Chapter Six

New Life

The blaring of an alarm clock jolted Harry Potter out of a peaceful sleep brandishing his wand prepared to jinx, well, anything. After a quick scan of the room that was now a dull brown due to a lack of fluorescent orange Chudley Cannon posters that once decorated, not only the walls, but the ceiling too; the only remaining poster now hung above Ronald Weasley's bed. Harry's eyes strayed across the room to settle on that bed to find him, likewise, sitting up in bed holding his wand aloft and darting his eyes about the room.

'No rude awakening today then?' he said warily.

'Apparently not,' Harry replied lowering his wand. For the past two weeks they had been gifted with the rude awakenings of their trainer Hart; their gifts being jinxes, hexes, curses, charms and various pranks due to their lack of punctuality on the first day of training.

'Must have decided we had been punished enough,' Ron grumbled laying back down. Harry however, glanced at the alarm clock tittering on the edge of his bedside cabinet.

'Shit!' he shouted and jumped out of bed.

'Where's the fire?' Ron mumbled with his arm covering his eyes.

'It's five forty-five genius, we only have fifteen minutes to get down there!' Harry growled as he ran about the room dressing in clothing he found along the way, 'or do you want another two weeks of waking up drenched with tentacles?'

'Hell no,' Ron said springing from bed and gathering his own clothes from around the room.

Five minutes later they were both sprinting down the stairs, through the kitchen and out through the back door into the garden where they could see Hart stood at the rear holding a gold pocket watch aloft.

'Five minutes spare boys, bravo,' Hart said as they skidded to a stop before him, 'I doubt the girls will be so lucky.'

For the first time Harry noticed the girls weren't waiting with smug smiles as was customary.

'They have been becoming more and more lax with their punctuality over the past few days.' Hart said gazing across the garden, 'ah here we are.'

Harry and Ron turned to see Hermione and Ginny racing down the garden, Ginny slightly in front with a look of sheer determination upon her face and her long hair dancing across her shoulders.

'Bravo Miss Weasley,' Hart said as she slid to a stop before him panting loudly.

'Come on Hermione,' Ron moaned.

Hermione had fallen over a garden gnome and was now running with a slight limp in desperation to reach the end of the garden in time.

'Late,' Hart declared as Hermione pulled up next to him, 'one minute 10 seconds Granger, unacceptable.' He snapped his watch closed and spun to open the back gate. Hermione collapsed to the floor clutching her leg; Ginny hurried forwards and murmured a quick healing charm. A blue glow shone from the end of her wand and radiated onto Hermione's leg, Hermione sighed and gave Ginny a small smile before rising to her feet.

'Well now, you all know what to do,' Hart said turning to face them, 'off you go.'

Without a word all four of them ran one at a time through the open gate and out onto the dirt beaten track that led to the village where they would do a lap around the village before returning to The Burrow for weights and other physical training.

'That was harsh what Hart just did then to Hermione,' Ron said, not even panting; when they had first began the run it was viewed by all of them as a brutal torture so early I the day, now it was a refreshing way for them to wake up, the distance no longer great enough to make them gasp for breath. 'She was only a minute late!' Ron continued, 'and he could see her the whole bloody time!'

'It was harsh,' Harry agreed, 'but those are his rules, and unless you want to go up against him then nothing will change.'

Ron didn't reply he merely gazed straight ahead with only the pounding of his feet on the dirt road to keep him company.

'Im going to talk to Hermione,' Ron suddenly said before jogging backwards towards the girls.

'Thanks for the company.' Harry murmured somewhat grouchily.

'No problem,' said a bright voice from his left. He turned his head slightly to catch a glimpse of Ginny, her hair glowing in the sunlight and a broad smile across her face.

'Hey Gin, you okay,' Harry asked

'Not bad, you know how it is, missing my boyfriend,'

'Ah I see, well I am sure he misses you just as much,' he replied smiling at her

'Do you think so?' Ginny posed the question rather shrewdly, 'because he didn't visit me last night, even though we had agreed for over a week that we would after spending not an ounce of time other for two weeks.'

Harry swallowed nervously and glanced at Ginny's expression, and was rewarded with a thundercloud.

'Im so sorry about last night Gin, I couldn't help it, Ron had me all tied up with Occulmency. Im sorry.'

'Humph,' Ginny replied.

There was silence for a few seconds and Harry felt a sweat break out on the nape of his neck which had noting to do with the run.

'Are you okay Ginny?' he asked

'Yes.' She replied shortly.

'Are, are we okay?' he asked hesitantly.

'Fine.'

Harry winced, 'fine,' in Ginny language meant seriously pissed in Harry language.

'Im so sorry Gin, I really could not think of anyway to get out of it.' Harry said earnestly.

