Chapter 10: Fawkes the Phoenix
I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter
"Here we are," Alexander said as he and Natsumi walked up the steps towards Gringotts in Diagon Alley. "Let's just hope the Goblins let us enter Harry's vault without him with us."
"As his new family, we should be able to. And you can go to your family vaults to find something that might help Daisuke understand her visions and hopefully learn to control them." His wife said as they entered the bank and walked into the entrance hall.
Alexander nodded with a concerned frown, ever since his daughter had spoken to them after they announced Harry's adoption, he had been wrought with worry.
*Flashback*
"Hey dad, mom, wait up." Alexander and Natsumi looked over their shoulders as they walked away from the Hospital Wing with the other Professors after Madam Pomfrey had kicked everyone else out to allow her to tend to Harry.
"What is it Starlight?" Alexander asked Daisuke with a soft smile, though his smile faded when he saw his daughter's concerned expression. "What's wrong?"
"Um…c…can we talk in private please?" Daisuke asked, wringing her hands nervously while Demi-Veemon sat on her head, looking down at her worried.
"Of course," Alexander said quickly, he turned to the other Professors who were watching. "We'll just be a moment, don't wait up for us. We know the way out." He then ushered his daughter and Natsumi to a nearby empty room and held the door open for them before Jun managed to squeeze her way in, the older girl had spotted them and ran over.
"Okay, what the heck is this about?" Jun asked, the older girl looking at her cousin.
Daisuke gulped and rubbed her neck, trying to think about how to tell her family what she had been going through. Natsumi wrapped an arm around her shoulders and ran a hand through her hair soothingly. "It's okay sweetie, just take your time."
After a few steady breaths, the young girl paused for a moment before looking at her family. "Um you guys may think that I am crazy, but…but I've been having weird dreams lately…actually since I started Hogwarts last year to be exact."
"Weird dreams?" Natsumi asked. "What sort of weird dreams?"
"I can't explain it, all I know is that I go to bed sometimes and I have some weird dream and usually whatever happens in my dreams comes true. I had my first dream last year before our first flying lesson, in it I saw Neville falling off his broom and injuring himself and sure enough it happened in front of my eyes."
"You're experiencing visions?" Alexander asked softly.
"Yeah. My latest vision happened only a few days ago and it showed Harry getting injured and Lockhart having something to do with it." Daisuke answered, tearing up. "I'm scared, I don't know why I'm having them, and I don't know if I'm going crazy or not."
"Hey, you're not going crazy," Jun told her cousin, pulling her into a hug. "I wish you had told me this sooner squirt."
"I'm sorry…I…I just thought I could handle it myself, but after having the vision about what happened to Mrs Norris, I guess I'm just really shaken up." Daisuke mumbled.
"We'll help you get through this sweetie," Natsumi said with a soft smile.
"Of course, we will," Alexander said with a nod. "I think there may be something in the family vaults that could be of use to you, if I remember right, my grandmother experienced visions starting around your age too. She might have left some things behind."
Daisuke blinked and smiled. "You think so?"
"Of course, I do. We'll go to Gringotts once we get back home. If we find anything we'll send it to you as soon as possible." Her father answered, kneeling, he kissed her on the forehead. "Have strength Starlight, we'll help you through this." He promised, pulling his daughter into a hug.
*End Flashback*
Alexander shook his head, blinking a few times when he saw his wife looking at him slightly concerned. "Alexander, are you alright? You've just been standing there the past few minutes." She told him.
"Oh, sorry dear, just thinking about things is all." He told her with a grin. His wife rolled her eyes and dragged him off by the hand towards one of the free desks where a goblin sat doing paperwork.
The goblin looked up from its paperwork and narrowed its eyes. "Greetings Lord Ainsworth, Lady Ainsworth. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" they asked curtly.
"Greetings, we were hoping you'd allow us access to the Potter Vault as well as the Ainsworth vaults," Alexander answered respectfully.
"And what business do you have with the Potter Vaults? Neither of you are young Mr Potter." The goblin said.
"That is true, but…" Alexander pulled some papers from his robes and handed them to the goblin. "As you can see, we've legally adopted Harry into our family, I believe this gives us at least the right to access the vault. To see if everything is in order."
The goblin looked at the documents closely, using a small magnifying glass to see if the documents were forged, it would not be the first time someone had tried to claim they had legally adopted a magical child who had inherited wealth from deceased relatives.
After a few moments, seemingly satisfied that the documents were not forgeries, the goblin spoke to another in their language, and they hurried over. "Bludfang, escort them to the Potter Vault."
