Ch20

Disclaimer: No, I own absolutely nothing.

AN: I'm so sorry about the long wait that lasted a whole year.

Usagi stared out into the giant lake in front of Hogwarts. A deep sigh came out as a look of concern appeared on her face.

"Hey, what's with the sour looking face?"

Usagi turned around to see Minako staring down at her with a curious face. "Mina-chan," Usagi whispered.

The other blonde sat down beside her. "What's wrong? I thought Rei-chan would be the one with a sour puss face," she said, teasingly.

"I just don't know what to expect anymore," Usagi replied. "I mean it was pretty predictable with Endymion, but Tom has always been so hard to read."

Minako looked at Usagi. "I didn't know that the two of you knew each other," she said. All Minako had knew about him was that he and Endymion were distant cousins. There were many rumors that, despite being a lord, Tom was considered as a candidate to marry Serenity because of his intelligence, charisma, and strength, but they chose Endymion because he was the prince.

"Not much, just that he was my betrothed's cousin, who was more superior than Endymion in every possible way," Usagi replied. She brought her legs closer to her body and leaned her chin on her knees.

"But did the two of you ever meet before?" Minako asked.

"Just once when it was announced that I would be married to Endymion," Usagi answered, "He congratulated Endymion but whispered how he felt sorry for me to be married to him in my ear."

"Werido," Minako said, wrinkling her nose. "Maybe he was just jealous that he wasn't the one who would marry you." She stretched her arms out into the air before lying down on the grass with her hands pillowing her neck. "Like, who wouldn't want to marry you?"

"Or he could be giving me a clue that I would be marrying a man who would cheat on me," Usagi muttered.

"But…doesn't the whole kingdom know that Endymion was a complete male whore?" Minako asked, "I mean, isn't it common knowledge that the leech had fucked with every girl available in his kingdom. Don't know why those girls would always go back to him? According to F-Venus, he was horrible in bed, so it couldn't have been the sex."

As Minako tried to figure out why the girls on Earth would keep on having sex with the prince, Usagi couldn't help but roll her eyes. Honestly, after Haruka, Minako ranks second at being the most perverted, of course this is the girl who watches and read yaoi just so she could drool over the guy's dicks and sex scenes.

Minako saw the distressed look on her princess's face and gently patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Why don't we worry about Tommy boy when the hour arises?" she said, trying to cheer her up. Just then a sharp beeping noise arose. Minako glanced over to her watch, which was working to the students and faculties' surprise. "Oops, I'm gonna be late," she said, jumping to her feet.

"Oh? Where are you off to?" Usagi asked, watching Minako take out a compact mirror and began primping herself.

After putting the finishing touches on her makeup, Minako snapped the mirror shut. "I've got a date," she said, winking at her friend.

Usagi shook her head and sighed. "Have fun and don't come home late," she said. She watched Minako skip down the road and couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness rush through her.

"And exactly what has happened to make the famously cheerful professor upset?"

Usagi turned her head to see Severus standing behind her with an eyebrow arched. "Severus, what are you doing out of the dungeons?" she asked with a fake smile on her face. Besides any problem she may have has nothing to do with him; the last thing she want to do is to give any more trouble for these people. It was bad enough that she brought the trouble known as Endymion and now that he's gone, it turns out there is a muh bigger threat that is still somewhat linked to her past.

Severus stared at the smile with a calculating look; that was the same thing Lily would have done when she didn't want people to worry about her. He knew that he shouldn't do it, but there are times when he would compare the late mother and daughter. Rolling his eyes, he said in a bored tone, "Don't do that."

Tilting her head, she asked him, "Do what?"

"Pretend that you're happy when you're clearly not," he replied, "Your mother would do the same thing when she didn't want people to worry about her. Unfortunately, it did the complete opposite and made your father and her friends worry about her even more."

