Darkness and Light
Chapter 11
Updated as of 5/18/10
I love adding lots of new things to these old chapters...it makes me feel accomplished. Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me!
Hermione had stayed in Dumbledore's office for an hour, teaching her new comrades how to transform and de-transform. Cho had already heard the speech in this hospital wing, but listened intently. She and Chibiusa did their best to teach Ginny, Cho, and Draco how to draw out the celestial power from within.
Cosmos had left with Harry, but Setsuna had stayed, conversing quietly with both Dumbledore and Snape about something. Hermione couldn't help but keep looking at them from the corner of her eye, and wondered if they were discussing her.
Right as the group planned to leave, Cosmos came back in, looking a bit distraught. (Which was very odd for Hermione, as she seemed to only have one face)
"Very sorry to disrupt this," She said, "But I'm afraid I can't even leave the Cauldron for a bit without stirring up some sort of trouble."
Right as she said this, Hermione noticed Cho jerk back violently and let out a whimper of pain. She wasn't the only one; Draco let out a hiss and dug his nails into the flesh of his arm, trying to suppress showing more pain. It was the Dark Mark; Voldemort was summoning his followers.
"Oh, dear," Dumbledore muttered. "Here. Take the floo," He instructed Snape. Hermione realized that even though he did not look to the unsuspecting eye to be in pain, he was paler and didn't stand to his full height when he took the floo powder from the mantle. He beckoned Draco to him and the two left in a green burst. "Miss Weasley, if you wouldn't mind taking Cho to the infirmary, quickly..." Ginny, who looked very panicked, as she did not fully understand what was going on, jumped and rushed to Cho's aid, the two leaving instantly.
"Is there anything I can do?" Chibiusa asked, sounding much younger then she was.
"Go back to the common room, you and Miss Granger. Setsuna, if you would escort them..."
Hermione found herself being gently pushed by the older woman from the room and down the stairs.
"Why do we have to go back?" Chibiusa asked as Setsuna ushered them down the stairs so quickly that Hermione nearly tripped.
"It's dangerous," She said simply.
"Does Voldemort want something with me? With us?" The smaller girl asked as they made their way to the common room.
"Small Lady, you're a beautiful princess of the future with powers that Voldemort could only dream of having," Setsuna explained. "And unfortunately, Voldemort's dreams seem to be coming true lately, and not without a bit of bloodshed."
"He could kidnap us!" Chibiusa exclaimed. "He's...he's not like any creature I've ever fought before who's made from something else or can have a change of heart if we show him the right way...he's terrible...and he wants me?"
"Yes." Setsuna said, not hiding a thing. "He wants you and your power. But mostly, he wants you dead."
The young girl didn't say any more, not even when they returned to the Gryffindor common room and she headed up the stairs to the rooms. Setsuna surveyed the now-empty common room, noticing that it was now clean, and then nodded.
"Monday we will begin training." She told Hermione. "And if you recall, whenever we used a lot of our powers, last year, creatures led by Voldemort seemed to sneak in the castle, so if at all possible-"
"I'll only transform if it's an emergency." Hermione assured her. She looked at the tall woman. Smiling as she always did. "Um, Professor,"
"Call me Setsuna, and yes," She answered.
"I forgot a lot, obviously, at the end of last year...a lot about you and what you have to go through." Hermione said. She remembered earlier this year, getting so frustrated at Setsuna for always wearing that fake smile. Of course it was fake. How could it not be? " If I ever seemed hostile towards you this year, I'm so sorry...I forgot what you have to go through, how alone you have to be. I just didn't get why you were always smiling."
Setsuna smiled, but a real smile this time. "I have to. Or else my friends will be worried about me." She said. "I am indeed always alone. These brief free moments are indeed brief; usually in the night I return to the gate as myself from some other time leaves. Time is always on my mind. I must always stay alone,"
"But you're here now," Hermione said.
"Yes, and my mind is always uneasy because of it," Setsuna said. "But I have always wanted to fight alongside Sailor Moon, my hero, and to have something of a normal life. Though this is hard on me and my body, this is also fun."
"Wouldn't it be easier just to stay there?"
"Of course." Setsuna nodded. "But I have to protect Small Lady."
"Why is that?" Hermione asked honestly.
"She is the princess. She is the heir to the Moon Kingdom and the future ruler of the Silver Millennium and holder of the Silver Imperial Crystal. She is also the first person who came to me looking for me. I suppose she was my first friend." Setsuna explained. "She is the most precious human to me, so I have to protect her. She's why I'm always smiling, even if I've been standing by the gates of time for months on end."
