Pictaresque Incantatem
Sutoomu
Well, this is the result of months without an internet connection on my labtop because of technical difficulties. I wrote so much in that time, on all my stories, and I even got two brand new stories. And now, gomen nasai, for takingso damn long to update. I'm sorry! But I hope you enjoy this chapter of PctaresqueIncantatem. I do. It's pretty good. I think. Anyhoo, read and review. I reply all the reviews I get, 'cause reviewers are special!
Enjoy!
"Due to the irreversible," Snape paused, directly eyeing the three pilots present. "Events of yesterday, we will be continuing yesterday's lesson." He waved his wand and words appeared on the blackboard instantly. "Follow the directions. You have one hour." And he sat down, shuffling some papers.
"Where do I get dread root?" Duo asked. "We're supposed to make potions in here, right? Three counterclockwise stirs with my wand? How the hell am I supposed to do that?"
"Mr. Maxwell," Snape's eyes snapped up from his paper. "I suggest you turn your volume down and consult your potions book. Not to mention there are many more advanced students all about you for reference. As to the wand, borrow someone elses, as it would be quite unwise to touch this potion." His lips curved in a sneer smile and he returned to his papers, Duo blinking after him.
"Right-o, then," Duo smiled and turned to Malfoy. "Where do I get dread root?" Malfoy smirked and handed him a bunch of roots that looked oddly enough like dreadlocks, except they weren't made of hair and they were moving! Duo poked them with his finger and they burst into flames. Dropping them, he stamped them out with his foot, then chuckled and looked at his hand. "Whoops." Malfoy actually chuckled as he handed Duo another handful.
"So what exactly does this stuff do?" Duo asked as he borrowed Crabbe's wand to stir it.
"It's supposed to make the receiver do whatever the giver wants," Malfoy said. "If I gave this to you, Duo, you'd become my slave for at least twelve hours."
"Really?" Duo asked, and his eyes slipped over to look at Heero. He blinked as he found Heero frowing at him from across the room.
"No," Heero stated firmly.
"Aw, c'mon, Hee-chan," Duo went over to him. "Imagine what this stuff could do!" Duo laughed at the thought.
"If you give so much as one drop to anyone," Heero threatened. "I'm not talking to you for a month."
"Like you talk much in the first place," Duo pouted, crossing his arms. Heero glared at him and Duo threw his hands in the air. "Fine, fine. I promise not to touch the stuff."
"Good," Heero's eyes shined in a smile. "Now go tend to your overflowing potion." Duo looked over at his cauldron and 'eep-ed', running back to it. By the time he got it to stop seeping over the edges, it looked like some sort of green tar, instead of the smooth black it should have been. "Oh well," was all Duo said. "It's not like I need to pass." Snape, however, made quite a few bordering-on-degrading comments about Duo's potion and, indirectly, about Duo. Heero was thoroughly glaring at Snape after this while Duo just grinned and laughed it off, making a rather crude comment about Snape having a stick up his ass which lost Slytherin fifteen house points. That, of course, had gotten Duo asking what the hell house points were, then telling the Slytherins they were unlucky to have him in their house once he found out.
"What do we have next, Dragon?" Duo asked Malfoy as they left the dungeon known as Snape's classroom.
"History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs," Draco made a face. "Boring class, boring Hufflepuffs."
"You say History of Magic is boring?" Heero asked, standing beside Duo and recieving a smile from the braided boy.
"Horrifyingly," Draco rolled his eyes. "It's taught by Binns, a ghost. He just died one day and got up as a ghost the next and continued teaching. Binns never notices anything, he's so drab. It's a good class to catch up on sleep though."
"I have the feeling Duo won't be doing that," Trowa said, having joined them. Hermoine, Ron, and Harry were waiting for Heero and Trowa, not willing to go near Malfoy.
Heero gave Duo a piercing look, and decided that he looked a little bit too innocent. Heero reached into his robe and withdrew Hane, still sleeping, his little white foot twitching in a dream. Heero nudged him and Hane blinked open a tiny eye, then meowed happily at the sight of Heero.
"Hane, I have a very serious mission for you," Heero said, ignoring Duo's amused giggle as Hane tilted his head as though listening. "Your mission is to keep an eye on Duo and make sure he doesn't get into big trouble. Will you accept?" Duo laughed out loud this time as Hane lifted a paw as though cleaning himself and then paused with it by his ear like a salute. "Good," Heero finished, and set the small white kitten on top of Duo's head. Hane immediately curled up and began to doze.
"Thanks, Hee-chan," Duo said, looking crosseyed as Hane's tail began twitching in front of his eyes. "Maybe we should take Hane on missions more often."
