Harry Potter and the Four Guardians

Harry Potter and the Four Guardians

Chapter Four: Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

By: Elf

Blood, death, destruction, and rebirth. Sitting in the cockpit of a massive battle suit of destruction called a Gundam, Deathscythe HELL to be precise. Death and destruction would bring upon the rebirth. He was death and his friend was the destruction. Heero Yuy was too cold and distant to be anything else. Death had to have fire, passion and a strange sense of humor to do his job.

"Look who it is, Crabbe," the hulking boy sneered.

Duo sighed and resisted the urge to pull out his wand to blast these two bozos into oblivion. He heard Goyle answer, "It's the pretty boy. How are you doing, Puff?"

"Fuck off," Duo grumbled as he tried not to look back at him. Control your temper. Control your temper, he thought over and over as a mantra. He couldn't get into trouble yet. Not now, not even before he had set foot in Hogwarts. Right now he was standing in the train station, looking for platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Crabbe taunted, "Lost, Puffy?"

"Go to Hell," Duo growled, trying not to look at them, trying to focus on finding that damned platform.

He heard laughter right before his limbs stiffened. He fell to the ground, right on his face with a shattering force and he couldn't move. He could just use his mouth and a stream of curses poured through it like a faucet. He also found that he could blink, but his arms, legs and even his torso, his damned torso, wouldn't budge. He was locked.

He rolled his eyes around, looking around for Crabbe and Goyle. They were gone. He heard Scythe scratching nervously in his cage, trying to get out and somehow help Duo. The Ironic Pop Culture voice in his head said, Scythe, go get help, Duo fell down at the train station!

Yeah, right.

"Fucking bastards, I'll show them who the God of Death is," Duo grumbled as he looked down at the cobblestone underneath him. Maybe Harry and his pals would show up soon. He knew that the incredibly bright Hermione would know a spell to get him out of this mess. He also recognized the curse as the Body Lock curse, but how the hell was that going to help him? His wand was hidden under the folds of his black T-shirt.

He heard Malfoy's voice chuckling behind him. Duo rolled his eyes and thought, Wow, great, Malfoy. The pale boy knelt down so Duo could see him. Then he burst out laughing. "Not so impressive now, are you Maxwell?"

"When I get up . . ." Duo began, his face twisting in a snarl.

Malfoy grinned and finished, "You'll do nothing, American. Not at Hogwarts and not on the train. See, my father is very high up in the wizarding community and even though that means nothing for American scum like yourself, it could hurt your friends."

Damn, he was threatening to get at him through Harry and his crew. Cold, heartless bastard, Duo thought, wishing desperately that he was telepathic. Duo glared as Malfoy reached out and brushed his bangs from his face. "Sorry, mate, but it may look like that you won't get to go to Hogwarts . . ." His words faded and his mouth dropped open in sheer amazement before turning into a gaze of pure lust. The pale boy was up on his polished feet in an instant, brushing his expensive robes off with a smile.

Duo heard a soft female whisper, and didn't recognize the word because the person speaking was talking too softly. Still, he felt his body relax and that he could move. He stood up and turned and suddenly knew what Malfoy was staring at.

It was a girl. A mysteriously beautiful girl. She was slender, petite, and waif like. Her skirt, turtle neck, stockings and shoes were all black, but not as dark as the raven hair that blew around her slender face. A pair of huge, slightly slanted dark violet eyes narrowed at Malfoy before widening at Duo. Her skin was white. Not pale, but pure, snow white, as if someone had melded moonlight and darkness together to make a person.

She glared at Malfoy with her shadowy violet eyes before looking back at Duo's star struck expression. He licked his lips nervously as her eyes widened as she took him in. Normally, Duo would have said some cheeky, witty, flirtatious comment to grab the girl's interest, but all he could do was gaze at her.

She asked in a soft, almost celestial voice, "Daijoubu Kai?" Are you okay?

"Hai," Duo answered, finding his voice again, "and thank you."

She smiled softly but it didn't reach those unfathomable violet eyes. She gave a polite bow and strolled past them, strait into the brick wall between platforms Nine and Ten. Duo smirked at the joke.

