Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Peace, Love, and Family: The Story of the Vanuli Three ❯ The Awakening, the Capture, and the Hufflepuff ( Chapter 42 )

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, OMC/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 42: The Awakening, the Capture, and the Hufflepuff

Hermione slowly awoke. With her eyes closed, she couldn't quite figure out where she was. She was in a bed but not in herbed. Her sheets were soft and silky, with three or four pillows supporting her head, her wand, and the mound of books she inevitably fell asleep beside. This bed was-not hard, but nowhere near as soft as her own. And the sheets were scratchy.

Hermione opened her eyes. She was in the Infirmary. Of course. But why was she-Oh.

Hermione closed her eyes again as the memories-yesterday's? An hour ago's? When?-came rushing back. The little girl in The Three Broomsticks. The bone wall. The werewolves. The other girl.

That bitch! Hermione opened her eyes and sat up. Sparing only a glance at the table beside her-there were no flowers or candies-she swung her legs over the bed. She was almost standing up when it happened.

"Miss Granger, you get back in that bed," Madam Pomfrey said, bustling over to her.

Hermione did as she was told, feeling much like she had when her teachers scolded her in primary school. They always told her not to read ahead, but she could never help it.

"What happened? How did I get here?" Hermione asked. "Did Professor Dumbledore take care of those werewolves?"

"Honey, there weren't any werewolves," Madam Pomfrey said, pulling the covers up to Hermione's chin. "Mr. Winner found you outside and brought you up here. I'm sorry, but he couldn't find you wand."

My wand!

Talking fast, Hermione said, "This girl, she attacked me. She must have my wand. I have to speak to the Headmaster, so I can describe her. She's not a student."

"Miss Granger, Hermione," Madam Pomfrey said, softly, "I need to check you over first. I wasn't sure what spells were cast on you-except the Impervious Charm Mr. Winner cast to protect you from the snow-so I couldn't properly check you over. Give me just a minute, and eat this chocolate." Madam Pomfrey pulled a bar from her uniform. "And you can go to the Headmaster after. However, he's probably not in his office at the moment. He's making an announcement this morning."

Hermione took the chocolate. She could see, now, why Harry would barely touch the stuff. Having it shoved at you from all angles while you were ill took all the fun out of chocolate.

Madam Pomfrey looked at Hermione from every inch and angle before-finally-declaring her healthy. "Your clothes are just over here in this chair. After you finish eating your chocolate, you're free to go at any time."

Hermione had almost finished dressing when there was a rustling at the filmy curtains that separated her bed from the others.

"Hermione?" It was Harry.

"Just a minute," she said, struggling into her jeans. Another reason chocolate was bad-it went straight to her hips. "All right." Hermione sat primly on the bed.

Harry parted the curtain, and the first thing Hermione noticed was his face. He was smiling, but it wasn't a real smile. It was an I-Think-If-Something-Doesn't-Change-Soon-I'll-Throw-Up smile.

"You're awake."

"Yeah. Is Ron with you?"

"He doesn't know you're here."

"Oh. Who told you?"

"Quatre." Of course. Harry sat down in the chair Hermione's clothes had been in a moment ago. "He told us this morning, when we brought Heero and Daemon down here."

That would explain the false smile. There was no one Harry cared for more than his family. It was a Vanuli thing. It made Hermione a little wistful at the Good Old Days, when Hermione and Ron were all Harry really needed.

"Listen, I need to find Professor Dumbledore and talk to him about the-"

"Werewolves," Harry said. "Quatre already told him, last night after he found you."

"What about the-"

"Girl? Quatre told him about her, too." Hermione's face must have shown how confused she was. "Quatre got a vision when he touched you; he saw the whole thing. She took your wand."

"Who is she? What does she want?" Hermione knew Harry would know. He seemed to know everything nowadays.

"Her name is Kayla. She works for Dr. J, and she's a Death Eater." Hermione cussed. She only faintly knew who Dr. J was, but Death Eaters were always bad. "Exactly. The werewolves are Heero's allies. We haven't been able to get anything out of them, yet, because they haven't woken up-a combination of your Petrificus and exhaustion at changing during the day-but we were able to figure out that Kayla was a prisoner. Dumbledore is having the house elves look out for her."

