A/N: HEY!!! Next chapter already!! Hm, I suppose I felt guilty for leaving all you guys hanging out there, and sorry to Mr. Dimension for making you fall off my cliffhanger. Heheh, that was funny. Anyways, enjoy!
"DEATH EATER ESCAPES, EBONY KEY STOLEN FROM AZKABAN!" Read the headlines of the daily prophet. Kioko folded the paper and started reading the article. " 'Last night at exactly 3:07 it was discovered that the Death Eater Sereth Lestrang, brother-in-law of the late Bellatrix Lestrang, had somehow escaped. Only a few minutes prior the Ebony Key, which is used to unlock Azkaban's locks went missing. It is suspected that another Death Eater broke in, took the key, and released Lestrang. The Ministry of Magic can't say, or won't say, how this happened, so this assumption is all we have for now…'" Kioko set the paper down and frowned. 'You knew. You knew this happened, right when it did.' She said to Hotaru exclusively. 'Even before they found out, you knew. How?'
'I don't know.' Hotaru answered, speaking to only Kioko so no one else would hear them. Kioko looked very solemn, and so did Draco for some reason.
"Another breakout? This is going over the edge, you'd think they'd be upping the security at Azkaban!" Roku exclaimed, looking abnormally serious now. Aushran remained impassive as always, but Hotaru suspected he was worried as well.
Kioko crumbled the paper up, looking rather odd for some reason.
'Guys?' Harry called, speaking to Kioko and Hotaru directly.
'We know. We just finished reading the Daily Prophet.' Kioko said back.
'It's not that, it's, Hotaru, I had another vision. Meet me in the lobby after supper today, I really need to talk to you about this.' He said.
'Alone?' Kioko questioned.
'No, you can come too if you want, but…no one else.' He answered.
'Okay.' Hotaru said, finishing the conversation.
That entire day was a mess, people were panicking more than usual. "Not another one!!!" Some exclaimed. "What's an Ebony Key?" Others would ask.
Composition of magical objects was Hotaru's first class that day, and only Kioko was there. The next was rituals, with just Roku and Aushran, though nether seemed to feel like speaking. And then, they entered DADA, and just about everyone was there who was 6th year, especially those from the DA that Hotaru recognized.
Galaxia entered the room, or rather swept into it, with a very concerned look on her face as she stood before the class. "Put your books and wands away for now. Help me clear away the desks if you would." She told them. Everyone moved to obey her, and soon the room was cleared out with everyone standing around, waiting for the next orders.
"Defense, isn't just about being able to keep a good shield up, it's also about offense as well." Glandria started. "So, we'll be learning offensive magic. Also, I have the Headmaster's permission to begin training you with physical weapons. But, we'll also be going over quite a few little things you'll need to know. Needless to say this will probably be your hardest Defense Against the Dark Arts year you've experienced. You'll have a good deal of homework because we will do all hands-on activities here in class." She told them.
"Yay!" Exclaimed some of the students. Galaxia had to smile.
"Of course, that might not be such a bad thing considering your, ah, previous teacher." She said. "As for weapons, I'd like us to get a good feel for a large variety of them." She said seriously. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Night, you two have been trained in the art of the glaive by Hotaru, is this correct?" She asked. The two nodded. "Good, you two can help train these others along with Hotaru." She said.
"But, but their incompita—" Kioko began, but Hotaru stopped her. Kioko leered at Hotaru, "Alright alright, but I don't like the thought of any of them having a glaive in their hands! They're liable to really hurt someone! Meaning me, on purpose!"
"The blades will be dull, and enchanted so they will not harm anyone." Glandria said.
"Does that mean ours will be dull as well?" Kioko asked.
Glandria gave Kioko a hard look, "Yes." She said flatly.
"You mean I have to use mortal-crafted weapons?!" Kioko exclaimed.
Glandria rolled her eyes and sighed, "I am quite sure you will live." She said as Hotaru giggled. Glandria waved her hand over to the corner where several glaives appeared. They then floated into the air on Galaxia's silent command and met the hands of each student, including the three who already had glaives of their own. "These won't be yours to keep because they haven't been sharpened, and I'm not going to give you any real weapons unless you prove you can really use them. Some of you may have good talent for some weapons, and may not for others. Yes Mr. Longbottom?" She asked when Nevil raised his hand.
"Um, I have a question. How are we going to practice, you know, with these in a small room like this?" He asked.
