Author's Note: Just a reminder that this is not an original idea. I adopted this from Mitsukini Haninozuka who in turn got it from TheBlackSeaReaper. This is my first story, as well, so any feedback would be very much appreciated. Let me know what you think, please!
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Everyone was fast asleep, shivering in their beds while the storm raged outside. As the night wore on, it had gotten worse. The winds howling around the outside and rattling the windows. The rain was beating a fast and harsh rhythm on the roof.
BOOM
Jūshiro and Dudley startled awake to the sound. Staring at each other and then around at the shack, they wondered what had caused the noise.
BOOM
It came again, this time noticeable as a loud pounding on the door. Rattling the shack down to its foundations, letting them feel the vibrations in their bones.
BOOM
There was someone at the door. Neither of the boys knew who or what could cause such a loud sound, for all that it sounded like knocking. They decided to get up and move their bedding aside, huddling together in the corner by the fireplace. They had no way of leaving, for there was only one door, and with the storm outside the warmth left over from last night's fire was appreciated. Dudley helped Jūshiro to his feet, both listening for any more noises, noting as they did so that the elder Dursleys had also gotten up. Jūshiro leaned on Dudley while they waited, his body still weak from the coughing fits earlier. Whenever he had a fit, especially the bad ones, he needed time to recover his strength – time he hadn't gotten in this case. Pushing his long black hair out of his face – he had chosen to regrow his previous lengthy style – he watched his relatives stumble down the stairs. Vernon had a shotgun, of all things, in his hands, shakily pointed at the door. Jūshiro wondered if that was the package he hadn't let anyone touch on their way to the shack.
BOOM
"Who's out there? What do you want?" Vernon shouted, trying to get a handle on the situation. He had a crazed look on his face, one that had made an appearance several times over the week when confronted by the mysterious letters. The look did not inspire confidence in either of the boys, both nervous at the implications of an unstable man with a gun and no good cover nearby to avoid any fallout. Jūshiro and Dudley hoped that he wouldn't shoot them, even if it would probably be on accident. Accidentally shooting them still meant that they had been shot, after all. The boys huddled together, staying quiet and hoping not to draw the attention of Vernon, both knowing nothing good could come of this.
BOOM
Suddenly, there was a loud crash as the door slammed into the ground. The hinges had given way under the assault, and the door had simply fallen over. Staring at the door, Jūshiro almost missed the person on the other side of the doorway. Almost. His attention drawn back by movement in the doorway, he saw a giant man – one that was of a size comparable to his old comrade Kenpachi Zaraki. The giant walked into the room, completely ignoring the man with the gun. Once he cleared the doorway, he bent down and picked up the fallen door, setting it back in its frame.
"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to knock the door in," the giant said with a sheepish expression on his face. Vernon, taking offense at being ignored, puffed up, opening his mouth to tear into the stranger.
Seeing this, Jūshiro quickly cut in, "Excuse me, sir, may I ask who you are?" He didn't know the stranger, nor did he know his temperament, but he figured it best to avoid making the large man angry and Vernon was clearly unable to be civil. He was confused, though, something was trying to get his attention – nagging at him, like he had forgotten something important.
The giant man took stock of his surroundings, scanning the inside of the shack, looking at each person in turn. He lingered on the two boys longest, before turning to Jūshiro and beaming. "You must be Harry. I haven't seen you since you were just a babe. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, call me Hagrid. I'm the Keeper of Keys and the Grounds of Hogwarts."
Jūshiro was trying to figure out what this meant. He had never heard of Hogwarts before, and he wondered if it had anything to do with the time before his parents' death – the time he couldn't remember. He had thought that the giant looked familiar, but couldn't place him, the knowledge just nagging at him. Then it clicked, the giant he remembered seeing just before he woke up at the Dursleys'! Just as he opened his mouth to ask Hagrid if it was indeed that person, Vernon cut in, having used the time to work up his courage.
"How dare you barge in here! I demand that you leave this ins-" Before Vernon could finish his rant, Hagrid grabbed the shotgun he had been waving around. With as much effort as one would use to fold paper, he twisted the rifle into a knot rendering it a useless piece of metal and wood. Tossing it at an unoccupied corner, Hagrid turned back to Jūshiro.
Having been thinking while this was happening, Jūshiro realized he had a more important question. "Mr. Hagrid, sir, do you know anything about the letters someone has been sending me recently?"
