Chapter 14

The next morning, after breakfast, Harry followed Yang out to Bumblebee.

She had informed him that, since they hadn't gone out to see how Harry fared against grimm yesterday as planned, that they would today. So the plan was to head out to her stepmother's memorial.

"And why are we going to a grave-site to fight grimm?" Harry asked, as Yang explained were they would be going as she rolled her bike out of it's storage shed.

Yang sighed. A bit sadly she began to explain. "You know how grimm are attracted to negative feelings?"

Harry nodded...it was a part of the basic knowledge of remnant Death had given him.

"Can you think of a place more inclined to give people negative feelings that the memorial, or graves, of their loved one?"

With that statement, Harry realized why they were going to a grave-site. "I'm sorry," he apologized, hoping to make up for his insensitivity, however unintentional.

The blonde smiled at him. "It's alright Harry. Everyone on Remnant knows. It's why the dead are always buried either a fair distance away from towns and cities, or are located in heavily fortified areas like the major cities. Even if there's no body, we rarely place memorials for individuals the living know where people live. Whenever any of us visit Mom's memorial we're prepared to fight grimm." She smiled sadly. "It's one reason Ruby and I got so good at it, especially Ruby."

She handed Harry the extra helmet she had purchased for him, it was yellow like hers. "Here, it shouldn't take us long to reach Mom's memorial, at least not on Bumblebee, but we'll have to walk a bit to get there. The walk to the grave may potentially attract grimm, but they're more likely to attack while we're there, or afterward on the way back to Bumblebee, if there are any in the area anyway."

"And if there aren't?" Harry asked.

Yang sighed, as she climbed on the motorcycle. "Then I suppose we could take the ferry to Vale, but I'd rather we didn't do that...for numerous reason," she explained, right before putting on her own helmet. She then patted the seat behind her, a clear indication for Harry to get on.

Harry didn't ask about the reasons, he wasn't sure if they were personal enough, and after his beating yesterday at Yang's hands, he didn't want to push his luck. Plus he wasn't sure how good she could hear him with her helmet on. Putting on his own helmet, he climbed on the back of Bumblebee.

Mindful of where he put his hands, Harry proceeded to wrap his hands around Yang's wife.

If he'd been able to seen her grin, he probably would have wrapped his arms around her, and damn where his hands ended up.

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"And I thought I was a speed freak," Harry grumbled as he followed Yang along the path to Summer Rose's memorial.

The blonde merely grinned. "Admit it Harry, you loved it."

Harry didn't say anything at first, mainly because after he got over his surprise at Yang gunning the throttle as they left the Xiao Long/Rose house, he had indeed enjoyed it. Though he had to admit he wasn't the biggest fan of NOT being the one steering the motorcycle as it barreled down roads at insanely high speeds. If there were speed limits on Remnant, Harry was sure Yang had broken them...not that Harry had seen any signs, or other people for that matter.

But after thinking about it, he decided to tease Yang a little, namely to see if he could get her a flustered as she made him at times. "You just did that so I'd be forced to hold you tighter."

To his surprise, the blonde merely looked over her shoulder and grinned. "So your mind went straight to the gutter...good to know."

The wizard groaned. There was no winning with this woman.

After half an hour of walking, and encountering no grimm, Harry found he and Yang standing next to a cliff. Near the edge was a carved stone, with a plaque mounted to it. An engraved rose dominated the plaque. Underneath the rose, two lines were were engraved inside of square: Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter.

"Keep an eye out for grimm...you'll recognize them if you see them, and your aura should give you some warning," Yang told him. She then took a deep breath, and walked towards the memorial.

Not sure whether he should follow her or not, and mindful to keep his eyes and ears open for the appearance of any grimm, Harry hesitantly followed the blonde closer to the stone. He stayed back several feet however, more out of respect than anything.

He was still able to hear Yang as she spoke to the memorial.

