Hey guys! I'm back! *sorry for the long wait* There's a good reason why it took longer to update, though. I've been writing back and forth between Curse of DADA and 'Through your Heart' (my new InuYasha/SailorMoon fic)
I was writing a little of Curse and sometimes ideas sprung into my head for the other fic. I kept changing fics! ^_^;;; I'm still in the 3rd chapter of Through your Heart but it's coming along nicely. I already have the end in my head, I just have to write the rest… *grimaces*
Anyway! I hope you'll like this chapter of Curse! ^_^
Thanks to:
Lil'Raven SilverWingPhoenix Guju-grl Jewelclaw Lady of wind MarsMoonStar LadyLight
Queen Diamond Pheniox Rose Darkness MFlower49 Eternal Salior Earth Zodiac silverBunny5
Alessandra Imperial Saturn GothicFairyRaven Maiden Genisis Henio Ansley Annie Kairinu
Krazi Pandi Talum Leeanna-Marie-Malfoy TheEvilMusician Libby Dark Universe
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The curse of the DADA teacher
Chapter 11: A disturbing awakening
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Darkness. As if her whole body had shut down on its own too fast for her to even comprehend what had happened, all that in the single blink of an eye. A chill went up her spine when a breeze as cold as ice brushed past her, and she broke in sweat when the icy breeze became as hot as the flames of hell themselves.
At least she knew she was in the good place, though she never wanted to experience this again. She usually revived people with the Ginzuishou in her world, too bad it didn't work like that here. Go directly to the source had used up almost all her energy reserves. How did she know this when she wasn't even in the real world? Simple; because she felt her exhaustion mentally.
Bargaining for 2 souls with Hades wasn't a very simple task. The damn devil was grumpy and didn't like to see her in his domain at all. She perfectly understood why; in her world, she had always bypassed the rules in order to revive someone without seeing the Lord of Hell at all. He could finally 'get his revenge' since she was right in front of him. And what a view it was!
For this meeting, he had decided to appear civilized to her. Where he had put the horns on his forehead was a mystery and he wore a black business suit. Dark red rimmed eyes looked back at her with defiance, challenging her to say something wrong. She wouldn't fall for that!
After a heated debate, no pun intended, she had come up with the perfect comeback. She may have taken souls back without permission, but she had given him many more to punish in exchange. All those youma she had slain years ago with the senshi were worth 2 persons' freedom.
Hades caved in with a pout, to her great amusement. 2 tiny balls of light vanished from Hades' hands and she felt her mind being put back in her head. She fell on the floor because of exhaustion first thing when she opened her eyes, and then spotted her 2 childhood friends Lily and James, looking around with a lost expression on their face.
She bid them to apparate to Hogsmeade to go see Harry, and she let unconsciousness claim her when they finally, reluctantly apparated away.
*~*
She groaned and sat up with a hand on her forehead as an impending headache pounded her head. "What happened? Where am I?" she asked herself out loud, until everything clicked in her head. Lily! James! She looked around and found out she wasn't in Godric's Hollow anymore, but to a very familiar place; Hogwarts' infirmary.
Was it night time? The place was deserted and the curtains were closed tightly. She tried to get up but opted for waiting a couple more minutes, just to let the room spin as it wanted before settling down. 'What day is it anyway?'
She finally was able to let go of the bed and made her way to the shelves full of potions. She read the labels quickly, before her eyes settles on a small vial filled with a yellow liquid. She knew it by heart now and gulped the entire thing in one swing. "Ahhhh!" She let out a contended sigh. "The miracle of Headache relieving potion! Bless Severus for restocking the shelves daily."
She then went to Poppy's desk and let out a yelp when she found out what she was looking for; a calendar. "2 weeks! I've been unconscious for THAT long?! Damn! I'm lucky I don't have to see Hades everyday!"
The rabbit went to open the closed curtain with the intention to peer outside and she recoiled quickly when she was assaulted by the bright sunlight. She crinkled her eyebrows and blinked the white dots away before gazing outside.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when she looked at the ground below. Nothing-she squinted her eyes-except that bunch of people near the Forbidden Forest…and a couple of Dementors coming, more like gliding, towards the school! "What the hell?!" she swore, before willing herself into clean clothes.