"None of that Mr. stuff and yes, that's why I'm here," Hagrid said as he dug around inside his pockets for something. Letter in hand, Hagrid approached Jūshiro, handing him the first letter he had ever received in this lifetime. When the elder Dursleys moved to intercept the letter, he simply glared at them, daring them to try anything. His previous performance with the shotgun seemed to have left an impression, however, and they subsided simply glaring and watching the proceedings.
Ignoring the byplay of the adults, Jūshiro and Dudley hurried to open the letter, eager to see what it contained. Both had noticed the efforts of the elder Dursleys to avoid the letters and wanted to see just what was so bad about a simple envelope. Looking at the address on the front, Jūshiro noticed that it was addressed to a Harry James Potter; listing his address as a shack by the sea. He was somewhat disturbed at the evidence of a real-time location for him, since they had been on the island for maybe 12 hours total. Jūshiro wasn't sure what to make of the thought that the mysterious "they" had been keeping tabs on him like that. However, he didn't share his thoughts about this with the room, not knowing what the tracking involved.
Turning the letter over, he noticed an intricate wax seal holding the envelope closed. He had already noted that the letter (or at least the envelope) was not made of paper. It was a thicker weight, possibly parchment, since the texture was wrong for card-stock. Once again, he wasn't sure what to make of it. These days, people didn't use parchment; preferring to use the cheaper mass-produced paper. Living for as long as he had previously, this was not his first encounter with it, but given the century it was still strange. The seal on the envelope was a shield divided in four, with an animal in each quarter. There was a motto along the bottom: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus. 'Latin,' Jūshiro thought, 'meaning "never tickle a sleeping dragon".' An interesting motto, to be sure.
Cracking the seal, Jūshiro pulled out the contents of the envelope – several more sheets of parchment. Looking them over, he read what looked like an acceptance letter to a school. A school called Hogwarts, apparently teaching young witches and wizards how to use magic. Included in the batch of parchment was a supplies list and a ticket to a train found in London at a Platform 9 ¾, something that confused him considering the platforms were only labeled with whole numbers. Giving the letter to Dudley to read, Jūshiro turned back to Hagrid.
"This is a letter to a magic school. It says it is in Scotland and run by a headmaster with a long list of titles. Does this mean that magic is real? It is an awful lot of preparation for a simple prank..." Jūshiro trailed off, not knowing what to say. He knew that the supernatural was not all just myths, considering he was a reincarnated Shinigami, but seeing evidence of a magical society was not something he was expecting.
"Of course, magic's real! Watch!" Hagrid sputtered, pulling out a pink umbrella from one of his pockets. Jūshiro only had a moment to register the incongruity of a normal sized umbrella next to a giant man like Hagrid before he pointed it at the fireplace which had gone dark over the course of the night. Suddenly, a large fire burst out, crackling merrily and warming up the room.
"Awesome!" cried Dudley, who like most young boys enjoyed a good explosion or some fire. "Hey, wait, what else can magic do? Can it cure an illness, like his?" Dudley had grown up hearing Jūshiro's stories and sneaking fantasy books from the library so that his parents didn't see. Knowing that magic was real now, he hoped that there might be special cures or something that could help his cousin. He had mostly given up hope on his parents allowing a doctor's visit and just resigned himself to helping his cousin as well as he could.
"ILLNESS?! Are you sick, Harry?" Hagrid spun around to study Jūshiro closely, hoping desperately that it wasn't true. Noting the bags under his eyes, and the way he held himself carefully, Hagrid was forced to acknowledge the truth. 'The poor boy,' he thought, 'his bad luck never seems to end. His parents murdered by that madman and now he was sick and obviously had been for some time.' Hagrid saw that Jūshiro was pale and sweating under the light of the fire, breathing heavily and sagging against his cousin. He had simply dismissed it as being cold before, but now Hagrid couldn't deny that Jūshiro looked sick.
"It's simply a lung ailment, one I have dealt with for my whole life. Don't worry about it, it's no big deal." Jūshiro tried to dismiss Hagrid's concern, he had looked for a cure the entirety of his previous life and held no hope that magic would fare any better. "Hagrid, could you tell me anything about my parents or the magical World?" Jūshiro changed the subject, hoping that the friendly giant would leave it alone. After all, he was still curious about this life's parents and background.
