Okay, yeah, this took a while, but I have many reasons, none of which I will go into here, most simply 'cause I doubt most of you care.

2016 is over! Yay! That horrible, horrible year is over. Here's to hoping for a better 2017!

VERY IMPORTANT! READ THE BOTTOM NOTE! IT PERTAINS TO THE STORY!

Disclaimer: All proper rights for Bleach and Harry Potter go to their respective owners.

The final match of the Quidditch season was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. They were playing for the Cup, which would engender splendid rivalries even if one of the participants was Hufflepuff, but since the two houses with the greatest animosity between them were playing, tensions were at an all-time high. Hitsugaya did not see it, but apparently a Gryffindor and a Slytherin got in a nasty fight which landed them in the hospital wing with leeks in their ears.

Inoue would be proud.

Per Oliver Wood's order, the whole of the Gryffindor house was following Harry wherever he went, making it impossible for anyone to get to class on time. Eventually, Toshiro and Hermione abandoned him and struck out on their own. The Slytherins weren't nearly so eager to trap them when they had a much bigger prize in sight.

The night before the game, Toshiro retreated to the safety of the dorms early. With the curtains around his bed closed, all the nervous chatter from the common room was cut off, and he could type out his report to Soul Society in peace. There was very little to say, so he was done quickly, and decided to meditate. Lying down, he took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts.

Frost crept through his mind, biting at the edges of his consciousness and tugging him down, down, down. Toshiro did not fight it, sensing no danger from the creeping tongues of ice. It was such a cold that he'd never felt before, purer and sharper than even the most bitter of hailstorms. It almost seemed familiar, in the way that a person once introduced and long forgotten can stir up old memories. He sank deeper, trusting the ice to lead him where it would.

He didn't know how long he was pulled down, but finally his feet touched something solid and the darkness lifted. He was in a place much like his own inner world, but more primal somehow. There were no brittle trees, no mountains of stone. There was only ice, and snow, and frozen waves of dark water swept up into looming maws teeming with jagged teeth. A wind was blowing, catching up the top layer of powdered snow and tossing it into his face. Toshiro turned his back to the wind. His eyes swept the frozen sea.

The wind ceased its assault and circled him, studying him. It pulled at his clothes, rustled his hair, brushed against his skin. It was very soft.

Finally it seemed satisfied, and pulled away. Scraping across the ground, it kicked up puffs of snow in a path. Toshiro stepped forward, following the wind.

The wind led him around several frozen waves and up a crest only to slide down the backside. Hitsugaya was sure that if his zanpakuto was not ice-based, he would have slipped and broken his neck before he got three feet.

And then he climbed up another ridge and saw her.

She was sitting – lounging, really – on a throne made entirely of ice. It was graceful and deadly, gleaming in an unseen sun.

And the woman on it… Toshiro had no words. She was beautiful, in an ethereal, unearthly sort of way. She was wearing a blue silk dress that accentuated her figure. Her hair, long and shining, curled lightly as it fell past her shoulders and framed her face. Her chin lifted slightly.

"Come," she said, and her voice seemed to echo with years untold. Toshiro took long, slow steps toward her, not understanding what was going on.

Finally he stood before her. Cold reiatsu came off her in waves, freezing the very air around her. She looked him over with silver eyes that had no pupil. "Tell me your name, prince."

Hitsugaya shook out of his stupor. "I am not a prince."

"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "Then I suppose you do not know who I am."

It was not a question, and he felt no need to answer.

"Then we shall have to rectify this situation."

She stood with all the grace of her appearance and reached out to him. He tensed, but did not move away; he could feel the raw power she contained, but did not sense that she meant him harm. Her fingers were millimeters away from his skin when he was savagely ripped away from the world of ice and hurled back into his body. Toshiro jolted and sucked in a long breath, reeling.

There was someone standing beside him, shaking his shoulder. It took him a moment to recognize the figure as Potter, wide-eyed and terrified.

"She was right, she was right," he was babbling, his voice high-pitched. "It's here, it's here."

Toshiro sat up and ran one trembling hand over his face. He clenched his hands into fists to stop the shaking. "Potter, slow down. Who was right? What is here?"

"It's the Grim! Look! The Grim!" Harry bodily hauled him out of bed to stand in front of the window. He pointed. "There!"

Toshiro followed his finger and sighed. "Potter, that is not a Grim. It is just a Hollow."

Harry pulled up short. "A H-Hollow?"

"Yes." Toshiro groaned and reached into the nightstand for a soul candy. "Stay here. I'll take care of it."

