pout I didn't get very many reviews last time...hint hint Anyhoo, thanks to those who did review, but I would like /someone/ who reviewed to know that although I appreciate that she liked my story, the couples have already been planned out. And you never know, something that seems horrible might turn out great.Like this one Piccolo/Quatre fic I read. It was interesting, and I liked it, even though I thought it was really weird and gross when I first read the pairings. So please, don't judge a couple by the individuals!
And no, Zechs is totally not that girly at all, but...I like to make him OOC because it's just so damned funny!
So, please review, everyone! bows I am...not... at your service!
Muahahahahahaha!!!
announcer voice And today, on, "Honestly"...stuff happens!
Chapter five
"Shakedown, 19-7-9/ Cool kids never have the time..." Streamed the voice from Draco's headphones. He had a strange penchant for muggle music, and had gotten quite thoroughly into the rock scene, although he preferred 90's rock like The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana. Which may be the reason his now shaggy hair had a bold green streak down the left side of his bangs.
He stared moodily out at the cold, grey morning from inside his nice, warm compartment on the Hogwarts express. Billy Corgan, in his opinion, had to be one of the hottest men on the planet, right along with Kurt Cobain, James Iha, and Davey Havok. And, of course, Quatre. But Quatre wasn't really a man yet, so...yeah.
Smiling a little, he switched the song to something a little happier...perhaps 'Lily (my One and Only)' Lilies really were Draco's favorite flowers, and the song reminded him of the little blonde so much. Draco felt that he had suddenly discovered the meaning of love at first sight. Or, perhaps more accurate, love at first fight. That's how it was with Harry too. The moment he saw the defiance and strength in those emerald eyes, he had been head over heels. Then again, Quatre had not been angry or defiant, but rather unafraid and wondrous...Wondering.
"But wondering about what..." Draco mused aloud. Well, speak of the devil. Or angel. Or something along those lines...
"Hi Draco. D'you mind if I sit with you?" asked Quatre. Draco moved his belongings over and gestured for him to take a seat next to him. "Thanks." When Quatre sat down, he ran his hand through his hair, bringing the soft gold away from his eyes, where upon the left the ugly yellow-brown remnants of Duo's fist remained along with a small cut. A sharp intake of breath was heard from Draco, and Quatre looked over to see his newest friend's concerned face peering at him.
"What happened?" he asked softly, raising a gentle hand to the other's angelic face.
"Oh...that. I-well...After we left the Magical Menagerie Duo asked to speak with me and...well, he didn't exactly want to just talk. So, yeah. He still won't speak to me, and neither will Zechs, but the others are all right. Wufei was pretty mad too, but now he thinks Duo's being childish. He Duo, not Wufei wants me to apologize and stop being your friend." Said Quatre. At Draco's expression, he quickly added, "Of course I'm not gonna do that! I'm not like that!" and Draco immediately relaxed until Quatre continued, "Unless you do something as cruel as that again. It was really bad to say that. Duo...he's been through a lot. We all have, but he's had a much rougher life than anyone except perhaps Trowa. He was homeless for as long as he could remember, but an older boy named Solo showed him how to survive; they were like brothers until Solo died. That's where Duo got his first name. After the Maxwell church took him in, it was destroyed and everyone massacred; he takes his last name from Father Maxwell. Duo was the only survivor and blames himself; he declares himself cursed. 'Everyone who loves me dies' he said. I worry about him sometimes." Quatre said sadly.
"Oh..." Whispered Draco. He understood.
It was comfortably silent in that compartment for a good long while, as they had gotten there at about 8:15 that morning. They had nearly fallen asleep when students began crowding through the train at nine. Crabbe and Goyle thumped in noisily, and Quatre was startled from his peace-filled dozing.
"Hoozzat?" grunted Crabbe, pointing at the pilot. Draco had straightened up and taken on his normal icy persona.
"That, idiot, is my friend Quatre. Apparently over the summer your IQ has sunk so low as that you wouldn't recognize someone next to me as my friend. Honestly, this school needs a special ed class." Said Draco with that cold tone and frozen eyes. Quatre shivered a little. Crabbe cocked his head, then turned ruddy as he realized that he had just been insulted.
"'K. Hi Cat-rah." Said Goyle, holding out a big, rough hand. Draco sneered.
"Can't you oafs do anything right? It's Quatre, not Cat-rah. Jesus, learn it right! I mean--" Quatre cut him off with the elegance of a raised hand. Then he rose, and standing tall, introduced himself.
"My name is Quatre Raberba Winner. It's a pleasure to make your acquantaince...?" "Gregory." Goyle supplied. Quatre smiled kindly.
"Gregory it is then." He shook the large boy's hand with diplomatic firmness before returning to his seat. Draco pursed his lips. Quatre had just made him look like a total asshole.
