A/N: Chapter Nine is here! Hope it meets everyone's expectations. Sorry for the long delay but I had a hard time getting to the internet as well as A LOT of detail and research to do for these next chapters, as a lot of questions came up in the reviews regarding explanations for Ichigo and the others being in third year when they are obviously not thirteen. Well, Toshiro and Rukia can pass for thirteen, I guess. But Rangiku? Definitely not. But, fortunately, I went over the details in my head numerous times and decided to make it seem more like an actual background story. So I had to delve deep into the depths of my imagination (be lucky you didn't have to go in there; scary stuff. I almost didn't make it out alive) and created a background story for their cover, complete with made-up profiles that I have here on my computer as reference so I don't forget what I'm doing. I hope, when the time comes for everyone to explain their situation, as they most likely will once they meet Hermione, it meets your expectations and, most importantly, makes sense. But for now, here's chapter nine; nice and long and with a bit more Hollow Ichigo for everyone and a bit more humor. Hope I did okay!

Chapter Nine: Practice Almost Makes Perfect

The next few days were spent hitting the books. Toshiro woke everyone at exactly nine o'clock Tuesday morning, ordering everyone to shower, in an orderly fashion, dress and meet in the living room with their wands and Charms textbooks, Magical Theory.

"We'll be working on charms for the first week or so of practice." He told them. He paced in front of them as they sat on the living room couch. Ichigo looked bored while Rukia and Renji listened intently. Rangiku watched him but he could tell her attention was elsewhere by the glazed look in her eyes. "There are about six weeks between now and the day for us to move to the Leaky Cauldron and a total of three classes that require almost successive wand usage; Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Potions and Herbology we will work on when we get to the Leaky Cauldron, since we'll need the ingredients in order to make potions and we'll need to see the plants we are to learn about from the Herbology class, and History of Magic we will study here at the house on our own time; Care of Magical Creatures we will work on when we get to Hogwarts, since that class won't be introduced to any of the students in our year until we get there."

"We will spend all of this week and all of next week working on charms." Toshiro continued. "The two weeks after that, we will work on Transfiguration. Then the last two weeks will be spent practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts spells. We will be practicing for about three hours a day, every day; one and a half hours during the morning after breakfast, and then we will eat lunch, and then another hour and a half before dinner. It doesn't have to be consistently. You can take a break anytime between, as long as you make sure to practice. We can't afford to be too far behind. Also, in order to get you all used to the schedule set for all students, you will all be expected to wake up and be at breakfast between 7 and 7:50 am. Classes start at the school at 8 o'clock, so I will technically declare practice to start at 8. Lunch is at noon and dinner is at 7 pm. Free time is after dinner, as long as your practice is complete for the day. I'll be testing each of you; no practice, no meals."

"What?" Ichigo snapped.

"Taicho, you can't be serious! No food?" Rangiku exclaimed, momentarily coming out of her daze to gawk at her captain in horror. "That's not fair!"

"Neither is bringing the rest of us down because someone didn't bother to prepare for the mission properly like they were told." Toshiro snapped. He crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at each of them. "My orders are simple: you practice, you pass my mini-exams, you eat. You don't even have to have the spells down pat; as long as I can tell you at least attempted to practice it. And I will be able to tell. If you don't practice before lunch, you don't get lunch. If you don't practice before dinner, you don't get dinner; plain and simple. The same will be said for when we do Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. By the time we get to the Leaky Cauldron, you should be completely through years one and two of charms, compatible with first and second year Transfiguration, and compatible for first and second year Defense Against the Dark Arts; or at least as close to completion as possible. I'll test you on all of this the day before we leave for the Leaky Cauldron; anything you still need to work on, you can do at the school. I'm sure that not every student is good at every subject. You can use that as an excuse if you want. We can't afford to be too far behind in all of our classes. The less suspicion directed towards us, the better. Any questions?"

Rangiku raised her hand as she spoke. "What about the other stuff? Like the history stuff and the Potions stuff when we get to it? How are you going to test us on that?"

