Chapter 11: Downtime

"So you're travelling through the Sinnoh region; May mentioned something along those lines before leaving for Johto." Upon colliding into Ash's group all of them decided to adjourn to the Pokémon Centre instead of remaining at the gym, as it would be rude to crowd around the front of the entrance. Norman eyed his daughter's friend noticing the changes in appearance donning a black vest with a yellow 'v' design overtop a white t-shirt, baggy navy jeans and the hat design had changed from black and green to black and blue; a good color in his opinion. "I didn't think that we would be meeting up so soon Ash. Still it's good to see you again."

Pikachu was perched on Ash's shoulder letting out a cheerful cry blinking cutely in response while the teen flushed, smiling in return. "Same here! How is May doing anyway? I haven't been able to speak to her since leaving Jubilife City," Ash asked curiously, tilting his head. His lips curled thinly struggling to keep himself from asking the obvious question.

Not that Norman could fault the young man in front of him. The last time that they had seen each other was when his family had bid farewell to Ash and Brock when they returned to Kanto.

"After witnessing you in the League and the Battle Frontier I decided to go on another journey," Norman informed Ash somewhat truthfully, it wasn't entirely a lie nor the truth. "I haven't told May yet, so if you don't mind do you think you can keep this between us for now?"

Ash did not even hesitant answering. "No problem."

"Good," The leader's lips twitched fondly into a small faint smile fading as his eyes narrowed seriously. "...Ash, I want your honest opinion; that boy, Paul. Is he dangerous?"

From the short amount of time that he had gotten to know the young trainer Norman could see that Ash had a good sense of judgement; especially when it came to trainers and their Pokémon , always being cheerful and friendly towards even total strangers, the young teen had a knack for seeing a person's nature. In fact that reason alone was why Norman had brought up the issue of Paul towards Ash, at least hoping to get a second opinion from a non-biased and outside perspective; seeing as this had not been the first time Norman had run into Paul before.

In fact Norman had been granted the absolutely displeasure of meeting the boy two years prior. Paul had challenged Petalburg as the first gym in order to enter the Hoenn league, even then though the boy had had a haughty and arrogant aura around him; at first Norman had brushed it off since most beginning trainers, with the few exception here and there, were always like that until facing a leader. Like every challenger, he had the battle be a three on three. Of course even than that had not prepared him for the horror he was about to witness, watching in disgust at the sheer cruelty that the boy had shown his Pokémon verbally abusing them without much of a care to whom was listening. Not before long Paul had whined at how 'weak' his Pokémon were stomping outside like a spoiled, rotten brat vowing that he would return with stronger Pokémon.

It had been at that moment when Norman had realized what type of trainer he had been forced to deal with. Once the brat had left he went researching this boy, the information that he had gotten was rather shocking. This had not been the first region that Paul had appeared in; one of the Kanto Leaders, Blaine, had fought long and hard to get the boy's license pulled and thrown in jail after seeing how horrid his training methods were and how he did not care if they were injured or whom they injured in the processfrom there the articles and complaints in regards about Paul had staggered over the years. Yet nothing had been done.

Realizing that there was hardly anything that could be done about it Norman had settled for keeping an eye on the brat rather than acting out. After several rematches later Paul had not returned having moved on to Rustboro City.

Norman had not heard much about the boy other than harsh whispers here and there from his colleagues none of them had been impressed with the boy. From what he was able to recall the brat had managed to anger Wattson and Brawly of all people, which was a feat all in its self as the two were known for being easy going and friendly. Needless to say, it was lucky that the brat had left Hoenn when he had or else Norman was certain that the brat would not be so lucky.

His eyes remained firm observing Ash's eyes dulling in contemplation frowning darkly at the inquiry even Pikachu looked unnerved by it. Neither of them had spoken steadily returning the stare keeping silent.

