Sean placed the bag on the floor of his dormitory as Harry walked in behind him. Sean took out the blankets and placed them on the floor, the room wasn't very big, but it was big enough for the two of them to sleep in and still have space. There was a window that faced out towards the countryside around the monastery, and Harry noticed a perch that extended from the window.
"What's this for?" Harry asked.
"That's for my falcon Regal," Sean answered while settling the thicker of the blankets over a mat on the ground.
"You have a pet?" Harry asked.
"Regal is my means of communication with the monastery when I am out in the field, and right now he is the courier between myself and 12 Grimmauld Place."
"What?" Harry asked.
"At the time, my falcon Regal is being used for communication between the Order of the Phoenix and myself."
"Where is he now?" Harry asked.
"Regal is trained to stay in one place until sent with a message. I gave Regal to Bill and he dropped him off at Grimmauld Place on his way to his honeymoon. Lupin was told to send me a message when they have established base there."
Harry nodded his understanding and looked around his new room, there was one modest bed, and Sean was setting up the mat and blankets on the ground. There was also a place for Sean to hang his weapons, which he started doing after he set up the mat and blanket.
There were two specific items that caught Harry's eye. One was a book with a familiar looking figure on the cover. Harry read the cover "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" it said. The other item was a katana blade placed on top of two pegs in the wall inside a sheath with some kind of thin rope dangling from around the top of it.
"When can I learn that technique you mentioned?" Harry asked Sean as he un-strapped the crossbow from his forearm.
"Let me put up my weapons, and you change into those training robes," Sean said pointing to the robes on the other side of the room, and then we'll go to the training area."
Harry did as he was told and changed from the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing into the training robes on the other side of the room. It was easy for him to tell which were the training robes because the other choices were the tank top and pants suit that Sean wore under what Harry called his monk robe, and the monk robe itself. After Harry had changed, Sean, who had removed his own formal robe, motioned for Harry to follow him out.
They made their way to the outdoor part of the monastery and Harry noticed that there weren't any other people around. "Where is everybody?" Harry asked his new teacher and guardian.
Sean paused for a moment as if in thought, then understanding came to him and he made his way off as Harry followed. Sean stopped short and then Harry came beside him to see the sight that awaited him. At least two hundred men of varied ages stood around a pile of wood with some sort of stretcher with a body on top of it above the wood.
Sean found Daniel in the group and spoke with him as Harry listened. "Who is that and were did he fall?"
"His name is Cameron," Daniel began in answer, "Harold Cameron. He fell at the hands of a group of werewolves in Germany."
Sean paused and bowed his head in reverence before asking Daniel, "when will the Sagart begin the ceremony?"
Sean received his answer by seeing the figure of the Priest walk up behind the pile of wood with two Knights on either side of him, one holding a lit torch. The Sagart paused, and then began to speak.
"Brothers in arms and in God. We are gathered here to lay to rest one of our brave and noble Knights. Harold Dean Cameron served his brotherhood and his God with honor, integrity, and with devotion. He never once complained of the hardships of training, or of the duty he had undertaken. We now purify him by fire, and will cast his ashes to the heavens. God receive your servant speedily and without pause."
The Priest then took the torch from the Knight and lowered it onto the wood and the flames jumped skyward to consume the body of the fallen knight.
Sean, Daniel, and the other knights assembled raised their swords into the air and brought their right fists to their chest in salute to their fallen comrade and all shouted at the top of their lungs, "For God, truth, and justice, Erin go Braugh!"
Harry looked around as the group began to chant the last phrase as they raised their swords and pounded their chests in salute "Erin go Braugh!" Erin go Braugh!" Erin go Braugh!" "Erin go Braugh!" "Erin go Braugh!"
After they stopped chanting, Harry turned to talk to Sean. "Why do you look at this so pensively?"
Sean gave no answer, but Harry used his newfound powers of illegumency to read his thoughts, "Because I am sure that is the fate that awaits me."
After the ceremony was concluded, Sean led Harry to the outdoor training area of the monastery grounds. Sean sat down and crossed his legs Indian-style, Harry waited for a moment and then did the same.
"Close your eyes." Sean commanded Harry, and he obeyed.
