Well, here it is – what you've all been waiting for. The next chapter! I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I've had a lot going on, but I really HAVE been working on it, promise!

And – a short but exciting announcement: Arei-the Peridot Dragon is now officially co-writing this with me! Okay, who out there didn't actually didn't see that coming?

-Arei bows deeply- Watashi wa anata no shigoto no otetsudai o suru koto o kanō ni shite itadaki arigatō gozaimasu* (thank you for allowing me to assist you with your work) -coughs into hand- I'm trying to learn a bit of Japanese and hope I wrote that right...

As always, we don't own either HP or Bleach.

Chapter 7

Ichigo strode into his office, his mood foul. He'd stalked through his Division with an aura of barely contained Reiatsu that made many think of a volcano about to blow. Most immediately ducked out of his path and those few who had tried to catch his attention had been pinned by a glare nigh as strong as a Basilisk's gaze. Having never seen him in such a dark place, the Soul Reapers under him quickly learned to stay out of his way and passed the message on to the others. The only ones who did not avoid him were Momo and Cedric. Momo herself trailed behind him into his office, her expression concerned.

"Cedric!" Ichigo called out suddenly as he looked around his office without really seeing it. Piles of paper that usually made him sigh with resignation didn't even seem to register to him.

Their Third Seat snapped to attention when Ichigo called out to him. "Yes sir?"

"Organize the men, and get out into the Rukon. Look for Mad Eye," their Captain snapped out.

"Mad –" Cedric nearly groaned aloud when he heard that. Now he knew what had put his Captain in such a bad mood. Mad Eye had been killed... "Yes sir, I'll get right on it." He shared a worried look with Momo and hurried out of the office leaving her to try to help their Captain with his mood.

Momo stared at Ichigo with concern and after a few moments found the will to speak. Her voice came out soft, tentative. "It's not your fault, you know. The plan was Mad Eye's."

"That isn't it, Momo. What's the point of being as powerful as I am if I can't protect our own allies?" he turned to look at her, his face even more stern than it usually was. There was a wild look in his eyes that she'd never really seen before: A desperate and searching look. Unfortunately she didn't have an answer for him. He continued to search for something, anything, in her gaze before letting out a sigh. He turned away from her, shoulders somehow both held stiff with his rage and slumped with the weight of his perceived failure.

"Go home and get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow," his said.

"But –" she started to say something...anything...

"Go home, Momo," the words were spoken with a note of cold finality.

"Yes, sir," She almost groaned with frustration but bowed respectfully before leaving his office.

There was no arguing with him when he was like this; even Rukia had a hard time getting through to him when his mood hit this kind of low. Ichigo had a tendency to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and unfortunately, when she went over the night's events, she didn't see anything that they could have done differently, short of not using the plan. Mad Eye himself had come up with the plan, and the partnerships. He had thought that if Ichigo and Grimmjow, who was an unknown quantity to the Death Eaters, had fully powered up, they might take 'Moldy-shorts' followers by surprise and be able to smash through any barricade the enemy might make and get them to chase after the two thinking that one of them must be Harry as a result of such a forceful push. Neither Ichigo nor Grimmjow had been fully on board with it; they had argued at first with him, but they had finally reluctantly gone along with it when he had proven recalcitrant.

At least that had been the plan. It had all gone out the window when Mad Eye had been killed. The resultant panic/rage amongst the nearby Order members and even the Japanese had not led to a pretty sight. Battle plans rarely survive the first engagement with the enemy, she mused sadly.

She walked slowly home, not even in the mood to stop and see Kira. The next few days were going to be rough at the Fifth Squad unless Ichigo got over his funk – or Cedric was able to find Mad Eye.

#

Grimmjow strode – or rather stormed – into the Vizard's underground training facility, with Nel struggling to keep up with him. The entire group, from Shinji to Tier Harribel and her three fracciónes, had stayed up waiting for the pair to find out how the mission had gone.

"Someone's not happy," Sung-Sun said softly, her eyes tracking his movements as he proceeded to start to pace, muttering to himself.

