The Starlit Path
Notes: This is the last time I'll say this I own neither Harry Potter or Sailor Moon so please no suing.
Thanks a bunch to: Note: Since chapter numbers were kind of messed up thanks to Fan Fiction. Net decided to sort of ban author note chapters so I might accidentally mention some reviewers twice.
To: Elara2: Thank you!!! I hope to at the very least cover the entrance into Hogwarts; the sorting will defiantly be in the next chapter, man I really need to pick up the pace.
To miko no tsuki: Whimpers, sorry! There was a reason for it, honestly! Blue cowers slightly.
To mae: Don't worry, I honestly don't know where it is going either, I just let the story flow, somewhat, as I type it. Thank you!
To Sailor Element: Wow, I feel flattered, thanks for reviewing!
Well that's quite enough of my yap onward to the story!
Chapter Four
Harvesting the Stars
Part One:
A Meeting of Minds
The emerald rolling hills and valleys rose and fell until it reached a plain that was shielded away from eyes of normal man. Magic lived here, a modern Avalon forbidden for mortal normal man to even look upon. Wards guarded this place; for inside the large gothic looking castle with its' towering spires that reached into the sky, the seemingly crumbling, but still intact towers; was the home of at least a thousand or so children whom had either directly inherited magic from their family bloodlines or had picked up magic almost like a receive trait. Inside these halls two important, almost infamous figures in the magical world were holding a secret meeting in the elder's office.
It was so early in the morning that the portraits of the former head masters and mistresses of the school were soundly asleep; but the two human figures were not only wide awake but were have an animated conversation.
"Are you sure that they would be.born into this time Albus?" the stern looking woman asked, concern seemed to be permanently etched into her slightly graying brow.
The old man sitting across from her smiled secretly, almost as if only he was entrusted with all the secrets in the world and yet was not arrogant about it. His light blue eyes held a spark that seemed to be indulgent in a grandfatherly sort of way. Hands with wrinkles impressed on them rested calmly on top of the redwood desk.
"I can assure you Minerva that they have not only been reborn into our era but will also be walking the very halls of this very building."
The woman indulged a nervous habit of rubbing her hand together for a brief moment before composing herself again, "It's too soon," she murmured, "Now we not only have to be considered over the boy's safety but we also have five."
"Seven, Minerva,"
The woman resisted the urge to roll her eyes in frustration, "Yes seven young ladies and let's not forget having to keep our eyes out for any number of "missing" pieces to this puzzle. And if that wasn't enough Harry Potter will be attending Hogwarts as well."
The woman closed with a heavy sigh, her face lined with light wrinkles seemed to have aged ten more years, her body radiating tension but spoke not of the hint of fear flashing in her grey-green eyes. As if holding the education of countless students in ones' hands wasn't stressful enough her nerves now had to contend with the whispered threats of not a but, THE Dark Lord might not be dead after all and added to the mix were several incoming first years that prophesy and logic has predicted will play roles in this little game of life that one could only imagine.
"Most of these children are from Muggle families, and those that are from wizariding household their parents are too afraid of the predictions to send their children here," the deputy headmistress replied.
"If you are referring to the Collins, I can assure you that Miss Serena Collins will be here for the Sorting."
"But what about the other two? Ami and Mina, have their families received any letters?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes Minerva, with the letter received it is up to the families on whether or not they believe but I am certain that those girls just like Serena shall be at Hogwarts."
Part Two
Denial
"I refuse!" Cassie hissed between clenched teeth as she stuffed the last letter from the post into the chimney. Her eye makeup had long since been smeared into a raccoon appearance; the salt of her hot tears still stinging her face. Lighting the match with a trembling hand she collapsed to the ground; with her arms wrapped securely around her own body she watched the tiny embers flicker into flames with wide blue eyes. With each curled up burnt piece of parchment she could almost hear the screaming inside her head.
When the first letter had come she had thought that it was a mistake, surly they wouldn't want to place her only daughter in danger would they?
Then the letters came in not unlike the steady flow at number Four Privet Drive miles and miles away from Cassie's home. Only instead of the occupenant being afraid of what the letter continued she was afraid of them period. She hung her head, unruly waves of hair fell across her face, wrinkles and worry lines that shouldn't be present on her face seemed to be imprinted deeper into her heart shaped face. Her and her beloved husband had another fight about this subject just thirty minutes ago, after which he left to go for " a walk" he said. He saw nothing wrong with their Serena going to Hogwarts, his excate words were that if the school was safe enough during the reign of that dark lord that she would go on about then it was safe enough for Serena to attend.
Bitter tears coursed down her face, she loved her husband but with him being a muggle he didn't know just how terrified everyone was of the Dark Lord, she herself refused to marry any wizard, always worried that she might end up marring a Death Eater just like.
She shook her head. No, it was best not to dwell on the past. She had more important things to do, her daughter's future for one. Cassie knew that she couldn't change destiny, "Serena will become a great witch. She will change the fate of the world for good but only if I teach her. If I send her off to Hogwarts she'll be dead before she steps off that train to enter the school. I'll teach her, I still have all my old school books plus a few more that I can teach her from. I can keep her safe."
With that though she drifted off to an uneasy sleep in front of the fire, behind her the dark sky showed the moon curled into a Cheshire cat crescent smile.
Upstairs Serena was smothering her own tears inside the safe cradle of a pillow. Her knees curled up to her chest she tried to quiet her breathing just in case someone would hear her. She couldn't cry, not when her mother was already upset. Another fight had erupted in the household and it was about her; what made it worse was that she didn't know why. She knew that if it was something that she had done wrong her parents would have told her and she would have been rebuked by that action but they had been fighting for a solid month now. Serena was not so naïve to believe that her parent's marriage was free of turmoil and disagreements but they never argued so often nor more vocal then they had this past month.
