Soldiers
of Sorcery
By Keara
Part Thirty-One
Duo sighed in contentment as he rubbed his cheek against Trowa's chest and
smiled when Trowa tightened his arms around
his body a little. "I could stay like this forever."
Trowa hummed in agreement. "Thank you, Duo." He whispered.
Duo raised his head to smile at Trowa. He knew why Trowa was thanking him.
He had shown Trowa what making love
was...shown him that a sexual activity could feel good. "You don't
have to thank me." Duo replied, his hand set on
Trowa's chest. "For the first time in my life, I was glad to do
it."
Trowa's cheeks turned pink, a smile curling his lips. "Maybe someday
I'll be ready to go farther with you."
"That would be nice...but like I said before, I can wait as long as you
need me to." Duo said, brushing his thumb across
Trowa's cheek.
Trowa smiled, nodding. "For now, why don't we get dressed and go get
some lunch?"
Duo grinned widely. "You read my mind, Tro...come on, let's go!"
He nearly jumped from bed, pulling Trowa up along
with him. "We gotta go get Wufei and Heero... I'm sure they're hungry
by now."
"Yes...I suppose I should have remembered to send Max to get Wufei earlier,
like I said I would. I hope they aren't too
angry with us." Trowa admitted, then shook his head. "My
mind was on other, more important things though." He smiled
at Duo, sliding his hand along Duo's arm.
It was Duo's turn to blush this time. "Come on, let's get
dressed." He smirked, shaking his head lightly.
The two of them got dressed and arranged themselves moderately well. Duo's
hair was a bit disheveled, but he decided
against brushing it now. He was hungry and rather eat than waste time
fixing his hair. Duo was really glad that there were
no classes this afternoon...Quidditch tryouts were still being held...Slytherin
tryouts were after lunch if he was correct.
Duo shrugged, it didn't really matter all that much. It just meant that no
other house could go near the Quidditch field for a
while.
He shrugged the idle thoughts from his mind, looking over at Trowa who was
standing near the door. "Ready to go?"
Trowa asked, clasping the catch of his robes.
"Absolutely!" Duo nodded, grabbing his own robes and pulling
them on as he left the room with Trowa by his side.
The two of them hastily left the Gryffindor Dorm, after having received several
truly unpleasant looks from their fellow house
mates in the common room. As they walked, Trowa clasped Duo's hand,
squeezing gently yet reassuringly. Because word
had gotten out that Quatre had been a Gundam pilot, none of the five of them
were well liked right now. Sure it had only
happened this morning, but the shock hadn't worn off yet. It would take
time for people to get used to the news.
"Hey, you think we should check up on Quatre?" Duo asked.
"Yeah...but we don't know where he is." Trowa pointed out.
Duo frowned, thinking for a moment. "Well, if he's not in the
Hospital Wing, then I guess we could ask that teacher that
went off after him...Professor Potter. He'd probably know where Quatre is,
or at least where he was heading."
Trowa agreed and the two of them continued on their way to the Hospital Wing.
There, they were quite surprised to find
both Wufei and Heero resting in bed. "What happened?" Trowa
asked, stepping over to where Wufei was laying.
Wufei frowned, petting his kitten, Mei, who was currently curled up on his lap.
"I fainted." He replied with a nod.
"There was more to it than that." Heero added, his hand idly
stroking each of Odin's three heads in turn. "He had a vision
and fainted." He paused for a moment. "Seeing as how three
out of the five of us have some sort of extra sensory
perception, there is a good chance that Duo and I have some form of extra
perception as well."
"Cool!" Duo exclaimed, a wide smile spreading across his face.
Both Wufei and Heero shook their heads in reaction. Trowa changed the
subject. "Do either of you know where Quatre
is?" He asked.
"No, he hasn't been here. I assume that Professor Potter took him
someplace where he could relax, probably away from
any other students." Heero said, slowly moving out of bed. He
swayed briefly, but didn't fall.
"Are you sure you're up to getting some lunch?" Duo asked,
grasping Heero's arm.
"I don't see any reason why I cannot." Heero grumbled. "I
am hungry and I can walk. There is no reason for me to stay
here and lie in bed all day."
