Soldiers of Sorcery
By Keara
Part Thirty-Three
Trowa entered the Great
Hall with his friends. It had been days since the incident at Quidditch
Tryouts and things were getting back to normal. Quatre's wounds were
healing - his ankle barely paining him anymore. Heero and Wufei had been
allowed out of the Hospital Wing. Sure, none of the other students would
give any of them the time of day, but Trowa really didn't care what was thought
of him. He had done what he had thought right during the wars. He
had defended his own beliefs. He had no guilt over his actions.
The five of them had been chosen to be on the Quidditch team, playing in the
positions they had played in that last practice game of the tryouts. The
five of them were quite happy about that, though no one else in their House
thought so, except for the other members of the team that is. Practices
would be starting in a few weeks and Trowa was eager for it to begin.
"Come on, already...I'm starving." Duo whined over dramatically,
pulling insistently at Trowa's wrist to try and make him move faster.
Trowa smiled, happy with the way things were progressing between himself and
Duo. They hadn't been intimate again - that was difficult with three other
roommates - but they cuddled, spent time in each other's arms. And for the
first time in his life, Trowa wasn't afraid of such contact. He enjoyed
the tender caresses Duo gave him, loved the feel of Duo's body in his arms, the
feel of Duo's arms around him.
He especially enjoyed it when they studied together in their room. Duo
would sit on the floor between Trowa's legs with his head against the taller
youth's chest, while Trowa held the book open for the both of them. It
worked out well since Duo's arms were free to take notes. Wufei and Heero
often rolled their eyes at the couple, but Quatre smiled as if sharing in the
joy that Trowa felt.
Duo sat beside Quatre cheerfully. "So...what's on the menu
today?"
Quatre shook his head with a smile. "Duo, you ask that every day, and
every day the answer is the same. You know your favorites by now.
Just don't make a spectacle of yourself by throwing grapes up in the air and
catching them in your mouth again."
Duo scrunched his nose. "Spoilsport. You're just jealous
because you can't do it."
Quatre sniffed indignantly and lifted his chin. "Yes, well I have
better table manners than that."
Duo nodded at the good-natured jibe. "Yeah, yeah. That's why
you lick the bowl clean whenever you have ice cream. Hey, Tro-love, would
you pass me a banana?" He winked at Quatre. "See? I
can be polite."
Trowa smiled gently as he handed Duo the requested fruit. "Don't
strain yourself, Duo. Too much politeness and you might break
something." He watched as Duo peeled and sliced the banana into the
bowl of cereal he had set before himself. One of the things Trowa loved
about Duo, was the grace that Duo had in doing even the most mundane tasks.
He'd ask Duo to slice a banana for him, but Trowa generally didn't have fruit in
his cereal.
His attention was taken from Duo's tasks by the incoming mail. Trowa
usually didn't pay attention since he didn't own an owl himself and anyone who
could possibly want to send him anything was already sitting
at the table with him.
Midnight swooped down and dropped a Daily Prophet in front of Duo as she did
every morning, waiting around for Duo to feed her a piece of bacon before she
flew back to the owlery. Zaki was also carrying a letter. Trowa
assumed it was from one of Quatre's sisters, since he got one almost every day.
Sometimes he received several in one day. Trowa sometimes felt envious of
his friend. He wished his own sister could have found it in her heart to
accept him for what he was.
It was quite a surprise when Zaki dropped the letter in front of Trowa before
landing on the table near Quatre. Trowa blinked at the innocent-looking
envelope, immediately recognizing the handwriting of the one who had scrawled
his name. It was from Catherine.
"Why would Zaki have a letter for you?" Quatre asked, his hand
idly brushing along Zaki's feathers.
"It's from Catherine." Trowa said quietly, his hand beginning to
shake as he reached to pick it up.
"Want me to shred it?" Duo asked, his hand firm and comforting
as it rubbed soothing circles against Trowa's back.
Trowa shook his head. "No, I want to read it."
He knew that every one of his friends was watching him as he broke the seal and
pulled out a couple sheets of paper and a smaller envelope. Trowa held on
to the smaller envelope as he began to read the letter.
With each written word, everything he had come to believe about his sister was
turned upside down. Where there had been hatred, he found compassion and
regret.
//Trowa, I'm writing this letter in the hopes of gaining a sense of
understanding about the incident that happened the night you left for school.
An understanding, not only for you, but for myself as well. If you haven't
already destroyed this letter, I thank you for giving me this time to offer
explanations. But I fear that no explanation I give could ever repair this
damage between us. And in truth, I have no reasonable explanation. I
simply do not remember any of this. I went to bed one night, and when I
awoke my entire life was in shambles. I lost the space of six months, and
I don't know how it happened. I remember only these strange dreams, but
nothing makes sense. When I awoke, I heard of all the terrible things I
had done, the cruel things I said to you. I swear that I would never hurt
you, would never say such things about you or anyone else. The only happy
thing I learned was that you are my little brother, but even if you weren't, I
couldn't love you any more than I already do.//
Trowa felt his throat closing on him. This was almost too much to bear.
