A/N: I can't believe how many have said "I remember this story!" I posted this like, years ago. Well I would like you all to know you fill my heart with joy. Lol

Please, read and review! I've gotten a lot of Alerts/Faves but not many reviews.

Written by Staryday

Chapter Two: Tiresome Chores

It had been a week and there hadn't been any repeats of the beating from before. Vernon only came home drunk twice and each time Harry was sure to stay hidden away in his bedroom. His ankle healed nicely and Harry stopped using the bandage after a few days. The bruising on his face and chest faded and his head didn't hurt anymore. Things went back to the way they had always been with Harry doing chores and the Dursely's ignoring his existence.

It was on a Monday morning that the boring routine changed. Vernon left for work like usual and Petunia and Dudley went with him. Dudley had summer school and Petunia wanted to shop in town. Harry was ordered to do his chores and go straight over to Ms. Figg's house when he was done. He was not to go inside or touch anything, and he was especially not allowed to perform any of his freakishness.

As the happy little family drove away, Harry wasn't able to resist the childish urge to flick them off.

Despite orders to not go into the house, Harry turned and went back inside. He emptied out all the garbage's and dragged the heavy bag to the end of the street. The trash man would be there sometime that day to pick it up. Harry hefted the bag and dropped it into the tin can easily. He then pulled out the small piece of paper his Aunt had given him before leaving.

Harry groaned to himself. "One down, one thousand to go," he complained.

"Lots of chores?" a voice called.

Startled, Harry looked up. Across the street from him was a boy he had never seen before. The boy looked to be Harry's age, maybe a little older, and was only an inch or two taller than Harry himself. He wore loose black clothing and had his hair in a long braid that reached all the way down his back. His eyes were a startling shade of violet that Harry had never seen before. Currently, the teen was standing at the end of his driveway, smiling widely at him.

"Um, a few," Harry answered, realizing he was staring.

"Bummer," he grinned. "Hey, when's trash day? We just moved in and ours is starting to pile up."

"It's today. They usually come between twelve and one."

"Really?" the teen looked disappointed. "Now I gotta take out the trash."

"Bummer," Harry teased. The boy smiled largely at him and Harry returned it.

"Name's Duo. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie."

"Harry, Harry Potter. Your own catch phrase, how… strange."

"Thank you, I came up with it myself." Duo smirked. "Well, I must go get my trash before my friend has a hernia from the mess."

"Neat freak?"

"Somethin' like that." Duo turned, waving over his shoulder. "Nice to meet ya, Harry."

"You too!" Harry waved back before walking up to the house.

That had been a strange meeting for Private Drive. Very rarely did people just appear and introduce themselves to him. Harry hadn't even known someone lived in the house across the street. It had been for sale for almost two months, according to Aunt Petunia. The sign had disappeared awhile back but no one had noticed any movers or activity from the house so they'd all assumed no one had moved in yet.

A sudden feeling of déjà vu came over him and Harry stopped on the porch. He frowned, turning to look back at the house. For some reason, it suddenly felt like he'd seen that braided teen once before, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, Harry couldn't place his face.

Shaking his head, Harry pushed the thoughts from his mind. Duo wasn't the type of person you forgot easily. If Harry couldn't remember him, then he had probably never met him before today.

An hour later and finally finished with his work, Harry collapsed onto the small loveseat on the porch and allowed himself to relax. He knew he would have to go to Ms. Figg's house, but he wanted a moment alone before going. The digital camera was once again hanging loosely around his neck, fully charged and ready to go. He was kinda bored with taking pictures of Ms. Figg's cats, but the old woman seemed to really enjoy it and it got him out of listening to all her old stories so Harry didn't complain.

Eventually, he got up and made his way to the woman's house, rubbing the back of his neck as it tingled.

"Ya'see, Fei?" Duo sighed. "He doesn't remember us. He doesn't have a clue."

"He does now, since you so smartly went and introduced yourself," Wufei snapped.

"He's a local kid," Duo dismissed. "He's completely harmless and was hurt. I couldn't just leave him out there."

"Yes, you could have. If he wasn't seriously hurt, he would have been fine without your help. You've comprised yourself and the rest of us. Now we have to contact Preventer Headquarters and switch locations. Again."

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Quatre interrupted the argument. "We're bound to have some interactions with the people living here. It is the suburbs, after all. And it would be unwise to move until Heero gets back."

