AN: This was… incredibly satisfying. Stay tuned next week for the Christmas Chapter!
Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or 9
Last Time On Sailor Moon H: After months of searching, spying, and stressing, the location of Voldemort's next Horcrux has been found.
R.A.B.
"Bloody Hell! How'd you do that?" Ron gaped as Ginny's Rook swooped in and checkmated his King. The red piece dropped its sword and hung its head and Ginny's pieces looked up at her. She grinned and stuck her thumb down. The three pieces checkmating Ron's King swarmed in with their swords, hacking the defeated King to pieces.
"Ginny!"
"You're the chess champion, you know how I did it," Ginny said, lounging back on the couch and looking over at the common room fire. Rei and Harry were still stock still in front of it, and Ginny was pretty sure neither was seeing anything useful given how tensely they were sitting.
"What are they doing?" someone asked as her pieces retreated from the pile of rumble that was Ron's King. Ginny glanced over at them. Fourth year... Romalda something.
"Divination homework," Ron told her. "NEWTs weird stuff."
"I didn't think Harry took that at the NEWT level," Romalda said with excited eyes. "Oh but of course he tries to play down how talented he is. What's his favorite divination method?" she asked Ginny, though her eyes continued to stare adoringly at Harry.
"None of your business," Ginny said. "And no you can't ask him – he's got to concentrate."
"Who are you, his girlfriend?" Romalda huffed, crossing her arms. She looked at Ginny for the first time, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "You know they all say boys don't date their teammates. They just don't think it's romantic."
Ginny matched the impetuous fourth year with a much cooler glare perfected from over a decade of Fred and George trying to get a rise out of her, and reminded herself that when she'd been walking around the locker room with her robe half on last week Harry had definitely been looking. "No one has ever said that," Ginny told Romalda. "And no, I'm not his girlfriend. Then again, neither are you." She noticed her chess pieces brandishing their weapons at Romalda and scooped up the bishop before it could throw its spear at her.
Romalda huffed. "We'll see about that," and she strutted away from the couch and over to one of the study tables where the other fourth and some of the fifth year girls were huddled together, giggling at Ginny.
She rolled her eyes and looked over at Ron. He was frowning at her. "What?"
"Nothing," he said, glancing at Harry. "Um..." he blushed. "You know Harry loves Quidditch. He's never said he wouldn't date a teammate... not that we've talked about it. But we haven't not talked about it. And, and Harry's great... and he doesn't know that girl's name anyways."
Ginny stared at him. "Are you... that... I think you are encouraging me to flirt with your best friend."
"Gin! No!" Ron protested. "I just... I dunno. I dunno, okay. Just... you know, he doesn't really look at anyone but you." He was as red as the tie that was draped askew across his robes.
To be fair though, Ginny didn't imagine her face was any less red. "Um... Thanks," she said, busying herself cleaning up the chess pieces. She glanced up at her brother, who was staring at the ceiling. "For the record, Hermione thinks you're... very nice looking."
"Really!" Ron said, leaning forwards over the chess board. "What'd she say."
"Nothing I want to repeat to my brother," Ginny glared.
Someone next to them cleared their throat "Um..." the two of them looked up.
Neville Longbottom looked between the two of them and at Harry and Rei in front of the fire. "Am I interrupting?"
"No," Ginny said, making room on the couch for him. He had a defense book under his arm. "What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you'd seen Usagi. I'm headed down to the library – loads of the first years wanted someone to help them with their shield charms. And Usagi likes to help me when we tutor them... but I can't find her, and she's not out with Colin."
"Date with Goldstein," Ginny said. "He heard she liked stars and there's a meteor shower tonight. They're probably up on top of the Astronomy Tower."
"She likes Goldstein now?" Neville frowned.
"I guess – But she also likes stargazing way more than studying. So do I as it happens." She gave a mischeivous grin to Neville and crossed her arms. "If you're that jealous, you have to do way better than the library, mate."
Neville flushed and stared towards the floor. "I'm n-not jealous. She's just..." he glanced up at Ginny's raised eyebrow and she and Ron's identical smirks and turned redder. "Nevermind," he muttered.
Ginny chuckled. "Sorry, Nev – if you want to date her just ask her out. She thinks your cute; she'll say yes."
"I guess." Neville shrugged and his voice faded to a mumble as he added: "she's... looking for a prince though. I'd just distract her." He glanced at his watch. "Anyways – I'd better go." And he dashed off lest Ginny decide to jump off the couch and give him a pep talk.
The fifth year was certainly considering it. She sighed and slumped into the couch, staring after Neville.
"Shit luck for him," Ron commented from the other couch. "First girl he considers asking out has the bar set on royalty."
"Well it isn't as if Endymion's a prince now," Ginny rolled her eyes. "Figures the girl who's better at boosting his self-confidence than me has to be the bloody Queen."
"What's Endymion like anyways?" Ron asked. "Has to be interesting if she's considered Creevey and Goldstein."
"He's a little bit like both of them and also nothing like them," Ginny shook her head. "That's sort of the point, I think. Usagi's trying to get to know people without constantly wondering if they're him."
"Are you looking for him?" Ron wondered. "I mean, wasn't he your friend?"
"Well then I'd have to comb through half the school, wouldn't I? – and that's not counting the girls," Ginny said. "Which you know, there's me, so Endymion could certainly be a girl." She closed her eyes. "I try not to think about what'd he'd be like now, cause whenever anyone does anything remotely Endymion-like I spend the rest of the day distracted. And upset." She sighed, staring up at the warm light from the fire dancing across the ceiling. "He was my best friend... and my liege lord besides. I mean I knew him loads longer than Serenity did. I feel like I should be able to find him, but the more I look, the more I think it'd be easier to find bloody excalibur!"
"Well you're all too close to it, aren't you?" Ron observed. "What was he like – come on tell me!" he pressed when Ginny looked away. "Or tell Hermione – you know she's nearly read everything the library has on the old pure blood lineages trying to prove Harry's book's from a dark wizard. She needs a new project."
Ginny chuckled. "Maybe one that doesn't make she and Harry frosty with each other at breakfast." She bit her lip, thinking back. "He was kind. I know that's way too general, but I really mean it. He was nice to everyone. Unless you hurt his friends that is, then he didn't look too kindly on you. Like when we were at school: the older Gryffindors would tease me cause I was Godric Gryffindor's son, but I was an absolute shrimp up till fifth year. And they always felt jealous that I got to be Dad's son when they thought they were more Gryffindor than me... I was too proud to tell Dad of course, he would have said to prove 'em wrong and deal with it. And it got bad... Endymion found out, see. And next thing I know, he's appointed himself my designated bodyguard. He taught me chess. And when I was too small for the armor they used to issue you in defense, he mastered the shrinking charm so I wouldn't have to beg a teacher to shrink mine for me." She smiled. "And he was patient too. Like he knew how to listen to you. I used to blow my top whenever I got frustrated and he'd say we should go out and see if the grounds keeper needed help wrangling any creatures that day, so I'd have the space to rant about whatever was on my mind. He did that for Saverio Slytherin too, whenever his dad put too much pressure on him to live up to his legacy..." She opened her eyes. "He told me once he thought of people just like plants in his gardens... like they all had the potential to be great if he just took the time to figure out what they needed to grow strong."
