Author's Notes: All of you lovely readers should probably thank FranceGamble (also known as Jojo) for this impromptu update because she asked for it, and I can't say no to my favorite Jojo. I was just going to be lazy and putoff finishingthis chapterfor a few more days.
Author's Notes the Second: And a fond birthday shout-out to Tado, who is responsible for many amusing and chaotic late night chat sessions with a variety of freaks and weirdos, and I'm glad I'm one of them. HAPPY FREAKIN' BIRTHDAY, YOU FREAK. (Even though I know you probably won't read this ON your birthday, seeing as you've already informed me you won't be available for chatting this weekend... It's the thought that counts, right?)
:sighs: I love Bobland. ONWARD!
Harry Potter and the Forgotten Heirs Part 2
Compared to a typical day in the English countryside, the day had started off rather marvelous. So marvelous, in fact, that many of the residents of the Malfoy summer home (now belonging to the Blacks, thanks to a generous divorce settlement between Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy nee Black) decided very early on in the morning that such was a day not to be wasted indoors. Heero, of course, was perhaps the only one amongst them that preferred to re-immerse himself in the glory of his laptop, which had been out of commission for far too long. The rest, however, realized that if any day was worth taking advantage of the estate's vast grounds, this was the day. While there was still an oppressive overcast in the noon sky, the grey cloud cover didn't blanket the surrounding area. Sunbeams broke through the clouds in the distance, making for a very breathtaking scene to those who weren't accustomed to Great Britain's unique beauty. According to Heero (courtesy of aforementioned laptop and the use of wireless Internet), the day could only get better, as the clouds were supposed to thin out by early afternoon.
Trowa and Quatre decided to use the day wisely by finally getting to work on the beautiful gardens that surrounded the manor. Draco had quite a taxing time attempting to hide his amusement as Quatre conferred with the house-elves typically responsible for the welfare of the gardens and lawn; apparently, Quatre hadn't prepared for the elves habit of self-harm when they thought they were displeasing their masters, which was exactly what happened when Quatre voiced an interest in taking over the gardens. Duo had to actually bite his knuckles to keep from laughing as the genteel blonde frantically attempted to placate a house-elf who'd taken it upon herself to slam her ears in the kitchen door. Both of them immediately stopped feeling so amused and started feeling a little paranoid when Trowa shot them a warning glance. For someone who didn't say much and seemed rather emotionless, he certainly knew how to get his point across by just looking at people.
Wufei had taken an open space of his own to practice sword and martial arts katas, which Draco couldn't help but admit looked really neat. Martial arts was mostly a muggle concept, and fencing was practiced by most of the wealthy in the wizarding world. Fencing, however, was a little different than what Wufei practiced. Draco admired the fluid grace of the practiced movements, amazed that someone so stiff and upright in demeanor could move so quickly and gracefully. Putting a sword in the Chinese youth's hands added an extra element of danger and debonair. If Wufei hadn't thought so little of women in general, he would probably get a lot more attention from girls merely by showing them how bloody wicked he looked during his katas.
Duo, however, decided to kidnap Draco for his own personal amusement.
"I don't want to."
"Don't be such a baby, dragon boy. C'mon -don't you want to have the element of surprise if any Death Eater comes across you?"
"Of course I do. But not this."
Duo made a couple of loud noises that sounded suspiciously like a chicken's call.
"I'm not a chicken." Draco was absolutely petulant now, pouting at the ground sullenly.
"Then take the damn gun, point, and shoot. It's not that hard, and it's not like I'm expecting you to actually hit the target at all. This is just for practice."
Draco shot the American a typical acidic glare that marked prolonged exposure to Heero Yuy himself. "It's nice to know you have such confidence in me."
"Hey, hitting targets right off takes years of practice and a certain amount of talent."
"I'm a damn good aim with a wand. What makes you think I wouldn't be a good aim with this muggle wand?"
"Gun."