"Time magic is so complicated, if you don't mind me saying," Hermione commented. Setsuna chuckled and agreed. "I used a Time Turner one year and that alone was so complicated."
"Time Turners are an invention of mine, uncredited of course." She told Hermione, who looked very in awe. "You know, I know some pretty useful spells that may come in handy, I can show you if you like."
"Really?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yes, but Monday. Let us heed Cosmos's word and get some rest for tonight. I have a feeling that we may actually get a day of rest tomorrow." Setsuna said, smiling as always.
The green-haired woman sighed as she left the common room. The smile faded. A sigh escaped her lips. She was needed elsewhere. Time to trek downstairs. Again. She wouldn't dare try to get there from within the castle; who could say what sorts of evil would get in.
As she passed the entrance to Dumbledore's office, the gargoyle leapt aside and Cosmos left, looking a bit disoriented. Her head was to the floor and her mouth was parted slightly. She didn't even notice Setsuna at first.
Cosmos was even a mystery to Pluto. She was not supposed to exist. She called herself the "ultimate" Sailor Moon, but how Usagi would ever be Cosmos, she was not sure. She spoke of Chaos in a senshi form and of Chaos destroying everything, something terrible that Setsuna hoped would never come to pass. Cosmos said she had run away from her fears, something Usagi, too, would do, but...things still didn't add up. Was this Sailor Cosmos from another dimension? Just thinking about that gave her a headache.
"Oh," Cosmos looked up at Setsuna, who wasn't sure if Cosmos was all there or not. "My word, I'm weak."
Setsuna wasn't quite sure how to respond. If it were Usagi - her Usagi - she would do her best to cheer the blonde up, but she just could not associate this person with Usagi. She was detached and seemed to be a master in Legilimency - and used it without asking. And so Setsuna just gave a weak, "Why do you say that?"
Cosmos thought for a moment before coming up next to Setsuna, "Let's walk." Setsuna obliged - she did need to get outside the castle's spells so that she could leave this place. Cosmos followed her, hair buns bobbing.
"You know that Voldemort approached me at the Cauldron. He learned of its existence and of my existence, of course he would want that and the power of Chaos for himself. He came and he wanted to take this power, and I wouldn't let him, and this made him angry. He fought back." The woman let out a sigh, her breathing now coming quicker. "He was able to get past me, as evidenced by the youma being reborn and being sent here. He may be able to do this again at any time against my will, and there is little I can do to stop him as...well, he seems to have taken a part of myself inside him." As she spoke on, her voice sounded more and more crushed. "And that is why he could tell I left the Cauldron for good, and why he called a meeting of his little followers, to tell them such and to plan some sort of attack to try and tame the untamable Chaos..."
"How is that possible?" Setsuna exclaimed, turning to the shorter woman. Cosmos looked up at her, her cherry lips pressed firmly together, slanted eyes desperately looking for a friend. She looked like she wanted to cry, but couldn't.
"Because I am weak." Cosms said. Setsuna stared at her for clarification. And then, Cosmos broke down and told her.
Fourteen people...no, now it was eight people.
"Move!"
The wind behind him...a rock from the building hitting her...they wanted to all stay together but THEY split them up. Them...those creatures...or maybe not. Maybe they, like HER were forced or drawn in like a trap. Everything before him was one big joke, so it seemed.
A familiar hand grabbing his...looking into her unusually white face - white with terror. Reassuring her. His friends, his reassurance, his salvation from that PLACE, dying before his eyes. Looking into her shining hues...enveloping her...embracing her...dying in her arms. And than waking up. Finding out it's all okay, that she's okay, that they can do it again. That he's not going to that place anymore. But why?
A figure appears in front of him. It's her. No, not the one he died with. Someone different. It's...
"I did it because I..."
Harry woke up.
He had a very...fuzzy dream. He could barely remember anything, only the emotions that he had felt. He knew, however, that it took place on the moon, so it might have been the events of last year's battle. But the part with the other girl...he knew who she was, he just couldn't place it. He just met her but knew her for a while. It was an odd feeling of deja vu, yet not quite. With a sigh, he hoped these dreams wouldn't become a habit.
Harry went down the stairs to a quiet common room; It was only about six. But there was someone down there, laying on the couch. Cosmos, still in the white sailor garb from the night before. Her hair was draped over the pillows and her mouth was parted slightly, breathing heavily. She looked very at home on the small, worn couch, was that going to be her new bed for the rest of the term? And shouldn't she change out of that sailor outfit?