"He's a jerk," Apacci retorted loud enough for said man to hear her, which then resulted in her having to dodge a bala from the aggravated Espada. "Hey, you –"

"Stop," Tier commanded softly but firmly. Apacci froze at her mistress's command. Mila Rose glanced uneasily at Grimmjow, before she stepped over to Nel and handed her the now almost fully grown cat, which she'd been cuddling. Nel gave Grim Jr.'s babysitter a wan, but grateful smile before taking their 'son' from her and burying her face against his still kitten-soft fur.

"I take it things didn't go too well," Shinji said, also watching the former Sixth Espada pace around the grounds, irritation evident in every movement he made. He really didn't need an answer to that question, as Grimmjow's irritation and Nel's unhappiness were reply enough.

Nel grimaced, and shook her head. Only her eyes could be seen and those who were looking at her saw the tears building.

"Was it pairing him with Ichigo? Those two are like oil and water –" Kensei started to ask, but the former Third Espada shook her head again and lifted her head from Grim Jr.'s fur. The tears were flowing freely now. Tier rested her hand on Nel's shoulder and gave her shoulder a squeeze of camaraderie. Nel gave her a grateful smile before turning back to the others.

"No, actually I think Itsygo is the only one who could have worked with him," Nel sighed, "it was – you know how Grimmy is when he gives his word on something, or he thinks he owes a debt –"

"Yes," Tier nodded, knowing what Nel was alluding to, "he does have his own sense of honor."

"Well – we were all paired up. One of us, one of the Order, to protect one of the fake Harry's…"

"Right; we know the plan," Kensei said briskly, not really wanting to rehash those details. "We all heard Ichigo explain it. We also know that he and Grimmjow weren't overly enamored of Mad Eye's plan for the four of them."

Nel gave them all a pained look before burying her face in fur again. Her voice came slightly muffled. "I remember. They both came up with at least a dozen alternative plans they thought would work better."

"So what happened?" Lisa pressed.

"The one they called Mad Eye – was killed," Nel's voice came in a pained whisper.

"I see," Shinji said knowingly. He stood at almost the same time Tier did and the two shared a look.

"I will take this," she said to him, "If you will have your Hachigen reinforce your shielding?"

Shinji nodded. "Just don't drown us all."

Tier nodded once, acknowledging the fact that she could indeed, drown all of them if she released her Zanpakuto's powers. She felt she owed them – all of them – for taking them in and allowing them to reside here. When Ichigo had initially found the group they'd been worried that they were going to be put down as a threat but he had shown a surprising amount of mercy. The small group could have been forced to have found their own shelter elsewhere, but after a bit of grumbling from one or two of them (that Tier felt may have been for show) she and her Fracción were granted permission to live with the Vizards in their warehouse.

On one condition.

Their 'rent' would be to help protect Karakura Town from Hollow threats.

It had been an easy decision to make and later on after a period of contemplation Tier had gone to Ichigo and offered her sword in the battle against Aizen. He'd been surprised by the offer, but had readily accepted when he realized that Tier and the others did not feel like they were being forced to join the fight.

The Vizards and Tier's Fracción watched quietly as the former Third Espada joined Grimmjow on the training grounds just outside the warehouse and shortly thereafter the clashing of swords rang out.

"Ichigo is probably just as down. He's even harder on himself that Grimmjow is," Love said without looking up from the manga he was reading.

"I'll give Ukitake a call tomorrow," Shinji said, frowning at the thought of what their 'little brother' was likely to be putting himself through.

Ichigo was the most powerful Soul Reaper he'd ever met and he was including Yamamoto in that number, but the young Captain still allowed his feelings to rule him. That could be dangerous for someone of his level, perhaps not a danger to himself directly but definitely a potential threat to those around him.

"Rukia should have a good idea of how his mood is by then. If we need to go kick some sense into him, we will," Shinji turned back to see Tier kick Grimmjow into a large rock formation and raised a brow momentarily at the amount of vitriol that suddenly escaped the blue-haired man's mouth. "Those two are more alike than they would ever want to admit," he said in amusement.

#

The Weasley's house remained somber for days, and even Orihime's perpetually cheerful attitude could not put a dent in the gloominess that pervaded it, though she did do her best to try to keep people from falling into complete depression by drawing them into random conversations that sometimes leaned toward the bizarre even by Wizarding standards.

"How does she do it?" Ron asked Tatsuki at one point as Orihime flittered about the house. Her friend shrugged.

