Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Peace, Love, and Family: The Story of the Vanuli Three ❯ Preparations ( Chapter 38 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A.N-The word "shol-va" is not mine. I have blatently stolen it from the "Stargate" franchise. (the movie, SG-1, and now Atlantis.) Also, I use it in a slightly different manner. In Stargate, Teal'c is a shol-va-a Jaffa traitor, who has turned against his "gods."

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, Relena/OFC, OMCx4, Zacharias/Harry

Category: crossover, fantasy, general, drama

Author: Selune

Author's site: livejournal.com/users/selune2

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 38: Preparations

Daemon looked suspiciously at Heero, who was undressing. "Why are we in the Prefect's bathroom?" he asked, averting his eyes as Heero took off his last stitch of clothing. A quiet splash alerted Daemon to Heero's climbing into the Olympic-sized bathtub.

"Get in, Daemon," Heero said, making more splashing noises.

Daemon gave up and looked at Heero. "Just tell me whywe need to be naked, together, in there. I would like to have a nice, fool-proof answer in case your boyfriend finds out about this." Maxwell could be a very jealous person, just never when Heero was around to see it. "And why is the water pink?"

Heero frowned. "More red than pink," he said absent-mindedly. "It's tradition. Now get naked, and we can begin." A pause. "Oh, and I talked to Duo about this. He understands."

Daemon sighed and started taking off his clothes. He sincerely doubted Duo's "understanding," but Heero seemed to know what he was doing. The last time Daemon had ignored a plan of Heero's, well.... Daemon was just glad they'd gotten past it.

Daemon laid all of his clothes in a pile and slid into the pink water. "Ew." The water was thick and gloppy. Daemon pulled a hand out to see it covered in red slime. "What is this?"

Heero swam over to Daemon and took Daemon's hand in his. He threaded their hands together. "It's the Blood of the Ancestors," he said. Daemon blanched, and Heero quickly continued. "Not their actual blood, of course, but just a representation. All people about to undergo a Turning must be bathed in the Blood. It makes the Turning easier, and it makes the Vanuli ready to accept the Turned into his or her family. If we didn't do this, but I still Turned you, you would be labeled a sholva-an enemy of the family-and it would be my duty to kill you."

Daemon swallowed. "Okay, then." Daemon made a mental note, Next time Heero wants me to do something weird, I'm just going to do it. No questions asked. "What do I need to do?"

Heero smiled and grabbed a loofah off the rim of the tub. "Just turn around and let me wash you."

Daemon was only too happy to oblige.

***

Relena hurriedly rustled through her closet, grabbing clothes and flinging them into her suitcase with no regard for their pressed, wrinkle-free state or coordination with the other packed items. Ordinarily, this sort of action would be considered quite heinous by Relena and all who knew her, as she was normally a very pristine, put-together young woman. However, as she was currently in a life-or-death situation-literally-she decided that acting a little out of character was not a big deal.

"Do you want to take these, too?" Lucy asked.

Relena turned to find the teddy bear Heero had given her a while back. She took it from her sister-in-law and nodded. "I'll just put him in with the rest. You should sit down."

Lucy was about halfway through her pregnancy-she was due on Valentine's Day-and ordinarily enough, was big as a house. Or two. Milliardo was usually seen hovering around his wife to make sure she never had to do anything more strenuous than walk (and even that was a harshly disputed debate between the couple), but with the current "situation," he was doing damage control at a double-press conference with both Muggle and wizard journalists. If that horrid woman, Lacey Skeeter, showed up, however, Relena knew for damned sure that Milly would have her kicked out, post haste.

Tashpi walked out of the bathroom, holding a small bag and two cat collars. "I've gotten everything in there," Tashpi said.

Relena nodded and turned to Lucrezia. She took the brooch off her suit and gave it to her sister-in-law. "You know the code word, right?" Lucy nodded. Relena reached down and hugged her friend, kissing her on the forehead. "I'll see you in a little while."

Lucrezia was going to hold onto the portkey and give it to Milliardo when he returned. Because she was so far along in her pregnancy-and still human, too-it was much too dangerous for her to use the device. Occasionally, portkeying would result in an a miscarriage. It didn't happen very often, but none of them were willing to take that risk.

"Be careful," Lucy said.

Relena nodded.

