AN: And now come the OCs whose reception I'm most curious about (as they would appear in any Crystal Tokyo era fics that I wrote). So let me know if you like them, if they can be written better, all that jazz. To be honest I'm very nervous everyone's gonna hate them, but I'm crossing my fingers. (Anyone reading Age of Aquarius: You're about to meet an older version of someone you're all very curious about. XD)
ALSO: I had some trouble saving the edited version of the draft when I published this this morning. So I apologize very much for the wealth of typos that were riddled through this earlier.
And on another note: a lot of the Ravenclaw scene was written to "It's Over, Isn't It?" from the latest Steven Universe. I listened to it on repeat for hours and I am not okay. XD It was so beautiful and beautifully gay.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Chibi Ickle Firsties
When they arrived at Hogwarts early in the evening, the group of Senshi and the Order's children left their compartment with the same number of people as they had entered it, but missing one member of their party. For Luna Lovegood had joined their number shortly after the train had departed Kings Cross. And Harry Potter had left with Neville following a summons from the new professor who was apparently riding the train. He'd come back briefly afterwards to grab his invisibility cloak (muttering about Malfoy) and had thus far not returned.
"Still haven't found him," Ginny said when she, Hermione, and Ron returned to the compartment shortly after the whistle signalling their imminent arrival in Hogsmeade blew. The train's brakes were already screeching as it approached the station. "We enlisted Tonks' help and everything – she's still looking."
"Maybe he's just taking his time in the loo," Neville suggested as the train jerked to a halt. "I mean – nothing can have happened to him on the train right. Not with the Order and a professor on board."
"Dunno, mate," Ron said, looking nervously down the car as the other compartment doors opened. "It's Harry we're talking about."
"Oh," Hermione fretted. "What if it leaves with him on it?"
"Can it do that?" Makoto asked.
"I – I don't know." Hermione pulled on her hair, looking anxiously around as the final whistle blew – two long shrieks that let them all know the train would not remain stopped for long.
"Maybe he's got off farther down the train," Ami suggested. "I'm sure he'll be there if we go outside."
"We need to leave anyways," Mina said, pointing out the windows. "Look."
Beyond the growing crowd of students on the station platform was Setsuna, standing under the shadow of the station's roof about a head and a half taller than most of the students. Her bright, burgundy robes caught the eye immediately amid the looming, grey sky and the sea of plain black robes around her. Despite the highland breeze that blew the students clothes and hair and had them clutching their black caps, Setsuna's hair and attire remained perfectly still. The Garnet orb on her staff gleamed even with the cloudy day.
"Come on," Minako said. "We'll find Harry outside. She's waiting for us." Mina led the group off the train, weaving them deftly through the crowds. By the time they'd reached Setsuna though, they'd seen no sign of Harry.
"Not to worry," Setsuna told them when they'd reached her. "Tonks will find him shortly." She reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, black drawstring pouch. "I'm going to need the Senshi for this," she said, watching both Hotaru and Rei stiffen as they looked at the drawstring bag. Even Ginny crossed her arms, backing up into Neville and Luna, who put their hands on her shoulders.
"You sense the dark magic?" she asked them.
"Mhmm." Hotaru glared towards it. "Why would anyone do that?"
"Do what?" the others whispered to each other.
"I can only sense that it's dark," Rei said. "What is it?"
"It feels like his diary," Ginny whispered.
"Ginny's very correct," Setsuna said, putting the pouch away. "And thus we need to destroy it quickly." She looked to the Senshi, "It would be good for all of you to learn what these are."
"What about us?" Ginny demanded. "Shouldn't we know?"
"In my opinion, yes," Setsuna said. "But the Headmaster, who's very close to your parents, as you know, has requested that if possible, this be left to us… and Harry."
"But I'm a knight!" Ginny protested. "What? Harry gets to go cause he's the Chosen One? He'll just tell us everything – So will you!" She eyed all the senshi. "Or you'd better."
"We will," Usagi assured her.
"Maybe it's best if we don't ruffle your Mom's quills though," Mina threw in.
"Feathers," Rei muttered in the blonde's ear.
"Yes, but Wix write with quills…" Mina sighed. "Never mind." She looked at Setsuna. "Do we have to wait for Harry?"
Setsuna considered. "It may take Tonks some time yet to find him… I would feel better if this was taken care of." She slammed the butt of the Garnet Rod down onto the platform and the Time Doors materialized behind her, swinging open onto the dense lavender fog. "If you'd follow me," she told them, ushering the other students through as well, "The rest of you should make your way down to the feast," she said as the doors shut behind them.
Their exit garnered only a few glances from Hogwarts' older students, who were well used to the appearance and disappearance of the Doors by now. Most of the attention they drew came from the first years, many of whom stopped in their tracks to look.
"I see them!" One of them shouted. Her hood fell off her head as she jumped up over the heads of taller students to see.
"Akira, Shhh!" One of her fellow first years grabbed the back of her cloak and pulled her hood back over her maroon hair. "They'll see you."
"Oh, come on Chibiusa – they won't know who I am!"
"Well they'll notice me," her friend said, adjusting her hood on top of her pink hair. "And I want it to be a surprise."
Another hooded first year behind them chuckled. "You're wand's sparking again," she said to Akira.
"And it's going to get more holes in your robes," the tall girl next to her observed, pulling her own hood lower as the crowd thinned. It really wouldn't due for them to be noticed before the feast. And thinking of it…
"Come on," Chibiusa said. "They want us to go this way."
"Be careful not to fall in the lake," the tall girl warned. She walked up on Chibiusa's other side. "About the sorting: I'm still worried."
"Don't be," Chibiusa said, clapping the tall girl confidently on the back. "It'll be fine, Megumi. Trust me." She looked up ahead and grinned. "They're getting into boats! Come on." She grabbed Megumi and Akira's hands and dragged them forwards. "We should get one together!"
"Hey!" The fourth girl in their party shouted. "Wait up!" She charged after them, bumping into another first year along the way. The crash knocked her hood off her head, leaving her bright, turquoise hair blowing in the wind.
By then though, the Time Doors had disappeared, its occupants having already made their way to the Headmaster's office.
~SMH~
The Senshi had left their curious friends at the statue of the Gargoyle and were now standing in a semi circle around Dumbledore's desk, with Dumbledore and Sailor Pluto both standing behind it. They were all transformed, watching with undivided attention as Pluto tipped the black pouch's contents out onto the desk.
It was a ring: it had an aged, dull silver band with a setting curved elegantly around the large, black stone with a coat of arms engraved into the center.
"A piece of Voldemort's soul resides inside," Dumbledore said, waving his wand. A sprout grew out of the wooden desk, threading through the band of the ring and growing back into the opposite side, binding it to the surface. They all saw the pulse of white magic race through the wood, coating the ring. "It's an abhorrent type of magic that has provided him a means of immortality. It is," he said, looking at the six teens. "One of about six remaining, though I need to confirm there are not more."
Sailor Moon had put a hand over her mouth. The others shared similar expressions of rage and disgust. Saturn, Dumbledore noted, regarded the ring with her head tilted to the side in curiosity.
"His own soul," Saturn said, curling her mouth in contempt. "He tore it up and locked it in there."
"How could he," Sailor Moon asked, hand still over her mouth. "How could anyone?"
"Tom Riddle was not the type of boy who had much understanding of souls," Dumbledore said. "And, it is my well researched opinion that he fears those things he cannot control enough that he would be more than willing to think the warnings against such soul-damaging magic beneath him." Dumbledore sighed. "He had no one who cared enough to keep him from straying, and I am humble enough to admit some fault in that." He gestured to the ring, and his hand twitched as if to reach for it, but he clenched his fist and pulled it away. "Death is one of those things that Tom Riddle fears, and his Horcruxes exist as insurance against passing on."
"A fool," Saturn muttered. "He's doomed his soul by doing this." She tightened her hands on the Glaive. "Never to be reborn, never to move on, never to find peace…" She shook her head.
"You said remaining?" Mercury asked Dumbledore. "So there were others that have been destroyed."
"Several years ago there was one," Dumbledore said. "Destroyed by a force dark enough to match a Horcrux. Dark magic is all they are known to succumb to."
"Dark magic is the only Wix tool destructive enough to do the job," Pluto told them. "You all, Sailor Moon especially, will be more than capable."
Sailor Moon nodded. "A shame." She looked at Pluto. "Is there no chance to heal him? To reunite his soul… he'd have a chance to change… and to have all those things Saturn talked about."
But Pluto and Dumbledore were shaking their heads.
"The largest piece of his soul was in the Horcrux that was destroyed," Dumbledore said. "I know of no way to retrieve it."
Sailor Moon nodded. She stepped up to the desk, closed her eyes, and tapped the Moon sceptre against the floor. The brooch on her bow and the top of the sceptre began to glow with a bright, silver light.
Unnoticed due to her blinding power, the cursed ring twitched. Its wood binding splintered.
