Another Redemption
Ephirel
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, anyone not in HP or SM is mine.
Okay, this is my first Sailormoon crossover fic, so... ::wags finger:: be nice! *lol*
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Many say that the castle manor situated a mile away from Hogsmeade was haunted, that it was a derelict left since the last holy war; one that turned the other planets into a barren wasteland. Nonetheless, despite its being without a master, the castle remained impeccably tidy, its crystal and marble walls still gleamed against the morning sun, enveloping the entire place with an ethereal glow, with all sorts of flowers blooming in its vicinity throughout the four seasons.
However, no one was able to apparate through the silver gates that were the entrance to the castle. It was as if there was an anti-apparation spell in place, forbidding anyone to enter the beautiful place - the reason why people say that it was haunted. After all, no one ward could possibly be in place for as long as perhaps three millenia, and not break down.
This was also why seeing so many people coming out of the isolated castle brought much shock to the families living in the manors nearby. Indeed, Usagi and the others had once again come back to reside in this ancient summer chateau of the Lunarian Royal Family, hoping that it would be restored to its original liveliness through their presence and laughter
As wished, the serene palace was filled once more, with life, as the inners laze around by the pool, playing in the cool water whilst Ami and Mamoru could be seen strolling along the ice rose gardens - a mystical garden based upon the Lunarian Castle situated on the moon. Setsuna, more often that not, was seen out of the castle, leaving the outers in the music room with Usagi, occassionally playing a quartet of strings and the piano. If not, they would be mingling with the inners, playing either basketball or volleyball, or be engaged in wandless mock duels to retrain themselves of what they had forgotten.
The past fortnight had been the most relaxing that the senshi had had since a long time ago, and everyone wished for it to continue on... which was why all had groaned when Setsuna announced for their departure to Diagon Alley to buy their school materials...
"Must we go today?" Minako asked, disappointed that their beach volleyball match would have to be delayed. Yesterday, they had just managed to charm a beach illusion within the dense forestation surrounding the back of the castle, and had agreed upon playing a game of volleyball there today. Looks like it'll have to wait again...
"I'm afraid so." Setsuna replied calmly, sipping her earl gray delicately as the others continued on with their breakfast, "School will be starting very soon, and Endymion and I will have to go settle the timetables."
"Mamoru?" Ami intoned, puzzled as to why he had to go to Hogwarts too. The black-haired man just smiled, "I'm taking over Vector's job."
"Vector?" Michiru frowned, not having heard of this person's name before.
"Professor Vector, Arithmancy teacher of Hogwarts." Usagi replied, wiping her mouth elegantly as the others stared at her in surprise. Noticing their looks, the blonde smiled, teasing, "Any problem with that?"
As if hypnotized, almost all of them, including Luna and Artemis shook their heads. Setsuna just chuckled at their dumb expressions, knowing that the changes within her princess was something that wasn't easy to digest, especially for the inners since they've been around Usagi for more years than the outers. Furthermore, despite the revival of their memories, it still took time for them to remember everything, and only Usagi had the drastic change due to the unsealing of her inner abilities.
"How do you know?" Minako asked in a dazed manner, remembering suddenly that Serenity had the ability to hypnotize people without even wanting to.
"Astral projection." Came the direct reply.
"And I thought Rei's ability to communicate with birds is scary." The Venusian princess shuddered, earning a death glare from the fire priestess whilst the others chuckled heartily.
"At least it's better than your control of human emotions, Princess Venus." Rei countered sarcastically, throwing a bun at the blonde, who caught it easily, taking a bit out of the sugar roll. Ami just sighed at their bicker, secretly glancing over to Usagi, who looked amused by their chatter. The formerly klutzy leader of the senshi had changed alot, resuming her previously graceful form. One, that seemed virtually unfazed by anything. True, she still retained her cheerful appearance, but at the same time, she had matured, exuding the serene demeanor her mother held in the Silver Millenium.
"Rei, Minako. Enough." Usagi finally commanded, setting the soup spoon delicately on the table, "We'll go at eleven."
