A/N: Well, Fall classes are starting in about a month. Which means we have that long to get as many chapters done as possible before I get swamped with nagging professors. I will be working as hard as I can to get as many done as possible. Please bear with me. Hopefully I can get at least one chapter every week from now until the start of classes. Wish me luck!

Disclaimers: You know the drill by now peoples. Don't make me say it again.

ATT: I WAS REREADING MY CHAPTERS AND I NOTICED THAT IN THIS CHAPTER, TOSHIRO SAYS THAT HE IS FOURTEEN WHEN HARRY ASKS HIM HOW OLD HE IS. BUT I ACTUALLY DIDN'T HAVE HIM TURN FOURTEEN UNTIL DECEMBER, AS HE STATES IN A LATER CHAPTER. SO I'VE COME BACK AND FIXED THIS. I THINK THIS WILL MAKE THINGS A BIT CLEARER, HOPEFULLY.

Chapter Seven: To Diagon Alley

The next few days went passed with relative ease. After the first two days of disorder, in which Ichigo, Renji, Rukia and Rengiku fought over the bathroom in the morning, as neither of the boys would accept the 'ladies first' baloney, argued on whether or not someone's cooking was edible for breakfast, and the occasional feelings of not knowing what to do with themselves during the day, they finally managed to form something of a routine, determined to keep the peace in an attempt to keep Toshiro from slaughtering them all and then requesting a new team because something 'mysteriously' happened to his old one. Toshiro allowed Rengiku to use his bathroom in the mornings in order to narrow down the arguing between the four of them and Rukia, Renji and Ichigo created the rule of first come, first serve for the other bathroom, meaning if someone wanted the bathroom first, they had to get up earlier than everyone else.

Saturday morning, Toshiro sat on his usual perch on the roof with his back against the chimney, working on the paperwork he was determined to finish at least halfway in order to keep from having so much to do once they got to the school, along with the class work they would get. As he worked, he kept a mental eye on Harry's house, making sure all was well with the child they were supposed to protect.

A few hours, and several completed papers later, Toshiro glanced up and swiveled his head in the direction of Harry's house as the feint sound of someone shouting reached his ears. Carefully, he placed the papers down and placed on top the heavy rock he had found the other day. Then he stood up and walked to the edge of the roof and focused on listening to the shouting, trying to determine what it was about.

"-DON'T COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"

Toshiro narrowed his eyes as he recognized the voice as belonging to Harry's uncle. Hoping an enemy hadn't snuck into the house under his watch, Toshiro quickly flitted down, across the street and over to the living room window of number four and peered inside. Harry sat on the edge of the couch and he looked terrified. The uncle was standing a few feet away, continuing to shout into, what Toshiro realized was a telephone. After he hung up, he turned a furious gaze to Harry, who coward against the back of the couch.

"HOW DARE YOU GIVE OUR NUMBER TO THOSE FREAKS FROM THAT WRETCHED SCHOOL!" he shouted.

Toshiro rolled his eyes after he realized what the man was so angry about. Of course it would have something to do with his silly prejudice against Harry and his abnormal world. This man was so pathetic. Toshiro continued to watch as Harry's uncle continued to shout before sending Harry up to his room. Toshiro paused for a moment, contemplating, and then smirked and quickly jumped up to the roof and over to the back of the house. Stealthily, he crept to the edge of the roof at the back of the house and leaned down until he hung upside down above the first window. Seeing a large bedroom identical to his own, he figured it was the master bedroom and therefore not Harry's. Then he pulled himself back up and over to the next window near the other end of the house. Leaning down carefully, Toshiro glanced in and saw Harry sitting on a chair next to a desk with a snowy white owl perched in a cage on top of one side. He seemed to be speaking to it, leaning with his elbow on the desk and his chin in his hand, running the index finger of his free hand along the owl's white wing through the cage bars.

