Okay, I know, it's been awhile... I'm sorry. I'll try to make it up to you...
So, the usual disclaimers apply, we do not own either HP or Bleach.
Chapter 21
"Look to him, the rational voice;
Ichigo Kurosaki."
...
Ichigo jerked his head around in shock when he heard his name being called out by the hat.
"What?" he exclaimed in a startled voice.
The next thing he knew something very warm and moist was pressed against his mouth. That pulled him out of his shock as he glanced down at Rukia just as she pulled back to beam up at him. Then she proceeded to give him a more chaste kiss to his nose. Neville, Seamus, Tatsuki, Ginny, Lavender and Parvati were all grinning at him from their seats.
"Go on, Head Boy," Rukia nudged him with a smile when he made no move to... well, move.
Still looking like someone hit him over the head with a 2×4, he managed to flash a look over at Professor McGonagall then at Neville and back to the older woman. He raised a brow questioningly and she nodded once, briefly, at his silent question. He took off the Prefect badge as he stood up and moved to stand next to Neville. He had Neville stand and then pinned the badge onto the now blushing boy's robes. He squeezed his friend's shoulder once and then continued on to stand next to Daphne who gave him a weak smile as he approached.
Professor Snape approached them both and pinned a badge onto the front of their robes, one of which said Head Boy and another that said Head Girl. Ichigo had to hide a smile at a sudden thought that it might have been funny for him to put the wrong badge on the wrong person. The Weasley Twins were rubbing off on him.
"First thing in the morning," Snape said softly, "My office. We'll discuss your duties. For now, you head up the Prefects."
"The Prefects' Prefect?" Ichigo said wryly, which earned him a subtle nod.
The pair was then dismissed back to their seats and everyone at both Gryffindor and Slytherin wanted to see the badges.
Professor McGonagall removed the hat and stool from the center of the room then returned to her seat. Professor Snape then moved to stand at the lectern where for many years Professor Dumbledore had presided over the student body with a cheerful smile. At the staff table the long time staff appeared somber, uneasy even with the new additions to the school staff members. The Carrow siblings were smug at their respective seats, at least until their eyes came to rest on Ichigo. At that point they became as uneasy as the others, though for very different reasons for the unease. They had not appeared to have forgotten what he'd done to them – or how strong he was.
"Maybe it's good that they aren't here this year," Rukia said softly to the others. "Ron and Harry, at Hogwarts with Snape as Headmaster?"
"A recipe for disaster if I ever saw one," Tatsuki agreed.
Neither girl voiced the thought aloud that, while they were all on the same side, there was no love lost between Ron, Harry and Snape. They both knew the dangers of not being careful with what you said in mixed company and while they were seated at the Gryffindor table... well, Pettigrew had been a Gryffindor too...
As they listened to the announcements – no Quidditch, no teams, no clubs – proper decorum at all times – Ichigo found that he did not envy Snape his job. In a way, it was almost like having to deal with Umbridge again – almost. The only real things that made it better was that Snape was not enforcing the distance a couple might be from each other, Ichigo knew that 'proper decorum' did not prevent something as simple as hand-holding, nor was he preventing people from being in groups of two or more. People would be able to group together to in order to be safe from the Darkside Twins. Safety in numbers and all that.
Food appeared on the table and the students ate and spoke to each other quietly. Gone was the boisterous, cheerful, semi-chaos of the previous years. Now they were all too aware that there were Death Eaters in charge of Hogwarts and they were reacting accordingly to the 'invaders'.
Ichigo let his gaze drift over the student body. Many wore wary, fearful looks that were being directed at the Head Table, but there were a few other looks as well – sly, thoughtful looks. 'I'm thinking of causing trouble' looks.
When he looked closer and tallied those particular looks, he realized that they were all worn on the faces of the members of the DA. He groaned and face-palmed internally.
Something told him it wasn't just going to be Draco and the Carrows keeping him on his toes this year.
