A RUMOR OF PEACE

          The Peverell Potter brothers looked at the four, giving them warm smiles before their gazes returned to Ardyn.  "Besides, from a tactical point of view, that would have been the next move for you to make in order to get us off of Aquaria." Harry raised a brow, arms on the table as he leaned forward. "So yes, of course you called him."

          Ardyn settled back into his chair, hands linked over his stomach.  "Is this why you were sent to Saggitara?"

         Roark gave a shrug, a look of great discomfort entering his eyes at the mention of Saggitara, which prompted Harry to reach over and lay a hand on Roark's wrist, giving it a squeeze.  Roark glanced over at him, nodded, then turned back.

          "As I have no memory of my time on Saggitara, I can't say," he murmured, a hand lifting to brush back a few strands of hair that had, once again, fallen into his eyes.

          "You need a haircut, kiddo," Alexei growled in playful amusement.

          Roark gave a chuckle.  "I was just waiting for you, Lex.  Dacian threatened to cut my hair, but Gabe and your father made it VERY clear if he came near me with a pair of scissors--"

          That brought a round of hearty laughter from all of them, including Harry.  "That's because he nearly butchered Gabe when he tried to cut his hair," Tyler said with yet another deep chuckle.  "If I remember right, Gabe refused to leave the house until it grew back."

          "He did, and I was very surprised when he didn't kill some of the younger boys," a warning finger was waved at Harry, who tried to look innocent, "and yes, Hadrian James, you are included in that, given the way you all laughed and teased him every time you saw him."

          "Couldn't help it," he said, "it was funny.  Bald spots in places, some places cut at odd angles..." he broke off with a chuckle.

          "Ah yes, I do think it was you and Kili who spearheaded THAT particular game." came from Jordan.  "Come to that, the rest of us really weren't much better."

          Alexei shook his head as another round of chuckles sounded,  "No, we weren't at that, but hell, Harry was right, it WAS funny.  Ah well, back to the subject at hand...  Calling Jacob, Ardyn, would have been your last resort as Dad and the others would have made it clear they wouldn't help you."

          Ardyn looked over at Alexei, then to Desmond sitting beside him, both of them glaring at him.  His gaze next shifted to the other end of the table where Severus, who had thus far remained silent, watchful...STUDYING him with those midnight eyes, then over to Jordan and Tyler.  

          With the addition of these four, things became much more complicated.  It was bad enough that Dacian had sent his husband to watch over the two but with the arrival of these four Durin's...His eyes returned to Harry and Roark, who sat side by side, looking at him.  They were, Ardyn knew, extremely protective of each other, and it was well known that the Durins protected the Peverell Potter brothers with the same fervor they did their own family.

          The attraction that he felt for Roark when he had first arrived several sectons {weeks} ago, had grown stronger, become more pronounced.  Hum...a ghost of an idea began to form...  'Hum, maybe I could seduce him,' he thought.  'Get him into bed, then maybe...just maybe...Yes, that could work,'  He looked over at Harry.  'I'd have to move slowly though, be careful not to arouse all of Harry's protective instincts, and by extension, Severus' and the others.'

          "Your grandfather was fine," he said, acknowledging that he had, indeed called him.  Better to admit it, especially as they already knew he had called him.  Of course, all they would need to do was call Adama themselves.  "He told me to tell you he sends his love, and that you had better be calling him soon.  Your grandmother is beginning to worry."

          "We'll call them tonight," Harry said, his head tilting as if prompting Ardyn to go on, and when he didn't his dark brow shot up.  "He refused your request.  Refused to help you get either of us off of here,"

          A sharp nod.  "He did," was his response.

          Roark wanted to laugh, but seeing just how frustrated he was, instead shook his head, making a frustrated sound of his own as his hair fell into his eyes once again.  "Oh, Ardyn," he sighed, reaching up to brush the stands back as Alexei got to his feet, pulling a small pair of scissors from one of the many supply holders on his weapons belt.  

          Taking the comb that Harry passed to him with a nod of thanks, he set to work.  "You really didn't know grandfather as well as you thought you did, did you?" he asked, sitting very still as the comb slipped through his hair, the scissors snipping away.  "What in the name of Kobol made you think that he would?"

          "He named you, with James and Lily's permission, after the man who was his best friend, his wingman aboard the Galactica until he had been assigned to the Solarian as her Commander."

          A frown.  "And just what does naming me after Admiral Roark have to do with anything?" he asked, looking over at Harry when he made a soft sound.  "Harry?"

          "Nothing, brother, just a memory I had forgotten.  I'll tell you about it later."

          "Maybe everything, perhaps nothing," he said, looking back and forth between the brothers, his brow furrowed.  "You are also the youngest.  His favorite."

          "Yes, I'm younger, but neither of us is favored over the other, never have been.  We have always been treated the same, just as Uncle Apollo, Aunt Athena, and Uncle Zac have never been favored one over the other."

          "He's worried about you being here, about the both of you being here.  I could hear it in his voice, see it in his expression.  He doesn't want either of you on Aquaria."

          "That is very true, but then, he didn't want us on Virgon either.  Thanks, Lex," he said as Alexei moved back around the table to take his seat.  "He also wasn't happy that Roark and Thorin recruited us when they did.  He thinks it may just be a case of too much, too soon, worried that we may not be able to handle the responsibility that comes with being a Counter-Intelligence Officer."

          "He is," Harry broke in then, "also very afraid for the both of us, though he would never admit it out loud.  He doesn't want us anywhere near the man who so brutally murdered our parents and then tried to kill us.  He and the Durins went to a great deal of trouble to hide and protect us, because if Riddle had ever found out we had survived..." Here he stopped and shook his head.  

          "He never would have stopped looking for you," Severus said.  "Riddle never leaves loose ends.  You and Roark are a loose end."

          "And just for the record, we're ALL worried about them being here," Jordan said, his sapphire eyes very serious.  "Maybe even a little afraid for them."

          "With very good reason."

          Then why send them for God's sake?!" he cried throwing his hands up in frustration.

          "Because if anyone can bring down that filth known as Tom Riddle, it will be Harry and Roark.  Riddle will not be able to get to them as he has gotten to others."

          "What?" he looked at each of them with what he THOUGHT was very well-pretended surprise and shock.  "Kale?" he asked.