Thicker Than Water

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: Is 2016 finally over?

AN: Okay, so this chapter is my Happy New Year's surprise for everyone. Hope you enjoy it. And here's to a productive new year for everyone.

Chapter 3: Secrets

The two cars made their way across London and finally came to a stop outside a rather large three-story house in a very upscale neighborhood. Mrs. Granger got out of the car and waited while the other occupants of her car, and the one following them, piled out. Harry stood gaping at the large house, his eyes finally darting to his best friend with a questioning look. Hermione just shrugged at his silent inquiry. Duo, however, wasn't so silent in his appreciation of the house before him.

"Damn, Heero," he gave a low whistle. "Too bad you ain't stayin' here. It's almost as nice as some of Kitty Quat's places."

"Duo," the shaggy haired brunet glared, while the former Sandrock pilot buried his face in his hands embarrassedly.

Mrs. Granger just shook her head at the boys' antics, glad that they were so close, and proceeded to lead the way inside. The inside of the house, while still nice, didn't have the stuffy, rich people feel to it. No, it was more like the Great Hall or the Gryffindor Common Room. Not surprising to Harry, there were books scattered around almost every available surface that wasn't the floor, as well as papers, and writing utensils.

Mrs. Granger began showing the boys and the Dursleys around. But before they'd gotten very far into the tour, Hermione's impatience finally won out and she grabbed Harry's hand and began dragging him away from the group.

"Mum," she said over her shoulder, "I'm taking Harry upstairs to my room. We'll be back down in time for dinner."

"Alright, dear," Jean smiled, shaking her head good-naturedly. "Just don't be late."

"We won't," she beamed and continued dragging her friend from the room.

The five pilots watched their progress up the stairs until they could no longer see the pair, their minds all thinking the same thing: how did those two know each other? Vernon, too, was watching his nephew leave, his eyes narrowed suspiciously, and if Harry had been there he would've recognized the warning of danger in those watery blue depths.

Trowa leaned over so he could speak to the shaggy haired brunet beside him without being overheard, except by the other pilots, "Your sister knows."

Two sets of eyes widened at this announcement, while the other two narrowed in thought.

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Heero shook his head slightly, still speaking quietly. "We'll see what she does with that information. Duo."

"On it," the braided teen gave a mock salute and silently slipped away from the group, following the other pair's progress up the stairs.

888888

When they finally reached her room, Hermione gave him a rather hasty jerk toward the bed, indicating he should sit down. Harry did as instructed, silently taking in the room as he did so. It was just as he expected his studious friend's room to look like. There were large bookshelves along one wall, all filled to overflowing with her large collection. There were hardly any frills, but then again, Hermione wasn't an overly frilly girl as it was.

"Harry," the girl in question drew his attention back to herself, "I have to tell you before I burst."

"Calm down, Mione," he shook his head slightly, pulling her down to sit beside him on the bed. "What's wrong?"

"It's your brother," she said urgently, gesticulating wildly. "Not just him though, my brother and, well, all of them. But then again, I doubt you would know, as I hardly believe those cows out there would've let you watch television."

"Hermione," Harry placed his hand on her shoulder, drawing her eyes to him, neither of them noticing the door slip open a crack, "you're making no sense. I mean, I know this whole I've got two brothers thing is weird, but I don't think that lady lied to us. I mean, my aunt even knew about them."

"No, no," she shook her head, "you misunderstand me. I have no doubt they're your brothers, DNA does not lie, unless of course they're under Polyjuice Potion, but that would mean your brothers would still be out there. No, what I'm saying is that I've seen your brother, Duo, before."

"What?" emerald eyes widened in shock. "When? Where? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Of course, I didn't know he was your brother at the time," she rolled her eyes. "He was on the news during the last year. He was to be executed as a terrorist, but managed to escape custody."

"You're joking," he shook his head in disbelief. "It can't be true."

"I'm sure of it," Hermione said vehemently. "If my theory is correct, the other four are in the same boat. Now, don't get me wrong, they were all recently hailed as heroes, but for almost a year, they were terrorists in the Muggle world, more specifically, the Gundam pilots."

"My aunt and uncle can't know," Harry shook his head. "They'd be treated worse than me if they figured that out. Uncle Vernon's been going on about the Gundam Pilots since they first arrived."