"He sounds like a pansy," Ron muttered.
"Oi!" Ginny glared.
"No, I just mean – er," Ron smacked his face. "Sorry, I meant to say..."
He was cut off by the fire flaring up and Harry groaning in frustration. Ginny and Ron looked over at the two fire-gazers. Harry was leaning against the coffee table rubbing his scar and Rei was staring at her lap, her hands in fists.
"What?" Ginny and Ron asked together.
"He's looking for someone," Harry said. "But that's all I can get."
"And Michiru and Haruka have a mission tonight," Rei added, not looking away from her lap. "I don't like it."
"Are they in danger?" Ginny asked, jumping off the couch with her right hand already out to summon Gryffindor's sword.
"I don't think so," Rei scowled. "I hate that they're back to going on missions and leaving us out in the cold!" she fumed.
"What did you see?" Harry asked.
Rei bit her lip. "A lake, and a lot of dark magic lurking under the surface."
"The... h-o-r-c-r-u-x is in a lake?" Ron said. "What's V-voldemort designed these like? Triwizard tasks?"
Rei shrugged "Whatever those are." She shook her head, staring at her clenched fists. "Setsuna says she's watching... doesn't want too many people involved... in case it tips him off."
All of them stared into the fire, orange flames stretching up towards the top of the fireplace.
"They got the ring, didn't they," Harry offered. "They can get this one too."
Rei sighed and shook her head. "I still don't like it..."
Rei was not the only one who felt uneasy about the night ahead: as preparations got underway in the Headmaster's office for Dumbledore's part in the operation, Setsuna Meioh felt much the same.
It would foreseeably be a successful mission. And she was more confident given Lestrange was abroad, and so far there did not seem to be any more uncertainty than usual.
But there was enough to give her pause, especially as she could not accompany them.
If the Order is otherwise occupied, Dumbledore had reasoned and I myself am going abroad, that will leave you the best equipped to defend the school from attack.
She hated that she agreed with him. Especially as she tried to account for the risks Haruka and Michiru might face tonight.
Presently, Setsuna lingered near the front wall of the Headmaster's office, watching Dumbledore and Kingsley as they leaned over the desk deliberating one last time over the large, map hovering over the top of it.
The fireplace in the back of the office turned green and Mad-Eye Moody ducked out of it.
"It's an auspicous day for dark magic for a reason," Mad-Eye Moody complained as he stomped the ash off of his boot and wooden leg. He'd been incredibly resistant to any operation on the new moon, but it seemed, as Setsuna'd thought, that he'd appeared to help them non-the-less.
"I assure you, Alastor," Dumbledore said, beckoning him to the desk where he and Kingsley were double-checking the map. "There really is no other time for it."
"We can't guarentee Voldemort will be out of the country on any other day." Setsuna added, looking out the window at the dark grounds. It was a starry night now, though there'd be snow later.
"Could be walking right into them," Moody muttered, adjusting his wand holster and then his cloak. "You sent the communication to Gregorvich securely?" Moody checked.
There was a shriek, and a burst of flame as Fawkes appeared overhead, landing heavily on the desk in a rain of soot. The phoenix ruffled his feathers and glared at Moody, turning his beak up at the man.
"Right, secure enough then," Moody grumbled. His magical eye rolled 180 degrees around in his head, looking to the grandfather clock beside the fireplace. "We'll be late."
"You'll be right on time," Setsuna assured him.
"An' where's your strike team anyways?" Moody continued. "Can't tell me Black wasn't keen to piss on Voldemort's operation."
"Their team has their own business this evening," Dumbledore said.
"Something to do with why the Stebbins kid was askin' me bout underwater defenses?" Moody asked.
Dumbledore shook his head. "All will be revealed in time, Alastor. For now you'll have to settle for an old man's word." He held out his arm and Fawkes alighted on it. "Are we ready."
"Ready enough," Kingsley shrugged. He vanished the map and shrunk several items strewn across the Headmaster's desk. They sailed into the open neck of the unassuming moleskin pouch he'd tied around his neck. That done, Kingsley walked around the desk to Dumbledore and Moody and put his left hand on Fawkes wing. Moody's magical eye did one more sweep around the office as he put his hand on Fawkes other wing. The phoenix chirped, adjusting his perch on Dumbledore's arm.
And Dumbledore looked at Setsuna. "If we do not return," he said. "Please inform Mr. Potter that everything he needs he'll find in the cabinet behind my desk. And give my apologies to Minerva, as I have several weeks worth of neglected paperwork she'll now be stuck sorting through. And for the portrait," he said merrily (either unaware of Moody's irritated scowl or more likely unhindered by it.) "Tell them I am quite partial to rainbow socks."
There was a crack and a burst of sparks as Fawkes apparated away, carrying the three wizards with him.
And then it was Setsuna Meioh alone in the office. She looked to the cabinet Dumbledore had mentioned. It was unlikely, as of now, that they would not make it back, but it never hurt to be prepared for the eventuality.
It was mostly pensieve memories resting behind the glass – balanced delicately on their stands. In the back of the cabinet though were three other items: an unassuming black pocket-lighter, a small old book with a gold title and yellowing pages, and (Setsuna raised her eyebrows) a golden snitch whose its wings drooping against the glass shelf.
She shook her head, and departed the office, making rounds of the whole school just in case any eyes or ears were keen to do dark magic tonight. She lingered in the dungeons surrounding the Slytherin dorms for a while, nervous that if their plans were discovered, Malfoy might think it an opportune night to signal for an attack on the school.
As she made her rounds, in her head, she went over the likeliest of timelines anew.
It was 22:10 now. Dumbledore, Shacklebolt, and Moody would have appeared in the hills around Gregorvitch's workshop at 21:47 and would now be within a spell-casting's distance of the wand-maker. Gregorvich would have his belongings packed to Moody's satisfaction by 22:45 and would, they hoped, be well on his way into hiding by the time Voldemort and Lestrange located his shop.
And as of now, Haruka, Michiru, and their team would be watching the clouds overtake the stars above the Dover cliffs, waiting for the last of the lights from nearby muggle towns to go out for the evening. That would be in six minutes time, at which point they would go ahead with their plans.
