Sorry

RL sucks. Wow, we're already at 27 chapters O.o *whistles*

Try not to get lost in the time jumps… the 2 and 5 pilots are making up the time lost from the previous chapter (IOW, it's what they did during that time)

***

Chapter 27

Clack-clack. Clack-clack-clack. Clack. Clack-clack-clack. Clac-clackclack-clack.

Wufei sighed quietly, trying to ignore the incessant sound of Duo typing on Heero's computer. He tried to ignore it, really – he knew Duo was just nervous about being away from Heero, since it had been less than 24 hours since they'd woken up to find their comrade dead. He knew that Duo just wished he could be nearby in case it happened again – and that he was focusing that nervous energy on whatever he was typing away at.

Unfortunately, Wufei couldn't concentrate on anything other than the clacking. He tried to focus on the words in front of him, but found himself uninterested in the material Hermione gave him.

Wufei couldn't believe it, but he was actually bored.

Clack-clack-clack-clack. Clack-clack. Clack-clackclack-clack. Clackclack.

Wufei's finger twitched.

Clack-clack-clack.

Wufei forcibly stilled it, concentrating on the plight of a ghost from thousands of years prior.

Clack. Clack-clack-clack-clack.

The ghost, named Phillip, for he was French, enjoyed to scare people that moved into his house, and for many years he convinced everyone that moved into the house that it was haunted…

Clack-clack. Clack-clack-clack.

And Phillip had a brother named Thomas, who realized that Phillip was, in fact, still haunting the house and if Duo didn't stop clacking away at that keyboard Wufei was going to either go insane or just kill him…

Clack-clack.

"Duo!" Wufei shouted, glaring at the longhaired boy. Duo looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, Wufei?"

"Stop typing!"

Duo beamed, typed a bit more, and then looked up again. "Why?"

Wufei snarled. "It's driving me insane!"

Duo looked amused. "Really. I wouldn't think something like that would actually annoy you."

"Well it does, so I will ask you to stop. Why can't you go back to playing whatever game you found on there?" Wufei asked, and Duo frowned.

"Man, you can only play Solitaire so many times. We should get out of here and go find something to do."

"Like…" Wufei pressed, interested – not to mention desperate – despite himself. He was terribly bored, and glad that he'd skipped History of Magic. If all classes blathered on about some ghost and his wizard family, then Wufei did not want to be a part of it.

"We could… go talk to Draco, I guess. Or that girl, the one with your name."

"Chang Cho."

Duo nodded. "Yeah. But it's late, and two guys seeking out a girl would probably not be acceptable."

Wufei arched an eyebrow questioningly, but Duo laughed. "I doubt they'd even consider that I don't like girls. I mean, look at Harry and Draco," Duo said, allowing the barest hint of wistfulness into his tone. Wufei caught it, but did not mention it.

Suddenly, Duo closed the lid to Heero's laptop and stood. "I know, let's go see Odin and Shinigami!" Wufei frowned.

"You think I would willingly go to see those demons?" he demanded. Duo grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, I do, because you're so damn bored that you're going crazy."

Wufei sighed dramatically. "I… guess I have no choice." Duo laughed and headed towards the door.

"Oh, sure, fine, if you wanna say it that way. But remember… I totally didn't force you."

Wufei cringed. "You say that as if we're walking into trouble."

Duo grinned darkly, turning back to look at Wufei with his hand resting on the door. "You never know. Trouble seems to follow us around in this place."

***

"HI GUYS!" Duo hollered as they entered the owlrey. Owls from all sides hooted indignantly at him, but two miniature, colorful birds started making a ruckus high up in the rafters, and were suddenly diving straight at them.

Wufei's eyes widened, and he started backing away from Duo, who merely laughed and held up his hands. Seconds before they would have crashed, Odin and Shinigami righted themselves, fluttering to land on Duo's palms. Duo smiled broadly.

"Hey guys, what've you been up to?" He looked at Odin. "You kind of disappeared after Heero got back."

Odin hooted in response, and Shinigami squawked at him. The yellow owl squawked back, and Shinigami jumped off of Duo's hand to attack Odin.

