Chapter Eight- Revelations

Sora was slumbering now, still and calm in the hospital wing. Bands of moonlight lay across his face, bleaching the color from his bruises and making his otherwise porcelain skin glow. Harry, having snuck back down to the infirmary under his invisibility cloak, watched him breathe. Donald and Goofy, who had refused to be parted from him, slumbered in decidedly odd sleeping positions on an adjacent bed. Remembering that out of the Room of Requirement the heartless could find the vulnerable boy on the bed, Harry looked around uneasily, eyes flickering to the shadows.

Nothing stirred. The night was like any other number of nights, quite and peaceful. Returning his gaze to the sleeping boy, Harry felt his heart clench. He'd only known Sora for a few weeks, but it felt like forever, and seeing him lie so still, so hurt, made him both angry and overwhelmingly sad. He remembered Sora healing him, remembered the incredible warmth of his spell slipping through him and chasing Voldemort's touch away. Anyone who knew Sora knew he was something special, there was a kind of innocence, a kind of brightness to him. But Merlin, hadn't he been incredible before? Harry had thought he'd seen everything when Sora had fought the heartless in the great hall, but that had been nothing to the battle that had played out earlier. Sora had been up against a whole different kind of enemy, one that was ruthless and incredibly skilled. The flashes of the battle that they'd caught had seemed like something out of a nightmare.

And how utterly useless they'd all been. Even Donald and Goofy had been unable to join the fight, lacking the physical skill required to traverse the dangerous battlefield. Harry hadn't even known people could jump that far, or move that fast. Sora had been incredible, and the powers that the red-headed male had used had raised the hair on the back of his neck. Surely he couldn't have been human, surely. Harry sighed softly, scrubbing his hand over his burning eyes and wishing he could find the peace to sleep. But he felt better sitting here, watching the rise and fall of Sora's chest, reminding himself that he was alive. He shifted closer. In the moonlight, Sora was like a pale wraith, calm and beautiful and not quite there, and Harry wondered for a moment if he closed his eyes would Sora vanish?

Hesitantly, Harry stretched out his hand and let his fingers lightly touch Sora's hair, surprised by how soft it was. The boy didn't stir, practically comatose from the healing magic Donald had forced down his throat. Come morning, apparently, he would be completely healed. Harry could hardly believe it, but his sense of the impossible had been turned on it's head when Sora had showed up.

Harry pulled his hand back. He was being ridiculous. Sora would be fine. He should head back to his bed now, and sleep.

Instead, Harry remained, staring at the rise and fall of his friend's chest, remembering another friend, a friend who had died and not come back.

--

Sora was still a little bruised, but he roused the next day around lunchtime otherwise fine. Astounded, Madame Pomfrey kept him for a full fifteen minutes running scans, and running her fingers over his chest where a very nasty gash had healed into a barely visible scar. She was in a stupefied awe over the healing magic that had been used. Sora, having heard from Harry about the time the medi-witch had re-grown the bones in his arm, was understandably a little confused. Maybe she would have felt better if Sora had healed with big, ugly scars or something. (She would have, actually, for that she could have understood) Under the watchful eyes of Donald, Goofy, Madame Pomfrey and a strangely exhausted Harry, Sora stretched and stood by his bed, flashing a trade mark grin.

"Man, do I feel better now. I'll admit I wasn't feeling too good last night. Axel's pretty handy with those chakrams, let me tell you."

"Axel?" Harry asked tentatively. Sora perched on the edge of the bed for a moment, mouth tight.

"Yeah, his name's Axel. Met him once in Twilight Town. But I have this weird feeling I've met him before that, and I can't remember. All of the Organization Nobodies have strange powers- Axel, you may have noticed, can wield fire." Sora slipped off the bed again, edging past Donald, who was inspecting him closely and fingering his staff in such a way as to suggest that he was considering casting another Curaga. Sora wrinkled his nose. Other than a few- uh, attractively shaded bruises, Sora felt he was just fine.

