14

Family Means Nobody Gets Left Behind

By: ForeversNobody

Rating/Warning: uuuuummmm, imma have to go with M, just cuz I like to swear and also, I plan on making this a slash fic and therefore give as many lemons (and limes) as I want and/or as my readers request… I will warn you at the beginning of chapters which ones will contain lemons/limes

Blah = thinking

(*blushes* sry this wasn't in other chapters! But I'm sure you're all smart enough to have figured that out *winks*)

Authors Ramblings: I am SOOOOO SOOOOOO SOOOOOOO sry for the long wait guys! Life was going fine, but then I got a new job and had a mini vacation and the everything went to hell in a hand basket… and since this is my first real job after college, its taken some getting used to my new 9-5 schedule (and having to get up at 6am every day – blegh! I am in no way, shape or form a morning person)… I will do my best to not keep you guys waiting so long in the future! :3

I have a beta! Yay! Many thanks to Masked Fool for taking up the position! Especially since Lightening_Skies (my previous beta) has had her computer commit suicide [she then proceeded to borrow a friend's laptop and managed to break that too – it was a Mac Book -_-' ]

I just wanted to thank all my readers and reviewers – I really appreciate you guys! *hands out cookies*

http: //forum. /topic/2592 /22417783 /1/

please, if you can, help me with this forum? I really want to keep reading this story, but I can't find it

Pairing(s): yeeeeeeaaaaa – imma let you figure that out on your own for now ;)

Summary: He had given up on wishing for a new family years ago – long before he found out he was a wizard and the horrible truth about what had happened to his parents. But sometimes, Gods are just as good at procrastinating as humans – but they get to their duties, eventually.

Chapter 5:

Duo finally spoke up. "So, I must have gotten out somehow. Though, how did a 2 year old get outside without his parents knowing at – what, 3 am?" He paused and looked anxious but, determined. "And may I ask what happened to my birth parents? All I know is that they died when I was three."

Sirius looked to Une for permission. "We have at least one theory – but the answer to both of those questions is complicated without an explanation of who and what you are first."

Sirius and Une noticed that Heero, Duo and Trowa looked confused, but Quatre and Wufei had perked up and were looking eager. Harry was too busy wringing his hands and alternating between looking fretfully at Duo, then back at his own shoes to really notice the change in atmosphere.

Duo immediately tensed and sat straighter. He had a guess as to what this guy was talking about and it didn't sound like anything good. A lot of people still had bones to pick with them. "Look, if you've got a problem with me – us – being the Gundam Pilots, we're going to have to part ways here, as much as I would regret that. I would love to know where I came from and all, but if you're going to be prejudiced…" he let his sentence trail off.

Sirius was thoroughly confused, but before he could form a response, Harry snorted. "Trust me, no one in our messed up little family is going to have an issue with you playing martyr and fighting for your cause."

Harry's comment had Sirius spinning around and glaring at his godson. "Ok, so they might have issues with the martyr part – but not the fighting for what you believe in part." Harry conceded.

"I'm going to second what Harry said, but if you've got even an ounce of his luck -"

"Hey!" Harry jumped in, cutting Sirius off. "Its not like I go looking for trouble! It just finds me!"

Trowa snorted. "Oh no, they're not related at all."

"That would be plausible, if it wasn't trouble every year." Sirius cut back in, apparently not hearing Trowa's quiet comment.

"OI! Like I can control when that – that lunatic is going to come after me!" Harry was furious, despite Sirius' own lack of seriousness.

"Lunatic?" Heero enquired ending the argument.

"Voldemort." Harry spat, without thinking.

"What?" The quiet statement silenced the room immediately.

Harry turned and looked at Wufei, who repeated himself. "What did you just say?"

Harry's response was not something anyone in the room had expected. He exploded. "YES! Voldemort is back! No, I'm not lying and I'm not crazy! Cornelius Fudge is not fit to Minister if all he's going to do is keep people in the dark, compromising their safety!"

The room just sat in stunned silence, staring.

