Turns out I can't keep track of the days of the week. So sorry!

CHAPTER EIGHT: (Neph Champion and Knoteach and Me)

Later that night, Duo was getting ready for his mission. He had managed to get him and Harry a shared room, though it had taken a lot of coercing of the Headmaster. Harry was sitting on his bed drawing a picture and occasionally looking up as Duo prepared.

"Where are you going?"

"I've told you twice, kiddo. I've gotta work."

"What's your job?"

"Harry."

Harry pouted down at his picture. "Why can't I come with you?"

"Because you're too young for work." Duo slipped his backpack onto his shoulder. "I'll be back before you wake up in the morning." He knelt down and looked Harry in the eye. "What're the rules?"

"Don't go outside."

"And?"

"Go to bed at eight."

"Good. And?"

"Don't open the door for anyone."

"Excellent." Duo ruffled his hair. "I'm sorry I gotta leave you alone like this, kiddo."

"It's okay. Work hard, Duo."

"You know it."

Duo was careful to lock the door behind him. Harry finished drawing his picture and crawled into bed. It was only seven thirty but he didn't want to wait to go to sleep. It wasn't fun being alone and the sooner he went to bed, the sooner he would wake up and Duo would be home again. With that thought in mind, Harry closed his eyes and fell asleep.

A few hours later a loud explosion and alarm woke him with a start. Harry looked out the window and saw the ship in the water was on fire. Alarms were going off and a voice came over the speakers ordering all students to evacuate the dorms and go to the mess hall. Teachers and faculty members went running up and down the halls, opening doors with their master key and shoeing students out of their rooms, not even giving them time to change. Harry sat on his bed, shivering under the covers. When he heard someone place a key in his lock he dove under the bed and didn't move a muscle. A teacher stuck his head in and looked around before hurrying off.

Harry was unsure about what to do. He knew he should listen and go somewhere safe like the other students but Duo had told him to stay in the room. If he came back here and Harry wasn't there, he would get worried. When the noise died down, Harry crawled out from under the bed. The ship was still burning in the water.

"Duo…"

Harry made up his mind. He needed to find Duo. And for some reason, Harry's instincts were telling him that Duo had something to do with that burning ship. Something inside of him was insisting that he would find his big brother there. Without bothering to change his pajamas, Harry ran from the room. It might be dangerous, but if Harry's instincts were right, then his big brother was in trouble.

The halls were empty as everyone had already evacuated. Even the courtyard was empty. Harry ran to the school gates, ignoring the cold wind that was blowing. The gates were guarded by school security and Harry hid in a bush. He wasn't sure how to get around them without being caught. As he stared at the men, someone came up behind him and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. He whipped around in fright.

"What are you doing out here?"

It was a blonde girl wearing a light pink outfit. Harry had seen her when the headmaster gave her special permission to stay at the school for a night in a guest dorm. Duo had been walking them back to their room when she was unpacking her car. He had said the girl was a strange person. Harry didn't like strange people.

"You should be in the mess hall with the other students. Are you lost?"

She knelt down and Harry stepped away, glaring.

"Those are cute pajamas. Do you like ducks?" She held out her hand but Harry glared harder. Duo had given him his duck covered PJs. He had said they were cute. "Come on, I'll take you to the mess hall. My name's Relena."

"I can't. I gotta find my big brother."

"I'm sure he's in the mess hall with the other students. He's probably looking for you now."

"No he's not. He's somewhere else and I'm gonna go find him." A sudden thought crossed his mind and Harry spoke without thinking. "I'll bet Heero's there too! Duo said they have the same job!"

The woman's eyes suddenly gleamed. "Heero? Did you just say Heero as in Heero Yuy?" She lunged forward and grabbed Harry's arms. "Do you know where Heero Yuy is?"

"No! No, let go!"

"Please, if you know you must tell me!"

"I don't wanna! Let go of me!" Harry began to cry when someone suddenly appeared from the bushes near the gates. The person shoved Relena off Harry and the boy ran and hid behind a tree, covering his head and shaking.

"Heero!" Relena exclaimed.

Heero stared hard at her.

"Are you all right, Heero? I was worried about you."

"…Don't touch that boy."

"What?"

Heero pointed to Harry. "That boy. If you touch him again his brother will kill you."

Relena raised an eyebrow. "Like you plan to?"

"No. He will not be as quick as me."

With that, Heero walked over to Harry and easily scooped the scared boy into his arms. Without a glance at Relena, Heero disappeared into the shadows, making it impossible for the girl to follow them. After crossing the courtyard, Heero finally sat Harry down on a stone bench and stepped back.

Harry wiped his eyes and looked up at the man, slightly frightened. Heero was scary but he had saved him from the crazy lady in pink. And Duo liked him too, so he must be a good person.

"I was ordered to apologize to you."

Harry blinked at him. "Apologize?"

