Hanging By A Moment

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own anything to do with Harry Potter or with Gundam Wing. I am not getting paid for this in any way, it’s merely for entertainment purposes.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This story contains slash which means male/male pairings and is a Harry Potter/Gundam Wing crossover.

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Duo leaped from the table, pacing uneasily before sitting back down again. Almost the moment his butt hit the chair, he was back on his feet and walking into the kitchen to poke his head into the fridge. Quatre wasn’t surprised when nothing in the fridge seemed to interest Duo and he came back only to leap up and walk into the living room to get a book he would never read. “It shouldn’t have taken this long! What if he got caught? What if it’s HIM they’re interrogating now?!” Duo’s voice was hard, angry and irritable.

Trowa Barton turned toward the table from the kitchen where he was washing the breakfast dishes. His face was impassive, though Quatre knew that he was just as worried about Heero and Wufei as they both were. “We’ll hear about it soon enough if they are.” He said evenly.

Duo whirled on Trowa then paced behind his seat again, and Quatre’s gaze followed his friend carefully. Duo looked as if he hadn’t slept at all the evening before, and there was a look in his violet eyes that reminded one that he was not only hyperactive Duo Maxwell, but Shinigami, the God of Death. Even the slightest spark could set off Duo’s temper in this mood.

A heavy feeling had settled into Quatre’s body as the morning came with no news from Heero. He could well understand the torture Duo was feeling over his lover’s whereabouts, knew how he himself would feel if it was Trowa who had gone after Wufei then had disappeared. A tense silence filled the kitchen and breakfast table. Too many people had gone missing lately. It was the reason they were together again after a year of being apart. Nobody wanted Heero to be on the list of those who had disappeared.

“Duo, go outside and do something physical for a while.” Trowa said after the silence had grown uncomfortable and the braided pilot might have exploded from tension. “Swim in the pool, do something but work off some of the tension.” His voice was quiet, almost too gentle for anyone to hear, but it was the only sound in the tense silence.

Duo paused and studied Trowa, clearly thinking that attacking the teen with the golden brown hair might be just the kind of physical activity that would suit him. Quatre rose to his feet, ready to stop Duo if he lunged forward with homicide in his eyes. The braided pilot was unpredictable at best, but was usually relatively harmless if you didn’t mind his constant chatter and movement. It was in this mood that Duo was dangerous, too agitated to be reasonable.

Finally Duo nodded. “Good idea. I’ll be out in the pool if anyone needs me.” He walked toward the door then paused and glanced back. “And call me if you hear…” His throat worked convulsively and Quatre felt pain radiating from his friend in waves. “…anything.” He couldn’t even say ‘If you hear from him,’ terrified to jinx anything. Duo was preparing for the worst, Heero’s capture.

Quatre watched him walk away presumably toward his bedroom and then the pool before he looked back toward Trowa. He walked into the kitchen and felt the strong arms encircle him. “He’ll be okay, little one.” Trowa’s voice was quiet in Quatre’s ear, and the blonde took comfort from its warmth. “Just give him some time to himself.”

Quatre nodded and managed a shaky smile. The pain and anger radiating from Duo made him feel like he might throw up at any moment. Duo always had been an emotional person, and being stuck in the safe house wasn’t helping his mood in the least. He wanted something more than ghosts to fight, wanted something physical he could get his hands on for the death of Wufei and the looming death of Heero he was working himself up to believe as well.

Dinner was a silent affair, Duo moody and uninterested, barely eating more than the food Quatre had insistently put on his plate and told him to eat. His violet eyes were sharp and intense, but never seemed to focus on anything for long, and his hands occasionally clenched into fists around whatever pieces of silverware he happened to be holding at the time.

A breeze picked up outside on a day when there had been no wind at all. Silence fell once again around the table, though this had an edge of anticipation sweetening it. Not even the sound of silverware touching the plates disturbed the stillness. The wind abruptly fell away and all three pilots got to their feet. The front door opened and Heero stood framed against the setting Montana sun, looking tired and harried.

