A/N Okay, so the reason I'm updating this at approximately... 3:00 A.M. is because I know I'm going to be too busy to do it later and it's technicallly already Tuesday so it's not an early update... Uh, anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Three

"What?" Lily breathed, shocked.

Dumbledore looked sadly at her. "It must be done, I'm afraid," he held up his blackened hand. "This curse will take my life anyway; I'd much rather choose when to die."

"No… no, I can heal you! My Zanpakuto… I'm in the 4th division! I can…"

"Lily," Dumbledore said. "Even if you could, I wouldn't want you to. I've lived a long, full life. It's my time to go." He sat back. "Not right away of course. At the end of this year should be appropriate."

"Appropriate! We're talking about your death, here! I can't believe you're not taking this seriously, Albus," Lily shrieked.

"Lily, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next greatest adventure. This has been proven to be true," he said, giving the shinigami a significant look.

Lily was still breathing hard, staring at Dumbledore in complete disbelief. She opened her mouth, probably to start yelling again when Hitsugaya spoke up.

"I'll do it."

"What?"

"Dumbledore-san is right; it needs to be done."

"But…"

"Lily," he said. "This is not our decision to make. And these Hallows must be taken to Soul Society. I'll do it."

She all but glared at her husband. "James, do something!"

He licked his lips nervously. "Of course, Hitsugaya-taicho."

Lily refused to speak to him for the rest of the night.

Hitsugaya woke late the next morning to a suspiciously silent house. He groaned and burrowed into the warmth of his bed; it had taken him forever to fall asleep the night before, and all he wanted to do was curl up under the covers and sleep some more. He groaned again and pulled a pillow over his head to block out the light streaming in through the windows. Vaguely he thought he heard a door open, but he was just too tired to care.

"SURPRISE!"

He shot up, hand reaching toward his back, where his Zanpakuto would normally be, before flopping right back down. He looked blearily at the rather large group of people standing in the room he shared with Ron. "What the hell?" How had he not noticed their reiatsu?

It was Granger who spoke up first. "Happy birthday, Harry! Um… Hitsugaya!"

What was she talking about? Wasn't it in the middle of summer? He glanced out the window. Yes, it was still summer. He leaned on his elbows, staring stupidly at the group that consisted of the Weasleys, Potters, Black, Lupin, and Granger. "What?" He suddenly suspected Lily. She had probably disguised their reiatsu with a Kido spell. Now if only he could figure out why.

They traded confused glances. "Uh, it's July 31st. You know, your birthday?" Ron asked, earning an elbow to the gut from Ginny.

It was way too early to be thinking about any of this. "Nooo… my birthday is December 20th. Thanks for the thought, but you're about five months too early."

"I would think that I would remember when I gave birth to you," Lily stated flatly.

Hitsugaya merely pulled the pillow over his face again. "One word; veil," came his muffled voice.

Granger traded a glance with Lily. "Well, that's fine. We'll celebrate your birthday twice this year!"

Hitsugaya sighed, finally sitting up. "That's not necessary," he yawned. "I'm up."

Granger's smile was blinding. He glared half-heartedly at her before looking pointedly at his sleeping yukata. "Great. I'm up," he repeated, waving his arms in a shooing motion. "Now get out so I can get dressed."

Over the past week or so Lily and James had noticed one thing about Hitsugaya: he was very meticulously neat. Normally this wouldn't have bothered them at all, except today was a day he was supposed to be messy. Today was supposed to be fun. Today he was supposed to unwrap his birthday presents.

It was taking him bloody forever, and it was driving James absolutely nuts. Worse than that, though, was that the party had already been one long string of disasters.

After they had dragged Hitsugaya out of bed they had gone immediately to the dining room. There had been cake (which was technically for after dinner but nobody really cared about that anyway.) The problem? Hitsugaya refused to eat any of it on the grounds that he didn't like sweets. Who didn't like sweets? Molly had been so upset it had taken forever to console her, and that had been possible only after Hitsugaya had said that it was his fault for not letting her know. James had noticed Ron giving his present a mortified look.

Not only that, but nobody had known how many candles to put on the cake in the first place. That had been difficult enough, and James had later noticed that Hitsugaya had been mildly irritated when asked to blow them out. Whether it was because of the number of candles (which may have been few enough to imply he was a child) or because they had asked him to do it at all (because he probably thought it was a childish tradition, and he strongly disliked anything childish) he didn't know. At least Hitsugaya hadn't said anything about it.