Everyone turned to look at the clock and gasped, "That's in an hour's time!"
"Indeed." Usagi echoed in amusement. Getting out of her seat, the blonde princess asked, "Anything else, Setsuna?"
"Please remember to wear robes to the Alley. Other than that, there should be nothing else, your highness." The emerald-haired guardian replied, bowing slightly. Her liege nodded with a smile, and went out of the dining room, leaving the senshi deep in thought.
"She has grown up, hasn't she?" Rei started. The inners agreed silently, but Hotaru voiced out in indignation, "It's not that. Usa-chan has just reverted back to the form of Serenity." Her words held truth, and everyone could do nothing but nod their heads. After all, during the Silver Millenium, Saturn had been the closest to Serenity, as both care for one man very much.
"Princess will resume her usual self soon, once she sees his highnesses." Setsuna started quietly, raising her hand as the servants came in to clear the dishes. Michiru continued sipping her honeyed tea, commenting lightly, "I don't think Raine and Tranquilty are enough." Eyeing Mamoru, she continued, "She needs him."
"I agree." The terran prince replied, "The problem is, Demitrius doesn't even remember us."
"He will." The time guardian replied with conviction, "soon."
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Despite the threat of Voldemort still looming overhead, Diagon Alley was still full of life, its streets filled with bustling people, and of children laughing and joking around. Amongst the shoppers, a group of people immediately caught the attention of everyone present. These beautiful ladies and gentlemen were all dressed in different colored robes, all of which were, should anyone be familiar with textiles, made of cloths no longer found on Earth. These robes were made of Mercurian silk and velvet, one, when made into clothes, have a distinct characteristic of gradated colors. Then, with the weaving of mythical creatures in the robes, all the animals have turned alive, moving about in the robe, thus providing a visual form of entertainment to the wearer.
Moreover, the entire group were speaking in fluent Latin, their different accents melding to form a harmonious chatter.
"They're staring again." Ami murmured quietly, one hand hooked in her affianced's arm. Mamoru just smiled, not answering her comment for it was evident to them both that this occurence cannot be held. Not surprising, all of them preferred using Latin for the language hasn't changed as much as English, and since Lunaria would give their identities away, they all agreed that Latin would be used until they're used to English once more.
Walking in pairs, Usagi and Setsuna were in front of the group, conversing quietly.
"I can feel the remnants of Naoko, Tranq and Demi's aura, but Raine's presence seems missing..." Usagi was frowning slightly, worried about her first twin. As the heir of Silendial, more than half of Raine's life had been to study for the ruling of their father's planet. He had been isolated from Tranquility and her, resulting in their seldomly seeing one another. However, this also incited much worry from Serenity - worry that Raine would not be able to open up to them. This was also the reason why she mothered him so much.
"You seem to forget that he's the master of darkness, after your father, princess." Setsuna reminded with a smile, "He covers up his tracks and aura as easily as he breathes."
"But why must he do that? And Pluto, I miss your calling me Usa."
"Well, Usa-chan," the time guardian replied in compliance to her liege's plea, "Those are things he'll have to tell you himself."
The Lunarian princess turned silent for a while, comtemplating what might have caused him to hide matters from her - he only did this when she was pissed with him, or when he did something which would anger her and up till now, she could only gues one thing he'd done which would cause her to be displeased. Finally, as they neared Gringotts, the blonde princess asked, "What are their names?"
"All of them retained their middle names, Usa." Setsuna smiled, opening the door into the Wizarding bank.
Unlike people who first came into the Wizarding bank, all ten of us remained unfazed by the magnificence of the bank. Setsuna, being the oldest of them all, went over to the goblin at the front table, "I would like to see the current head of Gringotts."
The goblin's eyes widened at the ancient language that was never spoken since three thousand years ago.
"Y-you, you are...?" The goblin spluttered, arousing the curiosity of others present in the bank. Setsuna, ignoring the crowd of people, just continued in the same language, "I need not speak of whom I am. Just call your superior now."
