Chapter Thirty:

Harry sat before Wufei and Hermione with his legs crossed, trying hard to keep his annoyance in check. Wufei's eyes were closed as he attempted to lead them in meditation. Hermione's eyes were wide open and glaring at Harry who was not "breathing properly." After a moment he was subdued by Hermione's glare and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"The key to control is finding your center," Wufei explained, his voice soft. "You have a temper and it needs to be kept in check. You are much easier to defeat when blind with rage."

Harry tried to do as he was told. He relaxed his body and turned his attention inward. His magic was swirling under his skin, dancing through his veins. He smiled at the warmth it provided.

"Harry."

Hermione's angry voice interrupted him and he opened his eyes to see objects floating around the room. The furniture was hovering in the air and Wufei was staring at it in confusion.

"Sorry," he sighed and carefully set the things back down. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Exactly!" Hermione crossed her arms. "That's the problem! You have more magic than you know what to do with so the moment you stop focusing this happens!"

"All I did was lift some furniture!"

"This time! What about in the future? What if it happens during a fight and you lose control?"

"Then I blow up the world," he deadpanned.

"Enough," Wufei snapped. Hermione shut her mouth with a snap. "Granger, leave."

She whipped around. "What? But I—"

"Am being a distraction. I will take it from here."

Wufei stared her down and Hermione finally stood with a scowl. She turned on her heel and strode from Harry's room, slamming the door shut behind her. Wufei turned to Harry.

"Why are you so resistant to learning this?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not…"

"You were always a good student," Wufei pressed. "You followed orders and worked well with others. What is it about your magic that makes you so hesitant to try something new?"

Harry sighed and leaned back on his hands, uncrossing his legs. "Because it's not new. I've already tried this before."

"Elaborate."

"Hermione's right, Wufei. Hermione's always right. I know these bracelets are just a temporary fix. I've know that since the moment we got them." He looked at his wrist and played with the stones absently. "But everything I've tried has failed. I tried learning meditation to increase my control and that helped but it didn't solve the problem. My magic is always right there, right under my skin ready to go." He glanced up at his friend. "I know we make jokes but I really am strong. So strong sometimes I scare myself."

Wufei frowned in thought as Harry looked away, falling silent. "You are afraid of your own power."

"When I lost it because of that healing pool all I could think about was fighting. All I wanted to do was travel the world hunting anything and everything. I lost myself. I didn't think about Duo or my friends or the world. All I could think about was fighting."

"And when your magic was brought back under control your sanity was returned," Wufei mused. "Then we shall switch tactics."

"What do you mean?"

"For the moment your power is contained. We will worry about controlling it later. What we shall focus on first is you. Training your mind to detach from the desire to fight. Your fear of your own power is making you weak."

"How do I do that?"

"Luckily for you, Heero has been through this. When the Zero system took control of him it took a great deal of mental fortitude to break free. I will teach you the methods he developed to save himself."

Harry nodded and crossed his legs again, staring seriously at Wufei. "Okay, where do we start?"

*!*!*

Ron leaned back, staring at the three dimensional map displayed before him. "Okay, so the Ministry people have scoured the Troll Mountains and valleys surrounding them and found nothing."

As he spoke the mountains on the map turned red.

"And we didn't find anything in what you wizards call the Dragon Mountains," Duo added. The map changed color accordingly. "We didn't find any dragons either."

Ron smiled slightly at Duo's pouting tone. "When this is over I'll take you to meet my brother Charlie. He's a dragon tamer in Romania. You can see all the dragons you want to then."

"I better," Duo grumbled.

Heero pointed at the map. "If we assume Christoph hasn't fled the country that means he is not hiding in the mountains as we expected him to."

"From Trowa and Gadai's reports all the Veela they have confronted have been absolutely fanatical about serving their king," Duo mused. "I think we should entertain the idea that Christoph never ran at all. I think he's hiding in the city."

"That his followers are hiding him?" Ron asked.

Duo nodded. "What are the Veela doing right now without their king?"

"Hermione said they have withdrawn into their borders and shut down everything. There's no trade or communication. According to her when the ruler is incapacitated their pre-chosen successor steps up."

"Who's the successor?"

