Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Wing Goes to Hogwarts ❯ Buckbeak Escapes! ( Chapter 19 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Chapter 19: Buckbeak Escapes!
“Say, Quatre,” said Trowa, “would you do me a favor?”
“It doesn't involve strange sexual positions, does it?”
“Not this time,” Trowa grinned. “I was wondering if you would mind sending me into the past a few hours.”
“What for?”
“I want to keep Buckbeak from getting executed, but I don't want to get Hagrid in trouble. I was thinking I could try to sneak off with him after the prosecutor sees that he's tied up outside Hagrid's hut.”
“That's not a bad idea. What time do you want to be at?”
“I'd need to be there right at sunset, I think.”
“All right. I'll drop you in the woods behind his hut at sunset.” Quatre took his spell book out of his pocket. “You don't mind going now, do you? I still have a few more papers to grade.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Yes,” Quatre said. He lifted an eyebrow. “I need to finish these papers and you keep distracting me from it.”
“You didn't seem to mind.” Trowa patted Quatre's bottom. “You kept moaning when I was distracting you earlier today.”
“Do you mind?” Quatre pushed Trowa's hand away. “We can continue this discussion later this evening.”
“I'll take that as a promise.”
“Whatever.” Quatre held up his spell book. “Send this man to the woods in back of Hagrid's pumpkin patch at sunset today.” He opened the book and read the spell. Trowa vanished. “Finally! Now I can have some peace and quiet.”
For Trowa, the world shifted and he came to rest in the middle of a grove of trees. Just ahead of him, he could see Hagrid's hut through a screen of branches. Buckbeak was visible tied to the rickety fence surrounding the pumpkin patch. But closer to him, hiding in the bushes a few meters from the fence, were Harry and Hermione.
Trowa blinked in surprise. “I say, what are you two doing here?”
“Ah!” Hermione yelped. She whirled around. “Mr. Barton! What are you doing here?”
Trowa grinned. “I asked first, but I suspect we are on the same mission.” He pointed. “Rescuing Buckbeak.”
“But… but…” Hermione stammered. “I just saw you in the courtyard!”
Trowa crouched down next to the two students. “I thought Roku told you that we time travel, too. How do you do it?”
Hermione paled. “What makes you think we're time-traveling?”
“That.” Trowa pointed at the window, where Harry, Hermione, Ron and Roku could be seen talking to Hagrid. “And of course, you just admitted seeing me in the courtyard just now.”
“Oh! Um…” Hermione flushed and her shoulders slumped. “I have a time-turner. It only shifts time back a few hours, though.”
“But I guess that's all you'd need to attend twice as many classes as all the other students.”
“You knew?!”
“We all knew,” Trowa chuckled. “Your class schedule made it kind of obvious, but the clincher was when Roku told us you were living in parallel. That's not healthy, you know.”
“I managed!”
“You've been a little high-strung, though.”
“Quiet!” Harry hissed suddenly.
They scrunched down more as Cornelius Fudge and two other men, one of them carrying a huge axe, appeared. Cornelius knocked on the door to Hagrid's cabin and when Hagrid opened it, the four students visiting him slipped out the back. They hid in the pumpkin patch under Harry's invisibility cloak until the men went inside and then hurried away, with Roku floating above the other three in the form of a brown owl.
“Now!” Harry whispered urgently, and the three of them dashed out of hiding.
“Good evening, Buckbeak,” Trowa said.
Buckbeak squawked in reply and briefly bowed his head.
“This execution business is a bit of a bother,” Trowa continued. “These two youngsters and I were thinking you might like to avoid it.”
Buckbeak squawked again and flung his head up and down.
“That's what I thought,” Trowa said. He untied Buckbeak's lead. “Let's go.”
The four of them trotted back into the trees and headed out into the forbidden forest as darkness fell. Behind them, they heard the thunk of the executioner's axe.
“Oh!” Hermione exclaimed. “He must have just driven it into a stump!”
“What should we do now?” Harry said.
“We can't go back until after we've left,” Hermione said. “We can't risk running into ourselves or letting anyone see us in two places at once.”
“Let's find a comfortable spot that's not too far from the grounds,” Trowa suggested. “We can head back after dark.”
The four of them moved well away from Hagrid's hut, but did not go too far into the Forbidden Forest, since it was not terribly safe at night, even with a hippogriff to keep them company. They settled down in a small clearing.
Harry hung his head. “Do you think it's really true? About Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, I mean?”
