Sailor Witches 11

Autographs and Gossip

"Seo libh, canaidh amhrán na bhFiann. (So sing a soldier's song)." The Irish finished singing with Lydia and erupted in applause. "Doesn't she sing beautifully, ladies and gentlemen?" Bagman asked the crowd, wiping a tear from his eye. He pointed his wand to his throat and said, "Quietus."

"I guess I'm just a bit too late," said Mina's mother with a smile. "Darn it!"

"Susie!" Bagman exclaimed, grabbing her in a bear hug and kissing her on the cheek. "How are you? What's new?"

"I'm married," she replied simply and Bagman's face went red.

"Oh, that's right," he groaned, "Sorry…I guess I, forgot."

She laughed, "it's okay, Ludie—er--Ludo. I didn't bring my husband with me."

"What brings you here?" he asked. "Oh no, I forgot to tell you about The Cup, didn't I? I'm so sorry!"

"Relax, I got an owl from Arthur and he told me about the World Cup. So you met my daughter?" she said to Arthur.

"Yes," he replied, standing up and shaking hands with her. "Good to see you again, Susan."

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Mina asked as she walked up. "You're not here to take me back to Japan are you? Because I'd rather stay here. I want to go to Hogwarts and play Chaser."

Mrs. Aino grinned, "oh that's great, Mina."

"Can I go?" Mina inquired. "Madame Indigo's already written to Dumbledore and I really, really want to play Quidditch!"

"Wow, you've just seen your first game and already you want to play it," Mrs. Aino laughed.

"Sounds like someone I know," said Bagman, winking at Susan. "Unfortunately, there will be a few changes this year."

"What kind of changes?" Harry inquired.

"Well, no Quidditch for one thing."

"What?" Harry demanded, jumping to his feet, "Quidditch is cancelled?"

"But I want to try out chaser!" Mina pleaded.

"Only for one year," Ludo explained. "There will be new events for school year, exciting ones too."

"Like what?" Fred asked excitedly.

"Well, we had better get going," Arthur said quickly. "Time to turn in"

"Wait a minute Dad," George said, "we have to collect our gold."

"Oh that's right," Ludo said, taking out a bag. "How much again?"

"Ludo, you're still gambling?" Susan wrinkled her nose. "You've got to stop, you know."

But Ludo went on paying the twins, "Thirty-seven Galleons fifteen sickles, three Knuts. Oh, and five Galleons for the fake wand, right? There you go, boys."

Susan shook her head as the boys took their money. Arthur looked just as disappointed.

"Susie, Susie, look a this!" Ludo said as he gave the wand to Susan as it hissed and changed into a rubber snake. "Fred and George made it."

"We're making a jokes shop after school," Fred said with a grin.

"That's great," Susie sighed.

"Come on, let's go." Arthur said tiredly. "Good to see you again, Susan."

"You too, Artie—I mean, Arthur." Susan blushed as the Weasley's walked by. Apparently from working in the Ministry, she had a nickname for everyone that worked there or she was just really friendly.

"You can have longer to practice," Mrs. Aino told Mina. "And try out next year."

"Really?" Mina inquired, her eyes wide.

"Of course!" Mrs. Aino laughed. "You can go to Hogwarts. You wouldn't want to miss out this year."

"Susie," said Ludo, "Will you be able to come to the Triwizard Tournament? It starts in October."

"Sure," Mrs. Aino answered. "I'm not going to let you have all the fun, Ludo."

"What's that?" Ami inquired.

"A contest with two different wizarding schools," Mrs. Aino told her. "It's taking place at Hogwarts."

"Good, we can probably use the extra help," said Mr. Crouch as he stood up.

"Hello, Barty!" said Mrs. Aino.

"We'll have a meeting at the ministry in a couple of days," he said. "Good to have you back, Susan. I'll send you both owls."

"Looking forward to it," Mrs. Aino nodded.

"How'd you know Mr. Bagman, Mom?" Mina asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, gesturing to her robes. "We played together for the Wimbourne Wasps. "

"I thought you worked for the ministry," said Mina.

"Yeah, I had an accident in a game," Mrs. Aino explained.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Bagman said nervously, "It was my fault. I didn't knock the Bludger away in time."

"It's okay, Ludo," chuckled Mrs. Aino. "I only got a broken arm. Besides, I was already planning to quit Quidditch because I was six weeks pregnant with Mina at that game."

"You what?" Ludo and Mina shouted together.

"Mom, what if you were hit in the stomach?" Mina demanded.

