A/N: PLEASE READ!!! To those of you who think I'm superauthorgirl and have a natural ability to dish out chapters every day, a fair warning to you.
I am currently on a kick, a very long-lasting kick, but still a kick. Eventually I won't be able to write down as much in this fic, especially after school starts up again for me. My schedule's pretty packed this year, hopefully I'll have some time for writing. But I can't continue couching up chapters every day, sure it seems like I can, but once I get off my kick and start getting bored with it the chapters will drag like a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. Maybe that won't happen with this fic, I sure have been getting a lot of reviews, I could commit my muse (the real Kioko) to continually bug me if I start to slack, but she'll be in school too and might not have that much time to do so. Therefore, please do not get furious with me if I skip a day or two, heheh, ahem.
Anysway, to those of you who are dying to know who I'm paring Hotaru up with, it's already set in stone, well, not to that extreme, it could be changed who she gets together with in the end, but I'll be doing a little of both Harry and Draco so as not to anger the H/H and D/H fans who may be reading this fic, and because we do not like Cho Chang or Pansy Parkingson. But the end result will most likely be on whoever fits the suit, if you get what I mean.
I'd better stop there, anymore and I might spoil the surprises. Please enjoy the fic!!! I don't have very much time left so I'll edit it later.
Hotaru took a deep breath, and sighed. It wasn't the weather, it wasn't the shops, and it wasn't the hard-to-loose Draco Malfoy either. It was the people. There were too many of them. Sure there was quite a few at Hogwarts, but they were sorted, organized if you would. These people, she couldn't tell who was who, as in house wise, who would do her wrong with a friendly smile and who would genuinely enjoy her company.
"Which is a lot of people may I remind you." Kioko told her when she relayed these fears to her.
"Scared Tomo?" Draco asked, sneering as usual and followed by a round of laughter from Crabbe and Goyle. The two ignored him.
"Hm," Hotaru only grunted a bit. "Oh look, quick pens!" She said delighted and she sprinted on into the store with Kioko behind her.
"Great, something else I can't afford." The raven blue girl muttered as she looked at the quick pen prices.
"I was going to get one for you anyway." Hotaru said. "Oh look, these pens have that special editing tool as well." She said pointing to some very handsomely carved pens with different, sleek, colors as well as choices for gold or silver tip and label. She picked out a royal blue pen with a silver tip. "This one looks right for you." She said. "You think Hermione would like the one in the gold and maroon?"
"I dunno, she seems like the kind of person who'd prefer royal green and gold if you count out house colors. Get that one for Ron. Hm, oh, this one is just right for Harry, it matches his hair." She said, picking out a black and gold one. "PERFECT!!!" She suddenly yelled. She held up a deep royal violet pen with a silver tip.
"Huh? But I already have a quick pen." Hotaru protested.
"Not one with special editing quality. Oh please Firefly, it's just right for you." Kioko pleaded.
Hotaru sighed, when Kioko was childish like this, which wasn't very often, it was hard to say no. So she gathered up the pens and took them to the desk clerk. "How much for these?" She asked.
"Hm…normally they'd be 50 galleons all together, but for you…25." He said grinning good-naturedly.
"Oh! Thank you sir." Hotaru said smiling, ignoring the fact that it had to be her special 'gift' again. She took out the galleons and paid the man before walking back to Kioko.
"Okay, here's the plan. I'll stall Malfoy for as long as humanly possible with as many insults as I can gather within a moments time while you act like something attracted your attention, round the corner, and make a break for the Hog's Head. I'll catch up after Malfoy notices your gone and grudgingly starts trying to find you." She said.
But they didn't have to, when they came back out of the shop it seemed Malfoy had gotten bored and left already. Probably thinking it wasn't worth looking as if he was waiting for her to come back out. "Well, I guess we won't have to." Hotaru said.
"My thoughts exactly. Come on, let's go, don't want to be late." Kioko said.
********
When the two entered there weren't a lot of people already there, just Harry, Ron, and Hermione chatting quietly about something as well as a handful of others around, but those others made Hotaru feel a bit…off. Sure she was dressed in her normal black outfit and her naturally pale complexion as well as dark hair and eyes might make her look just a big gothic, but even Goths might feel odd around here. Everyone seemed to be covering their face in one way or another.
Hastilly, Hotaru took a seat beside Hermione and Kioko sat beside her. "Hi guys." She said.
"I really wasn't expecting you to come." Hermione stated.
