Chapter 6: Phoenix
A/N: Well, the chapter that some of you are holding your breath for. Without further ado, lets get to the chapter.
Disclaimer: NO! Harry Potter is not mine!
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Harry Potter sat in his study room as he thought hard. I have been avoiding getting Sirius out of Azkaban as my magical endurance was really meager last time. Any major spell would be too exhausting. I think, now I can try to break into Azkaban. I only need to watch out for the Aurors.
It would not do Harry and the wizarding world any good should he get captured or die trying to get Sirius Black out of Azkaban prison. Harry contemplated if he should just leave Sirius alone and save Sirius like in the previous timeline, but he immediately dismissed that idea.
5 years in that hellhole is enough, I hope he is all right now. Where is Hermione when you need her? Harry sighed as he realized that his two confederates were either unaware of the wizarding world or just too young to be of any help right now. He had to do this alone.
He also thought about another problem; his dad believed that Sirius betrayed them, not to mention the entire assembly of the Order of the Phoenix. However, he decided that he would deal with the problem later.
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Two days and a lot of tea later, Harry Potter finally completed his plan to break Sirius out of his high security cell.
He planned to obtain Polyjuice Potion and disguise himself as one of the Aurors, the man he had in his mind was Kingsley. How Harry was going to obtain the Auror's hair he had absolutely no idea.
He would then take his brand new Locomote custom broom and Apparate to Edinburgh. He thought that this would be the best way to travel to Azkaban, as it was not possible to Apparate directly into Azkaban.
At Azkaban, his plan is simple, under the guise of an Auror, he would stun and feed them the Draught of Living Death and blast all Dementors he would encounter until Sirius was found.
When Harry finally meets Sirius, he would not give him a hug; but instead, he would stun Sirius to conceal his identity.
Finally, he ould drop Sirius at Grimmauld Place and leave him a note.
Satisfied with his plan, Harry sat down on the plush leather chair in his study. He pulled out a book on advanced healing magic, placed it on the Brazilian Rosewood table before summoning some parchment and a quill.
He opened the book and started studying it, taking notes on anything that caught his eye.
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It was 31st July, Harry's seventh birthday and Luna's sixth birthday. Both their parents decided to throw the both of them a combined birthday party.
Harry got out of his bed and dragged himself to his bathroom. Harry was used to waking before dawn, as he liked to watch the sunrise.
He took a hot shower and freshened up before dressing lightly, perfect for summer.
After finishing his early morning chores, he tiptoed into his father's room, noticing that the ornate door was ajar.
James Potter lay sprawled over his bed, he had not even bothered to undress or sleep under the comforter.
His untamable jet-black hair was more tousled than Harry had ever seen and worse, he reeked of Firewhiskey. He knew that his dad had a bad day and because of that, Harry didn't do the customary morning prank.
Knowing that his father would nurse an intense hangover, Harry went down to get a potion from the pantry.
He rummaged through the mostly useless potions until he found what he wanted, reFresh!© Mind Clearing potion. He also took his camera and brought both items up. He left the bottle of potion on the bedside table and took a photo of his father's undignified pose as he was making a photo album of the Potter family. He also left a note stating that he would be watching the sunrise at the usual area.
He quietly closed the heavy Brazilian Rosewood door and went to get his bag. Then he went off to the broom cupboard. He took out his Locomote broom.
The elegant broom was exactly like a Firebolt in the other timeline, except that it was a little more agile then the Firebolt. The Firebolt would probably be a replica of Harry's current broom as the profile of the bristles at the back and the shape of the handle was exactly the same.
Harry skillfully mounted his broom, Disillusioned himself and kicked off the ground hard.
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He soared high up into the cold morning air. The sky was still pitch black. He flew towards a hill in the more rural areas of Godric Hollows.
He thoroughly enjoyed the flight to the hill as he loved the feel of the acceleration of the broom. The wind in his hair, and the freedom of flying.
As he landed on his favorite hill, he wished that the flight had lasted a little longer. Conjuring a picnic mat, he placed it on the grass that was caked in morning dew.
He sat down on the mat and took out a book entitled Azkaban: A History and started reading as he waited for the sunrise. His glasses were charmed to slightly enhance his night vision. It was also unbreakable and rain repellant even though it looked exactly the same as his previous pair of spectacles.
Harry always wondered why he didn't purchase such a pair of spectacles in the other timeline; it would have saved him a lot of crashes when he was practicing Quidditch in the rain.
There still was at least half an hour before the sun would start rising. He was deeply engrossed in the book as he absorbed a lot of vital information.
Harry learnt that Azkaban was bursting with wards that prevent forced entry. Wards that could cast the bone breaking curse and stunning charm. This worried Harry a little, which made him hope that he would be able to complete his mission without getting killed or captured.
Harry lay back onto the picnic mat and looked up into the sky. Inhaling the cool morning air, he closed his eyes and relaxed.
