AN Sorry for the lengthy wait, but this time is wasn't my fault. Well, most of it wasn't my fault. I got my first flame for this story, and then two of my fic's got reported. Appearently the word "slut" isn't G-rated. Anyway, my page was locked and uploading was impossible. Then, the worst thing happened, (for a writer anyway) attack of the killer, vicious plot-bunnies! Thrice in one week! *sighs* I'll try to post faster this time.
Oh! About the poll. Even though nearly all of you voted for choice one, I put both one and two in. My sick twisted muses seemed to like both clips equally. Hope you like! JA!
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Chapter 8
A few days after Heero had informed them of the barrier spell's absence, Duo slammed down his pen and let out a frustrated growl. "I *hate* writing essays!" He spat out, "isn't there any other type of homework that they can set us with? Worksheets or something?"
Trowa smiled softly, gently placing his quill back in its ink well. "Duo," he said quietly. "Why don't you and Heero go flying? It might get some of the pent up energy out."
Though the idea of flying usually perked the American boy up like nothing else, it somehow didn't have the same effect it normally did. "I've gone flying nearly every day now," he complained, throwing himself backwards into the chair. "What I need is to spar."
Trowa laughed to himself. "You'll have to find somebody else then, I'm sure that all of us have other things to do."
"Like writing that potions essay!" Quatre chirped, dropping himself into a chair and pulling out his potions book.
"Well, obviously Quatre's not going to spar with me." Duo sulked. "And Heero and Wufei have disappeared to the library again..." he shuddered. Suddenly, he perked up. "Maybe Harry will spar with me!"
Twenty minutes later, Duo had managed to sweet talk his way into the Gryffindor common room and pranced his way towards Harry's dormitory. Harry himself was lying on his bed, deep in thought, though green eyes cracked open when Duo opened the door.
"Harry-kun!" Duo greeted the boy happily, bouncing over to the bed. "What-cha thinking about?"
"^Just the past,^" Harry said softly, a sudden haze appearing in his usually clear orbs. "^Did I ever tell you Heero used to be my imaginary friend? Of course, he was really a physical manifestation of my magic, but I was too young to know that. And when we began switching places, he began to get stronger and become more *real*.^"
Duo cocked his head to one side, fascinated. "^So, Heero began to grow his own body?^"
Harry smiled. "^Kind of. When we were five, we shared my body, *this* body. It's the strangest feeling, being a part of the world but at the same time not existing. That's how I felt when I became him. But after a few months, my uncle began to notice a third little boy in the house. He could hear voices coming from my cu- my room, food was disappearing from the kitchen. He finally found Heero and threw him out onto the street. It was that feeling of rejection that somehow sent him to your world, but he was found before I could get him back...^" Harry heaved out a heavy sigh, lying back on the bed.
"^And now, to remain two different people, we can't even be in the same room.^"
Duo, knowing that in a way Harry was seeking his advice, grinned thoughtfully. "^Well, if you're supposed to be one person, why is it a problem?^"
"^And how exactly would you explain the sudden disappearance of a Japanese exchange student? Dumbledore would never believe anything I would come up with.^"
Harry had him there, so Duo went ahead and changed the subject. "Want to spar with me? I'm bored out of my mind."
With a grin, Harry got off of the bed and moved to grab his broomstick. "Sure, I'm bored too."
"Finish the potions essay for Snape-baka?" Duo asked as they headed down the stairs towards the common room. Snape-baka was the new name for the potions master, even better because he didn't know what it insinuated.
"Yeah right." Came the scoffing answer.
"Me too."
With a laugh Harry looked around the common room full of Gryffindor's staring at both him and Duo before casting a quick glance out the window. "^Window?^"
"Sure."
Less then two seconds later, the two boys burst out the window, Harry steering, Duo with a tight hold around the former's waist. With identical whoops of laughter Harry put on a burst of speed and flew towards the lake. Duo jumped off the broom, diving into the water as they passed over it, while Harry touched down a moment later on the grassy bank. The soaking wet American boy pranced out of the water and went to stand next to his boyfriend's other half.
"Here," Duo grinned, handing the other an assorted array of small hand-held weapons he had conjured out of no where. "The knives are rubber, the guns will only shoot pressurized air, it won't hurt much, and everything else is non-leathel as well. First down is the loser."
"Go easy on me," Harry joked, hiding the items on his body as he would if he were Heero. "This body isn't built and trained like Heero's. My forte is flying and Wronski Feints."
"What ever those are," Duo affermined, jamming his black C.A.R.T. hat on his head. "Let's do this."
With those words, Harry took off running towards the left, while Duo countered him, pulling out a practice knife and hurling it at the other boy. Harry, having seen this coming threw himself into a series of front handsprings, easily dodging the first knife and the series of air-bullets that followed, ripping up a good portion of the grass behind him. After a few more attacks like that, Harry pulled out one of his own blunted knives and hurled it at his opponent. Duo, rather then running to dodge, simply stepped out of the way as it passed, before launching himself into the air to avoid a fist meant for his stomach, using magic to give him height and slow his fall.
"So that's how you want to play it," he called, landing a few feet away. With a grin he charged while Harry tore up the grass behind his dodging body with more air-bullets. The American dove and executed the 'prefect tackle', grabbing Harry around the waist and letting gravity do the rest. They both hit the grass, abandoning weapons for hand to hand and wrestling. They rolled, exchanging hold and counterhold.
Eventually, Duo began to see the difference between fighting with Heero, and fighting with Harry. Heero went in for the kill, or the move that would win him the fight as quick as possible. Harry, on the other hand, paid attention to the fight and made his decisions based on the movements of his opponent. When ever Duo moved to put Harry in a head hold, said boy would duck and use their rolling momentum to release the hold and have them start again anew. Finally, after rolling along the banks of the lake and back again, they rolled right over Harry's broom, still lying on the grass.
With a lunge, Harry grabbed it and went airborne, circling around Duo with a grin. He summoned a knife from the ground and whispered a spell over it, throwing it down. Duo dodged but otherwise didn't move. A second knife had the same whispered word and was thrown down, dodged as well. A third knife landed at Duo's feet, and much to the boys surprise he couldn't move an inch.
Harry laughed, jumped off the broom and began walking calmly towards his partner, friend and semi-boyfriend.
"I've put you in a barrier cage," the Gryffindor said lightly, walking around Duo and giving his behind a quick slap. Duo's yelp was cut off when the wizard pressed their lips together quickly. "You can't get out, and your weapons are useless." Harry continued, pretending nothing had happened. With a simple hand gesture, Harry forced the cage to compact slightly, pushing Duo gently towards the ground and holding him there. He pulled out his gun and jokingly pressed it against the other boy's temple.
