Disclaimer: Not mine.

Phoenix stands

Chapter Two

By Felflowne aka Espion

'Oh no!' said Ginny, running up to see, 'what happened?'

'Dox,' said the woman coldly, 'they did something to him. If he does magic at all it completely drains him. He passed out right after he Transfigured the rock to save Tom.'

The others looked at each other. They hadn't seen that. Harry, however, looked at the boy.

'You're Tom?' The boy nodded.

'He'll be OK, right?'

'Take him to Madam Pomfrey,' Ginny advised. She smiled at the woman. 'Is he your husband?'

'No,' the woman said, 'we just escaped together. There were a lot more of us, but…'

Tom sobbed quietly, and his mother stroked his head.

'My name's Elly Lestrange,' she said, standing shakily.

Neville made a strange sound and began walking away.

Ginny, however, just smiled.

'C'mon Elly, let's get you some food.'

**

'Are you related to Bella Lestrange?' Ginny asked a trifle awkwardly, as Elly ate the soup she'd been given hungrily.

The name seemed to have a terrible effect. Elly choked, coughing.

When she'd calmed down, she said stiffly, 'she's my mother.'

'Oh.' Ginny didn't know what to do, but she was giving this woman the benefit of a doubt. Family didn't mean everything, look at the Crouches.

'And I know she's a Death Eater,' Elly said coldly, 'but I'm not.'

'I never accused you of being a Death Eater,' Ginny said quietly.

Elly picked up her bowl.

'I won't deny that I've done things I'm not proud of,' she said sadly, 'but he said that we could atone for ourselves by fighting against the Darkness with you. With Phoenix.'

'Who said that?' Ginny asked. Elly finished her soup and laid down her bowl.

'I never caught his name. He arranged the breakout. His father had only recently been killed. I think that's what steeled his resolve.'

'The man who was with you?'

'Yes.'

Elly sighed.

'I'm sorry, I don't normally talk this much.'

Ginny decided to change the subject.

'So, you went to Hogwarts, right? What house were you in?'

Elly hesitated, then said, 'Slytherin.'

**

'Poppy!' called Dean, as they neared the matron's tent. Madam Pomfrey poked her head out.

'Good gracious!' she cried, running out, 'what happened?'

'He's from Dox,' Ron explained, as Madam Pomfrey checked the young man's pulse and temperature.

'Merlin preserve us,' muttered the healer, sighing, 'leave him with me.'

They did so, wandering off and feeling purposeless now the man was with the nurse.

'That was weird,' Harry muttered.

'I'll say,' said Dean, 'how's Hermione, Ron?'

'She'll be OK,' Ron replied, 'but where did Neville go?'

'He walked off…' Harry cast his mind back, '…oh, yeah, because that woman's surname was Lestrange.'

'Seriously?'

'Yeah, don't you ever listen?'

'She could be a spy!'

'I don't think so,' said Harry slowly, remembering the look on the woman's face, 'she was so glad to be alive.'

'I'm gonna keep an eye on her,' said Ron gruffly, stalking away.

Dean sighed.

'No prizes for guessing why he doesn't like her.'

Harry smiled slightly. Ron was unhappy because Hermione had got hurt.

**

Ginny tried to laugh.

'Slytherin, huh?'

'Yes.'

'We… don't have many Slytherins here…' Ginny faltered, '…but that's not because they aren't welcome… They just never came…'

She stopped. Elly was watching her.

'Because they're all on the other side.' She finished for Ginny.

'No!'

'Well, it's true, I've seen it,' said Elly carelessly. Ginny didn't know what to say.

'But not us,' Elly continued, 'we'd had it. Our parents brought us up to follow them in everything they did. Suddenly, we realised that we didn't want to, that our parents weren't even human anymore…'

Elly drew her legs up underneath herself self-consciously.

Ginny listened.

'So that was when we decided to escape… But the Dark Lord always knows…as my mother said.'

'Did your mother try and help you?'

Elly laughed harshly.

'What d'you think? No, she turned us in. They cursed my friend… the one with your nurse, and they snapped my wand.'

'But you still escaped?'

'Yes, but it took all my Slytherin cunning,' said Elly, her mouth twitching slightly, 'we managed it, and he managed to hold onto his wand, even though he couldn't feasibly use it, and he knew that.'

'Was he in Slytherin too?'

'I don't know. It wasn't just Slytherins in Dox, lots of others too.'

'I see.'

**Four Days Later**

'Welcome back to the land of the living.'

Madam Pomfrey smiled at her patient as he blinked.

'How d'you feel?'

He just stared at her.

'Madam Pomfrey?'

'Oh, you know me?'

'Yeah… you were at Hogwarts.'

'Old student?'

He smiled a bit.

'Yeah, that's right.'

'I'm afraid I couldn't lift the curse on you,' Madam Pomfrey continued, but he cut her off.

'It's all right,' he said, 'I didn't expect it to go anytime soon.'

He laid back down, ashamed at his exhaustion.

'Get some more rest,' Madam Pomfrey advised, 'and eat a bit of chocolate. You did have a close encounter with a Dark storm.'

