So, here's the next Chapter for the Main Story. Arei and I are happy that you all are enjoying this (even if it has turned into a long, long epic...)

As always, we do not own either HP or Bleach...as much as we'd like to.

Chapter 11

The next afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred, George and (to his dismay) Ichigo – standing outside the great white tent in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of wedding guests. Harry had taken an extra-large dose of Polyjuice potion (carefully modified by Ichigo himself to extend the timeframe of the potions effects), and he was now the double of a local ginger Muggle. The Weasleys would be introducing him as "Cousin Barney" and hope the large number of red headed Weasleys that would be at the wedding would hide him from curious visitors.

Each of them were all holding seating plans so that people could be escorted to the right places. Molly had been very particular about her orders to make sure each person was placed in their proper spot and even the Twins knew better then to try to pull a prank by placing a few particular visiting relatives anywhere near some of the others coming for the wedding.

In particular, (Very Distant) Cousins' Rin and Illya were not allowed to be within ten feet of each other or else the hexes/jinxes/curses started flying. While the two teens did avoid confrontations in Muggle/Mundane locations or during formal events, the results were... usually property damage, lots and lots of property damage. Ron told Harry at one point while they were waiting that it was a good thing that Rin's family was good at Thaumaturgy (A magic skill involving storing extra magic energy into jewels. These jewels were used in rune rituals apparently but Ron didn't really understand it well enough to explain it) and Illya's family was good at making Wire Spirits (magical spirits made from specifically tempered and 'blessed' silver wire that was as thin as the finest silk thread and sharper then a razor blade and bound into the shape of an animal to be used as a property/personal defense.) Both items were expensive to obtain, only the richest families bothered to purchase them, but were also so rarely purchased that the fights between the two teens had severely drained the respective household's vaults over the years.

No one quite knew what started the fighting but there were rumors that it had something to do with Illya's adopted little brother...

The Caterers and band had arrived earlier in the day to set things up early and they were waiting out under a tree large tree charmed to be in bloom and branches extended for extra shade. Ichigo kept glancing at them as if he wished he could join them, really not wanting to deal with people who weren't HIS family.

"When I get married," Fred muttered, tugging at the collar of his dress robes, "there will be none of this nonsense. Wear what you want. And a full body-bind curse on Mom until it's all over..."

"You could just elope," Ichigo said blandly as he glanced down at his list, "Tatsuki said something to that effect."

Fred appeared thoughtful. "Now that's an idea."

"Well, Mum wasn't too bad this morning," George said, "Although she did weep a bit about Percy not being here, the git," He paused. "Oh, blimey, brace yourselves... here they come."

Brightly colored figures had started to appear in the yard, forming a not-quite neat procession towards their location. Ichigo muttered a few curses in Japanese when he saw the crowd approaching, curses that were echoed by Harry and the Weasleys, all save one.

"Excellent, I think I see a few Veela relations," George said, checking his robes for wrinkles as the others rolled their eyes.

He left the gaggle of middle-aged witches for the others and approached a pair of pretty, fair-haired French girls. Really, Ichigo did wish him luck since the ginger was purposefully 'on the prowl'. The rest of the group were already 'dating' and were more afraid of their significant other (even though Ron and Hermione had only starting to recognize... well, more acknowledge, their attraction to one another, Ron wasn't afraid to admit that Hermione could be absolutely terrifying when she wanted to be) finding out that they were even within ten feet of the Veela females.

"Permettez-moi to assister vous," he said, offering one arm to each. They both giggled and attached themselves to his arms with shy smiles.

Fred ended up with a deaf old couple, Ron with an old Ministry colleague of his father, and Harry the middle-aged witches. Ichigo was lucky – Remus and Tonks were next and the Auror had gone blonde for the occasion.

"Arthur said Harry was the curly haired one, is that true? She asked in an undertone. Ichigo nodded. "Good, we need to apologize for last night, the Ministry is being very anti-werewolf at the moment and we thought our presence might not help."

"He understands. His anger is at the Ministry, not you," Ichigo told them as he led them to their seats. He wondered at Lupin's misery. Lupin should be happy – he was going to be a father…

A slight disruption dragged his attention away momentarily; Hagrid had mistakenly sat on chairs not reinforced for him and reduced them to rubble.

Ichigo hurried back with Harry, to find Ron with a very eccentric looking wizard in egg-yellow robes. Behind him, looking like he'd rather be somewhere else was Uryu, who was accompanying Luna. Luna was looking quite beautiful in the kimono that Uryu had created for her the summer they had all gone to Japan.