"Whatever. The point is, I could hit the target if I wanted. I can't actually look at the gun without seeing Jansen's head blow up." Draco cringed at the swell of memories that the mere mention of past events, specifically the frighten of learning that something that something so small and innocuous as a 'bullet' could do that much damage with the added benefit of 'gun powder' and a 'kick-ass .44 Magnum', quoting Duo. The most frightening part of that ordeal was when he had finally realized that something that made Jansen's head explode in a spray of crimson and... Draco immediately stopped that train of thought, afraid that he was going to do something potentially embarrassing, like vomit. In any case, the same device that did that to the Death Eater had been pressed lightly against his temple by none other than Duo Maxwell himself, and Draco had realized there was a lot more to the Gryffindor besides a goofy smile and a wicked sense of humor.
Duo was like a friendly snake amongst the lions. Snakes in general were loners, but Duo was in a class all of his own. He was easily pleased and quite congenial when he didn't feel threatened, but as soon as Duo was put in a situation that forced him to act, all the sly fierceness of his instincts came to the foreground.
Duo shrugged unsympathetically. "Sometimes you just gotta find a way around that, man. If I stressed over every death I'm responsible for, I wouldn't get much done during the day. Besides, we're trying to prevent you from ever being put in that situation again. Next time you can be my backup instead of my hostage."
"Your logic astounds and disturbs me," Draco said mordantly, glaring at the offensive heavy black metal hanging limply from his hand. "If I shoot at the target and get a perfect hit, can we drop this entirely?"
Duo didn't seem as confident in Draco's ability as Draco himself was, but he took a moment to critically assess the distance between the blond and the large target set out nearly thirty feet away. From a logical standpoint, the target would have been easy for Duo or any one of the pilots. For a first-time shooter, however, it was a completely different story. Dragon boy really didn't stand a chance. "Knock yourself out, scooter. Point is, you're going to learn how to shoot that thing."
Duo quickly set about teaching Draco how to brace himself for the kick of the Magnum so the blond wouldn't find himself suddenly sprawled painfully on his derriere. "You'll need to pull back on the hammer -that's this nifty little thing here," he added, pointing at the butt of the barrel. "You'll use your thumb for that. If you actually take to this whole gun thing, I'll probably let you use an automatic, but for now, you'll have to do with a semi. Anyway, clasp the grip of the gun tightly with both hands."
"You only used one," Draco mumbled, adjusting his grip on the gun nervously, trying to comfortably fit his hands around the foreign muggle weapon.
"Yeah, but I've been playing with guns a lot longer than you," Duo pointed out logically, reaching out to help adjust Draco's grip so the process of actually raising and firing the gun would feel a little more natural. "I know how to absorb the kick better than you. Remember to keep a firm grip, and keep your feet exactly like they are now. It'll help brace your body when you fire." As an afterthought, Duo added hastily, "And when I used the word 'playing', I didn't mean it in a fun way. Guns aren't toys, and if I ever see you treating them as such, I'll kick your ass from here to Hogwarts. Clear, dragon boy?"
Draco snorted. Like he needed to be told that guns weren't things to be played with. Things that killed people rarely were. "Crystal, hamster boy."
"Good. The disclaimer is there to protect the stupid and any unfortunate people who fall pray to stupidity. Let's hope that never applies to you." Duo smothered a grin when Draco shot him a vaguely disgusted glance. "Now I don't want you to just point and pull the trigger; you'll never even get close to the target that way. Instead, I want you to sight down the barrel, focus on your target, and pull the trigger only after you think you have a good shot."
Wufei's sudden appearance behind the two stopped whatever snide comment Draco would have delivered. "You're teaching him how to use a firearm?"
"Yep," Duo said cheerfully, hardly paying any attention to the disbelief oozing from Wufei's sharp address.
"You think that is a good way to introduce Black to muggle culture? By teaching him how to use a gun?"
"Well, no," Duo replied, glancing at the Chinese youth blandly. "I wanted to see if Draco could actually pick this up as a hobby, so next time..." The braided youth trailed off at that point, appearing slightly pensive and bitter.
Draco didn't exactly need it spelled out for him. Duo knew that his actions during the sudden hostage moment had given Draco a fair amount of nightmares. The sheer helplessness of the situation didn't sit well with the blond, and having his life solely in the hands of a boy who obviously had no qualms in making sacrifices wasn't exactly comforting at the time. Duo was a great and loyal friend, but the American was relentless when the situation called for it. Draco expected that Duo might have been feeling guilty over what happened, and his attempts to teach Draco how to use the same weapon that was pressed against his temple months ago was an attempt to alleviate that guilt. Something about conquering and mastering the things one fears -Draco hadn't really been listening to Duo's reasoning, as he had completely lost interest after hearing the words 'teach' and 'gun' in the same sentence.