Absently, Setsuna twisted the new ring on her left hand. It was remarkably similar to those she, Haruka, and Michiru had worn before they'd lost them to Galaxia. It was so similar that Setsuna'd wondered when Haruka'd gifted it to her if the sky guardian had bought it or conjured three replicas from memory.
"I just missed having them. And these'll be useful!" Haruka'd explained when she'd presented them several days ago. "They'll turn cold if one of us is in trouble. This way, you can guard Hogwarts and not worry about whether or not we need you."
Right now the ring was warm. Setsuna twisted it on her finger again. It was 22:15. They'd be diving into the cave any second...
The Death Eaters won't have tracked them, Setsuna assured herself as she breezed through the dark corridors. We've taken more than enough precautions.
When she reached the bridge between the East and West wings of the castle, the clouds were overtaking the stars, blanketing the peaceful grounds in a layer of darkness that would soon mask the midnight snowfall.
Nothing will go wrong, Setsuna thought. It would in all likelyhood be a normal, starless, moonless eve.
~SMH~
When the last light went out in the village nearest the cliffs, five people approached the edge, cast bubblehead charms for themselves with well practiced waves of their wands, and, following the lead of the short, aqua haired witch, dove into the black ocean water.
Thank Merlin they'd remembered the cast heating charms on their robes. The water was frigid – so much so that they felt frostbite prickling their fingers seconds into their swim. Sirius Black gave up on the idea entirely, transforming into Padfoot midswim and dog paddling the rest of the way into the cave.
He was the slowest. And the minute he emerged into the cave, he caught Remus eye and grinned.
"No." Remus said, casting a drying charm on Padfoot and then himself.
The dog whined and transformed back into Sirius."But shaking is my favorite part!" he pouted "I'd have moved."
"Lying," Michiru sighed. Remus and Sirius looked towards her.
She had her back to them and her head down, and was gazing into the Aqua Mirror – the brightest light in the velvety darkness of the cavern. The blue from the looking glass refracted off of the sword Haruka brandished in her right hand, and off the small crystals embedded in the rocks.
She pointed to a high, jagged stone wall several feet ahead of them and spoke again in the same, low, distance voice that overtook her while her mirror held her attention. "There's another cavern further in."
"It's been magically expanded," Rigel said, muttering under his breath as he strained his eyes to interpret the runework hidden in these rocks. "There's...so much here..."
"On the left," Michiru told him without once looking up from the mirror, her brow was furrowed eyes shifting back and forth as she watched whatever it was showing her.
"I... she's right." Rigel announced, putting his hand on a narrow, smooth portion of the rock face. "I think to open it needs... a payment?"
Sirius and Remus exchanged looks "What sort?" Sirius asked, rubbing his chin.
"I think... a blood payment?" Rigel frowned "Am I interpreting that right?"
Sirius suddenly barked out a laugh. "Uninspired." He shook his head, motioning Rigel aside as he approached the rock. He reached into his pocket and took out a switchblade. "I've got this." He lifted the knife. For a moment it appeared as though he mearly curled his hand around the blade.
Then he hissed through gritted teeth, pulling the knife back. He uncurled his left hand, and pressed it to the rock.
The stone cracked up the middle and separated, a faint green light straining out from beyond it.
"Are you trying to match Mad-Eye's limb count?" Remus nagged Sirius as they all filed through the narrow doorway. Haruka had to pull Rigel along as it tried to close on him.
"W-would it have let you just knick your thumb?" Rigel asked while Remus healed Sirius hand.
"Nah," Sirius said, turning to take in the new room. His voice echoed out through the darkness. "These kinds can tell when you're being a wimp about it." He led the way forwards, walking up to where Haruka and Michiru had stopped, a foot or so from the still, black surface of a lake. Michiru was still frowning into the mirror, and Haruka (standing close to Michiru) was turning round, eyes narrowed as she stared into the deep, overwhelming darkness that permeated the cave, and at the faint point of green light in the middle of the lake, which cast an eerie, emerald sheen on the water.
"There's something under the water," Michiru murmured as the five of them stood in a line along the lake shore. "Can you feel it?"
"Can I ever." Haruka closed her eyes. "It's too quiet."
"I know what it is," Remus said; his voice was cold. A new, warmer green light flared up in front of him, and they all turned to look. He was glaring towards the lake, holding his favorite spell – the green fire – in his hand. "I remember these clearer than most things." He wrinkled his nose. "Not even water quite masks the smell."
Sirius frowned, and transformed into Padfoot. He was a dog long enough to get a wiff of the air and when he did, he whined and growled. His hackles shot up and he transformed swiftly back to human, cursing.
"I'm right aren't I?" Remus asked.
"Inferi," Sirius said. Rigel squeaked.
"Corpses," Remus told Haruka and Michiru. "Re-animated to act as a dark wizard's army."
"They can't be restored then?" Haruka checked.
"No... and only fire and light will stop them." Remus stowed his wand so he could gather the green fire spell in both hands. "Don't touch the water – that's surely their trigger to attack."
"We still need to get out to that light." Haruka's eyes narrowed as she tried to judge the distance. "I could jump it."
"Let's see," Sirius said. "Avis."
A bird chirped as it flew out of his wand, soaring out over the lake. It got halfway across when the pale, emaciated shape of an inferius launched out of the water, catching the bird and crashing once more beneath the surface of the lake. Moments later the water was as eerily still and silent as it had been before.
"Right... not jumping then," Haruka said.
"There's another way," Michiru announced, eyes still lost in the mirror's depths. She turned to the right, and walked nimbly across the rocks, navigating down to the water's edge.
Haruka followed after her with the Space Sword raised lest another of those nasties thought of coming near the shore. But Michiru seemed unconcerned, walking with ease along the edge of the water, and out onto a narrow outcropping in the rocks.
"Careful," Haruka cautioned, but Michiru suddenly knelt at the edge of the water. "Michi!"
Michiru stuck one hand below the water's surface and stood. They all heard the faint clink of metal before a heavy, faintly green chain became visible in her hand.
Michiru tucked the mirror into her robe and used both hands to pull the chain – covered in green magic and slime – from the water. More of it became visible as it coiled up on the rock behind her. After a few minutes she gritted her teeth and pulled harder. Haruka came up behind her and wrapped both hands around Michiru's. They pulled together. Something scrapped against the stones on the shore, and (as the water rolled off of it) a small wooden boat, awash in green magic, became visible as first the narrow bow, then the shallow sides, and finally the stern were pulled up into the shallows and docked on the shore.
"There's enchantments on it," Rigel noted as they all gathered around the boat. He knelt down and traced a hand over the side. "If it senses more than one witch or wizard in it, it won't move across."
"We have a way around that," Michiru said and nodded to Sirius.
