1 Chapter One: The Kung Fu Debut
Three days. It had been three days. Only three days into the summer and Harry Potter was already bored out of his mind, and overcome with dark brooding. Since Harry had returned from Hogwarts he had been asked to stay up in his room and not come out unless absolutely necessary. He had obliged, as he didn't really wanted to come out. All he could really think of at that point was Cedric and what he should have done.
His fault? No, it wasn't his fault; he knew that. He still, however, could barely contain the guilt in himself. What if he had just taken the cup? What if he had been more alert? What if he had jumped in the way of the spell? It was almost unbearable to think that he could have done something to save Cedric's life, and didn't.
Harry's train of thought was interrupted by Uncle Vernon's rumbling voice, "Boy, dinner is ready! Get down here!"
Harry sighed, thinking of another dinner with the Dursleys. All of the dinners before had been filled with complete silence. They all didn't really want to talk in front of Harry; they just wanted to forget that he was there. They tended to talk after he left, he knew because he could hear them from his room. It made his heart ache, wishing that he could have a family of his own.
Harry went downstairs and into the kitchen. When he got there, the Dursleys had already started to eat. Luckily, they were no longer on a diet as Dudley had decided to eat less rather than just eat salad.
As Harry sat down Uncle Vernon looked up as if he just remembered something. He eyed Harry suspiciously, as if wondering if he could stand to have Harry hear what he was about to say.
He turned to Dudley, "Dudley, your mother and I have decided that you will be taking Kung Fu this summer. After that kid came up to you in school and beat you up… We want you to be able to defend yourself."
Harry almost choked on his food. Dudley had been beaten up?
"No, I don't want to, I'm fine right now." Dudley responded in a slightly whining tone.
"You are going to, end of discussion!" said Uncle Vernon.
"Vernon, give him a chance," started Aunt Petunia as she turned to look at Dudley, "Why don't you want to go to Kung Fu?"
"They make you work out there. I have a friend who told me about it. They have to do stretches, push-ups, running, and all sorts of tiring things! I don't want to do that every day!" he complained.
"If you go there, Dudders, you will be able to defend yourself. Then you won't get hurt again. Your father and I just don't want you to get hurt."
Harry sat in amused silence. Now he would no longer have to deal with Dudley and his friends coming into his room to mess with him.
Dudley saw Harry's expression and turned to his parents. "Make Harry take it too! If I have
to, he should also!"
Uncle Vernon looked like he was considering it. Harry felt shocked and slightly chagrined.
"Well," Uncle Vernon said, grudgingly. "I suppose so, maybe he could help you."
'But…" began Harry.
Uncle Vernon cut him off. "No 'buts'! You are going to Kung Fu with Dudley tomorrow!"
Harry knew it was useless to argue; Uncle Vernon would never listen. Harry finished the meal in silence and then headed up to his room. He flung himself across his bed, fuming. How could Dudley have put this on him? It wasn't like he would enjoy Harry's company!
Harry paced angrily around the room. My summer just can't get worse, can it? Harry kicked at a stack of books by his bed, and immediately lost his footing as the flimsy throw run on the floor slipped out from underneath him. Pitching to the side, he crashed painfully into the dressing mirror that stood by his closet. Luckily, his day didn't get worse and the mirror wasn't broken. Harry stood up and pulled the full-length mirror upright, looking into it.
"Hey you," Harry said to himself, smirking ever so slightly. If he were at Hogwarts the mirror would have responded, but this one just reflected back at him. Harry pulled his sleeve up and looked at his arm; the bones stuck out and it was obvious that Harry was not very strong at all. He looked up and down the image of himself suddenly realizing how painfully skinny he was. But then, Harry thought, it isn't like they have physical education at Hogwarts. Even Malfoy is probably stronger than me. Suddenly, a thought struck him. If he were to go to Kung Fu then he would become very strong. Maybe with his enhanced figure Cho Chang would- Harry suddenly scratched the thought. He didn't even want to think about her. It brought back too many memories of Cedric.
"Oh well," said Harry to himself as he sat down on his bed. Almost the second he sat down he heard a tapping at his window. He headed up to the window and opened it. Once he got it open a flurry of feathers blazed in. It was Pigwidgen.
"Pig!" said Harry as he managed to catch the over enthusiastic owl out of the air. Pig hooted loudly as Harry untied the letter. He managed to get it off and the second he did, the owl went blasting out the window. Harry rolled his eyes and opened his letter. It was from Ron.
Dear Harry,
How is it going? Over here at the Burrow things are pretty crazy. Somewhere Fred and George got a whole lot of money somewhere and they are letting their creativity get away from them. Everyday when we come down to breakfast Mum has to put every dispelling charm on the food that she knows. Sometimes even that doesn't work! Yesterday Ginny's cereal turned her hair purple. You should have seen Fred run! You wouldn't believe some of the things they do! They even gave me new dress robes! I didn't try them on, of course. They look great but I assure you, if Fred and George got them they are booby- trapped! Mum and Dad keep giving them looks. I think that they might have refused to tell them where they got the money from.
Are the Dursleys treating you all right? I hope you aren't still on that diet. Has Hermione sent you anything yet? I think she said that she would be visiting Viktor Krum over the summer. I don't trust him…
Do you think you will be able to come over during the summer? Mum says that she would be happy to have you, and I can't wait to see you. I also know another who can't wait to see you. Ginny has been asking when you were going to come over.
Your Friend,
Ron
Harry grimaced when he thought of Ginny and the "Harry Potter Fan Club". He really didn't want that to start up. He pulled out his pen and got out some paper to write a return letter.
Ron,
Sounds like you guys are having a pretty good time over there. I would have loved to see Ginny's hair purple. Have Fred and George send me something by owl post. I'd love to see some of the things that they make.
It's not too great here, as usual. My Aunt and Uncle are making me go to Kung Fu lessons. Kung Fu is a Muggle fighting art; a type of self- defense. The only upside in this is that when Crabbe and Goyle try anything I will be able to defend myself.
Hermione hasn't owled me anything. I don't think that it really matters if she goes to Romania though; Krum is, after all, a good friend of hers, and an international Quidditch star! I think that we should be happy for her. Luckily we have been taken off of the diet that was imposed on us last summer, so I am not being starved.
Have you heard anything in the news about Voldemort? I am really cut off out here; I don't get anything. Tell me if you hear any news that you think is important!
Your Friend,
Harry
Harry folded up the letter and called Hedwig over. Hedwig hooted and puffed out her owl chest looking important.
"Here you go; take this to Ron." said Harry as he opened his window and let the owl out. Harry sighed, lay down, took off his glasses, and went to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry woke the next morning with a feeling of dread. He would be spending part of the day with Dudley in Kung Fu. This was pretty much the last thing he wanted to be doing on his Saturday.
Harry got dressed and headed down the hall to get breakfast. There, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley were already eating. None of them had bothered to call him down.
When Harry got there, the only thing that was said to him was, "You leave for Kung Fu at 11:30. You get back a 4:00."
"Four-o-clock?!" exclaimed Harry, "What do you mean? I thought that this was just a little 30 minute lesson once a week!"
Uncle Vernon looked up at him, going slightly purple in the face, "You should be grateful that we paid for you to be part of this. It is a Kung Fu camp. You go for two months from noon to 4:00!"
Harry looked at Uncle Vernon and decided that it wouldn't be incredibly prudent to argue with him. He was almost completely purple in the face now and looked like he was going to explode. Harry sat down and quietly began to eat his breakfast.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The drive to the Kung Fu school was long. Harry noted trees passing by the car as they went from an urban area to a more rural area. All Harry could think of is what his friends were doing. Ron ought to be playing Quidditch on a fine day like this one, and Hermione would be off somewhere with Viktor Krum. They would be having a good time, laughing, talking, and playing. Harry would be able to do none of this.
Finally, they pulled up to a large white building surrounded by fields on all sides. Each field had people wearing all white. The only difference that Harry noted was that some people were wearing different colored belts. The people in the fields were doing push-ups, sit-ups, running, and sparring all over the place.
Dudley, Harry, Uncle Vernon, and Aunt Petunia headed up to the double doors that seemed to loom out in front of them. Harry thought that they looked like prison doors, just ready to shut him into his torment. When they entered the doors they saw an open, cool room. It warded off the day's heat and had a neat desk in the front. At that desk sat a tall dark-haired woman who looked up from her computer when Harry and Dudley walked in, followed by Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.
"May I help you?" said the lady behind the desk. Her tag said Sharon.
"Uh yes… Sharon," rumbled Uncle Vernon. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable in the room, "We have a Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter signed up for the Kung Fu camp. Where should they go?"
"Oh, yes," said Sharon, typing into her computer, "I do have them in here. One moment."
Sharon typed furiously for a moment and then looked up and clapped sharply twice. A girl came in, no older than 15. She had blonde hair that ended down at her shoulders and a very pretty face. Dudley suddenly turned very red.
"Yes ma'am?" the girl asked in a light soprano voice.
"I want you to take these two to get their uniforms and then put them into their class. They are in field 001 and they are slightly early. Make sure that you have one that fits, though," she said eyeing Dudley's massive belly.
"All right," said the girl, smiling.
The girl walked over to Harry and Dudley, who suddenly realized that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had abandoned them. "Hi, I'm Rose, what are your names?" she said lightly.
Dudley was gazing at her, seemingly at a loss for words. Harry smiled and said, "I'm Harry. This here is something that I found along the way and it has been following me ever since."
Harry was motioning to Dudley, who suddenly looked like he had been bashed on the head, "Uh, I'm Dudley."
Rose laughed lightly and said, "I'll be the teacher's aide in your class. You see, I started Kung Fu when I was 7, so though I may be your age, I have know a bit more than you do."
Harry nodded and Dudley went back to that awe-struck expression as they followed her towards a side room. There they saw white pants and white robes. The robes ended around the thigh and were very loose looking.
"What are those?" asked Harry.
"They're called kamotos. Basically, they are a uniform. You will get used to them." Rose looked first at Harry and pulled out a small kamoto, then some smaller pants and handed them to him.
"Try these on. Tell me if they fit. The changing room is over there." she said as she looked back to Dudley to attempt to find one that would fit his bulk.
