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*
In the days of young
where most remained carefree and pure.
It had been with much joy and laughter
that the elders announced the merge.
The Silver Millenium, so it was called
for the protection of the entire system,
an instrument of sorts,
to bring forth an era of peace.
And so it began,
the alliance of planets,
though two were left out -
the world of shadows and the entity of humans.
Some had argued over this act,
but all four wisemen said,
'Tis but for the better.
For once both planets enter the alliance,
the system will fall; the planets, all come to ruin
And only millenias later
will the new epoch come to pass.'
~Lunaria Oracle, 1:13'001
~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~
"Harry!" A squeal sounded from behind Harry Potter as the boy turned back, allowing himself to be engulfed in a warm hug. Awkwardly, the ruly-haired boy returned the embrace, patting her somewhat tamed curls before smiling at the gangly teenager standing in front of him.
"Ron," Harry greeted with a smile, "Have you seen Hermione? Somehow, I don't believe the girl I'm hugging is her. She's too… outward."
"Hey!" The girl in his arms, Hermione Granger, protested, "I just missed you, that's all!"
"I second that, mate," Ronald Weasley agreed, "I thought you'd be allowed to come stay at Grimmauld Place for at least hald the summer. But Tonks said Moody and the others are guarding you again cos' you can't come."
At this, Harry looked over to the smiling Tonks, who stood next to Ron like an adult chaperone. Now spotting an elegant bun of ebony hair with a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles, the metamorphmagus looked eerily like the younger version of Professor McGonagall, though the mischievious sparkle in those brilliant sapphire orbs betrayed her solemn demeanor. However, when she saw the pain that still lurked in the boy's emerald orbs, the woman hurriedly changed the subject whilst Hermione jabbed Ron at the ribs, inwardly rolling her eyes at Ron's insensitivity, "How about a sundae at Florean Fortescue's? After that, we'll get your school supplies."
"Aww… I wanted to get my books first!" Hermione argued, a tone that was close to whining as her eyes flitted to the direction where Flourish and Blotts were situated. Harry and Ron laughed at the blatant longing in their friend's eyes, and Ron pushed the girl towards the direction of the sundae shop, leaving Harry to walk beside Tonks.
"Thanks Tonks." The boy-who-lived said quietly, knowing that what Tonks had said earlier was to divert all of their attention towards something more harmless. None of the adults had told his friends that it was he himself who had declined the invitation to stay in Grimmauld Place for the last week of summer, and for this, he was more than grateful.
As usual, the summer had been grueling, though for once, not exceedingly so. The warnings by the Order's members had indeed, scared the Dursleys quite a lot. Thus, even despite Dudley's diet plan, he was still given a full meal, even if it meant a piece of toast or two with some strips of overcooked bacon for breakfast, a bowl of cup noodles at the afternoon, and some microwaved food for dinner. That, along with Mrs. Weasley's constant supply of muffins and fudge, had sustained Harry for the entire holiday, as well as allow himself the chance of growing into his bones… literally. In the previous summers, he usually ended up looking starved by the start of school, but now, even with just one week towards his sixth year in Hogwarts, he looked rather healthy, being albeit too slender for his height notwithstanding.
Of course, he was still given the usual chores that had him exhausted by the end of the day, but even that exhaustion could not keep the nightmares at bay. Yes, nightmares. Night after night, the visions of Lestrange's spell hitting Sirius squarely on the chest, his falling from the veil, over the arch, of Cedric dying, of the green streaks of light that flew past him, of Voldemort's laughter that echoed through the night plagued his dreams. It was getting so bad that he'd even took to finishing his homework in the dead of the night and when they were done, he had proceeded to reread all of his books, even his potions' tomes, at least twice. All in all, he couldn't have had more than three hours of sleep per day, and despite his cheery outward appearance, he was bone tired.