"Give?"
Duo shrugged. "Do what you must."
There was a startled gasp a dozen or so yards away, and both boys looked up, surprised at the sudden intrusion.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Harry paled slightly, not removing the hold he had on Duo. "Hermione?"
Hermione looked panicked. "Harry? Where in the world did you get a *gun*?" She watched with wide eyes as Harry slowly drew the weapon away from Duo's temple before promptly passing out.
"Uh," Duo said after Harry had removed the barrier. "Well, damn."
===
A few days after the "Hermione Incident" the poor girl still wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. Duo and Harry had managed to bring her back to the common room before she awoke, and had convinced her that they had just gone for a 'casual stroll'.
Hermione had her doubts and suspicions about what they said, but without solid proof she couldn't question them. Well, she could but she wasn't willing to risk looking like a insecure teenaged girl. She did, however, share this tidbit of information with Ron, which gave the red head more about his best friends 'friends' to be nervous about.
And, a better excuse to avoid them.
As for the pilots, they happened to be thriving in Hogwarts. Being brought into an environment that was full of people their age, and where they didn't stand out as war hero's and weren't waiting for some assignment that kept them from settling down... it was in a way, very cleansing for their souls. Sure, Harry and Heero still had to avoid each other to keep away the risk of being sucked into one body, but they managed.
For a while.
===
"I just don't know what's gotten into Harry!" Hermione sulked, throwing herself into one of the plush chairs of the Gryffindor Common Room. "He's never acted so distant with us before! Even when he's angry he at least yells at us!"
Sitting across from her, Ron only nodded, his eyes locked on his Magical Theory homework. He had learned after only five years that it was better for Hermione to finish ranting until expressing his own opinion.
"And these exchange students!" Hermione continued, apparently having finished ranting about Harry with still some steam to blow. "The school they come from, Gundam Academy, *I've* never heard of it! I even checked in "Magical Schools, Landmarks and Legends: Japan" it has even the tiniest of schools mentioned... but not that one!" She paused, realizing she was becoming repetitive. "And another thing! Harry being able to speak Japanese, when did that happen?! Why didn't he tell us something like that?"
Something sparked in Ron's memory that caused him to look up from his homework. "Actually," he said slowly, trying to remember. "Last year... he had a dream and he was yelling in Japanese." Ron frowned, "but when I asked him about it he said he couldn't speak the language." The red-heads eyes narrowed in anger, "why did he lie to me?"
Hermione's eyes also narrowed. "Why indeed," she murmured.
===
Duo hummed a pointless tune as he and Heero walked down the hallway for their Ancient Runes class. Heero was quiet as usual, though his piercing eyes and strong posture spoke volumes in Duo's eyes. Reaching out with his thieving fingers, the American took a firm hold of the Perfect Soldiers hand and continued with his song.
"^Quiet down Hee-chan," he teased in his usual happy-go-lucky way. "^I can barely hear myself think."
Heero finally cracked a smile, his eyes softening as they took in the site of his long haired lover. "You think I'm worrying over nothing?" He asked, looking down at their entwined fingers.
"Nah," Duo smiled. "You're the Perfect Soldier, it's in your blood to blow things out of proportion... sort of. Anyway, I know why your worried, so at least I can laugh at you for a reason."
"Hn."
"What's a Perfect Soldier?" A familiar voice asked as they turned the corner. Hermione looked at them with brown eyes that held a speck of suspicion in them.
"Hm?" Duo asked carelessly, grinning in a disarming way only he could pull off. "What's a what?"
Heero on the other hand stiffened slightly, not enough for Hermione to pick up, so minutely in fact, that Duo almost didn't notice. He tightened his grip on Duo's hand to tell the boy he would answer all questions.
Duo laughed.
"It's a nickname Duo kindly bestowed on me," he answered gruffly.
"Because he's so serious all the time!" Duo added, wrapping an affectionate arm around Heero's shoulders. "You should have seen him back home, it took nearly two years to get him to liven up even a little bit." Two violet eyes rolled skyward.
Hermione didn't seem satisfied with the answer but it was clear she wasn't going to press forward with that line of questioning. "I noticed you and Harry started avoiding each other," she said bluntly. "I thought you were best friends."
Duo laughed again, "well... a few days ago Harry and I had a slightly romantic moment and Hee-chan here found out." He giggled softly, "so they're avoiding each other. But damn, Harry sure can kiss!"
Heero growled realistically and pulled Duo into the classroom. Hermione stared after them in wonder, marveling at their ability to twist answers to tell the truth, but not the correct answer. Only top notch Auror's could do that so flawlessly.
===
After a few months, most of the student body had grown accustomed to Duo and Wufei's constant life-or-death bickering. As such, if one were to see Wufei chasing Duo in the hallways wielding a pair of scissors one merely stepped out of the way and continued walking. Students weren't surprised to hear the strange suffixes added to the professors names, such as McGonagal-sensai, or Snape-baka. Even the teachers had gotten used to the fact that the Gundam pilots preferred to write their notes in nearly indistinguishable Japanese characters. All of the houses couldn't help but enjoy the company of Duo, who was someone everybody got along with by law, and the long haired boy and his boyfriend were constantly switching house-tables to eat with friends.
But currently, Duo was alone... and he was running very late for a class he was not favored in. Probably because he was awful at it and goofed around rather then paid attention to the teacher.
"LATE!" Duo could be heard yelping as he jumped down the dungeon stairs. "I'M LATE! I'M LATE! FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE!" He couldn't resisting the classic line even as he ran down even more stairs and found the damp corridors. Running down one of the many corridors in the Hogwarts dungeons, and carrying what he hoped he needed for potions. Just as he was turning the corner that would bring him to the classroom, something pushed him from behind.
Duo stumbled but didn't quite fall, keeping a firm grip on his books.
"Poor student's late," a voice from behind him sang. "Naughty, naughty!"
Duo flipped his braid over his shoulder and turned around, letting out an uncharacteristicly high pitched yelp at the site of the floating colorful ghost behind him. "A ghost! COOL!"
Without warning, he pounced, wanting to see if he would fly through the pearly white figure or not. He hit the wall with a grunt. Well, that answered that question.
"Cool?" The ghost sniffed. "And I'm no ghost, I'm a polterguist, much more nasty than any ghost you'll ever meet."
"So, what's your name?" Duo asked. "Why are you worse then ghosts? Are you really dead? Can you hurt people? Do you like playing tricks on people? Are you really flying, or just floating? What's your favorite color?"