"No, Donald. Do not heal me again. I'm fine, thanks. Besides, I have a feeling Professor Dumbledore's going to want to know about last night." Sora sighed. Not a conversation he was looking forward to, although all he really had to offer was,

"Axel showed up, we fought, no-one won, he left." There was no way Sora was going to tell the twinkling eyed old wizard about Axel kissing him. Not when he was still trying to understand it himself. And as for Roxas…

You are Roxas.

The hell he was! He was Sora, always had been, and always would be. But he would admit that there was something going on, something strange and painful inside, like some memory he had forgotten struggling to be remembered. Maybe, just maybe, these wizards would be able to help with that?

Madame Pomfrey was nodding.

"Yes, the Headmaster requested your presence as soon as you were healed. Now don't fret, he just wants to know if there's anything you can tell him to help protect the school from these Organization people." Yeah, Sora thought, get rid of me. I'm like a trouble magnet.

"Here, Sora, I'll show you the way." Sora smiled at Harry, even though he was pretty sure he knew the way now, he wouldn't mind the green-eyed wizard's company.

"Thanks, Harry." His smile dimmed and grew concerned for a moment.

"Harry? Are you alright? You look exhausted. Is it about your scar?" Harry started, flitting a glance at Sora, more specifically at the livid bruise on his cheek, then looked away again.

"No, Sora, I'm fine. Just found it hard to sleep last night, that's all." Sora linked his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, that's understandable. It was a pretty rough night." And without saying anything more, they continued on their way to see Dumbledore.

--

Dumbledore was at his 'serene, harmless' best, sitting behind his desk, twinkling away as he sucked on a lemon drop. Sora and Harry both twitched very slightly.

"My, Sora, what an active night you've had." Active? True, but Sora could think of a lot of words that fit better.

"Yessir."

"Would you mind telling me what happened?" Just a little.

"It's pretty straightforward, Professor. I was up in the Astronomy tower when I heard the sound of a cloak. I thought it was one of you guys and I turned to look, and saw Axel. Well, an Organization member, but it didn't take me long to know who it was."
"Why didn't you call for help?" Sora blinked. Harry shot Dumbledore a quizzical look. Dumbledore was a great man, but he was caught continuously between eternal optimism and blind stupidity. Harry was all too aware of how utterly useless they'd all been last night when Sora had been fighting the intruder.

"Call for…Professor, I really didn't have time. He said something about seeing how I was doing, maybe stealing some souls, and then we were fighting. Nobody really won- Axel vanished into a dark portal."

"You don't know how he got inside the castle?"

"He probably teleported in, like how he left." Dumbledore was frowning now, thinking of all the wards on the castle that the man must have passed.

"So, this man-" Sora interrupted him.

"Nobody."

"Excuse me?"

"He's a Nobody. All the Organization members are. They don't have hearts."

"I see, I recall you saying something to that effect."

"So this Nobody was here for you?" Sora looked away.

"I have no doubt he would also have created some havoc here- but yes." Sora sunk low in his chair, accepting an armful of phoenix miserably. Here it comes, he thought. It's too dangerous for me to be here, he knows that. But I haven't found the Keyhole yet, and I can't go home until I do.

"I see. Well thank you Sora, unless you have anything to add, I won't keep you." Sora gaped.

"No sir, I mean yes sir." Sora was very relieved, while Harry was mostly confused.

"Um, Professor Dumbledore, sir, do you know anything about erasing memories? I mean, un-erasing them? I have a feeling- that is, I think I might have lost some, you see."

"Whaaat?" Donald had been quiet up until then, but now he exploded out of his chair with an indignant cry.

"Lost memories? But Sora, we've been with you all the time! We woulda known if you just forgot something." Sora turned to the little mage, pale but resolute.

"Not it you'd forgotten too, Donald. You as well, Goofy. Have you noticed anything wrong or confusing in your memory? I've discovered I'm afraid of the hospital wing, because it's white. I've never been afraid of a color before. And I know I've met Axel before, and I don't just mean Twilight Town!" Sora took a deep breath, then relaxed back into his chair, stroking Fawkes's chest. Goofy was scratching his head, looking confused.

"Gosh, Sora, I don't know. But it's odd, I don't think I like white anymore either." Donald's feathers were fluffed out, making the stout little mage look like an irritated feather duster. His fingers were locked tight around his staff. He looked liable to explode any minute now, but he was also frowning. Sora turned back to Dumbledore.

