CHAPTER SIX
A/N - I'm so sorry for how long this has taken! Anyone in their senior year at university will understand how hectic things can be! Anyway, I never realized how long Chapter Five was until I finished writing it! I've had some great reviews for the style of this story and the characterization, and I'd like to thank you guys for that, I hope I can keep it going! Here's Chapter Six…
Two days after that first class in advanced self-defense, Harry found himself battered and weary as he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast with Ron, Hermione already awake and in the library reading…something. He felt as if he was a piece of metal, being beaten and forged and tempered into something tougher. Ron wasn't faring much better, and if Harry's mind wasn't quite so clouded with fatigue and dull aches, he would have found Ron's slight staggering to be slightly comical.
Harry was provided with another reason for hating sleep; aside from the nightmares, whatever cuts and scrapes he had received during the course of these training sessions tightened up, feeling much worse by morning. However, Harry was beginning to see the worth of this program. This David Adams really did know a lot about dueling, and had a lot of new ideas that had never occurred to Harry, yet made all the sense in the world. He felt his own abilities improving, and liked the feeling that he was becoming a stronger weapon in the fight against Voldemort. Of course, Hermione would dismiss that as `barbaric masculine pride', or something like that, Harry thought with a wistful smile.
"I'm so hungry," Ron groaned beside Harry as they descended the last staircase to the Great Hall.
"What else is new?" Harry asked, tongue in cheek.
"I'm serious mate, I don't think I've ever needed food so much," Ron said, collapsing down onto the bench at the Gryffindor house table across from Harry.
"Morning Ronald!" Luna exclaimed excitedly, almost shouting as she seemingly appeared out of thin air beside Ron.
Grimacing, Ron gripped his aching head, "Oh, that was the last thing I needed…"
Harry grinned as he began to load up his plate. Luna happily sat down next to Ron, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere on the planet right now, "And how are we feeling today?"
Ron turned to face her, exasperated, "How do I look?"
Luna smiled, shaking her head, "You need to turn that frown upside down, mister! And pay a little more attention to where I am when we're dueling."
Ron turned to Harry, with a wide-eyed look that seemed to scream `Kill her, kill her now, make it very unpleasant I don't care, just get her away from me!'
Luna had been Ron's regular partner in these training sessions, as Hermione had been Harry's. After the first day, Ron told Harry that he wouldn't have fancied the nagging that Hermione was sure to give Harry. She did, but not as much as they both had thought; she had to pick all of this up too, and wasn't the most gifted duelist to begin with.
"Today's going to be fun, I'm really looking forward to it," Luna said, referring to that day's morning session on basic hand-to-hand combat, where the two combatants would be too close for wand magic to be practical. Ron almost winced at the thought alone, wondering how many bruises he was going to end up with. Luna, while being somewhat mentally detached from the world around her, was surprisingly strong and quick for a girl her size. While Harry got the sense that Luna would have been looking forward to anything, he did find her giddy enthusiasm somewhat uplifting.
It was fortunate that he did, because that morning's lesson was anything but uplifting. David put the class through their paces with some basic judo, using an opponent's weight and momentum against them. Harry found himself flipping Hermione over his shoulder, tripping her up and generally manhandling her in a way that made him blush. More than a couple of times, he found himself pinning her down on the crash mat. A couple of seconds of awkwardness usually followed as their eyes found each others, mere inches apart. Then Harry would pull Hermione up, and the cycle would repeat.
Throughout that class, Harry's mind turned to two days ago. The way she had touched him on the arm…no doubt it was innocent and innocuous, just like every other instance of physical contact between the two friends…remember that word, Harry, `friends'…but the way Harry had reacted to it, and the way it had crept into the back of his mind…that wasn't normal.
At the end of the class, David asked Harry to hang back for a minute. Ron and Hermione stayed also, and a quick glance at the two told David it was pointless to try and keep this private. Wiping at his face with a magically-conjured towel, David quickly went up into what was, for now, his office, and returned with a small pile of parchments, flat but rolled up at the end, bound together with red tape.
He handed them to Harry, "This is what I could find; it's not much, but there might be a couple of leads in there. I've got Tonks at the Ministry going over all this again, in case we missed something."
Harry nodded, "Thanks."
Hermione was looking at the parchments intently, ready to devour the new information within. Ron was wincing and grabbing his side, where Luna had been a bit overzealous with a hip throw, and ended up missing the crash mat.
"No problem," David said, "but if you find something and decide to check it out yourselves, let me know."
Harry's eyes narrowed behind his glasses for a brief moment, but as he found Hermione's, and the faintly warning look in her brown eyes, he nodded, "Yeah, okay." He looked up at David again, "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah," David said casually.
