Summary: Grimmjow, a half-veela, will do just about anything to mate with his long-time rival, a certain orange-haired Gryffindor. GrimmIchi, yaoi

Warnings: Yaoi, sexual content later on (involving minors), language, occult themes, angst, and slight violence.

Epoximise

Prologue: Ivory

On that day in Diagon Alley, it was bright and warm, one of those days that make you feel like everything is right with the world, and so it was for a mother and her young son, walking through the crowded streets as if the throng of people parted just for them. There were stares and whispers sent their way, some eyes wide in outright appreciation, others narrowed in distaste.

Rangiku Jaegerjaques was all used to this, of course. Such reactions from people had followed her her entire life like a shadow, and while some of it had attributed to her happiness as she loved being in the spotlight, she couldn't deny that she was tired of the spectacle that happened every time she left Jaegerjaques Manor. Not to mention the fact that she was more than slightly agitated by how the crowd was obviously bothering her six year-old son, whom clung to her robes like it was a lifeline.

She rested an assuring hand on the boy's bright blue head of hair and he immediately raised his face to look at her with big, child-like eyes that were several shades a darker blue than her own aquamarine.

"Mother, why is everyone staring at us?" he whispered in such an innocent way that it pulled on Rangiku's heartstrings. Honestly, she must have tried a thousand different times to get her son to call her 'mummy' or 'mum', but the boy's father was incredibly strict when it came to speaking properly. Such was the Pureblood way of life, though her husband had had no qualms about marrying her despite his family's outrage at him sullying the bloodline by "breeding with such a thing."

"Because they find us interesting, dearheart," she responded as they continued to head towards their destination of Flourish & Blott's, threading her finger's through her son's hair. The strawberry blonde woman felt a tug at her robes once more and looked down to see the blue-haired boy was frowning heavily.

He frowned far too much for a child.

"It's my hair, isn't it?" he asked as if he already knew the answer and Rangiku felt immediately scandalized. She knew her son was sometimes treated differently because of whom his parents were, but she had barely even given thought to the fact the young boy might feel ostracized because of his unusual hair color.

A scowl marring her ethereally beautiful face, Rangiku stopped walking then and there to kneel down in order to bring herself eye-level with her son, looking into the cobalt blue orbs that swirled with rejection. To see her child in such a way nearly broke her heart into a million different pieces.

"Now you listen to me Grimmjow Ambricus Willhelm Berinhard Jaegerjaques, your blue hair comes from your ancestry on my side and it is rare and beautiful and the people who speak ill of it are envious of you," she said passionately, placing her hands on her son's shoulders. Perhaps her words were too lofty for a mere child to understand but she felt her mission was accomplished when Grimmjow's frown lessened and his expression took on that of a more curious one.

"Ancestry?" he questioned even as his mother stood up to her full height, taking his smaller hand into his. Rangiku knew the smart little boy knew what the word meant, but he was obviously puzzled as to what his mother could mean by her family's ancestry, when she wasn't a Pureblooded witch.

In fact, she wasn't technically a witch at all.

"Yes, dearheart," Rangiku used the affectionate nickname she had used for her only child ever since the day he was born. "My veela ancestry."

"Oh," was all Grimmjow had to say to that, but the woman couldn't blame him one bit. He had always been uncomfortable with the fact that his mother was a full-blooded veela, and how that in turn made him half-veela. And with reason as well, in the eyes of the Purebloods that little Grimmjow regularly associated with veelas were magical creatures and no better than an animal. A repulsive viewpoint to have, but her poor son didn't know any better.

And that was why she was taking him to Flourish & Blott's that day.

As she had been speaking with veela elders the month prior, they had revealed to her that there was an ancient text in the bookstore's storeroom that contained all the information one could ever need to know about a veela. Though being a full veela she had no use for this, but she was sure her son would need it someday.

Being a veela was never an easy thing, despite the beauty and power being one gave you. And anything Rangiku could do to make her son feel more comfortable with the part of him that was veela and would call for him to do things wizards would never think to do, she would do it.

The mother and son walked right up to the crowded entryway of the bookstore and just as expected, there was a part in the cluster of people that allowed them to slip right through, eyes glued to them as they walked by. Rangiku knew most of them looked because of her and her son's veela allure, though she wore a light glamour in order to conceal most of her's. However, she knew some of them outright stared in revulsion at the "creature" that had dared to marry the only male heir to the Jaegerjaques bloodline, an ancient and noble Pureblood family.

