A/N: Sorry for the tremendously long wait. This chapter starts on the Fifth of August, six days after the first chapter (which was on the morning of the 31st of July).

Well, back to Harry's point of view, if you're wondering what happened in the forest, you'll find out later :)

Also, (I just couldn't keep him out of it!) I've added more about the Lord of Magic (as mentioned in chapter 1, if you remember) and also about the man (and his wife) in the caves where the previous two died. (oy vey, it's hard trying to tell ya stuff without telling you everything. And confusing, like he was this while he[2] did this and she did that while he[1] did this.)

Anyway, on with the chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PHOENIXES! (the rest of the disclaimer is on chapter one)

The Betrayal, Chapter Four: The Accusation

~*~

Harry Potter slowly opened his eyes, and took a deep breath as he slowly climbed up the revolving stairs towards an office, with a strict-looking woman behind him. The wooden door to the headmaster's office stood in before him. "Come in." An old voice from inside called, even though Harry had not yet knocked. Harry slowly opened the door, and took a step inside.

"Ah, Harry." The headmaster said as Harry entered. Albus Dumbledore - the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - glanced down at Harry as he stood up from his seat. The headmaster's office was filled with magical items, and the walls were lined with portraits of the previous Hogwarts headmasters. "I trust your journey here was...uneventful?"

Harry nodded. He hadn't known anyone knew he had left Privet drive. "Please...Have a seat, Harry." Dumbledore said as he walked to the opposite side of the room. Harry looked at Dumbledore questioningly, but sat down in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. "Minerva, may I speak to you?" Dumbledore asked, moving his gaze from Harry to the witch standing next to him.

Minerva, or Professor McGonagall, as she was called by the students, - including Harry - mumbled a quiet, "Of course." and followed Dumbledore through an open door to the side, probably Dumbledore's living quaters. Harry quickly got up as the door closed, and tried to listen to what Dumbledore and McGonagall were saying, but there was a silencing charm on the door.

Harry went back to his seat, and sat down heavily. After a few minutes of waiting, while Harry tried to remember as many spells as he could (as he was bored, and there wasn't anything else interesting which Harry could see in Dumbledore's office), Harry heard a screech, coming from an owl.

Harry looked at the windows, all open to allow fresh air into the room. Suddenly, a large, brown owl fluttered through one of the largest windows - probably the one owls usually flew through - and landed on the desk. The owl turned to look at Harry, with a letter in it's beak. Strange, usually people tie the letters on, don't they? Harry thought, as the owl dismissed him and set the letter on the desk, before flying out again.

Fawkes took that exact moment to make his entrance. Harry hadn't realised that Fawkes wasn't in the room, until fawkes rocketed in the same window that the other owl had entered, and had been about to exit. The owl let out an angry squawk as it dodged the red blur. The whole scene would have been comical...if Fawkes had not been trailing blood. (A/N: Good place for a cliffie, 'cept its WAY TO CLOSE TO THE START. Boohoo. )

"Fawkes!" Harry yelled as the phoenix lost control of it's (previously) controlled dive, and rammed into the opposite wall. Harry sprinted towards the wounded phoenix, picked it up, and disappeared...

*~*

Harry blinked as the headmaster's office disappeared, and he was enveloped in darkness. Harry glanced around himself, at the familiar darkness of the Den of Evil. Suddenly remembering what had just happened, Harry quickly looked down at his hands, or, more importantly, at the mortally wounded phoenix held in them.

What am I going to do? Harry thought, as he set the phoenix down on the blackness that was the ground. Harry remembered coming here before, but that had been an accident. Could he call another magical creature, like he did with Aragog? Harry squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to remember a creature knew, but could heal wounds, even as grievious as Fawkes had.

"Argh!" Harry yelled as, for the fourth time, he came up with nothing except a phoenix. "What am I going to do!"

"Easy. Burn him." said a voice behind him. Harry jerked around, to come face to face with...himself. Or, at least, what looked like himself. The man - he looked slightly older than Harry - had black hair, messy, like Harry's, and dark brown eyes, he had the same features as Harry did - along with the glasses, which, on him, didn't look all too bad. He was dressed in a long black robe, with silver lining, and several silver runes running along the edges. His most distinguishable feature, was what looked like a tattoo on his forehead - exactly the same place Harry had his scar. It was a sun, with lines protruding outwards, with a full moon resting in one corner.

