As Minako ran towards them, she saw the other girls trying to slow the troll down with multiple spells. Makoto's barely burnt the monster's skin, but then Professor Artemis joined in and binded it up in rope. His second spell had no effect however. 

"Hey, I resent that!" Minako said to Rei, and watched as Rei's spell did nothing to hinder the troll. It broke free of the bindings and roared, angrier than ever. It was Ami that finally hit it where it could be hurt-right in the eyes with a Conjunctivitis Curse. Minako winced in sympathy with the troll now. It wasn't the kindest spell to experience, but it was far more useful than the previous efforts. Ami was onto something here, as usual.

"Aim for the eyes and the inside of the mouth!" Minako said. "His skin can't protect him there!" Trolls were similar to dragons that way. They were near impenetrable almost everywhere, but the face was their weak point.

Minako was just about to follow her own advice when a girl she didn't recognize ran into the blinded troll's path. Was she insane? Did she even have a wand on her? Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Minako saw the troll's foot start to descend on the girl, and she moved to defend her.

"Protego!" Minako stepped in front of Usagi and waved her wand. A translucent circular shield surrounded the both of them. If she had made it strong enough, the Shield Charm would hopefully hold the Troll's foot back from squishing them like ants, or at least hold long enough for them to get away.

Mamoru caught the robe only after it hit him in the face, and at that point he was out of things to say. He pulled it off from around his shoulders and balled it up, biting his tongue on a final retort as the girl turned on her heel and stormed off. He was flustered and frustrated and annoyed, but moments after her form completely disappeared a shroud of shame fell over him as he looked down at the Gryffindor robe. She hadn't been hurting anyone by wearing it. If she were a squib - and he couldn't think of any reason why a witch would use a shoe as a practice wand - then who was he to tear that fantasy away from her?

She had frustrated him! She had thrown a shoe at him. She was making Hogwarts look like a rule-less playground and was impersonating a student, on family visit day - he was right to have chastised her. If parents thought students were allowed to bounce down the halls and attempt spells outside of safe classroom environments they'd be up to their eyeballs in letters, or worse - howlers. But still... he rubbed his thumb on the material of the robe. He could've been nicer about it. 

As a door opened and a young Gryffindor with his parents emerged, Mamoru handed over the misplaced robe with a sigh but not a word, and followed the path she had taken to apologize, ignoring the confused look he got in exchange for the garment.

He just saw the doors close and hurried down the hallway, frustration mixed with something else - worry? no, probably just more frustration - spurring him forward. Did she know that the Forbidden Forest was Forbidden? His hands balled into fists as he walked a little faster, a frown tugging at his lips as he imagined the various creatures he had studied in the Care of Magical Creatures that made their home in the forest, and how they might react to a misplaced blonde. 

As he burst out onto the lawn, he looked around and spotted her -- running towards a troll?! What in the name of Merlin was going on?! What was a troll doing at Hogwarts?! Fear reared up within him, and even as he was thinking this through, he was running as fast as he could towards the non-magical girl and the magically-resistant creature, pulling his only weapon - his wand - from its leather harness on his forearm underneath his cardigan.

Before he could reach her, he pulled up short, his shoes sliding on the grass as another girl - a Slytherin by her colors, Minako by her hair and voice - jumped in front of the girl and used the Shield Charm. That should help, but just in case -- "Fumos!" he cried, pointing his wand towards the troll, hoping to confuse the under-intelligent creature into stopping or turning away from the pair before the shield charm could be fully tested, else give them a chance to dodge and run away without attracting the beast's attention.

As the thick vaporous smoke poured from his wand, he lost sight of the pair and the rest of the field.

OOC:

The foot never came crashing down. A blonde blur raced into her field of vision, throwing up a protective spell, and then thick smoke billowed around them. Usagi tumbled out of the way, yelping slightly, thrown off balance and generally uncoordinated even when not having her life threatened by trolls. Now she couldn't see any of those other people, and she wasn't sure if she was headed towards the forest or away from it. Thankfully, the large size of the troll made it slightly easier to spot. It seemed quite confused by this turn of events.