"I doubt they would remember," the bushy haired girl sighed. "It was only for a short amount of time, and there was a big cover up after he escaped. But it's too much of a coincidence."

"So what should we do?" the raven haired wizard turned to her questioningly. "Should we confront them about it and see if they'll tell us, or should we keep it to ourselves? And if we do confront them, should we tell them our secret as well? I mean, as Hagrid said, it's not likely that a son of Lily and James would not be."

"You're right," she smiled slightly, "we would have to tell them, a quid pro quo. It wouldn't be fair of us to keep it from the."

"Alright," he shrugged. "When should we do it? I mean, we can't do it in front of the Dursleys, that's just asking for trouble."

"I know," she bit her lip thoughtfully. "I've got it, I'll convince Mum and Dad to keep your aunt and uncle busy while we talk. That way, everything will be out in the open and we won't have to hide anything from them, especially if you're coming to visit later this summer. Though, I guess I'll have to take that up with my real dad later, once I meet him."

"Yeah, there is that," he smiled, feeling more like himself for the first time since he'd overheard his other supposed best friend's confession.

"Well, we'd better join the others for dinner," she shook her head slightly. "You don't want to see my mum upset because we missed it, she's worse than Mrs. Weasley at times."

Harry laughed as they both got up and made their way over to the now closed door.

888888

Duo slipped away right before the two in the bedroom had finished speaking, not wanting to get caught eavesdropping. He made his way back to the other pilots, no one else seeming to notice his absence, he noted proudly.

"They're going to confront us after dinner," he whispered so only the other pilots could hear. "Not in front of everyone, cause apparently my relatives would flip if they knew. They've also got something they want to tell us, though they were extremely vague about what it could be."

"We'll just have to wait until after dinner, then," Quatre said quietly as the other two teens joined them on their way into the dining room.

Dinner was a rather tense ordeal, with the pilots, except Quatre and Duo, not talking hardly at all. Harry and Hermione kept shooting the five new teens suspicious looks but held their peace. Mr. Granger joined them about halfway through the meal, and he and Vernon got into a rather lengthy debate about politics, which the pilots listened to with half an ear, though what the whale of a man was saying caused all of them to bristle slightly. Apparently, Mr. Dursley had been a strong supporter of the Alliance and then by default, OZ, and kept badmouthing the new government that they'd help set up.

After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Granger led everyone into the parlor so they could continue talking and Harry knew that now would be the time to put their plan into action. Apparently, Hermione realized it too.

"Mum?" she asked tentatively. "Would it be alright if we left you grownups to talk? I'm sure Harry is just as interested as I am to talk with his newly discovered family."

"That would be fine, dear," Jean smiled knowingly. "I'm sure we're boring you with our adult talk."

"Thanks, Mum," she beamed, grabbing Harry's hand once again. "Come along, we'll move to the den."

The pilots all got to their feet and followed the pair out of the room. Dudley, without anything better to do, went with them as well, though no one seemed to notice or care. Hermione led them down the hall a little way and opened a door on the right. Inside was a rather cozy room, divided into three sections. One section included a plush sofa, loveseat, and chair set arranged elegantly around a small coffee table. The second was several squashy armchairs and a T.V. as the focal point. While the third was, once again not surprising to Harry, situated almost like a library, with a desk and many shelves of books.

They silently decided to take the sitting area, and all found seats; Quatre and Heero on the loveseat; Wufei in one of the chairs; Hermione, Harry, Duo, and Trowa on the couch; and Dudley slipping silently into the remaining chair.

"So," Duo grinned, pulling Harry close to his side, he couldn't stop touching the raven haired teen, as if stopping would somehow make him disappear. "What should we talk about? I vote for a game of Spin the Bottle."

"Maxwell," the former Shenlong pilot glared, "this is not the time for your lame attempts at humor."

"He's right," Hermione shook her head slightly.

Duo gaped openly at the bushy haired girl that was Heero's sister, how dare she say his humor was lame. She'd pay for that later. Well, he'd go easy on her depending on how well she knew his newfound brother, but he'd still get retribution.

"What Hermione meant," Harry sent a glare at the braided teen, having caught his look, a look he'd seen many times on the Weasley twins' faces, "is that we really wanted to talk with you. Hermione, would you like to start? You're the one who brought it up with me after all."

"Of course," she smiled, her eyes determined, reminding the pilots eerily of Heero. "Now, I'm going to ask a serious question, and I'm hoping, since we're all family, you'll answer honestly."

