Finders, Keepers

Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Gundam Wing. I am making no money from this work of fanfiction.


Summary: The war is over, and Harry has made a startling discovery: he has an older brother, who is a Muggle (most likely), who was adopted away before he was ever born. Crossover with Gundam Wing. Pairing: Heero/Harry Post DH (no epilogue), and Endless Waltz


Finders, Keepers
Chapter 4

Harry walked down the path to the Forbidden Forest. He didn’t want to. All he wanted to do was turn around, go back to the castle, up to his room in Gryffindor Tower, and talk to Ron and Neville and Dean and Seamus, but he couldn’t.

There were people along the sides of the path—loads of them—and when he tried to go home, they surged forward and manhandled him back the other way.

Professor Dumbledore was in the crowd, and Fred Weasley. There was something wrong with Fred, but Harry couldn’t tell what it was until Fred pushed him towards the forest. His head was twisted at an odd angle, and his right arm just kind of hung there. Dumbledore’s hands were cold, but otherwise he looked normal.

Snape was very enthusiastic when it was his turn to correct Harry’s course, his left cheek bulging like a squirrel with a nut. Remus and Tonks, though, seemed reluctant to touch him. They walked by his sides, lightly holding his hand, and tugged him forward.

“Where am I going?” he asked Tonks. Her hair was sort and black, like his. She shook her head, and tugged his hand harder.

“Okay,” he said, as Vincent Crabbe gave him an eager shove. “I’m coming.”

Harry tried to wave to Dobby as he passed, but Remus wouldn’t let him go. The house elf ran his hand alongside Harry’s arm as he passed. Harry smiled at Dobby, and he burst into tears.

Harry stopped and knelt beside his friend. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “We’ll see each other again.”

Before he could hug Dobby, Sirius swept by and dragged him forward.

“Do you know where I’m going?” Harry asked his godfather, trying to keep up. Sirius was going too fast for Harry to see everyone, but he caught glimpses of Moody, Hedwig, the Muggle Studies professor, and Colin Creevey.

Colin smiled and waved as Harry caught his eye. Harry waved back, but he wasn’t able to slow down.
He was running now, and he was alone. The crowd and Sirius were gone, and Harry was deep in the forest. He could turn back now, if he chose to, but he wanted to see where the path led.

The path at his feet was made of uneven stones, which made running difficult. Harry was panting, his breath coming in sharp gasps. He wanted to stop, to lie down and go to sleep, but he could see the end of the path just ahead.

He had to reach the end.

There were people at the end of the path. The woman was holding something in her arms, but the man just stood there. As Harry got closer, he recognized the woman as his mother, and she was holding a baby. The man was his father.

Lily looked up as he realized this, and her eyes went wide.

“Mum!” Harry yelled, putting on a burst of speed.

His dad yelled something, but no sound reached Harry. His parents turned from him as he reached them. Harry put a trembling hand on his mother’s shoulder. Why would they reject him like that? He just wanted to see them!”

“Oh, Harry!” his mother cried, startling Harry. Her voice was much too loud after hearing only his own for so long.

“It’s okay, Mum. Don’t cry,” he said, rubbing her shoulder.

She shook her head, refusing to look at him. Harry turned to his father, but he also refused to acknowledge his son, gazing across the distance at something.

Harry turned to look at what his parents found more interesting than him, and saw. . .himself. To be more accurate, his body. He was laid out in his school robes. His hair had mud in it, and he was covered in blood. Harry tried to get away, and stumbled over a stick on the ground. He landed on his arse. He shook his head, trying to get the image out of his head.

A hand touched his chin and pulled his face up. Harry found himself looking into his mother’s eyes, so like his own. She was holding Voldemort in her other arm, and the baby was wailing.

“It isn’t in your head, darling,” she said.

***

Two men burst into Harry’s room, startling him awake. “Who’re you?” he slurred, raising up his arm defensively. “Wh’re you in my house?”

The men—one tall and blond with a scar running down his otherwise attractive face, and the other even taller, with carrot-orange hair and more muscles than a body-builder on steroids—halted in their tracks at his inquiry.

“We heard screams,” the first one said. “We came to investigate.”

“Oh, okay,” Harry said, his sleep fuzzed-brain confusing him. “Was someone yelling?”

“You were, Mr. Potter,” the second one said. “Your brother stationed us outside your door, for your protection. We thought someone had gotten passed us.”

