Chapter Ten-Montague Unmasked
Saturday afternoon blew in at Salem Academy and Garrett* was walking from the library. Upon entering his dorm, he found seven others facing him. A sinking feeling appeared in his stomach, but he decided to remain calm. That was the best thing to do in situations like these. Slytherins never let a weakness be spotted.
Camden was the first to speak. "Hello, Raven. Mind if we talk? Sit down."
The twin wandered to his four-poster bed and sat, eyeing his roommates. They stood and surrounded him on all sides.
"What ya'll want? Did I do somethin' wrong?" he asked innocently.
"Cut the bullshit. Who the fuck are you and where is Raven?" Tony blurted, glaring at Garrett* who glanced at Randall. His own impassive gaze read 'Told you.'
'Shit. I can't believe I've been discovered by them already. I was hoping to wait until at least Christmas. I'm cornered, I might as well talk. I don't want to waste magic in a potential duel.'
"Our lively and colorful Italian is right. We know you're someone else...the question is who. You act like Raven, talk like Raven and know what he knows. I must applaud you for an impressive feat, however, we're very curious as to what you've done with our friend and why. Now talk."
'Kenji, you're definitely a clever bastard. You'd be well-suited for my house.' Garrett* drew in a slow, cleansing breath and replied. "O' course I'll talk. But it's..." he pointed his wand at his throat, disabling the charm...thus returning his natural voice "...a rather long story, I'm afraid."
Slightly taken aback from the abrupt change in accent, Camden responded, maintaining direct eye contact. "It's all right, we have time."
Meanwhile at Hogwarts...around nine o' clock that night..
Graham* was on his way from the kitchens after sneaking a blueberry scone, popping the last morsel into his mouth.
"Good evening, Mr. Montague. I take the scones are fresh?" Dumbledore casually asked, peering at the raven through half-moon spectacles.
The Snake replied "Very, Headmaster."
"Excellent. I think I shall help myself to some. Blueberry is among my favorites, although I prefer cherry.'' he warmly smiled as Montague sauntered past. 'Oh, and a very belated ''Welcome back''.'
Down in a deserted corridor in the Slytherin dungeons, stood a group of waiting teens. One was peering at a large parchment, a 'Lumos' lighting his view.
"He said he was coming back from the kitchens...any minute now." Flint whispered, moving his hand slowly down Percy's back, gently gripping his inner thigh.
"Mmph...Marcus..please try to control yourself."
"You know what being in a dark corner with you does to me."
"Shut up, you two. Someone's on the map!" Justin hissed. The parchment in question happened to be the Marauder's Map, which Percy subsequently borrowed from Harry once he formulated this plan. Even the perfect Prefect was a sneaky bastard!
The little dot moved down the corridor they were near, a name appeared to the top right. ''Garrett...Montague? Wait...who the fuck is that? I thought there was only one." Colin whispered in confusion.
Flint scrunched his face in contemplation. 'Garrett...where have I heard that name before?'
Graham* was pondering to himself, silently choosing which closet to enter for his weekly update. 'Ah! this one...' he opened a third door to his right and walked in.
"There! Let's move."
Getting settled for his early update, Graham* pulled out his mirror and activated the transmission which has been buzzing in his robe for the past five minutes. ''Hello there. What's up? We normally talk later than this."
His twin sighed. "We have a lil' problem."
"And that would be.?" a hand moved the mirror.
"Evening, Raven..or in this case.. Garrett.''
Graham* paled, well..more than what was considered possible for him. It was Camden Sterling, with a sly smirk on his face.
"Hi...uh...I...-" the door in front of him unlocked, revealing Percy and the rest of the gang. "...Fuck." he looked back down at the mirror.
"I think you also have some explaining to do. Call when you're finished." Camden ceased the transmission.
Flint aimed his wand at Montague. "Come quietly. Now." Obeying the brutish Chaser, he stood and followed the group who led him to a large empty room near Potions. He was shoved into a chair, his wand confiscated.
"Whoever you are, you've stepped into some serious shit. First, our friend is missing and is nowhere to be found. Second, you showed up in his image and taken his place. Somehow, you seem to know everything about him and us. We know you're not Graham so you have exactly two minutes to explain before I rip you in half." Flint snarled, glaring at his 'best mate'.
"Fine, I didn't want this to get out so soon. I hoped I could keep it quiet for just a little while longer. I had no intention of hurting anyone."
"What exactly were your intentions?" Percy queried.
"I wanted to change places...see his side of everything."
"Will you stop being so damn cryptic?! Tell us who the fuck you are!" Terence snapped irritably.
"...Garrett Montague."
Adrian stared at him, shaking his head "How dare you...how dare you come up here and tell us that shit!"
"Adrian, what is he talking about?" Percy asked.
"So that's where I remember that name." Flint muttered.
"I thought it was a forgotten rumor." Lucian whispered.
"What the bloody hell are you going on about?" Justin snipped, crossing his arms.
"If you'd be patient, I'm sure someone will tell us." Colin patted the 'Puff's shoulder.
"Could you let me explain?" Garrett pleaded, hoping they will listen. They faced him, giving their undivided attention. "Percy, please hand me my wand. I promise I will not try anything." Reluctantly, the prefect handed it to Montague. He pointed the tip at his throat, ending the charm. "Dat's much better.." the sudden one-eighty in his accent stunned the occupants...except for three.
