AN Yay! This story still exists! Would you look at that, I made it all the way to chapter 11 without ripping all of my hair out! It must be a miracle! Anywho... you might be confused about a few things so let me explain for you.
1) Thought I didn't techincally state this anywhere in the story, I am trying to actually focus on the plot this time, instead of the relationships. Meaning plot is more important then if Harry/Heero and Duo are making out half the time. (Which, by the way, they're not.)
2) Each of the pilots have managed to adapt their magic into a spesific skill. Cookies if you can identify what they are. I'll post a note soon with all further information regarding that.
3) In this chapter, I have Voldemort refer to the pilots with numbers, as he does not know their names. The numbers are not in accordance to GW, I pretty much chose them randomly. So, don't get mad at me for that.
Now, enjoy!
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Chapter 11
"You managed to get away?"
"Yes, my lord. We weren't able to bring the boys with us because of the swarms of Muggles surrounding us - but we did learn quite a bit about their fighting styles.
"Show me."
The shorter man nodded, almost eagerly and hurried into a corner of the dark, damp room to retrieve what looked like a Pensive. With a swirl of his wand, an image appeared.
"This is the boy we call 01." The man said in a stiff voice, it was obvious that he was the man who had fought against that boy. "Him, and this boy, 02-" another image shimmered into existence "-seem to be partners. They are a very sharp and efficient pair." The man flicked his wand again and the two forms hovering in mid-air began fighting against invisible foes. Muggle weapons were brought into sight while Magical weapons took the back stage.
"This boy here," the figures called 01 and 02 disappeared and a new one took their place, balancing on a wire. "Is the one we call 04. This one's fighting seems to be more offensive then defensive as to wear down his opponent." 04's form began a series of extensive looking flips and twirls to avoid numerous spell blasts. "He seems to work as a single unit rather then with a partner."
"This boy is 05, he seems to be the weakest of the group. He was reported to have been knocked unconscious after only a few physical blows. However, he was with the Malfoy boy and the other somehow managed to overpower our force and escape relatively unscathed." The image of 05 and Draco Malfoy disappeared to be replaced with a sort of flickering. "03 is extremely fast, he uses spells to enhance his speed and as such it was very difficult to catch a good look at him. "All we could determine about him is that he is also solitary and attacks with a sort of Asian sword that gives off a blast of power that is unavoidable."
"Your report is very vague." The Dark Lord scowled, frowning at the still flickering half image of 03.
"I am sorry, My Lord." The man bowed, trying to make his body as small as possible. "But these boys are a mystery to even the fools at Hogwarts. And since the loss of our spies there, we have no informants..."
"CRUCIO!"
===
Hermione Granger sat in her first class of Monday morning, quill out and ready to learn. Her best friend, Ron Weasley sat right next to her, staring at the door with hatred burning in his eyes. The whole class was sitting tensely in their seats, waiting for both Professor Binns and the five exchange students to arrive.
But today was different, because today Hermione had finally gotten the package she had sent out for. A magical language translator. She had placed the simple looking charm in her hair and she was anxious to discover what the Japanese boys said to each other when they didn't want to be heard. Quite unfortunately, Hermione's charm didn't allow her to actually speak different languages, just understand them.
But back to the classroom, the door had just opened. The class, as a whole, narrowed their eyes then relaxed as Draco Malfoy walked calmly into the room. He seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with someone who was still walking down the hall.
"Good luck," the blond called, waving. Hermione realized with a start that he had spoken in Japanese. Draco then turned and showed the class his recently changed appearance. Spending time with a bored Duo Maxwell probably wasn't a very smart move, for Draco now had one ear pierced (though it was really just his borrowed translating charm) and just the tiniest hint of very dark green in his hair. Duo had decided that a charm that strengthened as Draco's power did would be a great way to train their new friend to control his anger. Thus, the more Draco learned to stay cool, the less his hair would be colored. So if he lost his grip of emotions, he'd have a head of almost neon green hair. Currently, he was wearing a green which set off his suddenly glowing silver eyes quite well.
The class was hushed, staring with shock as the formerly cold, recently warmed, and amazingly rich and powerful Draco Malfoy chose to sit in the very back corner seat of the classroom. All by himself. One last late student arrived and this poor soul received the burnt of fifty pent up glares.
Professor Binns floated through the wall and began lecturing about Rebellious Imps, while rumors began to circulate about the missing boys.
"Perhaps they were finally expelled!" One Gryffindor girl whispered to her friends.
"Serves them right!"
"Maybe they were removed from Hogwarts and taken back to Japan because of family problems." Another student, this time a Slytherin suggested.
"Fool, who would want them?!"
"I bet they decided to join You-Know-Who!"
Whispers broke out about that. Murmurs of agreement and reasons of why that was likely. Hermione herself remembered how nearly two months ago Heero had snuck out of his dorms and out to the lake. Who cares that Harry Potter had been with him, Yuy was evil. Also a convenient dream involving Duo trying to kill Harry on the front lawn, surely that meant something. Ron remembered all his terrifying experiences around the boys, how Duo and Wufei seemed to have an on-going rivalry that involved very sharp and lethal looking weapons. And everyone knew the rumors about Heero and Duo going out into the forbidden forest to battle against horrible beasts during the middle of the night. Because after all, all rumors start with a small grain of the truth.
And all the while, Draco sat seemingly calmly in his chair taking notes. Or, that's what it looked like at least. If one were to look carefully they would soon realize that Draco was indeed writing, but even more writing appeared that didn't come from his pen. The pen itself being an oddity, for Malfoy's only used wizards best tools - that being Eagle feather quills - Hermione didn't even notice the change. Besides his note writing, Draco was seething with anger and trying to control his new magical abilities, some parts of his hair began darkening to green as his power grew more and more. Finally, the blond set down his pen and took a deep relaxing breath. His hair faded back to blond before the boy focused on the many extra inkwells stored on the far side of the room.
It took a great deal of concentration, but he managed to levitate all of the ink and none of the bottles without being found out. One minute later ink splashed down on every student, save Draco.
