Harry Potter and the Dark Sigil

Chapter Fifteen: Phoenix Ascending

By: Harry's Mum Lily

Disclaimer: All the usual ones apply. I only own those characters that are not property of JKR. This chapter is dedicated to my uncle who recently died after a long illness. There are broken hearts we can mend/Through the music that we've learned to love again. Julian Lennon. William, may your music remain ever in my heart. The song at the end is from Secret Garden again and is called Nocturne.

You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago…by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from the prying muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.

Professor Binns

Chapter 9

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Never wondered how you got that mark in yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh-took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house even-but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.

Hagrid

Chapter 4

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Voices surrounded him. He felt something soft under his back and something warm surrounded him making him wish he could continue to sleep but he knew he had to warn them. They were all in very grave danger and only he knew what that danger was and when it would strike. The Dementors were only part of it…there was a more insidious plot afoot; one that could destroy the wizarding world as they knew it. In vain he tried to open his eyes but they stubbornly refused to move. The voices around him grew loud then soft again as if the speakers had moved closer and then farther away.

"I…must…warn," he thought fiercely to himself, desperately trying to awaken by the force of his will alone.

He felt his eyelids flutter this time but they still refused to open even the smallest amount. He felt himself sliding back into the black pit that was unconsciousness.

"NO!" he thought savagely. "I will warn them this time. This time I will not fail. I do this for her."

The image of a cloud of red hair framing a face from which two startling green eyes peered up at him floated to the surface of his mind. He had to wake up for Lily. He had promised Lily at her grave that he would do whatever he could to protect her son. He couldn't abandon his oath to her memory even if that oath was only made for love of her and not the child. It was all that gave him strength now. He felt his eyelids flutter again and heard a faint moan escape from his mouth. With all the force of will he could muster, he forced his eyes to continue to open and soon found himself staring up at the gray ceiling of the Hospital Wing. The ceiling was blurry but Snape didn't care for it was enough to tell him where he was and that he had somehow survived the Dark Lord's torture, torture he was surely not meant to have survived. He tried to sit up but as he did so a hiss of pain escaped from his mouth and then a crowd of people appeared near him as if they had Apparated there.

"Lay back down, Severus," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled dimly and he smile the ghost of a smile at Snape. "You have been badly injured and need to rest."

Snape looked around his bed and found Ron, Hermione, Remus, Sirius and a gratified Madame Pomfrey all looking down at him, surprise etched on their faces.

"He…Headmaster…" Snape said, his voice very faint to his ears. "I…."

"There is no need for that…The Memorus spell worked. I know all about the Dementors and the attack. We have prepared already."

"No…more…Harry…spell…Timeportal…Voldemort," Severus found that each word was costing him. Even now the room was growing foggy but he had to tell them all he knew. "Slytherin…waits."

"Calm youself, please Severus…"

"Trap…all a trap…Harry and you…must not…cannot…" Snape's eyes became unfocused and his breathing became shallower. "Rescue…find key…too late…all lost."

Snape slipped back into an unconscious state, leaving the others looking at one another in confusion, a sudden cold swoop of fear enveloping their hearts.

Harry's eyes snapped open and he found that he was laying on the stone floor of the Entrance Hall with Sir Godric's concerned face hovering over him.

"Wha…what happened, " Harry sat up and looked around but the Entrance Hall was empty. There were no bodies, no blood and no Dementors.

"You had a vision, a very strong one, " Sir Godric said, carefully helping Harry to rise.

Harry shook his head, trying to clear it of the vision he'd seen. It had seemed so real for a moment. He could still feel the cold and fear that the Dementors carried with them wherever they went. He shivered wrapping his arms around himself as he rose to his feet, a sudden chill moving through him and a faint, distant ache in his scar.

"Maybe you should rest…" Sir Godric eyed him with concern, seeing Harry wince as the pain in his scar intensified for a moment before vanishing as completely as if it had never been.

"No…I'm fine." Harry brushed off his robes and began to walk toward the front doors, as Sir Godric's eyes followed him.

Seeing that Harry was in earnest, Sir Godric followed him. Soon they were out the double doors and across the drawbridge to the grounds of the school. Harry barely glanced at the shimmering fish in the moat or at the dark and distant trees as he made his way to the outer gate that marked the boundary of the grounds. Here he paused and waited for Sir Godric to catch up to him, having no clear idea how they would be getting to Diagon Alley. Godric stopped at the gate and looked into Harry's eyes before saying anything farther. He saw determination, excitement and some other emotion that he couldn't put a name to reflected in Harry's gaze. Something was driving Harry to make this trip though he was plainly shaken by something in his vision and probably was in need of rest. Godric shook his head inwardly, knowing that nothing would change his heir's mind once he had determined a course of action.