"Oh, that's simple. Hotaru, would you kindly enlarge the room for us?" She asked, turning to Hotaru.
Hotaru nodded and summoned her wand so the spell would be easier. She raised it up and murmured a prayer under her breath. The entire room stretched out before the student's eyes so that it looked more than big enough for them all to practice in at once. Everyone stared at her.
"How'd you do that?!" Someone exclaimed.
Hotaru blushed a bit, "I studied up on dimensional magic during last year." She told them.
"It shouldn't be surprising." Hermione spoke up. Her meaning was more than clear, "It shouldn't be surprising, considering the fact that she's the Queen of Saturn.", and people nodded their agreement, making Hotaru blush a bit more at all the attention she was getting.
"First, everyone please line up in a strait line before me, and give yourselves plenty of room." Galaxia told them. "Now, Hotaru's a master of this particular weapon, though she may not seem like it. Therefore I'm going to have her give us the basics for today as the glaive is one weapon I never could quite use." She said with a humorous air.
It's just like her to chose the one weapon I've mastered as our first weapon. Hotaru thought, mentally laughing. "Try to match my stance please." She said, holding her glaive out in front of her. "Now, step foreword and do a vertical slash. Then step back, and do a diagonal slash one way, then another way. Repeat this so you can get the feel for your weapon." Her soft voice said as she did the moves herself.
It seemed either Hotaru was a good teacher, or the students were determined because of the escape that they were going to be ready for when the War actually began to fire up. But they seemed to be getting the hang of their glaives. After a while of practicing katas she had them spar with each other in pairs, with a good amount of space between them of course. That's when Kioko, Harry, and she could walk around and help people who were having a bit of trouble.
After a while of this it was time to put the glaives away and pick up their wands. "A stunning spell is good, but not the best." Galaxia told them.
"Professor?" Someone raised their hand.
"Yes?"
"Is it true that, you know, what they said in the paper…about you…Tomoe and Night? That you're…different?" They asked.
Glandria smiled softly, "Yes, but only partly. We are stars." She said, "And our duty is to protect the stars, such as earth. I'm not suppose to go into detail, you'll find out soon enough." She said kindly.
"Are you still, um, are you…"
"Human? Of course we are! We're just different humans, that's all." She said, "Now, considering that you are 6th year Defense Against the Dark Arts class, we should not have a problem in responsibility, using this spell I am about to show you." She continued. Galaxia then pointed her wand at one of the desks over on the side of the room, "It's not very common, however, which will be a good thing. Adistum!" She exclaimed. A huge ball of fire shot from her wandpoint and the next moment several of the desks near the one she had pointed to were on fire.
Gasps came up from the students, everyone stared at Galaxia's handy-work in disbelief. "I didn't know there was a spell that was so offensive!" Someone exclaimed.
"I did." Kioko said grinning as Galaxia shot water from her wand to dous the flame and repaired the desks. "Watch." Kioko pointed her wand at another group of desks. "Adistum!" She exclaimed. Her fireball wasn't exactly as huge as Galaxia's, but it was big enough to set two entire desks on fire.
"Fontis." Glandria sprayed water on those desks as well. "Very good, Ms. Night, you can help teach the class how to use this spell." She said.
"What?! Again?!" Kioko exclaimed.
"Showing off has its price, you do realize." Galaxia rose her wand into the air and several chairs appeared in a row, with a lot of space between them. "I hope none of you will shoot at your classmates." She said with a rather foreboding tone of voice.
Homework would be studying up on several curses and how to avoid them. The next class was Astronomy, which very few people were taking, but Kagen and Aushran were there along with Kioko.
"Glandria makes for a great DADA teacher, even if I did have to dodge several missed fireballs." Kioko said as they walked into class.
"At least most were small." Hotaru returned smiling.
"Psh, yeah, except for Aushran's!" Kioko said, jerking her thumb over to Aushran.
"Sorry, you just seemed to come out of nowhere." Aushran apologized.
"Somehow, I don't think it's worth getting into the line of fire just to get away from Roku." Hotaru said.
"For you maybe." Kioko sighed. "Hey, look, it's Kagen." She said pointing. "Over here Kagen!" She waved.
Kagen blushed a bit and hurriedly went to take a seat with the three. Hotaru noted curiously that he took the seat beside Kioko. "Hi." He greeted. "I didn't know you all were taking astronomy too." He said.
"Oh yeah, I like stars, stars are pretty." Kioko joked, making Hotaru giggle.
