It's Badly-Thought-Out Crossover Time!

[40cakes]

I'm too lazy to search for the thread, but at some point, jaina told me she'd rescind the hit out on my life if I followed through on a silly suggestion I had made for HP/Utena fic. Hopefully I live to tell the tale.

If you know Utena but not HP, you should understand. Sorta. Spoilers for the latest book.
If you know HP but not Utena, um... You might wanna move along. Some people who know Utena don't even get Utena.


TITLE: Harry Potter and the Bride of Roses
RATING: PG
BETA: None. Which explains the quality, since I'm not too good at prose. Or action. Or mystery. Or exposition. Or naming original characters. I do dialogue good! $10perficplzkthx.

It was a school full of magic. There were moving staircases, fabulous illusions in the sky, impossibly high astronomy towers, and ghosts prowling the halls.

However, one student clearly saw the major differences between Ohtori and Hogwarts. Much of the magic at the latter was whimsical and light-hearted. As if the founders had been merry pranksters, eager to let the students in on the joke.

Ohtori's magic was sinister. It begged its students to get lost, trapped on campus forever. The ghosts continued on as if they were still alive, and no one else seemed to even remember their deaths. What's more was that Ohtori was not an academy for magic. Students learned basic muggle studies there: arithmetic, languages, sport. They never intentionally cast spells or hexes, yet no one questioned anything when a girl turned into a cow, or a man and a mouse switched personalities.

Ohtori's magic was manipulative, as if there was one grand wizard behind it, pulling all the strings.

Harry Potter had come here, intent on finding that one wizard. Now, it seemed that wizard had found him first. On the desk of his dorm room, there was an envelope which had seemingly delivered itself (as no one else here used owl post, he had left Hedwig in the care of the Weasleys). In impeccable cursive, it was addressed to him. The last time he had received something like this, it also noted that he lived in a cupboard under the stairs.

The letter inside said it knew why he was there, and that it could help him with his quest. It contained simple instructions, but even those seemed bizarre. It was signed "End of the World." Was that supposed to be a threat, or just a silly pseudonym?

The letter also mentioned the small ring that had come with it, instructing Harry to put it on. At this point, he knew better than to put on strange jewelry. Even if it was safe, he still thought it was pretty girly. But it matched exactly what he had come here for. "This can't be THAT easy," he said.

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Hermione was the one who figured it out. "Look!" she pointed out to the boys. "There's not a single portrait of her without it on!" Holding out various books and scrolls, she pointed to a silver ring with a small pink rose carved into it. "And this book is the only one that mentions it, but says, 'The last time she was seen wearing the ring was during her travels through what is modern-day Holland. There, it is rumored, she gave it to a charming prince who rescued her from a wild dragon.' But there's no records of any princes in that area who were in the habit of saving damsels in distress."

"Let me get this straight," Ron asked, shocked, "some Muggle royalty has got one of You-Know-Who's horcruxes in his jewelry box?"

Hermione nodded. "Maybe."

Harry shook his head. "That can't be right. Maybe it was before Voldemort got ahold of it, but not now. Everything else has been under spells and tests so even if someone found it, they'd practically kill themselves getting to it." There was pain in his voice, thinking of Dumbledore. "It's not going to be a matter of breaking and entering a Muggle palace."

So another leg of research followed, hunting down the ring and hoping it wasn't a wild goose chase. Grimmauld Place was once again home to the Order, and with Hogwarts closed, the three friends spent all their time there when they weren't out hunting down the means to kill Voldemort once and for all.

Fleur was the one who recognized it, out of all of them. "Ohtori…" she murmured, tracing her fingertip along one of the rose's petals. "Why are you looking at zis place?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione traded glances before Hermione answered, "It's the symbol from Rowena Ravenclaw's rose crest ring. It's also a place?"

She nodded. "Eet is a school. A very strange school. I had a friend who went zere, and she hardly remembers her years zere at all…"

"Sounds like a test to me," Ron said later.

Harry enrolled at the school, not sure of what he would find. Would there be memory charms? Would he forget himself and forget why he was there? Or would he forget the way back to England?

He steeled himself for the worst and instead found what seemed to be an eccentric European boarding school. Throughout his first day, he had to keep reminding himself why he was here and who he was looking for. Because he imagined that anyone who knew how to carry out spells of this magnitude knew exactly where Rowena Ravenclaw's ring was. And also probably knew that it was one of Voldemort's horcruxes.

He would be difficult to deal with, to say the least. However, the most important thing was to find the ring. The wizard would be dealt with if he stood in Harry's way, but for now, he already had one dark lord to deal with, he didn't need to take on another.

