Forum: Freeform
Type: Relaxed

Plot Summary:
Once upon a time, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry took a stand against the ultimate evil. A group that consisted of mostly Gryffindor students managed to save the wizarding world from the most dangerous wizard it had ever known.

But now, years later, a new threat loomed in the horizon. This time, a single Hogwarts house wasn’t going to be enough to save the world. This time, it would require all four to stand united.

Unbeknownst to the students, one of the teachers at the school had found a darkness entity slumbering deep underground in a cave near the school. Always been a witch who's attracted to the darker side of magic, Professor Beryl answered the plea to free the evil in exchange for the promise of power. The darkness called itself Metalia, and she was still weak as of now. She needed a power source to be truly awakened...

A new Chosen One legend was born. A prophecy spoke of a girl with a dormant power lying inside her, the only power in the world that was strong enough to eradicate the most dangerous evil ever seen since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But that power was not awakened yet. It was not even whole yet. The prophecy said that it was divided into seven pieces and scattered across the realm, and whichever side managed to gather them all first would have the balance tipped in their favor. Can the good guys find these seven pieces before the bad guys do, awaken their savior, and win the war?

The race for the seven Rainbow Crystals is on…

Details on any necessary information: This storyline takes place in the Harry Potter universe. All of the senshi and shitennou will be witches and wizards who attend Hogwarts.

Restrictions: Inner Senshi, Usagi, Mamoru, Shitennou, Beryl and the cats will be playable. There may be some cameo appearances from Harry Potter universe characters as well.

Source: N/A

Her mother wasn’t going to make it today. Ami was honestly not surprised; she had expected as much. And yet there had been a tiny part of her that harbored hope that her mother would still show up. It was a silly notion, because this day wasn’t even that important. Surely not as important as saving lives, which was what her mother was doing. She must have trusted that Ami didn’t need her to come and that Ami would be alright on her own. Maybe if it had been her graduation day… Would her mother even come to her graduation day?

She shook off the depressing thoughts and moved away from the groups of families she saw everywhere; in the courtyard, by the lakes, even in the Great Hall, talking animatedly to each other. All the warmth that she witnessed just made her feel colder, and she walked the halls of the school on her own, wondering where to go. The library? The place would certainly be quiet at this time. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to be that isolated. She stepped outside. The greenhouses shone in the distance, and she could see there were people there too. The Quidditch Pitch seemed to have an impromptu friendly match judging from the cheers coming from that direction.

She finally walked slowly to the hill closest to the Forbidden Forest. She would never step in there, of course, but the area was relatively quiet, yet the silence wasn’t complete. She could hear birds chirping and the trees rustling, which comforted her. Ami sat down on the grass with a book on her lap. From this vantage point, she could see the school and most of its sprawling grounds, and she felt content with her view.

She briefly wondered if her friends—if they could indeed be called that, that strange mix of girls that she occasionally hung out with—were with their own families. Either way, she thought, opening her book, at least she wouldn’t be completely alone. There were some characters and their adventures to accompany her on this beautiful day.

"Uwaaaaa~!" the blonde exclaimed, twirling in circles in the Great Hall. "It's so cool!"

Beside her, a younger male student--obviously a family relation--grimaced and shuffled in his robe. His dark eyes, only a slightly different shade of blue than the ecstatic pigtailed girl, glared at her. It seemed like the kind of expression he was accustomed to making at this particular person.

"Stop being embarrassing," he complained. "Mom, make her stop!"

The blonde halted mid-twirl, her face flushed bright pink. She pounced on him.

"Just because you're lucky enough to go here doesn't mean you have to stop appreciating it! Don't you know how amazing this place is?!"

A small crowd was forming around the overly-loud and increasingly-heated conversation. Students, parents, and other relatives whispered at each other and watched the commotion from a safe distance. Shingo spotted them around the ranting form of his older sister and felt his own face redden with shame. Why-why-why did Usagi always have to cause a scene? Caught up in his emotions, his own reaction only fueled the fire.

"Ugh, you don't understand anything! Stupid Usagi!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"

Minako did her very best to avoid any of the more crowded areas of the castle, for once having no desire to talk with people right now. Slytherin House tended to turn into a sort of power flaunting contest whenever it was Family Visitation Day, and as much as Minako loved showing off, even she had her limits. Besides, her mother was playing a Quidditch game today and her father was out of the country on business, so neither could afford to stop by. 

