Hi guys! This chapter is the preparation before the war (the 2 days). I know, I know. It's taking me a damn long time to start the war chapter but I want everyone to understand everything and not get lost in the story. I also brought another personage in the scene, and I hope it will satisfy everyone! I kept having demands that I bring at least another senshi in the picture so I did just that. Hope you'll all be happy!
A BIG Thank You to the ones who reviewed, either it be a compliment or a demand!:
Lady Light Pheniox Rose Lady Aya Queen Diamond Erika MarsMoonStar MFlower49
SilverWingPhoenix TheEvilMusician SilverBunny5 Imperial Saturn Rynn Alessandra
Eternal Salior Earth Zodiac Jewelclaw Lady of Wind Henio GothicFairyRaven Guju-grl
Liza SailorSaturnCosmo Maiden Genisis
…ALSO! I'VE BROKEN THE 300 REVIEWS! YAY! I owe it all to you guys, you're all so great!
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The curse of the DADA teacher
Chapter 13: Bad Luck
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2 days…2 days…2 days…
Only 2 days, that's the only thing that went through Serena's head the day after she received the message. Meaning tomorrow would be the 'big day'. "Oh, this is just great!" Serena said to herself, her voice full of sarcasm and tension.
The teachers looked at her weirdly but went back to their lunch. Sirius suddenly pulled out his tongue in a grimace and pushed his plate aside. "I can't eat. How can I eat when all I think about is that scum, that motherfu-"
"SIRIUS BLACK!"
Sirius winced as Minerva yelled his name with an appalled voice and recoiled, pouting and grumbling in his butterbeer.
Severus was also with them, having decided to totally ignore Voldemort's calls on his Dark Mark. It had been surprisingly easy, to his and Albus' great alarm. The mark had burned like hell, of course, but somehow it stopped after a while, making Severus very nervous.
Voldemort NEVER let anyone disobey his orders and live to tell the tale. Snape was surprised he didn't die of pain because of the mark on his forearm. Maybe Riddle knew he was a spy and he wanted to kill him on the battlefield. Severus shuddered by thinking about it and imitated Sirius by pushing his plate aside, but instead of starting a new line of swears, he retreated silently to his quarters.
The atmosphere was so thick that the silence only held on by a thread. They only needed Fudge to open his big mouth and say 'Dark Lord!' and it would probably be general panic. 'Speaking of Cornelius Fudge' Serena thought, twisting her head on the side to glance at him with disgusted eyes, 'he's probably here because he got forced to show up or because he wants to be seen! What a fool! I'm sure he'll hightail out of here the moment this war starts!'
The marauders and Lily were quietly talking, making a plan of action and evaluating Voldemort's forces and Albus half-listened to them while gazing at the remaining students. Usagi gave a sad glance at them. The ¾ of the children were here, and there were even a couple of first years! Their parents had been in hysterics but all those children, 1st year to 7th year, had all decided on their own to side with Albus and defend their second home. Most of the Slytherins were missing, to no one's surprise, and even Severus didn't care at this point.
The members of the hidden Order of the Phoenix were also seated at the head table along with other aurors. The Great Hall had been enlarged so 2 other tables could be set up for other witches and wizards who had offered their support. All in all, they were at least 300 persons who had chosen to battle, and it disgusted Serena to know that only a handful of people were ready to fight for their loved ones.
She looked over the Gryffindor table where there was a big assembly of 6 and 7th years. Harry, bless the boy, was not being discouraged so easily and was preparing his own course of action with his DA group and probably reviewing some nasty curses they would have to use tomorrow.
James and Lily had been surprised and proud to learn that Harry had started his own defense class in his 5th year because of his earlier misadventures with other DADA teachers, minus Remus and Sirius, of course.
And now, she had to think about Riddle's army. None of them were really important to her, but she had to make sure nobody she cared about died prematurely. Surely they had bad luck these days. While it was a good thing that Voldemort was unable to convince the giants to fight for him, the bad side was that he had gathered an important army of werewolves.
