A/N: about a week has passed since the last chap.
Winter and Windy bond and commit acts of pure evil!
----------------------------------------
Card Captor Harry
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Card 19, The Erase: The Theatre Experience…
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.
----------------------------------------
It was very hard not to notice the new spring in Harry's step. Even Ron, who was always getting accused of insensitivity, picked up on it.
"What's with the mood, mate?" Ron said as they got dressed for breakfast. "I'd think you'd still be a little mad after what Hermione did."
Harry's lips pursed slightly at the reminder of what had happened to his Firebolt, but shook it off as the euphoria came back to him. "Oh, I sort of got lucky recently," Harry grinned, not elaborating.
Ron grinned. "Finally hooked up with Winter huh? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Harry chuckled. "No, not that lucky, but as good as. Winter and I hung out on the last day of vacation. It's not exactly scoring, but it was good as."
"Alright!" Ron said, clapping Harry on the shoulder in congratulations. "Good for you, Harry!"
Harry grinned at Ron. "Come on. Race you to the Great Hall!"
With that, Harry dashed off ahead of the redhead, who yelled at him for nabbing a head start.
Harry grinned as he ran ahead of Ron, the comforting feeling of the Clow Cards in his pocket and the Clow Key around his neck glowing warmly. What he'd told Ron was about half true. He was also still high from the two Clow Cards he'd Sealed recently, not to mention the praise he'd gotten from Winter for doing it. The fact that Lee had been soundly embarrassed was icing and filling on the cake.
He was so high, he almost missed feeling Winter as she rounded a corner, her head predictably in another thick sheaf of printouts. Harry was barely able to skid around her and nearly ended up slamming against a wall.
"Ow…" Harry said as he shook his hands. The palms were burning where he'd needed to brace himself against the wall to slow down.
"See you at the Great Hall, Harry!" Ron said as he passed by, laughing.
Deciding that there was no point in continuing, Harry brushed himself off, only to feel someone bump against his back.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm- Harry? Oh, sorry Harry, I didn't see you there," Winter said.
Harry shook his head in exasperation. "You know, Winter, sometimes I just don't get you. How do you manage to deduce where Clow Cards are when you barely seem to pay attention to the world around you, I have no idea."
"Hey, I was reading!" Winter pouted cutely, self-consciously putting the printouts back in her bag. He and Lee had been trying to break her of the habit of reading as she walked– or at least make her pay attention to where she was going as she read, which was physically possible– but it was slow going. The most they'd been able to do was get her to put away the fics when they were there.
"As much as I like reading fics, I really don't think it's a good idea to do it where I could become a potential traffic accident," Harry said dryly as the began walking to the Great Hall together. When Winter pouted again, Harry just laughed and flicked her nose, earning him a whack on the shoulder.
They talked about nothings on their way to the Entrance Hall, which Harry was glad to see was Lee-less. While he figured it would be amusing to see how the school would react if he and Lee greeted each other then didn't fight- right away, any way- he had a reputation to maintain. One that he couldn't maintain with Winter around without destroying all the progress he'd made with her.
They split up as they went to their respective House tables for breakfast, where Ron was currently trying to do his best to out-eat Harry. It took Harry all of five minutes to overtake Ron.
----------------------------------------
"Hey Lee," Winter said as she passed the Slytherin girl on her way out. "See you later."
Not bothering waiting for a reply, Winter took off for parts unknown, leaving Fei looking after her. It wasn't that she'd greeted her that was the problem. It was that she did it in front of Malfoy and his cronies.
"What's with you and the bookworm?" Malfoy said suspiciously as they walked towards breakfast.
"Nothing," Fei said tartly, still annoyed over how the last Clow Card incident had turned out. Why, oh why, did Fight have to choose that time to kiss her good bye when she dismissed her? In front of Winter, no less? She'd been so embarrassed, Potter was able to tell Winter to sing first, making it his idea and netting him The Song Card afterwards. "She must think I'm her friend or something just because I let her partner up with me in some of our Herbology classes."
"Hey, lesbian," Potters annoying voice greeted behind her, and she whirled, unable to stop her gut reaction.
"I'M STRAIGHT, DAMN IT! STRAIGHT!" Fei yelled right in Potter's face, whose strangely Malfoy-esque smirk wasn't fazed one bit. Ever since she'd made her unfortunate admission, he'd been using the card at every opportunity.
His expression not changing one iota, Potter turned to Malfoy. "Better watch out, Malfoy. You have more competition with the ladies."
Pansy began inching away from Fei, either because she was afraid Fei was a lesbian– as if she had taste that bad!– or because Fei was now an unhealthy shade of rage-red.
"I AM NOT A LESBIAN, GRYFFINDOR TRASH!"
"Slytherin garbage," Harry retorted, still smirking.
"HEY!" the various Slytherins and Gryffindors in hearing range protested.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Fei and Harry said in tandem, although Harry was a few decibels quieter.
Somewhere in the castle, Winter sneezed. Why did she feel like Lee and Harry owed her a package of chocolate frogs each?
----------------------------------------
"'Lesbian'?" Ginny quoted as she and Ron pulled Harry out of the Great Hall.
Harry shrugged, grinning at the knowledge he had a new weapon to use on Lee that would guarantee near-instant victory. "It seemed like an opportunity."
"What if you offended anyone here in school?" Ginny pressed. Why was she doing this? Wasn't this kind of thing Hermione's job?
"You mean like Pavarti and Lavender?" Harry said innocently.
Ginny blinked. "They're lesbians?"
"They're too close to be anything else, always closeting themselves alone together, holding hands, keeping their faces awfully close… if they were guys, they'd be outed immediately. It's only because there are double standards for guys and girls that they get away with that kind of blatant behavior," Harry said sagely, looking so wise as he said it.
Ron, meanwhile, had a lecherous grin on his face. "Lesbians in Hogwarts…"
Ginny rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her brother's immaturity. "Boys!" she muttered under her breath.
