Just Coincidental
Disclaimer: …seriously you think I own anything? Just don't take my plot.
Reviewers:
womp lover: Lovely that you're interested. All is revealed in this chapter. Thanks once again for your high appraisal. And I'm terribly sorry this came so late.
dani: Yes…….all is to be revealed! Thanks for the review. And here's a chapter cuz you said please :wink:
Sakura YingFa Li: Yup Chibi Harry and Snape XD It makes me giggle. I dunno, just cuz chibi Harry is already really cute. Make the cute chibi bother the cranky dark man! Wahahaha. Hurt him and die D Yes, I'm talk to youuuuu Snape. Hahaha I hate cliffhangers too, but that's what makes the reader want more, right? And for Syaoran……well wait and see. You don't have to wait long actually. Here's a nice chapter for ya!
A/N:tired: Whoa I sure did procrastinate, didn't I? Sorry, peeps. I had the unpleasant barrage of homework flung at me, as most of you have too. Homework everyday from every class, how horrible! Except P.E. of course. I've finally done this, so with out much further ado:
Please Enjoy!
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Sakura picked at her food. A slowly warming cold cut ham sandwich that sat in front of her seemed not quite as appetizing as she thought. Butterflies of anticipation were fluttering restless in her tummy ever since she had discovered that book which was sitting in Dumbledore's vacant office currently.
She caught the gaze of her best friend and smiled meekly, picking up the sandwich and taking a nibble. This seemed to soften the look of concern on the other teen girl's face. After forcefully eating a quarter of the sandwich, the card mistress stuck to the pumpkin juice in the cup next to the plate, downing it in one gulp.
The door to the Great Hall swung open as she set her glass down on the tabletop. Nakuru, hair pulled up into two long high pigtails, bounded in with a perky expression and dropped into the seat next to her.
"Afternoon, Sakura-chan!" she said, leaning unnecessarily close to the brown haired girl. Feeling slightly intimidated, Sakura scooted over, dragging her chair sideways with her. Bursting out of the tall girl's pocket, Kero and Suppi popped out and bounce onto the table.
"Food!" (You can tell who said this and who is now devouring a vast amount of chocolate pudding)
Through the rest of lunch, Nakuru kept an exceptionally close watch over Sakura. No one knew why this was of course. Eriol had quirked an eyebrow at her but was ignored.
When Dumbledore had wiped his hand clean on a napkin, Sakura finally spoke up.
"Um, Mister Dumbledore?" she asked nervously. "Do you suppose we…"
"Ah, yes the book. I'll have to look over the content first, Miss Kinomoto, it wouldn't take long, don't worry. In fact, I'll do that right now," he replied, standing up in a flourish. With sweeping sapphire blue robes, he exited the hall. Every pair of eyes in the hall lingered on the two large double doors for a moment before returning to their finished meal or getting up to leave themselves. Among the latter of the two were Eriol, Sakura, and Tomoyo.
"Shall we take a walk, ladies?" Eriol asked in a pleasant voice.
"Um…"
"Of course we would, won't we, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo interjected with a smile. Sakura blinked and smiled back.
"Sure."
She wiped her hands clean with the napkin and stood up to walk towards the door where Eriol and Tomoyo were standing. Before walking away, Sakura turned around to say good bye.
"I'll see you later, Harry," she said. Harry smiled brightly and nodded, waving the small hand that was not holding his half eaten sandwich.
"Bye bye!" Sakura waved goodbye at him and watched him poke Snape in the side and gesture at the untouched sandwich in front of the professor.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Sakura-chan?"
Sakura snapped out of her daze and turned her head to answer.
"Hmm?"
"Are you okay? You seem a little out of it…" Tomoyo whispered softly, tucking her skirt neatly under her as she joined Sakura sitting on the grassy bank under the willow tree by the lake. The auburn haired girl gazed down at the glistening water that rippled gently, reflecting multiple colours off its surface.
"I'm just wondering what would happen to Harry after we break the bond," she said absently, dropping a pebble into the water with a light splash. "I mean, would he have to go back and live with his relatives? They seemed awful and irresponsible; I don't want Harry to have to go back to them."
"Maybe we can talk to Mister Dumbledore about it. We might be able to persuade him to change Harry's home to somewhere more suitable."
