Letters From End of the Wizard World

by Erin Griffin

Fandom: Harry Potter with Revolutionary Girl Utena crossover madness

Pairing: Luna/Ginny, Utena/Anthy, one sided (at first) Hermione/Ron (mention of unrequited Juri/Shiori)

Rating: PG-ish, strong language from the Weasleys.

Summary: Ginny and Luna receive mysterious letters that direct them to a room that requires them to relive Ginny's latest Utena dream in order to escape from it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but a can of Full Throttle which will soon belong to the dumpster behind my apartment building. I'm probably going to hell for not recycling.

Author's Note: Sequel to 'Rose of the Hogwarts Castle' (or 'Roses and Wands', depending on where I posted it), this is another instalment of the Utena/Harry Potter crossover craze I somehow got myself into. I have one more story plotting in my mind titled 'In A Sunlit Quidditch Field', and for the most part, I know what is going to happen in that one, which should bring everything to a nice close... hopefully. No beta, so all mistakes are mine.

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I shot out of bed as if my sheets were on fire. 'No! NO! Damn you dreams, why won't you go away?!' There they were again, the dream of that cartoon show Utena. I hadn't even seen any episodes, yet my mind was plagued with dreams of the characters, dreams of her. My prince- no, of- of... Ever since she had come over to the Burrow in the summer, my mind had dreams every night of Luna as this Utena character fighting for me. Me, as the Rose Bride. Luna, or Utena, I guess (though she looked like Luna, this person in my dreams never really acted like the girl I know, the girl who's never quite there, the girl I... I love) always won, and always became my engaged again. At least until the next person came and wanted to duel Luna for me for whatever reasons. I quickly changed into my robes, readying myself for a day of studying with Hermione for my OWLs. Maybe with my mind numb and crammed full of knowledge (most of which wouldn't be on any of the tests), the dreams won't come to me, and I will for once dream of broomsticks and Quidditch and, most importantly, boys like any normal teenaged witch like myself should. I knew that wasn't to happen, as no matter what I did, no matter what potion I took, my head would be filled with the useless Rose Duels. It was lucky that they didn't mess with the length or quality of my sleep, but boy the rest of my day gets fouled. Don't get me wrong, they are nice dreams, filled with the duels, a prince fighting for her damsel in distress (that would be me), honor, pride, love... yes, love. At least on my side... But I know that these dreams are and will remain just that. Dreams. Or at least that was what I always thought until something odd happened to me that day that made me remember just what world I lived in.

That day, after I denied my dream to myself, that Luna did not as Utena look at me in that special way in my dream before we had kissed, I hurried down to breakfast and almost missed the morning mail deliveries. I was just about to pour some tea when an envelope landed in my empty saucer. My eyes widened when I saw the seal on the back, the familiar floral design in my dreams. "No... bloody... way!" Harry leaned in to take a look at what I had gotten, but I brought it to my chest and almost growled at him to back off. He shrugged and went back to his meal after giving his owl a knut for his Daily Prophet. My heart pounded. This couldn't have been happening. This was a letter from End of the World, but... That was impossible. End of the World was just something in the cartoon, and even then it was only somewhat a myth, wasn't it? I mean, I never saw the show, but I gathered... from my dreams... What was going on? Who was playing this prank on me? The twins were long gone from Hogwarts in their joke shop, but I knew that they had never heard of Utena. No one else I knew knew of Utena either except for Luna, who-

I scanned the Ravenclaw table for Luna. She was sitting pretty much at the far end of it alone, looking over the letter she had gotten with her head tilted like a confused dog. She had gotten one too, and was just as unsure as I was, so what was going on? Slowly, I opened the envelope. 'To the Rose Bride and her Engaged, prepare for a duel in the fourth floor corridor,' was all it said. The scent of roses was strong, and I almost sneezed because of it. What? Why duel there? Why not on the Quidditch field? Who would be waiting at the forth floor corridor to laugh at us, and who would know about Utena at all to begin with? This was all wrong. I wanted to ask Hermione about it, ask her advice to see if it was wise to go, but looking down the table, she was gone. Probably off to a head start in the library. I looked to Harry, knowing that Ron would be close by. I wanted to see if he was watching me, waiting for that moment where he can say he fooled me, but he wasn't even there. Were they already on the forth floor waiting for us? If so, why? How? I stood up quickly. I had to get answers, and it looked like the only ones I would get would be in the forth floor corridors, at the duel. I tried to remember what was there, but there was nothing coming to me at the time. All I knew was that I had to get there. I hurried up the stairs and stopped once I reached the third floor and caught my breath.

