Author's Note
Hello hello! Somehow I got the motivation to complete another chapter in 11 days, so good me! This'll be my last chapter before Bleach ends, I'm so sad! But hopefully that announcement will be the return of the anime or a follow-up series. So there's that.
Also, my friend told me this the other day, but my coloring of Ichigo's true bankai got used by some youtuber called 2Spooky in his 10 facts you didn't know about Ichigo. I was all "Whaaaaat? Really? That's so cool!" because over thirty thousand people have watched that video and supposedly seen my art. So yeah, cool stuff for me. It's shown at 10:52-11:03 or you can alternatively go to my deviantart to see it, my name's the same.
Anywho, enjoy the chapter!
Umbridge was pleased to receive the title of Headmistress of Hogwarts after the flight of Dumbledore. Unfortunately for her, the school itself did not seem to be acknowledging her promotion, seeing as the doors to the Head's office had sealed themselves shut. Or rather the gargoyle refused to let her even get to the doors. She had tried every spell she could think of to get into the office, had even tried reasoning with the enchanted lump of stone, but nothing worked. At her whit's end, she decided to call in some help…
"Did you try putting the key in the lock?"
"Mr. Urahara, there is no keyhole or even a door to try to put a key into!"
"Well, how 'bout removing the door from its hinges?"
"What part of no door didn't you understand?!"
… that really wasn't all that helpful.
She thought that the pair could help with their 'innovative thinking,' instead they had spent the last half hour driving her up the wall with stupid questions like these.
"It is magically sealed and the gargoyle is no longer accepting the password!" Umbridge shouts, trying to get Urahara and Shinji off of the subject of menial door opening.
"Oh! Well, why didn't you say so earlier? We could have saved ourselves some time." Urahara says, hiding his amused grin behind his fan as Umbridge bristles, her face turning red. She had told them that was the problem when she first approached them, but they had ignored that, instead spending thirty minutes spouting off random door opening nonsense. "We'll simply have to guess the new password! Now, seeing as Dumbledore-sensei was the last owner of this office, he will have set the password. Passwords are often short and have something to do with the person's interests, so… BE THE DUMBLEDORE, HIRAKO-SAN! BE THE DUMBLEDORE!" Urahara shouts, waving his hands mysteriously at Shinji.
The blond vizard goes still, staring blankly ahead as if in a trance. Then he speaks.
"Long beards."
The gargoyle doesn't even twitch.
"You're doing it wrong, Hirako-san." Urahara deadpans.
"Well, what do you want me ta do?" Shinji complains.
"Be the Dumbledore, obviously. You're not channeling his spirit correctly."
"I'd like to see ya do better!" Shinji says childishly.
"Fine, I will." Urahara sniffs. He studies the gargoyle for a moment, then says, "The twinkle in my eye."
"'The twinkle in my eye?' What kind of answer is that?" Shinji says in disbelief.
"Well, I thought it was good." Urahara pouts. "Dumbledore-san always seems to have that twinkle in his eye and since it's his password it would be 'The twinkle in my eye' instead of 'The twinkle in Dumbledore's eye'. Anyways, it's your turn to guess."
"Um, exemplary students."
Nothing.
"Free candy."
Nada.
"Professor McGonagall."
"Wrong. It would be 'Minerva McGonagall'."
"Lovely beaches."
"Pina coladas."
"Getting caught in the rain."
"Walks on moonlit beaches."
"A good fu–"
"That's enough!" Umbridge shrieks shrilly.
"What? I was just gonna say 'a good funnel cake'." Shinji says innocently.
"Oh! I love funnel cakes! The powdered sugar and fried goodness –"
"Enough! Just enough!" Umbridge yells. It has become far beyond obvious that the pair will be no help whatsoever in her endeavor to claim the Head office. At this point she just accepts that she won't get in and, for the sake of her sanity, should take no more help from Urahara and Shinji in this matter. "I appreciate your attempts to… help, but it would appear that we can't get in. I'll just make do with my own office, I think."