"You wouldn't even know about him if someone," Duo sent Trowa a pointed look that went ignored, "hadn't mentioned it."

"It's good to know I can trust at least one of you to not be reckless," Wufei growled. "If he recognizes us, it's your fault."

"If he was going to recognize us, he would have by now." Duo sighed. "You're so paranoid, Fei-man."

"Don't call me that! And I am not paranoid, I'm being cautious!"

"Yeah, 'cause a thirteen year old kid is going to kick down our door and take us all out while we're sleeping." Duo snickered. "I would pay to see that."

The next day the entire Dursley family was gone again. Harry had been given a new list of chores to do and told to go to Ms Figg's yet again. Of course, Ms. Figg wasn't home today, nor would she be back for the rest of the week. She was going on vacation to see her brother. She had told Harry to let his family know she couldn't watch him for the rest of the week.

Harry had "accidentally" forgotten to mention it.

Happily, Harry tossed his rag away as he finished scrubbing the porch, his last chore of the day. He glanced at his watch and saw it was only two thirty, leaving him with plenty of time to take Dudley's bike and ride into town. He had e-mailed some of his digital pictures to be printed out and they should be ready by now. Harry picked up all his cleaning supplies and ran inside to take a quick shower before leaving.

Fifteen minutes later, the teen wizard was jumping off the porch, his camera around his neck, and heading to the shed for Dudley's bike. The frame was slightly bent, not having been able to hold all of Dudley's massive weight, but it was still usable. Harry pushed the bike out to the street and noticed a car parked in front of the house across from him.

"Hey Duo!" Harry called.

The braided teen stopped what he was doing and looked up. He waved energetically at Harry and came to the end of his driveway to say hi.

"Where ya headin'?"

"Into town," Harry answered. "I need to pick up something. What about you?"

"Grocery shopping," Duo shrugged. "We ran out of food."

"We?"

Harry glanced over the teen's shoulder and saw two other teens surrounding the car. One was a blonde with kind blue eyes and expensive looking clothing. He was on the short side, being the same height as Duo. He had a cheery disposition and waved when he noticed Harry's stare.

The second teen was at least six feet taller, probably taller. He had long, skinny limbs. His light brown hair was cut to hide half his face, allowing only one green to be seen. He acknowledged Harry with a look but didn't wave like the blonde had. Harry was once again hit with a feeling of déjà vu. He ignored it in favor of seeing a third teen leave the house.

This boy was taller than Duo and the blonde, but shorter than the brunette by at least two inches. He had night black hair slicked back into a short ponytail. He was obviously of Asian decent, Harry guessed Chinese. His eyes were dark and he wore a scowl when he noticed Duo speaking with Harry from across the street.

"You've got four guys living in that house?" Harry asked, turning back to Duo. "I never see any sign of life; I was starting to think you'd left."

"I guess we're just not suburb type people," Duo laughed.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Who would want to be?"

"Duo!" the Asian boy yelled, his voice sharp and impatient. "We're leaving!"

"Keep your pants on!" Duo yelled back. "You said you were heading into town?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I got some pictures developed that I need to pick up." He held up his camera to emphasize the point.

"Cool, we'll give you a lift," Duo offered cheerfully.

Before Harry could answer, the Asian boy once again shouted at them. "We will not!"

"Sure we will!" Duo called back. "You know where the grocery store is, right?"

"Of course but–"

"Excellent! You can tell us then!" Duo grabbed his arm and dragged him across the street, leaving the bike on the lawn.

"Maxwell, you bastard! Put that kid back!"

Duo pointed at the angry teen. "This is Wufei. Something crawled up his ass long ago and we've never been able to get it out." He ignored the teen's affronted sputtering and turned to the blonde. "This is Quatre, he's the nicest one of the bunch."

"It's nice to meet you," Quatre smiled.

"You too," Harry replied.

"And Mr. Silent over here is Trowa."

"Hullo," Harry nodded. Trowa inclined his head but didn't say anything.

"Harry here is going to show us the best grocery store around," Duo announced. "Get over it, Fei."

"I will not get over it!" Wufei growled. "Maxwell, you are being an even greater idiot than usual!"

"What?!" Duo shouted. He let go of Harry's arm and turned to face Wufei.

"Best to just let them argue." Quatre stepped up to Harry and gently led him away from the now shouting teens. "They do that a lot. Duo finds it entertaining to anger Wufei."

