At The Heart Of The Matter

Authors Note: Thanks again to ALL my reviewers! Harry Potter is still not mine!

Years 4 & 5 And Coming Out!

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It was well into the fall of their fourth year that Harry felt like he could breath a little. His schedule was still tough, but not as daunting. Now, he was more or less just building and expanding his knowledge and experience in all areas of study. He was quicker and more accurate in the martial arts and weaponry training, and his other studies were progressing nicely.

Harry’s Schedule - Year 4

6:30 - 7:00
Shower/Stretching/Warm-up
7:00 - 8:30
Running and Weight Training
8:30 - 9:00
Breakfast
9:00 - 11:00
Blood Magic/Runic Magic
11:00 - 12:00
Lunch
12:00 - 2:00
Martial Arts and Weaponry Training
Monday - TaeKwon-Do/Karate
Tuesday - Fencing/Knives/Throwing Stars
Wednesday - TaeKwon-Do/Aikido
Thursday - Japanese Katana/Dim Mak
Fridays - Open Study of Disciplines
2:00 - 4:00
Specialized Study
Monday - Animagus Training with Cloaking/Animal Speak
Tuesday - Aura Reading/Enhanced Senses/Using Sexual Pull
Wednesday - Wand and Wandless Layering of Spells
Thursday - ‘The Breath’ & Gliding
Friday - Open Study of Advanced Magic/Grey Arts
4:00 - 5:00
Legilimency
5:00 - 6:30
Dinner Break
6:30 - 9:00
Dueling - All Forms
9:00-
Relax and Sleep


With all the physical exercising he was doing, between the morning workouts, martial arts and weaponry training, his body was a true masterpiece to look at. There wasn’t an ounce of body fat to be found, his muscles were cut and with his natural strength, there weren’t many who would be able to take Harry down….at least without magic. In early December, the instructors decided that they would start having duels once a week with all the students in order to better judge their power, ability, and to judge any areas they were lacking and could use more study.

The first Monday after the announcement of the dueling competition, the pairings were posted on the gym wall, and all were required to attend. The first pairs scheduled were Michael Corner/Justin Finch-Fletchley, Angelina Johnson/Bianca Zabini, George Weasley/Lee Jordan, and Su-Li/Daphne. The rules were simple…no Unforgivables and nothing to permanently harm or maim your opponent. Anything else was fair game, utilizing their magical and physical training. Justin, Bianca, Lee and Su-Li won the first four matches.

Tuesdays round saw Oliver Woods/Adrian Pucey, Fred Weasley/Zacharias Smith, Susan Bones/Padma Patil, and Lavender Brown/Katie Bell. Oliver and Adrian’s match was by far the most exciting to date, with Adrian barely winning after almost 45 minutes…it could have gone either way. Fred, Padma, and Katie won their duels.

Wednesday’s matches were between Seamus Finnegan/Terry Boot, Luna Lovegood/Tracey Davis, Ernie Macmillen/Dean Thomas, and Ginny Weasley/Hannah Abbot. Suprisingly, Luna and Ginny, being the youngest here training, both won their duels, and showed why they had been selected to come into time warp with brilliant displays. Terry had won out over Seamus, and Dean beat Ernie.

Thursday’s match ups were Neville Longbottom/Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger/Alicia Spinnet, and Pavarti Patil/Lisa Turpin. Pavarti won the first duel against Lisa after only ten minutes, using her advanced swordsmanship in the end while casting a stupefy. It was a beautiful display to behold. Hermione and Alicia battled like two professionals, and they moved with such grace and precision that it looked as if neither would win. Finally, Alicia won out in the end, having taken to the physical exercising more than Hermione, and her endurance paid off. One hour and twenty minutes later, Hermione lay panting on the dueling floor, exhausted and defeated.