"Paul is...unstable at best, whether or not he is dangerous at this point in time I cannot really say." Ash began slowly, choosing his words very carefully. The solemn expression on his features did not change as he leaned forward fingers intertwining. "His cruelty is frighteningly similar to that man. Frighteningly so. I believe that he can change into a better person if he wants to," His eyes closed briefly opening them again revealing a sharp stare. "If he continues to persist down his path than yes, he will be immensely dangerous."

Norman arched an eyebrow wondering whom Ash was referring to but refrained from commenting. "Should we do something about him?" He pressed on.

"Not now," Ash shook his head leaning back against his chair casually, folding his arms to the back of his head finally smiling. "There's nothing that we can do now; so just leave him. Besides I really don't think he can cause too much trouble, he's only interested in strong trainers and strong Pokémon."

"That's not what being a trainer is about," Norman chided.

The raven shrugged. "It's the way his mind works. From what I'm able to tell, I've only talked to him twice."

"...You're taking this rather calmly," Norman commented not unkindly. "Aren't you usually the type to rush in without thinking and being a stop to this kind of think?"

"I'll interfere when I think it's absolutely necessary, shoving my opinion down his throat isn't going to do much." Ash pointed out. "I can express my opinion at his methods but that's about it. He has to learn the hard way."

The Hoenn leader nodded slowly feeling that the conversation had come to an end. "Am I safe to assume that you're starting fresh again?" Norman asked curiously, starting a new conversation with the younger boy as Ash flushed nodding slowly. "Pikachu is obvious staying with you, correct?"

"Yeah, I could never go anywhere without him. He's been with me since I started my journey," Ash stated honestly, eyes softening seemingly being drawn into the memory quickly returning. "Aipom came with me as well stowing away on the ship; I wasn't sure I should have been angry or upset but she's with me now. I captured a Starly that evolved into a Staravia not too longer ago and a Turtwig. I'm using Pikachu, Aipom and Turtwig in my gym battle against Roark."

Aipom and Turtwig seemed like good choices to use against Roark's rock types but to use an electric type? That was rather dangerous due to the type disadvantage Pikachu had, in retrospective Staravia might be a better choice being a flying type it was able to remain in the air and avoid taking damage from grounded Pokémon like Cranidos. Yet, Pikachu's speed would help keep up against Onix and Geodude. Maybe Ash had thought out his chosen Pokémon ahead, though Norman doubted that Ash knew what Pokémon Roark had.

Slowly, a smile slide upon the older man's face. "Hey Ash, how does getting in some training sound to you?"

Norman was met with a happy gaze that nearly made him laugh.

"Don't want to go back inside?" Volkner questioned bemused, receiving a flat stare from the younger boy.

"Not really. Dawn reminds me far too much of two girls that I knew back home," Harry answered wincing visibly. "I really don't want to deal with her to be honest." While certain that she was a good person, the day had already been a bit long for him, as he had just won his very first badge, and he wanted to celebrate with the people he knew. "You can head back if you want to Volkner, don't want Sirius to have to deal with Dawn and Brock by himself."

The blonde snorted audibly strolling by his side. "I'm sure he can handle those by himself, Sirius is a strong guy." Besides it gave Volkner a chance to be around Harry without anyone else in sight. "...I think this is the first time you've brought up your past. Since Sunyshore," He gestured lowly.

"Is it?" Harry mused at his words, eyes narrowed sharply and then relaxed suddenly. "I guess it is."

"You know, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to share some of it." Volkner murmured rubbing the back of his neck, blue eyes darting back and forth between Harry and the ground. He had finally said it. Mentally the leader was torn between cheering himself on or wanting to jump into a hole and bury himself in it. He jammed his hands straight into his pockets trying to look cool as possible. "If you want to that is."

Harry hummed lightly at his words. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Volkner's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, frowning.

"The past is the past Volkner. It can't be changed, I don't see why you'd want to know about it," Harry said dismissively, his shoulders lowered casually. He turned at him wearing a soft smile. "I'm here now and really that's all that matters, right? Besides, my past isn't all that interesting."

