Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Never Say Let Go ❯ Chapter 15

For a moment, Sirius felt shock run through him as he stared at the map in his godson’s hand. It couldn’t be... Damn it, there weren’t any Potters left, except for Harry! Voldemort had made a point of going after the entire family after he found out James and Lily were under the Fidelius...

Then the animagus shook his head as he remembered just when Duo Maxwell was from, and the shock settled into a kind of numbness. Oh, it was possible, all right.

Harry and Duo just needed to be related in the other direction.

None of the three thoroughly-shocked teenagers standing above him seemed to realize that, though, and he whined, trying to catch their attention. That didn’t work, so Sirius reached out and grabbed Duo’s long sleeve between his teeth. The American glanced down at him, stunningly violet eyes bewildered, as the wizard pulled him down the corridor. Behind them, the two Gryffindors followed along in a daze.

A couple of corridors later they reached their destination, an unused classroom that Sirius knew from experience was good for clandestine talks. Once all of the teenagers had entered the room, he shook himself and changed back.

The transformation pulled an appalled cry from the formerly catatonic Boy-Who-Lived, and he sent a horrified look towards the oblivious Slytherin, who was obviously trying to work out something in his mind. "It’s all right, he knows," Sirius said quickly, and after another wary glance, Harry relaxed.

Crisis averted, the escaped convict took a moment to study the distracted teenager. He brought up his hands and framed Duo’s face, trying to block out the shorter frame and long braid. Well, the bangs were certainly messy enough... "What does your hair look like when it’s short?" he asked.

It was a second before Duo seemed to even realize he’d been asked a question. "Huh? Um... I don’t remember it ever being short," he replied with a frown. "Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "I was trying to see if you had the Potter hair."

A choked laugh came from beside them, where Ron had seated himself on a desk. "Oh, come on, Sirius, you know that’s not the way you tell if someone’s a Potter." He looked at Duo. "Are you a trouble magnet?"

Duo snorted. "Is the earth round? Or water wet? Calling me a trouble magnet is like calling Hagrid ‘a little above average height’."

The three Gryffindors exchanged glances and sage nods. "You’re a Potter," they said in complete unison.

Duo blinked at the absoluteness of the statement and fiddled with the end of his braid a little. He let an amused grin streak across his face. "Really, a bit of a family legacy is it?" He addressed this over to Sirius, who really didn't care for the implications, since he knew both boys had lost many they cared for.

The animagus coughed uncomfortably into a fist. "Er, yes. Rather." There was a bemused silence, until abruptly Harry frowned.

"Wait. Dumbledore said I didn’t have any family left except the Dursleys, and that’s why I have to stay there. Why would he lie?" the teenager asked, troubled.

Duo shrugged. "Well, I kinda doubt he knew... I mean, there’d be no way he could know, really, unless he had a map like that."

Harry shook his head. "No. Dumbledore knows everything. So how could he not know?"

"First of all, no one knows everything," the American stated firmly, pointing at the Boy-Who-Lived to emphasize his words. "No one. Well..." He glanced at Sirius. "Can Dumbledore see the future?" he asked.

The wizard shook his dark head. "No. Well... he can anticipate it really well," he qualified, "but I doubt he can see it."

Duo nodded, satisfied. "Right. So, ya see," he said, turning back to Harry, "there’s really no way the old man could’ve known."

The Gryffindor looked confused, sharing a glance with an equally puzzled Ron. "...How would not being able to see the future mean he wouldn’t know about you?" he ventured.

The braided boy smirked, plopping himself down onto a rather dusty desk. "’Cause I’m time-traveling, of course!"

There was a collective blink.

Ron shifted from foot to foot, then shook his head. "Okay, I think you got us. Really. It's a good joke mate, but be a bit serious, will you?"

Sirius would have quite happily have lived without the boy's annoyed look. He didn't believe the boy either, but he wasn't about to say so. "I am being serious. I am from about three hundred years in the future."

The green-eyed boy shook his head a little. "I didn't think it was possible to go back so far."

Having been left out of the time-turner ordeal entirely, the redhead was lost. "Mate?"

Harry grimaced. Right. "Erm... remember third year? Hermione was taking way too many classes, and then we disappeared from the hospital wing? That was a time-turner... And Hermione said those could only go back days at the most," he finished, looking at Duo with an obvious question in his eyes.

The American shrugged. "Hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t use a time-whatsis. I just did a spell out of a musty old book."

"What book?" Ron asked, still more than a little bit skeptical. He scowled as the other two Gryffindors stared at him. "What? You know Hermione’s going to ask..."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "Speaking of Hermione... Duo, why do you act like that around her? Like she’s a saint or something, I mean."

Duo nodded seriously. "That’s because in my time, she practically is." He cradled his chin in a hand, his elbow on the desk. "Ya see, Hermione Granger was the mother of Marcus Lagrange. Marcus was a man who took after his great-great-uncle Josef Lagrange." He rolled his eyes at their blank looks. "The physicist?" he reminded them impatiently. "Don’t tell me you guys forgot that conversation already."

The two boys quickly nodded, though Sirius still looked confused. The teenager sighed. "Josef Lagrange discovered several points in space that would provide an object with a stable orbit," he lectured, his voice lilting almost mockingly. "Just what do you people learn, anyway?" He shook his head as they started to answer. "Never mind, I don’t want to know."

