Once upon a Friendship…

[Drew Thornton]

August 3, 2002
Peru

On the outskirts of the small town, two figures suddenly appeared, hidden by the jungle to any who might be passing by. They stood there for a moment, making sure it was safe to come out, before the man spoke.

"Stay close."

Drew nodded back silently, having no intention of wandering off at this time. As his father took a careful step forward, Drew shoved the portkey, a flat playground ball, into his backpack. His father looked back at him and smiled and Drew skipped forward, scared, but also excited over the adventure he and his dad were taking.

Drew's first year at Hogwarts had been better than he could have expected. The previous summer, he had been making plans to feign Squib so he would be sent home, but now, he had friends, a girlfriend, and a goal to become an Auror just like his Head of House had been. He had spent the summer writing his buddies and it was always pretty cool getting a response from England, or Hungary, or France.

But never Peru. Drew's owls to Franco came back unopened and when the boy had asked his dad for help, Mark Thornton had done what he could to find the other boy. Records showed that the thirteen year old was still living with his uncle, so why the returned letters. After being pestered for a week, noting how worried his younger child seemed to be over his new friend, Mark made arrangements to go down and just see what was going on. Drew's mom wasn't too thrilled about the idea, but in the end she relented, knowing that her husband wouldn't let anything happen to their young son.


As they walked down the dirt road towards the village, Drew skipped to keep up with his dad's long pace. The older Thornton seemed concerned, but didn't tell Drew why. All he did was look over his shoulder and urge the boy to catch up. Drew obliged, looking up to his dad as he tried to match his stride.

"So, what do we do? Just go up and knock on the door?" he asked, his voice squeaking slightly as it tended to do when he was excited.

"I want you to stay close," Mark told him again.

"You didn't answer my question," Drew pointed out, narrowing his eyes at his father.

"I know," he responded with half a smile.

"How do you know where to go? Did you get that from work?" the boy asked curiously. Mark nodded. His position with the government gave him a few special accesses and he had called in a few favors in order to do this. Drew didn't know it, but this went farther than just a school chum not answering letters. And while he would have rather left Drew back in California, if Mark's suspicions were true, the boy needed to be there.

They walked through the village and, checking the map he had brought, Mark led them to a path through the jungle. They walked quite a way and Drew's questions faded out, partially due to weariness, and in part because the seriousness of what they were doing was coming to him.

"What if Franco's in trouble?" he finally asked as they came to the side of a mountain. Drew wasn't sure where they were going, but his dad apparently did.

"Stay close," Mark told him again as he stepped up to the hillside and the door appeared from nowhere. Drew not only did what he was told but as his father knocked, he shrunk behind. At five foot four, the twelve year old was tall for his age, but not nearly as tall as his dad who still had over a foot on him.

[Franco Masuoka]

Franco lied curled on his bed, shaking slightly feeling all weak. He hardly coud make out what was going on as everything looked now as blurs and voices mixed into his head. He had gotten sick just a week after he arrived home and had gotten worse and worse each week till the point that he could not even raise his head from the bed.

"Why didn't you call me before?" the healer asked to the other man still looking at the sick kid.

"I thought, he had to adjust back to the food here. After almost a year with that european food..." the man lied, looking really concern at the state of his nephew "but, you still can do something? It is not too late?" he asked showing real anxiety now.

"It was a luck I could determinate the poison used quickly... but he had been exposed to it for too long... we just can wait now." the healer replied and looked back at the man again "This is not an accident, Haruo, and you know it. Someone is trying to kill the boy..."

The man did not replied, not even looked back at the healer, and it was a look for him that in that instant someone called at the door. Giving a last look at the boy on the bed he walked out the room, close the door quietly and pulled the tapestry that hid the door.

It was a look that he had not died the man thought while walked down the stairs. But now there was another problem rounding his head, they boy's death was not the answer... he must live.

He gave a look at the peep-hole just spotting a tall foreigner standing at the other side of the door. A wizard for sure as no muggle could have found the place, maybe one of those...

He opened the door, but just barely, what the chain allowed it.

"Si?" he asked looking at the man with a suspicious look like waiting for a special word or a code. He had not spotted Drew just yet.

[Drew Thornton]

There was movement on the othere side, the rattle of a chain and then the opening of the door. A man peeked out and Drew's father addressed him as best he could with his limited Spanish.

"Buenos dias, Señor. Soy Mark Thornton, el padre de Andrew Thornton, un amigo de Franco," Mark started, removing his hat and smiling in a friendly manner. "Yo me disculpo para la intrusión, pero mi hijo procuraba contactar Franco y se preocupó cuando él hizo no recieve una respuesta. Estuvimos en el vecindario y pensamos visitarlo. ¿Está él aquí tan mi hijo puede decir hola?"

