SMH 2.3
AN: AAAAAAND I'm back with chapter three. I know this is late. It's complicated to explain but suffice to say writing in my current location is proving more challenging than I anticipated, and the release of Pokémon Go did not help my concentration. (I went a little crazy trying to get a Pidgeot). Sorry. Here's a link to the OWL scores: quidblr dot tumblr dot com slash post/146454365064/senshi-owl-results , as many people were hoping for them.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Last Time on Sailor Moon H: The summer devolved quickly into war with multiple attacks by the Death Eaters that culminated in the murder of Dr. Tomoe and the kidnapping of Garrick Ollivander by Bellatrix Lestrange. It prompted Hotaru Tomoe's early return to Britain and has heightened tensions between the Order's staunch leader and rising star: Albus Dumbledore and Setsuna Meioh.
The Horcrux Hunt
She was looking into the Aqua Mirror and something white flashed across the screen: the corner of a cloak. She reached for it.
And then she had fallen through the glass and she turned round and round in the darkness.
For all that it was her own talisman, inside it still resembled Nehellenia's mirrors enough to make her shiver. She saw the hem of the white cloak from the corner of her eye and whipped around.
He was here: the wizard in white, just as he had appeared in Diagon. His hands were clasped before him, hidden by the long draping sleeves of his robe. His head was bowed and his white hood hung low, masking every feature save the small smirk on his lips.
"Who are you," she demanded, as the murky depths within the mirror rippled.
As the motion in the space around them passed, she could distinguish shapes behind the wizard – bodies. The many figures filled the space behind him, lit by the black glow of dark magic. Their faces were turned away. Many, she noted, wore normal, muggle clothes.
She focused on the unknown wizard. "Who are you," she repeated. He was in her mirror after all. She clenched her fists, willing him to answer.
The wizard unclasped his hands and lifted his arms, revealing sallow skin and boney wrists. His long, spindly fingers curled around the hem of his low-hanging hood. He began to pull it back.
And as he did, a sharp wind blew past, chilling her. It whipped at the hems of his cloak and robes, turning them before her eyes into bits as small as grains of sand. And at once, he was nothing more than a swirl of white dust being swept away into the darkness.
Something fell down through the air where he had been and she stepped forward, reaching her arm out, and gasped as the object landed in her open palm – a shriveled, blackened rose petal.
She felt a presence within the mirror's depths and snapped her head up in time to see a storm of black petals rushing towards her. The wind ahead of them stung her face. She flinched back.
Michiru gasped awake, clutching the sheets close as she sat up straight in bed. She fumbled for the Aqua Mirror, resting alongside her wand on the bedside table.
Nothing. No storms, no flowers, no mysterious wizard. She cursed and set the mirror down again, turning to the right side of the bed. It was empty, the duvet tossed carelessly aside.
Where is Haruka?
Michiru paused a moment, closing her eyes. Haruka was close; she could hear her voice through the wall, in Setsuna's old room... where Hotaru now slept.
She threw back the covers, grabbed her robe off the post at the end of the bed, and padded barefoot out into the hall before carefully turning the handle to Hotaru's door. She eased it open.
"I promise it won't happen," Haruka was whispering. She was sitting atop Hotaru's bed wearing her shorts from yesterday and a tee shirt that was on backwards. One of her legs was dangling off the side of the bed and the other was tucked close to her. She was holding Hotaru, whose head was tucked under her chin. "It's just a normal nightmare,"
"But Haruka," Hotaru worried. "It keeps happening."
"Normal nightmares can do that," Haruka murmured.
Michiru walked around the other side of the bed and returned Haruka's smile. She startled Hotaru when she sat down, and the girl threw herself at Michiru.
"She's right," Michiru told Hotaru as she rubbed her back. "I'll sometimes have the same dreams for a month or more and though they can be scary, I know they're not real visions."
"How do you know?" Hotaru asked.
"Well," Michiru said, "usually I know because I'm dreaming of something I'm already afraid of."
Hotaru sighed. "Okay."
As she held her, Michiru felt the mattress bounce as Haruka got up, and then she turned when a purple light lit up the room from the Pygmie Puff's cage. Haruka picked it up off the top of the bookcase and put it right beside Hotaru's bed.
"We'll have to see what wizards have invented in the way of lamps," Haruka said, sitting down closer to Michiru and slinging an arm around her shoulders. She ruffled Hotaru's hair. "Cause otherwise we're just gonna have to buy you a room's worth of these fluff-balls."
Hotaru laughed a little, but grew quiet quickly. She pulled out of the hug and looked at the both of them. "When is Mama coming back"
Michiru looked to Haruka, who said: "For the Order meeting, she has a lot of research to do; that's what's keeping her so busy"
Hotaru nodded and bit her lip. "Is it cause of Papa?"
"I... yes." Haruka sighed. "She didn't know that would happen, Sweet Pea. She wants to make sure she knows why Lestrange surprised her."
"I thought so," Hotaru said. "Is she avoiding me?"
"No, no, no," Haruka insisted. She looked to be floundering. "No, it's," She looked to Michiru.
"Does she blame herself?" Hotaru asked.
Michiru nodded. "You have to remember she's governed time longer than anyone can ever fathom. It's left her with a bad habit of making everything that surprises her her fault."
"Then, we gotta convince her it's not so she'll stay with us again," Hotaru decided.
"That sounds like a good idea," Haruka said, leaning in and kissing Hotaru's forehead. "Why don't you sleep on it?"
"Then Sunday," Michiru said, copying Haruka and tucking the blankets around Hotaru. "You can give her a lecture."
Hotaru yawned. "Okay."
From its cage, the Pygmy Puff squeaked, pawing at the bars. Haruka chuckled and bent down to open the cage. She picked up the glowing purple animal.
"No accidents, got it?" she told the animal in a stern voice. It nodded. "And," Haruka whispered to it. "You're gonna squeak like mad again if she has another dream right?"
The animal squeaked.
