AN: Ok, ok. I know. It's been an eternity since I have updated, but I
promise it wasn't my fault! I had no internet access! It was horrid! I
almost died! I've finally found a computer to use for five minutes so I can
update!
The early morning light revealed a certain messy haired boy to be already up and about. He was puttering around the kitchen getting a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese ready for the Dursleys and sneaking a piece of toast for himself. Seeing as the Dursleys weren't up yet, he had the house to himself for the most part and therefore felt perfectly entitled to wander around munching toast and behaving in a generally cheerful manner. At least until he heard the first stirrings from the rest of the family upstairs when he had to go put the bagels in the toaster so they'd be perfectly done when everyone came down.
Once the Dursleys were all assembled around the kitchen table, Harry set a plate with half a bagel on it in front of each Dursley. As he attempted to set down Dudley's plate (which was promptly snatched away) they heard a tapping on a window. At first no one payed it any heed, thinking it nothing but a woodpecker. At least until Uncle Vernon glanced up while looking for the front page of the newspaper which he had somehow lost.
Uncle Vernon spluttered into his tea, his face slowly turning red and beginning to shake. The cup slipped from his shaking grasp and crashed to the floor. As if that sound somehow released Vernon from his speechless rage, he snapped his head around to look at his nephew and roared something almost undecipherable about ruddy owls and ungrateful nephews. Harry paled as Uncle Vernon stood up and grasping Harry's ear, dragged him over to the cupboard, ranting all the while.
From the relative safety of his cupboard, Harry could hear a window slamming open, and then the unmistakable sound of Pig hooting and banging into things. He could hear the Durselys running around trying to catch the hyper-active owl, and Harry had to stifle his laughter. What he wouldn't give to be able to see that sight!
After much crashing and banging and other assorted noises, Harry heard the sound of Pig sqwauking as he was caught and then thrown back outside, right before the window slammed shut. Then everything was silent except the crackling of parchment and the squeek of the floor as Dudley tried to get a glimpse of the letter. Then there was the sound of tearing and Uncle Vernon yelled, "One week!" in the direction of the cupboard as they all went back to their breakfast.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In a long, torchlit hall made entirely of black stone, there was a ring of cloaked figures. They stood in a semi-circle facing a a red-eyed, cloaked figure seated on the strangest of thrones, if you could really call it one. Several large snakes had somehow arranged themselves into a seat by curling themselves around each other into a strange knot. They were black with acid green markings down their backs. They all stayed perfectly still except to occasionally hiss at one of the men in the circle, showing their long fangs dripping with venom.
The hooded one seated on this strangest of seats smirked and stroked one of the hissing snake heads. When the cloaked figures had stood long enough to become decidedly nervous, the man stood up, removing his hood. As he did, a short, rather pudgy figure took an involuntary step back and shuddered, avoiding the sweep of the red eyed gaze. Without even looking, Lord Voldemort swung his wand towards Wormtail and whispered a curse. No one else even blinked as Lord Voldemort continued his inspection of his faithful Death Eaters.
As Voldemort started to speak, mists and fog swirled up and obscured sight and sound, carrying him back to the present..
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up with a hand clutched to his scar and hissing in pain. "This is /so/ not worth it! I get to see Voldemort and his Deatheaters and a headache besides! And I don't even know what he's up to!" Harry muttered to himself in an exasperated fashion. Harry sighed and wandered out to the kitchen to get some aspirin before the Dursley's woke up and forbid it. It had been two days since Uncle Vernon had let him out of his cupboard with a severe warning against any other owls around there.
Since it was still quite early and no one was likely to be up as long as Harry kept reasonably quiet, he helped himself to a bit of toast. He amused himself with thoughts of the Dursleys chasing pig around the kitchen until he had to go start breakfast. As a reward for Dudley losing some weight, he was allowed a real breakfast. Which basically meant that he would consume roughly half his weight in food before retiring to the living room to watch tv.
After getting breakfast started for his Aunt Petunia (there was no way he'd finish cooking it all before he would be late for work!) he left to deliver the papers, noting along the way that his aim was improving. After dropping off his bag, he half bounced and half ran to the dojo. Today was to be his first lesson. Needless to say after learning how to fall and roll and getting thoroughly bruised and slightly pummeled, Harry thought it was the most fun of anything except maybe Quidditch.
