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

Hogwarts Secret Scandal 18

The Christmas Concert

After Constantine finally let go of Martina, Serena went down to congratulate Martina and to introduce herself.

"You were very good," Serena said.

"Thank you," Martina said, "Hey, you're my pen pal Serena White, aren't you? I'm Martina Oleg."

"Really?" Serena took hold of Martina's hands. "Wow, it's nice to finally meet you."

"How long have you been skiing?" Serena asked.

"Oh, since I was about ten," Martina said thoughtfully.

"Really?" Serena said, "Looks like you've been skiing longer than that."

Martina laughed. "So everyone tells me. Oh, I saw you skating. You were pretty good! I bet you started early too."

"Actually, I haven't," Serena admitted coyly, "I just learned how to skate a couple of months ago."

"You're kidding me!" Martina shouted. "But you were skating like a natural."

"Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't fall flat on my face," Serena said, "it took me a while to get used to it but I guess I just had a good coach. Are you in any other events?"

"Yeah," Martina replied, "ice melting. You?"

"Nah," Serena said, shaking her head. "I'm all done.

"Well good luck," Serena said, "I'll see you around."

"Take care!" Martina called after her.

Following the skiing and skating events, there were practices held for everything else. Serena was very relieved to be finished with her event. She had more time to get to know the other competitors. Lavra was done until the broom race so she hung out with Serena and Mina a lot showing the two Hogwarts girls around Durmstrang. It was good to have a Durmstrang student around to help the girls around. Ice sculpting was the last event before Christmas. Aimee was excited to compete in something non academic. She had many ideas and could not wait to show her latest creations to the public. However, she did not like showing her creations in the practices because she wanted to surprise the audience. Aimee just made basic sculptures: the Beaxbatons emblem, animals and shapes. Lavra, Mina and Serena were passing by as Aimee just made a perfect Durmstrang falcon.

"That's amazing!" Lavra exclaimed, catching Aimee off guard and causing her to drop her wand.

"Oh, thank you," Aimee murmured as she bent down o pick up her wand.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Lavra said, walking up to her.

"It's all right," Aimee stated.

"Your falcon is great," Lavra said as she examined it. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you went to Durmstrang!"

Aimee blushed slightly. "Yes well, I thought I'd practice with the school mascots."

"Can you do Hogwarts mascots?" Mina inquired. "There's one for each house. My house's mascot is…"

"Snake," Aimee finished for her, nodding at the snake on Mina's robes.

"Wow, you must already know about Hogwarts then," Serena said.

Aimee nodded and pointed her wand at the snow. "I'll make the snake first."

Aimee made a smooth and snakelike movement with her arm. The snow emerged up out of the ground forming a glistening snake up in the shape of an S. Mina breathed and tapped the snake's head.

"It's gorgeous," Mina said, "I wish Dumbledore will let us take it back to Hogwarts."

Following the snake, Aimee made the other three mascots of Hogwarts. The Gryffindor was on all fours with his mouth open in a roar. The Hufflepuff badger was digging and the Ravenclaw eagle had its wing outstretched in flight with a tall ice stalagmite supporting its body. Serena, Mina and Lavra looked over the four sculptures in awe.

"They all look so real," Lavra breathed, "you ought to win first prize!"

"Oh," Aimee murmured, shaking her head. "I don't know. There are still a lot of good ice sculptures here."

"Yeah but these are great," Mina said, "and you're from Beaxbatons, aren't you?"

"That's right," Aimee said.

"So you should win," Mina said, "I heard that Beaxbatons have ice sculptures every Christmas. Is that right?"

"Yes," Aimee said with a nod, "I make some of them."

"That's so cool," Serena grinned. "Hey, can you make the mascot for my old school Salem Witches?"

"Sure," Aimee said with a shrug. "It's a cat, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Serena said with a sigh. "I know, it's not as cool as a lion but the founder of Salem Witches made the mascot from her cat 'Midnight.'"

"It's all right," Aimee said, "I love cats and they're a perfect mascot for an all witches school." Aimee waved her wand and not only made the Salem Witches mascot, but its founder as well.

"Wow, it's Griselda Habersham!" Serena exclaimed, walking around the life-size sculpture of Salem Witches. "It looks just like her!" The sculpture of Griselda Habersham looked like she was in her late eighties, around the time she founded Salem Witches. She held a broom in one hand and her cat, Midnight was on her shoulder, with Griselda scratching Midnight's head.

"You can do people too?" Mina inquired.

"Yes, I've just started doing people last year," Aimee said, "It's a lot of work. I need more practice."

"Okay, we'll help you," Lavra said, "You can sculpt us!"