----------------------------------------
The end of classes found Harry sitting under the tree on the rise Winter had claimed as her's and her friends', hands behind his head as he bummed around. Ah, bliss…!
He felt the energy rippling towards him. The Card Captor imagined he could feel the killer intent in the air. The boy smiled, checking to see if his wand was still tucked between his fingers behind his neck. It was. Lazily, he opened one eye. "Hey, lesbian," he said cheerily.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Lee yelled, shaking with rage.
"Whatever you say… girl kisser," Harry chirped.
"You are a dead man, Potter," Lee said, eerily calm, a split second before she dove for Harry's neck.
Winter found them on the ground, struggling against each other, yelling things like "get your knee off my-", "Hey! that hurt!", and "Why you little-!"
"Oh, the glorious power of youth!" Winter exclaimed, causing the two of them to stop in surprise. "Such a show of vitality and energy is truly heartwarming! May this springtime of youth never fade, and provide inspiration for generations to come!"
The two blink-blinked, giving Winter the standard 'where's her second head?' look.
"Well," Harry said, "at least she's back to being Maito Gai. The Nodoka Saotome bit was creeping me out."
Lee nodded in agreement, her chin bumping into Harry's head as she relaxed the headlock she had slightly. Their momentum broken, the two grudgingly started untangling themselves, subtly trying to jab each other without Winter noticing. It amazed then sometimes that Winter could catch them going at it like that–this wasn't the first time and definitely not the last– and come to a conclusion at least a light-year away from 'the two of them hate each other. Such as now. Was she really that blind when it came to them?
"You know, you two didn't have to stop on my account," Winter said slyly, an insinuating smile on her lips.
Seems so.
Harry was barely able to keep his reaction reined in. Next to him, Lee was biting her lip to hold back her instinctive response. This wasn't the first time Winter had insinuated there was some kind of thing between them that was in some way romantic, but every time she did it, Harry always hoped it was the last. Whenever it happened, Harry always resolved to finally try and… well, not exactly tell her how he felt (that was too cliché), but at least get her to notice him as something more than a friend.
"We were beating on each the way rivals should," Lee said rather primly, straightening out her robes. She smiled, a small smile for anyone else, but a grin for her. "I was kicking Potter's ass before you showed up."
"Says you," Harry shot back, giving her his best Uchiha glare. She gave him her best Gaara look.
The two stopped when they heard Winter giggling. "Ah, Tendo, now it is certain that the two houses will be joined!"
"Indeed, Saotome," Winter said, changing her pitch.
Harry palmed his face as Lee sighed. "I hate it when she does that," the latter muttered.
"Crazy anime addict," Harry agreed, shaking his head. Both voices were fond, however, even if the fondness wasn't too audible. "Is teasing us the only reason you wanted s here, Winter, 'cause I've got homework I have to but would rather not be doing."
"And please don't let it be for another rendition of the Glow and Song Card incidents," Lee said. "I've had to listen to Potter's gloating too many times already."
"HEY! I do not 'gloat'… much."
"No, it's not that," Winter said, waving the idea away. "Although I still think it was sheer genius how Harry got the idea that singing with The Song Card would make it appear. No, I kind of need you two to do me a favor."
The two blinked, looking at each other questioningly before realizing who the other was and snapping their gazes away. "What kind of favor, Moon?" Lee asked warily, trying to sound nonchalant.
Winter smiled beatifically, and Harry simultaneous felt his heart flutter and clench with fear. He had a bad feeling about this…
----------------------------------------
Fei scowled down at the table, with it's many tall stacks of blank parchment tickets, then at the people bustling around her, some making props, others painting backdrops, still others fitting their costumes. A few in the corner were waving their wands, making them stream out different-colored streams of light. Somewhere in the background, some girl was spouting off about excellence. It sounded suspiciously like something an anime character would say. Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune was Fei's bet.
"What the heck am I doing here?" she muttered to herself as she dipped the various quills in front of her in the right inks, before waving her wand, causing the quills to start drifting from parchment to parchment and begin writing down tickets.
As if to answer her question, Winter passed by, talking to an as-usual dazed-looking Luna Lovegood, who didn't seem to be hearing a word of what was being said. Winter either didn't notice or knew otherwise as she kept on talking, referring to a clipboard she held.
"Oh, right, her," Fei answered herself, sighing as she concentrated back on the parchment tickets she was supposed to be making. Who knew a theater production was so much work? Or that Hogwarts even had a theater club, much less had theater productions! "The things I do…" she muttered, trailing off as she reloaded a quill.
Still, she couldn't help but smile as she watched Potter trying to get a piece of scenery set up right. It wasn't cooperating, sprouting legs and dashing off on it's own merry way, with the Card Captor in hot pursuit, looking about ready to tear his own hair off. She thanked her lucky stars for cushy desk jobs as she went back to working on the tickets.
----------------------------------------
Harry finally managed to keep the piece of scenery in place by the simple expedient of transfiguring a splinter of wood into a nail and hammering the thing to the floor. The thing thumped every so often, but otherwise stayed in place.
Harry took a moment to catch his breath, pausing to wonder how he had never heard of the theater club in all his years at Hogwarts. It seemed to be the receptacle of all the nut jobs in the school, the literal loony bin.
First, there was Luna Lovegood, a.k.a., Loony. She didn't seem to be all there, she talked about things whose existence was dubious at best (honestly, what the heck was the crumple horned shnorcrack, or whatever the thing was called?), she kept warning him about being bitten by strange creatures whenever he handled a piece of scenery (which he was more likely to get bitten by the scenery itself), and, worst of all, she kept dropping comments about how much he liked Winter and how they'd make a cute couple together (and causing him to suspect that maybe she had more brain matter than she let on). He was just thankful Winter was never around when she dropped those hints
Then there was the trio of idiots who called themselves Team Seven. The girl was too fat for the red dress she was wearing (reminding Harry violently of pictures of American Cosplayers who were at least a hundred and fifty pounds too heavy to be cosplaying as, say, Rikku or Chii– OH, THE HORROR!), the guy in the white shorts and blue shirt was too skinny, his skin too dark and his hair too curly, and the 'blonde's' hair was obviously dyed, not to mention was too tall and obviously a girl, never mind she got the shade of the jump suit wrong. Harry doubted Naruto would ever wear a pink jumpsuit. It was no surprise that The Fight Card had beat up on them. Harry's anime aesthetic sense was highly offended.