"Are you ready?" Tashpi asked.

Relena nodded again and started stripping. She did so quickly and efficiently, placing each item in her suitcase. She shrunk the suitcase and placed it on a ring on the pink cat collar. Then, she gave her wand to Lucy. Milliardo would be bringing it later. Beside Relena, Tashpi did the same thing, making sure the hair pin was still in her possession.

They couldn't use it anywhere inside the palace, because of the wards, so they were going to have to go outside of the castle walls. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but the scandal that was was sending them running was also trying to keep them locked inside. Hordes of journalists-those who hadn't been invite to Milliardo's press conference-swarmed outside the gates. Relena and Tashpi needed to remain unseen, if they wanted to get out of the castle without alerting them. So, ingeniously, they would Change into their cat forms and walk out in broad daylight. There was already a palace-wide "leave the cats alone" rule in place, so they should be able to leave with minimal difficulties.

Relena shrunk down to her cat form and waited patiently as Lucy put the collar on her. She nuzzled Lucy's hand and licked her with a scratchy tongue in thanks. She waited as Lucy did the same to Tashpi, and the two trotted out into the hall.

***

Harry stood on his toes and-with the help of Zacharias-kissed his date square on the lips.

"Mm, that'll warm you up," Zacharias said, and Harry fell back into place beside him, their gloved hands clasped tightly together.

Harry shook his head and leaned in closer to Zacharias. "You're so corny."

"Shh." Zacharias made a shushing motion. "You'll ruin my reputation."

Harry shivered from the cold. "You're reputation deserves to be ruined. You do know what people say about you, don't you?"

Zacharias stopped. "Hufflepuff Malfoy." He shivered, too-perhaps not from the cold. "Just because we happen to have the same features-blond hair, light eyes, and a little on the pale side-"

"Not to mention the nose and height," Harry helpfully put in.

Zacharias dropped Harry's hand, and his hands immediately went to cover his nose. "What's wrong with my nose?" he asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Nothing. It's cute." Harry playfully batted his eyes. Baiting Zacharias could be so much fun, sometimes. "I like it, and I have wonderfully good taste." Harry paused dramatically. "Of course, the comparison with Malfoy doesn't have a thing to do with your appearance, seeing as how you're not an albino ferret."

Harry turned away from Zacharias, walking a few paces as he let Zacharias think on that.

"Wait! What do you mean by that?"

Harry smiled and kept walking, albeit at a slower pace. Just a few minutes, and they'd be in Hogsmeade.

***

It was a Hogsmeade weekend, and that always meant one thing back at Hogwarts. It was empty, as everyone third year and up rushed about from Honeydukes to Gladrags to Weasely's Wizard Wheezes to The Three Broomsticks to (Merlin, help them) Madam Puddifoot's, and everywhere in between, past, and to the side. This also meant, of course, that most dorm rooms-most Houses, even-were empty.

For this particular day, of this particular month, in this particular year, this did not mean the second boy's dorm of the Slytherin seventh years'. This dorm, as fate may have it, housed four boys, two of whom complied with tradition and were currently on dates in Hogsmeade, one of whom didn't comply with tradition so much as he was still in the castle (naked, by now, and soapy), and the last of whom threw tradition completely out the window, stomped on it, then set it on fire. Said student, who happened to be one Duo Maxwell, ex-Gundam pilot, human boyfriend of a Vanuli prince (who was also naked and soapy and nakedby now), and all-around Slytherin Extraordinaire.

Duo lay on his bed and fumed about his predicament. He'd had all term to think on it, but even after hours of thinking and thinking and thinking, he still couldn't decide on a definite conclusion, and was thus at a loss of what to do. This predicament, of course, involved his boyfriend in the most major of ways-Heero was the problem.

Heero had always been the problem, from the first moment they met. Duo had shot Heero, and the rest, as they say, was history. It took months of Duo's naturally bubbly personality to wear down Heero's icy facade and find the actual person behind it. More of Duo's strength and sweat and love went to Heero than he ever thought would be necessary, but it had all paid off when he got captured, and instead of killing him, Heero rescued him. For the Heero of that time, that might as well have been a statement of everlasting love and devotion.

After that, everything was good for them. Sure, they had their ups and downs. The war pulled them apart, threw them back together, and threw them apart more times than Duo was willing to count. But the times they were together.... Oh, they were magic. Duo loved being around Heero, and he knew Heero felt the same way, even if he never voiced it.