"Platform Nine and Three Quarters, I get it," he said to himself, shaking his head in amusement.

He turned around to see if Malfoy was still gaping there, but he was gone, probably through the brick portal himself. Duo grinned at that as he grabbed his cart. Scythe looked up at him with his liquid dark eyes and Duo asked, "Did you see that total babe walk by?"

The male owl only tilted his head and turned it 360 degrees before looking at Duo. Duo smirked and teased, "Oh, right, not your type. I get it." He stood up to his full height and started to walk toward the brick wall, not sure how to go through it.

He heard a chuckle behind him and spun around to see the Weasley clan, Harry, and Hermione standing behind him. Hermione asked, "Are you all right? We thought we saw you on the ground."

"Crabbe and Goyle performed the Body Lock curse on me," Duo snorted, brushing his bangs from his face.

Harry asked, "How did you get out of it?"

"That was the amazing part," Duo answered with a wistful smile, "This beautiful girl came out of nowhere and reversed the curse," he heard the twins laugh at him, but he ignored it, choosing to go on about the girl, "And she glared at Malfoy, who was looking like a love struck idiot . . ."

"Like you are right now, mate," Fred chirped.

Duo blinked, being dragged back from a pair of dark, violet eyes. He asked, "So, how do I get through the brick wall?"

******

There had been no word from Sirius, so Harry and Hermione's questions about the new students or teacher. Still, Ron and the twins suggested that they should let Duo sit in their car with them. Not that Harry minded, but there was something about the American that made him alert, wary, not of Duo himself, but of everything.

It felt weird not to have Hermione with them since she was in the Prefect's car with the other perfects. Still, Duo made an adequate replacement as they played Exploding Snap. Fred caused the deck to blow up in Ron's face, making Ginny and George howl with laughter.

Duo asked, "So, what's Hogwarts like?"

"You've gotta watch yourself in the halls. The stairs like to move themselves at will. Then there's Snape, he's the Potions Master. He's a bloody git. And the Slytherins too," George answered as he started to shuffle and deal the next hand.

Duo lifted an eyebrow as he looked at his hand. He replied darkly, "I've already learned that lesson."

"You should have owled us, Duo. You didn't know about the platform," Ginny chided sweetly as she carefully studied her cards. Harry felt a strange surge of jealousy toward the handsome violet eyed boy. Both Hermione and Ginny responded to him and he even had Mrs. Weasley blush before they stepped onto the train.

Duo frowned as he studied his cards then back at the redhead. He then shrugged and answered, "Well, I was expecting something a little more . . ."

"Muggled?" George asked as he shifted his cards carefully in his hands.

Harry smiled as he remembered his first encounter with Platform Nine and Three Quarters, but then again, he had been raised by the worse pair of Muggles imaginable. He asked, "Are you Muggle born?"

"I don't know, actually. I've never known anything about my parents and my guardian, if you could call the bastard that, told me nothing except magic," Duo answered easily as he tossed his cards away from him, causing them to explode.

There was a soft knock on their car's door. Harry looked up to see Neville Longbottom's round face scrunched up with worry peering at them. Duo asked, "Who's that?"

Harry stood up, sighing, knowing that Neville had his toad stolen or Malfoy was picking on the poor, luckless wizard. Ron answered, "Neville Longbottom, another Gryffindor." He leaned closer to Duo and whispered, "He's almost a Squib, poor sod, and almost every Slytherin picks on him."

Harry asked, "What's wrong?"

Neville twisted his hands into his robes and stammered, "Trevor's gone. I can't find him."

"Well, tell me what Trevor looks like and I'll go help you find him," Duo said kindly, stepping up beside Harry to lean on the door. Harry saw Duo flash that smile of his as Neville studied the American.

Neville asked, "Are you the American student?"

"Fuck yeah," Duo answered, causing George and Fred to grin at Duo's free use of profanity and the stressing of an American, possibly Californian, accent. He held out his hand and Neville shook it. He went on, "I'm Duo Maxwell, pleasure to meet you Neville. Lets go find your little friend."

"Trevor's a toad," Harry chuckled, shaking his head at Duo's sudden protectiveness.

