Okay, here it is, the next Chapter. Arei and I thank all of you for the reviews and kind words!

Oh, and all the usual disclaimers apply, of course.

Chapter 8

"What's a zanpakuto?"

"Wh – what?" Five heads swung around to look at Ron and five voices filled the room with echoing incredulity. One of them belonging to a sleek black cat who had been sitting at Ichigo's feet and thankfully the fact that the cat had spoken went unnoticed in the clamor of ringing voices. Ron blushed slightly under the scrutiny but coughed lightly and pointed to the entry in the book he'd been looking through.

"It says here," he said, trying to sound 'official,' "'the most effective way to destroy a Horcrux, and avoid the inherent dangers of obtaining Basalisk Venom or controlling Fiendfyre, is the use of a Zanpakuto.' I think I've heard that term before from one of you guys. I mean... it sounds Japanese."

Harry blinked and peered closer at the book Ron was reading from and the specific passage his finger was pointing at. Hermione's eyes grew round and Harry was unsure if it was because she figured something out or something else entirely. Harry missed it as Rukia turned to look up at Ichigo, whom in turn had shifted enough to stare down at Yoruichi, who simply stared back at him before finally blinking exactly once at her pupil.

He let out a faint sigh. He knew what she meant with that look. He was the active Captain in the room, not her, nor Rukia, so it was up to him to start talking and decide how much the trio needed to know overall. Sometimes being a Captain sucked...

"It is. It translates roughly into 'Soul Slayer' in the English tongue." Ichigo deliberated for a moment and then held his hand out, manifesting Zangetsu with the blade down and not pointed at anyone. "You've seen Zangetsu before."

"Yeah," Ron said with a nod as he looked over the blade, currently in its' sealed form.

"He's a Zanpakuto," Ichigo said before letting the sword fade away without releasing it.

Harry hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until he released it in a whoosh of air. He'd been waiting for that exact answer for a while now. Somehow he'd known; after all, hadn't Urahara destroyed the locket using his own sword? That meant, logically, that that others in Ichigo's group of friends and family had them too since Harry had seen a few others wielding similar, yet fundamentally different, swords. Rukia for one and Harry had been positive that every member of the retinue at Dumbledore's funeral had been wearing Zanpakuto's sheathed at their waists.

Hermione did not look surprised, Harry noticed. In fact, she appeared to be more worried than anything else from the way she was chewing at her lip. He found himself wondering why she seemed so concerned.

"But – that's great!" Ron said excitedly, not seeing the warning look Hermione was giving him nor the gestures of her hands as she tried to get his attention. "You can loan –"

The atmosphere grew very thick, heavy and oppressive as Ichigo's scowl grew deeper. Harry shifted a little bit away from Ichigo at that, knowing he was using the pressure of his Reiatsu to halt his red-headed friend's words. Ron gulped and paled, leaning back as far as he could without falling off of his precarious perch on the edge of the bed.

"No," Ichigo said with a flat tone.

"But," Ron persisted weakly, "Harry needs…"

"No," came the word again, repeated this time with the edge of an implied threat that Ron immediately took to heart if his sudden silence was any indication.

Hermione was shaking her head, her eyes wide. "You don't understand, Ron," she whispered. Ron seemed to get his strength back at that point, at least enough to round on Hermione and squeak out,

"What I understand is that Harry needs a weapon that can kill Horcruxes, and he has one –" Ron started as he gestured at Ichigo. Instead of Ichigo stopping him from saying anything further, Harry spoke up this time around.

"Ron, stop," Harry shook his head at his friend's well-meaning attitude, "its fine –"

"No, it's not 'fine'. He needs to understand and so do you," Ichigo snapped in a harsh tone that caught everyone's attention, "Did you ever wonder where, exactly, Zangetsu goes when he isn't manifested? And why every zanpakuto is different? It's not like a wand where you can hand it over and, with some difficulty depending on affinity, be able to cast a spell."

"I know; at least I think I know," Harry said softly when Ichigo paused for breath. The sudden interruption on Harry's part actually caused Ichigo to pause and raise a brow as he let his Reiatsu dissipate and the oppressive feeling in the room faded (much to everyone's relief), "I mean... I guessed."

