Authors Note: I finished this part of the SMH series a few months ago on Archive of Our Own (AO3). I've decided from this point forward to post exclusively on that site. The interface is better, there are no ads and no mature content restrictions, and also I've had much fewer problems with trolls and spam messages there.

But, after a lot of thought, I've decided to finish the current WIPS I have on FFN. It only seems fair to all the fans who only follow me here.

Aquarius II and SMH II will be the last stories I finish on FFN. For all future stories, including Aquarius and SMH III, you will need to follow me on AO3.

For the Greater Good

As Setsuna felt Severus' spell paralyze her, she realized with a sickening jolt that her trust that Severus was ultimately on their side, had been grossly misplaced.

For months, Setsuna had agonized about the potion blocking her from seeing Lestrange and her accomplices, fearing the damage they would do to the timeline. In the hours since Death Phantom had been discovered and defeated, she had begun to feel renewed hope that the potion blocking her sight would go with him. That time would once more be firmly under her control. Severus' betrayal thoroughly shattered that hope.

And when Lestrange sent her horcrux soaring into Hotaru's back, Setsuna felt everything she thought she knew about the timeline unravel.

"HOTARU!" Harry Potter shouted as she struggled to break free of Snape's spell. " HOTARU"

It felt as if her soul itself was screaming. With a surge of wandless, wordless magic, Pluto broke free. She transformed as she launched off the edge of the tower and used her magic to shoot up into the air, racing after Lestrange.

But her enemy had too great of a lead. Lestrange and Dark General Zoisite, with Hotaru collapsed across Lestrange's broomstick, soared high up over the bounds of Hogwarts apparition wards. They vanished with barely a pop .

Sailor Pluto screamed. She summoned the Time Doors. They opened up to her in midair. The sands raged within the time dimension in a chaotic torrent, echoing the turmoil in her thoughts.

Pluto slammed the doors shut, eyes blazing the same brightness as her sailor symbol as she swept the garnet rod in a wide arc. The storm of time sands came to an abrupt, unsettling halt and, under her silent command, began to swirl counterclockwise around her.

1:54… 1:53…1:51...1:49...1:30...1:15...

Pluto closed her eyes.

Intervening before Nephrite was awakened was not possible. Hotaru needed to revive him. But past that point, Pluto's past self had been inside Hogwarts. It would be tricky to find a time when she would not risk important events being disrupted or risk an encounter with her past self...

She also couldn't intervene before Hotaru left the fight on the 7th floor. Too much risk of a Death Eater getting away or harming another student. It also couldn't be on the stairs. If she stopped Hotaru too early, Bill Weasley would succumb to his wounds… But too late and she would delay Harry arriving on the roof. Leaving him no opportunity to disarm Draco Malfoy…

If it weren't for the need for that dreadful wand . Pluto cursed. She widened her scope.

She would have to pursue this from a different angle. Stop the second killing curse from hitting Dumbledore. Or, to minimize interference, stop Lestrange just before she created the Horcrux… and do so while being far enough away not to encounter her younger self. Pluto breathed out. If she was far away from the castle, she risked being killed by Lestrange, far from any help. But too close... And she might distract the others from their battle, further complicating events. If they thought she were in trouble, it might lead the Princess to leave the castle, which multiple visions had emphasized was a very bad idea. Serenity was too tempting a target.

There would be only one way. Pluto slammed the garnet rod into the sands. They ceased spinning. The doors opened up onto the dark sky around Hogwarts at 1:50. Lestrange was in view. Her back to the time doors as she approached the Astronomy tower.

Pluto waited. At 1:53, she would try to kill Dumbledore and before she set off the killing curse, Pluto would unleash her final option.

Her other self, on the tower, would recognize Time Stop. and would know immediately what she must do. Dumbledore would live to guide the wizarding world through a more perilous war. Hotaru would be safe.

Setsuna saw the first killing curse leave Snape's wand and readied the Garnet Rod.

" Time," she whispered as the garnet orb began to glow. " I command you to,"

"STOP!"

