The Way of the Warrior
By: Cubster
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Movie King Arthur. That credit goes elsewhere
The day was July 20, just eleven days before Harry's sixteenth birthday and the day Harry would begin his training. Harry woke up at dawn, according to Tristan's instructions the day before he was to wake early and to meet him down beside the lake. Harry dressed himself in a pair of sweat pants, an old torn t-shirt and his trainers.
When Harry groggily walked down to the lake, he noticed that there was a large circular wooden fence, and Tristan stood in the center of it waiting for him. Harry hopped the fence and walked over to Tristan. Harry noticed that Tristan had two wooden swords lying beside his feet; they both looked similar to Tristan's real sword. They were both broad but curved up at the end of the blade; the hilt was made for two hands but was capable of one-handed maneuverability if necessary.
"We will be working on your stance and foot work, when using your sword it is important to stay relaxed and remain quick and fluid with your footwork." Tristan picked up one of the swords and handed it to Harry. Harry found that it was light but knew that a real blade would be much heavier than a wooden one. Tristan picked up his sword and began to show Harry the fundamentals of swordplay.
"Always stay moving," Tristan began to how Harry to move effectively with the sword, "Never stand still, it weakens your defense, when you move your sword moves, the faster you move the faster your sword moves."
Harry watched carefully as Tristan demonstrated each fundamental he taught. Tristan then got Harry to try to mimic what he saw. Harry was choppy when he did it but Tristan expected this, Harry having trouble just moving as Tristan did. He had no idea how he was going to be able to move and fight like Tristan.
He would not lose hope though, it was only the first day and they had plenty of time before he ever needed to go into battle. Tristan looked over at Harry, "When in battle and you are against someone, never let them come fully down on you. When they strike at you, use their strikes against them. Throw them off balance by not blocking head on. Swing down on my head."
Harry looked at him incredulously for a moment before taking the sword into both of his hands and swinging down hard at Tristan's head. Before he could fully even bring the sword down half way, Tristan hit his sword with his own and brought it down to his neck. Harry looked up at Tristan, but saw no emotion there just a warrior who was very good at what he did.
"Now try to do it to me." Harry nodded and readied himself for the attack.
When Tristan swung his sword down Harry was not quick enough, he had managed to get his sword above him but the attack was too strong for him, he had not blocked properly, and he was knocked to the ground. Tristan then pointed his sword at his throat "If you are knocked to the ground, you haven't lost."
"How?"
"I've been knocked off my horse many times in battler, you don't land on your feet when you fall of your horse, being on the ground does not mean you are vulnerable." Harry still looked confused; Tristan sighed and swung his sword at Harry who was still at the ground.
Harry's survival mode kicked in and he rolled to the left and stood up, "I understand now."
Tristan nodded and swung his sword down on Harry's head once again, Harry was quicker this time but did not manage to deflect the blow and the wooden sword struck him in the stomach. Harry hunched over in pain but did not say a word. After a moment, he stood up again, holding his sword out in front of him. Tristan shook his head and hit Harry's hands with his sword, "You remain still when you know you should be moving."
Harry took light steps to his left, circling along with Tristan making sure that he was straight across from him. Harry noticed that Tristan held his sword loosely in his hands, not tight like Harry was. "Why do you hold your sword so loosely?"
"When you hold your sword tight your arms are tense, when you're tense you move less fluidly and you move slower. My sword is not loose but it is not tight, I am calm and I am relaxed. Now we need to work on where you hold your sword, since my way of fighting involves constant motion you do not want your sword straight in front of you. Hold it out to your side, or straight out in front of you, this will give you some room from your opponent and will help you react faster." Tristan then showed him how he held out his sword to his side and moved, he lunged forward and swung his sword quickly, "Not a lot of strength is needed to wield a blade, you will need to gain strength though, you are weak, you rarely use your body as much as you should due to your dependency on magic. We will fix this soon enough, it is your quickness and your precision that will win your battles if you use this way of fighting."
Harry learned a lot that morning with Tristan, they had not even broken through the surface of what Tristan was going to teach him yet and he felt his brain was going to burst. His body also hurt, when Tristan had finished demonstrating to him the basics of his art he then had Harry show him his reflexes in combat and how he fared when he was under pressure.
When they had finished with his morning training, he went straight to the Gryffindor common room where he was now staying. He no longer needed to be in the infirmary and he and Katie slept in their dorm rooms. Harry took a shower mumbling angrily about how Tristan beat him up with a stupid piece of wood when he heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" He yelled over the sound of the water.
"It's Katie, could you come down to the common room when you are done, I need to ask you something." He heard, she sounded depressed, he yelled out that he would and he quickly finished his shower. His mind was racing, "What could she want?" Harry thought as he got dressed, he was hopping down the stairs and trying to tie his shoe at the same time, the tripped on the bottom stair and landed on his face "oof" he grunted as he landed.
