The Art of Peace

Chapter 15

Of Monks and Owls

Six months later:

Harry looked around in awe as he exited the ramshackle bus they had ridden the last 400 miles in. They were now in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. It was a large city that spread through the mountains, the impressive vista giving it a sense of loneliness.

"They called it the Forbidden City," Sifu told them. "It's been the center of both the physical and spiritual government for centuries, and it is the only large city you will find here."

"Is this where we will be staying, Sifu? What will we be doing here?" Harry asked.

"There is a small monastery near the main Drepung complex that we are going to be living at. The monks there are closer to the Chinese Shaolin monks, but they have phenomenal control over their minds and are thus able to do things you have probably never seen before."

"Can they do things like the first time I saw you? Because I'm pretty sure that you were flying, even though you've never admitted that."

"I wasn't flying, I was jumping, and yes, they can do that as well. They taught me most of what I know about the triumph of mind over matter. Of course we both know how much I had to reconsider after discovering what you could do. I don't know if they know about magic, but even if they don't I know they would want to see what you can do. Come, we should start walking if we want to get there before dark."

With that he threw his bag over his shoulder, starting down the street with Claude in tow. Harry looked at the sights around him one last time and followed his mentor into the Forbidden City. The walk lasted almost an hour, and the magnificent vistas seemed to grow more magnificent, and the buildings more palatial as they moved up the mountain. Harry was feeling the affects of the thinner mountain air by now, as was Claude, but he pressed on, relying on his stamina, both magical and physical, to keep him going. Claude was struggling, but he had been working out with Sifu since right before they had left Marseille and could keep up with people twice his age. It was obvious that some day he would be a formidable fighter, and his intelligence amazed Harry every day. He was quick and open-minded, always willing to see things differently. Yes, a lot of that came from his being only eleven years old, but Claude also had a maturity that belied his years. Much of that Harry assumed came from the circumstances he had been forced to participate in, but there were times that Harry saw something else, a glimpse of a warrior beneath the child-like exterior. It reminded him of himself when he was not that much older, and it frightened him. Just as he would become worried, however, Claude's child-like innocence came to the fore again, and Harry generally passed it off as a trick of the light.

His musings were interrupted as they approached a walled compound. Harry and Claude sank gratefully to the ground as Sifu reached up and knocked on the door. A few minutes later a monk opened the door, and after a brief discussion with Sifu, motioned them inside. It was beautiful, full of flowering trees and monks doing their meditations and training. Most were doing exercises Harry had never seen before, but there were two in one corner of the open courtyard performing what looked like stylized sparring. The three foreigners followed the monk inside one of the buildings surrounding the courtyard to a small tea room. There they seated themselves while awaiting someone to come to them.

A few minutes later a wizened man entered the room, bowing to them before he sat. Sifu returned the bow from his seated position, and the two of them began a melodious conversation. Harry and Claude sat back uncomfortably trying not to look too far out of place in the foreign environment of the monastery. Finally, Sifu turned to them with a smile.

"We may stay. I told the Brother that you could show them amazing things, and that you desired to learn from them as well, and he is quite excited about the prospect. Just don't make my faith in you misplaced. We have rooms for as long as we need them as well. Come, we should get some rest now; we have a big day tomorrow."

They followed another monk to a small building that hugged the walls. Inside they found a dormitory type setting with ten beds. There was a small wash room off to the side. Gratefully they sank into their beds, excited to learn what was to come.

England, five months and three weeks earlier:

It was a bedraggled man and his dog that interrupted the meal in the Great Hall. Hushed whispers came from the tables as their occupants recognized Remus Lupin, their former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and confirmed werewolf. He ignored their comments save for a brief smile at Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table as he made his way to Dumbledore.

"What news, Remus? I see that our young miscreant is not with you."

"I am afraid we lost him, Headmaster. I am sorry."

A muffled laugh was heard from Dumbledore's left, but as the only person there was Professor Snape, the students dismissed it as a hallucination. Why would he of all people be laughing? Dumbledore suddenly rose from his seat, beckoning for Remus and his pet to follow him as he walked towards his office. From their vantage point, Ron and Hermione excitedly discussed this latest development.

"What do you think is happening, 'Mione? Is V-V-V... You Know Who doing something?"

"How am I supposed to know? I wish we had Harry's invisibility cloak, then we could find out."

Hermione's voice died off as she remembered again just why they did not have the cloak. What was saddest about remembering it, though, was that it had been almost a week since she had thought about her former best friend. OWL revisions were just too important to allow grief to prevent her from completing them, and Ron seemed to be perfectly happy if he never heard the name Harry Potter again. It was not that they did not miss him; it just hurt too much to think about him not being there. According to Ron, his bed was still in their room, empty and alone behind its curtains. She just did not understand why they were left with so many reminders of Harry's presence when it was hard enough to deal with it at times even without them. Her inquisitive mood broken, she completely forgot to check out why Remus and Sirius were both at Hogwarts.

Another person saw Remus and Sirius enter, but the curiosity of Hermione and Ron was not there. No, Ginny knew exactly what they had been looking for, and her heart dropped a bit when she saw that Harry was not with them. Hedwig had left a little over a week ago and had yet to return. This was not normal for the usually punctual Hedwig. All Ginny could figure was that either something had happened to Hedwig, or Harry was somewhere Hedwig could not follow, and neither thought was welcome. She had gotten over her long time crush on the boy hero, but that did not mean she wanted him to be hurt. Well, maybe a little for leaving everyone like this. It just was not right that he had left without any warning. What right did he have to take everyone's safety into his own hands? Was he really that egotistical to think that he and he alone could decide who could associate with him? Fed up with her fixation on a boy who was just not worth it, she savagely returned to her meal.