"Professor?" He pleaded.

Dumbledore looked very grave.

"I know very little about your kind of magic, Sora," he cautioned.

"But among wizards there are several ways of incurring memory loss. The Obliviate charm is one, whereby the caster alters what a person remembers, as well as several potions known to induce memory loss, or to cover true memories with false ones. However, Sora, I doubt any of these would have any great effect on you. But mages proficient in your style of magic might have similar spells." Sora slumped.

"However, Sora, I have a suggestion. I have in my possession an empty penseive. It's a magical item in which a wizard can store and view memories. It's very simple to use, and you might discover what's wrong in your memory if you use it." Dumbledore got up, walking around his desk and over to one of his many shelves, rummaging for a few moments.

"Aha! Here we go, Sora. Now, all you need to do is concentrate on the memory you wish to look at, then pull it into the penseive. Then you can look inside the memory and discover anything unusual- gaps or repetitions, perhaps." He offered Sora the large stone bowl inscribed with strange markings, strangely shimmering. Sora took it gratefully and with no little trepidation, shifting Fawkes to one knee. Donald waddled over immediately, taking the heavy object and examining it from all sides.

"Thanks Professor." Dumbledore smiled, but his eyes were still grave.

"The very least I could do, Sora. Now, why don't you run along while I have a brief chat with young Harry here?" Sora and Harry swapped glances, Harry still wide-eyed over the conversation he'd just heard.

"Sure. See you later, Harry." Sora and his friends left, Fawkes settled once more upon Sora's shoulder. Dumbledore waited until the door closed behind them before turning to Harry.

"Now Harry, I had another question about the incident with your scar the other day…"

Something was definitely up, there. And Dumbledore knew something he wasn't saying.

--

Few people saw Sora in the halls, which was good, because their reactions were more than he could take. The shocked, awed stares, the back-tracking, the hushed silence and whispers putting him on edge. He clutched the penseive to his chest and hurried back to the Room of Requirement, Donald and Goofy on his heels. He was almost there when-

"Psst!" Spinning, arms full with a magical object, Sora stared suspiciously at the wall that appeared to be hailing him. Donald blinked.

Suddenly a tapestry moved aside, and Sora found himself face to face with two identical grinning red-headed boys.

The Weasley twins. Ron had told him about his brothers, but Sora hadn't really met them until now.

"Uh, what do you want? …And what are you doing hiding behind there?" The twins grinned.

"Well, young Sora,"

"We were just passing by-"

"in one of the out-of-way passages,"

"When we caught sight of you and your-"

"-breathless fans. So we thought, since you're a friend of Harry's,"

"-that we'd give you a hand!"

Sora found himself staring at each twin in turn, awed over the rapid-fire conversation they'd just shared. They were grinning slyly, full of mischievous good will, and Sora smiled despite himself. According to Ron, the twins knew more secret passageways than even Filch.

"Nice to meet you- Fred and George, isn't it? I'm Sora, this is Donald, and that's Goofy. And how are you planning on helping?" The twins grinned again, beckoning the odd trio behind the tapestry.

"Well, it's simple really. We haven't got the map anymore, but that doesn't mean that we haven't got a load of awesome merchandise to help out the stranded student!" George- or possibly Fred- gave Sora a more somber look.

"Plus, seeing as you seem to attract as many life-threatening situations as Harry, we figured we could help you at least get around the common gawker here at Hogwarts. Follow us." Intrigued, Sora followed the twins down the passageway, and then down a hall into a little room hidden by a picture with three sirens, which Fred and George flattered outrageously. Giggling, the trio of beauties blew them kisses and swung open. They all went in, and Sora marveled at the large room full of cauldron's full of strange liquids, the tables overflowing with pages of hand-written notes and strange and everyday objects. One of the twins- Sora had given up trying to tell who was who, strode over to one of the benches and began to grab items off it, stuffing them into a small bag that, despite what was put in it, never got any larger. Sora figured they acted like his own pockets, they never grew larger and always gave him what he was after when he put his hand in them.

The twin trotted back to join them, clutching the bag. They huddled over it, shooting each other looks.

