Author's Note

ahaha... Ahahaha... MWUAHAHAHAHA! I have gained over 100 followers, 100 minions, for this story!

But seriously, thanks a ton guys for taking the time to read and follow this thing. It makes me so happy. Now if only I could get more favorites *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

Anywho, on with the story!

It wasn't until about an hour or so before lunch that Harry or any of the other teens saw the Japanese teens. Having holed away once more in the room Ichigo and Uryu were sharing, they had been studying in peace until Ichigo had decided, with a little prodding from the hollow half of Zangetsu, that if he sat around just reading textbooks for much longer he was going to keel over from too much boring information. So with that decision made, Orihime and Uryu decided they may as well join him in the break from studying. The Quincy half of Zangetsu and all of Orihime's fairies, except Tsubaki, didn't mind continuing their reading, so when the teens left they made sure to shut the door behind them, a precaution against the spirits being accidentally spotted through the doorway. Not knowing what else to really do with the break, seeing as Ichigo's idea to train some was quickly shot down by Uryu when he pointed out that they had no place in which they could be anywhere near as destructive as training usually was, they ended up wandering into the drawing room and helping with the cleaning.

It wasn't too long after Ichigo, Uryu, and Orihime had started helping that they finished de-doxying the curtains, Mrs. Weasley announcing that cleaning the glass-fronted cabinets on the sides of the mantelpiece would be dealt with after lunch. After that declaration the clanging doorbell rang for the second time that morning, prompting Mrs. Weasley to instruct the teens to wait in the drawing room and that she'd bring them sandwiches, Mrs. Black's screeching once more rang through the house. The moment she was out of the room Harry and the others rushed to the window to see the doorstep, Orihime scampering over with the rest while Ichigo and Uryu followed at a more sedate pace as they weren't quite so interested in who was at the door.

"[How mad do you think they'd be if I stabbed that painting?]" Ichigo asks conversationally, glancing out the window and seeing the filthy little guy from last night with a precariously balanced stack of cauldrons.

"[I think Sirius-san would hug you.]" Uryu replies with a straight face as the others discuss Mundungus's appearance with the cauldrons. Ichigo hums in response to his answer and Uryu would not be surprised if come tomorrow morning the painting was split in two. Any further discussion upon the butchering of paintings is gone as Mrs. Weasley's shouting sounds clearly through the house as she chews out Mundungus, the twins taking enjoyment in her tongue lashing being directed elsewhere and lamenting the foolishness of those below letting her go at it as Mrs. Black's shrieks start anew.

"[Think they'd care if I blew it up?]"

"[Yes. But only because you'd blow up several walls in the process.]"

It was at this point that the two took notice of the small… creature that had just come wandering into the room. It was short and humanoid, its skin incredibly wrinkled, as if it were too big for the thing. It was bald with large, bat-like ears that had a large amount of white hair coming out of them. Its eyes were a bloodshot, watery gray and its nose was large and rather snout-like. They also noticed that the only thing the creature wore was a filthy rag about its waist like a loincloth. It paid no attention to the room's occupants, instead muttering to itself as it determinedly shuffled towards the far end of the room. "… smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my Mistress's house, oh my poor Mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let in her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do…" it croaked out.

"Hello, Kreacher." Fred says in a loud voice, closing the door with an audible snap. Kreacher stopped in his tracks, his muttering ceasing as well, as he gave a very pronounced, very fake start of surprise.

"Kreacher did not see Young Master." He says with a bow and, before coming up, adds on "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is." for all to hear.

"Sorry?" George says. "Didn't catch that last bit."

"Kreacher said nothing." He responds, now bowing to George, before once more adding on in a clear tone "and there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are."

While Harry wondered whether he ought to laugh or not at the deranged house-elf's actions, Ichigo, Uryu, and Orihime were left to wonder what Kreacher was and whether or not he was alright or normal. It was obvious that he was some sort of servant and that he resented the current occupants of the house, but they couldn't really figure out why the little creature was still there or who his Mistress was when he made it obvious it wasn't Mrs. Weasley. Meanwhile, Kreacher continued to mutter as if none of them could hear him.

