Missing Son
Harrison 'Harry' Phoenix stared out of the window as the flying boat passed another small island in the middle of the Atlantic, clutched in his hand was the latest letter from his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, who had just written to tell him that her ex was at Hogwarts for the Tri-Wizard Tournament and was causing problems, mostly by harassing her by trying to convince/force her to take him back.
He was currently thinking of any way to make the fool back off without cursing or killing him. But Percy Weasley was stubborn and perhaps stupid, maybe ignorant and arrogant were better.
It had all started a year before when Penny had come to the Vancouver Academy of Magic as part of an exchange programme the ICW had restarted, she had been a fifth year then and was the female Prefect for Ravenclaw house chosen for the trip. Weasley had been her boyfriend and she had really fallen for him, only for him to break up with her via owl post after a week there, some rubbish about long distance relationships not working and that she should have consulted him before going and that he couldn't date a girl that didn't respect her boyfriend's wishes.
He'd found her at the top of the cliff overlooking the lake crying, he'd approached her and asked what was wrong.
"Excuse me, are you alright? Why are you crying?" Harry asked as he approached the girl sitting far too close to the cliff edge.
"I'm fine I just want to be left alone," the girl replied, glancing briefly at the approaching Canadian.
"It's not safe this close to the cliff," Harry told her, a little worried by that fact and that she was also crying.
"I… I just want to be alone," the girl repeated between great sobs.
Harry walked over and knelt next to her, conjuring a handkerchief. "Do you want to talk? It may help and I'm a good listener," he said as he gave her the handkerchief. "I'm Harry, Harry Phoenix."
The girl turned to him, giving him a look of uncertainty and disbelief. "Penelope Clearwater, Thank you" she said as she took the small cloth square and wiped away her tears.
Harry now took in her appearance: she had curly brown hair that fell past her shoulders, bright hazel eyes behind rectangular frameless muggle glasses, high cheekbones and a delicate jaw, a large bust, wide hips that implied a shapely behind and long shapely legs. She wore the black Hogwarts robe over a uniform consisting of a white button up shirt, a navy blue V-neck jumper over it with a blue and bronze pattern on the neck and cuffs, a blue and bronze stripped tie, a grey pleated skirt that went to knees, black tights and black leather shoes.
After she stopped crying, Harry asked her what made her cry, but only if she wanted to and at her own pace. She gave him a small, grateful smile and gave him a simple explanation of her previous relationship and the break up message.
As she told him of the letter, she started crying again. Harry instinctively pulled her into a hug and began rubbing gentle circles on her back, whispering words of comfort into her ear as she sobbed into his chest. It helped but wasn't enough as she still gently sobbed into him several minutes later, so he started to sing softly.
His animagus form was a phoenix and he had been gifted (or cursed perhaps) with the use of the abilities of his form while still human. When he sang, his song affected all around him like phoenix song.
He watched her as his song seemed to wash away her pain, watching as her tears ended and a small smile replace them by the time he finished.
When he finished, she looked into his eyes, "How did you do that?" she asked, curios about his unusual power.
He smiled gently, "maybe I'll tell you one day, but not today. We'd better head back or someone will think we're missing, do you want to be friends Penelope?" He said, rising to his feet and holding his hand out to help her up.
"I think I'd like that," she replied, smiling softly as he helped her up.
They walked back to campus together, talking about their subjects and schools, unaware that this was the beginning of a wonderful friendship and later something more.
Their first date had been seven months later and that was four months ago now, the first letter since she went home told him of how Percy had tried to talk her into taking him back in the great hall, his reaction to being told that she had a new boyfriend had apparently been priceless, Harry had in fact received two letters from Percy's younger siblings Fred and George congratulating him on setting Percy up for such public humiliation. Harry had sent a reply requesting they finish the job, which had been enthusiastically accepted and led to the beginnings of a new friendship.
When told that Penelope had a new boyfriend; Percy couldn't seem to comprehend at first, neither understanding how Penny would want another boyfriend especially one that deeply cared for her and went out of his way to make their relationship work, but also that Penny was now dating a foreign half-blood instead of a native pureblood.
He then became furious, with himself or Penny isn't known, and immediately started to insult her in front of the entire school; saying that he should have known she was a slut, that she didn't care about others only herself, and finally that only a Mudblood whore would be stupid enough to throw away their patron.
