Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Never Say Let Go ❯ Chapter 2

Title: Never Say Let Go

Author: Skeren Dreamera and Hoshi-Tachi

Feedback: Skeren Dreamera: Mickeofas@yahoo.com, Hoshi-Tachi: koukennin_kaze@yahoo.com

Chapter two

Duo hadn't handled the hat thing all that well, and he couldn't help feeling a little unnerved after the reaction he'd gotten. Not a minute after the talking hat had declared him a Slytherin, he'd gotten a speculative look from both directions, then been shuffled off after getting told what he'd be telling the other students. They weren't lies, just not quite truths either. He now found himself being ushered in by the man in black himself, with the guy steering him towards the head table, apparently ignoring his stunned state while he clutched his bag to his chest. They'd used a wand thing on him to get rid on the mud, but that hadn't helped his mind deal with one important fact. Time travel was real.

"Three hundred years." Duo shook his head a little, standing on the dais as he watched the hat that he'd been subjected to get put onto the head of a child. He knew he needed to stop muttering about how long it was, and he decided that watching what was going on might be best.

The table he stood next to held pretty much every adult in the room, except for a rather creepy-looking guy with stringy hair that lurked in the shadows near the huge doors. He studied them carefully, knowing that unless he could get out of it- not that he really wanted to, since he had a suspicion Heero was somewhere near here- they would be the ones teaching him magic for the next few months.

The big guy from earlier was there, talking cheerfully with another... witch, he guessed, though it still felt odd to be calling someone that, especially when the woman in question seemed like such a nice lady. Another witch, the severe-looking one he'd seen earlier, spoke quietly with the sinister Severus.

And, sitting at the middle of the table was the ancient Headmaster, who was being chattered to death, it seemed, by a woman in pink who made Duo run a finger over the athame tucked up his sleeve for reassurance. Something about the way her eyes gleamed, as she glanced over the students that filled the enormous hall, put his every instinct into a screaming, thrashing panic.

Dumbledore finally managed to get away from the over-enthusiastic woman once the sorting was finished, and he drew himself to his feet after an apparently nice, but firm, reminder that he had announcements to make to the students. It didn't do much to reassure Duo when the woman turned her beady little eyes on him, and he resisted the urge to step back a few paces, reminding himself that he was a stranger in this place.

"Staff and students! Now, I'm sure you've noticed that we have, once again, gotten a new face at the head table. She's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and her name is Dolores Umbridge. She's here from the ministry, so do be on your best behavior." His blue eyes looked at the Gryffindor table especially, and there seemed to be a bit of eye contract before his gaze moved elsewhere around the hall. "Now, before I get to the other announcements, I have to introduce a new fifth year student, Duo Maxwell. He isn't very familiar with our brand of magic, as he is coming from America, which, as we all know, has no formal schools. I'd like to ask you all to help him out as much as possible while he's here." Without further ado, he launched into his regular announcements for the school year.

Seeing Duo had no trouble picking out what table he was supposed to be sitting at, Severus remained seated, watching the boy evaluate his new housemates with a considering eye. He only wished he knew what they were saying as Malfoy leaned over to speak to the time traveler.

"Maxwell..." Duo heard the blonde boy beside him murmur. "That doesn't sound like a wizarding name. Who were your parents?" he imperiously demanded to know, looking down his long nose at the ex-thief.

Who simply shrugged, to the surprise of all those sitting at the table. "Dunno. Never knew them, so I can't tell ya," Duo answered, unruffled by the question. He looked longingly at the empty plates on the table, wishing the Headmaster would stop talking so they could bring the food in.

The blonde's mouth opened and closed, apparently flummoxed by the unorthodox answer. "But how could you-"

"Give it a rest, Malfoy," a quiet voice said from a couple seats over. Duo glanced over at his rescuer to see a calm brunette watching the annoying blonde. "He already said he doesn't know, you can leave it at that."

Malfoy didn't want to let it go, and he frowned at the person who'd come to the new student's defense. "How could someone not know? You'd have to be an... oh." He ground to a halt, looking back at Duo with that.

"Yeah, oh. I believe the word you were lookin' for there would be an orphan." Duo met the blonde's eyes with an amused look on his face before peering in the direction of his defender. "Hey, you down there, what's your name?"

The brunet blinked, gesturing at himself. As soon as Duo nodded, a small smile crossed his face. "Blaise, Blaise Zabini."