Volkner blinked owlishly. "I still want to know regardless, we're...friends right?" Why did that sound so painful?

"Yeah," Harry nodded slowly faintly smiling at him. "We're friends."

This was painful.

Sirius had never before desired for a person to be quiet as he did now, and that was saying something. It was evident that the two were relatively good kids, the way Norman spoke and interacted with them was enough to convince him of that; however, one of the issues at hand was that Dawn never seemed to be quiet while Brock swung between being absolutely supportive, than flirting with any woman that had a skirt and forgetting the conversation that had taken place. Even he hadn't acted like that back in his youth. He was seriously questioned the other man's words on the two, more so Brock than Dawn, since she seemed to be new to him as well.

That being said he found himself being rather disgusted with them when Norman came over with Ash at his side informing them that they'd be outside training. After they had left, the two had dropped rather condescending comments about their friend in a scathing manner that left a sour taste in Sirius' mouth, yet did not say anything. There was little to no remorse in their actions promptly changing the topic without a care in the world.

Sirius managed to get himself under control by biting his tongue forcing a smile as he listened to them. He was uncertain whether or not that remaining in their presence would be such a good idea, there was only so much that Sirius was able to stand.

"So are you going to challenge the gym as well, Sirius?" Dawn spoke up snapping him out of his thoughts, staring curiously at him.

The wizard blinked several times giving a tiny smile in response and bowed his head. "Yep! I wasn't sure what I want to do at first but Norman convinced me to at least give it a try. So I thought what the hell, not like I'm getting any younger now am I?" as much as he wished to take back those twelve years of incarceration Sirius knew that he would not be whom he was today if he hadn't. On the other hand, Harry would not have been forced to live with the Dursleys and endure those so-called adventures that had reached his ears. Whether or not they actually occurred Sirius didn't know, never bringing it up while Harry was around, and since he heard it from the Weasley twins Sirius took it with a grain of salt.

"I see," Brock mused stroking his chin. "Have you had your gym battle yet?"

"Not yet. Harry, my godson, has so far; I don't think I'm ready quite yet. Still have lots of training to do," Sirius commented truthfully, not because he lacked on any of his training rather because he simply was not as confident in his abilities as of yet.

Dawn nodded sympathetically. "I know what you mean...I'm a co-ordinator and my first contest is right around the corner, I'm getting really nervous. I'm not sure if I'm ready..." Her voice trailed off softly, blue eyes filled with uncertainty focusing down on the floor, a strained smile plastered on her features.

Oh. Dawn was one of those people that Norman had told Sirius about back in Sunyshore, sharing the other man's sentiments about contests he knew that now was not the time to let his dislike be known and swallowing thickly. "You never know unless you try, right? Practice does make perfect. So instead of sitting in here with an old man like me, how about you head outside and do some training?" A parental smile lay gentle on his face hoping to give her encouragement. Despite he was unimpressed with hers and Brock's words about their friend, the blame did not entirely fall onto her shoulders as she was only just a young girl and didn't really know any better. In its self it was not a good excuse to write off the insults she said being due to her age, nevertheless, Sirius himself admitted that he had said a number of stupid things. He only hoped that she learned from her mistakes quicker than he did.

Brock on the other hand had no excuse. From the way he spoke about Ash held deep familiarity yet there appeared to have an undertone of dismissal, almost barely acknowledging the teen. Sirius felt his stomach do a flip-flop; it made him wonder if Brock truly cared about Ash or not.

Sirius knew that it was not his place to make judgement pondering whether he was reading into it too much. Regardless, he made a mental note to discuss his findings with Norman whenever they were alone, since the leader knew them a lot better than he did. Besides, Sirius did not feel comfortable butting into another's business especially. At least not without help of course.

"I have to say your team is well balanced and diverse Ash. You've come a long way since our last battle for the Balance Badge, I'm very impressed."

Ash flushed under the praise being given as he recalled Staravia back into his Pokéball. "Thanks Norman, but it's not just all me. They've all worked very hard to grow stronger so I can't take all of the credit for their growth." The teen responded with a sheepish smile on his face.