She shielded her son the best she could from the onlookers, cradling his head against her side even as his bright sapphire eyes took in the store around him, wonder filling him at the sheer amount of books in the place whose number must have rivaled the number of those in the library back at home in the manor.

Rangiku escorted her son to the back of the bookstore where a single clerk was standing behind an antique, mahogany desk. The clerk raised his head from where he had been busy writing away with a long-feathered quill to the stunningly beautiful woman before him and struggled to keep his mouth closed and not drop at her sheer magnificence.

"Hello, I am Rangiku Jaegerjaques. I believe the book I ordered should have arrived today?" she greeted, her full lips parting into a winning smile that had the clerk sputtering and nearly knocking over his ink jar in his haste to find her order on his desk.

"Yes, yes! It's right here," he stuttered, picking up with both hands a very heavy and ancient book bound in worn leather and faded gold lettering on the front, wrapped in fine rice paper. Rangiku's eyes glittered with excitement as she nearly ripped the book from the clerk's hands despite his warnings that the text was very fragile, being so old.

She used one perfectly manicured fingernail to slice through the rice paper and reveal the cover with its ancient gold script, the title first in English and then in a language you would never be able to understand unless you were of veela descent. Crouching down, she showed the ancient book to her son, whom was looking at it with eager eyes.

"The Cryptic and Beautiful Veela," he read aloud, stumbling over the second word. "Mother, what does 'cryptic' mean?"

"Mysterious or secretive," Rangiku replied, flipping the cover over to see the title page that held a beautiful illustration of a heavenly, winged veela flying in the sky above a male wizard whom looked up to her with an enraptured expression, both reaching for each other for a desperate embrace. It had been charmed to move at some point but the spell had worn with age and all that remained was the veela's bird-like wings fluttering a bit.

"That doesn't sound like you," Grimmjow observed, another frown already passing over his face. His mother only chuckled at her son's precociousness but before she could answer, the boy was pointing to the charmed illustration. "Mother, why are they reaching for other?"

"Because they love each other, dearheart."

"Like how you and Father love each other?" the boy asked, his fingers tracing over the illustration, lingering over the veela's wings.

"Yes, Grimmjow. They and your Father and I are Mates," Rangiku explained, looking up to her son's face to see him wrinkle his nose in bewilderment.

"Mates?" Grimmjow's single-word question had a bit of derision in it and Rangiku sighed, dreading to have to explain the concept of Mates to a six year-old child.

"When you get older, much, much older, Grimmjow, you will find someone you will want to be with for the rest of your life and your veela side will call to you to bond the two of you together. They will be your Mate," Rangiku simplified the idea as best she could, not even thinking of going into great detail about just what kind of things the veela mating ritual involved. In her eyes, Grimmjow would probably never be old enough to hear about that, not even when he reached his one hundred and thirty-first birthday.

"But..." Grimmjow bit his lip, obviously thinking hard about the subject. "But how will I know?"

"Trust me, dearheart," Rangiku laughed gaily, resting her hand atop her son's turquoise locks of hair, a rare color even for a veela. "Trust me, you'll know."

"If you say so, Mother," Grimmjow said with a hint of petulance, apparently not liking the subject of any possible future Mating so much anymore. Rangiku just rolled her eyes and raised herself to full height once more before tucking the already purchased book under her arm. She took her son's hand firmly in, despite his protests that he was much too old for handholding.

"Come now, darling. We can go look at brooms now, since you've only been pestering me about it for the last three weeks."

"Yes!" Grimmjow shouted in glee, jumping into the air and temporarily forgetting his status as a Pureblood heir and the fact that his father would have a coronary if he ever saw his only son acting in such a way in public, even though the blunette boy was just his excitement, he barrelled down the aisle of books, dragging his mother along and didn't see the small orange-haired boy that was right in his path.

They were headed for a head-on collision from the very start, the other boy not paying attention as he looked up at his own mother as he held up a book in his hands. Grimmjow was just too ecstatic at the prospect of getting his first ever broomstick that he just didn't notice until he forcefully collided with the boy, sending them both sprawling onto the floor.

The blue-haired child groaned, rubbing his forehead where it had knocked into the other's and sat up, immediately locking gazes with teary fawn brown eyes, freezing on the spot as if enchanted to be turned into stone.

"Oh my, I am just so sorry!" Rangiku exclaimed, picking her son bodily up off of the floor, running her hands over him even as she spoke to the mother of the orange-haired boy, whom had also been been swept into the arms of his mother.