Duo shrugged and replied, "Well, lets go look for the frog then. Any idea where you saw it last, Neville?"

"I think it was heading toward the car with the Slytherins," Neville answered with a frown.

Duo cracked his knuckles and smiled. Harry had seen evil before and he had seen people like Sirius who where willing to kill if it was right. Sirius had the same dark look in his eyes the night that Harry met him, pointing a wand at Wormtail. He smirked and stated, "I've gotta show Crabbe and Goyle that you don't mess with the Shinigami."

There was that word again. Shinigami. It wasn't a spell because Hermione or the twins didn't recognize and it definitely wasn't English or Latin, which Harry would of recognized. It was the second time Duo had called himself that. He wondered what he meant by it.

Then, taking a look at Duo's face again, the smiling, sarcastic mask slipping back over his features, Harry wasn't really sure that he wanted to know.

******

I'm the damned Prince of all Sayans, technically, and the second youngest Sayan to reach Super Sayan and I can't even get my hair to stand up. The Kai stripped me of my powers, I'm only an eighth of what my powers really are, and I'm angry as hell about it. I wish my father was here with me; he'd probably find this amusing before he tried to help me in his own gruff way, but then again, that's Vegeta for you.

Still, once I see the Kai again, I'm going to strangle him and feed him to Majin Buu, after I wish my father back from the dead. Again.

Trunks Briefs stared at his wand. He didn't need focus for his powers, dammit. He just needed all of them, then he would be able to blast this Lord Voldemort into Hell and be done with it. No, the Supreme Kai had insisted that he should strip some of the halfling's powers for the safety of everyone else on this world. The Kai told him that if the time came for him to become a Super Sayan, then he would be able to transform.

Still, Trunks hated the fact that he was being held on a leash and that he was away from everyone else he knew and cared about and that there was a massive battle about to be waged with his younger self and his young alternate reality's best friend. And that Ginyu was watching him with his crimson eyes, croaking at him in a laughing matter. Trunks wanted to blow the frog into nothingness, but the Kai insisted that he had to have him. That the students of this school would have to have either a cat, an owl, or a frog or toad. So, Trunks was stuck with one of Freeza's former minons as a "pet".

Life couldn't get any worse.

Except that Ginyu decided to go on a little walk through the Hogwarts Express.

"I better find you in the next ten seconds, Ginyu or my dad's going to look like Mother Teresa by the time I get done with you," he snarled in a typical Sayan manner as he stalked the corridors of the moving train.

He saw a pale, almost feminine boy with sharp features holding a toad by it's hind legs. It was just a simple, ordinary toad and lacked Ginyu's bright green with black spots coloring as well as the alien antennae and crimson eyes. The toad thrashed helplessly in the teen's hands and the teen's cold grey eyes lit up as a short, round boy as well as the violet eyed guy who spoke perfect Japanese and his friend rounded the corner.

"Ah, hello Neville, your toad got away again," the pale boy said mockingly.

The round boy, Neville, cried, "Let Trevor go, Malfoy."

"You can't even keep your familiar, Longbottom, I think that your toad might enjoy a little ride outside of the train," he replied pleasantly, opening a window, revealing the fast-moving sky below.

Trunks growled and began to power up. The boy with the braid hissed, "Let him go, Malfoy."

The boy with glasses and startling green eyes added, "Neville has done nothing to you, Malfoy, leave him alone and deal with me. If you're not afraid."

"Afraid of you, Potter, never, now, the toad is wanting to go for a little . . ." A flash of bright green with black spots plastered itself on Malfoy's face, the flippered limbs punching and kicking in a very familiar fashion.

The toad was thrown from Malfoy's hands and the boy with the glasses, Potter, dove and gracefully caught the amphibian in his hand, rolling gracefully to his feet. Malfoy cursed, "Bloody hell," before he threw Ginyu off of his face. The frog landed gracefully at Trunks' feet. Malfoy snarled and drew his wand at the frog, sneering, "I won't let a frog get the better of me."

Trunks gave him his best Vegeta Glare and snapped, "If you want to hurt him, you have to come through me first."