"Well, if you're sure…" Urahara says.
"Very sure." Umbridge quickly assures him.
"Very well. Let's go have breakfast, Hirako-san. All that talk of funnel cakes has made me hungry."
"Sure, I'm right behind ya." Shinji agrees as the pair walk off, their self-appointed job of annoying the heck out of Umbridge complete.
Harry felt there was a certain need to applaud the Hogwarts rumor mill because it was the morning after Dumbledore's flight and the whole school already seemed to know what happened, and with surprising accuracy to boot. Unfortunately, part of that accuracy included the fact that he, Ichigo, and Marietta were the only students to witness it and since Marietta was in the hospital wing to get Hermione's jinx dealt with, the student body turned to Harry and Ichigo for details. Luckily, Harry quickly found out that sticking close to Ichigo and his Aura of Doom from the annoyance of being asked the same question over and over again was a good way to ward people off. It was too bad that the Aura of Doom did not ward off Malfoy or keep him from docking Gryffindor nearly fifty points for his general dislike of the group using his new found power as a member of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad.
Malfoy was not the only one to abuse the new Squad's powers, however the Weasley twins had managed to actually avoid the point loss by stuffing Montague into the Vanishing Cabinet and, having seen that the school would no longer be somewhere they would enjoy staying, decided that they were done minding the rules and going for all out chaos and mayhem for their lovely new headmistress. Having declared that, the twins advised the group to hurry along to lunch so that they wouldn't be implicated in what was termed "phase one."
It turned out that Harry and Ichigo needn't have bothered as Filch came to fetch them for Umbridge before they even got fully into the Great Hall. The caretaker was positively gleeful at the changes in the works now that Umbridge was in charge, more than ready to begin torturing misbehaving students. Both boys did not like hearing this.
They found Umbridge's office had a few new additions with her ascendency to headmistress, such as the plaque declaring her as such on her desk and the confiscated brooms of Harry and the Wealsey twins chained to the wall behind her desk.
"Sit." She curtly instructs the boys after thanking and dismissing Filch. The pair gingerly take the proffered seats, wondering what they were brought in for, what torture, possibly new, waited for them, and how they might get out of it.
"Well now, what would you like to drink?"
"What?"
"Nani?"
Their brains short-circuit at the unexpected question.
"To drink, Mr. Potter, Mr. Kurosaki. Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?" Umbridge offers with a maliciously content smile. A short wave of her wand and a pair of tea cups of each drink appears on her desk.
They stare at her flabbergasted. She's going through pleasantries with them? They know she hates their guts, yet here she is playing hostess. They can only assume she's making some miserable attempt to butter them up before dropping her bombshell on them.
Not really interested in playing her game, they both turn down the offer only to find Umbridge insistent that they have something to drink. So they settle on tea, to which she adds milk with her back to them, and once she's given them their drinks, she broaches the reason for bringing them to her office: she would like to chat about the distressing events of Dumbledore's abdication. However, the boys have no response to this and wait for her to continue. When she does, it is not what they expect.
"You're not drinking up!" Umbridge cheerfully says.
Ichigo rolls his eyes at her insistence at trying to be a good hostess and, just to spite her, downs the whole cup like he's seen people, mainly Shinigami, down sake, barely even tasting the tea and slamming the cup back onto her desk. Harry, on the other hand, goes to take a sip before stopping and lowering the cup. One of the painted kitten's eyes that inhabited Umbridge's office reminded him of Mad-Eye Moody and the ex-auror's rampant, yet sometimes accurate, paranoia.
"What's the matter?" Umbridge asks, trying to sound concerned as she closely watches the boys. "Do you want sugar?"
"No." Harry responds, sure that sugar won't fix whatever she may have potentially done to their drinks. He thinks it's safe to rule out fast acting poison seeing as Ichigo hasn't keeled over dead, but it's not certain considering he's fairly certain the orange haired boy isn't entirely human. Not that it matters, Harry's already decided he won't drink even a drop of this tea and proceeds to fake taking a sip.
