"Wake up" Harry heard the monotone Irish voice he was coming to know better and better say to him as Sean shook him awake.
"It's barely light out," Harry said as he put on his glasses.
"Precisely" Sean said, "By waking up at first light, we get the most out of the day."
As he spoke, Sean threw Harry the black pants and tank top and training robe that had been provided for him. Sean had already changed into his training clothes, while Harry changed into his own, Sean tied his note to Lupin around Regal's leg, gave him something to eat, and sent him on his way.
After Harry had finished, Sean began to speak. "Even a journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step…and now we will both take that step towards our different ends."
"Isn't it just me taking the first step here," Harry asked in a respectful tone.
"When you go to battle Voldemort," Sean began, "he will most likely be in the company of the head vampire. It is my destiny to destroy him. When I do that, the weaker vampires will all die, and the stronger ones will be severely crippled."
"I thought you said that our future and destiny were our own choice?" Harry asked.
"I made this choice a long time ago," Sean responded, "and I will see it through."
The next thing Sean did took Harry completely by surprise, he handed him a pot filled with dirt.
"What's this?" Harry asked Sean inquisitively.
"This," Sean answered, "is what separates us from the wicked demons we hunt and destroy. This…is a life."
Harry was still noticeably confused, so Sean chose to elaborate.
"Underneath this dirt is a plant, and part of your training will be to care for it. This will help you remember how sacred life is, it will help you remember that it takes so much more skill and patience to create a life rather than end one."
Harry was beginning to understand, "Voldemort doesn't care about life, he only seeks to prolong his own and end the lives of those who oppose him."
"That is correct," Sean answered Harry, "and as you are learning to kill, it is important that you learn to preserve as well."
Now Harry realized that Sean really was a kindred spirit. Orphaned and robbed of a childhood at a young age, given a destiny that he couldn't escape, taken and trained to fight the evil powers in the world…and yet he somehow had come to care for life.
"Let's get started" Harry said with quiet and dignified enthusiasm.
"Follow me," Sean said as he exited the room.
It was about five in the morning when they started out, and they would be spending the better part of the day in the outdoor portion of the monastery. They started with warm-ups, Sean did his fifty knuckle push-ups and Harry looked at him with wide eyes.
"You have done push-ups before haven't you?" Sean asked Harry.
Harry tried a few push-ups on his knuckles but soon found that he was nowhere near the conditioning of Sean.
Harry dropped onto his stomach and was breathing heavily, when Sean said, "Do ten more."
"What?" Harry asked between exhausted breaths.
"Ten more" Sean reiterated.
"I can't" Harry stated with an exhausted voice.
"Then the Dark Lord has already won" Sean reiterated.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"If you are not willing to do what is necessary, and then some, if simply doing ten more push-ups is too much, then there is no way you will be able to defeat him."
Harry realized what Sean was doing with this, and he further realized that he was right. Harry began to do more push-ups, but after he had done ten, Sean told him to do more.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"I said ten, and I mean ten by my count."
Harry would count ten to himself, but then he would hear Sean count, "one…one…one…two…two…two…two…two…" Harry had done fifty knuckle push-ups by the time Sean finally said "ten."
"Not bad Potter" Sean said, "How do you feel…because we're just warming up."
Harry managed to struggle through the rest of the warm-up, Sean was the same for every exercise…even the split, where he pushed down on Harry's shoulders to force him into the full position. At the end Sean once again asked Harry how he felt.
"I need a break." Harry said in an exhausted voice.
"Really?" Sean replied. And immediately after that Sean struck Harry with a sharp kick to the sternum followed by a foot sweep and then Sean dropping to the ground and hitting Harry right at the bridge of his nose, breaking his nose and glasses. Harry was grimacing and almost crying with pain when Sean spoke.
"The Dark Lord will not care how tired you are or what you can and cannot do," Sean began with a very serious tone. "Now get up, fix your nose and glasses, and we'll begin with the combat training."