And it was always about her.
She had no clue what she had done wrong. Why were they so angry all the time?
It has something to do with those letters. Yes, those letters, as silly as it sounded, was the root of this new evil that had descended on their household. If only she could get a hold of just one of them and read them but that right there was near impossible since her mother would burn every scrap of paper that so much as resembled a letter envelope. Her father had a cow when he found out that she had burnt a few bills by mistake.
She was scared. Her mother seemed like an entirely different person. Sometimes she would just break down and cry for no apparent reason and ask her daughter to hug her. Other times she would yell and get angry over trivial seeming things like the time she had stared out at the moon. Serena couldn't understand how that could be wrong but when her mother found her staring at the night sky she screamed and closed the window drawing the thick curtains across the window to block the moon and stars out; she then turned to Serena yelling at her.
"I don't want you looking at the moon you hear me young lady?! And don't go outside at night either!" Her mother howled like a banshee.
A single tear slide down Serena's face, her mouth whispering into the pillow the question that she dared not to ask her mother even now, "Momma, what did I do wrong?"
An hour later Serena's father returned to see the coals of the fire in the fireplace slowly burning itself out. Her wife was curled up in front of the hearth, her head lolled in an awkward position; for a moment his heart stopped thinking that she was dead so he was very relieved when he saw the rise and fall of her chest. He took in the mild chaos, bits of paper scattered everywhere alongside used matches littered the floor. Cassie looked so exhausted that he was torn between moving her at least to the couch but at the same time he didn't want to wake her up.
He sighed and decided to lift her up to the couch; carefully he scooped her up and placed her onto the couch, ending up sitting beside her. He was growing very concerned over his wife.
Suddenly his gaze was caught by a burst of green flame, and the outline of an old man wearing what could only be described as a pointed blue triangle, a wizard hat. At first all he could do was blink until he recalled that the old man must have been using a magical substance called Floo Powder; when he and Cassie were dating she had scared him shitless by popping her head in the fireplace of his parent's house; thankfully at the time she had already confessed to being a witch but it was still unnerving to say the least.
He gulped nervously, standing in front of the fire, and feeling a bit stupid, asked the head within the flames, "Can I help you sir?"
Having mopped up her tears with tissue and cooled her red face with cold water Serena was ready to go down stairs to make herself lunch. Her stomach growled as she wondered if there was any turkey meat left over from last night's dinner. Taking the steps two at the time, food being the driving force she almost tripped over her own feet when her eyes innocently spotted her father talking to the fireplace, or rather the roaring green flames within the fireplace.
Her jaw seemed to come unhinged with shock. Since when did her dad start talking to fireplaces and an even better question could be why in the world were the flames green?
Quietly Serena crept down the last two steps, skirted around the footstool that she almost always tripped over, and stood in the corner of the living room watching in amazement as her father carried on a conversation with a head inside the fire. She bit back a gasp, forcing herself to watch in complete stillness and silence.
"It is a pleasure to meet you in person Mr. Collins. I trust that you have received the letters concerning your daughter?" the head, which looked like a very ancient but grandfatherly old man with an odd looking hat perched on his head.
Her father laughed, his right hand moving to ruffle his hair, a gesture that Serena knew was a result of nervousness, "Actually my wife, Cassie, has read at least one of the letters but well she.burnt them."
The old man nodded sagely, "I understand. In all honesty I sympathize with your situation."
"But," Collins interrupted with an edge in his tone.
"But I am afraid that your daughter must attend Hogwarts, at least for this year. She has the potential to become a very powerful witch if given the proper teaching."
"What?!" Serena hissed, only to blush realizing that she had been caught.
Both her father and the man within the flames turned to look at her; her father looked nervous, the old man on the other hand looked neither shocked nor angry, in fact he seemed amused.
"I am so glad that you could join us Miss Collins, come and sit down, we have much to talk about."
Part Three
A New Old Friend
"I don't want to go to London," Lita sulked even though she was already buckled into the passenger seat of her grandmother's old car.
"Well I can't just let you sit around the house and mop about your friend, oh what's his name again Lita, was it Harold?"
Lita sighed and rolled her eyes, "Harry grand mum, Harry, you know skinny, short kid wears glasses, scruffy looking black hair?"
"Ah yes, the Potter boy!" the old woman said, only to grow serious and shake her head, muttering something under her breathe that Lita couldn't quite hear.
For the next hour the car was silent, not even a lulling tune of an oldies radio station was to be heard. Lita stared out blankly at the landscape as they passed it by. It had only been the day before yesterday that she had seen Harry's uncle rustle his family, including Harry, into a cramped car and drove off to who knows where. For years now Harry had been Lita's only friend, mostly because many people their age was afraid of her because of her immense strength and the fact that a lot of "accidents" that had to do with electricity seemed to always happen when she was near by. It seemed to be the same way for Harry; it was bad enough that the boy had to suffer through humiliation at school but to have to endure it at home too. Lita shook her head, she knew that she was a strong person but even that would be a bit hard to take day in and day out.
"We're here Lita," her grandmother stated calmly.
After getting out of the parked car Lita followed her grandmother down the street, they bypassed several shops even a few restaurants and cafes but for some reason none of these places seemed to interest her grandmother in fact the elder woman seemed to be somewhat annoyed by their presence.
"Bloody nuisance, all of these new muggle stores cramped so tightly, not an alley way in sight," the old woman rambled in half whispers half murmurs to herself.