"Good, very good." Umbridge sinisterly whispers. "Now then, where is Albus Dumbledore?"
Harry's heart stops. It wasn't poison in the tea, not with a pointed question like that. It could only be Veritaserum to force the truth out of them and doom Dumbledore and Ichigo had drunk the whole cup.
"Fu za hell knows? I dono. Do yu Heri?"
Something was wrong. That one thought flashed through both Harry and Umbridge's minds. Ichigo's accent was noticeably thicker and his words were slurring. If either had to guess, they would say that he was suddenly… drunk as a skunk.
"Purabburi trying to make yu go to hell. Bet za gates would take yu. Ookikute kowai mon da. Onri shee gates wansu. Had shcary shkeletons on zem. Took the murdaaraa an' za big hand shtabbudo him. Daikirai shita. Killed poor Parakeet-shan no kaa-shan. I rippudo hish tongue out an' meido him sho shcared he cut hish leg off to get away furom me. He desaabudo hell. Yu do to, Umburiji. All people who hurt innoshent kodomo desaabu hell!"
And with that grand statement, Ichigo slumps back in his chair and begins loudly snoring.
Umbridge and Harry can only stare at the unconscious boy. He was babbling about what were apparently the gates of hell and what sounded like how he tortured someone into going there. The fact that anything spewing from his mouth was the truth just made it all the more horrifying.
"Mr. Potter…?" Umbridge warily asks, scared she might get another horrific tale.
"No idea." Harry replies, pretending to take another sip. The sooner he and Ichigo can get out of here the better. The last thing they need is for a truth drunken Ichigo to spill something important or even more terrifying.
"Very well. In that case, you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of Sirius Black."
Harry was so grateful that Ichigo was unconscious for this question since he knew the answer to this one. Faking another sip of tea, Harry feigns ignorance. Umbridge presses on, reminding him of the close call in October, but Harry sticks to his lie, forcing Umbridge to acknowledge that at this time Harry doesn't know. She does warn him however, that all communications in and out of the castle are being watched and if she gets evidence…
BOOM!
Ichigo snaps awake and slings the teacup his fingers had been loosely hooked in at Umbridge, only missing because the tremor set off by the explosion left her off kilter and clutching her desk for support.
"Nandayo?" Ichigo blearily looks around.
With Umbridge distracted by the screams and thundering of feet in flight below them, Harry dumps his tea into a potted plant.
"Back to lunch with you two!" Umbridge cries as she scurries away to assess and handle whatever has happened.
Harry takes the time to get the decidedly staggering Ichigo's arm looped over his shoulder to support the other before hurrying after Umbridge to see what the fuss is.
"Utsukushiiiiiiii." Ichigo says with an airy tone of appreciation.
Harry doesn't really know what his friend has said, but he agrees with Ichigo's tone. It is a wonderful sight, deserving of appreciation. The hall was filled with enchanted fireworks, curtesy of the Weasley twins if Harry had to guess.
Harry couldn't help but laugh in delight at watching Umbridge and Filch trying to tame the wild and wonderful chaos. Ichigo joins in his laughter, jabbering in Japanese what Harry assumed was praises for the fireworks. Having seen enough, Harry drags Ichigo through a door hidden by a tapestry only to run into Fred and George themselves.
"Ohayouuuu!" Ichigo sings out before Harry can cover his mouth and muffle him. Luckily the fireworks are loud and Umbridge is far too busy dealing with them to notice the greeting.
The twins are doubled over, trying to hold in their laughter as Ichigo's out of character childishness pushes the hilarity of the current situation over the top.
"He… he alright, Harry?" George asks, having barely remastered himself as Ichigo sways against Harry, singing under his breath.