"Peeves. Because. Yes. Yes. Yes. Both. Orange." Peeves replied, beginning to like this boy. "Do you play pranks?"
Duo's eyes gleamed. "I *live* for pranks!" He glanced down at his watch. "Oh shit! Now I'm *really* late!" He cast one last look at Peeves. "You wouldn't know any way to distract Snape-baka for a minute would you? Long enough for me to get inside the room?"
The poltergeists eyes gleamed wickedly. "You've got twenty seconds."
===
Duo snuck into the potions lab while Snape attempted to clean up the mess in his suddenly over boiled cauldron. All the while the head of Slyterin was screaming, "PEEVES! I'LL GET YOU!!!!"
"Where were you?" Heero asked silently, knowing that Duo could read lips.
"Met a new friend." Duo smirked. "Goes by the name of Peeves."
On the other side of Heero, Draco's face turned white. This new alliance could not be good at all. A few moments later, Snape seemed to have recovered his dignity and turned back to the class.
"As I was saying... since Mr. Maxwell is not with us for class today," he said silkily, apparently he had taken role before Duo arrived. "I think he will have a meeting with Mr. Filch..."
Duo raised his hand. "Snape-baka," he called out in a sweet voice. "You must have missed me, I'm here!"
Snape scowled, "detention for sneaking into class." He barked. With that settled, he turned his attention back to the class, starting his lecture for the days potions.
Duo pulled out some parchment and his pen, quickly scratching out a note to Heero asking what he missed. Heero wrote something on the corner of his own notes. Duo nearly laughed, his boyfriend had actually written down "hn." as an answer.
All through the class period, however, it was clear that something wasn't right. A sort of dark omen surrounded Duo's mind, making him extra edgy. Heero, Duo noticed, had been extremely quiet, even for him. And even though the Strengthening potion they worked on together was perfect and nothing happened, Duo couldn't help but worry.
And it became very clear why that dark cloud hung in his mind.
A red stain of blood was slowly creeping down from Heero's forehead. And just as Duo noticed and began to cry out in shock, Heero's unconscious form tipped forwards, banging into the cooling cauldron.
"HEERO!"
===
Harry's head ached. It felt as though it were being broken into thousands of pieces, jumped on by not only Wing Zero, but the entire OZ mobile doll fleet. Voices roared in his ears, not words, just voices. He was in agony however much he tried to hide the fact.
Not only that, but he knew exactly *why* he was in so much pain. Voldemort had been sending him nightmares filled with blood and screaming for the past week. Pain racked his body when he woke, and blood dripped silently from where he dug at his skin. The Dark Lord knew something, Harry was certain. He was testing the boundaries of the link he had unintentionally placed between them, testing it for a reason.
Harry was afraid of that reason. He didn't want to put Heero in danger, even if the boy was another part of himself. Because if Heero got into serious trouble, the others would throw themselves into the fight without a second thought.
Turning his mind back to the Transfiguration lesson he was currently suffering through, Harry tried to concentrate on McGonagall's words. For all his efforts he couldn't distinguish her voice from the ringing in his ears and allowed his head to rest in his hands. A poke on his shoulder caused him to look up.
Quatre and Wufei, sitting on either sides of him were staring with quiet concern. Trowa, on the far side of Quatre continued to take notes, though his visible eye would glance at him every few moments. On the other side of the classroom, stubbornly ignoring him, Hermione and Ron studiously took notes.
"^Are you alright?^" Quatre whispered, his face a little ashen as his Empathic senses fed off of the aura Harry was emitting. The blonds face was etched with Harry's pain, his hands trembling on the desk.
Harry took a breath, trying to clear his head enough to sort through the simple phrase and make sense of it. "I-"
But that was as far as he got before he collapsed in his seat and seemingly cracked his head on the desk, scarlet blood oozing from his head. Harry's body was still, and slowly began to grow cold.
"HARRY!"
Surprisingly, it was Wufei who shouted, interrupting McGonagall's current ranting. When Harry fell, so did Quatre, not being able to withstand the ill waves of pain any longer then Harry.
The Chinese pilot jumped to his feet in a panic, something strange for him, and began shaking the pale wizard next to him. "Harry, HARRY! Wake up!"
McGonagall appeared, her face ashen. "Take them to the hospital wing," she demanded, pointing at Harry and Quatre. "NOW!"
Scooping Harry into his arms, Wufei did just that. He could hear Trowa's pounding yet silent footsteps behind him as they ran. But eventually his panic caused him to run even faster, becoming little more then a blurry shadow.
Harry couldn't die, he just couldn't.
===
There. Right there he could feel that the link split in half. Using his mind, Voldemort gave the split link a cautious poke, wondering what it would do.
With a scream of pain, Voldemort found out. The Dark Lord fell to his knees, clawing at his skin though his pain. It was more painful then anything he could ever imagine, worse even then being ripped from your own body or even various torture spells piled one on top of the other.
Was this what Potter went though when ever they touched, or when he exploited their link too much? Was this the pain that raced through his body and left him panting and bleeding with self inflicted wounds? How was that boy still alive after years of torment like that? How was he still sane?
Getting shakily to his feet, Voldemort frowned uncertainly. The link, he finally decided, it must somehow be the split in the magic. Heaving himself back into his thrown-like chair, Voldemort picked up the file of Harry Potter's life.
The split power level, the split link. Power surges, emotional bursts. His up-bringing, his supposed home life. The boy was spoiled beyond all belief, or he should have been. Quidditch team at age eleven, school hero at twelve... Harry Potter was just one big mystery to him.
Grunting in annoyance, Voldemort called in one of his more trustworthy Junior Death-Eaters. The girl was a nuisance but she did attend Hogwarts and managed to spy relatively well. He demanded she update him on Dumbledore's movements before snorting as though already knowing.
"Crucio!"
Screams of pain always sounded better coming from someone else.
===
Ron burst into the hospital wing, spotted the bed holding his best friend and sprinted over to it. The resident nurse was standing by him, her face unreadable.
When Ron reached her, Madam Pomphrey bowed her head, stepping away from the body. "I'm sorry." She said softly.
The youngest Weasley boy stood in shock. Harry Potter was dead. The Boy Who Lived, Gryffindor Golden Boy, Savior of the Wizarding World... his best friend, had died. And the last thing Ron had said to him was accusing him of lying and then ignoring him for the rest of Harry's short life.
"No," he whispered, staring down at the pale figure on the bed. "It can't be, he can't be dead!" The last words came out as a yell, a sort of choked out cry of disbelief, shock and pain.
