Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Prince of Tennis!

...

...

Hari shook her head not impressed but amused as she watched Ryoma and Momoshiro sitting on the ground their backs pressed against the railing at the bridge that was overriding the freeway.

"Eeergh…"

"Aaaahhh…"

"I ate way too much!" Momoshiro groaned.

"It's because you're way too stubborn," Ryoma said.

Hari hid her chuckle behind her hand as she looked at them. Ryoma talking about others being stubborn, now, that was hilarious. She tilted her head as she remained silent watching them. They had been getting along quite well, until the girl they didn't know the name off had come and awoken the competitor instinct in them both. Not that Hari minded, it was good entertainment watching them see who could out eat the other. Though, Hari must admit…she did get a little sick just watching the amount of greasy food they ate.

"Nah, Echizen," Momoshiro said.

"What is it?" Ryoma asked.

"Like that girl said before," the taller of the two started. "The Singles 1 and 2 are Captain Tezuka and Fuji-sempai. Next, the doubles 1 team is Eiji-sempai and Oishi-sempai. They are the Golden Pair. The ones left are Taka-san, Mamushi, me and you…"

Hari could see what was coming just as they both stated:

"The no 3 singles player in the singles match is probably going to be me!"

They blinked as they stared at each other while Hari chuckled. They really were similar, she thought.

"Why don't you play it out?" Hari asked innocently.

Ryoma narrowed his eyes at her for a second but Momoshiro jumped to his feet looking eager.

"That's fine by me!" he said.

"Aa, I don't want to wait until tomorrow anyway," Ryoma said getting to his feet as well.

They walked around for a bit before they found a court that was open and saw that there were already a lot of people there. Hari looked around curiously and noticed that not everyone was playing tennis some was even using those shoes with wheels on. She wondered what they were called; she couldn't remember having seen them before. Perhaps Ryoma would teach her how to use them sometimes?

"Is there a fee?" Hari heard Momoshiro ask someone.

"No, it's free," the boy answered.

"Hi!" A cheerful voice called and they turned to see the girl from the burger place sitting on a low wall.

"It's her…" Momoshiro commented.

Just as they were going to go over there two boys interrupted them.

"We haven't seen your faces before," one of them said. "You're new here?"

"Aa," Momoshiro nodded while Ryoma just stared at them without saying anything.

...

"You know…" Hari smiled glancing at the girl from before as they both watched Ryoma and Momoshiro getting ready for their double game. "I never got to say thank you."

The girl blinked and looked at Hari. "Thank you? For what?"

"You gave me a lot of free entertainment," Hari smirked.

She looked confused still but smiled a little.

"What's your name?" Hari asked curiously turning to look at the girl more clearly. She had short light brown hair that reached her chin; Hari noticed that she had various hairclips in her hair probably to keep it from falling into her eyes.

"Ann," she smiled.

Hari arched a brow at the lack of last name but there was a note of some mischief in her eyes that told Hari that the omission was on purpose. But why did she purposely not give her last name?

"I'm Hari," Hari smiled back.

"Do you attend Seigaku as well?" Ann asked curiously.

"I do," Hari nodded, "just started a few weeks ago."

Ann nodded before looking back at the court where Ryoma and Momoshiro got ready to take the first serve.

"Oh…" Ann mumbled seeing the twist serve from Ryoma.

"He's not holding back," Hari grinned.

"He can do the twist serve?" Ann asked surprised.

Hari nodded.

"What an amazing serve," Ann complimented. "I can't believe I got to see it in a place like this."

It wasn't much of a game with them winning by Ryoma's twist serves. Hari shook her head and pouted a little.

"Eh? What's wrong, Hari?" Ann asked noticing her pout.

"I wanted to see Ryo-chan and Momo-chan play together," Hari sighed, "it would have been so…amusing."

Ann blinked and looked back at Hari who only pouted more when Ryoma and Momoshiro won one more game without really playing together. It was clear that they didn't really play a real double match… and Hari wanted to see them work together.

"Oi! Who's next?" Momoshiro called out looking around to see if anyone else would step forward to challenge them.

"We'll challenge you," one of the guys from before said.

Hari looked at them and instantly smiled as she sensed that they were good, better than the others who had challenged Ryoma and Momoshiro at last.

