A/N: MARRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!! WHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
'They're here.' Anri hissed as she started listening to something.
"Finally." Kioko grumbled getting up.
"Finally what?" Draco questioned.
"Anri says they're here." Harry answered. "Or is that Ebony?"
"Ebony is my raven, Harry. You had her name right the first time." Kioko answered as the door opened.
Mad-Eye moody followed by Lupin and Arthur Weasley walked down the stairs. "Are we all ready then?" Asked Mr. Weasley.
"Yes." Kioko answered.
"Um…" Lupin gave Kioko's pets a sideways glance. "How are we going to do this?" He asked.
"With Calypso or Pandora of course!" Kioko stated proudly. "Wait, where are the Dursleys? Shouldn't they be yelling at you for barging into their house?"
Moody smirked, "Oh no, they're all quite asleep." He said.
"Calypso is busy, we'll need to use Pandora." Hotaru put in.
"You put them to sleep?" Harry asked Moody.
"Rightly so we did!" Said Arthur as Pandora appeared in a burst of glitter on Hotaru's shoulder. "Well, I guess we won't have to fly back." Mr. Weasley commented.
"No, but things will be a bit cozy for a few moments." Moody grumbled.
Hotaru's owl, Midnight, perched on her other shoulder and chirped to say she was ready to go. The other birds found their masters' shoulders as well. "We'll hold hands." Hotaru said taking Harry's hand in her own. Draco got her other and Kioko linked to Harry while Moody linked to her and on down. The cats made sure to be touching one of their masters and after everyone made sure to be connected they vanished, but just before leaving Hotaru made sure the spell on the basement would be taken away and all the furniture back to being nothing.
They practically shocked poor Mrs. Weasley out of her skin when they appeared in the large living room. Everyone let their hands drop and hotaru looked up to marvel at the gothic theme of the house. There were snake designs in the chandelier as well as intricately cut wood furniture and fireplace.
"Harry!!!" Exclaimed a collection of people as Harry was immediately taken from Hotaru's hand and pulled into a tight hug from Mrs. Weasley. "How have you been dear? Well I hope." Said the woman, finally giving Harry room to breath. Sirius Black was in the room the next second, looking lively and joyful at seeing the bunch of them.
"Sirius!!!" Harry exclaimed excitedly.
"Psh, seems you have a fan-club, Harry." Said Draco.
"Hey everyone, Harry's here!!!" Sirius called.
"Harry!!!" Ron rushed into the room.
"Well, we'd best be off." Said Moody as he left the room with Lupin. Arthur, however, stayed for a bit longer.
"Weasley-san? Is Setsuna-mama here?" Asked Hotaru while Harry was being fussed over.
"Well…no, sorry but none of the…Senshi are here." He answered. "I think they were planning to come here tomorrow to meet with you."
"That's good." Hotaru sighed, feeling better.
"Uh oh, that means Haruka's coming." Kioko grinned at Draco, who's eyes widened in dread.
"Perfect." Draco muttered as Hotaru wandered about the crowd, hoping to find Sirius so he could tell her where their room was.
"Mr. Black?" Hotaru asked timidly, tapping the man's shoulder. Sirius turned around with a pleasant smile on his face.
"Yes Mrs. Tomoe?" He asked.
"Hotaru is fine. Where do we stay?" She questioned.
"Oh! You'll be staying with Ginny and Hermione, you and Kioko will." He answered. "GREAT SCOT!!! WHAT ARE TIGERS AND SNAKES DOING IN MY HOUSE!?!?!?!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed.
"Er, those are Kioko's pets, but…" Hotaru trailed, but her voice went unheard.
"EEEEKKK!!!!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, there were a lot of demands and a bit of swearing.
"They're not gonna hurt you!!!" Kioko yelled above the chaos.
"Perhaps you should turn small." Hotaru suggested to the Lileeths, who nodded their heads and became little harmless grass snakes. Hotaru picked them up to keep them out of the way while Kioko, Harry, and Arthur were trying to explain that the animals were merely Kioko's pets.