Soon after the thugs left to chase the snack cart Quatre began to gather up his things.
"What're you doing? The train's barely left!" said Draco. Quatre stared at him with a blank face.
"Apparently I have misjudged you. You are so mean to everyone but me, it seems. I don't know what your problem is, but it greatly displeases me when you act like this." Said the boy, still picking up bags. He said all of this in a chilling monotone that was rather like a cross between himself under the Zero system's influence, and a really pissed off Heero.
It was scary...
Draco mentally kicked himself. 'And super-dumbass does it again.' He thought. "Quatre, I'm sorry! I'm just so used to acting like that, and I know it's not a good excuse, but I was raised like that and I have an image to uphold and..." He trailed off as Quatre turned to him, face still unreadable.
"I know Draco. It's a shame your pride gets in the way of what you really believe. I really can't be around you if your image is more important than your friends."
"I'll change! Please, Quatre, you're my only friend! If you leave now... I'll have nothing here. If you help me, I can change. I swear it. Please?" begged Draco. Quatre felt the sincerity of Draco's plea and, after a few moments of pretending to ponder his words, he sat back down. His companion's sigh of relief brought a small smile to his face.
"Now, Draco. About this changing you're supposed to be doing..."
A horror filled Draco's very being.
Duo's huge, cheesy grin quite abruptly fell off of his face when he saw who was at the compartment door. His new worst enemy and his ex-friend. Quatre offered a kind look; Duo glared and Draco was about to say something very characteristic of himself when Quatre's look became forced and he stomped on Draco's toe. The taller boy did a very good impression of a goldfish, with his silently gaping mouth opening and closing with the pain of a very likely bruised bone or two... Or five.
"Duo, I am very sorry for whatever it was I did to wrong you, but Draco is my friend and I will not abandon him. He would like to say something for himself." With yet another obviously strained look, he ground his heel into the sullen Draco's already injured foot. "Wouldn't you, Draco?" he asked from behind his clenched teeth.
"Ach! ...Yeah. Duo - I - am - very - sorry - about - what - I - said - to - you - at - the - store. I - hope - you - will - forgive - me. I - was - completely - erroneous - in - my - actions." His speech was very clearly rehearsed as every word was said in the same dull tone. Quatre put on a cheery smile.
"There now. Isn't that nice? Now let's all be friends." Duo paled and nodded rapidly. When Quatre was in this sort of mood, it was best not to contradict him. "Good. Shake hands, boys." Said the kindly blonde.
The two reluctantly reached toward each other and let a firm squeeze of the other's hand suffice for a handshake. Then they noticed the rest of the people in the compartment. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Heero, Trowa, Wufei, and Zechs had been goggling mutely the whole time.
Harry frowned and left; Ron and Wufei went after him, but Hermione stopped the redhead.
"Harry? Harry, what's wrong?" asked the Chinese boy. His hair was down and he wore glasses and his old school uniform.
Mmm...
Harry finally stopped with his back still turned. "I don't-Nothing. Nothing is wrong." He sighed. "Well...It's just that...I guess you probably know this from the little thing at Ollivander's, but Draco and I used to be together. We had a really messy breakup and I just... He's not as nice as he seems. I really like your friends, and I don't want to see them hurt." Harry's voice cracked. Wufei rested a hand on Harry's shoulder, guiding him around to face him. Tear-filled emerald eyes met proud onyx. "I hate him! I hate him so much!" Wufei drew him closer.
"Aa. But why must you hate him so much?" he asked quietly. Harry trembled as he sobbed.
"Because...because I still love him. Why can't he just let me be at peace? Every time I see him, I forget we were ever apart, until he looks at me, and he uses that cold gaze. The way he looks at everyone else. It hurts so much..." The Gryffindor boy couldn't speak any more, and Wufei stood holding him, rocking gently back and forth, and murmuring soothing things; smoothing wild locks back from a scarred forehead.
"It's all right. I know how it is. I hated my wife until she died...I love her now, but...She cannot stop me from loving anyone else. That painful love may always be there, but it will fade until you can hardly tell." Harry looked up, startled.
"You had a wife?"
"Well...She hadn't accepted me as her husband yet, but yes. Her given name was Meiran, but since women of our society couldn't be warriors, she called herself Nataku. Nataku was the name was our great, genderless protector." Said Wufei with a tiny smile and sad eyes.
"But, you're so young!" said Harry. Wufei nodded.
"Custom." He said simply. Harry nodded. "So, can you try not to let Draco get to you? Just know that it will get better. Maybe you can be friends someday. And anyway...I think my friend Quatre would be quite disappointed to hear what you have to say about this nasty ex of yours, if you know what I mean." Said Wufei, nodding through the window. Quatre was talking to the group, looking at Draco the whole time with big, sparkly, adoring eyes. Harry chuckled a bit, and they headed back in.