"Trowa, Heero, we're going to be late for Transfiguration," Hermoine's voice called out.
"Bai, Hee-chan," Duo said, giving Heero a quick kiss. "See you later, koi!" And he grabbed Malfoy's arm and began to drag him off, Hane lifting up his head in annoyance at the sudden movement. Malfoy, stunned by what Duo had just done, allowed himself to be led while he stuttered. Hermoine, Ron, and Harry were in the same state, staring and stuttering as Trowa and Heero turned back to them. Trowa and Heero had passed them and were well ahead before they caught their senses and ran after them.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, pointing at Heero. "You're gay!"
"Now what gave you that idea?" Trowa said with amusement.
"You and Duo," Harry said, and he seemed to be thinking.
"Trowa...," Hermoine started. "Are...are you and Quatre together?"
Trowa smiled a real smile and nodded. "Yes."
"And Wufei...?"
"Wufei's straight," Trowa replied, eyes twinkling as they walked.
"'As straight as a ruler', as Duo often says," Heero mentioned. "And Trowa and I aren't gay."
"You're not?" Harry asked, confused.
"No," Heero replied. "We don't like men. We just love Duo and Quatre."
"But that makes you gay...," Ron started.
"Trust me," Heero said sharply. "It doesn't. Besides, love is love." Even Ron could sense the hidden annoyance and anger in Heero's voice.
"Let me try and explain," Trowa said. "We are not gay, as in we do not like men in general. We only love two men, Duo and Quatre, and that's it. We've never felt any inclination of attraction towards any other men before."
"No offense, but that's bloody wierd," Ron said.
"I understand," Hermoine said. "You could be put under bi, you know?"
"I suppose, part way," Trowa aquiesced. "I don't prefer either, though."
"Understandable," Hermoine agreed. "Society can be very prejeduced against anyone different. Racists, homophobics, religious fanatics.The world is falling off the edge of sanity, I swear."
"It will get worse," Heero said grimly.
"I just hope I die before it gets worse than it is," Harry muttered.
"Harry, don't say that," Hermoine turned on him. "You know that You-Know-Who wants you dead. How can you wish that?"
"No offense, 'Moine," Ron said in defense of his best friend. "But I'd probably want to die, too, if You-Know-Who made things worse. That doesn't mean Harry is actually going to die before that."
"May I ask who You-Know-Who is?" Trowa asked.
"You-Know-Who is Lord Voldemort," Harry said, then sighed as Ron flinched. "Everyone is afraid to say his name. Vol-de-mort."
"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," Heero stated.
"Isn't he the dark wizard that Harry supposedly defeated fourteen years ago?" Trowa looked to Heero for answer. Heero nodded in confirmation.
"You knew?" Ron asked, and they both nodded. "You knew, yet you don't worship him or whisper about him or anything."
"It's a complete and utter relief, thank you," Harry quickly said as they entered McGonagall's classroom. The five fifteen year olds sat down and the gryffindor trio continued talking as Heero and Trowa got out their books. They were joined by Wufei, since Gryffindors did transfiguration with Ravenclaws, who sat down in a very tense mood and began meditating before anyone could speak to him. A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall came in, quieting the class and starting the lesson.
"Today we shall be doing some review. Miss Granger, please hand everyone a mouse," McGonagall handed Hermoine a box and she obeyed. "I will come to each of you to grade you on your ability to transfigure your mouse into a pocketwatch. Extra points if it tells time. Proceed." And she picked up a clipboard and walked to the first desk.
Trowa and Heero turned confused looks at the mouse as Hermoine set one down on each of their desks. The mice sniffed and moved a bit, but generally stayed put, not running away as any normal mouse would.
"Do you two know how to use your inner wands?" Wufei asked them, holding his mouse up by the tail, where it squeaked and wriggled. Trowa and Heero both shook their heads. "Quatre learned something about it this morning. He explained it to me, and it seems to work. Damn hard to get the hang of, though." And he proceeded to explain to Trowa and Heero.
"That answers quite a few questions," Trowa said. He held out his hand on the desk and the mouse ran onto it, and then up his arm, settling on his shoulder.
"Except what we're supposed to do here," Wufei peered an eye at his still struggling mouse.
"You change your mouse to a stopwatch," Hermoine replied, having heard him from her seat beside Trowa. "Watch." And she tapped her wand on the mouse three times, then spoke. "Revierto." Three pairs of eyes widened as the mouse fluidly changed into a small golden stopwatch, the tail becoming the chain, the limbs becoming small turnable knobs, and the nose becoming the small catch at the top.
