1-Dec-2002
Parallel
A Harry Potter/Gundam Wing fanfic by Stormy
Rating: R
Pairings: 1x2 (more to be announced)
Summary: Heero Yuy and Harry Potter. Transcending time and space, the mystery of what became of Harry Potter is about to unfold.
Warnings: Shonen ai (1x2), possible SBxRL (haven't decided yet ^^)
Spoilers: TPS, CoS, PoA, GoF, (HP), Endless Waltz (GW)
Additional Notes: Well, the GW boys look like they're going back with Dumbledore and company - and who knows what awaits them?
As always, check out my home page for pics and even more fics (though if you want to read my GW fics, I suggest you check out Gundam Wing Addiction: www.gwaddiction.com under "Stormy" - I don't keep even half of my GW fics on my homepage. ^^).
Spoilers: TPS, CoS, PoA, GoF, (HP), Endless Waltz (GW)
Additional Notes: Another kind of dragging scene but I have to set the stage for the next chapter. So more plot filler and fluff. ^^ Don't worry, this all has a point to it.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter despite my little temper tantrum. ^^ I'm happy now, so no more outbursts. *crosses heart*
Amazingly enough, Sirius was the first to wake the next morning. Had Remus been there, he would have gaped in astonishment. Many was the time he and James had had to pry Sirius from his bed, using everything from conjured ice water to a giant-sized gong going off right off next to his head. And sometimes, that didn't even work.
Mornings were for sleeping, Sirius could recall telling the other Marauders numerous times. He sat up and shook his head, letting his tongue loll out as he yawned. They still are.
As long as he was awake, he figured it was safe enough for him to be human for a bit, and with a thought, he switched forms, stretching into human shape. Realistically, hew knew it was safe, but there were still some people that refused to believe him innocent, and it was hard to change the habits he'd cultivated after almost three years on the run.
The dark short and pants he had put on at Heero and Duo's home were still on him, and he sniffed the arms warily. Yeah, it was starting to get ripe. He smirked, and glanced across the room.
Varying night noises could be heard. Snores from Ron, whispering, sighing breaths from Hermione, and the rustle of bedclothes, as Wufei seemed to be a chronic shifter, constantly in motion even as he slept. Trowa and Quatre were spooned together, the taller pilot wrapping one solid arm around the blonde as though anchoring him in place.
Sirius sat up and rested his arms on his knees. Harry – Heero, he reminded himself yet again – lay flat on his back, dead to the world. Duo was draped across him; his limbs flung every which way, mouth open, snoring loud enough to rival Ron. Sirius's eyes were drawn to Heero's hand, which still kept a tight grip on the tail end of Duo's braid, a simple gesture that spoke volumes about the depth of their relationship and the need they had for each other. McGonagall was going to have her hands full, trying to keep those two apart.
Stretching his feet out to touch the floor, Sirius was determined to have the first crack at the shower. He thought he'd moved silently, but Heero's eyes snapped open and focused on him like twin laser beams. Sirius held up his hands in surrender and pointed at the hallway.
Shower, he mouthed, and Heero nodded, closing his eyes again. Not a single other muscle had moved. Sirius thought about that as he entered the Gryffindor shower room, remembering to close the door. Not a strictly modest individual, he nevertheless remembered Hermione's nearby presence and pulled the curtain across his stall for additional privacy.
From what he'd seen at the Preventers where Heero and the others had worked following the war he'd learned about, he knew that Heero his friends had been among their elite soldiers, and had been sent on many dangerous missions. Harry's invisibility cloak had come in handy, allowing him to slip through the halls and listen in on what the agents had considered private conversations.
Sirius was not a stranger to danger. Before the fall of Voldemort fifteen years ago, he'd had a promising career as an Auror. At the tender age of twenty, he'd been one of the Ministry's top agents, and more then one of his supervisors had mentioned he'd be a phenomenal Unspeakable agent.
Waking up so quickly and alertly without moving a muscle spoke of years of being put into or found in dangerous situations. There was so much he didn't know about his godson – the new version. There were many things he wanted to ask, starting with his meeting with Duo and wrapping up with his last mission where he'd been shot.
