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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
- 17
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- 19
~*~*~*~*Harry Potter and the Secret Link*~*~*~*~

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

~*~*~*~*Chapter Eighteen*~*~*~*~

The month that passed was gloriously mundane... to most
people. For people like Heero Yuy, however... Well, it was an
effort just to get through the day without injuring someone.
He found that most of his urges to rip, maim, and render
impotent consisted of Duo’s ass and someone’s wandering eyes.
Duo, of course, was amused by Heero’s sudden flares of
jealousy and frequently referred to his sometimes volatile
temper as ‘cute’. Heero didn’t really see the appeal in the
loss of control when it came to his jealousy, though, as he’d
always maintained a firm grasp over his emotions since before
he could remember.

When the beginning of February came upon the students and
staff of Hogwarts, Heero Yuy found himself fretting. Fretting.
The word itself put a sour taste in his mouth. Heero didn’t
‘fret’ -by all rights, the word hadn’t even been in his
dictionary until now. The Japanese boy had difficulty placing
that sudden clenching in his stomach and the sudden need to
somehow alleviate the almost dizzying lightheaded feeling that
came about so suddenly, almost for no apparent reason.
‘Fretting’ seemed like a fitting word... but he still didn’t
like it.

Then came the day Heero had been fretting about. February 14^th.
He almost wished it was a day like any other day, but if the
white, pink, and red decorations and cut-out hearts and the
love struck expression on all of those sappy girls’ faces
didn’t give him a clue, the large banner that declared a happy
Valentine’s Day did.

“Valentine’s Day,” Draco Malfoy had said in quiet disgust,
“the bane of all male Slytherins existence.”

Heero’s only reply? “Real hearts aren’t really shaped like
that.”

“And how did I know you were going to say something like
that?” Draco murmured sardonically, peering into his coffee
cup as if he was looking in the very face of his chosen deity.

“I’ve never thought of it that way,” Trowa said lightly,
buttering his toast casually after pushing away a small bundle
of Valentines from silly girls with crushes. “Hearts look like
a knot of muscle, really -that’s all they are.”

“Perhaps, but it would be disturbing to see bleeding red
beating hearts hanging from the ceilings, wouldn’t it?” Draco
replied simply, savoring coffee as if it were ambrosia.

Before the conversation could go any further, a commotion
stirred up across the hall, spurring everyone to stop and look
over. Harry Potter, a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his arms
and a befuddled and horrified expression on flushed face,
stared on in terror as one of his Valentines leapt off the
table and dispersed in a shower of confetti, a beautiful
script spelling out words that came from the voice of
undeterminable sex that sang out a simple rhyme.

“Your friends are annoying

And some of them are gay

So let’s just shag

And call it a day.

It’ll be fun, at the very least

So take me, you sexy speccy beast!”

And then the words seem to shatter into glitter that covered
every surface and clung to everyone’s skin.

The Slytherins, of course, were howling with laughter.

“Genius!” Blaise Zabini cried. “Who thought of it?”

Trowa and Heero looked at each other before, as one, they
glanced at Draco. The Malfoy heir hid an amused smile behind
the rim of his coffee cup, raising a single eyebrow at the
knowing faces in front of him.

Trowa smirked. “So what are you and Duo doing for Valentine’s
Day, Heero?”

Damn. There was that stupid clenching feeling in his stomach
again.

It wasn’t as if Heero hadn’t been thinking about it.
Valentine’s Day was the reason he started fretting in the
first place. The problem wasn’t in the day itself in as much
as there really wasn’t a set guideline for such a practice. He
could have gone the easy route and taken Wufei’s suggestion
with chocolate and flowers, but he felt that Duo really
deserved something a little more than that. Perfection was
almost like Heero’s middle name, and there were so many things
that could go horribly wrong if he planned out the wrong
thing.

It was... aggravating, mostly.

Both Draco and Trowa were smirking at him. “You haven’t a clue
what you’re going to do.”

Heero decided he should do something potentially lethal to the
Malfoy heir. The boy didn’t seem properly cowed by his glares
anymore. In fact, Draco seemed more amused by his task in
naming his glares than frightened by the actual look itself.

“Better think quick,” Trowa said calmly, “because here Duo
comes now.”

Damn. Almost reluctantly, Heero looked toward his approaching
boyfriend with his confident, schooled features perfectly in
place... but the glitter that had clung to Duo’s hair, skin,
and clothing distracted him for a moment, and the sight alone
spurred Heero to do something he’d never done before.