He grinned widely and clapped his hands. "Almost worth the flees – make way!" Sirius stepped fowards, landing in the boat as Padfoot and sending it rocking to the side as he paced around it on his four, giant paws.
"And Haruka," Michiru added, looking up at her.
Haruka was frowning at her. "You have a plan don't you? You saw something in your mirror."
"Yes," Michiru whispered, holding out her left hand between them.
"Am I going to like the plan."
"It's the fastest way to get the Horcrux," Michiru said. "Trust me."
Haruka sighed. And reached out, catching Michiru's hand. "Always."
Michiru smiled. She leaned towards Haruka, transforming into the aqua and blue snake animagus, twining up Haruka's arm and curling round her neck.
"Right," Haruka said, raising her eyebrows at Padfoot, who had the boat's oar in his mouth. "Uh-uh. I'm steering." She stepped into the boat and reaching her hand out for the oar.
Padfoot whined but complied, dropping the oar into her palm. It was covered in slobber.
"Do you have to act exactly like your species?" Haruka asked as she knelt down and put the butt of the oar against the rocks, preparing to push off. She looked up at Remus and Rigel. "Watch the door."
"Be back soon," Remus replied.
The boat pushed off from the rocks, wobbling percariously in the still, black water. Then it leveled out, and the only sound in the cave was the echo of the lone oar propelling the small craft across.
"Rigel." Remus held out his fire-coated palm. "Remember fifth year, I taught you this one?"
Rigel nodded, muttering something under his breath and reaching out. The flame in Remus palm grew and stretched between them, spreading into Rigel's hand.
"Cover the opposite shore," Remus said. "Do you remember how to shoot these."
"Yeah."
"Be ready to do so – indescriminantly – do you understand? Don't worry about hitting Haruka or tripping any alerts."
Rigel gulped. "They're that fast?"
Remus nodded. "But for now we're fine." He glared at the faint shape of a pale limb drifting under the water. "As long as nothing wakes them up."
The green light that stretched out into the darkest reaches of the cave shone from atop a low island, the three boat-riders could see as they neared: the land was barely more than a pile of stones in the middle of the lake. Padfoot bounded out onto the stone shore first and transformed, using his wand to secure the boat.
Haruka jumped out, sword drawn, but nothing appeared on the island. The air here, as on the shore, was unnaturally still.
She extended her arm, watching the snake animagus slide into her palm and transform. In a blink, the snake was Michiru again, standing beside Haruka with one hand clasped in hers.
"It's a potion," Sirius announced. He was already kneeling by the source of the green light – a shallow gold basin. The light seemed to emanate up from the bottom, refracted through the cave by the clear potion that lapped at the edges of the basin. Sunk at the bottom was a gleaming, silver and green locket.
"Don't suppose we can just pick it out," Sirius mused. Haruka frowned, and she and Michiru knelt beside Sirius. She released Michiru's hand and leaned over the basin, lowering her sword into it. She sliced it towards the bottom, attempting several times to scoop the locket out and then, several more times to stab it, until Michiru put a hand on her arm.
"That won't work, unfortunately," she said. "We need to drain the basin first."
Sirius hummed and waved his wand, conjuring a simple, golden goblet. He dipped it into the basin and lifted it, completely full. "If I were having a lucky day, I could just..." he moved the goblet until it was over the rocks and dumped it out. The clear potion within spilled forth, but disappeared before it could splash against the rocks.
The basin refilled to the brim.
"Guess it isn't a lucky day," Sirius muttered.
"There's only one way," Michiru said. Sirius looked up as she stretched her hand out across the basin. "It has to be drunk."
"You saw this, didn't you?" Haruka whispered.
Michiru nodded.
"Then let me."
"Never," Michiru said, taking the goblet from Sirius. She looked up at Haruka. "I saw what it can do." She held Haruka's gaze. "I can do it. I'm strong enough. Just... both of you," she looked over at Sirius too. "Don't let me stop... and don't try to finish it for me. We might need everyone if those creatures wake up."
"Michi I'm not just going to let you drink whatever that is!"
"You have to," Michiru smiled up at her. "You have to row the boat back."
"But..."
"And if anything went wrong, I'm the easiest to carry." Michiru leaned up and pressing her forehead to Haruka's. She teased: "Some people are too heavy." She stared at Haruka. "What's our objective?"
"The horcrux," Haruka said. Her shoulders sagged and she looked away. "Fine."
"We can't waste time," Michiru said. She turned away from Haruka and dipped the goblet into the basin. It was so full when she lifted it that the potion spilled down the sides. Michiru brought the goblet to her lips.
As Michiru tipped the potion down her throat, Haruka felt the ring on her finger chill. Michiru grabbed for her hand.
The three Order members on the island waited, but the potion did not refill. The lake did not stir.
Michiru dipped the goblet into the potion again and continued to drink.
~SMH~
"This is taking too much time," Mad-Eye Moody grumbled, glancing for the seventeenth time at the glowing, bronze numbers on his watch.
"It always takes a while," Shacklebolt said.
They'd just finished the ground work for wards around the wider property and were now preparing a Fidelius charm for the farmhouse that would serve as the wandmaker, Gregorvich's home foreseeably until the end of the war. Shacklebolt felt something cold on his head and looked up. It had begun to snow. "Though if this masks the magical traces on the ground Voldemort and his party may soon opt for an air search. Then we might be in the shit."
"Hmm." Moody snapped his wand. "Circacito!" A bolt of lightning shot out of his wand and rippled across the clouds overhead, accompanied by a deafening clap of thunder. The snow fall began to shift, streaking off to the right and left and forming a wall of snow that howled as it picked up to blizzard level, blocking the property off behind the false storm.
"That'll do," Shacklebolt said, just as something bright orange torn past them. Fawkes had shot out of the farmhouse. He circled three times overhead and flashed, stranding the two of them and Dumbledore hours from Britain, ankle deep in the snow.
"Next time we're using my transport," Moody said and his frown deepened. His magical eye darted all around. "Usually that bird's more reliable."
Kingsley nodded. Something had prompted Fawkes to leave them. "And now I agree with you: This is taking too long."
~SMH~
Sora Kaioh watched the snow fall outside from the seat of one of Gryffindor's tall dormitory windows. The fingers of her left hand tapped quietly across on the glass as she stared into the darkness. In her right hand, she held a large, blue and white shell over her ear.
It was still so hard to listen here, with all the magical interference. Not even enchanting the shell with wizard spells could quite make up the difference. Still, Sora'd heard them arrive at the cave safely. It was only now that they were inside that the shell could convey only unintelligible whispers to her.
She shivered and the shell fell through her hand, clattering to the wood floor. The sound of her fingers on the glass abruptly ceased.
Sora bit her lip and closed her eyes as the tingling feeling started in her fingers and toes – the one that said they'd begun to diffuse, trying to dissolve back into stardust. She curled up smaller in the window seat.