She had gotten pretty used to her parents being busy, so it didn't bother her very much, but it did leave her extremely bored and at a loss for what to do. She'd been in her shared bedroom, empty at the moment, lazily practicing a levitation spell on her writing quill as she stared at the ceiling. 

"I need to do something or I might go insane..." she said to no one in particular. Libra lifted his head and looked at her from his glass tank, and then went back to sleeping in the magically created beam of sunlight. Minako let the quill float back onto her desk and sat up. If she wasn't doing anything, she might as well practice her Chaser skills, even if she had to do it alone. 

After strapping on her protective gear and grabbing her Starsweeper, she cut back through the common room, waving at a few Slytherins that greeted her, and exited the castle dungeons. As soon as she found an empty spot on the castle grounds, she realized that it would be kind of hard to use a Quaffle with only one person. Who would pass it to her? 

"Hm..." There had to be some kind of spell for making stuff float by themselves. Bludgers did it all the time. Getting an idea, Minako jumped on her broom and kicked off, hovering a few feet in the air. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the Quaffle lying on the ground. "Locomotor Quaffle!" The ball started to float towards her, and she cheered. At least she had remembered something from that Charms class. But then the ball seemed to stutter and jerk around unevenly, before flying off in a completely different direction. That wasn't good...

"Wait, come back here!" Minako leaned forward and charged after the ball, which was careening around the castle grounds wildly. She winced and yelled and apology as it almost collided with an unsuspecting group of students. It changed direction and headed towards the Forbidden Forest, though it was still low enough to the ground to be a hazard to people.

Makoto never liked the visitation days; with her parents having died in her first year at Hogwarts, it was still to painful of a reminder. On those days, she made herself scarce, avoiding the castle and groups of people as much as she could. She had planned to gather some herbs for her collection that grew just in the Forbidden Forest. Luckily for her, she had discovered a small patch that grew at the borders. As long as my feet still remain on the castle grounds, I'm not really in the forbidden forest. Alright, so it was technically skirting the rules...a lot, but hey, she really was breaking any rules. 

So lost in her thoughts, she didn't didn't see the run away Quaffle until it was too late. Slamming into her side, it easily bowled her over, leaving her dazed on the ground, her side screaming in pain.

Minako saw what was about to happen right before her Quaffle knocked over someone by the forest. It was too late to yell out a warning, and Minako cringed in sympathy at the impact. She flew down to see if the girl was okay. She quickly recognized her as Makoto, the Hufflepuff she knew. 

"Sorry about that, my ball got away from me!" Minako said, landing and dismounting her broom. The Quaffle lifted off and zoomed away again, and she watched it warily to see where it was going before offering Makoto a hand. "Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing? It hit you pretty hard..."

At first she thought she was imagining it. But there were sounds of distress and surprise steadily coming her way for sure. Ami looked up from her book in time to see—of all things—a runaway Quaffle zigzagging along the grounds, until it hit someone. Someone she knew.

“Makoto! Are you alright?” Ami quickly got up and rushed over. Behind the Quaffle she saw Minako approaching on her broom. What is she doing?!

Before she could see if Mako was injured, the Quaffle took to the air again. If she didn’t stop it, it could injure someone else, flying on her own like that! Ami whipped out her wand and yelled, “Finite!” before it went out of range, and the ball froze, then dropped like a rock on the grass. She heaved a sigh of relief and turned, biting her tongue so she didn’t chide Minako for her reckless behavior.

She already didn’t trust the girl as it was, but now that she’d injured Ami’s first friend, Ami was even less happy with her. She returned to Mako’s side to see if she needed help.

Rei hated family visitation days. She hated anything that had the word 'family' in it, actually. Everyone painted families to be something big and beautiful and special, but that was just a stupid lie. Families weren't good for anything except for letting you down.

The hugs and kisses and routine questions were starting to make Rei feel sick. She left the dining hall and went out to the courtyard, weaving through clutters of friends and families with a bored look on her face. As Rei exited the courtyard, she was taken by surprise when a rogue Quaffle flew past her, just barely grazing her nose. The wind from the Quaffle's speed caused Rei's hair to flutter in her face, agitating her. Who was stupid enough to cast a spell on a Quaffle? Despite not really caring enough to find out, Rei watched the Quaffle soar towards the Forbidden Forest, hitting someone who looked familiar. Her eyes narrowed and spotted someone with bright blonde hair running towards the Quaffle's victim, and another blue-haired girl disabling the Quaffle's flight.

