Sorry for the delay. We've both had a lot going on, and Real Life had to take precedence over writing.
So anyway, here's the next Chapter, and again, sorry for the delay. As always, we don't own either HP or Bleach.
Chapter 15
Snape had given Ichigo exactly two hours to pack his things. The Fifth Squad Captain was back in just over an hour instead, with a heavy pack slung over his shoulder and carrying a covered cage in each hand. Snape face may have been twisted into a scowl to match the other Death Eaters' but Ichigo could see the faint flash of satisfaction at his prized pupils promptness and efficiency. Ichigo flashed him a sneer and a mocking bow of his head and Snape let out a huff. He moved over to Rukia's side and set down the two cages, one carrying Hebi and the other carrying Chappy, next to his fiancé so he could shift his pack to a more comfortable position on his shoulder.
"You got everything in there?" Rukia asked softly and doubtfully as she eyed the single large pack.
"It's all shrunken down," Ichigo responded with a shrug and a grimace. "You'll have to help me get it back to normal when we get to Charing Cross. It's smaller, but the weight is still the same. So, if you don't mind, I'd really like to get going – because the longer I have to carry this around digging into my shoulder the way it is, the more likely I am to hit someone with it out of shear irritation if they say or do something stupid."
The sneer on Ichigo's lips as he looked over the Death Eaters standing near Snape made it clear that he didn't expect it to be all that long for one of them to put their foot in their mouth figuratively, nor did it hide the fact that he would happily help them fit said foot into said mouths literally.
"Very well, then," Snape said, with a faint twitch to his lips.
He was very well aware of two things; first, that Ichigo had not done the shrinking of said items. He had help in the form of either his mother, Lily, Momo – or even Dumbledore himself (the barmy old coot. Snape still wanted to get his hands on the former Headmaster to give him the most vitriolic filled lecture he could think of, not that he would admit it to anyone). They may have left the weight normal as an – inspiration – to Ichigo to try to persuade him to better himself at Charms. Second; he was very much aware that Ichigo could carry a great deal of weight without breaking a sweat. He turned to stare at the Weasleys with a sneer.
"I am leaving Miss Arisawa here with you," Snape said firmly. "Someone will be here on September First to ensure that she and Miss Weasley make the train on time."
He then reached out and took hold of Ichigo and Apparated away, leaving Rukia to take the two creatures hidden in their cages with her and her escort.
When they were gone, Molly gave a sob and looked ready to collapse. "Oh, Arthur!"
"There, there, Molly," he put his arm around his wife. "They'll be fine. You know how strong Ichigo is –"
"But they're children!" she wailed.
Two people abruptly appeared in front of them, causing several to jump with surprise at the suddenness. Their arrival, however, succeeded in diverting Molly's attention away from her worry about the 'children' she had grown so fond of.
"Is everyone all right?" Uryu asked somberly, his blue eyes sweeping over everyone. He was checking to see if Orihime needed to heal anyone but no one seemed to be in need of the girl's special powers.
"We're fine," Tatsuki nodded. "I knew you were spying on us, waiting for them to leave so I wasn't overly concerned."
Lily poked her head out from where she'd been hiding and then flew over to Orihime to land on her shoulder. Everyone who was not used to the little sprite started and then stared in shock at the sight.
"Um, very long story..." Orihime explained weakly as Lily vanished back into her hairpin.
Uryu coughed; he recalled that trying to explain to Neville and Luna the Shun Shun Rika had been...interesting. Explaining to this group was not something he wanted to attempt in the slightest so he left the explanation to Tatsuki who was able to explain it enough that the others understood at least the basics about Orihime's sprites. After that the others explained what all had gone on and been discussed. While Uryu and Orihime had been close enough to stop anything bad from happening if needed, they had had to stay back far enough that they hadn't heard the conversation clearly.
"I'm not worried about Kuchiki or Kurosaki," Uryu commented after they had both heard what had happened. "They are both more than capable of taking care of themselves – even against Death Eaters."
Orihime nodded and smiled reassuringly at the others.
"We still need to figure out what to do though," she said, "I suppose we could join them. I mean, either one of them could easily send us home without a problem."
