I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I know it's been a really, really long time, but it wasn't intentional!

I was actually planning to publish this chapter way back in December, but when I tried to turn on the computer... nothing but a blinking light. Now, being in tech support and actually having a computer science degree, I proceeded to attempt to figure out what was wrong with it. It took a bit of time, but first I found that the CMOS battery was almost dead. Check...

And then the nightmare began. The unit would boot up, run...and then bluescreen after about an hour. I made sure the flash drive with all my stories was not plugged in, unplugged the data drive from the motherboard, and then tried to figure out what the hell else was wrong.

In addition, when I pulled out my old standby, a 2007 MacBook, it decided that old age was going to finally affect it. Dead battery, untrustworthy cursor - it would suddenly decide to jump to the beginning of the line, or highlight and delete whole paragraphs - and then the backlight decided to randomly go out while I was on it. Not something I wanted to trust with this story while I fought with the maker of the replacement - and defective - motherboard I had purchased. It finally got to the point where I said "Eff this" and decided that keeping the old processor and memory wasn't worth it and just bought new everything.

All this is now done, and I have just got word that the original motherboard - the defective one - is being replaced. Better late than never, I suppose. Well, there's always eBay.

So now that you know why this has been on a forced hiatus, as always, we don't own either HP or Bleach (which I have just caught up on - the Mac couldn't handle that, either).

Chapter 23

Ichigo and Uryu stood in the back of the Potions class, listening as Professor Slughorn instructed the First Years on their first day of Potions Class. He was doing his best to be jovial and fair, and he apparently had no favorites – yet.

Ichigo highly doubted there would be a 'Slug Club' this year, based on the current circumstances. However, as he listened to the Professor rattle on, he became aware of one thing:

Despite the fact that Snape was his mentor in Potions, Ichigo was the first to admit the man lacked a certain – empathy – with the students. And that empathy was something that Slughorn had in spades.

"This year, we're lucky to have not one, but two excellent Teaching Assistants," Ichigo came to attention when he heard the Professor say this, and to his credit Slughorn did actually get cheerful as he said this, "they both passed their N.E.W.T.s already, before they became Seventh Years, that's how brilliant they are in Potions, so instead of taking Seventh Year Potions class they will be assisting me instead. I'm sure you all recognize Hogwarts' Head Boy, Mr. Kurosaki –" Ichigo managed to smile at them as they all turned wide-eyed to look at him, "but I don't think you're acquainted with his friend, Mr. Ishida. They will both be walking around to assist you if you have any questions." Slughorn's eyes twinkled, almost as merrily as Dumbledore's once had. "And, rumor has it, that Mr. Kurosaki has actually memorized all of the Potions books…"

Uryu smirked at him as Ichigo blushed, and with that, Slughorn put the first Potion on the board. It was a simple one; it shouldn't give them too much trouble, Ichigo thought as he moved off to his right, allowing Uryu to circle to the left. The potion was designed to familiarize the students with the basics – lighting a flame, adding ingredients, cutting potions ingredients into portions with their knives, measuring those portions, and stirring, all in a very logical order.

Nothing about the potion should be dangerous, explosive or in any other manner life threatening.

Unless, he thought, as he hurried towards a table of Slytherins at the same time that Slughorn saw the potential disaster, a couple of hapless First Years got too close to the burner they were trying to light with their wands…Ichigo reached them a scant second before the burner caught aflame.

The students stared at the flame, white faced; the student who had nearly been turned into a human torch stared at Ichigo, wide eyed at having been yanked backwards just in the nick of time.

They were all expecting a chewing out, Ichigo mused as he raised his head to meet first Uryu's gaze, then the Professor's. The Quincy had frozen in his tracks at the far end of the room, realizing he could not reach the boys in time, and the elderly, portly Professor appeared to be frozen in mid-crouch in preparation for a vault over his desk.

Drawing in a deep breath, Ichigo then proceeded to calmly demonstrate how to light the burners, making sure they could all do it before moving on. He was rewarded with four worshipful gazes that made him a bit uncomfortable as he left them.

And so it went.

When Potions ended, they went to Ancient Runes (the first day of class was an easy one, they assisted a Fifth Year Transfiguration class and had Astronomy in the evening), lunch, and after that, Uryu went to assist in a Second Year Transfiguration class, while Ichigo headed back down to the Dungeon room and a Third Year Potions class – which would contain his sisters and Toshiro. Luckily that class went a lot easier than the previous classes. These students already knew how to light the burners.

