Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Harry Potter

Hogwarts Secret Scandal 27

Unicorns, Trolls and Acromantulas—Oh my!

Serena and Darien met often, in his office and the Room of Requirement. They spent their moments together getting to know about each other better and Darien also helped her with her schoolwork. Serena was always in a good mood, waking up early and saying to her friends, "Good morning ladies, isn't it a lovely day?" On the way to breakfast, Serena stepped into Darien's office and sat on his desk while he was preparing his lessons for the day. She shut the door, but didn't do a good job of doing it.

"Early for breakfast, isn't it?" Darien said as he looked at his watch.

"We have class last thing today," she pouted, "I didn't want to wait that long to see you."

"Well, I'm glad you came to visit," Darien smiled. "I would've missed you all day too."

While Serena was having a chat with Darien, someone else was up and early on their way to visit the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Potion in hand, Reenie entered the classroom.

"I hope I made this right," Reenie said, "I'm sure Darien will have something to test this on."

Reenie was about to knock on the door when she heard a familiar voice from inside. "Hey, that's Serena," she whispered to herself. Reenie held her breath and peeked through the crack. She the back of Serena and Serena was sitting on Darien's desk. Darien was leaning forward pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You know, I'm glad that I moved here," said Serena, "you were worth it, Darien. If I had to do it all over again…I would've come sooner."

"Serena," Darien said, "we're together now. It's funny, as I've been spending all this time with you, I felt so happy. It's almost as if, my life had no meaning until I met you. Everything just came into place."

"Really?" Serena asked.

"Yeah," Darien said.

"I feel the same way," said Serena, "I feel like I've known you for ages. I don't know why but I do."

Darien pulled Serena's face to his and tasted her lips. He put an arm around her body, nearly pulling her off his desk and into his lap. Reenie's eyes widened as she watched her future parents kiss passionately. She stepped back, grasping onto her potion and turning away before they spotted her.

"Whoa," Reenie whispered, "haven't seen Darien kiss Serena like that in a while."

Reenie grinned and looked at her possible werewolf cure in her hand. "I'll just wait until class to show this to Darien. He's probably going to be busy for a while…"

--

Mina picked up on her cousin's new behavior and suspected she found some love in her life. She was asking Draco and her friends who it possibly could be during breakfast.

"Well you know it's not me, Mina," said Draco, "Serena doesn't like me and I'm dating Lavra."

"Oh, I'm so glad you found your true love, Draco!" Mina grinned, patting him on the back. "How are you and Lavra by the way?"

"Er, great," said Draco, feeling rather awkward about talking about his love life with his former girlfriend. "I saw her during the Easter Holiday."

"I thought you went home," said Mina, raising an eyebrow.

"I was going to," Draco confessed, "but when I was about to get on the train I saw the carriages by the station and remember that the threstrals pulled them from class."

"You remembered that?" Mina said, "but you hated care of magical creatures."

"I hated Hagrid," Draco said, "not the subject. I thought the horses were all right, problem was, I couldn't see them. I had to ask Nott where they were. Then I told the threstral I wanted to go to Durmstrang castle and it took me there."

"Wow," said Mina, "I bet Lavra was happy to see you!"

"She was," Draco said, "she took me to see her wand making business and introduced me to her father. He said I could have a job there after Hogwarts."

"That's great," said Mina, "we're all finding out true loves. I'm finally dating Harry Potter. You're seeing Lavra Molinya and Serena's seeing some mysterious wizard here. I wonder who it is." Mina put her finger to her lip. "You'd tell me if you knew, wouldn't you, Draco?"

"Sure I would," said Draco, "but I haven't a clue who's she seeing. She's probably seeing nobody."

"She's got to be seeing somebody!" Mina insisted, almost jabbing him with her fork. "She's got that look."

"What look?" Draco inquired.

"That look of being in love," Mina said, "I see it all over Harry when he's near me. I saw it on you when you were talking about Lavra. It's almost the same look when we were together, Draco. She's been very happy lately."

She turned to Theodore Nott. "Are you dating my cousin?"

"Um, no," Theodore replied. "She wouldn't date a Slytherin, would she?"

"Yeah, Slytherins and Gryffindors don't make good couples

"Oh yeah?" Mina demanded. "I'm dating a Gryffindor! Not just any Gryffindor, but Harry Potter!" she twisted in her seat and called out to Harry. "Harrikins, I love you!"