Harry wasn't sure how to respond to what had just happened, he had never been beaten down like that before, but what Sean said had made all the sense in the world.
"Occulus repairo" Harry said as he waved his wand at his glasses and they mended, he then used a mendo charm on his nose and was ready. After Harry had fixed his glasses, he stood back up to face Sean.
"The way of fighting I am about to teach you is something I have accumulated in various countries and with different teachers. When you couple this with the modes of thought I have taught you and learn to be fluid and to adapt yourself to any particular opponent or situation…you will be unbeatable."
"I like that part," Harry said to Sean.
"Then I shall have no trouble encouraging you to listen and obey."
Sean first taught Harry how to punch, the best way to make a fist, to hit with the bone, to grit his teeth instead of tucking in his lip or lips, and how to distribute his weight. Then he taught him how to kick, with emphasis on how to place his weight and to strike with the ball of his foot or the heel and to point his toes outward. He taught him how to drop and to perform a foot sweep, and then he began to teach him combinations.
They trained long and hard, stopping only for meals. Sean informed Harry that breakfast and lunch would be the same everyday just like dinner. Breakfast consisted of oatmeal and orange juice. Lunch was apples, bread, and a serving of meat with milk. Just like with dinner, they ate their meals in the outside area with the other knights in training. Many of them would come and talk to Sean, and Harry was finding it easier to see the respect that they had for Sean showing in their actions.
Many times, Daniel would come and eat with them. Daniel would often ask Harry questions about magic and about the wizarding world. Other knights were also interested in this and asked Harry if he could show them some magic. Reluctantly, Harry had to convince them that he was not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts until after he graduated, and that he had put his wand away for while he was training, but he did settle a few times for showing them some basic spells that he could do without his wand, like the accio charm.
The entire monastery and Order of St. George were buzzing about the possibility of working with the magical world again, and Daniel would often talk to Sean about the Sagart's wishes and ambitions with the wizarding world.
"So does it look like we will be working with the magical beings again like in the old days?" Daniel asked Sean.
"If all goes well I don't see why not" Sean said with a glimmer of optimism to his voice.
"But," Sean continued, "that depends on the boy here and how well he does. And speaking of which, it's time to get back to training."
With that the wizard and the knight set back to the training grounds. Once there, Sean taught Harry more combinations, and then he posed a challenge to Harry.
"Since you need to be ready so soon, I suggest we start full-body sparring."
"Okay" Harry said even though he did not know what sparring was.
He learned the hard way that afternoon. Sean got into his fighting stance. With his left side facing Harry, he had his left leg forward slightly with his heel turned outward, his right leg extended behind him with his heel raised above the ground. His chin was almost directly on his left collarbone, his left arm was across his body with the fist at his right hip, and his right arm was up with his right palm facing Harry.
"Fight!" Sean bellowed from where he stood facing an unsuspecting Harry. Sean launched himself forward and brought his left leg straight up catching Harry squarely on his chin. Sean paused at this, remembering that Harry was new at this, but remembering that he had to learn quickly and effectively.
"You must fight back," Sean said to Harry, "remember that there is no wrong way, as long as it is effective."
Harry tried to block Sean, he tried to strike him, and he tried to remember what he had been taught. But Sean was far too quick, too strong, and executed his actions with surgical precision and without having to think about it.
"Thought to fist," he reminded Harry, "takes far too much time than you can spare."
To drive his point home, Sean struck Harry with several kicks and punches to his head, throat, chest, and ribs. Harry stumbled back with a broken arm after Sean grabbed it with one hand and broke it by bringing it around his own neck causing Harry to plead, "no more, please, let me heal my arm."
Sean responded with a turnaround heel kick to the head, "do you think Snape, or LeStrange, or the Dark Lord himself will stop to allow you to heal yourself?"
