1 Chapter Two: Life Goes on While Gaining Brawn
Ron reread the letter from Hermione for the fifth time. I… wouldn't want to do anything that would ruin our friendship. The words echoed back into his head. She sounded so excited about it, and yet was asking him if she minded that he was going. Are you still upset that I am with Krum? Well, Ron knew that he was, but he didn't know why.
Ron's thoughts were interrupted by his mother's voice. "Breakfast!"
Ron stood up and got dressed, still milling over what it was that he didn't like about Krum. He wasn't quite sure what made him hate that Hermione was going to Bulgaria and it would sound stupid to write back to Hermione and say, "Uh yeah, I would like you to stay. Dunno why but it bothers me. Yours Truly, Ron".
Ron rolled his eyes as he walked over to the door, thinking about what he was going to write back. Suddenly Ron's legs gave out from under him and fell sprawling to the floor. He tried to get up, but his legs had no feeling; they wouldn't move.
"FRED, GEORGE!!!" shouted Ron angrily as he tried to squirm back into his room so he could get his wand and perform some sort of counter charm. Just as Ron was getting through the door Ginny came down the hall, chuckling at him.
"Ginny, help me!" pleaded Ron.
"I'm not sure if I should," said Ginny teasingly. Ron looked like he was ready to explode at her as she grinned down at him.
"Please?"
Ginny changed the subject, pretending to ignore the fact that Ron was still lying on the ground, looking up at her. "When is Harry coming over?"
Ron considered whether or not to answer that. He was the one lying on the floor; she should be helping him. In the end, his logic prevailed. He couldn't get her help if he was to conceal information, "I owled Dumbledore to ask if it was all right yesterday. Hopefully he will owl back soon. Now will you help me?"
Ginny smiled impishly at Ron and stepped over him and down to breakfast. Ron let out a frustrated howl as she left. When he finally did get his wand and got back up he was having murderous thoughts. He didn't need all this trouble as he tried to think, and to put on top of that, Ginny was still asking about Harry. Why couldn't she just let it go?
Finally, as Ron headed down the stairs he decided that he wouldn't owl Hermione back. It seemed that she was already ready to go and he knew that no matter what he said he would either upset her, or lie to her; neither of which he wanted to do.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Now, concentrate!" commanded Rose. "I am the only thing in the world. Block out the wind, block out the rain, and only listen to my voice."
Rain pattered on top of Harry's head as he attempted to do the concentrating drills. Rose was walking around Harry and Dudley like a drill sergeant, trying to help them reach a new level of concentration. That was the reason that she had had them go outside on a windy, rainy day.
"T-Stance!"
Harry snapped into the T-Stance, hoping that it was fast enough for Rose. He really didn't feel that he needed any more push-ups. Harry tried not to think about Dudley, and if he made it into the T-Stance fast enough. All he wanted to do was clear and focus his mind.
"Tiger Stance!"
Harry slid his legs apart quickly, and opened his hands slightly. He focused on Rose being the only thing in the world. What she said mattered, where she moved mattered, what she did mattered. That was all he should focus on.
"Are you cold? You had better not be, because if you are focusing you shouldn't feel it." she said. Harry stood shivering. Rain dripped off of his nose and onto the ground. Suddenly and slowly at the same time he felt the world around him leave him. It didn't matter than it was raining; the cold was unimportant. Harry's vision began to slip out and suddenly he felt that the ground slipped out from underneath him. It didn't matter though; all that he really cared about was what Rose's next move would be and where she would go. All that Harry could see was Rose and himself; he felt oddly out of body and serene.
Rose walked around Harry, trying to figure him out. He seemed to be slipping in and out of a focused trance. It was like he couldn't quite handle just putting his mind on one thing at a time. Though, she supposed it was pretty much the hardest step in Kung Fu. Attempting to enter such a state of focus that only you and your target exist, that is.
After another ten minutes (although time meant nothing to Harry at this point) she released them telling them to go dry off and meet her in the gym. As Dudley and Harry walked off, she watched Harry, wondering if he had made it as far as the trance. Dudley sure hadn't.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Whew," breathed Harry when he finally got into the car, "I am glad we have a weekend coming up!"
"So am I," added Dudley as he sat down next to Harry in the car. For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence as both Harry and Dudley didn't know what to say. It wasn't normal for them to be talking casually, so they weren't used to it.
"So, what are your plans for the weekend?" asked Dudley carefully, as if trying not to give any offense by what he was saying.
"Most likely lots of chores and plenty of studying. Learning," Harry suddenly looked up at his Aunt and Uncle to see if they were listening. When he saw that they weren't he went on in a slightly hushed voice, "Learning magic is a lot harder than you would think. The teachers have given me so much stuff to do over the summer."
Dudley nodded to Harry and leaned back in his chair. He was dead tired and wanted to start his sleep in the car. Harry turned and looked out his window, watching the rain hit the window. He had felt a calm settle over him ever since he had gone into the focused trance. As Harry listened to the steady patter of the rain, he found his thoughts drifting back to the lesson they had learned with Rose that day. He could still remember the amazing calm that focus of such a high level brought. He hadn't worried about Voldemort during the trance, hadn't thought of how he was going to get Rose to notice Dudley, or even if he was still standing in the field. It had been the simplest 10 minutes of his life.
Harry's line of thought was broken by a sudden and loud snore from Dudley. Harry looked over at him, and punched him in the arm to wake him up. "Stop snoring," he commanded, trying to sound imperious.
Dudley looked over at Harry with sleepy eyes and said almost as an afterthought of some unspoken thought, "I don't snore." Dudley proceeded to turn and lay his head against the window and start snoring again. Harry rolled his eyes. A year ago Harry would have just written Dudley off as annoying, but now he felt that Dudley was almost a friend. Harry found that he was actually looking forward to jogging with Dudley in the morning. When he was out jogging with Dudley the atmosphere of the way they treated each other changed. Was it friendship?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry jogged next to Dudley, sweating heavily as he had decided to pick up the pace today. After all, Dudley did have to eventually become as fast Harry. Dudley suddenly turned over to Harry panting heavily as they ran, "Hey Harry, do you have to spend all day studying today? I mean, if you have time maybe we could head down to the arcade or something…"
Harry suddenly smiled; Dudley was making the effort to be friends. "Sure, I don't need to study all day. I don't think that I have the ability to pull a Hermione."
"Pull a Hermione?" asked a confused Dudley.
"Oh sorry, you wouldn't understand, you don't know Hermione. She's a friend of mine from Hogwarts. She could study for 24 hours straight and not stop, I'm sure."
"Tell me about what it is like. I mean having magic and what it is like at a wizarding school," commanded Dudley.
Harry smirked almost involuntarily at Dudley's commanding nature. "Maybe I will… If you beat me back!"
Harry sprinted off towards the Dursleys. Dudley gave a yelp of surprise and chased after Harry, but couldn't match his speed. Harry was back to the house about 40 feet ahead of Dudley. Dudley came in, gasping for air as he collapsed on the dewy grass.
"Okay, so I am still slower than you. Well you have the advantage, you aren't carrying around all of this." Dudley motioned to his belly as he gave his excuse.
Harry yawned and laid down in the grass next to Dudley. "So what is an arcade like?"
Dudley sat up suddenly. "You have never been to one!?"
"No, when would I have the chance to?" Harry asked, his eyes starting to droop.
"I guess you wouldn't have…" he started slowly, as if he had never thought about it before.
Harry grunted in response, thinking that he was deprived of much more than an arcade. He had missed a whole lot in life. Harry suddenly shook himself; he wouldn't get trapped in self-pity. Harry sat up and looked over at Dudley, whose eyes were also starting to droop.
"Maybe we should go inside and get some more sleep. Then you can take me to the video games that you like so much," Harry said as he got up and started to head in. Dudley jumped up behind him and followed him. When they entered Uncle Vernon, who looked ready to kill, met them.
"Where have you been?" he asked Harry, completely ignoring the fact that Dudley was out also.
"We were out jogging to get our sore muscles loose," said Harry in an almost challenging way. He doubted that Uncle Vernon could come up with something wrong with that, especially since Dudley had been doing it too.
"A phone call came for Dudley while he was out with you." Harry marveled at Uncle Vernon's ability to make it look like it was Harry's fault that a phone call had come for Dudley while he jogged. Harry rolled his eyes and headed down the hall to his room; score one for Uncle Vernon nothing to Harry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Uncle Vernon?" asked Harry.
"What do you want boy?" asked Uncle Vernon, taking a bite out of his toast.
"Where is Dudley?"
"With a friend, and don't ask questions," he responded almost mechanically.
Harry frowned. Dudley had said that at nine they would leave for the arcade. Harry had awoken at 8:30 and had eaten. Now it was 9:30 and Dudley was with a friend? Harry suddenly felt a slight rage flowing through him. Dudley had said that he would go out with Harry and then he had just left with another friend without saying anything?
Harry walked back up to his room, seething. Was this Dudley's idea of how to make a friend? Had he forgotten so soon? Harry shook himself and told himself not to let Dudley get to him. Harry pulled out his homework and began on a Potions essay, beginning his concentration drills. He needed to put Dudley out of his mind in order to work. Slowly Harry worked himself into a focus so he forgot about Dudley, and began to work.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione, after two days, already knew that she would be bored the entire time at Bulgaria. Spending time with Viktor Krum was about as interesting as spending time with a post. When she had first gotten to Bulgaria she had been politely escorted to the room that would be hers in Viktor Krum's mansion. After she had set all of her things down she had gone down and met with Viktor. He had been happy to see her, but said that he had to go off to his Quidditch practice.
Hermione had offered to come with him and he agreed. She had spent the next 4 hours sitting on a hard seat in the middle of the stands, sitting next to a very talkative friend of Krum's. The only problem was that Hermione didn't speak Bulgarian, so she could hardly converse with him. This, however, did not stop him from rambling on at Hermione.
When they had finally left, she had gone with Viktor to a Quidditch press conference and Viktor had discussed Quidditch tactics with the press while Hermione tried not to fall asleep. However, when Viktor finished there, he was not about to stop. He proceeded to go to a Quidditch study and another Quidditch practice. All in all, the first day had not gone well. The problem was, though, that the second day had not gone any better. Had Viktor just invited her to Bulgaria so she could tag along behind him in his life of Quidditch?
Hermione found, however, that she couldn't be just bored out of her mind, she also had to be tortured by Ron. After she had owled him, she had at least expected him to come back with another letter saying, "NO DON'T DO IT!" However, apparently Ron thought that she would like it better if he didn't write back. Now she was bored, and anticipant for any letter from Ron.
"Why Ron?" she asked herself, realizing that Ron wasn't the only one who she could owl and talk with. But somehow she knew that a letter from Harry just wouldn't be the same as a letter from Ron. But why?
Okay, Hermione wasn't stupid. She knew that she thought Ron was cute, but she didn't think that that would cause her to constantly think about him. Dream about him kissing her, giving her flowers… Why didn't she think of Harry that way? He was good-looking too, but it just didn't seem the same.
Hermione lay down on her bed, thinking about what she was going to do to keep from going crazy. One can only take so much Quidditch. Finally, Hermione decided that she would owl Ginny. She could at least talk with Ron and Hermione knew that she would actually write back. Besides, Hermione really needed a girl to talk with now; she was afraid that she was falling in love.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hermione?" Ron asked, looking around a field somewhere. "Hermione, where are you?"