She bypassed the idea of wearing the usual bulky and hot teacher's robes for a more comfortable, though lethal looking, outfit. If Dementors were here without being chased away by a disapproving Dumbledore, it meant that Fudge was in the neighborhood. 'Oh joy!' She thought sarcastically. "At least he doesn't know that *I* was the one who broke into the Ministry of Magic!" she muttered.
She eyed her clothes approvingly. She had opted for the equal of muggle leather in the magical world; Dragonhide. The only thing different, though, was that leather didn't repel spells like Dragonhide did. Maybe not repel Crucio and the likes, but it certainly helped to absorb a well placed Expelliarmus without being harmed badly.
She got out of her daze when she remembered that Dementors where on their way to enter the school and hurried out of the infirmary in big strides. The corridors were as empty as a youma's brain so she concluded that they were probably all in the Great Hall, the usual place to have gatherings of importance. She experienced a foreboding feeling with each step that took her closer to the Great Hall and accelerated, until she was full out running.
She could hear the terrified screams of the children and the shrieks of the Dementors. 'Stupid Fudge!' she thought in distress. 'He knows he can't completely control the Dementors! Why did he bring them here?!' Distress faded into coldness as she put on her warrior's mask automatically. Without thinking twice about it, she ran into the room and sprung into action.
One of the Dementors had a young second year boy in his grasp and was about to suck the soul out of him, and the teachers couldn't do anything but watch with horrified expressions as the closeness of the kid and Dementor was too great to risk anything. She saw it in a millisecond; half the child's soul had been sucked in already so she hurried up.
In a speed too great for the dark being to see, she jumped up and landed a swift kick right on its head, making it fall face first on the floor, meters away. She caught the unmoving kid with one arm before he fell on the ground and gazed emotionlessly at the sprawled Dementor.
After the initial silence of shock after seeing her up, the teachers ran up to her and Lupin took the boy from her hands and put him gently on the ground, trying to make him respond to his calls, with no avail. The kid was breathing, but unfortunately, the harm was already done.
Remus shook his head and gazed at the ground, defeated. "It's too late. The Dementor sucked in half of his soul already; he'll never wake up…ever. He's going to stay in a comatose state for the rest of his life. How could we let this happen?! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, FUDGE! YOU THINK YOU'RE SO GREAT AND ABLE TO CONTROL ANYTHING! BUT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT THE DEMENTORS ARE ALL UNDER VOLDEMORT'S INFLUENCE!!!" Remus burst out in fury, disbelieving that one of their students fell upon an attack under Hogwarts' roof.
The Dark Lord's name being yelled with such intensity made everyone recoil and Fudge most of all. Dumbledore and the others looked devastated and the friends of the unmoving second year burst out in tears. Fudge stumbled upon his words and babbled nonsense, until he got pushed aside roughly by none other than a silent Serena.
She passed in front of Severus, Lily and James without a single glance in their direction. She was solely concentrated on the knocked Dementor. She stopped in front of it and gazed at it coldly. 'In the end, even though they're in the human category, those *things* are no better than youma.'
Everyone watched as she raised her hand slowly. 'In that case, they deserve to die as a youma would; by my hand and as painfully as possible.'
Her hand glowed and was encased in a silver light that lengthened slowly, taking a distinct shape. Gasps were heard as a long and lethal sword appeared when the light faded. She grasped the familiar sword's handle and glanced at it, knowing only her knew its true name.
The sword of Artemis, one of the most dangerous weapons she ever possessed. Why? Not because of its sharp point, as people would think, but because said point was smeared with a deadly poison which killed instantly whatever came in contact with it.
She gripped the handle tightly and with one last disgusted look, stroke down. The sickening sound of flesh being ripped opened resonated throughout the Hall but she paid no heed to the terrorized gazes locked on her.
The Dementor shrieked at the impact, but fell dead right afterwards. She took out the bloodied sword, making it disappear in a flurry of sparkles and bent down. Right when they thought she was finally finished with her 'patient', she put her hand in the hole in the chest of the dark being in a swift motion.
Some people had to turn around, the spectacle being too horrid for them to handle, and the squishing noises from the blood and such where making them dizzy.
Lily had both her hands on her mouth, blocking every sound that could come forth and for once James stood completely rooted on the spot. They each thought the same thing; 'How can our gentle Serena actually behave like this?! This can't possibly be her!' But they didn't know all the facts, nobody did.
