Title: Ashes, Ashes

Author: JadeOokami

Category: Harry Potter and D. Gray Man crossover

Genre: Action/Adventure, friendship

IMPORTANT!: This is a one-shot booklet that contains one-shots related to They All Fall Down, a much larger HPxDGM Crossover fic found on my profile. However, TAFD has been rewritten and the ending changing to reflect DGM chapters published at the time. As such, this one-shot booklet is no longer 'canon' to the universe, and if you didn't read the original, it may no longer make sense. I'm leaving it up anyway for those who do remember the old version, and for anyone who might still find some entertainment value.

For those new to this, the basic summery that will put you in the right place is: the old TAFD had a fairly closed ending in which Harry was basically an honarary member of the Order and visited often. He brought Teddy with him on visits, who liked to mimic his favorite things about the Exorcists. Lavi had gained Moody's old eye to replace his own (assuming he is, actually, missing an eye under that eyepatch). And... I think that's it? It was a vague happily-ever-after.

Timeline: Before/during the 7th Harry Potter book, and in D. Gray Man, not long after General Cross disappears/dies/whatever. (Possible spoilers from before and definitely after these))

Updating schedule: This booklet is as complete as it's going to get.

Disclaimer: Ha. No. If I owned DGM, it would not be on hiatus for the second/third/hundredth time. And if I owned HP, I'd be rich, and I can tell you that I am very much poor. So, I own neither, and there's nothing to sue me for (literally).

Notes: This one is at the very beginning of TAFD – it's basically just the very beginning of the first chapter from Allen's POV (And also, obviously, his first impression).

This part of London was one of the most boring places Allen had been in for a long time.

It was large, with a lot of people, but he'd been almost all around the world. He'd seen all kinds of places and been in all kinds of towns. He'd been in a circus for the longest time when he was younger, which was, of course, where he'd met Mana. So a neighborhood like this one, where everything was the same, was really very boring.

All the houses were the same. The streets had the same layout, different names. The only real difference was what the home owners did with their front yard and it seemed that most of them did absolutely nothing.

"It's like everyone here prides themselves at being the same," Lavi observed thoughtfully as his footsteps made the lightest of noises against the sidewalk. He and Kanda walked side by side just behind Allen. They hadn't been walking for all too long of a time, having taken trains and whatnot to get there. Their newest mission had been one that seemed to promise interesting things, but also troublesome things.

Allen was pretty sure that he hasn't been imagining it when Komui had subtly warned them to keep their eyes out – and not only for Akuma, or for the supposed 'wizards' on the opposite side of the war it seemed that they were getting involved with.

"If that's how the boy's family is, I would not be surprised if that were the case with others around here," Kanda reminded them of their mission file – they didn't usually get mission files, but this one was so potentially big and had required a lot of research before they'd even officially begun. One of the files had been on the aunt, uncle, and cousin of the boy that they had been asked and ordered to assist. How anybody could be so willfully dumb, Allen wasn't sure, but according to the files, they weren't exactly the most pleasant or the most smartest of people.

There was an old woman out on her porch as they passed, black cloaks swishing past them. She eyed them with a small frown, watching them closer than was strictly called for. Allen carefully avoided letting her see his face. The moment she looked away, he pulled his hood up.

He'd long since gotten over being uncomfortable when people stared at him, or that habit of his where he use to pull his hood up to cover his hair because he didn't like it. But right now, it would be better if he avoided drawing extra attention to himself. Their cloaks were already strange enough, and that was counting how 'unique' they looked individually.

He heard the whirring and felt the warmth behind his eye before it actually activated. It was a definite good thing, then, that he had pulled his hood up. His vision zoomed and swooped over houses and briefly narrowed onto two figures walking up to a house that looked like all the rest before returning to 'normal'. Everything had a distinctly gray tinge to it as he looked up and could see the spots of the akuma in his cursed eye like a radar.

"I see two of them," He said, hesitating to say Akuma so freely on the streets.

"Two?" Lavi repeated with a frown, "The kid's house isn't but a couple streets away. Do you think they could be trying to attack him already? Doesn't he have another week to go until they're suppose to be able to reach them?"

"I don't know," Allen lightly touched his left arm, "But if it is an attack, then I guess we have impeccable timing."

"The hero's always do," Lavi laughed as they broke into a jog, then a run.

Allen kept an eye out for any signs of other Akuma in the neighborhood, sensitive to the fact that he didn't know whether the house they were heading towards was their target's or not. It wouldn't be good if this was just a distraction.

Upon pointing out the house that had the Akuma inside, which was somehow even more 'normal' looking than all the others, as if the owners had put in major effort to do just that, Lavi confirmed the address as the same one they'd been heading for in the first place.

They didn't want to be seen sneaking up on someone else's property – they looked strange enough that people were likely to think things were twice as bad as they really were. He motioned to Kanda and Lavi to take certain positions around the house, though the moment they stepped onto the property, Allen felt the strangest tingling. His eye deactivated, which startled him. This was the correct house; There should be no way the Akuma themselves could have just disappeared.

They waited patiently, but it seemed they did not need to wait long. It was alarming when the shadows on the street began to move, and then to raise up like walls of shadow. They formed a dome over the house, one street lamp shedding light. It did not seem to be made out of dark matter, but he could not be sure.

Then Kanda seemed to become alarmed by something he could see through the front window, and next thing Allen knew, Mugan had become a flying silver missile. He was alarmed, as he didn't think he'd ever seen the Innocence sword actually thrown before.

The front window shattered, but the sword kept going. Kanda's aim must have been impeccable, for Allen heard an Akuma's scream from inside, then the bright flare of an explosion, which briefly lit what he could see of the room and the grass immediately in front of it.

But there had been two Akuma, not one, and so he moved quickly. It was easy enough jump to the windowsill, where he crouched down and took a moment to not only balance himself, but to take a look inside.

The shattered glass reflected the light from the street lamp outside up onto the ceiling in an interesting array of colors. The living room was as normal as a living room could be, complete with a boring and slightly cliché flower theme. The shadows seemed darker here. He could see a very fat man laying on the ground, as if he'd been struck and fallen there. A tall, skinny, unattractive woman was knelt by his side along with a young boy who was also quite obese. All three were very frightened, and stared at him like he had just entered their privet sanctuary and brought Armageddon in with him.

There was another boy there. It was just as he was observing the other that his cursed eye flared to life again. He saw the boy, who looked maybe a little older than himself, adopt an expression of alarm and shift to his heels and start to scoot away. Smart reaction. The boy was exactly as he had been in the photo, but there were a lot of things you could tell about a person that you couldn't see in a photo.

Allen could immediately tell that the other was quick thinking and adaptable. He seemed to be at least somewhat smart, quick on his feet. He seemed reliable. And not someone to freeze up in the face of danger, which was a very good thing. But also a bit reckless, though he'd known as much from what he'd been told.

It was all he could tell from the brief glance in the others direction, but it was enough. He didn't have to attend to the other right now. He had something more important to do.

He let himself drop lightly from the windowsill, his Innocence activating along the way. He felt calm and warm and ready. He knew the exact location of the Akuma hiding in the shadows. And he wondered what kind of an adventure would lead from this small, dark, boring living room.