Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 15: Training and Trust

Harry spent the rest of the night tracing over each rune with his blood as all five pilots silently reassembled the suit while occasionally watching him with mixed emotions and open concern (Quatre especially worried about him as the blonde could feel Harry's emotional turmoil despite the fact that the wizard was trying to suppress his emotions). Harry did his best to ignore them as he focused on imbuing the wards with his magic on top of the magic that he'd infused into his blood. Each time he finished one section of armor, he'd add a series of spells to the metal to reinforce it before allowing them to reattach it to the suit.

As he worked his way from top to bottom, he felt the hostility permeating the suit slowly fading as his magic slowly engulfed the entire suit. By midnight, when the last piece of armor was affixed to the suit's left foot, Harry no longer felt sickened just to touch the suit even though it felt no where near as comforting as the Gundams did. He then asked one of the pilots to open the cockpit so he could etch and paint the wards inside in order to protect the individual systems.

It was the one section of the ward scheme that he had adamantly refused to allow anyone else to help with (not counting taking the various panels apart and reassembling them) because the cockpit required the strongest of wards to protect all of the sensitive computer systems housed within the cockpit. Once he was finished with that part, the suit was hauled outside to the testing grounds and the systems fired up to make certain it was still functioning. When everything came on-line as it was supposed to and no glitches found anywhere, they shuffled Harry off to bed so he could rest before assessing the effectiveness of the wards.

While Harry slept, Heero and the other pilots began pulling the outer casing from Heero's Gundam so that if the wards worked they could start carving the runes onto the suit. They wouldn't allow Harry to draw more blood or charge the runes until after he'd rested for a couple of days no matter what though, since they didn't want him to run himself into the ground. They also prepped a non-warded Taurus suit to use as a control against the testing of the warded suit in order to better gauge the effectiveness of the wards.

The Maganac mechanics that'd repaired both stolen suits almost cried when they heard that they would be attempting to fry the systems in both of them again. Duo promised them that no matter what happened to the two suits they'd not have to repair either of them because they would have learned all they needed to know from both of them which helped to keep the crew from complaining too loudly. Because there was a chance one or both of the suits could self-destruct when hit with the spells, once they were turned on the cockpits were vacated and the surrounding area layered with protective wards to prevent any explosions from getting out of hand.

Harry felt extremely nervous as he stood about fifty feet away from the two suits, his shoulders hunched beneath the knowledge that there were close to one hundred people watching the current test instead of just a couple of the teen pilots as had happened during his previous experiments. After several uncomfortable minutes; Harry straightened up, buried his insecurities, and snapped off four powerful stunning spells back to back.

The unwarded suit sparked and overloaded the moment the first spell washed over it and the second spell knocked it over onto the sand before it could fall from the force of the first spell. The warded suit on the other hand appeared to absorb both the third and forth spell and remain completely unaffected; not even rocking from the force of the blasts. Harry then fired a pair of blasting curses and a gouging spell at the suit to see if the protective spells he'd added would hold or if they'd cause both the wards and the suit to malfunction.

When the suit still appeared to be fine, Harry fired one last spell at it; an overpowered patronus charm filled with every last happy thought he could muster along with his hopes and dreams for the future. The glowing, silver stag that burst forth from his wand was slightly bigger than normal and shone far brighter than any patronus he'd managed to cast in the past and Harry closed his eyes and basked in the positive emotions of the ethereal creature as he reached out to touch its nose before ordering it to charge down the standing suit. Instead of simply passing through the suit or shattering upon impact with the suit, the patronus was absorbed into the suit the moment it touched it.

The magic from the emotion based spell caused the suit to glow brightly for a moment before the light faded out and all that remained was the untouched Taurus suit. Harry sighed softly as he lowered his wand and stared at the yellow light on the head of the suit, indicating that the suit was still functioning, as the Maganac Crops mechanics swarmed over both suits in order to run a complete diagnostics on them to determine the amount of damage each sustained. Before he allowed the five Gundam pilots to drag him off and before the warded suit was shut down, Harry climbed up inside of the cockpit and cast a series of low level spells that he knew would normally interfere with the active electronics in order to test the inner wards.

Over the next week, while they ran various tests on the warded suit (including trying to blow it up with a few missiles), Harry started on the rest of the training the pilots had promised him. Trowa tested him on his knife throwing and started teaching him how to fight with the throwing blades and use them to deflect thrown weapons (the green eyed teen throwing ping pong balls at the wizard in the beginning). Wufei started him on some basic exercises to strengthen his body and increase his flexibility. Quatre gave him a series of tests in order to determine where he stood academically and started teaching him history.

Duo tested his lock picking skills and began teaching him how to pick pockets, use slight of hand tricks, and how to better blend in with a crowd. And Heero started him on the basics of using a computer in addition to expanding upon the lessons that Trowa had started giving Harry on piloting the mobile suits. Harry took to the training like a fish to water; throwing himself into the various lessons in order to keep his mind from dwelling on the past.