Feeling inexplicable silence around them, Usagi sighed, but flashed a smile at the golbin, "We need to enter vaults 001, 004, and 006 to 014, excluding 010." The gentle aura she extended comforted the goblin very much, and almost immediately, the goblin rang for his superior, who turned out to be a similar goblin, only with a gold pin on his shirt pocket.
"You wanted to enter the first 15 vaults?" The goblin asked cautiously in Lunarian, inwardly trembling in excitement at the thought of entering the forbidden vaults.
"Indeed, it's been far too long." Mamoru took over in the same language, knowing that the time guardian was not in the mood to talk. Not surprising, the next few weeks was going to be hell for her, and that was before the realization of what had happened to Raine. Not surprising, Setsuna was going to have a hard time cooling Serenity down once she finds out.
Recognizing the man as the prince of Earth from a large portrait hung in the head office, the goblin hurriedly bowed, "Your highness."
Mamoru, albeit surprised at his words, waved it off, and the goblin continued, "I'm Wigdel. Please, come with me."
And with that, the head of the goblins ushered the group towards another entrance never used before. It was a golden gate-like entrance, the runic - in Plutonian - engravings glowing eerily despite the brightness of the room. Behind it, through the slits, one could only see darkness, a sort that had people shuddering as they pass by. Also, unlike the regular doors, Wigdel had to mumble a password of sorts - before the gate opened, revealing a space-like milieu.
"Your highnesses." Wigdel bowed low, signalling the royals to enter into the darkness. By now, all of the goblins have stopped their work to look at the group standing at the forbidden entrance, excited to see where that door led to. The people whom the goblins were serving were also looking the group, curious as to why all the goblins - who are seldom this surprised - all had their eyes on that group.
The senshi, however, were all gazing into the seemingly endless vortex, the majority looking surprised by the idea that someone had using the vortex as an entrance. Ingenious, that person was. Setsuna, understanding their awe, replied lightly, "Raine designed this with Tranquility and Demitrius. Those three boys just love tampering with space."
Usagi smiled fondly at that. It was true that the three of them enjoyed doing this, and true, the idea had been the baby of the trio for several months before they actually proposed it to their mother. Of course, Queen Selenity had been impressed by their works, and made Gringotts the guardian of their personal vaults.
Shaking out of her reverie earlier than the others, the golden princess stepped into the darkness, and immediately, the vortex dissipated to form a magnificent hallway, paved in crystals, with orbs of soft light floating above them. Seeing the change in the vortex made all the senshi move in once more, and when all of them entered into the hallway, the gate closed, leaving a whole lot of dumbfounded people in Gringotts.
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Inside the portal-like vortex, the senshi passed through the hallway - which was actually a rather short one - and stopped as they entered an open place, the waves sending water to soak the sandy beach in front of them. A boat... no, ship was docked there, its white sails billowing against an unknown wind. Wigdel gaped at the massive ship in shock, as well as the ocean-like mass of water in front of them... it seemed endless.
Nonetheless, all of the senshi, having remembered this part of the route, just stepped into the ship with Wigdel in tow, and the ship took off on its own. Instead of sitting in the cabins, all of them had taken seats outside on the deck, with Haruka and Usagi standing near the safety rails, enjoying the wind blowing against their cheek.
"You seem to have something to say." Usagi finally started when they were almost nearing... them. Haruka looked amused by her bluntness, but replied, "Koneko, you seem to have become very quiet since entering Diagon Alley. What happened to those three?"
It was obvious who Haruka had been referring to, and given how close the sandy-haired senshi was to the trio, Usagi answered honestly, "I can't help but feel that Raine did something..."
"That would displease you?" Haruka finished for her before laughing, "Princess, Raine always does things with limits. You should have more trust in him." The last sentence had been admonishing, but Usagi countered sharply, "What about the time when he had the Moon, Silendial and virtually the entire Silver Millenium panicking as to where he was when he pulled Tranquility, Demitrius and you into the lands of the undead? Or when he led one legion of soldiers against an entire army of Sentinel Elites that tried attacking the Silver Millenium?"