"I quite agree." Wufei said, his brow furrowing as he got
himself into a sitting position. "If someone would point out to me
where my shoes are, I will put them on and join you for lunch as well."
Trowa smirked, pointing over to Max who currently held a pair of shoes in his
mouth. He gestured the large cat over,
taking the shoes from him. "I think these are yours." Trowa
said, handing them over to Wufei.
Wufei's face contorted into a look of disgust. "Most
unappealing..." He muttered. "Feline saliva."
Trowa was barely able to suppress a chuckle, although Duo laughed outright.
"Max was only trying to help." Trowa
commented.
"And it was quite appreciated." Wufei said, although his face
didn't uphold his belief in his own words. After he cleaned off
his shoes, he put them on and rose to his feet.
Just as Wufei took a step away from the bed, Madam Pomfrey came out of her
office. "And where do you two think you
are going?" She asked, her arms crossed over her chest, her foot
tapping against the floor impatiently.
"We are hungry, so we are going to lunch." Wufei said, his hand
braced on the bed to keep himself upright. Both Wufei
and Heero looked quite tired, but Duo knew how stubborn they both could be.
"In your conditions?" She balked. "I think not.
Get back into bed, and I'll have something brought up for you. Your
friends can visit you later."
Heero shook his head. "No, I would much rather go to the Great Hall
than eat. I am quite capable of walking there and
back. If not, my friends can bring me back here." He stated.
"Heero is right." Wufei nodded. "I too would prefer
dining in the Great Hall with the other students. Since we are not well
liked by our classmates, it will look as if I am afraid of confrontation if I do
not attend lunch."
Madam Pomfrey sighed, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "Fine.
If you both insist on ignoring me, then go. But I
want you back here just as soon as you are done eating. And I won't listen
to any excuses or reasons for you to sleep in
your dorms. You both are staying here the night where I can keep a watch
over you."
Wufei grimaced, but nodded. Heero also agreed. Duo and Trowa both
stood ready to catch either of their friends as they
left the Hospital Wing. "Any idea where we can find Professor
Potter?" Duo asked, as they stepped out into the hallway.
Heero shook his head. "No, I do not know." He said. Wufei
nodded and said that he too had no idea where the young
professor was.
Duo thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. "Can Odin sniff
him out?" He asked, gesturing to the puppy that
was running along behind Heero.
Heero shook his head. "Odin is only a puppy. Max would be a
better choice. His sense of smell is more highly
developed."
"I agree." Wufei added.
"Will he do that though?" Duo asked, looking over to the
panther. "Max is a very intelligent feline . . . not a very
intelligent
canine. He might think it an insult."
Trowa shrugged. "Well, there's no harm in asking." He
said, pausing in the middle of the hall and getting down on one
knee. He reached out, stroking his hand over Max's head. "Want
to help us find Professor Potter, Max? You remember
what his scent is like...he did come to the dorm." Trowa said, "Think
of it as training for Odin."
Max responded by purring deeply, giving Trowa's face a long swipe of his tongue.
Trowa smiled in reaction, then rose to
his feet, wiping his face off with his sleeve. Max started sniffing
around. It wasn't long before Odin joined in and also began
sniffing the area.
"I believe that was a 'yes'." He said, giving Duo a shy look
when the long-haired youth clasped hold of his hand again.
The four of them waited until Max picked up on the scent and started off down
one of the corridors. Odin was right behind
the large feline, one of his heads nipping at Max's tail, while the other two
sniffed around. Then they followed behind the
two animals, not knowing exactly where they were heading, just hoping that Max
would be able to find Professor Potter.
After a short while, Duo took notice that he was in a section of the castle that
he'd never been in before. Perhaps they were
on the right track, Duo thought, keeping his hand firmly within Trowa's as they
walked, repeatedly throwing the tall young
man loving glances. Trowa blushed each time he did so, a reaction Duo
enjoyed causing in the young man.
"Will you two stop flirting?" Wufei grumbled. "I
think we're here."
This time it was Duo's turn to blush. He hadn't known that he was being so
obvious in his flirtations with Trowa.