"Good fur-ball." Haruka grinned passing it down to Hotaru. "Try to get some sleep. Kay, Sweet Pea?"
"Kay." Hotaru yawned, smiling when the Pygmy Puff curled up next to her face.
"We'll see you tomorrow," Michiru promised, clasping Haruka's hand and leading her back to their room.
When they got back to bed, she reached for Haruka at the same time that Haruka reached for her. She snuggled close to her.
"And what woke you up?" Haruka murmured, kissing her hair.
"A dream."
"Real or not real?"
Michiru sighed, holding Haruka tighter. "I don't know."
~SMH~
The weekend was a flurry of activity at Grimmauld place, with the order's members rushing in and out reporting everything they could find on proficient Portkey crafters, factions of dark creatures flocking to Voldemort's side, and of any possible hint at Ollivander's or the Death Eaters' possible location.
Professor Meioh though, Harry did not see until the weekly, full meeting of the Order was convened Sunday evening. She arrived first with Remus, who appeared more battered than Harry had seen him in years and sporting a bandage over half his face that had Molly Weasley bustling across the ground floor to fuss over him.
"I'm fine, Molly," Remus tried to dismiss her as Professor Meioh vanished once more through her mysterious set of Doors. Remus smiled when Harry, Hotaru, and their friends rushed to meet them in the hallway.
"Oh but you must have been, mauled," Molly bemoaned, "Ginny, dear, go get me that healer in-a-box kit, or…"
"Or I could help," Hotaru suggested, pushing past Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh, no Hotaru, Mrs. Weasley said, trying to get back in front of her. "You just let us handle it. These kinds of injuries just aren't the sort of thing you want to see – Harry, why don't you and your friends go back to the dining room, hmm? We'll have your dinner out soon."
"Oh, honestly Mum," Ginny rolled her eyes. "You know she was at the ministry in June,"
"Well yes, but I really think given everything,"
"I can heal it," Hotaru insisted, looking seriously at Remus. "Can I please try to heal your face, Mr. Lupin?"
Remus hesitated. "Molly has a point: it is rather unsettling."
"There, see," Molly started. "Remus agrees with me."
"I can handle it," Hotaru said, motioning for Remus to unwrap the bandage.
Remus sighed. "If you're sure… it doesn't heal easily."
"Neither do blood quills," Hermione pointed out. "But you can barely see our scars."
"Yeah – and Harry wrote with it a lot," Ron said, bracing his arm against the wall to keep his mother from bustling past them.
"Oh dear" Mrs. Weasley shook her head, fluttering her hands at the increasingly frequent occurrence of her children being too independent for her liking. She continued to plead with Ron, Ginny, Harry, and then Hermione to see reason as Remus slowly unwrapped his face, wincing as he did. The bandages closest to his skin bore the distinct brown stains of blood that clearly spoke to the claw marks beneath.
"Bloody hell," Ron gaped as Remus peeled the last of the bandages off the deep gashes that were carved across the left side of his head and nose. "What-er, who did that too you?"
"A rather disagreeable werewolf who disliked my ideas before the Moon rose – and," he hunched so that Hotaru could examine the wounds. "Made that disagreement known once he'd transformed."
"These look a few days old," Hotaru lectured as her hands began to glow white. "You let them get infected."
"Yes well," Remus squinted his eyes shut as the light touched his face. "You do the best you can with werewolf wounds. They're difficult"
Padfoot barked, weaving between Harry and Hermione and transforming back into Sirius at Hotaru's side. "Don't I know it," Sirius announced. He raised his eyebrows, taking in the gashes that were knitting themselves back together. He swore. "Does that hurt?"
"No," Remus said, squinting to try to see the end of his nose. "Goodness, that's barely a scar."
"I told you I could do it," Hotaru smirked. Even Mrs. Weasley was speechless as the light on her hands dimmed and revealed Remus face in almost the exact same healthy condition it had been in when he'd left the previous week.
Hotaru finished her work, and Remus straightened up, running a hand over his nearly-smooth face. Sirius rubbed his chin and looked Remus up and down, before nodding. "You still look like hell,"
Remus rolled his eyes. "You're one to talk." He said, grinning when Sirius slung his arm around Remus shoulders.
"So'd you smooth talk any Wannabee Dark Lords over to our side?" Sirius asked as he led their group away from the entrance hall.
"I made several attempts," Remus said glumly. "Opinions are quite polarized all over the country. And I'm not exactly anyone's friend at the moment."
"What for?" Harry blurted out.
"I guess he is the face of the Anti-Werewolf propaganda," Hermione said. "They passed a lot of horrible laws after Remus left the defence position."
"That is a very big reason," Remus said, leaning on Sirius as they walked to the dining room where many of the Order were milling about before the meeting in the basement kitchen. "Another is that they know I don't live as they do – they feel I come from a place of privilege and don't truly appreciate how they're forced to live." He sighed. "Nor are they wrong. I'm quite spoiled."
Sirius laughed. "Spoiled, he says: like he's been raised with a gold spoon in his mouth. You're full of it. They're full of it if they think you've got it any better than them."
"Oh I don't know about that," Remus said. "I've got a roof over my head. Friends… family. That's more than most of them have had in decades."
"That's more than you had for decades," Sirius countered. And they stopped among the other Order members who'd emerged from the dining room and basement to listen to their bickering. Sirius nodded to Dumbledore. "We starting up soon?"
"In a few minutes," Dumbledore said. "A few more are on their way."
They weren't left waiting long. As the Order chatted in the hall, several more pops sounded from the entrance hall. Fred and George, then Kingsley arrived, shortly followed by Alice and Frank Longbottom with Neville.
"Wotcher, Kingsley!" Tonks hollered as she came up the stairs with Michiru and Haruka. "Got anything new for us."
"I do, as it happens," his eyes drifted over all of the Hogwarts students. "Not for any of your prying ears."
"Not to worry," one of the twins began.
"They've gone through three extendible ears now,"
"And we're not giving 'em any more."
"Charity has limits," they finished.
