Hi everyone! How've you been? Here's chapter twelve! Erm… It's around November-ish right now, and yes, the Quidditch game is a bit late. Oh well.

I'm not exactly sure why I named this chapter what I named it (Chionophobia-fear of snow)... I guess I just liked the long word :P

This chapter took way too much research for my liking, and I know it kinda got blabbery. Sorry… I just wanted to try something new and obviously it didn't work… I think I overdid it. Hopefully when people get hit by Bludgers it doesn't happen to them… but wait! Bludgers aren't real! Whoopee :]

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Bleach are totally mine. That's why I'm posting this here on a fanfic site. Yeah… no I'm kidding. I don't own them at all. That's why I'm posting this here on a fanfic site. Wow, you just experienced déjà vu.

"MIAOOOOO!"

Toshiro stepped quickly aside just in time to avoid the airborne cat, which crashed into the wall behind him. Undaunted, Momo sprung up and decided to launch another sneak attack, this time managing to scrape off a bit of his hair.

"Momo, no!" Matsumoto's strawberry blonde head appeared at the doorway, and he saw, to his surprise, that she was holding a book. Her face lit up upon seeing her captain, but wasted no time in scooping up the cat, who hissed.

"Taicho… what did you do to her this time?" Matsumoto pouted, rocking Momo back and forth in her arms, making cooing noises and looking like a mother taking care of her baby. The thought was just so disturbing Toshiro put it at the back of his mind so it wouldn't bother him.

"I didn't do anything! It just pounced and attacked me!"

"Nonsense, Momo wouldn't do that!" She made sure she was calmed down before putting her down and letting her run off to her office.

"So, taicho. Looking for me?"

"No, I was looking for Momo," he replied sarcastically, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"You remember Nick? The ghost who's head's about to fall off?"

"Sure I do." Matsumoto replied, shivering slightly at the memory of his head hanging on the tiny strand of skin.

"It's his… er… deathday… party a few weeks later and unfortunately I've been invited."

"Eh… his deathday party? They celebrate their deaths?"

"Apparently," he replied, shrugging. "Anyway, that's not the problem. You wouldn't happen to have one of those memory chains on you, would you?"

"Why would you need one?"

"Well it was already hard enough for Nick to not give our disguises away, and the people- I mean, ghosts, attending the party, don't know that we're in disguise. If we were to be found out it would be problematic."

"Eh…" She grabbed her bag, which was for some reason lying on one of the desks in the classroom. She looked through it, throwing stuff out to look at the bottom of the bag, some so big Toshiro wondered how she had fit them in the bag. "No, I didn't bring one. I didn't think we'd need it."

"Neither did I, but so many things haven't gone according to plan." Toshiro ran a hand through his hair, his palm stopping at his forehead. He bit his lip, thinking.

"I'll think of something else then…" he muttered, about to turn to leave. Then he remembered something. "Oh right. How did the meeting with Dumbledore go?"

Matsumoto stuck out her tongue and shrugged. "Piece of cake. He's so gullible if I told him I was a purple octopus in disguise he would probably believe it."

"A… purple octopus?" Hitsugaya wondered under his breath, sighing yet again. "Did he say anything… strange?"

"Meh. Just told me to watch out for myself and you know, keep a closer eyes on you." She grinned and widened her eyes, staring straight at him. He did not move, but stared right back at her. In the end she gave up under the harsh turquoise eyes.

"Ne, taicho, his office is huge! It's like…" She tried to get the size of it by holding her arms as far away from her body, but found out they weren't long enough. "It was big! And there were so many books and weird stuff that made weird noises and this big red bird thing that breathed fire and moving pictures and... and…"

"Yes Matsumoto, I think I get it," he interrupted, not really in the mood for listening to her rant on about the awesomeness of the old man's office. "But are you sure that he didn't suspect anything? I doubt he's headmaster of this school for no reason."

"What, you don't believe me, taicho? After all the experience I've had with you?"

"Oh, so you admit it now?"

"Eh… I didn't say anything! Better hurry off to bed, or I'll put you in detention!"

A vein pulsed in his forehead as she ruffled his white hair, a grin stretching from ear to ear plastered on her face. "Well, I mean it, Matsumoto. Don't underestimate that man."

