Ichigo looked on, amused, as his companions attempted to accommodate themselves with English wizarding culture. Byakuya looked around at the wizards' choice of décor of the Great Hall with mild disdain, although he did nod approvingly when Japanese-style dishes and utensils appeared magically once the meal began.
Hisagi merely took everything in impassively. Ichigo smirked. Hisagi was the perfect soldier, always accounting for new variables without blinking an eye. Ichigo was glad that Abarai hadn't tagged along with the five shinigami who had come to Hogwarts. Although the loud-mouthed vice-captain's attitude had gotten better in the last fifty or so years, he still tended to blurt things out that could potentially compromise their cover.
Toushiro was stoic and quiet as ever, eating delicately as befitted his rank. Ichigo silently hoped that there would be watermelon for dessert. It was always entertaining to watch Toushiro make his way through a giant mound of watermelon, a feat that seemed impossible for one with as small a stature as he.
Momo was chatting cheerfully with some of the teachers, who appeared to have many questions to ask. The friendly and outgoing captain of the Fifth division always made friends easily. There were many reasons the Fifth was now one of the most popular divisions in the Gotei 13, but Captain Hitsugaya Momo was the first and foremost. Kind and compassionate, but also a commanding leader and fierce in combat, she was loved and respected by all her subordinates.
Ichigo turned his head to look at his wife, who was sitting beside him. She had grown taller in the last half a century, although not nearly enough to match Ichigo's 6'5" frame. She had trimmed her hairstyle a few decades back to a shorter, bob cut that framed her face and brought out her stunning violet eyes.
He was brought out of his reverie by a sharp elbow to his ribs, causing him to grunt slightly. She still never changes… "Ouch," he muttered, shooting a mock glare at his wife. "What was that for?"
Rukia shook her head in mock disapproval. "Honestly, Ichigo," she said, a slight smirk on her face. "Did you really miss me that much in the few weeks you've been gone that you're eyeing me the entire meal?"
"Shut up, Rukia," Ichigo said jokingly. "Is it wrong that I'm happy to see my wife?"
Rukia rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her food. Toushiro chuckled and rolled his eyes at the couple's antics.
"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Captain Hitsugaya?" an older-looking witch asked. Toushiro remembered her introducing herself as Minerva McGonagall, the Transfigurations Professor and Deputy Headmistress.
Toushiro turned his attention to the woman, whom he caught eyeing his hair. He sighed. "Not at all, Professor. However, I suppose I must warn you that if you ask questions that encroach upon classified matters, I am obligated not to answer them."
Ichigo snorted at the white-haired prodigy's cold attitude. Few in Soul Society had the privilege of knowing Toushiro's soft side, and he counted himself lucky enough to be in that exclusive few.
"Exactly how old are you?" Toushiro stiffened, although the shinigami, those who were familiar with Toushiro's mannerisms, noticed. It was a question that they had been anticipating and had taken precautions for. Although they all had aged since Ichigo first entered Soul Society, with Ichigo looking mid-twenties, with Toushiro, Momo, and Rukia looking like they were in their late teens, the fact that they were 'already' married despite their apparently young ages was sure to bring up questions.
"I am twenty-four years old," Toushiro replied stiffly, causing McGonagall and some other teachers who were also listening to start with surprise. "We in the Gotei 13 age rather slower than our normal magical counterparts."
"Oh?" asked the Headmaster, his eyes twinkling with interest. "If I may, why exactly is that?"
This time, it was Byakuya who answered. "Because of the nature of our powers, which are slightly different from both mundanes and wizards, our growth and aging are slowed down quite a bit. We estimate that for every two years that pass, our appearance changes by about one year." Of course, in reality the aging rate for shinigami was much, much slower, with about ten years of regular time corresponding to one year of aging, but there was no need for the wizards to know that.
"How does your magic differ from ours that causes this decrease in aging?" Snape asked. Ichigo grimaced in annoyance. Trust the Potions Master to ask the difficult questions. He decided to answer this one, since he was more familiar with the technical aspects of kidou.
"If I may answer that question, Potions Master," Ichigo interjected smoothly, "the answer is deeply ingrained with the nature of magic itself. You see, you English wizards use magic by drawing power from your magical cores, something which in Japan we call reiatsu. To cast your spells, you draw on the power from your magical core and focus and shape them through your wands. We in the Gotei 13, in using our kidou, manifest our reiatsu. In essence, we use raw, unadulterated magic in our spells."