Apparently, he had been though, for Wufei to take notice. He looked around
the hall, noting that Max was sitting in front of
a door, his tail flipping up and down on the floor. Odin pawed at the
door, all three of his heads yipping as if he had been
the one that had found it.
"I guess this is the place." Duo said, smirking. He
stepped over and picked up Odin, handing the puppy over to Heero.
"Good dog." He said, gently patting each of the three heads,
then he smirked at Max. "Thanks, Max."
He turned back to face the door. Taking a breath, he raised his hand and
rapped on the wooden door. Then he stepped
back and waited with the rest of his friends, hoping that Max and Odin had led
them to the right place.
Coming from inside the room, Duo heard a rather loud crash, followed by an
exclaimed string of profanities. It wasn't too
much longer before the door was pulled open and Professor Potter was facing
them. His black hair was mussed and
sticking out in various directions. He was dressed haphazardly, in a pair
of jeans and a plain green T-shirt, his robes
hanging open and looking as if he had rushed to dress himself. The fact
that he wasn't wearing socks or shoes attested to
the fact that he could have been rushing.
"Is there something you need?" He asked, adjusting his glasses
so that they were straight.
Duo nodded. "Forgive us for disturbing you, but we were wondering if
you know where our friend Quatre is. We've been
kinda worried about him since he ran off after the tryouts."
A smile briefly crossed the young professor's face. "Come in...he's
sleeping right now, but I don't think it would hurt if
you saw him. I have some disturbing news to inform you of actually."
His smile quickly fell away.
"There's something wrong with Quatre?" Duo asked, fearful for
his friend's safety. "What is it?" He inquired, stepping
into
the room when the professor moved aside to allow them entrance into his private
rooms. Heero and the others quietly
followed behind him.
Duo barely looked around at Professor Potter's room, not taking into notice
anything about it really, other than the fact that
it had more than one room. There seemed to be a sitting room of sorts,
then a bedroom closed off by a door...a
bathroom adjoined the bedroom.
Duo gasped when he stepped into the bedroom, his eyes roving over Quatre's pale
form. He rushed to his friend's side,
taking a seat on the side of the bed, knowing that the others had gathered
around him. Gently, Duo brushed his fingers
across Quatre's forehead, worried when he found the blonde's skin to be a little
chill. "Why is he so cold?" Duo asked,
adjusting the blankets over Quatre's body.
Professor Potter sighed. "That is what I have to explain to
you..." He said, taking a breath before continuing. "I
brought
Quatre to my room, thinking it would do him good to get some rest. However,
it seems a wizard has seen fit to attack him
while he sleeps." He held up his hand, stopping Duo and the others
from posing a question. "I took him to see Professor
Dumbledore, and we've done what we could. But Quatre is still in quite a
bit of danger."
"How much danger?" Duo asked.
Professor Potter sighed. He stepped closer to Quatre and pulled the
blanket down away from his body, exposing his chest
as well as a number of crimson scratches in his skin...similar cuts ran along
one of his arms. "As I said, he was being
attacked in his dreams, and the wizard doing it seems to want Quatre to come to
him, going so far as to control his body to
make him sleepwalk to where he can easily reach him."
"Then why are you letting him sleep now?" Heero inquired. "If
it is so dangerous for him to sleep, then why is he?"
"He's safe now, I assure you. After speaking with Professor
Dumbledore, Professor Snape concocted a potion to help him
rest peacefully. As long as he takes a dose of it each night before going
to sleep, he'll be fine." Professor Potter replied,
covering Quatre once more with the blankets. "Professor Dumbledore is
going to contact the Ministry of Magic and inform
them of the threat to Quatre. But for now, all that can be done is to
watch him and make sure he stays on the Hogwarts
grounds. He'll be safe here."
Duo nodded, trying to take in all of this information. Quatre was in
danger...Duo was afraid for his friend, terrified that
something terrible would happen to him. But there was nothing that Duo
could do to help the young Arabian, his good and
trusted friend, nothing that could offer Quatre protection. Duo sighed,
taking hold of one of Quatre's hands, doing the only
thing that was left for him to do...he prayed for Quatre's life, for his safety.