But Ron could see nothing but grass… Suddenly, the grass seemed to be ominous, threatening. It was going to keep him away from Hermione forever. He would never see her again. Ron ran through the field screaming Hermione's name, hoping to find her.
"Ron?"
It was Hermione's voice. Where was she? Ron spun around the field when the grass suddenly started to grow. It was growing so fast that within a minute it had covered up Ron's view of the field.
"Hermione!?" Ron called out to find her, but he couldn't get through the grass, it was too thick. "HERMIONE!"
Ron suddenly shot awake, cold sweat going down his face. The dream had felt so real and he had been so scared. Suddenly Ron wondered if he had done the right thing when he had chosen not to write back to Hermione. Ever since the letter he had worried about it. What if she was mad at him now? What if she decided to stay in Bulgaria and never come back?
Ron shook himself. There was no way that Hermione would stay in Bulgaria and never come back; he needed to stop his imagination from running wild like that. His stomach growled and he groaned.
"Just what I needed, now I have to get up," Ron said to himself. He opened his door, careful not to wake anyone and walked stealthily down the stairs and into the kitchen. When he finally got down there he was surprised to see that someone was already there. It was Ginny.
Ron smiled at Ginny, who had fallen asleep with her head on the table. Suddenly, Ron stopped smiling. In front of Ginny was a letter and at the top of it was "Dear Harry," Had she stayed up so late that she fell asleep while trying to think of what to write to Harry? Ron rolled his eyes. Ginny should know that like all of the other previous years at Hogwarts, Harry would be polite to her, but wouldn't look at her as more than Ron's little sister. What was she playing at? Wild thoughts entered Ron's mind like waking Ginny up and telling her off or taking the paper and tearing it apart, but his logic got the better of him and he just walked back upstairs, still hungry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dear Harry,
How has your summer been so far? Ron told me that it isn't too nice over there with your Aunt and Uncle. I hope that they are treating you all right. I am nearly bored out of my mind here. My friend Kyle from school is off in Egypt looking at mummies and my other good friend Kelly is visiting relatives in Asia somewhere.
To add to my already growing list of problems Fred and George are spending a pile of money that they got somewhere on a whole load of prank items. Each day there is something new to look forward to. The great part about it is that they mostly target Ron. Just the other day I say him lying on the ground; apparently his legs weren't working. It was hilarious to walk off and leave him there on the ground.
Ron says that he has owled Dumbledore to ask if you can come over, hopefully soon. What have you been doing so far this summer? I hope you aren't still blaming yourself about You-Know-Who. Write back.
Love,
Ginny
Harry reread the letter for a second time, and for the first time that weekend he felt happy. For some reason getting a letter from Ginny cheered him up, at least he would have someone to write back and fourth with since Ron wasn't. Ever since Dudley had taken off without Harry, Harry had been moping around doing chores and work. He hadn't even gone outside and had most certainly not gone jogging.
Harry pulled out some paper and wrote a return letter to Ginny.
Dear Ginny,
I am glad you owled; I have been bored out of my mind here too. So far my summer has been horrible. I had to go to this Kung Fu thing with my cousin Dudley. Kung Fu is a Muggle fighting art where you need to train to become stronger and work on concentration. It wasn't so bad at first; the only problem was that all of the work made me really sore. I even started to become friends with my cousin Dudley, but just now he said that he would go to an arcade with me and then he left to go with a different friend leaving me here alone. I think that he never really wanted to be friends in the first place and just wanted to annoy me.
I haven't really had that much of a problem with the fact that Voldemort is back; He has gone after me so many times that I am almost numb to it now. The thing that I have been worried about, however, is what will happen to the people around me. What would I do if Ron were killed just to get to me? I know that thoughts like that don't help, but I can't help it. I also keep having nightmares of Cedric's face as he lies dead on the ground, but I am pretty much all right. You eventually get used to nightmares.
I can't wait until I can come over; I have such a better time at your place than here with my Aunt and Uncle. All I can really do here is work on my homework or do things around the house. Well, write back soon.
Harry paused, looking up at Ginny's letter. She had put at the bottom "Love, Ginny". He looked down at his letter and tried how to decide to end it. Hopefully if he put "Love, Harry" Ginny would not take it wrong and assume feelings were there that were most certainly not. Finally Harry, thinking of how it felt to see "Love, Ginny" at the bottom of his letter finished it off with a careful "Love, Harry".
Harry looked down at the letter and wondered if he really should make it sound like he was having such a bad time. Would it sound like he was whining? Harry most certainly didn't want to come across as a whiner. Harry also looked at the "Love, Harry" and was beginning to have second thoughts. What if Ron saw the letter and thought that something was between him and his sister Finally, Harry erased the "Love, Harry" and put "Yours Truly, Harry". As Harry looked at that, he thought that it looked fine and he folded up the letter to give to Hedwig.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Aunt Petunia smiled, looking across the sparsely filled breakfast table. Harry and Dudley were sitting at opposite ends of the table, Dudley looking over at Harry who was eating and pointedly deterring any conversation that Dudley tried to make. Uncle Vernon was absorbed in his paper, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was sticking his knife in his oatmeal and his fork in his bacon. Apparently, the morning news was riveting.
When Harry finished his breakfast, Aunt Petunia watched Harry go down the hall to his room and saw Dudley follow him. She slowly got up from the table and backed up against the wall just around the corner so Harry and Dudley wouldn't see her, craning her ears to hear anything.
"Harry, what is wrong?" Dudley was asking.
Harry's answer was spiteful. "You know what's wrong! Don't even try to reel me in again. I know you for how you are now. No wonder Rose doesn't like you!"
Aunt Petunia heard silence for a moment and then a door slammed. Perfect, she thought, that will stop them from being friends. She straightened her craning neck and almost skipped back into the kitchen to see her husband.
"It worked Vernon!" she said excitedly.
"Good, can't have him associating with any of them," was his gruff answer. Suddenly they both saw Dudley run out the front door. He seemed to be very distressed. After seeing Dudley run out Aunt Petunia lost her resolve.
"Vernon, are you sure that we should do this? He looks so hurt!" she looked to be almost ready to run out the front door after Dudley.
"Petunia," said Uncle Vernon consolingly, "It might hurt him now, but in the long run he will benefit. Think of your sister."
Aunt Petunia stiffened for a moment and then nodded. "I suppose you are right…" But she looked out the window as Dudley jogged out of sight, wondering if it really was best for Dudley.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two days passed, and Harry didn't talk with Dudley, but now Dudley left him alone. They walked carefully around each other. When they went jogging in the morning they took different routes and at Kung Fu they barely talked with each other. Rose, for her part, was becoming exasperated with them. How could she train them if they wouldn't talk to each other?
On the third day she had them working in the weight room and was trying to get them to talk to each other when she finally gave up.
"Fine! If you two want to be absolute prats then go ahead! Don't blame me though if you loose in the tournament," she shouted in and stormed off, out of the weight room. Dudley looked over at Harry, who was laying on the bench press. Harry pushed 160 pounds up and let it down, up, down, up, down.
"Harry," Dudley started tentatively, "I'm sorry that I told you that I would go to the arcade with you, but four years… It was important to me."
"What do you mean four years?" asked (or rather grunted) Harry as he pushed up and down the rather heavy bar.
"You know, my friend."
Harry put the bar on the stand and stood up. "No, I still don't know what you mean."
Dudley frowned as Harry moved out of the way. It was Dudley's turn to bench press. He laid down and Harry spotted him as he easily lifted the bar that Harry had fought with. "Well, he called me four years after he moved away. What don't you understand about that?"
"Your friend? You mean that you hadn't seen your friend for four years when he called you?" asked Harry, slightly nettled that Dudley could easily bench the 160-pound bar.
"Of course. He was visiting town and wanted me to spend the day with him. Didn't dad tell you? " Dudley looked at Harry's blank face. "HE DIDN'T!?"
Harry shook his head. "He told me that you were visiting a friend. I thought that you just blew me off to irritate me."
"No. You see, I had a friend that I used to hang out with all the time, but he moved away and now I rarely hear from him. The last time he called was four years ago, and now he was back in town. I told my dad specifically to tell you about him and the entire situation." Dudley seemed to be fuming. Suddenly he noticed that he was still doing the bench press. The bar dropped down to his chest; Harry barely had time to stop it from hitting Dudley.
"Ack, I can't lift it!" cried Dudley as Harry helped him set it on the stand. Dudley sat up, rubbing his arms. "Guess I lost track of my count…"
"NOW YOU ARE TALKING!?" Rose had just walked in. "So, I leave and you two actually speak to each other again!? You two are hopeless!!!" She rolled her eyes back into her head, shrugged her shoulders, and sighed. Dudley and Harry just laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry,
Oh, Harry. Don't worry about us; we have almost more charms on our house than you have on yours. If Voldemort tried to get to us then he would have no luck. As far as dreams go, well… After the Chamber of Secrets in my first year I kept having horrible nightmares. Then my mother gave me a dream catcher. I suppose that you wouldn't know what a dream catcher does though would you? A wizard dream catcher really does strain out bad dreams. I put on with this owl that I enchanted myself; maybe that will help.
I'm sorry about your cousin, but… what is an arcade? Is that something that Muggles use? Well, we are still waiting for a response from Dumbledore, but we are hopeful that he will answer soon. Mum says that she thinks our house is about as safe as yours.
However, just because you can't come over here doesn't mean that we can't come and visit you. Is there a time that you think Ron and I could come over to your Aunt and Uncle's? Maybe if we come over then your summer won't be nearly so bad. Write back and tell me when might be good.
Love,
Ginny
Harry smiled at the letter, thinking of the fun that he would have if Ron and Ginny came over to the Dursleys. He could imagine Ron and him exploring the park as he told them of Muggle things. Heck, he could show Ginny and Ron the arcade. Suddenly, Harry's line of thought broke off in despair. The Dursleys would never let him invite his friends over; they just wouldn't be welcome. Maybe, thought Harry, maybe if they ever have to go out of town or on vacation then I could get Ron and Ginny over here.
Looking over that the package that had come with the letter, Harry reached over from where he had been laying reading to open it. When he pulled it out, he was shocked. The dream catcher looked nothing like a Muggle one, in fact it seemed to be something that had flown from space and crashed down on the earth. It had a bright star in the center of several multicolored rings. All of the rings lined up beside each other and had glowing dots on them. It was beautiful.
Harry scanned the open box that had contained the dream catcher to see if he could find how he was supposed to use it. He would love to have a nice, restful night without nightmares if he could. However, as he peered down into the bottom of the box he saw nothing that would indicate how he might use the dream catcher. Frowning, Harry scanned the letter from Ginny again to see how he could apply the charm to himself. The letter contained nothing that would explain how he could use the dream catcher.
Irritated, Harry swung out his arm to toss the dream catcher onto his desk when it suddenly stopped in mid air. He was no longer holding it, and yet it stood still, seemingly defying gravity. For a moment Harry gawked at it until he suddenly had something to be even more amazed about. The charm lifted into the air higher, above his bed. The rings that were once lined up began to spin lightly until they were thrashing wildly through the air. It was leaving streaks of light behind it and it began to hum ever so slightly. Harry began to feel slightly tired and realized that the sound was putting him to sleep. He reached up and grabbed the dram catcher to put it away so he wouldn't fall asleep before dinner. He needed all the food he could get with the workout he had been having at Kung Fu.
