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Harry Potter and the Secret Link	By : LeAnnRingo Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > General - Misc Views: 3407 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
~*~*~*~*Harry Potter and the Secret Link*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*Capricious Purple Clarity*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*Chapter Sixteen*~*~*~*~

“... Duo?” Harry probed quietly, hoping to encourage any kind
of reaction from the unnaturally quiet American who, after
showing Harry the message scrawling across the bear’s front,
turned the stuffed animal back around and began to stare
sightlessly at the gift. The Gryffindor Golden Boy was at a
loss as to why a gift, while somewhat strange and slightly
creepy, would spur such a distant reaction from the braided
boy.

Duo didn’t move for a long moment before, finally, he
precariously set the mysterious gift to the side. “Hmm?”

“You didn’t tell me today was your birthday.”

“It’s not.”

Oh. Maybe that’s why Duo’s so out of it...

“I mean, it couldn’t be,” Duo said absently, his eyes still
studying the present. “No one could know when my birthday is -I don’t even know when my birthday is. The chances of today
being my birthday is one out of, well, 365, if I include leap
year...”

How could someone not know when his own birthday is? Harry
wondered to himself. He realized it was possible that Duo
didn’t know because the American admitted readily enough that,
as far as he could remember, he was a street rat. Any life
before that was completely lost in the hazy memory of early
childhood.

“... and if I had a birthday, I would hope it would be set
sometime in July, probably on the twenty-fifth, because that’s
exactly six months away from Christmas and affords me multiple
gifts every six months. If today is my birthday, I’m getting
completely gypped because who wants to buy anyone a birthday
present right after they wasted all of their money on
Christmas?”

Rambling. Harry recognized the sign for what it was; Duo was
upset and, to keep himself from showing his frustration, he
would begin to ramble rather light-heartedly to detract
attention from what he was feeling. He did it the same day his
friends arrived, too...

“Yeah, I’d definitely rather my birthday be in July. And since
today couldn’t possibly be my birthday, I hereby declare my
birthday July 25. You’ll come to my party, right? Of course
you would. And Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Draco, Hermione,
and Ron will be there too. You think Ron and Draco will argue
a lot? I love it when Draco’s all snarky and Ron’s all
indignant. Family feuds are so stupid it’s funny.” Duo stood
up suddenly, going for the door.

“Duo! What-?”

“I’m going for a walk. Y’know, I’m not so sleepy anymore.
Strangest thing. Hey, you think I’ll run into Sevy? He’s
always fun to ramble at. I love seeing his hopes that I’ll
pass out from lack of oxygen so he can leave me in a cold
corridor to catch something fatal and die slowly crumble when
I keep going. You’d think he’d never heard of circular
breathing, which, I’m proud to say, I excel at. I’ll see you
at breakfast, right? Or, y’know, maybe lunch, since you’ll be
sleeping through breakfast. Well, maybe not lunch, either,
because you said that if anyone woke you at lunch you’d be
forced to take extreme actions. Dinner, then? Dinner it is.
I’ll see you later, man.”

“Duo...” But the American was already closing the door behind
him, pajama clad and all. “Damn it...”

What now? Heero. Well, of course Harry couldn’t out and out
tell Heero what had happened because that was Duo’s business,
but Harry could tell Heero that Duo needed an understanding
ear and a shoulder to lean on, right? So how was he supposed
to get to the Slytherin dorms when they were all the way in
the dungeons? If he took the direct way, he’d be stopped by
the password protected entrance. And, since the Slytherin
dorms were in the dungeon, there was no way he could sneak
through a window, or...

Wait. Trowa. Trowa called the Slytherin dorms the Slytherin
Tower. “The Slytherin Tower has an amazing view over the
Forbidden Forest -so much so that I’ve actually seen unicorns
and centaurs through the window.” Harry wasn’t even going to
contemplate how that was possible, since he knew for a fact
the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons.

Hogwarts had seven towers; the Gryffindor Tower, the
Hufflepuff Tower, the Ravenclaw Tower, the Headmaster’s Tower,
the Astronomy Tower, and the Divination Tower. Could the
seventh tower be the Slytherin Tower?