"Well in this case it was Christoph's sister but we all know what a number Harry did to her. So I guess the council of Veela would take control until he comes back or a new king is chosen."

The door to Quatre's study opened and Hermione walked in, holding a book. The three glanced up at her in surprise.

"I thought you were working with Harry and Wufei?"

She scowled at Ron's question before ignoring it completely. "I had a thought and wanted to discuss it with you."

She stepped forward, holding the book out for them to see. A picture of two young Veela children in formal clothes was on the page. The older boy had his arm wrapped around the girl and both were smiling.

"This is Christoph and Adeline when they were children," Hermione explained. "I've been reading up on Christoph's history to try and find a clue about where he could be hiding. All the books I've read state he was a devoted brother and cared for his sister greatly."

"So?"

"So Harry nearly killed Adeline. If these books are right, then Christoph is going to want to heal her as quickly as he can. And the fastest way to do that is to take her to a healing pool."

Ron nodded and turned to the map. He flicked his wand and the Monegros Desert of Spain lit up.

"Aside from the pools controlled by the Veela the nearest healing spas are here," he said. "There's two more in Romania but with how injured Adeline was I doubt he would risk traveling that far with her."

"Then this is where we'll go next," Duo decided. "What's around the area?"

"Well the pools themselves are located in the desert, away from the muggle population," Hermione explained. "There's a small wizard community there full of humanitarians who study medicine."

She tapped the map with her wand and a green spot indicated where the healing pools were located while a brown dot marked the location of the wizard town known as Peace.

"Other than that there there's not much there."

"Who inhabits the town?" Heero asked.

"It's run by the Spanish magical government but people from all over the world go there to train in medical fields." Hermione sighed wistfully. "It was my dream to go and study at the healing pools but I chose to become an Auror instead."

Ron looked guilty and shifted uncomfortably. Hermione noticed right away and quickly placed a hand on his arm.

"And I have never regretted it," she assured him with a smile. "I'm very happy with how my life has turned out."

Ron smiled at her and the two shared a brief kiss. Hermione turned back to the map.

"All different races and people are welcomed in Peace. Anyone who wants to learn medicine takes a vow to do no harm and is allowed in."

"And they're all bleeding hearts so even if they knew what a tyrannical bastard Christoph is they would still take him in and help him," Ron grumbled.

"That's called being a decent person, not a bleeding heart," Hermione scolded.

"If he's hiding out here then we need to be careful about this," Duo said, looking at his partner. "We can't bust in or he'll run. We need to sneak in and find him."

"Agreed. How is Harry's training progressing?"

Hermione puffed up slightly and barely managed to stop her pout. "I'm not sure. Wufei told me to leave."

"Too much nagging?" Ron teased. Hermione glared at him.

"I'll go find out," Duo offered. "Heero, you start working on an ambush plan."

Duo left the three to get started and climbed the stairs two at a time. He paused outside the door to his and Harry's shared room, listening. When he didn't hear voices he knocked and let himself in. Harry was lying on the bed with his eyes closed. Wufei was sitting in a chair near him, his hand resting on Harry's wrist.

"Everything okay?" Duo asked.

"He is in deep meditation," Wufei explained. "I am teaching him to control his temper."

Duo smirked. "Good luck. Who would have thought such a nice kid could blow up so easily?"

"Did you need something?" Wufei asked. "We will most likely be working on this well into the night."

"We're pretty sure we've found where Christoph is hiding. Heero's crafting a battle strategy now to try and ambush him."

Wufei frowned. "I am not confident in allowing Harry to fight yet. We have only just begun."

Duo nodded and sat on the bed, absently touching his boyfriend's leg. "After the craziness we saw the other night I'm not sure we can fight Christoph on our own. We'll need some serious power to back us up."

"It was rather…intimidating," Wufei agreed.

"I can't believe they were flying. I mean, we've flown, but never without a plane or mobile suit. They were just…" Duo trailed off and shook his head.

"According to Granger that is not typical behavior. Only the most powerful of their community have performed such feats and even among the elite it is extremely rare."

Duo stared at Harry. "I used to beat him up every day. I worked him to the bone to get him up to my standards. And the whole time he could have killed me with the flick of his wrist."

