Death is but the Next Great Adventure

An Unwelcome Visitor

In the last chapter: Harry delves into his training and receives a visit from Anthony. Harry then divulges to Anthony about his training and the other boy joins Harry over the summer. Harry and Ginny keep in touch over the summer, while Hermione is in France with her family, Draco is in Russia, and the Weasleys take a trip to Egypt with the prize money Arthur won.

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The slow heat of summer ticked off days lazily, like honey, sinking warm and rich into July. Harry, though, didn't allow the sedating warmth to coax him into the same mid-summer fog that had claimed both Remus and Sirius, causing the pair to sleep more and spend long hours with cold drinks in the kitchen. Instead, Harry threw himself more head-first into his work.

On most days, Harry would spend his morning studying the language of the dead, committing the lost tongue to written form in a heavily guarded and protected journal—with his companion's permission, of course. In fact, Death had been rather pleased with Harry's suggestion that he write down what he learned, since it was not him who thought the language unfit for practice.

On the topic of journals, Harry hadn't touched the sole Horcrux in his possession since hiding it in his room at Grimmauld Place as soon as he returned. The diary had been completely docile since, and honestly . . . with how things were left the last time he and Tom spoke, Harry didn't know how to face him again. As far as Tom knew, Harry died in that chamber protecting the girl he had used for his ploys, there was no reasonable explanation for how Harry could be alive, and facing those questions would only cause more problems. It was cruel, perhaps, but necessary.

So the diary stayed hidden away in the back of his drawer, spelled into a hidden compartment of expended space within the very wood, undetectable with any spell. That handy spell was the same one Harry used for his own journal, as well as the untouched philosopher stone he still held onto.

When Harry wasn't learning the language of the dead, he was practicing in the training room: practicing new spells, spells he'd be 'learning' in his next year at Hogwarts, dueling, acclimating to his animagus form, and starting to learn apparation. Unlike learning the animagus transformation the previous summer, apparation was actually risky and dangerous if not done correctly, leading to painful splinching. Splinching happened when someone attempted to apparate without proper determination to get to a certain place, leaving a body part behind in the process.

Harry may be immortal, but lost limbs don't kill immediately and reattaching an arm or a leg would be an . . . unpleasant experience.

Despite Harry's initial apprehension, once he really put what he knew of the magic into practice, it didn't take long before he was 'popping' about from one end of the room to another. Once he got the hang of it, Harry shared it with Anthony and had the golden-haired boy apparating by the end of July, as well as proficient enough in dueling for him and Harry to have mild matches—that were more focused on learning than trying to beat one another, of course. Draco would have loved the challenge, but Anthony was placed in Ravenclaw for a reason, a scholar through-and-through.

Through all of that, Harry wasn't the only one teaching; Anthony's family were amongst the group of wizards that believed in passing down traditions, heritage, and magic. Harry knew a bit about the Goldstein's 'sensitivity' to magic, but until Anthony began trying to teach some of the techniques to Harry, he hadn't realized how prominent the trait was in their family. It was passed down through genes or taught, as sacred as the 'family bible.' Such was common among most older families.

Harry didn't have much of an affinity for the practice, but it was still quite fascinating, and there were many things Anthony could teach him that he wouldn't have access to otherwise. Tricks and tips from word of mouth rather than published and approved texts. Soon, the two boys began to flourish together, sharing in their curiosity and wonderment at each new spell they discovered.