"Oh come on, and pass up a chance to cause a little chaos for Umbridge?" Kioko asked, giving her a look as if she might be mad or something. Harry and Ron chuckled under their breath. "Though this wasn't the best place to hold something like this. There'd be less of a chance of us getting overheard in the Three Broomsticks. I could put up a silencing ward around the table though." She said, Hermione gave her another 'I don't believe you' look. "What?!"
"Silencing wards?!" Hermione hissed, "That'd be breaking school rules." She said.
"No it wouldn't, we're in grounds aren't we? Nothing in the rulebook says we can't do magic in Hog's Head. Ask Fred and George." She said.
"Always taking advantage of loopholes, not surprising." George commented as he, Fred, and a bunch of others came into the Hog's Head.
Kioko pulled out her wand with a twitch of her hand and then flicked it about whispering something like an incantation. She then put it back up, though Hermione was still giving her an exasperated look. Kioko merely rolled her eyes.
"Cheers." Said Fred, "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these." He added passing around Butterbeers.
"Here Fred." Hotaru said as she handed him a few galleons.
"You're overpaying Firefly." George said, handing her back two of them.
"What have you been telling people? What are they expecting?" Harry asked Hermione.
"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say, you don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first." She replied.
There was a bustle in the room as everyone got seated, greeting each other, and giving odd looks to others in the room, Kioko especially got a good many looks.
After a good while and everyone was settled Hermione started, "Er," She said with a high voice, "Well—er—hi. Well…erm…well, you know why you're here. Erm…well, Harry here had the idea—I mean—I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts," Someone put a "here here" in. "Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands." She paused a moment and looked at Harry with a sideways glance and continued. "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells—"
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said a guy named Michael Corner.
"Of course I do, but I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because…because…"
"Because she doesn't want to be caught in a bathroom with a troll again and not be able to do anything." Kioko put in, gaining a very dark look from Hermione. "What?" She said with complete innocence written all over her face.
"Because," Hermione continued, she took a deep breath, "Lord Voldemort's back." She said.
"Don't sound like you're hesitating on the name, it's just stupid to fear a name I mean really. Voldemort's just a name, oh for heavens sake all you!!! Voldemort Voldemort Voldemort Voldemort Voldemort Voldemort Voldemooooooor—" the Hufflepuff beside Kioko suddenly slapped his hand over Kioko's mouth to stop her. Kioko looked a bit taken back for a moment, she then slowly turned to the Hufflepuff, who was only just now realizing what he had just done, glared at him, and mumbled something under his hand. He, very slowly, pulled his hand away from her mouth but she was still glaring at him.
"What did she say?" Asked someone.
"She said get you're hand off my face," Fred said.
"Or we will," Put in George.
"Be having,"
"Hufflepuff,"
"Stew!!!" They both said at the same time.
The poor guy paled and the scooted his chair as far away from Kioko as he could.
"Anyways." Hermione cleared her throat. "That's the plan, if you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"
"Where's the proof that You-Know-Who is back?" Said a Hufflepuff player aggressively.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it—"
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him." He said, jerking his thumb towards Harry.
"Who are you?" Ron demanded.
"Zacharias Smith, and I think we've to the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who is back." He said.
"You mean He-Who's-Name-Is-Voldemort?" Kioko asked smirking at the guy's flinch.
"Look, That's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about—" Hermione started.
"It's okay Hermione." Harry said. He looked around the room, everyone was silent, almost holding their breath at what he was going to say. "What makes me say You-Know-Who is back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone." He said.
"All Dumbledore told us was—" He started, but was interrupted by the most unlikely person of the group.
"Isn't Dumbledore's word enough?" Hotaru asked meekly, everyone turned their eyes upon her as if only now seeing her there. "After all these years, after all his achievements, how can you possibly think he's gone crazy just because he says Voldemort is back?" No one seemed to shiver or flinch when she said the name, "He says Cedric was killed by Voldemort, who is now back. Harry has seen him with his own eyes. Does Harry look crazy to you? Does he look like someone who'd make something like that up? And what proof do you have that he's dead, where's the body then? Someone so powerful couldn't be killed off so easily if Avada Kidavra was merely deflected back onto him. We can't keep dragging on the comfortable peace his absence has given us, eventually we'll all get our wakeup call, wouldn't it be best if we were prepared for it? Wouldn't we propose a much more decent challenge if we knew he was coming before he does?" She finished.
There was silence, always something she seemed to carry with her, but now there was a very good reason for it. Everyone was thinking her words over in their minds, considering possibilities. The buzz of their thoughts just gently touched into Hotaru's mind, but she still felt it. She could sense the impact of her words.