They wandered around several streets before they stopped. Lita shot a curious glance over her grandmother's shoulder; they were standing in the middle of an alleyway. Lita frowned, what in the world was her grandmother thinking to bring them to a dirty dark alleyway.
"Uh grand mum what are we doing here?" Lita asked.
"We're here to get your school things silly," her grandmother replied with a soft chuckle to herself as she pulled out a long willowy appearing stick from the pocket of her long skirt.
"Let's see, now what was that combination again? Hmm-right brick, left, down.no no that's not right. Bear with me Lita; it has been ages since I have used this passageway into Diagon Alley.
'What in the world is "Diagon Alley?' Lita wondered. Out loud she questioned, "Grandma, are you sure that you are feeling alright? Maybe we should go back home or at least sit inside one of the restaurants for a while."
"No need Lita, I almost have this combination down." She raised the "stick" to tap the last brick. There was a low rumble as dust and cobwebs flew off of the shifting bricks. Lita watched in amazement as the solid brick wall transformed into a hanging archway right before her eyes. Once the arch was form a street sign appeared, one pointed ahead to Diagon Alley and one pointed east read Knockturn Alley. Lita blinked her large emerald green eyes, this was impossible; but before she could reason the street laid before them and the people dressed in funny clothing walking by them her grandmother grasped her hand and lead her through the brick archway.
Lita stared open mouthed at the shops and people that they passed by; did that sign just say Olivander's Wands? Or that sign claiming to be an "Owl Emporium"? One thing was for sure this was no joke. All of these shops and people looked very genuine so whatever this place was it certainly wasn't one of her grandmother's pranks.
"Grand mum, slow down," Lita protested but the old lady didn't heed her request instead it was full steam again until they stood in front of a large white marble building, just above the entrance was a sign in gold lettering "Gringotts" standing in front of the large doors leading inside were tiny men with grostetly wrinkled faces wearing vests and pants.
"Come on Lita, we have to get some money out of the bank before we can buy your school things."
Lita gapped, her grandmother was talking about entering a bank guarded by two troll looking things like it was just as normal as going downtown and getting money from a "normal" bank.
Lita fell back, drinking in the entrance, and the weird looking little men before being dragged inside by her grandmother.
Once inside Lita saw more weird looking midgets, all dressed in fancy clothing that went out of style centuries ago. There were some leading people around the floor and some were behind desks scribbling with long feather quills.
"Where in the hell am I?" Lita whispered aloud.
Her grandmother frowned, "Lita don't use language like that. And to answer your question this is Gringotts, the best wizarding bank in the world. Every witch and wizard comes here to get withdraw and deposit their galleons, sickles, and knuts."
"Galleons, knuts? Grandma what are you talking about?"
The old woman sighed, "Didn't you parents tell you anything sweetheart?" she asked in return before shaking her head. "Never mind don't answer that, I can tell that they were more serious about all of this then I could have imagined."
"Galleons, sickles, and knuts are wizarding money Lita. We use it to buy stuff like cauldrons, wands, potion ingredients, and several other things that we can't get in the Muggle stores."
"Muggle?"
"Non magic people hon," Lita's grandmother answered just as it was their turn in line.
Lita was a tall girl for her age, about 4'9, but she had to stand on tiptoe to see the head of yet another deformed looking dwarf.
"Name please," the strange creature asked, his head leaning over the edge of the desk to look down at Lita and her grandmother, a small monticule rested upon his right eye.
"The Mahanoy family vault please," the woman, replied back crisply.
The man nodded and for a moment disappeared from underneath the desk. He reappeared shortly after standing to the right of Lita's grandmother, holding an amazingly large key ring with tons of iron keys clanking as he walked.
"This way," the man said as he hobbled across the room towards the open mouthed tunnels. Resting just at the entrance of the tunnel was a rickety old mining car. The troll-looking fellow hopped into the front of the car following his example Lita sat in the middle while her grandmother sat behind her.
"Everybody in? Alright then, let's go!" the troll man said as he pushed the gear of the cart forward.
Lita would have gasped at the sudden speed if the air hadn't been temporarily robbed from her lungs; it was like a dark roller coaster, up, down, sharp turn, spin, it was such a rush. The scenery whizzed by them so fast that Lita could hardly see the same stalagmites and stalactites that Harry Potter had passed by just a day before.
"Wow," was the first sound that came from her mouth when the cart pulled up in front of a large iron vault.
The little man hopped out of the cart and onto the small ledge where the vault door stood. He sorted through the keys until he found the one he was looking for. Carefully he slid it into the lock turned it left then right then left again and the door opened with an audible click. As soon as the door was opened Lita's vision was bombarded with the bright luster of polished silver, gold, and copper.
Another awed expression was about to erupt from Lita but her grandmother intruded on the moment by taking her hand and all but dragging her into the vault; once she was inside Lita couldn't muster even a sigh. Glancing up at the numerous columns of gold Lita wondered just how much all of these coins were worth.
While Lita was gawking at the treasure her grandmother had two sack in hand and was filling it with several coins, one sack was for Lita's school stuff, it was about the size of a large muggle purse, while the larger sack would be put away at the house to buy miscellaneous magical supplies over the year and a little bit extra incase Lita wanted spending money on the train to and from Hogwarts.
"Lita, I am ready to go," the old woman said in warning to her granddaughter whom was still wandering aimlessly about the vault.
The young girl shook her head as if to keep herself from pondering about why she didn't know that her family was so well off, in the "wizarding world" that is. They weren't poor per say but this mountain of gold and silver was ten times the worth of the house that they now lived in. Following her grandmother back into the cart Lita craned her head to glance at the treasure trove just once more before the man shut the door and locked it again.
