Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Bleach, and I'm writing this purely for entertainment purposes. No harm intended, no profit made.

Warning: This chapter contains a brief slash reference! (That means a male/male pairing.)

…..

Chapter 3:

At first, Sarah Fawcett thought that the two New Ravenclaws were brother and sister. They were both skinny and serious-looking. They both nudged their glasses up in the same way when they were annoyed. They had similar hairstyles and got matching high scores on every assignment.

Nanao Ise and Uryuu Ishida were certainly similar, but it turned out that they were not siblings. Sarah didn't like either of them.

Ise was pretty but not vain about it, and what was the point of being a pretty girl if you weren't going to be vain? Ishida was also pretty, but had no interest in Sarah Fawcett, and what was the point of being a pretty boy if you weren't going to fall for a pretty, vain girl?

She wasn't overly fond of the Blond either, but the other girls in Ravenclaw liked him a great deal. He was called Izuru Kira. At least he, unlike Ishida, was gracious enough to blush when Sarah flipped her hair, batted her eyelashes, and leaned too close.

One week in, skinny, speccy, pretty Ise tried to start a Hogwarts Witches' Association. At the same time, Ishida opted for an Arts and Crafts Club. There was only room enough for one more student-run organization, and Ise got turned down by the teachers in charge. Sarah suspected it was partly because Trelawny had a crush on Ishida, the old hag.

"I'm sorry, Ise," said Professor Flitwick, when he announced the results of the vote to the Ravenclaws. "If it's any consolation, both Professor McGonagall and I voted for the Witches' Association. Ahem, no offense, Ishida. There's nothing wrong with Arts and Crafts, mind."

Ishida scowled a bit.

After that, Nanao Ise nurtured a bit of a grudge against Ishida. Her blue eyes narrowed whenever he passed her in the hallways, as if she would nick him with her stare, and she worked even harder in her classes in order to score higher than him.

Often, Sarah found them bickering over who found which book first in the library, or who had the rights to the empty sofa in the Common Room.

However, Ise's revenge came when hardly anyone signed up for the Arts and Crafts Club. As it turned out, nobody wanted to attend a club that met on Friday afternoons, when classes were done and the sun was still out.

"No one showed again, huh, Ishida?" snickered Terry Boot during dinner on a Friday night.

Ishida glared into his sprouts. "For your information, Boot,-"

"I showed," Loony Lovegood piped up, and both Terry Boot and Michael Corner snickered.

Sarah felt a bit sorry for Ishida, then. In her heart, she even half-forgave him for not flirting with her. Imagine, having Loony Lovegood as your only supporter…

Next Friday, she ditched her friends and went to the Arts and Crafts Club instead. Out of generosity, of course.

It was being held in an empty classroom, and there were pitifully few people there. Lovegood was sitting in one corner with an odd-looking stuffed animal that she had charmed to walk and make snuffling noises. Hermione Granger was there, knitting a lumpy-looking… thing. There was that new Gryffindor girl, Orihime Inoue, who was drawing a picture while chattering to Lovegood.

Ishida himself was sitting near the window, embroidering something pink and frilly.

"Look!" chirped Inoue, holding up her brightly colored illustration. It looked like a cross between a rhino and sword-wielding automaton. "Does this look about right, Luna?"

"Crumple-Horned Snorkacks aren't pink," Lovegood replied indulgently. "And they're very peaceful creatures, so it wouldn't be using a sword either."

"Well, I like it. Look, Uryuu, it's a Crumpet-Horned Snorlax!"

"That's nice," said Ishida. He looked up from his frills and noticed Sarah. "You're late, Fawcett. You missed the Club Announcements." His eyes didn't light up at the sight of her, like she thought they would. In fact, he looked like he always did: slightly grouchy.

Sarah tossed her curls over her left shoulder and placed her hand on the curve of her hip. "Hmph. I only came to see what your club was all about. I wasn't going to stay or anything."