"Mr. Weasley if you cannot control yourself I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" Madam Pomphrey scolded, her voice was hard but the gentle gleam of sorrow in her eyes told a different story. It was the first time she had lost a patient in her whole career. For her students, being sick, getting hurt and getting into fights was normal. Dying just didn't happen. A tear dripped down her cheek.
At least she hadn't lost any other patients today. Mr. Yuy was in a light coma, and Mr. Winner had already awoken. The other exchange students hadn't ventured far from the hospital bed, looking shocked and worried.
A hand came down to rest on Ron's shoulder and the boy looked up into a green eye that looked too familiar to be real. Those were almost like Harry's eyes, except colder and much older. Trowa offered no words at first, his hand a steady presence on Ron's shoulder while the two of them looked at Harry's body.
"He's not really dead," Trowa finally said softly. "His body may have stopped functioning, his heart stopped beating, but he's still alive." The tall boy sighed bowing his head. "If you can still remember his laughter, his thoughts and ideas. If Harry Potter's memory still rests in your heart then he can never die."
Ron stood silently, hearing the softly spoken words with his ears but not his heart. Without a word he turned on his heel and rushed from the hospital wing.
On the other side of the ward, Duo sat still, clenching Heero's hand tightly. His violet eyes were pleading silently with Wing Zero's pilot. Under Duo's watchful eyes Heero rested, having slipped from the coma a moment or so after nearly two days. Deathscythe's pilot had heard Madam Pomphrey's soft comment to Ron, and Trowa's heartfelt words. He knew he could get over Harry's death faster then normal people... but if Heero were to die as well, life would become pointless for him.
"Mr. Maxwell," the nurse said, placing one hand on his arm. "You need to get some sleep." She handed him a small crystal veil. "Drink this."
Duo sniffed it cautiously before shrugging and downing it in one gulp. He could feel the liquid going down his throat and into his stomach. It transferred into his blood immediately and sent calming waves of sleep though his body. With relief, Duo let himself succumb to the darkness and rested his body on the bed his Hee-chan was on.
===
Duo regained consciousness immediately, though he didn't outwardly show it. With ease he kept his breathing slow and deep, his heartbeat regular and his eyes closed. He had been moved out of the hospital wing and he was strapped down to a bed. A new potion was pumping though his blood, its effects he wasn't sure of.
The next thing he noticed were the voices. He could hear Wufei speaking passively about something, and a few of his professors commenting quietly. He came up with the solution of where he was about to be questioned. Holding back a sigh, the American opened his eyes to see Quatre leaning over him.
"^I thought you were awake,^" the blond smiled. "^They found the scar on Heero's head and got suspicious with our story. They've put a Truth Serum in you, because you were the only one unconscious. Sorry.^"
Duo's eyes asked a silent question.
"^He's fine, just a few physical differences. We removed Harry's body from the hospital wing while you were out, he's hidden in our dormitories secret tower.^" Quatre added, interpreting the look like few others could. "^And Heero said to tell you that he and his double are one again.^"
Duo's eyes widened. "Really?"
The room was immediately silenced at his word and Albus Dumbledore suddenly loomed over the restrained boy, his expression very serious indeed.
"Can you hear me?" He asked, his voice low and cold.
"I'm awake aren't I?" Duo countered, resisting the potions effects with truthful but misleading answered like he had been trained.
Dumbledore blinked.
"Please state your name."
"Duo Maxwell."
"Is that your real name? The name given to you at your birth?"
"It's real enough," Duo said defensively. "I made it myself."
"Explain."
"I grew up on the streets and I didn't have a name." Duo said, this time not resisting the potion. "Eventually I began to call myself Duo. After a while I was brought to live in a church called the Maxwell Church, my name reminds me of my past."
Dumbledore accepted that answer. "Where are you from?"
Duo sighed, these questions were so bland! "I'm American in origin," he said haughtingly. "But I travel a lot." There was no way he was going to mention the Space Colonies, that would put forth a lot of questions he didn't have answers for.
"What school did you go to before coming here?"
"Lots of schools," Duo grinned, knowing he was going to enjoy this. "I met Heero at St. Gabriells Institute, I attended there about two weeks. Then we both switched to a different school in another district. The five of us have switched school so many times that we ended up finding private Mentors and training that way." He grinned, wondering if the old man had managed to keep up with Duo-logic. "But really, life is a school, because everyone you meet is either a classmate or a teacher and you learn something new everyday."
There was a growl of annoyance. "How did you end up here in Britain?"
"It was a surprise trip," Duo said flippantly, blowing at a strand of hair that had fallen into his eyes. "We hadn't expected to come at all."
"Can you explain the scar on Mr. Yuy's forehead?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes growing colder at the lack of straight answers he was receiving.
"Hee-chan has a lot of scars," Duo snipped, "I don't know one from the next. Why should one be more important to you then another?"
"Do you work for Voldemort?"
"That bastard?" Duo hissed, his eyes suddenly spitting fire. "I wouldn't belittle myself enough to kill without reason."
And realizing he had said too much, Duo feigned exhaustion and slumped back on to the table. He let his body go limp and his heartbeat slow while he listened attentively to the sudden flurry of activity around him.
"Let him up," Wufei demanded. "You had no right to question him like that."
"That boy is the closest link we have to Mr. Yuy. We would talk to Yuy himself, but he is still in a coma..."
Hee-chan you big faker, Duo thought with an inward smile.
"...and because we can find no records of your previous schooling, and you yourselves won't give us any information," Dumbledore continued angrily, "I didn't have any choice but to question one of you. It's a strange coincidence that you just appear out of nowhere with Hogwarts style teaching. It's a strange fact that Mr. Potter and Mr. Yuy share many physical and magical traits. The lightning scar on Harry's forehead should have been the only one in existence. But both boys collapse at the same moment with bleeding scars and you try to tell me that they're not somehow linked." He looked down at Wufei.
Wufei bristled at that look, his fists clenching at his sides. The Chinese youth could feel the supporting weight of his katana and for a moment he thought about taking it out, just for kicks. Then his mind cleared. "You are just as bad as everyone else," he finally decided. "You preach about giving justice and a fair chance to everyone, but when it comes down to it, the words are empty."
And he was off on one of his more meaningful Justice Rants. For once, Duo, Quatre and Trowa were relieved to hear it, and reveled in the fact that it wasn't directed at them. The words flowing from Wufei's mouth became angrier, the boy spitting words from his native tongue into his speech in his anger. He finally began ranting in one of the many dialects of Chinese. Duo had to choke back his laughter as Wufei proceeded to announce that he thought Dumbledore was "a creepy, manipulative old man who plays game with peoples futures like a demented monkey playing god." And then went on to insult him again, "as powerful as an ant being squashed by twenty thousand shoes and then hearing the song, "La Cucuratcha"."