Harry’s eyes flickered to his broom. Only one way to find out,
right? He threw himself from the warm confines of his bed and
hastily placed his warmest cloak around his shoulder before he
absently slipped his treasured Marauder’s Map in his pocket,
almost immediately noticing it was part of the wardrobe Malfoy
had jokingly given him for Christmas. He didn’t even try to
puzzle out why that was worth noting as he took up his
treasured Firebolt and flung the window open, wincing at the
sharp, cold wind that sliced across his face, so cold his
cheeks began to sting and his nose went curiously numb.

While the wind was strong, it was hardly the worst weather
Harry had flown in, and the rising sun offered a little relief
from the harsh winter temperature. The view from the window
was mostly over the lake first years crossed on their first
evening at Hogwarts, and there was a small corner of the Dark
Forest within his vision, as well. The tower with the best
view of the Forbidden Forest had to be... the one directly
next to Gryffindor Tower?

“If it is Slytherin Tower,” Harry mumbled as he straddled his
Firebolt and pushed off the ledge, steadying the broom against
the howling wind, “then talk about the irony of Slytherins and
Gryffindors being civil neighbors.”

He swooped low as he approached the tower, peering into the
first window. A dorm room. Hmm... Don’t think I’ll tell Ron
about this. He might either flip or plan something that’ll
start an all out war. We’ll never get to sleep with all of the
pranks we’ll be trying to pull on the Slytherin House as a
whole...

He slowly went from window to window facing the Forbidden
Forest, peering inside each one until he could clearly see
each was empty. Finally, after almost losing all hope that
this was the right tower at all, he found a room that
definitely had signs of life.

That sign of life, however, was Heero Yuy very clearly
pointing a gun at Harry through the window. The Gryffindor let
out a startled squawk and ducked down below the sill.

The window above him came open, allowing Harry to hear Draco’s
very disgruntled, “Yuy, you bastard, it’s freezing outside!”

Harry bravely pulled up again, sighing in relief as he noted
that Heero had lowered the gun to his side.

“Harry’s here,” the Gryffindor Golden Boy heard Trowa note
mildly.

“Potter?”

Before Draco could say something that made Harry want to kill
him, Harry looked straight into Heero’s eyes and said, “Duo’s
upset.”

Heero narrowed his eyes, causing Harry to shiver. He had a
sinking suspicion it wasn’t the cold that caused it.

“Ooh,” he heard Draco say in awe, appearing beside Heero.
“Heero Death Glare number 122: ‘I would kill you myself, but I
think it would be more amusing to chain you to a ceiling in
the dungeons while the rats feast upon your warm, still-living
organs.’ Congratulations, Potter -you’ve successfully put Yuy
into ‘someone is going to die a slow and painful death’ mode.”

“He’s not upset with me,” Harry said indignantly.

“Pity,” Draco drawled. Cheeky bastard... “Come in before I hex
you - God, Potter, it’s too cold and miserable to be putting
up with you this early after we left the Gryffindor Tower.”

Harry decided quickly that he wasn’t going to tell Malfoy
about the close proximity of the rival houses’ towers, either,
for much of the same reasons as he wasn’t telling Ron. Heero
and Draco moved to allow Harry to navigate himself inside, and
Draco shut the window after him.

“What happened?” Heero demanded.

Harry paused, wondering what was within his right to tell.
Even he wasn’t quite sure why something like an innocent teddy
bear upset Duo, other than the fact it seemed kind of creepy.
“Duo... received a birthday present.”

Draco’s eyebrows rose in amusement. “A birthday present?
Maxwell’s upset because he’s a year older? Isn’t he a little
young to be going through a mid-life crisis right now?”

“Duo doesn’t have a birthday,” Trowa informed him quietly. “At
least, not one he’s aware of.”

“That’s what he said,” Harry said evasively, “before he
started rambling. I usually take that as a sign that he’s
upset, but... the present itself was mildly disturbing.”

“Where is he?”

“He went for a walk,” Harry said, somewhat intimidated by the
rather dangerous glint in Heero’s eyes. “He said he’d see me
later. He tried to hide it, but he was really disquieted. I
did bring something that would help you find him, though.”