"It's her nature," Tatsuki replied, not knowing how to respond.

Orihime had been included in the guest list after she had healed Bill; Fleur would not hear of her not being included after the woman had healed what the wizarding world considered to be unhealable, ie; cursed wounds. Orihime in turn did her best to assist Mrs. Weasley with whatever needed doing… thereby freeing the trio from various chores and allowing them to try to plan in secret (Although Molly very quickly learned not to let Orihime have anything to do with actually cooking the meals; wasabi and chocolate? Egh!). Tatsuki also tried to head Molly off at the pass multiple times when she got it in her head that the three might be planning something that would put them in danger, steering her towards other issues.

Still, they had very little time together to themselves to work things out.

"Well, you can't do anything until you're seventeen. Ichigo was right about that," Ron told Harry a one point when they were alone in Ron's room, "Because of the Trace. D'you reckon you know where the You Know What's are?"

"No," Harry shook his head before letting his head fall back against the bed that he was leaning against.

"Hermione has been doing research on them," Ron said after a few moments of silence, "She was waiting for you, had a couple of questions but Mum put her to work cleaning so she hasn't had a chance to ask you and she didn't have the chance to do more then tell me she was looking for you. And I know Ichigo was looking into them too 'cause I overheard Tatsuki and Orihime talking about it in Japanese; it was the only two words I knew; 'Tamashī' or 'soul' and 'Ankā' or 'anchor'... least I think I translated those words right." He shrugged. "Mom was nearby so I wasn't able to ask them about it."

Of course. They wouldn't speak about it in English in front of Molly… Harry nodded at the wisdom of that and let his mind wander for a few moments.

"Four more days…" Harry said with a sigh. Four days until he could leave and start looking.

"Five," Ron corrected Harry, who, when he looked puzzled over it, explained, "The wedding. You know that they'll kill us if we miss it."

Harry winced and let out yet another sigh at the thought of further delay. While he was pretty sure Bill and Arthur would understand…he knew Fleur and Molly would not. And he'd rather face Moldy without his wand than try to explain to Fleur and Molly Weasley why they were missing the wedding. As much as he hated being inactive when he could be doing something to save lives, he'd rather avoid having the elder women's combined anger pointed in his direction.

"Besides, Ichigo and Rukia are coming," Ron said, trying to put a cheerful lilt to his voice. "You can talk to them then since we didn't get a chance the other night. You know you need to."

Harry had to agree that Ron was right about that. He did need to talk with Ichigo about – a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff that didn't make sense; and a lot of stuff that was starting to – but only if he looked at it in a certain way. And that certain way – well, even it didn't make sense to him. Yet.

"Look – Mum's been trying to get out of us what's going on," Ron said seriously, "What we're going to be doing and all, so you'd better brace yourself, 'cuz you'll be next. Dad and Lupin both asked, but they backed off when we said the Headmaster said you could only tell us, and that Ichigo knew everything. Not Mum though, she wouldn't take that for an answer. She's determined to keep us safe and tucked away. Very determined."

The boys broke off any serious discussion at that point and tried to focus on a game of Wizard chess. It was a mark of how upset both boys were with the situation when Harry almost beat Ron.

The interrogation Ron warned him about came shortly after lunch when Molly cornered him and asked Harry to identify some laundry that might be his, specifically a pink tinged sock with a charmed snitch flying along the length of it.

"Ron and Hermione seem to have this idea that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began, trying to keep the conversation casual after she handed the sock over. Internally Harry winced and braced himself for the oncoming conversation.

"Um," Harry shrugged casually, "well, yes – we are."

"I see," she said, her back stiffening with a matronly anger, "and why have you decided to abandon your education?"

"Well, Professor Dumbledore left me – something to do," Harry mumbled and fidgeted in place under her stern stare, "and Ron and Hermione want to help."

"What 'something'?" Came the stiff question, "What is more important than your education?"

"I can't –" Harry knew she meant 'safety' and not 'education' but she cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"Well, I think Arthur and I have a right to know!" Molly launched into the concerned parent attack, which Harry had been expecting. "And I'm sure the Grangers would agree with me!"

Harry decided to look her straight in the eyes and squared his shoulders.

