A/N: I am not yet dead! I can dance and I can sing! I am not yet dead, no need for whispering! Sorry folks, I meant to have this thing done by Christmas, but that didn't happen. Finals killed me (though I managed to get through somehow) and I could not get my brain to work very well afterwards. I think part was how weird this past Christmas felt. And then came the load of slavery my latest classes call homework, so that I could only write in small bits and I wanted to make the wait worthwhile and so waited till I got a sizeable chapter written. But anyway, here's this, and I'll try to be better about getting these chapters out faster. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm in college; you think I've got the funds to own these? Ha! That's funny.

Ch. 24

Something that did not belong to the house invaded. Creeping down hallways carved from marble his feet made not a sound, nor his presence a whisper. In the moonlight of the earliest hour of the morning naught but a shadow moved upon the walls. With a glint of silver, a release of magic, all was still once again as the figure took his leave.

Duo sighed as he sat down to breakfast, Shinigami thrumming through his veins. The day was still early, yet the veil was already thinning. For that precise reason he and Heero had joined Wufei for breakfast with the ravens, knowing he'd need all the help he could get not to lose control. The monster inside him was humming with pleasure after the earlier deed, but it was still too risky to be alone.

"You shouldn't struggle so," Luna advised him as she sat down. "Marlors are always easier to get along with once you accept them. They mean no harm, really." With a cheery smile that could clear a cloudy day, Duo supposed, she spooned some pudding onto his plate.

Duo smiled back at her and dutifully ate what she gave him, but didn't take her advice too seriously. Whatever a marlor was, Shinigami certainly wasn't one of those that meant no harm. Once again he found himself wondering about how insightful she was. Was she truly crazy, or was it all just an act? "How about the south nargle breed that migrated last month," Duo inquired, having read the Quibbler the girl had given him to stave off boredom in History of Magic. "You think they'll be in the pumpkins floating about today?"

Luna glanced at the Halloween decoration through her pink framed glasses for a moment before removing them and replying, "No, these pumpkins are plastic; nargles won't nest in fake fruit."

Duo looked at the grinning symbols of the holiday and blinked. "No kiddin'," he had to retort. "Didn't think wizards knew what plastic was."

Wufei leaned over conspiratorially and whispered, "Think we should let the Slytherins know?"

Duo snickered at the image of pandemonium he was receiving in his head. "Only if we let the uppity ravens know too," he plotted back.

Wufei smirked in a rare show of his fun side and nodded. "I'll let them know," he stated as he sat back. Duo snickered again, ignoring Heero's questioning look. Though Duo often found himself having to disable pranks and plot revenge, the twins were useful when you wanted something done.

Chatter died as Dumbledore stood up to speak. "Good morning," he called out cheerfully as Duo wondered what kinda crack he was on in order to be so happy at all hours of the day. "As you all know, tonight is Halloween. Your Head Boy and Girl have arranged a ball in honor of the holiday, with the clever theme 'nightmares'. In addition, all afternoon classes for the day have been canceled." With a smile at the excited chatter of the students, the older man sat back down.

Duo snorted and began to mutter under his breath, "I am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair." With a sigh, he put his head back into the crook of his elbow. His head was pounding like a prison wall about to blow. Fitting analogy, he quietly mused.

Owls fluttered in, and Duo absentmindedly stroked Hedwig as she brought him the morning's post. He handed Wufei the Daily Prophet, already knowing what would be in it, handing Heero the muggle post. He didn't feel like scanning for threats at the moment.

"Interesting front page," Wufei casually remarked as Mandy finally joined them for breakfast. Duo gave the small 'hmm' of inquiry that meant he understood. As they'd suspected, his handiwork had gotten the headline.

"You were supposed to get me if I overslept in the lounge again!" Mandy chastised their raven friend. Wufei paid her no mind and Duo had to giggle at the fearless girl before she demanded, "What's interesting?"

Wufei handed her the paper, and she gasped. "But he's like the biggest supporter of anti-muggleborn laws in the Wizengamot!"

