I know I've been a really bad girl. I want to finish this, I really do, I just don't know how frequently the updates will be.

I also know I deleted and republished this, but that was because I put up the wrong version (I have up to three versions of some chapters that need to be merged…this is the right one, Sorry!).

Hopefully this sets up a little bit of a cliffie for you… and gives you a hint of just how clever and diabolical Draco is going to be in the coming school year.

Chapter 24

Professor Snape read over the list of that week's detentions. He was actually quite pleased that the largest number of infractions listed was just having points deducted from the respective Houses, rather than in actual detentions. This pleased him because it meant that the rules he had put in place were working; the Prefects were falling in line and taking their cues from the best Head Boy and Head Girl Hogwarts had seen since – well, he mused, since the current Head Boy's mother had been their Head Girl.

Using the Sorting Hat to choose had been a brilliant idea, if he didn't mind saying so himself as he gave himself a proverbial pat on the back. He had gambled that it would look at the Japanese students as being one of the natural selections for the Head spots and had hoped that it would indeed select Ichigo as Head Boy – and his gamble had paid off beautifully.

Daphne and Ichigo had pulled together to work like a seamless pair and in doing so had proven that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin could in fact get along and cooperate towards a goal without fighting. It was perhaps their example that was inspiring the Prefects to do the same. Even Draco looked to be inspired by the pair, although he was managing to keep up his pure-blood act. At other times, when no one was around to judge him, he appeared to be trying to emulate Kurosaki's attitude.

Speaking of...

"I am very pleased at how well the new process is working out," Snape said to his guest.

"I think part of it is fear," Ichigo replied from his position in front of Snape's desk. "They're afraid of you, the Carrows – Him."

Ichigo's eyes drifted over to a case on the far wall suddenly and he frowned.

"What about that?" he asked, "Ginny keeps hounding me, asking if I've seen it up here. I can't put her off indefinitely you know."

"We'll get the sword to Potter when the time is right," Snape replied with a small shrug. "In the meantime I'll move it out of your line of sight."

"Plausible deniability?" Ichigo's lips twitched.

"Indeed," Snape's lips twitched in response. His potions protégé was the only one who could get a smile out of him since he had been friends with Potter's mother, Lily. He studied the young man in front of him seriously. "Has your group gotten much training time in?"

"Not really," Ichigo said with a grimace. "With what's going on in Soul Society, Gramps doesn't want me – us – anywhere near there as he doesn't want to risk our health and the Room of Requirement can't handle our firepower."

"Perhaps..." a voice said idly.

They both turned to look at who had spoken; the painting of Professor Dumbledore.

"Yes, Albus?" Snape asked with a raised brow.

"Perhaps you need a demonstration?" Dumbledore said with a sly smile, "The Quidditch Pitch is not being used right now. A kido reinforced shield around the pitch would protect onlookers."

"What did you have in mind?" Ichigo asked.

As the painting expanded on his idea, both Ichigo and Professor Snape started to grin. Dark, sly, satisfied grins.

It was a perfect idea.

#

"Headmaster!" came a double-voiced call.

Snape turned to see the Carrow Twin's hurrying down the hall in his direction and only years of discipline prevented him from curling his lip in a sneer of disgust. He wondered idly if he could get away with stunning the pair and excusing it as a battle reaction to having someone running at him full tilt. Actually, now that he thought about it, with his current 'good standing' amongst the Death Eaters he probably could get away with that at Least once and set himself a mental note to look for a good opening.

"Ah, there you are," he said as he stopped to wait for the pair.

"The students – they're all missing –" again the double echo.

"At the Quidditch Pitch," he replied, "Where I am heading now. Come."

"But –"

"All shall be explained shortly," he snapped out. "Come."

Baffled, the brother and sister pair accompanied the Headmaster to where the other professors sat quietly in the stands. The students also sat, just as quietly with their Houses, although they murmured to each other with some confusion on occasion.

On the pitch was a large, glittering and mostly transparent dome. Inside the dome were the Japanese students. Ichigo was on one side by himself and was facing down Toshiro, Momo, Rukia and Tatsuki in the first rank. Behind them were Professors Flitwick and McGonagall and, at the very back of the dome, Orihime stood silently with a serious expression on her normally cheerful face. She in turn was being guarded by an equally serious Uryu.

"I still don't understand," Alecto hissed at him, trying not to be overheard by the others.