"They're insane," Wufei muttered, shaking his head. Perched next to him, a snowy white owl hooted its agreement. Wufei smirked at it appreciatively. "Finally, someone shows some sense. …I'm talking to an owl. Nataku help me," he sighed. Glancing at Duo, who was trying to break up the fight between Odin and Shinigami by yelling at them, Wufei shrugged. "I suppose I'm with the right company for it, then."

Again the white owl hooted, cocking its head to the side to watch Wufei curiously. Although internally, he was screaming about how ridiculous he looked, Wufei mimicked the owl. The owl tilted its head to the other side, and again Wufei mimicked it. Before the owl could move again, loud laughter sounded from the middle of the owlrey. Wufei glanced back and saw Duo watching him.

"That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen!" he exclaimed, referring to Wufei and the owl. Wufei looked indignant, and refused to reply. Soon after Duo calmed down, he suggested they take Odin and Shinigami out for some air. Wufei, who was painfully aware of his other options(which consisted of: sit around and be bored or stand around mirroring an owl), agreed.

The backtracked down the same path they'd used to get to the Owlrey, though once they reached the staircase to Gryffindor tower they continued onwards towards the front exit of Hogwarts. Duo waved to students from his house – or anyone that watched them and the two chirping owls, for that matter – as they made their way down the corridor, although Wufei noticed a strain on his friend's movements.

Regardless of how well he tried to hide it, Duo was worried.

Eventually the two boys and the two owls passed the doors to the Great Hall, and soon after spotted the exit.

Wufei stopped abruptly, and Duo glanced back at him. "What's up?"

Wufei shook his head, and Duo fell silent. He looked forward again, glancing around questioningly until he saw it – the shadow of a person, or persons, standing in a niche near the front door.

Immediately on guard, he looked to Wufei again and mouthed, 'How many?'

'Two,' came the reply. Duo nodded, and slipped up against the wall, into the shadows. He began sneaking forward towards the two near the entranceway. Odin and Shinigami, as if recognizing reason for caution, landed on a high-up ridge on the wall and watched. Wufei backed up and pressed into the shadows, following his stealthy companion at a much slower pace. By now Duo had gotten within ten feet of the two people, when all of a sudden a moan ripped through the quiet corridor.

Duo and Wufei froze, eyes wide.

***

Hermione sighed, glancing at the empty seat beside her for the fourth time. It had been twenty minutes since Harry had asked to be excused to use the lavatory, and he still hadn't returned.

'Not that that's new,' she thought. Truthfully, Harry had been skipping out midway through classes since near the end fifth year. Hermione and Ron had brainstormed like mad, and couldn't come up with an explanation other than Harry was seeing someone.

That was dismissed by Hermione, who refused to think that Harry would keep something that important from his best friends.

At the beginning of the school year, as they were riding the Hogwarts Express, she and Ron had promised that if Harry continued acting strangely then they were going to confront him. They would seek him out, as friends, and ask him to tell them what was going on. At first Ron had objected, saying that it was possibly something to do with Voldemort.

Hermione had countered that by pointing out that Harry had never hidden anything about Voldemort from them before.

'And now Harry has started his strange behavior, but it's even more difficult to get him alone,' she thought, and glanced up to where Heero and Quatre pointed out into the night sky. 'And now we have these new students that take up even more of our time, whether it's bailing them out of trouble or answering their endless questions. I'm certainly not minding the view, though…'

Heero was speaking to Quatre, and Hermione frowned when he stopped abruptly. His movements froze, arm suspended in the air as he looked out into the field below the window. Intrigued, Hermione rose from her seat and made her way over to the window quietly, where Quatre and Heero were hissing to each other.

"Are you absolutely sure?" the blond demanded, and Heero dropped his arm and glared at the blond.

"Of course I'm sure! You think I can't recognize him?"

"Heero," Quatre said calmly, as though Heero wasn't trying to kill him with eyes only. "It's dark outside and we're pretty far from the ground. I think you can forgive my skepticism."

Heero's upper lip curled. "Well I don't care, because that was Wufei."

"And he was running across the field. All alone," Quatre muttered, as though repeating something Heero had said. Hermione stepped closer to hear better, and was rewarded with a small view outside the window.

"He looked like he was chasing someone," Heero replied, looking out the window. "And I'm sure you don't need to guess who he was chasing."