"Dunno. I think Umbridge gave him Veritaserum, but it seems like he's kind of drunk or something." Harry explains. "And those fireworks are impressive. Real impressive. Even better than Dr. Fillibuster's."
"Cheers." Fred says with a grin. "Anyway, probably ought to get him to the hospital wing, let Madam Pomfrey sort him out."
"Ikitakunai! Ikitakunai! Hanabi mitai! Minna isshoni mimashou!" Ichigo wails, struggling to disentangle himself from Harry as he tries to guide Ichigo away. Luckily, the twins see Ichigo's struggles and come to Harry's aid, helping contain and move the older boy toward the hospital wing. Harry is grateful for their help because Ichigo is strong, enough so that even the three of them are barely enough to force him in the right direction. Better yet is when they encounter Uryu, who seemed to be waiting for them, and he helps them with the less than cooperative Ichigo.
When they finally manage to get the struggling Ichigo into the hospital wing and explain things to Madam Pomfrey, she is less than pleased. It is simple enough to confirm Harry's theory that Veritaserum is the cause for the practically drunken state of Ichigo and to further narrow the cause down to an extreme overdose of Veritaserum. The boy's lucky he's not in a coma, she thinks. There have been cases where less Veritaserum has done so.
Madam Pomfrey shakes her head as she brews a potion to help counter and purge the Veritaserum in the boy's system. It is one thing to treat the magical accidents and pranks that can be expected of a school full of children learning to wield great power, but when the problem is purposefully caused by one of the teachers… Well that's just inexcusable. Even more so when that teacher has been appointed Headmistress.
After inadvertently turning the school nurse against the new headmistress, the boys get lunch, leaving Ichigo in Madam Pomfrey's capable care.
The rest of the day is spent constantly interrupted by the fireworks, which no teacher even tries to handle on their own, preferring to summon Umbridge to handle all firework related problems. It was an immensely satisfying sight to see Umbridge tottering about at the end of the day absolutely blackened by all the fireworks she had spent the afternoon chasing.
Umbridge's reign didn't get any better. When Harry asked the twins for a distraction so that he could break into her office to talk with Sirius, not only did she get a swamp for a corridor, there was also the power vacuum for the positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief caused by the twins' spectacular departure. Not a day passed without trouble of some sort occurring, ranging from the Skiving Snackbox induced Umbridge-itis, which Madam Pomfrey secretly supported, to the constant cloud of putrid gas in the corridors from all the Stinkpellets and Dungbombs being dropped to the revolving door visits of the Inquisitorial Squad to the hospital wing. And that was just the student induced mayhem, which just could not compare to Peeves's increased showmanship. The poltergeist had taken to working overtime to create as much chaos as possible for Umbridge, as per Fred's parting orders, and Umbridge hated it. Worst of all, it was simply impossible to catch and punish all the troublemakers. Even with Filch and the Squad patrolling the halls constantly, ready to dole out punishments, the pranks still ran rampant.
Actually, one of the more impressive pranks Harry had seen, besides the niffler in Umbridge's office, was one that Ichigo and Uryu had collaborated on. Somehow the pair was successfully switching out her cardigan and bow between every class. There was a lily pad bow with a frog pond cardigan, a neon green bow with a cardigan the same shade that had "Croak with me" written on it in neon pink which the students gladly followed, croaking at Umbridge for the whole break, but Harry's favorite had to be the poo bow and the brown cardigan with "Shitty Headmistress" written on it in looping letters of golden thread. Harry wasn't sure what was more impressive about it: the fact that no one could tell how the switches were being made, Umbridge's original accessories disappearing one moment, clad in the new ones the next, or that all the wild bows and cardigans somehow still matched the rest of her pink ensemble. The only reason Harry knew it was a collaboration was because he had seen Uryu working on the frog pond cardigan the previous day and at the end of the day it was Ichigo who pulled Umbridge's usual bows and cardigans from his bag before tossing them in the fireplace.
