A/N: Sorry everyone! I've been on a two month anti-electronic retreat (which I'm never doing ever again) and when I got back, I found all of your reviews to this chapter not being posted when I promised it would be. For some reason, FFN didn't load it correctly like I thought it did before I left. To make matters worse, when I tried to repost this chapter, I plugged my Flash Drive into the USB port and as soon as I did, my computer did something funky and erased every single document on the flash drive. I was so pissed, I was FURIOUS but most of all I felt so frustrated that I practically had a nervous breakdown and had to spend a couple of days in the hospital and with a psychiatrist, who had to help me calm down a bit. I guess I was just so overwhelmed by everything that's been going on since summer and all, what with a friend of mine ending up knocked into a coma by a hit and run, my grades for my classes sucking so bad this semester, financial difficulties, and just everything seeming to fall into my world all at once, that this was just the last straw for my mental stability. But after I learned a few tricks to stay calm, I went back and spent the last month or so copying every chapter that I had posted so far from every story on FanFicNet and saved it all onto a friends external hard-drive. Thankfully most of what I had written for this chapter and unfinished chapters to my other stories, I had written down in several different notebooks, so it wasn't a total loss. Then I bought a larger flash drive and saved it all on that.

Unfortunately this chapter and the next one are not completely how I wanted them the first time but there's nothing more I can do. Hope you enjoy this anyways and the next chapter will be up within the hour, I think. And the next one will be sometime before Christmas, I hope. As soon as I work out some last minute technical difficulties with a few things. I'll let you know more soon. Until then…

Disclaimers: Don't own Harry Potter, Bleach, the recognizable characters, the recognizable places, blah blah blah. You know what I don't own, don't make life more difficult for the both of us than it has to be. I'm not in the mood for it right now. Just shut up and read the frigging chapter.

Chapter Twenty-One: Accidents Aplenty

By dinnertime, the entire school was buzzing with the news of what Rangiku had done to the Slytherin Quidditch banner. Most wondered if she had done it on purpose or accident, if she had lost her mind or if a particularly nasty Slytherin had upset her and she took it out on the banner. However, every Slytherin, especially Malfoy's group of lapdogs, theorized that it had been the Gryffindor's doing. They felt that since she was a Hufflepuff, and therefore not smart enough to think of some scheme like burning the Slytherin banner on her own, that one of the Gryffindors, namely Potter and his friends, had talked her into doing it. That had to be it. After all, she was just a Hufflepuff. What kind of threat could she possibly be?

However, where his house theorized the scheme to be thought up by Potter and the others, Draco had his own theory. He didn't think it was Potter, though the thought did cross his mind at one point in the beginning. No, he believed it was the doing of that transfer brat, Hitsugaya and his stupid transfer buddies. That had to be it. Draco had a feeling that Hitsugaya had been out to get him ever since he got here, ever since they met on the train those brief moments. No doubt Potter and the other two had told him about how Draco was respected by the other houses, especially Slytherin, because of his heritage. Draco had the greatest feeling that Hitsugaya was trying to take Draco's throne out from under him and this proved it. Hitsugaya was definitely trying to take Draco's place. Well, not if Draco had anything to say about it. It was time to put his plan into action. He just had to wait for the right moment. The timing had to be perfect. Timing was crucial.

Draco glanced in the direction of the Gryffindor table, zeroing in on the end of the table where Longbottom and Hitsugaya usually sat. Draco's eyes narrowed. Where was Hitsugaya? Longbottom was in his seat like usual and the other transfers were where they usually were, but Hitsugaya was nowhere in sight. Draco glanced at the Ravenclaw table, where the smaller of the transfer girls sat with that other transfer boy from the transfer teacher's group. He turned his gaze to the Hufflepuff table. The transfer girl that had burned the banner was still absent, meaning she was still with the Headmaster. Draco glanced at the staff table, feigning nonchalance, and noted the absence of four of the staff: Dumbledore was absent for obvious reasons, as was Snape, seeing as he's Head of Slytherin, and so was Sprout, also obvious why since she was Head of Hufflepuff house. But why was McGonagall gone? Yes, she was the Deputy Headmistress and yes the Slytherins were upset, outraged even, but surely the situation wasn't that serious that they would require McGonagall as back-up? Seeing as McGonagall was gone and Hitsugaya was not in the Great Hall, Draco came to the conclusion that Hitsugaya was in with the headmaster and the other missing teachers. But why?

Toshiro stalked calmly back through the Entrance Hall towards the Great Hall, outwardly calm while fuming on the inside. As he had suspected, Dumbledore had indeed felt the need to question his control over his subordinate. She was his lieutenant after all and therefore his responsibility. His Head of House was present because Dumbledore felt she deserved to be, as he was still her student, dead or not. Same for, - what was her name? - Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff, Rangiku's house. And Snape, of course, because of the ruining of Slytherin property, in a manner of speaking. He was surprised however, that Snape hadn't thrown a hissy fit over the ruined banner as Toshiro had half expected him to. In fact, he remained rather passive, eyeing Toshiro almost studiously, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed slightly, as Rangiku explained her actions to the occupants of the Headmaster's office, the ruined banner lying on the desk in a pile of burnt cloth.

As Neville had theorized, because she hadn't intended for the banner to go up in flames, and since her intentions for the banner had been somewhat good, Dumbledore hadn't expelled her for damaging school property. Toshiro had a feeling the main reason for the decision was curiosity, since Rangiku had claimed that she could fix it and make it look even better than before and that if Snape and the other Slytherins liked it, that she would gladly make it her personal project to do the other banners. Curious to see what she would come up with, and after forbidding Rangiku from further Charms work outside the classroom unsupervised until she learned how to cast them properly, Dumbledore agreed. Then he had Rangiku step out of the office before he began questioning Toshiro on whether or not he could control his team efficiently. "I don't want to have to write to your superiors about the incident." He had said. Yeah, right.

Toshiro scoffed to himself as he entered the Great Hall behind Rangiku, who at least managed to look sheepish as she took her seat at the Hufflepuff table. Toshiro rolled his eyes as the other students at the table immediately began questioning her in excited whispers, and made his way over to the Gryffindor table, taking his place beside Neville.

"So, how'd it go?" Neville asked without preamble.

"As well as can be expected." Toshiro replied curtly. "She won't be expelled, but forty points were taken and she was given detention for a week, to be served by Snape as see fit."

Neville shuddered. "Ouch. That's rough. But I suppose it's not too bad, seeing as how it could have been much worse. But detention with Snape! I wouldn't want to be her right now."

Toshiro raised a white eyebrow. "You mean you would want to be her any other time? Neville, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing." He teased.

Neville flushed crimson and shoved his friend with his shoulder. "That wasn't what I meant." He snapped.

"I know. Though it is interesting seeing you all huffy." Toshiro smirked. Neville scowled and turned pointedly away from him.

"You're being mean; I'm not talking to you anymore." Neville said in mock annoyance.

"Rangiku is banned from using Charms outside of the classroom." Toshiro said at random.

Neville turned back around in surprise. "Really? Is she that bad at it? I mean it was only an accident right?"

Toshiro smirked again and asked innocently, "I thought you weren't talking to me?"

Neville sputtered before scowling with a huff. "You are so annoying!" he snapped. "What's with you right now? You're all snarky all of a sudden."