"They say that cause they haven't figured out the cat-repellent charm yet," Ginny muttered to them all.
"We will be convening momentarily, I hope," Dumbledore said, glancing at Michiru and Haruka.
"Not to worry, she's here," Michiru said, gesturing down the hall. At the very end, they all saw the familiar lavender light flood out of the entrance hall and then the crash of the umbrella stand being knocked to the ground, prompting a rousing, shrieking welcome from Mrs. Black…
Hotaru pushed past Harry and Neville and raced to the entrance hall as Sirius sighed and trudged forwards with his wand ready to deal with his mother's portrait. He'd only gotten a few steps though before her deafening shouts ceased. Smoke filtered out of the entrance hall. A serene silence fell over the house once more, broken only by the clack of heels across the wood floor. Rei strutted out into the hallway, dousing the amethyst flame in her hands.
"I have been trying to burn the old hag for years," Sirius muttered, walking forward to shake Rei's hand. "Thank you. Please. Can you burn any of the other stubborn things in this house?"
Rei smirked. "I could try," she shook Sirius hand gingerly. "As long as you don't mind that the walls are ruined. The portrait startled me."
"I'll say," Mina said as she walked out into the hall with Usagi. "Sorry – some of us are clumsy."
"You tripped me," Usagi pouted and then brightened when she saw the crowd of them. "Hermione! You're here too!" She rushed up and hugged the other Gryffindor sixth year. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She chanted as Makoto, Ami, and Setsuna approached them all at a more sedate pace, Hotaru hanging on Setsuna's arm.
"Blimey, what'd Hermione do?" Ron asked.
"She and Ami helped me study!" Usagi grinned. "I got five OWLs!"
"I got six," Mina said, pointing her thumb at her chest.
"And each of them got two O's," Ami added when they'd joined them. "Which the both of you did all on your own – it's quite impressive."
"And you got almost all O's!" Hermione exclaimed, breaking away from Usagi so she could hug Ami just as tightly. "You have got to walk me through the Defence exam – You got an O on that, if I recall."
"Yes – I was very surprised. It was quite challenging."
"Oh it was!" Hermione said, threading her arm through Ami's and marching her back into the dining room. "What did you put for question seven on the written portion – that's the one I must have failed on."
"Here we go," Ron muttered. "I'm a bit scared to be honest."
"Now, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore chuckled. "It is uplifting to see all of you applying yourselves so thoroughly to scholarship – and," he looked between Harry and Makoto. "I'm sure you'll all have more to discuss than academics, as long as you're both unafraid of revealing your strategies."
"Strategies…" Harry muttered.
Makoto grinned. "I think he's talking about this." And she put her hand in the pocket of her jeans and whipped out a gleaming yellow and black badge.
"She's the Captain!" Ron gaped.
"Well I'm the most senior on the team now," Makoto grinned. "Otherwise they've got to give it to Bradley, but he's got to repeat a year so," she shrugged. "It's mine."
"Oi!" Ron looked at Harry. "Does that mean you got Captain too – here I am thinking it's Katie. When were you gonna tell me?"
"I-uh," Harry stammered, running his hand through his hair. "I was sort of distracted." He glanced at Hotaru. "You know, with stuff."
"I'm sure you can all discuss it to your satisfaction over dinner," Dumbledore said.
And beside him Mcgonagall flicked her wand towards the ornate Black family dining table, and said meal appeared with a swirl of emerald sparks and with it a breeze of steamy air, smelling of well roasted beef and vegetables, made all their mouths water.
"Splendid," Dumbledore said to the students as the Order members in the hall made their way down into the basement. "Now if you'll excuse us."
"Just a moment," Setsuna said, as the students turned towards the dining room. She let go of Hotaru and looked at Mina. "You're going to join us."
"Now, surely not," Molly Weasley said. "She's only sixteen."
"She's seventeen, actually," Setsuna said. "And she'll be eighteen in October."
"I," Mina looked around at the other Senshi and their Hogwarts friends. Ron had begun sputtering. But her fellow senshi were nodding at her.
"Tell us how it goes," Makoto said.
"It will be good for the Order to see you as a leader," Ami added.
"But…Usagi," Minako turned to the other blond, standing on her left.
Usagi was grinning. She clapped her on Mina's shoulder. "You go, and tell me what I need to know." And she leaned in and whispered. "Besides – Ginny and I are going to talk about boys. You're the one missing out."
"If you don't get your butt moving, I'll take your place," Rei threatened.
Mina looked at all of them and nodded. "Right." And then she turned and followed Setsuna, waving to them as they went down the basement stairs.
"Why's she get to go?" Ron pouted as Mina disappeared down the stairs, the door closing behind her.
"Cause she's their leader," Ginny sighed and clapped him on the shoulder as she walked past him towards the table full of food. "At least I'm not the only one stuck at the kids table," she said, sliding into the empty seat beside Hermione.
The rest of them situated themselves around the table: Neville next to Ami, Ron and Harry beside him, Makoto, Rei, and finally Hotaru and Usagi. Hotaru took the chair beside Rei, leaving Usagi, Hermione noted with interest, the seat at the head of the table.
As they all sat down to eat and Ron started off the conversation with who had been knocked out of the running for their career-choice by their potions OWL, Usagi leaned down to Hotaru.
"Have you been okay?" she asked her.
Hotaru nodded. "Yeah." She bit her lip. "We've gotta make Lestrange pay."
"Don't worry," Usagi smiled. "We will."
~SMH~
Mina had drawn stares from all around the table at the Order meeting, but not so much due to her age, as her demeanour. She'd sat with much more seriousness than could usually be seen from the one-time-pop-idol right in between Setsuna and Haruka at the end of the table, and she'd kept up a discussion of strategy with Mad Eye Moody long enough to garner the respect of he and all the other active and former aurors in the room.
"I am rather impressed with her," Mcgonagall had confided to Setsuna after the Order meeting. "And I suppose it will put Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter at ease to know they have a friend in these meetings."