At least she could still see the blonde girl. Usagi limped over, glad that the Slytherin student didn't appear to be immediate troll danger at the moment.

"Thanks for saving me," she whispered, not wanting to make it any easier for the troll to spot her. She looked down at her hands, entwining the fingers together. She was blushing slightly, embarrassed to have caused so much trouble for strangers. "I... It's hurt. I don't think it means to be causing trouble. There's something wrong with it."

Someone else was running towards them. Ami stared at her in confusion when she yelled at them to not hurt the troll. Is she insane? With horror she watched the blonde walk straight into the troll’s path. She had the urge to scream and shut her eyes at the same time. Minako’s clear voice rang in the air, and she saw the protection shield form around them both. But would it be enough?!

Next thing she knew, smoke filled the area, and she thought she heard someone else cast another spell, but she didn’t get a good look at him…

The troll, now completely disoriented, tried to correct its path but twisted its ankle instead. With a loud thud it fell to the ground, hitting its head on a nearby tree log.

And then silence.

The smoke on this side was beginning to clear, and to Ami's surprise, she watched the troll shrink, smaller and smaller, until it became nothing more than a house elf, her basket of now scattered mushrooms still attached onto her arm.

Her chest momentarily glowed and a beautiful diamond-shaped red gem floated out of it. For a moment it hovered above the house elf before surrendering to gravity and rolling onto the grass.

The house elf stirred and slowly opened her eyes. She seemed shocked at the amount of people gathered around her.

“W-what happened?” she croaked.

Ami would like to know the same thing.

Having closed her eyes in anticipation of her shield breaking, all Minako heard was a low thump as the troll's foot slid off the dome she had created, and then a rumbling sound as something heavier fell to the ground. She opened one eye, and saw herself surrounded by smoke, but she could see the troll lying on the ground. It had worked, somehow. But who had used the smoke spell? She turned around  when the girl she had saved spoke to her, the shield charm dissipating behind her.

Trying to look calm in front of the possible school visitor, Minako smiled at her.

"Well, saving people is just what a powerful witch like myself does," she said. Usagi's next words were a little stranger. What did she mean that there was something wrong with the troll? She turned just as the troll began to...shrink? What was going on here? The smoke was fading, and the troll continued to shrink until it was revealed to be a house elf. 

It was the gem that caught Minako's eye though, the red crystal that emerged from the house elf and now laid on the ground. Was it the object at had cause this weird incident to happen? 

"What's that red thing?" Minako took a step closer to the crystal. Was it dangerous?

Usagi followed Minako, her eyes glittering with dazzled awe. Wow, she had just encountered a powerful witch? She thought back to some of the heroes that dotted the history of Hogwarts. Was this girl part of another, similar, group? Usagi noted that the Slytherin student carried herself like someone secure in her life and abilities. If only Usagi could be like that, someday! What an amazing person!

She remained distracted enough by this to only turn her head in time to see the troll's final reveal as a small house elf. Usagi's eyes traced the path of the shimmering crystal, her mouth slightly agape as it lay to rest on the grass. As she was already following Minako, at the other girl's comment she knelt to pick it up.

Tipsy did her best to drag herself upright, reaching vainly towards the girl. Her expression projected her fear and inability to stop what she knew would happen next.

"NO!" she screamed.

It was too late. Usagi's fingers closed around the red crystal, and she turned to look at the house elf with puzzlement.

"Oh, sorry. Is this yours?" she asked, holding it out towards the small figure.

He couldn't hear much with the blood pounding in his ears, and could see even less, being on the far side of the smoke, but he could feel when the troll hit the ground, the vibration rumbling the ground beneath his feet. Good. They had managed it - the troll was taken care of. He cut off the spell, stopping the flow of smoke to let it clear away, and waited. He hadn't heard any screams, so he assumed the blondes were safe, but he'd like to make sure before --

"Hey Mamoru!" someone called, their voice a faint shout from the direction of Hogwarts, "What's going on?!" 

