a/n: It's been way too long. Way too long but here is a fresh new chapter. I'm sorry for the way and thankful for the continued support for this series.

Chapter 25: Stephanie

There was a certain feeling of dread accompanying her arrival in the Department of Mysteries and Stephanie couldn't say the feeling eased up when she realised why she'd gotten the urgent memo telling her to "please get her ass down to the Hall of Prophecy even if she had to kill someone to get through".

Like that at all boded well. Still, she couldn't have said all that dread really covered how it felt to emerge into a room she'd been avoiding since that fight against Voldemort all those years ago to find Ruby standing over Ally and James and looking like she had no idea what to do. Stephanie didn't have any idea what she was supposed to do either, it took her a good minute and a half to even understand what she was seeing and even then, she was pretty sure she had no idea what it was she was actually looking at.

Because what she was looking at was Ally lying on the floor, hair spread around her in a golden halo – and it was really looking golden then, not blonde like it usually did but like the deep gold she was likely to find buried away with the goblins in Gringott's – and her eyes were closed while her mouth was open and emanating the loveliest and creepiest bit of phoenix song Stephanie had ever heard.

So no, she really didn't have any idea what was going on and she didn't have any idea how she was supposed to help because even James looked hesitant to touch her mother and Stephanie had once witnessed James pet a feral tiger when her parents weren't looking.

'Help,' Ruby pleaded when she turned to see Stephanie arrive.

'Sure,' she replied easily. 'How the bloody hell am I supposed to help?'

Ruby shrugged. 'I don't know. You were just the closest and I can't call Harry because I assume that he'll start spouting phoenix song like James does when she tries to touch her.'

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Stephanie couldn't help being intrigued. 'It's contagious?'

'Apparently,' Ruby confirmed. 'James couldn't seem to let go, I had to physically drag her away but at least that stopped the singing – its bloody creepy.'

'What happened?' Stephanie edged closer as she asked the question, taking James' position to be the point she could reach before bad things started to happen. Ally didn't appear to be in any pain, on the contrary, she looked quite peaceful, it was just that she was completely unaware of her surroundings. Stephanie passed her hand back and forth over Ally's closed eyes, something that would normally have her friend swatting it away whether her eyes were open or closed but his time there was no reaction.

She found it strange there weren't any flames. Whatever was going on in her head that was causing the phoenix song didn't appear to be causing her any distress or extreme joy, just a general warm glow, the kind that was human and not phoenix.

'James identified which of the phoenix prophecies was for Ally so she plucked it off the shelf.'

Stephanie's eyebrows shot up and she looked to James for confirmation. The youngest Potter shrugged. 'I can see a difference in the colours,' she explained as though it were perfectly normal. 'I just knew which one was for mum and which one I could touch.'

'But you're not like this?'

'I didn't touch it.' James rolled her eyes as though even she couldn't believe her own mother's level of stupidity. 'It feels weird enough surfing mum's prophecy.'

'Whating her what?' Ruby snorted but Stephanie spoke over her before she could say anything else. 'You can understand what your mum's singing?'

'Sort of?' James hesitated. 'It's not like having a normal conversation, it's more like trying to interpret a feeling and a colour and a sound while standing upside down with your pinkie tied to your big toe.'

Stephanie blinked. She repeated the words in her head but they didn't make any more sense the second or the third time through. 'I'm sorry, what?'

'Exactly!' James nodded with satisfaction. 'Just trying to wrap your head around that is painful!'

Stephanie looked to Ruby but Ruby looked even more confused than she was so there was no help coming from that direction then. 'Okay,' Stephanie said slowly, wishing someone else had been in the Ministry to take the call for help. Why couldn't Ron have been in his office? Or even Abby? Heck, Stephanie would have been satisfied tossing this one at George and running a mile even if it meant she couldn't go home for a couple of days because really, what the hell was she supposed to do?

'How long has she been like this?'

'About an hour,' Ruby admitted.

'You waited an hour to send for help?'

'Uh, yes,' Ruby admitted.

'Why?' Stephanie demanded. 'What if this is permanent?'

'Well it's not a repeating pattern,' Ruby reasoned.

Stephanie considered this. It did make sense not to start getting worried if the song Ally was singing hadn't yet repeated but did they really know enough about phoenix song to know that meant things would eventually stop? What if this same song went on for days? Weeks? Maybe even years?

'No,' James answered her question in a slow (and hesitant) single word. 'I don't think so. It feels like a story, like I've heard the middle now so any time I'm going to get to hear the end.'

Ruby shot her an aggrieved look. 'Maybe if you could give me all of the information at the beginning I wouldn't have to start freaking everyone out.'