"He doesn't look very entertained…"

The blonde just smiled. "Oh, he is. Did you need a ride into town?"

"Er…" Harry glanced at the other two. "That's okay, I'll be fine. Thanks."

"Oh don't worry about them." Quatre laughed. "We're actually leaving them behind."

The engine started up and Harry glanced at Trowa, who was waiting patiently.

"Leaving them behind?" Harry repeated.

"Taking Duo shopping, of any kind, is an absolute waste of money," Quatre explained. "He buys everything he can get his hands. And Wufei has to stay behind to watch Duo. He tends to… get into trouble when left on his own for too long."

Harry smiled at that. He had the same tendency.

"So let's hurry and go before they notice we're leaving them," Quatre ordered.

Harry shrugged to himself and climbed into the car quickly after Quatre. Trowa pulled away fast, not giving the other two teens a chance to stop them. Duo's surprised shouts followed until they turned the corner.

"Was that really okay?" Harry asked.

"They'll be fine," Quatre assured him. "Now, where should we go first?"

"There's a good market ten minutes from here," Harry offered. He turned around in his seat and put his seat belt on. "It has a lot of organic stuff."

"Organic is good," Quatre mused. "Where did you need to go?"

"Photo Shop," Harry replied. "I need to pick up some pictures."

"Left or right?"

Harry started at Trowa's voice, deep and calming. If the taller teen hadn't been driving, Harry would have forgotten he was there. "Left," he instructed quickly.

"So where are you guys from?" Harry asked curiously, staring upfront. Quatre turned slightly in his seat to speak to him better.

"We travel a lot," Quatre answered. "So we've been many places."

"Do you travel for fun or work?"

"Mostly work," Quatre replied. "We sell real estate all over the world."

"Cool," Harry grinned. He was practically drooling with thought of being able to travel freely with no one trying to kill him. "How'd you end up here?"

"England is one of our most popular selling places. So we've decided to stay for awhile."

"Well you picked a pretty boring town to settle down in."

"Sometimes boring is good. If your name isn't Duo, that is."

Harry laughed just as they pulled into a rather large parking lot for the market place. Trowa found a spot easily and the three boys jumped out. Harry turned to the two.

"Thank you for the ride," he said earnestly.

"Are you going to walk to your photo place?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded, gesturing down the street. "It's only a couple blocks."

"Well meet us back here when you're finished. You can try and find us inside or just wait at the car."

"Oh no, you don't have to…"

Quatre held up a hand to stop his protest. "We brought you, so it would only be fair for us to take you home as well. It's too far to walk on your own."

He had point, Harry mused. He offered the blonde a thankful smile. "Okay. I promise not to take too long."

"I'm sure you'll be finished long before us," Quatre laughed.

Harry shrugged. "Okay, see ya." He ran off down the street, feeling pleased with himself. He hadn't made any new friends since he started Hogwarts.

Quatre and Trowa watched the teen run through the parking lot. "He seems fine. Perhaps it was a one time thing?"

"Abuse is rarely a one time thing," Trowa offered quietly. "It's more likely that he got into a fight with kids his own age."

"You're probably right," Quatre nodded. "Duo overreacted." The blonde perked up and turned towards the large market. "Well, let's go shopping. We should have the place stocked up for when Heero gets here." He looked thoughtful. "Not that we know when that will be, since he's still on comm. silence."

Quatre confidently started forward and Trowa fell instep behind quietly.

"Thank you," Harry said to the woman who handed him his pictures. He left the store and found a bench by the road to sit at as he looked over his shots.

Most were of Ms. Figg and her cats, but some were of the houses and the garden of Private Drive. He even had a few of the playground. They were mostly good pictures. One he particularly liked was of Tabby, one of Ms. Figg's cats, in mid jump. Tabby was going to land on Puffy, another of Ms. Figg's cats, who was drinking from her bowl, unaware of the danger about to fall on her head.

Harry had to laugh at the picture.

He glanced at his watch and decided to head back to the market. Quatre and Trowa probably weren't done shopping yet but Harry didn't want to make them wait if they were. It was nice for them to give him a ride and he didn't want to abuse their kindness by making them wait. It was rare for people to help him out without expecting anything in return.

A sudden image of Mad-Eye Moody popped into his head screeching CONSTANT VIGILANCE loudly. He would pop a vein if he ever found out Harry had accepted a ride from complete strangers on the first day he met them. Harry could just picture the man spluttering angrily before launching into a long lecture about how not to trust anyone, especially with so many people out to kill him. Harry snickered to himself, ignoring the weird looks people sent his way.