He looked down for a moment and then back up, his gaze solemn as he met Ichigo's eyes. Harry saw out of the corner of his eye that Hermione's mouth had dropped open yet again in shock.

"He's part of you, isn't he?" Harry asked softly, "You can't loan him, or give him away. It'd be like... like you were giving away a part of yourself. And the only other way you can do something like that is if you made a Horcrux and we know that your Zanpakutos aren't like that."

Both Ichigo and Rukia looked at him, surprised by the insight Harry was showing. They knew Harry was smart and clever but he hadn't shown that he was capable of this level of reasonable deduction, not to them at least. Hermione and Ron both, however, were looking at their friend with a kind of annoyed pride the likes of what he'd seen from them during the first four years at Hogwarts when he'd stew on a problem. Most times it turned out well (The Stone, the Chamber, his Godfather and the Trials of the Goblet...) but Ichigo had witnessed first-hand how Harry could get out of control when focusing on idea he'd set his teeth into (The Door in the Ministry and Draco's questionable activities), so really wasn't used to the 'good results' of Harry's stubbornness.

"How did you –?" Ichigo started to ask with a surprised blink and a raised brow.

"Put the pieces together?" Harry finished the older boy's sentence with a faint grin and a shrug. "Dunno, it's the only thing that makes sense. Only you Kido users have them; that's part of it. And I think I heard Zangetsu talk to you once," Ichigo's other brow joined the first under the fringe of his hair. "You call him Ossan. It was when me an' Snape..."

"'Professor Snape and I,'" Hermione interrupted primly, though she had a faint smile on her lips belied the prim tone.

"Snape and I," Harry responded with a grin, allowing for the grammatical correction but not putting in the 'Professor', which caused the bushy-haired girl to mock huff, "got trapped in the Pensieve…"

Ichigo nodded as he remembered the situation in question. "If Zangetsu and Hyorinmaru hadn't been able to anchor us, Toshiro and I would never have been able to go in after you."

"Wait – they're alive?" Ron gaped at the others, flabbergasted by what he was hearing.

"Yes, well... in a manner of speaking," Ichigo nodded, sharing another look with Rukia. He really did not want to be having this conversation and was really really hoping they would take a bare-bones explanation.

"I don't think he's ever going to understand," Hermione whispered to Ichigo and Rukia conspiratorially.

Ron's head was swiveling back and forth between them, a frown on his lips. "Huh?"

"They're... part of you, yet separate," Harry said, thinking hard about what he knew now that Ichigo had confirmed his suspicions, but shying away from what the next step in his thought process was, "they can't survive without you…"

"A Zanpakuto is born within us, lives within us, and dies within us," Rukia said as the Trio was suddenly provided with a slid show of her cartoonish drawings. The speed with which she drew them was impressive despite the childish nature of the images. And where, they all wondered, had she gotten the sketch pad from - Thin air? They all knew she was no good at Transfiguration…

"Only very powerful wielders can force them to manifest," (cartoonish version of Ichigo and Rukia with an aura of flames around them.) "And there's only one case documented –" (Again Rukia and Ichigo were shown, the first image showing her Zanpakuto in her hands and then the next image had her sword in Ichigo's hands) – of a zanpakuto moving to another soul – (The next image showed that Rukia had her own Zanpakuto back and Ichigo now had a big meat-cleaver of a sword in his grip) and then back."

"And only one – that I'm aware of – of a zanpakuto jumping to another wielder after the first wielder's death," Ichigo said, "However I think personally that some lingering Reiatsu simply woke up his own and his own Zanpakuto imprinted on the image of the original soul sword."

"You mean Tosen?" Rukia questioned, her lips twisting in a grimace.

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, he said he took his dead friend's Zanpakuto and has been using it ever since, but when the 'owner' of a Zanpakuto dies, so too does the sword. Anyway, at least we know that it was Sode no Shirayuki who woke up Zangetsu and allowed him to manifest..." Rukia smirked at him, as if saying 'of course it was'.

"'Manifest?' Oh –" Ron said, thinking he was talking about the sword thanks to Rukia's clever drawings, designed specifically to make them think just that.

