AN: Well... It's Halloween when I wrote this.. How long did it take to reach a fanfiction site?
Jan 10: Alright, now that I've edited it as much as I could.. Now how long would it take? XD
Seriously, I don't mean to leave anyone out- It's just at my grandmother's house (where I watched my baby cousin over my winter break) their computer sucks. Badly. They even have freakin' word (I don't) and it just messes my story all up! Anyway, here's a new chapter. The next chapter may take- no, the chapter after next may take a while, because, wow, I haven't written it down yet.
REVIEW!
Trenchcoatman:Oh!! I'm so sorry. And, well, I've got an idea on how to incorporate the other relationships in my story. I jipped it from other stories but, hey, it works for mine so why not use it? Battles aren't my forte, but I think it was important, lol. Duo managed it a little bit, his powers go beyond a single bone. As for participating in the fight, well, you'll see- Quatre will not be going into werewolf transformations this time 'round however.
They did age a couple years past the age they were before (before the antiage), gained power, and hid their identity from Undeley. However, experience points will soon be lost as soon as they transform back. (Except the vampires).
Thank you for reviewing, my mythical fanboy! dodges the whip
...Betrayal
The fervor of the fight reached its climax; six hooded Death Eaters came to Bellatrix's aid and attacked the hooded students from Hogwarts, Treize disappearing from sight, and the other Beasts came back to join the fight, crushing against one another and the Death Eaters alike.
Several vampires backed Duo against Trowa's tree, chestnut oak, and their speed couldn't keep up with the boys' combination. They weren't moving fast enough for their eyes, for they've seen the Epyon in action, and the vampires had the habit of slowing by about fifteen times less quickly than their regular speed before attacking. One cut from Duo's impromptu spinal weapon killed them, slicing to ashes whatever part wounded.
Hilde, accompanied by Une and Noin, was the best at dodging on the ground and had the strength of a giant, tossing wolves and, albeit more timidly, vampires, that were quickly disposed of with the help of the other two vampire women. Three Death Eaters then surrounded them, so then they had to rely primarily on their small bit of magic.
Wufei stood alone- Sally was also missing- relying steadily on his hand to hand combat, but it wasn't too much work; his sharp talons cut through anything not made of his corundum nails like butter to the extent that the creatures avoided the Avian as they would have Treize.
The last four, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Heero, brusquely fought with wands against the other Death Eaters, and when the Beasts quit the futile fight against the Specials, the Specials fought together.
"Avoid the three over there!" cried Harry.
Heero, after shouting a Stunning Curse, whispered, "Why?"
"They have the most complicated magic, I can feel it."
Heero then tuned on the the feelings he felt from the others; they weren't complicated, but some were more exuberant, like his comrades, and some were withered. One such example was a dying Dryad, who fell from a Killing Curse.
"Heero... I feel something," gasped Harry, who had been fighting while also trying to sense the unique feeling of magic from a certain dragon. "I think I know what it is, but it's faint. Follow me!"
Having no choice but to follow with Harry's grip on his arm, Heero stumbled through the forest, tripping on a large purple fruit that had them both falling, then went further into the forest. Harry chanted convenient spells that moved roots and spiderwebs out of the way, and there were a great many like boobytraps, before he stopped at a giant oak tree, which Heero felt pulsing with a dull beat. Both pressed their hands against the bark, where their feelings became stronger.
"I think he's in here. Nymphs hide things in their trees. And you know how he made friends with them and all."
A voice snarled from above, "That's not true," and Querci shot down her bark to glower at her intruders with shining eyes. "The Nymphs want him dead- they think he brought the Dark Lord upon us. Dementors and all that," she informed the surprised boys.
"He's dying in there," Heero said slowly, watching Querci carefully. She seemed to be waiting for something, then smiled as two more of the Specials arrived, one carrying the other, the now found Treize and Sally.