Of course it was them. Who else would cause such a disturbance? But knowing her 'friends', Rei guessed this was all Minako's fault. Rolling her eyes, Rei walked to the hill, placing one hand on her hip.

"Minako, please tell me you did not try to charm a Quaffle."

The young professor always entered the Family Visitation Day with mixed feelings. Some parents thanked him for his work at Hogwarts, even asked him for some tips to bring their kids under control, while other parents were yelling at him because he was ‘too incompetent to teach’. Parents, he thought to himself, shaking his head with a smile.
 
At the beginning he always felt offended once a student’s father or mother yelled at him – but as time went by he got used to it. To the life as professor, to Hogwarts and to the students.
 
While being miles away he slowly noticed turmoil coming up. He sighed. There wasn’t one single boring day at Hogwarts, huh? Prepared to smooth down differences, Artemis slowly walked towards the place the turmoil was coming from.
“Shingo?,” he muttered with surprise as he finally found the source of all that. Artemis closed his eyes, smiling, and eventually walked to the young student’s family and the people around them.
 
“Hello everyone!,” he started, confidence in his voice. “It’s great to see that so many of you made it to our Family Visitation Day! Did you already go to the Great Hall? We prepared many things for all of you – so if you didn’t check them out yet, then you definitely should!”
 
Gradually, after Artemis made his announcement, more and more families left the place, spreading out to see some more of the school. In the meantime Artemis turned to Shingo’s family, spotting his bigger sister with the two odangos. “I’m delighted with your enthusiasm for our school, Miss Tsukino. But – as you may have seen – not everyone feels the same way. I guess it’d be better to be calmer here.” He winked at her. “Anyway, I hope you enjoy it here. Oh, and Shingo…,” he bent down to the young student, smiling at him. “Be nicer to your sister.”
 
After he said that, Artemis turned around, his hands folded together behind his back, walking back to his room. He wanted to drink some tea before doing anything else.

Being approached by Professor Artemis was even more mortifying than his older sister. Shingo turned bright red at the man's gentle admonition and could barely stutter a reply before the white-haired man walked away.

Usagi. Ruined. Everything.

The girl herself was too awestruck to continue her enthusiastic adoration at this very moment. She gaped at the white-haired elegant professor, and when he had exited the room she turned to Shingo as though the two hadn't been at each other's throats only moments ago.

"Is he one of your teachers?" she asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "He's soooo handsome!"

She sighed. "Ah, I wish I was a student here!"

Shingo could not support that wish of hers. He grumbled behind the group as they shuffled towards the Great Hall to continue the process of Family Visitation Day.

----

Unfortunately for Shingo, his day continued to be punctuated by embarrassing outbursts from his older sister. If only they could have left her at home! Not only did she lack a single drop of magic, which made it bad enough to have her here to ruin his image and the good impression he had been trying to make on his classmates, but her personality was... overwhelming. If he was a more advanced student, maybe he could have used the vanishing spell on himself. Or maybe he should use it on Usagi.

Usagi remained almost entirely oblivious to her younger brother's blatant discomfort. Although she kept in mind the comment from the handsome white-haired professor and maintained a quieter voice, she otherwise wasn't very reigned in. The girl practically skipped down the hallways, peering into any open doorway and grinning at the confused students or faculty she encountered. The blonde continued her attempts to begin conversations with anyone she came across, but so far everyone had carefully weaseled their way out of speaking with her. Her excitement simply could not be contained. She had only seen Hogwarts in pictures, but now she was standing in it.

She was going to do her best to enjoy every moment of this day!

Dazed, Makoto sat up, hissing slightly as she did. That had been...unexpected to say the least. Listening to the voices around her, she could hear one girl, who's voice she recognized...Rei....asking another girl if she had charmed a quaffle. So was that what had hit her? 

"I"m fine," she reassured her friend. Her side was going to be horribly bruised, but it didn't feel like anything was broken. She could easily use some of the plants she kept in her room to help any healing that needed to be done. Flashing her friend a smile so she wouldn't worry, Makoto stood up and brushed herself off. 

