Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Harry Potter.
--
From Out of the Past and Into Present Dreams
Chapter 21
Narrowing Down the Field
After Dumbledore showed Hotaru Professor Slughorn's memory involving horcruxes, she recounted the information to the other sailor soldiers in the next meeting. They were shocked to know such things were possible.
"Not even Queen Beryl did that," said Serena with a shudder. "And she was pretty downright evil!"
"Yeah, I wonder how Professor Slughorn knew how to make horcruxes," commented Raye. "He must have a dark past."
"Well we saw him when he gave that memory to Harry," Serena said, "he must feel really guilty about it and he's trying to make amends for it. I am sure he had no idea that Voldemort—or Riddle—would try to become Voldemort. Let alone try and make horcruxes."
"Precisely," said Hotaru with a nod. "Now that Dumbledore knows what horcruxes are, it will be easier for him to find them. He had to make sure that the things he was searching for and horcruxes were the same thing. He believes that there are six horcruxes, well, four left. Tom Riddle put his sixteen-year-old self in a diary and that diary was destroyed a few years ago. Professor Dumbledore found a ring last year that was also a horcrux."
"Any idea what the other four are?" inquired Amara.
"Dumbledore says they may be objects of the founders," answered Hotaru. "Perhaps Tom, or Voldemort, believed by sealing part of his soul in something that belonged to the founders, he may become one with them."
"Sick," muttered Raye.
"Let us help you look for them," volunteered Mina. "This guy is after Harry. I want to help him."
"Yeah," added Lita, "I get bored guarding the castle waiting for something to happen."
"No, you should leave the horcrux search to me," Hotaru said. "I can use my powers of death to find them. You need to help look for Stratus."
"Yes," said Darien. "The school year will be over before we know it. Stratus is dreaming about the battle of the moon. That's what he was dreaming about the night of the storm. I bet you he caused it."
"Wait, he caused that storm in his sleep?" Serena said in amazement. "He must've been very upset!"
"He was," said Darien. "I'm worried. Imagine how that kid must be feeling. He's probably confused and scared, even more than he was before. When Stratus uses his powers like that, it really tires him out."
"Remember, Stratus is stronger when his incarnation is asleep," said Trista. "He is reaching to Darien through dreams, and even with the weather."
"Which is why we have to find him quick," said Darien irritably. "Or he may have a nervous breakdown and we may not survive the next storm."
"We should keep our eyes open for anyone who looks overly stressed and exausted," stated Ami.
"Good idea," agreed Raye.
"This might sound strange, but don't you think it's possible that even with all our searching that something might happen for Stratus reveal himself, like when you girls were first discovered?" Mina said, gesturing to the other inners.
"Hmm, yeah," said Ami with a nod. "We are all in danger when our planetary symbols started to glow."
"If that happens, we have to be with Stratus to keep his transformation under control," said Trista.
"I tried tracing the origin point of the storm," stated Ami, "But the magic at Hogwarts interferes with my computer. It only allowed me to track halfway to the origin point, which is between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tower."
"Can that mean Stratus could be in those two houses?" asked Darien.
"That's my guess," said Ami.
"That really evens out the odds, doesn't it?" said Lita.
"And the two houses will be playing each other for the Quidditch final," Mina pointed. "Maybe we'll find out who Stratus is by then."
"Did you find anything on the dream journals?" Darien asked Michelle.
Michelle shook her head. "Nothing matched your dream before the storm, but there were some false entries. Of course Stratus' incarnation does not want anyone to know what he is really dreaming about. False entries caused disturbances to the waters and I found that sixth year boys stir the water most."
"So it's logical to believe that Stratus must be a sixth year Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," said Darien excitedly. "We're getting closer! I remember in my dreams that Stratus manipulated the weather more from higher places—so Stratus must be in one of the two towers."
--
Final exams and the Quidditch final were approaching. Almost everyone in Harry's house was going crazy and if Ron were anything like his old self, he most likely would be sick every twenty minutes. He was one of the few confident Gryffindors. He wasn't sure what brought on this lucky, confident streak. He knew that Gryffindor had the Quidditch cupped bagged. Classes were getting more difficult as teachers poured on the homework. , Magical Mythology remained the favorite among most of the students.
"Here are the tests," said Professor Halos as he started handing them out. "Oh, and your essays on love. I apologize for not returning them to you earlier. When we began the Silver Millennium I suppose I just forgot."