Harry headed off to the changing room and slipped on the clothes. They were only slightly too big for him, but they managed to stay on. He walked out into the hall to see only Dudley standing there. He looked thoroughly embarrassed.
"What's wrong, she couldn't find a single one that would fit you?" Harry asked, grinning.
Dudley looked disdainfully at Harry and said, "No, she just went to a different section to find something."
"What," asked Harry, "The XXXL section?"
Dudley was silent. Harry realized after a moment that Rose had actually gone to the XXXL section. He chuckled and looked over at Dudley. He obviously had a large crush on Rose. Harry chuckled at as Dudley glared at him. They stood there for another five minutes or so in complete silence. Neither of them knew what to say to the other, as they didn't like each other much and being put in the same room with nothing to do was torture.
"I found one!" said Rose a she came back. The uniform she was holding was only slightly too tall for Dudley but Harry thought that it might actually fit. Dudley headed off to the changing room.
"So," started Rose, "What made you decide to try Kung Fu?"
"My Aunt and Uncle made me. I didn't really want to." Rose looked shocked.
"They're making you do Kung Fu? What for?" she responded.
"Well, my cousin was beaten up in school and they decided that it would be better if he and I were more prepared to defend ourselves." Harry said lightly.
"Well, you are scrawny," she said smirking slightly. Harry looked slightly embarrassed.
"I don't work out much, where I go to school there is no PE." Harry said, still looking slightly embarrassed. It's not every day a beautiful girl calls you scrawny.
"Where is that? I thought that PE is a required class."
"Uh," Harry began evasively when Dudley suddenly came out. He was waddling along as usual, but now he was dressed in complete white. The Kamoto looked like it was going to burst and the belt barely made it around his waist. Harry and Rose both fought laughter at the sight of him. He was starting to go slightly red in the face.
"Let's get out to the field. I'll get you two started on warm-ups and then I will go help the others to get ready." She said lightly, as if not to mention the fact that Dudley was bursting out of his kamoto.
They all headed out onto their field, which seemed to be slightly smaller than the surrounding fields. It had an obstacle course and a track surrounding it. However, some of the other fields had weight training equipment that their field didn't have.
"You need to do 40 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 40 jumping jacks, and when I get back with the others, we will finish up." Rose said, smiling slightly.
Harry and Dudley had quite a time with the 40 push-ups. Neither of them had the strength to manage it in one part. So they both had to work at it, doing 5 and then 5 more. When they were finishing on their last set of five they suddenly heard some laughter.
"Push-ups hard for you weaklings?"
"Can't handle the warm-ups?"
"I think they're done right now, toast without even part of the day through."
"Look at them sweat; they can't handle it."
Harry looked up to see his class, all of whom had arrived on time. The class consisted 10 other boys who all were laughing at the trouble Harry and Dudley were having with the push-ups. Suddenly a tall boy pushed through the crowd. His arms were like tree trunks and he looked as if he was very displeased with having anyone who couldn't handle push-ups in his class.
"There's no room for weak people like you here," he said.
Harry smirked. He had faced Lord Voldemort in a duel; no mere Muggle could scare him now. "There's no room for ugly people like you here," he said, getting annoyed with the puffed up guy.
The boy stood forward, showing off his 6'2" height and massive muscles. "What was that?" he asked dangerously.
"Are you always this stupid or are you just making a special effort today?" said Harry, feeling an irrational anger build in him. He didn't know where it was coming from, but he knew that the boy wasn't the cause of it.
"Are you calling me stupid?" asked the guy. Although strong, he obviously wasn't smart.
"Calling you stupid would be an insult to stupid people," said Harry coldly. Suddenly Harry felt as if there were spots before his eyes. He wasn't seeing a Muggle. No, it was Voldemort. He was raising his wand to perform the Crutatius Curse. The vision before him suddenly changed and he was seeing Cedric's dead body with Voldemort standing over it. Harry was snapped back to reality by the Muggle's voice.
"Oh, I get it," said the slow giant, "Insults. Well your mum's so stupid that she sold the car to get gas money."
"My mum," said Harry, his voice quavering slightly and his blood pumping through his veins hotly, "is dead."
Suddenly Harry heard his father's voice, and his vision began to dim out.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off---"
Harry's vision came back in looked up and saw the boy grinning at his friends and heard him say, " Your mother probably died of shock when you were born."
Harry suddenly heard his mother's voice, "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please--- I'll do anything---"
He then heard a cold voice say, "Stand aside you silly girl!"
Harry snapped back into reality and said, "Leave my mother out of this!" Harry was beyond anger at this point. He wasn't mad at the Muggle, either. All he could tell, though, was that he was angry mixed with deep loathing. All of the pain that he had been blocking out since the Triwizard Cup was coming to a point.
"Why, are you sad for your mother?" the boy said it in a babyish voice. At this point, Harry broke. Before he knew was happening, he had the guy on the ground and was beating him with his fists. Harry had so many emotions running through him all at once that he just wanted to beat in the near unoffending Muggle.
"STOP! Get off him!" Harry heard a male voice that seemed to have a huge commanding presence in it. The boy that Harry was beating into the ground shoved Harry off and got up. His nose was bleeding and he seemed to be fighting off tears. Harry was amazed at how much damage he had done to the boy.
Harry got up and brushed himself off, feeling much better. Beating the guy seemed to do the trick. "What happened here?" said the voice, and Harry looked up. The guy was obviously the instructor. He wore the same uniforms they did except that his belt was red.
"He just attacked me for no reason," whined the boy Harry had been beating on.
"He was calling my dead mother stupid," said Harry, almost calmly. He seemed to have lost the anger as quickly as it had come.
"I will not have this here! There will be no fighting, whatsoever! If I find that this happens again both of you will be expelled from the school," said the instructor. Rose walked up behind him; noted Harry's flushed face, and the boy's bleeding nose. Her pretty eyebrows rose up slightly but she didn't say anything.
"All right, everyone seems to be here, so now we will start," said the instructor.
The day went by slowly. They had to do almost the same exercises they had already done, but with everyone else. When they finally got finished with those, they had to do some rigorous stretching and then a 3-mile run. This took Harry 35 minutes and he was third to last in. Most of the people there seemed to be in great shape.
Harry found afterwards, that these were only the warm-ups. What followed, Harry thought, easily surpassed any practice for Quidditch that even Wood could plan. They went on an obstacle course and then did a very tiring dodging routine which was when one student stood in the center of a circle formed by the other students. They were all given balls to throw at the one in the middle. For every ball that hit them they had to do 5 push- ups. This had Dudley doing so many push-ups that they all had to wait for him while he finished. Finally after all that the instructor, who had told them earlier that his name was Mark, stood up in front of the tired boys and told them that this would be the daily routine.
Harry was shocked. If they were to do all that daily, Harry wouldn't survive the summer. He was certain that his arms would fall off and his legs would turn into jelly permanently.
"Now, onto some of our maneuvers." said Mark, eyeing the tired boys as if doubting that any of them had the strength to stand for two more minutes, let alone the hour and a half that they had left.
"You will be learning different stances here. Those are the basics of Kung Fu. Now I want all of you to get into this stance." Mark stood slightly at an angle to them with his hands open in the air as if like paws. His knees were slightly bent and he looked focused as if this was a difficult thing to do.
Harry stood almost exactly like Mark did, feeling slightly silly. He tried to copy the look of intense concentration that Mark had, but he was having trouble keeping from laughing, especially when he saw Dudley about ready to collapse in front of him.
"This is called the Tiger stance. It is a blocking stance." Mark told them.
Mark went on for the next 25 minutes all on how this stance could be used, and what they could learn from it. The Tiger stance, Harry thought, though it looked intimidating, would not even phase Voldemort if – when - Harry ran into him again. The stance, though, had some good points. If he ever got in a fight with Malfoy, he would easily be able to dodge out of the way and block anything he threw at him. That is, when he learned to do it correctly.
The next stance they learned was the T-stance. Harry had to put all of his weight on the weaker of his legs and just barely touch his toe to the ground with the other leg. The hands were folded into fists out in front of him. This stance was to be used for quick strong kicks and fast punches. It wasn't quite as defensive as the other stance, though, because you could overbalance while doing it. The foot that was on its toe was like that because it had to be ready to kick quickly. This stance was a bit more difficult and they spent about 45 minutes on it.
The last 20 minutes they had were spent in an odd way, Harry thought. They were told that, in Kung Fu, concentration is one of the most important things. They were made to stand all in formation, 4 rows of 3. When they were in formation, they were told to concentrate on not laughing, moving, thinking, or doing anything but breathing and blinking.
It started out in complete silence. All of them were focusing on not getting any more push-ups. For about five minutes nothing happened. Then, Rose started to walk through the ranks, looking them each up and down. Time felt like it was dragging by. It must have been at least five life times. Rose seemed to be moving in slow motion. Finally she had walked through their ranks, and turned to walk back the other way. This had to be the most difficult thing he had been asked to do yet.
"So, is this hard for you?" said Rose, almost mockingly. "You all have only been here for 6 minutes. We could keep you like this for another 14 minutes." She paused for a moment, her pretty face pointed in thought. "I suppose, though, that wouldn't be very fair to do to you, as it is only your first time. By the end of this, you will have the focus and the patience to stand like this for hours. You will learn to tune out everything that isn't important, and focus on only what is needed. T- STANCE!" She shouted. Everyone, slowly and as if it didn't come naturally to them, went into the T-stance. "Not fast enough. That's another minute added on. TIGER STANCE!"
This time she got a whole lot more response. Everyone moved in almost unity to the Tiger stance. "That got your attention…" she said, a beautiful smile lighting up her face. "We will make Black belts out of you yet."
The entire thing lasted, in actuality, about three more minutes. Harry could have sworn afterwards, that from that point on it was at least 30 minutes. During those three minutes Rose walked through their ranks talking with them, but they couldn't respond. It was a peculiar type of training, Harry thought.
Finally after those last three minutes they were dismissed, absolutely wiped out. Harry and Dudley met Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia out at the car outside of the school. Harry was too tired even to bicker with Dudley. He was wondering what he had done to deserve this. Though, he thought, it might be nice to become strong, fast, and intimidating.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day Harry and Dudley managed to make it on time to Kung Fu. Neither of them were looking forward to the second day at their Kung Fu school. When they got there, they checked in at the desk and got on their uniforms. When they got out to the field, about half the class was there, but the teacher was nowhere to be seen.