He got up to see Katie staring at him with a small smile on her face; she had her head tilted to one side. "There was no hurry Harry." She told him, her smile faded quickly however when she remembered what she wanted to ask him. "Could you come over here Harry?"
Harry nodded and got up from the floor and sat on the couch beside her. "My parent's funeral is tomorrow, I was wondering if you would like to go with me, will you.
Harry stared for a moment but quickly shook himself out of his reverie when he noticed tears beginning to fall down her face. "I'll come," he said and she smiled.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, "I miss them so much Harry and I can't take it." She sobbed out as she pulled back to look at Harry in the eye. "Thank you "
Harry did not say anything, he grabbed her waist and hugged her to him tightly in reassurance "I am here for you, your parents love you and I know they are happy that you are still alive. Tomorrow is their funeral, put them to rest and honor them, after tomorrow you can move on." Harry whispered into her ear, he then heard a grumbling and could not tell whose it was.
"You hungry?" He asked; she nodded "its lunch time lets go get something to eat." She nodded again and pulled away from Harry, but not before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks again Harry." She stood up and waited for him to come out of shock so they could go down to the Great Hall. They walked in a comfortable silence, Harry almost died of shock though when Katie took her hand into his. She looked at him and smile but remained silent; Harry was so stunned he could not have talked even if wanted to.
It was midday and Tristan stood on the grounds looking at the target Dumbledore had conjured for him so that he could teach Harry to use a bow. Tristan loved using a bow more than any other weapon; he loved the challenge of hitting a target, whether it is this kind, a human, or an animal.
He was about forty yards away from the target; he took his bow from his shoulder and knocked an arrow. He took his time aiming at the target, when he felt that he would hit the middle he let loose the arrow and it sped through the air imbedding itself into the bulls eye of the target.
"That's incredible; I am going to learn to shoot like that?" Harry asked as he walked down towards Tristan.
"Yes, I don't know how far away you will be able to shoot a target, but from what I have heard about you in that Quidditch game, you have a \pretty good eye so I have high expectations."
Harry nodded, waiting eagerly for them to begin, Tristan bent down to grab another bow that was on the ground at his feet, he also grabbed a glove. "Put on the glove, the string will hit your arm when it is released. Hold the bow firmly in your hand and hold it straight out in front of you. Use these three fingers." Tristan held up his hand and pointed to his pointer, middle, and ring finger "To pull the bowstring back."
Harry did as he was told, he held the bow up in front of him and was about to pull the string back when Tristan stopped him. "Square you shoulders and widen your stance a little," Harry followed Tristan's instructions and then began to pull the string back. "Pull the string back until your hand meets face." Harry did so then released.
"That's good, ready to fire an arrow?" Harry nodded eagerly and Tristan handed him an arrow.
"Knock the arrow where the white mark is on the string, do not pull back until you have it knocked and at rest on your hand. To aim, look down the arrow and meet the point to your target, and the rest is up to you."
Harry concentrated on the target as he pulled the string back until it was at his eye. He closed one eye and used the other to aim. "Don't close one eye; it will throw you off, use both."
Harry did as he told and continued to aim carefully, when he felt that he was on target he let the arrow loose and it sailed through the air striking the target just a little outside of the bull's eye. "Very good, a little practice and we can move further away from the target." When Tristan said this Harry looked at him as if he was mad. "You're not only going to shoot your enemy from this far away, you need to learn to shoot from all distances."
They spent the rest of the afternoon practicing Harry's archery skills. When he finally hit the bull's eye from fifty yards out he smiled proudly at his shot. Tristan looked at him and pulled out his own bow. He knocked an arrow and let it fly and it went right through Harry's arrow into the bull's eye.
Harry looked at him with wide eyes "How do you do that?"
Tristan pointed down to where the target was, "I aim for the middle."
Harry looked dumbfounded, "Well, if you say so. Are we done for tonight?"
Tristan nodded and they both walked back inside "Tristan I never thanked you for all you've done for me this past week."
Tristan looked over at Harry for a moment and a smile appeared on his face. "I was brought here against my will Harry. Now I think I am not going to mind being here at all, you will be a great knight. I see a fire in your eyes when you hold a bow or a sword in your hands. The same fire I saw in my fellow knights. Especially Arthur my commander, you remind me a lot of him. You're strong willed and loyal to your friends, you'll be a great commander some day."
Tristan saw Harry look up at him in a way no one ever had before, he did not know what it was but he was sure he was looking at him the same way. Something more than just a bond of trust was born between Harry and Tristan that night. Something deeper and stronger was born, a friendship was born and that friendship would come to save both their lives in the future.