Toshiro shrugged and grabbed the nearest empty tea cup. "Still a bit annoyed from earlier."

"So you're taking it out on me?" Neville demanded.

Toshiro smirked. "Would you rather I be mean?"

Neville scoffed. "You mean you weren't before?" he asked bitterly.

Toshiro chuckled. "Of course not. Pass me the tea pot, please."

Neville grabbed the tea pot by its porcelain handle and was just turning around to hand it to his friend when the handle suddenly felt so hot that he yelped and tossed the pot out of his hand. Unfortunately the pot landed on the table's edge before toppling over into the young captain's lap, spilling its contents down his front. Toshiro leapt to his feet, the tea pot falling to the ground with a crash and shattering in a pile of porcelain pieces as Neville shook his hand in the air, forcing it to cool. Tea dripped from Toshiro's lap to the floor, forming a small puddle. The Great Hall quieted as the teachers and students turned to see what the commotion was about.

"If you were really that upset about the teasing, you could have just said so instead of throwing the tea at me." Toshiro muttered as he began carefully picking up the broken pieces of the tea pot and placing them on the table. Hermione hurried up to the pair and handed Toshiro a large wad of napkins she had gathered from the table.

"Are you alright?" she asked in concern. "It didn't burn you, did it? Are you cut?"

Toshiro shook his head. "No, it wasn't that hot. Just very wet. And none of the pieces actually touched me."

"I'm sorry." Neville said nervously. "I didn't mean to; it was an accident."

"So you didn't mean to throw the tea pot at me?" Toshiro asked sarcastically with a raised eyebrow. "Because it sure seemed like it. I mean, you literally threw it at me."

"I wasn't trying to." Neville replied in a small voice. "It was a reflex; the pot was really hot."

Hermione bent down and gingerly picked up the piece that used to be the tea pot's handle that was still on the floor. "It doesn't feel hot. It doesn't even feel warm. Are you sure it was hot, Neville?"

"Of course I'm sure." Neville replied. "I'm not stupid; I know what hot feels like and the handle was definitely hot. Except… well, it wasn't hot when I first picked it up."

Toshiro frowned as he used the napkins Hermione had given him to soak up the tea from his robes. "What do you mean? Did it just spontaneously heat up to the point that you would reflexively throw it?"

"As odd as it sounds, yes." Neville said. "At least, I think that's what happened. Or something like that. I'm telling the truth."

Toshiro's frown deepened and he placed the wet napkins on the table and took the handle piece from Hermione. Nothing appeared to be wrong with it, but that didn't mean nothing was wrong. He reached out and picked up the bigger pieces of the pot from the pile on the table and looked them over as well. Nothing out of the ordinary there either. He turned to Hermione. "Are there any spells that can do something like that?"

Hermione looked thoughtful. "There might be. I know there are several different types of heating charms and some can be cast without immediate detection. Why, do you think that's what happened?"

Toshiro shrugged and placed the broken pieces back on the table. "It's possible. I believe Neville; why would he lie about something like this? He's not that childish, I don't think."

"Hey!"

"So, it had to either be the pot or a third party." Toshiro continued, ignoring Neville's indignant cry. "I didn't see any flaws with the pot but that doesn't mean much. If it was done by another student, then the question is who? And why?"

Neville shrugged. "Maybe it was a prank."

The three of them turned simultaneously towards the opposite end of the table, where Fred and George Weasley sat, talking animatedly with their friend Lee Jordan. Hermione shook her head. "It couldn't have been them. They would have coped up to it by now. They're very proud of their pranks and jokes."

Neville nodded in agreement, eyes moving passed Toshiro's shoulder and landing on McGonagall, no doubt heading their way to find out what the commotion was about. "She's right, they are. But if it wasn't them, then who?"

Toshiro shrugged and looked over his shoulder. "Whoever it was, they must have had a reason. If they really mean it, they'll most likely try again, especially if they didn't get the reaction they were aiming for to begin with. All we can do now is wait. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go shower and I might as well change for bed, since I don't plan on coming back down." Toshiro turned to leave but stopped and turned back to the table. Without a word, he picked up another tea pot, this one full, grabbed an empty tea cup, and headed out of the Great Hall before McGonagall reached them, his head held high.

Whispers broke out throughout the Great Hall in the small captain's wake. McGonagall spoke to Hermione as Neville looked after his small friend. He wanted to follow but he wasn't sure he should. He still felt bad for practically throwing the tea pot at his friend. Toshiro seemed to take tea very seriously and it seemed to have a unique way of calming him down when he was stressed, Neville had noticed. Toshiro had seemed really agitated. Even though he said he believed Neville, he couldn't help wondering if he was still mad, which only made Neville feel worse.

It must have shown on his face, for Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder as McGonagall slipped her wand back up her sleeve and walked away, the remnants of the tea and tea pot gone. "You might as well go. You're going to be sulking the rest of dinner otherwise. Besides, it's nearly time to head up anyways. Just go already. I doubt he's really mad at you. You're his friend, aren't you?"

Neville smiled. "Thanks, Hermione." He said with a nod and then followed after Toshiro out the Great Hall.

Ron and Harry looked up as Hermione returned to her seat opposite them. "So, what was that about?" Ron asked curiously as she sat down. "I mean, besides from the obvious spilled tea. What happened?"

"Neville said that he had been passing the tea pot to Toshiro but he said while he was passing it, the handle started getting really hot and he dropped it by reflex."

"Is he okay?" Harry asked in concern. "He didn't get burned or anything, did he?"

"Toshiro or Neville?" Ron asked Harry.

Harry shrugged. "Both, I guess."

Hermione shook her head. "No, they're both fine, though Toshiro's now wet and Neville feels bad. But the weird thing is that it wasn't hot when I touched it." Hermione frowned. "In fact, Neville said that it wasn't hot when he first picked it up but it suddenly grew hot."

"How's that possible?" Harry asked quizzically. Ron shrugged beside him. He turned back to Hermione. "Do you think someone jinxed it?"

Hermione shrugged. "That's what Toshiro thinks. He believes Neville and he thinks someone purposely made the pot's handle hot when Neville touched it."

"Do you think that means Neville is a target?" Ron asked thoughtfully. "It wouldn't be much of a surprise, since almost everyone in the school kind of picks on him. Or at least they used to; ever since Toshiro started hanging out with him, not very many people bug or tease him anymore."

"I doubt anyone is stupid enough to risk Toshiro's wrath." Harry muttered. "You haven't been on the receiving end of one of his angry tirades." Harry shuddered at the memory of Toshiro shouting at him about parents and families and basically telling Harry to get his head out of his arse or else he'd do it for him. "For a little guy, he's scary when he's pissed."

Hermione looked at him reproachfully. "I'm assuming you're talking from experience?" she asked disapprovingly. Harry just grinned sheepishly. Hermione shook her head fondly. "Only you, Harry."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Harry snapped as Ron snickered beside him. Harry shoved him in the shoulder.

"You seem to have a habit of making people mad at you, mate." Ron clarified, still snickering.

"I don't do it on purpose." Harry pouted.

"Well, anyways, Toshiro said that if there really was someone who jinxed the tea pot, then there's a possibility they'll try again." Hermione jumped in. "He's going to keep an eye out for any more suspicious acts." She leaned in close and whispered, "I think we should do the same. It's always useful to have an extra pair of eyes or two."