"So, you two ready for another day of embarrassment?" asked the stupid giant who Harry had beaten up yesterday.
"Don't even start," said Harry tiredly. He didn't really want to deal with the guy again.
"Why, are you scared? Think that you can't jump on me when I am not ready, like yesterday?" He asked pointedly.
Harry looked up at him as the rest of the class arrived. "No," he started, "I just don't want to get expelled. I don't tend to give up at things."
The boy scowled at Harry as he flexed his muscles. Rose came over and smiled at Harry. Harry smiled lightly at her and Dudley was already hanging next to her like a shadow. He didn't get much more obvious than that.
"Hey Rose, looking good." said the overly muscled boy.
Rose looked at him as if he were a bug. "Dave, you need to get a hair cut."
Then she smiled at Harry and Harry had to resist the urge to laugh. Both Dudley and Dave were trying to get Rose's attention as she looked up at Harry. He was uninterested.
Finally the instructor came out and broke the tension by saying, "Everyone get in line."
Everyone jumped to his or her line. On one side of him, Harry saw a short kid who
he had seen running yesterday. Harry looked over to the side and saw Rose. Yesterday there had been a slightly overweight girl there; she be absent. She batted her eyes at him and they began to do warm-ups. Harry thought that, though Rose was pretty, he really didn't want all of this attention.
When they were finished with their basic warm-ups, they went out to the track and ran the three miles. Rose ran with Harry, who did considerably better than he had done the day before. At least on the second day Harry had managed to out-run Dudley.
Almost right after Harry finished the run he had to head off to the obstacle course. There he did just slightly better than the last time but managed to get himself push-ups for going around a wall he was supposed to climb. This time Dudley managed to beat Harry because he had no push-ups to do. At the end of the course Dudley gave Harry a very smug look.
To finish off the workout for the day they headed off to do their dodging routine. There, Harry did a pretty good job but still had 45 push- ups to do at the end of it. Dudley, however, was hit by every ball thrown at him. It just didn't do any good to dodge, Harry thought, when your butt has its own zip code.
When they went back in lines, they quickly reviewed the T-stance and the Tiger stance. Harry remembered pretty much everything they had taught him yesterday, it was just a matter of attempting to do it.
"Now that we are finished with that," said Mark when he thought that they had effectively demonstrated their ability to use stances, "we will move on to partner work. Everyone get with a partner that they can work with for the next month or so."
Harry attempted to find a partner, but no one wanted to be in the same group as he. Anyone that Dave didn't like wasn't welcome here. Eventually, after everyone else was picked, Harry had to be in the same group as Dudley. Dudley and Harry looked none to pleased about this. Suddenly Harry wished that he could be in the same group as Rose, but she was a teacher's aid so he couldn't.
Dudley looked at Harry with disgust. Harry just rolled his eyes and got back in line, this time with Dudley next to him.
"With your partner you will train, work out, and pace. If your partner is slower than you are, you will help them to become as fast as you are. You will get to know your partner in order to work better as a team. Eventually, you will spar together. Later we will do games in partners that will help you work out how to best work in a team," Mark barked at them.
Dudley turned to Harry with despair in his eyes. Harry felt that this was just adding insult to injury. He had to go to Kung Fu Monday through Friday and now he had to spend them completely with Dudley. Harry couldn't think of a worse way to spend his summer.
"Any questions?" Asked Mark.
"Will there be prizes for the best team?" asked Dave.
"Possibly. Any other questions?" he asked. When everyone was silent for a moment he said, "Good. Spend the rest of the time working with your partner."
Harry turned to Dudley and sighed. Dudley didn't even look up at Harry.
"Let's get to the track then…" Said Harry.
"Why?" asked Dudley.
"Because, slow coach, you need to become as fast a me in order for us to win the prize."
"We will never win the prize any way, moron. It's useless."
"Well then, do it just because we don't want to be the worst group and get push-ups." Said Harry as he began to jog off to the track.
They spent the next 30 minutes in complete silence as they went around the track. Harry really didn't want to talk to Dudley as that usually sparked insults and Dudley really couldn't talk with Harry because he was so winded. They had to stop several times while Dudley collapsed onto the ground into a tired heap but eventually they made it around three times. By then, the Dursleys had come in their car. Dudley and Harry went out to the car, sweating and winded. Both of them resigned to their fate.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You need to mow the lawn, do the dishes, and vacuum the house," listed off Uncle Vernon. Harry had just arrived at the Dursleys house and had flopped in a chair.
"Boy?" Snapped Uncle Vernon.
Harry suddenly looked up. He had fallen asleep almost the moment he sat down. "What was that?" he asked.
"I said, 'You need to mow the lawn, do the dishes, and vacuum the house!'" rumbled Uncle Vernon.
"I'm too tired, talk to me later," said Harry as he shut his eyes again.
Uncle Vernon's head seemed to swell. "You WILL do the chores now!"
"Yes," said Harry sleepily, "and I will make sure that Sirius knows that I am being worked to death here."
Harry closed his eyes all but a slit, just enough to be able to see Uncle Vernon's reaction. He was looking around cautiously as if some magical mass killer was going to jump out of a flowerpot and get him.
"Oh, never mind Harry. I'll do them. I didn't know that you were nearly that tired…" Uncle Vernon said, his throat constricted as if it hurt him to say the words.
Harry nodded sleepily and went back into a deep sleep. Uncle Vernon walked off, shaking with anger and fear.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cedric looked at the Triwizard Cup and then up at Harry.
"Did anyone tell you the cup was a portkey?" He asked.
"Nope," said Harry. He was looking around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly eerie. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"
"I dunno," said Cedric. He sounded slightly nervous. "Wands out, d'you reckon?"
"Yeah," said Harry, glad that Cedric had made the suggestion rather than him.
They pulled out their wands. Harry kept looking around him. He had, yet again, the strange feeling that they were being watched.
"Someone's coming," he said suddenly.
Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Harry couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holing its arm, he could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And--- several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time--- Harry saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby… or was it merely a bundle of robes?
Harry lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cedric. Cedric shot him a quizzical look. They both turned back to watch the approaching figure.
It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second, Harry and Cedric and the short figure simply looked at one another.
And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It was agony such as he had never felt in all his life; his wand slipped from his fingers as he put his hands over his face; his knees buckled; he was on the ground and he could see nothing at all; his head was about to split open.
From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."
A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes.
Cedric was lying spread-eagle on the ground beside him. He was dead.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry awoke with a start. Sweat was dripping down his face and he was breathing in short raspy breaths. His heart was pounding in his chest as he got up and looked at a clock. It was 8:00 in the evening. He had missed dinner and now would probably have to wait until breakfast. The Dursleys never let him have snacks or eat out of mealtime.
Harry sighed and stood up, preparing to head to his room to get some more sleep. Harry noted that he was incredibly sore and barely had the energy to drag himself to bed. When Harry got up to his room he saw on the pillow a sandwich and on top of it a note. Harry opened it and read:
"Peace offering"
It was unsigned but Harry recognized the handwriting to be Dudley's. He had seen him doing some work for his school during the summer. Harry smiled as he ate the sandwich thinking of how much better Kung Fu would be if he weren't continually trading blows with Dudley. After he finished his sandwich he laid down and went to sleep, finally without a nightmare.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, after their warm-ups and dodging drills, they got into their partners. Mark was inspecting them and asking them what they thought that they needed to work on. He wanted to make sure that no team was neglecting working with each other and just playing. When he finally came around to Dudley and Harry he raised his eyebrows.
"Are you sure that this is a good match up?" he asked, eyeing Dudley's belly and Harry's skinny body.
"We were the only ones left. We got stuck with each other," said Harry.
Mark looked like he was considering this. "Well then, I'll have to have Rose work with you two to get yourselves up in ability. You in strength," he said pointing to Harry, "and you in speed." He pointed to Dudley.
Rose walked over to them and used her trademark pretty smile on Harry. Dudley looked like he couldn't have found a better thing.
"So Rose will help you two get better at Kung Fu," Mark said eyeing the two boys.
"I'll make this partnership the best one out there," she said looking at Mark. Harry and Dudley just stood there dumbly, Harry wondering what he had done to deserve this and Dudley thinking of how lucky he was.
Mark went back up and stood in front of the class. "For the next month you will only work with your partner. You two will do warm-ups together and do dodging together. The only thing that we will do as a group from now on is stance work. Other than that you will do everything with your partner."
Harry sighed lightly and motioned for Dudley to follow him onto the track. As they went around their first lap Dudley looked up at Harry.
"Do you even like Rose?" he demanded.
Harry looked around suddenly; he thought that Rose had been jogging with them. She was off talking with Mark. "No, not really."
Dudley snorted. "She goes after you all day and you don't even like her?"
"I barely know her," Harry said lightly.
"Hmm…" said Dudley dumbly as they jogged on. They didn't talk for the rest of the time, but Harry thought that it was a much more friendly silence than it had been the other day. Dudley didn't seem to be just putting up with Harry. Now he was more resigned to his fate and ready to try to work in a team with his cousin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning, when Harry woke up, he could barely move his legs. He attempted to get off his bed and stand, but his legs hurt with an agony that he would barely call sore. They fit more into the category of unusable.
"Ow," grunted Harry as he bent his legs over the edge of the bed. Harry managed to stretch his legs out and stand. He wobbled a bit as he looked over at his clock and saw the time.
"Six-o-clock!" he said with shock. He felt like he had been shot, or had the Crutatius Curse used on him. He stumbled out into the hall and went down for an early breakfast. When he got inside the kitchen, Dudley was sitting at the table, eating.
"Morning," said Dudley in between a huge bite of a pastry.
Harry yawned and pulled himself out some doughnuts. "Hey." They ate in complete silence for a while, each of them ravenously hungry. Eventually when both of the boys finished Harry began to slip on his shoes.
"Where are you going?" asked Dudley.
"I need to go for a walk or a jog. My legs are stiff." said Harry shortly. Dudley nodded at him and then was silent for a moment. Harry broke the silence by saying, "Want to come?"
