Vince: …Reminder, the stupidity above was not me speaking, it was Vale. Vale. The polls are still opened for those pairs who can be changed. (They'll have the little vote thing by the names…)
Pairings =
Hotaru/Draco
Usagi/Harry
Ami/Hermione VOTE
Rei/Ron VOTE
Setsuna/Snape VOTE
Michiru/Haruka
MATTERS OF THE HEART
CHAPTER FIVE
BY:
Vale, Vince (Saturn Angels)
That morning at breakfast Ami, Rei, and Usagi all shared one table and sat next to one another eating slowly, even Usagi was now eating at the rate of a normal human being.
"Hey…Hotaru isn't here…" Ami pointed out as she looked around.
"Maybe she's sleeping in?" Rei suggested with a shrug and ate some more cereal.
"Yeah, like I wanted to do." Usagi grumbled then looked around slightly worried, "She's never been late before…"
"How would you know? This is our first breakfast here." Rei pointed out.
"Oh…yeah, well …disregard what I just said then!" Usagi replied with a grin and went back to eating.
"She's probably just a little sleepy from staying up late yesterday…" Ami answered with a small shrug and began reading a two-inch thick book about Hogwarts.
"Yeah…but come on Ami, it's your first class right now, Potions. Usagi and I have Herbology."
Ami nodded slightly and the trio got up and separated to their different classes.
In the Slytherin Common Room…
'Well, the feast was spectacular…' Hotaru thought contentedly from her comfortable spot underneath the sheets, '…but that was last night and I…' she paused momentarily a lazy smile on her lips, 'AM LATE FOR MY FIRST CLASS!' she thought panicky her eyes widened as she jumped out of bed, changed clothing and ran to her first class which…unfortunately was Potions. Sure he favored Slytherins but he didn't necessarily favor Hotaru. She ran through the many confusing hallways cursing at herself over and over for missing breakfast.
In Potions…
Hotaru walked into the Potions classroom a bit over ten minutes late. The class turned to look at her and she sweatdropped slightly and turned her attention to the floor. She looked up when Snape cleared his throat and looked at his class list.
"Well…I'm guessing you're Miss Tomoe? Correct?" he asked in a tone that made Hotaru wonder what was going on in his head.
"…Er…yes, I am." She responded nervously and looked around the class until she spotted Ami, who looked at her with a grimace and a look that said 'You're in trouble now…' "It will never happen again sir…" Hotaru said looking once again to the floor.
"And to assure that it won't you will have detention today, I will tell Filch of it after class so you are to stay after to listen to your punishment. I'm sure you won't be the only one who receives detention today…" at this point Snape took the time to glance at Ami, "Take a seat next to…" he looked at his list again, "Miss Mizuno, and be quiet,"
Hotaru did as she was told and went over and sat by Ami, she faced Ami and frowned slightly and moved her finger in circular motions next to her forehead to signal that she thought Snape wasn't quite all there.
Ami smiled slightly and Snape cleared his throat again, "Now, before you interrupted my class I was in the middle of explaining an assignment…." He went up to his podium and began speaking of a list of ingredients that the class would need to mix to make the 'Potion of living death' or something of that sort.
"I don't think his elevator goes to the top floor…" whispered Hotaru as Ami got up to get the ingredients that they needed.
Ami laughed slightly, "I think he was dropped on his head a few times when he was a baby."
Snape suddenly began speaking again, "Miss Mizuno, you will be serving detention with your little friend since you both are so keen on talking."
Some of the students began laughing and Snape glared at them all, "All of you, get back to work! This is not a time to waste time. It is a class." He shouted. The class quieted and Ami and Hotaru both went to get the right ingredients. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle ((A/N: Hey, umm…what are Crabbe and Goyle's first names? I think Goyle's is Gregory… and Crabbe's is Vincent? Anyone know for sure??)) continued snickering and Snape turned to them, Crabbe and Goyle shut up but Draco, who didn't notice where Snape's attention was, didn't stop, "I suppose you think Mizuno's and Tomoe's predicament is funny? Well you will be joining them in their detention, stay after class to hear your punishment." Snape said then turned back to his work angry that his best student would disobey an order.
In Herbology…
"Alright class…as I have already gone through the role. You all will be put with partners which will be the person sitting next to you making Miss Hino, and Miss Tsukino partners, and Miss Granger and Mr. Finnigan partners you get the point. Now we are going to be studying an extremely rare kind of bush called the Relight Hedge…"
Rei waved her wand around a bit bored, "This is boring…I wonder what would happen if I said 'Mars Burning Mandala' and waved my wand like this…"
"Rei!" Usagi shrieked and she poked Rei with her wand a few times as she pointed at the bush.
