Phoenix' Choice
Chapter 1 by GML
THE CHALLENGE: Came from Prustan (.net/u/1590558/Prustan) who actually did some work on their own before giving it up to me.
Fawkes is dying as Dumbledore falls into the Grey and begins looking for a new Wizard or Witch to Bond to.
This is my take:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 1: Fawkes: A History
Fawkes sat on his perch in Dumbledore's office and pouted; of course most people wouldn't notice, as to outward appearances it isn't like he had a pouty face and Phoenix tears don't work the way humans do. One doesn't just cry at the drop of a hat, or out of self pitty, when ones magic is noticeably drained by the simple act of crying.
It had been years since the old man had required his help in battle, back in those glory days he could be seen flying over the battlefield, crying out in song that gave hope and courage to the pure of heart while basically making evil wet itself. He and Dumbledore had been a great team and many lost battles were turned for the Light when they showed up. He had bound himself to his friend Albus during a youthful trip to this plane of existence, it was in celebration of his 2,000th birthday and he wasn't going to let his mother stop him from having a little fun.
You see, Phoenix' are rare in this world for a reason, they actually exist on a higher plane of existence closer to what the humans would call Heaven. They are allowed once or twice per millennium to travel to Midgaard and sow some oats or be pivotal in some conflict or another. It was exceedingly rare for a Phoenix to bind themselves to the life of a human as most did not long for battle or glory, they only longed to breed and assist the Light in maintaining the balance during those brief trips. The rest of the time most were content to sit around the Elysium fields and sing to the souls therein, raising their younglings and generally having no real purpose in life.
Fawkes had always been different, the Simurgh had once spoken of a prophecy; of the Phoenix who would bind himself to one who held a large portion of the fate of the world in his hands. Fawkes had been fascinated by the story as he had always been different than his siblings and parents. They had often told him he was too young to understand such things and that he should be happy to sing to the souls who made it to Elysium. Being a rebellious bi-millennial he knew, simply new it had to be him the prophecy had spoken of. And thus when he was allowed to travel to Midgaard for the first time he quickly sought out the leader of the light and the most powerful fighter for the light on this plane. One Albus too-many-damned-names Dumbledore.
There were others of course, some more powerful like Nicolas Flamel or that Japanese fellow but they were either a world away from the struggle or were not interested in fighting. He had found his companion fighting a fierce duel with a small force of wizards behind him; in a small forest in Germany in 1933. Grindelwald was already on his rise to power and Albus and Gellert had already had their falling out. The two would not actually end up face-to-face until their final battle ten years later after which the Dark Lord was imprisoned and this pet Muggles quickly fell to the Allies without his magical backing to give them an edge.
After the war Dumbledore (and by association Fawkes) were praised as Heroes and the title 'Beacon of the Light' was tossed around regularly with his companions name attached. Fawkes felt he had chosen well and looked forward to many more battles in the future. He wanted peace on earth as much as any being, but he knew darkness was never truly defeated. It hid beneath your shoes in direct sunlight and in the cracks and crevices. Thankfully it only took a single candle to hold back the darkness, and in Albus he thought he had found his Beacon, that maybe he had fulfilled the prophecy.
Albus was kept busy after the war and for the next several years but Fawkes, constantly on his shoulder or in close proximity was in a word, BORED! Oh there was plenty to do creating and keeping the peace for the humans but for an immortal being with no thumbs and no way to communicate there was nothing for him to do. His battle lust combined with his boredom and made him more than a bit edgy and though the term had not been coined yet, emo. He could only offer suggestions to his companion, the bond and the magic of the Phoenix should have allowed mind-to-mind communication but a superiority complex combined with advanced Occlumency seemed to leave him for the most part oblivious to Fawkes' urgings. The best he seemed to manage at times was a snippet of Phoenix song to express his pleasure or displeasure.
Watching as the man became increasingly smug and superior and oblivious to his mistakes took its toll on the immortal avian. Eventually Fawkes could no longer stand to watch as he manipulated and played his games for the "Greater Good" and took to sitting on his perch in the Headmasters office and brooding. The worst possible thing that could have happened seemed to have come about. Albus Dumbledore, Beacon of the Light and great magical warrior, became an Administrator and Politician.
In what should have seemed the blink of an eye to the long lived (though relatively young) Phoenix another war had found its way to his doorstep. For six long years Fawkes tried desperately to warn his companion about the evil that was infesting Hogwarts only to get a smile and a pat on the head or an extra ration of Jalapeno's for his trouble. The man's seeming need to believe the best of everybody and his willingness to forgive, though admirable, led to an even greater threat than Grindelwald being loosed on the world, once again partially due to the well intentioned but delusional actions of the aging Headmaster.