"When you are confronted with any type of fear," Sean began after seeing Harry close his eyes, "your body and senses begin to over react and you are thrown into a state of outright panic. The secret is to focus on only one word," Harry's interest was peaked and he listened intently. "Breathe" Sean said in a light voice that made Harry wonder if he was giving him a command or telling him the word.
Sean evaluated, "Just breathe, and focus on the very act that draws life into our bodies. Breathe," He paused, "and let your fears disappear, forget about everything else except the need to go on living and to survive."
Harry balanced his arms on his legs and began to follow Sean's council. He discovered that Sean was right, Harry just kept saying "breathe" to himself in his mind over and over again, and found that as he did so, everything else seemed to fade away.
He was calmer than he had ever been in his entire life, not even the Dark Lord could affect him when he was in this state of mind. Here he found complacency and discovered that this was indeed a good technique for letting go. One thing he noticed was that he even forgot about Hermione for a moment, and the awful nightmare he had had before did not linger with him. The two of them stayed like that until Sean heard a horn sounding off.
"Hey" Sean lightly shook Harry, "that means they are serving food, we need to go to the outdoor area."
The two of them made their way back to the outdoor area near the Sagart's office/quarters and fell in line behind a few other Knights as they waited for their food.
After some time, they had their dinner. The food was humble and meager, but it was enough, especially since Harry and Sean hadn't had a real meal in several days, the only homemade food they had enjoyed for the past few days was the biscuits Mrs. Weasley had given them before they left.
Each of them had a bowlful of Irish stew and a tall glass of milk. "I hope you like this," Sean began, "it's all you will have for dinner while you are here."
The two of them sat at a table outside in an area near where the food was being served. There were several more tables and other Knights sitting around and eating. Some entertained themselves with games and others with contests or by playing music.
After a few moments Daniel and a few other Knights came and spoke to Sean. Sean introduced them to Harry who took his time shaking hands and learning names. While they ate, a call went up for Sean. "Come on laddy," one of the older knights said to him, "do it."
After this a chant of "Do it! Do it! Do it!" went up among the knights until Harry asked, "what do they want?"
Sean paused and then stood up, "give me a knife," he said aloud, which prompted cheers from the men.
After Sean had acquired a throwing knife, he looked for a spot in one of the wooden beams near the eating area and threw the knife into it. The knife was about eight feet from the ground and shook a little from side to side as Sean moved towards it. There was an almost reverent hush as he made his way a short distance before it. Then in a flash, he jumped up in the air, turned his body in a full 360 and kicked the knife out of the beam.
Another round of cheers went up from the Knights who were assembled there and several of them patted Sean on the back and talked with him for a moment. Harry did not hear what they said to Sean because one Knight turned to him to say, "you are very fortunate to have him as your teacher boy, you would be good and smart to listen to him."
Harry could only mutter a low and quiet "yeah" in response.
They ate their stew and drank their milk; Harry was taking in what he had just seen. "They respect him so much," Harry thought to himself…and now he knew that it was for his physical skills and absolute determination as well as what happened with his mother.
Sean said nothing as he ate and drank, he had a lot on his mind as far as how to train Harry and in what order to do it. He knew that it was important, and he had a good idea, but he needed to be careful not to get to the final tests too soon.
After they finished their food, Sean told Harry that they should be preparing for bed. Harry wanted to start his training right off the bat, but Sean assured him that it was absolutely necessary to get a good night's sleep.
With that they went back to Sean's room, but when they returned, they had a visitor.
"Regal" Sean said as they entered, and Harry saw Sean's Lanner Falcon. Harry could see why Sean called the bird Regal; there was a definite majesty about him.
"Regal, tar." Sean said to the bird, which swooped down onto his arm and then began to nip at Sean's finger affectionately as he stroked his head and feathers.
Sean took the note attached to Regal's leg, put him on his perch, gave him some food, and then unraveled the note and began to read it.
"What does it say?" Harry asked.
"It's from Lupin" Sean answered, "he says that they have established base at 12 Grimmauld Place, that the Grangers and Weasleys are hiding out there for the summer, and that they want me to update them as soon as possible on progress."
"We will start your training tomorrow," Sean continued to Harry, "after you have had a full nights sleep and I can answer this note."
"Would you mind leaving out the incident at the creek?" Harry asked Sean.
"I was only planning on saying that we got here safely and without major incident" Sean responded.
