Ch12
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Sailor Moon and nor do I own Harry Potter.
AN: And here I present chapter12. This chapter shows a certain relationship between Harry and his friends with Hotaru and Draco. There is a bit of Draco bashing on Hotaru's side, so please...DON'T HURT ME!
There were gossips coming from the students' lips as nobody even bothered to hide the fact that they were laughing at how their DADA teacher and weaponry teacher had insulted and, unintentionally in Usagi's case, made fun of the minister of magic. Fudge glared angrily as he made it an issue to follow the three new teachers around as they each taught their classes with an annoying nuisance standing in the back of every class, glaring at them.
(Michiru's Class)
"All right class, today we will be doing a bit of review of all the defensive tactics we went over on Friday," she said. She had each student line up against the two walls facing each other, mixing up the two houses so they won't be any conspiracy to kill the other. Not many times does she have to go with this precaution, but this is the Slytherins and the Gryffindors we are talking about. "Today's lesson will be a small quiz, for Haruka's, Usagi-chan's and my class. You are to use your knowledge from both classes; the time limit will be three minutes or until someone gets knocked out of the ring."
"What ring are you talking about?" Cornelius asked, staring at the empty floor.
"This ring," Michiru replied, as polite as she can, trying to hide her disdain towards this man who speaks ill of her princess. Michiru took out her mirror and faced it towards the floor, revealing a square shaped space that leaves enough space to evade and attack back but not enough to be careless. "As you can see, it's not very large which increases your chances in getting knocked out of the ring, so I suggest you guys to not be careless," Michiru told them, "And as you can see, both houses had been mixed into two separate teams, and the team that wins the most matches will receive house points, so I suggest you get use to cheering for the other house if you want those points."
Cornelius stared at Michiru in complete shock. A Slytherin cheering for a Gryffindor or vise versa? Why that's preposterous, the very idea of it was outlandish and ridiculous. Just what in the world is this teacher thinking? Trying to make the two biggest rival houses work together? This person must be a complete fool to think that they'll do it for the house points.
Michiru must've known that he was insulting her in his mind because she glared at him and then turned to both sides of the teams. She knew that the two houses hate each other so she came up with a plan. "The team that wins will be exempt from a midterm I will be issuing in January," she told them, knowing that everyone will do anything to be excused from taking a test. She smiled lightly when she heard the mutterings from the students as they slowly and hesitantly nodded their heads to agree with their terms.
Cornelius just snorted yet again, thinking that what she was planning to do would never work. It wasn't then when a person from both teams came up to challenge each other and the screams of encouragement were aroused from their sides that he became shocked. As true as Michiru had believed, Slytherins were cheering on the Gryffindors on their sides as the Gryffindors cheered for the Slytherins on their sides as well. He stared in complete bewilderment at Michiru and slowly contemplated that she probably cast a spell on them. He was also shocked at the way the two opponents were able to synchronize their offensive attacks with their defensive ones with the points adding up, being close to a tie. His eyes narrowed down harshly when he saw Harry going against the opposite house and had produced a blunt sword that surprisingly acts like a hologram the minute it creates contact to the opponent.
As the battle rages on between Harry and his opponent, Cornelius started to see the different devices that Hogwarts had never used before and figured that the new teachers had created them. In a way, he wasn't that far off. Haruka had created the item that is solid so the students could learn how to wield a sword and attack with it but immediately becomes transparent when it touches a surface. Michiru had formed a small device shaped as a bracelet that ejects a watery looking shield that could parry off certain physical attacks. And around each of the students' necks was an amulet with a different color crystal that symbolizes which planet their attacks were drew from and that was created by Usagi.
While Cornelius was suspicious of Harry's battle, he was even more distrustful of Hotaru's fight. Instead of taking out a sword like all the other students, Hotaru took out a deadly looking glaive, a Haruka-made replica, which held the same kind of power as her original weapon, only .1 percent of its power actually, since even 1 percent is too powerful. She was fighting against Draco Malfoy, who is the heir to a prominent and wealthy wizarding family. With those facts in mind, Cornelius was certain that this girl would lose and reveal that her guardians are nothing more than just all talk with no real proof backing them up. He watched the battle start as the blonde pulled out the sword and began to attack Hotaru in a quick but almost gentle pace, almost as if he doesn't really want to harm her, but the raven-haired girl took no notice of it as she just blocked off all of his attacks without any effort, like she was just toying with him.
Draco didn't know what to do. He was hoping for a battle against Potter so he could prove to be the better catch and get Hotaru's attention back on him (even though it was never on him to begin with). He was seen as the brave and gallant knight towards a lot of the other girls in his house, but the only attention he was hoping for was Hotaru's. And now the teacher had instead placed him against the very girl he was trying to get to like him; the fates must be against him as always, trying to pair her up with his worst rival. What is he supposed to do? If he fights too hard and ends up beating her, she might end up hating him, but if he loses against a girl, despite the fact that he likes her or not, he would never hear the end of it from the Gryffindors. Decisions, decisions, just what should he do? Which one matters more, his pride or the girl of his dreams? Girls like Hotaru Tomoe don't pop up very often and judging how her guardians seem to hold long grudges, there's a possibility that she probably picked that up from them. As he continued to think about it, the bright enigmatic purple eyes that seemed to know so many things secretly or the way that her dark colored hair would brush against her pale skin whenever she moved or…THAT'S IT! Forget his pride, he's going to do whatever he can to get this girl to like him, even if it means an eternal ridicule from the Gryffindors.