Dudley suddenly smiled, glad that he had not been the one to ask. "Sure, let me get my shoes on."
Harry waited while Dudley got his shoes on. When they got outside both of them stretched and started. As they rounded the first corner, Harry thought that it was one of his better decisions to take Dudley with him. Dudley helped him keep up the pace and feel that what he was doing wasn't worthless. Dudley thought that it was great that Harry didn't mind him coming. He was worried that Harry would get a disgusted look on his face and turn him down.
About a half mile into the jog, Dudley clutched at his side and stopped, panting. Harry did the same, as he was also having a side cramp.
"I have a better idea," started Dudley, "Tomorrow, we eat after we run."
Harry was at first taken aback at the thought of he and Dudley doing this again, but the more he thought about it the more he liked it. Dudley wasn't bad company when he wasn't trying to be big and tough. Harry smiled at Dudley.
"I think that I would have to agree," said Harry.
"Worth it, though," said Dudley.
"What?" Asked Harry.
"Loosening up our legs. My legs really hurt before this. Now I am fine."
Harry nodded and then sat down in the light of the newly rising sun. Dudley sat down next to him and they both stared off into the sunset, content.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So you two keep coming back?" asked Dave that afternoon at Kung Fu.
Harry rolled his eyes. "You keep not shutting up."
Dave turned on Harry and said, "So, you think that you are tough enough to take me?"
Harry chuckled and turned, walking back to Rose and Dudley. "So Rose, what is on your vicious training schedule today?"
"Today," she said, "We work on upper body strength. Harry, you need work there."
Harry groaned and Dudley cheered. "No more miles to run!" he said happily.
"Oh no," amended Rose, "You will still run the customary three miles, you will just spend more of the day working in the weight room."
"There is a weight room?" Dudley asked curiously.
"Yes, and you will be seeing a lot of it if you want to become the best team. We are also going to work on each of the stances. I want you to know them in and out. Being strong and fast does nothing if you do not know how to use it." she lectured evenly.
Harry and Dudley nodded to her to show that they heard and started on their warm-ups. Harry found that this was more annoying than a normal day because he had Rose standing over them telling them that their push-ups were slacking and that they were slowing down. When they ran the mile she kept a vicious pace and threatened to give push-ups if they couldn't keep up. At the end of the three-mile jog he could tell that Dudley thought that he was going to die.
Another odd thing about the day was the fact that they had to do dodging drills without the rest of the class. When they tried, Rose had a whole lot of trouble hitting them. There just wasn't enough of her. She, in the end, decided that dodging drills were a waste of time without everyone else there. For once, Dudley barely had any push-ups after a dodging drill.
Finally Rose saw them fit to head out to the weight room and work out. She hovered over both of them and made sure that they did the most they could do.
"Dudley, you will lift that five more times before you get a break!" she barked at him.
"But-but…"
"No buts!" she commanded.
She strode over to Harry, who had been doing the bench press for about 15 minutes. He had sweat dripping down his face and looked completely spent.
"You can have a break now for five minutes, Harry," she said lightly to him and held out her hand to help him up. Harry took her hand not even noting that she held on for a moment longer than was really necessary.
Harry went over to an open water fountain to get a drink, and then sat down on a bench, where, after a moment, Rose joined him and sat down very close next to him. He shifted uncomfortably, and felt even more uncomfortable as she started to lean over onto his shoulder. But just then, Dudley came out, and Rose sat of slightly and scooted so she wouldn't be nearly so close to Harry. He was very glad.
"Hey Rose, Harry," said Dudley heavily. He was completely red in the face and looked like he had been working more than he ever had in his entire life.
"Did you do your last five?" asked Rose sullenly.
"Uh, yea." stuttered Dudley. He walked over to the fountain and quickly got a drink and then he rejoined Harry. For once, Harry was actually glad that Dudley was nearby. That was a thought that he never thought would cross his mind.
"Only five minutes, guys," she said to them.
Harry smirked slightly. He was thinking of how long he might have been able to extend the break if he had flirted back with Rose. He probably could have pushed an hour before she noted the time.
After five minutes passed, she had them get back to work and for the rest of the afternoon Harry managed to keep his breaks at the same time as Dudley's so that he wouldn't have to deal with Rose. He could face Lord Voldemort, but he sure couldn't take on a pretty girl that he really wasn't interested in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry woke the next morning with his usual stiff muscles. The only difference from the last morning was that this time it wasn't his legs that were acting up. He could hardly move his arm or his chest without them screaming at him. He sat up, painfully, and looked at his clock. It said that the time was 6:01.
"I have to stop sleeping when I get back from Kung Fu," said Harry, wondering how much longer he would awaken so early.
Harry slipped on some jogging clothes and walked downstairs to see Dudley doing stretches. Harry sat down next to him and started stretching. Finally, they headed out into the neighborhood. Most of the time they didn't say much, but that was due to how early it was. Dudley just made some short comments about the weather.
When they got back there was a scramble for the showers, but Harry was faster so he made it up to the shower first and locked the door with Dudley standing outside the door threatening him. Harry just laughed and turned on the water, waiting for it to heat up.
" If you don't open this door right now I'll… I'll… send a love note from you to Rose!" shouted Dudley in a last ditch effort to get the shower. When it didn't work he sighed and went down to the kitchen to get something to eat.
"Dudley?" asked his mother when he went downstairs. He was surprised to see her up so early.
"Yes, Mum?"
"Where were you earlier? I saw you come in the door with Harry." She said Harry's name as if it were an insult to the world.
"I was out jogging with Harry to loosen up our legs. I jog better when I jog with someone else," he said lightly as if it weren't something odd.
Aunt Petunia looked at him for a moment as he pulled out his customary box of doughnuts and then she said suddenly, "I want you to stop spending time around him. Maybe it was a bad idea to send him to Kung Fu, too."
Dudley suddenly looked up, realizing that he would lose Harry's help if he didn't do something quickly. Then he suddenly realized that he would be free of Harry if he got his mum to stop paying for Harry's Kung Fu. Dudley thought about Harry for a moment and then how Harry had said that he would help him get Rose to notice him.
"Mum!" said Dudley in a slightly whining tone. "I like getting to push Harry around at Kung Fu! It is the only thing that makes it worth going!"
His mother responded immediately. If there was one thing that she didn't like, it was upsetting Dudley. "Oh honey, I just thought that you were becoming friends with him. I just didn't want you to get mixed with the wrong crowd. But if all you are doing is pushing him around, then that is okay. Never mind stopping Harry."
Dudley suddenly put on a face of happiness. "I love you mum." Dudley went over to her and gave her a hug. Dudley smiled, wondering what had made him do that. He just put up with Harry. Right?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione opened her dresser, looking at the clothes and trying to decide what to pack. She pulled out some long black robes which she know she would wear regularly and some flashier ones that she knew she could take to a party if she went to one. The problem that seemed to crop up was that she just didn't have that many robes. She didn't need them as at Hogwarts there was a uniform (robs with a Hogwarts symbol on them) and she almost never just went out into a wizarding town.
"Mother, I need to go shopping!" called Hermione down to her mother.
Hermione's mother came up the stairs to her room and came in. "Are you feeling all right 'Mione?"
She put her hand to Hermione's forehead and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes mum, I am fine. I said that I wanted to go shopping because if I am going to go to Bulgaria with Viktor I need to have robes. Wearing Muggle clothes would be frowned upon."
"Oh, one of those shops! We then we'll head down to… something-gon- alley?" said her mother, sounding excited.
"Diagon Alley."
"Right, well do you have enough wizard money left inside the bank or will we have to exchange again?"
Hermione sincerely hoped that they had enough wizarding money left. The last time they had gone to the bank, her mother had tried to haggle with the goblins, something that had not happened in 500 years. She had read that in a book somewhere. The crowd that had drawn around her mother was enormous. Eventually, when her mother wouldn't settle on an exchange rate, they were thrown out and Hermione had to come in alone, disguised, to get their money exchanged. Hermione's mother was often the opposite of Hermione. Hermione was studious and usually planned everything out carefully. Her mother was eccentric and very spur of the moment.
As it turned out, Hermione had to exchange her Muggle money for wizarding money, but this time her mother did not interfere. They went out across Diagon Alley, doing what Hermione mostly detested, clothes shopping. Finally, when they were finished, they headed home and Hermione packed the rest of her books. She would need to bring a whole lot if she were to keep her studying schedule.
When she was finished packing, she sat down on her bed thinking of what Ron and Harry were doing. Ron would likely be playing Quidditch with his brothers or doing some chores. Harry would probably be bored around the Dursleys. Now she was headed off to go spend three weeks with Viktor Krum. Oddly, she found that she would rather be spending three weeks with Ron. Hermione suddenly shook that thought. Ron or Harry she would be happy to spend three weeks with. Ron wasn't the only one, right?
Hermione looked over at her clock. It was 10:00. Two hours from now she would be speeding away with Viktor Krum to go to Bulgaria with him. She pulled up a book (Spells You Will Never Have to Block and How to Block Them by Reel Dum Buke) and attempted to read. She, for some reason, couldn't get Ron off her mind. He had never really liked Viktor Krum anyway, and she wasn't sure that she liked him enough to upset Ron like that…
"Never mind him, anyway," said Hermione to herself. "Ron never really did care what I wanted anyway!"
Hermione tried to focus her mind on other things, but it really wasn't happening. Eventually she gave up and pulled out some paper to write to Ron.
Dear Ron,
How are you? I hope that you aren't getting too many chores. I just got done packing for my trip with Viktor. I am headed to Bulgaria for three weeks and can't wait. I hear that the Hag's Horrible Haunted House is a must see and the Goul's Greatest Gobbling Ground is one of the best places to eat. Are you still upset that I am spending time with Krum? He is no longer competing against us and I… wouldn't want to do anything that would ruin our friendship. Please write back soon.
Love from,
Hermione
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Yes, I know that Kung Fu isn't really like I described it, but it was my inspiration for this story and I decided that I wanted it to be more than it really is. The T-Stance and Tiger Stance are real stances; I got them from my brother who took Kung Fu for six months. Hopefully any Kung Fu masters will not be too annoyed with me for mutilating their art.
