IV. The Arrival Of Mates

I never thought, when my training finished and I was appointed the new Secret Member of the Board of Governors of a Special school somewhere in England which was apparently a country and island at the same time on a planet called Earth, that I would also actually one day travel there, let alone with people I consider close friends – and one enemy.
Having been send to the Earth because powerful bonds of destiny were reaching out to one very close friend of mine, two close friends of my partner Keyblade Wielder Sora, and one person we both considered a dangerous enemy only a few months ago, I look at the people I had quickly picked up before my departure with Donald and Goofy.

The first is Squall Leonheart, who prefers to be called Leon. The man has long brown hair that is combed to the left and slightly covers his left eye, while his blue eyes are sharp and the scar going diagonally across the bridge of his nose stands out sharply against his nicely tanned skin, one he obviously got from many hours in the sun of Radiant Garden.
The second is a young boy named Hayner who seems to be in his mid-teens. The boy has spiky, blond hair of which strands stand out to the sides of his head and of which most is combed up to the back. He has a light skin, which is strange as he carries a skateboard with him and his brown eyes show a happy, interested spirit up for adventure.
The next is a pirate and not just any pirate. Jack Sparrow seemed to have been famous in his own world and his looks prove why. The man has a stronger tan than Leon and has a brown moustache. He also has dark brown hair that he wears in dreadlocks with beads and his beard is also dreadlocked, but then with two strands with beads near the tips.
The final one has me worried for the person destined for these four as he is a dangerous enemy to me and Sora and had been a real pain to defeat, even if I had not been there when it happened. The man's platinum blond hair is styled in a Caesar cut, he has blue eyes and a goatee; a moustache and beard flowing over into each other.

Hayner had been quite easy to find as he and I had both been summoned to see Master Yen Sid and I had used the Gummi ship driven by Donald and Goofy to find Leon in the Postern of Radiant Garden, Luxord at the docks of Port Royal and Jack on the Black Pearl, a ship Donald charmed to become a pendant when pulled far enough onto shore.
Jack had been very thankful to Donald for this as he had, at first, been unwilling to leave the ship behind no matter how intrigued he was with our Gummi ship or how hard he was resisting the pull of destiny coming from the world we just landed in. It had still taken some time to get the ship far enough on land to shrink, but after that we had been off.

Now we've arrived at the amazing world and the travel through the solar system where the planet was located had been most intriguing. Leon and I had both been shocked when we noticed that there was only one planet with life on it and Luxord had only spoken once, and that was to the state the obvious; that that planet was our destination.
Donald had glared at him for this, but the platinum blonde had just turned back to the book he was reading and while being guarded by Hayner, who obviously hated the man for his black robes, and being held under shot by Jack, who had apparently had experience with dealing with the man, did I sign for Donald to move on.

Now Jack moves his gun in a motion the blonde member of Organization XIII should move and when Luxord has his back turned to Jack, Jack puts the end of his gun against the man's neck and says: "You're staying close to my eye-range, savy? I don't trust you and I don't plan to be cursed by any of your little heart plans again."
I look at my partners in arms and friends, Donald and Goofy and Goofy says: "Port Royal had this chest with cursed Aztec Gold, Your Majesty, and Luxord used it to curse Jack and put tests on the strength of our hearts. He even allowed pirates to destroy the best ship Port Royal had and stole the Pearl from Jack."

I nod and with Luxord under gunshot from Jack, we depart the ship and Donald charms it into a Safe point, so that it's hidden under a small platter of white energy lying inconspicuously under the grass of the field we landed on. I then turn to Leon and he looks up at the direct line of stone between numbers 11 and 13 of the street named Grimmauld Place.
He nods and says: "This is the place. I can sense the magic reaching out from exactly in-between those two houses." Jack looks from over Luxord's shoulder and the others all look at the same point as Goofy asks: "But ehm, does that mean there is something there that we can't see?" And Luxord, pulling Jack's attention back on him, says:
"There has to be. Look at the numbers across the rest of the street." We look at him and he motions for the house three houses away from where we're standing, moving his finger right as he says: "Number 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15. But there is no sign of nr. 12 anywhere, meaning it's probably hidden and most probably hiding our mate from us."

Then suddenly three people appear out of the line between numbers 11 and 13. Two men, one blond the other black haired and a plump, small woman with bright red hair, walk over to us and the black haired man asks: "One of you the Secret Board of Governors Member?" I nod, step forward and say: "I am, the name's Mickey."
The three look shocked for a second as they see me, but then the black-haired man shrugs and hums as he says: "I've seen crazier. The name's Sirius and these are Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin. Here, you'll need this to get inside. Special protection charms and all that." I nod and take the slip of parchment he hands me, which says

The Order of the Phoenix Headquarters is located at Grimmauld Place number 12, London.

I hand the paper onto my partners in arms and the mates, Jack reading the paper over Luxord's shoulder and Leon handing the paper back to Sirius, who then sets it on fire using a strange wooden stick I realize he sees and uses as his wand and then Remus says: "Good, now just think really hard of what you've read and you'll be part of the enchantment."
I nod and so do my fellow travelers. I close my eyes and think the line three times, pushing myself to believe it and hear stone scraping against stone and grass. Opening my eyes I see a large, dingy looking house of many floors appear between the numbers 11 and 13, without the residents of the other houses seeming to notice a thing.

