Rise of the Phoenix
Chapter 1 – New Beginnings
"I was always told that things would get better. Yet, 4 years in and things seemed to only get progressively worse. Everyone thought they could console me by constantly telling me that it wasn't my fault Cedric was dead, as though if they said it enough, the thought would impregnate itself into my head. If only it was that easy. I wish it was. I wish none of it was even happening. I wish I was your usual, typical wizard. I wish my parents were alive and that the world didn't know who Harry Potter was. Guess there's nothing to do but continue on."
Hedwig hooted softly, as though trying to console the emerald eyed, raven-haired teenager that was sitting next to it.
"Thanks Hedwig, I know I can count on you -." Just as the words left his mouth, a tapping noise on the window alerted Harry to a presence outside his window. Several owls were hovering outside, awaiting entrée into Harry's room. He stood up and pushed the latch on the window, allowing the window to slide open. 6 owls flew into the room, perching wherever they could.
The teenager turned around, analysing the owls. He recognised four, one of which was Ron's owl, Pidgwigeon. The other 3 recognisable owls were Hogwarts owls. The other two, foreign owls were not recognisable, he detached the letters from the foreign and Hogwarts owls, they quenched their thirst from Hedwig's water bowl and then once again took flight. He had to capture pidg from mid-air as the excitable owl refused to sit still, reminding Harry of a tiny, grey and fluffy tennis ball.
Once the owl was captured, he took the letter of its feet, relieving the tiny owl of its burden. Harry glanced at the alarm clock, 12:06, 31st July.
"It's my birthday, I didn't even realise" Harry softly spoke.
Harry had never really placed any meaning on his birthday. For the first eleven years of his life; the Dursley's made his life a living hell, especially on his birthday. It was there way of showing him that they regretted the day he was born. From the point he started Hogwarts, although his friends sent letters and presents, he had no reason to place any good thoughts on this day as his years almost always ended with some bad event.
He picked up the first letter, it was from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
How are you? I've had no letters or anything from you and I've got to be honest. I'm worried, I know you think everyone blames you for what happened but the truth is, no one does! You're taking the stress on yourself as though it is your responsibility to ensure the safety of the wizarding world. The truth is, it's not. Either way, please do me a favour and write back. I'm serious! I expect at least one letter a week otherwise; you won't like what I'll do! We're all with you on this!
P.S Happy birthday! You'll get my present when I next see you!
Love,
Hermione
Harry was openly laughing at the last bit; trust Hermione to ensure his safety!
Harry next reached for Ron's letter,
Dear Harry,
How are you mate? Hope everything's ok with those relatives of yours. Happy birthday Harry! You'll get my present when I next see you; I didn't want to risk pidg getting injured. I just wanted to apologise for what happened last year, for everything of course but mainly for everything I did. I know I can be a jealous prat at times and a right idiot and I just wanted to say thanks and sorry once again. I suspect we'll be seeing you again soon. I hope anyway!
Take care mate and see you soon!
Ron
Harry was in shock, he knew Ron felt bad for what happened but he didn't expect an apology again.
He reached for the third letter and as his hand closed on the letter, a bang rung out, stunning him for a moment. He yanked his wand out and shrunk his trunk which was already packed in anticipation for an event like this. Grabbing the letters and shoving them in his pocket. He opened Hedwig's cage.
"Hedwig, find Albus Dumbledore and give him this" Harry pointed to a note which simply said "help me, H"
The faithful companion flew out the window, intent on carrying out her master's request in the shortest time possible.
Harry quickly shrunk the cage, not too concerned about the retraction of underage wizardry anymore. He knew his life was in danger.
A shrill scream sounded Harry out of his reverie; the scream sounded so similar to, what he can only assume was the scream of his mother when she was killed. He sprinted down the stairs, confronted by the daunting silhouettes of several death eaters. They had cornered the dursley's and the silhouette at the front had his wand out. Dudley was on the floor, writhing in pain.
The scream he heard sounded again, causing Harry to snap out of his frozen thought process.
"Expelliamus" shouted Harry, the wand from the leading death eater shooting out from his hand. The response from the surrounding death eaters was instantaneous; three beams of green light shot towards the dursleys, simmering with concealed hate. As the beams hit their intended targets, something snapped within Harry.
A wave of sheer magical energy was released from Harry. His emerald eyes glowing with new found energy. Even through all the years of misery and pain that he was subjected to at the hands of the dursleys, he didn't want them dead.
The death eaters were shocked at the release of power, whatever had happened, the wave had disarmed them and prevented movement. Several pops could be heard outside, friend or foe, Harry wasn't around to find out. The moment the energy was released. Harry Potter was no longer at number 4, private drive.
OoO
Light filtered through the windows and entered Harry's eyes. He awoke in a start, eyes clenched tight to protect him from the sharp light.
"Ouch… wha-what? Where am I?" said a groggy Harry
"Hello master Harry Potter sir" spoke a squeaky voice
"Dobby?" asked Harry
A small creature with tennis ball sized eyes and long, floppy ears stood before Harry. As Harry looked around, he noticed a family crest on the largest wall, the crest was a Phoenix perched on a lion surrounded by a flaming dragon. The phoenix was blue and red with a white aura around it.
He quickly realised that the image was a family crest, it read;
"The great and noble house of Potter", underneath it, in flowing transcript read; Semper Fidelis. Harry vaguely remembered Hermione saying that exact phrase and further remembered her saying that it meant "Always faithful".
Harry slowly stood, still shaky on his legs.
