PTWITBOAA
BlackBeyond
BlackBeyondChan@aol.com
black_beyond@hotmail.com
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THEY'RE TAKING AWAY ALL MY PRETTY NC17 STORIES! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
*sobs*... So cruel... so very, very cruel....
This was written over writer's block and a month's time, so if it sucks, pity me with lots of comforting e-mails and reviews.
My new url is http://www.geocities.com/eternally_bbeyond
Don't go there! It sucks! XD
~'~
".... Miss Tsukino will be enrolled as a student at our school, having been forced to leave her home due to circumstances out of her control. She will be in the fifth year, but will not be sorted in a house." McGonagall announced at dinner. "She will be given her own room after her stay in the infirmary is complete."
"No fair!" George-- or was it Fred?-- Weasley yelled.
McGonagall glared at him. "That is all." She sat back down as food appeared on the table in a usual display of glamour.
"It's never happened before, a student coming here in the middle of the year." Flitwick commented, as he dug into his kidney pie. "I've got her tomorrow. With the seventh years. I hope Dumbledore knows that he's doing."
Professor Trelawney, who had decided to grace the school with her presence that day, sniffed and poked at her meat with her fork disdainfully. "She will become something great. I wish she had been placed in one of my classes."
McGonagall bit down savagely on a piece of bread and chanted inwardly. 'I do not speak ill of my colleagues... will not throttle Sybill...'
Madame Hooch grinned. "I have her tomorrow as well. From what I saw of her, she's going to be a bloody fantastic flyer. The way she threw that demon..." None of them had seen her so excited since Harry's exploits in his First Year.
"I have her with the fifth years." Hagrid looked doubtful. "I don't know how she'll do with the new project I'm taking on."
Sprout grinned. "I have her with the seventh years too. What a mix up of classes, huh?"
"Severus has her with his fifth years, but I have her with my seventh years. She and Dumbledore chose her classes carefully, going on what she knows and what she thinks she can handle." McGonagall did not mention her strange interest with Harry Potter. "She's also taking Defense Against the Dark Arts with the fifth years, Professor Kitchen."
The dark haired professor nodded absently, her blue eyes mixed unseeingly on her plate.
McGonagall bit her tongue again. How that scatter-brained woman ever got that job she would never know.
Sinistra sighed. "This is going to be another one of those years, isn't it?"
Unwittingly, they all agreed.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, like most of the students, watched their professors converse as they did so themselves.
"She was really messed up when she Apparated." Fred was telling them all.
"Blood was literally pouring off of her." George nodded.
"And then she picked up the demon that had appeared the same time she did and just threw it." Fred grinned.
"Four times her size. Maybe five. And then she pointed a stick at it and BOOM!" George's first slammed down on the table.
"Smashing. Absolutely awesome." They finished together.
Ron looked dismayed. "Why do you two get all the fun?" He pouted, shoving a roll in his mouth.
Hermione waved a paper around. "That's not all. Today the Dementors left Azkaban. All of them, at once. And there have been other whispers. You-Know-Who is gathering his forces. That demon we saw was part of a large species called Youma.... they've been moving out of their usual areas, too..."
Harry paled just a little but nodded. "And what is Fudge saying about it?" He wanted to know.
Hermione smiled very widely and read from the Special Edition. "Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge refused comment as he slammed the door in the face of our reporters..."
The incited much laughter from the small group of Gryffindors. Everything was just settling down into a mostly normal night when the doors to the Great Hall burst open and Dumbledore entered, followed by Snape and the girl of the hour, dressed in her dark robes, her hair still loose.
The Hall fell silent as she passed each table, one by one. Dumbledore stopped in front of the Gryffindor table, and bade her sit beside George Weasley at the end of the table. He conjured up a chair and plate for her.
"Make some friends, dear. It will do you good." He smiled at her in a rather Grandfatherly way as she sat down, and she smiled back as she sat down next to the cute boy.
The two professors headed up to the staff table and Usagi turned to the silent table and blushed to find them all staring at her.
"Uhm.... hello." She said uncertainly.
Fred looked across the table to his brother.
George looked back.
It happened at the same time.
"WE LOVE YOU!"
Usagi blinked and then laughed, looking at the twins, her face red. "Well... uhm.... I love you too.... I think..." She giggled at them and stuck out her hand. They both tried to shake it at once, which only made her laugh more.
"I'm Usagi. But you can call me Usa..."
"I'm Fred. He's George. That's our little brother Ron. That's our sister Ginny, and he's Harry Potter."
"She's Hermione. That's Neville, Seamus, Dean..." George picked up. "And so on. Blah. So, are you single?"
Usagi sighed. "Unfortunately, I am taken." Because I don't want to see the monster the blood of Etern and that of a human would make, infused with that kind of energy.... she shuddered, thinking of how she would break it to Endymion.
And shrugged. He'd get over it.
All of Gryffindor laughed as George's face fell. Fred, however, was more determined.
"What is your take on rules?" He asked mysteriously.
This brought a truly devilish smirk to her face. "There's not a single rule that I can't break or haven't already broken. And I never get caught." She added proudly.
George forgot all about dating her as his eyes narrowed. "Prove it."
She leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Don't blink." And leaned back, grinning.
She nodded, biting her lip to keep the laughter down, and then began placing things on the table.
George's eyes widened as he saw his wand, his watch, his favorite quill, a folded up piece of paper he recognized as his list of phone numbers of girls, five Ton-Tongue Toffees, his wallet, and a Butterbeer.
Fred watched in amazement as George squealed and began patting himself down, finding empty pockets where seconds ago all of this had been. Usagi looked most satisfied with herself.
Ron pushed his brother aside and began shaking her hand. "You are now officially my best friend." He told her as George began stuffing his possessions back into his pockets while glowering at Usagi.
Harry grinned. "What about me?" He blinked as Usagi shifted slightly to look at him, her eerie silver eyes connecting with his own.