The trip to Florean Fortescue's had been pleasant, and afterwards, both boys got dragged by Hermione to the direction of Flourish and Blotts, with an amused Nymphadora Tonks trailing behind. It was refreshing to see Hermione excited over her books once more when all she had been doing was to pore over the ancient tomes in Black's Manor, a frown hovering on her forehead as she deciphered tome after tome of knowledge, all in various archaic language no less. Glancing back at the three children, all of whom were laughing in a carefree manner save Harry's, whose grin looked strained, Tonks sighed, knowing that the cross Harry bore was heavy, and should have never been placed upon him.
As they neared the doors of Flourish and Blotts, tinkling laughter could be heard at the doors, and instinctively, Ron turned towards the source of the voice, only to face a running figure who was laughing merrily, and get knocked down onto the floor when the person hit him unknowingly at full force.
"Minako, one more word about my familiars and you're down." A warning voice sounded from the door before a raven-haired girl walked out, hands crossed underneath her breasts. A look at the just fallen girl had her smirking, "On second thoughts, you're already down."
Harry and Hermione stared wide-eyed at the beautiful girl who had spoken, then glanced back at the blonde who had fallen unto their friend.
"Ow… I'm sorry." Minako apologized as she pulled herself up from the lanky boy. Confused chocolate eyes met azure orbs, and Ron could not help but blush on realizing that it had been a pretty blonde who had knocked into him. Rei smirked at the red-head's reaction, though it faded a little on sensing a familiar aura. Locking eyes with brilliant sapphire hidden behind glasses, a smile played faintly on the black-haired senshi's lips, "A metamorphmagus, and a powerful one no less."
Tonks stiffened at the red-robed girl's words, and the trio gaped at Rei's ability to see through their chaperone's disguise. Metamorphmagi are rare, but the ability to identify one with just one glance was rarer. Rei smiled at their shock, though that same smile froze on seeing Hermione and Harry.
"What is all the commotion about?" Another voice sounded from behind Rei. This time, it was a baritone, and Mamoru stepped out from the shop, only to stiffen on seeing two familiar faces. Similar reactions followed as the remaining senshi strolled out, all of whom were surprised to see two people whom they should not have met until they reached Hogwarts.
Setsuna, who had known this would happen, stood by Makoto and Hotaru, giving both girls a comforting pat on their shoulders before flashing Tonks an enigmatic smile. Going up to Ron, she pulled the blushing boy to his feet, apologizing smoothly as she cleaned the boy's robes of any dirt, "I'm sorry about my wards' misdemeanor."
"Is that a collective term I hear?" Rei commented idly.
"It is, Rei. Both you and Minako." The guardian of Time replied mildly whilst eyeing Minako, who had a sheepish look on her face, "And it's time for us to leave before anyone of you decide to give any more trouble just by gracing us with your presence. Good day, children."
Her last words were directed to Ron, Harry and Hermione, and all three teenagers could do nothing but nod at her words - those three words alone held too much power for them to say anything, or do anything but nod. As the group walked past them, Setsuna commented to thin air, "Oh. And Moody? The invisibility spell's fading off."
That said, she departed with a silent Usagi by her side, leaving a number of stunned people behind. Glancing at the trio, Trio murmured in shock, "How did she…"
"Know I'm here?" Mad-eyed Moody finished as he took off the invisibility spell, "Merlin knows why."
Escorting the children into Flourish and Blotts, the Auror continued in a low voice, "That group of people… they reek of ancient magic."
"Are you sure?" Tonks asked, wide-eyed at her mentor's words.
"Aye, and it's of a magic far stronger than Albus's. No, scratch that, the blond chit in white has powers that surpasses even Potter's, or Snape's." Moody muttered under his breath, his magical eye glancing around as he turned to where the group had headed to, "And it is so pure, it's frightening."
In front of the two conversing adults, the three teenagers glanced at one another, their expressions similar.
What did Moody mean?