'Thanks,' he said, accepting the chocolate.

**

'Mum!'

Tom barrelled into Elly's legs, almost knocking her over. Tears ran down his face. His mother dropped so she was at his level, taking in his mud-streaked features in dismay.

'What happened, baby?' she crooned softly, lifting her son up.

'The children from Phoenix threw mud at me… They said I didn't belong here… They said I belonged back in Dox… But…'

The boy wailed.

'… I don't! I don't wanna go back there! I hated it! Why are they being so mean?'

Elly sank to her knees numbly, rocking her child slightly.

'Because they're idiots,' she said icily, 'and they don't understand. They've been brainwashed by their parents. We walked an awfully long way to get here. I'm not letting some prejudiced little snots push us away.'

Tom snuggled against her.

'D'you think that man is better now?'

'Shall we go and see?' Elly said, standing up. Tom slid off her and reached for her hand, but before they could take a step, a group of people emerged from the trees. They didn't look friendly.

'Are you Lestrange?' asked a wiry man.

Elly nodded, unable to stop her head raising itself proudly.

'And you have the nerve to come here?'

Elly forced herself to keep calm and talk levelly.

'Please don't judge me by my mother's conduct. I assure you I'm no more a Death Eater than my son is.'

Tom ducked behind her legs to avoid the combined glares of the group.

The tall man looked like he wanted to say more, but then another joined the group, wandering up to it, mild interest playing over his face.

'What's going on?' he asked, but none of them replied, just cast similar dirty looks at Elly and walked off. The man looked at her.

'Are you OK?'

Elly was near shaking with anger.

'Idiots,' she hissed, 'I'm not my mother! Prejudiced little…' she trailed off, then ducked down and turned her son around so that he was faced the man, who was looking at her in a stunned way.

'Look what the children of this fine haven have done to my baby! He didn't do anything! He's even less guilty than I am… It's not fair…'

She slumped slightly, causing Tom to shrink back and whimper, 'Mummy!'

'We came all this way…'

The man walked over to her and held out his hand. She took it and stood up.

'No, it's not fair. Give them time, Elly, they'll come around.'

Elly looked up into his face.

'Harry, right?' she said, smiling slightly.

'Yeah,' he replied, 'I came to find you. The guy who came in with you's woken up. Madam Pomfrey sent me to find you.'

'Thank you,' she said, and seemed to brighten.

'He went to Hogwarts too, of course. I hope you like him. He was so brave on our way here. It's terrible that his magic's been disabled.'

'He sounds great,' Harry said sincerely, 'and I did see how brave he was, rescuing Tom.'

'He knew, you know, because he told me,' Elly said, 'just as he did it, he said, "I'll probably do something pathetic like black out when I'm done. Don't let me drag you back down", but I held on, and we made it.'

Harry pondered for a moment about just how severe a handicap losing magical ability in that way would be to him, and shuddered slightly.

He stopped walking. They were standing outside the matron's tent.

'In you go,' Harry chuckled, and Tom wriggled out of his mother's arms and in through the door.

'Will you come too?' Elly asked, 'I'm sure he'd like to know all about Phoenix from someone who isn't a completely biased swine.'

All the time the sweet smile remained on her face. Harry blinked.

'Sure,' he said, and followed the young woman through the door of the tent.

**

The slight ruffle of the tent door was the only warning he got before Tom landed bodily on top of him.

'Owf!'

It was really all he could say. Harry and Elly watched from the doorway in amusement as Madam Pomfrey scolded Tom, who looked very downcast, before moving over to them.

'Honestly, whatever next!' she tutted, as behind her Tom sat down carefully on the edge of the bed.

Harry half-listened to the healer as she told them both what she'd had to do to get the patient to regain consciousness. His eyes, however, were on the bed behind her.

Tom had laid down next to the man, and Harry watched in confusion as the man lifted his arm as if to lay it on the boy's head, then decided not to at the last minute and laid it back down.

Elly thanked Madam Pomfrey politely and moved over to join her son. Harry hung back for a minute.

'How are you feeling?' Elly asked sincerely. He looked at her.

'Like I'll never have any energy again,' he said bluntly, 'but it'll pass, like it did before.'

She nodded.

'You were right, you know,' Harry heard her say, 'about the people here. They're absolute pigs, in the most part.'

The man sighed.

'You can understand why they're acting like that though, can't you?'

'Well, yes. But that's no excuse for picking on Tom. He's just a boy!'

'Tom'll make friends,' the man said, his eyes falling closed, 'as for you and me… We'll just have to see.'

Harry stepped forward a little, and Elly turned towards him, smiling a bit.

'Hey,' she said, 'I asked this guy to come and talk to you.'

The man opened his eyes again, and for a moment his gaze locked with Harry's.

'You might know him…' Elly began, but he cut her off.

'Potter,' he said. She looked surprised. Harry took a few more steps forward.

'Do I…' he began, but trailed off. There was no mistaking the sharp eyes and pale complexion of the man lying on the bed. Harry wondered how he'd… How they'd… missed it before.

'Malfoy?'