A.N.: Hello!! I hope you are all having a fine holiday! I doubt I'll be updating until after New Years, so I'll get this part out now. Have fun with it!
The Great Hall had been cleaned of its creature splatter, and the table had been returned. Any damages and craters caused by the fight were taken care of by Cosmos directing her energy through Pluto's Key to reverse time for the areas, and soon, save for the faint lingering scent of cooked youma, the Great Hall appeared as it normally did. The Senshi had all de-transformed, slightly surprising the people who'd been present last night, because although everyone else had not changed visibly in their de-transformation, Uranus, Neptune, and Cosmos had. Uranus now had sandy blonde hair and teal eyes, while Neptune's hair had not only shortened somewhat; it had lightened considerably, and her eyes had become a pale green-blue. Cosmos' hair had changed from silver with heart-shaped buns to sunny gold with round buns, and her eyes had lightened to a shade darker than sky blue. They were all seated around the table, Remus and Harry to either side of Sirius, hanging on to him as if he were about to disappear any moment. Sirius' mind was whirling with all the information he'd just been given.
"Today is July 30th…So let me get this straight…I fell through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries nearly three months ago, and was thought to be dead? That rat's been caught, and I'm a free man? With an Order of the Merlin?! You people are straight from legend?" He had a hard time grasping what had happened, how much time had passed without his knowledge, but at least he knew why Remus refused to let go of his hand, and why Harry kept touching him in incredulity, and why the both of them looked so pale and haggard.
"Technically, Mr. Black, you were dead. For all intents and purposes, since you passed through the Gateway, at least. You weren't really, being still alive upon the passage. That, and your soul wasn't separated from your body because you were being protected from the Collectors." Hotaru spoke up. Her dark eyes looked straight at him, and he barely repressed a shudder at the ageless wisdom in them.
"Protected? By what?" Dumbledore asked. She turned to him and gave a small smile.
"Who, you mean. People that should be familiar to you…among them James and Lily Potter, Cedric Diggory, Regulus Black…The Collectors have to leave them alone, seeing as they've already been processed and catalogued." She ignored the gasps of surprise, turning to Harry. "Your parents are proud of you…and Cedric says to stop blaming yourself." She frowned suddenly. "Strange about that particular spirit…it's aura was off somehow, as if…" Trailing off, her eyes went wide and she turned to Usagi. "Cosmos-sama! That spirit…" she was cut off as several shrill trills and a low-pitched warble pierced the air. Everyone looked up to see Fawkes circling the table, diving down lower and lower until it landed in the center. Still above the table there circled two phoenixes of different colors, and a small (about three feet from tip to tail), glowing, shimmering dragon. One phoenix was brown and blue, the other silver and white. As one, the three magical creatures sang a trilling, rumbling, haunting song and circled lower. The brown and blue landed on Mamoru's shoulder, pecking him affectionately while the silver phoenix buzzed Usagi before landing near Chibi-Usa. The dragonling circled several more times, seemingly searching for something, before warbling softly in a sad manner, landing near Usagi and allowing her to stroke his wing ridges comfortingly. "The Guardians…" Mamoru breathed. Usagi broke the silence after their arrival.
"Mr. Potter…" She began. "I believe you were wondering earlier how it could be that we all appear so youthful?" He, as well as nearly every one of the witches and wizards present, nodded or made small noises or gestures of confirmation. "Simple. The particular type of magic that we possess allows for it. How old do you think I look?" Harry gulped. A woman was asking him to name her age? Uh-oh…
"Um…twenty-five?" He replied hesitatingly. She nodded thoughtfully.
"Then how is it that my daughter is sixteen?" she asked. He couldn't answer. "You heard Makoto say earlier that we are all well over a thousand years of age. That is correct. Due to our planetary powers, our lifespans are greatly extended. More than that however, you must understand this. We are here to search for the Soul Mates of my Senshi. You see, without them, they cannot gain access or control of their full powers. This is why the Inners stopped aging at 18. Chibi-Usa is 16, as Hotaru appears to be, but in actuality, the Inners are all at least twenty years older than Chibi-Usa. Hotaru is also older than Chibi-Usa, by about sixteen years, I believe. I do not know the exact age of Helios, and I don't dare imagine Setsuna's age, seeing as she has been Guardian of the Gates for Selene knows how long."
