Heero heard the noise begin around ten. He stalked to the window and saw the fighting. The war had ended months ago, so what was going on? His hand went to the necklace around his neck, which was a wolf curled up asleep.

What were those people using? What were those flashes of light that haunted his dreams of late?

Suddenly one fell down, and Heero leapt into action. The figures in black and skull robes were advancing on the more mismatched characters. They were on the losing team.

Normally Heero would leave them at it, but the 'skulls' weren't paying any mind to civilians. The others were at least trying not to hit noncombatants. His gun was ready to fire, the safety off. When the first skull came near, he fired.

The skull fell to the ground. Now their attention was on him alone, and they shot the light at him. He didn't know what they were, but the green colored ones sent chills down his spine. A nightmare that often haunted him more than the deaths he caused came to mind and he shoved it aside.

He growled, and shot again. Soon the ten skulls had dwindled to four. Six were on the ground either dead or in extreme pain. Without warning the other team shot four red colored lights, and the rest of the skulls fell down unconscious.

Heero vaguely heard the word 'stupefy' from the other side when they shot it. He ducked back into his apartment and grabbed his bag. He had planned to leave anyway.

Heero turned, his gun in hand. Someone was at his door, about to open it. His soldier honed reflexes kicked in, and he slung the bag on his shoulder at the same time he aimed his gun and fired. A yelp of pain was heard, and Heero jumped out the window without a second thought.

The strange power he always had kicked in without prompting, softening the blow to his body from falling four stories. He bolted, dodging the lights aimed at him with ease. Whatever they were, they were slow.

Suddenly a man stood before him, wearing an outfit similar to the one the skulls had been wearing. Heero dodged the light again, and ducked into an alley. He was being targeting now, for what reason he had no idea.

At least the green lights which had bothered him so much weren't being aimed at him. Only the red which apparently stunned the targets.

Spotting a familiar pub, he ducked in, and heard the cries of disbelief from his pursuers. Clearly they were surprised he saw the place.

He went into the alley, and hit the bricks that glowed. This was the third time he had come into the odd place. The first time was back when the war had only begun. He had spotted the odd alley and ducked in to avoid the OZ soldiers. They had run right past him when he got outside the door.

The second time he had gone in out of curiosity and come out with several gold coins he stolen from oddly dressed people in a seedy alley. He had bought several 'potions' for later use, and they had saved his life more than once.

The barkeep ignored him, which suited Heero just fine. Heero was a bit taken aback by the change in the alleys. Where the place had been bustling before, now it was silent and morbid. The only shop which seemed to have any cheer was the new one called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

Heero went into the bank he had seen before.

"May I help you?" asked the strange creature.

"Other than helping me hide?" remarked Heero offhand, then thought of something, "Would you happen to know the names of people dressed in black and wearing skull masks?"

"Death Eaters. Voldemort's lackeys," said the creature with a sour look.

"How angry is he going to be when he finds out ten of them were taken out?"

The creature was startled.

"Very. If he catches you..."

"He'll have bigger things to worry about if he's stupid enough to catch me. I don't take being held prisoner very well."

The creature grinned, a very disturbing thing to see.

"Since you can see the alley...perhaps you have some magical inheritance. For free of course."

"What would this entail?" he asked, curious.

"A few drops of blood."

"Why not. I have nothing better to do while I wait for them to leave."

Four drops of blood later, and the creature (who had told him that his name was Griphook and he was a goblin) was looking at him in shock.

"What does this mean?"

"It means...that we have something to discuss after all. By which name do you prefer to go by?"

"Heero."

"Well, Mr. Yuy, would you care to follow me?"

Heero walked out the back of the bank with a few new things to think about.

First off, his name was originally not Heero Yuy. So in an attempt to reconnect with his past, (which apparently had come to haunt him in more ways than one), he decided to pick a new name.

Haru. It was close enough to his usual name and his past. Besides, he never enjoyed being called by a dead man's name anyway.

He walked past a building full of owls. Deciding to at least look at them, he went in.

One owl in particular caught his attention. It was a gorgeous snow white one with very intelligent eyes. He went up to it, and looked at it in curiosity.

"You can have her for two galleons. She never accepts anyone," said the clerk without looking up from his magazine.

Heero held out his hand instead, and let her decide. He only came in to look after all, and he wouldn't force an animal to live with him.

The owl hooted, and gave him a cursory look over. Then it did an odd walk onto his arm. Heero took out two gold coins and handed it over. Griphook had explained the money system for him.