Sirius still couldn't keep his heart from skipping a beat when he thought of that. How many times had his godson's life been in danger since arriving in the future? If the pictures he'd found in Heero's apartment were any indication, then he probably was better off not knowing. He recalled Duo mentioning shooting him twice, and shook his head with a sigh. Harry hadn't lost his amazing ability to forgive.
And what of the wizarding world? Harry Potter was a household name – the very name spoke of in awe over his enormous achievements, even more so after Harry had seemingly defeated Voldemort six weeks ago, their time. The Ministry, currently serving under Dumbledore temporarily until a new Minister was appointed, had recognized the return and subsequent fall of the Dark Lord, and was still busy rounding up Death Eaters that had either escaped that fateful night, or had been elsewhere entirely. Sirius was finding it difficult to be enthusiastic about possibly returning to work as an Auror. It was hard to change fourteen years of belief overnight, and Sirius had spent so much time searching for his godson, he hadn't really stepped forward to try and help his new reputation along. Despite Peter Pettigrew's confession, the general public still lived in almost as much fear of his name as they did under Voldemort's.
"Even though it wasn't my fault," he whispered, tilting his head back under the warm spray of the shower.
The showers were equipped with standardized soap, shampoo and conditioner and he scrubbed himself down thoroughly. Rinsing the last of the lather away, he turned off the water, wrapped his towel around his waist and stepped into the change room. Quatre and Trowa stood there patiently, wearing bathrobes with the Hogwarts crest on the lapel.
"The elves dropped by again?" he chuckled.
Quatre nodded. "They gathered everyone's clothes and took them for cleaning. They gave us the robes and promised the clothes would be finished when we were." He gestured to the shower room door. "We didn't want to interrupt you."
"I'm finished. You guys go ahead."
Quatre thanked him and moved ahead. Trowa gave Sirius a small nod of thanks and followed the blonde. Sirius shook his head again.
"His name should be ‘Sirius'" he muttered. "All of them kids, but not one of them a child."
For some reason that depressed him. But the sight of his clothes lying neatly folded on the bench instead of on the floor where he'd thrown them before his shower made him grin. House elves really did work fast. With his smile back on his face, he hurried to get ready.
Heero was awake and out of bed when he returned, and stood with Wufei to the side of the bed, whispering something to each other. He raised an eyebrow. "What's up guys?"
Heero looked at him with a faint smile. "Arguing over who gets to wake up Duo this time."
Wufei nodded. "The last time Duo woke me during a mission, it was after braiding my hair with over a dozen pink bows and hair-spraying them into solid position. This is the first opportunity I will have had to get even with him." He glowered at Heero. "Yuy is intent on stopping me from exacting justice."
Sirius chuckled. "Fair's fair, Harry."
Heero gave him an odd look, and he cursed silently as he belatedly registered the slip of the tongue. They were going to have to something about that. Then Heero shrugged and folded his arms.
"What did you plan on doing?"
Wufei smiled mysteriously. "Watch and learn." He leaned down towards the sleeping boy, and whispered into his ear.
"Maxwell…"
"Mmmmmmmmm…*snert*…" Duo snorted but didn't wake up.
"Maxwell, did you forget your mission?"
"Mmmmissh'n…?"
Hermione and Ron had awakened and joined Sirius, watching the scene with interest.
"Your mission Maxwell. The one to blow up the base. The one that was supposed to start – TEN MINUTES AGO!"
Wufei screamed the last few words into Duo's ear, which travelled at warp speed into Duo's brain. The American's eyes snapped open and he leaped out of bed, eyes wild.
"Detonator's set 05! Mission is a—wha?" Duo shook his head. "What the hell?"
Sirius hit the bed laughing, Ron and Hermione pounding the covers at the sight of the frazzled pilot. Duo's braid hung in straggles and his fingers twitched as though pressing imaginary buttons. Wufei chuckled and even Heero was grinning in amusement. Duo's wild eyes flicked from one hysterical observer to the next and fell on Wufei. His right eye twitched as he realized what had happened. "Wufei?"
"Yes Maxwell?"
"DIE!" With a howl, Duo snatched his pillow off the bed and flung himself at the Chinese pilot, striking him hard, landing them both on the bed Ron had vacated. Duo seemed determined to smother his friend and Wufei was laughing too hard to fight back effectively. Sirius wiped away the tears streaming from his eyes and looked over at Heero, still grinning.
"Should we help him?"