Neville and Blaise were up next, and it was anyone’s guess who would win. Throughout the last 3 ½ years, they had competed against one another often, and being almost equal in skills, it could go either way. Neither wanting to lose with this many spectators, both put in their best efforts using dramatic displays combining some two layer spell casting, single casting spell work, swords, and martial arts, and finally after two hours, the instructor’s called it a tie. They were getting dangerously close to depleting themselves and not wanting any serious injuries, they ended the match. Poppy had given them both restorative draughts and sent them to bed, neither waking up till late afternoon on Friday.

Friday’s duel was Harry against three Aurors. He had been training against multiple opponents for about 5 months now, and was doing very well adding one more each time he won more than four matches in a row. The Aurors selected were Dawlish, Robards, Tonks, and Williamson. Everyone sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the match to start. Once Harry was sure he had all his weapons strapped on, he entered the dueling area.

When Moody shouted for the match to begin, faster than anyone could see, Harry had his katana unsheathed and had wandlessly conjured a series of floating boulders to block the on coming spells. Bringing forth his Aura Reading ability, he spun out of the way of another oncoming spell, and lunged at Dawlish, slicing through his robes and making contact with his skin, leaving a long thin bleeding cut across his right thigh. Losing his concentration, Harry quickly disposed of him with a stupefy and placed magic suppressing ropes on him, and left to take out the next opponent.

Williamson was next on his list, and using the boulder fragments, transfigured them into 8 different walls and used them to move around easily escaping the onslaught from Tonks and Kingsley. Williamson charged him with sword drawn, and wand in hand, using some of Harry’s security walls in the process. As he approached, Harry went deep to find his center, which only took a couple of seconds, and using his aikido training, maneuvered Williamson’s forward momentum as he stepped in, and transferred the action into a tumbling throw, while quickly knocking him out by careful pressure to the temple that he had learned in Dim Mak training. Again he used the magic suppressing ropes, and he was down to two.

Quickly evaluating the situation, knowing that Kingsley was going to be his hardest opposition, but not underestimating Tonks, he switched tactics and started an assault using his wand and layering several nasty spells at both of them, primarily focusing on Tonks. Harry was able to layer more spells, faster with his wand, so using a two layer casting of Confundus and Scipio Interclusio, which was a wand blocking spell that made the opponents wand useless for 10 seconds, he was able to use this time to drive back Kingsley who was getting a little to close for comfort. Tonks quickly reversed the confundus hex and sent a Reducto at the wall Harry was behind. As the spell approached, he cast a wandless Retroago Vigo Diffluo, which stood for reverse energy flow, and sent the Reducto curse hurling back towards her. She barely ducked away, but was still taken out when debris hit her in the head. She was quickly taken away and checked over by Poppy, and after given the okay, watched the rest of the duel.

Only Kingsley, Flitwick and Chen had been successfully able to beat Harry in the duels, but Harry was determined to win this time. Knowing he probably would lose in a sword fight, Harry decided that if he could get close enough, he could win with his karate and taekwon-do abilities, and he had just recently learned that with his wandless capabilities, he could send small bursts of energy into his hands and feet just as they impacted with the opponent, making the blows more intense, taking out the opponent much faster. But, getting close was not going to be easy.

After 20 minutes of both casting hexes and curses, dodging and shielding, Harry was starting to gain the upper hand. His natural well of power combined with the layering he could do, was more than any in time warp could outlast, so as they volleyed spells, he was slowly wearing down his last opponent. As Harry crept up to make a sneak attack to Kingsley’s left side, he was barely able to escape the jab from the foil the Auror suddenly produced, and had to roll away, behind another conjured column. Pulling out all the stops, considering he was only 5 feet from Kingsley, he used ‘The Breath’ and froze Kingsley for about 20 seconds, Harry walked over, taking his wand and sword, and as he cast them aside, Kingsley came back to, and Harry did a high kick to the left side of his upper body, followed quickly by a lock joint punch impacting his right side of Kingsley’s face, throwing the other out of balance and, landing hard, was knocked out cold.