"I love you too, popkin!" Harry called back.

"Popkin? Isn't that the name your aunt calls your cousin?" Ron questioned.

"Oh, shut up!" Harry snapped.

Mina twisted back. "There, ya see? She's got to be seeing somebody! Doesn't anyone agree with me?"

"I do," said Reenie, scooping some porridge.

"Thank you," said Mina, "so, do you know who it is?"
"No," Reenie lied, "I just think she's seeing somebody because she hasn't come for breakfast yet." She pointed at the Gryffindor table. "Maybe she's decided to eat alone with whoever she's seeing."

"Ah, you're right," said Mina, "hmm, having breakfast together. That's a good idea! I should try that sometime. Thanks, Reenie."

"You bet," Reenie said, grinning behind her cup of juice.

"Ready to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Reenie?" Rose asked.

"Not quite yet," Reenie replied, "I bet Professor Shields a little time to 'prepare' our lesson."

"Huh?" Rose mumbled.

"I-er—mean, I'm not done eating," Reenie rephrased.

Serena finally came to sit at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, looking happy again. She sighed as she poured cereal into a bowl and made a face out of strawberries. As she sprinkled sugar on it, she hummed softly to herself.

"Serena, you all right?" Parvarti asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Serena replied.

"Where've you been?" Hermione inquired. "You left the dormitory before we did."

"Oh, I just had to make a stop on the way," Serena said, waving her hand and taking a bite of cereal.

Darien entered the Grand Hall and sort of strutted his way up to the teacher's table, said good morning to the other teachers and sat down to eat his meal. "Good morning everyone."

"Good morning, Darien," said Professor Sprout, "how—oh—" she grinned and leaned toward him. "Darien, dear, you have lipstick on your face."

"What?" Darien grabbed his napkin and rubbed in on his cheek. "Is it gone?"

Professor Sprout shook her head. "The other cheek, dear…and your lips too."

Darien ducked down and rubbed his face vigorously, pausing every few seconds to check with Professor Sprout if his face was clean.

"It's gone now."

"Thank you, Professor," Darien mumbled.

"Not a problem. It looks like you are already having a good morning."

Darien put his face in his hand. Perhaps he had too good of a morning.

--

"Who is it, Serena?" Mina asked the second Serena came into Potions after breakfast.

"Who's what?" Serena inquired, looking confused as she set her books by her cauldron.

"The guy you're seeing!" Mina exclaimed.

"I'm not seeing anyone," Serena told her cousin.

"You've got to be seeing someone," Mina said, "you've been on cloud nine since last week. I can tell. It's love!"

Serena chuckled. "I'm just happy because I survived a dementor attack, Mina. That'd make anybody happy. Really wakes you up inside and makes you appreciate the wonderful world around you."

"There, you see? You wouldn't say that unless you met a guy!" Mina interrogated. "What's going on? Fess up!"

"Nothing!" Serena said. "I told you, I'm just happy to be alive."

"You weren't acting like this when you were released from the hospital wing," said Mina, "actually, I'd say you were more stressed."

Serena bit her lip. She was stressed because she was trying to get Darien's attention since the kiss. Now that they had become a couple she was very happy to see that her life was working into place. Life was bliss.

"Well, I guess I was just upset that I couldn't go home," Serena said as she opened her Potions book to the wrong page.

"Sure you were," said Mina. "I know you're seeing somebody. You're acting just like I did after I started going out with Harry. So who is it?"

"No one!" Serena lied.

"Lovegood! White!" yelled Snape. "Are you brewing a potion or gossip over there?"

"Sorry Professor!" the two cousins chimed and Mina bent down to Serena, her voice a whisper. "You're not getting away that easily, Serena. We'llk talk later and I'll get the truth out of you one away or another."

Mina straightened up and walked to her cauldron. "Hey, Professor, are we going to make Vetriserum today?"

"Oh please, no," Serena mumbled.

The first year Slytherins didn't get any homework again for the whole week. They didn't care of course. Darien told them that their first year should be easy. He just played hangman for the most of the period, using words from Dark Art terminology: spells, creatures and items. The first years loved it. They didn't' realize they were learning.

"Is it just me," said Rose after class, "or does Professor Shields just seem happier?"

"Yeah, he does seem happy," Reenie said with a grin. "Hey, tell Professor Ovile I'll be late. I'll catch up, okay?"