He swallowed the candy and gave his gigai orders to stay in bed. It dove under the covers and pulled the sheets over its head. Toshiro left Harry staring at it in fascination as he opened the window and stepped out. The chilled night air hit his skin and made him shiver.

Who was she? he wondered.

"What did I miss?" Hitsugaya pushed past several cheering Gryffindors with red and gold face paint.

"We're up!" Even Hermione, who was decidedly uninterested in Quidditch, was unable to sit still. "We're win – Stay on your own broom, you bastard!"

Hitsugaya's eyebrows shot up, but he held his tongue.

The sheer number of people and the intensity of their emotions in the small area of the Quidditch stands was giving off enough magical energy to attract Hollows even miles away, and Hitsugaya had spent a majority of the morning bringing down the hungry predators. As such, he had missed most of the game, though he wasn't overly concerned with that.

"Go Katie, go!" The crowd started cheering as the Gryffindor Chaser snatched up the Quaffle and zoomed across the field. The chanting disintegrated into an unintelligible roar as the girl sped around several Slytherins, ever closer to the hoops.

The game lasted for only another few minutes. With a determined look, Harry scattered the Slytherins ganging up on a Gryffindor Chaser, then made an abrupt U-turn and hurtled across the field to where Malfoy was reaching for the glittering Snitch. He knocked the other boy out of the way and waved his hand triumphantly, the sun glinting off the golden ball.

Instantly, the magical energy skyrocketed, and Toshiro winced as he felt yet another Hollow arrive, making its way swiftly to the castle. As he left to go take care of it, his phone beeped, and he took a moment to glance at the screen before holding it up to his ear.

"Captain Hitsugaya."

"We have detected an enormous spike in spiritual pressure," the Twelfth Division scientist said, getting immediately to the point. "Do you know what is causing it?"

Hitsugaya didn't answer right away, having spotted the Hollow below him. It was of low intelligence and reiatsu, and it was a simple task to slice its mask in two even with his phone in one hand. Landing on the ground, he finally responded to the officer's question. "Extreme emotions in a concentrated area."

"Caused by what?"

Hitsugaya sheathed his sword. "Sports," he replied, voice dry. There was a brief pause as the scientist on the other end mulled it over.

"Very well," was his clipped response before the connection was severed.

Tensions ran high after the Quidditch game. The weather turned warm as finals approached, beckoning to anxious students who wanted nothing more than to be outside. Instead they were stuck in the castle studying.

Hermione, being the stressed person she was, was on the verge of panicking. She had made herself a schedule of finals, and could often be found staring at it with a dazed, empty look. Books and parchment were spread out in a half-circle on the table before her, the Arithmancy textbook open with formula sheet stuck into the binding. It covered a portion of her Astronomy worksheets and a diagram that showed the relationship between time and angle.

The other students were just as stressed over their own work, and the Gryffindor common room had a much tenser atmosphere than normal. Harry and Ron, realizing just how much work they had to do in a very small time frame, were struck with the horror and self-loathing only procrastinators could know, and claimed a table from a pair of first-years to study.

Hitsugaya, meanwhile, watched all of this play out with amusement. Being not of the living world and having no stakes in his grades was a huge benefit just about now. He gave his notes a cursory glance-over, of course, to refresh his memory on the topics covered near the beginning of the year, but was relaxed about the whole thing. Hermione couldn't understand his uncaring attitude.

"How can you not be stressed?" she asked, transfiguring a crumpled paper into a ball that she then proceeded to throw at his head. He caught it easily and rolled it across the table back to her. "Do you even know how many classes we have!"

During the days leading up to finals, Hitsugaya marked a noticeable difference in Harry. He was tenser, unable to concentrate during meditation classes. His reiatsu was unstable, and fluctuated without warning whenever his emotions rose.

Now, this wouldn't normally be an issue for a Shinigami under his command. He would simply order him to train for several hours and burn off the excess reiatsu that had built up in his system. But Harry was not a Shinigami, and the best Toshiro could do was drag the boy to the Room of Requirements for an impromptu lesson the Sunday before finals week.

"I have to study!" the boy protested, dragging his feet. Hitsugaya kept a solid grip on his wrist and plowed on. "Come on, just–"

"If you don't let it out now, it will explode during finals," Hitsugaya interrupted. "Sit down and meditate. You will feel better, I promise."

Harry plopped down on a cushion and glared up at the Captain. "Don't see why this matters," he grumbled. "I haven't even been able to hear my companion."

"It often takes decades for a Shinigami to hear his zanpakuto," Hitsugaya reassured, sitting with his back against a wall. "Be patient."