"Or three." Ron said significantly, eyeing Harry and Hermione.

Hermione nodded. "We should probably head up to bed now. Dinner's almost over anyway." The other two nodded and the three of them rose from their seats and followed the small trickle of students with the same idea out into the Entrance Hall, heading up the spiral staircase and up to Gryffindor Tower.

The next day was the beginning of several painful days for Neville. It started the day after the tea pot incident. Neville and Toshiro headed down to breakfast with the rest of the Gryffindors, nothing about the morning hinting that Neville's clumsiness and forgetfulness would suddenly start worsening. The two of them sat at the table, enjoying breakfast as usual while the morning post swarmed the hall from above. Neville looked up as an old looking owl descended upon the table in front of him, carrying a letter addressed to him.

"Oh, she finally replied back." Neville said excitedly as he took the letter from the owl and pushed some of his eggs off his plate for it at the same time.

"Who?" Toshiro asked as he sipped at his tea while scanning the morning paper in his hands. After seeing several copies lying around in the common room and finding a lot of the articles interesting, he had decided to start a brief subscription, intent on learning as much about the wizarding world as he could. What better way to learn from a community of beings than from their news?

"It's from Gran." Neville said as he tore open the letter and quickly scanned the contents. His grin widened as his eyes skimmed the page but he frowned once he reached the end, flushing slightly.

"What's wrong?" Toshiro asked without looking up from the article about a recall on all self-tying scarves. Apparently they had yet to learn when too tight was too tight. "I can feel your discomfort without even looking at you."

"N-Nothing." Neville muttered softly. He took a breath and forced a smile. "Gran seems to like you. I sent her a letter about you and how things were going so far. She says she remembers you from the book store back in Diagon Alley and thought you were pretty nice. She says she thinks you'll be a good influence on me and that she's glad I was able to make friends with you. You know, since I'm kind of a timid person. And she'd like to meet you in person again one day; maybe even for the holidays or something. I think she's taken a liking to you."

"That's all nice and dandy but you still haven't answered my question of what's got you so upset." Toshiro pointed out as he turned the page.

Neville flushed again. "It's nothing. She just reminded me of a few things I sometimes forget." Neville tried to put the letter into his bag. Toshiro's hand snapped out and snatched the parchment out of his friend's hand, eyes never leaving the paper. "That's mine!" Neville exclaimed half heartedly, though he made no attempt to retrieve it as Toshiro placed the letter in front of the newspaper and read.

Toshiro frowned as his eyes neared the last paragraph. His frown deepened as he reached the bottom and then he closed the newspaper and set it aside before balling up the letter, shoving it into Neville's half full goblet of juice and turning to him with a scowl. "What exactly is she getting at?" Toshiro snapped in a low voice.

Neville cast his eyes to the table top. "I'm sure she didn't mean it to sound bad." He muttered.

"I'm sure she didn't." Toshiro replied sarcastically. "She's your grandmother, isn't she? She's family?"

Neville nodded but didn't speak.

"So then how could she say something like that to you?" Toshiro demanded. "'Try not to be too much of a burden'? What kind of thing is that to say to your own grandson?"

"She's just being realistic." Neville mumbled softly. "You know I'm accident-prone. She just wants me to be a little more careful, I think."

"Then what's with the 'Try not to embarrass yourself or your family in front of people from a foreign country' crap?" Toshiro asked. "It's like she has no faith in you. All that 'don't forget' this and 'don't forget' that. It sounds like she thinks you're stupid."

"She doesn't." Neville insisted. "She talks to me like normal. But she knows I'm a bit slow."

"You're not slow." Toshiro contradicted. "If you were mentally slow, you'd be having problems with all of your subjects, not just some of them. You're good in the ones you like because they come almost naturally to you, don't they? Everyone has a specific subject they're particularly good with. It has nothing to do with being slow. You're a bit oblivious to some things but you're much sharper than you give yourself credit for. If your own grandmother thinks this lowly of you, then it's no wonder you have such little faith in yourself. I'm sure she had her fair share of misfortunes at this school, or whichever school she went to at your age. And if she hadn't had that many, then good for her. But she should remember that you are not her. You're not your parents, your grandparents, your aunts, your uncles, your classmates, your teachers; you're no one but yourself. You may have some qualities that are similar to other people, you may have the same blood as other people, but no matter how many similarities or how much blood you share with someone, that does not make you them. No one is the same one hundred percent, not even Siamese Twins. So she shouldn't have told you to take a few leaves out of my book and shape up or whatever the hell she told you. Don't copy me or anyone else."

Toshiro turned in his seat and grasped Neville's upper arms, giving him a few firm shakes as his teal eyes bore into Neville's own hazel ones. "Believe in yourself, Neville. You just be the best you that you can be."

Neville blinked with wide eyes. Toshiro stared back unblinking. Both of them were quiet, unmoving. Finally, Neville broke the stillness first, his face splitting into a grin and he started snickering. Toshiro snickered back and let Neville go as the other boy dissolved into laughter. "I can't believe you said that." Neville squeaked through his laughter. "That was so corny. What are you, my mother?"

Toshiro's eyes narrowed as he got his laughter under control. "If I was your mother, we'd have some problems."

Neville snorted. "Like gender?"

Toshiro rolled his eyes and the two of them finished their breakfasts on a happier note before heading up to their first class of the day. On their way up the spiral staircase, Neville suddenly stumbled and stepped into the trick step on the stairs. In his stumble, he habitually grabbed Toshiro's arm and accidently pulled him down with him. Both landed with their knees hitting the stairs, though with Neville's hitting awkwardly from his current position.

"Sorry." Neville muttered as the two of them straightened. Neville looked down at his now stuck foot. "I usually remember to step over this step. I remembered this time too but for some reason, I still ended up stepping in it."

"What are you talking about?" Toshiro grumbled as he rubbed his knee.

"What I mean is, I knew about this step." Neville explained. "I tried to step over it. But when I picked up my foot, it felt like I suddenly had a weight on it or something and I couldn't hold my foot up any longer."

"So what; you're saying the stairs magically pulled your foot down onto the trick step?" Toshiro asked sarcastically.

Neville paused. "Well, actually, yeah. That's exactly how it felt."

Toshiro turned and frowned at him thoughtfully. Then he pulled his friend's foot out of the stairs and led him the rest of the way up without a word. Neville didn't have any other problems until they were back out in the hall at the end of their first class. Neville slid his textbook into his bag as they headed down the hall to their next class. Just as he was closing the bag, the bottom burst and sent all of its contents scattering. One of his jars of ink shattered, sending ink splashing onto both of their shoes and the bottom of their robes.

"Sorry." Neville said as he quickly bent down and began gathering his belongings, scooping up loose parchment and quills. Toshiro bent down and helped his friend by picking up all of his fallen and ink covered textbooks. A few quick waves of his wand cleared all the ink from the books, parchment, and their clothing. Then he picked up the ripped bag Neville had set aside in order to gather his things, and inspected the tear.

Toshiro quickly waved his wand and repaired the tear before putting the textbooks back into the bag and handing it to Neville. "Don't worry about it. I think I'm coming on to something but I'm not entirely sure. I'll let you know once I've figured it out."

