Title: Lover Reborn

Author: Excalibur's Fire

FanFiction: Harry Potter X Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: HPxDM (Past), HPXSeifer Almasy

Warnings: Slash, there is boy/boy love in this, if you don't like that please don't read, you yelling at me about it isn't going to change my mind on it so it is just moo point (like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, lol)

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter world nor Final Fantasy VIII worlds belong to me, if they did there would be a lot more man on man loving, ('cause that shite is hot,)

Chapter 4

Harry was awake for only a half an hour before the doctor came in to check on him, and with her she brought his new glasses.

"Wow that was quick! Thank you so much for this Doctor, I, I don't have any money with me though, I'm afraid I won't be able to repay you until I can find myself a job." Harry said, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

"Don't worry young man," Dr. Kadowaki responded, waving his concerns off. "You don't have to pay me back, but if you are still worried about money just wait until after you take the SeeD Exam, if you are a SeeD you get a weekly salary put into your account when you are on missions or working here."

With a nod she traded places with Xu who was waiting at the door.

"The headmaster thought you may be more comfortable with me supervising your test. Are you ready to go or do you need more time?" Xu asked, she was carrying a pile of papers and a few writing utensils, she also had a small novel, which Harry assumed was to occupy her while he was writing.

"Let's do this." He said with a grin, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Two hours later Harry set down his pencil with a breath. He handed the test paper to Xu, who promised to be back before dinner with his results.

Harry still had another hour until lunch and, hopefully, a Selphie visit, so passing the time Harry leaned back into the pillows and began processing information that he had picked from this world and categorizing it. After his time with the GFs he knew approximately what a Garden's purpose was, but it wasn't until his talk with Selphie that it firmed all the information. A Garden's main purpose is to put out trained fighters in the opportunity that a power crazy Sorceress comes into being; if that were to happen the Gardens would assess the situation and approach it in the appropriate manner and more often than not that 'appropriate manner' was an all out war. He learned that Trabia, Selphie's previous Garden, had come into being during the last large Sorceress War that happened nearly 50 years earlier and Galbadia Garden was the first Garden, it was created 83 years ago when Sorceress Yunalesca was raining chaos. While Balamb Garden on the other hand was the newest, only around 20 years old, no one knew the exact purpose it was made, but it already has a reputation of putting out some of the best fighters in the world.

Harry was alerted to Selphie's approach by the quick footsteps and rattling cutlery that was getting louder.

They talked about this and that, touching lightly on little topics across the board. Selphie saying that she had been adopted by her parents when she was 4 years old, that her mother and father ran a restaurant in Frawned Town, a small town near Trabia Garden. Although even at a young age she had always wanted to join one of the Gardens, and something about Balamb Garden had always drawn her attention; for as long as she could remember she wanted to join Balamb Garden, but she and her parents had made a deal, that she would go to Trabia Garden and if when she was ready to take her exams she still wanted to go to Balamb she could.

And Harry talked about how he grew up, that when he was young his parents were killed and he was sent to his mother's sister and her family. He talked about how hard it was to be raised by them, that they were not kind to him and forced him to do all chores in the house. But, that every year the palace guard does rounds of schools in the capital and test the children, and if they have talent they are trained. If they still enjoy what they do at 16 they are admitted to the guard, but after two years as a guard Harry had wanted something else, something more than the palace guard; he had wanted adventure, and becoming SeeD was the answer.

They were talking about different plans and activities for the Garden Festival when Xu knocked on the door frame and waved a small stack of papers.

"I'll leave you two to it then." Selphie said patting Harry on his knee as she stood up. After one last smile at Xu and Harry she disappeared through the door.

Twenty minutes later Harry found himself getting his first glance around the Garden as Xu escorted him to the armory for him to find a weapon. As Harry was walking he thought he saw a flash of blond walking quickly into a room down one of the halls they passed, his heart dropped a bit; he hadn't seen Seifer since he was asleep beside him when Harry had his fevered night. Harry arrived at the armory with a heavier heart then when he left the hospital wing, but once in a room filled with hundreds of different weapons his excitement began to return.