The boy who lived was shocked once more when his hand slid straight through the rings until it hit the light in the center. Harry could get a grip on that. Once he closed his hand around the center of it he pulled it down into his lap and looked at it. The rings still swung in circles, but they had begun to slow. He put it in is drawer to try to block out the humming that had almost put him out. With some effort he managed to get it back in and out of hearing range.
Harry took out his quill and wrote back to Ginny telling her how grateful he would be to get a good night's sleep. He tried to leave out as much about sleepless nights as possible though. For some reason he really didn't want to worry Ginny at all. After a thoughtful pause about the sudden care for her he shook himself and went on to explain when they might be able to come over and what an arcade was. Harry paused; what else could he write…? He went on to talk about the near to rectified situation with Dudley and finally finished the letter with a "Love, Harry". He didn't change the ending this time.
Hedwig flew out of Harry's window off towards the Weasleys. Namely, a certain anticipant female.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What of the Minister?" asked Lord Voldemort as he paced impatiently around the room.
"He still wishes to deny the fact that you could possibly be back after 15 years," answered Lucius, shaking slightly in the Dark Lord's presence.
Voldemort's lips curled up in what Lucius thought was a horrible grimace, but in reality it was a smile. A horrible twisted smile. "This will be easier than I had foreseen. Are the dementors ready?"
"They are, my lord. Azkaban will soon be open for the taking."
"Good."
Lucius stood silent for a moment, not wanting to speak without being spoken to. The Dark Lord had a cruel temper sometimes. Finally he spoke up, "What about the Potter boy?"
Voldemort's eyes lit up slightly at the name. "He will have to be killed. Too many times have we tried and failed. He is a danger to us all. He has the power to find and use It now. We have waited to long to kill him. I leave it in your incompetent hands."
Lucius flinched slightly and then said, "Consider him as good as dead."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Finally," said Harry as he slammed his pencil down to the parchment. He had just finished his homework quota for the night. As Harry looked over at the clock he saw that it read 12:33. He groaned. It was going to be another night where he got to bed late and woke very early in the mourning from nightmares. Sighing, Harry pulled off his glasses and walked over to his bed. A slight humming noise caught his attention.
"The dream catcher!" Harry smiled and walked over to his drawer to pull out the rather odd looking contraption. Reaching through the very slowly moving rings his hand caught on to the amazingly bright light at the center of the dream catcher. When Harry pulled it out it lit up his entire room. The walls flashed as the eerie shadows of the rings were casted upon them. Harry began to feel rather tired as the dream catcher was placed above his bed. Harry made a mental note to thank Ginny very much, he didn't normally get to sleep so easily. The boy who lived fell into his first dreamless and deep sleep for months.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"There will be a test coming in a week," started Mark as everyone stood at attention, and hoping to leave soon. "You and your parents will have to sign a paper that states that you have listened to them, done well in any chores, and if there was school you would need to have good grades. The reason that you have to be generally good is because the Kung Fu art stands with the proposition that if you have a sound mind, you will have a sound body. These will be given out in two days."
Harry stood, almost bored, next to Dudley wondering if he would be able to get Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon to sign such a paper. He did, after all, do most of his chores. Dudley might be able to help him get them to listen.
Finally after a few more minor announcements, Harry, Dudley, and their class were allowed to go home. Harry walked with Dudley, as usual, and noticed that he seemed a bit out of focus from the conversation that Harry was trying to start. Finally, Harry gave up trying and looked over at Dudley, exasperated.
"Earth to Dudley? Anyone there?" Harry said, slightly put out with being ignored. Suddenly Harry noticed what Dudley was being distracted by. Rose was off on the track running around it trying to get a workout. She was wearing a white shirt and was sweating heavily. This created quiet an interesting effect.
"Oh, what!?" exclaimed Dudley, finally noticing Harry beside him.
Harry rolled his eyes and then suddenly looked like he had an idea, "Hey Dudley, what if we were to get you and Rose together? Then she would be off my back and you would get what you want!"
Suddenly Dudley blushed and Harry looked over at him thoughtfully. "Dudley, Harry!" called Uncle Vernon from the car. They had both stopped walking to observe the slightly more revealed form of Rose.
Harry jumped slightly in surprise and called back, "Coming!" Harry hit Dudley in the arm and motioned for him to follow Harry back to the car. As they got in, Harry said to Dudley, "I have a plan."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So, erm, Rose… How would you like to go to the arcade with Dudley and I this weekend? We were thinking that we might like some company." said Harry nervously, Dudley by his side. It was the next day at Kung Fu and they were hoping to get Rose to go with them. Rose, however, looked dubiously at Dudley for a moment. He was blushing furiously and standing slightly behind Harry who was calm and collected.
"Uh, sure. What time?" she asked.
"How about we meet over there at eleven o' clock. Maybe we can get some lunch too." Harry responded lightly.
"All right. I'll look forward to it!" responded Rose with a bright smile that made Dudley go redder.
"See you then," said Harry as he went over to where the rest of the class was still showing up. Dudley looked over at Harry and said, "Are you sure that this will work?"
"Well, of course not! Nothing in the world would find anything like you attractive!" said Harry, chuckling.
"No, seriously!" whined Dudley.
"Well, I think that if you just say that I am sick so I couldn't make it, then it will work." said Harry as if he was sure; however, he was actually not sure at all if Rose would even spend 30 minutes with Dudley, let alone enough time for lunch.
"Let's hope so," said Dudley feebly as Rose smiled over at Harry; Dudley thinking that it was at himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You need to come too!" implored Dudley, his face contorted with worry and nerves.
"Come on, it is only just a few hours with a girl. You can do it. Just tell her that I am sick." consoled Harry, wishing that Dudley would just get out of the house.
"B-but what if sh-she just wa-walks a-a-away?" asked Dudley, starting to sit back down on his bed.
Harry rolled his eyes. Dudley had been like this all morning. Filled with nerves, he had second-guessed his plan to spend the day with Rose. "Look," started Harry, "Rose is too polite to just walk out on you if I am not there. Besides, you are still operating on the idea that Rose likes me."
Dudley gave Harry a long hard stare. Harry finally gave in. "All right, all right! Maybe she does like me. But you can change that with your charming personality. Come on Dudley, if you don't try you will never know."
Dudley sighed. "I know, but I still can't help but be nervous. I have never liked a girl quite as much as I like Rose."
Harry nodded at Dudley, but doubted that what Dudley was feeling was a case of true love. Rose treated Dudley as if he was just Harry's brother or something. She couldn't even get right the fact that Dudley was, in fact, Harry's cousin.
"Don't worry, Dudley. You will do fine. And besides, even if it doesn't work out you know that you still have a whole lot of other girls that you can look out for!" comforted Harry. Dudley went back to fidgeting as Harry looked down at his watch. "It is time to go Dudley. Knock her dead."
Dudley nodded wanly at Harry and left on his bike, with Harry staring after him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Dudley got back Harry jumped from the magic book he had been reading and ran to the front door to see Dudley standing there with a silly grin on his face.
"How did it go?" asked Harry, barely able to contain his excitement.
"She said that we should do it sometime again!" said Dudley happily. Then Dudley looked thoughtful. "I did manage to get over my crush to the point of managing to talk with her, but she seemed to only like me as a friend. I think, well I mean…"
"What?" asked Harry.
"I think that I will have to lose more weight if I want Rose to like me. She was very nice, but didn't really seem to like me."
"Don't worry," consoled Harry, "at the rate that you are losing weight you are going to look like me soon! But, you know, maybe you shouldn't go after someone who likes you for your looks alone…"
"Well, Harry," started Dudley haltingly, "I mean, would you go out with a very nice girl who was ugly and fat?"
Harry seemed to consider this. After a moment he said, "Maybe, I might if I knew her really well."
Dudley looked at Harry with surprise and said, "Well most people wouldn't. So…" Dudley's voice trailed off. They both looked at each other uncomfortably for a moment and then Harry mumbled something about needing to get back to work.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Whew, today was a hard day!" exclaimed Dudley as they walked back to the car. That day had been difficult because they had been taking the pre-test before the final one. They had been given slips for their parents to sign and bring back the next day.
"Do you thing Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia will sign this for me?" asked Harry, slightly worried. Dudley looked back over at him.
"I'll talk to them, I'm sure that they'll come around." He smiled and they got into the car.
Dudley nodded. Up in the front seats, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were giving each other looks. Their son was consorting with one of THEM, and he even didn't seem to mind it. They were having second thoughts about if this was such a good thing to have Harry in Dudley's class.
"Mum, could you sign these," he said holding up Harry and Dudley's papers for the ascension to white-yellow belt. Normally, she would have just signed them without reading them, but now she was slightly worried about Dudley's judgment. He was, in fact, talking with Harry normally. As she looked at them her eyes widened and then she smiled lightly.
"Sure, I'll sign this one," she said, and she signed Dudley's paper, but not Harry's. She handed them back to Dudley and he looked at them.
"You forgot to sign this one," said Dudley, holding Harry's paper.
"I didn't forget, honey, I just didn't sign it. I'm not signing anything that says Harry's been doing what we say." She said it as if it were a fact that was unchangeable. Harry just sat there and let Dudley work.
Dudley's voice turned to a whine, "Mother, I'm not going to Kung Fu unless Harry gets to go to a higher belt with me."
"Now Dudley," his mother began, but Dudley began to fake cry, cutting her off.
"Mum, you don't love me anymore!" he blubbered.
Aunt Petunia looked constricted and suddenly grabbed Harry's paper and signed it. Dudley slowly went out of his crying fit.
"There, there," said his mother. "Don't cry now, it's fine."
Dudley smiled under his hand at Harry; Harry rolled his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry ran hard, sweat beading down his face. He was on the final lap of his 3-mile run test. He had 25 minutes to do it and he was sure that he would be close. Dudley ran in perfect stride right next to Harry, his belly bouncing up and down. There were only five people still running, Harry and Dudley being in the lead of them. The rest of the other kids had already finished. Rose smiled and came up next to them.
"Showing off your ability to be slow?" she grinned at them, jogging a little closer to Harry than was really necessary.
"Shut up!" panted Harry, tired as he got. Making 25 minutes would be the best score had attained so far.
Rose looked at her watch. "You only have one minute, you had better speed up if you want to move up to Yellow-White belt. Tell you what, I'll kiss you if you make it before the 25 minute barrier."
Harry blushed. He supposed that he really might like it if Rose kissed him, but he really couldn't have her as his girlfriend, seeing as he went to Hogwarts during the year. Plus he was supposed to be helping Dudley get with Rose. Harry turned to Dudley, nodded, and sped up. Dudley sped right up with him and they took on an almost dead out run, Harry at close to his top speed and Dudley at his absolute fastest.
"Is that all the faster you can run?" mocked Rose flirtingly. Harry realized that this could actually be a problem. He would have to head off and tell Rose that he wasn't interested soon.
"You know, if Dudley here beats you, then I'll kiss him," she said, attempting to get Harry to run faster. Suddenly, Dudley took off faster than he ever had before. He blazed far ahead of Harry, who was desperately to catch up with Dudley. Not so he could beat him, but so he could at least appear that he was trying. Dudley crossed the finish line about 3 feet ahead of Harry; Rose gave Harry a funny look.
"24 minutes, 54 seconds and 24 minutes 55 seconds!" shouted Mark. The other three kids didn't make it in time. Rose leaned over, right after the coach finished, and kissed Dudley on the cheek. She looked at Harry to judge how much jealousy she was generating, but Harry didn't care. Rose's pretty face suddenly looked troubled.