"But we have a test today," said Rose.

"I just have to talk to Professor Sheilds for a second," Reenie said, "go on."

Rose nodded and left the room and Reenie approached Darien's desk. "Professor Shields? I'd like to show you something."

"Sure, Reenie, what is it?" Darien asked.

Reenie reached into her pocket and pulled out a small corked vial of silver liquid. "I made an attempt to a werewolf cure and I thought that maybe you'd have something I can test it on."

"You…you made this?" Darien took the vial and examined it. "What's in it?"

"Well, mostly silver particles," Reenie said with a small smile, "and wolfsbane."

"Pretty impressive," said Darien, "how long have you worked on it?"

"Months," Reenie answered, "I don't know if it's any good. That's the first bit of Potion I made. I wanted to test it first. You wouldn't happen to have anything of a werewolf's, do you?"

"Actually, I do," said Darien, walking over to a shelf with a couple of relics and he picked up a werewolf skull. It was about the same size and actual human skull but shaped more like a wolf's skull. It had ebig eye sockets and the fangs were bared in a scissors bite.

"Where'd you get that?" Reenie questioned in amazement, striding up to him and pointing at the skull.

"Knocturn Alley," Darien explained, "but I advise you to stay away from there."

"How come?" Reenie demanded.

"It's not a safe place for young people," Darien said, uncorking the vial. "Now, let's see if your little cure is actually a cure."

He put a few drops of the silver liquid on the werewolf skull and the potion spread down the crainum to the eye sockets and to the jaws. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the cranium became a little larger, the snout and jaws shrinking into it. The fangs became human teeth and the werewolf skull was nothing more than a mere human skull.

"W-wow!" Reenie mumbled. "It, it actually worked!"

"Way to go, Reenie!" Darien said. "I'm very proud of you. Why, you can even try out for your potion NEWT."

"Thanks, Professor Shields," Reenie exclaimed, hugging Darien around the middle. "Thank you so much. It looks like you'll need another werewolf skull now." She said sheepishly as she stepped back.

"I have others," Darien said, handing her back her potion, "not to worry. You must be getting to your class now."

"Okay," said Reenie pocketing her potion and exiting the room. She couldn't wait to send it to Ashton, the bounty hunter she had met during Christmas. He had been waiting patiently for it and finally she could send it to him.

--

Serena left Potions before Mina could interrogate her anymore about her love life. Serena He hardly assigned any homeworkd and when he did, it was simple and short. Hermione found it very unusual and was one of the very few that complained about the 'no homework' deal.

"Professor," Hermione said as she raised her hand.

"Yes, Hermione?" Darien said, smiling. He had refrained being formal with his students since he became so close to Serena.

"The NEWTS are coming up next month," she said, "and you didn't give us any homework. How should we prepare?"

"Shh, Hermione! Shut up!" Ron hissed. "If he doesn't want to give us homework, he doesn't want to give us homework!"

Darien laughed. "I know that you are already working hard to prepare yourselves for the NEWTs so I'm not assigning any homework. Instead, I'll just give you a list on the things the examiners will test you on."

Darien picked up a stack of papers and passed them out. "We'll go over each topic in class so you understand and then we'll practice the spells."

"Sweet!" Serena exclaimed. "Thanks, Da—I mean—Professor Shields!"

"You're welcome, Serena," said Darien. "All right, is there anything on the list you'd like to go over first?"

"I do, Professor," said Neville softly. "I still can't do a Patronus.
"Yeah, me neither," added Lavender Brown. "Can we practice those, Professor?"

"Very well," Darien said with a nod. "I hope that you have kept your lists of happy and unhappy memories then?"

"Uh oh…" Neville said sheepishly.

"Let's just state some of our happy memories then," Darien told the class. "What are some of your happy memories?"

Serena raised her hand and spoke without thinking. "My first kiss!"

Everyone in the class turned and stared at Serena, making her blush madly.

"Yeah, that'd make me happy too!" Seamus Finnegan chortled.

"Aw, man," Serena put her hand to her head. "Me and my big mouth."

"Yes, that is a good one," Darien said, pink hues on his cheeks as he remembered the memory. "Anyone else?"

"Getting my new wand," said Neville Longbottom.

"Good, Neville," Darien said, "getting your own wand is a happy experience, but why was it happy for you?"

