AN:I do not own Bleach or Harry Potter

The black cat darted across the open field, zigzagging to avoid the hail of red spheres that flew fast and furious towards her. Suddenly she turned her body towards her assailant and charged towards him, weaving her way past his relentless assault. Finally she was close enough and her hind legs propelled her into the air and towards the stationary figure. As her head reached level with the wand she saw a red orb forming at its tip, reacting on instinct she sucked in her stomach and spread her rear legs a little more as the spell was released. The short hair stood on end as the stunner came within millimeters of contact as it passed harmlessly beneath her and through her legs.

A feline smile adorned her face as she passed his last defense and her front paws reached his right shoulder. He twisted violently, trying to throw her off as her hind legs caught up. Quickly she leapt off him and onto a low hung branch of the tree behind him. The moment her paws touched bark she turned around and her warm golden eyes locked with cold teal.

A playful laugh erupted from the cat as she looked down at the student, "Is that the best you can do Toshiro? I only counted four close calls!" She flicked her tail behind her, "Hardy impressive for two hours of training."

The young captain was breathing hard but still managed a smile as he responded, "Four? Really?" A small smirk graced his lips, "That's more then I would have expected against one of your skills Yoruichi."

The noble shook her head as she let out an amused snort, "I admit, you caught be me by surprise with the speed of your casting. It's faster then last time, and far quicker then any kido I've ever faced." She watched him lower himself to the ground and try to get his breathing back under control. She leapt down from the branch and walked towards him, "In fact, the only thing I can compare it to is an Arrancar's bala."

Hitsugaya let out a derisive snort, not liking being compared to a hollow in any way, but said nothing in response. After evening out his breath he looked back to the black cat, "It's easy to cast, but I don't know what its stopping power is compared to even a low level hado or bakudo."

The former captain smiled mischievously, "Do you plan to test it on Kisuke when we get back?"

Soft laughter burst from his mouth at the thought before he shook his head, "Unfortunately, I can't. Underage wizards are forbidden from performing magic unless in life-threatening danger."

She rolled her eyes, "And who's going to tell them?"

He glared at her and anger crept into his voice, "No one has to. Apparently every child is given 'The Trace' at some point." He cast his eyes back to the castle, "Probably done here to the first years shortly after they arrive." He was far from happy at the thought of a spell being cast on him without his knowledge or consent, not to mention the fact that it could be done without him detecting it.

She gave him a curious look, "I thought you were of age. Wasn't that why you told your brother you couldn't return with him?"

The white haired youth nodded his head, "In Japan they count the days since my birth, so by tradition and law I am an adult there. Here the Ministry uses the paperwork Kisuke forged when I started school. And since I am supposed to be just a twelve year old, I doubt they would be willing to change their view of me just so I can practice magic during the holidays." He laid back onto the grass, "It doesn't matter, I'll have plenty of time to practice the spells here until I 'turn' seventeen. After that, they won't have a say."

Yoruichi let out a dramatic sigh, "I suppose we'll just have to be patient then." The first year just waved a hand in acknowledgment as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. She watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest for a few minutes before deciding that if he was going to take a nap she may as well join him. Soon she was curled up at his side and in a slumber all her own.

Toshiro propped his left arm on the table and rested his head on his hand while casting a bored glance around the Great Hall. Across from him his opponent scanned the board, desperately seeking a move that could turn the tide of the match. His teal eyes landed on the ginger haired boy and he let out an annoyed breath, "Any time Weasley."

Said boy raised his head to glare across the table at the captain, "I'm thinkin."

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes, "If you say so." Blue eyes glared harder at him while he inwardly smiled. An angry enemy was a stupid enemy, that was true whether on the battlefield or playing chess.

Finally Ron turned his eyes back to board, "Queen to E8."

Toshiro cast a quick look at the board, "Queen to G5." The white queen obediently moved one tile to the side. "Check."

The Gryffindor looked at the board before smiling smugly at the boy across from him, "Pawn to G5." The black pawn moved and took the queen.

The Ravenclaw first year didn't even bother to look at the board, "Bishop to G5." As the piece made its way across the board he turned his head to look Ron Weasley right in the eyes, "Checkmate." He couldn't help but smile at the look of disbelief that appeared on that freckled face. Of course he wasn't the only one wearing it, on either side of him Potter and Longbottom wore it as well, as did a few other Gryffindors who had gathered to watch the match. One of the spectators behind him, either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, slapped his shoulder and the rest began shouting out their congratulations. Toshiro stood up from his seat and looked across the table, "Good game Weasley…But I expected better after the Headmaster rewarded your, skills with so many points at the feast."

