A/N: In case anyone's confused about how I'm writing this I just wanted to verify one thing. When I write a scene mostly in italics it's meant to indicate a flashback.

I know this chapter's a bit short, but I promise to write a longer one Monday.

Chapter Five

Welcome to the Immortal Life

I drew my rapier as Radu tried for my neck. I caught the handle of his weapon with my blade, deflecting the attack but only by a few inches. Radu swung from right to left, attempting to slice open my stomach. I leapt back and tried to stab him in the shoulder. He sidestepped and brought the halberd down on my rapier. The force caused me to stumble and my neck was open for the death blow. I hit the ground and rolled missing the blade by inches, then got to my feet and ran.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid."

The path to the portal was clear. I ran as fast as I could with Radu screaming as he chased me down. I barely had time to sheath my sword as I passed back into the train station.

I ran for the entrance with Radu not too far behind.

"You can't run forever!"

I made it to the entrance and pushed and pushed a man out of the way to get the cab he was about to enter.

"Commande!" I yelled, slamming the door shut.

The cabbie pulled out just as Radu burst out of the station. The man I stole the cab from responded with a standard muggle hand gesture before getting another cab.

I let out a sigh.

My first battle with another Immortal and it nearly killed me. Hell, I wasn't even a challenge to the guy. Amanda would kill me herself when she found out.

"À où, monsieur?" The cabbie asked.

I returned to my apartment, closing all of the blinds and called all of Amanda's favorite haunts. When I couldn't find her at those I checked with Liam telling him about Radu.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier," I said, pacing frantically and stopping to glance through the blinds.

"It's all right," Liam said. "Do you think he might track you down?"

"I think so. I'm surprised he didn't follow me but the traffic at the station was pretty rough."

"All right, come to the church. You'll be safer here until we can find Amanda."

"You kept your head," Amanda said after I told her what happened. "Not bad for a junior."

"I'm alive," I said, not in the mood to be lectured. "But he'll come for me again."

"I have no doubt of it," she said. "When you're immortal old grudges never die."

Liam put me up in a room in the basement of the church. Amanda sat down at the small table while I lay down on the cot with my hands behind my head. Through a speaker on the wall we could hear Father Kelly's sermon.

"What do you want to do?"

"Huh?"

Amanda repeated the question.

"I don't know," I said, honestly. "Right now I could use something to eat."

"We can get something to eat when you stop changing the subject," Amanda said with a sly grin.

"I was inspired by your presence."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Shouldn't you be telling me that? You've been at this longer."

"You're nineteen now," Amanda reminded me. "That makes you a big enough boy to decide things for yourself."

I sighed. She knew what I needed, but she wasn't going to give it to me unless I asked.

Well, this isn't Hogwarts anymore, I reminded myself.

I rolled onto my side and propped my head on one shoulder.

"I need more training," I said, grinning. "Not the two-hours-every-six months bit. I know you were only doing that because I wasn't ready yet. But…Radu isn't going to care if I'm ready. And neither will the others."

Amanda gave me a standing ovation just as the choir started up.

"Cedric Diggory, I think you may have finally grown up." She said while I busted out laughing. "Welcome to the Immortal life."

The next day we reviewed what I all ready knew, like proper stance, the best way to draw weapons in a real hurry and basic defense techniques. We trained in an abandoned factory, using the old equipment and terrain for strategy and improvisation technique.

"Use the environment around," Amanda said. She ducked behind a column to avoid my blade and struck from the right with her broadsword. "Be aware of your surroundings and know what can help you and hurt you."

I parried her thrusts as she backed me towards the east wall. Then, making a split-second I jumped in top of a work bench and down to the other side. Now we had an obstacle between us.

"Nice. But this is just as effective." Amanda did the same thing but added a flip, flying over my head and landing on her feet perfectly. She laughed at my wide-eyed expression. "I learned that in the circus my friend."

"Can you teach me that?" I asked.

"Absolutely."

We moved to a gym for that exercise. The mats were easier on the body than hard cement floors, which I discovered after the fifteenth try.

"Okay, lets try one more time."

I stood up and Amanda held my waste with one arm and placed the other around my back. She was wearing a tight black leotard which revealing the curves of her body that I had somehow missed before. For the second time that day I wished I wasn't wearing such tight clothing.

"Uh…maybe I should use a balance beam?" I suggested, nervously.

"You've seen one you've seen them all," Amanda said, nonchalantly. "Now, remember to keep your feet together."

I held my arms up as I jumped and bending forward with my head tucked. My feet touched the mat, but I was too slow and I fell on my back again.

An hour before the gym was about to close, I finally managed to do a complete flip, even though my landing needed work. There were aches and bruises in every conceivable spot, so much that I didn't want to leave the shower that night.

The following morning, the pain was gone and I was ready to go at it again.

I did half a kilometer on the treadmill, followed by weight lifting and chin-ups, which Amanda said would increase my flexibility and upper body strength. And there was no routine. I could be running and after half an hour of that I'd go right to the weight lifting. That was to help my adaptability.

We did this for a solid week, only stopping to eat, drink, and rest.

On the weekends we sparred at the factory. We also went to open fields, dry riverbeds, and other areas where the terrain was different, so I could learn to adapt quickly wherever I was challenged.

Liam rarely left the church, for obvious reasons, but when Amanda had something important to do-usually obstructing justice-he taught me how to box.

"I didn't think religious debates ever got this heated," I commented, jabbing.

"It was for a fund raising event back in 1978," he responded. Liam blocked my punch and placed a well placed blow to my head. "We were saving an orphanage from getting foreclosed and I trained two of the fighters. We got quite a bit of money that night."

I ducked and punched his sides.

"So you didn't just spend the centuries preaching and ministering then?"

"I've been devoted to God for some time," Liam said. "But life for us is too long to spend doing the same thing every day. I'll always be a priest, but if I can help people in other ways I never think twice."

On the way back to my place I thought back to Hogwarts and about the news of Dumbeldore's death. Lord Voldemort was alive and well too, which didn't make things any brighter looking. Radu and the other Death Eaters were probably making their move to over through the Ministry.

I knew the Death Eaters hated muggle born families. How long would it be before they declared war on the muggles as well? I wondered. What about my parents and friends?

Somehow I had to find out what was going on in the Wizarding world. There were too many unanswered questions and no one to answer them.

Well, I thought. I guess it's time to find the French Equivalent of Diagon Alley.