I mean – your explanation?" Hermione asked, sitting forward.

Rukia and Tatsuki glanced forward, and Rukia hid a grimace. Once again, the way she had been when she had had to give her powers to Ichigo, she was left to make an executive decision… sighing internally, she sat down on her bed and started explaining.

About Soul Reapers, Soul Society… and the deal between Professor Dumbledore and Head Captain Yamamoto.

#

Harry felt as if he was no closer to figuring out how to obtain the memory from Slughorn. They were in the Room of Requirement; they had finished going over a quick refresher in Defense, and had done some Apparition and had worked on kido to try to relax Hermione and Ron, who had their Apparition exams later that day. They were now sitting around, trying to figure out how to get Slughorn to give up the true memory.

Nearly everyone was present: the entire Karakura Contingent, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Draco. Hermione and Ron were both clutching leaflets by the Ministry – Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, and were getting more nervous by the minute. No one even questioned Draco's presence anymore, which on some occasions actually surprised them when they stopped to think about how that had come about.

Harry, on the other hand, had a soggy, tear-stained note from Hagrid:

Dear Harry, Ron and Hermione,

Aragog died last night. Harry and Ron, you met him, and you know how special he was. Hermione, I know you'd have liked him. It would mean a lot to me if you'd nip down for the burial later this evening. I'm planning on doing it around dusk, that was his favorite time of day. I know you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the cloak. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone.

Hagrid

PS. Maybe Ichi can come, too?

"He's mental!" Ron had said, furiously. Even Draco hadn't appeared to want to argue with Ron's declaration, and the two had disagreed about everything under the sun. When he had learned about who – and what – Aragog was, all he had had done was to get a queasy expression and mutter "Thank God he never brought one of those to class!"

"That thing told its mates to eat Harry and me!" Ron was still on a roll and didn't sound as if he was likely to let up anytime soon, "Told them to help themselves! And he wants us to go down and cry over that horrid, hairy body?"

Ichigo hadn't said anything, but he didn't look happy about going down either. He had told the others what he had found out about the spiders in the forest, and they had all looked at him uneasily, remembering that he had been the one to partially split open the carapace of the largest and eldest one there. If Hagrid ever found out about it… if Ichigo was even partially to blame for his 'friend's' death… no one wanted to even think about it.

"Not just that – he's asking you all to leave the castle at night, when he knows the security is much tighter than it has ever been. Just think of the trouble you would be in if you got caught," Toshiro pointed out to them.

"Insane," Draco scoffed, but he had never liked Hagrid anyway – or any of his 'pets'.

"We've been down there at night before," Harry wavered, wanting to be there for his friend, and yet…

"But for something like this? Harry, really!" Momo shook her head. Harry sighed.

"Harry, you can't be thinking of going," Rukia stared at him, "It's so – pointless."

"I know."

"Look – most of us will be gone today. Why don't you try to soften Slughorn up?" Hermione tried to change the subject.

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?"

"That's it!" Draco shouted at the same time that Ron exclaimed, "Lucky!" The two of them glared at each other balefully.

"What?" Harry looked from one to the other as Yuzu clapped her hands and beamed at Draco, while Ichigo groaned and face-palmed, catching on. Uryu dropped his head onto the table with a thud, and Toshiro's mouth dropped open as he stared at the pair of them, dumb-founded.

"Crap. Harry, they're right – we've had the solution since the first day of class – and Slughorn himself gave it to us!" Ichigo finally said, wanting to go out and drown himself in the lake.

"Ron, that's – that's it!" Hermione stared at him, stunned, "Of course! Why didn't I think of it? Why didn't you, Ichigo? Or you, Uryu?" the other two just shrugged helplessly, unable to answer. "Lucky!"

"Felix Felicis?" Harry mused, "I dunno… I was sort of saving it…"

"What for?" Ginny asked him, "Professor Dumbledore told you nothing was more important than that memory!"

Harry shrugged; he had vague thoughts of using it before he next faced off with Voldemort, providing he had time to actually take it…

"Harry – Uryu and I are brewing more of it," Ichigo told him, correctly guessing what was on his mind. Besides, when he had mentioned it to his mother and Lily… the two had immediately set about brewing up liters of it for whoever was going to be facing off with Aizen and his forces. A little extra insurance, as it were.

"You are?" several voices echoed.

"Of course!" Uryu said indignantly, "we guessed we would need it. It's in another part of the Room of Requirement."

"Harry?" Hermione nudged him.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah," he nodded, "Well, okay. If you have more… then uh yeah, I can use it this evening."

