Another Spin 2

Part 1: Chapter 34

The door to the compartment opened and Malfoy strode in with his customary sneer. "Potty, Weasel, Mudblood—" he began before noticing Luna and Ginny. "Yet another Weasley and a Loony," he said, mentally congratulating himself on his quick wit.

The feathered boa around Luna's neck uncurled and flared its wings, showing itself to be a feathered serpent as it hissed at Draco.

Draco froze as the creature glared at him, inspiring an atavistic dread that came close to making him wet himself. He quickly retreated pushing Crabbe and Goyle behind him as he slammed the door shut.

"I can't believe you said that," Harry said, staring wide eyed at the serpent.

"Who said what?" Hermione asked.

"You didn't hear that?" Harry asked.

"You're a Parselmouth!" Ron exclaimed as he put two and two together. "But only dark wizards are Parselmouths!"

"What about the wizards down in South America?" Luna asked, knowing it was a much more common trait among the population there.

Ron froze and forced himself to keep silent as he figured out what to say, knowing that snapping at Luna would be extraordinarily stupid. "Yeah, but they aren't British. British wizards with Parseltongue have been pretty much as dark as you can get."

The serpent hissed and Harry blinked. "Oh," he said and relaxed, "that makes sense."

"What makes sense?" Hermione asked.

"He said I got the talent with the scar," Harry explained.

"How does that make sense?" Hermione asked.

"You-know-who was a Parselmouth," Ron explained.

"So by that logic if I gave you a scar you'd suddenly get better grades?" Hermione demanded.

"I'll give it a shot," Ron offered quickly, seeing a way to avoid having to study all the time.

The snake hissed and Harry laughed.

"What?" Ron and Hermione chorused.

"He said it requires a high level magical curse to work, so all you two would be doing is being incredibly kinky," Harry explained, causing the two to blush and everyone else to laugh.

"I'm just saying it doesn't make sense," Hermione said once she recovered.

"Study the Protean charm," Harry told her, translating the serpent's hiss. "And study up on the Law of Contagion."

"I'll do that," Hermione agreed.

"You should probably keep being a Parselmouth secret," Ron told Harry. "I mean, it even shocked me for a moment and I know you. Merlin knows what everyone else would say."

"I will," Harry agreed easily, not wanting to stand out any more than he already did.

"I thought you were only allowed a Cat, Owl, or Toad," Hermione said as she peered at Luna's serpent.

"What about Scabbers?" Harry asked.

"He falls under pet food," Ginny said. "He's not actually listed as a pet."

"I'd always wondered how you got to keep him at school," Harry said. "I just thought you'd gotten an exemption or something."

"Did you get an exemption?" Hermione asked Luna. "What is ... he?" she asked before the young witch could answer.

"Gotta be your familiar," Harry said suddenly, "there is an automatic exemption for those."

"His name is Xander," Luna explained, "and ye we do have a familiar bond, but he spends most of his time in cat form, so I didn't request an exemption."

"Cat form?" Hermione asked.

Xander transformed into a pure white cat with a crescent moon on his forehead.

"A Lunar Mau!" Hermione said in wonder.

"You know what he is?" Luna asked eagerly.

"You don't?" Hermione asked surprised.

"We've developed a few ways to talk with one another, but he won't say and none of the experts seem to know either," Luna admitted.

"Has he given you a transformation item?" Hermione begged, she was a big anime fan and Sailor Moon was her favorite, she just loved Ami!

Xander knew he probably had a couple thousand items that his ascended self had collected that fit the bill, but they were in the warehouse and accessing that was a pain. All he had handy at the moment was a couple lunar disguise pens in his subspace pocket.

"Was he suppose to?" Luna asked.

Hermione frowned. "Sailor Moon was a bit of a mistake. She was never supposed to be a Senshi, so I guess you wouldn't need a transformation item. Tell me is your Mother also named after the moon?"

"It's tradition," Luna confirmed causing Hermione to squeal.

"Transform?" Ron asked, wondering why Hermione was acting this way.

"Once, before history even remembers, all the planets of the solar system were inhabited and each planet was ruled by a king and queen, and they were in turn ruled by the empress of the Moon. The Earth was the only exception, having a great many kingdoms and rulers and not having joined the Lunar dynasty," Hermione explained.

"And all this has to do with Luna's cat?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, I'll skip ahead a bit," Hermione said, used to people not wanting to hear her talk about anime. "The empire was destroyed by dark forces and the princess and her Senshi were sent forward in time to be reincarnated while her advisers, the Mau, were put into suspended animation."

"You're saying I'm the Empress of the Moon?" Luna asked.

"Common traits of the family were the women being blonde and having names connected to the moon. In times of danger they could call upon the power of the Moon and a silver moon symbol would appear on their forehead," Hermione listed off.

"That's Luna," Ginny said as Ron nodded.

"Mum said the symbol was a side effect of the familiar bond," Luna offered.

"But you can call on the power of the Moon?" Hermione asked.

"I can call on something," Luna admitted.

