Soul Phoenix
by Healer Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC. Rating M for multiple character deaths throughout this story.

It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you very much for the kind feedback on the previous chapter!


Harry carefully walked over to where Dudley was standing in front of what seemed to be a mirror.

'No, it's not a mirror,'he quickly realised. 'What is it?' He saw himself standing in what seemed to be the founders' living room surrounded by his five friends and Draco as well as Severus, Remus, Petunia and Sybill. 'They're not here though. Why can I see them?' he wondered, when Dudley brought him out of his musings.

"Harry, this is too cool," he blurted out. "I see myself as a dog spending the night of the full moon together with Remus in his wolf form and you in your phoenix form. I'm a dog Animagus!"

"Then you need to really practise to become one," Harry replied, feeling very happy for his cousin. "Maybe the mirror shows us the future."

"What do you see?" Dudley suddenly asked.

"I see the two of us being in the founders' quarters together with our friends and family," Harry explained, matter-of-factly.

"So it might be the future," Dudley replied, pensively. "Maybe it can teach me how to become a dog. Let's come back here in the morning when it's a bit brighter than now."

Harry immediately agreed, and the two boys popped themselves back right into their dormitory, hoping that Ron had not woken up noticing that they had been gone for a while.

HP

In the morning, the cousins talked about the strange mirror and suddenly decided to just ask the adults about it.

At breakfast, Harry addressed Severus, who was sitting next to him. "Yesterday, Dudley and I were exploring some unused part of the castle when we came to a strange mirror," he said and explained what they saw in the mirror.

While Severus quirked an eyebrow, making Harry understand that he knew nothing about it, Dumbledore leaned forward to face the boys.

"That, my boys, was the Mirror of Erised," he replied and explained, "It displays nothing but your greatest desire. It neither shows you the future nor is it able to help you achieve what you saw in it. It's a very dangerous artefact which can make people addicted but doesn't do any good. I will move it to a different place today. Please do not go looking for it."

"We won't," Harry and Dudley promised, sincerely.

"It's all right, Dudley. I'll help you with the Animagus transformation," Harry whispered to his cousin in a soothing voice.

"Yes please," Dudley replied, eagerly. "Even if the mirror doesn't display the future, it has somehow encouraged me that I'll manage the Animagus transformation."

From that time onwards, Harry made Dudley practise the Animagus transformation twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

HP

Two days later was the full moon, and Severus asked Harry if he had time and was willing to assist with the brewing of the Wolfsbane potion.

"Of course," Harry replied, indignantly. 'How could he assume that I wouldn't assist,' he thought in annoyance.

The brewing of the Wolfsbane took almost the whole day with a couple of small breaks when the potion had to simmer.

During one of these times, Harry spoke with Severus about auras. He explained how he had been surprised noticing that Percy Weasley had two auras when he first came to Hogwarts and that he had only found out later that the boy had probably been carrying around his pet rat. He then explained how he had managed to change the rat's yellow and black with the green frame to yellow and black with a pink frame, causing Severus to smirk.

"You made him a Squib, right?" he asked in apparent amusement.

"Oh well, I hope so, Harry replied. "I'm not sure though, as I had thought if its rat form was an Animagus form he'd automatically change back to his human form, provided that he has one. He didn't though. Oh well, why I'm telling you all of his," he got back to the point, "is that Professor Quirrell also has two auras. Always though, so I don't know if he's permanently carrying around a pet with him."

Seeing that Severus was listening with apparent interest, Harry continued, "Quirrell's auras are grey with the green frame as well as black with a green frame which is speckled with red. From all that I know, red is the colour of ghosts. At least the ghosts here at Hogwarts all have red auras or, well, a red frame around black, grey or white."

Severus cast the boy a horrified look. "Harry," he slowly began to speak, "I've been suspecting Professor Quirrell for a while now, especially after he openly attacked you during the Quidditch match. I believe that he's possessed by the spirit of the Dark Lord. So far, I could not find any proof for my belief, however, the red aura is evidence enough that it has to be a spirit that's with him."

