A Farewell

Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,

Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
A rivulet then a river:
No where by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree,
And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee will hum the bee,
For ever and for ever.

A thousand suns will stream on thee,
A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.

Lord Tennyson, Alfred

Once again, I do not own anything.

The angel of the moon slept, another pained by destiny, did not. Restless, Harry Potter gazed at the ceiling above his bed. Barely blinking, he contemplates the life he has been forced into.

"Sirius is dead. Gone forever from this world, and it is my entire fault. Just like the year before with Cedric, another person has died because of me. Why? Why me? Since third year's end, I always subconsciously hoped that Sirius would come for me. That he would take me away from my horrid aunt and uncle's home and together we could be a family. But now that wish can never be fulfilled. If only things could have been different. If only Tom Riddle had never become Voldermort, then I would have a real family. My parents would still be here along with Sirius." I look over to Hedwig, who hoots in understanding of my pain. She really is a good companion, even if she has no clue what I am saying usually.

The dawn creeps in through the window, attempting to bring me back to reality. "Might as well get up," I say to Hedwig as I lift the cage to let her out to hunt. "Guess I can get started on my chores for the day. Not like I have anything else to do." What meaning would anything have anyway. Sirius is gone, and eventually more will die because of me. I look out the window as I dress, the sunrise is a beautiful sight to behold. A new day has come, yet the pain of yesterday still remains. And with that, the Boy-Who-Lived walks from the room, missing the bright light that streaks through the sky, only to land in a place very close to his heart.

"Uhhhh," I moaned as I struggled to reach the waking world. Why is it always so hard to get up? It's not like I was comfortable of anything, actually my head was pounding, and there was no wonderful dream to return to. The covers surrounding me were tangled, making it difficult to move. Wait!—covers? My eyes shot open, at this point. I glanced around the room, my eyes observing the hospital like room that I was in. "How did I come to be here?" my whisper seemed too loud in the large empty room. The many white linen beds lining the room seemed creepy being so empty. I have never been one to like hospitals of any kind and this one stood out as the worst one in my mind. It was cold and silent. And to top it all off, I had absolutely no idea where I was.

"Ah, I see you have awakened," a voice interrupted my thoughts. "Albus will be happy about that. You had us all very worried that you would not wake up," an older woman announced as she strode to where I lay, her heals echoing through the pristine white room, and soon she had reached the edge of my bed.

"If you do not mind me asking, who are you? Where am I? And what are you talking about?" I really do not like not knowing what is going on. But I maybe sounded kind of rude, I only suspect because this woman gave me the look. Her frown relaxed and she sighed before explaining that her name was Minerva McGonagall that she was a professor and that I was now in the infirmary at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I had been asleep for two days and Albus—the headmaster hear, I am to call him Professor Dumbledore—and herself had worried that I would never awaken. As I was not injured, they had no idea what was wrong with me. By all their records I was perfectly healthy, yet obviously not by my lack of consciousness. Anyway, now that I was awake she would take me to get some food as I had not eaten in days. I was glad for this because, like always, I was hungry, also I was feeling weak. While looking down at my rumbling stomach, I noticed that I was in a hospital gown.

"Umm, Professor McGonagall?" she looked to me. "What do you want me to do about my clothes? I do not believe that I can go out in these," I said while tugging on the thin fabric of the gown. I look back up at her to see what she will say only to see her holding some weird stick. She said some words, that I did not understand and suddenly clothes appear in my lap. That's convenient for sure. Magic—if only the girls and Mamo-chan knew about this before. So much that we could have done, besides just what we used for battle. "Thank you," I tell her as she turns to walk away.

"Meet me outside when you are done changing," she tells me as she disappears behind the wooden doors that she entered from. I look down to see what I am to wear, and find it very agreeable. A pair of light faded jeans and a periwinkle cotton t-shirt, along with a pair of black converses. I quickly get dressed and head out to meet Professor McGonagall. As I walk out of the infirmary, Professor McGonagall uses her wand again to put my hair in a beautiful French braid, for which I am thankful for. I really need to do something about my hair. I would really hate to cut it, but it is such an inconvenience. My hair has grown so long that it trails the floor. But enough about hair, I will work that out latter. And off we head to lunch.

Being the middle of summer break, most all of the professors were absent from the school. And I do mean most. The only professors staying in the school right now are Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and a Professor Binns, who turned out to be a ghost. The latter two having pressing duties to attend to so as to prepare for the new school year, the former one having died in the school and being now unable to leave. She mentioned a Hagrid, who teaches Care of Magical Creatures; supposedly he lives in a hut on the property and does not like to be taken away from the many odd creatures that he associates himself with on a daily basis. He was the one to find me unconscious out on the lawn and brought me to Professor Dumbledore. I will have to thank him later for taking care of me. There is also a Professor Firenze, he recently renewed bonds with his clan and is staying the forest nearby. I believe I will have to watch out for him. He is a centaur; they existed in my world also and have always had a strong connection to the stars, which could result in Professor Firenze finding out a little too much about me. I can only hope that the stars will not pass on too much information, they never do for me anyway.