At the end of that first week, Harry bled off another seven pints of blood and set to work on warding Heero's Gundam while the pilots began striping the armor from Deathscythe next. This time he'd had both Trowa and Heero watching over him as he filled up each jar to make certain he survived the ordeal. It took an extra day to finish the warding, mostly because Heero made Harry take frequent breaks during the process in order to not exhaust himself as completely as he had when he'd done the Taurus. Once it was finished though, it worked even better than the wards had on the Taurus suit due to the properties of the Gundanium alloy that was used to create the suits.

An alloy that Harry had discovered, quite by accident, had magical properties that the Earth made suits distinctly lacked. The magic in the suits wasn't enough to counter Harry's raw magic (which is why he'd been able to disable Deathscythe so easily) but it did allow the blood wards an extra boost that enhanced their capabilities and gave Harry's spells something to anchor to when he cast the protective charms and spells on the suits. The presence of that weak magic also partly explained why Harry felt so safe and comfortable in and around the Gundams in comparison to the OZ suits he'd help capture though he no longer avoided the warded Taurus as completely as he did the others.

While Heero ran his Gundam through a series of tests (after Harry finished testing the wards with magic), Harry went back to his lessons for the next week. His knife throwing skills had improved by leaps and bounds as he began to see the knives as dangerous snitches instead of deadly blades. His aim would improve drastically after Quatre took Harry to replace his glasses; glasses which were ten times better than his old pair due to them having the correct prescription and frames that complimented his face.

It had taken the pilots two weeks after watching Harry's memories before they asked him what had happened to the glasses he'd worn in his memories and he stated that he didn't know; assuming they had been lost in transit or that his godfather had not sent them with him for some reason. When Heero asked why he hadn't said something sooner, Harry just shrugged his shoulders and stated that he'd gotten used to not wearing them after nearly two years and learned how to compensate for his bad eye sight.

He also reluctantly admitted to not wanting to burden them with something he felt was unimportant but that was only after Heero badgered him a bit for the full truth. Quatre had taken Harry to replace his glasses after catching that conversation through the surveillance system. Harry had been tempted to refuse but he knew he needed the glasses and he just couldn't bring himself to deny Quatre anything least he disappoint the blonde (something that still confused him at times). He was further confused when Quatre introduced him to the optometrist as his little brother and he spent the entire examination trying to figure out why the pilot had done that rather than worrying over the actual exam.

It was actually a habit that all of the pilots had quickly picked up. Any time he was taken off the estate (for any reason) the pilots would claim him as their little brother in order to avoid awkward questions from adults. Harry didn't know what to think or how to feel about the ruse; though did he tend to get irritated each time Heero posed as his big brother. Duo was the one that usually hauled Harry around from town to town; the long haired pilot continuing to teach Harry how to survive on the rougher side of the cities and working to acclimatize the pint-sized wizard to crowds (to curb his tendency of freezing up when in close proximity of unfamiliar adults or when strangers bumped into him on a crowded sidewalk).

Duo's and Trowa's Gundams were finished about the same time as Harry received his new glasses and the warding of the remaining two was put on hold as the pilots were called out to complete a handful of missions. At least one of the pilots (most often Heero or Quatre and occasionally Duo) would stay behind during those missions as they didn't want to leave Harry completely alone on the estate and they had no desire to continuously drag Harry into dangerous situations until he could better defend himself. Harry didn't really mind as he still had plenty to do to keep himself occupied while whichever pilot present monitored his various lessons to insure that he was both doing the lessons and doing them correctly.

In a way, it was awkward for Harry to have someone monitoring him so closely because no one had really cared about his progress in the past; unless it was to hinder it. It was during one such lesson outside in the courtyard that Harry inadvertently revealed two rather unique talents (well one of them was unique while the other was just an extremely difficult to learn skill). He'd been practicing his knife throwing (barefoot as usual) under the watchful eye of Heero and had just begun crossing the courtyard to retrieve his blades from the target when Heero urgently ordered him to freeze.

Harry had jerked around to find Heero aiming his pistol in his direction and he felt his heart rise up in his throat as the memory of just how much it hurt to get shot by the energy beams generated by said pistol filled his mind. From where he'd been lounging on the other side of the courtyard, Abdul Kurama (second in command of the Maganac Corps, younger brother of Rashid, and one of those drafted by Rashid to keep a discreet watch on Harry to keep the wizard out of trouble) had spotted the same thing that Heero had seen and the man had thrown a knife since he had a clearer shot. Harry saw the knife flashing out of the corner of his eye and plucked it out of the air when it came within reach. As he spun around to identify the person who'd thrown the knife at him, he nearly stepped on the Egyptian cobra that both teen and man had been targeting.