Which was pretty much the problem, now that Duo thought about it. That New Year's Eve, Duo had been happier than he ever was before or since. He had Heero-in every way possible, finally-only to wake up in the morning to find that he lost him.

January 1, AC 196 was the worst day of Duo's life. Worse than the destruction of the Maxwell church (and all of its inhabitants), worse than Solo's death, worse than every day spent as a prisoner of OZ combined. That morning, Duo woke to find Heero missing from the bed. It was fine, though, Duo wasn't worried. During those days (but no longer), Heero was a light sleeper and an early riser. Besides, all of Heero's stuff remained in the room-even his clothes. More importantly, his laptop.

Duo got up from the bed and started to look for Heero. After an hour or so-they were in a mansion, after all-Duo hadn't found Heero. And Quatre was missing, too. It didn't take much detective work to figure out that they left together, especially after Quatre's Healer sister's evasive answers and abnormal flightiness.

It took time, but eventually, Duo came to terms with the fact that Heero left him for Quatre, the annoying, little demon-child in an angel mask. Duo finished (started) his fifth year in Beauxbatons, where he lost himself in beautiful girls, and even more handsome boys. He never really found himself, after that.

Duo transferred to Hogwarts (along with Trowa and Wufei, the only people he could find himself to trust) at the beginning of his sixth year, after hearing about You-Know-Who's resurrection. Trowa, with his cunning intellect and ability to fool people (he was a spy in OZ working under Colonel Une!) was a shoe-in for Slytherin. And Wufei's almost obsessive need to learn any and everything after so long as a warrior made him perfect for Ravenclaw. By then, the ice around Duo's heart had frozen him so much that the Sorting Hat would not inflict him on any of the other houses, so he became a true Slytherin.

Funnily enough, the Hat said that, at one time, Duo was the perfect candidate for Hufflepuff. His entire part in the war was for revenge on the deaths of his loved ones-not from some stupid Gryffindor bravery, but from the loyal feelings of wanting justice for his family.

But the old Duo was gone, and the new Duo stood taller and straighter than a hundred generations of Malfoys. He took House pride to an insane extent, going so far as to not even deign to speak with members of other Houses (with the exception of Wufei), including teachers. He had gotten in so much trouble for that that had house points still been in effect, Slytherin would have been three digits in the red.

Duo tried to reconcile his new self with his old, but he couldn't. They were vastly different. Two entirely different people with completely different goals, save one: Heero. No matter who he was or what he was doing, Duo never lost his love for Heero. It turned to hate many times-after all, love and hate are two sides to the same coin-especially in the dead of winter, at night, when he should have been cuddling up to Heero after a session of mind-blowing, double-joint-bending sex.

Duo had almost put Heero out of his mind, only weeks away from completely getting over him, when Heero had the audacity to show up on the Hogwarts train. It threw Duo for a loop, and he'd never quite recovered.

All term, Duo watched Heero watching him. It was obvious that Heero had changed, the most obvious being his command of magic. The second was his personality. In twenty short/long months, Heero's entire person did a 180. He looked healthier than Duo had ever seen him-not that Heero had ever looked sickly. Not even, apparently, when he was creeping towards Death's door. Heero was happy, and it hurt Duo terribly, so he tried, at every opportunity, to hurt Heero back. He spat back Heero's kisses, spurned him, and tore him down at every opportunity.

And yet, when Heero crashed to the floor at the Halloween Ball, Duo's heart jumped into his throat. Seeing Heero, so small and broken and bloody, lying on the floor like some spoiled child's thrown doll, the only thought Duo had was, Please, let him be okay.

That incident taught Duo about the fragility of life and spurred him to forgive Heero and take him back. Which brought them five weeks into the present, where he and Heero were now. The feelings-the urgency-brought on by that horrible episode were slowly fading, and all Duo was left with was this throbbing pain in his heart. Despite all reason (and Heero's thorough and heart-wrenching explanations), Duo still harbored ill feelings toward Heero.

Heero had left him, with no warning and no word. He put Duo through several levels of Hell, and made Duo question everything they ever did together. Everything Heero said-especially declarations of love. It drove Duo to new levels of insecurity. He didn't know if he could ever really forgive Heero, truly.

