Surrey, May 1989
Harry stared directly at his uncle who sat across the table from him. The man was eating and talking animatedly with his wife about a possible promotion he wanted to go for at work. Dudley sat to the man's left and was stuffing his face as usual and not a single one paid any mind to him sitting and eating the same delicious meal at a table with them.
He continued to slowly and silently eat his food as he watched his relatives eat with an almost rabid fascination. As the meal went on, not once did they look over to him or address him in any way; which was a good thing because it meant the illusion he had finally attempted on them was working. As far as they were concerned, their nephew was not sitting at the table with them, eating the same food. To them, Harry was already in his cupboard where he was being as quiet as a mouse.
This was his first success when it had come to a complex illusion. It had taken him two months to move on from a static illusion into what he was currently using, yet all that work had been completely worth it considering the position he was now in.
As far as complex illusions went, this one wasn't terribly complicated, it only had two purposes and that was to hide any sight and sound of him for the first one and to have an illusionary version of Harry that only they saw go about his normal activities. He flinched for a second as he felt the familiar stutter that ran through his magic that had caused him so many problems but as he watched his relatives, it seemed they still couldn't see through the illusion.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. To have the illusion go through a 'stress test' as it were was the last step to declaring it a success. He had stronger control over his magic than he had when he first unlocked it for use but even with all his progress, it still had those weird stutters. There were less and the stutters seemed to have decreased in size but they still existed. Something like a complex illusion needed quite a bit of control though, not perfect, but a lot. Especially since the spell was a passive one which means he didn't need to constantly concentrate on it to keep it going. As an illusion though, it didn't take much magic to perform. In fact, he seemingly gained magic twice as fast as the illusion took magic from him.
Harry just sat and continued eating the meal he had made for another five minutes until he was finished. With that, he brought his utensils into the kitchen, cleaned them, and put them away. He then made his way to his cupboard and entered it quietly. He sighed in relief as he waited patiently for it to close in on 8 for the next half hour. After waiting for a sufficient amount of time, he closed his eyes and started clearing his mind and waiting for sleep to fully take him.
A moment later and he was within the room. He didn't even have time to turn around before he felt someone wrap him up from behind. Two arms encircled around his neck and he felt something press against the side of his face.
"Hello, Harry." Ciri greeted cheerily from right next to his ear. He nudged her with his head with a smile.
"Ciri. How was your day?"
"Boring as usual. And yours? How did the experiment go?" Ciri asked him.
"It worked. The illusion took and the stutters I experience are no longer strong enough to disrupt the illusions I placed on them. The amount of magic I lose from maintaining the illusion is only around half the amount I naturally recover over time so I could maintain it for a while, I think." Harry told her.
"So… That's it then, right? They won't be able to hurt you anymore, right?" Ciri asked him with excitement.
"They shouldn't be able to, no. Even if the current illusion on them fails, I should be able to recast it on them fast enough to stop them from hurting me." Harry told her.
"Finally! That's the best news I've heard in a while! That means you can do whatever you want now, right?"
"I suppose so. You know what that means as well? I can finally go to those sword classes and hopefully start teaching you some new stuff." Harry told her with a smile. Ciri beamed at him and tightened her hold around his neck. Not enough to choke him but enough to show how happy she was at the news.
"Oh, I can't wait! What do you think they'll teach you first, maybe how to cut someone in half?"
"I'm going to go ahead and assume that they probably won't teach me that at all but we'll see." Harry laughed at her question.
"I hear Witcher's are strong enough to cut people in half. They're supposed to be really strong!" Ciri cheered. Harry rose an eyebrow at that.
"Hmmm, didn't you tell me that was because of some sort of mutations that they undergo? I thought they were super dangerous?" Harry asked feeling a little nervous. He loved his friend but he knew enough about her at this point to know she didn't sometimes think about decisions she made.
"Well, yes…"
"Don't do anything that can put you in needless danger Ciri." He warned while giving her a look. She simply unwrapped herself from around him and stuck her tongue out at him.
"I won't… Still, it sounds cool is all." Ciri murmured before looking out in thought. Harry looked at her before sighing and shaking his head.
"Uh-huh… Well, is anything else going on? Didn't you say things were getting a little heated where you live?" Harry asked with some concern.
"I think so. I'm not really sure because everyone tries to keep me out of it but… I think it has to do with Nilfgaard." Ciri told him with a frown.
"Nilfgaard… That's a kingdom to the South of you, correct?" Harry asked. Ciri nodded.