"Be okay," she whispered, heart pounding as the tingling spread to her arms and legs. "Be okay. Be okay."
It was too early to intervene. It had only been a month since Megumi had told them they needed to wait, after all, and what little all of them had been able to learn about the man inadvertantly changing their timeline suggested that was still so.
This was just the universe being unstable, Sora tried to convince herself once more. Tonight's mission was just like any other of mamas' and papa's missions.
"Be okay, be okay, be okay."
Trust them to win their war, Megumi had said. That wasn't unreasonable. They'd won many. They would win many more.
Still...
"Be okay," Sora whispered, never once opening her eyes lest she see right through her own hands. "Be okay, be okay, be okay..."
~SMH~
Setsuna gasped, her heart leapt into her throat as the world around her was suddenly engulfed in orange flames. She whirled around, raising her arms to block the heat...
At once the fire began to fill with color, the flames transforming into a dark, bleak vision. Setsuna even forgot the heat as she stared, paralyzed, at what the fire showed her.
The wizard-in-white was the brightest point in the otherwise dark scene, hovering over a burnt out, crumbling ruin of a castle and standing out against the backdrop of a sky clogged with billowing plumes of thick, ashy smoke...
She didn't realize the ruin was Hogwarts until she noticed what stood before her: the drained basin of a lake with the pale corpse of a giant squid spread across the bottom, its limbs crushing the corpses of the other lake life. Along the shoreline, she covered her mouth with her hand, the small, black-robed corpses of students lay sprawled across the cracked ground that would have once been the shallows.
She tried to step forwards, into the scene, to kill the wizard, to stop this, and saw a pink light hit the Wizard in White in the back. He disintegrated for a moment and reformed, as unaffected by the attack as a ghost. He turned to face the source of the light.
A blond figure stood on the cracked steps of the castle, her long blond pigtails streaking out behind her. Setsuna stared as she closed her eyes and a golden crescent formed on her forehead, as her red and black robes shimmered and changed into a familiar regal, white gown.
Setsuna prayed as she stared through the fire: as Neo Queen Serenity raised the Moon scepter on the white wizard, beginning to glow a brilliant white. She opened her mouth to speak.
A jet of green shot towards the Queen from the back, engulfing her in the deadly glow. Setsuna screamed. Serenity's blue eyes dulled, her scepter clattered from her hand. And as the light faded, she crumpled onto Hogwarts steps.
And a rail-thin woman with wild gray hair and crazed grey eyes stepped over her corpse, twisted wand still glowing the horrific deadly green. She tilted her head towards the sky and laughed, wand shooting the Dark Mark up into the sky.
The scene faded, the orange flames surrounded Setsuna once more and she looked all around. Several small figures were walking through them, becoming clearer and clearer in the flames.
She saw the aqua haired eleven-year-old first – Sora Kaioh stretched her hand out towards Setsuna as she neared. Setsuna reached for her.
And watched as, just as their fingers would have touched, Sora's form turned translucent. Everything from the waves of her turquoise hair to the rolled sleeves of her quidditch robes turned to golden dust and dissolved. Leaving only the flames behind.
"Pluto!" She heard Akira Hino behind her and turned round in time to see the Hufflepuff child fade too, and then to her left...
"No!" Setsuna tried to reach for her power as she turned again and saw Megumi Meioh staring at her, red eyes mournful as she raised her hand and waved, and like the others dissolved into golden dust.
"Puu?" She shivered and turned again, dropping to her knees as she faced Chibiusa, whose hands were even now turning to bright, golden flecks of stardust.
"I can stop this!" Setsuna cried, watching Chibiusa stare as first her hands and then her arms disintegrated. "Tell me how? Tell me!"
"You can't," Chibiusa whispered. "You can't stop it."
"No!" She reached for her. If she could just pull her into the time dimension the laws that dictated linear time could not decide her existence.
Her fingers passed right through Chibiusa's robes, and a moment later all Setsuna could see wer the orange walls of flames. She heard a bird's frantic screech.
"Chibiusa!"
Setsuna screamed as she jerked her head up. Her head pounded.
She heard the bird's scream from her dream again and felt something tugging frantically on her hair, and a heavy, hot weight on her left arm, the pinch of claws digging through her robes.
"Fawkes," she gasped, staring at the serious, burning gaze of the bird. "That was a vision!"
The bird screeched again, and resettled its claws on her arm. It ruffled its wings. She looked around.
The last she recalled she had been making her way towards the seventh floor to see if she might Draco Malfoy on his way to or from the Room of Requirement. Yet somehow she had awoken at her desk in her office. Nothing seemed out of place. She looked behind her. All her books were neatly on their shelves.
Fawkes screeched and tugged at her hair again. She spun back around, only now registering the whistling sound coming from the right corner of her desk. She jumped up from her chair.
The dark mark detector spun rapidly, silver pieces a blur around the glass orb in the middle which was filled with the warning green smoke.
A Death Eater had been here.
Her right hand darted to the ring on her left and she felt her already pounding heart lurch into her throat.
The ring was cold.
Haruka, Michiru!
"Take me to them." Setsuna demanded. Fawkes screeched again, his wings glowed.
And they disappeared in a flash of flame, leaving the office behind the Muggle Studies classroom empty save the dark mark detector still whistling and spinning on the desk.
~SMH~
Michiru seemed alright through the first three cups, the fourth though she downed like a shot, wincing (Sirius thought) as if it were Mandrake vodka in the goblet.
"Michiru," Haruka murmured. Sirius noted that her fingers were turning white from how tightly Michiru squeezing them.
Michiru had squeezed her eyes shut. Her mouth was a thin line. She hung her head as she lowered the empty goblet into her lap. "I can't do it."
"You have to," Sirius said brusquely, reaching forward and taking the goblet from her. He filled it a fifth time and held it out across the glowing, green basin.
"What's wrong?" Haruka whispered, looking between the brimming goblet and Michiru. "You said this was the only way."
Michiru shook her head like Hotaru would have while insisting that she shouldn't have to go to school. "I can't," she cried, her voice raw. "I know what I said – I was wrong." She looked up at Haruka: her eyes were dark and distant. "Haruka, if we take them, they'll die."
"Who?"
"All of them!" Michiru shook her head. "I can't take a heart crystal again – don't make me!"
Haruka froze, glancing between Michiru and the goblet of potion, and Sirius.
Shit. Sirius thought.
"You... you don't have to, Michi," Haruka said. "You never have to take another one – all you have to do is drink this."
"That's it?" Michiru sniffed.
"Yes." Haruka bit her lip as Michiru took the goblet again, drinking from it for a fifth time.
And once she'd swallowed the potion she moaned, hunching over. Her hands flew to her stomach.
"Michi!"
