Usagi watched in mild awe as their guide ran his bony finger along the large steel door with the number '14' engraved in the surface. A keyhole materialized in the center of the vault door at his touch and he slid the key Luna had produced into it, turning it. A click echoed in the silence around the group and a crunching noise that signaled the unlocking of some complex device on the other side of the door.
"Place your hand here. The door will only open for a blood relative." The goblin instructed, gesturing towards the mystified blonde.
"Really? What if a family line is wiped out, what happens to their savings?" Usagi inquired.
"It is lost forever." The goblin said dully, pointing towards the opening again. She looked at the slot that he was pointing to warily and slipped her hand inside it with considerable hesitance, cringing as a tingling sensation ran through her hand. Another grind of mechanics sounded and Usagi withdrew her hand swiftly, relieved as the door finally creaked forward.
Usagi considered the fact that the vault must not have been opened for a millennia or more as the goblin led them inside the large room. A cloud of dust immediately attacked her lungs and she broke into a coughing fit, her eyes watering in protest to the age that set over the area. Once the dust settled, she opened her eyes to the room and felt her breath stolen away once more.
Heaps of gold, silver, and copper-looking coins took up much of the floor space around the group. Along the back wall sat a glass display not unlike one you would find in a muggle jewelry store and there were several marble statues standing sporadically around. Usagi figured them to be of royal Lunarian bloodlines, for one of the statues bared striking resemblance to Queen Serenity, her mother. In the center of these riches stood a solitary glass case caked in multiple layers of dust that put the particles floating around her to shame.
The blonde's curiosity peaked at this enigmatic centerpiece and as Luna walked off towards the mass of coins, she walked towards it apprehensively. Lifting the front of her shirt, she wiped at the dust with the cloth, not wanting the get her hands coated with the grey substance. The dim light that filtered in from the vault door penetrated the glass, casting a glint off of the jewel that lay inside.
"The Ginzuishou," Usagi gasped, placing her hand against the clean part of the glass. She turned her blue eyes toward her companion with confusion. "Luna, isn't this the Ginzuishou?"
"Yes," Luna called, looking up from the parchment in her hands distractedly. "The crystal is here until you summon it. The crystal in your broach is a mirror of the real one that taps into its power to help you transform. The only times you've used the real crystal are in major battles, like the ones with Beryl and Chaos."
"Well that's news to me," Usagi replied, surprise apparent in her voice. Luna appeared nonchalant to the whole thing, so she shrugged it off and wandered over to the glass display in the back of the vault. The goblin, who'd been staring around the room curiously, wiped the dust off for her courteously. Usagi observed the collection of trinkets with interest, noting that each piece bore a symbol of the moon and had a certain glittering quality that outshone any jewelry she'd ever seen before, even in the most prestigious jewelry stores.
Her eyebrows knitted together as she came to a stop at the end of the display. The jewelry on the silk pillow was not particularly unique to the others around it, but it rested on an envelope. There was something scrawling on the face of the white sheath but the locket blocked it from view. Signaling the goblin, she asked him to unlock the case for her. He did so and she lifted both items into her hands, finally able to read the word, 'Musume.'
Cautiously she looked over at Luna, still absorbed in whatever she was currently doing, and back down at the letter. Hesitantly she slit open the envelope and pulled the folded parchment from it, flipping it open. The handwriting was calligraphic, and the black ink was bold and dark. She held her breath as her eyes scanned over the sentences written, unsure of why she was anxious.
Dearest Musume-chan,
If this letter ever finds its way into your hands then you've undoubtedly found your destiny's path altered. I'm sure you're on your way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unknowingly you've accepted a very important task in doing so, which I'm going to explain to you now.
In the wizarding world, more than a decade ago, there was a dark wizard that rose to power. He went by the name Lord Voldemort and he murdered with the most evil intent. No one could stand up to his power at the time, though there were many movements to stop him, the most powerful being the Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort was determined to destroy the Potter family, James being very active in this Order, and he eventually found out where the family was hiding.
He went to their house and successfully murdered James Potter. He disposed of Lily as well and turned on their infant son, Harry. When Lily died, she left a mark of love on Harry that protected him from Voldemort's curse. It rebounded and Voldemort was forced to flee weak and near death.
Though many believe the dark one to be dead, he is not and is on the move to gain power once more. You have the responsibility of traveling to Hogwarts and protecting the young Harry Potter. I know you've probably abandoned your duties as a warrior of the moon and that you are used to being protected yourself, but the survival of the earth and of our kingdom depends on this boy.
If Harry is anything like James he'll be wandering around and getting into trouble often. Keep an eye on him, try to keep him out of trouble, I know you can do this, musume-cha, be careful of yourself and good luck.