Trowa and Quatre, not able to understand Wufei's words any more then the various teachers in the room sat back to watch, knowing Duo would fill them in later.
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Review and I'll update.
.
Oh! About the poll. Even though nearly all of you voted for choice one, I put both one and two in. My sick twisted muses seemed to like both clips equally. Hope you like! JA!
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Chapter 8
A few days after Heero had informed them of the barrier spell's absence, Duo slammed down his pen and let out a frustrated growl. "I *hate* writing essays!" He spat out, "isn't there any other type of homework that they can set us with? Worksheets or something?"
Trowa smiled softly, gently placing his quill back in its ink well. "Duo," he said quietly. "Why don't you and Heero go flying? It might get some of the pent up energy out."
Though the idea of flying usually perked the American boy up like nothing else, it somehow didn't have the same effect it normally did. "I've gone flying nearly every day now," he complained, throwing himself backwards into the chair. "What I need is to spar."
Trowa laughed to himself. "You'll have to find somebody else then, I'm sure that all of us have other things to do."
"Like writing that potions essay!" Quatre chirped, dropping himself into a chair and pulling out his potions book.
"Well, obviously Quatre's not going to spar with me." Duo sulked. "And Heero and Wufei have disappeared to the library again..." he shuddered. Suddenly, he perked up. "Maybe Harry will spar with me!"
Twenty minutes later, Duo had managed to sweet talk his way into the Gryffindor common room and pranced his way towards Harry's dormitory. Harry himself was lying on his bed, deep in thought, though green eyes cracked open when Duo opened the door.
"Harry-kun!" Duo greeted the boy happily, bouncing over to the bed. "What-cha thinking about?"
"^Just the past,^" Harry said softly, a sudden haze appearing in his usually clear orbs. "^Did I ever tell you Heero used to be my imaginary friend? Of course, he was really a physical manifestation of my magic, but I was too young to know that. And when we began switching places, he began to get stronger and become more *real*.^"
Duo cocked his head to one side, fascinated. "^So, Heero began to grow his own body?^"
Harry smiled. "^Kind of. When we were five, we shared my body, *this* body. It's the strangest feeling, being a part of the world but at the same time not existing. That's how I felt when I became him. But after a few months, my uncle began to notice a third little boy in the house. He could hear voices coming from my cu- my room, food was disappearing from the kitchen. He finally found Heero and threw him out onto the street. It was that feeling of rejection that somehow sent him to your world, but he was found before I could get him back...^" Harry heaved out a heavy sigh, lying back on the bed.
"^And now, to remain two different people, we can't even be in the same room.^"
Duo, knowing that in a way Harry was seeking his advice, grinned thoughtfully. "^Well, if you're supposed to be one person, why is it a problem?^"
"^And how exactly would you explain the sudden disappearance of a Japanese exchange student? Dumbledore would never believe anything I would come up with.^"
Harry had him there, so Duo went ahead and changed the subject. "Want to spar with me? I'm bored out of my mind."
With a grin, Harry got off of the bed and moved to grab his broomstick. "Sure, I'm bored too."
"Finish the potions essay for Snape-baka?" Duo asked as they headed down the stairs towards the common room. Snape-baka was the new name for the potions master, even better because he didn't know what it insinuated.
"Yeah right." Came the scoffing answer.
"Me too."
With a laugh Harry looked around the common room full of Gryffindor's staring at both him and Duo before casting a quick glance out the window. "^Window?^"
"Sure."
Less then two seconds later, the two boys burst out the window, Harry steering, Duo with a tight hold around the former's waist. With identical whoops of laughter Harry put on a burst of speed and flew towards the lake. Duo jumped off the broom, diving into the water as they passed over it, while Harry touched down a moment later on the grassy bank. The soaking wet American boy pranced out of the water and went to stand next to his boyfriend's other half.
"Here," Duo grinned, handing the other an assorted array of small hand-held weapons he had conjured out of no where. "The knives are rubber, the guns will only shoot pressurized air, it won't hurt much, and everything else is non-leathel as well. First down is the loser."
"Go easy on me," Harry joked, hiding the items on his body as he would if he were Heero. "This body isn't built and trained like Heero's. My forte is flying and Wronski Feints."
"What ever those are," Duo affermined, jamming his black C.A.R.T. hat on his head. "Let's do this."
With those words, Harry took off running towards the left, while Duo countered him, pulling out a practice knife and hurling it at the other boy. Harry, having seen this coming threw himself into a series of front handsprings, easily dodging the first knife and the series of air-bullets that followed, ripping up a good portion of the grass behind him. After a few more attacks like that, Harry pulled out one of his own blunted knives and hurled it at his opponent. Duo, rather then running to dodge, simply stepped out of the way as it passed, before launching himself into the air to avoid a fist meant for his stomach, using magic to give him height and slow his fall.
"So that's how you want to play it," he called, landing a few feet away. With a grin he charged while Harry tore up the grass behind his dodging body with more air-bullets. The American dove and executed the 'prefect tackle', grabbing Harry around the waist and letting gravity do the rest. They both hit the grass, abandoning weapons for hand to hand and wrestling. They rolled, exchanging hold and counterhold.
Eventually, Duo began to see the difference between fighting with Heero, and fighting with Harry. Heero went in for the kill, or the move that would win him the fight as quick as possible. Harry, on the other hand, paid attention to the fight and made his decisions based on the movements of his opponent. When ever Duo moved to put Harry in a head hold, said boy would duck and use their rolling momentum to release the hold and have them start again anew. Finally, after rolling along the banks of the lake and back again, they rolled right over Harry's broom, still lying on the grass.
With a lunge, Harry grabbed it and went airborne, circling around Duo with a grin. He summoned a knife from the ground and whispered a spell over it, throwing it down. Duo dodged but otherwise didn't move. A second knife had the same whispered word and was thrown down, dodged as well. A third knife landed at Duo's feet, and much to the boys surprise he couldn't move an inch.
Harry laughed, jumped off the broom and began walking calmly towards his partner, friend and semi-boyfriend.
"I've put you in a barrier cage," the Gryffindor said lightly, walking around Duo and giving his behind a quick slap. Duo's yelp was cut off when the wizard pressed their lips together quickly. "You can't get out, and your weapons are useless." Harry continued, pretending nothing had happened. With a simple hand gesture, Harry forced the cage to compact slightly, pushing Duo gently towards the ground and holding him there. He pulled out his gun and jokingly pressed it against the other boy's temple.
"Give?"
Duo shrugged. "Do what you must."