"Yes." Heero placed his hands at his side and, very awkwardly, bowed in a jerky manner. "I apologize for frightening you when we first met."

Harry stared up at him. No one had ever said sorry to him before. Harry's instincts were right; Heero was a nice person. He stood up and took Heero's hand, not catching the surprised look that passed over Heero's face before disappearing quickly behind his emotionless façade.

With a tiny sniff Harry asked, "Will you help me find my big brother now?"

Heero nodded stiffly and without a word began to briskly walk towards the mess hall.

Duo, however, was searching all through the mess hall for Harry. He was worried that his last instructions to the younger boy would get him in trouble for wanting to stay in his room. He knew how much Harry depended on being able to follow the directions he had been given. He also knew why. An abused child that had finally found a place of safety usually did everything in their power not to make waves, following every rule and order to the letter, if at all possible. At least at first. Eventually, they might start testing their boundaries, but Duo didn't think Harry was anywhere close to that point yet.

So where was he?

As soon as he and Heero arrived back on the grounds, met by a scene of slightly controlled chaos, Duo had headed for their dorm room, only to find it dark and empty. Thinking that the boy had probably been rounded up with the rest of the younger students, Duo had headed for the Mess Hall to find the younger boy.

Now, fifteen minutes later, he still had not been able to spot hide nor hair of the black-haired little boy and was starting to get very worried.

"DUO!" a familiar shout from the other side of the hall caught Duo attention. Turning quickly he was just in time to catch a small body that had launched itself at him. Duo ignored the several dozen people that had turned to stare at him due to Harry's shout and just hugged the precious bundle close to his chest.

"'m sorry, Duo. I tried to find you, but there were some many people and then the lady came and she was scary and wouldn't let me go and…" Harry started babbling while Duo just shushed him and rocked gently back in forth in a half forgotten motion.

"Sh, it's all right. We're together now, aren't we? Everything's fine," Duo reassured the frightened little boy.

After a few minutes, Harry relaxed his grip around Duo's neck enough to lean back and look Duo in the eye. "You're all right, too?" he asked quietly.

Duo just grinned and nodded, knowing Harry was talking about more than just the confusion on campus. "I'm fine, Little Man. I was just worried about you." Duo's heart hurt at the look of confusion on Harry's face.

"Oh," Harry wondered why in the world Duo would be worried about him, when he was at the school and Duo was the one working, but decided this wasn't the place to talk about it. "The pink lady was a little scary, but Heero rescued me and brought me to the Mess Hall. Guess what, Duo? He even 'pol'gized to me about before! No one ever did that before!"

Duo raised an eyebrow at the other pilot. He really had? Good. "That's apologized, Harry. And who was this scary lady?" He didn't think there was any way that someone could have connected the two of them to the Gundam pilots, but maybe…?

"Relena found the boy near the gates. She wished to ascertain my location from him, but he refused," Heero stated levelly, though Duo thought he might have seen just a hair of respect for Harry in his flat blue eyes.

Duo nodded his understanding then smiled brightly at the other boy. "Thanks, Heero." Both boys knew he meant more than just showing Harry the way to the Mess Hall.

Dumbledore had come to the Dursleys' home with the sole purpose of making sure that Harry was not a happy member of their family. A purpose that made it all the more ironic that Harry was no longer even an unhappy member of their family.

The door opened to reveal a tear-streaked Petunia, who slammed the door in his face the moment she realized who exactly it was standing on her porch.

Another knock had Petunia staring angrily at him, gesturing for the him to "Get in the house before the neighbors see you!"

With the door closed safely behind the wizard, Petunia began yelling at him, "My family is in no way responsible for the brat's disappearance. He got my husband shot, and ran off like the animal he is. I don't care if he's alive or dead, but if you find him, he will not be allowed back in my house."

"I'm sure-" Dumbledore began, in his comforting 'gentle grandfather' tone, only to be cut off.

"You're sure! Of course you are. You're a wizard. You can do no wrong!" She began laughing bitterly, "My nephew was left in the cold, without so much as a single word. My sister was killed. All because of magic!"

"But-"

"No more! " Eyes blazing, Petunia made a very intimidating figure. "I will not let you wizards-" she spat out as if the word was poison "-walk all over my family anymore. Harry Potter will never set foot in my home again!"

By this point, she would have continued yelling as long as she had to in order to drive her point home, but she was stopped by the cries of an irritated Dudley, who had been woken from his nap by her shouting.

Lowering her voice to a harsh whisper, she practically growled, "Out! You have no business here anymore!" before stalking up the stairs to her son's room.

It was all Dumbledore could do to blink as he stared at her. No one had ever spoken to him in such a manner, and he found that he did not like it one bit. Pulling his wand out, he cast a few spells, checking that she had indeed been telling the truth about Harry no longer being there. Then he apparated away, the question of 'Where is Harry Potter?' weighing heavily on his mind.

TBC...