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Violence Inherent in the System
Chapter Seven: I'm Naked
Late November, 1996
Augustus Rookwood stood over a prisoner and waved his wand in intricate patterns.
"Your return is well timed, Rookwood. I tire of these brainless fools who surround me. No intelligence... no creative flair." Dark Lord Voldemort stepped up from dark shadows and looked over Rookwood's prize. "This is my new weapon?"
"A weak looking beast to be sure my Lord, but there is hidden potential. I have a submission choker on her at the moment."
Voldemort took another look at his new weapon. He read Rookwood's report days ago, but was still uncomfortably uninformed on this 'Jusenkyo' magic. The beast in question was female and seemed to be an even mix between human and rabbit. She seemed no bigger than a twelve year old witch save for her full curves and long rabbit ears. White and brown fur covered the creature completely, yet the fur was short enough that she had seen fit to clothe herself with simple linens and leather armor.
"I caught up with her and one traveling companion who appeared to be her mate." Voldemort looked up at that, wasn't this being supposed to be a- "The mating was not agreeable to 'Prince' Herb but this cursed form makes her into a weak opponent both magically and physically."
"And what of this mate that she traveled with?"
"Dead, of course, my Lord. He seemed able to detect my approach until I raised a few stealth magics and confunded him. Death followed quickly. She began ranting in the local language, but as he already had her chained to a post, there was little challenge to her capture."
Voldemort briefly considered just handing the creature over to Greyback and his pack. Wolves hunted rabbits, didn't they? "And why is this 'Prince' Herb here today?"
Rookwood heard the anger in those words. You requested the presence of the Dark Lord only if there was much to gain or if you felt like dieing in the slowest, most painful way known to wizardry.
"It is time to revive her and perform the final test, my Lord. The submission choker will retain control over Herb's mind even when the change to male is complete, thus allowing you to see exactly what it is that supposedly makes these ki-masters so dangerous. I have arranged for some mudbloods to be given wands in the next room. They are already Imperiused and potioned into better than normal fighters as a test." Rookwood finished his observations of the bunny-girl and looked to his Lord. "With your permission, I will conduct the test."
Voldemort nodded. With simple and economic precision, Rookwood returned Prince Herb to male form and cast a wandless enervate.
Aside from his now open eyes, Herb of the Musk was still motionless on the table.
"Rise, slave. Rise and defeat the half-dozen opponents you meet in the room behind you." Rookwood gave the command as it was he who placed the choker on Herb.
Herb got up and scanned the door to his rear. "There are nine opponents in the room, Master. Are three to remain alive?"
Rookwood and Voldemort looked at each other. That was unexpected. Unexpected in a good way. Rookwood chose to answer his slave's query. "Kill all nine."
Without any movement of feet or shifts of balance, Herb held one open palm to the door and made as if to push it open from several meters away. Being a ki-master and the son of an enslaved dragon, Herb didn't need to do more.
An eardrum shattering crack stunned both Rookwood and the Dark Lord for a moment before they noticed that the door had been destroyed. More than that, the stone wall between rooms seems to have been cleanly removed and thrown back into the room it once helped define.
"They are dead, Master." There was some heat to the word, but Herb was not openly defying Rookwood.
Rookwood shook off his surprise and magically scanned the next room over.
"He's right, my Lord." Rookwood went through a handful of charms to scan the crushed and buried room. "There are no living beings in the room anymore. I would have to call this a successful experiment."
Tom Riddle looked closely at the young man that now stood before them. He privately admitted to himself that even he would have been unable to kill all of them so quickly.
"Well done, Rookwood. Herb will be useful in a project I have planned for our enemies' Yule celebrations."
Prince Herb howled under the crushing weight of the submission choker's magic, yet even the weaker effect on his male form was too much to overcome. All he could do was hurl mental insult after curse after threat against these damn foreigners while his body did as it was told. And how could he even understand these bastards? Curse their magic... one day he'd kill them all.
A stream of cold water caught the Jusenkyo victim from behind causing dense muscle to once again shift into delicate curves and soft fur. As the choker was originally designed for use on females, all internal resistance fell immediately. Even Herb's subconscious desire for freedom and revenge would be buried until hot water found her again.
"Sleep, slave." Herb's enchanted mind filled with darkness and she knew no more.
December 9th, 1996
"So, are we going?"
Harry looked up from his transfiguration essay to see what Hermione wanted.
"What?" He replied.
"Are we going?" She had that 'you should already know what I'm talking about' look in her eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Slughorn's party." Hermione let a little bit of her frustration show in her voice.
A scheduling issue. Of course. Harry set down his quill. As he leaned back in his chair in their private office next to the lower years' defense classroom, Harry composed his reply. Hermione was still deeply involved in revising her latest potions essay but that wouldn't stop her from following a conversation.
"Of course we're going. Even if he didn't have the best stories of Mum that any professor here is willing to tell over a post dinner drink or two... we owe him for the potion fiasco. That, and he's been really good about keeping Malfoy and his lot in line since the last match."
Professor Slughorn had been furious that students from his house had ambushed Harry after the Gryffindor quidditch victory. Slytherin House's points were cut in half overnight and several more students were 'signed up' for Ranma's pre-breakfast physical torture- er, training. Physical training. Malfoy's wand was never far from Slughorn and the junior dark lord was never given leave to associate with his peers.
"I know we're going, Harry... but are we going?" Before Jusenkyo, Harry still wouldn't have figured out what she was on about, but Harry has now repelled repeated verbal assaults from Minako, Ginny, Hermione, Usagi, Luna and even -shudder- Lavender. With his knowledge of Hermione in particular, Harry determined that this was still a scheduling issue but also had a bit more buried deeper.
"If you would like, then yes. You and I are going to the party together."
Hermione liked being asked as much as the next girl, but Harry knew that his co-assistant professor was deep into her schedules and daily planner now that they were both taking N.E.W.T. classes and teaching lower level classes at the same time. For her, that meant that if Harry didn't offer to be her date by a set time, she had to break social customs and ask first. She could still be as insecure as the next girl too.
"But isn't Usagi going? I thought I saw Slughorn personally deliver her invitation."
Harry smiled. "Being a Crown Princess has it's perks. Usagi's going to be at a cheerleader party that Lavender set up at the same time as Slughorn's soiree. You received an invitation to that one as well if I remember correctly."
Hermione's face flushed. Her work slowed but didn't stop. "Yes, well... maybe I did help come up with the idea, but I'm not on the squad and I'd rather go to Slughorn's party. I seem to remember you getting an invitation to the squad's party too. Wasn't there something about a sleepover?"
"I didn't come up with the idea and I'll be damned if they stuff me into one of those uniforms. They just want to see their lieutenant in the flesh and embarrass the piss out of me at the same time. No. Slughorn is the lesser evil there."
"You sure you wouldn't rather go with Ginny or Luna? I'm sure they-"
"Do you want to go with another bloke? Is that it?"
"What? No!" Hermione dropped her quill and looked him in the eyes.
Harry just smiled again and returned her gaze. "I feel the same way, 'Mione."
Hermione nodded in response. One day she'd have to give him up completely to Usagi. One day, but not yet.
"Congratulations, Nabiki. You've been a good girl."
Said good girl promptly sprayed the far wall of her apartment kitchenette with iced coffee. It was only in the last week that the middle Tendo sister had lost the constant fear of meeting magical girls in random bathrooms. Two weeks had passed since Nabiki's last outing with Cuteness, the pink haired nine year old witch.
"And may I ask, Sailor Pluto, why you have chosen to meet with me before breakfast? Before getting dressed, even?"