"The only people Professor Dumbledore told were the three of us, Ichigo and Yamamoto. Ron and Hermione don't have to go, and I didn't want them to come along in the first place. I don't want them to be in danger but... it's their choice. They're both old enough to make their own decisions." He cocked his head, considering his next tactic and lit on an idea that would stop Molly cold. "You can of course try to get it out of Ichigo or Yamamoto if you like."

Molly opened her mouth to say something – but stopped and deflated. Apparently the idea of confronting either of the Japanese men did not appeal to her. Ichigo had changed since the end of the last school year; not his personality, but his aura. It was not something that Harry could actually put his finger on but…

It was just that you did not want to mess with him; it wasn't that Ichigo hadn't always given off that vibe; it was just that it was now much more pronounced. More deadly. Before their Sixth Year, Molly hadn't hesitated to mother him and push him around; now she looked at him warily, as if he was a muggle/mundane bomb waiting to go off at the wrong moment.

It also went without saying that you did not confront his grandfather when the older man had decided something. Not if one wanted to continue to keep on living. Confronting the pair of them together… he mentally shook his head. Perhaps only Dumbledore could have pulled that one off, but he was gone.

"You're barely of age," Molly continued softly, worry in her eyes. "Utter nonsense. Dumbledore had no business asking any of you – he had the whole Order to go to, plus the Japanese…" she took a deep breath and paused for a moment to try to calm herself and stop tripping over her words. "I'm sure you misunderstood him. I'm sure he was just telling you something he wanted to be done by one of us and you thought he meant he wanted you to do it…"

"I did not misunderstand Mrs. Weasley. It has to be me." After a tense moment where Molly looked like she would either burst into tears or start yelling, he handed back the mismatched sock she had just handed him. "Sorry, that's not mine."

"Oh, of course not," Molly said quietly, "I should have realized." Another long moment of silence before the older woman shook herself visibly. "Well, you will help with the wedding, won't you? There's so much to do…"

"Of course," Harry answered with a small smile.

And from that moment, she kept the trio so busy they hardly had any time to think. Each of the jobs seemed to be designed to keep them as far away from each other as possible and did not give any of them a chance to speak to the other beyond a 'hello' here and there. They'd finally resorted to passing messages through Tatsuki and Orihime.

"I think Mum is hoping she can stop you from leaving if she keeps you from getting together and planning," Ginny told Harry in an undertone as they prepared the table for dinner one evening.

"What does she think is going to happen?" Tatsuki asked waspishly from the doorway, "Someone else might kill off Old Moldy for him?"

Ginny winced and looked to Tatsuki with a shrug as the other girl leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "Ichigo, probably."

Harry sighed. "Prophecy said it's him or me… I don't think Ichigo counts in there anywhere."

"Mum's trying to twist it around in her head so he does," Ginny said with bemused exasperation.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes at that. Ichigo had enough on his plate. Ichigo had hoped to take out Voldemort the night they moved Harry, but he wasn't going to actively hunt him down at the moment. Not that Ichigo wouldn't take his shot if it was presented to him, but if it wasn't in the cards – then it wasn't. He had enough to worry about with Aizen since there seemed to be growing signs that the traitor was on the move again.

"What are the chances? I mean, his birthday's in July…" Ginny asked thoughtfully. Tatsuki groaned. Not her too!

"Mid-July, just as the second half of the month starts. Not quite what the prophecy says remember? …'born as the seventh month dies'. Besides that, Ichigo is older than Harry and while I admit that his mother may very well have defied Moldymort three times before moving to Japan, Ichigo was never 'marked' by him, Harry was," Tatsuki shook her head. "Sorry Harry, but it's you."

Harry shrugged good-naturedly and gave her a wan smile. "S'ok, I kinda figured that out a while ago."

Ginny appeared to be disappointed at the response. Tatsuki understood why but it didn't make her happy; she was sure the younger teen would be highly relieved to have someone else be the Chosen One, and not her boyfriend. Tatsuki understood what she was feeling, as she would rather it not be her childhood friend who had to face down Aizen, who was a far deadlier foe than Voldemort.

"Anything in the Daily Prophet?" Orihime asked, joining them in the room.