He blurted out, “You look like a fairy.” He mentally winced,
thanking whatever deity deemed itself worthy of paying
attention to him that he sounded a lot more calm than he felt.
And damn Malfoy and Barton for snickering at him. Damn them
both.

Duo laughed gaily. “Wonderful, love -now I literally match the
figurative sense of the word. Budge over, Blaise.” The boy
obediently did so without argument and with little more than a
roll of his eyes as Duo squeezed himself in the space
available, almost gluing himself to Heero’s arm.

“So,” Duo said cheerfully, “I was thinking a quixotic walk
around Hogsmeade that includes a visit to the local candy shop
and rounds off with a quiet dinner at the Three Broomsticks
would be awesome. That okay with you, Hee-chan?”

Heero was stunned. (On the inside, of course.) With a brief
glance at the charmed ceiling, he thought to himself, You
really do exist. Where the hell have You been? Not only was it
something Duo wanted to do, it would give Heero a chance to
gauge his boyfriend’s reaction to certain trinkets that Heero
could buy for him on the sly. “Perfect.(1) When?”

“After lunch?”

“Of course,” Heero said.

“Great!” Duo cheered, planting his lips on Heero’s cheek
before shaking his head emphatically, laughing as Heero was
coated in a light sheen of silvery glitter. “Now you look like
a fairy, too. See ya, Hee-chan!”

When Duo was a respectable distance away, Heero proceeded to
glare evilly at any Slytherin who dared look at him funny. Not
surprisingly, a great many of his fellow housemates found
themselves enamored with things that were nowhere near him.

“At least one of you knows what he’s doing,” Draco said slyly.

As the glare didn’t seem to be working due to a growing
immunity, Heero decided a sharp retort would do. “Says the boy
who won’t even admit he has his eye set on someone who a)
isn’t a girl, and b) isn’t a Slytherin.”

That shut the blond boy up quickly enough.

Heero quickly decided that, okay, his day was looking up.
Unfortunately, he forgot one simple rule of thumb that had
adhered itself to his way of life. All well-laid plans sprout
obstacles eventually.

He just didn’t expect the dozy of an obstacle life decided to
throw at him this time. And it would have to be on Valentine’s
Day. The suspicious absences of the Headmaster and the four
Hogwarts Heads of House should have been the first clue.

----------

“Pay up,” Harry ordered Seamus Finnigan triumphantly as soon
as Duo came back to the Gryffindor Table. Grudgingly, the
Irish boy handed the Gryffindor Golden Boy a handful of coins
and a Chocolate Frog, causing Duo to raise his eyebrows in
bemusement.

“You made bets on which of us had plans for Valentine’s Day?”
Duo said calmly, snickering on the inside. He reminded himself
to scold Harry later for giving Seamus any hope that Heero had
made anything of the sort when Harry himself knew damn well
Duo had their date a la Hogsmeade all planned out. Well, scold
him as he took twenty-five percent of Harry’s winnings.
Commission fee, of course.

“Aye,” Seamus grumbled, appearing morose. “Thought for sure
Yuy would have it all planned out. Forgive the terminology,
but he does seem like the butch in the relationship. And it’s
the man’s responsibility to plan these things out, eh?”

Duo sniffed. “I resent the indication that I’m any less manly
than Heero Yuy. Just because I don’t set my own broken leg
without the benefit of any mind-numbing drugs, look like I can
chew nails, and all and all appear as threatening as him does
not make me any less manly than him.”

Everyone just looked at Duo incredulously. Okay, so maybe
Heero was slightly more mannish than him, but only by a
margin. It was the hair, really.

No, really.

Duo was not girly. Liking to cuddle did not make him girly; he
just liked... sharing skin surface. Yeah. Sharing skin
surface. That was it.

“Anyway,” Duo went on hurriedly, “Hee-chan’s probably the most
socially inept guy on this planet when it comes to dating. I
knew weeks in advance that such things should probably be left
up to me.”

“Then why didn’t you tell him you had everything planned out?”
Ron asked curiously. “I mean, Wufei told you he was having a
spot of trouble deciding what to do about Valentine’s Day.”

“Because I like to see him squirm,” Duo said gleefully.
“Bwahah!” Ignoring the snorts of amusement around him, he went
on casually, “No, really. You should have seen the look on his
face when he saw me coming. It might have looked like he was
calm and collected, but I recognize the signs. There was
definite deer-caught-in-the-headlights potential there.”

