Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Peace, Love, and Family: The Story of the Vanuli Three ❯ Cousins and Presents ( Chapter 18 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any things Harry Potter-the characters, setting, plot, everything belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling and whomever else she decides. I do not own anything Gundam Wing-the characters, setting, plot, everything belongs to (I think) Bandai and Sunrise.

Spoilers: This fic contains spoilers for books 1-5 of Harry Potter and all of the episodes of Gundam Wing. This fic does not include Endless Waltz.

Rating: NC17

Pairings: Neville/Harry, 2x1

Category: crossover, fantasy, general

Author: Selune

Author's site: http://www.gundam-wing-universe.net/fanfiction/menu.php?id=113

Summary: Two years ago, the One Year War ended. At this time, the five heroes-the Gundam pilots-disappeared from the Muggle world. Three of them-pilots 02, 03, and 05-reappeared shortly after in the Wizarding world, as students at Hogwarts School of Witchraft and Wizardry. Now, twenty months after the fact, Heero Yuy and Quatre Winner are coming to Hogwarts, and they're bringing all of their secrets with them. The world-especially one Harry Potter-will never be the same.

Peace, Love, and Family:

The Story of the Vanuli Three

Chapter 18: Cousins and Presents

She sat in front of the old man-the one wizards either exalted or feared, sometimes both at once-and a small smile played across her lips. Tashpi stood behind her and a little to the right, ready to defend her Niamo, and her love, should the old man decide to do anything suspect. Not that he would, she thought. After all, the two of them had the same agenda, at least on this one matter. Keep Voldemort out of Hogwarts. Of course, they had different reasons for wanting this. Professor Dumbledore wanted the entire student body to be safe, as well as the faculty, staff, and various beasts housed at the school. She wanted only four people to be safe. Her cousins. The others could die horrible, painful, bloody deaths, for all that she cared. She would help them to it, in fact, if it would save her family.

"Tell me one thing Miss Peacecraft, Mr. Peacecraft," Professor Dumbledore said, nodding to her and her brother in turn. "Why come to me for an alliance? I was under the impression that the Sank kingdom was a pacifist nation. To have both the Queen and the Minister of Magic come to me with such a matter, I would never have expected it. Why come to me and not to Britain's own Minister?"

Relena looked over to her brother, standing behind his wife in much the same way Tashpi was standing behind her. He nodded and her, and she took that as her cue to answer.

"Well, Headmaster," Relena said, turning back to face Dumbledore, "as I know you are aware, the Peacecraft clan is and always has been a clan that prided ourselves on our loyality to our family. We value family over everything else, even going so far as to forsake our right to open marriages. As such loyal, devoted members of the Peacecraft family, my brother and I, as well as his wife and my Naiyama, feel that it is our solemn duty to protect any and all members of our family, whether they want us to do so or not.

"Your school is, more likely than not, a prime target in the current Dark Lord's overall scheme for total world domination. Normally, the house of Peacecraft would have no use for that information, preferring instead to leave you humans to your quarrels while we take care of our own. However, several members of our subfamily, cousins of ours in name and blood, chose to attend this school, for reasons still unknown to us. As this is now the case of our family in the center of this turmoil, we offer our assistance to you, at such time as you see fit to accept it, in order that our cousins shall remain unharmed during their stay at your school.

"As for why we seek an alliance with you directly instead of with Minister Fudge," Relena laughed a bit at the thought of allying herself and her family with that idiot. "The reason is very simple. Fudge is an incompetent fool. I would rather ally myself with a bowl of cold pudding before I would with him."

"Ah, well," Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. Relena knew he felt the same way. Word of mouth was that Dumbledore "very much disliked Minister Fudge" and was currently trying to get him fired. "It's always nice to know a person's reasons for doing something. The matter's in the intentions, you know.

"Now, if I could just have a look at the contract the two of you drew up for me to sign, I'm sure we can do away with this matter fairly quickly."

"Let us hope, Headmaster," Relena said, taking the parchment Tashpi handed her.

***

Heero was oh, so very happy today. He had a skip in his step and a smile on his face as he hummed on the way to breakfast, much to the surprise of any and all who saw him. The others wouldn't be so surprised, though, if they knew what day it was. It was the fourteenth. Exactly one week before the full moon. And the day Lena, Milly, Lucy, and Tasphi were coming to see him (it was supposed to be a surprise, though, so neither his brothers nor Dorothy knew of that). So Heero was in his normal, pre-full moon, playful state, and he was practically giddy at getting to see his cousins after so long.

