Kindred Spirits

by Tailkinker

This is a work of fan fiction based on the Harry Potter series and the Sailor Moon franchise created respectively by J.K. Rowling and Naoko Takeuchi. The characters and settings belong to their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered as part of the official canon of either series.

Reflected Comfort

Harry ran into his dorm room, the door crashing into the wall as he charged through. He dug into his trunk, pulling out his enchanted mirror.

"Sirius Black!"

Nothing happened. He cursed, then breathed gently on the mirror, then said, "Padfoot!"

The mirror fogged, and Harry waited, one foot tapping.

The fog cleared, showing Sirius' face.

"Harry! What—"

"There's one in my head," Harry interrupted. "In my scar. There's a horcrux in my head!"

"What?" Sirius frowned. "Are you sure?"

"We have to get it out," Harry babbled. "We need to do something, I gotta get it out. Oh, the memories!" He slapped a hand to his forehead. "That's how I got Riddle's memories, they're in the scar, they're in the horcrux—"

"Harry!"

Harry stopped, blinking. Sirius had just yelled at him. Sirius never yelled.

"Okay. Now that you're sane again. How do you know there's a horcrux in your head?"

"Ami's computer trace," replied Harry. He forced himself to stay in control, even though his thoughts wanted to run at a million miles per second. "It detected it."

"Okay," said Sirius. "I've never heard of a living creature being a horcrux before. This is a new one on me." He paused. "Let me get ahold of Dumbledore. If anybody can figure this out, it's him."

"All right," agreed Harry.

"In the meantime, talk to Hotaru," suggested Sirius. "She's got a good head on her shoulders. She can help you get through this. All right?"

"All right," repeated Harry.

"Promise me you'll go see her?"

"Yes, Padfoot," laughed Harry. "I promise."

"Okay, then. Good-bye."

With the command word, the mirror reverted to just being a mirror, and Harry tucked it back into his trunk. Then pulled out his Map.

"Quero Tomoe Hotaru. No," he growled. "Quero Hotaru Tomoe. Stupid Moony."

The Map showed him that Hotaru was on her way towards the Gryffindor Tower. He slipped the map back into his book bag, then grabbed it and headed for the door.

"Harry?" Hotaru's eyes were wide, and she clutched her sketchbook to her chest. "Ami told me you were really upset."

"I was," agreed Harry. "I've calmed down a bit, but I could still use someone to talk to. If that's okay."

"Of course it is!" Hotaru smiled. "Where shall we go?"

"Umbridge knows about the Come and Go Room," mused Harry. "And I'm pretty sure she knows about our "Headquarters" room. I'd rather not talk about it in the library..." He grinned. "How about the owlery? I know it's not the best-smelling part of the castle—"

"I can stand it," said Hotaru quickly. "Besides, if we need to send a note, to Sirius—Oh." She covered her mouth. "You could just mirror-call him."

"And I have," agreed Harry.

"Well, to Mr Tonks, then. Or if I have to send one to Papa...I'm overthinking this." She giggled. "Okay. Let's go to the owlery."

Save for the usual parliament of owls (and one buzzard), the owlery was deserted. It also appeared that the House Elves had been through recently, as there were no droppings or owl pellets on the floor. It did still stink, however.

Harry had has Map in hand, and was examining it carefully. The evening light was faint, and he stood by an open window to get what light he could. "Nobody here. Umbridge is in her office. Kaolinite is down near the broom sheds...wonder why?" He frowned. "Fred and George are there as well. I'm betting she's giving them a bollocking."

"You're stalling, Harry," admonished Hotaru.

"Yeah." He sighed, and folded the Map. "Well...Ami managed to track down all the horcruxes."

"That's good news." She tilted her head. "You wouldn't be worked up over good news."

"One of them's probably in Gringotts, which is going to be a problem. One's in Malfoy Manor, and it's under Fidelius, so that's going to be hard, too. Professor Snape thinks he can—"

"You're stalling again."

"One's in my scar," he blurted out.

Hotaru gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

Harry tapped the scar. "Ami wasn't sure at first, but then she scanned me directly. It's bound up in my scar. Professor Snape figures that Voldemort had already done the ritual to create his last horcrux, so when his Killing Curse backfired, the soul fragment bound itself to me."