He turned around and saw a few of the second years moving towards him on the lawn, and he turned towards them, putting his wand away as he worked his way forward as quickly as he dared, waving them away. They stopped moving forward and he apparently pulled off looking mostly casual, for he was able to reach them and lead them back to the castle - nobody needed to know about the troll. Thinking back, he thought he might have spotted Professor Artemis, and now that the troll was down he trusted that the teacher would be able to take care of things. What they needed right now was for people to not come rushing out of the castle to peer at a hurt troll, so Mamoru placed himself on damage control, eyeing the windows of the castle warily to see if he could see any gawking faces turned towards the scene. 

He thought he might've seen a face rimmed in red hair looking out one of the taller windows, but if it had been someone, they moved away too quickly for him to identify them. He got the second-years back into the castle and found his group once more, so, acting casually and filing the incident away for later, he resumed guiding the visitors around Hogwarts.

The Troll was a house else? How is that even possible, Makoto thought as she watched the scene unfold before her. Perhaps that quaffle had hit her harder than she had initially thought. 

"Maybe you shouldn't touch it Aino," Makoto called when Minako got closer to the red gem that had fallen onto the ground. It had come from the house elf that moments ago had been a troll. Surely it wasn't safe, right?

As she stared at the house elf, Ami remembered what the blonde in pigtails had said earlier. Don’t hurt it! she’d yelled. At the time, it made no sense, but now…

How did that girl know?

She went to pick up the crystal, and Ami jumped when the house elf yelled at her. Ami had never seen a house elf yell at anyone. And she looked downright scared.

The house elf blinked when the girl offered the crystal to her. It was as if she had expected something else… something terrible.

“Y-you… No! I don’t want it!” she cowered in fear and scooted backwards. “I… I saw that crystal, and the moment I touched it, there was… this terrible power, I can still feel it in my veins…” she trembled, her big eyes widening even more. “It turned me into something else. It’s… it’s dangerous. Please be careful with it.”

Ami stared at the house elf, then the crystal, then the girl in pigtails, and back again. Dangerous? Was it the object that had turned the house elf into a troll? The crystal seemed completely innocent in the blonde girl’s hand, glinting under the sun, and once again she looked at her. Ami had never seen her here before, and she wasn’t wearing a student robe either. Was she a family member of a student?

“I’m sorry, who are you?” she asked the blonde. “And how did you know… you told us not to hurt the troll. Why?”

This stone... was dangerous?

Blue eyes stared down at it curiously, pondering the house elf's refusal and subsequent explanation. It didn't feel evil to her. It felt like a pretty stone. Not even as interesting as the ones that Naru-chan's mother sold in her shop. Yet she did not doubt the house elf's story. So, why was it quiet and glimmering as she held it, instead of reacting?

A question from the blue-haired girl brought her attention back to the assembled group.

"I'm Usagi!" the blonde announced cheerfully, fingers still curled around the gleaming ruby gemstone. "What are your names?"

At the second question, Usagi giggled nervously and twisted a tendril of blonde hair around her finger.

"Well... I thought... I mean... That troll was hurt, not bad. I could feel how sad and scared it was."

It didn’t work? Artemis knew that Charms weren’t his strongest point – especially not when it came to Transformation and Untransformation – but he really thought it would work.
 
Okay, no time for pitying yourself, he reproached himself inwardly, getting ready to start his next attack. Once again he raised his arm, his wand pointed towards the troll when suddenly a ‘Bombarda’ came from behind. The professor turned around and spotted a young Gryffindor – Rei if he wasn’t mistaken.
A great explosion was now in front of him and Artemis covered his eyes with his arm.
 
As the dirt of the explosion faded away he suddenly heard a high voice – a voice that wasn’t too unfamiliar. Quickly he turned around, looking for the girl who said that. He was surprised, and also slightly startled, when he spotted the clumsy blonde.
“What are you doing h–?,” he shouted but got interrupted when two other spells flew towards the troll. The area was full of smoke and Artemis couldn’t see a thing. Dang it.
 
Trying to orient himself he slowly walked towards the troll who became silent in less than a second. Did they make it?
 
