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Disclaimers in the beginning chapters.

Chapter Twenty: Flying Lessons

The weekend after Rangiku's mini birthday bash went relatively peacefully, with Ichigo, Renji and Rukia hanging out with the Weasley twins outside by the lake, and Rangiku stalking around the school in search of a new party to throw. Toshiro hung with Neville in the dorm room or in their little corner in the common room, Toshiro patiently quizzing Neville on the word he had learned before giving him another. By the time Monday had come around, Neville had not only learned how to say hello, he had also learned how to say hello casually, how to say thank you in three different ways, how to bow politely and properly and how to say I'm sorry/I'm very sorry, which he uses quite often.

Neville headed down to the Great Hall by himself Monday morning, searching for Toshiro at the same time, who was nowhere to be found when Neville had awakened that morning. At first, he figured Toshiro had gotten up early and was already showering, but when Neville entered the bathroom, it was empty. After getting himself ready, Neville had reentered the dorm to find Ichigo and Renji waking up. He had asked the two if they knew where Toshiro had gone, but they said they hadn't. So now Neville was heading to the Great Hall alone, hoping his small friend was already there.

Neville entered the Great Hall and faltered, deflating a bit; Toshiro was not in the Great Hall. He was easy to pick out in a crowd because of his hair, but Neville was unable to locate him. "I don't understand." Neville muttered to himself as he forced himself to walk into the Great Hall. "Where is he?"

"Where's who?" said a voice behind him.

Neville jumped and whirled around to find his missing friend standing behind him with an amused look on his face, as if he knew exactly who Neville had been talking about. "Don't do that!" Neville hissed, placing a hand over his pounding heart. "You're going to give me a heart attack."

"Doubtful." Toshiro muttered, pushing past Neville and heading towards the Gryffindor table. "You're too healthy for a heart attack."

Neville stepped up to walk beside him. "You never know. Anyways, where've you been? You weren't in your bed when I woke up."

Toshiro shrugged as he and Neville sat at the end of the table, Toshiro at the edge with Neville beside him. "I had to speak with one of your teachers. A Madam Hooch."

Neville blinked in surprise. "Madam Hooch? About what? Oh – wait, is it about you guys and your flying lesson today? Is it canceled?"

Toshiro shook his head, pouring himself a cup of hot tea and grabbing a plate of scrambled eggs with toast. "No, it's still on but I had to let her know a few key things before she attempted to get any of us in the air with a measly stick and twigs. Like if flying is anything like Charms, then Rangiku needs to be at least a hundred feet from anything important, and let her know that we've never flown before." He leaned into Neville and gave him a pointed look, lowering his voice considerably. "At least…not on brooms."

It took a moment before Neville's eyes widened in comprehension. "Oh." He whispered. "But then what did you use before?"

Toshiro straightened back up and smirked. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Neville asked in confusion. Then his expression cleared. "Nothing? I want to see that."

Toshiro scoffed. "Of course you do." He took a sip of tea. "Hello." He said after swallowing.

"Huh?" Neville asked, his face full of confusion.

Toshiro looked pointedly at him. "Hello."

After a moment, Neville understood. Toshiro was beginning the Japanese lessons again. He always started by randomly saying the English form of the word or phrase that he had taught Neville, and Neville had to say the correct Japanese word or phrase. "Konnichiwa." Neville said, pronouncing the foreign word much more clearly than before.

"I'm sorry (informal)."

"Gomen."

"Good Morning."

"Ohayou."

"Thank you (very formal)."

"Umm… Domo Arigato."

"When is that phrase used and what goes with it?"

Neville tapped his chopsticks against his bottom lip as he thought. He had just learned this phrase yesterday. "When someone does an extremely helpful deed for you, like going out of their way to do something. And you combine it with the correct bow of respect."

"What are the correct ways to a polite bow for men and women?"

Neville groaned slightly. He hated this part. He never completely remembered the correct ways to bow. And worst of all… "I don't actually have to bow this time, do I?"

"Yes, you do. That's part of the lesson." Toshiro said with a smirk.

Neville groaned and stood from the table, walking around to stand in front of Toshiro at the end of the table. His face began taking on a red tint as he stood before the small captain, self consciously aware of curious eyes landing upon him from the other students at the table. "W-well, I believe you're supposed to stand i-in front of the person, place your arms down at your sides-," Neville stuttered nervously.