"All right," Harry said, slowly. "Then I'll try to focus on him during the next Defence Against the Dark Arts classes and try to change his green-red frame to pink. Will that do?"

"I'm not sure," Severus replied, thoughtfully brushing an errand strand of hair from his cheek. "I suggest that you ask Ceridwen about it. Maybe you'll have to just vanish the green and the red completely if that's possible. I suppose that it would made his spirit die then, but as I don't know much about auras, Ceridwen would be much better to help you."

"Okay, I'll ask her. Thank you so much for listening and believing me," Harry replied, smiling.

"Harry?" Severus asked in a soft voice. "Why would I not believe you?"

"Because neither Ceridwen nor Remus believed me when I told them about the rat being an Animagus," Harry said in a small voice, before they returned to the final step of the Wolfsbane.

HP

As soon as the Wolfsbane was finished, Harry made his way to Remus', Sybill's and his own rooms to speak with Ceridwen. Confirming in relief that the living room was empty, as he really wanted to speak with his grandmother in private, he lowered himself to the floor and informed Ceridwen about Professor Quirrell's auras and his conversation with Severus.

"Severus is right," Ceridwen said, pensively. "You have to get rid of the green and red frame. The problem is that you must proceed very slowly. Otherwise, the possessor might notice something and in return attack you, and the possessed person is an adult, thus far more experienced in a fight than you."

"I'll do it very slowly," Harry promised. "I can't do much at once anyway, or I'm going to deplete my magic. In the case of the rat, I did it in many sessions, but the originally green frame is completely pink now."

"Please check occasionally that it remains pink," Ceridwen advised him, causing Harry to stare at her in shock, before he promised to check the rat on a regular basis.

HP

Finally, the other students came back to Hogwarts, and right after the welcoming banquet, Harry and Dudley gathered their friends in the living room of the founders to tell them about the trapdoor that Fluffy was guarding and about the plan to write to Nicholas Flamel asking him to consider removing the stone from the castle.

Hermione and Lily promised to help Harry write his letter, however, postponed the matter to the following afternoon, stating that curfew was going to commence soon and it would not do well to get into trouble before school had even begun again.

HP

Twenty hours later, Harry sat at the desk in the office of the founders' quarters with Lily and Hermione occupying the chairs on each side of him.

"Harry, you should ask him to not tell Dumbledore about the matter before talking to you, as we don't really trust Dumbledore," Neville advised him from where their friends were observing the scene.

"All right," Harry agreed and began to write according to Hermione's and Lily's dictations.

'Dear Mr. Flamel,
Please excuse me for suddenly writing to you. My friends and I have found out that a Cerberus has been placed into our school, just behind a door which can be opened with a simple Alohomora spell, to guard your Philosopher's Stone.
We believe that this setting is much too dangerous for the hundreds of students in this school. Apart from this, your stone is anything but safe here. One of our professors seems to be possessed by the spirit of Voldemort, and we can well imagine that he is more than eager to lay his hands on your stone.

For all these reasons, we would appreciate it if you could consider removing your stone from our school, and as the owner of Hogwarts, I would like to discuss the matter with you in private before alerting Headmaster Dumbledore to this conversation. Frankly speaking, I don't trust him to have the students' best interests in mind.

We can meet in the founders' quarters at Hogwarts at any time during the weekend which is convenient for you.

Best regards
Harry Potter
Owner of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry'

"That's great Harry," Neville voiced, once Harry had read the letter aloud.

"Shall I take it to the owlery?" Su offered, causing Harry to smile.

"Thanks Su, but I think I'm going to change into my phoenix form and deliver the letter myself," he decided and, seeing his friends nod in agreement, transformed.

"Be careful, Harry," Lily advised him.

Harry gave her a sharp nod and let out a small series of comforting trills, before he took the parchment into his beak and flashed away, thinking of Nicholas Flamel as he departed.

An instant later, he arrived in what seemed to be the living room of a large manor. A man and a woman were sitting on a comfortable looking sofa reading books. Harry hovered in front of the man and took the letter into his right foot, holding it out to him.

"Is that for me?" the man, who seemed much younger than Harry had imagined him, asked in a soft voice.