"What?" Harry whispered as he looked at the stranger.

"I said, burn him." The stranger said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"If you burn him, he will be 'reborn' from the ashes." The stranger replied.

"But...That only works if he burns himself, doesn't it?"

"Not necessarily. You see, Fawkes is unlike any other phoenix, as he has lived longer than most, and as a phoenix gets older, they gain more...talents..." he said.

Harry thought for a moment, and looked at the stranger. "Something tells me it's more than simple fire that will do the trick." Harry said.

"Indeed. Usually, when a phoenix of Fawkes's age is confronted by death, they still have the energy to burst into flames. Fawkes now, unfortunately, has not enough energy to do this." The stranger replied.

"But, on a burning day, they hardly have any energy though." Harry said thoughtfully.

"True, but there is a way for phoenixes to gain energy."

This seems too much like a lesson to me. Harry thought. "So phoenixes get energy by fire?"

"Exactly. But not just any fire; phoenixes get energy by iether phoenix fire - which is the fire they create, or normal fire."

"Thats every kind of fire there is, isn't it?"

"No. Normal fire is fire that has not been created by magic."

"Oh, so how do I make normal fire here?" Harry asked.

"Think" He replied.

Harry thought, how do I make normal fire? and suddenly, they were in the gryffindor commonroom, or so Harry thought. "So I can use the fire from there?" Harry asked, pointing towards the fireplace. The stranger just smirked at Harry. Harry took this as a 'yes' and quickly grabbed Fawkes and threw him into the fireplace, where he immediately burst into flames, and, contrary to what Harry thought, flew out as an adult.

"But, I thought..." Harry stammered, staring at the phoenix which had just perched on his shoulder.

"Indeed? I would never have realised." The stranger replied, a smile on his face. "Actually, phoenixes only become babies when they die of old age, not if they die of other causes."

Harry looked at the stranger, then back at Fawkes. "Well, Dumbledore will be waiting for me, I guess." Harry said, "Lets go." And started towards the painting of the fat lady.

"And where exactly do ye be goin'?" The stranger said in an uncanny, Irish accent.

"I'm going to Dumbledore's office of course." Harry said.

"A faster way would be to just go to the den." the stranger replied.

"Oh, and how do I get there? Niether of the times I've gone there have been on purpose, you know." Harry growled.

"I can take you there." the stranger replied loftily, "But you must say please."

"...please?" Harry said.

"Please, what?" the stranger said, a huge grin on his face.

"Honestly! You are exactly like Fred and George!" Harry mumbled.

"Weasley?" the stranger asked curiously.

"No, I'm Potter." Harry replied.

"Hah hah, very funny. I asked if this...Fred and George were Weasley." the stranger said.

"Yeah, they're Weasley's" Harry replied.

"Good to know. Now. Please what?"

Harry growled angrily, "Never mind." and grabbed the stranger, and both of them disappeared...

.....

.....

.....

And reappeared in the Den of Evil. "Ah, very good!" the stranger pronounced happily. "Now, off to the headmaster's office,"

Harry closed his eyes, and concentrated on the headmaster's office.

~#~

(A/N: I did that on purpose so I could start this part with "Harry Opened His Eyes." Heh.)

Harry opened his eyes, and saw the magical-item-furnished office of the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - for the second time that day. This time, though, Harry was proud to be the bearer of the most powerful magical creature in the castle - totally wound-free.

As Harry and the stranger materialised in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore looked up from what he was reading, with a grave expression. "Ah...Harry, good to see you again, and...you?" Dumbledore looked confused by the presence of the stranger. "I thought you were only coming tomorrow. Ah, it doesn't matter. There is a much more important matter to discuss."

"Indeed? Then let us not dally." the stranger said, this time taking on a quite convincing english accent. (A/N: I don't know if 'dally' is english dialect or a different dialect, but it doesn't matter exactly what the words are, just that he had an english accent. And I'll try to stop the AN's in the future.) "So, what is it you wish to discuss?"

Dumbledore turned to Harry. "It seems that the Ministry of Magic has found out about you leaving the premises of number four Privet drive yesterday afternoon. It is my great regret to inform you that Rubeus Hagrid, and his giant brother were killed in a magic caused avalanche." He said.