During the battle when Harry had been captured, the Death Eaters had managed to get his wand from him before snapping it, after that Harry had only been able to use some low level wandless charms and spells as defense before they were able to overtake him and bring him back to their hideout. After Draco rescued him they decided that he would need to learn how to fight without his wand. Draco had had a few sword lessons when he was younger, it was tradition that all Pureblood men can at least hold a sword without cutting off a limb and was able to help him get started, but it didn't take long for his knowledge on the topic to dry up. At that point they had turned to the muggle world and along with Ron and Hermione they took different self-defense courses before moving on to weapons training. Draco and Ron's Pureblood experience with swords had allowed them to take to the lessons like a fish to water, Hermione decided that she would best use a distance weapon as she didn't have the speed or strength needed for close combat and studied bows as if for an exam. Harry with his smaller body type wasn't able to wield a sword with the strength of Draco and Ron, but he was quick due to his youthful "Harry Hunting" escapes. After trying a few different weapons he decided on a pair of swords like Sir Balin used in Arthurian legends. Olivander had made Harry another wand, but it wasn't the same as his original wand and he didn't like using it as much, therefore Ollivander had tried to place a magical core inside his sword handles and turn them into 'wands' themselves, this was more to his liking. Therefore, after the creation of his swords he didn't use his wand, it stayed hidden on his body in case it was needed, but the swords were his first line of defense and he became very skilled with them.

Shaking memories from his mind Harry walked through the armory running his hand along matches of his two friend's weapons, not seeing one of the same style that Draco used Harry guessed that it might possibly be being used by Seifer, if he truly had the soul of his Draco he might be drawn to the same sort of weapon. Harry was passing a display of scimitars when a pair of swords down the aisle caught his eye. His breath began to quicken as he drew nearer the pair. Both had a blade of dark silver and had runes carved in and inlaid with a forest green material. The handles were made of wood which is not common with swords, wood was not strong enough to handle the force of metal on metal combat, he recognized the wood as holly and into them was carved pictures of a snake wrapped lovingly around a lion. These were his blades; he assumed they would have been destroyed in the ritual's explosion when he confronted Voldemort, but they had come back to him. Just like Draco…hopefully.

Harry lovingly dragged his hands down the blade handles before gently picking them up, he flipped them in his hands, testing the balance and weight, he tossed them into the air with the blades spinning before grabbing the handles and spinning them through a complicated series of movements.

A smile crossed Xu's face as she watched the display; this exam was going to be interesting. "Alright Verde, let's go to the Training Center and see what you have."

On the trip to the training center they gained a group of followers, starting with Selphie bouncing to Harry's side and with her she pulled a muscled blond boy and a small girl with brown pigtails in her hair. By the time the group entered the center they had grown to nearly 35 people, everyone had heard of the boy that Xu and Seifer had rescued in the forest and that he was going to fight Xu in hope of taking the field exam in two days.

They gathered throughout the first clearing where monster couldn't enter, the spectators making a large ring around the participants. This was going to be an interesting battle, Xu was a long distance fighter and if Verde was able to get close enough to her he would be able to win it, but he was injured and she was a seasoned SeeD so it wasn't a sure thing that he could make it that close. Xu filled her gun with rubber bullets which would cause bruises and welts but no serious damage while Harry covered his blades with a tight rubber sheath that would keep him from cutting skin if he hit her. Xu spun her guns in her hands as she bent this way and that stretching and limbering up, from the little that she did know about the Esthar guards she knew this could be a difficult battle.

Harry's face was lit in a grin; his blood was pumping in anticipation for the scrimmage that was imminent. He spun his swords casually in his hands as he looked through the crowd, Selphie cheered and gave him a large thumbs up from where she stood with the blond boy and pigtailed girl on one side and a slightly bored looking brunet on her other side. As he bent down to stretch his legs his eyes caught a flash of blond from the side but as he double checked the blond had disappeared leaving only a large dark skinned man and an albino woman who were both looking curiously to the side as if watching something. Harry deflated a little, but at least he knew that Seifer was in the room for now and would most likely witness the battle. Draco had said that watching Harry physically kick someone's ass was always a turn on and Harry could only hope the same for Seifer. Harry suddenly felt a spark of jealousy and pain in his chest at the thought of someone else fulfilling Seifer's needs after a battle, but Seifer wouldn't need anyone else for long, Harry promised himself, he had gone through too much to let go of his soul-mate again.

A tall blond woman with a coiled whip at her hip stepped forward. "I am Instructor Quistis Trepe and I will be the referee for this battle. This is an alternate Field Exam Prerequisite; you will be tested on your physical ability to participate in the exam. There will be no maiming or intentional serious injuries, no magics or GFs, the battle will continue until one fighter forfeits. That being said, do your best fighters. Begin!"

Harry and Xu began to walk slow circles around each other, both matching the steps of the other perfectly. Xu had her guns up and every few steps would take a shot at Harry, all wide, to see how he would react, he didn't, it was as if he didn't notice them at all. After 4 shots and Harry not flinching once Xu's eyes narrowed and her gun swung to the left slightly and a bullet was released flying directly at Harry, before anyone could react his right sword was looping through the air vertically above him and he was crouching on the ground with his hand stretched out towards Xu. There were startled screams from the observers behind Xu as a knife that no one had noticed Harry throw embedded it's self into a wooden support post amongst them.

