He continued to look at her; it wasn't as difficult, as she smiled at him and hummed some nameless tune. He couldn't help but smile back. He followed her eyes, a deep brown as they looked back. The thin lock of hair that flowed down the side of her face seemed drawn to him as she continued to walk backwards. Her ponytail came up over her shoulder and moved with the same rhythmic pattern of her steps.

He felt drawn to her...this time without the music.

At some point in time (Harry couldn't tell) they stopped walking, and the feeling of grass beneath him told Harry he had crossed the pool, though that thought was perhaps the furthest thing from his mind. He took another step closer to her closing the gap between them, while he trapped her between himself and the stone wall behind her. Her hands were warm in his, allowing himself a nervouce glance and a blush before his eyes found hers again, and this time, nervous or not, their eyes didn't stray.

Of Kings and Commoners

A Harry Potter Fanfiction

About as Normal as it Gets

One thought ran through his mind.

Oh My God!

He had only once kissed a girl…but nothing like this. He seemed to move without thought, because his mind certainly had no idea what he was doing. He pressed her against the wall, her body squirming beneath him in a very delightful manner. They pushed off the wall together, her hands trying desperately to pull him closer, with his hand running through her long mane of silky hair. His lips traveled downward and discovered how she felt when they played upon her neck. She tugged at his earlobe and their lips met again in a furious clash…

And it all seemed so cheesy.

Without any cause other than that thought, Harry began to laugh quite uncontrollably. Lien, still taken in with the moment wondered what had now come over him and allowed herself to catch her breath.

"What?" She could only smile back, still wondering. "What is it? What's so funny?"

Harry pushed his glasses up onto his nose and brought his face down to her and gently kissed her lips before laughing again. He began to twirl her about, dancing to absent music before stopping again.

"Harry? What's gotten into you?" She asked again.

"I just had a thought…that this, you and me, making out…it's all terribly cliché. All my thoughts, how I looked at you, how…everything. It's like some cheesy cheap romance novel."

Lien stared deeply into his eyes before breaking out in her own fit of laughter. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back down for another quick kiss before pulling away. Immediately he missed her presence. She skipped to one end of the pool and waited.

"Well? Let's see if you can do it without me." She smirked.

True he had done it. But he wasn't really thinking about walking on water. He had something else to distract him and he hadn't the vaguest idea what he had done differently. He froze in thought.

And that was it.

Harry in all his newfound confidence stepped on the water, which merely rippled at the tapping of his feet. He could feel the magic emanating from his feet, his thoughts not focused on how or why. Because it now seemed that there was no how or why. Simply just because.

Or because he also had plenty of motivation waiting from him on the other end.

His steps quickened to a run until he gathered Lien up in his arms again losing himself in the moment.

Cheesy indeed.

Dinner had never been so nerve racking. They had agreed to keep it a secret. Well, as much of a secret as possible could be in the presence of such company. He was grateful though to finally eat dinner and enjoy it rather than eating simply to restore his energy. Aside from the food though, his attentions were on Lien. Her back was to him, but he still tried not to stare. Others would notice and he wondered when and if he could find her alone again. His body yearned for her and it was a very frightening thought. True he had been attracted to quite a few girls, but they had never been more than just far off admirations. Aside from Cho. But Cho was not here, it was Lien. And judging from her reaction, he knew it wouldn't be long until…until a kiss wasn't enough. And Harry had never been before presented with such a problem. Something so…within reach.

What will come will come, and we'll face it when it does…

Hagrid words rang true in his mind, though they did little to help. Unless the two of them could find some obscure corner in the temple, he would need something to distract him from such thoughts lest he go mad.

It was with a sigh of utter relief that Donovan laid his callused hand on his shoulder. It meant the meal was over and he had something new to show him. And that was enough. Harry followed his large teacher into another, though smaller courtyard. It was empty, no pool or trees. Simply dirt and walls.

"Ok Harry you got the gist of it. Now for practical application. Bring your energy to your feet again. And close your eyes."