As his father spoke, Drew peeked out from behind his father and looked back and forth between the two men. His dad hadn't told an actual lie, but he really hadn't given the whole story. They were in the neighborhood solely to check up on Franco and not by coincidence as the elder Thornton had seemed to imply.



Good day, sir. I'm Mark Thornton, the father of Drew Thornton who is a friend of Franco's. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but my son has been trying to contact Franco and became concerned when he didn't recieve a response. We were in the neighborhood and thought we might visit. Is he here so my son might say hello?

[Franco Masuoka]

The smaller man looked at the stranger and then noticed the kid, around his nephew's age. and frowned. They certainly were not the people he had expected to be, people looking for Franco was the least he needed, the least he wanted indeed.

"He is not here. He died" he said coldly with that despective manner of him "I am sorry you made this trip in vain" the man added though nothing in his voice or in his face showed any sorry.

"Now if you excuse me." the man said as started pushing the door close. As soon as he get ride of them, the better, it was not good for him to have his nephew's friends coming, plus the spanish of that man was getting his nerves.

[Drew Thornton]

"What? He... he... he died?" Drew asked, his voice squeeking again as he looked at the man from behind his father. How was that even possible? Why hadn't they come earlier? Drew was trying his best not to cry, but he could feel the tears welling up.

Mark put an arm around his son and frowned. His first concern was his son's distress, but he couldn't help but wonder why the letters had come back unopened instead of responding and breaking such news in a gentler way. The man made to close the door, but Mark put one hand up to stop it as the other gently rubbed the boy's back.

"My son thought very highly of Franco," Mark said relieved the man had switched to English. "Is there a family member we could speak to, ask what happened, pay our respects please?"

[Franco Masuoka]

The man glared at the stranger but also thought for some seconds, it was not wise to shove them off, it seemed that tall man was already getting suspicious for the look of him.

"I... apologize for my manners. Please enter..." he said as opened the door to let the pair walk in, and trying to fake manners he had not really "I am still... shocked by this... missfortune" he said as distractedly gave a quick look up at the stairs. He hoped to get ride of them as soon as possible and without raise any suspect.

Meanwhile upstairs the healer approached to the sick kid to check on his vital signs.

"Come on, boy" he muttered still with a slight hope that his intervention had not came too late. Franco was still alive which was good news, but not quiet out of danger.

How the kid got poisoned though, he was still wondering. Franco should have swallowed it for days, weeks maybe and it could have been in so many ways. Not the food of the house though, because if it was that the kid would not be the only one dying.

But how? The old friend of the family still thought while sighed. While they did not find out the source, the man was afraid that Franco could ingest the substance again by accident. Some one was trying to kill the boy, and whoever it was, was making a very good job.

[Drew Thornton]

Misfortune? Perhaps it was the man's english, but it seemed like asoft sort of word to use when discussing the death of a thirteen year old boy. Mark smiled plesantly, but was still wary of the man as he ushered Drew into the house.

Drew felt like a zombie, not sure what to think. He couldn't believe it, but at the same time did. He was angry at his dad for not getting them there faster, but at the same time knew it was all his fault. He wanted to cry and hit and at the same time felt like if he wasn't careful, he'd start laughing like a lunatic. He leaned against his father and wiped his face with the back of his hand as the two men talked.

"Franco was a young boy. How did this happen?" Mark asked, noting that the man looked nervous as if something was going on that the man wanted to keep hidden. speaking of which, who was this guy. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name. Are you Franco's family?"

[Franco Masuoka]

"Yes, I am his uncle... was I mean" the man replied trying hard not to glare at the man. Wasn't it kind of ovbious? An asian looking man in Peru? It wasn't that you could find asian men in Peru around any corner.

"He got sick the first week he arrived, we thought it was just culture shock... the food just made him sick... we did not expected him to get worse, to be honest." the man explained "Do you want something to drink?" he asked trying hard to be... polite with those two, though he hardly could hide the fact that their presence bothered him.

The man just turned his back at them as walked toward the bar, mumbling underbreath.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew looked up at his father helplessly, getting a strange sort of feeling from this man who claimed to be Franco's uncle. Just to feel safer, he shrunk closer to his dad and didn't say anything for the time being.

"No, thank you," Mark answered, thinking that if the man's story was true, he wouldn't want to chance him or Drew getting sick either. And if the man's story was a lie... well, Mark wasn't about to take anything that was offered then either.

