Chapter Six
Find What's in Common
Patrick and Harry raced down to tunnel. Harry could feel his legs pounding and aching, but he ran on, faster, faster, as fast as his legs would carry him. "I. think. I. see. something. there. up ahead." Harry yelled. The end of the tunnel was drawing closer. Yes, there it was, the fresh smell of air; crisp sun light.
Patrick picked up speed and met Harry's heels.
They broke the darkness.
The landscape was flat and lush green. The mine was a clumsy opening in the ground supported but molding slabs of wood. Just out of eyes sight was water separating Fata Morgana from Italian main land. And in front of Harry's green eyes was. aging Fata Morgana its self.
Patrick took off.
Harry followed.
"Patrick.why.don't.you.just.you know. fly there or whatever." Harry was loosing words. stumbling over what to say.
"Voldemort drained me of that power." Patrick huffed.
Harry saw it. green light shining against the graying sky behind the castle. His feet grew minds of their own and he ran without another thought in mind but getting there to save Sirius and Seri and Patrice he wouldn't let anybody else in his family die.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster he urged.
Then his feet picked up and his running was swift.
He heard Patrick holler from behind, but Harry didn't look he was nearly there, Seri's short rich hair was visible.
He looked down at his feet but they weren't there anymore. The ground wasn't even close anymore. He was flying.
The sky was turning gray; the accent about the barrier between the sky and the earth was a tone of blood red. Evil.
A song gave into Harry's throat and the beautiful song of the phoenix roamed the island. Yelling stopped, flashes of light froze in mid air only to fad and fall soon after. Eyes, evil and loving, fell onto Harry. He flew to Dumbledore and rested on his shoulder.
"What is this Dumbledore? Calling your pet to help you?" Voldemort sneered.
"Not at all Tom, my phoenix is red."
"And what of a green phoenix?"
Harry's feature gleamed in the light. They were bright green behind his bright green eyes. His beak was gold.
"A green phoenix is that of Slytherin." Voldemort said slowly. "That phoenix is mine!"
Harry, startled by the event flew from Dumbledore's shoulder and remained in the air.
"Harry!" Patrick gasped.
"Harry Potter?" Peter repeated. "A phoenix?"
Voldemort's face, if possible, drain any color from it. "What magic is this? What the hell does this mean?"
"It means exactly what you think it means Tom," Dumbledore consoled.
In a quick action Patrice and Seri penned Peter and Bella to the floor. The rest of the death eaters, seeing Dumbledore, had fled back in Fata Morgana. "Must we end this now?" Sirius barked.
"End what Black? Nothing is going to end. you forget, I have no concerned with death! Death is not an option of end for me!" Voldemort sneered. He waved his wand and a flash of blood red light exploded from his wand. A rush of wind swept over them and suddenly they were not on the island. they were sitting right in front of the Ministry of Magic.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
Seri, over come in a smile picked Harry up by the arm and dusted him off. "You did a good job Harry, a fine job."
"Yeah, at nearly getting us killed!" Patrice added.
"Shut up Trice." Patrick said, rubbing his sister's arm.
Patrice turned and fell into her brother's arms.
"You all go back to the Order," Dumbledore said, "I must talk to Fudge about this. have the Order ready. we may be leaving soon."
With that, Dumbledore stepped into the phone booth.
"I haven't gotten to say a proper hello Harry," Sirius announced.
Forgetting his age and his pride or even the small fact that he was clearly an inch taller than Sirius, Harry collapsed into Sirius' out stretched arms. "I hate you," Harry whispered.
Sirius chuckled and gentle released him, "I know."
"Do you wanna take him Sirius?" Remus asked.
Patrice, Patrick and Seri had already disappeared.
"I'll take Martha."
"Who?" Harry asked Remus.
"Martha Patail. the Patail twin's older sister." Remus lifted a limp body in his arms and held it as a mother would a new born child.
Harry drew a hand to his mouth in awe sorrow. Another one died because of him.
"Come on Harry," Sirius gripped his arm and they were gone from the lonely street corner in London and then in front of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry was home. he finally felt like he was home.
"Harry?"
Hermione came running out of the front door.
"Oh my God, Harry! Mark told us what happened. that was so brave of you!" She threw herself around Harry's neck, plumply landing a kiss on his cheek.