"In this little, simple bag," one began with the air of a used car salesman, if only he knew,

"This unprepossessing bag, lies some of our more exclusive and interesting merchandise, exclusive from yours truly." The other twin joined in, gesturing grandly.

"Trap jinxes, Confusion hexes, disguise jewelry- we got it all here. Word around Hogwarts is you don't need any help with duel magic," (and now he sounded like a gang-leader) so we've got everything in here to help you survive Hogwarts, fangirls, Death eaters, and dark lord wanabe's in training." Sora blinked bemusedly.

"Behold!" George cried dramatically, and with a showman's gesture whipped a silver bracelet with a shiny sapphire stone from the bag. Sora blinked again, while Donald seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

"This simple seeming bracelet- attractively fitted with a power stone in your choice of color as long as it's blue, when activated with the right word, will instantly change your appearance for a maximum of twenty-four hours. Choose from up to four different forms, male and female, to fool any enemies." Fred grabbed the bracelet from his brother and tossed it to Sora, who put the penseive down to look it over. It resized the instant he put it on his wrist.

"The activation word is Metamorph," the twin winked, "you can choose between the four disguise forms by adding numbers after the word- 1, 2, 3, 4. Metamorph 1 is one of our best- you change into a female version of yourself. Metamorph 2, 3, 4 change your hair, eyes, and your clothes. Metamorph 'off' turns it, well, off." George interrupted before Sora could say anything, whipping out something else from the bag.

"This is an alteration of an earlier prototype," the twin said fondly.

"We've recently outfitted Harry with one of these babies. It's a listening device, activated by touch. One touch of the stone magnifies your hearing by five, two taps magnifies it by ten. Deactivation is done by tapping the stud in the back." George tossed the simple blue stud earring in Sora's direction. His fine tuned reflexes caught it before it whizzed past his head. The tiny power stone in the earring was the same shade as the stone in the bracelet. Now that he thought about it, he'd noticed Harry had an earring, but his thick, dark hair had mostly hidden it from view.

"Uh, awesome, but my ears aren't pierced…" Sora, irrationally, had a flashback to his mother, swelling in indignation at his foolhardy request. The same reaction had appeared when he'd asked if he could get a tattoo.

"No problem, just hold still for a sec." Sora's eyes flared wide, but George had already grabbed the stud back and was holding it up to his ear.

"Hmm. Doesn't seem to want to go through…is it true that you have a resistance to magic?"

"Yes, does that mean that none of this will work?"

"Nah, this magic only amplifies or changes how people see you. It doesn't actually change you." Ouch! Sora clamped his hand to his ear, where George had finally managed to puncture his earlobe.

"There ya go! You'll be overhearing important discussions in no time."

"You mean eavesdropping?" Sora said wryly.

"Details, details," Fred said airily.

"Oh, and this ring completes the jewelry set- it's got a fairly strong compulsion spell on it. When you activate it- just say 'Compel' and it'll grab people's attention. When they're focused on the stone, they'll be suggestible. Not to any big things, but enough to answer simple yes/no questions, or to distract someone long enough to run. Turn it off by saying finite." Smiling with satisfaction, George slipped the ring onto Sora's finger, twisting it so that the winking blue stone was on top. Like the bracelet, the ring resized when it touched him.

"What's with all the blue?"

"We like blue."

"Ah."

"Also in the bag are a lot of our trap hexes- portable swamp, gravity reverse field-only for five feet, mind- and a Doppelganger charm- that'll create an illusionary copy of you for people to chase while you get away. Careful though, you can't touch it or it'll fade."

The twins shoved the bag into Sora's hands, grinning with satisfaction.

Donald regained his tongue before Sora.

"Waddaya mean giving Sora alla this stuff? How do we know this isn't some kind of trick?" The duck tapped one webbed foot and crossed his wings, giving the twins an assessing glare. Sora finally managed to close his mouth, and pulled the little mage back gently.

"Now, Donald, they're friends of Harry, so they must be alright." Then to the twins he said,

"Thanks, you two. If this stuff does what you say it will, it will be real handy. I can't pay for it, though, not with any money you'd recognize. Is there any thing else I can offer?"