The walk to Ollivander's shop was quiet, to say the least. Both Hotaru and Usagi were shocked to see Tranquility once more, though there lurked a distinct pain in those emerald orbs - eyes that belonged to Serenity's maternal grandfather. It pained both girls to see the faint circles underneath his eyes, and Hotaru longed to be by his side, to comfort him and wish his nightmares, or whatever that plagued him, to go away. Haruka and Michiru stood by their former adopted daughter, wordlessly giving the black-haired girl support whilst Setsuna accompanied her liege in silence, knowing that there was no other way to help.
Rei, Ami and Minako were by Makoto's side, knowing that seeing her twin alive for the first time after the massacre on Jupiter had been a total shock for her. Since her rebirth, the strongest inner senshi had been thought to be alone, wht with her being an orphan since young during her mortal lifetime. Thus, now, to see her twin once again had filled the empty void in her heart.
"Naoko's alive." The brunette whispered, and Ami patted her friend's shoulder, glad that Makoto had finally found her family. Beside them, Rei and Minako smiled too, but still, something was missing from the picture… All three senshi knew who the missing person was, though all wisely chose not to say anything whilst they entered into the old shop, relishing in the feel of being amongst old magick once more.
"By Selene's grace, I'd never thought this day would come!" An astounded voice sounded from one of the stretches of shelves. Walking out, an old man with wide, pale eyes shining like moons bowed reverently, "Your majesties, your highnesses."
"Ollivander." Setsuna acknowledged with a genuine rare smile, "We've come for our wands."
"Yes, yes, your majesty. If you'd wait just a minute, I have all of them kept here."
With that, Ollivander went towards a row of secluded shelves, taking out a small trunk that, if scrutinized closely, could be seen glowing with the amount of spells that went into warding it. Muttering all of the counter spells took some time, but by the end of it, the trunk opened to reveal a neat row of boxes, all marked with different sigils. Cautiously, he took ten of the boxes out before closing the trunk once more, a small smile etched on his aged face, "This is definitely easier than having all of you try other wands. Imagine the disaster."
The idea of the entire room full of all sorts of stray spells and disasters had them all giggling, and each one of them took the box marked with their own sigil, opening them to find their old wands, all of which were made of extraordinary cores encased in rare species of gems and crystals, with their signs engraved at its hilt.
There was no need to try them, for the feeling they'd experienced on touching those beautifully-crafted wands had told them that they were indeed their previous wands, though how they were salvaged from their homelands, no one knew. Smiling at the wand she now held, Usagi murmured softly, "Thank you for taking such good care of them, Mr. Ollivander."
"It is no difficulty at all," Ollivander replied kindly, "After all, it's the duty of our line to guard them till your coming."
"If it is so, I'll have the remaining four wands, just to let you wash your hands off them once and for all." The blond princess continued, a faint twinkle alight in her eyes. The old wizard just laughed, placing the trunk into Usagi's hands, "Then take it. I'll accept no money for them. After all, I'm not their creator. You all are."
And it was true. The wands had been made by themselves during their years in Hogwarts, after they'd learn the 'how' and 'why' of creating a magical focus.
"Thank you." Usagi smiled again, bowing slightly before the entire group moved out of the shop. Once gone, Ollivander whispered softly, "Have a good time at Hogwarts, your majesty."
It took quite a while for the senshi to finish their purchases, with all of them deciding against the purchase of the conventional familiars of cats, owls and toads. In fact, they'd decided not to bring their separate familiars save Rei's ravens until the Headmaster agree to their presence in Hogwarts. Not surprising, sabre-tooth tigers, pegasi, krishaki* and snow leopards do not seem tame pets for a sixteen-year old student. Therefore, with Luna and Artemis helping in the rebuilding of the Moon Kingdom, only Pheobos and Deimos are able to act as messengers for at least their first week in school.
The senshi also spent quite some time at Madam Malkin's choosing new robes as they realized that most of their robes were considered too eye-catching due to their origins. Not surprising, Madam Malkin had continuously ogled at the girls' robes, her eyes filled with longing as she saw the supposedly extinct type of material be used in casual robes, of ten people no less! Ami, who could never stand puppy eyes, took out a plain navy-colored mercurian silk robe from her sub-space pocket and passed it to the delighted woman for experimental purposes.