"… and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh if my Mistress knew, oh how she'd cry, and there's new ones, Kreacher doesn't know their names, what are they doing here, Kreacher doesn't know…"

"This is Harry, Kreacher." Hermione tentatively supplies. "Harry Potter." She figured it would be easiest to start with Harry since she suspected that even the house-elf had heard of him. There was also how she figured it would only be right to introduce the Japanese group together, so starting with the single Harry was easier.

Unfortunately, her reply only seemed to distress Kreacher, his eyes going wide and muttering picking up speed and ferocity. "The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's Mistress saw him in such company, ohh what would she say–"

"Don't call her Mudblood!" Ron and Ginny angrily command. It's not the first time, they doubt it will be the last, but they are getting tired and rather angry from the house-elf's continued degrading of Hermione when she has done nothing to deserve it. She has always treated the house-elf well, tried to get the rest of them to do it too, but all she gets in return is insults.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione whispers, not wanting to raise the tensions further, "he's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's–"

"I highly doubt that, Hermione-san." Uryu says, having acquired a dislike for Kreacher the more he mutters. "I'd say he knows exactly what he's saying and rather wants us to hear it."

Kreacher paid no mind to the conversation being had about him, instead focusing on Harry as his muttering continues. "Is it true? Is it Harry Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's that boy who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it–"

"Don't we all, Kreacher?" says Fred, eyeing the elf mistrustfully.

"And these three are Ichigo, Uryu, and Orihime." Ginny informs Kreacher, pointing to each in turn.

Kreacher looks at them all in turn before his attention returns to Ichigo. "What is it, Kreacher wonders, it looks human but doesn't feel right, nasty, unnatural thing–"

"What do you want anyway?" George cuts Kreacher off, tired of the insults the house-elf continually gives. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, being a good bit more curious in nature, file away Kreacher's mutterings about Ichigo for further investigation later. That he wasn't human, or at least not fully human, was a curious lead, though Hermione was fairly certain that werewolf could be crossed off the list of what he could potentially be as she was certain the house-elf would have said so if he was one.

"Kreacher is cleaning." the elf evasively replies as his eyes dart to George.

"A likely story." Sirius says from behind Harry, having finally come back. He glares at Kreacher from the doorway, not hiding his dislike for the elf. The noise from downstairs has abated. Mrs. Weasley has probably finished yelling at Mundungus, there's no doubt in the Weasley children's minds that he is still being chewed out for his irresponsibility, and moved the argument down into the kitchen. Kreacher bows low when he sees Sirius, nose flattened on the floor.

"Stand up straight." Sirius impatiently commands him. "Now, what are you up to?"

"Kreacher is cleaning." The elf stubbornly sticks to the lie. "Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black–"

"–and it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy." Sirius says, glaring a little harder at Kreacher.

"Master always liked his little joke," Kreacher says with a bow and continues in an undertone, "Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart–"

"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher." Sirius snaps, sick and tired of the house-elf's devotion to the dead hag. "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."

"Whatever Master says," Kreacher replies with a bow before once more muttering more furiously, "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was–"

"I asked you what you were up to." Sirius says coldly, leaving it clear that he expects a different answer. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."

"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house." He answers, then quickly mutters, "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats destroy it–"

"I thought it might be that." Sirius says, casting a disgusted and disdainful look at the far wall that is completely covered by the tapestry. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it I certainly will. Now go away Kreacher."

Kreacher, it seems, would not disobey a direct order, so with a hateful glare at Sirius he shuffled out of the room, muttering the whole way. "–comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too–"

"Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" Sirius irritably calls after him before slamming the door shut after the elf.

"Okay, I'm just gonna be straight forward and say it: what the hell was that thing?" Ichigo asks.

"That, as I'm sure you figured out, was Kreacher. He's a house-elf." Sirius explains.