'Step on me and I will bite you!' the cobra hissed as it coiled up and flared its hood while glaring at Harry with beady black eyes.

'Sorry, I didn't know you were there or I would have been more careful,' Harry replied automatically in parseltongue as he reached out and plucked two more blades out of the air before they could injure the snake. 'It probably isn't very safe for you to hang around here though; the others are afraid of you.'

'You speak?' the cobra asked in shock as it immediately relaxed its threatening pose and stared up at Harry in shock.

'Yes… though it has been years since I have spoken to any snakes,' Harry admitted as he crouched down beside the snake while Heero and Abdul were staring at him in stunned shock. 'The last snake I spoke to wasn't much of a talker and it had been trying to kill me at the time so I wasn't in any hurry to approach another.'

'I did not think there were any speakers left in this world.'

'I'm not from this world,' Harry corrected as he set the knives on the ground as he leaned slightly closer to the snake in order to get a good look at it. 'I sort of ended up here by accident and didn't even know if I could still speak to snakes since you are the first snake I've seen since I got here. You are also one of the nicest snakes I've spoken to in a long time.'

'There are speakers in the world you come from?' the cobra asked curiously as it slithered closer and began climbing up over Harry's bare foot and onto his lap.

'Yes, but not many. There were only two others I knew of; one of who was long dead and the other who was trying to kill me. It was because of the second man that I had to kill the basilisk that lived at my school.'

'You have defeated the Spawn of the Damned* and lived to tell about?' the cobra stated in shock as it reared up and flared its hood as it flicked its tongue out at Harry (making both Heero and Abdul worry as they both brought up their chosen weapons to take aim at the snake once more only to waver as they realized they might hit Harry because of where the snake was now perched).

'Just barely; it bit me as it died and I would have died as well if not for the phoenix that healed me.'

'Truly? Yes, I can scent the truth of your words in your blood and I can feel it in the steady beat of your heart.'

'I have no reason to lie.'

'That is good to know. Do you live in this stone burrow above ground?'

'Yes… for now.'

'Then I shall stay. I find myself curious to know how it is a nestling speaker came to this world and would hear of your battle with the Spawn of the Damned.'

'I don't mind… but the other humans might take offense because they are afraid of snakes in general. I may live here but it is not really my home,' Harry carefully explained. 'I would not wish for you to be harmed by one of them because of a misunderstanding.'

'I shall harm no man that lives inside of the stone burrow while you make this place your home,' the cobra promised as it slithered further up Harry's leg and coiled around his waist.

'I will warn them that you wish to stay and that you will bring them no harm,' Harry replied as he gently ran a finger down the snake's back, drawing a long, low moaning hiss of pleasure from the venomous serpent. 'Do you have a name?'

'Snakes do not need names… we know each other by scent.'

'Oh… I didn't know that. Do you mind if I give you a name since my sense of smell isn't as developed as yours?'

'If you must.'

'Thank you… um… are you male or female?'

'Male, the same as you young nestling.'

'I shall call you Seth then, after the Egyptian God of the deserts, storms, and violence,' Harry declared as he carefully climbed up onto his feet and finally looked up to see both Abdul and Heero watching him warily; or more precisely watching the newly named Seth warily as the snake wound his way up to Harry's neck to flick his tongue in Harry's ear; the ticklish touch making Harry twitch reflexively.

"Harry… please stand very still… that is an Egyptian cobra and they are rather deadly," Heero ordered slowly as he tightened his grip on his gun.

"Seth will not harm me, Heero," Harry replied after making certain to focus on the other teen (so as not to automatically slip back into the serpent tongue) as he reached up and pet the snake a second time as the snake coiled the rest of his body around Harry's neck and settled his head on Harry's left shoulder before letting out another hissing sigh of content. "He'll be hanging around for a while apparently as he is curious and quite stubborn. He did promise not to harm anyone living on the estate though."

"Uh… snakes don't speak," Abdul pointed out as he fingered another of his knives and watched Seth's every move over his sunglasses.

"Actually, yes they do. It is just impossible for most humans to hear or understand them or for them to understand human speech because they do not have vocal cords like humans, lack actual ears, and have a completely different mouth and tongue structure. To humans, snake speech sounds like hissing and involves more body language than actual words."

"You're saying that all that hissing and posturing the two of you were doing was the two of you talking to one another?" Abdul asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

Abdul shook his head and walked away muttering about crazy kids under his breath and Harry flinched as if he'd been slapped. Bowing his head, Harry crouched down to gather up the throwing knives he'd intercepted and unconsciously wrapped his hand around the three blades as he stared at the ground in shame. He never even noticed the bite of the blades as they sliced through his palm and fingers deep enough to draw blood.

"Harry?"