The events of last night slowly came back to him. Cosmos had arrived last night in Dumbledore's office, along with the dismissal of ten people. She came to take the senshi that were killed in the battle with Chaos back to the Cauldron. She came to help Hermione and the rest of the Five-Point Star find their aid...the person they were looking for to give them energy or something. At least that's as far as he knew. The leader of the Five-Point Star, Chibiusa, from the 30th century, stayed here to assist her team.
Someone else came down the stairs just then - Chibiusa. Her hair was down from its usual style and she was wearing light blue pajamas. She looked at the sleeping Cosmos very strangely, as if it was odd to see the older woman sleep.
"Huh." She said softly. "Morning, Harry."
"Good Morning," Harry said. "Is she, um, going to just stay there?"
"Maybe," Chibiusa shrugged. "To be honest I don't really know who she is."
"She's one of you, isn't she?" Harry asked. Last night, she looked like she was directing the show.
"She's one of us, but...well, not really." Chibiusa said. "It's kind of lonely now, without Usagi and everyone else."
Harry nodded though he thought things were more normal now. Well. As normal as they could be, under the circumstances.
"It's just, if she's sleeping in the sailor thing, doesn't it blow your cover?" Harry asked.
At this, Cosmos sat up suddenly, the two jumping at the movement.
"Well I wasn't sleeping at all." Cosmos said, sounding a bit upset that the two would think she was sleeping. Harry and Chibiusa looked at one another, not sure what to think. "Harry, I do believe that Professor Snape is in a rather foul mood today. Might not want to talk to him."
"Um...thank you." Said Harry. This woman seemed to be like an all knowing being, and that was what set him off the most.
"Last night's conversation and my time-consuming display got him a bit off spirit." Cosmos sighed. "He knows that I, rather we, will have use of him very soon and I imagine he didn't want to spend so much quality time with you all."
"As off spirit as he can be." Chibiusa murmured.
"Actually you're a bit mistaken." Said Cosmos. "In fact there was an instance in time when I saw him laughing with quite zeal. Then again, that was when someone switched his pumpkin juice for an alcoholic drink. Your father, I believe it was, Harry." Cosmos stood up and Harry had a flash of deja vu, from where he was not sure. "But right now I am here to assist you, Chibiusa, to find your aid. To be able to fully unlock the powers within and turn into a new form of senshi, you and everyone else, minus that sixth member of course, must find someone who they can draw their power from. It is the calm before the storm. Battle is approaching rapidly. And Harry," she said as he was slowly moving towards the stairs again, as this conversation did not matter to him, "you remember those dreams you had last year, don't you?"
"Yes," he said, wondering where this was going.
"You might be getting more of them. We all will." Cosmos said.
"Okay...but if I can ask, why do I keep having all these dreams?" Harry said. "Because I'm connected to Voldemort."
"Yes, that's one reason. You alone have these dreams from the scar you were given. You are connected to all mages in the word. It comes with the genre." Cosmos said.
"Genre?" Chibiusa and Harry said at the same time.
"Yes," she said pushing open the portrait. "The genre of magic." Cosmos left the room.
"She just...makes no sense and talks in circles!" Harry exclaimed once he knew Cosmos was really gone.
"It seems like it. She's not very Usagi at all." Chibiusa nodded. "But Harry, if you don't mind me asking, what sorts of dreams did you have last year?"
"I dreamt what Voldemort saw." He told her. "Maybe he knew I was watching or maybe he didn't, I don't know. Snape tried teaching us to block it out last year but I never really got the hang of it."
"What did you see him doing?" Chibiusa asked.
"Well...most of the dreams, he was in some dark room with Metallia and he was pretending that he was her servant, and there was a hoste there who took over the body of Queen Beryl-"
"A hoste?" Chibiusa interrupted. "But that's impossible, the only hostes that I know of attacked separately from Queen Beryl!" Chibiusa said.
"Well, I can't explain it...she did, Metallia, I mean, but I don't remember. Anyway, they were talking, Voldemort was trying to get another plot to kill me, and attacking Silver Millennium and things like that."
"Hm. But..." Chibiusa said. "They were useful, weren't they? You got to know what he was up to, like an advantage. I would think that it would be a bit horrible, though, having dreams that keep you up later but people wanting those dreams. I couldn't live with it."
