Year One

Ten minutes, ten whole minutes, the boy she met as Duo Maxwell spent under the hat. Ten minutes Hermione Granger spent waiting and wondering. The books said… But priests don't lie to you. So the books… The books were wrong. That meant that Wizards were just as human as normal folk. With all of the good and the bad that that entailed. That meant only one thing: soon, it would be time to research. A little part of Hermione grinned. It was always a good day to research.

Finally the hat stirred. The rip near its brim opened up and-

"Gryffindor!"

Gryffindor table went wild. A set of red-headed twins started shouting "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Others were a bit more… subdued, and worried about the fact he was a priest. Hermione moved, opening up a space next to her for Harry to sit.

"Later. Promise." He whispered into her ear and then swept into getting introduced to everyone near-by.

The sorting ended, The Headmaster (it seemed to require capitalization) said a few words that seemed utter nonsense, and the food appeared. She noticed Harry frowning, but he then shrugged and started digging in. The food was delicious. More introductions were made. The twins were Fred and George Weasley. Their Prefect brother was Percy, their other brother just starting school was Ron. Also in their year was Dean Thomas, who said he was a half blood, Neville Longbottom, who was apparently almost a squib (more to research, yay), Padma Patil (whose twin was in Ravenclaw, interesting), Lavender Brown (more data needed), Sally-Anne Perks (…very quiet girl, odd), and Seamus Finnigan (Irish… nice accent).

Soon enough, the remains of desert disappeared, and The Headmaster stood once more to speak. An apparently new teacher was announced, no magic in the halls, a list of forbidden items was to be found with the caretaker, no going into the Forbidden Forest, Third floor corridor on the left hand side closed to all on pain of a horrible death – wait, what?

"And lastly, as you may already know, we are being joined this year by a member of the clergy. He has expressed his willingness to be of service to any who ask. Any who wish to seek this service, please speak to Mr. Harry Potter, now of Gryffindor house."

Then, he called for the school song. Oh, god, WHAT is that? That's not music, that's, that's… Everything Grandmother says about Rock. Wow. Never thought that would happen.

It ended with the twins singing a funeral dirge. Why am I surprised the wizarding world knows Chopin? Then, it was off to bed. Prefects led the way to the portrait of a … prosperous woman.

"This is the Fat Lady. The current password is Caput Draconis. The password changes weekly check with a prefect for the new one."


For Hermione, later did not come that night. It didn't come the next day either, which happened to be filled with getting lost, double charms, Herbology, and Defense against the dark arts (with Professor Quirrell being the new teacher. His stutter was amazing). It didn't come the rest of that week either. She thought it might come on Friday, but other events seemed to prevent it.

The very last class of the week was double Potions with Slytherin. Shortly after everyone was seated Professor Snape burst through the door. Hermione trembled with anticipation at his speech. Bottle fame? Brew Glory? Stopper Death? All of the connotations were exciting. Then he turned on Harry.

"POTTER! Tell me what will I get if I add Powdered Root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"

Harry thought for a moment. "A sleeping potion so strong it kills you."

"Partially correct. Where would you look if I tell you to find me a Bezoar?"

"Potion supply closet, stomach of a goat, stomach of another ruminant, in order of effectiveness."

Professor Snape's eyebrow rose slightly. "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

"Other than the name, nothing."

"Someone's done their reading it seems. Powdered Root of Asphodel and infusion of Wormwood create The Draught of Living Death." Snape's wand twitched slightly, and the door to the corridor opened. "Potter, first, turn right, second door on the left, secondly, the Draught does not kill those who take it, it merely simulates death."

Harry froze for a moment, and then slowly turned green. Suddenly he clapped his hand over his mouth, and ran for the door.

Professor Snape flicked his wand again and the door closed behind Harry.

"The instructions are on the board, read them and begin." A very confused class complied silently.

Professor Snape paced the room, answering questions, and at least once stopping Longbottom from mixing up and causing an explosion. Halfway through the class, however, he stopped at Ron's table.

"Weasley, fill a vial and put it on my desk, I will grade it at this point in the brewing. Take this potion, get Potter to drink it, and take him to the hospital wing." Ron just nodded, hurried with his potion and then almost ran out the door.

At the end of class he held Hermione back a moment, charmed hers, Ron's, and Harry's bags featherlight, and then gave her directions to the hospital wing. She stopped right inside the door.

"Professor…"

"It is not a story for me to tell, Ms. Granger, but note one thing, What do muggles do to those who have died of unknown causes?"