Harry waited in the common room for Katie to come down; he was dressed in a black set of dress robes, which Dumbledore had given him last night. He was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, deep in thought about last night.
He and Tristan had connected, he did not know how it happened, but it did, and it made him feel great. They had spoken for several hours after training ended and they went to their separate rooms. Tristan was also going to attend the funeral out of respect and since he saved Katie from the house.
When he heard footsteps from the girl's dormitory, he stood up and looked over to see Katie in a black dress. Even with the circumstances and the sad look on her face, he could not help but marvel at her beauty. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her "Today is the day, you can finally say your goodbyes to your parents and don't look back after today."
Katie nodded her head; they left the room arm in arm towards Dumbledore's office. When they arrived at the Gargoyle Harry said the password and they walked up the circle stairs and entered the office. Tristan was standing against the door that led to his room and Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen. Tristan was dressed in his armor but he only had his sword strapped to his back "Where is Dumbledore Tristan? And why do you have your armor on?" Harry asked as he and Katie walked over to the mysterious knight.
"In his chamber. I dress in my armor out of respect, and I don't like those robes." Tristan told them and Harry nodded in understanding. "How are you faring Katie?" Tristan asked; he looked straight into her eyes; she did not have to respond in order for him to get an answer.
"I've been better."
Dumbledore soon joined them in his office and the three other occupants of the room looked towards him. "It is time for us to go; we will be going straight to the cemetery."
Everyone nodded and put a hand on a piece of rope Dumbledore held out for them to take. They were not the first ones there, the Weasley family was there along with Hermione and many of the Order members were there. A lot of high up ministry officials were there just to make an appearance and to look good. Harry and Katie knew this right away, "What kind of person comes to a funeral for publicity?" Katie whispered to Harry as they approached the group of people.
"People who deserve to burn." Harry told her, Tonks joined them and went straight to Tristan.
"Wotcher Mr. Knight." She said to him with a smile, as she looped her arm around his own.
"Hi" Tonks smiled, she did not mind the short replies, they were a part of his charm.
Everyone Katie knew including Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, Fred, George and Lee Jordan walked up to give her their condolences and she only nodded in reply. Alicia and Angelina hugged her before returning to their families, Fred, George and Lee soon followed.
The service was short and everyone had tears in there eyes during the service. All except for Minister Fudge who decided this was a perfect time to discuss with Percy his next meeting with the French Minister of Magic on Tuesday. At the end of the service, Katie stepped forward to say good-bye to her parents.
The graves were side by side to each other and Katie kneeled down between them. "Hey mum, hey dad it's me Katie, thank you for always being there for me these last seventeen years, I will see you again but I promise not for a long long time." Her voice wavered as she went and she began crying, "I am sorry I could not save you mum and dad. I could have done something but I wasn't strong enough to stop those Death Eaters."
Harry went to step forward to comfort her but Tristan grabbed his shoulder. Harry turned around to say something but Tristan shook his head, "She needs to be alone for this."
Katie remained silent for several moments before continuing, "I will make you proud mum and dad, I promise you I will. Good-bye mum, good-bye dad I love you both so much."
Katie stood up and turned away from her parents graves not looking back. When she reached Harry, she walked into his embrace and he held her tightly. "How do you feel Katie?" Harry asked as she cried into his shoulder soaking it.
She looked up at him "You were right Harry, I can move on." Harry nodded before looking up to Minister Fudge who throughout Katie's good-byes continued to talk to Percy about business. He let go of Katie and walked briskly over to Minister Fudge anger evident on his face.
"Minister Fudge," Harry said interrupting the Minister in the middle of his sentence. Fudge looked at Harry with a scowl "What do you want Potter?" he hissed harshly, Harry was not fazed at all.
"How can you call yourself a human being Fudge, during the whole service you spoke to this git about business?" Harry pointed his finger over to Percy who looked scandalized at being insulted in front of the minister. "This is supposed to be a time of mourning, every person I saw here today paid their respects to Mr. and Mrs. Bell, yet you don't even pay attention to the service. You'll regret this Fudge, believe me."
Fudge had a smug look on his face, "What can you possibly do to make me regret anything Potter?"
"I am Harry Potter Minister Fudge; there are a lot of things I can do to make you regret this." Harry smirked, turned his back to Fudge, and walked back to Katie and the others.
Tristan was smirking at Harry and Harry winked at him, "All in a days work Tristan."
AN: A little shorter sorry, I promised I would make them longer and I will make good on that. I hope you enjoy the chapter has a little bit of everything in it. Please review and tell me what you think, I will give girls a back rub if you do and I will give guys a dollar bill. I will have an update tomorrow most likely.