Duo leaned back, still in lecturing mode. "Anyway, Marcus Lagrange took Josef’s research and used it to begin the Colonial Initiative in 2037 A.D. About seventy years later, they succeeded in launching the first of the colonies, which were basically really big, as in enormous space stations. The launch of L1, or Lagrange One, ushered in the After Colony Era. In the not quite two centuries since, the program launched four more satellites, colonies L2 through L5. And as far as I know, I was born on L2. So ya see," he finished, "Hermione Granger is a person indirectly responsible for the biggest leap forward humanity has made since an uppity ape decided to walk on its hind legs."

There was extended pause, until finally Ron asked the question that had been nagging him since the moment the word 'son' had been said. "Um, who's that guy's dad?"

Duo’s face went blank as he tried to remember. "Um... you know, I don’t think the history vids ever mentioned it," he said thoughtfully. "Guess they didn’t really think he was important."

Harry had to turn away to hide his tiny grin at the disappointed look on Ron’s face. He knew he wasn’t supposed to find his best friend’s hopeless crushes amusing, but... damn it, they bloody well were! The sighs, and the puppy dog looks...

"Guess I'll have to find out the long way, won't I mate?" He sighed out a breath and let it go. "So... You're from the future. Is the future cool?"

Duo hesitated with that, eyeing the others. "I'd really rather not get into it right now."

Harry frowned at his... descendant (and Merlin, did that sound odd, even in his head...). He could understand Duo not wanting to tell them anything if his reason was so he wouldn’t mess up the future, but... something in his cobalt eyes told the wizard that wasn’t why. But if not that, then what?

An answer was just there, on the tip of his metaphoric tongue. He concentrated harder, trying to reach it... And then a memory floated through his mind:

"Who? Who have you lost?"

"Everyone..."

As soon as the memory struck, Harry could have smacked himself. How could he have forgotten that for even an instant? His... descendant... was an orphan, but unlike him, he didn't have some relative. That tone had been too despairing. "Maybe, after you trust us a bit more?"

The braided teen angled him a look and quirked his lips a little sadly. "I'll keep that in mind."

Ron looked like he was about to protest, until Harry sent him a beseeching glance. The redhead frowned but nevertheless nodded, and Duo glanced away from the Gryffindors uncomfortably. It wasn’t lying if you didn’t say the words... and he wasn’t planning on actually lying about anything. Just...

Did they really need to hear that his kill count put most annual incomes to shame?

Sighing, he looked back up and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Holy shit!"

Sirius pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning. "Duo? What is it?" he asked the boy, concerned by the way he was staring fixedly at a space just over his godson’s shoulder.

The American didn’t seem to hear him. Instead, he slowly rose from the desk, his face pale. "Quatre?!"

He blinked, and the shade didn't go away. Instead he approached the green-eyed boy, taking in the puzzlement underlying the shade of what was to be. "It's hard to explain."

Duo gestured helplessly, trying to find the words. "...The spell I cast, to come here. It wasn’t really a time travel spell, that was just one of the possible results. What it was supposed to do was let me follow the soul of my best friend. He’d... passed away."

Harry winced, genuinely sympathetic, and sent a tiny glance towards Ron. The redhead could be annoying and insensitive sometimes, but he didn’t want to know what life might be like without him by his side...

The American shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "Anyway... one of the effects of the spell was supposed to be that I’d somehow be able to see just who he was, as a previous incarnation, I guess. But I must’ve messed it up, ‘cause I’m seeing everyone but him."

The Boy-Who-Lived blinked. "Are you saying... I’m someone from your time? Er, someone who will be, I mean?"

Nodding, Duo glanced over at Sirius. "You’re not the first. That was him," he said, pointing at the ex-convict. "He’ll be a guy named Zechs Merquise. And Hagrid’s Howie..."

"So... who’s Harry?" Ron inquired, curious.

The Slytherin was about to answer, when suddenly he got the oddest expression on his face and he started to laugh. "What? What is it?" Harry asked, a little bewildered by his descendant’s sudden mirth. "Who am I?"

A couple more laughs escaped before Duo could calm himself long enough to answer. "Remember... remember the first time we ever talked? Outside the Great Hall?" Harry nodded, and the teen continued. "Remember the ‘famous friend’ I mentioned?" The Gryffindor nodded again, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Why did he think he knew where this was going...?

And sure enough, Duo smirked at him, a thoroughly impish look in his eyes. "Guess who?"

Harry gave him a somewhat horrified look. "No, you're joking, right?"

He laughed. "No. Quatre Raberba Winner, youngest of the thirty Winner children, head of the biggest, most well known corporation on Earth and the colonies, and the best tactician I have ever met."

He received various responses from around the room: "Corporation?" "Thirty?!" "Tactician?"

Duo winced and looked over at Sirius, who had voiced that last one. Damn, for someone who was trying to keep a secret, his big mouth certainly kept letting the wrong things out... "Um, yeah. I tried playing a couple of chess games with him once. Took the hint and stopped trying after he beat me in seven moves."

Harry blinked. "Are you sure you’re not talking about Ron? I mean, I can never beat him at chess..."

Ron shook his head. "Honestly, mate, if you ever actually tried to anticipate what direction the game was going in, you’d be pretty good." He snickered. "Thirty kids, though... I think you just beat me there."

Duo latched onto the distraction, knowing he'd be spilling some secrets for Sirius later. Many of them. "He was the only boy. I think his youngest sister was about twenty when I met her..." He got a vaguely chagrined look as he remembered Iria. "She was a good person."

Did nothing in his life not involve death? Was that too much to ask for?