A/N:
Thank you so much for reviews they really kept me on this story. I just updated my profile for information on all my fics. Thank you, and I hope this chapter suffices for the long wait.
And I feel like such an idiot spelling Slytherin with an e... it never really occurred to me to learn all the House name's with proper spelling and all. I think I seriously deserved to be hit in the head for that one...
Let me say something about house choosing for a moment. Both Michiru and Haruka would have gone to Slytherin, had they not had that amulet. They're both cunning and ruthless, not to be repetitive, but this does deserve attention. They'll destroy anything that gets in the way to what they want. Slytherin doesn't necessarily mean evil, just cunning, those who keep their plots to themselves. Sure, they're brave, and bold, and hard working, but their means of getting there, they have no choice but to deceive, lie and cheat.
A night sans Michiru, a night alone, a night where she didn't know the condition of her lover, was almost too much to bear for the poor Haruka who turned into cold side of her bed that morning. No familiar scents, no lingering warmth, not a trace of her old life.
What she did get was a shirt thrown at her by the likes of a pudgy girl who had introduced herself as Pansy Parkinson in a sneer the previous night, along with the rest of her warnings, while tired Haruka had prepared herself for sleep. "Wake up, mud-blood, breakfast is going to be served soon."
Haruka winced at the prickly feeling on her skin, being hit with the morning air, but conceded to the little warmth the light the window offered as she opened her eyes. Now, a quick recap of where she was, and then it hit her. Class. Right. She had class now.
She showered in under ten minutes, her hair easily manageable, and then dressed according to her own standards. The girls gaped in astonishment at her as she strode past them, down the steps, in the boy's version of the uniform.
Right, so, Slytherin was her house… Michiru was in Gryffindor… she should find the location of that dorm. Soon.
When she got to the bottom of the steps, she looked around, taking in the sight of what had previously been labeled 'The hazy common room'. The fuzzy chairs from last night now appeared cold and dark leather, stony-glass fireplace, though she didn't understand the meaning of that description herself, some older students mingling about, reacquainted friends, younger ones milling to stall for time possibly, the hole she had come through… the rude professor? Glaring darkly at her in black robes, he jerked his head toward the portrait her, signifying her following, and stalked off. She thought about what could possibly be the problem, before following along. Had her uniform really upset that many people?
He didn't turn to address her, just get glaring at the path ahead of him, and she walked at a comfortable pace following him, not understanding why he was making such an overdramatic walk. He could be a bit more subtle in giving away his dispositions.
"Sir… where are we going?" She volunteered to voice once they were back in the great hall of eating.
"You'll… see…" He hissed in barely concealed hate.
Finally, he stopped short of doors she recognized as the ones that had let her into the school.
He pushed past them, and stopped, turning to her. He threw his hand in a wild gesture at the object of his obvious distress and simply glared.
"My bike." Haruka said simply. The luggage had already been taken off it, it was simply just her bike now.
"Your bike, as you put it, Ms. Tenoh, has been the cause of the insomnia of our house elf staff and other professors. It has been the reason why I could not fully prepare my classroom this morning, it is the reason why the headmaster lost sleep, are you satisfied?"
"What's wrong with it?" Haruka asked, worried. It didn't look damaged… had they touched it?
"It…won't… move." His hair moved as he spoke, it seemed to emphasize his words. "And the only reason why you were not woken up in the middle of the night for of this disgrace was because the headmaster took pity on your false student persona and thought your night would be better spent resting for school, and not wasting time on this contraption."
Haruka laughed. And she laughed as she hadn't for a long time. She laughed so hard, Michiru could tell she had been laughing by the traces of the smile as she stepped back into the great hall.
"What happened?" Michiru, in fact, loved the sight of her happy lover.
"They needed me to move the motorcycle. It caused them… much trouble."
"Let's trade schedules." Michiru suggested, as she poured some milk into Haruka's strawberry-and-oats cereal. They had decided to sit at Michiru's table, being friendlier and with more space.
Haruka took a spoonful as she regarded the schedule with contempt. "Three classes without you."
"But we have divination together… and defense against the dark arts… and potions…and Charms."
"Wonderful." She said in a sarcastic tone.
"It's just like normal school almost."
"What classes don't we have together?"
"Magical History, transfiguration, and care of magical creatures." She smiled.
"And…why is this good?"
"Because, since you don't have care of magical creatures like me, you have both herbology, and magical history with the Hufflepuffs."
Hufflepuff was a house for hard working, honest, and simple people; Qualities of pure hearts.