His grim expression lightened somewhat when Duo hurtled himself at Heero, nearly knocking him over in an enthusiastic (and a little hysterical) hug. “We thought-“ His words were cut off as he caught sight of something over Heero’s shoulder. “Wu-man?” He asked incredulously, as if not able to believe what he was seeing.

“I thought I told you never to call me that again.” Quatre leaned against Trowa’s weight as he heard Wufei’s irritated voice then saw him in the doorway. Quatre frowned as the teen came through the threshold, his eyes immediately going to his legs. He wore nothing but his boxers and a shirt, and his legs were splayed beneath him. The frown deepened as he saw the rubbery quality of the skin, saw the way they flopped beneath the Chinese youth.

Another teen followed Wufei closely, looking just as annoyed as the Chinese pilot. Like Heero, he was clad in a red and gold jumpsuit uniform with a roaring lion decal over the chest. His black hair was messy, bangs falling over but not quite covering a jagged scar on his forehead. He wore wire rimmed glasses with a smudge on the right lens. Before anyone could speak so much as a word, the boy swept forward and pushed Wufei down bodily onto the couch. “If you move I’ll kill you, I really will.” He promised in a voice that left no room for argument.

It was at that moment when gravity seemed to reach Wufei again that Quatre suddenly became aware of what had bothered him…the teen had FLOATED into the house. “Promises, promises.” Wufei replied dryly, glaring at the teen who had threatened him.

Heero gently untangled himself from Duo’s choke hold on him and motioned sarcastically to the youth. “Well go ahead, heal him.” It sounded like the challenge it was, and the youth turned his exasperated gaze onto him next.

“Gimme half a bloody second.” He muttered, looking annoyed. “Honestly, do either of you ever stop bloody complaining?” He held a hand to stop both Wufei and Heero’s protests, though neither were keen on making them right then. “No, you both sit there going on about your idiotic death wishes which lemme tell you makes traveling with you a bloody fun experience.”

This rant drew a rare chuckle from Trowa, and a full out laugh from Duo who bounded forward. “Who’s the stray?” He held out his hand. “Duo Maxwell.”

The teen shook the offered hand absently, still looking irritated. “Harry Potter.”

Heero crossed the room and walked toward the kitchen, but Trowa touched his arm lightly before he could pass them. Duo was dancing around Harry as the black haired boy pulled a keychain from his pocket and murmured under his breath. The charm expanded in his hand and he put it down quickly before it got too heavy. In another moment a trunk had fully formed on their floor and he had it open, pulling out another smaller trunk and letting it expand next to the first. Duo’s exclamations kept their conversation from being overheard.

“What happened out there?” Trowa asked quietly.

Heero ran a hand through his hair. “The stray says he can fix Wufei’s legs…not that he gave me much of a choice on the matter.” He watched the dark haired boy pull out two or three bottles before he found the correct one, all the while explaining to Duo everything he was doing.

“Who is he?” Quatre asked, a slight smile on his face. He could feel the hope for Wufei’s recovery in Heero and that made him believe that it might just be possible.

“More like WHAT is he.” Heero said flatly. “I don’t know. He seems to truly want to help and as I said, didn’t give me much choice on the matter. He wields magic like it’s nothing.”

Harry was standing close to Wufei. “Okay we’re going to change your clothes and then get you settled down as comfortably as you can. Tonight is going to be miserable.”

Wufei was glaring at the teen. “The hell you are.”

Harry looked irritated again. “I’m not going to look at your precious assets.” He said, inclining his head to Wufei’s underwear and what was beneath it, making Duo laugh again. “If you keep this up I’ll stun you and let your friends do it.”

Wufei’s eyes were blazing obsidian but he stopped fighting under the threat. “But he’s not one of THEM?” Quatre asked Heero as all three listened to Duo tease Wufei.

Heero sighed. “Negative. He didn’t seem to know where he was or what was going on, just that he wanted to get Chang out of the cell and fix his legs, and that he would either leave me in said cell or I could help him get out. Those were my choices. I’ll run some checks on him tomorrow when we find out if his promises for Wufei’s legs are legitimate.”

“Is he a danger?” Trowa asked carefully.

