Hi everyone… how's life? *weak chuckle* … I've been kinda wrapped up in homework these few months which is why I haven't updated for a while… sorrryyyy :(

PENNAME HAS CHANGED :] My childish side is coming back which is why I decided on a whim to change it :P sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Harry Potter. Do you? (If you happen to be J.K. Rowling or Tite Kubo please don't sue me I meant no offense)

"Exactly why am I part of this again?"

Hermione scowled at him. "Pass the knotgrass"

Toshiro sighed, but gave her the grass anyway. To think that the great Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya would be reduced to doing something like this.

"Why are we doing this in the girl's bathroom again?" Ron asked stupidly, watching as the potion in the cauldron stewed and bubbled.

"I told you, because this is Myrtle's bathroom. No one comes here."

To prove her point, Myrtle the ghost girl popped out a toilet bowl and whizzed around crying. Toshiro sighed.

Ever since Hermione had put forward her theory about Malfoy being the Heir of Slytherin they had been cooped up in the leaky and abandoned toilet brewing a potion that supposedly could change their appearances to that of Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's trusted croonies. Toshiro had wanted to part in this, he was already under suspicion from both Dumbledore and Harry, and besides, he was still not convinced that Malfoy could have possibly attacked the caretaker's cat. Despite his appearances and attitude, he was pretty much just a coward inside, hiding behind his influential father. Toshiro could see that much, but the other three wouldn't listen to him. It was quite infuriating.

What was even more infuriating was the annoying ghost that was constantly whizzing around and sobbing her head off. She was terrified senseless of Toshiro, no surprises there, but the trio didn't seem to notice. He generally had that effect on people, and apparently ghosts as well. He gritted his teeth. It was unnatural, for these spirits to be tied to Earth for too long. Death was part of the cycle of life, and that meant moving on. Trust the wizards to screw up the laws of nature. But what annoyed him more was that as a shinigami, and a captain nonetheless, he couldn't even complete his simplest task- sending spirits to the afterlife. It made him feel so useless…

Somehow his thoughts trailed to Hinamori yet again. His dreams were becoming more intense and increasingly disturbing. He kept seeing Hinamori's broken form in a pool of blood, her look of horror as the man she had admired and loved all her life stabbed all that out of her… god damn it, why? And he had been unable to help, unable to save her as he lay dying next to her, and as she lay in her coma now, he was here doing some stupid mission where no more was to be found while he could be helping…

"Toshiro!"

He was shook out of his trance with a squirming leech in his face. A yelp found its way up to his throat, forced back down just in time before Hitsugaya made a fool of himself.

"What on earth is that?"

"It's a leech." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Could you unsucculate it for me please?"

"Unsuccu-wha?"

"Unsucculate. Remove the suckers. Could you do that for these four please?" She pulled the wet slimy things from a pot and dropped them at his feet. He stared at the leeches, one of them oozing towards his leg. Now, he wasn't a squeamish one, but removing suckers from a leech wasn't exactly his cup of tea either. He pulled it from his pants and resisted the urge to make a face. Ron did that for him, turning a nasty shade of green.

"Isn't there a spell or something that we can use to transfigure ourselves?" he asked as Hermione dropped Boomslang skin into the cauldron.

"Human transfiguration is too complicated, we don't learn anything near that until fifth year."

Hitsugaya sighed, trying to remember anything to do with changing appearances that did not involve 'unsucculating' leeches. Nothing came to mind, at least nothing that didn't expose his identity as a shinigami. Sighing, he reluctantly picked up a knife and proceeded to remove the poor sucker's well… suckers.

"Toshiro."

He looked up, hoping there wasn't anything disgusting for him to do. "Yes?"

Hermione fidgeted a bit, slighting singeing the ends of her hair. She didn't seem to notice.

"You seem rather… out of it… lately… I dunno… it's just that… your expression is always so dreamy… in Transfiguration the other day Professor McGonagall had to call on you three times before you noticed she was calling you…"

He winced at that. It was a serous blow to his pride, being caught daydreaming like that. He had a lot on his mind that day: the strange creature traveling in the walls, Dumbledore's suspicion of him, and all that was happening back home. Jeez, exactly what were they thinking, sending a captain and vice captain all the way here when Soul Society was in such chaos? It had been bugging him ever since they came here. Anyhow, he still hadn't answered Hermione's question. An awkward silence descended over them, the only sound of the bubbling cauldron and Ron's gagging as the leech was split in half.

