Chapter 11
Harry was the first to arrive in the place they'd agreed to meet at. This had almost nothing to do with the fact that he had left home early because liked to take long walks and look at the scenery. The fact that all of his clocks were mysteriously an hour ahead also had barely any consequence. (Why were all of his clocks an hour ahead? He had no idea.)
Harry was early because he couldn't wait to eat Nadeshiko's food again. He knew it wasn't entirely appropriate that a large part of the reason he wanted her to be Amu's, and his, friend was because of her cooking skills. He just couldn't help it. Her food was delicious!
Harry acknowledged the fact that he might have a slight food obsession. He also acknowledged that it was mostly because the Dursely's didn't like to waste money, and therefore food, on him.
So when everyone started arriving it was no surprise he paid them almost no attention. Not until Nadeshiko arrived of course. He followed her like a lost puppy and constantly showered her with praises, trying to insure he got the most food, or at least get her to tell him what she'd made for them. He even helped her carry the food.
It made everyone else wonder if he was getting any food at home, though Amu would later assure them that yes, Harry ate at home, and that even if his guardians were abroad he was a wonderful cook, if anything Sirius and Remus said could be trusted. And judging by the impression they had given Amu when they'd first met, Amu would say they were trust worthy. She also took into consideration the fact that he helped her make those cookies she had given Tadase-kun and the other Guardians.
They walked around for a while, looking for the perfect stop to set up their picnic. Everyone but Harry could see that Amu was a little sad and jealous he wasn't walking with her. Nadeshiko fixed that by walking next to Amu, making Harry walk next to her too, as he was still following her. Amu felt a little better after that, knowing that Nadeshiko was her friend now too.
After finding a suitable spot where they could see the match they put the blanket Nadeshiko had brought on the ground and started taking out all the food. If Harry hadn't known earlier that Nadeshiko was a wonderful cook he would have been surprised at the amount of wonderful food they unpacked. As it was he only looked at her with a worshipping look. If he'd known how much he looked like the fans he was trying to escape he'd be horrified.
"Tadase-sama!" A girlish scream came, soon followed by a girl with curly reddish hair that Harry ignored in favour of deciding if he should continue complimenting Nadeshiko, or start eating like everyone else. He decided to finally start eating when Tadase complimented Nadeshiko on how wonderful the food tasted was. He couldn't resist any longer. It was futile to try anyway.
"Caramel!" Yaya yelled out with a gleeful smile after Tadase's fans had left. Harry snapped his head to look at her hold the caramel in her hands. It was on his Favourite Candies list. Harry didn't seem to remember that almost every candy he'd ever had was on that list. The List of course excluded some Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans that tasted really bad.
"Oh! Give me some too!" He said and moved closer to Yaya so they were sitting right next to each other. Yaya smiled at him approvingly, but Harry was too busy to notice. There really were advantages to being a child again, like getting exited about candy and getting only a few weird looks.
"Harry! Yaya! Eat the candies later, you'll get fat!" Amu said, pointing at them with her chopsticks. She sighed when they didn't even look at her. With the amount of candy she'd seen Harry eat she was certain he could never get fat. Maybe it was the same for Yaya.
"I don't care!" Yaya said, her mouth full and cheeks pink from delight. Harry nodded his agreement, though he had nothing to worry about because the Hallows made sure he in perfect health.
"You're just jealous, but I don't mind. Here, have some," he said and offered some to the furiously blushing girl. Amu didn't take any and proceeded to ignore him, though the blush didn't disappear.
"They're starting," Nadeshiko stated, her hands sitting delicately in her lap. She looked like the perfect lady, just like always. Harry wondered if her parents were strict, or just liked to keep up traditions. He hoped they were trying to keep up tradition.
True to Nadeshiko's words they all turned to see Kukai's team walking by, Kukai waving when he saw them watching. They all waved back, Yaya yelling out her encouragement. Harry waved absent-mindedly, looking up at the fluffy white clouds. He remembered his first game of Quidditch. It seemed so long ago now. He smiled as he remembered Hermione setting Snape's robes on fire, thinking he was the one cursing Harry's broom.
A group of girls appeared behind them squealing 'Kukai-sama'. Harry looked at them from behind Yaya, unnerved by their sudden appearance. How does everyone keep doing that? Was it some kind of secret girl technique? He'd probably never find out.
He turned back and watched the game begin. Ricky had taken the time to explain all the rules of the game yesterday, when they'd finally gotten home. It was easier to fallow it now, not that it was hard before.