"I like to paint, and stars make good backgrounds. There's also a magical quality to the art when you get constellations and planets in their right places." Aushran said shrugging.
"Oh."
"What about you Kagen? Any special reason you're in this class?" Kioko asked.
"Well, I was thinking about getting a job in Astronomy." Kagen said. "I like it, not sure why though."
"Well, now that we all know why those four are in here, would anyone else like to share their thoughts on astronomy?" Asked the new teacher, seemingly appearing out of thin air. He was a man, probably no older than 30 or 40 years and he had a rather handsome face. But there was a single streak of white hair on the left side of his head. He seemed to be showing off that white streak by pulling all his black hair back into a tight ponytail. He had a very wise air about him, and had blue eyes that, for some reason, reminded Hotaru of Dumbledore. Maybe they were distant relatives. He had an easy way about him, like someone who wouldn't be so quick to judge anyone.
There were only 4 other people in that class, and they all laughed a bit. "I like looking at stars." Said a Hufflepuff.
"Yeah," Most of the others agreed.
"I am Nilrem Silverstar, or Professor Silverstar to you. Now, the question you all may be asking is whether or not my last name is a conspiracy to the fact that I am your astronomy teacher." He said, making some of the students snicker. "That in mind, it should not be hard to remember my name. Now, let's get started with the Sagittarius constellation." He said, turning to the chalk board and started marking on it. "Called the Center of the Galaxy by most, it's considered a nexus in its own right, though drawing power from it is hardly possible…"
"You think it's coincidence that Professor Silverstar is having us study Sagittarius?" Kioko asked.
"It could be, assuming everything is conspiracy is a bit rash, but that's not to say it isn't a good idea." Hotaru said.
"He seems suspicious to me, reminds me way too much of Dumbledore to be safe. Maybe he knows something that could help, you think?" Kioko asked.
"Perhaps, but it's too early to tell. Let's ask him about it next week." Hotaru suggested.
"Right, for now let's consider the escape." Kioko said sitting down at their usual library table. "When's supper by the way?" She asked.
"In an hour." Hotaru answered.
"Good, we have time before your little meeting with Harry. You think he saw it too?" Kioko asked.
"He probably did. Of course Riddle would know, so therefore Harry would know."
"That is unless Riddle's sending him false information again, we can't risk another mistake." Kioko mused. "And I'm pretty sure Harry will be less lenient to believe everything he sees from Riddle's perspective."
"Yeah. So, apparently Chaos wants the Ebony Key and whatever the Steel is." Hotaru said considering.
"'When Steel meets Ebony the chains shall appear'." Kioko quoted. "It would be a good idea to memorize that poem." She commented.
Hotaru nodded her agreement and took out the paper she had written it on. "But what do they do?" She asked. "What will really happen when they come together? I mean, other than the fact that Riddle's being controlled becomes evident." She commented.
"I dunno, but if Chaos wants them, there has to be a reason, something else…" Kioko said considering.
"Something having to do with Sirius maybe? It did say 'Greatest of Blacks will be before her'. I'd consider Sirius very noble." Hotaru said.
"That is assuming they're talking about the Black family." Kioko said. "Assumptions aren't a good idea, and that riddle was very vague. It could be something entirely different, or another Black. Perhaps…wasn't Draco's mother related to Sirius in some way?" She asked.
"Yeah…" Hotaru trailed off.
"My mother's dead." The two jerked their heads to Draco, who sat down beside Hotaru with a letter in his hand.
"W-what?!" Hotaru gasped.
"She killed herself, right after she got home from the train station." He crumbled the letter up in his fist, there was a mixture of anger and sadness on his face, but mostly anger.
"Ryuuza…" Hotaru took his hand in hers, he gripped it firmly, as if holding on to her for support.
"It's all…father's fault!" Draco said.
"How? How is it…" Kioko said, looking odd herself.
Draco sighed, and passed the letter to her. "This is the note they found with her body, addressed to me."
Kioko smoothed the paper out and read it aloud. " 'Draco, I'm sorry about everything that's happened and I want you to know that I love you. Stay away from your father, and from the Dark Lord. And tell your friends, tell them that the Dark Lord's master is close, very close.'" She read. "'Your Chaos is around the corner'…" Kioko quoted, looking at Hotaru. "Is it possible, that Chaos is residing somewhere near Hogwarts?" She asked.
"Maybe in Hogsmede, Rings would be where he is if so." Hotaru said nodding.
"What?" Draco asked.