The other, younger voice startled her. Pluto turned, and was knocked back from the doorway by a small, lithe senshi in an orange fuku. Sailor G flung herself at Pluto, pinning her arms to her sides and preventing her from raising the Garnet Rod. "Don't do it!" Sailor G pleaded. "You have to let this happen! Please!"

"Let me go!" Pluto snapped. "I have to do this."

"But the timeline!"

"Has already been tampered with!" Pluto fumed, finally pushing free of Sailor G's hold. "As you're well aware."

"The second prophecy has a course to correct Death Phantom's interference!" G said quickly, moving this time to block the doorway to normal time with her body. "The Elder Steward has to die, the chosen one needs to become a pair -"

"Not her!" Pluto seethed. "Lestrange can pick a different chosen one. Not Hotaru."

"It has to be Hotaru," G insisted. "Please - I know I can't see the future any better than you right now, but I know Hotaru's powers! I know how she can resolve this."

"She can resolve it without being kidnapped by that monster!" Pluto advanced on the edge of the Time Realm, the sands whirling up into a gale force wind behind her. "Megumi," she commanded, "leave this to me."

"You can't!" Sailor G pleaded, wincing as the heaving gusts of sand pushed against her hold on the doorway. "You can't die here!" As Pluto grabbed for her shoulder, to push her out of the way, Sailor G latched onto her arm. "Please!" She tried to pull Pluto back. "What about the future?"

"I don't care about the future!" Pluto finally cried. And for the first time Sailor G could see that she was shaking, her eyes red rimmed and puffy. Pluto slammed the Garnet Rod into the sands with a growl. "Time is my domain. I am meant to control it. To oversee it. To understand it. I haven't been able to all this year. Meanwhile others make changes to suit their own purposes!" she tightened her hands on the Garnet Rod, her hold so tight G feared she would snap it. "And yet I - the one granted this power by right - cannot! No more! I can't let this happen." Pluto sobbed. "Time takes everything I have." She slumped. Her knees buckled and she collapsed into the sands. "It can't have Hotaru."

Sailor G stepped back from Pluto, face ashen. She took in the conflict evident in tempest of sands around her.

"How can my life be more important than hers?" Pluto rasped.

Sailor G's lip wobbled. She looked at her own bronze staff and its green gem. "After all the work you did this year to stop Death Phantom… everything we fought for before to maintain the timeline… you don't think that the future, my future, is worth that?"

Pluto looked forlornly out into the sands. "I don't know." She clenched her hands around the Garnet Rod. "I can't… I can't let it take Hotaru."

Sailor G sniffed once. And then swept her own staff outwards. The storm of timesands gentled to a light breeze and slowly swirled counterclockwise a few minutes into the past. "Okay," she told Pluto as she turned towards the open doorway.

The soft spoken acquiescence startled Pluto. She looked up. Sailor G was standing at the open doors, staff raised, the green gem in her staff was glowing with power. "What?"

"Okay," Sailor G repeated. She sniffed and turned her face towards Pluto, throwing her a sad smile. "I can't let you die here," she rasped. "There's… so many important wonderful things you have to do…" She swallowed, turning her gaze towards normal time as the green of the first killing curse once more lit up the sky. She raised her staff. "But if this is what you need... I can do it for you." She closed her eyes, her sailor symbol lit up on her forehead. "Time," she intoned. "I command you to -"

It snapped Pluto back to herself. She sprang up. "No!" She rasped, scrambling to Sailor G. "No wait!" she hugged the young time guardian from behind, sobbing as she pulled her back from an untimely fate. "I can't ask that." Pluto saw the second killing curse light up the sky and then the bright flash of the horcrux sailing into Hotaru's back. She buried her head in Sailor G's hair. "You… whoever you are, wherever you come from in time… You are important to me too." She felt Sailor G shiver as she de-transformed into Megumi. The girl turned in Pluto's embrace and hugged her tight.

"I'm sorry that this happens," Megumi said softly. "But Pluto - I promise she'll be okay." She wrapped her arms around Pluto's neck. "Trust her… trust time."

Pluto sighed. With a beckoning of her hand, the time doors softly closed leaving the devastation of the recent past outside. The time dimension around her was once more calm and quiet. The sands swirled softly around Megumi and her. They pressed against Pluto's back as if to comfort her.