Three days. It had been three days. Only three days into the summer and Harry Potter was already bored out of his mind, and overcome with dark brooding. Since Harry had returned from Hogwarts he had been asked to stay up in his room and not come out unless absolutely necessary. He had obliged, as he didn't really wanted to come out. All he could really think of at that point was Cedric and what he should have done.
His fault? No, it wasn't his fault; he knew that. He still, however, could barely contain the guilt in himself. What if he had just taken the cup? What if he had been more alert? What if he had jumped in the way of the spell? It was almost unbearable to think that he could have done something to save Cedric's life, and didn't.
Harry's train of thought was interrupted by Uncle Vernon's rumbling voice, "Boy, dinner is ready! Get down here!"
Harry sighed, thinking of another dinner with the Dursleys. All of the dinners before had been filled with complete silence. They all didn't really want to talk in front of Harry; they just wanted to forget that he was there. They tended to talk after he left, he knew because he could hear them from his room. It made his heart ache, wishing that he could have a family of his own.
Harry went downstairs and into the kitchen. When he got there, the Dursleys had already started to eat. Luckily, they were no longer on a diet as Dudley had decided to eat less rather than just eat salad.
As Harry sat down Uncle Vernon looked up as if he just remembered something. He eyed Harry suspiciously, as if wondering if he could stand to have Harry hear what he was about to say.
He turned to Dudley, "Dudley, your mother and I have decided that you will be taking Kung Fu this summer. After that kid came up to you in school and beat you up… We want you to be able to defend yourself."
Harry almost choked on his food. Dudley had been beaten up?
"No, I don't want to, I'm fine right now." Dudley responded in a slightly whining tone.
"You are going to, end of discussion!" said Uncle Vernon.
"Vernon, give him a chance," started Aunt Petunia as she turned to look at Dudley, "Why don't you want to go to Kung Fu?"
"They make you work out there. I have a friend who told me about it. They have to do stretches, push-ups, running, and all sorts of tiring things! I don't want to do that every day!" he complained.
"If you go there, Dudders, you will be able to defend yourself. Then you won't get hurt again. Your father and I just don't want you to get hurt."
Harry sat in amused silence. Now he would no longer have to deal with Dudley and his friends coming into his room to mess with him.
Dudley saw Harry's expression and turned to his parents. "Make Harry take it too! If I have
to, he should also!"
Uncle Vernon looked like he was considering it. Harry felt shocked and slightly chagrined.
"Well," Uncle Vernon said, grudgingly. "I suppose so, maybe he could help you."
'But…" began Harry.
Uncle Vernon cut him off. "No 'buts'! You are going to Kung Fu with Dudley tomorrow!"
Harry knew it was useless to argue; Uncle Vernon would never listen. Harry finished the meal in silence and then headed up to his room. He flung himself across his bed, fuming. How could Dudley have put this on him? It wasn't like he would enjoy Harry's company!
Harry paced angrily around the room. My summer just can't get worse, can it? Harry kicked at a stack of books by his bed, and immediately lost his footing as the flimsy throw run on the floor slipped out from underneath him. Pitching to the side, he crashed painfully into the dressing mirror that stood by his closet. Luckily, his day didn't get worse and the mirror wasn't broken. Harry stood up and pulled the full-length mirror upright, looking into it.
"Hey you," Harry said to himself, smirking ever so slightly. If he were at Hogwarts the mirror would have responded, but this one just reflected back at him. Harry pulled his sleeve up and looked at his arm; the bones stuck out and it was obvious that Harry was not very strong at all. He looked up and down the image of himself suddenly realizing how painfully skinny he was. But then, Harry thought, it isn't like they have physical education at Hogwarts. Even Malfoy is probably stronger than me. Suddenly, a thought struck him. If he were to go to Kung Fu then he would become very strong. Maybe with his enhanced figure Cho Chang would- Harry suddenly scratched the thought. He didn't even want to think about her. It brought back too many memories of Cedric.
"Oh well," said Harry to himself as he sat down on his bed. Almost the second he sat down he heard a tapping at his window. He headed up to the window and opened it. Once he got it open a flurry of feathers blazed in. It was Pigwidgen.
"Pig!" said Harry as he managed to catch the over enthusiastic owl out of the air. Pig hooted loudly as Harry untied the letter. He managed to get it off and the second he did, the owl went blasting out the window. Harry rolled his eyes and opened his letter. It was from Ron.
Dear Harry,
How is it going? Over here at the Burrow things are pretty crazy. Somewhere Fred and George got a whole lot of money somewhere and they are letting their creativity get away from them. Everyday when we come down to breakfast Mum has to put every dispelling charm on the food that she knows. Sometimes even that doesn't work! Yesterday Ginny's cereal turned her hair purple. You should have seen Fred run! You wouldn't believe some of the things they do! They even gave me new dress robes! I didn't try them on, of course. They look great but I assure you, if Fred and George got them they are booby- trapped! Mum and Dad keep giving them looks. I think that they might have refused to tell them where they got the money from.
Are the Dursleys treating you all right? I hope you aren't still on that diet. Has Hermione sent you anything yet? I think she said that she would be visiting Viktor Krum over the summer. I don't trust him…
Do you think you will be able to come over during the summer? Mum says that she would be happy to have you, and I can't wait to see you. I also know another who can't wait to see you. Ginny has been asking when you were going to come over.
Your Friend,
Ron
Harry grimaced when he thought of Ginny and the "Harry Potter Fan Club". He really didn't want that to start up. He pulled out his pen and got out some paper to write a return letter.
Ron,
Sounds like you guys are having a pretty good time over there. I would have loved to see Ginny's hair purple. Have Fred and George send me something by owl post. I'd love to see some of the things that they make.
It's not too great here, as usual. My Aunt and Uncle are making me go to Kung Fu lessons. Kung Fu is a Muggle fighting art; a type of self- defense. The only upside in this is that when Crabbe and Goyle try anything I will be able to defend myself.
Hermione hasn't owled me anything. I don't think that it really matters if she goes to Romania though; Krum is, after all, a good friend of hers, and an international Quidditch star! I think that we should be happy for her. Luckily we have been taken off of the diet that was imposed on us last summer, so I am not being starved.
Have you heard anything in the news about Voldemort? I am really cut off out here; I don't get anything. Tell me if you hear any news that you think is important!
Your Friend,
Harry
Harry folded up the letter and called Hedwig over. Hedwig hooted and puffed out her owl chest looking important.
"Here you go; take this to Ron." said Harry as he opened his window and let the owl out. Harry sighed, lay down, took off his glasses, and went to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry woke the next morning with a feeling of dread. He would be spending part of the day with Dudley in Kung Fu. This was pretty much the last thing he wanted to be doing on his Saturday.
Harry got dressed and headed down the hall to get breakfast. There, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley were already eating. None of them had bothered to call him down.
When Harry got there, the only thing that was said to him was, "You leave for Kung Fu at 11:30. You get back a 4:00."
"Four-o-clock?!" exclaimed Harry, "What do you mean? I thought that this was just a little 30 minute lesson once a week!"
Uncle Vernon looked up at him, going slightly purple in the face, "You should be grateful that we paid for you to be part of this. It is a Kung Fu camp. You go for two months from noon to 4:00!"
Harry looked at Uncle Vernon and decided that it wouldn't be incredibly prudent to argue with him. He was almost completely purple in the face now and looked like he was going to explode. Harry sat down and quietly began to eat his breakfast.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The drive to the Kung Fu school was long. Harry noted trees passing by the car as they went from an urban area to a more rural area. All Harry could think of is what his friends were doing. Ron ought to be playing Quidditch on a fine day like this one, and Hermione would be off somewhere with Viktor Krum. They would be having a good time, laughing, talking, and playing. Harry would be able to do none of this.
Finally, they pulled up to a large white building surrounded by fields on all sides. Each field had people wearing all white. The only difference that Harry noted was that some people were wearing different colored belts. The people in the fields were doing push-ups, sit-ups, running, and sparring all over the place.
Dudley, Harry, Uncle Vernon, and Aunt Petunia headed up to the double doors that seemed to loom out in front of them. Harry thought that they looked like prison doors, just ready to shut him into his torment. When they entered the doors they saw an open, cool room. It warded off the day's heat and had a neat desk in the front. At that desk sat a tall dark-haired woman who looked up from her computer when Harry and Dudley walked in, followed by Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.
"May I help you?" said the lady behind the desk. Her tag said Sharon.
"Uh yes… Sharon," rumbled Uncle Vernon. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable in the room, "We have a Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter signed up for the Kung Fu camp. Where should they go?"
"Oh, yes," said Sharon, typing into her computer, "I do have them in here. One moment."
Sharon typed furiously for a moment and then looked up and clapped sharply twice. A girl came in, no older than 15. She had blonde hair that ended down at her shoulders and a very pretty face. Dudley suddenly turned very red.
"Yes ma'am?" the girl asked in a light soprano voice.
"I want you to take these two to get their uniforms and then put them into their class. They are in field 001 and they are slightly early. Make sure that you have one that fits, though," she said eyeing Dudley's massive belly.
"All right," said the girl, smiling.
The girl walked over to Harry and Dudley, who suddenly realized that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had abandoned them. "Hi, I'm Rose, what are your names?" she said lightly.
Dudley was gazing at her, seemingly at a loss for words. Harry smiled and said, "I'm Harry. This here is something that I found along the way and it has been following me ever since."
Harry was motioning to Dudley, who suddenly looked like he had been bashed on the head, "Uh, I'm Dudley."
Rose laughed lightly and said, "I'll be the teacher's aide in your class. You see, I started Kung Fu when I was 7, so though I may be your age, I have know a bit more than you do."
Harry nodded and Dudley went back to that awe-struck expression as they followed her towards a side room. There they saw white pants and white robes. The robes ended around the thigh and were very loose looking.
"What are those?" asked Harry.
"They're called kamotos. Basically, they are a uniform. You will get used to them." Rose looked first at Harry and pulled out a small kamoto, then some smaller pants and handed them to him.
"Try these on. Tell me if they fit. The changing room is over there." she said as she looked back to Dudley to attempt to find one that would fit his bulk.