Silence fell over the hall after his outburst, before the teachers could move muggleborn students and their friends started cursing him from all directions, even some half-blood Slytherins had attacked, it took the intervention of all the teachers to keep him from being killed.
He'd woken up three days later to find his furious parents beside his bed and his livid head of house glaring at him.
Public opinion was that if he hadn't completed his N.E. already he would have been suspended and stripped of his Head boy status as there was only a week left the decision had been taken to expel him, not that it would really matter then.
Penny had next seen him on Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross where he tried again but had been humiliated again as dozens of parents heard of Percy's outburst from both Penny and Fred and George who discussed it in loud voices before Penny informed everyone present that she will never date Percy again and that she was a fool to do so in the first place if he couldn't even be bothered to break up with her in person.
The Weasleys had to quickly leave before the large number of angry parents and students lost their tempers. An unexpected side effect was the incident had strained the Weasley's relationship with the Potters.
The Potters were famous as the family that defeated You-Know-Who (or Voldemort to anyone with a pair), the dark lord had sought out the family and tried to kill the two youngest children, Evan and Isabella, but the curse had backfired supposedly killing him. Their Parents Lily and James had been forced to witness the attempted execution after being disarmed and immobilised, and had watched in horror as their older son Harry had put himself between his siblings and Voldemort. Given the respective heights of the two it didn't matter and the curse seemed to sail over Harry's head and hit the twins. The rest is history.
The fame that followed the family at first threatened to destroy the family, nearly everyone fawned over the twins ignoring the fact Harry's attempt to protect the twins may have contributed to you-know-who's downfall because the twins were named the Twins-Who-Lived and solely credited with the monster's defeat. This meant Harry was often pushed aside, something that Lily and, to a lesser extent, James had objected to, until they had discovered Harry possessed unusual powers.
He could disappear and reappear at will, he'd first done this during a terrible storm and had landed on his parents after being frightened, in a manner very different to apparition, he also had an ability to saturate his voice with magic, a lullaby for his sister had sent his parents two rooms over to sleep too, he was also very strong and agile for his age.
The decision was made to keep Harry out of the public's eye, the discovery had dramatically improved his home life and for the first time since that night, he was treated as an equal to his siblings.
However the public now believed Harry Potter had fallen ill or even died as he hadn't been seen in nearly ten years or was a squib. The reality was very different.
What had begun as a family outing had turned to disaster, Harry had been with his family on a shopping trip in Diagon Alley when they'd been separated. He'd been waiting outside the bookshop when a Canadian couple noticed him, after calming the panicking child they had decided to alert the Aurors when the child had been engulfed by a black aura and started screaming in pain. The couple could only watch as the black aura suddenly became entwined with a white aura and the child glowed, the glow and both auras ended to reveal a small featherless phoenix chick.
The couple knew what the black aura meant, at his age the boy should be dead but instead was sitting on the doorstep as a tiny and vulnerable phoenix.
The boy's family had disinherited him.
Being disowned normally would separate a person's magic from the Families magic, but when a pre-Hogwarts child is disowned it usually destabilises the child's immature magical core, which kills the child. However, an animagus that can turn into a magical animal shares that animals abilities and in some cases possesses two magical cores, one human the other is based on the magic of the creature.
They are completely separate until the first transformation, after that they begin to merge in a symbiotic bond and eventually form a type of hybrid core.
The magic used to disown someone only affects the wizard's core, mages and sorcerers are unaffected as are werewolves, vampires, Veela, etc. because they are based on a different form of magic and even a hybrid core would be unaffected.
The boy had survived by accessing the phoenix core and transforming. The child was now totally reliant on a nonhuman magical core and, at the least, would be affected by the Phoenix burning cycle.
The child now had no family, no one to return to. The couple decided to adopt him.
He had been taken into Gringotts and kept there until his phoenix form was mature enough for him to turn back. When he did, the magic that hurt him was explained to him. The three were also told that due to ancient pureblood laws that had been woven into most Family magics he could not be formally adopted until he reached maturity, 16 due to the age of the laws involved, he also had to wait that long before any remaining inheritances could be claimed.
On the plus side, Harry was now legally emancipated and was considered an adult, could perform magic outside of school as long as it complied with the International Statute for Secrecy and could own and live in any property.