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I failed."
"You're not failing!" Sirius jumped in, doubting whether she was even talking about their mission at all. "Look see – there's less of it now!"
"How many more?" Haruka asked, trying to prop Michiru up.
"Er..." Sirius squinted into the basin. "ten-er-so."
"I don't want to," Michiru protested shaking her head. "Please – water."
"We can do that!" Haruka said, pointing her wand into the goblet. "Aguamenti!" she whispered frantically. A cool stream of water flowed from her wand into the glass and she grinned, holding up for Michiru to drink. "Here."
Michiru grasped it in shaking hands and tilted the goblet. But by the time it reached her lips the water had vanished. She sobbed. "Please, Haruka – it's burning."
"I – I..."
"I've got it!" Sirius said, swiping the goblet out of Michiru's hands. Haruka stared as he dipped it into the basin again and thrust it back at Michiru. "Here – this will make it better," he said in a soft voice."
"Promise?"
"Promise," Sirius assured Michiru, pressing the goblet, brimming with the potion, into her hand.
Haruka glared at him and put an arm around Michiru as she moved to drink the potion. "Why'd you promise that!" she demanded.
"Cause it's working, isn't it!" Sirius snapped. "She knew what she was getting into. Didn't you hear her? And we're too close to stop now."
Just then Michiru sobbed. The goblet slipped from her hands and spilled the remaining half of its contents across Michiru's lap. The potion swiftly vanished, and reappeared within the basin.
"Michi!" Haruka whispered, pulling her closer. Michiru left the goblet in her lap and put her head in her hands. "Michi, it's okay." Haruka whispered.
"No! Don't make me go back – I don't want to."
"Whatever you see isn't real!" Haruka tried.
"But it it hurts!"
"I know – I know," Haruka looked up at the dark ceiling. "But it's not real – It's only the potion." She kissed Michiru's hair. "It's just the potion, I promise."
"And if you drink this," Sirius said, "it'll make all of that go away." He'd snatched the goblet again and was holding it out to Michiru for the seventh time. "You can't spill it this time."
Michiru nodded, biting her lip to stifle a whimper. This time Sirius had to curl her fingers around the neck of the goblet.
She was lifting it to her lips when Haruka grabbed her wrist. "Give her a minute," Haruka demanded of Sirius.
"In a minute you'll scrap the whole idea!" Sirius exclaimed. "She said don't let her stop – this is what she meant."
"It is making her see things!"
"And if she sees a few more things," Sirius argued, "we'll be one horcrux closer to a dead dark lord – a dark lord who murdered my best friends." He matched Haruka's cold glare with an icy one of his own. "Now either you make her drink it – or I will."
They glared at eachother in silence for a while. Sirius left hand on his wand and Haruka's right hand curled tightly around her sword. The only sound in the silent cave were Michiru's increasing pleas to stop and then pleas for water. Several times during Haruka and Sirius staring match she tried to bolt for the water lapping at the rocks, held back only by Haruka's secure grip on her waist.
After a while, a bright, white light appeared from across the water and raced towards them. Remus giant dog patronus appeared, circling around the island. Michiru shrank back towards Haruka as it came to a halt beside her.
"Everything alright out there?" Remus voice asked. "It's getting late."
Haruka closed her eyes and took out her wand. The dragon patronus appeared, circling around she and Michiru before weaving across the black surface of the lake."
"We're fine," Haruka said. "We'll be done soon."
Both Patronii faded, leaving only the green light from the basin.
Haruka staked her sword between the rocks. She picked up the goblet that Michiru had dropped into her lap and leaned forwards, closing her eyes as she dipped it into the basin. She filled it and lifted it to Michiru's lips. "Here, Love," she whispered. "Drink this."
Michiru did, coughing when she swallowed it. "Nooooo..." she moaned. She jerked away from Haruka, towards the water, and Haruka held Michiru back. She glared at Sirius and thrust the goblet back towards him. "You're filling it," she said.
He nodded, taking the goblet and filling it to the brim once more. "Half done," he said.
"I can't." Michiru whimpered, hunching her shoulders and hiding her face. She was shaking. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Haruka assured her, taking the goblet from Sirius.
And now it seemed Michiru had fallen back into one of the potion's nightmares for she sniffed and said: "I couldn't save them."
"You can now," Haruka said, feeling despicable as she pushed the goblet towards Michiru. "Just... drink this."
"It's burning!"
"It'll stop," Haruka promised, putting the goblet right to Michiru's lips. She had to tip the cup herself this time, and had to make sure Michiru drank it between sobs – one agonizing sip at a time." As soon as it was finished she nearly threw it back at Sirius, and the full goblet was in her hand again too soon.
Haruka wondered what nightmare Michiru was trapped in as she coerced begged and tricked her into drinking three more goblets of the acursed potion: was it dredging up her worst memories? From this life, those buried with the Silver Millennium?
Or perhaps, Haruka thought as she took the sixteenth goblet from Sirius, each sip drowned Michiru deeper in an entirely new and more frightening nightmare.
When the sixteenth goblet had been poured down Michiru's throat the shivering former Slytherin hiccuped and a tear dripped down her cheek. "I deserve it," she whispered, holding her hand out for the next goblet, though Haruka still held the empty one in her hand. "I deserve it, don't I?"
"No!" Haruka insisted, and Sirius had to pry the goblet from her hand. Haruka checked the basin – it was still so much! "No you don't, Love."
"You still have to keep going," Sirius pressed, thrusting teh Goblet towards Michiru's open hand. She cried as she drank this one and Sirius darted his hand out to catch the emptied goblet when it slipped from her hand and nearly rolled away into the lake.
As he filled it, Michiru looked up at Haruka. "Go," she demanded.
"I'm not leaving you," Haruka said.
"I want you to," Michiru cried. "You're not supposed to end up here with me."
"End up where?" Haruka asked.
"You're meant to go to heaven," Michiru whimpered. "Please, don't stay here." She bit her lip, leaning her forehead against Haruka's chest. "I don't want you to burn with me."
Haruka swallowed a sob and held Michiru by the shoulders. "God, Michiru. You're not in hell you've got to believe me. You've got to fight this, you understand? It's only the potion."
"I am though," Michiru said, turning away as Sirius held out the next goblet full. "It's my fault, I deserve it."
"You don't, I promise," Haruka said.
"Stop encouraging her," Sirius accused. "You're going to convince her out of it."
"We're still doing this my way." Haruka glared at him.
"It's my fault," Michiru whimpered, still shaking her head.
"Yes, it is," Sirius said, pushing the next goblet towards her. "And if you drink this, all of it, everything that's left, you can fix it. You can atone for all those sins."
"Knock it off!" Haruka snapped.
Michiru flinched.