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it now anyway," Quatre said, and he sighed. "This class still has at least twenty minutes left."

Hermione looked out the window, confused. She stepped forward and Heero and Quatre looked at her, but not in surprise, which meant they'd known she'd been standing and listening. She ignored them, however, and approached the window.

"Hermione?" Quatre asked. "Are you all right?"

Hermione's brow furrowed, but she didn't avert her gaze from the window.

"Where is all that light coming from?" she murmured. Heero frowned at her then turned to the window. His eyes widened.

Outside, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, there were bright, fire-like lights flashing and glowing, along with brilliant flashes of green that lit up the grass and surrounding area. The light illuminated a certain area, and Heero's eyes trained on a figure standing protectively in front of another unidentifiable person.

Heero knew that figure anywhere, even without the revealing flick of a braid in the wind.

"Duo."

***

Duo held his breath, staring into the gloom as the two figures began moving together restlessly. The moan had come from them – or at least one of them. Duo was becoming sorely tempted to go and break them up, but something held him back.

"We're going to get caught," one of the two hissed.

"So?" the other returned, and Duo could hear the two kiss.

"So I don't feel like getting run into," the first person returned. Duo could tell by the tone that it was a male. The boy's companion laughed.

"You should have thought of that then, before you skipped out of class."

Duo's jaw dropped when he realized whose voice that was – it was Draco! Which meant the other one was…

"Oh sod off," the one against the wall snapped, and Duo grinned. Yeah, that was Harry. He was about to step forward and scare them when Harry doubled over and gasped in pain. Draco took a step back, and Duo could see the confusion on his face.

"What are you doing, Potter?"

"My scar hurts," Harry hissed. "That means Voldemort is… doing something."

Draco arched a white-blond eyebrow skeptically. "Voldemort is always doing something, Potter."

Harry, with one hand still pressed against his forehead, looked up and glared at his lover. "Don't be a prat, Malfoy. This is serious," he insisted. Draco sighed.

"Well what do you want me to do about it, then?"

"I," Harry began, then froze and looked at the front doors. "I feel something… something's outside." To Duo's surprise, Harry moved towards the front door and stepped into the night.

Behind the dark-haired boy, Draco groaned. "Of course, why didn't I realize that? When there's danger outside, you go out and see what it is. Naturally. I must have missed that lesson," the blond droned sarcastically, even as he followed Harry outside. Much quieter, aware that they hadn't been detected, Duo and Wufei followed along behind the two wizards. Other then the barest sound of wings fluttering, they barely noticed as Odin and Shinigami followed.

***

Wufei found it almost difficult to follow Duo as he weaved through the shadows, staying a certain distance away from the two they were following. Duo's expertise at stealth hadn't dulled much during his time as a Preventer – Wufei was cursing himself as he realized that his stealth had lost a bit of edge.

That, of course, was unacceptable, and when they got back Wufei swore he was going to retrain himself. Peering past his braided friend, Wufei could see the two boys sneaking along the lawn quickly – Harry more hunched over than Draco. Wufei assumed that whatever had hurt him was still hurting.

He saw Duo dive to the ground suddenly, and Wufei dove down immediately. Glancing up, he saw that Draco had looked back. Had they not ducked, they would have gotten caught.

'Regardless,' Wufei thought. 'My reaction time was much too slow.'

Unbeknownst to Wufei, Duo was saying the exact same thing about his own skills. 'Being a Gundam Pilot was rough… but this is just sad,' he berated himself, forcing his body to be more nimble and faster.

'You can barely anticipate somebody as untrained as these guys to look back. Even worse, you can't dive fast enough to signal to Wufei. You have no idea what's going to happen, Maxwell,' Duo thought to himself. 'You're rushing after two kids that think there's big trouble coming, and all you have to defend yourself is a pointy stick.'

Duo grinned. 'Bring it on.'

***

They ran as fast as they could – with his head pounding, eyes watering, and legs burning, Harry slowed his run to a stop at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and looked around. He heard Draco next to him, and looked at the blond.

"Do you see anything?" Draco asked, peering into the forest. "Are you sure somebody was out here?"