"Professor Dumbledore, Harry." Hermione didn't feel like lecturing about house elf rights just at the moment. "Who attacked Hogwarts?"

Harry blinked-then he laughed. A real, honest-to-God laugh. "That was just the best part of the day." Harry explained what happened, yesterday.

Hermione sighed. "Wow."

"Yeah."

Changing the subject, Hermione asked, "What announcement is Professor Dumbledore going to make?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it's whatever spin he's putting on what happened yesterday."

Hermione smiled. "Good. Walk me down?"

"Why not? One of us should be there." Hermione waited as Harry said his good-byes to Quatre, Catalonia, and Heero, who was actually awake at the moment.

"I'll be up after breakfast, okay?" The trio nodded, and Harry and Hermione were on their way.

***

Where are they?Ron thought. His friends were missing. Well, Hermione was, at any rate. Ron had seen Harry going to the Hospital Wing with Heero and Rosencrantz this morning, but he hadn't seen Hermione since they split up yesterday. Ron fought a blush as he thought of their overreaction. Of course, no one had attacked Hogwarts! If they had, the Order would have been here so fast, Ron could have blinked and missed it. If Ron found the girl who started all that, he would have Ginny hex her.

Ron was the one who went to Dumbledore, so Ron knew what really happened. At least, a good portion of it. In just a few minutes, after most people were finished eating, Dumbledore was going to make an announcement, explaining as much of the truth as possible. Ron mostly wanted to know why Harry's cousins were still at Hogwarts, eating at the teacher's table, with flowers in their hair.

Dumbledore stood up, and the door to the Great Hall creaked open. Ron, like everybody else, couldn't decide where to look. His eyes went to the door, figuring Dumbledore would wait until whoever came in was seated.

It was Harry and Hermione. They hurried to the Gryffindor table, sitting on either side of Ron.

"What did we miss?" Harry whispered, getting settled.

"Nothing, yet," Ron whispered back. "Dumbledore was just about to start."

Harry nodded. Hermione was already looking expectantly at the Headmaster.

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "Now that we're all seated, I believe we can begin. First off, I would like to thank the quick action and thinking of many of you students yesterday. When faced with a choice, you chose the route that would save as many as possible. Fortunately, your actions were not needed. I will now turn the floor over to Mrs. Peacecraft, who will explain what actually happened, yesterday."

Dumbledore sat down, and the girl with long blonde hair stood up. Ron recognized her as one of the people-Vanuli-who interrupted Potions class back in October. She was one of Harry's cousins and part of his sub-family, whatever that was.

"Good morning," the girl said, "my name is Relena Peacecraft, and this is my wife Tashpi." She motioned to the severe-looking woman on her left. "We were married yesterday, illegally. You see, Tashpi was my Naiyama-my protector, for those of you who don't know-and as her Niamo, we were not allowed to have a romantic relationship. However, we did, and, though we tried to keep it secret until my eighteenth Life Day, it didn't work, and we were caught. In order to avoid the punishment, as deemed by our laws, we decided to go ahead and get married now."

Ron saw people smirking. How bad could the punishment be?

"The punishment calls for the death of the Naiyama, my Tashpi."

Oh. That bad.

"Vanuli are very strict on our laws, as strict as we are on our contracts. When the Crown Princess and the Grand High Director of the Enforcers-our military-learned of mine and Tashpi's relationship, they moved fast. Malefacent Mordal, the Director, mobilized the Enforcers to find me and Tashpi. They located us here. Thankfully, we had family that helped us out.

"Dorothy mobilized her bone golems, as many of you saw yesterday, to form a large wall. This, of course, didn't keep the Enforcers away for long, but it delayed them long enough for us to finish the ceremony. So, you see, the Enforcers weren't attacking Hogwarts. They were attacking, well, me."

Relena opened the floor, and there was a flood of questions, mostly from curious Ravenclaws.

Ron turned to Harry. "That's what you were doing yesterday?"

Harry nodded.

That had to have been rough. Ron squeezed Harry's shoulder. They didn't need to say anything more.

***

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Gryffindor's original Golden Trio, waited inside Dumbledore's office. Hermione and Ron, being Prefects, knew the password, so they were able to get in.

