Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Harry Potter.

Shifts in Destiny

Chapter 11

New Partners

Raye smiled at Lita as she sat down cross legged next to her in Defense. She was relieved to have Lita back as a partner and to finally have her temper under control, for now. Being the senshi of fire and war sometimes made her temper spike. Lita smiled back.

Professor Hino allowed everyone to get into their spaces and visit with their partner before addressing the class. Unlike some teachers, he didn't begin the class right away. He considered visiting an important element of class and it also helped him gather information on the students' lives.

After letting the students 'gossip' for a few minutes he cleared his throat. "All right everyone, settle down. I do hope you enjoyed your holidays and the cold weather didn't bother you too much." He chuckled. "Your assignment was to study different ways to protect yourself. Would anyone like to share what they did?"

Mina raised her hand to answer the question, looking proud. It wasn't often that she volunteered to answer questions in class, in both muggle school and at Hogwarts.

"I went to the gym with my friends and we exercised," Mina stated.

Hino motioned for her to continue. Mina explained what a gym was, for the purebloods that had never heard of such a place.

"I took an aerobics course, where you have to move your body fast," Mina said. "I learned that there are many ways to avoid getting hit by spells, just by dodging in time. My aunt is a trainer there and she's been helping me."

"Oh well, ten points for Hufflepuff. Has anyone else learned something?"

Lydia raised her hand. "Rock climbing—incase you need to climb a wall to get away from an attack or make an ambush."

"Ah, obstacles," Hino said. "Ten points for Gryffindor. Some Dark Wizards are fond of living in such places where it is difficult to gain access to, leaving the pursuer to cross all sorts of obstacles to get to them."

Hermione raised her hand, looking confused. "But why would they bother? They could keep people away by certain spells. Concealment, illusion…"

"That is quite true," Professor Hino said. "When you get to the heart of where they are hiding. Some spells only cover so much ground, you understand."

Lita nudged Raye and nodded at her grandfather.

"I took yoga—that hardly means anything," Raye muttered.

"What's that, Raye?" said Professor Hino, looking in her direction.

"Well, I ah," Raye said with a shrug. "I took yoga. It helps relaxes you."

"I'm happy to hear that," said Professor Hino. "Now everyone, we are going to start rotating partners."

There were sighs of relief across the room and groans of frustration. "Now, now, don't worry. It's just for the day. If you don't like your partner, just remember that you won't have to duel with them for another week or two!"

Professor Hino wrote the new partner arrangements on the board. Raye gasped at who her new partner was. Draco.

She turned to look at Draco. He too had a look of surprise on his face. She jumped up and went to her grandfather, whispering in his ear.

"Grampa, I don't think it's such a good idea for me to duel with Draco!" she said.

"Sure it is," he insisted.

"Think you can show me some of those yoga techniques, Raye?" said a playful voice.

Raye took a breath and counted to five in her head before turning her face to Draco. He was grinning.

"Did you put my grandfather up to this?" she asked.

"Of course not," said Draco. "I'm as surprised as you are."

"Titillando!" shouted Draco and Raye felt like ten pairs of hands were tickling her vigorously over her body. She crumpled, unable to keep from laughing.

"You should laugh more," Draco told her.

Raye grasped her wand tightly, and unable to speak, she thought as hard as she could 'Expelliaramus!'

Thrown backward, Draco lost his wand and the spell ended. Raye took in a deep breath and pushed herself to her feet.

"I know you were behind the cursed necklace, Draco," Raye said. "You didn't just stay at Hogwarts because of problems at home. What are you up to?"

"Maybe I just wanted to stay here, all right?" Draco hissed. He stood and a gust of wind from nowhere forced Raye backward. She looked at the window in the room. It was closed. How did the wind blow her?

Ron and Harry were dueling the Slytherins they had polyjuiced themselves into from their second year: Vincent Crabbe and Greggory Goyle. After having to pretend to be Malfoy's cronies for a full hour, they learned a little about them. The two large Slytherin boys made up for their lack of wits with their muscle. If they knew any spells, they didn't use them. Ron used the levitation spell on Crabbe's fist and made him continually hit Crabbe in the face with it.