"You shouldn't have been playing in that condition, Susan," Ludo chided.

"Relax. Nothing happened." Mrs. Aino sighed. "See, everything worked out all right, didn't it?"

"Hey, everyone, Lydia's giving out autographs!" Serena shrieked. "Let's go down!"

"But," Mina began and Susan nodded.

"It's okay," she said. "Go ahead."

"Susan, would you care to come with me for a drink?" Ludo asked.

"For old times sake, why not?" She smiled as she followed Ludo out.

--

Irish fans were getting autographs from the Irish players as well as Lydia. Seamus stood in line, holding his picture of the Kenmare Kestrels with Dean behind him.

"I can't wait any longer," Seamus said impatiently.

"Relax," Dean sighed. "You're not the only fan here."

"What should I say to her?"

"Start with 'your dad was the best Seeker Ireland ever had,'" Dean told him.

"Why isn't this damn queue moving?" Seamus muttered, sticking his head out to look up to the front.

"She's probably talking to one."

"Who? I can't see!" Seamus shouted.

"You should've gotten down here earlier then," Dean said. "Hey, here come her friends. You can get an autograph from them."

"But I don't know who they are," Seamus said.

The line moved slowly and eventually Seamus was the next person to go up. "Concentrate," he whispered to himself and Dean nearly died from laughter. "Concentrate—don't panic--Dean, do I have anything in my teeth?"

"You're fine," Dean grinned.

"Thank you," said the little girl as she walked away with Lydia's autograph. Lydia smiled and looked up, her eyes connecting with Seamus'.

"Hello." She said.

Seamus froze and he forgot what he was going to do. "I—I—er—ah,"

Dean sighed and pushed Dean forward. "Hurry up, Seamus. Everybody's waiting."

Seamus swallowed and handed her his picture. "I—I think—your dad—Your dad's the best teacher Ireland ever had."

"Huh?" Lydia mumbled.

Dean groaned, slapping his friend in the back of the head. "Seamus!"

"I mean, Seeker!" Seamus recovered nervously, glaring at Dean over his shoulder. "Your dad's the best Seeker Ireland has ever had! Kenneth MacGreggor was a fantastic Seeker!"

"Thank you," Lydia smiled. "And who should I make this out to?"

"Seamus Finnigan," Seamus said as if he had trouble remembering it.

Lydia picked dabbed the quill in her ink and looked at his picture. "Oh, you must like the Kestrels."

Seamus bit his lip. How dare he leave his Ballycastle Bats picture at home!

"Yeah," he said. "But I've got a Ballycastle Bats picture."

"It's okay," Lydia said as she scribbled her name. "They're both Irish. I think the Kestrels are pretty good."

Seamus breathed a sigh of relief. "You do?"

She nodded, "I love how they play harps."

"Oh, me too," said Seamus.

"Here you go," she said as she handed the picture back to him.

"Th-thank you," Seamus said, glancing at the picture and then up to Lydia. He cleared his throat and looked at the queue behind him. He wanted to kiss her but he couldn't in front of all these people. He bit his lip and rubbed his head. "Well, I uh, I like your shirt."

Dean slapped himself in the face and hoped no one thought he actually knew Seamus.

"Oh, why thank you," Lydia said, glancing at her shirt. So why doesn't he just kiss me then?

Dean elbowed Seamus out of the way. "Ireland played great. Great game." He handed Lydia a notebook. "And I think your dad is an excellent Seeker."

"Thank you very much," Lydia said, opening the book. "And you are?"

"Dean Thomas," Dean told him.

"What's your favorite Quidditch Team?" she inquired.

Those of you who are Dean fans, do you know if he even has one?

"I don't really have a favorite," he said thoughtfully.

"Because you like football," Seamus muttered under his breath.

"Shut up!" Dean hissed, looking at Seamus.

"Excuse me?" Lydia said.

"Not—not you," he said, chuckling, "My friend's—being—kind of smart. I guess I like the Montrose Magpies."

"Oh," Lydia said, writing down her name. "Yes, they are good. Well, there yeh are." She handed him the book.

"Thank you, Lydia," Dean said and smirking at Seamus, bent down and kissed her hand. Seamus groaned and walked off.

"You're welcome," Lydia as Dean joined his silly Irish friend.

"I totally blew it," Seamus groaned. "Why the hell did you kiss her for?"

"Because her shirt said so," Dean said simply. "At least I did what it was implying than just commenting on it, stupid."

"I was thinking about it!" Seamus shouted.

"Then why didn't you?" Dean inquired.

