AN: Heeeeeeres Chapter 6. Sorry it's late. I got turned down for the job I really wanted, so I've been swamped with a brand new round of job applications. Hence everything's gotten a bit delayed. These things happen. BUT, I think you will still enjoy this immensely. After all – there's Quidditch.
Some challenges I had writing this: Humidity, heat, job application stress, and trying to write Quidditch / explain Setsuna's powers (how exactly does one extrapolate on the incomprehensible enormity of timey-whimy powers)
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Last Time On Sailor Moon H: As the drama around the First-Years from the future settled, the drama from the Death Eaters escalated. But school life must go on and so-to must the on-going fight of the Order…
S.W.O.S.
Setsuna grinned as Haruka and Michiru emerged from the staircase to the teachers box. "You made it!"
"Of course we did," Michiru said, sliding into the seat next to her. She gave Setsuna a curious look "Did we surprise you?"
"I've been focused on other things," Setsuna said.
"Well that we know." Haruka smirked, sitting down on Michiru's other side. "We got her letter," she said, nodding to Minerva. "Apparently smoke was coming out of your ears on Thursday."
Rolanda Hooch snorted. Setsuna blushed and glared at Minerva. "I thought we had an agreement?"
"One which you didn't listen to," Minerva said with a shrug. "You have your head so focused on this war, you're going to forget you have help – I have seen Albus do it too many times." She wagged her finger at Setsuna. "You are not going to do the same."
"But we can talk about that later," Michiru said, leaning down towards the field and smiling as Hotaru waved up at them.
Haruka waved back even more exuberantly. "What do you think she'll get?" Haruka asked. "She said she wanted Seeker."
"Well she's got Cho Chang to contend with for that," Rolanda Hooch said. "Ravenclaw hasn't had anyone try for it in two years though, so I'll be interested to see what happens." She squinted down at the field. "Did you give Kino your broom?"
"Nah," Haruka grinned. "I bought that one for her." She shrugged. "Kid needs to learn to treat herself once in a while – especially when she does things like become Captain." She fidgeted in her seat, waving down at Hotaru again. "They look ready. Are they starting soon?"
"In a minute," Rolanda stood and surveyed the field below. "We're waiting for – aha!" she nodded. "They're on their way up. Means I can rally the troops." And she rose from the bench and walked to the edge of the box. She stood atop the wall and turned, blowing a kiss to Minerva "Get me one with a decent sense of humor." And she stepped backwards off the edge of the tower. Michiru and Haruka jumped.
But Madam Hooch zoomed up into the air, riding the silver-blue broomstick that had been hovering just below their box.
"Show off." Minerva smiled. She glanced over at the stairs to the tower. There were, Haruka and Michiru realized, the sounds of multiple feet stomping up to the top.
They recognized only one of the three students: Luna Lovegood, stepping serenely up the stairs behind the short maroon haired girl in Hufflepuff robes who charged out ahead of her. Luna had her wand sticking out of a rather creative hairstyle and her signature radish earrings shown bright red against the black of her robes. She smiled and waved at Michiru and Haruka when she saw them.
"Are you here to see Hotaru?" Luna asked.
"Wasn't gonna miss it," Haruka said, though Michiru only nodded, staring curiously at the maroon haired girl who'd beat Luna up the stairs and was now talking to the Gryffindor boy with the large camera who'd accompanied them. Now that she looked, Haruka frowned. She noticed the familiar power as well. She turned to Setsuna. She hadn't reacted at all.
"Is this everyone Professor?" Luna had just asked Mcgonagall.
Mcgonagall nodded. "Yes it is. And I will pick whomever I think will be good at the job. That might mean one of you covers the whole season or more than one of you splits the game schedule. Be aware –" she looked especially hard at the Gyffindor boy "– you will need to give a fair assessment of each game and focus your attention on more than one player or team. Not just your favorites." She gestured to the pitch. "Now how you will audition today…"
While she spoke, Michiru turned towards Setsuna and Haruka. "Her energy is like ours." She murmured, waving her wand and summoning the Aqua Mirror. She gazed into it Friend or foe? She thought. The glass became murky, glowing a slight teal.
"It is like ours for good reason." Setsuna told the two of them. "Akira Hino's come here with Chibiusa."
"Chibiusa's here?" Haruka asked. "Wait, Hino?" She glanced towards the girl currently testing out what looked like a magical megaphone.
"What's happened in the future now?" Michiru worried, frowning at the mirror as it showed her a close up of the students currently lining up to do a test lap of the pitch. She squinted as the image became clearer, trying to understand what knowledge it was trying to impart.
"Nothing's happening in the future," Setsuna said. "They're here to help us with something." She cleared her throat. "Chibiusa and Akira have come with two other friends. One of them you may be… particularly interested in."
As Setsuna spoke, and the whistle blew below, Michiru was distracted by the mirror. It showed her a close up of the large group of students racing around the stadium. What is it? Ginny and Mina were in the lead.
And then from below them, another flyer streaked out ahead, and Michiru gasped as she turned on her broom, combing her turquoise hair out of her face and sticking her tongue out at Mina, breaking out ahead of the pack…
She shot out of her seat, and stood up on the bench.
"Michiru?" Haruka asked, standing along side her. Michiru was staring at the pitch. She pointed at the flyers currently racing towards the goal hoops. Haruka's gaze darted towards the student she was pointing at. Her eyes widened to the size of galleons.
The small flyer in the front jerked quickly into her first turn and seemed to tumble into a spin around the back of the hoops. Michiru squeaked and grabbed Haruka's hand as the small girl crashed through the bronze and blue covering on one of the towers and, after half the flyers had passed, burst out the other side. She pulled herself even closer to the broom to try to catch up with the front of the race.
Setsuna stood up on their other side, studying their stunned faces with a half smile on her face. She's told everyone she's your sister, she thought to Michiru. So you're aware.
"What's her name?" Haruka whispered hoarsely.
"Sora." Setsuna said and saw Michiru and Haruka jump. She looked back out at the pitch.
Somewhere between midfield and the second set of hoops, Sora'd managed to catch up with the front of the pack, and was neck and neck with Mina again, but her broom was barrel rolling across the stands. It spun all the way through the second turn before Sora regained control of it, this time just skimming the next of the pitch's tall towers. Sora shot out towards the final stretch of the lap just behind Ginny Weasley. She landed at a run a hairsbreadth ahead of Mina, managing to trip seconds after hitting the ground. She, splashed face first into the mud.
"From what I've heard of her," Setsuna said. "That happens often."
~SMH~
She might have been ungainly and prone to crashing into things. But Harry had to admit, for a kid on a school broom, Sora Kaioh was fast. He put a check mark next to her name as the first test of the tryouts finished.
"Do you need your glasses checked, Potter?" Michael Corner exclaimed as he read Harry's list of passing candidates. "She's clearly an unstable flyer."
Harry'd shrugged. "She nearly beat Ginny on a school broom."
"So she got lucky," Michael scoffed.
"Well… I won by swallowing a snitch when I was a first year," Harry remarked. "I'll take lucky."
It didn't seem to be entirely luck either. To whittle down a few more of their choices before scrimmaging, the three Captains had all the hopefuls remaining go through a passing drill. Or, in the case of the beaters, a batting drill. Veterans of all teams qualified with no trouble, and (though some of her catches appeared more like the Quaffle had hit her in the face) Sora'd caught everything she'd been thrown.
By the end of that trial, only a quarter of the Quidditch hopefuls remained, and Sora Kaioh (with nine successful passes and a tumble through a goal hoop) was one of just two first years to move on to the scrimmages.
The stands by then were almost half full of students who'd been drawn out into the relatively fair weather to watch as the three captains divvied up their choices. They had Hooch hold onto the snitch for now, Harry commenting that it would make the time of each scrimmage vary wildly. Instead they saved the Seeker trials for last and tried out the remaining positions in six minute scrimmages.