"Well, my grandmother was really proud of me for helping Harry in the Department of Mysteries."

"So your happiness actually came from your grandmother being proud of you, not the wand."

"Er...yeah, that's right."

"And it was a happy experience when you assisted Harry in the department of mysteries, wasn't it?"

"Not too much, sir," said Neville, "some bad things happened, but it was good because I felt important. I learned about myself."

"Very good, Neville," said Darien with a nod. "Here is some advice in choosing memories for your patronus. You have personal memories, but also memories you shared with others. The strongest happy memories are the ones you shared with other people. So when you are thinking about that memory, you're not just using your happiness, but the happiness of the other people in your memory."

The class was silent and stunned. They had never thought of it before but after Darien told them this, it all made sense. Parvarti was about to coment when the class ended.

"Oh, that's all the time we have," said Darien, "We will continue this discussion next time."

When no one else was looking, Darien winked at Serena, who winked back as she followed her friends out of the classroom.

"So, Serena, who's the lucky man?" Lavender inquired once they were out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"What lucky man?" Serena inquired.

"Your first kiss!" Lavender insisted. "Who is it?"

"Oh," Serena blushed. "It's…it's nobody."

"Come on, please, tell us! WE promise we won't tell!"

"No, I can't," Serena said, "It's a secret. I can't tell anybody about it. Excuse me, I have to go and study."

Of course it was a lie. Serena had no intention about studying. She hurried up to Gryffindor tower to hide.

"I'm so stupid," Serena muttered, throwing her books on her bed. "Why did I have to say in class that my happiest memory was my first kiss? Oh man, how long until the whole school find out?"

It didn't take long. By the time dinner came around the whole Gryffindor table knew about it, including Mina. Serena had barely stepped into the Great Hall when Mina hurried up to her, grabbed her arm and led her out of the Great Hall.

"We've got to talk," said Mina.

"Hey—what's going on?" Serena demanded. "I smelled roast beef in there!"

"You can eat later," said Mina, "tell me about the guy you kissed."

"Oh, I knew I should've summoned supper up to my room," Serena said. "How did you find out about this?"

"Harry told me," Mina replied.

"Harry?" Serena gasped. "Harry told you? I thought that he would keep a secret!"

"Well, we tell each other everything," said Mina, "and I was asking him how to do a good patronus."

Mina pulled Serena outside to the lake, far from prying eyes and ears.

"So this guy, he's at school?"

"I'm not telling," Serena said, "I've already said too much."

"Oh, you can tell me!" Mina exclaimed. "I told you everything about Harry!"

"You didn't have to," Serena said, "it wasn't like it was a secret."

"Oooh!" Mina groaned. "Serena, come on!"

"No way," Serena said, "if I told you, then it might get me in trouble."

"Ooh, so it's a forbidden romance!" Mina said excitedly.

"Well, I guess you can say that," Serena sighed.

"Who is it?" Mina said. "Is it a Slytherin?"

"I wouldn't date a Slytherin!" Serena said, although it was true. Slytherin had been Darien Shield's house.

"Hmm," Mina said, "let me see…maybe Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff? Gryffidnor?"
"No, no and no," Serena said.

"Does he go to Durmstrang?"

"No."

"Beaxbatons?"

"No."

"Serena, come on!" Mina begged. "Help me out here!"

A large, majestic looking male unicorn came out of the forest to drink from the lake. Mina and Serena got quiet and watched the unicorn drink.

"Wow, unicorns never came out of the forest before," said Mina.

"He's so gorgeous," Serena breathed.

A male unicorn drew his head from the water and approached Serena. Smiling, Serena stroked his face and neck, patting its body.

"Well, hello," said Serena sweetly.

"Serena, it just…came up to you!" Mina gasped.

"Yeah, isn't he beautiful?"

"Unicorns never do that!" Mina said.

"They do with me," Serena said.

"Always?"

"Yup," Serena replied, "all the time."

"That's amazing," said Mina, stepping forward to stroke the unicorn too. "We studied unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures once, when Grubbly Plank was substituting for Hagrid. She got one unicorn but I bet it took her a while to catch it, even if she is a woman."

"I know," said Serena, "there were unicorns that wouldn't let some of the girls approach them, but I didn't have to wak up to them. They always came to me first."

After Serena and Mina loved on the unicorn for a while, more unicorns came charging out of the forest. They did not come to the lake to drink, but to get away from something. The unicorn ran to the herd and neighed.

