Sailor Saturn, formerly Hotaru Tomoe, looked upon Crystal Tokyo with dismay and no little disgust. What looked like a perfect utopia was just a sham disguising the horrifying truth. Humanity was doomed to destruction, all because one girl couldn't handle reality and wanted everyone to be happy without putting in the hard work for it.
She wanted crime and war to go away? She used the Ginzuisho to brainwash the entire planet into making her and her lover into their new Queen and King, essentially forcing everyone to love them.
The Ginzuisho then put a time lock on their only daughter and rendered the foolish woman barren as a result.
Saturn would have laid down her glaive and put an end to this entire farce...if Chibiusa, who was yet another victim of her mother's blind foolishness, wasn't her friend.
Sailor Pluto was blocked from helping, as she was unable to alter anything significant enough to change things by her role as time guardian. If she attempted to do so, she would be annihilated and another would be chosen in her place. Likely from the selection of the brainwashed minions who could be tricked into changing things for the Queen...they wouldn't realize altering events would lead to their deaths.
Which lead Sailor Saturn to the one remaining human who successfully found a way to divert the brainwashing effect of the Ginzuisho through an odd loophole.
Potter was someone who had killed before, but never out of malice. So long as she was left alone, she was perfectly harmless. However she would not hesitate to put a permanent end to an enemy if given a choice.
Tired green eyes looked up when she saw the Senshi uniform. Once a mark of pride, it had become an unofficial symbol of servitude.
"So...the Queen has decided she doesn't want free will anymore, so she sent one of her personal attack dogs to do the dirty work."
"The Outers have quit answering to the Queen a long time ago," said Sailor Saturn, her voice full of disgust. "I'm here to suggest a deal. One that could rewrite this farce of a utopia and preferably set things right."
"...I'm listening."
"At some point in time, Princess Serenity's soul overrode the soul of her reincarnation as Usagi Tsukino. When that happened, Neo Queen Serenity became a fixture in time. However if someone were to go back and keep Usagi's soul from being consumed by her dead counterpart and open her eyes to the reality of what will happen if this version of Crystal Tokyo exists..."
"The Queen will never listen to a killer, we both know that."
"She won't listen to an outsider. Countless attempted to reason with her, but she felt she was in the right and the others were too young to think things through or were too distant to be of any real use. And Sailor Pluto is prevented from interfering," agreed Sailor Saturn. "However...if your younger self could become a Senshi and given just enough memories to effect the past..."
Potter stood up from her garden and stared Sailor Saturn in the eye.
"Then there is a chance we might be able to change this nightmare. The problem is that the Star Seeds have already been decided, and I was not one of them."
"Do you know what my title and job is, Master of Death?" asked Sailor Saturn.
"Not particularly."
"I am the Soldier of Destruction. If I were to channel my power and lay down my glaive, it would spell the end of this entire planet. Just like I did in the Moon Kingdom long ago, to insure that the Outer Senshi were caught up in the previous Queen Serenity's reincarnation spell. You cannot have rebirth without death after all."
"You want to destroy this entire planet."
Sailor Saturn shook her head.
"No. Destroying it at this point wouldn't do any real good. However... your magic and the power you hold might be enough to tweak things to the point we could at least do some damage control."
Potter looked at her.
"What do you have in mind then?"
"Queen Serenity's spell sent us to loving families in the same general country. I'm suggesting we visit Sailor Pluto and divert my path into yours. This body will cease to exist, but it should give you enough influence to make a difference."
Potter thought the offer over. As the arbiter of true balance, the deal was highly appealing. Sure it would inevitably mean that their souls would become permanently intertwined...but she knew her younger self would actually enjoy that to an extent. She had always been terribly lonely, long before she became the Master of Death.
Though the title should have been Master of Balance.
Sailor Pluto, unsurprisingly, was all for it. As Sailor Saturn had said...she was prevented from doing anything of worth by the very thing that fueled her immortality.