"Do you know how to get it out?" asked Hotaru.

Harry shook his head. "Far as Professor Snape knows, anything that can destroy the horcrux will destroy it's container, too. If the scar had been on my hand, I mighta said, 'go ahead and cut it off.'" He grinned weakly. "But I don't have a spare head."

"Perhaps we can talk to Professor Flitwick."

"That's a good idea," agreed Harry. He turned and leaned against the windowsill, looking out over the grounds. "Sirius is going to talk to Dumbledore. Between the two of them, maybe they can figure something out."

"There's something more, isn't there?" asked Hotaru.

Harry paused, biting his lip, then nodded. "Yeah. Snape said that horcruxes have a corrupting effect, remember? Back when we talked in the Shrieking Shack." He looked down at his hands, folded on the stone. "I'm afraid, Hotaru. Tom was able to influence me, back around Christmas. I almost attacked Dumbledore. Then, I was worried about being possessed." He tapped his scar again. "Looks like I was right after all."

"But you and Snape sealed that off," Hotaru reminded him. "So it can't influence you any more."

He turned to face her. "It's been in my head for fourteen years! How much has it already influenced me?" He looked down at his hands. "I could be...I dunno. Maybe I'm actually Dark, like they said back in second year. I've got Parseltongue, I—"

"You are not Dark," Hotaru interrupted him sternly. "Far from it."

"But I...I dunno. I might be..." He tapped his scar again. "If this thing has been affecting me, maybe I'm not..." He threw up his hands. "I'm not that good a guy, Hotaru!"

"Yes, you are," she said.

"But I'm not! I was willing to let Ami go up against that dragon with no warning. I was going to blow Narcissa Malfoy's head right off her shoulders, if she'd not fled. I was ready to kill Wormtail."

"Harry," said Hotaru gently. "If these are the worst things you can think of, they're not really that bad."

"I—"

She raised a finger to bar his lips. "No. My turn.

"You were distracted, and feared for my safety, when you didn't warn Ami. Completely understandable. Even Ami doesn't hold it against you.

"You thought Mrs Malfoy had killed Ami, and she had definitely just resurrected Voldemort. Not to mention slashed you across the face. Plus, the way you told it, you gave her a chance to surrender, and that's why she got away.

"As for Wormtail, the man betrayed your parents and left Sirius to rot in jail. And even then...do you recall what you said?"

"Not offhand," mumbled Harry.

"You said, 'We need him to prove your innocence.'" Hotaru tilted her head. "A real Dark wizard would have simply killed him then and there."

"I wanted to," admitted Harry.

"But you didn't," pointed out Hotaru. "You have an inherent goodness to you, Harry. You're always ready to put your own well-being on the line to help another." She grasped his hands between her own. "If that horcrux has had any influence on you...if it's made you less good in any way...then I can only imagine what a saint you'd have been without it. As it is...well, I don't think I'd...I wouldn't like you as much as I do if you were Dark, Harry.

"It's like my own dark side," she continued. "The Handmaiden, or Saturn, or the Harbinger, whatever you call her. Like you said, it's not who I am. And this horcrux is not who you are, Harry."

He managed a grin. "I hope you're right."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought you knew by now that I am always right!"

He chuckled at that, and Hotaru lost her composure, breaking down into giggles.

"I don't know how I said that with a straight face," she admitted.

"All right," said Harry. "It's too late for us to talk to Flitwick. Maybe do that tomorrow morning? No, wait." He scowled. "Ami says that there's another horcrux in the school. She's going to try to track it down."

"In the school? Where?"

"Higher than the Potions Lab," said Harry. "Which is most of the castle, but probably rules out the Chamber of Secrets. But Dobby mentioned a 'lost and found', and said it's part of the Come and Go Room's magic."

"So it's probably in there," agreed Hotaru. She paused. "I want to go with you."

"You're sensitive to dark magic," pointed out Harry. "It might be too much for you."

"If I never even noticed the horcrux in your scar, then I probably won't be overwhelmed by a different horcrux," countered Hotaru. "Plus...maybe Saturn can do something about the horcruxes."