"No, please stay!" said Orihime, smiling brightly. "We're happy to have you. It's a lot of fun, and we have so few members anyway-"

"So, what did you bring to work on?" Ishida interrupted loudly.

"Er, I didn't really think to bring anything," said Sarah.

He huffed in annoyance, but Orihime presented Sarah with crisp sheets of paper and a fistful of crayons.

"Here, you can share these. Wanna help me draw Crumple-Bummed S'moresnacks?"

"Crumple-Horned Snorkacks," Lovegood corrected in her lilting voice. She twirled her wand, making her plushie dance on its stubby legs.

For the next half hour, Sarah doodled aimlessly, wishing she were catching up on gossip with her friends, instead. Orihime drew three new pictures, Loony Lovegood charmed her stuffed Crumple-Horned Snorkack to turn cartwheels, Granger knitted her thumbs together and had to be extricated, and Ishida's project turned out to be a doll's dress.

"I'm going now," Lovegood announced abruptly, standing up. She tucked her plushie into a pocket.

"What's the matter, Luna?" asked Granger. "You don't look so well."

"Headache. The air feels so heavy today. Must be the Wrackspurts. Goodbye, everyone."

She left, looking a bit pale.

Sarah sighed and considered claiming a Wrackspurt attack as well, so she could leave, but then jumped when Ishida stood up so fast his seat nearly toppled over. The needle fell from his fingers.

"Orihime!" he whispered urgently.

"I know," she said, her cheery mood gone. "I can feel it too. It's close by."

"What? What's close?" asked Granger, looking back and forth between them.

"Oh, nothing!" Orihime said, smiling widely again. She hopped out of her seat and over to Granger. "Let's go back to Gryffindor Tower together, Hermione. It's getting late and I can't wait to start that Charms homework. Boy, am I hungry! I hope there's something good for dinner tonight, haha, but what am I saying, it's always good. Let's go, let's go!"

"But I'm not finished yet," Granger protested weakly, as Orihime linked arms with her and started pulling her up.

"I hope there's pudding tonight, 'cause I love pudding. Oh, have you started on your Potions essay yet, Hermione? I've just started yesterday and it's soooo hard…"

She led Granger out the door, still protesting.

"What's wrong with her?" Sarah wondered.

"Fawcett, we have to go," said Ishida, stuffing his things into his bag.

"Go where? Why?"

"Umm, I-I want to walk you back to your room!" he declared, red-faced.

"Oh, how nice!" said Sarah, feeling as if coming to the Arts and Crafts Club was worth it after all. She patted her hair down before following him out the door.

As they walked down the hall towards the staircase that would take them to Ravenclaw Tower, she made sure to give him her best smile. She was a bit disappointed when he didn't smile back. He didn't flush and try to touch her arm either, like Michael Stebbins did back in Fourth Year. Poor Stumbling Stebbins.

But Ishida obviously liked her, didn't he? Why else would he be walking so close?

And then, she felt it.

There was a strange, unpleasant heaviness in the air. In fact, it had been there all along, but she hadn't noticed until now. Wrackspurts? Could it be?

Ishida had his head tilted up as he walked, eyes wide. His nose was in the air, as if feeling for something invisible, something just out of reach.

He walked quickly, as if he didn't actually want to spend time with her, and she had to trot to keep up with him. As soon as he saw her into the Common Room, he turned around and left Ravenclaw Tower.

Sarah gritted her teeth, feeling snubbed. Secretly, she un-forgave him and vowed never to go back to Arts and Crafts Club again. After all, lipstick was more interesting than embroidery.

But that night, she felt it again, the heaviness in the air. It was somehow different than before, not quite as unpleasant. There was a constant pressure against her chest, like invisible fingers closing around her heart. It was very faint, but woke her up all the same, so that she rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. Her temples ached.

Her mind was still fuzzy with sleep, so that when she turned her head to Nanao Ise's side of the room, she wasn't sure if it was real or a dream.

She thought she saw Ise sitting up in bed. From across the room, Sarah thought she saw that Ise's wand was broken, and that Ise was holding the two pieces in her hands. Sarah thought she saw Ise lay the pieces on the bedspread, then hold her hand over them.