The third day of classes had a different tone. Because on the third day of classes was DADA and Muggle Studies.

Within the first ten minutes of Muggle Studies those students who were familiar with the Mundane world immediately tuned out the teacher of the class – it was the only way for them not to erupt with anger. Although Ichigo was on the verge of a very loud and brilliant explosion from the expression on his face. Once the first student realized what the older boy's expression might mean people began to subtly nudge each other or pass notes. Not five minutes later, everyone's focus was more on Ichigo and his temper than on the teacher, Alecto Carrow.

How Alecto could continue to teach – or at least try to teach – with Ichigo's scowl directed at her from underneath a long fringe of orange hair, no one understood. The class was obviously not about understanding the Mundane world – but indoctrinating witches and wizards into the 'pure blood superiority' way of thinking, which was pure bullshit, as far as he was concerned. It didn't help his temper that the 'teacher' was acting as if the Mundanes were still stuck in the Stone Age and hadn't made the technological, medical and entertainment based advances that they had. Advances of which several had been very, very subtly introduced to the wizarding world, such as the wireless radios.

He looked over at Uryu. His friend caught his gaze and grimaced as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. Uryu had once felt that he was 'superior' to the Shinigami as he was a Quincy, until Ichigo had painfully disabused him of his ego... or most of it.

After a half hour of glaring at the teacher, and not realizing people were very carefully taking bets at the back of the class on how long he would last before he lost it and just how he would lose it, he couldn't take any more and stood so abruptly that Alecto took a startled step backwards.

"Wha-" she started to ask, only for him to cut her off.

"This is BS," Ichigo said curtly. "What you know about Mundanes would fit on the head of a pin, without using magic."

There were a few coughs, some titters and a few groans as money started subtly changing hands.

"S-sit down, Mr. Kuro-" Alecto started to say again.

"Not until I've spoken my mind. Don't think I don't know what is going on here, because I do. However, what you don't get is that this – curriculum – of yours is useless to us. In Japan, we live and work side by side with mundanes and guess what? We fit in!" he continued to glare at her but his tone stayed at a quiet, yet dangerous, level. "You can't pick a witch or wizard out of a crowd in Japan if you tried. We know all about their devices and electronics, their government and their society because we live in it."

His friends were all nodding as he spoke. Uryu stood up next and started to pack up his bag.

"Indeed, were we to follow your example – we'd expose ourselves and bring our society into the open," Uryu added as he looked up at the teacher and pushed his glasses up again with just his middle finger. Those who knew Uryu's gestures by heart had to fight to keep their jaws from dropping or bursting into laughter as he had just subtly flipped off their professor. "With very disastrous results."

"So if you'll excuse us," Tatsuki said, fighting down a smile as she stood.

"We'll just remove ourselves from your class," Rukia said in her sickly-sweet tone of voice.

"We wouldn't want to risk exposure and breaking the International Statute of Secrecy, would we?" Momo finished with a little bow as they all waved at her as they trooped out.

All Alecto could do was gape at them as they left the room.

There were snickers, coughs and a few outright laughs from some of the other students as the last of the money traded hands. Only Ichigo could get away with walking out of class in that manner. In fact, several were tempted to follow him and his Japanese friends from the room and that wasn't just counting the Gryffindors in the room.

Draco found the entire thing highly amusing and enjoyed seeing Alecto being made a fool of, especially as he was not fond of the Carrows. He did worry that it would go badly for the Japanese after this, however. Although... he could not think of anyone in the school who would dare to give Ichigo detention other than Professor Snape – and even then there was the chance that a detention with Professor Snape would not be an actual detention.

"All right, the rest of you!" Alecto pulled herself together. "Shut up, eyes back up front and focus!"

#

Toshiro couldn't help but show some of his irritation. While both Kurosaki twins did have other friends to hang out with, it was only Karin who showed a distinct preference for his company – but that, he mused, was only to be expected. It was only at mealtimes, and when she was in Gryffindor Tower, or in those few classes they didn't share (this did make him nervous, he admitted) that she hung out with her other friends.

The source of his irritation was one Yukio Hans Vorarlberna. Ichigo had explained to them who he was, and this had intrigued the girls, to the point where they had dozens of questions – and had no hesitation in asking them.

Yukio also apparently had no hesitation in answering them, either.