As time went by, the air got clearer and clearer and eventually he could see what was in front of him. But instead of a troll he now saw a house elf wearing a…red gem?! Curiously and with furrowed brows he gradually drew closer to the house elf and its gem. What might that be?
 
Then another question popped up. How could Shingo’s sister know that it was only a house elf? She didn’t even have magical powers, did she? Artemis was confused but decided to ignore it for now since other students seemed to come closer.
 
“Minako,” he shouted to his mentee. “I believe in you and your friends that you manage this situation on your own – I have to go with Mamoru and keep the other students away from here. No one but us is allowed to know about that incident. At least for now.”
As he finished his sentence he turned around and walked towards a group of students, leading them back to the school. “Our headmaster will give a speech in a few minutes,” he said as normal as possible, smiling at them. “So let’s rather go back to the Great Hall.”

Right after Makoto had just warned her about touching the red gem, the blonde girl wen't to pick it up. And nothing happened. Considering how terrified the House Elf had been, she had expected something more drastic to happen. As the house elf explained, Minako understood why she was so panicked in the first place. It had transformed her into a troll? Yet this girl, Usagi, had no trouble handling it. And she had somehow known that the troll was not evil. Was she a witch or not?

She turned to Professor Artemis as he addressed her, and he proceeded to leave her and the other girls alone to finish solving this mess. Minako was pleased that he trusted her like that, but...just what was going on here that other people couldn't know about? What had they just witnessed? Trying to keep the situation calm, she went to talk to Usagi.

"I guess it was a good thing that you were here to help with..whatever just happened," Minako said, smiling at her. "I'm Minako Aino, by the way." Her last name tended to speak for itself, her mother being popular among Quidditch fanatics. "You don't go to school here, right? I don't remember seeing you around."

The mysterious girl introduced herself as Usagi, and claimed that she knew the troll was hurt—that it wasn’t evil. She could feel its emotions? Ami blinked in confusion. She had never heard that kind of magic before. Was she like an empath or something? But Ami had never encountered anyone with an ability like that. Could she read everyone’s emotion? Could she tell what Ami was feeling right now?

She heard what Professor Artemis said before he left—not to tell anyone about this? Why?

She turned back to Usagi. “I’m Ami Mizuno,” she said hesitantly, retreating back to her shell now that the adrenaline rush had dissipated. Minako had already posed the question she wanted to ask, so she just waited for the answer, staring at the crystal now on Usagi’s palm.

What were they supposed to do with that?

"I'm Makoto," she said. The girl could feel the trolls emotions? How was that even possible? The recent events were giving her such a headache. All Mako wanted to do was sit down with a nice cup of calming tea, perhaps a slice of cake and then take a nap. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it as she tried to follow the conversation. 

Her brows furred in further confusion when Professor Artemis told them that no one needed to know about what happened. Was it just so they wouldn't freak out the other students and give him time to talk to the other faculty? None of this was making any sense.

For another year the Family Visitation Day came to Hogwarts and Zoisite was already well prepared to meet his parents. With his hair tied up in a ponytail and his freshly washed Slytherin tie on his chest he stood in front of the Great Hall, looking for his mother and father.
 
His father…
 
Ever since he got transferred to Hogwarts the other students would always see him as Lazurite’s son, the son of the most famous wandmaker in the world. Zoisite was a foreign word for most of the students, everything they knew was that he was his son.
 
A bit depressed about it, the young Slytherin shook his head, banning the thought from his mind. There was no time to be sad, after all.
 
Impatiently he looked at his watch, checking the time. When would they come?
 
“Good morning, buddy,” he suddenly heard a deep, familiar voice from behind him. As he turned around he looked into his father’s brilliant green eyes, a faint smile on his face. “I see you’ve been doing well.”

None of this was making much sense to Usagi. The handsome teacher had left. The other students were asking questions and treating her like a weirdo--but it wasn't the same as the "oh, this poor sap doesn't have magic" weirdo she was used to being treated as. She felt like they were uncomfortable having her here. And she was still holding this pretty gemstone.