"I know you..." She said softly, in a voice that he knew very, very well. He sat back so suddenly he almost fell out of his chair.
"YOU!" His voice was a loud whisper of absolute shock.
She blinked. "So you were that little boy I saw. I wondered. But... that would mean...." A dark flash of anger made her eyes go almost black for the briefest second. "That stupid man has interfered with my life for the last time." She muttered to herself darkly.
Fred blinked, and George looked up from placing the Butterbeer back in the waistband of his boxers. Harry looked uncertain.
"You have to teach us how you just did that." Fred said excitedly. But Usagi didn't hear him. She stood up, pushing back her chair, and stomped out of the Great Hall, her flying out behind her.
Dumbledore watched her go with a definite smile on his face.
"This is going to be a very interesting year with that sort of fireball here." His smile widened as Snape jumped back from the table and ran after the Queen, cursing under his breath. "Very interesting indeed."
~'~
"ARGH! THAT STUPID MAGIIM WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Usagi screeched, the second she stomped out of the castle and into the night air. "He has probably been manipulating me from the moment I got rid of Metalia! NO ONE MANIPULATES THE SENSHI OF THE COSMOS!" She spotted the sanctuary that a forest offered and instinctively headed for it.
"I will not be treated like a pawn! What does he expect me to do here, exactly?" She fumed, stomping deeper and deeper into the forbidden forest and finally pausing when she came to a small clearing, just large enough for the half moon in the sky to shine, lighting up the clearing. With a smile Usagi moved into the healing light of her home, and looked up to watch the stars move around the moon.
"Oooh. So, I'm in danger again?" She murmured, reading the stars like they were a child's reader. "From a guy who calls himself Lord Wish of Death?! Oh. Voldemort. Sounds familiar. Oh, look. He's trying to maim Harry. No, wrong planet. He's trying to *kill* the Hairy Ceramist. Oooh, nice. We have a traitor who will try to kill me." She studied the angle of Mars carefully and grinned. "That looks like fun."
"The Queen of Eternia. You shouldn't be in the forest." She glanced over to see a centaur enter the clearing and approach her and went back to staring at the stars.
"Why the hell not? It isn't like they can kill me." She retorted as the blonde centaur also turned his face to the heavens. "And besides, I have never seen the stars so clear. I've already pulled a name from them."
The centaur nodded. "You have to protect Harry Potter, Eternia." He told her, his eyes traveling the lines of Polaris to Jupiter. "You are the only one with that kind of power in this world. This is a world without the awakening of your senshi for quite a few more years."
She looked at him. "I knew there had to be a reason I couldn't feel them." She nodded, and smiled softly. "I really don't look like a warrior, do I, sir?" She asked him seriously a sad sort of smile on her face.
The centaur smiled back, a monumental occurrence. "Perhaps not, but that is why you shall always have an advantage, dear Queen."
She sighed. "Advantage. Ha. Not in this world. Not against that blasted Magiim." Her staff appeared in her hand and she tapped the end of it against the grass. "But I could look at the bright side. At least here I can learn more magic and moon over cute professors while I'm dying to save the life of someone else."
The centaur laughed, a motion it was not used to making. It was well worth the surprise when she gave him a true smile.
"TSUKINO! IF YOU BELONGED TO A HOUSE THIS WOULD COST THEM FOUR THOUSAND POINTS!" A very enraged male voice was near and getting closer.
Usagi giggled. "That would be Severus Snape. Incredibly handsome." She commented to her new friend. "He's scaring the animals."
The second that word left her lips a bulky, lumbering creature entered the clearing. The centaur's eyes widened and he went for his bow and arrow, recognizing the white-bear-like monster that no wizard knew of long enough to tell.
Usagi only watched it in smooth interest, and the centaur jumped when she opened her mouth and began to speak its language.
"Hello, my friend. Is the strange man too loud for this hour?" The centaur couldn't understand her words but knew when to step back as the monster took interest and approached her.
"Yes. You... you are the Queen!" It quickened its pace and tackled her. She giggled and sat up, rubbing the feather-soft fur of its neck.
"Yes, I am the Queen." She chuckled. "You're very large. How old are you?"
It looked back at the treeline. "I have seen about six moons. I will grow to be much larger some day. But I am still big enough to carry you. Want to see?" It kneeled a little, and Usagi grinned and took a dainty seat on the broad, soft back. It was just a giant bear, really. And she had always had a special place for bears in her heart.
"That loud man will come into the clearing in a moment." She warned her new pet. "Please don't hurt him."
The bear shifted and took a step, testing the weight on its back. It was surprised to find that the Queen weighted very little. It could hardly tell it was carrying someone. "I won't attack if he is a friend of yours, Queen. May I carry you back to the school?"
She nodded, petting it mindlessly. "Of course. Look, here he is."
Severus Snape burst into the clearing, wand out and face red with his anger. He froze, momentarily, to see Usagi sitting on a bear large enough to eat her without chewing.
"Good evening, Professor." She called to him happily. "My friend here promises not to eat you and has offered to give me a ride back to the school. And as you are in considerable danger in this place of darkness, I would say we should go."
Snape glanced at the bear-monster, who growled at him, showing off rather long and sharp teeth. He decided very quickly it would not do to yell at Usagi at that moment, or argue that she would not be allowed to ride the sadistic monster back.
"Yes, well, then, come along." He put his wand away slowly as the beast lumbered towards him, Usagi smiling rather evilly.
"I'd offer you a seat, but she has informed me she will rip your bowels out and use them for a nest if you touch her." Usagi informed him nonchalantly. "But she says that there is a shorter way out of the forest, so if you'll follow her, I think she's trustworthy."
Not trusting himself to say anything that wouldn't get him killed, Snape nodded shortly.
"You want to know why I'm so strange, Severus Snape?" Usagi asked softly, not looking at the older man, as the bear navigated the forest.
"It would be a start, Miss Tsukino." He replied dryly, pushing various tree limbs out of his way.