Then the battle begun. Harry caught his falling sword and began running to the side as Xu began releasing a barrage of bullets at him, only missing by a fraction each time. Harry was zig-zagging trying to get close enough to turn the fight to his favour, but her bullets were holding him off. As she emptied the clip from one gun she smoothly replaced it while distracting him with her other, but the moment Harry was waiting for came when both of her clips emptied at the same time. Harry sprinted in close to her before she could reload and began his spinning double bladed attacks. Xu pulled two small daggers from sheaths at her hips and defended.

The gathered spectators were going wild for the fighters; people were yelling encouragements and tips to their favourite.

Xu was starting to tire, she didn't have the endurance that Harry had, while she had been a student, candidate and SeeD for 21 of her 30 years, Harry had been fighting a war for most of his first life and had spent the last 18 years training with the GFs and was in the best physical shape of his life not counting his small T-Rexuar injuries. She couldn't compare with him. Soon she began to falter, letting a hit here and there through her defenses and when she began to suspect she was at the end of the battle a deep voice yelled over the crowd.

"Spin and pin." Xu didn't know what that meant, but she saw Harry's eyes flash away into the crowd for a split second before meeting hers again, they were green fire.

Harry spun down on the ground sweeping his leg under Xu forcing her to jump into the air to avoid it, with his next spin his arm extended sweeping her airborn feet out from under her. His spin continued, his arms windmilling gracefully before he came to a stop with both swords against either side of her throat pinning her as she lay on her back breathing heavily in the dust. She spread her arms to the side and dropped the daggers in the dirt. Harry held his position for a few more seconds as the crowd grew quiet, before smiling tiredly at her and sheathing his swords and offering her a hand to get up. The crowd cheered and applauded the victor. Harry was distracted by the sight of a long grey trench coat swirling away deeper into the training center until Xu stepped back from him and bowed slightly which lead to a new wave of cheering, Harry dragged his thoughts away from Seifer and back to his surroundings.

Quistis came forward and held out a hand. "Congratulations, I think that you are more than ready to take your Field Exam, Verde. Come now, as the adrenaline wears off I'm sure you are going to start to feel your injured leg again, let's get you to the infirmary again before it gets too bad."

Xu tiredly leaned against Quistis' side while Selphie came and wrapped an arm around Harry's waist to walk with him to the infirmary. As they left many people were calling out their congratulations for the great fight to the pair, a couple coming up and giving Harry a pat on the shoulder.

As they were walking through the hallway the group that was standing with Selphie approached them.

"That was AMAZING!" The blond man yelled, punching his fists into the air in excitement. "I'm Zell Dincht! It's great to finally meet you Verde, Selphie goes on and on about you!" He held out a hand and shook Harry's offered hand heartily.

"That's enough Zell." The girl with the brown pigtails admonished. "Take a deep breath." She smiled at Harry as Zell flushed slightly. "Hi, I'm Penelope, I work in the library here. But Zell's right, that was pretty amazing! Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I was trained by the Esthar Palace Guard, they are pretty intense about training there." Harry smiled and gave his well practiced tale. He turned his head to look at the third person, the brunet who had been beside Selphie. He was small, but tight muscles were evident even under the coat that he wore.

"Squall." He said holding out his hand for Harry to shake as well. "I hope that after you are better we can scrimmage together. I think that I can learn a lot from you." Squall said, uncharacteristically (and figuratively) bowing to a superior fighter.

"I think that sounds like a great idea Squall." Harry replied, smiling at the other man. "But, right now I think that I am going to take a nap."

Squall and Penelope nodded their heads in farewell while Zell enthusiastically waved as they walked away.

DMxHP SAxHP

Seifer walked through the halls confidently, appearing to all as a person on a mission. This was a secret of his; people thought you were doing important things if you walked like you were doing important things. He saw students running around excitedly whispering to each other before hurrying off, all were hurrying in the same direction, towards the training center. Earlier he had been looking for Raijin and Fujin when he noticed SeeD Xu walking through the halls being quietly followed by a messy black haired man, the man from the infirmary; as soon as he realized who it was he slipped into an open classroom before peeking his head out again to see where the pair were heading, he noticed the man looking in his direction and quickly jerked his head back again before being startled by a throat clearing. He slowly turned around and was surprised to see an entire class of 10-12 year olds who had been quietly writing a test and were now watching him curiously.

"Mr. Almasy, is there something that you needed?" Instructor Strife, the elderly battle tactics teacher asked him.