"Well…" Toshiro finally said quietly, "There have been some… troubles… back home…"

Hermione and Ron exchanged looks, and they knew what the other was thinking: did it have anything to do with the letter Harry had found? They still hadn't told Hitsugaya about it, the less he knew the better. Even Hermione had to admit getting on the bad side of the small white haired boy wasn't exactly a good idea.

"Where's Potter?" Hitsugaya asked abruptly, changing the subject. Ron looked annoyed.

"I told you, it's not Potter, it's Harry, Toshiro."

Hitsugaya glared at him. "And I told you, it's not Toshiro, it's Hitsugaya."

Ron threw his hands in the air. "Why do you want us to call you by your surname anyway? It's not like we're in Slytherin or something and hate each other."

Hermione and Toshiro sighed. This was like… the millionth time he had forgotten.

"So where is Harry?" Toshiro asked again, too annoyed to argue. Ron looked sideways at Hermione, who looked sideways at… er… Myrtle. Ron jumped; apparently he hadn't noticed her. She obviously took this to offense.

"What? Am I that ugly and scary that you must jump and scream every time you see me? Don't stare at me!" she squealed when Ron spluttered and attempted to apologize. "Oh, I get it, no one cares about poor Myrtle, because she's just dead and stuck in this toilet." She spat, or at least attempted to. Hitsugaya rubbed his temples.

"Please, could you not squeal in my ear like that?" he hissed, turning to face her. She let out a squeal of terror at the sight of the boy's teal orbs, and shot back down the toilet. He breathed a sigh of relief, only to be faced by Hermione and Ron's puzzled faces.

"How did you do that?" Ron marveled.

"Er… I didn't do anything…"

"But since when does Myrtle shoot down a toilet of her own accord?" Hermione stared at him, and he was suddenly aware of a smudge of dirt on his face. Not that that really mattered.

"It was probably your weird hair." Ron scoffed, smiling to himself. A vein throbbed and Hitsugaya went back to unsucculating his leeches.

Wet footsteps echoed through the bathroom, and the three raised their heads. It was Harry, obviously.

"Hey. How's it going?"

"Where were you mate?" Ron asked, getting up from the wet floor.

"Wood said we're having a training session now," he said, supposedly aimed at Toshiro, although his eyes did not meet the other boy's. He got up anyway.

"Now?"

"Yes, now. He's gonna be mad if we're late."

Hitsugaya sighed, he was in the middle of removing the third leeches suckers and was quite happy to leave the job to Ron. Washing his hands in the leaky sink, he followed Harry out the door.

"We have a Quidditch match pretty soon, don't we?"

Harry nodded. "That's probably why Wood called the sudden training session." He stole a sideways glance at Toshiro, making sure he wasn't about to break his neck or something. "Anyway, we'd better hurry."

Toshiro nodded and they ran to the broom cupboard. Most of the team was there, save for Angelina and the Weasley twins. There was also another girl he had never seen before.

"Alicia!" Harry looked surprised, going over to the girl. "I thought you had been jinxed!"

"I was, and I still can't play. I've got… well… better if you don't know." She glanced at Katie, who giggled. She turned to Hitsugaya, who was finding his broom. "So you're Toshiro, huh? I've heard a lot about you. Seems like Wood wasn't kidding about your hair." She smiled and ruffled the white bush, causing a vein to throb at the back of his head. He shook her hand off his scalp and nodded politely.

"You must be Alicia. Nice to meet you."

She laughed and turned to Wood. "A polite one, isn't he?"

"I'm sorry I took your position, not being able to play must be frustrating."

Alicia shrugged. "Yeah, it's a little annoying, but it's not your fault. Hey, you can pay me back by bashing Slytherin down. I still haven't had my revenge on that thug Montague."

Katie laughed. "Toshiro's really good! And when he first tried out he said he had never played before."

"Well, we'll just have to see how good you are, won't we?" Alicia winked.

Angelina came in with Fred and George, squealing when she saw Alicia. Their high pitched shrieks weren't doing his ears any good, so Hitsugaya, fully clothed in Quidditch robes, picked up his broom and walked outside to where Wood and Harry were standing.

"Toshiro, I trust you've heard of the upcoming match?"

"Saturday, right?"

Wood nodded a little grimly. "We must beat Slytherin this year, no matter what. For Alicia."

The other team members walked out, Alicia trailing a little sadly behind them. They mounted their brooms and soared into the sky.

~xXx~

They were in the common room, having just come back from Quidditch practice. Harry collapsed into the sofa, sweating profusely. Toshiro collapsed in the armchair next to him. Harry hated to admit it, but he was really good. Alicia had been so impressed she said, only half-jokingly, that she might have to quit the team, because they couldn't replace Toshiro. More than half of the goals scored today were scored by him.