"Oh, you don't have to," Aimee began.

"No really," Mina said, "it's a great idea. Besides, we haven't anything better to do. Then you can sculpt the founders of our school too."

"And other famous witches and wizards," Serena added.

Aimee made a couple of ice sculptures of each of the three girls, including their founders and also famous witches and wizards. Eventually this drew a crowd. Other ice sculptures stopped practicing to look at the work.

"Oh, I knew I was getting Paracelsus' nose all wrong!" a Durmstrang student groaned.

"Wow, it's Josef Wronski! Why didn't I think of sculpting him?

"And Agrippa!"

"Montague Knightly! And he's playing chess!"

"Hey, did you make these?" a Hogwarts student inquired Aimee.

"Er, yes," Aimee said softly, "sorry that I'm distracting you."

"Oh, they're great!" he exclaimed. "Can you give me some pointers?"

"What?"

"Sure she can, Francis," Mina said with a wink.

"Good luck tomorrow, Aimee," Lavra wished.

"Oh, thank you," Aimee thanked through the group of other ice sculptors.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what else you can do," Mina said, "later, Aimee!"

Though the schools had their own stands to support their competitors, Lavra invited Mina and Serena to sit with her and Martina. Draco practically pleaded Mina to come with her.

"Well, if it's all right with Lavra," said Mina as she, Serena and Draco walked to the Durmstrang stands. "Where is she? You see her, Serena?"

"I just see a bunch of people in red robes," Serena said.

"Mina! Serena!" Lavra exclaimed, running down the stands to greet them, nearly plowing through her classmates. "Oh, sorry, Sofia. Sorry, Boris! Hey, Serena! Over here!"

"There she is!" Draco cried and he walked past Mina and Serena to take her hand. "Hello, Lavra. I hope you don't mind if I sit with you too?"

"Of course I don't," Lavra said, "more the merrier. I think you'll get a better angle sitting with us. This way…"

She turned around and led her new friends to a place to sit on the risers where Martina and Angelica were seated. Ever since Lavra stood up for Angelica, they've become close friends. Angelica always hung around with Lavra, especially for protection from her bullies.

"Hey, you found them," Martina said.

"Hi, you were very great skiing the other day," Mina said.

"Thanks," said Martina.

"Martina, you should've been with us yesterday," Lavra said, "this girl from Beaxbatons could really sculpt! She made a perfect Durmstrang falcon."

"Yeah," Mina added, "I asked her to do a Slytherin serpent and it was perfect. You should've seen it, Drakikins."

"Interesting," Draco murmured, gazing at Lavra.

Astra, the Bulgarian Head of Games and Sports walked to the middle of the arena. "Welcome to the ice sculpting contest. The competitors shall be judged on size, strength, speed, detail, and creativity. We shall start with Beaxbatons.

"Oh cool," Serena grinned, "we'll get to see Aimee go first!"

"First representing Beaxbatons shall be Aimee Arroser."

"Go Aimee!" Serena cheered.

Astra called out a couple of shapes in a number of sizes for Aimee to demonstrate her speed and strength. It took her only seconds to make one sculpture. Astra used a number of spells to try and melt or break down Aimee's sculptures but every one of them were indestructible.

"Incredible speed and strength," Astra said, "now, for your points for size, please make the largest sculpture you can possibly make."

Aimee swallowed. She had never made large sculptures before. Aimee tried to think. What was the largest ice sculpture she ever made? All her sculptures were six feet or less. The dining hall of Beaxbatons wasn't big enough for such large ice sculptures. Watching Aimee take this long pause, the crowd went quiet.

"What's taking her so long?" Serena inquired.

"Maybe she's just concentrating," Martina guessed, "she'll have too if she has to make it big."

There were a few scattered boos. Lavra stood up. "Hey, shut up! Don't 'boo' at her! Who's booing?"

"Lavra, be quiet!" Martina hissed, tugging on Lavra's sleeve. "Lavra!"

Draco chuckled. When the girls caught him laughing, he coughed in his hand.

Aimee heard the Abraxan horses neighing in the corral. Aimee turned her head to the sound. The neighing rang songs in her mind. Then it came to her suddenly. Why hadn't she though to fit before? The horse was the Beaxbatons mascot. She had made an excellent horse sculpture for the last Christmas dinner. All she had to do was make one about ten times larger. That was the difficult part of it. Aimee closed her eyes and pictured an elephant sized winged horse in her minds eye. Once the image was crystal clear, Aimee opened her eyes and raised her hand.

"She's going to do it!" Serena screamed, shaking Martina. "Look! Look!"

"Hey, let go!" Martina yelled. "Ow, don't' grab me there!"