Harry headed off to the changing room and slipped on the clothes. They were only slightly too big for him, but they managed to stay on. He walked out into the hall to see only Dudley standing there. He looked thoroughly embarrassed.
"What's wrong, she couldn't find a single one that would fit you?" Harry asked, grinning.
Dudley looked disdainfully at Harry and said, "No, she just went to a different section to find something."
"What," asked Harry, "The XXXL section?"
Dudley was silent. Harry realized after a moment that Rose had actually gone to the XXXL section. He chuckled and looked over at Dudley. He obviously had a large crush on Rose. Harry chuckled at as Dudley glared at him. They stood there for another five minutes or so in complete silence. Neither of them knew what to say to the other, as they didn't like each other much and being put in the same room with nothing to do was torture.
"I found one!" said Rose a she came back. The uniform she was holding was only slightly too tall for Dudley but Harry thought that it might actually fit. Dudley headed off to the changing room.
"So," started Rose, "What made you decide to try Kung Fu?"
"My Aunt and Uncle made me. I didn't really want to." Rose looked shocked.
"They're making you do Kung Fu? What for?" she responded.
"Well, my cousin was beaten up in school and they decided that it would be better if he and I were more prepared to defend ourselves." Harry said lightly.
"Well, you are scrawny," she said smirking slightly. Harry looked slightly embarrassed.
"I don't work out much, where I go to school there is no PE." Harry said, still looking slightly embarrassed. It's not every day a beautiful girl calls you scrawny.
"Where is that? I thought that PE is a required class."
"Uh," Harry began evasively when Dudley suddenly came out. He was waddling along as usual, but now he was dressed in complete white. The Kamoto looked like it was going to burst and the belt barely made it around his waist. Harry and Rose both fought laughter at the sight of him. He was starting to go slightly red in the face.
"Let's get out to the field. I'll get you two started on warm-ups and then I will go help the others to get ready." She said lightly, as if not to mention the fact that Dudley was bursting out of his kamoto.
They all headed out onto their field, which seemed to be slightly smaller than the surrounding fields. It had an obstacle course and a track surrounding it. However, some of the other fields had weight training equipment that their field didn't have.
"You need to do 40 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 40 jumping jacks, and when I get back with the others, we will finish up." Rose said, smiling slightly.
Harry and Dudley had quite a time with the 40 push-ups. Neither of them had the strength to manage it in one part. So they both had to work at it, doing 5 and then 5 more. When they were finishing on their last set of five they suddenly heard some laughter.
"Push-ups hard for you weaklings?"
"Can't handle the warm-ups?"
"I think they're done right now, toast without even part of the day through."
"Look at them sweat; they can't handle it."
Harry looked up to see his class, all of whom had arrived on time. The class consisted 10 other boys who all were laughing at the trouble Harry and Dudley were having with the push-ups. Suddenly a tall boy pushed through the crowd. His arms were like tree trunks and he looked as if he was very displeased with having anyone who couldn't handle push-ups in his class.
"There's no room for weak people like you here," he said.
Harry smirked. He had faced Lord Voldemort in a duel; no mere Muggle could scare him now. "There's no room for ugly people like you here," he said, getting annoyed with the puffed up guy.
The boy stood forward, showing off his 6'2" height and massive muscles. "What was that?" he asked dangerously.
"Are you always this stupid or are you just making a special effort today?" said Harry, feeling an irrational anger build in him. He didn't know where it was coming from, but he knew that the boy wasn't the cause of it.
"Are you calling me stupid?" asked the guy. Although strong, he obviously wasn't smart.
"Calling you stupid would be an insult to stupid people," said Harry coldly. Suddenly Harry felt as if there were spots before his eyes. He wasn't seeing a Muggle. No, it was Voldemort. He was raising his wand to perform the Crutatius Curse. The vision before him suddenly changed and he was seeing Cedric's dead body with Voldemort standing over it. Harry was snapped back to reality by the Muggle's voice.
"Oh, I get it," said the slow giant, "Insults. Well your mum's so stupid that she sold the car to get gas money."
"My mum," said Harry, his voice quavering slightly and his blood pumping through his veins hotly, "is dead."
Suddenly Harry heard his father's voice, and his vision began to dim out.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off---"
Harry's vision came back in looked up and saw the boy grinning at his friends and heard him say, " Your mother probably died of shock when you were born."
Harry suddenly heard his mother's voice, "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please--- I'll do anything---"
He then heard a cold voice say, "Stand aside you silly girl!"
Harry snapped back into reality and said, "Leave my mother out of this!" Harry was beyond anger at this point. He wasn't mad at the Muggle, either. All he could tell, though, was that he was angry mixed with deep loathing. All of the pain that he had been blocking out since the Triwizard Cup was coming to a point.
"Why, are you sad for your mother?" the boy said it in a babyish voice. At this point, Harry broke. Before he knew was happening, he had the guy on the ground and was beating him with his fists. Harry had so many emotions running through him all at once that he just wanted to beat in the near unoffending Muggle.
"STOP! Get off him!" Harry heard a male voice that seemed to have a huge commanding presence in it. The boy that Harry was beating into the ground shoved Harry off and got up. His nose was bleeding and he seemed to be fighting off tears. Harry was amazed at how much damage he had done to the boy.
Harry got up and brushed himself off, feeling much better. Beating the guy seemed to do the trick. "What happened here?" said the voice, and Harry looked up. The guy was obviously the instructor. He wore the same uniforms they did except that his belt was red.
"He just attacked me for no reason," whined the boy Harry had been beating on.
"He was calling my dead mother stupid," said Harry, almost calmly. He seemed to have lost the anger as quickly as it had come.
"I will not have this here! There will be no fighting, whatsoever! If I find that this happens again both of you will be expelled from the school," said the instructor. Rose walked up behind him; noted Harry's flushed face, and the boy's bleeding nose. Her pretty eyebrows rose up slightly but she didn't say anything.
"All right, everyone seems to be here, so now we will start," said the instructor.
The day went by slowly. They had to do almost the same exercises they had already done, but with everyone else. When they finally got finished with those, they had to do some rigorous stretching and then a 3-mile run. This took Harry 35 minutes and he was third to last in. Most of the people there seemed to be in great shape.
Harry found afterwards, that these were only the warm-ups. What followed, Harry thought, easily surpassed any practice for Quidditch that even Wood could plan. They went on an obstacle course and then did a very tiring dodging routine which was when one student stood in the center of a circle formed by the other students. They were all given balls to throw at the one in the middle. For every ball that hit them they had to do 5 push- ups. This had Dudley doing so many push-ups that they all had to wait for him while he finished. Finally after all that the instructor, who had told them earlier that his name was Mark, stood up in front of the tired boys and told them that this would be the daily routine.
Harry was shocked. If they were to do all that daily, Harry wouldn't survive the summer. He was certain that his arms would fall off and his legs would turn into jelly permanently.
"Now, onto some of our maneuvers." said Mark, eyeing the tired boys as if doubting that any of them had the strength to stand for two more minutes, let alone the hour and a half that they had left.
"You will be learning different stances here. Those are the basics of Kung Fu. Now I want all of you to get into this stance." Mark stood slightly at an angle to them with his hands open in the air as if like paws. His knees were slightly bent and he looked focused as if this was a difficult thing to do.
Harry stood almost exactly like Mark did, feeling slightly silly. He tried to copy the look of intense concentration that Mark had, but he was having trouble keeping from laughing, especially when he saw Dudley about ready to collapse in front of him.
"This is called the Tiger stance. It is a blocking stance." Mark told them.
Mark went on for the next 25 minutes all on how this stance could be used, and what they could learn from it. The Tiger stance, Harry thought, though it looked intimidating, would not even phase Voldemort if – when - Harry ran into him again. The stance, though, had some good points. If he ever got in a fight with Malfoy, he would easily be able to dodge out of the way and block anything he threw at him. That is, when he learned to do it correctly.
The next stance they learned was the T-stance. Harry had to put all of his weight on the weaker of his legs and just barely touch his toe to the ground with the other leg. The hands were folded into fists out in front of him. This stance was to be used for quick strong kicks and fast punches. It wasn't quite as defensive as the other stance, though, because you could overbalance while doing it. The foot that was on its toe was like that because it had to be ready to kick quickly. This stance was a bit more difficult and they spent about 45 minutes on it.
The last 20 minutes they had were spent in an odd way, Harry thought. They were told that, in Kung Fu, concentration is one of the most important things. They were made to stand all in formation, 4 rows of 3. When they were in formation, they were told to concentrate on not laughing, moving, thinking, or doing anything but breathing and blinking.
It started out in complete silence. All of them were focusing on not getting any more push-ups. For about five minutes nothing happened. Then, Rose started to walk through the ranks, looking them each up and down. Time felt like it was dragging by. It must have been at least five life times. Rose seemed to be moving in slow motion. Finally she had walked through their ranks, and turned to walk back the other way. This had to be the most difficult thing he had been asked to do yet.
"So, is this hard for you?" said Rose, almost mockingly. "You all have only been here for 6 minutes. We could keep you like this for another 14 minutes." She paused for a moment, her pretty face pointed in thought. "I suppose, though, that wouldn't be very fair to do to you, as it is only your first time. By the end of this, you will have the focus and the patience to stand like this for hours. You will learn to tune out everything that isn't important, and focus on only what is needed. T- STANCE!" She shouted. Everyone, slowly and as if it didn't come naturally to them, went into the T-stance. "Not fast enough. That's another minute added on. TIGER STANCE!"
This time she got a whole lot more response. Everyone moved in almost unity to the Tiger stance. "That got your attention…" she said, a beautiful smile lighting up her face. "We will make Black belts out of you yet."
The entire thing lasted, in actuality, about three more minutes. Harry could have sworn afterwards, that from that point on it was at least 30 minutes. During those three minutes Rose walked through their ranks talking with them, but they couldn't respond. It was a peculiar type of training, Harry thought.
Finally after those last three minutes they were dismissed, absolutely wiped out. Harry and Dudley met Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia out at the car outside of the school. Harry was too tired even to bicker with Dudley. He was wondering what he had done to deserve this. Though, he thought, it might be nice to become strong, fast, and intimidating.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day Harry and Dudley managed to make it on time to Kung Fu. Neither of them were looking forward to the second day at their Kung Fu school. When they got there, they checked in at the desk and got on their uniforms. When they got out to the field, about half the class was there, but the teacher was nowhere to be seen.
