Edited Again: 5/26/2015 - Grammar and formatting fixes

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor do I own Harry Potter

"English"

Thinking

Zanpakuto

"Japanese" - (ie: Toshiro and Rukia are speaking Japanese here, but I'm writing it down in English)

Chapter 4: Enter Diagon Alley

The next morning, Rukia woke to the sun shining into her eyes. She stretched and climbed out of bed with a wide yawn.

Yesterday was definitely… interesting.

Shirayuki's voice echoed softly in the back of Rukia's mind, Yes, and today may prove to be even more so.

Rukia frowned at the statement, What do you mean?

Don't you remember? You're supposed to be going to Diagon Alley today for supplies. Rukia remained silent for a moment, and she heard her zanpakuto sigh. You had a conversation about this yesterday during dinner.

Hnn, I guess I can't remember much past the pile of food.

That was no fault but your own. Shirayuki teased.

I know, I know. But back to the subject. The letter said something about a pet…

Yes, it was optional to have a rat, owl, or cat with you at Hogwarts. I don't know what their use would be, though.

I guess we'll find out.

With that, Rukia jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothes from her bag, a faded pair of jeans and a light-blue t-shirt, and began getting ready for the day. Now that her surroundings were quiet and she alert, Rukia realized again how much smaller she looked like in the gigai. The worst part was that she knew it wasn't altogether drastically different from her normal look.

After one last critical look at her decrease in stature, Rukia opened the door to her room and looked out. The house was still and quiet. After a second or two, Rukia ventured to guess that it was early and that the others were still asleep.

Maybe I can go on the roof and catch some fresh air before I have to deal with anyone again.

Rukia smiled at the thought and went back into her room, opening the window and feeling the air outside momentarily before deciding it wasn't cold enough to merit a jacket. After discerning that a part of the roof was right above the window, Rukia carefully maneuvered out of her window and onto the wooden slats of the roof.

A few minutes later, Rukia felt Toshiro's reitsu, and she moved aside to let him sit down. Neither of them spoke, and they looked at the sky lost in their own thoughts.

After a long while, the smell of food wafted up to them, along with the light sounds of cooking. Reluctantly, Rukia rose first, "We should go back in, before anyone sees us."

She heard Toshiro sigh as he stood up, brushing off his pants. "Right."

~*!*~

Once inside, the smell of food was more pronounced, and Rukia could hear the sounds of the Weasleys waking up. After a moment's deliberation, she and Toshiro agreed to go downstairs. Without the rush of people, the two had more time to take in smaller details of the house as they went down. They marveled at the assortment of house supplies that moved on their own, keeping every nook and cranny of the house clean, and they both stopped for a moment to take in the oddly altered clock, exchanging comments as they attempted to puzzle it out.

"There are too many hands."

"Is this even a clock?"

"You're right, the numbers aren't even there."

"The hands are pointing to Home, so maybe it says where everyone is?"

"But how would it figure that out?"

"Maybe… magic?"

"..."

The two gave up after that, and they continued walking until they arrived in the dining room, which was in the midst of being set. They looked in astonishment as the plates of food steered themselves into the proper places at the table, a plate of rolls and a plate of eggs getting into a squabble about where they would be placed. Mrs. Weasley walked in to break up the fight when she spotted her newest charges.

"Good morning, dearies! Was there something you needed?" She smiled at the two and swatted the egg platter, which then obediently moved away to find a different spot at the the table.

Rukia looked at the table with wide eyes, "I was going to ask if you needed any help, but it looks like everything is handled."

Mrs. Weasley chuckled, "That's sweet of you, child. But things are a lot easier to do with magic than you're probably used to."

"Evidently." Toshiro muttered under his breath.

The table had by then finished setting itself, and Mrs. Weasley ushered Toshiro and Rukia towards the table. "Since you're already down here, the two of you might as well eat. We've got a very long day ahead of us." The two obediently began grabbing food, and Mrs. Weasley walked to the stairwell. "Food's ready!"

Within minutes, the table was full, and Mrs. Weasley was checking over everyone. When she arrived at Toshiro and Rukia, she clucked her tongue in disapproval. "I swear, you two are trying your best to waste away. There'll be none of that going on in this house!" She added more food onto both of their plates, and Rukia barely suppressed a groan.

How am I going to eat all of this?

~*!*~

After breakfast, the Weasleys and company were rushed outside and towards the car. Rukia hesitated, looking at the size of the car, and then the amount of people about to try and fit into it.

This won't possibly work, will it?

The only way to tell is to try.

Rukia pulled her mouth into a tight line, but ultimately agreed with Shirayuki and walked forward. She could feel Toshiro's reitsu behind her, equally hesitant, and she relaxed slightly. The Weasley children had already piled into the backseat, and it looked-

Just the right size for them. Rukia's brow furrowed, she could have sworn it had looked much smaller on the way to the Burrow. Either way, it didn't look like it'd be as comfortable with two more people squished in. Taking a deep breath, Rukia entered the car and blinked. The car had grown to accommodate her. Sufficiently puzzled, Rukia decided to just sit down and ignore her spinning thoughts.