"You'd think I would have learned my lesson the first time," Harry hoarsely replied without looking up as he rose back up to his feet when he felt Heero step up beside him. "I can't even blame Seth because it's not like he searched me out on purpose."

"Let go of the knives, Harry."

Harry turned his gaze to his hand and stared at the blood seeping from between his fingers and running down the back of his hand without comprehension for a full minute until Heero reached out and pried his hand open and took the knives from him. Seth, scenting the blood, dropped down to investigate which made Heero jump a bit but otherwise the teen ignored the snake. Heero then tore a strip from his shirt and wrapped it around Harry's hand to stop the bleeding while Harry still continued to just stare at the blood that was now dripping from his hand onto the ground below.

'What ails you nestling?' Seth demanded as he wrapped his lower body around Harry's wrist and swiveled around to peer into Harry's tormented eyes.

'Humans hate speakers, Seth; they fear us because we have the ability to speak with snakes. I'd forgotten how much it hurts to be ridiculed and shunned for something I have no control over.'

'You humans are such strange creatures.'

Harry stared at the snake for a moment as the creature slid along his arm to return to his former perch around Harry's neck before he shook his head and pulled his injured hand away from Heero only for the pilot to grab hold of his wrist to prevent him from leaving. Clenching his jaw, Harry closed his eyes and bowed his head once more as he waited for the scornful words that he was certain were coming; his eyes burning as he struggled to hold back the tears of shame that were building up behind his eyes.

"Harry, look at me please," Heero instructed as he tipped Harry's chin up despite the proximity of the snake coiled around Harry's neck and shoulders. Reluctantly, Harry did as instructed and found himself caught in Heero's gaze. "Will you tell me what is bothering you?"

"I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The last time someone discovered I could speak to snakes the entire school turned on me and accused me of attacking the other students. How long is it going to be before that starts happening all over again here? How long will it be until someone labels me as a monster once more before they strike me down?"

"No one is going to accuse you of attacking any one just because you can speak to snakes and no one is going to harm or kill you the moment you turn your back," Heero quietly insisted. "The Maganac are not the overly suspicious type nor are they an excessively superstitious lot and they know you aren't the kind of person to harm others without reason. Abdul wasn't calling you nuts because you can speak to snakes; he was calling you nuts because you showed no fear of the deadly snake currently wrapped around your neck like a scarf. I suppose, after facing that giant snake when you were twelve a little slip of a snake the size of a cobra just doesn't seem all that frightening but for the rest of us, we are still leery of getting bit because out here it means certain death."

"How can you be so sure?"

"They didn't go on a witch hunt when they first learned about your magic and watched you testing each of the warded suits," Heero pointed out as he arched an eyebrow at Harry.

"No… they didn't."

"There you go. You know trust goes both ways; they trust you not to hurt them with your magic and the least you can do is trust that they won't hurt you because of your magic or any other abilities you might have. Why don't you go gather up your throwing knives so that you can clean your blades and Abdul's before we return his to him?"

Harry nodded hesitantly before doing as asked, his mind a swirl with the idea of actually trusting an adult; something he wasn't quite certain he could do. Then again, he'd once thought he could never trust another person period and over the past few months he'd slowly begun trusting the Gundam pilots; even Heero despite everything that had happened when he first dragged the pilot off the beach. Admitting that truth to himself and actually accepting that revelation as fact gave Harry pause as he glanced back over his shoulder to scrutinize Heero for a moment before he returned to the task of pulling free his knives.

There was no denying that he'd placed his life in the hands of the five teens and that he'd come to accept their presence without question despite the fact that he still didn't know them all that well. In fact, he felt far more comfortable around the five teenaged pilots than he ever had around Ron and Hermione; something he would not have thought possible prior to being sent to this world. Following that train of thought, Harry realized that he'd always sensed Ron's jealousy over just about everything and Hermione's sense of intellectual superiority.

Both of his former friends were very demanding and domineering and now that he was no longer under compulsion charms and a good number of his memories weren't locked behind a spell he could easily recognize that both of them had been bullies to a point. And if not outright bullies, they were at the very least highly prejudiced and very close-minded individuals; and despite that he still thought of Hermione fondly because she at least had been a true friend.

Heero and the others were the complete opposite, sure they had their idiosyncrasies and their faults, but they had mostly accepted each other as they were once they spent a bit of time with one another. They even accepted Harry despite how confrontational he'd been in the beginning (and sometimes still was). Harry continued his silent introspection as he finished cleaning and putting away both Abdul's and his blades. Once he finished, he silently followed Heero towards where the Maganac Corps usually hung out in the evening hours. They'd just arrived in the underground bunker when Rashid intercepted them.

"Ah, Masters Heero and Harry, what brings the two of you down to our humble abode?"

