28-Feb-2003
Parallel
A Harry Potter/Gundam Wing fanfic by Stormy
Rating: R
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4
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 (Should I or shouldn't I? ^^)
Spoilers: TPS, CoS, PoA, GoF, (HP), Endless Waltz (GW)
Additional Notes: The scene near the end of this chapter is dedicated to Rachel Silver Moon who said she wanted to see the GW-boys react to something unexpected. ^^
Molly Weasely hummed to herself as she moved through her kitchen, her moves as familiar as a choreographed routine, brought on by years of identical mornings. In her arms, she carried a self-mixing bowl of pancake batter as she used her wand to heat up a frying pan on the stove. Two other pans were already busily frying bacon and scrambling eggs automatically, and she checked their progress with a practised eye. Noting that nothing as of yet was burning, she turned her attention to the last pan and murmured a few words. The batter transferred to the skillet in small, perfectly-shaped circles and immediately began to brown on one side.
The tea kettle let out a shrill clamour for her attention, and she poured herself a cup of herbal, adding a bit of lemon and honey as she always did, sitting down at the table to relax for a minute, for a minute was all she had. Very shortly, thumps and various noises would begin to emerge from upstairs, and she fully expected Charley or Bill downstairs first. The twins usually had to be forcibly pried out of bed, and Ron liked to lie about after waking up, reading a comic book or just 'resting his eyes' he called it, before getting up for the day. Hermione likely was already up, probably browsing one of her textbooks while waiting for Ginny to wake up. Hermione had learned very quickly to ally herself with the other females in the household if she wanted to avoid half of the pranks Fred and George attempted on them at any given time.
Then there were their guests who had arrived yesterday. Molly wasn't entirely sure what to expect yet. Harry had been a light sleeper, brought on by years of having to wake up early for that horrible family of his, but she had no idea about Heero's sleeping habits. And as for the others...
Molly sighed. She had no regrets about agreeing to take the boys in until the term started. It was the least she could do. Still, there was something about them that unnerved her a bit. It wasn't a hallucination, for if it was, then Charley, Bill and Arthur were suffering from the same affliction. The older adults of the family had stayed up later then the rest, discussing everything that had gone on during the day. None of them felt that the boys presented any kind of a threat - they trusted Harry implicitly, and his friends by way of that trust - yet there was a definite edge about them.
'They wouldn't harm us, but they're dangerous mum,' Charley said quietly. Bill had nodded his head in agreement. 'They remind of the wild dragons that get brought to the Institute when they're injured. They know we're helping them, and they submit to medical tests and treatment - but their eyes are wary, always looking for a threat. Dangerous eyes. Wild eyes. You can see it in these boys.'
Molly wasn't going to argue with that. Not only had she seen the same thing, but Charley's gut-instincts weren't something to ignore. Charley had honed his ability to sense danger to near perfection, which had saved his life many times in his fairly young career. A career that would have been cut short without those instincts.
The bacon was nearly finished. Molly drained the last of her tea and set the cup in the sink. Another swish of the wand saw the pancakes flipping themselves, and the bacon piling up neatly on a plate that was patiently hovering next to the frying pan. The scrambled eggs went into a large ceramic bowl on the kitchen table and she whispered a warming charm on everything. Tell-tale signs of life were stirring above her head, and she refilled the kettle, knowing Charley and Bill would want their morning coffee. The two had been addicted to the beverage ever since the day years ago when Arthur had brought home a packet of the stuff that had been confiscated at a wizard's home, and the senior Weasely had made it a habit to buy it regularly from one of the muggle-born staff members from the office.
The plates flew from the cupboard to the table, setting itself nicely. She knew the correct number of plates was there, but she automatically counted them against the mental tally in her head anyway. She sighed wistfully as she acknowledged skipping Percy's place at the table. Even after watching her two oldest move out, it never became easier for her to watch another of her flock leave the nest, and Percy moving out nearly six months before had made her sniffle around the house for weeks, even though her son had made trips home on a regular basis to reassure her he 'wasn't trying to get away from you mother!'
She would have set a place anyway, knowing sometimes Percy stopped by in the morning and went with Arthur to the office, but Percy had been sent on a special business trip the week before, and wasn't due back for several more days. She turned back to the counter and picked up a large platter of toast. Turning back around, she let out a sharp cry of surprise, nearly dropping the whole thing.