When Harry got to the burger joint, the employees stared at him as he bounced over to punch in, and then came back behind the counter. After a minute or two, he turned around and they were still staring at him, so he crossed his eyes, stuck out his tongue and said "What?!" before turning around to wait on a customer. They were all speechless and wandered off a ways to have an impromptu meeting about what it could possibly mean.
An hour or two into Harry's shift, the guy who had first asked Harry about his scar came over by Harry. He seemed hesitant to actually say anything to Harry, so Harry just looked at him, raised an eyebrow and waited. Finally he said, "So you're going to be the new manager?" Harry nodded, looking amused at the whole situation. "So..you're going to be cool like Michael..right?" he asked.
Harry gave him a considering look before grinning. "Of course! We'll have an absolutely spiffing time!" he said in his best Fred and George Weasley voice. Harry turned back to wait on another customer, finding it difficult to suppress his grin. 'Sometimes it was fun to make others think you were a bit odd.' He thought, 'If only they knew how odd I really was!'
* * * * * * * * * *
Harry's summer fairly flew by for him, what with having two jobs and going to the dojo as much as he could. He almost didn't even remember his own birthday. Not that the Dursleys ever celebrated it, but his friends might have sent him something, except he had told them not to send him anything. Uncle Vernon still hadn't forgiven him for the ten tongue toffee incident.
He didn't exactly come to be friends with the muggles he worked with, but they got along better than they had. They never again asked about his scar, especially after Harry apologized for being so terse about it and told them he had gotten it when his parents died. They didn't ask what happened to them.
His sensei was another matter. He became almost as Dumbledore was to him, another mentor. Only he was a muggle that didn't have to worry about saving the world, or saving Harry from a madman for that matter. Harry found that the sensei was just as wise as his wizarding mentor, despite being so much younger.
Harry had taken to spending any time he could at the dojo, whether there was a class or not. He sometimes found it interesting just to observe all the different styles that his mentor knew. He also saw a few that he wanted to learn himself. He taught all the classes himself using only a few teaching assistants in especially large classes or the ones with young children. Later in the summer, Harry sometimes helped with the younger students since he was learning so quickly. In exchange, Harry got a few classes free and he used them to his advantage.
After trying many of the styles his teacher knew, Harry found that the thing he liked best was throwing knives. It wasn't martial arts, but it was taught there anyway. He seemed to have an aptitude for it, but Harry figured it was just a result of his paper route. Either way, by the end of the summer, he had become quite good with them and he had started to learn how to avoid return fire as well as a bit of how to work it into the other fighting styles he was learning. Normally his sensei wouldn't mix styles together so much, but Harry had explained that he didn't want to learn how to fight in an arena or competition. He wanted to learn how to best defend himself in a fight, which meant using everything he knew to survive.
* * * * * * * * * *
It was three weeks before he would be returning to Hogwarts, and for once he wasn't eagerly waiting for September 1st. He rather enjoyed not having everyone know who he was. Considering he rarely had to see the Dursleys at all, it was a rather nice summer. He even caught himself wishing it could last longer once or twice.
On this particularly morning however, his pleasant summer was about to have another interruption in the form of an owl. Hogwarts had sent him his usual letter, no doubt containing a list of supplies for fifth year. It came earlier in the morning than was usual, but Harry considered it a good omen. He managed to get the letter safely hidden in his cupboard, but when he came back out the owl was still sitting there as if waiting for a reply. Harry heard Uncle Vernon beginning to move around upstairs and hurriedly tried to get the owl to leave, but it was a stubborn thing.
As a last resort, Harry tried to push it out the window himself, but it let a loud hoot that had his uncle running down the stairs to the kitchen. Somehow Uncle Vernon managed to get the bird out and slammed the window shut. "Trying to talk to one of those good for nothing freaks you call your friends, are you? I won't be having any of that!" Uncle Vernon ranted as he dragged Harry towards his cupboard. Harry's last glimpse before the door shut on him was his uncle's face looking to be about two seconds from exploding. He wisely kept quiet, while his uncle called him in sick to work, and ranted to Petunia about freaks and ruddy owls.
As soon as he heard his uncle leave for work and judged Dudley and Petunia to be suitably distracted, he extracted his letter from his secret stash and opened it. There wasn't too much light in his cupboard, but there was enough to read the emerald ink if he strained his eyes. He didn't bother with the first page. It always said the same thing. He quickly flipped to the second.