"Because there are too many people in the queue!" Seamus retorted. "I can't believe you kissed her. You just did that to make me feel stupid."

"Relax, Seamus. I only kissed her on the hand." Dean laughed, "Oh man, you should've seen yourself."

"It's not funny," Seamus mumbled. "I looked like a complete idiot in front of her. I guess my good luck has run out completely now."

"Maybe Sailor Rainbow will save you again," Dean said with a shrug.

"Hey, speaking of Sailor Rainbow," Seamus said, "I think she's a witch."

"What're you talking about?" Dean demanded.

"I'm serious," Seamus insisted. "I mean, the things she could do. She's got to be a witch or something. The other scouts too."

"Yeah, maybe they go to Hogwarts as well," Dean said sarcastically.

"Well, they could!" Seamus snapped.

"Maybe we'll find out," Dean said.

"Seamus, come here," Mrs. Finnigan called. "To the tent. We're going to celebrate."

"Coming, Mum," said Seamus. "See you, Dean."

"Bye," Dean said to him and they took separate ways.

--

After signing autographs with the Quidditch Players and Lydia celebrating with her family, the girls curled up in their beds to talk about the night.

"What a night," Lydia said drowsily with a mug of butterbeer in hand. "We totally slaughtered—hic—Bulgaria."

"Yeah, literally," Serena muttered. "Did you see Krum's face?"

"It will take some time for that to heal up," Ami said. "Two black eyes and a broken nose. I'm surprised how he continued playing."

"I wonder what's the deal with my mom and Mr. Bagman," Mina said thoughtfully, lying on her stomach in yellow pajamas. "Did you guys see how he kept looking at her?"

"Maybe they dated for a while in Hogwarts," Raye suggested.

"Or they're just really good friends," Lita added with a smile.

The girls continued to gossip and Lydia hummed the Irish National Anthem, waving her mug of butterbeer and nearly falling off her bed.

"Madame Indigo has worked out us going to Hogwarts this year," Lita said. "I'm really excited. And there's going to be a special event as well."

"Lydia, do yeh think yeh had a bit too much to drink?" Lucky asked her.

"'Course not," she huffed. "There's no alkihawl in butt-hic-beer. It's just wheely…wheely shhhweet." She brought the mug to her lips, ready to take a huge gulp and found it was empty. "Damn, it's empty! How am I shhupppposed to keep shella—hic—bratin'?"

"It's okay, Ireland still won," Lucky insisted. "We were watching the whole thing in the bottom box."

"It looked like fun," said Artemis.

"And dangerous," Luna added.

"I wonder what Hogwarts is like," Raye said dreamily. "Imagine learning magic, living in a castle and all that stuff? I can't wait until we go!"

"Madame Indigo said Dumbledore should be replying any day now," Lita reminded, "and then we can go shopping for our things. Can you imagine—shopping in a magical town?"

"It sounds like so much fun," Serena smiled. "But what my parents think?"

"Madame Indigo will take care of that," Mina told her. "She's thought about everything."

"She's cool," said Raye. "I like her."

"So Mina," Lita grinned at Mina, "what's the deal with you and Harry?"

"What are you talking about?" Mina demanded.

"Oh come on," Lita said, "I saw how you were talking to him."

"We were mates back in primary school," Mina said. "Big deal."

"But you were all asking him if he remembered ya," Lita said. "And I thought you gave up on boys!"

"I have," Mina muttered. "But Harry's…not a boy…he's an old friend of mine. There's a difference."

"Oh, okay," Lita chuckled. "Anyway, what did you all think about the Weasley boys? Aren't they a bunch of hunks?"

"Oh, here they go again," Luna mumbled, crawling underneath Serena's bed.

"Oooh, I know!" Serena squealed. "Especially the oldest, what's his name again?"

"Willyam Weezly," Lydia slurred, burping and falling on her pillow.

"Yeah, yeah!" Lita said excitedly. "He looks just like my old boyfriend, except for the earring!"

"The twins were pretty cute too," said Mina without thinking.

"What was that?" Lita inquired.

"Well, I can observe, can't I?" Mina demanded.

"Yeah, but they looked like trouble to me," Ami said.

"What do you mean?" Serena inquired.

"They were talking about opening a joke shop," she replied. They probably get into loads of trouble at school."

"I bet they're tons of fun though," Lita said. "Fred and George. Probably take turns being each other to confuse everyone."

"They're totally identical," Raye nodded.

"The one who works with dragons—whatshisname?" Serena scratched his head.