Neither he, nor Harry, knew what Rukia had actually meant by 'manifest,' although Hermione did. She knew that Ichigo and Rukia were talking about manifesting Zangetsu physically, the full avatar-form not just his sword-form. She had wanted to meet Zangetsu personally, so the sword spirit had done her the honor of actually physically manifesting himself as a favor and answered several of her curious questions. Her only disappointment with the experience was that she was not allowed to write anything down.

"So, how are they able to kill Horcruxes?" Ron finally pulled his thoughts together enough to ask.

"Because that's their job," Ichigo said. "Or I should say that their job is the purification of souls, or rather, Hollows," Ron shuddered when he recalled what Hollows were. "They do a damned good job on Dementors, too, from what I understand and what is a Horcrux really but a sliver of a soul?"

"It's protected by magic, though –" Ron started slowly and thoughtfully, suddenly getting an expression similar to what he'd have when playing chess.

Ichigo leveled a look at him that clearly said he was being an idiot. "You've seen Zangetsu's power. He's born from my soul – together we're even stronger than we are apart. Do you doubt us?"

"Urm, no," Ron flushed under the stare but kept his thoughtful look.

Harry coughed into his hand to hide a chuckle. No, he didn't think he'd doubt Ichigo's power, either.

"When you find the Horcruxes – we can destroy them. Guaranteed." Ichigo shrugged. "Just get them to us."

"Right. Like a Queen, strongest piece on the board," Ron muttered softly and then looked up with a smile and a nod as he slammed his fist down onto his palm. "So all we have to do is find them! Anyone know where to start?"

There was dead silence in the room at that question and Ron seemed to deflate when he realized that no one really knew where to start looking for the Horcruxes.

"Well…" Harry said hesitantly after a few moments, "I'd really like to go to Godric's Hollow."

The others looked at each other knowingly. Harry had never visited his parents graves in all this time and the others knew that he would want to 'speak' to them to say goodbye to the parents he never got a chance to know and to bolster his courage for the coming 'quest'.

"Harry, I know why you want to go there, really," Hermione said softly. "I think we all understand why – but shouldn't we make finding the Horcruxes a priority?"

"If we knew where any of them were, I'd agree with you," Harry sighed and he couldn't believe that any of them understood his desire to return to Godric's Hollow. The fact that his parents were buried there was only a small part of the attraction in truth. He felt that the place answers for him, answers to questions he wasn't even sure of. There was a pull in his heart that going there would be the first step of many to figuring out the answers they needed.

"There's probably a strong possibility Moldy's keeping an eye on Godric's Hollow," Ichigo warned after a few moments, "He might be expecting you to go visit your parents' graves once you are able to move freely. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew that you'd never been there."

Harry frowned, not anticipating that and realizing that Ichigo was right. If Moldymort was expecting Harry to go there then they would have to be very careful if they did go and be ready for a trap. They sat in silence for a while, all of them thinking on what to do.

"This R.A.B. person, the one who stole the real Horcrux and left the Horcrux in its place..." Harry said suddenly with a snap of his fingers.

The whole group turned to stare at Harry.

"He said in his note he was going to destroy the real Horcrux, right?" Harry pulled out the note from his pocket. "'I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can,'" he read out loud.

"Well, that would be one less for us if he did!" Ron said with a grin.

"But we still have to try to trace it to be sure," Hermione said, "We need to make sure it's actually been destroyed. If we miss it because we just assumed that it was destroyed then Moldy-mort will just bide his time and be a problem again later on."

"Um, Hermione," Ron looked at the stack of books with a blink as he realized just how many were stacked around the bushy-haired girl, "Where did you get all of these books, anyway?"

"Well…" she looked embarrassed as she rested a hand on one of the piles, "I, um... after Ichigo told me where they all were - I just used a summoning charm. And - they zoomed out of Dumbledore's study window right into the girl's dorm."

"How did you know they were there?" Ron asked as he turned to Ichigo.

Ichigo sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well - if you'd been paying attention all year," he said pointedly, ignoring Rukia's elbow at his annoyed tone, "You'd know that most of these books came from my family - they were given to Professor Dumbledore by my grandfather when he realized that Moldy was interested in them."

"Your family? Why did they have –" when he got four identical, exasperated looks from virtually everyone in the room, Ron shook his head and held up his hands as he recalled the Kurosaki ties to the Four Founders. "Stupid question, never mind."

