Wizard and Deat Reaper: Hogwarts
Chapter 19's

"It is forbidden" Angelina said in a hollow voice, as Harry, George, and Ichigo returned to the recreation room at night. "No Seeker and Beater.. What are we going to do?"

There is no happy look in the Gryffindor recreation room, even if they won the game today. Everything seemed sad and angry; it was the team members who looked the limpest, even though Ron was not there, disappeared since the game was over and had not returned.

"It's not fair" lamented Alicia sadly. "They didn't punish Malfoy and Crabbe properly; I heard they just had Crabbe write the sentence…"

"And forbid Fred when he didn't do anything!" katie's huffed.

"It's not my fault I didn't do anything" Fred said. "Hit that son of a bitch to a pulp if the three of you don't hold me back."

"Yeah, there's nothing fair in justice," Ichigo grumbled in annoyance.

Harry stared languishly at the dark window, where Toushiro stood silently facing the window, looking at the rapidly falling snow. It was Umbridge who had forbidden him and the Weasley twins to play Quidditch again and confiscated their brooms.

Ichigo himself is punished for cleaning up all the trophies in the trophy room and awards without magic. The orange hairdo said nothing about the punishment, though Umbridge wore her sweet, childish smile that was clearly meant to challenge Ichigo. And at this moment, the tall one looked at the back of Toushiro who was still not looking at him in a somewhat irritated manner. He was punished for defending her as well, and why Toushiro didn't even talk to her.

And then, one by one Gryffindor's children went up to each other's rooms. Only Harry, Hermione, Ichigo, and Toushiro remain. Neville left them anxious, as if afraid that the four of them would fight.

"Can you stop that?" ichigo asked, breaking the silence. Harry looked at Ichigo in surprise. The orange-haired man raised his head to Toushiro, indicating that he was talking to the white-haired man.

"Er... what is the?" Hermione looked at the two in surprise.

"Her snow," said Ichigo, still staring at the petite shinigami. Harry and Hermione looked at the window. Sure enough, the snow is getting heavier, even though winter is just beginning. "You always talk about self-control, you need to do the same thing."

Toushiro turned around, and immediately looked at Ichigo. Unexpectedly, the falling snowflakes slowed; the storm subsided abruptly. Harry suspected Toushiro had something to do with this.

"You must stop acting so," said Toushiro coldly.

"What act?" ask Ichigo astonished.

Toushiro looked at Ichigo as if Ichigo had gone mad. Wait, he knew that something was wrong with the orange brain. It must have something to do with Isshin Shiba's innate genes.

"Attack brutality on anyone, even if you get a clear provocation."

"Did? Where can I…"

"You forgot what you said? 'You all have brains, but is the only solution to your problems only by fighting?'"

Ichigo was stunned to hear that. Yep. He remembers saying that while helping Toushiro with his thorny problem with Kusaka.

"Well, you know…"

"I know," cut Toushiro coldly. "You don't have to do that anymore. And about what Malfoy told me, it had nothing to do with you."

"wait. There ain't?! How can you stand that?" asked Harry in surprise.

"Really! Don't think I didn't know that in Soul Society you were often underestimated; when you were in Junrinan. How can you accept being underestimated again even when no one knows who you really are?!"

"Well, they don't know who I really am, so let it go…"

"Well?!" Ichigo looked at Toushiro in disbelief. It seems like the basic elements of Toushiro really had an effect on the formation of his character. But if this is dangerous too! Toushiro is too cold!

"Kurosaki," said Toushiro in. "if you accept the same thing from the beginning of your life, you'll get used to it for the rest of your life."

The three were stunned to hear that.

Just as it sounded creaking behind them as the painting of the Fat Lady swung open. Ron climbed in limply, his face pale and snow-tone in his hair.

"Where have you been?" ask Hermione worriedly.

"Streeting," muttered Ron without a tone.

"You look frozen" said Hermione. "Here, sit here!"

