A/N: Wow, this chap. is six pages long! Woo-hoo, I managed to make myself pump out a longer chapter! Yay, my plot bunnies are helpful again, I'm on a bit of a roll! So, I couldn't get past my block, so I tackled it like I always do: moved on to the next major point. I'm not exactly certain how it'll all work out from here, but I'll probably come up with something. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm running out of witty things to say here…

Ch. 20

The weeks passed by in similar fashion, almost grating on the nerves of the ex-terrorists. There were no real threats to be wary of here, besides the occasional school-house brawl. The biggest thing was the worry that Heero would be discovered as a muggle. Heero didn't practice in class (though he acted like it with a fake wand) and the teachers didn't call on him for demonstrations. It was going well so far, people not really taking notice of the deception, as many other students were also never really able to get spells right while in class. They simply assumed he worked on them in his spare time, like everybody else.

They had explored the whole castle, and the twins had helped them there. They gifted Duo with something they called the Marauders Map, and it had a layout of the entire castle, as well as everyone in it. The two redheads had proclaimed that they knew a fellow prankster could use all the help he could get, and they had been using the map for so long they had it memorized. As it was their last year of school, they didn't really need it anymore. Duo had immediately given it to Heero, knowing it would help ease the soldier's paranoia. They found and memorized every nook and cranny, making Draco and Hermione memorize it with them. Neville came along for the ride because he was bored, and besides that he truly didn't have many friends outside their group.

The school had been wary at such an obvious group of friends from outside their respective houses, but eventually got over their shock and accepted it. Draco smugly informed them that inter-house relations were better than ever, and several other groups were following their example. Although not many of those were Slytherins and Gryffindors. It seemed that barrier would be slow to break down.

As the month passed, Duo knew it was all too smooth. September turned to October, and the braided boy waited for the proverbial bomb to drop. They hadn't had this long of a content rest in years. Unfortunately, he had a sinking suspicion that the trouble had to do with Wufei.

It was at breakfast during the first week of October that the bomb dropped. Duo took his muggle paper from Hedwig, having ordered a subscription in order to keep up to date with such events. Hermione had been surprised that the wizarding paper service offered such a thing.

Duo petted his lovely bird and gave her a treat before looking at the paper. As he unfolded it, and felt the blood freeze in his veins.

Gundam Pilot Captured!

The terrorist known as Pilot 05 scheduled for execution.

"Fuck!" he screamed. Duo scanned the article to find where Wufei was being held, and then looked up to see his worried fellow pilots standing nearby. "05's been captured," he relayed.

Heero immediately took charge, shifting into the hardened mission mode as easily as changing expressions. "Go gear up," he instructed them. "Draco."

Draco seemed surprised that he was being included, "Yes?"

"Can you Apparate large groups?" Heero asked, not bothering with the legalities of such a thing.

Draco nodded, standing and bolting to catch up with the disappearing forms of Duo and Trowa as they ran to the Slytherin dorms. "Will do," he called over his shoulder.

Heero turned to Hermione and instructed, "Prepare the infirmary for our return." Hermione nodded, and Heero took off running. In five minutes they were heading out the great hall again, wearing their normal clothes. It was what they were most comfortable fighting in. Draco had changed into loose jeans and a black t-shirt in order to not have his movements hampered, and Heero approved of the boy's insight. Each had weapons hidden and in plain sight, the students were all openly staring at the guns slung over their shoulders. Draco had his wand in a holster on his arm.

Dumbledore stood and yelled, "What's going on? I demand you explain at once!" but they managed to evade him. His enraged echo followed them out of the castle, "Get back here!"

They ran to the boundary line, where Draco stopped and held out his arms. "Grab on and close your eyes," he instructed. Duo had already given him the coordinates, and so they all grabbed on and waited. That uncomfortable sensation hit, and then was over. They had been dropped by trees just outside the compound. Draco collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

Quatre reached down a hand to help him, but the white-blond waved it off. "I'll be right… here," he gasped out. "Go on, I'll be fine."

Heero met Quatre's worried eyes, and the two nodded. Quatre stayed by Draco's side as Heero led the rest of his team into the building. Duo whispered a point me spell, and they all followed their stealth operative through the building. Trowa murmured a spell designed to plant decoy bombs as Heero and Duo continued on to find Wufei. An explosion was soon heard, and as alarms went off and soldiers rushed to the site Trowa caught up to them again.