The rabbit grunted as she touched whatever she was looking for in the dead dementor's chest and took something out, something that was emitting a dark mist in her hands. She looked at the object when she opened her palm and they saw it was some sort of black crystal. But how could such a thing be inside anybody?
Serena knew. She was the only one able to retrieve this from one's heart; a star seed. "Now you die" she said, startling her audience once again. Wasn't the thing dead already?! She crushed the fragile crystal abruptly and the students backed away with a cry as the Dementor started to glow a dark violet color, before vanishing in sparkles of the same color. Soon, nothing was left of it.
She suddenly sighed and staggered on her feet, and Severus had to get out of his mortified gaze quickly enough to catch her before she fell. She gave him a loving and thankful look before her gaze turned to the comatose boy half on the floor, half leaning on Remus' lap. She silently asked Severus to let her go, which he did reluctantly. He didn't want her to do the same thing to the kid!
She paid no attention to Remus' gasp at their proximity and kneeled in front of the boy, putting a hand on his chest, right where the heart was. Remus sputtered and tried to bring the boy closer to him, but she stopped any attempt from him with a well placed look. He froze and watched helplessly as she bent down until her lips were almost touching the young boy's.
Severus gritted his teeth and it almost took all his self control not to pounce on his girlfriend. All that went through his head was; 'IS SHE GOING TO KISS HIM!?!' He knew it was childish of him to think such things. The kid was younger than her and one of her students, for Merlin's sake!
A soft glow brought his attention back to the kneeling girl. Indeed, a softly glowing little ball of light formed between Serena and the boy's mouths, until it entered the student, making the last ray of light disappear.
Serena stood up and glanced at the kid, the cold in her eyes finally dissipating and making place for a soft and gentle gaze, the one everyone recognized to be *their Serena's* look. "What did you-!"
Remus didn't even have the time to finish his phrase as the kid suddenly shifted and groaned, sitting up and opening his eyes quickly. "Why is everyone looking at me like that? Oh! Professor Moon!" A wide smile of joy illuminated his face, totally oblivious to the stares he received. "You're finally awake!"
Serena smiled softly and nodded. "That I am! Are you feeling ok?" she inquired.
The boy nodded and got up, not paying attention to Remus and he looked around. "What happened here? Did you put your hand in raspberry jam or what? Whatever it is, it's dripping on the floor!"
Serena brought her hand to eye level and gazed at the dementor's blood. "Hm, I had forgotten about this. I'll go wash this filth up, if you'll all excuse me."
She moved to get out of the Great Hall when Minerva blocked her way. "WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?! WHAT HAPPENED? HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING WITHOUT EVEN BLINKING AN EYE? WHAT WAS THAT THING YOU CRUSHED AND WHY DID THE DEMENTOR DISSAPEARED?!"
Usagi blinked stupidly, and then smiled sweetly. "My, my, Minerva! So many questions!" She put her hands behind her back and giggled, making Minerva loose her calm.
"STOP EVADING OUR QUESTIONS!" She screeched angrily.
Serena stood unfazed by it all and giggled some more. "I did what I did because I was the only one capable of doing it. The black crystal you saw in my hands earlier is called a star seed and it holds the person's very soul, his essence if you wish. I wasn't fazed because that's what I do, because I was fated to a certain destiny even before I was born."
Sirius gripped her shoulders tightly and shook her slightly, watching her with frightened eyes as if she was going to vanish. "Why are you doing this? Why should *you* be the one to do this? Why not someone else?" he asked desperately.
Usagi shook her head and smiled again, but in her eyes was such a sadness that Sirius flinched. "I do this because it's my destiny, Sirius. I'm the only one who has the power to do this, so I'm doing it. There's no 'if' or 'but' in this. I wouldn't even let this fate to my worst enemy, and at least I know that this power is in good hands. That's the important thing, isn't it?"
"But! But-!" Sirius went to protest. 'This destiny makes you sad! This destiny makes you loose your humanity!' he wanted to scream, but no words came out of his mouth as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder, the one which wasn't bloodied. Which reminded her; she had to wash this up.
"Like I said earlier, there is no 'but', Sirius. Please excuse me. I'll go wash up and then you can tell me all that happened while I was unconscious." She left the Great Hall with one last look at Severus.