Shrieks and yells erupted.
And Professor Binns continued to lecture about Imps, not noticing the lack of interest or attention he was receiving.
===
Wufei sat in the library greedily absorbing the information laid out before him. Instead of being forced to shelve books or something horribly mundane like that, Madam Pince had told him to sit at a table and not touch anything. It seems she didn't trust him more they he trusted her. So, there he sat. A book in one hand, obsidian eyes happily eating up the words, and a pen in the other, writing notes with Draco who was in history at the moment.
Ignoring Draco for a moment, Wufei turned his attention on the book lying open in front of him. It was a very old book, lacking a title and in desperate need of rewriting. It was also written in the very old and very dead language of Old Norse...
A language that Wufei knew absolutely nothing about. However, the scholar had previously come across an ancient Chinese spell to translate written words into a written Chinese dialect, so he cast that spell on his reading glasses and off he went into the wonderful world of Magical Animals and Animal Myths. Lucky for him he was Chinese and therefore very able to read the words laid out in front of his eyes. A little more unluckily, he was pretty sure the book didn't have the information he wanted in it. Fascinating read or not.
Wufei smiled at the book and turned his eyes back to his note with Draco. The blond wizard had agreed to keep them posted on the students ideas of them. With a wince Wufei picked up his pen and quickly wrote something back to his friend.
[So they think we joined Voldemort, big deal. Just make sure not to get on their bad sides yourself, I don't want you getting thrown into something that you don't deserve. And next time, try to control your anger.]
Draco's answer was humorous. [Hn. They deserved it.]
Somebody had spending a little too much time with Heero lately.
With another smile, Wufei went back to his book and reached up with his free hand to stroke his nearly full grown cat, Hiei. The animal was currently under the effects of a illusion charm, as to not be thrown from the library. But that was what Wufei currently needed to research. As Hiei grew, his body temperature became very warm, almost scalding to the touch. According to Trowa, this was not normal for an ordinary cat and either Hiei was something more then a plain cat - or really sick.
Shenlong's pilots eyes lit up on a very short passage. "In some legends, young demon cats are slipped into normal kitten litters for raising. This is thought to be a practice only used by the mythical "Hell-Cat" a demonic cat with bright red eyes. The Hell-Cat will choose its litter within one to two weeks of birth. The Hell-Cat is said to be able to burn all those it opposes, and heal whoever it befriends. This animal is distinguishable by its eyes and extremely hot skin."
Black eyes turned to look into red cat-slited eyes. Well, it made much more sense then Duo's theory about little aliens living in his pets brain. "A Hell-Cat, huh?"
===
Quatre held back an annoyed grunt as he lifted yet another heavy box of cleaning supplise. He silently slipped some of his magic into the box to make the task easier before turning to look at the man frowning at him with dislike. Quatre had quickly decided that they best way to get onto Argus Filch's good side was to offer his help, instead of being forced to do work. So far, the man was still suspicious of the Arabian's sincerity, not to mention annoyed with his tolerance of hard work.
"Where would you like this one, Filch-sama?" Quatre asked pleasantly, nodding down at the box in his arms.
"Don't call me that!" Filch snapped, not liking the suffix added to his name in the least. "What's that mean anyway?"
Quatre offered a very small smile. "Well, 'Sama' is simply a term of respect." He said calmly. "Though it can be used as a title as well. Filch-sama is just a way of saying that you're my superior."
The man was silent, not sure whether he believed the boy or not.
"Put that in my office," he snapped finally.
Quatre nodded and began walking out of the storage cabinet and towards Filch's second floor office. If he was lucky, he could win over the surely janitor in only a week or so. Maybe then he and his friends would be allowed small allowances when breaking the rules.
As the five, now six with Draco, were bound to be doing.
===
Their wands had been confiscated as they walked into their placements on Monday morning. Hagrid nearly forgot to take Trowa's, as did Madam Pomphrey in her panic about Duo's arm. Dumbledore nearly pounced on Heero as to have his wand. As Gundam Pilots it came as a blow to have one of their most powerful and useful weapons removed from their possession, and they weren't happy about it in the least. It was like watching your Gundam explode right in front of your eyes.
At least that reaction made them seem like normal wizards.
Trowa had reported to them Monday night that the five wands had been sent away to Olivanders for "safe keeping". This had quickly been translated to being checked over and tested for dark magic - curtsey of Draco who had been told that along with the rest of the students.
"So basically," Harry had summarized, twirling his own wand through his fingers as though it were a baton. "They only want to know what the wands are capable of and what we've been doing with them.
The others sat, silently glaring at the wood in his hand, now emitting large golden bubbles as it was spun faster and faster.
"Why do you still have yours?" Trowa finally bit out in jealousy.
"Because I'm dead." Harry smiled. "And my wand was stolen along with my body, invisibility cloak and the rest of my possessions."
The others had nothing to say about that. For they themselves were the ones who had snuck into Harry's dorm to retrieve his things.
They managed a weak sounding, "oh." And left it at that.
===
"So what exactly is the point of this again?" Draco sulked, following Heero and Duo through the fireplace and into their secret tower.
The tower, surprisingly enough, was actually quite large, with a long hallway and three doors leading to different areas. The first door led to a sort of computer room, though it could also double to be some sort of library/information base. One side of the room was equipped with each of the pilots lap-tops, much faster and more advanced then anything you could buy off the streets, each hooked onto the interned and running off magic based power. Also in this room were half built bombs, half researched spells, and something that seemed to be a mix of a potions lab and a forensic science lab.
The door at the end of the hallway was where Harry's body was being kept. Under lock, key, and spell the body was being preserved as to not rot or something like that. The door leading to the room was covered in so many warding and illusion spells and also protection charms, not to mention traps set by Harry himself, so that if you didn't know it was there - it wasn't.
The other door, right across from the first is where Draco was being led. It was in all aspects of the word, a training room. Almost like the Room of Requirement in some ways. At the far end was a shooting range, right next to that was a wall full of various weapons, (curtsey of Duo) ranging from thermal scythes to guns to fencing swords and pretty much anything else the boy could think of. Also situated seemingly randomly, were a few work out stations, a tumbling mat, fighting dummies, and surprisingly a chessboard.
