AN: ::hits computer with a frying pan:: Technology seems to be getting all great and wonderful, but then it crashes and it's worse than the stone age. ARGH!!!!!!

My internet has been crazy for the past two months, and I've been only able to get on for little bits, if AT ALL (which happened more often than not). Gomen nasi, but this was beyond my control. THE MATRIX!AGENTS AND SQUIDDIES ARE MESSING WITH MY COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!! (or maybe it's just Mero-man or the Amazing Multiplying Smelrond!)

And it's still not fixed yet. *fume*

But as it is, here is the new chapter (finally... I've been trying to add it for weeks!). Sorry about the delay. Short of last time: Harry and gang were off to Hogwarts, discovered a Binns frog card, "..." is talking, '...' is thought, [...] is AN or definition, (...) is extra info but part of the fic, ... means trailed off, -- means interrupted. Review responses at the bottom. Enjoy!

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Following the start of classes, it wasn't long until Harry wasn't the only one noting the subtle changes of Hogwarts. The classes were all right (Potions was torture, Transfiguration was endless work, and History of Magic now seemed a bit more interesting with the Asian flare Professor Osaka). [AN: Domo arigato everyone! This is Naru FYI.]

But there was something else, something below the surface. The entire atmosphere of Hogwarts had changed. It was still cheery and carefree on the surface, but below . . . . It was Neville Longbottom, surprisingly, who best put it into words.

"It's like everything's anxious and waiting," he said. "Like everything's all tensed up one of those Muggle springboards [preparing to dive in for a swim race], waiting... waiting for something."

Harry knew what that 'something' was. It started with a 'V', ended in an 'oldemort', and wanted him dead since he was born. And he doubted that mere Aurors could hold him back, now that he was openly attacking innocents.

The entire wizarding community was shocked and fearful when they first heard of Voldemort's first strike in fourteen years, only a few weeks after Fudge had declared the truth. The victims were a Muggle family of four-- a plump father and a skinny mother, along with two boys-- one large, and one quite scrawny. Harry didn't have to be a genius to see the connections and realize Voldemort's malicious warning to Harry of his imminent doom.

After awhile, people were able to temporarily forget about Voldemort's attacks and move on with life; after all, only a few random Muggle families had been touched thus far. He would never come to them. He wouldn't dare to attack full-fledged wizards and witches... would he? [In their hearts, the people knew the truth. But they didn't dare think the dreadful thoughts, for fear of the chaos of 14 years ago. Yet each secretly dreaded to come home one night and find the Dark Mark hovering over their house, and their family, dead...]

But Harry couldn't move on. He felt as if everything was his fault, ever since Sirius fell...

He shook himself free of his thoughts and tried to focus on the assignment in front of him-- interpreting a star chart from the Middle Ages. A new comet had been sighted, due to be within view from Earth for tonight only, and in honor of the occasion Professors Sinistra and Osaka had given the students a joint assignment. Harry looked over at the scroll beside him, where he was supposed to be writing about the sightings of comets and their significance as omens during the Middle Ages. He measured the paper quickly and found himself still six inches too short. With a sigh, he gave up and rolled up the scroll, hoping that Sinistra wouldn't be collecting the essays tonight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"And did you know that in 904 AD, a comet sighting was the most important event of the year, and was the only thing written for that year in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle?!" [AN: Not sure if that's the *exact* year. If not, I'm probably only off by one or two.]

Hermione continued to babble facts as the trio wandered up to the Astronomy Tower with some other 6th years. Professor Sinistra had called for special class sessions in order that the entire school might get a good view of the comet while it flew by. Harry's group had been assigned to 6:10 PM, only a few minutes after the sunset. It looked like it would be a late dinner for them all.

He tuned out Hermione's babble, assuming that Ron was paying close enough attention. (Ron was smiling and nodding, but actually he was plotting his new strategy for Gobstones). Harry gazed at the portraits of old nuns and kindly matrons, halfheartedly wondering what it would like to be a mere picture.

" 'ave you 'eard...?" he suddenly heard one of them whispering to another.

"Yes.... the Prophecy . . ."

He stopped fully on the step, Neville running into him, and stared at the gypsy woman and man who were talking rapidly in whispers. Many of the portraits at Hogwarts had been whispering a lot to each other recently, but Harry had never before been so sure of what he heard. "The prophecy?" he uttered, breathing hard. "What do you know of the prophecy?"

The gyspy woman stared at him strangely for a moment, before breaking out into loud guffaws. "Oh non, silly boy!" she said in accented English, between laughs. "Not your prophecy. *Ze* Prophecy."

Harry looked at her blankly.

"The Legend of the Nine?" tried the man, seeing the lack of comprehension. The Mistress of the Stars?"

Harry stared at him as if he were crazy.

