Disclaimer: I don't own CCS or Harry Potter. Boring, boring BORING!!!!!!!!
*~*Chapter 8: Secrets Revealed*~*
Harry, Sakura, Syaoran, and the rest of the Gryffindor team stumbled through the portrait hole covered in dryed mud. Syaoran, the new team captain, had called a practice on the night right before their match with Ravenclaw. Sakura glared bleary eyed at Syaoran.
"I really think you are going to kill me, Li Syaoran!" she exclaimed. He just turned his head as they climbed the stairs.
"Ah, you just need to shape up, Sakura! That was a great work out!!!" he said with a grin. Harry chuckled.
"You strongly remind me of our old captain. He was always trying to work us to death." They had reached the top of the stairs and parted into their seperate dormitories. Sakura said good night to Syaoran and Harry and followed Katie and Alicia to bed. She slumped into her feathery bed and pulled the covers over her head. Hermione was still up, at least Sakura assumed she was. Her curtains were closed, but there was still a faint light piercing the cloth. She shrugged and glanced over at her bedside table. There, lighted by the moon's soft beams, were pictures from home. Her eyes shifted from one picture to the next, each bringing back close memories. She saw a picture with her, Tomoyo, Meiling and Syaoran. Sakura smiled as she remembered the day Meiling left. Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. She opened them again and her eyes fell on picture that gave her heart a tug. She sat up in her bed and lifted the picture carefully.
Sakura stared at her mother's soft, loving eyes. Nadeshiko silently smiled warmly up at her daughter. Sakura embraced her mother's face with her thumb tenderly as her eyes became glassy.
"Sakura? Are you alright?" Sakura jumped and quickly rubed her eyes.
"Oh! Hermione! Did I wake you up?" Hermione got up and leaned over Sakura's shoulder. She shook her head in reply.
"Nope. I was up reading about the spanish wizard Professor Binns was talking about. Who's that?" she asked, pointing to the picture in Sakura's hands. Sakura blushed slightly.
"This.....this is my mom." Hermione's eyes lit up with intrest.
"Wow, she is very pretty. You see her often?" Sakura hesitated and lowered her head so that you couldn't see her eyes.
"She's....she's not here anymore..." Hermione's face fell as she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be nosey, but how old were you?"
"She died when I was three. I don't remember that much," Sakura replied. She glanced at Hermione. "I do still wonder what my life would have been like with her." Hermione stared back at her, deep concern in her eys.
"Do you miss her?" Sakura thought about this for a while, then smiled brightly.
"I guess I do. But I don't feel lonely at all. I have my father, my brother, and all of my friends!" Hermione smiled back at Sakura and yawned.
"Well, that's good. You better get to sleep now, you got a big game after school tomorrow!!" Sakura laughed slightly and said good night. She buried herself in the covers and slowly drifted to sleep, thanking God that she had such good friends.
*~*~*~*
Out in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, Lord Voldemort waited for Wormtail. A hair raising howl could be heard as Wormtail tripped into the clearing. Voldemort's cold, blazing red eyes focused on the poor man.
"Report Wormtail. Is everything ready for tomorrow?"
"Y-yes my Lord. Everything w-w-will be ready for tomorrow," Wormtail stammered. He figgeted un-comfortably as a growling noise issued out from the darkness, followed by a horrible crunching sound. Voldemort, however, was not affected by the horrible sounds of the forest.
"Than I trust that you will be able to get into position?" Voldemort inquried. Wormtail gulped.
"Y-yes, of course, Master..." Voldemort let an evil smile curl around his thin lips.
"Watch out Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort has come for you.''
*~*~*~*
"Sakura..."
A strange voice echoed in her mind. 'Who could that be?'
"Sakura..."
Sakura shifted beneath her covers.
"Leave me alone...I need my sleep!" That voice was getting quite annoying. *Poke* *Poke*
'Oh great! Now someone thinks it's funny to poke me in the back of the head!!' *Poke*
"Ouch!"
"SAKURA!" Sakura's eyes snapped open as Hermione through the covers off her. Sakura rubbed the back of her head and sat up slowly. She glanced at Hermione and saw that she was fully dressed in her black school robes.
"Whaaaat?"
"Class is starting in twenty minutes!!"
"WHAT???"
"Yah! So hurry up!!" Sakura dashed out of bed, mumbling japanese non-stop under her breath. She tore open her trunk and started flinging clothes in every direction. When she finally managed to get her robes on, she dashed down the staircase and ran right into Harry, Ron and Syaoran. Hermione walked calmly down the stairs and stiffled a laugh at the sight below.
Sakura was sprawled over all three of the boys, all of whom were still dased due to the impact. Sakura jumped up and apoligised, but started to yell at them for making her late.
"Late? For what?" Ron asked while picking himself off the floor.
"My classes!! I've only got ten minutes to get to class now!!!" she replied angrily. Syaoran ducked down behind Harry and Ron for a moment, reamerging with a very red face and a strained smile. Ron and Harry, however, were staring at Sakura in confusion. Ron checked his watch again.
"Classes?" he repeated. "But classes don't start for another hour!" Sakura stared at him with a weird expression.
"What?" she asked shortly. She spun around and glared at Hermione who was pointing to Syaoran.
"He made me do it! Don't blame me!!" she squealed. At this. Syaoran backed out of the room quietly.
"Oh no you don't!! You get back here!! You cost me valuable sleeping time!!" With that, she chased him around the room and out the portrait hole. The Fat Lady was having a fit.
"Little ruffiens! Just go ahead and barge right through me as though I was just a common door!" she shouted angrily to their retreating backs.
"Well, you are sort of a door..." Ron muttered. Harry and Hermione stiffled another fit of laughter. As soon as they were out of an earshot, they burst out laughing. They continued to laugh as they made their way to the Great Hall.