Her face darkened a little. "What would you do if when you looked at a person, you could see their past, present, and future, all at once, and you were bound by spells older than magic itself from saying or doing anything?" She asked, failing miserably at keeping the emotion from her voice. "Bound by spells so precise that they hide all eternal knowledge of it? So precise you have to search the Rulebook for hours to find a single loophole that allows you to only speak of it in a second person, hypothetical sense?"
Snape didn't glare. "I would have gone insane by now." He answered thoughtfully. "How do you manage it?"
She looked at him and then looked away. "Let's just say that I'll never insult you, Severus. And that you shouldn't insult Harry." She sighed. "I have thousands and thousands and thousands of years to go, Severus. I can't live them as a broken twit. I get over things, and I get over them fast."
They broke out of the forest then, and Usagi slid off her new friend and it disappeared back into the depths of the forest.. There were three professors waiting at the steps to the castle, Dumbledore not being one of them.
Snape watched as she took Sinistra's outstretched hand with a smile and all the dignity of a young woman raised to be a lady, and allowed the three professors to lead her into the castle while apparently listening attentively to their lecture on rules.
His eyes narrowed.
~'~
As it turned out, Usagi's room wasn't far from the Slytherin dorms. She found this out the next morning by running into a brick wall of a boy, his would-be twin, and a rather beautiful young man who reminded her of a younger Kunzite with short hair.
"Ah! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, catching herself before she did a nose dive into the stone floor and stepped back, straightening her dark robes.
The blonde boy eyed her. "You're that new girl." He said, with a rather arrogant drawl. "I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. That's Crabbe and this is Goyle." He extended his hand.
Usagi took it, ignoring the dark feeling she got from him and smiled. "I'm Usagi Tsukino. Malfoy, hmm?" She had seen that name in the stars. "It's my pleasure to meet you."
He nodded, and she swore he fought down a smile. Instead, he offered his arm. "We were just heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Would you like to join us?"
She could feel the darkness from the other two, and it weighed in her head like the heaviest rock, but she took his arm with a smile. He looked so much like Kunzite.
"So, what sort of family are you from?" He asked, in a faked nonchalant tone. Her eyebrow arched but she replied in an even voice.
"My family is dead."
"I'm sorry. Were they wizards?" Draco asked, as they entered the hall. Usagi gritted her teeth and answered as sweetly as she could.
"I couldn't tell you." She caught George's eye and made a distinct HELP ME expression. George grabbed his twin by the collar and they set off to rescue their new mischief maker.
"I noticed Dumbledore wanted you to get all chummy with the Gryffindors. May I offer you a piece of advice? They're just a bunch of goody-goodies. If you want true power, I'm your man."
It took all of her willpower to bite down that giggle. True power? He had no idea.
"Usagi!"
"Darling!"
"Goddess!"
"We need your professional opinion on something!" Fred yanked her out of Draco's arms.
George nodded, as he took one hand and his brother grabbed the other. "Something very important!"
"Something phenomenal." Fred added, just for the hell of it, as they led Usagi away before Draco could think better of it and take the girl back.
"I will never be able to thank either of you enough. Draco wasn't so bad once I got past that mask of his, but those two tanks... I do believe they'd have fun hexing a baby."
Fred snorted. "You bet they would."
George agreed whole heartedly as they found three seats in the middle of the table and grabbed them quickly.
"What did Malfoy want with you?" George asked, as Usagi grabbed a blueberry muffin in delight.
"He wanted to know if my family were wizards." Usagi smiled slightly, revealing she knew a secret. "I should have told him the truth. And don't look at me like that... just because I wouldn't tell him does not mean I will tell you."
The twins opened their mouth to protest that they would never ask such a imprudent question when Hermione's voice interrupted them.
"Usagi, what class do you have first?"
Usagi blinked, and dug in the pocket of her robes for her schedule. She glanced at it carefully. "Uhm... that would be Potions, with Gryffindor and Slytherin, Fifth year." She read. "And after that I have Transfiguration with the Seventh years."
Fred and George grinned at each other while Hermione nodded. "You've got your first class with us."
Usagi smiled at her. "May I walk with you, Hermione? From what I've seen this is a fairly sized castle and I don't wish to get lost for Severus's class."
Ron blinked and whispered to Harry, "Did she just call him Severus?"
Hermione blinked as well, but shrugged. "Sure." She picked up her bag. "We'd better go now unless you want to be late. Professor Snape can be very....
"Grouchy?" Usagi supplied, picking up her own bag. "Yes, I know." She slung the strap over her shoulder as Ron and Harry stood. "See you later, Fred. George."
The walk to Potions was long, and the first two minutes was complete silence, mostly with the three friends sneaking glances at the exotic beauty and then at each other, seeing who would break first and ask.
Usagi was trying not to be overly amused, but after thirty seconds more of the silence, added with the stares from every group of students they passed, she was ready to giggle hysterically.
"Go ahead, ask." She said finally.
Before either of his friends could stop him, Ron blurted, "Did you REALLY throw a demon four times your size into a tree?!"
"Ron!" Hermione gasped, chiding him for the rudeness of the question. Harry just looked intrigued, studying Usagi's face when she smiled.
"He was only a little bigger than I was." She replied, her smile a little smug. "It was his own fault. That bloody monster followed me through-- oh, never mind. But he deserved it."
Ron grinned. "Can you fight well? Like, real fighting, not with wands?"
Usagi blinked. "Wands? Oh. Uhm, yes." She said tentatively. "I was taught to fight. It was... a necessity... where I come from."
The slight tremble in her voice was missed by all except Harry. His brow furrowed as Usagi bit her lip and quickened her step ever so slightly. At once he knew she was hiding something very important from them.
"Miss Tsukino, I see you're on time." Seemingly out of no where, the dark Potions Professor fell into step beside the troubled girl.