Once dinner was finished and as the Prefects started to lead the students to their dorms, Ichigo and Daphne stood on either side of the doors and watched them file out. Daphne stood next to Filch and Ichigo stood next to Chad. Chad was also watching over the students silently and did not glance at Ichigo more than once to acknowledge his presence as a 'fellow guard'. Chad was careful not to show any recognition as they could not let on they knew each other. Some students looked at his big friend with wariness, some of the younger years stared at him with outright fear in their eyes. Ichigo wished he could tell them Chad would not hurt a fly. A Hollow, yes; defend himself in a fight, yes; but Chad had not one malicious bone in his body and Ichigo knew those looks of fear cut into his silent friend's heart. He wanted to give his friend's shoulder a squeeze, to give him some sort of sign of camaraderie...
But he couldn't. Because everyone needed to believe that 'Oscar' would break them in half if he caught them out of their dorms at night. The only people potentially exempt from the silent boy's wrath were ironically the Head Boy and Head Girl, who would also be patrolling the corridors at night.
Daphne nodded at Ichigo then said to him, "I'll make sure the Hufflepuffs are all settled, will you check on the Ravenclaws?"
He nodded in response. The logistics made sense even if he wanted to check on his little sister.
"I can have Winky wake us early, if you like," he offered.
"That would be great, thanks. I don't want to be late for our first meeting with Professor Snape. That would be a horrible way to start off the year as Heads."
"Agreed," Ichigo nodded.
No, he thought as he followed the Ravenclaws to their tower and found himself surprised at how easy the riddle was to get in to check on them, he did not want to be late to that first meeting either.
The Ravenclaws were settling in nicely and seemed to be very overjoyed to have him as Head Boy, he noticed. He received a ton of congratulations from the older students that started the moment he stepped into their common room.
"We were all afraid it would be Malfoy," Anthony Goldstein, one of the Prefects, told him.
"A lot of people were," Padma added.
"Maybe this was Snape's way of giving it to you? You've been his favorite student since Fifth Year," one of the other Ravenclaws commented thoughtfully, which caused a few others to nod their agreement to that idea.
Ichigo shrugged at the question.
"Who knows? I'm not sure the Head Master can influence the Sorting Hat," he looked around at that point, pinning all of the older years, especially the Seventh Years, with a serious expression. "I don't need to tell you guys how to do your jobs; you probably know them better than I do."
They all laughed, though the laughter was strained, and then wished Ichigo good luck. He did not have a chance to speak with either Uryu or Toshiro about the new Ravenclaw in Toshiro's year, both of them were trying to help some homesick Firsties who were already tearing up from homesickness. He would have to talk to them tomorrow, as soon as possible.
"Thanks," he replied dryly as he left. "I'm going to need it."
#
The following morning saw the arrival of several more Japanese in their small camp: a young healer that reminded Harry too much of Ron and a pair of Stealth Guards. One of them spoke to Kyoraku in low tones and Harry found that he was giving himself a headache as he tried to strain to hear the conversation.
"Two days rest, then he should be up to traveling," the healer pronounced suddenly with a smile and a clap of his hands.
"Thank you, Hanataro," Nanao said warmly.
"Oh, no problem! Any friend of Ichigo's is a friend of mine. I'm glad I could help!" he said cheerfully.
Speaking of Ichigo, Harry dutifully texted his friend, and got a long, grousing reply minutes later in response to his simple text of 'We're all okay. Hanataro said Ron needs two days rest then we are good for travel. How are you?'
"Oh, wow," Harry breathed as he stared at the phone.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Well, first he says if you don't do what Hanataro says, he'll smack you from here to Japan or send Grimmjow to sit on you, something about a Panther-like form."
"He will too," Kyoraku smirked, seeing Ron's face pale at the thought of Grimmjow coming to sit on him, especially if the man could turn into a big cat. Being sat on by a panther did not sound like fun times at all.
"And next he says he's not Prefect anymore," Harry said carefully as he eyed his friends expressions. He wasn't disappointed.
"What?!" Hermione asked in a shrill, indignant tone, "How could he not be a Prefect!? Did he get demoted already?"
"What? Why not?" Ron also asked, a little more subdued but no less ready to be angry at Ichigo's behalf.
Harry was silent and tried to look solemn for as long as he could but he couldn't fight back the proud grin. "He's Head Boy!"