It was the final Quidditch game of the school year and shortly after it began Ichigo notices Hagrid leading Hermione and Harry away from the game. Seeing as Uryu and Orihime had decided to skip on watching the game, he slips out of the game himself and switches places with Kon to follow them at a distance. Soon enough they're traversing the woods of the Forbidden Forest. As Ichigo watches Harry and Hermione struggle with the undergrowth, he feels slightly glad that his shinigami form allows him to tread the air above it all. He listens as Hagrid confesses to the high probability that he'll be sacked and asks the kids to do something still unspecified for him when he's gone. Soon enough they reach what appears to be their destination and Ichigo silently drops to the forest floor.
And that is where the trio meet Grawp, Hagrid's sixteen-foot-tall, younger half-brother. Ichigo isn't particularly impressed by Grawp's size, but then again even some of the daily hollows were bigger, not to mention a Gillian or Yammy's released form, and he'd fought all of those. He is less impressed by the "manners" that Hagrid really hasn't instilled in Grawp. The young giant doesn't pay a lick of attention to anything Hagrid says, at least until Grawp seems to take notice of the fact that Hagrid is not alone.
Ichigo is content to watch the introductions, or at least the attempt to make introductions, until…
"GRAWPY, NO!"
…Grawp tries to grab Hermione. At this point Ichigo steps in because it's all too obvious that Hagrid does not have much clout with his little brother, if any. So with a quick shunpo he places himself between Hermione and Grawp's hand, catching the palm of the giant with his own hand and not letting it advance another inch. He can hear the small gasps from Harry and Hermione at his sudden appearance, but he doesn't look back. Instead he glares into Grawp's eyes.
"No."
It is a simple command, spoken with quiet authority and, to Hagrid's amazement, Grawp pulls his hand back to his chest, warily watching the new arrival.
"You do not grab people." Ichigo instructs Grawp, arms crossing over his chest and somehow giving the feeling that he is bigger than the giant. Then again, Ichigo had already proven himself stronger when he stopped Grawp bare-handed, Harry numbly muses.
"Ah, Ichigo… ah, how'd yeh come ter be out here?" Hagrid asks, not quite sure how to deal with this commanding version of Ichigo.
"We're supposed to be keeping an eye on Harry, so I followed you out here." Ichigo explains, eyes sliding over to Hagrid while maintaining a firm stance before Grawp. "You're lucky I did. Your brother here needs a few stern lessons on how to behave."
"He don' know his own strength." Hagrid weakly defends.
"Yes, I heard you explaining to Harry and Hermione earlier and I don't think it's not knowing his own strength as much as it is him not seeing a reason to restrain himself." Ichigo fires back. "You take his hits in stride and the other giants hit him harder. He's never had to be gentle and you don't have the strength to reprimand him in a way that will stick."
Ichigo's words are the cold, hard truth and they cut at Hagrid. It's easy enough for the half-giant to see that Ichigo's one reprimand has drastically dropped the chances that Grawp will try to grab a human again by the wary, almost fearful way his brother holds himself. It's certainly more effective than the constant scolding he gives Grawp, which often seems to go in one ear and out the other. But family is family, no matter how troublesome they are and he doesn't want his little brother to be alone when Umbridge undoubtedly drives him off.
Ichigo notices the sudden drop in spirits and, after giving Grawp a good glare so that the giant stays put, turns to face Hagrid. "I get it, okay? You're worried about your little brother, your family, but you can't ask a couple of kids to watch over what amounts to a supersized five-year-old that can accidentally step on them." Hagrid looks appropriately stricken at the idea of Harry and Hermione getting hurt like that. "That being said… I suppose I could do it, or at the very least come with the kids whenever they visit." Ichigo says, face softening a little bit.
"I… tha's righ' nice of yeh, Ichigo." Hagrid says, worries alleviated. Now he knows that Grawp will be cared for and Harry, Hermione, and Ron won't have any trouble with Grawp. "Grawpy, this here's Ichigo. He'll be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, yeah?"
