Nine Lives and Bad Luck

7

      True to their word Silk and Harry traveled all over the world exploring both magical and non areas and trying anything that caught their eyes. Harry ever since he had gotten his first broom in Britain had discovered his love for the freedom granted by being in the air and Silk often joined him. They also found common ground in defense although he didn't take to some of the stricter sets of rules for dueling very well. At his observation of that she had just laughed however, saying the restrictions went away entirely if you went far enough up. It was those comments that made him wonder exactly how 'far up' she was in the various circuits. She certainly gained enough attention and awe from duelers to suggest she held more skill than he had seen in previous duels.

They didn't always stick together however. He didn't go to all of her competitions of course, often choosing to stay with someone she trusted- like Ambroglio's coven- or in the Silent Garden instead so that he could focus more on some of the hobbies he had developed.

   For one, was ice skating races, which had much the same thrill as flying on a broom, a hobby that when he first picked up had made Silk stare at him in disbelieving horror for a solid ten seconds before slowly nodding and deciding he'd gone crazy, she disliked sharp objects and found willingly standing on blades to be a sure sign of insanity, but it was alright. (She still attended whenever he participated in a competition and had even made an eternally frozen pond just outside their clearing, but nothing he said would convince her to stay on the ice for long, or to even wear proper ice skates, and she was absolutely useless in a race).

    Likewise, he decided she had gone mental when he found her habit of swimming in water of any temperature, be it freezing, boiling, or anywhere in between (she claimed it was basically like ice skating but you weren't likely to trip and die from it when he had stared at her like the insane person she was) He'd also taken up wood carving, a hobby she could distantly understand as she made wands occasionally, but wasn't personally a fan of due to the sharp tools involved.

    But really, things were nice, he practiced and trained under her instruction, and visited so many places, seeing so many things yet all the same had a quiet place to return to. He was able to try something new without a fight, and if it didn't suit him he could drop it without being guilted as Silk was all about new experiences whether you stuck with it or not. Even more of an interesting but shocking change was he actually got encouragent to continue doing the things he liked, despite not being allowed to slack off in his studies or do nothing either. Admittedly, he realized he was being spoiled, but he also knew Silk would set limits to that and he trusted her enough that he allowed himself to explore all those new sights, sounds, and experiences the world offered to him knowing she wouldn't let him end up like Dudley even with her ignorance to human culture.

While it was all kinds of odd to see images of what he supposedly looked like at various ages in the magical world, that quickly went away as he began to see himself less and less as 'freak Harry Potter, charity case and nobody of the Dursleys' and more into the person he was making himself into. An adventurous dueler and natural animagus who loved the wind, heights, running, and exploring everything he possibly could.

     And all was good for them.

     Years passed by quickly and they found themselves once more in Britain for a tournament, this one was in the summer and, for the first time, they weren't going for Silk. It had been just two days ago when Silk had popped her head into the living room to ask how he felt about going into the circuits, he had been unofficially practicing for years now. At his agreement she had grinned and mentioned one for beginners going on in Britain soon and just like that, the next day they were off.

      "All set?"  Silk was probably more nervous than he was, he had seen her pack more than just the normal supplies (for a dueler) into the med kit she carried shrunken around her neck all the while muttering reassurances to herself that everything was going to be alright- it was one of the easier circuits. Everything would be fine. It was a somehow endearing change coming from someone who you could hold a gun to their face and they wouldn't bat an eye. Mostly it remained endearing rather than annoying because he knew she had complete faith in him to do fine otherwise she wouldn't have signed him up for it when he asked or mentioned the possibility.