"Ano, what's a house-elf?" Orihime asks, tilting her head to the side. "And why do you have one when you don't like him and he doesn't like you?"

"House-elves are magical beings that are forced to live lives of servitude, usually to older pureblood wizard families." Hermione bitterly explains. "They're usually left to do house chores and such. They are magically compelled to obey their master's orders or they're compelled to hurt themselves for disobeying. It's really rather sad. They can only be set free when their master gives them proper clothing, so the poor things always end up running around in rags. He really should be set free–" Hermione says, giving Sirius a hopeful glance.

"We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order." Sirius says curtly." And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it."

"Ah, one more question, if you don't mind." Uryu says. "What is meant by 'Mudblood'? I understand its derogatory nature, but fail to see why it's such a high level insult."

Sirius sighs. "It must be nice to live in a place where your bloodlines don't count."

Ichigo snorts. "Hardly, we just do a good job of ignoring people who feel entitled by their family lines. Kinda helps when personal power is usually more respected, but good bloodlines tend to lead to decent power in the first place, so…"

Sirius grins. "I see, but back to Uryu's question. Mudblood refers to wizards and witches born to parents without magical heritage. It only has so much meaning because the purebloods tend to use it to put those without magical heritage down. Purebloods consider them dirt, so they have dirty blood, Mudbloods. In fact most purebloods consider Mudbloods to be inferior, but it's not true at all. Just look at Hermione, she's the brightest witch her age."

"I see" Uryu says, pushing up his glasses.

"That's just stupid. Judging people based on what family they get born into." Ichigo grumbles, scowl deepening a bit.

Sirius shrugs. "It's just the way things are." Sirius then proceeded to walk over to the tapestry and point out his own missing name and tells them about how he left home. He also told them about his family's 'pure-blood mania' and his brother. Then Mrs. Weasley came in with lunch, luring away all of the teens except Harry.

Ichigo also stayed for a moment to make an offer. "If you really want that painting and tapestry gone, I think I could destroy them."

"Really?" Sirius asks, a note of hope in his voice.

"Only if you don't mind losing the wall they're on," Ichigo replies, "…possibly a couple more."

Sirius just lets out a bark of laughter. "I'll consider it. I'm guessing you don't really care for my mother's painting."

"Kami, that thing is awful." Ichigo groans. "If I get to destroy that thing, it'll be with a smile on my face."

Sirius chuckles. "I'd be smiling too. Like I said, I'll think about it." And he seriously would. What was a little remodeling, something that could be fixed with a little wand work, in comparison to the utter destruction of two of the things he hated most about the old house. But if it could destroy the enchanted painting, it did raise the question of whether or not there'd be any wall left to fix. Yes, he'd really have to think carefully about the offer, possibly ask one of the older Japanese to do it instead, maybe save the walls with their higher level of control.

Offer made, Ichigo goes and joins the others in eating the sandwiches while Harry remains with Sirius as they continue to study the tapestry. Sirius tells Harry little tidbits about some of the names on the tapestry and how some have been struck off for being decent people. Harry's heart sunk when Sirius brought up the hearing, hoping that he could go with Harry, as a dog of course, to support him. Dreading the possibility that his wand would be snapped, Harry tried to convince Sirius to let him stay in Grimmauld place with his godfather if it happened, but any solid reply was stalled by Mrs. Weasley calling them over for eat before all the food was gone.

With lunch eaten, the afternoon was spent removing objects from the shelves of the glass cabinets, an easy thing to do in theory, but much harder in reality when the items were reluctant to leave their shelves and some of them had nasty surprises in store. Harry was rather grateful for the effort involved as it took his mind off of his upcoming hearing, everyone else, not so much.