"Demonstrate." Toshiro interrupted, setting his chopsticks down and giving Neville his full attention. He waited expectantly.

Neville blushed even harder as he placed his arms down at his sides, continuing the lesson. "Stand with your arms at your sides with your hands flat against the sides of your thighs and…and you bow your upper body, while keeping your eyes on their upper body." Neville's face went crimson as he demonstrated by placing the palms of his hands flat against his outer thighs and bent his upper body in the form of a bow.

"Don't forget to stand with your feet together. And for a woman?"

"The women cross their hands in front of their thighs with their left hand over their right hand."

"Right over left." Toshiro interrupted.

"Oh, right." Neville said with a wince. He always forgot that part. "Cross their right hand over their left and bow the same way as a man, bending their upper body while their eyes stay on the other person's upper body." Again Neville demonstrated, placing his right hand over his left and placing them against the his lap before repeating the bow.

"Where should your eyes be in the beginning of the bow?"

"Making eye contact with the person you're bowing to." Neville recited, his eyes cast to the ground nervously.

"Repeat the bow with the appropriate eye contact required." Toshiro ordered.

Neville stifled a whimper when he straightened up and noticed that almost every pair of eyes from the Gryffindor table were upon him. He just knew the rest of the school was now watching; the sounds of silverware against dishes could no longer be heard. Neville locked eyes with Toshiro's and again bowed, moving his eyes to Toshiro's upper torso as he did.

Toshiro nodded in approval. "Good. At what angle should your body bend?"

"Between a fifteen and forty-five degree angle." Neville said, still in the bow.

"And what can you do to make a bow more and more polite?"

"Bowing slower and deeper makes the bow more polite."

Toshiro nodded in approval. "Good. Demonstrate once more. Masculine bow."

Neville sighed and straightened up again in time to see Toshiro stand from the table and face him. Toshiro stood with his feet together and his hands placed firmly on the outsides of his thighs. Neville suddenly found himself staring into the icy teal depths of the little captain's eyes and could almost feel a hint of the hardships Toshiro seemed to have experienced as they played deep within the blue-green orbs. Then the two of them bowed to each other, their bodies bending in a slow and swift arc, their eyes shifting from each other's eyes to the other's upper torso. Then Toshiro straightened and nodded once in approval before retaking his seat, allowing Neville to gratefully take his own, his hand shielding the rest of the room from view in embarrassment. "Very good. Thank you (informal)."

"Arigato." Neville answered, grateful to be getting back to the lesson. There was something about the way he felt while looking into Toshiro's eyes that seemed to bother him. Just what had Toshiro experienced to make his eyes look so… haunted? Neville didn't like that look. It was too painful, too…sad.

"When is this used?" Neville looked back at Toshiro as the sounds of breakfast continued, albeit with much more whispering than before.

"When someone does something helpful but not too much, like giving you directions. And you look them in the eye when you say it."

"Good. Thank you (casual)."

"Uh, Domo."

"When is this used?"

"For every day favors like opening a door for you or telling you if your shoe is untied."

"Correct. I'm sorry (formal)."

"Gomennasai or gomenasai."

"Very good." Toshiro said with a nod as he finished off his plate of food and poured himself another cup of tea. "You're learning at a good pace. Put this much enthusiasm into your next Potions class, and you should be passing with flying colors."

"Or not." Neville scoffed.

Toshiro rolled his eyes but resisted the urge to contradict him. He didn't want to get into it with Neville over the same thing they always seemed to get into it about. So instead he gave Neville another Japanese word to learn. "Okay, this is a word used to say good bye. There are actually three main ways to say good bye. One is Sayonara. Sayonara is pronounced Sah-yo-nah-rah. It is the most basic form of good bye. The second and third way are both similar to each other but one is more formal than the other. Mata ne, pronounced just like it sounds, mah-tah ne, means 'see you again' but more to like the shop keeper of a store you go to daily, or a family member. It's casual but still shows respect where it's due. Then there is Jaa ne, pronounced jah-ah ne, which means 'see you', but this is used more towards your friends or classmates. When you say this, make the a long but don't say it like ah ah. You'll sound stupid. It's āā. Understand?"