All of my love,
Serenity
P.S.: The locket belongs to you. It was intended to be your wedding gift on the moon, but as you know, Beryl intervened. Keep it close to you and do not lose it, the trinket may hold a greater purpose yet.
In awe, Usagi shifted her attention to the object in her other hand. Opening the shimmering gold locket, she observed the picture inside. It held the familiar backdrop of the Silver Millennium's Palace. Her past self had snuck up behind the graceful Queen and thrown her arms around the woman's neck. They were both laughing jovially. Opposite the picture was and notch identical in shape of the Ginzuishou.
On the face of the heart-shaped charm was the royal Lunarian symbol of an upturned crescent moon, accompanied by two wings sprouting out of each side. On the back, in tiny engraved letters, it read, 'We have nothing when we do not have hope, but when we have hope, we have everything.' Blinking away the tears that stung her eyes, she played it off as a result of the dust in the room and asked the goblin politely for his key.
As delicately as possible, Usagi unlocked the centerpiece and placed her cautious hand into the case. Lifting the shining crystal that seemed to hum with power in her hands, she gently placed it in the locket and closed it, As if on cue, Luna stepped up along side her and smiled gently. The blonde returned the key and followed the goblin out of the vault with Luna beside her, holding the letter close to her as if it were more than all the gold in her Gringott's vault.
With a heavy sigh, Usagi plopped down on the stool next to her and dropped her bags to the floor with carelessness. Hours upon hours of shopping for supplies and now they were down to their very last purchase: a wand. Looking around the shop with interest, the layers of dust reminded her unpleasantly of the aged vault they'd been to earlier.
"Ollivander," Luna called into the darkness beyond the shelves. Almost immediately a stout old man emerged from the shadows, his eyes darting between Luna and Usagi. He smiled mysteriously as he gazed into Luna's ruby eyes.
"Ah, Luna, I've been expecting you." He said dramatically, and for a moment Usagi thought she saw Luna roll her eyes.
"Sure you have, old man. We're running a little short on time. Do you have the wand order?" She asked rather curtly, and Usagi was taken aback. Luna was never this curt before, how did she know this guy?
"Same as always. Of course I have the order. It's been in the back of the shop for who knows how long." He grumbled, sweeping back into the shadows. Luna shook her head and the two sat in silence as they waited for the man's return. He didn't take long at all, and he presented the box in his hands to the blonde girl on the stool with a grin.
"Here you are, Serenity: mahogany, moon dust center, 11 inches. Your perfect match." He recited, opening the box to reveal the long, polished stick inside. Usagi gripped the handle on the wand and felt the stick humming with power in her fingers, much like the Ginzuishou had several hours before.
As she thought this, the humming increased and an array of silver butterflies sprouted from the tip. They fluttered momentarily before bursting into silver glitter and drifting to the dull wooden floor below them. Usagi smiled at the sight and placed the wand back in the box. They paid the odd man seventeen galleons for the magical item and lugged their purchases back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Luna, where is platform 9 ¾?" Usagi whispered. She glanced around warily to make sure that no one noticed her conversing with her feline companion. This morning Usagi had been informed that Luna would be coming to Hogwarts with her as her pet. She looked up at the platform numbers, all perfectly whole, and stopped in front of the large nine. Looking past it, she saw the expected 10 swinging above the next platform.
"Walk through the barrier between platforms nine and ten." Luna whispered back. Usagi briefly wondered how cats could whisper, and then blinked as what Luna said hit her full force.
"What? You're crazy!" She exclaimed, receiving several confused stares from passersby. Flushing, she winced under Luna's glare as she growled for her to do it. She wheeled her trolley to face the seemingly hard barrier and gulped down her apprehension. She ran at it and to her surprise, went through, just as Luna had said she would. A scarlet steam engine met her eyes when she found the courage to reopen them.
"Platform 9 ¾, Hogwarts Express. Luna I made it!" Usagi said with glee. It was still twenty minutes to eleven, so Usagi decided to haul her trunk up the stairs and go reserve a compartment for herself. The task was more difficult than she had expected. No matter how much she tugged on the handle, the heavy trunk just wouldn't budge up the stairs.
"Need some assistance?" A voice called from behind her, full of mirth. Usagi turned and met the brown eyes of a boy, who grinned at her brightly and motioned towards the immobile trunk. Unable to contain herself, she returned the grin and nodded vigorously.
"Yes, please! This thing weighs a ton and it won't move." She said with much exasperation, tugging on the handle for emphasis. The boy laughed and jumped down the stairs, picking up the other handle. With their combined efforts they easily lifted the trunk up the stairs and hauled it into the luggage rack of a compartment near the end of the train.
"Thank you so much, I would have been there all day with that stupid thing. My name's Usagi, by the way." The blonde smiled and stuck her hand out. The boy grinned back at her and shook her hand enthusiastically.