"I came to return Mr. Abdul's blades, sir," Harry tentatively announced as he presented the blades in question hilt first to the leader of the Maganac.

"Indeed? Tell me, young Harry, is what Abdul told me about you true?"

"What exactly is it that Abdul has been saying about Harry?" Heero asked curiously as Harry flinched sharply in response to the question before shrinking in on himself and shifting so that he was practically hiding behind Heero with renewed insecurity; his mind automatically jumping to the conclusion that anything that had been said about him had been negative.

"He said that this young man plucked his knives right out of the air as if he was picking flowers from the sand," Rashid announced as he glanced at the blades Harry was still holding with great interest. "I'm curious you see, Abdul is one of our best knife throwers and I find it hard to believe that his blades could be plucked from their path so easily."

"He was trying to kill Seth," Harry whispered uncertainly as he reached up and ran a finger across Seth's back as the snake shifted around his neck.

"So, Abdul was telling the truth? You actually did snag the blades from the air? What else can you do with a knife young man?"

"I'm very good at dicing fruits and vegetables."

Harry jumped a bit when Rashid unexpectedly burst out laughing over Harry's very honest declaration but he didn't get the joke. A glance up at Heero showed the teen was smirking in amusement as well which only made Harry furrow his brow as he glanced between the two of them.

"Good at dicing…" Rashid repeated as he finally calmed down and brushed the tears of laughter away from his face as he grinned down at Harry with a fond smile. "Is there anything else you can do with a knife, young man?"

"Trowa has been teaching me how to fight with my knives and how to throw them; I'm getting better at both," Harry answered. He then glanced nervously up at Heero before adding, "And I've been teaching myself to juggle them sometimes when I'm all alone."

"You don't say? Would you be willing to give us a small demonstration?"

"I don't know… Trowa said I wasn't supposed to play with the knives but I couldn't help it; they reminded me of the snitch when I used to play on the house team at school."

"So long as you are careful, I don't think it will be problem this time, Harry," Heero stated when Harry glanced up at him uncertainly after admitting to his small act of outright defiance against he rules Trowa had set about handling the knives. "And it might be best if when you do practice your knife juggling, you do so with someone to watch you so that if you do get hurt we can help you."

Harry nodded before he glanced down at the snake that was currently poking his head beneath his shirt before glancing back up at Heero once more. "Do you think… maybe you could hold Seth for me while I'm showing Mr. Rashid how I juggle? I wouldn't want him to get hurt on accident."

"So long as he doesn't bite me, I don't mind," Heero replied after casting his own glance down at the snake in question.

'Seth, I'm going to give you to Heero for a few minutes while I show the others my knife tricks,' Harry informed the snake as he gently extracted the fully grown cobra from his shirt. 'He's a little nervous but he won't hurt you so long as you don't bite him.'

'So long as he is warm and doesn't squeeze me, I won't mind.'

"Just don't squeeze him and you'll be fine," Harry loosely translated he passed the snake over to the blue-eyed teen; figuring the teen wouldn't care to know that the snake only saw him as a walking space heater.

As the word of Harry's pending performance spread up and down the bunker, the Maganacs cleared out a large space and gathered around so they could all watch. Harry watched them nervously but tried not to let their presence make him nervous as he fiddled with the makeshift bandage that Heero had wrapped around the cuts on his hand while Rashid returned Abdul's blades to the other man. Abdul then offered to toss knives to Harry so he could demonstrate how easily he plucked the knives from the air and after a brief moment of indecision, Harry accepted and passed the man half of the knives that Trowa had given to him (since he felt more comfortable handling the more familiar blades).

A target board was set up off to one side, so Harry could also give a display of how well he could throw the knives when he finished with his other tricks. Once Harry felt he was as ready as he was going to be (his stomach tied in knots of nervousness), he nodded at Abdul to let the man know he was ready and he focused on the blades the man currently held in his hands. Everything else around him faded away as the man threw the first two blades at the same time and Harry's hands darted out and plucked both knives out of the air before tossing them straight up as a third blade was thrown. He'd barely pulled the third knife from the air before the first two were arching back towards him and his hands flashed out with precision as he flipped them up so that he was juggling all three blades.

Harry didn't drop a single knife as he caught the remaining knife and added it to those he was juggling. He didn't do any fancy tricks, like tossing them under his leg or behind his back, but all four blades continuously flashed through the air as Harry's small hands plucked them from their downward plunges one after another. When his right hand, the one he'd sliced open earlier, began to ache; Harry threw the blades in rapid succession at the target before his hand could completely cramp up. Four solid thumps indicated that all four knives had hit the target and while they weren't exactly centered they were stuck solidly within the board.

The sound of clapping coupled with shrill whistles startled Harry as he'd forgotten he was being watched and he couldn't help the blush that spread across his face as he ducked his head and massaged his aching (and bleeding) palm. When several spoken compliments followed, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and shyly retrieved his blades so he could clean them of the blood that had splashed onto them from his injured hand and put them back in their box as his blush deepened and crept around to the back of his neck.