"Sharlee Weezly," Lydia told her hazily. Though her speech was altered, she could still remember the boys' names from reading about them in Madame Indigo's scrapbook.

"Yeah," Serena said. "Charlie. He must be really brave. He was cool."

"I know," Lita nodded, "he was buff too. Did you see his arms?"

"What do you think about the one in glasses?" Raye asked. "Kinda stuck up, don't you think?"

"Percy?" Ami inquired in surprise. "The third oldest?"

"Yeah, that's the guy," Raye nodded.

"Oh, I don't know," Ami shrugged. "Seemed all right to me. Really smart."

"Then he's perfect for you, Ames," Lita sighed, making Ami blush. "Hey, the youngest boy was cute. Ron? He's about our age."

"Yeah, he'll be in his fourth year, same as Harry," Mina said. "Madame Indigo said we'd be going in as fourth years."

"The youngest girl, Ginny is pretty cool," said Lita. "Poor thing having to be the only sister in a house full of boys. I'd go nuts."

"No kidding," Raye agreed.

"You know what, Lydia," Serena said, "You kinda look like the Weasleys."

"Do I really?" she inquired.

"Yeah," Lita chuckled, sitting up, "with your freckles and red hair, I'd say you're the long lost daughter or something."

"You look like Ginny a few years older," Mina added.

"That'd be interesting," Lydia said, her voice recovering. "But I'm not."

"Hermione seemed cool," Serena said. "She's muggleborn too."

"I met some cool people when I was giving autographs," Mina said. "I almost started signing as Sailor V."

"I bet they were excited to meet Susan Applebee's daughter," Raye said.

"Hey, did the mysterious French boy come for your autograph, Mina?" Lita asked suddenly.

"You know what," Mina said, scratching her chin. "He didn't. I don't' remember seeing him at all after the match, but it was crowded and maybe he didn't' have time. It's so weird though. I wonder why I keep seeing him."

"Maybe he's stalking you," Serena said.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Lita grinned.

"Hey!" Mina exclaimed, blushing.

The girls continued chatting while they lay curled up in their beds and they fell asleep.

--

The sky was dark with no moon and the stars were hardly visible. Screams of terror were heard everywhere along with evil laughs and shouts. Flashes of green and red and blue all over the place. Fire.

People were running away. Black cloaked figures with masks followed, laughing and pointing their wands at everyone. People were floating and spinning in the sky.

"Someone stop them!" people shouted.

Something appeared in the sky. It was a green smoke taking shape of a snake with a skull. When people saw it, they became more terrified before.

Someone was laughing cruelly, coldly. A snake was slithering.

It was only the beginning of the terror that was about to come.

More fire. More masked figures in black cloaks. Snakes. Skulls. Torture. Maiming. Death.

--

"No! No!" she shook in her bed. "Someone…someone stop them!"

The girls jumped up and grabbed her. "It's okay. Raye, it's okay! You're having a nightmare!"

Raye gasped and stared at the worried looks on her friend's faces. "Y-you guys." She said. "Oh, it was horrible."

"What happened?" Ami inquired.

"Something, something bad is going to happen," Raye replied shakily.

"What is?" Lydia asked.

"People are going to get hurt," Raye answered. "Some will die."

"It's just a dream," Mina said.

"No, it was real," Raye insisted. "Remember the dream I had about the Sovereign of Silence? It was just like that. But this was so much worse. I was right there. People were attacked. By these…wicked things in cloaks. I couldn't see them. They were wearing masks. Then something appeared in the air. A skull and a snake…then people looked even more afraid. I could hear someone laughing but couldn't' see them. I saw this big snake slithering around."

"That sounds terrible," Serena said softly.

"When is this supposed to happen?" Lita asked.

"I don't know," Raye replied. "But soon, I can feel it."

There were screams outside the tent. Shouts of spells and hurried footsteps. Raye's mouth dropped open.

"That's it—that's what it was like in my dream!" she jumped up and went to the opening but the others grabbed her.

"No Raye," Lita insisted. "Maybe you're still in shock."

"Don't tell me you didn't hear it!" Raye cried incredulously.

"It's probably people still celebrating," Lydia said, "but…I doubt we'd be making this much noise this late."

They heard footsteps heading to their tent and the girls froze. Hands poked through and they were relieved to see it was Madame Indigo. Only she didn't look as calm and pleasant as she usually did. She looked furious and there was a look of worry in her brown eyes.

"What is it, Madame Indigo?" Serena asked.

"Damn idiots starting fires," she hissed.

"The Bulgarians?" Lydia inquired. "What a bunch of sore losers."

