Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Wing Goes to Hogwarts ❯ Muggles At Hogwarts ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13: Muggles at Hogwarts

“Why do you suppose Malfoy skipped fencing club?” Ron asked Harry quietly as they helped Roku put away the equipment after class one blustery day in early February.

Harry shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe he was afraid Alexa or Jett would be here.”

Ron snickered. “That's pretty funny. I'll have to spread that rumor.”

Just then a tall man with flowing white hair, a long cape and an arrogant manner stalked into the room, a silver-headed walking stick clasped in one hand.

“Let's get out of here!” Harry whispered quickly. “That's Lucius Malfoy.” He started to scurry for the door, but Ron caught his arm.

“Wait!” Ron whispered. “I want to see this!” He, Harry and Roku went out the door and immediately peeked back around the frame, their three heads all lined up with Ron on the bottom, Roku in the middle and Harry on top.

Lucius swept into the center of the room as though the three boys had never existed and jammed his walking stick down on the floor, striking an imperious pose. “So this is the place,” he sniffed, looking around as though he had just walked into a particularly unclean horse stall.

Treize regarded him in much the same way one might regard a particularly interesting insect. “May I help you?”

“Perhaps.” Lucius released his walking stick and it remained where it was, standing upright. “My son Draco informed me that that fool Dumbledore is allowing Muggles to live at Hogwarts.” He calmly removed his gloves and stuffed them into a pocket. “I have come to see for myself if such a disgraceful situation has indeed been allowed to arise.”

Treize glanced at Zechs, who was sitting on one of the benches with his legs crossed. Zechs folded his arms across his chest and lifted an eyebrow. Treize returned his gaze to Lucius. “I take it you find non-magic people offensive.”

“Offensive doesn't begin to describe it,” Lucius snarled, his lip curling. “Only persons of pure wizarding blood should be allowed within these walls. Persons of muggle-descent have no business here.” His sneer deepened. “Persons with no wizarding powers whatsoever have no reason to exist at all.”

Treize let his right hand fall casually onto the hilt of his sword. “I see. So you consider yourself a gentleman of the first order.”

Lucius lifted his chin. “Of course.”

“Well,” Treize said, “my family is descended from some of the oldest stock in Europe. I can trace my lineage back nineteen hundred years. How old is your family?”

Color flooded Lucius' face as he fumbled for words. “My family is… very old!” he exclaimed finally. “And we have always been one of the most powerful wizarding families!”

“That's nice,” Treize said. “My family has ruled countries.”

Lucius' mouth worked silently and his hand started to slide under his cloak.

Treize nodded at the free-standing walking stick. “I see you have a sword there.” Lucius started, apparently surprised that Treize had recognized the hidden weapon. “Is it a decorative weapon or do you know how to use it?”

Lucius' face got even redder. “Of course I know how to use it!” he snapped.

“Ah,” Treize said. “I wondered, you see, because your son is so inept. I would not have thought a father with any kind of skill would have allowed his son to reach his age without having any competence with a gentleman's weapon. My daughter is only seven or so and she bested him easily.”

“What?!”

“Oh, yes,” Treize nodded. “She disarmed him in five seconds.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice confidentially. “It was a little embarrassing.”

“Argh!” Lucius shouted. He grabbed the handle of the walking stick and twisted it. There was a soft click and the handle slid free, revealing a slender, gleaming sword. With a sweep of his other hand, he tossed his cape free, sending it in a dramatic swirl across the floor. Then he dropped into a fighting stance, his sword pointed at Treize. “I will endure no more insults to my family from someone like you!” he exclaimed. “En garde!”

In the doorway, Roku chuckled. “This should be fun.”

Lucius charged forward, making three quick, respectable cuts. Treize drew his sword and countered in his usual graceful way, making it look effortless. Lucius was not unskilled, but he was clearly not in Treize's league. He was working much harder in his attacks then Treize was working on the defense and he was soon panting and sweating, while Treize looked cool and relaxed.

From his seat on the bench, Zechs clucked. “Treize, it will be time for dinner in an hour. How long do you plan to play with him?”

“You're just jealous because he insulted me first.”

“You always take comments about your lineage so personally.”

“What is a man without his ancestry?”

“Common,” Zechs chuckled.

“Precisely.”

“Do not belittle me!” Lucius howled. “Pay attention to me when we're fighting!”