A few minutes, and another wild ride, later Lita and her grandmother emerged from the bank, blinking in the bright sunlight, which was a severe contrast to the dark tunnel. Before Lita could even recover her grandmother was walking towards a small shop call "Flourish and Blots". Lita moved to follow her grandmother but with just a few steps away from the bank she was walked right into somebody.
"Watch where you're going will ya?" a rude voice cut through.
Lita glared at the young man whom had ran into, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She eyes him critically. He was a few inches shorter than her; he had shoulder length chocolate brown hair that seemed to have a somewhat thick curly texture, and dark violet blue eyes that stared down coldly at her. She knew right off the bat that she didn't like him.
"Excuse me, but you ran into ME," the tall brunette haired girl cut in hotly.
The boy snorted, "Whatever, I don't have time to waste with you anyway."
With that the boy walked away, while Lita grumbled and cursed him under her breath as she brushed dust off of her t-shirt and jeans.
They went their separate ways not knowing that their whether they liked it or not their destinies were linked in that very brief and somewhat hostile meeting. And they of course didn't know that they had meet before in a similar fashion many, many years before that moment. And no one, especially the two children realize that they had become the worst of enemies and the best of allies.
Part Four
Blackbird
Rei glanced in the mirror as she reached back to place one last twist into the neat braid that she had platted her raven hair into. Today her nurse was going to take her to Diagon Alley to buy her school supplies. She had the pouch of money that could have supplied a whole household of children with their Hogwarts school stuff for an entire year; it was strapped around her waist resting on her left hip. Normally such a flaunting feat at this one would be considered foolish but in this case any mugger would have to be pretty stupid to want to rob her since the bag was charmed with a "guard dog" spell so that if anyone tried to snatch it off of her person they would be inflicted with several deep bite marks in their hands. She smirked at her reflection. Nothing could go wrong today.
Before she could leave she needed to contract Ami, just to make sure that she would be in London just as she asked, and more importantly that she would be alone from her Muggle parents long enough for them to get the shy girl's school supplies.
"But what about when she needs to get to King's Cross what then? You can't tell Amy to just walk up to her parents and say, "Um Mum, Dad I need you to take me to the train station so that I can catch the train to Hogwarts, oh and by the way I'll be gone for a few weeks but I haven't runaway or been kidnapped I am just going to a wizarding academy isn't that great!"
Rei shook her head, she'd deal with that later, right now she need to get Amy into Diagon Alley so that they could get her school stuff. Then they could worry about King's Cross afterwards.
Kneeling before the fireplace Rei cleared her thoughts and almost immediately found Amy.
She plunged into the icy aura, 'Amy are you there?'
Silence then
'I am here Rei.'
'Are your parents ready to go yet?' Rei asked, sounding a bit eager to her own ears.
Being an only child she always felt a bit lonely living in this enormous house with just her father and the servant for company, and she didn't have any friends from the private primary Muggle schools that her father sent her too; she mainly went to those school to project a wholesome image, or so her father always murmured under his breathe since he despised Muggles and Muggleborns with a passion.
"Which is why my father and Amy will never formally meet," Rei mused to herself.
Amy's reply came back shy and nervous, 'I uh well they we have a guest at our house as of right now so depending on how long they stay we may not even go into town today.'
'What?! No Amy you can't do this! We have been planning on going to Diagon Alley, together for a week! Is the guest a relative or a family friend? Maybe you can get your parents to wrap up the visit or at least talk them into coming with you to London.'
'No, I don't think we are related,' Amy replied softly, 'In fact I have never seen this woman before in my life.'
'A woman? What is her name?' Rei asked.
'She calls herself Minerva McGonagall. She says that she is a professor from Hogwarts.'
'Oh.oh! She's talking with your parents about you attending Hogwarts Amy?' Rei asked, this was turning out to be promising if Amy's parent's believed the professor than it getting Amy to actually show up at King's Cross would be settled.
'Yes, I was kind of worried that they wouldn't believe her but she has only been here for an hour and they are already asking her questions about the school and stuff so I think they are at the very least curious about Hogwarts."
'I'll let you go then, but Amy please, please try to make it to Diagon Alley today. It would be nice to have someone to talk to and I do want to know you a bit better before we arrive at Hogwarts.' Rei said.
'I'll try Rei, but I am really not able to make any promises,' Amy replied a bit grimly.
'Don't worry about that, if you can't come today I understand. Bye for now!'
'Bye.'
With that Rei withdrew from the ice aura and then through the fire just before her nurse came in to announce that it was time for them to leave. With a small frown the nurse brushed the ashes and soot off of the hem of Rei's new black silk robes then led the girl out of her bedroom into the kitchen, inside was a big fireplace with a leather pouch filled with Floo Powder resting on the mantle top.
Rei rolled her eyes; it was really useless for her nurse to wipe off the soot of her robe when she was bound to get more on her once they entered the Leaky Cauldron after using the Floo Powder. But instead of commenting the folly like most children of privilege might Rei just took it in stride. The nurse threw in a pinch of Floo Powder instantly green flames shot up. Without hesitation Rei stepped into the fire, a shiver coursed down her spine as her mind briefly met with Amy's aura; so the water sprite was using Floo Powder too, curiosity of the professor of course. Rei couldn't help but smirk, yes everything was coming into play now all she had to do was recite her lines and play her part to a tee.
This was going to be fun.
Notes: Sorry for making it so short but like I said I really feel that I should pick up the pace of the fic so expect the Sorting to take place in the next post, I promise but there will be a bit continuing of Diagon Alley, Ami and Mina's pov, and of course a few others, including Serena. Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I'll update as soon as possible. Bye-bye for now and peace ^_^
Notes: This is the last time I'll say this I own neither Harry Potter or Sailor Moon so please no suing.