"Who are they?" Hari asked looking at Ann who blinked.

"Izumi Tomoya is the one with orange hair," Ann said, "and Fukawa Kimiyoshi is the one with long dark hair."

"I see," Hari mused. "I think I can get some entertainment here."

"Your friends won before;" Ann pointed out, "isn't that enough?"

"They didn't really play a doubles match," Hari said without looking away from the court. "It's more fun if I can tease them with this."

Hari knew Ann was staring at her, but she didn't care. She predicted a lot of fun teasing material coming and while she did want her friends to win she didn't really see them winning without learning how to work together and they wouldn't learn that until they saw the consequences of only playing by themselves. Wanting them to learn the lesson didn't mean that she couldn't have her fun while doing it, now did it?

15-0.

"That one was close enough for me to get!" Ryoma glared at Momoshiro.

"In this situation, the one who's hitting forehand should get it," Momoshiro glared back.

Hari shook her head as she watched them go back to the match.

30-0

Again the same mistake, Hari thought shaking her head slightly but smiled a little as they snapped at each other. Ok, so maybe she was bad for finding amusement from their frustration and snapping at each other but she really couldn't help herself.

"They're not in sync, are they," Ann asked.

"No," Hari shook her head. "Not at all."

40-0

That was Ryoma's ball, Hari was sure of it. She had read a lot of tennis books since she got there and she thought she understood doubles fairly well. She found it fascinating to watch someone work together and seemingly knowing what their partner was going to do both in defence and offence.

"By the way, Momo-sempai," Ryoma said ignoring the annoying comment from the other as he pointed his racket at the boundary line. "The doubles' boundary line is here, isn't it?"

"So what?" Momoshiro asked confused.

"It's hard to because it's my first time," Ryoma confessed rubbing the back of his head.

"First time?!" Momoshiro asked shocked. "No way!"

"Does it look like I've played doubles before?" Ryoma asked.

Hari laughed shaking her head. They were at least talking to each other now.

"He's never played doubles before?" Ann asked.

"No," Hari shook her head, "not as far as I know, at least. He's a very strong singles player, though, and he's been trained as a singles player his whole life."

"Then why is he playing doubles now?" Ann asked confused.

"To prove a point," Hari shrugged before looking back at the match and not elaborating her statement.

"Game set! Game won by Fukawa-Izumi pair!" the one who acted as a referee called.

...

"Are you going home now?" Ann asked as she followed Hari over to the two boys. Hari smiled amusedly as she spotted the annoyance of having lost on their faces.

"We lost so there's nothing more to do here;" Momoshiro said.

"That's right," Ann said, "you guys were no competition at all. I was expecting more since you were regulars from Seigaku."

She turned and started to walk away while Hari was torn between amusement at her bold statement and annoyance at the same statement, as she felt it went against the pride of their school. Yet, she felt it was more to challenge them than to anything else so she refrained from saying anything and instead watched the annoyance on Momoshiro and Ryoma's faces.

"She's right, you know," Momoshiro said grabbing his tennis gear. "We'd be impossible together."

"Izumi! Fukawa! You guys are amazing! Being able to beat those two amazing guys and all."

The sentence had them pausing on their way back and Hari glanced to the court to see the pair who had just won over Ryoma and Momoshiro talking to two other guys.

"To be expected of Gyokurin Middle School Tennis Club's famous pair's team," the other guy said and Hari heard Momoshiro comment on that they might play them again in the district preliminaries.

"Don't compare our team with theirs," Izumi said.

"Even if they have top-notch skills, they don't have any control over their double's game at all," Fukawa added.

They all laughed.

"Your levels are way different. Let's go," one of the other guys said.

"That crash site combination was just waiting to happen. We'll beat them no matter what they do."

"That's right."

The conversation faded leaving Ryoma and Momoshiro standing on the top of the stone stairs in silence while Hari watched them curious to see how they would react to that. She didn't have to wait long before Momoshiro said something.

"Hey, Echizen, what I said before about wanting to be the no.3 singles player…I take it back."

"I take back what I said too," Ryoma said smiling.

Hari grinned as they once again said the same thing:

"As I thought, real men should play doubles!"