"You don't have to defend your Hello Kitty panties to me, Nabiki. Comfort is important in life."
Nabiki was indeed wearing Hello Kitty panties. As it was still too early enough in the morning for Nabiki to have changed, the young reporter found herself talking to a timeless mahou shoujo in her panties and a tiny cotton top that exposed her slim midriff. At least she wasn't caught nude with a man in her bedroom. That would have been the night before.
"And having you just show up unannounced in my kitchen first thing in the morning is really comforting, let me tell you." Nabiki took two quick gulps of the highly caffeinated liquid which substituted for a healthy breakfast today. Only now had her morning dulled brain processed Pluto's opening line. "If I've been a good girl, does that mean I win a prize?"
"You do." Pluto walked around Nabiki and poured herself a drink. "You've been learning a lot from Cuteness, haven't you?"
"She's a sweet girl. She's got more secrets than a political party official, but she's as sweet as can be."
"And you've been trying to pry them loose." Nabiki froze. "Don't worry, Nabiki. You've learned much, but you are smart about what to put on the morning news and what not too. Like I said, you win a prize."
Pluto pulled a parchment scroll out from… somewhere… and put it on the counter in front of her host.
"That is going to make you a very happy woman, Nabiki. Now… I'm giving it to you so you can prepare for an interview two weeks from now." Nabiki stared at the scroll wondering where this was going. "Keep this scroll under wraps until the interview. If you can do that, then I will lift all my restrictions on your reporting and you can write any story that you like."
"Any story?" Nabiki had an idea of who Sailor Moon was. Would Pluto really-
"Any story." Pluto's dark red eyes sparkled in the morning light. "You won't be able to dig further than you already have, Nabiki. Senshi magic won't allow you to make the connections necessary to uncover every Senshi's identity. Moon's identity has become vulnerable, but it won't matter soon."
"It won't?"
"You know who Moon was, Nabiki. She can't return to that life quietly." Pluto put one delicate finger on the scroll and pushed it closer to Nabiki. "Luckily for her, she doesn't need to."
Nabiki set down her glass of liquid breakfast and picked up the scroll. Slowly, she unrolled the scroll and began to read the sharply cut English script.
"Betrothal Agreement… Crown Princess Usagi… Ancient and Noble House… oh, wow… Umm, Pluto? Is this thing really-" Nabiki turned to her uninvited guest, only to see that she was alone in her kitchenette.
Crown Princess Usagi Serenity of the Royal House of the Moon. Usagi. Sailor Moon. Tsukino Usagi. Sailor Moon was engaged to be married. Senshi fans everywhere were going to wet themselves when they learned Moon was getting married and no one's ever called her a Crown Princess before. Oh, let's not forget that she probably died at Jusenkyo which means that she'd have to come back from the dead to get married…
Suddenly covering a town council member's morally questionable ties to an underage pop idol singer just didn't seem as exciting as it used to.
December 15th,1996
POTTER TEACHES ENGLAND TO FIGHT
By Arthur Anderson
I was recently privileged enough, dear readers, to spend time in Hogwarts with the newest members of the teaching staff, Assistant Professors Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. The Wizarding World was shocked two months ago when rumors leaked out of Hogwarts about the Chosen One and his close companion Miss Granger both being given teaching positions upon Professor Snape's disappearance. While Headmaster Dumbledore did not return floo calls requesting an interview, he did issue a statement fully supporting Lord Potter and Miss Granger.
Since those announcements, many prominent citizens have raised their voices either for or against the idea of Potter and Granger teaching defense classes. Only now has the Minister for Magic's office been willing to arrange a meeting between myself and the youngest Hogwarts Professors in recent history.
I meet the pair as their last class of the day ends, a stream of First Year Gryffindors and Slytherins pouring out of the room as I enter. It is at this point that I witness a shocking event. Professor Potter is bestowing praise upon a flustered young Slytherin witch. She had just earned her house twenty points in one class and Potter favorably compared her study habits to his fellow Assistant Professor, Miss Granger. After introductions are made, I get right to the important questions.
Harry (he still insists on being called by his first name) what makes you the right person to teach England's children Defense?
"I'm not the only one teaching. Dumbledore still has the O.W.L. year and above students. I teach First to Fourth, but I'm not alone even then. I couldn't teach this class without Hermione by my side."
The two of you did very well on your defense O.W.L.s, but you are still taking classes yourselves. How do you find the time to learn and teach at the same time?
"Magic." Miss Granger slaps Lord Potter over the head and he apologizes for his joke before she answers the question in his stead. "Harry learned a special magical technique while visiting Japan over the summer that Headmaster Dumbledore helped us see the value of. Our schedules are tight but manageable."
And yet you have the experience and knowledge required to teach others? Others who are in some cases only two years younger than yourselves?
"It's not ideal, I admit that. Professor Snape was brilliant as a defense professor, much as it pains me to say it. What Hermione and I can do is give our best to the class."
And is there anything you can offer our readers in advice? It's been said that more than a few lives were saved by your words the last time you gave an interview.
"Thank Merlin it helped." Harry and Hermione quickly discussed what he should say before turning back to me. "Well, you should always start with my earlier words on getting free of danger. Assuming you are either trapped in the middle of something or you have good reason to turn and fight then remember this. It's always better to be really good with one or two useful spells than crummy with loads of them. If you spend your free time practicing banishing and summoning, then you can banish knives into their robes or summon walls on top of them. Terrorists seem to like burning down houses and shops, so maybe learn to counter that with water spells... soak the terrorists' robes and then freeze them in place or something. If you practice enough, you should be able to cast silently to catch the dark wizards when they're not expecting it. It helps if you can pick a spell that is quick to cast. The killing curse is seven syllables long. That's pretty long when you're casting back at the baddies. Incendio is only four. Accio is three, so summon your opponent's wand or his shoes out from under him or the table behind him. Expulso is also three syllables and you make things explode with it. And don't forget to keep moving. Shield spells can't block unforgivables so it's better to dodge and fight back that to stand there and hope your shield holds out. I guarantee it won't."
So you should sneak up on them? Sounds a little Slytherin to me.
"I can be cunning when I want to be and Hermione wants to free an enslaved race. That's real ambition for you. Honestly it might have made more sense if Hermione and I were Slytherins and Draco Malfoy was a Gryffindor. You don't need to be evil to have Slytherin traits."
So do you think the average witch and wizard has a chance?
"Everyone has a chance, but you should keep your wits about you. It's a simple list really... One, don't panic. Two, save your family. Three, save yourself. Four, if necessary or if it makes good sense, fight back."
When does it make good sense to fight back?
"Well, I've heard that groups of dark wizards have apparated into large gatherings before. If you're in the middle of a crowd of hundreds of wizards and terrorists pop in for a fight, well that's one of those times that drawing your wand and hexing the first terrorist you see might be a good idea. If everyone there who wasn't minding children just drew their wands and hexed the nearest baddie, you might actually win the fight. Hundreds of wands against dozens and all that. Practice your aim though! Mustn't be hexing the wrong people."
Good advice. Still, not everyone has a prophesy about them.
"Not everyone meets the Dark Lord face to face either. And anything can be a power... even these articles. I could indirectly beat him by proxy or legal action. Prophecies are vague like that."
Last question. Rumor has it that you intend to attend the Ministry Yule Ball. Can you confirm that?
"Minister Scrimgeour invited me and I do intend to go."