"Silver Crystal," Sailor Moon commanded, eyes closed. The light grew brighter. "This Horcrux corrupts all that is creative and good about magic – and it's infecting an otherwise gorgeous piece of jewellery." The power was causing several instruments around the office to whistle and whir and was drowning out the noise as the ring on the desk rattled back and forth.
"I need your power to destroy it," Sailor Moon said. Her eyes snapped open. "Silver Crystal Power!"
The light gathered together, concentrating in a circle around the ring, which was shaking so fast it appeared to vibrate, the stone slammed repeatedly into the desk. As the light began to fill the stone, there was a shriek, The white magic trapping the ring vanished. The wood threaded through the band exploded away from it. And something dark leapt out of the stone, traveling through Dumbledore's desk and down, through the floor.
The occupants of the office gasped, staring at the ring, still in the center of a crater on Dumbledore's desk. The light of the Silver Crystal faded.
"It's seeking something in the castle," Saturn said. "So it can defend itself."
"It will look for something as dark as it is," Pluto added, looking at Dumbledore. "Possibly something Voldemort would have been familiar with."
Dumbledore paled, reaching out to grab the side of his office chair. "I see," he said. "Perhaps I should have taken Cornelius up on his offer of disposal..."
"What?" all the senshi save Pluto asked.
"There is a monster's skeleton in the dungeons," Dumbledore said. "One we elected to leave sealed there as it is not the sort of thing that could be easily disposed of or responsibly sold. Voldemort employed that monster as a student here. It's certainly possible that his Horcrux might retreat there to hide."
"It's found it," Saturn announced. "And it's moving."
"It will attempt to reach the Great Hall," Pluto said.
"Yes," Dumbledore murmured. "Its original purpose would have been to seek out the muggleborns… I doubt it could resist such a large gathering."
"Then we need to defend the Great Hall," Venus said, looking at each of her Senshi. "Saturn will go with Sailor Moon to track the monster and…" She considered for a moment. "Jupiter and Mars – you'll go with them."
"Right," the four said. Jupiter ran to the office door, throwing it open and waiting for Saturn who led the charge down the spiral stairs.
"And we'll defend the Great Hall," Pluto said before Venus could. "When you arrive, you should inform Ginevra, they may need her sword."
"Right," Venus said.
"I'll join you at the feast." Pluto summoned her Time Doors. "There's two more who'll want to help if they can." And she stepped back into the Time Dimension.
"Right," Venus said, "Guarding the feast."
"Here," Mercury said, raising the staff capped with the bronze bird that her wand changed into when she transformed.
Ice blue sparks exploded from the bird's beak and two black books flew off one of the shelves, warping and twisting until their leather bindings had stretched nearly to the floor and their pages blended together and darkened to the same black. The material turned from leather and paper to cloth. Before Venus' eyes, Mercury transfigured them into two black cloaks. Another wave of the staff made a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor crest appear on the right side of each cloak. Venus grabbed hers out of the air, and Mercury summoned her own.
"This way we won't have to de-transform," Mercury said, throwing on the cloak and putting the hood up so it covered her tiara. She looked at the timepiece on the desk. "Will the first years be arriving soon?"
"Any moment now," Dumbledore said.
"Then let's make sure nothing nasty comes to meet them before they get into the hall," Venus said, leading the way out of the office.
They raced down to the ground floor. Mercury was impressed with just how quickly Dumbledore could run. For someone she'd heard was well over 100, he was faster than some of the students. One thing did nag at her though.
Dumbledore's spell must have been meant to trap the ring, Mercury surmised. Why wasn't he strong enough to contain it?
They made record time sprinting to the Great Hall, courtesy of a few secret passages Dumbledore led them through along the way. In one, which was dominated on one side by pipes, Venus and Mercury could hear something moving.
They slammed open the doors to the chamber where the nervous first years were waiting to enter the Great Hall.
"I'll get Ginevra," Dumbledore announced, as Venus and Mercury checked that their cloaks concealed all of their Sailor uniforms. Dumbledore walked through the crowd of first years (who scrambled out of his way) and threw open the Great Hall doors.
They saw him walk down the aisle between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff and stop beside one tall, redheaded boy to speak with someone next to him. A moment later Dumbledore was making his way calmly up to the staff table, and Ginny Weasley was out of her seat, sprinting half the length of the hall in three seconds flat. The first years who'd just recovered from seeing the headmaster scrambled out of her way as she conjured the Sword of Gryffindor to her hand. She stopped at the outer doors of the chamber and looked between Venus and Mercury.
"Where do you need me?"
"That thing of Voldemort's escaped," Mercury said quietly. "It's gone and possessed the remains of a Monster according to Dumbledore."
Ginny's face paled to a degree that could have enabled one to count every individual freckle on her face. "Has it got out?"
"We think so," Venus whispered back, eyeing the curious first years. "You'll have to track them down."
"I know where they are," Ginny said in an equally hushed voice. "It's a basilisk." She looked between them "If it's more than bones, don't look in its eyes."
Then she hefted the sword, sprinting out into the dark castle, headed towards the stairs to the second floor.
Venus and Mercury closed the doors to the first years' chamber, standing just beyond it.
The four first years who were wearing their hoods looked up once the doors had closed.
"Something's going on," Chibiusa whispered.
"What gave it away?" the girl with turquoise hair asked dryly. "The running or the sword." She nudged Megumi with her elbow. "Let's go with'em."
"You'll only distract them." Megumi said. "Besides, this isn't a fight they need help with."
"Awww…" The turquoise haired girl pouted. "Spoil sport."
"Guys!" Akira whispered, pointing to the Great Hall doors. They'd swung open once more, revealing the stern-faced witch who'd greeted them upon their arrival.
"Follow me," she said in a curt tone, then turned around and led the class of first years into the packed Great Hall. Chibiusa and her friends pushed towards the front of the group to see: on the dais sat a three legged stool, and atop it, a dreadfully old hat.
~SMH~
"JADEITE POWER!" Ginny shouted once she was out of view of the first years. She brushed her thumb over the jadeite stone on the sword's hilt and felt the flames explode around her hand and up around the rest of her body. Red gloves were seared onto her skin from fingers to wrists, and tongues of flame transformed her black school robes into the white pants and jacket of Jadeite's uniform. The flames burnt away the trainers on her feet and replaced them with bright red boots that strapped over the pants at the knee and finally, as the golden buttons and accents on the uniform sparked into existence, the flames rushed away, escaping behind Ginny and leaving a large, red cape in their wake.
Fully transformed into Jadeite, they kept running, stopping once on the grand staircase when they saw the Time Doors materialize on the first floor landing. Sailor Pluto emerged alongside Tonks and Harry (who looked decidedly bloodier under the nose than they'd left him).
"Something's possessed the basilisk bones," Jadeite said, readjusting their grip on the sword.
Tonks hair turned a startled yellow, and Harry whipped his wand out of his cloak.
"Saturn and the senshi are chasing it across the second floor," Pluto informed them. "I believe Harry has a map that could be of use to you."
"But it's in my tru –" Sailor Pluto raised the Garnet Rod and Harry's well-used trunk appeared with a thump on the first floor landing. It popped open and he swiped the map off the top.
"I will be in the Great Hall should it evade you long enough to get there," Pluto said, stepping back through her doors as they vanished.
Harry tapped his wand against the Marauders' Map, muttering the activation phrase. "They're by the charms classroom – come on!" he said, matching Jadeite pace for pace as they and Tonks charged up to the second floor.
~SMH~
Venus and Mercury, still lingering at the Doors of the Great Hall, both jumped as the Time Doors materialized in front of them. Sailor Pluto stepped out with a burgundy cloak covering her uniform and a large hat of the same color disguising her tiara.
"We'll need to join the feast as normal," Pluto said, walking up to the Great Hall doors and pushing them open. "Standing at the doors will raise too many questions."
"Can you see if they'll head it off before it gets here?" Venus asked.
"Harry and Jadeite know the castle better than we do – they make it far less likely the fight will make it's way here."
"But there's a chance." Venus nodded. She and Mercury checked their cloaks were still secure and walked into the Hall. "Let's try to sit near the ends," Venus whispered to her and then they separated. They'd entered the Great Hall just as Dewitt, Felicity was being called up to be sorted. Mercury slipped into the first empty seat along the Ravenclaw benches, and Venus pushed one of the fourth years aside to sit right at the end – as close to the doors as possible. Pluto made her way around the edge of the hall without drawing more than a few curious glances. She slipped into the seat at the staff table between Snape and Madame Hooch.
Luna Lovegood was the first to get up from her seat to sit with one of the senshi. She moved all the way from the front of the Ravenclaw table in order to sit with Mercury. Venus found herself joined by her Gryffindor friends shortly after.
"What's with the cloak? Something going on?" Ron asked as he, Hermione, and Neville took the empty seats around Venus. "Dumbledore only said they needed Ginny's sword."
"We hit a snag," Venus said quietly as the hat announced Dewitt's house to be Ravenclaw. "Apparently that dark thing's got enough life in it to know when it's about to get dusted – the dark magic escaped."
