Hey Guys!  I'm sorry I didn't write a longer chapter like I said I would but I'll try this time.  The thing is, I've just finished reading the 5th HP book and I've been crying my eyes out.  For those who read it, let me tell you this:  I really hope Luna Lovegood was right and that Sirius will come back.  You know, the 'He is only trapped in the hole and he will find his way back soon' thing, with the people with the veil whispering and all…He better at least come back alive in the 7th book (the 6th would be all the better…-_-)  I'm traumatized to death now, chanting 'he WILL come back…

Anyway!  Don't wanna start crying again now, don't I?  (shakey laugh here…) He WILL come back…Sorry! Couldn't help my self!!! (wailing)

I hope you'll like the next chapter!

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Fate has brought us together

Chapter 6: Lupin's salvation and an unexpected request

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  Remus and Dumbledore had now stopped their conversation.  A young woman was heading towards them, her blue eyes fixed on Lupin.  The problem was, the more she was approaching, the more he felt the werewolf in him wanted to come out.  He clutched his head with one hand and got up as fast as he could, for his vision was getting blurry and he winced with pain.  Dumbledore was up in an instant asking him what was wrong.  Something was up, because the full moon wasn't meant to be until 5 more days.  Snape, who was sitting near them, besides professor Mc Gonagall, was eyeing Lupin warily.

  "So, you truly cannot support the power of the moon.  I'm sorry you had to suffer because of it.  The moon is supposed to be a shining ray of light and hope, not a curse to destroy someone's life.  And I will do anything in my power to help you get some of this life back."

  The teachers were now staring at the girl who had been approaching, completely clueless about what she was talking about.  Remus was still wincing then and there but her calm and caring voice had somehow managed to lift some of the pain in his head.  "Who are you?" He had finally managed to ask.  "And how could you possibly help me when you have no idea what's going on?"  She looked at him more thoroughly and he backed away, not daring to meet her eyes.

  Dumbledore was still staring at the girl but Snape had enough.  "Get away brat!  Don't you see he can't stand to be near you?  What are you trying to do???"  His yelling had attracted the attention to them and Harry was up in an instant, excusing himself from dinner, muttering to himself.  On his way, he had partially heard George, or was it Fred, if they would see her slap the annoying teacher.  The green eyed boy shot them a dirty look over his shoulder to shut them up.  "Serenity!!!  You should at least wait until you're fully introduced before doing this!"  He was now standing in front of her, glaring at Snape.

  "Potter! I should've known you had something to do with this!  So who is she?  Someone you can dump your problems on, I suppose?" His comment had a cruel tone in it.  "How dare you talk about her like that!!!  Of all the!"  "Harry.  Please, love.  You are attracting attention."  Love?  Snape had the decency to gape, and Dumbledore was now examinating the girl with a sharp eye.    Mc Gonagall was starting a staring contest between Harry and the girl and Remus had yet to recover from the shock and his headache.  Sere introduced herself, now that she had the moment of silence she had wanted.

  She clasped her hands in front of her and bowed a little.  "Please, let me introduce myself.  My name is Usagi Tsukino, also meaning, in common English, Bunny of the Moon.  I also have many other names but Serenity is the one Harry calls me the most."  She cast a quick glance at Harry, who smiled in return.  Dumbledore had seen the interaction between the 2, but he was unable to read her mind.  She surely wasn't like any other witch he had encountered before.  She cut him out of his reverie when she started again.  "As I was saying before, I would like to help the one Harry recognise as friend, family even" but before she could finish her phrase, laughter filled the air.  Severus Snape was having a blast.  "Tell me, girl," he started when his laughter had subsided, "how do you think you could help him?  I tried every potion I knew of to cure him and it didn't work.  The best healers even got a go at him and even Dumbledore himself tried many incantations but none of them worked."  Dumbledore than explained; "Severus is right, Miss Moon.  Lupin was born with the curse, and will die with the curse.  It's in his blood, and I'm afraid you can't tamper with blood."  He said resignedly.

  "That's where you are all wrong."  She had got their attention now.  "You have all tried solutions to affect his blood but have you ever thought about the heart of the problem?  You never gave him a choice, you simply told him to live with it, when everybody has the right to live a normal life." 'Except me' She thought miserably, but a ray of hope still lingered inside her.  She searched Harry's eyes for comfort and found so much of it that it made her smile.

  "Look,"  Lupin had finally decided to intervene in the conversation, annoyed a little.  "Don't you think I should give my opinion on this one?  It's my life you're talking of."  He had managed to stand up without wobbling too much.  "And I think I would like to try your approach, miss."  "Are you crazy, Lupin?  Don't you know it's dangerous to toy with a curse???  She could seriously injure you!!!"  Lupin shot Snape a dark look.  "Well there isn't anything to loose and her ideals of liberty sounds much more appealing to me than your ideas!  And anyway!  If Harry trusts her, why shouldn't I?"  He said it as if it was the most oblivious thing in the world.  Albus silently asked him if he was sure of himself and Remus merely shrugged.  Trying something was better than doing nothing anyway.

