(3/23/09) Er. Okay, it's been three/four (?) days. But I decided to keep all the other notes I had…Hence, this is bold italics. –cough- I'm really sorry. And I had most of this chapter written, but I struggled with the Death Eater scene, which barely happened here. e.e Nothing went out as I planned. Ohwell. And Saturday/Sunday I was too lazy… too busy coughing up my vital organs. .__. BUT HERE IT IS! MONDAY! :D Enjoy?

(3/21/09) I'M SORRY! I know I said I'd get this chapter up tomorrow and I did start it (hence this is bold) but I was sick, so I managed to do only two pages. So for you guys, I woke up at 7 in the morning and opened this… Anyway, that's why this is a super long chapter~

(3/20/09) Er, you know how I said I would tally up the votes today. Uh… -cough- How about, next chapter? :D? But I'm still wondering if I should change the old something to the new something. I'm not sure which something would be better, so I might do like alternate flows for the story. Kind of like, if you want blah blah blah to happen go to chapter 15, and if you want blah blah to happen, go to chapter 16. But gah, that's too confusing, maybe some other fic, but I must ask you kind people.

TO CHANGE THE SOMETHING?

OR TO KEEP IT.

NEW POLL~ -insert flashy lights here-

Keep it:

Change It:

Right anyway… :D Please tell me. Onward!

--

Usagi stared open-mouthed at the shopping district that was Diagon Alley. Since the semester had started a mere three days ago, there were no school-age children to be seen, but Diagon Alley was still bustling with life, in the form of graduates and parents, doing some last minute shopping or on pleasant dates. It seemed that Halloween had come early to Usagi, as she saw all the people dressed in wizard's robes, with pointed hats, looking at magnificent brooms through the windows of a store or shopping for cauldrons. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, wondering if it was all a dream, because surely nothing could be so magical.

"Whoa…" she whispered, more to herself than anything.

Severus Snape gave her a small sneer, glancing at her from the corner of his narrowed black eyes. Wondering how he had managed to get himself stuck with the blonde girl, once again, he mumbled under his breath expletives about Dumbledore and his meddling ways, pushing the girl towards a store called Flourish and Blotts.

Usagi gasped as the gargoyle moved, showing a spiraling staircase, leading to what she assumed was Dumbledore's office. She almost stumbled in shock when the stairs rotated upwards when she stepped on, the Headmaster by her side. Walking with him, as he opened to door to his office, she entered, and cringed slightly when she saw Professor Snape glaring.

'Oh no, not again…' she winced in her mind, wondering if what she thought was going to happen, would happen.

"Ms. Tsukino, I'm awfully busy today, so Severus will be escorting you to Diagon Alley."

And Usagi was once again, painfully right. Praying to the fates, asking why she deserved this cruel torture, she walked up to Snape and gave a small, meek smile.

"Uh…hello Professor," she stammered.

The black haired man just sneered.

"You two will get along fine," the Headmaster said cheerily, and Snape just twitched, which Usagi found rather amusing, despite her situation.

With that, Usagi was ushered into a…. fireplace, which she had immediately squealed at, wondering if they were trying to kill her. But the flames didn't even sting her, for Snape had poured some powder into them and shouted Diagon Alley. Then, they were gone.

Dumbledore gave a light chuckle as he watched the leave, and decided to go take a nap, before playing Wizard's Chess with some old friends.

Usagi blinked from her self-induced flashback, faintly hearing Snape scolding her. Coming back to her senses, she got a good look at the man, who was giving her the evil eye. To her surprise, she found his goatee gone. 'He must've shaved it off for the school year…. Do wizards shave with razors?' Usagi decided to leave that train of thought, before Snape spontaneously combusted. He looked angry enough as it is, and it wouldn't do for her to blurt out the question, especially with their previous, disastrous encounter. She nearly groaned at the memory.

Snape could barely keep himself from rolling his eyes at the girl, who had just recovered from her dazed expression. Shoving a list of the books she needed into her hands, he stalked off, probably to get some potions books… or a strong drink. Whichever came first.

Usagi stared at the list.

'Potions for Dummies…? WHAT?' She couldn't help but feel slightly offended, before realizing that she probably needed to catch up a couple of years to match those of her age. She could feel the headaches already, imagining how much work she would have to do.

"Well…. Here it goes," she mumbled to herself, and set off to search through the multiple bookshelves.