"Has it possessed something else?" Neville asked. "I mean… if it needed to be contained in the ring it should've, right?"
Her friends, Venus noted, had all drawn their wands – even Neville, who was re-adjusting his grip on his still-new Cherry wand.
"Ginny said it was like the diary," Hermione recalled. "So, it's a piece of Voldemort."
Venus nodded. "It probably won't get here… probably." She scowled. "I hate when we split up."
"Why did you?" Neville asked.
"Well I bet they don't know exactly where it's got to," Ron reasoned. "Want some people protecting the students."
Venus nodded. "Exactly," She clenched her fists on the table wishing she could summon the Love Whip without attracting attention. She looked at Pluto. But she was sitting calmly at the staff table, speaking to Snape and Hooch. And Dumbledore appeared just as calm in the center of the table, as the sorting progressed into the "F's." with Farrow, Geoffrey.
"It's also better if we're not all absent." Venus said. "Most people at school still aren't aware of who we are. And if we draw too much attention, that changes." She nodded towards the Slytherin table in particular.
"Betcha Malfoy's just itching to get something on yah," Ron said. "D'you think he's really gone full-on Death Eater now."
"Would Dumbledore really let him back at school then?" Hermione wondered.
"Well he lets Snape teach," Ron countered.
"Oh, honestly Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Like I keep telling Harry…"
The old argument proved enough to distract them, but not Venus as the hat deliberated over the first years. She only relaxed a bit when she caught Pluto's eye during Gbadamosi, Olufemi's sorting. The Time Senshi raised her wine glass towards Venus.
They're fine, Venus reminded herself. It's probably just a skeleton anyways. And Mars or Saturn would be perfectly capable of telling Pluto if they needed reinforcements.
Just act normal, Venus thought. You're job's to make sure everyone else think's its business as usual.
She had just about managed it, was even starting to count the first years to see how many they had to go through before the food appeared. Little Higgins, Fergus had just hastened over to the Gryffindor table.
Then Mcgonagall called the next name. Mercury tore her gaze away from the doors. Pluto choked on her wine. Venus jerked her head towards the sorting hat so fast she gave herself whiplash.
"Hino, Akira!"
~SMH~
They smelled it first – the putrid odour of rotting flesh was thick in the corridors well before they saw the snake. Jadeite saw lightning down the corridor ahead and then heard the snake's all-too familiar screech. They dove towards an empty classroom, kicking the doors in.
"We need to get ahead of it," they announced.
"Gotcha!" Tonks shouted. She cast "Diffindo!" towards the back wall without care for the blackboard or the bookshelves. Stone and mortar exploded outwards into the room on the other side, and Jadeite, Tonks, and Harry rushed through and out the doors of that storage room into the opposite corridor.
"Eyes down!" Tonks shouted.
"It's blinded!" Harry shouted back.
"And it's giving your friends enough trouble that they haven't caught it yet," Tonks said. "We can't assume whatever's possessed it hasn't made it more dangerous.
Jadeite rounded the corner first, aiming their sword at the floor behind Harry and Tonks. "Jadeite Noble Flame!" they said. A fire barrier flew up across the corridor as something slick and foul-smelling barrelled past them. It shrieked as it hit the high, orange flames and reared back.
"Nice one!" Jupiter shouted. "Stay out of its sight line!" She swung the hammer that was her oak wand in her civilian form. A ball of lightning shot out of it, right over their heads and into the Basilisk face.
Only now did Jadeite get a decent look at it. It was not quite the skeleton they'd hoped.
The lightning clashed with twin energy beams that shot from the basilisk's empty eye sockets, creating a thunderclap and an explosion of dust and pebbles as the beams of black energy met Jupiter's lightning. Jadeite dove out of the way, burning their arm when the sticky, green and red mess that trailed behind the decaying basilisk soaked through their jacket.
"Gross," Jadeite groaned as Sailor Moon helped them to their feet.
"The beams from its eyes are turning things to stone," she said. "And – duck!" She pushed Jadeite down and raised her sceptre. "Protego!" A silver shield spread forth from the top, just in time for a rain of fangs to crash into it.
"Silence Glaive Surprise!" Saturn shouted. A planetoid sphere of energy with large rings spinning all around it zoomed across the corridor ahead of the youngest senshi, slicing off half of the Basilisk's rotting tail. It shrieked and directed its gaze towards the fire barrier. Black energy shot out of its eye sockets, turning the orange flames to stone. It crashed through them, carrying on down the corridor.
The senshi and their friends took off after it. Fire, lightning, and curses chased it through second floor, all the way out to the Castle's western wall. Jadeite, Moon, and Saturn were the closest on the monster's tail. It hissed as it raced through the twists and turns of the second floor, occasionally accessing sections of the pipes, intent on disappearing. But between Saturn's attacks and the destructive hexes thrown into the walls by Tonks, Harry, and Jadeite, the basilisk was continuously routed out of the plumbing.
"It's going to Ravenclaw tower!" Harry shouted to them. "It's the closest stairs to the entrance hall."
"Then you all keep following it!" Tonks shouted. "You three," she shouted to the knight and two senshi ahead of her. "Turn left!" She smirked. "Got a short cut."
~SMH~
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The sorting hat boomed after deliberating over Akira Hino for less than a minute. Venus gaped at the short child who hastily tore the hat from her head, set it crooked on the stool, and skipped down from the dais. Her maroon hair looked like fire highlighted under all the candles.
Venus stared, trying to get a good view of her face.
Hino, Akira…
"She cheated on me?" Venus whispered, still staring at the child that definitely looked like Rei and who almost certainly had the same purple eyes. Venus would bet anything.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.
"Rei'd never do that," Neville said. He looked over at the Hufflepuff table where the first year had just sat down in the empty seat beside Susan Bones. "Is that her sister?"
Venus jerked her head from side to side, standing up from her seat and turning towards the middle of the room. She took another look at the first years in the crowd. Three near the front had the hoods of their cloaks covering their heads. Including one short one, who glanced over at the Gryffindor table long enough for Venus to see her red eyes, her big, mischievous grin, and a curl of her pink hair.
"Chibiusa," Venus muttered, looking at the two kids on either side of her, both taller than she was, and both with hoods covering their faces. "What are you doing?"
"Mina," Hermione prompted her. "People are staring."
Half of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and all of Slytherin were looking at her. She sank back down into her seat, leaning to the side to see the Hufflepuff table behind Ron.
The little brat with Rei's nose grinned at her and waved.
"Mina," Hermione prompted again, elbowing her.
"Maybe she doesn't cheat on me," Mina muttered. "Maybe she's adopted… and has Rei's face."
"Think she's confunded," Ron said.
Venus glared at him. "I'm not!" She swivelled around and looked at Mercury a table away. She caught her gaze and jerked her head towards the Hufflepuff table.
Mercury was frowning. But she only shrugged. Just like Mercury, probably perfectly willing to find a logical explanation for Rei having a daughter.
What if Rei sees her and think's she's wasting her time with me, Venus thought. She was suddenly caught by the urge to catalogue just how many Hogwarts boys had that maroon or red hair. What if she ditches me for Ron! Venus trained narrow eyes on him and he shrank away from her gaze. The battle going on somewhere in the castle was completely out of Venus' mind. If she were my kid then why didn't she and Chibiusa come find us on the train?... I bet they want to keep their distance cause they knew they'd be a shock. She drummed her gloved fingers on the table and stared at the kid. Sparks had just shot out of her wand (which looked like cherry wood. Just like Rei's).
"Mina," Hermione said, staring over at the Hufflepuff table too. "Is she… from the future?"
"I hope not," Venus muttered. The hat declared someone for Slytherin. She looked back towards Chibiusa and her two hooded friends. Who were they?
As she watched, Mcgonagall answered part of her query for her, raising her eyebrows as she read out the next name on the list.
"Kaioh, Sora!"
~SMH~
Tonks short cut led them up to the fourth floor, but got them to the tower seconds ahead of the basilisk. Sailor Moon raced to the edge of the balcony around the massive tower and leapt over the edge. Her wings kept her aloft in the tower's empty center.
They saw the dual attack of Snake Fire and Silence Glaive Surprise chase the snake – half the size they had seen it last, out onto the balcony of the second floor. Saturn was right behind it. She leapt up, over the snake when they were in the open air, and dove down towards the ground floor. Harry shouted something, and he and Jadeite both levitated two suits of armor away from the walls, blocking the snake's gordon-gaze as Saturn landed in front of the ground floor exit. She threw a Silence Wall between the Basilisk and escape.
It was now out in completely open space, away from walls, classrooms, and anything that might be damaged.
Sailor Moon flew over its head, flying too fast for the dark beams of energy from its eye sockets to catch her. She spun the Moon Sceptre as it began to glow silver and stopped right over the Basilisk head.
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"
~SMH~
Venus' eyes grew as wide as galleons as Mcgonagall called "Kaioh, Sora" up to the stage and the shorter of the two tall girls beside Chibiusa removed her hood. There was no mistaking Michiru's turquoise hair as the first year combed it back on her way up to be sorted.
