DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or Sailor Moon.

OH. MY. ROWLING. I've had this written for forever but just now got around to posting. School has been absolutely horrid; I'm so sorry...hopefully now that break is close I'll be able to write a lot more. Thank you to everyone who has read/favorited/alerted/etc.

"Haruka, what are you going to do?" Hotaru's hands clenched in her lap as she gazed anxiously at the blonde. "You're Muggleborn, the Death Eaters won't let you stay—"

"You don't have to beat around it, kiddo." Haruka ran a hand through her hair and fixed a grim smile on her face. "I know they'll kill me if I'm here. Looks like I'll need to make a break for it."

"No," Michiru snapped, a razorblade-sharp voice covering up choking terror. "I'll kill them before they get near you." The calm determination normally in her eyes was now magnified a thousandfold, and with a shudder of some nameless emotion Hotaru knew Michiru really would kill to keep her lover safe. The thought scared her.

"Michi, if you try to protect me, they'll kill you—or worse. I can't allow that." Haruka turned, cupping the smaller woman's face so tenderly that Hotaru looked away, feeling like an encroacher on something intensely private and vulnerable. The blonde's eyes were full of aching love. "You'll be all right; you're a pureblood. I can't put you in danger; if you were like me, things would be different."

"I can't lose you, Haruka." The fear in Michiru's voice wound Hotaru's to an even higher pitch, because she was never afraid of anything—or at least hid it well. Clutching fiercely at Haruka's hand, she whispered, "My life is nothing without you."

"Those prats won't get me." Haruka winked. "I'm too smart for 'em."

"Is that the word you use?" Hotaru smirked in a feeble stab at their normal bickering humor. Haruka pretended to hex her.

"Rowdy little git. Good girl; keep the Death Eaters away. They won't get you." Haruka blinked hard and held out a hand to Hotaru.

"Hell no." Hotaru smiled tremulously; then, choking back a sudden sob, she launched herself at the two adults. Catching both around the waist, she buried her head into Haruka's strong shoulder. "Be careful," she begged. "Please."

"You're worrying about me? You'll be at SCHOOL with them!" For a second Hotaru recognized protective Haruka, the one who had almost hunted down her Hufflepuff crush and beaten him to a pulp.

"Setsuna and I will make anyone who lays a hand to her regret their decision." The steel in Michiru's voice was back, but this time it held a softer tone as she gently moved her hand across the girl's hair. "Not that she's incapable of doing so herself."

"Let them try," Hotaru growled, cuddling into Michiru's chest. "They'll be sorry."

"Haruka." Setsuna opened the door, expression calm but eyes flickering with a thousand sorrows. "You need to go."

The blonde nodded once, finding Setsuna's gaze and locking with it. Something passed between them as Setsuna's hand tightened upon the doorknob. She inclined her head in return. Haruka gave Hotaru and Michiru one last squeeze before rising to her feet. "If I can I'll write you from time to time, let you know I'm okay. Don't worry if you don't hear from me, though." She paused, the air around them suddenly hot and oppressive. "Setsuna…"

"I will," the older woman said quietly. "But you had better come back."

"Count on it." Haruka blinked and looked at Michiru, desperation and grief and the purest love mixed in her eyes. "I'm not leaving you."

"I know." The aquanette mirrored her partner's expression. "I'll wait forever if need be."

"Go!" Hotaru begged. "They're coming!"

"You can Disapparate from here, Haruka," Setsuna said tersely. "I told Minerva you needed to leave quickly."

"Right." Haruka grabbed her trunk and threw a traveling cloak around her shoulders Wand in hand, she gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "'Bye." Turning on the spot, the blonde vanished with a soft pop.

As soon as she was gone, Michiru collapsed into a chair and put her head in her hands. Setsuna moved beside her and gently put an arm around the younger woman's shoulders, rubbing her back as though she were a child. Hotaru shivered violently; just this morning the world had been normal and now she was being catapulted into space, drifting without control in a terrifying landscape. Haruka was gone, Michiru had broken—and, as a loud boom resonated throughout the castle, the Death Eaters had come.