The wizards and witches looked dumbstruck at what Ichigo had just said. "That's not possible!" snarled Snape, looking very shocked. "There's no way to shape and use pure magic!"
Ichigo tsked mildly. "And yet, it is. Is it not possible that you've simply never heard about it?" he asked. "After all, we Japanese have cut ourselves off from the rest of the magical world until recently. Would it not be logical that we know things about magic that you English do not?"
Dumbledore chuckled. "Captain Kurosaki makes a good point, Severus," he said mildly. "After all, I'm sure we English have at least some things that they do not know about."
Ichigo nodded in agreement, although he doubted there were many secrets the English wizards could keep from the Gotei 13.
#
Harry and Ron both winced as Hermione elbowed them in the ribs, causing them to stop gawking at the French girl with the long silvery blonde hair. "Honestly!" she huffed. "Anyways, what do you think of these new Japanese wizards?" she asked.
"Huh?" asked Ron absently, his mind clearly still on the French girl.
Harry was slightly more clearheaded, so he responded, "What do you mean, what do we think about them?"
"Well, the first thing I would like to know is how those two are married. They look hardly older than some of the Seventh Years!" Hermione said, somewhat exasperated by the slowness of her companions.
Ron finally seemed to snap out of his reverie beside her and began digging in enthusiastically into the food. Speaking through a mouthful of half-chewed chicken, to Harry's revulsion, he said, "I guess they just get married younger in Japan. Don't a lot of Asian countries have arranged marriages still?"
Hermione snapped her fingers. "Of course! That might be it!" The she frowned thoughtfully. "But they don't seem very unhappy about it. I also wonder about Captain Hitsugaya's hair. He's far too young for it to be that white…"
"Freaky little git," Ron remarked, finally swallowing his mouthful of food, to Harry's relief. "Him and Kurosaki."
"Captain Kurosaki!" hissed Hermione. "Show some respect!"
"Why should I?" asked Ron indignantly. "That freak doesn't show me any respect, why should I show him respect?"
"Because," Hermione said exasperatedly, "you didn't do anything to earn it. Ever since he came to Hogwarts, you've been nothing but rude to him."
"He's a bloody Death Eater!" exclaimed Ron. "Why shouldn't I be rude? He's no different than that bastard Malfoy!"
Hermione sighed loudly. "In case you forgot," she ground out slowly, as if talking to a small child, "Captain Kurosaki fought Malfoy. Senior, that is. I wonder what happened to those Death Eaters who he knocked out at the World Cup?" she mused.
Harry spoke up. "Didn't Mr. Weasley say something about rumors about them paying their way out? And now I expect those high-ranking purebloods are gonna want blood. I doubt the Ministry is gonna take kindly to a foreigner coming in and assaulting high-ranking members of society." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. He didn't have the highest opinion of the Ministry, especially after the whole Dementor situation the previous year and the fiasco with his godfather, Sirius Black.
Apparently, Harry's words were a jinx, because no sooner had he finished speaking than the doors of the Great Hall banged open, revealing the stout figure of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, flanked by a contingent of Aurors. Ignoring the stares and glares of the students, especially the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang ones, Fudge and the Aurors, about a dozen of them, strode up the length of the hall.
#
"Ichigo, what did you do this time?" asked Toushiro, a small smirk on his face.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "There was an incident at the Quidditch World Cup," he said, bored. "There was a crowd of Death Eaters, or at least people dressed like Death Eaters, attacking people. I intervened and took out fourteen of them, but someone else cast some spell, sending a giant glowing skull and snake into the air, and they scattered. Now apparently the English Ministry as after my blood because the Death Eaters I knocked out had connections." He snorted in disgust. "Politics. The entire government is corrupt, in my opinion. Or oblivious, at best."
He watched as the stout man leading the group of Aurors stomped his way to the dais, his face grim. "I thought that the Ministry would avoid a direct confrontation during the Tri-wizard Tournament, since it would give them a bad image. Apparently I was wrong. They're either too stupid to realize the reputation they'll get, or the Ministry is in the pockets of the Death Eaters, who want me out of the picture."
Ichigo ignored the Aurors, who now had their wands out and pointed directly at him, and resumed his meal. Dumbledore stood up from the table and faced the Aurors. "Cornelius, what is the meaning of this?" he asked. Ichigo snorted. Apparently the Minister of Magic himself had come to try and arrest him. How pathetic.
"Stand aside, Dumbledore," said the stout man, apparently Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. "This man is wanted by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for assaulting over a dozen fine upstanding British citizens."