Harry froze, realizing what he had just done. Yelling at adults? What the HELL came over you, moron! He sighed. "Look – I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that, and I know you all probably think I am crazy now. I'm just really frustrated."

Quatre, ever the peacemaker, decided to step in. "Okay, how about we start from the beginning, especially for those of us not in the loop." He looked over at Une, who seemed not to be surprised at the boy's outburst. "Who is Voldemort?"

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself and turned to face the Winner Heir. "Voldemort is the insane lunatic who killed my – our – parents." He nodded in Duo's direction. "He also tried and failed to kill me." Harry was still visibly agitated

Trowa spoke up at this, after all, he had worked and lived with people who were considered monsters, but had their own code to live by. "Tried? As in he couldn't bring himself to do it? That's not very surprising, event the most hardened soldiers sometimes don't have the resolve or stomach to kill children."

Harry shook his head as he turned to face Trowa. "No, tried as in tried and failed – I was the one he was after in the first place. My parents were just casualties." Harry reluctantly pulled up his bangs to reveal his scar. "This is the result of his attempt."

Duo walked over to inspect the scar. It was very oddly shaped and in an even stranger place, considering that the center of one's forehead was not generally a place one survived being wounded. "What kind of weapon makes that kind of mark? And how did you survive a serious head wound of that caliber at 15 months old?"

Harry just shrugged. "No one knows how I survived - the same way no one knows why he wanted to kill me in the first place."

Sirius averted his eyes, but Une noticed. "Is there something you're not sharing, Mr. Black?"

Sirius gave Une a stern glare. "Its not something children should have to deal with."

Une rolled her eyes heavenward and sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening to prevent her agents from committing homicide.

All of the pilots bristled at Sirius' remark; however Duo was the quickest to react. "OI! Who do you think you are, deciding what he is and isn't capable of? Just because he's young doesn't mean he can't handle it!"

Sirius snarled and whirled on Duo. "Right, because his track record of making outstanding decisions is exemplary so far."

Both were so focused on each other that they missed Harry's flinch – but the rest of the room didn't. He hunched his shoulders and ducked he head. The little voice chose that moment to pipe up. See? Even your own 'loving' godfather thinks its your own fault! Why would your brother think any different? He doesn't even know you.

Sirius and Duo were facing off, looking like they were ready to come to blows, but Sirius backed off first, his own shoulders slumping. He turned to face his godson and immediately cursed his stupid mouth. He strode over and gripped Harry's chin, forcing the boy to look his godfather in the face. "I'm sorry – that's not true, ok? Nothing, none of the things that happened are in any way shape or form your fault, ok? I know you tried to get help each and every time and were shot down – its not your fault. Do you understand?"

Harry just shrugged in response, refusing to meet his godfather's gaze.

Sirius just sighed again and pulled his godson into a hug. "None of it was your fault, kiddo." He whispered.

"We are getting off topic again." Heero was getting frustrated – and by the look of his boyfriend's body language, he could tell Duo was as well.

Sirius pulled away from the hug, but kept an arm around his godson. He focused his gaze on Callum – Duo – and figured there was really no easy way to explain, so he just went with being blunt. "You are a wizard. As am I and Harry too."

Duo just stared at the man. Ho-kay – prison made him crazy.

"He's not delusional, Duo. Nor is he lying." Wufei correctly read his friend's face and decided to intervene before things got out of hand. "I am also a wizard." He drew himself up and kept speaking, even through the skeptical looks his fellow pilots were giving him. "May I borrow your wand, Mr. Black?" At the confused look Sirius shot him, Wufei frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I know you would have procured a replacement since your original one was most likely snapped upon your incarceration, so please – do not attempt to play dumb with me."

Sirius flashed a devilish smirk. This guy was good. He reached into his robes and tossed his wand to the Chinese youth, who caught it smoothly.

Wufei turned towards Une's desk and muttered a quick string of ancient Chinese – an incantation – and Une's desk lifted four feet into the air to hover there until, he set it back down. Looking over at the group, he noticed that Duo, Heero and Trowa were staring open mouthed at the display – but Quatre was simply smiling. "Winner?" Wufei prompted.

