Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Gundam Wing.

Warning: slash and language because Duo's a potty mouth.

AN: Progress! See you at the end!

Key:

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

"~Japanese.~"

Chapter Nine

Harry and Ron had finished eating and rushed outside after Hermione only to hesitate on the castle steps. The morning was still chill and a light mist was circling their ankles as they surveyed the grounds

"So how are we giving that to them?" Harry asked Hermione with a raised eyebrow, glancing down at the coins in her hand.

"Simple, we're going to tell him he dropped it when he saved you yesterday. Well, actually you are," she replied, holding out the three coins to him. Harry hesitates before accepting the coins. "After you give him that I cast the other part of the charm on us so we're the only ones it translates for."

"I don't know…" he started, looking down at the money doubtfully.

Hermione let out a frustrated puff. "Just say you found it, if he says it's not his you can just keep the money and we'll try something else," she says, giving him an encouraging push. "We'll wait inside for you. Don't drag your feet, we have History this morning."

Harry nodded, resigned to his little 'mission.' He set out on the path that ran around the castle, figuring that was the most likely trail they'd used,. After turning the first corner Harry relaxed a little, he didn't see the two agents. 'Maybe they take a route closer to the forest, if I don't run into them I won't have to lie to Duo,' he thought, fingering the coins in his pocket. He wasn't fond of Hermione's plan but she had a point; they'd been burned before so they weren't in a hurry to trust new faces. Especially ones that was interested in Harry that usually spelled trouble.

Harry paused as his eyes landed on the lake. He sometimes forgot what a sight the Hogwarts grounds were. The morning mist was swirling around the lake giving the glittering body of water an almost ethereal look. He was brought back to reality by a familiar voice in a very unfamiliar language.

"Nē, anata wa saidai nandesuka?" Duo called, waving at Harry as he tilted his head to the side.

Harry blinked in confusion. He could tell it had been a question but had no idea what Duo had just yelled at him. "Um… hi?" he offered back, returning the wave as the two closed in on him.

Duo raised an eyebrow at the non-answer before he realized what he'd done. "Ano, sorry Harry I forgot you don't speak Japanese. Let's try this again: hey, what are you up to?" he said sheepishly, Heero smirked beside him a small chuckle escaping the stoic man. Duo elbowed him playfully.

"I was actually looking for you two," Harry said, digging out the coins from his pocket. "Hermione found these on the floor after the… excitement yesterday. It's not any of ours so we thought it might belong to one of you."

Duo hummed and patted his pockets. He was missing change but he doubted it was that many coins. The currency these wizards used was just so weird he hadn't really learned it yet. He refused to admit it was more laziness than any real difficulty. "Maybe," he said finally, still eyeing the coins. "You sure it's not someone else's?"

Harry nodded and Heero eyed the boy. He seemed nervous for some reason. Duo reached for the coins. As he touched them he felt a tingle of electricity, the surprised look on Harry's face told him that he had felt it too. Holding the coins in his hand Duo narrowed his eyes at them. 'That was weird…' he thought, eyeing the seemingly innocent coins. 'Where have I felt that tingle before…?'

Seeing the way both agents were looking suspicious Harry tried to cover. Shaking out his hand he commented. "Was that static electricity? Weird…"

"Probably. Yeah, must be," Duo muttered, pocketing the coins. He then fixed Harry with a sunny smile. "Alrighty, thanks for returning then Harry but shouldn't you be heading to class now?"

"Oh crap you're right!" Harry said with a start. Giving a quick wave he ran back into the castle, he had completely forgotten the time and he still had to get his bag out of the tower. He could already Hermione's lecture about skipping class.

After a running to the tower and then back to his classroom he paused, taking a moment to catch his breath. Taking a deep breath Harry attempted to sneak into History of Magic. He managed to enter without the professor stopping his lecture, though Professor Binns normally lectured on without acknowledging his students. Crouching, he moved quickly to his seat and slipped into it. Hermione shot him a disapproving look before going back to her note taking. Ron was asleep, drooling onto his desk. Harry shook his head and pulled out his book and parchment. He started attempting to take notes.