Usagi tried to hide the laughter creeping in her throat, but she ended up chuckling at his concealing concerned tone. "True," she sighed, "But that's just the way I am. Guess I'm more like my mom." She got up and dusted out her robes. "I'm sorry, Severus, but I need to go," she said.

"And I too like to head over to Diagon Alley," Severus said after casting a Tempus spell.

"Errands?" Usagi asked. Seeing the calculated look in his eyes, she couldn't help but laugh. "Top secret mission, huh?" she joked. She didn't notice his body going stiff. Stretching her arms out, she started to walk back towards the castle. "See you at dinner," she said, waving her hand at him.

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As Severus walked through Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, he was gathering the ingredients he needed for the next class. As he was paying for the supplies, he couldn't help but wonder what was it that made Serenity feel so depressed. In all her time at Hogwarts, he had never seen her so depressed before, disappointment and anger he had seen when she witnessed things known to be unfair, but never like her world was falling apart. Just as he exited, he saw Ms. Aino rushing in front of him towards Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. "Where is she off to in a hurry?" he thought to himself.

He was about to ignore her and head back to the school when he heard her say, "Oliver, sorry am I late?" He turned immediately and there was Mr. Wood sitting under an umbrella stand.

"No, I just got here myself," Oliver said. Severus couldn't believe what he was seeing. The man who the students of Hogwarts were so convinced is in love with Serenity Potter is out on a date with her very own bodyguard.

Is this the reason why Serenity has been upset for a while? Did she have feelings for this young man? Then again, why shouldn't she? Oliver was a great student, hard worker, has a great job, closer to her age than his… Then again, why does he care? Serenity is just his co-worker and the daughter of his childhood friend and nemesis, why should her private life be of any concern for him? If she prefers to keep it a secret that the reason why she's upset is because the man she likes is dating her bodyguard then that's her problem.

As he was walking away, in the back of his mind, he was silently cursing at the young Oliver Wood, thinking how could he be interested in Ms. Aino when he could have the princess and leader? Not that there isn't anything wrong with Ms. Aino, considering the fact that both her and Serenity are similar (since the two are cousins, from what he had heard), but if there was a competition between the two based on looks, heritage, etc, Serenity would most likely win by a few extra points.

Severus stopped in his tracks with a horrid look on his face. Why is he still thinking about this when he just told himself it's none of his business? The image of Usagi smiling and laughing as she was talking with her friends and students and then the image of Usagi staring out into the lake with a distressed look on her face appeared. Suddenly the urge to dissect Oliver and use his parts as ingredients for his potions rose up, only to be squished away immediately. He couldn't figure out why he's thinking about all of this. He guessed it might be because he was in the sun too long, so he decided to hurry back to his lab and potions.

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Oliver listened as Minako talked about the adventures she had with her friends and couldn't understand just what was it about Endymion that made Serenity go out with him. With all the stories he had heard, this man sounded like a complete jerk that cares more about having sex and being unfaithful when he has a very loyal and loving woman. The man was a complete fool, so when Minako told him that he was killed by Voldemort no less, he couldn't help but feel like Voldemort had did the whole world a favor, even though he's still a complete dick with a superiority complex.

He shook his head, chuckling, and turned it to the side. Then he saw a familiar figure in a black cloak who was stalking away. "Hey, isn't that Professor Snape?" he asked, pointing to the disappearing figure.

Minako looked at what he was pointing to. "Yeah, it is," she said in a soft tone. A slight mischievous smile appeared on her face when she saw his body tensing in a painful manner.

"He looks sort of upset," Oliver observed, "Wonder what's the matter with him."

Minako leaned back into her chair with a relaxed sigh. "I think he's finally learning something important," she said. She could feel Oliver's questioning gaze on her as she brought up a spoonful of ice cream to her lips. "Sometimes to learn what you really want, you need a little of green in your life." She smiled coyly at Oliver, who blushed. When he turned his gaze to his ice cream cone, she thought to herself, "Besides a little jealousy never did much harm to anyone."