Disclaimer: JK Rowling's characters and situations are not mine, or the words to 3 Doors Down's Be Like That.
AT: I'm very sorry for the wait. I know that you just want to read the stinking chapter already, but I feel that my readers deserve an explanation. I have been drenched in emergencies for the last few weeks. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I let that affect the time spent on my writing, so this got out weeks later than I wanted. A sincere apology to everyone who waited for this chapter for so long.
On a brighter note, thing should go faster from now on. Enjoy the Chapter!
This chapter goes to Estora and Smurkle Snap!
Chapter 7 : Be Like That
Training started the next day. Harry's brief respite the night before had given him only the slightest of chances to wind down. He had taken the opportunity of being with all of his friends to explain that he was participating in a confidential school project, and wouldn't have a lot of time during the day to spend with them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
They had, of course, teased him about the project and tried to get him to explain it. They had quickly given up, though, when they figured out that he wasn't going to budge on the subject.
Monday morning broke into daylight and cloudy skies. Harry had awoken early from nerves. He had realized with a start the night before that no one had told him the exact time that Professor Moody was arriving at, which meant that he needed to be constantly on his guard. If Moody was teaching you never knew what could happen. Harry half expected to be jumped on if he walked out of the house.
But Harry worried in vain. At nine o'clock in the morning, a knock came pounding on the door, rough and impatient. Harry raced his relatives to the door, swinging it open and ushering his trainer in before they even had a chance to squawk at the indignity of having a 'freak' at their door.
"Right then," Moody commented, looking Harry over with a critical eye. He nodded abruptly and lead Harry into the living room. Harry saw Aunt Petunia grimacing after them from the corner of his eye, but couldn't be bothered to comment on it. Once in the living room, Moody turned to Harry and began to speak.
"If this training is going to work, you're going to have to listen to me at all time, understand? I've got some stuff planned out, but it's goin' to take some obedience. Constant Vigilance!" he barked. "I'm going to keep you on your toes, boy.
"Now, for my parts of the training I'm taking you to the auror training courts. You'll hate it, but don't complain to me. I don't want to hear it."
Harry felt a flush of excitement rising in him. The auror training courts! That was certainly beyond the parts of the wizarding world that he was familiar with. But would Dumbledore really allow him to leave Surrey? Harry wasn't exactly inconspicuous.
When Harry raise the question to Moody it was simply waved off. "I can't very well train you here, can I? Any physical or magical training would be noticed immediately, and the last thing you need is to be noticed. And as far as being Harry Potter goes…" Mad-eye grinned, which was an eerie and slightly grim sight. "That's what concealment and disguise charms are for, aren't they?"
A flick of the wand later and Harry was blond haired, blue eyed, and scarless. Moody gestured towards the teenager's forehead. "That charm only works on curse scars for a few hours. We'll need to renew it every so often."
Harry nodded in acknowledgement as Moody reached into his pocket and pulled out a odd looking silvery device. "Grab hold, boy."
Harry's thoughts suddenly caught up with him and he gave the portkey a suspicious look.
"Well?" Moody shook the portkey impatiently.
"What did you teach us in our first class of fourth year?" Harry demanded. Moody chuckled.
"Smart boy – though you should have asked me that before I had even walked in the door. Constant Vigilance!" he shouted, still clutching the portkey. "I didn't teach you at all," the scarred man responded to Harry's question. "I was stuck in my trunk for most of the year."
Harry nodded in acceptance and reached out to touch the portkey.
A short bout of nausea later, the odd-looking pair was striding through the halls of Eamon Auror Training Subdivision. It was only a small section of the Auror Academy's various facilities, but was immensely important. It provided both full-blooded aurors and the trainees with a place to exercise and prepare, and was used frequently during the auror classes in the training years. Harry glance about with awe and some apprehension when Moody informed him that it was called "Eats" for short, in reference not only to it's name, but also to the number of auror trainees it had eaten up and swallowed never to be seen again.
Harry was sure this was an exaggeration, but one can never be too careful. He followed closely behind Moody, careful to never lose sight of the veteran auror.
Harry spent much of the day merely being shown around, and being introduced to the influential people who worked there. He was established as Darrin Porter, a distant, visiting relative of Moody's, who was interested in learning the ropes of the Auror Academy.
Harry's head was spinning by the end of the day from all of the new information that he was trying to absorb. Name, ideas, techniques and skills flew in one ear and out the other. Moody certainly didn't take his time, every moment there was something new to remember.
