"Thoughts/Ichigo's hollow"

"Speaking out loud."

"Parceltongue"

Chapter 4

Leigh bit her lip anxiously. What was she thinking agreeing to talk to Ichigo about her past? It's like the guy just knew there was something wrong with her. It was starting to make her nervous by how much he was affecting her, but at the same time she couldn't help stop the feeling of wanting to please him. "Wait no! My mind is floating into space at the most inconvenient times. I can't tell him that I was having a flashback about Voldemort, but I'm not sure if I can outright tell him the truth either. I'll have to tell him a clever alternative version of what really happened," she thought nervously. She didn't want to talk about her past, but at the same time it felt so wrong to lie to him. "What is that boy doing to me?"

As she was off in her own little world she didn't realize the dirty looks she received when she startled a couple of girls from slamming her locker door shut after shoving her books inside. She got her physical education clothes and went to class.

"Potter"

Leigh turned around when she heard her name called. "What? Did you say something?" she asked the girls she accidently startled. They looked at her with raised eyebrows that nastily reminded her of Dudley, but with too much make up on. The girls looked at each other, then back at Leigh and snickered at her. Leigh frowned in confusion. How rude. Weren't they the ones talking to her? And now they had the nerve to laugh at her. She turned around frowning and rolled her eyes when she distinctly heard the word "freak" come from one of the girl's mouths. "Hmph." An eye twitched irritated. "Well, if they didn't say my name, then who did?" She shook her head and ruffled her hair as she left to the locker room.

She got dressed, and smiled happily when she found out that Luna was in the same P.E. class as her. They walked into the field with arms linked together. She was somewhat surprised to see Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime waiting for the class to begin as well.

"Ladies gather around." The cousins were amused to find out that "ladies" included the boys too, but they didn't seem phased by the blatant insult. "Good now you're going to be running all period." The coach said gruffly.

Leigh and Luna shrugged carelessly. That would be easily done. After all Leigh spent a full year avoiding death eaters and Voldemort until most of the horcruxes were destroyed, while Luna had to help Neville protect the other students from the horrible dark arts teachers.

They all had to run the same path because the coach believed in equality when it came to physical education. Most of the girls except for Leigh, Luna, Orihime, and Tatsuki complained that it wasn't fair that they had to run on the guys trail, but the coach didn't give them the time of day to continue their complaints. While some girls kept complaining about the long distance, others got over it and joined the four girls in stretching out their muscles when they couldn't convince the coach to let the run a shorter distance.

"Potter."

There was that voice again. Leigh turned to Luna as if silently asking her if she was the one who'd spoken to her that time. At Luna's negative shake she glanced around trying to hide her worry. Luna pulled Leigh close to whisper into her ear. "I don't understand what's calling you. Be careful." Leigh frowned and sighed. She took a glance behind her and noticed Ichigo looking towards her.

Ishid was looking away, but he could tell something was wrong when he felt Leigh's reiatsu spike.

"Alright everyone. On the starting line!" Coach barked. "You may start on my mark. READY… SET… GO!"

Everyone began running at a different pace. Most were slow so they could conserve energy, and some gave a quick start. Leigh was one of the quick starters. She decided on this so she could forget about the strange voice calling her name.

"Hey Leigh, want to race?" Luna asked catching her pace.

"Sure, if you can keep up," Leigh returned playfully increasing her pace.

Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime, having run some distance ahead of everyone else were quietly discussing the shift in reitsu coming from Leigh. Uryu had disappeared somewhere choosing not to run alongside them. Apparently, something about not wanting to get annoyed by Kurosaki. Ichigo grumbled in annoyance and called the dark-haired, glasses-wearing guy a bastard.

"I hope she's okay. Leigh-chan seems distressed. It's a good thing her cousin was there to cheer her up," Orihime said smiling.

"I'm not so sure," Ichigo replied unconvinced.

"What do you mean?" Chad inquired.

"Do you see the looks she wears on her face ever since she's arrived here?" Ichigo started. "Something's happened to her. She frowns a lot."

"Kind of like you," Orihime piped in, but Ichigo chose to ignore the comment.

"… and she never really smiles. Whenever she does, it's fake." Ichigo continued.

"I am curious. Why the sudden interest in her? You've never been so invested in a girl like this before, at least not to this extent. Normally you're annoyed because it's about someone who snubbed your hair." Chad said, his eyebrows raised hidden underneath his long, messy bangs.

Ichigo shook his head facing away from his friends. He didn't want them to see the red raising in his cheeks. "I don't know. Ever since she moved next door to me, it's like she's pulling me in and doesn't even realize it. I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to ignore her as easily as I would everyone else," Ichigo stated hiding his nerves.