Ron walked up to the girl, then sat himself in a chair by the fireplace furthest from Harry. Desperately, Ron spoke softly about his desire to get out of the team.

"Where can I," Ichigo said immediately. "Then you'll only have three left, and that's all Chaser."

"What?!" grinning Ron.

"Me and Fred and George were banned from playing for life by Umbridge" said Harry bitterly.

Hermione and Ichigo explain the sentence to Ron. Harry himself could not bear to tell that for the umpteenth time. Finished telling the story, Ron looked even more languishing than before.

"It's all my fault…"

"You didn't make me beat up Malfoy" said Harry riled.

"… If only I wasn't that bad…"

"… It has nothing to do with it."

"… The song makes me tense…"

"… That song will make anyone tense."

"It turns out that not only you can fight," Hermione commented, glancing at Ichigo and Toushiro who were silently staring at the quarrel and walking towards the window.

"Listen, stop! It's bad enough without you blaming yourself for everything!" exclaim Harry growled.

Ron said nothing. He drenched himself on the sofa staring at the water droplets at the end of his wet Quidditch robe. After a while, he said grimly, "I've never felt this good before."

"Same," said Harry bitterly.

"Well," said Hermione in a trembling voice. "There's one thing that might make you a little amused."

The four boys looked at Hermione doubtfully.

"Oh, yeah?" ask Harry not sure.

"Yeah" said Hermione, turning to her back against the snow-covered window. A big smile adorned his face. "Hagrid's home."

Silent moment.

"WHAT RIGHT?!" Harry and Ron stood up. It was astonishing how much of that turmoil evaporated so quickly. They didn't even heed Ichigo's question.

"Who's Hagrid?"

"Dumbledore once said, 'right," said Toushiro, looking at Harry and Ron who ran into the boys' room immediately, Hermione also climbed up the stairs to the girls' room happily. "one of his men who was sent to be his representative for the giants, his name was Rubeus Hagrid."

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo scratched the back of his head. He doesn't remember that at all. Perhaps that was one of the information he missed when he fell asleep in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place when Dumbledore briefed them. "Well, let it."

Ichigo yawned widely, not seeing Toushiro's fierce gaze on him. If Toushiro's cold attitude is a problem for Ichigo, Ichigo's stupid attitude is a problem for Toushiro.

The Golden Trio returned to the recreation room. Harry seemed to open his Marauder's Map carefully; ron had replaced his Quidditch uniform with an ordinary robe.

"You wanna come?" harry asked the two shinigami; toushiro was typing something on his phone. "I think Hagrid would love to see you."

"Trims, but no," Ichigo said. He glanced at Toushiro. "Urahara just sent a message, we have to meet him now."

"Is there a problem?" asked Hermione curious as well as anxious.

"Oh, I don't know," Ichigo said. "Here he's talking to me about what happened this afternoon."

"Even if you do, you'll just listen" said Toushiro flatly. But that was enough to shake the feeling. Ichigo catches the impression that Toushiro is criticizing him, from the sharpness of the word 'listen' to him.

So the three boys came out of the painting hole after saying good night. Ichigo and Toushiro also came out a while later. Both of them walked quickly and were alert to reach Urahara's office. They almost ran into Filch at the end of the third floor corridor.

Urahara greeted them cheerfully in his office. He was sitting behind a heated round table with Yoruichi, who was sitting on a pillow while rolling in his cat form. The black cat's head lifted as Toushiro locked the door behind him, then said with a fake baritone voice.

"Ah, the child has come."

"You mean me, don't you?" ichigo Gerrick. Urahara chuckled softly as he poured hot tea into two new cups to greet them.

"Of course you are, breed," said Yoruichi, wiggling his tail lazily, "Hitsu-chan is an exemplary child, which might cause trouble."

Ichigo only grumbled dissatisfiedly. Meanwhile, Toushiro immediately looked at Urahara, ignoring the puff of hot tea steam that was in front of him.