Hari couldn't help it. She laughed. She laughed so hard they both turned to her and stared at her like she was crazy.

"Hari?"

"Sor—sorry! I…I…just…just couldn't…help it," Hari gasped wiping a tear that escaped from her chin. "You two are hilarious!"

Momoshiro frowned at her, "we're not!"

Ryoma nodded in agreement to Momoshiro.

Hari just laughed again before turning to walk down the stairs, "you are. I'm so happy I decided to be dragged along with the two of you today. So much fun!"

She couldn't help but smile when she heard Momoshiro whisper to Ryoma:

"Why do I have a feeling we're not going to be able to forget this match with her around?"

"Because we won't," Ryoma whispered back.

Hari didn't say anything but felt her smile stretch even more on her lips.

...

Ryoma blinked at her and Hari thought he resembled Karupin with the way he blinked and looked at her. She smiled at him.

"What is this?" he asked.

"A book about doubles," Hari explained. "I've just finished it and I think it's good. It should explain the method of the game to you."

He looked down at the book and then back at her.

"You're interested in doubles, Hari?" he asked.

Hari shrugged leaning against his desk as she watched him.

"I guess," She said, "I think it's fascinating."

Ryoma nodded and started to flick through the book making Hari smile a little.

"I told coach Ryuzaki that I wanted to play doubles," Ryoma said. &o

Hari nodded in understanding.

"You just have to learn how to rely on another player out on the court," Hari said, "and figure out your weakness."

Ryoma looked at her before he got a thoughtful look on his face.

"My weakness?" he mused.

"Yours and Momo-chan's," Hari continued.

He looked confused but Hari just smiled and left the room. She was sure he'd figure it out.

...

Hari decided to go out for a run while Ryoma and Momoshiro were practising at the shrine. She knew they would figure out their weakness and work together to solve it. She smiled slightly as she heard their bickering even on the street outside.

She started her pace at a moderate speed as she jogged through the streets and suddenly found herself down by the river. Deciding she wanted to run along the river she ran down the steps and started to run to the right.

"The magic drinks the jammed translator behind a solicitor," Hari startled so much she lost her balance and would have fallen, probably into the river, if not for a strong arm that grabbed her arm and managed to keep her on her feet.

She frowned and turned to see Kaido right behind her, he must have come running behind her and she hadn't noticed him.

"What is with those random things you say?!" She gasped pulling away from his grip.

He gave her a blank look.

"Whatever," she muttered annoyed at the lack of response. She noticed that he was dressed in black shorts that reached his knees and a singlet; clearly, he was out practising as well. "Thank you."

"When does the adorable self charge the trade?" He looked away from her and started to jog again leaving a confused Hari behind. Did the sentences he says even make any sense? It didn't seem like he really was saying anything, and she hadn't really seen his lips move like he was talking…it was more like he was…hissing.

Hissing.

Oh.

"Maji ka yo?" Hari shook her head to clear it and stared at the running form of Kaido who had already gotten pretty far away from her. She started to run after him and used her speed to catch up to him.

"Chotto!" Hari called out. "Ka-chan!"

He stopped and she noticed him almost stumble before he turned to look at her clearly shocked. Was that a blush in his cheeks? Hari repressed a smile as she caught up to him.

"What?" he barked with a fierce scowl.

"You don't know do you?" she asked.

"Know what?" he asked confused but still scowling.

Hari just grinned and laughed. "Sugoi! You're really awesome, Ka-chan!"

He blushed again and turned his back to her in an effort to hide from her. She tried to hold in her laughter the best she could. He got embarrassed so easily, didn't he? She hadn't noticed before.

To think he was talking in parseltongue and didn't even know it was hilarious and explained so much! She should have figured it out much earlier, she thought. Though, she hadn't exactly expected to hear parseltongue here of all places and without even a snake in sight.

"You run really fast, by the way, Ka-chan," Hari said, "can I join you?"

He blinked at her before he shrugged and started to run again careful not to look at her so she suspected he was hiding a blush. She took his shrug as acceptance and set her pace to match his. She observed Kaido who was looking so determined as he ran.

...

Hari leaned forward slightly resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She looked over at Kaido who was stretching out on a nearby bench. He really did have stamina for him to keep running like he did and not even pausing before starting to stretch out. She suspected that he had held back a little as well because of her and she didn't like it.

