Chapter 2

Evee couldn't breathe, she felt like she was being sucked through a thin tube before she landed roughly on her feet on a wooden floor. Next to her was Masaki who moved to sit on a nearby chair at a long table.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, trying to catch her breath.

"It's called apparation," McGonagall explained quickly before disappearing again.

"I apologize," said Dumbledore with a small bow. "I should've warned you to hold your breath."

And with that, he turned on his heel and disappeared. Seconds later, they reappeared with Kaien and Daisuke, then Renji and Ishiin.

"Alright," said Ishiin, cracking his knuckles. "Let's get checked in, shall we?"

"We'll see you in a few weeks," Dumbledore said before he and McGonagall disappeared again. Ishiin talked to Tom who nodded and showed them to their rooms. As soon as Masaki was in the door, she flopped onto the nearest bed, mumbling, "S'one's mine," into the pillow. Not two seconds later, she was asleep, jacket, jeans and shoes still on. Evee waved at the rest of them with a tired smile.

"I think Masaki has the right idea. See you guys later."

The rest of them followed suit, apart from Ishiin who decided to roam the hall "guarding his beautiful grandchildren" from anything or anyone who looked a little shifty. Eventually, he moved downstairs to start a conversation with Tom.

Around noon, Masaki came down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes to see Ishiin talking with the barkeeper who was cleaning out a glass with a grubby-looking rag. Ishiin looked up at the sound of the stairs creaking and grinned broadly. "Ah! Speak of the devil, here's one of them now!"

"That's nice," Tom muttered vaguely.

"'Bout time you woke up," Ishiin went on. "Thought you died up there!"

Masaki sent a glare in his direction. After what had happened in Hueco Mundo, she didn't find the comment funny. Daisuke came down a few minutes later with a large grin on his face. He stretched before pulling out a chair and sitting next to Masaki.

"Any weird dreams?" he asked.

"Probably," she said around a yawn. "I don't remember anything…"

"Really?" he said skeptically. Something in her tone said she was lying. Masaki sighed and folded her hands on the table.

"Okay, you got me. I've been having nightmares for the past couple weeks."

"Nightmares?"

She nodded. "About Aizen and Grimmjow. I'm in a room alone with them. They start attacking me and I reach for Toketsu but she isn't there. Grimmjow throws me across the room and I try to get back up and run, but something grabs me from behind. When I turn around, my Hollow has me by the arms then Aizen and Grimmjow come at me at the same time and…" her fingers tightened around each other. Daisuke put his hand over both of hers and she looked up at him. He was a little shocked to see the beginning of tears in her dark brown eyes and she quickly blinked them away before continuing. "Well, you get the idea."

"Hey," Daisuke started sternly, using his free hands to make Masaki look at him. "They're gone now. Both of them. They can't even look at you anymore."

Masaki nodded slightly and her eyes widened just a fraction when she noticed how close their faces were. He moved even closer, their noses touching. She held her breath, heart pounding, not sure whether or not to push him away.

"I—"

"You two ready to go shopping?" Ishiin said loudly, grabbing their shoulders and coming between them. Masaki turned red and leaned away from Daisuke.

"Y-yeah. I'll go wake up Evee!"

She got up quickly, almost taking the rickety chair with her and hurried up the stairs.

"What was that about?" Ishiin asked. Daisuke just shrugged, watching Masaki go.

Finally, after coaxing Kaien out of bed, they hit the streets of Diagon Alley. The long, cobbled street was packed with witches and wizards all in robes of assorted colors. Daisuke found it ironic that they were the ones getting strange looks.

"Alright-y then!" said Ishiin clapping his hands together while Renji pulled out the supply list. "You four go get fitted for your robes. Renji and I will get the money and your books!"

"Right," said Renji, absent-mindedly reading the list as he walked. He suddenly froze. "Wait, all of them?"

"Yep!"

His shoulders slumped and he started dragging his feet. "Ah, fine."

"Oh, don't be so lazy," Ishiin said loudly, slapping the younger man between the shoulder blades. Renji glared at him before grumbling something under his breath and heading down the street toward the white, marble building, Ishiin following close behind.

"Where do we go to get robes?" Kaien asked. Masaki pulled out her own list.

"Madame Malkin's."

"Right…where?"

"I think it's that way," Evee said, pointing to a building on their right with a faded, hanging sign reading 'Madame Malkin's Robe Shop'.