He walked out with his new companion, who was very glad to be out of the stuffy building.

"What should I call you?"

Since he was a star-raised kid who loved to fly, he decided on a name pretty easily.

"Adhara, after the second brightest star in the sky. From the constellation Canis Major."

The owl hooted in good humor. It didn't care what it's new master named it, so long as he didn't treat her like a thing.

Heero spotted his pursuers again, and hefting his bag a bit more, he went back into the outside world.

Where the dour looking man from before found him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Heero Yuy. If you keep chasing me I won't guarantee you'll live."

"Why did you kill them?"

"Because I have had enough of war already. Haven't you people realized it yet? The war only ended a few months, and you still attack each other?"

He shook his head.

"This war has gone on longer than yours. By interfering you have brought their attention on you."

"Like I care. This is your war, not mine. I only intervened because you targeted innocent civilians."

The dour man gave him a long look.

"Do you want to end this? Or are you just passing through?"

"I want to end the wars. I've already won mine, but I have no intention of getting into yours."

Heero noted the people coming up from behind and tensed.

"Come any closer and I will shoot you without hesitating."

A shot rang out in the night, and one of the people fell. But Heero hadn't used his gun. He spotted a long braid from above, and ran in that direction.

Duo had shown up. Probably heard the reports of deaths in the area. He quickly got onto the rooftops and found a smirking face with amethyst eyes grinning at him.

"Hello 02."

"Hee-chan, what did you do to piss those people off?"

"According to the man I was talking to before being surrounded, interfered in their war."

Duo scowled at the word 'war'. Not surprising, considering all they went through with their own.

"And the bird?"

"I bought her mostly to gain a small amount of disguise. She seems reasonably intelligent for an owl."

Adhara clearly didn't know whether to be affronted by his backhanded compliment. Duo chuckled.

"I'd take it as a compliment. Hee-chan doesn't give such high praise to anyone."

She hooted, then lightly cuffed him with her wing.

"So what did you name her?"

"Adhara."

"Star rat through and through, eh?"

Heero didn't answer. Duo lead his fellow pilot to his current safe house, and they got ready to leave. Right as they were exiting the building, they were hit from behind.

Heero woke up in a rather filthy room with Duo next to him in another bed. The doorknob turned, and he pulled his gun out, prepared to shoot. It was his second favorite one, since they seemed to have taken his usual one.

Too bad they didn't know about his secret storage space where he held all his weapons. He always did a daily inventory so he would know whether he needed to stock up or not.

He had thirteen knives of varying lengths, twenty handguns, four shot guns, five automatic rifles, two swords and at least a hundred clips of ammo. He had two hundred shells for the shotgun and fifty bullets for the hand guns each.

A head popped in, red and very unruly. The boy had a smattering of freckles and he didn't look very bright in the least.

He ducked out and yelled to someone downstairs.

"MUM! He's awake!"

Heero winced at the volume. Duo shot up with his gun in hand. It was his secondary one, since they had removed his first one. A hoot from behind told them that they had left the owl.

Heero noted blood on her talons, and gave her an approving nod. Clearly she had no intention of being taken by these people either. And when she gently calmed Duo down simply by taking a roost on his shoulder, his estimation of her intelligence went up.

A man with tawny hair and warm amber eyes came in.

"Sorry about the stunners. We had to be sure you weren't spies. Blame Moody for that one. He was particularly upset that he was saved by someone who wasn't even trained."

Something about him sent his hackles up. He barely kept a growl from forming. What was it about him?

"My name is Remus Lupin. And who are you two?"

"Haru," said Heero promptly. If he gave this false name now he could avoid them finding him later. Duo took the hint and didn't say anything about the name.

"My name's Duo Maxwell, I run, I hide but I never tell a lie!"

"Well I'll give you a minute to get dressed. Lunch is ready."

Remus closed the door. Duo turned to Heero with a questioning look.

"My past is coming back to haunt me. Haru was the best I could come up with the keep it off my back."

Duo nodded, and knew his partner in crime would tell him more later. Both of them got dressed in different clothes, though Duo tried not to laugh at Heero's new outfit.

Heero had a t-shirt with Merlin on the front, and a pair of blue jeans. Seeing Duo's mirth filled look, he rolled his eyes.

"I had to get a new outfit, and this was the last shirt they had. I saw no reason to get rid of it."

Duo choked back his laughter and they left the room.

Adhara landed on Heero's arm and stayed there. When Heero tripped on something, two things happened.

A portrait on the far side of the wall opened up and began shrieking worse than Relena after Duo switched all her outfits with black ones, and Heero shot said portrait shutting it up within three seconds.