Then there was Colin Creevey. Harry always wondered what the little pest did when he was out of sight. According to the Naruto wannabe cross-dresser, Colin had been trying for the past two years for them to make a play about 'The Life Of Harry Potter'. He was thankful that had never pushed through, although he'd really like to know why people thought he was in some way connected to either Merlin or Godric Gryffindor. Wasn't being the 'Boy-Who-Lived' enough?
After that, there was the Trelawney clone who kept predicting Harry would have a painful, disfiguring accident (he didn't know what was worse, Dragonfly Eye's accident omens or Super Dragonfly Eye's death omens), the weirdo (relatively: he was par for the course here) in the dark, shadowy corner who kept rubbing a necklace and muttering 'dearest, dearest', the makeup 'specialist' who admitted to using six coats of the brightest blue eye shadow in existence on her eyes and wore 'puffy' dresses that bore more than a passing resemblance to circus tents, and a whole lot more loonies too traumatizing to remember right then who'd do the Nerima Wrecking Crew proud.
Speaking of which, there was also the girl in the frilly pink dress, fake fangs, (or were they real?) and pink parasol who kept muttering darkly about having seen the Makai…
----------------------------------------
"Where have you been, mate?" Ron asked Harry. "And what the heck happened to you?"
"Don't wanna talk about it…" Harry mumbled as he dragged his ass back to the common room, looking both dead on his feet and shell-shocked. Fake foliage was on his hair, the sleeves of his robes were ragged and he had blue paint on his face, courtesy of the make-up specialist. Without another word, he headed straight for the showers.
Ron stared after his best friend, a confused look on his face, then turned to Colin, who had come in after Harry and despite being as physically disheveled, was his usual perky, annoying self. "What happened?" he asked the boy.
Colin shrugged. "I guess Harry couldn't keep up," he said and went to hang out with his friends, leaving Ron standing confused in the middle of the common room.
"Huh?
----------------------------------------
It soon made the grapevine that Harry Potter was helping out with the Theatre Club's productions. There were mixed reviews. Some, like Wood, worried that this would degrade Gryffindor's chances of winning the Quidditch cup– although, in true Wood fashion, there was a lot of overacting: Harry almost expected for there to be crashing waves, sunsets and lightning strikes behind the slightly deranged Quidditch Captain. If Harry were talking to Hermione, she'd probably say something about how this could lead to his schoolwork slipping. However, he was not talking to Hermione, and he never listened to Wood– he knew the man was slightly deranged, and you should seldom, if ever, listen to a crazy person– and all the rest didn't really care what he did with his time, so it didn't really matter.
Then the fact that Fei Lee was also helping out the Theatre Club leaked out. That caused a (quiet) uproar. The two of them, working in close proximity? The Hufflepuff's betting rings practically tripled their profits overnight predicting how long it took for the two of them to crack and do something really drastic.
When a week passed by, and still nothing happened, everyone was stunned. Their 'meetings' in the halls were still happening as often as usual, but as soon as they got into the Theatre Club's range… nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sure, they kept giving each other nasty looks that were set on 'Avada Kedavra', and there were the subtle attempts to trip each other up, but other than that… nothing. No sabotaging each other's work, no snide remarks about their performance, NOTHING!
The biggest stunner was when, in front of witnesses, Harry asked Fei to hand him something in a polite tone, and she actually did! And he thanked her! POLITELY! It was plain weird! Half the school was borrowing Divination books from the library and the other half to see if this was a sign of Armageddon. Or at least a repeat of the great flood. Another ice age, maybe?
The Theatre Club, always looking to make a quick buck– or at least, their overly thin, helmet haired, guy Nabiki-lookalike was– began charging admission for people to watch Fei and Harry while they worked. Stunned spectators came back looking shell-shocked, spouting incoherent tales of polite behavior. Winter put a stop to all this when she found out, however. She did not want people underfoot and impeding her production. They were going slowly as it was…
----------------------------------------
"Hurry up!" Winter said to no one in general, frowning cutely at everyone in sight.
Well, in Harry and Fei's opinion, anyway. Everyone else knew that as the 'Look-of-DOOM!' Winter wasn't the only one in the castle who was a little blind.
"HEY, Bobeck! WAKE UP!" Winter said, marching up to where the make-up specialist was slumped over and shaking her awake. She jerked awake, blinking sleepily and looking surprised she'd fallen asleep. Her expression changed to one of stark terror as she realized who had woken her up. She jerked up squealing in fear, then scrambling around trying to look busy, grabbing buckets of makeup left and right.
Scowling cutely–again, only Harry and Fei's opinion– Winter stalked off, only to round on some fat Hufflepuff with dorky glasses and haircut who was sleeping on a convenient box, leaning against the wall. A half-eaten doughnut was still in his hand, white sugar on his face. "Carey! WAKE UP!"
Another jerk and another sleeping individual was jerking awake trying not to look guilty. Shaking her head in annoyance– cutely, of course– Winter stalked off towards Harry, who was trying to move a large cloth bag containing curtains. It was one a more than a dozen clothe bags containing costumes, backdrops and other cloth stuff. Since he didn't know any handy spells for moving large objects–yet, anyway– he was moving them all by hand, dragging them on the floor across the room. This job was made slightly difficult by the fact that Winter had suddenly plopped down on the bag he was dragging.