'You mean to tell me that after two weeks of training on lying and deception you could think of nothing that would get you out of Occulmency with my darling brother?' she said dangerously.

'Well, no.'

Silence. Harry bit the inside of his gum waiting for the explosion.

'I can not believe you Harry James Potter.' She said, and with that she slammed her shoulder into his and took of at full steam down the hill.

'Ginny!' he shouted after her.

'Harry!' Hermione gasped from behind him, 'you have to go after her! It's the, the-'

'The rules,' Ron finished for her, 'someone needs to be with her.'

Harry nodded, 'we will wait for you at the stone archway,'

'GO!' Hermione and Ron wheezed.

Without another word he took off down the hill after Ginny leaving a cloud of dirt in his wake.

After running for five minutes he caught a glimpse of red hair rounding the last corner before the village came into view. Speeding up he had caught up to her in seconds, grabbed her arm and spun her round to face him.

'Right, for starters, I am trying to keep our relationship a secret and last night I would have struggled to do that if I had left Ron,' Ginny opened her mouth to reply but Harry talked over her straight away, 'secondly, I wanted to be with you last night so bad that my scar bled from the effort I putting to prevent Ron finding it in my mind. And thirdly!' he said loudly, 'I can not believe that you were stupid enough to run off on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere with nobody with you! What would you of done if a couple of Death Eaters were strolling past? Yes, you were angry but that does not mean you act like a stupid first year!' he yelled the last part, his anger getting the best of him.

Ginny's eyes filled as she realised the stupidity of her actions.

'Im sorry,' she whispered. 'I was just so worried that I was loosing you again.'

'Oh Gin,' Harry sighed as tears ran down her cheeks, 'come here.'

He took her in his arms and she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

'I am not going anywhere,' he said kissing her on the top of the head, 'do you think I would leave this fireball?'

Ginny gave a wet sounding giggle.

'Now,' Harry said tilting her chin up so he gaze into her eyes, 'give me that kiss I have been waiting for.'

Ginny smiled slightly before raising herself slightly on her toes and claiming her lips with hers. It was such a soft, intimate kiss that deepened slightly when Ginny wrapped her arms his neck that Harry felt his knees buckle slightly and he moaned into her mouth. He felt her smile against his lips and pull away with her eyes shining.

'Shame you couldn't make it last night, you may have gotten more than that,' Ginny smiled provocatively and attempted to move past him, yet Harry had other plans, he grabbed her picked her up and pressed her against a nearby tree.

'Let me show you what I would have done last night,' he murmured in her ear.

As he bent down to kiss her upturned lips he froze suddenly.

'Harry!' he heard from around the corner, Harry quickly lowered Ginny to the ground, brushed her lips and smiled before stepping away and shouting back a reply. A couple of seconds later Ron and Hermione rounded the bend and jogged over to them.

'Everything okay? Hermione asked glancing at Ginny's tear streaked face.

'Fine,' Harry said,

'Ginny?' Hermione checked. Ginny nodded in reply.

'Right then, shall we get going then?' Ron said looking quizzical. They all nodded in reply and set off towards the village. After the village lap they began their way back up the hill to the Burrow.

'Wonder what Mum's gonna be cooking for breakfast, I could go for a bacon sandwich today,' Ron mused.

'Lucky you,' Ginny said darkly.

Since the new training all four of them had under gone serious diet changes. The girls now ate fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch and smaller portions for dinner. Whilst Harry and Ron ate the same as ever before with the extra load of added protein and larger portions to intensify body mass. Hermione had taken to the new diet happily, whilst Ginny resented every movement of it; even though in Harry's opinion she could now be a Victoria's Secrets model with her new body.

'Stop talking about food,' Harry moaned, 'we still have an hour's physical left.'

When they arrived at the Burrow instead of heading to the kitchen, they headed towards Mr Weasley's shed which had been transformed into their own private gym. Unlike most wizard gym's Hart had not bought equipment which helped to intensify muscle strength and endurance instead they had to do it he muggle way, 'character building,' Hart called it.

'Okay, today I want lads on back and arms, ladies, abdominal, legs and arms. Got it?' Hart said sizing them all up, instead of replying they all simply turned and headed to their own equipment.

After an hour they were dismissed and headed to the house for showers and breakfast.

'My back is killing,' Ron groaned trying to rub out a knot in the middle of his back, 'why did he push us so hard today?'

'Must be feeling vengeful,' Hermione griped clutching her stomach, 'well especially to me anyway.

Harry didn't say anything; he simply walked with his head down watching his feet wishing that he could take the day off and go with Ginny to their meeting spot by the lake for a picnic alone. But that wasn't meant to be. He raised his head and glanced at the hills which the sun had now risen above and was casting a warm glow over the garden, the day had only just begun.

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