"I'll test your knowledge on the history." Toshiro explained. "It will be brief testing, since I know learning about the past isn't exactly easy, especially with such short time available to study it all. I just want to know who did what and when of at least…" He paused to think for a moment. "…ten different people or creatures. I'll want to know their names, what they did to get their stories in a history book, what year the event took place, and what significant outcome took place following the event. Or you can summarize an important event that is still being used in the magical world today. Or even something that happened in the past that was seen the muggle way but was explained differently the magical way. As long as you have ten of them. And you have to know them, not word for word, but at least enough so that if a teacher were to ask, you can give a reasonable explanation.

As for Potions and Herbology; Potions, I will test whatever you made, or attempted to make, and see how well you were able to make them, as well as how effective the potion turned out to be." Toshiro thought for a moment. "Herbology, I will test your knowledge of specific plants at random and see if you even know what to do with a specific plant. I skimmed through that book last night and I read about a plant called Devil's Snare. It's a plant that wraps itself around anything and everything, tightening it's grip like a snake. The more you struggle, the tighter it gets before it completely cuts off circulation or crushes its victims. A way to stop it and get it to let go is light. A flash of light like a stroke of lightning inside a room would distract it long enough to disentangle yourself if you're quick. Fire works best. So you need to know things like that, as well as some uses for some of the plants, medical or otherwise. Any other questions?" Everyone shook their heads.

"You'd be perfect as a teacher." Ichigo muttered with a scowl. "My math teacher is just as strict as you but at least she doesn't ban us from food. Mostly because it's illegal. So what happens if we decide not to practice at all? Are we not allowed to eat for the whole summer?"

"If you don't practice at all, then I'll send you back to Soul Society and let Head-Captain Yamamoto take care of you." Toshiro snapped. "Any other questions?" Ichigo rolled his eyes and shrugged, but otherwise remained silent.

"Right, now before you start, you can have half an hour to eat breakfast right now. Once breakfast is done, you have an hour and a half to practice before noon, which incase any of you decide to be smartasses, is at 12." Toshiro looked at his watch and then glanced back at his group. "After lunch, you have to use another hour and a half for more practice before dinner at 7. I don't care if you do it right after lunch or an hour and a half before dinner, as long as you get it done."

"Hey, I have another question." Rangiku said. "Who's cooking lunch and dinner? And breakfast?"

"Since I get up earlier than all of you, I'll do breakfasts, except for today. Today you're on your own." Toshiro shrugged. "The rest of you need to decide who makes dinner and lunch whenever. Or we can have a free-for-all and have everyone just make whatever for themselves. Your choice."

"I say we take turns." Rangiku said at once. "One person can do Mondays, another can do Tuesdays, and so on and so on. And then we can all pitch in on Saturdays and Sundays. That way each one of us cooks for one day and then the weekends. Even Taicho."

"I wouldn't mind that." Renji said thoughtfully. "One day out of the week will be one person's cooking day from now until we go to the Leaky Cauldron. And that way everyone will be earning their keep."

"Sound fine to me." Ichigo said shrugging.

"Me too." Rukia said. "But how should we choose who does what day?"

"Ooh, drawing lots!" Rangiku exclaimed. Quickly Rangiku ran up the stairs to her room and returned a minute later with five popsicle sticks clutched in her fist. "Okay, I bought these while in Diagon Alley in that junk shop near the end of the street. You'd be surprised with the stuff they have in there. Anyways, I bought them for the garden I'm going to be working on in the front yard. But with these, I wrote the letter of each day, Monday through Friday, on the end of each stick, mixed them up, and placed the written end in my hand. Everyone picks a stick and whatever letter you choose, that will be your designated cooking day. I'll take whatever is left in my hand so no one will accuse me of cheating or something stupid like that. Sound fair?"

"How will we tell the difference between Tuesdays and Thursdays?" Renji asked. "They both start with T's."

"Tuesdays will be Tu and Thursdays will be Th." Rangiku explained. She held out her hand clutching the sticks to Toshiro. "Taicho?"

Toshiro grabbed a stick at looked at the end. "I've got Tuesdays."

Rangiku nodded and continued passing the sticks out one at a time. Finally she was left with one stick and quickly glanced at it. "Right, I've got Thursdays. So, Monday is Renji, Tuesday is Toshiro, Wednesday is Rukia, Thursday is Ichigo and Friday is me. And then Saturday and Sunday will be all of us. Everyone happy? Good. And too bad if you're not. No changes, no trading. Decisions are final."