Confused, Harry obeyed and suddenly felt a soft thump against his leg. He opened his eyes to see Donovan turning back again and swinging his massive leg into his, only to be met with another soft thud.

"Though not likely, should a fight become physical, once you master the speed of it, you can gather your magic to a body part to protect it. By the natural way of things, it's only applicable as a defense. It works against magic too. Much like a Protego spell.

"And now the lesson." He circled Harry eyeing him like a hawk, and gaining the desired reaction from him. "I proceed to beat the shit out of you, and you defend yourself. Use whatever means, but the point is to enhance natural defenses with magic. You should know that without a magical defense, I can snap your limbs like twigs. Xaio should have suitably brought you up to speed right? The same now with magic. Ready?"

… And I wasn't. I proceeded, as he said, to get the crap kicked out of me. Though I did sorta of get the hand of it. It's a lot easier to move magic around my body, but getting it to take form and make it into a suitable defense was tough. Instead of straight hits, it felt like he was wearing gloves. Padded with rocks.

I'm in terrible shape right now. Lien made me some healing draught so I should be ok by morning. I'm doing alright and don't worry about me. Hope to see you soon.

Harry

Harry tapped the letter and another sheet of paper and it similarly duplicated the writing. It saved him time of writing to Cho and everyone else. Though each were, not surprisingly, absent of any mention of Lien. His letters were pretty much copies of one another with little things added in each. It definitely saved him the time he would need tonight. Painful as it was this would be a most suitable distraction.

Xaio was an incredible instructor and had managed to build Harry up as well as he could in such a short amount of time. Despite having an incredible teacher, lessons learned only served to soften blows if they could be blocked at all. Moving his energy where he wanted was easy enough. Having it manifest itself into an adequate defense was another story. That, along with the fact that he didn't know where to manifest his energy. Donovan, in his deceptively old age, was surprisingly nimble and quick. More often that not Harry would be left spinning or having a sore neck trying to keep up.

Donovan was quick to explain that this wasn't a lesson on fighting.

"You're already very quick when it comes to seeing where I am and what needs to be done. What you need to work on is actually being as fast as your eyes and thoughts. You're a Seeker right? How do you catch the snitch?"

"Uh…I try to predict it's path and aim for that rather than the snitch itself."

"Right. Because the Snitch is too fast for you. You aren't faster than a speeding bullet Harry, but your eyes and your thoughts can be. You need to predict where I am going to be and raise a suitable defense. Say now for instance!"

In a flash he disappeared and reappeared with a pop behind Harry, who spun around wildly.

"In that case a defense on your back. But remember attacks only impact for a split second before disappearing. You don't need to hold it there for too long. Thus this defeats the purpose of a Protego spell. You save energy by only protecting what's needed and not your whole body. Got it?"

Harry nodded and dropped back into a ready stance, ready to resume his beating.

It had been a while since Harry had had the time to go to his little garden sanctuary. Though it was never really his to begin with. Donovan and a few of the others had left again, though Harry had learned to enjoy what little time off he had without thinking too much. His muscles were sore and anything more than kissing (Though that hadn't really gone much further than that.) made his whole body ache. Wonderful as it was to have time with her again, it was depressing that his muscles had decided to work against him.

The grass beneath him felt cool, and he felt his mind melt away as Lien cradled his head in her lap, running fingers though his hair and humming some nameless tune. She would kiss him occasionally, short moments he tried to stay awake for though her melody was sending him away.

It wasn't long until he felt asleep, which he had tried so hard to fight against. Even though time together meant no words and a few kisses, he tried to stay awake for her. For that she could only admire him. She had never before encountered such resiliency.

She ran her hand though his dark locks once more before pulling out a small notebook from a pocket inside her coat. Flipping past a few pages she began to write, quickly but clearly. She was almost giddy in her excitement as she wrote, but had forced a calm and steady hand so she could recall all the details later.

When she tucked it away, he stirred.