"The Hat's Riddle," Hotaru answered, "It's trying to warn us, but it's so vague we don't know what it's talking about." She said.
"I see." He nodded.
"Hey, I have an idea." Kioko said, taking out her quick pen and a few pieces of parchment. She took Hotaru's paper, the one with the poem written on it, and looked at it while her quick pen started scribbling things down on the first paper. "Well make copies of these, and hand them out to everyone. So no one can forget the Hat's Riddle." She said.
"Good idea." Hotaru said. Kioko handed Hotaru her copy when she was finished. Hotaru brought out her own paper and quick pen and started making copies while Kioko did the same, using her own copy as an example. "Here, Draco, you can use my old pen." Hotaru said, giving him a copy and some paper as well.
"Right." He nodded, a serious look on his face as he worked.
By the time supper rolled around the three had a lot of papers with that poem on them. The top of the parchment read "Hat's Riddle", and the bottom said, "Copy onto another paper and pass it on."
"Surely this'll work. If some people don't copy and pass out others will, and we can still make more. Let's get some of these to the others as well." Kioko said, gathering up her stack. She then smirked, "Too bad Umbridge isn't around anymore, I'd like to see her try and make a rule that kept us from passing around the Hat's Poem." She snickered.
"Heh," Draco nodded, "Speaking of Umbridge, I almost wish I could have seen her face when she read that article about Hotaru being the Queen of Saturn." He snickered.
Hotaru sighed and shook her head, "You two." She said laughing a bit.
They gathered their papers and stood up to go to the dining hall. Some people were already there, so they could pass them around anyways. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there, apparently they'd made good friends with Liam because he was sitting with them. "Here, take these and pass them around today. Keep one to make copies with though." Hotaru said, giving them a handful of papers.
"'The Hat's Riddle?' Oh." Harry nodded knowingly.
"You too." Kioko said, giving Liam some as well.
"But, why? It's not like it really means anything." Liam laughed, but he stopped when Kioko eyed him seriously.
"You have no idea. Just pass them out." She said. "And try to discern the riddle as well, we need all the help we can get."
"I'm, not sure I understand." Liam said seriously, looking hard at the riddle, as if trying to decode it with his eyes.
"You should know something about what's going on, I imagine everyone should, if they read the paper at all." Draco said. "And everyone should be reading the paper nowadays." He said.
"Well, yeah I know we're in some deep crap right now, but still. None of this poem makes sense." Liam said. "Except this part about the 'Steel' and 'Ebony'. I imagine Ebony is for the Ebony Key that was stolen from Azkaban last night?" he asked.
"Right. See? Even you can decode some of it. We're trying to get everyone to help figure it out, some people might have clues as to what it means." Kioko said.
"I'm going to pass more around." Hotaru said, moving to the other tables. She started giving the papers out to other people, "Here, please copy this and give it to someone else." She'd say until all her copy papers were used up.
By the end of the day everyone had a copy of the Hat's Riddle.
*******
Journal Entry: Not much progress so far, at least everyone has the poem now, though not many have any idea what it means. It was probably a good idea to do that anyways, even if we don't benefit much.
After supper I met Harry in the Lobby, Kioko had Quidditch practice today so she wasn't there.
'Let's try not to talk aloud.' Harry suggested, talking directly to me.
'Good idea.' I agreed. 'What is it you needed to talk to me about?' I asked.
'The escape. I had a dream last night, as you can probably imagine, with Voldemort…er…Riddle in it. He was happy of course, but…apparently, well, it's not Riddle who wants the Ebony Key, or the Steel Lock. It's, um, it's Choas, and Riddle ordered that man, Sereth Lestrang, to come here because Chaos was residing around Hogwarts. Though not even Voldemort knew where.' He said.
'We thought so, perhaps he's in Hogsmede, or hiding somewhere else. I doubt he'd actually be in Hogwarts, considering who all is here.' Harry said.
'We have to tell the Senshi.' I stood up in my chair.
'Yes, but, there's something else. Chaos is here, because the Steel Lock is here.' Harry said.
My eyes widened, 'When Steel meets Ebony, the Steel Lock is the Steel!!!' I exclaimed. 'Let's go.' I said. Harry nodded and we both went to Glandria's chambers hurriedly.
When we got there, I immediately told Glandria everything, and she promised to contact the other senshi. But cautioned us against telling everyone about it.
Of course, by tonight Kioko knew everything.