"I think he's the head of the herd," Serena pegged. "I wonder what's up. They look scared about somoething."

"Yeah," Mina agreed, watching one of the younger unicorns run in a circle.

Serena and Mina walked past the unicorns, stopped at the edge of the forest and peered through the trees. The girls heard loud grunts, leaves crunching, branches breaking and so they decided to get their wands out.

"Lumos!" Mina said, shining her illuminated wand through the trees. "Hey, who's out there?"

Serena shrieked when she saw large bodies coming through the forest, holding clubs. "Trolls!"

"They must be after the unicorns," said Mina, disregarding the "students are not allowed in the forbidden forest" rule and rushing into the forest. "Come on!"

"Oh, man," Serena groaned, "wait up!" she went in after her cousin.

The girls found about ten trolls trudging through the forest. Mina tried to stun a troll but it didn't do a thing.

"Stunning Spells don't work!" Mina said. "Got any ideas?"

"Beats me," Serena said, "I've never fought trolls before!"

"Harry took one down," Mina said, "In his first year by sticking his wand up his nose…but I think that was an accident."

"Well, don't' put your wand in the troll's nose," Serena said, looking around for something for her to work with. Transfiguration was her best subject. What if she transfigured something to use against the trolls? What? What?

Serena pointed at a rock and shouted the first spell that came to mind. "Pigatorious!"

The rock became a pig and a troll just bashed its head in.

"What was the point of that?" Mina demanded, using the Leg-Locker Curse on a troll.

"Better the pig than me!" Serena exclaimed, scanning the ground. "I wish t here was something else for me to use!"

Serena needed to transfigure something big in order to make an even bigger, better decoy. But all she saw on the ground were stones and plants. She had no idea how to transfigure trees into something. Perhaps she wasn't as good at transfiguration as she had thought.

"I want to change something…into something better…" Serena said, and then she remembered the letters she received from Raye and the others. They had used their Planet Renovation Rods and they transformed the girls into something stronger and better. Serena didn't have to worry about transfigure a rock or a plant. All she had to do was transfigure herself and she had just the item to do it.

"Mina, your renovation rod!" Serena yelled, placing her wand into her pocket and pulling out her brooch. "Use it and transform!"

"Transform?" Mina mumbled.

"Yeah, once we're transformed in whatever these things transform us in we'll be able to fight these things."

"Got it!" Mina cried, pulling out Renovation Rod. "You're so going to get it, uglies!" she shouted at the trolls.

"VENUS PLANET POWER!"

MOON ETERNAL POWER!"

Jets of silver and orange went around the two girls and the trolls dropped their clubs, bewildered by the display.

Mina's hair was pulled half up with a red bow and her body was placed into a white fuku with an orange skirt and vest, blue bow and yellow bow. She had white boots on her legs and the symbol of Venus appeared on her forehead. Orange wings in the shape of a heart sprouted from her shoulders.

Serena's hair came out of the braid and was pulled up into pigtails with two buns on the top of her head. She wore a white fuku with a navy blue vest and a three-layer skirt in gold, red and blue, and a long red ribbon in the back. She wore white boots with a red stripe and golden moon at the top of each boot. Feathery wings appeared on her back and the transformation ended.

For the first time in ages, Serena had become Sailor Moon again and her memories as a sailor scout returned to her. She looked firecly at the trolls and began her speech.

"We were playing with the unicorns, but you had to ruin it, didn't you?" She demanded. "Well, you won't be having the unicorns for lunch! I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon I shall punish you! Come on, Sailor Venus!"

"Yeah!" Sailor Venus held her hands to the sides and a sword appeared in each. In her left hand she held a beautiful and elegant rapier. The hilt was blue with copper swirls around it, guarding her hand. The blade was long and etched with hearts and flowers and kisses. It was called the sword of beauty. In her right hand she held a broad sword with the hilt shaped like a heart. The blade was also a heart and was so called the sword of love.

"Maybe if you weren't so ugly you won't be such a problem!" Sailor Venus said, pointing the sword of beauty at the trolls. "VENUS BEAUTY STRIKE!"

She slashed the sword and a wave of orange hit the trolls. The grunted and groaned and then their grunts became softer.

"What's going on?" Sailor Moon wondered out loud. "What'd you do?"

"I gave them a makeover," Sailor Venus smirked.