Aimee began gathering up ice and snow to form the hooves of the Abraxan followed by its legs. She made the body of the horse and every so often would close her eyes to see the picture of the Abraxan in her mind. She made the neck, head and tail of the horse and lastly she made the outstretched wings of the Abraxan. It took nearly an hour, but Aimee was able to make an exceptionally good sculpture of a horse. Astra walked over to test its strength. Amazingly, it still had the same strength as all her other sculptures.

"It's an Abraxan, ladies and gentlemen!" Astra exclaimed as Aimee began massaging her sore wrist. "A flying horse! Excellent, Miss Arroser. It looks just like your horses over there. Finally, Miss Arroser, make a sculpture of your own creation to show us your creativity. "

"Oh, this should be good!" Serena and Mina said in unison, clasping hands. "Go Aimee, you can do it!"

Aimee took in a breath and saw the image of what she wanted to do in her mind. She felt a little hesitant. What if no one liked it? Aimee heard her new friends Mina, Lavra and Serena calling to her. Aimee smiled a small smile. She should go for it. She knew whatever she made; she knew her friends would love it. Aimee waved her arm and swirls of ice and snow formed a girl in a leotard miniskirt and boots playing a small harp.

"Oh that's gorgeous!" Martina exclaimed.

"Hey, is it just me," Serena said, "or does that kind of look like Aimee?"

"Yeah, you're right, Serena," Lavra agreed as she nodded. "Maybe it's a self portrait."

"Marvelous!" Astra shouted. "Very creative indeed—and now the marks from the judges."

Aimee received full marks on every test from each judge. She felt that she was about to faint.

"A perfect score?" she asked herself. "How did I do it?

The other sculptors gulped and exchanged glances. After seeing how well Aimee did, how were any going to match up to her skills?

Serena and the other girls hurried down to congratulate Aimee a job well done on getting first place. Draco lingered in the Durmstrang crowd to talk to the Durmstrang students—partly because Constantine kept accusing Draco for hitting on Martina.

"For the tenth time, mate," Draco muttered at Constantine, "I've got a girlfriend so I'm not interested in yours."

"Don't mind him," Vasil Krum whispered to Draco as Constantine walked away, giving Draco the evil eye. "He's been infatuated with Martina Oleg since their first year. A guy can't even speak to her without him going postal."

"I see," Draco said.

"How do you do," Vasil said politely, holding out his hand. "My name's Vasil Krum."

"Krum?" Draco said. "You don't happen to be related to Viktor Krum, do you?"
Vasil groaned. "Yes, he's my brother."

"It is an honor to finally meet you," Draco said, shaking Vasil's hand heartily. "I am Draco Malfoy. I saw your brother at the World Cup. Has he always been able to fly like that?"

"No," Vasil said.

"You must be a fantastic Quidditch player yourself," Draco insisted, "having a brother like that."

"Actually, I don't play Quidditch," Vasil said, "Viktor's the Quidditch player in the family. I'm the smart one."

"You don't play Quidditch?" Draco gasped. "For heaven's sake, why not?"
"Because my good man," Vasil said as though he had to say this a hundred times, "Quidditch is not necessarily the best occupation. It may be well for a couple of decades but what happens if you get hurt? Or if your team goes on a losing streak and becomes unpopular? What will you do then? Why, look at your previous Games and Sports Head. He retired, became the head of the department, acquired a real gambling problem and now he is on the run."

"Oh, yeah, Ludo Bagman," Draco said with a nod. "That's true."

"I'm going to work for the ministry," Vasil said, "Department of experimental charms and spells. I have many ideas. What do you think about this…?"

As Vasil told Draco about his ideas, Aimee, Angelina, Mina, Serena, Martina and Lavra walked to Durmstrang castle for supper.

"I knew you'd win first place!" Serena said. "I just knew it. You were awesome!"

"Thank you very much," Aimee said.

"Yeah, way to go, Aimee" Martina stated. "I've just got an idea. How about you all meet together for Christmas morning?"

"Really?" Mina inquired.

"Really," Martina said, "we can use an empty classroom in the school. We can have hot chocolate and open presents together. Who likes opening presents alone?"

"I think that's a great idea!" Lavra said. "We can use Defense Against the Dark Arts room. It's right on the first floor—easy to find."

At mention at this subject, Serena thought of her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom? Are you sure your professor won't mind?"

"Nah, she's all right," Lavra insisted.

"That sounds great," Mina said, "thank you for having us."

"I don't want to be a bother," Aimee said softly.

"Hey, the reason my grandfather planned this thing was so we can all get to know each other," Martina said to Aimee, "so come and joins us."

