Ichigo sighed as he gazed across the lake. "What do you think?" he asked the blonde sitting beside him. "Any ideas?"
"You definitely won't be let into the lake," Luna said pensively. "Doesn't really matter if it's for security or not. The other representatives are already irritated that Hogwarts has two champions. They won't want to risk any more interference."
Ichigo nodded. "My thoughts exactly," he said, frustration beginning to show at the whole situation. "So basically our problem is this: how can we provide security over the task without breaking any of the rules that the judges have set for us?" Ichigo pondered.
"Why exactly are you actively trying to provide security for the Tournament, anyways?" Luna questioned.
"It came to the Gotei 13's attention that this Voldemort guy may be regaining his body soon, so they sent me to eliminate him before he could do any more damage," Ichigo replied. "Anyways, how are you doing, Luna? If we can't think of anything right now, we might as well think about it later."
"Well," she admitted, tugging at a lock of pale blonde hair, "it's been a little weird, to be perfectly honest. With all my memories of my old life, along with the ones of this one, sometimes I'm not certain whether I'm Izuru Kira, Vice-captain of the Third Division of the Gotei 13, or Luna Lovegood, third year Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She looked a little distressed, which concerned Ichigo.
"To be frank, I have no idea how to deal with a situation like yours," Ichigo said, careful not to address the blonde by either Luna or Kira. "And I'm afraid that I'm the last person on this world – and the other ones – qualified to play guidance counselor."
She giggled a little bit, and Ichigo's worry lessened a little. "Have you realized that we've been speaking in Japanese all this time?"
Ichigo's eyebrow lifted in surprise.
She elaborated. "I tend to speak in Japanese most of the time, even around the other students. It usually takes a conscious effort for me to speak in English, even though I'm fluent."
Ichigo nodded. "Makes sense," he remarked. "Probably because your old self spoke Japanese – hey, do you get offended or annoyed when I say that? 'Cause I can stop, if it does," he added quickly.
"It's fine," she said with a quirk of the lips. "It's just how it is. Although it does sound a bit weird, when you think about it."
He laughed. Indeed it did. "Right, well who do you want to be? When you're helping me, I mean. Think. Would it better to be Luna Lovegood or Izuru Kira?"
The blonde pursed her lips in thought. "In terms of power, Kira would be the best. But if we want to be low key and discreet, and fit in in order not to rouse suspicion, Luna would be the best." There was a pause, and she suddenly burst out laughing. "Listen to us talk," she gasped between breaths. "It's like I have multiple personalities and I can choose which one I use."
Ichigo laughed again, also seeing the humor of the situation.
#
"So how have the others been since I… died?" Luna asked.
Ichigo sighed. "I'm not gonna lie. It was hard, at first. Shuuhei and Momo were hardest hit, I think, along with Renji. It took a while for them to adjust."
She looked downcast, and Ichigo hurried to assure her. "They don't blame you, of course. If anything, it was my fault. I shouldn't have-"
"Bullshit," she cut him off, to his surprise and shock at her swearing. "I don't blame you for that, and neither do they. It wasn't your fault that we had incomplete intel, or that the weakest Espada turned out to be the strongest one. It wasn't your fault."
Ichigo sighed, and Luna smacked him across the head. "Snap out of it!" she said sharply. "I've heard of your tendency to go all self-loathing, and it's not happening on my watch, you understand, Kurosaki-taicho?"
A wry smile spread across his face, and he stood up, brushing sand from his clothing. "Yes, sir!" he saluted jokingly, and Luna giggled again. "Now, let's get to work. We need surveillance at the bottom of the lake where the 'hostages are going to be taken and held. I frankly don't trust the merpeople to keep their hands off."
Luna nodded. "I should be able to do that. I know some runes that will allow us to see and hear what's going on. If something does go wrong, then what?"
"Then I'll interfere," Ichigo said. "Officially, my job is to provide security, but I'm basically protecting Potter, since he's the one that Voldemort is supposedly after. But if any of the other champions get in trouble, I swear that none of them will get hurt."
Luna smiled. "Still living up to your name, Captain?"
"Of course," he said resolutely. "Always."
#
Ichigo sat at the staff table in the Great Hall during a dinner, lost in thought as he observed the Potter kid talking with his friends. He hadn't seemed to make much progress with the Golden Egg with the clue for the next task.
Ichigo frowned. The professors and staff seemed reluctant to provide him with information regarding the Second Task, and Ichigo wasn't quite sure why, although he had his suspicions. He had done thorough background checks on all the staff, including the ones of the other attending schools, and some of them were more than a little suspicious.
He now knew the source of the dark reiatsu that lingered on the forearms of Moody, Snape, and Karkaroff. The Dark Mark seemed to be an interesting and effective form of communications and summons, if a little inhumane. What concerned Ichigo was the people who apparently had them.