Same old Ash. At least that was one thing Norman knew would never change, smiling very gently at his children's friends, he was slightly surprised to see that none of Ash's other Pokémon were with him. He knew upon meeting Ash for the first time that he wanted a fresh start, leaving his previous Pokémon back at Pallet town. It was understandable considering Ash was a student under Oak's tutelage, making sense that the Professor most likely wanted to see the progress that Ash endured travelling through the Hoenn region, yet something appeared to be off that Norman was unable to place a finger on. His curiosity surfacing the longer his stare remained fixated on the trainer before him appearing thoughtful.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Ash, but didn't you have a Corphish?" He prompted casually, donning amusement seeing the stunned expression that Ash wore. It was rather hilarious.

"I wanted a fresh start-"

Norman arched an eyebrow. "You said that before. While I don't necessarily doubt that there's another reason behind that, isn't there?"

"I don't understand what you mean," Ash answered slightly confused by his words, even Pikachu looked rather lost to his question.

"I find it odd it's all." Norman told him before elaborating further. "You go to a new region yet leave the Pokémon you caught and used in the previous back in Pallet Town instead of rotating them. And instead decided to capture new Pokémon in order to make up for it, I'm merely wondering if there was another reason for that other than a 'fresh' starter?"

The trainer blinked slowly remaining silent at his words. "It's not that I don't want to bring them to a new region, it's just...I'm the only active trainer from Pallet Town right now."

That took Norman by surprise. "Wait what? But what about trainers after you-"

"There's only me," Ash answered shaking his head before pausing. "And Gary, but he's decided to become a researcher like Professor Oak so he doesn't really capture any Pokémon and remains mostly in Pallet. I've heard that he's somewhere here in Sinnoh from what I remember." He shrugged his shoulders absently. "Other than that there's no one else. There were two others that started their journeys around the same time I did but they quit after a few months in. So the Professor is rather hesitant to give out Pokémon to anyone these days, actually..." He frowned going into deep though. "Now that I'm thinking about it there was another kid from Pallet town but that's all I know."

"Isn't that a bit much for you to handle all by yourself?" Norman's lips curled in concern.

Ash shook his head again. "Nah, I enjoy travelling and seeing the world. I've always wanted to ever since I was growing up."

"I see." If Ash had no problem with it then he had no right to comment on it. "So the Professor looks and researches your Pokémon when travelling to different regions." Norman concluded, nodding very slowly in tandem with his words.

"That and it provides the lab with protection," Ash said. "Team Rocket," He added afterwards.

"Oh." Why didn't that surprise him? Norman heard many of the misadventures from Max about Team Rocket chasing after them, while the three that had been doing so weren't much of a threat; having fought them twice himself, Norman couldn't help wonder why they were so adamant about. After all they hadn't succeeded so far.

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, they have directly attacked the Professor's lab several times before, I'd rather the town and lab be safe rather than be sorry I didn't leave any strong Pokémon there."

"Admirable," The leader remarked. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't rotate every now and then. I'm sure that nothing bad will happen if you do it every once in awhile. The professor can handle himself."

Ash became hesitant carefully considering his words. "I...do only have four on me..."

"Do you want to have a full team on you?" Norman prompted.

"...I wouldn't mind it." Ash began slowly choosing his words carefully as Pikachu glanced between them worriedly. "I don't want to miss the opportunity to capture new Pokémon and bond with them though."

"You can still do that and rotate, Ash."

The boy's lips twitched, he was obviously considering the idea, but his indecisiveness remained.

"Do you have a strategy for battling Roark?" Norman changed the subject slightly while remaining on topic of Ash's Pokémon. "You said before that you planned on using Aipom, Pikachu and Turtwig correct? I'd like to hear what you have planned."