*~*~*~*
"Hey Ron. What's on the agenda for today?" Harry asked. Ron rumaged around for his schedule.
"Er...Hang on. Oh! Umm....Double Potions with Slytherins. Then we got Herbology. Break and only Asian Magic afer that. School ends early for the Quidditch match," Ron replied.
"We have Asian Magic today? Good. I need to ask one of the professors about yesterday's lecture..." Hermione said. Sakura sighed.
"I HATE potions. My mixtures always end up funny... Well, at least we can meet up with Eriol at break." Syaoran nodded while cutting up his pancake. "Eugh... That Malfoy kid keeps staring at me... It's kinda freaky..." Sakura said. Syaoran scowled and Harry tightened his grip on his fork. She didn't notice, but yawned loudly. A bell tolled loudly from the depths of the castle. Hermione looked up from her book.
"Well, guess that means that it's time for our classes!" They rose from their seats and made there way through the large crowd of people blocking the doorway.
*~*~*~*
Potions class was very depressing. They had been mixing a rather difficult potion called the Potamier Potion, which would help increase one's seeing ability, when Neville melted another cauldron. The potion spilled all over the floor, drenching Neville in the acid green solution. To add insult to injury, he sprouted tiny little eyeballs all over his body making the Slytherins laugh horridly throughout class. Sakura watched on helplessly as Neville was ushered away to the Hospital Wing, taking with him detention and fifty points from Gryffindor. She was immensly relived to get out of that class and out into the fresh air. Herbology went by with nothing really exciting happening. Sakura and the others ran into Eriol on the castle grounds during the break.
"Hey, Eriol! How have you been?" Sakura asked cheerfully. Eriol gave her a small smile and replied.
"Nothing worth speaking of, I'm afraid. Although, I am looking forward to our Asian Magic class today," he said with a mysterious smile. Hermione eyed him.
"Oh, really? What sort of thing or person is getting you so worked up?" Eriol gave her a smile that sent a red flush over her cheeks.
"I wouldn't want to spoil the surprize, now would I?" Ron watched Hermione and Eriol talking. He suddenly felt a pang of jelousy. Why was he getting so much attention from Hermione?
"BONG! BONG!" The bell signaling the end of break was clanging loudly throughout the grounds.
"Guess that means we better get going. Our class is all the way up in the North Tower and it will take us some time to walk up there," Harry said. With that, they left to the castle, Hermione and Eriol chatting away about asian history. Ron shot Eriol a nasty look, unseen by anyone.
The classroom was in a loud and figgity mood. The Quidditch match was only a few short hours away!
"Ok class. Settle down. I know you guys are excited abou the Quidditch match this afternoon," Yukito said with a smile. "But I need to get through this one tiny talk before the hour is up." The class slowly quieted to a low lull as Nakuru stepped forward, book in hand.
"Today, we will be learning about one of the most powerful sorcerers ever. I am talking of course, about Clow Reed." Sakura shot her head up and stared at Nakuru with a somewhat horrified expression as she continued the lecture.
"Clow Reed made many important magical advances, but is most famous for the creation of what? Anyone?" Hermione's hand shot up, nearly smaking Ron in the face.
"The Clow Cards professor. Fifty two cards, each with outstanding power," she recited. Sakura shot Syaoran a worried look. He stared back at her with concern etched on his face.
"Outstanding. Five points to Gryffindor. Can anyone tell me why these cards are so unique?" To everyone's surprize, Hermione didn't raise her hand this time. Instead, Eriol slowly raised his hand in the air.
"They are a combination of Eastern and Western magic, quite uncommon back in those days," he said. Yuki smiled and stepped forward.
"Quite right. Five points to Ravenclaw! Today, we will be studying about the Clow Cards and their two guardians," Yuki said. He then went into a talk about the guardians who drew power from the sun and moon. Harry was facinated by the whole lecture. He started to imagine what the two guardians looked like when a familiar sound ran through the room.
"Oh, my!" Nakuru exclaimed. "Lost track of time! Study the notes you took today for a quiz on tuesday!" she said to the class' retreating backs.
"Good luck Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in the upcomming Quidditch match!!" Yuki added. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sakura, Syaoran and Eriol walked quickly down the stairs to their dormitories.
At the Entrance Hall, Eriol left to go to the Ravenclaw dormitory.
"See you guys at the game!" Eriol said as he assended a another staircase and walked through an archway to the right.
When they reached the Common Room, Harry, Syaoran and Sakura changed into their scarlet Quidditch robes and headed out to the grounds. Ron and Hermione wished them luck as they went down locker rooms where the rest of their team was waiting.
"Hiya Harry! Hope you didn't loose that wonderful skill after this immensly long break now!" Fred Weasley said with his arm slung over Harry's shoulders. George came up on the other side of Harry and slapped him on the back so hard that it knocked his glasses askew.
"Ha! As if skill such as his would leave him in his time of need! I think we have this game in the bag!" George said. Sakura smiled as Syaoran beckoned them to the field. Harry was a bit nervious. It HAD been a long time sence he had played in a Quidditch match. As the Gryffindor team walked out to the middle of the field, the croud erupted with a loud cheer.
"And here comes the Gryffindor team!!! We have two new additions this year, Mr. Syaoran Li who I hear is an excillent Keeper, and Miss Sakura Kinomoto! Our newest Chaser! Not a bad looker is she now..."
"JORDAN!!!"
"Sorry!" Lee Jordan, the Weasley twin's friend, was doing the announcing for this match under the watchful eye of Professor McGonagall.
Harry glanced up at the stands nerviously. He also stole peeks at Sakura and Syaoran, both of whom looked quite nautious.