"Yeah, people kept telling me not to have the dreams or to have them, and people kept arguing if Voldemort knew I was watching or not, and kept asking me if I'd had any more." Harry ranted a bit. "It did get a little annoying."
"I-It is done, my Lord." Wormtail stuttered. He hobbled forth, limbs still sore from the last time his deeds had been punished. He tried to stable himself on the smooth cherrywood table, but Lucius Malfoy's bark of "get your filthy hand off that!" made him trip and fall onto the Indian rug, face to proverbial face with the Dark Lord's bare, ashen feet.
"My Lord, you know that I trust you and your judgement completely," Malfoy spoke softly, glaring at the flailing Wormtail from the corner of his steel eyes. "But what are you hoping to accomplish by awakening more of those - those warriors with other powers? Won't that only make it more difficult?"
"It will make it more difficult for my Death Eaters who are less than competent," Voldemort hissed, not at all harsh but rather more amused. "I need their power and I need these powers to be fully awakened before I can take it for myself." Voldemort looked from the heap of the man in front of him to the tall and proud man standing before the fire. "Lucius, I must commend you, you're taking this all very well."
Malfoy paused for a moment, not exactly sure what he was talking about. "Taking what, My Lord?"
"Ah, that's right, I believe it was only Severus and Bella that heard this news," Something that resembled a laugh escaped the Dark Lord's lips. "From what I can deduce, some time in the future, the original sailor warriors knew that I, in this time, would interfere with the normal stream of things ad try to fully summon Chaos. I believe they then sent their powers to the people that they trusted in a past life; this lifetime. They are people that they were close to and that are close to someone else with power."
"Someone else...Dumbledore?" Malfoy guessed.
Voldemort nodded and continued, "Now because of my, ah, little visits to the Cauldron, I have received some very privileged information, including just who these powers were given to. Who the little rabbit is taking sides with."
"That's great news, My Lord!" Malfoy said. "That will make it much easier to watch them until the time is right."
"Except that they are all in Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's watchful eye, yes." he Dark Lord sighed. "Would you like to know just who these illicit warriors are?"
Lucius noticed that the Dark Lord was smiling much too widely; he could count too many pointy teeth for this to be a good thing at all.
"Hermione Granger has been chosen; I believe you have heard of her." Voldemort started.
"So the mudblood has some redeeming quality about her," Lucius laughed.
"Cho Chang, the girl who I marked last year," He continued.
"It won't be hard to cause her pain." Malfoy said.
"Ginny Weasley, you work with her father, don't you?"
"One of Arthur's brats?" Lucius laughed. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Ah, and it seems like the last one...is Draco." Voldemort finished, smiling wide like he had just told the punchline to some great joke. Malfoy just stood there, staring at a spot in the wall, jaw tight and eyes cold. Wormtail, who had long since regained footing, looked on at the sight, wondering how this would end.
"He will spy for us, then." Malfoy said after a moment. "Pretend to work with them and tell him what we need."
"That would be the plan, wouldn't it?" Voldemort said. "Only, somehow I fear your son doesn't see the same charm of the Death Eaters that drew you in so many years ago,"
"You-what?" Lucius wasn't sure what to say. "He...he's probably just having second thoughts...I mean, to be honest, I think we all had second thoughts, thoughts that went away as soon as we knew that we had chosen the right side-"
"Those weren't the thoughts racing through his head at the last gathering." Voldemort said, smile suddenly gone and his red eyes very cold. "You will show him the same, ah, charm, won't you? Convince him that my side is the only side?"
"Y-yes, My Lord," Malfoy said, bowing deeply. The Dark Lord had to laugh again, listening to the inner thoughts of the man who had once been so close to his side. This would be quite amusing.
"Excellent." Voldemort hissed. He then turned to Wormtail, completely blocking the blonde from his view. "Now, they are all nearly awakened. Each of them must draw power from someone close to fully awaken, and the only way to trigger this is by putting said person in danger."
"The first one's already set, My Lord," Wormtail said, trying to hide how pleased he was that h currently was higher up then Malfoy.
"Very good, Wormtail."
Chibiusa's eyes shot open and she gripped the bed sheets tight. So these were the dreams. So that was Voldemort.
She couldn't sleep, not after that. Did that really just happen? Did he really know everything? The small girl pulled on a nightrobe and went down the stairs to the common room, only to find Harry and Hermione there, along with Ginny. They all wore the same face that Chibiusa was sure she was making.
"We all just had the same dream, didn't we?"