Harry Potter may have look like a student, but his attitude was professional during my visit with him and his co-Assistant Professor. Miss Granger spent her time grading papers and occasionally helping Lord Potter out of a tight spot with a word or even just a glance. Having seen this unusual display of maturity from Lord Potter not just once, but twice now, I must say to the light wizards and witches of England that this young Lord has what it takes to teach his students and he also has what it takes to win.
For more on D.A.D.A. teachers in the past ten years, see pages 7 and 8.
For Lord Potter's and Miss Granger's O.W.L. results, see page 6.
For a reprint of Lord Potter's first interview, see page 3.
December 19th,1996
The tip of a holly and phoenix feather wand jerked right once and curtains closed around Harry's bed. A few more swishes and flicks caused a respectable screen of privacy and security charms to settle into place.
Peace.
"You look tired, my Harry." The spirit of Usagi Tsukino may be weightless and insubstantial, but she still draped herself over the young man she would one day marry.
"Yeah? Well I suppose I am tired, Love. Each day I tell myself that this will be the day I finally figure life out… this will be the day everything goes according to plan. Each day my students soak that idea in petrol and burn it to the ground." Harry heard his girlfriend giggle. "What?"
"Every day, my Harry? –snicker- You only teach three day out of seven."
"If only it were that easy." Harry rubbed his temples with callous fingers. "They seek me out after class. I don't remember ever seeing other students track down McGonagall or Flitwick or even Lupin this much."
Usagi broke out in a peal of laughter.
"Harrrrry, Love. Have you figure out why 'your students' need so much extra help?" Usagi floated above her mortal lover and stared down at him face to face. Harry just shook his head. "I help you then… Tell me, my Harry, of students who ask question of Professor Potter, how many are boy and how many girl?"
Harry looked up to Usagi in confusion. He was much too worn down to play a game of twenty questions.
"I dunno, Love. Mostly girls, I think."
Usagi gave Harry a warm smile and replied, "Of all students who ask wise Professor Potter for help, only one in ten is boy!"
As Harry watched, Usagi's attire morphed from normal Japanese school uniform into Hogwarts robes. She then covered her heart with both hands, pouted and fluttered her eyelashes before speaking again.
"Oh wise, powerful and sexy Professor Potter, I am young witch who need strong, firm teaching to become woman. Please be gentle!" Usagi lost her composure among giggles for a moment before continuing on. "Why must sexy Professor Chosen One date with dead girl? He not see me make love-love eyes at him in class so I forget to take notes?"
"No. No no no no no no no no no. They look up to me to teach them defense."
"They do that, yes... then they get butterflies in stomach and dream of wedding bells and kissy-face. 'Mione get boys to crush on her too, but not so many."
Harry covered his head with a pillow.
"Ohhhhhhhh, 'Mione. I'm sorry Love, but that is one girl that I know loves me."
"Yes, I know. And you love her too." Harry went still. "Do not say you are sorry, my Harry. You love 'Mione. I love Rei. You love Luna. I love all other Senshi. Love is good thing, Harry. You love so many people and I do too. Don't ever stop loving 'Mione. I forbid it."
Harry slowly slid his pillow behind his head again and stared up at Usagi sadly.
"She won't say it out loud, but she's really scared that you're going to take me away from her forever. She almost panicked over the idea that I might prefer other company at Slughorn's party tomorrow."
"If that's the case, Love, then we shall give Hermione an early Christmas present. One that can't be purchased in Shinjuku."
"What shall we give her, my Princess?"
"Tomorrow night, you are hers. Not mine."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure."
Two young lovers gazed at each without words as time and space passed them by. After some unspoken signal passed between the two, the feminine floating spirit began to drift downwards, a little smirk forming on her delicate features. Tingling heat began to build in Harry's lips as Usagi dipped in for a kiss. After a soft spectral snogging, Harry and Usagi took advantage of her incorporeal state to become one.
December 20th,1996
"Harry, m'boy!" Unless Harry missed his guess, Horace Slughorn was actually waiting in ambush near the front door. "Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!"
And meet people Harry did. Professor Slughorn's Christmas party was loaded with people who were famous for something or other. He recognized several witches, the weird Sisters in particular, but found that most of the people in the room were complete mysteries to him. Thank Merlin Hermione was on his arm tonight! Her keen mind kept conversations going even when he was completely out of his depth. Harry wondered if this is what it felt like to be a trophy wife... husband... whatever. One quick aguamenti would be enough to make him the wife in this relationship.
Hermione, of course, looked radiant in her light blue dress robes. These were not her Fourth Year Yule Ball robes. In fact, the cut was a bit more daring and Harry was seeing more of Hermione right now than he had since… well… that night in Grimmauld Place when they did… stuff.
Let it never be said that Hermione couldn't fill out a robe because... well... if Ginny knew what Harry thought of Hermione in the robes that Ginny herself picked out, then the overly jealous redhead would have never suggested them. Exposed shoulders, a daring neckline that showed an overabundance of skin and cleavage... the skirt's cut did more to enhance what was hidden than what was revealed... in short, Hermione was extremely shagworthy tonight.
Bad Harry Junior! Down! Sit! Don't let 'Mione see you poking out like that! 'Umbridge naked dancing. Dumbledore shagging a troll. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Ver- oh, that's just sick.'
Eldred Worple, his vampire friend Sanguini, even members of the weird Sisters melted to the background as Assistant Professors Potter and Granger were given preference above and beyond any normal star of the 'Slug Club' until Harry finally found his escape.
"Luna? Luna!" Finally! Someone Harry could have a real conversation with! "How are you tonight, Luna?"
"Oh, Harry! So nice to see you here. Have you seen any nargles recently?"
Harry hoped to see the real 'Luna' as she was more dear to him than her 'Looney' defensive screen. Don't get him wrong, privately 'Looney' was more fun then you could possibly imagine... but they were in the middle of a group of strangers here...
"No Nargles, Luna. However did you get here? Did Slughorn see you tracking snorkacks near the lake?" Luna blushed. He could not detect any weed altered Looneyness in her tonight. "Pay close attention to this one, Horace. She's destined for great things."
Luna blushed again when Harry gave her a warm hug, but this could not outdo the smile on Horace Slughorn's face. The Chosen One had singled out a student in his Slug Club for greatness! Game – set – match, Slughorn! At least by Slughorn's way of thinking, this was the case.
"How delightful that you know the daughter of the Quibbler's editor, Harry-"
"Horace, please... this young lady helped me fight off Death Eaters on more than one occasion. And she's more than just an editor's daughter. I'm quite certain that the Grail shaped beacon used in the defense of Anthrax Castle was her creation and it was wielded by her cousins."
Harry saw Horace's face light up at that. Perhaps he had not quite connected the dots. Either way, Luna was overwhelmed by the attention of Horace and his unusual guests this evening. Harry watched as Luna felt the unenviable focus of Slughorn's attention long enough for Harry and Hermione to escape notice.
"Harry, you didn't have to-" Harry pulled his date into a dip. Not that there was any dance music playing, but he always liked keeping Hermione off balance.
"Yes, I did, Mione." Harry pulled his brunette bookworm a little closer, Usagi's words slowly moving from suggestion to directive in his mind. "Tomorrow, I head to the Land of the Rising Sun. I am inviting you and certain others to join us from the twenty-sixth to New Years... but that's entirely up to you."
"I'm invited to Tokyo? Anyone else I know?" In truth, Hermione's parents had been less pleased during each break at the changes their daughter had undergone and only magical law prevented them from pulling her out of Hogwarts entirely for re-enrollment into muggle schools. At least her younger sister fit their ideal of what a daughter should turn out to be. 'Heir and a spare' need not only apply to blue-blood families, after all. "Do you... do you think I could spend my whole break with you? Mum and Da won't likely be in a position to take me for just a few... quite busy these days you know."