"Because you have the same potential to master this sort of stuff that we did." Heero told the boy, summoning a gun into his hand from the wall across the room. "We'll start with guns and weapon handling."
Draco sighed and accepted the weapon, holding it almost gingerly in his hand.
Heero frowned at the blond boys stance. "Maybe working on your stance will be better..." He nodded with his decision and moved to place Draco's body in the correct stance for handling any weapon - solid but loose. Draco tensed slightly at the contact but managed to relax with yet another sigh.
Duo simply grinned knowingly and left for the computer room. As he left the room, he felt the slight tingle of magic that told him he had passed through the spell to quicken time. That spell was placed on the work out room so that the boys could have a two hour work out session in about ten minutes. It was an ingenious idea, curtosy of Quatre, so their long absences would go unnoticed. Walking into the computer room, Duo plopped down at his lap-top and took a moment to look at the screen saver.
The saver was a long line of photographs that had been taken of the five boys. Duo especially like the picture of them sitting on the red couch, and the picture with the Gundams. There was even a picture of them all dressed like cowboys - sort of. Getting his friends to pose like that took talent and patience, which Duo was proud to say he had.
"Reminiscing again?"
Duo laughed and turned around. "Perhaps I was just enjoying staring at nothing." He grinned at Wufei and turned back to the computer. "How's the news about the Amusement Park bombing?"
"They still can't figure out how to disarm your bomb." Wufei smirked, sitting down at his own computer, the furthest possible from Duo's, and clicking a few buttons. The screen popped up with information and ideas about what it meant. "I'm quite sure that the professors here don't connect us with what happened, and the Death Eaters we pinned disappeared after the 'Muggles' managed to get them up. Nobody who doesn't know about this world knows what to think. And nobody in this world knows that it happened." Wufei clicked the mouse on a link and pulled up the account of the amazingly advanced bomb. The caption sounded somewhat bewildered, explaining that it was made with unknown substances and had no known way of detonation.
"I wonder what would happen if I detonated it from here." Duo said musingly, "what would they think?" He turned back to his own computer and watched as the picture of the boys walking down the street changed into a picture of them fighting over cheesecake.
"Anyway, since you've told me what I need to know - I'm going to get some dinner. Want to come?"
===
A month passed like that. Each boy reporting dutifully each morning to their required areas, slowly trying to gain the respect and trust of the professors once more. Duo learned all of the different various potions and spells used to heal anything from paper cuts to cancer. Wufei kept researching in the library, trying to do so as stealthy as possible - not reading the same books sorts of books all at once. Trowa spent his time with Hagrid, skillfully pulling what seemed to be random bits of information from the half giant while practically taming every beast he came within sight of. Quatre, through his daily sessions with Filch finally won a scrap of respect and was allowed to roam the halls by himself during the day. He was even given the authority to take house points and give detentions.
The biggest set back was Heero, being forced to spend all his time in Dumbledore's office while the old man switched from trying to pry information from him and trying to win him over with every spare moment he had.
"Ah! Heero look, mistletoe!"
Duo pointed up at the archway above his head and grinned.
Heero chuckled and motioned for Duo to move closer. He gave the boy a satisfactory kiss and watched as the long haired boy leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Eyes suddenly going from blue to green, Harry lunged to pin Duo and treat him with a second kiss. Duo, as short of breath as he was, was only too happy to comply.
"Maxwell! Yuy!" A voice barked from the other end of the hallway. "Detention!"
Duo rolled his eyes and looked over at Snape, who was scowling at them with the one and only "I-will-find-a-way-to-expell-you" glare.
"Relax, Snape-baka," Duo said easily, taking Harry's hand and leading his boyfriend past the man. "We were just following a Christmas tradition."
Hermione stepped out from behind Snape just as the two boys passed them. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say." The girl said pompously.
"^Perhaps,^" Duo said, already knowing about her translator charm. "^But the title suits him so well, don't you agree, Mione-baka?^" He shot her a smug smile and continued down the hall with Harry in tow.
Hermione growled and began following them down the hallway. "You might be able to fool the professors but you can't fool me!" She snarled.
"Honto ni?" Duo mused. "Ah! Heero, hurry up or we'll be late for dinner!"
"It's your own fault," Heero said lightly, taking Duo's hand. "Stopping under the mistletoe like that."
"You're the one who insisted on two kisses!"
Hermione nearly burst into flames she was so angry at being ignored. "Don't you walk away from me!" She shouted, taking a few steps after their retreating figures. "I have some questions to ask you!"
Duo flipped his hair at her and he and Heero continued down the hallway towards the kitchens.
Hermione attempted to follow the boys, intending on giving them a good thrashing. Or perhaps a good ranting. Hell, even a spell or two shot at them would be satisfactory. However, even after she shot a perfectly aimed balding charm at the two boys, it somehow managed to bounce back at her.
The people in Gryffindor tower were not amused to see their star student defeated so easily by the annoying exchange students. Because they quickly petitioned to the headmaster for their expulsion. Hermione began planning revenge.
===
"Duo! That's every night now that you've had detention with Snape!" Quatre frowned at his friend, who was lying on the couch face down, reading some papers. Duo shrugged indifferently.
"What does he make you do down there anyway?" Quatre asked curiously, sitting down on the arm of the couch and tugging gently on his friends long hair.
Duo rolled over with a sigh. "Ah... you know, pointless shit that means absolutely nothing in the long run." Unless of course he was suddenly got the urge to drop the Preventers to become an expert Frog-eye picklier.
"Oh."
There was a pause while Duo rolled back over and began folding up his printouts. "Hee-chan said that the imbeciles were going to inspect the dormitories today." He said offhandedly. "Do you think you could go get Wufei and Draco? I think todays lesson was in computer hacking."