"Well thank you," Aimee said, "I appreciate it."

Darien woke up Christmas morning to find presents at the end of his bed. He paused a moment and decided to open them. He got a few basic things from other teachers and students: quills, books, chocolate and clothes. One present did not say who it was from. Darien looked to see if the tag had fallen off but didn't' fine any clue as to whom had sent it. One hand on his wand, Darien ripped a piece of the wrapping paper off the present with hs other. He saw that the object was gold though the piece of wrapping paper he'd taken off. Darien poked the golden object with his wand then took the paper off entirely.

"What's this?" he said out loud.

His present was a large golden locket on a chain.Attatched to it was a message: let this melody remind your heart for which side you were born to fight.

Darien thought the message was stranger than the locket. Darien picked up the locket and opened it and it began playing music. Darien stared at the locket in his hand. It's song seemed familiar to him but he couldn't pinpoint where. The music calmed him and made him feel warm.

"Who sent me a locket?" Darien wondered. "And why?"

"I can't wait to see what I got!" Mina declared as she and Serena walked over to Beaxbatons carriage Christmas morning

"I'm surprised Draco is letting you come open presents without him," Serena teased.

"I already gave him my present last night," Mina said.

"What'd you get him, more hair gel?" Serena smirked.

"No, I got him new quidditch gloves," Mina said, "for the broom race. I don't want him to catch frostbite."

"What did he get you?" Serena asked.

"See for yourself," Mina beamed as she held her hand out to show her cousin a gorgeous charm bracelet made out of stars and hearts. "Doesn't Draco have great taste?"

"Yeah, it's really pretty," Serena said.

They arrived at Beaxbatons carriage and found Aimee waiting for them.

"Morning," she said.

"Morning," Serena said, "hope you weren't waiting too long."

Aimee shook her head and the three girls made their way to Durmstrang castle. They were able to find the Defense Against the Dark Arts room just fine. Lavra's directions were easy to follow and it helped that each classroom was numbered along with the teacher and subject. As they neared the classroom, they could hear Christmas music playing. Mina opened the door and the three girls entered. The classroom was decorated in streams of red, green. There was a medium sized Christmas tree in the far corner and underneath it were plenty of presents.

"Wow, this is where you guys have class?" Serena asked as she removed her coat, followed by Mina and Aimee.

"Yeah, hard to believe this is where we learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, huh?" Lavra said.

Serena was wearing a pink sweater with two kittens on it, blue jeans ns and her hair was pulled back with a red kerchief. Mina was wearing a black long sleeved shirt under a yellow sweater vest with black pants. Aimee was wearing a light blue sweater with white snow flakes all over it along with matching sweatpants. Lavra wore a green sweater with a reindeer on it along with green jeans. Martina wore a plain red shirt along with jeans and Angelica wore a casual red dress with black tights.

"Come and have some hot cocoa and a muffin," Angelica said, motioning to a table.

"Ooh, don't mind if I do!" Serena exclaimed, hurrying to the table to grab a chocolate muffin and some cocoa.

As the girls ate their muffins and drank hot cocoa, they took turns opening their Christmas gifts. Serena and Mina got matching red flannel pajamas from Mina's parents. Mina's father sent her new shoes and a notebook to Serena.

"You told him I used all my parchment for detention, didn't you?" Serena demanded Mina.

Mina chuckled. "No, it must've been Luna!"

"Detention?" Martina asked. "What for?"

"Oh, nothing," Serena said, flapping her hand. "I just hit a teacher with a paper ball and got detention for it…no biggie!"

"You did what?" Martina demanded.

"Oh hey, it's your turn!" Serena picked up a package with Martina's name on it and gave it to Martina. "Quick, open it!"

Martina sighed and opened her present. "Oh no!"

"What is it?" Lavra asked. "Oh, it's from Constantine, isnt' it? Let me see!"

"No!" Martina exclaimed but Lavra made a quick grab for Martina's present—a record of songs Constantine made for her.

"He wrote you songs?" Lavra inquired. "How romantic!"

"Isn't Constantine your boyfriend?" Serena asked.

"No he is NOT!" Martina barked. "He's just a guy with a crush on me. I can't stand him. Here, Lavra, it's your turn!"

Martina picked up a funny shaped package and put it on Lavra's lap. Lavra looked at it curiously and pulled the green wrapping paper off the item. It was a green stick. The stick had an orb shaped like the planet Jupiter on top of it. Underneath the Jupiter like planet of Jupiter, was the symbol of Jupiter with green bat like wings. There was piece of parchment attached to it to the stick:

When all seems lost and at its darkest, hold out this planet renovation rod high and call out "Jupiter Planet Power," to spark the light and will to fight. Where charms and spells fail, Scout power will prevail."