“How could I possibly forget you?” Treize said with a grin. “You've been buzzing around me like a mosquito for ten minutes now.”

“A… a… mosquito?!” Lucius' outrage did not allow him to manage any more. Raising his sword, he lunged at Treize, intending to skewer him. Treize sidestepped the lunge, grabbed Lucius' fist and yanked on it. The additional momentum sent Lucius flying and he ended up sprawled on his face with his butt sticking up in the air.

“If you ask me,” Zechs said as he stood up, “Alexa could beat the father, too. That was not very impressive.”

“Too much reliance on magic instead of the gentlemanly arts,” Treize agreed. He scooped up Lucius' cloak and shook it. Lucius' wand clattered onto the floor. “I'll just leave this with Dumbledore,” he said. He picked up the wand and he and Zechs started for the door.

“You boys better be off,” Zechs said quietly when he saw the three youths watching from the doorway with round eyes. “You don't want him to turn his anger on you.”

“Yes, sir!” Harry said. He grabbed Ron and Roku each by an arm and rushed them off down the hall.

“I won't forget this!” Lucius shouted from his knees. His face was beet red. “You will both pay for this!”

Treize's only reply was to tuck Lucius' wand inside his jacket as he walked out the door.

A short way down the hall and around the corner, they found the three boys waiting for them.

“You should be careful, Instructor Treize,” Harry said worriedly. “Lucius Malfoy is an evil, vindictive man and I wouldn't put him past casting a spell on you for that.”

“Indeed?” Treize lifted an eyebrow. He glanced at Roku. “Can you do anything about that?”

Roku grinned. “I could do a whole lot of things about that, but Mr. Malfoy wouldn't like any of them and I would get in trouble with Mama for most of them.”

Treize grinned back. “Well, perhaps you could do something that Mr. Malfoy won't notice and then Quatre won't find out.”

Roku thought about that for a moment. “I know!” he said suddenly with an evil chuckle. “Veneficum repulse iuste!” he said and tapped Treize and Zechs with a finger.

Zechs stared at him suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“If anyone tries to cast a bad spell on you, it will reflect on the caster. So if he doesn't do anything, nothing will happen.”

“But if he does something bad…” Zechs prompted.

“He'll injure himself.”

Harry and Ron goggled.

“You can do that?!” Ron exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Roku shrugged. “It's a pretty easy spell. If I can figure out how to do it with my wand, I'll teach you.”

“You should be instructing a class, Roku!” Ron said in amazement. “I wouldn't have any idea how to do something like that and you say it's easy!”

“Good afternoon, everyone,” said a kindly voice and they all turned in surprise to find Dumbledore pacing toward them.

“Professor Dumbledore!” Harry exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Ah,” said Dumbledore with an impish smile, “Mr. Filch claims he saw miniature people riding Mrs. Norris in this hallway, so I thought I'd better check on it.” He winked at Roku.

Roku tried to look innocent.

Treize and Zechs regarded Roku with pointed expressions.

“But so far…” Dumbledore continued, but he was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

“Albus!” Lucius Malfoy shouted as he came striding angrily down the hall, his cloak flaring out behind him. “I demand that you remove these persons from the premises immediately! They have no business at Hogwarts!” He stamped to a halt, but Ron, Harry and Roku noticed that he maintained a respectable distance from Treize.

“Oh!” Treize said, as if suddenly remembering something. He took Lucius' wand from under his jacket and held it out to Dumbledore. “I was going to ask you to return this to its owner.”

Dumbledore kept a straight face, but he blinked rapidly as he took the wand from Treize. He immediately turned to Lucius. “I believe this is yours.”

Lucius looked ready to shoot lightning bolts out of his eyes. He stepped forward and snatched the wand out of Dumbledore's hand. “Well?!” he demanded. “Are you going to get rid of them or not?”

“Oh, I think not,” Dumbledore replied calmly. “I think physical education is an excellent addition to the Hogwarts education. Fencing is such a gentlemanly art, don't you think, Lucius?” Dumbledore blinked innocently.

Lucius scowled. “I will speak to the board of directors about this, Dumbledore,” he growled. “This isn't over.” He stalked away, his fury billowing around him just like his cloak.