"Intelligence gathering, my dear Alecto," Snape said smoothly. "We know these students are strong and I know Kurosaki is capable of dueling – very successfully, in fact – but we need to know more," he raised an eyebrow at their puzzled looks. "They asked permission to practice out on the lawn. I suggested this instead."

"As a way to –" Alecto started slowly.

"- see how they truly fight," Amycus finished.

Understanding dawned on the siblings' faces and they looked ahead eagerly to watch the budding spar.

Hook, line, sinker, Snape thought with contempt as he glared at the back of their heads.

Madame Hooch stood suddenly, a page of parchment in her hands.

"The rules are simple: to end the spar, you must completely incapacitate the other – ah, team," she hesitated on the word 'team' as Ichigo was obviously taking on everyone else. "No explosive spells and no Bankai. You may begin."

There were a lot of puzzled looks and shrugs over the word 'Bankai' but they figured it was a Japanese term for some sort of specialized spell.

Those few people who knew Ichigo, who had seen his spirit form before, noticed for the first time that he now held dual swords. If he had two swords – where was his wand? Was he fighting without it? How was that going to work? Murmurs started to fill the air as students started to contemplate why he was wielding swords of all things.

Inside the dome, Ichigo's senses were on full alert as he wondered who was going to make the first move. He had already wrapped his reiatsu around him tightly to form a shield layer which should cause most spells to simply roll off his back – he hoped. He hadn't actually tried it before but the logic was sound. His eyes swept over the others, looking for any sign of someone acting. Don't watch the hands or the feet or the face... watch the shoulders and the hips... watch for the slightest shifting of the...

And that's when he caught it. Cursing internally, he deftly twirled the larger of his blades and jammed it into the ground in front of him halting the stream of ice coming from Sode no Shirayuki. Rukia had casually pressed the tip of the blade into the ground all while just standing there, staring at him as she tried to catch him off guard with Juhaku. She huffed a bit and took a step to the side, allowing those behind her more room, even as Ichigo leaped towards Toshiro and brought his sword down hard.

Toshiro met Ichigo's attack and for several minutes the Pitch rang with the sound of Zanpakutos clashing. The students watched in awe at the speed at which the pair was able to parry, slash, twist and thrust.

"Whoa," Seamus whispered to Neville, "They are good."

Neville nodded back, his jaw slightly slack from surprise at the sight in front of him and found that he was unable to say anything in response.

The pair finally leapt apart and Ichigo was forced to do a back flip in the process to avoid a fireball from Tobiume. Just as he was coming to his feet, he had to duck again as Tatsuki closed with him.

He easily caught the fist she threw at him and he raised a brow at her.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" he asked her as he pulled her forward and knocked her off balance. "Remember what happened the last time you tried to hit me."

"You ba–" then she yelped as her feet were swept out from under her and she went flying to the top of the dome via Levicorpus.

One down, Ichigo mused, ignoring his friend's profanity as she hung in the air by her ankle. He then spent the next few minutes dodging and fighting off curses and kido spells from the others. Momo and Rukia were particularly fast with the kido, keeping him on the move as they chained spells together in more and more elaborate and exotic combinations as they tried to pin him down.

Due to their tactics, he missed it as Professor McGonagall bent down to pick up a handful of grass. Next thing he knew a cloud of gnats came flying at his face in an angry buzz. He grimaced and ducked, automatically transfiguring them into flowers as he did so. Younger students let out shouts at the sudden display of silent and apparent wandless magic from their Head Boy, as Ichigo spat out the few gnats that had gotten into his mouth and nose.

He blasted past the group, deciding he needed to end it – now. He flash stepped behind Orihime, and before she could react and move her shield to block him, he had trapped her with Horin. She yelped in surprise. Ichigo ducked below Uryu's attack and extended the spell out to capture him with it as well before he then wrapped the pair up back to back. He sent a silent 'thank you' up to Yoruichi and Soifon for forcing him to practice that particular move again and again on them until he got it right. Uryu's speed was nothing compared to the Goddess of Flash and her protégé.

"Kurosaki..." Uryu ground out furiously, his gaze promising swift retribution later on. Ichigo barely had time to smirk at him before he was on the move again.

The rest of the fighters were not giving him chance to catch his breath. He slid to a halt as an ice dragon came roaring at him from his right, and an avalanche of snow from his left, as Rukia and Toshiro tried to pin him between their two attacks.

He had to time this just right, he knew, holding his blades out towards the oncoming ice and snow.

The onlookers in the stands all held their breath, thinking he was done. A split instant before the two attacks met, he vanished from sight and the ice and snow exploded upwards and out in a blizzard of particles.