Duo knew it was time to act, and so turned to Wufei and asked, "What?" He wanted to know how much the aurors had found out. If they could manage to get away with this, they wouldn't have trouble with similar hits in the future.

Wufei took another piece of toast and buttered it as he replied, "Lord Arras, he was found dead this morning, killed by a magical dagger across the throat."

A student Duo hadn't quite learned the name of watched in sick fascination as Wufei continued to prepare breakfast without blinking an eye. "How can you be so calm?"

Wufei stared at the boy as he replied, "We are at war, people die. Did you learn nothing from my discussion?" Duo had to marvel at the effectiveness of that line while ignoring Dumbledore's questioning stare. Damn old man was going to give him a headache. Bigger than the one he had, at any rate. Hedwig butted her head against his chest as a comforting gesture, and Duo couldn't help but to smile.

Come afternoon, Duo was in serious need of some relief. Shinigami had been unbearable all during morning classes, and Duo wondered if the recent exposure to magic was making the deity even more self-aware than usual. He had plopped onto the couch with a groan the moment he had entered their headquarters (the new name for the room of requirement).

They were taking the opportunity of canceled classes to start training the new recruits. So far they'd wrangled five ravens, three badgers, six snakes, and three lions. More would be coming, Duo knew, but he was happy to start with what they had. The group began to gather, people began to chatter, and Duo had a harder time concentrating. They apparently wanted to know how muggle fighting would help them.

Duo finally felt something almost give way, and bolted from his prone position. "You and me, Hee-chan, right now!" he hollered, hoping his best friend would understand as he ran to an area on the opposite side of the room. "Let's show the brats how dangerous trained muggles can be." Heero must have noticed the glint of desperation in his eye, for the stoic boy nodded and stood to join him. The room cleared a space for them, and everyone gathered around to watch.

Duo had never been more thankful to have friends watching his back than when Quatre quietly ordered, "03, prepare to neutralize if needed. 05, you're on guard to help 01." Unfortunately, none of that seemed to matter as the binds on the demon within began to loosen. With a slight snarl, Duo launched himself towards his best friend, flinging his knife aside so he wouldn't be tempted to use it. It was the only weapon on him, as Trowa had deemed his state too dangerous for any other weapons that morning.

Quatre watched the two soldiers bat each other back and forth across the arena the room had provided. They weren't doing this to educate the wizards currently gazing on in amazement. No, this was something troublesome. Duo had never been this close to losing himself to Shinigami before, and the battle was the only way the braided boy knew how to calm himself down. Quatre himself was feeling slightly Zero in the attempt to discern whether or not they needed to tranquilize Duo.

Quatre felt the beginnings of the change more than saw it, and called out the order even as Duo's mask began to fall apart and black lines began to inch towards his pupils. Within moments, the braided boy was on the floor, unconscious, and Wufei was next to Heero, ensuring that he hadn't been badly hurt.

Quatre sighed, and then proceeded to do damage control. "That was a bit of a side effect," he informed their confused recruits. "Duo has unfortunately gained another personality that we call Shinigami."

Hermione tilted her head to the side and questioned, "The God of Death? Is that why you tranquilized him?"

Wufei snorted before sharply retorting, "You're smart for a woman, figure it out."

Quatre sighed as Hermione grew red with rage and threw the book she'd been holding at the Chinese man, who easily ducked away from it. "Yes," the blond interjected before the fight could escalate. "That side of him was formed through the hardships of his childhood and grew deadly with the training he received. I'm telling you this so that if it ever becomes a problem and I tell you to run, you will run, understand?" Quatre fixed them all with a hard glare and waited until he was certain they understood before moving on. "After seeing what we can do without weapons, have you realized the importance of learning this form of combat?"

Quatre looked at those assembled, who only had to take another glance at the quickly bruising Heero to nod their agreement. With a cheery smile that banished the rest of Zero from his mind, Quatre exclaimed, "Good! Now we can move on to training."