"Dobby, where am i? Why is there a Potter crest on the wall?" asked Harry
"Well, I was cleaning headquarters when I felt like I was needed… I'm sorry Harry Potter sir, I know I wasn't called. Dobby is a bad house elf" spoke Dobby, his voice getting progressively louder as he got to the end of his confession.
The small house elf was reaching for an umbrella when Harry quickly grabbed the house elf's hands and stopped him from punishing himself.
"Dobby, you're not in trouble and even if you ever do get in trouble, you don't need to punish yourself! Promise you won't punish yourself again?" said Harry in a soft voice
"Dobby shouldn't punish himself?" asked Dobby in awe.
"No Dobby, I'm not your master. I'm your friend so I don't want you to punish yourself ok? You're no longer a servant".
"So where are we?" asked Harry
"We are at Potter mansion Harry Potter sir. It is in Hogsmeade and consists of 4 separate buildings; the buildings are – the main house, an infirmary, Owlry and training ground. The training ground has a quidditch pitch, swimming pool and what muggles refer to as a gym "responded Dobby
"Umm… what?" asked Harry, genuinely confused. He knew the Potter family was rich but this surpassed his expectations.
Dobby had to repeat himself three times before Harry was sure he had heard him correctly.
"Ok, I guess this isn't me imagining things. So, why am I here? Why was I never told about this place?" asked Harry
"it seems the house went into protective mode. The headmaster couldn't find it and so couldn't send you here. It seems the house will only make itself available when the heir to the Potter house comes of age" responded Dobby
"I'm not 17 yet so I'm not of age and as far as I know, I'm the last remaining Potter" said a confused Harry.
A faint pop could be heard and Harry could see movement out of the corner of his eye. Without meaning too, Harry's wand was suddenly in his hand and pointed in the direction of the would-be offender, his emerald eyes glowing once again. The figure turned around and was identified as none other than Albus Dumbledore.
Harry's hand went limp and his wand was pointed downwards. "Professor, I'm sorry, I didn't think it was you –"
"It's no problem at all, I'm glad you're so alert, it seems Dobby did a wonderful job in patching you up" complimented the headmaster.
Dobby was glowing at the statement, "Dobby will make some supper, Harry Potter sir and the headmaster can be talking"
With that statement, a faint crack could be heard and Dobby was no longer in the living room.
"Harry, I'm sure you're wondering how it is you has come here and of course, why I never sent you here. Well, although you are correct in saying you are not of age physically, the house seems to have recognised that you are more than ready to take up the role of being the heir to the Potter line. With everything you have had to experience, it is a shock to most how you have managed to stay so pure of heart, always putting others first. The house seems to have recognised this, that although by physical age, you are only 15, you have proven you are more than able to take up the role of Lord Potter. Unfortunately, you are still underage and so will need a guardian to be able to stay here" said Dumbledore.
Harry's face had begun to slowly rise in excitement until Dumbledore mentioned the last bit. It was as though he had, figuratively speaking of course, popped Harry's balloon.
"No need to look so crestfallen Harry, I do have a surprise for you. Dumbledore pulled out a rolled up newspaper. He passed it on to Harry.
It was the Daily Prophet. The front page headline read, "Sirius Black cleared of all charges" as Harry read through the article, he couldn't control his jubilant expression. It seemed the stupid rat, Peter Pettigrew, had somehow managed to get himself caught. The moment Harry had read that, he dropped the paper and looked up. Standing at the doorway, was none other than Harry's godfather.
Harry was in shock, "no hugs Harry?" asked Sirius with a huge grin
Harry was on his feet within moments. He had engulfed Sirius in a hug unlike any he had given before.
"Good to see you pup" said Sirius, a grin equalling Harry's still on his face. The three men sat down. Over the next 30 minutes, Sirius told Harry how he had been summoned back at the ministry, although he was worried this was a trick, how Dumbledore had promised it wasn't. They got to the ministry and Sirius was subjected to treatment of Veritaserum. After being subjected to intense questioning, the ministry had declared Sirius a free man.
"So does this mean that Sirius can be my guardian?" asked Harry
Dumbledore took a moment to answer. Harry was holding his breath until the headmaster finally decided to answer. "It does Harry. Here is your Hogwarts letter, I'm sorry to have such an abrupt change in topic however, I must be leaving now, there is still much to do. Harry, Sirius, please meet me tomorrow in my office to complete the process. Until then, I'm sure you both have much to do. I shall see you both tomorrow."
As the headmaster apparated away, Sirius noted Harry had certainly changed.
"Wow Harry, I have to admit, you've grown, a lot.
Standing at 5'10, Harry had definitely grown. He was fairly tall, especially for his age. This summer, the Dursley's had made him rebuild their garden, practically from scratch. The constant, heavy workload had certainly done wonders for his physique. "Thanks Sirius" said Harry, a little bit embarrassed.
"You know what, let's go shopping. I think it's time to get you your own clothes" said Sirius, a smirk playing on his lips.
The due got up and walked out the door. As Harry walked out, he got his first look at Potter mansion. He turned around and stared. Unfortunately, he was still walking backwards. Not realising where he was going, he walked straight into a girl who was talking to her parents. Colliding with the girl, out of instinct, he somehow pulled her on top of him and broke her fall. As he landed, he found himself looking into a pair of gorgeous hazel eyes. They seemed familiar but his mind wasn't functioning properly.
"Harry?" whispered the girl
A/N –
Muahahah, bit of an obvious cliff-hanger but meh. A lot of good stuff is happening but like all good things, it doesn't last forever. Stay tuned to find out what happens next! Please review or Pm me to let me know what you think.
Peace,
NewWorld Out