The losing player glared at him in shame and anger. Hitsugaya paid it no mind as he turned and made his way through the crowd and joined Hermione before heading for the door. Once they were out of the hall the young witch spoke up, "Good game Toshiro, but did you have to embarrass him?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "It wasn't personal. But I can't just call out the Headmaster for playing favorites can I?"

She shook her head, "I don't agree with what he did either, but Ronald is hardly responsible. He didn't give himself or the others all those points."

He cast a glance at his companion, "But he did need a lesson in humility, Hermione. Listening to him brag was starting to drive everyone crazy."

She let out a sigh before a small smile appeared, "I suppose your right." The two continued on in silence, though Hermione seemed tense with a distracted air around her. Nothing was said until they walked out of the castle and onto the grounds. The young witch took a deep breath of the fresh air, "Toshiro?"

"Hmm."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

She hesitated for only a moment, "Are you sure you doing the right thing by staying here?"

A sigh escaped the captain's mouth, they had been over this before, Hermione just couldn't come to grips with him choosing to stay away from his family and home. Of course she never really argued for him to go, no doubt because she was afraid he may listen, but she couldn't leave it alone either. "We've been over this before and my answer is the same as it was the last ten times you asked. If I didn't know better I would think you want me gone.", he finished with a half smile.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

"But don't you want to spend time with your brother? He may not have many years left."

The young captain took a moment before answering, "Shigeru is perfectly healthy and it'll be decades before he dies a natural death." Hermione looked at him funny due to his word choice but he paid it no mind, "Besides, politics and administration demand most of his time so I would spend little more time with him in person then what can be conveyed through letters." She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off with a wave of his hand, "Enough about my family. Tell me, what are your plans for the summer?"

She gave him one last look before wisely letting the subject go, "My parents haven't told me of anything yet. A boring summer wouldn't be to bad though. Maybe I can connive them to take me back to the alley for some new books."

The white haired first year raised an eyebrow, "You plan to spend your whole summer reading?" The bushy haired girl shrugged her shoulders, her eyes to the ground. "Don't you want to spend time with your friends?"

She raised her head, a false smile on her face, "I don't really have any close friends. For the best I suppose. I don't feel like I did before Professor McGonagall's visit." She looked back to the castle, a distant look on her face, "Everything's so different now."

Hitsugaya nodded his head solemnly, he to knew the feeling she was talking about. He could still remember those early days at the academy when he first learned how to tame the wild reiatsu in his body until he no longer needed to fear killing those near him in his sleep. Still, even that paled in comparison to when he first called Hyorinmaru and united their souls. This magic was a distant third on his list, but for the human girl it must be something truly awe inspiring.

He took a good look at the witch and his keen eyes saw past her façade, she was not as eager for the summer break as she was trying to appear, instead he saw reluctant acceptance. For some reason the image of her sitting alone in the dark, shunned by her fellows, eyes red from crying just as they had been that night in October, entered his mind, and that did not sit well with the young captain. He was a more then a little surprised to find himself caring about this human girl, when had that happened. Before he even knew what he was doing his mouth was already moving, "You're right. But that doesn't mean you have to completely shut yourself away from the world. Besides, Bexhill isn't exactly far from Hastings."

As he was trying to figure out why the hell he said that the witch looked at him, a true smile and faint blush appeared on her face as she heard what he didn't say, "It's not, is it? You know, I've never really been to Bexhill, expect driving through it of course."

The chaser huffed, "Don't get your hopes up Hermione. It's not small enough to be rural, but not large enough to be a real city."

She just smiled, "I'm sure it has its good points." He shrugged his shoulders and resumed walking across the grass, no particular destination in mind, and with that the two fell into idle discussion of their respective towns.

Toshiro scowled as his eyes swept over the unruly mob of humanity that was Platform Nine and Three Quarters. He knew the annoying shopkeeper was here somewhere, but the former third seat of the stealth force was keeping a tight lid on his reiatsu preventing the captain from detecting him. So he was reduced to a visual scan, which did little good as he was nowhere near tall enough to look over the crowed to find the striped hat wearing man. Beside him Hermione was likewise looking for her ride, her parents. Yoruichi was simply sitting on his trunk looking at him smugly, no doubt she knew exactly where her old friend was and was enjoying watching him flounder.

Just as he was about to give up and ask the cat where Kisuke was a woman pushed through the crowd, she scanned what she could see before her eyes landed on his fellow Ravenclaw, a wide smile on her face as she moved towards them, "Hermione!"