There was a startled gasp a dozen or so yards away, and both boys looked up, surprised at the sudden intrusion.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Harry paled slightly, not removing the hold he had on Duo. "Hermione?"
Hermione looked panicked. "Harry? Where in the world did you get a *gun*?" She watched with wide eyes as Harry slowly drew the weapon away from Duo's temple before promptly passing out.
"Uh," Duo said after Harry had removed the barrier. "Well, damn."
===
A few days after the "Hermione Incident" the poor girl still wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. Duo and Harry had managed to bring her back to the common room before she awoke, and had convinced her that they had just gone for a 'casual stroll'.
Hermione had her doubts and suspicions about what they said, but without solid proof she couldn't question them. Well, she could but she wasn't willing to risk looking like a insecure teenaged girl. She did, however, share this tidbit of information with Ron, which gave the red head more about his best friends 'friends' to be nervous about.
And, a better excuse to avoid them.
As for the pilots, they happened to be thriving in Hogwarts. Being brought into an environment that was full of people their age, and where they didn't stand out as war hero's and weren't waiting for some assignment that kept them from settling down... it was in a way, very cleansing for their souls. Sure, Harry and Heero still had to avoid each other to keep away the risk of being sucked into one body, but they managed.
For a while.
===
"I just don't know what's gotten into Harry!" Hermione sulked, throwing herself into one of the plush chairs of the Gryffindor Common Room. "He's never acted so distant with us before! Even when he's angry he at least yells at us!"
Sitting across from her, Ron only nodded, his eyes locked on his Magical Theory homework. He had learned after only five years that it was better for Hermione to finish ranting until expressing his own opinion.
"And these exchange students!" Hermione continued, apparently having finished ranting about Harry with still some steam to blow. "The school they come from, Gundam Academy, *I've* never heard of it! I even checked in "Magical Schools, Landmarks and Legends: Japan" it has even the tiniest of schools mentioned... but not that one!" She paused, realizing she was becoming repetitive. "And another thing! Harry being able to speak Japanese, when did that happen?! Why didn't he tell us something like that?"
Something sparked in Ron's memory that caused him to look up from his homework. "Actually," he said slowly, trying to remember. "Last year... he had a dream and he was yelling in Japanese." Ron frowned, "but when I asked him about it he said he couldn't speak the language." The red-heads eyes narrowed in anger, "why did he lie to me?"
Hermione's eyes also narrowed. "Why indeed," she murmured.
===
Duo hummed a pointless tune as he and Heero walked down the hallway for their Ancient Runes class. Heero was quiet as usual, though his piercing eyes and strong posture spoke volumes in Duo's eyes. Reaching out with his thieving fingers, the American took a firm hold of the Perfect Soldiers hand and continued with his song.
"^Quiet down Hee-chan," he teased in his usual happy-go-lucky way. "^I can barely hear myself think."
Heero finally cracked a smile, his eyes softening as they took in the site of his long haired lover. "You think I'm worrying over nothing?" He asked, looking down at their entwined fingers.
"Nah," Duo smiled. "You're the Perfect Soldier, it's in your blood to blow things out of proportion... sort of. Anyway, I know why your worried, so at least I can laugh at you for a reason."
"Hn."
"What's a Perfect Soldier?" A familiar voice asked as they turned the corner. Hermione looked at them with brown eyes that held a speck of suspicion in them.
"Hm?" Duo asked carelessly, grinning in a disarming way only he could pull off. "What's a what?"
Heero on the other hand stiffened slightly, not enough for Hermione to pick up, so minutely in fact, that Duo almost didn't notice. He tightened his grip on Duo's hand to tell the boy he would answer all questions.
Duo laughed.
"It's a nickname Duo kindly bestowed on me," he answered gruffly.
"Because he's so serious all the time!" Duo added, wrapping an affectionate arm around Heero's shoulders. "You should have seen him back home, it took nearly two years to get him to liven up even a little bit." Two violet eyes rolled skyward.
Hermione didn't seem satisfied with the answer but it was clear she wasn't going to press forward with that line of questioning. "I noticed you and Harry started avoiding each other," she said bluntly. "I thought you were best friends."
Duo laughed again, "well... a few days ago Harry and I had a slightly romantic moment and Hee-chan here found out." He giggled softly, "so they're avoiding each other. But damn, Harry sure can kiss!"
Heero growled realistically and pulled Duo into the classroom. Hermione stared after them in wonder, marveling at their ability to twist answers to tell the truth, but not the correct answer. Only top notch Auror's could do that so flawlessly.
===
After a few months, most of the student body had grown accustomed to Duo and Wufei's constant life-or-death bickering. As such, if one were to see Wufei chasing Duo in the hallways wielding a pair of scissors one merely stepped out of the way and continued walking. Students weren't surprised to hear the strange suffixes added to the professors names, such as McGonagal-sensai, or Snape-baka. Even the teachers had gotten used to the fact that the Gundam pilots preferred to write their notes in nearly indistinguishable Japanese characters. All of the houses couldn't help but enjoy the company of Duo, who was someone everybody got along with by law, and the long haired boy and his boyfriend were constantly switching house-tables to eat with friends.
But currently, Duo was alone... and he was running very late for a class he was not favored in. Probably because he was awful at it and goofed around rather then paid attention to the teacher.
"LATE!" Duo could be heard yelping as he jumped down the dungeon stairs. "I'M LATE! I'M LATE! FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE!" He couldn't resisting the classic line even as he ran down even more stairs and found the damp corridors. Running down one of the many corridors in the Hogwarts dungeons, and carrying what he hoped he needed for potions. Just as he was turning the corner that would bring him to the classroom, something pushed him from behind.
Duo stumbled but didn't quite fall, keeping a firm grip on his books.
"Poor student's late," a voice from behind him sang. "Naughty, naughty!"
Duo flipped his braid over his shoulder and turned around, letting out an uncharacteristicly high pitched yelp at the site of the floating colorful ghost behind him. "A ghost! COOL!"
Without warning, he pounced, wanting to see if he would fly through the pearly white figure or not. He hit the wall with a grunt. Well, that answered that question.
"Cool?" The ghost sniffed. "And I'm no ghost, I'm a polterguist, much more nasty than any ghost you'll ever meet."
"So, what's your name?" Duo asked. "Why are you worse then ghosts? Are you really dead? Can you hurt people? Do you like playing tricks on people? Are you really flying, or just floating? What's your favorite color?"
"Peeves. Because. Yes. Yes. Yes. Both. Orange." Peeves replied, beginning to like this boy. "Do you play pranks?"
