A/N: It's been another month, but here's a Christmas chapter as a present for everyone that's been following along. Hope you like :)

Possible Story split: Well, we'll put that off for a while, but there will eventually be a break. I've already started a little tenative plotting on the sequel. And it is a sequel rather than having two stories running concurrently like some people were thinking, but you'll see why in this chapter. It won't be until after the second break in GW canon though, so it'll be a while I think.

Harry and Heero related: Ah, no. But Harry is related (distantly) to one of the pilots. Happy guessing!

Harry meeting the other pilots: Well, originally I thought they would probably meet up with the other pilots on the same time schedule as Heero did, but I may speed up that time frame, depends on how things go. I'm pretty sure, he and Duo are going to be getting along quite well soon. :)

GW Boys - all magical?: Ummm, I'm leaning toward not all of them, but I am still considering it, because I could see where it could both be logical and interesting. At least 2 more will be though, but...hmmm...as I said I'm still trying to decide.

Will Ron & Hermione straighten up?: As far as I have plotted out for now, Hermione is going to get a major wakeup call during one of the GW events, but that isn't going to be for a while. Ron, however, *snort* sorry for anyone that was hoping for his redemption, but it is not likely. But then stranger things have happened.

New Poll (again :P): I'd like some input on what area or areas of magic you could see Heero having talents in. I've got 6 possibilities at the moment (Potions, Healing, Transfiguration, Charms, Mind Magics, and Stealth) If you have other ideas, I'll add them to the poll.

Well, that's all so on with the story... and Merry Christmas everyone!

Chapter 21

Back in England

The day after Fudge's discovery at Privet Drive saw Headmaster Dumbledore scrambling to salvage as much of his plans as possible. It wouldn't take long for people to start questioning why the Boy-Who-Lived had run away from his relatives and when those questions started flying, Dumbledore had to be sure he had answers that would placate the sensibilities of the wizarding public. After all it wouldn't do to have people questioning his decisions, would it?

Even worse, however, the boy was out there somewhere outside of Albus' contr… er, protection. If the Death Eaters found him now, it was unlikely the connection between he and Voldemort was strong enough to finish off the half-blood monster. Until it was, he could not be allowed to die. It would ruin everything! Dumbledore had to find him fast.

Scowling, Albus stared at the uncooperative snowy owl that was currently perching beside Fawkes in the Headmaster's office.

As soon as he had read the article in the Daily Prophet at breakfast this morning, Dumbledore had practically run for the Owlry, ignoring the questions and exclamations being thrown at him by the professors. Retrieving the brat's trusty owl, he had returned to his office and written a short message, added a portkey to immediately bring him back to Hogwarts, and attempted to tie it to the owl to deliver. To his shock, Hedwig had immediately started to peck and fight him. The scratches on his face and hands attested to the vehemence with which the owl had fought him over the last twenty-four hours. Several times over the last day, Dumbledore had tried to give the owl letters with portkeys or tracking charms, but the blasted bird refused to take any missive from him for the boy.

He didn't have time for this! He had to find the brat as soon as possible, and this should have been the easiest way to do it. The entire British Wizarding World was searching for the boy. If he didn't find him first, it could totally ruin all of his plans, and that couldn't be allowed to happen. Scowling harder at the bird, Dumbledore thought hard. Apparently the boy's trust in him had waned farther than he thought, if he had taught the bird not to take letters from him. So who among the staff would the boy still trust? Certainly not Severus. Perhaps Minerva, as his Head of House? Yes, she would be closest to the boy.

Standing abruptly, Albus stalked over to the perch and roughly grabbed the jesses he had managed to get on the obstinate bird yesterday. Not that it had made the bird anymore tractable, but it did cut down on the clawing he received. "Come along, you bloody bird," Albus said, ignoring the indignant squawking and flapping as he strode toward his Transfiguration professor's office.

Stepping into McGonagall's office, Dumbledore saw her looking toward the door in confusion. "Albus? Whatever is wrong with Mr. Potter's owl? I've never seen that bird making such a fuss." Standing and stepping around her desk, Minerva moved to get a better look.

"Ah, Minerva, it would seem that Mr. Potter's troubles the last year have caused him to distrust me for some reason, and his owl refuses to take a letter from me to him. I was hoping she might trust you enough to take a letter," Albus said, expertly faking a mixture of sorrow and grandfatherly concern.