"Sure, sure! You watch out for Potter yourself."

"Hn."

~xXx~

The last remnants of sleep were slowly slipping away from Harry, but he lay in bed for a while, his sleepy mind under the impression that he could go back to sleep if he did that, but obviously it was not the case. Still, his bed was just too comfortable… he turned, trying to find the cold side of the pillow. He didn't want to wake up yet, the sun wasn't even up for God's sake!

Last night had been one of the few nights when he hadn't had nightmares. In fact, he hadn't dreamed at all last night, or at least, he couldn't remember anything. Honestly, it was much better than wondering if pies had any meaning. Finally, he decided he would get up, and pushed himself from the bed, grunting a little in the process. He grabbed his glasses from the bedside table, shoved them on his face and took a look around the room.

Toshiro was in his bed, for once. Usually he would already be up at this time, or on the couch. The signature tuft of white hair peeked out from under the blankets, along with his eyes. It freaked Harry out watching him sleep, as he didn't sleep with his eyelids fully closed. From where he was, it was as if the small boy was watching him with those teal orbs of his.

And once again Harry considered his suspicions about him, counting off the reasons against him. He was strange, made Harry uncomfortable whenever he was around. There was a lot that they didn't know about him; he kept to himself, and that letter that practically announced he was here for purposes other than to learn, as he claimed.

Harry bit his lip in mid thought. Now that he thought about it, like really thought about it, none of them were really concrete, just as Hermione had said. Being strange wasn't exactly his fault, and the bout of sickness that Harry had experienced was almost completely gone now. Heck, he was in the same room as Toshiro and he felt fine. And if he wasn't all that talkative who cared? Maybe he just didn't feel like telling the whole world about his life.

Which left the letter. He still hadn't given it back, despite all of Hermione's nagging. What was he supposed to say? Oh, sorry, I took this letter from you while you were sleeping and translated it to the point where you can't really see the original anymore. Sorry, no hard feelings.

There was so much in there, but it was so out of context and with too much missing it was of no use to him. But he couldn't just dismiss it as trash just like that. There was too much potential in that letter!

Harry buried his face in his hands, annoyed at this continuous line of questions without answers. Was he really just being paranoid? The last incident of Quirrel and Voldemort may have affected his mind…

Bringing his head up, Harry took a long look at the boy sleeping in the bed next to the window. As he had been on the couch and the night Harry took the letter from him, his face was scrunched up, as if in pain, sweat rolling off his paler-than-usual face. It was as if this guy was unable to have one night of peaceful sleep. Exactly what was going through that head of his?

Harry got out of bed and tip toed over to his bed, seeing if there was a face sticking out from the back of his head. Obviously there wasn't, just a load of white hair. Not like he had expected anything. Just checking.

"You're up early."

Harry jumped back as one of Toshiro's eyelids opened, fully showing his startling eye.

"You're up late."

"Didn't sleep well," he replied, yawning slightly as he got up. His already unruly hair was even messier right now, but he didn't seem to care. "Is it… Monday?"

"Er… no, it's still Saturday. Are you alright?" In the few months that Harry had known him, this boy never mixed anything up, and here he was forgetting what day of the week it was.

"Ugh, of course." He yawned again, kicking off the covers. "It's far too stuffy in here," he proclaimed, going over to the windows and throwing them open. Harry watched as his stiff body loosened up as the cold air rushed into the room.

"Are you crazy? It's freezing!"

Toshiro didn't answer, instead he stared out the window, his eyes wide open. Annoyed, Harry went over to him, waving a hand in his face while trying to protect himself from the cold.

"Yo, did you hear me? It's positively freezing in here! You'll wake everyone up!"

He seemed to snap from a trance, slowly closing the window. "Sorry. Just admiring the scenery." He draped his robes over his clothes and went outside.

"Huh? Admiring the scenery?" Harry wondered, pushing aside the red curtains and looking out the window.

The grounds were a winter wonderland, completely covered in white, sparkling snow.

~xXx~

"Good morning."

