A/N: am I evil? No. When I started to write this the only scene I had in my head was that cliffhanger... I am just a weak person. I couldn't resist. Hopefully you are not too angry. I wrote as quick as I could (and the chapter resisted with all its strength to get finished. Actually I am not very pleased with the result.)
Thanks MelissaIvoryM for offering help and editing this so quickly!
Nobody guessed how the enchantment was supposed to work! (No wonder, I don't think even Dumbledore knew it for sure, and poor Sirius had no clue.) Jedi Cosmos, you noticed!!! Ch. 5, Divination, Harry and Sirius change places... Read and see.
Instant death. No contracurse, no avoiding it. Harry stared in motionless horror as Avada Kadavra hit Sirius´ chest. His head fell down and his muscles relaxed. Only the chains around his wrists prevented his body from hitting the ground.
"Moo-ny?" The whisper was so soft it seemed a distant echo of Sirius' previous frantic call. His chest was moving in swallow, quick gasps, but he was breathing. Avada Kedavra promised an instant death. Lord Voldemort had failed for the second time.
Slowly, Sirius lifted his head. Unfocused eyes looked at Harry through the wet locks of uncombed hair without seeing him. Harry would have been lifeless scared at that look that went right through him if it wasn't for the fact that Sirius' eyes shone with recognition and infinite hope. The impression was so strong he turned around and threw a quick furtive glance at the space behind himself. He could see nothing but sinister shapes of Death Eaters there.
Sirius, however, could. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face at the sight of the old friend he alone could see. Then all of a sudden the vision was gone and his look changed. The faint smile transformed in a grin as his and Harry's gazes locked.
Voldemort's hands closed in fists and progressively relaxed. He lowered his wand. All around him faceless servants contemplated the failure of their leader. Behind them, the shadow of the fortress of Azkaban reached to the dark sky with its even darker mass, watching everything with the blind eyes that were its weakly illuminated windows. Nobody moved. Nobody dared to speak.
"Don't stay there, you idiot! Call up the Order!" Snape's shout broke the silence that reigned over the island, but still nobody dared to move. The fear of their leader paralysed Voldemort's followers. The circle stood frozen under his hammering stare.
"Do it, damn!"
Sirius wanted to laugh at his own stupidity. It had been instinct that made him call for Remus the moment he thought would die, and it turned out to be the only right thing to do. The Phoenix Enchantment opened a connection between the members of the Order. It had been ready and waiting for him, and the only thing he had needed to do was to call.
"CALL FOR THEM!" Sirius nodded in acceptation.
"Severus Snape!"
Snape nodded back, and let the connection that was opening to him enter his mind. All forces leaving him at once, he only had enough control over his body to prevent himself from falling, carefully lowering himself on the ground instead.
"Arabella! Gary! Mungi! Professor McGonagall!"
"Stop him!"
"Flitwick! Archie!"
Wormtail's hysteric cry did what Snape could not. The Death Eaters stirred from their paralysis, and hexes started to fly from all the directions. Most of the dark spells hit its target, and none of them caused any damage. There was a faint shining around Sirius, and it got brighter with every name he called. It clung to his skin and enveloped his body, and once in a while flames surged on its surface, licking his clothes, his hair and the stones that held him prisoner without burning them. The flames reached for the spells, enveloped and deactivated them, then disappeared again.
The Death Eater's circle started to break. Few dared to come closer to their target. Most stepped back and dissolved in the remote shadows that the light of the Phoenix could not yet penetrate.
"Are you afraid of him?" Voldemort's voice was full disdain. "How many are stupid enough to think they have better chances by leaving their master than by staying by me? Lucius?"
"Here, my Lord." Malfoy's voice came from far away, but it came after all. Harry had hoped the imposing sight alone would be enough to make the Death Eaters flee for their lives. If the likes of Wormtail and Avery were of any indication, they were nothing more than a bunch of weak, cruel people. Seemingly he was wrong.
"Good. You will see that it's nothing more than a cover... to hide the impotence that is inside."
Malfoy stepped closer to his master, and others followed reluctantly. Free from the close scrutiny of the circle Harry made a tentative step back. Nothing stopped him. The only thing he needed was a wand, and he was ready to help if he had an opportunity.
Not that Sirius seemed to need any. The completed phoenix Enchantment was a powerful and fear-inspiring vision. Even the stones around him were on fire. The mighty flames illuminated everything around him, making it as bright as daylight.
"Why is he waiting? I'is a power that surpasses Voldemort's own." Wasn't that what McGonagall told him once? Why wasn't he doing anything?