He pulled the Marauder’s Map from the depth of his pocket,
unfolding the parchment halfway. Malfoy’s eyebrows poised once
again, the Slytherin Prince drawled, “Oh. A scrap sheet of
parchment. That’s loads of help.”

Harry gritted his teeth together, hating that Malfoy was going
to see something he would rather the Malfoy heir not see or
know about at all. “It belonged to my father and his friends
when they were in school. Here...” Pointing the tip of his
wand at the blank parchment, he murmured lowly, “I solemnly
swear that I am up to no good.”

Ink began to line the parchment, starting with the typical
introduction, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to
present THE MARAUDER’S MAP. Harry felt Malfoy hovering over
him as the parchment’s lines began to darken, clearly
revealing the only known map of Hogwarts. The map, true to
form, started with the map’s own present location, in this
case, Slytherin Tower; more specifically, the room that
contained Odin Lowe, Jr., Triton Bloom, Harry Potter, and
Draco Malfoy.

Wait. Odin Lowe? Triton Bloom? Harry blinked, befuddled. The
names, while unfamiliar, were faded behind the names of Trowa
Barton and Heero Yuy.

Then Malfoy slapped Harry on the back of the head with a
peevish growl. Harry, slightly dazed, snapped, “What was that
for?”

“Damn you, Potter! Why do you get all the nifty toys?” the
Malfoy heir raged before getting a better look at the map.
“Faulty toy. Odin Lowe and Triton Bloom?”

Heero and Trowa shared a look between one another.
“Interesting,” Trowa murmured.

“Hn.”

“Catherine Bloom is my adopted sister,” Trowa mused. “She’s
told me often enough that I remind her of a brother that died
when she was younger.”

“And Lowe was the man who raised me,” Heero said coldly,
“though I don’t recall him ever giving me a legitimate name.”

“That’s good,” Draco said offhandedly. “You really don’t look
like an Odin.”

Harry was reluctant to agree with Malfoy’s assessment, but it
was true. Heero really didn’t look like an Odin. Instead of
mentioning that, he quickly went in search of Duo and found
him soon enough. His name, oddly enough, had a second one
underneath as well, though it was far more faded than Heero’s
and Trowa’s. He’d almost made out the first name behind Duo
Maxwell before Malfoy distracted him by saying loudly, “He’s
in the Headmaster’s office.”

“Hn.” Heero didn’t even blink before he was out of the door -presumably on his way. Trowa followed scant seconds later,
leaving Harry and Malfoy alone in the sixth year Slytherin
boys’ dorm. From the map, Harry could see Trowa part ways from
Heero at the entrance to the Slytherin common room which,
strangely enough, was in the dungeons.

“Does that say Keary?”

“What?” Harry asked, startled. Draco was studying the blur
behind Duo’s name as intently as Harry once was. The
Gryffindor Golden Boy felt his face heat up when he noticed
that Malfoy was so close that, one off move and they’d be
cheek to cheek.

“Pay attention, Potter,” Malfoy said, pointing. “Maxwell
admitted himself that the name he goes by is about as real as
Trelawney’s Sight. I can only assume the reason his is much
more blurred than Yuy and Barton’s is because those two are
somewhat aware of what their real names could be. Maxwell,
strangely enough, just doesn’t care, which is probably why
it’s really illegible on... this bloody wicked map.” Draco
sounded reluctant to admit any so-called toy of Harry’s was
‘wicked’.

“Probably because the name Duo gave himself means a lot more
to him than his real name ever could,” Harry mused
thoughtfully. “Duo for his first friend, and Maxwell for his
first family.”

“Maybe,” Draco said dully, still squinting at the name.
“Keary, I think. Keary Guth... Guthric? Is that what it says?”

“I can’t tell,” Harry said, shaking his head. “It would make
sense, though. Those are Celtic names, right? Duo has a lot
about his looks that seem to trace back to the Celts.”

“Hm.” After a few more moments of trying to clearly make out
the name, Draco gave up, grunting in annoyance as he rubbed
his eyes. “The blur keeps shifting. I can’t make it out.
Keary, I know for sure.”