“Not bad Potter,” growled Moody, “A little sloppy, but you did manage to best them. I guess you’ll be working on your finesse more. I would’ve liked to see you take them out faster, you’ve been fighting for over half and hour, so more tactical strategy lessons, combined with working on faster castings and you should be ready for 5 opponents. I can live with the results…you did win.” finished a smirking Moody.

“Your insane, Mad-Eye! Completely nutters!” yelled an exasperated Harry. This got most of the students and instructors laughing and falling about themselves at the look of pure disbelief on Harry’s face.

After this week of dueling, the instructors rearranged the schedules and group people by ablities and skills. Harry was now joined by Neville, Blaise, Hermione and Alicia in all his training except Blood Magic, where only Blaise and Bianca still joined him there. It was decided that the duels would take place at the beginning of each month, and as people improved, their training would be altered to reflect their individual levels when needed.

By February, Harry was back in full swing with the weekend parties, and once again enjoying the sultry dances and one night flings without feeling uncomfortable around Katie. He was enjoying his times with Bianca, Tracey, Susan, and even Ginny and Luna on occasion. The only difference from before Katie, is he would never take more than one to bed at a time. He really like being one on one with each girl, able to give and receive more enjoyment and pleasure this way.

As summer approached, most everyone had advanced beyond where the instructors had hoped, and the dueling had become very intense. After the girls stated that they wanted to also duel the guys, intermixed competitions had become the norm. And, so this is how the fourth year came to a close, with everyone well beyond the basic Auror skills, and many at Hit-wizard or above. Moody, who would never show his satisfaction for fear of the students getting lazy, was beyond pleased, and would definitely have Auror certificates handed to this hard working group of people once they left the warp.


Harry’s Schedule - Year 5

6:30 - 7:00
Shower/Stretching/Warm-up
7:00 - 8:30
Running and Weight Training
8:30 - 9:00
Breakfast
9:00 - 12:00
Martial Arts and Weaponry Training
Monday - TaeKwon-Do/Karate/Aikido
Tuesday - Fencing/Knives/Throwing Stars
Wednesday - TaeKwon-Do/Karate/Aikido
Thursday - Japanese Katana/Dim Mak
Fridays - Open Study of Disciplines
12:00 - 1:00
Lunch
1:00 - 2:00
Finance & Wizarding Law
2:00 - 5:00
Individualized Study
5:00 - 6:30
Dinner Break
6:30 - 9:00
Dueling - All Forms
9:00-
Relax and Sleep


Fifth year, while still physically demanding, had been designed as a year to hone skills and sharpen instincts. Moody and Flitwick had set up several obstacle courses that involved battling simulated magical beasts, traps, and dueling to get through them. It very much reminded Harry of the maze in the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. These courses were intended to represent a more realistic fight, as very rarely would one of them be in a formal duel. Students and some of the adults that had been sharpening their skills, could be pulled from their sleep or from their studies at any time and thrown into the courses, learning to cope with being caught unaware and not always having your full armament with you. This saw most practicing their transfigurations and conjuring skills in order to produce weapons, and some even started sleeping with whichever weapons they like to use the best.

The only time that they didn’t have to worry about being bothered with their training, was the weekends. The students could train if they wanted, but the instructors never bothered them or through them into the obstacle courses fearing the potential burn out of some of the trainee’s. They worked long and hard all week, and without exception, were left to enjoy their time off.

Many weekends throughout the four years, and into the fifth year, saw the Quidditch pitch in the dungeons being inundated with players and spectators. With Oliver, Adrian, Fred, George, Katie, Angelina, Alicia, Blaise, Michael, Ginny, and Harry all having extensive experience in the game, they were able to take some of the other players, who weren’t to bad, and really play some intense games. They even occasionally had matches against the instructors, which of course were a total massacre by the students, but fun all the same.