And then she learned she had been saved by Minako Aino. It wasn't only a lack of magic that would keep Usagi from ever playing Quidditch--her general poor coordination and utter failure during gym class would have disqualified her, too. That didn't mean she was unfamiliar with the sport--oh no, she was absolutely a fan. At home she and Shingo would watch it with Papa, following the tournaments every year. Sometimes Papa even took them to games! She had seen Aino play, once, and it was utterly amazing.

"Woooooow!" she gasped at Minako, eyes shining. "Do you play Quidditch, too? Are you going to be a star, too? Did your mom teach you her super skilled secret special moves?"

As she spoke, she mimed Quidditch moves, arms flailing, and promptly fell over herself. The blonde sat up, rubbing her head with the hand not still clutching the red gem, and laughed sheepishly at her ineptitude.

"My brother goes here, but I don't," Usagi said. "I didn't, um, get in."

It was phrase that hurt slightly less to say than "I am a squib and cannot attend wizard school," but it meant the same darn thing to anyone who heard it.

After leading all of the students to the Great Hall, away from the house elf and the girls, Artemis eventually sat down and took a deep breath. The whole thing was so confusing to him right now.

Despite being a professor at Hogwarts for a few years and despite seeing a lot of crazy things at the school, he never saw something like that. How was that even possible? A house elf transforming into a troll?! Was there something he missed back then when he was a student?
 
Totally clueless the professor eventually got up again and started to walk back to the girls. He needed to talk about it with them.

“Dad…,” Zoisite muttered, a faint smile slowly appearing on his face. With a slow pace he slowly approached his parents, embracing both of them for quite a while in front of the entrance.
 
“You’ve grown a lot since the last time I saw you,” his mother started talking in his arms, holding back a few tears. “It’s sad that we see you so extremely rarely.”
 
He smiled. His mother was so sweet and it felt so good when he saw them after such a long time.
“Do we want to go in?,” he eventually asked them.
 
The Great Hall was beautifully decorated and crowded with people. Every student showed their parents what they’ve been working on and told them what they have learned over the past months. Zoisite, however, renounced it. As much as he loved his father, it was just hard to impress him, so he had already stopped trying it just when he got transferred to Hogwarts. Instead, the young Slytherin just walked towards a few free seats.
 
As he sat down, Zoisite wished to have his friends around him. Jadeite. Nephrite. Kunzite. He was sure they would have already played pranks on the other students if they would have been together now. But unfortunately they were busy with showing their parents around as well. Too bad, he thought and laid back into his seat, waiting for the headmaster to begin the speech.

Rei only grew more agitated when her attack seemed to not do any serious damage to the troll. She was just about to fire off something more powerful when a shrill, shrieking voice cut through the air. Lowering her wand, Rei watched in shock as a blonde who looked just as frivolous as Minako running to protect the troll.

Honestly, were all blondes brainless?

Horrified but still agitated, Rei watched as Minako went to protect the other blonde, and a smokescreen suddenly prevented Rei from seeing the two of them. "Who...?" she looked around, but her vision was clouded by the traveling smoke. When the troll finally fell to the ground in defeat, Rei couldn't help the small yelp escape her lips at the loud thump its giant body created. She looked around frantically, making sure no one heard her before turning her attention back to the troll. To her surprise, it began to shrink in size until it was no more than a house elf. The red gem that had seeped out of the troll's body immediately filled Rei's brain with warning sirens. Something told her it was dangerous, and not to be touched.

To Rei's surprise, when the blonde girl picked up the gem, nothing happened. So...why was she getting such strange feelings? Typically her intuitions were never wrong, but maybe she was still on edge from the whole battle. She remained silent, stepping closer to the blonde named Usagi, but still maintaining her distance from the gem. Her eyes narrowed in irritation as Usagi and Minako began to talk about Quidditch, of all things. Were they seriously not even fazed by what had just happened? Shaking her head, Rei placed a hand on her hip and finally spoke up.

"Look, I'm sure you're a nice girl and all, but a house elf just transformed into a troll and you seem to be the only one who was aware of it. We need to get that...thing," Rei nodded towards the gem, "to the headmaster before it does something to anyone else."