"So, you two ready for another day of embarrassment?" asked the stupid giant who Harry had beaten up yesterday.
"Don't even start," said Harry tiredly. He didn't really want to deal with the guy again.
"Why, are you scared? Think that you can't jump on me when I am not ready, like yesterday?" He asked pointedly.
Harry looked up at him as the rest of the class arrived. "No," he started, "I just don't want to get expelled. I don't tend to give up at things."
The boy scowled at Harry as he flexed his muscles. Rose came over and smiled at Harry. Harry smiled lightly at her and Dudley was already hanging next to her like a shadow. He didn't get much more obvious than that.
"Hey Rose, looking good." said the overly muscled boy.
Rose looked at him as if he were a bug. "Dave, you need to get a hair cut."
Then she smiled at Harry and Harry had to resist the urge to laugh. Both Dudley and Dave were trying to get Rose's attention as she looked up at Harry. He was uninterested.
Finally the instructor came out and broke the tension by saying, "Everyone get in line."
Everyone jumped to his or her line. On one side of him, Harry saw a short kid who
he had seen running yesterday. Harry looked over to the side and saw Rose. Yesterday there had been a slightly overweight girl there; she be absent. She batted her eyes at him and they began to do warm-ups. Harry thought that, though Rose was pretty, he really didn't want all of this attention.
When they were finished with their basic warm-ups, they went out to the track and ran the three miles. Rose ran with Harry, who did considerably better than he had done the day before. At least on the second day Harry had managed to out-run Dudley.
Almost right after Harry finished the run he had to head off to the obstacle course. There he did just slightly better than the last time but managed to get himself push-ups for going around a wall he was supposed to climb. This time Dudley managed to beat Harry because he had no push-ups to do. At the end of the course Dudley gave Harry a very smug look.
To finish off the workout for the day they headed off to do their dodging routine. There, Harry did a pretty good job but still had 45 push- ups to do at the end of it. Dudley, however, was hit by every ball thrown at him. It just didn't do any good to dodge, Harry thought, when your butt has its own zip code.
When they went back in lines, they quickly reviewed the T-stance and the Tiger stance. Harry remembered pretty much everything they had taught him yesterday, it was just a matter of attempting to do it.
"Now that we are finished with that," said Mark when he thought that they had effectively demonstrated their ability to use stances, "we will move on to partner work. Everyone get with a partner that they can work with for the next month or so."
Harry attempted to find a partner, but no one wanted to be in the same group as he. Anyone that Dave didn't like wasn't welcome here. Eventually, after everyone else was picked, Harry had to be in the same group as Dudley. Dudley and Harry looked none to pleased about this. Suddenly Harry wished that he could be in the same group as Rose, but she was a teacher's aid so he couldn't.
Dudley looked at Harry with disgust. Harry just rolled his eyes and got back in line, this time with Dudley next to him.
"With your partner you will train, work out, and pace. If your partner is slower than you are, you will help them to become as fast as you are. You will get to know your partner in order to work better as a team. Eventually, you will spar together. Later we will do games in partners that will help you work out how to best work in a team," Mark barked at them.
Dudley turned to Harry with despair in his eyes. Harry felt that this was just adding insult to injury. He had to go to Kung Fu Monday through Friday and now he had to spend them completely with Dudley. Harry couldn't think of a worse way to spend his summer.
"Any questions?" Asked Mark.
"Will there be prizes for the best team?" asked Dave.
"Possibly. Any other questions?" he asked. When everyone was silent for a moment he said, "Good. Spend the rest of the time working with your partner."
Harry turned to Dudley and sighed. Dudley didn't even look up at Harry.
"Let's get to the track then…" Said Harry.
"Why?" asked Dudley.
"Because, slow coach, you need to become as fast a me in order for us to win the prize."
"We will never win the prize any way, moron. It's useless."
"Well then, do it just because we don't want to be the worst group and get push-ups." Said Harry as he began to jog off to the track.
They spent the next 30 minutes in complete silence as they went around the track. Harry really didn't want to talk to Dudley as that usually sparked insults and Dudley really couldn't talk with Harry because he was so winded. They had to stop several times while Dudley collapsed onto the ground into a tired heap but eventually they made it around three times. By then, the Dursleys had come in their car. Dudley and Harry went out to the car, sweating and winded. Both of them resigned to their fate.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You need to mow the lawn, do the dishes, and vacuum the house," listed off Uncle Vernon. Harry had just arrived at the Dursleys house and had flopped in a chair.
"Boy?" Snapped Uncle Vernon.
Harry suddenly looked up. He had fallen asleep almost the moment he sat down. "What was that?" he asked.
"I said, 'You need to mow the lawn, do the dishes, and vacuum the house!'" rumbled Uncle Vernon.
"I'm too tired, talk to me later," said Harry as he shut his eyes again.
Uncle Vernon's head seemed to swell. "You WILL do the chores now!"
"Yes," said Harry sleepily, "and I will make sure that Sirius knows that I am being worked to death here."
Harry closed his eyes all but a slit, just enough to be able to see Uncle Vernon's reaction. He was looking around cautiously as if some magical mass killer was going to jump out of a flowerpot and get him.
"Oh, never mind Harry. I'll do them. I didn't know that you were nearly that tired…" Uncle Vernon said, his throat constricted as if it hurt him to say the words.
Harry nodded sleepily and went back into a deep sleep. Uncle Vernon walked off, shaking with anger and fear.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cedric looked at the Triwizard Cup and then up at Harry.
"Did anyone tell you the cup was a portkey?" He asked.
"Nope," said Harry. He was looking around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly eerie. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"
"I dunno," said Cedric. He sounded slightly nervous. "Wands out, d'you reckon?"
"Yeah," said Harry, glad that Cedric had made the suggestion rather than him.
They pulled out their wands. Harry kept looking around him. He had, yet again, the strange feeling that they were being watched.
"Someone's coming," he said suddenly.
Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Harry couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holing its arm, he could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And--- several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time--- Harry saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby… or was it merely a bundle of robes?
Harry lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cedric. Cedric shot him a quizzical look. They both turned back to watch the approaching figure.
It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second, Harry and Cedric and the short figure simply looked at one another.
And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It was agony such as he had never felt in all his life; his wand slipped from his fingers as he put his hands over his face; his knees buckled; he was on the ground and he could see nothing at all; his head was about to split open.
From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."
A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes.
Cedric was lying spread-eagle on the ground beside him. He was dead.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry awoke with a start. Sweat was dripping down his face and he was breathing in short raspy breaths. His heart was pounding in his chest as he got up and looked at a clock. It was 8:00 in the evening. He had missed dinner and now would probably have to wait until breakfast. The Dursleys never let him have snacks or eat out of mealtime.
Harry sighed and stood up, preparing to head to his room to get some more sleep. Harry noted that he was incredibly sore and barely had the energy to drag himself to bed. When Harry got up to his room he saw on the pillow a sandwich and on top of it a note. Harry opened it and read:
"Peace offering"
It was unsigned but Harry recognized the handwriting to be Dudley's. He had seen him doing some work for his school during the summer. Harry smiled as he ate the sandwich thinking of how much better Kung Fu would be if he weren't continually trading blows with Dudley. After he finished his sandwich he laid down and went to sleep, finally without a nightmare.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, after their warm-ups and dodging drills, they got into their partners. Mark was inspecting them and asking them what they thought that they needed to work on. He wanted to make sure that no team was neglecting working with each other and just playing. When he finally came around to Dudley and Harry he raised his eyebrows.
"Are you sure that this is a good match up?" he asked, eyeing Dudley's belly and Harry's skinny body.
"We were the only ones left. We got stuck with each other," said Harry.
Mark looked like he was considering this. "Well then, I'll have to have Rose work with you two to get yourselves up in ability. You in strength," he said pointing to Harry, "and you in speed." He pointed to Dudley.
Rose walked over to them and used her trademark pretty smile on Harry. Dudley looked like he couldn't have found a better thing.
"So Rose will help you two get better at Kung Fu," Mark said eyeing the two boys.
"I'll make this partnership the best one out there," she said looking at Mark. Harry and Dudley just stood there dumbly, Harry wondering what he had done to deserve this and Dudley thinking of how lucky he was.
Mark went back up and stood in front of the class. "For the next month you will only work with your partner. You two will do warm-ups together and do dodging together. The only thing that we will do as a group from now on is stance work. Other than that you will do everything with your partner."
Harry sighed lightly and motioned for Dudley to follow him onto the track. As they went around their first lap Dudley looked up at Harry.
"Do you even like Rose?" he demanded.
Harry looked around suddenly; he thought that Rose had been jogging with them. She was off talking with Mark. "No, not really."
Dudley snorted. "She goes after you all day and you don't even like her?"
"I barely know her," Harry said lightly.
"Hmm…" said Dudley dumbly as they jogged on. They didn't talk for the rest of the time, but Harry thought that it was a much more friendly silence than it had been the other day. Dudley didn't seem to be just putting up with Harry. Now he was more resigned to his fate and ready to try to work in a team with his cousin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning, when Harry woke up, he could barely move his legs. He attempted to get off his bed and stand, but his legs hurt with an agony that he would barely call sore. They fit more into the category of unusable.
"Ow," grunted Harry as he bent his legs over the edge of the bed. Harry managed to stretch his legs out and stand. He wobbled a bit as he looked over at his clock and saw the time.
"Six-o-clock!" he said with shock. He felt like he had been shot, or had the Crutatius Curse used on him. He stumbled out into the hall and went down for an early breakfast. When he got inside the kitchen, Dudley was sitting at the table, eating.
"Morning," said Dudley in between a huge bite of a pastry.
Harry yawned and pulled himself out some doughnuts. "Hey." They ate in complete silence for a while, each of them ravenously hungry. Eventually when both of the boys finished Harry began to slip on his shoes.
"Where are you going?" asked Dudley.
"I need to go for a walk or a jog. My legs are stiff." said Harry shortly. Dudley nodded at him and then was silent for a moment. Harry broke the silence by saying, "Want to come?"
