Ok, here's the thing, I haven't written in this story for a very long time, so, I decided to refresh my memory of how much I had posted so far. I was reading, and I became horrified at the inconceivable amount of grammar and punctuation errors I had made, not to mention the structure sentences themselves. I have tried to fix the most glaring problems as much as possible, but I am not done. Which means I am going to be reposting the old chapters, even adding things. I may repost the chapters several times. I am sorry if this is inconvenient in any way, but it was just so bad. Now on with the fic!
As of 12-3-07 this story has almost completely changed. Even if you have read it before, go back and see what you missed. Thank you.
Summary: Long ago, a war began between two demon clans. From this war came tears, blood, and a child. Now the remnants of one of those clans have joined forces with the most dangerous wizard alive, Lord Voldemort. Harry must fight his way through a maze of fear, hate but most importantly love. Can he be true to himself before it's too late? Or will he succumb to the mind-numbing darkness? Only one way to find out...
Disclaimer: If I owned HP would I be writing this crap? Brianna, James, Lucien and the Portillo-Martinez family are mine; ALL MINE! MWAHAHA!... Okay, I'm done now...
Warnings: This story contains yaoi. Meaning there's some hot M/M action in here somewhere. If you have a problem with this...I do NOT care! My suggestion to those who do is this: Go take your homophobic ass to the nearest bar, drink yourself silly, and then promptly jump into your crappy ass car and drive off a bridge. Do the world a big favor. You have been warned...
Criticisms are welcome flames are not!
And no, I did not pick out the name of this fic after I heard the title of the 6th book. It's in the sixth year, btw.
This means someone is speaking Spanish, thinking to themselves, or a word is being emphasized.
Chapter 9: Pranks and the White Room
Lucien
August twelfth
10:48 PM
Diagon Alley
An hour later, Lucien and Hermione left The Centaur's Herald in relative peace. It was a crowded, and neither of them could get out fast enough. They had agreed that it would be safer to actually find an inn that had an opening before checking out of their current Hell Hole. They had left the cats, in any case.
"No sense in lugging around that heavy, overstuffed luggage of yours," Hermione said to him as they stopped to get some candy from a street cart, knowing full well that she had just as many things.
Most likely books, Lucien thought to himself as he fingered the locket under his shirt. Since they had left The Centaur's Herald, their time together was a happier one. Lucien could tell that Hermione felt a lot better and he knew he looked just as good. He hated that place. If he never saw it again after that day it would be too soon. They had left Vene and Crookshanks behind to guard their things.
Suddenly, Hermione took his hand, pulled him along in a fast pace, and started gesticulating wildly. It happened so quickly that Lucien was forced to drop a rainbow lollipop that made his entire tongue turn a different color with each lick. He hadn't had time to mourn the loss of poor Licky, as Lucien had dubbed him, before Hermione let go of him and flew into the arms of a very red haired man. Lucien smiled and looked at the man beside Red. Was he seeing double? But lo, Hermione stopped hugging Red 1 and hugged Red 2 just as hard. Twins, Lucien thought to himself. He forced himself not to frown, pushing images of Angel and Angela away.
Hermione spun around and motioned towards him. "Fred, George, This is Lucien Portillo-Martinez." She stood in between them and motioned with each hand in turn. "Lucien, this is Fred and George Weasley, the craftiest pranksters ever to grace Hogwarts's halls."
"Oh, go on, Hermione," Fred exclaimed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave an obviously feigned sheepish look.
The one Hermione had called George followed his brother's lead and put his arm around her waist. "And he's George, I'm Fred."
Hermione laughed that infectious laugh again, "George, dear, since when did you think you could pull something like that on me."
"How do you always know lately, Hermione? It's not fair," cried Fred. Both brothers proceeded to pout.
Hermione slipped out of their grasps, did a little twirl so she was once again standing beside Lucien facing them."George is prettier."
George looked at Fred shrugging, as if to say, "Well she's got you there."