After a good while Hermione cleared her throat again and said, "So," In a fairly high voice, "So…like I was saying..if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to—" But she was interrupted yet again.
"Is it true, that you can produce a Patronus?" A girl asked, everyone looked at Harry, murmuring in interest. 'can he?' 'Wow, that's amazing' 'well I'll be…' 'a Patronus? Incredible' 'how did he do it?' their thoughts whispered.
"Yeah," Harry said, though a little defensively.
"A corporal Patronus?"
"Er—you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" He asked.
The girl smiled, "She's my anutie, I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So—is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?" She asked.
"Yes." Harry said.
"Blimey, Harry!" Lee Jordon exclaimed, "I never knew that!"
"Mum told Ron no to spread it around, she said you got enough attention as it was." Fred said.
"She's not wrong." Harry mumbled under his breath.
Kioko then pulled out a list before anyone could say anything more, "He's also saved the Sorcerer's Stone from He-Who-Will-Die-If-There-Is-Any-Justice-In-The-World, killed a basilisk with the sword in Dumbledore's office, road on a Hippogryph without dieing, gotten through all those tasks in the Triwizard Tournament, and dueled He-Who-Is-A-Pain-In-Our—" Kioko glanced at Hotaru, who did not like it when she swore, "Buts. And look here, he's still alive, gasp!" she finished.
"You keep track?" Ron questioned.
"Of course I do, I'm waiting to see what he accomplishes this year. Then I'm going to eventually demand to know which fairy spring he was dunked into." She said getting a round of snickers from the table.
"Is that all true?" Asked one from the crowd.
"Well…yeah." Harry said. "Look," he then inturupted the round of impressed staring, "I…I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything but…I had a lot of help with all that stuff…"
"Of course you did, and sometimes you didn't. Point being, Harry, you have experience. You can, with help or no, and what we want is to have the dust from your fairy spring rub off on us so we'll be prepared." Kioko stated.
"You're obsessed with that theory aren't you?" Harry questioned, Kioko just grinned and nodded.
"Well, does everyone agree with me?" She asked. A collection of nods and 'yes's went around the table.
"Right," Hermione said, "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week—"
"Can't let it interfere with everyone's precious Quidditch practices." Kioko put in, though she looked proud at the dark looks those who were captains gave her.
"Yes, yes, but, you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to devend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters—" Hermione said.
"Well said! Personally I think this is really Important, possibly more important than anything we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s coming up!" Ernie Macmillan stated.
"Gasp, surely not!" Kioko said sarcastically, everyone in the room knew she just did that because Ernie was waiting for someone to say it before continueing. Ernie only chuckled and proceeded.
"I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at theis critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using Defensive spells—"
"It's because Umbridge thinks Dumbledore's building an army using the students to take over the Ministry." Kioko stated.
Everyone was rather stunned at this, "Well, it looks like both Night and Tomo have been doing their homework." Breathed someone.
"And ours!!!" Fred and George said at the same time. "Well, Tomo is." They added when Kioko gave them the evil eye.
"Well, once a week sounds cool." Said Lee, reverting everyone back to the matter at hand.
"As long as—" Angelina started.
"'It doesn't infringe the Quidditch practices'?" Kioko finished, Angelina gave her a dark look.
"Yes, yes we know. Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet…" There was a bit of a silence after Hermione said that.
"Chamber of Secrets?" Kioko asked. "What?! It's an idea!" she exclaimed.
"You're mind has been warped, did you know that?" Angelina asked.
"Yes, many have told me that, especially my little Squib brother." She said, taking extreme pleasure at adding the squib part.
"Room of Requirement?" Hotaru suggested softly. Everyone looked at her.
"The wha?" Kioko asked.
"Well, once I was wondering around the halls, wishing for a quiet place to do my homework where no one would or could disturb me, and I happened upon it. It was full of everything I could ever want, just the right lighting to read by, very comfortable cushions, and all the books I could ever need for anything I was working on. A little later I happened upon it once again when in a desparate need of something edible to eat, they didn't have anything right on the table for the entire day, and when I found it it was full of all the foods a person could ever want to be able to eat." She said.
"Without powdered Grandi in the chicken." Kioko added, everyone's eyes widened and several people looked like they were about to gag.
"Anyways, I stumbled upon it a third time, memorized where it was, how to get to it, and I use it every once and a while now." She finished. "Well, what you do is you just have to have a need for it and it's there when you walk past a certain bit of wall three times, like you're stalking and trying to think of a way to get something you need." She told them.
"Hotaru, that's BRILLIANT!!!!" Harry exclaimed, jumping from his seat.
