Hey there! I've gotten lots of reviews for last chapter, as usual. You guys are so great! This chapter is the calm before the storm, so you'll see the forest team all together, YAY!
I wanna thank:
Sere (chap.22-23) MarsMoonStar Henio Lady Aya Crystal Winter Alessandra Koosei Bishienomiko1 S
Zaeria Chibi-ami sailorsunandchildofthesun Silverpaws the silver Nukachu Prophetess of Hearts ii tyne ii
Miranda Compton Setsuna-3000 Black Phoenix Mayoujou Lady Light Ishtar Little-Moonlight Firelightz
Madison Conwell, Secret Agent Anime Gurl16 Erika7 Glitter-Flutterby Heero's Bunny Imperial Saturn
GreenStar5323 Eternal Oasis InvisibleRain
Nukem: Review n.700!!! Whoohoo! ^__^
LadyKatherine16: Great advice! Thanks!
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Father Mine
Chapter 24: Preparations
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A loud rumbling was heard. One more day. They had one more day to prepare. Usagi was meditating when she heard the noise from outside the divination class. The fire dimmed and she opened her eyes, getting up. Dumbledore and all the others were almost running outside the school, where the rumbling came to the point it was almost too loud.
Great figures appeared in the horizon and Hagrid looked thoroughly delighted. The giants passed through the forest with no difficulty, while the birds where trying to get away, angry at being disturbed in their own habitat. They stopped several meters away from the headmaster, looking down at him with furrowed brows.
"Would you look at the size of 'em!" Said Tonks, impressed, who marched beside the rabbit. The Auror whistled. True, they were really tall and dangerous looking. Some of them looked at least 15 to 20 meters tall! With their weird clothes made of animal fur and their big beards, they looked like tall gnomes.
Harry and the other children were ecstatic. "Oh boy! With allies like that, we're sure to win!" Said a joyous Seamus, while the others nodded enthusiastically. The heard some deep grunting noises and they gaped as they concluded it was their language.
Hagrid was relaying the messages between Dumbledore and the leader of the giant troop. There were about 30 of them, and while the leader was talking to the small looking Hagrid, the other giants made themselves comfortable on Hogwarts ground, while professor Sprout was silently weeping for the poor trees that had been destroyed. It was her who was taking care of the plants, even though it was winter, after all. It wasn't going to be pretty in Spring.
They seemed to come to an agreement, even though the menacing smile of the leader didn't get to Usagi's heart. Maybe they always smiled like that. They weren't pretty looking after all…She shrugged to herself.
Sirius went to talk with the old headmaster and motioned for Usagi to come forward. Her gaze remained determined as she walked up to them, the people around her watching her every move. Harry also followed her, intently glancing at however looked suspicious and glaring at every other person who were ogling at his girlfriend.
"What can I do for you, father?" She was purposely avoiding her gaze from Fudge and his loyal Aurors, instead looking directly at her father.
Sirius patted her shoulder calmly. "We need you to assemble the creatures from the forbidden forest. We all need to be here if we want to decide for a course of action. Will you do this for us?"
Fudge scowled as she nodded dutifully. Molly Weasley stomped her way to the dog animagus and put her hands on her hips. "SIRIUS BLACK! YOU DON'T TRULY WISH FOR YOUR DAUGHTER TO GO IN THERE ON HER OWN, DON'T YOU?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" She screeched, making the poor man stumble back by the sheer force of her voice. Her voice was almost as strong as the giants!
Arthur Weasley tried to calm his raging wife but she wouldn't want to hear anything of it. The ministry people were looking at them like they were crazy, while Molly was hissing to her husband. "I don't care, Arthur! She's a child! A child! I always knew that Sirius had mental problems, and that proves it!"
Sirius scowled while Fudge grinned. "Dear Mrs. Weasley, we can take care of Black if you wish!"
Molly gave him a menacing look. "Stay out of this, Fudge!" She snapped at him.
Cornelius was about to retort when Dumbledore intervened. "STOP THIS NONSENSE THE BOTH OF YOU!" Every move stopped at his demand. "Now," He continued pleasantly, "I believe you had a mission, Miss Black?" He inquired, while Molly sputtered. "But Albus! You can't possibly-"
She instantly shut up at the look Dumbledore gave her. 'He sure isn't in the mood for some Lemon Drops right now!' Usagi thought amusingly, while she merely stepped to the entrance of the dark forest. She doubled over, and gigantic wings ripped down the back of her clothes, only to wound themselves around her body instinctively. It looks like ¾ of the crowd didn't know she had been registered as an animagus, because when the wings finally retracted, they gasped loudly as an Alicorn stood where the blue eyed girl once was.
Sirius watched with wide eyes as the animal let out a powerful neigh, before disappearing in the forest. "That's impressive to watch, isn't it?" Harry said silently when he approached his amazed Godfather, who nodded mutely at his statement.
"She told me she was an animagus in one of her letters, but I didn't know she was this strong and beautiful! For someone whose powers don't match with those of a wizard's, I think she can manage to create something that looks awfully like them." Concluded Sirius.
Remus and Minerva chuckled. "Yes, she sure scared us big time when she first transformed in front of us. It was when Harry got bitten by a snake, if I recall correctly." Minerva said. Poppy nodded to confirm the fact. Now, all they could do was wait outside the forest's limits impatiently, fidgeting every now and then.