Toshiro knew Ichigo had made a quick, discrete trip back to Soul Society to talk to his mother, so he knew their story was actually true – they were members of the families that had come with the first Kurosaki Ambassador from Japan, and they were blood sworn to his line.

He just didn't trust them yet.

So while Ichigo and the others kept an eye on the older members of the group, it was up to Toshiro to keep an eye on Yukio.

Which meant allowing him to hang out with Toshiro and Karin. All of the time.

Thanks to Ichigo's staged walkout, they did not have to attend Muggle Studies, which was a relief. If he wanted to know something about the mundane world, he'd ask one of the Kurosaki's or their friends.

He certainly wouldn't ask a wizard who was baffled by it half of the time. Nor would he ask an arrogant prick of a Death Eater.

On the other hand...

He watched Amycus with some wariness as the pompous, out of shape little death eater strutted like a peacock in front of the room. Too much more of this, he thought with disdain, and he was going to turn the man into an ice statue.

"A demonstration, I think," their new – bogus – Professor said suddenly and loudly.

Demonstration? What the Hell? A demonstration in WHAT? He'd spent almost the entire class spouting off on the wondrous powers of the 'Dark Arts' and he had no where near as interesting a voice as Snape. Several students had literally fallen asleep.

His eyes swept over the cluster of suddenly wary third years, looking for an appropriate volunteer - read: victim. The only one who didn't shrink away from his gaze was Toshiro – and to the Death Eater's surprise, Karin and Yukio.

"You – Whitey," he snapped his fingers at Toshiro, who scowled at him.

"My name," Toshiro hissed as he stood, "is not Whitey!"

The temperature in the room dropped about twenty degrees; literally.

"Mind your manners, boy!" the man snapped.

It dropped another twenty degrees; his classmates could now see their breath on the air,and they shivered at the sudden drop in temperature. Karin and Yuzu glanced at each other with some resignation, then pulled heavy sweaters out of their bags and pulled them on over their robes.

There was a benefit to knowing what Toshiro's power was – you came prepared for the worst. Especially if you knew that he might loose his temper due to interaction with an idiot.

Toshiro stood in front of him, wandless, waiting to see what this particular idiot had in mind. Because he certainly wasn't going to allow this – pig – to use him as a lab rat/example.

No. He was a Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, the youngest in history (if you didn't count Ichigo – but he was an anomaly and also 'older' physically. Toshiro was still expecting a growth spurt at some point).

He was no one's lab rat, nor would he ever let a 'Death Eater' use him as an example.

So as the pudgy fool droned on about the Unforgiveables, Toshiro did two things while he stood there looking bored: he put a kido shield between himself and Amycus, and a second between the two of them and the class.

And the idiot never noticed; although from the amused gleam in her eye, Karin did...

"Now, to demonstrate..." Amycus eagerly turned to face Toshiro, who continued to stare back at him with the same bored expression, "...Crucio!"

There were a few gasps, but these turned into yells and other loud exclamations when the spell rebounded off the shield and hit Amycus square in the chest, throwing him back against the wall hard enough to crack it and knock him unconscious.

"Is he dead?" someone asked fearfully.

"We should be so lucky," Toshiro drawled, "the damned fool knocked himself out – with his own spell."

He dropped both shields and sat back down.

"Should we go get Madame Pomfrey?" someone else asked.

"You can if you want, but class ends in less than five minutes," Karin pointed out. "We'll be late for Potions if we try to get her."

The entirety of the class glared at the Professor for putting them in that position – and then the bell rang, so, ignoring the fallen fool, they all trooped out past the incoming students – which happened to be the Seventh Years.

Toshiro paused in front of Ichigo.

"He's your problem, now," he told the taller boy.

"Huh?" came the confused response

A few moments later he couldn't help but smirk when he heard Ichigo's enraged bellow.

"Toshiro!"

He laughed wickedly at having finally pulled one over on his fellow Captain.

#

Hours later Ichigo was in the Headmaster's office looking at Snape with a bemused expression that all but hid his stubborn fire.

"What," Snape sighed softly as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "am I going to do with you?"

Ichigo shrugged in response to the question. "Did you seriously think I would stay in that class? With my background? With how meshed Japanese society is between magical and mundane? You could be an actual, real, magical Miko... ah, Priestess, and no one would bat an eye in Japan!"