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Two dark-haired teenagers were flirting just outside the hallway of Harry's last class. Normally he would've ignored them until the girl said, "But no one's allowed back there except the student council!" Anything forbidden was worth checking out. Pretending to forget something, he turned back into the classroom, listening from just inside the doorway.

"Exactly, so no one will be there! C'mon, won't it be hot, sneaking back to the Dueling Arena and knowing we're all alone?"

"No! It's creepy back in that forest! Besides, I'm not going to get in trouble just to go make out with you. There are much better-looking guys to get in trouble with." She walked away, her would-be beau trailing, as Harry heard their shoes run away from the classroom.

He raced back to his room and grabbed his wand and his invisibility cloak. While many odd things were known to go on here, some things never changed, and he was certain if someone caught him wandering where he wasn't wanted, he'd get in trouble. The last thing he needed was to call attention to himself, especially since someone here already knew what he was planning to do.

Before he stepped out the door, he paused, turned around, and grabbed the ring. Something told him he might need it.

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The entrance to the Dueling Arena featured marble, marble, and more marble. And a giant door that wouldn't budge. Harry even tried spells on it (after making sure no one was around). Nothing. In frustration, he gave the door a great kick and uttered a curse.

And heard the splash of water in reply. Looking around, he saw the streams that ran alongside the stairs at the entry, but the water was completely still. It's coming from the door. He ran his hands down the carved roses in the front of the door until he felt a small hole behind the handle. Peering down, he saw it – a small pool of water, standing vertically, behind the handle. At the bottom of the pool was the engraving of a red rose. The design matched the ring in his hand perfectly.

Still keeping the invisibility cloak tightly around him, he reached for the ring in his pocket. Maybe it fit against a hidden keyhole and unlocked everything. He pinched the ring between his thumb and forefinger and held it out towards the water. To his surprise, the ring never touched the water before everything began to move. Rather than the door just opening, it began to break into pieces and form an archway. Beyond the archway was an infinitely tall spiral staircase.

Harry sighed and pulled off the cloak. If no one was here, there was no reason for it, and if someone was…now they knew to expect him. Pocketing the ring and tossing the cloak over his shoulder, he started his climb to the top.

The closer he got, he started to see a large circular platform emerge from the clouds. Beyond that, there was some sort of light. It almost looked like a castle, hanging upside-down from the heavens. Another optical illusion, it had to be. If it wasn't, Harry was almost certain that's where the ring would be.

The stairs ended at another archway, this one presiding over the platform, which bore another imprint of the rose. Standing in the center were a young blonde man in student council uniform, and a dark-skinned girl wearing a long, flowing red dress. The blonde gave him a once-over, then his shoulders slouched. "You're not a duelist."

Harry puffed up. He knew perfectly well how to duel. "I am so."

He scoffed. "Please. Get out of here before I have to report you to a teacher."

"Now look, I got up here, didn't I? Why would I come up if I didn't want to duel?" Maybe that was the way to the castle in the sky. If he could defeat this guy…or maybe the girl had the ring?

The boy rolled his eyes and changed his tone as if he were explaining something to a small child. "I don't know how you got up here, but this is for student council members and duelists only. I know you're not on the council, and I know you're not a duelist, because you're not wearing one of these." He held up his left hand and pointed to the silver, rose-engraved crest on his ring finger.

Harry's shoulders straightened. Was that the real thing, or was it yet another imitation like he was given. Whatever it was, it was clear he needed the ring again to proceed. Pulling it out of his pocket and holding it out, he said, "You mean this?"

His opponent's expression was one of shock, then a crooked smile snaked across his features. "So you are the new duelist. But we can't fight unless you accept the terms of duel and put on that ring."

"What are the terms?"

"You don't know? Were you really given that or did you nick it off of someone?"

Harry was feeling more and more frustrated. Was this the test - for this boy to irritate him to death? "I was given this. By 'End of the World.'"

The mocking expression was gone. "Alright then. We are duelists. We come here," he held out his arms to the arena, "to duel. Whoever wins gets the Rose Bride." He turned and motioned to the girl behind him in the red dress. "And whoever has her has the power of revolution."

While the idea of trading a girl through fights was repugnant to him, the idea of such power – was she the one in charge of all this? Was she the witch who kept the magic at this school in motion? "And if I lose?"

The boy shrugged. "When you lose, you walk away embarrassed and defeated, and I'm still in possession of the Bride. Shall we begin?"

Fighting for possession of a girl with powers to change the world in the middle of a mysterious platform that had no right to stay up in the air like this. The entire thing smacked of dark magic. But this boy had another copy of the ring. Meaning there were other people tied up in this.

Remembering Fleur's words, "she hardly remembers her years zere at all…", he held his breath and slipped on the ring. Nothing happened. Maybe it had nothing to do with the rings or the duels. He hoped it didn't.