“Well, Quatre and Wufei’s names are real,” Harry pointed out,
showing Malfoy the view of Quatre’s dot in the Hufflepuff
Tower.

“Yeah, but we knew tha- Wait a minute... Quatre Rebarba Malfoy
Winner?”

Harry winced. He’d forgotten about that little detail. In his
defense, however, he hadn’t known the map would go as far as
to show it all... He hadn’t even known Malfoy was a part of
Quatre’s name.

----------

Duo hadn’t lied to Harry. Lying just wasn’t his thing. He
really did go for a walk. A walk that, coincidentally enough,
led him straight to the Headmaster’s office in hopes of
discussing something with aforementioned Headmaster. There was
a small glitch that he hadn’t counted on, however; the
password protected gargoyle that sat in front of the entrance
to the office wasn’t budging.

Thanks to Harry, however, Duo was vaguely aware that
Dumbledore always used the name of a candy for his password.
Unfortunately, Duo hadn’t had much of a chance to verse
himself with miscellaneous wizarding candies.

“Chocolate Frogs, Pepper Imps, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored
Beans, Licorice Wands...” And that was the extent of his
wizarding candy knowledge. Damn it. “Chocolate covered
raisins? Mars Bar? Kitkat, Twix, Lemonheads, Skittles-“

Upon ‘Skittles’, the gargoyle shuddered and jumped neatly out
of the way. The respect Duo held for the Headmaster rose to an
entirely different level. Anyone who liked Skittles enough to
use it as a password couldn’t possibly be that bad.(1)

Quit stalling.

Duo was a guy on a mission. Sort of.

Once he’d ascended the winding stairs that led to the small
alcove just before Dumbledore’s office, he took a moment to
rap his knuckle against the aging wood of the door, doubtful
that Dumbledore was actually awake this early in the morning
on a holiday; however, old people did strange things, and it
was better knocking on the door to see if anyone was in than
getting caught sneaking into the Headmaster’s Office in an
attempt to find student records.

He was disappointed to hear someone invite him in. He really,
really wanted to see if he could get away with the sneaking
bit...

“Ah, Duo,” Albus Dumbledore said pleasantly from behind his
cluttered desk, dressed to the nines in a pair of burnt orange
robes with little green moons, a pointy purple hat propped
over his snow white hair; such an outfit had to have been the
style on some distant planet far, far away...

Then again, even if Duo thought little about the existance of
extraterrestrial life, he’d like to think they had way more
sense than that.

“Where in God’s name do you get your robes?” Duo had to know.

“Cozy little place in France,” Dumbledore said jovially. “I do
believe they’re a work of art myself.”

I would have guessed ‘blind tailors’, but then again, ‘French
tailors’ wouldn’t be far off, either... “They’re a work of...
something,” Duo said vaguely, resisting the urge to shy away
screaming, “My eyes! They burn!”

“Have a seat, Duo. To what do I owe this early morning visit?”

Duo sat casually. “Oh, well, I’ve decided I like this gift-giving business so much that I’m going to be having my
birthday party in July, and I wanted to know if you’d be busy
on the twenty-fifth. Or, y’know, whenever, because my birthday
isn’t exactly on a set date, and that got me thinking that if
anyone knew when my birthday actually was, it would be you. I
mean, you did say information like that was in my student
record.”

Dumbledore considered Duo thoughtfully, and the American
Gundam pilot found himself dreading what the wizen
Headmaster’s answer was going to be. Finally, the man said, “I
had no idea that you didn’t know. It never occurred to me...”

“Know what?”

“Duo,” Dumbledore said, “today is your birthday.”

I was afraid of that... “You sure? I mean, I’d much rather it
be in July; who wants to buy me presents after burying
themselves in a mountain of debt for Christmas?”

“I’m quite sure. January 1^st, A.C. 180. You were very nearly
born on December 31^st -as it was, you were born a few minutes
passed midnight.”

“Oh. Happy birthday to me, I guess,” Duo said casually. “Pity
-really doesn’t leave me a lot of time to convince Heero to
buy me that pony I’ve always wanted.”