And somehow knowing that Heero was actually considering
Valentine’s Day made Duo feel all warm and gooey inside, much
like the time Heero went out of his way to get him cake for
Christmas because that’s how his boyfriend’s culture
celebrated it.

Lunch time couldn’t come around soon enough for the excited
American Gryffindor. Valentine’s Day! He’d never actually
celebrated it before, but what better way to start the
tradition than with the guy he loved, right?

Love. Duo had never really acknowledged the emotion before;
not in the same context as romantically, at least. He had
loved Sister Helen and Father Maxwell, his old street gang,
and even Howard, in a distant uncle sort of way. He loved his
friends, both old and new. That, however, was a different kind
of love. The way he loved Heero was on a whole new
unbelievable level that Duo hadn’t even known he could achieve
until recently. Yeah, he had a crush on Heero during the war,
but, like always, war always overshadows matters of the heart
in that respect. After the war, though... well, that was a
hazy period spent picking up the pieces and examining what
little he had left. Now he knew he didn’t have so little left;
friendships in abundance, a somewhat stable lifestyle, food on
the table, and other social necessities proved that Duo
actually had a lot more left than he first realized. It was an
amazing feeling, knowing that there was something to live for
instead of just living from day to day.

Being pretty confident that Heero returned his feelings was a
bonus.

Duo had decided days ago that their Valentine’s Day outing
wasn’t going to make or break their relationship. Minimal
planning was a must, giving both of them plenty of opportunity
to wing it when something new and interesting came along their
way. Even if they didn’t find something to entertain them,
simply being in Heero’s presence was calming enough. He didn’t
need romantics to know that Heero loved him, and he wasn’t
going to expect it, either; he knew full well that Heero
wouldn’t tolerate half of what Duo did if the Japanese boy
didn’t think Duo’s actions were enduring. He fully expected
the date to turn out as a success.

Nothing could ruin their day spent together.

Later, Duo would have an epiphany of epic proportions. The
Universe, as a whole, did not appreciate total absolutes; nor
did the Universe pander to mortal ultimatums. In fact, it was
on his way to lunch, surrounded by his Gryffindor peers, that
Duo had this sudden epiphany.

“‘Mione, really, you should let your hair down a little and
live in the moment instead of those books,” Duo said, grinning
at the girl’s miffed expression. “I mean, books are great
company when you’re alone, but see us? Standing here? We like
interacting with you. We think you’re interesting. You’re less
interesting when you can’t even aim the spoonful of food
toward your mouth because you’ve lost yourself in whatever
happens to be the book of the day. Entertaining, yes.
Interesting, no.”

“Being interesting isn’t conductive to good grades, Duo.”

“That’s just an excuse. I bet you can rattle off Newton’s Law
in your sleep.”

“Newton’s Law gets me nowhere in the wizarding world, Duo.”

“Angram’s Law of Sub-Numerical Integers in Magic Theorem,
then. C’mon, ‘Mione, work with me here.”

“Angram’s what?” Seamus muttered before Ron could order him
not to ask.

“Angram’s Law supposedly proves that all numbers have an
unnamed magical number called a sub-number, and these numbers
consist of integers that advance what would normally be a
simple number during the right ritualistic circumstances,”
Hermione rattled off. Everyone stopped to stare at her as Ron
shook his head helplessly.

“Basically, these magical sub-numbers are what makes numbers
like seven, twelve, and thirteen very powerful in arcane
rituals(2),” Duo simplified, a smug grin on his face as he
eyed Hermione. “Told you.”

Hermione sniffed.

“How do you know this stuff?” Ron asked, aghast. “You never
study!”

“Of course I study,” Duo said flippantly. “What, did you think
I’m passing all of my classes because the teachers like me?
Snape would have failed me months ago if that were the case.
I’ve been jumping on his last nerve since day zero.” He just
didn’t need to study as much as most people, which is a
fortunate gift that came from perfect recollection of
everything he said, did, saw, heard, and read.

“I’m surprised Snape has a nerve to jump on left,” Harry
murmured sardonically.

“Ah, but if all goes according to plan, that nerve will be
gone by Easter,” Duo replied with a snicker.

This is the part where the Universe, as a whole, proved it was
entirely vindictive against all absolutes.

“Duo?”

