A/N: Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that guys, college is attempting to kill me. No really, it is. I've been living off of coffee for the past three weeks alone, and when I do have spare time to write, my brain has been fried. Hopefully the content in this chap. makes it all up to you.
And seriously guys, thank you so much for sticking with it even though my updates are random and far between. It means a lot to me.
Disclaimer: HP? GW? Mine? Pfft, that would be why I'm coming home covered in pizza sauce in an attempt to pay off college. Right.
Ch. 28
Wufei was glad that his bout of narcolepsy was beginning to wear off; it was an annoying habit. All of the new information he kept gathering now was of a scholarly pursuit instead of a dump of knowledge he couldn't quite process, and so his unorthodox way of feeling confusion wasn't affecting him that badly. Still, he'd been having the episodes in classes he could get away with it in, and in common rooms, whether it be his own or one of his friend's.
He could only be thankful for his war-ingrained instincts, seeing as how he jolted awake from another narcoleptic episode just in time to dodge a spell aimed at his head.
The purple light went whizzing past, and Wufei ducked while turning over the table he'd been at for cover. It cost him a couple of seconds, but he did manage to quell his instinct to go for his gun and instead grabbed his wand. His opponent seemed to be on the level of non-verbal spells, as he didn't hear a word before another light was aiming for his defense. Wufei cursed as he noticed the pale tint, diving out from his shelter while firing off a stunner. The Bombarda hit the desk and caused splinters to fly out; some of them burrowing into Wufei's left side. Wufei waited as two more spells flew past before reaching around the edge of the bookcase he was behind to fire off a few spells of his own.
The coin around his neck grew warm as the pilot called for his teammates. They were coming, which was good as the boy truly didn't have that good of a visual on his attacker. He just had to hold out a few more minutes.
Wufei summoned up a shield and darted to another bookcase, colored lights flying around him as he did. Wufei fired off a few more of his own spells, seriously considering just going for his gun. One good shot would definitely take out his opponent, but as the chances were high that it was another student Wufei doubted anyone would be happy with him for killing or even, if he was really lucky, injuring a child.
Wufei peeked around the corner and finally got a good view of his hooded attacker. With a spell on his lips he launched out from cover and fired, and immediately had to dodge one spell only to run into another.
In an instant, white hot pain was shooting out from all of his nerves.
Wufei was no stranger to pain, and he had indeed felt pain worse than this but, damnit, it still hurt! Gritting his teeth, Wufei looked up and saw his attacker. With a mumbled curse, he fired off another spell to mark the unknown enemy so they could identify the person later. The curse hit its mark, and as his attacker lost his concentration and stumbled, the pain Wufei had been under stopped. Wufei leveled his wand and fired off two more spells, unfortunately unable to hit the unknown person as they fled the scene.
More spells joined his own in attempting to capture the attacker, and Wufei let himself relax as his fellow pilots rushed the room.
Neville sighed as he finished chopping the Lotus Root they needed for the potion. He'd had trouble concentrating all day, so he already forgot what they were making. Neville knew he owed all his potion success to Draco – the blond would tell him what he needed to do, Neville would do it, and the potion would turn out perfect. Simple.
Unless there happened to be a third variable. Neville remembered his partner telling him that the potion would be a light blue, and right now it looked acid green. It was also bubbling.
Those first couple of years in potions without a partner as wonderful as Draco had ingrained certain reflexes in Neville. When a potion looked like that, he ducked.
And so Neville hastily erected a shield charm around himself as he threw himself on top of Draco, sending them both crashing to the floor.
A loud burst of sound signified the explosion, and Neville was worried for a second. Should he have placed a shield around the potion instead? Because with a boom like that, he was fairly certain the potion had gone everywhere, and the clumsy Gryffindor was sure that the explosion was meant to be dangerous.
"Ow," the Slytherin beneath him complained. Neville sheepishly looked down at his partner and to his surprise Draco didn't look that mad. "Good instincts, Longbottom."