"Great job, guys," said Mark. "Now all of you head out to the obstacle course. That's where we will take the second part of the test."
Rose walked over to Harry, looking troubled still. "I want to talk with you after class," she said lightly, and then she walked off.
Harry watched after her, her blonde hair swinging back and fourth. He suddenly wondered what he was thinking. He could take her; Dudley wouldn't care too much… Harry started to go after her but Dudley suddenly came over to him
"Thanks Harry, you're a great friend," he said smiling like he had just found out the Christmas was to come early. Harry suddenly knew why he was helping Dudley, because it was what he did. It was just part of him to help others. There would be other girls.
"No problem, just know that I could have beat you there. Don't you go telling everyone that you are faster than me!" said Harry, as if he meant it.
"Hah, Hah, Harry you know that you are just slow!" Dudley grinned at Harry. Harry punched him in the arm and they headed out to the obstacle course, laughing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry and Dudley had very little trouble with the rest of the test. First, it was an easy timing on the obstacle course and then a practical stances demonstration. Harry and Dudley were both presented with their White-Yellow belts directly afterwards. Smiling with anticipation to show his parents, Dudley headed out while Harry stayed back for a moment.
"Rose, you wanted to talk?" asked Harry, walking over to her.
"Uh, yes. You see I-I w-wanted to t-talk to you a-about," she seemed to have lost her cool demeanor, and she seemed slightly vulnerable.
Harry looked at her, concerned. "What?"
"Do you not like me? Do you think I am ugly?" she asked, almost accusingly.
Harry was taken aback. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, it wasn't in the least what he expected. "Well, you see…" Harry began, at a loss for words.
"Never mind," she said turning and starting to walk off.
"No, wait," said Harry to her, "Let me explain!"
Rose turned to him, tears in her eyes. Harry began, "You see, I don't really want to get involved a Mugg- I mean I don't want to get involved with anyone around here. I always go off to a private school each year. I won't be around here much longer, only for the summer." Harry had almost said "Muggle" to her.
"A school? Is that it? Why don't you go to school around here?" asked.
"Uh, because I go to a school," Harry groped for a lie to use. Then it hit him, "for Incurably Criminal Boys," he finished.
"What!?" she exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah, I'm a complete loon." Harry felt really bad lying to her.
"Harry," she said, looking him in the eyes. "I can tell when people are lying to me. I have always been able to pretty easily."
Harry looked abashed.
"Just tell me if you don't like me," she said, her lip trembling slightly. Harry looked at her beautiful face, and tried to say that he didn't like her.
"I do like you, but you have to believe me that I can't tell you where I go during the school year, and… you would be in danger if I went out with you…"
"Danger?"
"Please just believe me…" Harry felt very bad about it, but he knew that he would have to let her go. He couldn't become involved with anyone or Voldemort might use them to get to Harry…
"I believe you, Harry…"
"Sorry, Rose," Harry thought that it was the hardest thing that he had done so far at Kung Fu, was just to walk off. He turned and walked back to the Dursleys.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dudley looked up from the TV, bored, and turned it off. Isn't there anything good on? He thought as he got up and tried to find something to do. Dudley stood up from the Lazy Boy chair he had been sitting on and walked into the kitchen, thinking that he would get something to eat. When he got into the kitchen, Harry was seated at the table doing his homework.
Harry had taken to doing his homework in the kitchen ever since Harry had scared Uncle Vernon into letting him sleep instead of chores. After Harry had managed that, he considered himself scott free. Harry began to do many things that he didn't used to be allowed to do, like sleep in and take seconds at the dinner table.
"What is it like?" asked Dudley. Harry looked up from the book that he was trying to decipher.
"What is what like?" he responded.
"Getting to use magic. Being a wizard and being able to do anything you want to." Dudley said to Harry.
"Well, I can't do anything I want to. It actually is very hard," he said to Dudley.
"What is that? It isn't even in English," Dudley said, leaning over Harry's book.
"It's for my ancient runes class. I'm taking that next year, but I have to pass an entry test. That's an ancient novel that I am trying to decipher. It's pretty much the hardest homework I have." he responded. "I could help you with it," Dudley offered, "It wouldn't be to hard. Just like a spelling test or something."
"Sure," said Harry.
When they got started, at first, Harry thought that this might be a waste of time to try to get Dudley's help. Harry spent most of the time teaching Dudley what a lot of words meant so he could actually read off definitions to Harry, when he needed them. But after about three hours work, they managed to get Harry well along his way in his homework. Both of them began to walk down the hallway towards their beds after they finished, but Dudley stopped Harry just before his door.
"Harry, what did Rose say to you earlier today?" asked Dudley sleepily.
"She wanted to know," Harry paused for a moment, "if I actually liked her."
"What did you say?"
"I told her that I did like her but I had a school I had to go to and I wouldn't be near her. Only during the summer would I be able to be with her. Then she asked me where I went to school and I said for one for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"Seriously? And she believed that?"
"Nope, she knew that I was lying and I told her that I couldn't tell her where I was going to school and that even if she did go out with me, she would be in danger."
"Well you didn't have to lie to her!" exclaimed Dudley; "I wouldn't have cared that much."
"No, I didn't lie. There is a dark wizard who is constantly after me. Everyone who I come close to could be used to get to me. I know that if I got a girlfriend she would be the first to be captured by him. I had a friend last year," Harry's throat constricted, but he went on, "who was killed by that wizard. I vowed from then on that I wouldn't get too close to anyone, otherwise they might not survive."
"That's horrid, Harry! Don't you have anyone who can comfort you…?"
"No…"
Dudley was silent for a while. It seemed that he didn't really know what to say to this, and eventually Harry walked into his room to go to sleep. Dudley stayed up a lot of that night, thinking of the horrors that he would never have to face that Harry was thrown into.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Three days later, Harry and Dudley were out jogging their three miles when the subject of sparring came up.
"Harry, what belt do we get to spar on?" asked Dudley as they rounded the corner of the second mile.
"I don't know, I'll have to ask Rose or Mark." Harry responded.
"I hope it is soon. I'm going to wipe your sorry butt off the field." Dudley chuckled and Harry put his foot out to trip Dudley.
"I'll knock you out of the school," responded Harry, jokingly.
"I might have to call my friends to hold you while I pound you apart." Dudley grinned.
Harry tackled Dudley playfully and Mark came over.
"That is 30 push-ups each of you! Save that for break," He said unforgivingly.
Harry and Dudley did their push-ups and finished off their last mile. When they came in they went up to Rose.
"Rose, at what belt can we spar?" asked Harry.
She turned, looked shocked to see Harry talking with her. They hadn't talked since the night when Harry had said that he wouldn't be able to go out with her. "Uh, you can spar lightly now, legally anyway. But it is only wrestling. You have to make it up one belt higher to spar with kicks and punches."
Harry nodded and asked, "When do we get to spar?"
"Next week we begin it," she said, and then she turned to Dudley. His face was completely red and he looked like he couldn't say anything. She smiled. She obviously knew about his crush on her. Rose winked at him and walked off.
"Well then, I guess next week we get to finally decide who is kicking who off the field, my love struck friend," said Harry calmly and almost charmingly.
Dudley glared at him. Harry grinned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On Thursday, both Dudley and Harry were dying with anticipation to get to do the duels. Both of them were annoying Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon greatly with their stories. Harry got extra chores and Dudley was sent to his room. That didn't stop either of them, though. Eventually, Uncle Vernon told them that they should go out to the park and spar there. Then they wouldn't have to wait so long. Harry personally thought that Uncle Vernon suggested it to get them off his back, but Harry didn't mind.
As Dudley and Harry jogged down to the park both of them were mentally assessing each other. Trying to figure what they could use to their advantage. The first major difference that Dudley noted was the fact that Harry was so scrawny. He would have no trouble keeping him on the ground if he could get him there. He could also use his weight to take Harry to the ground, if he played it right.
Harry looked over at Dudley. Dudley didn't have near the stamina that he did, so if he ran circles our around him until he was too tired to wrestle anymore, then Harry would be able to defeat him. The only problem that cropped up was the fact that Dudley was huge. If he sat on Harry, there was no way he could lift Dudley's weight of 320. It just wasn't going to happen. Harry chuckled at the thought of Dudley sitting on him and his eyes bulging out.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Dudley, eyeing Harry.
"Just the thought of you being tossed off the field at Kung Fu because you can't spar worth anything," Harry grinned.
"You wait and see Harry, you'll be toast!" Dudley was grinning too.
When they got to the park they both did very light warm-ups and stretches. They both wanted to be ready to have some good fun wrestling. Finally, when they were all finished stretching they stood up and got ready to spar.
"So you ready?" asked Harry.
"Yep, are you?" asked Dudley.
"Couldn't be more ready." said Harry, grinning. They launched at each other. The first thing that happened was Dudley managed to get his arm around Harry's neck. Harry attempted to stand, but he was shorter than Dudley was, so his cousin had him in an effective lock. Dudley pulled him down into a headlock and Harry was using all of his strength to attempt to break free.
"Too hard for you Harry?" Asked Dudley.
"Not even close."
Harry, who had been pulling backwards, shifted the pace and went barreling forwards. This knocked Dudley off balance and he managed to get free of the headlock. Harry began to dodge around Dudley's attempts to get at him and Dudley was looking at him with irritation.
"Hold still you stupid prat!" he shouted.
Harry grinned and asked, "What, am I too fast for you?"
Dudley pounced on Harry, catching him, and they went rolling on the ground dangerously close to the edge of a creek. Harry was trying to roll them so Dudley was thrown in the creek and Dudley was trying to pin Harry.
"Think you got me do you?" asked Harry as Dudley pinned Harry's arms using his weight.
"Yeah, that strikes real close to what I am thinking now. Why?"
"Because of this!" shouted Harry as he rolled as hard as he could. Dudley and Harry both rolled into the creek.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" shouted Dudley as they fell into the water.
Both of them were laughing and wrestling in the creek for the next hour or so. They dropped all pretense of strategy or even pretending to be using Kung Fu. They just wrestled for the fun of it, enjoying splashing each other into the murky water.
Finally, Harry stood up and pulled his mud-stained body out of the creek. Dudley followed him and laid down next to Harry on the ground.
"Now that was fun," said Harry.
"Told you I would knock you off the field," said Dudley to him. "Hey! I knocked you into the creek!" protested Harry.
"But you were the first to get out. You gave up first," insisted Dudley.
"No chance. I didn't give up, just decided to postpone the match to a later date." They both laughed.
"All right then, lets head home and get you yelled at by Mum and Dad," said Dudley.
Harry rolled his eyes. They walked home, dripping with mud. Suddenly Voldemort and the Triwizard Cup seemed far away, and that nothing could hurt him here with his cousin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The imps really should get a better drummer. Thought Harry dreamily as he was waking up the next morning.
Tap, tap, tap.
There's that drumming again! Suddenly Harry realized that the taping he was hearing could not possibly be an imp band, and that something was tapping at his window. Harry sat up and slid his glasses on, getting used to the newfound brightness of the room.
Tap, tap, tap.
The window! Harry looked over at his window and saw a small owl tapping at his window. It had, tied to its leg, a formal looking letter. Harry yawned and walked over to his window to let the owl in.
As it departed, having delivered it's package, Harry opened the letter. As his eyes gazed down the page he smiled and pulled his wand out of its drawer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's note: Yes, I know my title rhymes and that the last one rhymed. I am going to have every chapter title rhyme.