She had changed. Her hair was straight and dancing around her shoulders. He cloths where tighter and she was taller, a well rounded 17 year old girl.
"And so dumb." A voice croaked from the door.
Hermione eased herself off Harry and turned to look; leaning against the frame from Draco Malfoy. His hair was untidy and his eyes narrow and light gray.
"Shove it Malfoy." Harry hissed, pushing Hermione toward the door.
"Did little Harry Potter save the fucking day?" Draco mocked.
"Shut up Draco. I don't want to hear it today!" Hermione snapped. Her pushed passed him sending him stumbling backward into the foyer wall.
"Spicy today Herm," Draco smiled.
Hermione rolled her eyes, shoved her hand into Harry's and led him to the kitchen.
"Draco's been nasty lately." Hermione told him.
"Isn't he always," Harry chuckled.
"Well, of course," Hermione blushed slightly which caught Harry off guard; Hermione never blushed. "But there for awhile he was cool, polite even to Ron and his family. Now he's completely unbearable."
Harry smiled at Hermione, "You know that's just how he is. Smack him in the face and be over with it."
Hermione sighed and pushed open the kitchen door, the crowd inside fell silent.
The room must have grown; the table was about as long as the tables in Hogwarts and filled to the max. No one moved except for a little red headed boy who squealed and threw himself around Harry's waist.
"You stupid, stupid idiot!" Mark cried into Harry's chest. "I hate you," and Mark squeezed harder.
The room suddenly rustled as people got to their feet as though just noticing "Famous Harry Potter" has entered the room.
"Come on Harry," someone whispered and a hand guided him and Mark back out of the kitchen.
"Stupid Evans," Malfoy splat pushing past them into the kitchen. "And ugly Weasley girl."
"Eat dung Malfoy; come on Harry." Ginny said. Her voice was sweet and Harry almost found himself missing it. "You better go clean up Harry," she said. "Supper should be ready soon and I'm sure the whole Order is ready to hear your story." She patted him on the shoulder and turned back around to enter the kitchen.
"Mark," Harry whispered, patting Mark on the back, "Was that Ginny?"
"Yes. why?" Mark sniffed.
"No reason, she just looked different, that's all." Harry started back down the hall where, in replacement to Mrs. Black's portrait was family picture of various Order members and two larger self Portraits was Bill and Percy. And indeed Ginny had looked different. Her hair had changed from fiery red to a soft auburn running down to the middle of her back. Her face was nearly error less beside a faint scar on her left cheek from the Death Eater's battle a few weeks before. She wasn't much taller, still coming right to Harry's nose and her eyes were soft green.
Harry pushed her from his thought. it was Ron's little sister anyway.
"Harry, why did you do it?" Mark had pushed himself away from Harry's waist, but was still holding his arm tightly.
"Do what?"
"Save me? Why didn't you let Peter have me?" Mark wiped his eyes.
"What kind of cousin would I be if I didn't save my little cousin?" Harry inquired pushing the boy's dorm door open and going to the bath room.
"But. but Mrs. Dursley told me about. about how. how we're different." Mark jumped up and sat on the counter.
Harry let the silence come and he peered into his own reflection. Who was this man staring at him or was he a man t'all? Was he ready to be one? Had the events of his life pushed and pulled him to a climax he was not ready to fulfill? Had his childhood been drained from him by one action to another? Had fate and destiny stretched him from a blind 11 year old to a 17 year old with everything to loose yet nothing to gain? Harry found his reflection unfamiliar and his own eyes cold and empty. What would have happened if.?
"Harry?" A voice from out side called. Ron popped his head into the bathroom. "You okay mate?" Ron leaned against the door frame.
Startled, Harry turned on the water and threw it on his face, ridding it of dirt and grime.
"Fine," Harry said flatly.
Ron in deed looked older too, even from the few short weeks they had been apart. His hair was longer; falling passed his eyes, his face sharper in features and his height still towering over that of Harry's. But he still had the same boyish grin and the friendly eyes.
"I ain't falling for it," Ron announced, "Now let me try this again; you okay mate?" Ron had on his new Gryffindor Quidditch robes.
Harry chuckled, turned off the water and dried his face with his robes. "How the hell am I every time you ask me that?"
"Not good, in mortal danger. am I anywhere close?" Ron joked.
"Hit the nail on the head," Harry grinned and Ron pulled him into a friendly hug.