Without a whispered spell, broken wand halves fused seamlessly together.

At once, the Feeling disappeared. The strange pressure was lifted from her chest, as if it had been sealed up within Ise's wand. It was as if it wasn't a wand at all, because Sarah knew that a broken wand couldn't be fixed so easily. It was like a vessel for something else. Dark Magic? Strange.

Sarah saw Ise sigh and twirl the wand idly between two fingers. The odd, blue glow disappeared. Soon after, Sarah heard the click as Ise put away her glasses. A slump and a rustle of sheets followed.

Sarah continued to stare into the darkness, wondering if she was dreaming. She didn't realize she had dozed off until her forehead touched her knee because she was hunching over so far.

The next day, Sarah felt groggy and achy. Her breakfast cornflakes tasted terrible and she couldn't seem to concentrate.

"Guess what happened?" Lisa Turpin said that afternoon, when she arrived in the Common Room after classes. Her cheeks were pink from running up all those stairs.

"What?"

"The Speccy Girl joined the Gobstones Club."

"You mean Ise?"

"Yeah, and not just Ise. A bunch of those New students just signed up today. A whole gang of them. I think they were all friends before they came to Hogwarts. You know that Kurotsuchi girl in Hufflepuff? She's actually pretty good."

"Oooh, I know her. Strange one, almost never speaks. Who else?"

"The Kotetsu sisters from Gryffindor. That Kuchiki girl and the tall, busty one who's always getting into trouble. Ugh, and that Creepy Slytherin Girl, Fon."

Over the next few weeks, Sarah found out through Lisa that Nanao Ise had risen through the ranks of the Gobstones Club, using a combination of administrative skills and talent. Apparently, Ise had refused to give up when the Arts and Crafts Club was picked over the Witches' Association. So, instead of forming her own club, she infiltrated another.

In three weeks, she held the proud title of Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Club. Nemu Kurotsuchi became the best player and was her second in command.

"Today, we talked about whether the Gobstones should have cuter designs," said Lisa, plopping down on one of the Common Room sofas. It was a cold, blustery day and Little Lisa was bundled up in big pink jumper. She hadn't bothered to remove her large pink earmuffs yet, and looked rather like a puff of candyfloss.

"Cuter designs?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, you know. Like with animal faces painted on. Rukia Kuchiki wanted rabbits and Susan Bones voted for pandas. It was fun. Then we talked about which hair products are best for removing the Gobstones' gunk, whether the rules of the game are unfair to Witches, and how much gender discrimination there is in professional leagues."

The next week, it was a discussion on if the Gobstones Club members should wear color-coordinated badges, how the cut of the Hogwarts girls' uniforms should be prettier, whether there should be more girls' lavatories on the third floor, and the final vote on customized animal-faced Gobstones. Only the last 15 minutes were devoted to actually Gobstones playing.

"We even got candy!" said Lisa. Her pocket was bulging with sweets. "The Club's more fun now that Nanao's taken over. Some of the boys left, though, said it was boring."

"Hmm," said Sarah absentmindedly. She was braiding her hair into a new style in front of the mirror. "You shouldn't eat all those. It'll make you fat."

Lisa ignored her and unwrapped one of the chocolates. "Guess what else happened? Rangiku Matsumoto – that's the busty one – threatened to beat up on one of the second years today! He knocked one of her stones out and she got completely sprayedwith ooze. She was so angry and-"

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" shrieked Sarah. "That's disgusting!" She threw a pillow.

"Did you hear, did you hear?" Padma Patil whispered to her later that night, at dinner. "Izuru Kira's family is nobility, where he comes from!"

"Is it really true?" said Lisa, gasping and then giggling.

"How'd you find out anyway?" said Sarah.

"Well, first Terry told Rose from Hufflepuff, who told Susan Bones, who told Cho and Marietta, who told Mandy. Then Su overheard them whispering about it, then she told Parvati who passed it on to me that Terry Boot overheard Professor Slughorn talking to Kira about it after Potions Class."