"Non, Nikki. 'e does not know. And eet is not our place to tell. Come, ve must go." The woman quickly whirled around in her dark gypsy cloak, and the instant Harry blinked, they were both gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour later, they were trudging down the stairs towards the Great Hall. The comet had been magnificent enough, Harry had to admit, but a large amount of his awe was replaced by annoyance at being placed in the same small group as Draco Malfoy. But neither Professor Sinistra nor Professor Osaka (who had also come to view the comet) had noticed. Although Harry managed to hold back his temper, Malfoy's constantly irritating remarks to Crabbe and Goyle caused the night to lose some of its magic. That, accompanied with the pangs of hunger, made Harry rather short-tempered.

There were soft voices coming towards them as Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville hurried down the stairs. The voices of gossiping ladies, Harry realized as the painted eighteenth-century ladies came walking through the portraits on their right. Harry paid them no heed, but just as they passed, he heard a high-pitched voice say, "Now would be a good time for that Prophecy to be fulfilled."

"That is, if you really believe in the Legend of the Nine," said another voice of the gossipers as Harry swung around. But they were already gone, walking through another picture somewhere up the stairs. His stomach grumbled and he turned away, but his mind was abuzz.

"Hermione?" he called, as he ran down to the other three who were a few steps below him. "What is the Legend of the Nine?"


Hermione looked puzzled but deep in thought. She opened her mouth several times, as if to say something, but then shut it again, realizing that was not the answer. But before she could utter the three words that would bring down her Know-It-All career, another voice came to her rescue.

"Maybe I can help you, Potter."

The four spun around to see Professor Osaka descending towards them. "I am the History of Magic professor, after all," she smiled.

"Professor!" they cried all at once.

"You know about this Legend of the Nine?" asked Harry after a moment. "The portraits keep murmuring about it, but they won't tell what it is or--"

"Yes, Potter," interrupted Osaka. "It is a very old prophecy that few remember today, save those that lived nearer to the time. Perhaps Sir Nicholas or one of the ghosts would have explained it to you, but as it is, they are all with Professor Binns in Transylvania.

"It is an old legend," continued Osaka, "a prophecy uttered with a dying breath. Rowena Ravenclaw's last words on her deathbed."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the four listeners as Osaka's words hung in the air. A prophecy from a foundress of Hogwarts! They barely breathed as they waited for Osaka to continue.

"She was the last of the Founders. And as the Legend goes, she received a vision in her last moments. No one knows exactly what she saw, but it is said that she foresaw Hogwarts in its glory, hundreds of years later. But there was darkness, too. And as the vision subsided, Rowena turned to her son beside her with an ethereal expression on her face, and said..." Osaka paused briefly, savoring the dramatic emphasis, while the four listeners almost fell over in suspense.

"The Days of Darkness will come, when all is doom and despair, and everything seems lost under the lengthening Shadow of Evil. But Hope will arise from the within the walls of Hogwarts itself, Nine Hopes to counter the Darkness and preserve the Light." Osaka's eyes shined strangely as she stared at the ceiling above, a strange sad expression on her face. After a moment, she looked down and smiled, completely normal again.

"Many thought the prophecy would be fulfilled shortly after Rowena's death, but as the years passed, uneventful, people began to refer to the fulfillment with wistfulness whenever they experienced hard times, more out of habit than of any belief that it would come true. So now you know," she said. "And now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some dinner." With that, she hurried down the final stairs, leaving the four student stunned on the step. Ron's stomach grumbled loudly, shaking them out of their stupor and they soon followed her quickly down the stairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[And because I feel nice, I will continue on from here, where I was originally going to cut off. So feel grateful!]

The Great Hall was not as deserted as Harry had suspected. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team appeared to have just gotten back from a practice, and were eating hungrily. Hufflepuff was nearly deserted, but a few late-comers were there (including Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley), taking their time and enjoying themselves. Gryffindor and Slytherin tables consisted of the few 6th years who had come from the Astronomy Tower and a few other underclassmen. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and now Osaka were at the staff table, but the other teachers had gone.

The house-elves had kindly put out some fresh food for the 6th years, so that they would not have to suffer with cold turkey. All in all, dinner was quieter than usually and rather uneventful.

Until the end, that is. Harry was almost ready to head upstairs, when there was a clamor outside and Flinch came hurrying in, carrying something. His face was white and pinched from running, but he didn't wear his victorious and vengeful expression. Instead, he looked terrified.

He stopped and stood, panting, in front of Dumbledore. "Headmaster!" he cried. "Look!" He thrust out his hand so that Dumbledore (and the rest of the Great Hall) could see what he held.

It was the Goblet of Fire, Harry was positive. He'd never forget that horrible object that made his life miserable in his 4th year. But strangely, it was lit. The blue fire was cackling energetically, almost as if it were ready to spit out names, as it had two years ago.