  Harry looked proud as Usagi neared the professor.  She had this power over people that made them believe in themselves.  He grabbed his head again when she got close, and the teachers tensed.  Harry merely told them not to worry.  That didn't reassure them at all.

But the moment she touched him, coaxing his hand away from his face, he felt all warm and reassured.  Why?

  Students were gathering, forming a little crowd.  It unnerved the werewolf but she only shushed him and told him to concentrate.  "I need you to relax, dear friend, or this could become painful.  It shouldn't take long, do not worry."  She took his face in both of her hands and pressed their forehead together.  She then started chanting in a language nobody had ever heard of, eyes shut.  With the peaceful expression on her face, Remus couldn't help but relax and close his, almost in a trance.

  "What's going on?  What's your 'girlfriend' doing with the DADA teacher, Harry? And what the bloody hell is that nonsense she's mumbling?"  "That's exactly what I've been asking myself, Mr Finnigan.  The little crowd had gathered around and Snape was almost, almost tempted to retrieve points.  "That's not nonsense, Seamus.  And Sere is trying to cure professor Lupin of his curse."  A chorus of Blimey! And a snort from Snape were the only thing he heard before Lupin had started to breath heavily, reminding them of what was happening.

  He felt sick.  Something seemed to want to pull out of his head and it hurt, it hurt like hell.  But the next thing he knew, he was on the patch of grass on his knees, feeling free.  'Free of what?' he kept asking himself.  He felt disoriented but at least his head wasn't throbbing.  "Then he felt it, well… Didn't feel it, more like, and he let out a shaky laugh.  The teachers and students, who had immediately run to him when he had fallen, looked at him like he had gone crazy.  Harry went out and laced his hands with Sere's from behind, forming a half hug.  The greasy haired professor did not look happy.  "Well that was a huge waist of time and Lupin has totally gone mad.  WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!"  Albus put his hand on Snape's shoulder, in a vain attempt to calm him, when Lupin got up fast, surprising them all and making them all take a step back, and looked at Albus with what could be called one hell of a smile.

  "ALBUS! HA! HA! HA! I DON'T FEEL IT ANYMORE!!!"  "Feel what, dear boy?"  "The werewolf!  It's…It's gone! I'm sure of it!  I can't find any string the moon pulls on me!  I'm cured!!!"  The crowd gathered there was silent.  And then they were all on Lupin, telling him how great and awesome it was and that Snape wouldn't have to teach DADA anymore because of his absences (insert full Snape glaring there…^_^;).  Remus thanked them and almost threw himself at Serenity.  Almost.  Harry was already taking all the place so he gave her his best of smiles, although it was a watery one, and thanked her from the bottom of his heart.  Serenity merely gave him a sad smile.  Harry turned her so she was facing him and embraced her with all he had.  "Thank you.  You don't know how much this also means to me.  She took his cheek in her hand and their lips met.  After a few minutes, though, Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly.  The parted, breathing heavily, face flushed, and turned around to see everyone had seen their little display of affection.  Harry smirked and the Weasley twins let out a 'You go boy!!!'

Albus looked unfazed.  Everybody instantly shut up.  He looked gravely at the girl, wanting explanations, and he wanted them now.  "How is there that a witch your age did something the best wizards in the world couldn't ever do.  How did you do it?"  Everybody was listening eagerly but the tone of Dumbledore clearly had a warning in it, make them back away a little.  Usagi didn't seem at all phased by his tone and looked at him directly in the eyes, surprising him with one of her blank stares.

"I merely took what was mine in the first place."  She left it there, simple and true, and confusing them even more.  Dumbledore looked taken aback, like Snape and Mc Gonagall, but Remus couldn't care less at how she did it.  She had cured him, and he couldn't wait to tell it to Padfoot.  "Headmaster," Harry started, smiling a true smile, "you will find that my Serenity is a very special person.  You only have to open your heart to her to see the miracles she can do!"  "I'll cheer to that!!!"  Lupin was now laughing with the others who had heard his sudden new burst of energy, while Albus contemplated on what Harry had said.

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  The stadium was getting crowded.  The duels were about to begin and everybody wanted a good place to sit.  The Gryffindors found themselves in the first row, chatting happily and talking about 'The cure'.  The representatives, Ministers, teachers and some aurors were all gathered in the same booth, but it was charmed to be big enough for them all, so no problems there.

  Barty Crouch used the sonorous charm on himself and started to explain how the duels would work.  "You will only have to raise your hand if you want to duel.  A referee will be choosing you out.  But there is a catch.  The student who asked to duel will be the one to determine who he or she wants to duel against.  This person will have no choice in the matter and will have to accept without question.  So I suggest to all who don't want to be a part of it to make themselves as little as possible."  Students started to murmur amongst each other.  Malfoy, who was intentionally in the first row with his gang of Slytherins, shot Harry a dark look.  Ron and the others noticed too.  "Blimey, Harry!  Looks to me like you'll have Malfoy on your tale."  "Yeah.  Bet anything he'll try to pick a fight with you."