"Harry!" He spun around to see Cho Chang waving at him. He felt his face burning up as he waved weakly back. "Good luck!"
"Yah...Good luck..."
"Mount your brooms please!" Madam Hooch commanded. Harry swung on to his Firebolt with a determined look on his face.
"On my whistle then!" She blew her silver whistle and the game had begun!
"Quaffle taken by Sakura! Wow! I've never seen such flying!-throws it to Katie Bell, narrowly missing a bludger sent her way by a Ravenclaw beater- Katie throws it to Alicia Spinnet - back to Sakura - zooms to the Ravenclaw posts and throws the Quaffle! - Keeper Finchley dives and.... GRYFFINDOR'S SCORE!!" There was a lot of cheering from Gryffindor supporters and lots of hissing and booing, mainly from the Slytherins. Harry sped past their goal posts to check up on Syaoran.
"How's it going, Syaoran?" he shouted.
"I'm BORED!" came Syaoran's tired reply. Harry laughed a bit as he gained a bit of altittude and becan to scan the area for the Snitch. He could see Cho below him, following his every move. That's when he got the feeling. Something was comming. He turned his head to face the Forbidden Forest, almost sure that a monster or something would come bursting out. He shook it off and continued to search for the Snitch.
"Ravenclaw in possession! Chaser Jimmy Tran headed for the Gryffindor goal posts - Katie closes in on Jimmy - she's going to take - no! Jimmy makes a Reverse Pass to fellow Chaser Angela Duffer! - Angela dives under Katie and heads for the goal posts! She throws it - come on Syaoran! Block! - YES! Excillent save by Keeper Syaoran!" Lee yelled. "Score is still ten to zero, Gryffindor lead." Harry cheered quietly as he continued his search for the Snitch. Down in the stands, Ron and Hermione were joined by Nakuru, Yuki and, to Ron's displeasure, Eriol. Eriol had Kero hidden in his cloak pocket while Nakuru held Suppi.
"Oh! Professor Tsukishiro! Professor Akizuki! Eriol! Hello!" Hermione said. They all smiled as Yuki put a pair of binoculars to his glasses.
"Harry is a very talented Seeker. So is that Ravenclaw girl, Cho Chang," Yuki said.
"Harry looks almost bored up there," Hermione said as she watched Harry through the binoculars.
"Sakura's quite a player!" Kero whispered quietly in Eriol's ear. He nodded in response. All of a sudden, he had an omminous feeling. He turned to the Forbidden Forest with a frown on his face.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Ron asked. Eriol turned to him and shook his head.
"It's nothing..." he mumbled. He turned his attention to the match, hoping that his gut feeling was wrong.
"OK!! Amazing game so far!! The score is forty to twenty, Gryffindor lead!!" Lee bellowed out to the esstatic crowd. "Gryffindor in possession! Quaffle taken by Sakura and she takes it to the Ravenclaw goal! Uh oh! Sakura better watch out!! Chasers Angela and Simon Birch of Ravenclaw seem to be closing in - Sakura seems to have spotted them, as she is pulling up - looks like Simon is about to get the Quaffle - Oh my god!! That was a spectacular Porskoff Ploy to fellow Gryffindor Chaser Katie Bell below!! Katie has the Quaffle and - wait a moment! Was that the Snitch??"
Katie had to swerve at a very sharp angle to avoid a small, shinny golden ball that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Harry's heart lept as he turned his broom to the Ravenclaw end at full speed. He finally saw it hovering around the goal posts. He glanced back and saw Cho was hot on his tail. Harry took a turn and pelted after the Snitch, twisting and turning to avoid the other players. The Snitch, trying it's best not to be captured, pulled up and began soaring high above the action of the game. Harry followed it - he was closing in, only a few feet away....
Suddenly, Harry and the rest of the Quidditch players on the field were knocked off their broomsticks by a sudden and very strong gust of wind. Harry had managed to grab a hold of his broomstick, but he was one of the only ones to do so. All the other players were falling to the ground.
"SAKURA!" Yuki and Eriol shouted. She was falling at a horribly fast speed. Sakura realized that she needed to use her magic, even if it was against Dumbldore's wishes, or else she was going to have an uncomfortable meeting with the floor.
"Release the Seal!!!" she shouted, her sealing wand comming out. "Fly!" Two gigantic wings burst from her back as she looked at the other players falling. Yuki and Kero transformed as well and started to fly about, catching players in mid air. Eriol nodded to Nakuru and Suppi who nodded back transforming into their true forms. They too began flying around and catching the falling players. Ron and Hermione watched, dumfounded, as their two professors did a strange transformation and started to fly! Harry too, watched them fly about while clinging for dear life on his broomstick.
"Wha...?"
Suddenly, Harry felt a horribly familiar feeling that sent chills up his spine. He turned his head forcibly to see the forest, but almost let go of his broom at the sight before him: hundreds of dementors came pouring out of the Forbidden Forest in a silent black flood. Even though they were far away, Harry and the rest of the school could feel their cold effect taking hold. He could hear his mother pleading in his ear, the cold penitrating his skin. He fought to stay awake as the dementors closed in. All of a sudden, he lost heart. His fingers began to slip as he closed his eyes, finally giving in to the intense screaming in his ear.
"HARRY!!" Sakura shouted. She watched through nearly closed eyes as he plummeted to the ground. She shook her head and dived down in an effort to break his fall. Fighting to keep her eyes open, she stretched her arms out and caught Harry. Sakura fought to pull both herself and Harry to safety, but as the dementors closed in, she lost all of her strength and they both fell to the floor. As a last effort to keep Harry safe, Sakura turned around so that she would break Harry's fall. Syaoran watched in horror from Kero's back as Harry and Sakura plumeted to the ground.
"SAKURA!!"