"That's… not… possible." Venus sputtered.
"I just don't understand how they can be from the future!" Ron was whispering to Hermione. Up on the dais, Sora Kaioh grinned and jammed the sorting hat down on her head as she plopped onto the stool. She kicked her feet against one of its wooden legs. She definitely looked like Michiru. How? Venus thought, staring at the turquoise haired child. She was glaring up at the hat with what appeared to be impatience.
"Oh come on, Ron!" Hermione said. "You know Professor Meioh can time travel."
"Yeah, but she always makes a big deal of it!" he said. "Does this happen a lot – Oi, Mina?" He waved his hand in front of Venus' face. She swatted it away. Watching as the brim of the sorting hat peeled open.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it bellowed. Sora sprinted down the dais steps, only realizing halfway to the Gryffindor table that the sorting hat was still on her head. She tore it off and threw it towards the dais, garnering triumphant shouts and whistles from her new house as the hat sailed like a frisbee right back to the stool.
Venus couldn't help staring at her. She ran all the way to their end of the table and squeezed herself into the seat right next to Venus.
The first-year looked up at her with a lopsided grin and what were clearly Haruka's dark blue eyes. "Hi, Auntie Mina!"
"Bloody hell she is from the future, isn't she?" Ron muttered as Venus stared at the energetic first-year.
"Who are you?" she demanded of Sora.
The first-year smirked. "Didn't that professor up there already say my name?"
Venus glared.
"Why are you transformed?" Sora asked. "And why are you hiding under a cloak?" she looked around at Ron, Neville, and Hermione. "I thought they knew."
"No one else does."
"That's what you think," Sora said giggling. Then she spotted Akira at the Hufflepuff table and stood up on top of the bench, waving. "Hi! Hey." She looked around, turning in a circle on the bench. "Where's Auntie Mako. And Usagi, and Rei, and Hotaru-chan?"
"Sit down," Venus said tugging the hem of Sora's robes. The first year plopped back down into her seat with a huff.
"You're more fun when you go grey," Sora pouted. And Venus' face turned redder than Ron's hair as she glared at Sora.
"When I what?"
"Don't worry," Sora said, clapping her on the shoulder. "You've got like… two whole decades."
Both Venus hands flew up to her hair, She held the ends up in front of her, turning the strands over and over: perfectly normal, gorgeous blond. Twenty more years and then… like… a thousand of… oldness!
"No wonder she leaves me," Venus muttered. She directed her gaze back at Sora, crossing her arms and raising one of her eyebrows. This kid was not going to shock her again.
Sora crossed her arms to copy Venus as, up on the dais, the sorting hat declared Lux, Nathaniel a Slytherin.
"Rei is Akira's mother," Venus said, low enough that not even Ron across from them could really hear.
"Well she does have the same name," Sora said. Venus eyebrow twitched.
"Who's her father?"
"Wait – my turn first," Sora tapped her chin. "What are they fighting?"
"A giant snake – who's her father."
"I can't tell you that." Sora stuck out her tongue.
Venus face burned and she clenched her fists. "Why you little…" But Sora reached up and put her finger over Venus mouth.
"Hold that thought," Sora said, turning towards the dais. "I wanna see Mama's face."
And the four Gryffindors followed her gaze, watching Mcgonagall pause as she was about to read the next name. She frowned and looked at the Muggle Studies Professor as she read.
"Meioh, Megumi?"
~SMH~
Sailor Moon's attack filled the tower with blinding white and pink light. All of the portraits and some suits of armour shielded their eyes from it. And, paralyzed but the attacks power, and furthermore, with no means of escape, the basilisk was consumed by the bright attack. It shrieked at a frequency that shattered several of the tower windows. Then the offensive sound abruptly ceased, and a heavy crash echoed up the tower as its remains collapsed onto the stone floor.
Tonks and Harry rushed down two flights of the stairs as Jupiter, Mars, and Jadeite leapt off the balconies and down to the ground floor. Saturn lowered the Silence Wall, and Sailor Moon sailed softly to the ground right next to her.
All of them covered their noses.
"The Horcrux is gone," Saturn said. "I think we need to get rid of the snake…"
Scowling (and wiping more of the rotting snake's slime off their jacket) Jadeite walked around to the front of the Basilisk and stabbed their sword through its skull.
"Jadeite Noble Flame!" they shouted, and the signature orange and red flames exploded out of the blade, comsuming the Basilisk head and corpse and burning for a solid minute before fading, leaving only a sizable pile of ash on the flagstones.
"There," they said, transforming back into Ginny. She touched her hand to her head and groaned.
"It's still in my hair,"
"Yeah," Tonks said, vanishing the ash pile. "Scourgify won't do anything for that." She wrinkled her nose. "They've taught you air freshening charms by now, yeah?"
"But dead basilisk smell is air freshening," Harry said with his fingers pinched around his nose. "Really clears out the sinuses."
Ginny snorted. "I'd rather drink Polyjuice."
Makoto looked up towards the second floor landing – still covered in the basilisk's red and green ooze. "Do we… have to clean it up?"
"Not unless Filch is around the corner." Harry said.
"Good," Sailor Moon said, flashing bright white as she transformed back into Usagi. "Then let's get to the Great Hall." She pounded her fist against her palm. "I am not beating a giant lizard just to miss dessert."
It even made Hotaru laugh as Usagi led the way back to the feast. Harry fell into step with she and Ginny. He clapped Ginny on the shoulder. "Well, now we've both faced that thing."
"What was worse," Ginny said, moving more of her slime-covered hair out of her face. "Fighting it alive or fighting it when it was an... inferius thing."
"I definitely liked not fighting it by myself," Harry said. "That said, it didn't smell half so bad the last time."
Ginny laughed and looked closer at his face. "Why do you have a bloody nose?"
"Do you need me to fix it?" Hotaru asked.
"No – Tonks did," Harry said, putting his hand over his still sore nose. "See – I followed Malfoy."
"Malfoy." Ginny swore. "They really ought to revoke his prefect badge."
"Not while Snape's in charge," Harry scowled. They carried on down the corridor towards the Entrance Hall and he rubbed his scar. It had hurt just before Setsuna'd appeared to bring he and Tonks to the castle. He looked between Hotaru and Ginny. "What was it that possessed the snake?"
"A piece of Voldemort's soul." Hotaru scowled. "It sensed we were about to destroy it and escaped into the basilisk."
Harry frowned. "His soul?" he reached up about to touch his scar, but changed course and ran his fingers through his hair instead. Ginny would notice. And she'd certainly ask questions.
I guess it makes sense, Harry reasoned. It is a connection to Voldemort. He ran his fingers through his hair again.
"Alright?" Ginny asked.
"What? Yeah," Harry reassured her. "Just itching to get to the feast before Ron eats all of it."
That seemed to satisfy Ginny, though Hotaru seemed to be eyeing him suspiciously. She didn't say anything though. And Harry wondered if she was leaving him to his own thoughts on purpose. Probably so. Just the thought that more than Voldemort's physical self could cause his scar to burn left him with a host of heavy questions. Was his connection actually a connection to Voldemort's soul. And what did that mean?
Harry's stomach growled as he pondered and he tried his best to push his worries about Voldemort away.
They could at least wait until he had Ron and Hermione to help him work it out. And they could definitely work it out after he'd eaten.
~SMH~
"Any relation?" Hooch muttered to Setsuna as the tallest first year in the crowd stepped forwards to be sorted. When she didn't get a response Hooch frowned and looked towards her friend. "Setsuna?"
"Um…" She needed a response for Hooch, Setsuna thought as she watched Megumi Meioh approach the dais. "A cousin."
"Hence why you seem surprised," Severus remarked.
"I didn't know she was magical," Setsuna said. The tall first year removed her hood and Setsuna noticed her eyes immediately – the same deep red as her own set above a nose just like hers and highlighted even more by the child's dark brown skin. Her hair was purple, Setsuna noted, gathered up in a high, frizzy bun. And she held herself tall, looked solely at the hat and not once glancing towards Setsuna. Megumi strode confidently up the steps and settled on the stool, tipping the hat delicately onto her head.
Setsuna'd already recognized Chibiusa in the crowd – her oldest friend had waved at her several times from the front of the dwindling group of first years. What are you doing here? Setsuna thought. Why have you brought…them?
It had been likely for several years that Uranus and Neptune might eventually have a child such as the one currently infuriating Mina at the Gryffindor table. It had been likely for even longer that a child such as Akira Hino would exist.
She stared towards Megumi, able to see the side of her face from this end of the staff table. She was frowning up at the hat, small hands curled tightly around the brim. As if she were arguing with it.
She itched to vanish into the Time Dimension and see who this child was – for she had never heard even a whisper of her before. She also wished to hide, aware that everyone in the hall, including her fellow faculty, had turned to stare at her.
"You sure she's your cousin?" Hooch muttered. "Cause you're paler than the ghosts."