As she expected, Serena aced the test on the Silver Millennium and she did pretty well on her love essay too, though she had few grammar mistakes. The other scouts got top marks. Many people got good grades, but the only other person to get as high as score as Serena was Harry. He wasn't sure why he got all the answers right. He read the chapter on the Moon Kingdom but even though it was a simple test, he was sure he would get at least one question wrong. However, before he took the test, he had yet another bizarre dream about the moon, and somehow he felt when he was answering the questions of the test, it wasn't him doing it. It was someone else.
Harry looked at his love essay and to his surprise, he got an average score. Harry couldn't believe it. He used the example of his parents and he knew they had loved each other. He wrote how his mother loved him so much that she gave up her life for his. If that wasn't love, thought Harry, he wasn't sure what was.
The note Halos wrote on his essay said that his parents' example was the strongest part of the essay but the rest of essay missed the point. Halos asked him to say more than what love can compel one to do. But as Harry thought on it, he didn't know what else there was about love.
Professor Halos' class material changed much from what the students had learned previously. They looked at old legends and myths, and even a myth as old as the Silver Millennium. Now they were looking at urban legends and myths from other countries, mostly America. They learned of three sisters that posses a strange form of wandless magic, known as the power of three. The three sisters were considered extremely powerful force of good known only as the charmed ones. They studied a myth about girl who had the power to change the course of events and to save lives by hearing the silent pleas of the recently dead and reliving days. They also studied different myths about vampires. Of a girl who was chosen to hunt and rid the world of vampires and other evil sources. With the strength, level greater of any normal human magical or otherwise. In addition, had a lover who was one of which she hunted. One with a soul that helped her fought for good. They also learned about a vampire detective that hunted down rogue vampires. Like always, Hermione thought most of it as nonsense. She read many books and never before has she come across anything like that.
--
Ron left early for dinner to meet with all his many new girlfriends—though he really didn't have any interest in them. Not wanting to see the girls fall over him, Hermione decided to go look for Professor Vector about her latest essay. Harry was left alone and decided to use the moment to check the Marauder's Map while he took his usual detour. After he searched the many dots, he finally found Malfoy's dot in the least likely place. On top of that, with someone he never dreamed about--Moaning Myrtle. He crashed into a suit of armor and hurried down the stairs before Filch turned up. He went to the bathroom and put his ear on the door. Not hearing anything, he pushed the door open ever so softly. He found Draco's back to the door and his head was bowed so he couldn't see his face. Draco was clutching a sink.
"Don't," said Moaning Myrtle. "Don't…tell me what's wrong…I can help you…"
"No one can help me," said Malfoy. "I can't do it…I can't…It won't work…and unless I do it soon…he says he'll kill me…"
--
Mina was on her way up to Gryffindor tower hoping to find Harry Potter. She knew she wasn't a Gryffindor but she believed she might catch him coming down for supper and ask him for some assistance in herbology. Then suddenly as she came passing the boy's bathroom, felt something in her eye. She stopped to rub it and finding that only hurt more, she entered the boy's room thinking it was the girl's bathroom.
"I gotta get this out," she said to herself. She found Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom and seeing Moaning Myrtle in a bathroom was normal. What was not normal was that Moaning Myrtle was there with two boys. She stared at them for a second, her eye watering. Was the object in her eye causing her to see things?
"Harry," she said, "what are you doing in the girls' bathroom?"
Harry half turned to her and then stopped when he saw Draco spin around with his wand. Harry took out his and the two boys began to duel. Moaning Myrtle yelled at them to stop and Mina, still blinking, looked on in confusion.
"What's going on?" she wondered out loud.
Moaning Myrtle shrieked when the cistern beneath her smashed. The object in Mina's eye, a cat hair, fell out and she saw clearly that Draco and Harry were dueling.
"Hey, stop you guys!" she shouted at them. "I know you don't like each other, but can't you talk this out? You're gonna get in trouble!"
The two boys ignored her and continued to duel. A curse flew by and hit the wall next to Mina.
"They're not listening to us!" shouted Myrtle as she flew over to Mina. "Do something!"
Mina reached for her wand. "Cut it out you guys or I'll—I'll make you stick to the wall!"
Harry slipped, and Draco cried, "Cru—"
"Sec—" yelled Harry.
"STOP!" Mina stepped in front of Harry, wand raised. "STUPEFY!"