"Hey Mom...It's been a while since I visited." Yang paused a moment before speaking again. "I know I haven't been the greatest person lately, and that I've let Dad, Ruby, Uncle Qrow and you down with my behavior. I doubt a drunken magical marriage and consummation was the wedding you dreamed I'd have...But I think you'd approve of Harry. He got me out of my funk, gave me the kick to the...butt, that I needed. I know what I need to do now...but it won't be easy.

Harry deliberately made sure he wasn't looking as Yang wiped a couple of tears from her eyes.

"I wish you were here. I wish the attack on Beacon, Pyrrha's death...I wish so much hadn't happened. I hope that, wherever you are...that you're happy. I hope Ruby and I have made you proud. I know I'm going to try and do better than I have been."

The blonde leaned down, and laid a kiss onto the stone.

"I love you Mom. Until I see you again."

Yang turned from the stone, and took a couple of steps away to compose herself.

Knowing Death was real, and that the souls of the deceased went somewhere, Harry decided to approach the stone.

"I know you don't me Mrs Rose," he said, causing Yang's to turn to look at him. "I don't know you. All I know about you is what Yang and Taiyang have told me. But if you helped shape Yang in anyway into the woman I can call my wife today, then you were a truly magnificent woman. And I just want you to know that, as unconventional as our marriage may have been, I'll do everything I can to make her happy. And when I meet her, I'll do my best to look after Ruby as well. I promise."

As Harry turned from the grave, he was surprised to be pulled into a hug by Yang. "Thank you," she mumbled.

Putting his own arms around her, he replied back, "I meant every word."

Yang pulled back, and opened her mouth to reply, when she paused.

Harry himself got a very ominous feeling.

Moments later the duo heard several growls.

The blonde let go of Harry, and turned towards the words, deploying Ember Celica as she did.

Following the blonde's lead, Harry pulled out his right pistol-ax, keeping his left hand free to cast spells.

From the treeline stepped six black creatures with skull like heads that greatly reminded Harry of Remus Lupin when he was transformed into a werewolf. Thanks to both the knowledge of Remnant given to him by Death, and Yang and Taiyang's teaching, Harry recognized them as beowolves.

They weren't the most powerful of grimm, but they typically traveled in packs and were still rather dangerous.

"Harry, try your magic first," Yang explained. "Let's see what it does to them."

The grimm weren't attacking, at least not right away. They were however spreading out, and Harry knew they were trying to box him and Yang in before they attacked.

Grimm may be minsters, but they did have some intelligence.

The wizard didn't give them a chance. Shooting out his hand, he shouted out, "Reducto!"

The beam of magic flew from his hand, and struck one of the beowolves right in the head.

Said head exploded violently, proving that his magic did indeed have an effect on grimm. But his attack also provoked the creatures into attacking immediately.

Even as he heard to boom of Yang's shotgun gauntlets, Harry cast another spell, a reducto again, even as he lined up a shot with his pistol.

The fight was over in moments.

Both Yang and Harry had killed three of the creatures. And with two of the, now dissolving into black smoke, creatures killed by his magic, Harry knew it could have an effect upon them.

"Not bad," Yang assured him. "I mean beowolves aren't exactly the toughest, or smartest, grimm out there, but not bad." She grinned. "At least now we know that your magic does affect them."

"Is that it?" Harry asked.

"Probably not, this was a small pack. We'll probably encounter a few more as we walk back to Bumblebee."

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They did encounter more beowolves on the way back to the motorcycle. Between the two of them, they were easily dealt with.

When they got back to the house, and after eating lunch. The two decided to practice flying in their animal forms...and work on transforming quicker.

By the time dinner rolled around, both were exhausted, and sore from multiple falls as they tried launching themselves off of various things to fly.

But before they went to bed, Yang surprised Harry by giving him a quick peck on the lips before she hastily retreated to her room.

Leaving a stunned Harry standing in the hallway as he wondered what he had done to deserve the blonde's kiss.

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Sorry for the wait. Numerous things delayed the writing of this chapter. Some of it was real life, some of it was distraction, some of it was lack of motivation.

And a large part of it was the fact that several episodes of RWBY made me want to change directions, mostly because I wanted to include them in some way and had to figure out how.

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