A/N:

Normally I would have a clearer plan before beginning to post a story. I do have several chapters already written and an idea for where I want it to end, but this is a bit less outlined than what I would usually do. So, please post comments and ideas if you have them for direction. I'll definitely be reading them for ideas! Also, updates may be a bit more sporadic as I figure out where this story is going. Tags and relationships will most likely be updated as things get more solidified (for instance, I'm still trying to decide if Ron and Hermione remain together for the long term).

Canon until Harry's seventeenth birthday. Mostly canon through Deathly Hallows where the prologue will be taking us. The story will start solidly next chapter which will be post-Deathly Hallows.

July 31st, 1997

Harry Potter's birthdays never did hold the joy and anticipation they did for other people. He'd never had what anyone would classify as a good birthday in his entire life. When he'd turned 11, that was probably the best. A half-giant named Hagrid burst into the shack Harry's relatives were hiding in and told him he was a wizard. He'd even brought Harry his first cake. Still, he'd slept on a wooden floor in a drafty shack with no friends or people who knew and liked him around. He'd hoped by his seventeenth birthday it'd be different, though he never did have any real hope.

This birthday at the Burrow probably did come close to actually being pleasant. However, it was in the shadow of Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody's deaths, George losing his ear, and in the middle of a new war. The fact that there was more joy and friendship than normal really should have warned Harry that even more unpleasantness was coming. That was just the way things were in Harry's world. It was just after dinner was finished, his presents were opened, and the kitchen was cleaned when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley pulled him aside into the small study Mr. Weasley had set up in Bill's old bedroom.

"Dear," Mrs. Weasley began in a serious tone, and Harry was immediately worried. When two adults pulled you aside, looked serious, and started a conversation by calling you dear, then nothing good was coming after that.

"Er, yes?"

"Well…has anyone ever mentioned your seventeenth birthday and how you come into your full magical powers?" Mrs. Weasley finished.

Harry let out a relieved breath. Hermione and Ron both had come into their full magic during the last school year as well as several others of their acquaintance. The rush of magic after you fell asleep the night following your seventeenth birthday didn't sound pleasant, but it wasn't something to worry about either.

"Yes, ma'am. Ron and Hermione both told me about it. They said it woke them up and was like a sharp tingling," he explained, hoping they hadn't lied to him.

"Oh good," Mr. Weasley smiled at him in relief. "We hoped you were already expecting it. That's really all there is 90% of the time."

Ok, so now Harry was worried. He was never part of the 90% for better or worse (usually worse). If there was even the slight percentage that something else would happen, he knew he was in that percentage. "What about the other 10%?" He asked with a concerned frown.

"Nothing to worry about, dear," Mrs. Weasley smiled reassuringly and patted his hand. "Neither of your parents had any creature blood in them. Your mum was muggleborn and the Potters were a good, solid light family. They wouldn't have gone cavorting with anyone untoward. There is absolutely nothing to worry about."

Something about what Mrs. Weasley said, or maybe the way she said it, caused Harry's shoulders to tense and a pit to form in his stomach. He didn't know what to say or how to say anything though, so he kept his mouth shut. They did like Remus and Hagrid, didn't they? They were part creature at least…He'd always thought the Weasleys' liked them.

Arthur Weasley continued to explain where his wife had left off. "There are always a few witches and wizards coming of age who have some creature blood in them. It comes out more strongly in your magical maturity and makes the change a bit more unpleasant. It's mainly in the darker families where this happens though. Even then it's only a concern if you happen to be half-creature or something, then it fights quite violently with your wizard side," Arthur continued explaining. "In that case, it can get a little nasty."

"Serves them right," Molly muttered with a snort and patted Harry's hand once more, not noticing his distress. He hadn't realized the Weasley parents seemed to be somewhat prejudiced against magical creatures…though with how they treated Fleur, he figured he should have realized this.

Harry just sat there staring at his best friend's parents for a minute, letting everything sink in. "So, when I go to sleep tonight, I only have anything to worry about if I have creature blood, and really only even then need to be concerned if one of my parents was a full-blooded creature?"

"Precisely," Mr. Weasley smiled at him kindly. "Besides, you're in the room with Ron, so if anything unexpected happens, he can come get us immediately."

Harry stood and slowly left the room in a daze. They were so sure, and he'd been told enough about how much he looked like his parents that it was obvious who they were. There didn't seem to be any chance at all that he was adopted. He was also fairly certain that Sirius or Remus would have mentioned if either of his parents were actually magical creatures. Logically, he knew he should have absolutely nothing to worry about…However, he shouldn't have survived a killing curse, the bite of a basilisk, or all the times he'd faced Voldemort either. No, he was fairly positive he was somehow going to end up as part of that 10%, or more like the part where it was actually very concerning. Some part of him was warning him of this, and he believed it fully even if it was completely irrational. It seemed that he was Fate's favorite chew toy, and this seemed just like one of those instances it would come back to bite him.

This belief was what had Harry staying awake well past when Ron finally started snoring and sneaking out of the house with a thick blanket. If he was going to defy all rules and logic again, this time he wanted to do it privately. This time, he didn't want everyone in the entire wizarding world to know about it. He was hopeful the Weasleys wouldn't intentionally tell the press, but he could see them telling the Order in some bid to keep him safe, and somehow these things always got out. Besides, it made him uncomfortable how they were talking about creatures and dark families. He loved Remus and Hagrid, and it didn't sit well in his stomach that Ron's parents might be prejudiced against them…might be prejudiced against him. Even if they weren't though, the whole family and Hermione would know. He didn't think he could take one more thing that set him apart from everyone else.