"That's quite alright, no harm done. Isn't that right, tenshi?" the other woman said, directing the question to her son, whom immediately scrambled out of her arms to hide behind her, looking from behind her legs to Grimmjow with a somewhat frightened expression. Not that anyone could blame the poor thing, the blue-haired boy was staring at him as if he just sprouted horns.

Rangiku smiled and nodded at the woman, glad for a nice enough person that could see that it had just been an accident. Besides that, the woman didn't stare at her openly like most did, instead all of her attention was focused on her own son, whom, Rangiku noticed, had hair just as brightly colored as her Grimmjow's.

After saying some hurried good-byes, the veela grasped her son by his collar and nearly dragged him out the store, not even noticing that Grimmjow's gaze remained behind them, completely devoted to the orange-haired boy that stared right back at him from behind his mother's legs.

But this was all a very long time ago and no one remembers such small things.

Or do they?

Chapter One: Scarlet

Ichigo Kurosaki was in the Great Hall for the second time that day, but it wasn't because it was finally time to dig into his favorite steak and kidney pudding for lunch after a particularly grueling double period of Potions (a torturous experience if there was one, considering the Potions Master absolutely loathed him and seemed to find great delight in making those four hours pure misery for the poor boy.)

No, that wasn't it at all, but he couldn't deny that it was just as exciting. In fact, it was decidedly more so, because it was finally the time of year when the Duelling Club started up again and that day was the very first meeting with all of the Houses' teams, the one where he would at last be introduced as the Captain of Gryffindor's house team.

The Great Hall had been set up in the usual club tradition, the tables all gone from the massive room leaving it almost empty except for the long platform in the center, raised about five or so feet above the ground. The ceiling above was reflective of the brisk autumn day outside, the sun deceptively bright and the blue of the sky luminescent, with not a cloud to mar it.

Students from all of the different houses and years were gathered around the platform, whispering to each other about the upcoming meeting and presumably other things typical of teenagers. In the far right corner Ichigo spotted a group of seventh-year Slytherins, noticing among them a head of bright blue hair. A deeply-seated scowl immediately replaced his indifferent expression, nearly ruining the lovely features of his handsome face.

"Psst, Ichi, over here~!"

The orangette's eyes snapped away from the unwelcome blue-haired head to see a near-perfect copy of himself leaning against the platform. The only difference between Ichigo and his twin brother, Shiro, was that the former had been born an albino and therefore had been accursed (or blessed, depending on whom you asked) with snowy white skin and matching hair. Though those abnormalities paled in comparison, quite literally, to the black and gold eyes and manic grin his brother sported.

Yes, even in the wizarding world, Shiro was a strange one.

Ichigo's frown lessened a bit at the sight of his beloved brother and walked over to where he was standing, noticing then that Shiro had an arm slung over the shoulders of a dark-haired boy with a hesitant smile, making Ichigo's lips twitch just a little. It had only been a matter of time, really.

"Hey, Shiro," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Neville," he added, nodding to his fellow Gryffindor and what he assumed to be his brother's new boyfriend.

"Hi, Ichigo," Neville Longbottom greeted, looking, even with all of his usual bashfulness, quite comfortable under Shiro's arm.

"So, Ichi...heard ya made captain this year," the albino said in a lilting tone, cocking an eyebrow at his younger-by-two-minutes twin brother.

Ichigo shouldn't have been surprised that Shiro knew, despite the fact that he had just found out himself that he been appointed Captain of Gryffindor's Dueling Team just an hour prior. It hadn't been a very grand meeting between him and his head of house, Professor Urahara, as he had very simply told him that he had gotten the position in that

Being only a sixth year and holding the title of Captain was an accomplishment, as it always went to a seventh year and there hadn't been a lack of them proficient at duelling either this year. Though the orangette was honored that Urahara had chosen him over the others, he couldn't deny the real reason he was tickled pink by the news.

And that reason was the captain of Slytherin's house team, the bane of his very existence since the day he had first arrived at Hogwarts on the train, the one he was going to absolutely destroy in the first customary duel of the year, between Gryffindor and Slytherin's Dueling Club captains.

That reason was Grimmjow Jaegerjaques.

Not that Ichigo would ever admit to that, of course. Oh no, he was perfectly content in pretending that Jaegerjaques didn't even exist outside of when they were making snide comments to each other or even outright brawling Muggle-style in the hallways...and in the classrooms...and in the Great Hall...and even once in the Forbidden Forest that one time they had been serving detention with the half-giant gatekeeper and-...