The first tested out both of Gryffindor's keeper hopefuls: pitting Ron Weasley against Cormac Mclaggen, the top two pairs of Hufflepuff's beaters against eachother, and a chaser line comprised of Katie Bell, Dean Thomas, and a plucky Hufflepuff second year against Dennis Creevey and two older Ravenclaws.
Harry admitted it might have been unfair to Mclaggen to put Katie Bell on Ron's team. But, (as she knocked her third successful shot past his goal hoops and pumped her fist) he couldn't help feeling relieved. Ron, whether because of practicing all last year or because he was having an extraordinarily good day, had yet to let in a single shot.
Harry glanced up towards the stands when Katie knocked Mclaggen and the Quaffle through the goal hoops for her third goal. Hermione was grinning, not unlike Sirius did when he heard something unpleasant had happened to Snape.
"Take that," Hermione muttered triumphantly as Mclaggen's chances of ousting Ron from the Gryffindor roster fell by another ten points.
Around her, Neville, Ami, Usagi, and Chibiusa (disguised in a huge, red Gryffindor cloak) laughed.
"I don't think Harry'd ever actually put him on the team," Neville said. "The way Ginny and Katie go on it seems like no one'd get along with him."
"Of course Harry knows Ron will always be better than Mclaggen," Hermione said "But – YES!" Dean Thomas had just whacked the quaffle through Cormac's hoops with the end of his broom. "It's just… nice to see Ron doing so much better," she explained, blushing. "I mean, he practices so hard – and Mclaggen is a prick."
Chibiusa giggled, leaning forwards in Usagi's arms and peering up at the teachers box "I think they noticed her," Chibiusa said.
Usagi lifted her chin off of Chibiusa's head and looked up.
Colin Creevey was making an enthusiastic attempt at being the Quidditch Announcer and Setsuna was behind him, talking to Mcgonagall. But Michiru and Haruka were leaning over the wall of the box, eyes riveted on the cluster of Gryffindors standing on the side of the pitch.
"What gave it away?" Usagi asked, giggling. "I'm glad I'm not the only one being startled by my future staring me in the face."
"Hey I thought you liked your future?" Chibiusa asked, making a face and swiveling around to pout at Usagi.
Usagi hugged her tighter. "I do." She messed up her pink hair. "Doesn't mean meeting you wasn't a shock though."
"Guys look!" Ami pointed down at the field. Hooch had just blown the whistle. "Hotaru's up."
Indeed she was: lining up between Ginny Weasley and Justin Finch-Fletchley on the left side of the field.
"Good Luck Hotaru!" Luna's voice echoed down from the teacher's box. "You know I still think it's a shame she can't use the Glaive as a broomstick – that would be quite striking… oh yes, right, We're going to have Madam Hooch blow the whistle… NOW!"
The Ravenclaw-heavy scrimmage got going quickly: with two third years (Orla Quirk and Stewart Ackerley) snaring early control of the bludgers from two older, fifth year girls. And Ginny, once she'd dove to catch the Quaffle that Finch-Fletchley had fumbled, got an easy goal early in the game.
"Dunno why you're making Ginny tryout at all," Michael Corner commented to Harry as they watched the players. "I mean – she's so good Potter. Hell: she might go pro."
"Well it's fair." Harry shrugged. "I don't like being accused of just picking my friends."
Ginny was, as it happened, the only chaser who could get close to a goal on veteran Ravenclaw Keeper, Chambers. Harry grinned when she and Hotaru got the drop on him for the third time in a row. He saved the shot – narrowly.
Hotaru was doing fairly well over all – certainly better than Justin who kept missing his passes and throws due to trying to look impressive. Harry was so busy cheering when Hotaru stole the ball from Zacharius Smith that he missed a neat dodging maneuver from the other Gryffindor Chaser hopeful in the game.
Ginny continued to shine too. At one point halfway through the scrimmage she caught the attention of the opposing beaters as she flew towards the hoops. They batted the bludger straight at her and she kept flying, rolling away at the last second. The bludger soared straight for the keeper who dove to avoid it, and Ginny sent the quaffle sailing neatly through the unguarded hoop.
"She is something else," Michael Corner murmured to the other two captains. Then he laughed and elbowed Harry. "Got an amazing form, am I right Potter?"
Harry flushed and kept his eyes on the ball as it was passed down the field.
"She's brilliant at Quidditch, yeah," he said.
Michael smirked. "Oh, come off it, Potter. You know what I meant. Hey – heard she broke it off with Thomas."
"I, uh, guess so," Harry frowned. "She mentioned it."
"Weeeell – guess that means she's looking again. Think I might let her know I'll give her a second chance with me." His eyes bypassed his own players as he tracked Ginny down the field. "Yeah – amazing form."
Makoto glared at him. "You're being a pig – you know your beater just made an excellent shot and you weren't even looking."
"Which one!" He asked.
"The one in blue." Harry smirked, earning a snort from Makoto.
Michael scowled at them both. "Shut up, Potter – she's already dated me last year. She's never dated you."
"Don't listen to him Harry," Makoto told him. Out on the field, Luna Lovegood mourned the demise of yet another potential goal thanks to an interception by Hotaru Tomoe, getting all but Michael to laugh.
"You know…" Makoto glanced at Michael. "Ginny did say you're on her list."
"What list?" Harry and Michael demanded in unison.
"Oh, the one with boys she'd potentially date – She said Michael's nice to look at… but she hasn't decided if it makes up for…" she trailed off and shrugged.
"For what?" Michael begged. "For what?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Makoto teased.
Michael scowled, missing yet another play by his beaters. "Yeah, well at least I'm on her list – unlike Potter."
"Oh Harry's on the list," Makoto said. She smirked when Harry's head whipped towards her so fast he knocked his glasses askew. "But I'm not telling you what she says about you." She tracked her two chasers with her eyes. Finch-Fletchley continued to put too much bravado into his maneuvers, but Smith was giving a careful go at it. Sure, he was a twit. But she was sure if nothing else she could scare him into listening to her. She put another star next to his name. Anyone who got five would make the Hufflepuff squad. Smith currently had four.
"But… Makoto come on – please," Harry begged.
"Nope."
"Why?"
Makoto gave him a serious look. "Because that would break girl code. You want to know why you're on her list, you ask her yourself."
The second scrimmage finished in a near tie and in Michael Corner scrambling to recall which of his players he'd seen perform best. It made it easy to decide which Keepers would play in the third scrimmage, as Michael found he had no way of determining whether his veteran or the upcoming fifth year had done better.
So the last scrimmage of the day pitted Mina and Rei against rival Gryffindors Jack Sloper and Jimmy Peakes. The last potential Ravenclaw, second year Ida Keelan, played Chaser on Sloper and Peakes side, in a line up with the seventh and fourth year Hufflepuff veterans Cadawallar and Summerby. Against them were Laura Madley of Hufflepuff, a quiet fourth year Gryffindor named Mary Doyle, and the first year that had everyone in the teachers box leaning out of their seats: Sora Kaioh.
Akira Hino, the last announcer candidate tapped her Megaphone as the teams got into formation on the center line.
"GOOD AFTERNOON LIONS, BADGERS, AND CLAWS – OH MY!" she giggled alongside several half-bloods and most of the muggleborns as all the senshi on the pitch snapped their heads towards the teacher's box.
"She's announcing?" Mina whispered to Rei.
"WHILE THEY WRANGLE THAT BLUDGER," Akira's voice boomed out of the speakers. "I'VE BEEN WONDERING: ARE YOU RAVENCLAW'S RAVENS OR EAGLES, NONE OF THE HUFFLEPUFFS CAN TELL ME."
"I've never heard her speak before." Mina realized. "I thought she'd be quieter like you."
"Hmm," Rei rolled her eyes. "I wonder who she could have got that from?"
"LETS HEAR FROM THE CROWD – WHO THINKS RAVENS?" About a third of the stands, including many Ravenclaws, cheered. "WHO THINKS EAGLES?"
Another two thirds of the stands, and an even greater share of the Ravenclaws.
"SOUNDS LIKE RAVENCLAW HAS SOME SERIOUS QUESTIONS TO SOLVE – OOOH! WE'VE GOT THE LAST BLUDGER! OKAY HERE GOES!"
