Promise Me?

Ch.1: Summer Plans

Sitting in his room right after his 3rd year of Hogwarts, Harry Potter was confused. Just 2 weeks ago he saved the life of his long lost God-father Sirius Black with he help of his best friend Hermione Granger. What confused the young 13 year old was why he couldn't stop thinking about her. The way she smiled or bit her lip when she was trying to learn a new spell. It was slowly driving him crazy.

Harry laid back on his bed, "pull yourself together Harry!" he thought, "She is your best friend! You can't be thinking about her!" sighing Harry sat up and looked over at his owl Hedwig, "Maybe I will just write her a letter..."

Getting up and grabbing some parchment and a quill with some ink he began to write...

Hermione,

How are you? I know I haven't written you much we last few weeks but I miss you and Ron (he threw Ron's name in there last moment so Hermione wouldn't notice) so I thought I would write you to see how you are. The Dursleys are being their normal vile selves. I try to stay out of their way by doing chores and working out at the local gym. I have to walk 3 miles to get there so i just include that in my workout by running and walking it.

Ron wrote me telling me his father got a promotion in the ministry and is now head of the muggle department. Which I think means he is able to protect muggles from wizard's pranks better or some thing like that. Any way there are so many changes going on at the Burrow I won't get to go there this summer. Oh well I will try to keep myself busy.

I hope you are well.

Love,

Harry

After signing the letter he closed it and sealed it. Calling Hedwig over he softly said to his pet owl, "Now i want you to take this to Hermione, wait until she sends her reply back with you. Thanks girl." The snowy owl gently nipped at his fingers then grabbed the letter and quickly flew away.

After watching Hedwig fly away in the night sky, Harry looked at his clock and saw that is was 2:37 AM and decided to get a little sleep before he had to get up at 8:00 AM to cook breakfast for the Dursleys then go to the local gym to swim and workout.

BEEP...! BEEP...!! BEEP...!!!

UGH! Rolling over Harry hit the off button on his alarm clock. Slowly opening his eyes he sees that it is 8:00AM and he is going to have to get up. Slowly he rolls out of bed and takes off his PJs and looks around for a fresh t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Looking up at his reflection in the mirror behind his door he sees that he is no longer the small scrawny little boy that he was a few years ago. His hair has gotten longer and now has a long shaggy kind of look, kinda like Sirius had when he was Harry's age (Harry knew this from his photo album).He was now about 5'9" having grown a little taller but was still growing so he bet to himself that he would grow to a strong 6 foot something guy. His shoulders have broadened a little and you could see the beginning of a 6 pack abs from Quittich and working out this summer. the rest of his muscles were getting bigger too, he was starting to look like a well toned teenager then a boy.

Smiling to himself, happy that all his hard work for getting himself stronger and more fit was finally starting to show. Harry pulled on his jeans and t-shirt and walked down stairs to make breakfast. Aunt Petunia was sitting at the kitchen table with the newspaper when Harry walked in, she looked up and said, "You don't need to cook anything today. We, meaning Vernon, Dudley, and I, are going out to breakfast with some of Vernon's new clients. I have made a list of chores that I want you to do while we are gone." Then she got up and walked to the living room to grab her purse so they could leave.

Sighing Harry looked at the list and saw that he luckily only had 2 things to do, de-weed the garden and move the firewood pile from the side of the house to behind the house, both of which he did yesterday. So Harry tossed the list and made himself an egg and bacon sandwich and went upstairs to grab his gym bag.

While Harry was in his room getting his gym bag, Hedwig flew back in through the window. "Hey girl, do you have a reply from Hermione?"Hedwig hooted quietly, as if speaking to Harry, then held out her leg with Hermione's letter tied on to it.

After quickly un-tieing it, Harry sat on his bed to read the letter. While Hedwig flew over to her cage for breakfast and some water.

Harry,

It was great to hear from you. I have also heard from Ron and know all about his father's promotion and all the changes that are happening at the Burrow. I am sorry that you have to spend your summer with those vile people, so I talked to my parents about you coming to my house for the rest of the summer. THEY SAID YES! So we will be there to pick you up tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM. I can't wait to see you. Call me to confirm, 5-484-555-1203

Love,

Hermione

Harry was over joyed! He was going to Hermione's tomorrow! But he needed to call her to confirm, so he grabbed his gym bag and then quickly ran down the stairs to the phone in the living room. After dialing her number, he pressed the receiver to his ear and waited.

