Harry Potter the Visored

Chapter 51

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.

(so this chapter was posted a day late. sorry everyone.)

"Zanpakuto Talking"

"Mental Talking/Parseltongue"

"Kido/Zanpakuto/spells"

'Thoughts'

"Hollow/wraith/horcrux Talking"

As Harry walked through the streets of Karakura, he noticed that the winter snow had yet to have fallen in abundance, leaving the streets cold, but free of the powdery hills. He also saw that the local stores were decorated for the holidays, with several markets selling Christmas cakes, with lines forming outside to ensure they get the best pieces. Harry had made his trip to the local shops early into his holidays so that he could beat the lines and find gifts for his friends and family, and he had spied Hiyori trying to be subtle as she browsed through a hat section in one of the local shops.

As Harry headed back to the Visored residence, he smiled at the decorations that people had put up, all of it reminding him why he loved the holidays. Harry stopped at one of the decorated businesses, a local medical clinic run by the Kurosaki Family and walked in.

"Merry Christmas all," said Harry as he entered the building.

"Harry!" said Yuzu happily, "You're back."

"For the holidays," said Harry with a smile, "how are things going for you guys?"

"Ichi-nii is getting into fights as usual," said Karin, getting a chuckle from the young Wizard.

After his first year at Hogwarts, Harry had come home to find that his friend Ichigo had gone through some changes. Gone was the happy kid whom he had known growing up, and in his place was a tough teen that wouldn't let anyone push him around, and regularly thrashed local gangs as they picked fights with him because they thought he was copying them by having orange hair, not knowing that it was his natural color. Harry had also grown close to Ichigo's sisters due to him often visiting to say hello when he was home from Hogwarts, and was almost like a second older brother to them at times.

"Oh," said Harry, "before I forget, I brought some presents for your family."

"You didn't have to do that," said Yuzu, though she and Karin accepted the gifts with a smile.

"Oh, come on," laughed Harry, "it's Christmas. What did you expect?"

"So, I'll bet you're happy to be back home again?" said Karin, "Come to think of it, you never did say where you go to school during the year."

"Well," said Harry, "I guess you could call it an exclusive boarding school down in Scotland."

"Scotland?" said Yuzu in surprise, "That's kind of a long way to go just to attend school."

"Apparently it was all arranged by my parents," said Harry, "it's a family tradition, I guess. My family has been attending for generations."

"Huh, that's cool I guess," said Karin, "so aside from enjoying Christmas, you got any plans for your time here?"

"Well," said Harry, "it's pretty much just relaxing."

No way in hell was he going to mention the training sessions with the Visored in order to help him get his Mask and Bankai more under control.

"Yup," said Harry, "just relaxing."

"That's sounds boring," chuckled Karin, getting a frown from her twin sister.

"Karin, that's not nice," admonished Yuzu as she walked over to their kitchen and grabbed a sealed container containing a homemade Bûche de Noël cake, "here Harry. Merry Christmas from all of us."

"You didn't have to go through any trouble," protested Harry, but Karin shut him up with a smirk.

"Like you said, it's Christmas," she said simply, "and Yuzu always makes a lot anyways."

"Thanks," said Harry as he accepted the homemade cake, "tell Ichigo I said hi and wish him a Merry Christmas for me."

"We will," said Karin as Harry left, "Merry Christmas Harry."

With a smile on his face, Harry headed down the streets to where the Visored residence stood, having kept the upgrades that Urahara had done to it when Hermione had visited, and pushed open the doors and smiled as the warm air flowed over him from inside.

"I'm home," said Harry as he walked in, before getting bowled over by a large scaly object that promptly began to nuzzle into him while letting off happy sounds, "easy Norberta, I'm happy to see you too."

The Dragon relented its cuddle attack as Harry brought up his arm and scratched her head ridges, causing her to purr happily and move off from pinning the young Visored to the ground, allowing Harry to get to his feet.

"Sorry about that," said Kensei as he walked up, "Mashiro was playing with her, but when you got here, she took off. Speaking of which…"

"HARRY'S BACK!" exclaimed Mashiro as she glomped their young charge, knocking him flat on his back all over again with an "oof."

"Oh boy," sighed Kensei, "Mashiro, Norberta, give the kid some air. I think he's turning blue."

xXsceneXx

Later that night, the group, minus Lisa of course as she was busy cooking, were sharing cups of hot cocoa with nutmeg and cinnamon with Urahara joining in along with Yoruichi, who was visiting the city during her travels. They were currently chatting about what had been going on during Harry's school year so far as they waited for Lisa to serve Christmas Dinner.

"So, I hear that your school year is turning out to be rather exciting," chuckled Shinji.

"Well if you consider the stuff that's happened my last two Terms, I would really kill for an uneventful year for once," muttered Harry as he took a sip from his mug, causing the Visored to laugh.

"Sorry kiddo," said Shinji as he tousled Harry's hair, "now that you're a part of the family, there's not much chance of things being uneventful for very long."