She looked up at him and a smile spread over her face. "As if I could ever be late for your class, Sev-- Professor." She blushed a little. "I forgot. You're officially my teacher now. Uhm..." Her blush darkened, making her unbearably gorgeous. "Oh, never mind." She fled into the classroom, leaving her Professor and three friends to stare after her.
"Strange girl, that one." Harry commented.
"For once, Potter, I can't disagree."
Snape swept into the classroom with his usual amount of drama, just enough to make Neville cower and gather the usual fearful respect from the rest of the class. Except Usagi. She had chosen a seat near the front, her parchment and textbook already out, quill in hand, and a very becoming blush on her cheeks.
Snape was not one to note beauty, at all in any circumstance, but he had never before had the chance to meet a Lunarian before. Of course, the books did speak of the Queen's grace and face, but books tended to be a bit biased when the subject of royalty came up, saying that every Queen was magnificent and every princess darling.
And he had to challenge the books in this case. Usagi was not darling. She had a strong, undeniable presence of power that commanded an unconscious respect from her peers and even adults. Her looks actually would have been less remarkable-- still gorgeous, true-- but it was how she carried herself. Not quite arrogance, but a self-assurance no girl had at her age.
Her apparent age, he reminded himself. She was older than she looked. Probably about his own age, if her story and his brain were checking out.
Which made her, all things considered, his superior.
Something he was indefinitely unhappy with.
After the unusual display last night, he was actually sort of wary about her. She had spoken to that monstrosity in a tender fashion, and it had been very protective of her. She was a Queen, and if she could speak to that sort of species, he wondered why Dumbledore had not yet asked for her help in this dreadful war.
"Open your textbooks." He snapped suddenly, shaking himself out of his own reverie. "Page 423. Find the ingredients in your bags and start making the potions in pairs. Choose your own partners-- Not Longbottom, Miss Granger!" He glared at the girl. Hermione sighed.
Usagi watched in intrigue, and walked over to Neville. "I'll be your partner. I'll have to warn you, though. I haven't studied potions for two thousand years." She said seriously, with only a humorous glint in her eye. He looked a bit stunned for a moment, that she would ask *him*, and nodded mutely. Snape opened his mouth to protest, but gave up. He went back to stalking around the room, breathing down students' necks and watching them try not to be completely terrified of him.
But Usagi, on the other hand, seemed quite determined to ruin any reputation of his that involved being a malicious, cold-hearted bastard.
"Professor-chan," She said, as he came to glare at Neville. He paused, unsure of what the strange suffix meant. She had said it in a rather endearing way. Almost mocking his status. "I'm not quite sure of this. Nightshade and Dark Opium... when you combine them like this, don't they explode?"
He blinked. That was seventh year curriculum.
"True, Miss Tsukino. But the powered dragon heart acts as an neutralizer. Who taught you that?"
She looked at Neville nervously. "One of the first things my... tutors... taught me was a list of every single ingredient used in potion making, and which ones reacted with what and how." She blushed. "I used to have this tendency to make things blow up a lot when I was angry." With that she added the ingredients to the potion and it bloomed suddenly into a wonderful violet color.
Neville poked it with his ladle. It actually looked like the illustration in the book, something he had never been able to achieve before.
Snape moved away to haunt Harry and Usagi smiled at Neville.
"Neville, you really shouldn't be so bad in here. I mean, it's just Herbology with a cauldron. And you're good at that, right?" She inquired nonchalantly, watching intently as he dropped a piece of black, slimy mouse liver into the cauldron.
Neville stared at her. "How did you know that?" He asked, as he stirred the pretty mixture. The fumes were sweet-smelling, like honey and jasper, but they were making him decidedly drowsy. He noticed that most of the other students-- well, all of them, it seemed-- were also getting sleepier by the moment.
Usagi only sighed, the only one unaffected by the vapors. "Professor, this is cruel. No one is going to get this potion right if they're all sleep. Helena's Hellfire Sleeping Draughts.... and one of the most powerful..."
Snape shrugged. "Madam Pomfrey needs to stock up, with O.W.L.S. coming near. This is fifth year curriculum and it will save me lots of time." He struggled with a grin as Ron Weasley passed out. Usagi rolled her eyes and kept stirring the potion.
"Hehe... so we're all going to pass out? Why not you?" Neville was unaware his words were a bit slurred.
Usagi only looked at him and didn't answer. Part of him might have remarked this as a clue, but he promptly forgot it when he too fell asleep, bonking his head on the side of the cauldron as he did.
Usagi shook her head and finished the potion quite easily without her partner, and was one of five who could. She was surprised more of the students hadn't performed the Bubble Charm to keep them from breathing the fumes.
Snape seemed disgruntled that out of his entire house, only Draco Malfoy had the brains to find a way to stay awake. He took five points from all the unconscious students, cleared the fumes away with a flick of his wand and a muttered spell, and ordered the five standing to use Enervate to awaken their friends.
Usagi waited until no one was looking and muttered something under her breath that made her stagger just a little and the rest of the unconscious people open their eyes. Neville sat up just as the strange girl regained her composure.
"Welcome back to the living." She greeted him with a smile, however fake. "You lost five points for passing out but we have an A on the potion."
Without warning he hugged her tightly. "THANK YOU! You just saved my grade!"
While she updated Neville on Snape's current mood, unnoticing of the way Hermione was staring at her.
"How did she do that?" Hermione muttered quietly. She had seen the girl say a spell, and then everyone in the room had woken up. It was an impossible thing, but she had done it.
Snape nodded when Usagi suggested that class be dismissed and ordered everyone out. Hermione also noticed that Usagi stayed behind, and made a point to be the last out, just barely hearing Usagi's next words.
"Well, Severus, it seems you're the bastard everyone says you are. You should be nicer."
"Miss Tsukino, you're a riot."
Wide eyed, she told Ron and Harry about it as soon as they had left the dungeons.
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Extra long and extra juicy to make up for the lateness! Leave me lots of pretty reviews!