Duo walked down the streets of L2 once again, recognizing the walls of his mind. As long as he was here, he might as well ask the other being that haunted his body what was up.

Summoned by the thought, Shinigami appeared to him. He always seemed to be the same, garbed in the traditional black cloak. "You're angry," the hooded specter observed.

Duo snorted as he crossed his arms. "No shit," he replied. "You nearly burst out. You've never been this active before, even on Halloween. What the hell is up with you?"

Black shoulders shrugged, and the answer was given. "You are closer to the veil now than you have ever been. I can feel it thinning, feel our barrier begin to collapse."

Duo actually took a step back, fear consuming him as it hadn't in a long, long while. "W-what?" he managed to stutter.

Shinigami gave him that same, patronizing smile that Duo could never physically see yet always knew was there all the same. "My child," the specter replied, "how often must I say it? We are not separate. Accept this and you need never fear yourself again."

Duo finally lost it, and began to scream. "What the hell do you mean by that? Every single time you say that and I still don't get it! What the hell-get back here!"

But it was no use; the streets about him were fading from view as Shinigami slowly returned to shadow. The walls of his home morphed and wavered into fine mist as awareness of something soft began to encroach upon his mind.

Duo awoke to find himself lying in his bed, his head groggy and disoriented. Had he been drugged again? Wufei was then in his line of sight, and so the braided boy didn't start when his brother helped him to sit up and drink some water. "You missed dinner," Wufei informed him. "The training went well, for the first day. You've got two hours to get back into shape for the ball."

Duo groaned and nodded, burying his head back into the pillow as soon as Wufei let him go. He hated getting tranqed. The doctors really screwed up their systems by making them immune to most serums; made the ones that worked that much worse. Wufei chuckled at him, and so Duo decided to get even. "Hermione hit you with a book yet?"

Wufei's snort was answer enough. "Onna threw one at me, but it was a rather poor throw."

"Managed to hit you with one after training, though," Draco interjected. "Honestly, you shouldn't sound so sexist; it'll just make her angrier."

Duo laughed into his pillow before adding, "And then how could you confess without being utterly rejected?"

There was silence, and so Duo looked out from his fluffy barrier. Wufei sat there in shock, one eyebrow raised and a slightly perturbed look on his face. "I do not think of her like that," the Asian finally stated.

Duo rolled his eyes before plopping his head back down with a muffled 'whatever'. Draco actually began to laugh at him, before asking what they were going to be for the ball. Duo looked up at Wufei, who looked blankly back. Upon silently coming to the conclusion that no one in their group knew, they turned as one to deliver the verdict to the patiently waiting aristocrat.

Draco smirked, an expression Duo was quickly coming to associate with mischief, and asked, "Why not go as muggles?"

It had been a simple thing to transfigure some spare robes into camo pants and black tank tops, and none of them would deny that it was nice to wear some spare weapons that weren't hidden. Nothing too big, just simply a combat squad ready for duty… well, more like guard duty, anyway. They certainly gathered attention when they entered the Great Hall, all done up for the ball with floating pumpkins everywhere.

A lot of the purebloods were staying away from the pumpkins, and Wufei and Duo couldn't help but to share a snicker at the fact.

Draco came over then, dressed impeccably in black silk robes. "That was certainly an entrance," he noted. "Like the attention yet?"

Duo looked at Heero, who kept one hand on his gun and the other twitching. "Yep," Duo replied. "We're absolutely trigger happy."

The aristocrat raised one eyebrow in confusion, and Duo almost cheerfully explained when he was interrupted by Hermione's stern mother hen voice, "It's your own fault for standing out, now get your hand off that gun." Hermione walked over, followed closely by Luna, Ginny, and Mandy. All four girls were wearing blue gowns that seemed to flow like water, with seaweed woven in their hair.

Duo raised an eyebrow and had to ask, "What the hell are you dressed as? Nymphs?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and Mandy answered him, "Sirens. Didn't you pay attention in DADA today?"