"Hello?" A man's voice answered on the other line.

"Hello. May I please speak to Hermione?" Harry could hear the man calling for Hermione then he heard Hermione grabbing the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hermione! Hey its Harry. I was just calling you to say that it is fine for you to come pick me up tomorrow at 11:00 AM."

"Oh thats great! Ok we will see you then."

"Ok bye Hermione.'

"Bye Harry."

Smiling Harry hung-up the receiver and grabbed his bad and stared out the door to the his bad across his back Harry started to job the first mile. He loved to run, it helped him think about all the things that were happening to him in his life.

He decided this summer he was going to get stronger and when he gets his school books he was going to read ahead and study harder in school. He wanted to get better at everything. He had to be ready for what ever the next school year would bring, because for Harry school had never been easy or normal. Something crazy always happened, like in first year he had to go save the Sorcerers stone and defeat Professor Qurillal, then in second year he had to kill a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and save Ginny's life, and finally last year in this third year of Hogwarts he thought he had a crazy murder after him but it turned out he was innocent and had to save Sirius from receiving the Dementor's kiss.

Harry looked around and say that the post office was coming up soon meaning that he had ran a mile and was now only 2 miles away from the gym. Slowing to a walk, Harry began to think about what he would do until tomorrow morning when Hermione picked him up. He needed to pack all his things up since he wouldn't be returning until next year. He also needed to write Sirius and tell him where he was going to be. The Dursleys would throw a fit when the Grangers show up so he was also going to have to talk to them tonight and tell then what he was leaving for the rest of the summer.

After walking the mile he saw the purple house which was his 2 mile marker, leaving only one more mile to go and he started to run again, quickly reaching the gym. Once Harry reached the gym he quickly checked in with the front desk (He had some of his wizard money changed into muggle money to pay for his summer membership to the gym) and made his way over to the kick boxing station. He began to do his streatches ans warm-ups, kicking and punching the boxing bag. Soon Harry was working into more difficult moves.

"Hey!" Harry turned around wondering who had shouted hat him. A boy around his age was walking towards him, he had sandy blond hair and was slightly shorter then Harry. "Hi I am Dylan." The boy stuck his hand out for Harry to shake.

"Hello I am Harry." slowly shaking the boys hand wondering what he wanted.

"I was wondering if you wanted to spar a little. I see you here every day working out so I thought it would be fun. So do you want to?"

"Sure I would like too. It would be a good way to test my skills. Smiling Harry and Dylan moved over to the sparing ring and got on the padded head gear and hand gear. Dylan's father came over to watch the match.

"Ok boys are you ready?" Both boys nodded that they were ready. "FIGHT!" yelled Dylan's father. Harry and Dylan circled each other as if sizing the other up. Harry decided to make the first move and did a round house kick to Dylan's left side. Dylan blocked the kick and went to punch Harry in the chest throwing Harry back on to the mat. Moving quickly Harry slid his leg over under Dylan's feet knocking Dylan off his feet down to the mat. Jumping up Harry then punched Dylan in the arm, forcing Dylan to block then quickly moved his arms across Dylan's back putting him into a lock, then threw Dylan back down to the mat again.

Over the next ten minutes Harry and Dylan fought each other as hard as they could. Pushing each other to limits. "OK! I give!" Dylan shouted after Harry did another round house kick to Dylan's legs knocking him down again. Panting Harry helped Dylan up smiling. Dylan's father came up telling both boys that is was a great fight. After shaking hands, Harry went to the changing rooms to get ready to swim a few laps and Dylan left with his dad.

Grabbing his towel Harry walked over to the pool and looked into the crystal clear water. Setting his towel and glasses on a chair, Harry jumped into the pool and began to do some freestyle swimming through the water. After about an hour of swimming laps, Harry decided to start back to the Dursleys. He rinsed off, grabbed his bag and then quickly began to run back to Private Drive.