"He is much like me," Godric thought. "Always thinking of others and never of self alone. Duty and honour coming before all else."

Godric smiled a faint smile and gazed out beyond the gate to the wild forest beyond it. For a moment two deer gazed back at him from the clearing, their eyes calm and unafraid. Then something startled them and they bounded back under the cover of the trees. Sir Godric looked around but saw nothing that could have frightened the deer, and then he turned back to Harry.

"When we pass through this gate you will feel as if something is pulling you away. Do not be afraid, it is just a Transportal Spell that we have placed on the gate. The spell will take you directly to Diagon Alley. I will wait for you there."

Harry nodded and glanced at the seemingly innocent gate, his face reflecting the fear he felt for a moment. Sir Godric opened the gate and Harry could see the forest beyond it, looking quite ordinary in the late afternoon sun. There was a shaft of bright sunlight shimmering in a nearby clearing and a soft breeze was carrying the sound of birdsong to him. He smiled, caught once again by the wild beauty of the place. He took a deep breath of clear, fresh air, his eyes closed, remembering a place very like this, his home of a little over a year in Godric's Hollow. The air there had smelled like this. He could remember a small stream that sparkled like a silver and gold ribbon outside his window and a garden full of flowers and tall plants that he liked to hide behind in his childish attempts at scaring his parents. He smiled in remembrance and then, for the first time, he remembered something else, the sound of barely restrained panic and fear in their voices when he pulled one of these "disappearances". Now he understood fully for the first time why their voices were full of fear. It was Voldemort who had put that fear in their lives, Voldemort who had taken so much already and who stood poised to take still more from him, exacting his revenge on Harry through those closest to him, until he was left alone.

"I won't allow it!" he thought, as the hands inside his robes balled into fists. "I will find a way…" The thought was left incomplete as fear and the sense that time was running out moved through him.

He opened his eyes and glanced at Sir Godric, the feeling of urgency once more overcoming him. Together the two wizards of separate ages, one young and one old, passed through Hogwarts outer gate, neither one realizing that the fate of two worlds rested on their shoulders.

Lord Salazar Slytherin stood at the window, watching the pair that stood framed by the gateposts.

"Meddlesome old fool," Slytherin's eyes narrowed as the two completely disappeared from sight as the gate's spell was activated. "He thinks he will be the victor. He will soon learn better. Soon I will have power to rival that of the might and proud Gryffindor."

Slytherin turned his back on the bright light streaming from the window and crossed the room to the desk in a shadowed corner. Salazar sat in an ornate throne-like leather chair on the other side of the desk. He picked up a black-feathered quill and began to make some notations on a large roll of parchment that was sitting before him. He did this for several moments before he set the quill aside and read over what he had written, an evil smile playing about his mouth. He rolled the parchment up and sealed it with a signet ring of intertwining serpents on his left hand. He was tired of taking the orders of a beggar and a fool. Gryffindor had tainted purity of the school by allowing half bloods and those not of magical descent enter the school, claiming that they were just as good as those of pure blood. Salazar knew better. It was a proven fact that his students were stronger in power then those of the other houses. The time had come to put an end to Gryffindor's foolish prattle and fate had seen fit to provide him with the perfect instrument with which to exact his revenge for not only in this time but also for all time. Slytherin's grin widened and his eyes lit up with an insane, evil glow.

"I will cleanse this school of all the filth," he thought as he rose from his chair and stood in front of the fireplace, gazing into the flames that danced there. "I will have my revenge on you, Sir Godric. You will die and at the hands of someone you least expect."

Slytherin laughed softly and threw some powder into the fire, which blazed up still higher and turned green. He watched the green flames for a moment and muttered "Knockturn Alley" before stepping to the flames and vanishing instantly. The eyes watched him vanish from sight and a faint, cold laughter could be heard for an instant before the eyes disappeared from view.

One thousand years in the future, cold laughter echoed through the halls of the Fortress of Azkaban. His plan was working far better then he could have ever hoped for.