Duo hadn't, actually. He was gonna stick with his motto and keep his mouth shut though. Draco rolled silver eyes at him before stepping forward and interjecting, "Siren spell, siren song, I pray you stay sweet but not too long, lest I drown before the dawn."

Mandy smiled back at the blond and inquired, "You enjoy Lennar?"

Draco gave a small smile back as he answered, "One of my favorite poets. Might I have this first dance, my siren?" Mandy giggled in typical teenage girl fashion, before accepting the outstretched hand. The two moved off to join the other dancers, and then Duo noticed Quatre and Trowa getting snagged by Susan and Hannah.

Duo noticed Wufei fighting with his manners, and so grabbed Luna's hand on an impulse. "Let's dance, babe," he cheekily called, letting Wufei's glare slide right off him. It would do the two stubborn bookworms good to have to dance together. Wufei was too much of a gentleman to leave a girl hanging without an escort.

Luna giggled as Duo spun her into the crowd of dancing students, her faraway eyes light with joy. "They'll be cute together," she stated, and Duo couldn't help but to nod his agreement. "I've never danced at a party before," Luna revealed as they made a right turn to avoid another couple. It seemed the kids were sticking to ballroom dances at the moment. "It's nice to join in."

Duo simply stared at her for a while, wondering why in the world people would leave a pretty girl like her alone. So she said some odd things, so what? Duo shook his head and commented, "I could never let a pretty girl like you be a wallflower all night." Luna looked up at him in curiosity, and so he continued, "Water lilies like you were born to twirl."

Luna blinked once, before the most dazzling smile Duo had ever seen blossomed on her face. Duo couldn't help but to smile back, and the rest of the dance set was spent in rather companionable silence. They drifted back to their group of friends and mingled, and overall Duo had to say that it had been the best night he'd had in a long while.

That right there should have been a hint that something was about to go horribly wrong.

Duo had slept well into lunch the next day, the strain of keeping Shinigami at bay for most of the night having tired him out. He wished he'd stayed in bed, as shortly after he began to eat the ministry showed up. Some skinny red-head who looked like a Weasley gave a letter to Dumbledore, added that the minister demanded a prompt reply, and promptly turned on his heel and left, nose still slightly raised.

"Percy Weasley," Draco supplied. "Assistant to the Minister of Magic."

"What's his beef?" Duo asked, whispering back. "That's one hell of a mask; we should look into his real angle in the ministry." Draco nodded his agreement, and then Duo's day was shot to hell by a note appearing on his plate, asking him to go to the Headmaster's office.

With a grumble of complaints originally heard from Wufei in the boy's native tongue that had Trowa shaking his head in laughter Duo left the hall. He glared at portraits and moving suits of armor as he traversed the halls, Shinigami growling as well. Once he'd gotten to the entrance, the gargoyle lowered its head respectfully and moved out of the way, breaking Duo from his thoughts.

"Odd, but thanks." Having thanked the statue, Duo took a deep breath and went up the spiral stairs, forgoing manners and simply opening the door. McGonagall and Dumbledore were both behind the main desk, with Severus standing to the side. Duo took note of the exits before trying to catalog all the odd objects in the room and keeping his hands to himself. The room was too shiny for any ex-thief not to get urges of the kleptomaniac variety.

"Good afternoon Harry," Dumbledore greeted. "I am sorry to call you away from a good meal, yet I'm afraid our suspicions have been correct."

Duo plopped into the empty chair and shrugged. "And?"

Dumbledore smiled at him as McGonagall sighed at the laid back attitude. "We will need to make an official visit to the ministry sometime soon; the Minister wishes to meet you."

Duo snorted. "Course he does, everybody wants to see me." God, but Duo really hated fame. How in the world did Quatre deal with it? Standing, Duo replied, "Well, I'll just arrange to go there tomorrow. Got nothing else to do."

