Sailor Witches 15

The Hidden Platform

AN: I'm sorry that the links don't work. If you want to know them, email me and I'll send them to you. Links used to work in fanfics. When did they make the change?

Mae-E: here's the answers to your questions:

So will Raye find the divination teacher to be a total hack? Yeah, she starts to question her fortune telling ability but thinks, 'she's the best I have right now. But Professor Trelawny is very impressed with her.Will they study fire reading at all? Not this year. Raye's already skilled at as it is! It's the planets, just as it is in the book. Raye wants to know when they study dreams and its very upset when Professor Trelawny tells her to wait until next year. Their first day should be interesting. will they have personally conflicts with any of the students and or teachers? Oh yeah. Lydia doesn't like Snape or any of the Slytherins.

--

The girls spent their remaining days in Diagon Alley working on their essays for Dumbledore, eating ice cream at Florecean's Ice Cream Shoppe and window-shopping. They were sad that they would be leaving Diagon Alley shortly, for they had enjoyed it immensely. However, they were excited that they would soon be in Hogwarts, learning to change sticks to umbrellas, make things fly and about all the different kinds of magical animals.

"Our last day in Diagon Alley," said Serena sadly as they were having breakfast. "I'm going to miss this place."

"Me too," added Mina, "but there's Hogsmead we can shop at. Ooh, we should take out more money before tomorrow."

"Too bad your mother didn't give you an extra key," said Lita.

"I know, that's such a bummer!" Mina groaned.

"Don't worry," said Lydia, "I can take out some for ye lassies."

"Really?" Mina inquired.

"Thanks, girlfriend," said Lita, "we'll pay you back as soon as we can."

"Hmm, that's odd," Madame Indigo mumbled as she looked over the Daily Prophet. "There's nothing about the Quidditch World Cup in here, or Bertha Jorkins."

"It's been a week," Ami said. "Surely there should be some mentioning."

"Rita Skeeter must be losing her touch," Madame Indigo said, "she would've wrote an article all about the Dark Mark, that riot and the Sailor Scouts."

"Hey, I know her," Lydia muttered, "she was there! Taking the Mickey out of my family!"

"Yeah," Serena added, "she wasn't a very nice lady. Lydia really let her have it!"

"You attacked Rita Skeeter?" Madame Indigo demanded.

"What was I supposed to do?" Lydia inquired, "she was saying bad stuff about my family. I couldn't just stand there and let her do it!"

"Surely Rita will write about that too," Madame Indio said.

"Well, let her try," Lydia said. "I probably won't see her again any time soon."

"Well, if anything on the Triwizard Tournament will be in Daily Prophet, then you probably will," Madame Indigo told her.

"Oh, great," Lydia muttered.

--

"Where is it?" a thinning-blond haired, pimple-faced and extremely allergic Rita Skeeter demanded as she threw everything out of her wardrobe. "Where's my Quick-Quote's Quill?" She used her wand to try to move things, but her wand seemed to malfunction. "Now my wand's not working?"

She let out a groan. "Oh, how am I supposed to write about those girls at the World Cup?" she sneezed and started scratching herself all over. "And how come and I so damn itchy? Why is my hair falling out? What the hell's wrong with me?"

She sneezed again and scratched herself to the point where she started to bleed. "I had better go to St. Mungo's and get checked out before something else happens!"

But though the best of healers tried to take care of the itching and extreme allergies to about everything, there was nothing to be done.

"I'm afraid you will just have to wait until this ends," said a healer when Rita had an allergic reaction a potion that was supposed to make her better, but instead she broke out in hives. "It appears you've been hit with and unlucky curse—you sure you haven't been bitten by a mackled malaclaw?"

"No," Rita croaked.

"There was only one healer that was skilled in these matters," said another healer coolly, "as about everything else."

"Who?" Rita inquired hoarsely.

"Iris MacGreggor."

Rita bit her lip and what was left of her hair fell out.

--

"To Diagon Alley," said Serena, holding up a chocolate milk shake as the girls stood around a table, "and our upcoming adventures at Hogwarts!"

"Cheers!" Lydia exclaimed. "Let us have loads of un."

"And pass all of our subjects," added Ami thoughtfully.

"And meet cute boys!" squealed Mina.

"And may Hogwarts win the championship," said Raye.

"And may no one lose their lives," Lita said. The girls looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Mina inquired.