Fifth year students will require: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 By Miranda Goshawk Compendium of Complex Charms By Charmion Coaxtl Advanced Potions By Ellixia Morpot Where to Find the Light Switch By Anastacia Street Dragons and Other Magical Creatures By Laura Wickham Divining the Undivinable By Grace Adamson
As Harry was about to stuff the letter back into its envelope, he noticed an extra piece of parchment. As he pulled it out, he was not too surprised to see that it came from Dumbledore. What did surprise him was that it was asking him to come back to Hogwarts three days from now and Dumbledore didn't say why. He only said that this letter would become a port key to Hogsmeade in three days time at 10:00. When Harry had finished trying to puzzle this out he shrugged and stashed the letter back into his secret hiding place and went to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Suddenly, Harry was spinning and could see or feel nothing around him. Just as suddenly he came to a stop and he was back in the graveyard where Cedric had died. Harry looked up and saw himself surrounded by Death Eaters with Voldemort directly facing him. "So Harry. We meet again. Shall we finish our duel now?"
Harry instinctively reached for his wand and then a throwing knife, but he found neither. Voldemort just stood there pointing his wand at Harry and laughing. It was the same laugh Harry heard every time he got too close to a dementor. No sooner than he had thought that, when he realized he wasn't just remembering anymore. He felt that coldness come over him and he had no wand to stop them! He saw them now. Dementors coming towards him from every direction.
The dementors stopped just beyond the circle of Death Eaters and as if that had been his cue, Voldemort suddenly stopped laughing and glared at Harry hissing, Crucio. Waves of pain filled the void of emptiness created by the dementors for what seemed an eternity until it all ended with a flash of green light, and that laughter drowning everything out until he could see and hear nothing else.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up with a start, stifling his scream. He had learned that much at least. How to not scream upon waking, although sometimes it was a near thing. Harry sat up, being careful not to hit his head on the ceiling of the cupboard. There was no use trying to go back to sleep now.
Today was the day he would be going back to Hogwarts, and he honestly didn't know if he was happy about it or not. He had managed to distract himself from all that was happening in the wizarding world, but now he would be going back and he was likely to be in the middle of everything again. Harry sighed. It didn't matter anyways, he had to go back whether he liked it or not. At least he could see Ron and Hermione and Hedwig again. He missed his friends.
He had already told Joe and Mr. Downey that he would be leaving. He claimed that one of his friends was very ill and so he was leaving to visit them and then going straight back to school. He told his Sensei the same story, although he wasn't entirely sure that he had been convinced of the story. He had spent the last few days at the dojo learning what he could while he had the chance. As soon as he had told Uncle Vernon he would leave in three days if he let him out of his cupboard. Surprisingly Uncle Vernon had agreed.
Harry sighed and got ready for his last class at the dojo. He had wanted to have one more before he left, and there was just enough time for it. He just had to take the letter with him and find a convenient place to disappear. At least it would be his favorite knife throwing. Harry had long since gotten his own set of knives. Actually, he had gotten two, and he intended to enchant one set as soon as was possible.
Since Harry had actually made more money than the Durselys knew, he had been able to buy a few things besides his knives. They were only things that the Dursleys wouldn't notice though, like arm braces for his knives. Although he had gotten a new pair of boots with knive sheaths in them, but he only wore them when he wasn't around the Dursleys. He stashed the rest of his knives on his person, none of them visible. He had gotten rather used to always having them there, and with Dudleys' old clothes, it was all too easy to hide them.
When Harry got to the dojo he spoke a bit with his Sensei and then they got to work. Afterward, Harry left rather quickly, saying he had a flight to catch. He ducked into the nearest alley and behind a trash bin where no one could see him, and got out the letter. He made it with a minute to spare. As the time for the portkey to activate came, he became more apprehensive. He didn't really trust portkeys anymore. He almost dropped the letter, except five seconds before ten o'clock, the portkey activated.
AN:It was a bit longer than most of my other chapters, but still quite short. Sorry, but I did redo the first chapter a bit too. I took out most of the recaps of the other books. So please tell me if it's any better!!! (I hate first chapters!)
Wanted: Reviews. Any kind welcome, amusing ones preferred.
Lunatyme~I was actually thinking of Aikido for the unarmed, not sure what the sword thing would be. He kind of knows bits of other types of fighting, but he mostly just knows Aikido and dagger fighting. * shrug *
Mcnugget~I really don't want to know how long it's been since I've updated. I'm supposed to be getting my net back, but RoadRunner is not cooperating.
Otaku freak~Hey, that does sound fun. /Might/ do that.
Relle~Love the review. I was rolling. And Shhh...about the owl thing. Didn't get there yet! ;)
Everyone else who said UPDATE!!!!! Thanks! I would have sooner, but no net, no update. I'll try to find a way to update again soon!