"Well you already saw Pikachu using Iron tail so I plan on having him use it if it comes down to it. Aipom and Turtwig I'll be using first, Turtwig had a type-advantage against rock-types and Aipom is fast enough to avoid getting hit." Ash mused out loud stroking his chin. "Aipom knows Focus Punch, a fighting-type move which also had a type-advantage as well as Double-Team and Swiftencase she needs to get away and blind whatever Pokémon she's pinned up against."

The leader hummed softly. "I can see that you've put in some thought into it."

"I put in a lot of thought," Ash defended instantly, lips pressed together thin as his eyes gleamed with mid-annoyance. "Just because I don't know which Pokémon Roark uses doesn't mean I didn't think ahead, physical power and type-advantage isn't everything; every move and how it is used it what matters, and the bonds between the Pokémon and the trainer."

Norman held up his hands in defense. "Whoa there Ash, I never said that bonds and hard-work didn't matter."

Ash's face turned a bright red in embarrassment.

"It's fine," Norman dismissed the issue. "Still do you think it's wise to have Pikachu on your roster against Roark? As an electric type, even with Iron Tail it's still dangerous for him." At the moment Ash looked rather rebellious at the claim. "And since you've decided that you're not using Staravia you're at a bit of a spot. I'm not going to tell you what to do Ash, just trying to giving my own thoughts."

"...What do you suggest I do?" Ash inquired, sounding almost defeated yet curious at the same time.

The older male smiled. "How about we head back to the Pokémon Centre, our Pokémon deserve a nice long break, and we can talk about this further there."

Ash fell silent as several moments passed nodding shortly afterwards, heading back to the centre they briefly came across Dawn training with her Piplup and her Buneary. She was too pre-occupied with training to notice them, not wanting to interrupt Dawn the two continued onwards without a hitch. Once getting into the rhythm of training it was difficult to get back into it upon interruption something that Norman and Ash both understood, together the two entered the Centre.

"Norman!" Nurse Joy called from the counter. "There's a call for you!"

Norman frowned. "A call? Where is it from?"

"I believe it's from..." The nurse responded pausing to think before giving her answer. "Petalburg!...I think."

The leader felt his blood run cold at the mention of his town. That narrowed down the possibilities to just two people; Kenny and...Caroline. He managed to suppress a groan forcing a strained smile on his face. "I see. I'll have to take the call later, Nurse Joy. Do you think you can take a message for me?"

"Alright," Clearly she did not know why he made such a request but smiled nonetheless. "I shall do that now. If you're both looking for Sirius and Brock they're up in the diner area."

"Thanks Nurse Joy, and do you mean taking a look at our Pokémon for us?" Ash quickly said as Chansey placed a tray in front of the two of them, placing the respected Pokéballs into them as the giant pink Pokémon hauled it away disappearing into the back room.

Norman could feel the frown being directed towards him but ignored it moving towards the stairs not bothering to acknowledge what happened. His eyes wandered over the place eventually landing on the spot where Sirius and Brock was, with Ash tagging behind him they approached the two greeting them upon arriving.

"How was training?" Sirius questioned budging over to giving room.

Norman chuckled lightly. "It was invigorating; he put up a good battle."

"Is that so?" Sirius' grey eyes fell towards Ash as they danced with mirth. "In that case you and I will have to battle soon."

Ash grinned. "Yeah! I'd like that a lot!"

Brock looked pensive standing up abruptly. "I'm think I'll go and help Dawn train for a bit; hopefully we'll be back soon." He waved his hand shortly at the three disappearing from their line of sight almost immediately. The table fell into awkward, stilled silence after the former leader left.

A frown marred Norman's features sending an inquisitive stare at Sirius, whom shook his head in response mouthing off 'later' at him. The Petalburg resident sharply nodded his head in acceptance. As long as he got filled in he would be satisfied. "...No more food?"

"Sorry!" Sirius grinned cheerfully. "You should have come earlier. There would have been some left!"

Norman rolled his eyes snorting loudly. "Fair point. Next time do try to save me some."

