My Sanctuary

Harry whimpered as he turned over in bed and felt the pull of his muscles protesting even that tiny movement. Quatre had been so wrong…nearly two weeks had gone by…and Harry had not gotten used to the intensity of the workouts. His arms ached from the recoil of firearms, his legs ached from the many tumbling routines Trowa put him through. Wufei had refused to teach him swordplay until he knew basic hand-to-hand combat and now there was a plethora of bruises all over his body. He was pretty sure that all five Gundam pilots were sadists…really, that was the only thing Harry could think of. The worst part of the whole thing was that pain potions only made it worse. It was worse to have to force his body to endure the whole regimen over again…and Harry had given up on numbing the pain in his body after the second day.

He could hear Wufei’s soft breath in the bed across the room from his own and slipped silently from bed, tiredly rubbing his eyes. Harry had had the time to do his homework (thanks to Quatre’s strict outline of his days) but hadn’t had the time to put the next plan of the war into action. Wondering if he was EVER going to sleep again and nearly crying from the pain in his body, Harry tiredly slipped from the room.

The common room was empty and he sighed in relief as he saw it. This was good…he didn’t fancy the idea of having to deal with the others. Heero would give him that annoying patient look (that reminded Harry of Hermione to be honest) before ordering him back to bed. Duo would tease him into it until Harry found himself thrust back into the small room. Trowa wouldn’t say a thing, but he would tell Quatre who would go postal. Really…sometimes Harry wondered if the benefits from having friends outweighed the problems.

A slight smile crossed his face even as he settled down near the fire, a very large stack of books still sitting on the table nearest. That was really the kick wasn’t it? Harry might not want to listen to them all fuss and get annoyed at him, but more…he simply didn’t want to upset his friends. Still, he needed to get this done. Sighing, he pulled a book into his lap and began to page through the lists of students. His goal was to find who could have taken the locket. RAB…surely they had to know Voldemort, or at least know enough about him to know what it was. That meant a thorough search through the class books from back about 20 years before Voldemort through the current times. Heero had been horrified when he had found out what Harry was doing, swearing under his breath for a full hour.

Heero was used to finding people, used to conducting long searches as he pinpointed his prey and learned all about them. The idea of having to go from his powerful search programs on his laptop to resorting to books made him go outside to run a few miles to keep from going crazy from watching Harry research. Harry smiled grimly to himself as he began to search the names.

Two hours later found him sipping from a cup of coffee Dobby had brought him, grateful for the stim spells added to the already caffeinated brew. A moan made him look up sharply from the book, a frown crossing his face. What…another soft cry made him get up out of his chair, drawing his wand…and the gun. Why he should feel as comfortable carrying the gun as well as his wand, he didn’t know and didn’t care…but he did. A yelp, followed by the sounds of a struggle came from Trowa and Quatre’s room.

It had been established that there would be no need to password lock a door, and that until their wands had been spelled with the alohamora spell, they weren’t to lock the door regularly either. This meant that Harry could bust in there, gun and wand drawn, eyes searching the darkness for intruders. He threw open the door, holding both out in front of him, his eyes blazing. “Lumos!” Millions of images appeared in his mind as the wand tip lit. He could imagine blood, or the remnants of a dazzling green light. He could imagine finding them dead and his blood ran cold. He had brought muggles in, this was his fault. Panic threatened to bloom but he pushed it ruthlessly down as he swung the wand around.

The sight that met his wide eyes was not what he had been expecting in the least. His mouth dropped open in surprise as he saw two naked chests exposed above the blankets, Trowa resting lightly over Quatre, whose arms were around him. It was quite obvious that staring into the barrel of a gun and the end of a wand was as much of a shock as finding them that way was for Harry, because all three froze. Harry was pinned by a pair of astonished green eyes and startled blue. He was struck immobile by shock, his mouth open. “Harry!”

Quatre’s startled cry shook Harry out of his near trance, and he could feel the blood rush to his face. “Oh my god…” Turning, he quickly covered his eyes. “I’m so sorry! I thought…” Oh it was obvious what he thought. Yelping, he hurried from the room. “I’m sorry!” He slammed the door behind him, his cheeks burning.