--

A while later, Usagi was seen stumbling through the aisles, a stack of books precariously situated in her arms. The pile almost reached the bottom of her forehead, and Usagi had a hard time peeking over the top. Thus, she hit bookshelves left and right. Because of this, it wasn't too surprising when Usagi ran into a person, who was conveniently standing, reading a book.

"GAH!" was the cry, when both Usagi and her victim hit the ground painfully.

The books toppled from her hands, and Usagi mourned their loss, for she would have to pick up all of them again. Sighing, she began to put them back into her arms.

"Yo, watch where you're going," came the angry cry.

Usagi looked up sheepishly, "Sorry…"

The boy she ran into just glared. Upon further inspection, Usagi found out that he was actually quite cute. Startlingly blond hair, much like hers, reached to his shoulders and blue eyes were narrowed as they stared at her. He looked about 15, and had a crushed bar of chocolate in his hands.

"What are you staring at?" he snapped at her, and Usagi had the sudden image of a mini Snape in her mind.

She shrugged that off immediately and apologized again.

The boy just gave a grunt, another glare, and stalked off. Usagi found that quite rude, especially since he didn't even help her pick up her books. Sighing once again, she resumed putting them back into her hands.

"Ms. Tsukino… why are you on the ground surrounded by your school books?" came the question.

Usagi eeped and turned around quickly, narrowly avoiding whiplash. Professor Snape was staring down at her, an eyebrow elegantly raised in question.

"Uh… I bumped into a boy and fell…" she mumbled.

Snape just scowled. "Then get up. We're leaving this store."

Usagi hurriedly picked up the rest of her books, and went to the counter, where Snape paid for the texts.

---

Some time later, Usagi was stumbling under the weight of her many packages, the boy she had seen before completely out of her mind. Finally, they stopped in front of an old building, labeled Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

Usagi gulped, the shop quite scared her. But Snape just pushed her in.

Once in the building, Usagi coughed at the musky scent. The dust seemed to float in waves as the light from the windows shone through. The shop seemed relatively empty, and Usagi called out.

"Hello?" she asked, wondering if the shop was empty.

All of a sudden a ladder came into view, sharply sliding down from further into the shop. Usagi just stared at the sudden noise, and saw a strange old man looking at her.

He smiled pleasantly, "Ms. Tsukino is it?"

Usagi didn't even bother to ask how he knew her name, she was too tired and stranger things had happened. So instead she just nodded.

"So I see you are here for your wand, yes?"

Usagi mumbled a reply and watched as the eccentric man shuffled through thousands of boxes, looking for her wand. After a couple of minutes he gave her a box. Opening it, she found a stick made of dark wood. Taking it out, she stared at Ollivander in confusion, wondering what she was to do with it.

"Well, give it a try then," Ollivander stated, and motioned for her that she should wave it.

Usagi complied and half the boxes on one side of the wall fell out, causing a horrid mess. She winced, and the man gave her another. Time after time again, all the wands failed, causing disastrous encounters. Snape just watched these happenings with growing amusement, until one wand caused him to gain bunny ears. Usagi laughed at the irony, but quieted quickly when Snape gave her a glare. As she watched in fascination as Snape spelled himself free of the extra appendages, Ollivander came back with a blue box.

"Mahogany, 12 inches, phoenix feather infused with moon rock." He said.

Usagi opened the box and gasped. It was a relatively simple wand, dark wood, but the moon rock had given it flakes of grey here and there. Usagi swished it once, and a warm glow erupted from the wand. Ollivander nodded in satisfaction, and the Professor paid for the device.

--

A while later, Usagi happily licked her ice cream, which Snape had gotten her, after she promised to shut up if he did. Said man just walked in front of her, twitching occasionally at the noise. After spending nearly three hours with the man, she found that she quite liked him. He wasn't easy to talk to, but she figured that someone nice was hiding under his exterior. She was raised on the basis that evil people didn't exist, and everyone had some form of goodness in their hearts. For Snape, she thought, it was just hidden deep down.

She sighed as she finished her ice cream, and proceeded to observe the various shops lining the streets. Completely distracted, she bumped into Snape when he suddenly stopped.

Giving a muttered statement of pain, she looked up to see why he had halted. Usagi gasped when she saw billows of smoke somewhere east. Before she could blink, the raven haired professor was running towards the source of the thick smog. Usagi stared, stunned, and then felt some part of her want to chase after him, to find out what was going on as well. Before her common sense could kick in, her feet where flying.