Lucien grinned. He had a feeling he would like these guys. Besides, if they made Hermione this happy after the shitty 24 hours she'd had, they must have been pretty cool. A thought struck him. "You say your name is Weasley, right? Any relation to a Bill? Punk-rocker guy, works at the bank, has a blond girlfriend."
They all looked at him in surprise before Hermione nodded and said, "Yes, Fred and George are two of his brothers. Bill is the second eldest."
Disgusted features were plastered on their faces. "So," said George, "You met Fluer, did you?"
"No," Lucien said shaking his head. "Just her hair."
They stared at him making him grin mischievously. "I'll explain later."
Beaming again Hermione turned back to the twins, "How's the business? These two run a joke shop. They're rather ingenious, actually," she explained as an after thought to Lucien.
Lucien was about to ask what kind of stuff they sold thinking he could get something for Marco but the twins were staring at Hermione like she had grown a second head that was spurting Kool-Aid out of its ears while whistling "Yankee Doodle Dandy" through it's nose.
"What?" Hermione was now irritated.
"Hermione, you really have changed," said Fred in an astounded tone.
"Yeah, Granger. You'd usually run us off for trying to corrupt your new boyfriend's mind."
"Ok, one," Hermione started ticking off on her fingers. "He's not my boyfriend. I'm sure either of you are more his type. Two, I have a right to have a change of opinion. I happen to think that some of your inventions are very interesting ideas. And three, stop looking at me that way."
The put their hands up in defense. "Woah," they said in unison. "We surrender!"
Lucien couldn't help it. He cracked up laughing. "Dude, you guys are great." That earned him a glare from Hermione.
"Thank you," said George.
"We aim to please."
Lucien turned to Hermione and in an attempt to reconcile said, "I'm sorry, Hermosa. They just remind me so much of Marco."
"The one that raced you up a tree?" she asked incredulously in Spanish.
"Hey," Lucien objected. "He didn't 'race me up a tree.' He tricked me up a tree."
"Either way, you still ended up sitting on a branch with twigs sticking in you-."
George waved a hand between them as if directing a football game. "Are you sure you just met yesterday?"
Hermione and Lucien looked at each other, confused before turning back to the brothers and nodding.
"Yes," Hermione replied innocently. "Why?"
"You two seem sort of attached, is all," said Fred.
"Aw, what's wrong, boys?" She gave them a dangerously sweet smile. "Jealous?"
"No, but Ron might be."
Lucien noticed Hermione's cheeks turn an interesting shade of pink as she said, "That's untrue."
Fred scoffed, "Oh please, Ikkle Ronnikins is-"
"Who's Ron?" Lucien asked. He was thoroughly amused by the current happenings. In his head he was singing Hermosa's got a boyfriend. Hermosa's got a boyfriend.
"He's a friend," Hermione answered vehemently. She was still pink.
"He's our little brother," started Fred.
"And he's got the hots for our little bookworm here," finished George.
"Yeah, he's gets really bothered when-"
Hermione raised a threatening finger. "Fred Weasley, if you finish that sentence, I will make sure you can't find your shop for a month. I can do it, you know I can."
The brothers looked at her with terror in their eyes. "You wouldn't dare!" They cried.
"Don't tempt me."
"You don't even know where is it," Fred accused.
Hermione looked smug. "Fifth and Griffin, next to the broom shop. Superb choice, by the way," she added conversationally. "All the children ogling the overpriced brooms will want to kneed out their frustrations by creating some devious plans on family and friends. Bravo."
Knowing this situation was getting them nowhere, Lucien decided to step in and said, "Hey, I wanna see this shop. I have a brother who'd like to make some mischief."
"Sure," exclaimed the grinning twin.
The shop was being renovated but George and Fred had just come from working on some new ideas. The Extendable Ears were very interesting to Lucien but he figured Abuela wouldn't go for that. Finally he chose a book that made a new strange sound, like a scream or a gong sounding, every time it was opened. He knew Marco would love to leave it on his desk at school. He also bought a paintbrush that, when you pushed a certain part on it, the brush would paint a different color. Someone could even mix colors. He knew Annita would love it. Lucien figured that the brush was one of the things they sold that Hermione thought was "ingenious."