A jet of red-orange light shaped like a heart shot out of Mina's wand and hit Draco square in the chest. Draco dropped his wand and fell to the ground. She fell down to Harry.
"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked, helping him up.
"I think so," said Harry. "When did you get here?"
"Just in time to stop you," said Mina. "Why were you two fighting?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "You saw it, didn't you? Malfoy just attacked me. Must've made him mad when he saw me."
"What should we do with--?" Mina began then was cut off by Myrtle's screams.
"He's bleeding!"
"What?" said Mina and Harry together. They went to Draco and saw red forming on his shirt.
"But I only stunned him, didn't I?" Mina mumbled, coming to her knees to examine him. "How could he be bleeding? Harry—I swear—I didn't mean to—you were in trouble and I panicked…."
Mina had shouted Stupefy, but she thought in her head her strongest attack as Sailor Venus: Love and Beauty Shock. But even that attack didn't cause someone to bleed.
"MURDER!" screamed Moaning Myrtle. "MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"
Snape burst into the room and Harry never seen him look so angry. He went to Draco and stopped the bleeding, but he couldn't get Draco to wake up.
"It was an accident Professor," Harry said at once. "I didn't know--,"
"No, I was the one who hexed him," said Mina. "They were fighting and I was—"
"Silence!" Snape hissed, picking up Malfoy. "The two of you wait here. I'll deal with you later."
The Potion Master left the bathroom with Draco in his arms and Harry turned to Mina.
"I don't want you to get in trouble," he said.
"But I'm the one who hexed him," Mina insisted. "I did it so you wouldn't get in trouble."
"He was fighting me," said Harry. "I should be the one to be punished. I've done detention for Snape before and trust me; you don't want to go through it."
Mina smiled. "Thanks Harry, but I've had punishments before. I'm sure I can handle it."
"What are you doing up here?"
"Oh," Mina grinned, "I was looking for you."
"You were?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I thought you could help me with a Herbology project," Mina answered.
"Sure," said Harry.
Snape returned and the two began to spat off who should take the blame.
"Enough," said Snape. "I'm punishing both of you. As far as I'm concerned, you both attacked Malfoy. Both of you claimed that you stunned him, so you'll both receive the same punishment."
"But sir, Harry and Draco were fighting," said Mina. "We didn't jump him."
Snape looked at her with his black eyes. "Regardless if you did or not, Aino, you should not be here. This is the boys' bathroom."
"Boys'?" Mina felt her face grow warm. "But it isn't the girls?"
"Why else would Potter and Malfoy be here?" said Snape. "You both will receive detention. Every Saturday until the end of term, starting this Saturday at ten o'clock. My office."
"But sir," said Harry. "Quidditch…the last match of the…"
"Ten o'clock," whispered Snape, smiling slightly. "Poor Gryffindor…fourth place this year, I fear."
Harry and Mina stepped out of the bathroom, neither having an appetite. "I'm sorry," said Mina.
"Me too," said Harry. "Er, I guess I'll see you this Saturday then."
--
"Mina, the next time you need to go to the bathroom," said Lita when Mina told them what happened, "make sure you bring one of us to make sure you go into the right one!"
The girls laughed but Mina didn't. "Not funny you guys. I'm going to miss the Quidditch final."
"But why are you upset?" said Ami. "Hufflepuff isn't even playing."
"Yeah, but I wanted to see Harry compete," Mina explained. "I wonder how Gryffindor is going to do without him—he's the captain!"
"Ginny's going in his place," said Raye, "and she's a good player."
--
That Saturday, Harry met Mina on the way to Snape's office. Besides saying "hello," to each other, they walked in silence. Harry knocked on the door and the two students entered. Mina felt slightly sick as she saw all the dead things in jars on the walls. She wrinkled her nose as if she were about to sneeze. At the table where the two were supposed to sit, was a pile of boxes covered in cobwebs.
"Mr. Filch has been looking for someone to clear out these old files," said Snape softly. "They are the records of other Hogwarts wrongdoers and their punishments. Where the ink has grown faint, or the cards have suffered damage from mice, we would like you to copy out the crimes and punishments afresh and, making sure that they are in alphabetical order, replace them in the boxes. You will not use magic."
"Right, Professor," Harry said with contempt.
"Yes sir," muttered Mina, sitting down.
