Disclaimers; I don't own Sailor Moon, she - And the rest of the Senshi - belong to Naoko Takeuchi *All bow* Harry Potter and any of the characters therein also aren't mine. *Sniff* That honor belongs to the great J.K. Rowling. *twaps those who aren't' bowing*








THE SENSHI WHO LIVED.


Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are --
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

--Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
'Ulysses'





PROLOGUE

Amare ad Sanguis.









The rain pelted down, turning everything into a misty haze, seeming to set an illusory tone onto the unfolding drama. She did not notice that though. She was too busy screaming and fighting against fate.

It had always affected her. Fate - mother to Destiny and child of Chance. And it seemed to her, that it had never been kind. Whispering in her ear, sure and soft, granting wishes of things unknown, dreams unseen. And then wrenching them away, just when they seemed within reach.

But then, that was fate. Always cruel.

At least to her.

So she screamed, and she pulled and she twisted and she cried.

But in the rain, it was impossible to see her tears.

"No Luna!! No we can't- we can't leave them!"

She wrenched harder, putting her entire being into the resistance. It made no difference.

"No Luna! NO! They'll die!"

Her feet slipped and slid in the muddy earth, leaving wet grooves in the ground, they were quickly filled by the falling water. She was covered in mud too, but, like her tears, it went unnoticed.

"They'll die-"

"They're already dead!"

Silence only broken by the patter of the falling rain and the slap of muddy feet.

But she did not stop resisting. It was all she had left. If she did that, then at least perhaps - perhaps - she could atone for her mistakes. It did not seem possible, but she was a princess, she was almost a goddess. There would be a way.

There had to be.

She wanted to scream her refusal even as she saw the hooded beings moving through the darkness, taller than her, making her deathly afraid; but her refusal was stronger. She felt sick with fear and loathing for those creatures. Far worse that Galaxia; far worse than Beryl; far worse than her lingering nightmares. It was a sick horror that almost paralyzed her.

Almost.

Her eyes fixed on the dark azure orbs of her captor for an instant before pulling away to the mud covered bodies lying in the bemired grass.

"They're dead..."

The statement was pain-filled - but laden with steel.

"NO!"

She did scream then.

They were alive, she could still see them struggling.

She saw Michiru rising, pulling Haruka with her. She could see Raye's eyes on her, challenging as always. Amy's gaze looked still strong, assuring. Makoto would never just lie down and die. Minako was too full of life to fall. Setsuna was time incarnate as Hotaro was almost death itself. You could not kill death.

It was not possible.

They were alive.

Their eyes looked dead, but that did not matter.

Their clothes were stained. Crimson that flowed with the rivulets of water, down their torso's, arms and legs, staining the ground, staining their clothes.

But that did not matter.

Mamoru's head was twisted at an impossible angle, the moonlight gleamed on the sharp ivory protruding from ChibiUsa's chest.

Bone.

A rib.

But that did not matter.

They were the Senshi of the Cosmos. They did not die.

Mars.

Mercury.

Jupiter.

Venus.

Saturn.

Uranus.

Neptune.

Pluto.

....

Earth...

They did not die; they were immortal, They could not die; they were warriors. She would not let them die; she was hope. She was life.

She was alone.

No.

Her friends had never deserted her as she had them; they had never betrayed her; it was not them who had sent the beast to destroy her. The had promised to help, and they had.

They could not die because of that.

The shadows - Dementors she had heard them called - were growing closer. Their master would follow, she knew. At the thought, a shudder began at her ankles and traveled upwards until her flesh crawled .
The shadowy outline of the monsters approaching, ran in her mind.
She was almost overcome with nausea, by revulsion, as though a dead dog had put out it's rotting tongue and licked the back of her neck, leaving a cold trail of muck up to her ear.

The cold laughter still echoed in her mind. And that final scream.

"No!"

A wrench of her arm and she stumbled as her feet slid underfoot, giving way as she fell - screaming as she fell. The grasp on her arm did not lessen, if anything it increased in force.

She would not leave them.

Her body impacted, throwing her head forward, hitting the hard earth. She bit her lip, tasted blood. The insistent tugging had finally stopped but she pulled away anyway, as she scrambled across the mire. Her shoulders throbbed; she could almost feel the imprint of those fingers on her flesh.

Not her captor - her pursuer.

She had never encountered such an iron will. Her mind so burst with the force that no thought came for a while, save for the menace he felt towards her. Towards everyone.
So she lay still in the dark, almost oblivious but not silent.

Not for long.

Slowly her senses returned, and with them her anger. With a lurch she pounded the earth with her fists, screaming her rage, her anguish. Her entire being was bent on expressing her despair. Her small frame shook with the force of her sobs. She screamed; she would go no further.

She would not leave them.

She could not.

Could.

Not...

It was then she realized that it had stopped raining, and the ground was solid. Hard and covered with a light frost which was slowly thawing with her body heat. No rain in sight.

Her head lifted, the pale strands falling into her eyes as she glared at the clear cloudless sky.

The scene had changed it seemed; Fade to black - Fate fought back

Ahead, also sprawled in a rather undignified manner, a dark form shifted, climbing to it's feet wearily. The ember hues met her own sapphire again and her glare intensified. The form did not register to the darkened gaze though, it merely wobbled towards her, slowly.

Luna; a cat once more.

"Get up Usagi."

The voice was soft and commanding all at once. And infinitely sad. Usagi did not move, the screaming was still inside her head, tormenting her, along with those lifeless eyes.

Blind fingers found the precious light that her comrades had fought to save. A tiny translucent globe of polished silver-crystal the size of a walnut, enclosed in a haze of light.