James shot her a similar look. 'Well I didn't know that to start with,' she defended. 'It's not like I even really know what I'm doing here. I'm just a kid!'

Ruby threw her hands up in annoyance. 'Do you have any idea how to get your mum out of here or even how much longer this song is going to carry on for?'

James tilted her head to the side, listening intently to the song her mother was singing and considering the question. 'I think maybe it's nearly over.'

Stephanie gave the song another listen but if there was a change in the tone of the song she couldn't hear it. To her it felt like every other piece of phoenix song she'd ever heard, it filled her heart and chest with a swell of emotions that were definitely not her own but she could ignore them in favour of the things her head were telling her were real. She wondered how it felt to James, knowing that to the young witch who seemed more and more phoenix every day the feelings and emotions the song inspired were too real to ignore.

All of which was great to speculate on but not at this particular moment when they had no idea how to transport Ally without poor James becoming just as vocal as Ally. 'Can you flame us out of here if you grab onto us and we hold onto Ally?' Stephanie proposed.

'We can't touch her either,' Ruby told her, dashing Stephanie's hopes with a simple remark. 'It's not as bad as it was for James but trust me, you do not want phoenix song floating around in your head at that volume.'

'She cried,' James added helpfully, earning a scathing look from Ruby for outing her secret. 'And she screamed. I think it was too much emotion; she couldn't take it.'

'It felt like if I held on any longer my heart would explode.'

'You mean your head?'

'No,' Ruby assured her. 'I mean my heart. You might hear the song in your head but trust me, you feel it in your heart.'

'How long did you touch her for?' Surely they could hold onto her between the two of them long enough for James to flame them out of the bowels of the Ministry. Neither she, nor Ruby could do anything from deep inside the Department of Mysteries, the Ministry had a lot more protocols in place these days than they did when they were all kids fighting Voldemort.

'About three seconds,' Ruby answered.

'Seriously?' Stephanie didn't mean to sound so incredulous but three seconds was nothing, she wasn't even sure that was long enough to hear the song let alone have your brain fried and your heart explode.

'It was a very long three seconds,' Ruby assured her with a dramatic shudder.

The three of them stayed silent for a few moments, listening to Ally's song and not really knowing what else they were supposed to do. It seemed their best option was to simply ride out Ally's fit and hope that James was right in assuming the song was nearly over.

'Should we take the rest of the prophecies with us?' James suddenly asked. 'They belong to us.'

They all turned to look at the shelf lined with prophecies and considered the question. Should they take them? Assuming they could figure out some way to transport them without forcing each of the Potter's into a phoenix singing coma then should they move them from the Ministry to somewhere they had easier access to them?

'No,' Ruby declared firmly after a moment's thought. 'They're safer deep down here where no one is going to touch them.'

'But they're ours,' James protested.

'Are you planning to grab the one you think is meant for you?' Ruby asked.

'No,' James admitted sounding her age for once. Her tone was a little on the sulky side, something Stephanie wasn't sure she'd ever heard from the youngest Potter.

'Then they're staying right where they are.'

'How do they get them down here anyway?' Stephanie wondered.

Ruby waved away the question with a dismissive, 'They place the charm on the bottles after. What I want to know is who collected these prophecies. They're in phoenix song, how did they know they were prophecies and not just another song?'

Again, they all turned their attention to the shelves and squinted to see if there were any labels that might indicate who had spoken the prophecy or even when. There was nothing, just a faded and peeling note attached to the very edge of the shelf reading "Phoenix Prophecies".

'There must be a record somewhere,' Stephanie pointed out. 'Someone down here must have known at some point where they came from, there must be a record.'

'There wasn't a record of the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort,' Ruby reminded her. 'Dumbledore was the only one who knew about that.'

'No,' Stephanie said slowly, deep in thought. 'He was the only one that knew what the prophecy said in its entirety but other people knew there'd been a prophecy. Remember? Someone had to have come down to change the label after Harry's parents died. Someone who knew what the prophecy said because otherwise how would they know who the prophecy was about?'

Ruby narrowed her eyes, 'Would Dumbledore had changed it?'

'Why would he?' Stephanie wondered. 'It was in his best interest to keep Voldemort – to keep everyone – from knowing the truth.'

'True,' Ruby agreed. 'Then there must be another record of these prophecies somewhere, someone must know what each and every one of these says.'

'Well, you're the Unspeakable, don't you know how this place works?'

Ruby gave her a scornful look, 'I know how my piece of this place works. I deal with experimental magic not prophecy – I hate prophecy.'

'Well who does work down here?'

'I don't know,' Ruby said, 'but I can find out.'

'Good,' Stephanie said, 'because -'

But she was cut off by James who interrupted them with a cry of, 'It's quiet!'