Duo turned at the probing voice that rang with a certain tone
of familiarity and disbelief. His amethyst eyes widened almost
comically at the surreal sight of three very familiar people
surrounded by his current professors and Headmaster.

The girl with the wide, cornflower blue eyes and long, wheat
blonde hair took an uncertain step forward. “Duo... It is
you!”

If someone had told him that today would be the day he would
have an armful of Relena Dorlian Peacecraft, ex-Queen of the
World and current Vice Foreign Minister, he probably would
have laughed incredulously and ask about their medication. As
it was, that is exactly what happened. Relena had thrown
herself bodily into his arms, joyed upon seeing him, and Duo’s
arms automatically wrapped around to catch her.

“Relena?...” Duo probed vaguely, completely oblivious to
Hermione’s jaw dropping in shock and everyone else’s complete
bemusement.

Preventer Lady Une raised an enquiring eyebrow and shared a
nonplused look with Zechs Marquise, aka Milliardo Peacecraft.
“Well, this certainly is a surprise.”

Duo couldn’t agree more.

----------

In order to explain the presence of one Vice Foreign Minister
and her escorts of choice, we must first backtrack to a time
just after breakfast, when one Headmaster Dumbledore and his
four Heads of House were waiting rather (im)patiently in his
office for their muggle guests to arrive.

“Remind me again why we will be having muggles come to
Hogwarts when no other muggle has done so before?” Severus
asked wryly, sounding quite offended that he had to put up
with this disruption in his normal schedule.

Minerva resisted the urge to shoot Severus a stern glare.
Barely. “While I’m a little more enthused about this concept
than some people, Albus, I must admit that Severus’ question
does qualify an answer. Isn’t it the Minister’s responsibility
to interact with the Minister of the muggle world?”

Albus smiled whimsically. “Ah, but we’re dealing with an
authority that is much higher than the Minister, Minerva. As
required by law, any minister that could potentially interact
with the wizarding world is to be informed of the existence of
our world, first and foremost(3). This requirement was
temporarily banned during the muggles’ war, but now that
everything is beginning to resolve on that end, it was time
for the Minister to inform the new Vice Foreign Minister of
our existence. She was quite interested to hear about it, and
made a request to visit our world.”

“Why not Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade even?” Ponoma asked
curiously. “Isn’t this something the Ministry should be
handling instead of us, Albus?”

“Vice Foreign Minister Dorlian was especially interested in
the concept of this school not only for its fame, but for the
fact that Hogwarts happens to be the closest the two worlds,
normally so staunchly separated, blend,” Albus explained
simply, popping a lemon drop in his mouth. “She’s a very
intelligent, resourceful young woman, Ms. Dorlian. I had the
honor to speak with her when arrangements were being made for
her and her escorts diplomatic visit.”

It was Severus who guessed a reason closer to the truth.
“Fudge pissed her off, didn’t he?”

“Immensely,” Albus replied emphatically. “Our Minister has
never been very congenial towards politicians of the muggle
persuasion.” Or anyone, really. Albus supposed she would have
liked Minister Fudge a lot more if the man hadn’t discouraged
her to involve herself with the wizarding world when she was
very clearly interested in their culture.

“I find it all very interesting myself,” Filius said eagerly,
his high voice squeaking in his excitement. “Imagine! Having
muggles at Hogwarts for the first time since it was built is
history in the making!”

Albus’ eyes twinkled in amusement. “They will be arriving by
Portkey any moment now, bar anything stalls them.”

“How many will there be, do you think?” Ponoma asked. “Surely
she won’t bring many muggles with her?”

“Only those she trusts in the highest respect,” Albus replied.
“Her brother, who happened to be a highly decorated soldier in
the recent war, and another companion who currently heads the
inter-worldly police force called the Preventers. Like Aurors,
really, only their domain falls mostly in preventing wide-spread terrorism and keeping manmade catastrophic events from
occurring.”

“Sounds absolutely daunting,” Minerva mused.

“Oh, it is,” Albus replied. “Why, just two weeks ago Ms.
Dorlian was informing me of a situation involving weapons of
mass destruction in the hands of terrorists being thwarted due
to the efforts of these Preventers. It’s all rather
fascinating, really -these weapons have the capability of
destroying entire cities.”

“Fascinating?” Minerva exclaimed, agog. “Headmaster, that
isn’t ‘fascinating’ -it’s very, very frightening, is what it
is!”