He grinned cheerfully at the boy. "S'pose I don't really need to reintroduce myself, but I'm Duo." He held out a hand, stretching to make it reach to where the other teenager sat.

Blaise shook it, letting go quickly to let Duo relax back into his seat. "It's nice to meet you."

The blonde, Malfoy, watched them with a scowl on his face. Apparently, he really didn't like being ignored. "Draco Malfoy," he interrupted, thrusting out his own hand.

Duo felt his grin fossilize on his face, though he doubted any of the children noticed the change. "Pleasure..." he said doubtfully, shaking the boy's hand and dropping it like a live coal as quickly as he could manage without seeming rude.

The blond faltered a little at the complete insincerity of the action, not all that happy that the boy seemed so displeased to meet him. He had a little more tact than he once had, but not by very much. He waited a moment, certain that the boy would at least make note of his family. When nothing was forthcoming he frowned. "Don't you recognize the name?"

Duo returned his gaze to the boy, being reminded of a few of the more uppity people he'd dealt with in boarding schools during the war. "No, should I?"

Down the table, Blaise made a choked sound from behind the hand he'd only just managed to get up to cover his mouth in time. Malfoy stared at the braided boy in utter shock, mouth agape. "How... how..."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Simple. I ain't exactly from around here, which you would know if you'd bothered to listen the old geezer up front." He jumped slightly as the platters covering the table abruptly were overflowing with food, gazing at the items with wide eyes for only a moment before grinning and digging in. After a second went by, he looked up and saw the blonde still staring at him. "Eat!" he ordered through the food in his mouth, waving a loaded fork at the boy's plate. "I'm not takin' the blame if you starve yourself to death because I won't pander to your ego."

With a still slightly-stunned nod, Malfoy obeyed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hermione, as always, had been paying far more attention to the announcements than either of her two companions, and she noticed a few small changes in the rules from years prior. It seemed Filch was getting more leeway. She only spared a worried glance towards the new teacher before she turned her attention to the new boy, who had apparently shocked Malfoy into immobility.

"Harry, Ron, what do you think of the new boy?" She paused, waiting for them to look at her, aware Harry had been evaluating the new kid as well. "Why do you think he's wearing that outfit? Some kind of old school uniform?"

Harry squinted towards the other side of the room, wishing he'd thought to ask Sirius or Professor Lupin about getting a new prescription. "Dunno," he answered, focusing as well as he could on the strange boy. It wasn't hard to pick him out even when he was half blind, since he was the only student there not wearing robes. "I can't really tell, but... isn't there something funny about his collar?"

The girl shrugged thoughtfully. "I can't make out what's different about it from all the way over here, but you're right. Maybe we'll see when the Feast's over."

Ron was stuffing his face on the newly-arrived food, considering that far more important than a mere new student, even if he was in their year. "Who cares? He's a Slytherin, isn't he? You'll find out the answer the first time he comes over and insults us."

The comment immediately earned the redhead a glare from his friend. "Ron! Just because he's a Slytherin doesn't mean he's all bad. He's not even from this country! We should at least try to be nice."

"But 'Mione! I wasn't saying I'd insult him first, but it's only a matter of time really." Ron shook his head, tucking into his food with a sullen air. He hadn't even done anything.

"We'll see soon enough, you know we always have at least one class doubled with the Slytherins." Harry spoke up from the opposite side of the redhead, patting his friend on the arm. "Not all of them are out to get us, even if they aren't the friendliest bunch. I'm more worried about the new professor."

The trio stared up at the vision- or rather, nightmare- in pink, and shuddered slightly. "So, mate, bets on that she's a Death Eater? Or at least evil and out to kill you?" Ron asked, nervously watching the new teacher.

"No bet," Harry said absently, rubbing the still-fresh scar in the crook of his right elbow. "Considering we're three for four Defense teachers already..."

"Should we count Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked, and held up a hand against the glare Harry instantly turned on her. "I know he's not evil, but he did almost kill us..."

"Accidents don't count," Harry stated firmly. "With all the others, it was intentional. Besides," he said, glancing again at the head table, "it's not like anything good could happen, now that he's... well, back."

"You know Fudge doesn't believe that. He'll do anything to deny that as long as possible and you know it mate!" Ron shook his head, scoffing. He'd been keeping up with the papers over the summer. "I bet the woman's a spy, that'd be about right for our luck."

Hermione nodded a little with a sigh. "Yes, I suppose it might be a bit optimistic to think a woman from the ministry would be good for the school, but I won't judge her before we see how well she teaches. She just might be what we've been needing for our classes."