"As I was sayin' ...o'er da summer, I was at da same Wizardin' Fencin' competition as Graham. Little did I know it was gonna be somethin' I'd never forget. On da last day o' da tournament, we faced off. I was da current champion at da time by da name Raven Chevalier...a muggleborn native o' Louisiana. After fo' what seemed like forever, da match ended in a tie an' we took our masks off to congratulate one another as tradition dictates. You can imagine mah surprise once we did..."
Percy muttered aloud in awe. "Identical twins."
"Precisely. Later dat day I found ou' I wasn't some regular muggleborn wizard. I always knew I was adopted but never knew how I ended up dat way 'til Graham told me. Ya see.." he reached into his shirt, pulling out the silver locket.
"As I'm sure ya'll are aware...only a Montague can hold one o' these. If not, ya get burned. See mah neck an' hand?" Garrett showed them his unblemished skin. ''Nothin'." He opened the locket, displaying the Montague crest on the left and an engravement on the right- 'GSM'. ''You know what 'GAM' in Graham's stands fo', don'cha?"
"Graham Alexei Montague." Terence pointed out.
''Good boy...however, dis says 'GSM'. My name is Garrett Sergei Montague. Born October 31st, 1997 at 12:02 in da mornin'."
"Oh Merlin." Adrian put a hand around his mouth in shock. Flint and the others just stared at him, totally unsure of what to say.
"Um...Garrett? How did you pull this off? There is no possible way you two could have done this all alone." Colin surmised.
"Yo' right, blondie. We didn't. Befo' Graham an' I switched places, we went to a couple o' Wizardin' buddies o' mine an' dey helped by severin' da trace an' assisted in switchin' our lifestyles. What you see righ' now...is only a charm. As twins, we have da same appearance but mah hair is longer...plus da obvious." he pointed to his throat. "Graham is jus' fine. \He's in Salem Academy as we speak an' he was found ou' not too long ago himself. But I'm sure ya'll will get to 'im later."
"So let me get this straight, you and Graham are identical twin brothers, separated at birth? How the hell could St. Mungo's let that happen? I thought they would be more efficient being a Wizarding hospital and all?" Justin queried incredulously.
"Dat's da same thing Graham an' our folks have been wonderin' fo' almost sixteen years now. I was dropped off at an orphanage in New Orleans an' was raised in a small town called Bellerose by muggles. I dunno how da hell all dat shit works, entirely."
Percy turned to his boyfriend. "Marcus, could you clarify what you meant when you 'remembered that name'? And how was this considered a 'forgotten rumor'? Normally, a kidnapping from St. Mungo's would make the Daily Prophet...everyone would hear about it."
"When me and the guys were little at a Halloween party, Graham's fifth, we overheard our mothers and Graham's mum talking in the parlor. She was dabbing some tears from her eyes and we went in to see what was wrong. My mum told me that 'everything was ok and it's just grown-up talk' and to go play. Later, I overheard an auror visiting Lord Montague, giving an update on someone named Garrett...saying that he was most likely dead and there was shouting. I had no idea who he was until Adrian's dad told us not to ever speak of it to Graham or anyone, that just saying his name caused too much pain. So, as the years went on we nearly forgot, although from Adrian's earlier retort I can assume he didn't. Until this moment...I about forgot, myself."
Lucian supplied. "As for being merely a rumor, there was a partial report of an incident that happened on Halloween those years ago. I snuck into the records as a little kid when I was visiting my dad at the Ministry. I came across a report stating something about an infant's abduction and at the bottom, it said that the incident was never made public. Most likely, it was to protect St. Mungo's reputation. If no one could trust the best Wizarding hospital in Britain, they'd lose a lot of beneficiaries. There was even a selective mass-memory charm cast over the hospital to make the patients and other unimportant personnel forget the aurors even showed up, except for the usual. I'm also thinking maybe Lord Montague didn't want the news to get out on a global scale. He was hurting enough and to have his enemies rub it in his face...it would have made everything so much worse. That's why not everyone in the Pureblood circle knows of Garrett's existence. Plus, Lady Montague didn't like a lot of women so few knew she was carrying twins."
"That's horrible and honestly, I can't blame Lord Montague for wanting to be quiet. I can't imagine going through all that.'' Colin shook his head, sadly.
"Neither can I." Percy whispered.
"So, Garret, you were pretending to be Graham this entire time?" Miles asked softly.
"Yeah. I wanted a chance to at least meet mah Mom an' Dad. Even if it's once to know some of mah identity."
"Are you...going to stay with us? With Graham?" Lucian eyed the twin.
Garrett sighed. ''I dunno. We didn't plan on dis bein' a permanent arrangement. I can't jus' abandon those who took care o' me all mah life. Dat would be a shitty thing to do. Dat's why we didn't want anyone findin' out...'specially our parents.''
"Yeah, that's definitely some conflicting matters to sort." Justin nodded.
"Well, now that we have everything out in the open we need to contact Graham and figure out what to do next." Percy stated, rising from the tabletop he was sitting on.
"Yeah. I can guarantee ya mah friends back in Salem want to hear mah side o' da story.''
What ya think? :)