"Somebody is out here," Harry replied, scanning the forest as well. He glanced behind them, annoyed when he saw nothing. He was sure they were being followed, but the only glimpses he caught were of a couple of birds flying.

Hardly any reason to be suspicious, but still…

Draco's gasp made Harry turn around quickly. Following the blond's line of sight, Harry's jaw dropped when he saw who stood before them, glaring.

The man arched a sardonic eyebrow. "Well. Draco. I certainly hadn't expected to see him out here with you," he hissed, gesturing to the Boy who Lived. Harry was much too shocked to be even mildly insulted. Draco's jaw was working, but no sound came out as he stepped forward shakily.

"Draco," Harry whispered. "Is that…"

Draco didn't answer, unable to take his eyes off the man before him.

"…Father…"

Lucuis Malfoy grinned wolfishly. "Ah, so you do remember me. Then you're sure to remember the consequences for consorting with the wrong side, Draco."

That seemed to snap Draco out of his shock, for he began shaking his head. "What… you can't be here, you're dead!"

Lucius shrugged carelessly, looking nothing like the refined gentleman he'd been the last time Harry had seen him. "A trick, of course. You of all people should have known that, Draco."

"But you were killed for betraying Lord Voldemort!" Draco said desperately, trying to dispel an onslaught of memories. Finding his parents dead, their funeral, being placed into protective custody, Harry….

"…Betray my Lord?" Lucius looked shocked, but that quickly dissolved into anger. "You dare to even THINK I would disobey Lord Voldemort?" he demanded. "Then perhaps… I am too late?"

***

Twenty feet away and unnoticed thus far, Duo and Wufei watched the events unfold, listening to the conversation, even though some parts were hard to make out.

When Draco's father began yelling, however, the two pilots simultaneously began crawling forward, determined to protect the two boys, magic or no magic.

***

Harry, who had been silently watching the exchange up to now, spoke up. "Too late for what?" he demanded, glaring at his lover's bastard of a father. Lucius turned cold eyes on him, and Harry resisted the desire to look away.

"You, Potter, I should merely kill for the fun of it. If Draco even considers consorting with you now, then obviously you must be dealt with." Lucius raised his wand, and Harry's hand fell back to his own, drawing it in his defense.

"No, father!" Draco snarled. "Leave him out of this!"

"You dare defend this boy, Draco?! You are a MALFOY, and Malfoys do not consort with those who oppose Lord Voldemort!"

"Well that line of thinking won't get you many friends," a voice drawled from behind Harry and Draco. Lucius looked up, surprised, as did the two boys.

"Duo?" Harry exclaimed, shocked. The braided boy, side by side with Wufei, stood glaring at Lucius. Suddenly he strode forward, stopping once he was even with the two young wizards

"I don't appreciate threats made on my friends," Duo said darkly, and Lucius scoffed.

"I don't know who you are, boy, but you are most definitely over your head," the elder blonde sneered, and Duo pulled out his wand.

'What are you doing? You can barely use that thing!' a little voice inside Duo's head screamed. The rest of him ignored it, though, and grinned.

"I think you're the one in over your head," Duo retorted, stepping in front of a shocked Harry.

"No, Duo, wait," the green eyed boy started, but at the same moment Lucius shouted Crucio and a bright light shot at them both. Wufei pulled Draco behind him, and Duo shoved Harry out of the way, before they both spun on Lucius and returned the same spell.

"Not bad," Lucius drawled. "But I am far better." Draco shouted in warning, and Duo's eyes widened as Lucius held his wand out in front of him and a light began to collect at its tip. Quickly it was as large as a beachball, and formed a spherical shape.

"What the hell…" Duo heard Harry mutter, and Lucius laughed.

"Let's see you dodge this one!" he shouted manically, even as he pulled back his arm in preparation to launch…

***

Back at the school, Heero, Quatre, and Trowa were racing through the hallways, with Hermione and Ron following desperately in an attempt to keep up.

*~*

End Chapter 27

dun dun duuuuun…. Yes, that's it.

I know, I'm horrible, and it's also been a month… and I'm very sorry! But I got a new computer and have a major science project to do, plus I work every Monday and most weekends, plus I have karate every Tuesday and Thursday, plus plus plus…

I'll try not to leave you hanging too long… but you never know. ;.;