"That bad, huh?" Hermione commented, looking at the two boys. They just yawned in response. Wood was brutal. There was no doubt about that.

"I heard Alicia's back." Ron said, wading through the bodies and placing himself between Hermione and Harry.

"Yeah, but she's still got… er… I'm not sure exactly. Anyway, it's preventing her from playing."

Ron shook his head in disgust. "That Montague. He should be expelled for that!"

A flash of light temporarily blinded them. They all turned to face Colin, camera in hand.

"Could you please not sneak up on people and take pictures of them like that?" Hitsugaya hissed, rubbing his eyes. Colin looked a little scared, but managed to put on a slightly quivering brave face.

"I want to show my parents all the wonders of the wizarding world!" he grinned, pulling out the photo and examining it. "Could you please sign this, Harry?"

Harry sighed. "I've already signed a lot of your pictures, and I'm too tired to sign anything right now."

Colin opened his mouth to protest, but just at that moment the door to the common room opened and the five of them turned, expecting someone like Fred or George coming back from Quidditch. Instead, Matsumoto stepped through, her strawberry blonde hair and loose robes recognizable anywhere. Most of the students jumped, and Toshiro put on a worried face. For her to come to the common room instead of just getting him to go to her office would mean something serious. Did Dumbledore say anything?

"Professor Matsumoto!" Hermione said, jumping up. Matsumoto turned. "W-what are you doing here?"

A grin broke across her face. "Well, I was kinda bored in my office all by myself, and seeing as you would all be here, I decided to come!"

There was a pause. For a teacher to come to a student's common room to have fun was well… unheard of. But then again, Matsumoto was a strange teacher. Hitsugaya face-palmed. Of course. How did he manage to think for one moment that she was serious?

Hermione looked a little skeptical but seemed to accept this. Matsumoto bounced over to Hitsugaya and dropped a watermelon on his lap.

"What's this?" he asked, picking the fruit up. Matsumoto sighed in mock exasperation, as if she was talking to a three-year-old. She knew exactly how to piss her captain off.

"It's a watermelon, stupid! I found it while raiding the kitchens! And I found this!" She held up a bad of dried persimmons, grinning as she picked one out and popped it in her mouth. His stomach did a little flip at the sight of the white circles; persimmons weren't really his thing.

"Professor Matsumoto, why did you give Toshiro a watermelon?"

Matsumoto laughed. "In case you didn't know, this guy's favorite food is watermelons and amanattou, but I couldn't find amanattou in the kitchens."

"You've been to the kitchens, professor?" Fred and George asked in unison, suddenly appearing at her shoulder. She grinned.

"Sure! You just go under the Great Hall and tickle the pear." The twins exchanged looks of mischief, and they could see a new prank sparking in their eyes.

"Now, you two don't cause any trouble, okay?" Matsumoto said, the mischief sparking in her eyes as well. The twins' smiles widened and they bowed, not exactly respectfully but more jokingly. "Yes, ma'am!" Then they scurried off, discussing their new discovery.

"Professor, telling those two something like that may not have been the best idea." Hermione said reproachfully. Matsumoto shrugged.

"As long as they don't explode anything I haven't got anything against it." She grinned and Hitsugaya sighed, looking and the tempting watermelon in his hands. His lieutenant seemed to notice.

"I didn't spike it or anything, don't worry." She produced a knife and cut open the watermelon. "Go on, eat up." When he looked reluctant, evidently still suspecting them of being poisoned or something, she picked up a piece and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Uh- Matsu-"

"Eat up!" she exclaimed stubbornly. "You know you want to!"

"Professor, how did you know Toshiro likes watermelons?"

"I know things," she said in what was supposed to be a very dramatic voice. "Would you like me to bring anything to you from the kitchens Ms. Granger?"

"Ooh, if you could bring me pie I'd really appreciate it!" Ron piped up, waving his hand in the air. Matsumoto smiled. "Whatever you want, Mr. Weasley."

"Ugh…" They turned. Apparently Matsumoto had not removed the watermelon yet. "Whoops! Sorry tai-I mean, Toshiro!" She caught herself quickly and let go of the watermelon, allowing the white haired boy to pull it out of his mouth. He scowled but the strawberry blonde knew he was secretly grateful. She winked in response to the imaginary gesture, and a vein started throbbing.

"Anyway, if you'll believe it, I actually came here for a reason," she announced to the rest of the common room. Heads turned as she dug around her robes, apparently looking for something

"Aha!" She pulled out a piece of paper, waded over to the bulletin board, and slapped it on. "Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to start a dueling club! Come sign up if you want!"