"Morning" Toshiro didn't have to turn to know who it was that had greeted him. She sat down next to him and started piling food on her plate. He noted the radishes hanging from her ears, and wondered why her ears hadn't stretched from the weight.

"It snowed last night."

"I saw."

"I expect you're pleased."

"Of course." A small grin broke across his face despite himself, but he quickly stuffed his face with bacon to hide it. Not that he could really hide anything from Luna. It was like she could read his mind.

"Is there a Quidditch match today?"

"Yup."

"Against Slytherin."

A nod. "We're actually supposed to go meet in an hour. Wood feels like having a last minute practice."

"Well, good luck. I shall be supporting Gryffindor." She pulled out a large and rather ridiculous looking hat of a lion's hat and pulled it over her head. She tapped the nose, and it roared.

"Did you make that?" Toshiro asked, mildly impressed.

"Yes, although I did have some help. It'll keep my ears warm."

"I expect it will."

Luna smiled, and the Shinigami couldn't help but do so as well. Although he acted like he couldn't be stuffed to worry about the Quidditch game, he was actually looking forward to it. Perhaps it was his competitive side, but he really wanted to kick Malfoy's ass and wipe that arrogant smirk off his face for once. And besides, he wanted to get on that broom again and feel the thrill of the air rushing past his face. Plus, it was snowing!

The doors opened and Hermione walked in, her hair slightly ruffled, although it didn't really make much of a difference, as her hair was too bushy anyway.

"Mornin'" she yawned, taking her place across from Toshiro. "Did you see the snow?"

"Yes, I did."

"It's actually come a bit late this year, I think."

"Well, it's here now."

She smiled, running a hand through her hair and taking some food from the golden plates in the middle. She took a few bites, then looked around before leaning forward and saying quietly, "It's almost ready, I think." She shot a reproachful glance at Luna, who didn't seem to have heard.

"I thought it had to brew for a month."

"It had been a month." Hermione cocked her head to one side, looking at him critically. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little sleepy, I guess," he replied, cursing himself inwardly for getting the time mixed up again. First the day of the week, and now this. He had to pay more attention to what was going on around him.

"Will you be okay for the Quidditch match today?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied dismissively, getting up. "I'm going to-"

"The library." Luna finished for him.

"Yeah."

"You'll have time to get to Quidditch, right?"

"Of course." With that, he made his way to the door. Matsumoto happened to be entering the hall at that moment, and they paused for a few moments for her to say something to him, and for him to reply, before heading their respective ways. She walked past them, winking at Hermione as she did so.

"It's not weird at all," Hermione muttered to herself, thinking of what Harry had said the other day.

"No it's not." Luna agreed, looking dreamily at the ceiling.

~xXx~

"Toshiro! Hurry, you're late!"

"Sorry," said boy apologized, taking his place between the two other chasers. To his dismay, he saw that even the twins were already here. They had all been waiting for him.

"Okay, now that we're all here, I'll go over the plan again." The board was filled with moving squiggles again, and as Wood explained his game plan they moved around across the chalk court.

"Everyone, we must win this year! Not only to wipe those smirks off Slytherin's faces, but also for Alicia!" Heads turned to face her, and she blushed slightly.

"Okay, Gryffindor on three. Alicia, you too!" They all put their hands in the middle, Toshiro having to stretch his hand up a bit, much to his annoyance.

"One, two, three, GRYFFINDOR!" They all pulled their hands back, shouting the name of their house together. Cheers erupted from outside, and Wood signaled at them to march out.

"Take care of yourselves, y'all. It's snowing as well." Alicia warned as they filed out, waving at the crowd. "Toshiro, make me proud."

He didn't answer, instead just nodded and followed the others out, his broom slung over his shoulder.

They all gathered at the middle of the court, and Madam Hooch gave her customary introduction. Wood and Flint shook hands, crushing each other's hands in the process, glaring death glares at each other. Malfoy smirked and Harry and Toshiro, and Harry clenched his fists around his broom. Toshiro simply ignored him.

"Mount your brooms!" Hooch shouted, pulling her goggles over her eyes to shield them from the snow. They did so, and Toshiro noticed that most of them were shivering. He, on the other hand, was enjoying the blasts of cold wind and snow flying in his face.