Neville nodded slowly. "I think so."

"So then, see you again."

"Mata ne."

"Goodbye (formal)."

"Sayonara."

"See you later; see ya."

"Jaa ne."

Toshiro nodded, looking up when the daily post swarmed in through the windows. "Good. Practice and we'll test again soon. And, again, it'll be at random."

"Right."

After breakfast, the students attended their first lessons of the day. Draco, however, had more pressing matters to deal with than paying attention to what stupid Professor Flitwick had to say. Like what he was going to do to get back at that Hitsugaya brat. It had to be something good, something ingenious, something that would put him out of the running as the schools most respected. And he had to make sure blame couldn't be traced back to him, that was a key factor. But what could he do? How could Draco pull any kind of prank with that kid's little entourage around him twenty-four seven? And by entourage, Draco meant his other foreign buddies. Longbottom didn't count. Draco didn't have to worry about him. He was useless, the whole school knew that. Except maybe Hitsugaya. He seemed to think pretty highly of that idiot. But why? What could he have found so interesting about someone like Longbottom? He should have pulled allies with Draco, damnit! Oh, he'd pay. He'd definitely pay.

But wait, that was it! Hitsugaya seemed pretty close to Longbottom. And instead of everyone making fun of him for being friends with someone like that, they're acting like he's doing something noble. Ugh! But if bad things kept happening to Hitsugaya because of Longbottom, like a serious case of bad luck, he might decide to dump Longbottom. He might decide that Longbottom is bad for his image. Drop Longbottom, and he'll have no one. He'll be a loner. No one respects a loner. And once he drops Longbottom like a sack of rotten potatoes, he won't seem so noble after all and people will turn from him. They'll realize there's nothing special about him after all and turn back to respecting Draco, just like it's supposed to be. Yeah, that's what he'll do. But what to do first…

After the morning classes had ended, the students headed back into the Great Hall for lunch. Toshiro noticed, as he headed to the Gryffindor table, that the school was abuzz with excited whispers. Students were clustered in small groups, speaking rapidly and quietly amongst themselves. Wondering what was going on that had everyone in an uproar, Toshiro walked past the two girls that had been most interested in what Professor Trelawney had to say in class, and caught snatches of what they were whispering about.

"I can't wait; can you?" said one girl, whom he thought was named Lilac or Lavender or some color or flower like that.

"I'm excited too. I wonder how they'll be?" said the other girl, whom he remembered as the Gryffindor Patil twin.

"I wonder which ones will be better than the others?" said Lilac/Lavender or other.

"Maybe they'll all be good." Said the Patil twin. "I can't wait to see them. This should be amazing."

Not really understanding what they were talking about, he turned to Neville walking beside him, who didn't seem to have heard the two girls. "What is everyone so excited about?" Toshiro asked as they made their way to the seats they had sat in during breakfast. "Is something special supposed to happen today?"

Neville glanced around and then turned his gaze to Toshiro as they sat down. "I think it's your flying lesson after lunch. Everyone is eager to see how you'll do."

Toshiro blinked incredulously. "Is that all? They just want to see us fly? Why? What's the big deal? It's not like they've never seen someone learn how to fly before."

"I know, but I think it's because of how crazy you guys have been with magic so far." Toshiro sent him a glare. Neville chuckled. "What I mean is that you guys have been as smooth with magic as first years. I know it's not really your faults, but the rest of the school doesn't. They just know that Rangiku is a disaster in Charms and Rukia sucks in Transfiguration. Renji sent Ron out the window in Charms and both he and Ichigo are crazy in Potions. And you were awesome in every class you've been in so far. You're all unpredictable and everyone is just curious to see how you'll do with flying, which has nothing to do with wands."

"You know what they say about curiosity." Toshiro muttered bitterly.

"I know, but cut them some slack. You're all still new to them." Neville said.

"Hmph!" Toshiro scoffed. "They're all nosy. Wait until they find out that we'll be flying on the field that you people play your sport on. Then we'll see how they like the show."

"The Quidditch pitch?" Neville asked curiously. "Why over there? That's so far from where the flying lessons are normally held."

"I know." Toshiro smirked. "It's funny; these nosy students won't be able to watch us after all. How disappointing for them."

"But why so far away?" Neville asked.