Rei's eyes widened as she looked at the bush that had caught on fire, "Agh! Put it out!"
"How?" Usagi cried, "Ami and Michiru aren't here!"
"Oh my goodness!" Professor Sprout ran over and cast a spell on the plant which made the fire die down quite a bit until the bush was no longer on fire, actually there wasn't much of a bush left.
"Sorry…" muttered Rei and Usagi in unison as they sweatdropped in embarrassment a many other of the students stared at them including: Ron, Harry, Hermione, Seamus, and many others…
"You girls! For! For your irresponsible behavior you two will both receive detention!" Sprout said, her face red with anger, "Stay here after class!! I'm going to take you to the Potions room where you will receive your punishment!"
Back at Potions…
Class eventually ended and Draco, Hotaru, and Ami had to stay after to speak with (dun dun duh) Professor Snape.
"Now, I've called Filch over and the other students who will be in detention are going to arrive at any moment…" Snape said with a glare at the two girls, and only at the two girls.
Suddenly the door opened and in stepped two very familiar people…and one unfamiliar person who is hardly even in the books.
Usagi was pouting the whole time and Rei was glaring.
"Your punishment will be given by Filch…" Sprout and Snape said in unison and the students looked at Filch. Usagi shuddered, Rei sweatdropped nervously, Hotaru twitched slightly, Ami's eyes widened, Terry (Terry Boot, Ravenclaw) grimaced, and Draco just thought, 'Not again…'. Filch on the other hand looked extremely pleased at having so many students on the first day.
He eyed them all with a nasty look on his face, "You all'll be helping Hagrid in the Dark Forest…"
"Isn't the Dark Forest forbidden?" Terry asked as if Filch were a stupid little boy.
Filch only smiled nastily and continued, "It will be the only time that you students will be allowed out of bed at night…"
"Night?" Usagi squeaked, "But if it's already a dark forest in the day time then why do we have to go at night??"
"Because the thing you'll be hunting only comes out at night-time." Filch answered.
"…Hunting?" Usagi asked her eyes widening slightly, "That's cruel! I don't want to!!"
"You wouldn't last a day here in the better days when they had better punishment…a boy was caught eating every flavored jelly beans in class…they hung him in the dungeon for two weeks straight… by his toes…" Filch said sinisterly before walking off.
"That is one crazy, sadistic man…" Rei muttered as they all watched the teachers walk out.
"I agree…" Hotaru said quietly then shrugged, "Well it can't be too dangerous, I mean they wouldn't ever let a student die…"
"You'd be surprised…" Draco muttered.
They all blinked and looked at Draco.
"Well since you're the only boy here…which I honestly can't believe. You're going to have to be sacrificed if we see anything that wants to eat us or something in there." Rei said with a slight nod.
Hotaru turned to Rei with a glare, "Rei-chan, if we see anything that wants to eat us…you can just set it on fire."
"You heard about Herbology?" Usagi asked curiously.
Hotaru sweatdropped as did Rei.
"Well we still have lunchtime so we should just go on and eat…it could be your last meal." Draco said then walked out of the Potions classroom.
"Honestly, Hotaru…I have no clue how you can like him. No clue." Rei said shaking her head as everyone followed Draco's example and left for lunch.
Usagi practically ate all the food that was served after Draco's comment about it possibly being their last meal.
"You know children are starving in third world countries Usagi." Rei commented as she passed by Usagi at the Hufflepuff table on her way to where the Gryffindors were seated.
All she got in response was an over-exaggerated pout and a mumble. Rei smiled slightly then sat down. Ami was reading a book, as per usual, and Hotaru was separating her food in strategically chosen places that made it look as if she had eaten something. Whenever something bad was going to happen she ate less and Usagi ate more. Once again the light and darkness, opposite, thing made itself recognizable. Hotaru gave a heavy sigh…they wouldn't let a student die. Would they? No…of course not. No way. Not possible.
Yet everything was different then a regular school…why wouldn't they do something that drastic?
'For talking in class?' Hotaru's rational mind spoke up, 'They'd never give a death sentence for something like that…'
Lunch passed by quickly for Usagi, who had made many friends in Hufflepuff already, quickly for Ami who was too engrossed in her book to notice anything else, normally for Rei who occasionally struck up a conversation with fellow Gryffindors, and extremely slowly for Hotaru who poked and prodded at her food, occasionally eating some, as the seconds ticked away.