Hermione nodded. “It must be. Pettigrew was supposedly killed by Sirius, but we all saw him.” She scowled. “He's a servant of the Dark Lord and he betrayed your parents to their deaths.”
Harry wiped his eyes. “We have to make sure they don't send Sirius back to prison.”
“We will!” Hermione said decisively.
Darkness fell and they waited in silence. After what seemed like a long time, they suddenly heard the sound of shouting.
“That's us!” Hermione cried and she jumped to her feet.
They all listened closely, trying to follow the action from a distance by sound.
When silence fell, Harry frowned slightly. “This must be when Roku stopped the fight between Sirius and Professor Lupin.”
“Did you see which way Professor Lupin ran?” Hermione asked nervously.
“No…” Harry began.
“I'd say he ran this way,” Trowa stated calmly.
“What?!” Hermione exclaimed. A long, low growl rumbled from behind her and she whirled around.
The muscular werewolf Remus Lupin stood behind her, the lips of his long muzzle pulled back to reveal his gleaming white fangs.
“Oh, no!” Hermione cried softly.
Remus took a step toward her.
“None of that, now,” Trowa said. He stepped between Hermione and Remus. “I'm quite sure it's against school rules to eat students.”
Remus stopped growling and blinked in surprise.
Trowa cleared his throat and spoke in his best werewolf (which is really the same as normal wolf, except for a slight accent). “You're quite a handsome fellow as a wolf, Professor Lupin. You must be beating the girl wolves off with a stick.”
Remus sat down on his haunches. “I can't say I actually know any girl wolves.”
“Really?” said Trowa.
“And if I did, I'm not sure that it would be, well, the sort of relationship I should pursue.”
“You're a wolf at the moment. What's wrong with it?”
“But I'm only a wolf during the full moon. I'm not the sort of person to become involved in a short term relationship like that.”
Trowa grinned. “You're a decent fellow.”
“I don't know about that.” Remus sighed. “Had you not been here, I might have injured these two.” He pointed his nose at Harry and Hermione.
“I'm sure Buckbeak would have had a thing or two to say about it.”
“Ah.” Remus regarded the hippogriff. “I see you rescued him. That's good.”
“We'll be going to help Sirius get away in a moment,” Trowa said, “but I think you should come back with us. If Quatre can't do something about your condition, I'm sure Roku can.”
Remus shook his head sadly. “There is no cure for lycanthropy. The most I can do is drink the potion that suppresses my reaction to the moon. And I shouldn't go back with you. The scent of humans arouses a terrible rage in me.”
“You seem pretty calm right now.”
Remus blinked. “Why, that's true!” he exclaimed in surprise. “I don't understand.”
“Perhaps it's the act of engaging in civilized conversation.”
“Hmm…” Remus thoughtfully licked his nose. “Maybe you're right. Perhaps I should risk it.”
“What are you saying?” Hermione asked curiously. Her eyes went back and forth between the man and the werewolf excitedly.
“I've just suggested that he come back with us,” Trowa said. “I'm sure Quatre or Roku can do something about his condition.”
“But there's no cure for lycanthropy!” Hermione exclaimed, echoing Remus' words.
Trowa chuckled. “I thought Hadeya told you Roku reassembled the world after Ragnarok. I suspect curing lycanthropy wouldn't stretch him much.”
“You shouldn't get his hopes up,” Hermione said uncertainly.
“I'm not,” Trowa replied. “Anyway, shouldn't we be starting back?” He looked around. “Where's Harry?”
“He's right th…” Hermione stopped mid-sentence, her pointing finger aimed at nothing. “Where did he go?” A brilliant orange flash lit up the sky nearby. “That looks like fire!” Hermione cried. Before the orange light had faded, the little clearing was flooded with brilliant white light coming from the same direction. “Harry!” Hermione shouted and she raced off toward the light.
“Let's go,” Trowa said in hippogriff and werewolf.
The four of them arrived just in time to see Harry and Sirius flying away on the back of a dragon.
But Harry was also standing just out of sight under the trees, watching the dragon with a bemused expression. “So it was me,” he said. “I made the Patronus that saved me and Sirius from the dementors.”
Hermione put a hand on his shoulder. “We should get going.”
Harry nodded.
The five of them trudged back to the castle, making a wide berth around the Whomping Willow. When they neared the castle, Harry stopped and pointed. “Those are the windows of the infirmary.”
“Are you sure?” asked Hermione.
Harry grinned sheepishly. “Quite sure. I've been in there enough times.”
