Chapter 16: R.A.B.
It had been a little over a month and a half since Sean had begun training Harry, and the two of them had been making enormous progress. Harry took to Sean's instruction like a fish in water, listening intently and following instructions to the very letter. Sean and the other Knights were impressed and taking notice of Harry's progress. Harry was now very proficient in unarmed combat, and Sean had plans for him.
Harry was beginning to wake up at first light on his own and would normally spend a few minutes caring for his plant before meeting Sean in the outdoor part of the monastery. Harry was finding that Sean was right about the plant, he had learned to better appreciate life, and had learned how much more skill it took to sustain life rather than take it. He had learned to control his anger, and could empty his mind in an instant.
Harry was becoming exactly what Bill and Sean had hoped he would. A firm, toned, and athletic figure, like that of Sean, had replaced his lean figure. If it hadn't have been for the different hair, Harry's was down to his shoulder blades and Sean's was to the bottom of his neck because the custom during training was to let the hair grow out, and eyes, Harry wearing glasses, and his being about two inches taller than Sean, they would have looked almost identical. Harry was also beginning to have a more serious disposition, he was becoming like Sean. Sean curved this change by asking Harry to tell him about his life, his hopes for the future, and the girl he left behind among other things.
One morning Harry came to the outdoor portion of the monastery to find Sean performing a kata to conclude his warm up. Harry looked and saw an array of wooden swords lying on the ground nearby.
"I've never seen these here before" Harry said to Sean indicating the swords and knives.
"I believe you are ready to learn the sword and to use side weapons" Sean answered.
Harry made a slight bow to Sean to show his readiness to learn and be instructed. Sean explained to Harry that these weapons were made of wood so as to spar without danger of inadvertently hurting or killing the partner. He also said that it would be advantageous because the wooden weapons had been made to be the same weight as their metal counterparts.
"The only difference" Sean said "is that the metal ones kill."
The first day Harry had arrived at the monastery, he had noticed most of the other Knights using firearms. He had noticed though that the closest thing to a firearm Sean ever wielded was his crossbow.
"Why don't you ever use guns?" Harry asked Sean.
Sean answered, "I was taught to reverence what it is to fight, and I believe using a weapon where you can just shoot someone from several hundred feet away lessens what it is to fight and die. Also, I am a vampire hunter, and the only sure way to kill any vampire is by thrusting it through the heart, or cutting off it's head."
Harry nodded at this and began to tie his hair back in a ponytail as Sean prepared to continue.
Sean announced that they were beginning when he said "Pick any one sword you like and we will get started."
Harry nodded and picked up a wooden sword shaped like a katana. For the rest of that day Sean showed Harry how to parry and maneuver with the sword. He also showed him how to disarm an opponent, and lastly how to strike, attack, and kill.
"You're focusing on me," Sean said to Harry while he was teaching him how to defend, "you have to remember, whether defending or attacking, focus on the hilt of your enemy's sword. The hilt, and when you can, your enemy's eyes, as the hilt goes so will the blade, and when his eyes show fear or uncertainty…go for the kill."
Over the next several days Harry and Sean settled into a routine of unarmed combat training, armed combat training with Harry learning how to fight with blades and practicing incorporating his wand and magic into his fighting, and meals. Harry still always kept the fake horcrux with him. It helped him remember that he owed it to Dumbledore, Sirius, his parents, and all the other people who had given their lives to get him to this point.
One night as they finished their training, Harry was getting ready to go and eat dinner when Sean called out to him.
"After we eat, we will be leaving the monastery grounds temporarily. There is something that I want to teach you."
"Okay" Harry answered with a hint of surprise and an inner curiosity. He wondered what Sean wanted to teach him, and he was looking forward to leaving the monastery grounds for a little while.
It reminded him of the trips to Hogsmeade back when he was at school, and that brought back happy memories.
"If I make it back," Harry thought to himself, "I am going to take Hermione out to Hogsmeade and get her something nice."
After Harry and Sean finished their usual dinner, the two of them made their way to the massive gate. It was opened, and the two of them walked a short distance away from the monastery. After a while, Sean motioned for Harry to sit down and he did so. Sean then pointed to the sky and Harry looked up to see more stars then he had ever seen before in his life. There were no lights of any kind around them, and the only light was that of the stars and the moon in the sky.
After a little while, Sean spoke, "what do the stars mean to you?"