“Harry?” Harry stared with wide eyes at Duo, who turned as he stood near the fireplace. “What are you doing awake?” He blinked at Harry. “Are you okay, Green-Eyes?”

Sure if being okay was being utterly humiliated as he walked in on two friends who were obviously more than friends half undressed was okay. “Um…”

“Harry…” Harry groaned aloud as he heard Quatre’s voice from the doorway. He was dressed haphazardly in a pair of pajama pants and nothing else. Concern filled his blue eyes.

Harry cringed. “I’m sorry! I heard someone moan and then yell and I heard a struggle…”

“Oh shit.” Duo murmured, obviously knowing exactly what it was Harry had seen. “Harry…”

Harry closed his eyes. “You knew?” Oh god, of course, Duo had known. They had all known.

“Tell me you didn’t go in there, wand at the ready.” Duo murmured.

“On the plus side he also came in with gun drawn.” Trowa appeared behind his lover, fully dressed in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms. He looked stoic as always, but there was an unreadable look in his moss green eyes. “Which means that the training is working.”

Duo burst into laughter. “He seriously walked in there and pointed a gun at you?!”

“Duo.” Heero appeared in the doorway of his own room, frowning as he heard the end of the conversation and interpreted it…as well as Harry’s own humiliated silence.

“So you’re…” Harry couldn’t finish. He had walked in on a pair having sex…or close to it. It wasn’t that shagging didn’t happen at Hogwarts, but…he had just never…

Trowa’s arms slipped around Quatre and he looked more serious than usual. “Yes.”

“Well I guess the jig is up.” Harry felt a wave of dizziness overcome him as he watched Duo slip his arm around Heero’s waist.

Heero looked down at the braided pilot and sighed. “Duo…”

“What?” Duo asked dryly. “He walked in on them, Heero…there’s no point in hiding from him.”

Harry felt like he was drowning. He stared at his friends and bodyguards, his eyes wide. “You’re all…”

He sat down heavily and watched their expressions change. Heero’s arms slipped around Duo, and he stepped slightly in front of his lover as if he was afraid Harry would attack. Quatre touched Trowa’s hands lightly as disappointment and hostility filled their gazes. “Is that a problem?” Quatre asked quietly.

Suddenly, mortified, Harry realized what their expressions meant. “Damn, damn, DAMN!” He muttered, running his hands through his hair. “No. Of course not.” He could see by their expressions that they didn’t believe him. “Really…” He let out a long breath. “…Ron’s brother, Charlie is…and his boyfriend is one of my better friends from Gryffindor, my old Quidditch captain.” Harry knew he was babbling. He didn’t care. “So you see I really don’t have a problem with it, it just came as a shock to walk in and see you like that when I thought, I thought…”

Quatre’s eyes had softened, and Duo looked alarmed. “Hey, hey…Green-Eyes…why are you crying?”

Crying? Harry wasn’t crying…but he was. He could feel the tears now trickling down his cheeks. How could he tell them that he had been terrified that he would find his new friends dead? How could he tell them that where Ron and Hermione would always be close to him, Harry RESONATED with these pilots and thought of them as family? How could he tell them that his family…always ended up dead? He had been SURE he would walk in and find both Quatre and Trowa dead in their beds and his lack of response would mean that Heero and Duo were probably not. Wufei would have been killed first in a systematic search for Harry himself, he had no doubt of it.

When it became obvious that Harry was not going to answer, Quatre putting a concerned hand on his shoulder, Heero glanced at the fireplace. “You were up searching again weren’t you?”

Before Harry could answer, Trowa wandered over and picked up his abandoned cup of coffee, sipping it. His eyes widened. “It’s laced with a stimulant.”

Instantly Quatre’s hand on his shoulder stopped being gentle and he found himself facing eyes that were scarily angry. “Harry, you haven’t slept more than a few hours every day have you?” He demanded. “You’re keeping yourself going with stimulants!”

Harry flinched from the accusation…mostly because it was right. “I have to find him, Quatre.” He whispered. “I have to.” Before it had been a passion. Harry didn’t like sitting around waiting for something to happen. He had wanted to exhaust his resources quickly. If this didn’t work it meant that he could figure something else out. Now…the idea of finding his friends dead had scared him into obsession. He HAD to finish this and do it fast. They were helping, but Harry intended on fighting the final battle alone, armed with their tricks and knowledge. He didn’t want to see them dead on his account. That was why he had sent Ginny away, why he had turned from all romantic advances since, why he was generally okay with a schedule so busy he didn’t have time for Hermione or Ron.