Remus had been unable to convince the Lycanthropes to join the good side, except for 3 of his friends. Well, it was better than nothing and they wouldn't have giants running around making everyone panic even more.
The Dementors had all fled Azkaban with the prisoners to join the ranks of evil. It had made the headline for quite some time along with the news of the oncoming war. While the muggles lay totally unaware of all this, the wizards didn't dare go out anymore. The Death Eaters had also all been called and while Lucius Malfoy had probably ran to his master and licked his boots in admiration, she was sure of one thing; Peter was out of the picture. He had been given the Dementor's kiss a week after his capture, with all the proof they needed to know he really was dead.
Severus had told her Sirius had thrown a tantrum fit this fateful day; he had wanted so much to be the one to kill Pettigrew. 'Hm! He'll have a lot to do tomorrow, so I wouldn't worry about that!' Serena mused, and then her mood changed from musing to solemn.
'Still, they don't know that if Chaos decides to surface, they won't be any match against him. If Chaos decides to show himself to me, I doubt he'll let any of Voldemort's servants live. It's kinda stupid; Voldemort gathers all his troops and Chaos, still in Riddle's body, will destroy them all in the end. But I won't always be able to watch their backs…'
The rabbit put her hands in a praying manner, her face hidden from all. 'Someone…to watch their backs? That's it!' She got up unexpectedly and the loud and sudden movement made everyone jump and some pointed their wands at her out of reflex.
She ignored the panicked and curious gazes, along with the questions of her friends and dashed out of the Great Hall with a determined frown, messing Harry's hair on her way out, out of habit. "What's with her?" Sirius asked out of concern. "I hope she won't bring us more bad news…"
Remus elbowed him and shushed the grumbling Padfoot. "Hush now! We were bound to know anyway, and we can consider ourselves lucky Serena's the one who got the warning." Remus bent down to whisper in Sirius's ear; "It could've been Fudge and we would've been in great shit."
Sirius glanced at the minister and snorted none too gracefully, making Fudge narrow his eyes and wonder what they were up to.
*~*
"I need your help."
Galaxia blinked from her post in the outskirts of the Galaxy, watching the Tsuki no Hime from a mirror-like portal. "How very pleasing to see you too, hime-sama" The golden senshi deadpanned, but smiled afterwards to prove she was only joking.
It wasn't everyday that she had visit from the Moon Princess, heck any visit at all! So it had been very surprising to see a portal appear in front of her and the face of Serena looking back at her in it. She narrowed her eyes curiously at the faint background she could see but none of it seemed familiar. "Where are you, hime-sama? I do not recognize your emplacement." Galaxia asked, and she lifted an eyebrow when Serena fidgeted slightly.
"That's because I'm not in Japan anymore but in England, another dimension to be more precise. What you're seeing behind me is my classroom where I currently teach Defense Against the Dark Arts in the magic school for Witches and Wizards; Hogwarts."
Galaxia's eyebrows shot up and she lifted her hands in front of her. "Whoa! Whoa! You're teaching what? to a bunch of who? and where?!?"
Serena sweatdropped but she quickly sobered up. "I don't have all day, Galaxia. I will explain it all if you accept to aid me. The school is going into a war with one of their most powerful enemies, and I would need you to protect them when it'll become too much for them to handle."
Galaxia frowned and leaned her head on her hand. "Why would you need my help? And it isn't the senshi's mission to help humans fight their battles. Why should I help them? It's their business!"
Serena nodded. "I would normally agree with you, but I have to fight because I have to repair a mistake my senshi made. So you see; I am linked to this war one way or another. They tried to open a portal by themselves in a haste to see me in this dimension, but unfortunately a hidden remnant of Chaos followed their energy trail and leapt into the vortex before any of my eager friends could do anything. The portal closed right behind him and he had already knocked them out so they couldn't attempt to follow. And now, if that wasn't enough, Chaos found himself a new host; Tom Riddle, alias Voldemort. He's been plaguing the Wizarding world for years and he's the leader of his army. I would discus of the details but-" she stopped as Galaxia shot up from her seat and looked at her eagerly.