"Hey, Madame Indigo told me that it was discontinued for about a hundred years because there were so many deaths." Lita said. "I don't want anyone to get hurt and die—especially if it's a cute boy!"

"Here, here!" Mina cried, "May no cut boys die in the tournament!"

They clinked all their glasses together and took huge swigs. "I hope there's an ice cream Shoppe in Hogsmead." Serena said, licking her lips.

"No way," Lydia breathed, her eyes on the person who just walked out of Madame Malkin's. "It's that Finnigan boy—from the Cup—the one I saved earlier this summer!"

She rose up her arm to wave at him. "Hello, Seamus!"

Seamus Finnigan paused and looked at Lydia. He blushed and shyly waved back. "H-hello!"

"Want to come and join us?" she inquired loudly. He was still on the other side of the road.

"Yeah," Serena added, waving him over. "We're toasting to Hogwarts! Come on over."

"Thanks but—em—got to get to the Leaky Cauldron," he said, clearing his throat and walking off.

"Bit shy, isn't he?" Lydia asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Mina said. "I think he likes you."

"he didn't seem so shy when I saved him," Lydia said. "He even asked if he'll be able to see me again. Well, I'm right here, aren't I?"

"But he doesn't know you're Sailor Rainbow," Mina said softly.

"Maybe it's because your dad's a great Quidditch player," Raye suggested. "He meets you and he doesn't know what to say."

"Yeah," lydia nodded. "He got my autograph at the Cup. You know what he said about my dad?"

"What?" Ami asked.

"He said, 'your dad was the best teacher Ireland ever had!'" she repeated with a chuckle. "I thought it was so cute."

"Ooh, looks like you like him too!" Serena exclaimed.

"Serena," Lydia mumbled.

After finishing their last milkshakes at Florecean's, they went to Gringotts to get more money and returned to the Leaky Cauldron to finish up the last touches to their essays.

--

"'Except for Potions,'" Serena stated, scribbling the last line to her essay, "'I'm excited to come to Hogwarts!' There, finished!"

"I hope Professor Dumbledore won't mind I used etra parchment," said Ami. "I got a little carried away."

"Are you finished with your essays, girls?" Madame Indigo asked as she wad in.

"Yeah," Lydia replied.

"Good," said Madame Indigo.

"Can you tell us about our teachers?" Mina inquired.

"Well, I can tell you about one of them," Madame Indigo responded as she sat down. "Your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be my old Auror partner. He's very good and pay close attention to everything he tells you."

"Certainly," said Madame Indigo, raising her wand. "Accio Scrapbook!"

The girls waited on the ground, looking curious as Madame Indigo stepped to the window and opened it. Moments later her scrapbook whizzed into her waiting hands.
"I probably should've brought this with me," she said, walking back to the girls. "Oh well." She turned the pages as she talked about Alastor Moody. "We were partners for years. People called us the Dynamic Duo because we caught so many Death Eaters. Here we are."

She rested on a picture taken from the Daily Prophet of a man and woman standing back to back with their wands crossed over them. The man was tall with muscles big enough to bend steel. He had dark hair and eyes and a sly grin. The woman next to him had shoulder lenth red hair in a ponytail and brown eyes. She had a slender build and her grin matched her partner's.

"That was within our first year," Madame Indigo said reminiscing over the picture.

"He—he was your partner?" Serena asked. "That hunkmeister?"
Madame Indigo smiled. "Yes, he was quite handsome back then…and I looked better too."

"How come you're not working together anymore?" Raye asked.

"We're retired," Madame Indigo explained. "We're not as young and able-bodied as we used to be. Especially Alastor."

"Oh come on!" Lydia exclaimed. "We saw you handle those guys at the cup!"

"You were incredible, Madame Indigo," Lita said.

"Man, I want to be an Auror," Serena said, looking at the picture of Madame Indigo and Alastor Moody, who were now holding their wands out with angry looks on their faces.

"You'll have to work hard," Madame Indigo told them. "Top grades and physical training is good too."

"Is it fun being an Auror?" Lita asked.

"Yes, but it's dangerous," Madame Indigo replied. "The Longbottoms were Aurors and they were tortured into inanity by the LeStranges. They're in St. Mungo's right now and I don't know if they're ever going to be released. It's so bad that they don't even recognize their own son, Neville."

"That's terrible!" Serena exclaimed.

"I know," Madame Indigo nodded. "So you always have to be careful with what you do. Alastor and I used to be daredevils in the earlier days. No job was too risky but we saw how dangerous it really was to be an Auror. We were very careful. 'Constant vigilance!' Al would always say. Now the man is paranoid."