"A feeble white magic trick." A thin smile curved Voldemort's lips. "The reason it's called the phoenix is, I think, because it allows the weak come in touch with immortality. Something the strong takes at his will. A long time ago I happened to come above a parchment that mentioned a certain book that held the secret of infinite power, an enchantment that required the master to trust his slaves and the slaves to love their master. It was clearly of no use to me, and yet I studied it..."
"Forgive me, my Lord, but I don't understand."
"It can give you the illusion, but cannot warrant real power, for the spirit of white magic frowns upon any notion of uncontrollable might. Love and trust are strong forces, but they will never equal the power of the dark." At that Voldemort turned and shouted an incantation. The earth around him shuddered, deep fissures run toward the rocks that still enclosed Sirius's body. The rocks parted and contorted under Voldemort's will, twisting and tearing his limbs apart.
"And even if they did... Do you have enough strength to guide it, you that never wanted it in the first place, never dreamed of such omnipotence? Do you have enough determination to lead the willpower of your fellow friends?"
Finally, Voldemort's words received an answer. Following the lead of an invisible hand the fire penetrated in the fissures between the stones, covered them in liquid incandescent mantle and annihilated them, melted them down and threw them forward at the Dark Lord, at the Death Eaters, at Harry and Snape. It was as bright as in daylight. Everywhere where the burning stones touched the ground a new fire ignited. Fire that wasn't cold anymore but and burning and merciless.
"No! Not like that, not all together!" Sirius' voice was covered by the roar. The members of the order had come, but their presence didn't make things easier. There were too many voices around him, too many people he didn't know well, too much magic in his hands that struggled to get free. With Remus alone, everything was easy. Now there was a myriad of bonds that tied him to everyone, each one different and unique, each one requiring infinite trust and understanding, and at the same time inert unless combined with all the others in a final manifestation of the power of Phoenix. Sirius' concentration waved, torn between too many tasks he could not combine. The delicate bonds started to split, and on the outside, the flames of the phoenix darkened and the fire began to die.
"You will realise that the biggest mistake of your life was to play with powers you cannot control." Voldemort's wand moved, and another curse flew toward Sirius, only to be consumed in the fire that seemed to reborn and straighten at the new menace.
"Protecting yourself is easy. It's the most basic of all instincts. But can you protect the others?" His wand drew a circle, passing over Harry and pausing at the inert figure lying on the ground. "Crucio!"
Snape's body convulsed. The fire waived with fury and reached toward Voldemort. Harry felt the magical power bathing him, but this time there was no destructive heat coming from those flames. The tongue licked the point of Voldemort's wand and the curse was extinguished.
Harry was about to shout with glory, but than tongue of fire dissolved in the air, and so did the Phoenix Enchantment, again. Sirius sucked in air and closed his eyes, struggling to maintain his controls in place.
"I told you so." Voldemort said condescendingly. "Do you want another try? Crucio!"
Harry didn't see it coming. Voldemort didn't attack Snape for the second time. He attacked him. The pain was familiar, but it didn't do it a bit more bearable that before. He drowned in an ocean of fire that was inside him, shouting helplessly as the pain that came from within burned his muscles, his nerves and his veins and yet didn't leave any mark on his skin. And suddenly it was gone, replaced with a cool soothing shower of fresh water that bathed his body.
"Did it hurt, Harry? He wanted to help you, but he came late. Had it been another curse, it could have been too late."
Harry would rather continue to suffer than tell Voldemort how much it hurt. He struggled silently to his feet.
"Do you think he can save you from this? I will tell you something, Harry. I have seen many people trying to stand up to me. I always know when they are about to break. It's in their eyes. They know they have given everything they could, have fought bravely, and yet are going to loose. Do you know what look they have? The same one he has right now."
"You are lying!"
"Am I? We'll see. Avada Kedavra!"
"No, HARRY NO!"
Two lights roared through the air. One deadly green, another made of golden fire. Both directed right to Harry's chest.
And the only thing Harry could do was to watch. He didn't know what he expected. Maybe death. Maybe the touch of the unconsciousness similar to Snape's after he was summoned by the call of the Phoenix. Maybe nothing at all. The golden ray stuck him first. The green continued its travel through the air, but suddenly something crossed its path. Something that wasn't there just a moment ago. A big, round mirror appeared from nothing between Voldemort and Harry, and was instantly destroyed in million pieces by the touch of the Avada Kedavra.
To Harry it seemed like the world had stopped around him.
"Why a mirror?"
"Why not? It makes a good shield."
"Nice piece of Materialisation."
Bizarre thoughts invaded Harry's mind, and the most bizarre of all was that none of those thoughts was his own.
"Harry?!"
"What is Harry doing here? Sirius, what's wrong?"