Harry groaned but obeyed, straightening his spine. Hitsugaya watched him for several minutes, making sure he was doing everything correctly, before closing his eyes. He had yet to return to the frozen ocean with that woman, despite how long he meditated. He still had no idea who or what she was, or how she had gotten into his inner world without him knowing. The Twelfth Division had been just as baffled as him, though they showed it by blustering and being even more pretentious than normal.

Releasing a soft breath, Hitsugaya was opening his eyes when he felt a sudden spike in Harry's reiatsu. Looking over, he saw that the boy had gone rigid, his fingers digging into his knees. Concerned, he placed a hand on the ground to boost himself up when the reiatsu twisted.

It was and was not Potter's reiatsu, and the strange feeling made Hitsugaya freeze. It washed over his senses, making his stomach churn and a burning feeling rise in the back of his throat. The reiatsu was tainted, not in the way a Hollow's presence felt corrupted and broken, but…unnatural, bound to the pure pressure of Harry's reiatsu. The feeling made Hitsugaya gag.

But just as quickly as it came, it faded away, leaving a sickly taint to the air. He slowly reached into his pocket and took out his soul phone. He dialed and lifted it to his ear.

"Captain Hitsugaya," a surprised voice said.

"I have something you are going to want to analyze," he responded.

"Is he still-"

"Yep."

Harry sunk down in his chair and looked over the top of his book. Across the room, Toshiro appeared focused, staring at the textbook propped up on a pile of old essays, but every so often he would glance up at Harry. He did this now, and his eyes were stormy and unhappy. They quickly flicked down again.

Harry was starting to get uncomfortable. He had never seen the boy in this mood; every inch of his being was radiating a clear message for everyone to stay away. There was obviously something he was pissed at; Harry just hoped it didn't have anything to do with him.

"He's making me nervous," Ron whispered. "I can't study. I need to study. 'Mione, tell him to stop."

"Fix your own problems, Ronald. I'm not your mother."

"Thank God for that."

"Should we talk to him?" Harry asked. He really should be focusing on his own studies, but the murderous looks he was being shot were slightly distracting. "He looks like he needs a hug."

"Do you want to die?"

"Babies," Hermione muttered, and slammed her books shut. "C'mon, we need to get to class."

Ron blanched. "Yeah, I would - I would really love to get out of here, but there's a small problem."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's your own fault you haven't studied. I told you-"

"Not that!" Ron snapped. He pointed at Toshiro. "He's sitting by the door!"

Hermione glared at him for several seconds. "Babies!" she said emphatically, turned on her heel, and stalked out.

Harry and Ron stared after her. "She just left us here…" Harry said mournfully.

"And she left her schedule," Ron noted, picking up a parchment. He peered at it. "How's she going to sit for Transfiguration and Arithmancy at the same time?"

"Ron, we're in a magic school."

"What does that have to do with- Oh."

When his first exam, Transfiguration, rolled around, Hitsugaya was a tad distracted. The class was spread out all around the room with various objects on the desks in front of them. They had just completed the written portion of the exam, and McGonagall was collecting the parchments. She glanced over his and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged and scratched his nose.

Potter was sitting near the front of the room, and Hitsugaya was only half-focused on his paper. The other half was on monitoring the boy's reiatsu, and as a result he had written several answers in Japanese before realizing his mistake and crossing the characters out, squeezing his English answer in tiny script where he could. He didn't envy whoever had to grade it.

McGonagall shook her head and moved on. Throughout the next hour of practical spellwork, Hitsugaya did his best to focus, though he suspected his tortoise didn't survive its transformation. It wasn't moving, at any rate.

Arithmancy was simple, but by Charms after lunch he was getting anxious. The Twelfth Division hadn't responded with their analysis of Potter's reiatsu yet, and Hitsugaya was worried that the added stress of finals would cause it to leak. He was so tense that, when Harry closed his eyes before Charms to calm himself, Hitsugaya knocked into his shoulder to keep him from accessing his power, making him stumble.

"Hey!" Harry cried, glaring at Hitsugaya's back as he disappeared into the class. "Rude."

"Wonder what that was for," Ron mumbled as they settled into their seats.

As suspected, Flitwick tested them on Cheering Charms. Other than Harry accidentally overpowering his spell and causing Ron to have to sit out for an hour, all went smoothly.

Care of Magical Creatures was dull. Very dull. Hagrid was on the verge of tears as he spoke to the Trio about Buckbeak's upcoming execution. Hitsugaya sat apart from the others with his flobberworm, reading and checking his soul phone every few seconds. Nothing.

Snape assigned them the Confusing Concoction as their final. Even the Slytherins were tense.