#Yes# Harry replied, nodding his head.

"Thank you," Flamel said, as he carefully took the letter from Harry's foot.

"My you're a beautiful bird," his wife commented. "Are you some kind of phoenix?"

Harry bobbed his head up and down and let out a series of happy trills.

"Nicholas, have you ever seen such kind of phoenix?" the lady then enquired.

"No, I haven't," her husband replied. "From what I read in the books, I believe that he must be a soul phoenix though. They're rarer than any other kind of phoenix. About one in a millennium."

'He must be very wise,'Harry thought. 'No one at Hogwarts but Fawkes and of course Ceridwen and probably the other founders would know such a thing.' He trilled a good-bye, seeing that Nicholas engrossed himself in his letter, and flashed back to Hogwarts.

"Done," he said to his friends, who were waiting for him in the living room.

HP

As early as the following morning at breakfast, a beautiful snowy owl approached Harry offering him a letter. Harry carefully took it off the owl's foot and gently fed the animal a piece of bacon, before he opened the letter in excitement. It was from Nicholas Flamel.

'Dear Mr. Potter,
Thank you so very much for your letter containing valuable information. I'd like to visit you, together with my wife Perenelle, coming Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Please inform me if this is convenient for you and tell me the name of the fireplace that we can use without attracting the headmaster's attention.
Yours sincerely
Nicholas Flamel
P.S. May I congratulate you on your beautiful phoenix, which I suppose is a soul phoenix? A gorgeous animal!'

Seeing that the snowy owl seemed to be waiting for a response, Harry quickly reached into his book bag for a piece of parchment and a quill and scribbled as tidily as he could manage.

'Dear Mr. Flamel,
I look forward to seeing you on Saturday. The name of the fireplace is 'Hogwarts Founders Quarters'.
Best greetings and please give my regards to your wife
Harry Potter'

'Flamel and his wife seem really nice,'Harry thought, as he attached his parchment to the owl's leg and quickly pocketed the letter from Mr. Flamel. 'Dumbledore would kill me for this though – if he knew.'

HP

Harry could not wait for Saturday to arrive, as he was really looking forward to his conversation with Nicholas Flamel. However, he consoled himself with the task of trying to change Voldemort's aura during his Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

This, however, was extremely difficult. It was not as if the professor would remain seated at his desk, unmoving, but if anyone came between him and Harry, Harry would not be able to manipulate his aura. It could even become extremely dangerous if anyone stepped between them.

'I must be quick, and I must put a lot of magic into it, even if not too much,'he thought, feeling extremely uncomfortable at the task at hand.

The chance arrived on Friday morning, when Harry was sitting between Lily and Draco in the first row and Dudley involved the professor into a longer conversation about the question how to efficiently fight a mountain troll. Hermione and Su assisted Dudley, and the professor remained standing not far from Harry for about ten minutes – long enough for Harry to make a first attempt at meddling with the possessor's aura.

He concentrated on the green frame that was speckled with red using his wish magic to change the green to pink. To his relief, he succeeded in one go, and the frame was now a mixture of pink and red. 'Next time, I'll try to vanish the pinkish red frame,' he resolved and nodded, unobtrusively, for his friends to know that they could stop questioning Quirrell.

"That was fast, Harry," Lily commented, when they finally left the classroom. "Are you getting the knack of it?"

"I hope so," Harry replied, grinning. "Oh well, I practised a lot with that stupid rat."

"It's a very valuable ability to harm your enemies," Hermione spoke up, seemingly impressed.

"Oh well, I just hope it'll work before he realises what I'm doing," Harry breathed, sighing deeply.

"In the worst case, you must transform into your phoenix form and flash away immediately," Su instructed him, causing Harry to nod.

"Tomorrow morning, the Flamels are going to come," he changed the topic. "Will you all join us in the living room?"

"Of course, I can't wait to meet them," Hermione blurted out. "They're more than six hundred years old. They surely have interesting stories to tell."

Everyone else agreed, and Harry felt very much reassured by his friends' presence, when they were sitting in the founders' living room waiting for the fireplace to flare the following morning.