"Oh, uhh, I'm sorry to interrupt your class Instructor, but I was wondering if there was a Blaise Zabini here?" Seifer quickly said the first name that came to his mind.

"No, there is no one by that name in this class. What do you need this Mr. Zabini for?" He asked suspiciously.

"I have a message from the Headmaster for him. I am sorry; I will let your students get back to their tests now." With a quick nod of his head he rushed from the room praying the pair had passed by that time.

He was greeted by an empty corridor and released a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. He growled and fisted his hair in frustration, who was this man, and why was he acting so strangely when it came to him? He was Seifer Almasy, he acted strange over no person. Not Tara, the first girl he ever kissed, and not Tidus, the first boy he kissed. But now he was acting like a nervous school boy and that would not do. He hadn't actually held a conversation with him, but seeing that bouncy brown hair girl laughing with him in the infirmary one of the times that Seifer had snuck in to see the man had caused something angry to twist in his chest.

He turned angrily and began making his way towards the cafeteria hoping his friends would be there to take his mind off the mystery man.

His thoughts were indeed broken as Raijin and Fujin came running up to him.

"Did you hear? Xu and that man that you rescued are going to scrimmage in the Training Center, ya know"

Well, Seifer thought, that change in thought pattern hadn't lasted long. Wait…

"What do you mean scrimmage? He's still injured!"

"PREREQUISITE." Fujin put in.

"Exactly." Raijin nodded. "It's going to be his prerequisite test for the Field Exam; and I for one don't want to miss it ya know!"

"PERVERT." Fujin stated.

Raijin gave her an unapologetic grin. "If a certain smokin' hot SeeD member also happens to be there dressed to kill, literally, and getting all sweaty and dirty, then who am I to complain, ya know?"

Fujin shared a look with Seifer and rolled her eyes.

Seifer shifted his weight from foot to foot before hesitantly agreeing. "OK, I'll go with you, but I have things to do this afternoon and I don't know if I can watch the entire battle."

The trio joined a group of students who were wandering into the training center and found a spot behind a group of giggling girls. Seifer casually kept out of sight of the fighters until he tired of watching Raijin stare at Xu he turned to look at the pair as well. The first thing he noticed was the bouncy brunet standing at the front waving and cheering for the man and something ugly twisted in his chest, the man smiled back casually before bending down to stretch his hamstrings when his head snapped back up and Seifer quickly jerked his head back behind the giggling girls who broke out into a new series of giggles when 'the hot new guy' looked at them. Seifer knew that Raijin and Fujin were looking at him oddly but he couldn't bring himself to care that much, he leaned back against a support beam and tried to act as if that was what he had planned until the sound of Quistis announcing the start of the fight broke the crowd's noises.

At that time Seifer stood back up and moved over beside Raijin and Fujin to watch. They started out small, walking circles around the other, taking measure of their footing, Xu was shooting wide at him, the spectators dodging the bullets with the mystery man, but not really making any aggressive moves yet. Suddenly, with only a narrowing of her eyes as a warning she aimed at the green eyed man and faster than Seifer could follow the man dodged and countered, his eyes barely leaving the crouched form as a group gave a startled scream when as knife just missed them.

At this point even if Seifer had wanted to look away or leave he couldn't, he had completely blocked out everyone else and was only watching the man move, and move he did. His lines were perfect and he never placed a foot down incorrectly; he never made a mistake, it was as if this was all a choreographed dance. Seifer watched as he gradually worked his way through the barrage of bullets to get close enough to launch his own attack.

Seifer's breathing quickened and his eyes darkened as he watched sweat drip from the man's face during a spin, he almost felt like he would predict the man's movements, but knew that wasn't possible, there was no noticeable pattern that he could be picking up on and the moves were all performed without hesitancy that could allow him to guess what was next. Spin, parry, kick, slash, slash, duck.

He watched Xu falter in her attack as she weakened and from nowhere the words 'Spin and Pin' echoed through his mind. He must have yelled them out loud because in the next second the fiery green eyes flashed up to meet his and the final move was made; with two quick spins Xu was pinned to the ground with swords on either side of her throat and the crowd was silent. The bouncy brunet started cheering enthusiastically and everyone followed suit. Seifer turned gritting his teeth and, ignoring the two voices calling his name and the eyes following his back, quickly made his way deeper into the training center, once more heading to the room which would most likely be empty at this time due to the fight.

He sank to the floor in his customary spot and pulled a small flask from an inner pocket of his trench, unscrewing the lid he took a deep breath through his nose before bring the container to his lips, after a brief hesitation he pulled a long drink from it. Coughing, he reveled in the burn as it slid down his throat. How did I know his fighting pattern? Spin and pin? What is a Spin and pin?