Duo nodded to a corridor on their left, and they covered his back. Two more hallways and three doors later, they entered an office filled with soldiers. Heero and Trowa simply covered their partner's back as Duo proceeded to rip into the guards with deadly precision. They recognized Shinigami in his stance; it seemed the demon had finally been unleashed. It was short work, and they didn't question their good luck. Wufei wasn't in the prison cells down below, which must have meant they had a plan they were confident in to capture them all during the rescue attempt they were sure to know had been coming.

Duo undid the shackles that bound Wufei to the office desk, and Trowa gently picked up the unconscious boy. Duo's eyes were still black, and Heero knew to let Shinigami take lead. Several feet of lead, actually. It meant the way was clear when Heero and Trowa made it through with their precious cargo. For all of their days of peace, war was simply too easy to slip back into. And obviously they were doing a good job of it, as they encountered no real problems. The ease of the operation was probably due to Shinigami, though. The braided boy had been barely holding back for months now, and the darker side of their friend was released with a vengeance now that Duo allowed it.

They ran back to the clearing where Draco and Quatre waited, and without prompting they all grabbed Draco's outstretched arms. The horrid sensation hit again, and then they were back outside the castle grounds.

They all took off at a run, Quatre helping Draco who wasn't breathing correctly. Madame Pomphrey met them and immediately placed both Wufei and Draco on stretchers she had brought, levitating them off to the infirmary at a run with the others right behind her. Somehow she managed to get the two boys switched into infirmary pajamas without anyone noticing, their clothes folded neatly besides the beds she was placing them on.

Severus was waiting for them, and he forced some orange potion down Draco's throat before helping the nurse. Pomphrey was yelling out ingredients needed, "Blood replenishing potion, bruise cream, concussion suppressant, laceration ointment," the list went on and on. Quatre stood by the bed holding Wufei's pale hand, trying to push calm emotions on the boy so he wouldn't go into shock. Heero was (to the surprise of them all) working around the medi-witch to find and dispose of shrapnel and a few bullets he found embedded in Wufei's side. Trowa and Hermione were grabbing the things the loud nurse yelled for, and Severus was helping her to administer them, going back every few minutes to make Draco drink more of that orange stuff.

Amongst it all, Duo stood slightly away, watching over his friend with Shinigami's eyes. In the few odd moments like this, he felt that he and his inner demon were one, instead of two. Duo had determined that Death would not take his friend today, and Shinigami surprisingly agreed. And so they stood, for once in complete harmony, keeping a silent vigil over those that meant so much to them. Over those that were the favored of Death.

Draco awoke slowly, taking measured and even breaths as he rose into full awareness. He opened his eyes and looked around, surprised to see Duo sitting by him. "Hey," the braided boy greeted.

"Hey," Draco replied. He sat up and looked around, recognizing the moonlit infirmary. What time was it? But that wasn't important. "How's your friend?" Draco questioned as he rubbed his sore shoulder.

Duo gave a tired smile over at the bed that lay only a few feet away, lovingly watching over the gentle rise and fall of the bandaged chest. "He should be good with several days of sleep, and a week or two of recovery." Duo turned back to him and sidetracked, "But never mind that, why the hell did you go along with us when you have asthma?"

Draco blinked. "What?" Duo's brows furrowed, and Draco decided to take pity on him by explaining. "The Malfoys are a very old and prestigious family. We have been a pureblood family since before the time of Merlin, and haven't even cross bred with those who hold creature blood in their veins. Being the purest wizard on the planet comes with certain… inbred disabilities."

Duo cocked his head to the left, and asked, "So you don't have asthma?"

Draco shrugged at the strange term and continued, "I won't even pretend to know what that term means. I have extremely weak lungs, and running at full speed like that, coupled with the magical energy required to safely Apparate groups of people such a large distance weakened them to where I was unable to breathe properly."

Duo sat silently for a while, before quietly repeating his first question. "So why did you go?"

Draco looked down at his hands, trying to hide the faint blush he probably had right now as he admitted the truth. "Because you needed me," he whispered. "Slytherins look after our own."

A larger, tanner hand grasped his own porcelain ones as Duo whispered back. "Thank you, for Wufei."