The voices came from inside his head. First came the realisation that he knew some of them. Than he saw them. He didn't need to look around himself. They weren't there. To see the Order, he had to look inside himself.
He saw a room that was already familiar, and people staying along its walls. It was like a reflex of the Bonding ceremony. Again, the Book of Phoenix stood in flames in the centre of the room, and Sirius stood in front of it, wearing a pair of muggle jeans and a T-shirt exactly like he did in than. His hands rested on the pages of the book.
It was like looking inside a Pensive, except that it wasn't one. There were differences. Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen, and Snape's expression was solemn, very different from the convulsion of hatred Harry remembered from the "incident" between the professor and his godfather.
Thin golden strings of light extended from each member to the centre. Every one was different, much fainter that the fire itself and yet infinitely more beautiful. Under Sirius' hands they arranged in a complicated pattern and formed the faint mantle that bathed his skin. Harry looked down at his feet and saw the same soft mantle enveloping him. The ray that got him before Voldemort´s curse did hung motionless in the air, connecting him to Sirius.
"Where are we?" He looked like hypnotised the magical connection they shared.
"I don't think he can hear you." Professor McGonagall smiled sadly at him from the multitude of faces. "The power of Phoenix isn't his anymore. It's yours, Harry. You have to use it now."
In awe Harry watched the magical bonds reach from everyone to Sirius, and through Sirius to him.
"It can't be. I am not one of you. I don't belong to the Order."
"It's done already. Now you have to get back. Don't be afraid. We will help you."
The vision was gone before Harry could say anything else. He found himself back where he was, and a pair of merciless red eyes greeted him.
"We will help you." Countless curses, countercurses, defence techniques and countless other information flew through Harry's head. There was no doubt about his capacity in his mind. He knew exactly what he had to do and how he could do it.
"Nihilo!" Enormous ball of fire, incomparable to that of Lucius Malfoy came out of his outstretched bare hand. The mass of Death Eaters around Voldemort dispersed in fear. His supporters were fleeing, leaving their master in the face of a power bigger than the Dark Lord's own. There was no fighting back, and Harry had no doubt at his –Phoenix's- ability to protect him.
Harry felt no fear staying in front of Voldemort. The duel that had started at the graveyard a long time ago had to be finished. He looked carefully inside himself for the right move and suddenly it was there, so simple and yet so terrifying he paused and listened while the unforgivable words made their way to the surface of his conscience.
"Avada Kedavra."
More that one voice pronounced the words. More than one person Harry knew confirmed the verdict. It was a war, a war that has been going on for many years, and at the war, people killed people. He knew he shouldn't be surprised. He could see it in their minds. Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, the lovely Arabella Figg, Remus… Images, feelings, memories of hard, devastating training, of deadly green lights assaulted his senses.
He didn't want to know about it. He didn't want to see the minds of others to that point, and a part of him wondered if the fact that he was indeed hearing it meant that Sirius too agreed with the verdict, and if he too had deep hidden memories of the taste of the cruel words. He was glad he didn't know the answer.
Voldemort's figure rose in front of him, and suddenly cold fear touched his insides. One and only thought was in his head. "Why not?"
"Do it, Harry. Finish it, once and for always. You have the power that overcomes his. Do it."
The voices overwhelmed him, and Harry tried to block their influence without knowing if he had the power or the right to do it. He wasn't the Phoenix. He hadn't been chosen, and the members didn't come at his call. The only reason he possessed its power was because Sirius conceded it to him. The only reason he did so was to save Harry's life. What right did he have to fight the decision of the Order?
"I can't."
"You have to decide quickly, Harry. Sirius won't keep the enchantment much longer." Harry guessed more that heard the worry behind Remus' words. He lifted his hand.
"FINITE MAGI!"
Harry didn't care where the knowledge came from. The curse surged from the palm of his hand. A voice shouted "Disapparate", a figure wrapped itself in the pleats of the cloak and the curse pierced the space where Voldemort he had been a moment ago. It was empty. Like his servants before him, the Dark Lord had fled from the island.
Harry stared at the desolate and suddenly silent space around him. He couldn't believe that suddenly, from one moment to another, everything was over. The after-effects of the battle were clear on the shattered stones and melted rocks. The wind was slowly dissipating the clouds of smoke.
"Sirius? Professor Snape?"
None of the two answered his call. Another voice, half singing, half talking, reached his ears. He listened, and it carried him back to the secret room, in the safety of Hogwarts.
This time Harry knew for sure that it wasn't an image of his past. The enchantment was falling apart. He saw Sirius sway and drop on the floor beside the pedestal. The golden strings broke as his hands let go of the pages of the book, and the people surrounding him disappeared one by one. A soft shining that enveloped his body was all that still remained of the Phoenix Enchantment.
