New Year, New Problems

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For the third time, Harry was packing for Hogwarts. This time it was a much more somber occasion. While Astoria was hopping around, excited to start her first year, Harry was quietly eating, packing, and not saying much to anyone. The Greengrass's were understanding enough to give Harry the space he needed. They didn't need to leave till tomorrow, but Harry was wallowing a little too much for his own liking, and the process of packing at least help keep his body in motion.

He finally closed his truck and realized that he still had too much of the day to go to bed. So, he did what he always did and made his way to the garden. Harry had just made it to the living room when he heard his name called from behind. Harry looked to see Daphne, in her training gear, running through the door.

"Harry, I can beat you," panted Daphne.

Harry smirked at this. "You sure, it's been all summer, and you barely get close."

"Looks like you just have to find out Potter," challenged Daphne.

"Okay, it's your funeral."

Harry followed the blonde up the stairs to the Greengrass training room. It was a recent addition when Tiberius found out about Harry and Daphne's sessions. Harry took off his robe but kept on his regular clothes instead of changing into training garb. It was a constant, silent challenge to Daphne. She growled at this, and they stood at the ready.

At some unknown signal, they both started casting. Each was sending a flurry of spells, many colliding in midair. The ones that did get through either we're splashed against the walls or were dodged or blocked. Harry immediately saw a hole in Daphne's new plan. She was interchanging, sending 3-4 aggressive spells to keep Harry on the defensive, and then she would send something to finish him. It had almost worked if he had taken any longer to read what she was doing. So, he waited, and when the moment came to counter, Harry sent a spell to disrupt her pattern. To his surprise, instead of that happening, Daphne was able to catch Harry's spell on her wand and send it back with a series of her own spells. Harry was able to dodge the returned spell and the follow-up, but the third one caught him in the chest, and he fell to the ground, petrified. She was able to hide a simple body bind curse within all the other spells.

She walked up to him, with a grin of triumph and her eyes still saying surprise. She clearly didn't fully expect that to work. Harry simply waited for her to counter the spell, which she did, and got to his feet.

"You actually did it," said Harry

"I actually did it," Daphne responded.

Harry, in a moment of impulse, pulled Daphne into a hug. The first thing he notices was that he was taller than her. In the last two years, they had been the same height, but Harry was now a few inches taller. Daphne didn't return the hug out of surprise, and when she started to, he released.

"You beat me fair and square," said Harry. "No, let's get cleaned up and go get some dinner, we have school tomorrow."

Daphne smiled at Harry's sudden change in attitude. She followed Harry to the residence hall and entered her own room while Harry continued to his. As Daphne stripped out of her sweaty clothes, Daphne couldn't help but think about Harry's hug. She had never seen Harry in any sort of light other than that of a friend. He had always been Harry the troublemaker, not Harry, the cute boy in her house. She knew that some others found the tousled hair and bright green eyes attractive, even her own mother commented that he was going to be a heartbreaker. Something had happened over the summer that was changing Harry and herself. Goddamn puberty.

Daphne admitted to herself that Harry's constant exercising did wonders for his physique. She shook her head of those thoughts. She didn't want to lose what she had with Harry for the sake of some childish crush. She was sure that Harry, if he was thinking the same things, was thinking about someone else. Maybe one of the Patil sisters or Hannah abbot. She knew that Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw in the year above her and Harry, was considered quite the beauty.

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