I am so, so sorry! I was just overwhelmed with my competition, and then school and then the holidays - and anyone who tells you holidays aren't stressful is either lying or doesn't have family - and I completely spaced. I will probably do it again with finals coming up, but I will try my very best not to.
Chapter 24
Staying in the shadows, Duo watched with hooded eyes as Quatre finished speaking with Noin, arranging to come to her little kingdom to help protect it from the inside. She didn't deserve their help, not after the way she'd hurt Harry who still didn't believe that they really, truly wanted him.
She had no right to barge in, looking for their help in the name of a brat who had manhandled an abused, frightened child looking for his brother, only to try and tear their makeshift family apart.
But Quatre was too soft, and Noin and Relena weren't the only ones in Sanq who needed the Gundam Pilots' protection. There were innocents as well, and even if Duo could ignore that, Quatre wouldn't.
Still, the look of frustration and helpless anger in Noin's eyes spoke of Quatre's negotiating skills. It wouldn't be as easy for her and her mistress as it might have been had Noin not left Harry sobbing with fear, even if Quatre was too nice for his own good.
And when Noin turned to leave, Duo followed, silent and quick, slipping through the doors of Noin's shuttle just before they closed. Slipping the thin knife from beneath his sleeve, Duo grabbed Noin, shoving her against the wall with the razor sharp blade at her throat, picking his words carefully as he hissed them into her ear.
"If you ever hurt my brother again, I will find you and make you pay. I may run and I may hide, but I never lie, and there will be nowhere for you to run or hide if you so much as look at him wrong."
Beneath his blade, Noin was trembling, though it seemed to be more from anger than fear if the frustrated growl she made was any indication.
"The God of Death does not forgive those who harm what is his."
Releasing the woman, Duo was out of the shuttle before she had a chance to turn around, only to run into Wufei where he was leaning against the wall just outside the shuttle door.
"Fei?" Pasting on a grin, Duo tried to force his anger away, hiding the blade back in its sheath.
"Maxwell." Duo tensed, not sure he could handle a confrontation well with his nerves so on edge, but he wasn't ready for the grim look of approval in Wufei's dark eyes. "The woman now knows better than to speak of what she does not understand?"
Mutely, Duo nodded, reassessing his opinion of Wufei when he received a tight, vicious smile.
"Good." Holding up the wrinkled paper Harry had abandoned in his terror, Wufei straightened. "I assume you know where Harry is now. I have an assignment to congratulate him on."
"He's prob'ly in the kitchen. Come on," Duo grinned, snatching the paper away as he made his way out of the hanger, smiling to see the simple addition problems. They had all been solved correctly, albeit with wobbly, childish handwriting, and a few of the numbers written backwards. No wonder Harry had been so eager to show Wufei. "Hey, where'd Quat get to?"
"He and Yuy left to prepare for their mission to Sanc. I don't think he wanted to know what you were up to with the woman, even if Yuy approved."
Duo laughed, the remaining tension easing away as he realized that his friends, his family, had noticed his trip through the hanger, or knew him well enough to realize that he couldn't let Noin leave without a Shinigami-style warning, and that they wouldn't condemn him for defending their precious green-eyed brother.
The whole family thing was as new to Duo as it was to Harry, but it was definitely starting to grow on him.
xx
"Is it true, Albus?" Albus Dumbledore hid his shock at flare of green flames as the Minister of Magic flooed directly into his office. "Have you lost Harry Potter?" The newspaper that was slammed down on the Headmaster's desk bore the flashing headline HEADMASTER ALBUS DUMBLEDORE LOSES THE BOY-WHO-LIVED!
"I-"
"Do you even know how many people are waiting to see what Harry Potter will become? The public will crucify us if we don't find him!"
"Don't worry, Cornelius, we are doing all we can to find Harry." Albus shook his head, attempting to pacify Cornelius as he thought over those who knew what had happened and wondered angrily who had let some vital information slip. If the public knew that Harry had gone missing while technically in Albus' care, he would have to do major damage control in order to keep his young weapon under his wing.
Luckily, Albus Dumbledore was very good at damage control.
More importantly, though, having the information broadcast in the paper meant that Albus would have find Harry before Voldemort's remaining followers did. If Harry was killed, or worse, somehow inducted into becoming a Death Eater himself, everything would be lost.
A weapon was no use if it was in the hands of the enemy.
"You'd better find him, Albus!" Cornelius sputtered. "Or I will make sure the people know exactly whois responsible for his loss. Don't think I won't!"
With that, Cornelius grabbed a handful of floo powder from the bowl atop the fireplace and threw it angrily into the fire. As he stepped into the green flames, he shouted, "Ministry of Magic!"