"But no transformation pen to help you fight dark powers?" Hermione asked.

"The closest thing we have to dark forces is Malfoy and Snape," Ron pointed out.

"I suppose it isn't needed," Hermione said with a sigh of disappointment.

Xander turned his head like he was going to bite his own shoulder, but instead pulled out a silver pen shaped device from nowhere, tossing it to Hermione with a flick of his head.

Hermione squealed and held the pen to her chest like it was the most precious thing in the world. "Lunar power activate, make me... a race car driver!" she said, holding it above her head. Silver energy cascaded down over the muggleborn witch changing her into a full grown version of herself wearing a racing outfit and helmet.

Ron's jaw dropped as he watched Hermione, a very adult and well built Hermione, bounce up and down in tight leather gear. He was suddenly very aware she was female. Yes, Lunar magic had jump-started Ron's hormones by proxy.

"Do I have to fight dark forces?" Luna asked Xander.

The Mau held up a paw and wiggled it back and forth.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"There is always something dark about to fight, but nothing like what Hermione is talking about," Luna said, relying on the bond to figure out what he meant.

"So you are the designated ruler of the solar system?" Harry asked.

"The bits without people on it," Luna said with a shrug.

Ginny slipped the diary she'd been writing in, into her pocket. "Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak for a prank?"

"Sure, just don't get caught," Harry said getting it out of his trunk and handing it to her.

Hermione de-transformed still smiling as if she'd just been elected Empress of the solar system herself, and reluctantly held out the pen to Xander who shook his head. "What?" she asked.

"You keep it," Luna told her, "he doesn't need it right now."

"Thank you!" Hermione squealed and hugged him.

Xander was glad Mau were more durable than cats usually were because otherwise she would have crushed him.

"I thought Mau only changed from Mau to human and back," she told him, returning him to Luna. "Or did cryosleep screw up your memory?"

"He's like the reverse of an animagus?" Ron asked.

"Normally," Hermione confirmed.

"He can't access his human form," Luna replied. "He's a bit frustrated by that, but he's gotten good at transforming into other creatures."

"How do you talk with him?" Harry asked, wondering if she had a talent like Parseltongue.

"He can write, but his handwriting is atrocious," Luna replied cheerfully.

"What are the Senshi?" Ginny asked.

"Beautiful Warriors of love and justice," Hermione explained. "They were the princesses of their kingdoms and the transformation would give them... armor and enhance their magical powers," she explained, not wanting to explain the outfits they wore.

"Hostages to the throne," Ron said in understanding.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"To keep in power an emperor would have the kings and queens under him send a child as a hostage to their good behavior and co-operation," Ron explained.

"No, they actually loved the Ruler of the moon and everything," Hermione assured him.

"Yeah, because they were raised to be loyal by her," Ron said. "Been done throughout history."

"She was a fair and just ruler," Hermione complained.

"Yeah, and this way they were loyal to the throne and would be less tempted to rebel without hurting anyone," Ron agreed. "Do it over generations and it just becomes tradition and the reasons behind it are forgotten. It's not a bad thing," he assured her.

"How does he know so much about that?" Harry asked Ginny.

"He's always loved stories of kings and queens," Ginny explained. "It's why he's so good at chess. I'm pretty sure entire stories are playing in his head with each move."

"Knight takes bishop is a murder in the church?" Harry asked.

"Exactly," Ginny smiled. "He keeps it to himself since the twins tease him about it, but he comes up with some fantastic stories."

"Do you children want anything?" the woman with the cart interrupted them opening the door.

"Meow," Xander said before reaching back and flipping a gold piece towards her.

She caught it and examined it. "Not a galleon but that's real gold. What would you like?"

"A little of everything," Luna said, knowing Xander's appetite for sweets.

A second coin was flung to the woman.

"OK, a lot of everything," Luna said.

"We should probably get changed soon," Hermione said as Luna piled food on the seat next to her.

"Let us know when you're done so we can change," Harry agreed as he and Ron stood up.

"You aren't staying in here unless you turn around," Hermione told Xander.

"I didn't know cat's could roll their eyes," Ron told Harry as they stepped into the hall.

The door shut behind them leaving them in the hall with quite a few people in the same position, waiting for others to change.

"So what did he say?" Ron asked.

"Who?" Harry replied.

"Xander. What did he say to Malfoy?"

Harry looked embarrassed. "I'm not repeating that but it involved his mother and the family dog."

"Eww," Ron replied making a face.

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

It only took a couple more minutes for the girls to change and let them back in.

"Our turn," Ron said waving the girls out.

"When you're done, remember to leave the door open," Ginny ordered putting on the invisibility cloak and vanishing.

"Where's she going?" Ron asked as Luna shut the door behind her.

"Some prank," Harry replied unconcerned as he got out his robes, happy to remove the rags the Dursleys dressed him in.

Xander watched amused as the cushion where Ginny had been setting sank under an invisible weight. It looked like this loop of HP was going to be more entertaining than canon.

Typing by: Stephenopolos