"Thanks for the offer," she said addressing the blonde girl, giving her a small smile so she knew that Makoto wasn't mad, "but I'm fine. You should be more careful with that thing, you could have really hurt someone."

Minako sighed in relief when Ami removed her spell gone haywire, and her Quaffle went back to normal. If the professors had seen it, she would have been in so much trouble... She gave Mako a sheepish grin in return. At least she wasn't getting chased around by the Hufflepuff Beater for revenge.

"Right, I'm really sorry about that..." she said, before she heard Rei. She knew it was her just by the sarcastic comment.

"It may have slipped my mind that Quaffles were charm resistant, and it sort of got away from me..." Minako admitted. "But how else was I supposed to practice alone? I can't throw it to myself, can I?" Okay, that sounded a bit more pathetic than she had been aiming for. Who played Quidditch with themself? Apparently she did. 

"Well, I should probably go now before anythign else goes wrong. Thanks for the help, Mizuno!" Blushing at what she had said to Rei of all people, Minako went to scoop up her now normal ball, and started walking back to the castle before she said anything else embarrassing. Maybe she really should have just done her homework.

Tipsy knew she shouldn’t wander into the Forbidden Forest, but she was on the hunt for a very rare mushroom that she needed to create her best dish yet. Cooking was her passion, and though the students had never complained about the food she magically put on the table, she knew she was this close to creating the perfect meal that would leave everyone swooning. Her favorite cuisine was French—they loved adding wine to everything, and wine happened to be her favorite ingredient. Tonight, she was going to serve coq au vin, bœuf bourguignon, and some pôchouse. She sure hoped she had enough red wine.

Also, she was definitely not in competition with her sister Merry over at Beauxbatons. But she was still going to prove she could cook French better than Merry.

On her way out of the woods, Tipsy spied something shiny on the ground. She paused, her basket of mushrooms swinging from one arm. What was that? She bent low to inspect it further… and gasped.

It was a beautiful red diamond-shaped crystal. Oh! It was so pretty! She would love to have something so sparkly! Without thinking, she picked it up.

And that was when power exploded from the crystal.

The next thing she knew, Tipsy had grown really big… and really confused… Why was everything swaying around her? She was certain this time it was not because of the wine.

A couple feet away from where a group of girls was gathered, a giant troll now lumbered out of the Forbidden Forest, roaring in displeasure at her current hairy predicament.

Honestly, Mamoru probably had it better than most of the other prefects on family visitation days - he didn't have anyone to personally impress or show around or spend alone-time with, so he didn't have to split his time between the visiting family members of the other students in Ravenclaw and his own family. It wasn't that bad, honestly; he was happy to answer questions from worried first-time parents new to the school -- most every wizard in Britain had attended Hogwarts in their earlier years, so the majority of adults didn't raise much of a fuss or drill him all that often; some, he realized after watching first years excitedly lead their parents from place to place, were there more for their kids enjoyment of showing them around than to get questions of their own answered. The day was going by pretty calmly, and other than answering questions about House Rules and why they were third in the House Cup race or how their student could join the Quidditch Team - which every student knew by now, but parents occasionally had to back that up with the exact same words coming from the mouth of a prefect - Mamoru mostly had to just defend the sanctity of the Ravenclaw Common Room: no matter how many parents asked, none of them were to enter the student's common room or dormitory, for the sake of privacy and the sanity of those who had taken refuge within to actually get some studying done that weekend.

As was customary, he was leading a group of Ravenclaw first years and their parents through the halls towards the Great Hall, where different clubs and student organizations had set up displays for parents to see and demonstrations to show off what they had been working on; on the way, however, a commotion caught his attention. Thankfully, he didn't have to do anything - Professor Artemis had stepped in to calm things down - but he couldn't help but notice the blonde girl that was in the middle of it all. While he recognized the first year with her, he had never seen her before, and with that peculiar hairstyle he imagined she'd be hard to miss; she must not attend Hogwarts. 