"Yeah, I guess."
She sighed but even after what Tomoyo had said, the frown did not leave her face.
"You need not to trouble yourself with such thoughts, Sakura-san, I'm sure that if you cannot persuade Albus then perhaps I may be able to," Eriol said, walking up behind them.
"Eriol-kun!"
Eriol smiled, his dark blue hair dancing in the light breeze. He kneeled down and placed his hand on her shoulder in a fatherly gesture.
"Thanks you, Eriol-kun." Sakura stood up smiling a little more. She turned around and struggled to attain balance as the grassy bank was steep.
"Waaaaaaaaaah!"
Tomoyo held her arms in front of herself and blocked what she could of the spray. The water slopped at her legs before receding into the lake. Eriol was miraculously dry.
Sakura sputtered the water out of her mouth, propping herself up with her arms behind her in the semi- shallow water.
"Ah……choo!"
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After dragging Sakura out of the lake, they proceeded back to the castle. The card mistress shook her head, splattering water drops everywhere. She wringed at the cloth of her shirt which had darkened from the presence of water. She could do nothing with her short cut jeans which stuck her legs like a thicker second skin. She slipped her hand in to the specially sewn hidden pocket that had a zipper. Miraculously, the Sakura Cards remained dry, the two that sandwiched the desk was slightly damp if anything.
Sakura smiled solemnly at the image of the Windy that sat at the top of the deck. She stuck them back in and sped up towards the gate of the castle.
"Sakura-sa-"
"Don't worry, Eriol-kun, I'll just run up to the dorms and change quickly!" she sprinted across the lawn and up the stone steps, finally disappearing behind the doors.
Tomoyo exchanged looks with Eriol.
"She does know that I can just dry her with magic right?"
Tomoyo shrugged, dry and worried.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Nakuru skipped through the halls with hyperactive energy, jostling the two small guardians that were once again prisoners confined in her pocket. She smiled remembering what happened earlier.
'Hohoho, now I have a great secret of my own!' she giggled with glee. During her snickering, she ran into a body of flesh. Staggering back slightly, she pouted and looked up to retort.
"Oh, Miss Hiiragizawa."
"Oh, it's you, Mrs. McGonagall! Please, just Nakuru, I'm not exactly related to Eriol anyways." Nakuru flashed a bright grin, inwardly flinching at the slight mispronunciation, tilting her head curiously at the cluster of people behind her.
"Where are you all going?"
"We've uncovered a great find in that textbook Miss Kinomoto has discovered in the library earlier, we're on our way to inform her," the dark haired professor drawled in a displeased tone. Nakuru didn't like her attitude.
"Um, Miss Nakuru," Harry tugged on the long ribbon that hung from her belt loop. "Do you know where Miss Sakura went?"
Nakuru squatted down and said, "Yup, I'll show you the way but only because you're sooooooo cute." She hugged the child and shot a glare of dislike at Snape who scowled and looked away.
A woman with a motherly air around her stood forward and spoke her mind.
"Are you sure you should even try such a thing, you do know I do not approve of these type of rituals that were listed in the text, highly dangerous and extremely old and unrefined, and most of all, potentially life-threatening."
"Do not fret so soon, Poppy, we may be able to get pass these rituals, if not, we shall research each one extensively and select only the safest, with your approval, of course," Dumbledore replied with a soft twinkle in his eyes. "Rest assured."
"Do remember to contact me if you will try anything so I can be in close vicinities if anything should happens," she chided, "immediately."
Dumbledore nodded and whirled around to follow the rest sweeping his robes on the ground. Madam Pomfrey tsked and took to leaving, heading in the direction to the hospital wing when a piercing scream rang in their ears.
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One moment she was racing up the wide stone stairway and the next she was pressed into the wall, slowly collapsing to the smooth granite steps under her feet.
A glint of metal flashed in the corner of her vision.
A blade? What?
There was no more time to think when a cold rough skinned hand grasped the back of her neck and shoved her down.
No sooner when she let out a frightened scream from the sudden attack, she barely heard the fleeting footsteps of a group of people.
"Let her go!"
"Not on my life…….." a wheezy low voice breathed behind her. The same hand grabbed the collar of her shirt and yanked her up, something long and flat was pressed against the nape of her neck. A thin, bony, dirt covered forearm covered her vision.