Voldemort ne Riddle descended on the UK like a plague and although Fawkes was secretly pleased with the prospect of battling evil again, he was saddened at the need for the fight. Darkness was beginning to take hold again when it could have been prevented by a few acts of kindness and understanding. His companion was a Legilimens who should have seen this coming but was restrained by his wrongheaded morality from seeing it. By the times Fawkes got through to him the boy then known as Tom Riddle was able to Occlude his mind enough to prevent confirming his suspicions. And so the extremely popular and influential head boy left Hogwarts in a fanfare of praise to begin his reign of terror.
The war was terrible and Fawkes began to see how his yearning for battle had its own consequences. They lost too many fighters for the Light and hope was beginning to wane, the poor bird was both afraid he was not the bird of prophecy and regretting his decision to be bound to this plane and to the old man. However a human prophecy gave him hope for the future, as an even greater warrior was seemingly fated to bring about an end to the threat of Voldemort. He feared for the decades ahead until the child-of-prophecy would be ready to face his burden, and was rather surprised as were many when the threat seemed to end abruptly in October of 1981. Harry Potter had somehow fulfilled the prophecy by destroying Tom Riddle shortly after his first birthday!
Like many he was overjoyed at the end to the Darkness and reemergence of Light into the world; and for a brief moment he was content. Until he was once again unable to turn Albus from his wrongheaded path, as he placed the boy with a family which made the birds skin crawl when he paid his own visit to Privet Drive, accompanying the Transfiguration Professor to observe the home. He tried everything short of beating the man with his wings to turn him from his decision, but in the end he could only hope for the best before he once again went back to brooding in his corner of Hogwarts.
Unbeknownst to Albus, Fawkes had reached his limit; he had no desire to follow Albus into death and return to Elysium for another thousand years, not even certain he would be allowed to return to this plane again after abandoning his family decades before. He began attending the welcoming feasts, safely sitting in the rafters and hidden from view by the open air charm which made the Great Hall of Hogwarts so famous. He could hear what the sorting hat had to say to these children, and indeed would converse with the hat when Albus was not in his office; after all one can only stand so much brooding and the Hat was pretty good at brooding himself, what with being an immortal though non-living being himself. He watched the children of Hogwarts hoping to find another Witch or Wizard to bond to whom could hopefully make a difference in this world and counter the well-meaning machinations of the dimming Beacon of the Light.
The Weasley's were the first children in years to give him hope. Starting with young William he found a pureness of soul that made him believe in the fight again. He watched in amusement as there seemed no end to the long line of redheads, which much to his satisfaction annoyed the hell out of the pet death-eater Albus insisted on keeping in the school.
Bill was a good candidate but his fate was not certain enough and his ambitions laid outside of battle. Charlie was an even better choice with his affinity for magical creatures, but he was much more interested in dangerous creatures than creatures of pure light, and both seemed to have an overwhelming need to get away from their loving mother. So much so that they were willing to take on less noble but fairly glorious (if dangerous) jobs in order to achieve this ambition.
Percival was too much like Albus for his liking, the boy had a good soul, but he was too interested in the letter of the law and the status quo to merit much consideration. Then came the Twins who took too little interest in the harm that could be done to property and spirit by their pranks. They were both extremely Light oriented but moved closer and closer to chaos as they got older. The Phonix', even the rebellious Fawkes, were bound to the forces of Order and without some sort of emulsifier Order and Chaos, even both working for the Light simply couldn't mix.
And so hope began to wane again for the avian, the next year there were not any new Weasleys to ponder and while the Diggory boy was as good a candidate as Charlie had been none of the other children seemed to have a destiny worth bonding to. Fawkes became increasingly depressed as Albus slowly moved from Light to Grey; nothing necessarily wrong with Grey as far as the Phoenix was concerned as it is the intent of the magic which determines whether it is Light or Dark, but the results of his non-magical actions were taking a toll on the man's soul which had nothing to do with so-called Dark magic; which Albus barely touched or thought about unless in extreme situations. Situations which had not arisen since the defeat of Voldemort a decade before.
Before he could give up all hope however something strange happened. In the next batch of students were several destined candidates. Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, another Weasley boy Ronald, and the boy Fawkes had forgotten about after his destiny seemed fulfilled.; one Harry Potter.
Any one of these individuals seemed worthy of the bond and Fawkes became animated and hopeful once again. Dumbledore seemed mildy pleased at his familiars youthful behavior but attributed it his recent burning day.