"What's going on here?" a girl's voice shouted as a tiny Oriental girl dressed in black robes with a prefect's badge stitched on them. Her long raven hair fell into her pretty face as she sternly looked at Trunks then Potter, Neville, and the braided boy. Her eyes rested on Malfoy as her face scrunched up with something like severe distaste as she turned back to look at Potter with warmth.

Potter's once defiant posture wilted and he was suddenly blushing in the pretty girl's presence. The boy with the braid looked confused as Ginyu took on another stance as he ribbited in a challenging manner. Trunks shook his head and thought, Don't even think about switching bodies, Ginyu, you know I can stop you.

"Malfoy was threatening to throw Trevor off of the train and that frog saved him!" Neville stammered as he held out Trevor the toad.

Malfoy looked the girl over then Potter again, smirking. "I was just joking with the Squib, Chang, I wouldn't really throw his precious Trevor off of the ruddy train," he sneered as he stormed away, almost pushing Neville down as he did.

"Fu-" the boy with the braid started to shout before Potter clamped his mouth with his hand.

The Oriental girl smiled warmly at Trunks then at the boy with the braid. She held out a small hand and said, "Hi, I'm Cho Chang, from Ravenclaw, you two must be two of the new students."

"Trunks Briefs," Trunks replied, gently shaking her hand, careful to keep his super strength in check.

The boy with the braid looked as if he was about to bow over her hand before he saw Harry's expression. He simply shook her hand and answered, "Hi, I'm Duo Maxwell."

She smiled at Potter and said, "Well, I'm not surprised that Harry has already made friends with two of the new exchange students." She walked over to Harry and said, "Hi, Harry."

"Hello, Cho," Harry replied, bushing to the roots of his raven hair.

Neville managed, "Umm, I've gotta see Dean about something, thanks Harry, Duo." With that, he ran away, clutching his toad to his chest. At Trunks' feet, Ginyu was chuckling furiously. Trunks kicked the alien frog enough to sting it, meaning he barely tapped it. If he truly kicked it, he could have shot it from the back of the train, through the front, and it still would have kept going.

Duo smiled and walked over by Trunks, grabbing his arm. Trunks glared and Duo Maxwell whispered, "Let's leave them alone, besides, I'd like to talk."

Trunks realized that Duo was like the Senshi and himself; brought here for a reason. Still, the name Harry Potter rang in his ears. Harry Potter, this world's version of Gohan he liked to think, the only one who had been able to stand up against Lord Voldemort and survive, or something to that existent. Maybe Harry was the one Trunks was sent here to protect and Duo was one of the people to help do that. A dark power clung to Duo like a second skin, quiet and at bay for now.

The two of them walked and Trunks automatically switched to Japanese, "Is this confusing for you too?"

"Hell yes, I can't tell if I'm coming or going," Duo answered, shrugging his braid off of his shoulder.

Trunks smiled and replied, "I'm glad I'm not the only one."

"Still, what house do you think you'll be sorted into?" Duo asked as they rounded a corner.

Trunks grinned and answered confidently, "Gryffindor, of course." Gryffindor had the best reputation in the school and he liked their credo better than the other houses. Warriors would come from Gryffindor and not Slytherin

Duo smirked at that and asked, "So, why are you here?"

"For the same reason that you are, of course," Trunks replied, wondering where Duo was going with all of this. Then he suddenly realized that Duo was more of the thinking, devious part of the plan while the Senshi and himself would do battle as Duo told them whatever bit of information that he found.

Duo's eyes narrowed in thought as a puzzled expression crossed his gamin features. He then looked back at Trunks with a cheerful grin. He replied, "Yeah, sure. See you later Trunks." With that, he strode away, his braid swinging behind him.

******

Harry's stomach was churning and his cheeks were burning. Cho smoothed her raven hair and pecked off invisible specks of lint off of her perfect uniform. Harry managed to ask, "How are you?"

Cho sent him a sad smile and shrugged, "I'm doing better. It could have been worse though, a whole lot worse. Voldemort could have killed you too."

Harry turned crimson from the top of his lighting shaped scar to the tips of his toes. He fiddled with his own robes and shook his hair from his face. He managed to smile as he replied, "I wish I could have saved Cedric though."