There was a silver snuffbox that bit Sirius, causing the skin on his hand to develop a crusty covering like a brown glove. Luckily Sirius was able to cure his condition with a tap of his wand, commenting that the box must have contained Wartcap powder. Uryu and Harry saw George carefully cover his hand and slip the box away into his doxy filled pocket for later use, but told no one as they saw no point in it. If trouble came from it later, well, it'd be rather obvious if Sirius's hand was anything to go by. A small, silver instrument, looking rather similar to a pair of tweezers with many legs, scuttled up Harry's arm when he tried to pick it up and attempted to puncture his skin, but Ichigo was quick to snag it off his arm and throw it to the ground, crushing it under his heel. Harry wouldn't know it, but Ichigo had used a small application of Blut Vene to make sure that the small device wouldn't stand a chance of piercing his hand when he grabbed it, glad that the one Quincy technique he could use with any reliability was one that was particularly useful when he was confined to his human body. They also came across a musical box that gave off a sinister, tinkling tune when wound causing them all to become oddly weak and sleepy until Ginny sensibly tried to shut it, missed, but got her mission taken up by Orihime who succeeded.

Things were going fine until they found a heavy locket that none of them could open. The wizards found nothing wrong with it besides the fact that it wouldn't open, but when Ichigo picked it up to try after they had all tried, he froze momentarily. The wizards didn't notice as Ichigo hid it well, quickly continuing with the attempt to open it like the others. A small nudge from Uryu was all the prompting he needed to try his hand at Blut Arterie to force the locket open. It was something Uryu hated to admit, but when it came to Blut, Ichigo's was stronger than his, mostly because Ichigo had good bloodlines for it and could run his own reiatsu through his veins, giving him a massive reserve to draw upon and use to reinforce himself. However, even with his enhanced strength the locket still would not open. Worried, Ichigo began a quick, hissing whisper of a conversation with Uryu.

"[Ishida, it's–]"

"[I can feel it, Kurosaki, but it's not him–]" Ishida whispers out of the side of his mouth, doing his best to make it look like they're not having a private conversation.

"[Then who–?]"

"[I don't know, but we'll have to find out. He was bad enough. We don't need a second coming of him.]" Uryu says with finality. Ichigo backs off, letting Uryu take the lead in the matter since he understands soul splitting the best, having acquired all of Yhwach's memories and techniques when he became the emperor and fully succeeded Yhwach.

Sirius tossed the locket in a rubbish sack, but Uryu quietly and quickly nicked it out of the bag, pocketing it before any of the wizards could see what he'd done. Orihime gave him a questioning look, but he gave a slight shake of his head to let her know that now wasn't the time for explanations. Uryu was actually still trying to figure it out himself. Yhwach had never attached a soul fragment to an inanimate object, only other souls, so the technique used to attach the fragment had to be different. It was also impossible to sense Yhwach's soul fragments because they integrated themselves so well into the host's soul, but this one, while impossible to sense without direct contact, Uryu had felt it through Ichigo when he had subconsciously opened up and sent the data to Uryu, could be felt on its own. It also didn't feel natural. Yhwach's soul had split, but it wasn't… torn Uryu supposed was the best way to describe the feeling he got from the fragment, like the difference between cutting along a line on paper and trying to rip the paper along that line. Uryu continued to puzzle over the differences as he cleaned, checking the vast store of knowledge of the Quincy to try and find anything that could explain this odd soul fragment, but he didn't find anything.

During the afternoon cleaning, Kreacher came slinking into the room to try and smuggle things away under his loincloth, cursing them every time he was caught and forced to give up what he tried to save. When Kreacher burst into tears over being denied the chance to save a golden ring with the Black crest on it, both Hermione and Orihime begged and convinced Sirius that letting the elf keep the ring wouldn't cause any harm. Kreacher didn't seem to know if he should be happy or not seeing as he got to keep Mr. Black's ring, but with the help of a Mudblood and unnatural foreigner.

And so the cleaning continued, with Ichigo, Uryu and Orihime popping in and out of the cleaning process whenever one of them, usually Ichigo, could no longer take just sitting there and studying. The drawing room took three days to decontaminate until the only things that hadn't been dealt with were the rattling writing desk whose contents were still unknown and the Black family tree tapestry that had, as expected, resisted all attempts to remove it. Guests came in and out of the house all day, ringing the doorbell and setting off Mrs. Black. Most left as soon as their business was done, though some, like Tonks, stayed to help clean for a while.