"I don't think Dumbledore would have been angry with my taking them," Hermione glanced at them, sorrow in her eyes as she recalled the loss of the cheery Headmaster, "and they were only on loan - for safe keeping - so they're really Ichigo's books. And it's not like we're going to actually make a Horcrux ourselves..."

"Hermione, do you hear anyone complaining? Or have you forgotten that Tatsuki and I helped you pack them after you summoned them?" Rukia gave her a look that was equally affectionate and exasperated.

Hermione gave the Soul Reaper a faint smile and pulled out a volume from the pile. It was bound in faded black leather that looked to have been sewn into place and had no title to be seen and it looked like just handling it was upsetting her as it caused a nauseated expression to cross her face. Even the others near her leaned away from the book and Ron aborted the attempt to reach out for the tome when his hand was only a foot away from it.

"This is the one that gives the instructions on how to create a Horcrux," Hermione said as she lightly tapped the odd symbol on the books face which, quite literally, looked like a face with two mouths stretched out across it. "It's a horrible, horrible book with tons of evil rituals in it, including how to make Horcruxes. There are actually several notations not to even SPEAK some of these spells aloud otherwise you'll activate the spells via the Runes embedded within. I think if this thing fell into Muggl... Mundane... hands, then they might end up inadvertently activating something within its pages. I really don't think this is one of yours, Ichigo - it doesn't have your family's crest on it and... well... it's... eck."

She dropped the book with a look of disgust and wiped her hands on her pants as if they had been badly soiled. "I wonder when Professor Dumbledore removed this from the library's forbidden section - if he didn't remove it until he was Head Master, then Moldy found all he needed to know in there."

"If he already knew, then why ask Slughorn?" Ron asked, curious but still eyeing the book. Honestly, at that point everyone was looking at the book warily and Ichigo was seriously considering the merits of just immolating the thing.

"He only approached Slughorn to find out what would happen if you split your soul into seven pieces," Harry said darkly, "Dumbledore was certain he already knew how to make one by then."

"And the more I read, the worse they seem," Hermione shuddered and smoothed out her robes again with a twitchy jerk. "The book warns how unstable your soul becomes just by making one!"

"Well, that tells us why he's so crackers," Ron said dryly, "Can you put yourself back together again?"

"What, you mean like Humpty Dumpty?" Harry retorted. When both Ron and Rukia gave him blank looks, he rolled his eyes and said, "Never mind."

"Well, actually, yes, you can," Hermione replied, sharing a look with Ichigo and Harry as she picked up a different book. She and Ichigo were the only others in their group who had gotten his reference.

"It's very painful though," Ichigo added with a shake of his head.

"How -" Harry started to ask and then fell silent when Ichigo shrugged.

"Remorse," Hermione said simply, "You've got to feel remorse over what you've done to forge the Horcrux in the first place."

"No one's ever survived the process, though," Ichigo said, "Because the pain of it can destroy you. Somehow I don't see Moldy attempting it."

The bedroom door suddenly flew open with a crash that startled the entire group. Hermione shrieked and the book she had been holding went up in the air only to fall and almost hit Ron on the head during its decent. Ron though, managed to jump up off of the bed in his fright and avoid the book but slipped on a chocolate frog wrapper and fell against the wall with a loud thud. Harry dove for his wand which he had left on the end table; Rukia called up a Shakkaho which glowed ominously in her hands; and Ichigo had Zangetsu half out of his sheathe before they all realized they were starting at a disheveled Mrs. Weasley, whose face was barely concealing her anger at have 'found them plotting'.

||She almost got herself sliced in half,|| Ichigo muttered under his breath in Japanese as he slid his zanpakuto back with a loud click as Rukia extinguished her kido.

||Or fried,|| his fiancée murmured softly in response.

"I'm so sorry to break up this cozy little gathering," she said, her trembling voice the only indication that she realized she may have made a mistake by barging in on this hair-trigger pair like she normally did with her other children when she suspected them of mischief, "I'm sure you all need your rest...but there are wedding presents stacked in my room that need sorting and I was under the impression you had agreed to help."

"Oh, yes," Hermione said, jumping to her feet, scattering books and cats everywhere - it was the first time Harry noticed that Yoruichi was present, she had been so quiet. "We will...of course…"

"I'll help!" Rukia said cheerfully, "I want to know everything! I'm planning my own wedding you know and could use the advice!"