"Now that that's settled, go eat while you still have time." Toshiro said before anyone could argue about trading. "I meant what I said about skipping meals if you don't practice."

"How do we know you're practicing?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.

"Would you like me to use each spell I learn on you?" Toshiro asked innocently. "I assure you, I have no qualms against it. Plus, I'll be using several spells to keep everyone out of the fridge, so that anyone who didn't practice can't sneak food. But if you really want to, I'll show you the spells I learn as demonstrations. Satisfied?"

Ichigo shrugged. "For now."

Toshiro rolled his eyes. "Good. Now go; you're wasting eating and practicing time with all your questions. And follow all instructions in the book." Toshiro watched them get up and head into the kitchen before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Day One. God help us all.

BREAK

Ichigo sat on his bed, leafing through the Charms textbook as he searched for his first spell. As he searched, he couldn't quite keep the shop keeper's words out of his mind when he gave Ichigo the wand. 'It must not be easy with two hosts.' How did he know? He couldn't know. He's not a Soul Reaper or anything. Did he really know? Maybe he meant about my Zanpaktou's spirit. He thought. That's technically like having two hosts. But then he would have said the same thing about the others. He couldn't be talking about that guy, could he? It definitely sounded like it. But then how did he know? And if he was able to tell, who else would? This is bad. No one can know about him. I just need to practice as hard as I can to control him. There's no other choice. I have to keep him under control at all times and make sure no one, not the students, the teachers, and especially not Toshiro and the others, no one can know about this.

And why not? What's so wrong about me?

Ichigo jerked and turned his head to his door, making sure it was closed and locked before turning his attention back to his other self. Go away. He mentally snapped. I told you not to talk to me!

Like you could get rid of me that easily. I told you I wouldn't stop trying, King. I will take over. It's only a matter of time. You WILL be the horse in this pathetic world of yours. Just you wait.

Shut up already! There's no way I'm letting you take over!

You won't have a choice once you let your guard down. And perhaps I could meet those wonderful little human children at that school you're going to. And full of so many magical toys I could use.

Over my dead body!

That can be arranged.

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Ichigo clenched his fists against the sides of his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he mentally shouted at his hollow self. Just leave me the hell alone! You're not getting out and that's that! Sorry to burst your bubble, but it looks like you're staying right where you are! And as soon as I figure out how to permanently keep hold of you, you can bet that I will lock you up and shove you to the deepest and furthest part of my mind.

You are so cruel, King. But no matter what you do, you can't control me. Your "teacher" was the one who awoke me in the first place, remember? If you hadn't wanted to save your little friend so badly, I probably wouldn't be here. So blame him. But regardless, you can bet that I won't go down without a fight. I promise you that…

Ichigo waited a few more seconds, making sure his hollow self had truly retreated before he sighed with relief and slumped back against the pillows stacked behind him. It was getting harder and harder to control his hollow self each time he pushed himself forward. Ichigo knew that eventually, if he didn't do something soon, he wasn't going to hold out much longer against him. No! I won't lose to him! I will keep control! I have to!

Shaking his head furiously, he straightened back up and grabbed his textbook, leafing through. "This one looks easy enough. Just swish and flick. Shouldn't be too hard."

BREAK

The rest of the week passed in chaos. The first day, Ichigo had broken his window a grand total of seven times with the Levitation spell, with Toshiro putting the glass back together after he learned the spell for it, before Toshiro had him stop and start on another spell. Rukia turned out to be truly exquisite with Charms after she got the hang of it. But the first time she used the Levitation spell, she sent her bed out the door and crashing into the wall across from her room. Renji nearly sent Rukia herself flying down the stairs when he tried to help her figure out how to get her bed back into her room. But Rangiku was the worst. The others soon found that Rangiku was dangerous with Charms and made sure to stay clear of her and her room when she practiced. The first day, she sent her bed soaring out of her room and down the stairs. After chasing it, she attempted to levitate it back upstairs but somehow missed her mark and sent the bed shooting right through the ceiling and directly into Toshiro's bedroom, knocking both Toshiro and Suna off of Toshiro's bed and onto the floor, inches from the giant hole in the floor with Rangiku's bed sticking half out. Needless to say, neither of them were pleased. Suna was down right spitting mad and was turning a violent shade of blood red and growling furiously.