The small family preceded his group into the Great Hall, and from there he definitely decided that she did not attend their school, nor had she ever before - her exclamations and notes of enjoyment were far too high for someone who had visited in the past. He wondered for a moment if they were muggles, but her parents didn't seem nearly as impressed with things (or in that state of disbelieving shock) that most muggle parents typically were... why, then, if she were from a magical family, would she be so impressed with Hogwarts? Maybe she usually attended Beauxbatons? ... but why would she take time off school to go to a Hogwarts family visitation day? The puzzle entertained him for a few moments more, as puzzles did for most Ravenclaws, but soon he had his explanation, and the realization saddened him somewhat: She must be a squib.


Mystery solved, he tucked the information away and paid closer attention to the questions tossed at him by parents, but he couldn't help but be drawn to her energetic outbursts that punctured the usual din of the Great Hall. As the family left he was tempted to follow after them with his group - to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't mess anything important up, of course - but ultimately decided that that was on the prefect of the first year's house, not him. He halfway smiled as they left, the girl practically bouncing out of the room, and hoped she continued to have a good time.

OOC:

As their tour continued, the warning from Professor Artemis faded little by little in Usagi's memory. Students didn't want to talk to her. Both her mother and father focused their attention solely on Shingo, allowing him the opportunity to tell them about his first year learning to be a wizard. In her heart, she understood that he needed this time with them--that it was important to have their full attention at such a turning point in his life. Yet, as just someone walking through this magnificent school as a visitor, not a student, she felt restless. At the next opportunity, when the trio ahead of her turned into a classroom so Shingo could show off some of his schoolwork, she turned the other way down another hallway.

Walking alone, Usagi sighed. Attending Hogwarts had been her dream since she was a very small child. She remembered pretending to be a witch when she was only a toddler, wearing her father's old school robes and waving around any wand-shaped item she could get her pudgy fingers on. This turned into excitement in her elementary-school years, just waiting for the opportunity to have her powers manifest. Blowing out the cake candles on her eleventh birthday, she wished for one thing: "Please let my Hogwarts letter come soon."

But it never did.

She tried to accept it. She liked her Muggle school. She had fun with her Muggle and wizard friends, although she had to keep so much hidden from the non-magic users she interacted with on a daily basis. She went shopping, ate ice cream, played video games, and read comic books. But she would have gladly given up so much of that just to be a witch. Even a very, very weak witch.

In the next hallway, not too far from the Great Hall (although she didn't realize she headed back in that direction), Usagi tripped. She landed in a heap on the ground, whimpering but not actually injured, and sought out the source of her problems. It was a student's discarded robe, crumpled in a black pile, lined with bright red silk. She glanced around for just a moment before slipping it on over her clothes, not wondering why someone would have left it behind.

The blonde posed dramatically and raised her arm into the air. This time, unlike in her formative years, she had nothing to use as a wand. She glanced around the hall, but no stray wands or pencils littered the floor. Instead, the resourceful girl slipped off her left shoe and did her best to lightly grasp it as though this very-much-not-a-wand object could actually be used to cast any spell.

She waved it grandiosely through the air.

"Lapifors!"

At that moment it slipped out of her fingers, flying backwards over her head. Unfortunately for her and one other person, she was not--in that moment--alone in the hallway.

He directed the first years and their parents into one of their classrooms, where they could show off their rudimentary transfiguration skills in a familiar environment - without possibly damaging the rest of the school - and ducked away to check his schedule in relative peace, without parents looking over his shoulder. He pulled out the small scroll as he walked towards the Great Hall, hoping to read that dinner and goodbyes would be soon, when suddenly, from up ahead, someone called out "Lapifors!"

Mamoru looked up from his scroll, expecting to find a guilty troublemaker and at least one rabbit, but instead was greeted with a shoe to the face. "Hey!" he called in annoyance as she shoe bounced away, grabbing his sore nose with one hand, his scroll in the other, and looking out for the perpetrator, only to find the over-enthusiastic blonde from earlier up ahead, wearing Gryffindor robes and sans one shoe. "Watch where you throw your shoes, Puffskein Head! What are you trying to be, Peeves?!"

Usagi jolted with guilt and surprise when someone spoke up. She whirled around, flushed with embarrassment, her mouth open to argue before she even saw who was speaking. In fact, her eyes didn't register the person at all until she had made her first remark.

"It slipped out of my hand! And these aren't Puffskeins--this is my hair style!" she huffed, a poor attempt to mask her humiliation with outrage.