That first year had been fun to watch though frustrating, Fawkes had physcially expressed his displeasure with the new Defense Professor, beating him about the head with his wings and trying to rip away the turban which hid Voldemort from plain sight. He had just about achieved his goal when he had been stunned, STUNNED by his companion! In retaliation Fawkes had waited until the old man wasn't looking to leave a "present" in his tea. His plan backfired when Dumbledore seemed to lose a few years and gained a bit of pep in his step; apparently tears were not the only secretion which had mystic powers. Worse the old man had not even noticed the addition to his tea, the only upside was the secret pleasure Fawkes got in knowing the man enjoyed poo-tea. He had gotten many strange looks later that day when McGonagall had been invited for tea and Fawkes could be heard chuckling quietly on his perch.
Luckily the destined ones who were quickly becoming known as the 'Golden Trio' seemed to have a handle on things even if they hadn't quite figured it all out yet. By sheer stupid chance they had managed to save the Granger girl from a Mountain Troll that two-face let into the school, and later by saving the stone from Voldemort and destroying the host body of the abomination. Fawkes had sung loudly and annoyingly during the meeting where his companion proposed his idea of 'protection' for the stone. Nobody listened, and he had nearly been stunned again by the pet death-eater before he shut up and turned his back on them, releasing another present to show what he thought of the plan. He was right of course, the protections were quite literally childs play and though the old man never said as much, and Fawkes couldn't read his mind thanks to that damned Occlumency, he was secretly wondering if the plan had been for the Potter boy to face Voldemort all along.
Second year at the welcoming feast Fawkes was surprised once again to sense Destiny in both the Lovegood girl and the youngest Weasley. Unfortunately there was a familiar shadow seemingly hanging over the redhead. Fawkes tried desperately to warn his companion but as always Dumbledore remained oblivious. When that foul creature was once again released upon the school Fawkes had taken to his own initiative in trying to locate its lair under the school. Unfortunately there were wards in place around the Chamber which kept him from flaming to the location and he never managed to be around when Ginny disappeared into the depths. Say what you will about Salazar Slytherin but Fawkes hadn't know there were such things as Phoenix proof wards, luckily that bit of Dark magic seemed to have gone with him to the grave. It was only thanks to Harry leaving the doors wide open that Fawkes was able to take his friend the Hat to assist in the battle against the basilisk and for Ginny's very soul. Destiny was funny that way, Fawkes was still not certain afterward whether her Destiny lay in providing a life altering challenge to the Potter boy or if she was meant for greater things down the road. The Malfoy heir had an aura of Destiny as well but his soul was already stained when he arrived at Hogwarts and had been quickly eliminated as a candidate. That bore watching as a Dark Destiny was never a good thing, though thankfully his did not seem nearly as large as that of Tom Riddle.
In Harry's third year Fawkes had once again expressed his displeasure with Albus for allowing demons anywhere near a place of learning. He took it upon himself to destroy any that crossed the wards, though he was overwhelmed by sheer numbers the day they attacked Harry during the Quidditch match. The avian had nearly made up his mind to bond the Potter boy the next year when to his surprise he had been able to produce a corporeal Patronus at such a young age, and a powerful one at that. Though neither Granger nor Potter had sensed him, it had been a bit of Phoenix song which gave Harry that extra push he needed to make one powerful enough to save his life and that of Sirius Black. His mind made up, he decided that if the boy demonstrated a need the next year he would transfer the Bond without hesitation.
Thus we get to his current brooding, he had found that he rather liked Firewhiskey when he could sneak it. Much like Jalapenos and other peppers the burn was rather pleasant to those with a fire affinity. Currently he was embibing way too much of it he heard the Floo call between his current companion and the Minister of Magic in which they discussed the upcoming Tri-Wizard Tournament and later when he had discussed Harry's summer plans with the pet Death Eater. After one drink too many he lost his balance and fell backwards barely catching himself and ending up hanging upside down chuckling loudly in his bird voice. Snape sent him a strange look which only made him guffaw loudly and he began swinging back and forth in his upside-down state, laughing to himself as he had always thought the Potions Professor reminded him very much of a rather large bat.
Snape and Dumbledore looked at him rather curiously as he swung and sang the Phoenix version of "To Anacreon in Heaven ", which funny enough was also the tune to the American National Anthem. It was rather hard to sing and laugh at the same time but it broke him out of his melancholy for awhile. He couldn't wait for Potter to get back to Hogwarts so he could get away from the meddlesome old man and the greasy git.
"Did you have something to add my friend?" Dumbledore asked, looking rather amused. In response Fawkes, still swinging from his perch, let out a rather long and ill smelling fart before flaming away to another part of the castle. Things were giong to change for the good this year if he had any say in the matter.