After scooping Suna up in his arms, Toshiro had quickly cast his own Levitation spell and sent Rangiku's bed back into her room and then quickly skimmed through his textbooks, looking for a spell he had found earlier, and then quickly cast a Repairo spell to fix the floor. After that incident, Toshiro made a point to learn every fixing spell, silencing spell, and any other spell he could that would help keep the house in one piece. Then he made sure to supervise Rangiku with her charm work. The last thing he needed was for her to suddenly send her bed or the house itself through the neighbor's living room window.

The rest of the week gradually got better, though Rangiku still hadn't completely gotten the hang of Charms. Rukia and Toshiro turned out to be near experts at it; Renji was slowly getting better but it was painfully obvious that Charms was not his forte. Ichigo seemed to get more and more furious with the spells before picking up the object he was practicing on and throwing it out the door, cursing the stupid wizards for creating such complicated spells. It wasn't until half way through the second week that he started getting the hang of it, though still not up to Rukia's or Toshiro's level.

By Friday, everyone had progressed enough so that they were just finishing up the last few spells left to learn for first and second year. Toshiro's coaching seemed to help a great deal. On top of it all, Toshiro seemed quite please with himself for being able to complete nearly half of the paper work he had brought with him from the office. Eventually he was planning on purchasing an owl once they got back to Diagon Alley so he could send the completed papers to Urahara, who would, in turn, send them to Soul Society. Hopefully Urahara would send back more paperwork so that Toshiro didn't have so much to go back to once this mission came to a close.

While everyone worked, Rangiku sighed in a mixture of boredom and frustration and tossed her wand onto her bed and headed out into the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen to start dinner, since Fridays were her days. As she passed by the fridge, she glanced up at the calendar taped to the door of the freezer, each day crossed off as they came to a close. She paused and glanced at the date; according to the calendar, today was July 16th. Something about the days seemed to be nagging at the back of her mind. It wasn't today that was bothering her. Was it tomorrow? No, tomorrow felt like it would be any other day. What about yesterday? Yesterday was the 15th. Something about the 15th seemed to be significant some how. But why?

"July fifteenth… July fifteenth… I know there was something important about that day." Rangiku tapped her index finger against her chin before her eyes lit up. "That's right! July fifteenth! I knew it was something important! How could I forget? How could we all forget? Well, the others probably didn't know, and he didn't say anything. But not to worry! I will take care of everything! Now what should I do first?"

BREAK

Toshiro looked up at the soft knock on his door. "Come in." he answered curtly. He watched at Rangiku poked her head in.

"Taicho, I just want to let you know that I'll be right back." Rangiku said softly, as though avoiding any eavesdroppers.

Toshiro narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?" he asked slowly.

"I have to get some things for dinner. It won't take long. I think I remember seeing a store near here and I need to go there real quick. I'll be right back, I promise." Rangiku turned and headed down the stairs before Toshiro could respond. A few seconds later, he heard the front door open and then shut and sighed as he glanced out the window, watching her run down the street and out of sight.

Toshiro glanced down at the kitten curled up in his lap. It lifted its head and peered up at him curiously. "What is she up to?" Toshiro asked it.

Suna merely blinked and resumed her nap, curling up further into his lap. About an hour later, Toshiro glanced up to see Rangiku return with a bag clutched in her arms, held tightly to her chest. Toshiro shook his head and continued reading through the history book. "I don't think I want to know." he muttered.

BREAK

Ichigo tossed his textbook on the floor and plopped his wand down at the end of his bed. "Finally, I'm done. I hate charms."

He glanced at the alarm clock on his night stand as he got off the bed and stretched. "Almost time for dinner. Wonder what we're having this time?" After taking another stretch, Ichigo walked out of his room at the same time that Renji emerged from his.

"Is it just me, or does something smell sweet to you?" Renji asked.