"They do have just as much stake in this war as we do," Setsuna'd said. "It is their future on the line. And, besides that: this will be very good for Mina." The leader of the inner senshi, for all her bravado, could do with the confidence boost she'd get from earning the trust of others. And, given there were futures she might find herself giving orders even to Haruka, it would be beneficial for her to begin to see herself as an adult.
Setsuna and Mcgonagall were right in the case of the students too. Mina being able to confide Order happenings to them made Harry, Ginny, and even Ron less irritable at being bared from downstairs. And once Ron and Ginny had left Sunday night, Mina gave her senshi their assignments, ones which Harry and Hermione eagerly insisted they help with. The seven of them were to watch over Diagon Alley in case of attacks during the final two weeks before term.
There'd be three attacks for certain, as Setsuna'd informed the whole Order: one that Wednesday, and two the final week before school when many muggleborn first years would be going to get their school supplies. The senshi would be needed; Setsuna and Severus had both confirmed the Order members would be needed at other sights: muggleborn shops and businesses throughout magical and muggle Britain.
Setsuna had foreseen the senshi having no trouble with their assignment, and they more than reassured her of it Wednesday. They easily nabbed Crabbe Sr. as he fled his planned attack on the second-hand robe shop Wednesday, and Harry spent enough time commending Hermione's quick thinking in one attack against an Ogre that she was well on the way to recovering from the hit her confidence had suffered against Dolohov in June.
All of this, Setsuna watched from afar leading up to September first. While the Order and the Senshi defended Britain against the Death Eaters, Setsuna devoted all of her time the last two weeks of August to the plans she had for September first, and for several events likely to happen over the course of the year.
Bellatrix Lestrange might have found a way to evade her, but Setsuna'd determined over the course of August that so far, she was the only Death Eater able to do so. She could easily track the paths and possible futures of the others: including young Draco Malfoy, despite his nerves and frenzied jumping from one half-baked plan to another as the summer drew to a close. His trip to the notorious antique shop in Diagon had caught her attention a month past, as had the many futures where he wasted precious school hours trying to repair yet another barbarous Wizarding attempt to meddle with space. She'd more than happily head off that plan if she could.
Could was the operative word, Setsuna found out on the Thursday before term began, as she found herself faced with a problem she had not anticipated: getting the infernal room of requirement to show her the correct door.
"I need the room with the vanishing cabinet," garnered her a hobby shop's worth of such items and none of them were the particular cabinet she needed. "I need the Cabinet matching the one in Borgin and Burkes," had gotten her a door very similar to Borgin's front door that opened onto a cabinet of the exact same make and model, but unremarkable in every other way. At that point she began walking through more general and generally ridiculous possibilities ranging from: "I need the portal out of Hogwarts," (For which she got, not a door, but a large portrait of a young blond girl) to "I need the room of Dark objects," (which resulted in the sight of many war relics she'd just as soon banish from memory).
"I'd leave that one alone." Severus Snape's voice surprised her and caused her to slam the door to the Room of Dark Objects rather roughly, given how little she was used to being surprised. Severus nodded to the Room of Dark Objects "As I recall, there may be a manticore prowling that one, assuming the egg has hatched by now."
"Well as I don't think I care to ever find out what a manticore is, that seems like a good idea," Setsuna said. She sighed and turned away from the Room of Requirement, rubbing her forehead. "I do not understand this room."
"It fares better with needs than requests," Severus said. "Or at least that's what I've observed."
"Well that's ridiculous," Setsuna said. "I clearly need something that's stored inside and it is being decidedly uncooperative."
Severus nodded. "I know the room that you need," he said. "Though you'll forgive me if I elect not to divulge the phrase that will get you in at this… present time."
"Why?" Setsuna demanded.
Severus stood beside her, regarding the door to the Room of Dark Things as it vanished. "You are aware of the predicament one of my students has muddled into."
"Only that whatever it is will lead him to setting Death Eaters loose on the castle," she said, electing to keep the consequences it might hold for the headmaster to herself. "Which accessing the vanishing cabinet will allow me to prevent."
"I am not keen on that turn of events either," Severus said. "However, I fear what kinds of erratic stunts Draco Malfoy might feel are required if the long-term goal of repairing the vanishing cabinet is stolen from under his nose."
"His future does have several paths towards dire consequences at the moment," Setsuna confided. "I take it you would like to help him avoid those."
"It is… more of a need, but yes, I do wish to help him." Severus flicked his eyes around at the painting-covered walls. "And this is not a conversation I care to have around so many gossip prone portraits."
"Well," the stuffy looking portrait of a healer on their left huffed and crossed his arms.
"My point," Severus said.
Setsuna thought a moment, "There's no such portraits in my office."
"Then why don't we re-convene there," Severus agreed, leading the way towards the stairs. "And I can tell you about Draco."
~SMH~
Harry Potter ran through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 and grinned at the sight of the scarlet steam engine beyond the packs of families putting their children on the train. Then, as Minako Aino was doing in front of him, he looked around the platform.
The Order presence today was heavy. No one thought a Death Eater attack was likely at the station, not with so many purebloods present, but Setsuna and Dumbledore had both agreed completely, that one could not bet surely on anything these days, and Setsuna had been particularly paranoid about Bellatrix Lestrange of late.
"Sorry!" a blond woman on the edge of the crowd shouted as she tripped over a first year's cart. Tonks? Harry wondered. His eyes continued to scan around as Mad-eye Moody and Padfoot led the large group comprising the senshi and the Order's children into the crowds.
"D'you think that's Mundungus over there?" Neville whispered to Harry, pushing his cart up beside his. He pointed out a ginger haired man in a fine-looking set of conductor's robes.
"He looks too good to be Dung," Harry muttered. Then he saw what Neville had – students and parents passing the conductor, giving him a wide berth. "Or maybe…"
"There's some smells even the best charms can't mask," the portly old woman with the mole on her chin said beside Neville. Looking at her, in her conservatively cut, plaid robes and very wrinkled face, Harry had to admit it was impossible to tell this was the increasingly vivacious Alice Longbottom, nor could he distinguish any of Frank Longbottom in the short, liver-spotted man walking by Alice's side. Their disguise as two of the Longbottom's distant cousins was so well done that they barely even resembled the family matriarch, bustling along beside them.