*~*
Intense red eyes focused silently on his kneeling followers, giving them even more Goosebumps than he usually did. The Death Eaters were anxious and troubled. Anxious because their master had finally given the date when the war would break out, and troubled because their Lord was behaving unlike himself.
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was usually restless in his quest to kill the Boy-Who-Lived, but now he passed most of his days sitting in his chair and looking at nothing in particular. Sometimes a glare would mare his feature before his gaze turned empty again, as if he was fighting something inside himself.
He had started to behave like this not so long after a mysterious explosion in the underground tunnels. The Death Eaters who had been present this day in that room had all perished (though in small number), and nobody knew what caused it and how Voldemort had survived this since he refused to speak of it, and killed anyone who dared start the subject.
They had found him unconscious in the rubbles and just in time to see a wisp of dark mist entering his body. It had taken their Lord a long time to recover, but their fear had been put aside when he awakened once again. They truly were admiring him! He was invincible, and he would always come back to fight once more! Their Lord truly was a god!
Voldemort gazed at his followers and almost sneered in disgust at the pure adoration in their eyes. They were like a puppet attached to a string, following the puppeteer's every whim. Heck! He could order them to commit suicide and they would do it, even if it meant jumping off a cliff or throwing themselves in front of Dumbledore with an outfit that screamed 'KILL ME I'M A DEATH EATER'!
He suddenly frowned and tensed visibly, making the Death Eaters look up to their Lord curiously. They were silent but started to be afraid as the room grew suddenly cold and as Voldemort sat up straighter in his chair. He raised a hand lazily and a rolled parchment appeared in it. "You have 2 days; I can't wait to see you again."
The Death Eaters startled as their master's voice seemed far too low and raspy for their liking, as if madness was taking his soul. The parchment vanished in front of their eyes and Lucius, who usually knew what was going on in his master's head, was puzzled. Too whom was he talking to? Was he talking about Potter? He took a step back as Voldemort tensed again and gripped the armchairs tightly enough for his knuckles to become white.
Inside his heart, Riddle was trying to regain the control he had momentarily lost. "Let me resurface again, you beast! You and I made a deal!" Riddle snarled. "You said I wouldn't even feel you in my head and yet you're taking advantage of my body as you like! Stick to your end of the bargain or I'll be forced to drive you out of here! Remember this: I only let you merge with me so I could have my revenge on Potter! I'll kill him! I swear I'll kill Potter!!!"
The servants of Voldemort stumbled back as Riddle loosened up and started to laugh maniacally, as if he had won a war or killed someone to his great satisfaction. They recoiled as the echo of his crazy laugh bounced through the corridors until it faded far away.
Hiding deep inside the human's soul, Chaos cackled to himself. 'That's it! Let your obsessive mind wander on this boy! Foolish human! Darken your heart even more so I will be able to take control! While you will be caught in your petty ordeals, I will finally be able to fight the Tsuki no Hime face to face! I can't wait for it to happen! She will surely ready herself when she'll read the message I sent her!'
*~*
Serena sighed as she washed her hands and face with a washcloth. The blood reeked and she had to use a great deal of soap to get the smell off. She searched for a towel and dried her face.
The rabbit was so caught up in her thoughts that she startled when a parchment appeared right in front of her, encased in a black halo. Her eyes narrowed considerably and she took the paper when the dark energy dissipated.
When she unrolled the parchment, her fear was confirmed. On the paper sat a black feather. She went to take it but changed her mind as it started to move by itself. The feather brushed the blank parchment until words started to form, and eventually, a single phrase. 'YOU HAVE 2 DAYS; I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN.'
When she finished reading it, the paper and feather fell lifelessly on the cold floor of the bathroom. The rabbit glared and leaned on the wall, until she just let herself slide on the ground.
She glanced at the sheet and put her head on her knees. 'I'm in deep shit' was the only thing she could think about.
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So? Was that ok? ^_^ The war is about to start! YAY! *why am I happy? It's the most difficult part to write! -_-;*
And like I said, I'm still writing the 3rd chapter of 'Through your Heart'. I intend to wait until I finish Curse before starting to post it so I'll have the time to write some more and not be rushed. I don't intend to stop writing SM/HP, though. It's just a small change, I guess. It's weird to write something without Harry, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Heck! I even surprised myself with all the different ideas popping into my head!
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Love ya all!
Eternal Cosmos ^_~