"Oi, of course the Steel Lock would be near Hogwarts. I suggest we ask Dumbledore where it is, though it's too soon, I think, to rush into anything." She mused.
"Let's try taking it one step at a time. Chaos won't attack us directly, hopefully he doesn't know that we know he's near Hogwarts." I suggested.
"Though he'll probably figure that out if more Senshi show up. Either that or get suspicious." Kioko added.
"Let's think about it tomorrow and start on our homework. Thinking about it too much might overload us." I said.
"Good idea." Kioko agreed.
So, now we're waiting for it to be morning, we've already finished our homework.
******
The next day Hotaru had Hands On Art with just Aushran in the class. The teacher decided to let Aushran work more on Hotaru's portrait, but after half an hour she wanted Hotaru to paint a picture as well.
Charms was the next class, and everyone was there it seemed. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Aushran, Roku, Liam, Kagen, Kioko, and even Kikyo. Needless to say it wasn't a class Kioko was going to like in the future.
"Someone's out to get me, I just know it." Kioko mumbled, looking miserable.
"Good afternoon Lady Hex!" Roku perked up beside Kioko. Kioko glared at him and kicked. The next moment Roku was on the floor, curled up in a ball, and in a lot of pain.
"Kioko!!!" Hotaru gasped.
"He was asking for it!!!" Kioko defended.
"Always on the offensive, aren't we Dear Kioko?" Kikyo asked, taking the seat on the other side of Hotaru.
Oh dear, what's going to happen now? Hotaru asked mentally.
"It's hardly lady-like to kick a man." Kikyo said.
"This seat is taken." Draco growled from behind Kikyo.
"My apologies, Mr. Malfoy, but I would much like to get to know Miss Tomoe better." Kikyo said politly. Hotaru sank in her seat.
"That's it, prepare to bleed." Kioko growled, about to lunge after Kikyo.
"No! Kioko this is hardly the time!!!" Hotaru exclaimed, holding Lady Hex back.
"When I get my hands on you, you scheming *****, I'm going to skin you alive with a rusty potato peeler!!!" Kioko threatened.
Kikyo looked affronted, "Why, what makes you think I'm scheming anything? I merely want to make acquaintance with the famed Hotaru Tomoe. Is it such a surprise?" she asked.
"Move out of my seat!" Draco ordered.
"Allow me." Roku said, he then picked up the chair Kikyo was sitting in and carried her to the other side of the table. Kioko then picked up Kikyo's things and threw them.
"For once, Roku, I'm going to have to thank you." Kioko said when he came back.
"You'll pay for this humiliation, Kioko Dear!" Kikyo called.
"I seriously doubt it!" Kioko returned.
"Aushraaaaaaan, you took my seat again!!!" Roku wined as Aushran had sat down beside Kioko.
Aushran motioned to the seat on the other side of him. "Sit here." He instructed. "Where I can keep an eye on you."
Roku sighed, "Where's the trust people?" he asked.
"I left it in my room." Kioko answered.
Her next class was Ancient Magic, in which Kioko and Aushran were with Hotaru. "Thank you." Kioko said to the sky. "No more annoying people!!!" She exclaimed.
"You're too hard on Roku, Kioko. I mean, he's really not that bad." Hotaru told her.
Kioko rolled her eyes, "He's annoying as heck to me and I don't want anything to do with him. By the way, Aushran?" She looked over with little stars in her eyes. "Could you teach me how to make Roku faint like how you did that one time?" She asked sweetly.
"Um…I suppose." Aushran agreed nodding.
"YAY!!!"
"Oh Kioko." Hotaru sighed.
Lunch time was after at, then Liam was with Hotaru and Kioko in the next class, Conjuring. Which went by very well, to Kioko's slight surprise.
"You know, you're a Gryffindor, and I'm a Slytherin, we should not be getting along so well!" Kioko exclaimed when the class let out.
"Yeah, about that. I've been wondering why people keep saying that when I've been seeing Slytherins and Gryffindors getting along. I mean, Malfoy and Potter seem like good friends, that Aushran seems like a nice person, Hotaru's sweeter than sugar, and you're, well, how do you describe Lady Hex in a fun way?" He asked laughing a bit.
Kioko shrugged, "Dunno." She said laughing. "Hey, Hotaru, why don't we go fly a bit before supper? We've got about…oh, I'd say an hour and fifteen minutes left. Wanna join us Liam?" She asked.
"Sure, let me go get my broom and I'll meet you guys out." He said nodding.
"Right." Kioko nodded.