Then Fred and George had snuck alcohol into everyone's drinks. Hitsugaya had choked on his, but by the time anyone else had noticed Ron had already drunk enough to be a smidgeon past tipsy. At least he was far less likely to notice Hitsugaya opening his present, which was undoubtedly candy of some kind.

And, of course, they were now opening presents. Or trying to, at least. Hitsugaya was being almost obsessively neat about the whole thing, carefully unwrapping his gifts so that the paper wasn't damaged in the least. James was pretty sure he wasn't the only one being driven insane by his snail-like pace, especially if that look Sirius was giving him was any indication.

The very suggestion that he simply tear his presents open was met by a look that said 'If I have to be here doing this, I will be doing it my way.'

And his reactions were bland. He politely expressed his appreciation for all of the gifts of course, but any real emotion showing whether or not he actually liked them was always hidden behind a blank face.

Possibly the best thing that happened was when Remus handed over his presents. He passed a small box to Hitsugaya, which he unwrapped with painstaking neatness. He blinked when he saw what it was; a miniature trunk. Remus smiled and tapped it with his wand, resizing it to a full-size trunk.

"I know this isn't an actual present," he started, "but I thought you'd like your old things back, whether you remember them or not. I'll be right back." He left the room, returning a minute or so later with a beautiful white owl perched on his shoulder. Hermione gasped when she saw the bird, which flew over to Hitsugaya. Remus opened his mouth, but apparently he didn't need to say anything because Hitsugaya beat him to the punch.

"Hedwig," he murmured, eyes glazed. He shook himself, returning to full awareness and holding out an arm for the snowy owl to land on. His eyes softened as he stroked the soft-looking feathers, and the owl gently nipped at his fingers. James's heart nearly stopped as Hitsugaya gave a tiny half-smile as he looked at his companion.

Then Ron broke the moment with an indignant huff. "'Course he'd remember the bloody bird, first."

The party recovered some of its initial steam after that, though Hitsugaya could have cared less. He'd never really cared about his birthday before; why start now? But, he supposed, he could tolerate a party. At least it wasn't one of Matsumoto's wild get-togethers, even if alcohol had somehow managed to make its way down his throat. He felt himself relax a little bit as everyone chatted happily around him, neither really excluding nor including him in their conversations.

Then his cell phone went off.

More hollows? The number yesterday had been slightly alarming, even if they had all been easily disposed of. He flipped open his phone, eyes widening at the number of little red dots blinking on the screen. What was going on? Such a large group, and for the second time in two days, no less!

"James, Lily," at the sound of his voice the entire party silenced. "We have a job to do," he said, pulling out a soul candy and popping it into his mouth. The other two quickly followed suit. He snorted as he saw his gigai run off to hide somewhere. James was careful this time to order his temporary soul to amuse himself in a non-messy, harmless manner. Lily nodded in approval, and prepared to flash-step. Black ran over. "Wait! I want to come too!"

Hitsugaya glared at him coldly. "We're not here for your amusement, Black."

Black stared him directly in the eye. "I know that." He said no more than that. Hitsugaya looked at him carefully before nodding at James. James quickly took a hold of his friend, flash-stepping out the door. He followed before anyone else could ask to come.

The first hollow was less than a hundred meters away from the manor, but James seemed to be handling it fairly well. As expected of a seated officer. Hitsugaya flash stepped to the next hollow's location.

Sirius watched in awe as James easily cut down the first hollow before seemingly apparating to a group of three clustered together on a street about a block away, barely remembering to take Sirius with him. He felt slightly ashamed that he was being less than useful, but he had wanted, no needed to know more about his friends and godson; their powers and lifestyle both. Unfortunately it seemed he'd only be seeing James in action today, though.

He watched as James barely dodged a strike aimed at his back, spinning neatly to block an enormous claw about to cleave him in half from his left. He had been able to easily take care of one opponent, though he seemed to be having a bit more trouble with three. He heard James curse in frustration, and he gripped his wand, ready to step in.

"Don't try to interfere with the battle," he remembered James whispering to him hurriedly. "You don't have a soul-cutter and none of your spells contain reiatsu. You won't be able to do any damage to the hollows."

His expression tightened and he forced his grip to relax. He wanted to help, but as he was now he'd only be in the way.

One of the hollows turned, catching sight of him. It shot toward him, jaws agape. Dimly he heard James curse again as he leapt out of the incoming predator's pathway.