Ron reread the letter from Hermione for the fifth time. I… wouldn't want to do anything that would ruin our friendship. The words echoed back into his head. She sounded so excited about it, and yet was asking him if she minded that he was going. Are you still upset that I am with Krum? Well, Ron knew that he was, but he didn't know why.
Ron's thoughts were interrupted by his mother's voice. "Breakfast!"
Ron stood up and got dressed, still milling over what it was that he didn't like about Krum. He wasn't quite sure what made him hate that Hermione was going to Bulgaria and it would sound stupid to write back to Hermione and say, "Uh yeah, I would like you to stay. Dunno why but it bothers me. Yours Truly, Ron".
Ron rolled his eyes as he walked over to the door, thinking about what he was going to write back. Suddenly Ron's legs gave out from under him and fell sprawling to the floor. He tried to get up, but his legs had no feeling; they wouldn't move.
"FRED, GEORGE!!!" shouted Ron angrily as he tried to squirm back into his room so he could get his wand and perform some sort of counter charm. Just as Ron was getting through the door Ginny came down the hall, chuckling at him.
"Ginny, help me!" pleaded Ron.
"I'm not sure if I should," said Ginny teasingly. Ron looked like he was ready to explode at her as she grinned down at him.
"Please?"
Ginny changed the subject, pretending to ignore the fact that Ron was still lying on the ground, looking up at her. "When is Harry coming over?"
Ron considered whether or not to answer that. He was the one lying on the floor; she should be helping him. In the end, his logic prevailed. He couldn't get her help if he was to conceal information, "I owled Dumbledore to ask if it was all right yesterday. Hopefully he will owl back soon. Now will you help me?"
Ginny smiled impishly at Ron and stepped over him and down to breakfast. Ron let out a frustrated howl as she left. When he finally did get his wand and got back up he was having murderous thoughts. He didn't need all this trouble as he tried to think, and to put on top of that, Ginny was still asking about Harry. Why couldn't she just let it go?
Finally, as Ron headed down the stairs he decided that he wouldn't owl Hermione back. It seemed that she was already ready to go and he knew that no matter what he said he would either upset her, or lie to her; neither of which he wanted to do.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Now, concentrate!" commanded Rose. "I am the only thing in the world. Block out the wind, block out the rain, and only listen to my voice."
Rain pattered on top of Harry's head as he attempted to do the concentrating drills. Rose was walking around Harry and Dudley like a drill sergeant, trying to help them reach a new level of concentration. That was the reason that she had had them go outside on a windy, rainy day.
"T-Stance!"
Harry snapped into the T-Stance, hoping that it was fast enough for Rose. He really didn't feel that he needed any more push-ups. Harry tried not to think about Dudley, and if he made it into the T-Stance fast enough. All he wanted to do was clear and focus his mind.
"Tiger Stance!"
Harry slid his legs apart quickly, and opened his hands slightly. He focused on Rose being the only thing in the world. What she said mattered, where she moved mattered, what she did mattered. That was all he should focus on.
"Are you cold? You had better not be, because if you are focusing you shouldn't feel it." she said. Harry stood shivering. Rain dripped off of his nose and onto the ground. Suddenly and slowly at the same time he felt the world around him leave him. It didn't matter than it was raining; the cold was unimportant. Harry's vision began to slip out and suddenly he felt that the ground slipped out from underneath him. It didn't matter though; all that he really cared about was what Rose's next move would be and where she would go. All that Harry could see was Rose and himself; he felt oddly out of body and serene.
Rose walked around Harry, trying to figure him out. He seemed to be slipping in and out of a focused trance. It was like he couldn't quite handle just putting his mind on one thing at a time. Though, she supposed it was pretty much the hardest step in Kung Fu. Attempting to enter such a state of focus that only you and your target exist, that is.
After another ten minutes (although time meant nothing to Harry at this point) she released them telling them to go dry off and meet her in the gym. As Dudley and Harry walked off, she watched Harry, wondering if he had made it as far as the trance. Dudley sure hadn't.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Whew," breathed Harry when he finally got into the car, "I am glad we have a weekend coming up!"
"So am I," added Dudley as he sat down next to Harry in the car. For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence as both Harry and Dudley didn't know what to say. It wasn't normal for them to be talking casually, so they weren't used to it.
"So, what are your plans for the weekend?" asked Dudley carefully, as if trying not to give any offense by what he was saying.
"Most likely lots of chores and plenty of studying. Learning," Harry suddenly looked up at his Aunt and Uncle to see if they were listening. When he saw that they weren't he went on in a slightly hushed voice, "Learning magic is a lot harder than you would think. The teachers have given me so much stuff to do over the summer."
Dudley nodded to Harry and leaned back in his chair. He was dead tired and wanted to start his sleep in the car. Harry turned and looked out his window, watching the rain hit the window. He had felt a calm settle over him ever since he had gone into the focused trance. As Harry listened to the steady patter of the rain, he found his thoughts drifting back to the lesson they had learned with Rose that day. He could still remember the amazing calm that focus of such a high level brought. He hadn't worried about Voldemort during the trance, hadn't thought of how he was going to get Rose to notice Dudley, or even if he was still standing in the field. It had been the simplest 10 minutes of his life.
Harry's line of thought was broken by a sudden and loud snore from Dudley. Harry looked over at him, and punched him in the arm to wake him up. "Stop snoring," he commanded, trying to sound imperious.
Dudley looked over at Harry with sleepy eyes and said almost as an afterthought of some unspoken thought, "I don't snore." Dudley proceeded to turn and lay his head against the window and start snoring again. Harry rolled his eyes. A year ago Harry would have just written Dudley off as annoying, but now he felt that Dudley was almost a friend. Harry found that he was actually looking forward to jogging with Dudley in the morning. When he was out jogging with Dudley the atmosphere of the way they treated each other changed. Was it friendship?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry jogged next to Dudley, sweating heavily as he had decided to pick up the pace today. After all, Dudley did have to eventually become as fast Harry. Dudley suddenly turned over to Harry panting heavily as they ran, "Hey Harry, do you have to spend all day studying today? I mean, if you have time maybe we could head down to the arcade or something…"
Harry suddenly smiled; Dudley was making the effort to be friends. "Sure, I don't need to study all day. I don't think that I have the ability to pull a Hermione."
"Pull a Hermione?" asked a confused Dudley.
"Oh sorry, you wouldn't understand, you don't know Hermione. She's a friend of mine from Hogwarts. She could study for 24 hours straight and not stop, I'm sure."
"Tell me about what it is like. I mean having magic and what it is like at a wizarding school," commanded Dudley.
Harry smirked almost involuntarily at Dudley's commanding nature. "Maybe I will… If you beat me back!"
Harry sprinted off towards the Dursleys. Dudley gave a yelp of surprise and chased after Harry, but couldn't match his speed. Harry was back to the house about 40 feet ahead of Dudley. Dudley came in, gasping for air as he collapsed on the dewy grass.
"Okay, so I am still slower than you. Well you have the advantage, you aren't carrying around all of this." Dudley motioned to his belly as he gave his excuse.
Harry yawned and laid down in the grass next to Dudley. "So what is an arcade like?"
Dudley sat up suddenly. "You have never been to one!?"
"No, when would I have the chance to?" Harry asked, his eyes starting to droop.
"I guess you wouldn't have…" he started slowly, as if he had never thought about it before.
Harry grunted in response, thinking that he was deprived of much more than an arcade. He had missed a whole lot in life. Harry suddenly shook himself; he wouldn't get trapped in self-pity. Harry sat up and looked over at Dudley, whose eyes were also starting to droop.
"Maybe we should go inside and get some more sleep. Then you can take me to the video games that you like so much," Harry said as he got up and started to head in. Dudley jumped up behind him and followed him. When they entered Uncle Vernon, who looked ready to kill, met them.
"Where have you been?" he asked Harry, completely ignoring the fact that Dudley was out also.
"We were out jogging to get our sore muscles loose," said Harry in an almost challenging way. He doubted that Uncle Vernon could come up with something wrong with that, especially since Dudley had been doing it too.
"A phone call came for Dudley while he was out with you." Harry marveled at Uncle Vernon's ability to make it look like it was Harry's fault that a phone call had come for Dudley while he jogged. Harry rolled his eyes and headed down the hall to his room; score one for Uncle Vernon nothing to Harry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Uncle Vernon?" asked Harry.
"What do you want boy?" asked Uncle Vernon, taking a bite out of his toast.
"Where is Dudley?"
"With a friend, and don't ask questions," he responded almost mechanically.
Harry frowned. Dudley had said that at nine they would leave for the arcade. Harry had awoken at 8:30 and had eaten. Now it was 9:30 and Dudley was with a friend? Harry suddenly felt a slight rage flowing through him. Dudley had said that he would go out with Harry and then he had just left with another friend without saying anything?
Harry walked back up to his room, seething. Was this Dudley's idea of how to make a friend? Had he forgotten so soon? Harry shook himself and told himself not to let Dudley get to him. Harry pulled out his homework and began on a Potions essay, beginning his concentration drills. He needed to put Dudley out of his mind in order to work. Slowly Harry worked himself into a focus so he forgot about Dudley, and began to work.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione, after two days, already knew that she would be bored the entire time at Bulgaria. Spending time with Viktor Krum was about as interesting as spending time with a post. When she had first gotten to Bulgaria she had been politely escorted to the room that would be hers in Viktor Krum's mansion. After she had set all of her things down she had gone down and met with Viktor. He had been happy to see her, but said that he had to go off to his Quidditch practice.
Hermione had offered to come with him and he agreed. She had spent the next 4 hours sitting on a hard seat in the middle of the stands, sitting next to a very talkative friend of Krum's. The only problem was that Hermione didn't speak Bulgarian, so she could hardly converse with him. This, however, did not stop him from rambling on at Hermione.
When they had finally left, she had gone with Viktor to a Quidditch press conference and Viktor had discussed Quidditch tactics with the press while Hermione tried not to fall asleep. However, when Viktor finished there, he was not about to stop. He proceeded to go to a Quidditch study and another Quidditch practice. All in all, the first day had not gone well. The problem was, though, that the second day had not gone any better. Had Viktor just invited her to Bulgaria so she could tag along behind him in his life of Quidditch?
Hermione found, however, that she couldn't be just bored out of her mind, she also had to be tortured by Ron. After she had owled him, she had at least expected him to come back with another letter saying, "NO DON'T DO IT!" However, apparently Ron thought that she would like it better if he didn't write back. Now she was bored, and anticipant for any letter from Ron.
"Why Ron?" she asked herself, realizing that Ron wasn't the only one who she could owl and talk with. But somehow she knew that a letter from Harry just wouldn't be the same as a letter from Ron. But why?
Okay, Hermione wasn't stupid. She knew that she thought Ron was cute, but she didn't think that that would cause her to constantly think about him. Dream about him kissing her, giving her flowers… Why didn't she think of Harry that way? He was good-looking too, but it just didn't seem the same.
Hermione lay down on her bed, thinking about what she was going to do to keep from going crazy. One can only take so much Quidditch. Finally, Hermione decided that she would owl Ginny. She could at least talk with Ron and Hermione knew that she would actually write back. Besides, Hermione really needed a girl to talk with now; she was afraid that she was falling in love.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hermione?" Ron asked, looking around a field somewhere. "Hermione, where are you?"