Ichigo coughed to hide his laughter as Rukia walked out with Hermione and Mrs. Weasley, talking a mile a minute. As he followed after the group he briefly felt sorry for Molly - who was about to feel the full force of Rukia Kuchiki's curiosity. Molly Weasley wouldn't know what hit her.

Of course, it was all part of Rukia's plan - to distract Molly so the trio could make their plans uninterrupted. As it was they weren't able to avoid helping despite the fact that Tatsuki had called to tell them what was going on (her call came a little too late to avoid the group being caught). Besides, he felt like they should probably help a little bit.

On the other hand…

When he saw the pile of presents waiting to be sorted, he found himself longing for the paperwork of the Fifth Squad. It had nothing on the pile of gifts in the room. There were at least a thousand gifts of various sizes and packaging packed into the room Molly led them to.

"Are you sure you want to get married, mate?" Ron asked him softly out of the corner of his mouth. Harry found himself coughing to hide a laugh. "I think at this point I would seriously consider eloping."

"Do you know what Rukia would do to me if I suggested it? Hell, do you know what Byakuya would do to me for upsetting her?" Ichigo gave Ron an almost panicked look at the thought of facing the Kuchiki siblings in a rage. It didn't help that Ichigo knew that Rukia was on the verge of obtaining her Bankai...

"Right. Never mind." Ron and Harry both snickered and then turned to stare at the enormous pile of presents. Their expression turned forlorn. "If anyone wants to cry - go ahead."

"I will if you will," Harry said with a sigh.

"I didn't see anything," Ichigo said with a shake of his head.

#

The next morning Harry got up and went outside to get some fresh air, only to pause in no small amount of shock. Harry had honestly never seen the place look so tidy. Everyone had been busy with cleaning, not just within but without as well to make things 'perfect' for the upcoming wedding. He thought maybe the beautifully blooming Flutterby bushes helped the most, really all of the plant life. Everything appeared to take on a new, glorious life in the past few days and it left Harry shocked when he stepped outside that morning and caught sight of the changed foliage.

"Orihime's work," Ichigo had told Harry and Ron as he passed them on his way to de-gnome the garden.

Moments later he came back from the garden, clapping his hands together with a satisfied look on his face. No one was quite sure what he had done, but he hadn't been out there that long before the gnomes had completely disappeared. Disbelieving, several of the Weasley males crowded around the garden to hunt for any that might be left over but found themselves surprised, and in the Twins case disappointed, when they couldn't find hide nor hair of any Gnomes hiding about. Bill, as they headed back into the house, half-jokingly said Ichigo had just scowled at them and that was enough to send them running for safer pastures.

The security on the place that morning was nearly overwhelming; the Ministry, the Order, and the Japanese all had spells on the Burrow to help protect the location from outside attack. No one except the Japanese could get in by magic; the Delacours arrived via specialized port key at the top of a nearby hill.

Their arrival at the house itself was – bouncy. Bouncy hair, bouncy walk... They all looked very prim and proper and rich, but honestly Harry found himself reminded of a pack of Poodles when watching them, though he knew the thought was a bit unkind. They did appear to be very nice people over all, just a bit... too much, especially with how tall and delicately thin they were... now that he thought about it, 'swan-like' would be a better analogy... they were very... Harry blinked and shook his head, realizing he was feeling the effects of the Veela's non-focused Allure and he quickly put a part of his mind to ignoring the pull as he had done during the Quidditch Cup.

Mr. Weasley, who had gone to meet them, struggled under their luggage as he escorted them back to the house. His desire to be a good host leaving him equally carrying and floating with a hover charm, the Delacour's luggage until the older Weasley boys, Bill and the Twins rushed over to help their Father. Fleur hurried forward to greet her parents and sister in the mean time.

"Maman! Papa! Sœur!" she called out as the group huddled into a mess of hugs and kisses to the cheek.

Her father was not nearly as good looking as the women of his family, although he did appear to be extremely good natured, based upon the way he bounced towards Mrs. Weasley and kissed her twice on each cheek with a joyous look.