Quatre nodded and disappeared through the fireplace. Duo shoved his paper into his shirt and went to find Trowa and Heero, reminding them about their inspection. The three boys flopped down in their common room just as Quatre, Wufei and an exhausted looking Draco emerged from the fireplace. A fire burst into flame as the passage closed up behind them. And just a moment later, the door to the dormitory opened, letting Dumbledore and McGonagall into the room.
Draco snickered at the thought of one of them saying the current password, "I Shall Never Learn The Secrets of The Boys Hidden Within". He wasn't sure who thought it up, but it was pretty amusing to see Dumbledore's frustrated face.
As the two professors allowed their gaze to sweep across the room, taking in the sight of two boys engrossed in a game of chess, and the others 'reading', they sighed. This was obviously going to be more difficult then they thought.
"Draco, you should move your queen out of the way of Trowa's bishop." Quatre said over his book. Draco nodded and moved the chess piece.
Duo let out a wall shattering series of snores.
"Maxwell! Wake up!"
"Anyway, you boys know why we're here..." Dumbledore shot them all a hard glare. "Reports that you have been using unauthorized magic in the halls and against students. But I must ask, where are the portraits?"
He was talking about part of the wards that had been placed around their rooms. The portraits, having the ability to talk and listen, were a very important part of keeping an eye and an ear on the five boys. They had had Draco take them down before the wards had actually gone up over a month ago.
Which portraits?" Quatre asked, blinking his innocent aqua eyes at the headmaster. Because there were indeed several painting placed around the room. They just happened to be normal Muggle pieces of art - that couldn't talk or move. Dumbledore frowned at him and took a step forward to prod the painting closest to him as though it would bite.
And so the inspection went. The teachers were clearly looking for something that would be considered dark and illegal magic. But all they found was three normal looking bedrooms, a spotless bathroom and five vaguely amused looking teenagers - as Duo was still 'sleeping'.
The two professors were about to leave, clearly disgruntled when quite unfortunately, McGonagall spied a sheet of Muggle style papers, barely peeking out from Duo's shirt. It was, also unfortunately, the Muggle report of the bomb threat and the report of what had played out that day. It also happened to be the only report that mentioned strange black clad men and six boys who were seen fighting with them. McGonagall lunged for the unknown paper and managed to snatch it before anyone could react.
That, in itself was quite an accomplishment.
Reading the paper quickly, her eyebrows drew into one and her lips tightened until they threatened to disappear altogether.
"And just when did you boys leave Hogwarts grounds?" She asked, crumpling the paper in her hand.
The group of teens stared at her in shock. Sure, it *was* the truth, but did she dislike them that much as to immediately suspect them of a bombing in Canada? What was worse was that was Dumbledore immediately back her up. There was just something in the disapproving gleam in his eyes that made all the boys feel horribly guilty.
"Well there's a firing squad if I ever saw one." Draco muttered, proud that he had remained indifferent to the headmasters spell. He hadn't actually ever seen a firing squad, but he had been subjected to enough War Movies to understand the concept.
The adults didn't understand the reference. On the couch, Duo continued to snore. Those two things alone managed to lift Dumbledore's spell from the others.
"Quiet Malfoy!" McGonagall snapped.
"Explain this!" Dumbledore said in his best authoritative voice. Quite unfortunately it did not in anyway compare to Lady Une's voice when she was angry and it didn't even come close to affecting the boys.
"It's a piece of paper." Wufei drawled with annoyance. "Printed from a machine. ...Wow?"
"Don't you cheek me!"
"Really," Quatre insisted, stepping forwards to look into the womans eyes. "That is an account of something that happened that my old professor sent me. He wanted to know if I could make any connection to it. Duo was just reading it over for me." It was clear that the Arabian didn't have any problems with lying through his teeth.
And he did it in such a way, and so well, that he got away with it, no questions asked.
"Hm..." Dumbledore said, clearly trying to think of another reason for him to stay in the dorm to try and find something. "Oh, right! As you probably know, Christmas vacation is starting in a few days. I know you all put your names down for the staying the second half of the vacation, but I would like to know where you are going for the first half. Standard procedure, you understand."
Heero spoke this time, putting down his book about Magical Theory. "We are going to Japan for a week to visit each of our families, before heading up to China to see Wufei's ancestral grounds and pay respects." Which was also a lie. They were going to downtown London for a few weeks before returning to Hogwarts for New Years.
"I'll get you a Portkey then!" Dumbledore beamed. It was obvious he was eager to thoroughly search the dormitory without the boys present. Heero nodded at him and Dumbledore turned to leave with McGonagall.
Quatre hopped up the moment they left and began thoroughly destroying the magical bugs left behind to spy on them. The other's helped, taking pleasure in stomping the little critters to death. Even Hiei joined in, poking each bug with a paw and watching as they simply burned away.
"So, he really *is* a Hell-cat." Quatre smiled. "You're very lucky that he chose you, Wufei."
Wufei sighed and slumped down in the seat he had been sitting in previously. Hiei jumped into his lap and settled down for a nap, purring as his owner automatically began scratching behind his ears. "No," Wufei muttered, "Madam Pince kicked me out of the library because of Hiei. And just as I located a spell for people with Multiple Personality Disorder. I thought that might be what Heero needed."
All of the boys groaned. Hiei stopped purring.
"I'll switch jobs with you." Trowa said unexpectedly. "I think Hagrid is beginning to question my strength with his creatures. His Flobber Worms have stopped attacking people..." he paused, getting his mind back on track. "Anyway, which book was that spell in?"
Wufei colored slightly. "I'm, uh... not exactly sure. I never got a chance to see the title. But it was in the very back section of the Library, by the Restricted Sections left door. Hiei burned the binding a little on accident before I could get a good look."
Trowa nodded and stood up. He politely turned to Heero, informed him that he would be taking the Invisibility cloak - went to receive said cloak - and disappeared to the library.
He returned after about half an hour, holding the book Wufei had seen, and Hiei had burned. The whole of the cover had been burned off, and a few of the pages had been singed - as well at the binding.
Duo gapped at the book. "Burned a little?" He echoed.