"Oh," Minerva breathed incredulously. "Well, I can certainly try," she added as she turned back to the desk for quill and parchment.

"No need for that," Albus said, calling her attention back to him. "Here's the letter I prepared earlier." Albus missed the flicker of surprise and confusion on the Gryffindor Head of House's face as he extended the still fighting bird toward her, while trying not to get hit by the animal's powerful wings.

Stooping slightly, McGonagall took a closer look at the bird the Headmaster held. She frowned out the sight of the training jesses wrapped haphazardly around the owl's legs. "Albus, what in the world? No wonder she's fighting you so hard, these jesses are all twisted up! Why is she in them in the first place, anyway? She's a mail owl, not a falconry hawke!" she demanded as she dropped the letter on her desk, took the owl from his hand, and immediately started to untie the straps.

Albus tried to stop her, but as soon as Hedwig felt the straps come loose, she took to the air and made a bee line for the open window on the other side of the office. She barely dodged the blood red stunner that flew at the escaping bird as she passed through the portal and started winging her way east, toward the faint feeling that she knew was her master.

Minerva's surprise when Hedwig jerked herself out of her hand was nothing to the shock she felt when she saw the Headmaster start casting spells at the escaping avian. Jerking his wand down after he just barely missing stunning the owl as it flew out the window, she rounded on her superior shouting, her accent thickening in her outrage, "Wha' th' bloody 'ell do you thinking you'rre doin', Albus? A fall from 'erre'd kill any owl, if the stunnerr did kill 'err first! Wha's wrrong wi' you?"

Seeing the fire in the Highland woman's eyes, Albus worked hard to calm himself. McGonagall was one of his most important followers, but she was smart and he always had to be on his toes around her. "Forgive me, my dear. I've just been so concerned for Mr. Potter, and Hedwig seemed like the best possibility for finding him quickly and getting him back to safety that I wasn't thinking clearly. I shall return to my office and contemplate what other option are available." Albus gave her his best apologetic old man look as he turned and left her office, internally seething that she had allowed the owl to escape.

With the loss of the owl, the next best possibility would be Lupin. As much as he was loathe to let the werewolf anywhere near the brat, the beast did know the boy well. Besides Weasley and Granger, the former Defense professor probably knew the boy better than anyone else. The only problem with that was that the werewolf had disappeared several days ago.

Well, the ministries tracking protocols should be able to find him within a couple days, so it wasn't really too much of a problem. The only question then would be, who would he send to convince the werewolf he had to return to England? The last time Albus had seen him he had been told in no uncertain terms that Lupin did not want to see a member of the Order showing up on his door step, and many of the Order members still remember what had happened the last time they had ignored Remus warning.

McGonagall watched the Headmaster leave with a pursed expression on her face. While she was certainly anxious to find Harry, there was just something about the Headmaster's actions that was setting off warning bells in her head. It wasn't the first time in the last five years that those bells had gone off, usually preceding one of Mr. Potter's wild adventures.

Glancing at the letter that Dumbledore had been just a little too eager to have her send to their wayward student; she considered what she should do with it. Slowly drawing her wand, she decided to start with a simple detection charm. If there was nothing on the letter, she wouldn't have to worry, but if there was more to that letter than just words…

Casting the charm at the innocent looking parchment, she waited. After a few seconds, red and blue mist started rising from the envelope.

HPGWHPGWHPGW

The next day, Dumbledore was smiling as he stepped into his office after returning from the ministry. He had finally been able to track Remus to a medium sized city on the outskirts of Tokyo at one of the Potter's vacation homes. He felt slightly foolish for forgetting that James had given both Sirius and Remus access to any of the Potter vacation properties any time they wanted. That hadn't been rescinded after their deaths, so it did make sense. Last time he had tracked Remus down, he had been living hand-to-mouth doing odd jobs in America, but perhaps Remus had finally gotten over some of the pride that had stopped him from taking what he saw as charity from his friends.

Whatever the case, the Headmaster knew where he was, and it was time to go convince him to join the search. After some consideration, Albus decided to go himself; after all this wasn't about the Order at all. His 'honorary godson' was missing. How could he refuse to help?

