Hi, everyone!

I am very sorry for disappearing for a long time.

It's been almost three years, and I have been having a hard time with my life to make time, or even enjoy writing anymore. However, I have received few notes from the readers from time to time, and came back to see reviews that still continued even after such a long time.

I am thankful for all the readers who have stayed patient with me and continued to encourage me. It is thanks to you all that I've decided to resume writing this story again.

Although I cannot promise fast uploads, I'll try to bring out few more chapters before the summer ends.

Thanks to everyone once again!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

A few weeks had passed since Moody's lesson on the Unforgivable Curses, and Toshiro was currently up in the Astronomy Tower, enjoying the morning air. These days, he only really needed a few hours of sleep to rest his mind, having nothing to really waste his energy on while the school was overflowing with it for him to draw from.

Thus, it had become a routine for him to wait until his roommates fell asleep before coming out to the Astronomy Tower where he could peacefully watch the sky, and quietly observe it as it became lighter and lighter with the rising sun. It was also an added plus that the much cooler temperature here and the quiet and peaceful atmosphere, compared to the Gryffindor dorms helped him relax and calm his frayed nerves due to all the hassle during the day.

Toshiro sighed in content as he inhaled the fresh morning air and watched the sun rising from afar. If there was one good thing that came out from this mission, it was times like this when he could just laze about. Contrary to what most of his comrades believed, Toshiro enjoyed lying down and idly loitering the day away. Before he became a shinigami, it had been somewhat a habit for him to lie down on the roof and watch the clouds pass by aimlessly. If he had lived alone, he would have been on the roof for hours, not noticing the time. Fortunately, he had lived with his grandmother who called him down for meals, and there was also Hinamori who used to jump on him to drag him into running errands with her around the town.

Now that there was no Hinamori or his grandmother to drag him away from his pastime, someone else seemed to have appointed himself in that role. One morning, after Toshiro missed breakfast for four days in a row, Neville burst in to the Astronomy Tower. Toshiro had frowned and waved the boy off at first, but Neville had stubbornly sat beside him, skipping the meal with him. That day, Neville's stomach had growled several times during class, and the boy, thoroughly embarrassed, had dug into his lunch with much vigour. Toshiro had thought the boy would give up. However, the next day, Neville came to the Astronomy Tower again, and again the day after, until Toshiro finally gave in.

That was the start of Toshiro's tentative friendship with Neville, which solidified after Moody's lesson on the Unforgivables. The boy had been considerably shaken by the whole demonstration for some reason; one that Toshiro had no intention of prying into. Everyone has some kind of secrets or weakness that they wouldn't want to reveal after all. It wasn't his business to pry.

However, as the days went on, Neville had started to dive into his school work with a newfound energy. The Gryffindors, hardly ever paying attention to shy and quiet Neville, didn't seem to notice the difference in the boy's attitude, but Toshiro was sure that a number of the professors did.

Actually, it was hard not to.

It had been almost two weeks, since Neville had destroyed a cauldron in Potions class, and the quality of his completed potions were good, if not excellent. In Transfigurations, Neville would be among the second or third batch of students to complete the task, whereas he used to be among the group that finally got it at the last minute or had to do extra homework because they couldn't perform it even until the end. And although his performance in Herbology didn't change much, Neville's talent in Charms was beginning to shine. He was soaking up spell after spell taught in Charms, often performing a new spell perfectly in his first try, neck to neck with Hermione. The tiny, jubilant professor was just delighted with Neville's lately blooming ability and would gush over him, exclaiming non-stop on how he must have inherited his Charms abilities from his father, who was apparently well into his masteries in Charms.

Outside of classes, Neville would go through his notes from previous years, perfecting the spells he couldn't perform before and solidifying the basics of all the subjects. He seemed to be determined to do something, and while Toshiro didn't know what his friend was so determined to achieve, he wasn't complaining. Neville's academic performance was increasing rapidly as well as his control in his magic, and it was slowly building his confidence and re-shaping the young boy. With the amount of dormant magic Neville had, the earlier he gained full control on his powers, the better it was, and the reason behind that motivation was not that important. If Neville wanted Toshiro to know, he would tell when he was ready. For now, Toshiro was content just carefully watching over his friend's progress so that he didn't overexert himself.

Almost a month after the class about the Unforgivables, Toshiro, just like most of the class, stared at the man who was grinning. Moody had just announced to the whole class, that he would be performing the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.

It was Hermione who broke the stunned silence.

"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," she said uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said - to use it against another human was -"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swivelling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way - when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely - fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door. Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave, but Toshiro, who had been frowning, stood.