The early morning light revealed a certain messy haired boy to be already up and about. He was puttering around the kitchen getting a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese ready for the Dursleys and sneaking a piece of toast for himself. Seeing as the Dursleys weren't up yet, he had the house to himself for the most part and therefore felt perfectly entitled to wander around munching toast and behaving in a generally cheerful manner. At least until he heard the first stirrings from the rest of the family upstairs when he had to go put the bagels in the toaster so they'd be perfectly done when everyone came down.
Once the Dursleys were all assembled around the kitchen table, Harry set a plate with half a bagel on it in front of each Dursley. As he attempted to set down Dudley's plate (which was promptly snatched away) they heard a tapping on a window. At first no one payed it any heed, thinking it nothing but a woodpecker. At least until Uncle Vernon glanced up while looking for the front page of the newspaper which he had somehow lost.
Uncle Vernon spluttered into his tea, his face slowly turning red and beginning to shake. The cup slipped from his shaking grasp and crashed to the floor. As if that sound somehow released Vernon from his speechless rage, he snapped his head around to look at his nephew and roared something almost undecipherable about ruddy owls and ungrateful nephews. Harry paled as Uncle Vernon stood up and grasping Harry's ear, dragged him over to the cupboard, ranting all the while.
From the relative safety of his cupboard, Harry could hear a window slamming open, and then the unmistakable sound of Pig hooting and banging into things. He could hear the Durselys running around trying to catch the hyper-active owl, and Harry had to stifle his laughter. What he wouldn't give to be able to see that sight!
After much crashing and banging and other assorted noises, Harry heard the sound of Pig sqwauking as he was caught and then thrown back outside, right before the window slammed shut. Then everything was silent except the crackling of parchment and the squeek of the floor as Dudley tried to get a glimpse of the letter. Then there was the sound of tearing and Uncle Vernon yelled, "One week!" in the direction of the cupboard as they all went back to their breakfast.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In a long, torchlit hall made entirely of black stone, there was a ring of cloaked figures. They stood in a semi-circle facing a a red-eyed, cloaked figure seated on the strangest of thrones, if you could really call it one. Several large snakes had somehow arranged themselves into a seat by curling themselves around each other into a strange knot. They were black with acid green markings down their backs. They all stayed perfectly still except to occasionally hiss at one of the men in the circle, showing their long fangs dripping with venom.
The hooded one seated on this strangest of seats smirked and stroked one of the hissing snake heads. When the cloaked figures had stood long enough to become decidedly nervous, the man stood up, removing his hood. As he did, a short, rather pudgy figure took an involuntary step back and shuddered, avoiding the sweep of the red eyed gaze. Without even looking, Lord Voldemort swung his wand towards Wormtail and whispered a curse. No one else even blinked as Lord Voldemort continued his inspection of his faithful Death Eaters.
As Voldemort started to speak, mists and fog swirled up and obscured sight and sound, carrying him back to the present..
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up with a hand clutched to his scar and hissing in pain. "This is /so/ not worth it! I get to see Voldemort and his Deatheaters and a headache besides! And I don't even know what he's up to!" Harry muttered to himself in an exasperated fashion. Harry sighed and wandered out to the kitchen to get some aspirin before the Dursley's woke up and forbid it. It had been two days since Uncle Vernon had let him out of his cupboard with a severe warning against any other owls around there.
Since it was still quite early and no one was likely to be up as long as Harry kept reasonably quiet, he helped himself to a bit of toast. He amused himself with thoughts of the Dursleys chasing pig around the kitchen until he had to go start breakfast. As a reward for Dudley losing some weight, he was allowed a real breakfast. Which basically meant that he would consume roughly half his weight in food before retiring to the living room to watch tv.
After getting breakfast started for his Aunt Petunia (there was no way he'd finish cooking it all before he would be late for work!) he left to deliver the papers, noting along the way that his aim was improving. After dropping off his bag, he half bounced and half ran to the dojo. Today was to be his first lesson. Needless to say after learning how to fall and roll and getting thoroughly bruised and slightly pummeled, Harry thought it was the most fun of anything except maybe Quidditch.
When Harry got to the burger joint, the employees stared at him as he bounced over to punch in, and then came back behind the counter. After a minute or two, he turned around and they were still staring at him, so he crossed his eyes, stuck out his tongue and said "What?!" before turning around to wait on a customer. They were all speechless and wandered off a ways to have an impromptu meeting about what it could possibly mean.