===============================
AN Review and I'll update. Get me 300, and you might just get a few bonus's. ~.^
ALSO! Make sure that you read the note at the top of the page. It's important to the story. ^_^
.
1) Thought I didn't techincally state this anywhere in the story, I am trying to actually focus on the plot this time, instead of the relationships. Meaning plot is more important then if Harry/Heero and Duo are making out half the time. (Which, by the way, they're not.)
2) Each of the pilots have managed to adapt their magic into a spesific skill. Cookies if you can identify what they are. I'll post a note soon with all further information regarding that.
3) In this chapter, I have Voldemort refer to the pilots with numbers, as he does not know their names. The numbers are not in accordance to GW, I pretty much chose them randomly. So, don't get mad at me for that.
Now, enjoy!
===============================
Chapter 11
"You managed to get away?"
"Yes, my lord. We weren't able to bring the boys with us because of the swarms of Muggles surrounding us - but we did learn quite a bit about their fighting styles.
"Show me."
The shorter man nodded, almost eagerly and hurried into a corner of the dark, damp room to retrieve what looked like a Pensive. With a swirl of his wand, an image appeared.
"This is the boy we call 01." The man said in a stiff voice, it was obvious that he was the man who had fought against that boy. "Him, and this boy, 02-" another image shimmered into existence "-seem to be partners. They are a very sharp and efficient pair." The man flicked his wand again and the two forms hovering in mid-air began fighting against invisible foes. Muggle weapons were brought into sight while Magical weapons took the back stage.
"This boy here," the figures called 01 and 02 disappeared and a new one took their place, balancing on a wire. "Is the one we call 04. This one's fighting seems to be more offensive then defensive as to wear down his opponent." 04's form began a series of extensive looking flips and twirls to avoid numerous spell blasts. "He seems to work as a single unit rather then with a partner."
"This boy is 05, he seems to be the weakest of the group. He was reported to have been knocked unconscious after only a few physical blows. However, he was with the Malfoy boy and the other somehow managed to overpower our force and escape relatively unscathed." The image of 05 and Draco Malfoy disappeared to be replaced with a sort of flickering. "03 is extremely fast, he uses spells to enhance his speed and as such it was very difficult to catch a good look at him. "All we could determine about him is that he is also solitary and attacks with a sort of Asian sword that gives off a blast of power that is unavoidable."
"Your report is very vague." The Dark Lord scowled, frowning at the still flickering half image of 03.
"I am sorry, My Lord." The man bowed, trying to make his body as small as possible. "But these boys are a mystery to even the fools at Hogwarts. And since the loss of our spies there, we have no informants..."
"CRUCIO!"
===
Hermione Granger sat in her first class of Monday morning, quill out and ready to learn. Her best friend, Ron Weasley sat right next to her, staring at the door with hatred burning in his eyes. The whole class was sitting tensely in their seats, waiting for both Professor Binns and the five exchange students to arrive.
But today was different, because today Hermione had finally gotten the package she had sent out for. A magical language translator. She had placed the simple looking charm in her hair and she was anxious to discover what the Japanese boys said to each other when they didn't want to be heard. Quite unfortunately, Hermione's charm didn't allow her to actually speak different languages, just understand them.
But back to the classroom, the door had just opened. The class, as a whole, narrowed their eyes then relaxed as Draco Malfoy walked calmly into the room. He seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with someone who was still walking down the hall.
"Good luck," the blond called, waving. Hermione realized with a start that he had spoken in Japanese. Draco then turned and showed the class his recently changed appearance. Spending time with a bored Duo Maxwell probably wasn't a very smart move, for Draco now had one ear pierced (though it was really just his borrowed translating charm) and just the tiniest hint of very dark green in his hair. Duo had decided that a charm that strengthened as Draco's power did would be a great way to train their new friend to control his anger. Thus, the more Draco learned to stay cool, the less his hair would be colored. So if he lost his grip of emotions, he'd have a head of almost neon green hair. Currently, he was wearing a green which set off his suddenly glowing silver eyes quite well.
The class was hushed, staring with shock as the formerly cold, recently warmed, and amazingly rich and powerful Draco Malfoy chose to sit in the very back corner seat of the classroom. All by himself. One last late student arrived and this poor soul received the burnt of fifty pent up glares.
Professor Binns floated through the wall and began lecturing about Rebellious Imps, while rumors began to circulate about the missing boys.
"Perhaps they were finally expelled!" One Gryffindor girl whispered to her friends.
"Serves them right!"
"Maybe they were removed from Hogwarts and taken back to Japan because of family problems." Another student, this time a Slytherin suggested.
"Fool, who would want them?!"
"I bet they decided to join You-Know-Who!"
Whispers broke out about that. Murmurs of agreement and reasons of why that was likely. Hermione herself remembered how nearly two months ago Heero had snuck out of his dorms and out to the lake. Who cares that Harry Potter had been with him, Yuy was evil. Also a convenient dream involving Duo trying to kill Harry on the front lawn, surely that meant something. Ron remembered all his terrifying experiences around the boys, how Duo and Wufei seemed to have an on-going rivalry that involved very sharp and lethal looking weapons. And everyone knew the rumors about Heero and Duo going out into the forbidden forest to battle against horrible beasts during the middle of the night. Because after all, all rumors start with a small grain of the truth.
And all the while, Draco sat seemingly calmly in his chair taking notes. Or, that's what it looked like at least. If one were to look carefully they would soon realize that Draco was indeed writing, but even more writing appeared that didn't come from his pen. The pen itself being an oddity, for Malfoy's only used wizards best tools - that being Eagle feather quills - Hermione didn't even notice the change. Besides his note writing, Draco was seething with anger and trying to control his new magical abilities, some parts of his hair began darkening to green as his power grew more and more. Finally, the blond set down his pen and took a deep relaxing breath. His hair faded back to blond before the boy focused on the many extra inkwells stored on the far side of the room.
It took a great deal of concentration, but he managed to levitate all of the ink and none of the bottles without being found out. One minute later ink splashed down on every student, save Draco.
Shrieks and yells erupted.
And Professor Binns continued to lecture about Imps, not noticing the lack of interest or attention he was receiving.