"I get to see my Lena. I get to see my Lena," Heero wanted to sing, but he couldn't. Because of the surprise. So he settled for just humming it as he skipped in a circle around Quatre and Harry.

They were so slow! Didn't they know that the sooner they got to breakfast, the sooner they cold leave? And that the sooner they left, the sooner they could go to class? And the sooner they got to class, the sooner all their classes would be over? And the sooner classes were over, the sooner they could see their family? Well, maybe not that one, it was a surprise! But the sooner classes were over, the sooner they could all play. They could run in the forest, and chase rabbits and squirrels and all other kinds of small, furry animals, and they could fly, fly, fly in the sky like birds!

Heero didn't think Harry and Quatre knew that, so he tried to tell them by pulling on their arms and pushing them forward. To get them to hurry up. So they could play!

"Stop it, Heero," Quatre growled at him when they reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Quatre grabbed Heero's chin and forced him to stop fidgeting and look at him. Heero did so grudgingly-he wanted to play! "Heero, you need to calm down before we go in there, or people might suspect something is wrong."

"Yeah, Heero," Harry said, much nicer than Quatre.

Harry was always so much nicer than Quatre. Quatre was mean, not letting him play! Heero pouted as Harry moved the trio out of the way of a group of third year Ravenclaws, all of whom stared and pointed at them.

"We don't need people suspecting us about anything before we tell them what we're going to tell them. And we certainly don't want any staring and pointing," Harry said, gesturing to the Ravenclaws. "Not unless it's for a good reason. Like on Halloween. They can point and stare then."

Heero agreed to calm down, albeit with a kicked puppy expression. He only did it so his brothers would be happy with him. He hated it when they were mad at him. It got lonely.

Harry nodded and walked into the Great Hall, alone so people wouldn't know they were together. Heero and Quatre followed a few paces behind-Heero suitably subdued-and sat next to Harry and his friends on the 7th years' end of the table.

"Morning," Heero said in a more normal-for him, anyway-tone of voice. The other 7th years, many who saw how he was earlier, gaped at his rapid change in behavior.

"Pass me the pastries, please," Heero said to Quatre. He almost giggled at his little bit of alliteration, but stopped himself when he saw the warning in his brother's eyes. Heero lowered his eyes to his plate after taking a danish.

I never get to have any fun, he thought as he took the danish apart, bit by bit. Heero sighed and ate his breakfast, an owl fluttering by every now and then as it brought a package or letter to one of his classmates.

"And then we had to run and hide behind the statues-the ones in the front hall-because Filch was on our trail. It was then that Hannah and I remembered she was Head Girl and I was a prefect, so we stepped out from behind the statues-not even bothering to dust ourselves off from the fall earlier-and ran up to Filch ourselves. We caught him and told him we were on the lookout for a couple of troublemakers, and asked if he had possibly seen any around."

Heero looked up from his plate at the burst of laughter following Ron's tale. Ron was always telling the other Gryffindors about his liaisons with his girlfriend. Heero sometimes wondered if she knew about it, and whether or not she'd get mad when she found out. Heero's eyes met Harry's, and he knew that Harry was thinking the exact same thing. They burst out laughing at the same time. It was fun.

"Wow, look at it," Seamus said, drawing Heero's attention away from Harry. He pointed at the ceiling behind Heero. "I didn't think they were ever used as post-birds. Too dignified, the lot of them."

Heero looked where Seamus was pointing, and he saw it. A beautiful, solid white bird, at least three times the size of an owl. It had a very short beak which looked even smaller in relation to its gargantuan size. It carried a package in one claw.

"I wonder who owns that thing," Hermione said, looking at the bird in awe. Heero could tell that she was probably trying to figure out just what species it was, and where she first learned about it.

"I guess we'll find out soon," Harry said as the bird started circling lower, getting ready to drop the box.

The group-all of the Gryffindor seventh years and a few of the sixth-watched the bird as it swooped the Great Hall once, twice, thrice, getting lower on each descent. They all caught their breath as the bird-an Ounta, if Heero was correct-dropped its burden. Heero didn't look down to see whose package it was but continued to watch the bird. It didn't leave as most post-owls did after their job was completed. It continued its descent, flying in lower and tighter-right over the Gryffindor table.