"Hermione, you're hopeless sometimes, you know that?" Shaking his head, the green eyed boy finally dug into his meal.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Duo leaned back, pushing away his empty plate and suppressing a groan at how full he felt. Honestly, you'd think he knew better by now than to pile so much food on his plate, when he knew his street-rat upbringing would force him to finish it all.

"Finished?" Blaise asked, peering at him from over his own empty dish.

The pilot grinned at him. "Yeah. I don't think I've had food this good since..." Since the last time Quatre had had him over for dinner. Then the research had kept him too busy for anything else...

But that was a thought he didn't particularly want to dwell on, so he simply shrugged and ran a hand through his bangs. "Hell, I don't think I've ever eaten this well."

The wizard smiled. "I know what you mean. The Hogwarts' Feasts are the highlights of the school year." He paused and reconsidered that statement. "Well, that and finding out what death-defying adventure Potter's gotten himself into this year."

Duo blinked as he heard the description and gave Blaise an honestly confused look. He had the feeling that this was one of those times he'd regret not asking more questions beforehand, but he had to know these things. At least the other teen had scooted down so he wouldn't make a complete idiot of himself.

"Oh? Who's that?" The braided teen then wondered what sort of things would be considered death defying around here. He only knew a bit about the era, and it was mostly through its music.

The brunette looked honestly shocked. "You mean you don't know?"

"Uh, no." Duo couldn't fathom why the boy reacted like that. "Is he someone important or something?"

Around them, the other Slytherins fell silent as they all stared at him. "How can you not know who Harry bloody Potter is?" a pug-faced girl asked slowly, her expression obviously wondering if he was completely sane.

"Easy," Duo answered snappishly, feeling the first pangs of true irritation creep their way across his mind. "All I had to do was not have the first clue what you people are freaking talking about!"

"Are you sure you're not a mudblood?" Malfoy drawled with a sneer, having recovered most of his aplomb over the course of the meal. "You don't know about Potter, you didn't recognize me..." It was obvious which one he considered the greater offense. "Unless you've had no contact with decent society whatsoever, the only other possibility is that you are. In which case, you have no place in this house!"

The ex-thief straightened his spine, glaring at the blonde with all the scorn he could muster. "For your information, the people I grew up with weren't exactly concerned with the outside world." More with finding enough food to survive to the next day, he added mentally. "So unless ya want to make a fool of yourself again in the future, I would suggest finding out all the facts before you open your mouth!"

Malfoy scowled at him for a second, then pointedly turned away with a sniff of disdain. Duo wasn't about to let it go at that, however. "Oh, and Malfoy?" he purred warningly as the blonde glanced back at him. "That sounded like an awfully insulting word. I'd suggest ya not use it again in reference to me. I might take offense."

A flicker of wariness crossed the haughty boy's face as he caught something threatening in the eyes of the braided teen, but he immediately turned up his nose, deciding to ignore it for now, though he'd think about it later. Instead he decided to jeer, wanting to bring the other teen down a few pegs. "Next thing he'll be saying is that he doesn't know what Quidditch is. Or, even better, that he can't fly a broom."

A few snickers answered the barb from around the table, but a few of the Slytherins didn't seem to think it was all that funny, looking in some other direction than Malfoy. Blaise spoke up. "That isn't fair Malfoy, even some purebloods can't fly a broom."

Malfoy sneered at him, and was about to speak when Duo interrupted him. "Well, I'll admit I've never flown a broom before, but I won't have anyone sayin' I can't fly," he said, fixing each of them with a steely eye that matched his hard tone.

The blonde Slytherin frowned, confused. "What else is there to fly?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Duo smirked at him, and, seeing that other students were finally beginning to leave the hall, stood up. "Ya know, Malfoy, I'll just have ta show you some time." He knew the twentieth century didn't have anything decently spaceworthy, but from what he recalled, they did have some decent copters...

The Slytherin prefect got up about then, waving his arms. "First years, come this way, I'll show you how to get to the dorms."

Duo glanced over to the girl and then looked back to Malfoy with a smirk. "I'll just have to get someone to show me how to ride a broom, then you can see how it works with someone who's born to fly."

He picked up his bag, quickly heading off in the right direction before all the new kids left. He felt rather annoyed he was as short as some of the taller eleven-year-olds, but ignored it. He was sixteen, he'd act like it. Even if he had been told he was getting put into fifth year with tutors.

To be continued.