Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter VI: Familiar Familiars

Two months. I've wasted two months at this stupid dao. Two months of not learning martial arts. Two months of my instructor telling me that he would not teach me until I was ready.

Two months of time. Wasted.

“You are full of much anger for one so young,” my master, Wei, said, observing me through squinted eyes.

“I'm angry because you won't teach me anything!” I shouted at him, balling my hands into fists. “I've been here for two months now but all we've done so far is stretches and push-ups! I want to learn how to fight! I need to learn how to fight!”

“Why do you need to know how to fight?” he inquired.

“So my relatives can no longer walk all over me. So I can prove to them that I'm better than they are. So that I won't ever have to put up with their abuse again!” By the end of my rant, I felt out of breath.

“Is that really why you wish to learn now?” Master Wei asked.

“Of course, why else would I want to learn?”

Master Wei looked at me. He said nothing, spoke no words; he just stared.

I turned away, uncomfortable.

“I think you know the real reason you wish to learn martial arts,” Master Wei said quietly. “However, until you can admit to the real reason, I will not teach you how to fight. Martial Arts is not just a way of fighting, but an art and an oath. It is an art that allows one to express themselves through movement, and an oath to never use violence unless it is the only way to protect yourself or the ones you love. Now then, I believe we are done for the day. Go wash up and head home. We shall continue where we left off tomorrow.”

I glared at my master, wanting nothing more than to lift him with my magic and throw him through a wall. But I couldn't do that, could I? Mum once said there were laws about using magic in front of non-magical people. I didn't know how they could find out what I'd done, but they must have some means of tracking magic—or so I assumed.

And so I left, impotent, angry and frustrated beyond belief, my heart blackened with rage.

XoX

Upon exiting Flourish and Blotts, Harry noticed right away that the sun was much higher in the sky than it had been before entering the bookstore. He must have spent at least two hours within that shop. Harry was very glad he had gotten here so early, or he might have had to leave before he even managed to buy all of his school supplies.

Using the positioning of the sun to judge the time, Harry deduced that it was somewhere around midday. In other words, it was high time he grabbed a bite to eat.

Fortunately, there were a number of places where he could find a decent meal at. Harry had seen five different cafe's from while walking to Gringotts. He began moving toward one that caught his fancy when he paused, a small frown flitting across his face as he looked around for the source of his apprehension.

Something was calling him. It wasn't a voice calling out his name, or even a voice in his head calling out to him. It felt more like an innate feeling that something here wanted to get his attention, a tug on his heart that pulled him in a certain direction. Not one to ignore such a feeling, and extremely curious to find out what was calling him, Harry abruptly changed directions and walked away from the cafe he had been about to walk into and towards the source of this strange sensation.

The source that was calling out to him was none other than Eeylops Owl Emporium. The store was very dark on the inside, probably due to the fact that owls were nocturnal creature's. Harry's vision took several moments to adjust, but when he did it was easy to see that the store was really just an open space with no shelves, one counter, and a whole lot of cages containing Owls of all kinds hanging from the rafters.