"It's been lonely here without you mate," Ron announced. "Shit fire Potter, you smell like shit!"
Harry messed with his hair and grinned, "You don't smell too fancy yourself. At least I have an excuse." Harry pulled off his robes and T- shirt.
"What have you done to yourself?" Ron asked, taking the muddy clothes from him.
Harry looked at his chest; it wasn't fine cut but it wasn't pale white either. His body, from quidditch practice and late night training from Seri had transformed his body from that of a boy force possibly too quickly to grow up into a boy right fitted into his body. His muscles hit him right, but maybe it was the bruises Ron was talking about.
"Them?" Harry asked picking Mark up and sitting him on his feet. "You know me," he chuckled. Some were from Voldemort, some from Remus when he became a werewolf and some newly coming along from the fall he had taken in the tunnel.
"Yeah them, it looks like shit, must hurt." Ron followed Harry into the dorm where he dug in his trunk for new cloths.
"Of course it hurts, but pain doesn't issue with me anymore." Harry threw a new shirt and robes at the bed where Mark and Ron had taken a seat.
"Well, aren't we big and strong Mr. Potter," Ron joked.
"Leave him alone," Mark whined. "Maybe Mrs. Dursley could fix it; she said she was studying magical remedies before she was expelled.
Harry, who had pulled the shirt onto his arms, stopped his back and chest still bare. "What? Expelled from where?"
Mark looked at them bug eyed, "Did you know? She went to Hogwarts for four years."
Harry stared at him. It made since, all the things she knew, Dumbledore's "Remember my last" it all pieced together and her hate from the magical world. All the things had something in common yet Harry never pieced it together.
"Ron, Mark, Harry; mum says supper is. HARRY!" Ginny screamed from the door.
Harry spinned around and Mark and Ron fell off the bed laughing. Ginny covered her eyes and turned around. "Supperisready." She slurred and ran down stairs.
"Like she's never seen any guy half naked before." Ron managed before falling into a fit of giggles. Harry pulled the shirt on and smiled weakly. "Bill went streaking around the house two summers ago and she never blinked."
The laughing stopped, Ron straightens up and Harry stopped grinning.
"I miss Bill," Mark said softly.
Patrick and Harry raced down to tunnel. Harry could feel his legs pounding and aching, but he ran on, faster, faster, as fast as his legs would carry him. "I. think. I. see. something. there. up ahead." Harry yelled. The end of the tunnel was drawing closer. Yes, there it was, the fresh smell of air; crisp sun light.
Patrick picked up speed and met Harry's heels.
They broke the darkness.
The landscape was flat and lush green. The mine was a clumsy opening in the ground supported but molding slabs of wood. Just out of eyes sight was water separating Fata Morgana from Italian main land. And in front of Harry's green eyes was. aging Fata Morgana its self.
Patrick took off.
Harry followed.
"Patrick.why.don't.you.just.you know. fly there or whatever." Harry was loosing words. stumbling over what to say.
"Voldemort drained me of that power." Patrick huffed.
Harry saw it. green light shining against the graying sky behind the castle. His feet grew minds of their own and he ran without another thought in mind but getting there to save Sirius and Seri and Patrice he wouldn't let anybody else in his family die.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster he urged.
Then his feet picked up and his running was swift.
He heard Patrick holler from behind, but Harry didn't look he was nearly there, Seri's short rich hair was visible.
He looked down at his feet but they weren't there anymore. The ground wasn't even close anymore. He was flying.
The sky was turning gray; the accent about the barrier between the sky and the earth was a tone of blood red. Evil.
A song gave into Harry's throat and the beautiful song of the phoenix roamed the island. Yelling stopped, flashes of light froze in mid air only to fad and fall soon after. Eyes, evil and loving, fell onto Harry. He flew to Dumbledore and rested on his shoulder.
"What is this Dumbledore? Calling your pet to help you?" Voldemort sneered.
"Not at all Tom, my phoenix is red."
"And what of a green phoenix?"
Harry's feature gleamed in the light. They were bright green behind his bright green eyes. His beak was gold.
"A green phoenix is that of Slytherin." Voldemort said slowly. "That phoenix is mine!"
Harry, startled by the event flew from Dumbledore's shoulder and remained in the air.
"Harry!" Patrick gasped.
"Harry Potter?" Peter repeated. "A phoenix?"