"Iki o Suru (Breathe), Tatsumaki (Tornado)!" A bullet of wind slammed into the hollow even as it scrambled to face its new prey. It shrieked in pain. James panted slightly, holding his Zanpakuto in front of him, parallel to the ground. It glittered golden, its shape more closely resembling a European longsword than a Japanese katana. Bright crimson cloth wrapped around the handle, resting above a stag's head whose antlers formed the hilt. Wind swirled invisibly around the blade. James swung it in a broad arc and a thin concentration of wind cut through the hollow's mask. He spun to face his remaining two opponents. Two more slicing arcs of wind broke the hollows' masks in half. Sirius gaped.

James gasped as the wind died down, his Zanpakuto transforming into its sealed form. It looked like a regular katana, though the hilt formed a vague representation of the stag's head he had seen just moments before.

James was still breathing hard as Sirius approached him, though he had his cell phone out and was checking the screen. "I guess the others finished off the rest of them," he panted.

"That was amazing, Jamie!"

James grinned wickedly at him. "Yeah," his smile faded a little. "I need a lot more practice, though. That took a lot out of me."

"It was still amazing." There was a brief pause. "Do you think I could learn to do that?"

To the quartet's surprise, Dumbledore was waiting for them when they got back to Grimmauld. Or, more specifically, he was waiting for the three shinigami. All of the partiers had left the room, though they had yet to clear away the mess they had made.

"I'd like to discuss something with you for a moment," he began without preamble.

"Yeah?" Hitsugaya flopped uncaringly on a couch. A cloud of dust flew up and he wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"How would you feel about returning to Hogwarts this year? And not just you, but James and Lily as well," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he asked. "Hogwarts has vast resources for you to use during your research into wizard-kind," he added unsubtly.

It was around then that Hitsugaya remembered that he had forgotten to ask about using Hogwarts' library. Great.

"As much as I would love to, we have responsibilities that will require us to be outside of the school's grounds frequently. If I were to go in the capacity of a student, as that is the most convenient disguise, I'd still need to be able to come and go freely. Our top priority is Voldemort, not the research."

Dumbledore nodded. "I have also come to offer the position of defense against the dark arts professor to you, Lily. As I recall, you were one of our best students," he smiled. "I'll be happy to accommodate your needs for your missions. Now, I shall not take up any more of your time. Should you decide to accept, you may send your answer however it is most convenient for you, and we will set up a time to discuss all of the details." With that, he left for the fireplace.

"So," James asked, immediately turning toward the other two shinigami, "should we go?"

"I'm not sure that would be wise," Hitsugaya replied. "Being there would only restrict our movements."

"We'd have access to more information."

"But we'd also have to act the parts of students and professor the entire time we would be there. Could you do that, James? Not only that, but Lily would have a job that will divide her attention from our mission."

Lily interrupted. "I'm sure I could handle it," she said. "I also think that this would be a wonderful opportunity. Voldemort undoubtedly has powerful wards keeping him hidden, but he will show up at Hogwarts eventually. Hogwarts is an extremely important location; not just strategically, but to him personally as well."

"Oh?"

She nodded. "Yes. I suggest you ask Dumbledore about Voldemort's history; he has a wealth of information on him. I was going to compile a report for you, but I guess getting answers straight from Dumbledore would be faster."

"I'd like the report anyway, in case I miss something."

"Of course…"

"You know," James interrupted, "that really isn't the point of this discussion."

"You're right," Lily sighed. She looked at her son/superior officer. "Are we going?"

Hitsugaya hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. He nodded slowly. "For now. If we need to leave, we won't hesitate to do so," he looked sharply at Lily, "even if it means depriving Dumbledore-san of a teacher."

She narrowed her eyes, looking offended. She didn't say anything, however.

"Hey, what about me?"

"What about you, Black?"

"I'm going too."

He raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, Dumbledore-san invited the three of us, not you. You are also a wanted convict, and the more of us there are, the more attention we will gather. Are you seeing any problems here?"

Black grinned, before morphing into a great black dog. Hitsugaya just looked at him blandly. "And you're willing to be someone's pet for the entire year?"

The mutt nodded and had the gall to wag his tail.

"Fine. Do what you want. If you get caught, we're denying any involvement."

He barked.

Lily glanced at the other three occupants of the room. "This brings up a good point, though. How are we going to go? I mean, I'll be going as a professor. Which means I'll be the one taking care of Sirius, because the students aren't allowed to take dogs," she added, frowning at the animagus.