"I didn't know she moved next door to you. Do you talk to her often?" Orihime asked curious about the change in her friend.

"Yeah, whenever I can get away from the old man bothering me constantly. She's pretty smart. I've seen one of her drawings too. Hell of a lot better than Kuchiki's drawings that's for sure.

"Don't let Rukia-san here you say that," Orihime giggled.

"She shouldn't draw bunnies for everything then.

Ichigo's hollow made his appearance known once again when he started cackling. "Really Aibou, you're so easy to figure out. I'm surprised she didn't know sooner."

Dark clouds surrounded his head. Great, even the ever oblivious Inoue, Orihime was able to figure him out? That means that Chad must have figured it out already as well. Damn his insightful personality!

Chad's eyes were wide, then narrowed as he thought about something worrying. "I see."

"But?" Ichigo continued

"But I'm concerned. We only just returned from Soul Society when the Bounts destroyed the place. Then there's also Aizen…"

Ichigo frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"How much do you know about her Ichigo? What if she's working for Aizen or a new threat? I don't want to accuse her of anything but…"

"She doesn't," Ichigo stated at once defending Leigh without hesitation. He closed his eyes to contain the small flash of anger he was feeling.

"How do you know?" Chad asked. Orihime turned her head worriedly to her friends.

"Because I saw one of the pictures she drew remember? It was a hollow."

"So she can see them too?" Orihime asked

"Yes, but when she showed it to me she didn't know what it was."

"Ichigo, are you sure?" Chad asked one more time.

"I don't believe she has anything to do with Aizen or anyone else that has caused us trouble in the past. I don't completely understand why, but that is what I believe." Ichigo fished talking and pulled ahead back to running.

"Aibou, this isn't just your protective nature talking. It's instinct. Potter Leigh will be ours." Ichigo's hollow spoke to himself. He didn't allow Ichigo to hear that final statement.

Thanks to Leigh and Luna's amazing endurance they were able to bypass anyone that was in front of them. The two racing cousins barely registered this too busy wanting to beat each other. They weaved in and out of other people's way before they were finally ahead of most of the other students. Leigh didn't see Ichigo, Orihime, or Chad anywhere. She guessed that they were far up ahead, but considering that she and Luna were running pretty fast she figured they would catch up soon enough.

"Potter…"

"Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign." Hermione said that to Leigh in second year when she was hearing voices that no one else was able to hear. Then soon after people and pets were turning up petrified, but never dead. It turned out that Hermione had the answer before she ended up petrified herself. It had been a basilisk she'd been hearing through the plumbing, so no one else would be able to hear it or understand it, unless they spoke Parceltongue, the snake language.

Leigh's eyes widened in realization to what she was hearing. She slapped her own forehead. "How could I be so stupid? Luna, no wonder you couldn't understand it. You saw a snake talking to me didn't you? That's what I'm hearing."

"Yes, I'm sure that's it." Luna replied nodding.

The two ladies stopped running and suddenly forgot about their race.

"But where is it? How does it know my name?" Leigh contemplated.

"My guess is that it's following us because you heard it again." Luna said. Leigh's life was very important to her. She was the only person she had left besides Professor McGonnigal, who was by and large their "grandmother" now. However, she felt more connected with Leigh because she was the only one who hadn't seen her as a freak because of her abilities while others gave her odd looks and turned their backs to her. Ginny had been a good friend too, but they hadn't been as close and Hermione had been smart but too logical to connect with, unlike Leigh. Luna shook her head not wanting to think about Hermione's death.

"Did you see anything else? Should I be worried?" Leigh asked looking Luna in the eyes.

"You meet with the snake, but after that it goes blank, so I don't know for sure. I try to catch as much as I can, but sometimes the future doesn't let me because it knows that I'll tell you. Just to be safe, be on your guard." Luna admitted.

"Time sure is a complicated thing, but it is okay. My future is something I have to find out for myself instead of always relying on you for it all the time."

Luna nodded in agreement.

They began running again and Leigh remembered their race when Luna suddenly took off at a faster speed than her. Leigh snickered slyly when she guided just a tad bit of magic to her feet to help her out a little bit. She used to subconsciously do this whenever Dudley and his little gang of idiots decided to bother her. When she became conscious of this ability she developed it as much as she could during the fight against Voldemort.

Luna smirked when she saw her cousin cheat. It didn't bother her one bit. In face it pleased her when she saw Leigh cheat because it meant she was having fun. Luna was able to do this too. They continued running. Once again, they passed more people that managed to get ahead of them while they were stopped to talk. They finally caught up to the fastest of the group; Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, and Tatsuki.

