Chapter 4

Family Reunion
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Thursday rolled around before Ichigo had a chance to stop it, not that he particularly wanted to anyway. The rest of the classes were uneventful, and Ichigo found that when he didn't have a joint class to observe, he would just listen in on some of the professor's lessons. He had come to find Trelawney's lessons to be the most interesting, although most of the students would disagree. Even though she was not perfect in her predictions, Ichigo knew talent when he saw it. He would know. Ichigo would often sit in her classes, as well as professor Sinistra's astronomy class. There was something about knowing the future and the idea of destiny that intrigued him.

Ichigo had a slight sense of the future, but that was being generous. Whenever Ichigo met someone, he could sense if they were meant for good or bad. It was more of a premonition than actual fact. When he first met Dumbledore, it was muddled. He was intentioned for good, but he often went about it the wrong way. When he met the original Moody, the man was purely good, despite his looks making it hard to believe. This new Moody, whoever it was, was not as good. Speaking of which, he was on his way to first class now. Although it was not a joint one, Ichigo felt he should attend, just in case the man got any ideas.

When the man mentioned curses, Ichigo eyed Moody warily. That was rather involved for the first lesson, although Ichigo had to admit, it was an important lesson for them to learn. Ichigo just hoped that they would never use them. First, Mad-Eye demonstrated the Imperius Curse, which allows the curser to control the cursed. Then he used the Cruciatus Curse, which causes terrible writhing pain to the cursed. Ichigo can see Neville begin to tremble and his face turn an unearthly shade.

"Mad-Eye, that's enough." The students and professor turned to look at Ichigo, who had been standing at the back of the classroom until now. Moody glared at him from the front of the classroom. Ichigo returned the stare, refusing to back down. With a twitch of his head, Mad-Eye stopped applying the curse.

"And finally, the killing curse. Avada Kedavra." Without looking, the professor shot the spell at his remaining spider, killing it instantly. "Class is over." The man limped out of the room, leaving the students and Ichigo alone. Confused, but not unhappy, the students began to pack up their things and go to spend of the rest afternoon how they wished. Ichigo sighed and was about to leave himself when he was stopped by none other than Harry Potter.

"Mr. Potter, can I help you?"

The boy fidgeted with his robes. His friends, Hermione and Ron, were standing behind him. "Well, sir, I just wanted to thank you for your help yesterday with Malfoy."

"I see. Don't worry about it, I'm just doing my job."

Harry's eyes focused on the floor, as if he was expecting a more pleasing answer. Ichigo smiled, "But, if you ever do find yourself in need of help, just let me know. I'm a lot more competent than I look, believe me." With that, Harry's face brightened.

"Thanks, Mr. Kuros--"

"Please," Ichigo held up his hand, his features twisted in a grimace. "If I hear that one more time, I think I'm going to snap. Ichigo is just fine, you three. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to attend to in my chambers." It was a lie, obviously, but Ichigo felt the conversation would quickly grow awkward, and he was not in the mood for that. He retired to his room, and like every other night, he read while drinking a warm pot of green tea from the kitchens, courtesy of Dobby.

The next morning Ichigo catches Harry sneaking off to Owlry. As much as Ichigo wished to spy on the boy, he knew that it wouldn't be right. The boy was probably just sending a message off to a girl or something, and Ichigo wanted no part in that. The wonders of young love was something that Ichigo dared not venture into. Ichigo prefered to stay to what he knew, and although that list was extensive, love was not included.

At least not the romantic sort. Ichigo's life had always been filled with such danger and urgency that he had never really stopped to think about love and romance. Now that his life had calmed, he would welcome it, but he would have no idea how to go about it. This was not the time to think of such things, though.

It was a few days later when Zangestu woke up. He was sluggish and grumpy, as one would expect after waking up from a 900 year sleep. Ichigo hastily excused himself from that night's dinner and scurried out off the great hall. Once out of sight from all the students and staff, he flash stepped to his chambers, shutting the door behind him. He jumped onto his bed and sat cross-legged, closing off his mind and awareness in favor of his inner world.

The old man was sitting at one of the armchairs in front of the fire, looking as though he had a hangover. To Ichigo's surprise and delight, his hollow -- Shiro, as he had taken to calling him -- was sitting across from Zangestu and looked better than he had in ages. Neither had noticed him enter.

"Hey, guys. It's about time you woke up. I was starting to get a little worried." he said, scratching the back of his neck. The two beings in the room saw through his attempt at humor as slight apprehension and fear.

"I assume someone has awakened us from our seal?" Zangestu asked, his voice rugged and hoarse.

"Yeah, Old Man. Nine hundred years is a long time to sleep, don't you think?" All the spirit could do was nod his head and hum in agreement. Shiro remained silent, and although it would have worried Ichigo when he was younger, it was now a typical occurrence. "Hey, Shiro, you're looking better."

The albino man turned to look at Ichigo, who was standing in the doorway still. "Yeah, I don't know what it is, but there's something in the air. It's giving me strength, whatever it is. I just don't know if it's a good thing or not." Ichigo took a moment to mull this over.

