Ginny and the others were only allowed to stay for a couple of days before they went home. Harry didn’t want them to leave, but knew that he would be seeing them in a few weeks in Diagon Alley. They all made arrangements to be in the alley at the same time to get their school supplies.
Harry didn’t realize it at the time, but they all agreed to meet on his birthday. With everything that had happened over the last few weeks, Harry had lost track of the days and forgot that it was his birthday until he saw the fireworks go off in Fred and George’s joke shop. Ron and Ginny had casually directed him over to that shop under the pretense that the twins had some new joke item to show him. The shop was closed for a few hours while they all had lunch and caught up on old times.
The meeting was everything Harry had hoped it would be. He managed to find a few minutes alone with Ginny, although it was in a very crowded Flourish and Blotts. They didn’t mind since Ron and Hermione had chosen this same opportunity to sneak off together. Their arms were soon filled with schoolbooks, particularly Ginny’s. She told Harry that she was taking a few extra courses next year. Harry was halfway through a Hermione reference before Ginny kicked him in the shin. He was quiet the rest of the time.
After twenty minutes, the couple left the bookstore and decided to grab a snack at the Leaky Cauldron. As they entered, Harry remembered the story he had overheard about this place. He looked around for signs of a fight, but couldn’t see anything that would suggest a struggle had happened. Given how long ago it was, he guessed that everything had been cleaned up.
Tom, the bartender, brought over two bottles of butterbeer and two bowls of ice cream for the couple. Ginny took a drink from her bottle. “So when are you going to take your apparation test?” she asked.
“Kevin said he would take me to the Ministry next week,” Harry answered. “Ron and Hermione are going to take the test on the same day. I don’t know why they waited so long, though. They both turned seventeen long before I did.”
Ginny smiled. “Ron said he felt better taking the test with you there. This way Hermione has someone else to pick at instead of just him.” She started giggling. “There was a weekend earlier this summer when Hermione came to the Burrow so she and Ron could practice for their apparition test. Hermione doesn’t need practice. She can do it perfectly, but Ron still has a few problems. Anyway, Hermione kept giving him “tips” to help improve. He didn’t take them well.”
“Can he at least apparate?”
“Oh yes,” Ginny replied. “He can do it fine if Hermione isn’t anywhere near him.” Ginny giggled again.
Harry had to smile, but felt bad for his friend’s dilemma. He knew all too well that Hermione could be abrasive, but she only had the best of intentions. Ron was lucky, though, that he would be taking the test without Hermione nearby. The administrators did not allow anyone else to be around when an applicant was taking the exam.
Harry and Ginny finished off their ice cream and butterbeer and were about to leave the building, when a wizard burst into the Leaky Cauldron. His head was gashed open and blood was spilling onto his face. He stumbled around from table to table. His speech was slurred and his eyes seemed to be glazed. Harry and Ginny moved out of the way of the wizard as he collapsed onto their table.
Ginny put a hand over her mouth. “What happened to him?”
A group of wizards converged on the fallen man. They laid him on the floor, and Harry could see that he had similar gashes on his arms and torso. “He’s been attacked.”
“No, he hasn’t,” Tom the bartender said, behind Harry’s back. “He’s been in a fight. There’s a big scuffle going on in Flourish and Blotts.”
Harry and Ginny, along with a group of wizards from the Cauldron, ran into Diagon Alley. Tom had been right. A large group of adult wizards were fighting with one another in Diagon Alley. They were not using wands or spells, just their fists. Harry grabbed Ginny’s arm to pull her away from this ruckus. They started to go back into the Leaky Cauldron, but Harry soon found himself facedown on the concrete.
Someone was pummeling him on his head and back, but he couldn’t see who it was. Harry kept trying to turn over and see who was attacking him. The assailant was doing a good job keeping Harry pinned to the ground, though, and he couldn’t move an inch. The beating was bad enough, but Harry soon heard something that would turn his blood to ice.
Ginny suddenly screamed.
With every bit of strength, Harry pushed the attacker off of him. He reached for his wand and cast a stunning spell on the wizard. Turning his head from side to side, Harry looked for Ginny. She was a ways down the alley, lying on her back with her arms up over her face. A tall, burly wizard was standing over her with his hands balled in to fists. He looked ready to strike.
Harry jumped to his feet. He ran with all his will, but was soon tackled by another crazed man. His back impacted on the stone, knocking the wind from his lungs. Harry could only think of Ginny as his head lulled to one side, and he saw her face in terror.
The burly wizard never got a chance to strike.
Seemingly from nowhere, Kevin drove his shoulder into the man standing over Ginny. He pulled the wizard away, throwing fists into the abdomen and face of the assailant. Kevin moved behind the man, wrapped his arms around the attacking wizard’s waist and thrust him over his head. The attacker’s neck and upper back were driven into the stone.