They had Astronomy at midnight, History of Magic in the morning, Herbology Wednesday afternoon, and Defense Against the Dark Arts Thursday morning, where they ran through what amounted to an obstacle course filled with all the creatures they'd learned about over the year. The hinkypunk still held its grudge against Hitsugaya.

Hermione and Hitsugaya had Muggle Studies last, while Harry and Ron attended Divination. All four met in the common room, where exhausted Gryffindors were crashed on every available surface. A few were even sprawled out on the floor, not having the energy to conjure up a chair to sit on.

"That was hell," Ron said.

"Mm," they agreed.

The note from Hagrid saying that Buckbeak had lost the appeal and was set to be executed at sunset marked a low point in the evening. Being the troublemakers that they were, the Trio insisted on retrieving the Invisibility Cloak and going to see Hagrid, despite the man's express wish for them not to come. Hitsugaya shook his head and headed up to the Astronomy Tower to see if he could get better reception. Perhaps that was the problem.

But no. No reply.

The three came back just after sunset, looking lost and dazed. Hitsugaya looked up from the report he was typing. "They let you stay?" he asked incredulously. Hermione shook her head and answered once it became clear the other two weren't going to say anything.

"Hagrid got us out the back. We didn't see...we heard…"

"They killed him," Harry put in suddenly. "How could they kill him? He didn't do anything!"

Well, technically… Deciding not to voice that thought, Hitsugaya tapped 'send' and closed his phone. "Politics, Potter," he said. "It doesn't matter that it was Malfoy's fault in the first place. What matters is that his father is influential and Hagrid is not. That is all."

He climbed the stairs to the dormitory, leaving behind three angry children.

The end of exams meant freedom for all students. The Hogsmeade visit was taken full advantage of by the students able to attend. Ron and Hermione didn't feel like going, what with Buckbeak's execution still weighing heavily on their minds, and Harry didn't want to go, even if he could. They decided to wander the grounds in search of some peace. Toshiro stayed inside, seeking shelter from the heat. He walked past a group of second-year Slytherins when he overheard part of their conversation.

"...a werewolf, though! How was he even allowed to come here?"

"Didn't think they were real…"

"Wonder if he bit anyone, that's why he's fired."

"Think fairies are real, too?"

Hitsugaya immediately redirected his steps. There was only one person they could be talking about.

Professor Lupin was packing when he arrived. The door was standing open, so the Captain leaned against the frame for a moment, taking in the bare walls and drained tank where the grindylow used to be.

"You don't seem surprised," Lupin said suddenly, and turned around. He was holding the Marauder's Map in one hand, while the other was using his wand to direct instruments and odd objects into his suitcases.

"I am not surprised that your secret was revealed, I am just unsure how," Hitsugaya replied. Lupin sighed and set the map down on his desk.

"It got leaked from the Ministry. Apparently someone from the trial talked." He made a face. "And then Snape told the Slytherins."

"That is unfortunate," Hitsugaya agreed. He tilted his head and watched Lupin manually wrap a transparent orb in paper before sliding it carefully into a briefcase. "You were a good teacher."

Lupin looked up in surprise. "Really? I always got the impression you didn't care overly much."

"I've been told that." Hitsugaya was silent for several seconds, only to hear footsteps rapidly coming closer. He stepped smoothly to the side so that Harry didn't run headlong into him, and the boy instead skidded into the office, out of breath.

"You can't go!" he cried. "You're the best teacher we've ever had!"

As Lupin smiled kindly and replied, Hitsugaya slipped out of the office unnoticed.

The last week before end of term was largely useless and boring, other than the fact that Harry received a letter from Sirius Black informing him that he no longer had to stay with the mind healers and could go home. His offer to have Harry live with him still stood, though apparently he would have to clean up his home first and get the legal approval to transfer guardianship from the Dursley's. Meaning that Harry would still have to live with them for the summer.

This news simultaneously cheered up and depressed the boy. He had expected to live with Sirius that summer, but the idea of only being with the Dursley's for a few more months made him ecstatic.

Largely helped by their Quidditch season, Gryffindor managed to win the House Cup. The feast was rowdy, especially so since grades came out just a few hours before, and the Trio realized that they'd passed everything, even Potions.

During the train ride back, Hermione told them she was dropping Muggle Studies and would once again have a normal schedule. When asked if he would do the same, Hitsugaya gave a noncommittal answer and stared out the window. The others seemed to sense his mood and left him mostly alone, playing Exploding Snap on the other side of the compartment.

The night before, Hitsugaya had finally gotten a response. Effective immediately, he was no longer assigned to this mission. It was deemed too dangerous for the wizards to be exposed to any more of his reiatsu. From now on, the Wizarding World would be observed by the Stealth Force.