Neville sat up in shock; a compliment? Those weren't often heard from a Malfoy, even one as unorthodox as Draco. Soon the (slightly scary, Neville had to admit) Gryffindor Heero was at their side. "Status?" he barked out, helping Draco sit up.
"Fine," Draco replied, seeing as Neville was still slightly shocked and couldn't find it in him to say much. "Longbottom put up a shield, so we didn't get hit."
Cobalt eyes looked at him, and Neville shrugged. "The training's been working," was all he had to say on the matter.
Heero nodded and replied, "Hn." It was a warm grunt though, so Neville decided to take it as a compliment.
"Damn good instincts and reaction, Nev," Duo congratulated him as the braided boy came over as well. "We saw you dive and put a shield around the cauldron to be safe, what with the recent attack on Wufei and all."
Neville looked about and saw Snape directing the last of the exploded goo into another cauldron with one of the fiercest scowls on his face the Gryffindor had ever seen. He still thought it looked like acid, and the potions master was directing the liquid into one of the reinforced goblin silver cauldrons…. "Is it actually acid?" Neville found himself asking.
Snape's scowl got even fiercer as he ground out through his teeth, "Indeed it is, Mr. Longbottom. Twenty points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin for quick thinking." The class gasped at the fact that Snape had willingly given Gryffindor points. The shock didn't last long until the potions master whirled around to glare at the room as a whole, looking more terrifying than he ever had before. "When I find who sabotaged this potion I will personally see that his days are spent in a living hell until the time he is tossed into Azkaban! Reactions like this are why there are to be none of that nonsense in this class. You could have killed several classmates, and those who survived would have been terribly scarred and disfigured for the rest of their lives!" Taking a deep breath that was probably meant to be calming but just seemed like a dragon gathering air before breathing fire, Snape concluded, "Class dismissed. Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Longbottom, follow me to the infirmary."
Neville let out a breath in relief. He'd thought Snape was going to kill them all, or worse, think it was his fault! Duo helped him up, and their friends went with them to the hospital wing. Neville caught the message in the glances between the ex-pilots: someone was trying to kill them off.
Trowa didn't quite know what to think of the stairs in this place. They were definitely interesting, and would make for a fun challenge if the need to sneak around ever came up, but they were unsettling structures. The tall boy knew that all of his brothers felt the same danger as he did while near the stairs. They would be an easy place for assassination attempts. If you timed a fall right you could send your target tumbling off the edge and into empty space.
He was traveling with Duo, keeping an eye on the shorter pilot. The braided boy's hold on his darker side had been slipping more and more with the recent attacks on the group. They had been investigating, and Draco had written his father to see if he could get any information, but so far they'd come up empty. The fact that no other help had been offered was what angered the L2 pilot most.
Trowa knew the former street-rat had trouble trusting. The wizarding world had slowly been gaining some measure of trust, and Duo saw this blatant ignoring of danger to their pack as a betrayal.
And so Trowa was often the one partnered to travel with the loud Slytherin. He was the calmest one of them all, and was often relied upon to calm the others. It was his role to be a calming support. It was a job Trowa treasured greatly, wanting no more than for their family to be in harmony.
Draco had once heard some of his musings and stated that the taller boy needed to spend more time around people and less around animals. Trowa wondered if that was a wise idea, he'd been having more pack-mentality thoughts lately due to the direct threat they'd come under. All their training from the doctors had said such thoughts were useless. The safety of the pack didn't matter, only that the enemy was destroyed.
Then again, Trowa mused as they reached the top of the stairs, the job those orders were meant for had been accomplished. They could make their own rules now.
Trowa and Duo tensed at the same moment, crouching and reaching for their weapons on instinct as colored lights flew over their heads. It seemed Shinigami was closer to the surface than Trowa had thought, as Duo spared no second thought before sinking a dagger into the chest of an attacker. One of the other cloaked men grabbed the body and portkeyed away, and Trowa spun to dodge another attack from behind him.
He grappled with the man, wondering at the wizard's use of physical contact before reaching a sudden insight. They indeed meant to use the stairs as a method of elimination.
