HELLO GUYS! MAY I JUST SAY HOW HAPPY I AM RIGHT NOW!?
Haha, oh my god, guys, I can't believe it! I have 50 followers and almost 50 reviews and favorites too! You guys are the best and you seriously make me so happy!
Ordinaryguy2, you are awesome. Just saying. And everyone who reviews/favorites/follows is incredibly awesome and you guys are some of my favorite people!
I am really glad everyone has liked the story so far. I put in a lot of time and effort into getting the characters to grow the way I want them to and it's great to see that people actually like it.
I still don't own them, sadly enough.
Enjoy the chapter, guys!
*0*0*0*
Guardians of Hogwarts
Book 1: The Visitors
Harry didn't want to wake up.
He was warm and comfortable, and the soft chatter and breathing of his friends made a soft lullaby that he was trying to fall back asleep too.
It was almost perfect, but… Something was tickling his shin. It was twitching back and forth, just softly brushing his skin with the faintest of touches. His leg twitched, but the brushing didn't stop. He sleepily itched it, resisting opening his eyes, trying to convince himself to return to sleep.
But as he unwilling became more and more awake (and aware), he began to catch more and more of the conversation bouncing behind his head.
"-but how do you 'pull' at shadows, Peter?"
"-most people can't just 'feel' shadows, idiot! Shadows don't even consist of normal magic!"
"-do you launch magic from your core or do you-"
"-and how many people can you cover, like you did me? Is it a finite number-"
Harry blinked his eyes open, finally, and sat up and turned in a single smooth motion (he was rather proud of that – he was finally actually gaining some muscle from lugging around his heavy bag of books all day every day). Backed against the wall near the fireplace (now extinguished by someone or maybe the room itself), Peter was pinned by a furious interrogation by Hermione and Rocket. It was Rocket's tail, flicking back and forth in furious thought, that caused the annoying brushing.
When Peter saw Harry was awake, a look of raw relief crossed his face. Peter dove around his pair of questioners and quickly attempted to use Harry as a hiding place. "Help me!" the Slytherin begged, "They won't stop asking me questions!"
Harry twisted his head away from the sigh of Rocket and Hermione performing dual pouts (Hermione with an impressive bedhead and Rocket with rather mussed and messy fur), and grinned at the blond boy behind him. "So they're asking about the… sneaky sneak?" His grin grew even wider as Peter groaned.
"You guys are never going to let that name go, are you?" He asked plaintively.
Drax's deep (for a twelve year old boy) laughter rumbled to Harry's right, and Gamora's voice (Harry could hear her smirk) echoed from that same end, "Of course not, Peter. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't mock you?"
Drax interjected, "You did call it that yourself, Peter."
"I am Groot," the giant tree-creature volunteered.
"Only because I haven't gotten around to naming it something cooler!" Peter poked his head out from behind Harry to give the green-skinned girl and tall boy a glare (Harry was willing to bet that Peter had spared Groot the same glare, as Peter couldn't understand what he was trying to say and didn't want to offend him).
"Well, it's too late now," Rocket had recovered from his cut off inquiry and was now grinning with his bright white fangs, "it's always going to be the 'sneaky sneak' from now on."
Hermione hummed thoughtfully, her eyes still racing with ideas and thoughts, "Maybe that's for the best. That way, it doesn't really suggest what it is, and we can talk about it without giving Peter's ability away to anyone who might hear us."
As the group murmured agreement, Peter slumped against Harry's back with another small whine. "Why didn't I befriend the boot-lickers and the airheads when I had the chance," he lamented, "they, at least, would've let me change the stupid name."
Harry pat Peter's head in a mock-soothingly manner. "You'd be bored without us," he grinned. Rocket snorted in laughter and the rest followed suit as Peter gave in and laughed along, and Harry basked in the warmth of his friends and the lazy morning.
*0*0*0*
Oddly enough, Hermione was actually kind of proud of her and Rocket. They had taken down a troll, though, in the bright morning sunlight, it seemed like a fading nightmare, with the dark and terror fading with the shared laughter and warmth of the Great Hall.
She picked at her eggs, glancing at Rocket (who was shoveling bacon into his muzzle at a disturbing rate) before scanning the rest of her group. Ron was seated at the far end of the group, huddled near Harry, after a mumbled apology to the pair. She had accepted it, wanting nothing more than to put the troll behind them, but Rocket had just glared and muttered something indistinguishable.
No amount of subtle (or not-so-subtle) nudges would get him to accept Ron's apology. Eventually, Hermione met Gamora's eyes from across the table and rolled hers in exasperation at Rocket. Gamora gave a small shrug, neither agreeing or disagreeing. Hermione frowned, but was distracted as two plates of food blasted up, resulting in twin yelps from opposite sides of the Hall.