"Why?" Mina asked.

"He put many people in Azkaban," Madame Indigo explained. "He has traps around his house incase someone was after him."

"Aren't you worried about someone coming after you?" Lydia asked in concern.

"No," Madame Indigo answered. "Just pay good attention to all he teaches you. Just remember, 'Constant vigilance!' Now, I think it's time for you to go to bed. You'll want to catch the train early to get a seat. I always hated being late and find the train being full."

Madame Indigo left the room with her scrapbook. Serena turned to her friends. "Wow! I can't wait until our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson!"

"Serena, come on," Raye muttered, "that picture was taken probably twenty years ago. Alastor Moody no longer looks so tall dark and handsome."

"Well, even if he wasn't," said Mina, "I bet he's really cool. He did what your parents did, Raye! Catch bad wizards."

"Yeah, I wonder if he'll tell us about all the times he caught bad wizards," added Lita. "With Madame Indigo."

"Is it just me," Lydia began, "or did ye also sense that Madame Indigo and Alastor Moody weren't just partners?"

"You mean, like sweethearts or something?" Lita inquired.

"Yeah."

"Well, maybe," Mina shrugged. "If they worked so close together and people nicknamed them the 'Dynamic Duo,' I'm sure they did have feelings for each other."

"Hey, we'll find out soon," said Lita, "he'll be our teacher."

The girls set out their robes, made sure they had their trunk packed and all ready to go before getting into bed.

--

Since the snakes entered Raye's dreams, she would on to that point continually, over and over like a broken record and each time it got clearer and clearer. It would stop when they started slithering up her legs and come back to the beginning when she was walking into the forest.

She was dreaming she was running from the dragon again. It was flowing fire at her and she hid in the deep trees. Her chest felt like it was going to give. She leaned againt the tree and the snake slithered toward her. She gasped and backed up. She tripped and saw the many snakes coming toward her.

"Stay back!" Raye shouted as she got to her feet. "Keep away from me!"

They wrapped around her feet and she tried shaking them off her. The snakes were hissing like mad. Raye pulled them off her and backed up.

Now a new scene began to evolve. Raye lifted her hand in the air. She had to transform into Sailor Mars. She had to do something to protect herself.

"MARS STAR POWER!"

Her transformation pen did not appear and she remained standing as Raye Hino.

"What?" she demanded. "How in the world?"
Now the snakes backed up. Still hissing, they reared their heads up high and they started to lengthen. Raye stood defiantly with her arms raised, watching them grow. Their tails split into legs and arms sprouted on their sides. Raye raised an ey

"What the heck?"

The snakes changed into humans before her very eyes. They were wearing black cloaks with the hoods up, still adding to their snake-like appearance. On the cloaks she saw a silver and green crest with a snake on it. She couldn't really make out what was written on it. The snake-humans laughed with a hint of a hiss. Then they walked to Raye and she looked around for something to protect herself with. She picked up a rock and threw it at someone. It hit someone in the head and they fell down. Someone grabbed her arm and she kicked him or her in the shins. She heard him wince in pain.

"What do you want?" Raye demanded. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"

She punched someone in the stomach and turned to run away.

"Where are you going?" the snake-people demanded. "Think you're too good for us, do you?"

"You're crazy!" Raye shouted over her shoulder. "Crazy, all of you!"

She pushed herself through the woods and didn't get far when she heard the dragon heart's beat yet again.

"No, not now!" she exclaimed. "Not now!"

The dragon was flying toward her. Raye turned back but the snake people were circling around her again.

"We're not going to hurt you," they said.

"You lie!" Raye shouted.

The dragon landed in front of Raye and she backed up. She got an awful closeup of the dragon—black as night, ridges on its back and arrow-spiked tail. But Raye found that the most interesting feature was its eyes—they were purple—as purple as hers. In away, it even resembled her with its black body, her black hair and their nearly identical purple eyes. She noticed something move on the dragon's back. It had a black-cloaked rider. The rider pointed at the snake people.

Raye turned and looked at them. They were beckoning her to follow them. She stood there for a while. What if they were leading her to some kind of trap? She had a bad feeling about all of this.

"Come," they said. "Come with us."

"And what if I don't?" Raye demanded. "Will you kill me?"

"No," said the one in the middle. "You'll just be pathetic and useless. All of your talent will be wasted."