"I never lie," Duo said, affronted.

"Be that as it may," the witch continued, "you may find that you don't want to answer my questions, but I'm hoping you will."

"Get on with it, woman," Wufei rolled his eyes, causing Hermione to bristle slightly.

"Very well," she straightened up, as if preparing for battle, "are you or are you not the Gundam pilots?"

"You are definitely Heero's sister," the small blond chuckled slightly. "Can you tell me how you figured it out?"

"I recognized him," she indicated Duo. "He was on the news at one point, as a captured terrorist. They had the Gundam 02 with him. It wasn't that difficult to put the rest of you in place as well, considering how many there were and that Lady Une said you all knew one another."

"That is quite impressive," a smile pulled at the corners of the unibanged teen's mouth. "And we thank you for your discretion. It appears my uncle is not that fond of us."

"Harry mentioned that," she beamed at him.

"Alright, so you know about us," Duo chuckled slightly at his other brother's look, it was nice to see Trowa smile openly. "Now what were you going to tell us about yourselves? A quid pro quo if you will."

The two wizarding students shot him a rather confused look. How the hell did he know they had something to tell them? And it felt like too much of a coincidence that he'd used the same phrase as Hermione had earlier.

"Well," Harry bit his lip nervously, hoping his brothers wouldn't hate him for what he was about to tell them. "I guess I can explain this time."

"Harry," Dudley spoke up for the first time causing all eyes to swerve to him and Harry's face to pale slightly, "are you sure you should? You don't want them to treat you like my dad does."

"Dudley," emerald eyes darted around in panic, almost expecting his uncle to appear out of the woodwork. 'What are you doing here? You can't tell your parents about what you just found out. I will hex you."

"Calm down, Harry," the larger teen shook his head. "I've done a lot of talking with Mum over the past year. We've both decided things are going to change, at least from our end. You saved my life, Harry, I can't forget that, and Mum's really grateful for it too."

"Technically, it was your soul," the raven haired teen blinked at him in shock. "Damn, Dudley, thank you."

"Back to my question," he smiled slightly. "Are you sure you want to tell them? You know how my dad reacts to it."

"Yes, Dudley, I'm sure," Harry nodded. "They need to know."

"Know what?" Wufei said impatiently, voicing what the others were thinking, glaring between the three newcomers.

"Enough, Wufei," Heero glared at him, his own curiosity piqued, but he wasn't going to force the others to talk, it would be counterproductive.

The former Shenlong pilot sat back in his seat, a dark scowl on his face. He wasn't sure about this whole situation, but he wasn't going to ostracize the only family he had left, especially since most of them were in this room.

"If you are finished?" Harry looked between the two teens expectantly, and Heero nodded, indicating he should continue. "Very well, now, first off, magic is very real."

Duo burst out laughing, doubling over in his mirth, but he was the only one, "Good one, bro. You really had us going there."

"I'm being serious," Harry scowled.

"If you don't believe him," Hermione pushed to her feet and went over to the bookcase along the far wall, retrieving a large tome and returning to her seat before handing it to the braided teen, "read for yourself."

Duo glanced down at the book in his hands: Hogwarts: A History. He glanced at the unibanged pilot beside him before leaning forward and placing the book on the coffee table so the others could have a look as well. Quatre gasped quietly as he read the title.

"My mother went to Hogwarts," he looked between the witch and wizard on the couch. "Well, my adopted mother, at least."

"Did she tell you that?" Wufei asked curiously.

"No, she died when I was about five," the blond shook his head. "I only discovered it by accident last time I was home. I stumbled upon her old journals and it was in there. Apparently, she came from a long line of wizards and witches, though according to her journal, they disowned her for marrying my adoptive father, since he didn't have magic."

"Sounds like pureblood supremacy to me," Hermione shook her head.

"Be that as it may," Quatre sighed. "I had hoped to track down one of her old friends from school to possibly teach me, but with one thing and another, I haven't had to opportunity."

"Okay, hold the phone," Duo waved his hands in front of him. "So what you're saying, Quat, is that not only do you believe that there's magic out there, but that you're, what, a witch?"

"The correct term would be wizard," Wufei cut in. "And it's not all that surprising that Quatre would be one, considering his Space Heart." He then turned to look at the other raven haired teen, "Would I be wrong in the assumption that you are the Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived?"