*~*~*
She galloped, galloped as fast as she could. It felt good to be free, her human mind still there but buried inside. She let out a powerful neigh that resonated through the woodland and stopped at the familiar clearing. The Alicorn flapped its wings a little to get the knots out and its head snapped up when it heard insistent rustling of leaves.
The mystical horse pounded the ground bravely, almost daring for an enemy to show up. But luckily, it was Bane who first arrived, as usual. He gazed with amazed eyes as the Alicorn transformed back into its human form. "Miss Serena! What a pleasant surprise!"
Usagi smiled but her eyes remained serious. "Unfortunately, Bane, the reason why I'm here is not pleasant." Bane gave a grim look and shook his head in understanding. With a few other rustling of leaves, the brave animals and centaurs were all here, with Grawp in tow.
She glanced proudly at them. There was about 20 centaurs, all equipped with sharp lances and their bow and arrows, and some even had knifes and old looking swords, probably made by the small elves that lived in this forest.
The clearing looked very small with all those dragons. It was a pack, well, a small one of 5 dragons but they were powerful, so good for the light side!
There were about 30 Thestrals and Aragog had arrived with its children. She lifted her eyebrows. 'That's a big family, all right!'
She hummed in her throat when she spotted the unicorns. There were about 12. They weren't numerous, since unicorns were beginning to be endangered. She walked up to them and petted their manes gently. "Thank you all for coming. It's so great you all want to participate in what could become your future." She silently thanked.
The unicorn bowed and Usagi smiled sadly. Such beautiful animals were ready to put their lives at risk.
She turned around and transformed back into her Alicorn form, surprising the centaurs and making Grawp gape like a child. The winged unicorn made a 'follow me' move with its head and started to lead them towards the end of the dark forest, with all her army following dutifully behind.
*~*~*
"What's taking her so long?" Complained Fudge, who began pacing around in circles impatiently.
Sirius smirked and didn't budge from his place. "Anxious, minister?"
Fudge only scowled back. "If this is your idea of a joke, I assure you it's not-" He stopped short and let out a nervous yelp as something made its way to them from inside the forest, cowering behind his aurors. Mad-Eye and Tonks rolled their eyes and tried to edge away from their 'boss', in shame with his behavior.
The Alicorn made its way out and went to an unoccupied part of the ground, stopping in the middle. The army of centaurs followed her and the persons in their way swiftly gulped and backed away.
They looked quite impressive, all straight and tall as angriness showed on their human faces. Bane didn't even glanced at the humans and made himself a place beside the shimmering animagus.
Following the centaurs were the gigantic dragons, which roared and scared everyone out of their wits.
Grawp made his way through the tall branches and soon it was family-reunion time for him and Hagrid. The army of tall giants eyed the smaller one weirdly, but didn't move from their spot. Hagrid once again had a surprise when Aragog appeared with his children. Ron looked ready to be sick while most of the girls shrieked and turned their gazes elsewhere.
The unicorns nervously exited their sanctuary and trotted hurriedly to the centaurs, regrouping tightly and pounding the ground in anxiety.
Fudge sighed loudly. "Finally! I thought she had brought the entire forest's inhabitants with her! Now, can we FINALLY-"
He fell on the ground in a huff as something pushed him roughly on the side. But he glanced around him and…nothing! There was nothing that could have possibly pushed him away.
Most of the people were looking at their minister weirdly while Harry and Sirius were tried to stifle their laughs, leaning on each other's shoulders, but to no avail, it was too tempting. They burst out laughing while Remus himself chuckled.
The minister tried to get up in the thick snow and paled as many traces appeared magically in it. They were headed towards the Alicorn, which transformed into its original self once again. She lifted her hand to pet something that wasn't even there and suddenly, the entire Thestral group appeared out of thin air.
But when she retracted her hand, they were still visible for everybody to see. She had 'spelled' them into staying visible. "So, how do you like my army?" She stood proudly beside Bane, who was smirking back at her.
Dumbledore clapped his hands happily. "I'm very impressed! Everything seemed to go wrong these past few days, but I see our luck has changed! That's good! Yes, very good indeed! Now, to do something about the snow!" The old headmaster lifted his wand and murmured a spell under his breath, and all the snow on Hogwarts' ground melted away.
It was still frisky outside but at least they weren't going to fight in the thick snow. And anyway, with all the dementors who were going to be present tomorrow, the air was going to get even more suffocating. So they weren't going to be in need of their heavy cloaks anyway.
Lupin gazed at the clear blue sky in worry and Minerva called him on it. The werewolf animagus fidgeted. "But what about the werewolves? The Dark Lord has about 100 of them!"
Everyone turned their gaze agitatedly towards the rabbit. Usagi rubbed her hands together and smiled calmly up to them. "I already planned something for them. Don't worry, leave this all to me."
Cornelius advance avidly to her. "What do you plan to do?"
Usagi grinned darkly. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Was the only response the minister got, and leaving a bunch of curious persons behind her, she marched back to the castle, Harry, Sirius and Remus at her side.
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Another chapter done! The warriors are all here, Yay! What's going to happen? And how will Usagi get the werewolves out of her way? *in announcer voice: Find out in the next chapter of 'Father Mine'!* ^_^
I think this chapter was a little shorter than the other ones….Sorry.
Jeez! I think I'll soon burst the 800 reviews! *author falls on the ground unconscious while reviewers beg for me to continue the story* He! I won't let you guys down!
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Love ya all!
Eternal Cosmos ^_~