Quirking an eyebrow, Toshiro decided that he was bored and tired of doing his paperwork for a while and needed a distraction. Therefore, having made up his mind, he leaned further down and gently tapped on the glass with a knuckle. At first, Harry didn't respond, though the owl seemed to have heard the sound, for Toshiro could see Harry jump up and try to sooth the now startled bird. He waited until the owl had calmed down a bit and then tapped on the glass again. Harry froze and quickly turned his gaze to the window, did a double take, and nearly fell over his desk chair in an attempt to back away from the window, knocking the chair to the ground with a dull thud. The sudden commotion caused the owl to once again become hysterical and start beating her wings against the bars. Harry paused and turned to the bedroom door.

Using his keen sense of hearing, Toshiro listened through the window as the sound of feet rapidly ascending the stairs filled his ears, followed by a shout from Harry's uncle. Groaning in irritation, Toshiro pulled himself away from the window and listened.

"Boy!" the uncle yelled as Toshiro heard him burst through the bedroom door. "How many times do I have to tell you to keep that blasted bird quiet? I don't care what you do but if that creature isn't quiet, it'll have to go!"

"She's bored and restless." Harry said, desperate to defend his owl. "She wants to go outside. She's not used to being locked up. If I could just-"

"Absolutely not!" Uncle Vernon cut in. "Do you think I'm stupid, Boy? You let that bird loose, and who knows what it'll bring back from that- that place! No, I forbid it! You keep that bird quiet! I mean it, boy! Silence!" Then Toshiro heard the door slam and the sound of the uncle descending the stairs. A minute later, he heard the sound of the window opening and Harry's voice floating up to him.

"Hey. You still there?"

Toshiro leaned back over the edge of the roof and knelt down until he was just above Harry's ear. "Yes." He said. He smirked when Harry jumped and hit his head on the top of the window frame. Muttering a curse under his breath, Harry looked up at Toshiro with a glare. "Sorry." Toshiro said, though he sounded more amused than sorry.

"Don't do that." Harry hissed at him, rubbing his head. Then he paused and asked, "What are you doing here? How'd you get up there without anyone noticing? And who are you? You're one of the people that moved in across the street, aren't you? What-"

"Will you stop talking?" Toshiro snapped. "It's really irritating when people babble question after question at someone without giving them a chance to answer. Then they get offended when they don't get any answers because they think the one being questioned is being rude. Ask one question and then wait for an answer before asking another. You'll find that more information can be acquired that way."

Harry paused to filter through what he had been told and then flushed when he realized that he was right. "Sorry. So, um, what's your name?" he asked, picking his first question.

Toshiro was about to give him his title but paused, remembering that he was not in Soul Society, nor was he in Japan, which meant that he needed to phrase his name differently. Deciding there was no harm in giving the boy a small lesson in different cultural courtesies when stating ones name, Toshiro answered, "In Japan it would be Hitsugaya, Toshiro. However, here it would be Toshiro Hitsugaya."

Harry stared. One question had been answered but now several others had taken its place. He decided to go with the first one that came to his mouth. "You're from Japan?"

Toshiro quirked an amused eyebrow. "That wasn't one of your previous questions. But yes, I am."

Harry flushed again at being caught coming up with a new question. "Oh. So, your name is… Toe… toe…"

"Toe- shear- row." Toshiro said, forcing himself to be patient as he sounded out his name for the boy. He knew their names were going to be difficult for the gaijin to pronounce and that their names were bound to get butchered even more once they reached the school. "Toshiro. It's Japanese, so it's bound to be difficult to pronounce."

"Toe- shear- row." Harry said slowly, sounding each syllable out. "Toshiro. Right?" Toshiro nodded, glad the boy was able to get the hang of it so quickly. "Right. Hey, do you want to come in or something? My neck is starting to hurt from looking up so much."

Toshiro paused and turned his gaze toward where his temporary house was. Then he looked back to Harry. "Sure but give me a minute. I need to let the others know where I am, in case they get into any trouble while I'm gone."

"Um, okay." Harry said, obviously taken aback by the oddness of the answer. He doesn't look like he's joking, though. Harry thought. "Just come in when you get back. Unless my uncle or my aunt or my cousin are in the room." He added hastily.

