Title: A Firefly in Azkaban

Summary: …only to return sixteen years later as Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor Saturn, the senshi of death and rebirth to assume an education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Rating: PG-13 (or T...w/e)

Status: 5 chapters written, 5 chapters posted

Review count: 41 (16...heh, this story has been festering for a year...that's pretty damn good)

Heroine of the Valley - Demo means but, my name is Hotaru is what she said and thank-you for voting.

Taeniaea - Well it's not soon but I updated...(looks sheepish)

Hoshiko Megami - Thank-you and I updated

lil-saturn-goddess - Thanks

Desolated Angel - Thank you

mae-E - Thanks

Lily - I continued...just not in a hurry

Rayne Saijeuz - I shall add it to the list

Harpygirl91 - Thank-you and I updated...soon is not in my vocabulary

Flame Ivy Moon - Updated

Yuki of the Snow - Next one there now is

Sister-of-the-Light - You hopes in vein, I do apologize, enjoy the update.

allie - Thank-you for the house suggested and I really don't want to male this ultimately DracoHotaru because technically in my story they are cousins. Narcissa and Bellatrix are sisters so yeh...incest

KingofthePhoenixes - Thank-you, I update

Kazi-Kun - Sure you can, I mean, I can't really claim ownership because I'm sure it's been done somewhere but thank-you for asking

Zaya - Hotaru and Malfoy are cousins in my story...that would be wrong and I'm sorry if you feel Harry and Hotaru are too alike...I shall try and make them differ. Enjoy the story.

Pairings: Harry x Hotaru, Remus x Tonks

Vote for pairings

Ron pairing :-
Ron x Hermione : 3
Ron x Luna : 2

Hermione pairing :-
Hermione x Ron : 3
Hermione x Draco : 3
Hermione x Blaise : 1

Ginny pairing :-
Ginny x Draco : 1
Ginny x Blaise : 0
Ginny x Neville : 0
Ginny x Dean : 0

Setsuna pairing :-
Setsuna x Severus : 1
Setsuna x nobody : 0

Luna pairing :-
Luna x Neville : 1

Notes: Um yeh and the last time I updated was what 06-04-05? Which was what...over a year ago. Yeh I know, I'm a freak, I was looking at my stats today and looked at all my unfinished works. I only write if I have a spark, a flame about the story and so I read the online version and the reviews and thought, hell, why not have a go again? So yeh, I went into the word document and what do I find? I have the ending written, I had started this chapter and I've written all the other major scenes. I guess I just got busy and lost site of the story. Anyway, look forward to more updates though be warned, they might not be as long as this one!

Hotaru shifted nervously, Luna P bobbed next to her, she heard the laughs and felt the stares. She looked around her nervously from the back of the group of first years. Her breath hitched when her amethyst eyes met sparkling emeralds that gazed at her with such ferocity (but not hostility) that she cringed inwardly. She wrenched her gaze away and shuffled forward as the list of names was reeled off drawing ever nearer to her own name.

Gazing around again as she waited her eyes fell upon a pair of diamonds that glared at her menacingly, narrowed, focused, they were the eyes of the boy she'd met on the train, the one they called…'Malfoy'.

"Tomoe Hotaru," her attention was wrenched back to reality as her name was called. Walking up to the hat on the stool the whispers broke out again. 'Who was she?' 'How old was she, she couldn't be a first year could she?' 'What house was she going to be in?' 'Was she a pureblood?' 'Did anyone know her?'

The brim of the hat was lowered over her eyes. She shivered when she felt the light caress of someone or something trying to probe her mind, instantly her mental walls shot up, surrounding her mind with a thick curtain of black chaos. 'Now, now' a voice whispered in her ear, 'it's alright, I only want to see what house to put you in?'

'Who are you? What are you? Why would I know what house I'm going to be in, isn't that your job?' Hotaru stumbled slightly over her mental words due to her surprise

'I, my dear, am the Sorting Hat and I am here to look into your mind to determine what house you should be in,' the hat explained but Hotaru didn't bring down her mental walls.

'Why can't I choose my own house?' she asked.