With a bright smile, the Headmaster agreed. "Excellent. I shall meet you at–"

"No you won't," Duo interrupted. At the frowns on the two former Gryffindor's faces, Duo explained, "These are the turbulent beginnings before the break out of war, Headmaster. The Minister is already scared of your power, and no doubt scared of what Voldemort's return will mean. Going with you could turn him against us. We need him on our side, and he will be most likely to follow us if we show him a strong person capable of defeating Voldemort." With a dark glare to shut up whatever protest the old man had, Duo retorted, "They don't want a child, Headmaster. They want to see a hero they can rely upon to take care of all their troubles for them."

Letting the shocked silence take care of the possible replies, Duo walked out with a wave. "I'll have Malfoy and Bones take me, it'll show that I've got powerful friends. Later."

Duo sighed as he went back to lunch, grabbing a quick sandwich before following his friends out to the lake, where they simply sat and talked about school and things. Duo asked Draco and Susan (who had followed Quatre out, along with Hannah) if they would escort him the next day, and they agreed. Draco hadn't needed to think it over, which surprised the ex-pilot. Such a favor was like a public declaration of choosing sides; the pureblood must have really believed in their cause.

After that fun conversation, Duo decided he needed to ease his boredom, and so promptly threw Wufei into the lake, before tackling Heero into it as well. This meant he also got wet, but Duo knew he'd never be able to toss Heero like that and so it was a necessary sacrifice. In a rare regression to the teenagers they really were, Trowa promptly joined in saving Duo from Wufei by tackling the darker boy. Duo just barely dodged Heero's grasp only to find himself face first in the water, Quatre's weight on his back.

Duo popped back up, yelled, "Traitor!" and then with the help of Trowa, managed to snatch Heero and use the perfect solider as a perfect battering ram to propel the other two pilots further into the lake. And thus a great water war began, Trowa and Duo having a bit of trouble until a group of Gryffindors joined in. Ron saved Duo from a watery death by way of Heero's tackle, which Neville promptly negated the effectiveness of by tackling the both of them. The numbers were still uneven, as both Seamus and Dean had joined Wufei's team. It was a losing battle until reinforcements came: Forge and their partner in crime Lee Jordan.

By the end of the battle, each team had nearly fifty members of varying houses. Apparently teenage boys (and several girls) couldn't resist the sight of a large battle being fought and not joining in when others were doing so. And they were all undeniably wet.

When teased about it, Draco simply replied that he had more dignified things to do than participate in such things. Duo couldn't help but to make a slew of ladies-man jokes, seeing as how Draco had spent the whole afternoon talking with the girls of their group and a few others that had come to watch the fight, but not join in.

As they finally entered the Great Hall for dinner, still sopping wet just to annoy people, the blond retorted, "Perhaps you could try it yourself, seeing as how you have so much trouble in that department that you must rely upon tackling people to release your frustrations."

Duo stopped dead in his tracks and was shell-shocked for a full twenty seconds before laughing so hard he fell onto the floor. Surprisingly, Trowa was laughing on the floor not that far away from him. Not so surprisingly, the twins were also unable to contain their mirth.

McGonagall cracked a smile and actually chuckled at the wet, rowdy crowd that ate dinner that night. No matter what anyone else said, those five new teenagers were definitely healing the broken bonds between the students of the school.

A/N: Tada! New chappie done, I'll try to work quickly on getting the next one out, seeing as it's spring break and hopefully I'll have more time on my hands. I think the only reference needing explaining here is the fact that Duo sings part of the song "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas, everything else is pretty self explanatory, but like always let me know if you have any questions. Oh yeah, the I'm not yet dead thing is probably from Spamalot. I found it on youtube and don't really know. And look! I started to put romance in this thing! Finally, right? Yay!

…. It's too late, I have to wake up in six hours and I've been sleep deprived this week, why did I do this again? Oh yeah, inspiration hit me, and I love you guys too much to ignore it in favor of sleep. Anyway, till next time, ta!