Neville blinked in confusion as Toshiro helped him place the rest of his stuff back into his bag. He didn't understand what Toshiro was talking about but didn't entirely feel the need to question him. It surprised Neville how easily he was able to trust Toshiro, the boy he had just met and who wasn't even human. The thought made him smile as he and Toshiro continued on to their next class.

Neville's sudden bad luck continued for the rest of the day, adding to the list of accidents: tripping over his own shoe laces that he swore he had just tied with a charm to keep them from untying, and sending them both to the floor when he grabbed Toshiro's arm to keep himself from falling; stepping on Toshiro's shoe laces and causing them both to fall when he bumped into Toshiro after the smaller boy had fallen; accidently stabbing himself with his fork during lunch and elbowing Toshiro in the ribs when he instinctively jerked his hand away; tripping during dinner as the two of them approached the table and Neville fell against Toshiro, causing said boy to fall against the table and land with his chest into a large bowl of mashed potatoes; and many other accidents that continued on throughout the week.

"Hey, Toshiro." Ichigo muttered that Thursday evening as he, Toshiro and Renji watched Harry leave out the portrait hole with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Something about starting practices. Ichigo and Renji turned back to the small captain. "What's been up with you and Neville? He's been tripping up all over the place. Like yesterday when he made you both fall down the last three steps on the stairs on the way to breakfast."

Toshiro glanced up towards the stairs as Neville descended from the boys' dormitories. "I'll tell you guys later but I can say that I'm almost certain that none of this is Neville's fault. I'll know more when I do a bit more observing." He gave the two a meaningful stare and the two nodded mutely and walked away.

The bad luck continued throughout the next few days with the most significant accident so far being when Neville almost sent Toshiro falling from the top of the Astronomy Tower that Thursday night. If not for Toshiro's quick reflexes, and quicker mind, he wouldn't have been able to use the new spell he had learned in the advanced jinxes book to levitate himself back up before hitting the ground. By Saturday, the entire school knew of Neville's sudden bad luck and started avoiding direct contact with him, treating him as if he had a fatal and infectious disease. Toshiro grew annoyed with some of the whispering about how Toshiro would do better to stay away from Neville. Others, mostly the girls, gushed about how brave and loyal he was to stick with his friend through such trials, which irritated him even more. The two girls who seemed to hang from Professor Trelaweny's every word were the most troublesome, whispering as dramatically as the batty teacher about Toshiro's death being in the stars and Neville being the cause of it.

It wasn't until Sunday night, during the second half of Urahara's class, that Neville had his worst bout of bad luck and someone other than Toshiro suffered the consequences. The class was just finishing up the lesson for the night when Urahara decided to have a pop quiz, wanting to test each student on how well they were able to produce a spark, if at all. He went through several students, some with satisfying results like Harry, Draco, Luna, and Ginny, before Urahara finally got to Neville.

Immediately, the class backed as far as they could from the boy, with the exception of Toshiro, Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Rangiku and Luna. "Cowards." Ichigo muttered as they watched Urahara test Neville. Neville, Toshiro was pleased to see, not only made a spark, but a defined sphere, colored a mixture of white and grass-green and the size of a golf ball that wavered only slightly. That was when things went very wrong. Neville suddenly yelped as the sphere flashed brightly. The occupants in the room shielded their eyes from the bright light and the wooden block that had been holding the needle Neville was supposed to be focusing on toppled over with the needle's tip pointing directly at one of the Gryffindor Quidditch chasers, Alicia Spinnet.

Another flash of light and the sphere shot from the needle's tip and enveloped the girl in a globe of white and green. When the light cleared, the class stared in shock as they took in the vines, berries and flowers that had sprouted from Alicia's head and weaved through her hair, falling in waves down her back and ending in a pile on the floor around her feet. Smooth-edged leaves in a dark green sprouted from her body, poking out from her sleeves, the bottom of her robes and along her neckline, the surface of each leaf smooth and glossy. One could almost call it beautiful.

Neville and the rest of the class watched in horror as she began scratching franticly at her scalp and body, her skin slowly turning red and blotchy as she scratched furiously. The other students backed away from her as some of the red blotches of skin broke and a strangely thick clear liquid seeped out, darkening as it hit the air. Alicia began whimpering as her scratching became more and more frantic. She pulled at the leaves that sprouted from individual hairy vines on the back of her hands, only to cry out in pain and frustration as several more grew in their place.

Students began turning to glare angrily at Neville, several of them shouting at him about his clumsiness and idiocy, reminding him strongly of Professor Snape. Neville shrank away fearfully, muttering about not meaning to, as Urahara and the other transfers rushed to the distraught girl's side. "Uh oh." Urahara muttered, clicking his tongue, as he carefully lifted one of the leaves in her hair with his wooden fan and inspected it. "I believe this is poison ivy. Her skin is having a severe allergic reaction and it appears that sap is oozing from her skin. How peculiar. I'm surprised you aren't dead, to be honest." Several students shouted in affront. "Now, now, don't worry. I'm not one hundred percent sure what happened, though I have a theory, but it doesn't appear to be life threatening as far as I can tell."

"It was Longbottom's fault!" someone shouted.

"That's right; he's been having bad luck for the past week." Shouted a Slytherin boy further away from the unfortunate girl.

"Yeah, he shouldn't be allowed near us like this." Chimed in Pansy Parkinson. "He could seriously hurt one of us. I demand he be sent home immediately!"

There was a chorus of 'yeah' from around the room, even from his own house, and Neville bit his lip nervously, eyes cast to the ground and looking on the verge of tears. Toshiro glanced at the boy and knew Neville was feeling downright awful and about ready to run from the room. He knew this wasn't Neville's fault. He had had his suspicions before and after watching very closely during Neville's quiz, Toshiro was now one hundred percent certain that Neville was not to blame. During Neville's display of spiritual power, just before everything went chaotic, Toshiro had seen a second spark, much more unstable than the original, flare up beside Neville's, which Toshiro was sure was the reason for the accident that occurred. Someone had cast their own spark near the end, he was sure of it, and the contrast was what caused the sudden flash, as the two spiritual powers collided and fought for dominance of the needle point. Judging by the outcome, as Toshiro glanced back at Alicia as the girl continued to claw at her body, Toshiro couldn't help feeling pleased at seeing that Neville's power was strong enough to overpower the second spark of power. Unfortunately, the power struggle seemed to have caused the block to tip over and Neville, obviously unused to the sensation of instinctively fighting another spiritual power like that, accidently pushed too hard, causing the excess power to shoot from the point and hit the first thing in its path, which happened to be Alicia.

"Someone get Dumbledore!" shouted a Ravenclaw girl fearfully. "He's jinxed!"

"Wait a minute!" Hermione shouted as Neville's head shot up, eyes full of fear and unshed tears. "He didn't do this on purpose. It was an accident. You can't blame him for this."

"People with bad luck like his shouldn't be in a school with innocent children." Pansy shot back. "That's like letting a barbaric giant teach students."

"HAGRID IS NOT BARBARIC!" Harry roared angrily. The other Gryffindors shouted their agreement. "Just because you idiots couldn't listen to him when he said not to insult a Hippogriff doesn't make him a bad teacher! And Neville isn't a bad person either!" Harry turned to Toshiro. "Do something! He's your friend, isn't he? You just going to let him sink alone?"