"What's wrong?" ask Toushiro.

"Ara, should this be the point?" said Urahara calmly, sipping his tea calmly.

"I got a feeling that you were about to convey was something important," Toushiro said sharply.

Calmly, Urahara put his teacup on the table. He crossed his hands inside his kimono. "Well, you always have good intuition, Hitsugaya-san. It does. There's something important."

"Well, what, then?" urge Ichigo.

"Tessai sent word to me that Arrancar was attacking Karakura" Urahara said seriously. As he had expected, Ichigo's expression instantly hardened. "Kuchiki-san was indeed there to accompany Kon successfully. Hiyori and Hacchi also helped her, so there was no problem left behind. It's just…"

"What's wrong?" toushiro asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's weird, I think. Arrancar who came up to three, came in three different places through three gargantas, as if…"

"… they have three different purposes" Toushiro said. "Based on my experience while serving in Karakura first, Arrancar who came to Karakura passed through the same Garganta; their first arrivals were Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Riyalgo, then Sexta Espada, the first, who came up with his fraccion-fraccion? What shows that they had a different purpose is the arrival of Grimmjow Jeagerjaques with his fraccions, which was blocked by Ulquiorra Cifer…"

"Exactly," said Urahara. "According to Tessai, from the description of Kuchiki-san, Hiyori, and Hacchi, each Arrancar has a different purpose; the one against Rukia intends to find you, Kurosaki-san."

"Huh?" Ichigo.

"Perhaps because they're Aizen supporters they intend to finish off whoever dropped their role model" Yoruichi said. "They know you're not in Karakura. Given that they've made an alliance with Voldemort, it's possible that they know where you are now."

"And the Arrancar that Hacchi fought seemed to be just a distraction. Hacchi said the way he fought was strange, seemed playful but could be defeated easily. The effect, he's just bait."

"What does Sarugaki face?" ask Toushiro.

"There's no clue," Urahara said, sighing. "What he's doing is fighting, but I suspect there's something behind this attack. If their target is only Kurosaki-san, why don't they attack directly here, with the advantage of their alliance? Is it true that's just their purpose, or is there something else."

"Although there is, what is it," Yoruichi added.

Silent moment.

"What if Arrancar's trying to free Aizen?" ask Ichigo.

"Well, that's the worst part. But I'm sure it'll be the last thing we need to worry about. Mugen is impenetrable, and I'm sure it's very difficult for the Arrancar to pass through with all the Soul Society shinigami who won't let Aizen go free."

"Yes, anyway," said Ichigo.

"Then Urahara," said Toushiro, staring at the former 12th Division Commander. "So I felt a strange existence in the middle of the Forbidden Forest…"

"Maybe it was Rubeus Hagrid; I met him in the corridor, he reported his return to Dumbledore-sama earlier," Urahara said.

"If that's what I know. I mean there's another one, not this Hagrid."

"Well, I don't know," said Urahara casually. There were no signs of anxiety at all, let alone suspicion. Toushiro knew that the presence was not Arrancar, but he also needed to be vigilant, right?

"Tonight the snow was falling quite profusely," said the carefree Yoruichi, "why don't you check out while having a little fun, eh?"

Toushiro turned his back on the proposal.

"By the way, Ichigo, about you in that Quidditch field," Urahara said. Ichigo frowned in disdain. It was predictable from the beginning that Urahara would certainly be pretentious to advise him, saying to keep his attitude, knowing that it was all in vain.

It means exactly what Toushiro said. He's not listening.

Sunday, the next day was filled by most of Gryffindor's children to do stacked PR. Some filled the day to skate on the surface of the lake, ride a sled, and most annoyingly conjure snowballs to climb up to the Gryffindor Tower and hit the window hard.

"Oi!" roar Ron impatiently, stuck his head out the window. "I'm a Prefect and if ever a snowball hits this window – OUH!"