Duo's eyes gleamed. "I *live* for pranks!" He glanced down at his watch. "Oh shit! Now I'm *really* late!" He cast one last look at Peeves. "You wouldn't know any way to distract Snape-baka for a minute would you? Long enough for me to get inside the room?"
The poltergeists eyes gleamed wickedly. "You've got twenty seconds."
===
Duo snuck into the potions lab while Snape attempted to clean up the mess in his suddenly over boiled cauldron. All the while the head of Slyterin was screaming, "PEEVES! I'LL GET YOU!!!!"
"Where were you?" Heero asked silently, knowing that Duo could read lips.
"Met a new friend." Duo smirked. "Goes by the name of Peeves."
On the other side of Heero, Draco's face turned white. This new alliance could not be good at all. A few moments later, Snape seemed to have recovered his dignity and turned back to the class.
"As I was saying... since Mr. Maxwell is not with us for class today," he said silkily, apparently he had taken role before Duo arrived. "I think he will have a meeting with Mr. Filch..."
Duo raised his hand. "Snape-baka," he called out in a sweet voice. "You must have missed me, I'm here!"
Snape scowled, "detention for sneaking into class." He barked. With that settled, he turned his attention back to the class, starting his lecture for the days potions.
Duo pulled out some parchment and his pen, quickly scratching out a note to Heero asking what he missed. Heero wrote something on the corner of his own notes. Duo nearly laughed, his boyfriend had actually written down "hn." as an answer.
All through the class period, however, it was clear that something wasn't right. A sort of dark omen surrounded Duo's mind, making him extra edgy. Heero, Duo noticed, had been extremely quiet, even for him. And even though the Strengthening potion they worked on together was perfect and nothing happened, Duo couldn't help but worry.
And it became very clear why that dark cloud hung in his mind.
A red stain of blood was slowly creeping down from Heero's forehead. And just as Duo noticed and began to cry out in shock, Heero's unconscious form tipped forwards, banging into the cooling cauldron.
"HEERO!"
===
Harry's head ached. It felt as though it were being broken into thousands of pieces, jumped on by not only Wing Zero, but the entire OZ mobile doll fleet. Voices roared in his ears, not words, just voices. He was in agony however much he tried to hide the fact.
Not only that, but he knew exactly *why* he was in so much pain. Voldemort had been sending him nightmares filled with blood and screaming for the past week. Pain racked his body when he woke, and blood dripped silently from where he dug at his skin. The Dark Lord knew something, Harry was certain. He was testing the boundaries of the link he had unintentionally placed between them, testing it for a reason.
Harry was afraid of that reason. He didn't want to put Heero in danger, even if the boy was another part of himself. Because if Heero got into serious trouble, the others would throw themselves into the fight without a second thought.
Turning his mind back to the Transfiguration lesson he was currently suffering through, Harry tried to concentrate on McGonagall's words. For all his efforts he couldn't distinguish her voice from the ringing in his ears and allowed his head to rest in his hands. A poke on his shoulder caused him to look up.
Quatre and Wufei, sitting on either sides of him were staring with quiet concern. Trowa, on the far side of Quatre continued to take notes, though his visible eye would glance at him every few moments. On the other side of the classroom, stubbornly ignoring him, Hermione and Ron studiously took notes.
"^Are you alright?^" Quatre whispered, his face a little ashen as his Empathic senses fed off of the aura Harry was emitting. The blonds face was etched with Harry's pain, his hands trembling on the desk.
Harry took a breath, trying to clear his head enough to sort through the simple phrase and make sense of it. "I-"
But that was as far as he got before he collapsed in his seat and seemingly cracked his head on the desk, scarlet blood oozing from his head. Harry's body was still, and slowly began to grow cold.
"HARRY!"
Surprisingly, it was Wufei who shouted, interrupting McGonagall's current ranting. When Harry fell, so did Quatre, not being able to withstand the ill waves of pain any longer then Harry.
The Chinese pilot jumped to his feet in a panic, something strange for him, and began shaking the pale wizard next to him. "Harry, HARRY! Wake up!"
McGonagall appeared, her face ashen. "Take them to the hospital wing," she demanded, pointing at Harry and Quatre. "NOW!"
Scooping Harry into his arms, Wufei did just that. He could hear Trowa's pounding yet silent footsteps behind him as they ran. But eventually his panic caused him to run even faster, becoming little more then a blurry shadow.
Harry couldn't die, he just couldn't.
===
There. Right there he could feel that the link split in half. Using his mind, Voldemort gave the split link a cautious poke, wondering what it would do.
With a scream of pain, Voldemort found out. The Dark Lord fell to his knees, clawing at his skin though his pain. It was more painful then anything he could ever imagine, worse even then being ripped from your own body or even various torture spells piled one on top of the other.
Was this what Potter went though when ever they touched, or when he exploited their link too much? Was this the pain that raced through his body and left him panting and bleeding with self inflicted wounds? How was that boy still alive after years of torment like that? How was he still sane?
Getting shakily to his feet, Voldemort frowned uncertainly. The link, he finally decided, it must somehow be the split in the magic. Heaving himself back into his thrown-like chair, Voldemort picked up the file of Harry Potter's life.
The split power level, the split link. Power surges, emotional bursts. His up-bringing, his supposed home life. The boy was spoiled beyond all belief, or he should have been. Quidditch team at age eleven, school hero at twelve... Harry Potter was just one big mystery to him.
Grunting in annoyance, Voldemort called in one of his more trustworthy Junior Death-Eaters. The girl was a nuisance but she did attend Hogwarts and managed to spy relatively well. He demanded she update him on Dumbledore's movements before snorting as though already knowing.
"Crucio!"
Screams of pain always sounded better coming from someone else.
===
Ron burst into the hospital wing, spotted the bed holding his best friend and sprinted over to it. The resident nurse was standing by him, her face unreadable.
When Ron reached her, Madam Pomphrey bowed her head, stepping away from the body. "I'm sorry." She said softly.
The youngest Weasley boy stood in shock. Harry Potter was dead. The Boy Who Lived, Gryffindor Golden Boy, Savior of the Wizarding World... his best friend, had died. And the last thing Ron had said to him was accusing him of lying and then ignoring him for the rest of Harry's short life.
"No," he whispered, staring down at the pale figure on the bed. "It can't be, he can't be dead!" The last words came out as a yell, a sort of choked out cry of disbelief, shock and pain.
"Mr. Weasley if you cannot control yourself I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" Madam Pomphrey scolded, her voice was hard but the gentle gleam of sorrow in her eyes told a different story. It was the first time she had lost a patient in her whole career. For her students, being sick, getting hurt and getting into fights was normal. Dying just didn't happen. A tear dripped down her cheek.