"By your command sir." The one named Bludfang said, bowing before turning to the humans.
"Well met Mr Bludfang," Alexander said, bowing to the goblin. "Before we go, I wish to speak to the goblin in charge of the Ainsworth vaults. I trust he is still around."
"Indeed I am." Alexander turned to see an elderly goblin walking towards him wearing an old grey suit and using a small walking stick, the goblin wore thick glasses and had long greyish hair. "Master Alexander may fortune favour your family."
"And my gold flow plentifully for you Sir Celeborn," Alexander replied, bowing to the goblin who bowed in return. "How have you been?"
"Well sir, very well. Come…come you've important business, we must not delay." The goblin said leading them and Bludfang off and soon Natsumi and Bludfang stepped off their cart in front of the Potter Vault.
"Here we are," Bludfang said before using a key that all goblins had which allowed them to access the vaults of their bank. The door swung open and Natsumi carefully stepped into the vault with the goblin following her.
"Right, best hurry." Natsumi thought and she began walking through the vault looking for things that she thought Harry might want to have. Luckily, the contents of the vault were ordered neatly rather than be haphazardly strewn about with no rhyme or reason.
On the wall, she saw a small portrait of Lily and James and she smiled softly. "I bet he'd love to have this in his room." She carefully took the portrait and shrunk it down with a wave of her wand before putting it inside her pocket.
She continued walking around the vault before picking up some old notebooks and she smiled. "Lily's old notebooks, Alexander told me about these. He and Lily would spend hours inventing spells or just writing things in them while studying." She opened one of the books and quickly skimmed through it, giggling at some of the more childish drawings on a few of the pages.
Satisfied that she had found what she needed, she stepped out of the vault and smiled at Bludfang. "I'm done here, might we return to the bank to wait for my husband and Celeborn?"
"Indeed. Follow." Bludfang said, leading her back to the cart.
Meanwhile, in the depths of Gringotts, Alexander and Celeborn stepped off their cart at an ancient-looking steel door. "Here we are sir, Vault 231."
"Thank you, Celeborn," Alexander said, stepping towards the door before he took out his wand and using a small spell, he cut open his palm and placed it on the door. The blood seeped into the metal before the locks began to unlock one by one.
Alexander stepped back as the door swung open revealing the large vault inside. "Shall I come in with you sir?"
"No old friend, wait here," Alexander replied with a smile to the goblin. He walked into the vault stepping over the treasure and other items inside. "Now, something to help Daisuke with her visions, maybe a journal or something left behind. I know grandmother had one."
He suddenly yelled and jumped up and down holding his foot. "Shoot didn't see that." He grunted, glaring down at the gold-covered chest before he opened it out of curiosity. "Ah, there you are." He cheered as he pulled out an old journal with his grandmother's name on the corner of the cover.
However, on the back of the cover were another set of initials, almost faded from view. M, L-F-P. Alexander continued searching the vault before he found a small opal blue and gold bracelet. "And there you are, grandmother's old bracelet. She said it helped her with her visions when she began wearing it. Let's hope the effects are the same for Daisuke." He thought as he left the vault which closed behind him and he and Celeborn headed back up to meet Natsumi and Bludfang.
Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts, the weather had taken its usual turn for the worse as winter approached. A heavy blizzard was assaulting the grounds causing the last Herbology class of the term to be cancelled, Professor Sprout wasn't taking the day off though, she had to do everything she could to keep the growing mandrakes warm if they were going to be ready in time for the brewing of the antidote to cure Mrs Norris and Colin Creevey.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Daisuke were currently in the library catching up on some homework, though the mood was tense. Several students were glancing over at them, hissing, and whispering while pointing at Harry behind his back.
Harry glanced around and noticed Ginny nearby with some of her fellow first years, she was writing something in a book and avoiding his gaze. He sighed and closed his books angrily. "I'll see you lot back at the common room." He told his friends before he got up.
As he walked off, he spotted several Hufflepuffs at another table in deep conversation, he inched closer and hid behind one of the shelves and began to listen. "So anyway, I told Justin to hide in our dormitory if Potter really has marked him down as his next victim, it's better to lie low for a while." One of the boys was saying.
"You really think it's him, Ernie?" a girl with blonde pigtails asked.
"Of course, he is Hannah. He's a Parselmouth that's the mark of a dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent wizard who could talk to snakes?" the boy replied. "They called Salazar Slytherin himself Serpent-Tongue." This caused heavy murmuring to break out amongst the students. "Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir Beware. Potter had an incident with Filch and the next thing we know his cat is attacked, and he had been getting annoyed by that Creevey boy the whole year, and he got attacked too."