"…Oh, my god…"


Hermione met Ron and Harry just as they were leaving the hospital wing. Harry was looking mildly drugged, but alert.

"Would tonight be ok, Hermione?"

"Sure. I've found a good quiet spot in the library, there after dinner?"

"Tonight's ok for what?" Ron asked.

"A bit of a story I owe Hermione, come on, I'll tell you too if you come."

"Sure."

Three slightly uncertain friends walked to Gryffindor Tower to drop their books off, before heading to dinner. When they reached the Great Hall, rumors had already started to spread.

After hearing how wild some of them had already gotten, Harry excused himself and went up to the teacher's table to have a word with Professor McGonagall. She had a quick word with The Headmaster, and then she cast a spell at Harry, who turned around to face the student occupants of the Great Hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I just wanted to have a quick word about today's first year Gryffindor/Slytherin potions class, and what happened there, to quell the wild rumors that are starting to spread. I had a delayed reaction to a medically necessary potion. The reason it happened in Professor Snape's class… well, he had the best odds of causing the start of the said delayed reaction. Trust me, it was indeed less than pleasant, so please don't ask me questions about it around any meal time, unless you would like to lose your appetite, or worse, your lunch. Thank you, and enjoy your meal."

Harry turned back to Professor McGonagall and she removed the Sonorus charm. She said something to him, and Harry returned to Ron and Hermione.

He smirked as he sat down.

"Sweet, ten points for a calm and well-thought out solution to a problem."

Hermione looked at Harry for a moment. …Why does he feel so familiar? She filed the feeling in the back of her head, and filled her plate, rolling her eyes at Ron's less than adequate table manners.

"Fried Turkey! Sweet!"…And shake her head at Harry's odd tastes in food.


After dinner Hermione led the way to the nook she found in the library. They got settled, and then looked at Harry. He fidgeted for a few moments, then seemed to make up his mind.

"First off, please remember one thing. I do not lie. I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but the parts I will tell you are true. It's not because I'm a priest, it is, however, one of the two things I have vowed to never do. For the record, the other is prostitution. But I digress."

Is he, mimicking someone? Someone he knows?

"I don't remember much of anything before waking up on L2. I don't know if I was kidnapped or what, but accidental magic and the L2 Taint, Don't ask, I don't really understand it myself, caused me to change. I've had brown hair and purple eyes for as long as I can remember. It apparently caused me to change in other ways, but I don't want to talk about that or most of what all happened on L2, there are some very bad memories involved. Good memories too, but there's a lot of bad memories."

Harry noticed a weird look on Hermione's face.

"I remember and lived through the L2 plague. After that, I was taken to the Maxwell church orphanage. It was the first time I could remember being happy. So I decided to become a priest, and I was ordained. I didn't realize until a long time later that I took a fraction of the time normally needed to become a priest. …I remember everything I see or hear. So it was easy for me…" Harry trailed off into silence. He just sat there for a while, and then sighed.

"I was… away, during the massacre."

"Massacre?"

"Anti-Alliance rebels hid in the Maxwell church, and the Alliance decided that the church was in collusion… and attacked it. Everyone died. Except for one… person?"

"Yeah." Shit, that might be enough for her…

"You."

Harry sighed and nodded.

"So, what happened next?"

"Uh, war? Well pretty much. The Romefeller Foundation were dicks, the war started, I was a pilot. I flew things, Ron. Lots of things. Then the war ended. Life was ok, then that Mariemaia incident happened. That was a depressingly interesting week. After that, life was great. Then an owl landed on my shoulder. And, well, the rest is history, mostly. I found out I was famous, and I wanted people to meet me, so I kept using the name I'd known until the sorting. But people were more 'holy crap, a Christian priest' than 'oh, someone new'. "

"You can fly?"

"Shuttles, planes, mobile suits… You really fly brooms here?" Ron nodded. "Neat. So I don't want to skip class next week…"

Hermione sat back and thought about what Harry had just told them wile Ron started talking about quidditch. There was something bugging her, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Normally she'd start researching, but she had no access to the books and such she needed. Finally, she let herself get sucked into the conversation about wizarding sports.

Saturday they went to visit with Hagrid. Harry tried to eat one of his rock cakes, and failed. Giving the cake the evil eye, Harry broke it and soaked it in his tea. They turned out to be quite good, after they were softened. After a couple of hours, and learning a lot about an attempted break-in at Gringotts, they returned to the castle. As they walked, Harry shared his insight to getting information from the groundskeeper.