The Canadians, Alexander and Marie Delacour offered him a home until he finished school, Harry accepted. They'd given him a good home and a loving family, he never forgot his birth family though; at first cursing them, later wondering why, before finally becoming indifferent.
He'd been enrolled in the Vancouver Academy of Magic and had excelled in most of his classes, in fact he'd been advanced from his third year to fourth, but due to his condition had found he couldn't compete in most of the extra-curricular activities like quidditch or duelling contests. He wouldn't be able to take such professions as an Auror or Professional quidditch player either, so he'd set his sights on becoming a curse breaker.
He was currently in his sixth year and had been chosen to accompany his older classmates to Hogwarts where the Tri-wizard Tournament was being held. Vancouver weren't allowed to compete but had been included in an attempt to improve international relations.
He was now sitting with his friends on a Short C class flying boat, which was flying to Hogwarts. The aircraft had been extensively enchanted to increase the size of the interior and to allow it to 'hop' great distances in a manner similar to apparition. The interior was comfortable and blended the Art Deco styling of the thirties with modern influences, every student had an individual cabin and there was even a small gym and a dining hall and even a rec room.
Harrison was brought out of his thoughts by his three best friends, Anthony Mercer, Valerie Royeaux and Hayley Jalvert sitting down in the empty seats beside him.
"What do you think Hogwarts will be like?" Valerie asked, very curious as she'd never been to Britain before.
"A cold, drafty medieval castle full of bigots," Anthony replied, he had been to Britain before and hadn't been impressed by the purebloods attitudes or blatant prejudice.
"I think the bigots will be a minority," Harry said evenly, having spent his early childhood in Britain he knew the prejudiced pureblood families were indeed now the minority, a powerful one however. "Just don't go ruffling any feathers, Tony, those bigots form a powerful force in the British Ministry," he warned, hoping his stubborn friend will heed his advice.
"Really though, what will it be like? I heard Beauxbatons is like the palace of Versailles," Valerie pressed, partly from her own curiosity and partly from trying to see why Harry would know so much.
"Probably a medieval castle with several floors and a few dozen secret passages next to a large lake flanked on one side by a thick pine forest and a small village about half a mile away that the older students are permitted to visit," Harry said in a bored voice that completely surprised his friends.
"How in Tarleton's name did you know that?" Anthony exclaimed.
"I read," Harry replied dryly, making the girls burst into a fit of giggles at his face. "And it's 'How in Merlin's name'" he corrected, again straight faced.
Hayley fell off her chair and burst out laughing while Valerie was now holding her ribs, wheezing slightly from having laughed to hard as Anthony crossed his arms and huffed.
"Seriously though, I looked the school up as I was sent an acceptance letter," Harry admitted, not adding that it was under another name. "I heard the village, Hogsmeade, is the only Wizard-only settlement in mainland Britain and pretty cool as well," he added, his friends muttered an agreement that they should visit when they had the chance.
He then began telling them about what he knew of the courses: "There are the basic or core subjects Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Defense against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Flying, for the first years. The electives are: Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle studies, Divination and Alchemy."
"But what about Warding, Curse Breaking, Healing and Combat training?" Hayley asked, horrified that such important electives were left out.
"They're a post-Hogwarts education," Harry replied, not happy about that himself.
Hayley looked scandalised that such important higher end electives weren't available, while Valerie giggled quietly at her friend's reaction; Anthony shook his head with an ugly look on his face.
"It's almost like they're trying to prevent people from entering those professions," Anthony said, shocking the two girls.
"How can you say that?" they said in unison, both horrified by the accusation.
"I did hear that the current Potions Master heavily favours his own students, or his own house I should say. Apparently he bends over backwards to get Slytherins through his course but routinely marks down students from the other houses and holds them to near impossible standards, he's supposed to be particularly prejudiced against Gryffindors," Harry told the girls grimly, he knew it wasn't an accusation after having sat in on a class once under a disillusionment charm. He had entertained the idea of transfer in his first two years and wasn't meant to be under the charm but had requested the fourth year student escorting him to apply it so he could observe the lesson without his presence making the professor change his behaviour. The result was both enlightening and horrifying.