Mina darted her head around when she realized the other players had shot forwards. Hooch had released the Quaffle. "Shit!" She streamed off towards the Bludger that Sloper kid had just sent hurtling towards her Chasers and knocked it off course with the tip of her bat. Rei recovered it seconds before Peakes or Sloper could.
"LOOKS LIKE AINO AND MY SISTER ARE A LITTLE DISTRACTED – COME ON GUYS LESS FLIRTING, MORE BEATING." Their kid in the announcers seat giggled. "OH THAT'S TEN POINTS FOR THE TEAM WITHOUT A RAVENCLAW… THE GRYFFINPUFFS? WOAH! CHAMBERS IS MAKING A BREAKAWAY DOWN FIELD!"
That caught Sora's attention. The opposing Keeper, with Sloper and Peakes flying above him with a bludger, was closing in on her team's hoops – both her other chasers were still leagues away on the other end of the pitch.
She soared up, above the Keeper and his Beaters. Sloper and Peakes didn't see her yet, busy lining up a bludger shot towards the opposing Keeper.
Shouting, Sora dove straight down, skating right past the bludger as it was volleyed between the beaters and startling Chambers into jerking his broom to a halt. She plucked the ball from his hands as tumbled downwards. "Woah!"
"LOOKS LIKE KAIOH'S FLYING IN CIRCLES OVER THERE. SORA – YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO FLY IT TOWARDS THE HOOPS, NOT THE GROUND – AND IT LOOKS LIKE SHE'S GOT A CHASER COMING TO ASSIST. GOOD THING TOO CAUSE PEAKES JUST GOT THAT BLUDGER BACK."
"I can't watch this," Michiru murmured, though she continued to stare unblinking at the first year who was still somersaulting towards the ground, now with a bludger streaming towards her. One of her Chasers zoomed in, and she tossed the ball towards her, pointing down field as she tumbled. The other Chaser shot off towards the hoops. A stream of red and gold got between Sora and the Bludger
"NICE HIT BY AINO OVER THERE – SHES DEFINITELY EARNING HER SPOT BACK. – OH!" Akira leaned over the side of the box with Michiru, Setsuna, and Haruka. "WELL KAIOH'S GOT HER BROOM FLYING THE RIGHT WAY, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE ALL THAT SPINNING MADE HER DIIIIIZZY."
The first year was flying upside-down, up towards the two older Chasers bringing the Quaffle back down field. Sora drew impossibly close to the broom as she flew towards them, and then let go of her broom as she passed, hitting the Quaffle as they passed it between each other and sending it back towards one of her fellow chasers. She raced towards them, crashing into the third opposing Chaser on her way down field. Both of them spun off course. The other chaser smashed into the stands; Sora into Jack Sloper.
"WELL THAT'S ONE WAY TO TAKE OUT THE OPPOSITION – AND ANOTHER TEN POINTS! DOYLE'S GOT THE GOAL!"
The scrimmage carried on in that fashion for another ten minutes: Michiru squeezing Haruka's arm tightly each time Sora recovered the ball by crashing into a player…or a bludger…or the stands. At one point she got a goal by flying into the building-sized Keeper and through the goal hoop.
She looked at Haruka once, after Sora'd been knocked into a goal post by a bludger, to check that she wasn't worrying herself to death. "Are you…" she trailed off. And glared.
Haruka was grinning.
"Why do you look happy about this?" Michiru seethed.
Haruka didn't notice her tone. "Course I'm happy – look at her! She just knocked that kid off his broom! He's three times as big as her. She's a little genius – Woah!"
"What?" Michiru said, snapping her eyes back towards the field.
"Did you see that! She just intercepted the bludger."
"By crashing into it!" Michiru hissed. "Look at her, she's cracked a rib!"
"And she's still flying," Haruka said gleefully.
"HARUKA!"
"What-oh." Haruka paled. "I…I mean uh. She's being very reckless."
"You think this is funny," Michiru seethed.
"Well…eh. Come on Michi! Look she just got another goal. She's gotten five. You should be impressed – Setsuna," she leaned around Michiru and trained pleading eyes on the time guardian. "She's impressive right."
"Well… her strategy of reckless abandon seems to be winning them more points… I am not sure if it is strategy."
"And who is it let her fly that… deadly magical contraption." Michiru stewed, rounding on Haruka. "It was you wasn't it!"
"Uh…" Haruka frowned. "I…guess so."
"AND THAT'S TIME!" Akira Hino shouted through the megaphone. "HOW'D I DO PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL?"
All of them looked back towards the Transfiguration Professor – who was covering her laughter with one hand. She shot the first year a thumbs up.
"Thank goodness that's over," Michiru said.
"Oh not yet, I don't think." Luna Lovegood said, pointing down towards the three teams. "They've all still got to test their seekers."
The plan was simple: Hooch would release two Snitches onto the pitch, and which ever of Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's hopefuls caught theirs first would be declared the team Seeker.
Harry was about to turn into the locker room, having added all his old members to the current team and needing to decide which hopeful got the remaining Chaser slot, when a muddy first year rushed in front of him.
"Wait!" Sora Kaioh said. "I wanna try for Seeker."
"I'm the seeker." Harry frowned.
"I know – but everyone else had to try for their spot." She crossed her arms. "So shouldn't you prove you deserve yours."
"I'm the…" Harry stopped and sighed. He had been dying to fly all day. "Alright fine."
"YES!" she said, running ahead of him over to Hooch in the center of the field.
Hooch saw them and raised an eyebrow, summoning a third snitch from the equipment trunk. "Gryffindors never could turn down a dare could they Potter," she said. "Right you two." She tapped the snitch, its golden surface shimmering until it was painted over in red. She let it hover in the hair alongside a yellow and a blue snitch. "You're to look for this one. Stealing the other team's doesn't count."
"Gotcha," Sora said, jumping onto her Cleansweep and shooting up into the air with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.
"Right," Hooch said. She snapped her fingers. The three snitches raced off in different directions and all the seekers jumped, eyes darting around in an attempt to track them. "Give'em ten seconds…" she checked her watch, tapping the surface as harry and the others shifted impatiently on their brooms. "Ready…GO!"
The entire stadium was on its feet and straining to look in seven different directions at once as all the seeker hopefuls from the different houses took off in different directions. The Hufflepuffs were particularly interested in which of their three freshman players would catch the yellow ball. With the exception of Smith, none of the three had ever played a Quidditch game before.
But there was also Harry Potter and his upstart first year challenger, who looked as uncoordinated as Hagrid on ice skates and yet none could deny she'd managed to affect game play to a degree most senior players agreed was either purposeful or came from very good instincts.
And then, the pair that garnered more attention as the challenge wore on – the two that seemed to find and dive for their snitch more than any of the others – were Cho Chang, being challenged for her spot for the first time in years, and against the relative unknown that was Hotaru Tomoe.
Cho's strategy, it seemed at first, was to feign dives every few minutes in an attempt to either lead Hotaru off course, or lead her to ignore Cho when she eventually did dive for the snitch. But Hotaru seemed un interested in participating in the trick. She, like Harry, circled high above the other players, sharp eyes scanning all over the field.
Seven minutes into the Seeking Trial, Kwame Mole-Dagombas and Rose Zeller of Hufflepuff shot off towards center field from the same spot on the pitch, straining to beat eachother: Rose had the newer broom but Kwame appeared much more comfortable straining the limits of his own. It was a Nimbus 2000, Ron had confided to the other watching players. Bought new back before the fourth year had started Hogwarts. He'd had six years to get accustomed to it.
As the two Hufflepuffs trained their brooms straight upwards, Arms outstretched, Hotaru caught sight of a blue glint just below the farthest goal hoops. And Chang, coming out of a dive, hadn't seen it yet.
She was looking at Hotaru.
"Good Luck," Harry whispered as she dove, not towards the Snitch but towards the Hoops closer to her. Harry frowned, and then gaped when he realized her plan.
Cho Chang was following her.