"True enough," Snape grimaced as he dropped his hand. He was more than aware of how well meshed the two societies were. Truthfully, he considered relocating more than once. "No. I half expected all of Gryffindor to follow you, however. I am surprised they did not."

"I heard a few whispers of rebellion as I left the room," Ichigo said with another shrug.

Ichigo knew the Professor was not seriously upset with him. In fact, he was pretty sure that the surly older man was actually secretly amused with the situation and approved of his protégé's actions.

"Detention?" Ichigo asked.

"A week for instigating a scene I believe," Professor Snape said as he pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against. "As Head Boy you should know better. However, because I have received a rather angry missive from the Japanese Emperor himself, all of your group will be exempt from that class, including Hitsugaya and your sisters."

"The Japanese Emperor or Gramps?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.

"The Japanese Emperor. Restating exactly what you did. As the – Ministry – does not want an international incident, or more interference from Japan than has already occurred, they've bowed to his wishes." Snape's eye twitched.

"Hm," Ichigo eyed his mentor, pondering. "So what am I going to be doing during this 'detention' ?"

"It will be with me, of course," Snape said calmly. "You can do your homework."

"Done," Ichigo said with another shrug.

"In that case..." Snape took out his wand and gave it a flick. Ichigo stared at what had been manifested by his teacher for a long moment before he groaned.

"Seriously?" Ichigo gave Snape a plaintive look and then reluctantly took a seat when he got only an arched brow as a response. "Fine, fine. White or black?"

"White, of course," Snape replied as he sat down and spun the chess board so the two sides were opposite each other.

"If they knew how I was spending detention..." Ichigo muttered as he shook his head.

"You detest Wizard's Chess... or I should say, you detest chess in general," Snape smirked at him. "I think forcing you to do something you do not like is an appropriate punishment."

"Detest is too mild a word," Ichigo muttered back as he eyed the board.

"Your move," Snape said with a sharks grin.

Ichigo moved a pawn. "I suck at chess."

"Then this will be a perfect opportunity for you to improve your skills – especially your tactical skills and your patience," Snape moved his Bishop. "How are the others doing with Occlumency?"

"Ginjo and Tsukishima – very well. Apparently they've had training," Ichigo studied the board before he moved a knight. "Daphne is picking it up quickly, but I have a reason to hang out with her because of our Head duties so she's getting more practice in than some of the others. Millie's having trouble though and so is Zabini."

"I'll find a way to work with them myself then. Astoria?"

"In the middle, somewhere. Not floundering but not excelling either. It's actually where I was expecting Zabini to be, he surprised me."

"Have Malfoy and your sister managed to avoid each other?"

Ichigo grimaced and then captured Snape's Bishop with a Castle, and watched as the Bishop was pulverized. "Barely, but only because Winky, Dobby and Moaning Myrtle spend practically every waking minute making sure they don't run into each other. Draco may be able to hide his feelings, but Yuzu can't, especially if he gets hurt or worse, called by Ol' Moldy. She'd make the mistake of quickly finding a window somewhere to watch for him if he got called and she knew about it."

Snape then seized Ichigo's Knight with one of his and held on to the taken piece for a long moment before he set it aside with the other claims pieces.

"That – could be a problem," Snape said slowly.

"A very big problem," Ichigo grumbled. He frowned as he moved his King out of Check and lost his Queen. He eyed the board and then let out a sigh as he realized he'd been led into a trap by the older man. His King piece would be claimed in two or three moves and there was nothing he could do about it. "I told you I sucked at Chess."

#

After Ichigo's 'detention' he immediately set off to meet up with one of the new students, specifically Yukio. As his loyalty was supposedly with Ichigo, the older boy had set the newbie a mission; stay behind and report what happened within Alecto and Amycus's classes with the younger students. Ichigo had learned that Toshiro and his sisters had cited the same thing he did during his class and then left while Yukio stayed behind and looked bored.

As Amycus had immediately told the class that they would be learning about, and thus learning to cast, Unforgivables and other spells that should have been listed as Unforgivables, Ichigo and the others had also cited that 'even if Unforgivables are now legal in Britain, they were still illegal in Japan' and had left the class. Again, when Toshiro and the others left, citing the same things he had, Yukio remained behind.

Ichigo found the blonde boy sitting up on the Astronomy tower stairs playing his game system avidly. Ichigo paused nearby, leaned against the wall and tilted his head as he looked at the boy.

"You don't have to wait for me to pause you know," Yukio said dryly. "I can multi-task just fine."