"You're really good, Ka-chan," Hari smiled at him pushing herself upright and making him glance at her. "Can I come running with you again another time?"

He blinked at her, "…you want to?"

She blinked back, "yes. Why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged and looked away from her.

"So…may I?" she asked again when he hadn't responded.

"Ok," he nodded.

"Great! Next time I won't allow you to hold back because of me!" Hari promised.

He looked at her momentarily surprised before he managed to school his expression again to the scowl. She wondered if that was his default expression. That was also something she had to work on.

"… how did you know I held back?" he finally asked.

"Aha! I knew it!" Hari exclaimed, "I just knew."

He gave her what she read as a curious look before he looked away again and focused on his stretching. She tilted her head and moved over to him.

"Can you show me how to do that?" she asked.

He glanced at her again before he sighed resignedly.

"Hai," he said.

Hari did as he said and she smiled as she felt the work being done. This was something they never did after Quidditch practice, but she really saw the rewards of doing it. She could feel her muscles start to relax and get better as she stretched. At Hogwarts, they would get potions if they had sore muscles and that would help, but in the muggle world, she wouldn't have access to that as easily so learning this was brilliant.

Hari sat down as she watched Kaido start to line up empty Ponta boxes on a wall curiously. She saw him grab his racket before standing back and start to hit the tennis balls one by one and she watched how they went in a perfect bow and hit every Ponta box off the wall. Hari grinned as she watched him finding his technique fascinating.

...

Hari frowned when it got late and she figured she had to get back to the house. The only problem was…which way, was it? She had run longer than she had planned and had gotten distracted by Kaido so she had forgotten to pay attention to the route they had taken.

"Problem?" Kaido asked breaking into her thoughts.

"…I forgot," Hari frowned.

"Forgot what?"

"The way back to Ryo-chan's home…" Hari said.

He arched a brow, "isn't it your home as well now?"

Hari blinked before she smiled and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "ah. Right. That's going to take some getting used to."

He sighed, "come on."

She followed him and this time they walked at a more moderate pace. She knew he wasn't one to talk much and she was content to walk in silence. She lost track of the turns and twist they took through the streets until they reached a familiar street and she recognised the gate leading to her home.

"Arigatou, Ka-chan!" Hari smiled and waved. "See you at the matches tomorrow!"

He gave a short nod before turning around without saying anything else. Hari shrugged and walked through the gate. She wondered if Ryoma was back yet.

...

"You're a little late, aren't you Hari-chan?" Nanako asked looking at Hari who was eating her breakfast rather quickly.

Hari sighed but nodded, "I know."

"Ryoma-kun has already left," Nanako continued as she put a glass of milk next to Hari's plate. "His friend came and picked him up."

Hari nodded again chewing on her food before swallowing and looking over at Nanako.

"I'm just watching so it's not that important that I'm there at the same time as Ryo-chan and the others," Hari pointed out to the worried older girl.

"But…" Nanako looked worried still and Hari sighed softly.

"It's fine, Nanako-san," Hari assured her. "I'll find my way."

Nanako looked a little worried at her but she refrained from saying anything. Hari didn't doubt that she had wanted to say something about her ability to get to the right place. Hari wasn't getting lost all the time, thank you very much! She sighed as she finished her breakfast.

"Thank you for the meal," Hari said getting up and was about to grab her plate to clean it when Nanako took it. She smiled and Hari nodded back at her before she rushed out of the kitchen. She grabbed her bag and put on her shoes before she was out of the house with a call of "Bye!"

...

Hari grumbled as she looked around. She had found the park where the Tokyo District Preliminary Tournament was being kept (finally, she didn't want to admit how long she had been looking for it), but…she was lost. Again. She sighed as she walked around the park and saw plenty of tennis teams, but she couldn't find Ryoma or the others.

"Itee!" Hari grumbled as she collided with someone making her fall to the ground sitting on her arse. She rubbed her head as it throbbed slightly and glared up at the dark haired teen with shoulder-length hair. He blinked at her like he wasn't sure what he was seeing.