Setsuna shook her head, picking up her wine glass and downing its contents in one long sip. "Later," she whispered to Hooch and Severus.
She flicked her eyes towards Chibiusa again as the minutes dragged on, Megumi still appearing to be arguing furiously with the sorting hat. But Chibiusa only grinned, giving her a thumbs up.
I am the Eternal Guardian of Time, Setsuna reminded herself. I cannot jump to conclusions. Whatever their purpose here, Megumi was surely not who she appeared to be. It would be simply impossible.
Down at the tables, Sora was pouting.
"Aw come on Megumi," she said. "Why's she got to take forever?"
"Some first years are hard to place," Hermione said. "Don't worry she'll get sorted somewhere."
"Oh we know where she's getting sorted." Sora sighed. "But she just has to argue with the hat."
"You know cause you can see the future," Venus grumbled. "Cause that's definitely something you want to broadcast."
"No, I know cause she's a huge nerd," Sora said. She looked back up at Venus. "You're tense."
"I wonder why," Venus muttered, face still red and hands still tugging nervously at her hair.
"Hey, kid," one of the fourth years near them – Romalda Vane – leaned closer, looking at Sora. "Are you related to Michiru?"
"Well," Sora grinned. "Actually I'm her – mmfph!"
"Sister!" Venus said a tad too loudly as she held her hand over Sora's mouth. "Just sisters, don't listen to anything she says though she's a pathological lia – ow!" She jerked her hand away as Sora bit it.
"Well if you'd let me talk," Sora rolled her eyes. "Yeah I'm her sister. Half-sister, actually." She grinned. "My dad was a wizard. I was gonna go to Mahoutokoro, but for some reason they wanted me here. Said Hogwarts was safer for some reason."
"Oh I bet it's the war," Romalda whispered to her friends "I mean your sister was at the ministry battle last year – she's one of those strange aurors, you know with the pretty robes."
"That must be the ministry taskforce she wrote that she joined," Sora bluffed without a single tell. "I thought the uniforms were weird, but anyways yeah, apparently there were dark wizards poking around Mahoutokoro," she said. "So they thought I'd be safer here."
"You definitely will be," Romalda nodded. "My parents said He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is going to keep as far from Hogwarts as he can – it's really good we've got Dumbledore."
"Yep – oh I think it's decided," Sora pointed up to the dais in time for all of them to see Megumi sigh and the brim of the sorting hat open.
"RAVENCLAW!" it shouted, and Megumi got up off the stool, setting the hat down on top of it with barely a glance. She made her way towards the end of the Ravenclaw table.
Romalda Vane was caught up in the clapping that overtook the hall, and then, as Mcgonagall called the next name, by a conversation with one of her friends, allowing Sora to turn away from her and smirk at Venus. "See," she whispered. "I've got my story straight – you don't need to police me."
"Well who knew what was going to come out of your mouth they way you've been chatting," Venus remarked.
Sora sighed and clapped Venus on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Auntie Mina," she said. "The only things I'm not allowed to talk about are things Megumi cares about. Now, thankfully," she grinned. "I am an expert in things Megumi doesn't care about." She patted Venus shoulder again. "You can trust me." She turned towards the aisle then and held her hand out between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw benches. "Yeah!" she said to Megumi as she approached. "Congrats on the longest sorting ever."
"I only took six minutes," Megumi retorted, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow at Sora. "That was hardly the longest. And it took even less time for you to cause trouble." She then looked at Venus with a much more apologetic expression. "You're not going to go grey," she whispered. Then she squeezed into the seat right across from Venus at the very end of the Ravenclaw table.
"Megumi!" Sora whined, leaning over to argue with her in a whisper only Venus and Hermione could hear clearly. "Can't I have any fun?"
"You can't lie about things at home just so Mina will make funny faces," Megumi whispered back
A bench away at the Ravenclaw table, Mercury and Luna looked at each other and got up, bending down to draw less attention as they walked to the very end of the table. "Excuse me," Mercury said to the second years next to Megumi. She and Luna sat in the seats closest to the newest Ravenclaw.
"So you admit it was funny," Sora persisted. "Come on we're here for a year, lighten up."
Venus and Mercury leaned away from their tables too, and Mercury made quick work of putting a muffling charm around the four of them conversing between the tables. Both senshi glancing up at Pluto's still ghost-pale face. "I'm guessing she didn't know about this," Venus said.
"I doubt it – oh, and she looks terribly shocked as well," Mercury worried.
"You're lucky we're not just here for one day," Megumi was whispering to Sora.
"Spoilsport," Sora taunted.
"I'm not doing this here," Megumi whispered back as the hat declared the second student in a row for Hufflepuff.
"Stick-in-the-mud."
"Sora."
"Goodie…goodie…two-shoes."
Megumi turned fully around on the bench and glared at the other first year. "I said quit it! You loudmouth!" Then she drew back, her face red.
Sora was grinning. "See, that was fun, wasn't it."
Mercury and Venus exchanged looks. "Children," Venus said. "There seems to be some tension here."
"Not at all!" Megumi said immediately, turning back to the Ravenclaw table.
"She's just paranoid," Sora said. "She shouldn't be."
"And she's acting immature." Megumi muttered.
"Nuh-uh. I'm excited – we're at magic school." She said, glancing up towards the starry ceiling and the hundreds of floating candles. "Besides, aren't you excited to see what everyone's like way-back-now?"
But Megumi ignored her. She turned her face towards the sorting and joined the polite applause as Nott, Iphigenela was sorted into Slytherin.
Sora rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll be excited for you." And she leaned back into the Gryffindor table, glancing back towards Megumi only to see who was doing a better job of ignoring the other.
Venus stared at the two of them. "I did not sign up to be a babysitter," she whispered to Mercury.
"Well they must be here for some good reason," Mercury said. "I'll handle Setsuna's if you handle Michiru's."
"Any ideas about how that's possible?"
Mercury shrugged. "The same way Akira's possible, I imagine."
Venus grew red in the face. "Michiru'd never cheat on Haruka!"
Mercury frowned. She looked over at Akira. "I hadn't even considered that."
"What had you considered?"
"Uh," Mercury blushed. "I… uh… you know, actually I'm not sure at all what I was thinking."
"Mercury!" Venus hissed as the other senshi whirled back around and directed her attention towards Megumi. "Come on! I'm dying here, give me alternatives." But Mercury didn't respond. In fact it appeared she'd started up an intensive discussion with the mysterious, time traveling first year beside her. Venus sighed and tucked back into her own seat, propping her head up on her hands and slouching towards the table.
Sora giggled.
Venus glared at her. "You're a brat."
"You're funny," Sora said, sticking out her tongue.
"You're rude."
Across the aisle at Ravenclaw, the conversation was going much better. Mercury'd succeeded in getting Megumi to talk about what she thought of the Great Hall, and when the first year ran out of adjectives and then shortly there after out of questions, Mercury tried her luck with some questions of her own.
"So," she began. "I have a fairly good guess who you are."
"Isn't it obvious?" Luna asked, smiling at them.
"Is it?" Megumi fretted
"Well I suppose it is to us," Mercury said, watching Megumi as she fidgeted, pulling on the long sleeves of her robes. "I hope this is nothing like the first time Chibiusa came to visit us," she said as casually as she could. The Ravenclaws, she knew too well, could stick their noses into as many private conversations as they could restricted section books.
"No," Megumi said quickly, sitting up a little straighter to check the crowd of first years. They were just finishing the R's. "Nothing like that."
"Good," Ami smiled at her. "Forgive me," she said loudly "I don't know Professor Meioh's family very well: how were you related to her again."
Megumi grinned. "She's my cousin." She said confidently. "My mom decided to send me here over the summer – I was gonna tell her, but Mom said it should be a surprise."
"You're mom must be a very good trickster then," Luna observed, winking at Megumi. "She must prank Setsuna a lot."
Megumi bit her lip to stifle a giggle. "I guess she does, yeah."
They'd gone through another three Hufflepuffs, and two Ravenclaws when the Great Hall doors swung open and everyone in the hall turned to look, a commotion instantly springing up at all the tables.
"It's Harry Potter!"
"What's he doing with all those girls?"
"Since when does Weasley have a sword?"
"Woah!" Sora shouted, standing on the bench again to get a good look before Venus could yank her back down. "They're covered in guts!"
Makoto ducked her head when the entire hall turned to stare at them and hastened to her seat, tucking in next to Hannah Abbott who made room for her on the bench.
"Thanks," she said.
"Why were you all late?" Hannah asked.
"Ehh… just got in a little trouble. Our carriage broke down."
Susan Bones rolled her eyes "Yeah right – it'd never be just a broken carriage with Potter." She wrinkled her nose. "Did you run into an infestation of Flobberworms too?"
"Something like that," Makoto said. And noticed the first year girl beside Susan when she laughed. "Oh you're new," she held her hand out towards the maroon-haired, purpled-eyed girl. "What's up – I'm the Quidditch captain. D'you like Quidditch?"
"Yes!" the girl grinned. "But I've never played really – oh but I love the games."