"I told you we needed a place that we can practice safely with Rangiku being within a hundred feet of anything important." Toshiro replied. "Apparently your professor felt that the school and the safety of you children qualified as important." He teased.

Neville scowled. "You're a child too, you know. On the outside at least. So I wouldn't be talking." Neville stuck his tongue at him. "By the way, I kind of wanted to watch your flying lesson too. I guess you'll just have to tell me about it."

Toshiro's smirk deepened. "Actually, there is a way you can watch." Toshiro looked around them, searching for eavesdroppers, and then leaned in close, Neville doing the same. "I placed a charm on the curtains of your bed this morning before I left. It should have activated by now. Go up to your bed when the others and I go to do our lesson. Pretend you need a quick lie down so people will leave you alone. The inside curtain at the foot of your bed will appear white. When you're ready, tap the curtain with your wand. It'll act like a projection and show you what's going on down on the pitch. You can watch the lesson from there."

Neville's eyes widened. "Wow, where did you learn to do that? That's got to be advanced magic."

"It is, actually. While I was at the book shop in Diagon Alley, I had purchased a few extra books with useful charms, spells and jinxs." Toshiro shrugged. "They're a bit more difficult but not totally useless."

"Do you think you can teach me some of them?" Neville asked.

Toshiro shrugged again. "I guess so. But not right now. Whenever I have time, I think."

"Okay."

After lunch, the students used the small break before their next class to gather in front of the school and face the Quidditch Pitch as the foreign students made their way to the arena, lead by Madam Hooch, the school's flying instructor and Quidditch referee. Many of the students groaned once they realized that they weren't going to be able to see much of what was happening on the pitch from that distance. Neville chuckled as he snuck back into the castle and headed up to the Gryffindor common room and up to the third year boys' dorms. There, he slid into his bed and drew the curtains closed, blocking out the rest of the room. Making himself comfortable, he tapped the milky white curtain at the foot of his bed and watched in fascination as the whiteness dissolved and a second later, the Quidditch Pitch came into view. Neville could see Toshiro and the others clearly as they assembled in a row in the middle of the pitch, Madam Hooch setting each of the school brooms down beside each student, and then stood facing them.

"Now, there will be no wand waving in this lesson." Neville was surprised with how clear her voice could be heard, almost as if she were standing in the room right beside him. "You will use only your inner magic and will your broom to rise. You will do exactly as I say, when and only when I say. Any disobedience whatsoever, and you will only wish you had been expelled."

Madam Hooch paced in front of them, eyeing each student as if daring them to try her. "Place your right hand out in the air directly above your broom, will it to rise, and say 'UP'!"

There was a chorus of "Up!" as each student attempted to bring their broom to their hand. Unsurprisingly to Neville, Toshiro successfully willed his broom into his hand, his voice commanding and without room for question. Just like a captain. Neville thought in amusement. He was surprised, however, when Ichigo was also able to raise his broom to his hand without problems. Renji's broom didn't move an inch and Rukia's broom merely rolled over. At first, Neville thought that Rangiku's broom had vanished but after looking closer, he realized that it hadn't disappeared; it had turned into a pile of dust in the exact place where her broom had been.

"Stop!" Madam Hooch shouted. She stepped forward and examined what remained of Rangiku's broom. "Ash, Miss Matsumoto? How on earth did you turn your broom into ash?"

"Um, I honestly haven't the slightest idea." Rangiku said apologetically. She looked down at her pile of ash. "But I think I can fix it. Let me give it a try."

"Just a second, Miss Matsu – " Madam Hooch started.

"Up!" Rangiku shouted again, placing her hand back above the pile of ash. Immediately, the pile of ash rose from the ground, swirling as it went, and formed back into a broom in her hand. Rangiku smiled happily at the broom. "That's better." She turned to grin at Madam Hooch but faltered at the disapproving glare. "Sorry." She said, abashed.