Harry landed with a thump on the dusty, cobblestone street of Diagon Alley. He shook his head to clear it and saw Sir Godric waiting for him nearby. Harry got up and dusted himself off before going to meet him. Harry looked around curiously, remembering his first trip to Diagon Alley. He knew the Diagon Alley of his time from one end to the other. The only two buildings he recognized here were Ollivanders, which looked as it always did and Gringotts, which stood, gleaming white in the afternoon sun. They had begun to walk toward the bank and, as they did so, Harry was reminded of something he had not considered but was nevertheless of importance now that they had reached their destination.

"Sir, where am I going to get money?" asked Harry, as he watched the doors of Gringotts getting closer with each step they took.

Sir Godric stopped walking and looked down at him as if the question was of little importance. Then, seeing Harry's serious and worried expression, he smiled.

"From the Potter family vault," he replied as if this should have been something obvious to Harry.

"But, sir…." Harry began, feeling that this was somewhat like robbery.

"Have no fear. You are blood and they would not fail to help one of their own if they knew you were here. I will see that any money spent by you is restored to its proper place."

Still feeling guilty about it, Harry followed Sir Godric up the marble steps and through the two sets of doors that led inside the bank. Once inside, Harry encountered another change. There were the usual groups of goblin clerks but they worked alongside human ones. They all greeted Sir Godric warmly and they were quickly led down to the vaults, which were down a long, winding spiral staircase. Apparently the Potter vault had moved over the years because Harry found that they hadn't seemed to go very far underground before arriving at it. There was a coat of arms over the door to the vault which was divided into four panels: a griffin with its wings outstretched stood in one, a rune of the letter P with the rising sun behind it, a rampant unicorn with a laurel wreath on it's horn and a rampant lion with a wreath of holly around it's neck. Harry studied the coat of arms a moment and thought back to what Raoul Malfoy had said about his family. It was obvious to Harry that Malfoy had lied to him and that his family was wizarding nobility after all.

The goblin put an ornate silver key from the ring of them he carried into the lock and the door slowly swung open. A soft light shone down from the ceiling of the vault and Harry could see mounds of coins and jewels within the chamber. Harry looked back at Sir Godric and saw a smile spreading across his face.

"This is your vault…" he said, surprised by his outburst. "You're one of us…A Potter, I mean."

This was a statement, not a question and Sir Godric smiled.

"My mother was a Potter, God rest her soul," Sir Godric looked heavenward a moment, his eyes bright.

"Then it's true…all of it," Harry said quietly, stunned by the fact. "I'm related to you."

Harry's heart skipped a beat and then began to race. That had to be why Voldemort was after him and had been for years. He hadn't really believed it when Voldemort had told him during his captivity but here he had proof of it from someone he could trust. If this was true, Harry wondered how much of what Voldemort had told him was true.

Sir Godric watched Harry's thoughtful expression for several minutes as the news sank in. Harry's mind was full of unanswered questions, questions he had kept inside since the encounter with Voldemort in his first year at Hogwarts. Finally, he had a part of the answers he had been searching for. He looked up at Sir Godric, the light from the inside of the vault making his face seem to glow with a faint golden light, and Sir Godric saw something within Harry's green eyes that he had not seen there since he had meet his future heir: he saw hope glowing there. The grief and pain was driven away and now only hope dwelled there. His spirit was at long last beginning to heal and Sir Godric rejoiced in his heart as Harry smiled the first real smile he had in months.

"Praises be to the Lord. He has broken the spell at last." Godric thought as he and Harry left the Potter's vault.

Harry could never quite explain the feeling he was experiencing in that moment when he first believed he was a descendent of Gryffindor. Suddenly his heart seemed to rise in his chest and his spirit with it. He felt happier then he had ever remembered feeling in his life. It felt as if all the best experiences at Hogwarts had been wrapped into one neat package. He could feel his spirit and body grow instantly stronger, like there was nothing he couldn't face and beat. All grief and fears became less intense. They were still a part of him but they no longer seemed to rule over his heart or to have any control over him. His heart was light and his will was as strong as it had ever been. He entered Ollivanders dusty shop in extremely high spirits and not even Mr Ollivander's odd silver-eyed stare didn't rattle him.

The 1095 incarnation of Mr Ollivander was a good deal younger than the one Harry knew but his eyes were eerily similar. Harry stood before him while Sir Godric hovered in the background, quite willing that Harry should deal with this on his own. Mr Ollivander's pale eyes stared into Harry's own and they widened in shock.

"Most unusual…highly unusual…Mr Potter." Ollivander peered closer at the lightening scar on Harry's forehead, although he didn't touch it this time. "You should not be here…you do not belong in this place and time. There will be consequences…grave consequences. Still let me see what we may do to help you."