He'd never noticed the agent who had tailed him to and from the tower. Seeing Harry slip into his classroom Duo shook his head and turned on his heel, setting off to join Heero for some more touring of the castle.

"I'm glad we don't have to sit through all the classes. History is so boring," Duo said as they entered the hallway leading to the classroom.

Heero snorted. "~History is an important class,~" Heero commented as he watched the students filtering slowly out of the classroom. Duo rolled his eyes. He didn't know why Heero insisted on speaking in Japanese around the students. His English was good and Duo knew he didn't really care what language he spoke. His only guess was he suspected the children had spies among them but not all conversations were important enough to hide. The incident with Harry proved he had a bit of trouble remembering to switch back and forth between the two languages.

"~Yes, so they shouldn't make it so dreadfully boring,~" he countered. "~The professor sounds just as bored as the students look.~"

The trio of friends exited the classroom in time to hear Duo's remark. Hermione smirked happily as Ron and Harry looked bewildered. Even though Duo was speaking Japanese words, they understood it like they had known the language all their lives.

"Aah," Heero conceded. Hermione frowned, realized belatedly that only Duo had the charmed coin, which meant they were only going to get half the conversation. "~Looks like our charges are here,~" he commented, catching sight of the trio who were staring him down. He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on the looks he was getting, assuming the frustration was because of his use of another language.

"~Yup and they don't look happy with you,~" Duo snickered. "Hey, ready for Potions? That's the class you have right after lunch right?" he asked the three with a smirk. He chuckled at the unhappy looks he got from Ron and Harry who nodded an affirmative to his question.

"Don't know how you get along with Professor Snape so well," Ron muttered darkly. "He seems to hate everyone but Slytherins."

Duo just gave them a wink and turned to lead the way back to the Great Hall. "Trade secret," he said with a little mischievous wink. Heero fell into step with him.

"~You are friendly with Snape,~" Heero commented.

Duo smirked. "~Yup, surprising since I pistol whipped him when we first met.~"

The trio were very lucky they were behind Duo and Heero. The looks of shock on Hermione and Harry's faces were very telling. Ron just looked confused, having no idea what a pistol whip was. Hermione sent him 'later' look as they listened intently.

"~Oh?~"

"~He challenged me to a duel and I may have gotten a bit too riled up. These wizards really underestimate regular people and what they can do,~" Duo replied, shaking his head. "~Though Sevvy was a hard one to crack, he was sore at me forever for the bump I gave him.~"

Heero hn'd, obviously not impressed. "~Relying too heavily on one method of fighting is unwise,~" he replied.

"~Couldn't agree with you more, though maybe it's just because they're just professors and not a fighting force,~" Duo said before he turned to the tailing students and started teasing them about Potions. Neither pilot noticed that the trio had understood half of the conversation.

"So are you two going to explain what the bloody hell a 'pistol whip' is?" Ron asked annoyedly. The three friends were sitting down to lunch.

"Shh," Hermione said, glancing around nervously.

Ron waved her off but lowered his voice. "No one else is gonna' know what I'm talking about either 'Mione. And those two are out of earshot," Ron commented, eyes flickered to the head table where Duo and Heero sat also eating lunch.

"A pistol whip is when you hit someone with a pistol," Hermione whispered. Before Ron could ask she gestured to the two newcomers. "That black thing on Duo's hip is a pistol, it's a muggle weapon."

Ron eyed Duo and then turned back to his two friends. 'Well he said they were dueling, so muggle weapons would be ok if they agreed to it.' he thought. "Then why were you two so shocked? It was a duel," he finally said looking at his friends.

"A gun is a lethal weapon, they're used in muggle duels to the death," she answered, still looking a bit shaken.