"Don't worry about it, Wufei," Draco said smugly. "Duo's promised to drop the entire matter if I can hit the target on my first try. I intend to make that a reality."
Wufei seemed to have about as much confidence in Draco's ability to achieve that goal as Duo had been, which irked the blond immensely. The Chinese boy looked from where Draco was standing to the target with an eyebrow raised skeptically. "From here?"
"Yes," Draco said shortly, glaring at Wufei with a challenging jut of his chin.
Wufei smirked, pointing at the painted red, white, and blue bullseye set in the distance. "That target?"
"You don't think I can do it," Draco accused.
Duo laughed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Of course we think you can't do it, Draco! You've never held a gun in your life. Very rarely do people actually make a bullseye the first time, and those people generally have an interest in guns to begin with."
"Maxwell's right, Black," Wufei said with absolute certainty. "Taking into consideration that this is not only the first time you've held a gun, but your knowledge of them comes solely from one instance in which you were at the wrong end of one, the logical conclusion is that you cannot possibly hope to hit the bullseye."
That was not only a blow to his dignity, but a clear insult of his abilities. "And I don't suppose you two would be willing to make a wager on that."
Duo and Wufei looked at each other; the American looked tempted to burst out laughing, and Wufei didn't even attempt to hide his amusement.
"You're joking, right?" Duo said, his lips quivering with suppressed mirth that glittered brightly in his eyes.
"On the contrary, I'm completely serious," the blond rebuffed confidently. "If by some extremely bad stroke of luck I should miss that target, I'll owe each of you a favor of your choice with no limitations as long as it doesn't require me to break the law. However, when I hit that target, each of you will owe me a favor. No protests, no excuses, and no questioning over my absolute authority."
"Oh, this is gonna be good," Duo said, rubbing his hands together with glee. "Already, so many wicked, wicked things come to mind. Prepare for complete degradation, Black."
Draco smirked. "Is that an acceptance, Maxwell?"
"Of course it is!" Duo laughed gaily. "How many opportunities like this comes across a guy in a lifetime? Not enough!"
"I believe I shall take you up on that wager as well, Black," Wufei said smugly, confident that the chance of a first-time shooter hitting something dead-center at such a distance was astronomical.
"Yo!" Duo waved wildly, facing back toward the manor. Trowa and Quatre appeared to have decided to finally begin their remodeling of the garden. "Quat! Tro! Get the omnioculars from my room and drag Heero down here! You won't believe what dragon boy's pulling now!"
"Your strings, as you'll soon be my personal puppet," Draco murmured snidely as he watched Quatre, in the distance, turn to Trowa questioningly before Trowa went back inside, supposedly to do as Duo requested. Meanwhile, Quatre was making his way toward them, most likely to hear the story first.
Duo had the audacity to laugh. "Seriously, Draco. While your overconfident brat-like ego is exactly what I like about you most of the time, it's really going to get you in trouble one of these days."
Draco raised a single eyebrow pointedly. "And your frequent mistake of favoring muggle war tactics to wizarding ones is going to get you into trouble one day, Duo. This," he said, pointing the gun away from Duo and lifting the muggle weapon up slightly, "runs out of those bullet things eventually. A wand doesn't fail until you're dead."
"What makes you think I haven't already realized that?" Duo said with a lopsided grin. "Usually when you're off avoiding human contact completely, me and the guys gather and work on homework while discussing various ways we can apply both tactics to whichever war situation."
"Learning the same would, in fact, be wise of you, Black," Wufei added. "Not only will you have the element of surprise should you ever come into battle, but think of how well you could potentially defend yourself and escape until a better solution comes along should your wand ever be taken from you or broken. There's also a chance that, should you find yourself amongst muggles, you can use a firearm to protect yourself without breaking any wizarding laws.(1) Teaching you how to use muggle weapons is actually a good idea, despite what one would consider from Maxwell."
