Special thanks to my beta reader, Crab Apple Fairy

Flying Free

Chapter 2

Harry stirred. His brain felt like cotton and he could hardly think. His body was itching horribly. He tried to raise his hand to scratch himself, only to find that his arm wouldn¡¦t bend at that angle.

Something sharp and pointy poked his head. It scratched the skin under his hair comfortably. Harry sighed in bliss. The pointy thing moved down to his itching back. It pulled the hair on his back and the itchy feeling ebbed away.

Hang on. Since when had he had fluffy hair all over his back?

Harry opened his eyes. There was something odd, but he did not know how to describe it. Something red jumped into his view. He came face to face with the abnormally big head of the Headmaster¡¦s phoenix.

¡§Fawkes!¡¨ Harry yelled as he jumped nearly three feet in the air. When he landed, his legs suddenly felt weak and gave away. Harry fell flat on his face. He found his head buried in ashes.

Fawkes was strangely huge in Harry¡¦s opinion. He moved closer to Harry and opened his golden beak. ¡§Hello.¡¨

Harry almost choked on the ashes. ¡§Y-you talk!¡¨

Fawkes cocked his head to one side. He spoke again. ¡§You can, too.¡¨

The Gryffindor sputtered, ¡§H-how?¡¨

Fawkes did not answer him. Instead, he flew to the corner of the room and pulled out an average-sized mirror. He tilted the mirror a little bit, so that it was facing Harry.

¡§You should take a look at yourself,¡¨ Fawkes said. There was a hint of amusement in his voice.

Harry peered at the mirror curiously. Then he gasped.

There was a magnificent phoenix in the mirror.

It looked a lot like Fawkes. Its body and wings were a lighter shade of red than Fawkes¡¦ were, and had more gold feathers in them. The tail feathers, which were several inches longer than Fawkes¡¦ were, were blood red at the beginning, but became darker in mid-way. At the tips, the feathers were splashed with beautiful dark gold.

The plumage on the phoenix¡¦s delicate head was messy as hell. Several black feathers stuck on end and refused to lay flat. There were also tufts of fine golden feathers, forming two markings on its forehead. One looked like Harry¡¦s famous lightning bolt; the other was the mirror image of it. Both markings were situated a bit lateral from the centre. The most beautiful thing was that the phoenix¡¦s eyes were bright emerald green, as if they were glowing.

Harry blinked.

The phoenix in the mirror blinked back at him.

Harry then noticed that he was gaping. He quickly closed his mouth with a snap.

The phoenix, looking rather silly with its beak opened wide a second before, also closed its beak.

Harry stared at his reflection in silence. Realization suddenly hit him with full force.

¡§It¡¦s me!¡¨ he exclaimed. He didn¡¦t know he was actually screeching. Fawkes winced at the shrill sound.

¡§Of course. What do you expect when you look at the mirror?¡¨ Fawkes joked lightly.

¡§My animagus form is a phoenix,¡¨ Harry said dazedly, ¡§I always thought my form was a cross between a parrot and a goose.¡¨

¡§What?¡¨ Fawkes exclaimed. This time it was Harry¡¦s turn to wince.

Harry decided to ignore Fawkes¡¦ complaints that he did not resemble a parrot or a goose. Instead, he started to examine his wings and claws. He put his weight on his talons. This time he could balance himself.

A sudden thought came to his mind. How did a phoenix walk? He had never seen Fawkes walk before. Every time he saw Fawkes, the bird was sitting on his perch. He knew sparrows hopped. Maybe phoenixes hopped, too. Anyway, it was worth a try.

Harry jumped forward, and it was a big mistake. The sudden weight made his joints buckle. He had to flap his wings to maintain his balance. He heard Fawkes make a funny noise, and he pretended not to hear it. Well, perheps phoenixes walked like chickens, their heads jerking forward with every step they took.

The Gryffindor-bird stuck his foot out and placed it on the stone floor. Cautiously, he put his other foot ahead. Yet, he forgot that a bird¡¦s leg bent in the opposite direction that a human¡¦s did. Therefore, he tripped and fell onto the floor in a heap.

That was really pathetic.

Fawkes gave a sound that was almost equivalent to a snort.

¡§Don¡¦t laugh,¡¨ Harry grumbled irritably. He couldn¡¦t believe it. He didn¡¦t know how to walk!

¡§Watch me,¡¨ Fawkes said as he taught Harry how to walk. Harry, somewhat reluctantly, watched Fawkes holding his head high and walking gracefully back and forth.

¡§No need to show off,¡¨ Harry mumbled as he imitated Fawkes¡¦ movements.

Thirty minutes later, Harry finally got used to his new limbs. Fawkes seemed to be satisfied. Harry stared at the true phoenix, a question forming in his little head.

¡§Hmm, Fawkes?¡¨ he asked uncertainly.

¡§Are you wondering why I¡¦m here?¡¨ Fawkes turned his intelligent black eyes to Harry.

Harry nodded his head. Several feathers fell into his eyes. He tried to brush it away with his wing, but failed miserably. With a cry of frustration, Harry raised his leg and tried to scratch his head with his talons. He succeeded, though he fell onto his side in the next second.

If Fawkes had lips, he would have smiled broadly. He knew he should not laugh at an adorable new-born. Instead, he decided to tell Harry the reason why he was there.

¡§I sensed a new phoenix being born in the castle. So I went to investigate. I found you in phoenix fire. I reached to you mentally and knew you were Harry. Your human part was slipping away. I pulled it back,¡¨ Fawkes explained simply.

Harry felt light-headed. He had almost given in to the animal instincts. Trying to transform without company, huh? How very clever he was. If Fawkes had not found him, he would have been trapped in the creature¡¦s mind forever.

¡§Well, thanks,¡¨ Harry whispered gratefully. His voice was a soft, beautiful note. He suddenly felt very guilty that he had acted so rude to Fawkes before.

¡§We should help each other. There are so few of us on the planet. It¡¦s difficult to meet another phoenix,¡¨ Fawkes said. ¡§Besides, if I didn¡¦t pull your human mind back, you wouldn¡¦t have grown so quickly. You¡¦re a tiny, featherless nestling when I found you.¡¨

Harry took a sharp intake of breath. Luckily Mrs. Norris hadn¡¦t found him when he was unconscious. The blasted cat wouldn¡¦t have wasted another minute to swallow him alive. His expression must have been very funny, because Fawkes gave a laughing whistle.

¡§Anyway, you¡¦ve grown enough feathers,¡¨ Fawkes changed the topic skillfully. ¡§Do you want to take a flight?¡¨

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Thanks to all reviewers: Fallen Dragon, Ice Lupus, Kylena