"Xenophilius Lovegood," the wizard introduced himself, and up close they saw where Luna got her slightly cross-eyed feature from. Harry noticed the odd symbol he wore around his neck, and from the corner of his eye, saw that Ichigo studying it as well with a small frown. "I live just over the hill with my daughter, Luna. So kind of the Weasleys to invite us."

"Hello, Harry," Uryu said in an undertone as he passed.

"How did –" Harry started in a shocked but muted voice, he stopped himself and sighed. "Never mind. It's the reiatsu, isn't it?"

Uryu nodded. "Yes. You can't change that with Polyjuice potion."

Harry let out another sigh and started to roll his eyes. He let out a sudden squawk instead when he realized something.

"That's how you can tell Fred and George apart!" he all but shouted.

Uryu flashed Harry a faint, smug smirk as he pushed his glasses back up his nose and Ichigo coughed into his hand to hide his laughter. Luna giggled into her Kimono sleeve.

"Yes," Uryu replied still smirking.

"Wait, that means... you can sense me under the cloak too, can't you?" Harry said with a sulky frown.

Ichigo laughed softly, no longer able to contain his mirth, which gave Harry his answer. Luna flashed a smile at him as she walked off with Uryu – telling him then and there that she had also known who he was. Knowing her, she'd probably taken to learning how to sense reiatsu like a duck took to water.

Ron, who had been escorting guests during the exchange, reappeared with an elderly witch. The older woman was dressed, for all intents and purposes, like a large pink flamingo. For all that she was tall, with a beaky nose and bony fingers, he still gave an involuntary shudder as the sight of all that pink made him think of Dumbridge. Ichigo's gentle pat to his shoulder told him that the older boy recognized the reason for the shudder and sympathized.

"Your hair is too long! I thought you were Ginevra, Ronald," the older woman said in a shout (She was 'apparently' a little bit deaf, but if Ron was right she used that as an excuse) gestured wildly with her hand at his hair which really wasn't that long especially as his mother just trimmed it, "that's how long your hair has gotten, and... Merlin's Beard! What is Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelet! And who are you?"

She'd turned her gaze on Harry's Polyjuiced form with a critical eye. Harry twitched under the gaze.

"Ah, Auntie Muriel, this is our cousin, Barney..."

"Another Weasley? Good heavens, don't you people know when to stop?" she squinted at Ichigo. "Don't tell me that's another one – a bit odd-looking, though – what's wrong with your eyes, boy?"

It was Ichigo's turn to twitch under the woman's stare. Harry hid a smile as he knew that instead of being uncomfortable like he was, Ichigo was probably holding back on some kind of comment that would be taken both as rude and entirely accurate.

Ron gave Ichigo an apologetic look as the Fifth Squad Captain's expression switched to a scowl as he stared down the older woman, as if she were a Hollow he needed to exterminate.

"Uh, no, that's Ichigo," Ron said with a strained laugh, "He's a friend. And there's nothing wrong with his eyes, they're supposed to be that way. He's Japanese... Ichigo Kurosaki –" he started to introduce them, but Muriel was off and running again, completely ignoring the introduction.

"Oh. Well then, isn't Harry Potter here? He's a friend of yours, isn't he? I was hoping to meet him."

"No, he couldn't come," Ron said with a frown.

"Well, he's smarter than he looks in those press photos then," Muriel said, still shouting. Harry was wondering idly if he should feel offended or complemented. "I've been instructing the bride on how best to wear my tiara. Goblin-made, been in the family for centuries. Pretty girl, but she's so – well – French. Let's go, Ronald – I shouldn't be on my feet this long. I am one-hundred and seven, you know."

Ron rolled his eyes at them when he left and they didn't see him again until after they'd escorted more than a dozen more people each. There was no longer a queue waiting to get inside and as such their duties were done.

"Nightmare, Muriel is," Ron groaned when he rejoined them. He sank into a chair with a soft sigh and rubbed at one of his feet. "She used to come for Christmas every year until Fred and George set off a dung bomb under her chair at dinner. Dad said that she's written them out of her will, but I don't think they'll care – they're already richer than everyone except you two," He suddenly blinked and his jaw dropped.

"Wow," he said, as Hermione, Rukia, and Tatsuki came hurrying towards them, all of them dressed up in their kimonos, even Hermione. "You look great!"

"Always the tone of surprise!" Hermione replied, rolling her eyes as she sat down in the empty seat next to Ron with a small huff. Harry saw the satisfied smile she hid as she turned away from Ron. She would definitely draw attention in her kimono, as would the other girls.