Harry sat down in a large, plaid chair. He hadn't seen it before, but he hadn't exactly been to see Professor Dumbledore in quite a long time. The last time was, oh, when Harry came to tell the Headmaster that the Death Eaters were planning to attack Hogsmeade. That had worked out splendidly, with Harry kidnapped and several student injured. None killed, though, thankfully.

Harry squirmed in his seat. He wasn't comfortable in here, anymore.

"What do you think's taking him so long?" Ron asked He was sitting next to Hermione in the matching loveseat to Harry's chair.

"I don't-"

Dumbledore walked into the office. "Hello. Hello," Dumbledore said. "What brings the three of you here? Would you like a lemon drop?"

"No, thank you," Hermione said for the three of them. "We need to discuss with you yesterday's events."

"Of course," Professor Dumbledore said. "It was a day of disasters, was it not? I was just in the Infirmary, talking to Mr. Yuy, Mr. Winner, and Miss Catalonia about that. Other than the wedding, of course, which I'm sure was conducted marvelously.

"I'm sure," Hermione said. "But I need to discuss the matter of my wand, and who has it. Rather, who doesn't have it: me."

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "I discussed this with Mr. Yuy-who knows the girl in question-and I think I've come up with a temporary solution." Dumbledore pulled out a box-from where, Harry didn't know-and gave it to Hermione. "This should do nicely, but remember, it's just a practice wand."

Professor Dumbledore handed Hermione the box. She gasped when she opened the lid. Harry realized why when she held up the wand. It looked exactly like her wand.

"No one needs to know it's not yours," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

"No," Hermione said, clutching the wand close. "Nobody needs to know."

"So," Dumbledore said, eyes brightening, "was that all?"

"No," Harry said. "We want to know what you're doing about Kayla."

"All of the house elves, faculty and staff, and I believe, Miss Catalonia are on the lookout for Miss Guildenstern," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Thank you," Harry said, "for telling us."

"You're quite welcome. Now, run along. Your brothers need you."

***

Monday and Tuesday passed with Daemon still in stasis. On the third day, he awoke.

***

"Professor McGonagall and Trelawny both said they'd let you make up the exams," Hermione told Heero. For the past few days, Harry and Quatre were down here nonstop, their only break being classes. Hermione was finally able to get them to leave, but only if she promised to stay in their place.

"I'm not really worried about that," Heero admitted. "Exams aren't all that important to me."

Hermione wrung her hands. Nervous, she began fluffing Heero's pillow. "I know. I know. Just let me worry, okay?"

"All right," Heero sank down into his pillows. He was sitting upright with Daemon draped across his lap. Hermione wasn't sure how he got in that positions, nor did she know how he would get out of it.

"Tell me about what else has been going on," Heero said. "You know, all the hot gossip."

Hermione laughed. They both knew she wasn't really privy to the best gossip.

"Hannah Abbot found her boyfriend, Ernie McMillian, in bed with Justin Fitch-Fletchley." Okay, so she did know some gossip. "Apparently, it wasn't the first time. They broke up, and now, she's dating Theodore Nott."

"A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin?" Heero said. "Unusual, but I guess it could work."

"Not according to Lavender and Parvati. They figure that Hannah and Ernie will be back together by the end of the week. They usually are."

It was Heero's turn to laugh.

"Tell me about Harry," Heero said. "He's been depressed this week, and I know it's not just because of mine and Daemon's situation."

Hermione chewed her lip. Heero would find out sooner or later. She might as well go ahead and tell him. "Harry and Zacharias got in this huge fight in Herbology, yesterday. Apparently, Zacharias saw Harry kiss another guy. Zacharias yelled that Harry was a whore; Harry yelled back that Zacharias was, and I quote, "a scum-sucking, bottom-feeding, eavesdropping, lying, spying wannabe crybaby who doesn't deserve to be in Hufflepuff," end quote."

"Go, Harry," Heero said under his breath.

"Yes," Hermione said, shifting in her seat. "Except that, now, anytime Harry does anything wrong, Hannah gives him a detention. He got three today, for sneezing near her."

"That bitch. I'll-"

"It's being taken care of," Hermione assured him. The truth was, Hermione didn't know exactly what was being done about it, only that Quatre and Catalonia were doing it. It made Hermione happy that someone was sticking up for Harry-but she wasn't about to admit that.