Toshiro glared at him and then turned to face the rest of the students. "That's enough!" he shouted. The room fell silent. "Neville isn't to blame!"

"Of course you'd say that." another Slytherin sneered. "He's your friend. You're just too self-righteous to admit you made a mistake by befriending someone like him."

"How dare you!" Rangiku shouted furiously. She opened her mouth to say more but stopped when Toshiro calmly held up a hand, clearly signaling for her to stand down. The air chilled considerably as the small ice captain glared ice-filled daggers across the room. The class shivered in the sudden cold.

"Tell me; do any of you know the first thing about spiritual powers like this?" he asked in a dangerously low voice that still carried across the room quite clearly. "Do any of you know the signs? What differentiates each power source? What distinguishes each one; makes them truly unique? No? Then how could you know this was Neville's fault? So he has been having some problems lately; but I can assure you that that has absolutely nothing to do with this. Each spiritual power has its own … signature, if you will. Each one represents you in some way." He held out his hand, palm up, and formed a small sphere, ice blue with a frosty white outer edge, in the center of his palm the size of a basketball. "For example, mine is like this. I can make it any size I want but I'm having it be big like this so you narrow-minded idiots can see." He let it melt back into the air and crossed his arms over his chest. "Neville's little sphere he had made was white and green, in case any of you were color blind during his demonstration. Yet near the end, I saw a spark of something else; a different colored spark flared up beside his. It was pathetically smaller and much more measly than his. But it was no doubt another spiritual pressure."

"You saying someone deliberately made Neville's sphere shoot out like that?" Hermione asked in shock. The other students looked just as perplexed, including Neville.

Toshiro nodded. "That is exactly what I'm saying. Someone else decided to create their own spark on the same point as Neville's, as stupid as that action sounds, at the same time and the two powers collided. Naturally the two powers fought, since powers aren't supposed to mix like that, especially powers that are irreconcilable." He glanced across the room at Neville. "What did you do just before the light flashed and the block toppled over? What feelings did you have?"

Neville looked thoughtful and he answered timidly. "I … I felt like there was something pushing down on me, like gravity or something. It didn't hurt and it wasn't actually physical. It was more like being squeezed from the inside. And I had a sudden urge to push back."

"And did you?" Toshiro asked.

Neville nodded. "I think so. It felt like I did but I'm not really sure. I've never felt like that before. I pushed as hard as I could and then the block fell over and …" Neville shrugged helplessly.

Toshiro nodded and turned back to the rest of the class. "What Neville has described is exactly what happened. It is instinctive to push back when an ill-compatible spiritual pressure tries to mingle with your own. It doesn't work. Mix negative energy with positive energy and no matter what you do, they will always butt heads. Neville's spiritual sphere didn't like the intrusion of the other spiritual spark and so fought back." Toshiro smirked. "And I'm pleased to say that Neville's power is much stronger than whoever's pathetic little spark that was. That's why it hit her." He said, pointing at a miserable Alicia, who was now sitting on the floor and scratching at her legs. "Neville's power fought back instinctively and out of inexperience, Neville pushed too hard. So not only did he knock away the intruding spark, but his energy knocked over the block holding his focused energy. The point acted as a conductor and once the needle pointed in a direction, the spiritual energy continued to travel from that point and hit the first thing in its path. Unfortunately, she was the first thing in its path. Not by her fault, nor by Neville's; that was purely coincidental."

Toshiro's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the room, the temperature dropping a couple more degrees. "Now, I don't know who it was, and I don't know why, and frankly I don't care why. But let me just make myself very clear. Neville is part of our group. And by our, I mean mine…"

"And mine." Rangiku said, stepping up beside Toshiro.

"And mine." Ichigo put in as well.

"And mine." Renji added as he too stepped up.

"And mine." Rukia said.

"And mine as well." Luna replied softly, looking for all the world as if she just tuned in to the current topic and hadn't a clue what was being discussed.

Toshiro nodded and turned back to the rest of the class. "Neville belongs to us. He's our friend, and friends, last I checked, back each other up, no matter what. They don't let each other 'sink alone'." He gave a meaningful look at Harry, who smiled sheepishly. "You mess with Neville, you mess with us. If he has a severe case of bad luck, fine. But I'll be watching all of you from now on. Each of your faces will be memorized and if I find out one of you is targeting him, you better believe I'll make your lives so miserable, you'll only wish you were in hell." He turned to Urahara. "Have anything to add?"

Urahara smiled cheerily. "Nope, that about covers it." He turned to the rest of the class. "Class dismissed. I'm sure you're all quite ready for dinner, ne? Oh, and if any of you would like to accompany me as I take this young lady to the Infirmary, please do."

Students quickly left the room, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the angry little transfer as possible. The other two Chasers, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, followed Urahara as he levitated a struggling Alicia and made his way out the door, both girls avoiding eye contact with Toshiro and Neville. Toshiro was pleased to see that they at least looked shamefaced when they passed Neville. Good. The last thing Toshiro wanted was for Neville to be treated like an outcast. Toshiro knew all too well how that felt.

"Nice little speech you gave there." Ichigo muttered teasingly when the door shut behind the last retreating students. "And here I thought we were trying not to offend anybody. Well, if the rules of the game have changed…"

Toshiro scowled at him. "The rules remain the same. I've just added a few. And right now, I could care less about offending any of them. They deserve it after how easily they were willing to turn their backs on a fellow student just because of an accident. Especially the other Gryffindors. I was told they stuck together no matter what. Yet at the first sign of trouble, they run with their tails between their legs. Pathetic. Bunch of hypocrites."

"Yeah, well, they're human." Renji muttered with a shrug. "They can't help acting the way they do."

Toshiro rolled his eyes and approached Neville, who hadn't moved. "So, Mr. Poison Ivy; you just going to stand there like an idiot?"

Neville looked up from the ground, eyes shining. "Did you guys really mean that? Would you really go to such lengths for someone like me?"

"Not someone like you, Neville." Toshiro muttered exasperatedly. "You. And yes, I was serious. I meant what I said. You're my friend and I never turn my back on a friend. Loyalty is something none of us take lightly. I'll protect you with my life, regardless of whether or not you'd do the same."

"I will!" Neville said immediately. "I definitely will. You've done so much for me already. If I ever have to sacrifice myself for any of you, I most definitely will; you have my word. Loyalty is definitely something I take to heart. I just can't believe you said those things out loud to the whole class." Neville flushed, eyes returning to the ground. He spoke softly. "You have no idea how much that meant to me. I've never had a friend like you. It's a whole new experience for me."

"Oh, Neville!" Neville's squeak of surprise was muffled as Rangiku wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him to her large bosom, lifting him off his feet and swinging him in circles. "You're so loved and have so many people who care about you. I bet you feel so special, don't you? Lucky." Rangiku laughed, squeezing him harder.

"Hey, let him go!" Ichigo shouted urgently. "You're going to kill him."

Rangiku stopped spinning and looked down at the little of Neville's face that was squished against her chest that she could see. He was turning blue. "Oops." She said as she released him. As soon as she did, Neville doubled over, gasping and wheezing and clutching his chest. After a few minutes, the color of his face turned back to normal, though he was quite flushed from lack of oxygen and embarrassment. Rangiku laughed. "Feel better?" Neville nodded mutely, red-faced.

