SOLDIER, Flowers and Magic

Flowers and Light

        Two figures sit side by side in front of a large patch of flowers, a warm and comfortable silence surrounding them. One was a female with brown hair in a braid, tied with a pink ribbon. The other was a male with dark, spiky black hair. Sunlight filtered in through the big gaping hole in the ceiling of the church the two were sitting in. Their names were Aerith Gainsborough and Zack Fair. Zack had just returned from a long mission as 1st Class and was visiting his lovely girlfriend since he had the time off. He looks at Aerith and gently turns her face to look at him, placing a gentle kiss on her lips for a brief moment. No words were spoken as green eyes looked into MAKO blue eyes. Their eyes and gentle smiles spoke the words for them. After a moment of gazing into each other's eyes, Zack and Aerith close their eyes and lean their foreheads against each other, enjoying each other's company.

"Hey flower girl, remember when I first crashed from the sky?" Zack asks. He gets a giggle in response.

"How could I forget a beautiful black haired angel falling into my flowers?" Aerith responds, a small smile gracing her lips. She noticed a very faint blush on Zack's cheeks. "Why do you ask?"

"Eh, no particular reason! I was just thinking back about the memories we've made," Zack answered with his usual grin that made his precious flower girl laugh. To Zack, Aerith's laugh was like the song of an angel and beams brightly upon hearing the angelic song. "Oh flower girl, I love hearing that laugh," he says, pulling Aerith into a hug. Aerith laughs again, hugging Zack in return, nuzzling her face into the crook of the SOLDIER's neck. She breathes in his scent - light musk, mild cologne and the faintest scent of MAKO. She lets out a small and happy sigh, sitting in the strong arms of her SOLDIER.

"You know Zack, I really like the longer hair on you," Aerith comments, peaking up from Zack's neck. Said male beams brightly.

"Glad to hear that! I thought it looked better and made me more mature looking, ya know?" Zacks says happily.

"That is true and makes you look even more handsome," Aerith says, giggling as Zack blushed again.

"Aeeerrriiittthhhh, I'm supposed to be making you blush! Not the other way around!" Zack whined playfully, pouting at his girlfriend, causing her to laugh that angelic laugh again. However, the pout goes away and is replaced with a wide smile hearing Aerith laugh. The smile turns into a mischievous grin as the raven-haired male immediately starts to tickle the brunette's sides, causing her to laugh even more.

"Zaaacckk! Stop it!" Aerith laughs, trying to push away Zack's hands from her sides.

"Noooope! You're going to have to stop me!" Zack says, continuing his assault of tickles on Aerith's sides. Aerith could only think of one thing and decided to try it. She manages to suppress her laughter long enough to press her lips to Zack's and bring him into a sweet kiss. The tickling stopped and Zack kisses Aerith back, sharing a sweet and tender kiss. The two remained lip-locked for a moment and then break for air. "Well that's one way to stop tickles!"

"Good to know!" Aerith giggles, a faint blush on her cheeks. She eeps when Zack suddenly pulls her down, now on top of Zack's chest. Her face darkens a bit more but she snuggles into Zack's chest regardless. She traces patterns on the SOLDIER's chest, getting a faint and happy hum from the male. All was going well for the happy couple but it seems that Fate was not going to have that for very long as a bright, Lifestream green light envelopes the two. Zack instinctively holds tight onto Aerith when feeling them being pulled somewhere. Aerith was scared but grips onto Zack, hoping that they wouldn't be separated in whatever strange place they were being summoned to. The bright, Lifestream green light leaves them and the couple falls a foot onto a slightly creaky wooden floor. Zack lands with a slight oof since Aerith was on top of him. He slowly sits up with Aerith and looks at the unfamiliar faces surrounding them. His SOLDIER instincts kicking in, he hops up and and sets Aerith behind him and grabbing his buster sword. Zack was surprised that the buster sword had been on his back as it wasn't there before. He could only assume that whatever brought him and his flower girl to this odd world decided that he might need it. 'How thoughtful of the weird light to bring the sword with me,' Zack thought sarcastically.

"Welcome back to the Wizarding World, Mr Potter and Miss Granger!" a rather old man with a long white beard says to the two.

~~ Moments before ~~

In the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place, the Order of the Phoenix was having a meeting. At the head of one side of the table was a very elderly looking man with a long white beard. On the opposing side was the owner of 12 Grimmauld Place, a younger looking man with slightly wavy, black hair that reached to about his shoulders. These two were Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, respectively. On one side of the table, there was a redheaded couple by the names of Molly and Arthur Weasley and a grizzly looking man with a magic blue eye named Alastor "Mad-Eyed Moody". On the opposing side from these three were another three. The closest to Sirius was a pale man with thin light brown starting to grey hair and a few scars on his face. His name was Remus John Lupin. Next to Remus was a woman with spiky, bubblegum pink hair named Nymphadora Tonks, or more commonly known as Tonks. The final member was a tall and bald black man by the name of Kingsley Shacklebolt. The doors were closed, blocking the children that were in the house from being in the room. However, two redheaded twins named Fred and George Weasley had sent down an extendable ear to listen in on the conversation. With them, listening in were their two younger siblings, Ronald Billius Weasley and Ginevra Molly Weasley. The four were not allowed to be in the mission as their mother deemed it unsafe for them to listen in.

"Welcome to another meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. I have gathered you here today as I believe I have found a way to bring both Mr Potter and Miss Granger to us. As I suspected, they are not dead but simply somewhere else," Albus says, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Harry's alive?!" Sirius says, almost jumping out of his seat. His eyes shine with hope at the thought of his godson being alive.

"I don't mean to be rude Albus, but who is this Miss Granger and why is she important?" Molly says.

"Ah Miss Granger. She is a muggleborn witch named Hermione Jean Granger. She is important as she disappeared the same night as young Harry. We must care for all witches and wizards so that they don't bring harm to anyone," Albus says.

"Of course. I'm sorry Albus," Molly says, flushing a bit after hearing the Headmaster's words.

"So how do we bring them here?" Remus asks, looking to ancient wizard.

"Good question!" Albus says jovially. "I have found a summoning ritual. It requires something that used to belong to the person being summoned. From Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I have procured a old cat plushie. I assume that either you or Sirius has something that belonged to young Harry before that terrible incident?"

"Yeah, a stag plush," Sirius says. He looks at Remus and the two couldn't help but chuckle at the inside joke, having called Harry Bambi when he was a little baby.

"That's all good and well Albus, but what else does this ritual need? I assume you wouldn't summon all of us if you just needed these plushies," Alastor growled out.

"Thank is correct. I need all of you to help power the ritual. The more people, the less magic each person has to contribute," Albus answers.

"Alright! Let's get this ritual going and bring home the lost!" Tonks says, excited to help out, being the youngest of everyone there. With a nod, the group breaks up. Sirius goes to get the stag plush, noticing an ear vanishing over the edge of the railing on the top floor landing. He chuckles and decides not to say anything as he would have done something similar. Remus, Molly and Arthur take care of transfiguring and moving everything out of the way to help clear the floor space. Albus summons the book he had found the ritual in and opens it up. He tasks Tonks and Kingsley in helping him draw the runes and summoning circle necessary. Once Sirius returned with the plush and the circle was complete, the two plushes were set upon the circle, all of the adults set their hands on the circle, channeling magic into it. Albus began the chant. When the chant was finished, a bright green light appeared and two figures land in the center with a light thud. The raven haired male immediately stood up and put the brunette behind him and drew a rather large sword into a defensive position.

"Welcome back to the Wizarding World, Mr Potter and Miss Granger!" Albus greets the two.