"That's right!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly, staring at them. "I forgot! You can't open a Gate by yourselves!"
"They're probably being watched, though," Molly fretted.
Neither Uryu nor Orihime appeared concerned with that statement of parental worry, nor did Tatsuki or even Fred look to be worried. Even Arthur appeared to be quite unconcerned and as a result he found himself being scrutinized intently by his wife as she realized that he knew something she didn't concerning the situation.
"I'm not without additional resources," Uryu said mysteriously, hiding a smile as Arthur squirmed under his wife's' gaze.
"And they can't tell when the Gates open," Orihime added hurriedly as she grabbed onto one of Molly's hands and gave the older woman a comforting smile. "So it's really just a matter of slipping in and having them open a Gate. No fuss!"
"Can't you just use the posts here?" Molly asked worriedly.
Both shook their heads in response to the query.
"They need to be ready on the other side, charged if you will, with power from their end. We just 'knock' on this end and they open the door. No one is there to hear the 'knock'."
"Maybe Tatsuki can call Ichigo or Rukia –" Orihime started to say, when Fred interjected.
"Maybe you won't have to. Look," he said, pointing. At the same moment they felt the surge of the opening Gate and turned to see four people rushing out: Toshiro, Rangiku, Momo and Kira.
"Four? I think I'm insulted," Uryu muttered under his breath at the thought that he would not be able to handle or protect those around him, and that they had believed a Captain needed to be sent.
"Is everyone all right?" Momo asked them, dropping her hand off Tobiume as she realized there were no threats still around.
"We're all fine, thank you," Arthur nodded.
"It was really good of you to come," Orihime said, smiling at them.
Momo smiled back. "Ichigo said to wait fifteen minutes and then come through. He said you would need a way to get back home. When Rangiku heard about it, she volunteered to come with me because we thought you would be in two different locations – Neville's and Luna's."
Rangiku crossed her arms over her ample bosom and frowned at the two men that had accompanied the girls. Said men eyed her warily.
"Some people didn't trust that we could take care of ourselves," she said at last, echoing Uryu's thoughts. The Quincy raised an eyebrow and shifted his glasses thoughtfully on his nose.
Toshiro and Kira did at least have the good grace to look a bit ashamed of themselves as they finally let go of the hilts of their own swords.
"I see," Tatsuki smirked at them.
In hindsight, yes, she should have expected the busty Rangiku to involve herself. Tatsuki had once been very, very jealous of this woman... until she realized that Ichigo was not really attracted to Rangiku's type. Well, her physical type. He did prefer girls hard-hitting... the ones that could take care of themselves personality wise but physically he liked them petite, the small packages that had punches that could lay a person out if they clipped you. Had she decided to pursue him back in high school – she probably could have won him, she'd had a crush on him just as much as Orihime had – but then she'd stood aside for Orihime's sake and then they'd both lost him to Rukia. No, she thought, watching the four argue familiarly, while Orihime laughed and Uryu looked on amused and then she looked to Fred and enveloped his hand with her own. It was much better this way.
"They should take this show on the road, they'd make a fortune," Fred joked. Tatsuki smothered a chuckle, while George gave him a confused look. "Muggle saying," he told his twin.
"Oh," George gave him a playful pout and murmured a joking comment about losing his twin.
Toshiro finally put a stop to the playful banter with his usual briskness, although Momo sniffed and told him she already had her orders from her Captain which she was attempting to follow, if certain people would let her. She turned her back on him, leaving him standing with his jaw dropped and Rangiku snickering at his side and Kira trying to hide a smile, and asked Orihime if she had her things packed yet or if she needed a hand.
"I actually am packed already, since we were going to leave in the morning," Orihime nodded. "I just have to grab the bags!" she hurried into the house.
Uryu turned then to the Weasleys. "Do you want us to take Hedwig and Crookshanks for safety? The Death Eaters might take their frustrations out on Harry's owl and I'd rather not have to inform him, or Hermione, that their pets are dead..."
"It's not a bad idea, Molly. You know Hedwig will be safe with them. Crookshanks too," Arthur said.
Molly nodded. "You should take Athena then as well. George –"
"Right – this way please," Fred's twin led Uryu into the house, to show him where the owls were kept.