Sakura could feel herself falling, but didn't know where she was. It was like an endless sea of darkness had swallowed her up and was not willing to let go. The last thing she heard before she lost conciousness was someone screaming her name...
*~*~*~*
"Man, I thought they BOTH had it then..."
"Yah. Do you know who those two people with wings were? And those two beasts."
Sakura was greatly confused. 'Where the heak am I?' she asked herself. She opened her syes with difficulty; they felt as heavy as bricks.
"Sakura! You're awake!" Sakura turned her head and saw Syaoran bending over her. He looked like he hadn't slept in days; his eyes were pink and his face looked a bit dirty.
"S-Syaoran?" He nodded. She turned her head and stared at the numerous people around her bed. It took her a while before she realized that it was Eriol, Ron, Hermione and professors Yuki and Nakuru with Suppi sitting on her shoulder. Kero was sitting on her chest with a realived expression on his little face. His eyes started to water.
"OH SAKURA!!!!!" Kero said as he launched himself around Sakura's neck. "I thought you were a gonner!!!! *sob* I was so WORRIED!!!!!" Sakura stared down at him in shock.
"K-Kero!! I-I....What's going on?" she said. She was having a hard time stringing two words together, let alone know what they were talking about.
"You were knocked out from the dementors that came on to the field," Eriol explained. Sakura stared at him blankly.
"What? Owww.....What field? And what's a dementor?" Thinking made her head hurt.
"You don't remember?" asked Hermione. "Well, considering your fall, it's pretty extrordinary that you are even talking to us now. You remember the Quidditch match at all?" Sakura tried to piece together the little memories that shot about in her mind.
"Quidditch match...Against Ravenclaw...?" They all nodded. "I...I remember cold...and....HARRY!! Where's Harry?? What happened to him???" she demended. Ron answered her.
"He's fine. Luckly, you two weren't that far from the ground so you didn't recive major injuries. He's still knocked out though..." Ron's voice trailed off.
"Uggghhhh....My...head..." A groan from the bed next to her's told them that Harry had just awoken. Ron and Hermione rushed to his side.
"Oh my God! Harry! Are you ok?"
"Errr...If you can call hitting the ground at about 100 meteres per hour ok, than I'm just peachy," Harry said in a groggy voice. Everyone save Sakura laughed weakly.
"What happened? I remember closing in on the Snitch, and the next thing I know I'm here in the hospital wing." Ron took the liberty of explaining what had occured the day before.
"...and then a bunch of dememntors came out of the forest! You hung on your broom for a while, but you let go or something, cuz the next thing I knew, Sakura was flying down to save you!" Harry listened in silence. He turned to Sakura abruptly and asked her about it.
"How did you sprout wings? I didn't think you could do Switching Spells." He turned to the professors. "And what did you two do? Transfigure, or something? AND, what were those two beasts that appeared out of now where?" Sakura glanced from Syaoran's to Eriol's face and sighed.
"Dumbledore wanted to keep this a secret, but I guess it's no use hidding it anymore. You remember the Clow Cards we were discusing in Asian Magic class today? Well, I have the Clow Cards. Yuki is one of the guardians and so is Kero here," Sakura explained. Harry, Ron, Hermione stared at her blankly. Hermione broke the long silence.
"Wait. So, you're telling me that the powerful cards that Clow Reed himself created are in your possession? That our professor and some stuffed animal are the all powerful guardians of the cards??" Hermione practicly yelled.
"Hey! Watch who you're callin' a stuffed animal Missy!" Sakura shushed Kero and turned to Hermione.
"I guess it would be hard to believe, but it's true. I could show you them, if I had my robes. So, I guess I'll show you when I get outa here," Sakura said. When everyone was still giving her blank looks, she sighed and nodded to Kero. He nodded back and jumped off the bed and transformed. Hermione gasped and Ron jumped back in surprize.
"So it's true then... You do have the Clow Cards, or else the guardians wouldn't be here," Harry thought out loud. Ron suddenly spoke up.
"Wait. There are only two guardians of the Clow Cards, right? Than, who were those other two people?" Ron asked.
"I beleve I can answer that," Eriol said calmly. "You see, I am one of the reincarnations of Clow Reed himself. Therefore, I inherited some of his magical abilities. I created Nakuru and Suppi to be my guardians in the way that Kero and Yueh are Sakura's
guardians," he explained. There was silence of a moment.
"Really? Wow. That's kinda cool!" Ron said. "I never really heard anything like this before, but it's still cool!" Everyone laughed. Harry spoke up again after the laughter died out.
"That is kinda cool, but that still leaves one question un-answered. Why are you guys here?"
"Well..." Sakura glanced at Syaoran who nodded in reply. "Well, the truth is, Dumbledore was having suspicions about Lord Voldemort," Ron flinched at the sound of his name. "He invited us to come here, just in case Voldemort did try something. He thought our magic may be able to protect you Harry, seeing as you're the one he's after..." Her voice trailed off. Harry listened in silence. If Dumbledore was worried enough to the point where he summoned the keeper of the Clow Cards, than something must be happening. Something big...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
WAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!I am soooooooooooooooo sorry about the really long delay!!! Please forgive me!!! I hope that this extra long chapter packed with Quidditch action will make it up to you guys!!! I have just gotten really busy with my running practices cutting into my free time. Plus, I was almost forcing myself to drag myself to the computer. Anyway, sorry again. I couldn't really get out the emmotions I wanted to in that first scene with Hermione and Sakura. It was suposed to be like a female bonding moment, but it didn't turn out the way I planned. Oh well. Don't worry people!! Much more action to come in the next chapters!! This is where we really get to have some fun!!! I'm not sure what is going to happen n the next chapter... Havn't thought about it yet. Sorry! Well, hope to get the next chapter out to ya soon!!! Bai!!!