After much running, the burning building came into view, and Usagi skidded to a halt. The store was engulfed in bright flames, surrounded by various townsfolk. That wasn't what truly frightened her however. Above the building was a glowing green symbol, suspended in the sky, of a hideous skull and a snake coming out of its mouth. Usagi couldn't help but think that it was rather grotesque, and winced. The townspeople seemed to be cornering half a dozen men in black cloaks, with odd white masks covering their faces. If the atmosphere wasn't so tense, Usagi might have laughed at the horrible masks. She spotted Snape, watching from a distance, arms crossed and a cold sneer on his face.

With that look, she wondered for a second if Snape knew those captive men. She couldn't follow that train of thought, because she heard a commotion come from the crowd. Turning around, she saw that the men had disappeared into thin air. Usagi's eyes widened, she had never seen that sort of thing happen before.

Snape finally seemed to notice she was standing there, and his scowl darkened. He didn't say anything though, except to stalk past her, going back to where most of the shops were. The blonde girl had no choice but to follow.

--

Usagi stumbled out of the fireplace, followed closely by the raven-haired Professor. Discovering herself to be in the infirmary, she set her bags onto her usual bed, relieved to be rid of the weight.

"You will be moved into the dormitories tomorrow ," Snape informed her suddenly, breaking the silence.

Usagi nodded hesitantly, apprehensive of the other students, wondering how they would react to her. With a mental groan, she remembered the wonderful impression she had made upon the three teenagers the day before, and she wondered if the news had spread.

Professor Snape nodded to her a briskly walked towards the door, but something had been bothering Usagi for a while, and she had to ask.

"Professor, who were those men by that burning building and what was that green mark?"

Snape seemed to tense at her question, turning around sharply.

"It's not my place to tell you, so I suggest you do some reading over the weekend. For now, it is best that you get some rest, you'll be joining your peers for dinner."

With that, Snape left in a hurry. Usagi frowned, and decided that she would definitely do some reading later. Looking out the window, she decided that it was two or three o'clock in the afternoon, and wondered if she should unpack her bags. But, giving a large yawn, she decided to heed to snarky man's words, and fell asleep on another bed, exhausted by the day's events. Something still lingered in the girl's mind, but she couldn't quite remember what it was, and instead opted to fall into a deep slumber.

--

She was falling, falling, falling. There was no end to the steep cliff, and she felt a rush of adrenaline. It was almost exhilarating, she thought, but it was replaced by a cold dread when she saw the crashing waves somewhere beneath her. The searing pain in her stomach increased, and she looked down to see blood dripping from her gaping wound. Bracing herself for the impact, she closed her eyes, but she never felt it. Usagi never touched the ocean.

"USA---"

(3/22/09) Ugh, I would've had this up sooner, but I took the whole day typing this, my own sweet, sweet time. And I was too busy hacking up my guts and using up the world's supply of tissues. Watch an angry mob of nature lovers come after me tomorrow. I'M SORRY! DON'T KILL ME!

--

(3/23/09)

Still hacking up my guts. And I've used the world's supply of tissues thrice fold. If you need a tissue, use plaster of Paris. Sorry. BUT HERE IT IS. And really don't kill me.

Okay, there's a little Death Note reference here. And I was wondering if anyone would want it in here, in addition to the other crossovers. So it's not like Death Note is replacing anything. If not, then that's the last anyone will ever see of Mello in this. –tear-

In my twisted little mind, I always imagined that L/Raito could be Snape. o.o; I'm a demented child, but with some glamour spells… and I'm sure L can act. …. –hopeful- … Please?

Lastly, if anyone is confused about crossovers when they come up, I'd be glad to add little summaries of the plot of said anime/manga when they come up. Just so there's no confusion.

And yes, that was a rather boring, short, LATE chapter, but I think I'll get the next one up sooner.

Uh, the pairing votes are still up. As well as the house ones, which will end next chapter. Maybe, if you guys decide, except for the main Usa/? pairing, there won't be any other ones. Just leaving it up to your imagination. Oh there might be some hints of whatever pairing I want put into there, but you can ignore them if they don't go with your tastes. I could possibly write a series of one shots for the side stories, other "going-ons" during the story.