Usagi's eyes turned starry and distracted when she turned towards the girl who had spoken up.

"So beautiful!" she gushed, smiling up at the girl. "Are you a model? You look like a princess! I wish I was a princess..."

Then she remembered the gem, still warm in her hands. With a glance down at it, Usagi sighed. It still felt useless and powerless. Of course, if it did have some kind of power it was unlikely that a magic-less girl like her would notice. But she could hardly believe it had been involved in...whatever had just happened with that troll.

"I guess I can't keep it. But it looks so pretty. It would be such a big and sparkly ring," she mused, tilting her hand to glint the light off of it.

The thought of going to see the headmaster, even though she didn't attend this school, gave the blonde shivers. What if he (or she) gave Usagi detention at her muggle school? Could wizards do that? She turned towards the other girls with tearful, pleading eyes.

"Will you come with me to the headmaster's? I don't want to go alone!"

Rei felt her face heat up at Usagi's shower of compliments. Was this girl trying to catch her off-guard, or was she being genuine? Either way, Rei was surprised. She moved her hair behind her shoulder, raising one eyebrow at the girl. "Uh...thanks," she said, trying to pretend like it was a compliment she got all the time. "Look, I don't have a lot of time, so let's just hurry and get you to the headmaster's before we catch any more attention. Are you guys coming?" Rei asked, eyeing her friends. In truth, she had absolutely nothing to do and would probably go back to the Gryffindor common room after this, but for some reason she felt the need to pretend that the opposite was true. 

And she secretly wished that her friends would come with her, because right now, she wasn't all too sure about whether or not she should trust this Usagi girl. But at the same time, she felt the strange need to protect her.

After all five of them went to see the Headmistress that fateful day—the Headmistress’ Office! Ami had never been to the Headmistress’ Office in all her years at Hogwarts, and it was terrifying—they discovered that the gem was… indeed… dangerous. After some examination by a couple teachers who were experts at identifying magical objects, they had determined that it possessed a lot of power and was indeed the culprit of the troll incident. And yet on Usagi’s palm, the precious metal seemed to lay dormant and completely harmless. They decided to keep the gem under lock and key in the Headmistress’ Office so that it would not hurt anyone else.

Their Divination teacher had mentioned something about a prophecy that she heard long ago about seven pieces of crystals that were scattered across the realm. When combined, they could awaken power strong enough to eradicate the most dangerous evil ever seen since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. This power allegedly could only be wielded by one unnamed young girl. That fact hadn’t stopped many powerful witches and wizards alike to try and find those crystals anyway, but after many years passed and no one ever managed to find one, everyone started to give up and forget about the prophecy, deeming it as one of those fake ones.

The teachers had quickly stopped discussing the matter in front of the students then, and asked for them to wait outside for a moment. But when the headmistress returned, her face looking somber, she told Usagi that she would like to invite the girl to enroll at Hogwarts.

She did not say why.

A squib taking magical classes? That was not only unprecedented—it also made no sense. Usagi wasn’t sorted either, she apparently would be taking classes with all the houses. An unsorted Squib. That was just bizarre, wasn’t it?

After that, the girls were sent back to their dorms and told not to tell anyone else about the incident in order not to incite panic.

Since then, Ami had started trying to put the pieces together, as her brain was wont to do. The prophecy they spoke of. The fact that Usagi now attended Hogwarts. The way she had known that troll wasn’t evil. How the crystal did not react at all to her touch. Was it because she was a Squib? Maybe… but she had never heard of a Squib who was magic-resistant. It didn’t work like that.

Ami walked into the Great Hall for lunch today, sitting in the table usually occupied by her, Rei, Mako, and Minako. She wanted to talk to them about her suspicions… but she also wanted to see Usagi again. There was something about that girl that was… special. The teachers clearly thought so, too.

The bad news was that the gem was actually dangerous, and the Headmistress had taken it away for safekeeping. The good news--the amazing news, actually, was that Usagi was now a Hogwarts student!