“What you HAVE to do is sleep.” Quatre admonished. “No wonder you were jumpy.” He sighed. “Here’s how it’s going to be. We’re going to compromise.”

“Compromise.” Harry repeated suspiciously. He had seen Quatre’s compromises before, and he knew he was screwed by the way Heero was casually looking away, Trowa was looking amused and Duo was chuckling. “What kind of compromise?”

“Glad you asked.” Quatre replied serenely. “You’re going to go in there and wake Wufei up. You’re going to tell him about what went on…” Harry turned red.

“Better you than us, Green-Eyes.” Duo was laughing outright now. “He threatened bodily harm if we revealed…”

“Duo.” Trowa admonished.

“He did.” Duo replied wickedly. “…if we revealed our…”

“Baka!” Heero was frowning.

“Relationships to you.” Duo finished before Heero could cover his mouth with a hand. He made a muffled sound and Quatre rolled his eyes.

Harry blinked, dumbstruck. “He asked you to hide from me?” He asked, stunned.

“Threatened is more like it.” Duo replied happily, fighting off Heero’s hold on him.

Quatre gave Harry a dry look. “Stop dodging this. We didn’t know HOW you would feel about us so we all agreed…” He glared at Duo. “…to keep it from you until we had a chance to know you. That’s all. Now you’re going to wake Wufei up and tell him what went on and then you’re going to let him give you a rub down.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open. “What?!” He was horrified to hear the squeak in his voice.

“You’re awake anyway.” Quatre replied patiently, ignoring Duo, who was snickering at the look on Harry’s face. “And I felt your muscles, they’re so tight I could bounce a quarter off of them. When that’s done, you’re going to sleep. It’s the weekend, so that won’t be a problem. The workouts are cancelled. Get up, eat something, soak out the problems and let Wufei have a go at you again.” His words made Duo choke, Heero smacking him upside the head. “Meanwhile we’ll be here combing through these books. We’ll let you know if we find any RAB. You can take a look at the names later.”

Harry knew when he had been beaten. Duo might be laughing, but he knew that if he protested, he would have four irate pilots demanding on it…and Wufei wasn’t even UP yet to snarl at him. Duo was laughing as he leaned against Heero. For a moment, Harry felt a pang as he watched them together. They looked happy, even though Duo was a funny shade of red and Heero looked like he had a headache. “Don’t feel bad, Green-Eyes.” Duo chortled. “Stronger men than you have fallen prey to the great Zero. Q-Ball only comes OFF as sweet and innocent.”

“Duo…” Trowa replied quietly. “Shut up.”

“Lemme go put him to bed.” Heero rolled his eyes. “We can take a look at the books after breakfast.” He nodded to Harry before grabbing Duo’s braid and hauling him into their room, closing the door behind them. Harry could still hear the braided baka laughing. He sighed.

“NOW, Harry.” Quatre ordered, pushing Harry toward his own room. Harry sighed but obediently let himself into the dark room, locating Wufei’s bed. For a moment he was unable to do anything but watch as the pilot slept. Wufei kept his thoughts and emotions carefully barred…except curiously around Duo…but Harry wasn’t sure he counted annoyance. He wore a cool mask, a calm assurance that not only could he handle anything, nobody could get in at him.

That mask was gone. His face was relaxed and peaceful as he slept, one hand resting lightly by his cheek on the pillow. Harry hated reaching out to gently shake his shoulder, disturbing that peace and serenity. Wufei was up like a shot, and in an instant, a blade was resting in Harry’s throat. He went dead still and after a moment, Wufei put the blade away. “Potter, what the hell are you doing?”

Harry sighed. I’m under orders from Quatre.” He replied quietly. “I’m sorry for waking you.”

“Winner?” Wufei frowned. “What does Winner want?”