Ron was staring in disbelief at his now flipped plate, his heaping pile of food now completely covering him. Drax, who had been sitting across from him, began to pick food out of his robes with a scowl at the plate. Harry and Peter snickered uncontrollably as Gamora blatantly laughed at him. Ron, scarlet faced, wiped the food from his face and hair with the sleeve of his robe and restocked his plate.
Consumed with curiosity, Hermione twisted and looked for the other person who had their plate explode. Her eyes fell on the Slytherin table with an extremely red-faced and food-covered Draco Malfoy. He glared daggers towards the group (seated at the Hufflepuff table this time) before he stormed out in wake of cheers and laughter from the Gryffindors.
A soft snicker came from Hermione's side and she glanced to see Rocket carefully acting normal and she hardened her gaze. He simply smirked at her.
Before she was able to lecture him that pranking was wrong and worse when it was on one of their friends, like Ron, (though it was hilarious too…), a familiar large owl landed in front of them, causing any conversation within the group to ground to a halt.
Rael glared at the pair of them and squawked angrily. Hermione yelped as she was whacked with one large wing and Rocket was smacked with the other. The raccoon-boy shot to his feet on the bench at the table and chittered angrily at the owl.
She replied by buffeting him with her wings again, and Hermione was willing to bet that Rocket was getting the scolding of a lifetime. Her giggles were interrupted though as the owl turned to her and screeched angrily at her. Rocket threw his claws into the air and chittered a tired acceptance.
Rael flicked her wings, apparently satisfied. She snatched a slice of Rocket's bacon and jumped into the air to carefully settle herself on Drax's shoulder. Smiling softly, Drax very carefully stroked her feathers and offered a piece of ham, which the owl scarfed down with a soft hoo.
Rocket glared at her. "Stupid rat with wings." He muttered, stabbing his bacon with a fork petulantly.
Rael hooted in reply as Hedwig glided down to land on Harry's shoulder. The white bird fluffed her feathers at the other owl and hooted reprovingly. Rael primly turned her head away from Hedwig and Rocket broke into racous laughter.
Everyone else traded looks. "Care to explain?" Peter asked.
Rocket made a shooing motion with one claw. "Rael was lecturing and Hedwig suggested that she listen to her own advice for once, which was awesome since Rael loves to lecture and it shut her up! That never happens!"
Peter cracked up first, shortly followed by the rest of the group, even Ron starting to laugh along. The two owls fluffed their feathers in mock offense, and Harry stroked Hedwig soothingly.
Conversation began to kick up again within the group and Hermione serenely watched her friends argue. Ron was trying to convince Harry to say where the Room was in the middle of the Great Hall ("Not the best idea, Ronald"), while Gamora, Drax, Peter, and Rocket were discussing how the troll could've gotten into the castle without assistance.
"There is no way a troll could just wander into a castle covered in wards, full of students! Trolls, according to Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, tend to avoid people unless they're their main source of prey, and those are only cave trolls and mountain trolls, while it was clearly a forest troll that we fought."
"Rocket, you do know that we're not Hermione and you don't actually have to cite your sources in normal conversation? We'll take your word for it, bud." Peter said as he grinned brightly.
"Why would Rocket think that we are Hermione? She is sitting on his other side and we are here." Drax spoke, confused, before moving on and asking a question before the others could react, "Does that mean that the troll required help from inside the castle to reach where he did?"
Peter grimaced, "I guess. It doesn't seem likely, but neither does our DADA teacher fainting in the middle of the Hall about a troll, while he has a history of fighting trolls."
"You think Quirrell is involved?" Gamora asked, her eyes scanning the Hall idly, keeping an eye out for threats.
Peter shrugged and quoted, "'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
Rocket's furry brow furrowed. "Where's that from?"
Peter's face was horrified as he stared at Rocket and squeaked, "You can quote from future textbooks, but you haven't read Sherlock Holmes?!"
Hermione giggled as blank stares were traded between Rocket, Drax, Harry, and Ron (Gamora was staring at something off to the side and not paying attention to the conversation anymore). Peter put his head in his hands with an overdramatic groan. "I'm surrounded by uncultured swine, Watson!"
"Who is this Watson?" Drax's question was the last straw and Peter threw his hands into the air.
"That's it! This summer, I am kidnapping you all and we are introducing you to pop culture and the necessities to be culturally literate!"
Hermione's giggles increased as the others began speaking, but they were all cut off as Gamora asked sharply, "Who is that blue man with Professor Sprout?"