Winter sighed, closing her eyes and running her hands through her hair. If there was one thing that would drain the normally over-energetic girl, it was running the Theatre Club. "Watta day…" Winter groaned, leaving her nigh-omnipresent clipboard on her lap.
"And to think we have homework to do after all this is done," Harry said dryly, taking the opportunity to sit down next to Winter on another bag.
Winter audibly whimpered, turning awkwardly and flopping against Harry's chest. "Hold me," she sobbed, her face looking pained.
Harry stiffened slightly, before blushing quite nicely and jerkily putting an arm around the Ravenclaw, who sighed and closed her eyes. Harry was liking this. Sure, in his fantasies, they were always sitting on a bench at the docks watching the sunset, not crashed out from work-related exhaustion on a bunch of canvas bags, but he'd take what he could get.
"Enjoying yourself?" Lee said dryly as she walked up to them, waving away the ink marks on her hand with her wand.
Winter sighed. "Just let me rest a while, Lee. I'm tired from working…"
The two exchanged amused incredulous looks. She was tired from working? They were the ones lugging things around! Then they remembered themselves and exchanged Uchiha glares and Gaara looks. Winter, eyes closed, didn't notice a thing.
Reaching into her pocket, Lee pulled out a bar of chocolate, broke it in two and handed Winter the bigger half. "Here," she said, nibbling at her own portion. "This'll make you feel better."
Opening her eyes, Winter stared at the sweet uncomprehendingly for a moment, before taking it from Lee and starting to eat. Lee made a big show of munching on her portion, smirking quietly at Harry, who was being reminded he hadn't eaten in a while in the most annoying way possible.
Stifling a yawn, Winter shook her head, cleaning of the sugary residue from her fingers and taking up her clipboard again. "Thanks Lee," Winter said, still sounding tired but better off than before. Giving the Slytherin girl a one-armed hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, the silver-haired girl went off to do her thing.
"Lesbian," Harry muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Lee to hear. Said girl wasn't really in a position to hear, however, being that she was frozen from shock and nearly red all over. Her mouth was twitching, the possible beginnings of a goofy grin. And Harry was supremely jealous.
Sighing and knowing he wouldn't be getting a rise out of his nemesis– or much of anything else, for that matter– for a while, he left her like that, looking like a weird crimson statue as he went back to trying to drag the bags across the room.
He had moved a bag about all of three feet when he felt a familiar tingle of magic cause the hairs on the back of his head to bristle. He whirled around, eyes darting, one hand on his wand and the other reaching towards his neck for the Key. Where was it…?
The loud thump caught his attention, and he turned to where Lee had fallen in a heap on the ground, obviously unconscious. "What the…?"
Harry felt the Clow Card rushing towards him and he tensed, grasping his wand tightly and wishing he had somewhere convenient he could hide while he summoned the Sealing Wand. He thought he was able to catch a glimpse of the Card– a small, shining light– before it blew past him. His eyelids suddenly grew heavy, and his grip on his wand weakened. Knees shaking before they collapsed, he fell to the floor, darkness starting to creep over his vision…
"Enervate!"
Harry's eyes snapped open a moment before he fell into the Dreaming. Pushing himself off the floor, Harry shook his head, trying to focus. Winter was rushing towards him, her wand still out, obviously the one who'd revived him. A little mental note was made to ask her to teach him that spell.
"Harry!" she said kneeling down next to him as he pushed himself up, looking concerned. "What happened? I heard Lee falling over, and then you seemed to faint, and then–"
Anything else Winter would have said was cut short as Harry covered her mouth, looking frantically around. "Clow Card. I think it was putting me to sleep… and everyone else too, it seems."
Catching sight of the Clow Card's form for a moment– Harry had good training from all that Seeker practice– Harry lay down, pulling Winter down with him. "I think putting people to sleep is all it's doing," Harry whispered. "Best we wait 'til everyone else is down, then you wake up Lee while I try to Seal this one."
"What part of that involves us lying down on the floor?" Winter whispered back.
"Keep still!" Harry hissed. "This way, it thinks it's already gotten us and won't bother us anymore. I hope."
Realization shown in Winter's eyes, and she nodded. Laying her face down on the floor, she closed her lids, pretending to be asleep. Harry did the same, his hands never letting go of his wand and Key.
At first, there were murmurs of confusion as people started to fall asleep where they stood, falling in a heap like Lee had. Some attempted to wake the sudden victims, only to get knocked out themselves on top of the people they were trying to help. There were clattering sounds as whatever people were holding fell to the floor from their suddenly numb hands. Harry felt Winter flinching every time a prop fell on the floor.
Finally, silence descended over the room. Harry was tempted to open his eyes, but he kept them firmly shut. He hoped Winter was doing the same next to him. Concentrating, he felt out the Clow Card's location. It was relatively far– next to where he'd been dragging the sacks to, it seemed– far enough to give Winter the time to do what she needed without being sent to LaLa Land.
"On the count of three," Harry murmured under his breath. Next to him, he felt Winter shifting slightly, acknowledging.
"One…"
His fist tightened around the Key, ready to flick it over and off his head.
"Two…"
He felt Winter's hand tighten around her wand, getting ready to spring.
"THREE!"
Harry felt Winter dash one way as he jumped to his feet, almost slipping on the hem of his robes. Damned uniform regulations! Trying not to fall flat on his face, Harry sent a stunner he learned from Kero at the Clow Card's general direction, not surprised when it missed it completely. The thing looked about the size of The Sweet Card. He'd need a doujutsu or something to be able to hit it with anything at this range!
"Key of power, show me your true form."
It looked like he'd have to resort to funky summoning techniques…
"I, the one to whom you are bound, command it!"
He was aware of the magic circle beneath his feet, glowing gold and shining even in the light of the room. He felt the power, his power, Clow's power, surging within the Key, resonating with the Cards he carried on his person…
"RELEASE!"
Snatching the red wand out of thin air, he twirled it around between his fingers– he'd gotten good at doing that since he got the Key– slashing it diagonally and holding it out to the side, opposite the holly wand he held in his other hand.
