Chapter Twenty-Six
I'm sorry! I'm really really sorry! I was caught up in classes, my other story, then finals, then I didn't have internets for THREE WEEKS! However, the next chapter is nearly done! I finally made the conflicting ideas work! Although, I do think you will all want to kill me by the end of Chapter Twenty-Seven.
"Serenity!" Harry's shout echoed in the distance as Ginny paused to catch her breath. She was about to take off again when a firm hand clamped down on her shoulder.
"Just where do you think you're going, Ms. Weasley?" Snape's voice was low and dangerous, though he sounded oddly pleased, likely wondering if it was possible to get Gryffindor into negative points. Ginny froze; she hadn't even heard his footsteps! But Snape was a professor, and loyal to the Order (she hoped). Oh, but Harry was going to be so angry with her. . .
"He went into the forest!" She blurted out. "Harry yelled something about Serenity, and ran off into the forest! I think he's gone mad!"
Snape's face drained of whatever color it had, and his grip on her shoulder tightened. "Go back inside and alert the Headmaster." His dark eyes flicked back towards the castle as though to confirm something, then scanned the lining of the trees. He had to hurry. "Tell him to make sure that Umbridge's wards do not activate. Do you hear me? They must not activate. GO!" Snape shoved off from her, running with unexpected agility towards the Forbidden Forest. Ginny watched him go before shaking herself from her reverie, dashing back up the slope towards the castle. If the mere mention of the missing Gryffindor could draw that kind of reaction from Snape . . . House points suddenly seemed like the least of her worries.
Harry Potter was undoubtedly faster, but Snape had the advantage of familiarity with this section of the forest, as he often found useful herbs here. "Potter! Stop right where you are!" He snarled when he spotted the boy's black mop through the trees. Surprisingly, Potter did stop, whirling about to face him.
Potter's eyes were wild with fear, so afraid to lose what he had only just regained. "Professor, Serenity could be in danger!"
Snape scowled as he seized the boy by the front of his robes. "So I have been told Potter. As usual, of course, you didn't even think to alert anyone, running off headlong into the forest and leaving Ms. Weasley to fend for herself. Go back to the school, Potter."
"But sir, I-"
"I will not tell you again, Potter, nor do I have time to waste." Snape growled, already jogging down the forest path. A heartbeat later, Harry's footsteps joined his. "Potter, I said-"
"I don't know the way back, and I can't just leave her!"
Snape snarled, but said no more, drawing his wand to light their way. Harry fumbled in his pockets before doing the same. They made their way forward in silence.
The pulsing of her brooch had grown steadily as they followed the path, which Serenity took as a sign that her friends were near. "We should be close now, right Firenze?" She asked, focusing on the glowing jewel.
"Yes, I believe-" he stopped, stepping forward to block her sight of the trees ahead. His keen blue eyes searched the forested darkness before them, then darted up to a gap in the canopy above. The moon glinted down at him, the bright full moon.
"Wait," he spoke softly. Stupid, stupid, how could he have been so foolish? He saw them now, the golden eyes glowing. One, two, four, six. He cursed quietly.
She saw them too. She gulped audibly, gripping his hand in hers. "What are those, Firenze?"
"Werewolves." He no more than breathed the word and the wolves charged, converging in on them. Serenity screamed and jumped back, fumbling to lift her brooch as the largest of them leaped at her, a big gray wolf. It knocked her to the ground, sending the brooch flying into the underbrush. It almost seemed to grin at her, lips pulled back, its rank breath washing hot across her face as it lunged to bite.
Firenze kicked it back viciously, smacking a second black wolf away from his left. A third, this one tawny, leaped at his back while a smaller gray went for his side, drawing a pained grunt from the centaur before they too were knocked away.
"Firenze!" Serenity grabbed a large fallen branch, swinging at one of the attacking wolves. The black wolf snapped it in half easily. She yelped, scrambling back to find her brooch in hopes that Sailor Moon would have more luck driving them off.
The tawny wolf crashed into her side, knocking her against one of the thick trees of the forest with a pained groan. Her head slammed against the trunk with a sickening thunk and a flash of bright blue light sparked across her vision. The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was something oddly like a bird call.