  "That's ok guys.  If he wants his butt kicked, that's his problem."  Harry said nonchalantly.  "YEAH! YOU SHOW HIM!!!" 

  Then the duels started.  Students were trying their best to win, to prove their school or group was better then the other.  Curses, jinxes, anything was good enough to win.  Then the dreaded moment arrived.  Malfoy had been picked up for the next duel.  He smirked and descended to the duelling arena.  Up in the booth, Lucious was looking at Dumbledore smugly.  Draco was going to take on the Potter boy, he was sure of it.  The referee came to him and asked Draco who he wanted to duel with.  Harry started to get up when Draco pointed his finger not to him, but to the person right next to him.  "Her.  I want to fight her, the Serenity girl, Potter's fiancée."

  There was an uproar in the crowd.  Harry stared at Malfoy, completely perplexed by the turn of events.  He wasn't the only one either.  In the booth, Malfoy Senior was ogling at his son and realized Potter had a weakness.  The Dark Lord was going to enjoy this bit of news.  He would have to tell the other Death Eaters and Dementors once they arrived here the information he had just discovered.  In the mean time, he thought to himself that the girl would have to be humiliated.  Yes, he would like to see how much time she was going to last.  A sharp intake of breath was heard and everyone in the booth now had their eyes on the Japanese minister, Kaito Fujita (well… I HAD to give him a name some day, huh? ^_^;).

  "Is there something wrong, Fujita-san?" asked Crouch, after lowering his tone of voice again.  "Do you know that girl?"  Hogwarts' teachers were now all ears.  Fujita gave a curt laugh.  "She has been working with us, more like helping us, actually, with more important matters when our aurors encountered large groups of Dementors, for example.  The others had started talking animatedly but they shut up when he continued.  "But really, no one knows who she is."  There was complete silence.  "Yes well, you see, she kind of appeared out of nowhere one day, saving a bunch of kids in only hand to hand combat!  The thing, and I checked and re-checked thoroughly, is that her name is not listed in any wizarding paper.  Not anywhere.  We were wary of her, of course, but she has proven herself on the good side so many times that she is now famous in the entirety of Japan.  The kids there call her Lady Moon.  I personally think it suits her, don't you?  But anyway!" He continued, more seriously this time, "It's her power that got us totally in the dark…"  He had stopped talking, watching the students get restless below them.

  An auror from the English ministry phrased what others wanted to ask.  "What are you talking about?  What powers? She can't be that strong, she's just a kid."  His other team mates agreed with him.

  A voice in the back startled them all.  It was a Japanese auror, the same one she had attacked.  He had now got a little wiser, too.  "Wandless magic."  There was a pause and Crouch all but jumped on him.  "What did you say, boy!?"  "I said, she uses wandless magic.  She doesn't have any wand and she has no use for it either."  The wizard minister of France got on his feet immediately.

"DARK MAGIC!? HERE!? IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED!"  The others followed suit and there was an uproar.  The auror took his time to explain, though he was a little annoyed that they hadn't let him finish.

  "It isn't dark magic."  Everybody stood still.  "It can't be dark magic because she doesn't use our magic.  Her powers are…"  He seemed to be in search for words.  "Well, we never really saw her full powers.  She prefers to fight in hand to hand combat so the only time we saw something was when I pissed her off, one day.  We were on duty, my mates and I, when she came and told us she would be working with us today.  We laughed, of course, and I started to tell her to go back home and do her homework.  I was pretty stupid at the time…" He had said this to himself but everyone had heard.  "Anyway, she got pissed off, looked at me with a glare that would put even the braver guy a chill, whispered something I didn't get and the next thing I knew, a glowing chain had come out of her hand and was choking me.  She loosened up and told me never to insult her again.  I guess that's about now I started to get a brain…"

  Silence.  Than Dumbledore spoke.  "Could she be a threat to Draco Malfoy?  Could she injure someone that badly intentionally?"

"I don't think so, no. At least, if he duels fair, she won't.  She rarely uses her powers, so maybe now is the best time ever to watch her in action."  Everyone knew that the conversation was over.  Lucious was intrigued.  'So that's why our troops in Japan never made it back.  Well, we will see how she fairs later.'  His maniac like grin had returned full force.  Their attention was suddenly reverted back to the arena.  The noise was getting even louder.

The Lion's team was now staring at Usagi, who merely looked at Harry, who gave her a 'You don't really have a choice' look.

She sighted and started to get up, much to Draco's pleasure.  'Revenge was going to be sweet.'  He thought.  But if he only knew what had transpired in the booth…

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YEAH!!! That was longer than the rest!!!  A bit more interaction between Harry and Usa in this chapter.  In the next one, Draco's going to have one hell of a surprise!  (Bwaahahahah!!!!)  Yes, I am evil!  Well not really… I'm on Harry's side. (Drools all over the floor)

Oh well!!! Read and review!  No flames allowed!!!