Hannah grinned. "What's your team?"
Akira unbuttoned her cloak, revealing the big, flashing button pinned to the shoulder of her robes – a fiery bird flying around a sparkling crystal palace that Makoto recognized instantly from the one other time she'd seen it. "The Tokyo Hō-hō!"
At the Gryffindor table, the returning students were concerned primarily with seeing if the table-top were comfortable enough for a nap.
"Bloody hell, mate," Ron said as they all pushed down the table to let Harry, Ginny, Usagi, and Rei sit down. "The hell did you get up to? What happened to your face?"
"That was Malfoy," Ginny explained, vanishing her sword and collapsing onto the table next to Usagi. "Are they almost done?" she asked.
"They have twelve more," Sora said, drawing all their eyes. Rei's eyes narrowed, Usagi gaped at her.
"Mina," she asked, looking over at her just-de-transformed friend. "Who's this?"
"Michiru's sister," Mina said, glaring at Sora. "Can't you see the resemblance?"
Usagi looked between the two of them, and then her eyes widened. She grinned. "Chibiusa's here!" and before Sora could confirm it she'd leapt up from the Gryffindor table, leaning forwards and squinting towards the unsorted first years. There, at the front: she'd just taken off her hood.
Hotaru was the last to take her seat at her house table, for she had walked right up to Ami and Luna, sitting at the end, and frozen when she got a good look at the tall first year huddled next to Ami – and the magic in her. It was senshi magic, like her own. But different, like the Starlights had been different.
Or (as was at the front of her mind when she noticed how close the girl was to Ami) different like the Sailor Animates.
The tall first year turned around in her seat and held her hand out. Hotaru's attention was immediately drawn to her familiar, red eyes. "Hi Hotaru-chan," she whispered. "I'm Megumi Meioh."
Around them, the commotion was abetting, the heads of houses having left their table and woven through the aisles to quiet their students.
"If we could get back to the sorting," Mcgonagall's voice boomed across the hall, silencing the remaining conversations. She adjusted her glasses on her nose and read out the next name on her list. "Serenity, Usagi!"
Hotaru's head snapped up as she recognized her friend walking up to the sorting hat. "She's here," she said.
At the table, Megumi was crossing her fingers. "Pick," she pleaded. "Please, please, please pick."
"Do you want her to go into Ravenclaw?" Luna asked.
"That'd be fun," Megumi said. "I just don't want it to sort her into," but her voice trailed off. It had been barely twenty seconds and the hat was already opening its brim.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Megumi groaned. Setsuna's sharp eyes glared at the sorting hat as Chibiusa cheerily set it on its stool, waving to Setsuna as she ran down from the dais. She bypassed every open seat at the Slytherin table, even the one the two Carrow first years had left open beside them. She ran all the way to the end, beaming as Hotaru walked around to the side of the Ravenclaw table that Slytherin shared an aisle with. Chibiusa jumped at her, and Hotaru vanished the Glaive. The whole hall started whispering as Hotaru caught her.
Hotaru was keenly aware of them, even as she grinned and spun Chibiusa as she hugged her. She was taller now.
"I missed you!" Chibiusa said, "It's been like three whole years."
"It's only been two for me," Hotaru said.
"I know," Chibiusa said. "Oh this is great – I can sit across from you."
"Chibiusa," Megumi whispered leaning around the Ravenclaw table. "I told you to pick!"
"I did," Chibiusa smiled. "The hat said this was best…and this is good isn't it – there's someone keeping a look out in every house."
"No its not," Hotaru and Megumi whispered back to her at the same time.
But Chibiusa waved them off, glancing over at her table where sideways glances and whispers were circulating even as the applause began for the next student made a Slytherin. "It'll be fine – I think I have to sit down," she said, glancing up towards the staff table where one particularly severe looking professor with black robes and hair was staring at her and rising from his seat. She hugged Hotaru one more time. "I'll come find your house tonight," she said. "We can catch up."
And before any of her Ravenclaw friends could say anymore, she had turned around and tucked herself into a seat at the Slytherin table, trading handshakes with all of her surrounding housemates and answering all their questions. "No, I only know Hotaru," Chibiusa was saying. "She was my neighbour…"
Megumi slapped her hand over her face.
~SMH~
Conversation at the Slytherin table had reminded Chibiusa of every time her parents had invited people from places who didn't like them to dinner: stilted with a heavy helping of suspicion. The blond boy she had attempted to hex and then successfully punched on the train glared daggers at her all through dinner.
So she was not surprised when, as the other Slytherins climbed into their common room, the blond prefect and his friends in the upper years deigned to surround her in the hall, glaring most of the younger students away. Chibiusa kept her hands linked behind her and leaned against the cool, stone at her back.
"You're regretting assaulting me on the train now, aren't you?" the blond boy taunted, wand in hand.
"You called my friend a bad name," Chibiusa shrugged. "And you wouldn't go away when we asked. Besides," she smirked. "You had a wand."
The blonde's ears turned pink. "That's funny from you since you couldn't even cast a stinging hex – she had to punch me like a filthy muggle. Which is exactly what I bet she is." All his friends snickered and he stepped closer. "And Serenity isn't a magical name," he said. "I bet you're not even a pureblood are you?"
Chibiusa gave him her best innocent face. "I have pure dreams and a pure heart," She said. "That seems a lot better than pure blood."
"Is that what your parents told you before your bedtime 'stowies'?" a girl with a mean face mocked in a baby voice. Chibiusa scowled at her.
"I am plenty magical." Chibiusa said.
"That's what every mudblood says," the blond boy told her. "You know I think the hat's gone a bit senile putting you in Slytherin." He raised his wand along with several of his friends. "You don't belong here."
Chibiusa smirked at him. "But the hat said this was the house for ambition and cunning."
"It is – and you clearly haven't an ounce of either. Look at her." the blond boy laughed. "She doesn't even have her wand out."
Chibiusa snapped her fingers and a multi-coloured orb appeared in front of her, blue, green, yellow, and red painted across its gleaming surface. "I don't need a wand to do magic." Then the orb popped like a balloon. Pink smoke burst out of it and covered the Slytherins.
They all coughed, waving it away. Chibiusa waited, counting: 1… 2… 3… 4… 5.
The eyes of all the students who had surrounded her glazed over at the same time. Their wand hands dropped to their sides.
"Better," Chibiusa said. "I don't know where your silly prefect gets his ideas," She said. "I come from a super ancient magical family. We moved to London like two years ago cause they wanted me to go to the best Wizarding school in the world." She walked up to the blond boy and poked his nose. "And I don't know any of your transfer students. I just know Hotaru Tomoe cause we were neighbours once – and you're going to leave her alone. Got it?"
The blond boy nodded, his eyes still blank.
Chibiusa stepped away from him and crossed her arms, nodding as she looked around at all of the successfully brainwashed Slytherins. "Now, in case anyone's curious, I'm going to bed. And all of you are going to tell all the other Slytherins how cool I am."
And without another word to the still-dazed pack of fifth to seventh years in the hall, she slipped into the Slytherin common room and closed the door behind her.
Chibiusa followed several other girls to the dorms and ducked into one of the bathrooms on her way down to her own. She fished the red and gold locket out from under her robes and opened it to check the communicator – Still working just like Ami's promised it would before they'd travelled back.
"Megumi?" she asked.
The answer was immediate. "Oh good: you're not dead."
"You never thought I'd be dead," Chibiusa rolled her eyes. "See. It was fine. Just like I promised."
"So the trick with the orb worked?"
"Uh-huh." Chibiusa grinned. "How's Hotaru?"
~SMH~
Megumi caught Chibiusa's call just as the Ravenclaws were entering their common room and hung back so that she could answer. She reported that Hotaru was fine and that she was very eager to see Chibiusa. It was a half-truth of sorts. Hotaru was very excited to see Chibiusa again. But, as Ami and Luna could have attested before they even left the Great Hall, she was not fine.
Hotaru was much different than she'd been on the train. In fact. Ami had whispered to Luna, she had not looked so sullen in weeks. And the suspicious looks she'd thrown towards Megumi as they'd walked up to their common room had given the fifth and sixth year a very good guess as to the cause of her mood.
"If she is from the future," Luna'd said, "she would be Professor Meioh's child… perhaps Hotaru is feeling replaced."
"Maybe," Ami'd sighed.
The four of them were the last to enter the Ravenclaw common room, and Hotaru made her way immediately to the bust who guarded the library, walking through the door without pause. Megumi followed right behind her, eyes darting all around the room as she attempted to count the innumerable books stored on the shelves. And Ami glanced once at Luna before the both of them moved to follow, Ami taking careful note of Hotaru's tense posture, and the way she seemed to stalk through the stacks.
Hotaru led all of them to the back of the library, and conjured the Glaive as she walked. They reached the alcove in the back of the library where the senshi had met so many times last year. Hotaru dropped into one of the armchairs and slammed the butt of the Glaive down on the hard, wooden floor. It made all of them, but Luna jump. The tall, curved blade of the weapon gleamed with its own light as a book several rows into the stacks soared off its shelf and into Hotaru's free hand. It flipped open to exactly the page she'd left off on in June.