"You should look where you're going," he muttered. "It wasn't my fault that you walked straight into me without looking where you were going. I was just standing here without doing anything wrong. No one can blame me for your carelessness."

Hari frowned at him as she heard his mutterings.

"Ibu!" Another teen scolded and Hari saw a boy with deep red bangs that covered his right eye, "you should help the girl up when you cause her to be knocked off her feet."

He turned toward her and smiled, "I'm sorry about him. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Hari said and got to her feet as she dusted herself off. "He's right it was my fault."

"Ah, Hari-chan!" A familiar girl said.

"Ann-chan!" Hari smiled, "how are you? What are you doing here?"

"You know Ann-chan?" the one who had helped her asked.

"We've met," Hari smiled briefly, "I must say, I do appreciate the entertainment you gave me last time. The boys were really riled up by what you said, so thank you!"

Ann got that confused look on her face but she shrugged and smiled at her. Hari looked around and saw for the first time that a group of boys was standing there watching her. They seemed to be on the same tennis team if their similar outfits were any indicator.

"Sorry about this," Hari bowed at them. "I didn't mean to run into you. I was just lost."

"Lost?" Ann asked curiously.

"I was looking for Ryo-chan and Momo-chan," Hari explained, "and the rest of the team, of course. Well, they keep moving and I can't find them."

"They keep moving?" the one with the bangs asked.

"Mm-hm," Hari nodded seriously. "If they kept to one spot I wouldn't have such a hard time finding them all the time. Really, how hard could it be?"

They blinked at her not sure what to say. Hari huffed and shrugged.

"They're probably about to start their match," Ann said. "I can show you the way if you want."

"Really?" Hari grinned. "That would be great!"

"Who are you?" the one called Ibu asked before Hari could leave.

"I'm Hari," Hari said waving at them. "I don't really know you either…"

"I'm Tachibana Kippei," the older one introduced himself with a kind smile and Hari could tell he was the leader of this team and he was good. There was a strength to his eyes that told Hari that he had what was needed to lead a team. This team would be a challenge should Ryoma and the others play them, Hari thought.

"You're the captain, aren't you?" Hari asked.

"I am," he said looking slightly surprised. "This is my team, Ibu Shinji, the one you collided with."

Hari glanced at him and saw the frown on his face, but otherwise didn't show any emotion.

"Kamio Akira," the one with the bangs smiled at her.

"Ishida Tetsu," the one with the bandana around his head. "Sakurai Masaya," brown-haired-one. "Mori Tatsunori," spiky black hair with brown eyes, "Uchimura Kyosuke" the one with the black cap.

Hari nodded at them and looked back at Ann who was smiling slightly.

"Nice to meet you," Hari said, "I'm sorry but I'm rather new to Tokyo, what school are you in?"

"Fudomine Middle School," Tachibana said.

"What about you?" Kamio asked smiling at her.

"Seigaku Middle School," Hari said while it would be fun to trick them it wouldn't work since Ann did know what school she was in. "I'm a second year."

"I see," Tachibana said. "Well, we'll let you go and find your friends."

Hari nodded and waved at them, "good luck today! I hope you'll be able to play Ryo-chan and the others! Bye!"

...

"Arigatou, Ann-chan," Hari smiled at the other girl. "I'll find my way now."

Ann did look a little doubtful, but she nodded and waved at Hari who was already running toward the court where Seigaku was going to play.

"Ah! Found it!" Hari exclaimed.

"Hari-sempai!"

Hari looked to the side to see the three first-year boys standing there and she smiled at them.

"Hi," she greeted.

"You're late!" Horio yelled.

"Ah, I got lost," Hari admitted sheepishly before she looked at the court and saw that they were already lined up and ready for the matches.

"Ryoma-kun and Momo-chan-sempai are playing doubles," Kachiro said making Hari look over at the younger boy with the bowler haircut.

"It's Ryoma-kun! I'm sure they will do fine!" Mizuno said.

Hari smiled slightly at the faith they had in Ryoma.

"First match! The doubles," a woman's voice called out through the speakers, "Seigaku's Momoshiro and Echizen's pair. Gyokurin's Izumi and Fukawa's pair."

"Oh… that is interesting," Hari grinned. "How much fun!"

"Hari-sempai?" Kachiro asked timidly.

