Of Phoenix and Dragons

Hey guys, hope you enjoy, as this is my first fic, yadda , yadda, yadda....I don't own anything, especially Harry Potter or any of the affiliated characters......you guys going to see the movie Friday?

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Harry Potter stared out of the window of his compartment on the Hogwarts express. It was to be his fifth year at Hogwarts, and this year he was more excited than he had been any of the previous years. He didn't quite know why, he just felt something big was going to happen, something bigger than anything in the past, even the Tri-wizard tournament.

"Earth to Harry!" said Ron Weasley.

"Sorry Ron," Harry replied. "I was just thinking how excited I was to be going to Hogwarts again this year."

"Yeah, yeah, Harry, we all are. Anyway, as I was saying, we are going to have start our Quidditch training earlier this year, since we have to pick over half the team! I've been looking over the names of the people who signed the list at the end of last year and........"

That was all that Harry heard before his mind started to wander again. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in what Ron was saying; he did think that picking the new team was important, it was just that he knew something was going to happen this year, he just didn't know what!

Ron still hadn't noticed that Harry wasn't paying attention when the door to the compartment slid open. In stepped Hermione Granger and Ron's little sister Ginny, each with a handful of chocolate frogs.

"Oh my goodness! I think I'm in love!" Ron exclaimed when he saw the girls.

Hermione immediately blushed at this, then quickly composed herself when she realized he was talking about the frogs. The tips of Ron's ears turned red when he realized what he had said, but he quickly regained himself and said, "Chocolate frogs are the greatest!"

Harry noticed their reactions no matter how hard they had tried to hide them. He grinned to himself and then looked at Ginny, who had a similar smile on her face. At the end of the summer, while Harry and Hermione were staying with the Weasleys at The Burrow, she and Ron had started acting strange around each other. Neither of them would ever admit it, but Ginny told Harry she suspected that they had begun to fancy each other.

"Here. We got enough chocolate frogs to last the rest of the way to Hogwarts," Ginny said as she passed half her frogs to Harry. Hermione did the same for Ron, trying carefully, almost too carefully, not to blush when he touched her hand. "Oh, and you'll never guess what we just overheard some of the Slytherins saying!"

"Can't be good if it was coming from the Slytherins!" exclaimed Ron with a mouthful of chocolate.

"Well actually, it wasn't evil talk at all! They were just talking about the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher," said Hermione. "I overheard Pansy Parkinson telling Goyle that she heard a rumor that the new teacher is actually going to be the teacher that taught the class 15 years ago."

"Let's just hope he turns out to be a good guy this time!" said Ron. They all had a laugh at this, since two of the last DADA teachers had ended up working for Voldemort. Professor Lupin, their favorite DADA teacher so far, had been called out to work last year for the Ministry of Magic on some werewolf case in America.

"You mean, let's hope that SHE turns out to be a good guy!" Ginny giggled at the look on Ron's face. "That's right! The new DADA teacher is going to be a witch!"

"Really? Cool! But why did she quit teaching in the first place?" said Harry.

"That's what the Slytherins were talking about. They all had their theories on what happened," said Hermione. "But the one I thought was most interesting was the one about You-Know-Who."

"Voldemort?!?!" exclaimed Harry. They had all started to get used to Harry saying his name, but none of them were comfortable saying it. "What did they say?"

"They said that since she quit right around the time that he came into power, she probably worked for him," continued Ginny. "And that he was going to make a move again, and so she's back to take revenge on Hogwarts."

"But that's absurd!" said Harry. "Surely Dumbledore wouldn't make a mistake like that!"

"I would like to think so too, Harry, but look what happened with Quirrell and Crouch," reasoned Hermione. "He's made mistakes before."

"I'm so sure, Hermione," said Ron. "This is something you heard from the Slytherins. They probably wanted you to overhear so that you would come run and tell us and we would get all worried. In fact, this is probably something Malfoy cooked up."

"Maybe, but still--" started Hermione.