"There was nothing you could have done Harry, not even Dumbledore could have saved Cedric," Cho said gently, lightly touching his arm. Electricity, perhaps a magic different from the one that they practiced, shot up through his arm and spread through his body in a hot tingle. He almost shivered at the contact.

Harry cleared his throat, quickly changing the subject, "What about the new students?"

"That's a little strange, Harry. Even my mother talks about that. The last time a student transferred from Hogwarts was around two hundred years ago. Still, I've heard things," Cho answered, tucking that lovely, ebony hair behind her ear. Harry realized just how tiny she was, how delicate looking.

Harry peered down at her and pressed, "What sort of things?"

"That they're protecting something or that they need protection. Still, I doubt that boy with the lavender hair needs saving from anything. Did you see how huge he was?" Cho answered, rubbing her arms.

Harry smiled, pleased at the fact that she didn't mention Duo's charm or the fact that Trunks Briefs looked as if he stepped from a pinup calendar. Harry chuckled, "And neither does Duo. I saw him make Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle kiss tiles at Florean's Ice Cream Parlor, without magic."

"Marital arts?" Cho asked, tilting her head thoughtfully.

Harry nodded and asked, "What about Quidditch this year? Do you think we'll do the house tournament?"

Cho grinned mischievously as she answered, "I sure hope so, Harry. Ravenclaw's going to win the cup this year."

"I doubt that," Harry replied, feeling more comfortable now.

She patted his arm affectionately and started to turn away, saying, "Our last match wasn't exactly fair, Harry. Next time, I'll win."

"Right," Harry teased back as the Ravenclaw Seeker walked away, chuckling.

******

Duo noticed the pleased and blushing look on Harry's face as he finally got back to their car. Trunks hadn't been that helpful in the information, but he seemed to suspect that Harry was the reason that he was sent here. Trunks said something along the lines of Harry being the one to defeat Lord Voldemort yadda yadda, protecting Harry, yadda yadda.

The pilot looked at his new friend's bright green eyes and wondered what was going to happen. Still, Duo noted the blush on his features and asked, "So, is she your girlfriend?"

Harry jumped as if he had been shot as he stammered, "Umm, no, she's not . . . She's the Ravenclaw Seeker and was Cedric Diggory's girlfriend." Cedric was the boy killed by Voldemort just months ago to get at Harry.

They opened up the car, noting all the sweets scattered along the floor. Ron's tiny owl flew around wildly, bouncing on the walls as if he had a sugar high, with Ron jumping up and down, yelling at him. Ginny was laughing at him while the twins cheered the owl on. Duo looked over at his own owl, who seemed to be amused with Hedwig's apparent disapproval of the other owl's behavior.

The train slowly crept to a stop and Duo peered out the window, gasping.

It was a castle. A huge fucking castle with a lake, wide fields and a huge, foreboding forest. He blinked as he saw a tentacle raise up from the lake, waving gaily at the train before going back under. The castle towered above them and Duo shivered as he felt a familiar sort of energy.

He had felt it whenever he entered Deathscythe or Deathscythe HELL's cockpit. He now realized that G had enchanted the Gundam so nothing would hurt him, not even himself. Instead of comforting him like the thought should have, it only made him angry at G's decision to keep him unaware about his true heritage, even going to the point of taking him from his world and placing him in an unfamiliar one with no magic.

Fred jerked him away from the window good naturally, saying, "You can gawk at Hogwarts later, mate, you've got a Sorting to get to."

He asked, "What makes you so certain that I'm being Sorted?" He was soon out of the train, smiling when he made out Hagrid. Hagrid's eyes widened in surprise as he saw him standing beside Harry. Harry gave Hagrid a cheerful wave and a smile. The giant man strode over to them, his moleskin coat flapping behind him.

"'Lo, Harry, Ron, where's 'rmione, with the other perfects?" Hagrid asked in his gruff accent.

Before Harry or Ron could answer, the huge man wrapped the two teens in a fierce hug, causing Duo to laugh. He was still laughing as the pair caught their breaths. Harry said, "Duo, this is Hagrid, teacher of Care of Magical Creatures and Groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Hagrid, this is Duo Maxwell."