"Heero, Heero," Quatre said and poked him in the ribs.

"What?" Heero said, jumping. He took his eyes off the Ounta and turned to look at his brother.

"Look," Quatre said, pointing to Heero's plate.

Heero looked. There, amidst his breakfast, was a package. Heero was amazed that it hadn't managed to fall on any food, as his plate wasn't exactly empty, and even more amazed that he hadn't noticed it land. Heero picked up the card and read it.

To my beloved Heero Yuy

Hogwarts

Heero turned the card over, but there was nothing else written on it. He knew it wasn't from Duo, no matter how much he wanted it to be. The handwriting was much too different.

I wonder who sent this, Heero thought. Heero picked up the box and looked over it, trying to figure out who sent it. There was no writing, no indication of any kind who had sent it.

He and Quatre usually only got mail on the first of the month when it was forwarded by Relena. That was when he got the letter from Lena telling him of her visit. Most of Heero's and Quatre's mail ended up in Sank because that was where most people sent it. Very few people actually knew they were attending Hogwarts, and those that did know didn't want to bother with learning a new address.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Harry asked, peering at the package over Heero's arm.

"Might as well," Heero said. It seemed safe enough, but he got out his wand just in case. From the corner of his eye, he saw Quatre do the same.

"Diffindo," Heero said and watched as the package was cut open.

Heero saw Quatre hold his wand level with the package as he reached to completely open it. He grasped the two flaps now on the box and pulled them apart. The box fell apart, and Heero gasped at what he saw.

Inside the package were two tiny figures. They were dancing on a platform-a waltz of some sort-and music was playing from inside the platform. The leading figurine was a centaur, a very familiar-looking centaur with blonde hair. The other figure had brown hair, just like Heero's own. Curious, Heero leaned down to see them better. On closer inspection, he could see that they were, in fact, exact, tiny replicas of Zetoth and himself.

When they saw him looking at them, they stopped dancing and waved to him. Tiny-Heero said something to Tiny-Zetoth, and the two began a different dance. The music accompanying them changed from a waltz to swing music, and the two began a complicated little number that Heero was amazed a being with four legs could do it.

"Hn-hn!" Heero heard someone clear his throat from behind him. Heero reluctantly turned around and saw the Ounta standing in front of him, its beak level with Heero's nose.

"Right," the Ounta drawled, as much as a bird was able, and ruffled its feathers.

Heero stared at the bird and wondered why it was there. As far as Heero knew, Ountas were extremely pompous and snooty, never bothering with species other than those with whom they deemed worthy of association. Humans were rarely ever seen as such to any species other than House Elves. It really made him wonder.

"My name is Yinau, son of Yirey, son of Yideu, son of Yinoi, found of the Yi flock," the Ounta said, going through the custom of the Ounta species. Heero didn't know if he was expected to reciprocate or not, but either way, he wasn't telling all and sundry who his parents were. "I have come to you today, Heero Yuy, in order to bring a message from my great friend, Zetoth Koel, son of Lorak, son of Brimor, leader of the clan Teldan."

The Ounta-as that was most definitely what it was; no other bird was as long-winded and haughty as that kind-went on and on in extremely formal language before Heero stopped him.

"What exactly is this message you are supposed to give to me?" Heero asked, his face still very close to Yinau's.

The bird, not phased by Heero in the least little bit, answered him, "My great friend Zetoth Koel said, and I quote,

"The month is up;

The game is here;

I'll make you mine

within one year.

This starts the day;

This very the hour;

I'll woo you yet,

My wild flower."

Heero gaped at the bird as it said that. He could tell Yinau was uncomfortable saying things like that to one he most likely felt was unworthy of his "great friend." Heero was probably just as uneasy.

"I guess this is my first present then," Heero said, referring to the tiny dancers. He finally remembered centaur courting procedures. One month between declaration of intent to court-the kiss on the hand during their first meeting-and the actual first stage of the courting process. The first stage consisted of giving gifts from the courter to the courted. It lasted for two weeks, and during that time, the courter could have no direct contact with the courted. An intermediary was used-most likely this talking bird-until such time that the two could meet.

"I suppose you're part of the gift as well," Heero continued, purely to see the look of fury on the Ounta's face. He followed through just as Heero predicted, quite upset with him.

"My word!" Yinau exclaimed, clutching his chest with his wing. "I'm no more a gift than you are. No. I am the liaison between yourself and my great friend Zetoth. I will give you messages from him and he from you until such time that the two of you may meet, in accordance with the laws laid down by the ancient centaurian council some millennia ago."