On the day after the drawing room was declared clean, Urahara finally took Orihime out to purchase clothes and other things that had been left behind when she was brought to England so that she could stop having to borrow from Hermione, Ginny, and Ichigo (he provided all her shirts seeing as Hermione's and Ginny's shirts didn't accommodate her bust very well). Uryu tagged along as a fashion consultant and because Orihime was considering visiting a fabric store to buy materials for making clothes from scratch and she desired to have the Quincy's expertise in the fiber arts to help her pick. Shinji had left to spend the day in Seireitei so he could handle whatever stack of paperwork had arose in his absence, leaving Ichigo as the only foreigner in the house for the afternoon. It was also on this day that Harry, Ron, and Hermione found something rather… frightening.

The trio had been sent upstairs to fetch Ichigo because they needed an extra hand down in the dining room that was the day's cleaning target. The contents of the room were putting up a better fight than expected. Knowing that when the Japanese teens weren't present, they were holed away in Ichigo and Uryu's room, they didn't hesitate to walk into the room through the door that had been left ajar. What they found stopped them dead in their tracks. Perched on one of the beds was an almost completely white figure, reading The Monster Book of Monsters, which was not so much as twitching in its white hands as the book often did while being read. When Ron's hand brushed Hermione as he came to a stop, she let out a small eep, immediately causing the figure's head to snap up in their direction, a wide, psychotic grin spreading across his face as his gold on black eyes landed on them. The figure looked identical to Ichigo except for its coloring. Everything about it was white. Hair, skin, clothes. It was all white, the only other color being some black lining on the sleeves and collar of its clothes, a black belt, black socks, and its unnatural eyes.

"Well, well. Looks like I got visitors." It said, grin still stretching its lips. The odd double tone of the creature, for there was no way it was human, sent chills down the trio's spines.

"Wha-wha… who–?" Ron stammers, pointing a finger at it. It raises an eyebrow, grin becoming less prominent.

"Ya know it's rude ta point, Freckle Face. Knock it off before I knock yer hand off." It says, grin widening back up as it finishes delivering the threat. Ron's hand immediately drops to his side as he pales, taking a half-step back, Harry and Hermione moving with him. They all feel like remaining in the presence of the thing before them will only result in pain and violence.

"Awww, yer all gonna run away before we even get intraduced?" it whines, tilting its head to the side in a way that would have looked innocent if it weren't for the crazed smile and deadly presence it possessed. It shuts the book with a snap, causing the trio to flinch, before setting it aside and smoothly getting off the bed and taking a few steps in their direction with a predatory grace that frays their nerves even further. "It ain't nice ta just walk away when you were the ones that came waltzin' in." it croons, a wild gleam in its predatory, golden eyes as it advances another step. Even with the open door behind them, the three feel trapped under its golden gaze. "I'll go first, I'm–"

"Zangetsu." A voice growls from behind the three. They turn their heads just enough to see out of the corner of their eyes, for they can't bring themselves to let Zangetsu out of their sight with his deadly aura, and see Ichigo standing behind them, a dark scowl on his face, directed at his white duplicate. "[What the hell do you think you're doing?]"

Zangetsu turned his attention to Ichigo and the trio let loose small sighs of relief. "That ain't nice, Aibou, leaving the brats out like that." He mockingly scolds, wagging a finger at Ichigo. " 'Sides, ya left the door open. What'd ya expect me ta do?" Zangetsu asks, raising a brow while his unrepentant grin hints at the fact that he knows the answer. Ichigo steps forward, scowl deepening, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione are quick to clear out from between the two.