"Better. Not great, but better."

It was one of Donovan's less insulting comments. It merely meant Harry was on his way to becoming decent. But it seemed ample enough motivation for him to keep trying.

"You know one day I'll get a real compliment out of you."

"Not likely."

With a massive swing of his gloved fist, Donovan struck Harry square in the torso, lifting him off the ground and sending him sailing several feet away. By now Harry had learned to cushion his head rather than his ass. Better to have a sore bottom than a headache all day.

And he had managed a defense around his stomach, the blow becoming merely bone breaking rather than shattering.

It hurt a lot, though Harry wondered, just how powerful Donovan really was. Just what he could do if he put his all into it. Because he knew damn sure the Old knight was going easy on him. Remembering Voldemort's frail form he knew if the confrontation got physical, he would have no problem.

Donovan continued to lay into Harry with quick hits and slow but crushing blows. Once he had made enough progress, he left, leaving Harry to his own devices.

Harry took the long way to his billet, letting the walk cool down his muscles, which he had to stretch every once in a while for they would cramp up terribly. It was a feeling he had come to appreciate as a result of his locked up childhood. It helped him go to bed, though by the time he reached his, thoughts of sleep were quickly chased away at a most wonderful sight.

"Evening."

Lien sat in a most casual fashion on his desk, and yet it had a sex appeal of a half naked super model. Immediately he drank in the sight of her and closed the distance between them. She stopped him though, placing a hand on his chest and pushing him away and onto the bed and prompting a goofy grin.

"Slow down tiger. Don't get any ideas now."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He lied smiling.

"I thought I told you already. Not in love with me. Remember?"

"Not really…" He mumbled as he tried to kiss her once more, only to be pushed back.

She pulled out her weathered flute and twirled it around to remind him.

"But you weren't playing. You haven't played since we first met." Harry argued.

"Well I guess it was a really good song. But still it's the song. Not," She poked him in the chest. "what you're really feeling."

"Well it feels real enough for me." He pulled her close, but refrained from letting himself go. He rested his forehead on hers and looked into her dark brown eyes.

"Do you really think a song could make me feel this way? I know I feel it, I don't need a song for that." He whispered. She closed her eyes and pulled away.

"Think about it. Just for tonight. Ok? I'm going to play a song and if what you say is true…" She didn't finish, looking worried at just what the answer would be. Instead she brought her flute up to her lips and played. It was another love song. But it felt…different. Not real, manufactured and fake. But it was still beautiful…

It became the first night in a long time where sleep didn't come easily. Harry found himself staring at his ceiling, his thoughts mimicking the never ending chase of lines looking for their tails.

How could he not love her? Lien presented a relationship that actually seemed normal. It wasn't influenced by friends, family or even Voldemort. His interaction with anyone other than the older knights was virtually nonexistent. If he didn't know what they thought how could he care? He didn't have anyone nagging his ear off about what he should be doing.

No, it was very much just the two of them. She wasn't playing any damn song, and the only thing influencing the way he felt was Lien herself. And that was that. He knew he loved her and that was all that mattered. She had given him the night to think about it, when all he needed was one hour. One hour to decide the rest of his…summer.

Sleep, he decided, was not very important at the moment…

Author's note: Long in coming I know. Sorry. Well I have several excuses. One being Final Fantasy 11. Two being my computer. Graphics card died, mother board died, processor burned out and harddrive got busted on flight going home. So I lost all my drafts and stuff. Not much other than I'm going to Afghanistan for a year next year. So that's plenty of time to write. Aside from missions, patrols and moving around and doing other stuff. Plus I just haven't felt the need to write. Not writer's block…sorta. Oh well whatever, I don't think too many people read this story anyway. It's not that good. Read Arya Or Draco664's stuff. Or Jamie Wilde stuff. That's good reading. – peace

AN v.2 – mad writers block, doing a lot of reading to help. Plus a lot of training too. But mostly all same problems. I don't really feel too good about this chapter. Let me know what you think.