"Quit hitting yourself," Ron was saying. "Quit hitting yourself, Crabbe."

Harry decided to use Goyle's height against him by untying his shoes and making him trip.

After fighting with girls that knew a lot of spells, Lita got a change with Millicent Bulstrode. Lita found her to be quite the challenge. After throwing some hexes at Lita to try and get her off her guard, Millicent came in to get her in a headlock.

"Ha, nice try!" Lita said, bending down, grabbing her arms and throwing her off her in one fell swoop.

Mina was dueling fellow Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbot. She used spells to keep Mina at a distance, trying to keep the duel fair. It was refreshing for Mina not to be fighting Draco for a change. Mina got low and rolled into Hannah, throwing her arms around her knees and pulling her to the ground. Hannah cried out. Mina gasped and quickly helped her to her feet.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Mina exclaimed. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, you just surprised me as all," said Hannah. "How'd you do that?"

"Just a move I do in volleyball," said Mina said. "I mix gymnastics with it time to time."

"Can you show me?"

"Well you don't want to start right off doing something that," Mina gestured the path of her move on the mat. "I can give you some basics, though."

Mina stood next to her and began showing her some stances and guiding her as she made a bridge and other basic gymnastic moves.

Pansy was flinging nasty hexes at Serena. After getting hit with a Stinging Hex, Serena countered by transfiguring Pansy into the animal she resembled: a pug.

"Oh you look so cute!" Serena said, walking to her. Believing that her opponent was harmless now, Serena reached out to pet her. The dog with the smashed face growled and bit her hand.

"Ow! Ow! Why'd I do that?"

Pansy continued to growl and lunge at Serena, attempting to bite her again.

Ami's new partner was Theodore. He was equally brilliant as she was, using complex spells. He was waving them at her looking completely uninterested. He was proving to be a real challenge. For some spells, he wasn't shouting any incantations. Ami was gasping for air and she knelt down to catch her breath.

"You're," she said. "Pretty good."

"I know," Nott said.

"Ami?" Ron noticed her fall and he went to her. "You all right?"

"I'm—fine," she murmured.

"What'd you do, Nott?" Ron demanded. "Hit her with a Choking Curse?"

"Relax, I've done nothing to your girlfriend," said Nott.

Ami went pink. They weren't together.

"I'm going to make you pay for that!" Ron shouted.

"Ron, please," whispered Ami.

"Everte Statum!" shouted Ron.

Nott thought Protego! and his shield appeared just in time to block Ron's Knocking Jinx. What was strange, however, was that it was a jet of water.

"You were planning on knocking me over with water?" Nott said with a smirk. "You telling me I need a bath, Weasley?"

Ron looked surprised himself. The spell was supposed to knock Nott into the wall. He glanced back at Ami, trying to shove his wand in his pocket. "I—um—er,"

"I believe you were thinking Aguamenti as you said Everte Statum," Ami answered for him.

"Yeah," Ron said. "Yeah. That's it. Couldn't make up my mind."

"Well leave your girlfriend to make up hers, won't you?" Nott nodded to Crabbe. "Because I'm dueling her right now. Get back to Crabbe before he gets jealous."

Ron glared at him.

"Ron, I can handle myself," Ami said sternly.

Ron slowly went back to his partner. Ami turned to hers and bowed twice.

"I apologize for that," she said.

"You don't have to apologize for him," said Nott. "I know your boyfriend's a hot head."

"Ron's not my boyfriend," Ami said, blushing.

"Really? Then you must available."

"What?" Ron turned around and with his guard down, ended up getting a punch in the face from Crabbe.

"Idiot," grumbled Hermione, who was dueling with Blaise.