But he continued reading, his hands trembling as he did so.
//Before you condemn me of being a liar and a bigot for what happened that
night, I must confess to you the truth. I am a witch, Trowa. I
attended
I've enclosed a photograph of myself from school, in case you want proof of my
words. I graduated before I met you, Trowa. I was seventeen, but
even though the wizarding world was wide open to me - the Ministry wanted to
recruit me - I decided to stay with the circus, to do what I love doing, and to
continue searching for my dearest little brother.//
He took a moment to open the smaller envelope, pulling out the photograph that
was inside. There was Catherine, just as the letter had said. She
was wearing robes and looked very happy among three other girls. They were
all smiling and laughing, waving to whoever looked at the image. With a
failing smile he tucked the picture into his pocket. Then he returned his
attention to the letter, wanting to finish it.
//When I heard that you'd gone to Hogwarts, I feared I'd never see you again.
I contacted Quatre's sisters, thinking that if anyone knew where you were, it
would be Quatre. I was elated to hear that Quatre was also attending, and
I begged them to help me send this. I have long since been without an owl
and I didn't want to entrust this letter to anyone. I fear we were victims
of a cruel trick, Trowa. I love you too much to ever hurt you. And
my heart aches now that you're not in my life anymore.
Forgive me, Trowa. I know that what I say sounds like a load of manure,
but it is the truth. I swear it. Please, forgive me. Your
loving and forever regretful sister, Catherine.//
As the last words of the letter inched by, Trowa was shaking terribly. He
distantly heard Duo call his name, but couldn't find the will to respond.
This was all just too much to take. He couldn't handle it.
Clutching the letter in his fist, Trowa pushed himself out of his seat. He
turned and fled the Great Hall, leaving his friends behind. He burst
through the doors of the Hall, stumbling as he ran a ways down the empty
corridor. His throat choked up on him, his eyes burning with tears he
denied. Fighting the urge to cry, Trowa stopped running and leaned forward
against the wall, his fists raised above his head as he set his forehead against
the cold stone.
"Trowa?" Ginny's familiar voice called, her soft footsteps
approaching.
Trowa spared a glance, noting that Ginny was being accompanied by the other four
ex-pilots. He turned back to face the wall, closing his eyes as he took a
deep shuddering breath.
"Are you okay?" Quatre asked.
Hands gently fell on Trowa's back and he knew at once that it was Duo.
There was just something about the way that he held Trowa, the gentle but firm
strokes to Trowa's back. "Whatever she said...you just gotta get past
it. It's meaningless."
Trowa shook his head. "No, Duo. It's anything but
meaningless." He swallowed painfully, his hand trembling as he held
the letter out to Duo.
Duo took it, cleared his throat and began to read. When he finished, he
shoved the letter into Heero's hands and threw his arms around Trowa. One
by one each of his friends read the letter. Last was Ginny. When she
was done, there were tears in her eyes.
Trowa turned at the sound of a throat being cleared. When he saw
Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall approaching, he wiped the back of
his hand across his eyes. Duo stayed close, as did the other three
ex-pilots and Ginny. Trowa felt grateful for their presence. It was
comforting to know that people truly cared about him.
"Mr. Barton, if you would follow me, I have a private matter to discuss
with you." Professor Dumbledore said, a look of sadness in his eyes.
"I'm coming with him." Duo declared, clasping Trowa's hand
tightly, his arm winding around the taller boy's frame.
"As am I." Quatre nodded. An echo of similar responses
rang out from the rest of the group. Even Ginny stated that she would be
going. None of them requested it. There was simply no way to deny
them this. They would stick by Trowa no matter what Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore only smiled, the twinkle returning to his eyes as he nodded his head.
"As you wish. Let's go to my office then, shall we? We can have
a nice cup of hot cocoa while we discuss the matter at hand." With
that, he turned and headed off down the corridor, leaving Trowa and the others
to wonder what this was all about.
"Come along then. Don't dawdle." Professor McGonagall
chided, sweeping
her arm through the air in a hurrying gesture.
Trowa swallowed, suddenly feeling very nervous. He followed the two
professors though, his hand tightening on Duo's as they walked. Duo
squeezed back reassuringly, silently telling Trowa that he wasn't about to leave
him any time soon.
The trip to the office seemed to take forever. But they finally arrived
and ascended the stone stairs. The six of them were guided to sit in the
awaiting chairs. Dumbledore and McGonagall took up the remaining two.
Trowa idly wondered just why there were so many chairs, but shook the errant
thought away. It didn't really matter.
"What I have to say may be a little difficult..." Dumbledore
began, but Trowa cut him off.
"Whatever you have to say, I would appreciate it if you didn't waste time
with warnings. I am not a fragile child. Just tell me."
He said firmly, though his insides were twisting with fear over what the man
might actually say.