“He's such a testy man,” Dumbledore murmured. Then he turned to the others with a smile. “But never mind! Since you are only here for the school year and that is half over, I doubt anything is likely to happen before then. The board hates coming out in cold weather,” he added with a chuckle.

“I didn't mean to cause trouble,” Treize said, “but he did challenge me.”

Dumbledore patted his arm. “Think nothing of it. Lucius Malfoy is one of those thorns we must all endure. Come, why don't we go to my office and have a nice cup of tea?” He turned to the boys. “I think you three have other plans, yes?”

At that moment, a shout echoed down the all.

“Harry!” Oliver Wood came striding briskly toward them. “What are you doing standing there? It's time for Quidditch practice! Let's go! We absolutely must beat Ravenclaw! Have you been looking at alternate brooms?”

“No.” Harry's shoulders slumped at the reminder. “I'm still hoping to get my Firebolt back.”

Oliver scowled. “A Firebolt!” He muttered. “I'll have to speak to McGonagall again. If we had a Firebolt on the team, I just know we'd win.” He grabbed Harry by the arm. “But let's not waste valuable practice time fretting over it. Come on!” And he dragged Harry away.

Ron scratched his head. “We should probably go do our homework, Roku.”

“I finished mine already.”

Ron stared. “When?!”

“Before fencing practice.”

“But we only had an hour break after our last class!”

“I know. I had a little time left over so I did some wand practice with Hermione, too.”

“A little… time… left over?” Ron repeated faintly. He shook his head and slumped off down the hall, muttering. “It's not right, I tell you! It's just not right!”

Roku glanced at Dumbledore. “Maybe I'll go help him.”

“That would be the friendly thing to do,” Dumbledore agreed.

Roku scampered after Ron.

“What a delightful young man he is,” Dumbledore said approvingly. “He's very well brought up.”

“Oh, he has his mischievous side,” Zechs murmured.

“Is kleptomania a kind of mischief?” Treize wondered aloud.

“How about that tea?” Dumbledore reminded them.

“Absolutely,” Zechs said.

“Sounds lovely,” Treize replied.

On the way to Dumbledore's office, they passed Jett and Hadeya. Jett was marching along with a determined look on her little face, leading Hadeya by one hand.

Treize lifted an eyebrow. “Where are you two off to?”

“Jett is taking me to Duo,” Hadeya said.

“Is he hiding from Heero again?”

“Probably.”

“Is Heero still upset about that truth serum incident?”

“Possibly,” Hadeya acknowledged with a slight grin.

“But we still don't know what Duo asked him?”

“I think Uncle Wu-Fei knows, but he has not divulged anything.”

“We should wait until he's itchy and then ask him,” Zechs suggested.

“Good idea,” Treize agreed with a chuckle.

“If you will please excuse me,” Hadeya said, since Jett was tugging rather impatiently on his hand. “We will keep looking.” He let the little girl pull him away.

Jett continued to march purposefully down halls, up staircases, and along other halls until she stopped outside a closed door in a dusty and seemingly unused corridor. “Momma's in there,” she announced, pointing at the door.

“Thank you, Jett.” Hadeya knocked on the door. Silence answered. Hadeya knocked again. “We know you are there, Uncle Duo. Jett brought me.”

“Damn!” came the muffled exclamation from the other side of the door. There was the sound of a bolt sliding back and Duo peeked out. “But it's just you two, right?”

“Yes.”

“Come in!” Duo opened the door just enough for the two of them to slip through and he immediately closed and bolted it. “You don't know how hard it is to find a completely unused room that Mrs. Norris doesn't check every once in a while.” The room was small and stuffed with old battered furniture. Duo flopped down on an old couch, raising a cloud of dust. “So what's up?” He grinned as Jett climbed into his lap and started playing with his braid.

Hadeya shifted uncomfortably. “I wanted to ask your opinion about something.” He perched stiffly on the seat of an overstuffed chair. “A little while ago, one of the seventh year girls asked me to tutor her on an assignment. Ever since then, she keeps finding reasons to talk to me alone. Earlier this afternoon, during one of these chats, she asked me if I wanted to kiss her. Well, I had not really thought about it, but I had the impression she really wanted to be kissed, and I remembered you saying it was impolite not to kiss someone who wanted to be kissed, so I kissed her.”

“Way to go, Hadeya!” Duo grinned broadly. “So what did you want my opinion about?”