By the time Lucien was done Hermione announced that it was time to go to the bookstore. Lucien tried to tell her that Hagrid had already gotten his books but she just smiled. After they had locked up the shop, Hermione hugged the twins one last time. Fred and George waved good bye before literally disappeared with a sharp "pop."
"Apparating," explained Hermione at Lucien's unasked question. He nodded as if he understood. She grabbed his hand again and off they went.
Lucien was surprised at how fast she could walk. She was so tiny but so very much larger than life. He smiled a sad smile. He would need Hermione strength if he was going to get through the homesickness.
They were in front of the book store so he thought they were going inside, but Hermione turned and hugged him tightly. When she let go he asked, pleased but confused, "What was that for?"
She shrugged. "I just felt for some reason that you needed a hug."
"Gee, how thoughtful of you," came a voice behind her.
Hermione spun around. Lucien looked above her shoulder at yet ANOTHER red haired man. He was more like a boy, truth be told. Especially when he crossed his arms and scowled like that.
"Ron! I thought you were spending the day with Harry." Was it Lucien's imagination, or did Hermione actually sound flustered?
"Yeah," Ron sneered, much to Lucien's annoyance. "It's obvious you weren't expecting me today."
Ok, Lucien had just gone from annoyed to pissed in a very short amount of time. "Listen here, you li-"
Hermione simply raised a hand to gently silence him. "I can handle this, Lucien."
"Handle me?" Ron was practically shouting. "You're going to try to handle me now?"
"Ron, that's not what I meant and you know it," said Hermione, deathly serious.
"Oh, so you're saying I'm stupid now? I can't understand other people's sentences? Handle this, Hermione!"
"Ron!" Hermione yelled after him but he had already turned the corner. "Something's not right," she said to Lucien.
"Go on, follow him, Hermosa." Before she even think of arguing, Lucien pressed on. "We can meet at that inn in two hours. We'll get our stuff together then. I'm sure out of all the other places we saw today, we can choose one." It was true that they had seen plenty of inns on their walk. Whether they have vacancy or not is another thing, he thought.
She nods and gulps before taking off. "I'm sorry about this," she called over her shoulder. Lucien made shooing gestures at her in reply.
When she was out of sight, he shook his head, partially disbelieving, partially in amusement, and started walking to where he had seen a cute B&B not to far away. He could tell that Hermione really liked Ron, but if a guy Lucien liked ever talked to him the way, Lucien would've probably socked him. He'd been burned before. He had a feeling that Ron didn't usually act that way, at least that's what Lucien got out of Hermione's surprised reaction. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who was used to being caught unawares.
Lucien saw the B&B he wanted Hermione and himself to stay had no vacancy. He decided to wander, trying to think of anything but the way his heart ached. He missed everyone so much. He wanted to cry but he knew he wouldn't. None of his brothers or sisters would ever let him live it down.
His feet had somehow brought him near the center of Diagon Alley. He looked around spotting Gringots. He smiled when he thought of Mr. Bill Weasley and his beloved Fluer. At least someone is getting some, he thought a little morosely as he slumped down onto a bench.
He tried to remember the last time he had been in a proper relationship that lasted more than 4 months. Hell a relationship at all. Lucien was only 16 but he still had had a few loves in his life, if one could actually call them "loves."
While his first boyfriend he'd had was when he was eleven, the first and only person he had ever loved romantically, he'd met when he was 13. Jack Mitchel. They were together for almost a year and a half. Jack's parents shipped him off to Canada when they had found out about them and Lucien had cried himself to sleep every night for almost two weeks. It was one of his first encounters with outright homophobia.
Last boyfriend he'd been with was almost a year ago and was slightly less of a choice from Jack. The new guy had been completely insane. Stalked him for a while. Abuela had warned him about Josh, but he never listened. Hell, most of his siblings had warned him, including little Rosa and she had been five! He still had to see the little creep every once in a while at the mall. Lucien on more than one occasion had thanked all that was good in this world that he didn't have to see him at school; Josh had dropped out a while ago. Lucien supposed he could consider that a perk of being on the other side of the world.