Good thing Trowa had prepared for such a thing. He had made the circus his home of choice, after all.
Trowa shoved the Death Eater in training off him before back flipping off the stair rail. Judging distance and time and mentally tracking the progression of the moving stair cases below him, Trowa aligned himself at such an angle that he would land on the staircase and not fall off it because of his momentum.
The stair he was aiming for shimmered, and Trowa allowed himself a curse. It was a trick step, landing on that would definitely cause him to at least break a leg, if not send him tumbling down and off the edge before the stair connected to a floor.
Trowa bent his legs enough that he missed the trick step, bouncing off the step three down and doing another small flip to land more solidly a fourth of the way farther down than he'd originally planned.
The students around him looked ridiculously impressed, and Trowa spent an equally ridiculous moment entertaining the idea of throwing his hands up in a gymnast's bow since he had stuck the landing so well.
The moment passed, and Trowa stared up at Duo to make sure the clumsier boy hadn't had to resort to such measures. His eyes laid on the crouched figure, and Trowa's skin instantly went tense with chill. The boy was surrounded by a nearly transparent black cloud, his eyes shaded by shadow yet glowing as he shot at the few remaining attackers. Some were killed as they portkeyed away, others made it out before the bullet hit. Quatre was there in the next instant, clutching Shinigami close to him and using what he could of his empathy to try and calm the dark personality down. Trowa raced up the stairs to help, Shinigami was too dangerous to leave the fuming ex-pilot in such a state.
Trowa tackled the braided boy to the floor in his rush, holding him tight as he began to whisper comforting words in the smaller boy's ear. Quatre got out the sedative, and gave Duo a small dose. The struggling dark god slowly calmed and dropped off to sleep, and Trowa gave a sigh of relief. Quatre shared a meaningful look with him, and together they headed off to the hospital wing, Duo cradled protectively in Trowa's arms.
Heero would have made Mad-Eye-Moody proud. After the attack in potions class he had demanded that everyone in their group travel in pairs. Especially the pilots, they were the most vocal in the stance against Voldemort and so in the most danger. He was traveling to Herbology with Quatre when his instincts kicked in. Heero dove to his right, drawing his gun and clicking the safety off in one fluid motion. He held no reservations about shooting his school-mates.
Quatre had dived to the left, behind a suit of armor. He had his wand out, and was already firing off his own attacks as a sick green light flew past them. Heero peeked around the stone pillar he'd dived behind, noted his enemy's position, and then leapt out and fired.
A cry of pain was heard as his attacker dropped his wand from his now bleeding hand. Quatre quickly sent out a barrage of stunners, but before they could contact their attacker reached into his pocket and portkeyed away. Heero let out a soft curse as he and Quatre left their hiding places. They walked the rest of the way to the meeting with their weapons out, and were doubly cautious as they snuck into the ROR.
Duo strode through Hogwarts, his powerful footfalls echoing off the stone walls. Those few students still on their way to lunch removed themselves from his path by instinct as a bird flees before danger. By now most of the students had gathered for lunch, those that hadn't already would be there when he arrived.
He didn't care.
There was no pounding barrier, no breaking of mental walls, no warning. There was only the moment in which Duo was. He could very possibly be damning himself and revealing his biggest secret to everyone.
It didn't matter.
The doors to the Great Hall were obstacles in his path. His magic reacted and removed them. The doors slammed open, and the entire hall fell silent as they stared at Duo as he prowled through them. His eyes were covered in death's haze, and yet nothing mattered but the sight of the Headmaster staring in shock.
"You shall answer me, old man," Duo snarled out, not noticing as the shadows pulsed with his presence, the charmed sky above falling dark and silent.
Dumbledore was slack-jawed in shock, one hand inching towards his wand as he questioned, "Harry? What-?"
"Silence!" he demanded. In this moment there was no separation of self – no Duo or Shinigami – there was just the being that was. And it demanded complete cooperation. "You will speak only to explain yourself, mortal." His voice was comparable to the dying embers of a raging fire; slow and seductive against the ears of those who instinctively shied away upon hearing it. "You," he declared as he pointed a damning finger at the shocked old wizard, "have done nothing to protect those within your own walls."