"Well, now that that's settled, I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think, that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge—or anybody else—what we're up to." She said.
Fred took the parchment first and then quickly scribbled his name down on it. George took it and did so himself. Zacharias looked hesitant to sign the paper. "Er…"
"Sign the blasted paper or I'll make you sing Marry Poppins for the rest of the weekend." Kioko threatened, pulling her wand back out with the flick of her wrist. The boy didn't wait another moment before signing.
Ernie looked a bit reluctant himself. "I—well, we are prefects," He busted out. "And if this list was found…well, I mean to say…you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out…"
"Oh shut up, if it makes you feel any better I'll charm it so that the list goes blank for anyone who isn't loyal to Dumbledore." Kioko said.
"Besides, you just said this group was the most important think you'd do this year," Harry reminded.
"Yeah…okay." He said, he quickly signed his name then. The list was passed around and when it got to Kioko she mumbled something under her breath, tapped it with her wand, signed it, then handed it to Hotaru, who then put her name down onto it. When everyone had signed Hermione stuffed it into their pack. The feeling that they had all just signed a contract swept throughout the table.
"Well, time's ticking on." Said Fred.
"Hold up!!!" Kioko snapped as everyone started to leave. "Not one of you is leaving until they say the magic name." She told them with a falsely sweet tone to her voice.
"No way!!!" Exclaimed those who got the picture.
"Yes way, don't worry, up put up silencing wards around the table so Umbridge wouldn't be able to overhear anything." She said.
"Umbridge isn't here." One snorted.
"No, but one of the rats who'd tell her about this might be." Kioko said.
"Like you?" Someone sneered.
Kioko turned to them, "Now how did you figure it out?! Yes, I came here just to spy and rat out the friends I particularly like to a woman I particularly hate all the while getting no self-gain out of it and thereby proving the stereotyped theory in most Gryffindors that all Slytherins are the epitome of evil." She said.
A few then mermered something under their breaths. "What was that?" Kioko asked.
"Voldemort!" The said, probably a bit more loudly than they had intended to. A couple more shuddered and murmured the name just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"You are all excused." Kioko said, she then turned to Ron who was the only one who hadn't said it.
"V-Voldemort." He sighed shuddering.
*******
"While the day's still going," Hotaru began while they were a good ways away from the Hog's Head, "let's do a bit more shopping." She said.
"You can, I'm saving my money." Kioko replied.
"Well, I've got plenty of it, come on, I'll treat you to some ice cream." Hotaru said happily as they came to an open shop. "I'll take some vanilla." She said.
"Lime sherbet." Kioko told the man at the counter.
"Coming right up." He told them. He waved his wand and then a perfect circle of creamy colored ice cream was stuck onto a waffle cone and then a greenish colored scoop on another waffle cone. He handed the two their cones and was getting Hotaru some change for her galleon when, guess who, Draco Malfoy approached the two.
"You know what, I get the odd feeling that something stupid, arrogant, and blood sucking is near. Why hello Malfoy, we were just talking about you!" Kioko suddenly said, looking as though she had just seen Malfoy standing there with Crabbe and Goyle to his sides.
"I noticed." He growled.
"Hey Hotaru, I hear Madam Glasslips is having a special on lipstick today. Let's go check it out." Kioko said, she grabbed Hotaru's wrist and started dragging her down the streat.
"But I don't wear—" Hotaru tried just before being jerked off to the road. They rounded a sharp corner and then Kioko jerked Hotaru into the nearest shop. She then let herself go and started laughing hard.
"Man, I hate it when I laugh at my own jokes." Kioko said calming down.
"Well, you have to admit, that was pretty funny." Hotaru giggled.
"If we had stayed near them any longer I'd have lost face. Hm, what have we here?" Kioko asked, suddenly having a look around the shop.
It was a dimly lit shop, illuminated by candles and such. Interesting odds and ends were everywhere, glowing objects in strange shapes, spinning toys, intricately designed beads as well as plane beads floated around, only moving when pushed out of the way. Crystal balls and other crystal objects shaped to form animals or objects and colored as well. Bejeweled objects of interest and ornate dresses that looked to have a charm so they could fit anyone who tried them on, jewelry, even some swords were being displayed in a glass case.
Kioko whistled as she started looking around. "Wow, this looks like some good stuff here." She said examining a staff in one of the glass cases.