Heero’s answer was flat and calm. “Yes. His reflexes are quick and he’s a fast thinker on his feet. He incapacitated me with quick efficiency when he saw I was going to shoot 05.” He had to say the code number instead of Wufei’s name, and Quatre couldn’t blame him. It was easier to shoot 05 than it was to shoot Chang Wufei, a friend and comrade.

Though Heero’s face had flushed slightly at the recollection that he had been captured by Harry so easily, he remained professional about what had happened as he ran through it quickly to Quatre and Trowa, all the while keeping his eyes on Harry who was helping Wufei out of his shirt with all of the calm competence and lack of sexual interest as a doctor. Duo, presumably, had gone to get a change of clothing for the Chinese pilot as he came back a few minutes later with a complete set of clothing and a hair band.

Quatre hesitated a moment, then crossed the room to join the group in front of Wufei. He could feel the Chinese boy’s pain and anger at Harry, as well as the quiet desperation that he would be a cripple for the rest of his life, and it cut at him. Harry’s touch was gentle but calm and professional as he spoke. “Your legs were a mess. There was no way I could fix bones that had been shattered into that many pieces. There’s too much of a chance I’d miss a bone shard or something, and I don’t have the medical expertise.” He stuffed Wufei’s strangely rubbery legs into a pair of black sweatpants.

“Then it’s hopeless?” Quatre asked, frowning at the texture of his friend’s limbs. “I’m Quatre Winner by the way.”

Harry turned slightly and smiled tiredly at the blonde. “Not really. I couldn’t fix the bones that were already there, so I removed the bones instead.”

Duo’s voice was clipped with excitement, and Quatre smiled slightly at his exuberance and relief at seeing both Heero and Wufei alive. Duo, he could see, had no room for doubt in Harry, he wanted to believe that Wufei would walk again, and therefore he would until it failed. “Really? Can I feel?”

“No, you CAN’T feel, Maxwell.” Wufei’s voice sounded irritated, even as Duo ignored him and picked up Wufei’s dead sack where his foot should be, waggling it and watching it ripple. “Wow.” He said in a mild way for him, his eyebrows up as he looked at Harry.

Harry held the bottle in one hand. “This is going to suck worse than you can imagine.” He showed the bottle first to Wufei and then to Duo and Quatre. Skele-Gro. “This will grow back the leg bones.”

Duo whistled. “So it’s going to hurt?”

Harry looked dryly amused at the question. “I had the bones in my arm removed when I was 12 years old. Yes, it hurts. A lot.”

“Can’t be worse than having the bones shattered in the first place.” Wufei’s voice cut in, and Quatre saw Harry’s face soften.

“Probably not.” He agreed quietly. “But it’s still going to hurt.” He handed the bottle to Wufei, and their eyes met. Wufei’s gaze had a hint of challenge in them that Harry was about to battle. “Drink it or don’t. It’s your choice.” Harry said softly, firmly. “You already know I’m not going to kill you, not that you’d care much if I did. If I wanted to, I would have let your trigger happy friend do it.” He motioned to Heero over his head. “So here are your choices. You can stay that way for the rest of your life, a cripple with legs like a doll with all the stuffing torn out, or you can drink it and trust me, and get your legs back by tomorrow.”

“Some choice.” Wufei said sarcastically, picking up the bottle and tipping back his head, chugging it. He gasped as the contents entered his body and growled. “What the hell was IN that stuff?!”

Harry looked as if he wanted to laugh but didn’t feel it would be the right thing to do. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.” He took the bottle back and looked at it regretfully before he put it into the trunk.

Duo’s violet eyes were wide as he regarded Wufei. “So what’s it feel like?”

The Chinese youth ignored him. His eyes had closed and his breathing had steadied, and Quatre knew that he was trying to mediate. Harry had bent over his trunks, closing the one with the many bottles and books, and making it shrink back to the size of a music box again. He placed it back into the larger trunk then took out a change of clothing. “Anywhere that I can change? This suit makes me sick.”

Quatre hesitated for only a moment. “Of course.” He replied graciously, walking toward the stairs. “Come with me, I’ll show you to your room.”