I look impressed at the form of magic performed and Leon says: "Impressive. Could have really used that kind of magic against that army of Heartless a few months ago." And I nod as I clearly remember the Battle of a Thousand Heartless and my first official meeting with Xemnas, the Nobody of my good friend Ansem's apprentice.
The three locals share a look and Sirius asks: "Ahem, Heartless?" Making me feel relieved as it means that this world has never known a Darkness so strong Hearts were lost to it. Then Leon says: "We'll explain inside. Can we see our destined partner, please?" The three share another look and shrug as they motion us to follow them.

Jack gives Luxord a small kick and hisses: "Remember, Blondie, one wrong move and my finger might just accidentally slip and pull this little trigger on you, savy?" The platinum blonde nods and while we walk in does Hayner ask: "Do you have something against blondes?" But Jack shakes his head and says:
"Just blondes that are also bastards and care for nothing but their own experiments." He then turns to Sirius, looking at him over Luxord's shoulder and asks: "Hey Sirius, is our mate a blonde?" And Sirius says: "Nope, he's a black-haired boy who has the hair that can, when waking up, easily replace a bird's nest and then still look fashionable."

I can tell that the others are shocked that their mate is a male and Luxord says: "I guess we could have guessed the gender of our mate, seeing we ourselves all share that same aspect." Making Jack grumble: "Yeah, to irritation of some." Instantly the two local men turn around and with a venomous glare, Sirius asks:
"Do you have a problem with being destiny-bonded to my godson?" But Jack shakes his head and says: "Just bonded to this jerk. Really, be careful with him, he's more dangerous than a storm at the middle of the ocean, savy?" The two men nod, obviously feeling relieved and then Luxord shocks me and my friends as he asks:

"Just out of curiosity, but what exactly is that weird ticking I feel within my chest. It is really getting annoying, you know?" The three of us turn to him, our eyes wide and our mouths wide open and Goofy asks: "You feel something ticking in your chest?" The man nods and says: "Yes I do indeed. Right here."
And to my shock he points right at the place where a heart is supposed to be. I share a shocked look with my friends and then pull their heads near, holding onto their shoulders and whisper: "Do you think that that's it? That that's the reason he was send back? So that he could prove whether or not he could care if he had a heart?"
"Garwsh, your majesty, it sure is a long shot, isn't it?" Goofy asks me and I nod and say: "Yes, it is. But Riku did give me all the information he was able to collect from the time Roxas worked for the Organization and it seems that Demyx and Luxord were the only ones, next to Axel, who were not dangerous for Roxas to be around."

We all look at Luxord, leaning on one leg and having his arms crossed and then turn back to each other and Donald asks: "So do we trust him?" I shake my head and say: "No, but we will give him the benefit of the doubt. Jack can just hold his hand on his gun while around Luxord, but we will allow him to walk free, so we can truly test his heart's loyalties."
My subjects and friends nod and then I turn to Jack and say: "Put your gun away, Jack. It seems Luxord was returned to life so he could be tested on how a Nobody would act if they were indeed blessed with a heart." The man looks shocked and Donald says: "We don't trust him, Jack, we just want to fulfill the test."
The pirate nods and says: "Call yourself lucky, you scum. Doesn't mean I won't keep my gun at the ready, though. I'm keeping my eye on you, capish?" Luxord nods and strikes a hand over his hair to smooth it down on the place where the gun had been pressed into his head. I then turn to our hosts and see them looking at us in shock.
I sigh and say: "Just bring us to the destined mate. We will explain everything. We promise." The three locals nod and the black-haired man says: "Just make sure nothing bad happens. My Godson has already been through hell and I don't want the ones who are supposed to be the best things that ever happened to him make his life even worse."
I nod at the man and so do the 4 mates, but I can hear a derisive snort coming from the plump red-haired woman and when I look at her I see her shoot a disbelieving look at Sirius as if she doesn't believe a word he says. Wondering why she is so suspicious of this man, who obviously loves his Godson to bits, I follow them through the hallway.

We walk into a beautiful stone room with brown painted stone walls, a beautiful soft brown carpet and a long wooden table and wooden benches on both sides while a glass cabinet stands near the left back corner and other small closets and cabinets are cleaned and stationed around the room. And on the table, lying on linen, is a young boy.
The child does indeed have messy black hair, but it seems to have been combed slightly and the top of his head has the hair neatly combed to the sides, while the rest sticks out at all angles, giving him the resemblance of a wild-living student or something. He has a pale complexion and black-rimmed glasses lie on his closed eyes.
There is also a small scar visible on his forehead and Leon instantly walks over to softly trace the lining of it, strangely enough drawing a lightning-bolt shape with his index finger. Then he stops and when his finger touches skin not attached to the scar, does the boy let out a small sound, not quite a moan, but not quite a word either.