Harry's smile was gorgeous. She couldn't quite tell if he preferred keeping her close longer or if he just ignored how lame her excuse sounded. Maybe she was just that lucky.
"I'm sure we can arrange something, 'Mione. I want you to like my friends in Japan and I want them to like you." He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. "I was going to invite everyone who went to the Department of Mysteries... but... with how Ginny's still giving me the cold shoulder on account of Daphne and all..."
"You might want to give her the offer, Harry. Maybe she'll forgive and forget in exchange for a trip to Japan." Hermione pulled her date into an embrace for a dance that only she could hear. "And if she doesn't, maybe Daphne and Astoria could come instead."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "That actually sounds like a good idea! If Ginny says no, Daphne and Astoria will get an invitation!" Harry dipped down for a kiss and got lips instead of the cheek he was looking for.
Well, if he's going that direction tonight anyway...
"Careful, Potter." Zabini. Of course, they weren't exactly hiding by touching lips in the middle of a crowded party. "You might get a reputation if you're seen just kissing anyone. What would your Princess say to this?"
Hermione was on the verge of panic when she felt Harry smile. Felt being the operative word as he hadn't backed away and his lips still rubbed against her own. He finally did break off the kiss and turn to see a close knit group around Blaise, adults mostly, who were clearly entertained by a little high profile impropriety.
"I expect that Usagi would say something like this..." Harry slipped his wand out and cast a small silent aguamenti at his hand. Instant Usagi. "Oh, it's sooooo romantic! They, like, first met each other on a magical train! And then when she was really really sad and crying and all 'I wanna go home' and stuff he saved her life from a troll who was like 'I'm gonna eat you' and Harry was all 'I don't think so' and that was all before Christmas!"
Harry took a deep breath in. She even stilled her hands which were bouncing about as if to tell the story in sign language.
"And Hermione set a professor on fire for Harry and Harry-"
"Stop! Just shut it!"
"Well you did ask what Usagi would say and I have seen the girl just prattle on several times. He's got her mannerisms down pretty good now." Hermione didn't know whether to be impressed or disturbed about Harry's impersonation of his own Intended.
"Zabini, if you ever see Usagi start up a conversation with Lavender or Luna, turn and run. Serious. Bad things will happen to your brain if you don't leave the room."
"Just... forget it Potter. You should have written up a contract with Looney; you and that daft bitch are just made for each other." Blaise turned and stepped into the crowd and in doing so narrowly avoided a very public beat down.
"Harry. Harry! Calm down!" Hermione began to stroke her date's arm. "Calm. Down. Your forehead is glowing."
"They say that men tend to marry women who remind them of their Mums. With any luck he'll follow the pattern."
Harry turned to see the pretty yet eccentric dirty blonde Ravenclaw slide up to him and Hermione.
"Nice one, Luna. Maybe I could see if Pluto's looking for a side project. As I don't know for certain who Mrs. Zabini's first husband was, how do we know that Pluto didn't chuck Blaise into the past in the future under the effects of a love potion or some such thing. Killed before he was born by his own mother who was his wife at the time."
"Harry? Have you been drinking?" Hermione was looking at her queer. Not queer as in gay... well they were a same sex couple out on a date, so that was kind of gay... but not gay as in happy…
"Luna? Do you have your spectrespecs handy? I want to check 'Mione's for wrackspurts."
Hermione was speechless. Had Luna infected Harry somehow?
"Sorry, Harry. I left them back in my trunk. I'd be glad to go retrieve them if you enforce the Potter-Lovegood Agreement though."
"Not tonight, Luna, but if you go back in time to when I was... maybe... seven or eight or so... and promise to help me escape the Dursleys in exchange for my enforcing the contract then you couldn't possibly fail."
"I'll remember that next time I visit with the Fey. Time isn't linear around them, you know."
"You know, I do seem a bit light headed." Hermione just couldn't handle two Lunas. The mind boggled.
Harry turned away from Luna to take Hermione's arm. "I'd better get you some fresh air then. Luna? Be a dear and tell Slughorn that I'm escorting Hermione out, will you?"
"Of course, Harry."
"Oh! Luna, you're going to get a written invitation before I leave tomorrow, but I'll go ahead and say it now anyway. I'd like you invite you to spend some time in Japan with me and the others. Maybe from the day after Boxing Day to New Years Eve. What do you think?"
Luna's smile lit up the whole room. "I'd love to go! I can't wait to see what kind of creatures can be seen on the other side of the world. You are a true friend, Harry."
"And that's why I must bid you adieu. 'Mione needs a nurse right now and I'm on rotation tonight."
Luna pulled her wand out of her cleavage and sent a little hot water Harry's way. "I rather think she needs a knight in shining armor. Once more into the breach, Harry."
With a blown kiss, Luna melted into the crowds and noise of Slughorn's party.
Beautiful. Absolutely stunning. And the stars in the cloudless night sky were quite nice as well.
"Another warming charm please, Harry."
Harry stopped Hermione's shoulder rub and pulled out his first wand to cast the requested charm. True, Hermione could have done it herself, but she was the one being pampered with a cozy stargazing session atop one of the least used and best hidden parapets of Hogwarts' upper towers. Harry actually pulled out his Firebolt to take them across centuries old roofs looking for a bit of defensive stonework that was fully out of the teacher/prefect evening patrol zone.
No one would disturb them there.
As he cast the warming charm, Harry briefly wondered at the trouble his trophy wand was giving him these days. While the wand still worked well, it didn't give him quite the feel of confidence and power that he got from it before. Harry briefly considered that maybe something happened when Astoria hexed him unconscious during that indoor broom ride, but then he'd been stunned or otherwise overcome loads of times with his first wand and that one felt no different today than when he first laid hands on it. But why was he complaining? He still had two wands that worked fairly well for him and then there was the Scepter of Prissiness too.
'Quit thinking about your wands Potter! Get back to rubbing 'Mione's shoulders!' Harry refocused and proceeded to make his closest friend melt like butter.
"Hmmmmnnnnn… That's feels good, Harry. Is it wrong for me to want you all to myself tonight?"
"Not at all, 'Mione. In point of fact, you have me all to yourself tonight."
Hermione didn't physically react, as Harry's magic fingers were making a warm puddle out of her nervous system, but she did sharpen her mental facilities.
"Won't Usagi want to give you a kiss goodnight?"
"Usagi believes that love conquers all, Hermione. Denying our feelings would hurt her as much as it hurts us. We will all live happily ever after. I promise on my magic."
Hermione turned her head to look back at Harry prompting him to move closer. As her eyes caught his, Harry's left hand dropped to Hermione's waist and pulled her in against his chest. His right hand found her cheek and gently guided her to him for a deep kiss.
Hermione could have ruined things for herself by wondering if those few drops of Felix Felicis, her own liquid luck, she swallowed before the party were making Harry do things he wouldn't normally do. Instead, her luck changed yet again for the better when Harry overwhelmed her brain with feelings of love and physical pleasure.
Harry's warming charm was refreshed repeatedly over the next several hours as two young Gryffindors shared a passionate night upon bedding transfigured from new fallen snow.
December 21st, 1996
"Harry really knows how to clear up a wrackspurt infestation, doesn't he, Hermione?"
Hermione didn't answer with words, but she certainly had that look about her. Her blissful inaction was plenty answer enough for the quirky Ravenclaw. Perhaps Hermione had yet to find her brain after getting it shagged out of her in the most romantic and loving way possible.