"Tell me about yourself," Hermione said. "What's it like to be a triplet?" Harry, when he spent time with her, never talked about it.

"It's-it's... I'm not sure how to describe it," Heero said. "I've known what I was since I was seven years old. But knowing and Knowing are two different things. Do you get what I mean?"

Hermione could imagine. Sort of like the time between getting her Hogwarts letter and actually coming to Hogwarts, to the nth degree.

"I think I do."

"And then I spent eight more years without magic or any contact with the Vanuli world." Hermione knew that something or someone took Heero's magic when he was little, but she wasn't sure what. "Then, I find Quatre, and I die." That was news. "We were in the Muggle War. I'm not sure if you knew that. I was pilot 01; Quatre was 04."

Hermione swallowed. That explained so much. "Does-does Harry know that?"

"Harry? Oh yeah. He knows everything. Everything."

Changing the subject, Hermione asked, "What happened when you met Quatre?"

"Beside's dying? I told him he was my brother and a Vanuli. He didn't believe me. It took him "killing" Trowa and injuring me for him to realize we were family."

"Wait. What? Killing?"

"When Quatre was on the Zero System, it made him do things. Trowa got in the way of him destroying L4. I did, too, but I was luckier. For a while, we thought Trowa-pilot 03-was dead. Luckily, we were wrong."

"Wow," Hermione said. "How is it that you could go through all of that and still be so normal?"

Heero chuckled. "I don't know. Just lucky, I guess. All of us were pretty lucky just to make it out alive."

"And now you get to fight in another war," Hermione said. She wasn't stupid. Far from it, actually. She knew Heero's prophecy, and she knew that he, Quatre, and Harry would fulfill it.

"We're blessed. What can I say?" Heero said.

A loud crack diverted their attention away from their conversation. Hermione looked to the hard shell in Heero's lap. A long crack appeared in it, going from the top all the way down to the bottom. Hermione could see blue, filmy wings fluttering inside the shell. Fingers gripped the crack from the inside, scratching at the shell. The shell in Heero's lap began to rock back and forth. The whole process took less than a minute.

Daemon crawled out from the shell. Wings spouted from his back, and a thin film covered his naked body. The shell lay in pieces on Heero's lap. Heero said a spell, and the shell dissolved around his arms.

Daemon flexed his wings and yawned. He wiped the film from his eyes and said, "I'm hungry."

Hermione laughed.

***

Dorothy felt around with her spiders. Since Sunday-it was now Wednesday-Dorothy had been looking for one Kayla Guildenstern. Heero's wolves had awoken on Monday. They told Quatre everything they knew. J was in league with Voldemort. Several of his people were spying as Death Eaters. J had a device called a Cruciatus Imitator. And most important, J was growing his very own army.

Guildenstern would know more about the specifics, though. She was one of Them. She was of pretty high rank, too. And Heero knew her. He wanted her to be found.

"Bingo," Dorothy said. She found her prize.

***

Harry was supposed to be asleep, but he just couldn't settle down. His mind kept flashing back to his argument with Zacharias.

"How could you do that to me!" Blue eyes flashed. Blond curls damp with sweat and dirt.

"I didn't-" Weak protests.

"You did! You're a liar, Harry Potter! A liar and a whore!"

Harry's eyes narrowed and his body tensed. He couldn't lie on the bed anymore. Harry levitated himself into the bedside chair, hoping not to wake Quatre.

No such luck.

"Come back to bed," Quatre said, clawing at the covers where Harry used to be.

"What for?" Harry jumped up and began pacing in front of the bed. "It's four in the afternoon, and I'm not sleepy. I'm angry. I just want to hit something!" Harry screamed. "Argh! How could he do that to me? He spied on me! I didn't even do anything wrong! I pushed Balor away, Goddamnit! I pushed him -away-!"

Arms circled around Harry as the tears-finally-started flowing. Harry sunk to the floor, bring Quatre with him. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Quatre kissed Harry's neck. "I know you didn't. Even if you had, he had no right to treat you that way."

Harry jumped up. "You know, you're right." He shoved his feet into his scuffed trainers. "And I'm going to tell him so. Right now."