Quatre stood up straighter. "I am not a wizard, but my mother's sister was a witch. I do believe there is some form of magical blood in my family, but because I do not know most of my sisters and they were conceived artificially, I'm not sure if I and my mother were the only ones with it. I do, however, have a periphery knowledge of a witch's or wizard's abilities – one of my caretakers knew my aunt and was very chatty."

Une raised her eyebrows at this, but then began giving Heero and Trowa calculating looks. What are the odds… Shaking those thoughts off, she began her own explanation. "I feel I should also inform you all of my own knowledge - I am not a witch, however, I know of their world. Treize was a wizard and Mariemaia is a witch and as her legal guardian it is my responsibility to know so that I am able to give her as much guidance as she needs."

Duo looked like he was in a mild state of shock, but turned back to Harry and Sirius anyway. "Ok, so how about you finish telling Harry why he has a madman after his life so we can all -" he looked pointedly at Harry "figure out how to best coordinate his protection, hm?" It wasn't a suggestion.

Sirius nodded at Duo and steered his godson towards the chair he had vacated earlier. Sitting Harry down, Sirius knelt so he was eye level with his godson. "You remember the Fidelius Charm? How your parents decided to go under it? It was to protect you, not them. They had been moving for over a year and a half before initiating it, but the Death Eaters kept finding them so they agreed to the Fidelius. The year you were born, Dumbledore was interviewing a Seer for the position of Divination Professor." He smiled at Harry's eye roll. "Trelawny made a true prophesy that night during the course of her interview." He paused and looked uncomfortable. He should not have to deal with this, damnit! "One thing, ok? Before I tell you, I want your word that you understand that you are not doing this alone. You got that? I won't let you." Harry nodded, reluctantly, but Sirius was going to hold him to it, so he continued.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…" Sirius cut himself off here and seemed to be struggling with his words. He settled for gripping Harry's hands tightly before continuing. "And either must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" (1)

The room sat in stunned silence and Duo was beginning to rethink his demand of Sirius.

Wufei wasn't as accepting. "Divination is a weak branch of magic at best, it should not be relied upon -" He cut himself off as he saw Harry shaking his head.

"You'd get along great with my best friend Hermione – she felt the same way. But I personally witnessed this Professor deliver a True Prophesy in my 3rd year of schooling, so I can believe it." He looked numbly from Wufei to Sirius. "Though it all makes more sense now – why else kill a helpless baby?"

Sirius answered him with a grim smile. Wufei still looked skeptical, but refrained from commenting further.

Standing from his crouched position, Sirius turned around. "And it looks like we got as far off topic as possible – while still technically staying on topic, if that makes any sense." He grinned. "Back to where we started – my original theory on how you got out of the apartment fire. Young children experience bouts of accidental magic – bursts, when the child is happy, upset, afraid or really just about any extreme emotion. We assume that you woke up for some reason and were afraid and managed to apparate yourself outside somewhere, most likely somewhere you felt safe."

Duo scrutinized Sirius. "Solo – the leader of the gang that took me in – told me he found me in a park that's about a mile from the wealthier parts of the colony. Said I looked like I had been there for a couple days and he assumed someone had just dumped me there."

Sirius nodded. "Apparition is an advanced form of magic, its not an average manifestation of accidental magic, but it also has been known to happen. Bursts of that magnitude usually only happen in times of extreme duress – I think yours counts."

"I managed to apparate onto the top of my school once." Harry stated this so matter-of-factly that Sirius couldn't help but just shake his head. His godson was definitely a marauder – he caused trouble without even trying.

"Apparently the both of you enjoy shocking your family and friends by achieving the impossible and making it look as simple as breathing."

Harry ducked his head, blushing, but Duo just tossed his hands up and intertwined his fingers behind his head grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"As much as I would like to let you all continue this meeting here, I do have other things to attend to today." Une looked down at her watch, which now read 13:00. "I can arrange a private conference room, if you wish."