Tadase yelled out encouragingly and the others followed, though Nadeshiko did a chara change and loudly yelled out negative comments to get them to play better. Ricky, not to be outdone by a girl, also did a chara change and Harry jumped up as well, yelling out positive comments to contradict Nadeshiko. Amu giggled at their behaviour.
Soon they both settled down again and let Yaya do the encouraging. Nadeshiko focused on the game and Harry divided his focus between the food and the game. Most of his attention was on the food though. He couldn't help it. Sometime he felt like he'd spent too much time around Ron. Hermione would be disappointed if she found out.
"Kukai, don't lose!" Yaya yelled. Harry turned to see Kukai had fallen down. Just then the guy from yesterday's practice, Yamada, walked by. Harry noted that he didn't seem in a very good mood. Apparently Amu noticed as well, because she stood up to watch him leave.
"What's wrong, Hinamori-san?" Tadase asked, looking at her curiously.
"Eh? Um, it's nothing!" she said and ran in the direction Yamada had left. It was quite clear that something was wrong.
"Hinamori-san?" Tadase yelled after her, but she was already too far away. Nadeshiko turned to look at Tadase and then Harry. Harry smiled at her worried questioning look.
"I'll go check on her," Harry said and stood up. "There'd better be some food left when I come back," he added, almost as an afterthought. Nadeshiko nodded and turned back to the game. Harry walked at a quick pace to catch up to Amu.
He arrived around the school's corner to hear Amu excuse herself with a hardened expression on her face. Harry turned to the other person, their new teacher, Nikaidou Yuu. His hair was just as messy as always, though still in a ponytail. Harry wondered what he'd said to Amu for her to show that kind of expression.
"Ah, Potter-kun, Hinamori-san went that way, if you were wondering," The man said with a slightly nervous smile. Harry looked at him with a suspicious gaze. There was something bugging him about that man.
"Sensei," he inclined his head respectfully and walked towards the teacher so they stood facing each other. The teacher's glasses reflected the sun for a second, blinding Harry and reminding him of the pair of glasses he used to wear.
"I'll see you in class, sensei," he said after a moment and walked in the direction where Amu had gone a minute prior. The bad feeling he had about the teacher was increasing the longer he was around him, though he doubted it was something life threatening.
"Harry, go faster!" Ricky suddenly yelled and flew ahead to show the path. Harry started running after Ricky, somehow knowing that an X-chara had just hatched, the negative energy in the air was a huge clue.
He went through some bushes and arrived just in time to see Amu being attacked by footballs made of negative energy. Absently he noted that Yamada was passed out on a nearby bench. He didn't even think, there was no time to. Somehow he knew using Dan would be for the best. He knew the boy was very hard-working, and Dan usually liked dealing with cases like these.
"My Heart; Unlock" He said and didn't look at Amu when he heard her surprised gasp. Instead he ran in front of her and blocked the attacks. He narrowed his eyes briefly as he felt someone's eyes on him. They weren't Amu's. Someone was watching them from the shadows – or in this case, from the bushes.
"This match doesn't matter," Yamada's voice came. "No matter how hard I try, it doesn't matter because I won't get to play." Harry looked at the X-chara angrily, knowing that Dan's hard-working nature was now influencing his thoughts.
"Yes it does! If you try hard enough you'll get to play, and become a great player eventually!" Harry yelled at him and discreetly looked to his left to see the Guardians arrive. "If you weren't such a quitter you'd realize that!" That was probably unnecessarily mean, but it shocked the X-chara enough for Harry to turn to Amu. This would probably be a good opportunity to 'teach' her.
"Amu, if you will," he said, gesturing to the chara. Amu nodded determinedly and transformed with Ran. Harry noted with interest that the Humpty Lock she wore as a necklace glowed the colour pink; Ran's unofficial colour. The Lock was probably amplifying her powers somehow.
Harry took the opportunity to cancel his transformation and began backing away, trying to remain unnoticed. Sal did a chara change with him to help and he slipped away.
"If you don't believe in yourself, who will?" Amu asked and looked at the still too-shocked-to-move X-chara. "You're the only one demeaning yourself," she said and moved her hands to her chest, fingers forming a heart around the Lock.
The rest was lost on Harry as he started running in the direction of the silent observer whose eyes he had felt on him. He wondered who it could be, because he hadn't seen anyone else except Nikaidou-sensei, and adults weren't supposed to see them if they weren't magical.