As they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner, a shop caught their eyes, and under the lead of Rei and Minako, the group entered the seemingly new shop, surprised by the amount of gags and joke items.
"Ton-tongue toffee?" Michiru mused aloud as Haruka glanced at the assortment of candies under the category, 'Skiving Snackboxes'. Near the door, Minako, Hotaru and Makoto were staring at the small display of various enchanted fireworks, all of whom were absorbed by how they worked whilst Ami and Mamoru gazed at the enchanted quills that would write out the thoughts of the writer, and, if the small button at the end was pressed, would write in all sorts of language. Setsuna just stood by one corner, inwardly smiling as the child in them were brought out once more in this joke shop. She glanced over to where Rei and Usagi stood, both of whom seemed very curious of the very long strands of flesh-colored strings.
"Those are Extendable Ears." A friendly voice came from behind the duo. Turning back, Rei noted that the boy looked similar to the boy whom Minako had knocked into earlier on, and Usagi gave the boy a slight grin, "Sounds interesting."
"You can use that to eavesdrop on anyone you want, as long as there's no Imperturbable spell around." Another boy, who looked identical to the other boy, piped in enthusiastically.
"You're identical twins?" Makoto asked as she walked over, interest etched clearly on her face.
"Yep, Fred and George at your service." Both boys replied in unison, causing Makoto and Usagi to giggle. The identical bow, each made with much exaggeration, had the others laughing whilst the other senshi made their way over to their liege.
"Both of you work here together?" Rei asked. It was seldom that family members work at the same shop, and at the same shift too. Hearing this, the twins grinned, "All the items here are invented by us."
"The two of you own this shop?" Mamoru inquired, impressed that two young boys could have owned a shop of this size, and of such popularity. The joke shop was bustling with people young and old, and the variety of joke items were large.
"Yep." Fred, or was it George, replied whilst the inner senshi giggled. Haruka glanced at the portable swamp on one of the displays and whistled, "That's an interesting item you've got there."
"Ah, now that's a sentimental item - " One of the twins replied in a seemingly nostalgic manner. The other twin grinned, " - Aye, the last prank we had before leaving Hogwarts. A great success it was!"
The twins gave a resounding high-five at that, and several of the teenagers - students of Hogwarts - grinned at what the twins had said. Minako eyed the twins surreptitiously, wondering if they would tell, but a look at the twins made her know that they had no desire to repeat it once more. Thus, the blonde started, "Usagi-chan, why don't we buy some of those fireworks and set them free on Raine?"
The image of Raine running away from a bunch of enchanted fireworks had the others grinning, but the moon princess questioned, "What if he uses the shadows to engulf them?"
"It'll be wonderful to see the shadows at work once more." The Venusian princess grinned, and Usagi rolled her eyes. Still, it was a rare sight to see Raine work the shadows against something so bright, and she nodded her head in agreement, anticipating her twin's fury when such things start chasing after him. Haruka and Michiru chuckled at the thought too, and idly, she started, "We'll have ten boxes of Deflagration Deluxe."
"Ten?" The twins asked, wide-eyed at the amount the young man ordered. Haruka, noticing their disbelief, glared at them, and the twins hurriedly went to get ten boxes whilst the other senshi placed what they wanted on the counter beside the boxes. Beside her, Michiru asked quietly, "Why would we need so many boxes?"
"So that once we're back on our planets, they can be used them for entertaining purposes." Haruka replied with a wicked glint in her eyes. Michiru, remembering how the ladies-in-waiting of the court of Uranus kept pestering their princess to wear a gown, and pitied them should they try to get Haruka to wear a gown again. No doubt the fireworks would be used to chase them away, and only the princess of Uranus would find this… entertaining.
"That'll be twenty-two galleons and three knuts." George replied once he tallied the prices, and even he was shocked by the amount of purchases the group had accumulated. The senshi, on the other hand, seemed non-plussed by the amount, and Usagi took out a heavy bag of galleons, which was definitely more than the amount that they were required to pay. Then, the outers took up the bags of joke items and led the group out of the shop whilst Fred and George stared at the amount of galleons in surprise.