Left alone with his thoughts, Albus quickly moved into action, sending a house elf to summon Severus to his office while he began drafting his response to the Daily Prophet's accusations.
What had so far been a rather bad day turned catastrophic when the elf returned, wringing its ears to announce that Severus Snape was no longer within Hogwarts Castle.
xx
"Duo!" Harry lit up, throwing himself at Duo the moment his brother stepped into the kitchen. The desperation Duo could feel in Harry's embrace only made him wish he'd done worse than threaten Noin, but he kept the anger hidden, swinging Harry up into the air. Harry was heavier, a more healthy weight than he had been, but still far smaller and lighter than he should have been.
"Hey, Fei here has something to say to ya, kid," Duo told Harry as he set him back on the ground.
Harry's eyes widened. "Wufei?" He looked almost terrified, scooting forward until he was able to clutch at Duo's legs, peeking around to where Wufei stood behind Duo with Harry's assigned work in hand. "I'm sorry! I didn't-"
"Child- Harry," Wufei knelt down, smiling patiently until Harry had calmed down. "You did nothing wrong. I only thought you would like to know that you did very well. All of your answers are correct."
"Really?" Harry inched forward, slowly easing away from Duo and toward Wufei. "Unc'a Vernon said freaks are stupid. S'why he didn't let me go to school with Dudders."
Duo could see the fire flare up in Wufei's eyes, but he was the only one. Wufei simply shook his head, smoothing out the creases of Harry's homework sheet before handing it back to Harry.
"Your Uncle was wrong. You are not a freak, and you are most certainly not stupid."
Harry's mouth was agape, his eyes darting from the paper he held reverently in his hands to Wufei's serious dark eyes to Duo's grin. Slowly, his lips began to turn up, and he laughed bright and cheerful. "I'm smart?"
"Course you are, kid!" Duo patted the top of Harry's head. "You're so smart we're gonna run out of things to teach you soon enough."
Still smiling, Harry shook his head, looking to Wufei for the truth. When Wufei nodded in agreement, Harry giggled and then rushed forward hugging Wufei's legs.
"Thank you, Wufei."
Wufei patted Harry's back with a smile. "My pleasure, Harry."
xx
The first step in finding Harry Potter was to speak to the last people known to have seen him, and so Severus Snape found himself on the doorstep of Number 4, Privet Drive, knocking sharply before Petunia gaped at him and dragged him inside.
"Where is he, Petunia?" Severus asked, his voice low and deadly. "Where were you when he was taken?"
Delving deep into the woman's mind as she protested the accusation, Severus paled as he watched her berating the child for burning breakfast when he could barely reach the stove, even balanced on a wobbly stool, as he watched her husband throw the child into a cupboard and lock it, proclaiming that he wouldn't eat again for a week, and as she watched her husband storm out of their hotel room to find the runaway brat.
The L2 Colonies.
Breaking eye contact, Severus apparated back to his hotel room, not needing to hear any more from Lily's cruel sister. He would find Harry. He would find the boy and see that he was given to someone who would treat him as Lily would have wanted, instead of as an unwanted slave. Perhaps, if he wasn't completely insufferable, Severus could even raise the boy himself. For Lily.
xx
Duo could have put off making Harry decide forever. Or at least until Harry had forgotten Noin's angry words and his own fear of being abandoned. But time was wasting, and the war wouldn't wait forever.
Holding Harry in his lap, Duo looked around the room at the other pilots, determination shining from every eye. Whatever Harry chose, he would be kept safe.
"Harry, kid," Duo began slowly. "You know we're fighting a war, right?"
Harry nodded, his smile fading as he looked up at Duo.
"Well, we can't stay together like this for much longer, and we wanted you to choose who you go with."
"You're leaving?" Harry's eyes widened, his face crumpling. His gaze was damp as he looked around, clinging to Duo. "You're giving me away?"
"No! Harry, never," Quatre knelt in front of Duo, grasping Harry's face. "No, we're not leaving you, but we can't all take you with us. Heero and I will be going to the Sanq Kingdom, to help protect it, and Wufei and Duo will be going into space to find their new Gundams. We want you to choose, would you rather go with Heero and me, or would you rather go with Duo and Wufei?"
Shaking his head, Harry clutched at Duo's shirt, looking up at Duo with desperate eyes. "I stay with Duo!"
"It will be dangerous, Harry," Wufei added. "We won't be staying in one place for too long, and you will have to do exactly as we say."
"I can!" Harry nodded. "I be good!"
Trying not to laugh at Harry's enthusiastic display, Duo hugged Harry close. "Don't worry, kiddo. You'll be very good, and me and 'Fei'll keep you safe."