Heero shook his head. Reaching over calmly, he snagged the flying rope of Duo's hair and tugged. With a yelp, Duo followed his hair, letting go of Wufei who used the distraction to make his escape, racing for the shower room. Instead of catching himself, Duo pushed against the bed with his feet and rocked back against Heero who hadn't expected the move and two of them hit the floor with a thud, Heero first. Duo snatched his braid out of Heero's hand, petting the tendrils soothingly and sniffed at his boyfriend sprawled on the ground.
"Serves you right for pulling my hair." He stuck out his tongue. "Fighting like a girl…"
"Excuse me?" Hermione stood in front of him and tapped the American on his shoulder. "Is that so bad?"
"Of course not!" Duo nodded his head up and down. Ron looked confused.
"Did he agree with her or not?" he demanded. Sirius rolled his eyes playfully and pushed the flame-haired boy off the bed.
Hermione lost her battle to keep from laughing and she eyed Duo curiously. "Is this another ritual?" she asked, referring to the morning sparring they'd been introduced to the other day. Duo shook his head.
"Nope – this is just payback."
"Does that mean you have to get him back?" Ron asked from his spot on the floor.
"Nah – I already did."
Even Heero looked confused for a second – before his eyes took in the rout Wufei had travelled to escape Duo's wrath. Then his own eyes widened and he grinned. Hermione looked puzzled.
"Wha--?"
A faint cry of surprise came from the shower room and Duo settled back against Heero, looking completely satisfied.
"He ran away from me so fast, he forgot that Trowa and Quatre got to the bathroom first," was all he said. Sirius burst out laughing again and Hermione turned beet-red.
"Oh my…"
Ron still looked confused. "I don't get it."
"He'll get over it," Duo snickered, getting to his feet and pulling Heero up behind him. "It's not the first time this has happened." He rubbed his stomach. "I'm hungry. Are the gremlins returning for a sequel or do we ship out?"
"The Great Hall," Heero said. "You'll get a kick out of the ceiling."
Wufei stormed back into the room, his face red, his hair wet, and his clothing clinging to him damply as though he'd forgotten to dry off before dressing. He shot Duo an evil look as he grabbed a towel and began rubbing his hair. Hermione was still blushing, but she walked over to the Chinese boy and cleared her throat before murmuring a quick drying spell. Wufei froze as he felt heat wash over him and blinked in surprise. His hair and clothing were completely dry!
"Thank you," he said, clinging to the last shreds of his dignity with admirable stubbornness. Hermione nodded.
"Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast!" Duo chanted. "Let's go!"
"What about Trowa and Quatre?" Sirius asked, sneaking a glance at Wufei, whose ears flamed pink again.
"They are…busy at the moment," Wufei said shortly. "Can we not leave them a note?"
Sirius looked like he wanted to say something else entirely, but he behaved himself. "We'll get Dobby to lead them to the Great Hall," he said. "Let's go." He melted back into dog form.
They filed out of the room. Ron was the last one out and he was still looking back and forth from Hermione and Sirius to Wufei and Duo. "I still don't get it."
Breakfast was a rather casual affair. The interesting moment when Quatre and Trowa were escorted in by Dobby resulted in Wufei just shaking his head and muttering under his breath, while Duo laughed and laughed and laughed. Hermione had blushed again, and Ron extracted a promise from her to explain what the joke was later on.
Sirius finished the last of the sausage. Sleeping was all right, but in the middle of the summer with no one but Filch around, he refused to eat his breakfast like a dog, especially when there was little chance of a stranger happening across them and start accusing him of murder again. The only one they had to worry about was Filch who still maintained that Black was a murdering scoundrel and ‘oughter be locked up'. Anyway, Ron had pulled the Marauders Map out of his pocket, and after explaining it to the pilots, kept it out to track the caretaker's whereabouts. Though judging from the little droplets of water spraying everywhere on the parchment and the symbols rising in bubble form from the figure that represented Filch cursing, it would obviously be a while before Filch would be able to escape the Dungeon bathrooms. "So what are we going to do about your name, Heero?"
Heero looked up from where he was fending off Duo's snitching fingers from his plate with his spoon. "What about it?"