Toshiro nodded and turned and headed back to his house. Climbing up to the roof first and retrieving his papers, he crawled in through his window and placed the stack on his night stand in their respective piles, 'complete' and 'incomplete', and then headed down to the living room, where Ichigo and Rukia sat on the couch, flipping through the channels. "Where are the other two?" he asked, coming to stand beside Ichigo.

Ichigo shrugged but didn't look away from the TV, continuing to flip through the channels. Rukia smacked his arm and stood up to bow respectively. "Last I heard, Renji was in the kitchen and Rengiku was in her room, planning out her project of the home makeover she wanted to do."

Toshiro rolled his eyes and nodded to Rukia. "Thank you. Well, I'll inform you two and you can tell Renji. I'll tell Rengiku." He paused and glanced at Ichigo, waiting for him to look up. When he didn't, Toshiro grabbed the remote from his hand and snapped the TV off.

"Hey, I was watching that!" Ichigo snapped, leaping to his feet and glaring down at Toshiro.

Toshiro glared back at Ichigo, using the slight temperature drop as a warning not to push him despite his height. "Now that I have your attention, I'm letting you all know that I will be back later. I'm heading over to Harry's house."

"Harry?" Ichigo repeated, blinking in confusion as his momentary anger vanished. "Why are you going over there? Did something happen?"

Toshiro shook his head, allowing the temperature to return to normal. "Not really. I heard his uncle shouting earlier. Apparently, someone from Harry's world, A.K.A. someone from the wizarding world, tried to call him on the telephone. However, I don't think they knew how to use one because I heard whoever it was shouting and then the uncle shouted about never going near his family and then shouting at Harry for giving someone from Harry's "freak school" their number."

"Prejudice bastard." Ichigo muttered with a scowl.

Toshiro and Rukia nodded in agreement. "Afterwards, I snuck over to Harry's bedroom window and knocked on the window but it scared his owl. Then his uncle started shouting again about Harry's owl making noise and that he was going to get rid of it if it continued. Harry tried to explain that she needed to be freer and not stuck in a cage but the uncle refused. Again, he demonstrated being bigotry by saying that he wasn't going to let the owl free so it could bring back who-knows-what from the wizarding world." Ichigo scoffed at the uncle's idiocy. "Harry invited me into his room, so that's where I will be. However, his relatives do not know I spoke to him and I plan on keeping it that way. If any of you need me, it can wait until I get back. If it's an emergency, send someone to come and get me. Preferably one who is stealthy enough to get onto the roof and over to Harry's window without getting caught. His window is in the same location as Renji's."

"Understood, Captain." Rukia said with a nod. Then she turned and headed to the kitchen to inform Renji. Ichigo nodded to Toshiro.

"Right, so can I have to remote now?" he asked.

Toshiro glared at him before tossing it back to him and heading up the stairs to Rengiku's room. He knocked once and entered. Rengiku glanced up from the sheets of paper she had out in front of her, her feet kicking the air idly as she lay on her stomach on the bed. "Captain!" she cried happily. She jumped up and grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards her bed. "Look, I think there's hope for this place yet." She grabbed a few of the sheets of paper and shoved them under his nose. "See?"

Toshiro pushed the pages away from his face so he could 'see'. He glanced at the drawings Rengiku had done and then sighed in exasperation. "Rengiku, we are not expanding the house, nor are we building a pool, planting a bunch of trees, painting the house pink, or…" he glanced back at the drawing. "Or building a fountain. Our goal here in this neighborhood is to be inconspicuous. Doing even one of these things would make us stick out worse than a drop of blood in the snow. The most you could do would be to fix the fence Kenpachi ruined. I also noticed that several of the houses have gardens. Maybe you could do something like that if you think we need it. But otherwise, there's no need to do anything more, since we won't be here long enough for it to matter."

"Aw, but Toshiro." Rengiku pouted. "I worked so hard on this. Can't I at least paint the house? It looks as bland as the rest of this hideous neighborhood."

Toshiro shook his head. "No, that's the point of blending in." The idea of living in a pink house, for any length of time, made his stomach clench nauseously. "I already gave you your options of what you could do. Now, pay attention." Quickly, he explained to her where he was going and why. "As lieutenants, you and Renji are to keep an eye on the place. And by that, I mean keep it the way it was when I left it. No additions, no subtractions, no multiplications, no divisions, and no alterations. Understood?"