"Aye, aye captain!" The wizard's grin seemed to grow even wider saluting him in a mocking manner causing another snort from the other male. He proceeded to stick out his tongue in a teasing manner only to be met with a crumb to the face, and frowned. "Ow."

"That didn't hurt you big baby," Norman teased with a smirk.

Sirius pouted. "Yes it did!"

"Ahmmm," Norman hummed pretending to appear like he wasn't listening, his lips twitched fondly.

The long-haired man continued to pout switching his attention over at Ash, staring bewildered for several seconds and gave a small smile and shrugged haplessly at Sirius. Realizing that he was alone, the wizard pouted leaning back against the chair and sharply turning towards the window.

"So what brings you to Sinnoh anyway?" Ash immediately decided to break the silence; it was a bit too awkward for his tastes placing on a smile.

Norman chuckled. "I already answered that Ash, remember?"

"Oh –right..." He flushed deeply.

"No worries," Norman leaned over and began to ruffle the trainer's head watching bemused as Ash shot him an irritated gaze. A grin grew on his face.

"Where a bout's are you from Ash?" Sirius jumped into the conversation; being rather curious due to the little knowledge of the regions of the world other than what Norman had told him about Hoenn. Volkner, on the other hand, didn't really talk about Sinnoh all that much giving murmured liked answers. Most likely because neither of them get along all that well, and that was a whole another thing all together.

"The Kanto region, southwest from here." Ash beamed energetically.

Sirius arched an eyebrow, smirking widely. "Is that so? Maybe you can tell us a little bit about Kanto."

And so the teen did launching into an exploration about his home.

Harry and Volkner strolled away from the Centre beginning to explore Oreburgh City, checking out the mining area that Roark worked out though the gym leader had not been present. Rather than remaining the two headed to the Museum, since it was not too far from the mining area. On the way they passed by a trio of strange miners, but paid them no heed. Though one of them Volkner could have sworn had to be more than a mere midget before dismissing the thought, continuing onwards to their destination.

The museum wasn't like most museums that Volkner had been to in the past; instead of a more rural like buildings like the one in Unova, the Oreburgh one not only was high-tech in appearance but it was also rather sophisticated looking. Mirrors covered the entire place and doubled as a research centre, in fact they even allowed visitors to see the revitalization process at the end of a tour. Neither of them were in the particular mood to go on a tour though and decided for looking around on their own violation and pace instead, while the place had mostly been filled with fossils there were quite a number of paintings and sculptures hanging around as well.

Volkner didn't know how far some of the paintings went; nevertheless, they were very impressive. Though some were a bit odd in his overall opinion, he didn't really have an artistic sense to say the least. His main interests fell towards the fossils anyway; Volkner was still waiting for the day they found a rock/electric type.

His eyes wandered over towards Harry observing discreetly as the teen fell into deep thought eyeing the fossils that were on display.

"See something interesting?" Volkner hollered from his end, a faint yet bemused smile slide on his features seeing the surprised and sheepish expression that appeared.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess, I was just checking these out."

The blonde chuckled softly moving over to join him, eyes flickered towards the display and hummed lightly. "These are rather interesting fossils; I don't know much about them. That's always been Roark's and Byron's department, I usually ended up toning them out and falling asleep during meetings. But I can tell that this one over here is a Helix Fossil; an Omanyte, a Rock/Water type Pokémon. Their usually seen in the Kanto and Johto regions and the one next to it is a Root Fossil; a Lileep Rock/Grass type."

"For someone that says he doesn't know about fossils you seem to speak like you do," Harry teased with a grin on his face.

A blush crept upon Volkner's face shifting excitedly at the praise. It took all of his willpower not to smile right then and there, but seemed to settled for a small smile before turning away. "W-well y-you know," He murmured slid his hands pockets trying to fall into his cool stance. "I have a good memory and all that. Some of that stuff interests me."

"But not really your thing," Harry stated giving a short nod in understanding.

"Pretty much." The blonde returned the nod. "My expertise outside of battling lay in technology and working with my hands. It's what I like. Always have ever since I was growing up in Vermillion City."