BlackBeyond
BlackBeyondChan@aol.com
black_beyond@hotmail.com
~-~
--;;;;;
THEY'RE TAKING AWAY ALL MY PRETTY NC17 STORIES! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
*sobs*... So cruel... so very, very cruel....
This was written over writer's block and a month's time, so if it sucks, pity me with lots of comforting e-mails and reviews.
My new url is http://www.geocities.com/eternally_bbeyond
Don't go there! It sucks! XD
~'~
".... Miss Tsukino will be enrolled as a student at our school, having been forced to leave her home due to circumstances out of her control. She will be in the fifth year, but will not be sorted in a house." McGonagall announced at dinner. "She will be given her own room after her stay in the infirmary is complete."
"No fair!" George-- or was it Fred?-- Weasley yelled.
McGonagall glared at him. "That is all." She sat back down as food appeared on the table in a usual display of glamour.
"It's never happened before, a student coming here in the middle of the year." Flitwick commented, as he dug into his kidney pie. "I've got her tomorrow. With the seventh years. I hope Dumbledore knows that he's doing."
Professor Trelawney, who had decided to grace the school with her presence that day, sniffed and poked at her meat with her fork disdainfully. "She will become something great. I wish she had been placed in one of my classes."
McGonagall bit down savagely on a piece of bread and chanted inwardly. 'I do not speak ill of my colleagues... will not throttle Sybill...'
Madame Hooch grinned. "I have her tomorrow as well. From what I saw of her, she's going to be a bloody fantastic flyer. The way she threw that demon..." None of them had seen her so excited since Harry's exploits in his First Year.
"I have her with the fifth years." Hagrid looked doubtful. "I don't know how she'll do with the new project I'm taking on."
Sprout grinned. "I have her with the seventh years too. What a mix up of classes, huh?"
"Severus has her with his fifth years, but I have her with my seventh years. She and Dumbledore chose her classes carefully, going on what she knows and what she thinks she can handle." McGonagall did not mention her strange interest with Harry Potter. "She's also taking Defense Against the Dark Arts with the fifth years, Professor Kitchen."
The dark haired professor nodded absently, her blue eyes mixed unseeingly on her plate.
McGonagall bit her tongue again. How that scatter-brained woman ever got that job she would never know.
Sinistra sighed. "This is going to be another one of those years, isn't it?"
Unwittingly, they all agreed.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, like most of the students, watched their professors converse as they did so themselves.
"She was really messed up when she Apparated." Fred was telling them all.
"Blood was literally pouring off of her." George nodded.
"And then she picked up the demon that had appeared the same time she did and just threw it." Fred grinned.
"Four times her size. Maybe five. And then she pointed a stick at it and BOOM!" George's first slammed down on the table.
"Smashing. Absolutely awesome." They finished together.
Ron looked dismayed. "Why do you two get all the fun?" He pouted, shoving a roll in his mouth.
Hermione waved a paper around. "That's not all. Today the Dementors left Azkaban. All of them, at once. And there have been other whispers. You-Know-Who is gathering his forces. That demon we saw was part of a large species called Youma.... they've been moving out of their usual areas, too..."
Harry paled just a little but nodded. "And what is Fudge saying about it?" He wanted to know.
Hermione smiled very widely and read from the Special Edition. "Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge refused comment as he slammed the door in the face of our reporters..."
The incited much laughter from the small group of Gryffindors. Everything was just settling down into a mostly normal night when the doors to the Great Hall burst open and Dumbledore entered, followed by Snape and the girl of the hour, dressed in her dark robes, her hair still loose.
The Hall fell silent as she passed each table, one by one. Dumbledore stopped in front of the Gryffindor table, and bade her sit beside George Weasley at the end of the table. He conjured up a chair and plate for her.
"Make some friends, dear. It will do you good." He smiled at her in a rather Grandfatherly way as she sat down, and she smiled back as she sat down next to the cute boy.
The two professors headed up to the staff table and Usagi turned to the silent table and blushed to find them all staring at her.
"Uhm.... hello." She said uncertainly.
Fred looked across the table to his brother.
George looked back.
It happened at the same time.
"WE LOVE YOU!"
Usagi blinked and then laughed, looking at the twins, her face red. "Well... uhm.... I love you too.... I think..." She giggled at them and stuck out her hand. They both tried to shake it at once, which only made her laugh more.
"I'm Usagi. But you can call me Usa..."
"I'm Fred. He's George. That's our little brother Ron. That's our sister Ginny, and he's Harry Potter."
"She's Hermione. That's Neville, Seamus, Dean..." George picked up. "And so on. Blah. So, are you single?"
Usagi sighed. "Unfortunately, I am taken." Because I don't want to see the monster the blood of Etern and that of a human would make, infused with that kind of energy.... she shuddered, thinking of how she would break it to Endymion.
And shrugged. He'd get over it.
All of Gryffindor laughed as George's face fell. Fred, however, was more determined.
"What is your take on rules?" He asked mysteriously.
This brought a truly devilish smirk to her face. "There's not a single rule that I can't break or haven't already broken. And I never get caught." She added proudly.
George forgot all about dating her as his eyes narrowed. "Prove it."
She leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Don't blink." And leaned back, grinning.
She nodded, biting her lip to keep the laughter down, and then began placing things on the table.
George's eyes widened as he saw his wand, his watch, his favorite quill, a folded up piece of paper he recognized as his list of phone numbers of girls, five Ton-Tongue Toffees, his wallet, and a Butterbeer.
Fred watched in amazement as George squealed and began patting himself down, finding empty pockets where seconds ago all of this had been. Usagi looked most satisfied with herself.
Ron pushed his brother aside and began shaking her hand. "You are now officially my best friend." He told her as George began stuffing his possessions back into his pockets while glowering at Usagi.
Harry grinned. "What about me?" He blinked as Usagi shifted slightly to look at him, her eerie silver eyes connecting with his own.