Ichigo sniffed the air before nodding. "It does. Rangiku cooks tonight; I wonder what the heck she's making."

Renji shrugged and started heading down the stairs. "I don't know but I don't think Toshiro will like it. I heard a rumor in Soul Society that Toshiro can't stand sweets. I have a feeling that if dinner is as sweet as it smells, he might ban her from kitchen duty. Either that or he'll just ban her from touching anything with sugar."

"No offense, but he looks like a kid. How can he not like sweets, even a little?" Ichigo asked.

Renji shrugged again. "Beats me. That's just what I heard. Yet, I also heard that Ukitake gives him candy sometimes. So I'm not really sure."

Before the two of them could get to the door to the kitchen, Rangiku burst out and shoved them both back. "No, not yet! I'm not done yet! Stay out here until I say otherwise. Especially you." She said, pointing a finger at Ichigo. Then she turned on her heals and headed back into the kitchen. A second later, she poked her head out. "And stay out of the dining room as well. I mean it. I'll use a charm on you."

"Well, that's odd." Renji muttered. He turned to Ichigo. "What did you do?"

Ichigo shrugged and went to sit in the living room. "Who knows? Girls tend to get mad over the stupidest things. I bet if I asked, she'd probably talk to me like I'm supposed to know, when I obviously don't. Best to just wait it out."

"But then why am I in trouble?" Renji asked indignantly. "I didn't do anything."

"Of course not." Said a sarcastic voice.

Renji and Ichigo turned their heads to see Rukia walking away from the stairs and over to them. "What's that supposed to mean?" Renji asked huffily.

"Nothing." Rukia said with a shrug. She glanced at the kitchen and dining room doors. "So why are you two out here?"

"Rangiku won't let anyone in." Renji answered after Ichigo shrugged. "We don't know why. She just said that she wasn't ready yet and to stay out unless she says otherwise. She said she'd use a charm on anyone who tries to go in the kitchen or the dining room."

"Is that a fact?" Toshiro entered to room, his arms crossed over his chest and his nose wrinkled in distaste. "Something smells unbearably sweet."

Renji looked pointedly at Ichigo, who raised an eyebrow curiously. Just then, Rangiku burst through the kitchen and headed over to them. "Okay, you can go into the dining room now. Dinner's already served, so just go in and don't rip or pop anything." Then she headed back into the kitchen.

"Rip or pop?" Renji said as he and the others headed to the dining room. "What's that supposed to – what the hell?"

The dining room was full of blue, yellow, green, purple and black streamers threaded through the backs of the chairs and across the ceiling and walls. A white and yellow checked table cloth had been draped over the table. Green, white, red, yellow and orange balloons floated across the ceiling and a single balloon hung, tied, to the back of each chair, except for one. The odd chair out, Ichigo's chair, had a single balloon tied to the back of his chair, different from the others. The balloon was black and made out of foil instead of rubber like the other balloons. There was confetti decorated all over the balloon and across the front and back, in big yellow letters, were the words "Happy Birthday" written across.

Rangiku walked out of the doorway leading from the kitchen to the dining room with a smile on her face. "Guess what yesterday was? It was Ichigo's birthday yesterday! July 15th. I'm so glad I remembered. It's a little late but better late than never. What are you guys waiting for? Let's eat." Rangiku sat down in her seat and began placing food onto her plate.

Everyone else turned to Ichigo, who stood rooted to the spot with his eyes wide and face burning a bright red. Rukia smirked and nudged him forwards, snapping him out of his momentary stupor. He shook his head slightly and scowled as he headed to his seat, avoiding eye contact. He knew the others were watching him, he could feel their eyes on him. How embarrassing! Not only did a girl he hardly even know remember his birthday, but she had thrown him a party as well. And how the hell did she even find out his birthday anyway? He himself barely remembered until half way through the day yesterday, when his sisters had sent him birthday cards in the mail. And he certainly didn't tell anyone about his birthday. How did she know? And why the heck was everyone staring at him? Okay, his face was probably as red as Toshiro's cat was when Rangiku nearly killed it when she sent her bed soaring through the ceiling, but so what? Theirs would be too, if she had done this to one of them. And to make such a big deal about it was even worse.