"No, it's not them," Madame Indigo said. "Have a look."

The girls peeked out to see people running around and men in cloaks starting fires. Raye gasped.

"That's exactly what I saw in my dream," she said. "Just now!"

Madame Indigo looked at her, "You had a dream about this?"

"Yes, I just woke up from it," she replied. "The girls had to wake me up."

"They're torturing muggles," Madame Indigo said. "The ministry needs help. They don't' know how to handle Death Eaters."

"What?"

"Death Eaters—Dark Wizards," Madame Indigo insisted.

"Shall the sailors transform?" Luna asked.

"Yes," Madame Indigo said, "yes, good idea. Extinguish the fires, get the people down so the ministry can modify their memories. But what I really want you to do is give those fools a hell of a beating. They should know better not to do anything stupid with the ministry right here!" She ran outside toward the chaos and the girls looked each other.

"Let's go then," Serena said.

"Right!"

"MOON COSMIC POWER!"

"RAINBOW CRISIS GREEN POWER!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"Good luck!" Lucky shouted after them.

"Do be careful!" Luna added as the scouts ran out to stop the mayhem. It was worse than Raye's dream. People were running all over the place. The men kept starting fires and the ministry didn't know what to do.

"Right," Moon said, looking the scene over. "Mercury, see if you can put these fires out. The rest of us will get rid of these creeps and get those poor people down!"

"Got it," Mercury said and they separated to take care of their tasks.

Sailor Mercury ran up to a burning tent. "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

Her water attack extinguished the flames into smoke and she turned on her VR visor, searching for more fires. "So many fires—I can't keep up with them all!"

"We'll have to get those folks down before we attack the Death Eaters," Jupiter said. "They're making them spin up there."

"I got a plan," Sailor Rainbow said, "I can catch them in my safety net. You guys blast them."

"I'll show them how to really mess with fire," Sailor Mars muttered.

"Don't get too close," Sailor Rainbow said, noticing Jupiter crack her knuckles. "They've got wands and they know how to use them."

"Darn," Jupiter muttered.

"Hey you!" Sailor Moon called. "How dare you turn innocent people into air balloons?"

"Let's toss you in the air and see how you like it!" Sailor Jupiter snarled.

"I'll get you down!" Rainbow called at the petrified muggles. "RAINBOW…

"JUPITER SPARKLING…"

"MESSHED…

"WIDE PRESSURE!"

"NET!"

Just as the Death Eaters were hit with a blast of lightning, the muggles fell out of the air and into Rainbow's net. They still looked horrified but she grabbed their hands and helped them out of the net, with Sailor Moon and Venus helping.

"Get out of here!" Moon shouted. "The ministry of magic will help you!"

The Roberts had no idea what they were talking about but ran for it and a couple of ministry wizards and witches came to them and took them away, assuring them that they were going to be all right.

The ministry stood watching the scouts in shock, asking if they knew who the girls were.

"What kind of witches are you?" A Death Eater demanded.

"Not your ordinary witches, mate," Sailor Venus hissed.

"We're the Sailor Scouts!" Sailor Mars cried.

"And you are so about to be punished!" Sailor Moon snapped.

Seamus Finnigan looked at the scene as he ran off to the woods. "It's Sailor Rainbow—she's here!" he exclaimed.

"Seamus, get to the woods, hurry!" his mother shouted.

"But Mum, Sailor Rainbow," he insisted.

"Just go!"

"I'm so scared," said a ministry wizard sarcastically, "Stupefy!"

"Watch out!" Rainbow cried but the spell hit Sailor Moon.

"No, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Venus exclaimed.

"You want fire," Sailor Mars grunted, "I'll give it to you! MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!"

Her attack ripped the men's cloaks and caused them to drop their wands.

"RAINBOW LINK CHAIN!" Sailor Rainbow sent her chain to a Death Eater and it went around his arms, binding him. Imbalanced, he fell down and Madame Indigo walked to him and unmasked him as the scouts dueled with the other Death Eaters.

"No!" the Death Eater shouted as Madame Indigo took his mask.

Madame Indigo grinned, "Well, well, well. Did you enjoy yourself tonight, Avery?"

"You're not going anywhere but Azkaban Prison!" Sailor Rainbow shouted and as she raised her arm, green thick smoke started to light up the sky.

"What is that?" Sailor Venus asked.

"No, it's—it's that thing from my dream!" Sailor Mars exclaimed.

People shrieked as the smoke took the shape of a giant glowing skull and snake. "The Dark Mark!"

To Be Coninued