Chapter 11
Harry stood in the FBI bathroom, glaring at his reflection. Now that he had changed out of his normal work clothes and into a pair of gym pants and a fitted t-shirt, he was reminded of how scrawny he was. At least, when he was wearing a blazer jacket, he had some bulk added to his frame.
Standing here, he had to admit, he looked like a fifteen-year-old. Someone who could be blown over by a gust of wind. At least, though, that would make Natasha underestimate him... probably.
Sighing, he shoved his tie into his back and made his way out, heading towards the combat/gym/training room. He had found it earlier, so at least he did not get lost, he figured. Pushing his way through the door and onto the soft, spongy floor and gym mats, he ignored the incredulous looks he was receiving from numerous surrounding agents.
Scanning the faces, his quickly spotted a flash of red hair against black. Natasha. Smiling slightly he wandered up to her.
"So, Agent Romanoff; are you ready?" He smirked. She turned around, smiling, and then raised an eyebrow, glancing up and down his figure. Harry could not help but blush.
"... I can't fight you. I'm sorry, but you're just not..." She murmured quietly, grimacing. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Trust me, Natasha; I've brought down trained men three times my size. Looks are deceiving, no?"
She huffed in acceptance.
"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you, when I pound your scrawny butt into the ground." She smirked.
Harry quirked an eyebrow.
"Bring it on."
By then, a small crowd was starting to gather. They wandered over to a few large, flat mats, for hand-in-hand combat and tae-kwon-do training. Standing about two meters apart, facing each other, the two of them paused for a moment, eyeing the crowd, which had suddenly tripled in size. At least a hundred agents had appeared, being drawn in like ants to sugar.
In the back of the crowd, Harry spotted a flash of golden-blonde hair upon a tall figure. He smiled. Steve smiled back, looking a bit worried.
Turning back to the red-haired woman in front of him, Harry rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, smirking as he got a wince of out her.
"Must you do that?" She scowled. Harry snickered. "Nice tattoo, by the way." She added. Harry's eyes widened, noticing her eyes on his wrist.
"Ah..." The deathly Hallows symbol. Great. At least she would not know what it meant.
"What's the significance?"
"Nothing, really. Shall we begin?" He steered her attention away from the symbol. She smiled.
"Sure." And with that, she lunged.
Taken slightly by surprise as her fist nearly collided his his face, Harry threw himself to the side, out of her reach. She sent two kicks and a punch at him in a matter of a second. He dodged again, watching her reactions carefully. She was good!
As another punch swung his way, he lashed out quickly, blocking it, and threw his own hit. She grabbed his arm, twisting it, and went to flip him. Lashing out with his heals, he use her grip on him to power a kick to her stomach.
Both feet landed, sending her backwards, her grip on his arm stopping him from falling his his back. She let go, rolling to her feet, whilst Harry landed upright, grinning cheekily.
"See? Not so wimpy, after all!" He taunted, then aimed a punch at her shoulder. She dodged to the side, blocked his arm, and somehow managed to elbow him in the chest, winding him.
Harry ducked as a fist flew towards his face, flipping a foot around her ankle and tripping her. She stumbled, but used it to her advantage, rolling quickly and moving behind him. He wheeled around, barely dodging as she aimed a few nasty hits and kicks at his back.
Hit. Kick. Dodge. Block. Strike. Spin. It turned into a blur. He forgot about the crowd, he forgot about all the stresses in his life. This was great!
Then she managed to grab his arm and shoulder, and flipped him straight over. Thanks to his old quiddich skills (or rather, avoiding crashes on broomsticks) though, he somehow managed to break free half-way through the flip, landing on his feet. Using her grip to his advantage, he threw himself sideways, pulling her with him, throwing her off balance.
He tried the tripping trick again, and this time, she went down, flat on her back. She was instantly back up again, however, and just about fully tackled him, using her low angle to ram her shoulders into his shins, sending him tumbling.
Ignoring the jolting pain in his neck and head when he did a somersault, he quickly pushed himself to his feet. Wheeling around to face her.