"You know that you're supposed to stay hidden, so tell me what part of this is staying hidden?" Ichigo growls as he gestures towards the trio, gaining an air nearly as deadly as his duplicate. Harry, Hermione, and Ron back further away from the pair, senses screaming at them to just leave the room and not turn back. However they stay, mostly because Ichigo is sort of in the way, but also because their curiosity has been roused. Was this what Kreacher had meant when he said Ichigo didn't feel human? Had the house-elf picked up on the doppelganger's presence? What was the connection between Ichigo and Zangetsu? So they stayed silent on the sidelines, hoping that some answers would slip out before them, steeling their nerves to ask later if they didn't get enough answers.

Zangetsu chuckles, his laughter sending chills down their spines. " 'S only three of 'em. Ain't gonna be hard ta keep 'em quiet." Zangetsu says, turning to look at them, dark eyes drilling into theirs, promising trouble and pain if they reveal what they've seen. "Yer the one that let me out, Aibou. Can ya honestly say ya didn't expect trouble sooner or later?" His grin has a more smug and lazy air to it now, like the cat that caught the canary, except still sinister.

Ichigo growls in response. "I did, but I also expected you to at least try to avoid trouble, you ass."

Zangetsu just laughs wildly in reply. "Ya need ta get more inventive with yer name callin', Aibou."

Ichigo's scowl deepens. "Get out of here." With those words, Zangetsu disappears in a swirl of red tinged black energy. Ichigo grumbles and curses, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione can't understand a word he says. "[Thanks for nothing, you stupid, useless zanpakuto.]" he murmurs, rubbing a hand down his face. Ichigo lets loose a huff of air, calming himself from the absolute mess Zangetsu has made, and turns to face down the trio. "Sorry about that. He's usually a little better behaved." Ichigo says, rubbing the back of his neck, looking a little shameful but more so apologetic. "Now what was it you guys wanted?" he asks, trying, even though he's pretty sure it's hopeless, to dodge any questions about Zangetsu.

They stare at him a moment, still trying to comprehend the sudden disappearance of Zangetsu, before his words sink in.

"Oh, mum wanted you to come help us with the dining room downstairs. Reckons we need another set of hands." Ron answers numbly, mind not really on what he's saying.

"Okay. Guess we better get going." Ichigo replies, taking a step towards the door. His movement breaks the spell of shock that had befallen Harry, Hermione, and Ron and they all move to block the doorway.

"You can't just walk away after something like that!" Harry yells, a determined glint in his eyes. There's no way he's not getting an explanation when he was fairly certain that, had Ichigo not shown up, they would all be seriously injured, if not dead, by Zangetsu's hand.

"Harry's right. You owe us an explanation!" Hermione adds.

"He threatened to knock my hand off!" Ron indignantly states.

Ichigo stares at Ron for a moment before bursting into laughter. The three just glare at him, not at all amused by a threat they were very sure would have been carried out. "Ah… ah… sorry, sorry." He says as he regains his breath, wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm not trying to say Zangetsu didn't mean it or deny the fact that it freaked you out. It's just… tame, I guess, for Zangetsu." They look at Ichigo like he's crazy. Ichigo raises a brow at them. "What? I'm not kidding. His favorite things are fighting, killing, and cutting things into pieces. Not necessarily in that order."

"How do you– Why would you keep– I mean–" Hermione is at a loss of what to say. Apparently Zangetsu is more violent than what he seemed to be and she can't figure it out. Just how close had they come to being killed?

"What is Zangetsu?" Harry asks. He figures it's a good place to start. If they know what he is, then they can try to find a defense against him.

Ichigo sighs. There won't be any getting out of explaining this, but he supposes he can give them satisfying half-truths and hopefully Urahara and Shinji won't give him hell for it. "Zangetsu is a zanpakuto spirit." Well half of one. He sees Hermione open her mouth to ask what a zanpakuto is and quickly continues, "Zanpakuto are special swords that can transform and stuff when their wielder gets accepted by the zanpakuto spirit. Zangetsu is my zanpakuto."

"But there's no sword in here." Ron states, looking around the room.