Ron pulled his head back inside, his face filled with snow.

"Fred and George" said Ron, slamming the window behind him shut. "It's so annoying."

Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Tower shortly afterwards, trembling with a wet robe to her knees. It was in stark contrast to Toushiro who came with him, looking calm and bright.

"Well," said Ron, looking at Hermione who was sitting next to Harry in the chair and pulling out her wand to dry her robe. "You said you'd make a lesson plan for Hagrid, so, how?"

Hermione did not reply for a while, still busy making the water in her robe evaporate. So, Ron asked Toushiro.

"And you seem happy. Why?"

Toushiro shrugged his shoulders. No need to explain if the mood is good, supported by snowfall this month.

"Toushiro likes winter, so he's happy so," Ichigo said, tweaking the formula for his Arithmancy PR. "Oi, Toushiro, how do you divide this?" Ichigo holds out his PR about the near-completion, pointing to the last issue he has yet to solve. Toushiro lowered his head, observing the matter, before explaining his calculations to Ichigo. Harry and Ron choose to listen to Toushiro's mathematical explanation, which is strangely understood by the orange head. Moments later, Ichigo had finished his tally, in other words, finished already the PR that was holding him.

"I've tried" said Hermione tired, answering Ron's question. "He wasn't even in his cabin when I arrived. I knocked for half an hour before he emerged from the Forbidden Forest."

"Are you talking about that Hagrid I met last night?" ask Ichigo while tidying up his textbooks.

"Yes" said Harry in short.

"Why do you intend to make a lesson plan for him?" toushiro asked.

The Golden Trio exchanged a glance. Hermione lowered her voice, as if afraid to be heard by the other children in the room.

"It's still in contact with Umbridge" Hermione said agitatedly. "He also came to Hagrid last night, and we knew that he was going to find a way to get rid of Hagrid."

Both Ichigo and Toushiro raised eyebrows in disbelief.

"Umbrige's the Great Inquisitor, remember?" hermione said, followed by Ichigo's nod. "As we know it's just an alibi to make sure that no Hogwarts teacher is on Dumbledore's side, or that the palig does not keep an eye on the Hogwarts teachers on his side. Well, Hagrid is arguably the man loyal to her, so…"

"Ah, I understand," said Toushiro

"It's not just that" said Ron softly. "He didn't like Hagrid either because Hagrid was half a giant. Try to hear Siri-Snuffles' own opinion of him, Umbridge doesn't like anyone who's half human…"

Harry was astonished to see Ichigo burst into laughter. Toushiro instead looked at the orange hair with almost furrowed eyebrows, especially when Ichigo held his belly to his teeth.

"O-oi!" ron said astonished. "What is this about you?"

Ichigo stopped laughing forcefully, it was also after Toushiro kicked his shin. With a gasp he spoke, the rest of the laughter still rang out in his voice, "I hope he doesn't know who I really am... I'm also half human, eh?" It is not entirely true that he is half human. He is one-quarter human, one-quarter shinigami, one-quarter Quincy, and one-quarter hollow. He was amused to think about how Umbridge looks if he knows, especially if he sees it in such a form.

Hermione shuddered a little at that, while Ron immediately turned pale. Ichigo's laughter again broke, only to stop after Toushiro threw the History of Magic book into his face. Some children who saw, though did not understand what was being said, laughed. Harry also had to resist the urge not to laugh out loud; the friendship types of Ichigo and Toushiro were a bit rude.

"Well, obviously we have to prevent Umbridge from taking down Hagrid, or firing him, but Hagrid says he's prepared a lesson, from the Forest…"

Harry and Ron compactly let out a desperate voice.

"Why?" ichigo asked, looking at the two curiously.

"Things in the Forest that have the potential to get him fired" Harry said limply. "Hagrid's got, uh, strange tastes about magical beasts.'

"And he still didn't want to tell me where he got those injuries from" said Hermione grimly.