"W-wait, this is too much money!" Fred stuttered when he finally broke out from the shock he'd been in, and Usagi, who rounded the group, shook her head. Smiling slightly, she replied, "Take it as a gift from us. It's good to see someone who's still this keen on keeping the pranking spirit alive."
"But it's still too much!" George protested, but Usagi interrupted calmly, "Then take it as a commission for what I'm about to make you research in."
With that, she tossed a portable cd-walkman to the twins, ordering in a joking manner before walking out of the place, "Find a way to power this muggle gadget. It'll be fun if Hogwarts can support it and you'll be able to make money if you can find out how. Oh. And a piece of advice, try adamantine."
By six in the evening, the group finally arrived at the Leaky Cauldron for their dinner. However, before anyone of them could sit down by the long table set for them, Makoto saw a familiar person and rushed over to one of the tables to hug a fairly shocked woman.
"Aunt Minerva!" The senshi of lightning squealed with delight as Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry felt herself become engulfed in a strong hug, one, which she returned the hug with equal feeling. The other senshi went towards the professor and grinned whilst the elderly witch pulled back from the hug, if albeit reluctantly. However, when she saw how well the others looked, she too, gave a genuine smile of delight. Bowing slightly to the princess Serenity, Minerva started warmly, "Makoto-chan, my dears. I've missed all of you so much! And all of you are so young!"
"Don't remind us, aunt Minerva." Haruka replied wryly. She, like the others, were still not entirely used to their sixteen-year-old forms. Not when all of them had regained their memories, of how they were at least hundreds, if not, thousands of years-old even before the Silver Millenium fell, and especially not after they had fought Chaos, and lived to tell the tale… even if they were dead before.
The transfiguration professor chuckled at the princess's words, and it took a great deal of control to suppress the urge to tease her further. However, before she could speak to Usagi, a cough sounded from next to her, and, noticing her companions, she berated herself, "My! Where had my manners gone to? Arthur, Tonks, Alastor, this is my niece Lita Makoto Kino Jupiter, and these are her friends. The gentleman over there is Chiba Mamoru, he's taking over Vector this year, and the lady in dark green robes is Mei'ou Setsuna, the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor. Ladies, Endymion, this is Arthur Weasley, Alastor Moody, and Nymphadora Tonks."
"We've met." Rei smiled at Tonks, who looked somewhat guarded by the girl's presence. Minerva, who knew what must have happened, smiled slightly, "Tonks, Rei here is a priestess of a shrine in Japan. She sees through people, even if they're disguised."
"That explains why she saw through me that easily." Tonks murmured, and the guarded expression melted into one of friendliness, "You had me quite taken aback on identifying me with but one glance."
"It's a talent of mine." The fire priestess shrugged, adding in silence, especially when metamorphmagus originated from Mars. Moody and Arthur Weasley, however, looked at the large group with suspicion, with Moody being particularly interested in the seemingly innocent blond that stood by the new DADA professor. As he'd suspected, the girl did possess a lot of power, and it was so strong that it was starting to blind his magical eye.
Turning over to McGonagall, the Auror started, "Minerva, there's something we have to discuss."
His look had the deputy headmistress cast a silencing spell around the entire group, for she knew that Alastor had some important news of the Order to discuss. Her spell had Arthur raising an eyebrow when he saw that the senshi were included, and Minerva assured the three adults, "They will support whatever Albus is campaigning for."
"But that doesn't mean that they'd be allowed into the Order." Moody hissed, clearly not pleased by the professor's answer. Usagi, sensing the displeasure of the old wizard, intervened smoothly, "Aunt Minerva, we'll take our leave now. Do continue on with your discussion."
The older woman gave a small smile at the princess's understanding, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Usagi smiled slightly. She then turned to follow Setsuna - who was waiting for her - to their table, but hesitated and asked, "How is Raine?"