"Really?" Heero asked, perfectly aware of the things Yinau just explained to him. "Then I have a message for your great friend Zetoth." Heero grabbed the figurines from the table and shoved them into Yinau's wings. " 'Leave me alone.' "

Heero pushed passed the bird and walked out of the Great Hall. He hated to lose the pretty dancers. They were such exquisite artwork, and Heero had to wonder just how a centaur got such lovely pieces of magic. But still, Heero did not need some childish suitor pursuing him while he was pursuing Duo. It would only make Duo less likely to respond to his advances.

Unless... Duo did have a history of being quite jealous.

Heero skipped the rest of the way to class, formulating his new, ingenious plan.

***

S-I

Harry sat in Divinations class, thinking over his and his brother's costumes for the upcoming Masquerade ball while pretending to take notes.

B-Y

The three of them were going to it together, in matching costumes. No one else knew they were going together, and they planned to keep it that way. Their costumes were a secret-people wouldn't know who they were until they took off their masks. At midnight.

L-L

This weekend, they were going to Hogsmeade to pick up the fabric for the main part of the outfits. Heero would then transfigure the material of certain parts of costumes, and Harry would charm the vines to move. Quatre was on anti-poison duty. Those flowers held quite a kick to them.

W-I

Now, though, Harry was stuck in stupid Divinations. They were practicing gyromancy. Rather, Heero was. The desks were all pushed to the side of the

L-L

room and everyone else sat in a circle around Heero. Heero danced in a circle within their circle. Letters were in his circle

D-I

and whichever ones he stepped on, they had to write down.

E-O-N

Harry was trying to pay attention to Heero's movements, but he kept getting sidetracked by thoughts of Halloween.

T-H-E

They were going to "come out," so to speak, at the dance. Sort of. Several people were getting suspicious of them-how much time they spent together and whatnot-and no matter how much they tried

T-W-E

they couldn't seem to stay away from one another long enough to dispel those suspicions. Hermione, for one, was starting to disbelieve everything Harry said! And Ron probably would, too,

N-T-I

if he wasn't always busy messing around with Hannah. Neville was very jealous, always glaring at Quatre and Heero

E-T-H

when he was around them.

Harry sighed. He would really be glad when it was out-kind of-and they didn't have anything-much-to hide.

B-Y-A

Harry reached beside him and grabbed hold of Neville's hand.

Everything would be okay once they told everyone their half-truth. they could be with each other all the time. Hell, it would probably be expected! Harry just wished he could go ahead and tell his friends.

C-A-T.

Heero stopped dancing and went to sit by Quatre. Surprised that he was done-Heero was only up there five minutes, and everyone else taken, at least, ten-Harry looked down at his parchment to see what Heero's prediction was. Harry smiled, just enough to keep himself from doubling over with laughter, and settled in to wait for his turn.

Who would have known Heero had it in him?

***

Potions was usually Quatre's favorite class, and-even with everything that was going on-today was no exception. They were just learning about a new potion today, instead of making it, but it was still quite exciting for Quatre.

"Conduprico," Professor Snape said, pacing up and down the rows, heavily preferring the Gryffindor side, "has one main use. When poured into an existing potion, it will cause said potion to double in size. However, because this potion dilutes the original some in order to achieve this effect, it is usually only used on very simple potions which will still work after such an effect. Also, because it dilutes the original potion, using Conduprico on the more complex or unstable potions will result in dire consequences for the potion maker."

Quatre dutifully took notes like the star pupil that he was and thought about on what he could use this potion.

I wonder if it works on Booamyie. That's not too complex.

***

"Well, Miss Peacecraft, it seems as though everything is in order," Professor Dumbledore said, handing Relena her copy of the contract.

"Please, call me Relena," she said, a genuine smile on her face. "After all, we're allies now."

"Well, all right, Miss-Relena," Dumbledore said, standing up. Taking that as her cue, Relena stood as well. She sensed as Lucy rose from the chair beside her.

"I supposed I should show you your rooms," Dumbledore said, smiling at them. "Or perhaps, you'd rather someone else do it?"

"I believe we would rather have our family show us the way," Tashpi spoke for the first time during the meeting. Relena tried to hide her surprise at this event-her lover never spoke during these types of meetings, preferring instead to scope out any dangers to her Niamo-and failed. Tashpi gave Relena a small smile when she whirled around.