"I have to keep reminding myself that you know yourself as Heero now, but the rest of the world is still going to call you Harry." Sirius cocked an eyebrow at him. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Let them call me Harry," Heero said mildly. He brought the back of his spoon down across Duo's knuckles making the braided boy yelp and drop the bacon slice. "Call me Heero or Harry – I don't care. I'll answer to both."
"Not the first time he's had to live under an alias," Quatre pointed out. He sliced his toast in half and handed it to Trowa who accepted it in trade for the extra strawberry slices on his plate. "We're used to having to call each other by one name in public and another in private."
Sirius watched them trade portions of their breakfast. "Dobby gave us all the same stuff today," he said in amusement. "But tomorrow, you can ask him for specifically what you want instead of having to give it away."
Quatre smiled. "Of course." He accepted the grape cluster from Trowa. Sirius groaned and pretended to gag.
"The sweetness! The sappiness! I can't take it!"
"Tough!" Duo reached across the table for the pumpkin juice. "See what we've had to put up with for the last two years? Suffer along with us!"
Trowa eyed Duo for a second and then very deliberately tossed a stray grape. It landed in Duo's glass just as the American was about to take a sip, and the resulting splash made him splutter.
"Trowa!"
"Ooops," Trowa said blandly, his one visible eye beneath the fringe of hair twinkling.
"It's nice to see everyone enjoying a good meal," came a familiar voice. Everyone at the table looked up to see Dumbledore walking towards them. A multi-colored tabby cat kept pace alongside him, although it walked down the table instead of the aisle. "Did everyone sleep well?"
There were various murmurs of agreement, and Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction before focusing on Heero. "I wonder if I might speak with you once you've finished your meal?"
Heero nodded slowly. Duo watched suspiciously.
"Excellent! The password is ‘Twizzlers'. No rush, my boy, whenever you're ready." He looked at Sirius. "You may come as well, Sirius. I'm sure you've some questions of your own to ask."
Sirius nodded.
Duo watched the elderly Headmaster leave the Great Hall and raised his eyebrow. "First day back, and already sent to the principal's office," he tisked. Despite the humorous words, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Should I be wanting to tag along?"
Heero shook his head. "I can handle it. Ron and Hermione can show you guys around while Sirius and I talk with him."
Duo eyed him for a minute and then nodded. "Sure thing." He glanced at the cat who was staring back at him. "Hey pretty kitty!"
Heero grinned. "However flattering Duo, most teachers are acknowledged as ‘Professor'."
"Huh?"
The cat stretched and shifted, turning into one Minerva McGonagall who fixed a bemused look on the embarrassed pilot.
"Good morning, Mr. Maxwell."
"Umm..hi?" Duo waved weakly and then his embarrassment disappeared. "She can do that animal thing too?" He grinned at Sirius and Heero. "You are DEFINITLEY going to show me how to do that!"
"Could he even do that?" Hermione piped up unexpectedly. "I mean, they're not magical, are they?"
"I hope to find out today, Miss Granger," McGonagall replied. "If you're willing of course, I should like to test you to see if you do have any magical ability."
Duo looked intrigued. "Cool."
Quatre looked at Trowa who nodded and then returned his gaze to the teacher. "Neither of us have any objections."
Wufei agreed. "I do not object either."
Hermione looked eagerly at the Deputy Headmistress. "May we watch the tests?"
Minerva nodded. "Again, unless they have any objections." The pilots shook their heads.
Heero stood up and Sirius followed suit. "We'll see you after our meeting with Dumbledore."
Duo squeezed his hand gently and his eyes followed them out of the room. Hermione stood up, pulling Ron with her. "Come on guys!" Her eyes were shining with enthusiasm. "Let's go see if you're wizards or not!"
End chapter 14
The next chapter will have an in-depth discussion between Heero, Sirius and Dumbledore. Questions about Heero's past, filling in the gaps in his memory, and we get a hint of what's to come regarding Voldemort. Is he dead? Is it just like what happened 15 years ago? And what of Peter Pettigrew? What will be his fate?
Again, how is this progressing? Comments are greatly appreciated – what you liked, what you didn't like. Should I tone down the sap? Keep it the way I've got it? I'm trying to keep an even mix here – not to sappy, not to angsty, kinda neutral. After all, there's going to be lots of darkness later on. *smirks evilly*
Feedback please?
Stormy
Please send comments to: dingostorm@hotmail.com