The room was silent, but this obviously did not put her off.

"Unfortunately, Dumbledore has also asked Snape to teach the club." She made a face, causing quite a few people to laugh and whoop. "I hope you'll come anyway."

The people in the common room started muttering to themselves, and Hitsugaya couldn't help but scoff. That she would actually accept something like that was surprising, but then again, it was dueling. She was good at that, and it'd be pretty interesting to watch.

"If you would like to sign up, please write your name on the sheet. Looking forward to seeing you all!" She grinned and winked again at her captain before walking out.

The common room was silent for a split second, then Colin Creevey burst out of his seat and said excitedly,

"I'm joining! It sounds fun; maybe I can take more pictures and send them to dad! Don't you think, Harry?"

"Uh…" was the boy's response, his mouth hanging open absently. He wasn't actually worrying about the dueling club, yes it sounded interesting, despite the teacher being Matsumoto, but he ad other things on his mind. He had never noticed, but it was obvious now that Toshiro was very close to the large busted teacher. It had never bothered him before but this was the first time he had ever seen the small white haired boy seem so amicable to anyone, in his own special way of course. Was it because they were both Japanese? Or…

"Harry." Toshiro was waving his hand up and down in front of his face, evidently puzzled at the boy's blank expression. Harry snapped back to reality and blinked innocently at him. "Yes?"

"Colin was wondering if you would join the dueling club."

"Yeah, it sounds very fun, Harry!" Hermione grinned, dropping down next to him. "It's a wizard's duel, after all. Remember that time Malfoy challenged you to one last year? You'll know what it's like now!"

They paused, and the trio cringed at the memory of being tricked by Malfoy into meeting him at the trophy room that resulted in almost getting caught by Filch and getting drooled on by a three-headed dog. Colin looked at them curiously, while Hitsugaya sighed and leaned back into his armchair, chewing off the last bit of red flesh from the watermelon and spitting a seed into a bowl that had appeared in front of him.

"Come on, I'll write our names on the paper. Toshiro, you too."

He nodded absently, scanning the room for a rubbish bin to dispose of the watermelon skins. That was when Nearly Headless Nick popped up through the plate, his head bobbing precariously on the high collar of his shirt. Toshiro flinched, not that he was scared of the ghost, but he was still not very used to them passing through things, especially seeing as he was also technically a 'ghost'.

"Hello Sir Nicholas, I would appreciate it if you could refrain from doing that in the future."

"What, passing through things?" Toshiro nodded. The ghost eyed him with a knowing eye, and the white haired boy realized that the transparent figure in front of him was the only one older than him in this room right now.

"Ooh, watermelons!" Nick exclaimed, his hand passing through the skins as he tried to pick on up. He looked at his transparent hand ruefully and shook his head sadly. It bobbled on the collar before falling off, and most of the room gasped in disgust. Even Toshiro had to find it a bit disgusting, especially seeing as he was staring straight into grayish stump of neck.

"Do you need help with anything?" he asked, thanking his lucky stars that he had seen worse things so he could preserve his dignity by not throwing up all over the place. Although he hadn't seen much that could top this.

"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to see how you all were doing," the ghost said, his head still hanging off his neck. The boy involuntarily made a face, and Nick seemed to realize exactly what position he was in. He lifted a transparent hand and pulled his head back in place, a sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry about that. I just love watermelons."

"You can't eat?" Toshiro asked curiously. He had never really thought about it, but now he realized that of course they couldn't. The food would just pass right through them.

"You can?" Nick asked incredulously before catching himself under the boy's glare.

"Yes, Sir Nicholas, I can," he hissed, a vein popping in the back of his neck. "I am solid, as you can see."

Under normal circumstances, Nick would have looked hurt at the implication, but of course Toshiro wasn't normal. So he let it pass, about to bow down in apology but catching himself as his head started to wobble again.

"Actually, I wanted to invite you to my Deathday Party. And you three as well," he said happily, revolving in the air to face the trio, who had taken a step back to avoid him passing through them.

"Your... deathday party?"

The ghost nodded carefully so that his head wouldn't fall off. "Don't you celebrate your Deathdays as well?" he asked before quickly correcting himself "I mean, birthdays. Silly me, I've been dead for a bit too long."

"You celebrate the day you die?" Ron asked, looking baffled.

"What? Is that a problem?" Nick rounded on him, his head wobbling yet again. Ron took another step back.