"Too long…" was Setsuna's muttered comment. Mamoru smiled.
"They've aged well, haven't they?" He took in the befuddled and amazed faces of those all around. Suddenly, the phoenix perched on his shoulder, which had been staring intently at Harry, gave a cry. The bird took off, half flying but mostly hopping, across the table, chirping absently all the way. It stopped in front of Harry, and chirped questioningly at the wary boy. Mamoru frowned. "Why is Arrerth doing that?" The phoenix, Arrerth, whistled sharply, and jumped onto a surprised Harry's shoulder.
Ami spoke up suddenly, tearing her attention away from the silver Phoenix demanding attention near Chibi-Usa. "That's right! Right before they reappeared through the portal…what were you thinking of, Mr. Potter?" Harry wrinkled his brow in confusion, trying not to move his shoulder for fear of disturbing the phoenix preening there.
"I saw that Venus' aura was weakening…I thought that she would collapse, and we'd never get Siri back." Harry said, slowly, clutching one of Sirius' hands in near desperation. The other was still in Remus' possession. "I was afraid…I wanted, no, needed to help!" Ami nodded. She turned to the Senshi, specifically Usagi and Mamoru.
"I noticed in those last few seconds that a strange energy was feeding Venus'." She began. Minako interrupted.
"It was familiar, too. I just can't put my finger on where I'd felt it before…" Ami sighed in exasperation.
"Let me finish, then, Mina! As I was saying, a strange energy was feeding Venus'. It was very familiar, and I ran a scan on it. According to my readings…" she looked from Mamoru, to Harry, back to Mamoru. "That's because it's a derivative of yours. It was Terran planet magic."
"But then…that would mean…" Usagi breathed, her eyes sparkling. She hugged her husband tightly. He was staring at Harry.
"Harold James Potter is in fact the reincarnation of High Prince Dimitrius, your brother." Ami finished.
"It can't be…" "Impossible…" "My God!" Various exclamations broke out, but before more could be said or done, a head floated out of the center of the table. Minako, Usagi, Chibi-Usa, and strangely Haruka gave small shrieks of surprise. Rei whipped out one of her scrolls and began to chant. The two phoenixes took off into the air with screeches, and the dragon rumbled out a low warning. But it was one shaking voice that named the person, or ghost, rather.
"Cedric…" Harry croaked, weakly. The boy looked around, before focusing it's ghostly gaze on Harry.
"It wasn't your fault, Harry." He said. "Stop blaming yourself for my death. Harry's eyes rolled back into his head, as he fainted, overwhelmed by all that had happened that day, on top of the fact that he'd gotten very little actual sleep since that night at the Ministry. Right before everything faded to black, he heard Hotaru's voice petulantly say "Well I tried to say something…that that spirit was returning from beyond…"
A.N.: Cookies to you who guess that I'd make Harry into Dimitrius. ^__^ Like you didn't see that one coming from a mile away…Oh well. And before anyone starts complaining that Phoenix' are supposed to be red and gold only: I KNOW. I have the Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them book. FAN-fiction. Same applies to the dragonet. Speaking of which…anyone want to name it or the other (moon) Phoenix?
Serinde: Yup! I can't stand to break 'em up, and rather than kill Remy (perish the thought!) Siri's back. ^_^ And you may be on to something, given what one of the Guardians is…^_~
Hikaru: A fellow choco-holic too? Way cool! Yeah…haven't taken Spanish in a while. Thinking about taking up Japanese, though (I'd use it a lot more that's for sure!). Aye-aye! Dear Cousin Trixie'll get hers…I have plans for her ('especially since she tried to kill Siri!). Mwahahahahahahahaha!! Wow…no windows?! That's gotta be rough. I have to ask…you don't by any chance have classmates with blood-imbibing tendencies, do you? ^_^ I'll keep your offer in mind if I hit a snag! Eh…she's a good person (I've known her practically our entire lives, after all) but SOMETIMES…
Jewel: Well, the poor dear has been out of the loop for a while…^_^ Will do!
SilverWingPhoenix: I'll try…
SerinityRules: Yup yup. ~^__^~ As I said to Serinde, I can't stand keeping the pups apart. I blame my romantic fangirl heart.