Her retort had Haruka shutting up for several minutes, for she too knew that Raine can be as reckless as any of the senshis. However, she did try to defend the prince as best as she could, "He had been overtly stressed, so Tranquility agreed to bring us all to the shadow lands for a holiday. Kami-sama, you do know that that is the only place we could relax and just be ourselves. As for the attack? You must admit that Raine has the tactics and brains to pull that stunt off. After all, he did manage to massacre the entire enemy ranks."
"Yes, and end up stuck in bed for a month after that?" Usagi asked derisively.
"Well," The blonde laughed dryly, "he pulled all the darkness he could summon to envelope the majority of the army, didn't he? It was bound to happen."
"Which is what I'm worried about. He is a little reckless at times..." Usagi sighed, placing her hands on the rails, "He knows the art of control well, but with no one to look after him... I just fear what he might do."
The golden-haired girl went silent, and Haruka just mussed her odangos affectionately, comforting the girl as the azure sky slowly turned orange-red. The others seemed to have noticed this sudden change in weather, and all stood up after ordering Wigdel to stay where he was. The goblin was looking uneasy by the sudden warning, but did as the women told.
Within minutes after the sky turned color, streaks of fires - of all sorts of color - started raining all over the place. Wigdel sucked his breath at this, but realized what this was taking them to.
It was as he expected... but he never expected to see such a big number of them.
Forteen dragons, all of a different color, were breathing flames as if engaged in battle. Apparently, they were the source of the raining fire, but none of the senshi seemed to mind. Instead, all of them, including Mamoru, closed their eyes, willing their wings to come forth. As their wings appeared, the senshi flew over to the seperate dragons, who in turn, having noticed the glowing humans, stopped abruptly, seemingly shocked by their presence.
Not uttering a word, Usagi flew over to the four dragons that were huddled together, petting a pearly-white dragon.
"Hello, Lana." The princess murmured quietly, feeling the dragon returning her greeting with a nod of her head. Turning over to the other dragons, Usagi smiled sadly, "I'm sorry. Your masters aren't here." The other dragons' eyes dimmed, but shook their heads, butting the princess in an adoring manner. Usagi, knowing that they were comforting her, hugged them back, answering in a voice choked with emotions, "I know. But I still miss them."
Lana just stayed back and look at her friends comfort her princess. Finally, seeing as the other senshi were making the way to the site of their separate vaults already, motioned for her mistress to get onto her back. Usagi heeded this without a seconds thought, and when she had held firmly onto one of the dorsal horns, Lana flew off, whistling sharply.
In effect, the sky was cleared of its bloody colors and reverted back to its calm blue shade. What was interesting though, was that doors were revealed in this sky, forming a circle whilst the wrought-iron glowed against the sapphire sky. Wigdel, who was still on the ship, gasped at this wondrous sight. He had not been surprised by dragons guarding these vaults, but these were dragons long extinct, the ancestors of the dragons left on Earth, ones who had strong magical power that rivalled any wizard. They were intelligent creatures, conversing to humans to mind-pictures, and were very, very loyal guardians.
And the sudden appearance of those doors. It was obvious that the dragons were part of the key into the vaults, instead of just guarding the door alone, and the head of Gringotts had to applaud the ingenuity of the architect. No dragon would allow anyone other than their masters to enter what was these vaults.
No wonder this area was such a mystery to people...
As Wigdel continued his musings, the senshi had already entered into their separate vaults, taking out the money, and several other personal stuff before placing them in their sub-space pockets. It took them only half an hour to assemble back at the ship.
Without a word spoken amongst them, Setsuna had the ship turning back to the hallway, allowing the others to rest, and reminisce the past as they headed back once more to Gringotts.
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End of chapter
Okie, that's another one out. Next up, we'll find out about the buying of wands, and meeting a professor from school. Any guesses? You'll never believe who it was! Until then, ciao!
Ephirel