One of the dark-coated centaurs surrounding the car lifted his head. "Sounded like Firenze. Does he have a death wish, coming back here?"
"Focus, Roran!" Snapped another, as he motioned for the five in the car to get out. "You, trespassers, what are you doing on our lands?"
Most of the bows were focused on Mamoru, Ami noticed, even as he seemed to be thinking quickly to translate the question. He had been studying English for some time now, she knew, as he some day planned to study in America. "We're looking for our friend, Usagi." He answered finally.
The centaurs, eight of them in all, looked at each other then back at the group of humans. One of them, a female with a lighter coat, reached out to tug Mamoru forward, where the light from the stars and moon was brighter. She studied his face closely for a moment, before shoving him towards one of the males, who bound his wrists.
"Wait!" Mamoru tried to protest, struggling against their captors now that he was fully awake. "Our friend is near here! We need to find her, she could be in trouble!" The male who'd first spoken, Roran, struck him across the back of the head, bringing him to his knees.
"Silence, human!" He snapped. The scouts' hands twitched towards their pens, but none dared attempt a transformation with the bows still fixed on them.
The female moved then to the four scouts, nodding as though their presence confirmed something she had already known. "You will come with us." She said, her voice soft, almost dreamy when she looked at them, a sharp contrast to the harsh glare Mamoru received.
The bird call sounded again, more insistently this time. The female's lips drew back in something resembling a snarl, but she otherwise ignored it.
The four girls were surrounded, but not bound. Rei's hand reached for her pen again when she thought the centaurs weren't looking, but Minako shook her head sharply. They didn't know how dangerous these creatures were. The female made a motion with her hand, and the group left the dirt road, heading deeper into the forest.
As they traveled further from the path, the girls grew increasingly anxious. Minako remembered experiencing the feeling only one other time almost three years prior, back when she found the shack in woods. A glance at the other three girls told her they felt it too. Mamoru, however, seemed unaffected.
Firenze stood protectively over the fallen princess, using his deadly hooves to beat back any wolves who dared to come too close. Two of them had fallen already and a third was limping. The remaining three healthy wolves and the injured one circled him, the two grays, black and a red. His chest was heaving from the effort of fending off six of the hulking beasts alone. He had hoped that the tribe would respond to his call for help. They would have saved her, at least.
It had not occurred to him that the werewolves would be so close. He had only wanted to reunite the princess with her proper protectors, something the wizards were neglecting to do. Where were they? Didn't they know their princess was in trouble?
The big gray let out a howl and the four wolves sprang, black from the left, red from the right, the injured gray towards his forelegs and the large gray directly for his throat. Firenze lifted his arms to fend them off again when a pair of stunners shot out of the darkness beyond their small clearing, striking the small gray and the red. Firenze caught the large gray across the top of the head, forcing it away. The black changed course for the intruders, making it barely two steps before another spell knocked it into a bush.
Snape and Harry ran into the moonlight, wands drawn and pointed at the remaining wolf. Firenze's hand shot out to grab it when the black lunged for him, large, ugly boils covering its face. Firenze turned to fend it off, Harry firing at it while Snape aimed for the gray.
"Moon Prism Power!" Serenity had woken while the others fought, and upon spotting her brooch on the ground by the red had grabbed it, shouting her transformation phrase.
"NO!" Snape's panic broke his concentration and his spell shot off wildly into the woods, the gray taking the moment to bolt. He knew that Ginny could not have reached the Headmaster yet.
As the soft pink light of Serenity's transformation surrounded her, it was joined by a light of the darkest blue, which surrounded and choked off her power. Shrieking sirens sounded, the light and noise gathering in a bubble around Serenity, who struggled and fought unsuccessfully to throw it off. Snape tried hurriedly to dispel it as Harry let out a yell, running with Firenze to try to pull her from it.
The field shot outwards, knocking the wizards and centaur off their feet. It spread through the forest, startling the group of centaurs and their captives. It surrounded the four girls, swirling around them as though testing their magic. Their centaur captors, thinking this some kind of escape attempt, grabbed for them, but succeeded only in having their fifth prisoner, Mamoru, snatched up as well. The centaurs yelled with impotent anger.
"Traitor Prince!"