Harry sat up, the bedcover falling down. He looked around the room, taking a moment to remember where he was. “I’m not at home?” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“No, Mr. Potter,” the blond said. “You are in Quatre Winner’s primary residence. My name is Gray, and this is Rudolph.” He pointed to the redhead.

“Are you okay?” Rudolph asked. “Do you want us to get your brother?”

Harry shook the last vestiges of sleep away. “No. There’s no reason to worry him. It was just a nightmare.” He swung his legs out of bed, and went to stand up. The blood rushed to his head, and he swayed.

Gray grabbed his arm, to steady him. He pushed Harry back down, and sat beside him. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked softly.

Harry closed his eyes and swallowed, allowing Gray to keep hold of his hand and elbow. “Yeah, I’ll be all right. Can one of you show me to the loo?”

“We’ll take you in a minute. Just rest here for now,” Rudolph said from the door. “I’m going to get someone to come look at you.”

Harry tried to protest once more that he was fine, but he knew when he was beaten. He’d seen other people give him that look before, intent on protecting him from himself. It was best just to go along with it, then do what he needed to do after they’d left.

“Just a few minutes,” Harry relented.

***

“Why are you here, and not watching my brother?” Duo demanded when he saw one of the guards he had assigned to his little brother’s protection. “Did something happen? Is Harry okay?”

Rudolph stopped in front of him, panting and out of breath. That wasn’t a good sign—he must have run the whole way.

“What happened? Where’s my brother?” Duo ordered. He knew this would happen. They’d only known each other for a few hours, and already something had happened to Harry. Duo was bad luck.

“Did someone hurt him? Did you kill them? You better have, if you felt he was safe enough to leave his side.” Duo loomed over the taller guard. “He’s not dead, is he?”

“Duo, relax and let the man speak,” Heero said. They were in Heero’s office, going over the day’s itinerary. Duo had planned to show Harry around the colony today, since he’d confessed that he had never been to one, and he and Heero had been discussing which areas were safe enough to take Duo’s little brother.

Heero’s standard of safety was sadly lacking. Heero offered to come along, as back-up, but Duo wanted it to be just him and Harry for the day, so they could get to know each other better.

It wouldn’t happen, now.

“Why are you not at your post, Mr. Rudolph?” Heero inquired, looking perfectly calm. Serene, even.

He wouldn’t be like this if Relena were involved. He would have an appropriate sense of urgency, which was sadly lacking at the moment.

“Gray is still with Mr. Potter, and I’ve already sent a doctor to his room,” Rudolph said, still doubled over.

“What! Why does Harry need a doctor?” Duo yelled.

“He became dizzy when getting out of bed. I felt it prudent to get a professional to look at him.” Rudolph got his breath back under control and raised himself to his full height. He was as tall as Rashid, which was fairly tall. “I thought you would want to know, sir.”

Duo spluttered. “And you left him alone with Gray? That man is a—“

“Very trusted member of the Maguanacs, who would never defile a child,” Heero finished. He stood and walked to Rudolph. “You did a good job. Thank you.”

The guy looked down at Heero with doe eyes, and Duo snorted. Ye another soldier fallen to Heero Yuy’s charms.

Duo made a mental note to keep Rudolph out of Harry’s security rotation, and maybe make sure he and Heero had a few “accidental” run-ins. Heero became insufferably placid when he went too long without sex, and he’d broken up with his last boyfriend six months ago.

Heero said something else to the guy. The conversation looked like it could go on for several more minutes, so Duo left without them.

***

“I’m fine,” Harry said to the doctor. She’d shown up just a few minutes ago, apparently sent by the red-headed guard.

“Let me be the judge of that,” Dr. Po said. She stuck her stethoscope in the middle of Harry’s bare chest. Harry shivered—it was cold.

Dr. Po wrote on her chart, then turned back to Harry. She indicated for him to put his shirt back on. “Everything seems to be fine, from what I can tell here. Has this ever happened before, Mr. Potter?” she asked.

“No, not really,” Harry lied. Everyone got dizzy sometimes—that didn’t mean it was anything serious. Harry didn’t want her to have any reason to order more tests, which would take up precious time he could be spending with his brother.

“All right.” She signed her notes with a flourish. “I don’t think this is a big deal, since it’s only happened once. If it happens again, let me know, and we’ll see what’s causing it. Okay, Mr. Potter?”

Harry smiled weakly and nodded. “Of course.” He turned to Gray, who was hulking in the corner. “Can I go to the loo, now?”