Thanks a bunch to: Note: Since chapter numbers were kind of messed up thanks to Fan Fiction. Net decided to sort of ban author note chapters so I might accidentally mention some reviewers twice.
To: Elara2: Thank you!!! I hope to at the very least cover the entrance into Hogwarts; the sorting will defiantly be in the next chapter, man I really need to pick up the pace.
To miko no tsuki: Whimpers, sorry! There was a reason for it, honestly! Blue cowers slightly.
To mae: Don't worry, I honestly don't know where it is going either, I just let the story flow, somewhat, as I type it. Thank you!
To Sailor Element: Wow, I feel flattered, thanks for reviewing!
Well that's quite enough of my yap onward to the story!
Chapter Four
Harvesting the Stars
Part One:
A Meeting of Minds
The emerald rolling hills and valleys rose and fell until it reached a plain that was shielded away from eyes of normal man. Magic lived here, a modern Avalon forbidden for mortal normal man to even look upon. Wards guarded this place; for inside the large gothic looking castle with its' towering spires that reached into the sky, the seemingly crumbling, but still intact towers; was the home of at least a thousand or so children whom had either directly inherited magic from their family bloodlines or had picked up magic almost like a receive trait. Inside these halls two important, almost infamous figures in the magical world were holding a secret meeting in the elder's office.
It was so early in the morning that the portraits of the former head masters and mistresses of the school were soundly asleep; but the two human figures were not only wide awake but were have an animated conversation.
"Are you sure that they would be.born into this time Albus?" the stern looking woman asked, concern seemed to be permanently etched into her slightly graying brow.
The old man sitting across from her smiled secretly, almost as if only he was entrusted with all the secrets in the world and yet was not arrogant about it. His light blue eyes held a spark that seemed to be indulgent in a grandfatherly sort of way. Hands with wrinkles impressed on them rested calmly on top of the redwood desk.
"I can assure you Minerva that they have not only been reborn into our era but will also be walking the very halls of this very building."
The woman indulged a nervous habit of rubbing her hand together for a brief moment before composing herself again, "It's too soon," she murmured, "Now we not only have to be considered over the boy's safety but we also have five."
"Seven, Minerva,"
The woman resisted the urge to roll her eyes in frustration, "Yes seven young ladies and let's not forget having to keep our eyes out for any number of "missing" pieces to this puzzle. And if that wasn't enough Harry Potter will be attending Hogwarts as well."
The woman closed with a heavy sigh, her face lined with light wrinkles seemed to have aged ten more years, her body radiating tension but spoke not of the hint of fear flashing in her grey-green eyes. As if holding the education of countless students in ones' hands wasn't stressful enough her nerves now had to contend with the whispered threats of not a but, THE Dark Lord might not be dead after all and added to the mix were several incoming first years that prophesy and logic has predicted will play roles in this little game of life that one could only imagine.
"Most of these children are from Muggle families, and those that are from wizariding household their parents are too afraid of the predictions to send their children here," the deputy headmistress replied.
"If you are referring to the Collins, I can assure you that Miss Serena Collins will be here for the Sorting."
"But what about the other two? Ami and Mina, have their families received any letters?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes Minerva, with the letter received it is up to the families on whether or not they believe but I am certain that those girls just like Serena shall be at Hogwarts."
Part Two
Denial
"I refuse!" Cassie hissed between clenched teeth as she stuffed the last letter from the post into the chimney. Her eye makeup had long since been smeared into a raccoon appearance; the salt of her hot tears still stinging her face. Lighting the match with a trembling hand she collapsed to the ground; with her arms wrapped securely around her own body she watched the tiny embers flicker into flames with wide blue eyes. With each curled up burnt piece of parchment she could almost hear the screaming inside her head.
When the first letter had come she had thought that it was a mistake, surly they wouldn't want to place her only daughter in danger would they?
Then the letters came in not unlike the steady flow at number Four Privet Drive miles and miles away from Cassie's home. Only instead of the occupenant being afraid of what the letter continued she was afraid of them period. She hung her head, unruly waves of hair fell across her face, wrinkles and worry lines that shouldn't be present on her face seemed to be imprinted deeper into her heart shaped face. Her and her beloved husband had another fight about this subject just thirty minutes ago, after which he left to go for " a walk" he said. He saw nothing wrong with their Serena going to Hogwarts, his excate words were that if the school was safe enough during the reign of that dark lord that she would go on about then it was safe enough for Serena to attend.
Bitter tears coursed down her face, she loved her husband but with him being a muggle he didn't know just how terrified everyone was of the Dark Lord, she herself refused to marry any wizard, always worried that she might end up marring a Death Eater just like.
She shook her head. No, it was best not to dwell on the past. She had more important things to do, her daughter's future for one. Cassie knew that she couldn't change destiny, "Serena will become a great witch. She will change the fate of the world for good but only if I teach her. If I send her off to Hogwarts she'll be dead before she steps off that train to enter the school. I'll teach her, I still have all my old school books plus a few more that I can teach her from. I can keep her safe."
With that though she drifted off to an uneasy sleep in front of the fire, behind her the dark sky showed the moon curled into a Cheshire cat crescent smile.
Upstairs Serena was smothering her own tears inside the safe cradle of a pillow. Her knees curled up to her chest she tried to quiet her breathing just in case someone would hear her. She couldn't cry, not when her mother was already upset. Another fight had erupted in the household and it was about her; what made it worse was that she didn't know why. She knew that if it was something that she had done wrong her parents would have told her and she would have been rebuked by that action but they had been fighting for a solid month now. Serena was not so naïve to believe that her parent's marriage was free of turmoil and disagreements but they never argued so often nor more vocal then they had this past month.