Toshiro stepped in soon after, and Rukia watched the car stretch even further. The two of them exchanged wary looks. Magic could prove to make this mission harder than originally thought.

Then the car started, and the two returned to the present.

"I can't wait to get ice cream!" Fred hollered with a grin.

"I'll go with you!" George yelled back.

"You two don't need to yell…" Ginny murmured, stuck in between the two.

Ron was ignoring the three of them, sulking, "I don't see why I need to have a hand me down wand. It'd be much better if I got my own."

"Before we go anywhere else, we'll need to get money at Gringotts." Mrs. Weasley said sternly. Rukia frowned and fell into thought. After a time, she opened her mouth, Toshiro spoke up first from beside her.

"Would you mind explaining wizarding money?"

The Weasleys fell silent, then the car erupted with sound as each Weasley tried to explain it at once. Rukia and Toshiro paled as the multiple explanations competed for their attention, and before long, they had had enough. The temperature dropped, and the Weasleys suddenly felt weighted down. They quieted immediately, and looked, bewildered, at Toshiro and Rukia. The two's eyes were shut tight, and the lines of their jaws were taught with aggravation. Rukia was the first to reign in her temper, letting out a deep breath, and the temperature warmed slightly.

"Now, would you please start over? With only one person at a time, preferably."

Mrs. Weasley smiled minutely, "Of course, dear. I'm sorry we didn't realize the two of you were so overwhelmed earlier."

Toshiro tilted his neck to the side and the temperature returned to normal. He opened his eyes, which looked more tired now than aggravated, and nodded. "It's fine. Now, back to the original question?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled wide and began explaining the odds and ends of wizarding money to the two Shinigami, punctuated by remarks from another Weasley or by questions from Rukia and Toshiro. By the time the explanations were over with, the car was pulling to a stop in a seemingly normal London street.

Rukia stepped out behind Toshiro, who had his hands in his pockets and was looking up and down the street with a critical look. "Is something wrong, captain?" She asked, falling easily into Japanese. Toshiro snapped out of his observation and looked over at her, green-blue eyes narrowed slightly.

"I'm not sure. It just feels… wrong here. Like something's missing."

Rukia frowned and focused on the spiritual pressure in the area. She was surprised to find an area in between two buildings almost completely devoid of spiritual pressure. "Over there?" She pointed to the empty alleyway, and Toshiro nodded, perplexed.

"I've never felt somewhere without spiritual pressure before. We should probably note it for further investigation."

As Rukia opened her mouth to reply, Percy interrupted the two, and the soul reapers quickly switched over to English.

"Yeah, that's where we're going." The teen said, gesturing at the alley, then turned to the two of them contemplatively, "I'm surprised, actually. Usually it takes a bit longer for a first timer to see through the spells."

Rukia and Toshiro stared at Percy, then turned back to the alleyway. To their surprise, the alleyway had disappeared and a small pub stood in its place.

"H-how?" Rukia's mouth hung open slightly, and when she sensed the reitsu in the area again, she discovered that the pub was actually supersaturated with a peculiar reitsu. She shot a look at Toshiro, and his expression was grim. After glancing quickly at Percy, he began speaking in rapid japanese.

"This isn't good, Kuchiki. If they can hide something like this so easily…" The captain trailed off, letting her fill in the rest as he shook his head, "We need to tell the Head-Captain as soon as possible."

Rukia put her hand to her chin in thought, "But wouldn't he already know? He did say he was close to Dumbledore, and the Soul Assembly must know something about this."

Toshiro opened his mouth to argue, but closed it soon after, glowering. "Alright, you have a point. But don't let your guard down, we don't know anything about how this stuff works."

Rukia smiled, "That's what we're here to figure out, Captain. We'll need to master it if we're going to find Aizen."

Toshiro's expression darkened, "Right."

"Rukia, Toshiro! What are you two standing around for?" Mrs. Weasley called, already almost to the door of the pub.

The two looked at each other one last time before jogging over, apologizing. "We were just a little confused is all." Rukia put in as she walked past.

"It's quite alright, deary. It's always a little disorienting for first-timers." Mrs. Weasley smiled, "This is the Leaky Cauldron, and we're going through here on our way to Diagon Alley. Normally, we'd use the Floo network, but we'd like to ease you into magic first."

Rukia was puzzled, but nodded her head nonetheless, "I appreciate it."

The group walked through the bustling main area and out a side door into a dead-end alley. Toshiro growled from beside Rukia, "A dead end, wonderful."

Fred and George turned to the disgruntled shinigami with a grin, pulling out their wands, "Watch this."

They tapped a sequence of bricks, and the wall began to slide in on itself, revealing a street busy with wizards and witches in colorful robes walking from shop to shop and small children running through the streets laughing and squealing. Toshiro stared momentarily before putting a hand to his forehead, massaging his temples, "Of course. Everything here has something to do with magic, doesn't it?"

Rukia looked at him sympathetically before the group started moving down the streets again.

"Uh- where exactly are we going?" Rukia asked. The Weasleys replied as one, smiling wide.

"Gringotts!"

A/N: All things willing, Chapter 5 should be up by now. Hope you enjoyed!