Punctually at ten o'clock, the fireplace sprang to life, and Nicholas Flamel stepped out, immediately followed by his wife.

Harry stood to greet his guests, before he introduced his friends as well as the founders and motioned the Flamels to take a seat.

"I can't recall having seen you around," Helga spoke up, giving the Flamels a sharp look.

Mrs. Flamel smiled at the portrait. "No Madame, we both attended Beauxbatons."

"Much to our regret, as Hogwarts seems to be a wonderful school," her husband added.

In the meantime, Harry called Gina and asked the elf for some refreshments, which appeared on the table an instant later.

"Mr. Flamel," he addressed his guest and came straight to the point. "I'm sorry for suddenly writing to you. However, I thought that the situation was inadequate and needed to be solved one way or the other, preferably not involving the headmaster until the last minute."

Flamel let out a deep sigh. "You must know that Albus Dumbledore is an old friend of mine," he began to explain. "At one time, he even was my student. Anyway, Albus told Perenelle and me that he feared that the stone might not be safe at our home and promised to keep it safe for us. As far as I know, he had it in a vault at Gringotts, however, moved it to a, as he said, safer, secret place last summer. We didn't know that he kept it at Hogwarts, which is of course inacceptable, especially if guarded by a Cerberus."

"Yes sir," Harry agreed, nodding.

"I will speak with Albus and ask him to hand me the stone," Flamel added. "Now as to what you wrote about one of the professors being possessed by Voldemort," he continued, "does the headmaster know about this?"

Harry scoffed. "I'd believe that a headmaster, let alone one as famous as Albus Dumbledore, should know exactly what's happening in the school that he's supposed to keep safe. I'd rather not speak with him, as he uses to just shrug things off with a grandfatherly smile and the words 'It's all for the Greater Good'."

"I understand," Flamel replied, smiling. "If so, why don't you speak with Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? I'm sure she could help you with the possessed professor."

"Mr. and Mrs. Flamel, may I rely on your secrecy if I tell you something that should not be generally known?" Harry asked, and, while he would have contented himself with a verbal promise, the Flamels immediately raised their wands to swear an oath that they'd keep his secret.

"The soul phoenix, which you saw the other day," Harry hesitantly explained, "is not my familiar. It's my Animagus form." Ignoring the Flamels' gasp, he quickly transformed into his phoenix form and back before continuing, "As a soul phoenix, I'm able to see and tamper with auras. At the moment, I'm trying to change Voldemort's aura in a way as to eliminate him from Professor Quirrell and turn him harmless."

"Ah," Flamel said in apparent understanding. "That must be the power he knows not." Realising that Harry eyed him in confusion, he enquired, "I suppose that you know about the prophecy, Mr. Potter?"

"Prophecy?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"Yes," Flamel confirmed, sighing. "There's a prophecy that has been made about you and Voldemort. I don't know the exact wording, but the meaning is that you're the only one able to vanquish Voldemort by a power he doesn't know. I wonder why Albus didn't tell you this, as he was the one who recited it to me. It was made shortly before you were born and apparently was the reason why Voldemort went after your family."

"Dumbledore told me nothing," Harry replied, angrily. "Thank you very much for informing me about the prophecy. I really appreciate it."

After some chit-chat about various matters, the Flamels finally stepped back into the fireplace to return home – not after reassuring Harry that he would be welcome to contact them if he needed help with anything.

HP

"That went well," Hermione stated, once their guests were gone.

"Oh well, I wonder if Dumbledore is willingly going to return the stone to Flamel and to get rid of the Cerberus," Dudley replied, wearing a doubtful expression.

"We'll have to wait for Flamel's owl to know," Harry said, calmly. "I'm rather shocked about that prophecy. How could Dumbledore not tell me about something that important?"

"He's a total git," Su commented. "He should have trained you from an early time onwards."

"I'm done with Dumbledore, really," Harry said, angrily. "Maybe we should ask Madam Bones for her opinion about having a Cerberus at the school."