The passing thought came to him that had anyone been watching, that would have looked really bad-ass.
The only thing this needed was a little dramatic wind…
Oh, wait, his robes were still fluttering from the wind the magic circle had produced (why did that happen, anyway?). So, dramatic wind, check.
Now to Capture Clow Card!
----------------------------------------
Winter slid the last few feet to Lee's side on her knees, managing to time it so perfectly that she stopped the moment she came to the girl's side. Harry wasn't the only one who knew how to look cool.
Waving her wand over the still form– "Enervate!"– she waited.
Nothing happened.
Heart clenching, she tried the spell again and again, hoping she was just not doing it right. Finally, after the eighth try, she had to concede defeat.
"Harry!" she cried to where he was trying to chase the Clow Card and not be put to sleep at the same time. "The spell isn't working! I think the Clow Card's power is too strong!"
----------------------------------------
Harry scowled as he heard this. It must have been because he was still falling asleep when Winter had used the spell on him that had cancelled out the effect. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about the Slytherin garbage interfering and getting this Card. She had too many as it was, in his opinion. Of course, in his opinion, one was too many!
"Okay, so take down the Clow Card, and undo the spell," Harry said, sending out Stunners and other curses from his dual wands. "Man, I hope this works…"
Sending out one last Curse with his holly wand, Harry quickly stuck it into his robes, pulling out his deck of Clow cards. Fanning them out in one hand with a practiced gesture– the result of a couple of Yu-Gi-Oh fantasies– Harry stuck the Sealing Wand between his teeth and plucked out the card he wanted. Returning the Cards into his robes, he flicked the chosen Card into the air. Pulling out the Wand from his mouth, he raised it and slammed down on the Card. "WINDY CARD!"
The Card dissolved into yellow threads of magic as The Windy materialized in all her seemingly naked glory. Harry pointed at the darting orb of light. "I know this is getting old, but…"
Windy nodded, looking amused at her Master's apparent embarrassment at calling her for use as a gloried rope. She waved her arms towards the glowing target, sending out the usual streams of yellow wind magic, which the light barely evaded.
"Contain it," Harry said as Winter rushed to his side, clipboard and pen out and writing furiously, head darting continuously between him, Windy, the orb and her clipboard, muttering all the while about getting a voice recorder or a video camera of some sort. "Make a sphere around it and close it off so it can't escape!"
"You're the boss," Windy said sweetly, her arms moving to make circling gestures as she directed her streamers to wrap around at wide area, with the orb in the middle. The streamers fell into place quickly, whirling like a planet-shaped hurricane around their target. Soon, the streamers were too interwoven to for even the small form of the sprite to slip through.
Under Harry's orders, Windy had her construct contract, growing smaller and smaller as Winter watched in rapt fascination, no longer taking notes as she stared at the form with a gleam in her eye. The sprite inside kept trying to pass through the barriers, but was buffeted around by the intense winds and kept contained in it's pastel-yellow prison. It didn't look like it was getting away soon.
"Sleep," Windy muttered to Harry as he was about to raise the Sealing Wand over his head.
The Card Captor blinked, looking at his 'funky summon' curiously. "I beg your pardon?"
Windy jerked her head towards her construct. "Sleep," she repeated, emphasizing with another jerk.
"Oh…" Harry said. "Thanks for telling me."
Windy nodded as if it were a matter of course, then smiling over at Winter and greeting. "Lady Winter," she said respectfully.
"Oh, you know who I am?" Winter said, pleasantly surprised. "Well, in that case, would you consent to do an interview with me? I'd really like to get your point of view as to what it's like to work with Harry, what are your opinions of him, and whether you think he's a good kisser–"
"WINTER!" Harry yelled, scandalized. It didn't help that Winter and Windy were both giggling at the blush on his face. He sighed as he was freshly reminded that he'd need to kiss Windy after this…
Deciding to just resign himself to losing pride every time he used a female Clow Card– he wondered why he hadn't done this sooner; it would have saved him… well, he'd have been resigned a long time ago, that was for sure– he raised the Sealing Wand over his head again. "I am the Card Captor, and I order you to return to your true form! Sleep Card!"
Windy slashed her arms to the side, dissolving her construct as Harry's Wand slammed into mid-air into the outline of a card, drawing the dissolving streams of The Sleep Card into it as Clow Reed's magic circle glowed beneath him. Both soon faded, leaving behind a new Card under the end of his wand, which he promptly plucked from the air. Oh, yeah, he thought as he grinned. He still got it!
Looking at the Card briefly– the front showed a seemingly prepubescent girl in a bare-shouldered one-piece holding a crescent-moon topped wand with a purple six-pointed star above her breastbone and a similar smaller symbol on her forehead, with wings on her back; her left ear looked like a giant wing!– he tucked it along with the rest of the Cards and turned to face the two females, a look appropriate for a firing squad on his face. "All right, let's get this over with," he sighed.
The two exchanged glances. Winter gave him a look, one eyebrow raised and looking generally disapproving. It was the kind of look Hermione gave him whenever he did something that exasperated her, although the look was more often directed at Ron when he was being particularly dense or insensitive. It was a not a good look to receive from any female. From your crush…
Windy, however, was looking teary-eyed. Her fists were clenched in front of her chest, shaking with emotion. Her chin was quivering, doing interesting things to her pouty lips. Harry immediately knew that, A) something was wrong and, B) it was somehow his fault.
"Harry Potter, I can't believe you!" Winter said indignantly, hands on her hips with the fingers pointed up, her foot tapping a steady rhythm. "After all that trouble Windy went through to help you…! OOOOHHH!"
Harry winced, taking an involuntary step back. When women made steaming kettle noises, you were in deep!
To make matters worse, the tears that were threatening to stream down Windy's face finally did. She made a valiant effort to keep a calm front, then suddenly burst into tears, burying her face in her hands.