Dumbledore was about to respond when Ichigo waved a hand laconically. "Don't bother, Headmaster," he said. "While I'm sure you have good intentions, allow me to handle this." Turning to the Minister and the Aurors, he stood, holding his hands up to indicate that he wasn't armed. Although he had no intention of surrendering to this fool of a Minister, he didn't want stray spells being cast. Such things tended to result in collateral damage, and he certainly didn't want to be responsible for students getting hurt.
Fudge coughed and puffed himself up, declaring pompously, "Ichigo Kurosaki, you are hereby under arrest by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for fourteen counts of assault. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He said the last phrase very slowly, as if he believed Ichigo couldn't speak English.
Byakuya raised an eyebrow at the condescending manner this short man before him spoke to his brother-in-law. He was of half a mind to teach this fool who exactly he was insulting, but refrained from doing so. Ichigo could handle this situation himself. And handle it he did.
"Yes, I'm sure that would be the case, if those fourteen men I 'assaulted' weren't Death Eaters that the Ministry has conveniently not convicted for their actions from fifteen years ago during the rampage of the so-called Lord Voldemort." Ichigo ignored the gasps from around the Great Hall and the outraged expression on Fudge's face and continued. "Additionally, even if they were 'fine and upstanding,' as you referred to them, you would not be able to arrest me. I have diplomatic immunity granted to me by the magical government of Japan. If you attempt to detain me and violate this diplomatic immunity, you would be facing myself and my five companions here, and I assure you, it would not end well. For you, that is. Additionally, I am absolutely certain that the state of your government as it is now would not be able to support a full-out war against magical Japan."
Ichigo watched amusedly as Fudge swelled indignantly like a toad. "Take him!" the stout man barked at the Aurors, who rushed forward, intent upon taking Ichigo into custody.
In a blink of an eye, the Aurors froze as they felt razor-sharp blades at their throats. Nobody had seen the Japanese 'wizards' move, but there they were, blades drawn and ready. The short girl with the twin blades had both her blades out, pressing against the necks of two Aurors while the ribbons of both wrapped around the wand arms of two others, effectively negating their ability to fight.
The tall man with the scarred and tattooed face had pinned an Auror to the ground, the tip of his katana tickling the shorter man's throat. His hand was held, palm facing a second Auror, who found himself completely immobilized by some sort of spell.
The captain with the commanding presence and noble air had his blade at one Auror's throat, with a handgun drawn and pressed to the temple of another.
The short white-haired captain also had drawn his katana, which some very perceptive people noticed was significantly longer than his comrades', pressed lightly against the chest of an Auror, while the barrel of his handgun was held against the back of another.
The young woman with the warm face had completely changed demeanor, her expression hard and serious as her blade brushed against an Auror's face, her hand glowing red as she prepared some sort of spell.
As for Ichigo himself, he had his midnight-black katana drawn and pressed against the throat of Fudge himself, as well as the barrel of his handgun aimed squarely at the Minister's chest. Fudge swallowed nervously as Ichigo's golden eyes, now glowing with anger and bloodlust, stared into his.
"I did warn you, Minister," Ichigo spat out contemptuously. "that it would not end well for you if you tried anything. And yet you decided to ignore my warning and try something anyways. Now look at the situation you're in. I don't care if you're the Minister of Magic or some fucking wannabe god, if you piss me off you will suffer the consequences. And the wannabe god didn't end well, either. I will let you off without harm this time, but remember this: the next time my diplomatic immunity is violated, all of magical Britain will find itself poised on the edge of a war against magical Japan. Don't make Japan's first act of exiting its isolation be a declaration of war against you, Minister."
Pulling back from the now-sweating man's face, Ichigo sheathed his blade and holstered his handgun. "Stand down," he said, and his companions relaxed, sheathing their own weapons. "I find myself growing tired of this whole situation," Ichigo said, turning his back on the Minister and the Aurors. "I am going to my room. Kuchiki-taicho, Hisagi-fukutaicho, Hitsugaya-taicho, Momo-taicho, Rukia-taicho, please come with me. We have some important matters to discuss." Without a sound, he vanished in a billow of his black coat. The rest of the Japanese vanished similarly, although with a distinct swishing sound.
The Great Hall was speechless for a long time. Finally, Fudge recovered and turned on his heel, not saying anything. He walked quickly out of the Great Hall, his Aurors following, and the grand double doors slammed shut on a very shocked assembly of students and teachers.
#
Well, here's the next chapter! I hope you guys liked it, and drop a review if you would be so kind! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you for the next update!
~fokker333