Gray jumped into motion, running to the bed, where Harry was still sitting. “Do you need any help?”

Harry glared at the hand Gray offered. “No. Can you just show me where it is?” He stood slowly, and felt fine. No dizziness or lightheadedness. He didn’t feel like he was about to float away. It must have just been a fluke.

As he crossed the threshold to the hall, he heard Dr. Po say to Gray, “You watch him too, okay? He is Duo Maxwell’s brother, and we all know how lightly the Gundam pilots take their own health.”

Gray agreed, and Harry restrained himself from turning them both into blast-ended skrewts. Fortunately—for them—his wand was tucked safely away in the nightstand.

“Come on, then,” Gray said, rushing out of the bedroom. He put his hand between Harry’s shoulder blades to guide him. “The bathroom isn’t far away.”

***

Duo bumped into Sally in his rush to see Harry. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were on the moon.”

“I had some leave come up, and Quatre offered to let me stay here,” she said, blushing. She started to walk away, then turned back. “I just saw your brother. Cute kid.”

“How is he?” Duo asked, anxious to get to Harry, but also wanting to know what Sally thought.

“He’s going to be fine,” she said. “He just got a little dizzy—it was probably from waking up in a strange bed.”

Duo grinned. “Great! Maybe he’ll feel well enough to go out with me, then. I’ll just go ask him.”

***

Harry started at his face in the mirror. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes. That was nothing new.

His duffle bag sat at his feet, brought to him by Gray. He pulled out some clean clothes, and wrinkled his nose as his second-nicest pair of trousers. This time last year, they fit him fairly well, but Harry had lost quite a bit of weight since then, and they slid down to show his arse if he wasn’t careful.

As much as he hated to admit it, he really needed to go shopping. Maybe Duo would show him round the shopping district, so he could pick up a few things. Duo couldn’t be anywhere near as bad as Hermione about that kind of stuff. Just getting one outfit with her had been an all-day ordeal.

Of course, if he had known the sort of things and people his brother hung around, he would have already replaced his wardrobe. He didn’t want to embarrass Duo, after all.

After cinching his belt—fastened on the last hole, and still a little loose—Harry opened the door. And screamed, falling back into the sink.

“Duo, what the—!” He cut himself off, not wanting to offend his brother. Duo grabbed him by the wrist, and hauled him upright.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes darting over Harry. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you bruised anywhere?

Harry shook his head. “No, I’m fine.” His lower back twinged where he hit it on the edge of the sink, but he ignored it. “What were you doing there? You startled me.”

Duo pouted. “I didn’t mean to. I was just waiting for you to get finished. I wanted to ask you what you wanted to do today. I have lots of ideas—but I wanted to run them by you, first.”

“Um, actually,” Harry said, hesitantly, “I sort of did have something I wanted to do—but it’s fine if you don’t want to!”

“I am intrigued, little brother,” Duo said, deepening his voice, and enunciating every word. “Do tell.”

Harry turned away from Duo and stooped to pick up his back. Duo beat him to it, easily lifting the heavy bag to his shoulder. “Thanks,” Harry said, itching to take his bag back. “I, um—can we go shopping? I seem to have brought the wrong bag.” Harry picked the fuzz off his trousers, his face burning.

“Of course, I’ll take you shopping!” Duo enthused. “Ooh—I know just where to go! D’Arcy’s has some great stuff that would look really good on you. And, of course, Thistlethorn and the Thinking Man, and Mugwumps, Inc—I always thought that was a funny name.” Duo continued naming off stores he wanted to go to, and Harry felt his dread growing. Duo seemed to be worse than Hermione!

“And then we’ll eat at this great little Italian bistro—do you like Italian?” Duo asked. On cue, Harry’s stomach growled, and Duo laughed. “I guess we should worry about breakfast first, huh? What do you want to eat. The cooks can make just about anything you can think of.”

“I don’t really have a preference,” Harry said. “Whatever you want is fine.” Anything that the chefs here made was sure to be fantastic.

They got to the room Harry was staying in, and there were two men standing in front of it, on either side of the door. They were different from the ones there earlier. When they saw Duo, they saluted.

“There’s no need to be so formal,” Duo told them. He turned to Harry. “This is Jalal and Hatim. They will be with you whenever I can’t be, to keep you safe.”

Harry looked at the two men. “Er, hi.” He gave a small wave. “It’s, um, nice to meet you.” He had thought he was through with his kind of thing when he left England.