An hour or two into Harry's shift, the guy who had first asked Harry about his scar came over by Harry. He seemed hesitant to actually say anything to Harry, so Harry just looked at him, raised an eyebrow and waited. Finally he said, "So you're going to be the new manager?" Harry nodded, looking amused at the whole situation. "So..you're going to be cool like Michael..right?" he asked.
Harry gave him a considering look before grinning. "Of course! We'll have an absolutely spiffing time!" he said in his best Fred and George Weasley voice. Harry turned back to wait on another customer, finding it difficult to suppress his grin. 'Sometimes it was fun to make others think you were a bit odd.' He thought, 'If only they knew how odd I really was!'
* * * * * * * * * *
Harry's summer fairly flew by for him, what with having two jobs and going to the dojo as much as he could. He almost didn't even remember his own birthday. Not that the Dursleys ever celebrated it, but his friends might have sent him something, except he had told them not to send him anything. Uncle Vernon still hadn't forgiven him for the ten tongue toffee incident.
He didn't exactly come to be friends with the muggles he worked with, but they got along better than they had. They never again asked about his scar, especially after Harry apologized for being so terse about it and told them he had gotten it when his parents died. They didn't ask what happened to them.
His sensei was another matter. He became almost as Dumbledore was to him, another mentor. Only he was a muggle that didn't have to worry about saving the world, or saving Harry from a madman for that matter. Harry found that the sensei was just as wise as his wizarding mentor, despite being so much younger.
Harry had taken to spending any time he could at the dojo, whether there was a class or not. He sometimes found it interesting just to observe all the different styles that his mentor knew. He also saw a few that he wanted to learn himself. He taught all the classes himself using only a few teaching assistants in especially large classes or the ones with young children. Later in the summer, Harry sometimes helped with the younger students since he was learning so quickly. In exchange, Harry got a few classes free and he used them to his advantage.
After trying many of the styles his teacher knew, Harry found that the thing he liked best was throwing knives. It wasn't martial arts, but it was taught there anyway. He seemed to have an aptitude for it, but Harry figured it was just a result of his paper route. Either way, by the end of the summer, he had become quite good with them and he had started to learn how to avoid return fire as well as a bit of how to work it into the other fighting styles he was learning. Normally his sensei wouldn't mix styles together so much, but Harry had explained that he didn't want to learn how to fight in an arena or competition. He wanted to learn how to best defend himself in a fight, which meant using everything he knew to survive.
* * * * * * * * * *
It was three weeks before he would be returning to Hogwarts, and for once he wasn't eagerly waiting for September 1st. He rather enjoyed not having everyone know who he was. Considering he rarely had to see the Dursleys at all, it was a rather nice summer. He even caught himself wishing it could last longer once or twice.
On this particularly morning however, his pleasant summer was about to have another interruption in the form of an owl. Hogwarts had sent him his usual letter, no doubt containing a list of supplies for fifth year. It came earlier in the morning than was usual, but Harry considered it a good omen. He managed to get the letter safely hidden in his cupboard, but when he came back out the owl was still sitting there as if waiting for a reply. Harry heard Uncle Vernon beginning to move around upstairs and hurriedly tried to get the owl to leave, but it was a stubborn thing.
As a last resort, Harry tried to push it out the window himself, but it let a loud hoot that had his uncle running down the stairs to the kitchen. Somehow Uncle Vernon managed to get the bird out and slammed the window shut. "Trying to talk to one of those good for nothing freaks you call your friends, are you? I won't be having any of that!" Uncle Vernon ranted as he dragged Harry towards his cupboard. Harry's last glimpse before the door shut on him was his uncle's face looking to be about two seconds from exploding. He wisely kept quiet, while his uncle called him in sick to work, and ranted to Petunia about freaks and ruddy owls.
As soon as he heard his uncle leave for work and judged Dudley and Petunia to be suitably distracted, he extracted his letter from his secret stash and opened it. There wasn't too much light in his cupboard, but there was enough to read the emerald ink if he strained his eyes. He didn't bother with the first page. It always said the same thing. He quickly flipped to the second.