The whistle was blown, and they all shot into the air. Katie had the Quaffle first, and she shot towards the goal, the other two Chasers following her. She passed to Angelina, who scored. The crowd erupted into cheers.

A Slytherin Chaser had the ball, and was shooting towards the goal. He was blocked by Katie, and tried passing to his teammate. It never reached its target, as Toshiro intercepted it halfway and shot in the opposite direction. High-pitched shouts erupted from the stands.

He was flying very quickly, not caring about the freezing air rushing past him. He swerved to avoid a Slytherin Chaser, and continued to race towards the goal posts. He aimed and scored, a grin breaking across his face as the crowd cheered again.

Slytherin had it again, and they seemed pretty agitated. The three Chasers grouped together to form a V, and flew towards the Gryffindor goalposts. However, they had to break formation as a Bludger came flying their way, almost knocking Montague off his broom. Toshiro spared a glance over his shoulder to see the Weasley twins grinning, their bats in hand.

The ball was quickly retrieved after that, and yet another goal was scored by Katie. Things started getting dirty after this though, as Slytherin started going rough. Bludgers were flying everywhere, and Fred and George seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with all of them. To top things, it had started to snow again. While this was good news for Toshiro, everyone else was suffering from the harsh weather. Angelina almost dropped the Quaffle one time, and George almost hit a Bludger at Hitsugaya, and he had to perform yet another Sloth Grip Roll to avoid it in time.

Still, this did not stop them from scoring a fourth goal, resulting in groans from the green stands and cheering from the other three stands. Toshiro could hear the roar of Luna's lion hat over the din, and wondered if her ears were warm.

That was when Montague grabbed one of the Beater's bats and hit a Bludger in Wood's direction, knocking him off his broom. He fell to the ground, sending a cloud of snow flying, and Flint scored. There were groans and screams, some cursing Montague with very… colorful… words. He didn't seem to care, the smirk on his face unmoving, until Fred hit another Bludger at him, forcing him to move. Toshiro gritted his teeth, and sped forward to catch the Quaffle that Angelina had thrown to him, ducking as Adrian Pucey attempted to elbow him in the face. That earned them a penalty, and the white haired boy shot forward to score another goal.

While all this was happening, Harry hovered above the court, scanning it for the Golden Snitch. Unfortunately, at the moment his view was blocked by Malfoy's annoying smirk. He flew over to one side, but Malfoy followed. He tried to get away, but would always end up with Malfoy in his face.

"What's the matter, Potter? Can't see past those glasses?"

"No, I just can't see past your ugly face." Harry replied vehemently, knowing that this would anger the vain boy.

"You're not one to talk, are you?" he spat back, smirking.

"Neither are you. Your team's losing, and we're winning."

This did the trick, and Malfoy opened his mouth in rage, about to say something. That was when Harry saw something flutter next to his ear. His eyes widened as he saw the Golden Snitch hovering just behind Malfoy's head.

"Oh, it's just 30 points, we'll beat you, easy." Malfoy was saying, oblivious to Harry's expression or the golden ball floating next to his head.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, Malfoy." He rushed forward, hand outstretched, missing the golden ball by inches. Alarmed, the blond boy turned, but Harry was already chasing the snitch.

"He's seen the snitch!" Lee Jordan shouted into the microphone, and heads turned to see a red blur shooting across the pitch, closely followed by a green blur.

"HARRY WATCH OUT!"

A gasp caught in his throat as a Bludger hurtled past him, barely missing his nose. He turned and saw Fred furiously beating it back at one of the Slytherin beaters, quickly giving him a thumbs up. He grinned weakly back at him, then turned his attention back to chasing the snitch. However, in barely fifteen seconds the Bludger had caught up to him again, and he had to dodge it again, allowing Malfoy to fly in next to him.

"Training to be a ballerina, Potter?" Malfoy sneered, trying to knock Harry off his broom. He hung on, and crashed back into Malfoy, but the fight was quickly broken apart as the Bludger came crashing back.

"What on Earth-" He sped up, trying to lose the Bludger, but it followed him relentlessly. Not to mention that Malfoy was taking up the space.