But Ron could see nothing but grass… Suddenly, the grass seemed to be ominous, threatening. It was going to keep him away from Hermione forever. He would never see her again. Ron ran through the field screaming Hermione's name, hoping to find her.
"Ron?"
It was Hermione's voice. Where was she? Ron spun around the field when the grass suddenly started to grow. It was growing so fast that within a minute it had covered up Ron's view of the field.
"Hermione!?" Ron called out to find her, but he couldn't get through the grass, it was too thick. "HERMIONE!"
Ron suddenly shot awake, cold sweat going down his face. The dream had felt so real and he had been so scared. Suddenly Ron wondered if he had done the right thing when he had chosen not to write back to Hermione. Ever since the letter he had worried about it. What if she was mad at him now? What if she decided to stay in Bulgaria and never come back?
Ron shook himself. There was no way that Hermione would stay in Bulgaria and never come back; he needed to stop his imagination from running wild like that. His stomach growled and he groaned.
"Just what I needed, now I have to get up," Ron said to himself. He opened his door, careful not to wake anyone and walked stealthily down the stairs and into the kitchen. When he finally got down there he was surprised to see that someone was already there. It was Ginny.
Ron smiled at Ginny, who had fallen asleep with her head on the table. Suddenly, Ron stopped smiling. In front of Ginny was a letter and at the top of it was "Dear Harry," Had she stayed up so late that she fell asleep while trying to think of what to write to Harry? Ron rolled his eyes. Ginny should know that like all of the other previous years at Hogwarts, Harry would be polite to her, but wouldn't look at her as more than Ron's little sister. What was she playing at? Wild thoughts entered Ron's mind like waking Ginny up and telling her off or taking the paper and tearing it apart, but his logic got the better of him and he just walked back upstairs, still hungry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dear Harry,
How has your summer been so far? Ron told me that it isn't too nice over there with your Aunt and Uncle. I hope that they are treating you all right. I am nearly bored out of my mind here. My friend Kyle from school is off in Egypt looking at mummies and my other good friend Kelly is visiting relatives in Asia somewhere.
To add to my already growing list of problems Fred and George are spending a pile of money that they got somewhere on a whole load of prank items. Each day there is something new to look forward to. The great part about it is that they mostly target Ron. Just the other day I say him lying on the ground; apparently his legs weren't working. It was hilarious to walk off and leave him there on the ground.
Ron says that he has owled Dumbledore to ask if you can come over, hopefully soon. What have you been doing so far this summer? I hope you aren't still blaming yourself about You-Know-Who. Write back.
Love,
Ginny
Harry reread the letter for a second time, and for the first time that weekend he felt happy. For some reason getting a letter from Ginny cheered him up, at least he would have someone to write back and fourth with since Ron wasn't. Ever since Dudley had taken off without Harry, Harry had been moping around doing chores and work. He hadn't even gone outside and had most certainly not gone jogging.
Harry pulled out some paper and wrote a return letter to Ginny.
Dear Ginny,
I am glad you owled; I have been bored out of my mind here too. So far my summer has been horrible. I had to go to this Kung Fu thing with my cousin Dudley. Kung Fu is a Muggle fighting art where you need to train to become stronger and work on concentration. It wasn't so bad at first; the only problem was that all of the work made me really sore. I even started to become friends with my cousin Dudley, but just now he said that he would go to an arcade with me and then he left to go with a different friend leaving me here alone. I think that he never really wanted to be friends in the first place and just wanted to annoy me.
I haven't really had that much of a problem with the fact that Voldemort is back; He has gone after me so many times that I am almost numb to it now. The thing that I have been worried about, however, is what will happen to the people around me. What would I do if Ron were killed just to get to me? I know that thoughts like that don't help, but I can't help it. I also keep having nightmares of Cedric's face as he lies dead on the ground, but I am pretty much all right. You eventually get used to nightmares.
I can't wait until I can come over; I have such a better time at your place than here with my Aunt and Uncle. All I can really do here is work on my homework or do things around the house. Well, write back soon.
Harry paused, looking up at Ginny's letter. She had put at the bottom "Love, Ginny". He looked down at his letter and tried how to decide to end it. Hopefully if he put "Love, Harry" Ginny would not take it wrong and assume feelings were there that were most certainly not. Finally Harry, thinking of how it felt to see "Love, Ginny" at the bottom of his letter finished it off with a careful "Love, Harry".
Harry looked down at the letter and wondered if he really should make it sound like he was having such a bad time. Would it sound like he was whining? Harry most certainly didn't want to come across as a whiner. Harry also looked at the "Love, Harry" and was beginning to have second thoughts. What if Ron saw the letter and thought that something was between him and his sister Finally, Harry erased the "Love, Harry" and put "Yours Truly, Harry". As Harry looked at that, he thought that it looked fine and he folded up the letter to give to Hedwig.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Aunt Petunia smiled, looking across the sparsely filled breakfast table. Harry and Dudley were sitting at opposite ends of the table, Dudley looking over at Harry who was eating and pointedly deterring any conversation that Dudley tried to make. Uncle Vernon was absorbed in his paper, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was sticking his knife in his oatmeal and his fork in his bacon. Apparently, the morning news was riveting.
When Harry finished his breakfast, Aunt Petunia watched Harry go down the hall to his room and saw Dudley follow him. She slowly got up from the table and backed up against the wall just around the corner so Harry and Dudley wouldn't see her, craning her ears to hear anything.
"Harry, what is wrong?" Dudley was asking.
Harry's answer was spiteful. "You know what's wrong! Don't even try to reel me in again. I know you for how you are now. No wonder Rose doesn't like you!"
Aunt Petunia heard silence for a moment and then a door slammed. Perfect, she thought, that will stop them from being friends. She straightened her craning neck and almost skipped back into the kitchen to see her husband.
"It worked Vernon!" she said excitedly.
"Good, can't have him associating with any of them," was his gruff answer. Suddenly they both saw Dudley run out the front door. He seemed to be very distressed. After seeing Dudley run out Aunt Petunia lost her resolve.
"Vernon, are you sure that we should do this? He looks so hurt!" she looked to be almost ready to run out the front door after Dudley.
"Petunia," said Uncle Vernon consolingly, "It might hurt him now, but in the long run he will benefit. Think of your sister."
Aunt Petunia stiffened for a moment and then nodded. "I suppose you are right…" But she looked out the window as Dudley jogged out of sight, wondering if it really was best for Dudley.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two days passed, and Harry didn't talk with Dudley, but now Dudley left him alone. They walked carefully around each other. When they went jogging in the morning they took different routes and at Kung Fu they barely talked with each other. Rose, for her part, was becoming exasperated with them. How could she train them if they wouldn't talk to each other?
On the third day she had them working in the weight room and was trying to get them to talk to each other when she finally gave up.
"Fine! If you two want to be absolute prats then go ahead! Don't blame me though if you loose in the tournament," she shouted in and stormed off, out of the weight room. Dudley looked over at Harry, who was laying on the bench press. Harry pushed 160 pounds up and let it down, up, down, up, down.
"Harry," Dudley started tentatively, "I'm sorry that I told you that I would go to the arcade with you, but four years… It was important to me."
"What do you mean four years?" asked (or rather grunted) Harry as he pushed up and down the rather heavy bar.
"You know, my friend."
Harry put the bar on the stand and stood up. "No, I still don't know what you mean."
Dudley frowned as Harry moved out of the way. It was Dudley's turn to bench press. He laid down and Harry spotted him as he easily lifted the bar that Harry had fought with. "Well, he called me four years after he moved away. What don't you understand about that?"
"Your friend? You mean that you hadn't seen your friend for four years when he called you?" asked Harry, slightly nettled that Dudley could easily bench the 160-pound bar.
"Of course. He was visiting town and wanted me to spend the day with him. Didn't dad tell you? " Dudley looked at Harry's blank face. "HE DIDN'T!?"
Harry shook his head. "He told me that you were visiting a friend. I thought that you just blew me off to irritate me."
"No. You see, I had a friend that I used to hang out with all the time, but he moved away and now I rarely hear from him. The last time he called was four years ago, and now he was back in town. I told my dad specifically to tell you about him and the entire situation." Dudley seemed to be fuming. Suddenly he noticed that he was still doing the bench press. The bar dropped down to his chest; Harry barely had time to stop it from hitting Dudley.
"Ack, I can't lift it!" cried Dudley as Harry helped him set it on the stand. Dudley sat up, rubbing his arms. "Guess I lost track of my count…"
"NOW YOU ARE TALKING!?" Rose had just walked in. "So, I leave and you two actually speak to each other again!? You two are hopeless!!!" She rolled her eyes back into her head, shrugged her shoulders, and sighed. Dudley and Harry just laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry,
Oh, Harry. Don't worry about us; we have almost more charms on our house than you have on yours. If Voldemort tried to get to us then he would have no luck. As far as dreams go, well… After the Chamber of Secrets in my first year I kept having horrible nightmares. Then my mother gave me a dream catcher. I suppose that you wouldn't know what a dream catcher does though would you? A wizard dream catcher really does strain out bad dreams. I put on with this owl that I enchanted myself; maybe that will help.
I'm sorry about your cousin, but… what is an arcade? Is that something that Muggles use? Well, we are still waiting for a response from Dumbledore, but we are hopeful that he will answer soon. Mum says that she thinks our house is about as safe as yours.
However, just because you can't come over here doesn't mean that we can't come and visit you. Is there a time that you think Ron and I could come over to your Aunt and Uncle's? Maybe if we come over then your summer won't be nearly so bad. Write back and tell me when might be good.
Love,
Ginny
Harry smiled at the letter, thinking of the fun that he would have if Ron and Ginny came over to the Dursleys. He could imagine Ron and him exploring the park as he told them of Muggle things. Heck, he could show Ginny and Ron the arcade. Suddenly, Harry's line of thought broke off in despair. The Dursleys would never let him invite his friends over; they just wouldn't be welcome. Maybe, thought Harry, maybe if they ever have to go out of town or on vacation then I could get Ron and Ginny over here.
Looking over that the package that had come with the letter, Harry reached over from where he had been laying reading to open it. When he pulled it out, he was shocked. The dream catcher looked nothing like a Muggle one, in fact it seemed to be something that had flown from space and crashed down on the earth. It had a bright star in the center of several multicolored rings. All of the rings lined up beside each other and had glowing dots on them. It was beautiful.
Harry scanned the open box that had contained the dream catcher to see if he could find how he was supposed to use it. He would love to have a nice, restful night without nightmares if he could. However, as he peered down into the bottom of the box he saw nothing that would indicate how he might use the dream catcher. Frowning, Harry scanned the letter from Ginny again to see how he could apply the charm to himself. The letter contained nothing that would explain how he could use the dream catcher.
Irritated, Harry swung out his arm to toss the dream catcher onto his desk when it suddenly stopped in mid air. He was no longer holding it, and yet it stood still, seemingly defying gravity. For a moment Harry gawked at it until he suddenly had something to be even more amazed about. The charm lifted into the air higher, above his bed. The rings that were once lined up began to spin lightly until they were thrashing wildly through the air. It was leaving streaks of light behind it and it began to hum ever so slightly. Harry began to feel slightly tired and realized that the sound was putting him to sleep. He reached up and grabbed the dram catcher to put it away so he wouldn't fall asleep before dinner. He needed all the food he could get with the workout he had been having at Kung Fu.