Quatre stood up. "You can't now. We're supposed to be sleeping." Harry paid him no heed, throwing his robe on over the pajama pants and t-shirt he'd changed into after class. Quatre put on his shoes and robe, too, protesting the entire time. "What are we gong to do when Hermione asks us how we slept?"

Harry threw open the dormitory door. "Lie."

***

Heero sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair, beaming. He couldn't believe it. Daemon-no, Kidayo was a Vanuli. A living, healthy, great big heap of Vanuli.

Daemon sat awkwardly on the bed, not quite used to the solid blue butterfly wings on his back. He'd put on a pair of thin, paperlike pajama bottoms Madam Pomfrey brought him upon learning he was awake. He ate the food she brought, too, consuming it with a gusto of a man who hadn't eaten in days. Which, technically, he hadn't, despite having absorbed magic and strength from the shell.

"Mmm, this is good," Daemon moaned, eating peas with his hand, not even bothering to use his fork. Daemon didn't like peas.

The wings were the most dramatic change to Daemon's body. But Heero noticed his eyes, too. A doe-eye brown all his life, Daemon's eyes were the deep Prussian blue of Heero's as soon as he emerged from the shell. They then paled, shifted to Quatre's ice blue eyes, then changed to a dark green, before finally settling in a misty form of all three. They were beautiful and looked exactly like Heero's and his brothers' when they Fused.

"How do you feel?" Heero asked, holding his chin with his hands.

He just couldn't believe it. He was a daddy. Sort of .

***

Kayla sighed and squished the spider. Necessarily, she had to stay in one of the oldest, most disused rooms. She moved around frequently, aware that a castle this big most likely had a multitude of house elves, and that those house elves were most likely out for her blood. She always chose exactly the same type of room, old, dusty, with a whole horde of spiders and cobwebs.

Kayla ate them-the spiders, not the cobwebs-because, although she was used to not eating much when she was little, she was used to more regular meals nowadays. The spiders didn't taste too bad, as long as she killed them before she ate them. After years of MREs-Meals Ready to Eat, the military equivalent of dry rocks-anything would taste good.

There was a sound outside the door, and Kayla tensed. This room was in a more well-traveled corridor than the others, and people had been passing this room all day. This was probably the same thing, but she readied herself. Just in case.

She wasn't ready. The door blew in out of its frame, smashing the table next to her. Kayla hunkered down, trying to make herself small, but it didn't work. She saw the girl-Dorothy Catalonia, seventeen years-old, father deceased, raised by grandfather, and the triplet's fierce Naiyama-through the cracks in the table. There was no way Kayla could fight her. The best thing to do would be to Just. Give. Up.

Like Hell.

Kayla jumped up, yelling the Petrificus Spell. Before she got out of the first syllable, Kayla felt a bubble form around her. Her body was tossed like a rag doll into the nearest wall. She hit her head, but she wasn't knocked unconscious. She was stronger than that.

Catalonia knew this.

Catalonia stood over Kayla. She held a large spider on the back of her hand, petting it. "Oh, the itsy, bitsy spider went up the water spout," she sang. "Down cam the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again." Catalonia let the spider drop on Kayla as she dropped down to her knees. "Oh, I know just what to do with you."

***

Harry stalked down the staircase just off the main hall. Quatre followed behind him, stalking more quietly. Harry wasn't sure where the Hufflepuff common room was located, so when he reached the corridor, he just started blasting paintings-left and right-with a Vanuli "open" command. He didn't know the password, either.

"Denaygo!" Harry yelled, and a painting of the Headless Horseman-the British, correct, version-exploded out of its frame. "Denaygo!" A horse on its two hind legs went flying. "Denaygo!" Three witches playing poker fell. Harry come to a picture of a large badger. "Denaygo," he whispered.

The portrait opened, revealing the bustling common room within. Harry stepped in, Quatre on his tail.

Harry smiled-it was not a good smile-and grabbed the nearest boy. "Go get Zacharias Smith. I want to talk to him."

The boy gulped but went to do as Harry bid. Harry flopped into a suddenly vacated chair. He sank down in the chair and waited for Zacharias to come.

Selune

A.N. I've got 8 votes on who to pair Harry with, so far. I'll keep it open once more, but on chapter 44, I'll start on his pairing.