"So, yesterday was your birthday?" Renji asked with a laugh. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yeah, we would have gotten you a present while we were at Diagon Alley last week." Rukia chimed in. She turned to Rangiku. "How did you know?"

"I read his file." Rangiku said simply. She shrugged. "It's all there; his birthday, blood type, age, height, weight, you know."

"You read my file?" Ichigo asked furiously. Then he paused. "Wait, I have a file?"

"Everyone has a file." Toshiro answered. "Including us Soul Reapers. But after I found out who was going to be on my team, I pulled everyone's files to find out more about you all. Especially you, since I didn't know squat about you other than you breaking into Soul Society and breaking every rule in the process. And getting a bunch of others to break rules as well during your stay; including a few Soul Reapers."

Renji and Rukia looked down sheepishly, as they were some of the 'few' who had broken rules. Ichigo shrugged. "I did what I had to."

"Right, well I saw the files, so I decided to skim through them." Rangiku said. "And that's how I found out about your birthday. I forgot yesterday, but when I saw the calendar on the fridge earlier, I remembered."

"Should we start singing?" Renji asked with a smirk.

Ichigo shoved his fork in Rukia's direction as she opened her mouth and glared at everyone on the table. "Don't you dare! No singing! Besides, according to Rangiku, she saw everyone's files, which means she knows everyone else's birthdays too, right?"

Rangiku nodded. "Yep. And I'm planning on throwing a party for every single one of you. And when we get to Hogwarts, I'll have the whole school pitch in for anyone whose birthday is during the time we're there."

"What!" Renji yelled, horrified. "You can't be serious!"

"Well, your birthday is during the time we're at the Leaky Cauldron, so I'll just have everyone there help me." Rangiku said.

"You will not!" Renji shouted, his face turning pink. "Don't you dare! How would you like it if we did the same to you?"

"She'd love it." Toshiro said with a scowl. "Her birthday takes place while we're at the school, so most likely she'll be throwing herself a party."

"Of course." Rangiku said. "What's a birthday without a party? And cake? Oh, that reminds me."

Quickly Rangiku got up and headed into the kitchen. "She didn't." Ichigo said in horror.

"She did." Toshiro said, wrinkling his nose at the colossal smell of sugar.

A moment later, Rangiku emerged from the kitchen carrying a large plate covered with a big metal lid. "It finally cooled down. I think this is my best work yet." She set the plate down in the center of the table and lifted the lid. Underneath, sitting grandly on the plate, was a large round cake covered in light blue icing and scattered with rainbow sprinkles and thin strings of chocolate syrup crisscrossing all over the cake. 'Happy Birthday Ichigo' was scrawled out in swirly brown letters using the chocolate syrup and a ring of unlit candles decorated the outer edges of the cake. "Sixteen candles. The cake is strawberry but with chocolate pudding in the middle. You're kind of unusual, so I decided to make everything else unusual. I don't think a strawberry cake with chocolate pudding filling is normal, but that's okay. Now let me go get the ice cream. I'll let it thaw out while we finish eating."

Ichigo groaned and placed his burning face in his hand as Rangiku headed back into the kitchen. Toshiro cringed at the sight of the sugary monstrosity. How could anyone eat that much sugary sweetness? Yachiru would definitely have a field day if she saw it, and most likely she and Ukitake would try to get him to eat some. He shuddered, not at all eager to put that toothache-to-be in his mouth. Ice cream, maybe. But the cake? Uh, no.

Renji turned to Ichigo. "I won't sing here if you don't sing at the Leaky Cauldron." He said desperately.

Ichigo looked up at him. "Deal."

"How long does the school year go?" Rukia asked Toshiro.

"It lasts until June of next year." Toshiro answered.

Rukia winced. "That means she's going to throw a party for me too. I hope not."

"And what's a party without sake?" Rangiku sang as she returned to the kitchen with several bottles. She placed one in front of each person and then placed the metal lid back over the cake and resumed her seat. "Now let's finish eating so we can get this party started!" Everyone who wasn't Rangiku groaned.