"They recently went through a violent change in power and the new person in charge is believed to be getting ready for aggressive expansion." Ciri explained.
"Aggressive expansion… That's a nice way of saying going to war with their neighbors, right?" Harry asked with concern.
"Basically… Grandmother said that Nilfgaard used to be a pretty weak kingdom but they've become more of a threat recently. Grandmother tries to hide it but she is concerned. We… we may go to war soon." Ciri told him. The mere words caused Harry's heart rate to spike. He felt his teeth clench nervously.
"Will… Will you be okay?" Harry asked with concern.
"I think so. Grandmother and grandfather are very tough and Cintra has a pretty strong army. We're a strong Kingdom so… it should be alright." Ciri told him.
"Do you… do you have a plan in case the worse should happen?" Harry asked
"What do you mean?" Ciri asked.
"Well… I know the hope is your kingdom wins, but if it doesn't then… Well… Do you have a plan if your kingdom can't push back an invasion?" Harry asked.
"I guess not… Why, do you have a suggestion?"
"Not really, I'm not familiar with Cintra like you are but maybe you should investigate into secret ways out of the city. Maybe you should talk to Ermion or your grandmother about possible escape routes. Then you need to make plans on how to get out of the kingdom to safe land right? Maybe figure out where to go and the safest way to get there." Harry asked.
"Safest way to get there?"
"Yeah, well, if they get close enough to invade then that probably means that the main roads around the kingdom will be dangerous to traverse. You should figure out the terrain around where you live and a safe way to travel through it that will reduce your chance of being discovered." Harry told her. It had been some time since Harry had first met Ciri, almost a year and a half to be exact. He had researched Medieval kingdoms and topics related to them to help him better understand topics she might bring up and possible solutions to her problems that may not have been known yet.
"Hmm… Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to be prepared." Ciri said back. Harry nodded at that. He was rather frustrated that he couldn't directly give her any sort of help to protect her.
"Right. Maybe see if Ermion can give you some sort of enchanted object or something." Harry suggested.
"Harry. Calm down, it's going to be alright." Ciri told him placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Harry took a few deep breaths at that and nodded.
"You're right, it's just… I wish I could be there. I hate not being able to help in any way." Harry told her. Ciri patted him on the head in response.
"It's fine Harry. I'm probably one of the most protected people in the kingdom. Even if we did lose, they probably wouldn't kill me or anything." Ciri tried to reassure him. To be honest, it did not. It just made him more worried but he tried not to let it show in front of Ciri.
"You're probably right. I hope I'm just worrying about nothing."
"Exactly. Well, now that you've calmed a bit. Have you figured out what field in magic you're going to study next?" She asked.
"Well… I wanted to go into healing next but I think I need to learn about medicine before doing that. So, while studying up on that I guess I can focus on protections. What can you tell me about that?" Harry asked her.
"Protections, like it suggests, is about keeping things safe. You can mix your illusions and stuff with them. Wards are the more powerful protections but usually require power stones or such to keep them powered. They're a pretty big drain on your magic although maybe less so for you." Ciri told him. Harry thought about that. Protections could come in handy though possibly less so than illusions. He would have to think of ways to create and implement them.
It would be annoying to come up with new spell names though. When creating static illusions, it was rather easy. One spell could be used for pretty much any of them. He had called the spell 'Miran' after the word mirage. It basically projected an illusion of whatever he was thinking about when he cast it onto something. It was rather simplistic and was only used to hide things in plain sight.
Complex spells were much harder since they each did specific things so he needed to make each one a chain of words that combine for the desired effect or make a new spell word for each complex illusion. For the one he put on the Dursleys, he had decided with just making a spell word. The one he had created for that was 'Docilitan' after the word docile. An illusion designed to have a fake version of himself simply do whatever would keep the target the calmest while also hiding the real him from them.
At least creating spell words had turned out to be rather easy. As soon as he chose what word he wanted, he simply had to shape the magic in the way he wanted the spell to do. After that, he simply did it over and over again until the spell word and the magical action was interchangeable in his head. Finding that out, of course, had taken him nearly three months but now that he knew it, it wasn't such a big deal.
"That sounds less helpful than illusions and healing in my situation but I suppose I could give it a shot." Harry finally answered.
"Don't you think you ought to learn how to start fighting with magic?" Ciri asked. Harry looked at her.
"Why? If I can always use illusions to get people to avoid fighting with me then why do I also need to learn how to fight with magic?"