Heero stood at the doorway, a slight smile on his face. "Good morning, Mrs Weasely," he said quietly. His eyes met hers steadily, dark blue that seemed almost alien but as he moved forwards, the light from the small window above the sink fell across his face, and for a second, she could see green flecks. She noted the fitted-jeans and the blue tunic-style sweater he wore - extremely different from the hand-me-downs from Dudley he used to wear.
"Good morning Harry," she returned after a minute. Then her eyes widened. "Or is it Heero?"
"You can call me whichever you like," Heero said politely. "I think that would be easiest for everyone, especially when classes resume in a few weeks."
"But you're more comfortable with Heero, aren't you?" she pressed. He shrugged. Molly smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair. For a second, she thought he wasn't going to let her - his muscles tensed as her hand came closer. Then he let out a breath and actually tilted his head towards her. A suspicious lump appeared in her throat as she ruffled the familiar, messy locks of hair, and she directed him to sit at the table, setting the platter down at the head.
He moved silently, almost gliding to the table with a graceful fluidity he had not had - before. He hesitated at the table for a second, and then a light dawned on his face, and he took his old seat, a small smirk surfacing. The tea kettle screamed again and she reached for it, glancing over her shoulder. "Tea, dear?" Harry had never liked tea much...
"Yes please." Molly set the cup in front of him and moved back to the counter to refill it a second cup. Charley entered the kitchen, a pair of faded jeans adorning his long legs, and wearing a grey sleeveless t-shirt with a ripped collar. He greeted his mother with a kiss on the cheek, accepting the cup in return, and he took a sip, letting his eyes fall on Heero who nodded at him.
"Good morning."
Charley grinned and plunked down across from him. "'Mornin' kid. Sleep well?"
"I did." Heero was much more reserved this morning then he had been the night before. Charley frowned. Perhaps a few hours of sleep had allowed him to 'stabilize' himself a bit. Remus had mentioned something about Harry having to reconcile two personalities. From what he'd seen yesterday, Heero was remarkably like Harry, albeit a little quieter, much more serious.
Then again, Charley would be the first to admit that he didn't know much more about Harry then he did Heero. All of his correspondence with the saviour of England had primarily been through his younger brothers, and while he treated Harry as an extension of his own family, he was the last person to offer an opinion on whether or not he had changed significantly, other then appearance-wise.
The arrival of Bill, clad in a similar pair of jeans but wearing what muggles called a black wife-beater, interrupted his thoughts, and he watched his older brother greet their mother in much the same way he had. Their father was already gone for work no doubt, and Charley knew the next ones down would be Hermione and Ginny.
"Smells good," Bill breathed in the scent of breakfast and turned a hopeful eye on his mother. Molly laughed and nodded, clear consent for Bill to grab the ladle from the bowl of eggs. Charley leaned over to snatch the tray of bacon. Heero glanced up and down the table at the mass amounts of food, and selected a single piece of toast to nibble on.
After a few seconds he became aware of Bill and Charley watching him with puzzled expressions. "What?"
"That toast isn't even buttered," Charley said, pointing at the piece of bread Heero held with a grimace. "How can you eat it plain?"
Heero blinked. "Taste is irrelevant. It's a matter of fuel consumption. This is adequate."
It wasn't until the words left his mouth that Heero remembered that as Harry, he had been famous for slathering mass amounts of butter and jelly on his toast. Years of being forbidden to add anything excessive at his aunt's table had been discarded when Molly had first told him to take as much as he wanted and to hell with his aunt's rules. The words he had just spoken had been precisely what he had used to tell Duo each time the braided pilot had objected to his eating habits.
Several hours of sleep had soothed his frazzled nerves, the shock that had been brought on by having to meet the entire Weasely clan all over again, gone. Harry was still there, but Heero's control was back in place for the moment. Blinking again, he set the toast slice down, his appetite suddenly diminished.
"Leave him alone," Molly rebuked her sons, smacking Charley on the shoulder lightly. "If he wants it plain, who are we to comment, Mr-I-Need-Ketchup-On-My-Macaroni-Salad?"
" Oh, that's disgusting," came a female voice from the kitchen doorway. Hermione, frizzy hair and all, wrinkled her nose at Charley who grinned and waved at her cheerfully. "Some things were just not meant to be mixed."