After a while Pluto sniffed and confessed: "I haven't trusted time since they discovered a way to block my sight." She pulled back from Megumi and pressed her right hand hand to her forehead. "Without it… I can't even trust myself."

Megumi put her hands on Pluto's shoulders. "Then trust our friends," she said. "They don't know what's going to happen any more than you do right now, but they have faith that whatever the future holds, they can overcome it… together." She smiled when Pluto looked up. "If you can't look to the future, I know you can look to them."

Pluto sniffed and chuckled weakly. "How did someone so young get so wise?" she rasped.

Megumi smiled and helped pull Pluto to her feet. "I am not as young as I look," she said. "And… I have good teachers."

Pluto surveyed the time realm and, with her Garnet Rod, directed them to spin to the moment when she had left the Astronomy tower. She swallowed the lump in her throat as the doors opened onto the cold Scottish night and the mocking glow of the Dark Mark overhead. She could hear Harry Potter calling out for Hotaru, and her heart ached.

How can I possibly tell them, she thought of Haruka and Michiru.

"Have faith." Megumi directed as the sands swirled around the future time guardian. Megumi took her senshi form once more and stepped away, vanishing into the far reaches of time.

Once again alone in the time dimension, Pluto shivered as the full implications of what she had nearly done slammed into her. If Megumi had not reached her, would she have jeopardized everything they had done to save the future? The Queen trusted her to ensure the right path, and she had very nearly abandoned that duty.

But Hotaru…

"Hotaru!" she heard Harry Potter yell and slam his fist into the stone wall of the tower in an echo of her own futile anger.

She took a breath. She would need to ensure the battle was complete… that the Queen was safe… that Uranus and Neptune were informed of just how the mysterious second prophecy had been set in motion.

Pluto stepped out onto the Astronomy tower, shaking both from rage and despair over Hotaru as well as the gravity of what she had just, nearly, done.

She did not have a chance to ponder how she would tell the others. Barely a moment after she returned to the tower, Uranus and Neptune alighted on the turrets, fresh from the waning battle on the grounds.

"I felt her faint!" Neptune said. She and Uranus looked around the tower in confusion. "Where is Saturn?"

Pluto met their eyes and felt as if her heart would shatter. Try as she might, the words refused to come out of her mouth.

"Pluto!" Uranus' voice had a frantic edge to it. "Where is Hotaru?"

~SMH~

Somehow, Pluto got through telling them what had happened… and then again telling Mcgonagall, and Hamish Stebbins, and the other senshi when they finally rendezvoused in Setsuna's quarters.

Lastly, a day or so after the battle, when the future senshi returned from bringing Death Phantom to the future, Setsuna had to break the news to Chibiusa. Of them all, telling her was the hardest. Only to her young princess did Setsuna confess what she had nearly done to the timeline, to Chibiusa's own future , which she had been committed for so long to preserving.

All Chibiusa did was hug Setsuna extra tightly and say: "It's okay to mess up sometimes, Puu." As if nearly destroying one's self to disrupt a pivotal prophecy was akin to an innocent mistake.

Setsuna was resolved that the moment everything at Hogwarts was settled, she would leave the castle and devote her resources where they were needed most.

No matter what happens, I will find you, Hotaru .

~SMH~

The morning of Dumbledore's funeral, Setsuna slipped away from the crowds of students gathering in the Great Hall and made her way up to Dumbledore's office, the vial with Snape's memory in her hand.

The office had the only penseive she had encountered and before potentially leaving the castle, and the hard questions that faced them all after the students' departure, Setsuna had to know what, exactly, Snape had left for her.

When she dove into the pensieve, Setsuna found herself in a most unexpected scene.

The memory showed an image of herself from the back - sitting in the den at Grimmauld place reading the daily prophet. Setsuna crept closer, viewing the date and realizing it was mid-July - shortly before she'd first noticed her future site had been disrupted.

She was startled as someone walked through her - the memory of Snape approached her past self from behind, his wand raised. Setsuna gasped as a spell left his lips.

" Delerio ."