"We've met," Duo answered with a grin as he shook hands with the giants.

Hagrid smiled and replied, "Got himself lost in Diagon Alley, he did. Had to show him to Gringotts."

"Glad that you did, man," Duo replied as he flexed his hand. Heero gave worse handshakes compared to the gentle giant's.

Hagrid said, "Glad to see you met Harry already Duo. You couldn't pick a better mate to hang around."

A stern looking woman wearing tiny, square glasses, a green plaid robe with her raven hair pulled back from her face severely walked over to them. She looked over at Hagrid before her eyes rested on Duo. She said, "Hagrid, the new students."

Hagrid grinned and bellowed, "Transfers, come over here!"

Duo looked around, only to see the severe woman walk the other groups away. He could see Harry's bright green eyes watching him as Trunks joined up with himself and Hagrid. Duo waved and turned around only to find himself looking into a pair of shadowed violet eyes.

His mouth went dry as he saw the angel from this morning turning to look at Hagrid. He smiled kindly down at the three. He said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm going to take you to the 'all."

Duo heard a chipper male voice shout out, "First years, over here!" He turned his attention back toward Trunks and the raven waif.

Hagrid led them over to a boat in which the three sat in. The ride was quiet except for Hagrid talking about Hogwarts, the teachers, the classes and the houses. Duo kept looking at the raven haired beauty, wanting to say something but finding that his tongue was tied.

Trunks asked, "Where are we going?"

"To the great 'all," Hagrid answered as the boat stopped and the four walked on the ornate marble stairs. They walked into a heavy set of huge doors and a cold shiver made its way across Duo's back. He spun around, his eyes widening at all of the ghosts watching them, talking about them, making comments about Trunks and Duo's hair.

They walked for a while longer and Duo heard a cunning male voice sing something about a Thinking Cap and the four houses of Hogwarts. Hagrid opened up another door and Duo's eyes widened once more this night.

In the middle of the room, between the four long tables and another table that held what Duo assumed to be the professors, was a stool with a very tattered hat on top of it. The stern faced woman shouted, "Arlington, Dana!"

A little girl with blond pig tails and a sweet face ran over to the stool. She sat on top of it and stuck the hat on her head. Everything was quiet for a moment until the hat shouted, "Hufflepuff!" The little girl ran over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down, giggling.

Duo managed, "Am I on crack or did that hat just talk?"

"That's the Sorting Hat," Hagrid whispered, "It'll tell you which house you'll be put into."

Duo watched as other students sat down on the stool and the hat call out which house they were to be put into. Sometimes the hat decided very quickly, others it took it a while. One girl, Sarah MacKormic, was on the stool for a good half hour until the hat declared her a Ravenclaw.

The younger students were now all sitting at their tables while a tall man with a flowing silver beard, the color of fine platinum Duo realized, dressed in rich blue robes with a celestial pattern stood up. He had half moon glasses perched on his crooked nose and his brilliant blue eyes bore into Duo then Trunks then the angel. Trunks was the only one who didn't blink or look away. Duo blinked for a few moments, shifting uncomfortably in his boots and embarrassed that he couldn't meet one wizard's gaze.

The wizard spoke in a rich, rolling, if slightly nasal voice, "Ah, yes, it's good to see you all again. Before we get on with the feast as you know we have three new students from across the globe. I hope you show them all what a wonderful school Hogwarts really is and make them feel at home in their houses. Professor McGonagall?"

McGonagall, the stern faced woman, rolled up her sheet of parchment and shouted, "Briefs, Trunks!" There were quite a few snickers from the Slytherin table. Trunks glared at them and somehow, most of them quieted. Duo felt a quick influx of power and it quickly died away as soon as Trunks placed the tattered hat on his head.

As soon as it touch his lavender head, the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table cheered as Trunks made his way over to it. Trunks smiled at Duo and the girl.

McGonagall looked at Duo and called out, "Maxwell, Duo!"

"And a yipp yipp yipp and away we go," Duo whispered to himself as he made his way to the stool. He eyed the hat for a moment before he closed his eyes. He lowered it to his head and waited.

To Be Continued!