"Put your wand away, Meredith," Augusta Longbottom, muttered to Alice. "And you too, Darius."
Harry saw Frank Longbottom's disguised face flush as he tucked his wand slowly back into his sleeve. Alice glanced at her mother-in-law then lowered her arm to her side; her wand was less obvious there, but no less ready to cast.
"Constant Vigilance still means subtlety," Moody reminded them gruffly.
"I don't think any of us can really be subtle," Minako countered. Harry thought she kept almost as wary an eye around them as Moody. He turned to the back of the group. Haruka and Setsuna looked just as on edge as the tail end of their group made its way into the crowd. Even the snake animagus coiled around Hotaru's neck had its head scanning through the mass of people.
"You still want to keep a low profile if you can," Moody was saying. "If you can't blend in, you at least keep to yourself how many of you can cast a good curse."
They made their way to the very last carriage on the train, meeting the blond woman Harry'd guessed was Tonks at the door.
"Wotcher," she grinned, confirming his guess as she stepped aside to let Setsuna board the train.
"Carriage is clean," Moody said.
"I already scanned it," Tonks said, the ends of her hair going slightly red.
Moody trained the full force of his magical eye on her. "Never hurts to take a second look."
Setsuna returned to them moments later, levitating Mina's three pink suitcases up into the carriage. Tonks, the Longbottoms, and the Weasleys followed suit, and their luggage was loaded onto the carriage in record time. Padfoot yipped, bounding up the train steps as the other adults disembarked. Setsuna gave him a bemused look as she beckoned the students onto the train. Padfoot's tail thumped against the floor as he jerked his head towards the inside of the carriage, encouraging all the teens to board.
"Alright, alright," Mina muttered. "This train's really going to the dogs," she said, prompting a groan from Makoto and Ron, and glares from Moody and Rei. Padfoot barked and thumped his tail faster, his tongue hanging out of his grinning mouth. "See, he thinks it's funny."
"That delinquent thinks his name is funny," Moody said gruffly. Outside the Order families gave hugs and kisses to their children. Rather than moving to their compartment right away, Mina and the senshi elected to wait for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to hug their children, Hermione, and Harry, and then for Mrs. Weasley to hug Harry again, and for Neville's parents to hug him four times. Once all goodbyes had been made, the whole group followed Setsuna and Padfoot onto the train. They guided the group to the end of the carriage where, instead of two compartments on either side, there was now a compartment door right in the middle of the hall. Mina grinned as Setsuna pushed it open. "Woah."
The two compartments had been merged: their seats wrapping around the whole room, and there was a long oval table placed in the middle. Windows covered almost all of the three outside walls.
"Setsuna this is amazing!" Usagi gaped as she followed them into the huge room. "You're really good at these."
"You can't do anything too outrageous with them," Setsuna said. "Space becomes temperamental with too much manipulation. But," she flicked her wand and all the windows merged into glass pane that wrapped around the compartment. "These are an interesting exercise."
"The word she's looking for is fun," Haruka said leaning in the doorway, she nodded to Setsuna. "Time to go?"
"It is," she nodded to the students. "Enjoy the journey, I believe I shall meet you in Hogsmeade."
Padfoot transformed into Sirius then, out of view of the platform. He held out his arms to Harry. "I do get a hug right."
Harry grinned. "Course," and stepped up to Padfoot.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure Remus sends you plenty of chocolate for not being here," Sirius said.
"Tell him not to feel bad," Harry said. The full moon, after all, had been just two nights ago, and Remus was still not fully recovered. He'd insisted on setting an alarm in order to see Harry off, and Sirius had spent two hours trying to figure out the counter charm. "Git always picks the most obscure spells," Sirius had muttered as he and Harry'd scoured the library the night before.
Across the compartment, Michiru'd taken her human form too. And she, Setsuna, and Haruka had wrapped Hotaru in a three-way hug.
"You don't have to visit," Hotaru was saying. "And you don't have to check on me every day," she said to Setsuna. "I'll be fine."
"Yes, but Sweet Pea," Haruka said. "We're the ones who're going to miss you. You have to write us every day."
Hotaru smirked and shook her head. "I'm going to have more homework, you know."
"Fine, every other day," Haruka said
Michiru chuckled and adjusted the collar of Hotaru's shirt. "Tell us if you need anything."
"I'll be fine," Hotaru insisted, bouncing on her toes.
"We know you will," Setsuna said, ruffling her hair. She nodded to Haruka and Michiru. "They're waiting outside."
"Who?" Usagi wondered, as all the students and Padfoot turned and looked out the window.
Rigel Fawcett and Hamish Stebbins were outside, both waving towards one of the carriages ahead of theirs.
"Rigel has a sister in the fifth year, I think," Hermione said.
"He does, and they came to see her off today," Setsuna said. "They're coming along to help us with something."
"Is it dangerous?" Usagi worried.
"As much as any mission is," Setsuna said.
"Then we should go with you," Usagi said.
Setsuna shook her head. "It is not a task that requires all of us. But you'll be needed afterwards. And rest assured, if anything did go wrong," she nodded to Rei. "Michiru or I would get you a message."
"Be careful," Usagi told them. And the three of them nodded to her, and waved to them all as they left the compartment.
The students and Sirius rushed to the windows and watched the three outer senshi meet Fawcett and Stebbins on the platform. They gathered in a circle and Setsuna held her hand out between them. There was a small, silver key in her open palm.
"That's a time key," Makoto realized "She's not time traveling, is she?"
"She might simply be trying to move them to Time Dimension so they can move to another location," Ami guessed. "Perhaps she doesn't want to attract the attention summoning the doors would cause.