Harry turned red. He couldn’t help it…the whole night had been one humiliating disaster after another and this wasn’t going to help. “I…I’ve been taking stim spells in coffee at night so I can keep up the search for the missing horcrux.” He murmured, closing his eyes as Wufei’s face went hard. “I was up and heard scuffling and sounds coming from Trowa and Quatre’s room. I was sure they were being attacked and so I went in there with my gun and my wand and they were…”

Wufei’s voice was like ice. “I can imagine.” There was no emotion in his tone and Harry’s eyes flew open as he heard it. “Did you think I was that close-minded that I wouldn’t still want you around if I found out you were all gay?” He accused.

Wufei looked as if he had been slapped before he turned away, face expressionless. “Always a possibility.”

Harry’s temper snapped. “Damn it, I walked in on them SHAGGING thinking they were in TROUBLE and find out YOU were the one who told them not to say anything to me!”

Wufei paled slightly. “They were…”

Harry glowered. “That’s not the bloody point.” He replied coldly. “The point is that you should have told me. We’re supposed to trust and respect each other and you didn’t give me that.”

They stared at each other, neither speaking. After a long moment, Wufei inclined his head. “Why did Winner tell you to wake me up?”

Wanting to do something really juvenile, Harry glared at his roommate. “Rub down. Then I have to sleep. Then wake up and eat and soak then rub down again.”

Wufei nodded. “Take off your clothes.”

Harry yelped. “What?!”

Wufei gave him a bored look. “Take them off. Leave your underwear on of course, but take them off I can’t get at your muscles if you’re covered up and I could end up hurting you if the fabric were to move while going deep.” Harry blushed scarlet and wondered why everything he said sounded like it had an innuendo. Damn Duo for having a gutter mind.

Harry wished he was dead as he slowly pulled his shirt up over his head. The only thing that made this even remotely bearable was that Wufei didn’t appear to notice or care. He only looked on boredly until Harry was standing in his skivvies, arms crossed over his chest. “Lay down.” Wufei ordered. “On the floor. It’ll be easier that way. Face down, arms at your sides.”

Harry obediently lay down, turning his head. It was damned uncomfortable, and he was grateful for the pillow thrust at his head. Wufei straddled him, and Harry had to hold in the yelp, wondering why this was so damn awkward. It was just a massage. He had been forced to give them to Uncle Vernon occasionally…why was this so hard? He could feel himself shaking as Wufei touched his back.

All awkwardness disappeared the instant that Wufei jammed fingers into the tight knots in his muscles. Hissing, he bucked. Wufei smacked his head. “Stop it.”

“It hurts!” Harry grimaced.

“It’s supposed to when you’re this tight.” Wufei replied calmly. “Now stay still if you don’t want me to tie you down.” Harry’s mouth dropped open in utter shock and horror at the image that appeared in his mind, and he obediently gritted his teeth as Wufei began again to rub the knots out of his back. “Breathe.” Wufei ordered. Harry cursed under his breath, but began to breathe shakily, grimacing from the pain.

An hour of silence almost had Harry going insane, and he was shuddering beneath the capable hands. “You’re right.”

“What?” Harry jumped as Wufei’s voice filled the silent room.

“You’re right.” Wufei replied again. “What I did was dishonorable. You have proven yourself to be a faithful friend and honorable person. I should not have made assumptions about you and should have told you about them.”

Harry opened his eyes. “Only about them?”

Wufei snorted. “I was married, Potter. To a woman.” He replied coldly.

Harry paused. “Sorry.” He hesitated for a long moment. “Was?” Wufei stiffened and Harry sighed. “Never mind. Don’t answer that. Chalk it up to exhaustion. I tend to say whatever pops into my head when I’m tired.”

“On the contrary…” Wufei replied quietly. “…I did tell you so the question was not rude.” He paused. “I was very young and it was an arranged marriage. The war was heating up and things were getting bad quickly. Her name was Meiran. She believed that she was the reincarnated soul of a great warrior.” Wufei’s voice had softened.

Harry sighed softly. “I see. It sounds like you care about her.”

“I didn’t really know her.” Wufei corrected absently, his hands on Harry’s back less of a rub and more of a caress. “There wasn’t much time to know her. She was killed…and I threw myself into the war. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

Harry closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“Don’t be.” Wufei replied calmly. “It’s over and done and you didn’t know.” He sighed. “I only wanted to apologize. I should have allowed them to tell you.”

Harry arched as Wufei’s hands dug into his shoulders, and they spoke not a single word more.