When Harry arrived back at the car, there was no sign of Quatre or Trowa. He climbed onto the hood, glad there was no alarm, and made himself comfortable. He figured it would take too long to find the two in the store and, even if he did, it would be awkward following around two strangers shopping. So Harry decided to sit down and sort through his pictures as he waited.

As he did, Harry realized he had a lot of shots of Tabby. In almost every one she was either preparing to, or in mid, pounce. She was definitely a very active kitten. Ms. Figg would love the pictures when she got back from vacation. He continued sorting them out, separating all of Ms. Figg's cats and the scenery into two separate piles.

"Hello Harry."

Harry nearly fell off the car in surprise. Trowa managed to grab his arm and steady him before he did.

"Quatre! Trowa!" Harry exclaimed. "You scared the crap outta me."

"Sorry," the blonde smiled. "You were pretty into what you were doing."

"Just sorting through a few things," Harry smiled, slipping off the hood. "Wow." He eyed their shopping cart. "I would think four teenage guys would need more food than that."

"There's more than it looks," Quatre smiled. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Harry hurriedly picked up all his stuff and helped put the groceries in the car. Just as they finished, a loud screech drew their attention.

"Boy?!"

Harry knew that high pitched tone anywhere. Without a second thought, he grabbed all his pictures and the camera and shoved them into a brown bag before whipping around and praying he was wrong.

Petunia Dursley stood a few cars away from them, carrying a bag full of junk food for Dudley. His cousin was just getting into the car, a large bag of chips in his chubby hand.

"A-aunt Petunia," Harry stuttered. He was mentally cursing his luck. What were the chances of meeting his aunt and cousin at the grocery store when they were supposed to be clothes shopping and he was supposed to be at Ms. Figg's? Then again, it was a grocery store and Dudley had a habit of demanding treats after he got out of summer school.

Petunia stalked forward, looking livid. She didn't seem to notice Quatre and Trowa, who were watching the scene in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded loudly. "You were told to go straight to Ms. Figg's after your chores were done!"

Harry didn't want his aunt to find out the woman was gone on vacation. Not only would it get him into more trouble, but he would get stuck with his aunt for the rest of the week instead of having time to himself.

"I-I told her I didn't need to come over," Harry lied quickly.

"Oh really?" Petunia scowled. She shot a hand out and grabbed a tuff of his hair. "Well we'll just see what Vernon has to say about you lying and running off. I swear if you've been doing any of your…freakishness…" she dragged Harry by the hair and practically threw him into the car before getting in herself. "Oh, Vernon will have your head. And there'll be no supper for a week!"

Harry sighed. "Yes Aunt Petunia."

The car backed up and Harry glanced out the window towards Quatre and Trowa. Quatre looked very shocked at what had happened while Trowa still had an emotionless face. He smiled apologetically at them as the car drove away.

Harry watched dejectedly as Vernon finished attaching four thick metal bars to his bedroom window, just as he had done when Harry was younger. Unfortunately for him, Vernon had come home plastered last night. Petunia had told him all about Harry's trip into town and lying and Harry had paid the price for it.

Harry's eye was swollen shut (who would have guessed such a large, out of shape man, would have such a strong punch), and his wrist was red and irritated. Vernon had dragged him around violently by it and twisted it more than once. He still had the bandage from when someone wrapped his ankle up but now it was wrapped tightly around his wrist instead.

After one more screw, Vernon gave the bars a good tug. Satisfied they wouldn't budge, he climbed down the ladder. He cast a look at Harry but didn't say anything as he took care of the ladder. Harry noticed that Vernon rarely spoke to him when evidence of his beatings was right before him. Having the fat man ignore him was almost worth getting knocked around every now and again. Almost.

With a resigned sigh, Harry turned around, hoping that he still had some food stashed away in his room.

"What's with all the noise?" Duo groused, scratching his head. Fighting with Wufei for almost the entire day yesterday had left him worn out. And when Quatre and Trowa came back with groceries, Duo had spent the hours being moody and uncooperative to get back at them for leaving him behind.

"It would appear," Quatre began, putting a plate of pancakes before Duo, "that Harry's getting bars on his window."

"What?"

Duo jumped up and ran to the window to see for himself. Sure enough, metal bars had been fixed into place and the braided teen could see Harry staring out the window dejectedly.