"Good, Miss Querci," Treize greeted, "My partner can heal any injury he may have, and we'll take him..." He quieted as he walked forward, finding his foot trapped in unyielding roots, the others were caught as well. Quickly, the roots slithered over their frames, keeping them from taking out their wands or any other movement.
"You must be wondering why I have you caught." Licking her lips, Querci caressed her oak. "I'm a good- what shall I call it- oh, I'm a good actor."
"So, you're working for him," Treize said, then added, "This Dark Lord must have a tremendously long dick for you women to fall for him like this."
"Oh, if only," Querci said with divine reverence, ecstacy clouding her eyes for a moment in her delusion. She struck her gaze to them. "You," she said to Sally, "will heal him. Then he will tell where the Artifact is. After that, I shall kill you all."
"Why not do it now?" asked Heero, almost in a bored tone. Why does every person who captures him give away the perfect chance to kill? Unlike them, he was going to take the first chance he had to kill the Dryad.
"Oh, because of those three." She pointed to Relena, Dorothy, and Catherine, who stood further away in a tree- Catherine's- and poised their wands ready. Dorothy was calling the shots when to attack- mostly meaning Catherine, who she was sure was going to shoot with a vengeance.
"Speaking of attack, what happened to Milliardo?" asked Treize lightly, wriggling his wandless hands free, but that was as far as he could go.
"Poor boy," Querci said dreamily, "He told me that he had swallowed the Artifact, so I managed to tie him down- what a fight that was- and Bellatrix tore his insides to shreds, but then we quickly healed him best we could. The Artifact wasn't in his stomach, you see, so we began to torture him. Unfortunately, Enorgo came along and interrupted the whole thing. I had to act like I was trying to stop it but... well, you know...
"So," she spoke to Sally, "I'm going to release you very slowly, alright? Just one thought of mine and I can crush Milliardo inside, or knock off my tree's magical supply, so don't try anything stupid."
"Funny," muttered Heero dryly, a habit he had taken from Duo, "whenever we do try something stupid, it usually works."
Querci chuckled dryly. "Oh? Give me an example."
" i Stupefy/i "
The Hemadryad, still with a smile on her face, flew into a thin tree so forcefully that one could not be sure if the impact or the spell made her lose consciousness. With that, her tree returned to normal except for the malignant humps just above the base, where undoubtedly Milliardo was trapped. The roots quickly disentangled themselves from the Specials, who were joined by the three girls from above.
"Ah! An inaudible Summoning Spell!" Dorothy praised, slapping Treize on the back, snickering, "But I guess you aren't too well on the Curses yet, are you?"
The vampire smiled at his cousin. "I wonder if that was on her list of something stupid," he mused, then vanished in the next instant.
"I wish I could move as fast as he could," pouted Dorothy.
"Why did he just leave?" asked Harry," What are we supposed to do about Milliardo in the tree?" Dorothy gave him a shrug, looking in the general direction on where she thought Treize left. A few minutes later, earthshaking thuds resounded nearer and nearer to their position. Quite afraid, Relena molded herself to the tree, not willing to leave it at any moment. But she had nothing to worry about; it was only Trowa moving his tree through the forest as Treize had bid him. He stopped with a final thwump to the ground and crawled from his branches into Querci's oak, pulling his own tree's limbs to tangle and dive into the wood as if it was nothing but soft clay.
"Trowa's the only one who could sense exactly where Milliardo is," Treize explained, far away from the actual proceedings for fear of smelling the Part-Dragon's blood. Even so, he had wrapped a tight, thick piece of dried dragon skin around his mouth, a muffling device thanks to Professor Snape. It smelled horrible, but the leather also kept out the smells of other dragons, especially a particular Part-Antipodean Opaleye. He was expecting the worse for his bondsmate and got just that.
The head coming from the trunk first, his once beautifully crystal blue eyes were nothing but black muck as if someone had poured molten lead to fill his eye sockets to the brim.
Relena fainted; Treize abruptly left to find Bellatrix and tear her to pieces.