0 0 0

Blaise Zabini watched the braided American and Harry as they laughed, both walking toward the Great Hall for dinner. There was something funny about Harry’s new bodyguards, something that didn’t quite sit right with Blaise, though for the life of him he couldn’t understand or pinpoint what that thing was. “If you don’t want Q-Ball to shoot you, Green-Eyes, you might want to take something that will knock your pretty little head out so he knows you’re asleep.” Harry responded, making the American laugh and Blaise regarded them with a frown.

They didn’t talk like wizards. That was the problem, he realized. Even muggle born wizards by the time they were teenagers, spoke like wizards. They no longer belonged to the world they may have grown up in, they belonged in a world of Quidditch, potions and hexes. These new bodyguards seemed to have missed the language lessons. They brought up points in class that made everyone who hadn’t taken Muggle Studies or who hadn’t been raised by muggles lost.

Even IN Muggle Studies they were turning heads. Everyone was forced to take the class this year as there were so many muggles coming in to stay on the grounds. The braided one carried a set of lock picks. The tall Japanese grumbled about the lack of electronics and wanted to hook the wizarding world up to the world wide web (much to Harry’s amusement). NONE of them made sense. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had watched all of them turn mice into birds just a day earlier he would have thought…

The sound of sobbing made him turn. His eyes went wide in shock as he watched Narcissa Malfoy enter the castle. Blaise had known the Malfoy family for his entire life. He and Draco had practically been in diapers together…and he had never seen her like this. She was a mess, covered in dirt and grime, her hair hanging around her face, partly pulled up into a haphazard bun. Tears streaked her cheeks, and even as she saw him, she collapsed, falling to her knees.

“Mrs. Malfoy!” Blaise shot forward, sliding to his knees as he bent beside her. “Mrs. Malfoy.”

She was crying too hard to focus, and Blaise froze as he saw the blood on her. “She’s bleeding!”

For the first time in his life, Blaise Zabini was grateful for Harry Potter’s presence. Harry was at his side in an instant, his face intent. “Duo!”

“I’m on it.” Without hesitation, he glanced at Blaise. “I’m going to straighten her out and take a look, okay? If she moves, I need you to force her to stay put, otherwise there’s a chance she’ll bleed herself out before we can even take a look at how bad the wounds are.”

The order made sense to Blaise’s shocked mind, and he nodded. As if his slight movement was a prod jammed into the woman’s back, she screamed. “No! No! Draco! Draco!”

Blaise went still. Draco? He could see that Harry was also stunned into immobility, a mix of emotions crossing his face. Duo sighed and leaned down, pressing his thumb into her neck. Her eyes went wide before she collapsed. Seeing Blaises’ stunned expression, he shrugged. “I knocked her out, I didn’t hurt her.” He arranged her prone body quickly in a more comfortable position before ripping her robes open without preamble…and curiously without any interest in her physical body, like a doctor taking a look at a patient. Her skin was badly scratched and she looked far too thin, but there were no wounds. “Not her blood, Harry.” He called.

“Draco. It’s Draco’s!” Blaise was on his feet in an instant, and to his surprise, Harry was following him.

“If it is, we need to get him inside and taken care of quickly.” Harry murmured, his voice intent. “Hurry.”

Dumbstruck by Harry’s words, Blaise followed him out of the castle. Draco Malfoy indeed lay on the ground at the foot of the stairs, blood in the gravel. Harry swore violently, taking the steps down three or four at a time in haste. Blaise conquered, nearly tripping over his feet to keep up. Harry fell to his knees. “His body’s too tight.” He murmured. “Too many cruciatus curses.”

Blaise blinked. “How the bloody hell do you know that?”

Harry closed his eyes. “Not now, Zabini. Go get McGonagall.” Blaise hesitated, blinking as Harry pointed his wand directly at him. “GO!”

Blaise ran. By the time he and the teacher got back, Harry had created a stretcher, Duo at his side. The worst of the cuts had been bandaged, and Blaise was surprised to see that part of Harry’s robes had gone into the treatment. “Professor!” Harry looked relieved. “It’s Malfoy and his mother.”

“I can see that, Potter…but what happened?” McGonagall looked badly shaken.