She still wore her old school uniform today--her new uniform had been ordered, but they said it would take up to a week to finish and deliver it. The blonde looked incredibly out of place in the lunch hall, like an overly excited comet wearing strange clothes. She wouldn't "officially" start attending classes until next week, but she was expected to familiarize herself with school life and try to catch up on the class work that she had missed. That part alone was the bit that could have crushed her enthusiasm, so she had chosen not to think about it for the moment.

Hogwarts still fascinated Usagi, much to Shingo's extreme embarrassment. (He reacted with confusion and jealousy when he learned that his sister was transferring in, changing to reluctance and disappointment when instructed to help her adapt to the school. He was not with her for lunch, having grasped at the flimsiest excuses to avoid eating with her today.) She happily hummed to herself, either ignoring or simply oblivious to the whispers and suspicious looks from other students in the Great Hall. Her blue eyes flitted from detail to detail, admiring it all. Then she caught sight of Ami.

"Aaaaaamiiiii!" she called, awkwardly bumping her way across the massive room to meet up with the blue-haired girl! Usagi skidded to halt, grinning broadly at the Ravenclaw student. "Let's each lunch together!"

Every student got a little nervous when they had to step into Headmistress McGonagll's office, especially after something out of the ordinary happened, and Minako was no different. Unlike Ami, she'd been here a few times during her years in school. It was mostly when she got caught in the middle of a prank by Filch who always wanted to drag kids to the Headmistress for some horrible punishment. 

Seriously, when would that old man get it through his head that he wasn't allowed to put students in the dungeons anymore?

But this time, instead of getting a lecture from her about being a respectable young witch, she got some interesting information instead. The jewel that Usagi had picked up really was dangerous in the wrong hands, and the teachers took it to be safely locked away somewhere. After gettign kicked out so the adults could have a meeting, it was decided that Usagi was goign ot stay at Hogwarts. 

But judging by their conversation by the forest, Usagi was a squib. Just what was going on here? Why suddenly let her into Hogwarts now after she was never given a letter? It all felt fishy to Minako, and she became determined to figure out just what about Usagi was so special. Maybe it was connected with her ability to hold that crystal...

In summary, Minako really wanted to get to know her better. When Minako entered the Great Hall for lunch after a Slytherin potions class ended, she spotted a familar blonde and blue head of hair. Excusing herself from the group she had been with, she cut her way over to the usual table she sat at with her newer friends.

 They certainty made an interesting group, the Gryffindor, the Ravenclaw, the Hufflepuff, the Slytherin, and now the first Squib to ever attend magical school.

"You guys have room for one more over here?" she asked with a smile, catching up to Ami and Usagi. "How are you getting used to the castle? The stairs are always a little tricky to figure out."

Usagi's eyes lit up when she turned towards the somewhat familiar voice and saw Minako.

"Yay, of course!" she returned, grinning from ear to ear. She had been a little teeny-tiny bit concerned that she might be lonely at wizard school, but already she had two friends to eat lunch with. Usagi's cup of happiness overfloweth.

"It's so big," she replied to Minako's question about the castle. "I keep getting lost. Everything seems to change sometimes."

It probably was a little bit harder to navigate as a non-magical entity. Some of the charms and enchantments that the other students were used to searching for flew right past Usagi's notice. She had to have them specifically called out to her, and sometimes it took a number of tries to activate them. If they needed magic, she had to wait for someone else to assist her. She didn't mind, though--she was just so happy to be here!

Oh! That reminded her of something!

"They're delivering my belongings this afternoon," she told the others. "It's my first night in the dorms. Would either of you like to come over and hang out? Until curfew, that is."

She didn't really want to say that she was worried about being homesick, but she also hadn't had to live away from Mama and Papa before. The castle might seem a bit cold and lonely compared to her cozy home. Adding friends--for Usagi had already deemed all four of the girls her friends, despite their limited interactions thus far--might help.

Ami jumped in surprise when she heard her name being called out so loudly. She turned and saw with a mix of horror and fascination as Usagi bounded happily toward her. She had never seen a girl so… friendly, especially to someone she barely knew before. Eat lunch together? Ami blinked, not expecting that, but also kind of touched that Usagi was trying to befriend her. She had never really felt she was worth the trouble. She wasn’t sure what the other girls were doing with her, either.