"Okay" Harry answered.
Sean lit a candle and began to write, after he finished he decided to let Regal rest the night, he left the note where he had written it, and then prepared for sleep. Sean told Harry to take the bed and he would take the mat, Sean dropped to his knees and uttered some words in Latin, then got under the covers and went to sleep; Harry had already gone to sleep earlier.
As Harry settled into sleep, a very peculiar dream awaited him, and the same was true for Sean. Harry was having a dream he remembered having during his fifth year at Hogwarts.
Cho was telling Harry about Cederic giving her Chocolate Frog cards, but instead of her throwing cards up in the air like last time, he saw her face turn into that of Cederic Diggery.
After a few moments, Cho was replaced by Ginny Weasley, after a few moments her face turned into that of Lord Voldemort and Harry stepped back, ready to fight.
What happened next was something Harry had not expected; the figure of Ginny with Voldemort's face disappeared and was replaced with Hermione Granger.
Harry waited for her face to change, waited to see some kind of change. But instead, he just looked into those perfect brown eyes that made his heart skip a beat, and then he heard her say it, "I love you Harry."
Harry walked nearer to his true love, he went in to tell her about how much he missed her, how much he had wanted to hold her to him, and then it happened.
The air around them went dark; Hermione got a look of fear on her face and began to fall back into the abyss behind her.
"Harry!" she called out his name and reached out her hand, but Harry could not reach her in time.
"Hermione!" he yelled to the disappearing form, but she was gone.
He then heard an all too familiar cackle and laugh, the same one he had heard in his head two years ago, and in a graveyard three years ago…Voldemort.
"There is nothing you care about that I can't take away," the voice said into Harry's head with villainous malcontent, "I have taken everything from you. Your mudblood woman will be next, and then I will take you and anyone who gets in my way."
Harry's scar began to burn incessantly and he came awake covering it with his hand and screaming in pain.
Almost automatically, he remembered what Sean had taught him earlier that day, "Breathe." Harry sat up on the bed cross-legged, closed his eyes, rested his arms on his legs, thought of water to empty his mind, and then breathed. After a moment Harry realized that he was not alone, and he looked over to see Sean in the same position on his mat.
Sean had drifted off to sleep quite content and peacefully, he was used to not dreaming, or not remembering what he had dreamed. Tonight would be different.
He was standing on a group of rocks in the middle of a body of water, training in unarmed combat. The flowing water in the background calmed him and set his mind at peace. He stood on one leg and then began leaping around the clump of rocks. He would kick and punch at the air as he flipped and leapt, he eventually came to a stop, and then heard something.
"Sean." He heard a female voice say to him in a calm and seductive tone.
He turned around to see the toned athletic figure of a very pretty sixteen year-old girl with flowing red hair and stunning brown eyes.
"Ginerva?" he asked to the figure as she made her way closer.
"When are you coming back to me?" She asked as she brought her hands to his defined mid-section, and eventually snaked her arms around his waist.
"What are you doing?" Sean asked in a quizzical and horrified tone.
She undid his training robe and it fell to the ground to reveal his black pants, tank top, and crucifix, she then reached her hands under his shirt as she slightly giggled, "I'm undressing you."
Sean's entire body began to heat up, his breathing was becoming faster and heated, he wanted to stay asleep and see what Ginny had in store for him next. In a moment he remembered that he was a celibate monk who had made certain oaths, that this was his friend's sister who was five years his junior, and that this was an impure thought and dream all together.
"Ahh!" Sean quickly gasped as he shot up on his mat. He realized that he was soaking wet, and what scared him was that it was not only sweat…he had had his first wet dream.
He calmed himself by sitting cross-legged, resting his arms on his legs, closing his eyes, emptying his mind, and breathing. Sean was still sorting out his thoughts about what had just happened when Harry sprang awake and saw him.
After a few minutes, they both finished and Harry spoke to Sean, "nightmare?" he asked.
"I'm not sure" was all Sean could answer.
There was a pause between the two of them as they looked each other over. Both of them knew that there was something on the other's mind. Harry resisted the urge to see into Sean's mind, he had enough on his own, such as the fact that Voldemort was again invading his mind, and that he had been able to stop him this time.
"Get some rest Potter," Sean said, "we have a full day in the morning."