Dumbledore seemed to regain some fire at that statement instead of cowing like a smart man, and rebuked, "I do all in my power to protect my students!"
Duo felt the rage of Shinigami as it was his own, pouring out of him as he finally merged with his darker side. Tendrils of magic about Him pulsed with His rage as the candles shuddered from the force of His mighty bellow. "I allowed you entrance to this world and this is how you repay Me?!" Shinigami demanded to know. He strode the last few steps to stand in front of the current holder of His wand. "You begged My favor to finish your duty and I spared you, wizard," Shinigami accused, "your time has long since passed. There is no magic nor law that can save you from Me should I decide to take such a gift back. You do all you can to protect them? Then why have My Favored not been avenged?"
Dumbledore took a step back as recognition lit his eyes, but Shinigami held no pleasure in this fact.
"The Dragon lays in recovery from the Cruciatus curse, My allied nearly destroyed by a potion turned to acid. Silence was nearly sent to meet Me as unknowns pushed him down the ever-moving stairs of your school and yesterday eve a man used the Avada in attempts to kill War! Yet you do nothing and allow these events to go on uninvestigated! You will explain yourself and be judged!" Shinigami was then silent, allowing time for an explanation to be given.
Dumbledore stuttered, completely shocked. The wizard could find no adequate words, and so Shinigami crossed His arms and remained silent until the old man found them. "No Death Eaters can enter Hogwarts," the Headmaster finally stated, becoming more like his usual self as he regained his poise. The words came out with more ease and surety as the Headmaster gathered himself. "A true investigation must be handled with delicacy, so as not to cause a panic. If one happens, we run the risk of never finding the attacker in the resulting confusion."
Shinigami felt the disapproval show on His face as His features began to stiffen. He replied, "Your answer may seem sound to these others, but I have heard better. Do not forget old man: I have been here longer than the Earth has turned. You cannot sway Me with pretty words that hold such flaws. This is war. Children cannot be spared from its horrors, not when they reside at such a stronghold. It was those children who most likely attacked, aiming to kill." Shinigami glared at the wizard, his black eyes showing only promises. "Take such threats seriously and fix your error. My patience wears thin, and you will not be given a second chance in this."
Hermione watched as the black shadows surrounding the former Gundam pilot fled from him, and the powerful stance Duo had held disappeared with them. Heero instantly ran to the boy's side, catching him as Duo fell to the floor. As the small braided boy weakly curled into the other's given protection, Hermione understood. In that instant, the mystery of their relationship was made clear.
Duo, the child who grew up too quickly still in need of a guardian.
Heero, the child soldier raised to act on his emotions, and what were most soldiers but protectors of that which they held dear?
The two of them were friends simply because they were, but their bond had grown so deep because they could safely rely on the other to fulfill an almost instinctual need. And as the three other pilots took point around them while Heero carried the weak Duo from the room, Hermione cried. She cried for their loss, and that their lives had been so horrid that they had no other choice than to latch on to each other so tightly.
Wufei kept silent vigil that night, the nurse having not been able to run him off. She'd finally allowed them past visiting hours, on the premise that only one be present at a time. Heero was lying in the bed next to Duo's; still in the way that only a sedative could induce. They hadn't been able to keep the man from scaring everyone off, and they all knew that Heero wouldn't sleep at all until Duo woke up unless they drugged him. It'd happened often enough for the choice to sedate him and then take turns watching over their braided companion to be a simple matter. It was Wufei's watch right now, and he sat in a chair at the end of both beds with a book, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
A slight movement, and Wufei put his book down. Duo twitched, Deathscythe's pilot slowly coming to. The pale boy put a hand to his head and softly questioned, "Man, what hit me?"
Wufei calmly walked over and sat next to his brother, helping the other boy into a sitting position. "You released control," Wufei replied. "Shinigami interrogated the Headmaster, demanding to know why he wasn't doing more with the investigation."