Ami perched on the arm of one of the other armchairs and watched Hotaru closely. The younger girl's eyes peered over the top of the book at Megumi as she wandered along the edges of the shelves, fingers tracing across the spines and over some the embossed letters.
Perhaps she's only jealous… Ami considered. But. She eyed the Glaive that Hotaru spun slowly in her grip. This seems very confrontational.
"I think you'd like that section on the left," Luna said to Megumi. She sat down in the armchair Ami perched on, a book of her own in hand. "There's lots of philosophers."
"How'd you know that?" Megumi asked, changing her direction and wandering slowly towards the shelves Luna pointed to.
"I can just sort of tell sometimes," Luna said, flipping open her book. "And I suppose I am sort of a seer now." She sighed, "Even if I can't remember it."
"I did read that's it's very common for seers not to remember their prophecies," Ami told her, looking down at the chapter title Luna's opened to. Recalling The Fog: How to access your visions. "Have you been searching all summer?"
"When I can, but I've also been doing a lot more work at the magazine," Luna smiled. "Daddy says I could be the senior writer if I keep going."
"You'd be really good at it," Megumi said, pulling a book off one of the shelves. She walked right over to their gathering place, and Ami raised her eyebrows when the first year pushed one of the remaining armchairs until it was closer to – and directly across from – Hotaru, who continued to gaze at Megumi with hard eyes over the yellowed parchment of her book.
Megumi sat right in front of her in the chair, and opened her own book, though she too peered over the tops of the pages.
"I think you'd like Laurens' writing actually," Luna said as Hotaru and Megumi stared at each other. "He's my favourite at the moment. He travelled extensively in the muggle and magical world. Many purebloods like to call him mad and radical, but he makes very thoughtful insights.
Megumi nodded, and flipped the page in the book she wasn't reading. "One thousand and twelve," she said, looking right at Hotaru. "That's how old I am… since you're about to ask… Though I guess it does depend on what you consider a year to be."
"Hmm," Hotaru said, flipping a page in her own book, though she left the bookmark on the previous page. "So when do you start existing?" she said in a cold voice.
Ami looked sharply at her. "Hotaru," she said sternly. "She's one of us – and Chibiusa's friend."
"Chibiusa has a lot of friends," Hotaru said. "That doesn't mean they're all trustworthy."
Megumi shrugged. "I like most of them. But Hotaru's right. Chibiusa likes to see the best in people." She moved another page back and forth between her fingers. "I can't tell you when I start existing." She said. "Because it's related to other questions that it's not wise be asked."
"How convenient," Hotaru muttered. She closed her book and crossed her arms, still idly twisting her Glaive in one hand. "And yet you seem quite open about having time powers."
Megumi shrugged. "That's not worth hiding. Look," she pleaded. "I need you to trust me."
Hotaru only continued to stare at her. "You have Mama's name. And her eyes. And her powers." She looked towards the belt at the waist of Megumi's robes. "Do you have her wand too?"
Megumi pulled the wand out of her belt and held it out. It was the same blending of light brown and fading white as Setsuna's: a rowan wand.
"It's not the same one," Luna said to Hotaru. "She didn't steal it."
Hotaru didn't react though, other than to twirl the Glaive again. "Who are you?"
The first year sighed. "My name's Megumi Meioh," she said. "Luna's right – I really like philosophy. And poetry. I hate sports. My favorite color's dark green. There's a lot of things I'm not allowed to tell you because it's bad if you learn them too early, but I can say these things." She bit her lip. "I play the violin too."
Hotaru raised her eyebrows and vanished her Glaive. But her arms remained crossed. "I know you're a senshi," she said. "Which one?"
Megumi sighed and closed her book, putting it down on the chair. She reached into the neck of her robes and pulled out the locket that seemed to be her communicator. "I'm not Pluto," she said. She lifted the locket from around her neck, walked up to Hotaru, and held the chain out to her. "I'm going to bed. You can use that to talk to Chibiusa if you want. Sorry if it beeps a lot," she smiled a little. "Sora and Akira just get excited." She walked over to Ami and Luna. "Thank you for the suggestion," she told Luna. "See you at breakfast." And she made to duck into the stacks.
"Wait," Ami said, sliding off the arm of her chair. She walked up to Megumi and held out her arms.
Megumi beamed, diving towards her and hugging her tightly.
"Whoever you are," Ami said. "We're happy you're here." She looked back at the alcove. Hotaru was staring out the window.
"Thank you Auntie Ami," Megumi whispered. Then she stiffened and backed away. "I don't think I'm supposed to…"
Ami put her finger to her nose and winked. "I didn't hear a thing."
Megumi smiled and continued backed away, out of the row of shelves, and promptly dashed towards the exit.
Ami sighed and turned around, crossing her arms as she looked at Hotaru. "I want to scold you," she said. "But I'm not any of your parents and it feels very strange to think you need to be scolded seeing as you're twelve."
"I'm way older than twelve," Hotaru muttered.
"You're not acting it," Ami said. "What was that?"
Hotaru sighed, staring at the locket in her hand. It didn't look like any of their communicators: save all the circular decorations engraved across the top in bronze, it didn't have any symbol on it at all.
"Hotaru is afraid, I think," Luna said. "Of who Megumi might be."
"Well just because she came with Chibiusa doesn't mean she's good!" Hotaru lashed out. "She could be a Sailor animate… she could be some other enemy." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "She could be the next 'Eternal Guardian of Time'." Hotaru drew her knees up to her chest. "Chibiusa's never said anything about her."
"Chibiusa's never mentioned anyone else either," Ami said. "Megumi is probably Setsuna's daughter, Just as Sora could be Michiru's. Akira could be Rei's."
"Huh?" Hotaru asked as the locket in her hand began beeping. "There were more of them?"
"There are four," Luna said, "counting our friend."
"Great," Hotaru scowled. She stuffed the communicator into her pocket and kept staring out the window.
Ami sighed and shook her head.
She hoped the others encounters with the time-travelers were going better.
~SMH~
Makoto'd hung close to Akira all the way back to the common room, listening as she gave detailed play by plays of the last Quidditch matches she'd attended. And everyone in Hufflepuff (whether they played or not) wound up paying rapt attention as they made their way to the cellar dorms. Akira, it seemed, had a nack for describing everything with the kind of detail of practiced Quidditch announcers. None of them save Makoto had any idea that these games might not take place until a millennium from now.
Thankfully it seemed, as Akira was mostly talking about Japanese teams, that details such as the time two seekers crashed into the Crystal Palace in pursuit of a snitch, did not register to their peers as strange. Nor did she give them time to dwell on such details.
She talks so fast I'd swear she was Mina's, Makoto thought as she watched Hannah Abbot direct the Bigs and Littles assignments in the common room. She was leaning over the back of one of the black sofas, directly behind Akira.
When the magic eighth ball was passed into Akira's hands, Makoto crossed her fingers. She watched Akira close her eyes and kiss the eight on top of the ball, shaking it only once. She passed it up to Hannah Abbott.
"Aaaaand, Akira Hino," Hannah said. "Looks like you get to be with your sister's best friend. Makoto!" Hannah waved a hand towards her, as the common room erupted in cheers. "You've got a Little!"
Hino… Makoto grinned. She is Rei and Mina's! I was right! Akira jumped up out of the circle, and onto the sofa, perching on the back next to her.
"I asked it to pick you!" she declared.
Makoto grinned back at her. "Well good – I'm the best Big there is."
"Well duh," Akira said, looking at Makoto as curiously as Makoto was looking at her.
"So," Makoto said. "You're Quidditch badge is cool." She stretched her arms over her head, "Anyone I know play on that team?"
"Maybe," Akira said. "It's a big city."
Makoto chuckled. "Alright," she whispered. "How much can I get you to talk about?"
Akira grinned. "Depends, if you can make cookies as well as my favorite Aunt can." She said, crossing her arms.
Makoto beamed at her, pushing away from the couch. "Well then you're in luck: I know where the kitchens are." she said as Akira ran along at her heels.
"So what's your favorite color?" she said as she opened the circular door of the common room.
"Pink"
"Mine too." Makoto grinned, watching Akira skip down the hall. "Favorite sport?"
"Quidditch and Football," Akira said immediately. "And Judo." She looked up at Makoto. "What's your favorite class?"
"Herbology," Makoto said.
"I knew it!" Akira pumped the air."Mine's Math. But I heard I can't do math here."
"Well there's Arithmancy," Makoto pondered. "But that's for third years."
"That's okay!" Akira grinned. "That just means we can stay longer."
Makoto frowned at her. "Do you not want to go home?"
"I've been at home for aaaaages," Akira said "I wanted an adventure." Then she glanced around and put a hand up to her mouth. She whispered. "Besides, I've got a mission"
"You do?" Makoto whispered conspiratorially.