Duo looked at Harry’s bodyguards and frowned. It looked odd on his face. “Guys, this is my little brother, Harry. You will protect him with your lives if need be. He is the most important person under the sun, and you will treat him as such.” Duo paused, his face growing sterner. “One last thing,” he waved his hand in a circle toward Harry. “Harry is precious, so no touching.”

Harry almost choked. Precious? He scowled at Duo’s back as they entered the room. “Was that really necessary?” he asked.

Duo set his bag on the bed and blinked. “Of course. You could be in danger. I have to make sure you’re safe,” Duo said. “That’s what big brothers do.”

“And the “no touching” thing? Was that about keeping me safe, too?” Harry demanded, physically swallowing back his ire. Ever since the war, everyone he was close to treated him like he was made of spun glass which already had a crack in it.

Just because he died that once, they thought he was an invalid. Even Ron and Hermione did it, though not to the extent that, say Mrs. Weasley and Andromeda did.

That his brother would treat him the same way, while not even knowing Harry’s past, made him want to laugh—or yell. Since he didn’t want to fight with Duo after having just met him, Harry chose the former. Duo could do what he wanted—for now.

“Of course that was to keep you safe,” Duo protested. “Those guys are animals—they’ll try to jump anything. But they’re the best we have—no one has ever been injured on their watch.”

Harry started to retort that his “virtue” had been lost some time ago, and that Duo didn’t need to worry about people trying to have sex with him or hurt him because he could take care of himself—and in some instances, he would gladly welcome the former, and probably want them to do it again—when he heard a voice coming from his bag.

“Hello? Harry? Are you there?” a male voice said. “I know you’re there. You better answer me right now or I’m going to come find you!”

Shit, his mirror. Harry recognized the voice as belonging to George Weasley. Double shit.

“That must be my, um, phone,” Harry said to Duo, who was looking at Harry’s bag with curiosity. “I thought I turned it off, but I must have put it in receive mode, accidentally—it’s new. I’ll just see what he wants, then I’ll meet you at breakfast, yeah?”

Duo stood there for a few seconds, before taking the hint to leave. As soon as the door shut, Harry dived for his bag. He dug through it frantically, searching for his mirror. He grabbed it and wrenched it into the open.

“You have the absolute worst timing,” Harry snarled. What if Duo had decided to get Harry’s “phone” for him? The mirrors could pass as mobiles from a distance, but close up, they were decidedly different.

“You’re lucky I decided to call first, instead of just showing up to drag your arse back here,” George shot back. His face was as red as his hair, making his freckles fade into the background. “Ron convinced me to talk to you, first.”

“You talked to Ron!” Harry cried. Ron and Hermione had been spotty on communication for weeks, while they were looking for Hermione’s parents. Harry had only been able to catch them twice in one day because they’d been so close to reaching their goal.

“Yeah, I did,” George bit out, his fury palpable. “Hey—did you know your best friends didn’t even know you were in the hospital? They were most displeased to learn that you checked yourself out without the Healer’s consent.”

“You told them that, too!” Harry wailed. “What else did you tell them?”

“Everything,” George said. “And they agree with me. You need to come back to the hospital, until the Healers say you can leave.”

“I don’t need to be in the hospital,” Harry argued, gripping his mirror so tight, he thought it might crack. “The Healers said there wasn’t anything wrong with me.”

“No, they said they couldn’t find what was wrong with you. I read your file—they wanted to do more tests.”

“You read my file? That’s—that’s private information!”

“Yeah, and quite eye-opening information, at that,” George said. “You collapsed after taking a medium skill-level potion. Your magic is all out of whack. You aren’t eating. And what do you decide to do—you go to a magical dead zone! There aren’t even any proper Healers in space!”

George got louder as he went on, and Harry had to grab his wand and cast a silencing spell.

“I’m fine,” he said, as calmly as possible. “I feel great, now—it must have been a fluke. I probably made the potion incorrectly. I’m going to go see my brother now.”

“Don’t you hang up on me!” George yelled.

Harry said the passcode to turn his mirror off. It went black and then cleared to look like a regular mirror, again. Harry put a silencing spell on his mirror, and shoved it in a drawer. He didn’t want anything to interrupt his day with Duo.

Cancelling the spell around the room, Harry went into the hall to find Duo still waiting for him.

“Are you ready?” he asked his big brother.

“Hell, yeah!” Duo shouted, grabbing Harry’s arm and dragging him forward. “We’re gonna have fun today!”