Chapter 5

Unbearable Umbridge

"It's down-right idiotic, Minerva!" Ichigo spat as he paced around the older woman's office. "That insufferable woman actually believes that teaching defense is nothing more than, than reading a textbook in silence. It's not some history lesson where everything is over and done with. Defense against the dark arts is a skill, which is something that only occurs through practice."

The shinigami paused for a moment to take a sip from the cup in his hand but quickly continued. "And you'd think someone from the Ministry would show more concern about the upcoming O.W.L. exams."

"Believe me," Professor McGonagall chimed in from her place in the armchair, "I don't think anyone could be more upset about that prude of a woman than the inhabitants of this school, magical creatures included. As I said to Mr. Potter, however, it is crucial to remember who that woman is and who she works for."

Ichigo sighed as he sat down in the opposite armchair and stared into the lit fireplace. "I hate politics… I just don't see how they can ignore what's right in front of their pompous noses."

Minerva shrugged. "Humans are arrogant. We think that anything that happens in the world is directed towards us. Fudge believes that any move Albus, or anyone else for that matter, makes is intended to fuel his demise."

"Albus said something to me like that after Harry's trial."

Minerva nodded. They fell into silence as they enjoyed the rest of their tea, even if the topic of conversation left a bitter taste in the back of their throats.

After bothering the professor long enough for one day, Ichigo returned to his chambers. Now that he'd calmed down, he pulled out a blank piece of parchment to return Fleur's letter. As the minutes passed and Ichigo explained the situation, he found his anger returning. Ichigo wrapped up the letter and handed it to Winky.

"Will you take care of this for me?" he asked as he stood.

Winky nodded. "Where is Master Ichigo going?"

Ichigo sighed. "I need to burn off some steam. Watch over my body, would you?" The shinigami didn't wait for an answer before he dropped his gigai onto his bed. He took care to open his door quietly so as to not disturb Winky any more. Once in the hall, Ichigo took off in search of a place to train.

He needed a large room, but the only space that was big enough was outside. Even though some of the students had seen his soul form already, he wasn't inclined to show it so freely. Not only that, but he also didn't want to risk Dolores seeing it and taking extreme measures, as she seemed to do.

"Ya could go to the forest."

Shiro's voice was unexpected and it made Ichigo jump. He shook his head as he continued to look through rooms.

"No, it's forbidden. Even if it doesn't pose much of a threat to myself, I don't know what's in there and I won't go against Dumbledore's wishes."

Apparently Shiro didn't care enough about their topic of choice because silence was the only response Ichigo got.

Despite the sheer vastness of Hogwarts, there was hardly any spare space. Many rooms were shoved full of desks and chairs, papers and boxes, magical artifacts and… other items that had no place being in a school with children. He investigated some, but continued his search door by door, hall by hall, and eventually floor by floor.

Ichigo had long since given up on finding a place to train in favor of simply exploring the castle halls. He didn't search rooms one by one, but instead simply strolled around. Although he was in no way an expert on the layout of the school, a rather large, ornate door caught his eyes on the seventh floor.

'That's odd. I don't remember this being here.'

He expected such an imposing door to be locked, but to his surprise, the heavy wood gave way under his hand. The door opened to what looked like a desert. Ichigo was immediately reminded of Urahara's training grounds under his shop.

"That's not creepy."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. 'You're creepy.'

If the contents of the room didn't surprise him (which it certainly did), its sheer size made it seem impossible to fit into the school. There was plenty of room for not only himself, but also for a partner to spar with - if he found one. It was also lacking anything Ichigo could potentially damage.

It was exactly what he needed.

Ichigo didn't hesitate to unsheath Zangetsu and toss his familiar weight between his hands. The chain at the hilt clinked and chimed a way Ichigo found more soothing than any other sound. He took a battle stance and his muscles automatically began swinging his zanpakuto in front of him.

Thrust. Slash. Block. Repeat.

Sweat began to bead on his body and Ichigo quickly removed his top. It wasn't long before Shiro's voice echoed in his mind again. "Hey, don't leave me out!"

Ichigo laughed, but he didn't refuse the request. He summoned his mask and continued to go through the positions. The sound of his breathing became watery, even to his own ears, and it took a while to become used to the sound again, after having to go so long without it. When his mask is summoned, he was enveloped in a layer of what Ichigo can only call power. It was radiating and pushing him to action, but he was lucky to even have his mask back at all as it was.

The curiousness of it all caused Ichigo to pause in his exercises and lower Zangetsu. Ichigo wasn't fazed when his mask disintegrated from the lack of focus. He dropped Zangetsu and sat in the sand himself, folding his arms in thought.