"I believe I would like to see my sister's face when we show up so unexpectedly," Tashpi explained. And that did explain it. Tashpi and Dorothy did not get along for a variety of reasons, most of which related back to Relena. "You did tell Heero not to inform others, right?"

"Of course," Relena squeaked. Suddenly, this didn't seem like such the good idea.

***

I am so bored, Heero thought as he rolled his quill back and forth across the desk. After breakfast, it had taken him so long to think of a plan to use Zetoth's infatuation with him in order to get Duo back. It took fifteen minutes and involved a bull horn, mating calls, and duct tape. All in all, not Heero's best idea, and he abandoned it soon after. He would think on it later, when he was more himself.

So then Heero focused on Divinations and gyromancy. It was fun, what he did. It made everybody else happy, too. Except Trelawny, the old bat. Apparently, she didn't like having her own death predicted.

So Heero was in a good mood then, and having fun, but potions just seemed to suck the fun out of everything. The only good part of it was that he got to see Duo, and having both Snape and Daemon around then seemed to take the fun out of even that. Snape was up there, now at the front of the class, pacing like a caged tiger, droning on and on and on about something or other that, frankly, Heero didn't give one whit about.

"I'm so bored," Heero whispered to Quatre. Quatre tried to flick him away, but it didn't work. "Play with me," Heero demanded, showing Quatre the tic-tac-toe board he drew on his book.

"No," Quatre scolded him. Heero flinched at his tone-and pouted. "Look, Heero, we'll play later," Quatre said in a much nicer voice. "Maybe Harry will even play with us."

Heero nodded and tried to go back to studying. He was happy at the prospect of both Quatre and Harry playing with him at the same time, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. It's just-it was just so boring!

***

"Are you sure this is it?" Milliardo asked his little sister. He didn't think this could possibly be the right room, what with the smell coming from it. There was no way Dorothy Catalonia would go into a room that smelled like that. Her nose was almost as sensitive as his.

"Of course, I'm sure, Milly," Relena retorted, scowling. "This is pretty much where Professor Dumbledore said they would be, and I can feel them in there."

Oh, yes, or course, she could feel them in there. And she was never wrong about things like that-wait a minute. She was never wrong about things like that Not when it came to family. The girl had an uncanny ability to find her family, wherever they may be, even if they weren't her family yet.

Damn.

"I think Milly just doesn't want to go into the cold, stinky room," Lucy said in semi-baby talk. Milliardo was very glad that his wife forgave him for everything he did and didn't do, but she got weird when she got pregnant. He hoped she returned to the normal, loving, baby talkless Lucretzia Noin he knew and loved after their baby was born.

"There's only one way to find out if I'm right," Relena said, standing up to her full height.

"Wait for the class to let out and see if they pass us?" Milliardo said, hopefully.

"No, silly," Relena said, hand on the doorknob. "We have to go in and look."

***

Harry sat in class, holding Neville's hand once more-it was great that Neville was left-handed-about to fall asleep. Snape's voice was so soothing in its monotony, the strong, even slaps of his feet on the floor enhancing the effect.

Harry shouldn't even be tired, not with all the sleep he got last night. Relatively speaking. But if Quatre was to be believed, he wouldn't be getting much at all tonight. It was a week before the full moon, and Heero was in play mode. He would want Harry to play with him. All night long. So Harry wasn't about to say no to a few extra zzz's, then, even if it was during Snape's class. Especially if it was during Snape's class. Harry lay his head on the desk.

"What do you think you are doing?" Snape yelled.

Harry sat up suddenly, so suddenly that he lost his balance and fell in the floor. "I'm sorry," he said, though he didn't really mean it.

Harry looked up, expecting to see Snape's sour, beak-nosed face glaring down at him, but it wasn't. Snape's sour, beak-nosed face was glaring at the door. Harry turned to see what he was looking at.

In the door stood four people, three girls and one man. The lead girl-Harry deemed her that, at least, because she seemed to be the one in charge-walked into the room, a piece of parchment in her hand. She handed it to Snape.

"With the permission of Professor Dumbledore, I will be removing a few people from your classroom, just for today," she said, with all the air and authority of one who is used to getting her way. "I'll be taking her," she pointed to Dorothy-"him"-Quatre-"him"- Heero-"and...him"-Harry.

Selune