Hermione turned her head and saw, at the end of the Hufflepuff table near the entrance to the Great Hall, their Herbology teacher was talking to a tall man with blue skin and silver looking highlights on his skin and a brilliant red Mohawk that arced over his bald head. A red leather jacket completed the look (which was slightly distorted thanks to the brilliant yellow robe thrown over the top). Another man standing behind him was wearing a similar jacket, though it was closer to black and had a black Mohawk. The second man stood a bit behind the blue man and watched the proceedings with a cheery and humored grin. As the men turned their heads towards them, Hermione heard a gasp.
Looking over, she was shocked to see that Gamora's usually solid green skin was reduced to a pale, new-leaf green. The elf girl's eyes were locked on the blue-skinned man, with her hands clenching the table in shock and harsh breathing . "I-is that a-another… half-elf?" She asked, her voice stuttering and Hermione's eyes were wide with confusion and worry for the other girl.
She had never seen Gamora so shaken and it made her clench her wand in her fist. She didn't know why Gamora, a half-elf, was here among the humans when she had to deal with so much prejudice, but if she had been exiled or something and this man was responsible…
A harsh crack sounded from the other side of Rocket and Hermione twisted her head around fast enough to almost give herself whiplash.
Peter had dropped his head to the table (somehow avoiding his plate and his utensils as he let it hit the wood). "No, no, no, no, nononono…" He was moaning into the wood and Hermione had to lean behind Rocket to hear it.
"Peter, what's wrong?" She hissed, glancing between her two friends worriedly. Rocket's tail was fluffed up and he was eyeing Gamora worriedly, while Drax and Harry just looked bewildered. That only increased as Peter began to slide under the table, apparently trying to hide. Rocket was staring down under the table, his tail flicking back and forth rapidly.
Gamora was still staring, Harry was holding his wand now in confusion, and even Ron was looking worried.
And Hermione realized, as a dark blue hand reached into the shadows under the table, fishing Peter out, that she had stopped keeping track of the strange man and that had been a mistake.
The tall man, with a grin baring his chipped, shockingly white teeth, held Peter up by the scruff of his robes; the blond haired Slytherin was dangling slightly, a pout on his face and his eyes screwed shut and his hands hiding his face. The second man was now standing at the other man's elbow, chuckling softly as he watched the proceedings, seemingly content to fade into the background.
Hermione stiffened, half-rising with her wand focused on the blue-skinned man-elf(?). Rocket had also risen, pointing his new and improved wand towards the intruder and she could see Harry and Drax doing the same, with Ron rising a beat after everyone else, though his wand wasn't so much pointed as in drooping against the table.
"Peter Jason Quill," the man said carefully, his eyes focusing on the boy. Hermione wasn't sure but she recognized that glint in his eyes. It was like… her father's when he started joking with her…
The man hauled him up higher and sighed dramatically, "You had one job, boy. What was it again?"
Peter crossed his arms petulantly, and muttered, "Don't get yourself killed or become an idiot."
"And then Pomona sends me letters saying that you've almost gotten yourself killed twice and it's barely November?"
"But, if you haven't noticed, I am most definitely not dead!" Peter uncrossed his arms and flailed them a bit.
The man sighed, sounding long suffering, and the second man chimed in, "Geez, Peter, you could try to not give us heart attacks before the end of your very first year. We've got six more years to get through – could you try not to die before then?"
"Kraglin…" the blue man grunted and the other man obligingly fell quiet. But that was enough for Hermione to put the pieces together.
"You're his family!" She blurted out. As their gazes slid to her, she felt her flush form and she continued, "I-I mean, Kraglin was the name signed on the end of a section of Peter's letter, which means that you, sir, are probably Yondu, his guardian."
At her words, her arm lowered, so her wand was pointed at the ground rather than at Peter's farther-figure. The others followed suit at Peter's nod to Hermione's logic.
Yondu eyed the group and grumbled, "At least you didn't find total idiots to befriend. Well, mostly." He eyed Ron, who had, once again, been a beat behind the others and was staring at Yondu blatantly.
Peter squirmed and Yondu lowered him until he was back on the bench. Yondu's eyes slid to Gamora, who was still weirdly pale and staring at him. Yondu's eyes seemed to harden and then soften. "Another half-elf. Girl, was your Clan destroyed as well."
Gamora's eyes slid shut as she stiffened. Drax carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her as she quietly said, sounding as close to tears as any of them had heard, "Yes. T-thanos destroyed them all."
"Thanos?" Harry asked quietly but Peter waved him silent quickly in an 'I'll explain later' motion.
The blue elf-man looked at the green-skinned girl with a spark of sadness in his eyes. He reached across the table and clapped one large hand on her small shoulder (opposite of Drax's hand). Gamora's head shot up, her eyes blinking in confusion. Yondu smiled his crooked, chipped-teeth grin and said, "Girl, you better get on the train with Peter at Christmas. I'll show you some tricks and give you some history."