“Of course, Usagi. Come and sit, I’m sure the other girls will be here soon.” Hopefully soon. Because she was terrible at small talk, especially with someone so perky.

She had never felt so relieved to see Minako in her life. Immediately Minako asked Usagi questions, and Ami was content to let her take over the conversation for a while. She could imagine how overwhelming Hogwarts might feel, especially to a Squib who didn’t grow up around magic.

But then Usagi's question made her pause. Hang out with her in the dorms? Ami had never done that—not even with her new group of friends. At best she’d shown Mako the inside of the Ravenclaw common room once, and how its unique password system worked.

Usagi seemed really worried and nervous, though, and Ami’s heart went out to her. “I suppose I have some free time this afternoon,” she said with a smile. As always, she had done all her homework ahead of time, so she really was free.

It wasn’t until she spoke it that she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.

When Ami said yes, Usagi could have kissed her. She settled instead for a look of adoration, like a puppy that has finally found someone to play fetch with it.

"Thank you!" she said, immediately turning to face Minako with the same expression of hopefulness. She had no idea just how cute it was: cute enough to melt all but the stoniest of hearts.

"Maybe you, too, Minako?"

Now where could she find Rei and Makoto? If she could ask them, as well, she could get everyone together! What could be better than that? Already today was turning out to be a wonderful day! It was nice to have something to focus on other than all the weird stuff with the troll. To think she'd be in classes soon, just like all of these wizards! She might not have magic abilities, but other than that... she couldn't have been happier. Nothing could ruin this for her now.

The weirdness of the troll incident aside, yesterday hadn't been that bad. He at least knew now which of the first years would take parental warnings seriously, and he was sure parents enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing Hogwarts again. Besides, he thought, thinking positively, I didn't get too far behind in my studies. Nothing that half a lunch period at the library didn't fix. He adjusted his books in his hand as he pushed open the doors to the Great Hall and moved towards the Ravenclaw table. After the Battle of Hogwarts years ago, students mingled more around mealtime, houses intermixing more than they ever had before. He typically sat at the Ravenclaw table as most of his year-mates sat there and he never had to worry about finding a seat, but he was well used to seeing Ami Mizuno's other-house friends clustered together near one end of the table.

What he didn't expect to see were two long, blonde pigtails framing a typical British school uniform fitted in among them. 

The oddity drew him to the table. "Excuse me," he interrupted smoothly, "But might I ask what you are doing here?"

"You'll get used to how things work around here soon..." Minako said. "We all got lost a few times in the castle our first year." At Usagi's invitation, she hesitated. Usagi was staying in the Professor dorms, since she wasn't sorted into any house, and being able to see what those looked like would be pretty cool. But...she also really did want to hang out with Usagi more. It was a rare occasion when someone invited her to go to a dorm with them as friends...

"Well...." Minako said, keeping Usagi in suspense a little longer just to tease her. "I think I can squeeze it into my schedule." She looked up when she heard Mamoru approach, and frowned for a moment. She never liked Prefects, always sticklers for rules...

"Whatever they say I did, I didn't do it," she said, before realizing that he was talking to Usagi. "Oh, you know this guy?" she asked her.

That... voice...

It was like everything was moving in slow-motion for Usagi. She turned around, almost too nervous to really look up, and found herself face to face with exactly the last person she was hoping to see today. She froze, choked up with embarrassment and dismay, finding herself staring up into the blue eyes of the dark-haired student from the other day. The awful one. The one person in the entire school that she would have been happy to never see again.

For a moment her mouth hung open, unable to process what he was saying.

"YOU!" she cried, aghast--her voice much too loud even for the bustle of the lunch room. The conversations around her halted, and everyone turned to look at the strange new girl and the high-ranking student facing her.

She blushed a bright pink and tried to cover her mouth with her hands, but it was too late to recall the word involuntarily uttered with a not-terribly-friendly tone.