Voldemort's face, if possible, drain any color from it. "What magic is this? What the hell does this mean?"
"It means exactly what you think it means Tom," Dumbledore consoled.
In a quick action Patrice and Seri penned Peter and Bella to the floor. The rest of the death eaters, seeing Dumbledore, had fled back in Fata Morgana. "Must we end this now?" Sirius barked.
"End what Black? Nothing is going to end. you forget, I have no concerned with death! Death is not an option of end for me!" Voldemort sneered. He waved his wand and a flash of blood red light exploded from his wand. A rush of wind swept over them and suddenly they were not on the island. they were sitting right in front of the Ministry of Magic.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
Seri, over come in a smile picked Harry up by the arm and dusted him off. "You did a good job Harry, a fine job."
"Yeah, at nearly getting us killed!" Patrice added.
"Shut up Trice." Patrick said, rubbing his sister's arm.
Patrice turned and fell into her brother's arms.
"You all go back to the Order," Dumbledore said, "I must talk to Fudge about this. have the Order ready. we may be leaving soon."
With that, Dumbledore stepped into the phone booth.
"I haven't gotten to say a proper hello Harry," Sirius announced.
Forgetting his age and his pride or even the small fact that he was clearly an inch taller than Sirius, Harry collapsed into Sirius' out stretched arms. "I hate you," Harry whispered.
Sirius chuckled and gentle released him, "I know."
"Do you wanna take him Sirius?" Remus asked.
Patrice, Patrick and Seri had already disappeared.
"I'll take Martha."
"Who?" Harry asked Remus.
"Martha Patail. the Patail twin's older sister." Remus lifted a limp body in his arms and held it as a mother would a new born child.
Harry drew a hand to his mouth in awe sorrow. Another one died because of him.
"Come on Harry," Sirius gripped his arm and they were gone from the lonely street corner in London and then in front of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry was home. he finally felt like he was home.
"Harry?"
Hermione came running out of the front door.
"Oh my God, Harry! Mark told us what happened. that was so brave of you!" She threw herself around Harry's neck, plumply landing a kiss on his cheek.
She had changed. Her hair was straight and dancing around her shoulders. He cloths where tighter and she was taller, a well rounded 17 year old girl.
"And so dumb." A voice croaked from the door.
Hermione eased herself off Harry and turned to look; leaning against the frame from Draco Malfoy. His hair was untidy and his eyes narrow and light gray.
"Shove it Malfoy." Harry hissed, pushing Hermione toward the door.
"Did little Harry Potter save the fucking day?" Draco mocked.
"Shut up Draco. I don't want to hear it today!" Hermione snapped. Her pushed passed him sending him stumbling backward into the foyer wall.
"Spicy today Herm," Draco smiled.
Hermione rolled her eyes, shoved her hand into Harry's and led him to the kitchen.
"Draco's been nasty lately." Hermione told him.
"Isn't he always," Harry chuckled.
"Well, of course," Hermione blushed slightly which caught Harry off guard; Hermione never blushed. "But there for awhile he was cool, polite even to Ron and his family. Now he's completely unbearable."
Harry smiled at Hermione, "You know that's just how he is. Smack him in the face and be over with it."
Hermione sighed and pushed open the kitchen door, the crowd inside fell silent.
The room must have grown; the table was about as long as the tables in Hogwarts and filled to the max. No one moved except for a little red headed boy who squealed and threw himself around Harry's waist.
"You stupid, stupid idiot!" Mark cried into Harry's chest. "I hate you," and Mark squeezed harder.
The room suddenly rustled as people got to their feet as though just noticing "Famous Harry Potter" has entered the room.
"Come on Harry," someone whispered and a hand guided him and Mark back out of the kitchen.
"Stupid Evans," Malfoy splat pushing past them into the kitchen. "And ugly Weasley girl."
"Eat dung Malfoy; come on Harry." Ginny said. Her voice was sweet and Harry almost found himself missing it. "You better go clean up Harry," she said. "Supper should be ready soon and I'm sure the whole Order is ready to hear your story." She patted him on the shoulder and turned back around to enter the kitchen.
"Mark," Harry whispered, patting Mark on the back, "Was that Ginny?"
"Yes. why?" Mark sniffed.