Hotaru flew the Nagaraboshi much slower than its top speed, allowing Chang to overtake her, then jerked it back around with barely a brush of her hand, and tucked herself close to the handle, racing off, at twice her original speed, towards where she'd spotten the blue snitch.
Cho realized her ploy within three seconds of her maneuver, but three seconds was quite the lead when your broom was traveling 200 km and hour. The snitch was hovering right in the middle of the central hoop and Hotaru's fingers were straining outwards. Cho had caught up with the tail of her broom, and, panicked, barreled into her to force her off course.
Hotaru jumped from the broomstick, momentum carrying her right to the goals, and the next second she was grasping for the goal hoop, wrapping her arms and legs around it as she spun down the metal post towards the ground. She raised her hand.
The little blue snitch was fluttering between her fingers.
Harry heard Haruka woop, and shouted himself hoarse as she slid towards the ground. And he froze, jerking his broom into a dive as he followed the blur of red robes and turquoise hair that had just whipped around Hotaru's goal posts.
Harry kicked himself as he intercepted Sora Kaioh, flying up infront of her and disrupting her path towards the snitch. Her broom bucked and her with it, clinging to the handle with one hand.
Harry whipped around, the red snitch had vanished.
"Damn." Sora pouted. Straining to get two hands back on the broom handle. Harry flew away from her, making a lap of the pitch as he scanned the stands, the grass, the sky. Twice he thought he saw it in the stands, only to realize it was a Gryffindor flag blowing in the breeze. Sora made the same mistake three times in the span of as many minutes.
But she also had one eye on Harry and so when he saw the snitch, hovering near the door to the Hufflepuff locker room, He shot off towards it, turning the Firebolt around when the snitch zipped back towards the center of the field. He shot straight up, stretching out ahead of the broom straining his fingers as he caught up to the bright red ball.
He saw another, larger blur of red hurtling down towards him, bright against the grey sky and urged the Firebolt faster, when he was closing in on the snitch and Sora Kaioh was stretching her hand towards it he locked his feet into the golden footholds on either side of the Firebolt and stood up, snatching the snitch out of the air and away from Sora Kaioh's grasping fingers. He fell backwards, hanging for a few moments from his broom. Sora shot past, closing in on the ground of the pitch as she struggled to get her school broom to pull out of the dive.
Harry hauled himself upright and chased after her with his free hand outstretched. But before he could reach her, Sora wrapped both arms around the old, uncooperative broom and stuck out her feet, flipping it up, towards the sky. Her toes hit the mud and she spun, hitting the ground and rolling several times before she finally dragged the Cleansweep to a halt.
Harry landed next to her and held out his hand. "You alright."
She took it and jumped up appearing completely unhurt. "Duh!" she glared at the Cleansweep. "I thought this was the best one in the shed."
"They're all bad – surprised you got it to work for so long actually."
Sora stood up a little straighter. "Ah well… you just gotta show it who's boss." She might had looked a bit intimidating if she hadn't been covered head to toe in mud. "Still… not my best show."
Harry grinned and shook his head. She had gotten five goals today. And taken hits from everything from the stands to the bludgers. "Well, I guess you just need to work extra hard at practice." He said, walking off towards the small crowd by the locker room.
"Wait. Really?" Sora raced after him. "I made it?"
"Sure," Harry shrugged, smiling when Ron clapped him on the shoulder as he joined the Gryffindor crowd. "You did well enough at Chasing – you're on the team."
"I am?"
"She is?" Mina groaned.
"YES!" Sora Kaioh jumped up, mounting her unruly broom again and soaring up to the teachers box. "AKIRA GUESS WHAAAAAA –"
The first year froze, landing on the wall of the teachers box and staring at the two people she hadn't noticed earlier.
Sora and Haruka had the same, stunned, wide-eyed faces as they stared at each other. Michiru, on the other hand, had her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Her face was red.
"So," she whispered, voice the kind of calm that precipitated a violent storm. "Precisely what is your excuse for freefalling 100 meters towards the ground, nearly breaking your neck, all for the sake of catching a trivial. Golden. Trinket?"
"Ehh…" Sora wrung her hands around the broom handle and shifted from foot to foot atop the wall. "Uh…" she trained wide, blue eyes on Michiru. "It… was… shiny?"
"Before you see anything else shiny," Setsuna suggested, "Why not step down from there?"
Sora nodded, keeping her eyes on Michiru as she jumped onto the floor of the box and turned towards Michiru and Haruka, who were standing a few paces away.
"Is that all you've got to say after surprising us and scaring us to death?" Michiru said, eyebrow twitching. "It. Was. Shiny."
"Hehe…" Sora set the Cleansweep aside. "Nooo…" and she broke into a grin and raced forwards, barreling into Michiru and cinching her arms around her waist. "I missed you."
Setsuna watched with a small smile as Michiru's hard-eyed expression was swept away, and she looked at Haruka, Setsuna, and finally at Sora, and smiled. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders.
Behind her, Minerva cleared her throat and remarked in a dead-pan voice: "I'm truly convinced by this sisters claim." Her voice took on a bemused tone. "I wonder why I ever doubted you."
~SMH~
Setsuna was not entirely surprised to see Megumi Meioh waiting on her sofa for them when the group of senshi arrived, with an eager Ginny in toe, at her chambers on the second floor. Michiru and Haruka were though, despite her telling them about Megumi on the walk over.
I know you said… but her eyes look like yours, Michiru thought to her as they all settled down in the living room.
Their numbers having increased since last year, Setsuna conjured an additional black couch.
Pure coincidence, Setsuna told Michiru. She leaned over the back of the couch the outer senshi and Sora settled on and waiting for everyone else to sit.
Ginny, Mina, and Rei sat together on one couch, Mina and Rei greatly distracted by Akira, who'd sat down primly between Chibiusa and Megumi. Usagi happily plopped down in the corner beside Chibiusa and Ami settled into an armchair while Makoto perched on the armrest.
"So," Makoto said, as all eyes turned to Haruka and Michiru. "What have you two been up to?"
Haruka nodded over Hotaru's head at Michiru, and leaned forwards on the couch clasping her hands. "We," she said, "have been tracking Lestrange…"
The Death Eaters attacks, according to Haruka, had decreased significantly in the week following the return to Hogwarts.
"Voldemort's using the time to rally more factions to his side," Setsuna said, "Planning larger attacks for more important dates, muggle holidays, Halloween…"
"So," Haruka continued. "We're preparing for what those might be. Among other things…"
~SMH~
"So far Voldemort's followed his playbook from the old war," Remus Lupin said as the group of five sat around the kitchen table in the basement of Number 12. "Though now he's recruiting more non-humans into the effort." He leaned over the table-sized map of the country and tapped a point in the East Midlands with his finger, a white circle appeared over the spot, "W-14" appeared in the middle of it. "This is the latest clan of Werewolves Voldemort has rallied to his side. Ten of them have a formal education."
It was one of seven other circles with "W" in the center, spread across the island. A smaller circle, with a red ring around it and "F.G" in the middle was positioned in the north just outside of Manchester.
Together with the other white circles bearing the letters for "Dementor," "Vampire," "Giant," and "Ogre" it was clear Voldemort had strongholds outside the large population centers. Otherwise though, Haruka and Michiru could not discern any strategic advantage of their placement."
"They're lying in wait," Sirius said. "Probably ready to portkey in like those Vampires in August."
"And meanwhile we still don't know where any of the Death Eaters locations are," Michiru said, frowning at the map. It had been a day since Timothy Abbott's kidnapping. And even though her Mirror could see him (alive though imprisoned) it refused to show her where he was being held.
"Much as I hate Snivy, he's not lying about that." Sirius scowled. "The places Voldemort used in the past were unplottable, ancient properties. Anti Apparition wards, save designated exit and entrance points, Floo connections cut, the works."
"Wouldn't a Fidelius charm have been much less work?" Rigel Fawcett asked.
Sirius snorted. "Voldemort, trust anyone with the address to his house?" He glowered at the map. "He's smarter than us not to rely on it."