Around his raggedly torn neck was still the Anti-Lamian necklace inadvertently given to him by Treize. Once round lips were needled through with thick thread, a large amount of dried blood and torn string around his mouth revealing the stubborn recklessness he had popping his mouth open even after it being sewn closed. There were torn holes in his hands, and not a part of his naked body wasn't marred.
Sally had come prepared, and from her coat she revealed three large jars of concentrated dittany- which was the reason why she had disappeared. She couldn't fight with the stuff weighing her down. Milliardo groaned loudly, still in his younger form except now he had three very tiny corundum horns: one in the middle of his forehead and the other two on the sides of his head. When he finally sat up against the tree, Sally poured the nearly fatal dittany exactly over his head, Dorothy at her side uncorking another bottle. So with the third bottle drenching his deepest wounds, Sally began muttering complicated spells only a Faery would know, and which she learned in the Multispecies (Beasts) Club at Hogwarts. She even continued on when the battle, following Treize's and Bellatrix's duel and the upstart of Milliardo's scent in the air, came crashing around her.
" i Protego /i !" cried Dorothy against the nearest batch of wolves and vampires who then were propelled against various trees, two which pushed back, and the Bloom siblings' trees further protected Sally's treatment area. Somehow, even more Dryads and their trees joined around her, the beautiful beings somehow having had a change of heart.
Exaltant, Bellatrix deftly dodged Treize's Killing and Disembowelment Curses and shrieked, "He's going to die no matter what!"
Treize's muffled voice said between breaths, "Your-Dark-Lord- will never- trust you."
"I will kill you!" she promised, realizing that even if Milliardo did die, that wouldn't bring her any closer to an Artifact than as she was now, dueling this surprisingly skillful vampire. "And I'll take what belongs to my Lord!" Enraptured so she was in that fight that she didn't spy Heero climbing a tree and pointing his wand at her.
" i Expelliarmus/i ," the wizard cried, and it was a direct hit, sending Bellatrix's wand flying in the middle of Quatre's easy fight against a vampire; the blonde wondered about the species fighting the werewolves, to whom they couldn't last five minutes. He picked up the wand then broke it in half.
"A truce! Everyone, stop! A truce!" The evil witch's panicked cry slowed the fight once more. The Beasts, Specials, and Death Eaters looked in the direction of her shaking pointing finger. "Look he's awake!"
A deathly quiet took over as the partially healed- except for a scar down his abdomen from Bellatrix's dagger- Milliardo stared dazedly at them. As soon as his renewed eyes spotted the Death Eater witch, his eyes hardened and smoke flared from his freed lips.
"Lastrange."
She smiled, only a wee bit nervous. "So it seems that you are saved, Milly."
"Don't call me that! You're as bad as those fucking vampires," he muttered off, eyes glazing over again, then focused again. "Who's saving me?"
"We are," said Sally, helping him up. "We're from... i Lillian /i ."
"Ah, I see. Seems like you've..." He vaguely gestured at her taller form then spotted Relena's still unconscious body- the boy could smell her. He shook his head. "Must of been when she saw me. Fine, let's go."
Bellatrix cackled, whipping out another wand, but not fast enough for Treize to hold his out as well. "I do have a habit of having a few wands on me," she chuckled.
Milliardo brought out his wand, falling forward besides Treize, Sally watching carefully for any signs of hurt from his impossibly horrid injuries. Miraculously, he walked well enough.
Treize quickly, not in a supernatural fashion, went a quarter of a way from Milliardo, who was prompted to ask, "What's that thing on your face?" and the ex-general froze still.
"Oh!" shrieked Bellatrix again. "Do you know? This man taking you back is a part-vampire you hate so much. Matter-of-fact, he's probably the strongest vampire in this here part of England! What say you to him, who has come to bring you back?"
"You're lying," Milliardo said indifferently. "Now, why don't you just back away. I'll hate to kill you and continue fighting for God knows how long."
But she pressed on, black eyes widening insanely. "But he's yet to answer you. What i is /i that thing on his face?!"
