"Can you see, Mom?"

"No. Can you show me what to do with these binoculars again?"

"All right. Turn this knob and you'll see things in slo-mo."

"Thanks."

"Exiting, isn't it?"

"Yes. I've never seen a sport like it."

"Can you believe I play this at school?"

"No! It looks dangerous! So high up, with those big black balls hitting you,"

"It's not. And I'm playing in like the equivalent of a high school varsity team while these are the pros."

"Oh no. That guy's hurt!"

"He's fine. They've got cushioning charms. Krum was feinting. He can look for the snitch by himself for a bit now."

"So this Krum is supposed to be the best there is?"

"Best seeker in the world."

"I can believe that."

The Quidditch World Cup between Ireland and Bulgaria ended in one of the most spectacular finishes in the history of the sport, with Victor Krum catching the snitch in a daring dive and yet not securing the victory for his team, Bulgaria. The crowd roared and clapped for Krum, even the fans of Ireland.

Mina Aino and her mother left the stadium with the crowd, Mrs. Aino's arm wrapped around her daughter's shoulder.

"Thank your headmaster for me. I'm glad we got to go to this."

"If I get the chance. Not many students really get to talk to Professor Dumbledore." Dumbledore had arranged for Hogwarts students and their parents to buy tickets to the world cup at reduced prices. As a result muggles like Mrs. Aino were able to see a Quidditch game for the first time in history with their magical children. It had caused some controversy, but Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge , fresh from his boost in popularity after the capture of the death eater Peter Pettigrew and the exoneration of Sirius Black, had spun it as a sign of increasing cooperation between his government and Albus Dumbledore, the most respected wizard in all of Britain.

"We don't do things like this as mother and daughter anymore. Not since you started your school."

"I know, mom. Maybe we should go camping more often. It's not as expensive as other vacations."

"That sounds like a good idea."

The seats the Ainos had acquired through Hogwarts were near the top of the stadium in one of the cheaper sections. Their position did not matter much as the players flew too fast for even those in the best seats to follow without the aid of omnoculars, magical binoculars that slowed down the images that were seen through their lenses, but it did mean that when leaving they had to follow nearly the entire crowd out of the stadium. It took a full half-hour for them to finally exit the stadium.

Boom!

A loud explosion shook the ground, and a cloud of fiery smoke rose among the hundreds of tents in the distance.

The crowd began to scream again, not in excitement, but this time in terror. It moved as if it had a mind of it's own. The Ainos were bombarded on all sides by people pushing and shoving, desperate for a way to get out of there. They tried to hold on to each others hands, but a fat man barreled between them, forcing them apart. More and more people came between them and they were pushed farther and farther away from each other.

"Mina! Mina!"

But it was too late. Mina had disappeared from her mother's view, swallowed up by the mob of panicking people./

By the fire that had just broken out, a dozen men in black, hooded cloaks that concealed their faces pointed their wands in the air, where a family of three muggles were squirming in pain, held up by several levitation charms. The husband worked at the camp grounds that had been used to host the world cup.

The couple were screaming from being subjected to a curse with the incantation "crucio!" while the child was screaming even louder from being spun in every direction over a raging fire.

"That's enough." a voice behind the hooded wizards said firmly. "Put them down now."

They turned around. The immediate area, with many burning tents, was completely deserted except for a young, oddly dressed woman. She wore a skintight white and red shirt with a blue collar and a red bow on the chest, a blue mini-skirt, blue heeled shoes, white gloves, a red bow in the back of her hair, a mask over her eyes, and had a glowing crescent moon on her forehead. In short, she looked ridiculous to the group of hardened wizards who enjoyed torturing the innocent.

"Who do you think you are?" one of them asked.

"Didn't think of that." she whispered to herself. She couldn't reveal either of her identities. "I'm Sailor V! And any trouble you make I can throw right back at you."

Twelve voices laughed maniacally. It disturbed her, for even though they were all male, they reminded her of a laughter that haunted her dreams.

"Crescent beam!" She moved her arm in a straight line from right to left, creating a small trench at the feet of the hooded men.

It got their attention. There were cries of "stupefy" as nearly a dozen stunning spells were shot at her.

"Protego!"

The shield spell, one of the ones she had practiced over the spring term at school, was powerful enough while she was in her current form to deflect all of the stunning spells back at her attackers. Three were directly hit and fell unconscious with a graceless thud.

"This is your last warning. Let them down now."

Before they could respond, however, a light shot into the sky. All eyes turned to it as it formed a giant shape, a skull. The mouth of the skull opened and a snake grew out of it, it's own face just as frightening as the one it had slithered out of.

The remaining hooded figures began to scream themselves, and one by one they disappeared with a banging sound.

The muggle family, without any of it's captors to hold them up, began to fall. Sailor V yelled "windgardium leviosa!" to slow their descent and make sure that they landed on a patch of earth that was not burning.

