Chapter 7

The next day Harry arrived early for classes and headed toward the cafeteria to see if he could track Heero down. Glancing around the crowd of boarding students, Harry spotted the taciturn boy sitting by himself off to the side.

"Morning, Heero," Harry greeted cheerfully.

"Hn," Heero grunted nodding slightly, wondering why Harry had to be so cheerful at 7:30 in the morning.

Harry gave his friend a lopsided grin. Apparently Heero was not a morning person. "So what do you have planned for today?"

Heero raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer.

"Oh, come on, Heero," Harry mock wheedled, though making sure to keep his voice down. "I can cover for you better if I know when I need to."

Heero cocked his head to the side and thought for a moment. That was logical, but he really didn't want to drag this boy into his problems. Still, he was offering his help and this wouldn't compromise anything. Nodding slightly, Heero said, "I've arranged to challenge the horsemanship class. After the challenge, I will have the period free to do as I wish. I would appreciate it if people were not searching me out during my free time, Jameson."

Harry nodded his understanding. "I'll do my best. And call me Evan, will you?" Heero grunted, but did not agree or disagree with his request.

Harry and Heero sat quietly for a few more minutes, until Heero suddenly stiffened. Harry immediately started looking around to find the reason for his friend's sudden tension. He spotted a group of girls by the cafeteria doors, including their stalker from the day before, Relena Darlian.

Glancing back at his chocolate haired friend, Harry quickly stood and headed for their first class with Heero matching his movements exactly. Since there was no assigned seating, Heero and Harry chose seats in the back row, as far back in the shadows as they could get. With any luck she would have gotten over her obsession yesterday, but they weren't taking any chances.

Luck was with them.

Relena only joined the class ten minutes before the hour, so all of the seats near them were full. Harry was fairly sure she had been looking for them when she entered, but it didn't seem like she spotted them in the sea of students.

After the bell rang to signal the end of the period, Harry grabbed his schedule to see what was next.

Let's see...Tuesday, second period is...fencing? Harry grinned. Ever since his second year, Harry had been fascinated with swords and fencing. He had found an old duelling chamber on the seventh floor with many different kinds of swords and several practice dummies and would sneak in there to practice with the different blades. He'd searched through the library for books on fencing. True there was only so much he could learn from books and practice dummies. Now he had a chance to really learn something. Yes!

"Come on, Heero," Harry said as he excitedly grabbed the other boy's arm and started pulling him toward the fencing arena locker rooms.

Heero tensed when he felt a hand latch on to his forearm, and it took significant effort for him to stop the almost instinctive urge to fight off the touch. Looking at his companion, Heero noticed the shine in the boy's eyes. Mentally, Heero reviewed their schedule to figure out what had the boy so excited. Their next class was...fencing? Harry had always seemed to be a gentle young man, but there was a gleam in his eyes now that Heero recognized. Speeding up slightly, Heero suppressed a grin at Harry's excitement. "Class will not start without you, Jameson," Heero stated. Harry had seemed so mature when Heero had been at his house and again yesterday; it was interesting to see him become so excited and start acting his age. Harry was only fifteen, after all.

"Yeah, I know, but this is going to be so great, Heero! And it's Evan, remember?" Harry said, still trying to hurry his friend up.

Within another five minutes, they arrived at the Fencing Arena. After all of the class assembled, the fencing instructor ran through the class safety precautions and sent them off to dress in their padded uniforms. When they all returned, the instructor started pairing them off for practice, so he could gage each student's proficiency level.

Seeing the instructor waving them forward, Harry and his partner, a blond that had been shooting him angry looks for some reason, stepped into an empty section of the padded floor and put on their helmets.

"Hey, Evan, buddy. I heard you and Heero ripped up Relena's invitations yesterday? What did you do a thing like that for?" the blond sneered at the black-haired boy.

As Harry brought his rapier to engarde and salute, he suppressed the desire to roll his eyes. So that was what had him all in a huff.

As the blonde, who was starting to remind Harry strongly of Malfoy, started slashing away at him with no real finesse, he continued his rant. "I'm a classmate of hers, so I'm kind of choked you treated her like that. Aren't you ashamed of yourself as a gentleman? Well?"

Getting sick of the guy's mouth, Harry let an evil smile cross his face before he used one to the techniques he had read about in the Hogwarts books. Instead of parrying the blonde's next strike, Harry ducked under it, bring his blade up to catch the hand guard and twisting. As a result, the blonde's sword was sent flying, and Harry had his blade at the mouthy boy's throat in less than a second. Being a seeker might not have helped in the area of strength, but it did wonders for speed, agility, and hand-eye coordination.