"Raine?" Minerva echoed in honest confusion. She had seen Naoko, Tranquility and Demetrius, but Raine had remained missing, and there seemed no one who looked even vaguely similar to the prince of Silendial. Not surprising, the prince's eyes were considered one in a million.
"Usa-chan, Raine is, as usual, walking within the shadows." Setsuna reminded her liege, though the same words were meant for the transfiguration mistress to decipher. Walking within the shadows? Minerva frowned, the only person who does it in Hogwarts is… The vision that popped in her head had Minerva McGonagall widening her eyes. In the next second, she drank deeply from her goblet of red wine before murmuring in a daze, "He's alright, my princess. Sulking in the shadows, yes, but alright nonetheless."
Her answer had Usagi breathe a sigh of relief, and she turned over to glance at Arthur Weasley, who looked apprehensive on realizing that the young girl was looking at him intently. Quietly, Usagi walked over to the man's side, murmuring softly, "That stitch never actually healed, Mr. Weasley - " She placed her hand on the man's chest, where it glowed for mere seconds, whilst a flood of soothing energy flowed into his body, " - there, the remnants of the serpent's poison should be out of your systems by nightfall."
Subsequently, the blonde left, with Setsuna gliding behind her, leaving a stunned Arthur Weasley behind.
"How did she…?"
"She's a healer of natural talent." Minerva commented nonchalantly, gazing over to where they sat, ordering their dinner. However, on thinking back to Pluto's words, she frowned.
Still… how did Raine become that old?
End of Chapter
So, two of the mystery people down, two more to go. Have you guessed who the remaining princes are? I should hope so!
Well, next up, they'll be going over to Hogwarts. Can you guess who's going to enter into which House? Some will be downright obvious, the others... maybe a little more tough. A cookie for you if you guess it right =þ
well, now for the reviews:
Elanor Gwaloth ~ Thanks for reading. It's my first take on HP/SM crossovers, and I'm not sure if it would work out well.
Sailor Millenia ~ *sheepish* I had wanted to do the betrayal cliche at first, but gave up cos' it isn't fun to do something that's being tried at so many times. Still, you have to agree that several of those fics aren't that bad :)
Aphrodite2 ~ Well, two of the 'unknown characters' are now out. We'll be seeing another one in the next chapter. Hope you can wait that long ^_^!
Sailor Ronin Usa-chan ~ *embarassed* Sorry about that awful error. I'm not really good at Japanese, and yep, I've changed the word to senshi. And about Usagi, I know... she's becoming more and more like a Mary-Sue, but don't worry, her flaws will come out pretty soon. Still, you have to admit that Usagi as Serenity will have to be more in control, at least that's what I feel about her when I read the manga tankouban 7, where she met Neo-Queen Serenity, the Queen looked rather demure ne?
AJaKe ~ *nods head* There'll be ships, even one between two people from Hogwarts. Keep your fingers crossed!
JaminJellyBean ~ ::grins:: Thanks! About the ship you've mentioned, I'm sorry... I've put Usa-chan with someone else. Hope you'd still like it!
Zaeria ~ Bingo! A cookie for you for guessing correctly who the first person is! But for the other two, if you switch you guess around, the answer's there too! I'm glad someone managed to sort that out. ::cheers:: We'll see an appearance of Endymion with Demi in the next chapter, wait for that then!
tala ~ I'm sorry, Lupin won't come into the story so soon, and Sirius... well, I'm following OotP, so... ::apologetic:: he's dead.
DaughterofDeath ~ ::laughs:: A direct command. Well, it's finally out, hope you like it :)
athenakitty ~ Hmm... snubbing of Draco. Possibly not. As for the regaining of their memories, the last fight will do the trick ^_^ Updating-wise, it's going to be irregular, but don't worry, I am finishing all of my stories, even Salvation and Awakening.
jenna ~ I'm sorry, my updates will be rather irregular. In fact, I'm supposed to be studying for my prelims now, and here I am, writing this!
Ah well, till next time...
Ephirel