"That is not normal!" Heero shouted, standing up abruptly. Heads turned to look at him.
"Mister Yuy," McGonagall said sharply. "Is there a problem?"
"What the hell is up with all of you?" Heero snapped. "You're completely abnormal!"
"Heero, calm down," Trowa set a warning hand on Heero's arm. Heero closed his eyes, breathed, then sat down with his stoic mask back in place. This did not satisfy McGonagall, as she walked over and eyed them sharply.
"What do you mean, we're abnormal?" Ron defended. "You're gay." Heero sent Ron a death glare and the freckled boy shifted back.
"Is there something wrong, Mister Yuy?" McGonagall asked again.
"He's just a little stressed," Wufei said. "As we all are. And I have to agree with him. Seeing a mouse turn into a pocketwatch is abnormal."
"It may be abnormal to you, Mister Chang, but it is required for you to know in order to pass. So, if you would be so kind as to stop playing with your mouse and transfigurate it for me now, and I will grade you."
"I think that's a bit harsh, Professor," Harry defended. "They've never tried before..." McGonagall held up a hand and Harry wisely shut up.
"Proceed, Mister Chang," McGonagall said.
Wufei forced a smile and put his mouse down, then held his hand over it. His brows furrowed in concentration and he bit his lip, then his hand began to glow a faint red. The glow increased until it appeared as transparent flames flickering all around his hand and a few students gasped and began to get worried. Wufei didn't notice this, deep in concentration, and the flames grew even more. McGonagall frowned and reached a hand out to stop Wufei when the mouse suddenly squeaked violently and the creature melded into a blood red stopwatch. Wufei smirked and looked up at McGonagall. "Satisfied, onna?" McGonagall's eyes were wide and Wufei noticed they weren't focused on his stopwatch, instead darting around the room to look at all the desks.
Trowa felt something heavy slide down off his shoulder and down his chest and he caught it, blinking in surprise at it. He held the red stopwatch identical to the one on Wufei's desk up for him to see, and Wufei frowned. Heero picked another identical red stopwatch off his desk and stared at Wufei. All throughout the room students were finding red stopwatches where their mice had been a moment before and, after a bit more investigation, McGonagall was awed to learn they were all ticking and telling the exact time.
"Do I pass?" Wufei asked, and McGonagall nodded mutely, moving past them to refocus her senses.
"That was amazing!" Hermoine said excitedly once she left. "I've never seen someone transfigure that many items at once!"
"And your hand was glowing red flames," Ron added. "Bloody hell, that was awesome! And now we don't have to show McGonagall, since you changed ours for us. Thanks, mate."
"She'll probably make everyone do it tommorrow," Harry dashed Ron's hopes on the rocks. "Except Wufei, of course."
"I refuse to participate in such a pointless task," Heero muttered stubbornly.
"Poor mice," Trowa murmured, the stopwatch spinning below its chain, which was held in his hand.
"And Trowa refuses to torture animals," Heero added more support to his refusal.
Trowa looked at him, then shrugged at the trio. "It is kind of cruel," he said.
"McGonagall changes them all back, you know," Harry mentioned. "And they're fine."
"Unless Filch's cat gets them," Ron added. "Mrs. Norris is horrible. Bloody spy..."
"Due to this strange event," McGonagall interrupted him, talking to the class. "You are hereby dismissed early for today. You may leave." The class made a general whoop and filed out happily, talking to friends about what to do with this extra time.
"Thanks again!" Ron cheered Wufei. "No transfiguration. What should we do with all this blessed time?"
"I'm going to check on Quatre," Trowa mentioned. "Malfoy said that History of Magic was taught by a ghost. And Heero should make sure Duo's not making trouble like he usually does."
"Don't abandon me to the wolves!" Wufei growled, glaring at the group of Ravenclaws, mostly girls, who were huddled a bit down the hall, waiting for him. "Take me with you!"
"Could we come, too?" Ron asked, then explained himself. "I mean, it's generally boring here, unless You-Know-Who's buggin' Harry, but hangin' with you guys is never dull."
"If you want to," Heero said, then thought of something. "We don't know where History of Magic is, anyways."
"We'll be glad to show you the way," Hermoine chirped, and the six youths walked off, avoiding the Ravenclaws to Wufei's utter happiness.
Well, I hope I wrote that well. It'll probably be a little while before another chapter is posted, but I hope I can write it soon. I'll try my hardest but.../sigh/ my life keeps getting in the way. Ya know, reality sucks, GW world rules. : Review, please! Ask me anything,t ell me anything, 'cause I love reviewers: YAY!
Storm