BREAK

Saturday morning found Ichigo facing off with Renji in a heated battle of rock-paper-scissors. "3-3 wins and the loser goes grocery shopping with Rukia." Renji said.

"Fine." Ichigo said. "One, two, three!"

"Ha, I won!" Renji exclaimed.

"Again." Ichigo snapped. "One, two, three!'

"I won again!" Renji cried.

"One more time!" Ichigo snapped. "One, two, three!"

"Three times, I win!" Renji shouted. "I win! Looks like you have to go shopping."

"Damn it!" Ichigo yelled, slamming his fist against the wall and leaving a considerable dent. "I hate this game!"

Renji chuckled. "Man, you suck at this game. Better not quit your day job."

"Shut up!" Ichigo snapped. He stood up and stomped upstairs, still feeling the after effects of the stomach ache last night's cake and ice cream had created for all of them. Ichigo slouched into his room and grabbed his shoes, shoving them angrily onto his feet before heading back down to the living room and grabbing his jacket from the peg by the front door. "Let's go." He snapped at Rukia as she scrambled down the stairs.

She paused and blinked at him. "You're coming?"

"Well, I don't exactly have much of a choice." Ichigo muttered.

Rukia looked at Renji, who stood smirking at Ichigo, before turning back and smirking herself. "I take it you lost at rock-paper-scissors."

Ichigo scowled and headed out the door. "Hurry up or I'll leave you here and go by myself."

BREAK

Harry sauntered out the front door and headed down the street, going in the direction of the park. The past week sucked worse than anything else he had ever experienced so far. Not only did his uncle threaten to get rid of Hedwig again, even going so far as to start looking for a place to dump her, but Toshiro, his only muggle friend in this poor excuse for a neighborhood, hadn't stopped by for a visit since the night he came back from main London. Harry had no idea what they bought that would cause the whole group to be gone for so long, though the oddly-shaped packages they had returned with had seemed very familiar to Harry. But honestly, he didn't care one way or another, because Toshiro still managed to visit Harry late at night. They weren't able to talk much without waking up the Dursley's but at least Harry didn't feel quite so alone. And Toshiro hadn't left until late at night; or was it early in the morning?

Now, however, it had been nearly two weeks since he had visited and Harry could seriously use the company. Especially since Dudley had become restless and had called his friends over to hang out and torment Harry. Dudley had told Harry that he would give him a five minute head start before they played Dudley's favorite game, Harry Hunting. Harry had been tempted to hide at Toshiro's house, since there wasn't a doubt in Harry's mind that Dudley wouldn't be able to find him there, but it just didn't feel right to go to Toshiro's house when it felt as if he was avoiding Harry. Was he avoiding him? It certainly felt like it. But why? Did Harry do something wrong? Did he suspect Harry of keeping a secret? Did he know what Harry was?

As Harry continued to ponder the sudden behavior change of the boy across the street as he turned the corner onto Wisteria Walk, he failed to notice the group of boys exit Number Four and head in his direction. Harry was just heading into the alley that led from Wisteria Walk to Magnolia Crescent when a loud voice floated from behind him.

"Hey, freak! Your five minutes are up!"

Harry didn't need to turn around to see who had shouted. He knew that voice from almost anywhere. Without turning around, Harry sprinted into the alley and ran as fast as he could, through the alley and down Magnolia Crescent, eager to put as much distance between himself and his massive cousin as possible. And the best way for that was to get to the park.

BREAK

Ichigo leaned against the store's doorway, his arms crossed and his signature scowl planted firmly on his face. He was bored, damn it, and Rukia seemed to be taking her sweet time paying for their items as she made small talk with the young over-friendly sales lady. At first Ichigo didn't mind helping grab stuff off of the shelf and toss them into the hand-held basket Rukia carried, but he had gotten irritated when the sales lady had commented, asking Rukia how she had managed to rope her boyfriend into helping with the grocery shopping. And no matter how many times Ichigo told her they weren't a couple, the lady didn't seem to listen, instead waving his words away and dismissing his behavior as nothing more than immature male shyness. And it irritated the crap out of Ichigo.

"Have a good day, you two." The sales lady said through her giggles as she waved Rukia and Ichigo out the door.