"Because that's the best part!"
"… I think we have different thoughts when it comes to the best things magic can provide." Harry teased causing Ciri to scowl and punch him in the arm.
"I'm serious Harry. Everyone should learn how to fight, even if they plan to never fight. You need to be prepared for anything! What if you run into someone else with magic?"
"That's true, though, I have never encountered someone who could use magic or had magic inside them anywhere close to my level." Harry pointed out.
"Yes, but you never really left your neighborhood, right? The world's a big place you know. There could be more out there that you've just never encountered."
"I see you're point. Alright, how about this, after I learn protections, I'll start to focus on combat. How does that sound?"
"Better but I would feel even more so if you learned a few things as soon as possible so I would know you're not totally defenseless."
"I'm not the one who's about to be in the middle of a war." Harry pointed out sternly. Ciri rolled her eyes at that before tutting at him.
"Don't change the subject. Learn some magic for some self-defense Harry. I don't want you to be defenseless if you get attacked. I'm only thinking about your wellbeing." Ciri said softly. Harry frowned. That was the voice Ciri used when she really wanted him to do something. She used it because she knew that it worked. Harry knew if he didn't cave into the voice, she would then use the water eyes trick on him and there was no way he could stand up to that.
"Yes, Ciri." He finally just said. He felt a smack on the back of his head and he simply sighed and smiled a bit at the scowl he saw on her face.
"Hmph…" She said while looking away and going back to pouting. Harry smiled even wider at seeing it before shrugging and looking away.
"Hey… You know I was thinking about something…" Ciri started. Harry rose an eyebrow.
"Okay?"
"You know… Sorcerers who specialize in illusions, if they get good enough with them, can even make illusions that are so powerful that the illusions can even become their own reality." Ciri told him. Harry blinked at that.
"What do you mean?"
"Well… I was asking Ermion and he mentioned illusions by a sorcerer he knew that was so powerful he could even make a hidden illusionary world that he could go into and he could interact with the world like it was a real world." Ciri told him. At that, Harry felt himself stiffen and pay more attention to what Ciri was saying.
"Did he say or possibly give a hint on how to do so?" Harry asked quickly. Ciri frowned and looked up in thought.
"I'm not sure, exactly. I also think it depends if you use a focal point or not. It has something to do with layering, I believe."
"Layering… Layering, how?" Harry pushed but not too much, not wanting to sound impatient with his friend.
"Like… Layering the reality you create over the current reality? I don't know more than that though and it's kind of hard to explain. Ermion said it wasn't really his field of expertise so even he wasn't wholly sure on the specifics himself." Ciri admitted.
"I see. Well, I'll see if I can figure something out with that then." Harry mumbled as he tried to decipher what Ciri told him. He wasn't sure himself what it all meant but it sounded like it was going to be complicated. It might be extremely worth it if he could, in fact, figure it out though.
"Anyway, the reason I bring it up is, well, you know how you can use magic here?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I was thinking, why don't you try to cast a static illusion on this room we're in. See if you can maybe change the scenery we're in instead of just being surrounded by pitch black all the time." Ciri suggested. Harry blinked at the suggestion. That was actually not a bad idea.
"Okay, I'll see if I can think of something. Give me a moment." He said as he closed his eyes and concentrated. He needed to focus on a place he knew well that wasn't where he lived. He didn't think he was ready to show Ciri his own personal hell quite yet. Another place came to mind though.
"Okay. I have a place in mind. I will use a simple illusion this time to see if it works. If it does, I will see if next time I can set up a more complex one that focuses on more than just vision." Harry told her as he kept his concentration on the image.
"Well… Let's see it then." Ciri replied. Harry grunted as he felt the power build-up, albeit slowly. When he felt the correct amount, he cast the spell.
"Miran…" Harry whispered. He felt the magic sluggishly leave his body and then enter the environment around them.
He opened his eyes as the dark room around them started to shimmer. Then, slowly, everything around them began to change. The blackness faded into different shades of color and suddenly grew stronger and formed into shapes all around them. Under their feet, grass appeared. Around them, trees started to appear, and even further away, some benches and sidewalks cut through the park and led off into the distance.
"It looks like it worked." Ciri said looking around at what was once a room of blackness.
"So, it seems. This is certainly a nicer sight than what we've had to deal with up until now." Harry said looking out around them.
"Where are we?" Ciri asked.