"I know you..." She said softly, in a voice that he knew very, very well. He sat back so suddenly he almost fell out of his chair.
"YOU!" His voice was a loud whisper of absolute shock.
She blinked. "So you were that little boy I saw. I wondered. But... that would mean...." A dark flash of anger made her eyes go almost black for the briefest second. "That stupid man has interfered with my life for the last time." She muttered to herself darkly.
Fred blinked, and George looked up from placing the Butterbeer back in the waistband of his boxers. Harry looked uncertain.
"You have to teach us how you just did that." Fred said excitedly. But Usagi didn't hear him. She stood up, pushing back her chair, and stomped out of the Great Hall, her flying out behind her.
Dumbledore watched her go with a definite smile on his face.
"This is going to be a very interesting year with that sort of fireball here." His smile widened as Snape jumped back from the table and ran after the Queen, cursing under his breath. "Very interesting indeed."
~'~
"ARGH! THAT STUPID MAGIIM WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Usagi screeched, the second she stomped out of the castle and into the night air. "He has probably been manipulating me from the moment I got rid of Metalia! NO ONE MANIPULATES THE SENSHI OF THE COSMOS!" She spotted the sanctuary that a forest offered and instinctively headed for it.
"I will not be treated like a pawn! What does he expect me to do here, exactly?" She fumed, stomping deeper and deeper into the forbidden forest and finally pausing when she came to a small clearing, just large enough for the half moon in the sky to shine, lighting up the clearing. With a smile Usagi moved into the healing light of her home, and looked up to watch the stars move around the moon.
"Oooh. So, I'm in danger again?" She murmured, reading the stars like they were a child's reader. "From a guy who calls himself Lord Wish of Death?! Oh. Voldemort. Sounds familiar. Oh, look. He's trying to maim Harry. No, wrong planet. He's trying to *kill* the Hairy Ceramist. Oooh, nice. We have a traitor who will try to kill me." She studied the angle of Mars carefully and grinned. "That looks like fun."
"The Queen of Eternia. You shouldn't be in the forest." She glanced over to see a centaur enter the clearing and approach her and went back to staring at the stars.
"Why the hell not? It isn't like they can kill me." She retorted as the blonde centaur also turned his face to the heavens. "And besides, I have never seen the stars so clear. I've already pulled a name from them."
The centaur nodded. "You have to protect Harry Potter, Eternia." He told her, his eyes traveling the lines of Polaris to Jupiter. "You are the only one with that kind of power in this world. This is a world without the awakening of your senshi for quite a few more years."
She looked at him. "I knew there had to be a reason I couldn't feel them." She nodded, and smiled softly. "I really don't look like a warrior, do I, sir?" She asked him seriously a sad sort of smile on her face.
The centaur smiled back, a monumental occurrence. "Perhaps not, but that is why you shall always have an advantage, dear Queen."
She sighed. "Advantage. Ha. Not in this world. Not against that blasted Magiim." Her staff appeared in her hand and she tapped the end of it against the grass. "But I could look at the bright side. At least here I can learn more magic and moon over cute professors while I'm dying to save the life of someone else."
The centaur laughed, a motion it was not used to making. It was well worth the surprise when she gave him a true smile.
"TSUKINO! IF YOU BELONGED TO A HOUSE THIS WOULD COST THEM FOUR THOUSAND POINTS!" A very enraged male voice was near and getting closer.
Usagi giggled. "That would be Severus Snape. Incredibly handsome." She commented to her new friend. "He's scaring the animals."
The second that word left her lips a bulky, lumbering creature entered the clearing. The centaur's eyes widened and he went for his bow and arrow, recognizing the white-bear-like monster that no wizard knew of long enough to tell.
Usagi only watched it in smooth interest, and the centaur jumped when she opened her mouth and began to speak its language.
"Hello, my friend. Is the strange man too loud for this hour?" The centaur couldn't understand her words but knew when to step back as the monster took interest and approached her.
"Yes. You... you are the Queen!" It quickened its pace and tackled her. She giggled and sat up, rubbing the feather-soft fur of its neck.
"Yes, I am the Queen." She chuckled. "You're very large. How old are you?"
It looked back at the treeline. "I have seen about six moons. I will grow to be much larger some day. But I am still big enough to carry you. Want to see?" It kneeled a little, and Usagi grinned and took a dainty seat on the broad, soft back. It was just a giant bear, really. And she had always had a special place for bears in her heart.
"That loud man will come into the clearing in a moment." She warned her new pet. "Please don't hurt him."
The bear shifted and took a step, testing the weight on its back. It was surprised to find that the Queen weighted very little. It could hardly tell it was carrying someone. "I won't attack if he is a friend of yours, Queen. May I carry you back to the school?"
She nodded, petting it mindlessly. "Of course. Look, here he is."
Severus Snape burst into the clearing, wand out and face red with his anger. He froze, momentarily, to see Usagi sitting on a bear large enough to eat her without chewing.
"Good evening, Professor." She called to him happily. "My friend here promises not to eat you and has offered to give me a ride back to the school. And as you are in considerable danger in this place of darkness, I would say we should go."
Snape glanced at the bear-monster, who growled at him, showing off rather long and sharp teeth. He decided very quickly it would not do to yell at Usagi at that moment, or argue that she would not be allowed to ride the sadistic monster back.
"Yes, well, then, come along." He put his wand away slowly as the beast lumbered towards him, Usagi smiling rather evilly.
"I'd offer you a seat, but she has informed me she will rip your bowels out and use them for a nest if you touch her." Usagi informed him nonchalantly. "But she says that there is a shorter way out of the forest, so if you'll follow her, I think she's trustworthy."
Not trusting himself to say anything that wouldn't get him killed, Snape nodded shortly.
"You want to know why I'm so strange, Severus Snape?" Usagi asked softly, not looking at the older man, as the bear navigated the forest.
"It would be a start, Miss Tsukino." He replied dryly, pushing various tree limbs out of his way.