She blinked the dizziness from the abrupt movements from her eyes to see the cluster of professors standing at the foot of the stairs, each reaching into their pockets.
"Stop!"
They slowed their movements cautiously, eyes steeled on her attacker.
"Throw your wands down or I'll kill him!"
Him?
She saw the professor's glance uncertainly at each other before tossing those sticks they called wands onto the floor with a clatter.
"Calm down-"
"No! Stay away!" The other arm, same destroyed withering skin, had brandished out forwards, waving a wand, haphazardly.
"All you…..pathetic muggle lovers…………blood traitors……..who have displeased my lord so………you will all die when it is your turn….." the voice rasped.
"This wretched fool I now have captured helpless in my arms……the hated enemy…….will be disposed of………"
The hands grasped her wet clothing and twisted her round so she could gaze at his face. She gasped and quenched her eyes shut. The blackened face was twisted with an insane sort of giddiness. Horrible scars ran across his face, half of which was hidden by the straggly flap of dark hair. The horrible glint in his wide psychotic eyes forced her to look away.
"Now you shall die….die….die…..die…..in the name of my master, the Dark Lord! Oh how he would be so proud of me if he could see me now……" the man zoned out for a moment. "How he would be proud when I kill his mortal enemy……….Dumbledore."
"What? But I-"
She stopped in mid-sentence as she watched the man bring the rusty knife up high over his head. There was no time. That was it. All she had time to do was close her eyes shut and hope that it was over quickly.
It never came. Or maybe it did and she just hadn't felt a thing. Slowly yet steadily she opened her eyelids a crack. In rough jerk, the vice grip on her arm was pulled off, the stirring blaze of insanity's presence vanished, replaced with a warm and familiar one. Gentle yet firm hands caught her round the shoulders as her knees, from the moment of submission, felt rubbery underneath her.
"Thank y-"
Her mouth wide open, she stared disbelieving at her savior.
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The pair raced up along the staircases and corridors once they heard the scream from the distance. Skidding to an abrupt stop, they caught site of young Harry, huddling behind Nakuru's long legs and then the rest of the staff.
"….he would be proud when I kill his mortal enemy……….Dumbledore."
By then they had reached the stair bottom. A scrawny man caked with mud and draped in ragged shawls was pulling back to jab the rusty knife into the girl, who was most definitely not Dumbledore, but Sakura.
Tomoyo put out her hand to yell for him to stop, trying to clamber up the steps. A sick crack rang in the air, a swift blur of green collided with the assaulter who crumpled into a groaning heap on the ground. The shine of light reflecting off metal flashed momentarily as the savior of her best friend cradled the Japanese teen in his arms, pointing the long sharpened blade of his sword at the man.
"Don't touch her."
Brown hair tousled from the wind. Brown eyes darkened from hostility. He looked just as they had remembered him only more mature, more handsome and dressed in casual attire. The face, no, the person they haven't seen in two years.
It was Syaoran Li.
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A/N: Yup yup. There you have it. To prevent confusion, let me explain that the crazy man that we have been acquainted with for a while over the past few chapters is well……..crazy. Crazy enough to have problems differentiating some people from other people. I had to cut it short since I couldn't remember what happened and my Beta is momentarily online and I just know she's going to die on me. So I'm finishing this fast. I was going to end the chapter like this anyways. And omigod yes, it's Syaoran! He didn't die! Hurray! Next chapter is for random exposition of the past. But that would be put off for a while since I got bombarded by yet ANOTHER fanfic idea……..Kingdom Hearts II owns my soul now….seriously.
Yam's (Beta-er) Note - Yes…maybe if I watched this show, I'd know who the hell Syaoran is. Anywho, if you are going to go on to KH, I'd recommend you'd end this sooner or later. Or else it will end up ditched. Right..later.
A/N: You know I don't even have an ending for this Yam D: And you died! How dare you.
Theory: Reviews boost this author's ego therefore making the author feel more attached to this fanfic as a way to relieve homework stress. Reviews also makes the author feel obliged to please the reviewers and in turn then make the author guilty for procrastinating and push her into writing it more. Please donate reviews! Nice criticism is welcomed. If you have some illogical complaint…..uh…..I dunno….stop being illogical? Okay. See you next time!