And now this morning, everything was thrown in his face, again. Heero's future was not with Duo. He would leave Duo, again, and all of Duo's former suspicions about his relationship with Quatre would all be realized. But most importantly, Duo would, once again, be alone and without Heero. They had that hanging over their heads-and it would continue on it's swing for the entirety of their relationship, until Heero left.

Duo managed to forget it, most of the time. To put it in the back of his head, lock it up tight, and pretend it wasn't there. But when anything involving Vanuli or prophecies or Dr. J was mentioned-anything involving all the secrets Heero had kept from him, really-it brought it all crashing back. And this morning, when they'd talked (fought) about Heero's relationship/Turning (whatever that was) with/of Daemon, Duo almost lost it.

He wished they could just go back to the way they were before, but they couldn't. Duo thought back to their earlier conversation, right after they both decided to drop the Daemon issue.

Duo and Heero were in the room alone, Heero looking away from Duo. Both of them had red, bloodshot eyes and tear tracks down their faces. They would fix it before anyone saw them, but for now, it was fine.

"You've changed," Duo said, finally getting it out there.

Heero chuckled and turned around. "I'm not the only one." They stood about five feet apart, neither one actually looking at the other, but well within seeing range.

"What happened to us?" Duo asked, at a loss for what to say. He didn't even want to hear Heero's answer. His explanationsof why all of this wasn't his fault, really, and how it was all just bad circumstances.

"Fate, bad luck, bad timing, J," Heero said, fulfilling Duo's prophecy (another think Duo hated about this new Heero-and all prophesiers, in fact). "Me." At last! He was taking some responsibility. "I should have told you I was sick from the moment I knew, I just.... I just couldn't stand to see that look on your face."

"What look?" Duo asked. Heero had never before actually explained his whole reason for not just admitting to Duo that he was deathly ill. Which, as the root of all of their problems, was something Duo felt he needed to know.

"The one that says, 'You're so pitiful,' and 'You're pathetic,' and 'I feel so sorry for you.' I couldn't stand it if you pitied me. Now or then."

"I loved you-I love you," Duo said. It was true, despite all of his other feelings. "Why couldn't you just trust me enough to know that I could never pity you. You especially, of all of us, I could never pity. You were the best of us."

"Can't you see?" Heero said. "I couldn't let you see me as any less than I already was-"

"Less?" Duo asked. "You were less than no one. You were more ready to lay down your life for the cause, more than any of us. You were the fastest, smartest, bravest-"

"I had to be!" Heero interrupted. "A wave of a wand was all the rest of you needed to beat me at any of those things! I was a Squib, less than the lowliest of Muggles, because there was magic all around me, and not only could I not use any of it, but it was killing me! That which made you better, made me worse."

Duo crossed the divide and grabbed Heero's arms. "None of that would have mattered to me, Heero. I loved you. All that mattered to me was you-not your strengths or weaknesses."

"It mattered to me." Heero collapsed against Duo-something he never would have done before. "You were so strong, and I was so weak. I didn't deserve you, and I thought if you knew just how weak I was, you would realize that and leave me. I couldn't bear the thought of that."

"So you kept it a secret, and this is what became of it," Duo said, tightly squeezing Heero.

"The best laid plans..." Heero trailed off.

"Of mice and men," Duo muttered under his breath. Perhaps if Heero's plan had worked, none of this would have happened.

Duo's stomach rumbled and, looking at the time, decided to go the the Great Hall for Saturday brunch.

***

"And so Heero said this, and I said that, and by the time any of us had figured it all out, it was about time to leave."

Dorothy laughed as she pushed open the door to the busiest store in all of Hogsmeade-Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Her immediate urge after Quatre's story was to strip him naked and check him over for any bumps or bruises, but they were in a very public place, so she decided it could wait. Besides, the last time she'd done that, Heero had been mad at her for weeks afterwards.

"I'm sure it will be fine," she reassured Quatre. He was bound and determined to see this as a bad thing. "Think of how good your test scores will be." Dorothy picked up an innocent-looking knick-knack. It barked and slobbered all over her hand. "Oh. Ew." She set it back down.

"Why, Dorothy Mariette Catalonia, I do believe you just suggested we cheat," Quatre said, raising his hand to his chest in mock-appall. He paused. "I didn't even think about that. It'll be great."