"Oi. 'Mione. Y' gonna eat that?" Ron's keen sense of food acquisition alerted him to the fact that her plate was full yet untouched. "'Hermione? You awake yet? Hey Lav, what do you thinks gotten into Hermione?"
Lavender leaned past her boyfriend and took a close look at the normally alert and attentive Assistant Professor. As Lavender was an expert at reading body language, thanks to many long years of face to face rumor spreading, she instantly knew what 'got into' Hermione.
"Oh, Professor!" Lavender sing-songed down the table. "I do hope you remember that student-teacher relations are against the rules."
"………"
"Don't be too hard on her, Lavender. Wrackspurt infestations are not easy to clear up. She had to go straight to the expert, a legend in the field." Luna began to eat Hermione's breakfast, much to Ron's displeasure.
"And who might this expert be Lu-" A new arrival at breakfast interrupted the gossip queen's interrogation.
"'Morning, 'Mione. Sleep well?" Assistant Professor Potter leaned over his close friend and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
Lavender's brain almost exploded. As happy and content as Hermione looked a moment ago, somehow she had just doubled up on her feelings. Meet mister wrackspurt expert, Lord Harry James 'shag 'em rotten' Potter.
"Good morning 'Mione!" Usagi floated over Hermione's other shoulder and gave her a big smile. "I hope you like my early Christmas present to you. Being dead make going shopping very hard."
"Oh… Oh my, yes! Thank you ever so much for your most generous present, Usagi."
Hermione finally snapped into action by squeezing Harry's hand and brushing her shoulder through Usagi's side. Think of it as a ghost hug. Hermione then snatched her fork out of Luna's hand and began to attack the scrambled eggs.
Lavender's brain exploded. She made her excuses to a confused Ron and almost ran to Parvati who was sitting by her sister at Ravenclaw Table in preparation for the trip home for the holidays.
If only someone else hadn't been as attentive.
Ginny wanted to scream. She wanted to get up from her seat three down on the opposite side of the table and cast the Reductor curse right into that smug whore's tits. She wanted to rip Harry's wandering cock off with her bare hands.
She didn't. Oh, how she wanted to, but she didn't. Weasley's don't do dark. They don't cast unforgivables, they don't get sent to Azkaban and they certainly don't castrate Chosen Ones. Sure, they use potions and charms and a bit of social trickery to land the coy and the hard to get but so does any other light sided family that's still pureblooded after all these years. But bloody hell if it wasn't working at all this time.
Ginny's actually quite grateful that Draco got caught dosing Hermione before Ginny could actually try dosing her own target. Now anyone can see that Harry's so well guarded even Luna would be safe... she's actually one of his lines of defense! No. Ginny's custom Weasley family recipe, the one Mum called 'Happily Ever After in a Bottle' is useless to her now.
Or is it? Maybe... maybe she's been looking at it all the wrong way. Somethings got to change.
Ginny looked around. Good, no one seemed to be watching her. A slight wrist dropped into the bookbag at her feet and lifted out an opaque red potion bottle. Next she dipped her hand a little deeper to get at a small cloth sack which held a few of her favorite elixirs and lotions for when she went to powder her nose. Within the sack was a selection of hairs of various colors. It never hurt to have options, did it?
There. That one. Just the thing for a light witch like her to get her knight in shining armor, and this course of action would be far, far easier that making Harry Potter love her or making Hermione Granger love someone else apart from Harry Potter.
Ginny dropped the hair into her potion, gave the bottle a good shake and promptly drank every last drop herself.
For the first time in days... weeks even... Ginny smiled. Oh, yes. It was working already.
The first Weasley witch in generations left her seat and walked around to the other side of Gryffindor Table.
"Harry."
Conversations stopped. Everyone tensed up as the Demoness of Gryffindor Tower addressed her arch-rival.
"Ginny. What can I do for you?" Harry was at least being pleasant. Thank Merlin she hadn't well and truly cocked up their relationship yet.
"Well... I'd like to thank you for that invitation. It really means a lot to me that you still want me around after all the grief I've given you recently." Ginny could see a spark of hope in Harry's eyes. "I was being a right bitch and I'm really sorry about that. If you really mean it, then I'd love to spend time in Japan with you and Usagi. Is the offer still open?"
The Potter smirk. If it wasn't for the potion assaulting her heart and re-writing her dreams, then she would have fallen for those damn green eyes all over again.
"Of course it is, Gin! We'd love to have you. And if you think clothes shopping in Diagon Alley is fun, then Shinjuku is going to blow your mind."
"Thanks, Harry." Her smile was a bit more genuine than it was a minute ago. "Were you going to invite Daphne and Astoria too?"
"I was thinking of it. Do you have a problem with that? Them being Slytherins and all?" Harry was really asking if she still had a problem with him having shagged the elder Greengrass and they both knew it.
"Go right ahead. Between you and me, the Sorting Hat brought up Slytherin as an option... I probably would have been friends with those two had things gone differently."
Ginny could see the utter shock fall over her brother's face among the crowd listening. Hermione seemed to have that 'I knew it!' look about her. Harry... oh Merlin...
"I know just what you mean Gin. Bloody hat said I'd do very well in that house... I actually begged for anywhere but Slytherin before it made a Gryffindor. Looks like I won out in the end, eh?"
Ron, Hermione and quite a few others were all wearing looks of utter shock at that. The Golden Boy of Gryffindor had almost been the Silver Prince of Slytherin. By Merlin, what a nightmare that would have been.
"You sure did. You're going to kick old Tommy's arse, Harry, and if I'm lucky, I'll be right there with you. Someone has to keep Tommy's Death Munchers off your back."
"I'd rather you be somewhere safe, but then lionesses like Hermione and yourself don't just sit back and wait patiently for your wizards to do all the dangerous work, now do you?"
"No, we don't, Harry. Well, I've got some more packing to do before the train, so ta-ta for now." Ginny moved in for a quick if innocent kiss to Harry's cheek.
Well that's life for you. All she had to do was give up on his heart forever and the very next minute she's kissing him.
As Ginny called out a few more fair thee wells, she paused. Ginny wavered behind one boy who she hadn't spoken to in far too long. Even if she weren't a Gryffindor, the potion she had taken not five minutes ago was already urging her to put a little effort in. Yes, it was time for this bachelorette to try her hand with bachelor number two.
"Neville?"
"Er, yeah, Ginny?" The nervous, but not so nervous as he used to be, boy turned in his seat to address her.
"Will you be going to Japan too?" This wasn't Harry. All of Ginny's nervous tension had fled and her hopeful smile was warm and honest now.
"I'd... I'd really like to. Probably have to get Gran to okay the idea... but I'm planning on going. And you?"
"Absolutely. If Mum tells me no, then I'll just sneak over to your place and we can run off together, yeah?" She could have said Luna's was an option, but this was a fishing expedition.
"Oh!... Er... Of course, you can. Sneak off, I mean... you know, if you need to. That's... that's perfectly fine by me." Good old Neville. His blush was bright enough to light up the Great Hall all on it's own.
"Excellent! It's a date, then."
Without giving him a chance to dodge back, Ginny darted in for her second kiss of the day. As Nev was already blushing like a Weasley, Ginny figured his cheek must be boiling where that little peck landed just now. Funny. The little nudges in her head to wink or giggle or run off to write him a letter got a lot bigger with that one kiss.
A few chairs down, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Ron and Usagi all watched the little drama unfold with rapt attention.
"Did... did my sister just hit on Nev?"