The trolls brought down their arms and indeed, they looked much easier on the eyes. However, they still had their immense strength and decided to use it on the two sailor scouts.

"That didn't work!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

"I've got an ace up my sleeve, don't worry!" Sailor Venus insisted, raising her sword of love. "VENUS LOVE STRIKE!"

Orange hearts flew up to the trolls' chests and they stopped before turning the sailor scouts into sailor mincemeat. The love-struck trolls smiled and dropped their clubs onto their feet. They had beauty and they had love but they still had no brains.

"Hey, I think it worked," said Sailor Moon said.

The trolls turned to each other, still smiling and they embraced each other and patted each other on the back, feeling the new warmth in their hearts. They smiled at Sailor Venus, who smiled back. The largest troll of the bunch walked to Sailor Venus, picked her up in his arms and embraced her to the point her back nearly gave out.

"Ouch! Yeah! I'm thanked!" Sailor Venus groaned. "Please, put me down!"

The troll dropped her and she landed on the ground. Sailor Moon helped her up.

"Great job, Sailor Venus," Sailor Moon said.

"Too bad I couldn't have made them smarter," Sailor Venus said as she rubbed her sore bottom.

The lead troll started sniffing the air and grunting to his men. Their language was hard to understand. They said a few audible words here and there.

"Wish I knew what they were saying," Sailor Moon said.

"He said he smells something," Sailor Venus interpreted and Sailor Moon looked at her.

"I didn't know you could speak troll."

"I can't," Sailor Venus said, "I think after using my beauty and love strike on them, I understand them and they understand me. I guess I'm sort of their master. Uh oh."

"What?"

"He said danger is coming," Sailor Venus said, pointing at the lead troll. "And fast!"

The trolls walked toward whatever danger was coming. Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus exchanged glances and decided to follow the trolls.

"Um, maybe this isn't a good idea," said Sailor Moon.

"It's got the trolls scared," said Sailor Venus, "and anyway, we can't let it get to the school."

A troll ran out to face the enemy and it screamed out in pain. Whatever it was facing, was now making him into lunch. The other trolls went out to fight. Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus screamed when they found what was out there: hundreds of gigantic, hairy spiders. Two to three trolls teamed up on a spider but the acromantulas had the upper hand. A spider was about to launch onto the scouts but some trolls went to protect them.

"The trolls are protecting us!" Sailor Moon cried.

"We've got to help them," said Sailor Venus, swirling her sword of love at the monstrous spiders. "VENUS LOVE STRIKE!"

The spiders were consumed by the light but it didn't change them like it had done to the trolls. The spiders continued to rampage and attack.

"Why doesn't it work?" Sailor Venus wondered out loud.

"Maybe because the spiders are too creepy to understand love!" Sailor Moon yelled.

"If love wont' work, then maybe beauty will!" Sailor Venus said, swiping with her Sword of Beauty. "VENUS BEAUTY STRIKE!"

Butterflies, hearts and other beautiful things flew at nearby acromantuals, changing them intu giant butterflies, peacocks and other birds..

"Ha, it wokred!"

Sailor Venus then charged an acromantula with her swords spread out. She ran underneath the acromantula and hacked off its legs and did the same to one that was about to eat a troll.

Sailor Moon took out her scepter and twirled it around. "STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THEARPY KISS!"

Sailor Moon launched her attack at the surrounding monstrous spiders. Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus got back to back.

"There are too many," fretted Sailor Moon, "even with the trolls' help!"

"We've got to keep fighting, Sailor Moon," Sailor Venus encouraged. "don't worry, we can handle this. We've been in lots of battles before."

"Right. We can't let the spiders get to the school. They'll eat everybody!"

Sailor Moon sent her Therarpy Kiss again and again. Sailor Venus crossed her swords in front of her and they glowed orange. She opened her arms, sending out many lasers at the spiders. "LOVE AND BEAUTY SLASH!"

The spiders were hacked in half, legs torn off and beheaded. The battle was growing bloodier by the second. Trolls were bitten and eaten. The unicorns dared not enter the forest until it was safe. Sailor Venus blinded the spiders that got too close by stabbing their eyes.

"I think…we're…winning," she panted.

Arrows flew through the air, hitting the spiders in their hairy hides and in their monstrous eyes. Sailor Moon and Sailor Vens paused from their fighting as centaurs came onto the scene to help. The spiders squealed as they were shot with more arrows. The few remaining spiders retreated back to the burrow, with some centaurs and trolls that went after them.