"What in the world did they do that for?"

"The only thing we can guess was that he wasn't allowed in town yesterday. His aunt seemed very upset. She didn't even notice us."

"Breaking the law gets you bars," Duo frowned. "Going for a joy ride gets you grounded. Man, what freaks did Une move us next to?"

"Maxwell!" Wufei's voice shouted from the living room.

"What?" Duo yelled back, stuffing some food into his mouth.

"Message from Heero."

Duo was up and in the living before Quatre even had a chance to turn around. He leaned over Wufei's shoulder to read the short text on his laptop.

Mission Accomplished. E.T.A.: 23 hours.

Duo smiled in relief. "Tomorrow then." Suddenly feeling much happier, Duo skipped back into the kitchen and finished his breakfast with gusto.

Harry hummed to himself as he cleaned out the rain gutters. Leaves and various dead bugs were practically glued to the metal and Harry had to scrape hard to get them clean. He wasn't particularly enjoying his work, in fact, he was cursing his relatives in his head, but Harry was bored with the silence and humming seemed to help pass the time. The work was slow going because he had to use his left hand instead of his right, which was still sore.

Harry's quiet humming was interrupted when a voice called for his attention, nearly startling him enough fall off the ladder. Harry steadied himself and looked down to meet black eyes. He recognized the boy as Wufei, who Duo had introduced him to yesterday.

"Hullo," Harry greeted politely. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Before the teen could answer the door was flung open and Dudley and a group of his friends came stomping out. Without caring, they knocked into the ladder as they ran past, completely ignoring Harry and Wufei.

Harry tried to grab onto something as the ladder swayed, but the gutters were too wet to get a good grip on. The ladder fell to the left while Harry tumbled backwards to the right. There was a loud clanging sound as the ladder hit the ground. Harry felt himself fall through the air and braced himself for a painful impact. However instead of hitting the hard ground, he landed on something semi-soft that stopped his plummet painlessly.

Harry looked up, blinking his good eye in shock. Wufei had managed to catch him and, not only that, he hadn't fallen himself, only stumbled a few steps. The Asian boy looked quite annoyed at the predicament and quickly put Harry down. His arms lingered just long enough to make sure Harry wasn't going to fall before stepping away.

"Um, th-thank you," Harry stuttered quickly.

The door flung open again and Petunia Dursley stormed out. "What is all the racket?! What is going on?"

"I fell off the ladder, Aunt Petunia," Harry explained quickly. "Sorry to have disturbed you."

"You did not fall," Wufei interrupted. Petunia turned a cold glare on the boy and Harry shot him a look that clearly said, shut up! Wufei ignored them both and pressed on. "He was knocked over by those oversized children as they ran by."

Petunia opened and closed her mouth in angry shock, disbelieving that a complete stranger had just called her son oversized. Harry prayed that the well-intentioned teen would just shut up and leave.

"How dare you—!"

"If you are going to punish someone, you should punish the correct person," Wufei stated. "It would be unjust to do anything but!" his glare turned to Harry. "And you should not cover for those who commit misdeeds."

"And who are you to tell me how to run my household?" Petunia shrieked. "What are you doing on my property?"

"These were left among our belongings yesterday," Wufei stated, pulling out Harry's camera and pictures. "I am returning them."

"No!" Harry exclaimed. He tried to grab the objects but Petunia snatched them from Wufei's hands.

"This is Dudley's camera," she frowned. She pierced Harry with an angry look. "Who gave you permission to use Dudley's things? And what were you doing associating with our neighbors?"

Harry had no answer, not that it would have done him any good, so he stayed quiet. She pursed her lips angrily and pointed at the door.

"Go to your room! You will not come out until Vernon gets home, is that understood?"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry sighed. He dejectedly headed into the house. "And you," the woman rounded on Wufei, "kindly remove yourself from my property this instance and do not return. We don't need… your kind in our home." She turned and stomped back into the kitchen, slamming the door shut behind her and leaving a highly affronted and pissed off Wufei.

A/N: Originally I was going to modify Harry and have him discover a love for taking pictures but then decided that was too OOC so I toned it down to him just enjoying it as a casual pastime, nothing big. Once he leaves Privet Drive it falls out of the story all together. Sorry if it bugs anyone.

If anyone remembers Suspicious Behavior, I'm working on part three right now. Hopefully you'll see it posted in the near future.