"You've never noticed that? He does the same thing at every picnic," yawned Ginny, who tailed in behind her, dressed like Hermione in slacks and a tee-shirt. She spotted Heero and her eyes sparkled. That sad look would always be there, far at the back of her every gaze, but there was an acceptance visible in her green-hazel eyes that lessened the impact. "Good morning Heero."
"Ginny," he returned quietly. The two girls seated themselves on either side of Charley and Bill, reaching for the food.
Footsteps clattered noisily down the stairs and Duo poked a dishevelled head around the frame. "Food!"
"Very good Duo," Heero said dryly. "Recognition of familiar objects is always a positive sign in lost cases."
Duo grinned and sidled up next to his partner. "Morning!" he chirped, leaning over to kiss Heero on the cheek. Heero accepted it as casually as he did everything else, but his heart beat just a little bit faster as his senses registered his lover's close presence.
Out of respect for the family he considered his own, he and Duo had used separate sleeping bags that night, though they had been pushed together. Heero found it hard to sleep without Duo within arm's reach, and the American seemed to share the same affliction.
Heero suddenly remembered their audience and glanced sharply upward to see Bill and Charley ignoring their public display of affection in favour of fighting for what appeared to be the biggest piece of bacon left in the skillet. Hermione already had her nose stuck in a textbook, one hand mechanically lifting a toast slice to and from her mouth. It was good to see some things never seemed to change. Heero then looked at Ginny who was watching the two of them with resigned amusement.
"Some of us are trying to eat, you know," she smiled. Duo nodded enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together.
"I hear that," he agreed. He reached for the stack of pancakes and lifted five or six with the spatula. He scooped a generous knife-full of butter and smeared it liberally into the pancakes and then drowned the whole plate in syrup before taking aim with his fork.
Ginny and Hermione watched wide-eyed as the tower of pancakes was expertly drawn and quartered by a butter knife, before disappearing in mere moments. Duo licked his lips and glanced eagerly at Molly. "May I have some more?"
"Go ahead dear," Molly said with a smile, watching as another stack made its way to Duo's plate.
Heero shook his head and stole one from Duo's stack, already covered in syrup. Duo didn't even blink as he demolished another stack in seconds.
Ginny glanced at Hermione. "And I thought my brothers were fast eaters," she whispered.
Charley chuckled. "Look's like Duo's got us all beat."
Duo paused in his snarf-fest. His cheeks burned red. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I'm used to eating fast."
"Did you have brothers who took all of the good pieces first too?" Hermione asked, chuckling. Duo dropped his gaze.
"Not exactly," he said quietly. "I'm sorry - I'll slow down."
Heero reached over and gently touched Duo's back. Part of him wanted to get angry at the sight of his cheerful lover upset, but this was just something else they would have to adjust to, and get used to. After all, how did one explain that when you lived on the streets all your life, you had to eat fast before whatever meagre portion you had was stolen by someone faster? That eating as much as you could when food was available was a result of having been starved for most of your life? Instead of voicing this however, Heero simply rubbed his partner's back. It was Duo's story to tell if he chose, not his.
Bill chuckled, breaking the tension. "I don't mind Duo - it takes their minds off me when I eat."
Ginny smiled, recognizing Bill's diffusing tactics. "That's because you don't eat - you inhale."
Bill shrugged good-naturedly. "Same difference."
Duo smiled and returned to his food, though his pace was a little slower then before. Heero took some bacon for himself and dumped the remainder of the eggs on Duo's plate. Molly took the empty bowl back to the counter for a refill.
The tension had all but disappeared when suddenly an explosion went off in the corner of the room.
If you had asked Molly Weasely to recall precisely what had happened, all she could say was one moment she had been returning the newly-filled dish to the table when she had been tackled to the floor.
As soon as the first flash of light and snap-crackle sounds like gunfire had echoed in the enclosed room, Heero had been on the move. Finely honed reflexes worked in synch, reacting as perfectly as a choreographed ballet dancer. One minute he had been sitting at the table; the next, he was on one knee on the floor, a gun in his hand. Light gleamed silver off the muzzle, eyes trained unflinchingly at the direction the noise was coming from.
Even as he had been moving, he was keenly aware of his partner's own movements, and he knew Duo had tipped the table over to provide cover for both himself and the 'civilians', and had taken Molly down, the only one who had been standing when the sounds of gunfire had broken out. Hermione and Ginny had cried out initially when the noise went off, but were now huddled beneath the cover of the wooden table, frozen. Bill and Charley were too surprised to do anything but sit still, their eyes on the weapons both he and Duo held in their hands.