At least she hadn't lost any other patients today. Mr. Yuy was in a light coma, and Mr. Winner had already awoken. The other exchange students hadn't ventured far from the hospital bed, looking shocked and worried.
A hand came down to rest on Ron's shoulder and the boy looked up into a green eye that looked too familiar to be real. Those were almost like Harry's eyes, except colder and much older. Trowa offered no words at first, his hand a steady presence on Ron's shoulder while the two of them looked at Harry's body.
"He's not really dead," Trowa finally said softly. "His body may have stopped functioning, his heart stopped beating, but he's still alive." The tall boy sighed bowing his head. "If you can still remember his laughter, his thoughts and ideas. If Harry Potter's memory still rests in your heart then he can never die."
Ron stood silently, hearing the softly spoken words with his ears but not his heart. Without a word he turned on his heel and rushed from the hospital wing.
On the other side of the ward, Duo sat still, clenching Heero's hand tightly. His violet eyes were pleading silently with Wing Zero's pilot. Under Duo's watchful eyes Heero rested, having slipped from the coma a moment or so after nearly two days. Deathscythe's pilot had heard Madam Pomphrey's soft comment to Ron, and Trowa's heartfelt words. He knew he could get over Harry's death faster then normal people... but if Heero were to die as well, life would become pointless for him.
"Mr. Maxwell," the nurse said, placing one hand on his arm. "You need to get some sleep." She handed him a small crystal veil. "Drink this."
Duo sniffed it cautiously before shrugging and downing it in one gulp. He could feel the liquid going down his throat and into his stomach. It transferred into his blood immediately and sent calming waves of sleep though his body. With relief, Duo let himself succumb to the darkness and rested his body on the bed his Hee-chan was on.
===
Duo regained consciousness immediately, though he didn't outwardly show it. With ease he kept his breathing slow and deep, his heartbeat regular and his eyes closed. He had been moved out of the hospital wing and he was strapped down to a bed. A new potion was pumping though his blood, its effects he wasn't sure of.
The next thing he noticed were the voices. He could hear Wufei speaking passively about something, and a few of his professors commenting quietly. He came up with the solution of where he was about to be questioned. Holding back a sigh, the American opened his eyes to see Quatre leaning over him.
"^I thought you were awake,^" the blond smiled. "^They found the scar on Heero's head and got suspicious with our story. They've put a Truth Serum in you, because you were the only one unconscious. Sorry.^"
Duo's eyes asked a silent question.
"^He's fine, just a few physical differences. We removed Harry's body from the hospital wing while you were out, he's hidden in our dormitories secret tower.^" Quatre added, interpreting the look like few others could. "^And Heero said to tell you that he and his double are one again.^"
Duo's eyes widened. "Really?"
The room was immediately silenced at his word and Albus Dumbledore suddenly loomed over the restrained boy, his expression very serious indeed.
"Can you hear me?" He asked, his voice low and cold.
"I'm awake aren't I?" Duo countered, resisting the potions effects with truthful but misleading answered like he had been trained.
Dumbledore blinked.
"Please state your name."
"Duo Maxwell."
"Is that your real name? The name given to you at your birth?"
"It's real enough," Duo said defensively. "I made it myself."
"Explain."
"I grew up on the streets and I didn't have a name." Duo said, this time not resisting the potion. "Eventually I began to call myself Duo. After a while I was brought to live in a church called the Maxwell Church, my name reminds me of my past."
Dumbledore accepted that answer. "Where are you from?"
Duo sighed, these questions were so bland! "I'm American in origin," he said haughtingly. "But I travel a lot." There was no way he was going to mention the Space Colonies, that would put forth a lot of questions he didn't have answers for.
"What school did you go to before coming here?"
"Lots of schools," Duo grinned, knowing he was going to enjoy this. "I met Heero at St. Gabriells Institute, I attended there about two weeks. Then we both switched to a different school in another district. The five of us have switched school so many times that we ended up finding private Mentors and training that way." He grinned, wondering if the old man had managed to keep up with Duo-logic. "But really, life is a school, because everyone you meet is either a classmate or a teacher and you learn something new everyday."
There was a growl of annoyance. "How did you end up here in Britain?"
"It was a surprise trip," Duo said flippantly, blowing at a strand of hair that had fallen into his eyes. "We hadn't expected to come at all."
"Can you explain the scar on Mr. Yuy's forehead?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes growing colder at the lack of straight answers he was receiving.
"Hee-chan has a lot of scars," Duo snipped, "I don't know one from the next. Why should one be more important to you then another?"
"Do you work for Voldemort?"
"That bastard?" Duo hissed, his eyes suddenly spitting fire. "I wouldn't belittle myself enough to kill without reason."
And realizing he had said too much, Duo feigned exhaustion and slumped back on to the table. He let his body go limp and his heartbeat slow while he listened attentively to the sudden flurry of activity around him.
"Let him up," Wufei demanded. "You had no right to question him like that."
"That boy is the closest link we have to Mr. Yuy. We would talk to Yuy himself, but he is still in a coma..."
Hee-chan you big faker, Duo thought with an inward smile.
"...and because we can find no records of your previous schooling, and you yourselves won't give us any information," Dumbledore continued angrily, "I didn't have any choice but to question one of you. It's a strange coincidence that you just appear out of nowhere with Hogwarts style teaching. It's a strange fact that Mr. Potter and Mr. Yuy share many physical and magical traits. The lightning scar on Harry's forehead should have been the only one in existence. But both boys collapse at the same moment with bleeding scars and you try to tell me that they're not somehow linked." He looked down at Wufei.
Wufei bristled at that look, his fists clenching at his sides. The Chinese youth could feel the supporting weight of his katana and for a moment he thought about taking it out, just for kicks. Then his mind cleared. "You are just as bad as everyone else," he finally decided. "You preach about giving justice and a fair chance to everyone, but when it comes down to it, the words are empty."
And he was off on one of his more meaningful Justice Rants. For once, Duo, Quatre and Trowa were relieved to hear it, and reveled in the fact that it wasn't directed at them. The words flowing from Wufei's mouth became angrier, the boy spitting words from his native tongue into his speech in his anger. He finally began ranting in one of the many dialects of Chinese. Duo had to choke back his laughter as Wufei proceeded to announce that he thought Dumbledore was "a creepy, manipulative old man who plays game with peoples futures like a demented monkey playing god." And then went on to insult him again, "as powerful as an ant being squashed by twenty thousand shoes and then hearing the song, "La Cucuratcha"."
Trowa and Quatre, not able to understand Wufei's words any more then the various teachers in the room sat back to watch, knowing Duo would fill them in later.
===========================================
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