It was logical in Toshiro's point of view, as he did not know what the effects the curse had on shinigamies yet, and although he doubted the Imperious Curse would cause much problems, he did not want to experiment on it. That was the speciality of the 12th division, and Urahara was currently working on it with Penelope and other 2nd division officials who had been in the Wizarding World for a few years already. They would send him the results from the experiments soon, and until then, Toshiro wasn't going to risk anything.

However, Toshiro's actions shocked everyone in class as students who had been quietly snickering at Hermione's predicament, suddenly became deadly silent as they watched Moody shift his narrowed eyes on Toshiro.

Ignoring the their reactions, Toshiro calmly looked at Moody. "I'd like to be excused then. Professors don't have the authority to cast illegal spells on the students without their consent, and I do not give mine."

"...You'll regret it, boy. When you get caught unawares later on." Moody curled his lips savagely, making the students flinch back. Toshiro narrowed his eyes at the subtly veiled threat. This mortal, whose power level barely reached the level of a low seated officer, was threatening him? A Captain? Toshiro fixed his icy turquoise orbs on Moody's and smirked.

"You are welcome to try professor, that is, like you said, if you can catch me unawares."

Moody's eyes narrowed at the obvious insult and the observing students took in a sharp breath. However, Toshiro calmly collected his bags and left the classroom, ignoring everyone else.

Neville sighed as he left the library. Toshiro hadn't turned up for lunch and his classmates in Ancient Runes told Neville that he did not turn up for that class either. Neville sighed again, recalling Toshiro's abrupt departure in class, not to mention his unusual hostility to Professor Moody.

The class been deathly silent for a while after Toshiro's departure, no one daring enough to speak up and bring Moody's wrath upon themselves. Soon, Moody started barking out names, and students stumbled forward in turns to be tested on their resistance to the Imperious Curse, only to be thoroughly humiliated in front of the whole class. The only exception had been Harry, who fought off the curse, and to everyone's - including himself - surprise, Neville himself.

He had watched nervously as, one by one, their classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Dean Thomas had hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem, while Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel.

Noticing that the Professor's magical eye stayed fixed on the classroom door the whole time, Neville had sighed, dreading his turn. He knew that Toshiro did not like the man for some unknown reason, but did he have to anger him before he left? While no one was yet able to resist the curse, the antics the students were made to perform was getting more and more humiliating.

Neville tried to dispel the nervousness out of his head. It wasn't like Moody would make them do something nasty or anything, and as humiliating as the students antics were, it wasn't really that much different from all the humiliating things he had done over the years. Also, it wasn't like anyone had managed to resist the spell yet. There was no need for him to feel pressured or anything. Telling himself that over and over again, Neville took calm breaths and collected himself, when finally, Moody's gruff voice called out his name.

"Longbottom, your turn."

Neville moved to stand in the middle of the classroom, into the space where Moody had cleared of desks. As Neville stood in front of the class, Moody slowly raised his wand, pointed it at him, and said, "Imperio!"

It was the most strange thing Neville had ever experienced. It was as if he was floating on the clouds, drifting in the wind, free from all the problems in the world. However, the feeling was a little distant, as if he was trapped inside someone else's body and feeling it through their senses.

But it was not uncomfortable. Even the distant feeling of everyone in the class watching him did not make him agitated, even though he could still register it somewhere in his mind. He wanted to do nothing more than just close his eyes and drift away in this quiet and relaxing world and leave all his problems and worries behind him. He just stood there, relishing in the calm and peaceful atmosphere when he suddenly heard something whispering into his mind.

'bend backwards… into a summersault. Cartwheel across the room…'

A summersault? He didn't know how to do a summersault, and cartwheeling even more so.

'bend backwards… into a summersault. Cartwheel across the room…'

But… how?

'just bend backwards…'

I'll probably fall down and make a fool of myself again, trying something like that. Why is this person making me do such foolish things?

'Bend! NOW!'

No! I don't Want to!

Neville suddenly blinked as his feelings returned to him in a rush. He wobbled a little before registering his surroundings once again, and quickly took a step backwards as he suddenly came face to face with the heavily scarred face of Professor Moody.

It was the most scariest thing he had ever experienced. Moody's eyes, both the normal and magical one, was fixed on him with a strange gleam, while his mouth was twisted upwards in an unnerving curl. For a moment, he was frozen in place like a frog in front of a hungry snake, as Moody's hand slowly reached out towards him. However, his hand simply moved upwards towards his head, and patted him roughly.

"Now, that's more like it." Growled Moody's voice, as Neville slowly relaxed. "Look at this, you lot. . . Longbottom fought! He fought it, and was even able to beat it!"