Just then, Haruka, Michiru, and Remus straightened up, turning towards the door of the kitchen.
"Someone popping in?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," Michiru took a look at the Aqua mirror and smiled. She looked at Rigel. "I told you he wouldn't stay away long."
Rigel's eyes widened and he stood from his chair as heavy footsteps made their way down the basement stairs. He rushed to the door, throwing it open. "Hamish!"
Hamish Stebbins gave him his usual delighted grin and wrapped his big left arm around Rigel. The stump of his right, still wrapped in crisp, white bandages, stood out shockingly in the bright, kitchen lamps."
"Sorry I left so long," Hamish said, he'd been gone from Grimmauld an entire week after the Horcrux mission and Rigel had been a wreck the entire time. "Just…needed to see my cousins."
"You're sure you're well enough to be back?" Michiru worried. She could still see the traces of dark magic lingering around his stump.
"Of course," he said. "And…I saw The Prophet." He looked at all of them. "That's what we're doing right, finding Tim?"
"Well it's one of several things we've got to do," Sirius said, waving them back over. "Now as I was saying, he'll be using properties with extensive protections."
"Which gives us our best lead," Remus said, "Because he's limited to what properties he will use: Old properties with the kinds of wards that take years and money to be crafted, and, an educated guess is that he'll favor traditional, pureblood residences." He waved a hand over the map. "Which is where Bellatrix will be as well."
~SMH~
"Is that you then?" Ginny asked. "George said over summer they were going to outfit the unit of the Order who'd lead the offenses against Voldemort."
Setsuna nodded. "They're, at the moment, the only members unattached to any day job or with family who depend on their income."
"And we keep the lowest profile." Michiru said. "Mad-Eye Moody is not the sort of man who can blend into a crowd."
"Where as Rigel," Haruka smirked. "Could get lost in one…"
~SMH~
"GUYS!" Rigel Fawcett gasped as he apparated into the library.
"Rige!" Hamish looked up from where he'd been attempting to write with a left-handed quill. He crumbled up the struggling attempts as the other residents of Grimmauld Place rushed into the room.
"Did you run into trouble?" Michiru worried. All he'd been meant to do was visit the antique book store in Knockturn Alley. He'd gone at 14:00 and it had closed an hour ago.
"Uh," Rigel ducked his head to hide his blush and pulled his leather satchel over his head. "I got a bit distracted."
"As any diligent researcher out to do in a bookstore," Remus said.
"Yeah – helped me blend in, I think. No one looked at me once," Rigel pulled three large tomes out of the extended interior of the satchel. "But that's not important." He still gasped each time he spoke, as though he'd been running, Haruka thought.
"I found these…and bought em…but then I stayed in the stacks until after closing." He plopped down into an armchair. "I saw Lestrange."
"Bellatrix!" Sirius swore.
"No… no Rabastian," Rigel said. "He's gotten out of Azkaban again."
"Do you have anything to guard that place besides those friggin monsters?" Haruka complained.
"So you say him in the bookstore," Michiru prompted Rigel.
"Yes. Yes. He had a bunch of people there." He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "They all had these."
SCRIMGEOUR RUNS AN AUROR STATE
Hyper-restriction and regulation of our Magical Traditions
Theft of our incomes to aid the dregs and freeloaders of society
Policies that give our children's jobs to unqualified candidates "Equality"
Political Correctness that makes our free speech a firing offence.
Don't Let Scrimgeour and his Mudblooded backers Aurorize our Community
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
68 Knockturn Alley – 9 September at 19:00
"What is this bullshit?" Sirius muttered when it was passed to him.
"How big was the crowd?" Haruka asked Rigel.
"I-it filled the whole store. My uncle was there," he said. "Rabastian was saying that Voldemort's return proved purebloods were truly great, that he was there to give them back their government."
"And steal young purebloods."
"They talked about Tim." Rigel said. "Were saying… he'd been led astray, by muggle agents like Dumbledore." He slumped down in his chair. "I slipped out…didn't remember to Apparate till I was back on Diagon." Rigel sighed. "I don't understand… The restrictions and Auror presence are all because Voldemort's a threat."
"And they're preying on people's uncertainty," Remus said. "Asking them to side with the most powerful wizard,"
"But my uncle's not a purist."
"But it probably doesn't matter to him what happens to muggleborns and others under Voldemort," Sirius said. "All of them just see violence, some of em lack of business since no one's going out as much." He scowled. "They'll support the problem if it helps em get back to their lives."
It was, they found, a narrative that grew even as the whole Order met on Sunday and expanded their map of Voldemort's forces, and his likely movements. Setsuna was absent. And Haruka and Michiru were not the only ones to notice.
"Has..she been alright?" Hamish asked. He hadn't said a single word during the meeting, had lingered near the back of the kitchen the entire time. He hadn't worn his wand since he'd arrived, though none of them had called him on it yet.
"I believe she's working on finding Tim," Michiru murmured.
And barely twelve hours later, she was proven correct. She and Haruka were woken up when they sensed someone entering the house and Michiru checked the Aqua Mirror to see whom it was. They'd woken Hamish and Rigel running down from the third floor and the stomping had seemingly woken Remus and Sirius as well, for they could hear their footsteps charging down the stairs as the four of them dashed towards the kitchen.
Setsuna was making tea when they ran through the door, a triumphant look upon her face.
"He's in Cornwall," Setsuna told them. "Old manor house belonging to some relatives of the Lestranges." She gestured to the map. There was a singular, black circle amid many white ones. She sipped her tea. "Unplottable sure, but not visitable." They saw, on the black circle, a set of coordinates. "That's just beyond the edge of the property," she chuckled.
"You can see Lestrange?" Haruka asked.
"It was a challenge, but yes, one attempt finally did reveal enough information." She looked at them. "Though I fear you won't have a large window."
"We've got enough material on pureblood homes to plan an operation," Sirius said and then he grinned. "It's time S.W.O.S. made some 'Sirius' mischief."
"S.W.O.S.?" Haruka frowned at him.
"Sailor & Wizarding Operations Squad," Sirius said cheerily. "Weasleys came up with it."
~SMH~
"So you were the ones who ransacked the manor." Ami realized. "But you didn't find Timothy?"
Michiru shook her head. "Unfortunately no," she said. "Though we did find a few other things."
~SMH~
One week to the day Timothy Abbott had gone missing, the residents of Grimmauld Place gathered in the kitchen just after 3:30 in the morning. Hamish Stebbins was already there when the other five trickled in, having stayed up the night before reading the books Rigel had acquired on obscure magic. And (when his eyes needed a break from the cramped, faded handwriting in the old tomes) he stared ceaselessly at the map.
"Got an idea?" Haruka asked when she and Michiru came in. Hamish was tracing is one hand over the map's many white dots.
He shook his head. "Still random." He sighed. "Rigel's better at researching than me."
"Well you captained a Quidditch team for two years," Michiru countered. "Must mean you had an eye for some details the others were missing."
"Playmaking," Hamish shrugged. "Dunno if I can play again now."
"Oi!" Sirius said as he walked in ahead of Remus "Now that is just false." He put his hands on his hips. "Beaters have both hands on their bats the majority of the game and still manage to fly with their knees. If you can't do it, it's cause you've spent too long relaxing in front of the hoops."
"Keeping is hard." Hamish glared.
"Then don't count yourself out yet just cause you're a little less handy than before. Ow!" He looked at Remus who'd just thwacked him on the back of the head. "Oh come on, it was funny!"
They heard the door from the ground floor slam open and two feet crash down the stairs. Rigel appeared in the doorway with bags under his eyes and his robe on backwards. "I'm awake! I'm ready."
Sirius snickered. "Alright then," he checked his watch. "Even if she is awake plotting right now, my cousin's never the most accurate shot before about 9. So we should still have an advantage." He pulled the old, brass key out of his pocket. "Lets go break out Abbott."
Hamish watched as all of them put a finger on the key – a portkey from Setsuna. "Rigel," he said.
Rigel turned around, his mousy brown curls sticking up all over his head.
"Be careful."