He was caught off guard when Abdul came up to give him a hand and offered to help him practice his throwing and juggling whenever Trowa wasn't available. Harry bit his lip before casting a nervous glance back at Heero who was smiling bemusedly in his direction. After a moment, Harry shyly accepted as he recalled what Heero had said about trust and he was a bit surprised when the man grinned down at him. He was further shocked when most of the adults showed interest in getting a closer look at Seth once Harry reclaimed the snake from Heero.

That was when he learned that Abdul had been concerned that Harry would end up bitten but otherwise had nothing against the legless reptiles. He still thought Harry was crazy for carrying the venomous snake around his neck but felt better knowing that Harry could at least control the snake to a point. Harry then commented that after facing a deadly snake big enough to swallow a pony whole, it was kind of hard to be afraid of a little cobra. The adults found that a little hard to believe but Heero confirmed that he'd seen said snake and if anything Harry was being modest about its size.

Harry and Heero spent another two hours with the Maganacs as they showed off a few of their tricks with Abdul demonstrating his knife throwing skills while two of the other adults juggled flaming torches back and forth. Another pair had a mock sword fight that lasted a good twenty minutes as they danced back and forth across the floor. Then there was a group of about six that performed a series of acrobatic tricks that had Harry fascinated. He was almost sad when Heero announced that it was time to go since it was getting late; a fact that startled Harry as he couldn't exactly recall just when he'd stopped worrying about being in the presence of so many adults.

Over the course of the next week, Harry began spending two and three hours at a time with the Maganacs each evening. The first couple of times he went he'd dragged Heero with him as he was still slightly nervous but after the third day he went alone (unless Heero felt like joining him), eager to work on his juggling and the acrobatics that a few of them were teaching him (which mostly just involved learning an entire new series of simple stretches and exercises designed to increase his flexibility and balance at this point).

After the fifth day of lessons from the friendly group of adults, Harry solemnly offered to ward their mobile suits against his magic and against enemy fire as a way to say thank you for everything they were teaching him. With Heero's help, he taught them how to carve the wards into the suits and explained why they had to be done in a particular order and placed in certain locations in order for them to work. He'd then agreed to do two suits a week since they were not quite as large or as complicated as the Gundams (their suits being far older models) and would therefore require less blood to ward. By the time the other four pilots returned from their latest series of missions, Harry had warded a total of four suits including both Rashid's and Abdul's.

There was a brief moment when Harry worried that one or more of the returned pilots would find his ability to speak to snakes repulsive but he needn't have worried. Heero had secretly warned all four of them about his previously hidden ability along with his growing talent for throwing, catching, and juggling knives. Out of all the pilots, Trowa was the one that had the easiest time accepting Seth's continued presence since Trowa himself had a way with animals (though the green-eyed teen usually worked with mammals and not reptiles).

Trowa even taught Harry how to milk Seth's venom (with the snake's permission) so that they could create anti-venom to have on hand in case of accidents. That led to Trowa taking Harry on a small mission to find and milk several other venomous species of snakes that inhabited the area so that they could carry several different anti-venoms on hand for each species; a few of them even tagging along when they returned to the mansion though they weren't as adamant as Seth about sticking to Harry's side (the cobra constantly hitching a ride on the diminutive teen).

Even though all of the pilots were back until they received their next mission, Harry continued to spend a few hours a day with the Maganacs continuing with the lessons they offered (Harry steadily, if slowly, growing more comfortable around the men though he still avoided all physical contact with them). Trowa sometimes even joined him in order to keep his own skills sharp since he quit the circus shortly after the joint mission at New Edwards Base.

Harry still attended the various lessons with the rest of the pilots as well between warding the final two Gundam suits and the other mobile suits; Wufei teaching him a series of defensive katas now that he didn't tire so easily, Quatre moving onto geography once Harry had a good grasp on major historical events of the last two hundred years, Trowa continuing to teach him knife fighting techniques, Duo starting to show him how to maintain and repair his motorcycle, and Heero continued expanding on the technological lessons (for both mobile suits and computers).

That wasn't even taking into consideration Harry's magical training which he tended to do on the side out of sight of the pilots. It wasn't that he didn't trust the pilots to allow him to continue his magical education; it was more that Harry didn't want them to get hurt if he messed up at some point. It didn't matter when it came to reading and researching but whenever he needed to practice the new spells he was learning or when he was working on strengthening his core to increase his endurance; Harry chose to vanish out into the desert for a couple hours at a time.

The pilots were well aware of what he was doing and made certain that they kept an eye on him from a distance while allowing him a measure of privacy and solitude to do what he needed. So long as he took one of the warded radios or phones with him and let someone know where he was going and when he was going to be back, they willingly let him go.