"I don't understand, Mr. Filch," said Dumbledore slowly. "What happened?"

"I didn't do nothing, Headmaster! It was stored safely away in my office, locked up and hidden. But suddenly the cabinet started shaking and smoking. So I open it up, and I find the casket flung open, and the Goblet sitting there, blazing like this!!"

Dumbledore took the Goblet and set it on the staff table, looking at it strangely. The other teachers, alarmed, were standing by his side. "I wonder what could make it ignite itself," he murmured, "and on a non-Tournament year at that!"

But suddenly the Goblet answered for itself. The blue flame suddenly shot up and changed to a jet black. The candles of the Hall seemed to dim or darken entirely as the Goblet became the focal point of Light. Faster than the human eye could follow, the black flame suddenly changed, cycling through ever color of the rainbow. Red, green, yellow, blue... Harry couldn't follow it. But suddenly it reached a gleaming white-silver and flared up even higher, arching towards the ceiling it seemed. In a split second, it fell to its original height and five slips of parchment shot out of the flame in opposite directions before the flame went out entirely, leaving the Goblet empty.

Harry grabbed the scrap of paper that fluttered down to Gryffindor table, as three others were snatched by Cho Chang, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Draco Malfoy. Harry looked at the paper, but it said nothing; it was merely elegant thin lines of ink scratched onto the yellowed parchment.

He looked up in confusion to see Professor Osaka holding the longest piece in her shaking hand. Her white face contrasted with her red hair, but her voice was strong as she read it:

"Wind, water, fire, earth; death, life, time, purity;

Wisdom, kindness, friendship, love; strength, power, devotion, loyalty.

Eight are we, the fabled seeds,

We shall arise when there is great need.

Gathered together for truth, justice, and Light,

The Last shall come to vanquish the Dark might."

Osaka looked up, her face whiter than snow and eyes shining strangely, and promptly passed out.

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AN: Thus it begins. Thank you again to everyone who provided me with Naru's last name (I really need to buy myself all of the manga and study it more closely ^_^'). Onto Review Responses:

Birdgirl- Ah yes. Losing the internet. CURSE THIS BAKA TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!! And you *should* post more soon. ::glares::

Loopy Lu- Lol! You may be getting Ned Kelly, which I admit I have never seen, but I'm planning on seeing RotK on Dec. 16! So ha!!! :-P

Chibi-Cola- Lol! Binns and interesting in the same sentence! ^_^' He'll be back eventually, but you'll see that Naru has an important role to play first... And I'm so glad you appreciate my originality! That was one of my major goals with this fic. Domo arigato!

Skittles the Sugar Fairy- ::grins evilly:: Well... what do you mean by 'come to Hogwarts'? If you mean, Will I have them transfer from Japan like countless other cliched fics, the answer is a big fat NO! But they will eventually be at Hogwarts... ::wink:: Hints were in this chapter. ;D

Lanc- Yeah, Luna Lovegood will be here. She'll be one of the ones helping the trio solve this riddle... hey, maybe I'll even create a Luna/Draco pairing! LOL!!! ^_^' Well, you never know and I honestly have no idea about pairings. But I marked yours down for the voting booths! Domo arigato!

PallaPalla-chan- Thank you! I was actually very surprised when I had so much trouble finding a Usagi/Remus fic. I mean, the whole 'opposites attract' thing usually thrives on ff.net! (see the DBZ/SM section for more details ^_^') But why not here? It just seems ideal to me... Lunarian and wereworlf... hey, why not!

Shaiala Rialle- Honestly, I haven't decided on any of the couples beyond Remus/Usa. Voting booths still open! I'm leaning towards more romances with adults though... but I would very much like to make several romances with the students as well. Hmm... I really don't know. ^_^'

Usagi Serenity Yui Cosmos- And here I thought this was the only Remus/Usagi fic. ::pouts:: Do tell me of the others, as I have been looking for them for awhile and have yet to find them.

Sunshine Fia- You shall see... if you haven't realized the hints already, Naru will be a *very* different teacher from Binns. ;D

Eternal Cosmos- hehe. Well, define 'soon'. Let's just say there's a long-ish process that must take place first. If this were really one of the books (and I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible), Serenity would be summoned near the end and I'd probably stop that book and start another at this point. But as this is really a fanfic, I plan to just keep on writing. Whee!!!

Thank you also to:

DevilWench

x3-staRr3e-x3

DaughterofDeath

Zaeria

Lunar Neko-chan

Tanya Dinocrisis01

Brightness

evilofgab

Tkiwi

Leeanna-Marie-Malfoy

The Riddles begin next time! And let me know of any pairings you'd like to see-- cannon or x-over. Haven't decided anything for the other senshi yet, but they will definitely be appearing soon. Domo arigato for reading and *please* review! Ja minna-chan!

~Calli-chan