All of them waved to the students one more time, before suddenly vanishing in what Harry thought looked simply like a very flashy apparation.
"Do you know what they're doing?" He asked first Hotaru and then Mina, but both shook their heads. "Do you?" He asked Sirius.
Sirius shrugged. "Know it's something important though." He jumped a little when the train's whistle shrieked. "And that would be my cue." He saluted the students. "Good luck in Defence – the professor's a real git."
"Great." Ron said as Padfoot dashed out of the carriage and the train shuddered, preparing to move. "As long as he's not another Umbridge."
All of them watched the spot where the Stebbins, Fawcett, and the Outer Senshi had disappeared as the train began rolling forwards.
"Hey," Hermione realized. "Setsuna said she'd meet us in Hogsmeade, not at the feast. Do you think that's related to their mission?"
"Maybe," Mina said. "Wonder what she's gonna need us for." She looked at Rei. "Any ideas?"
But Rei shook her head. "Not a clue."
~SMH~
As the Hogwarts Express was leaving Kings Cross, the Time Doors materialized in an overgrown bunch of bushes right off an old country road halfway between Manchester and York.
"Where are we?" Rigel Fawcett asked, stepping out into the brush.
"Cobblers Lane," Setsuna said. "A kilometre outside of a small village called Little Hangleton," she motioned them towards the road. "This way; we have a limited timeframe." She led them to the right, down the overgrown dirt road. "We are looking for a magically concealed path," she told Michiru.
"Well it won't stay concealed for long," Michiru said, the Aqua Mirror flashed as she pulled it from her purse. She tapped the glass with her wand and looked up after a long pause. "This way."
They walked for several minutes along the edge of the road, never encountering any cars.
"It's secluded enough," Hamish Stebbins observed. "But why would Voldemort hide a Horcrux here?"
"It does seem like you'd want to hide something like that more securely," Fawcett gulped. He'd read far more about them than he'd shared with the others, and the details had made his stomach turn. "Course, it might be secure enough on its own."
"That is a certainty," Setsuna said. "As to Voldemort's reasoning…" She closed her eyes. "This is a place from his past, of which Dumbledore could tell you more than I."
They walked in silence a little longer before Michiru stopped in front of a wide, dead tree, its cracked branches dangling perilously overhead. Michiru walked right underneath them and up to the trunk. She closed her eyes, hovering her wand over the bark, then reached up, and tapped her wand-tip to a particular spot.
The trunk cracked down the middle, warping aside and revealing many overgrown brambles and bushes between which a footpath was just barely visible.
"Hang on," Rigel said. He held out his wand to his forehead, drawing a rune onto his skin as he muttered a spell. The symbol glowed and faded, and he opened his eyes, scanning over the bushes and brambles. "These will recognize charms," he said. "They'll regrow faster and larger if we use any cutting hexes."
"Then we'll get through the non-magical way," Haruka said, conjuring her Space Sword. She walked ahead of Michiru and sliced through one branch of a bush with the blade. It fell into the dirt, but did not regrow. "Are we just following the path?" she asked Setsuna.
Setsuna nodded. "Our destination is the cottage half a kilometre ahead."
The Space Sword made getting through the overgrowth simple work. And as they walked, Michiru glanced warily between the mirror and the path ahead, and Rigel's eyes grew wider the closer they got.
"There's a lot of darkness up there," Michiru commented.
"Repellent charms," Rigel began to list, reaching out for Hamish's hand. "Jinxes for… blinding, attracting werewolves, paralysis."
"I expected something deadlier, actually," Haruka said as she hacked through a large bramble bush. They could see the dilapidated roof of an old cottage ahead.
"Maybe he didn't want anyone who found this dead," Michiru said. "At least not right away." She looked at Rigel. "Are there any charms that might alert anyone we're here?"
"Um… yes." Rigel frowned. "If we don't… this is strange. I can see the rune work on the building." He squinted. "If we don't… speak the door guard's language?"
"I don't see a guard," Hamish said. "Just the door."
"There is a guard," Setsuna said. "Though Michiru should have no trouble with it."
The only sign of any guardian of the cottage though was the dead snake nailed to the rotten wooden door. Michiru frowned at Setsuna.
"Am I meant to speak snake?" She asked.
"Parseltongue?" Rigel wondered. "I didn't think Animagi could do that."
"Most can't," Setsuna agreed. "That said," she told Michiru. "Your natural abilities might help you mimic the language." She raised her fist. "We have to knock on the door."
"Alright," Michiru said, her form shrinking and twisting into that of the aqua and dark-blue snake.
Setsuna rapped her fist against the wood and the dead snake's head lifted away from it. Its two milky white eyes peered at them. Haruka tensed, raising the sword, and Rigel shrank back towards Hamish, making a disgusted face.
Michiru rose up to the dead snake's height, meeting its challenging gaze with her own serpentine glare.
She concentrated as its mouth opened, revealing small, yellowed fangs. It hissed. And she reared her head back. She understood.
What Do You Want?
The snake animagus swivelled around and looked at Setsuna. Does it want a password? Michiru thought to her.
Only the correct language.
Michiru swivelled back around, looking at the snake.
Open the door, she demanded, feeling sure of the sounds even if they were no language she knew.
The eyes of the dead snake flashed green and it went limp as (within the door) the old, rusted tumblers groaned and clicked. When Setsuna pushed it, the door creaked open.
"Space has been disturbed here," Setsuna informed them as they took in the endless labyrinth inside – comprised of walls that seemed to be grown out of vines. "I believe we need to be very careful of these plants."
"Devil's Snare," Rigel said. "They crush you if you touch them – and they do it faster if you move."
"They're weak to sunlight… and fire," Hamish said, raising his wand.
"Yes, but I think that will alert," Rigel cleared his throat, "alert Voldemort that we're here."
"We can get through," Setsuna said. "Provided we walk exactly the right path – and do not touch them."