"You 'ave been put through too much trouble for thees wedding," he said in a surprisingly deep voice," Fleur tells us you 'ave been working very 'ard to see that it is a perfect day for her!"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Molly said in a high-pitched voice as she blushed. The sight nearly sent a few of those nearby into giggles at the suddenly flustered Matron's expense, "No trouble at all! I've had plenty of help!"

The 'help' all looked at each other with various levels of incredulity. Ron mumbled softly in annoyance that he couldn't vent his frustrations on a gnome because Ichigo had chased all of them out of England. Ichigo merely snorted at the comment and swatted the smaller red-head playfully upside the head.

"May I present my wife, Apolline," Mr. Delacour said as he held out a hand to said woman.

"Enchanté!" Madame Delacour said as she glided forward first to take her husband's hand and give it a squeeze and then to stoop low to kiss Molly on each cheek. "Your 'usband 'as been telling us such amusing stories!"

Arthur's laugh was slightly hysterical and he too was blushing, at least he was up until Molly threw him a look that caused him to become pale, silent and contrite.

"And of course, you 'ave met my leetle daughter, Gabrielle," Monsieur Delacour said.

Gabrielle was a miniature version of Fleur; she gave Harry a glowing look of adoration (which drew a frown from Ginny) and Harry found himself having to explain to the Japanese how he had rescued her during the Tri-Wizard Tournament and how he had subsequently found himself yet another admirer vying for his attentions...

Ichigo though, barely listened to the explanation as he stared at the three Delacour women with something akin to dismay. How on Earth was he supposed to avoid three of them? He was strong enough that their non-focused Allure wasn't causing him to end up in a puddle of nerves at their feet but he, like Harry, could still feel a pull that he had to actively ignore. He also had to make sure that Rukia didn't catch on to the fact that he was trying to avoid them. And why he was avoiding them. He really didn't want or need a kick to the shins...

And then it was time for full introductions... the Japanese drew some looks and interest; and then there was a moment of stunned silence when Molly introduced the Delacours to Tatsuki. More like how Tatsuki was introduced really...

"And this is Fred's fiancée," Molly said with a happy smile.

This unexpected (yet not quite unwarranted assumption considering how close the two were) announcement drew a surprised yelp from the karate champ and a slack jawed response from her boyfriend.

"Oh dear," Orihime murmured as she looked between her two stunned friends. Waving a hand in front of Tatsuki's face was garnering no response.

"I take it Fred hasn't actually asked her yet," Ginny snickered at the couple's discomfort.

"Not from the expression on Fred's face," George chortled at his twin's shock. His twin was as unresponsive as his girlfriend, based on the non-reaction to being poked and prodded.

"Well, it really is only a matter of time," Ron reasoned with a shrug.

Tatsuki's friend's all slowly turned to give the Weasleys pitying looks.

"Have you not figured her out yet?" Ichigo asked them incredulously.

Harry touched his nose where Tatsuki had once broken it. "I have," he said ruefully, "She'll run so far, so fast, we won't ever find her. I'm sure the thought of frills and dresses and all of this," Harry indicated everything they'd done so far for Fleur and Bill's wedding, "scares the crap out of her. Or at least the thought of being the one to organize it scares her. I think of all of us, she and Fred will be the ones to actually elope."

"You're learning," Ichigo patted him on the back.

By the time the Delacours were settled, almost everyone in the house - of the younger, female, generation at least - was feeling quite resentful towards Fleur's entire family. Yet they found themselves very grateful throughout the day towards Rukia, Tatsuki and Orihime for the efforts they put into diverting Molly's attention and interacting with the Veela beauties to keep their effects on the males in the Burrow to a minimum. Especially Rukia, who shot them several suspicious looks when no one was looking, and Yoruichi told him later she had heard his future wife cursing Veelas…so she was not unaware of the affect they had on the male of the species.

All in all, it was a very long day.

#

The Burrow, it was quickly discovered, was not built to hold so many people. It had been creaking at the seams with the addition of Harry, Hermione, and the Japanese; adding the Delacours filled it near to bursting. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were crammed into the sitting room having been good hosts and giving up their own room, the Master Bedroom, to the visiting Delacour Matron and Patron. Gabrielle was rooming with her sister and Orihime in Percy's old room. Bill would be sharing with Charlie when he finally arrived home. Ichigo was in with Harry and Ron. Fred and George were still in their own room to Ron's annoyance as the two didn't have to share with anyone else. Ginny, Hermione, Rukia and Tatsuki were packed like sardines in Ginny's room.