Hermione gasped while Ron gaped at him.
"How –" Ron started to ask only to fall silent after a few spluttering sounds.
Harry quickly explained what Ichigo had written of how the selection had been made.
"Snape rigged it, had to have," Ron stated firmly.
"Impossible," Hermione shook her head. "The Sorting Hat will take the wearer's wishes into account, but the Head Master's? I think more likely it realized what the coming year was going to bring and then picked the strongest and most capable amongst the students."
"Then why a Slytherin?" Ron asked sullenly.
"Daphne was always easy-going; she'll be the most responsible in the position," Hermione stated. "Plus it forces a Slytherin and a Gryffindor to work together. Remember, we want House unity to actually develop even if it is behind the Carrows' backs."
"She's always so sensible," Ron groused softly to Harry. Harry snickered.
Kyoraku laughed as he walked over and then tipped his hat at them. "Well, we have to be leaving. The guards will remain here until you break camp."
Harry watched the three leave and then sighed. It was quiet once more in the clearing. There were still two guards watching over them, but it wasn't the same thing, as Soifon's Stealth Force tended to be... silent. And very impersonal... and if he was honest with himself, scary. He found himself very grateful that these people were on his side.
"We really are on our own now, aren't we? I mean, those two will be leaving once I'm well enough to travel and... we won't have any backup readily at hand," Ron said softly from his bunk. "This isn't a simple chess game, it's real life and... and the wrong tactic will be more than just a reset of the board... won't it?"
The trio looked at each other solemnly. They'd gotten so used to the Japanese being around that the thought of being on their own again felt decidedly strange. Ron was right though, Harry thought. He knew things were serious when he lost Sirius, but a part of him had still wanted to think that everything would be okay, like a 'white knight saves the princess' kind of fairy tale. But... would they really be okay alone?
Thankfully the two guards supplied them with some food, as they had not had a chance to pack any additional supplies when they had been forced to flee Grimmauld Place. The pair was very diligent in keeping watch, allowing the three to get some much needed rest. They would need to build up their strength for what was sure to come. Harry thought about Kreacher, while their relationship had started out as hate-filled as it had been between Sirius and the Elf, Harry had come to respect the wily old house elf and hoped that he had managed to escape without injury. He knew from Kyoraku and Nanao that Soifon and Gin had successfully held off the Death Eaters and even managed to slay a few before the attack ended so there was a good chance Kreacher was okay. He didn't dare call on him to find out though. It was something he would need to ask Ichigo next chance he got.
That night Harry unfortunately dreamt of Voldemort. He had found Gregorovitch... tortured him... read his mind... and then killed him. Harry woke up with a choked yell and rushed out of the tent to throw up in one of the bushes. Hermione and Ron were both worried about Harry, but only Ron was interested in what Harry saw, that whatever Voldemort had been after, whatever item that had been in Gregorovitch's possession... was successfully located by Moldy-shorts and would be in the tyrant's possession soon.
Hermione had a snit, as Harry's vision meant he wasn't practicing his Occlumency again. Harry managed to email Ichigo to let him know what happened as she ranted at him about his foolishness at not keeping shields up.
He, like Ron, understood.
Harry could not control his dreams.
Or the connection between them.
#
Daphne and Ichigo stood quietly in front of Snape while he listed their duties as Head Boy and Head Girl for the year.
Not too bad, Ichigo thought; it was basically the same as being Captain and the Prefects were the ranked squad members.
Weekly meetings with the Prefects. Check.
Schedule duties for the Prefects. Check.
Schedule patrol times and who went with whom to be effective teams. Check.
Discipline Prefects if needed. Check.
Report to Snape every Friday. Check.
Assist in monitoring meal times. Check.
He had to wonder if the new Headmaster had talked to the Old Man or some of the Captains about the scheduling or if he had come up with the system by just using his observational skills while in the Seireitei. But he really didn't know who to ask and was sure that Snape wouldn't say either way.