On the couch, her past self's eyes glazed over as she slumped forewards. Severus rushed around the couch, catching Setsuna's shoulders and easing her back against the couch cushions.

"It's alright," he murmured. "I'm not here. You're very tired and you're going to take a nap." Severus then took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry," he murmured

Stunned, Setsuna watched as her past self succumbed to the spell, her eyes closing. An out of body version of Snape's voice began to speak over the memory.

"Delerio is a useful little spell… combining the effects of memory and compulsion charms… the castor can force the subject to forget a brief extent of short term memory… and can suggest an alternate memory or a very simple action."

Setsuna shivered at the thought as she watched Snape's past self roll up the sleeve of her robe. He placed his wand tip in the crook of her elbow for a few moments, then withdrew it. He cast cautious eyes around the room and took a small, empty vial out of the pocket of his robe. Setsuna watched the memory with mounting horror as Snape placed his wand at the mouth of the vial, transferring bright red liquid into it.

Blood . Setsuna shook as she watched the memory. The time doors had never been compromised as she had feared… The potion blocking her sight had not needed the time sands… it had needed her blood .

Snape's voice continued to speak as the memory began to blur away. " I worried about you. The spell is not meant to be repeatedly used on one subject... and with your magic you were resistant. As it was, I believe it caused much of your fatigue and headaches this year. I never gave you false memories. I thought it too risky, with your magic, and the effect on you. I only ever compelled you to sleep. "

As she watched, the memory grew hazy, and Snape's voice continued to echo around her.

"I hoped someone might discover me" Severus said, "But they were not very observant… for the best, I suppose. " His voice sounded bitter and tired. "I need you to understand why I did it."

Abruptly the memory she was watching clouded over and was replaced by a new scene: of Severus monitoring Luna Lovegood as she cleaned cauldrons in detention.

Snape's voice over continued. Dumbledore convinced the Department of Mysteries to record this prophecy under my mother's family name… It was fortunate that neither you nor Voldemort put together that S.P. was for Severus Prince.

Setsuna gasped as she watched the cauldron tumble from Luna Lovegood's hands and her body stiffen as she began to speak a prophecy.

And for the first time, Setsuna learned the second prophecy, in full:

"As the sun sets on the Elder Steward, the Chosen One becomes a Pair…

Created for the Dark Ones Lives,

They Hold the keys to their destruction.

Vow of Brothers keepith must,

And Heart and Snath turn dark to dust.

Both must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live if the darkness survives.

The Chosen Two and Vow of Brothers shall be forged as the Steward dies...

As the memory of Luna's prophecy ended, the scene blurred, and a third memory crystalized.

Setsuna now found herself in Snape's chambers at Hogwarts. The man looked haggard as he stood before the hearth, swirling a vial of bright red potion in his hands.

"Setsuna," his voice directly addressing her startled her. "I'm leaving you the only record of the second prophecy. I've extracted it completely from my mind, so that not even Voldemort can access it." He raised the potion in his hand. "This… is the last dose." He knocked it back and cast the empty vial into the fire. "Hopefully… you are successful tonight in subduing that… despicable wizard who has gained Lestrange's ear." Snape mused to the fire. "If you are, I shall have cause to tell Lestrange that you have discovered this potion - and that I have been unfortunately compromised… Anyone else, I would have to consider the likely possibility of failure… but I have learned better than the Dark Lord not to underestimate you… whoever you are."

The memory Snape began to pace before the fire, uncharacteristically agitated. "If you are watching this, then you have defeated your wizard, and I have succeeded where Draco will surely fail. I will, much to Lestrange's displeasure, have no way to complete the potion next month, without access to you. And your foresight in regard to her plans shall return by the next full moon." He contemplated the flames. "I wasn't initially going to chose this path - the first prophecy was miserable enough… why condemn two chosen ones" he shook his head, staring at the flames. "But then Hotaru absorbed the killing curse at the department of Mysteries - clearly marking her as the other one of pair." He raised both hands, studying his palms. "She walked out of the Death Veil… As soon as I realized it was her, Setsuna, I couldn't turn away from this path. If she could do that, I knew she might also survive death… to kill a horcrux. And if she had that chance, I knew Harry would too." He looked at the fire. "Lily's son… This prophecy gives him a chance to live… the other damns him…"

The fire in the hearth suddenly turned black, forming into the shape of the dark mark. Snape took out his wand and extinguished it. "That's the signal." He removed a vial from his pocket and put his wand to his temple, to extract this memory, to give to her. "You have to understand," he said tiredly. "It was for the greater good."