At the end of July (about eight days after the pilots had returned from their most recent mission and about two and a half weeks after he'd revealed his parseltongue ability to Abdul and Heero), the five pilots threw Harry a birthday party to his surprise. The party and cake had been a nice surprise and when asked why he was so shocked, Harry confessed that it was the second ever birthday party that had been thrown in his honor and his first ever surprise party.

He honestly hadn't expected anyone to care about his birthday, long used to spending the day alone with little to no recognition from anyone (not counting the two birthdays he'd had gifts from his former friends after his second and third year as those from his twelfth birthday had been confiscated by Dobby at the time). Harry had then lamented over the fact that he was now officially seventeen years old and still trapped in the body of an eight year old. Duo cheered him up a bit by reminding him that dynamite and C4 both came in small packages and packed quite a punch all the same.

If the party had been a surprise, the fact that he was given presents was a complete shock. Quatre gave him a top of the line laptop and a wrist watch (both of which Harry would promptly ward the next day) and Trowa gave him a second set of throwing knives and the sheaths to conceal all sixteen blades beneath his clothes. Wufei gave him a wakizashi sword and a pair of wooden practice blades (along with a promise to start teaching him how to handle the sword during their next lesson). Duo gave Harry a leather jacket and solid black helmet with gold highlights for when he rode his motorcycle.

Heero gifted him with a pair of handguns (a gift the wizard found a little ironic) and a pint-sized flight suit for when he joined them on missions. And the Maganacs adopted him into the Maganac Corp (much as they had adopted Quatre) in addition to giving him a couple of glass tanks with under the tank heaters to house those snakes that chose to stick around. Harry hadn't known what to say after receiving the gifts and had floundered for a bit until he squeaked out a soft thanks and retreated from the party feeling completely overwhelmed.

The first thing he did upon entering his room was to fill the newly gifted tanks with several inches of sand that he summoned with his wand before plugging them in to allow the heaters to warm up. He then spent the rest of the night sitting perched on the window sill in his bedroom holding Seth as he stared up at the starry sky while trying to sort through the confusing feelings he felt. When he'd first found himself trapped in this world he'd never actually expected to go on living because just the thought of continuing on without Sirius and those people he'd once thought were his friends hurt.

And now, here he was, just barely over four months after coming into contact with his first human in this world and already he was starting to forget about his previous life. Well, maybe not exactly forgetting about it; more like moving on and leaving his old life in the past where it belonged. Around midnight a knock on the door brought Harry back to the present and he reluctantly climbed down from the window sill and gave permission for whoever it was to enter.

"I came to see if you were alright," Quatre announced as he stepped inside carrying a tray holding two mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits with a violin case tucked beneath one arm. "You seemed quite lost when you left earlier."

"I feel lost," Harry confessed tiredly as he placed Seth inside one of the new terrariums he'd set up earlier.

Harry then joined Quatre on the bed as the blonde held out one of the mugs of chocolate to him. The two of them sat there for several minute in silence as they sipped at their chocolate and nibbled on a biscuit or two. After a while, Harry began speaking hesitantly as he swirled the last inch of chocolate in his mug, his voice low and troubled as he spoke of how conflicted and confused he felt; Quatre's warm and soothing presence once again drawing him out of his shell despite his usual reticence in speaking about his feelings or his past.

"What you guys did for me tonight… I never expected anything like that; I mean, I didn't even know you guys knew that today was my birthday. I'd long since gotten used to treating my birthday as just another day since my relatives usually ignored me on my birthdays unless it was to give me extra chores. There were a few times they graciously deigned to give me a gift (usually a coat hanger, a pair of old worn out socks, or something else equally useless) but most times they'd just ignore me; that was especially true once I started Hogwarts."

"A few other people acknowledged my birthday after that but I still spent them alone with the exception of my fourteenth birthday and now that I know the one family was just using me it hurts to remember the time I spent with them. It also hurts to remember those that had actually cared about me because I don't know if I'll ever see them again and I never even got the chance to say goodbye to them. While I was living alone for the majority of the past two years, it was easier just to ignore birthdays and holidays alike in order to avoid the pain of remembering all that I'd lost. So, when you guys sprang the cake and presents on me tonight it caught me completely off guard."

"It's kind of weird really… now that I think about it. When I first woke up here, I wanted to resent each and every one of you and yet I couldn't quite bring myself to hate you for taking me from my cave. I hated Heero for a long time but that was because he stripped away the last of my innocence when he forced me to see that this world could be just as terrible and frightening as the world I was born into. He taught me that I knew nothing about pain and he made me see just how weak I truly was."