"Should I be insulted?" Duo said dryly right before he turned and cheerfully greeted Quatre.
"Too bad you weren't here earlier," Duo said cheerfully to the bemused Winner heir. "You could have talked some sense into Draco before his mouth wrote a check that his tooshie can't cash."
"Toos- what are you, five?" Draco demanded, offended that Duo would describe his perfect arse in any way as demeaning as "tooshie."
Duo obviously ignored him. "Dragon boy here thinks he can shoot that bullseye from here on his first try. When he loses, Wufei and I get to do whatever we want with him." The braided boy rubbed his hands together maniacally once more. "Victory is gonna be so sweet."
Quatre looked at Draco with genuine interest. "Really, Draco? You're really confident you can do that?"
Despite Quatre's disgustingly Hufflepuff nature, Draco found the wide-eyed honesty in Quatre's teal eyes very refreshing in the face of Wufei and Duo's obvious skepticism. Quatre Winner was another one of those rare few who belonged in another house while, despite all outward appearances of complete honesty and concern for the well-being of others, displayed some rather Slytherinesque qualities. The realization had taken quite a bit of time to strike the former Malfoy heir, but a week spent living in close quarters with the Hufflepuff had cemented the realization. True, Quatre was nice and trustworthy -two aspects a Slytherin would never display publically- but he was sly, quick, and knew his way around strategy. Another friendly snake, but in this case, amongst sheep instead of lions.(2)
"Of course I can," Draco said, ignoring Duo's silent laughter and Wufei's amused snort. "It's these gits who are going to be eating crow."
Quatre shook his head in response to the others' reactions to Draco's confidence. "I wouldn't be so cocky, guys. A gun might be very different from a wand, but Draco has impeccable aim otherwise."
Quatre was his new favorite best friend. Then again, anyone willing to stroke his ego almost instantly skyrocketed to the top of his list. Movement out of the corner of his eye drew Draco's attention away from mentally changing the list of favorite best friends, and he turned to spot Trowa and Heero walked toward them, a pair of omnioculars grasped in Trowa's hand.
"Yeah, but the recoil and the distance change everything," Duo pointed out. "There's no way he could possibly do it. That's what makes this so glorious."
"There's no way who could possibly do what?" Trowa asked, handing the omnioculars to Duo in passing.
"Duo and Wufei don't think Draco can hit that target at this distance on his first shot," Quatre explained. Draco especially liked the way Quatre decided to word that in his favor, whether it was intentional or not.
"You can't tell me you honestly think he can!" Wufei said in disbelief.
"I think there's always a chance he could do it," Quatre reminded Wufei quietly. "Ignorance doesn't prove incompetence, you know."
Draco watched Heero closely throughout the conversation, amused when he saw Trowa look towards the quiet Japanese Slytherin with a slightly raised eyebrow, as if he was silently asking Heero a question without giving away his inquiry in so many words. Heero's reply was short and barely noticeable as he simply shook his head with minimal movement. When Trowa and Heero chose not to say anything in or against Draco's favor, the blond was just that more pleased about how well everything was playing out.
"I guess there's only one way to know for sure, and that requires dragon boy to strut his stuff," Duo said cheerfully, giving Draco a wide birth. "Have at it, Draco. But before you do, I gotta know if you can fit into your mom's dresses."
Draco gave the grinning American an unamused glance as he carefully corrected his stance. "Do I honestly want to know?"
"You'll see," Duo said smugly.
Draco hated how Duo was beginning to sound more and more like him during moments of superior certainty. No one should have been able to pull off such a perfect mixture of sincere smugness expect for Draco himself. No one.
Maybe this is why, instead of amusing him like I do now, Harry always found me a tad bit irritating. I know it bugs me when Duo starts leaking the superiority complex, Draco mused, only to immediately disregard that notion. Harry was just a poor Gryffindor Boy Wonder who hadn't noticed the signs of Draco's obvious transcendency until recently. Landing Harry as his unofficial boyfriend only served to further prove his point.