"Why do they follow?" Sailor Venus asked. "We won."

"The spiders have changed. They must be destroyed until they destroy everything. The forest is changing us," said a wizened centaur, stepping into the scene. "The world is changing everything."

"How do you mean?" Sailor Moon inquired.

"The planets are aligning and the worlds are converging," the centaur explained, "we've known it by studying the heavens. The beats in this forest do not know how to act. The spiders stayed in their burrow and never came out until this day. They attacked some of our herd. Some of us are going crazy because of the change."

"So, the spiders just went insane?" said Sailor Venus. "Because what's going on up there?" Sailor Venus pointed at the sky.

"Correct," said another centaur. "The changes are affecting all of us. We have not lost our minds, but many of the beasts in this forest are. The trolls were after the unicorns because they were going insane."

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about the trolls now," Sailor Venus stated, "they're all right. I changed their hearts."

"You two must be off," said Bane, leader of the centaurs. "The forest is not safe at this time. More than ever. Even the trees are changing."

"Right," said Sailor Moon, "let's go, Sailor Venus."

"Okay, bye," Sailor Venus waved at the centaurs. "Thanks for the help, by the way."

A few centaurs inclined their heads and the two sailor scouts excited the forest, passing the unicorns. Sailor Moon patted one down and the unicorns went back home.

"The centaurs will look after them," said Sailor Venus, "the centaurs are the smartest creatures in the woods—even though they don't make sense half the time."

"A lot of this stuff doesn't make sense," Sailor Moon said, "last thing I remember was jumping into the galaxy cauldron to purify it. I thought I was dead. Now somehow, we all end up here and we get all our memories back. What's going on here? Did I do something wrong? I thought I stopped Chaos back there."

"I don't know, Sailor Moon," Sailor Venus said, "I'm as confused as you are. But everyone has used their sticks by now, right? Maybe we should have a meeting or something and see what we're supposed to do. I wonder if Mamuru has his memories back yet."

"Mamo-chan!" Sailor Moon gasped, de-transforming back to Serena. "Mamo-chan is Darien, Professor Shields! All this time when we—I—I've got to talk to him!"

"Ser--," Sailor Venus began but Serena had already run up the steps of the school and pushed open the great oak doors. Gasping, she darted down the hall to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Now she understood why she and Professor Shields were attracted to each other. Even though their memories were gone, their feelings hadn't changed. Serena's memories as the Moon Princess came flooding back. She was Sailor Moon, the Champion of Justice and the Princess of the Moon.

"Mamo-chan!" Serena cried into a gasp. "Mamo-chan!" She pushed open Professor Sheild's door and found Darien putting something away in a filing cabinet.

"Serena, hi!" he said happily.

Her head filled with sweet and sad memories of the past, Serena broke down and threw herself into Darien's chest. "Oh, Mamo-chan! I thought I lost you!"

"What?" Darien said. "Mamo-chan?"

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Serena wailed.

"What're you talking about?" Darien asked, pushing Serena back slightly. "What's the matter?"

When Serena's eyes locked with Darien's, she could tell that his memories had not returned. He didn't' remember, but perhaps she could jog his memory.

"Mamo—I mean— Darien, do you…notice something different about me?" she asked. "Something familiar?"
Darien looked at her for a long moment and he touched the buns on the top of her head. After de-transforming back, Serena still had them.

"Hey, this is how you had your hair for the masquerade ball," said Darien.

"Yes, yes," said Serena, "what do you think?"

"I think it makes you look cute," Darien said. "Makes me want to call you 'Meatball Head.'"

Serena chuckled and pressed her face into his chest. He still didn't remember, at least not everything. It didn't' matter now. He would get all of his memories back as Mamor Chiba, Tuxedo mask and Prince Endymion soon enough. At least he was here and he could still hold her. That was what really mattered.

"Then I'll never change my hair again, Mamo-chan," Serena said.

"Who's Mamo-chan?"

"You, silly," said Serena, "if you get to call me Meatball Head, then I'm calling you Mamo-chan. It just seems…natural to me."

"Well, all right," said Darien with a shrug. "Just don't call me that in class."

"You got it, Professor Shields," Serena said and she lifted her face up to Darien's.

TO BE CONTINUED