Five minutes before the end of the class, Hino made everyone stop dueling. He asked the students what they learned from their duel. When class was over, Raye was the first out of the room. Draco glanced in her direction and went to Hino.

"Well?" said Hino.

"Raye was right," said Draco. "Assigning us together wasn't a good idea."

"Too soon, perhaps," said Hino. "Give it time."

Harry groaned as he followed the rest of the sixth year potion students into the potion's classroom. It was typical that he'd have potions on the fist day back from Christmas and on top of that, at the end of the day. It was going to be a long class.

Snape was setting bottles of different potions on a table in front of the class. Once everyone was at their cauldron, he addressed the class.

"In case you have forgotten," he began, "we covered antidotes in fourth year. We're going to talk about them again. I have seven different poisons here. Judging by their color, can anyone tell me what they are?"

As usual, Hermione was first to raise her hand. "The cloudy yellow poison is snake venom."

"From the Long-nose adder, this will cause severe tissue damage," Snape said. "Anyone else?"

Ami was the next one to answer. "The one on the end is Draught of Despair. Instead of a poison of the body, is a poison on the mind. Causes whoever drinks it to remember bad memories and have bad thoughts. Kind of like when you're near a Dementor."

Snape smirked as he placed his hand on the bottle of the emerald-green liquid. "Yes, it is difficult to make the Draught of Despair, and the antidote even more so."

"What will happen to the person if they don't get an antidote?" Harry asked. "Do they go mad, like people that have been affected by Dementors for too long?"

"It might," Snape answered. "If they drink too much. If it's a small amount, the effect goes away after a while."

Harry cringed at the thought of someone drinking the Draught of Despair and not getting an antidote in time. He wondered what the antidote could be.

"Now, does anyone know what this poison may be?" he gestured to the second potion, next to the snake venom.

"I do," said Ron, "It's doxy venom."

"And how do you know that?" Snape questioned.

"One bit me," he replied hesitantly. The back of his neck became hot as he remembered cleaning the doxies out of the draperies at Headquarters. After receiving the doxy bite, he made sure to wear gloves.

Draco and some Slytherins laughed. Theodore didn't laugh vocally, but had an amused grin on his face as he looked at the antidote's section in his textbook.

"Now a bite from a doxy isn't fatal, or Mr. Weasley wouldn't be standing here today," Professor Snape continued. "But it does cause vomiting so an antidote should be taken." He levitated the poisons and poured them into small phials.

"Enough talk of these poisons or there will not be enough time to make the antidotes and believe me, you will need as much time as possible. Your assignment, pick one of these poisons and by using Golpalott's Third Law, make an antidote to it."

"Who?" said Harry and he looked at Ron, who shrugged.

"Begin!" hissed Snape and everyone scrambled out of their seats to grab an easy poison. By the time Harry got to the table, there were only samples of the Draught of Despair left. He wondered if the poison could have an affect on the person just by holding it, because he wasn't feeling very confident at the moment.

He turned to the list of antidotes and read the description of Golapatt's Third Law, but he was still confused. He glanced around the room to observe what others were doing.

Hermione used an incantation to learn the ingredients of her poison and began recording them. Lita hadn't poured the poison into her cauldron as she should have, but instead was carrying an armful of potion ingredients to her station. Ami looked like she knew what she was doing. She wasn't rushing like most of the students were. Because she was the daughter of one of the best doctors in Japan, she knew about poisons and antidotes.

Harry hadn't even started when Snape had called time. He went from cauldron to cauldron. When he arrived at Lita's, he asked why she didn't follow the proper method of making the antidote.

"I see you hadn't bothered to pour in the poison, Miss Kino," he said. "Did you misread Golapatt's Third Law?"

"No, I think I got it," Lita said, "but I created another way to make an antidote. I picked the Paralysis Poison and if it's supposed to paralyze someone, I decided to make a potion that did the exact opposite. This potion makes the drinker able to move. At least…it's supposed to."