Said girl whipped her head around at the sound of her name, a matching smile on her young face, "Mum!" She moved to meet her mother and soon the two were hugging and chatting animatedly. Hitsugaya turned his head away and tried not to eavesdrop on the two women's conversation. "Toshiro." He turned back a few moments later at the sound of his name and came face to face with his bushy haired companion, "My mum's here now." He nodded as he watched her struggle for the right words, looking over her shoulder he saw her mother giving a small smile as she watched the pair say farewell for the year. He returned his attention to the girl as she started to speak, "So this is it. It's really over now."

He smiled at her, "For a couple of months Hermione. Then we start all over again."

She smiled and moved towards him and he was caught off guard when she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. He hesitated only a moment before he carefully raised his own arms and wrapped them around the young witch. "Aw, aren't you two just the cutest." Quickly the two broke apart, cheeks rosy red in embarrassment as the captain turned to glare at the black cat watching them with amusement in her golden eyes.

"Yoruichi."

Hermione hurried and grabbed her trunk and turned towards the white haired youth, "Well, we should be going now. So, take care Toshiro. And don't forget to write!"

He nodded his head, "You to Hermione." With a final wave he watched the two head off into the thinning crowd and disappear.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, shall we go?"

Hitsugaya spun around glared up at the blond man, "Where the hell have you been?"

Kisuke used his best innocent voice, "Me? I was looking for you of course."

"Really? Then your senses must be failing you if you couldn't find Yoruichi's energy."

The shopkeeper just grinned stupidly at him and pulled out his fan. Flipping it open he raised it up to hide his face, "Well, I didn't want to interrupt you and your little, friend. You must be quite close to let her hug you like that."

Hitsugaya leveled him with a another glare, before letting out huff, "Whatever. Lets just go." With that he grabbed his trunk and headed for the arch.

Kisuke let out a dramatic sigh, "Kids these days eh Yoruichi." The captain of the tenth division had to stop himself from turning around and yelling at the scientist.

The cat looked up at her old subordinate before answering, her tone light and a little suggestive, "You should see him at school Kisuke. Him and Hermione are nigh inseparable." Toshiro just grit his teeth as he walked out into the muggle world with the two old souls behind him continuing, he had forgotten just how annoying the pair could be when they got together. He let the shopkeeper take the lead and followed him out, all the while trying to ignore the two as they continued to push his buttons for their own amusement. As he loaded his trunk into the van he had the feeling this was going to be a long summer.

And there you have it, year one is over. I want to think you all for reading. When I started this I no idea what to expect and the response has been beyond my expectations. This was a lot harder then I thought it would be when I started and now I know why most writers stay away from first year or give up, just so hard to come up with enough original material to make a good story and stay true to the source. I started this because I like crossovers but was tired of reading the same thing over and over. I wanted to do a story where the crossover actually had an impact instead of just tagging along with the original story line. I'm not sure I succeeded in this story, but I think it laid the foundation for possible future stories.

A few things I wanted to clear up.

I am in fact a native English speaker, but I never much cared for the rules of grammar until I started this story. I like to think I have improved as time has gone on and I plan to go back and clean up the homonyms at some point, not sure when though.

Yoruichi's collar does not do anything other thing change it's size to fit her neck. It uses the placebo effect to get the two open to the idea, and over the next couple years they formed the bond on their own, though there may have been a little subconscious magic on Toshiro's part.

One reviewer pointed out that Peeves was not in this story, and there is a very good reason for this. I have not actually read the books and had only seen the first four movies when I started this story. I knew about him from research I did for this story, but I wasn't comfortable enough with his character to do him justice. If you're looking for an in universe answer, the Bloody Baron kept him in check because he didn't want the other sprits to be held responsible.

A few people have asked when this takes place within the bleach timeline. The answer is about a year or two after the end of the Winter War.

Some have mentioned the lack of Soul Reaper action, and I know that would have livened things up. But magic is not reiatsu and most wizards have average human levels of spirit power since most don't seem able to see normal ghost loitering around town or in their homes like Ichigo and his friends. The ghost of Hogwarts and the like are special, tangible enough that even a squib like Filch can see them so I think that most humans would be able to as well. And since the entire population of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade is most certainly less then ten thousand there just isn't enough spirit energy to attract hollows.

Another thing several reviewers asked about was his ageing. His gigai was custom built for this mission to fit him like a glove, so what Kisuke meant was that any ageing would be as negligible as Hitsugaya's own. Which over eight years would be next to nothing for the captain class soul reaper. His plan was to wing it when it came up, but the side effect of time travel theory has dealt with it for now. I know how to age him if I want, but I think I'll wait until at least after second, maybe even third year before I consider it.

So now that the story's over leave a review and tell me what you thought. Any feedback would be appreciated.