Then the bell rang and signaled it was time for their next class. Meaning only one or two more classes left until Hotaru, Ami, Usagi, Rei, Terry, and Draco would be forced into the Dark Forest.
Hotaru, Draco, and Usagi had Charms next and Terry, Ami, and Rei had divinations.
"My foots asleep." Usagi said out of the blue causing a small sweatdrop to appear on Hotaru's head.
"That's great, Usagi." "Isn't it though?" Usagi asked smiling slightly then she pouted, "I can't believe they're making us go into the Dark Forest! And at nighttime! Who knows what's out there…"
Hotaru nodded in agreement as Usagi shuddered.
"I mean! If wizards and witches and, and magic is real! That must mean a whole other world of possibilities has opened up! Zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, ghouls…"
"Usagi we already know ghosts are real, I mean there's Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Barron…"
"man eating cats…" Usagi mumbled paying no attention to what Hotaru had said, "Flying birds!"
"Usagi…birds do fly."
Usagi ignored Hotaru's comment, "…Trolls! Goblins! Gargoyles! Flying bats! Flying baseball bats…"
Hotaru shook her head in amusement and continued walking towards the Charms classroom, "Well in this class, if I've heard right Usagi-chan, you will be able to make baseball bats fly." Hotaru whispered as the entered the class.
"Neat!" Usagi said with a grin and the two sat to await the professor to begin the lesson.
The end of the day…
"Divinations was so boring! That lady wasn't even a real fortuneteller! I could see right through her fake charade!" Rei said with a pout becoming easily agitated as night grew nearer.
"Charms was so AWESOME!" Usagi said in delight then her grin slowly faded to a smile, then that faded to an emotionless state, then finally a frown crossed her features, "It's almost time, isn't it?" she asked softly.
Everyone was silent as they waited for Filch to escort them to Hagrid's hut.
"Hm, maybe Filch will forget?" Terry asked hopefully, but she knew all too well that Filch would never forget about torturing little children, it was his life.
"I doubt that. Here he comes." Hotaru mumbled as everyone turned to watch the arrival of the caretaker.
"Follow me." He said and the children really had not choice.
Either Hotaru was going hard of hearing or she could hear faint pleasure in his voice, enthusiasm.
"Isn't there someone missing?" Usagi asked suddenly.
Filch looked around at their faces, "I took the other one to Hagrid's home earlier so he'd be able to understand the …hunt… a bit more."
"Oh goody." Rei replied sarcastically as she began picking at her nails, thank god they still had their henshin wands!
"I'll be adding you to my list."
Rei was about to ask exactly what 'list' this was but stopped when they came to a rather large…one-room cabin-like shack.
"Ah, they're here," everyone's heads craned upwards, especially Usagi and Hotaru's since they were a good four inches shorter then everyone else, all for Ami who was only three inches taller then Hotaru and two inches taller then Usagi, and Rei who was an inch taller then Ami.
"Woah," they said in unison all of a sudden feeling rather safe. Surely he was strong enough to fend off any evil that'd try to attack! And he even had a hunting dog! And a really wicked looking auto-crossbow. Yup, they were safe.
"We're going to split into two groups, whoever kills the werewolf first, wins," Hagrid started and the victims suddenly lost their balance, some falling onto the floor, Rei and Terry stood their ground.
"Wh-What?" Ami asked not believing she had heard right.
"Werewolf?" Hotaru asked suddenly looking around expecting it to jump out of the bushes to attack her, she summoned her henshin wand and stuck it in her pocket so she would be able to transform faster.
"We're going to be splittin' into two groups." He repeated, "Two groups of four each. Anyone you wanna be paired with? Feel safer with?"
Practically everyone rushed to join Hagrid's team.
"I mean anyone yer age?" Hagrid asked and they all looked at each other trying to figure who was strong and who was a wimp.
"I wanna be with Rei!" Usagi said suddenly remembering that Rei could use her Mars attacks with her wand.
"No way!" Rei said as she backed away from Usagi, "No WAY I'll be paired with that spineless hyper brat!"
"Rei," Usagi's lower lip quivered as she fiddled with her thumbs.
Rei rolled her eyes.