"No reason, she just looked different, that's all." Harry started back down the hall where, in replacement to Mrs. Black's portrait was family picture of various Order members and two larger self Portraits was Bill and Percy. And indeed Ginny had looked different. Her hair had changed from fiery red to a soft auburn running down to the middle of her back. Her face was nearly error less beside a faint scar on her left cheek from the Death Eater's battle a few weeks before. She wasn't much taller, still coming right to Harry's nose and her eyes were soft green.
Harry pushed her from his thought. it was Ron's little sister anyway.
"Harry, why did you do it?" Mark had pushed himself away from Harry's waist, but was still holding his arm tightly.
"Do what?"
"Save me? Why didn't you let Peter have me?" Mark wiped his eyes.
"What kind of cousin would I be if I didn't save my little cousin?" Harry inquired pushing the boy's dorm door open and going to the bath room.
"But. but Mrs. Dursley told me about. about how. how we're different." Mark jumped up and sat on the counter.
Harry let the silence come and he peered into his own reflection. Who was this man staring at him or was he a man t'all? Was he ready to be one? Had the events of his life pushed and pulled him to a climax he was not ready to fulfill? Had his childhood been drained from him by one action to another? Had fate and destiny stretched him from a blind 11 year old to a 17 year old with everything to loose yet nothing to gain? Harry found his reflection unfamiliar and his own eyes cold and empty. What would have happened if.?
"Harry?" A voice from out side called. Ron popped his head into the bathroom. "You okay mate?" Ron leaned against the door frame.
Startled, Harry turned on the water and threw it on his face, ridding it of dirt and grime.
"Fine," Harry said flatly.
Ron in deed looked older too, even from the few short weeks they had been apart. His hair was longer; falling passed his eyes, his face sharper in features and his height still towering over that of Harry's. But he still had the same boyish grin and the friendly eyes.
"I ain't falling for it," Ron announced, "Now let me try this again; you okay mate?" Ron had on his new Gryffindor Quidditch robes.
Harry chuckled, turned off the water and dried his face with his robes. "How the hell am I every time you ask me that?"
"Not good, in mortal danger. am I anywhere close?" Ron joked.
"Hit the nail on the head," Harry grinned and Ron pulled him into a friendly hug.
"It's been lonely here without you mate," Ron announced. "Shit fire Potter, you smell like shit!"
Harry messed with his hair and grinned, "You don't smell too fancy yourself. At least I have an excuse." Harry pulled off his robes and T- shirt.
"What have you done to yourself?" Ron asked, taking the muddy clothes from him.
Harry looked at his chest; it wasn't fine cut but it wasn't pale white either. His body, from quidditch practice and late night training from Seri had transformed his body from that of a boy force possibly too quickly to grow up into a boy right fitted into his body. His muscles hit him right, but maybe it was the bruises Ron was talking about.
"Them?" Harry asked picking Mark up and sitting him on his feet. "You know me," he chuckled. Some were from Voldemort, some from Remus when he became a werewolf and some newly coming along from the fall he had taken in the tunnel.
"Yeah them, it looks like shit, must hurt." Ron followed Harry into the dorm where he dug in his trunk for new cloths.
"Of course it hurts, but pain doesn't issue with me anymore." Harry threw a new shirt and robes at the bed where Mark and Ron had taken a seat.
"Well, aren't we big and strong Mr. Potter," Ron joked.
"Leave him alone," Mark whined. "Maybe Mrs. Dursley could fix it; she said she was studying magical remedies before she was expelled.
Harry, who had pulled the shirt onto his arms, stopped his back and chest still bare. "What? Expelled from where?"
Mark looked at them bug eyed, "Did you know? She went to Hogwarts for four years."
Harry stared at him. It made since, all the things she knew, Dumbledore's "Remember my last" it all pieced together and her hate from the magical world. All the things had something in common yet Harry never pieced it together.
"Ron, Mark, Harry; mum says supper is. HARRY!" Ginny screamed from the door.
Harry spinned around and Mark and Ron fell off the bed laughing. Ginny covered her eyes and turned around. "Supperisready." She slurred and ran down stairs.
"Like she's never seen any guy half naked before." Ron managed before falling into a fit of giggles. Harry pulled the shirt on and smiled weakly. "Bill went streaking around the house two summers ago and she never blinked."
The laughing stopped, Ron straightens up and Harry stopped grinning.
"I miss Bill," Mark said softly.