"Geez, we just finished keeping his classmates from murdering him, and you go and nearly suffocate him." Ichigo muttered irritably.

Rangiku grinned cheekily. "Jealous? Do you want a hug too, Ichigo?"

Ichigo flushed and Renji and Rukia snickered. "No, I don't!" he snapped.

"Children!" Toshiro snapped. The others turned to him. He cast his eyes behind them. "We seem to be one extra."

The others turned to see Luna standing behind them, watching them with a dazed expression. "How long have you been standing there?" Rukia asked tentatively.

"Since class ended." Luna answered softly, honestly. "I wished to make sure Neville was alright." She glanced at him and nodded. "He seems to be in very good hands. I believe he is exceptionally safe with all of you. Especially you." She said to Toshiro. "Your warrior-like energy seems to suit you all quite nicely. It makes me wonder what you were in your past life. Perhaps you were soldiers from a devastating war and that is why you are so drawn to each other. Whatever you were, I'm sure you were as honorable as you are now. True warriors."

The shinigami and Neville blinked at her in surprise, not sure what to do or how to respond. Did she know? Luna nodded to herself, seeming to come to a conclusion in her head. "We should head down to dinner before the teachers come looking for us." And with that she turned on her heel and walked out of the room without a backward glance.

The others turned to Toshiro, who shrugged. "Let's go. I'll deal with it later. She seems to be of no harm for now."

Everyone nodded and began making their way out the door. "By the way," Neville started. "What did you mean, 'Neville belongs to us'? What's that supposed to mean?"

Toshiro merely smirked and continued walking, choosing not to answer.

Draco was furious. How dare that transfer brat call his spark pathetic! He was the only one in the class who could even create a spark, besides Potter, the Ravenclaw weirdo, and the Weasley girl. And stupid, sniveling Longbottom managed to make a near-perfect little orb. And then Hitsugaya's own large orb… that was some power! He didn't even seem to struggle creating it. He created it with such ease!

But now Draco had a major headache. Longbottom pushing at his own spark like that had caused Draco's temples to throb painfully. How dare Longbottom surpass Draco! No one out-shines Draco Malfoy, especially a pathetic little pansy like him! This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Longbottom was supposed to be at the bottom of the food-chain and not surpass someone of Draco's status. Longbottom was stupid, even Professor Snape thought so. He wasn't supposed to excel in anything except a wimpy subject like Herbology. And he definitely wasn't supposed to be better than anyone in a subject like Defense Against the Dark Arts. Everything was going wrong; nothing was how it was supposed to be. Whatever happened to the status quo? What was this world coming to? Oh, Longbottom was definitely going to pay. He and Hitsugaya both. This time Draco was going to pull out all the stops. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No mercy!

Draco rubbed at his temples and frowned. But wait, Draco couldn't let his anger get the best of him. He was a Slytherin, after all. Slytherin were cunning, not reckless like those suck-up Gryffindorks. He had to think before planning his next actions. Hitsugaya was on to them; he already said he'd be watching closely. Damn, that kid was annoyingly observant. And his power! Draco's eyes widened slightly at the thought of such power. If he could get his own power like that! The whole class was able to feel the icy coldness from that orb, almost as if it was … Draco blinked as a thought formed in his head. Almost as if the coldness was coming from Hitsugaya himself, not his power. Wait, wasn't his power a part of him anyway? But no, that's not what he meant. It was like the coldness itself was emanating from Hitsugaya's body. Could he possibly control the temperature? Could he control the weather?

The thought made Draco's eyes light up greedily, even as his head throbbed more painfully. What Draco could do with such power… He had to have it. But how could a midget like Hitsugaya manage to harness such power? And how could Draco get it? Could he? Maybe there was a way to steal it from Hitsugaya. There had to be; it couldn't be that hard if a shrimp like him and an idiot like Longbottom could pull it off. Draco gave himself a mental shake. He'd worry about that later. He'll investigate Hitsugaya later. And maybe the other transfers while he was at it. He wondered what each of their powers looked like, if any. But right now, he had other pressing matters to attend to. Like getting rid of Longbottom. He'd just have to be more cunning about it, so that Hitsugaya didn't notice or catch him. But for that to happen, he had to wait for the right moment. He needed to be patient. He could do that.

Neville's bad luck didn't improve during dinner, as he knocked over every goblet within reach while they both sat at the edge of the Gryffindor table as usual. The other Gryffindors, as well as the other houses, were still weary of him, avoiding sitting too closely to him and being in direct contact with him, but they were at least speaking civil with him. Several of them, in fact, actually approached Neville, albeit not too close to actually touch, and directly apologized for the way they treated him in class, especially the Gryffindors. They claimed that Toshiro was right and they were no better than the Slytherins, especially since it was a Slytherin who had started it. Then the Gryffindors closest to Neville began summarizing with him about who had caused the second spark.

Toshiro remained silent, listening to the different theories that floated up and down the table. He neither acknowledged nor dismissed each theory, even though he had a pretty good idea who was behind the second spark. The color of the spark had been tinted with gray, faint in color but just visible beneath Neville's green and white. So far, only Draco Malfoy, Luna, and Ginny Weasley had been able to produce a spark. It definitely wasn't Luna, since hers had been completely transparent, with a milky white outer edge being the only indication that there was even a spark at all; Ginny's spark had been a mixture of black and red, with tiny bright blue sparks flashing sporadically throughout; whereas Draco's had been a swirl of black, white and smoky grey. The same grey that Toshiro saw with Neville's little sphere just before disaster struck. However, Toshiro couldn't be one hundred percent sure it had been gray. Perhaps it had been the black of Ginny's spark. But he didn't see red or blue. He just had to wait a little longer, hoping that there will be more clues. Despite what he had said to the class, he was sure whoever had sabotaged Neville's demonstration had also been the one causing all of his accidents.

After dinner, Toshiro and Neville sat with Ron and Hermione in the usual corner of the common room, though Ron and Hermione's chairs were noticeably further from Neville's than usual. Neville tried not to notice as he made conversation with them while working on their homework. Toshiro glanced across the room to where Harry was conversing animatedly with the other members of the Quidditch team, minus Alicia. Toshiro wondered if the school's nurse had been able to reverse whatever Neville had done. He himself wasn't entirely sure what Neville had done and didn't think he would until Neville himself knew what he'd done. He had tried asking him during dinner, but Neville was unable to describe it clearly enough for Toshiro to understand. Perhaps with a bit of private outside training, Neville could progress enough to understand more what his powers could do and their limits.

"Attention, everyone!" Toshiro and the rest of the common room turned in silence towards the team, zeroing in on Oliver Wood, whom Harry had mentioned as the captain of the team. Oliver stood on a low table and glanced around the room, his face frowning with worry. "I know this is sudden and many of you aren't prepared. But the Quidditch team will be holding emergency try-outs tomorrow evening before dinner, between five o'clock and six, possibly later depending on how many show. Madam Pomfrey has been unable to reverse the …" he glanced briefly at Neville before swallowing thickly and looking back around the room. "Reverse the damage to our chaser, Alicia Spinnet. She has also decided that Alicia cannot play Quidditch, as she is having difficulties trying not to scratch herself and could end up falling off her broom in the process. So far, no potions that Professor Snape made for her have been able to stop the itching."