And then she looked up, clear blue eyes meeting other blue eyes. But these were different. Where Usagi's eyes glittered like the sky on a cloudless summer's day, these had an unfamiliar depth and hue. She felt like she was looking down into the still waters of an old well, where she couldn't see the bottom and could only wonder how deep it went. She was reminded of the beautiful photographs she had seen in science class of the Earth, taken from space. His eyes were like that brilliant sapphire planet, shining in the darkness of space.

When she realized that she was gaping at him, she blushed an even deeper pink and turned away, tugging at one pigtail. She felt so self-conscious that she could barely stutter any kind of comment, her fingers just picked nervously at the edges of the dark robe's long sleeves. In the midst of it all, she forgot she was now only wearing one shoe.

"Slipped out of your hand?" Mamoru repeated, ignoring her correction and continuing without really thinking on it - her defensiveness kept him on edge so his mouth acted without much need of his reasoning skills, "Why was it off your foot in the first place?" He was in full chiding-Prefect mode now, but as she turned, her bright blue eyes finding his and her pretty face turning pink with what he could only assume was embarrassment, he softened uncharacteristically. Well, semi-uncharacteristically - he hated to see girls cry or get uncomfortable, and that he had caused the discomfort made him feel like a heel.

Keeping a tough look on his face - he was a Prefect, she had just thrown a shoe at him - he bent down and retrieved her shoe for her, then closed the distance, trying hard not to think the way she nervously tugged at her pigtails was cute. As he approached - intending to return her shoe politely and request she find her family - he noticed the second discrepancy in her appearance and his mouth was off again, even as he offered her her missing shoe, "And why are you wearing someone else's robes? That's against school rules and can get you in a lot of trouble!" 

Honestly, the last part he wasn't entirely sure of - she didn't even go here so he didn't know how House Points would be deducted for her being in someone else's uniform.

"I was using it! Um, for... things!" she replied to his first query about her shoe, unwilling to admit to this stranger that she was a non-witch pretending to be a witch. Given her age, that would be too much to let almost anyone know. Shingo would laugh and tease her endlessly, her Muggle friends wouldn't understand what a witch was, her parents would probably wonder if she was ever actually going to grow up, and her friends within the wizarding world would probably just feel pity for her.

She was starting to get over her initial outburst. Although he had seemed brash in their first interaction, he didn't really seem like he was all that bad. He was even getting her shoe--she realized now that she was standing in one sock foot. Usagi held out her hand to take the shoe back, a smile on her face and an apology just on the tip of her tongue... but he ruined it.

She snatched the shoe from him, shoving her foot back into it awkwardly and struggling to get it on properly. How did he know they weren't her robes?! What was he implying?! She bit down on the temptation to lie and say that they were her robes after all--tempting as that was, she didn't think that was the kind of person she wanted to be, even to someone she would probably never see again.

"How can it get me in a lot of trouble? What makes you so sure these aren't mine? I found them!" she replied, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes defiant.

As she crossed her arms, he did the same, mirroring her body language, allowing himself to get pulled further in by her attitude. "I know they're not yours because you don't go here," he stated, "And insofar as I know, and I know a lot, no other wizarding school has a Gryffindor House patch sewn to the breast of their robes. And," he added, not exactly sure why she was ruffling him up so much, "Even if you did just find them, that's no excuse to wear or keep them!"

"You know I don't go here?" she sassed back, "What are you, the student roster? Are you roaming the halls just looking for people who might not be students? I'm sure you'll find a lot of them on visitation day!"

Her dander was up, so her words were uttered with more irritation than usually felt. What was it about this guy? Just looking at him made her so mad! He'd be sorta handsome, too, if he didn't make her feel so riled up and on edge! And he was arguing right back at her--a girl he didn't even know! Did he even have any friends if this was how he acted to other people?!

"And who said I was keeping them? It's not a crime to put them on! Unless there's something in the student handbook except I'm not a student!"

She tossed a blonde pigtail over one shoulder, flipping her chin to the side and breaking eye contact with him. Her chest heaved while her heart fluttered wildly in her ribs. She felt physically warm from this mixture of embarrassment and irritation, but she wasn't about to take off the outer robe now. Not just because he demanded that she do so!