It was then Neville was able to notice everyone's shocked gaze fixed upon him. His face reddened, as he nervously laughed, and inched towards his seat. However, Moody wouldn't let him.

"We'll try that again, Longbottom, and the rest of you, pay attention - watch his eyes, that's where you see it - very good, Longbottom, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

Neville was finally freed after a few more demonstrations, and he sat frozen in his seat as everyone in the class continued to stare at him. The stares seemed to become even more intensive as more and more students continued to fail… before Harry finally succeeded in resisting the curse. However, even Harry seemed to have trouble resisting the curse in his first try, and when the class finally ended, Neville hurriedly left the classroom before anyone could approach him.

He couldn't even enjoy lunch peacefully. The news seemed to have spread quickly around the school, and he was met with whispers and disbelieving looks from everywhere. Having failed to find Hitsugaya in the Great Hall, he had hurried to his next class – Divinition – before hurrying out an hour later, in search for his friend.

While his classmates were undergoing the lesson on throwing off the Imperious Curse, Toshiro was in a remote part of Hogwarts, having a meeting with the Hogwarts' ghost population. He sighed as he looked over at least twenty ghosts present in the room, all of whom who were eying him warily.

It had been Ukitake's suggestion for him to seek out the ghosts. Actually, before Ukitake told him, Toshiro hadn't had a clue that there were ghost inhabitants in the castle. As soon as they felt his presence enter the walls of Hogwarts, they had hid themselves from him, and the abundance of the energy in the school concealed their presence well enough from Toshiro that he had failed to notice them without conscious effort.

Toshiro rubbed his nose and sighed at the blatant hostility coming off from the ghosts. "I'm not here to break your bonds that bound you to this world. I just come here to seek your knowledge."

"And what knowledge do you seek, young shinigami?"

Toshiro turned to face the owner of the wispy voice – a middle-aged man with blank staring eyes and a gaunt face, who was wearing robes stained with silver blood. However, under his mask of indifference, Toshiro could see calculating eyes that was carefully observing him.

"I am Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the 10th squad in Soul Society. I am currently in Hogwarts in an undercover mission to observe and gain understanding of the Wizarding World first-hand. I have no intention of bringing harm to the castle and its inhabitants, whether it be living or non-living. I sought your presence out for your knowledge, as I am aware that you are bound to the laws of the afterlife as I am, and will not leak the information to any living being."

The man carefully observed Toshiro before speaking. His voice, unlike before, was sharp and clear. "I am the Bloody Baron, the head of the Slytherin Ghosts." He then gestured to a mid-aged lady at his side. "She is the Grey Lady, the head of the Revenclaw Ghosts and the oldest of us all. Speak of your question, young shinigami, and we will consider whether to reply or not."

Toshiro decided to approach the matter directly. "I wish to know if the Unforgiveable Curses, especially the Killing Curse, has any effect on the ghosts."

As those words came out of his mouth, he could practically feel the air stiffen as the ghosts started to quietly whisper among themselves. Only a few of them continued to observe him, the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady among them.

"And why do you seek such knowledge? It is neither needed nor useful for shinigamies."

"I am afraid that it has become so. We have been informed of the signs that mark the return of the Dark Lord in this world, and a possibility of a rogue shinigami taking an interest in that particular organization."

Toshiro could hear an intake of breath from all the ghosts as they stared at him with shocked eyes. This time, it was the Grey Lady who broke the tense silence.

"How is that possible? How could he break the law that binds all beings of afterlife?"

"There are loopholes in the law, just like any other laws that exist. Apparently, this Voldemort figure is a being that is neither fully alive nor fully dead. He is not bound by the laws and we are not bound by them either when dealing with him. However, he has followers who fall under the jurisdiction of the law, which prevents us from taking any direct action against him. Thus, we need to learn how to deal with him and his followers under the guise of a living being."

"…this rogue shinigami that you're speaking of, how strong is he? And how sure are you of his interference in the Wizarding World?"

"We are assuming that there is a very high possibility of the said shinigami interfering in the Wizarding World, by observing his footprints before his departure. He was able to go through an alarmingly large amount of records on the Wizarding World in our world, and has had contact with various different individuals assigned to this part of the world."

The Bloody Baron, who was quietly listening to his explanation, frowned. He seized Toshiro up with his calculating gaze once again, before sighing and turning around.

"Follow me, young captain. It seems like we are in need of a much serious discussion."

Toshiro followed after the ghost without hesitation, as other ghosts slowly started to trail behind him as well.