===
Wufei sat in the library greedily absorbing the information laid out before him. Instead of being forced to shelve books or something horribly mundane like that, Madam Pince had told him to sit at a table and not touch anything. It seems she didn't trust him more they he trusted her. So, there he sat. A book in one hand, obsidian eyes happily eating up the words, and a pen in the other, writing notes with Draco who was in history at the moment.
Ignoring Draco for a moment, Wufei turned his attention on the book lying open in front of him. It was a very old book, lacking a title and in desperate need of rewriting. It was also written in the very old and very dead language of Old Norse...
A language that Wufei knew absolutely nothing about. However, the scholar had previously come across an ancient Chinese spell to translate written words into a written Chinese dialect, so he cast that spell on his reading glasses and off he went into the wonderful world of Magical Animals and Animal Myths. Lucky for him he was Chinese and therefore very able to read the words laid out in front of his eyes. A little more unluckily, he was pretty sure the book didn't have the information he wanted in it. Fascinating read or not.
Wufei smiled at the book and turned his eyes back to his note with Draco. The blond wizard had agreed to keep them posted on the students ideas of them. With a wince Wufei picked up his pen and quickly wrote something back to his friend.
[So they think we joined Voldemort, big deal. Just make sure not to get on their bad sides yourself, I don't want you getting thrown into something that you don't deserve. And next time, try to control your anger.]
Draco's answer was humorous. [Hn. They deserved it.]
Somebody had spending a little too much time with Heero lately.
With another smile, Wufei went back to his book and reached up with his free hand to stroke his nearly full grown cat, Hiei. The animal was currently under the effects of a illusion charm, as to not be thrown from the library. But that was what Wufei currently needed to research. As Hiei grew, his body temperature became very warm, almost scalding to the touch. According to Trowa, this was not normal for an ordinary cat and either Hiei was something more then a plain cat - or really sick.
Shenlong's pilots eyes lit up on a very short passage. "In some legends, young demon cats are slipped into normal kitten litters for raising. This is thought to be a practice only used by the mythical "Hell-Cat" a demonic cat with bright red eyes. The Hell-Cat will choose its litter within one to two weeks of birth. The Hell-Cat is said to be able to burn all those it opposes, and heal whoever it befriends. This animal is distinguishable by its eyes and extremely hot skin."
Black eyes turned to look into red cat-slited eyes. Well, it made much more sense then Duo's theory about little aliens living in his pets brain. "A Hell-Cat, huh?"
===
Quatre held back an annoyed grunt as he lifted yet another heavy box of cleaning supplise. He silently slipped some of his magic into the box to make the task easier before turning to look at the man frowning at him with dislike. Quatre had quickly decided that they best way to get onto Argus Filch's good side was to offer his help, instead of being forced to do work. So far, the man was still suspicious of the Arabian's sincerity, not to mention annoyed with his tolerance of hard work.
"Where would you like this one, Filch-sama?" Quatre asked pleasantly, nodding down at the box in his arms.
"Don't call me that!" Filch snapped, not liking the suffix added to his name in the least. "What's that mean anyway?"
Quatre offered a very small smile. "Well, 'Sama' is simply a term of respect." He said calmly. "Though it can be used as a title as well. Filch-sama is just a way of saying that you're my superior."
The man was silent, not sure whether he believed the boy or not.
"Put that in my office," he snapped finally.
Quatre nodded and began walking out of the storage cabinet and towards Filch's second floor office. If he was lucky, he could win over the surely janitor in only a week or so. Maybe then he and his friends would be allowed small allowances when breaking the rules.
As the five, now six with Draco, were bound to be doing.
===
Their wands had been confiscated as they walked into their placements on Monday morning. Hagrid nearly forgot to take Trowa's, as did Madam Pomphrey in her panic about Duo's arm. Dumbledore nearly pounced on Heero as to have his wand. As Gundam Pilots it came as a blow to have one of their most powerful and useful weapons removed from their possession, and they weren't happy about it in the least. It was like watching your Gundam explode right in front of your eyes.
At least that reaction made them seem like normal wizards.
Trowa had reported to them Monday night that the five wands had been sent away to Olivanders for "safe keeping". This had quickly been translated to being checked over and tested for dark magic - curtsey of Draco who had been told that along with the rest of the students.
"So basically," Harry had summarized, twirling his own wand through his fingers as though it were a baton. "They only want to know what the wands are capable of and what we've been doing with them.
The others sat, silently glaring at the wood in his hand, now emitting large golden bubbles as it was spun faster and faster.
"Why do you still have yours?" Trowa finally bit out in jealousy.
"Because I'm dead." Harry smiled. "And my wand was stolen along with my body, invisibility cloak and the rest of my possessions."
The others had nothing to say about that. For they themselves were the ones who had snuck into Harry's dorm to retrieve his things.
They managed a weak sounding, "oh." And left it at that.
===
"So what exactly is the point of this again?" Draco sulked, following Heero and Duo through the fireplace and into their secret tower.
The tower, surprisingly enough, was actually quite large, with a long hallway and three doors leading to different areas. The first door led to a sort of computer room, though it could also double to be some sort of library/information base. One side of the room was equipped with each of the pilots lap-tops, much faster and more advanced then anything you could buy off the streets, each hooked onto the interned and running off magic based power. Also in this room were half built bombs, half researched spells, and something that seemed to be a mix of a potions lab and a forensic science lab.
The door at the end of the hallway was where Harry's body was being kept. Under lock, key, and spell the body was being preserved as to not rot or something like that. The door leading to the room was covered in so many warding and illusion spells and also protection charms, not to mention traps set by Harry himself, so that if you didn't know it was there - it wasn't.
The other door, right across from the first is where Draco was being led. It was in all aspects of the word, a training room. Almost like the Room of Requirement in some ways. At the far end was a shooting range, right next to that was a wall full of various weapons, (curtsey of Duo) ranging from thermal scythes to guns to fencing swords and pretty much anything else the boy could think of. Also situated seemingly randomly, were a few work out stations, a tumbling mat, fighting dummies, and surprisingly a chessboard.