He felt a tickling sensation on his face, he swatted at his face, thinking that insects had decided to set up a camp on him. Instead of hitting a bug, his hand brushed against long and straggly strands of hair, something he had only felt in the other time line.
His eyes immediately popped open to see two beautiful protuberant silvery-grey eyes filling his entire field of vision. He was not expecting this so he screamed.
"Hello Harry, why are you screaming." Luna asked, not knowing that she was the reason.
Harry, who was extremely self-conscious said, "Hi Luna, I wasn't screaming, I was just... shouting. It's not every day that someone visits me like this."
Luna's melodious giggle resonated through the quiet hill. Harry's mouth twitched up into a smile.
"By the way, what are you doing here? I don't remember seeing you here before." Harry spoke to her.
"My mum takes me to a different area every morning to see the sunrise in different view and today we came here." Luna said dreamily.
"Oh, I see. So where is she?" Harry said as he moved to the side of the picnic mat motioning Luna to sit beside him.
"Well, I think she went home to wake Daddy up. He has an important meeting and I suppose mummy doesn't want him to be late again." Luna replied as she sat down beside him.
"Let's watch the sunrise together." Harry said.
Slowly, the pitch-black sky turned to the deepest blue as the sun moved closer to the horizon.
The couple watched the sky turn to the slightest hint of orange before passing into the twilight period.
The sky was of a dark azure blue with hints of red, orange, pink and purple. It was truly a magnificent scene.
Luna leaned her head on Harry shoulders. Harry, who was caught off guard, tensed up before relaxing slightly. He hesitantly put an arm over her shoulder.
The sun peeked over the horizon and bathed the woods and hills with the early morning glow. Harry could see the Potter's manor in the distance; the lighting gave the handsome manor an ethereal aura.
Both of them enjoyed this particular sunrise a lot more than they usually did so.
Luna was first to speak, "I enjoyed this sunrise more than any others before, even though I do not know if it was your company or the scenery that made it so pleasant."
Harry smiled and looked at Luna, "Yes, it is the most enjoyable sunrise I've ever experienced. I do believe it's your company that did so."
"By the way, there is a phoenix hovering over us." Luna said, smiling.
"Fawkes?" Harry thought out loud as he looked up.
"You know this phoenix?" Luna stared at him.
Argh! Did I just say Fawkes's name out loud? I'm not supposed to know that phoenix until later. And there's nothing above us? Harry thought.
Harry stared back at her, "Uh… there is nothing above us?" Counter a question with a question was the best way to avoid having to answer to his knowledge about the phoenix.
"Well I see a golden phoenix above us. I'll ask mum when she comes. She knows more than I do." Luna replied.
Just then, Selene Lovegood Apparated to where she left her daughter. Her husband had, as usual, overslept and made a big mess.
Selene saw that her daughter was in the company of a raven, tousled hair boy. She immediately knew that the boy was none other than Harry Potter. Seeing such a scene brought a smile to her lips. The sight that she saw was a perfect one.
She walked over to the couple. Harry felt her presence, but tried not to show it. Spending a lot of time training with the paranoid senior Auror rubbed off onto him. She had walked very quietly but Harry heard the sound of her footsteps on the grass. But he kept quiet as he didn't want to arouse unwanted suspicions, especially around two Lovegoods.
Selene sat beside her daughter and said, "I guess I missed the sunrise here."
"Mummy!" Luna hugged her mother.
"Hello Mrs Lovegood." Harry said politely, blushing lightly as he realized that all the while Luna was leaning on him and his arm was around her. It felt so natural to him that he didn't realize it.
"Oh Harry, don't call me that, it makes me feel like an old lady. Call me Selene." She said, giving Harry a smile.
"Ok Selene." Harry returned the smile.
"Mummy why is there a golden phoenix above Harry and I?" Luna asked her mother.
Selene was taken aback by the question, not sure how the children would take the fact that they were soul mates. She finally decided to tell them the truth. Harry in the meantime took out 3 of the finest Butterbeers from his bag and passed 2 of them to the Lovegoods.
"Well, I don't know how to tell you two indirectly. So I'll come straight at it. The two of you are soul mates." Selene said bluntly.
Harry, who was taking a large gulp of Butterbeer, atomized his mouthful of the sweet beer and started coughing violently.
"Mummy what are soul mates?" Luna asked her mother, her now infamous curiosity aroused.
"Well, they are two individuals who are destined to be together. Everyone has just one soul mate. The both of you are really lucky to have found your soul mate." Selene explained carefully.
All these while Harry was in deep thought. Soulmates? That's a revelation! Even knowing what might happen 10 years from now didn't prepare me for this. I wonder how Luna takes this.