Harry didn't comment, he was still going over the conversation in his head. He watched as Duo said something to Snape and the man cracked a tiny smile. "Well Snape doesn't seem that upset," he muttered.

Hermione glanced up and nodded. "They do seem to be on friendly terms," she agreed.

"Well Potions is next so I guess we'll find out," Ron said as students started leaving for class.

Potions was not exactly Harry's favorite class. If he were honest it was his least favorite, even below History of Magic. Today was promising to be a different, however.

All the students were gathered together outside the classroom awaiting their professor and chatting amongst themselves . A hush fell as the man approached. What quieted the students was the fact that their normally ill-tempered teacher was smirking at the young man next to him who was rolling his eyes.

"You're a prat Sevvy," Duo said as they walked past the stunned students. Smirking Duo grabbed the door and opened it with a click and held it open. Snape gave him an annoyed look before sweeping past him.

Duo raised an eyebrow at the staring students. "You gonna' catch flies, move it or you're gonna' be late," he said gesturing to the open door. Coming to their senses the students scrambled to their seats.

"Maxwell." Snape called, doing a 'come hither' motion at Duo. Duo skipped over to him. "Are you joining the class?"

"No but I can assist you if you'd like. Otherwise I'll be leaving to patrol," Duo said, eyeing the nervous students.

Snape considered the young man's offer. Duo had already advanced to sixth year in potions and the Gryffindor/Slytherin class was always a handful. Glancing at the class he spotted Neville who was purposely avoiding his gaze.

"Actually I could use you…"

Duo smiled as he caught another ingredient before it fell into the potion. Neville looked up at him confused. "You skipped step three," Duo said quietly, pointing at the directions written out on the blackboard.

"Oh, thanks Duo," Neville said, flushing as he started on the correct step. Duo just smiled. After sitting down he had prevented a couple mistakes that would have been bad. He could see why Sevvy had wanted him to watch the timid boy.

"Try to slow down. It's like cooking, don't panic and follow the steps," Duo advised, Neville nodded shyly and attempted to calm down, his movements slowing down a little.

Duo continued to give hints and reassuring smiles. At the end of class Neville handed in a slightly off colored potion but it was better than melting another cauldron. Snape looked surprised as he took the bottle.

"Kid has no confidence," Duo commented as he sat on the edge of Snape's desk.

"He normally gets detention for causing trouble. Even his housemates don't want to be paired with him," Snape commented as he watched another students drop off their bottle and then leave the classroom.

Duo snorted. "I'm sure your winning personality puts the boy right at ease."

Snape shrugged. "Don't you have to catch up with your boyfriend?" he teased back as Harry handed over his potion. Harry stared at the two men, shocked. Snape continued to ignore him, taking the vial and putting in into the holder sitting next to him.

"He's not my boyfriend, I'm single," Duo said winking at Snape. "You asking me out Sevvy?"

Snape chuckled and shoved the braided teen off his desk. "Get you, I have grading to do, take Potter with you."

Duo blew Snape a kiss before grabbing Harry's hand and pulling the stunned boy from the room. Stopping in the corridor Duo waved a hand in front of Harry's face.

"Earth to Harry, come in Harry," Duo said with a smirk. Harry blinked gave Duo an odd look.

"Did I just witness you flirting with Snape?" Harry asked in shock. Duo laughed.

"Calm down, Sevvy and me are just friends," Duo said as he turned away. Harry gave his back a suspicious look before hurrying after him.

AN: Alright so I'm finally done with rewriting this, hurray! The poll for the pairing is done now and I'll let ya'll know in the next part what it is. Next part should be up fairly soon, just gotta' recover the in progress chapter off my old laptop and get it on my desktop and finish it up. Let me know what ya'll think of the newly updated story, less edits in the last few chapters but there were a few big changes to fix some inconsistency. Off to feed my two babies then back to writing, see ya'll again soon! Ja!