"That's decided, then," Toshiro said, pulled at Karin, who was watching her sister with a slight frown. Yuzu was still staring at Draco with something akin to adoration. He pulled her out of the room; Draco would leave by himself a little while later, so that he wouldn't be seen with any of them and arouse suspicion. Ichigo, Rukia and Tatsuki were also huddled together, having a hushed conference, and Ichigo was starting to scowl and look a little worried about something… if it were important, Kurosaki would tell him later.

"But…" Karin protested, glancing behind her and nearly tripping over her own feet.

"Leave it," he said, in a low voice. Her dark eyes flashed angrily at him. "You don't see it bothering your brother too much, do you?"

That stopped her protest short. Ichigo had not said anything about Yuzu's crush on Draco, not since they'd discovered it at Christmas. Of course, it was always possible that he had said something to Draco when no one else was around… but he rather seemed to be standing back and watching it to see where it went, instead. Not like he watched Jinta's fawning over Yuzu with an eagle's eye. In fact, Ichigo didn't like the younger boy at all, not one little bit; Ururu had told her it had something to do with something that Jinta had done while Ichigo was trying to regain his powers…. He had forgiven Ururu, who had done the same thing, but not Jinta. No, Jinta tended to make himself scarce when Ichigo was around… even if Yuzu was present. When she thought about it, however – Yuzu was the one person that even Draco treated with respect outside of the Room of Requirement. Of course, it could be out of fear of Ichigo and what he might do if he didn't, but Karin didn't think so, since Draco barely tolerated her, and she was also Ichigo's sister.

Well now, she thought, as they walked down the hallway, that is interesting… very interesting…

"Destination… determination… deliberation…" Hermione muttered as the others left as a group.

"Oh, stop! I already feel sick about the test!" Ron moaned. He suddenly dove behind Ichigo when he spotted a group of girls. Ichigo glared at him.

"Will you stop? It isn't Lavender," he snapped at the other teen. Ron sighed with relief, taking a look at the group as they passed.

"Blimey, they don't look happy do they?" he commented after they had walked by.

"Of course they aren't happy; didn't you hear what happened to their little brother?" Tatsuki said with a frown. She appeared to be edgy the past day or two, as had Rukia. And now Ichigo was just as edgy.

"I'm losing track of what's happening to whose relatives," Ron replied grimly.

"Those are the Montgomery sisters. Their little brother was attacked by a werewolf because their mother wouldn't help the Death Eaters. He died in St. Mungo's," Hermione explained.

"He died?" Ron exclaimed, amazed.

"Yes; he was only five," Ginny nodded with a sad expression.

"But – I thought they only turned –" Harry was surprised they had killed a child and not turned him.

"Sometimes they kill," Ron said somberly, "If the werewolf gets carried away."

"Do they know who it was?" If they knew, they could catch him – right?

"Rumor is that it was Fenrir Greyback."

"That's the lunatic who enjoys attacking kids!" Harry exclaimed, remembering what Lupin had told him.

"It's worse than that," Uryu said grimly. The others nodded.

"What?"

"Greyback is the one who attacked and turned Lupin," This was Orihime, who had hardly spoken, but was also worrying about the exam; she had learned how to Apparate over the summer, and could – just barely and with some concentration – manage it.

"Harry, you need to get that memory," Hermione said, her expression bleak. "These things that are happening are all because of him. And they are going to keep happening until he is stopped."

They could not continue their conversation as Orihime, Hermione and Ron had to hurry off to their exam, with the others wishing them good luck as they left. They would meet afterwards, in the library; where even Draco would be able to 'lurk' in the stacks, and Mizuiro, Orihime, and the twins could keep a watchful eye out for M. Pince.

Hermione of course had passed her test with flying colors; while Ron had left half an eyebrow behind – causing him to just fail. Orihime just squeaked out a pass. Ron tried to cheer himself up by saying he and Harry would be able to take it together next time.

"Well, I suppose it's time," Harry said, looking around. Draco nodded once at him; it was clear on his side, and he'd gotten an all clear signal from the others.

"You're using it, then?" Tatsuki crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.

"Yeah, I s'pose I better," Harry nodded, "I'll only take a mouthful, 2-3 hours should be enough."

"It's a great feeling," Ron said, staring off into space, "Like you can't do anything wrong."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Ichigo stared at him, scowling.

"Yeah – you never took it!" Ginny scoffed.

"But I thought I did! Same difference!"

Harry pulled the small bottle with the golden liquid out of his pocket and took the stopper out, looking around at all of them, even Draco. "Well," he said, "here goes."

They all watched intently as he took one swallow, and after a moment, started grinning.

"Excellent," he said, "Right then – I'm off to Hagrid's!"

Several jaws dropped, and they all looked at each other, then at Harry.