'Because my dear I can see your deepest desires,' Hotaru blushed, 'and secrets and your mind is young, you're easily influenced and…'

'Young?' Hotaru repeated, she wasn't young, she'd been around millennia ago and been reborn countless times. She'd seen and done more than most adults, she maybe young in this life but she wasn't influenced. 'I think I'd like to decide for myself what house I'll be in.'

'I'm sorry miss but that's against regulations,' protested the hat.

'Well I'll have to be an exception because I have a job to do and I can't do it if I'm in the wrong house,' with that, Hotaru took off the hat, gave it to a stunned McGonagall and proceeded to walk towards the Slytherin table. A moment of stunned silence preceded the whispers. Hotaru went red and stared avidly at her hands that twisted and folded in her lap.

The rest of the sorting continued as normal, but not before Dumbledore had had to shush them all.

Hotaru felt the empty presence beside her shift and turned to see Draco Malfoy sitting right next to her. Hotaru was speechless and the blond boy smirked at that, both unaware that one, Harry Potter, was watching them intently.

"So you defied the sorting hat?" Draco smirked down at Hotaru who turned her large violet eyes on him.

"In a manner of speaking," she replied.

"You realise how out of your depth you are don't you," Draco's twisted smile was almost scary with his gleaming white teeth.

"I'm sorry?" Hotaru looked genuinely confused, the innocence in that look threw Draco, "I don't," she finished.

"After that little display on the train, you remember that heart warming little speech don't you? Your not in my good books and I'll have you know that what I think matters. Once you're down in the dungeons no one will hear your screams, no one will be able to help you."

The threat was obvious and Hotaru wasn't happy about it but there was little she could do except be on her guard. Haruka had once told her to keep her friends close, but her enemies closer. As such she recognized the presence of an enemy in Draco Malfoy on the train and so she had come to Slytherin in order to be closer to those most likely out to sabotage the raven-haired youth. It would appear that she had already made an enemy of her own, not her intention but apparently inevitable.

"I apologies if I have offended you in some way," Hotaru bowed courteously and once again her behavior astounded Malfoy. "I'm sorry if you found my behavior on the train incorrect…you insulted a friend and that wasn't right of you to do. I don't think we've been properly introduced, my name is Hotaru Tomoe and you are…Malfoy."

Draco sneered, this girl was weird, one minute she was a preaching Gryffindor, the next she was apologizing to him. "At present that is all you can call me."

"Alright Malfoy-san, I hope that we can be friends," Hotaru smiled tentatively but the disgusted look on the blonde's face wiped it clean. He got up and moved to sit next to the haughty girl and dark skinned boy from the train.

---Gryffindor table---

"I've read Hogwarts; A History more times than I can count and never has it mentioned a student picking their house before the sorting hat has called it," Hermione said in utter shock as Hotaru gently removed the hat and went to sit at the Slytherin table.

"Maybe the hat told her it was going to put her there and she didn't want the embarrassment of the hat saying it out loud?" Ron suggested as he loaded his plate with food.

"I doubt it, her shock as she came into the great hall makes it seem like she had no idea what was going on. And she jumped when the hat went over her eyes, didn't you see it?" Hermione looked at Ron who had just shoved a potato into his mouth. Hermione rolled her eyes, "Honestly Ron."

"What?" Ron asked, his voice muffled by potato, Hermione just looked away.

"What I don't understand is why Slytherin? They're not known for being nice and Hotaru seemed sweet when we first met her," Hermione pondered allowed as she loaded some chicken onto her plate.

"Maybe she's a very good actor," Harry muttered, Hermione looked at him, his eyes were dark, angered and starring right at Hotaru.

Hermione looked at the raven-haired girl and was just in time to see Malfoy take a seat next to her, "Would you look at that," she gasped.

"What?" Ron said again his mouth full this time with lamb; he turned to see what Harry and Hermione were looking at. He saw Malfoy sit next to Hotaru and his eyes narrowed, "That makes no sense. After what happened on the train…" Ron trailed off; he had of course swallowed his mouthful before his previous statement.