"I think she did, mate. That's a good thing in my book. He'll be good to her, you can be sure of that." Inside, harry was jumping for joy. Things just got soooooo much easier. "Dobby."
pop
"Dobby is here! What can Dobby be doing for the Great Lord Harry Potter Sir?"
"Green light, Dobby."
"Yes Sir, Professor Lord Harry Potter Sir!"
pop
"And what was that about?" Hermione was equal parts upset over Harry's more forceful command of the elf and intrigued that a plot was developing.
"Oh... nothing much. Just two Slytherin students are about to learn that my detentions don't get canceled out due to silly little things like holiday breaks."
"You did say that Daphne and Astoria would be invited." Ron seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. Don't laugh. It happens sometimes. "Thanks for letting Ginny decide, mate. That was good of you."
"Congratulations Ron." As Hermione turned to address Ron, Luna stole another quick bite off of her unguarded plate. "I think you now have the emotional depth of a bucket. Keep this up and we'll be able to size you for a barrel before July Second."
Proving his new found depth, the youngest Weasley wizard did not immediately attack Hermione, nor did he blush from anger nor embarrassment.
"You can blame Lavender for that. She actually insists on talking about stuff after we... er... what I mean is that she really wants to know the real me and how I can rule the chess board one minute and then absolutely pillage a kitchen table right afterwords."
Harry smiled and thought of Usagi. He may have bedded several girls in the past six months or so... Hermione twice now... but he's only done 'pillow talk' with Usagi. God, but he loved her... and as an added bonus, his Japanese was almost to the point where he wouldn't need the translation ring anymore. In fact, as a Christmas present, Harry was planning on having a full conversation with Usagi in Japanese without the ring.
At the complete opposite end of the Great Hall, a witch dared enter the teacher enforced solitary confinement bubble that surrounded Draco Malfoy and his lonely corner of Slytherin House's table for a good three or four meters in any direction.
"Draco."
She leaned over him in a way as to let both of their faces be seen by the professors but not show them what she was holding onto. As much as she would like to linger, that damned muggle freak redhead had just stopped talking to Headmaster Dumbledore and was watching her suspiciously.
"Pansy. Have you got something for me?" She nodded.
As the two shared a sedate yet still rule breaking kiss, Pansy dropped a parchment and a small box onto the bench next to her fellow Slytherin's thigh.
"I've got to go. It'd be best if I got detention and points off several paces away from that."
"Then go. You will be rewarded. You have my word."
Pansy dipped in for another kiss, faster but deeper at the same time, before boldly walking over to the Head Table to see what punishment will await her... if this doesn't get worse before it gets better.
Draco slipped the box and parchment into his lap and began to read as he ate.
Young Malfoy,
Your failures have cost me much and I am not a patient man. You are lucky that a suitable replacement could be found for your first mission else we would be face to face and you would be begging for the end.
However, there is one way available for your to regain lost ground. The box. The item inside is not inherently dark and so it will pass successfully through castle wards. It is powerful and it is dangerous. To ensure success, do not open the box until you are within two paces of your target. Do not target Potter. Target the ghost. You need only open the box and the rest will take care of itself.
Do not hesitate. Get up, get moving and destroy my enemies.
Your Master
As soon as Draco finished reading the parchment, it turned black and fell to ash in his lap. All that was left was a small rough iron box. Slowly, he slipped the oddly heavy box into a fold in his robes.
Do not hesitate.
Draco wiped at his chin with a napkin before standing and leaving the Great Hall via the closest side doors. With any luck, they wouldn't see him going around the long way.
Thousands of kilometers away from Hogwarts Castle, in a private residence in Tokyo, two young girls were going over dinner plans for the evening.
"But I don't know what Daddy likes to eat, really. I mean… I know he liked most everything he tried during his summer visit, but I've got no idea what his favorite dinner is. Oh, I give up… let's suggest a good home cooked meal and see what Makoto is willing to bring over."
A pink haired girl with red eyes quit biting on the end of her pen and began adding to her blank grocery list. At the very least she was going to need more seaweed for fresh sushi rolls and more miso soup. What else… It was getting hard to concentrate, what with Daddy coming back and this headache that started… what… five minutes ago?
"Don't worry Usa-chan. I bet Setsuna-mamma will offer to take us all out to celebrate and- hey, what's wrong?" Hotaru started when she saw her best friends complexion suddenly change. Was Usa-chan beginning to sweat?
"It's just a he- oohhhhhhh. I really don't feel good." Cuteness tried to look at her friend, but there were two Hotarus in the room and both were getting blurry.
"Usa-chan? Usagi?!"
Hotaru was about to put her hand on Cuteness's shoulder when the smaller girl suddenly listed to port and collapsed onto the kitchen floor. Hotaru went white in fear.
Was it a trick of the light, or was her dearest friend going see-through?
"SETSUUUUUUUNAAAA!" The twelve year old girl pulled out a Senshi communicator and mashed her hand down on the panic button before hitting Pluto's button. "PLUTO! Come home NOW!"
"What happened?" There was movement behind Hotaru as Pluto appeared in the room and stood over the two girls.
Before Hotaru could answer, Pluto pulled out her own communicator and hit the all call button. "Girls! Get over here now. Drop whatever it is you are doing and get over here!"
All across Tokyo, girls stopped watching movies or doing their after-school clubs or stalking boys and sprinted of to find a quiet room to transform in. Thank the Gods that cell phones were getting more popular or the normal people that heard Pluto yell from purses and pockets would have been more surprised than they already were.
"What's happening, Pluto?"
Hotaru was beginning to tear up. She almost never heard Pluto yell and she's never ever seen Usa-chan look like this before.
"Transform, Hortaru dear." Pluto never moved her eyes off of her beloved Small Lady. Cuteness was completely limp on the floor… not bleeding, but she was a bit transparent.
If they couldn't stop whatever it was that was happening, a paradox would remove Sailor Moon's daughter from the face of history. That would be bad. Very, very bad. Whole years would be undone.
"W-what's h-happen-ning?!" Hotaru hadn't transformed yet. She was too scared. She needed an answer.
"Something's about to happen to one or both of her parents, Hotaru. I need you to transform. When all the girls are here… we teleport right to Hogwarts Castle."
What little blood remained in Hotaru's face drained out. Later, she wouldn't even remember transforming into Sailor Saturn even if though it must have happened.
Why didn't she know this would happen? Pluto mentally railed against Jusenkyo and the presence of three cursed individuals so close to her future Queen. How could she protect the future if the Gate couldn't properly analyze the actions and inactions of Jusenkyo victims? If there were any silver lining to this storm cloud then perhaps it was the relatively slow affects on her Small Lady. The chaotic nature of Jusenkyo was giving Pluto a window of opportunity to fix things; that's something that no one's ever gotten before that she could recall. If a paradox were something that you could see coming, then Atlantis would still be the primary seat of human power and culture even today and not the stuff of legend that current history texts are left with.
Pluto couldn't leave the Small Lady alone for this raid and she's much to bad off to take with them. She couldn't spare Saturn as they might need a Silence Wall. Might need Mercury's computer too… Jupiter? Makoto is great at hand to hand, but then Ranma's already at the castle if they needed that. It's settled then. Pluto will have Jupiter stay behind to monitor Chibi-usa while everyone else runs off to storm a castle.
It didn't take long. Draco knew Hogwarts as well as anyone… he knew it plenty well enough to cut down a floor, over two hallways, up two floors, down another hallway and down one last stairwell.