The twins paused thoughtfully.

"Now, this is all from the goodness of our hearts, Sora, because you're a friend and seem like a real nice guy who has a real tough job. Don't doubt that." The other twin picked up the conversation.

"But you guys are really from another world, right? We'd love to experiment with stuff from there- bet it'd have interesting reactions with some of our stuff. If you could spare anything…?" Puppy dog eyes appeared. Sora couldn't help it; he laughed. They were two of the most amusing people he'd ever met.

Donald was far less amused.

"We can't go out giving out stuff from other worlds! It's against the rules! We-" Sora shook his head.

"I'm not saying we give them a key-chain or anything. Just maybe some of the stuff we don't use anymore. Come on Donald, it'll be okay." The duck mage muttered darkly to himself, but gave in.

"Alright, but don't bring me into it when the King hears about this!" The twins pushed forward eagerly, only momentarily distracted by the mention of a king.

"Sweet!"

--

Absorbed as he was, it was hours later that Sora finally picked up the Penseive. He spent hours turning it over and over in his hands, desperate to begin but terrified of what he might find. Finally, he shoved it under his pillow, and trotted off to the kitchens, where he could eat in peace.

He'd try it later, when he wasn't so tired.

--

Days began to pass, and the heartless attacks picked up a little. Despite the misgivings and outrage of his teachers, Sora abandoned all classes and began to search for the Keyhole in earnest. Students and teachers no longer rushed to the doors of their classrooms when they heard the sounds of furious battles, having learnt that the three off-worlders could take care of themselves. And still the Keyhole remained stubbornly hidden, until Sora just wanted to scream in frustration.

"Calm down, Sora," Ron said lazily from where he lay sprawled in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. He was eyeing a chess board from his position but made no move to get it. Harry was nibbling on a quill as he muttered over a piece of parchment.

Sora gave Ron an incredulous look, which Hermione mirrored from her spot on the couches.

"Calm down?! When god knows how many worlds are being over-run with Heartless? When my friends are in trouble and fighting even now? When the damn Organization are off doing god-knows-what but I know damn well it's not good? How can I calm down when I'm stuck here- completely useless!" Sora had a lot more to say, his nerves strained from weeks stuck in this odd world while people he cared about were in danger.

Ron flinched back, face white, and Sora felt a twinge of regret, swallowing his fury. He took a deep breathe, lowering his voice- a useless activity since he'd already caught the attention of everyone in the room.

"Sorry, Ron, but I just have this terrible feeling that something horrible is happening. We've sealed Kingdom Hearts, but there's so much left to do! And these Organization guys are doing something really dangerous, I know it." Sora slumped back into his armchair, while Donald and Goofy gave him compassionate looks. They were not the Keyblade Master, but both had friends on the line, too.

"I've got to find the Keyhole, really soon." Harry was watching him from the floor, the quill, forgotten, raised halfway to his lips.

"Sora," he began hesitantly, "have you tried looking in your penseive? Maybe there's something in there?" Hermione gasped.

"YOU have a penseive? What for? They're supposed to be really, really expensive!" Harry shushed the enthusiastic witch, not looking away from Sora.

Sora blinked. He frowned, and then realized with shame that he'd been putting it off. He berated himself furiously. Just because he was afraid didn't give him the right to risk other people's lives because of it! People were depending on him!

"Tonight, Harry," he promised. Harry nodded somberly. Ron was squirming a little, before he suddenly blurted,

"Sorry, Sora. I just keep forgetting- I can't really imagine what's happening outside of here, you know?" Sora sighed, but managed a smile at the redhead.

"It's okay Ron. I find it hard sometimes too." Harry rose to his feet with a groan, adjusting his glasses.

"Gah! Floor bad. Come on guys, I don't know about you, but all this work has me starving." He twisted to stare at Sora.

"You too, Sora. You can't avoid other people forever, you know." And ignoring the unhappy teen's mutter of "watch me," he drug him out of the room.

--

It would be nice to say that Sora, Harry, and co had a marvelous night of food and friendship without anything untoward happening. Alas. But the events that occurred that night were remembered in Hogwarts for many, many years.