Shaking his head he vowed to forget the man, for at least on night.

DMxHP SAxHP

When the group made it back to the infirmary Dr. Kadowaki was waiting for them with the Headmaster, she assisted the now limping Harry back to his bed and gave him something for the pain and unwrapped his leg, the scab across it had torn and was slowly leaking blood, tutting she wrapped it with clean bandages and placed some pillows under it to elevate it. The Headmaster entered the room as she left.

"I asked your friend, Miss Tilmitt, to wait a few minutes so I could have a quick word with you. I am Cid Kramer, Headmaster of Balamb Garden, I'm sorry that I have been unable to come and visit you earlier, but SeeD Xu and Dr. Kadowaki were keeping me up to date on how you were doing." He took the seat beside Harry's Head. "Now, Verde, I know that you wish to take the SeeD Field Exam in two days, but I am not sure that your leg injury could handle the strain, it could be much harder than your fight today and I don't want any permanent damage to occur. But," He continued, holding up his hand to stop any of Harry's protests. "You did extremely well today, a one on one battle with a SeeD is never an easy win, but with your injury thrown in as well, we believe that you are likely more than qualified, physically, to be SeeD. But, we will need to see how you follow orders before your can be elevated to SeeD title. I believe that, if you have any medical training, you could act as a field medic during the exam. This way you are there and following directions, but out of any direct battles that could cause problems for you. SeeD Xu will be travelling between Candidate groups to determine how well they are reacting and responding to orders and we think that it would be a good idea for you to travel with her and assist any that you see need it. Do you have any questions, Mr. Verde?"

Harry was quiet for a minute, starring at the small, twisted gold wedding band on the Headmaster's finger absently before nodding. "Yes Sir, that sounds acceptable. I was taught basic first aid and should be able to field bandage the wounded effectively enough." He said with a firm nod of his head.

"Good," After patting him on the shoulder the headmaster stood and left.

Less than a second later Selphie was in the room and had thrown herself at Harry and squeezed him until he couldn't breathe anymore. "That was SO GREAT! The way you moved! Your attacks! You looked like you have been fighting for so much longer than the 9 years that you have been. You beat a fully qualified SeeD with next to no actual injuries to show for it! And that final move where you spun in circles taking her out at the knees before pinning her to the ground." She finally released him and as he tried to catch his breath she dance in a quick circle. "Oh, I am so pumped now! I feel like I could take on the world and kick its butt!"

Harry gave her a small smile but his mind was wandering, and apparently it was obvious as after barely 15 minutes Selphie excused herself for the night leaving Harry with his thoughts.

After a small bowl of soup Harry turned off the bedside light and settled back into his pillows with thoughts of Seifer running through his head. He now had confirmation that Seifer was his Draco; the only problem was that he seemed to be like the Draco from before helping Harry. He was a troubled man, not respecting authority and running from anything that confused him. Quistis had asked him on the trip back to the infirmary if Seifer had stopped by to see him. After Harry replied negatively she expressed her regret and offered to remind Seifer but Harry shook his head, if Seifer didn't want to visit him Harry didn't want to force him.

Harry needed to meet Seifer, he needed to talk to him; Harry was confident that if he could talk to Seifer he could get him to like him. With Draco it had been hard in the beginning because during that first train ride to Hogwarts when Harry refused Draco's hand in friendship it cast an ugly light over all of their interactions until Draco saw Harry at his worst. Now, Seifer had already seen Harry at his worst, so they just needed to move onto the getting to know each other better step, this seemed to be the hard part of the plan; you can't get to know someone who is avoiding you. But Harry couldn't understand why he was being avoided; he hadn't done anything to Seifer…

Seifer…Draco…Draco…Seifer.

Harry's eyes closed thinking about the grey eyes he missed so much. It hurt.

DMxHP SAxHP

Hi everyone, thank you everyone reading this, I am sorry it took so long to get out, I keep meaning to put them out sooner, but I guess it is something that I have actually been keeping up with this story…I've never really done this before, lol.

Ok, I know that last chapter I said that the exam would be in this chapter, and as I'm sure you noticed..it wasn't. So NEXT CHAPTER will be the field exam. I'm hoping that the story will pick up from there, but this story is writing me at this point, so I don't really know what is going to happen anymore than you do. I know the direction it is heading, I just don't know the exact route that it will take to get there. From the beginning I really didn't expect Xu to be in so much, but I am starting to really like her, she's a nice blank character that I can play with at will ^_^

Right, so thank you everyone, please keep reading!

I love you all!

Excalibur