Oh. My. Hecking. God. The very same day I start writing this I get 3 follows and a favourite.
Massive thank you to alrius for being the very first to to favourite this story! I'm literally ecstatic.
Also thank you to YamamotoRyu, Fishcake147 and smntidwell for being the first three to follow.
[Edit: Sorry about the consecutive upload and then update, my sleep deprived brain couldn't read properly and got stuff wrong.]
I can't put into words how happy I am, probably because I wrote this at 3am. Literally. I have a horrible sleep schedule. But regardless, thanks so much! Anyways, this is the 2nd chapter done, 3rd chapter I've written in 2 days. It's growing fast! Now I'm just waiting for writer's block to come and drag me under into its inky pool of tar. Ooh, metaphor. Nice. I think this chapter will focus almost entirely on the Harry Potter characters.
Oh yeah, if you think I should write a haiku for each chapter and add it at the start please leave a review. Enjoy the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Bleach, they belong to J.K Rowling and Tite Kubo respectively.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was officially confused. On his desk was a letter from all the way over in Japan of all places. A wizarding school called Shin'o Academy had asked permission to send 4 students over to Hogwarts for an exchange program going on at their school.
Transfer students for a year? Dumbledore mused over the idea for a few minutes, popping a lemon sherbet into his mouth while he thought, and not soon after Minerva McGonagall walked into his office, standing up straight and stern as usual.
"Albus, you asked for me?" She said calmly, hands clasped in front of her.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. Please, please, sit down. Wouldn't want you getting sore feet now Minerva."
McGonagall reluctantly sat down at one of the plush chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. She glanced at the letter on the aging headmaster's desk but didn't comment as she suspected he would explain the contents of it soon enough.
"Now, I suspect you are wondering why I asked you here." Dumbledore paused until he saw a nod come from McGonagall. "I have two reasons. One is regarding the vacant Defence Against The Dark Arts position. Shall we get onto that topic first?"
"Yes, I believe that would be good. Did you have any people in mind?"
"Not exactly. It has actually already been filled."
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. It had already been filled? How? And by whom?
As if sensing her confusion, Dumbledore continued. "The ministry."
Ah. Now it made sense. McGonagall had been suspecting the ministry would take action based on recent articles in 'The Daily Prophet'. "Who?"
"A lady named Dolores Umbridge. Loves pink. And cats. Just a tad too much, in my opinion."
McGonagall's lips pursed into a thin line of displeasure. She was a bit worried, to be perfectly honest with herself. Ministry officers almost never had a brain on them, not counting the fact that they acted like prats. Of course there were some good ones, like the Weasleys' father, but most of them deserved to be burnt at the stake.
Dumbledore sighed. "I am concerned as to whether this specific candidate will be able to fulfill the requirements needed for the job, but I'm afraid we have no other choice than to accept it. The Ministry won't allow anything else."
McGonagall nodded in resignation. If this was how it had to be, then fine. "And the other matter you needed to discuss?"
Dumbledore seemed to brighten up at the mention of the other topic. "Ah, yes. I have received a letter from Shin'o Academy in Japan; it's a wizarding school over there. They wish to send 4 of their own here for an exchange program they have been planning to enact."
The transfiguration professor raised both eyebrows a tad upon hearing the news. "Are you considering accepting the offer?" she asked with intrigue.
"Indeed."
"Are you sure that is wise, Albus?" McGonagall pressed with a hint of suspicion. "You're just going to accept this offer even though you do not know who these students are and have never even heard of the school?"
McGonagall couldn't help but be wary. This seemed a bit off, how a school all the way in Japan was asking to send students here. Even if it did seem genuine at first glance, you could never be too cautious. She sighed through her nose. "Alright, do what you will. But don't blame anyone but yourself if things start going wrong, Albus."
Dumbledore gave a warm, reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry, I won't regret this. I'm sure of it."
But who knew, fate was a bitch after all.
McGonagall just sighed again. "Sometimes you have too much faith in the good," she muttered, standing up from her chair.
"Maybe you don't have enough faith in the good."
"I beg to differ."
Dumbledore chuckled. "Well, have a good day Minerva. I do hope we speak again soon."
"Soon meaning in a day's time?"
"Likely answer? Yes."
"You're unbelievable."