There it was… the Great Hall entry immediately behind Gryffindor House's table. All he had to do was walk another twenty steps and, assuming the damn ghost was still in the Great Hall, his task for Lord Voldemort would be complete. Honestly, he didn't know what his task was supposed to accomplish, but there must be something of great power in this box for it to affect the dead.
"Hey! Hey you!"
Merlin's salty sack! Not now! Why couldn't that sex-changing muggle leave well enough alone. Draco saw the redheaded whore step out of the very doorway he was looking to enter. Without his wand, Draco knew that the filthy peasant could break him into pieces. Draco had little choice now. There was another door into the Great Hall closer to him, but he would be at the other end of Gryffindor Table. Well if this artifact was powerful enough for the Dark Lord to smuggle it into Hogwarts, then surely being in the same room with Potter's ghost bitch would be good enough. He stepped into the Great Hall.
Sure enough, the redhead stepped back through her doors and began to make her way to him.
To hell with them all! Draco reached into his robes and pulled out the iron box.
"HIME-SAN!" "USAGI-CHAN!" What?
When you yell 'Princess' at the top of your lungs into a hall known for having good acoustics, everyone is going to hear.
Every person in the hall turned as one to see a combat group of young, beautiful and deadly mahou shoujo storm through the main entry to the Great Hall.
"Hey, guys! What are you doing here?!" Usagi hadn't quite noticed the urgent look that was worn by each of her dearest friends.
"Girls! That one standing up is acting funny!" Ranma pointed straight at Draco.
Ranma knew the young Lord was up to something and she also knew that Senshi don't just drop in un-announced for social calls. Add to that the sheer number of Alien-Warrior-Princess-Super-Veela present and you have BAD THINGS happening.
Anyone who did not understand Japanese also did not know or care why all of the gorgeous foreign cheerleaders looked over to stage right, but Draco cursed his luck when one enemy singled him out to what were clearly more new enemies. Draco ignored the fact that holiday departures had lured several ghosts other than his target into the Great Hall; Hell, they were already dead anyway. Right?
He did the only thing he could do. He opened the box.
As Draco peered into the box and wondered at the powers of such a dull and lifeless shard of stone, the artifact's power escaped it's cold iron prison claiming it's first victim in the process.
As one, every ghost in the hall felt a pull, cold and unrelenting, on their very existence. Nearly Headless Nick felt it the strongest as he was already within spitting distance of Draco when he opened the box.
"What are y-" Was all Nick managed to get out as he was sucked into the stone, lost to this world forever.
Draco lost his grip on the iron box as well as his consciousness when a Senshi with blonde hair and bluegreen eyes pinned him to the back wall with her fist one quarter second before Ranma and Shampoo could act on the same impulse. The stone tumbled out of it's repository and stopped a small distance away.
"Usagi?"
"Harry?"
Usagi was pulling away. She was being pulled away as surely as every ghost in sight was. The stone... that whatever it was... was slowly pulling every spirit into it's depths.
"Hey! What's goi-" Was all that Peeves got out before he too fell into the stone.
The delinquent poltergeist had just passed through the front wall into the Great Hall and thus never saw his doom before it was already upon him.
"Harry!" The pull was getting stronger. Harry jumped out of his seat to stay close to Usagi's side.
"Bloody Hell! Help me!" Myrtle! She started a few seats down by the Creevey brothers but was being pulled into the stone as surely as any other ghost in the castle.
The student population of Hogwarts finally broke through their collective shock and began to explode in fear, shock and confusion. The professors behind their great table began to shout instructions down to the students, but those commands were neither heard not heeded.
"Uranus! Put the stone back in the box and close it! Saturn! Drop a Silence Wall in front of the stone!" Pluto was barking out orders. The other Senshi followed her lead as Venus was out of her depth and Moon was distinctly unavailable.
Uranus went down on bent knee to grab the stone as Saturn moved in front of her and began to cast Silence Wall.
A shriek fit to raise the dead stopped Saturn mid incantation. Uranus fell boneless behind her.
"It's some kind of death based power!" Mercury was scanning the stone actively now. "Anything Saturn can cast would only make it stronger. Get away from it Saturn!"
As the Senshi of Silence put as much distance between herself and the stone as she could, Pluto turned to Mercury.
"Weaknesses?"
"Unsure! The opposite of death would be life, but I can't prove any one of our powers will counter it! Maybe Moon, but..." Mercury could tell you all about the stone's chemical composition, even how it was snagging spirits... but that did not give her an answer. Not an answer that she wanted to hear anyway.
Harry looked into the panicked eyes of the girl he is supposed to marry, the mother of his child, the reason he lives and breathes... and chose to act. 'Maybe Moon' She said. He had to tap the biggest power available to him. He needed cold water. Harry suddenly stopped following Usagi and dipped his fingers into the nearest cold drink.
Now wearing the correct, if improper, gender she drew the Scepter of Prissiness and called to Power. A now well known golden crescent moon sigil flared on her forehead.
"Moon Crisis, Make-up!"
An new wave of power washed over the Great Hall. Most of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and a handful of students in the other two houses witnessed a very public Senshi transformation. The students and teaching staff of Hogwarts Castle seemed to realize all at once that they were only spectators in this magical display of love, devotion and raw power.
"USAGI!"
Sailor Moon called upon her love for Usagi Tsukino, the spirit of the girl who received this power honestly. Usagi fought through the mindless panic to release all of her love for Harry just as she had in Diagon Alley last summer. Innate magic, love and intent mixed and multiplied.
Pure white Lunar Magic flared in the shaft of the Scepter of Prissiness, and with it, Usagi stopped floating back. Myrtle too. The Bloody Barron, the last ghost present in the room aside from the two girls, found his course drawn to the right and between the White Magic of Sailor Moon and the cold pull of the stone.
Ranma had also had enough of sitting on the sidelines waiting for commands to be given. The stone favored death huh? Might be weak against life? Well, what was ki if it wasn't life?
"Harry! Pull harder! I'm gonna take the rock outside and blow the shit out of it!"
With those words, Ranma released a massive field of ki into the air around her and picked up the stone. It burned. It burned like the fires of Hell, but she didn't let go and she didn't waver. Ranma bounded from wall to column to wall again until finally she found a clerestory window and barreled through the ancient stained glass panels. Venus and Mars followed her outside just in case they had to try something else.
Inside the form of Sailor Moon, Harry Potter desperately ransacked her memory for something... anything that could help her pull harder. Something powerful. Something like the scepter. Someth- the pendant! With a light application of will, Sailor Moon called Queen Tranquility's crescent moon crystal pendant into service and it materialized above her breast.
As soon as the Lunar artifact made contact with Sailor Moon's body, it flared as brightly as the scepter in her hands and her control over Lunar Magic instantly doubled, quickly cresting over a previously unknown threshold. Harry Potter didn't just want Usagi to be saved... she wanted her back.
For the first time, Harry had the power and control required to get exactly that.
As the white out of Sailor Moon's magical release finally dimmed, Harry Potter lost her hold on the Senshi transformation and fell to her knees weak and dazed.
"Harry?"
"...ye-yeah?..."
"Harry!"
"...huh?..."
"Harry! Look at me!"
She opened her eyes. At first, her lack of energy prevented her from seeing what Usagi wanted. Sure, she was naked, but Harry's seen that before... her smile was much brighter than usual... and why was she naked in the Great Hall of all places?
Harry, and the rest of the staff, students and Senshi in the hall were temporarily distracted when a second sun appeared to shine through the Great Hall's windows. Two seconds later, all of the glass windows rattled and the castle shook lightly as a deep boom could be heard to echo around the grounds and nearby landscape.