The boy who lived was shocked once more when his hand slid straight through the rings until it hit the light in the center. Harry could get a grip on that. Once he closed his hand around the center of it he pulled it down into his lap and looked at it. The rings still swung in circles, but they had begun to slow. He put it in is drawer to try to block out the humming that had almost put him out. With some effort he managed to get it back in and out of hearing range.
Harry took out his quill and wrote back to Ginny telling her how grateful he would be to get a good night's sleep. He tried to leave out as much about sleepless nights as possible though. For some reason he really didn't want to worry Ginny at all. After a thoughtful pause about the sudden care for her he shook himself and went on to explain when they might be able to come over and what an arcade was. Harry paused; what else could he write…? He went on to talk about the near to rectified situation with Dudley and finally finished the letter with a "Love, Harry". He didn't change the ending this time.
Hedwig flew out of Harry's window off towards the Weasleys. Namely, a certain anticipant female.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What of the Minister?" asked Lord Voldemort as he paced impatiently around the room.
"He still wishes to deny the fact that you could possibly be back after 15 years," answered Lucius, shaking slightly in the Dark Lord's presence.
Voldemort's lips curled up in what Lucius thought was a horrible grimace, but in reality it was a smile. A horrible twisted smile. "This will be easier than I had foreseen. Are the dementors ready?"
"They are, my lord. Azkaban will soon be open for the taking."
"Good."
Lucius stood silent for a moment, not wanting to speak without being spoken to. The Dark Lord had a cruel temper sometimes. Finally he spoke up, "What about the Potter boy?"
Voldemort's eyes lit up slightly at the name. "He will have to be killed. Too many times have we tried and failed. He is a danger to us all. He has the power to find and use It now. We have waited to long to kill him. I leave it in your incompetent hands."
Lucius flinched slightly and then said, "Consider him as good as dead."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Finally," said Harry as he slammed his pencil down to the parchment. He had just finished his homework quota for the night. As Harry looked over at the clock he saw that it read 12:33. He groaned. It was going to be another night where he got to bed late and woke very early in the mourning from nightmares. Sighing, Harry pulled off his glasses and walked over to his bed. A slight humming noise caught his attention.
"The dream catcher!" Harry smiled and walked over to his drawer to pull out the rather odd looking contraption. Reaching through the very slowly moving rings his hand caught on to the amazingly bright light at the center of the dream catcher. When Harry pulled it out it lit up his entire room. The walls flashed as the eerie shadows of the rings were casted upon them. Harry began to feel rather tired as the dream catcher was placed above his bed. Harry made a mental note to thank Ginny very much, he didn't normally get to sleep so easily. The boy who lived fell into his first dreamless and deep sleep for months.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"There will be a test coming in a week," started Mark as everyone stood at attention, and hoping to leave soon. "You and your parents will have to sign a paper that states that you have listened to them, done well in any chores, and if there was school you would need to have good grades. The reason that you have to be generally good is because the Kung Fu art stands with the proposition that if you have a sound mind, you will have a sound body. These will be given out in two days."
Harry stood, almost bored, next to Dudley wondering if he would be able to get Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon to sign such a paper. He did, after all, do most of his chores. Dudley might be able to help him get them to listen.
Finally after a few more minor announcements, Harry, Dudley, and their class were allowed to go home. Harry walked with Dudley, as usual, and noticed that he seemed a bit out of focus from the conversation that Harry was trying to start. Finally, Harry gave up trying and looked over at Dudley, exasperated.
"Earth to Dudley? Anyone there?" Harry said, slightly put out with being ignored. Suddenly Harry noticed what Dudley was being distracted by. Rose was off on the track running around it trying to get a workout. She was wearing a white shirt and was sweating heavily. This created quiet an interesting effect.
"Oh, what!?" exclaimed Dudley, finally noticing Harry beside him.
Harry rolled his eyes and then suddenly looked like he had an idea, "Hey Dudley, what if we were to get you and Rose together? Then she would be off my back and you would get what you want!"
Suddenly Dudley blushed and Harry looked over at him thoughtfully. "Dudley, Harry!" called Uncle Vernon from the car. They had both stopped walking to observe the slightly more revealed form of Rose.
Harry jumped slightly in surprise and called back, "Coming!" Harry hit Dudley in the arm and motioned for him to follow Harry back to the car. As they got in, Harry said to Dudley, "I have a plan."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So, erm, Rose… How would you like to go to the arcade with Dudley and I this weekend? We were thinking that we might like some company." said Harry nervously, Dudley by his side. It was the next day at Kung Fu and they were hoping to get Rose to go with them. Rose, however, looked dubiously at Dudley for a moment. He was blushing furiously and standing slightly behind Harry who was calm and collected.
"Uh, sure. What time?" she asked.
"How about we meet over there at eleven o' clock. Maybe we can get some lunch too." Harry responded lightly.
"All right. I'll look forward to it!" responded Rose with a bright smile that made Dudley go redder.
"See you then," said Harry as he went over to where the rest of the class was still showing up. Dudley looked over at Harry and said, "Are you sure that this will work?"
"Well, of course not! Nothing in the world would find anything like you attractive!" said Harry, chuckling.
"No, seriously!" whined Dudley.
"Well, I think that if you just say that I am sick so I couldn't make it, then it will work." said Harry as if he was sure; however, he was actually not sure at all if Rose would even spend 30 minutes with Dudley, let alone enough time for lunch.
"Let's hope so," said Dudley feebly as Rose smiled over at Harry; Dudley thinking that it was at himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You need to come too!" implored Dudley, his face contorted with worry and nerves.
"Come on, it is only just a few hours with a girl. You can do it. Just tell her that I am sick." consoled Harry, wishing that Dudley would just get out of the house.
"B-but what if sh-she just wa-walks a-a-away?" asked Dudley, starting to sit back down on his bed.
Harry rolled his eyes. Dudley had been like this all morning. Filled with nerves, he had second-guessed his plan to spend the day with Rose. "Look," started Harry, "Rose is too polite to just walk out on you if I am not there. Besides, you are still operating on the idea that Rose likes me."
Dudley gave Harry a long hard stare. Harry finally gave in. "All right, all right! Maybe she does like me. But you can change that with your charming personality. Come on Dudley, if you don't try you will never know."
Dudley sighed. "I know, but I still can't help but be nervous. I have never liked a girl quite as much as I like Rose."
Harry nodded at Dudley, but doubted that what Dudley was feeling was a case of true love. Rose treated Dudley as if he was just Harry's brother or something. She couldn't even get right the fact that Dudley was, in fact, Harry's cousin.
"Don't worry, Dudley. You will do fine. And besides, even if it doesn't work out you know that you still have a whole lot of other girls that you can look out for!" comforted Harry. Dudley went back to fidgeting as Harry looked down at his watch. "It is time to go Dudley. Knock her dead."
Dudley nodded wanly at Harry and left on his bike, with Harry staring after him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Dudley got back Harry jumped from the magic book he had been reading and ran to the front door to see Dudley standing there with a silly grin on his face.
"How did it go?" asked Harry, barely able to contain his excitement.
"She said that we should do it sometime again!" said Dudley happily. Then Dudley looked thoughtful. "I did manage to get over my crush to the point of managing to talk with her, but she seemed to only like me as a friend. I think, well I mean…"
"What?" asked Harry.
"I think that I will have to lose more weight if I want Rose to like me. She was very nice, but didn't really seem to like me."
"Don't worry," consoled Harry, "at the rate that you are losing weight you are going to look like me soon! But, you know, maybe you shouldn't go after someone who likes you for your looks alone…"
"Well, Harry," started Dudley haltingly, "I mean, would you go out with a very nice girl who was ugly and fat?"
Harry seemed to consider this. After a moment he said, "Maybe, I might if I knew her really well."
Dudley looked at Harry with surprise and said, "Well most people wouldn't. So…" Dudley's voice trailed off. They both looked at each other uncomfortably for a moment and then Harry mumbled something about needing to get back to work.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Whew, today was a hard day!" exclaimed Dudley as they walked back to the car. That day had been difficult because they had been taking the pre-test before the final one. They had been given slips for their parents to sign and bring back the next day.
"Do you thing Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia will sign this for me?" asked Harry, slightly worried. Dudley looked back over at him.
"I'll talk to them, I'm sure that they'll come around." He smiled and they got into the car.
Dudley nodded. Up in the front seats, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were giving each other looks. Their son was consorting with one of THEM, and he even didn't seem to mind it. They were having second thoughts about if this was such a good thing to have Harry in Dudley's class.
"Mum, could you sign these," he said holding up Harry and Dudley's papers for the ascension to white-yellow belt. Normally, she would have just signed them without reading them, but now she was slightly worried about Dudley's judgment. He was, in fact, talking with Harry normally. As she looked at them her eyes widened and then she smiled lightly.
"Sure, I'll sign this one," she said, and she signed Dudley's paper, but not Harry's. She handed them back to Dudley and he looked at them.
"You forgot to sign this one," said Dudley, holding Harry's paper.
"I didn't forget, honey, I just didn't sign it. I'm not signing anything that says Harry's been doing what we say." She said it as if it were a fact that was unchangeable. Harry just sat there and let Dudley work.
Dudley's voice turned to a whine, "Mother, I'm not going to Kung Fu unless Harry gets to go to a higher belt with me."
"Now Dudley," his mother began, but Dudley began to fake cry, cutting her off.
"Mum, you don't love me anymore!" he blubbered.
Aunt Petunia looked constricted and suddenly grabbed Harry's paper and signed it. Dudley slowly went out of his crying fit.
"There, there," said his mother. "Don't cry now, it's fine."
Dudley smiled under his hand at Harry; Harry rolled his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry ran hard, sweat beading down his face. He was on the final lap of his 3-mile run test. He had 25 minutes to do it and he was sure that he would be close. Dudley ran in perfect stride right next to Harry, his belly bouncing up and down. There were only five people still running, Harry and Dudley being in the lead of them. The rest of the other kids had already finished. Rose smiled and came up next to them.
"Showing off your ability to be slow?" she grinned at them, jogging a little closer to Harry than was really necessary.
"Shut up!" panted Harry, tired as he got. Making 25 minutes would be the best score had attained so far.
Rose looked at her watch. "You only have one minute, you had better speed up if you want to move up to Yellow-White belt. Tell you what, I'll kiss you if you make it before the 25 minute barrier."
Harry blushed. He supposed that he really might like it if Rose kissed him, but he really couldn't have her as his girlfriend, seeing as he went to Hogwarts during the year. Plus he was supposed to be helping Dudley get with Rose. Harry turned to Dudley, nodded, and sped up. Dudley sped right up with him and they took on an almost dead out run, Harry at close to his top speed and Dudley at his absolute fastest.
"Is that all the faster you can run?" mocked Rose flirtingly. Harry realized that this could actually be a problem. He would have to head off and tell Rose that he wasn't interested soon.
"You know, if Dudley here beats you, then I'll kiss him," she said, attempting to get Harry to run faster. Suddenly, Dudley took off faster than he ever had before. He blazed far ahead of Harry, who was desperately to catch up with Dudley. Not so he could beat him, but so he could at least appear that he was trying. Dudley crossed the finish line about 3 feet ahead of Harry; Rose gave Harry a funny look.
"24 minutes, 54 seconds and 24 minutes 55 seconds!" shouted Mark. The other three kids didn't make it in time. Rose leaned over, right after the coach finished, and kissed Dudley on the cheek. She looked at Harry to judge how much jealousy she was generating, but Harry didn't care. Rose's pretty face suddenly looked troubled.