Hagrid allowed the subject change, deciding that Jūshiro was uncomfortable talking about whatever his illness was. He started by describing Jūshiro's parents, giving small anecdotes about them and generally painting a picture of a young couple desperately in love. He talked about how this hadn't always been true, and that Jūshiro's dad was an unrepentant prankster. Apparently, James had fallen for Lily long before she had even noticed him, and he had decided that pranking her would help him woo her. He had had a small circle of friends that were practically brothers, a group that was named the Marauders for their inability to follow the rules and/or stop causing mischief and just generally terrorizing the school.
While Hagrid was talking, Dudley kept an eye on his parents. He thought he had finally figured out what had set his parents off: magic. Why they hated it, though, he wasn't sure. Maybe a bad wizard had done something to them? If Hagrid was anything to go by, they couldn't all be bad people. When Jūshiro deflected Hagrid's attention from his illness, saying that it wasn't so bad, he simply shook his head. He knew just how much Jūshiro struggled through each day, but he also knew that Jūshiro had all but given up on any sort of cure. By this point, Dudley, himself, wasn't sure that any doctors would be able to help, the illness having lasted so long. He was happy, though, that Jūshiro had a chance to learn about his parents. Both boys had wondered, knowing that family history was off limits in the Dursley household. Finding out that his aunt was a witch, and therefore part of an entirely separate world that even Jūshiro hadn't known about was so cool!
Hagrid continued talking: describing a civil war that raged in the background of their life, one that had started in the generation before theirs. He told of a madman that gathered people who didn't agree with the changes that were happening as more and more new blood entered the magical world. The people the madman gathered were the old noble families – Dark families. He mentioned a split between Light families and Dark families, with those who refused to choose stuck in the middle. He told of the madman who was strong enough that all but one feared him and refused to speak his name, calling him only He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or You-Know-Who. With much effort, Hagrid managed to speak his name: Voldemort.
Hagrid told of Albus Dumbledore (the headmaster listed in the school letter, Jūshiro noted), the one man that Voldemort feared; the man who held him off and led the forces for Light against the Dark. Hagrid said that Jūshiro's parents, like many of their generation, had joined the fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Hagrid mentioned that the last months of the war, his parents had gone into hiding – apparently to protect him – once they had noticed that Jūshiro was on the way. In a quiet voice, Hagrid described the Halloween when Voldemort had tracked down his family in an attempt at ridding himself of the people that had escaped him so many times before. No one there had survived, his parents had been killed by this Voldemort, but the curious thing was that when help had arrived Voldemort was ashes in the wind while he himself was alive with only a scar. He had become famous for surviving a curse that had killed all others and ridding the world of the madman known as Voldemort.
Jūshiro wasn't sure what to think. He was famous in this magical society. Famous for surviving when his parents and their enemy had not. He needed time to think about it all, to let it sink in. Time, it seemed, that he would not be getting as Hagrid expressed the intent to take him to get his supplies as soon as possible. One thing was for certain though, he wasn't sure he would be able to celebrate Halloween in quite the same way ever again.
Dudley listened, amazed at the story. He couldn't believe that they could miss an entire war happening right under their noses, though he was glad it was over. His cousin was famous! Not that he could even tell anyone, but even so none of the other children could claim to be related to a celebrity like that! Even better, his cousin was magic and there was a new chance for him to be healed!
The elder Dursleys had finally had enough. They had kept any mention of this world of magic from Jūshiro and had intended to continue doing so for as long as they were alive. Then this stranger comes along and ruins that, while poisoning their precious little boy as well. No more!
"Of course, it would be magic. It's always magic. You freaks think you're so special, no wonder you got into a war with each other! My sister was a witch. A freak like all the rest. She got her letter at eleven just like you, and she just left without a thought to the rest of us. She'd come home crowing about everything she could do, and mother and father would gush over how smart their little witch was. I knew her for what she was, though. She was just a freak." Petunia couldn't keep quiet anymore, listening to the talk of magic. She had always despised it, and she grew to despise her sister too for having it. Her sister goes off, gets married and gets herself killed in this silly little war among all the freaks. Then she gets landed with her sister's spawn, told simply to suck it up and deal. She was lucky, she told herself, that she didn't have magic. For how could she have been a respectable member of society with such an upstanding husband like Vernon if she had had magic! She was glad Vernon hadn't held it against her that her sister was a witch.