In November, while dancing at one of the parties, Harry noticed Alicia dancing with some of the other girls, and he noticed how well she could move. Making his way over to her, he quietly came up behind her and putting his hands on her waist, started moving with her. She gasped slightly and turned her head to see who had joined her. Giving a flirtatious wink, she started grinding with him. A few songs later, they were off to get drinks, and to talk.

“I’ve never seen you dancing like that before tonight, you’ve been holding out on all of us!” Harry said teasingly.

“I have too! You’ve just been to preoccupied to notice…what with your regular groupies and Katie.” Alicia teased right back.

“Well, yeah….but damn woman….you can move!” and with that statement by Harry, they both were laughing.

When both had calmed to a chuckle, Alicia said, “Don’t think for a minute Harry, that I will become one of your little sexual conquests….dancing is one thing, but that is entirely something else. Your reputation certainly proceeds you!”

“Ouch! Whatever gave you the idea that I was just going after you for sex….don’t look at me like that! I can dance with someone and not take them to my bed….it’s rare, but it does happen!” he said laughing at himself.

“Yeah! Right! Give it up, Harry….you’re a babe magnet, and you use it to your fullest capabilities. I don’t blame you, you’re a young man in his prime, but I don’t think there are many of us poor young women who have escaped your pull.” she said in a mockingly serious tone.

“Okay! I concede. But in my own defense, when Katie and I were together, I never strayed from her. I take true relationships very seriously and gladly became a one woman man. When I find the love of my life, I intend on keeping her, and her alone.” Harry said, drifting inwardly some.

“I know you’re a good man, Harry. I was just teasing you. Katie speaks very highly about how you treated her, and I know that you were committed to her while together. But, you have to admit, when your single….GIRLS BEWARE!” she said bringing his spirits back up.

“Damn straight! I like women, and I’m not afraid to show it….speaking of showing it, let’s get dancing again!” and grabbing her hand, they headed back to the dance floor.

Throughout November, and December, Harry and Alicia continued their flirting and at the New Year’s Party, a few of the others decided it was time these two stop messing around and got down to business.

“Harry, mate, when are you going to officially ask Alicia out? We can all tell that you’re completely hooked, man! You’ve even become celibate again.” asked Adrian.

“You know, I really want to, but she says she won’t just be another conquest, and I don’t know how to make her see that’s not what I’m looking for from her. Guys, I can’t stand to be apart from her, but I don’t know how to get her past my past.” Harry said with a long sigh.

“Man! You’ve got it bad. You need to explain to her what you just said to us!” said Oliver.

“I’ve tried, but she just thinks I’m joking. You have no idea how much I want her to be with me….” Harry trailed off.

“Let me have Angelina talk to her. They are best friends, and maybe she can convince Alicia that your intentions are serious. Angelina can see how you act, and wants both of you together….I think they’ve had some talks about you and her already.” suggested Oliver.

“I don’t know….do you think it could work?” asked a hopeful Harry.

“It can’t hurt!” said the group of Oliver, Adrian, Fred, Neville and Justin together.

After Oliver spoke with Angelina, she made a beeline to her best friend, and pulling her aside asked, “Alicia, how do your really feel about Harry?”

“Merlin….Angie, you know how I feel. I want to be with him, but you know how he is….” Alicia said trailing off.

“Yeah, I know how he used to be….before you! Haven’t you noticed that he spends all his time with you, and hasn’t done anything with anyone for over a month! Get with it girl….he has it bad for you! Your going to lose him if you don’t start taking what his actions and words mean to heart! He’s been trying for awhile now to get you to leave his past behind, but your blindness is causing you not to notice. Don’t blow this, Alicia. I know you to well and you will regret it if you do!” said Angelina, encouragingly.

“You really believe he could commit? I won’t be just another woman in his bed….I want him, but I won’t sacrifice my beliefs just for a quickie!” Alicia asked with a hopeful look in her eye.