"Fine. Since care of magical creatures borders the forbidden forests, see if you can sense any negative energy from there. I have a feeling the heart snatchers will be taking their places there, at the very least." Michiru gave a tight, discreet nod, and looked down. Haruka got the hint and did the same, but that wasn't enough to evade his attention.
"Well, ladies, was your first night here comfortable?"
"We are grateful for the hospitality you've given us, sir." Haruka responded without looking up.
"Are you looking forward to your new courses?"
"We will study and try to do our best." Michiru responded automatically. Isn't this how teachers were normally addressed?
Dumbledore stroked his beard, finding their behavior somewhat amusing if it were not so serious. "If you ever need to speak with me, based on confusion of classes or any other matter, just please ask any of the professors, as I'm sure they'd be more than happy to show you the way."
"Thank you, sir." They responded simultaneously.
They heard his footsteps walk away before the exhaled.
They had to be careful. This man… didn't know everything. He didn't know they might have to kill one… or more of his students.
"Now… I wonder where the divination room is…" Michiru mused.
"You can come with us." She looked over, and saw the boy with the scar from the inn smiling at them. Across and next to him, his friends smiled back, a redhead, and a female brunette.
"I'm Hermione Granger, this is Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter." The female spoke up. "Harry and Ron have divination first as well."
"Herm, we can speak for ourselves y'know." Ron said around a mouthful of bacon.
She gave him a disgusted look before continuing. "And I have transfiguration with you." She addressed Haruka. "I could assist you there."
"Thank you." Haruka smiled with honest gratitude.
Ron hissed at his female friend, wondering if she was right in the head. "She's a bloody Snake, Herm, she might make you mess up a spell or something."
Hermione have him a withering look. Then she gestured to the two. "Look, a Gryffindor, and a Slytherin, perfect friends and classmates, getting along just fine. Why can't we just let them be? Better yet, why can't we follow the example?"
While the small girl went on her tirade, Haruka and Michiru locked eyes and spoke without words.
They were listening to our conversation.
Michiru bit her lip in contemplation.
Divination had an odd location, Michiru thought decidedly, as she hardly doubt fortune telling required secret doorways and hidden smoky rooms with lots of sparkly fires that changed colors. Sure, Rei made her fire change colors when she was 'seeing' but it wasn't just effects then either.
Still, Michiru had hopes for the class. Maybe, just maybe, the teacher was actually a good seer, and Michiru might be able to manipulate her into using those powers for their greater good.
All of these hopes died a bloody death ten minutes into the class.
"I want you all to look inside these crystal balls." No, this is not the exact wording 'Trelawney' was it? Had said. It is the translation, because the actual wording was a bunch of superfluous seeing terms that Haruka had never in her life heard Michiru use.
They sat in the same table as Ron and Harry, and both were already making jokes and laughing to themselves as they played with their crystal balls.
It was times like this Michiru truly wished for the ocean, but she had to settle for this. So she looked at the glassy surface, at her reflection, and detached her mind from its surroundings as she watched her reflection melt away.
A true seer was always a seer, no matter what they looked at, it was more of a mind thing than anything. Michiru's powers came from Neptune, and she was born a true seer in every life. She could look into this crystal ball, or into someone's eyes, or into a table, so long a she got into the right state of mind.
She didn't seek to control the direction of her vision usually, and this was no different, she let her reflection give way to another vision. Blurry, let manageably visible.
"My dear, do you see something?"
Haruka narrowed her eyes as the lady touched Michiru's shoulders. She, perhaps, was the most qualified being in the world for deciphering when Michiru went into her unreachable places. She always had a sense of protectiveness over Michiru when she went into her own world. What if she didn't come back? And then possessiveness would hit, why couldn't she follow?
Harry and Ron sat with slack jawed stares in the aqua haired girl's direction. The rest of the class didn't notice the attention she was getting from the professor, thankfully.
Haruka closed her eyes straining her ears. She was waiting… waiting. There it was, the tiniest of choking gasps, and she opened her eyes to meet Michiru's, they were saddened.
"Tell me what you saw!" The woman demanded.
Michiru didn't remove her gaze from Haruka's for quite some time, and remained silent. But then she whispered blankly. "Nothing."
"Do not lie! I know you have the power to see, child, do not be ashamed!"
When Michiru finally lifted her gaze, it was not to answer the woman's demands. "There are two owls at your window. You should answer them."
And indeed, there had been an incessant clicking at the window that several of the children in the classroom had been hearing for a while.