"If anything we only made him stronger," Wufei mused. "Before we trained him all he had was his magic. Then we taught him how to fight and increased his physical abilities."

"If he ever goes rouge we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Wufei smiled slightly and shook his head. "You mean you will," he said with a straight face. "I'll not get in the middle of a lover's quarrel."

"Hey, what makes you think it'll be a lover's quarrel that pushes him over the edge?"

"Simple. You're his lover."

Duo glared at his friend who stared very seriously into his eyes. With a huff, Duo stood. "I will never play poker with you."

"It's just as well. I would defeat you easily."

Duo grumbled under his breath and grabbed the door. "Can I at least sleep in here tonight?"

"No. I do not wish to be disturbed."

He rolled his violet eyes. "Fine." He sent a smirk to Wufei. "Then I'm sleeping with Heero tonight. It's only fair, after all."

"You say that as if I should be worried," Wufei dismissed. "Try not to anger him until he shoots you."

"You worried about me?"

"The paperwork would be an enormous hassle."

Duo laughed. "Call if you guys need anything."

Wufei nodded and Duo slipped from the room with a smile.

*!*!*

A few days later everyone met in Quatre's living room for a briefing. Harry was sitting on the couch next to Duo and Wufei, slightly out of it. He had been working tirelessly with Wufei on learning to control his emotions, and by extension his magic, and hadn't been getting a lot of sleep. It surprised him how hard it was. Harry had always been a reactive type of person. It was his Gryffindor nature, he assumed. All their adventures he and the other two had dove in headfirst, trusting their instincts more than their minds.

Wufei was teaching him to control that impulse. At first Harry thought it would be easy, just exert a little self-control. In reality it was difficult. He had to split his focus on controlling his instincts but also listening to them but not acting until he was sure he was in control and knew what he was doing. For someone like Harry, it was a challenge.

Duo glanced at Harry and then over to Wufei with a confused look. "What the hell did you do to him?" he asked.

"Because his magic tied directly to his emotions I am teaching him to control them."

"He looks like a zombie."

"I can hear you, Duo."

Duo peered at his face. "So? I'm not lying."

Harry pouted. "I'm just tired, okay? Who would have thought focusing and meditating could be so exhausting?"

"If it were easy it wouldn't be worth doing," Quatre piped up. He appeared before Harry with a cup of tea. "Here, this will help."

"Thanks."

Everyone settled in and Heero stood before the group with his laptop. "I want updates from everyone on your progress. Gadia, you will start."

The man nodded. "Well we managed ta get five families 'fore the Veela caught wind of our workings and vanished. All five Veela's we exposed –four females and one male— are in the tender loving care of the Ministry of Magic now."

"Did you get any information from them?"

The thief shook his head. "Nah. They all spouted the same ol'junk. You'll never stop us. Christoph is great… blah blah blah."

"Quatre?" Heero shifted his focus to the blonde.

"We were able to help three more families before the other Veela agents were warned." Quatre's blue eyes were dimmed as he spoke, his heart breaking for the families that had been ruined.

Trowa spoke next. "One of the families had a child who was ten years old. The little girl, Amelia, said something that we thought worth mentioning."

Quatre nodded. "Yes, her mother had explained to her what she was and ordered her to keep it a secret from her father and everyone else. However, Amelia is very devoted to her father and told us something after we arrested her mother."

"Christoph has some sort of power source that he can access to give himself an immense amount of magic," Trowa went on. "The little girl didn't know anything about it but heard her mother mention it once or twice. She believes it was in his castle in the Veela capital city, Vitrol."

"A power source?" Ron repeated. "What kind of power source?"

"She didn't know."

"Are there items that can be drawn from to enhance one's magical abilities?" Heero asked.

"Of course," Hermione answered. "There are plenty of objects out there that do this. And because Christoph is Veela there could be any number of things. Because Veela are technically considered to be magical creatures they can use any number of magic enhancing objects that humans can't because it would destroy our bodies."

"Greeeaaattt," Duo growled. "Because we didn't have enough to worry about."

"Granger, I want you to research this," Heero ordered. "Try and narrow down possible sources and look up ways to nullify and defend against them."

Hermione nodded. "Right."

"Wufei, how are you progressing on your assignment?"