"Lee Jordan. Say, you don't look much like a first year." He commented as their handshake ended and hands dropped to their sides. Usagi nodded.
"I just transferred here from Japan. I'm in fourth year." She grinned. Lee was about to respond when a voice echoed down the hall, calling his name. They both looked in the direction to see a pair of very hyper-looking redheads running towards them, and Usagi concluded that they had to be twins. Just as the one of the left opened his mouth to speak, he spotted the blue eyes that observed him with much interest.
"Hey Lee, who's the girl?" He asked, slinging an arm over her shoulder jovially. Usagi flushed with embarrassment but couldn't help but smile at the grin that stretched over the boy's face.
"She's not your girlfriend, is she? You know girls have cooties." The other said dramatically, glancing at Lee sharply. The other boy screamed and withdrew his arm, waving it around frantically.
"I'm infected! Call a doctor!" He cried. Usagi burst into a fit of giggled at their antics, tears of mirth filling her eyes. Lee shook his head as the twins continued to make a scene, startling a group of first years as they grabbed a nearby compartment.
"This is Usagi, you guys, and no, she isn't my girlfriend. She transferred here from Japan; she'll be in fourth year." He said, breaking up the escapade by reciting the information the blonde had just given him.
"Japan, huh? Very cool. Well, I'm George and this is Fred." The 'infected' twin offered, rubbing his arm against Lee's robes. "Ha! You have the cooties now! I'm cured!"
"Wait a minute!" The other twin exclaimed as Lee rolled his eyes. "I thought I was George!"
"No, no, I'm definitely George." The other replied, nodding confidently.
"Then what's George's favorite color?"
"Green."
"Nope, it's blue, you lose."
"You're wrong, I changed it yesterday."
"You can't change your favorite color!"
"Why not?"
"It's against the rules!"
"What rules?" Usagi and Lee watched the duo walk off arguing, Usagi still giggling. After a few moments of silence, Lee finally spoke up.
"Well, I should be going, see you around school." He waved and ran off in the direction the twins had left, leaving Usagi waving back with a huge smile on her face.
"Look at that, I've already made some friends." Usagi said quietly, her smile fading slightly. Luna perched on one of the seats silently, and Usagi sat opposite of her gazing out of the window. The twins and Lee Jordan were bugging a guy who looked way older than the other three. He had long hair pulled back into a ponytail and in one ear he had an earring with what seemed to be a fang dangling from it. Judging by the flaming red hair, Usagi concluded that it was Fred and George's older brother, which ever one was which.
Usagi shifted her attentions and saw a plump woman who couldn't be anyone but their mother handing another little girl with red hair wrapped up sandwiches. Half of the family piled on the train, and moments later the train was started to go forward. She jumped in surprise when her compartment door slid open. Three people stood in the doorway.
"Mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full." The girl with bushy brown hair stated.
"Sure, go ahead." Usagi gestured to the empty seats beside her. They put their trunks in the luggage rack and plopped down in said seats. The redheaded boy pulled out a pair of maroon dress robes and threw it over the cage next to him, where a tiny owl fluttered about. This muffled the constant hooting sound the bird was making.
"I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." The same brown-haired girl stated, pointing to each person in turn. Luna's nose twitched as she eyed the boy Hermione had called Harry Potter.
"I'm Usagi." Usagi smiled at Ron. "I met your two twin brothers earlier. Quite entertaining they were." A grin passed over her lips as Ron shook his head with some exasperation. Harry stared at the girl for a long moment.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" He asked. Usagi stared back at him in confusion before it dawned on her. This boy, he was the one she escorted to the bathroom when she worked at the retirement home. Harry soon realized this as well.
"I remember! You were the janitor girl at the retirement home! You showed me to the bathroom. What happened to you anyway?" Harry asked with curiosity shining in his bright green eyes.
"I'd rather not talk about it." Usagi said flatly, blinking away tears that were stinging her eyes. Before anyone could respond to her, Hermione shushed them and gestured toward the half-open compartment door. A familiar voice floated through the opening and to Usagi's waiting ears.
"...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the Headmaster you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover-and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to a school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not the defense rubbish we do..." Hermione snapped the door shut.
"So he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him better?" she snapped, "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him." Usagi blinked in confusion. Draco was a little hostile but he wasn't that bad...was he?
"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" Harry asked.
"Yes, and it's got a horrible reputation. They say it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts." Hermione replied knowledgably.
"I think I've heard of it," Ron said vaguely. "Where is it? Which country?"
"Well, nobody knows, do they?" Hermione looked at Ron with raised eyebrows.
"Er...Why not?" Harry asked confused.
"There's always been a lot of conflict between all magical schools. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang like to conceal their location so nobody can steal their secrets." Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"Oh come off it!" Ron said laughing. "Durmstrang's got to be around the same size as Hogwarts. How do you expect to hide a giant castle?"