He cleared his throat and continued, clearly resisting the urge to glance in Neville's direction again, looking anywhere except. "Since Alicia is unable to play, we're one chaser short. We will be holding try-outs to find a substitute while they try to figure out how to help her. She's in a lot of pain right now. The new chaser will be announced after dinner here in the common room, once we've decided. Please, we really need a chaser. With one player short, we'll be at a major disadvantage. Anyone who can, please, we urge you to try-out. Thank you." Oliver glanced briefly again at Neville and his eyes hardened slightly. Then he stepped from the table and headed up the stairs to the seventh year boys' dormitories.

Neville turned back around and cast his eyes to the surface of the table as the rest of the Quidditch team separated and the girls went to bed. "I feel so bad." He muttered softly as Harry sat down in the empty chair between him and Ron, sitting closer than anyone else has so far besides Toshiro and the other transfers. "I know it wasn't my fault this time, but I can't help feeling like it is. Especially with everyone still mad at me."

"No one's mad at you anymore, Neville." Harry replied. "Everyone knows it wasn't your fault."

"I bet it was Malfoy." Ron said quickly. Hermione sighed but didn't comment. With Ron, when in doubt, blame Draco Malfoy. What he would do when he realized that his suspicions were actually right on the mark. "He would definitely do something like that. Especially since you did better than him in class today." He said to Neville. "He only made a spark; but you made an actual shape. It was a little wobbly and stuff, but it was a whole lot better than his. I bet he was jealous and tried to make you look bad."

"Didn't take much." Neville muttered dejectedly. "And people are still mad at me. Like Oliver Wood; he kept trying not to look at me and when he did just before he got off the table, he looked almost like he hated me."

"He doesn't hate you." Said George, coming up to stand behind Neville. He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, his twin standing beside him. "He's just really uptight because we've had such rotten luck so far when it comes to Quidditch."

"Yeah." Fred jumped in. "We have the best ruddy team in school but stuff keeps happening that ends up making us lose."

"Like getting sent to the Infirmary." George said.

"Or defending the school and nearly getting killed in the process." Fred added.

"And getting sent to the Infirmary." George said again. Both looked pointedly at Harry, who stuck his tongue at them.

"The point is," continued Fred. "We've come close to getting the cup so many times, only to have it snatched out from under us before we even lay a finger on it. He'll calm down a bit once we find another chaser, just you wait."

"I guess." Neville said, still looking depressed. "But you still need to find a chaser. If I was any good at Quidditch, I'd gladly offer. But I suck. Plus, I doubt anyone would want me anywhere near them right now. I'm jinxed. Maybe I should go home. It's not safe having me here." Toshiro leaned down from his perch on the windowsill and punched Neville in the shoulder, hard.

"OW!" Neville cried, slapping his hand over the injured shoulder. He glanced up at the smaller boy. "That hurt!"

"Good." Toshiro snapped. He jumped down from the windowsill and placed his hands on the chair's arm rests, leaning in so close that his nose nearly brushed Neville's as he glared at his friend. Neville instinctively leaned away from him until the back of his head was pressed against the backrest of the chair. "What did I just finish telling you?" he ground out through clenched teeth. Neville could feel the cold air flowing from Toshiro's breathe as if he had just swallowed a bucket full of ice. He could almost see his breathe, like winter air.

"Did what we told you after class not sink in?" he continued. "Did you completely ignore us? Huh?"

"No." Neville said in a small voice, eyes downcast.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Toshiro snapped. Neville looked up nervously. "What the hell was the point in telling you all of those things if you're just going to ignore it? I told you I was going to back you up, didn't I? I told you I wouldn't leave you behind. I told you I'd back you up." He leaned in closer. "Didn't I say, quite clearly, that you belonged to us? I meant what I said. You're part of our group, Neville. And also like I said, if anyone wants to start stuff with you, they'll have to go through us first. I meant that. If anyone has a problem with you, we'll deal with it. Together. Am I clear?"

Neville blinked owlishly at Toshiro, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. Toshiro scowled. "Don't make me hit you again. Am. I. Clear?"

Neville swallowed thickly and nodded. "Clear." He whispered.

Toshiro nodded in approval and pulled away from him. "Good." Then he turned and jumped back onto the windowsill. "I don't want to hear another comment from you about going home because of your accidents. I told you I'd take care of it, and I will." He glanced back down at him. "Trust me."

Neville nodded earnestly. "I do trust you."

"Well, I'd hate to interrupt this little declaration of love you two have got going on," Fred said after clearing his throat. He grinned cheekily as they both turned to glare at him.

"But it's getting closer to curfew." George finished with a similar grin. "We should be heading up to bed now. Come, Gred, my brother."

"Of course, Forge, brother dear." Said Fred, and the two of them waved cheerily before heading up to their dormitory.

Hermione turned back to the others, shoving her books into her book bag at the same time. "They're right, though. It's about time for bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning, then." Then she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed up to the girls' dormitories. Harry, Ron, Neville and Toshiro stood as well and headed up to their own dormitory.

"Hey, Toshiro." Neville whispered as all the lights went out in the room and everyone settled down for the night.

"Yeah?" Toshiro asked softly.

"Thanks again." He said. "For putting up with me and stuff."

"No problem." Toshiro said. "Now go to sleep."

Toshiro opened his eyes and sat up several hours after falling asleep. Looking at his watch, he confirmed that it was one o'clock; he had originally planned on getting up at midnight but decided that one o'clock would work much better. He listened to the steady breathing from his other dorm mates, making sure everyone was still sleeping, before silently sliding out of bed and pulling on his sweater over his sleep shirt and sliding his feet into his shoes. He turned to give a slight nod as Ichigo and Renji silently followed suit, Ichigo having to slip on a pair of sweats over his boxer shorts. Then the three of them silently made their way out the door, down the stairs, and out the portrait hole, being extremely careful not to make any noise and wake up the other occupants of Gryffindor tower. The last thing they needed was any overly curious students following them.

Harry waited until he heard the door close before sitting up in his bed. He frowned. Why had Ichigo, Renji and Toshiro gone down to the common room so early? Or was it late? What was so important that it couldn't wait for a more civilized time to meet? What were they hiding? Harry silently slid out of bed and walked over to his trunk. After digging around, he pulled out his invisibility cloak and wrapped it around himself before quietly making his way to the door and silently slipped out. He inched himself to the top of the stairs and paused, confused. The common room was empty. Where had they all gone? They didn't leave, did they?

Frowning in disappointment and confusion, Harry slowly made his way back to the dormitory and slipped the cloak off. He dropped it back into his trunk and slipped back into bed. What were they up to? What could they possibly be doing out and about at such an hour? Were they pulling a prank? Harry would have thought so of Ichigo and Renji but Toshiro? He doubted it. But what were they doing? Perhaps he could bounce a few ideas off Ron and Hermione in the morning. For now, he'd just go back to sleep. Not much he could do for now.

The shinigami stood in the center of Urahara's classroom, the mirrors gone and the entire room empty and sound-proof. Each person stood a few feet from the other, their sword lying on the ground in front of them and their wand held steadily in their hand. Tonight was the night that they would finally perform the spell Head Captain Yamamoto and Captain Kurotsuchi learned that would merge their Zanpakuto with their wands. They had been practicing every night since Toshiro had received the letter from Ukitake containing the spell. Now, finally, they were ready to cast the spell on their swords. Hopefully things will go well.