"What?"

"No – you need to go to Slughorn –"

"Hagrid? But…"

"Huh?"

"Sh! She's coming!" Karin hissed at them. Harry threw his cloak over himself, immediately vanishing, while the others all became immersed in whatever book was closest to them as M. Pince, the librarian, swooped in on them like an eagle spotting prey. She stared at them suspiciously, her lips pinched together thinly, when she saw them all apparently studying away, and left, with a look or two over her shoulder. Orihime peeked around the stack to watch her leave.

"Someone should follow him –" Uryu suggested, and everyone turned to look at Ichigo, who scowled even more fiercely, but also sighed and nodded, since he had been mentioned in Hagrid's letter; Draco certainly couldn't do it. He took two steps in that direction, but stopped when a large hell butterfly appeared in front of him.

He groaned. A butterfly that large could only have been sent by one person… he held up a hand to allow it to land, and listened to the message. He groaned again.

"What is it?" Rukia asked him.

"Gramps wants to meet with Malfoy."

"What?"

"Now?"

"Yeah, now," Ichigo looked over at Momo and Mizuiro. "You'll have to follow Harry."

Momo nodded. "Right," she said, looking over at Mizuiro, who also nodded. They were the ones in Hagrid's class, after all.

"Try to get Harry back into the castle!" Hermione insisted as they started to leave, "He needs to see Slughorn!"

"How do you know he won't?" Momo replied before she hurried after Harry. Hermione gaped after her.

Ichigo looked over at Draco. "Go to Professor Snape, he'll bring you up to Professor Dumbledore's."

Draco gulped and left on Momo and Mizuiro's heels; he'd heard enough about Ichigo's great-grandfather to cause him to be very worried.

"You know, Momo has a point; that is how the potion works," Uryu said to Hermione, who appeared as if she wanted to argue the point, but refrained. She settled for looking very worried, instead, and staring at Ichigo; she appeared to want to argue the point that he needed to be the one to go with Harry, but kept her mouth shut when Rukia discretely elbowed her.

"The rest of you had better head back to the dorms; Rukia and I can handle the rest of this," Ichigo said, taking her hand.

||Why am I coming?||

||As Captain Ukitake's Vice-Captain,|| Ichigo replied,||Byakuya, Komaru, and Soifon will be there as well.||

Rukia nodded as the pair ran off to Dumbledore's office, where there was quite a crowd gathered: the last time so many people had been gathered was when the Ambassador had dropped in. It was, Ichigo mused, a good thing the office was so large.

"Ichigo-kun, Rukia, good timing," Captain Ukitake greeted them cordially. Yamamoto nodded at them, and Ichigo joined him and the other Captains, while Rukia went to stand with her Captain.

"Captain, I trust young Malfoy is on his way?"

Ichigo focused; he could sense Draco and Snape moving closer, and nodded. "He's on his way with Professor Snape now."

"Excellent," Professor Dumbledore nodded as well. Professor McGonagall was next to him. A few minutes later, and the pair entered the room, Draco appearing decidedly nervous. Both Professor Dumbledore and Captain Ukitake smiled at him to try to put him at ease.

"Draco, please, do come in," Professor Dumbledore said, "have a seat."

Ichigo saw the other boy swallow nervously as he sat, and Professor Snape stood next to him, trying to be reassuring; he would not be harmed.

"I believe Kurosaki explained that they have ranks similar to that of the military?" Professor Dumbledore started off by asking. Draco nodded. "Excellent. May I introduce you then, to Captain Soifon, who is in charge of their Stealth Operations; Captain Ukitake; You have already met Captain Kuchiki, and this is his Lieutenant Komaru; and of course Commander-General Yamamoto."

"H-hello," his voice was barely a whisper.

"Please, don't be nervous," Ukitake tried to reassure him, "the reason we needed to meet with you is that we are currently planning the rescue of your mother; we want to make it look as much like a "capture" or an "arrest" as possible, so that we can avoid any repercussions."

Draco cheered immensely at that; they were worried about her welfare!

"Yes, of course! What did you need to know?"

"Prepare to answer quite a few questions," Soifon said, pinning him with a stern look. Ichigo, standing slightly to the right and behind her, rolled his eyes at her tone of voice.

:She needs to get laid.:

Shut up, Ichigo growled back. He could not afford to laugh. His eye roll had had the desired affect however – he saw the stiff set of Draco's shoulders relax a bit. Yeah, he thought – she's a bitch, but she knows what she's doing. Between them, she and Yoruichi could plan a break-in – and a break-out – of Azkaban and no one would know they had ever been there…

Hopefully they would not have to do just that.