Professor McGonagall led me to the Headmaster's office, where meals are being held at present, as its only two teachers needing to eat. Suddenly we stopped; I looked up at the professor to ask why, when she said something causing the gargoyle statues before us to reveal a hidden staircase. Once we reached the door, Professor McGonagall went in and sat down. I stood in the doorway, suddenly nervous to meet the headmaster. I did not know what to say to him. What if he were to not let me stay at the school?

"Come in, my dear. Make yourself comfortable," a voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up at the old man as he gestured to the seat across from him. I walked through the doorway and made my way over. All of my senses are on high alert. My nervousness and the magic that reeked from the castle had me ready for anything. "Lemon drop?" he offers a candy from a ceramic bowl on the table. I take it, as a sign of good will, but I still do not exactly trust these people. The Fates sent me here, but I do not really know if I am truly safe. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore seem nice, but appearances can be deceiving. I guess being a senshi for so long has got me paranoid. My eyes wander to the candy in my hand; it seems edible, so I stick it in my mouth and savor its sour taste as I turn back to the old man. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am the headmaster here at Hogwarts." He looks at me, waiting to see if I have any questions. I don't and simply not to tell him to continue. "If I may, my dear, I have some questions for you." I nod, once again. He nods back and seems to contemplate what he shall ask. "What is it that we are to call you?" My name—he wants to know my name. What to tell him. I guess I cannot very well use Usagi; it is too foreign. But Serenity is not really any better. Why I can never have a common name, I will never know.

"You may call me Serenity, Serenity Moon; but I have many other names that I wish not to tell." Seriously, I could have just left that at my name, why did I continue?

"And what is your reason for being here?" His eyes narrow, waiting for my answer.

"I have a duty—a destiny of sorts—to fulfill here."

"Why would you need to come here for to fulfill your destiny?" Professor McGonagall jumps in. These are the first words that she has said the whole time.

"To fight," stop talking Usagi, I tell myself. They do not need to know anything. "I am here to help you in your war against Voldermort. And it is not my destiny that I must help fulfill, it is your Golden Child's. I am here to help protect and aid Harry Potter in this war." Really now, did I not say to stop talking. Why can I not control my words? I look at Professor Dumbledore as he absorbs my words. He must have done something to me. That is the only possible answer. He sees my confused look and does not seem fazed by it. So that is it, it is him. "What did you do to me?" I all but yelled at him. I should not have said as much as I had. I would not have said anything had I the choice in the matter, but something seemed to coerce me into speaking.

"I had to be sure that what you say is the truth. The lemon drop that I gave you contained Veritiserum, so that you would tell what needed to be told and I could confirm your words as fact," Dumbledore answered without a trace of remorse for his invasion in my privacy. To say that I was mad would have been an understatement. I was livid. My anger seemed to roll of me in waves and he must have noticed because he continued in a chance to explain himself. "Please forgive me for what I have done. You must understand that these are different times. You could very well have been a spy for the enemy sent to infiltrate the school and kill Harry Potter. I had to be sure that you were on our side before I could even accept the idea of allowing you to stay in the castle." Okay, so I was still mad. I calmed down slightly. I can see his point of view on the matter and knew that the senshi would have done the same 

thing if some strange person appeared out of nowhere claiming that they wanted to help fight. There was a reason why the inners and the outers did not get along when the outers first appeared. Well they still did not get along even after everything got worked out, but at least they were civil to each other in my presence.

"So did I pass?" sarcasm dripping off my words. Like I said, I was still mad. Though I understand his reasoning, some things can be left to instinct. They should have been able to feel that my words were not false. He looked up at me, obviously disappointed in my attitude and I shut my mouth. He reminded me of Grandpa Hino in some ways and I felt bad for being so disrespectful.

"Yes, you have and are welcome to stay at Hogwarts as a student."

"Great more school," I mumbled, which caused Dumbledore to laugh.

"Yes, more school, my dear. We must discuss what to do about your magical knowledge. I am sure that the teachers still at the castle would be glad to help you catch up to speed with the rest of your peers. I assume you shall be going into sixth year. I can convince those not present to return early. Of course you will still need to take some extra courses during the year…" he started to trail off, going over everything in his head.

"Do not forget that she still needs to take her OWLS, Albus," Professor McGonagall chimed in.

"I will have to arrange something with the Ministry. But for now let us eat," he says as food magically appears on the desk. He looks me dead in the eyes, "And then we can discuss what connection you have with this war." I wondered when he would get back to that discussion topic. I can already tell that this is going to be a long year. These two seem to trust me, to a point, but I wonder what they will say when they find out more about me. Not that I will say much, but I will have to explain myself. I magically appear at Hogwarts, with no previous history in this world, which I am sure they will notice, and I am here to aid in a war that I am much too young to even think of joining. Then I will have to explain why it is so important that I help and how I was given this duty. Hopefully, neither will know anything about the Cauldron nor any mythology. But that is probably too much to ask for. I can only hope that things work out and that they understand my need to keep to myself. I pick up my plate and begin to eat. Yes, this is going to be a long year, indeed.

To be continued...

All forms of critism are accepted and appreciated.