Snape moved on, commenting on the other student's attempts to antidotes. Ami should have received perfect marks, but Snape still gave her an average grade. When he arrived to Harry's cauldron, he smiled.

"Trouble again, Potter?" said Snape. "I am amazed you even passed your Potion's OWL."

"I, well," said Harry. He kept his eyes down. He didn't want to see the grinning faces of all the Slytherins. He saw a small bulge in his pocket, box of chocolate covered peanuts that Serena had gotten him.

He remembered that chocolate was an antidote to Dementor attacks, and the Draught of Despair was like being attacked by one. It was a long shot, but it was something. Harry removed the box of chocolate from his pocket and slammed it on the table next to him.

"Chocolate," he said. "I reckon it works for this like it does for dementors."

Hermione groaned and shook her head. Lita gave him the thumbs up and a few people nodded in agreement.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for not doing the assignment properly and another ten for your cheek," Snape muttered. "It looks like all of you need to understand the importance of making antidotes. Five rolls of parchment due next class. You are dismissed…except for you, Potter." He added, as Harry made a move for the door.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I believe you will need to begin Remedial Potions with me," said Snape. "At the rate you are going, you will never be an Auror."

"Excuse me, Professor Snape," said Lita as she approached them. "But how about I tutor Harry? We all know you're busy doing your assignment for the Order."

Even though Lita didn't go by the book, she was an excellent potions student. She was creative and liked to experiment, which sometimes got her in trouble.

Snape looked at Lita and back at Harry. "Very well. Do not waste my stores in your…experiments."

Lita saluted him and he groaned as he returned to his desk.

"Thanks," said Harry.

"No problem," Lita said. "When do you want to start? Tonight?"

"I've got a lesson with Dumbledore tonight," Harry answered. "Can we do it tomorrow?"

"Sure," said Lita. "Gives me time to decide what we should work on."

"Well, I can use help on anything," Harry laughed. "But I guess we can go back to the basics."

Dumbledore had just showed Harry a memory of Morfin and Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle had come to the Gaunt house to find Marvolo and learned about Marvolo's death. When Morfin had commented on how Tom looked like 'the muggle that lives in the big house up the way,' and explained how his mother took a fancy to him, Tom Riddle figured out who his parents were.

Tom had stupefied his uncle, stole his wand and used it to murder his father and grandparents. Harry felt his anger rise. He didn't think he would feel sorry for the insane wizard, but Morfin didn't deserve this. He died in Azkaban for nothing. He was angry that the Ministry didn't do anything.

The second memory Dumbledore told him was of the Potion master back in Tom Riddle's day, Horace Slughorn. He had made the grave mistake of giving Tom Riddle the information of Horcruxes.

"Horace was ashamed of what he had done," Dumbledore said. "So much so, that he had given me a modified version of this memory. Instead of telling Riddle about Horcruxes, he told him not to ask him again. Quite forcefully, actually."

"Perhaps that is what he wished he had said," Harry said to himself. "How were you able to get the true memory, Professor?"

"A little help from Mrs. Aino," said Dumbledore. "She was a favorite student of his."

How could a person do that to himself? Just to avoid death? Now Harry understood what Hagrid meant all those years ago. There wasn't anything human in Voldemort to die. He didn't have a soul.

After speaking more about Slughorn and Horcruxes, Harry retired to the Gryffindor Tower to find Serena giving a Tarot Card reading to Ron. There were two rows of seven cards.

"You get it, Ron? The Knight of wands is saying that you need to be patient and gentle."

"But I have been!" Ron exclaimed.

"Oh, but since it's reversed…you need to stop being so hasty and jumping to conclusions. Like you did in Defense today."

Ron scowled and folded his arms. "I don't like this card game."

"It's not a card game, Ron," Serena told him as she turned the card across the knight of wands. "Ami will come around, you see."

Serena smiled at Harry when she noticed at him.

"Hey Harry," Serena said. "Would you like a reading too? I could use the practice."

"Don't do it mate," Ron hissed through the corner of his mouth as Harry took a seat.