“Only if the Dark Lord jumps on the very idea of using muggle
weaponry, Minerva,” Severus said dismissively. “I doubt that
will be the case, since You Know Who happens to, you know,
hate muggles.” That, and Severus was of the belief that
muggles wouldn’t know how to utilize these things properly,
anyway. He had the unfortunate privilege of never knowing
about Hiroshima, and even if he wanted to know about such
things, he probably wouldn’t care, anyway, keeping with his
personal conviction that muggles really were helpless idiots.
It was a belief almost all purebloods held, which was always
the first step to underestimating a potential threat.

Any further discussion on the matter was immediately halted
when people suddenly appeared in the center of the room, an
innocent paperweight supported in three different hands.
Severus was quick to take inventory of these muggles, even
though his natural inclination was to sneer at them and wonder
what became of the wizarding world when he was forced in the
presence of mere muggles.

In retrospect, they were very memorable people as far as
muggles go. The tallest was a young man with hair so blond it
could almost be called white, and icy blue eyes that certainly
implicated that he was one who relied on a lot of strategy,
instinct, and intelligence. Severus had seen similar eyes in
the newest students Hogwarts played host to, in fact; the
expression was only minimal in Winner and Maxwell, but Severus
was almost sure those two were best at hiding what they were
thinking. Yuy, Barton, and Chang, however, frequently had the
same disposition about them as this man.

So he was the soldier. Interesting.

The second tallest was a woman, also with long, darker blonde
hair and an almost stern appearance about her that could match
Minerva’s disposition to the T. Surprisingly enough, she had
the same look in her eyes as the man that stood beside her; in
fact, judging by the body language of the two, it seemed as if
the man deferred to her, giving Severus the impression that he
was her subordinate in the strictest of sense.

The last figure, however, made Severus want to demand just
what the Headmaster was playing at. He could see the woman as
being the Vice Foreign Minister they were waiting for, but the
woman simply wasn’t dressed as elegantly as the... girl. A
girl. A simple, teenaged girl with knowledgeable blue eyes and
long, wheat blonde hair that was bound in a graceful ponytail,
her posture simply screaming ‘dignity’.

One was a soldier; since Severus knew this soldier was
apparently male, the man had to be him. One was the head of a
Auror-like organization that kept the peace, and the other was
the Vice Foreign Minister. The older woman could be either,
but Severus did not like the implication that either the
Preventer leader or the Vice Foreign Minister was about as old
as one of his sixth year students.

“Ah, Ms. Dorlian,” Albus said pleasantly, smiling at the
youngest girl and standing to offer her a frail hand. “Right
on schedule.”

The girl -Dorlian- smiled politely, shaking the offered hand
before her in a very dignified manner. “Headmaster, please -call me Relena.”

“Only if you do me the honor of calling me Albus,” the
Headmaster replied with twinkling eyes.

Now, Severus didn’t think very highly of muggles, despite the
fact he happened to spy for the side that was adamant about
muggles being people too. However, finding out that the
muggles’ precious Vice Foreign Minister, a position that
required a lot of careful consideration when it came to
peaceful interaction between the colonies and Earth, his
thoughts were as thus: This is the Vice Foreign Minister? A
teenaged hormonal ticking time bomb? The muggles are doomed.

And then he thought, Wait, any race that would willingly elect
a mere child into a position of power is like... baring one’s
neck to a particularly ravenous werewolf. What does this say
about the Dark Lord not having them completely wiped off the
face of the Earth yet? It doesn’t make sense!

If Minerva weren’t similarly effected by the apparent news
that the Vice Foreign Minister could have been one of her
students, Severus suspected she would be laughing at him.

“Of course, Albus,” the girl said. “May I introduce my
brother, Milliardo Peacecraft, inactive Preventer and current
head of my security; and Lady Une, the head of the Preventer
organization.”

“A pleasure to meet you both,” Albus said warmly, bowing his
head slightly. “I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These are some of
my colleagues. This charming woman is my Deputy-Headmistress
and Head of Gryffindor House Minerva McGonagall, who is an
accomplished Animagus and Transfiguration teacher.”

The man -Peacecraft, if Severus heard right- tilted his head
slightly as he narrowed his eyes. “Forgive me, Headmaster, but
we’re not familiar with those terms.”