The five reappeared in the clearing, wrapped in the blue light beside Serenity. The light shifted and pulsed, dropping Mamoru on top of Harry before flashing brightly and vanishing completely. The secondary ward set by Umbridge then activated, this one a blinding shade of pink that wrapped around the four in the clearing, dropping them in the Entrance Hall at Hogwarts.
"No, no, no no no! Damn and blast!" Snape cried, pulling at his hair in frustration before he whirled on Firenze, who was panting heavily from the exertion of his fight. "Do you REALIZE what you've done?"
Firenze scowled, clearly angry, though with himself or Snape he wasn't sure. "Yes, I do. I put her in danger while trying to take her to those best suited to protect her-"
"Protect her? Protect her? Who would that be? Who in that bloody forest would protect her? Are you completely mental?" Snape snarled.
Harry groaned, shoving Mamoru off of him. "Who the hell are you?"
Snape whirled on him. "And YOU! Potter! Fifty points from Gryffindor!" (In actuality, Gryffindor only had about thirty.)
A little cough from the top of the stairs interrupted them. "Hem hem. What is going on here? I believe my anti-foreign magic wards activated precisely two minutes and thirty-eight seconds ago. Severus, would you care to explain before I leave? The Minister is waiting." Umbridge stared down her nose at them all: Severus Snape, who had proven thus far to be quite cooperative, Harry Potter, who looked as though he might need another detention, the half-breed who she hoped to be rid of, and. . .
Why was there a man dressed as a muggle on the Entrance Hall floor?
If there was one thing Severus Snape was very good at that didn't involve potions or dark magic, it was lying. And if there was one skill this situation called for, lying was it.
Umbridge could not know that he had harbored Serenity for nearly a month (just a few days more and he would have been ready to go to Japan! He would have known the truth then!). She could not know that he and Potter had gone into the forest because Firenze was foolish enough to take her there, intending (and this knowledge he had pulled directly from the centaur's mind) to bring Serenity to people he thought could protect her better than Snape.
He fought the urge to hex the centaur. He could protect her just fine! He could. . . He could. . . He'd failed, again.
"I caught Potter out of bed after curfew. I was escorting him to my office." Snape began, face impassive. Umbridge cut him off.
"Yes, yes, just tell me who the wards dropped off here." She ordered imperiously, waving her hand impatiently. She took no notice of Firenze's condition, much to Snape's surprise. She (and he plucked this from her head too) dismissed his injuries as being due to 'disgusting half-breed activities' she wanted no knowledge of.
Snape motioned to the man of the floor who hadn't quite managed to get up yet. "That one." He said. Umbridge looked him over.
"The Minister is waiting. Come with me Severus, if you would be so kind, and bring him." She waved dismissively at Mamoru.
"As you wish, High Inquisitor." Snape waved his wand to levitate Mamoru, who yelped in surprise. "Potter, back to your dormitory. I'll deal with you tomorrow." His black eyes bore into Harry's, leaving no room for argument.
"Yes sir." muttered Harry as Snape and Umbridge left for her office.
Snape grabbed Mamoru's arm with far more force than was strictly necessary. He recognized this man from the images he'd seen in Serenity's mind. Her boyfriend. The very thought of it left a bad taste in his mouth. Serenity was his!
Once they'd reached the kitten-covered travesty she called an office, Umbridge turned to Mamoru, staring down her nose at him. "Are you a wizard?" She demanded.
Mamoru took a moment to translate the question, his brow knit in confusion. "I. . . sorry? I beg your pardon?"
Umbridge cleared her throat impatiently. Bloody foreigners. "I trust you know what a ward is, don't you?" She said, speaking very loudly. Mamoru winced, and Snape only just resisted the urge.
A knock sounded then, Dumbledore waited outside. He smiled genially, bowing his head to Umbridge. "If I may, Dolores?" He stepped inside without waiting for an answer, conversing quickly with Mamoru in Japanese. Snape watched as Dumbledore first waved his wand to vanish the ropes, then began to question the man, Mamoru Chiba, he called himself. Mamoru seemed wary at first, then startled, his eyes shooting from Umbridge to Dumbledore, Snape and back to Dumbledore again.