In front of Harry's eyes that weak gleam turned blindingly bright and separated from Sirius' body. Through nearly closed lids Harry watched as two enormous flames shot out of it and became wings. The shape elongated, giving form to the body and head of a colossal bird that flew up to the ceiling. The heat became almost unbearable, for the fire wasn't cool and inoffensive anymore but burning and completely real.
"Sirius!"
The firebird hovered right above the unconscious man. Him. Harry tried to get to his godfather, but found that he couldn't move more than a step from his position. Like a piece in an enormous game of chess, he was confined to the place he had occupied during the Bonding.
"Sirius!" They had to get out of there.
"My fire burns everyone who touches it unprepared, and my light blinds the eyes of those who dare to look directly at my true face." In spite of the terrible meaning it was the most beautiful voice Harry had ever heard. It was the phoenix's song put into words, pouring on him like a cool waterfall under the deadly heat of the firebird. "Many powerful wizards have paid with their lives for the insolence of facing me unprepared, but your friend will not. He had invoked my presence not out of arrogance, but as the last sanctuary."
"What are you?" A knot formed in Harry's throat and the words came out with great difficulty. The head and light was almost impossible to stand, and yet he couldn't take his eyes from the apparition.
"The one among many gives me birth, and the members of my order feed my flames. I have lived thousands of lives and died thousands of death, and will continue to do so as long as the Order of Phoenix is remembered among your people."
Harry felt compelled to answer something to that solemn speech, but the only thing that occurred to him was another question.
"You are the Phoenix Enchantment. How come you weren't there before?"
"The Order invokes the presence of my spirit in this world, but I exist beyond their magic. I am free to decide who is worth to be the witness of my power, and in which form I appear to him."
Harry wasn't sure he understood it any better.
"I appear to you now because I wanted you to remember you did the right choice. My essence is white. My magic can't be used to extinguish a life. You don't belong here, young Harry Potter. Many things you saw will remain mysteries for you, and many you will forget before you leave this room. But that, you must remember."
Harry nodded.
"More that nine hundred years have passed since my last birth. My existence was almost forgotten. The same one who brought me to life will have his doubts. Here is something that will lead him to believe in me… and in himself. Tell him I will be waiting for him."
"I will."
Harry tried with all his forces to keep his eyes open, but the light pierced them with cutting pain and tears streamed down his cheeks. His lids screamed at him to give up. He did, and the vision began to shatter around him. He saw a dark something appearing under the Phoenix's wings and glide onto the pages of the book. The voice was still talking and he knew it had to be important, but his mind refused to understand the meaning. The shining became weaker, or Harry's eyes were simply too tired to keep registering the blinding light. The Book of Phoenix closed. Harry felt himself falling down to the ground and instead of the smooth floor his hands met cold gravel.
Again, he was back on the island of Azkaban. He looked wildly around himself, trying to see anything in the thick darkness.
"Lumos."
The light illuminated the long fingers and crooked nose of Professor Snape and threw dim beams on the ground.
"Nice work, Potter." Snape could have meant it to be sarcastic or not, Harry didn't know. "You are going directly back to Hogwarts as soon as I manage to summon an apparation portal."
Sirius was lying unconscious, surrounded by the remains of what was a solid rock before, now transformed in a pile of shattered ruins. Harry run to his side, pausing only to bend down and pick up the object he almost crushed in the dark. It was his wand.
"He goes first."
"My priorities are to take care of Hogwarts students, not convicted criminals. And being the great Harry Potter is one more reason you will not spend a second more that necessary without proper protection."
Snape was finally back to his old, hateful self, ready to contradict everything he said just for the pleasure of it. Harry was sure he cared about his well being as little as he cared about Sirius'.
"He goes..."
"You take care of our Phoenix, Severus. I'll take Harry home."
Harry swung around. Dumbledore approached them, conjuring some torches and two stretchers as he went.
The authority in his voice didn't leave any space for Snape to argue. Muttering something about it being nothing he bent over Sirius, tore the already tattered neck of his tunic and started to move his wand over his chest. Harry made a move to touch his hand, but abruptly decided against that childish demonstration of affection under Snape's sneering gaze.
"Time to rest, Harry." Before he could turn around he felt an Obliviation curse touching his back. It was a vain pretension to fight Dumbledore's magic. Harry slid on the stretcher and closed his eyes.
A/N: well, how was that? Tell me what you think about my overexcited imagination. And this is NOT the end. Everyone still has to figure out what exactly had happened...
P.S. I told you before, I am not a monster (but I forgive you for not remembering an old A/N. I wouldn't.). I don't kill people off, and Sirius and Remus never!!