“He’s not out for a quickie. Remember the way he would look at Katie when they dated? They don’t have any measure to the way he looks at you! Give it a chance….you may just be shocked by what you will get out of a good relationship with Harry. We’ve all heard Katie talk about his tender, romantic side. Don’t let him slip away!” Angelina finish, giving her friend a hug.

After they broke apart, the two women noticed Harry walking over. “Hey Angelina, do you mind if I talk with Alicia, alone?” asked Harry.

“No! I’ve got to go find my man and remind him why he loves me!” she said with a teasing wink to both. They chuckled at her antics and, after asking Alicia to sit, Harry spoke, “Alicia, I know that the crew has been working on getting us together, and while I appreciate their help, I wanted you to hear from me, how I feel about you. I know your scared that I’m not taking you seriously, but that is so not the case. We’ve become great friends over the years, and something that night back in November caught my attention, and ever since, I’ve wanted to be with you, and you alone. I’ve tried telling you LL this before, but you never seem to take me seriously, and my past is to blame for that. I want to try a relationship with you, and see where it leads us.”

“Your right, Harry, I am scared. It’s not just about your past, but I’ll be 23 soon, and well, I’m tired of the whole dating scene. I’m looking for long term here Harry….can you give that to me?” Alicia said looking him straight in the eye.

“Yeah, I can. I liked what I had before with Katie, despite what my reputation may lead most to believe, I really am looking for the right person…..give me a chance?” he said back to her, never breaking eye contact.

It was several moments later, searching his eyes for any falseness to what he had said, and as a tear slipped down her cheek, she answered quietly, “Harry….I want this too.” and with that, he leaned into her and they enjoyed their first kiss. It was tender and caring and just what they both had been looking for. They talked for a while longer, and after they made their way back to the dance floor, holding each other close for a set of slow songs, the crew erupted into applause, and everyone gave their congratulations.

They took things slow, and as the remaining time in warp progressed, they became totally committed to each other. They had found a good balance of their time and the relationship flourished despite the demands of training and friends. Harry and Alicia were often seen sitting out in the gardens, playing in the pool and generally just spending some much needed quiet time together. Alicia had let it be known from the get-go that she was a virgin, and intended to stay that way until she married. Harry was completely understanding, and thought it was a tremendous gift she would be giving to her husband someday.

Many couples had formed over this last year, and Harry thought, ‘It’s probably because we’re all getting older and losing our teenage views on things.’ What shocked most people, however, was the engagement of George and Su-Li. Chen was completely welcoming of his future son-in-law, and often could be seen partaking in the twins pranks.

Oliver and Angelina were still together, and Oliver was not long in following George’s example. Neville and Hermione were definitely going to be next on the engagement circuit, but Neville wanted to wait until he could give her his mothers engagement ring once they left the time warp. Adrian and Hannah had been going out for about 6 months and seemed to be going strong, as well as Dean and Ginny. Justin had hooked up with Susan, and his warm personality seem to settle her bold personality.

The relationship Harry was most happy about, was Remus and Tonks. They had started about mid way through the fourth year, and with the laws changed to allow werewolves to marry, he felt they would be engaged soon, too. Paole and Bianca were the surprise to beat all. He may be a 300 year old vampire, but he didn’t look a day over 25. His calm, cool personality seem to soothe the sharp edges of Bianca’s. They made for a stunning couple, and Harry couldn’t be happier.

Many other things had been happening besides the relationships this last year. The twins had, after joking around with Neville’s Remembrall, came up with an ingenious concept of imbuing clear glass balls that contained concentrated spells, and when smashed, would have a wide range effect. They made over 500 hundred balls each of the Stupify Hex, Reducto Curse, the Anti-Gravity Mist, and the Conjunctivitis Curse.

Seamus and Zach had come up with the idea of a belt that held miniature sized healing potions and poisons in vials that, when touched by the owner of the belt, would re-size, and be ready for whenever they were needed. Hermione, Blaise, Terry and Padma had all volunteered to make the potions for all the belts. Harry had used Blood Magic to ensure that only the owner of the belt could handle the vials.