Both Stephanie and Ruby froze. It had gone quiet in the hall; the only sounds were their breathing. They turned slowly to look and found that Ally had fallen silent. Her eyes were still closed but her hair was no longer glowing a brilliant gold and her mouth was firmly shut. The feelings the phoenix song had elicited were no longer weighing on Stephanie's chest and she could see that James was breathing easier, her shoulders no longer tense but relaxed.

'Does that mean it's safe to touch her?'

All three of them took a cautious step closer to Ally and peered down at her. Then Stephanie and Ruby looked to James. As the only one who could withstand the phoenix song in her head she seemed the safest bet to try and touch Ally. It would be easier to pull her away from her mother than to deal with Ruby's heart exploding.

Just because she'd stopped showing outward signs of the song didn't mean she wasn't still being affected by the prophecy and so James' hand was slow to reach out for her mother. When she did rest her hand gently on Ally's shoulder nothing happened. Just in case it was just James being the Super Potter that she was Stephanie reached out her own hesitant hand and laid a single finger on Ally's cheek.

Nothing happened.

'Oh thank Merlin,' Ruby moaned. 'Let's get out of here before someone comes looking for me.'

James wasted no time grabbing a firmer hold on her mother while Stephanie and Ruby each grabbed one of James' shoulders. Travelling by flame was always a weird sensation and travelling with James or Alex was always worse. Not because they weren't highly accomplished at the task or because they'd ever left someone behind but just because there was always that part of Stephanie's mind that liked to point out she was temporarily being set on fire by a child who hadn't yet had any formal magical training.

But really, who exactly was going to be able to teach the children of two human phoenixes how to flame travel? Formal schooling wasn't really going to be a factor in such a gift and generally by the time Stephanie had finished having the argument with herself they were safely where they meant to be.

Today was no different. By the time she'd worked the rational side of her brain around to providing comfort they were already safely back at Martin Manor, perfectly whole and with only the slightest of singing to the sleeve of her jacket – the one that had been closest to James.

'Why won't she wake up?' James asked, once again sounding her age and not like she could have rivalled Hermione for smarts.

James really was good at her flame travel, she landed them in the living room managing to place her mother perfectly on the couch. Now the three of them stood looking down at Ally as though she would simply open her eyes, sit up and ask them what on earth they were all doing watching her sleep.

It would have been reassuring had she done just that but the minutes ticked away and still she didn't wake. There wasn't much they could do for her though, she was comfortable stretched out on the couch and she didn't appear to be in any pain. They would just have to hope that as she had stopped singing the phoenix song that she would eventually wake up. It did look like she was merely sleeping and not in some sort of prophecy induced coma but as neither she nor Ruby had any proper healer training they were just guessing.

'How long do we wait before we send for a healer?' Stephanie asked Ruby quietly while they were in the kitchen putting together a snack for James. James had taken parchment and some muggle pencils and was drawing at the coffee table where she could see her mother without having to move too far. It was the only real sign of worry Stephanie had seen and it did not make her feel comfortable.

She might have only come in time for the aftermath but she felt guilty that what had happened in that Hall might have been because of some information she'd given. She felt guilty that she might have just played a small part in depriving James of her mother. Not that James seemed particularly worried but Stephanie knew enough about Ally and Harry to see their stubbornness in James' intentional calm.

She was far too young to have such a good hold on her emotions. Stephanie would have felt much better if the kid would accidentally set fire to the furniture, at least then she wouldn't have to feel so worried about her.

When she returned from the kitchen carrying a plate of cookies while Ruby brought the milk she caught sight of the birthmark on James' wrist and it raised a question she hadn't even thought to consider before.

'Did you feel what your mum was feeling through your connection or because you could hear her song?' Stephanie asked, waving a cookie at James' wrist.

James put down her pencil to grab a cookie and considered her wrist. 'I don't think I felt it through the connection but it was really loud in my head and my chest so I'm not sure I'd have noticed.'

'You're wondering why Harry and Alex didn't suddenly turn up in the Hall of Prophecy,' Ruby realised.

Stephanie nodded. 'If they didn't turn up then maybe James was feeling it because she was hearing it. Ally wasn't in pain; she didn't look like she was distressed. Maybe because Harry and Alex didn't notice it means she'll wake up soon feeling fine.'

'I hope she has a really bad headache,' Ruby replied. 'If that's the case.'

Confused, James looked up and Ruby. 'Why would you want Mum hurting?'

'Because,' Ruby answered, reaching out to stroke James' hair. 'She scared the hell out of me.'

This seemed like a perfectly reasonable explanation to James because she took a huge bite out of her cookies, picked up her pencil and went right back to her drawing.

Stephanie could only shake her head. Kids were resilient, Potter kids insanely so.