The memory the ended abruptly. Setsuna felt herself spiralling backwards, stumbling onto the carpet of the headmaster's office.

Setsuna still clutched the empty vial in her hand. She looked down at the label.

I'm sorry,

-S.P.

Red filled her vision. with a sudden rage, Setsuna screamed, hurling the vial at the wall with such a force that it shattered and rattled the stone and mortar walls around it. The outpouring of rage, of magic, ricocheted through the office - overturning the desk, sending the chairs smashing into the walls and setting off a chorus of gasps and shrieks from the sedate portraits on the walls.

" Professor," a rough voice spoke from the doorway.

Setsuna snapped out of her fury, turning and seeing Harry Potter - staring in shock at the destroyed office. "Mr. Potter," she sighed. "I'm sorry you've caught me at a bad time."

He gulped, taking in the destruction. "I just wanted to come here before… to see if maybe there was something… anything left of him here… that he could tell me." His eyes flicked the Pensieve. "Is that… the memory Snape gave you?"

Setsuna sighed. She extracted the memory from the pensieve. It was not the proper time to impart it to Harry. "I trusted him." she said, shaking her head in dismay.

Harry hung his head. "I know… I thought I trusted him too." He leaned on the doorframe of the office. "Dumbledore trusted him…" He rubbed his eyes. Setsuna took in the lines under his eyes and the messier than usual look of his hair. The boy looked like he'd barely slept in days. Perhaps he hadn't. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her," Harry rasped.

Setsuna sighed. "Not sorrier than I." she shook her head. "Hotaru… will not give up hope. Nor should we. We will get her back."

Harry nodded absently, eyes stuck on the new, polished portrait of Dumbledore - annoyingly peaceful amid the destruction, napping in his polished gold frame. "I don't know what to do from here." he said.

Setsuna wished he'd stumbled upon Usagi or Minako, or really anyone other than her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way to the door of the office. On her way out, she put her hand on Harry's shoulder. "First we say goodbye - and then we seek out our friends… and we find a new way forward." She started down the stairs. "Your friends will have more answers for you than the echoes of the man who worked in that office. Mr. Potter."

His heavier footsteps followed her down the stairs. Together, they walked to the castle's entrance hall, joining the stream of students and visitors now making their way to the site of the funeral.

Setsuna used the walk to regain her composure.

Before reaching the site, she saw Haruka and Michiru lingering at the edge of the trees. She slipped away from Harry and the procession of funeral goers. Haruka and Michiru fell in with her as she reached them. Each grasping one of her hands. Their eyes, like hers, were red rimmed and gleaming with equal parts anxiety and fury.

"Did you learn what you needed to?" Haruka murmured.

Setsuna tensed. "The memory contained the second prophecy in full," she confided. "Snape," she spat his name. "Was the recipient. He chose to set it in motion."

"To make Hotaru a chosen one," Haruka murmured. "What was the full text of it?"

Setsuna shook her head. "I'm not going to sit back and let it play out without trying to get her back."

"Nor are we," Michiru murmured. "If I could just." her hand twitched in Setsuna's and she felt Michiru shiver. She was not yet fully recovered from her encounter with dark magic.

A twig snapped nearby. The three outer senshi looked up, wands drawn. But they lowered them when they saw Chibiusa walking towards them. She hugged them all. "I'm glad we found you." she said.

They saw then, the inner senshi following behind her, as well as Megumi, Sora, and Akira.

"Why are we meeting here?" Usagi asked.

Megumi's eyes met Setsuna's, and she understood in an instant. "They're here to say goodbye," Setsuna said.

The inner senshi gasped.

"No!" Mina said. She reached out to clasp Rei's hand as they looked at Akira's sad smile. "But… but it's like you've only just got here.

Rei startled them all as she sniffled loudly.

