I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but in response to a review on chapter 18 by La, no, I will not be pairing Toshiro with anyone.

Bold for Japanese!

It's been a month since they got back from Japan, Hitsugaya mostly thankful that Harry didn't find out as much as he thought. Both shinigami Captain and Izukai heir were just walking in the lunch room after a scouting of the school when a loud screeching rang through the air. Startled, the two looked to see a red envelope yelling at Neville Longbottom, several nearby-including the Golden Trio-looking at him pitifully. Soon after, the screeching stopped, and the red envelope burst into flames.

"Can this place get any weirder?" Shouta muttered as they walked over. They sat next to Harry, glancing at Neville, who looked adequately scared.

"What was that envelope?" Hitsugaya asked.

"You don't know?" Ron asked, and Hermione sent him a quick glare.

"Howlers are letters sent in those red envelopes that will replay a recorded message, typically in a loud voice, and are usually used to reprimand someone or some such manner." Hermione explained, and Ron rolled his eyes. Hitsugaya smirked, a glint in his eyes that made Shouta back away nervously.

"Can you tell me where I can buy one of those?"

Shouta sighed as he snapped his cell closed. "Who was that?" Harry asked, earning a withering glare from Madam Pince.

"Matsumoto. Remember her? She's freaking out cause Hitsugaya sent her a Howler, and now she's the laughing stock of the others. At least for awhile, she'll be getting her revenge soon. Hitsugaya usually tends to be the one to keep her in line, since he outranks her and all. She's a really big slacker." Shouta explained, and the boy-who-lived laughed quietly.

"They're like an old married couple!" Shouta cracked up too, as did Ron, who was nearby.

"Who's like an old married couple?" An ominous-but familiar-voice asked from behind them. The temperature dropped about 20-30 degrees, and Ron whimpered. Harry looked up to see Hitsugaya himself, glaring darkly. Shouta, by that time, was long gone. When Harry didn't answer, Hitsugaya asked again. "I asked you a question."

"N-no one… Toshiro." For some reason, (at least to Harry) that seemed to tick the other off even more, though Harry had always called him that. Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed, and Harry gulped.

Of course, that was when Hitsugaya's voice buzzed. The temperature lessened by a couple degrees as Toshiro answered it. It was then that Harry and Ron decided to follow the brunette's example and hightail it out of there.

Hitsugaya flash-stepped back into the castle, looking around one last time. He stopped in front of the Great Hall, Shouta meeting him there at roughly the same time. "How'd it go?" Hitsugaya shook his head in reply, and Shouta groaned. "I thought this Black guy would be easy to find. 'Just search for an unfamiliar spiritual pressure.' Like it's that easy." The brunette complained, mimicking Urahara's voice. He yawned, then cursed quietly in Japanese. "And now I'm going to get a detention from Snape tomorrow for sleeping in class. Great." Toshiro rolled his eyes at the other's antics, before beginning a slow walk back to the dorm rooms.

"We should try to get some sleep. There's no point looking for the man now." Shouta nodded, and started following the other. They kept walking for awhile, until the shinigami grabbed the other and pulled him to a halt, hiding on the ceiling. When Shouta looked at him questioningly, Hitsugaya pointed down below.

They could see one Harry Potter wondering through the corridors, his wand emitting a small light as he looked down at a piece of parchment in his hands. "What's that?" Shouta muttered, leaning forward from high up on the wall to get a better look. He smacked a hand over his mouth to cover up a yelp when Snape appeared. Shouta silently cursed the man for the ability to hide his spiritual pressure. "How does he do that?" He muttered, glaring at the Potions professor no doubt giving Harry a stern lecture.

That's when Lupin appeared next, Hitsugaya narrowing his eyes. This man's strange spiritual pressure was beginning to bother him now. Lupin, after a short conversation with Snape, led Harry away. "I'll follow them. You head back." Hitsugaya muttered, before running along the roof without a sound.

"Peter Pettigrew." Lupin's eyes widened at Harry's answer, Hitsugaya looking at the man curiously.

"That's not possible." The professor murmured, and Harry soon left. Hitsugaya jumped down soon after, startling Lupin and causing him to pull his wand out. The wand lowered when he realized who it was. "It's not nice to eavesdrop, Mr. Hitsugaya."

"Tell me about Peter Pettigrew." Hitsugaya's voice was cold and clipped, his eyes narrow.

After a moment, the professor sighed. "Peter Pettigrew was a friend of the Potters. He was killed by Sirius Black."

February 14th: The day both Shouta and Hitsugaya dreaded.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Urahara's cheery voice called from over the phone. "I'll have Yoruichi stop by with some gifts from everyone!" The shopkeeper warned, a little too happy. Shouta glared at the phone for the millionth time, until he finally hung up.

"I really don't want to go to class today. Or leave the common room for that matter. But I'm really hungry right now, so can you please go grab me something?" Shouta pleaded on his cell, and the familiar growl of an angry captain was heard quite clearly on the other side.

"I am most definitely not going down there either. Have one of that Malfoy brat's goons go get it for you." Hitsugaya replied coldly.

"But they'll eat it before they get back up here!"

"Then go get the food yourself."

"Not unless you come with me. Otherwise I'll bombard you with complaints." Shouta smirked smugly when he heard the exasperated sigh on the other end, which he knew was a 'yes'.

The two of them met in front of the grand doors leading to the Great Hall, looking at them with contempt before slowly opening the doors. Almost all female eyes turned upon them immediately, chocolates, flowers, and a variety of other things already at hand. Warily, Shouta led the way inside, Hitsugaya close behind as the hundreds of eyes followed them. They reached the Golden Trio, and proceeded to quickly grab several slices of toast, a few pieces of bacon, and one glass of Green Tea. Then, with the eyes still on them, bolted for the door.

As if on cue, the girls burst out of their seat, chasing the two boys already halfway to their destination. (And they had started running only a second ago, mind you.) The girls that had sat in the back of the room near the door proceeded to block their way. Shouta then made a show of flipping over one of the first years, Hitsugaya quickly following suit. The swarm of fangirls followed them out, and they split up quickly, Hitsugaya heading for the Gryffindor Tower while Shouta made his way towards the Slytherin Tower.

"Why are they so fast?!" Shouta grumbled loudly to himself, running around a corner and quickly making his way up to the ceiling. The girls below ran past him, screaming his name. Smirking, he strode his way across the ceiling beams back to his destination, and to his safe dorm room. 'I haven't suffered girls back when I was alive for nothing.' He thought smugly to himself, absently wondering how Hitsugaya was faring.

The mentioned captain himself spent no time in the goose chase, almost immediately using flash-step to get to the room. But, being the strangely quick fangirls they are, Hitsugaya could hear the screaming down the stairs, probably just around the corner. Quickly, he made his way into the common room, escaping to the safety of the Boy's Dormitory.