Hotaru thankfully found Hermione and, with the cats following her, walked over. "Hermione, I think we should get Kioko's pets to your room." She suggested.
"Right. Come on, this way." Hermione said. She then lead the way out of all the chaos and up the stairs. They passed through a few hallways, giving Hotaru and idea of how large this house was, and finally arrived in a room with bunk beds and a comfortable amount of space. Ginny was probably greeting Harry as well. Midnight and Ebony flew onto one of the long bars up on the wall to serve as perches while the cats made themselves comfortable in a corner of the room beside the two unoccupied bunk beds. The Lileeths, however, were perfectly content to remain as bracelets on Hotaru's wrists.
"Kioko will most likely join us when she gets Ginny to show her the way up." Hotaru said.
"Yeah, probably. Or we could go back down and make sure they know the pets are in this room. Though Mrs. Weasley might not want Ginny staying here anymore and will either want Ginny to move or Kioko's pets." Hermione said.
"Hey, who said you could sneak off?" Draco demanded, peeking into the room.
"Malfoy!?" Hermione exclaimed. "What's he doing here?!" She demanded from Hotaru.
"Oh, they didn't tell you? He's staying with us because he's a bit to much of a target for Riddle." Hotaru answered.
"Plus I have information about the Death Eaters you might not." Draco added. "Come on, Kioko's not gonna like it if we all disappear on her. And if there's one thing I've learned about her in all of this it's that you do not want to be on her bad side." He said.
"Okay." Hotaru said. She turned to the snakes wrapped around her arms like bracelets. "You should probably stay in here." She told them.
'Okay' They hissed, slipping off her wrists and in doing so changed into longer, bigger snakes so that they could reach the ground without dropping off her wrists. When they were down she and Hermione followed Draco on back down to the living room where the yelling seemed to have gone back to fussing over Harry.
"If you're quite done with all the attention, Harry." Draco interrupted, dragging out of the croud.
Ron, Fred, and George all gasped. "Malfoy!?" Exclaimed Fred and George at the same time.
"Malfoy just called Harry, 'Harry'!" Ron exclaimed, utterly shocked.
"Oh, did I forget to mention that Mr. Malfoy would be joining us?" Mr. Weasley asked as Sirius snickered.
"I do believe you did, Mr. Weasley." Draco said smirking at the others' reactions. Of course Kioko was having a ball with this as well, Harry was also snickering, Hermione could hardly believe Draco was on friendly terms with them as well. And as for Hotaru, well, she was content to be the wall-flower at this time and merely watch what was going on. She didn't exactly like being around a whole lot of people she wasn't entirely familiar with. Even if they were as friendly as the Weasleys.
"Come now, you all must be fairly tired from your journey!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "We should let them rest, it's bedtime anyways." She said.
"Awwww mum! Harry just got here!!!" Ron complained.
"Well, at least you kids go up to one of your rooms, we've got matters to attend to."
*****
"So, what's he doing here exactly?" Asked Fred when all the 'kids' gathered into the boys room.
"I'm sitting." Draco answered.
"He's a target now because he turned to our side." Harry explained.
"Makes sense, but why does he have to sleep here with us?" Complained Ron.
"Because I'm not sleeping in the same room as Kioko." Draco snorted.
"Oh but that's an interesting idea." Kioko smirked evilly, rubbing her hands together. "Think of all the fun we could have!"
"Get away from me!" Draco exclaimed, darting behind Hotaru.
"Malfoy's hiding behind a girl!" Ron exclaimed.
"This is the Queen of Saturn, you idiot. She's the most powerful being in this entire house." Draco glared at him. Hotaru sweatdropped.
"And the only person he knows I won't do anything to in order to get to him." Kioko snickered. "Anyways. About the sleeping arrangements, you don't think there's a chance Hotaru and I could have a room to ourselves do you? I'm not sure you're mom would like you sleeping in the same room as my pets anyways." Kioko asked Ginny.
"Well, there's a good sized room next to this one, but you'd have to clean it up and move your beds into it yourselves." Ginny answered.
"Simple enough." Kioko yawned stretching.
"You haven't changed a bit Lady Hex." Fred grinned.