*~*Chapter 8: Secrets Revealed*~*
Harry, Sakura, Syaoran, and the rest of the Gryffindor team stumbled through the portrait hole covered in dryed mud. Syaoran, the new team captain, had called a practice on the night right before their match with Ravenclaw. Sakura glared bleary eyed at Syaoran.
"I really think you are going to kill me, Li Syaoran!" she exclaimed. He just turned his head as they climbed the stairs.
"Ah, you just need to shape up, Sakura! That was a great work out!!!" he said with a grin. Harry chuckled.
"You strongly remind me of our old captain. He was always trying to work us to death." They had reached the top of the stairs and parted into their seperate dormitories. Sakura said good night to Syaoran and Harry and followed Katie and Alicia to bed. She slumped into her feathery bed and pulled the covers over her head. Hermione was still up, at least Sakura assumed she was. Her curtains were closed, but there was still a faint light piercing the cloth. She shrugged and glanced over at her bedside table. There, lighted by the moon's soft beams, were pictures from home. Her eyes shifted from one picture to the next, each bringing back close memories. She saw a picture with her, Tomoyo, Meiling and Syaoran. Sakura smiled as she remembered the day Meiling left. Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. She opened them again and her eyes fell on picture that gave her heart a tug. She sat up in her bed and lifted the picture carefully.
Sakura stared at her mother's soft, loving eyes. Nadeshiko silently smiled warmly up at her daughter. Sakura embraced her mother's face with her thumb tenderly as her eyes became glassy.
"Sakura? Are you alright?" Sakura jumped and quickly rubed her eyes.
"Oh! Hermione! Did I wake you up?" Hermione got up and leaned over Sakura's shoulder. She shook her head in reply.
"Nope. I was up reading about the spanish wizard Professor Binns was talking about. Who's that?" she asked, pointing to the picture in Sakura's hands. Sakura blushed slightly.
"This.....this is my mom." Hermione's eyes lit up with intrest.
"Wow, she is very pretty. You see her often?" Sakura hesitated and lowered her head so that you couldn't see her eyes.
"She's....she's not here anymore..." Hermione's face fell as she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be nosey, but how old were you?"
"She died when I was three. I don't remember that much," Sakura replied. She glanced at Hermione. "I do still wonder what my life would have been like with her." Hermione stared back at her, deep concern in her eys.
"Do you miss her?" Sakura thought about this for a while, then smiled brightly.
"I guess I do. But I don't feel lonely at all. I have my father, my brother, and all of my friends!" Hermione smiled back at Sakura and yawned.
"Well, that's good. You better get to sleep now, you got a big game after school tomorrow!!" Sakura laughed slightly and said good night. She buried herself in the covers and slowly drifted to sleep, thanking God that she had such good friends.
*~*~*~*
Out in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, Lord Voldemort waited for Wormtail. A hair raising howl could be heard as Wormtail tripped into the clearing. Voldemort's cold, blazing red eyes focused on the poor man.
"Report Wormtail. Is everything ready for tomorrow?"
"Y-yes my Lord. Everything w-w-will be ready for tomorrow," Wormtail stammered. He figgeted un-comfortably as a growling noise issued out from the darkness, followed by a horrible crunching sound. Voldemort, however, was not affected by the horrible sounds of the forest.
"Than I trust that you will be able to get into position?" Voldemort inquried. Wormtail gulped.
"Y-yes, of course, Master..." Voldemort let an evil smile curl around his thin lips.
"Watch out Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort has come for you.''
*~*~*~*
"Sakura..."
A strange voice echoed in her mind. 'Who could that be?'
"Sakura..."
Sakura shifted beneath her covers.
"Leave me alone...I need my sleep!" That voice was getting quite annoying. *Poke* *Poke*
'Oh great! Now someone thinks it's funny to poke me in the back of the head!!' *Poke*
"Ouch!"
"SAKURA!" Sakura's eyes snapped open as Hermione through the covers off her. Sakura rubbed the back of her head and sat up slowly. She glanced at Hermione and saw that she was fully dressed in her black school robes.
"Whaaaat?"
"Class is starting in twenty minutes!!"
"WHAT???"
"Yah! So hurry up!!" Sakura dashed out of bed, mumbling japanese non-stop under her breath. She tore open her trunk and started flinging clothes in every direction. When she finally managed to get her robes on, she dashed down the staircase and ran right into Harry, Ron and Syaoran. Hermione walked calmly down the stairs and stiffled a laugh at the sight below.
Sakura was sprawled over all three of the boys, all of whom were still dased due to the impact. Sakura jumped up and apoligised, but started to yell at them for making her late.
"Late? For what?" Ron asked while picking himself off the floor.
"My classes!! I've only got ten minutes to get to class now!!!" she replied angrily. Syaoran ducked down behind Harry and Ron for a moment, reamerging with a very red face and a strained smile. Ron and Harry, however, were staring at Sakura in confusion. Ron checked his watch again.
"Classes?" he repeated. "But classes don't start for another hour!" Sakura stared at him with a weird expression.
"What?" she asked shortly. She spun around and glared at Hermione who was pointing to Syaoran.
"He made me do it! Don't blame me!!" she squealed. At this. Syaoran backed out of the room quietly.
"Oh no you don't!! You get back here!! You cost me valuable sleeping time!!" With that, she chased him around the room and out the portrait hole. The Fat Lady was having a fit.
"Little ruffiens! Just go ahead and barge right through me as though I was just a common door!" she shouted angrily to their retreating backs.
"Well, you are sort of a door..." Ron muttered. Harry and Hermione stiffled another fit of laughter. As soon as they were out of an earshot, they burst out laughing. They continued to laugh as they made their way to the Great Hall.