"Now look what you've done!" Winter said indignantly, wrapping her arms around Windy and making cute comforting noises while glaring at Harry. "It's all right Windy, it's all right. It's not your fault Harry is an insensitive idiot." That with a glare to the Boy-Who-Lived.
Windy raised a tear-stained face at Harry, quivering pouty lips and all. "I'm sorry, M-master H-har-r-ry. I di-didn't know I w-was such a b-bother. If it's such a chore to you, then you don't have to… don't have to…"
Windy was unable to finish her sentence as she settled for bawling her eyes out, burying her face on Winter's sympathetic shoulder, who went back to making comforting baby noises with a vengeance while casting a redoubled glare in Harry's direction.
Harry, by now, was spazzing.
"No, no! You're not a bother, Windy, really!" Harry said, dry-washing his hands nervously, and looking around and trying to look at anything but at the crying girl (man's Kryptonite). He was so distressed, he didn't notice the wink and grin the two females exchanged. That was quickly disguised as Harry's gaze came their way.
Windy increased the pouting, and seemed to be trying to hide behind Winter. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better, Master Harry," the sprite said, holding tighter on the Winter.
"I'm not lying!" Harry cried frantically, taking a couple of steps over to them, stopping only when Winter made a gesture as if to step back, looking at Harry reprovingly. "Really, I'm not!"
Windy pulled herself from Winter's shoulder, looking at him with one eye, the rest of her face hidden behind Winter's glare. "Really?" she said, sounding like she didn't believe it.
Winter sniffed, quite believably. "Talk is cheap, Potter," she said.
"I mean it," Harry said softly, taking another step forward, then another when there didn't seem to be any opposition. Gently laying one hand on Windy's shoulder, he coaxed her into facing him. Winter glared, but grudgingly let go of her self-appointed charge, stepping behind Harry and scowling like a guard all the time. Once in his blind spot, however, she grinned, giving Windy and approving thumbs up.
"Look," Harry said, trying to sound gentle and reassuring, but unable to keep from coming out a little bit desperate. "You're not a bother or a chore, and I'm really sorry if I made you think so. I was being a jerk, okay? I'm really grateful for all the help you and the other Cards give me. I don't want to do anything to hurt, I promise. Please forgive me?"
A tremulous smile quivered on Windy's lips, and she lay her head on Harry's shoulder, wrapping her arms gently around hi. Hesitantly, he moved to do the same, figuring this was his cue.
Over his shoulder, Windy grinned at Winter, subtlely sending her own thumbs up. The two girls were hard-pressed to keep up the act.
Finally, after composing her face to look teary-eyed but recovering, Windy drew back, facing Harry, her arms still on his shoulders. "Master Harry?" she said, getting the quiver in her voice down pat. "It might be too much to ask, but… I don't want to be a bother…"
Not waiting for her to finish, Harry gently touched her cheek, and leaned forward, cutting off whatever she was going to say. There was a triumphant sparkle in Windy's eyes before she closed them, leaning into the kiss. Behind Harry, Winter was grinning widely as she tried to stifle her giggles and write at the same time.
Windy was smiling demurely as she and Harry finally pulled apart, the latter slightly breathless. "Master Harry…" she said.
Harry managed a small smile through his blush, keenly aware Winter was behind him and probably writing a mile a minute. "You're not a bother," Harry reiterated. "You or any of your sisters. I'd… I'd do it again as many times as you want, if you don't believe me…"
From any other guy, that would have been a really cheesy line that would have earned rolled eyes–at best–and a prompt exit. From him, it was an honest offer, a little boy's way of proving he was being earnest.
"I don't think that's necessary, Harry," Winter said cheerily, before breaking out into giggles, followed immediately by The Windy Card, who had disengaged from Harry and was now doubled over in fits of laughter.
Harry blinked, looking between the two as his mind struggled to catch up to the sudden change of pace. "Wha…? Hey, wait a minute! What's going on here?"
The two kept on giggling. Finally, managed enough self-control to point at Harry. "GOTCHA!" they chorused, and fell back into helpless laughter.
Harry blinked a couple of times, putting things together, before he gave a loud sigh and palmed his face. "Women…" he grumbled under his breath.
So distracted was he, he was caught completely unaware as Windy suddenly pounced on him, entrapping his face between her hands as she stuck her tongue deep into his mouth in her signature kiss, dissolving into yellow tendrils of magic as returned to her Card form.
Harry was left blinking as Windy fluttered down to the ground to the sound of Winter's laughter. He sighed. "Women…" he repeated, shaking his head as he bent down to pick up the Card and stuffed it tiredly into his robes. Dissolving the Sealing Wand back into it's Key form, he waited patiently for Winter to stop laughing. That took a while.
Clamping down on her last case of the giggles, she looked up a still slightly blushing Harry, who was trying his best to look annoyed and failing miserably. "You look pretty cute when you're pouting like that," she said, barely managing to hold back more giggles.
Harry glared at her, putting everything he had to keep it from looking like a pout. "That wasn't funny," he said, doing his best to glare.
Winter just grinned at him.
Harry bowed his head. "You know, unless you want to try waking up the Theatre Club all by yourself, you'd better stop it," he said, trying his last card.
It was Winter's turn to pout. "Meanie."
----------------------------------------
"I can't believe you two didn't wake me up," Fei was still grumbling days later.
Winter shrugged, looking through the curtain at the audience. "We tried, but The Sleep Card's magic was too strong. Whoa, what a turn out!"
Fei rolled her eyes, knowing she wasn't going to get much more out of Winter now. Still, she made one last shot at it. "Where's Potter, anyway? Shouldn't he be here for the bows at the end, or something?"
Winter shrugged. "At a seat. He said something about a Quidditch practice injury," she said, smiling ruefully as she did so.
Fei raised an eyebrow. "How can you be injured while on a broom, looking around for a flying golden ball?"
Winter laughed. "I think he was trying to get out of being seen. Harry probably doesn't want people to think he's some kind of glory hound who join any club just for attention."