"You can't beat me," Luna taunted as she inched ahead of Leigh when they were near Ichigo and his friends.

'Oh yeah?" Leigh asked taking the bait.

Ichigo was shocked and impressed by the speed Leigh was achieving. He was a fast runner in his human form, but she would be easy to catch up to when he was in Shinigami form. She definitely confused him. He wanted to know more. Hopefully, he'd find out after school, like promised. He wanted to know why sometimes her smile was fake.

The final class of the day arrived more quick than Leigh had anticipated. Her conversation with Ichigo was drawing closer by the second and she was worried about his reaction towards her. The only thing keeping her mind occupied at the moment was the fact that she was in art class with a canvas and paint in front of her. Today the assignment was merely to paint what was in your heart, so to cheer herself up she decided to start working on Dumbledore's portrait of a candy store background with the headmaster's chair that was in the great hall.

The sound of brush strokes making their way across the thick material relaxed Leigh as she carefully made the interior building of the candy shop. She easily forgot about the people around her as she focused on her painting. She wasn't even aware when the person standing next to her was watching her paint with an impressed expression on their face. In fact she became so absorbed in the butterfly gummy candy that the sensei had to call her name a third time to catch her attention.

"Potter-san!" Sensei spoke with a raised voice.

Leigh nearly jumped out of her shoes when she finally heard sensei's voice.

"I'm impressed you're so focused on the painting, but you're being called to the headmaster's office." She spoke.

"Oh, sorry," Leigh smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine. Go and wash up. Leave the painting where it is. You can finish it tomorrow if you don't return to class," Sensei spoke gently.

Leigh nodded and set out to clean her brushes and hands before setting off to the office with her backpack and homework. Leigh sighed as she walked down the empty, quiet halls to see what the principal wanted. She tried to think back about what she did today. She wasn't sure what made the head of the school want her. She didn't cause any trouble or anything.

When she arrived to the office door she pressed her hand to the knob and slowly turned it before stopping when she heard voices behind the door. The reason she stopped herself from further opening the door was because she heard her name said by someone that sounded terribly familiar and it wasn't Minerva McGonnigal.

"May I ask why you are interested in this job, and how a student could be able to reference you?" Mizuki sensei asked.

"A student as a reference? That's strange." Leigh thought with tense shoulders.

"I simply love seeing children learn and being the one who taught them. I've taught Potter in the past and would possibly like to have the opportunity to do so again when I heard she attended school here. I ask for her because I hope that she'll tell her all she's learned from me," the lady replied.

"Potter, I've come to warn you," Leigh heard hissing from behind her.

"Where are you?" Leigh hissed back.

The snake came out, Leigh sighed at her bad luck. It was a freaking King Cobra.

"I've come to warn you-"

"I got that. Now what is it?"

"Mizuki-sensei, could you see if she's here? I think I just heard her voice."

Leigh stiffened in shock. This lady was definitely no muggle. Muggles couldn't hear snake language when spoken. All they hear is hissing noises. Then again it wasn't very loud when spoken unless you understood the language or had magic as well. At the moment Leigh thought, witch when she saw the door to the office open, so she decided to raise her arm, like she was about to knock on the door.

"Ah Potter-san. Good you're here. Come in please," Mizuki-sensei held the door open for her to walk through.

Leigh walked nervously through the door thinking of any spell she may need to use if this person was a threat. She stopped short of breath when she saw who was sitting behind the headmaster's desk. She hissed the bitch's name when she that it was Bellatrix Lestrange sitting casually and innocent like a muggle.

Leigh reached for her wand. Bellatrix hummed tauntingly shaking her head no. She pointed in the headmaster's direction. Leigh looked to the corner of her eye. Behind the portly man was a knife hovering sharp edge pointed to his back. Leigh guessed that the man had no idea of the position he was in, and it seemed she was in a shitty one again.

She glared at Bellatrix. "Bitch," She thought. "I should just kill her where she sits, but I'd be risking innocent lives. It would hit the headmaster if she dodges it. What should I do? I can't fight her in the school."

Bellatrix giggled and drew her wand. "Avada Kedavra."

Mizuki-sensei slumped to the floor dead with a pale, shocked expression on his face. Leigh gasped as the green light struck the man faster than she was able to protect him.

"Why thank you very much for getting Potter for me dear headmaster, but you've served your use, so I don't really feel like allowing you to watch as she dies." Bellatrix giggled and turned to Leigh. "Well, now that you've allowed another human life to be killed come with me Potter, or I won't hesitate in adding to the list of deaths caused by you. Don't even try to apparate away. The school is surrounded by the Dark Lord's remaining followers."