Vernon for his part had never approved of the idea of magic. The world was supposed to work a certain way, according to a certain logic, and then here comes this group of people with magic that mucked up the way of things. It was unnatural the things it could do, so he avoided it and any mention of it when he could. When his wife found the spawn of her sister on their doorstep, they contented themselves with the thought that maybe he wouldn't have magic. Maybe, just maybe, he would be a normal child with the misfortune of bad parents. They never saw anything to contradict that, none of the little things that Petunia had told him happened when Lily was a just child. They had relaxed as over the years nothing showed up. Then this mess happened. Apparently, the brat had magic after all, he was just weird for not showing it.
"Don't think you're going to this school, boy. I refuse to pay for this nonsense! I refuse to pay for you to learn any of this freakishness you call magic!" Vernon was adamant that he would have nothing to do with magic.
"As if you had any say in this!" Hagrid retorted, "the tuition has already been dealt with and only Harry has any say in whether or not he attends. You think a muggle like yourself could stop us if we decided to leave?"
"Fine. So, he's going to this place with all the other freaks, huh? Well good riddance! This boarding school will take him and keep him out of our hair for the school year." Vernon said, realizing that it would probably be a good idea to back off, the giant may have seemed friendly, but the shotgun was a testament to his strength. Strength that Vernon had no guarantee would not be turned on him and his family.
(In Soul Society…)
They gathered in the meeting room, waiting for the announcement. A low buzz of conversation filled the air, friends and comrades exchanging news and catching up on the day's events. The captains and vice captains alike were confused. They had all been called to the First Division's meeting room but hadn't been given a reason. Most meetings involved either the captains or the vice captains and it was a rare occurrence when both were gathered together. The last time had been during a crisis, but they didn't think that was the case this time. After all, the Captain-Commander wasn't acting grim like last time. In fact, he almost seemed excited!
Finally, the last of them arrived and found seats, leaving them all painfully aware of the empty seat where the captain of the Thirteenth Division had once sat. It was a grim reminder of the consequences of war. There was a pall over the Thirteenth, none of them coping well with the loss. They all pitched in to cover the work so that they could avoid receiving a new captain. No one was ready for someone to fill that position. It had been held by a dear friend for long enough that his shadow would forever threaten to swallow any who tried to step up.
The man had been one of the pillars of life in the Soul Society. He was one half of the pair of students that the Captain-Commander had taught himself, becoming akin to a son to him. Both the Captain-Commander and the man's fellow student (and brother-figure) had lost dear friends over the years, but his loss was that of family – leaving an aching hole in their interactions with the world. His loss brought home the many millennia of life that the Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryuusai had lived, making him feel every bit of his age. The man's brother-figure, Kyouraku Shunsui, fared no better, feeling off without his brother to balance out, and occasionally encourage, his sense of humor and fondness for life. Shunsui looked after the Thirteenth Division when he could, pouring himself into what little he had left of his brother, unable to shake the feeling that things would have been different if he had only done a little more.
"Welcome, captains and vice captains. As most of you have been told, the Research and Development Department has been going through their scanners and updating their technology and databases. Hopefully, you have all remembered to submit the lists of those who need to be marked as deceased in the database of soul signatures." Yamamoto looked around at his subordinates, well aware of the general dislike for filling out paperwork. Once upon a time, he would have directed his pointed look at his student, Shunsui, but the loss of his other student had changed things.
"While updating the scanners, standard procedure is to run through tests to verify how well they are functioning; usually they are simply set to track the Captains and vice captains." Yamamoto knew he was confusing everyone in the room. This was a matter of internal procedure, and not one that was a problem either. "This is significant, because all of the newly installed scanners reported a soul signature that should not have been present. It was verified in all ways but visual. The previous scanners never picked up on this soul signature because they were more limited and had been affected by the wear and tear of centuries of use." Yamamoto had to hide a grin, knowing that his next words would cause an uproar.
"The scanners picked up the soul signature of the captain of the Thirteenth Division, Jūshiro Ukitake."
Yamamoto sat back and watched as chaos reigned. He knew what the loss of his student Jūshiro had done to the Soul Society and what this news might mean for them. He looked up and met the eyes of his remaining student, Shunsui. He knew, too, what the loss of Jūshiro had done to the man. He had watched as the lazy, fun-loving but competent man withdrew into a mere shell of himself; taking on as much work as he could to occupy himself. Shunsui was looking for confirmation from him, watching to see if it was alright to hope again if this news panned out. Yamamoto nodded to him, confirming that the news was not a joke – in poor humor as it might have been, were it only a jest.