Her face darkened a little. "What would you do if when you looked at a person, you could see their past, present, and future, all at once, and you were bound by spells older than magic itself from saying or doing anything?" She asked, failing miserably at keeping the emotion from her voice. "Bound by spells so precise that they hide all eternal knowledge of it? So precise you have to search the Rulebook for hours to find a single loophole that allows you to only speak of it in a second person, hypothetical sense?"
Snape didn't glare. "I would have gone insane by now." He answered thoughtfully. "How do you manage it?"
She looked at him and then looked away. "Let's just say that I'll never insult you, Severus. And that you shouldn't insult Harry." She sighed. "I have thousands and thousands and thousands of years to go, Severus. I can't live them as a broken twit. I get over things, and I get over them fast."
They broke out of the forest then, and Usagi slid off her new friend and it disappeared back into the depths of the forest.. There were three professors waiting at the steps to the castle, Dumbledore not being one of them.
Snape watched as she took Sinistra's outstretched hand with a smile and all the dignity of a young woman raised to be a lady, and allowed the three professors to lead her into the castle while apparently listening attentively to their lecture on rules.
His eyes narrowed.
~'~
As it turned out, Usagi's room wasn't far from the Slytherin dorms. She found this out the next morning by running into a brick wall of a boy, his would-be twin, and a rather beautiful young man who reminded her of a younger Kunzite with short hair.
"Ah! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, catching herself before she did a nose dive into the stone floor and stepped back, straightening her dark robes.
The blonde boy eyed her. "You're that new girl." He said, with a rather arrogant drawl. "I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. That's Crabbe and this is Goyle." He extended his hand.
Usagi took it, ignoring the dark feeling she got from him and smiled. "I'm Usagi Tsukino. Malfoy, hmm?" She had seen that name in the stars. "It's my pleasure to meet you."
He nodded, and she swore he fought down a smile. Instead, he offered his arm. "We were just heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Would you like to join us?"
She could feel the darkness from the other two, and it weighed in her head like the heaviest rock, but she took his arm with a smile. He looked so much like Kunzite.
"So, what sort of family are you from?" He asked, in a faked nonchalant tone. Her eyebrow arched but she replied in an even voice.
"My family is dead."
"I'm sorry. Were they wizards?" Draco asked, as they entered the hall. Usagi gritted her teeth and answered as sweetly as she could.
"I couldn't tell you." She caught George's eye and made a distinct HELP ME expression. George grabbed his twin by the collar and they set off to rescue their new mischief maker.
"I noticed Dumbledore wanted you to get all chummy with the Gryffindors. May I offer you a piece of advice? They're just a bunch of goody-goodies. If you want true power, I'm your man."
It took all of her willpower to bite down that giggle. True power? He had no idea.
"Usagi!"
"Darling!"
"Goddess!"
"We need your professional opinion on something!" Fred yanked her out of Draco's arms.
George nodded, as he took one hand and his brother grabbed the other. "Something very important!"
"Something phenomenal." Fred added, just for the hell of it, as they led Usagi away before Draco could think better of it and take the girl back.
"I will never be able to thank either of you enough. Draco wasn't so bad once I got past that mask of his, but those two tanks... I do believe they'd have fun hexing a baby."
Fred snorted. "You bet they would."
George agreed whole heartedly as they found three seats in the middle of the table and grabbed them quickly.
"What did Malfoy want with you?" George asked, as Usagi grabbed a blueberry muffin in delight.
"He wanted to know if my family were wizards." Usagi smiled slightly, revealing she knew a secret. "I should have told him the truth. And don't look at me like that... just because I wouldn't tell him does not mean I will tell you."
The twins opened their mouth to protest that they would never ask such a imprudent question when Hermione's voice interrupted them.
"Usagi, what class do you have first?"
Usagi blinked, and dug in the pocket of her robes for her schedule. She glanced at it carefully. "Uhm... that would be Potions, with Gryffindor and Slytherin, Fifth year." She read. "And after that I have Transfiguration with the Seventh years."
Fred and George grinned at each other while Hermione nodded. "You've got your first class with us."
Usagi smiled at her. "May I walk with you, Hermione? From what I've seen this is a fairly sized castle and I don't wish to get lost for Severus's class."
Ron blinked and whispered to Harry, "Did she just call him Severus?"
Hermione blinked as well, but shrugged. "Sure." She picked up her bag. "We'd better go now unless you want to be late. Professor Snape can be very....
"Grouchy?" Usagi supplied, picking up her own bag. "Yes, I know." She slung the strap over her shoulder as Ron and Harry stood. "See you later, Fred. George."
The walk to Potions was long, and the first two minutes was complete silence, mostly with the three friends sneaking glances at the exotic beauty and then at each other, seeing who would break first and ask.
Usagi was trying not to be overly amused, but after thirty seconds more of the silence, added with the stares from every group of students they passed, she was ready to giggle hysterically.
"Go ahead, ask." She said finally.
Before either of his friends could stop him, Ron blurted, "Did you REALLY throw a demon four times your size into a tree?!"
"Ron!" Hermione gasped, chiding him for the rudeness of the question. Harry just looked intrigued, studying Usagi's face when she smiled.
"He was only a little bigger than I was." She replied, her smile a little smug. "It was his own fault. That bloody monster followed me through-- oh, never mind. But he deserved it."
Ron grinned. "Can you fight well? Like, real fighting, not with wands?"
Usagi blinked. "Wands? Oh. Uhm, yes." She said tentatively. "I was taught to fight. It was... a necessity... where I come from."
The slight tremble in her voice was missed by all except Harry. His brow furrowed as Usagi bit her lip and quickened her step ever so slightly. At once he knew she was hiding something very important from them.
"Miss Tsukino, I see you're on time." Seemingly out of no where, the dark Potions Professor fell into step beside the troubled girl.