"Well I guess I'll have ter pair yeh up by meself," Hagrid said as he looked around at everyone, Draco included who had come out of the hut. "The blonde (Usagi), the one with the blue hair (Ami), the girl with the attitude (Rei), and me will be one team. And the short girl with black hair (Hotaru), the girl with lavender hair (Terry), Draco, and…" he looked around. Maybe he'd counted wrong, "Fang will be the second team."
Draco mumbled something, he had seen before how useful Fang was.
"If anything should go wrong you run back here screamin' and I'll try and find you before you're killed." Hagrid explained.
"Oh. Well that's real reassuring," Terry and Rei said in unison as they both rolled their eyes.
Hagrid ignored her, "Our target is nothing but a werewolf. Full moon's out tonight, it shouldn't be too hard to find him. But like I said, if ya run into any trouble you holler. And if you're bitten…" he grew silent, "…well…if you're bitten we may just hafta kill ya if you don't get treated right away."
'Oh…how nice…' Hotaru thought sarcastically as she looked at her teammates. She was the only senshi on her team! The other team had Hagrid, Mars, Moon, and Mercury! They had Saturn, two normal people, and a dog. Which team was better off? It shouldn't take that long to figure out. Don't strain your brain too hard.
"Hmph. Lucky me, getting stuck with the weakest out of the whole bunch. I guess I'm just going to have to protect you," Draco said facing Hotaru, then he noticed what he'd said and added, "both of you. The dog won't be of any use."
And with that Hotaru and Terry followed Draco into the forest, mocking him and sticking their tongues out at him behind his back. This was going to be a long night.
*^_^* "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall…ninety-nine bottles of beer…take one down pass it around-" Usagi sang softly.
"Usagi-chan, I'm worried about Hotaru…" Ami whispered.
"She'll be fine! She's one of the strongest senshi! If there's anyone you should worry about it's Terry, and Draco, and the poor puppy dog. Sure we'll be able to fight the thing off, I'm sure of it, if we ran into it. Hotaru'd be able to beat him by saying a word…but one senshi protecting two people, AND a cute lil puppy…just can't be done without someone getting hurt."
Ami smiled slightly, Usagi had said something sensible…of course her calling Fang a 'cute lil puppy' messed up her intelligent words.
*^_^* Hotaru clutched her henshin wand so tight that her knuckles turned colorless, her eyes darted around the clearing nervously. They had reached a place where there weren't any trees, besides the ones that surrounded them in a circle. No wonder they called it the Dark Forest…it certainly lived up to its name. There was a dense fog around them and Fang suddenly looked towards the trees and began barking wildly. There was rustling in the bushes and some faint growling, no one was sure if it was Fang growling-for his barks had quieted- or something else.
Hotaru became aware that she wouldn't be able to transform into Sailor Saturn in front of Draco and Terry, they'd freak out. But she didn't know any magic really, only a few unimportant spells that really wouldn't help in the situation they were currently in. Fang's back hair bristled and he began growling rather loudly as he bared his canines.
Hotaru brought out her wand, the one she used at Hogwarts, and just as Fang began whimpering instead of growling something rushed out into the clearing Hotaru shouted, "Silence WALL!" And amazingly, it seemed to work.
The thing, clearly a werewolf, ran against the barrier and bounced backwards. That only angered it further and it began to howl and bare its canines…which were much more intimidating then Fang's.
"What did Hagrid say to do if we ran into trouble?" Hotaru quizzed Terry.
Terry caught on quickly and screamed as loud as she could, temporarily stunning the werewolf and causing Draco and Hotaru to go slightly deaf. The only problem with the scream was that thunder boomed exactly when she screamed, therefore drowning out the yell.
"Isn't this just peachy!?" Terry yelled as she brought out her wand as it began to pour, "Makes me wish I had paid attention in charms when Flitwick told us how to stop rain last year."
"A little late to regret things," commented Draco as he two brought out his wand, "And where the hell did you learn that wall thing, Tomoe?"
"That's not important now!" Hotaru said then felt a bit better at the realization that she could use her senshi attacks without being Sailor Saturn. So she decided to try the next step and summoned her glaive, it took a while but soon the Silence Glaive materialized in her hands and she was really ready for a good fight.
She smiled almost cynically, "Bring it on." She said as she put her wand in her robe and held her glaive in a fighting stance.
Being able to materialize a weapon out of thin air only confused the other teens further but they decided it was best to get out of Hotaru's way when she had that foreign glint in her eyes…
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To be continued!!!
Vale: Crappy ending to the chapter but…oh well ^_^ Vince: Please review! After this chapter the polls close so…yeah! ^_^