Travel Log 1: Germany & Italy, Milan to Rome
May to July 1999
They didn't leave immediately. As much as Harry would have liked to, such things needed to be planned.
But they did hide at the Lémure estate while they were planning their trip. No one came to bother them there – or Harry, specifically. Theodore wasn't as much in demand of the public eye.
Hermione thankfully didn't mind giving up their shared apartment and moving into a smaller one she could afford on her own until September. When they had initially returned to Britain, Molly had offered them all a home, but the three of them – Harry, Theodore and Hermione – had politely declined. Hermione had wanted to live close to her parents, giving them the ability to visit her anytime if they wanted. (They never did.) Theodore – who didn't want to return to live with Lynea's grand-aunt now that Lynea wouldn't be there, anymore – would have been quite uncomfortable at the Burrow, Harry imagined, not knowing the Weasleys very well, nor being used to such a loud, chaotic family. And Harry … wasn't quite sure how to explain himself, but his reasons weren't much different from Theodore's.
He loved the Weasleys, he truly did. But he couldn't see himself living with them anymore. He enjoyed coming over for dinner, but staying had become unimaginable. Because he didn't fit in, anymore. And part of that was his continued practice of the Forbidden Arts and part of it was the way the months between Dumbledore's death and Voldemort's demise had shown him a different kind of life to the only one he had known until then and part of it was how his own death had changed him.
There were a lot of things all stacking up.
Either way, sharing an apartment with Hermione and Theodore had been nice. Quiet and peaceful. Partially, this was because the three of them hardly spent much time there, being busy every day and spending time with their friends when they had some free time to spare.
And now, Harry and Theodore found themselves at the Lémures, having told only Hermione and Ron. Officially, they had already left the country after Harry had given an impromptu statement about 'undertaking a Grand Tour in Dumbledore's honour' or something like that – Harry didn't remember half of it, having only agreed to hold a brief interview in the first place, because Hermione had very reasonably pointed out that his sudden disappearance would only cause unnecessary panic and also written out a neat, inspirational statement for him.
Technically, Rhea also knew seeing as they were living with her and by association, so did Neville and Zabini. Harry didn't know how Luna had found out, but she had passed along a list of places she thought would be nice to visit through Rhea mere days after Harry and Theodore had arrived at the Lémures'. Other than those, Harry finally had some long-needed peace from all the constant, watchful eyes and demands of the public.
He already felt much better.
But his decision to travel didn't change.
On the contrary, he was looking forward to it even more, now that the constant urge to get away from it all was gone. Seeing new places and learning about other cultures like Theodore had described it sounded wonderful.
There was, of course, still the question of whether they wished to finish their education. Hogwarts was not the only magical school in the world, but attending their last year at, for example, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Uagadou or Ilvermorny didn't seem possible. Even without the language barrier for the first three, the schools' structures and curriculums differed too much from what they had learned at Hogwarts, Sephoneia's additional lessons included.
Alternatively, Sephoneia herself was apparently qualified to hand out certificates, having home-schooled several generations of Totengräbers, a few Lémures and other necromancers. Something Harry had been completely blindsided to learn from Rhea as Sephoneia had always emphasised she didn't know how to teach. Then again, who knew how she had gotten that qualification in the first place and what 'home-schooling' looked like for necromancers using the Old Magics.
"Home-schooling for our kind is actually quite common in most countries," Theodore explained to Harry. "In some countries, most of their magical children attend Muggle schools alongside their home education in magic."
"Do their parents have that much time?"
"Some do. Some pay for correspondence courses. Some hire tutors or send their children to them."
Harry tilted his head. "Like a mini version of a school."
Theodore gave him a small smile. "In a way."
"That doesn't really solve our problem, though." Harry paused. Then, in a lighter tone, he continued, "Do you think a certificate from a former Hogwarts Professor hailing from a necromancer family infamous for experimenting with curses on living subjects would look good for the carrier of Britain's Chosen One?"
The smile on Theodore's lips widened. "Oh, I'm sure the reaction would be positively delightful."
That made Harry laugh. "All the more reason to do it."
o
"You, my dear, have already graduated," Sephoneia told Harry when they came over to visit – at her secluded house, once more. (Harry had to admit he was a little bit disappointed about that, he really wanted to see the main house one day.)
"I have?"
"Your progress with the Old Arts has been marvellous despite your late start. You have honoured all of the lessons I gave you on necromancy. You have been to His Realm twice. You can fight better than half my children. I think you have more than earned it." Sephoneia's eyes twinkled in a way that reminded Harry of Dumbledore – had Dumbledore been able to make the twinkle unsettling. "But if you want another test, I'm sure we can find something."
"Ah, no. That's alright."
