Guess who's back!
Did you guys know that I love you? And that I'm sorry for being so evil?
Well, I love you, and I'm sorry for being evil. :P
Summer was the most tedious two months of Pepper's existence. She spent every day, lying in bed, wishing she were anywhere but home. She dreamed of Hogwarts every night, of the Lake, the mountains, the twisting passageways of the old castle, the cozy Gryffindor common room, even the feeling of sinking into her four-poster bed every night. She missed practicing her witchcraft, and brewing potions, and hexing Slytherins when their backs were turned. Most of all, she missed her friends. Albus, Sacha and Rose, at least, were frequent correspondents, but Pepper hadn't heard from Grape, Mikaela or Cameron since they had said goodbye at Kings Cross Station at the end of the school year.
While Pepper's fellow students had run in to the waiting arms of family and friends after stepping off the Hogwarts Express, Pepper had been met with the sullen face of the family maid just outside the platform, who had seized Pepper and immediately pushed her through the crowd, and in to the waiting taxi that idled on the sidewalk, waiting. It was as if she had wanted to get Pepper away from the 'dangerous', magical folk as quickly as possible.
Pepper's father hadn't been home when Pepper returned, and she hadn't seen very much of him at all in the two months since the end of the school year. He was constantly working, or having business meetings, or going to dinners with family friends. Every so often, he would crack Pepper's door open, to check up on her. Every time, his voice cracked and squeaked as he stammered reluctant greetings, and he flinched every time she moved. He was terrified of her. Pepper was glad. It would have been worse if he faked being nice to her, if he pretended that he could still love her, even after the lie he had made out of her life.
Pepper squeezed the familiar red ball between her fingers. Besides her, lying open with its spine to the ceiling, was her Standard Book Of Spells, Grade One textbook. The pages were bent and worn, in places the corners had been turned down to mark a particularly interesting spell. She had been practicing spells within the confines of her room, sometimes staying up late into the night to perfect a spell. Pepper's wand had a special place of honour on her bedside table, its wood warm from constant use. Pepper knew she could be expelled from Hogwarts for doing magic, but she didn't care. As long as the maids or her father didn't walk in on her practicing witchcraft, she figured she was safe.
At that moment, Pepper was feeling angry, bored, depressed, and unhappy in general. Her father had paid one of his visits to her just that morning and it had left her feeling empty. She had been working her way through the 'Lumos' charm, and she was trying to extend the period of time she could keep her wand lit. Pepper's father had poked his head in while the wand was sill in Pepper's hand, and his face had blanched to the colour of oatmeal at the sight of his daughter, armed with a magical weapon. His feet had carried him back down the stairs faster than Pepper could have explained.
Squeezing the stress ball, Pepper grunted in discontentment. Serves him right, she thought. Kept it secret from me all these years, now he just has to learn to deal with it. Several times, Pepper had contemplated turning her father into a toad or a small rodent of some kind. But she knew that there was no way she would be able to return to Hogwarts if she did. And returning to Hogwarts was what Pepper wanted more than anything.
The ruby charm, nestled in the hollow of Pepper's throat, sparked and burned quietly to the rhythm of Pepper's angry thoughts. It fumed when she did, it burned with sorrowful fire when she cried, and it missed the magical world as much as Pepper did. On a daily basis, Pepper felt the strong desire to burn, to let the flames lick her skin and purge the darkness away from her heart. But she wouldn't. She couldn't, not until she could control it. So the fire burned within her, a slumbering monster, waiting endlessly and impatiently to be let out. Pepper shivered at the thought.
Pepper closed her eyes, and the light from her ceiling shone through her closed lids, tingeing her black solitude with a bloody red. The house was quiet - it was well after 7pm, so the maids and other house staff had left for the day. Pepper's father was likely holed up in his office, eating his dinner in front of the computer screen while he e-mailed his bosses, and his boss's bosses, and everyone who came in between. He would turn out his lights sometime after 11om, and Pepper would be free to sneak down in to the kitchen, and grab her provisions for the next day. It had been that way all summer, so that they would have to see each other as little as possible. Thank goodness Pepper's room had an attached bathroom.
Then suddenly, there was music. It soared through Pepper's ears, playing notes across her mind that were both impossibly high and low, weaving a strange melody of incomprehensible beauty. The symphony of sound felt as though it came from Pepper's own heart. If it had been colour, it would have been a deep, shining and pure gold, weaving like liquid and streaming over Pepper's entire being. It felt like summer, it smelled like spring, tasted like ice cream on a hot day, and it sounded like magic. It was wonderful.
The music struck a new chord in Pepper's soul, and a sudden longing and excitement, and a curiosity swept over her, embodied by the melody. Pepper felt herself rising to her feet, and she danced gracefully across the room to the window. The pane slid upwards, and the beautiful sound grew louder. It came not from Pepper's soul, but from something that drew nearer with every note. Pepper stepped back from the window, and a shining, glistening light burst in flames in front of her, a pillar of fire on her window sill. The heatless, smokeless fire dimmed, and it took Pepper a moment to realize that the fire had disappeared, leaving the creature in its place.