Karkaroff and Snape checked out, since they were both ex-Death Eaters: one apparently turned traitor, the other too cowardly to declare his allegiance. Moody, though…
Ichigo had thought the situation over for a long time. Why would a celebrated retired Auror have the lingering reiatsu of Death Eater mark when the man had so vehemently fought against them?
It made sense to Ichigo for Dumbledore to hire him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. After all, who would know more about the subject than one who had done it as a career?
There was no way Moody was a Death Eater. That much Ichigo had confirmed, which left very few plausible explanations. The first and most likely of those was one that concerned Ichigo greatly. If this Alastor Moody was not actually the real Alastor Moody, and instead an imposter, where was the real one? And what threat did the imposter pose to the school, and to Potter in particular?
Moody was a formidable wizard and Auror. That this supposed imposter could overpower him and somehow take his form meant that the imposter was himself quite powerful. The reiatsu from the Dark Mark meant that the man was a follower of Voldemort, which begged the question: what was his goal? Was it to kill Potter, or target the boy in any way? Or was it simply to observe? Or was it to cause as much mayhem as possible?
"…Kurosaki?"
Ichigo snapped out of his thoughts, turning his attention to McGonagall, who had apparently been trying to get his attention. "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment," he said truthfully. "Could you repeat that?"
McGonagall seemed to want to ask something, but apparently thought better of it. "I was just asking if you would be attending the Yule Ball."
"…I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know what that is," Ichigo said blankly.
Upon hearing this, several of the teachers looked at the orange-haired man, aghast expressions etched on their faces. "You don't know what the Yule Ball is?" the short Charms professor, Flitwick, asked in surprise.
"I'm afraid not," Ichigo said. "If it's a Western tradition, then chances are we don't celebrate it in Japan. We do, however, observe things like Christmas, Valentine's Day, and major holidays. Since it's the winter season and approaching that time of year, I assume that this Yule Ball is something to do with Christmas?"
"Correct," Dumbledore said merrily. "The Yule Ball is just that: a ball. It's a dance where the younger generation can have fun, as well as for the older ones to enjoy themselves a bit. The Yule Ball is a tradition we have at Hogwarts, and quite a popular one, too. You can feel free to invite your comrades to join us, as well. I'm sure you've never experienced anything quite like the Hogwarts Yule Ball."
Ichigo smiled at the thought of seeing his friends and family again. And, despite his tendency to avoid social gatherings of the sort, it seemed to be indeed quite an enjoyable event.
He nodded thoughtfully, considering the chances of not getting burned if he were to steal several captains from their duties again by Yamamoto. "And this is a formal event?" he asked absently, calculations running through his brain as he took into consideration the Captain-Commander's blood pressure, violent tendencies, and reactionary habits.
"That's correct," McGonagall said. "I assume that you do have formal clothing?"
"Certainly," Ichigo nodded.
"And you know how to dance?" another professor asked.
Ichigo smirked. "I've been told on several occasions that I am a most excellent dancer, despite the wholehearted efforts of my peers to convince me otherwise."
Severus Snape snorted. Whether it was out of amusement or disdain Ichigo couldn't tell. He chose to give the man the benefit of the doubt and chose the former. The ex-Death Eater was incredibly intelligent, something that Ichigo could appreciate, as well as brave. It had to take guts to turn traitor against the most powerful Dark Lord in generations.
Dumbledore clapped his hands cheerfully. "Excellent," he exclaimed. "Then you and your comrades shall be attending the Yule Ball," he said. "I shall have the house elves prepare extra seats for your friends."
"That's the plan," Ichigo said with a nod. "I don't know how many of them will be able to make it. Our boss gets annoyed when the higher-ranking people shirk their duties to go out and party. And when the old man – no offense – gets annoyed, well…" Ichigo shuddered. "Let's just say things tend to get unpleasant for some people."
Several of the people seated at the table laughed, and Ichigo settled back into his seat comfortably. If, at that moment, one were to look closely at the orange-haired man's eyes, one would have noticed that they were no longer a shade of intimidating gold, but had softened to a kinder, warmer amber.
#
Gah, this chapter is so filler-ish, although there is some character dynamics development between Ichigo and Luna/Kira. I hadn't intended it to be so, but Luna has quickly become one of the main characters of this story. Maybe I should make her one of the main characters instead of Harry. I don't have a really structured plotline to this story; I've been following the timeline of the book and basically writing what comes to mind…
So, remember in my little update thing that I promised that this chapter would be out before the New Year? Yeah, about that… I lied. Sorry. But life just does that to you sometimes, and you can't really do anything about it, right? So, again, I apologize for the lateness of the chapter. Hopefully as the school semester starts up again I will be able to write more (which is a little counter-intuitive, but I guess not having anything to do also adds to procrastination) and be able to update on a more regular basis.
Please go check out my other Bleach/HP crossover fic, A Common Enemy, on my profile. I promise that it'll be worth your time!
Thanks for reading, drop a review, and I'll see you next chapter!
This chapter has exactly 2013 words. Happy New Year everyone!
~fokker333