"Why would I leave my sword laying around where that house-elf or anyone else could take it?" Ichigo asks, causing Ron to turn red in embarrassment.

"He said you let him out. Where was he being held? They're not slaves are they?" Hermione asks, having thought back to the conversation they had witnessed.

"He was in his own world" which is in my head "and since my bond with him is strong enough, I can materialize him here in our world. And they're hardly our slaves. Sometimes it feels like the other way around. If you want them to lend you their strength, you've got to meet their demands."

"What does 'aibou' mean?" Harry asks, trying to figure out if maybe 'Ichigo' was a fake name.

"Partner. I don't really know why he doesn't like to use my name that often."

"So you've just got this really violent bloke that powers a sword and you can summon whenever you want?" Ron asks.

"Yup."

"Wicked." Ron sports a grin now. "Think I could–"

"No." Ichigo cuts him off, a very serious expression on his face. He notices the trio about to protest and hurries to explain why. "None of you could use a zanpakuto because there's certain requirements that have to be met" like being dead "and you guys don't meet them. And no, I won't tell you what they are. Zanpakuto are secret and the only reason I've explained any of this to you guys is because you saw Zangetsu." Ichigo says with an air finality. "Now I'm going downstairs before Weasley-san sends someone else up here." Ichigo announces, easily brushing past them.

'Why the hell did you let them see you?' Ichigo demands internally of his blade.

'Tch. I ain't used to sittin' around doin' nothing all damn day, Aibou. Ya usually fight a couple o' hollows a day and now it's cold turkey. The hell did ya expect?' Zangetsu replies in an exasperated tone.

'I've been sparring with you every night in there! Is it really too much to expect you to not cause extra trouble for me on purpose. You could have ditched out the moment you knew they were there, possibly avoided the whole damn fiasco, but instead you decided to freak them the hell out!' Ichigo mentally shouts back.

'And it was damn amusing. Helluva lot better than readin' 'bout monsters we ain't gonna fight and that sorry shit they call fightin'.The hollow blade bitterly replies.

'Why the hell didn't you drag him in, Ossan?' Ichigo angrily asks the calmer spirit.

'I'm sorry, Ichigo. I wasn't aware of the trouble he was creating since you weren't aware. I cannot not keep track of him as well when we are in separate places like that. The other half of Zangetsu calmly replies, a slight note of reproach colors his tone.

'Sorry, I shouldn't have blown up at you like that, Ossan. You offered to stay out with him even though you finished the books I asked you to read, it's my fault he was unsupervised.'

'OI! I ain't a brat that needs to be watched all damn day!'

'It is fine, Ichigo. I will make sure that he does not consider doing so again.'

'Thanks, Zangetsu-ossan.'

So I put a good bit of humor in here, at least I thought it was funny, so let me know if you agree or not. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have Hollow Zangetsu cause some trouble. I'm fairly certain a blade like Zangetsu would go stir-crazy from the sudden decline in use and action, so he starts welcoming trouble. Besides, it was begging to happen.

As for horcruxes, well I didn't want an easy, anyone who senses reiatsu can find them like it's nothing card, so I incorporated a bit about how Yhwach splits his soul into this. In the manga when Yhwach's soul splitting was being explained, it seems that he tagged some shinigami, so just because you have a fragment doesn't make you a Quincy. So I figured the fragments can't be sensed by outside forces. I partially applied this to horcruxes in that they can't be sensed unless you're touching them because in book seven it was shown that prolonged contact with the horcrux allows for it to effect you, so it's only active when in contact with someone and has a very small effect radius. And yes, I know I split magic and spiritual powers apart, but I'm going with some magics draw out the caster's soul, thus horcruxes are still possible and all that jazz. I hope this makes sense to you guys because I did spend a while debating what to do about horcruxes.

Anywho, I think it'll only be two, maybe three, chapters until we're off to Hogwarts, so I challenge you, minions. I challenge you to give me one hundred favorites before we get to Hogwarts!

Please comment/review to tell me how I did.