Grawp certainly seemed to pay more attention to this introduction than the previous two, his boulderish face contorted in concentration or possible worry at the idea of the orange-haired enigma coming to see him. But seeing that Ichigo wasn't paying him much attention anymore, decided it was safe to go back to bending pine trees.
Hagrid seemed a bit put out that things hadn't gone great, but with there not being anything more he could do, started walking the kids back to the castle. Ichigo easily fell in line with them and quickly regretted it as his shihakusho got caught in all the branches and thorns much like Harry and Hermione's robes. Though he supposed he didn't have as much a right to whine as those two considering that the spiritual fabric of the shihakusho didn't rip nor did he receive any scratches from the ensnaring foliage with his reiatsu thickened skin.
About halfway back to the actual trail, Hagrid brings the group to a stop, fitting an arrow into the crossbow he'd brought. Ichigo tenses at the sight, hand drifting up to the hilt of his larger blade as he spreads his senses. Six presences come into focus, none of them strong enough to give him much pause, as movement could be heard now that their own noisy trek had stopped.
"I thought we told you, Hagrid, that you are no longer welcome here?" a centaur says, coming out of the gloom of the forest.
"How are yeh, Magorian?" Hagrid replies, eyeing the centaur and his emerging companions warily.
Seeing the bow still slung over the centaur's shoulders, Ichigo lets his hand come back down. There's obviously animosity between the centaurs and Hagrid, but Ichigo isn't going to push things towards a fight by drawing Zangetsu, not when it will put Harry and Hermione in danger. Besides, Ichigo is confident that he can react quick enough should it come to a fight.
"So, we agreed, I think, what we would do if this human showed his face in the forest again?" says Bane, a certain nasty, eagerness in his voice. Ichigo can see that if one of the centaurs were to strike first, it would be this one, and focuses slightly more on him than the others.
It is quickly revealed in an argument between a rather testy Hagrid and the centaurs that this animosity was brought about by Hagrid saving Firenze from death for deciding to teach at Hogwarts.
"He is peddling our knowledge and secrets among humans. There can be no return from such disgrace." Magorian gravely explains.
"Seems like quite the contradiction to me." Ichigo cuts in, stepping out of the deeper shadows he had unconsciously slipped into when he had realized there was a threat coming. "You're upset that others don't respect your ways, but when one of you tries to teach others those ways, allow others to understand them so that they can respect them, you try to kill them." The centaurs shift nervously, caught under Ichigo's intense gaze. He may have had no dealings with Firenze or any other centaur before, but Ichigo can't help but be upset by their two-faced reasoning.
"There's no need for the humans to understand, Death One. They need only leave us alone." Magorian replies.
Ichigo gives a dry laugh. "The world is full of people who don't accept closed doors. If that's the way you feel, pray someone doesn't decide to come and kick yours down."
"Are you threatening us?" Bane all but roars, reaching for his bow.
"Hardly. Now we've got a castle to get back to, so if you don't mind, we'll be going now." Ichigo coolly states, placing his hands on Harry and Hermione's shoulders and nudging them in the direction they had been going.
"Unless, of course, you want to fight me." Ichigo pauses and throws the comment at the centaurs, slanting an appraising stare at them.
Bane bristles while the others shift nervously as they sense Ichigo's presence sharpen to something deadly, ready to follow up those words with action. As a slight smirk of victory pulls at Ichigo's lips, Bane loses his composure and knocks an arrow to his bow, leveling it at Ichigo's chest.
Ichigo turns fully to face the centaur, hand resting on Zangetsu's hilt, but Magorian calmly pushes Bane's aim away and reprimands him, saying, "Do not pick a senseless death like this."
"You think him better than me?" Bane roars in response. "He is but a human with a pair of swords! I could shoot him dead before he draws!"