"Why thank you, wait, what are you doing here, by the way? Shouldn't you be at your shop or something?" Asked Kioko.
"That's right, I didn't expect to see you two after that episode with the broomsticks." Harry said.
"Oh, well, we're sorta helping out the Order." Gorge grinned.
"Hoooow?" Kioko leered at him suspiciously.
"Well, you know those bands and hats that make your head disappear? They're great for hiding your identity! And the extendable ears make spying fairly simple. The fireworks are good for distractions, and some of our sick candies can help in tight situations when you need to fain sickness in order to get out." Fred answered.
"That's what I thought." Kioko said smirking. "And the trick wands are good for replacing real ones in order to make your opponent defenseless?"
"Hadn't really thought of that, but it's a good one!!!" George exclaimed.
Kioko chuckled and shook her head at him. "Now for the matters at hand, what all has been going on while we've been gone?" She asked.
"Well, ever since it's been discovered that, yes, Voldemort is alive, he hasn't been laying low anymore. Death Eaters have outright attacking several places, and nearly succeeded in their takeover too." Hermione said.
"To make it short, it seems that the Prophecy wasn't really the only weapon Voldemort's after. There's another one that we haven't figured out about yet." George continued.
"I could have told you that." Everyone turned to Harry's voice. "I saw him, in a dream, he and a hooded man who floated in mid-air were talking about something called an Ebony Key." He told them.
The others gasped, "What?! The-the Ebony Key?! But that's in Azkaban! It's heavily guarded by the Ministry, labeled a forbidden item only to be used to unlock the doors of prisoners if need be!!!" Hermione exclaimed.
"We heard the Order talking about it, seems Dumbledore was the only other who knew of it, and high ranking ministry workers as well as the ones taking care of the creatures guarding it. I think they're thestrals." Fred told them frowning.
"The Order should know of this, then." Hotaru put in standing up.
"But how could Voldemort know of it?!" Ron exclaimed.
"Oh, that answer is so simple I'm surprised you don't know it." Kioko said, standing up herself. "It has to be Chaos of course."
Hotaru nodded, frowning.
"Chaos?" Ginny questioned.
"Oops, forgot she was here…" Kioko said.
"What? Why? Who's Chaos?" Asked George. He, Fred, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all looked at them, confused.
"They didn't tell you? Neither the Order nor the Senshi told any of you?" Asked Hotaru.
"I'm not surprised. It's bad enough the Dark Lord is out there, gaining power. It'd be even worse to let the existence of your enemy was made known." Draco put in, pointing at Hotaru when he said 'your'.
Everyone looked at Hotaru. "Chaos is…darkness. He is the opposite side of the spectrum, he is the dark power while Cosmos is the light. Though it can no longer be said he is the most powerful being in the universe, he is still the strongest enemy we have ever faced." She said, averting her eyes from the shocked looks of the others. "It seems…he's controlling Riddle, he's the one who caused Tom Riddle to become Voldemort. He gave Riddle the immense power he has performed so far, and is most likely making it grow as well." She said.
"How do you know this? How do you know they're not merely in league?" Asked Ron. But it seemed as if he were more afraid of the prospect Hotaru had said, and rightly so. If Chaos was the one who gave Riddle such power instead of Riddle merely coming to the level, think of how much more powerful Chaos would be compared to Voldemort.
Hotaru looked up then, and sighed. "Ron, I met him remember? I came face to face with him, I talked with him, I looked into his eyes. Those snake-like slits aren't from his reincarnation, they're from his demons. He hasn't been consumed completely, but it'll be hard to redeem him." She answered.
"But-but you said—in the Daily Prophet that—" Ginny started.
"Do you honestly think I would tell the Daily Prophet the entire truth? If I said I came face to face with Voldemort, they'd want to know how, as well as how I was able to fight my way out. And if I replied that I had talked with him, they'd want to know exactly how the entire conversation went. And that, I couldn't tell them or it would expose far more than your world needs to know at this point." Hotaru answered.
"Do they know Voldemort's true intentions?" Draco asked.