Fuji who was standing just in front of them turned to look at them and Hari was aware that he was looking at her behind his closed eyes. She just smiled thought and laughed.

"This will be entertaining," Hari smirked. "Looks like Ryo-chan already has managed to piss them off."

"AH-UN strategy?" Kikumaru blinked confusedly. "You heard of it?"

"No," Inui denied as he leaned against the low wall.

Hari just smiled as the rest looked confused and talked about what kind of strategy it could be. Hari was curious herself to see how Ryoma and Momoshiro had worked to figure out their weakness from the last time they played.

"You know, Hari-chan?" Fuji asked.

"No," Hari denied. "But I have an idea…"

She refused to say anything more though.

Hari wasn't surprised to see that Izumi and Fukawa immediately tried to attack where they knew Ryoma and Momoshiro's weak spot was. But she did blink at the strategy they had come up with and a laugh burst from her lips as she realised what the AH-UN strategy was.

0-15

"A point right off the block!"

"I knew Echizen could do it," Horio commented superiorly making Hari smile slightly.

"It won't be that easy," Hari commented without looking away from the match.

30-30

It soon turned out that it wasn't that easy, and while they had covered their weakness in the middle (even if the shout was embarrassing as Kachiro commented) they hadn't figured out the other aspects of doubles play.

"Maybe I should have stayed back and watched them play," Hari mumbled to herself. "Looks like they're still not working together."

Hari sighed and shook her head as she looked around at the spectators. They were loud, Hari thought.

"Game! Gyokurin 1-0!"

...

"Game! Gyokurin! 2-0!"

...

"Ahcha! They're turning against each other!" Horio cried.

"Inui-sempai, to make a comeback now, what must they do?" Mizuno asked looking at Inui.

"There's no way to beat the combo of Izumi and Fukawa right now," Inui said.

"They're good, that Gyokurin-pair," Kikumaru commented.

"Hai," Oishi agreed.

"Don't worry, it's Echizen we're talking about," Horio said. "I'm sure he has something prepared for doubles."

Hari laughed making the others look at her with strange looks.

"Hari-sempai?" Kachiro asked.

"Sorry," Hari smiled, "but…don't you know?"

"Know what?" Kikumaru asked curiously.

"Ryo-chan has only played doubles one time before this," Hari said, "and that was two days ago when he lost against that Gyokurin-pair."

They stared at her shocked.

"You're kidding me!" Horio yelled.

Hari laughed once more and smiled at them, "does it look like he is the type to share a court with anyone?"

"You've got a point…" Kikumaru said. "Ochibi…"

He looked worriedly out on the court while Hari smiled and rested her arms on the lower wall and stared at the court.

"There is one way they still can win," Hari smiled.

"Eh?"

...

Hari watched as they still continued to self-destruct and even hitting each other at the back of the head, and she sighed. Ok, so she did find some amusement in this and she would definitely have more teasing material over the two, but it did start to get old and they really did need to win that match. She didn't really want to see them lose and not like this. She wondered if they ever would see the way to go to secure the win.

They stared at each other and Hari smiled when they suddenly went to each side and started to draw a line down the middle of the court. Finally.

"Eh?"

"What are they doing?"

She heard the confusion and smiled.

"That's it," she grinned.

...

Hari laughed as she watched Ryoma and Momoshiro getting scolded by Ryuzaki after they won the match.

"You look entirely too amused," Fuji said.

"Hai," Hari agreed, glancing at him. "But then again…so do you."

He smiled wider.

"Guess so," he agreed.

Hari looked away from him again and over at Ryoma who was looking embarrassed.

...

AN: What do you think? :)

...

Hope to make up my mind about the pairing soon. Hopefully before the next chapter. So maybe last time to let me know what pairing you want :)
Fuji, Sanada or Yukimura?

...

I want to decide soon because I use too much time trying to make up my mind and I need to know because I want to plan out the story more. The pairing will decide what will happen and how it will happen. So... I need to make up my mind. OK, a rant about the pairing... you have no idea how difficult it is to choose. I never had that problem before... sigh.

...

Japanese words used:
Maji ka yo - For real?
Chotto - wait
Sugoi - amazing
Arigatou - Thank you
Itee - ouch!