Only moments later, they arrived at Hogwarts.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god..." Whispered Quatre again and again, terrified and clutching Draco's arm. There were so many people there milling about; a gigantic man yelled toward the first years. It was a sea of humans, threatening to crush and drown the small blonde. Draco looked down at Quatre.
"C'mon. If we hurry to a carriage, you might escape the boat ride across the lake." He said. Quatre nodded and they quickly made their way to a horseless carriage shared with Crabbe and Goyle, to whom Draco had been forced to apologize.
Wufei was in the same carriage as the 'Dream Team' and he was actually making quite nice conversation with Harry.
"So, the school, does it..."
"Yep. And also--"
"Wow! I didn't know that. So is it like, you know, or do they have it like...?"
"No, actually it's more like, you know what I mean? Not like that, but more like this, see?"
"Oh, I see! But couldn't they do that other thing?"
"That wouldn't work because this stuff would happen."
"But if they did the thing and then did, you know, then the stuff would be bypassed therefore allowing the procedure to function correctly?"
"Hmm..."
And somehow, although Ron and Hermione were baffled, Wufei and Harry understood each other perfectly.
Duo, Heero, and Trowa had been seated with the Weasley twins, so in order to fit, Duo plopped himself right on George's lap.
"Hi! My name's Duo Maxwell. Nice to meetcha!" he said after making himself comfortable on the redhead's legs. Fred and George grinned.
"Hello, Duo. I'm Fred, that's George." Said George, switching the names. Duo flicked him in the nose.
"Liar!" he exclaimed. "You can't fool us; we're trained for this sorta thing!" George and Fred were amazed.
"Well, he's got us beat by a long shot." Sighed Fred.
"Ah, but he's not yet got dungbombs, has he o brother mine?"
"Hmm..." And they cackled evilly. Trowa and Heero remained silent; Heero was annoyed by the others' antics, and Trowa was intrigued. The Fred twin had some enigma to him, which Trowa vowed to discover that year.
After getting off the Hogwarts Express, Zechs was immediately steered around by two extraordinarily hot men into a Ministry of Magic car to head to Godric's Hollow, where the 'hot two' now lived. They introduced themselves as Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, and right off the bat they told Zechs that he had better state any issues he had with gays because the two were very much in love and not about to hide it. Zechs laughed and told them he was probably gayer than both of them combined. It was a jolly ride and they were friends before they left Hogsmeade.
They entered the house quietly. Zechs tried to stifle a yawn rather unsuccessfully, and looked at his new companions sheepishly.
"I'm kinda tired...Sorry." he mumbled with pink-tinged cheeks.
"S'all right. Would you like to take a nap or see the Sorting at Hogwarts?" asked Sirius.
"Uuh.What's a 'Sorting'" said Zechs. Remus chuckled a bit.
"It's when you find out just what kind of person you are, and who your true friends and family will be. Of course, inter-house relations are a possibility, but they've always been a bit strained. So, do you want to see it or d'you wanna take a rest? I can stay here and put your things away if you like." At the honey-blonde's suggestion, Zechs nodded.
"I think I'd like to see the Sorting. I can take a nap later." He decided.
"Great! We'd better hurry, though. Take my hand!" Sirius' rough hand clasped the warm, dry hand of the sexy pilot. They vanished immediately. With a sigh, Remus set to work straightening Zechs' room.
"Good evening, students new and old. Before the Sorting, I would like to make some announcements. We have some new students this year, and they will be joining the sixth year. And before those hushed whispers sweep the hall as they invariably will, yes, these boys are the much-famed Findaner Saviors. One of them will attend the first half of sixth year, and the second half of seventh year, then the entire seventh year again with his companions. Another will not be coming to school at all due to his age, but is staying with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black at Godric's hollow. Your hushed whispers are now permitted to sweep." Dumbledore smiled warmly at the end of his announcements, and indeed, hushed whispers swept the hall.
That is, until the doors to the great hall swung open. A bright light seemed to come from outside, along with some thick mist. Only dark silhouettes of the five boys could be seen strutting into the Great Hall. One of the shadowed figures crouched for a moment next to a concealed lump in the corner for a moment. Then, the music started...
It was 5/4 by Gorillaz; the whole dramatic entrance had been Duo's idea. Draco had helped indirectly by transmitting his ideas to Quatre, who then shared with the group. Each boy wore either A) a super drop-dead-fall-to- the-floor-crawl-to-the-door devilish smirk (Duo, Heero) B) A serious face with breath-taking smoldering eyes (Wufei, Trowa) or C) a drool-and-goo-goo- eyes-inducing bright-eyed angelic smile (Quatre.)