A rage welled up in Harry, a rage at Sean for realizing that he was right, and that he wasn't below playing the bad guy to drive that point home to Harry. Harry muttered a quick "mendo" onto his arm. He then, forgetting what Hermione had told him about not using the repaired body part for a while, got to his feet and charged at Sean. Harry attacked in a blind rage, he swung sloppily at Sean with several punches and a few kicks, all of which Sean blocked or parried around effortlessly.
After Harry threw one punch, Sean moved to the side to dodge it then grabbed the arm with both of his hands and brought it around Harry. Sean stood behind Harry, still clutching Harry's arm so that it was across his body.
"You have anger," Sean said, "but anger is a double-edged sword that can be used just as easily against you as it can benefit you."
Harry attacked again with the same blind rage, but was halted when Sean broke Harry's other arm in the same fashion he had earlier.
"Fix your arm and learn to control your anger, fight with emotional content, but without your anger blinding you!" Harry obeyed and paused to clear his mind.
They fought for a little longer, Harry was already pretty agile and quick from his Quidditch training, and Sean knew that with a little more training Harry would be a very great and formidable fighter. Sean was holding back, but Harry was struggling to keep up with him just the same. Harry decided to refrain from using his illegumency skills to map out Sean's mind for attacks because he realized that he needed to learn without shortcuts, and that Sean had obviously cleared his mind so he wouldn't find anything anyway.
That evening, they sparred some more, and then Sean called a stop to talk to Harry.
"How do you feel?" Sean asked him.
"I'm half-dead" Harry responded very matter of factly.
"Good" Sean said, "if you train until you're half dead, you won't become all dead when you are in combat."
"Yeah" Harry said in response.
Sean talked with Harry for a few minutes longer, making sure he understood that he was only being taught basics and that he would be expecting him to be coming up with his own means of fighting, incorporating his own insight into what Sean was teaching.
"Come," Sean said to Harry, "I want to show you something."
Sean took Harry up to one of the parapets that were at the front of the monastery. From the parapet, all the land around the cliff could be seen. Sean then pointed to a dense woodland area that was on top of another cliff, separated from the monastery cliff by a strip of the sea, and spoke to Harry.
"There was a time when wizards and the Knights worked hand in hand. Those woods over there are something one of them gave for the training of the Knights." Harry was wondering why Sean was showing him this and telling him about wizards of the past.
"A wizard gave the Order woods?" Harry asked.
"The woods were there before," Sean answered, "but he put a special enchantment on them."
Harry was intent on hearing what Sean had to say.
"Between the enchantment and some efforts made by some of the Knights. Those woods have become the final challenge of a Knights training. If one can obtain a certain plant that grows in the middle of those woods, then they are ready."
"How does that prove they are ready?" Harry asked.
"It tests strength, integrity, endurance, courage, and dedication."
Sean paused before continuing, "The first test is strength and endurance, and it is done by climbing the rope that leads up to the woods…"
"I can understand the strength part," Harry started, "but how does integrity fit into it?"
"You have to have the integrity to climb up using only your arms and not weaseling up with your legs." Sean continued, "the journey to the center is four miles of altering terrain, and running there tests endurance. The enchantment begins in the middle, when you are faced with your worst memory and then your worst fear. The ability to overcome what you fear the most and getting through your most harrowing experience tests bravery. Dedication is tested by going through with the process and then continuing with the oaths taken for the rest of your life."
Harry looked at the woods with interest; he was imagining a wizard like Dumbledore putting the enchantment on the woods. He had a question for Sean, "did you ever go through those woods?"
"Aye" Sean answered, "and it was not an easy experience."
Comprehension dawned on Harry when he noticed how Sean was looking at him, and remembered the pervasive use of "you." "You want me to go through that wood." Harry said to Sean.
"Aye," Sean answered, "when you're ready…and we will leave here after you have gone through the wood."
Harry now knew that what he said that day so long ago was true. He would be with Sean at that monastery for as long as it would take.