"Because you have the same potential to master this sort of stuff that we did." Heero told the boy, summoning a gun into his hand from the wall across the room. "We'll start with guns and weapon handling."
Draco sighed and accepted the weapon, holding it almost gingerly in his hand.
Heero frowned at the blond boys stance. "Maybe working on your stance will be better..." He nodded with his decision and moved to place Draco's body in the correct stance for handling any weapon - solid but loose. Draco tensed slightly at the contact but managed to relax with yet another sigh.
Duo simply grinned knowingly and left for the computer room. As he left the room, he felt the slight tingle of magic that told him he had passed through the spell to quicken time. That spell was placed on the work out room so that the boys could have a two hour work out session in about ten minutes. It was an ingenious idea, curtosy of Quatre, so their long absences would go unnoticed. Walking into the computer room, Duo plopped down at his lap-top and took a moment to look at the screen saver.
The saver was a long line of photographs that had been taken of the five boys. Duo especially like the picture of them sitting on the red couch, and the picture with the Gundams. There was even a picture of them all dressed like cowboys - sort of. Getting his friends to pose like that took talent and patience, which Duo was proud to say he had.
"Reminiscing again?"
Duo laughed and turned around. "Perhaps I was just enjoying staring at nothing." He grinned at Wufei and turned back to the computer. "How's the news about the Amusement Park bombing?"
"They still can't figure out how to disarm your bomb." Wufei smirked, sitting down at his own computer, the furthest possible from Duo's, and clicking a few buttons. The screen popped up with information and ideas about what it meant. "I'm quite sure that the professors here don't connect us with what happened, and the Death Eaters we pinned disappeared after the 'Muggles' managed to get them up. Nobody who doesn't know about this world knows what to think. And nobody in this world knows that it happened." Wufei clicked the mouse on a link and pulled up the account of the amazingly advanced bomb. The caption sounded somewhat bewildered, explaining that it was made with unknown substances and had no known way of detonation.
"I wonder what would happen if I detonated it from here." Duo said musingly, "what would they think?" He turned back to his own computer and watched as the picture of the boys walking down the street changed into a picture of them fighting over cheesecake.
"Anyway, since you've told me what I need to know - I'm going to get some dinner. Want to come?"
===
A month passed like that. Each boy reporting dutifully each morning to their required areas, slowly trying to gain the respect and trust of the professors once more. Duo learned all of the different various potions and spells used to heal anything from paper cuts to cancer. Wufei kept researching in the library, trying to do so as stealthy as possible - not reading the same books sorts of books all at once. Trowa spent his time with Hagrid, skillfully pulling what seemed to be random bits of information from the half giant while practically taming every beast he came within sight of. Quatre, through his daily sessions with Filch finally won a scrap of respect and was allowed to roam the halls by himself during the day. He was even given the authority to take house points and give detentions.
The biggest set back was Heero, being forced to spend all his time in Dumbledore's office while the old man switched from trying to pry information from him and trying to win him over with every spare moment he had.
"Ah! Heero look, mistletoe!"
Duo pointed up at the archway above his head and grinned.
Heero chuckled and motioned for Duo to move closer. He gave the boy a satisfactory kiss and watched as the long haired boy leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. Eyes suddenly going from blue to green, Harry lunged to pin Duo and treat him with a second kiss. Duo, as short of breath as he was, was only too happy to comply.
"Maxwell! Yuy!" A voice barked from the other end of the hallway. "Detention!"
Duo rolled his eyes and looked over at Snape, who was scowling at them with the one and only "I-will-find-a-way-to-expell-you" glare.
"Relax, Snape-baka," Duo said easily, taking Harry's hand and leading his boyfriend past the man. "We were just following a Christmas tradition."
Hermione stepped out from behind Snape just as the two boys passed them. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say." The girl said pompously.
"^Perhaps,^" Duo said, already knowing about her translator charm. "^But the title suits him so well, don't you agree, Mione-baka?^" He shot her a smug smile and continued down the hall with Harry in tow.
Hermione growled and began following them down the hallway. "You might be able to fool the professors but you can't fool me!" She snarled.
"Honto ni?" Duo mused. "Ah! Heero, hurry up or we'll be late for dinner!"
"It's your own fault," Heero said lightly, taking Duo's hand. "Stopping under the mistletoe like that."
"You're the one who insisted on two kisses!"
Hermione nearly burst into flames she was so angry at being ignored. "Don't you walk away from me!" She shouted, taking a few steps after their retreating figures. "I have some questions to ask you!"
Duo flipped his hair at her and he and Heero continued down the hallway towards the kitchens.
Hermione attempted to follow the boys, intending on giving them a good thrashing. Or perhaps a good ranting. Hell, even a spell or two shot at them would be satisfactory. However, even after she shot a perfectly aimed balding charm at the two boys, it somehow managed to bounce back at her.
The people in Gryffindor tower were not amused to see their star student defeated so easily by the annoying exchange students. Because they quickly petitioned to the headmaster for their expulsion. Hermione began planning revenge.
===
"Duo! That's every night now that you've had detention with Snape!" Quatre frowned at his friend, who was lying on the couch face down, reading some papers. Duo shrugged indifferently.
"What does he make you do down there anyway?" Quatre asked curiously, sitting down on the arm of the couch and tugging gently on his friends long hair.
Duo rolled over with a sigh. "Ah... you know, pointless shit that means absolutely nothing in the long run." Unless of course he was suddenly got the urge to drop the Preventers to become an expert Frog-eye picklier.
"Oh."
There was a pause while Duo rolled back over and began folding up his printouts. "Hee-chan said that the imbeciles were going to inspect the dormitories today." He said offhandedly. "Do you think you could go get Wufei and Draco? I think todays lesson was in computer hacking."
Quatre nodded and disappeared through the fireplace. Duo shoved his paper into his shirt and went to find Trowa and Heero, reminding them about their inspection. The three boys flopped down in their common room just as Quatre, Wufei and an exhausted looking Draco emerged from the fireplace. A fire burst into flame as the passage closed up behind them. And just a moment later, the door to the dormitory opened, letting Dumbledore and McGonagall into the room.