The girls stared wide eyed as Harry backed up Anthony's accusation; Anthony himself was also clearly surprised. "How do you know that? I just voiced what my impression was"
"For my first two years I entertained the possibility of transfer, my birth parents went to Hogwarts and I guess I wanted to go to the same school. So just after Christmas in my second year I was sent to Hogwarts to have a tour and see what the classes were like. I sat in several classes as a guest, different years too. The Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology professors were frankly amazing, Potions was a joke. The Potions Master, professor Snape, put the instructions on the board with a nasty 'begin' and started sweeping round the dungeon, praising and even directly assisting the Slytherins while constantly belittling, ignoring and even directly insulting the students from the other houses. I saw seven students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff ask for help and be ignored or insulted or even punished, while being polite to the Slytherins or rewarding them for stupid reasons. He was just as bad outside of class too," Harry explained, his voice growing colder as the memories of that disgusting excuse for a teacher rose to the front of his mind.
The girls looked scandalised while Anthony shivered at the thought of being taught by such a biased teacher.
The four slipped into easy conversation after that, talking about what they were looking forward too, before teasing Harry about taking a tour of Hogwarts broom cupboards with his girlfriend as the aircraft 'hopped' again.
500 miles away, Isabella Potter was sitting at the Gryffindor house table in the great hall with her best friends Hermione Granger, her dorm mate, and Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davies, her and Hermione's potions and charms partners, both were Ravenclaws.
They were currently trying to get a head start on their potions homework but were constantly being distracted by their house mates talking about the Tri-Wizard Tournament and about how attractive the visiting boys and girls will be.
She sighed in frustration as Lavender Brown and Parvati patil started giggling about the chances of snagging a boyfriend from the visitors. Although she did find it curious they were anticipating the students from Vancouver more the Beauxbatons or Durmstrang boys, they spent a long time discussing a particular tall, black haired boy with green eyes who had apparently been snagged by one of the Ravenclaw prefects last year.
They'd been told at breakfast they delegations would be arriving after dinner. But that didn't stop the two girls annoying giggling.
"How are you getting on?" Tracey asked in an annoyingly cheery voice, smirking at her friend
Bella glared at Tracey, "I would be doing better if I could concentrate but between them and you that's impossible," she said.
Tracey opened her mouth to say something back, as Hermione giggled behind her hand and Daphne smiled as she watched, but was interrupted by four boys charging into the hall and virtually diving into seats at the Hufflepuff table, trying hard to hide their laughter before multiple screams and shouts erupted from beyond the entrance hall.
"POTTER!"
Every head in the hall swivelled to the entrance where Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson stood covered in liquefied dragon dung. The hall roared with laughter as Malfoy's face went pink then scarlet (a first for the Malfoy heir) and then started sending curses and hexes with his girlfriend towards the four boys, who blocked and reflected most before disarming and tying both up.
Professors McGonagall, Sprout and Snape were there in a flash, Snape tried to vanish the dragon dung but it was apparently charmed to resist everything he tried. He eventually decided to release the pair and told them to wash it off the hard way. The two teens left muttering and cursing quietly as professor McGonagall shouted after them "Fifty points from Slytherin and two weeks detention each for attacking fellow students and befouling the hall," Snape didn't argue and in fact seemed to agree with the Scotswoman this time which made many students cheer.
Professor Sprout had been interrogating her badgers at the same time, before berating them for the prank and taking a comparable total of house points and a week's detention each.
Professor McGonagall however looked ready to breathe fire. "What do you think you are doing? We have very important guests arriving tonight; this is not the time or the place for your childish antics. 2 weeks detention each with me, as well as that issued by your head of house, don't even think of continuing your pranks after our guests arrive," she scolded, making the four badgers shrink away from her as her temper flared slightly, all nodding their heads quickly in fear.
Isabella smiled as her head of house stared down her brother and his friends: Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Neville Longbottom, the four had been inseperable since they first met on the train and had gone a long way to continuing their father's legacy. They were unofficially acknowledged as the new-marauders, to the older teachers despair and the Weasley twins annoyance, you couldn't go 72 hrs without a prank going off. The only reason Snape hadn't got Evan expelled was that they, unlike their predecessors, were indiscriminate as to who got pranked and all were in good humour and rarely hurt anyone (if someone got hurt the prank had gone badly wrong).
She looked up to the staff table to see her mother staring at her brother, frowning and shaking her head, Evan was in for a serious lecture tonight.
She turned back to her essay as the hall descended back to its usual level of chatter; she briefly wondered how the delegations would arrive and seriously doubting they would use the train.