"Fine, fine." Rengiku said, waving her hand idly as she went back to her drawings. "Now maybe I'll do a garden instead. Let's see, I think it should have…"

Toshiro left her to it and headed out, hoping the house wouldn't become unrecognizable when he returned. Knowing Rengiku as well as he did, he wouldn't put it past her to make any kind of drastic change in the amount of time it took him to get to and from Harry's house. He just hoped she would be able to restrain herself for once. Fat chance of that. He scoffed.

Harry sat on the edge of his bed, gazing out of the window expectantly. He felt pathetic, sitting there like an idiot waiting for Toshiro to come back because he had nothing better to do. The trouble was, he didn't have anything better to do. His school things had been locked in the cupboard as soon as he had walked in the door, so he couldn't do any of his homework even if he wanted to. Not to mention Toshiro might get curious when he came in and noticed Harry with a potions book in his lap. He read every one of Dudley's books that had been stored in his room, though there weren't many because people started realizing that Dudley didn't read and so stopped giving him books for his birthdays.

Harry sighed and got up and walked over to Hedwig's cage. His heart had nearly burst from his chest when he turned around and saw Toshiro hanging upside down outside his window. Like a vampire. Harry thought with a shudder. He had never met one before but if he had to make a wild guess, he would say that Toshiro came close. He was pretty pale and he had unnatural hair color. But his eyes weren't blood red and he had been out in the sun. Harry didn't remember everything from his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks but he didn't think vampires were supposed to be out in the sun. But who knows. Maybe Toshiro wasn't a vampire.

"What do you think, Hedwig?" he asked her.

"I didn't know you spoke to animals."

Harry jumped and whirled around to see Toshiro sitting on the window sill, a small amused smile dancing across his face. Harry glared at him, willing his heartbeat to return to normal. "Don't do that!" Harry hissed angrily, clutching his chest. "I swear this time my heart stopped."

Toshiro chuckled softly. "Sorry." He said, again sounding more amused than apologetic. He looked pointedly at the owl. "What's her name?"

Harry turned back to Hedwig, stroking her wings through the bars as she looked at Toshiro wearily. "Her name's Hedwig. It's a name I found in a book when I first got her. That was…two years ago." Harry said, his voice filling with wonder at the end. "Huh, it's already been two years. I got her two summers ago."

"Hm. She shouldn't be locked up in a cage." Toshiro said.

Harry nodded sadly. "I know. I want to let her out but my uncle refuses. He doesn't want her bringing anything…unpleasant back." I need to remember to watch what I say. He told himself. He turned back to Toshiro, wanting to change the subject that was too close to home for comfort. "So, how old are you?"

Toshiro smirked. "So we're back to playing twenty questions?"

Harry flushed. "Sorry."

"How old do you think I am?" Toshiro asked. He knew everyone at Hogwarts would comment about his age and height and he wanted to practice his patience before being bombarded with comments from the rest of the school. And that meant trying not to become offended if they commented on how old he looked.

Harry paused, looking at him thoughtfully. "Well," he started. "I want to say at least eight or nine, but judging by the way you talk and the way you carry yourself, I'd say you're a lot older than that. So maybe eleven, possibly twelve?"

Toshiro smirked. At least he knows better than to judge based on appearance. "Close. I'm thirteen."

Harry's eyes widened. "Thirteen?"

"Believe it or not." It was a good thing they came up with, and memorized, the details of their made up personas yesterday. "We're all a bit older or younger than we look. I'm the youngest of my group. I turn fourteen in December."

"What about the little girl?" Harry asked. He had so many questions swimming in his head, he was afraid he would forget one but he was determined not to overwhelm Toshiro like before. He didn't want to annoy him and lose him as a friend.

"If you mean the little girl with pink hair, she's not living with us." Toshiro said, secretly glad that Yachiru wasn't here. The last thing they needed was a hyperactive little girl with a massive obsession with sweets. Just thinking about the mounds of candy she ate in a day made his teeth hurt. Sometimes, too much was too much and hers was way too much. "It's only us teenagers. There are five of us. The man you saw when we first got here; he was just buying the house for us."