HPGWHPGWHPGW

As Harry finished telling Heero about the few magical shopping districts he knew about, Heero placed the magical bad on the bed, pulled the suitcases back to the bed to start transferring his extra weapons from the suitcase into the bag. Looking into the bag, he was shocked to find it empty, looking at the dark-haired wizard in confusion, Heero pointed to the bag, "It's empty?"

Harry chuckled, "Stick your hand in it while thinking about getting a book. When you know the titles, you can think of the specific one you want. If you're not sure what's in the bag, just think you want to empty it, and it will keep giving you things until it is empty." Harry couldn't help but grin at the skeptical expression on Heero's face.

Glancing from the smiling teenager to the bag, Heero decided to give it a try. Sticking his hand into the bag, Heero thought about wanting a book about potions. It sounded like an interesting subject when Harry had described it last night, and since it didn't sound like it used a lot of active magic, it might be something he could figure out for himself if he could get the ingredients and supplies he needed. To his surprise, he felt a book fit into his hand. Heero pulled out his hand and found he was hold in a book titled, "Elixars and Brews for a Beginning Potions Student." It had to be something in the spells on the bag. Nodding his understanding and thanks, Heero returned the book to the bag and thought about getting a book on charms. This time the book he pulled out was called, "1001 Useful Charms for Everyday Life." Putting it back, he thought back to the first title he had pulled out, and sure enough when he pulled his hand out that was what he was holding.

Satisfied he put the book back again and started to transfer his backup weapons and extra ammunition to the magical bag. The suitcases were going to be picked up by a courier service tomorrow, but in all likelihood he would never see them again and J would replace the weapons when he arrived at his next destination. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have them as extra backups.

Realizing that Harry still being quiet, Heero glanced up to see the slightly older boy watching him with wide eyes as he move the multitude of guns, ammunition, and knives from the hard side suitcase to the leather bag.

Harry wasn't surprised when Heero pulled the first gun out of his suitcases and put it into the bottomless bag. He wasn't even all that surprised when a second gun appeared and joined the first, but by the time the fourth gun was about to disappear into the bespelled leather bag, Harry was having to work hard not to start gaping. Between the four guns, at least ten knives, and multiple clips of extra ammunition, Harry was sure Heero had enough weapons to last for a week in an all out assault. "What did you do? Raid the armory while we were at the marina?" Harry joked, hesitantly reaching toward the gun Heero was holding.

Heero didn't try to resist the tiny smile that Harry's joke brought to his face, but when the older boy slowly reached toward the 9mm he was holding, he paused. After a few seconds, he double checked again that the weapon was empty before gently set the weapon in his fr…friend's hands. Yes, Harry was very definitely his friend, training be damned!

Harry carefully brought the weapon Heero had hesitantly given him closer to look at it. Before the incident on the sub, the closest Harry had ever been to a gun had been the shotgun that Uncle Vernon had had in the cabin when they were running away from Harry's Hogwarts' letter, and even then, he hadn't been able to get a good look at it before Hagrid turned it into a pretzel. "This is one thing I wish I could learn," Harry said as he carefully turned the weapon around, looking at it from all angles. Handing it back, Harry saw the curiosity on Heero's face as he efficiently stashed the weapon in the bottomless bag, he explained, "The wizarding world relies almost entirely on magical combat, while a few archaic weapons like swords and knives might be used in rare cases. Firearms are entirely ignored."

Heero nodded his understand as he slowly closed the bags, double checking that everything he wanted to keep with him had been stowed in the bottomless bag. Damn it! If only he had had a few more weeks here, he could have at least taught him enough for it to be safe to leave him one of the extra weapons. As it was, Heero was afraid if he left one with him now, he might accidently shoot himself. It was blatantly obvious from the way he had handled the 9mm that he had never held a weapon like that in his life.

Glancing at the clock, Heero decided the party should be far enough along to head for the administration building. Turning to his guest, Heero said, "It's time for me to deal with the records."

Harry nodded, "I'll just stick around here. We'll head down and check in as 'present' when you get back. Why this stupid party is required attendance, I don't know," Harry huffed a little as he settle back in his chair and watched Heero slip out into the hall.

It only took a few minutes for Heero to take care of the computer system. A few key strokes and everything St. Gabriel's Institute ever had on Heero Yuy was wiped from their servers and hard drives. As standard procedure, Heero also left a computer virus that would completely crash the computers early tomorrow morning, making the data loss look accidental.