Haruka ignored the goblet Sirius was holding out and cupped Michiru's face, pressing their foreheads together. "It's not real," she told Michiru, whose eyes were closed. "You've gotta focus on me – none of the rest is real – so none of it's your fault. You don't... you'll never deserve this. I promise." She kissed Michiru's forehead. "I'm real. You know that. The rest isn't."
Michiru opened her eyes and looked up at Haruka, her gaze more focused than it had been since her first drink of the potion.
"It's not real," Haruka repeated. "You don't deserve it."
Michiru nodded and coughed again, curling her arms around her torso. She looked down towards the basin. "Then... then I don't have to drink anymore?" she begged. "Please..."
Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes. "Now look what you've –"
"Shhh!" Haruka told him. She cupped Michiru's face again and met her eyes. "You still have to," she said. "You have to finish it."
Michiru sobbed and closed her eyes again, shaking her head. "No..."
Haruka clenched her fists. "For Serenity?" she asked.
Michiru froze. Her eyes opened, staring forelornly into the basin. "My Queen..."
"Yes," Haruka said. "To protect her... you can do this for her, right, Love?"
"For Serenity..." Michiru closed her eyes and reached out for the goblet.
"For Serenity," Haruka repeated, watching Michiru wince as she knocked back the next full goblet. She thrust it back at Sirius, who was gaping. Startled, he hastened to take it and fill it again, putting the next drink into Michiru's shaking hand. She still clutched her other hand across her stomach, and they.
"For Serenity," Michiru rasped again. She choked midway through the drink, but finished the whole glass. Haruka saw her eyes growing distant again, the dazed expressing growing with every sip from the damn cup.
"For Serenity," Haruka repeated each time Michiru wavered.
"For Serenity..."
"For Serenity..."
"For Ser –"
The goblet scrapped against the bottom of the basin. Haruka jumped, looking away from Michiru and staring as Sirius set the goblet aside and touched his hand to the silver and green locket.
"No more..." Haruka whispered. Reaching for Michiru. "You're done, Love you're..." She stared.
Michiru'd turned away from her, her hand outstretched, straining out of Haruka's arms towards the lake. Her fingers twitched.
The water splashed against the shore.
"No," Sirius whispered.
"Water," Michiru whimpered. "Need... water."
The water splashed again. Haruka stared as a wave of it rose up from the lake, straining towards Michiru.
"Make her stop!" Sirius snapped, scooping the locket out of the basin and scrambling to his feet. He threw the silver chain around his neck. He spun around, wand raised. "It'll wake them."
Haruka pulled Michiru back. "Michi," she said, struggling to get Michiru to lower her arm. She looked at the wave. It was flowing towards them, growing taller.
And within the dark water, a gaunt, pale hand stretched its fingers towards them.
"Inferi!" Sirius shouted, conjuring a whip of flame just as Haruka finally managed to jerk Michiru's arm back to her side. The wave crashed back into the lake.
All was still.
And then the water splashed again, louder. Five tall, skeletal shapes rocketed out of the water around the island.
Green fire tore past them.
"Incendio!" Sirius shouted, a whip of fire beating three inferi away. Haruka hacked one with her sword and grimaced as Michiru elbowed her in the ribs, still straining towards the lake.
The inferius she'd split in two still raced towards her. It's legs swinging out to kick them as its arms wrapped around Haruka's neck.
She kicked the legs away, and shot a fireball from her sword into the top half of the inferius. It released her neck and she coughed. Trying to drag Michiru towards the boat. It was their only way to shore.
A wall of inferi shot out of the lake, rushing towards them. Green fire incinerated them left and right from the shore but more sprang out of the lake to replace them. And, Haruka grunted, Michiru was still fighting her.
"I'm really sorry about this," Haruka muttered, pointing her sword at Michiru. "Stupefy!"
Michiru's eyes rolled back in her head as the red spell hit her at close range. She collapsed forwards, and Haruka shot another lash of flame from her sword as she threw Michiru over her shoulder. She scanned all around. There were Inferi approaching from the far side of the cave, out of reach of Rigel and Remus. Sirius had cast a ring of fire around them by that did not seem to be stopping those that thought to jump over it...
And, Haruka cursed, their boat was drifting in the middle of the lake.
"Just gonna have to fight every one of these fuckers," She muttered, casting another incendio and wishing she'd remembered more of the fire spells. It could hit four at a time sure, four of what appeared to be hundreds who now flooded out of the water.
She secured Michiru's arms with one of hers and summoned her sword to her hand.
"Sirius!" She shouted, moving back to back with him in the center of the tiny island. They cast fire spell after fire spell into the horde of inferi, cursing each time a splash of the lake water doused the attacks.
"We need a way out!" Haruka shouted.
"I'm thinking!" Sirius shouted back. "Hard to concentrate when – incendio!"
The green fire was handling those closer to the shore, but those from the far side of the lake were out of Rigel and Remus reach. And the inferi were all racing that way.
"Fuck it, let's swim it!" Haruka said, sure the Space Sword could propell them fast enough.
"And risk more of these being underneath!" Sirius shouted. "They're dead, not dumb!"
"Well the only other way out of this is I transform!" Haruka snapped. "And the magic on this place sets off all kinds of alerts."
"I'd rather be found than – gah!" Sirius scrambled to cast another fire spell as an Inferius dove in from the side and grabbed his wand arm. He kicked the thing back and shot a whip of flame that cracked across the air. Haruka followed suit, doing a re-count of the numbers. She gripped Michiru tighter. There're too many. She gulped, preparing another attack as a full fifteen rushed her.
There was a flash behind her, a screech. Flame burst outwards in all directions and someone put a hand in her shoulder. Haruka turned as the air flashed again.
And blinked several times. The damp feeling of the cave had vanished, replaced with the warmth and the spice smells that she recognized. She walked into Grimmauld place's sitting room as the bright room came into focus, and vanished her sword. She felt someone grab her shoulder again and then saw a blur of burgundy robes.
And then Setsuna was in front of her, pulling lifting Michiru off of Haruka and hastening to move her to the couch.
"What happened?" Setsuna demanded, kneeling byt the couch and hovering her wand over Michiru.
"S-stunned," Haruka replied, stumbling and sighing as she fell onto the arm of the couch.
"Renneverate," Setsuna muttered and her wand flashed.
Michiru groaned. Her eyes squinted open. "Water," she croaked.
"Here," Sirius said. Haruka looked up and saw he'd summoned a glass from the kitchen, he cast an Auguamenti into it. And passed it to Haruka who handed it off to Setsuna.
She heard a bird screech and blinked, realizing Fawkes was perched on Setsuna's shoulder. The bird, leaned forwards, over the glass of water, and Haruka watched as the strange creature appeared to cry a tear into it.