"Great job, guys," said Mark. "Now all of you head out to the obstacle course. That's where we will take the second part of the test."
Rose walked over to Harry, looking troubled still. "I want to talk with you after class," she said lightly, and then she walked off.
Harry watched after her, her blonde hair swinging back and fourth. He suddenly wondered what he was thinking. He could take her; Dudley wouldn't care too much… Harry started to go after her but Dudley suddenly came over to him
"Thanks Harry, you're a great friend," he said smiling like he had just found out the Christmas was to come early. Harry suddenly knew why he was helping Dudley, because it was what he did. It was just part of him to help others. There would be other girls.
"No problem, just know that I could have beat you there. Don't you go telling everyone that you are faster than me!" said Harry, as if he meant it.
"Hah, Hah, Harry you know that you are just slow!" Dudley grinned at Harry. Harry punched him in the arm and they headed out to the obstacle course, laughing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry and Dudley had very little trouble with the rest of the test. First, it was an easy timing on the obstacle course and then a practical stances demonstration. Harry and Dudley were both presented with their White-Yellow belts directly afterwards. Smiling with anticipation to show his parents, Dudley headed out while Harry stayed back for a moment.
"Rose, you wanted to talk?" asked Harry, walking over to her.
"Uh, yes. You see I-I w-wanted to t-talk to you a-about," she seemed to have lost her cool demeanor, and she seemed slightly vulnerable.
Harry looked at her, concerned. "What?"
"Do you not like me? Do you think I am ugly?" she asked, almost accusingly.
Harry was taken aback. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, it wasn't in the least what he expected. "Well, you see…" Harry began, at a loss for words.
"Never mind," she said turning and starting to walk off.
"No, wait," said Harry to her, "Let me explain!"
Rose turned to him, tears in her eyes. Harry began, "You see, I don't really want to get involved a Mugg- I mean I don't want to get involved with anyone around here. I always go off to a private school each year. I won't be around here much longer, only for the summer." Harry had almost said "Muggle" to her.
"A school? Is that it? Why don't you go to school around here?" asked.
"Uh, because I go to a school," Harry groped for a lie to use. Then it hit him, "for Incurably Criminal Boys," he finished.
"What!?" she exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah, I'm a complete loon." Harry felt really bad lying to her.
"Harry," she said, looking him in the eyes. "I can tell when people are lying to me. I have always been able to pretty easily."
Harry looked abashed.
"Just tell me if you don't like me," she said, her lip trembling slightly. Harry looked at her beautiful face, and tried to say that he didn't like her.
"I do like you, but you have to believe me that I can't tell you where I go during the school year, and… you would be in danger if I went out with you…"
"Danger?"
"Please just believe me…" Harry felt very bad about it, but he knew that he would have to let her go. He couldn't become involved with anyone or Voldemort might use them to get to Harry…
"I believe you, Harry…"
"Sorry, Rose," Harry thought that it was the hardest thing that he had done so far at Kung Fu, was just to walk off. He turned and walked back to the Dursleys.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dudley looked up from the TV, bored, and turned it off. Isn't there anything good on? He thought as he got up and tried to find something to do. Dudley stood up from the Lazy Boy chair he had been sitting on and walked into the kitchen, thinking that he would get something to eat. When he got into the kitchen, Harry was seated at the table doing his homework.
Harry had taken to doing his homework in the kitchen ever since Harry had scared Uncle Vernon into letting him sleep instead of chores. After Harry had managed that, he considered himself scott free. Harry began to do many things that he didn't used to be allowed to do, like sleep in and take seconds at the dinner table.
"What is it like?" asked Dudley. Harry looked up from the book that he was trying to decipher.
"What is what like?" he responded.
"Getting to use magic. Being a wizard and being able to do anything you want to." Dudley said to Harry.
"Well, I can't do anything I want to. It actually is very hard," he said to Dudley.
"What is that? It isn't even in English," Dudley said, leaning over Harry's book.
"It's for my ancient runes class. I'm taking that next year, but I have to pass an entry test. That's an ancient novel that I am trying to decipher. It's pretty much the hardest homework I have." he responded. "I could help you with it," Dudley offered, "It wouldn't be to hard. Just like a spelling test or something."
"Sure," said Harry.
When they got started, at first, Harry thought that this might be a waste of time to try to get Dudley's help. Harry spent most of the time teaching Dudley what a lot of words meant so he could actually read off definitions to Harry, when he needed them. But after about three hours work, they managed to get Harry well along his way in his homework. Both of them began to walk down the hallway towards their beds after they finished, but Dudley stopped Harry just before his door.
"Harry, what did Rose say to you earlier today?" asked Dudley sleepily.
"She wanted to know," Harry paused for a moment, "if I actually liked her."
"What did you say?"
"I told her that I did like her but I had a school I had to go to and I wouldn't be near her. Only during the summer would I be able to be with her. Then she asked me where I went to school and I said for one for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"Seriously? And she believed that?"
"Nope, she knew that I was lying and I told her that I couldn't tell her where I was going to school and that even if she did go out with me, she would be in danger."
"Well you didn't have to lie to her!" exclaimed Dudley; "I wouldn't have cared that much."
"No, I didn't lie. There is a dark wizard who is constantly after me. Everyone who I come close to could be used to get to me. I know that if I got a girlfriend she would be the first to be captured by him. I had a friend last year," Harry's throat constricted, but he went on, "who was killed by that wizard. I vowed from then on that I wouldn't get too close to anyone, otherwise they might not survive."
"That's horrid, Harry! Don't you have anyone who can comfort you…?"
"No…"
Dudley was silent for a while. It seemed that he didn't really know what to say to this, and eventually Harry walked into his room to go to sleep. Dudley stayed up a lot of that night, thinking of the horrors that he would never have to face that Harry was thrown into.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Three days later, Harry and Dudley were out jogging their three miles when the subject of sparring came up.
"Harry, what belt do we get to spar on?" asked Dudley as they rounded the corner of the second mile.
"I don't know, I'll have to ask Rose or Mark." Harry responded.
"I hope it is soon. I'm going to wipe your sorry butt off the field." Dudley chuckled and Harry put his foot out to trip Dudley.
"I'll knock you out of the school," responded Harry, jokingly.
"I might have to call my friends to hold you while I pound you apart." Dudley grinned.
Harry tackled Dudley playfully and Mark came over.
"That is 30 push-ups each of you! Save that for break," He said unforgivingly.
Harry and Dudley did their push-ups and finished off their last mile. When they came in they went up to Rose.
"Rose, at what belt can we spar?" asked Harry.
She turned, looked shocked to see Harry talking with her. They hadn't talked since the night when Harry had said that he wouldn't be able to go out with her. "Uh, you can spar lightly now, legally anyway. But it is only wrestling. You have to make it up one belt higher to spar with kicks and punches."
Harry nodded and asked, "When do we get to spar?"
"Next week we begin it," she said, and then she turned to Dudley. His face was completely red and he looked like he couldn't say anything. She smiled. She obviously knew about his crush on her. Rose winked at him and walked off.
"Well then, I guess next week we get to finally decide who is kicking who off the field, my love struck friend," said Harry calmly and almost charmingly.
Dudley glared at him. Harry grinned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On Thursday, both Dudley and Harry were dying with anticipation to get to do the duels. Both of them were annoying Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon greatly with their stories. Harry got extra chores and Dudley was sent to his room. That didn't stop either of them, though. Eventually, Uncle Vernon told them that they should go out to the park and spar there. Then they wouldn't have to wait so long. Harry personally thought that Uncle Vernon suggested it to get them off his back, but Harry didn't mind.
As Dudley and Harry jogged down to the park both of them were mentally assessing each other. Trying to figure what they could use to their advantage. The first major difference that Dudley noted was the fact that Harry was so scrawny. He would have no trouble keeping him on the ground if he could get him there. He could also use his weight to take Harry to the ground, if he played it right.
Harry looked over at Dudley. Dudley didn't have near the stamina that he did, so if he ran circles our around him until he was too tired to wrestle anymore, then Harry would be able to defeat him. The only problem that cropped up was the fact that Dudley was huge. If he sat on Harry, there was no way he could lift Dudley's weight of 320. It just wasn't going to happen. Harry chuckled at the thought of Dudley sitting on him and his eyes bulging out.
"What are you laughing at?" asked Dudley, eyeing Harry.
"Just the thought of you being tossed off the field at Kung Fu because you can't spar worth anything," Harry grinned.
"You wait and see Harry, you'll be toast!" Dudley was grinning too.
When they got to the park they both did very light warm-ups and stretches. They both wanted to be ready to have some good fun wrestling. Finally, when they were all finished stretching they stood up and got ready to spar.
"So you ready?" asked Harry.
"Yep, are you?" asked Dudley.
"Couldn't be more ready." said Harry, grinning. They launched at each other. The first thing that happened was Dudley managed to get his arm around Harry's neck. Harry attempted to stand, but he was shorter than Dudley was, so his cousin had him in an effective lock. Dudley pulled him down into a headlock and Harry was using all of his strength to attempt to break free.
"Too hard for you Harry?" Asked Dudley.
"Not even close."
Harry, who had been pulling backwards, shifted the pace and went barreling forwards. This knocked Dudley off balance and he managed to get free of the headlock. Harry began to dodge around Dudley's attempts to get at him and Dudley was looking at him with irritation.
"Hold still you stupid prat!" he shouted.
Harry grinned and asked, "What, am I too fast for you?"
Dudley pounced on Harry, catching him, and they went rolling on the ground dangerously close to the edge of a creek. Harry was trying to roll them so Dudley was thrown in the creek and Dudley was trying to pin Harry.
"Think you got me do you?" asked Harry as Dudley pinned Harry's arms using his weight.
"Yeah, that strikes real close to what I am thinking now. Why?"
"Because of this!" shouted Harry as he rolled as hard as he could. Dudley and Harry both rolled into the creek.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" shouted Dudley as they fell into the water.
Both of them were laughing and wrestling in the creek for the next hour or so. They dropped all pretense of strategy or even pretending to be using Kung Fu. They just wrestled for the fun of it, enjoying splashing each other into the murky water.
Finally, Harry stood up and pulled his mud-stained body out of the creek. Dudley followed him and laid down next to Harry on the ground.
"Now that was fun," said Harry.
"Told you I would knock you off the field," said Dudley to him. "Hey! I knocked you into the creek!" protested Harry.
"But you were the first to get out. You gave up first," insisted Dudley.
"No chance. I didn't give up, just decided to postpone the match to a later date." They both laughed.
"All right then, lets head home and get you yelled at by Mum and Dad," said Dudley.
Harry rolled his eyes. They walked home, dripping with mud. Suddenly Voldemort and the Triwizard Cup seemed far away, and that nothing could hurt him here with his cousin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The imps really should get a better drummer. Thought Harry dreamily as he was waking up the next morning.
Tap, tap, tap.
There's that drumming again! Suddenly Harry realized that the taping he was hearing could not possibly be an imp band, and that something was tapping at his window. Harry sat up and slid his glasses on, getting used to the newfound brightness of the room.
Tap, tap, tap.
The window! Harry looked over at his window and saw a small owl tapping at his window. It had, tied to its leg, a formal looking letter. Harry yawned and walked over to his window to let the owl in.
As it departed, having delivered it's package, Harry opened the letter. As his eyes gazed down the page he smiled and pulled his wand out of its drawer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's note: Yes, I know my title rhymes and that the last one rhymed. I am going to have every chapter title rhyme.