"She's Susan's aunt and very nice," Lily informed him, smiling. "At least if Dumbledore doesn't agree to remove the stone and the dog, we should do so."

"All right," Harry agreed and called his house-elf. "Gina, please keep an eye on the corridor where Fluffy is placed. If Professor Quirrell ever comes near that corridor, please inform me immediately," he instructed the elf.

"Yes Master Harry," Gina promised with eagerness.

"So at least we don't have to worry about the stone for the time being," Harry said, contentedly.

"I just hope Flamel will contact Dumbledore right away, so that we can forget about the whole matter as soon as possible," Hermione spoke up, letting out a sigh of clear annoyance.

HP

Two days later, Harry received a message from Nicholas Flamel informing him that he had conducted a longer conversation with Dumbledore, but that he had not managed yet to convince the headmaster. He promised however, that he was not going to rest until Dumbledore would promise to return the stone to him.

Unfortunately, it was just a couple of days later that Gina popped into Harry's dormitory, when Harry was just about to drift off to sleep.

"Master Harry, Professor Quirrell is approaching Fluffy," the elf informed him.

"Thank you Gina," Harry replied, urgently, before he waved Dudley and Neville over and quickly informed his friends. "Neville, please fetch Remus and Severus, Dudley, come with me," he instructed them, before he made himself invisible and popped away, feeling relieved to see that Dudley accompanied him.

When they appeared in the corridor, Professor Quirrell was just casting "Alohomora" and stepped into the Cerberus' room.

Dudley immediately began to fire the couple of curses that the first-years had learned by now, while Harry concentrated on Voldemort's aura and with a strong bout of magic tried to completely vanish the pinkish-red part. Just before he collapsed, unconscious, due to the depletion of his magic, Harry noticed that Quirrell's turban came off.

HP

Dudley looked at the half-empty head with bewilderment, sighing in relief, when Neville arrived with Remus and Severus in tow just an instant later.

"Dudley, what happened?" Severus asked, urgently, looking at Harry's and Quirrell's unconscious figures.

"Harry worked on Voldemort's aura until they both collapsed and Quirrell's turban suddenly came off," Dudley stammered, giving his cousin a frightened look. "Will Harry be all right, sir?"

Severus nodded. "He probably merely depleted his magic. We need to wake him up and ask what happened to Voldemort. Perhaps he's gone now, but only Harry will be able to assess that." He pointed his wand at the boy, casting, "Enervate."

"Harry," Severus addressed the boy, as soon as he stirred. "I'm sorry for waking you up. Can you just once check Professor Quirrell's aura, please?"

"Just grey and green now," Harry mumbled in exhaustion. "I think I got rid of Voldemort's spirit."

"You surely did," Severus confirmed. "Congratulations, Harry."

HP

When Harry's mind returned to consciousness the next time, he found himself lying in a bed in the hospital wing. It was fairly dark around him. Only two torches were lit at the far end of the room. He could make out a tall figure sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"Severus?" he whispered, causing the older wizard to wake up.

"Harry," Severus replied, sounding relieved. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Harry said, glad that it was too dark for Severus to see that he rolled his eyes in annoyance at the unnecessary question. "Is Voldemort really gone now?"

Severus remained quiet for a moment, before he replied, seemingly hesitant, "For the time being, he's gone, thanks to you. But I don't think that he's really gone yet. I have no idea how he managed to come back, but I believe that he'll do the same thing again. Perhaps, the headmaster knows, but…"

"Sorry Severus, but I don't trust Dumbledore at all," Harry interrupted the older wizard. "He didn't even tell me about something as important as the prophecy."

"You know about the prophecy," Severus stated more than he asked in apparent surprise.

"You know about it then," Harry stated, trying to keep his voice void of anger.

"Yes, I knew about it, but the headmaster forbade me to speak about it with anyone," Severus said, apologetically.

"Nicholas Flamel told me about it," Harry replied and informed his mentor about his conversation with the old wizard.

"Harry, maybe it would be wise if you asked Mr. Flamel if he knew how the Dark Lord managed to come back," Severus suggested. "Perhaps he came across something like this during his long life."