"This is a park near my house. I used to walk around it a lot when I wanted to avoid going home when I was younger." Harry told her as he looked around at the image easily. There was no sound but if you looked at the illusion, the trees were moving as Harry remembered watching them do so often when he was younger.
"A park?"
"A small piece of nature that sits inside of a city or town where people can relax and hang out in nature without leaving the city limits." Harry explained to her.
"That's rather strange… Your world looks so interesting. Are those the houses over there?" She asked while pointing in a direction. Harry looked over and saw some of the houses of Surrey in the distance.
"Yes, indeed. That's similar to what the house I live in looks like." Harry told her. Ciri nodded as seemed to squint her eyes to get a better look at them.
"They all look… Exactly the same." Ciri commented blandly. Harry nodded.
"Indeed. It's one of the points my relatives like the most about the neighborhood, how everything is so uniform and alike. It makes them think that it's more normal. It's not how all neighborhoods in the UK look and certainly not in the world." Harry tried to explain her. Ciri nodded slowly in understanding at that.
"Huh… I don't like it." She said bluntly. Harry chuckled at that.
"I'd have to agree. Although I admit, that may simply be how few good memories I have with this place." Harry admitted sadly as he looked at his neighborhood in the distance with sadness. He truly wished he could leave Surrey.
"I can certainly understand that… How long until you can move out and live by yourself?" Ciri asked.
"Not soon enough… maybe around 6 to 8 years maybe? It's fine though. At least they won't be able to hurt me anymore." Harry responded.
"Good. I wish I could stick them with a sword and watch them squirm all over the floor in front of me." Ciri said with venom in her voice. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Of course, you do, you little warrior princess." Harry teased.
"One day, I will be." She said back with conviction.
"I know you will. Especially since the first class, I will be attending for sword fighting will be tomorrow." Harry told her. Ciri's head snapped towards him and her eyes looked to almost be sparkling.
"Really. You found a way to go visit the studio?"
"It's pretty easy now that I can just put my relatives in an illusion. I'll just do it for the day. The only issue is that since I'll be gone, they won't be eating actual food for dinner. The dinner would simply be part of the illusion. Luckily, the class is only once a week. My relatives can survive without eating dinner once a week. I can then use illusions on the bus to get to London for free. Once I get to the studio, I can continue using the illusion to follow the class without being bothered." Harry explained to her.
"You're sure you will be okay doing that? What if something happens and the illusion on your relatives fails while you are gone?" Ciri asked him looking more concerned suddenly.
"It's no issue, even if it fails while I am gone, I can just cast it on them again when I get back before they can do anything. They'll smack around the illusion and call it a day. I shouldn't be in any danger though." Harry explained to her to calm her down. He didn't want her to panic about this. There was likely nothing to worry about.
"Well… You're sure?"
"I'm sure. Tomorrow I'll have gone on to my first lesson." Harry told her. Ciri nodded and finally started smiling again.
"Ohh… I can't wait! Do you have any idea how long I have wanted to sword fight?" Ciri asked in excitement. Harry chuckled.
"If you are to be believed, then ever since you were born." Harry replied. Ciri nodded rapidly.
"Yes! Do you… do you think you can make some sort of illusion that allows us to practice with real swords?"
"Hmm… Not by tomorrow but maybe in a couple of weeks. I'll need to figure out how all the senses would normally interact when in an actual sword fight if I want to copy it in an illusion." Harry told her.
"Oh… But you can do it eventually?"
"Yeah. Depending on how long it takes. It could be after one session or five." Harry told her. Ciri nodded but seemed more subdued than it was a moment ago.
"Okay… Well, at least I'm finally going to be able to learn it. That's all that matters." Ciri said happily once more. Harry nodded.
"I'll make sure you can start practicing as soon as possible. I promise." Harry told her.
"I trust you. You don't need to go that far, Harry." Ciri said to him before patting his head in a comforting gesture.
"Mm." Was all Harry said back not saying whether or not he would take it less seriously. Ciri scoffed showing it had not gone over her head that he hadn't agreed to change what he said.
As usual, they experienced a lull in their conversation and simply sat comfortably together. The difference was that now they got to look at a sunset together. It was much more calming than when they simply sat together in a black room. Maybe if he could find a way to make the advanced illusion Ciri had mentioned earlier, he could make an actual place for them to sit rather than on the floor.