When three months had passed and Hedwig was still not back, Ginny was beginning to be seriously worried. All of her free time now was in the library trying to find a locating spell to discover Hedwig's whereabouts and hopefully her condition. Ron and Hermione were becoming suspicious of her now as well because of Hedwig's continued absence. A week or two was one thing, but three months? There was no valid excuse for that, not even that Hedwig was having trouble finding their accountant cousin. Ginny did not know how much more of this she could take. She did not think that they suspected Harry was still alive, but Hermione might connect Hedwig's absence with the frequent visits Hogwarts was receiving from Professor Lupin. It would not take long after that for Ginny's secret to get out, and she really did not want to face the consequences of that. It was imperative then that she find out what had happened to Hedwig, and hopefully Harry as well.

Three days later she found it. It was a complex addendum to an old law regarding mail owls from when their use was first becoming widespread. Apparently all post owls had been owned by the government, and they were having problems with witches and wizards stealing them for their own use. Several solutions had been presented, and although he one that had been adopted was the privatization of the mail service, some enterprising young wizard had developed a potion that, when combined with certain incantations, could determine both the whereabouts of the owl in question but the closest five magic users as well. The only problem was that the potion took ten weeks to prepare. That meant another ten weeks of thinking up alibis for Hedwig's non-appearance in the case that she still had not returned. Sighing in defeat Ginny went to find an empty room in which to start the potion.

Severus Snape had not had this much fun in a long time. Granted, it was humiliating to be forced to recall the treatment the Potter whelp had put him through, but watching Lupin and Black stumbling over their tails (both literally and figuratively) to find Potter was almost worth the earlier shame he had gone through. They could not find any traces of the boy anywhere; it was like he had vanished off the face of the earth. Snape was starting to think he almost admired the boy in unguarded moments. He definitely was different from anything his father had ever been. The James Potter he had known would have taken his status as a hero and run with it, using it to get anything he wanted. His son, however, had only done that for a few years before giving up on it all and turning into one of the most powerful wizards Severus had ever seen. He also showed intelligence in picking his friends as shown by that nasty little Muggle who had broken his wand. That in itself was irritating. It seemed that whenever the boy was an open book, Severus had to reevaluate him. Of course, if he was well and truly gone this time, maybe that little problem was now moot.

Lhasa, Tibet, the present:

Harry rolled out of bed with a groan, the ringing tone of a gong resounding in his ears. Beside him Claude and Sifu rose as well, shrugging on their clothes for breakfast. It was still dark as they left the building, following the line of chanting monks to the dining area where they were served by more monks. They sat down among the now quiet monks to eat. Those who had not seen the three foreigners before saw them now, some smiles sent their way as Sifu was recognized. When they had finished they gathered their dishes and set them with the others' before following them to the courtyard. Once there they were greeted by three monks, one of whom led Sifu away while the other two stayed with Harry and Claude. The younger of the two addressed them in halting French.

"You will come with us now."

Without further introduction the two monks turned and walked away, obviously expecting Harry and Claude to follow. They soon arrived in another section of the compound, this one apparently a library, which was filled with almost fifty monks writing or copying books. Harry and Claude were led to a corner of the room where they were motioned to a mat on the floor. The monk who had spoken then handed them a basket full of everyday objects and settled back as his companion started Harry and Claude on a language lesson the likes of which they had never seen.

When about two hours had passed, the basket was taken away, and Harry was led away from Claude. His guide brought him to a pile of wood as tall as he was and approximately ten meters by ten meters. Without words he was handed an ax, the order being quite clear. Harry set into the work with a will. It was not that different from what he had grown up doing after all. After about half an hour, Harry heard wing beats from a large bird over head. He looked up just in time to catch an exhausted Hedwig as she fell into his arms. Hurriedly checking her over to see if she was all right, Harry noticed the letter. Pocketing it he went to find a monk. Fortunately, the sight of an obviously unhealthy bird was a universal sign that it needed help, and Harry was soon in what was probably what passed for an infirmary at the monastery. An older monk relieved him of his burden, and after finally communicating that Hedwig would be fine, managed to get Harry to return to his work. He returned to the wood, cutting it until another gong told him it was not time for lunch. Not seeing either Sifu or Claude, he settled into a corner to read the letter as he ate.

England, the present:

Ginny sat back with a satisfied smile. She had finally finished the potion, and it actually looked correct. It was too bad Professor Snape could not know about this accomplishment, it probably would have saved her from the Gryffindor curse in Potions. She quickly spoke the last words of the incantation and brought out a piece of parchment and one of Hedwig's feathers, tossing them into the cauldron. A noxious green mist rose from the bubbling liquid, obscuring the cauldron from view. When the room was clear again, all that was left was a perfectly dry piece of parchment resting on the metal bottom. Ginny was almost shivering in anticipation as she quickly drew it out. However, her excitement turned to despair as she realized that it was blank. She sat there despondently while she tried to determine what exactly had gone wrong. Just as she was about to throw in the towel, the same mist floated in the window and hovered around the parchment. When it disappeared once more, the parchment was covered in writing. She tore the parchment up from its position on the floor almost greedily. Finally she could find just where Hedwig was. In writing of the same green as the mist the paper said:

Hedwig

Exhausted

The Dining Hall, Desa Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet, Asia

And below this were the names of the five wizards closest to the owl.

Lhak-pa Gyal-tshen

Lobsang

Harry Potter

Ngawang

Claude Riddle

A/N: So there it was at last. Just for clarification, Claude is not Voldemort's heir, son, grandson, etc., but a relative from his much-hated father's side of the family. Many thanks to all my reviewers. Without all of you I don't think I would have kept even my admittedly erratic update schedule. Much props to Afroman, Kraeg001, and especially Ters for their work in the editing and suggestions stages. Peace.