Special thanks to my beta-reader, Crab Apple Fairy

Flying Free

Chapter 6

Snape was stunned. He could swear that he had just angered the small phoenix. The bird had even been ready to peck his hands several minutes ago. Luckily, Fawkes had stopped the small feathery thing, much to Snape¡¦s relief. Then he had felt the fiery bird judge him. The incident made him feel oddly exposed. He didn¡¦t expect that the bird would trust him, not to mention showing passion to him.

The Potions Master raised his head cautiously, and he found that all the teaching staffs and students were staring at him, wide-eyed.

"What?" Snape asked bitingly. The cold look in his eyes was enough to make the students avert their gaze and exit the hall hastily.

The professors are still watching Snape¡¦s every move. Snape pretended not to notice anything and fed Harry another dandelion seed.

"I think he likes yeh." Hagrid said faintly, a bit shocked that the lovely bird had a liking for the grumpy man, but not a creature-loving person like him.

"It was going to bite you minutes ago!" Professor Filwick exclaimed. He tried to stand on the chair to get a better view of the new phoenix.

Professor McGonagall eyed the small phoenix and Snape with interest. She noticed that the bird was quite moody. It was really strange. Phoenixes were very composed and well-mannered. May be this nestling was a bit different, she mused. No wonder they liked each other. Birds of a feather flocked together. This was a rule in nature.

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry¡¦s human part took control again, only after he had gulped down several large dandelion seeds.

And he realized what he had done.

Oh no, no, no, no, no...

Harry screamed in his mind. He had taken food from Snape. He had been fed by his most hated teacher. He accepted the food like a cute little pet bird. How disgusting.

No! This is not happening!

Harry let out a mournful note. If Snape found out that he was the phoenix, the Potions Master would certainly tell everyone about it and boast how ¡¥obedient¡¦ Harry was. He probably wouldn¡¦t be able to face anyone again. He could almost see Snape¡¦s smirking face in his mind. Harry suddenly felt like he wanted to bury himself deeply in the ground.

"No need to be so hysterical, fledgling." Fawkes chided.

"You don¡¦t understand! You don¡¦t understand! You don¡¦t understand!" Harry turned to Fawkes in hysterics and cried. He was so close to nervous breakdown that he didn¡¦t realize that he had repeated the same sentence for the third time.

"Calm down!" Fawkes warned as the teachers stared at the screeching bird confusedly.

However, Harry did not seem to be calmed. His phoenix form could not handle such human emotional turmoil. The animal instincts tried to take over, and Harry¡¦s human side fought against them furiously in response. The battle between two entirely different ways of thinking was ripping Harry¡¦s brain apart.

Fawkes knew that Harry was in big trouble now. The child¡¦s mind would be damaged permanently if Harry lost control of his emotions. The giant phoenix let out an unearthly squeal as he wrapped his wings around the smaller bird. Then they disappeared in a swirl of flames.

* * *

Snape stared at the ashes left behind. He couldn¡¦t help thinking that the new phoenix was a bit odd. The bird was way too temperamental. The feathery thing seemed to hate him, but it rubbed his hand passionately in the next second. Then the bird screeched in anguish for no reason and disappeared with Fawkes.

"Hmm, Severus?" Professor McGonagall began uncertainly.

Snape turned to the Transfiguration teacher, one of his eyebrows raised delicately.

"Are you okay? I mean, you look a bit shocked." Minerva said neutrally. She had a vague expression on her face.

Snape snorted. "I¡¦m perfectly fine." he said smoothly. He cleared the ashes with a wave of his wand. Then he pocketed the jar of herbs and left the Great Hall.

All professors stared at the retreating Potions Maser. When they made sure that Snape was out of earshot, the teachers burst into heated conversations.

"I don¡¦t believe it! That lovely bird likes Snape?" Madam Hooch exclaimed in exasperation.

"It must be a mistake." Professor Figg, the new Muggle Studies teacher, agreed fervently with Hooch. Maybe Snape added something to the dandelion seeds, she thought.

"Is it normal for phoenixes to lose their emotional control so easily?" Filwick asked with a frown. "You know, when that phoenix stared at Snape, he had that strange look in his eyes."

"He is only a baby phoenix!" Hagrid protested. Although the bird did not seem to be fond of him, the half-giant still defended the fiery creature¡¦s sanity.

"How do you know?" Minerva asked. She did not know so much about phoenixes. Fawkes was not always present when she went to the Headmaster¡¦s office.

Albus would be surprised that there was another phoenix in school, she noted. Lost in her thoughts, she missed what Hagrid had said. A chuckle nearby caught her attention again.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Minerva looked at her amused colleagues in confusion.

"I say the bird is a fledglin¡¦ ¡¥cos it¡¦s much smaller than Fawkes." Hagrid said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Minerva couldn¡¦t help chuckling as well. Hagrid was a kind man, but he was really too poorly simple-minded sometimes.

"I wonder where they go to..." Arabella Figg said thoughtfully, her eyes never leaving the charred spot on the table.

* * *

I finally have time to upload a new chapter! Wish you a successful new year!

Thanks to all reviewers:

Tanya Dinocrisis01, Kemenran, Slytherdor, Crookykanks, smoofie, Wynjara, Luceid, skipastarseeker, kym, and Gablock the Hated

Lady Cinnibar: I know I have some problems when uploading the apostrophes... However, when I try to upload the story in doc file, all the italics are gone! I wish someone would tell me how to upload italics if I save the story as a doc file...

Squirrelface RAE: Well, even if your cat wouldn¡¦t eat birds, it would not be so good to keep cats and birds together. Birds are really scared of cats, you know. I remembered once I saw an abandoned kitten on my way home, I brought it to my house and the little bird of mine had a panic attack! It was wheezing noisily and I saw his legs grew weak!

Wanderingwolf: Harry hadn¡¦t set off the alarms so far, and Dumbledore was away from school. So he wouldn¡¦t know Harry wasn¡¦t human anymore. Of course, the teacher would get suspicious when they noticed a certain boy-who-lived did not appear for a long time...