As he stealthily made his way back to his dorm, Heero wondered what he should do about the boy he been working with. Harry was in a boatload of trouble, and it seemed like the person that was interested in helping him resolve it was Lupin, and Lupin had trouble of his own. Maybe if they stayed here for a few more weeks, he could send something back to them that would help. He wasn't sure what, but surely he could find something.

Quietly opening the door to his room, Heero saw Harry look up and begin to speak, only to be cut off when something around his neck started to glow. Heero watched Harry's eyes widened in horror and fear as he shot to his feet and his hand jumped to his neck before the light pulsed once and died.

Heero and Harry remained frozen until the pilot heard Harry whisper, "They've found me."

****I thought about leaving it here, but then realized I might just get myself lynched!****

HPGWHPGWHPGW

Five minutes earlier

Remus was almost done rearranging the basement when he was interrupted by the doorbell.

Frowning, Remus climbed the steps, wondering who in the world that could be. Had Harry decided to come home early? When he had called earlier, he had said he planned to stay at the school with Heero until after the party was over since the other boy was having to leave tonight.

It took every acting ability Remus had ever had not to show the fear he felt for his cub when he opened the door only to be greeted by the twinkly-eyed visage of the man he had come to hate almost as much as Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore.

Adding as much tired resentment as he could to his voice, Remus asked, "What do you want, Dumbledore?"

"Ah, my boy, I know you wanted to get away for a while, but something has come up that I need you help with," Dumbledore said, when he saw Remus start to refuse, he hurried on, "This had nothing to do with the Order and everything to do with Harry."

While Remus wanted nothing more than to slam the door in the old codgers face, he had to find out what Dumbledore knew about Harry. Grudgingly, He opened the door wide and let the Headmaster in.

Heading to the study, Remus pushed his turmoil down. As soon as they arrived, Remus whirled and demanded, "What's wrong with Harry? Did someone come after him at Privet Drive again?"

"No, nothing like that, my dear Remus," Dumbledore said, trying to be reassuring, but he knew his next words would likely set off the werewolf entirely. One thing he had forgotten until just now as he was looking at the werewolf was the fact that full moon was tomorrow night. Remus was agitated already, and with Sirius recent death it wasn't surprising, but his amber eyes were already bleeding gold as the wolf rose closer to the surface. Too bad he need the wolf right now, otherwise it would be so easy to goad him into attacking, and Albus would have the perfect excuse to get him out of the way. Instead Albus readied his wand just in case he needed to cast a few quick shields. "I'm afraid Harry has left the safety of his relative's house and decided to do some travelling on his own. We need to find him quickly."

Remus eyes narrowed in anger, as his mind spun in panic. Mentally taking a step back, Remus quickly decided he couldn't let Harry come back to the house. It was too dangerous. Picking up a glass paperweight from the desk beside him, Remus turned and snarled at Dumbledore, "You mean he ran away! Why? What did they do to my cub?" Just like the time the Order needed a lesson in leaving him alone, Remus started throwing things at and around the irritant. Only this time, instead of just throwing whatever came to hand, Remus chose his first projectile, and target, very carefully. Rearing back, Remus hefted the pretty glass paperweight at the doorjamb above the Headmaster's head where it promptly shattered, scattering thousands of little pebbles of glass all over the manipulative old man.

While knowing the irritation the Headmaster would have to go through to get all the glass out of his hair, clothes, and beard was a balm to Remus jangled nerves, that shattered bauble would also warn Harry off. Remus just hoped he could buy him enough time to get out of the area. Their emergency plan called for them to meet back up in Sydney, but he could only hope that he could convince Dumbledore to let his search by himself, otherwise Harry would be running alone.

It was that thought that had Remus grab the next item off the desk and send it streaking after the first.

HPGWHPGWHPGW

At Harry's words, Heero exploded into motion. Darting forward so fast Harry thought for a moment he had apparated, Heero grabbed the bottomless bag and Harry's wrist and started for the door.

Harry stumbled at first, but quickly got his legs under him. After a few seconds, during which Heero neither spoke nor slowed, Harry started to speak, only for cold blue eyes to catch his gaze, quieting the words on his lips.

"You're coming with me."