"You can use the History of Magic classroom to meet in," Snape said as he handed each of them a key. "I suggest the hour before supper as a good time for your meetings. I also suggest you include Oscar, since he'll be patrolling at night and will need to know which Prefects are scheduled and authorized to be out of their dorms."
"Oscar?" Ichigo said as blankly as he could.
Snape sighed heavily for Daphne's benefit. "The tall, silent young man I hired on this year. You stood right next to him."
"Oh, him. Ah, you know how horrid I am with names," Ichigo admitted with a shrug as Daphne snickered quietly behind her hand.
"Indeed," Snape nodded, "I thought 'Dumbridge' was particularly apropos, and was rather fond of the term 'Minister Chocolate Bar.'" He walked back to the Head Master's desk and sat down. "You have just enough time to get to the Great Hall and get some breakfast before your first class. I suggest you do so."
They both nodded and hurried off. Ichigo was gratified to see Rukia had saved him a seat when he got to the Great Hall. Winky appeared the moment he sat down, a plate of food for him held in her hands.
"Master," she said in a low, conspiratorial tone as she set the plate down. He leaned down to listen to her. She whispered in his hear. He nodded and said something back to her, and then she vanished with a soft pop.
"Later," he mouthed at his friends. Snape needed to speak with him again… immediately after breakfast. Quietly and alone.
They all nodded, understanding his silence on the matter. He did not want to talk about it in the crowded hall. Too many ears could listen in on their conversations. He paused in his eating when Professor McGonagall stopped by and handed him his schedule for the term.
"You and Ishida have already taken – and passed – several of your N.E.W.T.s.," she said proudly. "There does not appear to be a reason for you to continue on in those classes, other than for you to expand your knowledge if you wish to do so."
"I think I'd get bored," Ichigo admitted as he took the paper. Too much free time and he'd go nuts, he thought.
She nodded. "Very well, then. You can act as teaching assistants. Be sure to ask your Professors if you may do so first thing. I'll approve you as my own TA during my classes. No turning students into rabbits if they frustrate you, though."
Ichigo nodded and shared a smile with the Transfiguration teacher. He then looked his schedule over and then back up at Professor McGonagall with a frown. "Wait, Muggle Studies?" He probably knew more about the Mundane World than any Professor could teach…why was he being forced to take this class?
She gave a slight grimace. "It is now - required - of all students."
"Wonderful," Ichigo groaned out and face-palmed slowly. "I can just imagine how that class is going to go. Can I tie up the Professor for the duration and just teach the class myself in the 'capacity of a teacher's assistant'?"
She gave him a long look as if she were actually considering his question seriously before she finally shook her head.
"Considering how afraid the Carrows are of you... scowling may achieve the same result," she replied before she moved off.
"So Alecto is teaching Muggle Studies and Amycus is teaching DADA," he muttered. "This should be... interesting."
"I foresee a lot of detentions in my future," Tatsuki sighed as she looked over her own schedule, "And I don't need Divination to see that either."
"So what do we do?" Neville asked, looking over at Ichigo.
"I don't know yet," Ichigo admitted, his gaze slipped over to the Head Table where the Carrows sat and he frowned at them. Both avoided his gaze. "I just don't know yet."
#
Ichigo slipped away and managed to get to Snape's office, mostly by using flash step.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked the Professor.
"Just a quick word," Snape nodded, "This is liable to be a trying year. I know you are probably – most likely – the strongest person in this school," he paused, "but that is not the reason that the Death Eaters have been backing down."
"Oh?"
"No. He has given orders not to provoke you – or get into any kind of spat with you – until he can find a way of dealing with you – permanently."
Ichigo's brows rose. "I see. So I'm the new Dumbledore, am I?"
There was a brief laugh from the former Head Master's painting. It had been common knowledge that Voldemort had not wanted to go head to head with Dumbledore if he could avoid it. Snape's lips twitched.
"In a manner of speaking, yes. So, do what you have to – but try not to be so overt about it."
Ichigo sighed. "I don't know if sneaky is in my nature, Professor. But I'll try."
#
Draco was over the moon, although he didn't show it. He knew better then to show any kind of out of place emotion. Ichigo and Snape had drilled that warning into his head. At any rate, when he'd had the Sorting Hat on, he'd asked it for help – and it had responded, with a number of names he hadn't expected.