They returned a short time later, with Orihime carrying Hermione's cat in his basket, while Uryu carried the two owls in their respective cages. Hedwig appeared to be quite miffed and Orihime was trying to console her.
"...really, he didn't want to leave you behind, he had no choice, and we need to hide you away, because of course killing you would devastate Harry..."
Hedwig just made an odd harrumphing noise while clicking her beak and turned her back on the girl, and Uryu as well, to face back the way they'd come toward the house, ignoring everyone as a whole. Athena clicked her own beak at the snowy owl and was also subsequently snubbed with silence. Orihime let out a sigh and shrugged at the others with a 'what can you do?' expression.
"Let's get you two home," Rangiku said, putting her arm around Orihime and taking one of the cages from Uryu. She looked at Tatsuki. "You sure you want to stay?"
Tatsuki nodded. "They're expecting me to and I have a feeling they'll be checking on me regularly. So I'd better be here so we don't get them riled up."
"Well, if you run into trouble –" Rangiku said worriedly.
"I have Ichigo's number. He's going to be the closest one to us," Tatsuki shrugged. "He's just been going along with all of this so no one would get hurt in the cross fire, you know how he is, but –"
"Heaven help the person who actually does hurt one of his friends," Kira finished for her. Tatsuki smirked coldly.
"That's after I break a few bones myself, of course," she said firmly.
Momo tried, and failed, valiantly to hold back a laugh, but her shoulders were shaking with mirth as she turned to open the Gate.
The Weasley family watched as the group disappeared through the Gate, Molly wringing her hands fretfully as they went and no amount of reassurances from Arthur could fully ease the long-time mother's concern. She even got to the point where she was contemplating adding everyone to the Weasley home clock. Arthur sighed and carefully slipped back into the house, probably to fetch her a Calming Draught.
Ginny dropped down on a chair a moment later, her face pale, and Tatsuki moved to sit next to her and placed a hand on the younger girls shoulder.
"Hey," Tatsuki said to her softly. "He'll be fine – they will all be fine."
"I just wish..." Ginny said wistfully and Tatsuki knew that she'd wanted to go with the Trio or perhaps not her specifically...
"You wish that Ichigo had gone with them as well?" she guessed.
Ginny nodded in response and Tatsuki sighed. She knew that there had been a lot of debate on that exact subject, Ichigo had even hinted at it but had been shot down by his 'elders'.
"Well, she's not going to stay with them permanently mind, but right now Yoruichi is with them so they are probably as safe as they can be."
"Huh? How do you know that?" George asked her.
"Because Ichigo shoved her into Harry's arms right before they Apparated out."
"Oh, you meant his... cat..." George's voice trailed off when Fred coughed to cover his laughter, "Holy – you mean – she's a – like Professor McGonagall?"
"Uh huh," Tatsuki said with a grin. George whooped and laughed as he realized the massive prank that had been pulled on them.
"But – if she's – why spend all that time as a cat?" Molly fretted as she took the vial that Arthur had returned with.
"She's the ultimate stealth operative," Tatsuki shrugged. "I mean, whoever suspects a cat?" She snickered, thinking of Ron and Harry's reactions when they found out the truth. "I imagine Harry and Ron are freaking out right about now when they realize they spent two years in a dorm with a woman."
#
The Leaky Cauldron was empty except for Tom the Proprietor, who had developed a nervous condition since the last time Ichigo and Rukia had seen him. The poor man looked to be at the end of his rope and seemed skittish of the slightest movement of the shadows. He led the way to their room without too much incident though, which over looked Charing Cross Road, and then scuttled out of the room and vanished into his back office.
Rukia put the cages down on a table and pulled the cloth coverings back into place to fully cover what was inside while Ichigo dropped his pack on the floor with relief. It made an extra loud thud when it hit and Rukia raised a brow at him when he caught her attention.
"Give me a hand with this, will you?" he said to Rukia, kneeling next to it.
She nodded. "What do you want me to do?" she asked him.
"Just hold on to the pack while I try to get our stuff out of it. Everything is wedged in pretty tightly. I didn't exactly have time to organize things when I packed."