Shunsui slumped back in his chair, at a loss for words. The scanners had registered the soul signature of his brother, Jūshiro. The brother he had watched die in front of him, helpless to intervene. The re-emergence of hope was a painful thing. Oh, he knew that the scanners had merely picked up the reincarnation of his brother, but the soul was still him. Memories or no, the soul of his brother had not vanished into the ether. No one knew for sure how the cycle of reincarnation worked. They didn't know how long a soul would have to wait before rebirth, nor did they know how many waited and where they might wait. He was well aware that it had been a possibility that Shunsui, as long-lived a race as Shinigami are, would not have lived long enough to feel the soul of his brother again. But fate, luck or whatever higher power had smiled upon him. His brother was reborn! He allowed himself to relax, feeling happier than he had for over a decade – since his brother had been stolen from him.
The others in the room slowly started to quiet down, coming to a consensus on what questions to ask. Foremost among them, would Jūshiro remember them? Would he be the same person that they had watch die over a decade before? Also important were the questions of where he had been reborn and if he was safe there. As a Captain level Shinigami before death, had he retained any of his reiatsu and therefore was he vulnerable to hollows?
Seeing that the chaos was over and done with, Yamamoto took control of the meeting once more. "Now that you are quiet, I can continue. The soul signature of Ukitake Jūshiro was located in a small town called Surrey in England. Since we have just found his reincarnation, we do not yet know his living conditions nor the answers to any of your other questions. I plan to remedy this immediately, with a mission to his new residence. Depending on the outcome of this scouting mission, there may be a rotating guard in his new hometown. Details will be decided later." So saying he dismissed the meeting, knowing that it would soon be all over Soul Society that the reincarnation of the Thirteenth Captain had been found. He waved to Shunsui and the captain of the Fourth Division, Retsu Unohana, to stay behind while the others filed out.
Once the room had cleared, they stared at each other, not knowing where to start. They had each been the closest to Jūshiro, and therefore also the most affected by his death.
"So, Yama-jii, Jūshiro has been found." Shunsui decided to start, fed up with the silence.
"Indeed. I find myself wondering the answers to their questions as well." Retsu chimed in. She had grown close to the man over the millennia she had tended to him. She had tried her best to find cure for Jūshiro's illness but had never succeeded. It was a blow to her pride as the foremost healer in all of Soul Society that she could not cure him, but she had only felt the despair of failure and helplessness when they had brought his body back to her to prepare for burial. They had been friends, neither interested in more, but she had wanted to do her best for him – his continued ailment bothered her, and she had been unable to do anything for him before his end.
Yamamoto acknowledged her with a nod of his head, "You are not alone in your curiosity, I assure you. I do not know his situation, so I was hoping that the both of you would accompany me to find him. To make sure with our own eyes that he is doing well, and perhaps answer some of those questions as well."
"When do you want to leave? When can we go see him?" Shunsui was excited and worried. He had just been told that his brother was reincarnated, but no one knew anything about his new life. There was a valid concern about his reiatsu following him into his new life, and Shunsui didn't want his brother hurt by a lack of control or by some hollows looking for a snack. He wished he could tell his brother how sorry he was for his death and beg for forgiveness since he couldn't save him. Unfortunately, his brother had been reincarnated, so it was likely he wouldn't remember any of them.
"We will leave two days from now. I need to set up a leave of absence for myself and two captains, for a duration of a week. I am hoping that you will arrange what you need to within your divisions." Getting agreement from both of them, Yamamoto dismissed them, knowing he had stacks upon stacks of paperwork to finish before he could be away for a full week.
By the end of the day, everyone in Soul Society had heard the good news. Spirits were higher than they had been since the war, and spontaneous parties broke out. Jūshiro had affected many of their lives for the better. He had been missed.
- Chapter End -
Author's Note: I will continue to edit the chapters as I post new ones, please check the list for the newest date to see if I have changed anything since you read it last. Please let me know if any problems or odd phrasing stand out and I will fix it as I have time. Thanks for reading!
Edit List:
-February 28, 2018
-December 27, 2018