Ichigo scowled and Rukia smiled and waved back until they were clear from the store. Then Rukia sighed and shook her head with a frown. "If I had to listen to that silly lady talk about one more romantic dating scenario, I don't think I would have been able to keep from swinging the shopping basket at her silly head." She muttered.

"Then why did you spend so much time talking to her?" Ichigo asked. "All you were doing was encouraging her."

"Because, Toshiro told us to keep a low profile when out in public." Rukia explained in a low voice. "This neighborhood doesn't strike me as the kind that houses overly rude or antisocial people. If we acted like that, we'd stick out like a sore thumb. And bashing someone's head in for talking too much isn't exactly helpful."

"It works for me." Ichigo muttered. He and Rukia turned the corner and started through the park, heading to Magnolia Road. "I know that gibberish people spout about violence never solving anything, but it seems to work wonders for me."

Me, too.

Ichigo froze, his eyes narrowing as a sudden pressure formed on the top of his skull, a pressure unbearably familiar. Immediately, Ichigo began mentally fighting back, struggling to keep his hollow self from getting free and taking over his body. No! He thought furiously. Get back! I mean it! You're not getting out!

Don't struggle, King. You wouldn't want to damage your fragile mind. Just give in; you'll feel much better once you do.

No!

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked. She had stopped when she realized Ichigo was no longer beside her and now, looking back, she noticed a sort of pained look in his eyes, as though he were struggling with something extremely difficult. But what, she wasn't sure. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He said in a strangled voice. "Here." He handed her the bag he carried, not attempting to move any more than that. "Go back without me. I need to be alone for a while."

"But Ichigo-," Rukia began.

"Just go." He growled through clenched teeth. "I'm fine. I just need to be alone right now. Seriously. Just go. I don't care if you tell Toshiro where I am or whatever, just leave."

Rukia hesitated for another few seconds, searching Ichigo's face for any sign that he was lying about being okay, before she nodded solemnly and headed the rest of the way across the park and out of sight. Once she was gone, Ichigo carefully walked over to one of the picnic tables and sat down, never once breaking his concentration.

Let me out!

No!

You can't keep me contained forever, you know.

I don't have to do this forever! Just until I can get a better hold on you.

That's impossible, King. You're not strong enough for that and you know it. You know you're too weak to control me. You're too weak to even control your Zanpaktou's spirit. Look how long it took you to learn it's name. You're weak. And you know it. Just give in and LET ME OUT!

No. Ichigo clenched his fists, his knuckles going white, and placed them against the sides of his head, near his ears, as if he could block the others' words that way. No! Ichigo shook his head, using all his mental strength to push back as darkness crept into the corners of his eyes. NOOOO! With one final shove, Ichigo managed to push his hollow self back into the depths of his mind.

I will get out, King. Don't get too comfortable being in control. You won't be for long…

Ichigo pushed himself off of the bench and fell to his knees in the grass, panting. He could feel a layer of sweat across his brow and shakily whipped it away with the back of his sleeve. This had been almost as difficult as the last few times while he was in Soul Society. He almost lost control this time. He needed to find a way to get complete control of his hollow self, and he needed to do it fast. But for now, he needed to find some way to blow off some steam.

Surging to his feet, Ichigo began his walk through the park, too distracted to notice the voices and sounds of pounding feet heading in his direction until a something collided with him, sending him sprawling backwards with the something landing on top of him. Ichigo sat up and glared at whatever had knocked him over, noting a head of messy black hair against his chest. The head lifted and Ichigo found himself looking into bright green eyes, hidden behind round black framed glasses. Ichigo knew he recognized this person and when his eyes traveled up to the kid's forehead and he took in the thin lightning shaped scar, he knew who he was. "Harry Potter?"

A/N: I'm deciding to leave it here. Don't worry, the next chapter is already written and will be posted by tomorrow at least. Just warning you guys that chapter ten is extremely long. Probably my longest chapter ever; a total of 28 pages. But I want to give you guys a chance to read and review this one first before posting the next one. And then there will be one more chapter before they finally get to Hogwarts, which is just about finished. But for now, what did you think so far? Interesting enough for ya? Hope so. Don't hesitate to let me know what you guys think! Until next time!