Ichigo and Toushiro exchanged looks. Harry could understand the incomprehension of the two shinigami who had not yet met Hagrid.

Harry had no idea that the two shinigami knew who Hagrid was and what he had hidden in the Forbidden Forest. However, since both are – which Hagrid has not met with them – appreciates Hagrid, so they keep quiet. In the meantime, the giant Grawp has not shown any harmful action to anyone.

Ichigo and Toushiro meet Hagrid in person without settling down the next day. His arrival was welcomed by twins Weasley and Lee Jordan, who enthusiastically shook Hagrid's big hand.

It was only then that the two young shinigami met more formally on Tuesday, at the Invisibility Animal Maintenance lesson. Gryffindor's children trudged, at first, in the schoolyard toward Hagrid's open-air classroom on the edge of his cottage located on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. But miraculously, Toushiro made the snow in front of him fall without the need to use a spell with his magic wand, as if the snow just melted away within the reach of the white hair. Hermione immediately asked this, but she did not get the answer. Ichigo knows, Toushiro will not open his mouth about his abilities as Lord of Winter.

Harry himself had something else to think about. He feared that the Great Inquisitor Hogwarts might appear in Hagrid's first lesson. He believes his arrival is not a good thing. They all saw Hagrid waiting for them at the edge of the forest. He was still as battered as the last time he saw her. His injuries, according to Harry, have increased. And this time, Hagrid shouldered something that seemed like half of a cow's body was dead.

"We're studying here today!" hagrid exclaimed cheerfully with his voice booming. He turned his head towards the grove of trees behind him. "At shield! But they do like the darker ones."

"What would prefer dark?" everyone heard the voice of Draco Malfoy, who had just arrived with the other Slytherin children. His outstretched voice did not hide the panic he felt.

Even if the prospect of encountering an alien is somehow worried about Harry too, still, whatever fears Malfoy makes him happy.

"I've prepared a trip to the Forest for a fifth grader. I thought we'd see these creatures in their natural habitat. What we're going to learn today is pretty rare, and I think I'm probably the only person in England who's managed to train them."

However, many children doubt this. Ichigo and Toushiro, who don't know much about Hagrid, just exchange glances. Then Hagrid led them into the dark Forest like evening, at least ten minutes. As he walked Hagrid glanced at the two new faces among the Gryffindor children.

"Ah, you must be the two new children that Dumbledore told me about" Hagrid said kindly. "Itchi-gou Ku-roma-ki and To-hiro Hitsu-guy-ah?"

Malfoy snorted a loud laugh. Harry saw Toushiro frowning in annoyance at hearing his name being incorrectly called.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," corrects Ichigo kalem. "And be careful if you mispronounce Toushiro Hitsugaya's name; he once kicked me down the stairs for misreading the character's name."

Many children laugh when they hear this.

"I never kicked you down the stairs" Toushiro frowned. "Just plan, really. Kuchiki did it faster than me."

"Eh? So that wasn't you?!" Ichigo looked at Toushiro. The incident happened when Toushiro led several shinigami to guard Karakura from Aizen. The shinigami were disguised as high school students, and there was then a division of the group for the task of history. Keigo mistakenly writes the character's name Toushiro, which results in Ichigo mispronouncing it as he reads a copy of the group's name on them, discussing it on his way to the school's rooftop. As a result, the name offended. And Ichigo was always convinced that Toushiro returned the favor by kicking him down from twenty steps. Where does he know that the real culprit is Rukia, because the one who sprayed Ichigo with scolding was not only the little commander. Rukia, Renji, and Rangiku simultaneously bully him, surrounded by laughter mocking Ikkaku and Yumichika's comments about things that do not connect at all; according to him the position of falling-kissing-floor-with-leg-delivered is not an elite position.

Toushiro raised his head, then said in a flat tone, "I don't need to do anything to reply eh? Karma will repay me."

Ichigo was sure there were irritated veins twitching at his temple. "Basic Ice Beams."