Shouts came from the stands as the crowd realized what was happening. Bludgers were supposed to target players indiscriminately, and here was one literally chasing Harry and only Harry.

"Why does this always happen to me?" he thought, gritting his teeth and flying as fast as he could. It cold air was like a knife on his cheeks, cutting into his flesh, and Malfoy was forced to slow down; the pain was too much for him. Unfortunately, Harry did not have that luxury; the Bludger was catching up.

Toshiro had just scored, but he wasn't really paying attention. In all their training sessions the Bludgers had never acted like this. He could see the snitch, a little more than an arms length, and Harry's arm outstretched, his gloved fingers trying to reach for it, while looking over his shoulder to see if the Bludger was still there. He saw him grind his teeth, and finally his fingers wrapped around the golden ball. A great grin broke across his face as the stands erupted in cheers of "He's got it!" and "Gryffindor wins!".

"LOOK OUT!"

Harry could hardly turn before a Bludger came crashing his way, too fast for him to dodge. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact.

It never came. There was a dull thud and Harry felt something, not a Bludger, more like a person, slacken on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw a head of spiky white hair.

Have you ever been punched, hard, in the stomach before? If you haven't, good for you. Let's hope it stays that way. If you have, as painful as it might be, try to remember that pain. Now imagine that the thing that punched you, be it a fist or rogue Bludger, was moving at a speed of more than sixty miles per hour. Must hurt, shouldn't it?

A lot of things happen when you're punched in the stomach and have no time to flex. First, all your insides are literally forced back into an unnatural position, and this coupled with the extra sensitive nerves can cause a lot of pain. The force of the punch also forces the diaphragm to expel air, hence the expression: "knocking the air out of someone." The unflexed muscles also feel the pain, and in all, that's a lot of pain.

Just below the sternum, in front of the rib cage, is a cartilaginous section called a xiphoid process. It is not attached to any ribs, but at 15 to 29 years old, it usually fuses to the body of the sternum with a fibrous joint. Unlike the synovial articulation of major joints, this is non-movable.

The word derives from the Greek word xiphos for straight sword; apparently they thought it looks like one. And it does. A short, straight sword attached to the end of the sternum hanging precariously over the liver and diaphragm. I'm sure that, sometime throughout the course of your life, someone has warned you that knives are dangerous, and that you shouldn't play with them, or you'll get hurt. If you have any common sense, you would at least heed to that warning and not go around throwing knives at your eyes or anything.

CPR can save your life, but when done incorrectly, can cause quite some damage. Pressure on the xiphoid process should be avoided during CPR, as this can cause it to break off and puncture or cut the diaphragm or liver. As most of you know, the diaphragm plays an important part in respiration, and when damaged, can cause serious breathing problems.

Of course, this is just CPR. Let's go back to the faster-than-sixty-miles-per-hour-weighing-over-one-hundred-and-forty-pounds Bludger, shall we? This potentially wields much more power than a failed CPR, although CPR can hurt as well, assuming the person isn't dead yet, of course. But the point is, a Bludger hurts a lot more than CPR, and when placed in the right place, can send that xiphoid process ricocheting, bearing in mind that that could be a hyperbole.

The explanation is all good, but of course all this wasn't running through Hitsugaya Toshiro's head when that Bludger crashed into his stomach and forced his internal organs backwards, caused his diaphragm to expel air, caused his xiphoid to ricochet around his ribs, causing a laceration in his liver that caused him to cough up blood when he was already out of air.

He gasped, his head already spinning from the lack of air. He coughed up more blood, the crimson liquid dripping down form the corners of his mouth. The Bludger quivered before attempting to shoot off in Harry's direction, but Toshiro managed to gather enough energy to glare at it. It frosted over, shattering into a million pieces of ice. The Bludger was gone, but the pain wasn't. It screamed throughout his body, his head full of them, although whether they were real or just in his head was unclear at this stage.

Suddenly, his stomach overturned, and the bile rose to his throat before he could stop it. He was retching, vomiting onto the court, onto the previously white and pure snow, save for the few drops of blood. The vomit kept coming with the blood, the pain burning and threatening to take the scream from his head and to his mouth, where he would scream as loud as he could before another bout of blood and bile came to take over.