"I had a professor at Hogwarts who taught us that the future is written in the stars" Harry said in response.
"That is not true," Sean stated, "we choose our own future and destiny, nothing is written, and by that I mean carved in stone. You couldn't choose Voldemort killing your parents, but what you have done since then has been your choice…regardless of what circumstances drove you to it."
Harry said nothing, he merely continued looking at the sky, and he remembered the last time he had looked at the stars. "They're very beautiful." she had said to him before they nearly consummated their relationship. "What do they mean?" Harry asked Sean.
"The stars?" Sean asked back receiving a nod from Harry.
"Many different peoples have come up with their own explanations. Science of course tells us that they are balls of gas, but I like to think of the explanation that the ancient Greeks came up with."
"And what was that?" Harry asked with genuine interest.
Sean began his explanation, "Many other groups had similar explanations, but the Greeks believed that the Gods would immortalize the great heroes in the stars, that the stars were a never-ending memorial to the honored dead."
Sean paused and looked at Harry, "I'm sure that your parents have a proper memorial up there in those stars somewhere, and I'm sure they're watching you with pride, you are a hero, and your own memorial awaits your arrival up there."
Harry looked back at Sean with a new admiration and respect. "I'm sure that you have a memorial of your own waiting for you" Harry said to Sean.
"Ha" Sean scoffed, "I am no hero, I'm just a man striving to fulfill his purpose."
"And what purpose is that?" Harry asked.
"I have none in this life…the Order gives me my purpose." Sean stopped and had a look of grim resolution on his face that Harry could make out by the light of the half moon in the sky.
They made their way back to the monastery after that and later as Sean was writing another note to Lupin, Harry took a watering can and began to carefully water his plant. He had been taking great care of it, and it had grown to a pleasant looking fern.
After he finished his note to Lupin, Sean looked over to see Harry looking at the fake horcrux that he still carried with him.
"What is that?" Sean asked Harry.
Harry then told Sean about the entire ordeal with Dumbledore and the cave. He ended talking about Snape's murdering Dumbledore and making his escape.
"The next time you face Snape," Sean said, "you will be ready, and you will defeat him." Harry suddenly felt the desire to tell Sean something else about the fake horcrux.
"There's also this" Harry then opened the locket and showed Sean the note. Sean read it and then got a surprised look on his face.
"What does R.A.B. stand for?" Sean asked Harry in a tone that reflected his surprise and intrigue.
"I don't know," Harry said, "that was something I was planning on finding out over the summer."
"I think that I know who it was" Sean said.
"Who do you think it is?" Harry asked Sean.
Sean began to speak, as he did he found the real Slytherin locket and held it up. "I found this during a recent assignment in Romania when I was trying to find the head vampire. I had a lead that he would be there, and the lead turned out to be a trap."
Harry was looking at Sean intently, waiting for him to continue the story. "After I defeated the vampires that were there to kill me, I discovered that he had been there and was planning on destroying this locket. Quite dangerous since it risked his exposure to a trained Knight. The head vampire's birth name is Raiganzi Adrian Bognar."
"You think he replaced the horcrux?" Harry said with surprise that it had been a vampire that had aided Voldemort, and Sean had been surprised to learn that the head vampire had been in leagues with Voldemort this long.
"Aye, I think so" Sean answered, "that would explain how those defenses you talked about got to be there at the cave; you would have gotten there about two weeks after I got the real locket."
"Why didn't you destroy it?" Harry asked.
"I didn't know what it was…I figured I might need it later, turns out I was right."
Harry now knew the answer to what had been plaguing him, he knew everyone that was responsible for Dumbledore's death and the wasted effort the two of them had spent to collect one of the horcruxes.
"Our destinies are quite similar then" Harry said to Sean, "we both chose to go after the one who took our childhood from us. And now the two of them are in league."
"This is another reason why Bill thought it would be good for us to work together," Sean added to Harry. They both got ready for sleep, Sean knelt at his mat, made the sign of the cross, bowed, said some words in Latin, and was about to go to sleep when Harry asked him something.
"When can I go to the enchanted woods?"
"There are a few more things I want to teach you, and you need to become better with the sword. Then I will take you to the cliff and you will go up into the woods."
"How long will that take?" Harry asked.
"I will teach you the last things tomorrow, and then it depends on you." Harry nodded his acceptance and the two of them went to sleep.