Hadeya's cheeks colored. “Is it normal for a girl to faint when you kiss her?”

Duo stared. “She fainted?!”

“Yes.”

“How long did you kiss her for?”

“Not that long; maybe ten seconds.”

Duo's eyes went round. “And it was just a normal kiss on the lips? With maybe a little tongue?”

“I did not use my tongue. That seemed a little forward for a first kiss.”

“Holy cow! That must have been one hell of a kiss.” Duo shifted Jett out of his lap and stood up. “I think you better show me.”

“Show you?”

“Yeah, kiss me the way you kissed that girl. I want to feel what you were doing.”

“Um, well, I guess.” Hadeya stood up and approached Duo a little uncertainly.

“Just do whatever you did when you kissed her.”

“All right.” Hadeya slipped his arms around Duo's waist, pulled him close, tipped his head to the side and pressed his lips to Duo's.

Duo did not make a sound while he was being kissed, but as soon as Hadeya released him he drew in a long breath. “Wow!” He blinked at Hadeya. “And that was without tongue! Do it again with tongue.”

“I've never kissed anyone like that.”

“Just do what feels right.” Duo put his arms around Hadeya's neck. Hadeya embraced him and kissed Duo again. This kiss lasted considerably longer than ten seconds. When it was over, Duo staggered back over to the couch and sank down next to Jett, his face pale. “Lord have mercy!” he breathed. “That is the best damn kiss I've ever had and I've had more than my fair share. No wonder the poor girl fainted!”

Hadeya sat back down. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“Heavens, no!” Duo wiped a hand over his face. “I need to find Wu-Fei. I need sex after a kiss like that and Heero will kill me if I jump you.”

Hadeya blinked. “Jump me?”

“Just another in the endless list of slang terms for fucking,” Duo chuckled. He stood up and scooped Jett onto one hip. “But a word of advice, my friend: those kisses are gonna land you in bed with somebody if you aren't careful about where you dole them out. You should stick to kissing people you wouldn't mind fucking.”

“B… but,” Hadeya stammered in confusion, “how am I supposed to know who I would not mind fucking?”

Duo threw his head back and laughed. “I am not the person you should be asking that question! You may have noticed I'm a tad indiscriminate.” He opened the door and peeked out into the hall. “But those kisses of yours could become addictive, so you better be careful or you'll end up with more lovers than you have time for.”

“I, uh, I will keep that in mind.”

They slipped out into the hall and Duo led the way downstairs. When they were back in more used corridors, Duo kissed Jett's cheek. “Ok, sweetie, take me to Papa Wu-Fei.”

Jett pointed. “That way.”

“I'll see you at dinner, Hadeya.”

Hadeya watched them go with a bemused expression. Then he noticed a group of girls watching him and he scurried for the stairs.

Harry got his Firebolt back the next day and every Gryffindor at Hogwarts became as excited as if each of them had personally received a Firebolt. Oliver Wood was practically beside himself and he declared their first practice with the Firebolt in their midst the best practice ever. In fact, everything would have been nearly perfect, in Harry's opinion, if Crookshanks had not chosen that particular time to apparently succeed in his ongoing quest to consume the unfortunate Scabbers. Ron and Hermione stopped speaking and Harry got caught in the middle of it. So it was something of a relief when the day of the match with Ravenclaw finally arrived.

Heero insisted that he and Duo patrol the perimeter of the field during the match to keep an eye out for dementors, even though Duo was positive that no dementors were in the vicinity. Which was why, of course, Heero caught him later under the stands with Roku eating a roast turkey that Roku had stuffed in his storage space.

When he found them, Heero crossed his arms and regarded the pair with a stern glare.

Duo grinned sheepishly. “We're just having a quick snack. I'll get right back on patrol in a minute.”

“You're a lying sack of shit.”

“No, really! As soon as we're done, I'm heading right back out.”

There was a sudden flurry of shouts from the stands.

“Shit!” Heero snapped and he dashed out onto the field with Duo and Roku on his heels.

Three dementors stood on the field looking up at Harry, but as several teachers converged on the trio, Harry shouted something and shot a silvery blast from his wand. The three dementors were smashed into the ground and immediately revealed to be students in costume.

“See, I told you there weren't any dementors,” Duo said.

Heero scowled at him. “Did you know they were going to try this trick?”