Galaxia didn't care anymore for details, the only word she needed to hear to act being Chaos. "Show me the way and I'll help you by protecting those people."
Serena let out a visible sigh of relief and thankfulness. "I'll open the right portal right away, hang on." And then Galaxia was gone from this world into another.
*~*
"Everyone's in the Great Hall at this moment preparing for tomorrow, so I'll have some time to explain in details what I want you to do." Serena said, while the Golden senshi couldn't help but show the look of wonderment in her face.
"Such strange things I've never seen before! Oh! What's that thing?" Galaxia sauntered giddily to the rabbit's desk and took a ball into her hands, examining it. She yelped when it changed color and was about to throw it on the floor when Serena's hand took the ball swiftly, effectively saving it.
The blue eyed girl gave a sigh of relief and put the ball back on her desk where it belonged. "That's a rememberall, Galaxia! Don't break it! It's useful; it changes color like that if you forgot something" Serena explained while the henshined senshi eyed it suspiciously.
"If you say so. But I don't think I've forgotten anything…AHHHH! The protective barrier around my domain back in the other dimension!!!" Galaxia jumped from one foot to another hurriedly, making the rabbit laugh out loud at the other's demeanor.
"Don't worry! I put a barrier up when I opened the portal!" She laughed again when Galaxia slumped into a nearby chair.
"Thank you!" Then, she straightened and looked up to her gravely. "Now, about why I'm here? Why didn't you get your senshi for this? Why me?"
Serena also became serious and sat in her teacher's chair. "Don't get me wrong; I love my senshi to death, even if they're the most impatient and protective bunch of people around. I know it's also their mistake I'm about to repair, but if they come here they'll practically throw themselves head first into the danger and we both know that Chaos doesn't play nice. I don't want them to participate in this, Pluto knows. And anyway, I need them to protect Earth back there. I thought of you because I know you won't do anything foolish. I know that deep down in your heart you still have some fear for Chaos, right?"
Galaxia nodded, her bangs covering her eyes. "You know, I was kinda scared when you said Chaos was back. I didn't want to fight because I would've probably ended up like all those years ago. I don't want Chaos to take possession of my body again."
Serena eyes the slightly trembling senshi and shook her head. "That's why I only need you to form a shield if anything should happen. Don't worry about what Chaos might do to you if he sees you again. It's me he's after, and I think once the true war will start, he won't see anyone else there but me. I need you to prevent my friends here to try to help me. Some of them are very courageous, but they act before thinking; I don't want them to throw themselves to their deaths, Selene knows how much I've seen that."
Silence met her statement while Galaxia digested the information. Serena took her time to explain the situation completely so Galaxia wouldn't be lost once all of this started. Time passed by, until the clock chimed the 4th hour in the afternoon. The serious rabbit finally got up, the other woman following her instantly.
Even though the Tsuki no Hime had explained all in details, seeing the castle made Galaxia childishly curious again. Ghosts and Poltergeists, paintings that could talk, but the tense aura surrounding this place was making her more and more aware of the situation.
'That's right; they have their enemy to fight before it begins. I don't know how Serenity-Hime can take this so calmly! I'm already a nervous wreck! The Sailor War is so way back; all I've been defending the Galaxy from is from ordinary youma who were too greedy for their own good!' Galaxia grimaced with that thought, while the rabbit eyed her weirdly, and then shrugged it off.
"Here we are!"
Galaxia jumped when she didn't even remembered walking down the stairs she saw behind her.
"You better de-henshin for the moment, Galaxia. I told you they've never seen me transformed before and I don't want to give any of them heart attacks. It would only make them panic more if they knew my ultimate enemy was back and in the body of theirs. They don't even know the true me yet, so you can guess that in my warrior form…"
Galaxia nodded and, eyeing what the Tsuki hime was wearing, she de-transformed. While Serena had opted for a silver cloak, Galaxia wore a golden one. She eyed her choice of clothing with a satisfied hum and took Serena's hand in hers. "Since we can't call ourselves by our titles right now, why don't you call me Alexia? I'd be honored to have you call me by my true name!"