"What the heck is this?" Lavra gasped.

"Some kind of joke?"

"What is it?" Martina looked over her shoulder and read the last line out loud. "Where charms and spells fail, scout power will prevail. What does that mean?"

"Hey, there's one over there that looks just like it," Mina said and she reached for a blue wrapped present. "It's yours, Aimee."

She handed Aimee the gift, Aimee opened it and sure enough, it was much like Lavra's present only it was blue and the message said "Mercury" instead of Jupiter.

"That's really weird," Serena said and she looked back under the tree if she can find any others like it. She handed the stick-like presents to Mina, Angelica and Martina and they all had the same sticks only they were different colors.

"I wonder why I don't have one," Serena said.

"Hey, look," Mina said, picking up a gift in pink wrapping paper, "this paper matches ours."

Serena pulled off the pink wrapping paper and found gorgeous golden brooch. "Wow! This is beautiful! And kind of heavy…" she tested the weight in her hands.
"It's got a message too," said Mina, "and it calls your present the 'Eternal Moon Article."

"Eternal Moon Article?" Serena looked at the message. "I've never heard of it."

"Holding this renovation rod thing is making me feel weird," Angelica said.

"Me too," Martina added.

"Yeah, I like I can take on the world," Lavra said with a nod.

"I think we should run tests on these things," Aimee stated, "they might be cursed." "

You don't really think that, do you?" Serena asked suddenly.

"We don't know who sent us these," Martina said, "Aimee is right. We should see if these are cursed."

"How long do you think it will take to test them?" Serena asked.

"A couple of days," Aimee answered.

"I'll help you," Martina said.

"Thank you."

"We should also ask around to see if anyone else has gotten weird gifts like we have," Lavra said, "that way we'll know if someone's targeting us or other young people, if these things are cursed that is."

"Good idea," Mina said.

"We'd better hurry," said Lavra, checking her watch.

"The Christmas concert's tonight and we've got to get ready." She looked at Martina.

"Oh, the concert," Martina said, "I've been meaning to practice!"

"Oh, good luck," Serena wished.

"Thanks."

"And thank you for inviting us to spend Christmas with you," Aimee said.

"No problem," Lavra said and she got to her feet.

"See you guys tonight!"

Serena and the other girls asked fellow students what they got for Christmas and no one stated about getting anything as mysterious has they had received. They did not know what to think about this. What if someone was targeting them? What would they want with a couple of young witches? While Martina was warming up for the concert, Aimee ran test after test on the strange items. So far they didn't seem to have any hexes or jinxes on them.

Later on Christmas day, Beaxbatons and Hogwarts got dressed in their school robes and entered Durmstrang castle to watch the Durmstrang students put on a music concert. The concert began with the school choir (Martina included) singing the school song. Though Beaxbatons and Hogwarts had no clue what they were singing, the song was very nice. Following the school choir a group of seventh year boys and only three girls (Lavra being one of them) put on some sort of dance with staffs. Every time the staffs struck the ground, fire sparks emitted from the bottom of the staffs. Lavra's staff however sounded more like thunder than fire and sparks of lightning came from her staff. They were really impressive and everyone was on the edge of their seats.

"I wish I could do that!" Mina breathed to her cousin.

"Me too," Serena agreed.

The concert went on with the Durmstrang orchestra playing Christmas songs along with the school choir. The concert went on for nearly an hour and a half. Finally, the last song was about to played—a solo by Martina. Many people who knew Martina whistled and applauded.

"I love you, Martina!" Constantine shouted from the audience.

Martina's face nearly went as red as her satin red dress. She cleared her throat and tried to remember he words she had to sing. The music of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" sprang up and she began to sing. When she finished singing, everyone gave her a standing astanding ovation.

Following the concert was an excellent Christmas feast. Serena ate until she couldn't eat anymore.Aimee went to Martina and handed her the mysterious Christmas presents they all received. Martina was surprised that she found no hexes on them.

"I think they're safe," Aimee said, "but you might want to look at them to double check. What do you plan to do?"

"I can use some divination techniques to find more about these things," Martina said, "even if they're not cursed, maybe I can find out what they are."

"I just hope whoever sent them isn't dangerous," Aimee said, "but I wonder, who sent these things? Is it someone we're supposed to know?"

"No idea," Martina stated, "but trust me, I intend to find out."

TO BE CONTINUED

By the way, if you're wondering why the transformation sticks are different, I decided to make the scouts become stronger scouts when they use them since they are different people now. It's a new era for them so I thought new sticks would be appropriate.