His opponent smiled again. "Let's begin. Anthy?"

The Rose Bride was coming towards him, a red rose in hand. The dress hit the ground past her feet, and she moved with such a grace she almost looked as if she were floating. She pinned the rose to the lapel of his uniform. "Hey, what's this for?"

For the first time, Anthy spoke. "The first duelist to get his rose knocked off loses." Properly adjusting the flower, she added, "Good luck."

"You'll need it," the boy added.

"I'll manage." Harry pulled his wand out of his back pocket.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "You're fighting with that?"

"What are you fighting with?" he shot back.

"Anthy!"

The Rose Bride floated back over to him and held her hands over her chest, and light shone from between them. Her eyes closed as she whispered a spell, something about the power of Dios and a rose of the noble castle. Stretching out her arms, she fell backwards onto the blonde, who caught her as if they had done this a hundred times before. Harry stayed on his guard, wand at the ready for whatever they might do.

And then a sword popped out of the girl's chest. Harry stood frozen to the spot. Should he rush forward and save her? The blonde pulled out the sword, and the Rose Bride immediately spun back out of his arms and stood to the side, a smile frozen on her face. She was alright.

Harry didn't understand any of this. A girl who had such magic power was nothing more than a tool for a bunch of school-bound Muggles? He didn't have time to think more on it, because his opponent was charging with the sword. He spun out of the way just in time, but hissed at the pain on his shoulder. He had been cut. That was a real sword.

"Not so sure of yourself now, are you?" He held up the sword so that the light reflected off it magnificently. "This is the Sword of Dios. Whoever owns the Rose Bride also wins this and its power. So, do you want to go ahead and throw down your twig and your rose and run away yet?"

"Never."

"Good," he replied before charging again. Harry directed a spell at the sword, trying to charm it into a snake. It didn't work. He dodged the charge cleanly this time, without injury. "Now look, are you going to fight, or are you going to scream at me and duck all night?"

Harry ignored him and fixated on the yellow rose on the boy's chest. All he had to do was knock that off. If he thought of it as a Snitch, maybe. A Snitch already in someone else's hands and guarded by a big sword. He had done more difficult things. His magic had worked in this school before, with the exception of the door and the sword. Perhaps he could direct it at people, though.

The blonde charged at him a third time, and Harry felt as if another presence was suddenly next to him, whispering, Do it now. He steeled himself and prayed his idea worked. When his opponent was mere feet away, he pointed his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

His grip on the sword seemed to falter, and he stumbled in his attack. It left Harry just enough time to charge himself, arm outstretched. Before the boy knew what was happening, Harry had ripped the rose right out of his lapel. It took the blonde a few moments to gauge what had happened and ask, "Who are you?"

Harry hadn't realized how much he missed being in a place where not everyone knew exactly who he was. "Harry Potter."

The boy nodded as the sword literally dissolved into thin air from his hands. "You will see me again, then." Standing up straight, trying to look like he hadn't been crushed by a loss, he marched down the stairs.

He turned back to Anthy, who was now smiling as she stepped towards him. "Hello, Mr. Potter. I'm Anthy Himemiya. From this day forward, I belong to you."

Holding up his hand with the ring on it, he said, "Then tell me where this is."

She blinked a few times and turned her head innocently. "I'm sorry?"

"There's an original version of this, that was given to a prince by a powerful witch. I'm looking for that ring."

The smile and her tone of voice never faltered. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about, Mr. Potter?"

"Are you a witch?"

Her eyes turned dangerous. "I am merely the Rose Bride. Why would you think I am a witch?"

"Because if you have all this great power, I can't imagine that you're just allowing yourself to be passed from student to student by a swordfight. I know there's magic all over this school, and none of these Muggles seem to even notice. Are you behind it all?"

"I don't know what you are talking about, Mr. Potter. But you and I have very different types of magic." With that, she disappeared, leaving behind the red dress.

Harry lunged towards the dress, catching it before it hit the ground. There was no trap door underneath, no hidden magics in the dress; she had Disapparated. He wished he knew where. He might not know any more about the real ring, but he believed Anthy Himemiya knew everything.

Collecting his invisibility cloak, he hurried down the stairs, trying to remember where his satchel of Floo powder was in his room. Ron and Hermione would still be awake; he needed to get back to the school and find a fireplace.

Comments

[jaina.livejournal.com]

zomg you're ending it here?!

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

Don't you know bad things happen when I take on long fics? ...like me starting long fics that never finish?

Or are you waiting for HarryxAnthy OTP? "We'll be good friends, Harry. Won't we?"

[sarahtheboring.livejournal.com]

Dude! Dueling and dueling. Am amused.

[chaosblue.livejournal.com]

GUH OMG KEEP GOING PLZ. <3 <3 <3