"We should be going soon," Mark continued but made no move to leave. If they ended up leaving before getting the answers to questions, Mark would check on this man through other resources. "We've impossed too much already at such a trying time. but I'd like to ask just a few more questions please. When did Franco die?"

[Franco Masuoka]

"mmm... three days ago" he said though could not help look up at the stairs while said that. Then looked down at the bar and served some rum to himself. This man asking questions was getting him nervous already which made him need some drink, hold something in his hands to be able to cover the nervousness.

The man up the stairs remained besides the patient's bed, wondering how to help the boy. So far he had not been able to discover the source of the poisoning, how the poison got into him. It could not have been the food, because no one else in the house had gotten sick. May be when he was playing with the other kids, he could have drank from an offered water, some one could have slid the poison into his drink... but the poison had been given in small dozes over days and days, that was clear for him or the poison would have been detected sooner... whoever was doing it had found a method to get the poison into Franco, and though so far the man had been able to prevent this to happen again, he was afraid that the killer would find a way to avoid detection.

After think for a long while, seeing the kid now sleeping deeply, he walked out of the room and down the stairs, to talk his concern with the kid's only relative, and find a way to protect him. But as he reached the first floor he spotted the visitors, and though the man looked familiar to him, he could not quiet recognize him.

"Good afternoon" he said polite as have heard them talking in english in his way down, and held his hand to shake Mark's.

[Drew Thornton]

"Three days..." Mark repeated, thinking that would put Franco's illness as lasting nearly two months. Not unheard of, but rather unusual, especially in mystery diseases. With Drew still latched under one arm, the tall American was about to ask another question when another man entered the room.

Mark stood briefly to shake the man's hand politely. "Mark Thornton and this is my son Drew," he said, prompting the boy to shake the man's hand as well. Mark didn't know who he was, but at the same time got a better feeling from the man. "Drew was a friend of Franco's from school. We came to visit and just heard what had happened."

[Franco Masuoka]

"Did he?" he said giving a surprise look at Haruo while his hand shifted to shake Drew's then looked back at the two visitors and then remember him.

"Yeah! I just informed him about Franco's death." Haruo said quickly.

The healer looked speechless for a second, like unable to find a word "Why?" he could only said.

"He asked" the man replied coldly not looking at any of them but taking another drink.

The healer looked still shocked, wondering what was on the asian man's head, but then he put himself together and thought that probably it was for the kid's protection, not to tell a stranger about the kid real condition... that they thought he was being poisoned... but then something came up at his mind.

"Oh, I think I know you" he said now looking at the tall man with more interest "You work for the ministry in america, don't you?. Oh, In the convention of Healers, two years ago? no?" he said still guessing, trying to remember, he was sure he had seen that man somewhere.

The smaller man looked at the healer and Mark, his eyes wide open for a second at the possibility that Mark was from a Ministry... someone from the Ministry was something that could really be a problem for him.

[Drew Thornton]

Something did not sit right with Mark as he watched the other two men talk. There seemed to be some concern over mentioning Franco's death to the Americans. "My son was concerned for his good friend," Mark said again, noticing how quiet Drew had gotten. That was usually a clear sign that the boy was upset. Mark squeezed his shoulder, giving him a one armed hug.

"Oh, I think I know you" the newcomer said, looking at Mark curiously. "You work for the ministry in America, don't you?. Oh, in the convention of Healers, two years ago? no?"

Mark narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, contemplating the query. This man seemed somehow more trustworthy than the other, but that didn't mean that Mark was going to be careless. "Yes. I was there," he answered. "Co-ordinating arrivals and departures for the convention."

[Franco Masuoka]

"Oh I knew I have seen you somewhere. I never forget a face" he said with a smile but then Drew caught his attention The young boy did not look good at all, and he could not blame him, how on earth Haruo said such a lie in front of that boy!!

"Do you want some tea, young man? That might help" He asked as bended a little to Drew's level trying to comfort him. But it was not only for that the reason he wanted a closer look to Drew, but to make sure he was indeed a boy and not someone in disguise. He wanted to take Haruo's lack of sense to their advantage.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew shook his head, not sure he trusted anyone anymore. His father prodded him with the proper words and Drew echoed, "No, thank you, sir," looking the man in the eye as he had been taught, but then lowering his head immediately afterwards.

"I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your name," Mark smiled as he spoke to the second man. The first man had never actually given a name either, just stated he was the uncle and Mark hoped maybe this second man would be a little more forthcoming. He didn't feel that there was any danger, but still, something didn't seem totally truthful about the uncle's story.