Leigh grit her teeth and drew her wand. There was really no point in hesitating anymore now that the headmaster was just killed in front of her eyes.

"Stupefy."

The spell was easily knocked aside.

"Expelliaramus!" She tried again.

"Silly baby Potter. Are you still using baby spells like that? Come on now. Where's the Potter that managed to defeat the Greatest Dark Lord?" Bellatrix taunted.

"Still obsessed with him huh? Just leave him be. He's dead now," Leigh spoke disgusted.

Bellatrix's laughter turned insane as she continued to speak.

"Defeated? Oh no! Not for long."

Leigh raised an eyebrow. "What? What the hell are you talking about? I destroyed his very soul. He is gone. Get a life!" Her wand raised again. Now two wands were pointed to their enemy. "Better yet, keep doing what you're doing. I'd like to have the pleasure of finally sending your soul down to hell after everything you've done to my friends," Leigh finished off screaming.

"Sectumsempra!"

Bellatrix screamed with glee as she dodged the spell and flew out of the newly broken window. She disappeared with a cloud of black smoke following behind her. Leigh grabbed to the magic that was left of the apparition and disappeared in her own white cloud, not caring where she was going to end up.

Luna's eyes snapped open as she snapped back to reality from the vision she just had. She saw Leigh leave the now dead headmaster's office. She stood up quickly, knocking over the chair and desk and ran out of the room as fast as she could. Worry surged through her. She didn't bother in dealing with the teacher this time, her cousin was more important. Luna had a feeling of dread when she saw where Leigh ended up.

"Leigh, damn it! Why did you take her bait?"

Leigh yelled in frustration as she grabbed onto one apparition gate after another.

"Stop running you cowardly bitch. You are the one who came after me, so stop fucking running and lets finish this!" Leigh screamed angry.

"Oh? This will never be finished, not as long as you're still alive and the Dark Lord is dead."

Bellatrix giggled from behind the teen.

Leigh stiffened. "You mean you intend to bring him back to life… again? Sorry, but I'm afraid that ship has sailed. Like I said. His soul is completely dead, so how do you intend to bring him back if there's another way? Leigh replied thinking about the next curse she would use. Perhaps a body lock curse?

"How? With your magic of course. You will give me your magic, and help me revive him so he can continue to live and take over this place's pathetic existence," Bellatrix replied. "Get her now!" She commanded the other Death Eaters.

More visions flashed before Luna's eyes as she ran to the junior's section of the school. The person she was looking for was someone who could definitely help save Leigh. The bell rang when she finally found the correct room she was looking for. Most of the students rushed excitedly out of the room since it was the weekend now. Only a few remained in the room. Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime.

Luna rushed into the room with tears running down her face as she felt a small sense of relief when she found Ichigo, but she desperately wanted to be where Leigh was.

"Ichigo! Please, I need your help!" She cried.

Ichigo turned from his desk to her in shock and caught Luna before she fell. "What's wrong?"

"Luna-chan what's the matter?" Orihime asked.

"Calm down. Tell us what's wrong," Chad answered in his deep voice.

"Please, please just hurry up and go to your Shinigami form," Luna pleaded. She practically tugged on Ichigo's shirt to get him to understand.

The three stood shocked at what the smaller blonde just said. "H-How do you-"

"Please just hurry! You're the only one who can help. Leigh's going to die if we don't hurry!" Luna cried desperation showing in her voice. Tears continued cascading down her cheeks.

"What?" Chad and Orihime shouted in shock.

Ichigo didn't know what the hell was going on, but at the moment his gut told him to believe Leigh's cousin, and the thought of here the words Leigh and death in the same sentence didn't sit well with him. Without another thought he took out the skull Shinigami badge and jabbed it to his chest. Ichigo's soul came out of his body and strapped to his back was his large zanbakuto.

He gave his body to Orihime.

"Take my body home and put Kon into it," Ichigo said. "Chad?"

"Of course I'm coming," Chad replied.

Ichigo nodded. He'd ask Uryu, but he was still powerless these days.

He turned towards Luna. "Alright. Now, where is Leigh?"

The King Cobra that spoke with Leigh and was unable to complete its warning, came into the room. Luna pulled out her wand and aimed it at the snake.

"Why are you doing this?" Luna shouted. "Why can't you people just leave Leigh alone?!"

The three others looked at Luna with confusion.

The snake changed its form as fast as it could. A tall middle-aged man with long blonde hair appeared where the snake should have been.

"Believe me, I wanted nothing to do with this. I only came here to warn Potter, but you really should be careful when you send unprotected letters. Especially when it's her…"