Harry followed him but paused at the bottom of the stairs and turned back to his trunk and Duo. “Please don’t touch anything in that, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Quatre’s voice broke the silence as they reached the second floor. “Will his legs really heal?”

Harry sounded tired, as if he had fought a battle, but his voice was calm. “Yes, by tomorrow afternoon or so. He may need a second dose, but I don’t think he will. It’ll be hell for him tonight though. At least when it happened to me, I only had one limb to grow back. He’ll have two.” He hesitated. “Though I suppose he has a high tolerance for pain.”

They walked to the end of the hall and Quatre opened one of the guest bedroom doors. The room inside was spacious, a large queen bed tastefully decorated in blue, the walls white. It had a dresser in one corner. “Will this suit?”

Harry turned and looked surprised. “Yes, thank you.” He touched Quatre’s arm, and the boy was surprised at how gentle yet firm his touch was. “When I get changed, I am going to ask for some answers as to what the hell happened.” Quatre’s eyes met a fierce green gaze that seemed to blaze at him. “And I’m sure you’ll have questions for me.” It was a statement, and Quatre nodded mutely. Harry released him, smiled slightly, and closed the door.

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Wufei winced with every sharp stab in his legs. The little stabbing pains were driving him crazy, at least when they had destroyed the original bones, they had done it relatively quickly, with a few hard hits. This was veritable torture. A sweat had broken out on his forehead, and he leaned back on the couch until he was lying down. Duo sat at his feet. “I’m glad you’re back, Wu-man.” He said, looking for all the world as if he meant it.

Wufei grimaced as another stab of pain flashed through his legs. “Please don’t call me that, Maxwell.”

Duo grinned, as if he had expected nothing other than this response and glanced up as Harry walked back down the stairs. Quatre already sat in one of the armchairs, sipping a cup of coffee that Trowa had put into his hands. A tray of coffee mugs, a box of cookies and a coffee pot sat on the table in the middle of the room. Trowa sat down in the chair next to his blonde lover, sipping at his own mug, his face impassive beneath his impressive set of bangs. Heero sat in lotus position on the floor, his laptop open before him. He glanced up as Harry re-entered the room and eyed the uniform the black haired boy carried under one arm.

“Please. Feel free.” Quatre broke the silence, motioning to the tray on the table. Harry smiled slightly and took a mug, pouring the liquid in and taking a long sip. He sighed in delight, and sat down on the floor near Wufei’s head. The Chinese boy caught the scent of almonds, which seemed to come from Harry’s hair.

Duo was glancing surreptitiously at the trunk with all of Harry’s things in it, a look of longing on his face. Harry looked mildly amused as he regarded Duo. Reaching between them, he pulled another box much the size of a music box out of the trunk, pushing it out of the way to make room for the new one. As it expanded, he pulled it open and pulled out a box of what appeared to be candies, tossing it to Duo. “Go ahead.”

Duo blinked down at the box in his hands. “Every Flavor Beans?”

Harry laughed at the mild question. “They mean every flavor too. Go ahead, they won’t kill you, though they may gross you out. I have a friend who thought he got a booger flavored one once.”

Duo’s eyes went wide and he tore into the box with barely concealed excitement. Harry watched him for a moment, his eyes sparkling with amusement before he focused on the uniform in his lap. He picked it up and held it out. “What the hell is this?”

There were a lot of answers to that question, and Wufei saw his friends exchange a glance before Quatre answered. “The uniform of Gryffindor.”

Harry blanched at the answer and his hands clenched so hard around the fabric that his knuckles turned white. Heero’s gaze was penetrating. “I thought you knew that. You knew the password.” It was not quite an accusation.

Harry blinked at him. “I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you it was a lucky guess.” He said faintly. “Not that I blame you.”

Surprisingly Wufei felt himself believing Harry’s words. He recalled the mild, almost absent way Harry spoke, as if he was talking to himself and not actually trying out passwords. He had seemed surprised when the shield fell. Predictably, Heero’s gaze was flat and he stared at Harry with hard blue eyes. “All right.” Harry said with a soft sigh. “Ask me all the questions you want in a minute or two, I’ll answer them. Just…tell me everything that this uniform means.”