"He's not a vampire," Milliardo said tentatively. "He hasn't attacked me."
"Yet! Or, rather, how would you know? He could erase your memories right after he's fed off of you and waiting to come back later- only to be paid five thousand Galleons to rescue you! The only thing stopping him now is that dragonhide covering his nostrils!" Relentlessly, she continued, "Look, he's subdued!"
Surely, Treize had his wand at his side and clenched his fist, looking away from Milliardo and giving him all the answers he needed. The curly-headed blond, hair still caked with blood, backed away towards a clear spot in the battleground.
The part-dragon asked, "It's true?"
Treize clutched his cedarwood hard enough to nearly snap before answering, "Yes."
"Then I'm not going back! There's no one here to trust anymore!"
"Dragonling!" Milliardo, along with everyone else, wrenched their eyes to the sky, for the leader of the Dragons have spoken, continuing, "These cloaked figures have fought for thy freedom a large time, and for thine own sake, thee shall mark your way amongst them!" His reddish hide and gruesome scales on a scary half-formed face jingled tremendously.
"I shall not!" From his tone of voice, the others realized what weight the dragonleader had.
"Then we shall fight no more," and the Dragons took off.
"Us as well!" cried a Dryad, "It breaks our hearts to fight our own, and we have heard the traitorous Querci and her vile ways! May the Woods bless you!" These creatures rumbled away, feeling foolish to fight such a ridiculously needless battle like a bunch of humans. The werewolves and wolves alike followed away.
"I am your master now," Treize announced to the remaining vampires, sounding loud even in his mask. "Leave at once and harm no other creature!"
"But the Dark Lord-!"
"Is but one person! One weak wizard focused on eradicating all of those he believes deviate from what is normal, and none of you are any different! You really think he gives a damn about any of you?!" Silence met echoed his words. "Begone!" They hustled, quite gratefully, for they suffered innumerable casualties and didn't really care for Bellatrix and her Death Eaters, anyway.
Now it was only those people and the Specials- the Giants had left long ago, for their leader Enorgo couldn't be completely healed by the double-crossing Querci.
"It's done, Lastrange," whispered Milliardo, shaking his hair out of his eyes, "Unless you got yourself some Ventriserum and shove it down my throat, you're finished."
"Or if you kill me, which is highly unlikely," Treize added.
Lastrange, still smiling, retreated, saying, "Can you really trust the vampire, Milly?" The Death Eaters were gone.
More of that deathly quiet, with a touch of awkwardness, broken by a particular Banshee.
"Thank-Merlin. That is over," Duo sighed. "It's all really different when you're looking them straight in the face except for seeing their suits explode, ya' know, but I digress. You're coming with us, right Milliardo? Seeing as how we did bust our butts to get you and all..."
"I didn't ask you to come save me," Milliardo retorted angrily. "I... I don't want to be anywhere near a vampire-"
"Please, Mill-" Treize began.
"No! You'll be straining your body being nice to me without attacking and just when I have my back turned, you're sucking on my neck!"
"Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad-"
"Shut up, Dorothy!"
She seemed to float beside Treize, hardly ruffling a leaf, then joked ina whisper in his ear, "Hormones gotten to him. Only way to get him out of here is if we knock him out."
"I don't know a spell for that," said the vampire, watching Milliardo's face become smug, then falter into a menacing snarl when Une replied:
"I know one..."
"I bet you've been practicing," the part-dragon spat the same thing Treize was thinking.
"I had to," Une mumbled.
"You wanted to! Like I said, there's no one to trust anymore-"
" i Stupefidium Draconius/i " The spell caught Milliardo completely off-guard, flying backwards a few meters and landing unconcious, and a collective gasp came from the Specials, who came from their fighting grounds to stand in a group near the vampires.
"It worked... You must of had a lot of practice," growled Treize.
Une stared determinedly at the ground. "I'm sorry." Treize didn't answer.