"Everyone ready?" Toshiro asked at the end of the row. The others nodded, eyes full of confidence. Toshiro nodded back. "Alright, on the count of three, I want you to concentrate hard, focus your energy and magical properties. Don't let anything distract you and take your time; we will not be disturbed. One… two… three!"

There was a soft chorus of armafususmagica! and a soft white gold glow emanated from each wand tip and engulfed the swords lying on the floor. The swords glowed brightly, nearly blinding the castors, as it appeared to suck the light and power of the spell into itself. Then the lights from the swords dimmed and when the shinigami took closer looks, their swords appeared completely transparent. Taking the next step, the Soul Reapers bent down and touched the tips of their wands to the tips of their swords.

The response was immediate: a smoky white-grey mist floated out of each blade, forming a gorilla with a snake for a tail, an outline of a cat's head, a dragon with a jagged body, a long white spiral, and the outline of a sword. Each shape floated above the sword blade it floated out of for several seconds before flowing into the wand tips as if being sucked in by a vacuum. As the smoky shapes faded, so did the Zanpakuto, until both vanished completely.

Once the room was empty once more, everyone sighed in relief and exhaustion, slowly sinking to the ground; they had been warned ahead of time that this spell would take a lot out of them but they hadn't realized just how much of their strength would be needed to perform this spell. They were exhausted both physically and spiritually and wanted nothing more than to go to bed and sleep for several long, undisturbed hours. Unfortunately, with classes later that morning, they would only be getting close to four more hours of sleep if they returned to their dormitories at that moment. However, another matter needed to be taken care of first.

"So, how do we know for sure that it worked?" Ichigo asked, his voice heavy with a sudden sleepiness. "That there weren't any problems or technical difficulties or anything?"

Toshiro sighed, feeling just as tired as his team looked as they sat leaning against the wall with exhausted expressions. "The only way to know for sure would be to cast a spell." He stuck his hand in the pocket of his sweater and pulled out a Knut. He gently tossed it onto the ground and shrugged. "I guess we can each cast a levitation spell on the Knut and see what happens. I'll go first." He quickly waved his wand and muttered the levitation spell. Immediately, the familiar sensation he got when using Hyorinmaru filled his body, filled his soul and made him feel so full of happiness that he couldn't help grinning broadly, his eyes widening and his whole being feeling full of the energy he usually shared with his Zanpakuto. He took a large gasping breathe, as if he had just plunged head first into a pool of power and energy. The coin floating successfully in front of him was just an added bonus.

Ichigo grinned. "I take it the spell worked?"

Toshiro released the spell, allowing the coin to drop gently back to the ground, and sighed, feeling oddly satisfied. He was immensely glad Hyorinmaru's power didn't vanish once the spell had been released. He glanced at the others and nodded mutely. Renji quickly sat up straight. "My turn. I want to feel the power I used to share with Zabimaru."

"Don't rush." Toshiro warned. "We don't know what will happen if we make a mistake with a spell."

Renji nodded and visibly calmed himself down before casting the levitating spell on the coin. After several long and silent moments, with Renji reacting the same way as Toshiro had, Renji let the coin fall back to the ground with a satisfied sigh. He grinned around the room, feeling happier than he'd ever felt in such a long time. "I feel him! I can feel Zabimaru's strength coursing through my veins! Ah, I hadn't realized how much I missed him! I feel as if I have my strength back and then some. And casting that spell was so much easier."

Yes, Toshiro had noticed that too. He turned to the rest of the room and watched as Rangiku, then Ichigo, and finally Rukia levitated the coin successfully, each of them reacting the same way he and Renji had before. The spell had been successful; he had to make sure to let Head Captain Yamamoto know about their success and thank them for giving them the part of themselves they had missed so dearly. Hopefully, having their Zanpakuto's spirit with them at all times will help give them strength throughout the rest of the mission.

"You know," started Rangiku thoughtfully. "I think I can do spells easier now. Taicho, have me cast a charm."

Toshiro thought for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, cast the unlocking spell on the door. Let's see what happens."

Rangiku nodded and headed to the door, a determined look on her face. The others gathered around, though keeping a safe distance just in case. She pointed her wand at the door, took a deep breath and muttered, "Alohamora." At first nothing happened but then they heard a soft click as the door unlocked. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Rangiku whirled around and pulled Toshiro into a huge hug. "I did it!" she squealed happily, jumping up and down with the little captain still in her grasp. "I actually did it with almost no problem! I can cast charms better! Ya-hoo!"

"Lieutenant!" Rukia cried in alarm.

Rangiku paused and let Toshiro go, grinning sheepishly. "Oops, sorry Taicho. I guess I got a little too excited."

Toshiro exhaled heavily and straightened his sweater. "It's alright; you have something to be happy for. You can finally cast a spell a bit more properly." He turned to the rest of the group, none of them with a single trace of the exhaustion they had felt just moments before. "Alright, we'd better head up to bed. I know none of you are tired now, but I have a feeling that if we don't, we might regret it later during the day. Let's go; off to bed. Try to get some sleep."

The others muttered to each other about it not being likely that they'll get to sleep for the rest of the night as they made their way out of the room and Toshiro had to admit, he didn't think he'd get much sleep either. The group split at the first staircase and everyone headed in the direction of their respective house until only Renji, Ichigo and Toshiro remained. The three of them headed up to Gryffindor Tower, Renji and Ichigo talking enthusiastically, though quietly so as not to wake anyone, comparing how they had felt when they cast the simple levitating spell and the sudden fill of energy that went through their bodies. Toshiro resisted the urge to contribute, instead feeling content just savoring the feelings of satisfaction and contentment Hyorinmaru had coursed through his body.

The trio slipped back into the common room and quieted down as they headed up the stairs to their dormitory. Toshiro slipped off his shoes as he shrugged out of his sweater and slid into bed, Ichigo and Renji doing the same, though Ichigo was so full of energy that he lost his balance as he tried to step out of his pants and shrug off his sweater at the same time and fell to the floor with a dull thud. Renji snickered after they made sure the noise hadn't woken any of their dorm mates. Toshiro rolled his eyes, full of such happiness and contentment that he didn't even have the heart to reprimand Ichigo for being noisy, and closed his curtains, shutting out the rest of the room. He didn't think he'd ever get to sleep, but after closing his eyes for only a few seconds, he was out. So much for not being tired.

A/N: So, in case anyone wants to know, the harry potter lexicon didn't say what color Neville's eyes are, so I decided to make them hazel. Just thought I'd throw this out there. And you get two chapters! Lucky! And the next chapter is almost done. And I think after that, the monthly updates are going to cease a bit to about every other month or so, just because the chapters are starting to need much more details than before. I'm going to have to take some time from writing in order to think things through a bit for a few details. Nothing I can do about it. Hope you'll all continue to be patient. Once again, I'll post status updates on my profile every Monday, if I can. Thanks and don't forget to review!

LATIN WORDS:

*Arma – weapons/arms

*Fusus – fuse/melt together/become one

*Magica – magic

(Basically, weapon fuse with magic; I just don't know the Latin word for 'with', if there even is one.)