Toushiro pretended not to hear that.

They finally reached a patch of land among the tight trees. Hagrid lowered half the cow's carcass to the ground grumbling softly, then stepped back to face his students. Most of the children were standing close together, looking around nervously as if they thought they were being attacked at all times.

"Gather here, gather here," Hagrid said cheeringly. "Well, they'll be interested in the smell of meat, but I'll call them anyway, 'cause they'll be happy to know I'm coming."

Hagrid turned around as she brushed her hair away from her face. He then let out a strange scream that echoed among the trees. Most looked at Hagrid timidly, while he shouted twice more.

And then, Harry saw it, a little lost fast to the two shinigami who also saw it. Between the dark crevices in the two cypress humps, a pair of sparkling empty white eyes seemed to grow larger in dimness as the creature somehow moved closer almost without a sound. A moment later, a face similar to the description of the dragon in the book was seen, with a posture that resembled a large, black, bat-like horse emerging from the dimness of the trees. Waving its long, black tail, the creature looked at everything with its empty eyes, which were then glued to Ichigo and Toushiro.

Harry was glad not to be stuck. It turned out that all this time he had not imagined the creature. Hagrid knew about him, Ichigo and Toushiro, who were staring at the reptile-like horse vigilantly also knew about it. And it turns out it's not just them. Neville also looked at the odd horse, with a somewhat fearful face, and a thin Slytherin boy who looked at the horse with disdain.

A second dark horse appeared behind the trees again, walking while looking at Ichigo and Toushiro, just stopping beside his friend. Hagrid looked at this peculiarity with great astonishment. Moreover, two other horses also appeared, and did the same thing, fighting with the two new students.

And then surprisingly, the four creatures bent their front legs. No doubt, that's how they pay their respects. A very graceful way for that monstrous half-horse half-dragon malnourished beast.

Hagrid was astonished to see it. Neville looked at his two Gryffindor friends in great amazement. Ichigo and Toushiro exchanged looks.

"What's? What's up?" ron asked quietly, confused. "Why doesn't Hagrid call anymore? And why would he look at Ichigo and Toushiro like that?"

"Well," said Hagrid, "this is the first time I've seen them behave like this. They are quite haughty creatures, though not as haughty as Hippogriffs. Their arrogance is their indifference; they don't usually bend themselves to humans."

Ichigo and Toushiro stared at the creatures, who were still in the position of one of the front legs bent and their reptilian faces lowered. Understanding their purpose, Ichigo and Toushiro returned the greeting by bowing their backs slightly. After that, the creatures retreated, bowing to eat the beef that Hagrid had brought.

"Ehem" hagrid. "So, raise your hand to anyone who can see them."

Harry, Neville, Ichigo, Toushiro, and the Slytherin boy raised their hands.

"Yeah, I know you can see them, Harry... And Neville, eh? Then…"

"I'm sorry" said Malfoy. "What exactly should we see?"

In response, Hagrid pointed to the carcass of the cow being eaten by the odd horses. The whole class stared at him for a few words, and how many children were screaming in shock. Certainly the pieces of flesh that tore themselves apart, moved away from the bones, and disappeared just like that was a real oddity.

"What did it do?" pekik Parvati is scared. "What's eating it?"

"Thestral," Hagrid answered proudly, Hermione let out a screech of "Oh!" sign of understanding. "Hogwarts has a flock here. Well, who knows…?"

"But they're wretched carriers!" sela Parvati is terrified. "The cause of various terrible disasters, Professor Trelawney said so…"

"No, no" said Hagrid. "It's just superstition. They don't bring disaster, they're very smart and useful! Unfortunately there's not much of their work here except for the school train pull, or if Dumbledore wants to go far away and doesn't want to Apparate. Well, now who can explain why anyone can see and some can't?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Explain that then."

"The ones who can see Thestral are," said Hermione, "those who have seen death."