"But people have known he's been helping out at the Theatre Club for days!" Fei pointed out.
Winter shrugged. "Maybe he's shy of being on stage?"
"The only time we go on stage is during the final bows."
Winter shrugged again, checking the time. "Well, we're about to start. Gotta go, people to boss around and all that."
"Yeah, yeah," Fei said, waving a hand dismissively as she began to shuffle off to the side and towards her seat in the audience. She wasn't needed backstage, after all.
Winter turned to leave, then paused. "Lee?"
"Hmm?" the Slytherin said, turning around lazily to look at her.
Winter smiled, then kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for helping out," she said.
Fei blinked in surprise, completely frozen as Winter moved off to boss people around. Slowly, Fei raised a shaking hand to her cheek as she broke out into a full body blush. A wide grin blossomed on her face.
"Yes!" she hissed, pumping her fist into the air, than quickly glancing around from side to side, checking to see if anyone caught the break in her cool. Not spotting anyone, she walked off stiffly, heading towards her assigned seat…
----------------------------------------
"How's the Quidditch injury?" a dry voice said next to him.
"Drop dead, lesbian," Harry said casually, not bothering to look at his sudden neighbor.
"Hmm…" was all Lee said. Harry turned to her suspiciously. "What?"
"All right, what's with you?" he demanded quietly.
A smirk was all he got back. "Wouldn't you like to know."
That was all the time they had before the show began…
----------------------------------------
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Winter greeted from the center of the stage. "Welcome to this year's production by the Hogwarts Theatre Club. We hope you enjoy this year's presentation. I now leave you with the following words of a very wise man: Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!"
The crowd laughed appreciatively, Professor Dumbledore applauding louder than anyone.
As the curtain rose, a voice began to speak from offstage.
"A long, long time ago, in the Transvaal Empire, there was an elite military force, known through out the Galaxy as… the GALAXY ANGELS!"
As the cheesy mock ups of mecha started flying through the air, the Card Captor and his rival were torn between shielding their eyes to spare the Theatre Club the embarrassment or watching with the fascination usually reserved for train wrecks and other large accidents. This was why Harry– and secretly, Lee– hadn't wanted to be on stage for the bows. And while it might be fun to watch 'Galaxy Angels: Onstage!', it would probably be in some distant future when they could look back at this and laugh instead of shriveling in embarrassment.
What else do you think the collection of loons this club was made of would have produced?
----------------------------------------
- To be continued…
----------------------------------------
A/N: I've been watching and reading too much Naruto. Mostly reading.
The comment about Pavarti and Lavender being lesbians comes from how they're often characterized in fics, you know, always closeted together, giggling and stuff. If guys had been doing that…
Windy is taller than Harry, but she technically doesn't have legs, so it's possible for them to be face to face.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone of the following. Please don't sue me.
----------------------------------------
Omake: Galaxy Angels: Onstage!----------------------------------------
A voice could be heard from offstage
"A long, long time ago, in the Transvaal Empire, there was an elite military force, known through out the Galaxy as… the GALAXY ANGELS!"
And after the cheesy opening scene involving boxy mockups of mecha flying through the air, the curtain opens up in the Galaxy Angel's living room. Volcott suddenly strides onstage, waving an official looking letter
"Looks like you have a new mission, girls," Volcott says as all the girls look up from what they were doing. "It says here you're being asked to–"
"What?" Ranpha interrupts, stars beginning to shine in her eyes as she fantasized about the upcoming mission before knowing all the details. "Protect Prince Shiva from a coup d'etat? Be models for some fashion show?"
"… we're being asked to protect a bridge builder on his way back home," Volcott said.
On cue, an old guy carrying a bottle of sake stepped into the room.
"Are these the chicks who'll be taking me home to Wave Country?" the old guys said, taking a swig from his bottle. "Bah, they don't look like much!"
Forte, rather annoyed, started shooting the man, to much chaos following…
So anyway, in the next scene, the six people were walking down a bare country road. Forte was casually lugging a bazooka around like it weighed nothing, Ranpha was complaining about what all this walking was doing to her high heels and wondering why they couldn't just fly there on their mecha, Milfeulle was talking Tazuna's ear off, while Mint and Vanilla were just walking ahead, the former with a smile on her face, the latter with her usual inscrutable expression, dragging NORMAD behind her.
Anyway, everything was mostly right with the world when suddenly… THE TWO DEMON BROTHERS ATTACKED!
"HYAAAAH!" cried Inu-Yasha as he jumped out of a puddle of water and tried to cut up Tazuna with that big-ass Tessaiga of his.
"Prepare to die," Sesshomaru said succinctly, jumping out of another puddle of water.
The two suddenly stopped as Milfeulle seemed to materialize before them, stars and heart in her eyes.
"KAWAIIIIII!" she cried, glomping on to the two. She started fondling Inu-Yasha's ears ("WHY DO PEOPLE FEEL THEY HAVE TO DO THAT!") and rubbing her face on the fuzzy thing wrapped around Sesshomaru's shoulder ("HEY, STOP MOLESTING MY TAIL, NINGEN!").
"Whoa, he's gorgeous!" Ranpha said, and immediately glomped herself on to Sesshomaru. Milfeulle didn't seem to mind.
"It looks like those tow have things covered," Mint said, and the rest of Angel Brigade– and Tazuna– kept on walking.
Eventually, the two other members caught up with them, saying that the two demons' wives had come to pick them up.
So anyway, they kept on walking and eventually made it to Wave country… which didn't look all that poor.
"Are you kidding?" Tazuna cried. "I'm barely pulling down enough as it is to be able to fed my family caviar and champagne! At this rate, we'll be forced to have to eat -sob- red wine and escargot! That's why we need this bridge! It'll help us improve our economy and remove the strangle hold of the Nabiki corporation! Champagne and caviar for everyone!"