Soundlessly, a tray appeared with cups of steaming hot chocolate. Ichigo crossed the room and grabbed two cups, handing them to his companions before he grabbed a cup for himself. He sat in an armchair between the two and blew on the steaming liquid. "I missed you guys." Wordlessly, the two men placed a hand on his arms, giving him the comfort that he had missed the past nine centuries.

oooOOOoooOOOooo

Hermione's heart hammered in her chest as she walked through the corridors. Was she really going to do this? She had no other choice. Hermione needed this paper to be perfect, if she wanted to keep her 'A' in divinations. Not that she would admit it, but divination turned out to be Hermiones worst subject. Her straight A status was only hanging on by a thread. She was hoping that if she could get a good grade on her Myomancy paper, then Trelawney wouldn't be so harsh on her in the future. Of course, Hermione never did think that Trelawney's mind was all there. To Hermione, divination was nothing more than a lot of hogwash based off of loose canon assumptions.

Although Hermione put her grades above everything else, she wouldn't dare go to one of her professors for help. She didn't want to taint her intellectual reputation. What if one the professor went to Trelawney? No, Hermione couldn't -- wouldn't -- risk it. This was why she was scurrying down the halls after dinner. There was no where else to turn. Hermione tried looking for books in the library, but there wasn't a single one on Myomancy, or divination through rats and mice. She heard about a shop on Diagon Alley that performed Myomancy readings, but it wasn't like she could go there.

She just hoped her trip to Ichigo's chambers wouldn't be for naught.

The young witch slowed to a halt when she reached -- what she thought -- was Ichigo's quarters. The only thing she was told was that it was between the Gryffindor common room and the Slytherin common room. Hermione followed that path, and this was the first door she had come across that wasn't a classroom or a closet of some sort. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Hermione raised an hand to knock on the door.

When her knuckle hit the wood the door creaked open slightly. Was Ichigo even here? Hermione vaguely remembered seeing him run off during dinner, but where else would he go other than his own chambers? Without thinking about the consequences, she pushed the door open further, peering into the room. She saw lit torches inside, so she assumed that Ichigo was indeed inside. Hermione stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

Hermione didn't expect Ichigo's rooms to be so... lush. If anything, she would expect them to be bare, save for a knick knack here or there, but not what she saw. Her eyes were drawn to the prone figure sitting crossed-legged on the large bed, his eyes closed and face relaxed. Hermione panicked, was she going to get in trouble? She had knocked first. When Ichigo made no movement, Hermione relaxed. Perhaps the man was meditating. Ichigo was clearly from Japan, and Hermione knew that meditation was a common practice in Asian countries. Not only that, but Ichigo could be seen as a warrior, so his need to meditate seemed very likely.

Seeing no present danger, Hermione turned towards the large bookshelves against the wall. Although his collection was nowhere near as extensive as hers, it was impressive. The vast collection contained all sorts of texts, from muggle novels and education, to wizarding textbooks and lore. Hermione couldn't help but pick up a muggle novel from the shelf and sit down on an empty couch in the room. She remembered hearing about it from her parents, but had never actually read it. Forgetting her initial goal in visiting Ichigo, she opened the book and began reading.

An hour or so later, Hermione heard shuffling behind her. She placed the open book page-down on the seat next to her to keep her place and turned towards the man on the bed. Ichigo was stretching, groaning to himself about something or the other, but he appeared much more rested and relaxed than Hermione had ever seen him. To her confusion, Ichigo wasn't upset or even surprised when he saw her sitting on his couch. That was something that disturbed her greatly. Surely he hadn't just been sitting there with his eyes closed? Hermione figured that the man probably had an enchantment on the room or the like to alert him when guests arrived.

"Miss Granger, is there something I can help you with?" he asked, not moving from his position on the bed.

Instead of asking for help on her paper, the only thing that came to mind was "Why do you have so many books?"

Ichigo's eyes migrated to the bookshelves before he turned back to Hermione. He simply shrugged. "I find myself with quite a lot of freetime. The only places where I am required are joint classes and meals. With that in mind, I like to drink tea -- personally delivered by Dobby -- and read."

"Most peacekeepers don't find entertainment within a book."

"Well I'm not most peacekeepers, am I, Miss Granger?" His eyes carried a knowing glint as if there was an inside joke that Hermione was expected to know. Was he trying to hint at something? Hermione was tired of all of the questions that came to mind when she was around Ichigo. Perhaps her, Harry, and Ron did have something to worry about after all.

"You know Dobby?" she asked.

Ichigo nodded. "Yes, he is a free elf. I find that very reassuring. Back in my day, that wasn't possible."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Would you like to join S.P.E.W.? It's a house elf activist group that I've recently started."

"That seems like a wonderful idea." Hermione walked over to his bed, pulling out a badge from the pocket in her robe and handing it to Ichigo. He took it from her hands and pinned it to his shirt.

"We don't have many members," she explains. "So we're trying to raise awareness by wearing these badges. Now that we have a staff member wearing one, people might take it more seriously."

"Thanks. Now, was there an actual reason for you sneaking into my chambers?"

Hermione blushed, she had forgotten. "Oh, yes. I need some help with a Myomancy paper for Trelawney. I really just can't stand divinations, and I couldn't find anything useful in the library for it. Plus, I don't want to ask Trelawney directly."

Ichigo grabbed his chin in thought. "I personally find divinations an enjoyable subject, although it isn't always correct. I know some things about Myomancy, but I've never found much promise in it. Something about trying to tell the future by the length of a rats' tail doesn't seem very productive." Hermione laughed. Perhaps there was much, much more to Ichigo than anyone had thought.

*Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, hope you all enjoyed the holiday.

**Currently seeking beta reader for this story. If interested review or PM.