Harry shook his head. “Not sure. She looks like she was traveling a long distance…and Malfoy is badly torn up too. Body too tight from cruciatus curses. Long cuts and what appears to be a cutting curse. The cuts are too deep and precise to be anything else.”

Blaise stared at Harry. So did McGonagall. “Right. Potter, take him into the hospital wing.”

“Yes, Professor.” Blaise scowled…whatever had passed between the new headmistress and Harry Potter had been entirely silent and that pissed him off. He followed Harry back into the building.

“Wufei is already there with Mrs. Malfoy.” Duo reported. “He’ll be waiting for you. The rest of us are going to take a look around. She shouldn’t have been able to get through the wards and over the walls built.”

Harry nodded. “Okay. Good.” He looked calm but intent as he practically ran into the hospital, Draco following close behind.

“Harry!” Harry jumped as he heard Mrs. Malfoy speak, sounding nearly hysterical again.

Wufei stood beside her, his face a mask. “I thought Maxwell knocked her out.” Harry frowned.

Wufei shrugged. “Potion.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mrs. Malfoy…” he paused. “Draco’s here.” It was obvious that the name was alien to Harry’s lips.

Draco’s mother was crying again. “Lucius…dead. They wanted…please…I know…he didn’t want to…my baby…please!”

Harry seemed to understand what wasn’t being said, because his face paled. “I know.” He whispered. “He didn’t want to do the attack on Dumbledore did he?” he looked haunted, his face ashen. Wufei crossed to stand beside the wizard, offering silent support.

Narcissa Malfoy was crying harder. “Punishment…for Lucius’ failures. My baby. My baby!”

Blaise looked away. He had suspected something like that. Draco had drawn away from them all the year before…and had seemed desperate. The Dark Lord hadn’t WANTED Draco to succeed. It would be a nasty blow to Lucius and Narcissa to lose their only child and heir. That was why he had avoided joining the Death Eaters when they had come looking for him…Blaise didn’t like a leader who didn’t care about the people he led. Their lives meant nothing to Voldemort and he knew it.

Harry nodded and the haunted look became more pronounced. “I know.” He whispered. He pointed his wand at her. “Stupefy.” She collapsed and Harry walked forward, arranging her in a more comfortable position. “Sleep.” He whispered.

The next hour was full of bustling and people shouting, but neither Harry, Wufei or Blaise left the hospital wing, all standing vigil over Draco and Narcissa’s prone bodies. Harry looked older than Blaise remembered seeing him, and his face was expressionless. “Why’d you do it, Potter?” He broke the silence. “I figured you would hex him into oblivion.”

Harry gave him a cold look. “I don’t hex helpless people, Zabini.” He replied icily.

Blaise flinched at the implications of those words. Obviously Slytherins did. He didn’t deny the comment however…because he was pretty sure that Draco might have done just that if the situation had been reversed. “So why’d you do it?” He demanded again.

Harry looked haunted. “His mother. She would die for him. My guess is that when she ran, she used as little magic as she could…so she wouldn’t be traced by Voldemort or by the Ministry. They know when an underaged wizard is practicing magic, they can find you by your wand…at least that’s what I think. The point is that she brought him here on her own…and begged for sanctuary. All good mothers would die for their children.” Blaise twitched uncomfortably, aware that Harry was looking into his own past. “And he didn’t kill Dumbledore. He didn’t even want to. If Snape…” Harry gulped. “…if Snape hadn’t done it, he would have accepted Dumbledore’s help and guidance. He would have turned. I saw it. I was there. His mother begged for a second chance…and I see no reason not to give it to him.”

Blaise studied Harry James Potter for a long moment, wondering when the idiot Gryffindor had changed, had grown up. He nodded once. Harry glanced at his Chinese companion. “Let’s go see what Duo and the others dragged up.” He looked at Blaise. “Come and get me when he wakes?”

Blaise nodded, and watched as Harry hurried out. Finally…he understood why Voldemort wanted him dead so badly. With a single word Harry could command an army. Foreign wizards had come to his side, and he seemed to care about the people who fell into line beside him. Blaise hadn’t wanted to fight in a rebellion…but he was almost certain that if he fought at Harry’s side…they might actually win. Sitting down in the chair beside his best friend’s bed, he took Draco’s hand in his own and steadied himself to wait.