Dorothy smiled indulgently at him and patted him on the head. She smoothed down Quatre's hair, which was messier than normal. "Of course, it will. Now, lets find something dangerous before we leave."

Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode had been bothering Molly lately, and Dorothy didn't take too kindly to that. Sure, Dorothy ordered and bossed Molly around, but that didn't mean anyone else could. Molly was hers, and everybody else better just leave that little girl alone. Dorothy would start out Parkinson and Bulstrode with just a little warning. If they were too stupid to stop after that, well, Dorothy certainly wasn't responsible for what she would be forced to do.

Smiling evilly, Dorothy grabbed Quatre's hand and led him into the throng of customers. "C'mon, Quat. Let's find something fun."

***

Quatre looked nervously at Dorothy as they exited Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He wasn't sure what exactly Dorothy bought-except for the "table swamp" he saw on one of the packages before the clerk (not red-haired, for once) shoved it in a bag-but the twinkling in her eyes was enough to unnerve anyone.

"What are you going to do with that?" he asked, hoping that whatever it was had nothing to do with him, Heero, or Harry.

"Oh, just a little something," Dorothy said, patting the bag. "I'm just going to teach certain people a certain something." She grinned when Quatre looked at her in horror. "Certain female people."

Quatre breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever it was would not infiltrate his dorm room, at least.

"So who are you teaching this-damnit!" Quatre tripped, falling to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Dorothy asked, worry evident in her voice. She dropped to her knees beside Quatre and lifted his head, looking for injuries.

"I'm fine," Quatre said, getting back on his feet. "Just embarrassed." He wiped his the dirt from his hands onto his robe. "And dirty." A cat bounded away from him.

"Damned cat," Dorothy said, helping him to wipe himself off.

Quatre sighed. "Let's go on back to the castle, okay?"

Dorothy nodded, and they started back to Hogwarts.

***

Relena screeched as Quatre almost flattened her. Well, that didn't work. She started to follow them but when Dorothy picked up a rock and threatened to throw it, she decided a different approach was probably better.

Relena-in full kitty form-lifted her nose to sniff out Harry or Heero.

***

Harry laughed, his face flushed from his drink-butterbeer with just a touch of Firewhiskey-and embarrassment.

Zacharias had just finished telling him what mischief Hufflepuffs got into while Harry and his fellow Gryffindors (and one Ravenclaw) were off saving the world, finally turning Harry from the subject of Zacharias's resemblance to Malfoy. The story itself wasn't enough to make him blush, but that (with stern admonishments about his yearly near-death experiences), coupled with Zacharias's hand placement, turned Harry's face as red as a tomato.

The two-after much discussion-had finally decided to go to the Hog's Head. Not many students went there, and the décor was much less vomit-inducing than Madam Puddifoot's. Plus, Aberforth, the owner, was Professor Dumbledore's brother and had a soft spot for all of the former members of the D.A., which had disbanded upon Remus's return as the DADA professor.

"And that's how Susan burnt off her eyebrows?" Harry asked, laughing. It was a manly laugh-maybe even a deep chuckle. In no way was it a drunken giggle caused by the maybe-more-than-a-drop of Firewhiskey in his drink.

Zacharias laughed-also not a giggle-andn leaned in to whisper to Harry. "That cat's been staring at us for ages! Do you reckon it's McGon-McGona-the Gryffindor lady?"

"Shh!" Harry hissed, though there was no one around to hear them. They sat at the very back of the room, in a corner table far away from everybody. "Prof-Professor McGona-Micky is at Hogwarts. Where is this "cat"?"

As soon as Harry said that, the cat-little more than a kitten, really-sprang onto their table, upsetting the balance and spilling both drinks into Harry's lap-along with their older, empty mugs.

"Ew!" Harry said, jumping up and grabbing napkins to wipe himself off. "Stupid cat, spilling stuff all over me." Harry continued to wipe himself off, griping the entire time. The cat jumped from the table and began winding its way between Harry's legs. Harry about fell down and started cursing the cat. He picked it up-about to toss it away-but he looked it in the face. It was vaguely familiar. Harry saw the pink collar.

With disbelief, Harry brought the cat up to his face. "Relena?"

The cat purred and nuzzled his neck.

Selune