I heard Luna's soft, beautiful voice behind me. "Ginny?" I tried not to look so shocked and embarrassed to see her.

"Hi Luna," I replied, looking anywhere but at her.

"I... got a letter, but it... I shouldn't have. Did the same happen to you?" If I didn't know what she was talking about, I would have chalked it up to being Luna's usual babbling that I would just smile and nod at.

"I think so," I said hesitantly, and was about to ask her some of my questions, even though I knew she wouldn't have known the answers to them, when I heard banging and shouts and... singing? Looking in that direction, it seemed to come from the forth floor corridors where we were both heading. I broke into a run and heard Luna's hurried footsteps behind me. I stopped in front of a portrait that completely covered a door. The banging was coming from inside, while the singing came from the winged woman in the portrait. An angel? No, not quite. Her smile seemed too sinister to be that of an angel's. I tried to listen to what was being said behind the door, and who it was that was trapped inside, but the winged woman was louder than them, and I had no choice but to listen to the words of her song.

"You have been inside my walls
You can't get out, it seems
None of your spells will work at all
Unless you live your dreams

Last to enter, first to dream
With hearts so pure and full
Play them out and be complete
When you feel my song's pull"

The portrait's song was slow and beautiful, but familiar in the tune, for it was the same tune I heard every year before the feast at the beginning of each school year. The portrait then winked a slow and obvious wink, and then the door opened. Instinctively, Luna took a step in front of me, and held out her arm to stop my movements as well. I saw Ron and Hermione rush towards us, desperate to get out, but a shield at the doorway forced them back with each attempt. Ron kept going towards it only to get forced back roughly. "Ron, knock it off you dunderhead. It won't work!" I called to him. Before my sentence was through, I felt a suction trying to force us forward. Luna pushed me back so that I was further still behind her. Then she seemed to be going into the room. I grabbed at her and had her hand for a split second, but my grip wasn't strong enough, and my palms were sweaty. Suddenly she was gone from my hold all together. I looked inside, trying to force my feet to the ground, and I saw that the room inside looked like the library. As soon as Luna joined Hermione, who was helping her up, the room looked like the Great Hall. What was this room? I felt my stomach pull towards the doorway. It was a stronger pull than whatever had brought Luna in, as if the room was determined to have me in there as well. The next thing I knew, I was inside the room, being caught by my brother before I could topple over. The room then shifted into the one sight I didn't want to see. It shifted into the familiar duelling arena from my dreams.

"Holy hell!" Ron screamed. He was floating upwards as if someone had put a pulley rope to his trousers and was pulling him to the ceiling. He then seemed to disappear as an illusion of a castle floated above us. Looking around, I saw Luna and couldn't help the gasp that escaped me. Though I had somewhat expected it, it all seemed so different from in my dream. That vacant look was still in her eyes unlike the Luna/Utena of my dreams, and for that, I felt a little bit of relief. She still looked to be standing tall, as if she had a little bit more of a clue as to what was going on than Ron and Hermione, yet still hadn't as much of a clue as I did. Luna was inspecting herself and she seemed somewhat in awe of what she saw. Her dark blue men's suit had looked the same as it always had. I couldn't help it. I looked down at myself to find the red dress I always wore in my dreams, and I felt the glasses on my face. I looked up at Hermione. She had the familiar orange hair, and she looked exactly as she always had. Though Utena in my dreams only duelled Juri once, which was the night before, I had many thoughts of the character. Hermione as Juri wore a white men's uniform that belonged to members of the student counsel. At Hermione's feet lay a sword that looked almost like a fencing foil. Hermione bent to pick it up, looking me in the eye as she did so.

"Um... Ginny?" Hermione asked nervously. "What did you dream about?" I tried not to blush as I thought about her question. The portrait said that we wouldn't leave the room unless we relived the dream of the last person to enter it. Me. Bugger. I had to tell them, and we had to live it out or we would never leave this room. I could only guess that Ron and Hermione didn't pick up on that the first time around and got stuck. I sucked in a deep breath and looked at the floor as I started to speak.