Opportunities to plan for how to deal with the Horcruxes became non-existent in the crowded household, which drove the trio to volunteer for chicken-duty quite frequently. All of those subsequent meetings were still interrupted by Molly and the latest one was interrupted when she appeared carrying a large bundle of laundry.

"Oh good, the chickens are fed," she said as she eyed the happily over-plump fowls, "best shut them away before the men arrive tomorrow to set up the tent for the wedding."

She took a moment to pause and lean against the coop. She appeared to be exhausted but was quick to wave off the sudden concern the others showed for her.

"Bill's escorting them. You'd best stay inside while they're here, Harry – with Ichigo," she said.

"I'm sorry to be such a bother," Harry said contritely. So, Ichigo was going to be his bodyguard while the workmen were there. Harry wondered if he had he volunteered or been drafted for the duty.

"Oh, don't be silly," she replied with another wave, "your safety's very important! And I've been meaning to ask you how you want to celebrate your birthday. Seventeen – it's such an important day for a young witch or wizard!"

"I don't want a fuss –" Harry protested, "Really, just a normal dinner would be fine – it's the day before the wedding –"

"Well, if you're sure..." Molly looked a bit disappointed but also understanding of his desire to not be the center of attention. "I'll just invite Remus and Tonks, and Hagrid then."

"That would be great," Harry nodded, "but please, don't go to a lot of trouble."

"Oh, it's no trouble. Really," Molly offered a gentle, motherly smile and patted him on the head.

#

"Harry, wake up," a distant voice called to him from outside his dreams.

Harry opened his eyes with a blink to find himself on the camp bed squeezed between Ron and Ichigo. The sun was not up yet, so the room was still dark. He was no longer on a mountain road at dawn, searching for a man whom he felt held answers.

"You were muttering in your sleep," Ron said.

"I was?" Harry asked as he shifted to look at his friend's blurred form.

The Ichigo blur nodded. "Yea, you were muttering 'Gregorovitch' over and over."

"Who's Gregorovitch?" Harry asked in a confused tone.

"How do I know? You were the one saying it," Ichigo retorted.

Harry was sitting up now, rubbing his still aching scar, and trying to remember his dream. "I think – Moldy's looking for him."

"Poor bastard," Ichigo sighed and let his head fall back onto his pillow.

"He's abroad," Harry said suddenly in the silence.

"Gregorovitch?" Ron asked, puzzled. Harry shook his head in response.

"Moldy. He's outside of Britain, looking for Gregorovitch."

"Harry – do y'reckon you're seeing into his mind again?" Ron looked worried.

"Don't tell Hermione," Harry grimaced, "how she expects me to keep him out while I'm sleeping..."

Harry stared at the pair of slumbering owls sitting in the window thoughtfully; something about the name was familiar, now that he was awake and thinking. "I think he has something to do with Quidditch, but why I'm thinking that, I don't know."

"Hm," Ichigo gave him a long, considering look. "Well, I can't help you there."

Harry and Ron both laughed while Ichigo shot them a rueful smile, knowing how much Ichigo liked Quidditch – not.

"Well – Happy Birthday, Harry," Ron said with a grin.

"Wow – that's right! I forgot!"

After nearly poking his eyes out with his glasses when he tried summoning them ("Slick," Ron chortled) Ron and Ichigo gave Harry their gifts. Neither of which should be seen by Molly's eyes, they told him.

From Ron he got a book: Twelve Fail-safe Ways to Charm Witches, which caused Ichigo to raise his eyebrows.

"Explains everything you need to know about girls. If I had this last year, I'd have known exactly how to get rid of Lavender and get started with – well um... anyway, Fred and George gave me a copy – I think it's the secret of their success –"

"Oh, really?" Ichigo said in low, drawn out syllables.

Ron flinched at the tone, but then Ichigo handed Harry his gift.

It was a phone. But, he explained, not a normal phone.

"We call them Soul Phones," he said. He showed them his, which Harry noted, looked just like an iPhone – right down to having the Apple on it. "These are the newer versions, used to carry around basic little flip phones but Urahara figured out how to modify smart phones for the purposes we needed. They warn us when and where Hollows are going to appear, because they do seem to be attracted to magic places. Yours, though, has an extra tidbit programmed into it."

