The Emerald Fire*

The Emerald Fire*

By: SilverPhoenixWings

A/N: So Callie has a phoenix, hmmm…. See? See? It's all Ava's fault. She wanted to be in the story, but I absolutely refused. So she threatened me with writer's block. We compromised with this. I still haven't answered the question about Liane….must do that too. I have a wonderful wonderful idea for a future chapter. Onward!

Dedication: To Sierra Charm, for letting me use my all-time favorite line. Without Jen's supreme wit, Callie would not be nearly as sarcastic. Thank you SC! I learned some HTML yesterday, but just when we were getting into some new stuff(my aunt was teaching me), this guy we know who's in the army pops up out of nowhere and surprises us. Actually, it was quite humo(u)rous. The guy was expected my uncle to come to the door, so he could flick him off. But I did instead, so this complete stranger(did I say I knew him? I didn't know him.)was flicking me off. It scared me out of my mind. LOL!

Of Phoenix, Boyfriends, and Daddy Dearest

"Callie?" Lily said, coming into the room. Callie looked up from the window.

"Yeppers?"

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting." Callie replied.

"Well, there's….um….er….a present down in the common room for you. Dumbledore brought it himself." Jen said, emerging from behind Lily. Callie's eyes widened.

"It's here! Yes! This is so awesome!" Callie screamed. Lily and Jen looked at each other.

"Callie, it isn't what you think…" Jen started.

"Of course it is, are you insane?" Callie ran downstairs with Lily and Jen close behind. When Callie jumped from the last three stairs, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She knew who the man in front of her was, but she had blocked out all love and sympathy for her situation.

"Hello, Callandra." The man said. Callie swallowed hard. "What? No hug?" the man asked.

"Go to hell, you bastard." Callie said. Dumbledore looked at her, but she could tell nothing from his eyes.

"You haven't seen me in fifteen years; don't I at least get a kind word?" the man asked.

"Go fuck a tree." Callie said, her eyes stone cold.

"Callie…"

"I don't want to see you! Get lost! Go back to your drugs and your whores and your music! I'm better off without you!" Callie screamed; the whole common room stepping back. The man stepped into the green flames of the fireplace and flooed back to wherever he had come from. Dumbledore nodded at Callie, and swiftly left the common room. Callie, trailed by Liane(she had been playing James at Exploding Snap), Lily, Jen, and Emily, ran up to the dorm.

"What the hell was that?" Jen asked. Callie shook her head.

"That was daddy dearest." She said.

"It didn't look like daddy dearest to me," Liane said. "It looked like a man you wanted to kill."

"One and the same." Callie replied.

"Okay, Cal, you're not acting in a psychologically healthy way." Lily said.

"Maybe I'm not psychologically healthy. Maybe I'm mental. Maybe I should go to St. Mungo's!" Callie screamed. Just then, a glorious blue bird flew in the window and landed on Callie's shoulder. The other girls stared in amazement.

"I thought phoenix were orange and red!" Lily said. Jen shrugged and Liane grinned.

"Callie, dearest, you have an indigo phoenix!"

"Excuse me?" Callie asked. Jen nodded, eyes still wide. Emily and Lily looked confused. "Oh yeah! I forgot about those! Wow! They're supposed to be so rare!"

"Just great, another rarity!" Emily said, throwing up her hands. "Would somebody please inform me what is so dang special about an indigo phoenix?"

"Gladly, Em. First off, the color. Secondly, a phoenix turns indigo after it has lived five hundred years. Either Callie's phoenix is close to dying, or it's going to live until she dies." Jen said.

"Why until she dies?" Liane asked, obviously not knowing this part of the story.

"Because her grandfather must've put a Bonding Charm on it." Lily said, understanding.

"So when I die, a new phoenix will be born." Callie said. "I think I'll leave it to Dumbledore."

Aisling flew from Callie's shoulder to a perch that Emily had conjured.

The weeks of February flooded by, and soon it was getting into March. Aisling was quite a nice addition to Hogwarts' life, and all of the girls from other years came to visit her. Callie and Lily were sitting alone in the dorm one day, discussing summer.

"Lily, I can stay with you again this summer, right?" Callie asked. She had stayed with the Evans' since her third year, when her grandmother had died. Lily nodded.

"Of course! But what about Aisling? I mean, muggles are bound to spot her!" Lily said, sounding worried.

"Well, Jen said she'd look after her."

"Okay then, that's good." Lily said, sounding slightly relieved.

James pulled Callie aside after lunch the next day. He led her into an empty classroom.

"Callie? We're friends, right?" James asked.

"Well, yeah." Callie said.

"Okay cool. Callie, you are one of my best friends, but I don't see this working."

"By 'this' you mean 'us', right? Are you breaking up with me, James?" Callie asked pointedly.

"No, because we'd still be friends. It's not like I'd drop you and never talk to you again." James said.

"Funny thing, because that's how it's been with all of your other girlfriends." Callie said, keeping her voice level.

"Always sarcastic."

"Of course."

"Callie, you're making this hard."

"Good."

"Fine. Will you accept my deepest apologies?" James asked.

"Nope." Callie said.

"Callie, you are my friend-"

"Yeah yeah yeah. But I've exceeded my three week limit on being your girlfriend, right?"

"Wrong. I don't want you getting hurt." James said, taking her hand. She immediately tore it away.

"Another funny thing, James Potter. You're hurting me right now!" Callie said.

"Callie, I wanted this to be easy!"

"Nothing is easy, James!" Callie said loudly.

"Obviously." James retorted. Callie slapped him and walked out of the classroom.

Jen, Emily, Lily, Callie, and Liane had a conference the next day. It was Saturday, and everyone was at Hogsmeade. The girls sat in the common room and talked. Aisling had flown down as well. The phoenix pretty much had run of the common room and dorms.

"Okay people, there are some serious issues that need to be talked about here." Jen said.

"Number one is the guys." Lily said. Callie shifted in her chair. She would've gotten up and walked away, but no one was allowed to leave a conference. The set of rules had been established in the first year.

"Liane, you first."

"What do you want me to say? I don't have issues with guys right now." Liane said.

"Whatever. Fine then, Jen, you say what we agreed on." Lily said.

"Lily, Liane, and I, have agreed on two things. First is Callie."

"What? Me?" Callie asked.

"Yep. You. You really have to get over James." Jen said.

"Yeah, Callie." Liane said.

"I'm over him, I'm just extremely pissed at him." Callie said, crossing her arms.

"Fine, but you've been yelling at us, not him!" Emily said.

"Whatever!"

"You have!" Emily said.

"Okay then. I think we need a prank." Jen said.

"But first on to Emily." Lily reminded her.

"Ah yes. Emily, Sirius told us to tell you that you need to be down here at midnight, tonight." Jen said. Emily nodded, smiling.

"Prank." Liane said.

"Okay. How about we get all of the single girls to ask James out tomorrow and then walk away laughing before he can say 'yes'?" Emily suggested.

"That so works!" The other girls said.

A/N: Okay, next chapter we will hear more from Lily, find out how the prank turns out, see some more romance, and a turn of events. I need to conference with my beta-readers, just so you know. Um…any guesses on the Bonding Charm? Any predictions? Any anythings? Oy! You people are difficult. LOL. Well, I'm off! *waves* Bye!

~SilverPhoenixWings