*~*~*~*
"Hey Ron. What's on the agenda for today?" Harry asked. Ron rumaged around for his schedule.
"Er...Hang on. Oh! Umm....Double Potions with Slytherins. Then we got Herbology. Break and only Asian Magic afer that. School ends early for the Quidditch match," Ron replied.
"We have Asian Magic today? Good. I need to ask one of the professors about yesterday's lecture..." Hermione said. Sakura sighed.
"I HATE potions. My mixtures always end up funny... Well, at least we can meet up with Eriol at break." Syaoran nodded while cutting up his pancake. "Eugh... That Malfoy kid keeps staring at me... It's kinda freaky..." Sakura said. Syaoran scowled and Harry tightened his grip on his fork. She didn't notice, but yawned loudly. A bell tolled loudly from the depths of the castle. Hermione looked up from her book.
"Well, guess that means that it's time for our classes!" They rose from their seats and made there way through the large crowd of people blocking the doorway.
*~*~*~*
Potions class was very depressing. They had been mixing a rather difficult potion called the Potamier Potion, which would help increase one's seeing ability, when Neville melted another cauldron. The potion spilled all over the floor, drenching Neville in the acid green solution. To add insult to injury, he sprouted tiny little eyeballs all over his body making the Slytherins laugh horridly throughout class. Sakura watched on helplessly as Neville was ushered away to the Hospital Wing, taking with him detention and fifty points from Gryffindor. She was immensly relived to get out of that class and out into the fresh air. Herbology went by with nothing really exciting happening. Sakura and the others ran into Eriol on the castle grounds during the break.
"Hey, Eriol! How have you been?" Sakura asked cheerfully. Eriol gave her a small smile and replied.
"Nothing worth speaking of, I'm afraid. Although, I am looking forward to our Asian Magic class today," he said with a mysterious smile. Hermione eyed him.
"Oh, really? What sort of thing or person is getting you so worked up?" Eriol gave her a smile that sent a red flush over her cheeks.
"I wouldn't want to spoil the surprize, now would I?" Ron watched Hermione and Eriol talking. He suddenly felt a pang of jelousy. Why was he getting so much attention from Hermione?
"BONG! BONG!" The bell signaling the end of break was clanging loudly throughout the grounds.
"Guess that means we better get going. Our class is all the way up in the North Tower and it will take us some time to walk up there," Harry said. With that, they left to the castle, Hermione and Eriol chatting away about asian history. Ron shot Eriol a nasty look, unseen by anyone.
The classroom was in a loud and figgity mood. The Quidditch match was only a few short hours away!
"Ok class. Settle down. I know you guys are excited abou the Quidditch match this afternoon," Yukito said with a smile. "But I need to get through this one tiny talk before the hour is up." The class slowly quieted to a low lull as Nakuru stepped forward, book in hand.
"Today, we will be learning about one of the most powerful sorcerers ever. I am talking of course, about Clow Reed." Sakura shot her head up and stared at Nakuru with a somewhat horrified expression as she continued the lecture.
"Clow Reed made many important magical advances, but is most famous for the creation of what? Anyone?" Hermione's hand shot up, nearly smaking Ron in the face.
"The Clow Cards professor. Fifty two cards, each with outstanding power," she recited. Sakura shot Syaoran a worried look. He stared back at her with concern etched on his face.
"Outstanding. Five points to Gryffindor. Can anyone tell me why these cards are so unique?" To everyone's surprize, Hermione didn't raise her hand this time. Instead, Eriol slowly raised his hand in the air.
"They are a combination of Eastern and Western magic, quite uncommon back in those days," he said. Yuki smiled and stepped forward.
"Quite right. Five points to Ravenclaw! Today, we will be studying about the Clow Cards and their two guardians," Yuki said. He then went into a talk about the guardians who drew power from the sun and moon. Harry was facinated by the whole lecture. He started to imagine what the two guardians looked like when a familiar sound ran through the room.
"Oh, my!" Nakuru exclaimed. "Lost track of time! Study the notes you took today for a quiz on tuesday!" she said to the class' retreating backs.
"Good luck Ravenclaw and Gryffindor in the upcomming Quidditch match!!" Yuki added. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sakura, Syaoran and Eriol walked quickly down the stairs to their dormitories.
At the Entrance Hall, Eriol left to go to the Ravenclaw dormitory.
"See you guys at the game!" Eriol said as he assended a another staircase and walked through an archway to the right.
When they reached the Common Room, Harry, Syaoran and Sakura changed into their scarlet Quidditch robes and headed out to the grounds. Ron and Hermione wished them luck as they went down locker rooms where the rest of their team was waiting.
"Hiya Harry! Hope you didn't loose that wonderful skill after this immensly long break now!" Fred Weasley said with his arm slung over Harry's shoulders. George came up on the other side of Harry and slapped him on the back so hard that it knocked his glasses askew.
"Ha! As if skill such as his would leave him in his time of need! I think we have this game in the bag!" George said. Sakura smiled as Syaoran beckoned them to the field. Harry was a bit nervious. It HAD been a long time sence he had played in a Quidditch match. As the Gryffindor team walked out to the middle of the field, the croud erupted with a loud cheer.
"And here comes the Gryffindor team!!! We have two new additions this year, Mr. Syaoran Li who I hear is an excillent Keeper, and Miss Sakura Kinomoto! Our newest Chaser! Not a bad looker is she now..."
"JORDAN!!!"
"Sorry!" Lee Jordan, the Weasley twin's friend, was doing the announcing for this match under the watchful eye of Professor McGonagall.
Harry glanced up at the stands nerviously. He also stole peeks at Sakura and Syaoran, both of whom looked quite nautious.
"Harry!" He spun around to see Cho Chang waving at him. He felt his face burning up as he waved weakly back. "Good luck!"