And she led the way in, the only lights the faint glow of the Senshi's three talismans. They walked carefully through the middle of the winding paths, Setsuna and Michiru in front and Haruka at the back with her sword drawn. Rigel looked all around the dim labyrinth, distracted by all the spell-work built into the cottage. So intrigued was he that as they continued down the corridors without encountering danger Hamish had to hold his arm to keep him from straying too far from their path.
"What would happen if we took a wrong turn?" Haruka asked. "Say, if we had to run out of here?"
"The Devil's Snare would wake up," Rigel said. "It would trap you, and then if you attempted to struggle, it would kill you. If you tried to set it aflame…" He swallowed. "Then I suppose Voldemort would appear."
"It seems a bit too easy to get in," Michiru said. "Remind you of anything?" she said, looking back towards Haruka.
"A trap, you mean?" She smirked. "Yeah I'm getting that feeling – like it's designed to lead you right where you want to go and keep you there."
"Is that light there where we want to go?" Hamish asked, peering through the walls of the labyrinth at the white glow trickling through the vines. "What is that?"
"Magic of a sort," Setsuna shook her head. "This is where my sight becomes muddled."
"Why?"
"Because my sight is clearest when people have made decisions. And the events ahead will be contingent solely on our reactions. The magic we are approaching, as far as I can tell, affects every person differently. So there is very little way for me narrow down a clear path." She looked at all of them.
"But you do see us coming out of this, right?" Haruka asked.
"Its likely," Setsuna assured her. "But then again, there are many likely futures."
A few moments later, they turned a corner and could see the light: a glowing circle on the floor that travelled all the way to the ceiling of the cottage, warping and twisting like wind. Inside it there appeared to be a pedestal.
"Should we transform?" Michiru asked. But Setsuna shook her head.
"Right now, we pass for normal witches," she said. "The surge of magic caused by our transformation would not register as normal. It would be sure to alert the protections over this place."
Then they exited the final passageway of the labyrinth: circling around the column of light in the center of it. There was indeed a pedestal inside.
"The spell around it…" Rigel squinted, bending down to get closer to the cylinder of light. It's specific to the person…
"Only Voldemort can get in," Haruka guessed.
"I… no it's very difficult to make these spells that specific… The rune and spell crafting work becomes too complex. You keep it general. This is the same sort they use to repel muggles or bar under 17s from entering a place. They even use these on the girls dorms to keep the boys from entering…" Rigel's eyes widened and he looked up at Setsuna. "This is why it's a good idea that we're here… I can pass the protection." He stood, clenching and unclenching his hands, and nodded to all of them. "I'm a pureblood male: like Voldemort. That's got to be how he's configured it." He closed his eyes and nodded again. "I can do it." Rigel raised his wand and stepped into the light barrier.
And shouted. He was thrown back, only a snap stopping charm from Setsuna jerked him back in time to save him from crashing into the walls of Devil's Snare.
"But, but," Rigel sputtered as Hamish helped him off the ground. "But why would he restrict himself from entering? Unless…" He blinked. "The rumors were true."
"What rumors?" Haruka asked.
"That – that he's a half-blood." Rigel explained, dusting off his robes. "But – but I thought that was only to irritate the Slytherins?"
Hamish looked between Rigel and the light barrier, and then at his own hands. "Then I can do it," he said, stepping up to the barrier. "Muggle father, pureblood mother." He walked right up to the light barrier. "I'm as half-blood as they come." And without hesitating he walked right through.
It was difficult to see Hamish through the waves of the light barrier, though they stood as close to it as they could.
"What's in there?" Haruka demanded.
"It's a ring," Hamish said. "Bloody old too, by the look of it." They saw his hand hover over the pedestal.
"There's lots of magic around that," Michiru warned.
"Be careful," Rigel said. "I can't see what it is."
"Well…" Hamish hand inched closer to the top of the pedestal. "I've got to try something." They heard the scrap as the metal of the ring was lifted off its stone resting place. "Yeah… I reckon the magic's just the ring. It's – bloody hell!"
"What? What?" Rigel demanded
"It's the coat of arms… Rigel it's like Beedle's stories. It's on the stone!"
"What stone?"
"The stone's in the ring." Hamish whirled around to look at Rigel, and his face (what they could see of it through the barrier) looked giddy. "Rigel – it's a Hallow. They're real!"
"It's a Horcrux," Setsuna reminded him. "And as we've just said it's bound to have a lot of dark magic –"
"No. No. You're wrong," Hamish said.
"Do you hear yourself?" Rigel gaped. "That thing's addling you. Get out of there." He pressed into the barrier and was blown back again, caught by Haruka's hand grabbing the back of his robes.
"Of course I do, it makes perfect sense he'd want the Hallows. This is amazing."
"What the hell is a Hallow?" Haruka demanded.
"From the story: there's a ring, and a cloak, and a wand. And their gifts from death – and this one's the Resurrection Stone." Hamish laughed. "Rigel, I'm going to see my parents."
"Hamish!" Setsuna shouted. "Get out here. Give it to me right now. Right. Now."
"In a second – we can share it. I promise. I just – I need to try it first."
"Hamish!" Rigel shouted. All three of the senshi raised their wands and the talismans as, within the barrier, Hamish put the small, black and silver object on his hand.
And screamed. He doubled over.
"HAMISH!" He was still within the barrier.
"It…it isn't working." Hamish groaned. "My hand,"
"He's activated a curse," Michiru said.
"Hamish," Setsuna said coolly. "You need to get out."
"How? It's – it's too bright? I'm stuck – gah!"
"Stuck…" Rigel ran a hand through his mousy hair. "You just got in – oh Merlin."
"I can't feel my hand!" Hamish shouted. "Where are you? Where am I?"
"He can't get out on his own," Haruka said.
"Rigel!" Hamish sobbed.
Rigel was frozen, on his knees just like Hamish was, his hands hovering just a hairs-breath from the barrier. His face was very pale in the coolly-lit room, and breathed in short, panicky gasps.
"Fawcett," Haruka said, and his head snapped up. "You've got to reach him."
"She's right," Setsuna said. "Stay calm."