"Where's Orihime?" Harry asked.

"Waiting for her date," Rukia replied, stepping over to Ichigo, who was being eyed by a few Veela cousins. She gave them a dark look that instantly made them look away as she slipped her arm through his.

"Neville's coming then?" Ron asked, guessing correctly that Nev was Orihime's date for the event.

Fred and George joined them at that point. Fred reached as if to muss Ron's hair and stopped only at a glare from Mrs. Weasley.

"Of course, you didn't think Orihime would ask someone else, did you?" Fred countered as he slid an arm around Tatsuki, "In fact, there they are now."

The group turned around in time to see the pair hurrying in their direction. The girls must have all coordinated what they were wearing, because Orihime was also wearing her kimono. Next to the bride, they would probably be the loveliest dressed girls at the wedding. Ichigo and Uryu were also wearing the same clothing they had worn to the tea ceremony.

"I'm not late, am I?" Neville panted.

"Of course not," Ichigo reassured him.

"Oh, this is our cousin – 'Barney'," Ron said with a wink. Neville stared blankly at Ron, while Orihime nudged him meaningfully and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Neville!" Harry hissed softly at him finally when it looked like he wasn't going to get it, "It's me – Harry!"

"Oh!" Neville blinked. "Right! I get it! 'Barney'!" he nodded, finally understanding. "Uh, good to meet you!"

They chatted for a little while longer, and they were all joking and laughing so hard that no one noticed the dark-haired young man with a large curved nose and thick black brows that approached, holding out his invitation to Ron and staring at Hermione.

"You look vunderful," he said to her.

"Viktor!" she nearly shrieked in surprise, jumping, and dropping her small, beaded handbag, which thudded on the ground as if it carried bricks. Everyone paused and gave her a look of bemused. She blushed as she accepted it back from Tatsuki, saying, "I didn't know you were – goodness – it's nice to see you – how are you?"

Ron's ears had gone bright red when he saw Viktor Krum. He had been staring at Krum's wedding invitation as if it was a venomous snake and he finally asked, a bit too loudly and stiffly, "Why are you here?"

"Fleur invited me," came the simple response.

Harry felt it prudent to remove Viktor from Ron's presence at that point and offered to show him to his seat. He knew that would be the best point of action, especially since Ichigo appeared to be on the point of breaking out into laughter and was useless, as was Rukia, who had helpfully decided to join Luna in a study of the clouds and their various shapes, even going so far as to point out particular ones and name what they looked like. Fred was useless as he had buried his face in Tatsuki's hair, but was probably laughing, although he could also be whispering something naughty, based on how red her face had gotten. George had turned to the neighboring Veela females and had started flirting. Hermione had started looking through her handbag with the excuse 'I think I forgot something'. All in all Harry was getting no help from anyone else in trying to coral Ron so... discretion being the better part of valor and all that... he dragged Viktor away.

"Your friend is not pleased to see me," Viktor said as he followed Harry with a bemused expression, "Or is he a relative?"

"Cousin," Harry replied, thankful that Viktor couldn't recognize him.

However, the attention of the crowd had shifted from the rather exotic Ichigo to the world famous Viktor Krum, for which Harry was certain Rukia would be most grateful. While people were still ogling Viktor (who decided it might be prudent to remain at 'Barney's' side and look deep in conversation), Ron, Hermione and the others came hurrying down the aisle.

"If we don't sit down," Fred said, "We're going to get run over by the bride." They hurried to take their own seats. Unfortunately they weren't able to sit together in one big group and were spaced out among the crowd thanks to Mrs. Weasley's machinations.

As they watched the wedding, they could hear various people sniffing – or in Hagrid's case, trumpeting – into their handkerchiefs. Ichigo was relieved that Rukia was not one of them, probably because she was watching everything very carefully and taking reams of mental notes on what she wanted for their own wedding. Orihime, on the other hand, was and Neville appeared to be at a loss as to whether he should try to do anything about it other than handing her his hankie.

When the tufty haired wizard – who, incidentally, had also presided over Professor Dumbledore's funeral – pronounced Bill and Fleur bonded for life, he raised his wand over them and caused a shower of silver stars to fall upon them, bathing the couple in a soft, ethereal glow. The golden balloons burst, releasing birds of paradise and tiny golden bells which flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the cacophony of applause.

Ichigo stared down at the petite woman standing next to him, who was staring at the birds wide-eyed, and for a moment, he choked up.