"But Hogwarts is hidden!" Hermione said in surprise. "Everyone knows that...or at least everyone who's read Hogwarts, A History."
"Just you then," Ron replied. "So, how do you hide a place like Hogwarts?"
"It's bewitched." Hermione replied. "Any Muggle who looks at it sees an old ruin with a sign overhead saying 'Danger, Do Not Enter, Unsafe'."
"So Durmstrang'll just look like a ruin to an outsider too?"
"Maybe," Hermione shrugged. "They could also use Muggle repelling charms."
"If you say so," Harry said, still confused.
"But I think Durmstrang is far up north, seeing as they have fur capes as part of their uniforms." Hermione added thoughtfully.
"Ah, think of the possibilities." Ron said dreamily. "It would have been so easy to push Malfoy off of a glacier and make it look like and accident...shame his Mother likes him..."
"Why do you hate Malfoy so much?" Usagi interrupted, making all three of them jump. They had obviously forgotten she was there.
"Because he's a jerk," Ron said simply.
"He enjoys picking on people, especially Gryffindors." Hermione explained. Usagi looked thoughtful before turning back to the window. It was raining so hard, however, that she couldn't see anything anyways.
"What are you doing here? You can't be first year." Harry asked, breaking the silence that had fell over the group.
"I'm a transfer student. I came from a wizarding school in Japan. I'll be in my fourth year here." Usagi replied, turning back to face him and smiling.
"We're all in our fourth year too." Ron said grinning. From there on they had a long drawn out conversation. Usagi talked about what school was like in Japan, which demanded some brilliant inventing on her part but she managed to pull it off. Harry, Ron, and Hermione told her all about Hogwarts and started on talking about the Quidditch World Cup. Ron pulled out the miniature figure of seeker Viktor Krum.
"Neat!" Usagi squealed as Ron tipped the tiny Viktor Krum in her hand. He walked back and forth across her palm.
"We saw him up close, as well!" Ron said happily. "We were in the Top Box-
"For the first and last time of your life, Weasley," Draco Malfoy had suddenly appeared in the doorway, followed by the usual Crabbe and Goyle. Apparently they had heard Ron talking through a small space in the compartment door.
"I don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy." Harry said coolly.
"Weasley...what is that?" Malfoy asked pointing at Pigwidgeon's cage. A sleeve of Ron's robes was dangling from it, swaying in motion with the train. Ron made to stuff them out of sight but Malfoy was too quick for him; he seized the sleeve and pulled.
"Look at this!" Malfoy said in ecstasy, holding up Ron's robes to show Crabbe and Goyle. "You weren't actually going to wear these, were you? I mean-they were very fashionable in about 1890..." Malfoy laughed derisively. A smack sounded through the compartment and Malfoy staggered backwards, letting go of the robes and holding his cheek. Usagi was standing there, hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face.
"They were right, you are a jerk! I don't want to stay here and watch you make fun of people because you think that you're better than them." Usagi marched out of the compartment and down the train.
"Like I care!" Malfoy shouted after her. She stopped, turned around, and stuck her tongue out before continuing. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared after her.
Usagi checked almost every compartment before she found who she was looking for.
"Hello, Lee! Fred, George!" Usagi said cheerfully. "Mind if I ride with you guys the rest of the way?"
"Sure, go ahead, plenty of room." Lee said smiling. Usagi chatted with them for the rest of the way to Hogwarts. When the got off at the platform, she was walking with them towards the carriages when she heard some one calling her.
"Usagi Tsukino!" A rather strict looking woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun called several times over the crowd. Usagi pulled on the sleeve of Lee's robes.
"Who's that?" She pointed.
"Her? That's Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of the Gryffindor house. Don't worry; she always looks at you like you're in trouble." Lee grinned seeing the fear stricken look on Usagi's face when the woman spotted her and beckoned her over. "See you later, then?"
"Right, see you later." Usagi assured before rushing toward the woman. Lee ran to catch up with Fred and George.
Ugh, I got lazy near the end. Here's the questions that were here before:
Are Harry and Usagi the same age? This gives me room to announce an important point. Usagi and Harry are both 15. They will be going into their 4th year, however. I upgraded the ages by one. It's important because I need things to happen in the fourth year that will lead up to the fifth year events. Check?
Who is Usagi going to be with? Well...my automatic reaction was a Harry/Usagi. But, now I'm going to play with all of your heads for a while so none of you know whom the pairing is until it's too late! But seriously, both Harry and Draco will probably fall for her to a certain extent. (Maybe even a couple others) Who will she choose? The greened eyed boy who conquered Lord Voldemort? The silver blonde Slytherin? Doesn't the excitement stir you?
Thank you reviewers!
§SachiNyoko§ 'Don't get mad, get Glad!'