Helping Sailor Saturn and Potter tweak the reincarnation spell used by Queen Serenity at the fall of the Moon Kingdom though? That she could do.
In a place where time was meaningless, it was hard to say how long it took.
But seeing Sailor Saturn disappear into the Time Gate along with Potter, Sailor Pluto only had one thing to say.
"Good luck."
There was only echoing silence that answered her plea that this would help.
Rosethorn Potter hated her life. It seemed like every time she turned around, the magical community was treating her like a pariah for something she had no control over, then turning around and acting like their previous behavior meant nothing.
She should have known something was deeply wrong with this society after the whole parselmouth incident. Everyone had believed her to be the culprit right up until one of her close friends was attacked.
When even Ron turned against her, believing her to be a 'cheat' and a 'sneak' for being entered against her will, she had enough.
It was time to quit being passive and actively do something.
And after the second task, under the guise of learning French from Fleur and Gabrielle, she found her solution.
For a fee, the goblins could produce an intact family tree, which would show all living members and would even include those not living in England or in Europe.
Rosethorn didn't know why, but something in her sat up and took notice when she read the name "Haruka Tenoh".
For reasons she wouldn't understand until quite a bit of time later, she started drafting a letter to the goblins to send to Ms. Tenoh. Though how she knew this "Haruka" was a woman, she couldn't explain.
Fortunately Tenoh was a witch, and one who graduated some time ago, so there shouldn't be any awkwardness explaining magic. From what the lineage tree said, she was the only one with active magic in the family.
Not even Dumbledore could force her to live with the Dursleys if there was an active member of the Potter family line, from what Fleur helpfully told her. Most of the family had died out, but she could claim that a single meeting wasn't enough to determine if it was worth the time and effort to allow a distant family member the protection the family magicks would provide.
It took a few tries...but eventually Haruka responded.
In Japan...
Michiru dropped the mail on the table.
"Haruka dear, you have another letter."
"Is it from her?" asked Haruka, looking up from the newspaper.
Michiru smiled and held up the odd parchment letter.
Haruka skimmed through the contents. Something about Rosethorn felt...off...and she had trouble explaining what it was beyond a feeling.
So far everything the girl had written about herself checked out.
She was an orphan, living with a maternal aunt and her family (and not by choice), and had been through several near death experiences at her current school. Worse, she had recently been illegally entered into a tournament that had been dropped for well over a century because of the high mortality rate.
Haruka had given up on having family that accepted her lifestyle, never mind the fact she was a mage. So having a distant family member reaching out to her like this was both a blessing and a curse, because she had no idea how this Rosethorn would react to the fact Haruka was a lesbian.
Still, she couldn't sit by and only make do with letters. She needed to meet this girl herself and find out the real reason she was reaching out to a complete stranger.
"Say Michiru...how would you feel about visiting England for a bit?"
"And going to a certain village outside a certain castle?" said Michiru knowingly.
Haruka looked a little sheepish, but nodded.
"Well I don't have any concerts up for the next month, and a vacation away from the norm sounds like fun. Besides, I heard Hogsmeade is a quaint little village. And we might get a chance to see Hogwarts!" said Michiru brightly.
To be honest, the contents of Rosethorn's letters worried her as much as Haruka. Never mind the fact that the blood relation between them was a pittance at best. One of the girl's ancestors happened to visit Japan at some point and slept with Haruka's great-great-great-great grandmother shortly after World War One.
The mere tone of the letters made it clear the girl was desperate to get away from her current situation.
And so the travel plans were set. Fortunately they were mages, which meant they could visit the village easily, even if the rumors about the "Knight Bus" left them a bit worried.
In England...
From the first moment Haruka set eyes on Rosethorn, she knew. They would almost certainly be taking the girl in.
It was sadly apparent that the girl didn't have many good clothes, if she resorted to wearing her school uniform when she got the letter telling her that the two would be in Hogsmeade.