Ichigo hadn't been able to use his mask the two thousand years he lived in this world, but not only had Voldemort's proximity allowed him to, it forced it. Whatever the cause was, it was clear that Voldemort was at the center of it.

To his surprise, it's wasn't Shiro's voice that appeared in his head. 'He's a dark wizard with dark magic. I wouldn't be surprised if something he does manipulates the soul. Anything like that is bound to be hollow-like in nature.'

Ichigo wasted no time entering his inner world. As usual, the fire was roaring and Shiro was sitting in one of the armchairs. What wasn't familiar was his zanpakuto sitting in the other.

"Zangetsu! You're awake."

Zangetsu nodded. Ichigo sat down across from him and took in the spirit's appearance. Despite the year he had spent asleep, the man looked exhausted.

"I'm surprised to hear from you… How are you feeling?" Zangetsu glared at Ichigo. He put his hands up in defense. "Sorry, stupid question, I know."

The zanpakuto sighed. "I'm worn out, but at least I can move now."

Ichigo nodded. "The only reason I can surmise to be the cause of this is that my body has finally adjusted to Shiro wreaking havoc on it, so it can spend more energy on supporting you as well."

"Yes, something along those lines."

Their following conversation was curt and bland. Ichigo wasn't a genius, but he could tell that Zangetsu needed more rest. So after a few short minutes of exhilarating converse about the weather, Ichigo left his inner world. Hours must have passed since his conversation with Minerva.

Upon his return to his chambers, Winky handed him a letter addressed to him.

"But there's no way she's already responded, and this isn't her handwriting."

Winky shook her head, "this is from Harry Potter, that it is. Master Ichigo was gone and so he gave it to Winky."

Ichigo nodded and took it from her.

"I need to speak with you. It's about Umbridge

~Harry"

After rereading the note, he tossed it into the fire. Having something like that lying around wouldn't do anyone any good. It was too late to speak with Harry now, it would only get him into more trouble. With this in mind, Ichigo resolved to speak with him the next day as he prepared for bed.

Ichigo managed to find him the next day at breakfast. It was just Harry and Ron, Hermione was nowhere in sight. He waited until Harry was finished before he nudged him on the shoulder, gaining his attention.

"Oh, Ichigo, did you get my note? I, um, left it with Winky."

Ichigo nodded. "I'm sorry I missed you yesterday, I had, well some things on my mind."

"That's alright! I had stepped in and saw you - well, your body - but Winky said you weren't actually there."

"No, I was training with my sword. Gotta build my body back up, you know. Anyways, what did you want to talk about? About Dolores?"

The way Harry looked around nervously did not escape Ichigo's notice. "Yeah, but not here."

Harry stood up and grabbed Ichigo's wrist, leading him out of the great hall and into a deserted hallway nearby. He fumbled with his hands and didn't meet Ichigo's concerned gaze.

"What's wrong?"

Harry released a long breath as he steeled himself. "Umbridge makes me write lines in class with this special quill. I don't know how it works, but whatever I write is carved into my hand, look." Harry pulled back the sleeve of his robe to show Ichigo the irritated skin.

Ichigo saw red.

There was only an hour before classes started, so Ichigo was willing to bet that Umbridge was in her office, preparing for her unbearable lectures. He wasted no time making his way to the pink prison, hand on the hilt of Zangetsu. Ichigo pushed through the door, startling the woman into spilling some of the tea in her cup over its rim.

"Oh my goodness, what on earth do you think you're do-"

"I'm curious, Miss Umbridge, what makes you think you have the right to use physical discipline on the students of Hogwarts?"

Umbridge sat her tea down and stood up, meeting Ichigo's glare with one of her own. "I don't believe I like what you're insinuating, Mister Kurosaki."

Ichigo smiled. "Oh, I'm not insinuating anything. Your medieval methods are not within the parameters of Hogwarts' guidelines, and as such, are not permitted within these halls."

Students passing by heard the commotion and began to gather in the hallway.

"To question my methods," she began, stepping around her desk to crowd in front of Ichigo, "is to question the Ministry - to question the Minister."

The shinigami did not back down, instead using his height to tower over the toadish woman. "Well, it's a good thing that the Minister isn't here right now, is he? You are treading on Hogwarts' grounds, and here, you play by Hogwarts' rules. My job here is to protect the students from all threats, by any means necessary." Ichigo made it a point to slide Zangetsu slightly out of his sheath. "Do I make myself clear?"

Umbridge paled at the blatant threat of violence. She knew when to pick her battles.

"Perfectly."