"Why?"

A touch to the crystal and the light intensified, revealing her close surroundings.

"We need to get going."

Almost against her will, she found herself swaying to her feet. Her head pounded and a sick pain suffused her body. Dumbly she found herself asking:

"Where? Luna... Where are we?"

Her eyes fixed on the globe and for an instant - against her better judgment - she was tempted to hurl it into the surrounding darkness. But that would not provide a solution. It would still exist. Instead she tucked it away into a pocket inside her shirt, it fitted easily there, against her heart. After a minute it's light diminished.

The cat was a shadow against the blackness ahead, fading slightly as she moved. Usagi squinted, trying to keep her in focus as she heard Luna's bitter reply.

"The only place we'll fit in, I expect."

It was focusing on the cat which brought her attention to what was beyond it. To where Luna was heading towards. She stumbled to a halt, frozen as her eyes drifted over the building before her, onto a stony sea of walls and towers.
The castle grounds loomed ahead, a black monstrosity against the starlit sky. A veritable fortress, with turrets and towers, spires and spikes that jutted from great walls. The bright moonlight turned it all into a maze of light and darkness, but the darkness was something she knew well. As it was, half concealed in shadows, and half lit in the silvery glow of the moon, it was a grand sight.

It frightened her.

And for a moment she just stood in place, awed and terrified anew. But Luna had not slowed in her pace, still heading for the dark stone. Usagi could remain; alone and cold. Or she could follow - probably the only friend the world had left to her.

She hated being alone, regardless.

The anger she had gained ebbed away as she walked slowly along, dragging her feet as she refused to look again at the castle.
As she did, the sickness in her seemed to grow until it was almost nightmare in proportion; the worst migraine she'd ever had, until her head boiled and her sight faded and her stomach felt as though it was filled with burning foam pushing back up her throat, and even that outcome was of no importance.
Afraid to use the light, she groped her way after her guardian, using the stars and moon for guidance.
Luna did not slow, keeping her brisk pace that only a cat could maintain.

Usagi trailed after, knowing that the path she followed offered no more hope than any other. But at least she would not be alone.
The tears trailed down her face, silent and unheeded, leaving wet tracks in their wake.
There was nowhere to hide. Despite what Luna may have thought. There was no crevice large enough and deep enough to conceal her.

But she was not ready to die; would do anything to postpone the end, even for an hour.

Putting one foot in front of the other had never been a hard thing for the senshi, but movement made her pain worse. She wanted to call out, to tell Luna, but necessity would not let her. Safe refuge came first.

Their deaths would not be for nothing.

Her head pulsed in time with her racing heartbeat.

Then exhaustion crept upon her like a sweeping wave, pulling her under before she could even register the fact.

She was unconscious before even halfway to the ground. Oblivious and totally disabled. She never saw Luna turn, nor did she experience the arms which saved her from hitting the earth again.

The small cat was beside her rescuer in an instant, hissing up at the slender figure. But Luna was compelled into silence with a word as the cold eyes swept over the feline, then moved to the weight in his arms - surprisingly light.

A black brow lifted in elegant inquiry, as though expecting an answer from a cat. His voice was smooth and sure, though low in the night. A strong accent tinted the words - British. His entire demeanor shouted; parvenu.

"Not Slytherin... I know all of Gryffindor... Ravenclaw.... No...."

Luna heard him draw a breath as he muttered, "Hufflepuff ..."

A scowl, a derisive sound, both gone in a flash.

"Not likely."

The cat tensed as the man whispered a soft word - "Levitas!" - and her charge lifted from his arms, an invisible force completely supporting her. He turned lithely and she dodged the billowing robes that followed his movement, darting instead to block his way.

He stopped.

"I suppose she's yours?" he drawled. His eyes gave her a once over and Luna could not help but feel intimidated at the intense gaze. She was a cat, but he made her feel like - a mouse. As though she was beneath his very notice. But she had faced worse, most recently. She would not quail.

"Very well, 'cat'," he ground out, stepping over her. "You can come too... We'll find out what house 'this' belongs to, before long."

Luna dodged to surging folds of black as he walked away, torn between launching herself at his back and following. But he had Usagi. And he sounded as though he belonged - or was at least employed - by the school ahead.

It did not matter; he had Usagi. And if he did belong to the school; then he was a wizard. She eyed the trailing senshi, still unconscious.
He was a wizard either way. In which case she did not stand any hope in her feline form. She growled once.

She found she had an immediate distrust for the disdainful man.

She did not like him.

But she followed anyway, hearing his muttered disapproval floating back to her on the night air.

"Disapparating outside grounds is against school rules. Someone will suffer, or my name isn't Severus Snape."








To Be Continued...

In 'Memento Sorstis'

Usagi is in a strange time and a strange place, with strangers expecting answers...


Translations:

Amare ad Sanguis - Love to blood. (Latin)
Levitas! - Rise/ Levitate. (Latin)



Dunno if I'll continue this online of not... My first attempt at Harry Potter... I couldn't dawdle forever though... Irresistible, it was. ^__^;;

And it's been jumping inside my head for a while too. The idea of Usagi and Luna (the stereotypical witch's black cat) was too good to pass up.

I know it's dark... But when you look at The Goblet of Fire... that ending... O__o;;

And Ms. Rowling herself has told interviewers that she writes as she wants to, and that the book are going to get darker. ^__^
Also I'm still not entirely sure when this takes place. Before of after The Order of the Phoenix... (Book 5) Any ideas/suggestions?

Tell me if you like it - or not. Or if I should continue, or not.


Please...? *Sniff* I know it sucks, but please?


*Huggles n' pocky*



Orin.