And it was always about her.
She had no clue what she had done wrong. Why were they so angry all the time?
It has something to do with those letters. Yes, those letters, as silly as it sounded, was the root of this new evil that had descended on their household. If only she could get a hold of just one of them and read them but that right there was near impossible since her mother would burn every scrap of paper that so much as resembled a letter envelope. Her father had a cow when he found out that she had burnt a few bills by mistake.
She was scared. Her mother seemed like an entirely different person. Sometimes she would just break down and cry for no apparent reason and ask her daughter to hug her. Other times she would yell and get angry over trivial seeming things like the time she had stared out at the moon. Serena couldn't understand how that could be wrong but when her mother found her staring at the night sky she screamed and closed the window drawing the thick curtains across the window to block the moon and stars out; she then turned to Serena yelling at her.
"I don't want you looking at the moon you hear me young lady?! And don't go outside at night either!" Her mother howled like a banshee.
A single tear slide down Serena's face, her mouth whispering into the pillow the question that she dared not to ask her mother even now, "Momma, what did I do wrong?"
An hour later Serena's father returned to see the coals of the fire in the fireplace slowly burning itself out. Her wife was curled up in front of the hearth, her head lolled in an awkward position; for a moment his heart stopped thinking that she was dead so he was very relieved when he saw the rise and fall of her chest. He took in the mild chaos, bits of paper scattered everywhere alongside used matches littered the floor. Cassie looked so exhausted that he was torn between moving her at least to the couch but at the same time he didn't want to wake her up.
He sighed and decided to lift her up to the couch; carefully he scooped her up and placed her onto the couch, ending up sitting beside her. He was growing very concerned over his wife.
Suddenly his gaze was caught by a burst of green flame, and the outline of an old man wearing what could only be described as a pointed blue triangle, a wizard hat. At first all he could do was blink until he recalled that the old man must have been using a magical substance called Floo Powder; when he and Cassie were dating she had scared him shitless by popping her head in the fireplace of his parent's house; thankfully at the time she had already confessed to being a witch but it was still unnerving to say the least.
He gulped nervously, standing in front of the fire, and feeling a bit stupid, asked the head within the flames, "Can I help you sir?"
Having mopped up her tears with tissue and cooled her red face with cold water Serena was ready to go down stairs to make herself lunch. Her stomach growled as she wondered if there was any turkey meat left over from last night's dinner. Taking the steps two at the time, food being the driving force she almost tripped over her own feet when her eyes innocently spotted her father talking to the fireplace, or rather the roaring green flames within the fireplace.
Her jaw seemed to come unhinged with shock. Since when did her dad start talking to fireplaces and an even better question could be why in the world were the flames green?
Quietly Serena crept down the last two steps, skirted around the footstool that she almost always tripped over, and stood in the corner of the living room watching in amazement as her father carried on a conversation with a head inside the fire. She bit back a gasp, forcing herself to watch in complete stillness and silence.
"It is a pleasure to meet you in person Mr. Collins. I trust that you have received the letters concerning your daughter?" the head, which looked like a very ancient but grandfatherly old man with an odd looking hat perched on his head.
Her father laughed, his right hand moving to ruffle his hair, a gesture that Serena knew was a result of nervousness, "Actually my wife, Cassie, has read at least one of the letters but well she.burnt them."
The old man nodded sagely, "I understand. In all honesty I sympathize with your situation."
"But," Collins interrupted with an edge in his tone.
"But I am afraid that your daughter must attend Hogwarts, at least for this year. She has the potential to become a very powerful witch if given the proper teaching."
"What?!" Serena hissed, only to blush realizing that she had been caught.
Both her father and the man within the flames turned to look at her; her father looked nervous, the old man on the other hand looked neither shocked nor angry, in fact he seemed amused.
"I am so glad that you could join us Miss Collins, come and sit down, we have much to talk about."
Part Three
A New Old Friend
"I don't want to go to London," Lita sulked even though she was already buckled into the passenger seat of her grandmother's old car.
"Well I can't just let you sit around the house and mop about your friend, oh what's his name again Lita, was it Harold?"
Lita sighed and rolled her eyes, "Harry grand mum, Harry, you know skinny, short kid wears glasses, scruffy looking black hair?"
"Ah yes, the Potter boy!" the old woman said, only to grow serious and shake her head, muttering something under her breathe that Lita couldn't quite hear.
For the next hour the car was silent, not even a lulling tune of an oldies radio station was to be heard. Lita stared out blankly at the landscape as they passed it by. It had only been the day before yesterday that she had seen Harry's uncle rustle his family, including Harry, into a cramped car and drove off to who knows where. For years now Harry had been Lita's only friend, mostly because many people their age was afraid of her because of her immense strength and the fact that a lot of "accidents" that had to do with electricity seemed to always happen when she was near by. It seemed to be the same way for Harry; it was bad enough that the boy had to suffer through humiliation at school but to have to endure it at home too. Lita shook her head, she knew that she was a strong person but even that would be a bit hard to take day in and day out.
"We're here Lita," her grandmother stated calmly.
After getting out of the parked car Lita followed her grandmother down the street, they bypassed several shops even a few restaurants and cafes but for some reason none of these places seemed to interest her grandmother in fact the elder woman seemed to be somewhat annoyed by their presence.
"Bloody nuisance, all of these new muggle stores cramped so tightly, not an alley way in sight," the old woman rambled in half whispers half murmurs to herself.