Rigel smiled. "Sure." And then was gone, as the Portkey flashed and pulled them all away.
The five members of the Sailor & Wizarding Operations Squad rushed through space. The wizards among them were startled by the absence of usual jerk behind the navel that accompanied portkeys. They had barely blinked before they were standing in the middle of a dark forest, light of the moon obscured by the thick branches overhead.
"That was gentler than they usually are," Remus murmured. "How ever did she make this?"
"Given her familiarity with space," Neptune mused. "I expect she asked politely." She held her trident up so that she could gaze into the mirror at the base of the three prongs. She slowly turned in a circle until stopping and pointing in one particular direction. "This way."
They followed her through the forest for another ten minutes, at one point taking a detour to avoid several trolls whose grunts they could hear in the trees.
"Standing guard," Remus said as he squinted through the woods. "And they're not dozing on the job… trained security trolls."
"Wonder if they're on loan or joined up on their own," Sirius mused.
They carried on for a few more minutes until the trees fell away, revealing in the slightly lighter pre-dawn sky the black silhouette of the old Manor house. There were no creatures, though that didn't mean it was undefended. The five Order members disillusioned themselves and approached, with a hand on each other's shoulders. Remus led the way up to the seven-foot stone wall around the manor and the imposing metal gates bookended by open-mouthed gargoyles
"The gargoyles are spelled to shoot fire," Rigel whispered. "Among other things."
"There should be a way to neutralize them… and open the gate." Remus walked up to the wall and lifted his wand. With the Mirror, Michiru could see he was scanning the layers of magic that blazed out of the stones.
Several minutes later, he raised his wand tip to the mortar and traced it downward in a winding path.
The lock on the gate clicked, and the whole thing swung open without a sound.
Once at the door, they let their disillusionment fall. Uranus brandished both her swords. She nodded to Sirius. "Lets try that trick."
Sirius took a knife out of his pocket and approached the door, frowning as he pushed it into the lock. It glowed white-hot. Sirius grinned, and twisted the handle aside. The tumblers clicked.
"Bella, Bella, Bella," he tutted. "You've gotten lazy." He pushed the door open.
They were inside for only a minute when they froze in their tracks and pressed up against the wall.
"Late, late, late, late, late," Bellatrix high voice carried down the dark hallway along with a string of curses. Uranus could hear her pacing. She nodded to her team and led them further down the hall.
"It is hardly a problem," another, deeper voice carried through the darkened halls.
"Of COURSE it is a problem!" Bellatrix snapped. "And you, you think you've earned yourself any trust when you've LIED about this!"
"I simply procured the information," the man whispered. "I had no indication it bore this caveat."
"Well now it's your job to replace the soldiers we're about to lose!"
Remus froze in the middle of their group. His eyes glanced around. "The stairs!" he hissed, whipping his wand out and pointing it at the end of the hall. A large shield charm leapt from Remus wand, spanning their whole group. Twin cracks echoed through the hall as bright, purple and orange jinxes slammed into it, cast from high up on the dark staircase.
Sirius and Uranus swore. Neptune raised her hand, calling sea water to her palm. She nodded to Remus. He lowered the shield. All of them but Neptune ducked the next round of spells.
"Deep Submerge!"
The giant sphere of salt water raced down the hallway and crashed into the dark stairs. Two pops signaled the Death Eaters apparation into the hallway, jets of purple shot out of their wands.
Uranus stepped towards them, raising both Space Swords. She deflected the curses off her blades. They hit the walls on either side of the hallway, which corroded away at the impact points as if hit with acid.
Uranus continued advancing, not firing a single attack or spell as her swords danced through the air, deflecting each curse and jinx with ease. One blue spell hit a death eater and they screamed, curling up on the floor. The other kept firing, backing further and further down the hall until he slipped in the seawater pooling around the ruined stairs. He wobbled forwards and Uranus swooped in, knocking his other foot out from under him with the flat of her blade and helping him the rest of the way to the floor. She flipped him, and he landed on his back. His wand snapped under her boot. A gleeful shriek drew her attention to the left. And a high-pitched giggle followed, coming from somewhere beyond the wall. Something smashed.
"Come on!" she shouted to the others. She raised both weapons. "Space Swords Blaster!"
The twin arcs of wind smashed through the hidden door into a sitting room and Uranus rushed in ahead of Neptune and the others. There was Lestrange, and a terrified looking Timothy Abbott, a boy twice her size, cowering away from the knife blade she had pressed into his neck.
"Say goodbye," Bellatrix giggled and then turned, twin stunners sailed right past the spot where she had been, breaking the window across the room.
"Damnit!" Sirius cursed, stepping further into the room.
Uranus swung one sword in front of him. Her other swung towards the heavy curtains in the most shadowed corner of the sitting room. "Wait."
Neptune stepped up beside her, having felt the same presence she had. "Show yourself."
The white curtains blew out away from the closed window as if carried by a real breeze. In the dim light of the candles burning around the room they gained definition: their folds billowed out into sleeves and a hood, and into hems that barely brushed the floor. Neptune spotted white slippers peaking out beneath the wizard's robes and stared at the hood that hung low over his face, only revealing the thin line of his mouth.
"What do you want?" She demanded.
A smirk split across his shadowed face, though he otherwise didn't move.
A wind rushed through the sitting room, extinguishing all the candles and, in the dim light of the Space Swords and Trident, the wizard disintegrated into ash, swirling across the dark room to the fireplace and disappearing up the chimney.
"Ignis Fatuus." Remus whispered and a bright light appeared from the tip of his wand, splitting off into ten will-o-wisps that hovered around the sitting room, illuminating the empty corners, the broken window, and the four covered armchairs.
Something glinted near the fireplace where Bellatrix had been standing. Uranus pointed it out with one sword and Rigel Fawcett walked forwards and bent to examine it.
"Glass," he murmured.
"There's some in the corner there too," Michiru said, nodding towards where the Wizard in White had been hiding.
Rigel waved his wand. "Reparo." The glass rushed back together, gleaming as the four rounded faces and circular neck of the small object smoothed back together.
"A potions vial." Remus said, walking up to Rigel as he stood. He took the vial and sniffed it. Then frowned. "Whatever it was… it's nothing I know."
~SMH~
"A potion vial…" Setsuna murmured.
"It most likely came through via floo powder," Michiru said. "She must have known we would be coming and was waiting for us to move."
"That's it," Setsuna realized. "She must be using some potion to mask herself from my sight… and she would have waited to take it so that I wouldn't see where she decided to travel." Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose. "And I thought I'd had a breakthrough."
"Well she clearly has to keep taking it to thwart you," Haruka said. "Keep trying. She might slip up again."
"And whomever it was sent it late," Ami realized. "Why?"
"To mess with us," Haruka said, glaring towards the table. "We were played."
"I was played," Setsuna sighed.
"What about the two Death Eaters?" Mina asked.
"One was a Mulciber – he had the dark mark," Michiru said. "The second didn't – and was likely imperiused, not that we can confirm anything."
"Do you think whomever was stealing potions supplies from Slughorn is connected to Lestrange?" Ami asked as all of them looked at Mina, who had her eyes closed, nodding.
"It's one theory – Harry has said Draco's been acting suspiciously. He's decent in potions…"
"And if he's busy with school it'd explain Lestrange's supply being late… assuming it was an accident," Michiru murmured.
"I'm not sure of that," Setsuna said. "Though Draco does have an agenda here," she told them all.
"I knew it," Ginny muttered.
"Professor Snape's been tasked with watching him – for the Death Eaters and us." She shook her head. "I doubt he would let Draco brew something like that for Lestrange. It may be another potion he's brewing." She sighed. "I'll have a look… in the mean time." She looked over at Megumi, sitting stiffly between Chibiusa and Akira and gave her an encouraging smile. "I believe several of us still need to know what you told me."
Megumi nodded, as all the senshi and even her friends turned to look at her. She cleared her throat and, calmly and clearly, relayed the explanation she had given to Setsuna the Saturday before.