"Speaking of, where is Malfoy?" asked Ginny. "Not that I'm complaining, but he hasn't come to try and insult us once while we've been on the train, and I didn't see him with any of the other Slytherins."

"Oh, I wouldn't speak too soon sis," said Ron. "The trip isn't over yet, and I'm sure we'll see that slimy git soon enough. Now let's eat these frogs!" He gestured to the lot in his hands. They all smiled and started to unwrap their frogs and looking to see which wizard cards they had gotten.

The train continued on its journey, and without any run-ins with Malfoy as Ron predicted. Before long they could see Hogwarts in the distance. But Harry's strange feeling never went away, in fact it strengthened the closer they got. But he pushed it out of his mind, and talked excitedly with his friends about how fun this year would be.

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Draco Malfoy sat in an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express. He had shut the door and locked it at the beginning of the trip. He did not want to talk to any of his Slytherin 'friends' right now, and he definitely wasn't in the frame of mind to bother with Potter and Pals. He had a lot to think about. This summer at home had altered life as he knew it, and now he was faced with a choice. This choice would change him forever, no matter what he decided. And besides that, he was getting a strange feeling. It was a foreboding sense that something very big was going to happen at Hogwarts this year. Draco had never felt anything like this before, and its effect was quite unnerving. It was like excitement, anticipation, and fear all at the same time. He didn't know what to think of it.

Little did he know that at this moment, his nemesis was having the exact same feeling a few compartments over.

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Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny got off the Hogwarts Express and waited for a carriage to take them to the castle. They had been the first ones off the train, and so they were the first ones at the meeting place. They looked over to the platform by the lake and immediately caught sight of an old friend.

"Oi! Hagrid! How are you doing this year?" yelled Harry.

"Hey guys, I'm doing great!" he answered, his ruddy face smiling. He was untying the boats, getting ready for the first years. Suddenly, a great shadow passed overhead, accompanied by a loud screech. They all looked up to see what the racket was, and were greeted by the sight of a very large creature that was doing what looked like barrel rolls. It looked like a great dragon, but its coat had feathers in addition to scales. There were two twisted horns on either side of its head, poking up through what looked like a very thick mane.

"What in the world is that thing?" wondered Hermione aloud. "It looks like a dragon, but I've never seen one that looks quite like that! Are those feathers?" The creature stopped its screeching and started to sing a beautiful, yet eerie song, a song that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand. She looked and saw it had the same effect on the others. "Is that thing singing? What kind of crazy dragon is that? What kind of weird song is that?"

As if on cue, the great creature turned in their direction and dove at them, causing Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione to run in four different directions. The creature gave a snort before pulling out of the dive at the last minute. It continued to sing its spine-tingling song and fly lazily in the air above the castle.

The four picked themselves up off of the ground and shakily walked over to Hagrid, who was almost in tears laughing at them. "Oh, you should've seen all of your faces!" he said between breaths.

Ginny, who did not see this as remotely humorous glowered at him. "That thing tried to kill us, and you're laughing at us? Stop it, Hagrid! It's not funny!"

"I'm sorry, really!" breathed Hagrid, who did not look sorry for laughing in the slightest. "And that thing was not trying to kill you! She was just defending her singing from Hermione! She's singing because she's happy, give her a break!"

"Well, ok, I guess," said Ron reluctantly. "But you still haven't answered our question! What exactly is that thing? And why is she so happy for that matter?"

Just then, the rest of the students started to arrive at the meeting place. "Sorry, guess I'll just have to explain later," said Hagrid, who was running to meet the first years. "I'll see you in the Great Hall!"

"See you later!" Harry shouted as they watched him leading the onto the platform. "He's one weird bird when it comes to magical creatures," he said to the others. He was a bit curious about the song, and the weird calming effect it had on him. Something about that song was nagging at him, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

They looked up at the singing, flying beast one last time before stepping into the carriage. As Harry was reaching to close the door, he suddenly stopped for a moment, coming to a startling realization.

He had heard that unearthly song somewhere before.

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