The force of it threw Rukia back against the kido shield and Toshiro all the way across the arena to smack against the far edge of the shield.

It was very good that speed was his thing, Ichigo thought as he threw the rope around Rukia, earning him a ferocious glare from his fiancé (it was going to cost him a fortune in Chappy collectables to get back on her good side after that move, he mused ruefully) then swung the shorter of his swords around in a wide arc – it was also the hand that held his wand snug and hidden in his grip against the hilt of the sword, which gave the illusion of wandless magic. He was doing his best to 'show off' at the moment. A red beam of light swept in its wake as he used Geki on Momo and the Professors. Momo looked startled when she froze in place. He reached out to Tatsuki and pulled her over to group her with the others. His ears were now ringing with her cursing. Lastly, he threw up another kido shield, effectively cutting the arena in half and isolating the 'defeated'.

It was now just him and Toshiro, who upon realizing just what Ichigo was up to, was waiting calmly for him to approach.

"So," the Squad Ten captain said when Ichigo stopped twenty feet away. "How do you want to do this?"

Ichigo shrugged. "We can do it any matter of ways," he said. "Zanpakuto only. Kido. Magic. Or we can break our own rules since it's just the two of us."

"You mean Bankai?" Toshiro nodded his understanding of what Ichigo was saying.

They had agreed to the rule to even out the playing field for the others, so to speak. The problem was, without Bankai, Toshiro didn't stand a chance of even making Ichigo break a sweat. As it was, the taller boy didn't even look winded right now and he'd spent the better part of an hour on the move. Ichigo was giving the Tenth Squad Captain permission to power up – even though he probably wouldn't do so himself.

Nodding briefly, Toshiro tucked away his wand. Ichigo in response put away his own and also sheathed the shorter of his Zanpakuto. Not that he probably minded; he was still getting used to fighting with two blades. He had worked a good deal with Ukitake and Kyoraku, as their own Zanpakuto's split in twain when powered up, between his 'training' to upgrade and the wedding planning that Rukia was putting him through.

Or he could just be going easy on Toshiro...

#

"You seem so – calm," one of her year-mates said to Karin. "Aren't you worried about them at all? That's your brother and your boyfriend out there –"

Karin shrugged in response. "They know what they're doing."

"Who are you rooting for?" another asked.

"It doesn't matter. Ichigo would have to slip, fall and knock himself out to lose at this point. They had a better chance of beating him together than all of this one-on-one stuff."

"Oh -"

"At this point, I just want to see how long Toshiro can last – and so will big brother. Toshiro will be timing himself as well."

This didn't make too much sense to her friends, so they turned back to watch. Jimmy Peakes, who had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with Karin last year and was sitting nearby, gave her a brief understanding smile.

#

When the pair on the field finally moved, it took everyone by surprise because they'd stood staring at each other for so long. Swords clanged and the two became mere blurs as they moved into what was, for Toshiro at least, high gear.

Sitting with Yuzu, a sleek black cat watched the match critically and not without a bit of pride as she eyed the fighting pair. She had nearly crowed out loud with glee when she'd seen her star pupil pull that trick on Orihime and Uryu and she couldn't wait to tell Soifon how well he'd done it. Though Soifon wasn't one to gloat about a success, she knew the younger woman would glow with pride that someone had learned from her successfully, even if she shared the success with Yoruichi. She only wished she'd been able to record it... she was very sure Yamamoto would like to see how well his grandson was doing, also. Oh! Wait! How could she have forgotten about Pensieves? He was going to be so excited to see this! She focused more intensely on the match in front of her.

Her tail lashed back and forth as she watched him flash step around the ring, avoiding all the kido spells thrown in his direction. She knew he wasn't going as fast as he could have. She had, with a great deal of solemnity, yielded her title of Flash Master to him some time ago, even though he had refused to take it from her. She was so proud of the boy.

She watched as Toshiro ducked out of the way of Ichigo's Zanpakuto, which sliced through the kido barrier, shattering it into nothing.

Sighing, Yoruichi lifted a paw and hastily re-erected it, since no one down on the Quidditch Pitch was in a position to do so. In fact, she wasn't even sure they'd noticed it had even been taken down momentarily...

While Snape was watching what had become a one on one spar between two Captains, he was also watching the Carrow siblings with hidden intensity. This show was mostly for their benefit – as well as for those students who hadn't gotten to know Ichigo and his friends over the last two years. It was also, in a very roundabout way, for Voldemort's. The Carrows would be running back to him to report on what they had seen.