The bird had the most magnificent plumage, shining and pristine. The tail feathers were impossibly long, hanging out of the window several feet. They were a deep, burning scarlet, and they shone with the same fire as Pepper's ruby. The body was of the same scarlet, as well as burnished gold and blazing orange feathers. Here and there, feather like white flames appeared so hot that they would burn the touch. Atop the birds head - Pepper felt strange calling the creature a bird, when it was clearly so much more- were elongated feather of scarlet and sapphire blue, some falling behind the bird's head, others gracing the sharp, golden beak and partially covering the creature's liquid black, intelligent eyes. Those eyes blinked sentiently at Pepper, and she saw a deep recognition behind them.
Cautiously, Pepper stretched a hand towards the magnificent phoenix, for she now realized that was what the bird was. Her fingers reached timidly, but the phoenix did not flinch or shy away from her hand. It spread its wings, all three foot span of them, and flapped once, rising into the air slightly before gliding gracefully down to the ground at Pepper's feet. She knelt slowly, not wanting to startle it, her hand still outstretched, but the phoenix stayed still. Emboldened suddenly, Pepper leaped across the last few centimeters to lightly touch the beak of the phoenix.
Pain, a bright and searing heat, flared up her arm and into her heart. Pepper cried out silently, and whipped her hand back to cradle it against her chest. The pain rose in her chest, into her throat, so Pepper thought she might choke on it. The ruby burned with a gentle fire, however, and the heat was drawn out of her. It was gone as quickly as it had come, though Pepper felt a strange tingling sensation in the hollow of her throat beneath the ruby charm. Pepper prodded the area and shivered as her finger, seemingly so cold, made contact with the burned flesh. Looking down at her hand, Pepper saw that the tips had been burned red.
"Ouch," she murmured. She felt a twinge of concern, not her own, and Pepper raised her head to meet the intelligent eyes of the phoenix. He - Pepper knew it was a he - was searching her face, and at the corner of each beady black eye, a tear glistened. Pepper felt the twinge of concern again, riding on a shining golden cord that seemed to stretch from her mind to his like a bar of music across a page. The phoenix leaned his head forward, and a single tear fell on to Pepper's sore fingers. Instantly, the throbbing vanished, replaced with a cool, soothing feeling. the redness faded away.
"Thank you," Pepper whispered. The phoenix cocked his head, and across the golden thread, Pepper felt something akin to a mental eye roll. Pepper laughed, and the phoenix let out a single, joyous musical note, their laughter combining into a perfect harmony that hung in the air around them. Pepper felt the phoenix next to her, every feather, every movement, and every emotion that flitted across the ancient and most musical mind. She felt a strong connection to the creature, a feeling like having a sibling. Pepper gasped. "Are you mine?"
Another mental eye roll, but with it, a strong sense of conviction and contentment that let Pepper know that she was right in calling the phoenix hers. "Well," she said, surprising herself with the calm evenness of her tone. Inside, she was bursting with excitement at the thought of having a phoenix of her own, a deeply magical and powerful creature to share a special bond with. "If you're my phoenix, you need a name." The phoenix blinked his understanding. "How about Fegan?" Across the golden cord, Pepper felt a deep satisfaction as she uttered Fegan's name for the first time.
Fegan cooed, a warbling note that wavered happily in Pepper's ears. "Fegan it is," she said, tasting the name on her tongue. It tasted like coals in her mouth, warm and bitter and sweet all at the same time. She stretched a hand towards Fegan, and he slid his head forward to meet her fingertips. His head rubbed enthusiastically against her hand, and Pepper imagined him purring like a cat in contentment. She smiled, the first real smile that had crossed her face in the months since vacation had started.
"Pepper!" Pepper flinched, but before she could slip Fegan into her closet or the bathroom, her father stuck his head in her doorway. "If you'd like to join me for supper, I...' his voice faltered, then trailed off as he took in the sight of Pepper sitting on the floor, an enormous fiery bird practically in her lap. "Oh my," he whispered, and his eyes widened, his face purpling to a violent shade of raspberry. Pepper opened her mouth to explain, but her father shook his head furiously, and ducked out of the room. She heard his footsteps and he barreled down the stairs, cursing the whole way, and the resounding thud as his office door slammed shut.
"Crap," Pepper said, and she cussed under breath. She pulled her hand away from Fegan's head and rose swiftly to her feet. Fegan opened his beak in protest. Come on, Pepper thought, using the golden thread to project her thoughts. From Fegan she felt a disgruntled reply, and with another beating of his powerful wings, he rose up and landed on her outstretched arms, his talons enclosing her entire forearm. With her new friend perched on her arm, Pepper hurried out the door and down the stairs to reason with her father.
Worth the wait? Let me know!