I'm a terrible. Awful. No good. Person. I. Am. So. Sorry. –hangs head in shame-
I know I said that I'd update soon and that was nearly a month ago. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've literally not had the time to breathe. Classes are being a pain in my ass, I'm working just shy of full-time, and I've been uncharacteristically exhausted recently. I actually ended up dropping one of my classes because I couldn't handle the work load.
Anywho, here's the next chapter of Mastering Death. As you've noticed Harry's becoming more aware of his budding feelings toward Anubis (awwww) and he's kind of confused by it all. But no worries my friends, it shall all work itself out in the end.
Enjoy!
After everyone had left for school, Harry and Anubis left the Burrow to take up residence in number twelve Grimmauld Place. Harry hadn't visited the house since Sirius died two years ago and as he stood on the threshold he wasn't sure if he really wanted to enter. He stared at the twelve above the door and fought back the overwhelming sadness that threatened to envelope him.
"Harry? Are you okay?" Anubis asked from beside Harry.
He blinked and turned to face Anubis. "Yeah, I'm just a little sad I guess."
"This house belonged to someone dear to you who has recently passed."
"Yeah, my godfather. How'd you know?"
Anubis smiled. "He told me when I was weighing his heart against a feather. Sirius Black is a good man, he has a clean soul and Ma'at is pleased with him. He is in the afterlife right now. Living it up with other passed souls."
"You met him?" Harry asked, astounded. Anubis knew Sirius, better even, he talked to him!
"Yes, if only briefly."
Harry didn't know what to say. What do you say to a god that tells you that he's spoken to your dead godfather?
"Harry, you can't dwell on the dead. Life is for the living, the afterlife is for those who have left this life and went on to the next." Anubis leaned up against the doorframe. "Come on, let's go inside. I'll help you." He held out his hand for Harry to take.
Complying with Anubis's gesture, Harry took his hand and opened the door. Anubis went in first and gently coaxed Harry in after him. Harry's heart was pounding in his chest. He wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. He could just turn around and leave before he went in any further.
"Don't think thoughts like that Harry. It's better to face your demons while you're there than to keep running from them."
Harry met Anubis's gaze and everything else around him faded away. His anxiety left him slowly and he got more confident with every step that they took. He focused on the hand in his and the deep chocolate eyes that glanced over at him every now and then.
Before he knew it they were in the kitchen and Anubis was searching through the refrigerator. "What are you looking for?" Harry asked.
"Food."
"Why?"
Anubis peeked over the door and smiled at Harry, clearly amused. "Because I'm hungry and I'm sure you are. By the way, when was the last time this was stocked?"
"Two years ago, when Sirius lived here."
"Well then we need to go shopping." He closed the door and approached Harry. "I hope you have some money on you."
"No. I just have wizard money."
"Oh well. I guess we'll just have to use a Glamor then…"
"A what?" Harry was confused by the term that Anubis had used.
"A Glamor. You don't know what a Glamor is?" Anubis was astonished by Harry's lack of knowledge. "I thought you knew everything," he teased.
"No, I am far from knowing everything. So what is a Glamor?"
"It's what the Egyptian magicians use to hide what they're doing from everyone else. Don't you wizards use something like that?"
Harry couldn't believe that there was a magic like that. He'd been told that muggles could see when a wizard did magic around them. He had no idea that there was a way to mask magic. "Where has that been my whole life? Do you have any ideas how many times that'd come in handy?"
Anubis chuckled. "I guess you wizards aren't as progressed as you'd like to imagine. The magicians have been using that for centuries."
"Well how does it work?"
"It kind of works on its own. The Glamor will let the mortals see what they want to see and not the truth. It can also work on magicians but as soon as they become aware of the Glamor it drops and the truth is revealed."
"There's no spell or anything?"
"Well…." He seemed to think about that question for a bit before answering. "I guess you could use tas, which will allow the Glamor to bind to whatever until it was released with another spell."
"That's interesting. I guess it just works for Egyptians. It's never worked for us."
"It should work for me. So just stick with me and you should be shielded as well." He brushed past Harry and headed back towards the front door. "Come on, let's go before it gets too late. Do you know where the nearest grocery store is?"
"Yes, but are you sure that we'll be covered?" Harry followed quickly after Anubis.
"Yes. We'll be fine. Now, just act normal and everything will go over smoothly."
They left the house and made a detour to a small park where Anubis picked up a handful of pebbles. Harry shot him a confused look but he didn't acknowledge it at all. Once at the store they picked out a bunch of food and headed to go pay. The cashier rang them up and when it came time to pay Anubis pretended to count out the pebbles like they were currency. He handed the "right amount" to the cashier who took it with a smile and put it in the register. Anubis gathered their purchase and walked casually out of the store as if nothing happened.
Once out on the streets again Harry turned to Anubis. "What the heck was that!? I can't believe you just did that."
"That, my dear simple mortal, was Glamor. He thought it was money because I wanted him to think it was money."
"I thought you said that Glamor just worked on its own."
"It's a little different for gods. We can manipulate it a bit better than mortals can."
Harry just shook his head, still stunned by what he just saw. "That's a terrible thing to do. You just ripped them off by £40."
"It's fine Harry. This is going to a good thing. Glamor doesn't work as well when your intentions aren't good." Anubis stood outside of number twelve Grimmauld Place and turned to face Harry. "Look, it is just food."
"I've just never stolen something before."
"It's not stealing, we traded those pebbles for food. Granted it would have been better to trade something else of more value‒"
"Like money."
"‒but what we did wasn't wrong," he continued as if Harry hadn't spoken. "Let's go inside, my arms are starting to hurt."
Harry opened the door and held it for Anubis. He looked skyward and asked no one in particular, "Why?"
After filling their stomachs with some food that was popular in ancient Egyptian time, some sort chicken dish, they sat down in the drawing room to talk. "Harry, I have something that I need to ask of you," Anubis started.
"Sure, what is it?"
"I still have duties as a god to the dead. I have hearts that need to be weighed. No one's going to get to the afterlife until I weigh their heart and they're just going to be stuck fending for themselves in the Underworld until I get there. It's not fair to them."
Harry's heart felt like someone was squeezing it when the thought of Anubis leaving went through his mind. "Oh, well I guess that needs to be addressed." He cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "You can go to the Underworld and weigh the hearts of the deceased as they show up, I guess. How often do you suppose that would be?"
"Not nearly as much as it was thousands of years ago. Now I mostly just weigh the hearts of fallen magicians and the random believer."
"How long do you think you'll be gone?" Harry's voice grew quiet as he asked the question that was bugging him.
"A day or two at the most right now. When I just have one or two hearts to weigh, just a matter of hours."
Harry nodded. "Okay. I'll be here when you get done."
Anubis leaned over and kissed Harry's cheek. "Thank you. I take back everything I said about you being a foolish person. You have a kind heart Harry Potter." Without another word he left.
-gets all teary eyed- It's just so…beautiful. As you guys can probably tell I like explaining the difference of their worlds to the other. It's interesting.
And now Anubis is showing Harry that he's returning his affections as well. And I just. It's so adorable. Guys I think I have a new ship to add to my list. :D
Tell me what you thought, tell your friends about it. Reviews/follows/favourites = 3
-JAFB