“Though your statements are humorous, Duo,” Dumbledore said
solemnly, “and I do not doubt you intended them to be any
other way but distracting, I somehow find it unlikely that you
would just happen to inquire about your birthday on this
specific date a coincidence, and it is even more unlikely to
have anything to do with a pony.”

Sharp man. “Don’t worry about it. I can handle it.”

“Duo-“

“I can handle it,” Duo repeated with a quick grin. “I mean, my
friends tend to think handling my anger issues with high grade
explosives isn’t very conductive, but big booms make me feel
better. The closer the big boom to the source of my
irritation, the better I feel.”

Now Dumbledore was beginning to look a little alarmed. “Duo-“

“But since I don’t have anymore explosives, I think I’ll just
deal with my anger issues the old fashion way.” Duo stood with
a flourish, sending a quick, maniacal grin toward the worried
Headmaster. “Later, AD.”

Duo was out of the door before Dumbledore could wage another
protest.

He was surprised when he found Heero waiting for him outside
of Dumbledore’s office, leaning stiffly against the wall
besides the gargoyle with his arms crossed over his chest in
classic, “Who do I have to kill to make you happy?” mode. All
Heero had to do was look at him in that frank, understanding
way of his, and Duo’s facade almost completely melted.

He smiled somewhat sadly at his boyfriend, feeling a tug
behind his ribs when Heero uncrossed his arms only to
immediately envelope him in a warm hug. It was a big step for
Heero, who was never comfortable with public show of affection
in the first place. “How do you always seem to know that all
is not right in Duoland?” he asked, laying his head on Heero’s
shoulder and closing his eyes to the world.

“My Duo senses were tingling.”

Duo snorted into Heero’s shoulder, amused. “I can’t believe
you just made a pop culture pun. You are getting better at
this being normal stuff.”

“We’re ex-terrorists on the run who happen to be wizards
taking refuge in a school where classes teach us to hone that
ability,” Heero pointed out logically. “What’s normal about
that?”

“Point.” Duo sighed, turning his face and laying his cheek on
Heero’s shoulder as he stared sightlessly at one of Hogwarts’
many moving paintings; this one happened to display a battle
scene between warring centaurs, focused predominantly on the
front-line offense, bow strings pulled taunt and arrows
whizzing through the air. Duo thought it was ironic that, even
in art, he couldn’t escape war.

It was then that Duo was struck with a thought. Oh, what a
wicked thought it was. Soon the thought turned into a plan,
and suddenly, Duo was much, much happier. “It would make me
really happy if you could do me a favor, Hee-chan...”

“I’m listening.”

Duo grinned, pressing his lips against Heero’s cheek
laughingly as he gently broke out of the comfort of Heero’s
arms. “Find me something flammable.”

“Flammable.” Though deadpan, the one word contained a single
hint of a question to it.

“You’ll see.”

----------

There was privacy, and then there was being a good friend.
Most people could not seem to find a middle-ground between the
two, especially when it came to acting out on the friend part
while still not treading all over privacy.

Trowa Barton was the type of guy who knew how to differentiate
between a situation that required tact, and one that required
the comfort of the whole. He made it his business to know
these things. It was his nature to study people and note their
reactions to individual stimuli. It was this same habit of
studying a human being’s persona that made him such an expert
in infiltration, in fact; if he could find something useful
that pleased his enemy and somehow recreate the process in his
favor, he would then successfully endure himself to that
enemy, therefore allowing him to pass through that same
enemy’s internal alarm.

Humans, down to the basic element, were nothing but animals.
Besides opposable thumbs, a higher brain function (for the
average human, anyway), and morals, humans were just another
lethal animal that topped the food chain. And Trowa knew
animals quite well.

What upset an individual of the pack affected the pack as a
whole. And so, with this in mind, he thought it necessary to
inform Quatre and Wufei of what had happened. A decision would
be reached on what was to be done to alleviate the frustration
of the individual in order to alleviate the tension of the
pack.