Draco just nodded as the hand gave his a squeeze, before Duo forced him to lie back down. "Go back to sleep," Duo suggested. "I'll keep watch." Draco found himself complying, relaxing in relief as Duo promised to look over him. His father would be so upset with him when he found out. Draco no longer bothered to fool himself by saying 'if he ever found out'. Somehow, he always did, sooner or later. But he wouldn't be in trouble for it tonight with Duo watching over him, and so Draco fell into sleep peacefully.

Wufei opened his eyes, feeling quite groggy. His head hurt, and his side was sore, but it was obvious that all of his other aches and pains were gone. He didn't even think he had broken ribs anymore. Which shouldn't be true, unless he'd been unconscious for much longer than his rough inner calendar was telling him.

"You look better," a voice he hadn't heard in months teased.

Wufei looked to his right, and noticed Duo sitting there next to him, smiling down at him. The light from the windows was soft in this white room, not harsh like hospitals. Neither did the room have those annoying beeping machines. Yet all of the pilots were there: Quatre sleeping on a bed next to his, Trowa leaning against the wall and Heero standing guard only a foot away. The place must be safe. "Where am I?" Wufei asked, his voice unsurprisingly scratchy from misuse. "How long was I out?"

Duo answered as he helped him to sit up. "We're in the infirmary of Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry somewhere in Scotland. You've been out for a week, though Madame Pomphrey predicted you'd be out for two."

Wufei furrowed his brows in confusion as his braided friend took a glass of water off a nearby table and gave it to him. Wufei obediently sipped from the glass before questioning, "Magic?"

Duo suddenly looked as unsecure as he used to be before they'd convinced him that they weren't going to abandon him. "Um, yeah," he answered lamely. "I'm, uh…"

"A wizard," an unfamiliar voice finished for him. Wufei looked to see a pale, blond aristocrat walk up to them, arms laden with notes. He set them on the bedside table before sitting on the bed where Quatre slept as he continued, "Harry Potter, to be precise. The Boy Who Lived," he teased with a superior smirk, unfazed as Duo glared at him. "Surely being an elemental, you must have heard the tale?"

All of the pilots (Quatre included as the other blond sitting by him had woken the Winner heir up) blinked and looked back to him, and Wufei shrugged it off, wincing as he pulled his side a bit. "The Chang clan has always had nature in out blood," Wufei explained. "I am indeed an elemental, the brother to fire. So yes, I know the stories."

Duo sighed and mumbled something about damn bedtime stories as Heero joined in the conversation. "Voldemort is back, and now Duo is required to defeat him."

Wufei sighed and slumped a bit, exhaustion washing over him. "Another war."

Duo's hand was suddenly grasping his own, amethyst eyes filled with sorrow and shame. "You don't have to, Wufei," Duo pleaded. "I don't want to drag you guys into this."

Wufei couldn't help the snort that came out at that statement. "No, Maxwell," he chastised. "You're more important to me than my desire for peace. Besides," he added, "What kind of warriors would we be if we allowed the colonies to face the threat Voldemort poses alone simply because we are tired of protecting them? It hasn't stopped us before, and it won't stop us now."

He suddenly found himself with an armful of braided pilot, though the boy was gentle enough not to harm his injured side. Wufei hugged his brother back, unable to do much else as way of reassurance. It felt good to hold him, to know they were all alive and cared for. They were together again; nothing would tear them apart.

When Duo pulled away, a kind looking nurse came over and handed him a vial of green liquid. "This potion is for the headache I'm certain you must have," she stated. Wufei graciously took the vial and downed it after a nod from Heero confirmed that it was alright. "We've managed to take care of almost all of your problems, but because of internal bruising we weren't able to fix up the bruises on you left side. Once the cuts heal we'll be able to give you bruise cream to take care of it, but until then you'll just have to wait. If you're feeling up to it, you can go down to dinner with the others tonight, but I suggest having lunch here."

Wufei nodded, and the witch grabbed the empty vial before leaving, returning once more with a platter of food for him before running off to check on another patient. The blond boy stood from the bed and stated, "I'd best get down to lunch. I'll be certain to inform the others that he's woken up." A porcelain hand was extended to him, and the boy with stunning silver eyes stated, "Draco Malfoy."

Wufei blinked and then shook the offered hand. "Chang Wufei." Draco nodded and gave a passing farewell to the group as a whole before leaving. Wufei watched him leave before asking, "Ally?"

Heero nodded, and Quatre answered, "His father is a Death Eater, follower of Voldemort. He reports what he can to us, and is the reason we were able to get to you so fast, even at risk to his personal well being."