"What?"

"Do you want to be pathetic, Raye? Do you want to useless or do you want to be the best?"

"I don't understand," Raye mumbled. "None of you are making any sense! What are you talking about?"

"Then come with us, and see," said another. It was a girl's voice.

"Come on, Raye," taunted a boy's voice. "You know you want to."

"How come you know my name? Who are you?"

"We've been waiting for you, Raye. We know all about you. We know how stubborn and power hungry you can be."

"Power hungry, me?"

"You wanted to be the leader to he sailor scouts, didn't you?"

"How did you know about that? Have you been following me?"

"No, just waiting," they replied. "You can be great, you know. You can be the best and we can help you get that way."

Two big people in the crowd walked to Raye and grabbed her by the arms. "Let us show you what we mean."

"Let go of me!"

"Relax, Raye," said a girl, "if we wanted to kill you, we would've done it already."

They started walking away and the people holding her arms made her follow them. The dragon flew over them. She looked up at the dragon and continued walking. "What are you doing?"

"You'll see," they said in a singsong voice. They were laughing and Raye looked around. Who were these people?

"Here you'll make your real friends," sang a cold voice.

"Huh?" Raye said. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the asked her.

"These cunning folk use means to achieve their ends."

They led her to a castle and she 'wowed' in amazement.

"Wait until you see the inside," laughed one of the snake people. The dragon waited for them there. As they approached, the dragon rider leapt off and followed them.

They entered the castle and she glanced at the corridors and the rooms as they walked by. She thought they were going to give her a tour of the castle but they continued onward, walking down the stairs until they were in "You're going to keep me in the dungeon?" Raye stopped and tried to move around. "Forget it! I'm out of here!"

"Relax, we're not going to put you in chains," said a lazy voice behind her. It was the dragon rider. He pushed her backwards.

They continued down the steps and as they got deeper in the dungeons, a man was waiting for them there. He wore black billowy robes and stood next to a dummy wearing cloaks identical to the ones everyone was wearing. The big boys released Raye's arms.

"Welcome," said the tall man in black robes. He took the robes off the dummy and held them out. "We've been waiting for you."

"You want me to join you guys?" Raye demanded. "Is this what this is all aobut? You attack me and--,"

"We didn't attack you," hissed a voice. "You were the one putting up a fight."

Raye looked around. She saw a portrait of a man that looked familiar. He was watching her closely.

The cold voice spoke again, "Power hungry-Slytherin loved those of great ambition."

"You have great ambition, Raye," said the young witches and wizards around her. "You'll make a great addition to our house."

Raye stepped forward and the crowd split to allow her to pass through. But each step she took seemed difficult, as if she had gum stuck her shoes. They were egging her on. Raye stopped in front of the tall man, folded her arms and turned to look at the young witches and wizards.

"Time's wasting," the tall man breathed.

"I'm not sure," Raye mumbled.

"Come on, we haven't all day."

"I'm thinking it over!" Raye shouted.

"Hurry up, Raye," yelled Serena over head.

"What the?" Raye sat up straight. "Huh? Wha—where'd that guy go?"

"What guy?" Serena demanded. For once, she got up on time and was all dressed and ready to go. "Come on, Raye or we'll be late for the train! Sheesh, and I'm the one who usually sleeps in."

"Oh my gosh! We have to get to Hogwarts!" Raye leapt out of bed and started to put on her robes.

They brought down their trunks and met Madame Indigo downstairs. She was talking with Mr. Weasley. She looked upset.

"Madame Indigo, what's up?" Lydia asked.

"Girls, I'm sorry," Madame Indigo said. "I can't go with you to Kings Cross…you'll have to go on with out me. Take the Knight Bus--tell them you're going to Kings Cross." She handed them their tickets. "I have to go—my old partner's in trouble."

"What?" Lita inquired. "What do you mean?"

"He heard someone try to get in his house," Mr. Weasley explained. "I'm going to go and sort out the muggles—I just came to let Maura know."

"How'd you know we were here?" Serena asked.

"Someone from the ministry told me," he replied.

"Does this mean he won't be at school?" Ami inquired.

"I don't know," Maura said. "That's why I'm coming. I'll send you an owl as soon as I can. Just go on to school!"

"Right, okay," Lydia said and they hugged her abruptly and said goodbye.

"Enjoy Hogwarts," said Mr. Weasley as they left the pub.

"Yeah thanks!"