"Dumbledore, there was a rather large magic-caused avalanche around my cliff, yesterday." the stranger said suddenly, "Thats why I came a day early."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "Your cliff...doesn't happen to be the one thats in the middle of the route that Harry took from Surrey to Hogwarts?" He asked.

"The very same one." the stranger replied.

Harry remembered his sighting of a very bright red planet the previous night, and sighed heavily. So that is what trouble happened last night...but didn't it say that...the trouble was on MY road, specifically? Harry thought, and sighed again.

"Harry, I believe you need to read this." Dumbledore said, looking older than ever, and placed a large piece of paper in Harry's hands, and took Fawkes from Harry's shoulder. Harry looked down at the paper, and realised that it was the Daily Prophet. Harry quickly read the headlines, and the front page story.

Boy-Who-Lived, A Murderer?

Harry Potter who was proved to be correct this summer about the stories about You-Know-Who, has been missing from his home. Auror's believe that he was on his way to Hogwarts, and with the monster tracks around his home, is believed to have gone insane, and taken control of the creature that was previously belived to the the Monster of the Chamber of Secrets.

The direction he took, was in the direction of the unfortunate murder of one Rubeus Hagrid, and another Giant, who is believed to be his brother. The magical landslide that killed them was proven to be done by none other than Harry Potter, from the magical signatures that the Aurors traced, and the site is far enough away that Potter could have gotten there in time to create the landslide, and in turn, murder Rubeus Hagrid.

This reporter sincerely hopes that an insane boy like Potter be immediately put into Azkaban, before he can join You-Know-Who, and become the next Dark Lord.

Harry gaped at the Daily Prophet in his hands, dumbstruck. "But...I didn't do it..." Harry mumbled, "I didn't even KNOW that he was dead!" Harry burst into tears. Hagrid is dead.... Harry thought sadly. The sadness quickly turned to anger. "Voldemort must be behind this." Harry growled. Harry clenched his fists, feeling his nails, which hadn't been cut since the start of the holidays biting into his palm. "I'll kill him, if it's the last thing I do."

"Tha's ma boy." the stranger said, adopting a scottish accent.

Harry turned his angry eyes toward the stranger, and Dumbledore just watched silently. "And who are you anyway?" Harry hissed (not parseltongue).

The stranger looked abashed. "I have absolutely no idea." the stranger replied calmly.

Harry was taken aback by this statement. "What?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, Albus. I remember what else I wanted to talk to you about." the stranger said, ignoring Harry.

"Oh? And whats that?" Dumbledore said gravely, still remembering the Daily Prophet article.

"It seems I have remembered a part of my name." the stranger said, and jerked his thumb towards Harry. "Seems like I'm related to this fellow, somehow. Seems that my last name is Potter."

Harry was stunned. Family? Harry though happily. It didn't matter anymore that this guy was quite annoying. He was family!

"Yep," he said as he saw Harry's expression. "Definatly Potter, alright. Just look at the resemblence." Potter crouched slightly to get his face to be level to Harry's. "The only thing he doesn't resemble me with is those eyes. Look exactly like my wifes."

Harry jerked his head around to look at Potter, wide-eyed. And Dumbledore looked at Potter strangely. "Well, My Lord, Since you are a Potter, I guess you should get custody of young Harry." Dumbledore said, and smiled at Harry. "Especially since you can give more protection than a few age-old spells which are much too powerful for the average wizard to imagine."

Harry blinked Dumbledore. The wards around Privet drive are that powerful? Harry thought, then looked at Potter. If he's more powerful than that, and worse, if Dumbledore called him 'My Lord' then he must be really powerful.

"Well, you better stay hidden until your trial, Harry." Dumbledore said.

"Huh? Trial?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore nodded sadly. "You must have a trial, if such charges were pressed against you. But I am positive that we will win." Dumbledore said. "Minerva has already gone to prepare for the trial, which will be in three days time, in the same room as last time."

Harry nodded, and looked at Potter. "Let's go." He said, and closed his eyes, concentrating on the Den of Evil.....

#~#

Well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which I must say is about 25% larger than the other three chapters. *Smiles happily at having done something right for a change.*

Again I apologise for the EXTREMELY long wait, and I hope that you all will review, which will, of course make me update faster. *Smiles proudly.*

If you have any questions, or if you want to have your say in what *might* happen, please, do review.

Thanks for reading!

-Hilel.