Redemption

Chapter Sixteen:

Wufei watched in horror as Harry was first smacked in the head with a broom, and then fell from his own, passing out on the way. He was frozen in place as the crowd all stood to get a better look, buzzing and chattering busily. The announcer said something that caused somewhat of a bright reaction among the majority of the crowd, but he was too focused on Harry to take it in.

Numbly, he looked at the witch beside him, biting his lip, afraid to voice his fears. She muttered soothing phrases such as: "Its all right, dear." "He'll be fine." "These sorts of things happen in Quidditch all the time." "Poppy will have him up and about in no time. You'll see."

The crowd slowly filed out of the stands, and he now had a better view of what was happening down below. Harry had been placed on a stretcher, and several adults and students were milling around. All of them were sent away, and the stretcher was magically transported off towards the school.

"Molly?" he asked, looking up.

"Come on, we'll follow after them. After she's fixed him up a bit, I'm sure Poppy will let us wait for him to come around. Let's go." She indicated the exit with her head, and together they left the stands and walked across the grounds.

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Heero could hardly believe the message which had been sent to him. For several minutes he stared at it and then reread it once more. "Duo," he said finally. "We have a new mission."

"Well, it's about time!" Duo was plaiting his hair and spoke around the tie in his mouth. "Details?"

"I think you should read them yourself. In fact, I'll print out a copy for the other two. This is for all of us," Heero answered. He clicked on the print option, and once it was done, he placed the sheet in front of Duo.

Halfway through doing his hair, Duo gasped, eyes growing wide as he dropped what he was doing, and picked up the page in front of him. "This has got to be some sort of joke... You can't seriously be considering this, Heero."

The Japanese boy just shrugged nonchalantly as he packed away his lap top and placed his gun in the waistband of his clothes. "Those are the orders I received, and those are the orders I will follow."

"But, Heero, this is nonsense! Treize Khushrenada has allied himself with an evil wizard? Come on! What a load of crap! The guys up top must be insane. They want us to meet our informant in a place that no one can see, for starters. Then they want us to protect some kid named Harry Potter with a lightning shaped scar?" Duo tied off the plait he'd resumed, and then grabbed hold of Heero's shoulders. "What is wrong with this picture?"

Heero froze for a moment under the boy's touch. Once his mind caught up with him, he brushed Duo's hands off his shoulders. "The inn can be seen if you're looking for it, and I've heard that name before."

"Where? In a children's story?" Duo snorted. "I am NOT going along with this."

"Then you can stay here. I'm going to contact Quatre, and tell him where to meet me. If you feel like coming along, you have the directions." Heero walked out the door, knowing that his partner wouldn't be too far behind.

He had indeed recognized the name of their 'charge'. Harry Potter was the boy Wufei was seeing. The one who had already gone off to school before he and Duo had arrived in Little Whinging. Heero remembered the way Wufei had talked about the boy, and he was sure that wherever the missing operative was, he was with Harry. It seemed as though they would be killing two birds with one stone.

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An owl tapped persistently on the window, and Dumbledore cleared away the pensieve he'd been sorting through. He let the bird in, and took the letter it carried in its beak. "Thank you, my dear friend," he rumbled in his cheery voice, and scattered some owl treats for it from the box beside the sill.

Returning to his desk, the headmaster opened the letter and scanned the contents. "Well, Merlin's Beard," he muttered. "I must show this to Hagrid at once!" Dumbledore scratched thoughtfully at his beard. The letter was one he'd been waiting for since Milliardo's story, and he was ready to see to the matter.

As the tawny owl flew off out the window, he heard a sharp hoot in the night air and pulled on a warm cloak. It seemed that he had some arrangements to prepare.

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Heero and Duo had met with Trowa and Quatre in a quaint little coffee shop in London. The latter two had been shown the mission details, and there had been a short argument about the legitimacy of the orders. Soon, that had been put aside however, and Quatre had pointed out that it couldn't hurt to look for the place, and if they couldn't find it, then they knew it would be a hoax. Heero neglected to mention that not finding the inn didn't really mean anything as they may not be able to find it in the first place.

That argument settled the boy's set into business mode, and he began to plan ahead, allocating roles within the mission. "One of us is needed to infiltrate the enemy's ranks, two to guard the boy, and one more to keep watch in the nearby town," Heero reasoned.

"I was trained especially in infiltration, so-"

"Trowa, you and Duo will stay with the boy. I will join the enemy." Heero had expected that Trowa would nominate himself, but he couldn't let him do so. It would hurt Duo too much to see his lover walk away yet again, and this way they could spend more time together.

"But, Heero-"

"No. My skills are equal to yours, if not better; I simply have greater skills in most general areas. I wont take no for an answer."

"Then, that leaves me to keep watch on the town," said Quatre, cutting off any further argument.

Heero knew that Quatre had seen through him, and he was grateful. Not only did he want Duo to be happy, but it was too painful to see him so with someone else. Besides, he could focus better if he didn't need to worry about Duo.

Once everything was settled, the four boys left the café and began their search for the inn. They located it easily enough, and soon made their way into a cluttered pub full of oddly dressed people.