"Actually, we had been planning on having a small bar-b-que at WinterHaven this afternoon, as we weren't expecting news so soon." Quatre was speaking in friendly terms, but looking sideways at Sirius. "I hope you'll excuse me, Mr. Black, but I can not take just your word and Harry's on the subject of your innocence. And as much as I trust the Lady, her word is also not absolute. I will not stop you from attending lunch with us, as you are technically family, but I will ask that you surrender any and all weapons until you leave."

Rather than be upset or even put out, Sirius smiled. He pulled out his wand and tossed it back to Wufei. "For safe keeping?" Wufei tucked the wand into his weapons holster.

Duo looked over at Harry and Sirius and cocked his head. "Random question: How did you get in here to begin with? You're a well-known wanted fugitive – aren't there orders for you to be 'shot on sight' or something?"

Harry blanched and shot Sirius, then Lady Une horrified looks.

Heero reached over and yanked on the end of Duo's braid. "Baka. The orders are to be cautious and for police to use force only if necessary." He turned to face Harry whose eyes were still huge. "He will not be harmed, you have my word." Harry's features went from terrified to only mildly panicked, but he still kept a firm grip on his godfather's arm.

Sirius looked fondly down at his godson and gave him a quick, one-armed squeeze. He then turned to Duo, winked at him and promptly shifted into Padfoot. Harry squeaked at the loss of Siri's arm, but just grabbed the dog's scruff instead.

Duo was the first to get over his shock. He squatted down so he could look Padfoot in the eye. "So you were the 'demon dog' the secretaries were gossiping about?"

Padfoot's answer was to lick Duo's face.

Leaving Duo spluttering, Padfoot bounded over to Quatre and reared back placing his paws on the blonde's shoulders. Quatre laughed and gave the dog a good scratch behind the ears.

Une's computer chose that moment to beep again, prompting everyone in the room to begin gathering their things to leave. Wufei and Trowa moved first and headed towards the double doors they had entered through, but stopped when Une cleared her throat. "It might be in your best interest to use the back employee exit."

Heero gave her a calculating look. "That's an Agents and Personnel only, entrance Ma'am."

Une's smile was not a good one. "Yes, but I have a feeling that the MPs on the main entrances will not be very accommodating when it comes to Mr. Potter and his – dog."

Sirius flopped down from Quatre's shoulders and promptly hung his head, whining.

Perplexed the former pilots turned to Harry for an explanation, but he blushed and was determinedly not looking at them.

Duo grinned. "Oh this has got to be good! Spill, squirt!"

Harry still refused to look up, but his upbringing kicked in – he couldn't refuse to answer an adult. "We, uh, kinda didn't really go through security appropriately."

Duo snickered and walked over to Harry, throwing an arm over the younger boy's shoulders and began leading him over towards the back exit from the Director's office. "C'mon kiddo – you can tell me about it in the car."

Sirius looked up, gave a resounding bark and tore off to catch up with his best friends' sons.

Une just shook her head as the rest of the boys followed the brothers. My life just got infinitely more complicated.

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The car ride from HQ to WinterHaven was filled with only slightly uncomfortable silence, broken occasionally by Duo's random giggling. He was having a hard time getting the image of Padfoot carrying Harry, racing through the London HQ out of his head.

Harry just sat, not really making eye contact and occasionally glancing out the window. He petted his godfather to keep himself occupied. Keeping a low profile was the best way to stay out of the adults' way.

Looking out the window again, Harry noticed that the scenery and neighborhood had changed significantly. They were passing large, gated estates. He was confused for a second, then remember who they were traveling with and shook his head. Of course, nothing but the best for the Winner Heir – and he obviously makes sure his 'family' is well looked after too. Harry was happy that his brother at least had 'family' that looked after him now.

As they turned and started to pull into a driveway with a ridiculously ornate gate, Harry couldn't stop his jaw from dropping. Taking in the view, only one thought registered in his mind; Damn, it'd take me years to weed these gardens!