She looked up at him and a smile spread over her face. "As if I could ever be late for your class, Sev-- Professor." She blushed a little. "I forgot. You're officially my teacher now. Uhm..." Her blush darkened, making her unbearably gorgeous. "Oh, never mind." She fled into the classroom, leaving her Professor and three friends to stare after her.
"Strange girl, that one." Harry commented.
"For once, Potter, I can't disagree."
Snape swept into the classroom with his usual amount of drama, just enough to make Neville cower and gather the usual fearful respect from the rest of the class. Except Usagi. She had chosen a seat near the front, her parchment and textbook already out, quill in hand, and a very becoming blush on her cheeks.
Snape was not one to note beauty, at all in any circumstance, but he had never before had the chance to meet a Lunarian before. Of course, the books did speak of the Queen's grace and face, but books tended to be a bit biased when the subject of royalty came up, saying that every Queen was magnificent and every princess darling.
And he had to challenge the books in this case. Usagi was not darling. She had a strong, undeniable presence of power that commanded an unconscious respect from her peers and even adults. Her looks actually would have been less remarkable-- still gorgeous, true-- but it was how she carried herself. Not quite arrogance, but a self-assurance no girl had at her age.
Her apparent age, he reminded himself. She was older than she looked. Probably about his own age, if her story and his brain were checking out.
Which made her, all things considered, his superior.
Something he was indefinitely unhappy with.
After the unusual display last night, he was actually sort of wary about her. She had spoken to that monstrosity in a tender fashion, and it had been very protective of her. She was a Queen, and if she could speak to that sort of species, he wondered why Dumbledore had not yet asked for her help in this dreadful war.
"Open your textbooks." He snapped suddenly, shaking himself out of his own reverie. "Page 423. Find the ingredients in your bags and start making the potions in pairs. Choose your own partners-- Not Longbottom, Miss Granger!" He glared at the girl. Hermione sighed.
Usagi watched in intrigue, and walked over to Neville. "I'll be your partner. I'll have to warn you, though. I haven't studied potions for two thousand years." She said seriously, with only a humorous glint in her eye. He looked a bit stunned for a moment, that she would ask *him*, and nodded mutely. Snape opened his mouth to protest, but gave up. He went back to stalking around the room, breathing down students' necks and watching them try not to be completely terrified of him.
But Usagi, on the other hand, seemed quite determined to ruin any reputation of his that involved being a malicious, cold-hearted bastard.
"Professor-chan," She said, as he came to glare at Neville. He paused, unsure of what the strange suffix meant. She had said it in a rather endearing way. Almost mocking his status. "I'm not quite sure of this. Nightshade and Dark Opium... when you combine them like this, don't they explode?"
He blinked. That was seventh year curriculum.
"True, Miss Tsukino. But the powered dragon heart acts as an neutralizer. Who taught you that?"
She looked at Neville nervously. "One of the first things my... tutors... taught me was a list of every single ingredient used in potion making, and which ones reacted with what and how." She blushed. "I used to have this tendency to make things blow up a lot when I was angry." With that she added the ingredients to the potion and it bloomed suddenly into a wonderful violet color.
Neville poked it with his ladle. It actually looked like the illustration in the book, something he had never been able to achieve before.
Snape moved away to haunt Harry and Usagi smiled at Neville.
"Neville, you really shouldn't be so bad in here. I mean, it's just Herbology with a cauldron. And you're good at that, right?" She inquired nonchalantly, watching intently as he dropped a piece of black, slimy mouse liver into the cauldron.
Neville stared at her. "How did you know that?" He asked, as he stirred the pretty mixture. The fumes were sweet-smelling, like honey and jasper, but they were making him decidedly drowsy. He noticed that most of the other students-- well, all of them, it seemed-- were also getting sleepier by the moment.
Usagi only sighed, the only one unaffected by the vapors. "Professor, this is cruel. No one is going to get this potion right if they're all sleep. Helena's Hellfire Sleeping Draughts.... and one of the most powerful..."
Snape shrugged. "Madam Pomfrey needs to stock up, with O.W.L.S. coming near. This is fifth year curriculum and it will save me lots of time." He struggled with a grin as Ron Weasley passed out. Usagi rolled her eyes and kept stirring the potion.
"Hehe... so we're all going to pass out? Why not you?" Neville was unaware his words were a bit slurred.
Usagi only looked at him and didn't answer. Part of him might have remarked this as a clue, but he promptly forgot it when he too fell asleep, bonking his head on the side of the cauldron as he did.
Usagi shook her head and finished the potion quite easily without her partner, and was one of five who could. She was surprised more of the students hadn't performed the Bubble Charm to keep them from breathing the fumes.
Snape seemed disgruntled that out of his entire house, only Draco Malfoy had the brains to find a way to stay awake. He took five points from all the unconscious students, cleared the fumes away with a flick of his wand and a muttered spell, and ordered the five standing to use Enervate to awaken their friends.
Usagi waited until no one was looking and muttered something under her breath that made her stagger just a little and the rest of the unconscious people open their eyes. Neville sat up just as the strange girl regained her composure.
"Welcome back to the living." She greeted him with a smile, however fake. "You lost five points for passing out but we have an A on the potion."
Without warning he hugged her tightly. "THANK YOU! You just saved my grade!"
While she updated Neville on Snape's current mood, unnoticing of the way Hermione was staring at her.
"How did she do that?" Hermione muttered quietly. She had seen the girl say a spell, and then everyone in the room had woken up. It was an impossible thing, but she had done it.
Snape nodded when Usagi suggested that class be dismissed and ordered everyone out. Hermione also noticed that Usagi stayed behind, and made a point to be the last out, just barely hearing Usagi's next words.
"Well, Severus, it seems you're the bastard everyone says you are. You should be nicer."
"Miss Tsukino, you're a riot."
Wide eyed, she told Ron and Harry about it as soon as they had left the dungeons.
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Extra long and extra juicy to make up for the lateness! Leave me lots of pretty reviews!