Alecto's eyes had grown as wide as dinner plates as she watched the two spar. She had known Ichigo was fast as she had been at the Tower when Dumbledore had been killed and he'd moved easily as fast as someone could Apparate. She wasn't even sure that she could even see him to target him with a spell, let alone actually hit him if he wasn't standing still. Professor Flitwick had though and the spells had appeared to just slide off him as if he was covered by an extremely strong personal shield.

This could be why it had taken multiple hits of an explosive spell to bring him down in the Ministry, she thought with some excitement. If he had his own personal shield, then they needed to find a way to get around it... if only they could control him!

It soon became apparent to some – but not all – of the onlookers that Toshiro was tiring. His swings were not as strong, nor were they as hard or fast. At this point, he was doing more blocking and parrying than he was attacking.

Ichigo saw this also and sensed that Toshiro was starting to over-heat – not something that you wanted to have happen for someone who wielded an ice-type Zanpakuto. He needed to end it, now – for Toshiro's sake, because the Tenth Squad Captain would not quit on his own. And if he didn't... well, he'd never hear the end of it from Rangiku for letting her Captain fight himself to fainting.

It was another five minutes before Ichigo saw his opening and with a deft twist of Zangetsu he pulled Hyorinmaru out of Toshiro's hands. The Zanpakuto landed point-first in the ground and the two Captains stopped, Ichigo with his Zanpakuto at Toshiro's throat.

"You win," Toshiro said as he bowed in acknowledgement of his defeat. Sweat was running down his face, while Ichigo had only a light sheen to his skin.

"You need to go cool off," Ichigo said to him quietly, so as not to be overheard. "You're overheating."

Toshiro grimaced. He was more than aware of the condition he was in, but he was not so far gone he couldn't sense Yoruichi's reiatsu as the former Head of the Shihoin clan lowered all of the kido shields. Madame Hooch was already there, inspecting the others.

"I'm afraid you'll need to undo this," she said, "It's Japanese magic."

Ichigo nodded. He lowered Tatsuki carefully, he'd shifted her when he'd put her with the others so that she wasn't hanging upside down for a long period, blood flow and all that, more that she'd been hanging from and arm and a leg like a monkey hanging from a branch. He ignored her baleful glares and released the others just like Yoruichi and Soifon had taught him, extremely aware that his mentor was watching him with a critical eye as he did so.

Both Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall were nearly giddy at his display.

"I must say I was doubtful when this was proposed," Professor Flitwick said, nearly hopping in place, "but that was outstanding, outstanding!"

"Indeed very well done, Mr. Kurosaki," Professor McGonagall agreed, smiling down at her star transfiguration student.

"Thanks," he blushed faintly.

"Not bad," Uryu agreed grudgingly. Even Tatsuki rolled her eyes at this.

"You. Owe. Me," Rukia threatened him darkly.

"I figured that," Ichigo sighed with resignation as his fiancée stalked off.

#

Ichigo walked quietly down the deserted hallways, his footsteps echoing in the cool stone corridors as he – for lack of a better word – patrolled.

It was crucial that no one be out of their dorms this night, as it would be the first time that Draco's 'Fifth Column' was going into action.

The Prefects on duty were Millie and Ernie; Ernie was assigned to the other side of the castle, while Ichigo and Chad 'roved' and it allowed Millie to assist the others if she was needed.

On the plus side: the paintings and ghosts were all in on the conspiracy, because the Head Master was. Ironically, as the Head Master goes, so does Hogwarts…so luckily Snape was fully behind them. Even Peeves was being helpful for once – of course, Ichigo had threatened him with dire consequences if he spilled secrets or didn't cooperate.

A silvery shape appeared in front of him – the Bloody Baron.

"They are all in position, Captain," he was informed. Ichigo refrained from sighing. The Baron insisted on calling him and Toshiro by their titles.

"The one time I don't want to be called Captain, and he insists on it," the Tenth Squad Captain frequently grumbled under his breath.

"Good –"

"However, your noble cat may have run across a problem."

"Um – a problem?" What kind of problem could Yoruichi have run into that she couldn't handle?

"The sleazy little miscreant masquerading as a serpent was out and about lurking around the halls."

Ichigo knew exactly which miscreant the ghost was talking about – Amycus Carrow.

"Oh, Kami –"

"She appears to have neutralized him for the moment."

"How did she –"

"She appears to have put him to sleep."