Getting out of the car at the front door to the mansion, Duo took a quick look at his brother and couldn't contain his smile at Harry's expression. "You'll only get lost the first couple of times – after that's its easy to navigate."

Harry turned to face him and returned the smile shyly, shrugging. "The school I attend is in a castle – and the stair cases have a tendency to move at random intervals. I think I'll be ok here."

Duo's grin widened.

Padfoot then grabbed everyone's attention by leaping out of the car with a tremendous woof.

Harry spun around, grin still on his face to scold his godfather, but froze. Coming towards the group exiting the car was an enormous man – he could give Hagrid a run for his money - he had to be pushing 6'8" (205 cm). Harry took a step back and without really noticing his reaction, shrunk in on himself in an attempt to make himself invisible dropping the smile.

Duo looked from his brother to Rashid and frowned. Surreptitiously looking over at his fellow pilots, Trowa, Heero and Wufei all acknowledged the reaction. Quatre was greeting Rashid with his back to the rest of the group and therefore didn't see it.

Padfoot sidled up to Harry and sat down, tongue lolling. Duo also moved over to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to reassure the teen. Duo could understand that unless you really knew the man, Rashid could be very intimidating, but he figured the best way to prove that to his skittish brother was to show him.

"Master Duo!" Rashid was feet from them now. Harry flinched back at the booming voice and backed into his brothers arms. As Duo's hand squeezed his shoulder, Harry realized what he had done and cursed himself. I really need to stop doing that!

Rashid noticed the youngster's reaction and understanding what it could mean, he took a half step back, leaving plenty of room between himself and the child. He knew his size was intimidating, so he relaxed his shoulders and tried to adopt a non-threatening posture.

"Master Duo, we have the grills set up on the east patio by the pool and Inaya wanted you to know that the meat is all defrosted and waiting in the main refrigerator."

"Thanks Rashid. Heero and I will take Harry here and go start cooking." Duo smiled and lightly moved his brother forward. "Rashid, I'd like you to meet my brother. Harry, this is Rashid, he's the leader of the Maguanac Corp. that serves Quatre."

Harry's eyes widened. He knew who this man was – when all the news surrounding the Gundam Pilots had hit the news, the Maguanacs had stepped forward and supported them fully.

Rashid smiled down at the boy and held out his hand.

Harry hesitated for a minute, then tentatively stepped forward and shook the man's hand. As he stepped back, he realized what his brother had said. "Just the three of us?" he turned a quizzical look towards the other pilots. "I thought it was supposed to be a bar-b-que for the whole group?"

Duo wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders. "It is, the guys just have some last minute things to take care of first."

"Would you mind, Harry, if we borrowed Padfoot for a bit?" Quatre phrased it like a question, but it clearly wasn't.

Harry made an aborted move, as if he was going to bolt backwards, but Padfoot was still at his feet and wasn't moving. Harry looked fearfully down at his godfather for a sign of what to do. Padfoot drew himself up and gave a slight nod, while simultaneously tilting his head to the side and letting his tongue loll out – so as to still appear as a 'normal' dog.

Rashid was actually the first to respond to Quatre's inquiry. "Do you really think that wise, Master Quatre? The dog is huge and seems rather wild – are you sure it will be safe in the house?"

Harry couldn't help but grin at this. "He's fine – perfectly housebroken."

Padfoot gave him a sidelong look.

Harry just shook his head – his godfather was up to something and after his little stunt at the Preventers' Headquarters, Harry wanted nothing to do with it.

Quatre whistled, and Padfoot turned fully, licked Harry's hand and took off in a flying leap at Trowa. Rashid didn't look very happy, but conceded to Quatre's wishes.

Before he turned to follow his brother, Harry called out to Wufei. "Agent Chang?" Wufei turned back around to look at the teenager. "Please – he's all I've got left."

Wufei nodded silently in response.

When he caught up with Heero and Duo who had stopped to wait for him, Heero leaned in "He'll be fine – remember?"

Harry nodded, but still looked slightly nervous, his godfather was still a convict on the run.

Trowa straightened up and looked over at Harry, giving him an almost imperceptible nod to show that Padfoot would be safe.