"Yes." Akira nodded very seriously. "I have to Sora-sit."
"Sora-sit?" Makoto chuckled. "Is she the youngest?"
"No," Akira giggled. "But she's always getting into trouble. I wish I were in her house; she's the funnest!"
~SMH~
Funnest was not the word the Gryffindors would've chosen to describe their newest first year. Trouble was certainly accurate though.
In fact, if there'd been professors around on the trek to the dorms, Sora would've lost them points already. She had managed, within five minutes, to be scared so badly by Peeves that she tried to stab him with the broadsword from a suit of armor, subsequently knocking over the armor, the candles next to it, and skewering the painting Peeves had been hovering in front of. (And that was before she'd chased the poltergeist up four flights of stairs with the sword still in hand). The Gryffindors also, upon catching up with her, found her trading swear words with a 17th century bard and thoroughly scandalizing all the nuns in the neighboring painting.
Sora'd spent the rest of their trek skipping along beside Usagi, catching them up on every moment of the train ride in, Her rambling only ceased when they reached the common room as all the bright color inside drew her attention away. Sheran all the way around it, then proceeded to insert herself into every gathering of students around the large, cozy room.
The senshi and their friends made a beeline for the sofas by the hearth. Mina glared at the third years already seated there until they got up and moved, and then she, Usagi, Rei, and their friends, collapsed onto the sofas, all watching Sora as she continued to be the center of every conversation in the common room.
"I don't understand," Rei whispered as they watched Sora zip all over the room: pestering the seventh years, investigating the exploding snap game, teaching her new roommates how to do a hand-stand and tearing down an ancient tapestry in the process... "How does this little..."
"Tornado?" Usagi supplied.
"Demon child," Mina added.
"Come from Michiru?" Rei finished.
Across the room, Sora had just discovered Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, and the first and second years were running away from the time-traveler-turned-green-canary chasing them across the common room.
"And where does she come from?" Mina exploded.
"I thought we'd just established she's ostensibly Michiru's," Rei said. The canary crashed into three of the candlesticks along the wall.
"Yeah, but she looks like Haruka too!" Mina exclaimed. "What did the two of them do? Wish on some magic rock or something?"
"Actually," Hermione said. "That might be plausible. There's certainly no dearth of old spells that could be bound into stones and crystals to promote fertili –"
The canary flew up to them, chirping like mad and ruffling its feathers until Hermione cast the reversal charm that could undo the enchantment. The bird morphed back into Sora, who sat cross-legged on the coffee table grinning cheekily at all of them.
"Harry Potter!" she said, pointing her finger at him. "You're the Captain right?"
"Er – of Quidditch, yeah." Harry stared at her. He was still (like Ron, Ginny, and Hermione) trying to conceptualize the fact that he was talking to a time-traveler.
"When are tryouts?" Sora demanded.
"I haven't decided yet," Harry said. "Possibly next Sat..."
But Mina interrupted "You're trying out for the team?"
"Yeah," Sora said, sitting up straighter. "I wanna be seeker."
"Harry's the seeker."
"Well you never know," she said, running a hand through her hair. "I could be better."
Rei, Usagi, and their friends stared dumbfounded as Mina's face turned nearly purple "You're only a first year."
"Sooo," Sora said, bouncing on the table. "I can fly really well – just like Papa."
"Ha!" Mina jumped out of her seat. "So she does cheat!" Then she looked around, noticing everyone on the sofas (and all over the common room) was staring at her.
"Mina," Usagi said slowly. "Hotaru calls Haruka 'Papa,' remember?"
Sora giggled. "Yeah, Mina."
Mina made a face at her, flopping back down onto the sofa and crossing her arms. "I still don't believe her," she muttered to Rei and Usagi. Their friends and Sora stared at them, Sora now bouncing her knees and making everything on the coffee table shake.
"So make her prove who she is," Rei suggested. "Ask her questions."
"Yeah – here," Usagi smiled at Sora. "What's your favorite color?"
"Purple!"
"That's a stupid question," Rei said, rolling her eyes while Usagi made an affronted expression. She stared at Sora. "Can you use the Aqua Mirror?"
"Yes."
"What about the Space Sword?" Mina asked.
"I'm not allowed to."
"Why not?"
Sora grinned, crossing her arms. "That is classified information."
All of the gathered Gryffindors exchanged nervous glances. "How old are you?" Usagi asked.
"5,007," Sora declared.
Mina shot her a stern look. "Don't joke with us kid."
"I am not joking."
"I think she's joking," Usagi whispered.
Mina nodded. "Definitely joking."
"She's got Haruka's 'up to something' face," Rei observed.
"That's not fair!" Sora pouted. "Even now I can't get away with anything."
Mina grinned. "Tough."
"Do you play music?" Rei asked.
"Oh! Yes!" Sora perked up instantly. "I play trumpet! And drums! Can you transfigure some?"
Usagi, Mina, and Rei looked at each other nervously.
"Nope," Mina said
"I'm bad at transfiguration," Rei lied.
"Maybe some other time."
Sora rolled her eyes, looking around the common room whose crowds had begun to dwindle. "So…" Sora said, starting in on a new round of questions. "What's Wizarding school like? Do I have to wear red and gold all the time? When can I fly a broom? Do we do spells in every class? I can already do a spell! Wanna see…"
"What do you think Setsuna makes of this?" Rei muttered to Mina as Sora Kaioh carried on chattering as if she'd never stop.
Mina turned to look at Rei. She hadn't even gotten to mention the other arrivals who'd come with Sora and Chibiusa. And she wasn't sure she wanted to tell Rei about Akira yet in any case.
"I don't know," Mina whispered, wincing as Sora's attempt at a spell made a sound like a firecracker echo across the common room. "But she and Chibiusa have some explaining to do."
~SMH~
That night, Setsuna did not attend the usual gathering of teachers for their start of term drink, in fact she ignored the new Potion's master's numerous invitations as they'd walked out of the feast. While the other faculty had accompanied Horace Slughorn to his chambers, she had hastened to her rooms.
"I'm feeling ill," she'd told Minerva and Rolanda when they'd attempted to follow her. "I'll see you all in the morning."
Now she was leaning against the windowsill of her rooms, staring out at the stars, her mind traveling around in frustrating and answerless circles.
Megumi Meioh... she thought twirling her wand between her clammy fingers. She sighed. Isn't your daughter that's a foolish notion. She pressed her face against the cold window glass. She's only pretending to be. After all you're the only guardian of the time dimension...
She may be another child I adopted, Setsuna reasoned, like Hotaru.
But Hotaru is a wonderful result of a your current anomalous circumstances, Setsuna sighed. Unless you completely abandon your post.
So it must follow then, Setsuna thought. That Megumi is the next Guardian of Time.
It made much more sense the longer she mulled it over. After all, she had never heard of or encountered her future self when she had been based in the 30th century.
Her name and eyes are in all likelihood coincidence, Setsuna reasoned. Or a means to gain my trust. She shook her head "It would be foolish to assume otherwise."
Out the window, clouds had begun to obscure the stars, blanketing the grounds in near-total darkness
Why have they come here? Setsuna wondered. This Megumi is surely more lax than me if she's allowed so much volatility to enter the timeline.
Unless they are all here for a very good reason… one such may be that I cannot see Bellatrix Lestrange. Setsuna scowled. And I'm no closer to discovering why...
There was a knock on her door then, and she idly flicked the rowan wand towards it. The door swung open.
"Horace Slughorn was most displeased that you did not join us." Severus Snape announced as he strolled into her sitting room, looking around the dark space. "He's apparently been dying to meet you."
"I'll make my apologies in the morning," Setsuna said. "I've a lot on my mind." She looked back at him "You can't have stayed long yourself."
"I found Horace Slughorn a tiresome and overly jovial leech years ago, and he's only worse now," Severus said as he walked across the room. "The opportunity to leave was more than welcome. I stole Minerva's excuse of checking on you."
"How thoughtful," Setsuna muttered. "I'm fine."
Severus came to stand with her in the window. "The one thing Horace Slughorn is good for is his taste in spirits," Severus said. He waved his wand and conjured two glasses, pulling a bottle of whiskey from his cloak. "And if I am to judge by the appearance of your time traveling circus, you could use one."
Setsuna raised her eyebrows and turned to look at him as he poured two drinks into the levitating glasses. "That's a very astute deduction."
Severus rolled his eyes. "Anyone with half a brain who's familiar with your abilities could have assumed as much." He set the whiskey bottle on the windowsill and grabbed both glasses. He held one out to her. "But I hardly care about the meddling of eleven-year-old children," he said. "And I have new information about Lestrange's movements that I thought it wise to pass along. I am to tell the Headmaster, but I thought, it might be information you, too would find useful." He regarded her with skeptical eyes. "If you are in any frame of mind to hear it."
Setsuna took the glass, toasting Severus and taking a long sip of the drink, feeling the first wave of light-headedness chasing her turmoil about Megumi Meioh away.
There were other, more pressing, matters she still needed to be concerned for.
~I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good~