Trowa loved Quatre -there wasn’t a doubt about that. What made
Quatre special was that, while somehow still possessing the
demeanor of a submissive, he was still distinctly alpha; even
more so than Wufei and Heero. Quatre’s presence alone demanded
deference, all the while still maintaining a calm, soothing
conduct that, more often than not, led people into a sense of
security, whether false or otherwise. Quatre was clearly the
leader of the pack, whereas everyone else happened to be the
protectors. If push came to shove, he would admit that their
pack was slowly opening up to outside individuals like Harry
and, in some way, Draco; and Trowa could see that Quatre and
Duo would appreciate if the pack’s size grew to further
embrace maybe even Ron, Hermione, and Wufei’s friend Mandy, as
well, though Trowa couldn’t see how that would work out with
Ron and Draco’s constant battle for dominance.(2)

The three of them were currently huddled together outside,
truly solitary in a castle in which the walls literally had
ears. Trowa wouldn’t have been surprised if the paintings were
how Dumbledore kept up with all of the new developments and
gossip throughout Hogwarts itself; it would certainly explain
his all-knowing appearance.

That’s what he would have done, anyway.

“Maxwell’s not an idiot,” Wufei said solemnly when Trowa
brought Duo’s trouble to the rest of the pack’s attention.
“He’ll find a way to feel better in the end, and it’ll
probably involve something violent -mark my word.”

“That still doesn’t give us an idea on what to do about this
person sending Duo a gift that affected him in such a way,
though,” Quatre pointed out. “Duo will find a way to seek
justification, true -but, in the long run, there are several
questions we still haven’t answered. Will this become a
problem? Will we ever find out who sent the gift and why? And
what connection does this mysterious gift-sender have with Duo
to even assume today is his birthday?”

“I have a feeling we’ll be finding out eventually,” Trowa said
quietly, “though I’m not sure it’ll be daisies and sunshine in
the end.”

“Potter said it disturbed Maxwell, didn’t he?” Wufei mused.
“It’s hard to believe -Maxwell hardly lets anything affect him
on a personal level. I wonder what the gift is to get this
kind of reaction out of him?”

“Harry wasn’t too forthcoming,” Trowa said. “He doesn’t like
to step on his friends’ toes, which is probably why he told
Heero as much as he did while still saying very little.”

Quatre was about to say something more on the matter, but he
stopped suddenly and held up a hand to quiet Trowa and Wufei.
Almost immediately the doors to the school swung open, and the
familiar form of the braided American pilot danced out with a
bulky black box under one arm, what appeared to be a long bow
wrapped around his shoulder, and an arrow clenched between his
teeth. He was followed by Heero and, curiously enough, the
boys had managed to pick up Harry and Draco along the way.

“Hi, guys,” Duo chirped cheerfully around the arrow in his
mouth. “Let’s go bake a cake!”

“Cake?” Wufei said lowly, his eyebrow raising slightly in
bemusement.

“Yeah! It’s my birthday. I can’t believe you forgot!”

He seems to be in good spirits, Trowa noted thoughtfully.
Still a little resentful, but otherwise content.

Trowa knew what that meant. Duo had found a suitable outlet
for his frustration. This could be either good or bad; good
because once Duo found a solution to extract petty revenge, he
almost always went back to his “life is normal” routine. It
could have been bad because the last time Duo had decided to
let it all out, OZ’s mobile suits had peanut butter spread
into the knee joints of almost every mobile suit except for
the damaged ones; large purchases of peanut butter, they soon
found out, could narrow down a safe house’s location rather
quickly.

“Ah!” Duo said, facing the lake with a big smile on his face.
“Perfect. Hee-chan, hold this.” The bow and arrow exchanged
hands, and Duo bent down to place the box on the ground.

“What’s he doing?” Quatre asked quietly.

Harry shrugged uncertainly. “He said something about candles
and marshmallows.”

Sure enough, out of the box came marshmallows and, strangely
enough, a teddy bear. Duo displayed the stuffed animal with a
wide grin on his face. “Cute, isn’t it? Too bad someone didn’t
do his research -I’m seventeen today. It’s hardly my first
birthday.”