Wufei nodded, and sat back to slowly eat the soup he'd been given (his estimation of the nurse went up as he noticed the soft, buttered bread on the tray; she knew exactly what to give that his malnourished stomach wouldn't throw up without even asking) as his team began to explain all they had learned about magic and the castle, not sparing any detail. Despite preparing for another war, he'd never felt so at home.

They were finally complete.

Duo couldn't have been happier. He finally had all of his brothers near him once again. Wufei was safe and would make a full recovery. Life couldn't get any better.

…Okay, so it probably could, but Duo was content to have the group together again.

Dumbledore walked in at that moment, trailed by McGonagall and the Sorting Hat. Duo laughed at Wufei's grimace. The odd clothes of the headmaster certainly were… interesting. "Good day," the old man greeted. "I see you're doing much better, Madame Pomphrey stated that you could join the rest of us for dinner."

Wufei gave a polite nod of his head, and then looked at the hat and asked, "If I may, what's that for?"

Dumbledore smiled, and Duo realized that the man was much happier than he should be, given the circumstances. "Why, for your sorting of course! We can't have a welcome student without a house now can we?" Ah. That was why the headmaster was so excited; Duo guessed the man had never had an elemental in his school.

Wufei raised an eyebrow, and Quatre quickly whispered and explanation to him. With a grimace at the thought of anything sifting through his memories, Wufei nodded and allowed the hat to be placed on his head. Wufei tried not to jump as the ratty old thing talked to him.

Interesting, it commented. You've the spirit of a warrior, yet the heart and soul of a scholar.

Wufei frowned and tried to talk back mentally. I gave up that life.

Yet it still exists, the hat almost taunted. You cannot help what you are boy, and when there is no need for a warrior how will you adjust if you still count yourself as one? You can be both child, I will show you how.

The hat opened its mouth and cried, "RAVENCLAW!"

"Well that's unusual," Draco's drawling voice commented as Wufei removed the hat and returned it to the professor. The blond aristocrat had more notes in his hands, and he set them down before rubbing his shoulder and explaining, "Fires generally tend to be Gryffindors. I think you'll be a wonderful exception to the rule."

Duo laughed as Quatre inquired, "Why do you hate Gryffindors so much?"

Draco snorted as he sat in an empty chair. "Not all of them obviously, just those who are characteristically rash. In the world I grew up in, you can't act before you think. You need a plan, and a backup, the number of backups depending on the situation. Most Gryffindors don't think, and yet somehow they survive most everything they encounter." Draco grimaced as his silver eyes darkened to a molten gray. "It's sickening."

Wufei's eyes narrowed as Duo went over and clasped a supporting hand on the boy's shoulder. There was something else going on, such as why Duo was so obviously supportive and protective of the boy. He'd try to figure it out and if not, he'd ask.

Although the distinctively uncomfortable look Draco held made Wufei pretty certain he knew the basics of what was going on. He remembered that Duo had once told him that Solo had been abused by his parents before the blond was tossed into the slums. That must have been a main reason. Wufei turned back to the professors and pretended to listen as they droned on about the school and the houses, blah, blah, blah. His brothers had already informed him of everything. Their information was also more useful, quite frankly.

Wufei felt his eyelids begin to drop, and forced himself awake. It wasn't safe! He was in a strange location surrounded by people with odd powers he didn't truly know the extent of and whose loyalties he couldn't even begin to guess at. He needed to stay alert.

And then suddenly Duo was at his side, close enough that Wufei could feel the familiar warmth of his body. Wufei surveyed the room once more, seeing the reminder Duo had obviously meant to give him. His brothers were there, he was safe with them. And so Wufei leaned his head on Duo's shoulder, and let his eyes drift closed. He was finally safe.

A/N: TA-DAH! Wufei has joined the group, finally. I feel bad cuz' I love the boy so much, yet I'm so mean to him. That actually seems to be a main treatment for all the characters I love the most, actually.

Anyway, with the reasoning for Ravenclaw, what else could he be? Cute Wuffers used to have glasses and everything, and didn't believe in justice until Merian died. I think that's why he was so lost in Endless Waltz, he wasn't following his own set of beliefs and couldn't marry the scholar he was and the warrior he felt honor-bound to become. Besides, I have to have some way of wiggling Luna in here, after all *wink*.

Well, I hope you enjoyed, TTFN!