"Luna was watching a cartoon show from Japan called Revolutionary Girl Utena while I was sleeping on the sofa one night at the Burrow. Ever since, I have been having weird dreams about the show, and I find myself knowing things about the characters and storyline of the show even though I didn't watch any of it. In the show, they duelled each other for the Rose Bride, who is said to help bring the power to revolutionize the world. Everyone in the show wants that power for their own reasons."

"Who am I supposed to be?"

"Juri. She's a tough prince who doesn't believe in miracles, though her crush, Shiori- who's picture is in that locket you're wearing- believes in little else." Hermione looked at the locket and inspected the picture inside.

"So Cho Chang is Shiori?"

"I never saw the picture in Juri's locket in my dream," I told her.

"What about Ron? Is he going to be okay up there?"

"That is what sort of confuses me. I have never had Ron in any of these dreams, yet the character he is playing is Dios, the prince that helps Utena win the duels. Normally that is Neville, but I guess since Dios is needed and Neville isn't here, that part is for Ron to play out for now. I think he will be okay, and he will just... hang there until Utena needs him in the duel."

"Okay... So... How does this go? We fight?" As soon as she asked me that, two roses, one orange and one white, appeared in my hands.

"I am to pin these roses to your jackets. You fight with swords until one knocks the rose off of their opponent. If you lose your rose, you lose the duel. You are the fencing captain, so you have the upper hand for most of the match," I said as I pinned the orange rose to Hermione's jacket, "however, since you don't believe in miracles, you lose because of one." I moved over to Luna, who looked to be accepting everything with her usual far away look, and I took the time to look over the now pink haired Ravenclaw girl. I'd longed for this Luna to play Utena, but now she was, and I hoped she wouldn't start avoiding me after she finished the dream.

"Wait, what about Luna's sword? Where is it? Who is Luna supposed to be?" Hermione asked as she looked Luna up and down quickly.

"She is Utena Tenjou, the currant champion of the Rose Duels... and my..." I couldn't quite say it. I backed away from Luna and looked again to the floor as I answered Hermione. "My engaged. I will call for her sword in a moment, as soon as I am sure that you understand everything. I know this isn't how my dream goes, but you need to know the rules of everything, and I can only hope the room will allow my explanation. Once I draw the Sword of Dios, the duel begins and, I assume, so does my dreams."

"I fight and lose the duel? And then what, you marry your engaged?" Didn't I wish.

"No. Utena becomes the Rose Champion once more. I am the Rose Bride, and she is my engaged, but as far as I know, there is no wedding, just the world's revolution."

"But what is that?"

"I don't know," I admitted, "but my guess is that since each character in my dreams wanted that power for their own reasons- usually love in some form- it would be different for everyone."

"Okay... I think I understand my role in this, but I want to know, was there any significant dialogue during the duels? What I mean is, did Utena say something to trigger the miracle, or did Juri say something that made some sort of higher power try to prove her wrong?"

"That is a good question, and I am glad that you thought to ask it. Actually, I don't remember exactly all of the dialogue from last night's duel. I woke up really quickly, but Juri thought miracles didn't exist, and that people were foolish to think that anyone but themselves were in control of their own destiny. Utena is determined to keep believing in miracles because she was given a reason to live long ago, and nothing could take that from her."

"Okay..." Hermione thought this over, then her gaze shifted between me and Luna. "Whenever you're ready."

"Don't hurt each other, just go for the rose," I reminded them. I brought my hands up to my chest as I had so many times since the dreams began in the summer. Nightly for over a month, I said the same words, "Rose of the Hogarts castle," (though I was sure that it was really 'Rose of the noble castle' in the show). There was a glow that lit up between my hands over my chest like before. It swallowed everyone in the room, and I heard Hermione gasp. Luna was silent as she watched, but she moved over to me as I had hoped she would, and there was a light breeze that made Juri and Utena's hair fly around them. Pink hair whipped past me a little, brushing my cheek. "Power of Dios that sleeps within me," I continued, "heed your master and come forth!" I felt an arm around my waist as the light got bigger, becoming the white orb I expected, and I was lightly forced to lean backward with Luna there to brace me. The handle to the Sword of Dios appeared in the glow, and Luna looked hesitant and too scared to touch it. I looked up at her, the white blinding me; Luna wasn't more than a silhouette above me and I looked at her with what I hoped was an encouraging smile. Slowly, she reached out for it.