The day ended at half past four, with another portkey and a warning that Moody would see him next week, and he'd better keep up with the small exercises that Moody had given him. By the time Harry returned to the Dursley's living room, he wanted nothing more than to lie down and rest.
Only the thought of Tristan waiting for him to show up kept him from lying down on the couch beside him to sort out the day. It felt like it had been forever since he'd really gotten a chance to spend quality time with her.
Harry shook his head to clean out the cobwebs, and left the Dursley's house once more, this time to find Tristan.
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"You've never played with cards before?" Tristan turned to blink incredulously at her boyfriend. "Isn't that, like, physically impossible?"
Harry shrugged hopelessly, watching Del shuffle the deck of cards that Kurt had scrounged out of one of the many boxes still sprawled across the Lindells' home. "Never really had the chance. It's not like the Dursleys are going to invite me to play a game with them, after all."
Tristan continues to blink, shell-shocked, at Harry. Slowly the corners of her mouth inched up the side of her face, resulting in one of the more evil smiles that Harry had been subject to in his life. This was actually quite the feat, considering that he had come face to face with Voldemort and Snape on several occasions. But no, Harry decided apprehensively. Their evil smiles weren't even in the same league as Tristan's.
"So what are we going to play?" questioned Matt idly. He was lying on the floor, eyes closed in relaxation.
"Mow!" declared Tristan. "We are playing Mow!"
"What?" three confused voices chorused in reply. Tristan laughed wickedly, capturing the deck of cards from Del.
"Kurt! We need another deck of cards!"
A loud groan answered her demand. "Why? You're only playing with four people. On deck should be plenty!"
"But we're playing Mow."
"Again?" exasperation laced Kurt's voice. "Haven't you overplayed that game yet?"
"Yes, but they've never played it before, which is more to the point."
Kurt appeared in the doorway to give the teenagers before him an appraising glance. "Well then," he drawled gleefully. "I shall find another deck." His smile mirrored that of his sister.
By now Del, Matt, and Harry were all alert and cautious. They watched suspiciously as Tristan dealt out seven cards for each of them. Kurt came in, already shuffling the second deck. "Deal me in," he commanded. "I'm playing."
Soon they were set up around the coffee table in the Lindell's living room. The three newcomers to the game looked expectantly at Tristan and her brother, waiting for them to explain the rules.
"Okay," began Tris in a business like tone, "Rule number one: if you want to ask a question, say "point of order." When you're done, you say "end point." Rule two: no talking about the rules. Got it?"
She didn't wait for their replies, but simply motored on ahead. "The game works like this: you can lay any card of the same suit or number as the card on the top of the pile. For example, if the top card is a nine of clubs, you can either lay a nine, or any club. Yes?"
They nodded and Tristan let slip another cruel smile. "Excellent. The game of Mow starts to the dealers' left."
Kurt, sitting at Tristan's left, was first to lay, setting down the first card, a seven. "Have a nice day!" He chirped cheerfully to Del, who was sitting beside him.
"What?" she asked in confusion. Tristan reach over and slammed two cards down in front of Del. "Asking questions and failure to say 'Thank you.'"
"Why am I getting cards?" demanded Del. She was awarded another card. Del opened her mouth again, but Matt reached over and shut her up.
"Ah…Point of order?" Harry put in tentatively. Tristan smiled at him and lay her cards down. "Yes, Harry?"
"Why…" he started, but Tris interrupted him with a smirk.
"One moment, 'kay, Harry?" she reached out and began to distribute yet more cards to her friends. "Touching cards!"
Upon their failure to put down their cards, she continued to hand out cards until they figured out their problem.
"You've got to be kidding me," howled Dell in disbelief. "This is impossible! How many unknown rules are there in this game?"
"More than you will ever know," was Kurt's smug reply.
"Aargh!"
"Are you done asking questions?" questioned Tris. "Because we should really get back to the game."
"Wait! We get cards when we do something wrong, right?" Harry waited briefly for confirmation. "And you won't tell what we can or can't do?"
"Yep!"
Harry stared at Tristan, catching the look of unholy amusement in her eyes. He informed her dryly, "No offense meant, but you are a bad person."
"Hell yeah! And you love every minute of it, don't you?" Tristan chuckled at him delightedly. Harry had to grin at his girlfriend, and leaned in to kiss her neck.
"Does that love mean I get cut a little slack in this idiotic game?"
"No!" cried Tris, drawing back to give him an offended gaze. "The nerve of you, taking advantage of your girlfriend like that! You should be ashamed!" She sniffed and handed him a card. "For being a jerk!"
"What!"