Harry had also taken to using the Runic/Blood Magic to enchant his throwing stars, and any of those who also had learned. When the stars contacted with an opponent, the blood would activate the runes, and the varying effects would take action. He used the runes of Thurisaz which had the a target demolished with its destructive, exploding force; Isa, which represented ice, and would freeze on contact; Ehwaz combined with Raidho, for transportation to holding cells within the ministry. These were simple castings, but effective.

He made amulets that could be worn for protection, and also made each a reusable portkey to wherever the individual person felt safest. It took a more complex combination of runes and the parameters had to be set in a slow time release for the amulets to be efficient, and each one took over a weeks worth of work. Each person’s combination was individualized, such as Alicia wanted the runes of Fehu, for luck, Uruz, for physical strength and speed, Gebo for generosity and balance, Jera for peace, Eihwaz for endurance and protection, and Berkano for fertility and regenerative power. Each runic casting took hours to calculate and to set the parameters of activation with the time releasing abilities. Paole and Blaise helped, but because Harry had mastered this magic, even more so than Paole, he was much faster at it.

Harry enchanted clay target practice discs that could be used in battle with the runes of Hagalaz, which, when activated by the blood of whoever was launching them and imbuing a 15 second delay, would bring about the forces of nature in a destructive catastrophe; and Laguz, for the flow of water, could create with the rune of Sowilo, for the sun and fire, a boiling spray of water that had devastating results. Despite what he had agreed to before going in, Harry never was comfortable with learning Blood Magic in combination with sex, so had only read about it, and never went further than that.

It was now August 9th, and everyone was excited to see their family and other friends after being away for so long. The packing was almost done, and the last night their, everyone, even the instructors, attended the ‘Going Out of Time Warp’ party. With no training the next day, most didn’t make it to bed until well after 3am. The energy and excitement made for one of the best parties yet.

At 5:30 on August 10th, they again felt the wash of magic over them and instantly, there were over a 100 new people standing on the grounds. Cornelius was first to greet them all and said, “Great Merlin’s Ghost! I can’t believe the change you’ve all gone through …especially since to us it was only 5 hours ago that we saw you!”

“Great to see you again, Cornelius! What’s amazing is that after 5 years under the murderous schedule these people put us through, that were not all dead!” said Harry giving the instructors a mocking glare.

Moody, not one for putting up with Harry’s antics said, “Knock it off Potter, or I’ll see to it you go through another few years!”

“OH! GODDESS! NO!…….COMPLETELY NUTTER’S this one is!” shouted Harry while holding his arms up in a dramatic surrender. Everyone laughed at the banter, then made their way to their perspective families who had come to welcome them back.

Harry escorted Alicia over to her parents and after a warm welcome home from them, she pulled back and taking Harry’s hand, introduced him, “Mum, Dad, I would like you to meet Harry Potter. Harry, these are my parents, Rhonda and Marcel Spinnet.”

“Pleasure to meet you both, and welcome to my home. Alicia talks very warmly of you.” said Harry, shaking their hands.

“Pleasure is all ours. Your home is beautiful, Harry.“ said Rhonda.

Looking stern, Marcel said, “I can tell that you two are more than just friends. I’ll be having a conversation soon with you, Harry. She is our only child, and I will not part with her easily.”

“DAD! You just met him! Give him a minute….would ya!” she said in exasperation.

“Yes, Marcel. Take it easy on Harry, before you scare him away.” Rhonda said with a glare towards her husband.

“It’ll take more than that to scare me away….I look forward to that talk, sir. Your daughter means a great deal to me.” said Harry, earning him a respectful glint in the eyes of his girlfriends father. After some more chit-chat with some of the other family and friends around them, the Spinnet’s and Harry all agreed to head out to a quiet dinner in muggle London, something both Alicia and Harry had not had in five years.