"They're keeping a lot quiet – again," Ginny said as she tossed Orihime said paper, and then the conversation shifted as the rest of the family arrived for the meal. Kingsley was joining them for that particular evening and the rest of them were trying to figure out why the Ministry wasn't taking action.

"I think it's because Scrimgeour doesn't want to admit that You Know Who is as powerful as he is, or that there's been another mass breakout from Azkaban," Arthur said with a sad shake of his head.

"It's a good thing we transferred a lot of prisoners to Japanese prisons, then, isn't it?" Bill commented.

"Why bother telling the public the truth?" Harry asked, his voice sarcastic and bitter as he looked at his hand where the words "I must not tell lies" had once been. Again he was grateful that Orihime had healed them away. Unfortunately the memory was still there. She hadn't been able to take that away as easily.

"Isn't anyone at the Ministry brave enough to stand up to him?" Ron asked angrily. They weren't even sitting near each other, Harry noted when he eyed where everyone was seated at the table. Harry had to hold back a snort of amusement when he realized that Molly had purposefully surrounded the 'golden trio' by adults on each side to keep them separated.

"It's not that simple, Ron," his father explained patiently, "people are afraid – terrified. For themselves, their families, and most especially their children… there are many nasty rumors going around; for example, the Muggle Studies Professor has not resigned – she was taken by Death Eaters and killed by You Know Who."

"We know this for a fact?" Bill asked, laying his fork down.

"Yes. Both Snape and Draco were present and witnessed it. There will be no body, because he fed it to his snake. Convenient way to get rid of the evidence, don't you think?" Kingsley sighed.

"And Scrimgeour remains shut up in his office all day. I hope he's working on a plan." Arthur, Kingsley and Bill all shared a long, doubtful looks, doubt that the others all shared.

There was silence as Molly served dessert.

"We get more assistance from the Japanese Ambassador than we do from the Ministry," Kingsley shook his head sadly. "He knows he's going to be targeted soon, either for death or by the Imperious Curse. He's already sent all of his personnel back to Japan, it's just himself and a handful of guards – who are themselves guarded by Soifon's people."

"Good luck trying to get past them," Bill snorted and the rest of the group shared a laugh at the thought. Soifon, though very uptight, was also very thorough and they doubted anyone would slip past her guard.

"We must decide 'ow 'Arry will be disguised for the wedding," Fleur said suddenly, "Of course, none of our guests are Death Eaters, but we cannot guarantee zat zey will not let something slip after zey 'ave 'ad champagne…"

"Yes, good point," Molly nodded her agreement.

"Too bad you weren't a Metamorphmagus like Ichigo," Tatsuki teased Harry. The others all nodded with mock seriousness.

"That would have been useful," Harry admitted.

Molly picked up her very long to-do list suddenly and drew everyone's attention. "Now, Ron, have you cleaned your room, yet?"

"What? Why?" Ron asked in shock.

"Because –"

"They're not getting married in my bedroom!" He said indignantly.

"Do as you are told," Arthur said firmly.

"I can help, some of it's my mess…" Harry offered, but in short order he was sent out with Mr. Weasley to muck out the chickens, and Hermione was sent to change sheets for the Delacours, and for Ichigo and Rukia, who were also due shortly.

However, there was very little that needed to be done for the chickens and when Arthur himself slipped into the shack that held all his muggle items (Don't tell Molly!) Harry was able to slip back unseen into Ron's bedroom. There was no change in the room, which Ichigo would soon be sharing with them (the reason cleaning it was useless, Ron argued, as his room was barely big enough for two, let alone three). Only this time Hermione was also there, in the corner, with Crookshanks at her feet. She was sorting through books, some of which Harry recognized, and talking to herself as she sorted.

"Hi, Harry," she said distractedly.

"How did you get away?"

"Ginny and I changed the sheets yesterday," she said. Numerology and Grammatica went into one pile, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts into another. "I wonder…" she stared down at Spellman's Syllabary, "if we'll need to translate runes? Possibly. Better to be safe…" she moved onto Hogwarts, a History.

"Listen," Harry started suddenly before pausing.

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, and then back at Harry with both resignation and defiance in their eyes.

"I know you both said you wanted to come with me…" he started again.

"There he goes," Ron said to Hermione, rolling his eyes.