"Is he your dad or something?" Harry asked. "You and he kind of look alike."

Toshiro blinked. They hadn't thought of anything for Ukitake because he wasn't supposed to be here long enough for questions to come up. "Yes." Toshiro said, deciding to go with it. He would have to remember to let Ukitake and the others know the new development to their story. Ukitake would be thrilled. Or amused. "He is."

Harry nodded. "Thought so. But actually, your hair is what makes you guys look so similar. Is it natural or…?"

"It's normal for me now." Toshiro said. "It was a type of experiment gone wrong, I guess you could say." I should probably thank Matsumoto for the ridiculous lie about my hair color she came up with. But only if the house manages to stay intact for the summer. "We could never figure out a way to fix it, so we just left it the way it is."

"Oh, I see." Harry said. I guess that's not so odd. We have spells that can do that too, I guess. I wonder if there's one that can reverse his accident? "But what about the girl with pink hair?"

"She just wanted to change the color because I did, even though it wasn't voluntary for me." Toshiro answered swiftly. He was a bit surprised he was able to come up with answers so quickly. Then again, he didn't become the youngest captain in Soul Society for nothing.

"That makes sense, I guess." Harry said. "So, wait, your dad. Why did he just leave you guys here by yourselves? I mean, no offense but even though you guys are teenagers, you're still pretty young to be by yourselves, even though you're in a group."

"It's because we're in a group. Besides, we're studying abroad. This is just another stop." Toshiro said, this time going with Ichigo's excuse he used for his family. "Another place to learn new things. Speaking of which, we're supposed to go into main London in about a week to get some supplies for the new summer semester. Any ideas how to get there?"

"Can't you use that giant truck you guys came in?" Harry asked. Do they even have driver's licenses?

"No, we don't have it." Toshiro said. "And none of us are old enough to drive yet."

"Oh, that's right. Well, you could take a cab." Harry suggested. "Or you could go with a bus or something. I'm sure there's one that can take you to main London and back, even with whatever you buy. You just need to make sure you have the right amount of money for whoever is going."

Toshiro nodded. "Right now we're just buying the basics. We'll get everything else when the date for the start of classes gets closer." Toshiro made a show of looking at the black wrist watch that went with his outfit, compliments of Rengiku. "I had better be heading back. I need to make sure the house is still in one piece."

Harry started to laugh but something about the serious expression on Toshiro's face when he said it made him feel that he might not have been kidding again. "Okay, well then I guess I'll see you around."

Toshiro nodded and turned on the windowsill, getting ready to jump back onto the roof. "I'm sure we'll see each other again." Toshiro said without turning around. "After all, we live across the street from each other." Then he jumped up and grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled himself up in a way that would make a gymnast proud.

Harry felt his heart sink as he leaned out of his window and watched Toshiro disappear onto the roof. He had finally made a friend on Privet Drive and he didn't want him to leave, even though he knew he couldn't stay. Not only would his friends be worried about him, but Harry knew he couldn't hide Toshiro in his room from his aunt and uncle. And especially not from Dudley. And once school started again, he would be gone for the rest of the year and so would Toshiro with his study abroad group. He'd never see him again. After Toshiro and his friends left next summer, that house would be empty again and Harry would once again be friendless during the summers.

"I hate Privet Drive." He told the back garden. Sighing, he closed the window almost all the way, just in case Toshiro decided to visit again. Then he turned and headed to his bedroom door, feeling that enough time had passed for it to be safe to go down for food.

Toshiro visited Harry twice more the following week, once on Monday when the relatives had gone out and left Harry alone, allowing Toshiro to use the front door instead of the window. They spent the day talking about their different cultural activities and holidays and latest inventions of the century. Harry found everything Toshiro said about Japan extremely fascinating and he knew that Hermoine would be so jealous if she knew he was learning about a different country without her. "I wish I could visit." Harry had said. "Japan sounds like a neat place."

