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.

Dreams and Memories

It was like déjà vu, all over again. End-of-year examinations were coming up soon, and once again, the library was packed. Harry ran a finger along the bookshelf, then pulled out The Arcane Vanguard by Seraphina Thornwood. He turned back towards his desk, and spotted Hotaru sitting by herself.

He frowned. The last few days, ever since Meiou-sensei's revelations, she'd been very withdrawn. He'd given her some space, hoping that she'd open up to him, but now he was concerned. He made his way over to her table, and sat down across from her.

"Hotaru-chan."

"Hello, Harry-kun." Her voice was...off. Harry frowned again.

"What's got you down?"

"It's..." She shook her head. "I was going to say, it's nothing, but that would be a lie." She looked up at him, and he was surprised to see that her eyes were reddened, as though she'd been crying. "I'm afraid, Harry."

"Your nightmares again?"

"Why didn't she mention me?" Hotaru's voice was almost anguished. "She wouldn't even look at me! All the time she was telling us about the other Soldiers, she never mentioned Saturn. What if..." Her breath caught, and she choked down a sob. "What if I'm the enemy they're looking for?"

"Meiou-sensei promised me that it wasn't you," said Harry firmly.

"Then what am I?" She shook her head. "Just some kind of...of freak?"

"That is a word that I would never use to describe you," said Harry. He fought to keep the coldness out of his voice; just the mention of the word freak brought back awful memories of the Dursleys. "According to Ron, these girls are...like superheroes, I guess. Secret identities and magical powers, that they use to protect people. If you're like them, you'd...well, you'd be you, but more so."

Hotaru giggled, though the tears remained in her eyes.

"Listen," said Harry. "I think I know how we can help clear this up. Why don't we talk to one of them?"

"One of the Japanese students?" Hotaru nodded. "If they're all part of this sentai, then I suppose it would make sense. Which one do you think?"

"The only one I really know is Ami," admitted Harry. "Plus, she seems to be the smartest of the bunch. You called her the brain, back in March, didn't you?"

"Pity we still don't know who the heart is," mumbled Hotaru. "This would be right up her alley." She sighed. "Okay. How do we find her?"

Harry reached into his bookbag and pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"Isn't this a girl's bathroom?" asked Ami.

"It is," admitted Harry. "However, nobody ever uses it. It's haunted, and half the fixtures don't work—" He broke off as Ami stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide.

"It's...haunted?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "There's a ghost called Moaning Myrtle that lives here."

"Is...is there anywhere else we might go?"

Harry frowned. "But a ghost can't hurt you. They can't even touch you."

"It's a cultural thing, Harry," said Hotaru quietly. "My Papa is also terrified of ghosts. When he heard that Hogwarts was haunted, he almost pulled me out right there." She turned to Ami. "Ghosts are afraid of me. I can go in and scare her off."

"No," said Harry quickly. "Myrtle's not a bad person, and I don't want her terrified. I'll go in and ask her to give us some room, okay?"

"Do you think she'll listen to you?" asked Hotaru. "I've heard stories about her."

"I think she has a crush on me," said Harry sheepishly. "Give me a minute."

He walked into the loo, and glanced around. "Myrtle?"

The ghost's head slowly rose above the door of one of the bathroom stalls. "Hello, Harry. Come to brew some more Polyjuice?"

"Not this year," said Harry.

"Odd," said Myrtle. "I could have sworn I saw some come through the pipes at one point."

"Wasn't us," said Harry. "Listen, Hotaru and I want to have a private chat with a friend of ours, but she's really afraid of ghosts."

"If she's afraid of ghosts, why does she want to talk to the Harbinger?"

"Harbinger?"

"Hotaru," said Myrtle. "She's the Harbinger of Spirits. All ghosts fear her, because she has the power to destroy us."

That was an entire can of worms that Harry wanted nothing to do with right at the moment. "Well, she might have that power, but she doesn't know how to use it, and probably wouldn't even if she did. She's a nice girl."

"We cannot help our fear," whispered Myrtle. "Her very presence is terrifying to us."

"I'm sorry," said Harry. "I know she is, but we need somewhere private to talk, and this is the best place. I just didn't want her to barge in here and scare you away."

"I'll go," said Myrtle sadly. "But only if you agree to come and spend some time with me. I do get lonely, you know."

"Sure thing," said Harry. He watched as Myrtle descended back into the stall, and waited until he heard a toilet flush. Then turned and walked back outside.

"Myrtle's gone away for a bit," he said, switching back to Japanese. "We've got the room to ourselves."

A bathroom was not the most comfortable place to sit and have a chat. As they entered, he flicked his wand, and created three squashy armchairs—a spell he'd copied from Dumbledore. Though Dumbledore's armchairs were definitely less lop-sided than his own, he reflected.

"All right." Ami sat down carefully on one of the chairs. It wobbled a bit as she did so, but held her more or less upright. "Now, what's so important that you had to drag me away from lunch?"

Hotaru looked at Harry, and bit her lip. Then turned back to Ami, and said, "I think that I might be one of you."

"One of what?" asked Ami. "A witch? Of course you are, since you attend Hogwarts."