"Sure, I'll give it ago," said Harry. "What do I need to do?"

"You just need to ask a question," Serena answered.

"Let's hear how the lessons with Dumbledore went first," said Hermione. She was sitting on the sofa with Lydia studying History of Magic.

"Right, how'd it go?" inquired Serena.

"I saw a memory from Morfin," said Harry. "That's Voldemort's uncle."

"Yeah, the crazy one," Serena nodded, scooping up her tarot cards and beginning to shuffle them.

"Voldemort visited him," Harry began. "No, not like he looks right now." He added quickly with Serena's frightened look. "He was still Tom Riddle, and he was still in school."

"Bet that went well," said Ron as he folded his arms.

"Tom was asking questions about Marvolo, and then Morfin commented that Morfin looked like the muggle Merope had fallen in love with. Tom figured out what happened, that his dad ran out on his mum," Harry explained.

"And that's probably when Tom killed his father, eh?" asked Lydia.

"Not before stealing Morfin's wand. The ministry believed he was behind it."

"That's terrible!" Serena cried. "The Ministry never found out the truth?"

"No," said Harry. "He somehow modified Morfn's memory, making everyone think he did it."

"The other memory was from the Potion teacher when Tom was going here," Harry said. "Professor Slughorn. Tom got the information about Horcruxes from him, and came up with the idea of splitting his soul into seven parts."

"Seven?!" Serena exclaimed, dropping all her cards. "Is he nuts?"

"Seven is the most powerful number," stated Hermione. "It is the age most witches and wizards start showing their magical abilities."

"I thought seven was just the luckiest number," Lydia said with a shrug. She laughed. "Maybe is so powerful because it is lucky!"

"So you guys believe there are six horcruxes out there?" Serena inquired. "Do you know what they are?"

"That's for another lesson," Harry said.

"I believe the diary was a horcrux," Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, that's what Dumbledore said."

Once she had shuffled all her cards, Serena put them in a stack. "Okay Harry, ready for a reading?"

Harry nodded. "I just need to ask a question right?"

Serena nodded.

"Can it tell me where I can find the horcruxes?" Harry inquired and Ron laughed.

Serena looked at her cards and scratched her head. "I don't know if there's a tarot spread for that."

"I'm kidding, Serena," Harry said with a smirk. "There are still more memories Dumbledore needs to show me."

"Well, what else would you like to know?"

Harry pondered for a moment. "I'd like to know what Malfoy's up to. He's hiding something."

"Okay, so you want to know what you need to do get the truth?" Serena asked him as she went over her chart of tarot spreads.

"Of course," said Harry.

Serena counted seven cards and spread them out in a horseshoe pattern. She moved her hand to the card on her left.

"The past," she said to Harry. "Yours and Draco's." She flipped it over and to a drawing of an eagle, lion, badger, snake and a pig all holding a wand.

"Those are the Hogwarts mascots," said Harry. "Except for the pig."

"I know," said Serena sheepishly. "The five of wands represents competition and rivalry. I thought of the four houses but I couldn't think of a fifth mascot. So I threw in the pig because of the winged hogs at the school. In my mind, the pig is telling the others to get along."

"I think the house rivalry thing gotten better over the years," Harry told her. "Especially after the DA. So what's the next card mean, Serena?" He pointed at it.

"The present," Serena declared as she turned it over, revealing Sailor Moon carrying seven swords. "Hardship, bravery and faith."

"You put yourself here?" Harry inquired.

"Sometimes it's hard being Sailor Moon," Serena admitted. "Looks like both you and Draco are going through a hard time right now."

"I'm sure Malfoy must be if he's doing a job for Voldemort," Hermione said. "I doubt he'll give him anything easy."

"Card number three represents hidden influences," she said as she turned the card to reveal a blond girl as the hanged man.

"You have to think of how the values and beliefs of Draco would affect your decision," said Serena. "Fourth card is obstacles. The eight of wands tell me that you may face an unexpected event."