They wandered around several streets before they stopped. Lita shot a curious glance over her grandmother's shoulder; they were standing in the middle of an alleyway. Lita frowned, what in the world was her grandmother thinking to bring them to a dirty dark alleyway.
"Uh grand mum what are we doing here?" Lita asked.
"We're here to get your school things silly," her grandmother replied with a soft chuckle to herself as she pulled out a long willowy appearing stick from the pocket of her long skirt.
"Let's see, now what was that combination again? Hmm-right brick, left, down.no no that's not right. Bear with me Lita; it has been ages since I have used this passageway into Diagon Alley.
'What in the world is "Diagon Alley?' Lita wondered. Out loud she questioned, "Grandma, are you sure that you are feeling alright? Maybe we should go back home or at least sit inside one of the restaurants for a while."
"No need Lita, I almost have this combination down." She raised the "stick" to tap the last brick. There was a low rumble as dust and cobwebs flew off of the shifting bricks. Lita watched in amazement as the solid brick wall transformed into a hanging archway right before her eyes. Once the arch was form a street sign appeared, one pointed ahead to Diagon Alley and one pointed east read Knockturn Alley. Lita blinked her large emerald green eyes, this was impossible; but before she could reason the street laid before them and the people dressed in funny clothing walking by them her grandmother grasped her hand and lead her through the brick archway.
Lita stared open mouthed at the shops and people that they passed by; did that sign just say Olivander's Wands? Or that sign claiming to be an "Owl Emporium"? One thing was for sure this was no joke. All of these shops and people looked very genuine so whatever this place was it certainly wasn't one of her grandmother's pranks.
"Grand mum, slow down," Lita protested but the old lady didn't heed her request instead it was full steam again until they stood in front of a large white marble building, just above the entrance was a sign in gold lettering "Gringotts" standing in front of the large doors leading inside were tiny men with grostetly wrinkled faces wearing vests and pants.
"Come on Lita, we have to get some money out of the bank before we can buy your school things."
Lita gapped, her grandmother was talking about entering a bank guarded by two troll looking things like it was just as normal as going downtown and getting money from a "normal" bank.
Lita fell back, drinking in the entrance, and the weird looking little men before being dragged inside by her grandmother.
Once inside Lita saw more weird looking midgets, all dressed in fancy clothing that went out of style centuries ago. There were some leading people around the floor and some were behind desks scribbling with long feather quills.
"Where in the hell am I?" Lita whispered aloud.
Her grandmother frowned, "Lita don't use language like that. And to answer your question this is Gringotts, the best wizarding bank in the world. Every witch and wizard comes here to get withdraw and deposit their galleons, sickles, and knuts."
"Galleons, knuts? Grandma what are you talking about?"
The old woman sighed, "Didn't you parents tell you anything sweetheart?" she asked in return before shaking her head. "Never mind don't answer that, I can tell that they were more serious about all of this then I could have imagined."
"Galleons, sickles, and knuts are wizarding money Lita. We use it to buy stuff like cauldrons, wands, potion ingredients, and several other things that we can't get in the Muggle stores."
"Muggle?"
"Non magic people hon," Lita's grandmother answered just as it was their turn in line.
Lita was a tall girl for her age, about 4'9, but she had to stand on tiptoe to see the head of yet another deformed looking dwarf.
"Name please," the strange creature asked, his head leaning over the edge of the desk to look down at Lita and her grandmother, a small monticule rested upon his right eye.
"The Mahanoy family vault please," the woman, replied back crisply.
The man nodded and for a moment disappeared from underneath the desk. He reappeared shortly after standing to the right of Lita's grandmother, holding an amazingly large key ring with tons of iron keys clanking as he walked.
"This way," the man said as he hobbled across the room towards the open mouthed tunnels. Resting just at the entrance of the tunnel was a rickety old mining car. The troll-looking fellow hopped into the front of the car following his example Lita sat in the middle while her grandmother sat behind her.
"Everybody in? Alright then, let's go!" the troll man said as he pushed the gear of the cart forward.
Lita would have gasped at the sudden speed if the air hadn't been temporarily robbed from her lungs; it was like a dark roller coaster, up, down, sharp turn, spin, it was such a rush. The scenery whizzed by them so fast that Lita could hardly see the same stalagmites and stalactites that Harry Potter had passed by just a day before.
"Wow," was the first sound that came from her mouth when the cart pulled up in front of a large iron vault.
The little man hopped out of the cart and onto the small ledge where the vault door stood. He sorted through the keys until he found the one he was looking for. Carefully he slid it into the lock turned it left then right then left again and the door opened with an audible click. As soon as the door was opened Lita's vision was bombarded with the bright luster of polished silver, gold, and copper.
Another awed expression was about to erupt from Lita but her grandmother intruded on the moment by taking her hand and all but dragging her into the vault; once she was inside Lita couldn't muster even a sigh. Glancing up at the numerous columns of gold Lita wondered just how much all of these coins were worth.
While Lita was gawking at the treasure her grandmother had two sack in hand and was filling it with several coins, one sack was for Lita's school stuff, it was about the size of a large muggle purse, while the larger sack would be put away at the house to buy miscellaneous magical supplies over the year and a little bit extra incase Lita wanted spending money on the train to and from Hogwarts.
"Lita, I am ready to go," the old woman said in warning to her granddaughter whom was still wandering aimlessly about the vault.
The young girl shook her head as if to keep herself from pondering about why she didn't know that her family was so well off, in the "wizarding world" that is. They weren't poor per say but this mountain of gold and silver was ten times the worth of the house that they now lived in. Following her grandmother back into the cart Lita craned her head to glance at the treasure trove just once more before the man shut the door and locked it again.