"You're home?" Harry inquired.

The leader snorted. "No. Just the place I grow up." He noted that Harry did not question further. Instead a gleam passed through the emerald pools too quickly for him to place, regardless Volkner was grateful for it. He did not have many fond memories of his old home, and his father for that matter. Placing his hand up against his face he shook his head. "It was an okay place to live. I guess, but it wasn't really for me."

Once again Harry merely nodded his head. "No friends there then." It wasn't a question, rather a statement.

"I moved to Sunyshore when I was ten years old with my mother where I got Pikachu as my starter Pokémon and met Flint." Volkner began, sapphire eyes dancing with mirth at the memory. "Back then well... let's say I had a bit of a habit when I was younger."

Harry's brows knitted together confused. "Habit?"

"...I was a bit of a cry baby," Volkner admitted, blushing deeply again wearing a ruefully smile on his face. "Whenever one of my Pokémon got hurt or when I lost I ended up crying. Pretty pathetic, huh?" He couldn't believe he was talking about this in front of Harry, the only person that knew of his habits had been Flint...and his father. His eyes flashed darkly as an image of the man appeared in his mind before pushing it back. Volkner was in no mood to be thinking about that bastard.

"No. It's not," Harry disagreed shaking his head. "Crying means that you're human Volkner, you care for your Pokémon deeply. That's nothing to be ashamed of." His body adjusted slightly into casual stance. "But I'm guessing someone else told you otherwise."

The blonde winced. "My father-"

"Is an idiot." Harry interrupted effectively cutting him off.

Volkner blinked rapidly at the bold declaration, and found himself smirking. "I have to agree with that one. My father and I never got along, never. He's an asshole through and through, firm in his belief that might equals right." A scowl formed on his face. "Load of shit in my opinion. Without bonding with your Pokémon and getting to know them, that doesn't make you strong; just weak and sad."

"Hmmm," Harry mused in agreement.

"Sorry you probably don't want to hear me bitching about my problems," Volkner sighed audibly. What was he thinking? Of course Harry didn't want to hear about it.

To his surprise Harry shook his head maintaining a bright smile. "It's fine Volkner. This is the first, well, kind of the first time that we talked about ourselves." Since they had talked a bit about Harry's past not that long ago, though he avoided it to a degree. "I wouldn't mind hearing more about your past."

"Would you share yours?" Volkner inquired.

Harry delicately raised an eyebrow at him. Closely followed by a mischievous smile, the same one that Volkner had seen on Sirius many times before, directed towards him. "Maybe, that depends."

"Depends on what?" Volkner eyed him confused and cautiously at the younger blonde, going on a defensive. Where was Harry going with this? Nothing bad, at least he hoped. He had been on the receiving end of numerous pranks from Sirius, not that he allowed them to get to him. Nor that he'd ever admit it. Volkner was too proud to let himself loose in a prank war. He already had ideas as to how to get the man back; oh so many ideas. But that was neither here or there.

"Depends if you can catch me or not," Harry answered stepping backwards smirking at him as he went to the doors, winking at him.

A predatorily smirk slide on the blonde's face; at least one thing was for certain. He wouldn't be bored as long as Harry was around.

Chapter 11-end.

Thanks for all those that reviewed and my readers, you guys are what keep this fic going! Also a big hand once again to my lovely beta; Articuno13 for the lovely editing that she has done. I want to apologize for the long wait for this chapter, as I have been busy working on chapter 12; which has been completed and currently in editing as we speak.

Now I realize that it may seem like I am bashing Brock, Paul and Dawn in this chapter; I will freely admit that I am no fan of Paul and am baffled by the strange affection fans seem to have for him; still, as I've started in the beginning of this fic; there will be no bashing. Everyone will develop in some fashion. But, not instantly. After all; everyone fights, even friends. Keep that in mind.

The next chapter shall be coming out hopefully quickly, so please look forward to it and leave constructive reviews!

Until next time!