Toshiro shrugged, petting the owl that now sat on his knee. He had picked the padlock the uncle had placed on the cage, after Harry had admitted that he didn't know how, and allowing the bird out as long as the window was closed and she went back in when Harry's aunt and uncle returned. "Japan has it's ups and downs like any other country. But it is nice, I suppose. Living so long in one country, you don't really think too much about it until you leave it."

Harry nodded. "I guess that's true."

Toshiro had left when the Dursleys returned, locking Hedwig back in her cage, much to her displeasure, and gone out the window and over the roof after he heard the front door open and close. He returned the following Thursday night when everyone else had gone to bed and told Harry about the plan for him and his group to go into main London on Monday the fifth and that they would be gone almost the entire day.

Harry felt a twist in his stomach at the news. Not only was Toshiro leaving for the day but also he was going into main London. If only Harry could go with them. He so desperately wanted to take Toshiro into Diagon Alley and show him everything about his world. He had a feeling Toshiro might like it, even though Harry was sure he was a muggle because he hadn't once said anything that would indicate otherwise. He didn't recognize Harry's name, as other wizards and witches did, and the one time Harry tried, he didn't acknowledge any of the hints Harry had dropped about wishing there was a simpler way to do things, or that he wished there was a place he could go and be himself, somewhere magical, or any of the other hints he had made. He supposed it was a good thing Toshiro didn't pick up on anything about magic if he was a muggle. That would have been bad for the both of them if a muggle found out about magic because Harry had told him.

Now, Monday morning, July fifth, was possibly the worst morning Toshiro had ever experienced. He awoke at five o'clock a.m. that morning, an hour before he had planned on getting up, by the shouts of Rukia and Renji as they pounded on the bathroom door, demanding that Ichigo hurry up and get out. Toshiro growled, cursing his misfortune once again for getting teamed up with those three, and buried his head under his pillow in a feeble attempt to block out the noise. Several minutes later, he heard a knock on the door before Rengiku burst through, carrying a towel and a bundle of clothes in her arms.

"Don't mind me, Captain." She said around a yawn as she headed towards the bathroom. "I'm just going to shower and freshen up, since I'm most likely not going to be able to go back to sleep with those three shouting down the house. Honestly, can't a girl get her beauty sleep around here?"

Toshiro grunted as the bathroom door closed behind her and sat up. He knew he wasn't going to be getting any more sleep either. Curse these stupid gigais and their need for sleep. Couldn't Kurotsuchi have given us ones that didn't need it? Grumbling, he got up and headed toward his bedroom door, which he threw open with a bang. He glared out into the hallway, where Rukia and Renji paused to look at him with startled eyes, their fists poised in mid-air, frozen in the action of pounding on the door.

Toshiro stalked towards them almost predatorily, causing the both of them to back up instinctively as the temperature in the hall dropped steadily lower and lower. "Both of you, back to your rooms." He said, dangerously calm but dripping with irritation. "Now."

Rukia and Renji quickly scampered back into their rooms and waited in the doorway, watching as Toshiro turned and banged on the door with a fist. "Kurosaki, are you almost finished?" he called.

"Yeah, hang on." Toshiro heard a soft rustling and then the door opened and Ichigo walked out in a pair of jeans and his shirt draped over one shoulder and a bundle of clothes in his arms. He shivered. "Now I'm done. But it's freezing out here."

Toshiro nodded. "Good." He turned back to the other two and looked pointedly at Renji. "I expected better behavior from the Lieutenant of Division Six. But since the two of you are going to act like children, I'm going to treat you like children. Abarai, you are higher ranked, so you go first. After you are finished, get dressed as quickly as possible and get out. Then Kuchiki can go and we could all be done with it. It is too damn early for this crap and if this happens again the next time we get ready to go to Diagon Alley, I'll have Hyorinmaru send you three back to Soul Society as ice statues for Division Eleven's garden. Is that clear?"

There was a murmur of "yes, Captain" from the two bedrooms and a "yeah" from Ichigo. Then Toshiro turned and stomped back into his room and slammed the door. The sooner they got out of that house, the better. The rest of that morning went much better and by six forty-five, they were just about ready to go.

