Project Hogwarts

Chapter Five: War and Pettiness

Warnings: Slash, Americanized British

Pairings: DuoxDraco (eventually), others (surprise!)

Disclaimer: Don't own either Harry Potter or Gundam Wing.

AN: Well, it's definitely been a while, but life circumstances and such. After rereading some reviews, I decided post this up. Enjoy!

Duo Maxwell was still in his silent daze five minutes into being inducted into his new House, and ten minutes later when the entrée appeared magically on the table. He did not even respond when his fellow Slytherin politely asked him to pass the bread, and Draco Malfoy could not help but think about how incredibly rude that was, since he rarely asked for anything in the first place.

So rude he thought it to be that he loudly commented on it for half the table to hear. The loud, condescending tone seemed to snap Duo out of his reverie, and as an added bonus Draco received the famous boy's full attention.

…Well, that glare was screaming negative attention, but that had never deterred Draco before from attempting to make friends before. Just ask bloody Potter.

Nevertheless, one of his own housemates would never reject the prince of Slytherin. Draco gracefully offered his hand in a handshake, his gray eyes glinting in self-imposed importance. "Why, it's about time you snapped out of it. I know being a Slytherin can be quite overwhelming, but one of your fame would be used to it." Draco cracked a smirk. "I'm Draco Malfoy, by the way. Slytherin prefect. I'll be the one to show you around the Castle."

Duo's eyes widened a bit before looking down at the hand offered to him. It took all of five seconds for Draco to suddenly feel uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. "Surely even in the Muggle world you've learned about proper manners?" Draco murmured, is eyes slightly narrowed as he began withdrawing his hand. The rest of his House exploded into whispers. A too familiar pain ached him, a reminder of his first year at Hogwarts.

He was quite surprised however a second later when Duo's hand shot out to meet his own, and fought hard not to grimace when his bones began to crack under the tight grip. Draco's eyes met Duo's own, only to see a fiery cruelty and obvious disgust present there. Draco's eyes widened--perhaps his father's activities brought upon this behavior? This was one of the more active players of the Light side of the war afterall, but certainly he would not behave this way toward the son of a cleared Death Eater?

Duo leaned in, a malicious smirk on his lips. "Why hello, Draco," he purred. "I'll be the one to make your life a living hell, for as long as I'm here." The smirk only became wider as Draco's eyes widened in subtle horror. Duo leaned closer, and Draco could smell his husky breath--it reminded Draco of his father's tangerine-flavored tobacco that he used in the pipe during early evenings. "Now you're going to feel how it feels to be bullied--how it feels to have your world crashing down around you, sparing none of your feelings and your friends…just like you've done to all your victims throughout these years."

Draco frowned. "What have I done to you, Maxwell?" Draco frowned as another thought came to him and tried hard to release his hand from Duo's, but his grip was relentless. "Surely you're not one of those Mudblood sympathizers-"

Duo yanked him forward, and Draco almost found his head in Duo's lap. That seemed to effectively capture Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle's attention, as they both frowned and put down their forks. Duo paid no heed to them.

"You will not use that word in my presence," he growled, and Duo felt an ugly flush cross his cheeks as the House quieted. "Nor will you use it ever again, if you want proper use of your mouth."

"How dare--" Draco was cut off by a harsh shake.

"Don't play with me, Malfoy," Duo growled menacingly. "You're playing with Death, if you do." And with that, he released Draco into a ungraceful heap and stood up. "No need to be here," Draco heard him mutter before Duo strode in the direction of one of his other friends that he had came in with. Draco rubbed his sore wrist as blotches of pink ruled his cheeks.

A girl that only could have been Pansy hissed into his ear, "What was that about?"

And Draco could only shrug his shoulders helplessly in reply.

Heero and Trowa were silent as they were bombarded with questions from the redheaded boy in front of them--Ronald Weasley ("but just Ron, please," he had insisted). It could have been simply because they were just inadvertently paying attention to the small ruckus being caused at the Slytherin table by their braided friend, or it could have been that they were still trying to find a way to answer all of the questions the boy had rambled off at once. Other students--Weasley's older twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnagan, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevey--seemed to be just as interested in their responses, and even Duo's famed Harry Potter seemed vaguely interested, although also a bit distracted by the Slytherin table.

Heero always did hate these public gatherings, but luckily he was going to be saved soon, if Duo's dark look said anything as he grabbed Quatre from the shoulders and pulled him from his seat. Looking bewildered, Heero heard Quatre stumble a short apology to another blonde boy as Duo set his sights on the Gryffindor table. Apparently, Wufei was already standing.

Without hesitation, Heero and Trowa stood up. "If you'll excuse us," Trowa muttered.

Ron appeared flabbergasted. "But you can't--this is--"

Hermione Granger, the wild-haired girl who seemed to be the most intelligent of the group, interrupted. "This is dinner, aren't you hungry from your journey? And how will you know how to get around?" She straightened up and managed to look stern and curious at the same time. "I'm one of the prefects that's supposed to lead you two around, and if you don't know the castle all that well, you'll get lost, and Ron and I will be held responsible."