"Are you crying ," Makoto looked shocked.

"Nooo!" Rei sniffed again, scrubbing her face with her hand. "No, I am not. Of course they have to go back to the future."

Akira sniffed too and came up to her. She wrapped her arms around Rei. "Don't be sad, Mama" she said.

Rei hiccuped. "It makes perfect sense they have to leave." She said through tears.

"Rei," Mina murmured. She cupped her cheek, dashing the stream of tears with her thumb. Rei's lip wobbled.

"You'll see me again," Akira promised.

"I am definitely looking forward to that part of the future," Mina whispered to Rei as she joined their hug. She stroked Rei's back and let her hide her face in Mina's shoulder.

"And we do have to go soon," Megumi said, "Plenty of students are leaving right from the funeral… no one will notice if we slip away." She raised her bronze staff. The gem began to glow and her bronze set of time doors appeared within the grove of trees. "Death Phantom's corruption of the timeline has been stemmed," she said. "And pieces are in place to head off the changes he set in motion."

"Hotaru," Haruka said bitterly.

Megumi hung her head.

"Don't worry," Sora assured them. She clapped Megumi on the shoulder and then went to the outer senshi, drawing the three of them in a group hug. "You'll get her back."

Michiru crouched to be at Sora's eye level and tucked the girl's aqua hair back behind her ear. "Are you certain?"

Megumi sighed. "I can't see clearly yet…"

"I can be certain," Sora said, then put her arms around Michiru's neck, hugging her extra tightly. "I believe in you."

Haruka knelt to hug them too and Setsuna stroked Sora's hair affectionately. She then stepped away from the huddle and moved to Megumi's side. "Are you sure you must leave?" She asked. "I have learned that the potion blocking our sight will expire within the month. It would be useful to have a second set of eyes."

Megumi smiled and wrapped Setsuna in a hug. "If we stay any longer, we may begin to corrupt the timeline ourselves," she said, and gave a nervous chuckle. "Some people might let something slip."

"Oi!" Sora sniffed, currently crying between Haruka and Michiru. "I have been getting better!"

It made the group of them chuckle. And Megumi looked up at Setsuna. "You will manage just fine." she said.

"Of course she will," Haruka said. She made her way over to them and looked down at Megumi with a smirk. "Are you trying to get away without your own hug goodbye?" she asked.

Megumi's eyes welled up. She moved from Setsuna to Haruka. "I won't let Sora get into too much trouble," she promised.

Haruka chuckled.

"I don't know if you can promise that," Michiru said. She had her arm around Sora and smiled down at the girl's sheepish look. "You are clearly a handful."

"I… I try not to be." she said.

Haruka chuckled softly and ruffled her hair. "Why don't I believe that?" she joked. She clapped Sora on the shoulder and nodded at Megumi. "Look after this one too, will you. She needs to have fun once in a while - let loose."

Sora saluted. "Aye, Papa!" she said.

Michiru then gave Megumi her own hug. "I am looking forward to playing the violin with you again in the future. Promise we'll do that."

"I promise," Megumi rasped.

"What are weee" Usagi whined, her arms around Chibiusa. "Chopped liver?"

The whole gathering chuckled, despite their sniffles. Hugs were traded all around.

Akira went through the time doors first, blowing a kiss behind her. Rei folded herself into Mina's arms as she left, unwilling to watch the time doors leave.

Sora was next. And then Megumi looked meaningfully at Chibiusa.

But the pink haired senshi smiled and shook her head. "I have to stay."

"The timeline," Megumi murmured.

"Hasn't been destroyed by my being here yet," she smiled a little, but it dropped quickly. "For Hotaru," she whispered. "I can't wait for the future to know she's okay… I need to be here to help her, Megumi."

Megumi sighed. "One of these days I'm going to put my foot down," she said.

Setsuna couldn't help chuckling. "Oh dear, then I never manage it then?"

Chibiusa hugged her. "I'm careful, Puu," she said. She hugged Megumi next.

Setsuna was close enough that she could hear her whisper. "Is your sight back yet?"

Megumi whispered back. "Not yet… but without the potion, it won't be much longer."