As if feeling his eyes on her, Rukia turned to look up at him, her violet eyes shining. When their eyes met, hers flickered for a moment, before they got a knowing look; her hand slipped into his and squeezed gently.

She really was his rock, his one major weakness, he thought, squeezing back. He really didn't know what he would do without his wonderful midget. She had innately sensed how guilty he was feeling over killing the Death Eater in the Astronomy Tower. She had not waited for him to approach her with it, the way she had with the death of his mother. No, she had instead sat him down and forced him to tell her what was wrong...

That had been nail one in the coffin.

Nail two had come from an unexpected, yet not unwelcome, source: Professor Snape.

Severus had shown up in his office, unannounced, closed the door behind him after scaring off one of his lower level Shinigami who tried to deliver a report and for over an hour, bullied, coerced, and tricked him into talking about his anger and sorrow at his 'apparent failure'. He'd all but beaten Ichigo over the head with the knowledge that Dumbledore was already dying several times in order to get the orange-headed Captain to understand that things, despite not going quite as planned, still worked out. Draco and Severus were both safe from 'Death by Moldymort'.

Ichigo has burst into tear-filled laughter when Severus said that last in a dead-panned tone and a roll of dark eyes.

Two days later, Byakuya had done the same thing; the only difference was that his soon to be brother-in-law decided to force him to talk about it by chasing him around the Seireitei with Senbonzakura. When all was said and done after that conversation, Ichigo felt drained physically and emotionally. Then, when he thought nothing else could happen, Orihime had shown up, wanting to talk to Ichigo and Rukia.

At that point, Ichigo learned just how far his emotional limits could be stretched. Their friend had nearly worn a groove in the floor in front of his desk by the time she was done pacing and explaining her emotions, her rambling words were eventually starting to form a cohesive thought for the pair listening to them.

"And, I once thought, that – I'm sorry Rukia, but I have to say this – that I would love you and be with you for five lifetimes... but –" Orihime paused, considering, "If I had loved you that such, Tsubaki would have been strong enough to protect you when he needed to be, wouldn't he? If his strength is all drawn from my willpower?"

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other, baffled where she was going with this.

"Then, no matter how strong they were, Tsubaki should have been strong enough to defeat at least one of the Arrancar beating you nearly to death on Hueco Mundo."

"Orihime –" Ichigo started to speak only to stop in confusion. Was she trying to apologize? It sounded like it might be an apology...

She shook her head and held up her hands to stop him from speaking, her hair flowing around her as she did so.

"No. Listen, please. The only other time Tsubaki was truly that strong was the first time I used him – when Tatsuki was in danger. On Hueco Mundo, I couldn't even heal you after... after Ulquiorra... and then Ulquiorra himself... he was... I really think..." she shook her head, forcing herself visibly away from whatever trail of thought she'd been about to go down. "But last year, at Hogwarts – when that werewolf threatened Neville, when I thought my Nev was going... I called him out, Tsubaki I mean and I killed that werewolf before I could even think about it. I... I killed someone," she hugged herself tightly at that point and looked at the ground, her hair hiding her face. She couldn't hide the tears in her voice. "I – once I got over the fact that I actually killed someone, I needed to think about why I was able to do so now and not then, when you needed my help. It's – because I actually wasn't in love with you the way I thought I was."

"And now?" Rukia asked gently, Ichigo able to tell by her expression that she was trying not to smile.

Orihime's smile was radiant and it was all the pair she was talking to needed to know about how she felt about Neville. Rukia stepped forward and hugged her friend who was very much a sister of her heart.

"I am so very happy for you, Orihime," she whispered. "No one deserves happiness more than you do!"

"Thank you!" Orihime sniffed, on the verge of being overcome by tears. "I wanted you two to be the first to know; because – well, because," She giggled and blushed, refraining to explain what 'because' meant. "And to think, I quite literally fell into his lap!"

The other two laughed, but they knew what she meant. They also knew why she had felt the need to come to Soul Society and tell both of them this. Orihime's crush on Ichigo had, at times, put a strain on her friendship with Rukia and falling for Neville would go quite a long way towards easing, if not forever eliminating, that occasional discomfort.

The last nail had come during his mental 'training' with Hichigo and Zangetsu. Both his inner Hollow and his Zanpakuto were quite willing to throw his lapse of self control back into his face; quite often, in fact. Ichigo had simply gritted his teeth and borne it until he was numb with it and no longer responded to his taunts. They had eventually given up with that tactic, thankfully, and Ichigo was resolved to never let his anger – or his grief – take control of him again.