Harry finally turned and followed Duo and his boyfriend into the house.

Trowa lead the group of himself, Padfoot, Quatre and Wufei to follow the other trio inside, before branching off into the main conference room in the office wing of the mansion.

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Standing in the backyard, Harry took the opportunity to observe his surroundings. The back gardens were just as vast as the ones in the front of the house, but seemed more able to grow wild. They weren't as meticulously tended as the front of the house.

Duo followed his gaze. "Quatre likes to tinker around on his 'days off'. He says gardening helps him relax."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it helps you think, gives you time – and peace and quiet - to process through things."

Heero filed that little tidbit away with the other information he had obtained that day on his boyfriend's new-found sibling. The boy was an enigma, on top of the fact that his reactions and interactions were slightly off in a way Heero didn't want to contemplate, let alone have to bring to his best friend's attention.

"So you said the school you attend is in a castle, and that the staircases move?" Heero enquired as he prepared the marinated steak tips.

Harry smiled as he continued to survey the garden. "Yea – and a lot of them have a 'trick step' too – a step that is visible, but not physically there. You can sink up to your knee into the step."

Duo cocked his head. "Isn't that kind of dangerous to have in a school?"

Harry just shrugged. "I think the teachers are trying to make sure we're always on our toes." Here, he stopped and thought before smiling wryly "Either that, or they get some form of entertainment out of watching the First and Second year students get caught – I wouldn't put that second option past a couple of the teachers." Harry's grimace told Heero and Duo that he had one (or more) particular teacher in mind.

Harry wandered over to the table, as Duo went and joined his boyfriend at the grill. Watching as Duo wrapped an arm around Heero's waist, Harry couldn't help a wistful smile. He wished he could have something like they did, but given his celebrity status he doubted he'd find someone able to look past the Boy-Who-Lived title. Harry sighed again.

Duo and Heero gravitated over to the table after setting the meat to begin cooking on the grill. As they sat down across from him, Harry fidgeted uncomfortably and searched for something to say. Now what? It's not like I can talk about my home life.

Duo noted his brother's discomfort and chuckled. "Well, this is awkward." Heero smiled into his drink.

Harry just ducked his head shyly. "Yea, its not every day you meet family for the first time."

"So, I'm assuming you know a bit about me – us – but the media doesn't get everything right, so how about we play 20 questions and just alternate who asks?" Duo hoped he sounded as nonchalant as he felt, but he doubted it. He was interested in knowing who his brother really was, but he was also a little scared to look further into Harry's personality quirks.

Harry fidgeted. This was going to be strange. How do you tell someone about your life? About the fact that there was a madman after you or that your family regularly used you as a verbal trash bin and physical stress relief? He didn't want to dump that on his brother – he barely knew Duo and not even Ron and Hermione knew the whole story! Harry sighed – he had no idea where to start.

Figuring he would help the kid out, Duo started. "So you go to a boarding school. Do you play sports?" He paused and cocked his head "Do wizards play regular sports?

Harry grinned. This was safe territory he could genuinely gush about! "Well, not Muggle sports, though in the dorms we do talk about them. One of my dormmates, Dean, is totally enamored with the West Ham football team and he and I have gotten into a bunch of rows about that – personally, I think Chelsea is better, but I wouldn't be able to get him to see sense if I whacked him over the head with it."

"Well, I don't really follow soccer - I'm more of a Baseball person, so I can't really say anything for or against your team. But as a big brother, I think its in the rule book that I need to disagree with you." Duo grinned a Cheshire cat grin.

Harry returned the look. "Going by how my best mate and his brothers are, I think you're right. But back to the original question – there is only one big wizarding sport that I know of, Quidditch. I play seeker."

Heero looked up at that. "That sounds like a word someone made up, not a sport."

Harry laughed. "Yea, wizards are a strange bunch. But its an awesome game! See, it sorta resembles a mix of football – soccer – and American basketball." From here, Harry launched into a detailed description of the game, the field, the players and touched on the rules – those would be a bit too intricate for a beginner.