"Just trying to be polite," Ichigo responded with a shrug. "Anyway, how did the classes go after we left?"

"Muggle Studies is a joke," Yukio snorted. "Alecto is teaching about things from fifty to a hundred years ago. She's teaching that the muggles are stealing our magic by claiming things like the atom bomb and nuclear plant accidents are all rituals gone wrong because 'stupid muggles' can't harness magic properly and that those few who can supposedly harness magic as kids are used to infiltrate our society. Really, the way she explains things is absolutely pathetic. Either the muggles are too stupid to get anything done or they are so smart that we need to destroy them before they destroy us."

Ichigo snorted at that and watched as the boys fingers continued to fly over the controls of his gaming device while he spoke. He didn't pause once during his overview of Alecto's class.

"Figures that her class would be a complete bust. Anyone else call her out on the contradictions?" Ichigo asked.

"A Ravenclaw," Yukio said with another shrug. He didn't elaborate.

Ichigo grew slightly annoyed by the lack of care the kid was showing and straightened up.

"What happened?" he bit out. Yukio spared him a glance and then shrugged again.

"She cast Silencio on him, nothing big," Yukio responded.

Ichigo relaxed slightly but continued to frown at the boy.

"Why are you so... cold?" Ichigo asked bluntly.

"'Indifferent'," Yukio corrected. "The word you are looking for is 'Indifferent'. If no one is being hurt outright then I'm not going to put up a fuss," he forcefully pressed the buttons for a moment and Ichigo heard the sounds of victory music. "I learned a long time ago that throwing a hissy fit gets you thrown into a room with no-one but a cleaning maid that can't speak English at the absolute best. I'd like to avoid seeing the Carrows at their worst, if you please."

"That's... harsh," Ichigo offered as he relaxed his stance again.

Yukio turned back to his game system, the next level sounding it's cheerful music. "Yeah, well, grow up the child of a multi-billionaire company owner and you learn to be self-sufficient pretty damn quickly when your parents are too busy with yet another meeting or party or whatever. The only thing I am grateful for is that at least they set aside a portion of untouchable funds for me in case the company went under."

Ichigo blinked for a moment and then slowly asked. "I take it the company did go under?"

"Yup," Yukio was faster with this level as the victory music sounded swiftly. "They committed suicide not four months later. Left a note saying not to make the same mistakes they did by trusting people outside the family, betraying oaths made without meaning to and hoped that I would somehow forgive them for leaving me alone. They just didn't know how to deal with an 'unexpected heir'."

Ichigo winced at that last part and coughed into his hand. He really didn't know how to respond to what the blonde had shared. In fact it didn't even look like the kid cared that he shared the information.

"Um... why tell me this?" Ichigo asked uncomfortably. Yukio actually paused his game to look up and meet Ichigo's eyes.

"My family is blood oathed to your own. Father turned his back on that fact to build his company; admittedly he thought your mother and the rest of your family line was dead but he didn't even bother to check to be sure. He paid for that mistake," Yukio rolled his shoulders and shook his head. Suddenly a fierce look filled his eyes and put lie to the previous callousness. "It is only because of the others that I truly understand what family really means and that family takes care of each other. You are family. Your sisters are family. The others are a little wary of you, I will admit, but I tell you now that I will not be like my father. My wand is yours. I know better."

Ichigo felt touched by the brief passion the boy showed at that moment before he turned back to his game. To have been without family for so long... he supposed he was lucky that Yukio hadn't gone dark and knew, tactically, that the boys indifferent attitude would be useful in order to keep an eye on the Carrows. He walked over and patted the boys shoulder before he sat down next to him. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke again.

"So why are the others wary of me?" he asked.

"The faces you see... that's them but not them," Yukio shrugged. "They don't know you yet, not really, so they are going to be watching you. Hmm..."

Yukio pointed at his game system. "Think of it like a games 'friendship meter', right now they are at... let's say eighty percent. They're loyal, will follow your lead and try to help out as best as possible, but they aren't behind you one hundred percent. There is a part of them that still doesn't know if you are... truly worth their friendship and not just their alliance. They'll do their duty and protect your family, don't get me wrong, but you don't have a one hundred percent meter bar with them like you do with me."

"Alright, sounds good to me," Ichigo said after he thought about it. He'd let it go for now. "So, how did 'Dark Arts' go?"

Yukio snorted dryly. "He's as stupid as his sister. Here's what he did..."