"Yes but did you see the smirk Malfoy had on his face after Hotaru mouthed off to Pansy Parkinson?" Hermione asked as Ron turned back around and Malfoy leaned closer to Hotaru whispering something to her that seemed to unnerve her slightly.

"I don't like it one bit," Harry said darkly, his plate was still empty.

"Now Harry, we shouldn't judge, perhaps Hotaru has her reasons for going into Slytherin," Hermione chided sensing a storm brewing under Harry's skin, she gently filled his plate with chicken, lamb, vegetables and potatoes. "Now, eat up Harry, I don't want Mrs Weasley owling me asking after your weight."

Harry glared so ferociously at Hermione she thought he would have liked to kill her but he did eat…barely. Hermione and Ron exchanged worried glances, Ron again with his face full.

---Yummy feast---

After the feast was over and Dumbledore had bid everyone goodnight, Hermione and Ron had gone to help the other Gryffindor prefects in the other years to get the first years up to the Tower and make sure everyone knew the password. Harry was interested; he instead slipped out of the entrance hall out into the cold September air. It was already dark but the half moon cast great light over the grounds. The lake gleamed and rippled, the Quidditch pitch stood still except for the banners that fluttered quietly in the gentle breeze. The trees of the forbidden forest swayed in a menacing manor that echoed the personalities of many of the beasts inside it.

Harry made his way down to the lake, his cloak around his shoulders billowing slightly and his hair falling in front of his eyes. He climbed on top of a large boulder, normally used by students in the summer to sunbath on, and watched the lake. He saw a tentacle rise from the waters, only to fall back beneath the depths. Depths into which Harry wished he could sink.

"What are you thinking about," Harry jumped and nearly fell, twisting violently at the waist making his back click to see who was behind him.

Hotaru stood at the bottom of the lake, her eyes reflecting the light of the moon in an eerie manner that gave them a blue tone. Her ebony hair pitch black and framing her face in a delicate manner that reflected the small and fragility of her physique. He was sounding poetic; funny what depression does to ones thoughts isn't it. And that, which was a comment in bad taste, depression should never be funny.

Harry didn't answer, merely stared at her, lost in thoughts that he wasn't really paying attention to.

Hotaru blinked but remained silent

"Who are you?" Harry asked, his voice husky and almost toneless.

Hotaru looked down shyly, the intensity of his gaze and its fixation on her was unnerving, "I'm Hotaru Tomoe," she replied.

"Where you the one?" Harry asked turning slightly so his whole body was now facing her, more for his comfort than to be polite.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Hotaru replied.

"Was it you that night, where you the one who healed me and made it so there was no physical evidence of what I tried to do?" Harry inquired, he was pressing her and he could sense her unease but his will to know overrode his courtesy.

Hotaru blushed and shifted her weight to her other foot, "Yes," she replied softly, "yes that was me."

Harry watched her intently.

"I'm sorry," Hotaru bowed slightly, "I have to go, I hope we can talk again Harry Potter," she turned and made her way back to the castle leaving Harry to the cold and void inside him that had formed ever since her face had haunted his dreams.

---Slytherin common room---

"What was that all about at dinner," Blaise asked Draco from where he was casually draped across a sofa near the fire.

Draco looked up from his position near the mantle piece; his diamond eyes left the dancing face to land on the dark skinned boy on the sofa. "Oh just giving our new housemate," he said the word with distain, "an introduction," he finished slightly.

Blaise chuckled, well aware of the implications. Draco had been intrigued by the girl's behavior on the train but also insulted. Malfoy's had characteristics, blonde hair, cold eyes, tall, pointed figures and recognized statures, the fact that the violet eyed girl had paid these signs no head showed she had not been brought up in a pureblooded society. However, she did not recognize the insult that muggle born witches and wizards despised and had shown no signs that she was muggle. As such her origins where a mystery and a challenge to uncover, at least that was how Blaise Zabini saw her.

Draco would not take her insolence lying down, "I hope you haven't given her the impression that we're monsters," Blaise drawled, "for all we know she could be a little spy sent by Dumbledore and we don't want any of our business leaking to that old fool."