Heero was scowling, his impatience quickly winning him over when Trowa replied quite smoothly, "Don't worry, our friend Duo knows most of the ways around the school. We're simply visiting the library to make ourselves comfortable and study a bit." He gave a small, mysterious smile. "Today has been quite overwhelming for us. Are we not allowed to unwind a bit?"

Hermione blushed as Ron suddenly looked slightly embarassed. Hermione cleared her throat. "Just…please be back before nine tonight," she muttered. "That way, at least Ron can show you which room you're dorming in. I'm assuming your friend will take you to the Gryffindor Tower?"

"Of course," drawled Duo's voice, and Heero and Trowa turned to see a less infuriated Duo. "You need not worry, your fellow Gryffindors are safe with me."

Hermione pursed her lips. "You'll forgive me if I say I barely trust any Slytherin, but you are new, so I'll trust for now that they haven't infected you with their…negativity."

Duo's grin was sharper than a blade's edge. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Ms. Granger," he cooed with an almost mocking bow. He turned to his two companions. "I think I'm ready to go now, if you guys are."

"Wait," Hermione said. Duo's grin dimmed and began to turn downward in impatience. "How do you know your way around? I thought you had never been here before?

Duo gave her a smirk that made even Quatre feel tingles up his spine. "We all have our secrets, don't we?" he whispered, and this time, without further adieu Duo walked off toward the Great Hall's doors. Quatre and Wufei followed in unison, curiosity in their eyes.

Nodding, Trowa and Heero followed behind Duo out of the Great Hall, where an ominous silence seemed to fill the room for a few minutes after they left before breaking into excited whispers.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione was still staring at the Great Hall's doors. "How did he know my name?" she whispered to herself, but Harry still heard it. He frowned.

At the teacher's table, Severus Snape was glaring.

"Duo, what was that about?" Quatre demanded quietly as they found an empty table near the back. Barely anyone was there--well, except Madam Pince, who never seemed to leave. Duo wondered if he had put that in her character, but found he could not remember.

"And why did you attack that boy at your table?" Wufei asked, his eyes wandering around the books nearby. "I thought we were to act civil to our classmates."

"That's no ordinary boy," Duo finally said, after a brief pause. He sighed, brushing his hand through his bangs. "Draco Malfoy was created out of every rich snob that ever treated me badly when I was on the streets. He's nasty and picks on all the kids here. His father is a heartless criminal, and his mother is no better, spoiling him rotten. He's a bad egg, all around."

"But what did he do to you?" Quatre asked, his eyes slightly narrowed. Duo began to look defensive.

"What do you mean, what did he do to me? Nothing!"

"So you attacked him unprovoked?" Wufei snarled. "Dishonorable!"

Duo slammed his hands on the table, causing a 'shh'! from Madam Pince. He ignored it. "Listen," he hissed. "Where would we be, right now, if we hadn't stepped up to the plate and destroyed Oz? Were we supposed to wait before they did something personally to us, and then attack?"

"Duo, this is not war," Trowa said solemnly. "This is school, your school, with children you created." He peered up at Duo from his bang. "Surely you know the difference?"

Duo felt himself flush with both rage and humiliation. "Of course! But--"

"This is childish," Heero announced. He gave a solid nod to the rest of the boys. "This isn't worth our time, and that is precious. Let Duo find out on his own how petty this is--"

"Petty?" Duo raged. "Petty! I'll--"

"OUT!" Madam Pince grabbed Duo by the collar and pointed to the door. Duo seemed too shocked to react. "All of you, OUT! Come back when you learn some proper library etiquette!"

"So this is where we'll meet up from now on," Duo muttered miserably, scratching his head. It was an old abandoned potions lab, that had a really funky odor and green splotches on the walls. "We still need to study, and this would be best to practice spellwork and things we'll need to learn to keep up appearances here." Duo was still somber, but no one brought up the Malfoy issue again. He scrunched up his nose. It was not childish nor petty. They simply did not understand. Slytherins were evil brats, and Draco Malfoy most of all. Child or not, he was a threat to Harry and the rest of the school. "Since we don't have books right now, we'll have to go by on things I remember." He pulled out his wand, slightly admiring its craftwork before positioning it in front of him. "Now, pull out your wands," he grinned. "And I'm not talking about the ones in your pants!"

The boys groaned. It was going to be a long time before nine o'clock.

AN: So that's it! I actually had about half of this done last week, but kinda got swept up in holiday and such. Review guys! (I know you readers are out there, I can see the stats and who puts me on alert!)

Special Thanks to reviewers: MoonGun, Sakura Maxwell-Minamino, WingedAngelGuardian, Hikaru Kosuzaku, AnimaLynx, HevenSentHellBroken, & Peaceful Angel. This is really for you guys, if it weren't for your reviews I'd probably give up (smileyface).