That made Setsuna frown as she realized something didn't quite make sense. She turned to Megumi as Chibiusa stepped away from the doors. "Wait…" she said.

Megumi stiffened. Setsuna reached out and put her hands on the girl's shoulders before she could dash through the doors. She stared at Megumi's red eyes, so similar to hers. "But…" she tilted her head to the side. "That potion worked because it used my blood…" she said. She studied Megumi. "But it affects you too… so that must mean…" she furrowed her brows. "You… you're more than my replacement, aren't you?" she demanded.

Megumi sighed. She looked over at Chibiusa, who was looking quite guilty. "Putting. My. Foot. Down." she said.

Then she gave Setsuna one last hug and then stepped back, giving her a soft smile.

"Megumi… who are you?"

The future time guardian shook her head. "Spoilers," she whispered. And she slipped through the time doors. They clicked shut and seconds later, vanished from sight.

Setsuna stared at the spot where they had been. "But…" she furrowed her brow and stood, looking around.

"Did you just realize something important, Setsuna?" Haruka asked gently, an amused smile on her face.

"But…" she looked at the others. "But I don't know how that's… possible."

"Join the club," Rei said through her sniffles.

Michiru stared wistfully at the spot the doors had been. "I wish they would stay," she said. "Now we're left wondering if we've done enough… if that future will remain possible."

"We will," Usagi promised them. She reached out to each of her senshi in turn, giving them a reassuring hug or brush of her hand on their shoulder as she ushered them back out to the funeral procession. "After all," she sniffed and ruffled Chibiusa's hair. "We still have this one to point us in the right direction."

As they rejoined the throngs of mourners, Usagi heard her name being called. She looked and saw Neville making his way up the road with Ginny and Luna. Usagi waited up for him.

"What were you doing over there?" he asked as he fell into step with her.

"Saying some goodbyes," Usagi sniffed.

As they walked, they saw Harry standing to the side of the trees.

"Excuse me," Ginny said, voice a bit raspy.

Usagi frowned after her and looked back at Neville. "Is she alright?"

He shook his head. "She has a feeling Harry won't be back next year… there's more good he can do away from Hogwarts… and Ginny is still looking for your Prince who's… more than likely at Hogwarts."

Usagi blinked, "I hadn't even thought of that," she crossed her arms. In all the chaos, she couldn't see how they could prioritize finding Mamo-chan. Hotaru and the war had to come first. "Will you leave too?"

He shook his head. "I'm not as good a fighter as Harry or even Gin," he said. "But there's still a lot of kids who don't have anywhere better to go than here." he looked at her. "Someone has to keep Hogwarts safe for them."

Usagi smiled, but all too quickly her face was creased with worry. She looked ahead at her senshi. "I told them Hotaru will be alright… that it all will." She crossed her arms. "I'm trying to believe it."

Neville reached out, wrapping an arm around her. She tucked herself into his side.

Usagi sighed, and away from her friends who depended so much on her strength, she let her fear show. "I don't know what we're going to do," she confessed. "It's hard to be hopeful when everything feels so hopeless."

"No," Neville said. "It's not hopeless." He withdrew his arm from around her as they neared the site of the ceremony and stepped off the path, he pulled her gently with him, so they stood out of the way behind the last row of chairs. "It's like…" he looked around at the frost covered ground. "It's like winter… when it's cold and dark and everything's covered in snow… after too long sometimes you start thinking how can anything ever be bright and green again."

He reached into the pocket of his robes. Withdrawing a jar with - Usagi gasped softly - a frost-covered flower bud inside.

Neville withdrew the bud, holding the stem in his hand. "The thing is," he said, staring hard at it. "What we always have to remember is Spring always comes." He furrowed his brows. Usagi's heart stuttered in her chest as she watched the bud blossom in his hand into a full, vivid red rose. He held it out to her. "No matter how bleak the winter seems," he said, blushing as he held out the flower. "Spring always comes. And if we remember that, we'll find our way there." Her fingers brushed his as she took the flower. He smiled, a little embarrassed. "I know it's not much… it's just plants and it's probably the only wandless magic I'll ever do… but not so long ago, I never imagined I could do even that much... "

"I… no it's amazing," Usagi said, unable to speak as her whole being fixated on the rose. Neville could not possibly know the significance this had for her.