The rabbit nodded with a smile. "Well if that's the case, for the moment you can call me Serena, not Serenity."
Then, they walked in the immense room.
*~*
Everyone was so busy that they didn't even notice their entrance. Serena could see that Severus was back, probably while Alexia and she were talking in her classroom. As they approached Albus, movements stopped, before the people just went back to their business, dismissing the new arrival.
One more person to help them, they all thought, and didn't think farther than this. Like this 'one more person' was a friend of professor Moon, for example, and that professor Moon's friends were far from being ordinary.
"Ahh, Serena! Glad you're back with us! We were wondering what made you run from the Great Hall this morning. Who is this woman, my child?" Albus asked in a grandfatherly sort of way.
Severus eyed the newcomer with narrowed eyes and Galaxia gave him back the same look, until Serena nudged her to stop, smiling all the while to the old man. "I'm sorry if I scared you this morning, Albus! I want to present you one of my friends; Alexia. It's been awhile since I've seen her and I thought she could help us during the battle."
Albus smiled and clasped his hands together. "Good, good! We will need all the help we can get! You can come with me, dear! I will present you to the others."
Serena gave a comforting look to her friend and Alexia followed the headmaster with one last glance at the Tsuki no Hime. The rabbit turned as a set of hands touched her shoulders. She looked behind her from left to right where Sirius and Severus stood.
Sirius gave her a peck on the cheek and a hug before he went to join Harry and his parents. Severus stayed with her until it was the time for everyone to go get some much needed sleep.
Alexia ran back to her and attached herself to Serena's arm, looking wildly around her in mock panic. Serena and Severus both gave her funny looks and the ruby eyed woman gripped her arm even more. "I can't believe you left me with that old man all evening! I met some really weird people out there! That *thing* he called a minister kept giving me weird looks and insulted me AND you! Why I bothered to hold back is a mystery waiting to be discovered! AND! What the hell is a Lemon Drop?"
Serena sweatdropped and fell anime style. "He! He! It's just a candy, Alexia! ^_^; Albus offers lemon Drops to everyone…" She shook off her goofy smile and pried off Alexia's strong grip on her arm. "Anyway! It's time to go to sleep. I'll show you to my room and I'll sleep in Severus' quarters tonight."
Alexia watched as the man called Severus gazed at her with love filled eyes. They were preparing to get out of the Hall when a kid ran to the Tsuki no Hime and hugged her tightly. Galaxia watched as some wizards and witches gasped at the sight of a student hugging a teacher with so much familiarity but Serena paid them no heed and hugged the boy back.
"I'll need you to be strong tomorrow, Harry. Fight as best as you can. Protect the people you love, protect everything in which you believe in. Be strong for Sirius and Remus! Be strong for your many friends who all believe in you! Be strong for your parents who will always be proud of you no matter what, and be strong for me" she finished almost silently.
Small tears fell from the boy's eyes and Galaxia couldn't help but to sympathize for the Boy-Who-Lived. He, too, was forced to fight against his will, just like Serenity hime. Those 2 were so much alike it was almost scary! Lily took back his son with teary eyes and murmured a thank you before they all went back to their rooms.
Tomorrow…would be a tough day.
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NEXT CHAPTER: THE WAR *FINALLY* STARTS. I think you've all been waiting for that one…^_^;
It may take a little longer to update because I don't want to mess up the scenes and all. There's going to be 2 parts in this after all; the part with Harry, and the part with Serena. So buckle up, people! You're in for a ride! ^__^
I hope that the idea of bringing Galaxia in the picture was ok with everyone! She won't take Serena's place, don't worry. She's still a tad scared about the whole ordeal with Chaos so she will only help to protect the wizards. Don't bitch her because you're afraid she'll take the 1st role, because she won't. *I wouldn't allow her anyway! -_-;*
I'll see ya next time!
R&R!!!! Thank you!
Eternal Cosmos ^_~