Harry fought the instinct to snap at Heero for referring to him as Wufei's "assignment." Technically that was true and getting pissy about it wouldn't help anyone. So Harry chose to keep his mouth shut and not argue.

Wufei glanced at him and nodded in approval. "We are making progress," he announced.

Duo was looking between Harry and Wufei with a frown. "I don't think I like this," he complained. "I liked my hot-tempered little ball of fire boyfriend. He's awesome in the sack."

"Duo!" Harry exclaimed, his face turning red. "Shut up!"

The others rolled their eyes and groaned while Duo laughed. "Just making sure you're not turning into a robot."

"You're a jerk," Harry muttered embarrassedly. Duo smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Keep working," Heero ordered. "We're going to need Harry at full strength within the next two days." He nodded at Ron who pulled out a large sheet of parchment and unrolled it. A map appeared and everyone leaned forward to look.

"We believe Christoph took his sister here to be healed," Heero explained, pointing at the Monegros Desert in Spain. "This the closest location of healing pools. The town controlling them is referred to as Peace and boasts a neutral stance in all matters. It is meant for training medical personal only."

"Because of the extent of Amelia's injuries I'm assuming it will take at least a week to heal her. If our assumption is correct, Christoph won't leave until she's back on her feet which means we have about three days," Hermione added.

"Do you plan to challenge him?" Wufei asked.

"No. The town houses all races, including Veela. We don't want to alert them to our presence and have Christoph escape. The plan is to surround the town secretly while a chosen group infiltrates the people and flushes Christoph out."

"Who's doing what?" Duo asked.

"Granger is the only one who has ever been to this place so she will be the guide for the infiltration group. I want someone magical on the outside watching the perimeter so Weasley will be there. I will take Quatre and we will use his space heart to try and locate Christoph. Duo and Trowa will accompany us. Gadia and Sebastian will stay outside the city to watch the perimeter as well."

"And us?" Wufei asked.

Heero stared at Harry for a moment. "If you can prove to me that your powers are under control and you are not a danger to anyone then you will join the infiltration team. Otherwise, you will stay here with Wufei, who will make sure you do not do anything foolish."

"You want me to stay here?" Harry exclaimed. "You do know none of you have a chance of beating this guy without me, right?"

"I've made myself clear," Heero said. "You have two days to master yourself. Everyone spend this time preparing. Dismissed."

*!*!*

Harry growled under his breath as he once again lost his focus. With a tired sigh, Wufei opened his eyes and stared at his pupil. Giving up for the moment, Harry stood and angrily began pacing the room.

"This is stupid!" he complained. "I was doing just fine earlier! Why can I suddenly not focus?"

"Because you are angry," Wufei answered easily. "Meditation is harder to perform when you are upset."

"Well of course I am!" the teen snapped. "Heero's trying to bench me from this fight! And aren't you pissed off? You've basically been ordered to become a babysitter."

"No. I am content to perform the duty assigned to me. It is my honor to do what is best for the team, no matter what that task may be."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well sorry I can't be as centered as you."

"You could if you stopped whining and tried." Harry glared at him and Wufei stood. "Move all the furniture against the far wall and do not use magic to do so. I will return in a moment."

He left before Harry could question him and the teen sighed. He did as he was told and moved the bed and dressers out of the way. As Harry finished the door opened and Wufei came back in with Trowa. Harry smiled at his brother.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Meditation can be difficult when you have an excess of energy," Wufei explained. "Exercising your body is just as important as exercising your mind. To that end, Trowa has agreed to spare with you. I will observe."

Harry shrugged easily. That sounded perfectly fine to him. He could use a some one-on-one to work out his angry energy. The brothers took up defensive positions and Wufei placed himself near the wall.

"Begin!"

Trowa didn't hesitate and shot forward, catching Harry completely off guard. He punched him in the jaw and the teen fell to the floor with a surprised shout.

"Owe!"

"Granger has been brewing numerous healing potions so Trowa will not be holding back," Wufei drawled. "Aside from not using magic, you will not hold back either."

"Could have said that before," Harry complained as Trowa pulled him to his feet.

"Begin again."