"That's not what she means at all," said Harry. "As you well know, Mercury."

Ami stared at him her mouth agape. "You...you know?"

"Meiou-sensei filled us in," said Harry. "We'd already worked it out most of the way, though. You're magical, but you're not part of the Japanese magical community."

Ami turned back to Hotaru. "And you think that you're one of the Soldiers?"

"I don't know," said Hotaru bleakly. "I've had dreams of terrible things. Wars and destruction. I watched myself—my past self—destroy an entire planet, killing everybody on it. I don't want to be that person!"

"I understand," said Ami quietly. "My own memories show me a person I would not have liked. Cold, analytical and logical, with no feelings." She leaned forward, and grasped Hotaru's hands. "If you're a Sailor Soldier, you inherited that power, but it doesn't mean that you're that person."

"That's what Harry always says." Hotaru sniffed back a tear. "He's always been a comfort to me, ever since we met."

"That's a good thing," said Ami. "Being a Sailor Soldier is a hard life, and only a few of us have any friends as good as Harry." She paused, then asked. "Do you know what planet you're from?"

"...Planet?" Hotaru looked a bit confused. "I thought they were just...like...code names."

"Not exactly," said Ami with a chuckle. "Our former lives actually lived on those planets. I'm from Mercury, Minako is from Venus—"

"Merlin!" Harry slapped his forehead. He reverted back to English, speaking excitedly to Hotaru. "Remember what Trelawney said to Hermione last year? The Handmaiden of Death will call witches from other planets, or something like that."

"You mean she actually made a prophecy?" Hotaru blinked. "I suppose she isn't completely useless."

"So sorry..." Ami was clearly struggling to keep up. "We were expected?"

"Not by anybody rational," said Harry. He shifted back to Japanese. "Our Divination Professor gave a prophecy last year, but it seemed impossible. But here you are."

"And she called you, 'Handmaiden of Death'," said Ami.

"Yeah. And the ghosts in the castle call her the Harbinger of Spirits."

"Saturn," breathed Ami. "We've been looking for you for three years!"

Hotaru quickly dug into her book bag and pulled out her sketchbook. She flipped through it, until she found the sketch that she'd done the previous Christmas. She turned the book around, and handed it to Ami. "Is this her? Is this me?"

Ami stared at the younger girl's tear-streaked face, and bit her lip.

"No," she said softly. "It's your past self. But you haven't awakened, have you? You've never actually become this girl." She tapped the picture.

"No, I haven't," whispered Hotaru. "But I'm afraid that I will."

"I don't know enough about Saturn," admitted Ami. She reached into her own book bag, and pulled out a device. It looked, to Harry's eyes, to be a cell phone. "But I know someone who does."

After all he'd seen in the magical world, a talking cat was nothing at all odd. Luckily, Artemis' command of English was better than even Ami's.

"You do realize that Artemis is a girl's name, right?" asked Harry.

"It is now," said Artemis. "But I'm over twelve thousand years old, and back when I was born, it was a boy's name."

"Twelve thousand years old?" Harry shrugged. "Looking good."

"I condition," said Artemis. He glanced at Harry's messy hair. "You should try it."

He heard Hotaru chuckle beside him, and grinned. He'd realized exactly what the little furball was doing, and was well pleased to help him out.

"So you're Sailor Saturn." Artemis turned to Hotaru, clearly ready to get down to business. "But you've not awakened?"

"No," said Hotaru. "At least, I don't think so."

"And you're concerned about what might happen if you do," said Artemis. He shook his head, and Harry was struck by how odd the human mannerisms seemed on a cat. "I don't think you have to worry."

"Why not?"

"Now, remember that I'm very old, and my memory isn't what it used to be," said Artemis. "But during the Silver Millenium, the only time that Saturn awakened was when her very particular powers were needed. Before then, the Princess Saturn was known to be a warm, loving girl whose very touch healed those in need."

"Just like she is now," said Harry, smiling.

"And even during the fall of the Silver Millenium, when the palace of the Queen was being overrun by demons, things were not so dire that Sailor Saturn awakened," continued Artemis.

"Then what about my dreams?" whispered Hotaru. "She must have awakened at some point."

"Well, yes," admitted Artemis. "Unfortunately, the Silver Millenium was not a thousand years of perfect peace. On one occasion, one of the planets turned rebellious. Even its Soldier, Sailor Nemesis, betrayed the Queen. And they came within a whisker of overthrowing the Lunar Throne, until Sailor Saturn awoke and Silenced the entire planet." He shook his head, sadly. "Now all that remains of Nemesis is a belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter."

Hotaru's eyes were wide, her hands covering her mouth. Harry put a hand around her, trying to offer what comfort he could.

"Please understand," said Artemis kindly. "This was not what the Princess of Saturn wanted. Sailor Saturn is a dreadfully powerful Soldier, but hers is a power of absolute last resort. It was before my time, but I am told that her grief was so horrific that she died of it, and was reborn as an infant."

"Such terrible power," whispered Hotaru.

"That sort of power is always somewhere," said Artemis. "At least, in your case, it's in the hands of a fundamentally moral person."