"Um... what'd she say in the show..." It was a murmur, but I heard it and couldn't help the smile. "I need the power," she said with a partial shrug, knowing she was wrong, "to bring the world Revolution!" There was the expected sound of bells signalling the start of the duels and I found myself close to the door, which was still faintly singing. Both Hermione and Luna seemed unsure of what to do. Suddenly, Luna let out some sort of war cry, which was so not like her, and ran towards Hermione, who seemed glad that awkward tension was broken. She seemed to easily deflect the strike, as Luna seemed to have gone easy on her.

"Please tell me that's not the best you can do," Hermione said, surprising me because she really did sound like Juri.

"Not even close," That confident Luna had emerged; they were playing their roles well.

"You believe in miracles? Well, you're going to need on to defeat me, Otori Academy's fencing captain." All three of us girls were startled by that and we all seemed to ask the same question: How did Hermione know what the name of the school was?

"Yes, Juri," Luna said, putting them back on track, "I do believe in miracles." She jabbed her sword towards Hermione, a move that was blocked with a little bit of effort. "Without miracles, I wouldn't be where I am today." At that, Hermione let out a haughty laugh.

"You're here because of your stupidity and foolish nobility, Prince," she said, almost snarling as she spat out the name. Did I tell Hermione that Utena was trying to be a prince, or did she just guess that by the way they were both dressed?

"Are you not also a prince?" Luna asked as she swung the sword towards Juri's rose, but Hermione jumped back, out of the way.

"You're trying to distract me. Well it won't work!" She went on the attack and to me, it looked as if she was a highly skilled fencer, and not a bookworm know it all. She never gave Luna much of a chance to breathe let alone attack her back. Luna could only block each and every move. From where I stood, I could tell Luna and Hermione's arms were getting tired, and Luna tried again to speak to Hermione.

"You never answered my question," she said, jumping back to avoid an almost defeat. We both didn't like how close the tip of the foil got to the rose, not when she was supposed to win. Hermione gave Luna a look of apology, and Luna nodded. "Are you not also a prince, looking for a damsel to save? A damsel that would one day become your princess?"

"Stop it!" Hermione shouted, and just then Ron fell from the ceiling as if he was trying to swim in water. His eyes were wide and he screamed like a little girl. I had something else to blackmail him with. He fell over Luna; his fall slowed and he seemed to fade into her. Luna's eyes widened, and then she seemed to clam up before all of her muscles relaxed. She sprang into action, and Hermione could only block herself. She lost her sword after only three swings of Luna's blade, and she jumped to the side. She froze when the sword had come down, somehow going through the space between Juri's locket and neck, then down further, slicing the orange rose in half. Hermione as Juri knelt to the locket and stared in amazement.

"No, that's... that's impossible," she murmured loud enough for all of us to hear. She then started to cry. Was this still her role, or was something bothering her that the duel brought to life? No, she was just playing her role to get out of there, but she was doing a bloody brilliant job of it.

"I think deep down you want to believe in miracles. Without miracles, it's hard to dream, and without your dreams, you have nothing to fight for. That fire, that need to fight is what makes life worth living." Luna paused as she thought over what she had just said, and seemed surprised by her own words. She then knelt down before Hermione, set her sword down, and with a shaky hand tried to comfort her. "Love is a miracle, did you know? If you love someone, tell them. They may love you too, but if you don't tell them, how are they to know? How are they to hold you and show you how much you mean to them? In that way, Juri, maybe you're right. By revealing your love for another, and it is reciprocated, maybe you're creating your own miracles." To this, Hermione only sniffed as she fingered the broken locket. I slowly walked up to the two, curious to see what Cho would look like as Shiori, and I saw that the girls were still confused, but stayed in character until something else happened. I looked down at the locket and saw who was a shoulder length, maroon haired Cho Chang as Shiori shift into Ron. Hermione gasped, and Luna gave a small smile of encouragement. Ron or Dios or whoever left Luna's body and was forced towards the door, but it still didn't open. Suddenly, Hermione was back in her Hogwarts robes and she too joined Ron by the door, her orange hair shifting slowly back into that of her own hair color.

The scene shifted and I recognized it as the large caged garden. A water can appeared in my hand and I had my other hand rested behind my back. Luna was suddenly standing at the doorway watching me. "I..." She didn't know where to go from there as I never told the rest of the group what usually came after the duels in my dreams. "I thought I'd find you... here?" she seemed to ask as she looked down at the blue monkey, ChuChu, who was flirting with a toad.