"As we knew he would," Hermione shook her head. "I think I will take Hogwarts –"

"Listen, will you!"

"No, Harry, you listen," she said, "We're coming with you. We decided all of this months ago."

"But –"

"Shut up," Ron advised and grinned good-naturedly. "You aren't changing our minds."

"I've been packing for days. We're ready to go on a moment's notice. This, I will have you know, included some very difficult magic, and stealing Mad Eye's entire stock of Polyjuice Potion out from under Mrs. Weasley's nose." Hermione drew a deep breath. "I've also modified my parents' memories, so they think they are really Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and their life's ambition is to move to Australia, which they've done. So they will be very difficult to track down and interrogate. If I survive, I'll track them down. If I don't…well, I think I've cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy. They – don't know they have a daughter."

Her eyes got teary, and Ron gave Harry a reproachful look. Harry winced at that and sat down by his friend to pull her into a gentle hug.

"I – Hermione – I –" Harry let his voice trail off, unsure of what to say.

"Didn't realize we knew perfectly well what might happen if we come with you?" Hermione said with a sniff as she returned the hug. "Of course we do. Show him, Ron."

Ron nodded and led Harry up into the attic, where he heard a horrible, half-sucking, half-moaning sound, accompanied by a most unpleasant smell.

"Is that – your ghoul?" Harry asked as he stared at the form lying in one corner of the room.

"Yeah, it is."

"Um…do they normally wear pajamas?"

"No. Nor do they have red hair or have a large number of pustules."

Harry stared at the slumbering creature, repulsed, as he realized it was wearing a pair of Ron's old pajamas.

"He's me, see?" Ron said.

"Er, no, I don't."

"Well, after we leave, the ghoul's going to come down and live in my room. He's going to be me with Spattergroit. It's really a contagious, but non-life threatening illness."

They went back to Ron's room, to find that Hermione had been joined by Ichigo and Rukia. Apparently Rukia had just given Hermione the gift of a bracelet, because she was admiring it with a faint smile.

"Hey, guys," Ichigo greeted them. Ron and Harry smiled and plopped down on one of the beds.

"Anyway –" Ron continued, after giving Ichigo and Rukia a run-down of what he'd just shown Harry. "When the three of us don't turn up at Hogwarts, they'll head straight for our families…"

"Hopefully it will look as if I've gone into hiding with mine. I understand a lot of muggle-borns are talking about it," Hermione said, "Some are even talking about moving or 'going on vacation' in the States."

"We can't hide my whole family 'Mione, it'll look too fishy," Ron said seriously, "so we'll just say I'm seriously ill with Spattergroit, and that's why I didn't go back. No one will want to go near 'me'."

"I can't believe your parents are in on this…" Harry shook his head. Ichigo coughed at that, hiding a smile.

"Well, dad is. He helped Fred and George transform the ghoul. The Spattergroit was Ichigo's idea," Ron said with a shrug and a grin.

"It was?" Harry looked over at Ichigo with surprise.

"I just asked if there was a disease he could use as an excuse to not go back, and it snowballed from there," Ichigo admitted, blushing slightly. Which it naturally would, with Fred and George involved in the planning. The twins never did anything by halves he'd learned.

"We need to decide where we're going first, after we leave here," Hermione said, still sorting books. She did not see Ron pick one up and start flipping through it to look at the pages she had marked. "And once we do find the Horcruxes, how do we destroy them? I don't know how to summon Fiend Fyre, do you? And I'd rather not go looking for another Basilisk. One was enough. And no more dragons, baby or otherwise."

"I think I will agree on that one," Harry sighed.

Ron, who had not been following the conversation, but who had been instead reading Hermione's book with some interest, looked up at them, or rather looked at Ichigo and Rukia and asked with some curiosity,

"What's a zanpakuto?"

Author's Notes:

Emilou Apacci is the 54th Arrancar in Aizen's army and one of Tier Harribel's three Fracción. bleach .wikia wiki /Emilou_Apacci

Franceska Mila Rose is the 55th Arrancar and one of Harribel's three Fracción. bleach .wikia wiki /Franceska_Mila_Rose

Cyan Sung-Sun is the 56th Arrancar and one of Harribel's three Fracción. bleach .wikia wiki /Cyan_Sung-Sun