Draco snickered at the thought of one of them saying the current password, "I Shall Never Learn The Secrets of The Boys Hidden Within". He wasn't sure who thought it up, but it was pretty amusing to see Dumbledore's frustrated face.
As the two professors allowed their gaze to sweep across the room, taking in the sight of two boys engrossed in a game of chess, and the others 'reading', they sighed. This was obviously going to be more difficult then they thought.
"Draco, you should move your queen out of the way of Trowa's bishop." Quatre said over his book. Draco nodded and moved the chess piece.
Duo let out a wall shattering series of snores.
"Maxwell! Wake up!"
"Anyway, you boys know why we're here..." Dumbledore shot them all a hard glare. "Reports that you have been using unauthorized magic in the halls and against students. But I must ask, where are the portraits?"
He was talking about part of the wards that had been placed around their rooms. The portraits, having the ability to talk and listen, were a very important part of keeping an eye and an ear on the five boys. They had had Draco take them down before the wards had actually gone up over a month ago.
Which portraits?" Quatre asked, blinking his innocent aqua eyes at the headmaster. Because there were indeed several painting placed around the room. They just happened to be normal Muggle pieces of art - that couldn't talk or move. Dumbledore frowned at him and took a step forward to prod the painting closest to him as though it would bite.
And so the inspection went. The teachers were clearly looking for something that would be considered dark and illegal magic. But all they found was three normal looking bedrooms, a spotless bathroom and five vaguely amused looking teenagers - as Duo was still 'sleeping'.
The two professors were about to leave, clearly disgruntled when quite unfortunately, McGonagall spied a sheet of Muggle style papers, barely peeking out from Duo's shirt. It was, also unfortunately, the Muggle report of the bomb threat and the report of what had played out that day. It also happened to be the only report that mentioned strange black clad men and six boys who were seen fighting with them. McGonagall lunged for the unknown paper and managed to snatch it before anyone could react.
That, in itself was quite an accomplishment.
Reading the paper quickly, her eyebrows drew into one and her lips tightened until they threatened to disappear altogether.
"And just when did you boys leave Hogwarts grounds?" She asked, crumpling the paper in her hand.
The group of teens stared at her in shock. Sure, it *was* the truth, but did she dislike them that much as to immediately suspect them of a bombing in Canada? What was worse was that was Dumbledore immediately back her up. There was just something in the disapproving gleam in his eyes that made all the boys feel horribly guilty.
"Well there's a firing squad if I ever saw one." Draco muttered, proud that he had remained indifferent to the headmasters spell. He hadn't actually ever seen a firing squad, but he had been subjected to enough War Movies to understand the concept.
The adults didn't understand the reference. On the couch, Duo continued to snore. Those two things alone managed to lift Dumbledore's spell from the others.
"Quiet Malfoy!" McGonagall snapped.
"Explain this!" Dumbledore said in his best authoritative voice. Quite unfortunately it did not in anyway compare to Lady Une's voice when she was angry and it didn't even come close to affecting the boys.
"It's a piece of paper." Wufei drawled with annoyance. "Printed from a machine. ...Wow?"
"Don't you cheek me!"
"Really," Quatre insisted, stepping forwards to look into the womans eyes. "That is an account of something that happened that my old professor sent me. He wanted to know if I could make any connection to it. Duo was just reading it over for me." It was clear that the Arabian didn't have any problems with lying through his teeth.
And he did it in such a way, and so well, that he got away with it, no questions asked.
"Hm..." Dumbledore said, clearly trying to think of another reason for him to stay in the dorm to try and find something. "Oh, right! As you probably know, Christmas vacation is starting in a few days. I know you all put your names down for the staying the second half of the vacation, but I would like to know where you are going for the first half. Standard procedure, you understand."
Heero spoke this time, putting down his book about Magical Theory. "We are going to Japan for a week to visit each of our families, before heading up to China to see Wufei's ancestral grounds and pay respects." Which was also a lie. They were going to downtown London for a few weeks before returning to Hogwarts for New Years.
"I'll get you a Portkey then!" Dumbledore beamed. It was obvious he was eager to thoroughly search the dormitory without the boys present. Heero nodded at him and Dumbledore turned to leave with McGonagall.
Quatre hopped up the moment they left and began thoroughly destroying the magical bugs left behind to spy on them. The other's helped, taking pleasure in stomping the little critters to death. Even Hiei joined in, poking each bug with a paw and watching as they simply burned away.
"So, he really *is* a Hell-cat." Quatre smiled. "You're very lucky that he chose you, Wufei."
Wufei sighed and slumped down in the seat he had been sitting in previously. Hiei jumped into his lap and settled down for a nap, purring as his owner automatically began scratching behind his ears. "No," Wufei muttered, "Madam Pince kicked me out of the library because of Hiei. And just as I located a spell for people with Multiple Personality Disorder. I thought that might be what Heero needed."
All of the boys groaned. Hiei stopped purring.
"I'll switch jobs with you." Trowa said unexpectedly. "I think Hagrid is beginning to question my strength with his creatures. His Flobber Worms have stopped attacking people..." he paused, getting his mind back on track. "Anyway, which book was that spell in?"
Wufei colored slightly. "I'm, uh... not exactly sure. I never got a chance to see the title. But it was in the very back section of the Library, by the Restricted Sections left door. Hiei burned the binding a little on accident before I could get a good look."
Trowa nodded and stood up. He politely turned to Heero, informed him that he would be taking the Invisibility cloak - went to receive said cloak - and disappeared to the library.
He returned after about half an hour, holding the book Wufei had seen, and Hiei had burned. The whole of the cover had been burned off, and a few of the pages had been singed - as well at the binding.
Duo gapped at the book. "Burned a little?" He echoed.
===============================
AN Review and I'll update. Get me 300, and you might just get a few bonus's. ~.^
ALSO! Make sure that you read the note at the top of the page. It's important to the story. ^_^
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