#

It had been several weeks since the trio had left their first camp site, and Harry was becoming aware of something that Hermione was still firmly against even attempting – he was eventually going to have to sneak into Hogwarts with or without his friends. He was certain that Voldemort had hidden a Horcrux there somehow and he had started to get an idea of how the man might have gotten into the school after he graduated. Just because Trelawney was interviewed in a pub for the Divination position didn't mean that all interviews took place outside of school grounds... right?

Ron though was rapidly sinking into depression and his mood worsened as the days and weeks went by. As they traveled, Harry constantly checked his phone hoping for a blip... but he never saw one, not at all.

Harry sighed as Hermione and Ron got into yet another argument, this time over the quality of food.

"Your mother can't produce food out of thin air. No one can, not even Ichigo! Food is the First of the Five Principal Exceptions of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfig—"

"Oh, give it a rest!" Ron snapped. "I'm not Ichigo, I don't have the entire bloody Transfiguration text book memorized!"

"It's the Potions book he has memorized, not the Transfiguration book!" Hermione responded heatedly. Harry nearly choked when she said that. "And all I'm trying to say is that it's impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can summon it, transform it, increase the quantity..."

"Don't increase this fish, its horrid!" Ron yelped out.

"Harry caught it and I did my best cooking it! Why am I the one who always ends up sorting out the food? Because I'm a girl?" Hermione's hands were planted now on her hips

"No, because you're supposed to be the best at magic between the three of us!" Ron said with a wave of his hand that encompassed the three friends.

"Well, you can do the bloody cooking tomorrow!" Hermione jumped to her feet. "You find the food and try to charm –"

"Enough!" Harry cut in as he jumped up. His hand fell toward his wand as he closed his eyes. "Shut up! Now!"

"How can you side with-" Both of his friends started to say.

"Both of you! NOW!" Harry snapped out again.

Hermione and Ron shut up and stared at him. They noticed a moment later that he was eyeing the tent entrance and his wand was now pointed at said entrance. Both of them turned to face the tent flap and also pulled their own wands.

"You do realize we could hear you arguing a mile away?" a dry voice said as the tent door flap was opened. A mop of blood-red hair pulled up in a rough tail peeked in and paused for a moment at the sight of the suddenly drawn wands.

"Renji!" Hermione cried out with relief as she lowered her wand.

Harry sighed softly as he put his own wand away, Ron followed suit. He leveled a minor glare at the two, nothing like what Ichigo could do, but the pair still blushed in embarrassment. Renji moved inside, a smirk on his lips as he looked at the Trio.

"I was trying to tell you I heard something," he explained.

"My, my," Rangiku tut-tutted as she followed Renji into the tent. "You certainly were loud."

Ron and Hermione had the good sense to look even more embarrassed and muttered soft apologies to each other.

"We brought you some things," Renji said as he put a sack down on the table.

"We thought you might appreciate some clean clothes," Renji sniffed at the air and grimaced. He offered a teasing smile but the others knew he was serious. "We'll, uh, take the old ones away and wash them."

"And some fresh food," Rangiku added slyly as she pulled out an apple and tossed it to Ron. Ron caught it and immediately bit into it, savoring the fruit and as a dreamy look appeared on his face.

"We brought you this as well," Renji said and pulled out a wizard radio. "I know you can get Hogwarts news from Ichigo and Tatsuki, but the Order has set up a network and weekly broadcasts. They change the frequency weekly to prevent the signal from being disabled."

"Where are they broadcasting from?" Ron asked as he grabbed the radio eagerly, happy at the chance to hear news his family even if it was just over the wireless.

"Where do you think?" Rangiku smirked at him.

"Of course," Harry sighed. "Ichigo's manor."

"It was Narcissa Malfoy's idea," Renji said. "She thought it would help locate the stragglers. The Twins are running it."

"Fred and George?" Hermione gasped. Ron looked both excited and worried at the prospect.

Renji nodded at the question. "The directions for locating the broadcast are attached to the radio."

The pair stayed for awhile to visit and help boost the Trio's spirits. The Trio found themselves grateful as it was very hard to be depressed around this particular pair, especially Rangiku. When they left again, the camp seemed far too quiet.

And far too depressing.

#

Ichigo scribbled a few notes down, nodding as he did so.