Much to Draco's chagrin, he couldn't suppress the sudden smile that tilted the corners of his mouth at the thought of Harry Potter. Once the bane of his existence, a tentative comradery sprouted between Hogwarts most notorious rivals during the Yule holiday of their sixth year. Coincidentally, Duo was the one to blame for the tolerance between Harry and Draco in the first place; Draco had a suspicious feeling that if not for Duo making light of Draco's attitude problem (though Draco didn't see how his attitude could have been a problem in the first place, seeing as how everything he said was true), Harry wouldn't be nearly as easy-going towards Draco as he was now. The Gryffindor Golden Boy certainly wouldn't have taken the measure of initiating some form of romantic relationship with the tarnished Slytherin Prince.
Draco wanted to maliciously stomp all over the butterflies that suddenly began to flutter wildly in his stomach as he remembered exactly how Harry had decided to go about initiating a relationship in the first place. It wasn't a perfect first kiss by any means of the word. (Draco was adamant in his belief that the Dementor's Kiss didn't count as a first kiss, seeing as those tended to result in the loss of one's soul, and his was still intact, no matter how much the Weasel insisted someone had to have a soul to remove for the Dementor's Kiss to be effective. The former Malfoy heir always sulked when Duo would say, all in good humor, "Whatever helps you sleep at night, man.") For one thing, the kiss had been executed in the baggage car of the bloody Hogwarts Train. The baggage car! If that wasn't a sign from the Fates that such a relationship was bound to come with a lot of baggage of the emotional variety, Draco would eat Duo's braid. And Draco wouldn't put that annoying "fifth limb" anywhere near his mouth, which only further proved the absolute certainty that they weren't exactly meant to be a perfect couple. For another thing, Harry had used the kiss as a way to shut Draco up, which wasn't really good for his ego at all. (Though he wasn't about to complain about it at all.)
On the other hand...
The kiss had been perfect. He always imagined that Harry would be terrible when it came to kissing, if only because the Boy Wonder wasn't exactly known for his skills in that department. The way the kiss itself made Draco feel was... alive. On top of the world. Abso-bloody-lutely fan-fucking-tastic. In spades. The mere memory of it always made Draco's day seem a little more tolerable, and even if he abhorred romantic sap of any nature... Well, that was how it was. Harry made Draco feel nice. "Nice" in a content way because spirits forbid if Draco had the urge to help a Hufflepuff in distress.
So what if Harry and Draco weren't The Perfect Couple? Yes, there were a lot of differences between them; some would say too many. Harry had muggleborn friends, held the common plebeians in high regards, and thought the world of truth, justice, and goodwill toward man. Draco thought the wizarding world could do without muggleborns, thought very little of the poor and worthless, and visibly gagged in contempt whenever such ridiculous notions like "truth" and "peace" were brought up. In fact, probably one of the only things the two had in common were they're surprisingly quick tempers, and that common factor wasn't exactly how healthy relationships flourished. They're relationship was doomed to fail before it would even start.
However, when Draco removed himself from the situation and took the time to step back and consider all the facts, no relationship was perfect. People had their differences and, honestly, if Harry had been exactly like the former Malfoy heir, Draco wouldn't find him attractive in the least. All relationships put to the test had the chance of going awry, and just because Draco and Harry were so very different didn't necessarily mean they had worse odds than anybody else as long as they tried to make it work.
That sounded a bit too optimistic for Draco, much to his mortification.
Gah! I have plenty of time to think about Harry later. Focus on achieving my goal now, Draco thought to himself, shaking himself from his momentary reprieve. He firmed his stance and, both hands cradling the warm metal under his palms and fingers, lifted the muggle firearm to eye level. He sighted the target in the distance carefully; at this point, there was no room for stupid mistakes. With a deep, cleansing breath and a small prayer to the spirits, Draco pulled back on the hammer, realigned his sight, and promptly pulled the trigger.
The end of the barrel exploded, the shot echoing ominously across the gently rolling hills that were abundant on the Black Family summer estate.
Heero Yuy lowered the omnioculars with a satisfied smirk. "Well done."
"What?" Duo yelped, snatching the omnioculars from his boyfriend. Draco was absolutely ecstatic to see the dawning amazement on the other boy's face when he replayed the shot in slow motion. "Well, I'll be damned... Bullseye!"
Once reviewing the proof, Wufei started cursing coarsely under his breath in what Draco assumed was his native language. "How did you...?"