Heero's eyes scanned the room, taking in everything at once, analyzing and recording it in his memory with one hundred percent accuracy. Nothing.
"Status, 01?" Duo called sharply. Heero saw a flash of movement and swerved to the side, aiming his firearm into the living room. He saw a flicker of red hair and suddenly Harry was battering his way to the surface. He blinked, and suddenly recognized the Weasely twins own version of firecrackers lying in a burnt heap in the corner. He stood up, flicking the safety on with his thumb and jamming the weapon back in his pants.
"Negative 02," he said automatically, still staring at the firecrackers. His ears registered the faint click of Duo putting his own safety on, and then the American was beside him. "Firecrackers?"
"You're shitting me," Duo growled. "I'm having a god-damned heart attack over firecrackers?"
Heero ignored him and moved smoothly to the living room where he found a pale-faced George and an ashen-faced Fred crouched on the ground, staring up at him with wide eyes. For a minute, no one spoke. Then Heero cursed, and strode past them to the front door. Flinging it open, he leaned out.
"False alarm Trowa."
Stepping back inside, the Weaselys plus Hermione watched in surprise as Trowa Barton strolled in the front door, his face implacable. Duo muttered something under his breath and turned to help Mrs Weasely off the floor. Bill stood and waved his wand at the table, and what remained of breakfast, returning it to its proper upright position.
Hermione was still pale, her hands shaking, but she looked back and forth from Trowa to Heero. "How did you know he was outside?"
"And what was he doing outside?" Ginny asked tentatively, re-taking her seat. Fred and George still hadn't moved.
"Standard procedure," Duo said coolly. "You hear what sounds like a gunfight below you, the last thing you do is head for the stairs to join in. You'd be shot before you cleared the door. And Trowa's the only one who likes jumping out of second and third story windows." He looked up and raised his voice. "Which means Quatre and Wufei can come out now."
The Weaselys turned to see the small blonde and the solemn Chinese boy melt away from the walls where they'd apparently hidden. Wufei had his sword out, which Charley looked at with interest, before the Chinese boy put it back in its sheath at his hip. Wufei gave a cool stare to the frozen twins. "Firecrackers?"
Heero shrugged. "Didn't sound like it."
Wufei cracked a small smile. "You mistook firecrackers for gunfire?"
Duo chuckled. "He's never gonna let you live that down."
"Or you either," Wufei shot back at him. Duo stuck out his tongue.
Molly sat down hard at the head of the table, her eyes still darting back and forth. She had expected some things to be different. Still, nothing Remus had told her had prepared her for this.
Such quick, brutal reactions. There was no doubt in her mind that had there been an actual intruder in her home, Heero and Duo would have fired. Her eyes travelled over to Trowa and she shuddered at the thought of him jumping out of the second floor window. And that sweet little Quatre with a gun...
"Mrs Weasely?" Duo was peering at her worriedly, perhaps wondering if he'd knocked her down too hard. Then it hit her. Duo had taken her down instinctively, protecting her and her children as best he could without thinking twice about it. Heero had too. All of them had. Never mind that the threat hadn't been a real one - they hadn't known that at the time. Her heart melted.
"Duo?" she said quietly. Duo materialized in front of her so quickly, he seemed to have apparated.
"Yes?"
"I don't want to hear that language from you in this house ever again." She smiled at him. Duo blinked - and then grinned sheepishly, making her marvel at how quickly and smoothly the transition from hardened warrior to young teenager was made.
"Sorry."
"That's okay." She turned to see her trouble-making twins still frozen in the living room. She knew that they had never had a reaction to one of their jokes quite like that. The scared look on their faces was punishment enough.
"Mind that doesn't happen again, right Fred? George?" she said seriously.
The twins nodded furiously.
Another noise came from the hallway, and Ron stumbled in, yawning and scratching his ribs. Behind him trotted Sirius, whose eyes seemed to still be closed. Ron stopped, taking in the serious looks on everyone's faces, and his own expression was one of complete innocence.
"What'd we miss?"
End chapter 19
Well... I had new pics for Parallel, but I lost them when my pc was reconfigured (see my LJ for the whole sordid affair). So new stuff is going to be some time in coming. *sighs*
Make me feel better. Review. ^_^
Stormy
Please send comments to: dingostorm@hotmail.com