Hey! I bet you thought you were never going to hear from me again. Anyway, finally got a chance to write a bit more (I got bored at a friend's house). My imouto-chan is my beta reader for this chapter, so I blame her for everything ~_^.
I get to leave for college a week from today, and I'm really excited. This means my posting of more chapters will probably still come at the regular intervals of irregularity. I know, I've really mastered the English language, haven't I?
Anyway, I still don't any of this, but who knows? Maybe I'll end up coming up with my own masterpiece in the future.
I treasure reviews, and feel free to drop a line and tell me what you think, or what you think I should do with this story, or even what you think I'm doing with it. I love pairing ideas because I'm still playing around with most of them.
Anyway, I think that's all I really have to say.
It didn't take the girls very long to get used to the whole Hogwarts system, and they soon felt as though they had attended the school for the past few years just like everyone else in their grades.
Usagi appeared to have a natural aptitude for learning the different subjects at Hogwarts, and could do just about everything. Arithmancy wasn't her strength, for certain. Ami loved Arithmancy and Potions, despite the attitude of Snape. Divination was her weakness. Rei and Hotaru, on the other hand, were constantly out performing Trelawney. Little love was lost when all three were in the same room. Herbology was a whole new world Makoto was absolutely enamored with. And with her background in cooking, Potions became a breeze. Minako out shone everyone in the school, including Usagi, in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had fought evil for the longest of the group, excluding Setsuna, naturally.
Every day, it seemed as though Usagi was acting more and more like the Princess, and to a point that worried the others. Was Crystal Tokyo that soon to come? There were a few times that Rei contemplated discussing it with Setsuna, but she didn't appear near as concerned as they did. Not only that, but she was rather difficult to reach. Sometimes Rei thought she might be purposely ignoring and avoiding them.
In fact, Rei was almost positive Setsuna knew exactly what was going on. Regardless, it did not seem as though she was ready to share, which meant Rei could only keep watch over the princess. Rei was not completely in the dark about the recent going ons of the Wizarding world so she knew things were going to be bleak, but that aside, there was an evil feel in the air. She had no doubts something bad was going on, possibly deep in the heart of Hogwarts. It was a whole new breed of evil they never faced before, but there was something familiar about it. And it terrified her.
With a sigh she got out of bed and stretched. It was about time for breakfast down at the Great Hall. She was a notoriously early riser and she knew if she did not get there soon Usagi and the others would come up with some ludicrous reason and annoy her about it for eternity. She loved them like they were family, but with that stereotype came the annoying sisterly attitude at times.
Most of the other Slytherin girls were already on their way down, so Rei hurried to catch up with them. The past few days were somewhat tiring for Rei. The Slytherins did not care too much for her, and made her life miserable. Some of them were not too bad, like Blaise Zabini, but she thought most of the rest should have been strangled in their cribs. It would certainly make the world a better place.
Sometimes it seemed as though Draco and Pansy and their respective goons were doing their best to make her as miserable as possible. They were succeeding. The only thing that kept Rei there was Usagi. The only thing that kept Rei sane was Ami.
Minako fit right in with the Hufflepuffs, and enjoyed their company immensely. While perhaps they were a little on the wimpy side, their hearts were on the right side.
Naturally Ami was too busy studying when she was not with the rest of the senshi to get to know others in her house very well, but what she saw of them in class led her to believe they were quite kind and intelligent.
Usagi, Hotaru, and Makoto were right at home with the Gryffindors, an equally boisterous group. They picked up quickly that they used any excuse as a reason to party. And that meant food to Usagi, which was an instant win.
Everyone took to them quite well, except for the Slytherins who were happy to insult them at every opportunity. They picked up quickly on what the Wizarding world considered to be an insult, figuring anything the Slytherins told them would be just that. They were not too far off on that account.
Rei sighed and slumped down in her chair. Really! What did she do to deserve the Slytherin's twenty-four-seven? She sent out a silent prayer to Mars for a little bit of peace before eyeing her breakfast warily. Malfoy and his friends found a new game called "charm the Mudblood's food" they enjoyed participating in whenever she might be around, and that left for some interesting experiences. Like when her face was suddenly covered with neon pink and green polka dots. They found it ever so amusing, but she really could not find the humor in the situation. Maybe they wouldn't do it today. Maybe pigs would fly.