Gamora blinked, processing, and Hermione mimicked her blinding grin as Gamora's grin grew.
Yondu retreated to his snarky persona and ruffled Peter's hair roughly. The Slytherin let loose a squawk which made the rest of them start to snicker (including Kraglin). Releasing a relieved sigh, Hermione relaxed back into her seat, watching as Yondu traded quiet words with Peter, before, speaking at a normal volume, "Well, boy, I've gotta go. Horuz has been bugging me to talk about the, er, finances for ages and I've finally run out of excuses.
Peter groaned, "Yondu, don't use me as an excuse! You know he gets pissy at me every time you do!"
"Too late. Try not to get into anymore life or death situations that you can't trick your way out of without serious harm." Kraglin snickered at this and Yondu and Peter shot him identical dirty looks, which caused the man to silent himself, though he kept grinning. Yondu finished with, "Alright, Kraglin, time to go. Don't do anything stupid without a back-up plan to get out of it."
Yondu waved and then began to briskly walk back towards Professor Sprout and the entrance, with Kraglin almost trotting behind him to keep up.
Before they had gone more than a few steps though, a sneering voice interrupted them and Hermione watched with interest (and some disgust) as Draco Malfoy (who had apparently run over from the Slytherin table to try to cause trouble or gather information on them…or maybe just Peter. That boy could hold a grudge as far as Hermione could tell) looked down on the pair. "You call yourself a wizard," he drawled, staring at Kraglin, "when you don't even have the guts to stand up to that creature that you follow around like a house elf. You disgust me." The small blond boy spat on the floor in front of the pair.
Kraglin stepped up next to Yondu (who looked like he was preparing to roast the boy over a spit while he was still alive) and exchanged stares with him. Yondu nodded once and moved to the side, allowing Kraglin to face the boy.
Kraglin's easy smile never faltered, but his entire stance changed, suddenly reading as dangerous, "Little boy, do you want to know why I follow that man?" He saw Draco open his mouth and cut him off easily, not even sparing a thought for the boy, "Yes, that man, or creature, or half-elf, depending on the crowd you're in. I follow him because he saved my life and dragged me out of hell by the scruff of my neck when I didn't have the strength to crawl out myself and gave me a purpose agian. And because of that, I will follow him for as long as he'll have me and I will follow him into hell again as many times as needed."
Draco was silenced and beaten and he knew it. The boy struggled to hold his sneer as he backed away, spitting words out, "Y-you're Ravagers! When my father hears about this, you'll pay for stealing from us!"
As the boy fled, Kraglin shifted back to the easy going guy he had appeared to be, and, with a grin that showed all his teeth (and no denial of Malfoy's accusation, Hermione noticed), Kraglin and Yondu left the Great Hall (which was silent at this point).
The silence continued for a beat and then Rocket broke it with, "I see where you get your issues from, Peter."
Peter snorted, "Please, you've only met those two. Wait until we kidnap you for the summer and you'll see the rest of them." With the silence broken, conversation filled the Great Hall as the others snorted.
Hermione had finally finished breakfast (since the drama had stolen most of her time), and was putting her utensils down and watching them vanish when a familiar voice yelled, "POTTER!"
She looked up and saw Oliver Wood charging down towards them, his eyes frantic and burning with intensity. Harry blinked up at him blankly as the older boy stopped nearby, breathing harshly. "…Oliver?" He asked, hesitantly.
"Potter. Are you ready?"
Hermione traded looks with Gamora (who was still smiling, though slightly reduced), as Harry asked hesitantly, "Ready for what?"
"The Quidditch match of course!" Oliver's face fell to a dark glare as he asked, "You haven't forgotten?"
Harry paled and stuttered, "O-of course not!"
Oliver grabbed the black haired boy's arm and pulled him up and out of the Hall with a "Let's go then!"
Hermione shook her head as the group called out "Good luck!" and "Don't be stupid!"
"Never a dull moment," she murmured, "unless Quidditch is as bad as I fear it'll be," before she turned her attention back to her friends.
*0*0*0*
Haha, Yondu and Kraglin are not the easiest to write, but they're hilarious characters (who did not want to give up their screentime). Also, I don't know Kraglin's history with the Ravagers in comic cannon (it wasn't talked about in the movie, which is what I am drawing from), so I am using creative license to play with it as I wish.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Next chapter will be the Quidditch match and I need to dig up my Sorcerer's Stone copy since it got buried when I moved back home from my college dorm…
Have a great week guys! Please review and leave me comments, or requests for character POVs, or, hell, your favorite color, whatever. I really just like hearing from you guys. :)
See ya,
Scales