"I thought you could start," Snape said maliciously, "with boxes one thousand and twelve to one thousand and fifty-six. You will find some familiar names in there, which should add interest to the task. Here, you see…"
Snape pulled a card from a box and started to read, "'James Potter and Sirius Black. Apprehended using an illegal hex upon Bertram Aubery. Aubrey's head twice normal size. Double detention.'" Snape sneered. "It must be such a comfort to think that, though they are gone, a record of their great achievements remains…"
Snape sat down at his desk and watched Mina and Harry as they began the work. Harry was furious, but did his best to hide it. It began to get warm in the small room, despite the fact it was in the dungeons.
Mina thought the task was boring and tedious but she tried to make a game of it. She imagined what the troublemakers were like, how they looked, what their interests were, etc. She dipped her quill in ink and copied the next card:
Gideon Prewet. Reprimanded for bewitching the armored suits to tap dance. Mina made an involuntary giggle and slapped her hand to her mouth.
"Something funny, Aino?"
"Er, no sir," said Mina, clearing her throat and returning to her work. She shook her head.
'I can't believe this Prewet guy got in trouble for something like that!' she thought, finishing the card and moving to the next one.
Two dreaded hours later Snape finally dismissed them. Mina breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped out of his office.
"Glad that's over," said Mina. "It was getting stuffy in there, don't' you think?"
"Really?" asked Harry. "It normally doesn't. What was so funny?"
"Oh," said Mina, blushing. "One of the cards was about a guy that got in trouble for bewitching the suits of armor to dance."
Harry let out a hearty chuckle. "Seems like something Fred and George would do. They did all sorts of crazy stuff when they went here."
"So, who's James and Sirius?" Mina asked. "Professor Snape acted like you knew them…"
"Oh, right," Harry's smile faltered. "James was my dad and Sirius was my godfather. They went to school with Snape, and they hated each other."
"What happened to them? Your dad and godfather?"
"You haven't heard?" Harry asked, looking at her in surprise.
"Well, I know something about someone called 'Voldemort' killing your parents, right?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "Voldemort killed my parents when I was a baby. My godfather went to prison for crimes he didn't commit. He broke out of prison a couple years ago to get revenge on the rat that framed him. Then just last year, he was….he was killed."
Mina stopped at the top of the stairs and took Harry's hand. "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry to hear that."
"Me too," said Harry. "Sirius didn't even get to clear his name." He sighed and shook his head. "I could be living with him now, you know, instead of my horrid aunt and uncle."
They stood in silence for a while and Mina kissed him. She wasn't sure what brought it on. It could've been pity, or remorse and perhaps the kiss would ease his pain. Or it could be just the fact that she wanted to know how his lips felt against hers. It seemed as if Harry was wondering the same thing, because he began to kiss her back. At first he was a little surprised, but then he realized that he was finally kissing the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts and decided to participate. Mina was holding his face in her hands and he hand his hands on her back, his fingers scrunched in her long blond hair. Harry found her lips unbelievably soft and gentle. Mina's lips found his slightly chapped and dry, yet as the kiss went on, they found that their lips had something in common. Their lips felt familiar---very, very familiar. It wasn't the first time either of them had kissed someone and they knew this was the first time they kissed each other, but somewhere deep inside of them, they felt as if they had kissed like this many, many times before.
They broke away with their chests heaving for oxygen, sapphire eyes staring into emerald orbs. They smiled at each other and continued to walk out of the dungeons, now hand in hand. They stopped by the entrance leading to the Hufflepuff Dorms and said their goodbyes. Already too kissed out, they hugged and Harry walked on to Gryffindor Tower. When he reached the hallway of armored suits, he looked around to see that he was alone and he pointed his wand at one of the suits.
"Ballistia!"
The armored suit seemed to spring into life and started break dancing. Harry joined right in, dancing with the suit of armor as if it was a friend. After ten seconds, he turn the spell of and the armored suit went back in line and Harry walked to Gryffindor tower humming to himself.
When he stepped into the portrait hole, he heard cheers and hollers. Ginny Weasley ran to him and Harry immediately kissed her. The kiss was nothing compared to the kiss he shared with Mina. He had felt something. The kiss with Ginny was nice, but that was just it. There were no bells are fireworks. It was just a kiss. Harry stepped back and smiled at Ginny.
"Way to go, Ginny," he said and he exited the portrait hole. The Gryffindors looked at each other.
"Well what was that all about?" Dean asked Ginny.
"Oh, shut up, Dean!" Ginny yelled and went up to the girls' dormitory.
TO BE CONTINUED