Each of them walked swiftly, but in the most seductive manner they could conjure. Despite the insane cheesiness of the whole situation, the entire population of Hogwarts (minus Snape and Dumbledore) had their jaws on the floor.
The song ended with a different pose stuck by each boy. Immediately Wufei turned bright red in embarrassment, whereas Quatre turned pink and joined Duo in hysterical laughter. Trowa, of course, retained his neutral mask, but Heero was determined to hold on to the reaction he'd received. He looked up at his audience from under his eyelashes, and quite suddenly winked and waved. The other boys were shocked!
McGonagall was the first to collect her wits, and with her usual stern manner, she went brought the hat up and set it on the stool in front of everyone. She cleared her throat impatiently, waiting for the pilots to gather themselves.
"Boys!" she barked. "Sit on the stool, put on the hat, and go to your table when your house is assigned!"
The pilots who weren't flushed (or blushing) tinged rose and bashfully went to stand in line.
"Be sorted when I call your name. The hat has no song for you, sorry. You were interrupting its plans for next year's song. Now: Yuy, Heero!"
The soldier-postured boy sat on the stool, the hat sitting perfectly atop his head. Only a few seconds passed before the hat called out: "Gryffindor!" The lions cheered as our favorite destructo-boy joined their ranks.
"Chang, Wufei!"
The Chinese boy sat, and sat, and then he sat some more. It took twenty minutes before the hat hesitantly said: "Ravenclaw...I think" Of course, this caused a ruckus, as the hat had never been unsure before, but Wufei nevertheless received a warm raven welcome.
"Maxwell, Duo!"
Hat over eyes, Duo was placed into Gryffindor as quickly as Draco had been into Slytherin. Duo grinned broadly and sat next to his fellow pilot.
"Umm...! AKA Barton, Trowa!" Trowa, as always, took his calm self to sit in a neutral manner with a blank look. The hat sat nonaligned on his head, and called: "Slytherin" in a flat tone.
Finally, "Winner, Quatre Raberba" was up. As soon as he was within a foot of the hat, the old floppy thing screamed "SLYTHERIN!!!" as loud as it could. Apparently, Quatre was not as angelic as he appeared. Several of the goo-goo-eyed admirers of the blonde fainted at the unlikely Sorting of pilot 04. But he retained his innocent angel face, and with an aura of complete purity and virtue, he sat amongst several of his shady, cruel-eyed Housemates.
Peering into the Great Hall, Zechs and Sirius watched. Zechs had no idea what to make of all of this, but he could tell from Sirius' face and breathing (or rather, lack of) that it was important. So, of course, he demanded an explanation. All said and done, Zechs felt rather faint.
"Oh my." He said, his voice a bit higher than usual. Sirius looked at him, concerned.
"You OK?" he asked. Zechs nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, just fine. Just...When I'm experiencing strong emotions, I... Never mind. It's okay though." With a shaky breath and smile, he turned his eyes back to the events of the Great Hall. Though rather puzzled, Sirius also returned to observing the evening's events.
Quatre smiled kindly at the corrupt-looking occupants of his house. Several of them sneered, but a pale, skeletal boy with longish auburn hair that fell in soft, thick waves and luminous chocolate eyes approached him. He wasn't smiling, but he retained a pleasant appearance and manner. Beneath his open robes he wore a too-large black cable-knit turtleneck and a pair of ripped blue jeans, with several holes in them despite the patches that covered several places. He held out his smooth, white hand, and with a solemn sort of smile with no teeth showing, he said,
"My name is Blaise Zambini. It's nice to meet you, Quatre." Quatre took his hand, beaming and replied,
"It's nice to meet you too, Blaise. Might I inquire your age or what year you're in?"
"I'm 16 and in my sixth year. We're dorm mates, with Draco and Crabbe and Goyle. There's also this other guy, but I don't know him."
"Trowa? He's my best friend!" Quatre bounced a little.
"Right. Well, this should be a good year." Blaise took Quatre's hand. "I know I don't really know you that well, but...Would you go out with me?"
"No, I wanted to ask him first!"
"No, me! Me first!"
"I had first dibs!"
Nearly half of the Slytherins (5-7 year) were clamoring over the rather frightened Arabian boy. They got closer and closer, surrounding him, strangling him with their closeness.
Then it all went black.
That's that for this chapter! Sorry it took so long. I've been kinda busy. So, should Quatre go out with Blaise? Or will he refuse...Hmm. I've got it planned, but you might be able to persuade me!
Oh, and umm...In case you haven't noticed, Quatre's a little claustrophobic and stuff. Not in enclosed spaces, but when there are too many people, or several people so close, it just doesn't work out for him too well.
Please review!!!