Madam Hooch stared at her a moment longer before moving back in front of her tiny class. She turned her gaze to Renji and Rukia. "Again." Both shinigami shouted the command again and this time the brooms rose, somewhat reluctantly, into their hands. Madam Hooch nodded in approval. "Good. Now that you have your brooms in your hands, we will begin the flying. Mount your brooms by placing your legs on either side with the broom tucked firmly underneath you. Place your hands firmly near the end of the handle. When I blow my whistle, you will kick off from the ground, hover steadily until I say stop, and then land safely on the ground. Mount your brooms." They did so. Madam Hooch raised her whistle to her lips. "Three, two, one…"

At the sound of the whistle, the five exchange students kicked off the ground, soaring up to hover several feet above Madam Hooch's head before she blew the whistle again and the five of them landed safely and gracefully back on the ground. Madam Hooch nodded in approval. "Excellent. Now that you know the basics, I want each of you to rise back into the air and do a few laps around the field, showing me what you can do. Then come back down when I say. Now go."

Toshiro rose back into the air, the warm afternoon breeze whipping against his face as he soared up to hover steadily, several feet higher in the air than before. He gazed around at his companions, noting the amused expressions on each of their faces. Then he turned and headed off in a random direction, soaring around in a large, wide circle around the pitch, doing a combination of corkscrews and loop-da-loops in the process. He did several upward spirals, several downward spirals and even some zigzags while flying upside down, all while still flying in the large circle around the pitch. From a distance, his sharp hearing could just make out the excited whispers of the students near the entrance of the school, though he wasn't able to pick anything out. He wondered how Neville was reacting and the thought brought a small smile to his lips.

Neville watched in rapt attention, a broad grin spread across his face, as he watched his friend soar through the sky with such grace, as if he'd ridden on a broom his whole life and knew exactly what he was doing. He looks so care-free. Neville thought in wonderment. Like he's having fun. Neville wondered if Toshiro would consider trying out for the Quidditch team but quickly stomped on that idea. Toshiro didn't exactly strike him as the team player type of person. At least, not the sporty type of team player.

Neville's gaze shifted from Toshiro to the others and landed on Renji and Ichigo, both of whom were obviously attempting to one up the other by seeing who could perform the showiest moves. Ichigo was currently performing an upward corkscrew when Renji suddenly shot straight up through the loops from the bottom just as Ichigo angled his own broom to shoot down from the top, causing them both to nearly collide with the other. Neville's eyes widened in horror as both boys pulled their brooms out of the other's path at the last second and steered themselves in opposite directions. Neville sighed in relief and shifted his gaze to Rukia as Ichigo shot directly in front of her path, causing her to yank her broom back or risk colliding with him. Then she gave chase as Ichigo soared off, obviously laughing his head off, though Neville couldn't hear it.

Suddenly Neville realized that he had yet to spot Rangiku. Searching the view from his bed curtain, Neville suddenly spotted Rangiku hovering in front of one of the green and silver Slytherin banners on the Slytherin's side of the bleachers. A closer look showed that Rangiku had her wand out and was currently tapping several different spots on the banner with a small frown. Wondering what she was doing, Neville watched as Toshiro suddenly appeared a foot behind her just as the banner spontaneously combusted, flames soaring and covering the entire banner. Toshiro reached Rangiku and grabbed her by the collar of her robes, pulling her away from the flames and pulling out his own wand at the same time. He waved his wand and pointed it at the blazing banner. Immediately the flames smoldered and died, leaving a charred and extremely sooty black cloth in its place.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded and the group soared back down to the ground just as the image on Neville's bed curtain faded, leaving it blank and scarlet once more. Groaning in annoyance and wishing that Toshiro had told him a head of time that there was a time limit on the spell, Neville leapt from his bed and raced down to the common room, out the portrait hole –ignoring the Fat Lady's disapproving remarks- and down the staircases to the Entrance Hall before bursting through the double doors, just as the students started making their way back inside. Neville caught snatches of conversations as he hurried passed, clutching the stitch in his side, all of them wondering if Rangiku had done it on purpose, deliberately burning the Slytherin banner as an act of House rivalry. Neville knew that the transfers neither knew nor cared about the House rivalries but he doubted the rest of the school did. Plus, she wasn't a Gryffindor, which is what most people would expect this sort of act to be from, seeing as it was a Slytherin banner. But then what the heck was she thinking?

Neville reached the end of the crowd of students and quickly side stepped Madam Hooch as she steered a sheepish yet annoyed Rangiku into the castle and up the staircase. Wondering if she was taking Rangiku to the headmaster or if she would be expelled, Neville turned and, spotting Toshiro and the others, quickly approached them. "What *gasp* happened?" he wheezed, gasping for air as he bent over with his hands placed on his knees.