"And how many?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh, no more than three or four, I think," Slughorn said thoughtfully. "Any more than that and –"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as Amycus Carrow slammed open the door into the Potions classroom. Slughorn jumped slightly, while Ichigo just scowled back at Amycus for the interruption.

"You were saying?" Ichigo asked as he turned back to the Professor.

"Erm... I was going to say any more than that and it gets too easy and loses the 'ick factor'."

"The 'ick factor'?" Ichigo said with a twitch to his lip.

Slughorn chuckled a bit nervously, what with Amycus in the room. "Well, scrubbing cauldrons has always been... dirty work. And hard. I think it was Sirius Black who coined the phrase 'ick factor.' Ah, the number of times that group did detention with me..."

"Almost a permanent addition, were they?" Ichigo smiled openly at this.

"At least once a week," Slughorn confirmed with a nod.

"This will be helpful for when Daphne and I have to assign detentions," Ichigo nodded as he scanned the list he had been putting together. "I really didn't think about how much – icky – stuff there was to do around the school. There's... actually quite a bit."

"What –" Carrow started to interrupt, only to get another glare from Ichigo which caused him to snap his mouth shut again.

"So – I've talked to you, Professor McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and Sinestra. Daphne is talking to Hagrid, Snape, Hooch, Vector and Pince. I still have to tackle Filch and she's going to speak with Pomfrey," Ichigo continued to ignore Amycus' presence.

"We want to be organized. To be able to assign points and detentions based on infractions. It appears that based on subject matter, Professors Sprout, Hagrid, Filch and you will get the more egregious of the lot," Ichigo sighed. "Unfortunately, right now everyone is fumbling. No one knows quite what they are doing – I even saw Malfoy of all people asking Longbottom if a rule had been broken and if it was points or detention. Neville wasn't sure, so they asked Ernie – and even 'Mr. Starched Collar I've Memorized The Rule Book' had no idea!"

Slughorn's brows were up at his hairline as he listened to Ichigo gripe about the new rules and the confusion while people got used to them.

"Thank god they didn't see me and that the new guy Snape hired actually knew it was not a broken rule for that particular situation," Ichigo coughed. "Because I would have had to look it up myself and that wouldn't have looked good. Not like I have the rule book in my pocket."

"Ah," Professor Slughorn nodded. "So that's why Severus instituted the changes he did. Too many new rules for you to know and remember!"

Ichigo nodded and sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"That would be my guess. Of course, things did get out of hand sometimes with the old system, I'll be honest. I once saw some poor kid get docked twenty-five points coming out of Potions – for not being neat and clean," Ichigo grimaced. "He was two steps, two steps, from the bathroom and reaching for the handle."

"Ah, yes... I do remember some abuses, in the past," Slughorn nodded his agreement. "We also have to review points and detentions weekly now, as well. It's for the best, I suppose. There were Professors who played favorites and that always leads to resentment."

"You didn't," Ichigo stated as he stood and gathered up his paperwork. "You were always fair."

Slughorn looked touched at the complement.

"I've got to get going," Ichigo said. "Filch is waiting for me. He was actually thrilled when I approached him about this. He probably already made out a list..."

"Probably," Slughorn replied with humor in his tone.

"I – might have some additions to that..." Amycus said quietly.

Ichigo shot him a glare that caused the older man to slump back.

"I seriously can't imagine ever wanting to send a student to you for detention," he said coolly as he left the room.

"Would you like a word of advice, my boy?" Slughorn asked Carrow quietly. The new DADA instructor looked over at him warily. "I believe the Sorting Hat chose him because it believed he would protect the students of Hogwarts with his last breath. You can fight with him, if you want – but despite his youth, I believe he is truly the most powerful wizard in this school. And that includes our illustrious new Head Master."

Author's Notes:

Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration is a law governing the magical world. There are five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law, one of which is food. It should be noted that while food cannot be outright created from nothing, it can be multiplied if one already has some food to multiply, it can be enlarged or the food can be summoned if one knows the approximate location and is fairly sure the food will still be there. http colon /harrypotter dot wikia dot com / wiki / Gamp%27s _ Law _ of _ Elemental _ Transfiguration

Miko - A miko is a Shinto term of Japan, indicating a shrine (jinja) maiden or a supplementary priestess who was once likely seen as a shaman but in modern Japanese culture is understood to be an institutionalized role in daily shrine life, trained to perform tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the Kagura, a sacred dance. https colon /en dot Wikipedia dot org / wiki / Miko