"He also taught me that there could be compassion in this world and I hated him for it even more because I wanted to be allowed to hate him in peace. If I ignore what happened when I first met Heero, I can honestly say that he has treated me far better than the majority of people I knew from my world. All of you have. In fact, from the moment the five of you entered my life, I have been constantly and consistently blindsided by kindness without an ulterior motive. It almost frightens me because that is something I don't think I've ever experienced before and I'm not quite certain of what I'm supposed to do. That's why I left earlier… I just…"

Harry trailed off as he struggled to find the words to explain the churning swarm of confused emotions he'd been feeling from the moment he'd walked into the surprise party that had been arranged on his behalf. Letting out a near silent sigh of frustration, Harry pulled his legs up, dropped his head onto his knees, and closed his eyes as he tried to collect his scattered thoughts. A small part of him drawing comfort from the steady warmth he felt radiating from Quatre's presence as it let him know he wasn't alone.

After a while Harry finished his earlier thought without bothering to open his eyes, "I guess I just don't know what I'm supposed to think or feel any more because everything is so confusing and mixed up."

"I can see why you feel that way, Harry," Quatre murmured softly as he collected Harry's empty mug.

"I feel like I've betrayed my world too… because I feel more at home here than I ever did in the other world."

Quatre didn't say anything in reply and when Harry opened one eye to peek at the blonde he found him taking his violin out of the case. Curious, Harry opened his other eye and sat up a bit as Quatre took the time to tune his instrument. As blonde teen began playing a soft, soothing melody, Harry was vividly reminded of Fawkes the phoenix as the warmth he always felt in Quatre's presence and the delicate notes of the song washed over him; his magic resonating with the music as the maelstrom of emotions that had been plaguing him slowly calmed. Harry's eyes fell closed after a few minutes and the anxiety and confusion he'd been feeling faded as he allowed himself to be caught up in the music.

Eventually, he drifted off to sleep to the sound of Quatre's playing; never noticing when the song ended or when Quatre gently tucked him beneath the covers.

Notes:

Abdul as Rashid's brother – I doubt this is canonically correct but it seems somewhat logical to me seeing as how Abdul is the second in command of the Maganac. And it would make sense for a number of the Corps to be related through blood as well as through common cause and origins.

Spawn of the Damned – this is how I wanted the snakes to see the basilisk instead of as the king of serpents or the king of snakes as so many FanFictions do. The reason for this is that the basilisk is not a natural born snake as it is born from a snake or toad's egg that was incubated by a rooster; something that isn't going to happen without intervention and therefore not natural which I think normal snakes and serpents would or maybe should feel disgusted over.

For this story, I am twisting the legends a bit and using the idea that it is a snake's egg fertilized by a toad and incubated by a rooster to create the basilisk in order to make it a little harder to create a basilisk. A toad's egg fertilized by a snake being incubated by a rooster will create an amphibious monster that I've not yet researched or named while a rooster's egg incubated by a toad or a snake will give birth to a cockatrice (which is how legend portrays the cockatrice being born).

12-31-13 AN: The above note regarding the origins of a basilisk was corrected as I previously incorrectly used the method used to create cockatrices as the method used to create a basilisk by mistake.

AN: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I know many of you were hoping to see the reactions of the pilots to Harry's early years but trying to write that out fried my brain back when I first wrote this chapter almost a year ago and figured that they'd take the revelations in stride because of their own troubled pasts. Once I finish the final chapter and the epilogue, that might be one of the omakes I sit down and try to write but I make no promises.

Next, a few GW canon purists might be upset about the timing of events since I know most everything in the anime seemed to take place within a span of mere days, weeks, or months while I'm stretching things out a bit more. Part of that is due to Harry's presence (since he technically doesn't belong) and part of it is because I'm not following each and every little side story within the verse as those take place in the shadows so to speak. I will try to cover all of the major events that take place within the GW verse; one of which actually is the focus of the next chapter.

Last point I want to make, since I already know I didn't cover it anywhere in the story and fitting it in somewhere has been impossible without making things choppy, is Harry's reaction to Quatre (and to a lesser degree the suits) since I hinted at it briefly in this chapter. Harry is not and will not be an empath or have any degree of magical empathy in this story; his magic is merely resonating with the little bit of magic he feels since he's been alone for so long without any thing remotely magical around him aside from the things Sirius sent with him.

You could say he's become sensitive to the presence of magic and because Quatre has slightly more than the other four pilots, Harry feels closer to him. The comparison to Fawkes was intentional as well as I can see phoenixes being empathetic creatures due to their ability to instill hope with their songs. And the reason Harry can't deny Quatre is simply because he doesn't wish to anger or upset the empath since he is aware of the sensitivity all empaths are subject to due to their close connections with everyone's emotions. There's also the fact that he knows he's living in Quatre's house and Harry is well mannered enough to know you don't step on the toes of your host least you wind up getting booted out. =)

~ Jenn