“Of course! That's how I got such good odds out of them.” At Heero's dark glare, Duo lifted his chin self-righteously. “It's only fair! They were planning to cheat so they deserved to lose a lot of money for it. I knew it wouldn't affect Harry since they weren't real dementors. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go collect while they're too ashamed to not pay up.” He marched off toward the Slytherin section of the stands.

As the triumphant Gryffindors marched back to their common room, Harry pressed close to Roku. “See? He doesn't like me at all! He wouldn't have done something like that if he liked me.”

“Of course he would have,” Roku said, “especially if he was trying to prove to himself and everyone else that he doesn't like you. You should read up on the psychology of adolescents. He's acting out pretty dramatically, if you ask me.”

Harry stared. “You've studied psychology?”

“Yeah. Papa Wu-Fei says it's the only way to really put history in context. You have to understand what motivates people.”

“You scare me sometimes, Roku.”

The party in the Gryffindor common room lasted long into the night, until they were chased into bed by Professor McGonagall. But in the middle of the night, everyone was startled awake by Ron's terrified scream. This was followed almost immediately by deep-throated snarls and the sound of something heavy charging down the stairs, punctuated by a sudden yowl.

“It was Sirius Black!” Ron cried. “He slashed at me with a knife!”

Harry, Ron and the other boys in their room dashed for the stairs, where they were joined by dozens of other boys.

“What's going on?”

“What's happening?”

Harry led the rush into the common room and skidded to a halt.

Roku, in tiger form, was standing in the portrait hole, his front paws on the lip, his ears laid back, and his long tail lashing back and forth. The deep rumbling growl issuing from his throat filled the common room.

“What the hell?” someone exclaimed.

Harry approached the angry-looking tiger slowly. “Roku?”

Roku looked over his shoulder and his ears came up. Then he spun around on his back paws and trotted over to Harry. “He's gone, but I nipped him pretty good as he was jumping through the portrait hole. I decided I should guard the entrance rather than chase him.”

“Is… Is that Roku?” Dean Thomas asked in astonishment.

Roku shimmered into human form. “Sorry about that, but it seemed the best way to encourage him to leave.”

“Was it Sirius Black?” Harry asked worriedly.

“It was the same man I smelled before,” Roku said.

“Wait just a minute!” Dean interrupted. “How long have you been an animagus?” he demanded of Roku.

“Always,” Roku said, for once not going into a highly detailed explanation.

“What's going on here?” Percy stamped into the room angrily.

“Sirius Black tried to kill me!” Ron cried.

“Roku can turn into a tiger!” several other students cried.

“What? What?” Percy exclaimed.

Now several girls had come downstairs and then the portrait banged open and Professor McGonagall stormed in.

“What is going on?” McGonagall roared. “Why are you students not in bed?”

“Sirius Black!” Ron shouted. “In my room! With a knife!”

“Roku is an animagus!” Dean Thomas exclaimed loudly.

“What nonsense are you all talking about? Sirius Black could not get into Gryffindor tower and I would know if Roku were an animagus.”

Roku hung his head. “Well… actually…” He shifted into tiger form and sat down with his tail around his feet. “I was kind of keeping it a secret.”

McGonagall stared.

“And Sirius Black was here. I recognized his scent.”

“But how…?”

“Ask Sir Cadogan!” Ron said.

At which point it was learned that Sir Cadogan had indeed admitted a man in possession of the entire week's passwords, read from a slip of paper undoubtedly lost by the hapless Neville Longbottom.

In the morning, the castle was abuzz with news. Groups of people could be heard talking first about Sirius Black, then about Roku and then back to Black again. Everyone wanted to hear Ron's story in complete detail and everyone also wanted to see Roku in his animal form.

Roku was not the least bit upset by this turn of events. “Ahhh!” he sighed contentedly as he lounged in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room a few days later. “Heat is good!”

Harry frowned at him. “You've been lazing about since dinner! Don't you have any homework to do?”

“Finished it.”

Evie and Susie came over and plopped down on the rug beside Roku.

“Want your belly rubbed?” Evie offered.

Roku immediately rolled onto his back and waggled his paws in the air. Evie and Susie grinned as they scrubbed their fingers through the fur on his belly. Roku purred, the rumbling sound filling the common room. He winked at Harry “See?” he rumbled. “It's good to be a tiger.”