Duo groaned and plopped his head on Wufei's shoulder. The darker-skinned boy didn't begrudge him the contact and didn't make a fuss as he might normally would have done. "Fuck. Cat's outta the bag, huh?" Wufei nodded, and Duo sighed. "Damn. An' I liked it here."
Wufei opened his book again as he chided his sometimes dense friend. "They still need you to defeat Voldemort. Besides, the Minister's on our side. Perceptive he may be, but he's still a fool. Getting him to remain on our side shouldn't be hard."
"And the secret of how powerful at magic I really am?"
"Safe," Wufei answered as he turned the page. "You've been close to death many times, had many close calls. Your magic, unable to find any other outlet since you were without proper magical training, opened up to the nearest source available. Therefore, sometimes death uses you to speak when mortals are getting on his nerves."
Duo chuckled. "Very eloquent twist of truth, Ravenclaw."
Wufei sighed; he really didn't understand Duo's amusement over that fact. "Slytherin," he retorted with no real heat. Duo was silent then, and they settled into a comfortable atmosphere. It was a known comfort in the still largely unpredictable world. They'd done it often enough in safe houses before. Duo just needed the presence of another person, and Wufei truly didn't mind the company. As much as the two of them fought, Duo truly was the one pilot Wufei was probably the closest to. The braided boy had found him on the eve of Merian's death, and without words had somehow known what was going on and hugged him. Without truly knowing why, Wufei had broken down and told the braided pilot everything: the truth of his wife's death and why he was piloting in her stead, his fears of disappointing his father and clan, his uncertainties of whether or not he truly was right, everything.
Duo had not once laughed or joked, as Wufei had once believed the boy would do. Duo had held him in comfort, and then in exchange told Wufei about his own past. Of Solo and the Maxwell Church, of his longing for vengeance and desire to feel mercy. It was an exchange of pasts, of secrets, of thoughts. It showed that Duo didn't think him weak and that in his eyes, at least, Wufei was considered trustworthy.
That trust was very sacred to Wufei. He'd never had someone to share his burdens with, as the heir it was simply not done. Perhaps Merian – but she'd died before they could reach such a point in their relationship. And so it was in still moments like these that they both let all pretenses drop. Duo didn't put on his jester mask, and Wufei didn't deserve the teasing that mask inflicted on him. Their tensions weren't so strained they took it out on each other; rather it was an absence of tension. Duo simply needed a support as he arranged his thoughts and feelings, and Wufei provided that. It was different from Duo's relationship with Heero, and indeed different from either of their relations with any of the other pilots. Those relations weren't less important, by any means, but it was something special that Wufei enjoyed.
And so as the young man he considered his brother leaned on him in silence, Wufei began to softly read aloud. It was a book in his native tongue, and Wufei didn't bother to translate, but Duo didn't mind. It wasn't the words he needed.
Wufei sharply awoke as he felt hands near him. Opening his eyes, he saw Trowa leaning over him, hands held up in a placating gesture, holding a blanket. Wufei blushed a little at being caught having fallen asleep on his duty, but the tall pilot merely smiled in understanding and nodded to let him know that he hadn't actually fallen asleep until Trowa had entered to take watch. Happier at this decree, Wufei took the blanket and spread it over the still sleeping Duo and himself. He held up a finger to let Trowa know that their braided friend had woken up once before closing his eyes once more.
A/N: There it is! The big reveal! I tried to write more, but this was a substantial amount and I can't get my brain to pump out any more, so there you have it. I think Duo's loyalty to his friends is enough to make him flip out like that. And I finally managed to figure out a way to explain why I write Duo and Heero as being so close, despite not being a couple. Yay! As for the Duo and Wufei bit, I really think they're like that. Yeah, they fight like cats and dogs, but seriously I think they're the two among the pilots that can relate the most to each other. Which is kinda ironic, considering one's an heir to an ancient clan and one's a street rat. Oh well, life is full of fun stuff like that.
Anyway, thanks again for sticking with it guys, and hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter out sooner this time. Till then!