Shampoo called out, "I think Ranma broke the rock!"
Back to more pressing matters, why couldn't Harry see through Usagi?
"Harry! I'm alive!"
Wait a tic.
Harry stood on unsteady legs and staggered over to Usagi, finger out ready for a poking.
Poke. Poke. Why yes. Her face is real.
Usagi giggled. Harry finally noticed that the rest of the hall was whispering furiously. To Harry's left, a second girl said the phrase 'I'm alive'. Why would anyone say that? Her voice did seem kinda familiar...
Harry's brain finally seemed to get back into gear.
"Usagi! You're naked!"
Usagi's smile dropped of of her face under a tidal wave of social embarrassment. She looked down at herself and realized that she was indeed naked.
"Shimatta! I'm naked! Next time you bring me back from dead, I not want to be naked in room full of school children! You hear me?!"
With a startled shriek, she snapped a hand out and took Harry's school cloak off his shoulders. As soon as she had Harry's cloak wrapped around her shoulders, Harry made the last connection that Usagi was in fact alive and breathing and right there and Harry just had to touch her and hold her and start crying on the nape of Usagi's wonderful, perfect neck.
Acting on pure instinct, Usagi grasped the Scep- no... the Kaleidomoon Scope from Harry's trembling fingers and used her Senshi powers for the first time in over a year.
She summoned her royal white dress and accessories. No girl likes being naked under a cloak in the middle of a crowded school hall. Also for the first time in over a year, Usagi's trademark ultra-long twin bun-and-streamer hair fell softly over bare shoulders and down her back like two silver rivers.
"I lo-ove yo-ou, Usa-agi!" Harry looked her Love in the eyes. "Love you s-so much!"
"And I love you, beloved. More than anything else in this world, I love you."
"W-well, I suppose I c-can let you l-love Cuteness more...."
Usagi giggled again. She was sure she'd be sobbing right along with her gender switched husband-to-be if it weren't for the fact that she had lungs that worked and a heart that was beating again and she had a pulse and her skin itched and everything... and holy shit, she was hungry!
Ever so slowly, Crown Princess Usagi Serenity of the Royal House of the Moon began to coax her recovering Love over to the group of nervous and overjoyed Senshi who all seem to be really red faced and teary eyed right now.
"And what happened to Uranus? Hmmm?" Harry was still out of it, but Usagi was in control enough to see to her Senshi.
Hotaru stopped her efforts to heal the Outer Senshi and looked up.
"She will recover, my Princess, but she still needs either time or a bit of a boost to wake up."
"I have energy to spare though time may be short."
Usagi held the Kaliedomoon Scope over Uranus and released a pulse of love into the blonde's chest.
Seconds later, Uranus opened her eyes.
"What the Hell happened? I feel like a tried to fist-fuck a chipper-shredder." She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and caught sight of Usagi. "Princess? Is that you?"
Shampoo stepped up behind the Royal Couple and softly suggested, "The Great Hall is too full for a proper reunion. Shall we move to the other side of these doors?"
Shampoo motioned game show hostess style towards the very doors Draco had entered through only a few minutes ago. Usagi nodded and pulled an unresisting Harry through with her. One by one the Senshi followed their Princess through the doors until Shampoo was alone, relatively speaking, with Draco's motionless form.
She wanted to kill him outright, but she couldn't. Judgment should be reserved for Harry and his bride. Hurt him? Oh, yes. She could hurt him real bad real easy.
Before anyone else could move forward or stop her in any way, Shampoo jabbed at Draco's form with her fingers. In the space of two seconds, she must have hit fifteen to twenty separate pressure point strikes. Albus Dumbledore was right; there are many fates worse than death and Shampoo was just making sure that Draco Malfoy was introduced to five or ten of them. She also re-cracked his skull just to make sure he'd be out of it for many long hours.
With a final smile and wink into the general Hogwarts population, the fierce amazon slipped quietly through the doors into the next hallway and found herself in a crowd full of crying magical girls.
"... how goes things?... She's up and around?... good, good... no, we won't take to much longer, but you can change back now if you want..."
Some of the Senshi were crowded around a communications device... some video phone or something... and seemed to be telling Harry and Usagi about this 'Cuteness' girl and her flu or something.
Seconds after Shampoo's exit, Harry's closest friends from Hogwarts slipped through the other door into the same hallway and joined Assistant Professor Potter in welcoming Usagi back to the Land of the Living.
Outside of Hogwarts Castle, about two kilometers north of school grounds, three figures stood at the edge of a sixty meter wide crater full of smoking rocks and burning scrapwood. Further out, grassland was scorched and burning for hundreds of meters in every direction.
"Mission accomplished ladies. I broke the rock."
The initial detonation tossed Ranma into a flash-heated pool of rain water and reversed his Jusenkyo curse. Ranma was scorched, singed and torn, not unlike the landscape around him. An image of the stone was burned into his left palm where he had been holding onto the stone for the whole outbound journey to find a safe area to go full apeshit on the damn rock
He didn't hold back at all. There was nothing but grass and insects for at least a thousand meters in every direction. If the Senshi that followed him out couldn't take a little mass devastation and remain standing, then why have serious magical powers and flimsy stupid costumes, right?
Ranma had chucked the rock into the air before launching twin lances of super heated and super cooled ki into the center of the it as his target sailed out past the two hundred meter mark.
How was he supposed to know that the tiny little thing would release about the same amount of power he and Prince Herb let off that one time they mixed it up on the slopes of Mount Horai... right before they blew the whole fucking top off of the damn mountain and caused a rock-slide of epic proportions.
Looking back fondly at his past exploits, Ranma glanced over to the two Senshi to see how they weathered the detonation. Both Venus and Mars were singed, frayed and frowning. Humph. They got no sense of style.
"Broke the rock? Broke the rock? You insensitive prick! You broke Scotland! And I broke a nail. When we get back home, it's time for a manicure... and you're paying."
That was Venus. He should'a known better than to let the girly-est magical girly-girl tag along. Some days it just doesn't pay to save the world.
Chapter End
Chapter Notes:
There is an indirect reference to Luna's Hubby by Meteoricshipyards; a good story to read if you're into Harry/Luna.
Reviewers:
deltawaves – I'm not currently on anything. Pity.
WhiteElfElder – Dumbles is odd that way. The problem is, if you make him a better person, then you have to re-work the story from the very beginning unless you let him be a ass for a little while and then repent his ways... or take the 'senile old fool' path. Malfoy is used incorrectly by Rowling in my opinion; he's getting even more of his ass kicked next chapter than in this one. Can you say 'direct attack on a royal sovereign?'
nxkris – Wish granted.
SomeGuyFawkes – Thanks for reading.
deitarion/SSokolow – It is a little Ranma soft... but then Usagi and Ranma have both been waxing and waning behind Harry. I plan to have more of the original aquatransexual soon.
Fire From Above – Draco's troubles have only just begun, Shampoo fucked him up good and Harry hasn't even had time to get angry yet.
ariel stormcloud – Thanks.
Wonderbee31 – Wish granted. See my responses to WhiteElfElder and Fire From Above.
Jimm – Thanks for reviewing.
son of a peach – I sincerely hope this story helps get you laid.
ChronoBlade – An intriguing query. Hypothetically speaking, if I use my own background explanation for Jusenkyo, then the whole cursed pool area is Queen Tranquility's big accident. If Tranquility was the weaker Lunar Royal, then the Serenity line would be stronger... Sailor Moon might actually be able to shrug off the change while transformed... it just might work.