"How long are you going to be running these classes for?"
David crossed his arms, shrugging his shoulders, "I had a plan laid out for four weeks training, until the new full-time Defense teacher steps in."
"Do you know who it's going to be?" Ron asked, curious.
David paused a moment before answering, a flicker in his eyes, "I've got an idea, yeah."
"Who?" Hermione pressed.
David grinned slightly, "Nah, worth more than my job to tell you. But he's a good bloke."
Ron and Hermione exchanged quizzical looks as Harry continued, "The reason I asked is, I'm just not sure how long I can stay here, and if I leave early and I'm missing out on what you're teaching…"
"You want to know if there's some other way to learn this stuff," David finished for him.
Harry nodded.
"Okay," David said after a moment, "Tomorrow night, come here about eight. I've got something I can try."
At that moment, Professor McGonagall entered the classroom, "I hope I'm not disturbing you."
"Not at all, Professor," David said respectfully.
"You asked me to inform you when `she' arrives…" The Professor said.
David's face suddenly lit up, "She's here?"
Professor McGonagall nodded, as Harry, Ron and Hermione looked on incredulously.
"Alright, class dismissed," David said as he quickly made for the door. Professor McGonagall gave the Trio a look of slight amusement, before she turned and left.
"What's that all about?" Ron asked, "Who's `she'?"
"I'm gonna go find out," Harry said, "You guys coming?"
Hermione shook her head, taking the parchments from Harry, "No, I'm going to start looking through this. I wouldn't, Harry, it might be something personal."
Ron, caught in two minds, nodded as if to agree with Hermione.
That's helpful… "I'll be discreet," Harry said as he went for the door.
* * * * *
Moving quietly down the corridors and hallways, Harry followed David first to his room, a converted teacher's office near the revolving stone stairwell leading up to what used to be Professor Dumbledore's office. A couple of minutes later he emerged with his hair wet from a quick shower, and a fresh T-shirt (yellow with a dark blue stripe across the middle, with the same sports team markings as Harry had seen before) and blue jeans. David didn't notice Harry's presence as he burst into a run down the hallway, leaving Harry hard-pressed to catch up.
Harry wondered why he was doing this. Maybe he thought it would help somehow, but this guy, David, was holding back a lot of what he knew. Harry understood why he had to, but it still frustrated him. He was supposed to the Ministry's `Chosen One', why shouldn't he be involved with what they knew? Once again, he felt like the kid under the stairs, being drip-fed the pertinent details. Maybe whoever it was that David was now hastening to meet would provide some kind of a clue.
David stopped at the balcony, overlooking the main staircase down to the hallway outside the Great Hall. From a side-on perspective, he saw David freeze, looking down. His face was a mask of shock, before it broke into a wide smile, and an excited laugh. He ran down the stairs; Harry edged forward to get a look…
…and immediately regretted following him this far.
Quietly, he slipped away back down the corridor.
* * * * *
Harry couldn't remember the route he took back to the Gryffindor common room. He only seemed to regain full consciousness at the portrait of the Fat Lady. As he entered, Ron and Hermione were the only students around; the others were outside enjoying the fine weather. Hermione caught the distracted look on Harry's face before he'd even sat down, "Harry, are you alright?"
Harry shrugged, "Yeah, fine," He said halfheartedly.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head, "Nah, it was nothing."
Hermione could tell he was lying, "It doesn't sound like nothing."
Harry stood up, as if the armchair he had collapsed into was suddenly uncomfortable, "You were right, it was…personal."
"How personal?"
"It was…his girlfriend, who he met," Harry admitted, trying to sound as casual as possible. The instant look on Hermione's face spoke volumes, and he knew what she was going to say before she did, "Harry, I did warn you, it looked pretty obvious…"
"Yeah, I know," Harry said quickly, heading for the stairs, "I'm going for a lie-down."
As soon as Harry found the dormitory, he collapsed onto his bed. In truth, seeing David with his girlfriend had taken the wind out of his already-beaten sails. While Harry didn't get a good look, he could tell that she was tall, with long brown hair tied back straight, and spoke with an American accent, aside from being extremely good-looking. What had stirred in Harry's heart now was something he was not used to feeling - jealousy.
Normally, he was much too busy or pre-occupied to worry about the personal lives of people, apart from his friends, but this was different. As Harry had completed these lessons, keeping pace with this formidable former Gryffindor champion, he had begun to feel that he was his equal. There was no doubt in Harry's mind - David was in love with this girl. And that churned him up inside.
With all the confidence he had been building while back within the walls of Hogwarts, the one missing piece of the puzzle had been allowed to drift from the forefront of Harry's mind - until now.
The power he knows not…
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