He bristled at her 'student roster' comment, his brows lowering as her tirade continued, waiting his turn to strike back - what was it about this girl?! "I happen to be a school Prefect," he returned heatedly, motioning broadly to the blue-and-bronze "P" badge on his left robe lapel, "It's my job to know - " no, it wasn't - "and since you just confirmed you aren't a student, why are you wearing student robes and throwing shoes around?! This is a school, not a kindergarten playhouse!"

Ami was grateful for Rei sometimes, for saying the things she didn’t dare to say. Ami used to be scared of Rei, but these days she just admired her. She was someone Ami wished she could be more like, after all. Someone who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind without caring what other people thought. She was glad that Mako wasn’t seriously hurt, either.

Minako explained that she needed to practice on her own, but surely she didn’t have to. She was popular; she must have tons of friends she could persuade to play Quidditch with her, right? Sometimes she really didn’t understand Minako’s deal. She nodded at the girl’s thanks and watched her walk away, suspecting that beneath all that perky layers, Minako’s truth hid somewhere deep inside.

But Ami didn’t get the chance to think for long, because all of a sudden there were sounds like trees being hit by something huge and the ground started shaking. “What…?” she looked around, dazed, and nearly shrieked when she saw the tall creature emerging from the Forbidden Forest.

“I-it’s a troll!” she exclaimed in disbelief, stumbling backward toward the other girls.

How on earth did a troll get here?!

As Minako thought about how annoying that transfiguration essay was going to be to write, she felt a low rumble through her feet, and stopped walking. What was that, an earthquake? But they were in Scotland... The pounding grew stronger, and Minako turned around to see what was going on, and she almost did a double take at what it was. Even from her distance form the Forbidden Forest, she could clearly make out the huge troll breaking through the trees.

Minako stared, stunned for a few seconds, and then she ran back towards the girls that she had left behind, pulling out her wand. 

"You guys need to get out of here, that thing's dangerous!" Minako yelled. Now what did Professor Artemis teach her about trolls? They had thick skin that repelled magic, but they weren't very smart. Her mind stated searching for a curse or charm that could possibly help her fight this thing. Running away for help barely crossed her mind. She was too determined to take down this troll, with help or not.

Makoto shook her head as she walked Minako Aino walk off. She was definitely different that one. Who forgot that Quaffles couldn't be charmed anyway? Before she could get too lost in her thoughts, she felt the ground begin to shake. 

"What in the world?" she cried, looking around frantically for the source. When Ami shouted about a troll, she turned to face the forest. Trolls were definitely not suppose to be in the forest. They had no sense to stay in there away from the school unlike other magical creatures. 

"Arania Exumai!" Pointing her wand at the troll as she stepped in front of Ami, shielding her. The spell was suppose to knock back animals, but trolls were close enough to animals right? Even with their magic resistant skin, she was hoping it would at least work a little.

Finally back in his room Artemis prepared his tea and sat down. The Visitation Days were always so busy, especially for professors and prefects, so a little break came in useful. With a loud sigh he leaned backwards and looked out of the window. Actually it was a nice day, the sun was shining and he could hear the birds chirping in front of his window. If I only could stay here for the rest of the day…
 
But what was that?! Artemis almost spit out his tea as he saw a troll walking towards Hogwarts. Quickly he stood up, not believing his eyes, and opened the window. He protruded his head into the fresh air and checked the situation once again. Oh no!, he was thunderstruck. “Minako!”
 
As fast as possible he ran out of his room, down the hallways and eventually left the building. Minako and her friends were being attacked by a troll, he recalled once again – He had to save her.
 
Artemis was almost there but gradually noticed how nonathletic he was. With the last of his strength the white-haired professor raised his arm, holding the wand in his hand, and shouted, “Incarcerous!” Out of nothing thick ropes emerged, binding the troll who was thrown away by a former attack. “Watch out,” he said to the girls and stood up for his blond mentee. “The ropes won’t stop him for long!”
 
“Listen,” he continued after a short pause. “I don’t think it’s a real troll – the trolls here usually never leave the Forbidden Forest, it’s their home after all. So it’s either an odd troll…or – what seems more plausible in this case – a transfigured human or animal.”
The professor closed his eyes, focusing on the troll and his wand. Untransfiguration never was his strong point.
 
“Homorphus,” he shouted, pointing his wand at the captured troll. He wasn’t sure if it would work since it was mostly known for transforming werewolves back into humans – however, according to the stories he heard, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin also used it to de-transform Peter Pettigrew back then. Please let it work, he prayed inwardly.