"Would I really do such a thing?" Malfoy replied slyly, smirking, Blaise laughed.

"Oh I don't know."

There was a silence.

"So what do you plan to do with her?" Blaise asked.

"Do with her?" Draco repeated looking thoughtful, "well I can't say I'm not intrigued, with eyes like that, there is something about her that she is hiding or someone else is hiding. I intend to find out what it is and exploit it fully."

"And if she has nothing but a pretty face?"

"Then it'll be another notch for me and we'll be tied again," Draco replied, Blaise smirked.

"Dream on Malfoy."

---Slytherin Girl's Dormitory---

Pansy stormed in after overhearing the conversation by the fire. Intriguing? Pretty face? Pansy changed her from her robes to her silk nightdress and flung herself onto her bed. Her ears picked up the conversation of her dorm mates instantly.

"Well I like her looks I must say but I don't think she'll fit in round here," one girl remarked.

"I think she's awfully plain," Pansy said.

One girl who had a head of blonde girls and was painting her toe nails a bright emerald green to match her bed sheets looked at her smirking. The girl's brown eyes were dark, alluring and very arrogant, they were also narrowed knowingly. "You would think so Pansy dear."

"What would you know Cassandra?" Pansy sneered at her. Slytherins may like to stick with their own, that didn't mean they had to like all of their own.

"Well with eyes like that she is hardly plain, you only say that because she damaged your ego," Cassandra replied as she cast a drying charm on her toenails, moving onto her fingers.

Another girl giggled, a bubbly, evil little thing named Lunette, from a powerful pureblood line and with four successful older brothers she came with a high dowry and was subsequently sought after by many pureblood males. However she was what you might call pretty. Her heart shaped face looked diamond like with her pointed chin and small pointed nose. Her skin was fair, her eyes were a common blue and her hair was a mousy brown.

"Oh so it's true what happened on the train then," another high pitched giggle that reminded Pansy of Umbridge. Oh how she had loved that woman…just not the laughing or that little cough…that was annoying. "And in front of Draco no less and after his little display at dinner. Are you jealous Pansy," Lunette giggled again.

"Perhaps your worried she'll take your precious Drakie-kins away from you?" another girl suggested with a cruel smile. This girl was oriental in original, black hair and black pointed eyes made looking malicious second nature. Her name was Tiffany and she came from an ancient Chinese clan that was rumored to posses many of China's legendary treasures but nothing was proved.

"And her name…Tomoe, I don't even think she's English," the final girl in the dormitory, Victoria, said quietly, looking up from a book she had been reading. Dark brown hair in ringlets and glasses over attentive green eyes she was probably the most studious of those present but not the smartest.

"I've never heard of her," Tiffany said smoothly taking a nail file out of her bedside draw and beginning to buff her excessively long, though natural, nails.

There was a knock on the door and the chatter ceased, "Are you all decent?"

"Professor Snape?" Cassandra gasped, her nail polish brush falling from her grasp and the bottle spilling over the sheets. "Curses."

"Scourgify," Tiffany said to the accompaniment of one of Lunette's infuriating giggles.

"Yes sir, it's alright," called Victoria, adjusting her glasses.

The door creaked open and there, in front of Professor Snape stood Hotaru, shivering slightly, wide eyes and looking rather lost. "I trust you all know this I Hotaru Tomoe, I also hope that you shall all conduct yourselves with decorum and show her around the castle and so forth."

"Yes professor," the five girls choruses, smiles of fake innocence masquerading on their faces.

Hotaru was definitely unnerved and felt that once she stepped over the threshold there would be know turning back. She would be diving into shark-infested waters and there would be no lifelines and no cage to protect her. She gulped and watched Professor Snape as he strode down the stairs, his cape billowing, she turned back to the room full of girls.

Smile had been replaced with menacing smirks and with one last look down the spiral staircase Hotaru stepped into the lion's den…or rather…the snake pit to use a better fitting metaphor.

-----

Um yeh...I enjoyed writing this actually but I want some opinions before continuing. If there's no interest in this story I'm not going to write it all down and post it. FEEDBACK IS KEY PEOPLE.