And with that, the Gryffindor Head of House gave a curt nod and walked out of the door in and out of the wall. Dumbledore waved after her, still with a grin. He stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the grounds of Hogwarts and the morning dew glistening in the sun. Perfectly serene, Dumbledore couldn't help but think as he popped another sherbet lemon in his mouth.
Meanwhile, over on 4 Privet Drive, it was anything but that.
"WAKE UP, BOY!" Petunia screeched into a small upstairs room, waking up the lone inhabitant of it.
"Jeez… this early?" Harry grumbled under his breath, fumbling around on his beside table for his glasses. After a moment, he found them and placed them on his face. He looked over at the clock. 7:30. Breakfast time. Great.
Trudging out of bed, Harry rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and walked over to Hedwig's cage, where the snowy owl sat, looking as sour as usual.
"Morning Hedwig," he said drowsily. Hedwig gave an indignant squawk in response.
"KEEP THAT BIRD QUIET!" Vernon bellowed from downstairs. Harry flinched at the loud noise and gave an apologetic look to Hedwig.
"Sorry girl, I wish I could take you out, but he won't let me. Soon, okay? Not long now. Just a few more weeks." After saying that, Harry walked out of his room and down the stairs at a moderate pace.
Obviously that wasn't fast enough as dear old Uncle and Aunt yelled at him to go faster, which he begrudgingly did. He walked into the kitchen and pulled out a frypan, set it on the stovetop, and turned it on. Then he pulled out bacon, eggs, and a loaf of bread. Cracking the eggs into the frypan, he pulled out 4 plates and set them down near the stovetop. After the eggs were done, he put them on the plates, two on 3 and one on the other, before putting the bacon in the pan. He didn't bother cutting off the rind, the Dursleys liked their fats (Vernon and Dudley anyway), and he could cut his off before he ate it. While the bacon cooked, he put toast in the toaster and took it out just as the bacon was done.
He set the rest of the food on the plates and brought them to the dining room table, setting them down and walking back to the fridge to pour juice before someone could call him out for not getting it. It was the process he repeated every day, almost robotically, to avoid being screamed at in the ungodly hours of the morning.
He quickly gave the other 3 their juice and walked back to the kitchen to clean up while he thought. Not one of his friends had contacted him over the summer, not even to say hi. Zilch, nada, nothing. It was really eating away at his nerves. Here he was, stuck with the stupid Dursleys, their stupid rules, their stupid behaviour, and no-one had even thought to contact him. Honestly it was depressing. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he finished scrubbing the pan he had in his hands and set it down in the sink to wash it off.
After walking back upstairs, Harry flopped down on his bed and looked out his window. As expected, nothing was really new. Just the same old street, lawns, cars, hell, even the damn clouds wanted to spite him. What he would give to be at Hogwarts right now.
Sending a wistful glance at the trunk hidden in the corner of the room, Harry rolled over on his bed to face the wall, almost missing the black blur he saw go past his window.
What the hell? Harry sat up in his bed, focusing on his window, but he didn't see another black blur, instead, he saw what looked like a set of circular Japanese shoji doors closing in midair down at the ground, a black swallowtail butterfly with crimson-tipped wings flying in right before they closed and faded into nothingness.
Well that's certainly… odd, Harry thought, frowning in confusion. What even was that? They looked Japanese. But why were they in midair, and in the middle of a street? I know I wanted something to happen, but this is just plain out weird. And what was that black blur? A person?
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and flopped back down on his bed. "Man, I've been awake for, what, 15 minutes, and I'm already sick of today," he mumbled to himself, staring at the crack on the roof.
"HEY, BOY! GET DOWN HERE AND MOW THE LAWN!" Petunia yelled in a shrill voice from downstairs.
Harry cursed under his breath that he didn't get more time to think and walked outside, not after changing into day clothes. He stepped onto the grass and was about to get retrieve the lawnmower, when he noticed another of the black butterflies perched on the fence, Harry shook his head and grabbed the lawnmower before getting to work.
Sorry I had to end the chapter so short, I was about to fall asleep on the keyboard. Literally, I've done that twice in the past hour. Next chapter I think will be the mandatory training montage chapter, so that'll be annoying to write.
Good night people! (Or day, whichever it is for you.)