"It's not a kindergarten playhouse because you are too big to be a kindergarten student!" Usagi retorted, face flushed. At this point her increasing emotions had made it harder for her to actually say anything witty. She was teetering on the edge of "incoherent frustrated noises." Later, she might have regretted missing the chance to say he was acting like a 5-year-old. Her eyes glittered slightly with moisture--not from sadness, but simply from feeling overwhelmed--but she wasn't going to let this obnoxious guy make her cry!!

"Take the stupid robe, then!"

She wiggled her arms out of the robe and threw it at his face.

Usagi turned on her heel and stormed off as soon as it left her fingers. When she turned around the corner and figured she was out of eyesight of that annoying guy, she ran. Right now, she really didn't want to interact with any other students; she needed to calm down and stop thinking about how mad that dark-haired student made her feel! She kept thinking about his blue eyes, how they shifted through various emotions when they argued. Usagi just wanted to get him out of her head!

When she opened a door and stepped out into a mild breeze and grassy landscape, she knew this would help. The fresh air seemed to rejuvenate her, filling her lungs and dancing with her long hair. She slowed her pace as she got farther and farther from the school. Distracted from the altercation earlier, her irritation had cooled and returned to her normal cheerful and blissful state. Usagi hummed to herself as she walked on.

And then a roar interrupted her daydreams.

Blue eyes looked over, shocked to see an enormous troll lumbering over. What on Earth?!?

Rei shook her head at Minako's words, unable to believe that someone could forget that you couldn't charm a Quaffle. She was about to go back towards the school herself when the ground shook, almost causing Rei to fall. Regaining her balance, she turned towards the source of the shaking and raised her eyebrows. What the hell was a troll doing at Hogwarts?

They couldn't let it reach the school. There were so many children and non-magical people there that it may hurt someone. Whipping out her wand, Rei turned and glared at Minako when she returned. "You're more dangerous than that thing!" she shouted back, rolling her eyes. She watched as Makoto and even Professor Artemis tried to stall the troll. This thing was big, it was dumb, and it would be fun to take her anger out on, Rei thought. Smirking, she pointed her wand at the troll's knee.

"Bombarda!"

Dangerous? No kidding.

Ami was scurrying away from the troll, her first instinct reporting it to a teacher, but they were way out here near the Forbidden Forest and there wasn’t one in sight. By the time she ran into the school, the troll could have hurt someone.

It could hurt her friends.

As Makoto released a spell, a loud sound was heard and a small black scorch mark appeared on the troll’s skin. It roared in displeasure, lumbering closer to them.

To her relief, she saw Professor Artemis coming toward them and immediately binding the troll with a rope spell. The troll’s feet, now bound, attempted to take another step and he fell over with a loud thud. However, the second spell had no effect on him. Not a real troll?! Ami stared at it in disbelief. Looks pretty damn real to me.

Rei acted next, casting Bombarda. The spell caused another explosion, but due to the troll’s thick skin, it was only creating another small wound. The troll was really angry now, though, and in pain, too. With a powerful roar, he broke free of the ropes and started getting up.

Ami thought quickly. What was the weak point of a troll? Their thick skin rendered almost every spell useless, but… right!

She shouted the incantation for Conjunctivitis Curse and aimed it straight at the troll’s eyes. It hit its mark, and this time the roar was deafening. It was really in pain and weakened now, but she didn’t know how long it’d be down.

"A troll..." she gasped, staring up at it. Trolls appeared on the news with a fair amount of regularity. They typically weren't hard too deal with, but they did enjoy human flesh enough to require preventative and reactive action.

Still... Those cerulean eyes watched as another spell flared forth, aimed towards it. Hitting its mark, the creature clutched its eyes. Usagi felt... bad. The troll roared out, not from mischief or malice, but because it was in pain. It continued to blunder forward, slowed now, and she thought she could hear... something. Something crying out for help. Did she really hear a voice? What was that?!

The students involved were ready to continue their assault. Not entirely sure what she was doing, the blonde ran forward, towards the troll.

"Wait! Stop! Don't hurt it!"

The troll seemed unimpressed by her sympathy. Blinded temporarily by Ami's last spell, one of the large feet slammed towards the ground. Usagi looked up, terrified, and realized she was right in its path.