The woman frowned profusely at the interruption, and for the rest of the class, Michiru stayed silent, letting Harry and Ron take over the class with their remarks, and thus none noticed Michiru's disposition, save for her partner next to her.
"What's wrong, Michiru?" Haruka had her by the forearm, jerking her into a hidden nook and holding her in place while other students passed them to get to their next class, giving her a stern look.
"Nothing…" She smiled half-heartedly. "I had hoped we could use her, but she's hardly genuine enough of a seer. In any case, she's never been aware of her seeing abilities before."
Haruka's eyes softened. "Come on, Michiru…" She pleaded softly.
She met the gaze briefly before turning. "I'll tell you later, when we're alone. We have to get to potions now."
Haruka didn't want to… but she gave a consenting nod as the embarked on another tracking mission, mostly following the kids in their year.
Sitting together in the second row, they wondered why everyone was so unusually silent.
That's when the man barged into the room, Snape, cloak billowing behind him.
"Mamoru…" Michiru murmured nostalgically. Haruka squinted, and if she looked hard enough, she saw it.
"Seventh year potions is not easy…" Haruka tuned out as she look at the lovely beauty next to her….
Soon they'd have to have real information coming up. And so far, they were looking at friendly faces, Harry with the scar was certainly one of them. She thought about someone old, like Dumbledore? But the pure hearts had to have been of someone with the innocence of children, right? No adult, especially that age, could truly be pure.
And if the look in Michiru's eyes this morning was anything to judge, she definitely had sensed the same possibly negative energy, which meant they were right about this school attracting the very heart snatchers they were after.
Of course… if they were wrong….
If they failed…
If the heart snatchers found all three pure heart crystals successfully…
The Great Silence would come, and no matter how hard she tried to push those self doubts to the back of her mind, that they couldn't, that they weren't doing enough, they always managed to resurface with one look at those aquamarine eyes. She couldn't protect Michiru. She couldn't even protect herself.
"Haruka!" Michiru hissed at her, waking her out of the inner turmoil.
She snapped to attention when a black figure obstructed her view of the front of the room. "Ms. Tenoh, if you have other thoughts you believe would be a more valuable contribution to class time, please speak… them… now…"
Snape hadn't forgiven her for the motorcycle incident just yet, but he'd be damned if he was taking points away from his own house on the first day.
"I'm sorry, Sir." She said, looking down, properly ashamed. He merely glared at her for a moment before moving on.
A few classes later, lunch time came, and Haruka was the first to dash out of history of magic class with the literal speed of the wind, and cursing at the robes that had broken her usual pace.
"You're late." Michiru said daintily without glancing up, as she sat on the grass at the edge of the lake, already biting into an apple.
"It's the robe." Haruka muttered, before taking her place next to Michiru on the ground. "Sorry." She finally said.
As a reward, she was gifted with a small tin box. Opening it, she saw food from the Great Hall already there. Nuts, and a turkey and cheese sandwich, as well as her own apple.
She bit into the sandwich, finding it not horrible.
"So are you going tot ell me what you saw this morning?" She asked in a stern voice after swallowing that first bite.
She took her time swallowing the bitten piece of fruit, looking out at the lake, before turning her marksman eyes to the blonde. "You were right. The school's going to be attacked soon…. I just couldn't see who."
"And if you got the vision now, that means soon."
"We have a month, maybe a little over I'm guessing. Such a short amount of time…"
"We'll have to concentrate all our efforts on locating their first victim." Haruka confirmed grimly. "And one they start the pauses are few and far apart."
"Yes… we should make new friends, Haruka-san."
Haruka closed her eyes slowly. She inhaled the scents around her, she was memorizing this moment.
Too much pressure to take…
"I've already a few suspects." Michiru continued relentlessly, emotionlessly, as if none of this affected her. Haruka wished she could see through it sometimes. But she never could follow Michiru into her own world…
"I can befriend the Hufflepuffs if you can take care of the majority Gryffindors. It should be easier since you're actually in that house." She joined in on the self- abuse. All for the mission, they were without self, selfless.
Michiru nodded. "Any developments and we can meet here. But for now perhaps we should try harder to blend…"
"The Slytherin-Gryffindor feud seems to have been going on for quite some time."
"Michiru felt for the amulet in her pocket… it weighted her down more than she cared to admit when she stood to leave for care of magical creatures.
No way am I going through each of their individual classes, this isnt that much of a long term project. If my schedule doesnt make sense, so be it, not that important. Generalities are general for a reason. Review!