Although maybe he should have, when he thought about them logically. They were all a bit puzzled when he approached them on the sly and very nervous over what he was instructing them to do...
He walked into the Prefect's Meeting, to see Ichigo, Daphne and the Squib – who was something else entirely, according to the Hat – still working on something. He sat down next to Pansy, who just shrugged when he gave her an inquisitive look.
"Okay, that works," he heard Ichigo say. The other two nodded and then looked over at the waiting group of Prefects.
"All right," Ichigo said, looking them over. "This is how it's going to work. Most of you have been Prefects before, but some of you are replacing students who didn't return," he looked over at the handful of Gryffindors sitting together – Ginny, Neville, and the two reserve Beaters from the previous year's Quidditch team. "So while most of your duties are going to remain the same, there will be a bit of a change."
Twenty four Prefects blinked at him in confusion as Daphne took up the narrative.
"You've been used to being able to give out detentions and deduct points on your own. No more," she said firmly. "All demerits and detentions will be handed to us on Fridays for approval."
"So – we can't point students anymore for misbehaving?" Ernie asked, surprised.
"You can, but it won't go into effect until we both approve it," Ichigo clarified. "If they give you any flack about saying 'I'm reporting your actions to the Head Boy or Girl for points removal', let me know and I'll talk to the student directly regarding their attitude."
Everyone there shivered at Ichigo's tone.
"It will be the same with detentions," Daphne added. "All detentions will be reviewed for fairness... and over-zealousness."
"And that –" Ichigo said with a twist of his lips, "was definitely directed at two particular Houses."
Eyes swiveled between the Slytherin and Gryffindor Prefects, who had chosen to sit on opposite sides of the room from the other. Both pairs of Prefects flushed faintly at his words as they glared at the other. But it was true; they did have a tendency to target each other's Houses.
"You'll also be patrolling at night," Ichigo told them to their surprise, "we've made up a schedule. You'll each get a copy, Professor Snape will have a copy, the House Heads will have a copy and we'll post it where we can. If you can't make your assigned shift, switch with someone and let one of us know about it. If – uh –"
Ichigo broke off and waved at Chad, his face pained as he appeared to struggle to remember the boy's name. His expression caused more than a few snorts and giggles amongst those gathered.
"Oscar," Chad said with a dry tone.
"If Oscar doesn't know you've switched and he catches you out of the dorm, or one of us does, well," Ichigo's smile became sinister. "Losing points will be the least of your worries."
"What?" a clueless Hufflepuff asked.
"You'll grow bunny ears," Padma explained with a smirk.
People in the room went pale at the threat and Ichigo could practically see them mentally note not to forget to tell someone if they needed to switch out their patrol.
"Okay, get some dinner and then get your schedules after," Daphne nodded at them. Once the lot had left she looked at the other two. "Do you think we did the right thing, mixing the Houses like that?"
"Well," Chad said with a shrug. "We'll certainly find out won't we?"
#
"This is your fault."
The voice that said those words within the Head Captain's meeting room was soft and full of such malice that the person to whom those words were directed, despite priding himself on being one of the few who did not react to said speaker's ire (even though he did), flinched back a full step before stopping himself from moving further and he successfully pushed back the desire to flee the room entirely.
The remaining Captains had all been called to a meeting with Yamamoto. Dumbledore was in attendance as well as he had been visiting with his old friend when she had arrived. The meeting had been called at Captain Unohana's insistence after she had been attacked by what she had confirmed was the culprit of the illness racing through the Seireitei, a culprit that she currently had trapped within a physical cage that had been bought from the living realm as it had literally eaten its way out of the reiatsu barrier it had initially been trapped in. She'd had to lock it up in ten different barriers like a prize hidden in the center of a nesting doll to have enough time to go to the living realm to get the current cage. This had not helped her mood at finding out just what the instigator of the epidemic was.
What was in the cage? A magenta colored Pygmy-puff. Considering how many people were sick, this was obviously not the only one that was running rampant in the Seireitei either. In fact, there was no telling how many there were or how far they had spread. Unohana had contacted the other Soul Societies to try to determine if the illness had spread to the other realms, as well.