The people in the room sigh in relief and then a red-haired boy about the same age as the child on the table says: "Just look at that scar all you want now, because when Harry wakes I can assure you, he'll hate you for staring at it." The three men and the boy nod, but then I see that Sirius has his lips thinned and that worry is etched on his face.
Then the man that apparently asked my teacher to summon me comes in and I recognize him by the white beard and half-moon glasses my master told me he has. The man smiles as he sees us and when he sees that Hayner, Luxord, Jack and Leon have gone to sit with the child, he turns to Donald, Goofy and myself.
I step forward and say: "Mickey Mouse is the name. I am the Secret Member to the Board of Governors of your school." The man shakes my white gloves hand while I hear the bushy-haired girl gasp as she hears my name and the elder man says: "Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Welcome."

Donald then looks around and asks: "Is this your school?" The man laughs and says: "No, this is the Headquarters to a very important Organization called the Order of the Phoenix." But then Sirius interrupts him and says: "Albus, something's not right. Harry's with his four destined mates and he's still fast asleep."
Instantly the man, using a speed I didn't think he had, speeds to the table and runs the same kind of wooden stick, I now recognize as a wand even if the wood comes from a different kind of tree, over the boy, to the displeasure of the four mates. He taps the cloth under the child and a piece of parchment and a list appear out of the linen.
He reads the list and says: "Oh dear, this is very peculiar. According to my status charm Harry is perfectly fine and his Venquine side has already accepted the four mates. There is nothing my spell can detect that is currently keeping the boy asleep." This makes everyone in the room look at each other worried and then the young girl speaks up.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, I might have a theory." Everyone looks at her and the red-haired boy asks: "How can you already have a theory ready? We don't even know what's ailing Harry." The girl glares at him and says: "I'm not saying I'm sure of my theory, Ronald. I'm just saying that I might know what's keeping Harry asleep."
She then turns to me and asks: "Mr. Mouse, Mr. Duck, Mr. Goofy, do you perhaps know two princesses who go by the names of Aurora and Snow White?" Again my friends and I share a glance and I say: "We sure do. Sora, Donald and Goofy even saved them and five other princesses of losing their hearts for good."

The girl looks shocked and the boy named Ronald asks: "Losing their hearts?" But the girl says: "Not now, Ronald. That those two are indeed alive only proves my theory a little, but I'm still not sure as it's quite far-fetched." To this the elder Headmaster smiles at the girl in an encouraging way before he speaks and says:
"Mss. Granger, it is often the most far-fetched theories that are the ones being true. Please, tell us what you think is ailing Harry and how we can heal him from it." The girl nods and says: "I know the princesses Snow White and Aurora from fairytale books my mum used to read to me when I was still a young girl.
Both suffered almost the same fate, but both were saved by the same thing and it's really quite equal to what's going on what Harry now. Snow White was coerced into biting a poisoned apple that made her fall asleep, Aurora was coerced into pricking her finger on a wheel and Harry's Venquine nature came out through Voldemort's Resurrection Ritual."

We all nod and she says: "According to the fairytales my mum told me both Aurora and Snow White had, beforehand, met the loves of their lives and Harry is now also surrounded by those who will surely win over his heart. They were then found by their true loves and both Aurora and Snow White were woken – by being kissed."
We all look shocked and the girl shrugs and says: "What? It's true. Prince Phillip was captured by the evil witch Malificent, escaped through the help of three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merrywheather, and then cut through a thick forest of thorn bushes, before fighting Malificent in Dragon form, beating her and kissing Aurora which woke her up.
Snow White was forced to run away from her home by the jealousy of her stepmother, who thought she was murdered until discovering the truth and she then changed herself into a frail old lady and gave Snow White the cursed Apple. Snow White fell asleep and about a year later the prince came, found her and kissed her awake too."

Now only those around us are looking shocked and she asks: "What? They are famous fairytales. People in Hollywood America even made movies of them both and there is even a castle that closely resembles the one from Sleeping Beauty, Aurora, build in the Disneyland Park. You can't seriously tell you've never heard of those tales."
But everyone around us, adults and teenagers alike, nods in affirmative and the girl asks: "By Merlin, what did you grow up with then?" And Ronald answers: "With The Tales of Beedle the Bard, of course. You know, The Tale of the Three Brothers, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, the Wizard and the Hopping Pot. Those kind of tales."
This time the girl is the one to look shocked and Goofy says: "Garwsh, it seems this planet has 2 entirely different worlds in it, your Majesty, if the people here don't even know of each other's children stories." I nod at this and say: "Yes, and I have a feeling that all the tales of young Hermione have an origin in our universe, Goofy."

"I can find out if that's true, Mr. Mouse." The girl in question says and she goes on: "When I was young, my mum signed me up for this club that sends members a new issue of a famous Disney story every few weeks. I put an Undetectable Extension charm on a large shoebox and have been putting them in there ever since. I'll go get them."
And she hurries out of the room and up the staircase I noticed standing on the left of the door to this room. Then the boy named Ronald comes over and asks: "So those names Aurora and Snow White are people alive in your Universe? Do you know anyone named Castrius, Allecia or Redenbell too?" I shake my head and the boy shrugs.