"You let anger dull your senses, Bane. He is kin of Death and could reap your life with you none the wiser to his actions." Magorian patiently explains. That Bane would feel his pride so wounded as to overlook the overwhelming power of the near forgotten Reapers resting in the being before them is sad to Magorian. Sure, their ancient ways were something to be proud of, but to recklessly pick a fight with Death for them strikes him as foolish. Besides, "You would not stop with his death, Bane, even if you somehow managed to succeed. You would take the accompanying young ones' lives as well in your anger and the slaughter of foals is a terrible crime. We do not touch the innocent."
Magorian turns to face Hagrid once more after Bane puts away his bow, finally realizing there's a cloud of murderous intent hovering around him. "Today, Hagrid, you pass, out of respect for those who accompany you, but henceforth, stay away from this place. You forfeited the friendship of the centaurs when you helped the traitor Firenze escape us."
"I won' be kept outta the fores' by mules-"
Hagrid's vehement reply is cut short by a quick blow from Ichigo that knocks the breath out of the half-giant.
"Consider him warned." Ichigo says, supporting Hagrid and pushing him away. Harry and Hermione meekly follow, keeping as close to Ichigo as they can.
"We know what you are hiding in the forest, Hagrid!" Magorian calls after them once neither group can see the other. " And our tolerance is waning!"
"Say anything to bring them back here shooting and I will abandon your giant ass here to deal with them while I take Harry and Hermione to safety." Ichigo hisses at Hagrid, who had just opened his mouth to reply. Ichigo had not just played mind games, which he loathed doing, to make the centaurs back down just for Hagrid to stubbornly rile them up again. Truthfully, he was rather displeased with this whole trip. All Hagrid had done was invite the kids Ichigo had promised to protect into danger and wrung a promise out of those kids to do it again and again if necessary. Grawp alone was problematic, add in the centaurs and it just cements the situation into a major disaster waiting to happen.
The rest of the walk back to the Quidditch stadium is silent, Hagrid keeping a slight distance from Ichigo while Harry and Hermione stick close and follow the shinigami like ducklings, fairly certain at this point that nothing in the forest would bother him. Or if something did, it would soon regret it.
Once the stadium is in hearing range, loud cheers ringing out, Ichigo insists on going ahead so that he can switch back with Kon. By the time he stadium is in sight, people are coming out, the match over. Hagrid sends the pair to go disappear in the crowd, where Ichigo finds them almost immediately, a small grin on his face.
"What are you smiling about? Hagrid just asked us to- and it just won't work, so why are you smiling?" Hermione says angrily, nerves frayed by the trip to the forest.
"You'll see in a little bit." Ichigo says.
And they do as seconds later the Gryffindors come their way, singing a new rendition of 'Weasley is our King' and carrying Ron on their shoulders.
"HARRY! HERMIONE! WE DID IT! WE WON!" Ron calls to them from his position atop the crowd, the Quidditch Cup held up in proof to his friends. Harry and Hermione smile at the sight.
The day has somehow managed to not be all bad.
Author's Note
Yeah, so I got the random idea in my head that overdosing on Veritaserum, which canonically Umbridge put a whole bottle in Harry's tea when Snape told her three drops would do, would make a person act drunk since drunks are one of the truthful things in the world. So yeah, drunk Ichigo because why the hell not? So anyway, the cleaned up version for sloshed Ichigo's speech in case you had trouble with it along with translations: "Who the hell knows? I dunno. Do you Harry?" "Probably trying to make you go to hell. Bet the gates would take you. [Big and scary gates.] Only see gates once. Had scary skeletons on them. Took the murderer and the big hand stabbed him. [Hated him.] Killed poor [Parakeet's mother.] I ripped his tongue out and made him so scared he cut his leg off to get away from me. He deserved hell. You do to, Umbridge. All people who hurt innocent [kids] deserve hell!" [What was that?][Beautifuuuuul.] [Hellooo.][I don't want to go! I don't want to go! I want to watch the fireworks! Let's watch them with everyone!]
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