Ch. 4
It's like rain on your wedding day,
It's a free ride and you're already there.
It's the good advice that you just didn't take,
And who would've thought it figures?
-Alanis Morissette, of course.
"I see we have our new celebrities in class."
Snape's voice was cold, soft and cruel. His cold dark eyes flicked over the Senshi seated in his class.
"I will not abide showing off. I treat everyone here like a regular student, as Mr. Potter can easily testify." Sailormoon saw Harry's cheeks burn.
"Now. Sailorchibimoon, could you tell me what seasonal plant is good for poison potions?"
"Which season, sir?" Chibimoon asked cautiously. Snape's eyes glittered, but not with fury. It was more something along the lines of amusement.
"That would be the Yuletide season, Chibimoon."
"I believe it would be the holly plant, as its leaves and especially its berry are quite poisonous."
Snape looked at her very carefully, and Sailormoon was sure she saw a tiny smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
"Correct," he said after a moment. "Twenty points to Gryffindor."
There was a sharp intake of breath. Snape had just awarded points to Gryffindor!! Somewhere deep in the earth, the temperature was dropping quickly, Harry was sure. Snape began the lesson, picking on the Gryffindor Senshi for almost every question, and ignoring Hermione's often airborne hand.
To everyone's surprise/relief (on the part of the other Gryffindors), the Senshi picked up on every single question, earning Gryffindor no less than 170 points. Ron was bug-eyed when the left the class.
"I don't believe it!" he gasped. "Snape was fair! He didn't pick on Neville! He gave us points! I think the Slytherins may die of shock."
"Only after you," Hermione laughed.
Ron had a point as many Slytherins were quite silent after the potions lesson. What had happened to the cruel and unjust head of their house?? He'd acted like…like…well, like Professor McGonagall, that's who! Malfoy frowned.
"What happened?"
"Two more feet to go!" Sailormoon wailed. She let her History of Magic homework roll back up with a veritable sproing and flopped back into a chair in the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione smiled.
"You'll get it, Sailormoon. As it is, you're doing remarkably well. Five feet is really an accomplishment."
"Perhaps, but it's not seven feet." Sailormoon sighed. "I want my Mamo-chan," she muttered in Japanese. Chibimoon glanced up slyly.
"Don't you mean my Mamo-chan?" She challenged. Within a few seconds, the argument had escalated to the point where Sailormoon had begun to chase Chibimoon around the room waving her sceptre at her menacingly. Venus sighed and gave an embarrassed smile to the dumbfounded Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Now they're starting to settle in."
They watched as Chibimoon taunted the enraged Sailormoon through the portrait hole and out of sight. After a few minutes, Hermione sighed.
"We'd better go after them before Filch finds them," she sighed. Venus frowned. "Judging from the way they were running, they could be anywhere. How would we find them?"
Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, both of whom grinned. Harry ran upstairs into the boy's dormitory. When he had emerged again, he held a piece of old parchment in his hand and there was a slight lump under his clothes.
"Let's get out of here first," he muttered, gesturing towards the portrait hole. They all climbed out and had walked a little ways before Harry took out what had been under his robes.
Venus gasped as the silvery cloak was presented.
"Nani desu ka?" she asked under her breath in amazement. Harry smiled.
"It's an invisibility cloak. And this," he said, taking out the piece of parchment. "Is a map of Hogwarts."
He looked around cautiously then placed the tip of his wand onto the parchment.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said and a spider web of lines started from his wand tip across the paper until before them was a map of Hogwarts. On the third floor were four dots, labelled "Sailorvenus", "Hermione Granger", "Ronald Weasley" and "Harry Potter". Venus grinned.
"Cool," she whispered. Her eyes scanned for two specific dots. She found them racing through the dungeons up towards the Great Hall. Venus smiled.
"We may be able to head them off. Let's go."
"Just a sec," Harry said. He placed his wand tip on the map. "Mischief Managed" and the map wiped clean. He then threw the invisibility cloak over them and they all set off towards the Great Hall.
They edged their way past portraits snoozing in their frames and twice went through unsuspecting ghosts. They reached the Great Hall in time to hear the shrill angry voices of Moon and Chibimoon echoing towards them from the direction of the dungeons. They waited as the voices quickly drew nearer…then suddenly stopped. A few seconds later, they heard footsteps running towards them. Venus threw off the invisibility cloak and ran to them. Both of their faces were flushed and a little panicked.
'"What is it?" Venus asked, stopping Sailormoon. "What's wrong?"
"It's Peeves," Sailormoon whispered. "He's on the stairwell…he's turned to stone!"
By the next day, word had, of course, spread all over the school. People were worried. Was this the work of the Slytherin Heir again? Hermione had quickly dismissed that possibility.
"The basilisk only petrified ghosts and people, and yes, killed them," she had updated the Senshi earlier. "But turned them to stone? That's not in its power."
"A form of a medusa, then?" Sailormercury had asked. Harry shook his head.
"They live in Greece."
At this Sailormercury had sighed and had sent an owl to Touma asking him to scan the area around Hogwarts for any unusual activity pertaining to the Dark Kingdom. She'd have used her own computer, but one look at the static filled screen and she knew that'd be futile.
"All we can do now is wait," Mercury had said. "I mean, there's nothing we can do. My computer is on the fritz, so I can't scan the area."
"Electronic objects can't work here," Hermione said. "Too much magical interference. But Touma should have better luck."