"So, when is the cab supposed to be here to pick us up?" Ichigo asked as he finished his cereal.

Toshiro sat on the counter and sipped his tea contently. "Seven." He answered. "We'll be there the majority of the day."

Before anyone else could speak, there was a low tapping noise coming from the glass door connecting the back yard to the kitchen. Everyone looked up to see a large tawny owl hovering just outside the door, a letter clutched tightly in it's beak. Rangiku placed her fork on her plate and headed over to let the bird in. Immediately, the owl flew in and landed on the counter beside Toshiro, placed the letter in his lap and flew back out the door.

Toshiro placed his teacup down and picked up the letter, glancing at the address before tearing it open and pulling out two pieces of paper. "It's from Urahara." He said, scanning the first page before leafing to the second. He nodded and folded the second page and placed it in the front pocket of his jeans. "He sent me a map of Diagon Alley; we shouldn't have a problem getting around in there with this."

"Well, that's good." Renji said from his seat between Ichigo and Rukia. "It would suck if we got lost in there." The others nodded in agreement.

Toshiro glanced down at his watch and drained the rest of his tea before leaping off the counter and headed out of the kitchen. "Let's go, the cab should be here in a minute." He called over his shoulder. He placed his hand in his pocket, making sure his money bag was still there, along with the key to the house. He stood in the open doorway as the cab pulled up to the front of the house and turned as the others came up behind him. "It's here, let's go."

Quickly, the five of them left the house and piled into the back of the cab, Ichigo, Renji, and Rengiku sitting in the main seats and Toshiro and Rukia sitting in the jump seats facing backwards. Toshiro told the driver their destination, and then sat back and waited. Half an hour later, the five of them stood in front of a small clothing store, glancing at the normal people walking to and fro. "Let's go." Toshiro said.

He lead them down the street until they got to the Leaky Cauldron, nestled tightly between the record store and book store, looking as shabby as ever. Toshiro pushed the door open, causing a bell to ring softly somewhere in the background. The change was instantaneous. The noise in the room dimmed into silence as the occupancies turned to stare at the newcomers. Toshiro stepped forward after a few moments. "We're looking for the innkeeper. We need to get into Diagon Alley. Can someone be so kind as to point him out to us?"

The room was silent for another minute before a balding man stepped from behind the bar. "I'm Tom, the innkeeper. Do any of you have wands?"

Toshiro shook his head. "No, that's what we're here for. We need to buy the stuff we will be needing for the school year, including wands."

Tom nodded and beckoned them towards him as he headed passed a staircase and out a back door. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, we're from a country called Japan." Toshiro answered. "We're here as a study abroad group. We'll be attending Hogwarts for a year before moving on."

"Hmm. Sounds interesting, I guess." Tom said. "Well, here we go."

They stopped in front of a brick wall a few feet past the back door. "Watch carefully." He instructed them. He pulled out his own wand and pointed it at the wall. "You tap the brick above this trashcan here, and tap up three and then two over. Like this." He tapped the bricks as he had instructed and a moment later they were standing in a brick archway where the wall had been. On the other side was what seemed to be an old fashioned looking street, crowds of people dressed in odd robes jumbled around several odd-looking shops with even odder items displayed in the windows. Tom grinned at their stunned faces. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

A/N: So what did you think? Another long chapter, just like you guys requested. Haha. I hope you guys liked this one. I know some of the quotes I used from the book aren't completely word for word but I don't have the books with me right now. Their in a box somewhere under my bed. So, yeah…

Anyways, the next chapter will most likely be just as long, not entirely sure though. As for Ichigo's hollow self, he will definitely be around. You'll see him either in the next chapter or the one after; not sure yet. And as for their ages and stuff. That will all be explained as much as possible later. So until then, please review and let me know what you guys thought about this. Thanks!

~ Map of Diagon Alley that Urahara sends to Toshiro and group. (www dot hp-lexicon dot org / atlas / britain / atlas-b-diagon dot html) but without the spaces of course and with a "." instead of the word "dot" (Map provided by Harry Potter Lexicon. Thanks HPL!)