Haruka didn't know when the students were permitted to visit the village, but she knew it was usually on a weekend from what the nice barmaid implied when they asked. So the fact that the girl asked to meet them on a Friday basically implied she was sneaking out.
"Are you Rosethorn?" asked Haruka.
"I am. Are you Haruka?"
Haruka grinned.
"Nice to finally put a face and voice to the letters you kept sending."
The girl's expression was guarded and her green eyes were far too tired for a fourteen-year-old girl.
They made polite small talk before Haruka dropped the minor bomb of having a female lover. To her relief, Rosethorn didn't bat an eye and happily started asking Michiru about the violin. There wasn't even a hint of disgust in her expression or tone. Far from it...Rosethorn acted like she couldn't care less that her distant cousin was a lesbian.
Haruka had to comment on it.
"You're taking the news that we're lesbians well enough."
The idea of having actual family who accepted her lifestyle and didn't even care that she had a female lover was something that Haruka couldn't pass up. Her own parents had formally disowned her when she refused to give up on Michiru, and their memories were erased about the fact their daughter was a mage because of it. After all, the entire reason Haruka met Michiru was because they shared the same magical lessons and had fallen for each other.
"My aunt and her husband filled up my intolerance quota for several lifetimes," replied Rosethorn dryly. "So long as the two of you genuinely love each other, who am I to care about the fact you would have to use unusual methods to have children together?"
Haruka had a feeling that Rosethorn's aunt was part of the reason she was so desperate to contact a complete stranger.
Looking at her lover, Haruka could already see the answer to the question she wanted to ask, before she could even ask it.
Depending on how things went with Rosethorn's aunt, there was an almost certainty that the girl would be coming to live with them in Japan.
In Privet Drive...
Haruka could only feel utter disgust at the address Rosethorn had given her.
The entire neighborhood felt stiffling. She could tell without having to look that the people here would be just as judgemental, if not more so, than her own parents.
And the wards around the house...whoever set this up was an absolute idiot. She wasn't a wardmaster, but she could tell right off the bat from the feel of them that they required an active mage to sustain themselves. And considering the sort of neighborhood this was, she would bet her life savings Rosethorn was the only active mage in a ten mile radius.
How long had these wards be active, and could she run over the bastard who set them up? The strain of holding up this mess would have left scars on any underage mage's core!
Her mood only got worse after meeting the wife of the house, Rosethorn's maternal aunt.
It was clear from her behavior alone she hated having a mage in the household and had likely only taken in her niece out of some skewed sense of duty to her sister or because someone hadn't given her a choice.
A little wandless magic gave her time to check the small cupboard under the stairs. It had attracted her suspicion from the lingering traces of magic and the fact it had a grate of all things on the door. Her disgust shot up exponentially when she realized this had likely been Rosethorn's room for some period of time if the small cot and the lone toy was any indication. Never mind the fact she could clearly see something written on the wall that was faded.
A quick inspection of the upstairs revealed the smallest bedroom next to the stairs themselves had no less than seven locks on the outside door. From the magical traces, she deduced this was possibly Rosethorn's current room.
It was official. There was no way in hell she was leaving that girl here. Michiru would agree, once she saw these photos.
Even more telling was the way Mrs. Dursley had practically jumped at the chance to dump her niece on someone else. She didn't ask for ID or anything...she signed the papers Haruka had brought with her without bothering to look through them once she confirmed they were custody papers for her niece.
Michiru said nothing when she went with Haruka to get the papers filed with the goblins.
The hug Haruka got a few days later from Rosethorn once it was confirmed that her magical guardian had been changed from Sirius to her cousin was even more telling. The pure relief on her face couldn't be faked.
(Haruka was secretly relieved Rosethorn gave her full permission to use the family vaults to pay for the one-time portkey from the Japanese Ministry. It meant that once this entire tournament was over, she could just say the codeword and be taken far out of the reach of the English. International portkeys were hellishly expensive.)