"Anyways," said Harry as he rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "Urahara did you find out more about those Dementors and why they can be harmed by Zanpakuto?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't find much," said Kisuke as he put down his mug, "there is surprisingly little known about those creatures and their origins considering that the Wizarding World puts so much faith in them guarding their highest security prison. What I have found, is that the creatures seem to have appeared one day and formed an arrangement with an obscure member of the Wizarding Counsel to guard their newly built prison in exchange for feeding on the emotions of those trapped there."

"That sounds pretty stupid," said Hiyori, "you're saying wizards have a supposed deal with these creatures, trusting them to watch over their most dangerous prisoners, without knowing exactly what they are or where they came from?"

"It does seem so," said Yoruichi, "I've done some digging of my own into some more…let's just say obscure records, and have found a bit more, though not much. The old legends say that they rose out of the darkness at the call of a powerful being, but it doesn't say who that being is. It does however say that they are spiritual beings, almost like Hollows without souls, and that is probably why they can be injured and killed by Zanpakuto."

"Following that theory," said Kisuke, "they could probably be harmed by other spiritual weapons, such as the arrows of a Quincy."

"Good luck finding a lot of those anywhere around," said Love.

"Why?" asked Harry, "What's a Quincy?"

"Well," said Shinji, "a Quincy is a special kind of human that can manipulate Reishi into weapons to fight Hollows. However, their weapons caused the eradication of not only the Hollows, but all of the souls they had consumed, which caused an imbalance in the worlds that the Shinigami 'fixed' by wiping them out."

"This is kind of dark talk for Christmas," said Mashiro, "how about we talk about something else?"

"Alright," said Harry before getting a sly grin, "Hiyori, what were you doing in that hat shop the other day?"

The Visored in question turned as red as her jacket and began to splutter in embarrassment, but she was saved from having to answer that question by Lisa bringing out their Christmas feast.

xXsceneXx

The Visored awoke early the next morning, with Mashiro waking up earliest of all and running around waking the others up so they could get a head start celebrating with presents, and, after a few cups of coffee per Visored (excluding Mashiro of course), the group was ready to exchange gifts. Norberta curled around them, serving like a makeshift kotatsu, warming them up as they began.

"Thanks kid," said Kensei as he pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves that Harry had given him to use in place of his normal wraps, "though I don't think I've seen this material before."

"It's Dragon Skin," said Harry as he unwrapped a box containing a set of new sports goggles for his use as a Chaser, "it's tougher and more durable than your wraps and they're resistant to magic too."

"I look forward to trying them out," said Kensei.

The next gift exchanged surprised everyone present as a blushing Hiyori pushed a wrapped box into Shinji's hands, "Don't' think too much into this. It's just a Christmas Gift, something I thought you'd like."

Shinji unwrapped the package and lifted the lid, his eyes widening as he removed a brown pageboy cap that he had been eying for a while whenever he went out shopping.

"I don't know what to say," said Shinji.

"Well well," chuckled Rose, "this is a momentous occasion, Hiyori rendered Shinji speechless."

"Thanks Hiyori," said Shinji as he put the hat on, causing the former Lieutenant of Squad 12 to blush darker.

"Just…whatever," she muttered, though her blush didn't fade.

The group opened several more gifts before it was time for the main event, something that Harry had been eagerly looking forward to: his repaired broomstick.

"Well now," smiled Kisuke, "it looks like there is only one gift left."

Harry eagerly watched as the shopkeeper pulled out a long box from under the tree and handed it to Harry. The youngest member of the Visored eagerly lifted the lid to reveal an elegant broomstick.

The handle was crafted out of cherrywood with mahogany inlaid into it with a tail of sleek, smooth twigs held to the shaft by a metal band, and it had two metal attachments that served as a stand or footrests.

"This is amazing," said Harry.

"It took a lot of work," said Urahara, "but Tessai and I were able to craft this for you by using Kido to replicate the spells cast on your original broom. We even inlayed wood from your original broom into the shaft so that it could be 'reborn' into this one, so to speak. Using it, you can control the acceleration and speed the same as you would if you were using Shunpo, giving the broom better speed and maneuverability so long as you're the one flying it. As for the name, it's called Yatagarasu, after the mythical bird."

"Thanks, Urahara-san," said Harry as he happily accepted the broom, "can I try it out?"

Urahara nodded and the Visored watched as their young charge ran to the training room, happy that they had made the choice to adopt him all those years ago.

"This thing is totally wicked!" exclaimed Harry as he shot around the room, "it has better speed and handling than my Nimbus ever did."

"Thank you," said Kisuke, "I do try."

"Thanks Urahara," said Harry as he landed and walked over to the shopkeep, "I knew I could count on you."

Harry gave Kisuke a big hug, causing the former member of the Onmitsukido to smile, "Merry Christmas, kiddo."

Merry Bleated Christmas everyone.