"Ah," Ichigo nodded. Hakufuku – the white sleep. So he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. "I know what she did. Can you go let Malfoy know to get to work, and," Ichigo turned to the paintings, "can any of you get to the Fifth Floor? Millie should be up there."

"I will go," a soft voice behind him said, and Ichigo only had a quick glimpse of Lady Helena before she vanished.

"Um, okay – thanks," he said, blinking at the empty spot she had been. The Gray Lady could move faster than he could when she wished.

"She does that, sometimes," the Baron shrugged.

"I noticed."

The Baron bowed and vanished, leaving Ichigo to make his way towards where Carrow had been left. He crossed paths with Chad on the way.

"Were you told?" his friend asked quietly. Ichigo nodded, and then had to hold his arms out as Yoruichi leaped from Chad's shoulder to him.

"Having fun?" he asked her with a smirk. She meowed and winked at him. The trio proceeded to slowly make their way down the hallways, pretending to discuss school 'security' matters – with their tongues firmly in their cheeks.

As they were nearing the hallway where Yoruichi had left him, a wide-eyed Ernie suddenly came careening around the corner.

"Ichigo!" he slid to a stop, panting.

"Is there a problem?" Ichigo asked, already knowing the answer but pretending not to.

"Millie found Amycus Carrow in the hall, unconscious!"

"What? Where?!" he proceeded to pretend to be shocked.

He and Chad followed him to where Carrow lay slumbering. Millie stood next to him, her wand out, trying various recovery spells. She gave Ichigo a frustrated look.

"Nothing works," she grumbled, then gave Carrow a disgusted look. "He would get into trouble…"

"Maybe you should try," Ernie suggested, looking at Ichigo. Ichigo shrugged, put Yoruichi down on the ground, and pulled out his wand, making sure not to use any spells that would actually wake the Death Eater up.

"Son of a –" Ichigo glared down at Carrow, his irritation at the man real. "Millie, will you baby sit our errant Professor? Ernie, go fetch M. Pomfrey. I'll go wake the Head Master." He looked over at Chad.

"You'll have to finish the patrol by yourself, sorry."

Chad nodded and walked off without a word as Ernie took off at a brisk trot.

When Ichigo reached the Head Master's office, he glanced around, before leaning forward to whisper to the gargoyle, "Lily Evans."

The statue slid aside, allowing him to pass, and Ichigo wondered again why he had been given the secret word, and no one else…

Snape was apparently a light sleeper, or he'd been awake, waiting to see the results of Draco's first foray into rebellion.

"Did you know that Amycus Carrow would be out and about tonight?"

One brow arched. "Oh?"

"Luckily Yoruichi spotted him and put him to sleep. With kido." Ichigo grimaced. "It will eventually wear off, probably just as M. Pomfrey is trying her cures."

"The Carrows are going to be a problem," Snape admitted, following Ichigo to where Carrow was slumbering away. M. Pomfrey arrived with Ernie at the same time, and she proceeded to examine him…just as they were arranging to carry him to her wing, his sister came rushing to them, getting ready to screech.

"Please, do not damage my eardrums," Snape said to her coldly, glaring at Alecto. She froze, having not seen him standing there.

"What –" she started to ask, only to come to a halt as Chad returned, moving faster than anyone except Ichigo and Yoruichi had ever seen him.

"We have another problem," he announced grimly when he reached them.

They all stared at him.

"The lower levels are all under water – even the Great Hall."

Author's Notes:

Horin - Causes an orange hued tendril with spiraling yellow patterns to erupt from the users hand and attempt to trap a target. The end of it remains in the hands of the user allowing them to control the path of the tendril before and after capture. The Kidō is able to connect with another one of itself if both have captured a target and bind them together.

Geki (Strike) — Engulfs a target in red light, completely paralyzing them. Incantation: "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!"

Levicorpus (non-verbal) Wand motion: Upward sweep or flick Levicorpus is the incantation of a hex that levitates a person in the air by the ankle. Countered by Liberacorpus

Hakufuku (白伏, White Crawl) is a Bakudō Kidō spell. As the target sees the illusion of purple cherry blossoms falling around them, their vision begins to blur and become unfocused as their consciousness becomes muddled, disoriented, and confused. Shortly thereafter, the target blacks out, and awakens later with an unclear memory of what occurred. Incantation is unknown. It was shown twice in the manga/anime: Momo Hinamori and Gin Ichimaru both used it. Bleach Official Character Book Souls, page 164; Bleach manga; Chapter 129, page 16; Chapter 416, page 2 and page 6. http colon /bleach dot wikia dot com / wiki / Hakufuku