Hitsugaya shrugged. "Transfer students. That's how these things usually work."

Lily bit her lip. "But Hogwarts almost never has transfer students."

Hitsugaya started. "Then what do they do about people who've just moved into the country?"

"That's actually fairly rare in the wizarding world, especially if the family in question has school-age children."

James nodded. "I suppose it can't be helped. I look too old to be anything but a transfer, so that's what I'll be going as. Maybe re-taking my NEWT's after studying abroad…"

Hitsugaya suddenly didn't like where this is going. "And where does that leave me, exactly?"

"We don't have to worry too much about you. Lils and I need disguises and new names, but no one really knows you anymore. And," James hesitated, dreading the words that were about to come out of his mouth, "…you look young enough to be a first year, so you can do that. Don't kill me, please," he dove behind the couch.

The temperature dropped. "You've got to be kidding me." Unfortunately, that really would be the most convenient way to go about it. He took a few deep, calming breaths. "Fine," he growled, and refused to say anything else.

Black, the bastard, had his tongue lolling out, clearly laughing at him.

Later that same night, James approached Hitsugaya. Seeing Padfoot had reminded him clearly of Prongs, and he wanted that back. It had been the one thing he missed the most about losing his magic. If he converted the magic into a reiatsu spell, he'd have that again. However, this was something he wanted to share with his son.

He broached the topic carefully, outlining the most logical uses of an animagus form, as that was what seemed to appeal the most to Hitsugaya. Seeing the impatient look on his son's face, he finally asked, "So, would you like me to teach you how to become an animagus?"

He saw his son consider it carefully. James really hoped he accepted the offer; this would be the perfect opportunity to spend more time with each other. Hitsugaya sighed. "I'm sorry. Now is not the time. We need to concentrate on the mission… if, however, you truly wish to pursue this, I will not stop you from doing so."

James heart sunk. He looked pathetic and he knew it. What's more, Hitsugaya knew it and he sighed again. "If you still wish to teach me once we return to Soul Society, I'll set aside some time for you to do so."

James grinned, suddenly feeling a lot happier. His son was willing to spend time with him, even after this stupid mission was over! That meant more to him than he could say.

"Great! I wonder what you'll be…"

The trio made arrangements with Dumbledore, sending in an acceptance letter and getting supply lists in return, along with a small golden key. This was Harry's, or his, Hitsugaya supposed, vault key. Fortunately, the goblins were notorious for their privacy, so if he went to the bank as Harry Potter, no one would ever know about it. He wasn't listed as deceased yet, though, so he'd have to create a will for when he returned to Soul Society.

When they got to Gringotts, he did exactly that. He divided up his assets between all of his former friends, and if any mention of the substitute shinigami and his group made its way into his will, well, no one would know until they left, would they?

After grabbing a sack or two of gold, Hitsugaya, James, and Lily all wandered around Diagon Alley. They stopped at the apothecary first, and the horrendous smell chased them out before they could really buy anything more than absolutely necessary (which was unfortunate, because potions sounded really useful).

Their next stop had been at Madame Malkins to get robes. Hitsugaya had never felt so insulted in his life.

"You look a bit young to be going to Hogwarts, dearie. Why don't you go look over there while I find your mother?"

Lily had needed to step in so he could get his robes and get out. Honestly, he didn't look that young; all of these Europeans were just freakishly tall, that's all.

It didn't help that Hyourinmaru was laughing at him.

They stopped briefly at the Owl Emporium to get treats for Hedwig, who had also refused to be left behind. Lily had charmed her beautiful feathers gray and black, which she didn't appreciate but would tolerate for the time being. She didn't want to be separated from her wizard ever again.

Their last stop was the bookstore, mainly because they knew they'd be spending the most time there. After they left with armloads of books, Hitsugaya was seriously ready to call it quits. He hated shopping.

He really hoped this Hogwarts place was worth it.

A/N: Sorry, no animagus in this fic, though I am planning a one-shot for when they get back to Soul Society. About the constant change from first name to last and back again; well, Hitsugaya wouldn't call anyone by their given names, so from his perspective, they're all 'Granger' and 'Black,' etc. Except for James, Lily, and the Weasleys, as there are really too many Weasleys at Grimmauld. That may change when they get to Hogwarts, though, because there'll only be Ginny and Ron with them there.