“Oh, dear,” Albus said jovially. “Forgive me, Mr. Peacecraft.
I sometimes forget that some things we wizards deal with every
day aren’t so for muggles such as yourselves. Transfigurations
is the art of transforming one object into something
completely different. An Animagus is a person who can
transform into an animal and back at will. It requires a great
amount of skill.”

“You flatter me, Albus,” Minerva said stiffly, the unspoken
stop it clear in her tone.

“Of course.” It was hard to say whether Albus was
acknowledging her unspoken command or simply replying to her
apparent comment, but Severus was betting heavily on the
latter. “And this is our Head of Ravenclaw House and resident
Charms professor, Filius Flitwick. Charms is where all of our
students learn the art of spellcasting and the techniques used
to assure a proper spell. Alongside him is our Head of
Hufflepuff House and Herbology professor, Ponoma Sprout. Her
duties entail teaching our students all about the care and
uses of plants, both magical and muggle alike. And lastly, our
Head of Slytherin House and esteemed Potions Master, Severus
Snape, which I believe is much like a muggle science called
chemistry, or so I’ve heard from some of my muggleborn
students. The mixture of certain properties to create
something potentially useful, and ingredients that certainly
do not mix.”

None of them offered a hand, all preferring to bow their heads
in greeting. That was good. Albus would have been most
displeased with Severus if he refused to shake their hands.

Fawkes chose that moment to trill musically, drawing the
muggles attention to the familiar. “Oh, my, what a beautiful
creature,” the Vice Foreign Minister (Severus was still trying
to wrap his brain around that startling tidbit of information)
said softly, stroking not only the phoenix’s plumage, but his
ego, as well.

“Fawkes is a very dear familiar that has been with me for a
very long time,” Albus informed her with twinkling eyes. “He’s
a phoenix, of course; rare even in the wizarding world, and
legend in the muggle. You’ve managed to catch him on a rather
fortunate day, as his Burning was only a month ago.”

“Interesting,” Une said thoughtfully. “How many other
creatures from our myths are real, I wonder?”

“A fair few, to be sure,” Flitwick said cheerfully, “and even
more that have never been mentioned in muggle legend. Unicorns
and centaurs rove the Forbidden Forest, and elves work quite
hard in this very castle, though they aren’t quite the long
forgotten noble elves from your tales, Ms. Une.”

“How very intriguing,” Dorlian said pleasantly, turning her
attention back to Albus. “I’m very eager to learn more about
the wizarding world, Albus. From what I understand, we’re very
privileged to receive such an in-depth introduction to your
society.”

“There’s no better place for it like Hogwarts, dear,” Ponoma
said warmly.

“Right you are, Ponoma,” Albus said jovially, leading the
muggles toward the entrance of his office. “If you will follow
me, we’ll begin the tour of Hogwarts now. Today is a Hogsmeade
weekend -students from third year and up are allowed to visit
the local all-wizarding village that is not far from here, but
most won’t be leaving until after lunch, from what I
understand, so you will most likely see a fair few of them.
I’m certain some will be very curious about the three of you,
of course, especially some of the pureblood wizards and
witches who’ve never had the honor of meeting muggles before.”

If it weren’t for Minerva’s stern glare, Severus probably
would have made some snide statement about some pureblood
students not quite considering such a scenario as anything
short of sheer torture. As it was, he managed to hold his
tongue and allowed the Headmaster to sugar coat everything for
their ‘esteemed guests’.

But that didn’t mean he had to like it.

The muggles were taken with everything, from the moving
paintings, the shifting stairs, the sheer architecture and
history of the school itself. For Severus, it wasn’t nearly
half as interesting as, say, teaching a class. The tour was
almost unbearable, but the muggles were practically lapping it
up, interested in everything the Headmaster had to explain
about this and that and what each House stood for and how the
students were Sorted. Severus was very close to simply walking
away as soon as they hit the ground floor.

“This is our Entrance Hall,” Albus announced gaily. “Through
those doors to the right is the Great Hall, where we hold
meals and meetings that involve the student body. The Great
Hall is a treat in and of itself, as the ceiling is charmed to
appear as the sky at any given time. It’s a very conductive
atmosphere for students to interact.”

“May we see it?” Dorlian asked politely, glancing toward the
open doors curiously. It was than that her eyes seemed to
catch something, and she frowned, clearly puzzled by
something.

“Of course,” Albus was saying, “I was hoping, if you are
hungry, we could share a meal before I continued on with the
rest of the tour.”