“You two go inside,” Trowa said. “I'll wait out here with Buckbeak and Professor Lupin. When you're ready, have Sirius climb onto the windowsill and I'll send Buckbeak up for him.”
“Ok.”
The two students hurried inside. The hallways were empty, and they arrived at the infirmary door just as Dumbledore was about to lock it.
“Ah! Good timing! I assume everything went as planned.”
“Nearly,” Harry said. “We just have one more thing to finish and then it will be all done.”
“Very good, very good.” Dumbledore beamed at them. “Well, you better hurry inside. I think young Mister Weasley will be glad to see you as well.”
“Ron?” Harry glanced at Hermione with raised eyebrows and she shrugged. They entered the infirmary and Dumbledore locked the door behind them. The screens around the beds had been pulled into place to give the patients privacy as they slept. At least the ones who were sleeping, anyway.
“I'm not dirty there!” Ron cried.
“What?” said Harry.
“That doesn't need to be washed!” Ron wailed. “Stop! Ouch! Don't lick that!”
“Ron, what the hell are you going on about?” Hermione said impatiently, and they stepped around the screen blocking their view of his bed.
A nearly naked Ron Weasley was pinned to his bed by two giant tiger paws, getting an alarmingly thorough tongue bath. Hermione turned bright red and darted back behind the screen.
“Harry! Hermione!” Ron cried. “Help me! I don't need any more washing!”
“Quit whining,” Roku said. “I'm almost finished.”
“Not there!” Ron howled. “Don't wash that!”
Harry turned red to the roots of his hair and blinked several times. “Um… Roku… I know you're a tiger and all, but should you really be licking that?”
With a final swipe of his tongue, Roku released Ron and hopped off the bed. “There, all done.”
“Thank god!” Ron groaned. He scrambled for the bed sheets and yanked them up over his red, glistening skin. “You have no idea what I've been through!” he wailed to Harry. “It was horrible!”
“You should take more baths,” Roku advised. “Just because you're covered with clothes doesn't mean you're properly clean.”
“I've never been so humiliated in my life!” Ron moaned. He scrunched down further into the bed. “Promise me you won't tell anyone!”
“Uh, yeah,” Harry said. Then he smacked his forehead. “I'm sorry. I need to be doing something else right now.” He hurried to the bed where Sirius was lying on his side, an enormous grin on his face.
“I have to admit that was one of the more amusing things I've ever witnessed,” Sirius said.
“Sirius,” Harry said, “I've got a hippogriff parked outside waiting to take you away from here. We believe you're innocent, but Professor Dumbledore thinks it might be better for you to go into hiding for now; at least until after they talk to Peter Pettigrew.”
“Harry!” Sirius exclaimed. “Thank you! Hearing you say you believe me means more to me than all the rest.” He sat up. “Do you know what happened to Remus?”
“He's outside, too. Mister Barton thinks Roku or Professor Winner will be able to cure him.”
“Cure him? Really?” Sirius blinked in surprise. “Imagine that!”
“Anyway, we shouldn't waste any time. Buckbeak is wanted, too.”
“Of course.” Sirius slipped off the bed. “But I thought I heard Dumbledore lock the door.”
“He did. Buckbeak's waiting outside the window.” Harry hurried to the window and threw open the casement. He leaned out, scanning the dark outside. “There he is! Climb into the window.”
Sirius climbed through the window and sat on the sill with Harry bracing him from behind. A moment later, Buckbeak flew up to the window, flapping hard to hover with his tail toward the window. Sirius leaped onto his back and the hippogriff immediately flew away, the bright moonlight turning his wings to silver.
“What a pretty sight!” Hermione said from behind Harry.
Harry sighed. “I wonder how long it will be before I get to see him again.”
“Not too long, I hope,” Hermione said.
Ron just groaned.
Outside, Trowa turned to Remus. “Now that that's taken care of, why don't we go talk to Quatre?”
Remus nodded.
Man and wolf entered the castle and went to the Gundam pilots' suite. Not surprisingly, everyone was still in the common room.
“You're back!” Quatre said. Then he blinked at Remus. “Who's that?”
“Professor Lupin. He has a werewolf issue.”
“Oh, of course. Roku mentioned that. Good evening, Professor.”
Remus growled a response.
“He says good evening,” Trowa translated.