"Yah...Good luck..."
"Mount your brooms please!" Madam Hooch commanded. Harry swung on to his Firebolt with a determined look on his face.
"On my whistle then!" She blew her silver whistle and the game had begun!
"Quaffle taken by Sakura! Wow! I've never seen such flying!-throws it to Katie Bell, narrowly missing a bludger sent her way by a Ravenclaw beater- Katie throws it to Alicia Spinnet - back to Sakura - zooms to the Ravenclaw posts and throws the Quaffle! - Keeper Finchley dives and.... GRYFFINDOR'S SCORE!!" There was a lot of cheering from Gryffindor supporters and lots of hissing and booing, mainly from the Slytherins. Harry sped past their goal posts to check up on Syaoran.
"How's it going, Syaoran?" he shouted.
"I'm BORED!" came Syaoran's tired reply. Harry laughed a bit as he gained a bit of altittude and becan to scan the area for the Snitch. He could see Cho below him, following his every move. That's when he got the feeling. Something was comming. He turned his head to face the Forbidden Forest, almost sure that a monster or something would come bursting out. He shook it off and continued to search for the Snitch.
"Ravenclaw in possession! Chaser Jimmy Tran headed for the Gryffindor goal posts - Katie closes in on Jimmy - she's going to take - no! Jimmy makes a Reverse Pass to fellow Chaser Angela Duffer! - Angela dives under Katie and heads for the goal posts! She throws it - come on Syaoran! Block! - YES! Excillent save by Keeper Syaoran!" Lee yelled. "Score is still ten to zero, Gryffindor lead." Harry cheered quietly as he continued his search for the Snitch. Down in the stands, Ron and Hermione were joined by Nakuru, Yuki and, to Ron's displeasure, Eriol. Eriol had Kero hidden in his cloak pocket while Nakuru held Suppi.
"Oh! Professor Tsukishiro! Professor Akizuki! Eriol! Hello!" Hermione said. They all smiled as Yuki put a pair of binoculars to his glasses.
"Harry is a very talented Seeker. So is that Ravenclaw girl, Cho Chang," Yuki said.
"Harry looks almost bored up there," Hermione said as she watched Harry through the binoculars.
"Sakura's quite a player!" Kero whispered quietly in Eriol's ear. He nodded in response. All of a sudden, he had an omminous feeling. He turned to the Forbidden Forest with a frown on his face.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Ron asked. Eriol turned to him and shook his head.
"It's nothing..." he mumbled. He turned his attention to the match, hoping that his gut feeling was wrong.
"OK!! Amazing game so far!! The score is forty to twenty, Gryffindor lead!!" Lee bellowed out to the esstatic crowd. "Gryffindor in possession! Quaffle taken by Sakura and she takes it to the Ravenclaw goal! Uh oh! Sakura better watch out!! Chasers Angela and Simon Birch of Ravenclaw seem to be closing in - Sakura seems to have spotted them, as she is pulling up - looks like Simon is about to get the Quaffle - Oh my god!! That was a spectacular Porskoff Ploy to fellow Gryffindor Chaser Katie Bell below!! Katie has the Quaffle and - wait a moment! Was that the Snitch??"
Katie had to swerve at a very sharp angle to avoid a small, shinny golden ball that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Harry's heart lept as he turned his broom to the Ravenclaw end at full speed. He finally saw it hovering around the goal posts. He glanced back and saw Cho was hot on his tail. Harry took a turn and pelted after the Snitch, twisting and turning to avoid the other players. The Snitch, trying it's best not to be captured, pulled up and began soaring high above the action of the game. Harry followed it - he was closing in, only a few feet away....
Suddenly, Harry and the rest of the Quidditch players on the field were knocked off their broomsticks by a sudden and very strong gust of wind. Harry had managed to grab a hold of his broomstick, but he was one of the only ones to do so. All the other players were falling to the ground.
"SAKURA!" Yuki and Eriol shouted. She was falling at a horribly fast speed. Sakura realized that she needed to use her magic, even if it was against Dumbldore's wishes, or else she was going to have an uncomfortable meeting with the floor.
"Release the Seal!!!" she shouted, her sealing wand comming out. "Fly!" Two gigantic wings burst from her back as she looked at the other players falling. Yuki and Kero transformed as well and started to fly about, catching players in mid air. Eriol nodded to Nakuru and Suppi who nodded back transforming into their true forms. They too began flying around and catching the falling players. Ron and Hermione watched, dumfounded, as their two professors did a strange transformation and started to fly! Harry too, watched them fly about while clinging for dear life on his broomstick.
"Wha...?"
Suddenly, Harry felt a horribly familiar feeling that sent chills up his spine. He turned his head forcibly to see the forest, but almost let go of his broom at the sight before him: hundreds of dementors came pouring out of the Forbidden Forest in a silent black flood. Even though they were far away, Harry and the rest of the school could feel their cold effect taking hold. He could hear his mother pleading in his ear, the cold penitrating his skin. He fought to stay awake as the dementors closed in. All of a sudden, he lost heart. His fingers began to slip as he closed his eyes, finally giving in to the intense screaming in his ear.
"HARRY!!" Sakura shouted. She watched through nearly closed eyes as he plummeted to the ground. She shook her head and dived down in an effort to break his fall. Fighting to keep her eyes open, she stretched her arms out and caught Harry. Sakura fought to pull both herself and Harry to safety, but as the dementors closed in, she lost all of her strength and they both fell to the floor. As a last effort to keep Harry safe, Sakura turned around so that she would break Harry's fall. Syaoran watched in horror from Kero's back as Harry and Sakura plumeted to the ground.
"SAKURA!!"