"Draco!" the other three exclaimed simultaneously.
"Next time you want to ask something that will arouse many questions we might not necessarily want to answer, do it silently!" Kioko snapped.
"What about his intentions? He wants to rule the world doesn't he?!" George exclaimed.
"Noooooo, not really." Harry grimaced.
"Harry, what's going on?" Asked Ron.
"He wants Saturn to rule the world, more specifically, he wants Hotaru, to rule the world, and the rest of the solar system along with it." Kioko said. Now it was Hotaru's turn to grimace.
"WHAT?!" The other five exclaimed, staring at Hotaru.
"It's complicated, very complicated. He believes that Saturn should have ruled the solar system a long time ago, but due to some difficulties it didn't, so now he's trying to take the world, and the rest of the solar system, by force and prepare it to be ruled. And because I am the rightful Queen of Saturn, he believes the one to sit upon the throne should be me." She told them, fingering the cross necklace around her neck.
They stood there gawking at here for some time. "Does the Order know about this?!" Ron exclaimed.
"Doubt it, unless Setsuna told them." Kioko said. "And she probably didn't to keep from complicating things. The details we four know already we can share with you tomorrow, right now I'm tired, I want to get my own room set up, and Hotaru and I know this stuff a lot more than Draco and Harry so I'd suggest waiting until tomorrow before asking us questions, otherwise I shall be cross." She told them.
******
"Thank you ever-so much for leading me here Kio-chan." Said a sweet, soft voice that came from the mouth of a shadowy figure who loomed over the Senshi of Tarterus.
The senshi turned, shooting a glare of pure hate at Dark Saturn as she struggled to stand up, using her glaive as a bracer. "Don't. Call. Me. That." She hissed violently.
The shadow only laughed, it's horrible echo bounced off the temple ceiling and crushed into the mind of all who was around to hear it. "I am sooooo scared, especially now that you're about to die." She smirked. "Oh, but. I can't help but notice the lovely casing of black crystal surrounding this dark moon. It's just so beautiful, you know. I wonder how much utter pain you went through making it this way."
Tarterus started, fury made her wild and she sprung at Dark Saturn, who merely stood there, a look of utmost pleasure on her face. Tarterus raised her glaive above her foe, but couldn't bring it down in time. The shadow drove a dagger deep into her heart, and she fell limp, reluctantly upon Dark Saturn, who made no move to release her, but brought her lips to her ear and began whispering things into it. Horrible things. Again Kioko started, her eyes wide as she recalled, but the other grabbed her arm, smirking. "You've been quite a nuisance, but trust me, if my flesh was not so week I would have been able to destroy you long ago. And as it strengthens, so am I able to unleash more of my power. You never had a chance of winning, not while I live, and forever I shall live. You know who I am now? I trust you do." She said.
Hotaru awoke with a start, forcing herself to awaken, but not just that. She heard a scream, a scream of fear, realization, knowledge of the upcoming doom that awaited its owner. Hotaru looked over to see that Kioko was still asleep, still caught in her nightmare, and instantly bound over to release her from it.
"Kioko!!! Wake up!!!" Hotaru exclaimed. She grasped Kioko's arm and sent a serge of energy through it, like lightning, so that she would surely wake up.
Kioko sat straight up and grabbed Hotaru, her eyes wild, and her breathing heavy. For a moment she didn't seem to recognize Hotaru. Then she sighed in utter relief, probably because she now saw that Hotaru was not Dark Saturn.
"You were screaming." Hotaru told her after a time. She could see every little droplet of sweat, each eyelash, each strand of hair pulled back into a braid on Kioko. How was it that her sight was that much more keen in darkness, and yet she only saw normally in light? She knew the answer, and it wasn't the dark either. It was silence. The air was still because of the sleeping house, and only their whispers could be heard.
"I, had a nightmare." Kioko whispered, trying to make it sound as though it were normal. "Sorry I woke you." She snuggled back into bed. "Thanks for getting me out of it, nighty night."
"Kioko, there's something I need to tell you." Hotaru whispered. Kioko's sleepy eyes looked up, halfway dozing already. "I see your nightmares, I know what you dream." Hotaru confessed.