"How did you know?" said wizard began flattening his bangs nervously.

"My father told me," the former Shenlong pilot shook his head. "And before any of you say anything, he was my real father, we were both adopted into the Dragon Clan when he married YuYan Chang and I was three. It is not unheard of in magical families for two members of the same sex to conceive a child together. Though, now it makes more sense why he told me so much about you and your parents."

"Oh," Harry gave him a skeptical look. "I still don't get how you and I are related."

"To put it simply, your father, James Potter, had sex with my father, Riju Chang, and I am the result."

"Okay, back to the topic at hand," Duo shook his head. "None of us really want to hear how our dad got it on with Fei's…dad. So let me get this straight, you three," he indicated Harry, Hermione, and Dudley, "are wizards?"

"I'm not," Dudley said adamantly.

"Harry and I are, though," Hermione nodded for him to continue.

"And so are Wuffers and Q-ball?" he looked at the pair of them, hoping they were pulling his leg.

"I'd venture a guess that you and um, Trowa?" green eyes darted to the unibanged teen, hoping he'd gotten the name right, and the other nodded, "are too, considering you're my brothers."

"We are," Trowa said quietly. "Duo may not know how to use it, but I was trained since I was five, by a pair of brothers in the mercenary corp., I even have their wands."

"What about Heero?" the braided teen looked at the shaggy haired brunet.

"Hn," he nodded. "Odin Lowe taught me before he died."

"Can you prove it?" Duo pouted, feeling left out.

"I'm sorry," Harry sighed sadly. "We're underage. We're not allowed to do magic outside school until we're seventeen."

"Convenient," the former Deathscythe pilot sat back with a huff.

"Stop pouting, Maxwell," the dark eyed teen reached inside his sleeve and pulled out a thin wooden stick.

He raised the stick slightly and leveled it at the book on the table. Before he could do anything else, however, Harry was out of his seat and snatching the wand from his hand.

"Don't!" he said frantically, his eyes extremely wide.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione asked, looking confused.

"He can't do magic, not here," he shook his head wildly. "I don't know how, but the Ministry can, and will, trace it back to me, and I will get expelled. I'm not going through that again."

"The Trace," Wufei nodded. "I was told about that. It was never applied in the colonies, so I do not carry it, but you both would. Forgive me."

"Oh," Hermione covered her mouth in understanding.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and Vernon and Petunia entered the room. They took one look at the scene and both moved into action. Petunia went straight to Dudley and began ushering him toward the door, while Vernon stalked over to Harry and grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the wand in a vice-like grip.

"What have I told you, boy?" he snarled, making a grab for the stick with his free hand. "I'll tolerate none of your nonsense."

"I believe that is mine," Wufei pushed slowly to his feet, his eyes narrowed dangerously, snatching his wand before the obese man could take it and turning it on him.

"You're not allowed to," Vernon gave him a slightly smug look, though his eyes crossed slightly to keep the wand in focus. "Don't think I don't know the rules."

"Who says they apply to me?" a dark brow rose in challenge.

"Uncle Vernon," Harry winced slightly as his uncle applied more pressure to his wrist in his fright, "let's just go, please. He didn't mean anything by it. Please, Uncle Vernon."

"Yeah, Uncle Vernon," Duo was at the fat man's side in an instant, having seen the pain his brother was in, his gun digging into the man's side, hidden by his jacket, "let's go. We wouldn't want to keep Aunt Tuney and Dudley waiting, now would we?"

Vernon released Harry as if burned, his face draining of all color as he registered the look in those amethyst eyes. He nodded once and made a beeline for the door, not waiting for the three boys to precede him.

"We should go," Trowa said, removing his own hand from the butt of his gun and placing it gently on Harry's arm, leading him from the room. "Call us later, Heero, once you're settled."

"Bye Hermione, guys," the bespectacled boy called as he was dragged out.

"Goodbye," the blond went over and placed a quick kiss on the stoic teen's lips, and then followed the pair out.

"Later," Duo waved over his shoulder at his fellow pilots.

The four of them made it out of the house, where Vernon was waiting for them in the car, ashen-faced and quite scared. Duo and Quatre crawled in, leaving Trowa to once again have Harry on his lap. When they were settled, Vernon started the car and headed home, not saying a word to anyone.

Ammie: So there ya go. Happy New Year to everyone. Please let me know what you think.