"That's a good idea," Harry agreed. "I'll write to him."

"There's something else about which I'd like to speak with you if you're not too tired," Severus stated, seemingly hesitating.

"It's fine, sir," Harry replied, looking at the professor in expectation.

"So far, I've made you brew potions for Aunt Poppy during your Potions class," Severus slowly began to explain, "however, there are methods that would see to it that you'd be rewarded for doing the same thing. One way would be to make you my so-called student assistant. If you brewed potions for the hospital wing or, for example, helped with the grading of homework as my student assistant, you'd either receive money or privileges for your work."

Harry shook his head. "I don't need anything," he then replied. "Apart from that, Aunt Poppy always gives me house points when I bring her a batch. Gryffindor is far ahead of the other houses because of that," he added, grinning.

"And you think it's wise to tell the Slytherin head about that?" Severus asked, smirking.

"Oh well…" Harry moaned, sheepishly. In fact, he had completely forgotten that Severus was the head of Slytherin. For him, he was just his mentor, just like Remus.

"Another way would be to make you my apprentice," Severus continued. "You'd specialise in Potions and would otherwise only take the main subjects."

"I'd like that," Harry replied, thoughtfully. "Although, I guess that as the owner of Hogwarts, I should probably experience all classes to make sure that everything is all right."

"That's a valuable point," Severus agreed and suggested, "You could still become my apprentice after taking your OWLs in all subjects."

"Yes, that would be great," Harry concurred. "Thank you so much for giving me that choice, sir."

Severus slightly inclined his head, just when Poppy strode into the room. Only now did Harry realise that it had already become light in the meantime.

HP

Poppy released Harry right before dinner, and Harry spent the evening together with his friends in the founders' living room discussing the newest events.

"Professor Quirrell is at St. Mungo's, so we don't have Defence Against the Dark Arts classes for the time being," Hermione informed him.

"I was thinking of writing to my father," Draco spoke up, smirking. "Maybe he could try to get one of the Aurors to teach us until Dumbledore sees fit to hire someone else. Or does any of you know anyone who'd be able to teach?"

"No Draco, and thanks a lot for your offer to ask your father for help," Harry replied, gratefully. "Perhaps I should rather write to Amelia Bones myself though and ask her if she can lend us one of her Aurors," he then said, pensively.

"That's better," Lily immediately agreed, causing everyone else to nod their heads in approval.

"All right then, Lily and Hermione, will you help me again?" Harry asked, grinning, as he strode over to the office and sat at the desk with the two girls on either side.

Five minutes later, their letter was ready.

'Dear Madam Bones,
As you might have heard, Professor Quirrell is currently in St. Mungo's, and Hogwarts is lacking a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Do you perhaps have one of the Aurors to spare for a while, who would be willing to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts until we can find a new professor?
Any help in this hindsight would be very welcome. Thank you very much in advance.
Yours sincerely
Harry Potter
Owner of Hogwarts'

"Are you going to take it there yourself?" Su enquired, giving Harry a questioning look.

Harry sighed. "I'm afraid not, as I'm not supposed to do any magic for a week," he moaned.

"Give it to me," Dudley offered. "I'll take it to the owlery."

"Thanks Dudley," Harry replied, gratefully handing the letter to his cousin. "Be careful that you're back on time. Curfew is going to begin soon," he warned the boy upon a glance at his wrist watch.

"I'll accompany you. I should return to my common room anyway," Draco spoke up.

"Draco," Harry spoke up in a soft voice. "Why don't you bring Blaise with you tomorrow? Or Millicent? They're both very welcome to join us."

"Thanks Harry, I'll ask them," Draco replied and hurried after Dudley.

"It must be strange for him to be the only Slytherin among six Gryffindors," Harry explained, noticing his friends' surprised looks.

HP

The instant Harry stepped into his dormitory behind Neville, Ron Weasley cornered him.

"Harry, can I borrow your invisibility cloak tonight?"

"Sure," Harry replied, shrugging. 'Just don't lose too many house points,' he thought, as he fetched the invisibility cloak out of his trunk, wondering what mischief the boy was going to get into this time.