Fifth year students will require: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 By Miranda Goshawk Compendium of Complex Charms By Charmion Coaxtl Advanced Potions By Ellixia Morpot Where to Find the Light Switch By Anastacia Street Dragons and Other Magical Creatures By Laura Wickham Divining the Undivinable By Grace Adamson
As Harry was about to stuff the letter back into its envelope, he noticed an extra piece of parchment. As he pulled it out, he was not too surprised to see that it came from Dumbledore. What did surprise him was that it was asking him to come back to Hogwarts three days from now and Dumbledore didn't say why. He only said that this letter would become a port key to Hogsmeade in three days time at 10:00. When Harry had finished trying to puzzle this out he shrugged and stashed the letter back into his secret hiding place and went to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Suddenly, Harry was spinning and could see or feel nothing around him. Just as suddenly he came to a stop and he was back in the graveyard where Cedric had died. Harry looked up and saw himself surrounded by Death Eaters with Voldemort directly facing him. "So Harry. We meet again. Shall we finish our duel now?"
Harry instinctively reached for his wand and then a throwing knife, but he found neither. Voldemort just stood there pointing his wand at Harry and laughing. It was the same laugh Harry heard every time he got too close to a dementor. No sooner than he had thought that, when he realized he wasn't just remembering anymore. He felt that coldness come over him and he had no wand to stop them! He saw them now. Dementors coming towards him from every direction.
The dementors stopped just beyond the circle of Death Eaters and as if that had been his cue, Voldemort suddenly stopped laughing and glared at Harry hissing, Crucio. Waves of pain filled the void of emptiness created by the dementors for what seemed an eternity until it all ended with a flash of green light, and that laughter drowning everything out until he could see and hear nothing else.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up with a start, stifling his scream. He had learned that much at least. How to not scream upon waking, although sometimes it was a near thing. Harry sat up, being careful not to hit his head on the ceiling of the cupboard. There was no use trying to go back to sleep now.
Today was the day he would be going back to Hogwarts, and he honestly didn't know if he was happy about it or not. He had managed to distract himself from all that was happening in the wizarding world, but now he would be going back and he was likely to be in the middle of everything again. Harry sighed. It didn't matter anyways, he had to go back whether he liked it or not. At least he could see Ron and Hermione and Hedwig again. He missed his friends.
He had already told Joe and Mr. Downey that he would be leaving. He claimed that one of his friends was very ill and so he was leaving to visit them and then going straight back to school. He told his Sensei the same story, although he wasn't entirely sure that he had been convinced of the story. He had spent the last few days at the dojo learning what he could while he had the chance. As soon as he had told Uncle Vernon he would leave in three days if he let him out of his cupboard. Surprisingly Uncle Vernon had agreed.
Harry sighed and got ready for his last class at the dojo. He had wanted to have one more before he left, and there was just enough time for it. He just had to take the letter with him and find a convenient place to disappear. At least it would be his favorite knife throwing. Harry had long since gotten his own set of knives. Actually, he had gotten two, and he intended to enchant one set as soon as was possible.
Since Harry had actually made more money than the Durselys knew, he had been able to buy a few things besides his knives. They were only things that the Dursleys wouldn't notice though, like arm braces for his knives. Although he had gotten a new pair of boots with knive sheaths in them, but he only wore them when he wasn't around the Dursleys. He stashed the rest of his knives on his person, none of them visible. He had gotten rather used to always having them there, and with Dudleys' old clothes, it was all too easy to hide them.
When Harry got to the dojo he spoke a bit with his Sensei and then they got to work. Afterward, Harry left rather quickly, saying he had a flight to catch. He ducked into the nearest alley and behind a trash bin where no one could see him, and got out the letter. He made it with a minute to spare. As the time for the portkey to activate came, he became more apprehensive. He didn't really trust portkeys anymore. He almost dropped the letter, except five seconds before ten o'clock, the portkey activated.
AN:It was a bit longer than most of my other chapters, but still quite short. Sorry, but I did redo the first chapter a bit too. I took out most of the recaps of the other books. So please tell me if it's any better!!! (I hate first chapters!)
Wanted: Reviews. Any kind welcome, amusing ones preferred.
Lunatyme~I was actually thinking of Aikido for the unarmed, not sure what the sword thing would be. He kind of knows bits of other types of fighting, but he mostly just knows Aikido and dagger fighting. * shrug *
Mcnugget~I really don't want to know how long it's been since I've updated. I'm supposed to be getting my net back, but RoadRunner is not cooperating.
Otaku freak~Hey, that does sound fun. /Might/ do that.
Relle~Love the review. I was rolling. And Shhh...about the owl thing. Didn't get there yet! ;)
Everyone else who said UPDATE!!!!! Thanks! I would have sooner, but no net, no update. I'll try to find a way to update again soon!