"Daddy and I are soul mates too. When we met in Hogwarts during the Yule Ball, we just felt so natural around each other. There is this special spark when I am with him. Our guardian is, oddly, a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Not much more is known about soul mates as it is extremely rare that anyone meet theirs in their entire life. What is known is that when soul mates come love each other, the love is as pure as a unicorn." Selene continued.
Harry and Luna were absorbing this new piece of information. They exchanged a glance at each other.
"Well, it is okay if the both of you choose to ignore it." Selene said and both the children shook their heads vigorously.
"Even though I hope that the both of you get together." Selene said. She would give her daughter her full support. She knew her daughter was much more matured then she looks.
The young couple blushed. Harry reached for Luna's hand and held it. She squeezed his hand in return.
The trio sat in silence as they started to drink Harry's Butterbeer.
"Mmm, this is delicious!" Luna and her mother exclaimed together.
Harry smiled at them and said, "Well, my dad owns the company, so I can get you some if you want."
"That would be nice." Selene said softly.
"Oh! Sorry, I have to go now. My dad had an extremely bad day. He might be awake now." Harry said quickly.
Harry stood up, Luna stood up as they were holding hands.
Luna hugged Harry tightly and said "See you later."
He hugged back just as tightly and said" See you later too."
"Bye Harry." Selene said.
"Bye Selene!" Harry said as he jumped on his broom.
He looked back, suddenly remembering a promise, he said, "Luna, don't worry, I wouldn't forget the promise of the broom flight. Another day! Bye!"
Harry shot towards the cerulean blue skies, pointing his broom back in the direction of the manor. He disillusioned himself wandlessly.
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Harry opened the front door and went to the kitchen where he hoped to find his father.
Seeing that his father wasn't in the kitchen, he went up to his father's room to check on him.
When he stepped into the room, he heard his father groan.
Must be the hangover Harry thought as he conjured a glass of water.
"Here have this." Harry helped his dad lean against the headboard and gave him the cup of water.
"Ahh, that's better." James said groggily.
"Here's the mind clearing potion." Harry passed the bottle to him.
James downed the whole bottle and felt reFreshed©. Only then he realized the great big smile plastered over Harry's face.
"Well?" James said, looking at Harry expectantly.
"What?" Harry replied, unsure at what his father was going at.
"There is no morning prank and there is a big smile on your face. Found a little moon this morning?" James teased.
"Well you did seem like you had a bad day, so only for today I gave you a break, just for today. Yes I did coincidentally meet Luna today. But what happened yesterday?" Harry said quickly.
"Well, I just lost the second largest business deal last night and had too much Firewhiskey after that. If only I had been better." James replied bitterly.
"Does it matter? You are the most successful businesswizard in Britain. Isn't it that other company's loss if they do not deal with you? And you are a good father too." Harry added, as an afterthought.
"You're right son, you may be a brat sometimes but you sure know how to make people feel special. Another bigger deal will come round. Now lets get ready for you and your little moon's birthday" James said as he hugged his son and ruffled his hair.
Harry blushed at the comment and helped his dad from the bed.
"Please take a shower. You stink to the high heavens. Deers will not be attracted to a stinky stag." Harry rebutted.
The Potters continued their breakfast like usual before heading out for a game of Quidditch to pass the time before the birthday dinner. Harry also learnt that quite a few Aurors would be present and he hoped to be able to get the hair for his plan to work.
Time passed extremely quickly as father and son goofed around on their lawn, soon it was about time to get ready for the party. They went back into the manor to clean up and dressed for the party.
As usual, his dad forced Harry to wear a midnight-black muggle suit.
"Dad! Is this necessary?" Harry said, exasperated.
"Yes sonny, do you want to leave your little moon in the lurch?" James said as he hexed the suit onto Harry and secured it such that Harry couldn't take it off.
Harry, who acted like a weak innocent child didn't counter the sticking charm his dad had used to hold the button tightly together, gave up trying to counter his father.
They went back down to wait for the guests.
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The Lovegood family arrived first. This time they took a Portkey so as not to damage their dress robes.
Xenophilius was as usual, dressed unusually. He wore bright yellow robes with an acid green shirt and red pants.
Selene was dressed in a light pink dress with earrings that seemed like frozen teardrops and a necklace of sea shells.
Luna wore an elegant light blue dress with her usual Butterbeer cork necklace and dirigible plums earrings.
Harry was stunned at how adorable she looked.
"Hello Xeno," Harry said.
"Selene," James continued.
"And Luna." Harry ended and gave them a wide smile.
The Lovegoods looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.
"Did I hear" Fred said, appearing out of nowhere.
"Someone tried our" George continued.
"TandemSpeak Copyrighted?" Fred finished.
"Harry Birthday and happy birthday, Luna!" The Weasleys shouted, as Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley, Ron, Percy, Bill and Charlie appeared in the living room.
Soon everyone exchanged greetings and presents before they waited for the rest of the guests to come before the party started.