"Oh?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Moldy's reiatsu. It'll warn you if he's near or about to Apparate near you. It's also helpful for locating near-by Horcruxes." Ichigo's mouth twitched. "Urahara used the locket to program it. Give it to Hermione so she can pack it, or shove it inside your pants. Just don't let Molly see it... or Arthur for that matter, he'd want to take it apart and figure out how we got it to work."

Harry nodded and stared at the phone. This, he thought, as Ichigo showed the two of them how to use it, would come in useful.

"What's the range?" Ron asked.

"About 50 km."

"So if we're within 50 km of a Horcrux –"

"It'll show up in red. We had to make a lot of adjustments to make sure it would work right," Ichigo slanted him an undecipherable look, assessing him in some way, for something. What he didn't know. "Hollows will be a bluish white."

"Thanks, Ichigo – this is probably the most useful thing I'll get."

"I have to agree with that," Ron nodded.

Both of them had watched Ichigo carefully as he showed them how to use it, then he watched as they worked it, to make sure they understood they were using correctly.

"We need to make sure Hermione knows –" Ron started to say. Ichigo coughed.

"Rukia showed her how to use hers already, so she's familiar with it."

"Of course," Harry said, unsurprised. Hermione was always a step ahead of them, had been since they'd met her on the train to Hogwarts.

"Great, so all we have to do is wander around Britain until that goes off," Ron said.

"Well…"

"You have an idea?"

"We stopped in Diagon Alley on our way here," Ichigo said, chewing his lip, "that was in my pocket on vibrate, because I was testing it. It didn't stop the entire time we were there."

"So – there's a Horcrux in Diagon Alley?" both teens stared at Ichigo, stunned.

"I was only checking for Hollows, but I found a Horcrux by accident," he admitted. "Somewhere in Diagon Alley is a Horcrux."

"Gringott's, I'll bet. Does Moldy have a vault?" Ron asked.

"Dunno. But if it's in there, it could take forever to figure out which vault and how to get it," Harry sighed.

"Yea, good luck with that," Ichigo said. Even Professor Dumbledore and his grandfather didn't quite know how to do it. Yamamoto, when Ichigo had called him to tell him, had immediately assigned the task to Nemu Kurotsuchi. Well, he mused, better to have Nemu and the Stealth Squad working on it than Mayuri.

Had Mayuri been working on the matter, there would be mutant Goblins running around Diagon Alley. And Ichigo was not quite ready to think about that.

Author's notes:

Hado 31 Shakkaho (Shot of Red Fire) — Fires a ball of red energy at a target. Incantation: "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"

sœur=sister in french

Fiendfyre (incantation unknown) was a bewitched flame infused with dark magic, capable of seeking out targets despite being non-sentient. It is an immensely powerful fire that cannot be extinguished by normal or enchanted water, It is also very difficult for the caster to control, flowing from their wand in a continuous stream of flame. If the caster flicks their wand when the stream of flame is still running from it, a jet of fire will shoot off and become a flaming animal. When cast, the fire appears with a roaring, billowing noise and gives its victims only a split-second's warning to escape, quickly consuming anything in the vicinity of its caster. The flames are of abnormally large size and take the shape of fiery monsters and beasts such as snakes, dragons, eagles and chimaeras, constantly mutating into other beasts as well as powerful, formless flames that destroy all things flammable around it. The fire even possesses a sentience of its own, a continuous (though far from latent) desire to burn anything it can. It will pursue any nearby lifeforms and anything that it can destroy, and is capable of incinerating anything through mere contact. Inexperienced casters will be able to conjure the flames but will have virtually no control over the curse once it has been unleashed, thereby making the fire a deadly backfire. More experienced casters, such as Lord Voldemort, may control the flaming beasts they create, even condensing it into a single, colossal animal of their desire. There is also a charm to cease the flames as well as one to disperse them, but unfortunately Vincent Crabbe never paid attention in class long enough to learn it, therefore costing him his life. It is also possible that the fire may eventually burn off on its own, if it is unable to consume enough material to sustain it, and if so, the ash left behind may become Ashwinders. harrypotter. wikia wiki/ Fiendfyre