Aurors were finally able to break up the fighting. Harry could hear stunning spells being cast all through Diagon Alley. Wizards began dropping one by one. Someone grabbed Harry’s arm and helped to his feet. He didn’t recognize the Auror, but his attention was focus across the street. Kevin was gently helping Ginny rise to a sitting position. Harry couldn’t tell if she was hurt or not, but he wanted to be there for her.
That was impossible, as the Auror started moving him out of the alley. His last image of Ginny was of Kevin lifting her onto his back to carry her. Harry felt completely helpless.
*******************************************************
Harry was brought back to Godric’s Hollow after being checked by Medical Wizards from St. Mungo’s. He only had a few scrapes and bruises, but his spirit was wounded more then anything.
Ginny had been taken back to the Burrow. Harry had pleaded with the Medical Wizards to let him see her, but she had been left long before. Kevin soon came by to take him home. Harry reluctantly went.
Back at the village, Sara was waiting from them outside of the house. Lilian was silently sleeping in her mother’s arms, but awoke as she ran to her husband and Harry. Kevin took his daughter from her. Sara knelt down to look Harry over for any lingering injuries. Harry stood still as she ran her hands over his face and shoulders. He didn’t really care if he was still injured or not.
Once she was satisfied, Sara ushered them inside. She quickly made them something to eat, as Kevin explained what happened in Diagon Alley. Harry wasn’t paying much attention. From what he actually heard, someone in Flourish and Blotts had provoked someone else and the fight escalated from there. No one was sure who actually started it, and no one was sure why it grew as large as it did. Kevin tried to ask Harry if he knew the wizard that was attacking him. Harry said he didn’t.
After they ate, Harry went up to his room. Lying on his bed, he saw Hedwig sitting on his windowsill. He thought about writing a letter to Ginny, to make sure she was all right. His mind kept going back to that moment when he saw her on the ground and that burly wizard standing over her, ready to strike. It made him ill to think that she could have been seriously hurt, but what made it worse was…thinking back to the person who had saved her…when Kevin…
“Something bothering you?”
Harry turned to look at the door to his room. Kevin was standing in there, looking down on him. “What do you want?” he asked.
“I wanted to see if you were all right,” Kevin replied. “Physically, I know you’ll survive, but you have an interesting mentality. After something like this, you usually sink into a bit of depression and it takes days to get anything out of you. So, let’s cut out the song and dance and why don’t you just come right out and say what’s bothering you? Is it Voldemort, your upcoming apparition test, or the fact that your last year at Hogwarts is about to start? Or is it something completely different?”
Harry looked him straight in the eye. “It’s you.”
Kevin opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He opened it a few more times as he tied to find the right words. Finally, he said, “What?”
Harry sat up. “I said it’s you, or at least, what you did today.”
“You mean showing up to help out?”
“No,” Harry said, shaking his head. “I mean that you helped Ginny. I should have been able to do something but I couldn’t.”
“Harry, you were pinned down by two-hundred pounds of enraged wizard,” Kevin said. “Everything was crazy. No one could have expected you to do much on your back.”
Harry shook his head again. “That’s never stopped you before. You always fight when the odds are against you. I should have been able to do the same.” He sat silent for a minute. “I should be able to do more.”
Kevin walked over to Harry. He sat on the bed beside him. “It sounds like you want to learn how to fight, and not with your magic.” Harry looked up at him. “You want to be able to defend yourself physically, not just magically.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “If I could do that, then I could…”
“Slow down, Harry. If you want to learn to fight, I’ll teach you, but don’t think that this is going to make your life easier. It’s admirable that you want to learn. Most wizards would do well with some physicality, but there is not a lot of call for the hands on touch.”
“But you will teach me?”
Kevin clasped a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “I’d be glad to. We’ll start today.”
*********************************************************
It soon became clear to Harry that he may have taken on something he wasn’t ready for. Kevin started with a simple regime of punches and kicks, but soon he moved on to holds and throws. “Fighting is more then a well placed punch,” he had said. “If you want to succeed, then you have to learn to unbalance your opponent. An arm lock, or a hip throw can give you time to do some real damage to your opponent.”
Over the next few days, Harry began to show promise in his fighting skills. Kevin put together a dummy for him to practice his offensive techniques, and Harry seemed to enjoy practicing quite a bit.
Kevin made sure that Harry did not neglect his magical training, though. Either before or after Harry trained with the dummy, or with Kevin himself if he was practicing holds or throws, Kevin put him through hours of rigorous magical training. The apparition test was only two days away. Kevin wanted Harry to be ready.
Before even Harry thought it was possible, the day arrived. He and Kevin left Godric’s Hollow one morning and made their way to the Ministry of Magic.