Coming to a lake, Milfeulle suddenly tripped flat on her face over a perfectly flat and smooth stretch of ground. "WAHH!"
She promptly caused everyone to trip over her. "WWWWAAAAAHHHHHH!"
At that moment, a giant sword came buzzing over where their neck would be–– well, where Tazuna, Forte and Ranpha's neck would have been; the other are too short– and struck a tree.
"Whoa," Mint said, getting up and leaning back on her ankles. "Lucky."
Suddenly, there was a blurring in the air above the giant sword's handle, and a man with waist length silver hair suddenly appears, wearing black leather and lots of straps. He turned around, revealing about half his face, wearing a superior look.
Ranpha was immediately smitten. ""WHOA! WHAT A HOTTIE!
Sephiroth turned to face Angel Brigade, then paused, boggling at… Vanilla? "Hey! I know you! Weren't you on that Penthouse lesbian orgy spread last month? And the one before that? And the one before that? And…"
The rest of the Angels suddenly started backing away from Vanilla, who was looking as serene as ever. "It's always the quiet ones," Forte muttered.
Ranpha was just annoyed. "It's not fair! How come Vanilla happens to attract the new hottie?"
Sephiroth suddenly seems to realized where he is, and pulls the Masamune off the tree. "Sorry Miss Monthly Lesbian Spread, but I have to kill Tazuna and probably your friends now. Nabiki Corporation orders and all that."
Vanilla nodded silently, and all the other girls inched a little away from her.
With a cry, Sephiroth launched himself from the tree, only to meet the barrel of Forte's bazooka. "AAAAAAHHHHH!"
After that, Sephiroth was scrambling wildly around as the Angel's resident crazy shooter started peppering him with rocket propelled grenades.
Finally, Forte managed to score two glancing blows, knocking the Masamune out of his hands with one and knocking him down on the other. Looming over the cowering Sephiroth, the insanely grinning Forte aimed at his head. "Bai bai," she said.
"Aww, do you HAVE to blow off the head of every bishounen we meet on a mission?" Ranpha grumbled.
Before Forte could respond or just blow Sephie's head off, a raygun suddenly hit Sephiroth and he keeled over, twitching. Forte, naturally, was mad. "HEY! WHO STOLE MY KILL?"
A man in a mask suddenly appeared. "Terribly sorry," Slade said. "You see, I'm a… um… uh… I'm a ninja? From… his Hidden Village? Right, I'm a ninja from his Hidden Village with orders to kill Sephiroth on sight. Sorry if I stole your kill, but I'm under orders. Now, I'll just go and take his body so I can destroy it and keep the secrets of our village from getting out. Yeah, that's it! Well, see you, bye!"
With that, Slade and Sephiroth's body disappeared.
Mint was incensed. "How come the people around here have absolutely no dress sense?"
The rest of the Angels shrugged, and started walking towards Tazuna's house.
There, they meet Tazuna's daughter, Kasumi, and his son–
"SWEETO!"
"EEK!" BANG!
– Happosai.
Anyway, a few days of being molested later, they suddenly come to the bridge where, surprise, surprise! Sephiroth isn't dead after all, and it turns out Slade is his flunky.
Slade glares at Sephiroth. "How come I'm the flunky?"
Sephiroth flashes his pearly whites, blinding Slade's eye and causing women to swoon. "I look cooler. Plus, do you know how many voting competitions I've won as the number one villain ever? Suck it up, Slade."
Slade grumbled that he had seniority. After all, he's been on the Teen Titans comic books since the… eighties?
"These two again," Forte grumbled, hefting her Bazooka and a Laser Cannon she got from Heero Yuy.
"CHARGE!" Sephiroth cried, and he, Slade, and Slade's army of robots charged, to be met with laser and cannon fire.
After a long time, wherein all the robots are destroyed, Sephie and Sladey are tired and Forte is reloading while Mint, Vanilla, Forte, Milfeulle and Tazuna have a tea party off to the side, a shadowy figure at the head of a mob suddenly appears.
"Well, it looks like the great Sephiroth wasn't able to handle a couple of wenches," the evil Nabiki said, laughing evilly. "I guess it was a good idea I was going to stiff you all. Get them, my half-naked Amazon Flunkies!"
Said half-naked Amazon Flunkies hefted their weapons, when suddenly, there was a cry in the air.
"SWEETO!"
"HEY BABE!"
With that, Nabiki and her hoard of half-naked Amazon Flunkies ran away screaming, with Tazuna's son Happosai and his best friend Ataru Moroboshi in hot pursuit. They were never seen in Wave Country again.
Sephiroth blinked. "Hmm. Looks like I'm out of a job."
Shrugging, he slung the Masamune over his shoulder and walked over to the tea party. "How you doin'?" he drawled to Ranpha. "Wanna make out?"
"YES!" Ranpha said, and the two were off.
"HEY!" Forte cried, incensed. "What about our fight?"
Slade shrugged, then eyed the weapons she was carrying. "Nice guns," he said.
Forte blinked. "Thanks. I customized them myself."
"Wanna talk about it over dinner?"
"Okay."
And the two psychos were off.
Mint, Vanilla and Milfeulle looked at each other. "Orgy?" Vanilla offered.
The two considered. "Sure, why not?" Mint said. "Everyone else is shacking up."
The three disappeared, just as Tazuna started saying. "What a great and glorious battle that was! Now, I can finally complete my bridge! And in honor of this grand day, I'll name it after… um, after…"
Tazuna looks around, and notices everyone else is gone. Ad since he really didn't bother to get anyone's name… he pointed to a kid wearing orange who just happened to be walking by. "You! Hey, kid! What's your name?"
The kid looks confused for a moment. "Um, Naruto."
"From this day forth, this shall be known as the Great Naruto Bridge!"
----------------------------------------
End----------------------------------------
Silly, ain't it?
Up next: Winter gets a hold of The Create Card and writes…wouldn't you want to know? -snicker- Hoo boy…
Please review, C&C welcome.
Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.