They continued to sit like that with Harry simply looking out and Ciri running one of her hands through his hair. He wasn't sure when she had gotten into the habit of doing this while they sat like this but she seemed to enjoy it. He had asked her about it once and she simply said it was enjoyable and that she liked how soft his hair felt. He didn't really understand what the fascination was. I mean, sure, he liked her hair quite a bit but he didn't see what was so enjoyable about it.
"Hey, Ciri?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I… Can I run my hand through your hair?" He finally managed to ask feeling a little embarrassed about it.
"… Sure, I guess that's only fair." She answered. She reached up and pulled her hair out of the messy bun it was in at the back of her head leading it to fall to the middle of her back.
He reached out with one hand and started at the top of her head and slowly brought his hand down through her hair all the way done to her back, using his fingers almost like a comb. Harry looked at his hands running through her hair and simply watched his hand as it did so.
It was… strange. The action… wasn't unpleasant. Her hair was actually quite soft, almost silky feeling. It wasn't an amazing feeling though, just a pleasant feeling around his fingers. Yet, the more he did it, the more… calm he felt. There was something in the monotony of continuously stroking the soft hair of his friend. The more he did it, the more he felt his mind seemed to calm. The longer he continued to do it, the more pleasant he felt. Or maybe not pleasant but perhaps… maybe a sort of content feeling? He couldn't describe it but he knew he wanted to keep doing it.
"You like it?" She asked.
"Yeah, I think I do. It's so… peaceful?"
"Right? It's almost like petting a cat or something. How's my hair feel? We don't bathe as often as you do here." Ciri pointed out. Harry shrugged.
"It's soft. Very soft. It almost feels like silk. Or actually, it feels like when you run your hand through a source of running water without all the wetness." Harry tried to explain the feeling.
"Hmm. Maybe this place brings it to its best form?" Ciri suggested calmly, the whole time not stopping her hands from stroking his hair.
"Mm… Maybe." Harry muttered not paying attention and simply lost in the feeling of the hair.
"Ah… Damn, looks like it's time to wake up." Ciri said, though, Harry didn't need her to tell him that this time since he was looking at his own hands when they started to fade.
"Same time tomorrow then?" Ciri asked jokingly.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Harry joked right back.
"I bet. I'll see you tomorrow, Harry. Don't forget to go to the lessons. I'll be eagerly waiting for tomorrow."
"I won't forget. I promised after all. I'll see you tomorrow." Harry said back as they both faded completely.
Next Day, 1989
Harry sat at the studio holding a wooden sword as he looked around at everyone else in the room. Everyone was getting ready and getting into pairs to start practicing some of the basic moves that the instructor had just shown. Harry was hidden behind an illusion and had been mimicking the movements so far. To be honest, though, he wanted to try and spar with somebody so he could feel more of what an actual fight was.
He saw three people who had yet to find a partner, two boys, and one girl. He waited and saw the boys apparently looking to partner up with each other. Since that was the case, he walked over to the girl. He paused for a moment and altered the illusion to encompass both of them so they wouldn't be seen temporarily.
"Excuse me." Harry said politely to the girl. She looked to be a little older than him but probably not by much. She was a brunette with her hair tied back in a neat ponytail. She wore a black shirt with matching black pants. Her eyes though were blue which seemed a little strange since he had only ever seen blue eyes on a blonde before.
"Yes?" She asked steadily. Harry noticed her accent was more refined than the normal English accent marking her as probably coming from a rich family.
"Sorry to bother you. I'm a new student and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind being my partner? I'm not sure if I have all the moves down and I believe I heard you were a returning student. Would you mind looking over my form?" Harry asked as respectfully as he could. At this point, she was the only one available so he wouldn't have a chance to spar with anyone if she said no. It would be annoying but not the end of the world.
"Oh. I suppose that would be fine. Here, let's move a little more over by the wall so we have more room." She answered with a smile. Harry nodded and gave her a smile in return trying to hide the nervousness he felt at talking to someone who wasn't Ciri.
Together, they moved over to where she had gestured and she held up her sword and the basic form that their instructor had shown them earlier.
"So, just copy this position. Make sure you keep your feet a certain distance apart." She told him sternly. Harry nodded and tried to copy the position she was in.
"Keep your feet pointed straight." She reminded him. Harry nodded before fixing the position. She nodded and then held her wooden sword up. Harry copied her and she didn't seem to have any issue with the way he held the sword.
"Good. Now, copy this swing right here and I can tell you if you do it right or wrong." She told him. Harry did as he was told. He lifted the sword above his head and brought it down in front of him. He flinched at the weight of the sword.
