Ginny spent the whole day wondering if and when she would ever get a chance to get Harry alone for a few minutes. She was anxious. She wanted to know how his trip to Diagon Alley went. She was pretty curious how he managed to get off the grounds to apparate and back into the school without anyone noticing, but she had already resigned herself not to ask that question. It was none of her business to know all of his secrets, and she had promised him she wouldn't pry into his business. If he wanted her to know, he'd tell her. But she really wanted to know when they could brew the potion and when their training would begin.
But luck was not with her. Harry was surrounded by people the entire day. Ron and Hermione rarely left his side. Neville was almost as bad. And practically every member of their HA class in Gryffindor made it a point to talk to him at some point. Ginny still found herself wanting to call it the DA, but Harry always insisted that everyone call it the HA now. But that's beside the point. She couldn't really blame any of them for wanting to talk to Harry about the class. It was different. And he had put on quite a spectacle.
Growing up in the wizarding world, physical activity was always downplayed. The only real sport the wizarding world had was Quidditch, and while the sport put some strain on the body after hours of play, it was really the broom that did most of the work. They never had to worry about running around anywhere or being quick on their feet, unlike those who grew up in the muggle world. She didn't know much about muggles, but she knew enough about sports like football and basketball to know that there was a lot of running involved and that you needed to be quick on your feet to be any good.
Even beyond the world of sports, muggles did a lot more walking or running around than wizards. The average adult wizard or witch can instantaneously disappear from one spot and reappear in another, eliminating the need to walk anywhere. The only reason one would have to avoid apparation as a mode of travel is because of children. Seeing that children cannot apparate, other means often have to be found. But the floo network alleviates that for the most part. You can floo from your own home to most places you would need to go. And even in the case that you're going somewhere without a floo, chances are that there is a floo nearby.
Even children in the wizarding world don't run around as much as in the muggle world. They do run and play around to some extent, but a lot of that is done on a broom instead of on the ground. Even younger kids have things like training brooms that will only hover a few feet above the ground to avoid injury should an accident occur. So anyone who grew up in the wizarding world was really walking into something entirely outside the norm in Harry's class.
He had managed to avoid being hexed for several minutes straight by simply running around, ducking, dodging, leaping out of harms way. He made a very good point. There is a defense against the Unforgivables, and that is to not allow yourself to be hit with one. If he was able to dodge successfully against a stinging hex cast in rapid succession, which was very easy to cast rapidly, then what's to stop him from dodging a series of Avada Kedavra's as well? Often times the best solution is the simplest.
But it wasn't the premise behind the drill that had people flocking to him; it was his demonstration. Not only had he managed to cast spells faster than she had ever seen before, he had also managed to move with such quickness and agility so as to avoid being hit with a single hex. His performance was beyond all expectations. So it was natural that everyone who had witnessed the event would want to talk to him about it. But that didn't make it any less frustrating for her.
Why couldn't everyone go up and talk to him all at once? They were all talking about the same things anyway. Harry was bound to get sick of talking about the same thing over and over, telling them the same things, answering the same questions. But no, everyone had to come up and talk to him separately. By the end of the night, she was getting sick of it. When she had asked Harry if he would mind helping her train to be an animagus, she hadn't really known what to expect. She wasn't expecting to be turned down or anything like that; Harry was much too nice to even consider such a thing.
She hadn't expected much out of him, on the other hand. A vague agreement, perhaps. He would tell her he'd be happy to help and that they'd set something up in the future. She had not anticipated that Harry would run off to Diagon Alley at the drop of a hat to get all the potions ingredients they would need so that they could get started right away. That went well beyond what she had been expecting.
But ever since they had set the whole thing up, she was getting more and more anxious to get started. She couldn't wait to find out what her form would be. She was hoping for a cat or something that could fly, but she'd be happy with a lot of different animals. So long as she didn't end up as something stupid, like an ant or a bug or any kind or a rat. She got herself so worked up thinking that they'd be starting today, that by the end of the day she would know what animal she would be. But at this point, she held little hope that they'd be starting this weekend. Maybe next weekend, if she was lucky.
She was not looking forward to the week to come. She knew that she'd be hard pressed to focus her attention on anything besides animagi. The night was winding down, and she was beginning to think about heading up to bed when something brushed up against her arm, or rather someone.
"Hey, Gin," a masculine voice greeted her.
She started and looked to her side where a black haired man gave her a lopsided grin, his green eyes sparkling. "Hey yourself. You startled me."
"Sorry," he said rather unapologetically.
"I'm sure," she replied steadily. "So what brings you to my neck of the woods?"
"You have a break right before dinner tomorrow, right?" he asked abruptly.
"Err… yes. Why?"
"Meet me in my office after your last class."
She cottoned on at that point, and a smile lit up her face. "I'll be there." He returned her grin and bid her a goodnight. As he turned to leave, she grabbed his forearm to stall him and called out softly "Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks," she told him gratefully.
"Don't mention it." And then he turned and walked up the staircase to the boys' dormitory. After a moment, she shook herself and went to bed. This week wasn't looking so bad after all.
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