"Ooooh, so he's a nobleman?" said Lisa, giggling again. "And he's good-looking. No wonder all the girls here like him. Did you know that Cho's boyfriend threw a tantrum when he caught her mooning over Kira the other day?"

"Psh," said Sarah. "Michael's just a jealous prat. I suppose Slughorn's gone and recruited Kira for that club of his, then?"

Padma nodded. "And he's been invited to that Christmas party too. I wonder who he'll take to go with him?"

"Sarah, you should ask him to be your boyfriend!" said Lisa. "Then he'll take you to the party for sure. You're one of the prettiest girls in Ravenclaw, so you've got the best chance."

Well, that was true enough. Sarah sat up straighter and fluffed her hair.

The next day, she dropped her books on the floor outside of Charms class. Izuru Kira picked them up for her and she took the opportunity to smile and thrust her chest towards him. He turned quite red, but carried her books for her to the next class.

She later asked him out for a Butterbeer on the next Hogsmeade weekend, but he turned red again and declined.

"Er, I've actually got a date… I mean lunch! I've got to go to lunch! With a friend. Three Broomsticks."

She chaffed at his rejection, but he was nice enough to keep carrying her books whenever she had a lot of them. And she made sure to carry a lot of them whenever he was around.

Izuru Kira was quiet and didn't spend much time with his fellow Ravenclaws. He did his homework as soon as it was assigned and Sarah always saw him double checking it in the library. His voice was soft and he didn't have a temper, like most boys their age did.

Sarah noticed that he hung around Shuuhei Hisagi from Hufflepuff, and sometimes Renji Abarai from Gryffindor. He liked to read books about Quidditch and preferred tea to coffee in the mornings.

While Ise and Ishida became leaders of their own clubs, Izuru obtained his own fan club of sorts, though he was hardly aware of it. Half of the Ravenclaw girls were already enchanted with his supposed good looks, and when word got out that he was nobility, his popularity rose even higher.

Even Mandy Brocklehurst, who was obsessed with Harry Potter, took some time to flutter her lashes in Kira's direction.

The attention embarrassed him, but he never complained.

When they found out that he wrote poetry, his popularity rose higher yet.

"I wonder if he writes love poems," sighed Lisa. "Wouldn't that be romantic? By the way, Sarah, are you his girlfriend yet?"

"I'm working on it," said Sarah.

The next day, however, several girls lost interest when they found out that Kira submitted a haiku to be published in the Quibbler.

"No matter!" the rest of them declared. "At least he's still handsome."

Sarah didn't quite agree. Kira's face was too pointy and his complexion was pasty. But if he was what other girls wanted, then he was what she wanted.

She managed to wheedle him into tutoring her for Arithmancy each Tuesday. She flirted and teased. She acted pretty and vain and pretended she wasn't smart, just so she could lean closer when he showed her how to do her homework.

He blushed and stammered and spilled ink on the cuffs of his shirt. Just as a normal boy should. She liked that.

"So, have you decided who you'll take to Slughorn's Christmas party?" Sarah asked one Tuesday. She leaned her chin on the back of her hand, so that her bangs fell across her forehead. She smiled with her mouth open, so he could see her white teeth.

"Ahh, well… you see, the thing is-"

"Oi! Stop flirting with my boyfriend, you!"

Rangiku Matsumoto arrived in a tornado of sunset-colored hair, ink-stained fingers, and flailing arms. She hugged Kira to her chest before he could react and squeezed him until he went purple.

"Isn't it obvious?" she squealed. "He loves me and he's taking me to the Christmas party. So keep your paws off!" She ruffled Kira's hair and smirked.

Sarah frowned. Matsumoto's eyes were bluer and bigger than hers. The New Girl's hair was thicker, her chest was fuller.

"Stop that!" Kira protested weakly, pushing her off as best as he could. "I'm not your boyfriend, Rangiku."