"Are you okay?" She asked after a few practice swings he did. He nodded slowly.
"I don't think I have enough strength yet to do this with the ease you manage." Harry replied to her with a sigh. He knew he wasn't that strong. He had a chance now to start eating better but he hadn't begun that long enough ago to start seeing results.
"Well… If you keep at it, you're bound to get better. Your form isn't terrible until you start to run out of stamina it looks like. Here, why don't we start on some of the other swings? That way you will at least know the proper way to do them so you can continue practicing at home." She suggested to him.
"That sounds like a good idea. Would you mind continuing to go through them with me… I'm sorry. I don't think I asked your name." Harry said to her trying to prompt her to give it to him.
"It's alright, my name is Olivia. What is yours?"
"Harry. Nice to meet you, Olivia… Shall we continue?" Harry asked politely feeling some tension leave him a little. This Olivia seemed nice enough even if they had only met today.
"Sounds good to me. Now, for the horizontal slash, pay attention to how your arms extend as you move them across your body. If it wavers, it can throw you off balance…"
They continued like that for the rest of the class until its end, with Olivia explaining how to do the moves and making sure Harry could perform them to an acceptable level. When the class came to its end, Harry retreated and altered the illusion once more until it was back to just hiding him again. As the instructor congratulated them on a class well done, he saw Olivia looking around the class, seemingly confused, likely on where he had gone.
He waited though. He wasn't technically part of this class and until he could perform a more complex illusion on the instructor to not be bothered by his presence, this would have to do. Unfortunately, that did seem to cause some stress to his sparring partner but that would have to remain the case for now.
Harry waited until the class was dismissed and moved outside of the building. As they did, Harry left the wooden sword in the classroom and moved outside where he finally dropped the illusion. He then approached Olivia who was standing next to an older woman who looked similar to her. He assumed it must be her mom. He moved in close to them before making his presence known by clearing his throat.
"Excuse me, Olivia?" Harry called. Olivia spun around and looked at him.
"Harry where did you go at the end of the lesson?"
"I was just in the back… Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for all the help you gave me today. I truly appreciated." Harry thanked her politely. He knew that when someone did something nice for you, it was polite to thank them and perhaps offer something in return.
"Oh, it was no trouble. I don't usually have a partner since there are not that many people near our age except for two other boys and they usually partner with each other. It was nice to not practice alone." She told him with a smile.
"Olivia, who is your little friend?" The older woman asked looking down at Harry with a polite smile. Harry looked the woman in the eye as best she could and could immediately feel the tension fill his body once again. He did not like adults, whether they seemed nice or mean, they always seemed to disappoint him at best and inadvertently caused him pain at worse.
"Oh, mom, this is Harry. He's new to the class and he was my partner for the day." Olivia told her mom. Harry simply waited patiently. The mother held out her hand for him to take. He did so stiffly and shook it politely.
"Hello Ma'am." He forced himself to say as politely as possible.
"What got you into this side activity, Harry?"
"Ah, well the truth is I'm not actually too interested in sword fighting myself." Harry admitted.
"You're not? But you seemed really into it today." Olivia pointed out in confusion. Harry nodded.
"Yes well, I am learning sword fighting to teach it to a friend of mine. Her family does not wish her to learn sword fighting and refuses to teach her themselves. I promised her then that I would learn it so I could teach it to her." Harry explained. He saw no issue telling the truth. It's not like these people would be able to do anything about it.
"Oh, that's so sad to hear. You must be a very nice young man to do an activity you dislike just to help out your friend." The mom told him with sympathy.
"My friend has done a lot for me and this is the only thing she has ever asked for in return. So, I'm going to make sure to do it as best I can." Harry answered politely.
"That's really sweet Harry." Olivia told him while patting him on the shoulder. The action made him a little uncomfortable but he tried not to show it. From their faces, neither of them seemed to notice.
"Well, we must get home for dinner. Do you need a ride home, Harry? We would be more than happy to give you one."
"Oh, no, that's quite alright. I have my own arrangements to get home. Thank you for the kind offer though. Olivia, thank you again for helping me learn. I hope to see you at next week's lesson as well.
'Definitely. I'll see you next week. Have a good week." She said as both she and her mother started to walk away.
"Goodbye." Harry called out to them. He watched them leave before heading to the nearest bus station so he could make his way home. He needed to make sure to get there soon as it was already 7 and he was sure Ciri would want to know about this lesson.