"Go on, Mudblood. Take a bite. You need to get all your nourishment for the upcoming day. What, with that imbecile Hagrid who's back now." Malfoy's face took on a scowl. While Firenze was not number one on his list of ideal professors, he was certainly an improvement over the half-giant Hagrid.
Rei rolled her eyes, picked up her plate, and walked to the Ravenclaw table, planting herself right across from Ami, and jarring her away from the book she was reading.
"Remind me why I'm here again?"
With her book now protectively in her lap, Ami smiled forlornly. "You are here to protect the princess, and, according to Setsuna, learn more about ourselves. Although I must admit telling us we're witches was the last thing I expected to hear."
Rei brushed her hair out of her face. "Do you get the feeling that the whole witch thing is just the very beginning? I think we might be way over our heads in this. Like that Voldemort guy. I have this hunch that we might have to deal with him. In fact, it's quite strange, but the name sounds so familiar to me." She frowned, thoughtfully nibbling on a strand of hair she had not been able to place behind her ear.
She stared at the food on her plate, and proceeded to poke it a bit. "You wouldn't happen to know any spells to check if something's charmed, would you?"
A shadow fell upon the table, and Rei and Ami looked up from their corner of the table to confront the angry eyes of Draco Malfoy. "So, Hino, you think you can just skip out on a conversation with me? What kind of manners are they teaching the Mudbloods these days?"
Rei's eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth to retort when Ami sent her a warning look. "For your information, you are acting like a five-year-old! Even Usagi-chan outgrew name-calling!" She added as an afterthought, catching sight of the familiar odango shadow joining Malfoy's.
"You're so mean to me, Rei!" Feigning distress, Usagi plopped down on the ground and began her usual wailing. Obviously they should not be asking too much of her yet.
Malfoy paled at the display and tried to hurry away, but Usagi, somehow sensing this, grabbed onto his leg and held on for dear life.
"You can't go, Cousin! You have to stand up for me!" Fake tears coursed down her face and she sniffled and blew her nose on his robe.
Ami and Rei shared horrified looks. What was she talking about? Did she have some memory of the Silver Millennium? If so, she was about to expose them all to what seemed to be the enemy.
"That is so disgusting, Tsukino! No relative of mine would do that!" He desperately tried to shake her off his leg. When that did not work, he attempted to leave the Great Hall, with Usagi still attached.
"Deny it all you want, but we're family!" Usagi exclaimed brightly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but your mother was Aino Hikari, right?"
Draco paused from his frantic movements to leave to look at her with distrust. "And if she was?"
"She's a sister to my mother! Aino Ikuko! Well, Tsukino Ikuko now. It all sort of fit when Minako was telling us our life story. And then I had a few other clues . . . but we won't go into that now."
His eyes ice cold, he focused more on her. "And so you know all this how?"
Guiltily, Usagi examined the floor intently. "I kinda knew kaa-san wasn't an only child, so I did a little investigating and found out the whole story, but it never registered to be the other half of Minako-chan's story until I was lying awake last night thinking about it. I meant to tell Minako-chan first, but I saw you picking on Rei-chan and decided to tell you instead!" She chirped. "See, I don't know if your mother told you, but she was disowned from her parent's because she married your father. It made her sad and stuff, so she might not have told you all much about it. Or that's what I figure anyway, based on how little Minako knew."
Draco's mind was spinning. Technically, it all made sense, he supposed, and certainly explained quite a bit for that matter, but he was going to do a lot more research before he accepted that as truth. Especially if it was Tsukino who told him. There was something about her that he knew he should hate. But he could not. Every time she did something that if other people did, he would open his mouth to tell her off, he was unable to say it. Maybe it was her eyes? He did not think it was possible for eyes to fill with tears near as fast as hers did.
"I have an idea!" Usagi released her tight hold, and Draco was pleased to finally feel blood circulating through his leg. "Why don't you meet us at the Astronomy Tower tonight at about . . . nine . . . and I can explain everything I know then. Maybe you'll decide we're not such bad company to have."
He looked into her eyes intently, searching for ill intent. Already they were completely dry and it would have been impossible to tell she had been crying only moments before. Finally, he nodded. "All right. I'll be there. But no funny stuff."
