Two days after Hedwig was turned into a Phoenix, Cornelius Fudge storms into the Great Hall during lunch, no less than four Aurors at his heels. "Where is she? Where is that upstart little brat, Potter?" He scans the tables, and finds her at the one in the back - eating away like she doesn't care even a tiny bit about the fact that the Minister for Magic has come for her head.

The small bird on her shoulder seems much more important to her, as she's handfeeding small pieces of bread to the baby bird one at a time. The detail that she's floating them off her hand without a wand should probably set off an alarm or two in his head, but he's sure he's got this insolent upstart right where he wants her. He strides over at once, and loudly declares "Aurors, arrest Bloom Potter on charges of attacking a Ministry Official!"

Bloom snorts, and says "Illegal arrest, wonderful. For your information, Cornelius Fudge, I was well within my rights to attack and even kill your professional bootlicker. Seeing as she attacked Hedwig, my familiar, resulting in her getting injured."

All the Aurors stop, share a look, and belatedly turn to stare at the now-silent room as they feel the collective gazes of the entire student population on them. Fudge looks around as well, and says "Another pack of lies from-"

Bloom cuts him off, saying "I, Bloom Potter, do swear that Dolores Jane Umbridge attacked my friend and familiar, Hedwig, resulting in injury to her. So I say it, so mote it be."

A bright orange light flares from the tip of her wand, even as Fudge has turned a pasty color. He can't very well call her bluff now, knowing a Magical Oath being accepted when he sees one. If he backs down now, though, he loses even more of his reputation. She's backed him into a corner, and they both know it.

He's pulled from his thoughts when Bloom asks "Would you like me to perform some magic? Or will you just dump some Veritaserum down mine and Umbridge's throats to determine who's telling the truth?"

Everyone can practically see Fudge literally grasping at vanishing straws when he zeroes in on Hedwig and asks "And what is that? An illegally bred pet, I assume?"

Bloom snorts at that - she actually snorts - even as half the hall starts chuckling, snickering, and every other form of suppressed laughter there is. It makes Fudge's face go a dark purple color, even as Bloom absentmindedly runs two fingers along the baby bird's back gently.

After a long minute, she looks up and says "No, this is Hedwig. She attempted to control my magic, seeing as I was far too angry to even attempt at reigning it in. She got transformed into a Phoenix in the process, as will occasionally happen if a bird familiar tries to control the magic of a highly-powerful Witch or Wizard. In short, she's the only reason your bootlicking toadie is even alive."

The perfectly calm tone of her voice when she says she's powerful enough to accidentally turn an owl into a Phoenix and was too angry to even think about controlling that power has the Aurors exchanging nervous looks - Fudge brought in seasoned Aurors for this, and they recognize when they're facing someone they really shouldn't pick a fight with. Too bad it seems Fudge is lacking this self-preservation instinct born of fighting in the first Wizarding War that this same young woman they're facing ended…yeah, this is a bad idea. It's a suicide mission if she actually fights them, because the kind of power it takes to turn a bird into a Phoenix is almost unheard-of and she's radiating it.

Fudge starts loudly demanding that she take back all her lies, but it seems that calling her 'girl' is what sets her temper off as all the china on the table starts rattling even as she slowly rises. "Excuse me? You treat me like this, and then expect me to save your sorry hide when the time comes?"

Hedwig suddenly chirps, glowing a bright orange and bursting into flames - and, incidentally, doubling in size and growing feathers as the rattling stops.

The senior Auror gulps, then says "I think its time we leave." The others nod, and snag Fudge - who's spluttering and stammering at the sudden display. Because the bird on that young lady's shoulder is clearly a Phoenix, though not any Phoenix he's ever seen before. And, after that, nobody could possibly deny that it was her bond with Bloom Potter that transformed her.

Amelia Bones has to work very hard to hold back a smirk - she just knew his impromptu raid on Hogwarts for Bloom Potter would fail. Especially given the detail that her niece wrote her not even an hour later and told her what Umbridge had done.

Susan seems to be the go-to person to get stuff to her, which has lately been a near-flood of information about one Dolores Jane Umbridge. Where and how they got most of it is a mystery to her, but so is everything else when it comes to Bloom Potter - she's come up with things like Umbridge's family tree, which shows she's a Half-blood instead of the Pureblood she said she was on her resume, the order given to the Dementors that attacked her birthday party, signed off on by Undersecretary Umbridge, and several dozen not-so-minor crimes like bribing people, intimidating those who wouldn't be bribed, and getting rid of the competition for her advancement and silencing people who objected to Fudge or her highly racist bills she's passed. And then there's the Blood Quill…along with the one that was sent to her, and a self-updating list of people who received detention and used one of the others she has arrived.