"Aww, don't say that, my sweet, darling-"

"I'm not your boyfriend!"

"Oh, come on. You could be my boyfriend for a little while, just until after the Christmas party!"

"No."

"But I wanna go! You'll take me, won't you? Pleeeeeeease?"

She wrapped him up in her arms again, pushing her bosom into the side of his face. Kira struggled for breath.

"You're too loud," said Ishida, who was reading at the next table over. "You're lucky Madam Pince stepped out for the moment, or she'd have your head. Can't you see people are trying to study here? Go flirt somewhere else."

"You're just jealous that Izuru here is getting all the attention," Matsumoto said cheerfully, flapping her hand in his direction.

"I was invited to that stupid party too, you know. You don't see me making a big fuss about it," Ishida muttered, and flipped a page.

Matsumoto gasped exaggeratedly. She released Kira and lunged for Ishida instead. "My sweet, darling-!"

"Don't even think about it. Even if I didn't already have a date, I wouldn't invite you."

"Whaaaat?" she gasped, clasping her hands over her heart as if she were about to faint. "You have a date? Who? Who is it?"

"None of your business!"

"Tell me! Or I'll tell everyone in Gryffindor that you've asked Trelawny and she turned you down!"

"You're so irritating!"

"Just tell me!"

Ishida's buried his face in his book. "It's Nanumph."

"Nanao? No waaaay! Wait'll I tell-"

"No yelling in the library!" shrieked Madam Pince, suddenly appearing. She stalked towards them, wielding her wand like a switch.

Mastsumoto let out a comical-sounding wail and ran for it. Kira sighed, red-faced, as she swept out of the library.

"Well, then," said Sarah, a bit shortly. "Have you found a guest to take to the Christmas party?"

"S-sorry," he replied, stumbling in his haste to get up. "I have to go to the toilet."

Sarah moped for the rest of that Tuesday.

The day for the Slughorn's party drew nearer. There was still no invitation from Kira, for Sarah or any of the other girls. There was some pleasure, though, when Sarah heard that he hadn't invited Rangiku Matsumoto either.

Early holiday packages came by owl mail, filled with chocolates and jumpers. Little Lisa walked around bundled in red and yellow wool, and carried a new Gobstones set.

Kira was plied with boxes of sweets from his admirers. Sarah wondered what he did with all of it, since she never saw him eating the stuff.

Ise and Ishida bickered and bickered, but there was less bite to it than there was at the beginning of the year.

Two days before the Christmas party, Sarah woke up in the middle of the night, remembering that she had left her bag in the Great Hall. It was after curfew, but she needed the cosmetics in her bag before she could go to classes the next morning.

She wrapped herself up in a scarf and snuck out of the Ravenclaw dorms in her socks. The floors were cold and she shivered.

Sneaking her way down the staircase, she managed to escape being caught by either Mr. Filch or any of the other teachers. She retrieved her bag, but was unable to go back the way she came, because she spied the caretaker puttering about.

Quickly, she snuck through the halls, her footsteps muffled. There was another way to reach the spiral staircase, but she needed to walk twice as long. In the near dark, she passed by suits of armor and empty classrooms, then received quite a shock when she saw the glint of pale blond hair disappearing into one of the classrooms.

Izuru Kira was apparently sneaking around, just like her. He hadn't noticed her yet. Curiosity got the better of her and she followed him, staying near the walls. A quick glance behind her confirmed that Filch was coming their way, but he was far back enough that she could easily outrun him.

Pulling her scarf up to her nose, she peeked in, wondering if Kira was meeting with some girl.

He wasn't meeting with a girl, but with Shuuhei Hisagi from Hufflepuff.

Sarah Fawcett wasn't an overly vindictive girl, but even she had her limits. And besides, if she had been caught snogging with Michael Stebbins in Fourth Year, there was no reason Kira deserved to escape unscathed.

So, she set fire to the seat of Hisagi's trousers (a beacon in the dark for Filch) and ran for it.

….

Notes: Thank you all so much for reading! Please review and let me know what you think!