Instantly, as if the words impaled on her mind as much as a hammer upon a nail, Kioko sat up and stared at her. "What?!" She exclaimed with a hushed voice.
Hotaru bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I know…how you died. I know I was the one who killed you, as Dark Saturn. As Mistress 9." She said looking down. "And I know that, for some reason, she wants into the Gates of Tarterus, which are now open because you have been revived." Hotaru said.
Kioko took a deep breath, and sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised." She grumbled a bit.
"I've been having my own nightmares too, I've been experiencing the entire thing through Chaos, its no longer merely your nightmare." Hotaru told her.
"Ah, so you won't be reluctant to keep your mouth shut either? It seems you've done so so far." Kioko said.
"No, I won't tell anyone if you won't." Hotaru sat down on Kioko's bed. "I suggest we make an energy potion, to keep us awake all night. I think I have all the ingredients from those times we went to Hogsmede. During the time we have we can study some things I suppose. I've learned another trick with silence, I can walk through mirrors and I think I can teach you how." She said.
Kioko's expression lightened. "You can walk through mirrors?!" She exclaimed hushed.
"Into other places that also have mirrors, yes." Hotaru answered nodding.
"Cool!" The nightmare now forgotten, Kioko became excited about the new prospect of things.
"We can make the potion tonight." Hotaru said smiling. "We have enough time, and it's quick to make, though not particularly easy." She said.
"Oh good. Luminos." Kioko commanded, a small bulb of light appeared near the ceiling to illuminate the room.
So she can't exactly see in the dark yet, oh well, I'm sure she will eventually. Hotaru thought, feeling rather light hearted herself.
*********
'No more nightmares for us!' Kioko said to Hotaru happily as they walked down the stairs.
Hotaru merely nodded and smiled. Last night it seemed as if Kioko was just now opening up quite a bit more to Hotaru, as if she now felt she could trust her. The Moon Senshi had admitted more about some of her nightmares, not everything, but more than she had the other day. And for that much Hotaru was grateful.
"You two are up early!" Exclaimed Mrs. Weasley when she saw them.
"Yeah, woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got Hotaru up to play cards with me." Kioko half lied laughingly. It was true, they did play cards, after the all-night potion was complete. "Anyways, let's get something to eat! I'm starved." She said.
"Well, we have some pancakes if you want some." Mrs. Weasley said, handing Kioko a plate of pancakes.
"Oooo, are they homemade?" She asked. Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Cool! Homemade stuff always tastes better than that store-bought junk." She said sitting down.
Hotaru giggled and got her own plate.
After they ate Kioko got the bright idea of waking up the boys. "Now, should we do it with sound or by shaking them suddenly? Oh! I know!!! Let's fill their right hands with shaving cream and then tickle their noses!!!" She exclaimed.
"Kioko!!!" Hotaru protested, but it was too late. Kioko was already running upstairs with a bottle of shaving cream substitute, in other words it was whipped cream instead. Hotaru sighed and counted down from five to one. When she hit one she heard Draco scream, "NIGHT!!!"
"Are you going to stop her?" Lupin asked.
Hotaru shook her head, "No, she's not doing anything potentially dangerous, that is unless one of the boys slips while chasing her, so why not let her have her fun?" She answered shrugging.
The whole day was full of Kioko's 'fun' as the household found out that, yes, there are more creative ways to prank others than what the twins can do. But for most of the time Hotaru stayed seemingly invisible through all this. People hardly noticed her as she sat and read her book. She didn't really like lots of people, even though they were nice people and she knew them relatively. But Kioko seemed to thrive in the opportunity to have fun with people.
Sure Harry, and of course Draco, would sit and talk to her here and there. But they were sort of occupied at trying to dodge Kioko's new tricks. In short, Grumald Palace was in some friendly chaos. Even though some of Kioko's pranks were mean, everyone seemed to be having fun with it and in good humor. Hotaru, on the other hand, wanted more than anything at that moment to speak with Usagi.
Thankfully she got her wish the next day.
