Death is but the Next Great Adventure

You Must Be 'Dement'-ed!

In the last chapter: Harry and Anthony learn to apparate. Harry and Sirius decide to make things official and make Remus his legal and magical guardian along with Sirius. Dumbledore drops in unexpectedly and informs them that Bellatrix Lestrange had escaped from Azkaban, though Remus and Sirius make it very clear that they do not need the Order of the Phoenix's help in protecting Harry.

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After Bellatrix escaped, Harry's guardians refused to allow him to leave the house. The wards had been practically doubled and Grimmauld Place disappeared under the Fidelius Charm. Only after a rather heated argument between Sirius and Harry (mostly heated on Sirius' end) Harry was able to convince his caretakers to allow Anthony to be included in the charm so that he could continue to visit. The already protective adults had become nearly hostile in their shielding of Harry. It drove the young Ravenclaw almost mad, were it not for the frequent visits from his friend.

Anthony's casting and dueling abilities improved immensely, due to Harry demanding he visit almost every day since Harry was beginning to experience what muggles referred to as 'cabin fever.' Harry was thoroughly impressed with his progress and began allowing Anthony to use some of the more difficult settings on the dummies. Such as: more advanced hexes and charms with a few very mild curses, and occasionally using more than one dummy on a lower setting. A few times, Harry and Anthony even paired up against the dummies, and they were certainly one hell of a team together.

When it came time to get school supplies, once again, Harry was placed on house arrest while Sirius went out to get all his things, resulting in robes just tiny bit too long and a little too tight. Sirius had promised to get them fixed on his next trip out, but he had a feeling that the man was forgetting even as he spoke.

By mid-August Harry was jumping out of his skin, itching to begin the hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes.

'I just want to begin already!' Harry silently projected in frustration as he pushed away the journal he'd been using to write down the language of the dead. Even that had grown redundant as he was still not allowed to apply the language and use soul magic, instead he was stuck with just learning the vernacular. So far, Harry had made significant progress in grasping the language, his affinity for soul magic making the language come easier—like parseltongue—but Harry didn't need to be able to write bloody poetry in the tongue, just speak it.

'My, it seems that someone's patience is wearing thin.' His companion was teasing him again, but nothing about that was new.

Harry grumbled inelegantly and Death chuckled.

'I suppose if you're truly that adamant about starting the search, we can start simple.' Death relented and Harry became eager, body alight with too-much energy. 'Do you know where Regulus Black's room is?' The question caught Harry off guard, but he answered none the less.

'Yes?'

'Good, go there.' The command was simple, short, and easily obeyed. Harry climbed the stairs to the fourth floor and entered the room placarded 'Regulus Arcturus Black' directly across from Sirius' old room with a similar identification on the door, though the man in question no longer slept there.

Regulus' room was exactly what one could expect of a pureblood Slytherin's room to be—charcoal grey and green striped walls, green, silver and black furnishings, stacks of books, and a multitude of objects and trinkets Harry suspected to be cursed or inlaid with dark magic in some form or another. The room was surprisingly pristine, having obviously received excessive care from Kreacher. It felt like, at any moment, Harry was going to be caught snooping in the bedroom by the teen himself. Probably why he sometimes spotted Sirius slipping in there on slow afternoons when it seemed that no one was paying attention. Harry ignored the slight pinch at the reminder of the young brother Sirius had lost and was quick to attention when Death spoke again.