"Well, it looks as though your thoughts were right," I replied pleasantly, giving Luna a small smile. Though I didn't want to, I added, "That was so beautiful, what you said to Juri in the duel today."

"I just hope she'll be okay. She's so strong, and it was scary to see her break down like that." I smiled again as we both tried not to look at Hermione for her reaction to the scene. To Utena and Anthy, Hermione was no longer there.

"If she's half as strong as you, Miss Utena, I'm sure she'll be quite fine." I looked down at the white roses and then moved to the other side of the garden to put the watering can away inside a shed.

"You flatter me," Luna said after a moment of silence. We walked out of the garden in another silence and the scene shifted again to the dorm Utena and Anthy shared. As I fixed tea, Luna's clothes shifted as well to pajamas. "Anthy," she said, and I looked up at Luna. "I'm sorry."

"Why do you feel sorry?"

"I've been thinking about these duels and your role in them, and- I don't know, I am."

"Oh," I replied. "I really don't mind being the Rose Bride. I don't think I know anything else."

"Even if you have to do... stuff with creeps like Saionji?!" I could see the anger coming to Luna, but there was still that sparkle of dreaminess that let me know who I was really talking to.

"That is..."

"Anthy, I saw what he'd done! He-"

"All that is in the past now. I am engaged to you now, and you treat me well. I thank you for that."

"Anthy, I-" Luna didn't say anything else. She looked at me helplessly, as if to ask what else she's to do or say to open the door. I got up from my spot across the table from her, and walked to the window at what was supposed to be the moon, but was really just another wall of the room we were trapped inside. Luna also stood. "Anthy, you're my best friend, and I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want to see you get hurt. I promise you I will fight, whatever it takes to take you away from these duels so that the only person you've got to obey is yourself!" She was so determined, and I couldn't stop the tear from falling. I turned to Luna and flung my arms around her neck. I knew that the Anthy of the show wouldn't do such a thing, as she heard Utena say things like this many times before, but I just couldn't help it. Part of me wondered if this was because I felt as if she wouldn't talk to me after all this and I had to feel here near me one last time, or maybe I just needed some sort of excuse, but I did. I had to stay in character, so I started to speak again.

"Am I really your friend, Miss Utena?"

"Of course." When Luna backed away, I did the one thing that I knew would open that door, and I apologized to Luna before hand in my mind.

"Oh Miss Utena," I took a step forward, getting myself back into her space, and kissed Luna, who wrapped her arms around my waist, as I knew the Utena of the show wouldn't have done. Hermione gasped as the creaking of the door was heard, and Luna again backed away from me. The room around us faded back into the gray stone walls and marble floors. Hermione and Ron were already out of the room as I hurried out, Luna close behind me.

"Thank you for your help," I felt the need to say softly to the group.

"Thank you for getting us out," Hermione said automatically.

"Team effort," I responded, and all of us walked towards the steps that separated us to get to our houses, and we all knew that our friends would wonder where the bloody hell we'd been since breakfast. It was pretty late in the day. We may have even missed lunch. Bugger. I was getting a little hungry. Ron offered Hermione his hand, and she took it. Silently, their fingers linked and they walked away, and I knew I could forget my study day with Hermione. I turned to Luna, who was also watching the new couple go.

"That whole thing seemed fun." Luna said, which floored me. It was the last thing I had expected her to say. And that, ladies and gentlemen is why she is known as Loony Luna Lovegood, but I wouldn't have things any other way with her.

"Er- Pretending to be a cartoon character?"

"Yeah."

"Glad you enjoyed it," I said slowly, thinking everything over. "I'm... I feel as though I've been set up. I mean, I did as soon as I got the letter, but there was no one there at the forth floor corridor to trick us but Ron and Hermione. They seemed just as confused about the whole thing as me." Luna watched me as I spoke, but gave nothing away. "Those letters we got from End of the World... supposedly. Then we go where we're told to go, and I have to relive my Utena dreams... Someone knew and sent them, sent us, but who? Who knew? Who sent those letters?"

"I did," Luna said. My eyes widened, and I felt my chest tightened with this information ringing in my head. She knew? Luna wouldn't set me up, would she? Why?

"You did?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Why?" I asked when it looked as though she wasn't about to supply that information unprompted. Luna kissed me, her movement soft and unhurried.

"Believe in miracles, Ginny, and they will know your secrets." Luna said nothing else and walked towards the Ravenclaw tower, leaving me with a heart full of love and a head full of confusion.

End