Sunday Harry was up early and in the Great Hall, where any who wanted to talk to him could do so. It turned out that there were several other Christian students, mostly Protestant but Finnegan was Irish Catholic. A few people inquired about services, and agreed to meet later to discuss them. There were also several verylong conversations about magic and religious belief, mostly with Ravenclaws. When curfew came around, Harry was out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow.


Elsewhere:

"I don't get it."

"Don't get what, Wufei?" Heero looked at the (now disassembled) floral arraignment.

"What Duo is trying to say."

"This was from Duo?"

"Yes. It's a message-"Wufei held up the Iris "it's in plain text-" then the nightshade.

"That doesn't look like a non-coded message to me."

Wufei sighed. "It's a language, Heero. One few people know. Duo is saying he's safe even in the middle of this war. That's the Traveler's Joy, by the way."

"Where does he say war?"

"The roses. It's from old English history. The rest of it, I think he might be at a school, but… He would have been noticed if he joined a school with younger kids, in any form. Something's just not making sense…"

Heero picked up the lone tropical flower, and raised an eyebrow.

"Faith."

"Then we trust Duo to do what he needs."


The Flying Class:

When the Flying classes were (finally, for some) announced, almost all of the first years were excited. Several of the wizard-born told tales of their flying skills. Harry and Hermione stood off to one side listening. Harry snorted.

"Oh, have you ever gone flying before?"

"Actually, yes. And unlike mister Flew to Jupiter over there, I've actually flown to the moon. The Alliance had a base there that OZ took over. I even stayed there for a while. Well, until some jackass decided to cut the O2 supplies to the section I was staying in." Jaws dropped, but it was clear that many "pure bloods" didn't believe him. Hermione and Ron just stared at him.

"Air, Ron, someone tried to kill him, I think." Hermione whispered so only he could hear her.


Outside, waiting for class to begin, there was more boasting, this time from the Slytherins. Harry didn't say anything to them, mostly because class started. The teacher lined us all up, and started her safety speech. When that was finished, she officially started class.

Harry's broom was the first to jump into his hand, but most of the rest of our brooms took much longer. When everyone was (finally) ready, Madame Hooch told everyone how to mount their brooms, adjusting several people's grips (including Malfoy's, much to his disdain).

Then, disaster struck. Neville lost control of his broom, eventually falling, breaking his wrist in the process. Madame Hooch told everyone to stay on the ground, and took him to the hospital wing.

Harry just stood and watched, until Malfoy planned to hide Neville's Remembral on the roof of the school. Harry told him to stop, mum, but Malfoy just flew off. Harry went after him, and they talked a good 200 feet up. Apparently then Malfoy decided to throw the Remembral, and Harry dove after it. I was so scared, mum, he flew so fast, and then he just stopped, hand wrapped around the Remembral, and I swear his knuckles were mere inches from the ground, and Harry just hung there, upside-down, for a few moments, flew backwards a bit, and then did a few odd, well, flips, I guess, where he didn't actually leave the spot he was in, and then he landed, like nothing had happened at all. People started to crowd around him, but them Professor McGonagall stormed out, and practically dragged him inside! Oh, mum, I hope he doesn't get expelled!

Well, I need to run to dinner, hopefully I'll find out more then. Oh, and by the way, could you send me some of my books?


Notes:

Sorry for the delay. Remember when I said that switching writing mediums was NOT a good thing to do for me? …I went and had to switch to get anything to come out. I drive myself nuts sometimes. Once I got it onto the computer, the chapter pretty much finished its self.

To meg 4280 and Guest- Unfortunately, the only thing for FMA I have is a bit of a crossover where a girl is mistaken for Ed, ignored when she says she's not, and explodes (in typical Ed fashion, oddly enough) when they find out she isn't Ed and accuse her of impersonating him. It will prolly never be written. I have no idea where to take this for a FMA cross.

Avengers and SG-1 are the only possibilities this story has told me. I'm sorry. …I used to write under the pen-name MPS. It stands for multiple personality syndrome. Why did I use that pen-name? Because it has a lot to do with how the stories I write get written. It's like I have someone else in my head, who is also me, telling me the story. I can't write what I'm not told.

As an aside, out of boredom, I looked up the kanji (…I'm pretty sure it's the kanji) for Shinigami – it's 死神, for those with the right browser settings.

Flowers- Try looking them up, there's a whole language in them! And when you have a language few know, then you have an excellent way to send messages without anyone the wiser. That seems to be something Duo would go to some length to learn about…

Questions? Comments? Ways to improve? Just leave me a review. I can't deal with anything I don't know about.