Seeing the flabbergasted expression on the blonde's face, Harry smirked as he pulled his helmet off. It wasn't a reassuring expression.

Keeping his blade directly over the boy's jugular, Harry leaned closer. "Listen here, Bleach Boy, and listen well. I do not like being used. EVER. I will not be used as fodder for the entertainment of the pretty and popular."

Whipping the rapier away from his opponent's throat, Harry stood and walked over to where the instructor was observing them. Seeing Heero standing just beside the man, he cocked his head in question.

Heero remained silent, but the instructor immediately started praising him.

"Very well done, Mr. Jameson! I haven't seen someone pull that move off in several years. How long have you been practicing the arts?" the instructor gushed, grinning widely.

Harry looked uncomfortable as he said, "Actually I've never had any formal lessons. My godfather was a bit of an enthusiast and had a lot of books and some practice things. By the time I was old enough to have lessons, he couldn't give them. I just practiced what I could from the books when I could."

"Ah, I understand," the instructor toned down his excitement as he was reminded of Harry's cover story. "Well, in any case, well done. Well, we had an odd number today, so would you like to spar against Mr. Yuy, here? He's told me he has had several years of instruction. Mr. Worthington, there," the instructor waved off at the blonde Harry had just disarmed, "has only been practicing the arts since the beginning of the year. No challenge what so ever."

Harry turned excited eyes toward the stoic Heero. Seeing Harry eagerness, Heero gave the other boy a slight bow in acceptance. Without another word to the instructor, both boys headed over to the free area where Harry had just defeated his first opponent.

This time both boys followed traditional duelling practices. Helmet back in place, Harry and Heero bowed to each other before bring their foils to the engarde position. For several seconds they held that position, neither wanting to make the first strike, but eventually Harry's impatience won out, and he lunged toward Heero. He wasn't at all surprised when Heero easily stepped out of the way and began his own attack.

For the next several minutes Harry and Heero exchanged blows, both enjoying the thrill of the friendly fight. Unexpectedly, Heero and Harry lunged at exactly the same time, the tips of their foils catching each other, sending Harry's foil flying and breaking Heero's. They ended with Heero in a fully extended lunge, the stub of his foil scraping along the top of the disarmed Harry's mask as he dropped to the ground.

Heero jerked backward, and for the first time, Harry saw a true emotion of the boys face beside suspicion. Shock was written large across the usually blank face. Shock...and fear.

Pulling off his helmet, Harry looked at the gouge along the top. If the foil had not broken, or he had not been able to drop to the ground so fast, Harry could have been killed, blunted weapons or no. Heero had to be very strong to pull this off.

The silence around them suddenly registered, and Harry looked up to see every eye in the arena trained on Harry and Heero. Looking back at his sparring partner, Harry noticed a very fine trembling in the hand still holding the broken fencing foil.

"Well, looks like I need some more practice," Harry quipped lightly. "Hey, Heero, would you mind being my regular sparring partner?"

Heero stood watching Harry take of his helmet in shock. What was he thinking! He couldn't use his full strength against Harry! He could kill him, and then where would he be?

Heero wouldn't admit it out loud, but he had enjoyed spending the day with Harry yesterday. Granted they had only talked a little after lunch and between classes, but it was better than having to go to classes alone all day.

Heero watched Harry as he looked at the helmet then at the crowd of people watching them. Sadly, Heero realized that this would be the key to keeping Harry out of the war, as much as Heero didn't want it to be. Why would the boy want to be around someone that had almost killed him, even if it had been an accident?

When Harry looked back at him, he steeled himself for what Harry was about to say, trying to wipe the shock from his face with little success.

"Well, looks like I need some more practice. Hey, Heero, would you mind being my regular sparring partner?"

Heero's eyes widened as he took that in. He wasn't scared of him? Meeting Harry's eyes, Heero saw understanding and concern in those emerald eyes. Clearing his throat, Heero nodded, "Accepted." Heero almost sighed in relief when he saw the older boy grin.

"Great," Harry gushed, grabbing Heero's arm and steering him away from all of the people and toward the locker room. "How 'bout we meet after classes and you can show me that last move you used?"

Heero again suppressed the urge to remove the boy's hand from his arm as he chattered on about meeting after classes for sparring practice. Depending on what he found during his trip to the administration building that would be fine, but he might have to put it off for a while. "I'm not sure if that will be possible," Heero said stiffly.

Harry glanced up at him sharply then nodded, still pulling Heero away from the gawking and muttering of their classmates.