Toshiro didn't know how to feel about this. In some strange, twisted irony, he had come to like Hogwarts. It was very peaceful there, providing a safe haven from the stress and tension of Soul Society. And yet, he was looking forward to being a Captain once more, and going back to his normal duties. Hyourinmaru wasn't much help with sorting through his emotions, so he ended up watching the scenery fly by the whole trip.

When the train arrived at the station, Hitsugaya waited for the first wave of students to die out before getting off. The Trio was in line to leave into the Muggle station, so he joined them. Ron was telling Harry about the Quidditch game during the summer that his father had managed to get tickets for, and turned to Hitsugaya.

"It's going to be great! We're up at the very top, with the Minister, and we'll have the best view! You'll-" He broke off very suddenly, staring at the Captain. "You are going, aren't you?"

Hitsugaya couldn't meet any of their eyes. Instead, he watched the line ahead. "No," he replied. The Trio exploded.

"What?! Why?"

"You're not going?!"

"I'm going, and I don't even care about Quidditch!"

"C'mon, you have to go!" Ron protested loudly. "It's the World Cup! You can't miss it!"

Hitsugaya sighed. "I don't have a choice. I'm going back to Japan. I'm not coming back to Hogwarts."

They stared at him. "You're not…"

"But why?"

"I'm a transfer, remember? This was always temporary."

"But...you can't."

"I don't have a choice in the matter."

The wizard waved them through, and once on the other side of the brick wall, they moved over to the side. The Weasley's were several feet away, talking to Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny, and the Dursley's were huddled together as far from the barrier as they could get and still be within eyeshot. To Hitsugaya's surprise, Matsumoto was standing off to the side, looking as perky as usual. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, and started making her way over. Hitsugaya turned quickly back to the group.

"I apologize for the suddenness, but I have to go."

Matsumoto reached them then, but surprisingly refrained from suffocating him in her chest, seeing the group's low mood. "All ready to go?" she asked.

"Ready." Hitsugaya nodded a goodbye and turned away.

"Wait!"

Hermione was suddenly hugging him tightly. "You don't just get to go without a hug," she said. Hitsugaya was going to protest, but then he heard the waver in her voice and saw how suspiciously bright her eyes were. He sighed and relented, putting one arm around her in a sort of hug before backing away.

"Yeah, where'd you think you're going?" Ron came up and punched his shoulder. "Maybe we'll go and visit you in Japan sometime."

"Maybe."

Harry lifted his hand awkwardly, to do what Hitsugaya suspected even the boy didn't know. It dropped to his side. "We'll miss you," he said. Hitsugaya regarded him for a moment before nodding.

"Keep working on your control. Perhaps it will be of use to you one day."

"Yeah," Harry grinned. "Doubt You-Know-Who'll be expecting that!"

"Goodbye." Hitsugaya walked away, and this time no one stopped him.

"Here we are, just as you left it." Matsumoto slid open the office door. Hitsugaya walked in, pleasantly surprised to find that it was clean, without paperwork or sake bottles strewn all over.

"The Division's all in order," his Vice-Captain continued, going over to her desk to pick up a folder. "We got fewer new recruits this year than normal, but that's to be expected, with you gone for so long. Everything else is normal, though."

Hitsugaya gave the folder only a quick glance before setting it on his desk. He placed Hyourinmaru on its stand, then went outside to the railing. It overlooked the courtyard, and he could see the Division's Shinigami milling about. They had greeted him when he first walked through the doors, and now things were settling down.

Matsumoto leaned up against the rail next to him. She said nothing, even though he could see that she was full to the brim with questions. But thankfully, she kept silent.

A sudden boom made them both jump. Across the courtyard, Shinigami started streaming out of the kitchens, coughing and waving their hands to clear the smoke that was drifting out of the doors and windows. A seated officer went up to a group of what were obviously new recruits, coughing.

"You idiots! Don't you - cough - know not to use Ki - cough - do indoors?"

Hitsugaya smirked. "Yup. Everything's back to normal."

So, I had this whole, sappy author's note that I wrote first, but then I decided to get rid of it. So, here's the news: This story is done. As you probably noticed. It will also be receiving a massive, massive overhaul. I'll keep this one up, but I will be writing and posting a redone version, starting in fourth or fifth year.

Also, I have an idea of a scene where Hitsugaya comes back during the final battle of Hogwarts for soul burials. Might post it. We'll see.

So, yeah. Thank you all for staying with the story, and I hope you'll come back to check out the new one. It'll be up...sometime.