The Headmaster was distracted by an inquiry from Une, but
Severus didn’t stop watching Dorlian’s expression go from
confusion to disbelief. Her eyes were focused on a familiar
and loathsome sight of a gathering of sixth year Gryffindors
just outside of the Great Hall; more precisely, her eyes
seemed zeroed in on a braid that swayed with the movement of
the bane of Severus’ existence.

“You never study!” he could hear that lout Weasley exclaim,
and the loudmouth American laughed at his friend’s accusation.

“Of course I study,” the Gryffindor said airily. “What, did
you think I’m passing all of my classes because the teachers
like me? Snape would have failed me months ago if that were
the case. I’ve been jumping on his last nerve since day zero.”

Severus had to admit that Maxwell’s comment was very much a
possibility. Too bad Minerva kept drilling words such as
‘fair’ and ‘unbiased’ into him.

“I’m surprised Snape has a nerve to jump on left,” the Potter
brat murmured sardonically.

“Ah, but if all goes according to plan, that nerve will be
gone by Easter,” Maxwell snickered. Severus narrowed his eyes
at the boy’s back. Somehow he knew that brat had it in for
him.

All discussion between the Headmaster and Une stopped abruptly
when Dorlian called out hesitantly. “Duo?”

Severus blinked. She knows Maxwell? How unlikely is that?

Maxwell spun around, his eyes widening as his jaw dropped upon
the sight of Hogwarts’ muggle dignitaries.

Dorlian took a quick step forward, a wide, happy smile
spreading across her face. “Duo... It is you!” And then she
was actually hugging the little monster! Hugging him! On the
upside, Maxwell looked like he couldn’t have been hit any
harder by a giant. The little bugger looked absolutely
gobsmacked. So did that know-it-all Granger. That alone was
almost worth the torture of having to follow Albus and the
muggles around.

“Well,” Une said delicately, “this is a surprise.”

“No shit,” Duo Maxwell said breathlessly, still appearing as
if the universe no longer made any sense.

Severus smirked and wondered if this was that cosmic justice
that Albus was always nattering about.

END CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

(1) I love how, in looking up an alternative word for
“perfect” (a word that sounded more, I dunno, HEERO, I guess)
on my Prompt-As-You-Go thing, I found such words as “gross”,
“bloody”, “sodding”, and “fucking”. It made me laugh. A lot.

(2) I made it up. Even I had to go “huh?” after reading and
re-reading what I wrote. Math was never my strong point, and I
suspect I’d hate Arithmancy. (The numbers 7, 12, and 13 ARE
supposedly very magical numbers, coincidentally. There are a
lot of references of 12 in the HP books, and the vault keeping
the Sorcerer’s Stone ((or the Potter Family Vault; I can’t
remember)) in the first HP book was 713. Seven and thirteen. 7
happens to be a number of power not only in the Bible, but to
the Egyptians, as well. There’s also various other
combinations of the numbers used throughout the HP books.
While I suck at math, I’ve always been quick to catch patterns
in numbers. Also, numbers play a very important part in GW, as
we all know.) Heh. All this talk of numbers brings me back to
my algebra days, when I would look at my homework and see not
the problems, but a frickin’ GW orgy. No wonder I suck at
math.

(3) True stuff. The British Minister had been informed of the
existence of the wizarding world when he first entered office,
though he was less than enthusiastic about it. It would stand
to reason that any high-office politician would be privileged
to the same thing; and it’s hard to get any higher than Vice
Foreign Minister, which is a position that deals with
interaction between both the Earth and the individual
colonies. I imagine Relena would be a little more interested
in the existence of a hidden society than most people.

Just to get this straight -I am NOT making Relena the bad guy
in this fic. While there are a lot of mixed feelings about her
amongst fans, she IS and always will be a very competent
person, despite personal feelings. She has a lot of potential
to be a very good character, and I plan to exploit that. I
will admit I tend to get irritated with her a lot, although I
can’t say I outright hate her anymore. A good writer, I
imagine, should be able to focus more on the positive aspects
of the character that receives mixed feelings and embellish on
that. Relena is a GOOD Vice Foreign Minister. She has good
common sense when it comes to politics, and... most of the
time when it comes to personal matters. And she’s a character
that happens to grow throughout the series. You can’t really
say that about a lot of the GW crew. So, yeah, Relena’s not a
bad person in this fic. A little clueless about certain
situations that have yet to arise, but she’s a good person
here.
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Harry Potter and the Secret Link