A stunned silence filled the hall...then they heard the distinct sound of...cheering?

A man with mischievous blue eyes grinned at Heero and shook his hand.

"Thank you! We've been trying to shut her up for years!" he beamed at them.

Duo was laughing behind Heero, his hands over his stomach. Heero had a look of disbelief firmly on his face...well as close as he could get to one anyway.

Sirius Black, the one who thanked Heero, lead them downstairs. There in the dining room was the most mismatched group they had ever come across.

A pack of redheads and one bushy haired brunet stood at one side, the dour man from before on the left, a man with a spinning eye and peg leg near the fire, the tawny haired Remus next to the door, and many more scattered around. But the one who drew Heero's attention, and not in a good way either, was a man who had worse color sense than Relena and her pink limo.

Something about him set Heero on edge worse than Remus. His eyes appeared grandfatherly, but the aura about him was completely different from the persona he tried to let off. This was a man who was determined to win, no matter what the cost. The only time he had seen anyone with such hardhearted aura was when he ran into Colonel Une before Trieze died.

This man had to be watched carefully.

Once they finished lunch, and earned the approval of 'Moody' at the same time for their cautious demeanor, they had to sit through a round of introductions.

That was when Dumbledore (colorblind maniac) asked the question on the minds of their captors.

"Why did you assist the Order? Who's side are you on?"

Duo let Heero do the talking, since he was the one to get them in this mess to begin with.

"First off, I don't give a damn about your precious blood war. I only intervened because they were hitting noncombatants and I just came out of a war that ended. Second, the only side I'm on is my own. Third, I don't take kindly to being captured simply because I prevented deaths," said Heero coldly.

"What do you mean?" asked Snape. He was the dour man Heero had talked to before being captured.

"I recognized those green lights being shot, even if I don't have a clue what they are. And every person hit with those things looked dead when I saw them."

Moody approved of Heero's assessment, because he provided the answer to one of Heero's unspoken questions.

"Those green lights you saw were a forbidden curse called Avada Kedevra. Getting hit by one is an instant death."

Heero nodded, but said nothing. Since he wasn't going to volunteer any more information, they talked about what to do with them. When Dumbledore offered to allow them into the school called Hogwarts, Heero snorted.

"We're not that desperate to avoid detection," said Heero coldly. Clearly Duo was in agreement, since he nodded.

They were allowed to leave the room, but not the house. Arthur Weasley, the father of the red haired group, gave them back what he called their 'muggle toys', provided they didn't do any more damage.

Duo choked back a laugh at the description of their guns. Obviously these people had no idea what they were for, if they willingly gave them back to two teenage boys who clearly had no problems shooting first and asking questions later.

They were promptly highjacked by a pair of twins.

"So gents..." said the first.

"Would you happen to know..." continued the second.

"Any good pranks?" they finished in perfect sync.

Duo stared at them for two seconds before cackling wildly. Heero felt a distinct sense of dread. Clearly both twins loved pranks...and allowing Duo near them could prove disastrous later.

"Go after 05 and not me, and I will look the other way."

Duo grinned and shook Heero's hand.

"Deal!"

They left to discuss tactics...and Heero turned. Behind him was the bushy brunet Hermione Granger. She was looking at him intently and with a thoughtful expression. Unlike the red head who woke Duo, she clearly had intelligence to spare.

"You're a Gundam Pilot aren't you?" she finally said.

Heero froze. How the hell did she know that? Everyone else took in stride when he said he was part of the war that had raged for nearly two years.

"I'm a muggleborn, and I pay attention to the news."

"Muggleborn?"

She took pity on him and said "I was born to normal parents. Which means I am more up to date compared to most of the people here. Everyone else would be clueless if you asked where to get the internet."

That threw him for a loop. Who didn't know about something like that?

"You may as well relax. I can't hardly tell people about the Gundam pilots when they're magic users as well now can I?"

"What do you mean?"

She looked at him.

"The wizards have something called the Statute of Secrecy, which means any normal person caught in the crossfire of the war automatically gets their memory wiped unless they happen to have a pass. Which is almost never granted."

"What happens if they run or try to get away?"

"They chase you down and still erase your memory. These people live in fear of the witch hunts and scientific discovery. They are completely backward," she told him with a sour look.

During dinner Heero noted the speculative look Dumbledore kept sending him, and it sent shivers down his spine. He had more to worry about this headmaster than he did the Dark Lord. Clearly he intended to use them to end their war.