A few minutes, and another wild ride, later Lita and her grandmother emerged from the bank, blinking in the bright sunlight, which was a severe contrast to the dark tunnel. Before Lita could even recover her grandmother was walking towards a small shop call "Flourish and Blots". Lita moved to follow her grandmother but with just a few steps away from the bank she was walked right into somebody.
"Watch where you're going will ya?" a rude voice cut through.
Lita glared at the young man whom had ran into, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She eyes him critically. He was a few inches shorter than her; he had shoulder length chocolate brown hair that seemed to have a somewhat thick curly texture, and dark violet blue eyes that stared down coldly at her. She knew right off the bat that she didn't like him.
"Excuse me, but you ran into ME," the tall brunette haired girl cut in hotly.
The boy snorted, "Whatever, I don't have time to waste with you anyway."
With that the boy walked away, while Lita grumbled and cursed him under her breath as she brushed dust off of her t-shirt and jeans.
They went their separate ways not knowing that their whether they liked it or not their destinies were linked in that very brief and somewhat hostile meeting. And they of course didn't know that they had meet before in a similar fashion many, many years before that moment. And no one, especially the two children realize that they had become the worst of enemies and the best of allies.
Part Four
Blackbird
Rei glanced in the mirror as she reached back to place one last twist into the neat braid that she had platted her raven hair into. Today her nurse was going to take her to Diagon Alley to buy her school supplies. She had the pouch of money that could have supplied a whole household of children with their Hogwarts school stuff for an entire year; it was strapped around her waist resting on her left hip. Normally such a flaunting feat at this one would be considered foolish but in this case any mugger would have to be pretty stupid to want to rob her since the bag was charmed with a "guard dog" spell so that if anyone tried to snatch it off of her person they would be inflicted with several deep bite marks in their hands. She smirked at her reflection. Nothing could go wrong today.
Before she could leave she needed to contract Ami, just to make sure that she would be in London just as she asked, and more importantly that she would be alone from her Muggle parents long enough for them to get the shy girl's school supplies.
"But what about when she needs to get to King's Cross what then? You can't tell Amy to just walk up to her parents and say, "Um Mum, Dad I need you to take me to the train station so that I can catch the train to Hogwarts, oh and by the way I'll be gone for a few weeks but I haven't runaway or been kidnapped I am just going to a wizarding academy isn't that great!"
Rei shook her head, she'd deal with that later, right now she need to get Amy into Diagon Alley so that they could get her school stuff. Then they could worry about King's Cross afterwards.
Kneeling before the fireplace Rei cleared her thoughts and almost immediately found Amy.
She plunged into the icy aura, 'Amy are you there?'
Silence then
'I am here Rei.'
'Are your parents ready to go yet?' Rei asked, sounding a bit eager to her own ears.
Being an only child she always felt a bit lonely living in this enormous house with just her father and the servant for company, and she didn't have any friends from the private primary Muggle schools that her father sent her too; she mainly went to those school to project a wholesome image, or so her father always murmured under his breathe since he despised Muggles and Muggleborns with a passion.
"Which is why my father and Amy will never formally meet," Rei mused to herself.
Amy's reply came back shy and nervous, 'I uh well they we have a guest at our house as of right now so depending on how long they stay we may not even go into town today.'
'What?! No Amy you can't do this! We have been planning on going to Diagon Alley, together for a week! Is the guest a relative or a family friend? Maybe you can get your parents to wrap up the visit or at least talk them into coming with you to London.'
'No, I don't think we are related,' Amy replied softly, 'In fact I have never seen this woman before in my life.'
'A woman? What is her name?' Rei asked.
'She calls herself Minerva McGonagall. She says that she is a professor from Hogwarts.'
'Oh.oh! She's talking with your parents about you attending Hogwarts Amy?' Rei asked, this was turning out to be promising if Amy's parent's believed the professor than it getting Amy to actually show up at King's Cross would be settled.
'Yes, I was kind of worried that they wouldn't believe her but she has only been here for an hour and they are already asking her questions about the school and stuff so I think they are at the very least curious about Hogwarts."
'I'll let you go then, but Amy please, please try to make it to Diagon Alley today. It would be nice to have someone to talk to and I do want to know you a bit better before we arrive at Hogwarts.' Rei said.
'I'll try Rei, but I am really not able to make any promises,' Amy replied a bit grimly.
'Don't worry about that, if you can't come today I understand. Bye for now!'
'Bye.'
With that Rei withdrew from the ice aura and then through the fire just before her nurse came in to announce that it was time for them to leave. With a small frown the nurse brushed the ashes and soot off of the hem of Rei's new black silk robes then led the girl out of her bedroom into the kitchen, inside was a big fireplace with a leather pouch filled with Floo Powder resting on the mantle top.
Rei rolled her eyes; it was really useless for her nurse to wipe off the soot of her robe when she was bound to get more on her once they entered the Leaky Cauldron after using the Floo Powder. But instead of commenting the folly like most children of privilege might Rei just took it in stride. The nurse threw in a pinch of Floo Powder instantly green flames shot up. Without hesitation Rei stepped into the fire, a shiver coursed down her spine as her mind briefly met with Amy's aura; so the water sprite was using Floo Powder too, curiosity of the professor of course. Rei couldn't help but smirk, yes everything was coming into play now all she had to do was recite her lines and play her part to a tee.
This was going to be fun.
Notes: Sorry for making it so short but like I said I really feel that I should pick up the pace of the fic so expect the Sorting to take place in the next post, I promise but there will be a bit continuing of Diagon Alley, Ami and Mina's pov, and of course a few others, including Serena. Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I'll update as soon as possible. Bye-bye for now and peace ^_^