--

"Okay, Knight Bus, Knight Bus, Knight Bus," Lydia mumbled, "what the hell is the Knight Bus and how do we find it?"

"Did she say what number it was?" Mina asked as they stopped at a bus stop and she started reading the times. "I wonder if a bus 12 will get us there."

"What about those bendy buses?" Lydia suggested, "436?"

"That goes to Catford!" Mina cried.

"Should we go on the tube?" Ami inquired.

"Ah, crumbs," Mina groaned. "I can't remember which bus takes us to Kings Cross! Maybe a bus 172? No, that takes us to Elephant and Castle—we don't want to go there! Dangit, this is why I've always hated London!"

"Well it's for wizarding transportation, right?" Raye asked. "Maybe to see it we can see it if we poke the schedule with our wand or something."

"Worth a try," said Lita.

Raye took out her wand and tapped the bus timetable. Nothing happened.

"Try saying Knight Bus," Mina suggested.

"Er, Knight Bus!" Raye exclaimed.

People walked by looking at the girls with odd looks.

"What are you looking at?" Lydia demanded.

"Oh, great,' Raye flapped in her arms in defeat. "Just great!"

They heard a horn and a blue triple-decker bus drove toward them and stopped next to them. A pimply boy in his late teens stood in the entrance. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick our your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike will be your conductor today."

"This is the Knight Bus?" Raye asked.

"That's what I said," Stan told her.

"Why don't you have time tables then?" Raye demanded. "We've been trying to find you!"

"Woss you think we'd have a timetable for the Knight Bus?" he asked with a chortle. "All ya have to do is stick our yer wand 'and. That's 'choo did, right?"

"Oh," Raye mumbled. "Yeah." Raye glanced at the wand in her hand and stuck it in her robes. "I…knew that."

"We're going to Kings Cross Station," said Mina.

"I guessed so from the robes," said Stan. "Well, come on then…"

"Think you can get our stuff?" Lydia aked.

"Yes, get on—I'll get all this." Awkwardly, Stan picked up each bulky trunk and pushed it on board. Then he knocked on the glass where the driver was. "Take 'er away, Ern."

The bus took off and they were thrown off their feet.

"What kind of bus is this?" Mina demanded as she pulled herself into a seat.

--

The bus got them to the station at ten o'clock. They jumped off the bus, happy to get at their destination. They set their trunks and things on a trolley and walked around looking for their platform.

"Wait a minute," said Mina, "my ticket says Platform 9 ¾!"

"Mine too," added Lydia.

"I never saw a 9 ¾ here before," Mina mumbled.

"Maybe it's hidden," suggested Ami.

"But if it's hidden," Serena began, "how do we find it?"

"Let's find platform 9," said Lita. "I betcha is around there."

They stopped at Platform nine and stood there feeling stupid. "Does anyone remember what Madame Indigo said about getting on the platform?" Raye asked.

"I don't know if she told us," Lita said.

Lydia turned to the wall between platforms nine and ten, "My guess we run for the wall."

"You nuts?" Mina demanded. "You'll smack right into it!"

"Well, you got any other idea?" Lydia retorted. "The wall is rie the platform is supposed to be. What else are we supposed to do?

"Fine, you go first."

"Fine." Lydia tightened her hands around her trolley and ran toward the wall. She kept one eye open to see what happens, though she was slightly worried she'd smack into the wall. Then the walls seemed to swallow up her trolley as she ran into it. She was pulled right through the wall and found herself in another part of the station. There were people getting on the train wearing different robes and carrying trunks. He saw the sign platform 9 ¾ and the Hogwarts Express.

Her friends came in behind her. "Lucky guess, Lydia," said Mina.

"Let's get on and find a place to sit before it gets full," Raye muttered.

"I just hope the train ride's nothing like the Knight Bus," Serena moaned as they clambered onboard.

To Be Continued

---

Non Ya Beeswax—the reason why Serena and Lydia are always together is because they're best friends. Have you read my Sailor Rainbow Series? Lydia and Serena they're both going to be in Gryffindor too so they'll be together most of the time when they're discussing sailor stuff. And Lydia is a jokester (but never going to take the place of Fred or George) so she naturally wants to go to Gambol and Japes. I just figured she'd like that place more than the other girls. But she will become good friends with Fred and George. I probably could've evened it out by making Lita and Mina going to Quality Service Supplies as much as Lydia wanted to go to the jokes shop. I am not trying to make her a Mary-sue or anything.