The Hidden Order
by LoonyLunaLover
Disclaimer: This is a re-write (a much more mature one I'd say) of my original story of 'The Best of the Worst'. Expect updates every four days or so, considering I work full time and go to school. I do not own any of the characters in the Harry Potter series, though the OOC ones are my own creations. I do hope you enjoy (:
Upon opening his eyes, Draco Malfoy realized three very important things.
The first being that he was not at Malfoy Manor anymore. In fact, he had absolutely no idea where he was. All he saw was white stretching for what seemed like miles on end. There were no windows, no doors, no walls. just seemingly nothingness.
The second was that he was cold and naked. Upon a moments further inspection, he realized the latter was false, and he was simply wearing a thin yet formfitting suit.
The third was that he was not alone.
In the most dignified fashion one could bear in the situation, he scrambled to his feet and instinctively reached for his want. Unfortunately it was nowhere to be found. The others rose to their feet similarly, all taking defensive stances towards each other.
"Where am I? Where have you taken me?" Draco barked towards the three boys, crossing his arms and glaring. A few confused looks were exchanged amongst them before one of the boys stepped forward with a somewhat incredulous look on his face.
"Taken you? Mate, I don't think any of us CHOSE to be here. We certainly didn't kidnap your smarmy head." the blonde boy retorted back, looking around to the other two for support. "Frankly, I have no idea where in sam hell we are." As he spoke, Draco couldn't help to notice his accent, Australian. With a moment of hidden panic, he wondered if he'd been taken to Australia to recruit for followers for the Dark Lord. As these thoughts ran through his mind, the second voice spoke up.
"I was sitting in my room at home when I was knocked out, and I guess I woke up here." This accent was French, Parisian French if Draco could read it properly. Fears quelled a little he turned to the third boy.
"And you?"
The third boy shuffled his shoulders a bit, before gruffly responding. "Same thing happened to me." Russian this time, and Draco couldn't help to let out a frustrated sigh.
"And I. So we have no idea where we are, or how we got here, or how the hell we're going to get out. Bloody brilliant." The four of them glanced at each other suspiciously before one by one sinking back to the ground to collect their thoughts. Draco took this moment to observe each of them, while his brain worked an escape strategy. The Australian boy had an air of arrogance around him, yet he had a natural charm that exuded friendliness. He seemed a few good inches shorter than Draco, which was well appreciated, though he had golden pretty boy hair that he knew must have made the girls swoon back at home. His quick reactions lead him to believe the boy was also a Quidditch player, and probably a seeker as well.
To his left sat the French boy, who seemed off in his own world. He was tall and lanky, with short curly brown hair. Yet what was really noticeable about him were his piercing blue eyes, which even when unfocused, made Draco feel like they were trying to read into his mind. He appeared quite intelligent and out of the three, the least threatening.
Finally, to his right, the Russian. Big, brutish male with dark hair and even darker eyes. A bit taller than Draco, quite muscular and a scowl on his face that reminded him eerily of Snape. He very clearly looked like he did not want to be here and turned away from the rest of the group to be in his own thoughts. Another five minutes passed before anyone spoke again.
"Lucas Danbury" Three pairs of eyes snapped to look at the Australian.
"What?" Draco said, glancing at the other two.
"My name. It's Lucas Danbury. I figured that if we're going to be stuck here or even escape, we might as well learn each other's names." he explained with a shrug. Clearly it made sense to the French boy who nodded in agreement.
"Gerard Chevalier"
Neither of the other two spoke until, the Russian boy sighed. "Damien Jelaniye" All three looked expectantly towards Draco.
"Draco Malfoy." At his surname, Gerard's eyes widened a bit and he turned to look at him. Immediately feeling the negative weight of his family name, he snapped "Yes?" Glancing away from him, Gerard seemed to be in his own world for a few moments before speaking again.
"Well, I've made a few basic observations and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong." he began, nodding to the others. "First, we all collapsed before arriving at this location, which is currently still unknown. I'd like to also guess that we're all magical, considering both Draco and Damien reached for their wands." Draco looked at Damien quickly, who nodded in mere agreement. "Thirdly, we come from lines of Pureblooded families around the world. I used to be interested in history and I distinctly remember learning about the Jelaniye and Malfoy names. Assuming I'm correct, Danbury is too."
"You're right, but how is that going to help us?" Lucas asked with a nod, looking expectantly towards him.
"Oh, I've got absolutely no idea" and with a quick shrug, Gerard returned back to his thoughts. To his right, Damien let out of a snort of laughter that Draco could not help but to agree with. They glanced at each other and with one nod formed an unspoken alliance. If they all really were stuck here, he knew who he needed to help him escape.
"Are you quite sure about that Mr. Chevalier?" a voice called through the white, causing all the boys to scramble to their feet. Once again Draco instinctively reached for his wand, disappointed to once again not find it there.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" he found himself yelling, turning all which ways to find the source.
Then, in the distance, there was a shadow. This shadow grew and grew, until a man almost suddenly materialized right in front of them. Draco's first thought was that the man was Dumbledore, but upon a second glance, he realized that the long white beard was the only similarity. This man was tall, older and had deep brown eyes that seemingly pierced each of the boys individually. After a moment of inspection, the man in deep robes of silver lifted his hand towards them. "Walk with me my sons?"
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell us who you are." Lucas countered, crossing his arms.