"Toshiro? Hey! Can you hear me?" Harry voice came faintly over the din of the screaming. Nevertheless, the world was slowly slipping away, and he happily let the darkness envelop him. It was better than the pain.

~xXx~

He was plagued by those troubling dreams yet again. The dream of Hinamori stabbing him in the abdomen came back, then replaced by disturbing dreams of Aizen and pie, then of Matsumoto and watermelons. Nearly Headless Nick seemed to float in and out of his dreams as well.

Finally, Hyourinmaru's voice punctuated the increasingly weird-ifying dreams, ringing clear and loud with a ring of iciness to it.

Don't you think you've rested enough, Toshiro-kun?

It's Hitsugaya-taicho, he retorted automatically.

My, my, you have been in the world of rainbows and unicorns for a bit too long. Time to wake up, I think.

Rainbows and unicorns? What on Soul Society (A/N OMG I was just waiting to say that for so long! ^^) are you talking about?

Wakey wakey, Toshiro-kun. And next time don't be so reckless.

It's Hitsugaya!

Tch. Your friends are waiting for you. Don't keep them for too long.

Wha…

His eyes fluttered open, the surroundings blurry at first. Then things came into focus, and he found himself lying in the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione were sitting on one side of the bed, Matsumoto on the other. Matsumoto was the first to see him wake up, and she jumped up and brought him into a bone crushing hug.

"Oh my gosh, I was so worried! You just got knocked out like that, and… and… and…"

"Ma…tsumoto… C-can't breathe…"

"Oh sorry!" She released him from her grip, sitting back in her chair. Hitsugaya had time to glare at her for about half a second before Ron punched him in the shoulder, hard.

"What were you thinking, doing something as dangerous as that? You could have died, you know!"

He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Hermione brought them both into a hug, much less crushing than Matsumoto's but still painful.

"You… stupid… idiot!" she sobbed, tightening her grip on them. "Do you know how worried we were… when we saw you… coughing blood and vomiting and holding back that scream… do you know how much we worried? You were saving Harry, sure, but…" She could not continue, because her sobs were too overwhelming. Toshiro pushed her from him gingerly, bitterly reminded of how he had reacted when he had seen Hinamori on the floor in the pool of her blood.

"Well… I'm okay now, aren't I?" he said tentatively, not really sure how to talk to the crying girl sitting by his bed. "Speaking of which, what happened to me? I remember getting hit by the Bludger, and then…"

"Well, after Dumbledore turned that Bludger into ice, you lost consciousness and fell." Hermione said, her voice a little shaky. "Harry caught you and brought you here. You have internal bleeding, your stomach's in bad shape, plus your diaphragm got cut up, not to mention the liver damage you sustained. I think there was also a… lung puncture… Madam Pomfrey's tried her best and she's fixed most of it up, but you're gonna have to stay here for a night." She sniffed every few seconds, as if recounting his injuries hurt her. He wondered if it should have been the other way round. It didn't really matter to him though, as long as he was alive and learned his lesson: don't go around getting hit by Bludgers, especially not rogue ones.

"Dumbledore… turned the Bludger into ice?"

"Yeah, and by the looks of it he was pretty angry about how it was tampered like that."

He cast a worried look at Matsumoto. They both knew that he had turned that Bludger into ice, not Dumbledore. Was the old man protecting him?

"And what about Potter?"

"He wasn't hurt." Ron replied, "You took the full force of the Bludger for him. No wonder he was so worried about you."

"Where is he?"

"Er…" Ron and Hermione exchanged looks and did not answer, so Matsumoto piped in, "He's talking to the headmaster."

Toshiro laid a hand over the spot where the Bludger had punched him and winced. It seemed that the nurse had been unable to get rid of the bruise, but most of the pain had subsided. He wanted to stay in bed for the night, he was pretty sure he deserved it, but there were many things he had to finish, and apart from some pain he was okay… somewhat…

"Can I leave now instead of tomorrow? I feel fine now, and besides, there are a lot of things I want to clear up."

"You can't leave!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes still a little red. "Not after that!"