~SMH~
When their meeting ended, an hour after Quidditch practice, Usagi volunteered to show Chibiusa the kitchens, Mina and Rei (at Akira's invitation and Makoto's firm encouragement) followed the two Hufflepuffs down to their common room for a round of Exploding Snap. Makoto wrapped an arm around Ami's shoulders when she tried to sneak away to study, insisting they would take her by the library first, and she could check out as many heavy books as her heart desired. "But you're not spending your Saturday with Pince," Makoto said. "No matter what kind of reading bet you have with Hermione."
"I do not have a bet with Hermione." Ami blushed
"Suuure, and you asked her how many books she'd read last week purely out of book-wormy curiosity?" Makoto rolled her eyes.
As the inner senshi left, Setsuna asked the outer senshi to stay behind.
"Wait out here," she told Sora and Megumi. "We have something to discuss," and she led Michiru and Haruka back to her study. She looked back and beckoned. "You too Hotaru."
Hotaru beamed, hopping off the couch and striding quickly over to the office.
They left Sora pouting as the door closed behind them. "No fair," she said. "They let us sit in on the whole meeting, why's she being all secretive now?"
"They've got their reasons," Megumi said, and (deciding she'd had enough of sitting on the couch) stood and wandered to the closest of the bookshelves.
"What are they talking about?" Sora asked, leaning over the back of the couch to look at Megumi.
The Ravenclaw sighed. "They're talking about me."
Indeed they were. In between adding anything Michiru and Haruka could tell her about their past two weeks fighting the Death Eaters to her lists of names, spells, and targets, Setsuna calmly confirmed what the two older senshi and Hotaru had assumed upon learning who Megumi was.
"There can only be one Guardian of Time," Setsuna said. "So yes, from what I can gather, I no longer exist at whatever point in the future she originates from."
"But… but Crystal Tokyo's peaceful!" Hotaru protested.
Michiru and Haruka were shaking their heads.
"And we're the ones tasked with keeping it that way," Setsuna reminded Hotaru.
Michiru explained: "It worked well in the Silver Millennium to have us spend our time at the outermost reaches of the Solar System." She stared out the window as she spoke. "I've always assumed we're resume that duty eventually."
"Just as I am going to have to resume mine," Setsuna said. She leaned over the replica of Grimmauld Place's map that was spread over her desk, though hers also had lines in glowing yellow, blue, and white woven haphazardly across it. Setsuna tapped her wand against the map and traced a new yellow line across it.
Hotaru didn't know what they represented, and for once felt no burning curiosity to know. Rather, she felt leaden and cold. "But…" Hotaru protested when Setsuna'd finished adjusting her map. "But we need you."
Setsuna knelt down to her level. "And I need you, and I would never dream of leaving any of you," she said. She held Hotaru's hands in hers. "But fate never has taken dreams into account. It is more concerned with the struggle of good against evil in this universe – a war which we are bound by duty and, even more so, by our own convictions to wage on the front line." She squeezed Hotaru's hands. "You know there is always a chance that one or more of us will fall in the effort for peace… it is no idle threat. But that said," Setsuna smiled, "My younger self does not preside over Crystal Tokyo until at least the 25th century. Assuming I am not otherwise occupied in the outer solar system with Uranus and Neptune at that time, that means you have about 500 years left with me." She squeezed Hotaru's hands. "And I won't let fate decide when I leave until absolutely necessary, okay?"
Hotaru nodded, and sniffed, and then threw herself at Setsuna. And as she did, Haruka moved to wrap her arm tightly around Michiru, both of them watching their family.
Haruka leaned into Michiru and kissed her temple. "Do you think she's really going to die because Megumi exists?" She whispered.
Michiru squeezed her arm, and turned her face towards Haruka's. "Is it wrong to say I won't let her… even if it's necessary for peace?"
"Course not," Haruka said, said, pressing their foreheads together. "I'll be fighting fate right there with you."
They emerged from Setsuna's study a short time later, when Hotaru was sure all the evidence that she'd been crying was gone. Even if Mama liked Megumi, she still hadn't quite warmed up to her, certainly not enough to show that she had been upset.
Both first years ran up to them as soon as Setsuna opened the study door.
"Alright," Michiru said, checking her watch as Megumi and Sora stopped in front of them. Setsuna scanned the room. Nothing was broken, she noted, though the couch cushions had somehow made their way into a pile on the floor.
"Now, don't think I've forgotten who you are," Michiru said, training her sharp eyes on Sora. "We have questions."
"Most of which I'm still trying to think of," Haruka muttered
"Can we go down to the lake?" Sora asked. "I promised the Squid I'd come back and say hi – pleeeease!"
"Her eyes are like mine…" Haruka murmured, when Sora widened hers into a classically pleading expression. "How'd I miss that before?"
"You should take a boat out so you can actually talk without any students overhearing you," Setsuna said. "Rubeus will be more than happy to unlock the boathouse." She led them across her living room to the door of her chambers and along the way thought of something. She smiled down at Sora as she turned the door handle. "Have you met Fang yet?"
"Nooooooo," Sora said, curiosity instantly peaked by anything named "Fang."
"Well he's exactly the kind of creature you'd appreciate," Setsuna said, ushering them all into the hallway.
"Wait," Michiru frowned, stopping in the doorway. "Aren't you coming with us?"
"I can't," Setsuna shook her head. "I actually have a meeting."
"But,"
"It will be over by the time they serve dinner," Setsuna promised. "And then I'll happily join you."
Michiru made a face. "Minerva's right about you working to hard."
"I did take all of this morning off," Setsuna pointed out. "Please – you go," she said, waving towards the grand stairs "Enjoy the weather while it's not raining…"
Michiru lingered in the doorway with her arms crossed. She stared at Setsuna with one eyebrow raised. "You're not just saying that so you can shut yourself away and brood are you?"
"No." Setsuna assured her. "I promise I'm not. Really." She sighed. "Severus will be returning from his weekend duties – and this is the only time he has free to speak with me about them."
Michiru sighed. "Fine. Next time. You're coming with us."
The group had walked only a few steps however, when Setsuna realized (courtesy of Sora turning to look down the hall) there were only four of them. She followed Sora's gaze to her left and saw Megumi had slipped off down the hall, making her way towards Ravenclaw Tower. "Hold it," Setsuna said, waving Megumi back.
The first year froze and walked back to her, looking puzzled. "What is it?"
Setsuna looked between Megumi, and her family. "You're going with them."
Megumi paled. "I – I thought they were going to have family time."
Setsuna cocked her head to the side, smiling. "You are their family – oh don't look like I've unraveled the whole timeline." Setsuna chuckled at Megumi's stunned face. "You haven't done anything to make me think so." She knelt down so she could look Megumi in the eye. "The way I see it: either you are their family or you're going to be a part of it when you return to the future. Do you know how I know that?"
Megumi shook her head.
"Because there's no one I'd trust more to raise a Guardian of Time than them," Setsuna told her. "So there's no reason to hide it if that's always been the case for you. Or, if you've spent your whole life in the Time Dimension like me, then you should use this mission of yours to learn what having a family is. They are, unequivocally, the best one." She pointed Megumi towards the others. Haruka was already motioning for her to join them. "Go have fun."
Megumi looked like she wanted to grin, but bit her lip to stifle it. She nodded, and then turned, running to the others and falling into step with Michiru (walking quite close to her side). Michiru put her hand on the girl's shoulders.
Setsuna watched the whole group of them walk down the hallway, waving them towards the stairs every time one of them turned back towards her. She watched until they'd left the corridor. Then, once they'd disappeared around the corner, Setsuna hung her head and retreated behind the door of her rooms.
Severus was meant to meet her in another hour or so. And she spent the hour gathering her thoughts. It was not brooding, she rationalized, if one had a lot to think about.
At least they all get to have some time that isn't spent thinking about this war, she rationalized as she looked over her map: There were the borders that represented potentially unplottable properties, sparse and not nearly as many as she assumed there were, for it seemed Voldemort moved every week. She could see his plans to move clearly enough, but never the location, nor whom he might interact with while there. Which she now knew meant Lestrange, or another person she did not know (but who might also be hidden from her sight) was deciding where the Dark Lord should move.