Usagi smiled widely and bounced back toward the Ravenclaw table, calling over her shoulder. "Am I you?"
Okay, so he knew he should have been insulted, but for some reason he could not make himself. Why was she so disgustingly adorable? He snickered when an idea occurred to him. A face off between Voldemort and Usagi. She would have him eating out of her hand.
Noting the strange expressions he was receiving from others in the Great Hall, he straightened his robe, smoothed his hair, stuck his nose in the air, and left quickly.
With the large grin still on her face, Usagi sat down beside Rei. "You know, you should thank me, Rei-chan! I got rid of Malfoy for you!"
Rei's jaw fell open and Ami was quick to intervene. "Usagi-chan, maybe you should watch what you say to people around here. We don't know what they know about who we are."
For the second time, Rei almost exploded. "What were you thinking? You could have completely blown our covers!"
"Not that we need them," she added quickly, sweat-dropping.
Usagi looked at them both confusedly. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Her eyes widened. "Oh, wait! You thought that related to the other thing! No, no, no! It was something I only remembered last night after Minako told us a bit about her past. It's like it unlocked some sort of memory or something. Strange, isn't it?" She laughed at herself. "Well, now, nothing should really be that strange anymore, should it?" Although she said it happily, Rei picked up on the hidden sadness behind her light-hearted words.
"You had us worried there, for a minute," Ami said, visibly relaxing back onto the bench.
Usagi's eyes took on a wizened look, one that Ami and Rei noticed more and more. It was the number one indication of the princess attitude coming on. "Four years ago, none of the hidden intricacies would have ever occurred to me."
Intricacies? Rei mouthed. Now she felt old. Pretty soon they would be ruling the world, and that scared her. In fact, she never really thought about it before now. Or maybe it was just the idea of Usagi ruling the world, but she doubted it. And on that note . . .
"Why are you up so early, Usagi-chan? This is unlike you." Rei asked, the absurdity of the situation finally occurring. They still had about another half hour of which breakfast was served, and the way Usagi ate, she could come down right at the end, no problems with time.
Usagi crinkled her nose at the memory. "There is a bunch of seventh year Gryffindors, and it seems they're all early risers. And loud. I couldn't even sleep through them, believe me I tried."
"Well, this could be good for you, Usagi-chan! Maybe if they do it enough, you'll learn to wake up early and thus be on time to class!"
Usagi squinted her eyes and looked at Ami speculatively. "It's wonderful you can be so pleased about this, Ami-chan."
"She can just count her chickens before they hatch!"
The table collectively face-vaulted. "I think the proverb you were looking for, Minako-chan, relates to the silver lining of a cloud."
Minako pouted. "I don't think I'm ever going to get the hang of these things!"
"Come now, Minako-chan," a familiar voice joined the group. "If Usagi-chan can do it, I'm sure you can too."
"Mako-chan!" Usagi protested. "I find that unfair! I can also cook! A little. Okay, curry. But it's good curry! I don't think Minako-chan can do that either!"
"I don't see how that helped your argument at all, Usagi-chan," Hotaru said, dropping down onto the bench next to Ami and grabbing a biscuit. "I'm glad they don't care where we sit during breakfast."
"Everyone's here! Finally!" Usagi's eyes brightened. "Minako-chan!" She squealed. "I have the greatest news! Last night, I had this dream, actually it was more like unlocked memories, that told me more about the story you told us on the first day of school here! I think we're cousins!"
"Honto?' Minako exclaimed. "But kaa-san never mentioned her family to us!"
Usagi smiled. "That's because she was disowned from her family, remember? I get the feeling that our Grandparents manipulated her memories - since they're witches and wizards too - so she couldn't talk about the family and you all would remain apart from us. I knew kaa-san had a sister, but she never talked about her to I did some investigating about it and found out once, but for some reason I completely forgot about it. Isn't it amazing?"
"Not just amazing, but down right ironic, if you ask me. Did you get that memory of us from the Moon Kingdom yet? We were cousins then too!"
On a parting note, please no one review and tell me Draco's mother is Narcissa. I know, but in MY fic it's his stepmother. Ok, I'm done now. Please review!