"No really, I feel fine…" He tried to get up, but was only pushed down by Matsumoto. He could smell some sake in her breath, more than usual. Stupid woman.

"Taicho," she said in Japanese, and very seriously "You've gone and beat yourself up so badly, so don't expect us to let you leave this room until you get all better."

"But…"

"Or I'll have to hug you again!"

He blanched at the thought, and she grinned. "See?" she continued in English, "Not so hard now, is it?"

A vein throbbed in his forehead, but he did not argue.

"Taicho… if only you could be this obedient all the time." Matsumoto sighed in mock exasperation. Any pretense of compliance disappeared, and he filled his lungs with air before shouting out the name of his oh-so-very-annoying subordinate.

"MATSUMOTO!"

"I think he's going to be just fine." Hermione laughed, Ron nodding weakly in agreement.

~xXx~

In fact, Harry was just standing outside, with Dumbledore as Matsumoto had said. He was completely unhurt, apart from a small bruise on his shoulder where Toshiro had collapsed and mild frostbite that Madam Pomfrey had healed in an instant.

They had won the game, but none of them were really in the mood for celebration, especially not Harry. He had been so paranoid and suspicious about Toshiro, and now he was in the hospital wing with critical injuries from protecting him. He felt so ashamed of ever thinking that he would even hurt a hair on his head.

After they had rushed him to Madam Pomfrey, Harry had come out to breathe, only to see Dumbledore standing outside, looking like he had been waiting for him. Now all he was doing was looking at him, his blue eyes x-raying him from head to toe.

"Professor, you were looking for me?" Harry finally said, breaking the silence. The old man smiled, the wrinkles on his face shifting as the corners of his mouth turned upwards.

"Of course, how silly of me. I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what, sir?"

"Oh, just some things that old men like me would think of." He smiled again, and the tension was released from Harry's body. Then he remembered what had made him nervous again, and he hung his head, the shame burning through him.

"Sir, you know how I told you about how I suspected Toshiro of attacking Mr. Filch's cat?"

"Yes,"

"Well, I don't think that's the case anymore." He raised his head to meet unmoving blue eyes behind those half-moon spectacles. Dumbledore never had any other expression on his face; Harry didn't know if it was just that he was just always happy, or it a mask to hide what he was feeling underneath.

"And why is this?"

"Well..." the words caught in his throat; they were too shameful to form into audible words that would become concrete the moment they left his lips. If they just stayed in his mind, he might be able to deny anything else later... but then he might never be able to deny it to himself. Damn, this was going too deep.

"Is it because he hurt himself to protect you?"

Harry hesitated, then nodded. Dumbledore lowered his glasses and they reflected the light of the setting sun, looking for a moment as if his eyes were glowing gold. "Yes, I too doubt that Mr. Hitsugaya has any evil intentions being here." He paused as Harry shifted uncomfortably. "However," he continued, "I do think he's here for reasons other than the obvious."

"You mean, other than to learn?"

"Yes."

Harry waited for him to elaborate, but the elderly man seemed preoccupied with his wrinkled hands.

"Well, it has been an eventful day." Dumbledore said finally in his usual cheery voice. "Rest well, Harry. You need it." He turned to leave.

"Professor?"

"Yes?"

"That Bludger that shattered…"

The old man turned to face Harry, still smiling. "I was the one who inflicted that damage upon it. Do not worry, it shall be repaired." And without any further delay, he left, whistling one of his mermaid songs along the way.

Ughh it was so hard writing that part about the being punched. Gosh they say wikipedia is English but I swear half of it is Latin. At least, the medical part. Sorry if I got anything wrong, I didn't get much of what I was saying anyway :P

On that… slightly related note… I have nothing against emos or people who feel so depressed they resort to hurting themselves, although I do hate seeing people around me get hurt. It's just that I don't think anyone would go as far as throwing knives at themselves just to hurt themselves and not to kill themselves… although I have a friend who tried shooting himself in the head with a BB gun. Needless to say I bashed his head in for him before he could get his finger on that trigger… ahem?

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! There are now over 200 reviews! You guys are awesome… and those reviews are what kept me motivated to keep going. THANK YOU ^^

Candied Sweets xD