Hotaru's lilac eyes narrowed when she noticed that Draco was going easy on her. What did he think she was; a weakling like that girl who hangs around him like he's some kind of a god?!? She didn't face all those enemies, died so many times, and even turn evil just so she could get a pompous arrogant spoiled brat with a wand rammed up in his ass to go easy on her in a duel. Dislodging the glaive, Hotaru delivered a swift and single kick, knocking him out of the ring.
Draco slid on the floor and rubbed his stomach, already feeling the bruise forming. He could hear the Gryffindors snickering silently at how easily he was defeated, but for first once, he didn't care about that. He quickly glanced at Hotaru expectantly, but that hope immediately was dashed into a million tiny pieces when he saw a disappointed and angered look in her eyes. "Why isn't she fawning over me? I just let her win for crying out loud," he shouted angrily in his head, ignoring Pansy who was throwing herself over him.
Hotaru walked over to him and stopped right in front of him, trying to hold in her anger. "You were holding back, weren't you?" she asked, not even beating about the bush. When she saw his face paled slightly, Hotaru just glared at him even more. "Baka! Why did you do that?" she shouted, "What? Did you think that I was so weak that I needed someone with no experience fighting to go easy on me? I didn't survive all those years just to have you let me win. If we were in a war right now, you would've been killed immediately."
Michiru sighed to herself. It seemed that Haruka's temper may have just rubbed off on Hotaru after all. She has about as much pride about her skills as the wind senshi herself and gets offended if anyone had insulted their abilities intentionally or not. And it just seemed like Draco had already lit the spark that fueled her pride. She placed a hand on Hotaru's shoulder and shook her head. She then turned to her class and pointed to the team where Harry and Hotaru were in and said, "Team A had won and will be exempt from my midterm. Move on to your next class."
Cornelius couldn't help but eye the teal-colored hair senshi in suspicion once again before following after the students. "There's just something about those people," he said silently, glaring at Michiru one last time, "She must've been training them to defend themselves when they go against me."
(Haruka's Class)
"All right, gakis, as you had heard in Michiru's class, we will be having a test and the team that wins will be exempt from taking our midterms," she said, "Please go into the very teams that Michiru had placed you in during her test. The rules from there apply for this one as well."
"Wait, but that means that we will have to cheer for them again," one of the kids said, emphasizing on the word 'them', meaning the other house.
Haruka just stared at him with an annoyed look on her face. "What is it with you guys and your pitiful rivalry?" she asked, "It won't be long until that idiotic dark lord attacks and you'll still be at each others' throats. Haven't you heard the term, 'United we stand, but divided we fall'?"
"There's no chance that we'll ever be united with the blood traitors," Ron shouted, "Everyone knows that Slytherins favor the he-who-should-not-be-named."
"Who are you calling 'blood traitors'?" one of the Slytherins shouted, "You're the ones favoring those mudbloods, who have absolutely no right to come to this school!" Apparently the muggle-born wizards and witches looked highly offensive at the term 'mudblood' and everybody in Gryffindor and Hotaru glared at the boy.
Haruka walked over to the kid and gave him a smack on the back of the head. "Watch your mouth, brat," she said angrily, glaring at the boy as he clutched the back of his head in pain, "I thought I said to not insult other people because of their skills and bloodline, dumb ass." She pointed over to the wall and barked, "Five laps around the gym, you'll take the quiz when you're done." She then glared at Ron and lectured, "As much as you are correct in some Slytherins' families favoring Voldermort, it doesn't mean that everyone is going to be stupid enough to follow their parents' decision. And it's not only those in Slytherin who believe in Voldermort, there are plenty of other wizards and witches from other houses and schools that favor his beliefs as well. For your ignorant remark, five laps for you as well, Weasley." When she saw that Ron was going to object, Haruka just glared at him and warned, "Don't make me double it."
Haruka then turned to the rest of the students. "Everyone, separate into the groups you were in before," she ordered. The two houses, except Ron and the Slytherin, who were running, stood very still. Haruka stared at them and shouted, "What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get moving!" Everybody jumped and hurried into their spots, too frighten to even complain.
Hotaru rolled her eyes and muttered, "Great job, Haruka-papa. Make them more scared of you than they are of Voldermort." She shook her head and took her place beside Harry. Her purple eyes glanced over at Harry and saw that he was looking nervous; she took his hand, causing him to jump slightly and turn to her, and smiled at him. "It's okay, you'll do fine," she whispered, causing the spectacle wearing brunette to smile back.