Hotaru left the room early, letting Kioko fake her sleeping in habits by staying behind and studying a bit more. She silently stepped downstairs, hearing voices and seeing their effect on the waves of silence around her. Her vision changed back from her 'super sight' to normal sight when the light reached her. There sat all the senshi of the solar system, and even beyond. Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, Setsuna-mama, Glandria-mama, Taiki, Yaten, and Seiya even. Hotaru lingered in the shadows a bit longer, there wasn't much talking, most of them were merely listening.
The Star Lights? So they're here too? Well, if Chaos has become a threat again it would make sense that they would come and help us fight. Hotaru thought to herself.
"I understand," Seiya was saying. "This all revolves around the Lady Saturn?"
"She's just a little girl." Yaten commented with concern.
"No longer a little girl, Yaten-san," Glandria said, "But a grown woman, wise and understanding. She has aged since you last saw her, of course."
"It would be more simple if this matter revolved around Usagi, as they normally do. But Saturn, wasn't it known as the planet that was neither good nor evil? The silent planet, with no life?" Asked Taiki.
"It was alive, once. But what happened to cause it to stop breathing was erased from all the Silver Millenium records. Apparently what happened was so horrible no one wanted to remember it, but wanted to pretend that Saturn was the Planet of Silence, because it was dead." Setsuna answered. "We know a little, Hotaru herself knows more because Silver probably revealed more to her than he would to me. She is, after all, his queen." She said.
"Are we sure we can trust this Silver?" Asked Seiya.
"He'd only be hurting his queen if he betrayed us, so yes, I believe we can trust him." She answered.
"What I'd like to know," Yaten began, "is why Chaos has decided to help, or use, this Voldemort person."
"Perhaps he intends to do the same with Voldemort as he had with Galaxia." Taiki said, regarding Glandria with respect. But she shook her head.
"No, it's different this time. Chaos is different this time around. Why, we don't know, but I've figured out that his actions are very…subtle. There doesn't seem much of a plot to destroy everything as much as take it over. So far it seems Chaos has the same agenda on his mind as Voldemort, though I don't think it'll be that way in the end." Glandria said.
"And, what exactly is Voldemort's real goal? Take over the world?" Asked Seiya.
"No," Usagi spoke up, her voice serious, lacking all her charmingly ditzy qualities to be replaced by wisdom. "He wants to take over the entire solar system, remake the Silver Millenium as it was suppose to be, under the rule of Saturn." She said.
"Rule of Saturn? But that means…" Yaten trailed off.
"He wants me to sit upon Crystal Tokyo's throne." Hotaru stepped out of the shadows. Every head turned in her direction, the Star Lights looked rather surprised, and shocked to see Hotaru grown as she was. "Riddle, or Voldemort as you call him, was a native of Saturn once, a noble as I understand." She said in her quiet voice, still looking down so she didn't have to meet anyone's eyes. "He thinks what happened was unfair, and is resorting to killing and doing horrible things in order to change it. Chaos is controlling him with demons, making him do these things by enhancing his anger at what happened. I don't think Chaos himself wants to go through with that plan, he'll turn around when he has what he wants, kill Riddle, and destroy everything once he has gained enough power. But there's something else, something worse than Chaos, which is the very reason Saturn's life was sealed away in the first place." She said.
There was a pause of uneasy silence after she had spoken. And then it was broken by Usagi's soft, concerned voice, "Hotaru?"
Hotaru raised her head, letting them see the tears as they caught the light and glittered. It's all my fault. She said with her eyes. Go ahead and blame me.
Usagi, no, Queen Serenity brought Hotaru into her arms and let the girl cry on her shoulder the tears she'd been ignoring for such a long time. It's my fault, I'm to blame, you would be so much happier without me. It isn't fair that everyone has to suffer from my problems, because I am the Messiah of Silence I am destined to bring about the end of the universe. What is a problem for me is a problem for everyone.
I wish for this night-time
to last for a lifetime
The darkness around me
Shores of a solar sea
Oh how I wish to go down with the sun
Sleeping
Weeping
With you
(Sleeping Sun, by Nightwish)