"He always seemed so nice though. And he's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear." Hannah said.
"Nobody knows how he survived that attack. He was only a baby, after all, he should have been killed just like his parents, but instead, he survived. Only a powerful dark wizard could survive something like that. I bet it's why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him, he didn't want any competition." Ernie continued.
Harry grit his teeth angrily, the nerve of them, couldn't they see he was trying to protect Justin from the snake. Was everyone so blinded by the fact he could speak to snakes to see reason?
"That's enough out of you lot!" a voice suddenly spoke up. Harry jumped and peeked around the shelves to see Cedric Diggory standing at the table looking down at his fellow Hufflepuffs. "Is this really what it's come down to? Rumours and lies? I had thought you'd all be better than that."
"What do you mean Cedric?" a fiery red-haired girl questioned.
"I think you know what I mean Susan. Your aunt is the Head of the DMLE, surely she told you to look at the facts first before making accusations." Cedric continued. "I was there too, you know, watching the duel and what happened afterwards. I saw the snake coming over to Harry when he spoke to it rather than trying to attack Justin."
"B…but he was clearly going to sic it on him or someone else." Ernie blurted out.
"Do you remember what Daisuke asked everyone? Did anyone else understand what was being said to the snake by Harry?" Cedric asked and when he was met with silence he nodded. "Good, that was what I thought. So, drop this stupid thinking before you make things worse, lies and slander never help anyone."
He turned around and spotted Harry leaving the library and he rushed off to follow the boy, catching up to him easily as he turned a corner. "Harry, wait up," he called, grabbing the boy's shoulder gently.
Harry turned around and Cedric saw he was red in the face. "Oh, Cedric…um…th…thanks." He mumbled.
"Thanks for what?"
"Standing up for me…and hopefully talking some sense into them," Harry muttered and Cedric nodded.
"No problem. I think it's stupid to think you're Slytherin's heir, I mean for one you're in Gryffindor." He pointed out.
"Yeah…well…the Sorting Hat kind of mentioned last year I'd do well in Slytherin…maybe it sensed that or something," Harry replied softly.
"Well, if you were in Slytherin I'm pretty sure Malfoy would have been the first one petrified, regardless of if he were Pure-Blood or not," Cedric said, causing Harry to giggle. "Come on, I'll walk you to Gryffindor Tower, that way you've got an alibi in case another attack happens."
Harry nodded and they walked off heading up the nearest staircase, as they walked down another corridor they stopped and their eyes widened as they saw Justin Finch Fletchley lying on the ground, a look of shock on his face and his body rigid and cold.
In front of him was the strangest site either of them had seen, Nearly Headless Nick was floating in the air, his head hanging by the thread of skin and tendon with smoke pouring from his neck.
"What in the?" Cedric whispered, drawing his wand, and stepping closer with Harry beside him. As they neared the two figures, Peeves floated through a wall and looked at the scene with wide eyes.
"What have we here?" the poltergeist asked, looking at Harry and Cedric.
"Peeves, wait we can explain." Cedric tried to say before Peeves flew off.
"ATTACK, ATTACK, ANOTHER ATTACK. NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES ATTACK!" he screamed and every door in the corridor flew open and people began rushing out of the rooms.
Cedric groaned and pushed Harry back as the students began crowding the area, Justin was in danger of being trampled by them when several loud bangs echoed throughout the corridor as Professor McGonagall arrived with her class of students.
"Caught in the act Potter!" Ernie screamed, pointing at Harry dramatically. "And you got Diggory as an accomplice!"
"Shut up Ernie!" Cedric snapped at the boy angrily.
"That's enough Macmillan." Professor McGonagall said sternly, glaring at the Hufflepuff. "Students back to your classrooms, immediately." She ordered. When the students hardly budged, she frowned. "Shall I take fifty points from all of your houses for each of you that doesn't do as I say? I believe that would set them all down to the negative points." She threatened.
That did the trick, and the students began hurrying back to their classrooms leaving Harry, Cedric, and the professors in the corridor.
"Professor, Harry was me ever since we left the library. He couldn't have done this." Cedric told Professor McGonagall.
"I'm sorry Mr Diggory, it's out of my hands now," she replied softly. "Follow me, Potter." Harry gulped but sighed and began following her and so too did Cedric. "I said only Potter, Mr Diggory."