"You have an eye for quality M'lady." Said a soothing yet aged voice. Hotaru looked over her shoulder to see a man wearing a plain black cloak with a gold rope acting as a belt. He wasn't too bad off for his age, nicely shaved, lovely black hair with only a little bit a gray here and there, and black eyes. His face had few wrinkles, but you could still tell he was old by the look in his eyes. He was a trustworthy man with a lot of wisdom in his background. Yet something about him was off, odd, familiar even.
He gave Hotaru a friendly smile, "Looking for anything in particular?" he asked them.
"Not really, we honestly stumbled in here on our way to avoiding a few…annoyances." Kioko told him.
"Ah, I see. Well, you just happened upon Saturn's Eye," Hotaru involuntarily took in a sharp breath, "I am the owner, you can call me Silver." He said, ignoring Hotaru's gesture. "Tell me, if you would like something." He said, and then he made his way towards the counter.
"Spooky, let's have a look around." Kioko said, she shuffled over to some of the jewelry items and left Hotaru to look around herself.
Hotaru shook off her suspicion, he could have Saturn in his shop's name couldn't he? But…something about it. Saturn's Eye, it sounded like something a bit more. Kioko would be downright suspicious if she was Hotaru, but she wasn't Hotaru, and the real Hotaru was being paranoid. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and decided to browse a bit.
The black clad girl checked her watch, the two had been here for over an hour! Well, the objects in this shop were just so interesting to look at, she was still debating on what to buy, she just couldn't decide on several things. And she doubted it'd please her parents if she spent all her money buying the shop out. Just as Hotaru was exploring an area she hadn't noticed before a little 'cheep' alerted her to what she wanted to buy.
It was just so cute! The baby Phoenix ruffled it's feathers a bit as if breathing in deeply and cheeped again, louder this time, to make sure Hotaru was paying attention to it. She bent down and took a good look at it. Wait, it couldn't be a Phoenix, it's feathers were different shades of violet and black, even as a baby and with barely enough feathers to account for other than covering she could still tell.
"That's called a Hybrid Illusion Phoenix, very rare, and very powerful to boot. This one is a special case though, not sure why but you're the first person she's responded to." Said Silver.
"Oh," Hotaru said, feeling a bit disheartened. There was no way she'd be able to afford that Phoenix. And she wanted it so badly…
Hotaru looked at it longingly and regretfully, the Phoenix gave another cheep and cocked its head to the side as if asking what she was so upset about.
"It's very rare," The shop owner repeated, "and fairly reclusive. It's said they only respond to a certain person…" he said, as if hinting at something.
Hotaru's head jerked up and she looked at him with hope in her eyes, yes, there was definitely something familiar about him. "But I don't think I have—" she started, but he stopped her.
"They're born for one person, and one person alone." He said. He looked over to Kioko who was looking at the swords, being uncharacteristically oblivious. "Come back next time you're able to, I'm sure I'll have hers by that time."
"You mean," She breathed.
"Yes, but don't tell her that just yet." He then took the cage that the violet Phoenix was in and brought it over to the desk. "That'll be 60 galleons miss Tomo." He said aloud, as if to sound normal.
"But wait, how did you—" Hotaru said, her eyes wide. But he shushed her and took the pouch she was about to hand him. He then weighed it.
"Let's just say Meiho is a good friend of mine." He told her quietly. Then he said, "Here's an instruction booklet about her growth, you can practically feed her anything a human could eat so long as you don't give her too many sweets."
"As well as anything that isn't on Makoto's list of Edible Hogwarts Foods." Kioko came in. "Whoa, you're getting a Phoenix?! Just how rich is your family Firefly!?" Kioko practically demanded.
Hotaru blushed a bit, holding the cheeping Phoenix in one hand and her booklet in the other. "Um, pretty rich I guess…" She said awkwardly, putting the small book into her skirt pocket.
"I'll buy this." Kioko said holding up an amulet, "How much is it?" She asked.
"10 galleons." He replied, Kioko flintched.
"I'll get it for you." Hotaru said, she paid Silver and the two then left Saturn's Eye.
"Thanks a mill Firefly." Kioko said putting on the amulet. "We'll need to come back to this place, after I get some more galleon's off of Fred and George. Help me think up something that would be just perfect for a pranking item." She said.
"Um, uh, a small chest that bites and starts insulting you when you try to open it?" Hotaru suggested.
"BRILLIANT!! Come on, let's go get to work." Kioko then grabbed Hotaru once more and pulled her towards the Three Broomsticks with her new pet cheeping furiously all the way.
A/N: Weeeeeee!!! I'm actually getting along in the book. For those of you who haven't already guessed, I have hardly touched the actual plot of this fic. Heheheh, but I'm not revealing anything!!!