Dudley suddenly smiled, glad that he had not been the one to ask. "Sure, let me get my shoes on."
Harry waited while Dudley got his shoes on. When they got outside both of them stretched and started. As they rounded the first corner, Harry thought that it was one of his better decisions to take Dudley with him. Dudley helped him keep up the pace and feel that what he was doing wasn't worthless. Dudley thought that it was great that Harry didn't mind him coming. He was worried that Harry would get a disgusted look on his face and turn him down.
About a half mile into the jog, Dudley clutched at his side and stopped, panting. Harry did the same, as he was also having a side cramp.
"I have a better idea," started Dudley, "Tomorrow, we eat after we run."
Harry was at first taken aback at the thought of he and Dudley doing this again, but the more he thought about it the more he liked it. Dudley wasn't bad company when he wasn't trying to be big and tough. Harry smiled at Dudley.
"I think that I would have to agree," said Harry.
"Worth it, though," said Dudley.
"What?" Asked Harry.
"Loosening up our legs. My legs really hurt before this. Now I am fine."
Harry nodded and then sat down in the light of the newly rising sun. Dudley sat down next to him and they both stared off into the sunset, content.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So you two keep coming back?" asked Dave that afternoon at Kung Fu.
Harry rolled his eyes. "You keep not shutting up."
Dave turned on Harry and said, "So, you think that you are tough enough to take me?"
Harry chuckled and turned, walking back to Rose and Dudley. "So Rose, what is on your vicious training schedule today?"
"Today," she said, "We work on upper body strength. Harry, you need work there."
Harry groaned and Dudley cheered. "No more miles to run!" he said happily.
"Oh no," amended Rose, "You will still run the customary three miles, you will just spend more of the day working in the weight room."
"There is a weight room?" Dudley asked curiously.
"Yes, and you will be seeing a lot of it if you want to become the best team. We are also going to work on each of the stances. I want you to know them in and out. Being strong and fast does nothing if you do not know how to use it." she lectured evenly.
Harry and Dudley nodded to her to show that they heard and started on their warm-ups. Harry found that this was more annoying than a normal day because he had Rose standing over them telling them that their push-ups were slacking and that they were slowing down. When they ran the mile she kept a vicious pace and threatened to give push-ups if they couldn't keep up. At the end of the three-mile jog he could tell that Dudley thought that he was going to die.
Another odd thing about the day was the fact that they had to do dodging drills without the rest of the class. When they tried, Rose had a whole lot of trouble hitting them. There just wasn't enough of her. She, in the end, decided that dodging drills were a waste of time without everyone else there. For once, Dudley barely had any push-ups after a dodging drill.
Finally Rose saw them fit to head out to the weight room and work out. She hovered over both of them and made sure that they did the most they could do.
"Dudley, you will lift that five more times before you get a break!" she barked at him.
"But-but…"
"No buts!" she commanded.
She strode over to Harry, who had been doing the bench press for about 15 minutes. He had sweat dripping down his face and looked completely spent.
"You can have a break now for five minutes, Harry," she said lightly to him and held out her hand to help him up. Harry took her hand not even noting that she held on for a moment longer than was really necessary.
Harry went over to an open water fountain to get a drink, and then sat down on a bench, where, after a moment, Rose joined him and sat down very close next to him. He shifted uncomfortably, and felt even more uncomfortable as she started to lean over onto his shoulder. But just then, Dudley came out, and Rose sat of slightly and scooted so she wouldn't be nearly so close to Harry. He was very glad.
"Hey Rose, Harry," said Dudley heavily. He was completely red in the face and looked like he had been working more than he ever had in his entire life.
"Did you do your last five?" asked Rose sullenly.
"Uh, yea." stuttered Dudley. He walked over to the fountain and quickly got a drink and then he rejoined Harry. For once, Harry was actually glad that Dudley was nearby. That was a thought that he never thought would cross his mind.
"Only five minutes, guys," she said to them.
Harry smirked slightly. He was thinking of how long he might have been able to extend the break if he had flirted back with Rose. He probably could have pushed an hour before she noted the time.
After five minutes passed, she had them get back to work and for the rest of the afternoon Harry managed to keep his breaks at the same time as Dudley's so that he wouldn't have to deal with Rose. He could face Lord Voldemort, but he sure couldn't take on a pretty girl that he really wasn't interested in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry woke the next morning with his usual stiff muscles. The only difference from the last morning was that this time it wasn't his legs that were acting up. He could hardly move his arm or his chest without them screaming at him. He sat up, painfully, and looked at his clock. It said that the time was 6:01.
"I have to stop sleeping when I get back from Kung Fu," said Harry, wondering how much longer he would awaken so early.
Harry slipped on some jogging clothes and walked downstairs to see Dudley doing stretches. Harry sat down next to him and started stretching. Finally, they headed out into the neighborhood. Most of the time they didn't say much, but that was due to how early it was. Dudley just made some short comments about the weather.
When they got back there was a scramble for the showers, but Harry was faster so he made it up to the shower first and locked the door with Dudley standing outside the door threatening him. Harry just laughed and turned on the water, waiting for it to heat up.
" If you don't open this door right now I'll… I'll… send a love note from you to Rose!" shouted Dudley in a last ditch effort to get the shower. When it didn't work he sighed and went down to the kitchen to get something to eat.
"Dudley?" asked his mother when he went downstairs. He was surprised to see her up so early.
"Yes, Mum?"
"Where were you earlier? I saw you come in the door with Harry." She said Harry's name as if it were an insult to the world.
"I was out jogging with Harry to loosen up our legs. I jog better when I jog with someone else," he said lightly as if it weren't something odd.
Aunt Petunia looked at him for a moment as he pulled out his customary box of doughnuts and then she said suddenly, "I want you to stop spending time around him. Maybe it was a bad idea to send him to Kung Fu, too."
Dudley suddenly looked up, realizing that he would lose Harry's help if he didn't do something quickly. Then he suddenly realized that he would be free of Harry if he got his mum to stop paying for Harry's Kung Fu. Dudley thought about Harry for a moment and then how Harry had said that he would help him get Rose to notice him.
"Mum!" said Dudley in a slightly whining tone. "I like getting to push Harry around at Kung Fu! It is the only thing that makes it worth going!"
His mother responded immediately. If there was one thing that she didn't like, it was upsetting Dudley. "Oh honey, I just thought that you were becoming friends with him. I just didn't want you to get mixed with the wrong crowd. But if all you are doing is pushing him around, then that is okay. Never mind stopping Harry."
Dudley suddenly put on a face of happiness. "I love you mum." Dudley went over to her and gave her a hug. Dudley smiled, wondering what had made him do that. He just put up with Harry. Right?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione opened her dresser, looking at the clothes and trying to decide what to pack. She pulled out some long black robes which she know she would wear regularly and some flashier ones that she knew she could take to a party if she went to one. The problem that seemed to crop up was that she just didn't have that many robes. She didn't need them as at Hogwarts there was a uniform (robs with a Hogwarts symbol on them) and she almost never just went out into a wizarding town.
"Mother, I need to go shopping!" called Hermione down to her mother.
Hermione's mother came up the stairs to her room and came in. "Are you feeling all right 'Mione?"
She put her hand to Hermione's forehead and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes mum, I am fine. I said that I wanted to go shopping because if I am going to go to Bulgaria with Viktor I need to have robes. Wearing Muggle clothes would be frowned upon."
"Oh, one of those shops! We then we'll head down to… something-gon- alley?" said her mother, sounding excited.
"Diagon Alley."
"Right, well do you have enough wizard money left inside the bank or will we have to exchange again?"
Hermione sincerely hoped that they had enough wizarding money left. The last time they had gone to the bank, her mother had tried to haggle with the goblins, something that had not happened in 500 years. She had read that in a book somewhere. The crowd that had drawn around her mother was enormous. Eventually, when her mother wouldn't settle on an exchange rate, they were thrown out and Hermione had to come in alone, disguised, to get their money exchanged. Hermione's mother was often the opposite of Hermione. Hermione was studious and usually planned everything out carefully. Her mother was eccentric and very spur of the moment.
As it turned out, Hermione had to exchange her Muggle money for wizarding money, but this time her mother did not interfere. They went out across Diagon Alley, doing what Hermione mostly detested, clothes shopping. Finally, when they were finished, they headed home and Hermione packed the rest of her books. She would need to bring a whole lot if she were to keep her studying schedule.
When she was finished packing, she sat down on her bed thinking of what Ron and Harry were doing. Ron would likely be playing Quidditch with his brothers or doing some chores. Harry would probably be bored around the Dursleys. Now she was headed off to go spend three weeks with Viktor Krum. Oddly, she found that she would rather be spending three weeks with Ron. Hermione suddenly shook that thought. Ron or Harry she would be happy to spend three weeks with. Ron wasn't the only one, right?
Hermione looked over at her clock. It was 10:00. Two hours from now she would be speeding away with Viktor Krum to go to Bulgaria with him. She pulled up a book (Spells You Will Never Have to Block and How to Block Them by Reel Dum Buke) and attempted to read. She, for some reason, couldn't get Ron off her mind. He had never really liked Viktor Krum anyway, and she wasn't sure that she liked him enough to upset Ron like that…
"Never mind him, anyway," said Hermione to herself. "Ron never really did care what I wanted anyway!"
Hermione tried to focus her mind on other things, but it really wasn't happening. Eventually she gave up and pulled out some paper to write to Ron.
Dear Ron,
How are you? I hope that you aren't getting too many chores. I just got done packing for my trip with Viktor. I am headed to Bulgaria for three weeks and can't wait. I hear that the Hag's Horrible Haunted House is a must see and the Goul's Greatest Gobbling Ground is one of the best places to eat. Are you still upset that I am spending time with Krum? He is no longer competing against us and I… wouldn't want to do anything that would ruin our friendship. Please write back soon.
Love from,
Hermione
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Yes, I know that Kung Fu isn't really like I described it, but it was my inspiration for this story and I decided that I wanted it to be more than it really is. The T-Stance and Tiger Stance are real stances; I got them from my brother who took Kung Fu for six months. Hopefully any Kung Fu masters will not be too annoyed with me for mutilating their art.