"Heh," said Kaien, rubbing the back of his neck. "Right…I knew that…"

They pushed into the shop, hearing a bell ding as the door opened.

"Be out in a moment!" came a voice from behind the racks. An older woman appeared from underneath a mass of black robes. "Hello there, dears. Hogwarts?"

"Uh…yes. Yes we need robes," said Kaien. "Well, I guess that was obvious, since we're in here but…yeah."

"We're transfers from a school in Japan," Masaki cut in, keeping her brother from becoming even more awkward.

"Oh! That's interesting. Well, I'll get you fitted here in a moment. If you could just wait over there for a second."

They complied while Madame Malkin put away a few of the robes in her enormous pile before dumping the rest of them on the floor.

"Right. Well, who's first?" she asked, clapping her hands together. "How about you, dearie?"

Malkin grabbed Daisuke's sleeve and pulled him over to start measuring. Soon he was set and Malkin was moving on to Evee.

"So what made you pick Hogwarts for your transfer school?" Malkin asked, pinning one of Evee's sleeves before waving her wand so the rest of the pins worked by themselves.

"Oh, I'm not really sure," said Masaki with a sigh. Kaien couldn't help but smile. She was really getting into her their cover story. "I figured it'd be nice to see England and Scotland and they agreed, so, here we are!"

Masaki smiled way too brightly for it to be genuine (at least from her) and Malkin smiled back.

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a good year. You picked a good one to come, after all. There's something exciting happening this year…"

She trailed off, waving her wand. The pins fell to the floor and a needle stitched everything up in a matter of seconds.

"That's you done dear. Next?"

Masaki stepped up and Malkin started pinning her up.

"Um…what did you mean by 'something exciting'?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm not allowed to say, dear. I shouldn't have mentioned it in the first place…"

Masaki raised her eyebrows at her friends who shrugged in return. A fiery-haired woman laden down with bags walked into the store. She set most of her bags by the door and brought another up to Malkin.

"Oh, I didn't see you had someone!" she said kindly. "I'll just leave these here then. Ronald's robes need to be lengthened again. I swear that boy will never stop growing!"

Malkin smiled. "I don't believe he will! I take it the others need resizing as well?"

The woman nodded and put her last bag near Malkin on the floor and looked up at the four teenagers.

"I haven't seen you four before," she said with a warm smile.

"We're transfers," said Kaien. Malkin waved her wand at the pins again and they worked for themselves.

"They're from Japan," Malkin cut in.

"Oh! That's exciting! I heard Japan is very beautiful! What year will you be starting in?" the woman asked.

"We'll be sixth years," said Evee.

"I have two sons that will be sixth years this year. They're twins."

"So are we," said Kaien, jabbing his thumb at his sister.

"Well, you'll want to look out for Fred and George. They're quite the mischief makers."

She checked her watch and gave a little start.

"I had better get going! I have a lot more to buy!" she looked back at the transfers. "If you need any help, my family and I will be at the Leaky Cauldron during the last couple of weeks of the summer."

"Oh, thank you," said Evee, looking surprised. "We just might take you up on that."

The woman smiled and left, mumbling something under her breath about Daisuke being too thin. Finally, after about twenty minutes, they were all fitted and now the four of them were waiting outside for Ishiin and Renji to get there with the money.

"A little help here!" shouted someone from down the street. They looked up to see Renji, laden down with large, lumpy bags, attempting to walk down the street towards them. Kaien and Daisuke dashed forward and took two bags each from Renji. The red-haired man thanked them and straightened up; no longer giving the impression he had a hunchback. Ishiin followed soon after, carrying a few books and a small bag full of what they assumed was money.

"Why aren't you carryin' anything?" Renji snapped bitterly once he'd put his bags down. Ishiin gave him a mock glare.

"I'm an old man."

"You're not that old!"

"It doesn't matter now. Now, who's up for ice cream?" Ishiin asked happily. Renji looked a little infuriated.

"Ice cream?!"

"Grandpa, we still have to pay for the robes…" said Masaki, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at the shop. Madame Malkin was waiting patiently in the doorway.

"Right! Here you go!"

Ishiin tossed the bag into the air and Daisuke caught it before disappearing into the shop.

"That ice cream offer still stands," said Ishiin, a hopeful look in his eyes. Deciding to humor their grandfather, the twins agreed and once Daisuke had re-emerged with all their robes, they made their way down the road to Florean Fortescue's.