Wufei closed his eyes against the shooting stabs of pain in both of his legs. He had been upset when he couldn’t feel anything in his legs, and now he would have given nearly anything in order to feel that gloriously numb again. “That is a good question.” Trowa said softly, almost to himself.

Quatre shook himself. “By the way, this is Trowa Barton. I believe you know who everyone else is.” Though Wufei hadn’t opened his eyes, he could feel Harry nod acknowledgement to this statement, his wild black hair brushing against the inside of Wufei’s arm. He shivered.

“Whoa what the hell was that?!” Duo’s voice cut through the tense silence, and Wufei opened his eyes to see the braided baka staring at the box in his hands with horror. Harry chuckled and Duo shook his head. “I swear that tasted like ear wax or something!”

Now Harry’s laughter wasn’t so soft, he was leaning back, his head resting on Wufei’s arm, his eyes closed. The tension drained from the room as Duo shook his head and picked up another bean, too curious about the rest to be put off for long. “Anyway there are four groups like that from what we know.” He said nonchalantly, seemingly unaware of the sharp look Harry threw him, his laughter forgotten. “No clue what the others are called yet though. They say the leaders are like you though.”

Harry’s face had drained of color. “As in they all have black hair and glasses, or they’re all wizards?” He asked flippantly, trying to put some humor into the situation.

Heero answered. “That’s why I thought you were one of them.”

Harry nodded after a moment. “Damn.” He said after a minute. “One more question.” His green eyes slid around the room. “Where the hell AM I?”

Duo laughed. “Montana.”

Harry threw him a look, his tone dry. “Let me reiterate then. I meet up with you in space. SPACE.” He paused. “WHEN am I?”

Duo nearly dropped the box of candy. “When do you think you are?” He asked curiously, his eyes wide. He popped another candy into his mouth and choked, gasping as he spit the candy across the room. “Pepper!”

Harry snorted with amusement, his green eyes sparkling. “Wait until you get hot sauce.” He advised dryly. “That’s an experience in and of itself.” He hesitated. “When I left home about 27 hours ago, it was 10:23pm, Thursday, October 6 in a flat just outside of London proper. The year was 2006.”

Blank stares met this statement save for Wufei, whose breath pulled in sharply. He instantly recognized the year system that Harry was talking about from the books he had read. “It’s a different time system than ours.” He explained to his companions who were eyeing him strangely. “Harry…give or take about fifty years or so, that was about 500 years ago.”

Harry sagged against Wufei’s arm again, not even seeming to notice what he was touching. Quatre had gasped, looking sideways at Trowa whose eyes had widened slightly. Heero’s eyebrows had gone up, but his gaze was fixed on the computer screen ahead of him. Duo blinked at Harry for a moment. “So I’m eating 500 year old candy?”

Wufei had to hand it to Duo, the braided baka knew how to make people relax. Harry laughed in spite of the shock Wufei had given him. “If I ever get home.” He said, rubbing his forehead lightly. “I’m going to kill Hermione.” He said reflexively, and Wufei knew that he hadn’t directed that comment at anyone in particular.

“Why ARE you here, Harry?” Quatre asked carefully. “It’s not that we’re not happy to see you…you saved Wufei’s life.”

Harry smiled slightly, his face still very pale. “At home I’ve been feeling a compulsion. A conviction if you will that I was needed somewhere for something only I could handle, and that my presence would mean the difference between…” He shrugged. “…victory or defeat? I’m not sure how to put it exactly. I just knew I had to come so a friend of mine helped me set up a way I could do just that. The next thing I knew I was in a dimly lit corridor following a boy with a gun.” He glanced at Heero who seemed to be ignoring him, though Wufei knew he was listening to every word being said.

“Well Wufei WOULD have died without you here.” Quatre replied, watching Harry with concern in his blue eyes. “Has your compulsion lessened?”

Harry blinked in surprise at the question and then looked at the jumpsuit in his hands. “Somehow I doubt it.” He replied dryly.