He nodded several times, then stood, pulling out a rose from a place unseen. Umbridge tapped her foot and opened her wide, frog-like mouth to demand to know what was being said, when Mamoru's appearance shifted, first to a tuxedo and mask, then to old-fashioned armor, a sword at his side. His eyes closed, and when they opened again they were different somehow, older perhaps, wiser.
He turned to Umbridge and bowed, a sweeping, gentlemanly bow. When he spoke again his accent was clear, the language formal. "In setting your wards, High Inquisitor, you recognized what could be called an ancient enemy of wizardkind, the Lunarians. If you realize that my Serenity (Snape's fist clenched his wand more tightly) is Sailor Moon, the last Moon Princess reincarnated, then you must recognize me as the reincarnation of the last Earth Prince. As such, I will say that the war was a mistake. The people of the Silver Kingdom were not our enemies then, and they are not our enemies now."
It was an impressive speech, Snape had to admit. The man certainly looked the part, and Snape had caught glimpses of this in Serenity's mind. Umbridge stared, jaw agape, before snapping her mouth shut with an audible click.
"Well," She began breathlessly, "If you are the reincarnation of an Earth Prince, as you so claim good sir, then surely you will be able to perform his magic?" Perhaps this whole situation was hard to swallow, but then, hadn't a Lunarian, a race long thought dead, dropped through a Hogwart's window a month ago?
"Certainly, my lady." Prince Endymion withdrew his wand from a holster at his side. It was a very elegant wand, willow (the same type of wood as Serenity's, Snape thought irritably), thirteen inches. He lifted it to cast a simple lumos.
Nothing happened.
Umbridge sputtered. "Your tricks won't work on me, Headmaster! It doesn't matter what you try to fool me with. The girl belongs to the Ministry of Magic now. She is obviously somehow a Lunarian, an enemy of wizardkind. For that, she will pay." Upon saying this, she tossed a fistful of floo powder into the fireplace, called out "Ministry of Magic," and was gone.
Snape swore, slamming a fist against the wall. Dumbledore placed a comforting hand on his shoulder; Snape shrugged it off. "Once they get a good look at her, she's done for. They will know who she is, Albus."
Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Hurry then. I think you know what you have to do."
Snape hesitated. "Lucius Malfoy? Do you think that's wise?"
"I think he's our best shot right now. Quickly." Dumbledore said. Snape nodded, striding from the room.
Meanwhile, the prince stared at his wand, completely dumbfounded. He tried three other spells, and still nothing. His wand remained cold and unresponsive in his hand.
Dumbledore stepped forward. He waved his wand over Mamoru, muttering a complicated spell. When he pulled back, there was a barely visible glow on the end of his wand. Dumbledore nodded gravely. "It is as I suspected, my boy. Your reincarnation, Mamoru Chiba, is all but a squib. His magical core is nearly non-existent. This other magic you told me of, this Tuxedo Mask, is a different sort of magic it seems. I'm afraid that without your wizard's magic, you will convince no one."
Prince Endymion faded back to Mamoru Chiba. He stared at Dumbledore a moment, then he fainted.
Hey! I broke another review record for this story (although that may be because Twenty-Five was the last chapter for months. Eh heh.) I hope you all haven't abandoned me for being so slow!
Thank you to the Chapter Twenty-Five reviewers Chicwa88 (sorry, no Diamond this time. I will make up for it next chapter though, heh heh.), angel313 (I like twists, can you tell?), mauskaetzchen, Lily Marie Wolfe, Alycee Lanet, Princess Moonie of the moon (you think he's bad now? Just wait.),Nikayla a121 (ah, sorry. I don't think the minor Sailor Moon characters are going to make it in this. But who knows?), bigfan454 (I'm not trying to bash him. It's just that the magical creatures hate him.), IsadoraKayStone (she's coming eventually. Actually, her plot was the one vying for Chapter Twenty-Seven, but I pushed it back.), VenomouslyAttractive, Reena Catheryn (wow I'm flattered! I'm glad you like the puzzles as much as I do. Feel free to take guesses at any threads I leave. You wouldn't believe how many ideas I find that way when I read other people's reviews. Lol), and Sesshoumarurin xxholic.