Heero chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm, as he walked back over to the grill, smiling to himself at his lover. It was good that they had gotten the kid animated finally and were also keeping him from stressing about his godfather and the other pilots. Harry seemed too old for his age as it was, it was nice to see him be such a teenager.

Going back and forth, Harry and Duo exchanged edited versions of their childhoods – Harry being more reserved about discussing his home life, decided to just stick with some of the more tame antics he had found himself part of in school.

Duo touched on his childhood, but figured his kid brother didn't need to know the gory details of growing up as a street rat. He stuck to the more innocent ones from the group homes and the Church.

Neither of the brothers were fooled into thinking the other was giving them the full truth, but it was Harry who managed to put the pieces together from his brother's stories of L2 and the church he 'had to leave' for unspecified reasons. Harry had gotten pretty good at hiding his emotions, as well as his intelligence. The Maxwell Church Massacre was widely broadcast, and even though he had been much too small to know what was going on at the time, he had studied history in school.

As they continued discussing life and teenage years, Duo noticed the far patio door opening. The rest of the pilots were walking out, but before they could all make it through the door, Harry's humongous black dog – er, godfather – came bounding out making a huge racket.

Heero looked down at his watch and realized that he, Duo and Harry had been out on the patio for just under an hour. He looked back up and caught Wufei's eye. If anyone would be able to tell him anything, it would be the Chinese pilot. Not only was he the most familiar with this new magical aspect of their lives, he was also the first one – besides Duo – that Heero turned to, to figure things out the quickest with the least amount of trouble. Trowa and Quatre were good, but for some reason, Duo and Wufei seemed to be the ones best at reading people accurately. Quatre's space heart helped, but people were such overly emotional beings, that sometimes it took him a fair amount of time to sort through their emotions before he could pin down their actual intentions.

Wufei inclined his head, and motioned to show that he no longer had Black's wand. Heero gave a curt nod back. Good. That meant that even if they couldn't trust him fully, his story, for the most part, checked out and Black would not be a threat to any of the pilot's safety.

Looking over at Harry interacting with the man-turned-dog, Heero had to hide a smile. It was clear the boy had at least one steady support in his life, despite his obvious issues. The large dog had the boy pinned on his back and was slobbering all over his charge, tail going ninety miles a minute. That was one less thing to worry about.

Watching his brother and godfather interact, Duo didn't need to see the exchange between Wufei and Heero. He could already tell the boy's tale was true, and Duo was not one to stand around for injustice. He snorted at himself there. Man, he must have been hanging around Wufei too long. At least they had a vacation coming up.

Chapter End: TBC

AN: it was pointed out to me that there are some discrepancies in this story – namely, Harry's knowledge of his parents' relationship before they graduated school and also Harry's 'saving people thing'… I do apologize for this. I've read the books so many times and so long ago, that all of the information sort of blends together. I will try to be more conscientious of this and try to stick to Canon through book 4 (Goblet of Fire) but feel free to point out any discrepancies you notice and I shall attempt to rectify them!

Also, I humbly apologize for the long wait! My muse has severe ADD and refuses to take her Ritalin -_-' … every time I went to write the next parts of this chapter, she jumped a couple of chapters and went "I would really like to see this scene play out like this!" she's stubborn. I also didn't have a very good idea of how and where I wanted this chapter to go, so that didn't help either.

So now for the good news and bad news; Good News: I just got a new job! Bad News: this means that updates will not be regular, sorry! Until I settle in, I'm not sure I can update on a regular basis, as I had planned. I also need to go back and go over my notes to see where I wanted this story to go for the next couple of chapters, as my muse has insisted on jumping to when Harry is back in school – and I hadn't anticipated that for another 2-3 chapters down the line -_-'… the good news is that I have a vacation coming up at the end of May, so I should be able to get some more stuff written soon!

Thank you all for sticking with me and all the faves, alerts and reviews! I'm so glad you enjoy this story as much as I am loving creating it! :3

1 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; chapter 37, page 841