Draco glared at the nauseous scene in front of him. His body shook with anger when he saw Harry smile back at Hotaru. Damn him, damn this stupid teacher, damn his stupid girlfriend(1), damn all the gods in the world, DAMN IT ALL!!!!!!!!! He was supposed to be on Hotaru's team this time around, not be on the opposite one. Just how was he supposed to win her heart if he will end up fighting against her again. Wait a minute…maybe this time, he won't be her opponent. A smile lit up on his face, maybe he could show her just how strong and heroic he could be, much better than that Potter that's for sure. Everything was starting to come together for the proud Slytherin, but then he heard the feared words coming out of Haruka's mouth, 'You will be fighting the same opponent in the last class', it all fell apart yet again. Draco quickly dropped to his knees and shouted, "NOOOOOOOOOO!" causing everyone to stare at him, as if he had just lost his mind.
"Psst, what's the matter with Malfoy?" Ron whispered over to Harry, who just shrugged his shoulders in reply.
Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Baka," she muttered at the sobbing Draco, making Hermoine giggle softly next to her.
(Usagi's Class)
It never looks very good when the girl you are in love with defeated you for the second time. Not only had Hotaru looked at Draco with disgust when he went easy on her in the first battle, but she slapped him across the face and called him an idiot for not paying attention in the second battle and that he would be the first one to get killed in a real fight. Why can't the gods above just kill him now and spare the humiliation he was facing in front of this one girl he wanted as his own? But the gods must've finally heard his prayer since Usagi had placed him on the same team with Hotaru and she would be fighting against Harry. A laugh that sounded like those witches from childish muggle stories cackled in his head as he said silently, "Now let's see what Potter will do."
Usagi held a hand up in the air and glanced at Hotaru and Harry. "Fighters, are you ready?" she said loudly, "Ichi, ni, san…hajime(1)!"
Everybody watched as both Harry and Hotaru had produced their weapons and started to go head to head against each other. Everyone could actually see that unlike Draco who had started out awkwardly and ended up going easy on Hotaru, Harry had really went out all he could against her, even if he has a crush on her. Blades clashed with sparks flying out as they all dished out their attacks that they had learned in all three classes, each one dodging an attack only to send it back. Their battle was the last one and actually the longest with them even using their planetary attacks, well only Harry, since Hotaru's powers could decimate the entire school. Harry's powers were much more different than his schoolmates, while their powers revolve around the inner and outer planets, other than Saturn and Pluto, his revolved more around the moon, courtesy to Usagi since he is biologically her brother, reincarnation or not.
In the end, Hotaru was dragged to the ground with Harry's sword pointed at her neck, much to his rival's delight. But the reaction she had showed made him boil up in anger and jealousy. He watched as Harry held out his hand and held it out for Hotaru to grab it, he was hoping for her to smack it away and yell at him for winning, but instead, she took it and just smiled at him. "What the hell? He just went and beat her up and all she is doing is smiling at him?" Draco shouted in his head.
"That was a great battle, Hotaru," Harry said. ("They're actually on first name basis!" Draco was screaming in his head") "But I had the feeling that you were holding back a bit."
Hotaru smiled at him and said teasingly, "Well, if I wasn't holding back and attacked full strength, then I might've destroyed this whole school." She took his help in standing up and headed over to her team.
"Great job, Harry," Usagi said with a smile. She walked out to the center and said in a loud voice, "Harry's team will be exempt from the midterms. Now, can anyone tell me, what is the purpose of these tests that you had been receiving in all three classes?" Nobody raised their hand as Hotaru rolled her eyes in annoyance. Cornelius glared at Usagi with a suspicious glint in his eyes. "Nobody?" Usagi said curiously.
Hotaru sighed and raised her hand. "It's to learn how to defend ourselves and be able to fight back," she said.
"They already have their wands," Cornelius sneered, "What good would all these things do?"
"And what pray tell, would they do if somebody grabbed hold of their wands and snapped it in two?" Usagi said. Nobody answered her question as they just stared at her and Cornelius as they would during a Quidditch match. "I'll tell you what they'll do. They'll stand there like a complete amateur just screaming, 'Kill me!', and waiting until they get hit with a curse."
While everyone kept staring at the supposedly powerful man arguing in an already defeated battle against their teacher, Hotaru walked over to the opposing side to stand by her friends. "Exactly why is he the minister?" she whispered in Harry's ear. The spectacles wearing brunette shrugged his shoulders in reply. "He probably sweet talked his way and showered influential and rich families to get him the position," she said rolling her eyes.
"Serenity might lose her job if this keeps up," Ron whispered, getting worried. Their long history of teachers for this class was a long and weird story to be told. Their teachers had either been cruel, crazy, or just plain strange. The only teachers they had ever liked had been Remus Lupin and Serenity Potter, so it was natural for most of them to not want to lose her as well.
Hotaru rolled her eyes and snorted, "Not if the fates had anything to say about it," causing everybody to stare at her for a second before glancing back to the minister's losing battle.
(1) 'Ichi, ni, san…hajime' means 'One, two, three, start'
AN: I'm deeply sorry for the long wait you all had to endure since last year! I can't help but feel so horrible for not completing this chapter earlier. I actually started this chapter but placed it on hold when I wrote the chapters for the other stories. I'll try to keep up with the other chapters since I already wrote them down, but the problem is that I just didn't have too much time to type them up. So I'm begging you to please be a bit more patient. Thanks!