She can only guess the toad-like woman was Confunded or Compelled into making such a detailed list, because no sane person would willingly write out that they're using a Blood Quill on first and second-years. Much less for such a ridiculous reason as 'says she got lost on the stairs when they moved.'

This woman is just digging herself a deeper and deeper hole every single day…

She'll love nothing more than to throw a noose down there and hang the vile woman from it.

*That night*

Bloom sits up with a gasp, wide-awake after another of those weird dreams. And that's saying something, considering the kinds of dreams she usually gets.

Visions of the future, memories of the past that she shouldn't have been old enough to remember really, and then an assortment of bizarre nightmares in between born of her yearly adventures…and, probably, exposure to Dementors. They didn't help matters for her nights' sleep at all. That's what she considers normal.

This one, though, its been happening ever since she turned Hedwig into a Phoenix - a voice calling her name, vaguely familiar to her from…somewhere. She's heard that voice, she knows it, but can't remember where or when. And the voice is getting louder, like the owner is getting closer - it's a woman's voice, one that keeps calling for her.

And, for whatever reason, that call goes straight to her very core - metaphorical…and magical. She's yet to actually see this woman, though, like she's looking for her but hasn't found her yet. Might have something to do with how she's not actually answering - she's learned the hard way not to trust people straight away, and that isn't changing simply because she thinks she recognizes this woman's voice. It could be a trick, for all she knows, or it could be some mind-manipulations by Dumbledore - he's yet to do as much to her, so far, but she knows desperation when she sees it and refuses to discount the possibility. Doing something like that could well be the end of her, after all.

Paranoia talking? Absolutely.

Is she going to not listen to it when her paranoia has saved her in the past? Not. A. Chance.

Not even for this mystery voice, no matter who she is.

Daphne huffs in frustration - she knows her family is stubborn, they're quite literally legendary for it, but Bloom is taking this to a whole new level!

Daphne can faintly feel her sister's presence, but Bloom isn't responding to her calls - like she either can't hear them or doesn't know what they mean. Either way, finding Bloom isn't going to be quite so easy as she'd hoped.

Well, nobody ever said being the Holder of the Dragon Flame was easy.

Besides, Daphne's a Fyre to - she might not have been quite as stubborn - at least publicly - as their father, known for his iron will so strong not even magic could make him do something he refused to do, but she's got their stubborn streak in full. If Bloom won't meet her halfway, she'll just have to travel down the bond to Bloom.

That's going to take a while, but its not like she has anything else to do. At all.

What's more worrying to Daphne than Bloom's near-total silence though…is what she is getting from Bloom's end of the link between them, a link that only recently came back to life with the surge of magic that must've been felt all through the Magical Dimension. Instead of the curiosity and playfulness Daphne remembers from before the attack on Domino, there's a guarded cautiousness now.

Bloom used to constantly reach up to the floating lights Daphne would make to entertain her, endlessly curious about…well, about everything really. And, equally endless was her affection for those around her.

From what little Daphne can tell…all that is just gone. The very thought fills her almost to exploding with fury - someone hurt her baby sister, and if she ever finds out who they'll be so sorry by the time she's through with them.

Her sister was the sweetest child she could've imagined, everyone from the nobles to the servants said so! Whatever could've happened to turn her tiny little fire angel of a baby sister into…well, it isn't anything Daphne had hoped for when she opened that portal.

Whoever it is that found Bloom clearly has a lot of explaining to do.

AN: Hey there, everyone! Hope everyone's doing well! Get this, I found a bird's nest in the garage - and two live baby birds, though they aren't so much babies anymore. They've got plenty of feathers, both of them. What are the chances, huh?

Anyway, Fudge just managed to put his foot in it again - really, you'd think he'd learn not to at some point. Or, at least, to quit trying to control Bloom when he's so far out of his league. And, yes, I'm getting Daphne more and more involved - as involved as the poor woman can be when she's a bodiless spirit stuck guarding the SoS in Lake Roccaluce and Bloom's all the way on Earth still. For the calling...honestly, think the beginning of Frozen 2, especially once Daphne actually finds Bloom. Unfortunately, that won't be for a few chapters - Daphne's going to need another surge of magic from Bloom to follow. Fair warning, that will definitely earn the T rating. I warn you now - Umbridge was already sadistic in canon, she's just getting desperate here. I swear I'll make it up to you with Sirius hearing about it. Just in case nobody knows, he's SERIOUSLY - haha, name puns - protective of his Goddaughter. Anyway, enjoy! More updates coming soon!