"Of course not!" Hermione grinned, patting Ron the back, with a bit more force than usual. "We'd love to come, Nick. When is it?"

"Christmas Day." he said importantly, puffing himself up while the three seemed to deflate.

"C-Christmas Day? As in... December 25th?"

"Of course. How many Christmases are there?"

"We can't go-" Ron was quickly silenced by Hermione's hand over his mouth and her forced wide smile. "We'll be there, Nick. We wouldn't miss it for the world."

Ron rolled his eyes and Harry sighed, as if he had just died right there, but Nick didn't seem to notice. He grinned and tears started filling up in his eyes. The four were a little taken aback as he sniffed and wiped them away. "T-thank you so much! Y-you have no idea what it means to me."

Hermione attempted patting him on the back, wincing as her hand passed through his ruffled shirt. "I-It's nothing, don't cry..." He shot them one last grateful smile before disappearing into the floor, leaving three disheartened children and one exasperated shinigami standing quiet solidly on the floor.

~xXx~

"Christmas Day, Hermione! I'd rather die than miss Christmas for something like that!"

"Well, that's kinda the point, isn't it?"

"What? How?"

"Would you two please stop bickering?"

Hermione and Ron turned to face an irritated Harry, whose vein pop looked pretty close to Hitsugaya's, his glare reducing them to little puddles in a matter of seconds.

"Well, the first dueling club meeting is next week." Hermione said quickly, eager to change the subject. Ron sighed.

"Professor Matsumoto huh? Wonder if she's up to the challenge."

"Hey guys..."

They turned again, admittedly a bit carefully this time, in case Harry pulled out his wand and blasted them to pieces. Not that he would. The imagination of the threatened can be quite vivid and absurd sometimes.

"Yes?"

"Don't you find it strange how... close... Hitsugaya seems to Professor Matsumoto?"

They had stopped walking, and an exasperated expression found its way onto Hermione's face. "Harry, there's nothing wrong with a student being close to certain teachers. You're closer to Dumbledore than the rest of us, and we have our Heads of Houses to communicate with."

"But still..."

"Not to mention that both Toshiro and Professor Matsumoto are both from Japan. You know, he may be feeling a little alienated and may feel more at ease with people from the same country as him."

"You know," Ron piped in, "I hate to say this, but I think you're becoming way too paranoid mate. Toshiro's weird and all but that's no reason to suspect him for plotting something behind your back all the time."

"Haven't we been through this already?" Hermione sighed, walking up to him. "If he really was working for Voldemort don't you think Dumbledore would know? And he's had so many opportunities to... well... hurt you, yet you're still here."

"But-"

"Plus you're in no position to criticize him!" she continued, cutting across him again, "You took that letter from him, morphed it beyond comprehension, and now we can't give it back to him! You have no idea who that might have been from. For all we know, it could be from his friend who's dying in some sad corner of the world, and he's worrying about that person, and you just destroyed that person's only way of communicating with him!"

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again when he couldn't think of anything. Well, said a tiny voice at the back of his head, She's right. You are being a little paranoid, to say the least, and you can't really blame him with such little evidence.

"Then I'll get evidence!" he declared, to no one in particular. Hermione gave him a puzzled look, and silence descended on them for a few seconds. Then she sighed.

"You know it's really unfair, the way you think of him. Think about it Harry. Put yourself in his shoes. You'll see how prejudiced you're being." And without another word, she turned on her heels and marched away. Ron gave him one last look, his mind torn between the two, the slightly reluctantly trailed after her. Harry was left standing on his own, his thoughts overflowing in his head.

A ripple of frustration ran through him, and he turned and stomped angrily away, Hermione's words ringing in his head. Think about it, Harry. Put yourself in his shoes. You'll see how prejudiced you're being.

I think I've said this before, but there will probably be no pairings unless it helps the story. So Hinamori is just his friend and nothing more, unless I see it fit to change that.

Oh and because I haven't been writing for a while, my timing's screwed up, which is why I am moving Nick's Deathday Party to Christmas instead of Halloween, which was when Mrs. Norris was petrified. The Quidditch match and Colin's 'petrification' are also going to be moved back a bit.

I think it's pretty obvious that I'm stalling until I can remember my story because right now the story's not going anywhere == SORRY EVERYONE! It must suck, I take forever to update and then when I finally do the chapters suck... hopefully it'll get better once I remember what's supposed to happen...

And finally, thank you so much to anyone who reviewed, and I know it must be frustrating that the updates take so long. I won't promise that the next chapter will come up soon, but I will try my best to update sooner.

Candied Sweets :]