"I know of something you could do," Rhea interjected, an unholy grin spreading across her face. "That little Draco-shaped problem of yours still needs to be taken care of."
Harry paled. "No."
Rhea bared her teeth at him. "Yes."
"Theo?" Harry frantically turned around, only to find his friend giving him an apologetic look.
"You really do need to take care of that."
"Theodore has his own task to worry about," Sephoneia said. "Come, dear. We better get started before the sun's down."
Harry helplessly turned back to Rhea. "You want me to turn him into my personal Inferius, don't you."
Rhea was still grinning. "He was always meant to be yours."
It seemed Draco would be joining them on their trip. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
o
Packing was the easiest part to prepare. Hermione had already given them the extended bag that held the tent and they still remembered the many months they had spent camping.
Planning out where to go wasn't that hard, either. Harry and Theodore marked all the locations Sephoneia and Luna and some others had recommended on a map and then worked on a route that seemed most efficient.
Money would definitely not be an issue once they had taken out a considerable chunk from their vaults. International banking wasn't really a thing in the wizarding world. Even the Muggle world had only just begun figuring that out. Despite living out of his own pockets for almost two years, the vault Harry had inherited from his parents had hardly emptied and they had the Notts' fortune on top of that, now that Theodore could access the family vaults again with his father back in prison.
The next step was gathering information about legalities and laws concerning international travel in both the magical and the Muggle world. They did not necessarily have to worry about their portkeys being detected as illegal considering how they were going to create them, but it never hurt to know.
As per Rhea's advice – and remembering the embarrassing moments during their stay with Sephoneia where Harry had made an utter fool of himself – they also learned translation magic. Harry's was sort of an instinctive thing he couldn't quite explain even to himself. Sephoneia was particularly proud of him for that, even if Harry would have liked to be able to actually teach others how to do this.
Theodore, on his part, devised some rune circle he could (and had to) tweak to the language in question. Hermione had already demanded the schematics in her last letter, intrigued beyond measure by the flexibility of Theodore's calculations. Harry had wisely directed her to address her questions to Theodore, himself, and not regretted it since. Their letters were incomprehensible gibberish to him that reached ridiculous lengths at times.
So, really, there weren't all that many difficulties for them to overcome before they could actually set out. Harry had expected the endeavour to be much harder.
Their first destination was Italy. Following Rhea's suggestion, their first destination was Milan and its famous Monumental Cemetery. From there, they travelled south, visiting various places until they eventually reached Cerveteri's la Banditaccia Necropolis.
Most of the burial mounds – or tumuli – were fenced off and access had to be paid for, but it wasn't as if Harry and Theodore lacked for money. (Nor did Draco, but Harry preferred not to think about Draco if he could help it.)
They could actually catch glimpses of the sea from up here, the beautiful coast behind the city of Cerveteri that soon disappeared when they entered the necropolis properly.
Surrounded by a forest of pine trees and cypresses, the three of them wandered from tomb to tomb. Harry listened to Theodore's soothing voice as he explained the history behind all the tombs carved by hand into rock, their styles differing between the periods in history during which they had been built and for which social class they had been made for – from humble terracotta urns to furnished houses complete with tables and beds and pillows carved from the rocks.
The tombs outside the section they had paid an admission fee for were not as accessible. The recent rain had filled some of them with water. Weeds grew from the cracks in the steps leading down, down, down into the tumuli. There were no ornaments left in these tombs, no pretty items to look at from behind glass walls. But Death's magic was present all the same. Harry could feel it thrumming underneath the stone as he let his fingers glide over the walls.
It was in large part to their training that they were not half as exhausted as the other tourists when they reached the end after all the stairs they had to walk down and up again to access the tombs.
The next area they reached was a rock hill with odd lines engraved into its surface and past that came the Necropoli del Laghetto where the Via degli Inferi began – the Way of the Underworld, Theodore explained – with tombs in the walls rising to both sides, going up high on two floors.
They set up their camp there, unbothered by the possibility of Muggles passing by during the night – preventing disturbances was easy when you had magic. Harry had never slept better, free from his burdens, this close to the sea, surrounded by the remnants of a final resting place for the dead, Theodore by his side.
He awoke the next morning well-rested, ready to continue their hike. It was rather hot for hiking (though perfect for going swimming in the sea), but, again, an easily circumvented issue when you had magic.
The trail the locals had recommended was nicely shaded, following a small river, and they passed several beautiful waterfalls with small lakes and while neither of them spoke, there were enough sounds around them to make for a peaceful atmosphere.
Standing at the bottom of a twenty-metre high waterfall, watching the masses of water come rushing down into the beautiful, cyan lake to his feet, feeling the ambient magic around him, Theodore a silent but reassuring presence at his side (and Draco just behind them) – for the first time in a long time, Harry could confidently say that he truly felt at peace.