Mercury sighed. "Well, at any rate, I've got Herbology in a few minutes, I'm due down in Greenhouse 4."
Uranus nodded. "That's just as well, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs are due in Divination."
"Professor Trelawney," Harry rolled his eyes. "Wonder how I'm going to die this year."
"Huh?" Chibimoon said, confused. Ron grinned. "We'll explain on the way. Hermione, off to Arithmancy?"
Hermione smiled. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that stuffy oven she calls a classroom."
Everyone split up and headed their separate ways.
Sailorpluto fought the urge to cough as she ascended the rope ladder into the classroom. Turning, she pulled Neville the rest of the way up into the classroom, as she'd heard about the accident-prone student. She turned and selected a comfortable-looking cushion in the corner, knowing that neither Haruka nor Michiru would appreciate being in the centre of the room. Sailorvenus, on the other hand, well….Pluto smiled to herself. She could be counted on to try to draw attention. It had always been the senshi's mark. She smiled gently as Uranus and Neptune sat next to her, and, of course, next to each other. She watched Sailormoon stumble into the room, nearly upsetting a collection of delicate-looking teacups that sat on a shelf and winced. Luckily she was caught by a fast-thinking Dean Thomas, and she didn't fall. Nodding her thanks to him, she sat on a cushion in more or less the centre of the classroom.
Pluto noticed many students were reclining, or sitting. But the Senshi, all of them, for now all in the room were seated-were sitting Japanese style. She turned to Uranus.
"This would be a nice place for a cha no yu, would it not?"
Uranus smirked. "It's too fancy. Too stuffy."
"That kind of environment is good for other things, ne?" Neptune asked her softly. Uranus turned slightly pink and coughed a few times before turning her attention to the teacher-where had she come from??
"Good day, my young seers. Welcome to a new school year where you will gaze deep into the future and discover your destinies."
Pluto frowned. This woman sounded like she knew nothing about messing with knowing the future and destinies. She felt rather than saw the gaze of the other Senshi in the room slide to her in order to get her reaction to this proclamation. She grinned in a self-satisfactory way and she knew the other Senshi were grinning too. Oh, they would have fun with this one.
"It is possible, as you know," Professor Trelawney went on in her best psychic voice. "To see into the future with one's inner eye. We must first do exercises to relax our inner eye, and then we must appeal to the guardian of time to see if he, in his infinite wisdom, will-" she trailed off at the snickers emanating from the inner senshi.
"Is something the matter?"
"The guardian of time," Sailorvenus said respectfully through amused. "Isn't a he."
"Well of course he is," Professor Trelawney huffed. "I have met him."
"Funny," Pluto said softly. "I don't remember being a he. Unless I've missed something."
Professor Trelawney's large eyes shifted to Pluto amidst muffled laughter. "You," she said most icily. "Are not the guardian of the gate of time."
Pluto's eyes narrowed. "I most certainly am," she said softly. Uranus and Neptune noted the dangerousness in her voice and scooted as far away from her as possible. Pluto continued. "And may I say, Baka-sama, that I have never beheld the likes of you nearing my time gate. You would not be worthy of entrance and would be eliminated." Her voice became a whisper. "Immediately." She stood, placing books into her bag. "Do not presume to know the guardian of time, Professor," she walked over to the trap door and opened it. "But I will make sure you get a good long look at me before I kick your sorry self back to your own time."
She turned to the other senshi. "This idiot is too much for me," she said in Japanese. "I'm going to be in the library if anyone needs me." With that, she left. Professor Trelawney was silent a moment. Snickers and giggles were being passed around the room. Chibimoon's eyes were wide.
"I've never seen her so angry before!"
"She can't stand idiocy," Venus told her. "And trust me, this woman is dripping with it."
Chibimoon grinned.
"That was interesting," Uranus smiled over at Pluto. "Kicking her back, huh?"
"I was tempted to say something more," she said softly. She had regained her composure. "But that would have been too vulgar, even in Japanese, for me to say to anyone. Except perhaps the Shogun.
"Understood and noted," Venus said, smiling. "There's one class you won't be going back to." She looked at her schedule.
"I'd love to stay and chat, hontou, but I've got to go down to Charms. Professor Flitwick is nice, but he's not of infinite patience."
Pluto smiled and sent Venus off after the rest of her housemates. She ran through a few shortcuts, hoping to end up in the charms corridor if the stairs didn't change position on her.
She came out from behind a tapestry and gasped. There was a girl laying facedown on the ground. She turned the girl over to check for any injuries and let out a strangled yelp, backing away from the girl a bit. Her eyes were filled with an iridescent blue light, and they were staring. She felt her pulse. Still there. The girl was physically fine but obviously wasn't all there. She saw that her wand, which was being clutched in her hand, had been turned to stone. Venus began to yell for help.
"This isn't good," Mars said softly. "I talked to Madam Pompfrey and she said that it was the same with both Peeves and the Ravenclaw second year you found, Minako-chan. They both had been drained of magical energy."
"Of course," Mercury said softly. "Peeves is magical by nature, and so are witches and wizards."
"But why her wand, and not her then?" Chibimoon asked. Mars sighed.
"A wand is the centre of a person's magical energy. Ideally, the energy could be sucked out through it."
"So what do we do?" Jupiter asked. "We can't find out through Ami-chan's computer what's going on."
"We wait for Touma's report," Neptune said. "We can't do anything else. And we keep our eyes open. Report any drains in magical energy we may see. I have a feeling this is turning into something big."