"So what does that mean?"

"I don't know," said Serena with a shrug. "The fifth card represents the attitudes of others." She turned it to show a drawing of Queen Serenity as the High Priestess. "Learning and mystery. I think everyone is wondering about your motives."

"My motives?" Harry said. "I know Malfoy's up to something. Luna and the others heard him talking to Snape. What do my motives have to do with anything?"

"Are you so obsessed with Draco because you're rivals and you just want to get him in trouble?" Hermione asked.

"No, I-," Harry paused. There was some truth in her question. If he caught Malfoy in the act of breaking the rules, he could get him expelled. He would love that. But he didn't want to admit it. "I just want Hogwarts to be safe. Let's move on."

"This card represents what you should do," said Serena and Harry leaned forward. It revealed Ami as Temperance. "Oh this is interesting."

"What, what?" said Harry.

"Temperance. You need to be understanding and compassionate."

"Understanding and compassionate, to Malfoy?" Harry demanded. "How is that supposed to help me find out why he's trying to kill Dumbledore?"

"We don't know that for sure, Harry," Serena said. "And just trying to catch him in the act to make him look bad and make you look llike a hero is no reason to keep doing this! That's the same reason why he's tried to get you in trouble!"

Harry folded his arms. "Come on Serena, you know that Malfoy's dad a Death Eater. You know he's doing something for Voldemort. We got to find out what it is and expose him before something happens!"

"You can find out another way besides I don't know, following him around and harassing him!" Serena yelled.

"Calm down, Harry," said Hermione, approaching the table. "They're just stupid cards."

"Stupid cards?" Serena demanded.

"You don't expect anyone to take this seriously, do you?" Hermione inquired. "It's the same thing with the tea leaves. They mean nothing. Serena just drew these at random. It doesn't mean anything. She could've drawn this one…the devil. So this might mean that you think Malfoys' the devil. Nonsense."

"Oh, so you think what Harry is doing is right then?" Serena questioned. "That when he could put more effort in classes and qudditch, he's more concerned in getting Draco in trouble?"

"What am I supposed to do, Serena? Just ignore it and let it go?" Harry demanded. "I know Malfoy's up to something. Raye knows it."

"You don't have to let it go," said Serena. "It might be a good idea though. But maybe…you can just try to bury the hatchet already. Maybe once you guys learn to trust each other, Draco will tell you."

"Yeah, like that will happen," said Harry. "I'm going to bed."

"But there's one more card left!" Serena called after him as she rose to her feet. "You got to know what the outcome is."

"I already know what the outcome is, Serena," Harry said, pausing at the stairs. "I'm not going to try to be Draco Malfoy's friend!"

Serena frowned and flipped over the last card to reveal the ace of swords. She laughed. "It's reversed. That means Harry's too stubborn to do it."

"You can't blame him," said Ron.

"Yeah, I guess," Serena began to put her cards away and then Lydia grabbed her hand. "Wait…there are seven cards here. And we were talking about how seven is the most powerful number."

"Yeah, so?" Serena asked.

"I wonder if this is the most powerful spread," Lydia went on. "That when someone does this reading they become more powerful if they follow the course."

"Well doubt that will happen," said Serena. "Because Harry only got to card six! Jerk. I try to help and what does he do? He just shoots me down. Oooh!"

Hermione turned to Serena. "I never liked divination, but I think you're right. Harry and Malfoy were always at odds."

"So were we, Hermione," said Ron. "But you don't expect Harry to try to befriend Malfoy after all this, do you?"

"Not really," admitted Hermione. "However we should take the Sorting Hat's warning and try to band together. I think that is why Professor Hino partnered most of us with Slytherins."

"So we can become friends?" Ron snorted. "Nah, I think because he wants us to learn how to take them down."

He got up and left the girls by themselves. Serena grabbed her cards and shoved them in her box. "Harry's so stubborn! Last time I give him a reading, for sure!"

To Be Continued