Ichigo knew the Death Eaters following them were going to be laughing at them while they did this, but he didn't want to rip the pack and have everything suddenly shoot out in all directions. He was also pretty sure they wouldn't lift a finger to assist them while they worked. While Snape might want to, he couldn't afford to or else he would give away his cover. As a result, he stood next to the door like a silent sentinel.
Rukia grabbed hold of the pack and held onto it tightly while Ichigo shifted the trunks and cases this way and that to maneuver them out of the bag's narrow opening. The first trunk came loose quite suddenly, causing him to fall over backwards arse over teakettle as it automatically expanded to its full size and, as he came to a halt, the thing settled right on top of his stomach and chest causing his breath to shoot out in a 'Ooopmh!'
"Ichigo!" Rukia hurried to his side, where she helped him out from under the recalcitrant trunk.
"Are you all right?" she asked as she helped him up. She glared at the chortling Death Eaters who went silent fairly quickly when she muttered something about needing a 'new pet rabbit'.
"Yea," he moaned as he rubbed his chest. "Nothing's hurt but my pride."
"Baka," she said affectionately.
"Yea, that's me," he agreed. He sighed and glared at the bag. "The rest of the stuff should come out pretty easily now that I've got one out. There's room to move them around now at least."
Rukia nodded and together they got the other trunk and baggage out of the bag without another incident. She was well aware he hadn't enchanted them on his own; despite the difficulty of the spells involved he wasn't at his best with most charms. She, like Snape, was aware of the most likely suspects to have helped him. However, as they seemed to have been charmed to revert to normal once they were out of the bag itself, she figured it had probably been his mother to do the spells.
"Someone will be here permanently to keep an eye on you," Snape said, even though he was well aware that with Ririn and Noba's help they could appear to be present and still leave to cause havoc elsewhere. They could even leave directly from the room, if they wanted to.
"Are we stuck in this room or are we allowed to leave it?" Rukia asked, her violet eyes flashing angrily.
"As long as you are – escorted – you may enter Diagon Alley," Snape allowed, "You will need to be able go to Gringott's and later purchase supplies. We do understand that this will be necessary."
"Like I couldn't wipe the floor with your 'escort'," Ichigo muttered under his breath, scowling at the Death Eaters, who in turn backed away from him nervously.
From their reactions Ichigo realized that this entire group, sans Snape, had apparently all spent time wearing rabbit ears... and did not want to repeat the experience. Ichigo had to contain a smile.
It also took considerable effort for Snape not to react. Indeed, either Ichigo or Rukia could in fact escape their imprisonment with little effort and from the stubborn expression on Ichigo's face and the angry glint in Kuchiki's eyes, they were planning on making their guards' lives absolutely miserable.
Snape turned and left. As he left he almost wished he could watch to see what they chose to do with the Death Eaters when, not if, they annoyed the pair.
It would be – very amusing.
#
Not long later Rukia watched Ichigo as he paced restlessly around the room, like a caged lion in a zoo, and wondered how long it would be before his temper got the better of him. He was not one to be kept restrained; he was someone who needed action.
With a low growl he stripped off his shirt and dropped to the ground, where he proceeded to start doing a series of push-ups. The female Death Eater that remained within the room let out a startled squeak that drew a raised brow and a nasty smile from Rukia. Said Death Eater proceeded to step outside to join her partner, not wanting to risk being transfigured.
Rukia dark smile was replaced with a softer one as she looked back at Ichigo. All the exercise he'd been getting lately was toning his muscle even more than it had been, which made for some pleasing eye candy for her. He'd always been well toned, but being at Hogwarts and having no physical activity there, had driven him and Tatsuki to develop a training regimen. Neither of them were the type who could just sit still, not for long. They had all started participating in it, even Draco, and she had once overheard a pair of Slytherin girls commenting on the fact that they had noticed a change in their Prefect's physique.
"You're going to get bored here, aren't you?" she finally asked him quietly. He grunted in reply as he continued his reps. He didn't even pause when she sat on his back, he just huffed with exasperation.