"Just… hold on to that and remember… nothing's impossible if you have hope."

She gaped at him, and the rose, speechless. "You -"

" Neville !"

They turned and saw his grandmother waving her cane at him.

"I have to go," he said. "I promised my family I'd sit with them." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "We're leaving after the ceremony so… I'll see you this summer. Stay safe," he said, and turned away.

Usagi stared after him, gaping as she clutched the rose to her heart. "Mamo-chan?" she murmured.

~SMH~

The ceremony was beautiful - the eulogy McGonagall gave, heartbreaking and moving - at once mourning the headmaster and spurring all attending to the call to action.

"We will not go quietly into the night," Mcgonagall promised. "We will go on remembering and fighting for all that Albus lived for… and all that he died for."

As her speech ended, and wands raised into the air in tribute, The congregation was stunned silent by an eerie, mournful crying high overhead. The crowd stared up at the grey sky as Fawkes appeared, circling above, his cries a hymn of tribute to his fallen companion.

The song drew to a close with a sudden shrill screech and the mourners gasped as, above the dais with the tomb, Fawkes burst into flames. Fire consumed him, burning outward to the tips of his feathers until all that was left of him was a stream of ash, spiraling downwards. The ashes swirled over Dumbledore's tomb as if carried on an invisible breeze and then circled above the teachers, startling all when the ashes gathered and fell onto Setsuna.

She stared as the pile of ash collected in her lap - still smoldering hot and gasped along with all the gathered mourners as it burst into a bright, ruby-red flame. It did not burn her. Soon, Setsuna felt a weight in her lap and heard a cracking sound within the fire. The flame began to burn down, revealing an egg within - a crack forming down the middle. Setsuna was mesmerized. Her hands cupped the egg as the shell split open.

The downy chick that emerged was changed from the phoenix that had accompanied Dumbledore for so many decades. In place of Fawkes' bright orange plumage, the baby phoenix was growing charcoal colored feathers. Its eyes, when they peeked open to view the world, were as red as Setsuna's own.

Gingerly, Setsuna picked the phoenix hatchling up as murmurs began to circulate through the crowd. It was a rare event to see a phoenix choose to take a new appearance - more so to see such a creature choose a companion. At the end of such a long and heartbreaking week, and amid the tumult of the war, it gave many of those gathered new cause for hope, a new leader to turn to...

But Setsuna was deaf to the chatter that had erupted around her - of new hope, new leadership, and what it could mean for the war. As soon as the new phoenix had opened his eyes, he had drawn her into a new vision.

At once she was transported into a world of flames. At first she thought it was a side effect of the phoenix's powers. But she soon realized these flames were of a different sort. A real fire, conjured miles and miles away from Hogwarts.

The room around her was a menagerie of fire - the destructive force took the form of proud majestic beasts whose burning claws, tails, and teeth ripped into the wooden floorboards under their feet and incinerated shelves stacked high with sweets, joke sets, and prank boxes. The heat set off fireworks still packed in their cases and caused the bricks in the walls to burst out of their mortar.

Setsuna wandered through the destruction of the joke shop, stepping out into the street in time to see a witch - her blue dragonhide robes somewhat shielding her from the heat at her back. With a jolt, Setsuna recognized Morgana Avery standing outside the burning Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George were at Dumbledore's funeral. But Setsuna had not seen Avery in the crowd.

The young woman's wand tip was still burning orange - a clear sign she was the cause of the destructive Fiendfyre ripping through the shop.

Avery had an owl perched on her arm and stood so that the bird was shielded from the flames. Setsuna drew close, seeing the letter she was affixing to the bird's leg - addressed to The Burrow.

"Forgive me," Avery murmured. She wiped tears off her face as she turned to watch the shop burn. "They'll need someone on the inside. I needed some way to be convincing." She took a deep breath and raised her wand, shouting a spell over the roar of the fire. It was a spell that would draw dozens of Death Eaters to the spectacle of dark magic, one that would convince them all of her allegiance. "Morsmordre!"

~Mischief Managed~