Sakura could feel herself falling, but didn't know where she was. It was like an endless sea of darkness had swallowed her up and was not willing to let go. The last thing she heard before she lost conciousness was someone screaming her name...
*~*~*~*
"Man, I thought they BOTH had it then..."
"Yah. Do you know who those two people with wings were? And those two beasts."
Sakura was greatly confused. 'Where the heak am I?' she asked herself. She opened her syes with difficulty; they felt as heavy as bricks.
"Sakura! You're awake!" Sakura turned her head and saw Syaoran bending over her. He looked like he hadn't slept in days; his eyes were pink and his face looked a bit dirty.
"S-Syaoran?" He nodded. She turned her head and stared at the numerous people around her bed. It took her a while before she realized that it was Eriol, Ron, Hermione and professors Yuki and Nakuru with Suppi sitting on her shoulder. Kero was sitting on her chest with a realived expression on his little face. His eyes started to water.
"OH SAKURA!!!!!" Kero said as he launched himself around Sakura's neck. "I thought you were a gonner!!!! *sob* I was so WORRIED!!!!!" Sakura stared down at him in shock.
"K-Kero!! I-I....What's going on?" she said. She was having a hard time stringing two words together, let alone know what they were talking about.
"You were knocked out from the dementors that came on to the field," Eriol explained. Sakura stared at him blankly.
"What? Owww.....What field? And what's a dementor?" Thinking made her head hurt.
"You don't remember?" asked Hermione. "Well, considering your fall, it's pretty extrordinary that you are even talking to us now. You remember the Quidditch match at all?" Sakura tried to piece together the little memories that shot about in her mind.
"Quidditch match...Against Ravenclaw...?" They all nodded. "I...I remember cold...and....HARRY!! Where's Harry?? What happened to him???" she demended. Ron answered her.
"He's fine. Luckly, you two weren't that far from the ground so you didn't recive major injuries. He's still knocked out though..." Ron's voice trailed off.
"Uggghhhh....My...head..." A groan from the bed next to her's told them that Harry had just awoken. Ron and Hermione rushed to his side.
"Oh my God! Harry! Are you ok?"
"Errr...If you can call hitting the ground at about 100 meteres per hour ok, than I'm just peachy," Harry said in a groggy voice. Everyone save Sakura laughed weakly.
"What happened? I remember closing in on the Snitch, and the next thing I know I'm here in the hospital wing." Ron took the liberty of explaining what had occured the day before.
"...and then a bunch of dememntors came out of the forest! You hung on your broom for a while, but you let go or something, cuz the next thing I knew, Sakura was flying down to save you!" Harry listened in silence. He turned to Sakura abruptly and asked her about it.
"How did you sprout wings? I didn't think you could do Switching Spells." He turned to the professors. "And what did you two do? Transfigure, or something? AND, what were those two beasts that appeared out of now where?" Sakura glanced from Syaoran's to Eriol's face and sighed.
"Dumbledore wanted to keep this a secret, but I guess it's no use hidding it anymore. You remember the Clow Cards we were discusing in Asian Magic class today? Well, I have the Clow Cards. Yuki is one of the guardians and so is Kero here," Sakura explained. Harry, Ron, Hermione stared at her blankly. Hermione broke the long silence.
"Wait. So, you're telling me that the powerful cards that Clow Reed himself created are in your possession? That our professor and some stuffed animal are the all powerful guardians of the cards??" Hermione practicly yelled.
"Hey! Watch who you're callin' a stuffed animal Missy!" Sakura shushed Kero and turned to Hermione.
"I guess it would be hard to believe, but it's true. I could show you them, if I had my robes. So, I guess I'll show you when I get outa here," Sakura said. When everyone was still giving her blank looks, she sighed and nodded to Kero. He nodded back and jumped off the bed and transformed. Hermione gasped and Ron jumped back in surprize.
"So it's true then... You do have the Clow Cards, or else the guardians wouldn't be here," Harry thought out loud. Ron suddenly spoke up.
"Wait. There are only two guardians of the Clow Cards, right? Than, who were those other two people?" Ron asked.
"I beleve I can answer that," Eriol said calmly. "You see, I am one of the reincarnations of Clow Reed himself. Therefore, I inherited some of his magical abilities. I created Nakuru and Suppi to be my guardians in the way that Kero and Yueh are Sakura's
guardians," he explained. There was silence of a moment.
"Really? Wow. That's kinda cool!" Ron said. "I never really heard anything like this before, but it's still cool!" Everyone laughed. Harry spoke up again after the laughter died out.
"That is kinda cool, but that still leaves one question un-answered. Why are you guys here?"
"Well..." Sakura glanced at Syaoran who nodded in reply. "Well, the truth is, Dumbledore was having suspicions about Lord Voldemort," Ron flinched at the sound of his name. "He invited us to come here, just in case Voldemort did try something. He thought our magic may be able to protect you Harry, seeing as you're the one he's after..." Her voice trailed off. Harry listened in silence. If Dumbledore was worried enough to the point where he summoned the keeper of the Clow Cards, than something must be happening. Something big...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
WAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!I am soooooooooooooooo sorry about the really long delay!!! Please forgive me!!! I hope that this extra long chapter packed with Quidditch action will make it up to you guys!!! I have just gotten really busy with my running practices cutting into my free time. Plus, I was almost forcing myself to drag myself to the computer. Anyway, sorry again. I couldn't really get out the emmotions I wanted to in that first scene with Hermione and Sakura. It was suposed to be like a female bonding moment, but it didn't turn out the way I planned. Oh well. Don't worry people!! Much more action to come in the next chapters!! This is where we really get to have some fun!!! I'm not sure what is going to happen n the next chapter... Havn't thought about it yet. Sorry! Well, hope to get the next chapter out to ya soon!!! Bai!!!