"It's all right." she told the sobbing family. "You're safe now."

The husband opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He used one of the hands with which he was holding his wife and child to point at the skull in the sky.

Sailor V took out her crescent compact and opened it a little. She held it high above her head as a beam of light shot out of the narrow opening straight up. The light hit the figure of the skull, the features of which began to melt. The snake disappeared and the skull soon followed suite, leaving behind nothing but a cloud which had not been there before.

The family was looking straight up as the light destroyed the fearsome image in the sky and only looked back down when the light had disappeared.

They saw that the girl who had saved them had disappeared as well./

"Harry! There you are!"

"Sirius!"

"I thought, with the dark mark-"

"It's ok. It's not him."

The image of the skull and snake was the dark mark, the symbol of Lord Voldemort.

"So what happened?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione told Harry's godfather what had happened after they had been separated. They had gotten too close to the source of the fires where the hooded men were and were trying to get away when they heard a voice from a bush cast the spell that created the dark mark. A house elf was found with the wand the culprit used, Harry's wand.

"How did this elf get your wand?"

"I don't know."

Sirius had been arrested when the trouble began. Someone from the ministry wanted to be sure that the former fugitive did not participate in the disturbance. So now they were in a ministry tent.

"They're not going to hold you?"

"No, no. They've got no reason to."

Harry had been staying with Sirius at his old house all summer. It was a relief to both parties when Harry left the Durselys for good. The house was old and infested with many magical creatures like doxies, but magical exterminators were gradually making the place livable again, much to the chagrin of the house elf that had served the Black family, Kreacher.

"Sirius, do you have any idea what that light was that made the dark mark disappear?"

"They're saying it was an auror, but I've never seen the like."

They heard a familiar voice outside the tent. "Mom! Mom! Where are you!"

It was Mina, their classmate from Hogwarts. They left the tent to go see her.

"Harry! Have you seen a woman who looks like me, with darker hair and a longer nose?" There was a note of panic in her voice.

"No, but I'm sure she's all right. Next to no one was hurt."

"I'll feel a lot better when I know she's not one of those "next tos."

"Where did you get separated?"

"All the way back at the stadium."

A ministry wizard had spotted Mina calling for her mother and came up to them, flipping through a packet of forms with names on them.

"Are you Minako Aino?" he asked, finding the first name on his alphabetical list.

"Yes."

"You're mother's fine. We've got her in a tent with other parents who can't find her children."

"Thank god." Mina put a hand to her heart and took several deep breaths.

The ministry wizard motioned for Harry and the others to move away so he could speak to Mina quietly.

"Before I take you to her there's something you should know."

"What?" Mina grew anxious again.

"We've had to modify the memories of all the muggles who were here."

Mina's eyes narrowed and her voice dropped an octave. "What do you mean?"

"It was a ministry order."

"How much did you make her forget?" she demanded.

"The whole night!"

"You what!" Harry and the others jumped.

"I'm sorry, but those were our orders. No muggles could be allowed to remember this incident."

"So you erased all her memories of the whole night! Who the hell gave you the right to mess with my mom's mind!"

"Miss, please calm down." The wizard looked around nervously, Mina was causing a scene.

"No I will not calm down! This is outrageous! You can't just do this!"

"Mina," Harry said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I know it's not right, but there's nothing he can do.

Mina sighed. "I know. It's just…."

"She's still waiting for you, Miss."

"All right. Take me to her."/

"Mina?" Artemis asked the girl who was pretending to be asleep under the covers. They were back in the Aino apartment, having arrived by portkey.

"Mina, I know you're still awake."

She rolled over to face him, her eyes full of tears. "I shouldn't have left her, Artemis. It's all my fault. If I was there they wouldn't have been able to do it."

"You probably saved three lives and captured three death eaters."

"Did I blow our cover?"

"As far as I can tell having snooped around the ministry people they're spinning it so that

they can claim that they did everything. Your part is being covered up. Even if it wasn't I doubt anyone would connect you with Sailor Venus even if they knew about the legends, or that Beryl could find out about you from it. Mina, you made the best choice."

"But that still happened to my mom!"

"I said the best choice. Not the right one. Sometimes…sometimes there isn't a right choice."

Your love is forever doomed to fail.

"So are the people I care about supposed to suffer while I'm out saving the world?"

"Mina, sometimes these things are just unavoidable."

"Go away." Mina rolled back over. Artemis walked out of her room, sparing one sad look over his shoulder before leaving./

I was planning on writing a few chapters for In the Shadow of a Hero first, but my mind was just filled with ideas for this story. So here it is, somewhat earlier than I had planned.

I think I can say that there will be more of Sailor Venus' attacks in this story like the love and beauty shock, and this time not just in flashbacks, memories, or visions.