"Well, I'm a witness to this. So, I might as well come along." Cedric replied stubbornly. Professor McGonagall frowned but both boys saw her lips twitch into a slightly proud smile before she continued and they followed her, eventually, she led them towards a large stone griffin statue with a golden varnish coating it.
"Sherbet Lemon." Professor McGonagall said, throwing her hands out. A moment later, the floor under the griffin slowly began rising into the air, forming a spiral staircase which Harry and Cedric quickly stepped on letting it take them to the top.
At the top was a large oak door that opened silently. "Where are we?" Harry whispered, stepping through the door nervously with Cedric behind him.
"The headmaster's office. I've only been here once before." Cedric answered with a smile.
Harry looked around the room in amazement, Dumbledore's office was a large circular room, the walls were covered with portraits of the school's previous headmasters and headmistresses who were all asleep now.
He then saw Dumbledore's large, grand desk with clawed feet, numerous old books, and scraps of parchment covering it. a few small silver gizmos were on another table nearby hissing and releasing puffs of smoke.
On the large bookshelf behind the headmaster's desk was a tattered and familiar wizard's hat. "Well, well, I was wondering when we would finally speak again Mr Potter." Spoke the hat.
"You're the Sorting Hat…" Harry whispered, and the hat nodded.
"Indeed I am. Questions you have I presume?" it asked.
"Oh…um…I was just wondering… I…if you really did put me in the right house." Harry answered nervously while Cedric remained silent.
"I see. Well, I stand by what I said that day last year. You would have done well in Slytherin." It told him.
"You're wrong," Harry said, shaking his head and the hat chuckled.
"There indeed is a first time for everything." It told him wisely. Harry felt Cedric's hand on his shoulder comfortingly before they both saw an old, grey, and sickly-looking bird resting on its perch nearby.
The bird looked at them, tilting its head weakly as some feathers fell off its body. Harry walked towards the bird and slowly gave it a gentle stroke on the beak. "Are you alright?" he whispered, the bird replying with a faint and weak sounding shrill chirp. "I'm sorry to hear that…" he said again before the bird burst into flames.
"Harry!" Cedric yelped, pulling the boy back from the flaming bird as it soon was nothing but ashes in the small bowl under the perch.
"Harry, Mr Diggory." A voice from above said and they both saw Professor Dumbledore standing there looking at them with a calm expression.
"Professor Dumbledore…sir, your bird, there was nothing I could do. It just caught fire." Harry said.
"And about time too," Dumbledore said, confusing the two of them. "He's been looking dreadful for days. I just wish you hadn't caught him on a burning day." he began walking down the stairs towards them. "You see, Fawkes is a phoenix. And phoenixes burst into flames when it is their time to die and are reborn from the ashes."
Dumbledore stood beside the bowl of ashes as a small, newborn chick emerged from the ash. "Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads; their tears have healing properties, and they make highly faithful pets." He explained to Harry who was staring at Fawkes in amazement.
Before another word could be spoken the door to the office swung open as Hagrid barged in, a dead rooster held in his hand. "Professor Dumbledore, wait." He said, storming towards them. "It wasn't Harry sir; it can't have been."
"Ah, Hagrid…" Dumbledore said.
"You've got the wrong boy sir. I'll swear on it in front of the Ministry of Magic!" Hagrid shouted.
"Hagrid!" Dumbledore said again, holding up his hand bringing an end to the man's ranting. "I do not believe that Harry had anything to do with the attacks."
"Of course, you don't," Hagrid said, nodding before he blinked, and his cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. "Oh…um, I'll be just outside then." He quickly left the office and shut the door behind him.
Harry turned to Dumbledore while Cedric looked at the headmaster in surprise. "You don't think it was Harry professor?" he asked.
"No Mr Diggory, I do not." The old wizard said. "But I must ask Harry if he has anything he wishes to tell me."
Harry looked into the headmaster's eyes, thinking about the polyjuice potion brewing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, or him hearing voices in the walls before the attacks on Mrs Norris and Colin Creevey along with everything else that had been happening recently. "No…there isn't anything, Professor."
Dumbledore nodded. "Very well. Off you go." He said gently.
"Thank you, Professor," Cedric said leaving the office with Harry, passing Hagrid as they went back down the staircase.
"Um, can you still walk me back to Gryffindor Tower?" Harry asked shyly.
"Of course," Cedric replied, ruffling Harry's hair as they walked off.
"I need to tell the others about this, we've got to put a stop to what's happening soon." Harry thought, planning to talk to his friends when he saw them next.
The end of the chapter
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