They paused, staring, waiting to see who would make the next move.
Harry watched her carefully, waiting for the tiniest suggestion of her moving. A tiny twitch in her eye.
She lunged to his left. He blocked her strike with his left arm, turning right to avoid her kick. She slammed into him with a surprising amount of force. He ducked – glad of Dudley's boxing training, for once, because it prepared him greatly for this – and blocked another punch with his for-arm, grabbing her wrist and knocking her off balance.
A well-placed kick to her side, and she stumbled. A fancy flip of the arm, foot trick and a light shove, and she all but landed on her face. Yes! He had the upper hand! Years of duelling allowed him to see that she was starting to tire, and he was winning! Somehow, she managed to get up, wheeling around, red hair flying.
Her red hair... exactly the same shade as Ginny's... Ginny laying sprawled amongst the rubble on the grey battlefield, eyes glazed over, skin deathly pale, brushed with grey from the dust, her fiery hair the only colour against the the sorrowful world, fanning out around her...
SLAM.
Pain exploded behind his eyes as, in his moment of distraction, Natasha placed a powerful punch to the side of his head, knocking him straight onto his back, successfully winding him.
Laying there for a moment, trying to figure out what had happened, he noticed the cheers and clapping of the Agents gathering around the mats. He blinked, groaning softly as he raised a hand to his head, feeling a lump starting to form.
He was definitely going to get a black eye.
A blurry figure appeared over him, and it took him a moment to focus. Natasha.
"Great duel! I think that's the longest anyone's lasted against me." She said, smiling in approval as she held out a hand. Harry let out a soft moan, but smiled slightly none-the-less.
"Just one thing to remember;" he stated. "Just because your enemy is down, it doesn't mean they're defeated."
With that, he grabbed her hand, pulled hard, lashed out with his feet and flipped her straight onto her side.
She oomphed as the air was forced from her lungs, wincing and gasping.
"I think you just broke two of my ribs, you dick!" She yelped, pulling herself to her feet as she cradled her middle-section. Harry scoffed.
"Yeah? Well, we're even now, since you broke my face!"
They glared at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter (or a light snicker, in Natasha's case), which ended in a great increase of pain for Natasha.
"Good duel. Perhaps we'll have another go someday." Harry grinned, holding out a hand.
Natasha shook the hand.
"Thanks... But no thanks. I think we'll admit that we came out equal, and next time... well, I don't really want to see what kind of damage we could do now that we know each-other's fighting styles." Though he could just about swear that she went easy on him.
Harry laughed softly, nodding in agreement. The crowd was slowly starting to wander off, however a few of them hung around, subtly glancing at the boy and had held his own against THE Natasha Romanoff.
"Well, let's go and get a cool drink, shall we? And I take it you'll want some ice for those ribs?"
"Ugh... yeah, better than bothering with incompetent medics."
"Can I join?" A deep voice interrupted. Harry glanced up. A smile twitched in the corners of his mouth.
"Sure, Steve." Natasha said, sending him a quick smiled. "I'll meet you two at the cafeteria; I'll go and get ice packs, some for me, and one for your face, Evans." Natasha snorted.
Harry grinned, however did wince slightly as he was reminded of the throbbing pain in his skull. As he and Steve made their way into the hallway and wandered towards the Cafeteria, it took a whole of five seconds before the silence was broken.
"Where on earth did you leant to fight like that?" Steve murmured. Harry snorted.
"Picked it up as I went along, really. My cousin taught me a lot... as well as his friends... My Godfather taught be a bit too."
"Huh." Steve said thoughtfully. Harry glanced at him quickly from the corner of his eye, realising that the taller man did not quite believe him.
As the three of them sat down for drinks; Natasha, an energy drink, Steve, a water, and Harry, a Diet coke, they slowly chattered away as the afternoon passed, the other two occasionally poking fun at Harry when his eye started blackening.
When he got back to his apartment that evening, Harry could not help but smile. Perhaps this new life wasn't so bad, after all! Though... his entire body felt like it had a head-on collision with a bludger.