Raising an eyebrow, the man looked at him. "I am simply known as the Guardian, now please follow." he said, walking off. The four boys looked at each other before taking a few cautionary steps forwards, staying on guard.
:"Now I'm sure you all have a thousand questions to ask me, but all will be explained in time, just now you are safe here. The magic is extremely powerful and will protect you, even going as far as to rid your bodies of impurities that could cause you harm such as bruises, illnesses and curses."
With that he shot a sideways meaningful look at Draco. Immediately fearful the boy moved his hand casually up his forearm, gently sliding the fabric up to see…nothing. No mark. His eyes shot up to the older man in a mixture of fear, shock and if one looked closely enough, relief.
Thankfully none of the other boys saw this exchange and soon they arrived at a wooden desk, much like Professor Dumbledore's, with four chairs seated in front of it. "Sit" he said, taking his own seat across from them and opening a large book. They did as told and waited, somewhat nervously, as he flipped through the pages.
"Sir, I know you said that all questions would be answered in time, but won't our families know we've gone missing?" Gerard asked meekly, and the older gentleman looked up.
"Not at all, as your physical bodies are in a comatose state. You will be gone for about a week in their time, three months here." At that statement, Damien's eyes bulged out a bit and he couldn't stop himself from slamming a hand on his own thigh.
"Why are you keeping us here against our will?"
The Guardian's eyes moved towards the older Russian boy, who stood his ground. With a soft smile, he began to speak in an almost cryptic voice. "Your eyes never had brown flecks in them before did they? You're a strong, immoveable force. It's not surprise they chose you." With a simple wave of his hand, Damien's cloak swirled around him and became earth green. With a small gasp of shock he couldn't' contain, the boy's eyes simply stared at him, filled with questions.
"Chose us?" Draco drawled as confidently as he could, trying to hide the fear. The man must have been an extremely powerful wizard to be able to secretly remove a Dark Mark, but he refused to show weakness.
Glancing at him, a smile lifted to the man's lips. "The ever-changing one. Extremely powerful and able to adapt to most situations without missing a beat. Interesting." Another wave, and Draco's cloak turned a royal blue. He repeated the process again with Gerard, and everyone watched as his cloak simply turned a deeper shade of white with a bit of silver in the lining. The older man nodded reassuringly and finally turned to Lucas.
"And it's very clear what you must be to round out our group here." As the man did a final wave, Lucas puffed out his chest and watched as his cloak turned jet black with a yellow interior. He admired it proudly, not bothering to see the color drain out from the gentleman's phase. It wasn't until a soft "no" was uttered that all four boys noticed the Guardian showing an emotion other than complacent, it was almost anxiety. He waved his hands again and again, watching as the garment continued to stay it's color.
"What's going on?" Lucas immediately piped up, tugging at his sleeves. He absolutely hated feeling like the odd one out, and it was clear he was right now. After a few moments of silence the man took a deep breathe and turned to them.
"You are the four sons of the elements, and you've been brought here to become who you really are. Earth" he said with a gesture to Damien.
"Air" he continued, his hands pointing to Gerard.
"Water" This time his gaze was moved to Draco.
"And…Shadows." he said glancing at Lucas. "Shadows is extremely rare, there's only been one other who's possessed it and it was only in conjunction with another element, Air. You're here to learn how to control your element, learn powerful magic, and yet something's missing."
"Fire." Damien said in a low voice, staring decidedly straight ahead. No one seemed to notice the patch of light growing on the floor behind them, similar to the ones that were there upon their own arrival.
xxxx
Meanwhile somewhere in the heart of America, a family was getting ready to settle in for dinner. The eldest was standing at the stove, singing a sweet song under her breath as she stirred the sauce she'd prepared for that night's evening. Doing a little spin on her toes, she moved the large pot off of the flame and to the bowl, setting it on the table. As she straightened up a small gasp of pain escaped her lips, and she went to soothe her shoulders.
She could already feel a stress headache coming on. It would be the third one this week.
The doctors couldn't explain and neither could she. The last month had been a miserable mix of anxiety and physical pain, though she assumed it was just due to exams coming wasn't until she threw up her dinner two nights in a row that she became concerned.
Heading back to the sink, she placed an ice pack onto her shoulder, which didn't help terribly. She began to clean the area around the stove, gliding a sponge across the top. With a little giggle, the realization that she forgot to turn the burner off hit her, and her hands moved towards it. Oddly the heat from the flames relieved her headache. It wasn't until her mother yelled her name, that she realized what she was doing. Shaking her head, it was turned off and she sat at the table.
Dinner went fine, of course until the end, when she bolted up from the table. Dear lord did she really have to do this right now. Running to the toilet, the contents of her stomach were soon emptied and she sunk to the floor. Her mother came in with a cool washcloth, which only made the poor girl feel worse.
"Stop" she murmured, her body lacking strength.
With the last bit she had, she lifted her body up the edge of the sink and glanced in the mirror. It was then she noticed her irises were flashing red, and that was enough to send her body into shock, collapsing on the floor.
-Kaycie Summers; Aged 18- Orlando, Florida, United States of America-
Back where the four boys were sitting and conversing with the guardian, there was a small thump on the ground behind them. Gerard saw it first, peering curiously, and soon everyone's eyes followed.
"Impossible" the man said incredulously.
On the floor lay a fifth body, face covered by a mass of red curls and a decisively female figure.
-Smooches! LLL