"We're going to have to come back and get the Artifact," reminded Harry, hauling Milliardo on his back while Ron held Relena. They were taking their time walking back to the schoolgrounds and had ample time to waste, for the students dared not to miss the dramatic reemergance of Lillian's summer warriors from the Forbidden Forest, even when the sun was tapering along the edge of the horizon, making their return all the more exciting. And when they did come from the bosks, they went up into a great cheer like they actually cared, still celebrating even when the Specials rode off on their brooms to another entrance into Hogwarts, following Harry's Marauder's Map. There already was Madam Alevia and Lillian in the younger woman's office, where quickly the nurse looked over Milliardo again, and Lillian gave them each a small vial of AntiAging potion. Soon they had collected their belongs, taking the awful muck that changed them- Dorothy guessed Lillian had help- back to their appropriate ages, and they stepped into the crowd that returned inside to fill the hallways to dinner, and only one student, a Slytherin, was any the wiser.
The dining hall was noisy with talks of Hogsmeade, Halloween, the Quidditch game, Milliardo, and tomorrow's Day of Defense.
Day of Defense has been enacted since the year 2089, after the exponential rise of Death Eater and Dark Arts attacks, which had reached its peak ten years after Harry Potter's death. It was brought to the attention of the Ministry, who ordained the law to ease the minds of parents sending their children alone to the prime targets of school grounds, especially Hogwarts. This law stated that one day out of every mouth should be spent solely on the class Defense Against Dark Arts. It was sort of like a Muggle fire drill for seven or so hours.
An expected hush, a quiet that every student was straining their ears to hear, took over the loud conversations. Milliardo Peacecraft has entered the hall, the silence seemed to say, disrupted by the hurrying taps of Undeley's heels. The part-dragon, gleaming like a prince, stood still, nothing short of a grimace on his features as he saw the Headmaster coming towards him.
On one of his hips was a sheathe, the top of which protruded a shiny silver hilt studded with large rubies, and around his neck was the World Artifact, glowing triumphantly with the reflection of the thousands of candles in the hall. It hung loosely compared to the twice tightly-wound silver and wolf-tooth necklace. Stubborn locks framed his face- reddish from his inhibited heat cycle, effectively ending with a strange sweet black liquid Alevia had made him drink- and the rest of his hair was held back with a dark blue shiny material, tied in the only good way he knew how, and which ended up in a bow.
Somewhere from the tables, someone took a picture, and a few more added to give a flashing light display- probably those in liege with Hogwarts' Quill and Photography Club.
Undeley stared annoyed at the unseen students before- not feigning to smile at all- berating Milliardo, who now sat alone at the very end of the Slytherin table, eating as if he wasn't gone for six weeks. At once, she puffed up, "You've been gone a very long time, Mr. Peacecraft."
He casually dipped his roll into a gravy pan. "Really? I'm sure I only left yesterday."
"Oh, you have time for jokes!"
"Look," he said slowly, "we should really talk about this later in your office or something-"
"No. You put this whole school in danger today and I believe they deserve an explanation." Sounds of agreement rose around them, mostly from the Slytherins, of course.
Milliardo glowered at them-except for Treize, he couldn't look him in the eye- and then turned his attention again to Undeley, swallowing the rest of his roll. "So... What do you want to know? And please, no stupidly obvious questions."
Coldly, she stared, then asked, "What was that all about today?"
"The fight?"
"What else!" she screamed.
"Easy now," Milliardo said, unperturbed, as if he had been through worse. "I was knocked out for the better part of it before Lillian's crew came to save me... But, yesterday, it was just that there were vampires who wanted my blood, you know, they were hungry and I was, in their eyes, the most tolerable source of food for miles. Part-dragons are usually hideous, hideous people, coming from the wrong species of dragon and, speaking of which, it seems I was... emitting certain pheremones to attract some of them unintentionally."
"You were rutting?" Undeley blurted, making numerous children blush and gasp.