"Neville, breathe." Toshiro instructed, startled by his friend so out of breath. "Did you run all the way down here?"

Neville nodded and took a few seconds to catch his breath before asking again in a calmer voice. "What happened? What was she thinking?"

Toshiro rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance. "Obviously she wasn't."

"Huh?" Neville asked in confusion.

"She said she was trying to make the banner look nicer." Renji answered with a shrug. "Said it looked hideous and was just trying to make it look more appealing to the eye. But she sucks at charms, so it's not like it wasn't to be expected, really."

"She knows she sucks at charms; why even attempt?" Ichigo added. "She should have asked someone more capable."

"Well, what's passed is passed." Rukia said in a low and serious voice. She looked around, noting the absence of the rest of the students, and continued in a more quiet tone. "What's going to happen to her? The headmaster wouldn't expel her, would he?" She directed this last question to Neville.

"Um…well," Neville stuttered. "Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea. No one's ever done something like this before. She'll definitely get in trouble for destruction of school property and no doubt Professor Snape and the Slytherins will have a thing or three to say about this. But if she was trying to help, or at least she thought she was helping, then the headmaster might go easy on her, since she didn't have any malicious intent."

Toshiro nodded. "That's what I figured. But I just hope she doesn't make things worse by insulting anyone. Professor Snape seems like the type to make a bigger deal out of something like this than is called for."

Neville nodded bitterly. "Oh, he definitely is. And so are the other Slytherins. Especially Malfoy."

"Let's just hope she watches her tongue." Toshiro said as he gently pushed passed Neville and headed ahead of them towards the double doors to the Entrance Hall. His scowl was audible as he mumbled, mostly to himself, "I just know I'm going to hear it from one or more of your professors, since she is my subordinate. Damn."

Ichigo chuckled as they followed him inside. "Someone's going to get a scolding." He said in singsong. The temperature dropped, though the young captain continued through the doors as if he hadn't heard. Ichigo cleared his throat nervously and looked up at the partly cloudy sky. "Nice weather we're having." Neville, Renji and Rukia snorted as the double doors slammed shut behind them.

A/N: Thanks for being so patient with me, guys! I am so sorry for the long wait. I won't be able to update often anymore, since my computer has completely crashed and I am currently borrowing my friend's laptop to type from now on until I can buy a new one. I'm so sorry. But as I said in my last chapter, I will be updating my profile every Monday or Friday with news on my stories updates. If you'd like to know how they are coming along, check my profile regularly.

As for this chapter, it was actually supposed to be several times longer than this but I really wanted to get a chapter uploaded, so I cut this one in half. The good news about this is that the next chapter is almost complete and will be posted before July 1st. I'm going to anime expo this July from the 1st to the 3rd and I won't be writing until I get back. Please be patient, as I am working as hard as I can to get chapters updated. Thanks.

Japanese words and phrases

Konnichiwa (Ko-nee-chee-wah) ~ Hello

Gomen (goh-men ~ I'm sorry (informal)

Ohayou (o-hai-yo) ~ Good Morning

Domo Arigato (doh-moh Ah-rri-gah-toh) ~ Thank you (very formal) – (all 'thank you' phrases are accompanied with a bow) used when someone goes out of their way to do an extremely helpful deed for you.

Arigato (ah-rri-gah-toh) ~ Thank you (informal) – used for small favors

Domo (doh-moh)~ Thank you (casual) – used for every day favors

Gomen nasai/gomenasai (goh-men nah-sai/goh-men-nah-sai) ~ I'm sorry (formal)

Sayonara (sah-yoh-na-ra) ~ Good bye (formal)

Mata ne (mah-tah neh) ~ See you again (semiformal)

Jaa ne (Jaah neh) ~ See you later; see ya (casual)

Women bow with their hands against their laps with their right hand over their left. Men bow with their palms flat again their outer thighs. A bow is performed by first making eye contact (brief) and then bending your body between a 15 and 45 degree angle, simultaneously moving their eyes to the other person's upper torso. The deeper and slower the bow, the more polite.

Hope you guys enjoyed the small lessons!