He went to the shelves full of boxes, which Harry knew contained wands, and began to look around. Harry could feel a faint hum of power coming from all around him and he closed his eyes. As he did so, he sent his mind questing for the only wand in the place meant for him. He was surprised to feel his old wand, or one very like it, somewhere nearby.

"But that can't be…my wand is gone…destroyed…"

Mr Ollivander set a very old and battered wooden box before Harry and opened it. Nestled inside, on a velvet cushion was a long, slender wand made of holly. Harry reached a hand toward it and lifted it out, noticing as he did so that this wand was slightly longer than his old one but otherwise identical to the one that had been destroyed by Wormtail. Swishing it through the air, his eyes on its tip and the air was instantly filled with a bright shower of scarlet and gold sparks.

"Fourteen inches, holly containing one phoenix feather," intoned Ollivander, his eyes wide with surprise. "One of a pair fashioned for the two greatest wizards of their age…The Dark Lord…Highest of the Dark Wizards to be called Voldemort…and the Lord of Light…Highest of the Order of Light…The Phoenix reborn of the ashes…" Ollivander's voice trailed off and he bowed at Harry.

Harry was still in a state of shock when he returned to Hogwarts that evening. He had never fully understood his role in the conflict until now. He ate his dinner in silence, scarcely paying attention to the chatter going on around him. It seemed so trivial and unimportant to him now. Several times during the meal Christlina and Will tried to draw him into conversation but he didn't seem to hear them. He seemed to be in a world all his own and there was nothing anyone could do that held his attention for more than a second. Malfoy used Harry's distant, vacant expression to comment on the sad state the school was in when they would allow someone who was most certainly mad to enter its hallowed halls. Harry said nothing but went on eating in complete silence. Christlina, Will and the other Gryffindors looked worriedly at Harry who didn't notice their concern.

After several days, Harry's spirit came back down to earth and he felt like an ordinary wizard again, although he knew he wasn't quite the same anymore. Something had happened in Ollivanders that had changed him inside. He spirit had been restored to him and seemed as strong as ever. Only one thing marred his seeming good spirits: he was still feeling very tired although he appeared to be getting more than enough sleep and even though Lady Helga's potion was healing him inside. He was at a loss of how to explain why. He'd also seemed to have stopped having nightmare warnings. He was seeing some things in his dreams but they came in flashes rather than in vivid and clear images. This frightened him. Never before had he been without this early warning system and he was beginning to wonder if something or someone was blocking it on purpose.

He sat in the back of Divination, wishing for the class to be over so that he could go out for a bit of fresh air, when Lady Leila came over to the table where he was sitting with Christlina and Will. Her blue eyes were reflecting sorrow so deep that Harry knew what was coming.

'Oh, not her too. I'm sick of everyone predicting my death." Harry fumed as he looked up at her with what he hoped was a normal expression.

They were studying predictions based on a persons magical aura and Harry wondered what she had seen in his. He knew that she was a "true seer" one gifted in the art of Divination but still he had his doubts, as he had never seen but one true prediction in his life.

"Professor Trelawney's prediction came true didn't it?" said a voice in the back of his brain that he tried in vain to ignore as he listened with apparent attention that became real attention the moment Lady Leila's blue eyes gazed into his own

"Enemies seek to surround and destroy you, young Phoenix before you can come into full power. Be wary of false friends who claim to give their aid to you. Your friends are in moral danger for Serpent's Darkness hovers near your soul. The next month will determine the fate of not only your soul but of two worlds. Be wary of the mirror and the sword. They are your enemies that would lead you to Darkness. Remember the sacrifice that was given, not once but twice. The answers you seek lay at the place of thy first meeting. Seek for the Phoenix's Staff lost in ages past and the silver blade of Sorrow."

The class grew completely silent and remained so long after she had finished speaking. Harry's looked into Lady Leila's eyes and nodded before lowering his gaze back to his parchment, realizing he had just witnessed another "true" prediction but not understanding its meaning.

"Phoenix's Staff…Sorrow's Blade…?"

He thought about what Lady Leila had said all through dinner and as he got ready for bed that night. Long into the night, he thought about it, trying to figure out the meaning of the words as he stared up at the canopy over his bed. His eyes grew heavy and eventually he fell into a deep sleep. Much later in the night, Harry had a vivid dream of a silver dagger that seemed to cry silver tears, a wooden, rune covered staff that glowed with a faint scarlet light and his mother's voice singing softly.

Though the darkness lay

It will give way

When the dark night

Delivers the day.