It had, but not to the extent it had in the Seireitei.
Mayuri crossed his arms petulantly before turning to look at the Head Captain to plead ignorance to the accusation being leveled at him.
"I assure you, I followed your orders and stopped all active experiments involving the Pygmy-Puffs," he said to the Head Captain in a haughty tone.
"Then explain this!" Unohana hissed as she literally shoved the cage against Mayuri's face.
The little Pygmy-puff started to bite at the cage wall closest to Mayuri, trying to take a bite out of him through the glass barrier. Mayuri held himself still and looked ready to refuse to answer but Yamamoto slammed his walking staff against the ground and the 'scientist' Captain sighed dramatically as he caved.
"You told me to get rid of the lot and I did. I dumped them into Hueco Mundo to see if they could survive. I truly didn't think any of them could and even then not one of them had the ability to eat reiatsu. Though now I wish I'd had a chance to observe this development personally," he eyed the creature that was still trying to break out of the cage in order to bite him. "Obviously it is descended from the red strain because of its aggressive nature, but I am curious as to how in-breeding with the other strains allowed it to develop the ability to consume reiatsu. Or perhaps it was a by-product of being born in Hueco Mundo? A fascinating subject, really -"
"Fascinating? Fascinating?!" Unohana's voice rose briefly in a shout that had every Captain present, including Yamamoto, wondering if they should make a break for it before she completely lost her cool with Mayuri's callous and inhuman attitude. There was a reason why even Kenpachi feared the woman after all.
"Ten confirmed dead, thousands upon thousands missing their memories if not in a comatose state that they may well not recover from," Unohana growled out as her reiatsu started to lash about the room.
The little Pygmy-puff suddenly rolled onto its back and started crooning as the energy passed over the cage in her hand, the little thing suddenly being overwhelmed with 'food'. At first the sounds being made were happy, as if a child had been given unlimited ice-cream and Mayuri's eyes widened in surprise as the creature started to bloat up, as the sounds it made changed to more of a pained whining. Only Yachiru's sudden shout and lunge from Kenpachi's shoulder to yank the cage out of Unohana's hands seemed to calm the older woman down, or at the least stop the flood of energy.
Yachiru darted behind Dumbledore to coo at the suddenly weak and bloated creature that was mewling in pain. Dumbledore turned so he could rub circles on the girls back to help keep her calm yet still keep her hidden from sight as she seemed to wish. A few moments later she poked her head out from behind the former-headmaster to glare at Unohana with tear-filled eyes.
"I know this little guy hurt lots of people 'cause he eats reiatsu. It's in his nature and he doesn't know any better," she said with a surprisingly serious tone of voice despite the on flux of tears. "That doesn't mean you should torture the poor thing! He was 'bout to burst! Don't be a meanie!"
Unohana took several slow, deep breaths. The glare she sent Mayuri's way made him flinch once more before she slowly moved over toward where Yachiru was hiding and she then knelt down and bowed her head low to the young girl in a way that was meant to convey the begging of forgiveness.
"I am so sorry Yachiru. You are right. What I just did in my anger was wrong," Unohana lifted her head only after Yachiru moved over to touch her shoulder, conveying the acceptance of the apology and her gaze was serious as she met the young Lieutenant's eyes. "We will still have to deal with these creatures, you know this."
"I know. They're dangerous and hurting people," Yachiru said sadly as she looked at the small, wounded creature. She continued to pet the creature lightly. "But you don't have to torture them to stop them."
"You're right, of course, you are right," Unohana slowly opened her hands out to the young girl and moments later Yachiru was curled up on Unohana's lap. She looked up then and pinned Mayuri with another glare.
"Find something to track these creatures of yours. We have no idea how many are in the Seireitei. They are to be returned to their new habitat in Hueco Mundo or to be put down - humanely."
Mayuri huffed but nodded his agreement to the demand. As everyone turned their focus back to Yachiru, they missed the sudden flash that crossed his face as he resolved to do some further... experiments...