Zangetsu later admitted that they both felt that Ichigo needed to be put through that as if any enemy found out about his feelings regarding the supposed 'failure', they would have used it to cause Ichigo to react in a way that would be detrimental to Ichigo and those around him. Zangetsu pointed out how he had reacted to the Grand Fisher and Ichigo reluctantly agreed with his Zanpakuto's reasoning.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the wizened little wizard interrupted Ichigo's musings. "If you would please stand up!"

They did so and the chairs and walls of the huge tent vanished and a dance floor appeared in the center. The chairs reappeared around small, white-clothed tables and the band at the point trooped in to take their places.

"Nice," Ron nodded as the waiters popped up everywhere, bearing trays loaded down with all sorts of delicacies.

"Let's grab a table – we'll need more than one – No! Nowhere near Muriel!" Ron said, steering them across the floor, glancing every which way as he went. By the time they reached the other side, most of the tables were taken. They were starting to think they'd have to split up again until they saw Luna waving at them.

She and Uryu had grabbed one and were holding it for them. They crowded into the seats and the first few minutes were taken up by Rukia gushing about ideas for her own wedding, with Luna, Orihime, and Hermione chiming in. Ichigo just shrugged when the other males turned to look at him with amused expressions.

The band started playing and Bill and Fleur started dancing to great applause. They were followed in a bit by their parents. Once the three couples had danced for a short while, the other guests were invited to take to the floor. At which point Ichigo and Neville found themselves yanked onto the dance floor so quickly their arms were almost torn out of their sockets and Tatsuki found herself on the dance floor before she had a chance to say 'yea' or 'nay' to Fred.

"I like this song," Luna said, standing and swaying in time to the waltz-like tune.

A few moments later she was on the dance floor, where she had glided into a spot by herself and where she now stood, eyes closed, revolving in place and waving her arms in gypsy like movements. Uryu watched her with amusement and affection in his eyes.

"She's great, isn't she?" Ron said with a smile, "so original."

"She is that," Uryu agreed, watching Luna as a faint smile appeared on his lips.

A few moments later Ichigo and Tatsuki slipped out of the crowd looking rather haggard.

"How'd you two manage to slip away?" Harry asked them with a wide grin.

"Remus and Tonks took pity on us," Tatsuki said exhaustedly as they sat.

"Unfortunately we can't have them rescue us from every dance," Ichigo sighed.

"At least you know how to dance," Uryu pointed out, reminded of the horror stories Harry and Ron had told him about the Tri-Wizard Tournament and learning how to dance.

"Doesn't mean we like to do it," Ichigo retorted drily, "and why aren't you out there?" he glanced over to where Luna was still 'dancing' by herself.

"Because it's more pleasurable to watch her dance," came Uryu's simple response.

"And amusing," Ron said in an aside to Harry.

Uryu chose not to let on that he had heard – even if he agreed. It was one of the things he liked about Luna – she made him laugh. Ichigo coughed and gave his friend a knowing look – and sat up straight as Viktor Krum dropped into Luna's empty seat. Ron scowled at the table as Hermione grew flustered, but Viktor was also scowling.

"Who is that man in the yellow?" Viktor asked briskly.

"Yellow?" Harry blinked.

"Xenophilius Lovegood," Uryu replied, guessing. He was the only man wearing yellow dress robes after all.

"He's the father of a friend of ours," Ron said defensively. He stood and took Hermione's hand in his own.

"Come and dance," he said suddenly.

She looked surprised, but pleased at the abrupt 'request', so she stood and went with him without complaint. Tatsuki nudged Ichigo, who nodded and they smiled at the pair.

"Ah, they are together now?" Krum asked, momentarily distracted from whatever had upset him.

"Er –" Harry stammered, "sort of."

"Who are you again?" Viktor asked as he turned to Harry, "I am afraid I did not get your name earlier."

"Barney Weasley," he held his hand out and Viktor shook it. The others introduced themselves.

"I do not remember seeing any of you –"

"We started at Hogwarts the year after the Tournament," Ichigo explained.

"Ah," Viktor nodded and looked away.

"Um, you were asking about Lovegood?" Uryu finally asked, "Why?"

Krum frowned. "Do you know this man vell?"

"Well, no. We all just met him today. Even Uryu, and he's dating Luna – Mr. Lovegood's daughter."

Krum glowered over the dance floor at Xeno, who was chatting happily to several wizards on the other side of the floor.

"Because if he vos not a guest of Fleur's I vould duel him here and now, for vearing that filthy sign upon his chest!"