She stared longest at Godrics Hollow, a point of symbolic interest. For he had already decided on his own to make an example of it, and Halloween just two months away. It was already surrounded by dark creatures, lying in wait kilometers away from the Hollow itself. It was maddening, Setsuna decided, not knowing whether they or other dangers would be involved in that attack, and not knowing what information to impart to give her side the best chance of winning.
Severus arrived five minutes before he was meant to and she waved her wand from her study to open the door to her chambers.
"That ridiculous Gryffindor urchin is annoying the giant squid," he said as he came in. "to the delight of my former students."
Setsuna looked out the window. "It appears more like they're playing."
"Hmm." Severus said, "I have new information about the teams who will be planning upcoming attacks." He said. "The Dark Lord is delegating more now that he knows you're keeping a close watch."
"Delegating among other things," she said. "I've ascertained how Lestrange is evading me."
She summoned a paper and pen. "But the names first."
"Cassidy O'Roark," Severus said, "Walden Macnair," "The Warrington twins."
Setsuna looked up from her writing and frowned. "They're being put in charge… of planning attacks."
Severus nodded. "He always gives the newer members tasks they believe can only be done by them. It strengthens their loyalty, strengthens their view of our side as their enemy, and they are creative…" Severus trailed off. "Voldemort has always had a very good eye for others potential usefulness."
Setsuna nodded, noting Severus guarded posture: his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. "Is that how it was for you?" she asked. "And how it is for Malfoy."
Severus snorted. "Malfoy hasn't got the stomach to fight a war and Voldemort's well aware of it. No, he's an example of what happens to followers who are weak." He drummed his fingers against his arm. "And I didn't need any special tasks, to be convinced to follow him, I was there out of simple, over confident, youthful foolishness."
She thought for a moment he might elaborate further but he was only silent a few moments, studying the map on her desk. "And how is Lestrange hiding from your abilities."
"A potion," Setsuna said. "They found the vial when they raided the manor, seems she needed it to be delivered – they're assuming via floo – before she would leave. Which means," Setsuna said, "That leaving beforehand would have given me a clue, where her next location was."
"Do you have vial?" Severus asked.
Setsuna pulled it from her pocket and tossed it to him. She leaned against the window as he raised his wand and tapped it against the vial's glass rim. Light grey smoke filled it, hovering inside for a few moments before suddenly vanishing. Snape curled his lip in irritation.
"No trace of whatever it was," he said. "Are you able to ascertain if any others have used this to hide from you?"
But Setsuna shook her head. "To me every individual future remains as clear as they've ever been, even Lestrange. It's only because she began making decisions that deviated from her course that I know anything was amiss. So if others have taken whatever potion this is, I wont know unless I notice they have changed course… Like Draco Malfoy."
Severus snapped his head towards her. "You believe he has hidden his future from you as well?"
Setsuna shook her head. "It is only a theory, but I can't discount, especially given what his mission is."
Severus stared at her. "And do you know... how that mission will fair?"
Setsuna was quiet a moment, gazing out the window at the lake. It seemed her friends had gone elsewhere now, though the Giant Squid continued to flex its tentacles above the surface.
"There are only two possible futures for Draco's mission," Setsuna said. "Either way the cost is a life."
"But neither life is Draco's," Severus insisted.
Setsuna nodded, giving him a sympathetic eye. "It's unfair, the lot you've been dealt."
Severus closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It is not meant to be fair," he said. "It is only the fate I deserve."
Setsuna crossed her arms and frowned at him. "You're a double agent in a war where there are no favors for you on either side… You're bound to protect a boy who's been set an impossible task, either by carrying out said task yourself or by dying for resisting it. And you'll get no love or thanks for either."
Severus looked up at her with piercing eyes. "Your abilities are no more fair than my fate. And yet you never complain about them, nor the lonely fate the details of which I have only an inkling of – You shoulder that duty without regret. You take pleasure in doing it well. Is it so hard to believe I might feel the same about my own circumstances."
Setsuna smiled, shaking her head. "For a long time, I suppose I thought just the same…but there's better reasons to bear a burden like mine, or like yours."
She looked towards her wall, where one of her many pictures hung: this one of Hotaru the time she had stolen Haruka's racing helmet and toddled around the house with the giant thing bobbling on her head, her grin visible through the turned up visor as she looked at Haruka chasing her. She knew Severus was looking at the picture to.
"There has to be more than just a sense of duty keeping you going every day." She said. "After all, war doesn't last for ever."
"Which is the only comforting thing about it," Severus said. "And I need no grand declarations of peace and love for which to fight." He walked to the door of her study, black robes billowing behind him, and paused after turning the handle. "I do this for vengeance. I do it to atone for my sins."
"And what about after its all over?" Setsuna asked him.
He shook his head. "I'm hoping fate will not be cruel enough to leave me behind for that." And before she could stay another word, he had gone.
Setsuna sighed, and was just pulling out her chair when something bright slipped through the wall of her study, ephemeral whisps of light gathering into the form of two towering dragons.
"You're meeting is over," Michiru said. "And the Mirror you've nothing else important to do up there. We're all going to dinner and you're coming."
She frowned. "The Great Hall doesn't start serving for another 45 minutes."
"She's forgotten to mention," the second dragon said, "That we're going to dinner in Hogsmeade."
"And if you don't get down here in five minutes, I will send three hellions up to get you." The dragon paused and huffed. "Sorry, two hellions and Hotaru."
"She's not kidding, they're very determined." The other one declared. Then both patronuses evaporated.
Setsuna stared at the spot where they had been hovering and sighed. I suppose dinner would be nice, she thought. Though she was still unsure how she felt about seeing what their family would be in the future, knowing it wasn't one she would be a part of.
Now that, she told herself in a voice that reminded her of Michiru's is definitely what they would call brooding.
~SMH~
Harry noticed Hotaru the second he walked into breakfast on Sunday. She up early like he was, shoulders slumped as she stared into a bowl of un-eaten cereal. He changed his course, ignoring the stares from some of the other students as he slid into the seat beside hers at the Ravenclaw table.
"Hey," he said. "Your moms already leave?"
She nodded. "They left last night…" She glared at her breakfast. "I don't like that I'm stuck here while they're off fighting."
"I hear you," he said. "I feel the same about Sirius."
"Not Remus?"
"Him too," Harry amended. "Just not as much you know… I mean I know he can take care of himself. It's Sirius who runs into everything headfirst…like at the Ministry."
"That won't happen again," Hotaru promised him. "I'm sure he'll be more careful about Lestrange."
"Hope so," Harry sighed, and looked up when a rush of owls overhead signaled the arrival of the Daily Prophet. They seemed to know he had switched tables, for they dropped the Sunday paper right into his hands.
"Anything?" Hotaru asked.
"Nothing interesting… or," he scowled at the image of an "accidental fire" in a Diagon alley shop. "Truthful."
"Maybe the paper editor really is a Death Eater," Hotaru mused.
"Oi!" They both turned around, there was Dean Thomas strolling in from the doors to the Great Hall.
"There you are, Harry. Here –" he shoved a crumpled piece of parchment at Harry. "I was supposed to give this to you last night, forgot. Sorry. An, Hotaru," Dean fished around in his other pocket and produced an identical crumpled parchment.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Dunno, just looks blank to me. It's important though. Dumbledore gave it to me." Dean grinned. "What's it say?"
Harry smoothed out the parchment with growing excitement. Finally, the lessons Dumbledore had promised him. "Er… he wants to talk in his office tomorrow." Harry said. "Bet it's about Quidditch."
"Really," Dean thought. "I mean I guess that'd be cool – but I hope its way more exciting. Anyways," He waved to Seamus as he shuffled in the doors and made a beeline for the coffee. "See you."
Harry turned to Hotaru. "You got one too."
"I guess so, Mama Suna did say to look out for something like this." She read over the note again. "What do you suppose it means 'p.s. I like acid pops?'"
~I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good~