Oh, God, and the one before that, Yuri, was even worse. Lucien had given that horny little bastard three times to clean up his act. Finds out Udy, as he liked to be called, was messing with a twelve year old behind his back.
Yuri had done several other things, including drugs, but Lucien's memory came across the boyfriend he had had right after Jack. Kale was a sick jerk. He always treated Lucien like dirt, and Lucien let him. He needed to be with someone, He had been trying to get over his heartbreak from Jack. Kale had also been so far in the closet he had claimed he hated Lucien and got into a out-and-out fight with him in front of his friends. It was more like a beating than a fight. Lucien didn't raise a hand. It was the first time Lucien had ever seen his Abuela truly crazy angry. Kale had been 18 and was now running a porn site, except Lucien hadn't heard from him in a while.
These were horrible thoughts, but those were momentarily driven from his mind as he saw, not far away, Ollivander's shop. As much as he'd like to push off what happened the other day, Lucien suddenly had a burning desire for more answers. He walked swiftly towards the shop at a brisk pace. He couldn't help slowing ever so slightly as he came to the large green door. Taking a deep breath, Lucien raised his hand to knock but the door swung open. There standing in his usual posture was the man himself.
Bri
August eleventh
2:37 AM
St. Francis' Teaching Hospital, San Francisco, California
White
Everything was too damned white. The smell of Pinesole hung heavily in the air like a sticky veil. Brianna walked by the dimly lit waiting room and made her way over to the over large, too-sterile nurse's desk, which looked more like a booth, really. A tall yet slim woman sat in a plush black business chair, facing profile to Bri as she typed on the computer keyboard. Every push of a button with her un-manicured fingers sounded like she was trying to smash the damned thing through the faux-marble table top. She wore the expected over-the-top, loud nurse's shirt, which depicted kittens and puppies dancing together in front of a backdrop of baby blue sky filled with rainbows and smiling clouds. Her nametag was covered in multi-colored butterflies and told Bri that this nurse was called Deb. Her curly darkish blond hair was pulled half-up, half-down with a heart shaped hair clip, making the locks seem bigger than they would otherwise. She gave off the impression that she should have looked much younger than she actually appeared. There were bags under her eyes, giving her that haggard look, which was understandable for 3:00 in the morning.
Bri processed all of these facts in seconds. Storing and filing information away for later use was a comping mechanism of hers. It was her ADHD kicking in. Not that any of this really mattered. The only thing that was important to the young teacher at that moment was the fact that her best friend was lying in this hospital somewhere, bloody, battered and probably half alive if the phone message she had just heard was any indication.
She waved her hand to get the nurse's attention. The nurse typed two more keystrokes before looking up and giving Beri her best smile, although it never reached her eyes.
"Hi," Bri said before the nurse said anything. "I was called about an hour ago. Well I got the message on my cell phone about 20 minutes ago but it said that the call was made an hour ago... Anyway I was called about my friend, James Tanner. I was told he was here. Can you help me?"
Deb was already looking through a file and nodding her head before Bri had finished speaking. "Oh, yeah. The cutie. I'm afraid I can't give out any information to non-family, sweetie. You'll have to wait here for the patient to wake up or come back visiting hours." She slipped the file back into a stack and returned to the computer, obviously finding something more pressing to do.
When after two seconds of being ignored by Deb the Nurse, Bri slammed the palm of her hand down upon the poor, unsuspecting bell, earning her stunned yet immediate attention.
"Hiiiii," she said again, making the word loud and drawn out. She went straight back to her fast speech, knowing her accent would show more. It always did when she was upset. " My name is Brianna, not sweetie and I need several things from you. The first is the room number to James Elijah Tanner. He was in a car wreck. The second thing I need for you to do is produce his doctor as well as the police officer that brought him in. And don't bother telling me that either of them are gone. We both know it would be a lie." When the woman still sat, staring at her, Bri snapped, "Now would be good."