Rigel bit his lip and nodded. "H-hamish, I'm right here."
"Where?" he whimpered. "Oh, God, what did I do?"
"I'm right outside – the light's not going to hurt you, Hamish. You got in there. You can get out."
"I don't know!"
"Just try – close your eyes. Listen to me, alright."
Hamish hunched over further, moaning in pain.
"It'll be okay, Hamish. J-just hold out your hand. That's it." They all hovered close as the tips of Hamish's fingers passed through the barrier. Rigel strained to grasp them. "You have to stretch further."
"I can't! It hurts!"
"You can! Come on, Hamish. Try. For me." Hamish shouted and fell forwards, as all of his fingers and then his palm passed shakily through the barrier. Rigel grasped his hand in his own, lighter one, and heaved with all his might, pulling the larger boy out into the room.
Rigel scrambled up and rolled Hamish onto his back. "His hand!" he rushed to Hamish's right side – where his wand arm appeared paralyzed in a bent position. The skin around his ring finger was an awful, decayed, black.
"It's going to kill him." Rigel said in a strangled voice, grabbing Hamish by the wrist and tugging on the ring. "It won't come off!"
"It's spreading!" Hamish shouted.
"It's getting into his blood." Setsuna said. "The curse is working like a poison."
"The-then we've got to contain it!" Fawcett said. "There's spells – I – I've learned them, I swear."
"If it reaches his heart," Michiru warned, "It will kill him."
"Then we don't let it," Haruka said. She shoved Rigel aside and knelt next to Hamish. "Fawcett how far's the curse got?"
"His arm."
"Good." She said, pulling Hamish's arm away from him. "You'd better know a healing spell." And she raised the Space Sword. Rigel shouted. Haruka sliced the weapon down – right through Hamish's shoulder. He gasped, his eyes widened as the delirium that had entrapped him lifted. Then he screamed, diving away from Haruka and clutching the stump of his shoulder with his left hand.
And on the ground, his severed arm changed rapidly from a healthy brown to a cracked and decayed black. His wand hand disintegrated around the cursed ring.
Setsuna and Rigel were already at his side, the blood from the wound easily stemmed by the simplest of tourniquet charms.
And once his shouting had faded, they could all hear the footsteps pounding through the maze.
Remus and Sirius burst into the center of the labyrinth, both their wands drawn, just ahead of the imposing figure of Albus Dumbledore. His eyes went immediately to the ring on the floor, the coat of arms on it gleaming prominently in the light of the still glowing barrier.
Setsuna glanced at him. "Are you alright, Hamish," she asked the young Order member. And when he had nodded, hand still clutching his shoulder, she rose and stood between the ring and Dumbledore.
"You know what it is, then?" Dumbledore said.
"I forsaw you telling me so, yes." Setsuna told him. "But you didn't know until just now that it's the Resurrection Stone."
Sirius jaw dropped. "The hallows."
"From the name," Setsuna continued, "I assume it brings back the dead."
"Only the facsimiles of them," Dumbledore said. "Still, as the stories go – able to walk and speak with all the knowledge of their living selves… if I could see it."
"Don't be a fool," Setsuna said. "There's a compulsion on the ring, you're as drawn to it as Hamish."
Dumbledore blinked, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. "Of course, and it is an important piece in Voldemort's immortality."
"He's modified the stone?" Remus asked.
"He's made it a Horcrux," Rigel said. And both Sirius and Remus gasped. "We need to destroy it."
"Plans for such are already in place," Dumbledore said. "Unless you foresee Ms. Tonks having any trouble getting Miss. Weasley to hand over her sword."
"She may be distracted by a more pressing issue, but no matter," Setsuna said, looking down at the gleaming ring. She could feel the compulsion on it the longer she stared, a need growing in her to perhaps see Mr. Tomoe and apologize…no. Setsuna shook her head. It's still cursed.
"The senshi can handle it," Setsuna told Dumbledore. "I'll bring them to your office from Hogsmeade. We can resolve this before the feast." She saw Remus move to Hamish side, kneeling down next to the boy and casting a few more charms on his bloody stump. "You're very lucky," she told Dumbledore. "Had you come here by yourself as you originally wanted, you would have been dead before the school year was out." She tilted her head, looking at Sirius and Remus. "That was your plan for a very long time. Why did you change it?"
"Well, I dare say for the same precautionary reasons you have come here ahead of me," Dumbledore told her.
"Had you come here with them along, the resulting events would have seen you dead sooner," Setsuna said. She turned, bending down and picking up the ring. She hastened to tuck it into the pocket of her robes. "And you'd taken the secrets you have that ensure Voldemort's demise with you."
Dumbledore looked grim. "There needs to be more time." He sighed. "No matter, we will have to return to Hogwarts." He looked at Hamish, whom Rigel and Remus had helped off the floor. "I may not know the exact curse," he told him. "But it seems, if it did not have the chance to move into the rest of your body, you should make a full recovery. I'd advice against checking into Mungos, they'll surely recognize the traces of dark magic, and I am not sure the loyalties of their staff – suspicious items have been making their way to patients of interest a lot in the past year."
"I'm fine," Hamish gasped, looking down at his feet and away from the stump on his right side. "My wand,"
Sirius waved his and summoned Hamish's wand, which lifted itself free of the pile of dust and landed in Sirius' hand.
"Let's take him back to Grimmauld," Michiru said.
"A good idea," Setsuna told her. "We are still on a tight timeframe – the Death Eaters plan to attack a village in Oxford in an hour."
The large group of them wound through the labyrinth together, Setsuna keeping her wand close to the pocket where the ring seemed to burn. They left the building and Haruka's sword ensured a quick escape from the property.
Once they were back beyond the enchanted tree, Setsuna raised the Garnet Rod to summon the doors. Before she went through with Dumbledore, Haruka and Michiru each put a hand on her arms.
"Be careful with that thing," Haruka said.
Setsuna nodded. "I'll let you know what happens tonight."
~I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good~