Quatre rubbed his chin. “So, you're a lycanthrope. That's very interesting, you know. Merlin was fascinated by moon-phase illnesses like lycanthropy. He tried a number of spells and counter-curses but never came up with anything that worked quite right. He did have one spell that he rather liked, but it had a side-effect of causing the former werewolf to sprout flowers from the top of his head whenever he or she went out in the sun. Not a terrible problem, really, but a little embarrassing. And then there was this one other side-effect where the person grew hair constantly all over his or her body. ”
Remus made a coughing sound.
Trowa chuckled. “He would prefer not to become a garden in place of turning into a werewolf.”
Quatre waved a hand. “I never learned that spell anyway. I think we should let Roku do this. Lycanthropy is a genetic mutation. If we were on Mars, I might be able to do something, but I just don't have the right equipment here. Duo, do you mind summoning Roku?”
“Sure.” Duo closed his eyes. “Ok, he's on his way.”
Roku arrived a few minutes later. “Did you want me, Mama?”
“Yes. Can you cure Professor Remus here of his lycanthropy?”
“I suppose, but where's the fun in that? It only lasts for a few nights and he's a handsome wolf.”
Remus ran his tongue out in a toothy smile.
“He said the smell of humans causes him to go into a terrible rage,” Trowa said. “We think he's not feeling it now because I can talk to him, but we aren't going to be here forever.”
“Ok.” Roku sat down facing Remus. “It's in your genetic code, you know. Taking it out might cause other genetic malfunctions. I'm not as good at recombinant DNA as Mama.” He studied Remus carefully. “Or… hmm…” He licked Remus' nose. “I think I can give you control over the change. That way, you can change whenever you want, not just when the moon is full.”
Remus blinked.
“Let's try that,” Roku said. He rattled off a long Latin phrase. “There. Now try to be human.”
Remus whined.
“Just remember what you feel like when you're a man,” Roku advised, “and then squeeze your body into the feeling.”
Remus closed his eyes and went very still. A moment later, his outlines blurred and shifted, and then, suddenly, a completely naked Remus Lupin was sitting on the floor in front of Roku.
Jett squealed. “He's got no pants on!”
Alexa giggled.
Remus flushed.
Hadeya grabbed a throw from a nearby couch and tossed it around Remus' shoulders.
“Thank you,” Remus said. Then he smiled beatifically at Roku. “And thank you most sincerely, Mister Winner.”
“You're welcome. I think you shouldn't feel that rage anymore either.”
“This is something I never even dared to dream about,” Remus said. “You've completely changed my life.”
“That's what we do,” Heero muttered, “go around changing lives and history.”
“But you've got to admit it's pretty cool,” Duo said.
“So is that how shape-changing works?” Wu-Fei asked. “If so, how then do you change into something you've never been before?”
Roku shrugged. “I guess you just have to imagine what it would feel like to be the creature you want to be. Or use a spell, like Mama does.”
“So you're saying that someone with a predisposition to be more than one shape can just change into whatever they like as long as they can imagine it?”
“Pretty much.”
Wu-Fei stared speculatively at Jett. “Jett shares your DNA, mostly.”
“Except for being a girl, yeah.”
“So could she change shapes?”
“Probably.”
Quatre slapped a hand over his face and groaned. “Did you have to ask that?”
“You suspected it all along!” Duo accused.
“I didn't see any reason to bring it up. One shape-changing youngster in the family is enough, in my opinion.”
Alexa clapped her hands. “Yay! Jett! Be a kitty!”
Jett pursed her lips thoughtfully. “What kind of kitty?”
“A black kitty! Like the one we saw in that book. I like those.”
“What book?” Duo asked worriedly.
“This book,” Hadeya said, lifting the book in question from the table next to where Alexa was sitting.
“Oh no!” Duo exclaimed. “Jett, wait!”
But Jett had a sharp look of concentration on her face. Blue light began shimmering around her and a second later, she morphed into the shape of a black cat. Except it was not just a cat. It was more of a kitten. A really big kitten.
“They were reading the Jungle Book,” Duo groaned.
“That's a panther cub,” Zechs noted.
“Yay!” Alexa squealed. She hugged Jett tightly. “You're so soft!”
“Mmrowr!” Jett said, and the room echoed.
“She still has her voice, I see,” Treize remarked.
“Now we have two big cats in the family,” Trowa said. “That's kind of nice.” He knelt down next to Jett and stroked her fur. “I'll teach you how to balance on a ball just like Roku.”
“Mmmrrr,” Jett purred, and she licked his face.
“You are a most remarkable family,” Remus said. “I am very glad you decided to come to Hogwarts.”