"Good job, Draco," Quatre said innocently, the smile on his face genuinely congratulatory.
"Your first mistake," Trowa said lightly, looking at his two flabbergasted friends in mild amusement, "was assuming that this is the first time Draco has fired a gun."
Duo blinked. "You mean..." The American turned to look at his smirking boyfriend incredulously. "Heero!"
The Japanese boy shrugged nonchalantly. "The dungeons have proven to be an excellent place to set up a rigorous training facility. Draco expressed an interest when I brought up the idea to him, and I decided that letting him give it a test run would be prudent, as well as a simple way to gauge the difficulty level of the course. Draco proves to be an excellent aspiring marksman."
"And you didn't tell me?" Duo exclaimed wildly, throwing his hands up in the air to further emphasize his point.
"Trowa knew," Heero pointed out. "I'd assumed you would have realized that my time hasn't been entirely focused on you and getting my laptop to work. You just never asked."
"Your second mistake," Trowa added, "was bumptiousness. Duo, didn't you once tell us you'd never underestimate a pureblood wizard after you and Draco were kidnaped?"
Duo grinned sheepishly.
"The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence(3)," Wufei murmured, sounding disgusted. "Cao..."(4)
Draco smirked, handing the gun off to Heero. "You know, despite my misgivings about the whole learn-how-to-use-muggle-weaponry thing, I'm beginning to realize that learning new things isn't necessarily bad, even if the things I'm learning do pertain to muggles. In any case... Congratulations, boys. From here until I call my favors, I now officially own you."
"You tricked us," Wufei accused. "You planned this all along!"
"Now, now, Wufei," Duo said gaily. "You have to admit, that was a damn good shot. Draco played us right into his hands. Very Slytherin tactic, dragon boy. I'm impressed." And the American proceeded to clap his hands together enthusiastically in a show of applause.
"Your useless platitudes won't lessen your humiliation for when I execute my diabolical plot," Draco said smugly, enjoying Duo's sullen expression as the one-man applause immediately died. "But thanks for taking the time to stroke my ego, even if you were just doing it to get out of our wager."
"Don't mention it," Duo groused. The American sighed, admitting defeat by asking wearily, "So what's on the Humiliate Duo Agenda? At least console me by saying Wufei will have it worse."
"Shut up, Maxwell," the Chinese youth snapped.
"It doesn't even have to be true," Duo amended, "just as long as you consol me by saying it is."
Draco decided to humor Duo just this once. "Okay, Duo. I'll lie to you and say Wufei is going to have it worse."
Duo nodded miserably. "Not as comforting as I'd hoped, but thanks for trying. So what's your plan?"
Draco smirked. In retrospect, crossing one's arms and lifting one's eyebrow in faint amusement wasn't the best way to attempt innocence, but to be fair, Draco never was one for innocence. "What makes you think I already have something planned?"
Duo gave him a blank look. "Because you're Draco effin' Black, and you plot your evil schemes in advance."
"True," Draco murmured, nodding. "I don't think I'm going to tell you yet. But rest assured, Duo, it'll be particularly... entertaining. Well, perhaps not for you."
"God forbid should I derive any pleasure from having to follow your word to the letter," Duo mumbled sullenly. "I hope you know, Heero, I'm blaming you."
Heero lifted a single eyebrow, as if to say, "Like I held a gun to your head and forced you to make a bet with Draco, who already knows his way around a gun thanks to me." Heero's expressions tended to imply an awful lot for such a simple manipulation of muscles.
Draco chuckled wickedly. Oh, victory was so sweet.
TBC...
(1) You can take the boy out of the military, but you can't take the military out of the boy. :inhales deeply: Ah, breathe deep the taint of war...
(2) Yes, Draco's fully aware that the animal representing Hufflepuff is a badger; then again, Draco doesn't think highly of most Hufflepuffs, so he would probably refer to them as sheep.
(3) ... Damn you, Samuel L. Jackson, for voice-acting on The Boondocks and constantly quoting your old movies, much to the benefit of my amusement...
(4) :shock: Wufei! You vulgarian. :grins: It's Mandarin. I'll give you a hint. Four letters, sounds like truck. If you haven't guessed it by now, starts with F.
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