Once more Trowa moved without warning. He caught Harry in the stomach with a hard punch that nearly winded him. The older man spun and kicked Harry's legs out from under him. Harry managed to spring back up before Trowa's heel could connect with his head.

"Let me get my balance for Merlin's sake!" Harry exclaimed.

Trowa did not heed his words and continued to attack ferociously. Harry barely managed to defend himself as his brother hit him with one cheap shot after another. Trowa was purposefully aiming for his weak points and tripping him up. Harry ground his teeth. So much for this being a relaxing spare to release energy. If he didn't know any better, he would say Trowa was purposefully trying to make him angry.

Harry nearly missed blocking a punch as the thought crossed his mind. Of course that's what Trowa and Wufei were doing. They wanted to make him angry so that he could practice controlling his temper in a fight. The meditation wasn't working so they decided to move on to the "practical" part of the lesson.

"Man, can't you guys just come out and say what you want instead of trying to trick me all the time?" he demanded.

Harry took a deep breath and concentrated on the fight. He let his emotions fade to the back of his mind and focused solely on stopping Trowa's attacks. He let go of his anger and was able to control his movements more easily. His counters weren't as wild and found their marks more often. Just as Harry was getting the upper hand a blow from behind sent him sprawling to the carpet.

"Ahh!"

Harry whipped around and was flabbergasted to see Quatre standing there, a gentle smile on his face. He blinked, his jaw hanging open. He hadn't even noticed the other man come in. Before Harry could demand an explanation Trowa surprised him with a kick to the side that sent the teen rolling.

"Damn it!" Harry shouted, beyond angry at the sneak attacks and cheap shots. These guys were supposed to be family!

Without thought he latched onto his magic and used it to shoot himself into the air high enough to touch the tall ceiling. He kicked out, aiming for Trowa's head, but the other man dodged quickly. With a flick of his wrist Harry wrapped Quatre up in invisible ropes.

Suddenly Wufei's voice cut through the air. "Focus!"

Harry landed on the ground and paused, realizing what he had just done. With great effort he shoved his magic down and took a deep breath. He had lost his temper and used magic against his family. That couldn't happen again. They waited a moment while Harry composed himself before Wufei called, "Again!"

*!*!*

Two days later the group once again met in Quatre's living room. They were surrounded by small backpacks filled with gear they might need during a fight. Hand bombs, extra guns, and ammo we packed along with body armor. Hermione carried numerous vials of healing potions and magical bandages guaranteed to stop bleeding no matter how serious the wound.

"Kingsley's got twenty Aurors in strategic locations around Peace," Ron explained, pointing at the map. "He's agreed to work alongside us but we won't give his guys orders, and they won't give us any either. They're really just there to help civilians if the fight gets out of control or Christoph tries to run."

"Understood. Here." Heero handed out long range radios and everyone slipped them into their ears. "Use the radios when possible because magical people can't listen in on the frequency. If there is too much magical interference in the air, then we will use the bracelets to get into contact. If those fail or we are separated everyone has a communication mirror as a last result."

"Got it," Ron nodded. He glanced at Harry. "So you're going with them?"

"If I can keep my temper in check after everything these three assholes just put me through, I can manage this."

Quatre smiled into his hand. "Oh come now, Harry. We weren't that terrible, were we?"

Harry stared at him in disbelief. "You were the worst of all! It's a side I've never seen of you before."

"Wait, Quatre was the worst?" Ron asked. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

"Yes! Don't be fooled, Ron. He's vicious! He's got everyone tricked into thinking he's just some sweet guy from down the block but in reality he's even more brutal than Heero!"

Ron shook his head. "I don't believe you, mate."

Duo and Quatre were laughing quietly together while Trowa smiled at the description of his lover.

"Believe it," Heero interrupted. "Quatre is not someone to take lightly in any situation. Now focus. Is everyone prepared?"

They nodded and picked up their supplies. Hermione, Ron, and Harry each held out a portkey and the group latched on.

"Very well. Move out."

The portkey's activated and they were whisked away.

A/N: So I feel bad for making you wait this long and all you get is a filler chapter. I hope it's at least interesting. I tried to put some humor in there too. My original plan was to post the next chapter with this one but I'm stuck… again.

Not much to say. I hope you guys enjoyed.