Harry Potter the Visored

Chapter 52

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

"Zanpakuto Talking"

"Mental Talking/Parseltongue"

"Kido/Zanpakuto/spells"

'Thoughts'

"Hollow/wraith/horcrux Talking"

The Christmas Holidays soon came to an end and classes resumed for the Hogwarts Students and things began to return to a normal pattern, with the most interesting event being Ron Weasley getting into a fight with some of his fellow Third Year Gryffindors due to his pet rat going missing and him suspecting his housemates of being responsible due to their objections about having a rat in the dorms. Things were returning to a normal routine and the previous incidents with Sirius Black and the Dementor attacks being almost forgotten, though the constant Auror presence in the school, escorting groups of students to and from classes, making it so these incidents were not completely out of mind.

It was one of these normal days that found Harry sitting in the DADA classroom with his fellow Hufflepuffs as Professor Lupin finished up a lecture on Red Caps and the proper method of defending oneself against these creatures. The young Visored had hung back after class had ended, wanting to talk with the Professor if he was free.

"Harry?" asked Lupin, "is there something more I can help you with?"

"Well," said Harry, "I had a few questions that I hoped you had answers for."

"Oh?" asked Lupin, "Do you want to know more about your parents' time at Hogwarts?"

"Not this time I'm afraid," said Harry, "I was wondering what you knew about Dementors?"

"Dementors?" said Lupin in a surprised voice, "That's a bit of an advanced subject, though considering your past experiences with them, I can understand you wanting to know more. Well, it isn't something typically taught to Third Years, there is a spell that can drive them off. I believe I've mentioned it to you in passing: the Patronus Charm."

"While that is something that I'd might like to learn later, right now I'd like to know more about Dementors themselves," said Harry, "I'd like to know as much as I can to try and see if I can figure out why they keep targeting me."

"I see," chuckled Lupin, "that is a smart plan. You sure you shouldn't have been in Ravenclaw?"

"Well," smiled Harry, "the Hat considered it, but ultimately felt I would fit better in Hufflepuff."

"Fair enough," said Lupin as he motioned for Harry to take a seat, "well, what Wizardkind knows about Dementors dates back to the origin of the Azkaban prison fortress. Originally, it was the home of a Dark and twisted Wizard named Ekrizdis. He performed the Darkest of rituals and spells from within the island fortress, and powerful wards kept the entire island from the knowledge of the entire world, and upon his death, the Wizarding World was able to investigate."

"What does this have to do with Dementors?" asked Harry.

"Well you see," said Lupin, "when Wizards from the Ministry of Magic traveled to the island to investigate Ekrizdis's lair, they found that the fortress was infested with Dementors. The Wizards were unable to banish the creatures without significant losses, so the colony was left the island as a home. Years later, the fortress was modified to be used as the prison it is today, and the Dementors were left to guard said prison in exchange for feasting on the emotions of the prisoners within."

"Does anyone know where the Dementors came from?" asked Harry.

"I'm afraid that that's a secret Ekrizdis took to the grave," said Lupin.

"But that's crazy!" exclaimed Harry, "Why trust such evil creatures without knowing where they came from or what their true motivations are?"

"Those are good questions," said Lupin, "unfortunately, the Ministry of the day didn't ask themselves those questions, leading to our problem today."

"Still," said Harry, "that's a lot that we don't know about the creatures. You said before that the Patronus Charm could drive them back, but there is no known way to actually injure or kill a Dementor?"

"That I did," said Lupin, "and I see where you're going. I agree that it is foolish to trust the Dementors without a sure fire means of stopping them if they turn against us, but I must also admit that their influence makes Azkaban such an effective punishment for criminals and Dark Wizards."

"Still…" began Harry, but before he could continue, the office doors burst open and a certain pair of redheaded Weasleys rushed in.

"Sorry if we're interrupting something," said Fred, "but we have something important we need to ask you about."

"So, we have this…device," said George.

"Which is completely harmless!" added Fred.

"And definitely not something that needs to be confiscated," agreed George.

"Boys," said Lupin, "if we could get back on track?"

"Right," said George, "so this…device, can show us where people are in the school…"

"So, we thought we'd use it…" continued Fred.

"To help our dear brother find Scabbers," finished George.

"And I'm assuming by your presence here that this didn't go as planned," mused Lupin, getting the twins to nod.

"Right," said Fred, "we couldn't see Scabbers anywhere on our…device, but we did see a different name."

"And what name was that?" asked the DADA Professor.

The twins glanced at each other before turning to the Professor.

"You promise not to say we're crazy?" asked Fred.

"Because we can hardly believe it ourselves," said George.

"Boys," pressed Remus, "what was the name?"

"Peter Pettigrew," said the twins together.

"But that's impossible," said Harry, "he was killed by Sirius Black!"

"Boys," said Lupin, "the 'device' you told me about, it wouldn't happen to be an inconspicuous piece of old parchment?"

The three students present looked at the Defense Professor in surprise before George hesitantly pulled the old parchment sheet out of his pocket and handed it to the greying man.

"Well," said Lupin as he placed the paper on his desk and drew his wand, "it has been a while since I've seen this."

Touching his wand to the paper, the Professor surprised them all further, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The twins' jaws dropped as the map formed across the old parchment and it took them a moment to gather themselves.

"How did you do that?" exclaimed Fred, "It took us weeks to figure it out!"

"Now that would be telling," chuckled Lupin, before he suddenly became serious, "boys, I'm going to have to ask you to return to your dorms. I promise that I will return this to you later, but there is something I need to do."

"What's going on?" asked George, "Is this about us seeing Pettigrew on the map?"

"I will explain later," said Lupin as he gathered the map and his wand, though Harry managed to catch a glimpse of it before the professor pocketed it, "right now, I need you three to make your way to your dorms. This is very important."

"Yes sir," said Harry, causing the twins to glance at him, "if he says it's important and we need to leave, then it must be dangerous, so we should trust him."

"Fine," said Fred, "but we'd like an explanation later."

"And the map," said George.

"I promise," said Remus before he hurried out of the room.

Harry headed out with the twins, but doubled back once they were on their way, pulling out a small container.

Before he had returned to Hogwarts, Urahara had given Harry one final Christmas present. The scientist had created a special Gikon based on the young Visored's personality for him to use when needed. Popping the small pill into his mouth, Harry's Shinigami form was ejected from his body and he pulled his Invisibility Cloak from the bag his Gigai was carrying and sent the Gikon back to the common room with his body, leaving Harry to head after Lupin, following the Defense Professor's Reiatsu.

xXsceneXx

In a clearing near the Forbidden Forest, a large black dog had an old rat pinned to the ground under one paw, snarling at the trapped rodent. The hound was about to crush the life out of the Rat, when a voice spoke up from behind him.

"It's been a while, Padfoot."

The dog stopped, before transforming into a gaunt man with shaggy black hair, the rat held firmly in one hand.

"So Moony," said Sirius Black as he turned to face Remus Lupin, "looks like you found me."