"I'll handle this Deborah," came a deep, concerned voice from behind Bri.
Bri still had the good sense not to turn and attack whoever had dared sneak up behind her, but she did deliberately turn to face this brave soul. She immediately went back into information gathering mode. The first thing her quick eyes noticed was that this very tall, very large, very young man was wearing a very white lab coat. On the pocket was stitched the words "Dr. Watts" in blue thread. One of the "t"s was unraveling making it look like "Wats." Under the coat, this doctor wore a sea blue work shirt with an aqua tie made up in a hubble knot, making his neck look larger than it was. Bri had thought he was young but on second glance she saw he had to be at least 35; he just had boyish features. This was made worse by his brown hair that he had parted to the right so it covered the corner of one of his large brown/almost black eyes.
"I'm Dr. Sherman Watts, one of Mr. Tanner's doctors, ma'am. Are you Brianna Jackson, Mr. Tanner's medical proxy?" He asked in a calm voice.
She nodded vigorously. "Yes. Yes I am. Now can you please tell me what's going on. I got a lousy message on my voice mail telling me that I should come down to the St. Frances' Teaching Hospital because my bestfriend has been found on the street in the middle of a car wreck. If someone doesn't tell me his condition right now I'm going to raise an even bigger fuss than I am at this moment. And if you think that is impossible, my friend, you are completely wrong." He had a sad look in his eye that made Bri feel faint but she pulled herself together in time to hear his answer.
"Mr. Tanner has sustained severe wounds. His right wrist is broken almost completely. His left arm is fractured in three places. Both his left and right thighs are torn. He has suffered four broken ribs, a sprained knee, a rotated elbow and a misplaced shoulder blade, not to mention multiple scaring internally and externally. Our main concern is his internal bleeding. It's under control for now, thankfully."
For the first time in a long time, Bri was speechless. James, her boy wonder, was so broken that it took a doctor 65 seconds to describe just how injured he was. All she could manage was to stare at the floor. Before Bri knew what was happening, Dr. Watts started leading her towards a couch in another room by her elbow. She was shaking, but she could feel the doctor sit beside her.
"What happened?" she whispered. She didn't trust her voice to go any higher than that.
"From what eye witnesses say, Mr. Tanner's car was hit on his right side, putting him straight behind a car carrying construction poles. The car behind him rear-ended him… The poles came through the front window, but somehow, Mr. Tanner had been thrown onto the sidewalk."
"When did the accident happen?"
Dr. Watts paused. "Around 11:30 last night.
"Oh, Jimmy," She put her hand to her mouth and stared at the floor. "This is all my fault. No…" It wasn't until Dr. Watts handed her his handkerchief that she realized she was crying. She took it and looked into the man's eyes. "He was on the phone with me. We were joking! He hung up on me, and I called back like I usually did. That must have…" Bri let out a few more tears, but in the end she wiped them away, and looked the doctor in the face. "When can I see him?" she demanded.
Dr. Watts smiled at her. "He just came from surgery about thirty minutes ago. You could see him now if you'd like."
Brianna stood to glare at him better. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that before? What room is he?"
"I'm sorry. This way please." He stood and down the hall. He knew she would follow him. "I just thought you should know the extent of your friend's injuries."
They had stopped at a door, but Bri couldn't open the door. She stood there frozen, and stared at her best friend through the small window. He was almost completely covered in casts. The thing that surprised her most was the gauze on his face. "Wh- Why did you wrap his face?
Dr. Watts gave her a confused look. "There was severe scarring over seventy-five percent of his body, including his face. He has at least six scars in that area alone."
"Doc, you don't understand," she said almost desperately. "He's a model. He-"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Cummings." The way he said it actually made her believe him. "The scars on his face are too deep into the muscle. They can never be fully healed."
A/N I will definitely be reposting this later. This is only a rough draft. And I know I told some people that it would be a while before I explained why Lucien and Hermione couldn't go to school yet, but if you've been following closely to the dates, you would have noticed that the reason was because there would be no one there to watch them, meaning Brianna was with James. Kudos if you picked up on that!