But that's beside the point. The point was was that the Gryffindor would never own up to the fact that the first thing he had thought of when he had been appointed captain was the look that would be on Jaegerjaques' face when it was announced. Though, it would be much better if Ichigo hadn't been the second ever sixth year made captain.

The first, as fate would have it, being Jaegerjaques himself.

"Well I had to keep up with you somehow, Shiro," Ichigo retorted, referencing his brother's position as the Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. The white-haired twin just smirked at that, obviously still smug over his appointment to the role of Quidditch captain though it had been decided over a month ago.

Despite his real reason for being ecstatic at being chosen, the fact that he also was on level playing ground with his twin brother was just the icing on a very delicious cake.

"Tha' ya did, Ichi," Shiro chuckled, turning his head to whisper something into Neville's ear, which made the poor thing blush a bright crimson red and Ichigo could only guess what the Slytherin was saying. The brunette surely had to be some kind of twisted masochist to want to be with Shiro.

Suppressing a mirthful smirk at both his brother's antics and the promise of what was to come, Ichigo diverted his attention to the platform onto which a figure dressed in green robes had now appeared. Complete with a fan covering half of his face and a cane in his left hand that the orangette knew acted as the man's wand, Professor Urahara looked every bit the eccentric teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts that he was. A silence fell across the Great Hall as all of the students suddenly stopped talking.

Most Hogwarts students, regardless of year or house had great respect for the DADA professor. Though he had only been part of the staff since the beginning of the year, they were all mystified that he seemed to appear out of thin air most of the time, despite the fact that you couldn't Apparate on school grounds. Besides that, he was a brilliant teacher, vague but patient and knowledgeable. Hence, the silence.

"Hello, young pupils," Urahara greeted in that lilting tone of his, gesturing with his fan to all of the students that had gathered around the platform, eager looks all plastered on their faces. Snapping shut the fan, he stored it in the folds of his robes. "Welcome to the first meeting of the Duelling Club."

Ichigo felt a great swell of excitement in his chest. Not only was he seconds away from being announced captain, but mere moments after that the infamous duel between the house captains would begin. He felt his hand go to his pocket, withdrawing his wand and rubbing his thumb over the smooth holly wood, feeling the scars the thing held from all the years of abuse he had put it through. The wand was practically vibrating in his fingers, obviously feeling its owner's elation.

Professor Urahara cleared his throat and swung his cane around as he paced the length of the platform, a noncommittal, small smile on his face.

"Now, I am this club's supervisor as the Defense Against the Dark Arts' instructor, but as you probably know, I only am to chaperon the inter-House duelling competitions. Your regular practices will be held by the captains of your respective team. And those would be..." Urahara trailed off, using his free hand to pat down his emerald green robes, apparently looking for something.

Suddenly he made a noise of revelation and snapped his fingers once, a piece of parchment appearing in the air in front of him and he snatched it, gray eyes scanning what was written there. Such a paltry trick did little to excite the older students, but a few of the first year, muggle-born students were delighted, big eyes widening even more.

"And those would be," Urahara began again. "Shinji Hirako for Hufflepuff, Luna Lovegood for Ravenclaw, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques for Slytherin, and," the instructor paused to clear his throat yet again and Ichigo could have flown up onto the platform and strangled him just then, but instead he let his toffee brown eyes to glance over to where he had earlier seen that blue head of hair, locating the tall, broad-shouldered body it belonged to.

However, instead of finding Jaegerjaques conversing with his fellow snake friends or looking off into the distance with bored cyanic eyes as he was wont to do (not that Ichigo noticed, of course) the blunette was staring directly at him, their gaze locking faster than a Colloportus charm.

"And Ichigo Kurosaki for Gryffindor."

But he didn't even get to enjoy what he thought would be a look of surprise or rage on Jaegerjaques' face, because instead the Slytherin seventh-year was grinning broadly at him, his blue eyes gleaming madly, as if he knew that Ichigo had made captain or like he was...pleased by the news.

The orangette's face immediately fell into a frown and he turned away, unnerved by that manic show of pure white teeth and sapphire orbs glinting in an almost sadistic pleasure. Too often he had seen that expression before his and Jaegerjaques' confrontations turned outright physical, wands laying forgotten on the floor as they punched and kicked each other right into the hospital wing.

Oh yes, let's just say Madame Pomfrey loved their monthly visits. Like she loved having first years throw up all over her and older students at her door in the middle of the night, begging for a potion to make the itching stop down there.