He stopped when his phone started ringing and the presence disappeared. Harry cursed under his breath as he took out his phone to answer it.
"Harry! Guess what?" Sirius asked and answered before Harry could open his mouth. "The healer said Andy's getting better sooner than expected, so we should be back soon, maybe even next week."
"That's great!" Harry said, glad his guardians would be coming home. He was actually quite lonely in the house, all by himself. He'd gotten used to the constant company.
"Isn't it? Oh, and Remus said he knows what you took and that you should put it back before we come back. What's he talking about?" Sirius asked, confused but also amused.
Harry's eyes widened and he looked around guiltily, glad Sirius couldn't see him. How could Remus have know he'd taken some of Sirius' popcorn? Harry shook his head; it didn't matter any more because he'd already bought some and put it exactly as he'd found it.
"Nothing important, but tell him I already did," He said and smirked as he realized he was one step ahead of Remus."Anyway, I have to go now. Call me before you come home!" He ended the call after Sirius said his goodbyes.
He turned back to the direction the Guardians were and started walking towards them, hoping they hadn't noticed his absence, but knowing it was futile. He thought about the mysterious presence, wondered if maybe it had just been someone who couldn't see the charas, and was just curious about the noise, but that couldn't be possible; no normal person could just vanish into thin air.
He didn't even consider if it had been a Death Eater. They would have killed him on sight
He shook his head of the bleak thoughts as he made it to the clearing and looked around to see that everyone had already left. He hadn't realized he'd ran off so far. He sighed softly and started walking back to their picnic place. At least Amu had probably managed to purify the egg.
"Harry! Where did you go!" He heard as soon as he reached them. Amu ran to him and stopped just in front of him, looking like she had been very worried and wanted to hug him, but was too shy. Harry decided she would hug him when she was ready. He wouldn't hug her first. The real reason for that was because Harry was actually just as shy as she was, but he wouldn't admit to it. He'd never been the one to initiate contact, except with Ikuto of course.
His Gryffindor courage was nowhere to be seen, and Ricky frowned in dismay, before smiling mischievously; did Harry honestly believe he'd let down such an opportunity? How very wrong he was.
"Chara change!" Ricky said in a loud whisper that everyone who could see him heard. Harry ran to Amu and everyone looked alarmed, but calmed down when he just hugged her and assured her that everything was okay and that he was sorry for leaving without an explanation.
He quieted and just enjoyed the hug for a moment. Her pink hair tickled his face and Harry fought not to sneeze in her hair.
Then Kukai saved him by walking towards them with a happy smiled that Harry immediately recognized as a victory smile and the others followed. The soccer player patted him on the back and he stopped hugging Amu and took a step back as he broke free of the chara change. He smiled apologetically to the blushing Amu, who only smiled at him, albeit a bit shyly.
"You missed the game," Kukai accused, but he was still smiling.
"I'm sorry, my godfather called and then I kind of got lost in the woods," he said sheepishly, only half lying. Kukai nodded as he accepted the apology.
"So, how did it go?" Harry asked Kukai when he started staring into space.
"Huh? Oh yeah, we tied!" he said enthusiastically. "And it's all thanks to Yamada," he laughed and pointed to the water fountain where Yamada was trying to see his reflection and wash his face.
"What happened?" It looked like someone had hit Yamada.
"Oh? We just had a little friendly fight," Kukai admitted sheepishly. Harry gave a mock disapproving look and pretended not to notice Amu's giggles.
"Here, we left some, just like you asked," Nadeshiko said and handed him the basket she used to carry the food. Harry let out a whoop and quickly took the basket to see what was left.
"I'll give it back to you tomorrow in school, is that okay?" Harry asked once he finished admiring the food. Nadeshiko smiled and nodded in acceptance.
"That reminds me! Harry, my mom asked if you would like to eat dinner with us, you know, since you're all alone at home" Amu asked shyly, looking the other way to hide her red face. "You don't have to, but-" she rambled, getting cut off by Harry.
"I'd love to! It's really a pain to cook for myself because I always make too much." he laughed, because he always made too much food in the hoped that someone would come by to visit, though the only ones that would visit him were Ikuto and Amu.
"Well well well, someone sure moves on quickly," Kukai teased, remembering Amu's bold confession to Tadase.
Amu immediately blushed a brighter red than before and started stuttering out denials. Harry just laughed, causing Amu to glare at him weakly.