Scales appeared, marking his beautiful face with curved lines. "Merlin, can we please be civil? He paused a few moments to calm himself down, then went on, "Well, next thing I know, they were fighting each other over me. When night came, this Death Eater comes along and makes a pact with the vampires-"
"Where were you?"
"I was pretty far away, but I have good ears. Anyway, some Dryad or Nymph or whatever caught me and tied me to a tree. She wanted to know where my Artifact,"- He tapped the compass-"was, and I couldn't tell her that I had hid it in my hair the whole time, though I did forget, when that Death Eater Lastrange began to torture me with her Dark Object, the Black Dagger. Then, I guess, I escaped and recuperated till the morning, listened to the Quidditch game, and then got caught in that silly fight again, and, again, got caught by the Dryad and she put me in her tree."
"Why do you keep saying Death Eater?" Undeley said, louder than usual. "You must be mistaking her for another vampire."
"It was a Death Eater. She said so herself: You-Know-Who's right hand, Bellatrix Lastrange, terminator of all things impure- the whole load of crap."
The Headmaster sighed. "As you are now, so stubbornly given to lying, I bet you still hang on to the claim that you did not Petrify Treize Kushrenada at the beginning of the year, don't you?"
"Yes."
"And where did you get that necklace?"
Shoving food quickly into his mouth, Milliardo obstinately stared forward, but Undeley waited patiently until he relented. "I stole it from Treize when he was Petrified..." Gasps and whispers ensued. "I thought someone temporarily froze him or something, and I got the necklace from around his neck. I didn't want to tell anyone that he was frozen because then everyone would have blamed me, but, as we all know, that didn't work out so well."
"You must have had a guilty conscience," Undeley malevolently accused, "for you to run away so quickly. "
Milliardo retorted, "You must have really wanted me gone to never come and look for me."
"I sent Mark and Devin-"
"A rampaging part-dragon, capable of Petrifying any and all he wishes to Petrify, immune to nearly all spells, rallying up sympathy in the Beast-ridden Forbidden Forest, and you send, no offense, two teachers to go looking for him? In a way, if you were more caring or less evil, none of this would have happened in the first place."
The Slytherins began to yell in an angry uproar.
The Headmaster, onyx-jewelled eyes glittering angrily, diverting from that topic: "How did you come to ... have the Sword of Gryffindor?" This cut-off the furious tattles and the same students craned their necks to look at the famed sword.
"Came into the Hogwarts by a secret passage and met up with the Sorting Hat. He... produced the sword, saying that it was mine for the time being. Really handy too bec-"
"What passage?" an older Slytherin asked.
"It's a secret," Milliardo asserted.
"Were you the one who was stealing our textbooks?" another inquired.
"Yes, I was bored, and I decided to read them. I didn't know I could read so fast until I finished every textbook the school demanded. Anyway, I returned them, didn't I?"
Undeley could barely contain her rage; right under her nose was an Artifact, worn by the haughty yet extremely capable Milliardo Peacecraft. This boy, who she had trouble believing was only that, had become more troublesome than Heero Yuy and Harry Potter combined. Neither of them had given her any trouble, yet just an hour with this part-dragon and she was ready to tear out his throat!
"Detention-"
"Then I'll put this somewhere so that no one, including myself, would be able to find it," threatened Milliardo, holding onto his Artifact.
Again changing the subject: "That compass and that sword is an endangerment to the school-"
Milliardo intervened into her reasoning, "The sword was here already, and, Merlin, Harry Potter and Heero Yuy are walking time bombs. It'll be a matter of a few more years before someone gathers the nerve to attack the school from the inside out or some other such thing."
She withered, as did some of the other people, who gossipped about the truth in his statement.
"Anything else?" he taunted, falling into his fairly recent habit of curling his hair with one finger.
"Are you part-vampire, now?" asked the Headmaster, more out of curiosity of the two small holes than anything else more sinister, going rigid as Milliardo's eyes took on a vehement glow.
"No."
And that firmly put an end to their discussion as well as the natural source of entertainment for the night.