"Very well." Dumbledore conceded. He took a breath,
perhaps figuring out just how to put what he had to say as he handed mugs of hot
cocoa to each of the students gathered before his desk. Professor
McGonagall politely declined when he offered her a mug.
Trowa didn't like the silence. It made him dread whatever Dumbledore had
to say and remember the heartfelt words in Catherine's letter. He wanted
to go find her, to discover if what she said was true or not. He wanted
answers, not to sit around waiting for Dumbledore to gift them with his wisdom,
whatever it may be.
"I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you, Mr. Barton."
Dumbledore said, taking a seat and stirring the contents of his mug around.
"Your sister Catherine has been arrested for attempted murder and taken to
Azkaban prison."
Ginny gasped, her hand flying to her mouth while Wufei exclaimed a harsh
profanity, his face going red in anger. Trowa didn't truly understand why
they were so upset when it wasn't their sibling. Still, just knowing that
his sister was in prison had Trowa's blood running cold.
It was Duo who asked the question nagging at Trowa's mind, the question that
Trowa wasn't sure he wanted the answer to. "What is Azkaban, sir?
Is it a...rough place?"
"It's a horrid place!" Ginny practically yelled. "The
guards are creatures known as Dementors. They feed off misery and pain.
They suck the happiness away and leave you wallowing in darkness. Many who
go there are driven mad."
Duo frowned as he listened to Ginny's explanation. He looked to Trowa to
see how his love was taking this bit of information, only to see that Trowa
looked lost. This was not a good sign at all. With a frown, Duo
faced Dumbledore. "But she doesn't belong there. She really
didn't have any control over her actions. At least she says so. But
I dunno. Somehow I believe her." He motioned to the paper that
Ginny still had. "Read the letter for yourself, sir." He
reached over and rubbed Trowa's arm and watched as Dumbledore read the letter,
handing it to Professor McGonagall after he finished.
Heero spoke up softly. "Isn't there something you can do? I
mean...get her released?"
Dumbledore sighed. "That will be very difficult, I'm afraid.
There are spells that will control a person, or somehow account for her lack of
memories of the events, but it is very hard to prove. Hearsay won't help,
either. Rarely is someone released from Azkaban. Rest assured, I
will do all that I can."
"Thank you, sir." Trowa mumbled, shakily pushing himself from
his seat and setting his mug on Dumbledore's desk. "Excuse me."
He staggered to the door and left.
Duo didn't want Trowa heading off alone, so he stood as well, leaving his own
mug of cocoa untouched. Professor McGonagall's voice stopped Duo from
rushing out to follow Trowa. "Please inform Mr. Barton that he has
been excused from classes for the rest of the day. The five of you,
however, are not. So I suggest you hurry if you don't want to be late for
your first class."
"Yes, Professor." Duo nodded, then hastily left the room.
He didn't even notice as the others got up from their seats as well. He
didn't care about anything other than finding Trowa and making sure he was okay.
He moved on instinct, knowing that if he had received a shock like Trowa had,
he'd want to be alone. There was only one place where Trowa was almost
guaranteed to be alone at this time of the day, their room. No one
bothered them in there, which suited them all just fine.
True to Duo's prediction, Trowa was sitting on his bed with Max against him.
The large panther was purring so loudly that Duo had heard it before opening the
door. He watched for a moment as Trowa stroked his hands along Max's fur,
the large cat laying his head on Trowa's thigh. Duo approached Trowa
slowly and knelt on the floor in front of him.
"Trowa? Are you going to be okay, love?" He honestly
didn't expect an answer, seeing the distress in the other youth's face. He
was pleasantly surprised when Trowa's forest green eyes gazed at him.
"No, Duo...I don't think I'll be okay until Cathy is out of Azkaban."
He was quiet for a moment as he petted Max again. "Something had
seemed off about her behavior. I mean, she took the fact that I was a
Gundam pilot in stride without so much as fluttering an eyelash. And I
think I suspected she was a witch for a while when I had amnesia...at least I
thought there was something different about her."
Duo smiled warmly as he laid his head on Trowa's knee, mindful of the passing
time. "Dumbledore will find a way. I don't know how I know, but
my feelings are rarely wrong."
Trowa rewarded him with a quick smile. "And I thought Wufei was the
one with the gift of foresight." His smile fell as he sighed.
"I guess we had best head to class."
Duo stood and kept Trowa was rising as well. "I've got to go to
class, but you're allowed to stay here today. You've received a serious
shock, and I'm sure the guys would agree with me that you should take today to
absorb it all in. I'll take good notes during class and I'm sure that
we'll all help you keep up." Duo leaned forward to give Trowa a
comforting kiss. "You just take it easy and I'll see you later."
He received a nod in reply and headed out.
He was relieved that Trowa hadn't withdrawn into himself again, but now he was
worried about how Trowa would react if Dumbledore couldn't get Catherine out.
He turned back only once as he was heading to the door to smile when he saw
Trowa lie down. Knowing that he had done all that he could do in the time
he'd had, Duo closed the door to their room and went ahead to class.
On to Part Thirty-Four