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The game had continued on, continuously being interrupted by indignant shrieks and confused errors. By the time Matt had triumphantly won the game (to the frustration of both Kurt and Tristan), Del had almost a full deck in her hand and Harry wasn't much better off.
Tristan took off after the game to the kitchen, and returned with several cups of hot cocoa and popcorn in hand. The group settled in, trying to return to a relaxed state after their hyper and somewhat insane card game.
"Hey, Del?" Harry addressed the blond girl as Tristan handed out the cups of hot cocoa.
"Hm?" Del hummed in response, taking a blissful sip of her drink.
"Not to be nosy or anything, but I was wondering where Piers has been lately. I haven't seen him around with Dudley at all this summer."
Del sat up straight at the mention of her brother. "You haven't heard?"
Tristan handed Harry his cup of hot cocoa and slipped onto the couch next to him. She leaned against him, adjusting her position so he could slip his free arm around her waist. Once settled, Harry looked back to Del, frowning in confusion. "Heard what? I was just curious as to where he's been. Normally by this time in the summer he would have already given me a black eye. But I haven't seen him around at all."
"I thought the entire neighbourhood would have known by now," Del's normally cheerful voice sounded suspiciously close to being bitter. "The idiot was caught dealing drugs at the beginning of the summer, 'bout two weeks ago. He's in a youth detention facility in Brighton. He'll be staying there for most of the summer, and we think that he'll be sent to St. Brutus' for the next school year."
"Oh," Harry said, blinking. He took a moment to let the news sink in. Piers had always bullied him with Dudley, so it was hard to sympathize with his situation. "I can't really say that I'm sorry…"
"I wouldn't expect you to be," Del interrupted brusquely. She gave Harry a forced smile. "I'm not even sure that I'm sorry about it. I know that he's a bully, and I've never really been that close to him. He was getting really bad, and I think that we all knew – mum, dad, and I – that he needed a good kick in the arse to set him straight."
"Still, he's your brother," Tris put in. "And it sucks that he's putting your family in that situation."
A silence fell over the room. It wasn't an awkward silence. It was one spent in the comfort of friends with all the time in the world. Matt was the one to break it, a few minutes later.
"If you could be anyone in the world – anyone at all – who would you be?"
"Well. That's a loaded question isn't it? How long would we be this person for?" Kurt asked.
Matt bit his lower lip in thought for a moment before replying. "One day."
"Only one day?" Del grinned. "Catherine Zeta-Jones!"
"Why?" demanded Matt, with a disgusted look on his face. "If you could be anyone in the world, why on earth would you chose to be her?"
"She's cool!" Del defended her pick. "She's rich, she's an up-and-coming actress, and her movie Blue Juice was awesome!"
"It was ridiculous! Some guy deciding whether he wanted to be with her or travel around the world without her. How bloody idiotic can you get?" Matt argued.
"It was not idiotic, it was romantic. And don't you swear at me, Matt Shetterly!"
"All right," Tris cut in. "So Del would be Catherine Zeta-Jones. What about you Matt?"
"I reckon that I'd be the headmaster at my school," he correctly interpreted the looks of disbelief on his friends' faces. "No, I'm not crazy. I just figure that if I was the headmaster, I could give those teachers that hated me hell. They'd never know what hit them!"
"And you, Harry?" Tristan smiled up at him from where she reclined against his chest. "Who would you be?"
Harry closed his eyes, thinking about the question. He would want to be someone who didn't have people gawking at their forehead. He would want to be someone with a family, a mum and dad, someone who didn't need to worry about Death Eaters, wars, and Dark Lords. He wanted to be…normal.
"I guess…" voice hesitant, Harry began, "I guess I would just want to be the kid with two parents who loved him. The one who didn't need to worry about anything more significant than getting their homework done on time."
He smiled a little bitterly at the young woman next to him. Tris had the look on her face that said she was reading more into his words than he wanted her to.
"If I could be like that, I would give anything. Just to spend one day in their shoes. If I could be like that-"
"What would you do?" inquired Tristan. Harry sighed inwardly at the question. It was such a large issue to answer. What would I do? But the answer was right there in front of him. He would do the things he never had the chance to do.
"Just normal things," a wave of regret hit Harry when he replied to Tristan's question. He had lost so much in his childhood. All those normal things he never had and never would do ate at him. If he could be like that for one day…
"I would just do normal things."
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AT2: If you were confused by the card game, don't be surprised – You were supposed to be. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you didn't, I'd be happy to hear some constructive criticism. I'm here to improve my writing, so comments are appreciated!
Smile;)
-Japerite