Wufei frowned at the stuffed animal. “‘Baby’s First Birthday’?
That’s...”

“Peculiar,” Quatre finished quietly. “I can see why it would
cause worry, though, especially when you didn’t know today is
your birthday.” He glanced at Trowa meaningfully, and Trowa
knew exactly what Quatre was thinking. A gift like that
implied long-term knowledge about Duo.

“Yeah,” Duo said casually. “It really bothered me, especially
since whoever sent me this gift also gave me something for
Christmas that I’d originally assumed was Heero trying to be
coy. But I like that gift, so I’m keeping it. This one, though
-well, the sender wasn’t polite enough to send a receipt, so I
guess I’m stuck with it, ne? Hee-chan, the kerosine, please.”

Uh-oh. Flammable liquid in Duo’s possession.

“Kerosine?” Harry said faintly, fascinated as Duo proceeded to
douse the teddy bear in kerosine. The braided boy hummed
cheerfully as he set the bear aside, taking the silently
offered bow and arrow from Heero and pouring a little kerosine
over the clothed tip of the weapon, as well.

“Right,” Duo said cheerfully. “Somebody light me.”

Trowa, eyebrows raised, cast a small Incendio on the tip of
the arrow, watching the flame lick at the tip. Heero picked up
the stuffed animal, careful to avoid any excess liquid as Duo
readied the bow and arrow.

“Pull!” Duo shouted gaily, and the teddy bear went sailing
through the air. The bow string grew taunt and with a quick
thwack, Duo released the flaming arrow, hitting his mark dead
on. The stuffed bear almost exploded into flames and dropped
limply to the ground; even the snow didn’t seem to stop the
flames from burning.

Duo cheered, putting the bow down and conjuring sticks that he
cheerfully decorated with large fluffy marshmallows before
passing them out. “Marshmallow roast for all! Happy birthday
to me!”

Somehow he rallied even Draco to the flaming present, and they
were all casually roasting marshmallows over the corpse of the
bear.

“Satisfied now?” Wufei asked, a faint tone of amusement in his
voice.

“Oh, yeah,” Duo mumbled around the gooey marshmallow he was
busy gnawing on. “The school’s water pipes are saved from me
once again after the cherry bomb episode.”

“I knew that was you!” Harry exclaimed, laughing. “Let me
guess -you roped Ron into helping, didn’t you? He acted guilty
enough...”

“Chaos, ol’ boy,” Duo said. “It’s what I crave.”

END CHAPTER SIXTEEN

(1) I seem to have Skittles on the brain these days; probably
because they’re my favoritest candy in the whole world, and I
haven’t had them in a year because the sugar content alone
might put me into a coma. Damn my metabolism for not being
able to handle sugar... :eyes her Diet Coke in disgust:

As an offshot, I can completely understand Dumbledore’s
dislike for every-flavored beans. I, too, have been afforded
the agonizing experience of biting into a vomit flavored bean
by mistake. (Well, it was more like, “Vomit flavored? Pfft! It
can’t really taste like vomit!”) Unfortunately, it really does
taste like vomit. (Though I did have a lot of fun picking out
all of the bad ones and giving them to my classmates.
Heheheheh.... Ah, to hear Steven gag emphatically and say,
“Ugh, it tastes like DIRT!” One of my fondest high school
memories...)

(2) I’m going to try to explain what I perceive as Trowa’s POV
as simply as possible -the guy loves animals. Somehow I think
he identifies with them on a deeper level, and he applies what
he knows of animals to humans, who are animals with opposable
thumbs, higher brain functions, and the capacity to decide
right from wrong on the principle of morals. We share a lot of
our baser instincts with animals still -survival, finding
food, etc. Some of us even go as far as to prove dominance
over others, while others are perfectly content with being
submissive. Ergo, the world is Trowa’s jungle. (Running-loose
pointed out that I haven’t done anything with Trowa’s ‘voice’,
and I thought that was unfair to Trowa. This is my attempt to
find his voice. I rather like it -it’s very unique. However,
you may not like it, so please; input would be appreciated on
this point.)
- 15
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Harry Potter and the Secret Link