Harry hoped that an Auror would come so that he can try to get their hairs for the Polyjuice Potion.
His prayers were answered when Kingsley Shacklebolt stepped through the front door.
Harry jaws dropped as he saw that Kingsley Shacklebolt had long black hair.
Harry forced shut his mouth and went to talk with him.
"Hello Harry. I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt. Call me Kingsley. Happy birthday." Kingsley said in the slow and deep voice that was reassuring to those who spoke to him.
"Hello Kingsley! Thank you. Come in please." Harry said jovially.
With that, Harry started planning on how to obtain Kingsley's hair. He decided to enroll the help of the Weasley twins.
"Hey Fred!" Harry whispered to Fred loudly.
"I'm George." Fred replied.
"Oh quit jesting you have a mole over your right eyebrow!" Harry whispered again.
A stunned Fred and George made their way towards Harry.
"Hey guys, have you played a rather major prank on an Auror before?" Harry started.
"Never." The twins said together.
"Here is your chance. Let's prank Kingsley!" Harry whispered conspirationally.
"Are you," George started.
"Out of your mind?" Fred finished the sentence.
Harry was taken aback by how timid the twins were right now.
"But, what are pranks" Fred started this time.
"Without risks involved." George added.
"We are in." The twins said with determination.
"Ok, here's the plan." Harry started. With that, he outlined his plan to prank on Kingsley. It involved dirtying his hair and allowing him to take a shower with Harry's specially spiked shampoo, which would cause hair fall.
"Wicked!" The twins said together.
The twins then set off to search for an UnScourgifyable© Dunk Bomb they had planted in their previous visit.
Harry in the mean time was having a good time with Luna, chatting about anything and everything. They discussed magical creatures to the current minister for magic.
Harry excused himself when he saw that his two accomplices smirking away.
"How did it go?" Harry asked.
"It should be set off about... Now!" George said as an explosion was heard in the background.
Less than a minute later, a smelly and smiling Kingsley Shacklebolt walked into the living room and said, "Whoever set this prank up has great potential as an Auror."
Harry exchanged glances with the twins and smiled. The rest were laughing and pinching their nose in an attempt to stop the smell from infiltrating their nose.
"Now where is the shower? I found out that the remnants of the bomb cannot be Scourgified away." He continued.
"Here follow me." Harry said innocently as he led Kingsley Shacklebolt into the second stage of this trap.
Harry showed him to the bathroom and went back down to give a thumbs up for their work.
A few moments later, a bald Kingsley walked into the room where raucous laughter erupted from everyone in the room.
James recovered first and said, "You do look better when you are bald."
Everyone agreed spontaneously. Kingsley conjured a mirror and agreed himself.
Meanwhile, Harry went to the bathroom to collect Kingsley's hair, hoping that the house elves had yet to clean the bathroom.
They hadn't. Several strands of hair were caught on the drain cover. Harry dried them and stashed them away in his secret compartment. Now preparations to rescue Sirius are almost ready.
All he had to do was to purchase Polyjuice Potion and the Draught of Living Death.
Harry and Luna's birthday ended quickly and everyone enjoyed himself or herself tremendously.
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The next day, Harry as usual, woke up early and had breakfast with his dad before saying good-bye.
Harry got ready to go to Knockturn Alley to purchase the potions, as he used a few cosmetic charms to increase his size and to disguise his face. He wore a hooded robe to cover his head.
He Floo-ed to the Leaky Cauldron and entered through the magically concealed entrance to Diagon Alley.
Diagon Alley looked exactly like how it looked in the other time line, except that the attendants were much younger.
Harry hastily walked towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley and rounded the corner.
Knockturn Alley was just as dirty and smelly as he remembered. Harry kept walking briskly, passing by rows and rows of filthy shop houses selling almost everything related to the dark arts.
He finally found what he was looking for, a small and clean (as compared to the rest of the alley) shop where the door to the shop was extremely weathered and battered. One of the two hinges had failed; as Harry opened the door, a loud scraping noise was heard.
Once he stepped into the shop, a short and scraggy old man appeared.
"What do you want?" The old man scowled.
Harry cast a charm so that his voice would appear much lower than it actually is.
"I need 5 doses of Polyjuice Potion and 6 doses of the Draught of Living Death. I'm offering a100 galleons." Harry said in his new and low voice and in a tone matching the old man's scowl.
The old man went to the stores and obtained the 11 crystal flasks from the stores.
"Are these well made?" Harry asked rudely.
"They are brewed to perfection; only the finest ingredients are used." The old man replied as a flash of hurt appeared on his wrinkled face.
Harry kept the flasks and threw the bag of galleons on the table.
He hastily left for home.
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2nd A/N: Well another chapter closer to a lot of things. I hoped you like it. If possible, do leave a review should you like it or hate it. Suggestions are welcomed too!