"Well, you can't do pushups all day," she pointed out as she tapped the back of his head. "And we're going to learn the ins and outs of Diagon Alley very well if we spend all day there –"
Ichigo got to his feet with a growl, nearly causing her to fall on her rump. Oh yea, he'd definitely improved. A very nice set of abs he had, she thought covetously as she looked him over. She even forgave him for the toss since he picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bed.
"I don't intend to stay here," Ichigo said, "Not here, not in Diagon Alley."
"You don't?" Rukia said with a grin, not surprised at all by the statement.
"Hell, no. we're in the middle of London, for Fuck's sake," he said crudely. "Some of the greatest architecture and museums in the world are here. We're going sight-seeing."
"Um..." Rukia had no problems with this but... "What about our guard dogs?"
"Well, they'd better learn to keep up, then," Ichigo smirked coldly. "I intend to run them ragged. Besides, if they're tired, they'll get careless and they won't notice certain – things."
Rukia smiled as she figured out his plan. She moved over to his side. "Where are we going first?" she asked eagerly.
Ichigo pulled a London Guide Book out of his bag. "Why don't we take a look and decide?"
It was too late to do anything that day so they made a plan of what to do offer the next few days. Rukia wanted to shop and Ichigo decided to let her – and make their Death Eater 'bodyguards' play the pack horses. They may as well make themselves useful and if they were loaded down with packages, they would be more likely to stay out of trouble...
He hoped.
#
The Golden Trio spent the next few days closeted in the massive Kurosaki library, searching through the books for anything that might be of help on their quest. As they skimmed through the piles of books they'd grabbed Hermione returned some of the books she thought she didn't need to their appropriate places on the shelves, but held onto some of the others that might be needed later.
Soifon, Lupin and Kingsley were in and out of the building at random. Soifon never appeared to be happy, though from what Yoruichi said Soifon was often in a mood. She and the others were often talking in hushed whispers.
"Narrowing down what happened at the Ministry, most likely," Hermione guessed at one point and Yoruichi confirmed her guess with a sigh.
"We thought we had all the bases covered, we even knew Thicknesse had been Imperiused. So we're not quite sure where we mis-stepped," she sighed. "Soifon's Lieutenant, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, was in charge of the forces guarding the Ministry; he was killed trying to protect the Minister. So that's something else we're looking at... Omaeda may have been a slob when it came to food but he took his missions seriously."
Hermione's eyes widened at this, and Harry's breath caught.
"Wow," Ron said softly, "Did they –"
"They don't have his body, our people retrieved everything," Yoruichi said. "So there's nothing for Moldyface to study." She sighed again. "I don't have the complete report, but Soifon did tell me they believe that Thicknesse Imperiused a number of Ministry workers despite the guard on him. One of them killed the Minister. We took most of those down, but – well. There could be any number of others we don't know about."
Hermione closed the book she'd been looking through and nervously tapped her fingers against the cover. She finally shook her head and looked up at the others.
"We aren't getting anywhere, here," she said fretfully.
"I agree," Harry nodded. "I think we should check out Number Twelve."
"It's probably being watched," Ron argued.
"We have the cloak," Harry said with a frown.
"It's dangerous, but I think Soifon and I can get you there okay," Yoruichi said, cutting off the budding argument. "Pack up and we'll go at sunset." She put down the book she'd been looking through and put it back on the shelf. "I'll let the others know we're leaving."
Their decision to leave drew a multitude of objections, not the least of which was from Narcissa Malfoy. Which rather surprised Harry.
"But..." she finally yielded when she saw the stubborn looks. "Fine. I'll have Taffy make up some sandwiches, you don't know what kind of food you'll find there."
"Thank you," Harry thanked her politely.
They had all been amazed at the change in Narcissa Malfoy. She actually appeared to be quite – human. Her husband however, was – rather severely damaged by the experience of being in Azkaban. Even Harry, Hermione and Ron could lead Lucius around by the nose without much effort. The man seemed so out of sorts that one might think he was Confunded. Harry wondered if the time in Azkaban had something to do with it or if it was the presence of Narcissa's sister Andromeda and her being reunited after so many years and the shock that his wife was actually very happy to be back in good terms with said sister. Whatever it was, he wasn't going to argue with it, as she was actually pleasant to be around now. Almost as motherly as Molly Weasley... in a different way of course.