"Thank you," Setsuna murmured. And Fawkes screeched again, flying into the air and disappearing. Setsuna paid him no mind, pressing the glass into the hand Michiru was reaching towards it. Haruka leaned down to help her sit up and slid down onto the couch beside her, watching as she drained the tall glass in three sips. Haruka and Setsuna tensed as Michiru drank it so fast she coughed.
"I'm okay," she rasped, setting the glass on her lap and leaning her head on Haruka's shoulder.
Setsuna sighed, closing her eyes and bowing her head. She reached out and clasped one of each of their hands. "Please don't scare me like that again."
"Done," Haruka said, sure she never wanted to see a corpse again as long as she lived.
They heard twin pops from the front hall, and then two pairs of feet racing to them. The three outer Senshi and Sirius, who leaned against the wall, turned as Remus and Rigel, burst into the room, a pool of ocean water gathered at their feet from the dive they must have taken to leave the cave.
"Thank Merlin," Remus muttered. "Fawkes got you out?"
Sirius nodded, whipping out his wand and casting a drying charm on the last two members of their team.
As Remus moved to hug Sirius and lecture him for not remembering his fire spells, they heard another pair of feet pounding heavily down from one of the upper floors.
Hamish Stebbins burst into the room last, panting and grinning. He went immediately to Rigel. "You're back!" He cheered. And his eyes darted over all of them, and then to the locket around Sirius neck. "You got it."
The Horcrux. Sirius looked down and gingerly lifted it from around his neck.
Remus drew his wand. "You wore it!"
"Well how else was I gonna make sure it didn't fall in the bloody lake!" Sirius grumbled. "Course I wore it... didn't do anything." Then his brows furrowed as he regarded the locket, turning it over in his hand. "Would have thought it'd do something..."
Remus waved his wand, muttering something, and frowned. "It... it doesn't display any dark magic signatures," he said. "I don't..."
"And I thought these were meant to be the founders posessions," Sirius said, now scanning the large locket in search of any house symbols. There were none, just...
His fingers ran across what felt like lettering on the rim of the locket and he turned it to look. And froze.
Toujours Pur...
"Sirius!" Remus shouted as Sirius snapped the clasp of the locket. The horcrux sprang open, revealing nothing inside save an aged, folded scrap of parchment. Sirius picked it out and dropped the locket on the floor as he tore open the note, his eyes widened as he read the brief message, the initials of the writer, and then he snapped his head towards the door and roared: "KREACHER!"
~SMH~
R.A.B. That was the signer of the note from the locket – a false horcrux, everyone in the room learned shortly after Sirius' tempermental house elf appeared in the room, saw the locket on the floor, and went into a rage as mighty as Sirius' own – R.A.B. being more than random initials. They were the same as those inscribed on the door of Michiru and Haruka's room.
Regulus Arcturus Black...
It took some threats, and quite a bit of shouting back and forth, and then Kreacher's flat out refusal to talk (which prompted Sirius to grab the house elf by the arms and shake him, damanding in no uncertain terms that Kreacher come out with the tale of why Regulus had been anywhere near the horcrux cave) And then, after all that, and with many insults directed at various members of their party, Kreacher told his story.
To learn Sirius' brother had stolen the original horcrux, and been drowned by the inferi in the effort, turned the tense atmosphere in the sitting room into one far more somber. And when Sirius realized his brother had been one of the monsters that had attacked him in the cave, it took all the anger out of him. He dropped Kreacher, who might have promptly disapparated if the house elf had not been a sobbing mess himself.
"Was it destroyed?" Remus asked gently, and it was a testament, for certain, to the state of the house elf that he deigned to answer Remus, who was normally only refered to as the "Wolf-man."
"Kreacher couldn't!" the house elf wailed. "Kreacher tried everything: smashing, and burning, and freezing. Kreacher even tried to break it in half, but it broke his fingers instead." Kreacher sobbed. "Master would be so ashamed of Kreacher."
"Well they're hard to destroy – bloody hell, Kreacher why didn't you fucking tell one of us?" Sirius demanded. "We're fighting Voldemort for Merlin's sake."
Kreacher shrank back at the mention of Voldemort's name and twisted his large ears in his fists. "Kreacher would have if Master Sirius ever ordered him to."
"Well how was I meant to know!" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Where is it. Bring it out here. That's an order."
Kreacher muttered what sounded like quite rude things under his breath as he got to his feet and disapparated, appearing again with a silver and green locket, aged quite a bit more than Regulus' fake. He extended his arm and made Sirius lean down to snatch it from him.
Sirius glared at the locket as he walked up to the coffee table and set it down. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at the emerald encrusted S that adorned the front. "This was in the bloody drawing room," he muttered. "Right what destroys these things. I can do Fiend Fyre."
"Not in the house," Remus cautioned as he, Rigel and Hamish gathered round the coffee table to peer at the unassuming locket. Setsuna turned to look as well and even Haruka and Michiru leaned forwards on the couch.
"Killing curse might do," Rigel said. "Bassilisk venom..."
"So Jadeite's sword, then," Haruka recalled. "Hotaru might be able to kill it."
"Or Sailor Moon," Setsuna muttered, furrowing her brows as she stared at the locket. Goosebumps prickled on the back of her neck. There was something she wasn't seeing...
"Didn't," Michiru coughed. "Didn't her power frighten it into possessing a bassilisk though?"
"I'd rather not fight one of those," Rigel muttered, "If it's all the same..."
"All of you mud-bloods can destroy it, yes?" Kreacher demanded.
"Shut up, Kreacher! We're thinking," Sirius snapped. He tapped his wand on his arm and raised it. "Right... might as well try a killing curse. Someone hold the chain." Haruka leaned forwards to do just that. Sirius readied his wand. "Look at that Reg," he muttered under his breath. "You got your head out of your ass all along." His eyes turned cold as he gathered power for the curse.
And Setsuna gave the locket one more look, the goosbumps on the back of her neck seemed to demand it. Her eyes caught on the small, bluish gem embedded just below the hinges...
"Stop!" she demanded.
"What?"
"WHY?" Sirius and Kreacher shouted at the same time.
"We can't destroy it," Setsuna said. And Haruka had to jerk the locket away from Kreacher as the distraught elf wailed and dove to snatch the horcrux away.
"Master Regulus said –"
"I know what he said," Setsuna told the elf, who was now straining out of Sirius grip trying to steal the locket back from Haruka. "And we do still want to destroy the Horcrux Kreacher, but we can't destroy the locket."
"I can't believe I agree with Kreacher," Sirius muttered. "But why? What's so damn special about it?"
Setsuna grabbed the locket, stopping it from continuing to spin on its chain. She held the front face up the the light and pointed to the small detail that had caught her attention. Michiru and Haruka gasped.
"This gem is a Zoicite."
~I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good~