He felt a clap on his shoulder as someone congratulated, but he only gave a half-smile and nod in acceptance, still thoroughly disturbed (and yet somehow excited) by the look on Jaegerjaques' face. He barely even listened as Urahara said another few short sentences before tapping his cane on the platform, garnering his attention with the sharp sound the action brought, gaze snapping up to where the DADA professor seemed to be cryptically smiling just at him.

"And now I suppose it's time for a little fun, yes? As most of you know, the first meeting of the year holds a duel between the captains, Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw and Slytherin versus Gryffindor."

An excited murmur spread like wildfire across the Great Hall and Ichigo knew that it was due to the fact that they had just remembered that they were promised a battle between himself and the captain of the Slytherin team, two of the most infamous rivals in the entire school.

"As tradition dictates, Slytherin and Gryffindor are up first, so if the respective captains would please step right on up," Urahara announced in a playful tone, eyes sparkling as his gaze swept over Ichigo and then to Jaegerjaques, whose manic grin had still not faltered the orangette confirmed as he looked back to his long-time rival.

Honestly, the sight of the boy set his blood on fire, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant.

"Ya got this, king," Shiro whispered in his ear as Ichigo approached the platform, even though he and Jaegerjaques were in the same house and therefore teammates. Family came first, after all.

The Gryffindor didn't bother to use the stairs, instead lifting himself onto the platform in what he hoped was an impressive feat of upper-body strength. Never mind the fact that his arms fairly burned like the flames of Hades were licking at them afterwards. Mentally shaking the pain away, Ichigo reached into his pocket and drew out his wand, the sense of security that always came with doing so washing over him like a comforting wave of warmth.

The wand, comprised of wood from a holly tree and the core being unicorn hair, twelve and three quarter inches and rather springy, had seen him through good times and bad and had protected his very life on some occasions. Not the least of which was the absolute mess the school had been in the year before.

But that's a story for another day.

He watched as Jaegerjaques jumped onto the stage in the same way he did, disposing of his outer robe along the way so that he was just left in his white shirt that was unbuttoned at the neck, loose green and silver tie, and black pants, forgoing the regulation vest. Ichigo heard several girls in the audience sigh loudly.

Though the orangette couldn't exactly blame them. If you could look past the Merlin-awful personality that the Slytherin possessed, he was physically attractive.

Okay, so maybe that was an understatement, because maybe in his mind Ichigo could outright admit that Grimmjow Jaegerjaques looked like something out of a romance novel and a fairy tale at the same time. Sinfully sexy with a ridiculously arrogant smirk and yet somehow ethereally beautiful, his features perfect, like he was chiseled from marble. And that blue hair of his, turquoise in color and the perfect, subtle contrast to his deep cobalt eyes that looked like sapphires had been placed in his face instead of real eyes. There were rumours he had veela blood in him, and that he had the irresistible veela allure but had to use some sort of glamour in order to keep from boys and girls alike from going completely insane from his beauty. But those were just rumors, of course.

It was really too bad he held just about as much charm as a flobberworm with that arrogant, sadistic attitude of his that had Ichigo writhing with...well, something every time they so much as looked at one another.

As they were almost professionals, considering they had been in the Duelling Club ever since it had been revived, both Ichigo and Jaegerjaques took their places standing directly in front of each other. The Gryffindor felt a shiver run through his body as he stared the other down, chocolate toffee eyes boring directly into cyanic marine orbs. The other male was still wearing that insane grin that had to haunt children in their dreams (or horny teenagers, whichever) and it made Ichigo's stomach burst into butterflies and his knees started to quiver just slightly from pure nerves. He swore only the blue-haired bastard in front of him could ever make him feel this way.

Oh yes, Ichigo Kurosaki had been begging for this day to come for a very long time. The day he could fight Grimmjow Jaegerjaques and not get in trouble for it. And he was going to make sure that it was spectacular.

...

A/N: So...thoughts? A strange idea if there ever was one, I know, but I'd love to hear what you all think! I'm not exactly sure how long this will be and where I'll go with it, I just have some ideas and am kind of going with the flow for right now, but next chapter will be their duel and some Grimm POV. : )

Oh and Neville is two years younger in this story. I just had to have him with Shiro, they are perfect together in my eyes.

This story will contain both Harry Potter and Bleach characters, but no plot points or shinigami or hollows from Bleach. This is strictly set in the Harry Potter world. It is also set in the school year after Voldemort's defeat.

Tenshi = Japanese equivalent of "angel."