He let himself into the small shed where the Weasleys kept their quidditch supplies. Since the trace had broken at midnight the night before, he took out his wand and cast a silencing ward around the shed before he lay down and pulled the thick blanket around himself. It reminded him so much of that night six years and one day before when Hagrid had burst into the shack on the sea. He'd slept in more uncomfortable places than this, but it was still difficult to fall asleep. He knew that once he entered a deep sleep, that's when it would happen, or at least that's what he had been told.

It was probably around 2 or 3am before the newly seventeen-year-old fell asleep, curled up amidst the brooms and gardening equipment. The shed stayed quiet for a while after that. The yard stayed quiet the rest of the night and into the morning. The shed absolutely did not.

Harry had only been asleep for about an hour when it started. The change woke him up with his blood feeling like acid was running through his veins, eating him from the inside out while his skin was on fire. If he had the presence of mind to think of it, he would have blessed the silencing ward he put up as the teen screamed until he passed out from the pain, having never felt anything so bad before in his life, and he'd survived multiple torture curses and possession.

When Harry finally woke the next day, it was with a groan and a string of swear words as every molecule of his being felt raw. "Probably should have thought twice about sleeping in the shed," he grumbled when he slowly sat up and leaned against the wooden door, taking stock of his limbs in trepidation.

From the light coming in the window, he figured it was still early morning. He probably didn't sleep more than three or four hours, if passing out from pain could count as sleeping that is. After a horrified thought at what he might look like, Harry felt his ears, checked his hands, kicked off his shoes to look at his feet…everything looked normal. He even reached behind his back and felt for wings, just in case, but nothing was there. He sighed in relief, and also cursed his lack of forethought in not thinking to bring a mirror with him.

He grimaced in pain and felt a sharp tug above his teeth in his gums. It didn't hurt, but felt really odd, different than anything else he'd felt before. Quickly, he ran a finger across his gums, feeling something there, something just under the skin. Needing a mirror and now, he wrapped the blanket around himself again and kept his head down as he snuck back up to the house, praying to Merlin and Morgana that everyone was still asleep.

"Harry, what're you doing up so early? Did the magic hit you hard last night?" Mrs. Weasley looked up in clear concern from where she was putting the kettle on the stove when he tried to sneak by her in the cozy kitchen of the Burrow.

"Er, no ma'am. I'm fine. I just couldn't get back to sleep and stepped outside," he lied quickly, really hoping whatever had happened to him wasn't noticeable.

"Oh good," she smiled kindly at him. "Go wash up for breakfast then. It'll be ready in a jiffy."

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," he sighed and felt guilty at having lied to her, but still relieved there wasn't anything obviously different about him. He rushed up the stairs to the bathroom though and dropped the blanket, tearing off all his clothes in the process as well. He planned on checking every single part of himself. Something had happened to him.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before turning to look at the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. He slowly cracked open one eye and then the next. Ok…so not exactly normal anymore. He'd always been fairly average in looks…a bit scrawny, but average. Let's just say, there were definitely muscles now that weren't there before. He was still lean, but he looked like he'd spent way more time in gyms than he ever had in his life. Quidditch wasn't really a physical sport when you just flew around on a broom, but he could pass for a football or rugby player now. Honestly, that's not what he was worried about though. Especially with his oversized clothes and robes, no one would even notice there was a difference in his muscle tone. Yeah…that wasn't the issue.

What had Harry grabbing onto the edge of the sink for support was the thick line of acid green scales, about a palm's breadth wide, that stretched from his armpits down his sides to wrap around his thighs and end at his knees on both sides of his body. He tentatively touched the scales. They were harder than his normal skin but smooth like a snake's. The finger he was using to touch the scale twitched and a talon extended from the nailbed of his finger, replacing the fingernail. A talon very obviously like a bird's talon would look. Harry closed his eyes and turned away from the mirror breathing deeply and feeling the talon retract back into this finger. He took deep, calming breaths in and released them. Everything could be covered with clothes, he reminded himself. The talons were retractable. No one had to know.

Turning back around, Harry studied his face. Everything looked the same, up to the curse scar on his forehead. He thought his eyes might be a little greener, more luminescent, but he couldn't be sure about that. There was definitely something different about them though. For better or worse, it also seemed that he really didn't need his glasses anymore. As for his mouth, he prodded the place above his teeth that was still tender. As he poked at it, something in his instincts took over and a set of fangs lowered over his teeth, tapering to a razor-sharp point. The fangs scared him so much that he jumped back and stumbled onto the toilet. When next he looked in the mirror, the fangs were gone once more.

"The hell…?" he mumbled and turned the shower on automatically.

"So…I'm a creature…but my parents supposedly weren't," Harry began quietly reasoning to himself as he washed his hair on autopilot, not really even paying attention to what he was doing. "I'm something with fangs and which has something to do with scales and but also with some bird characteristics."

It wasn't too hard to look back over his life and find some kind of association with both snakes and birds…his second year in the Chamber of Secrets. There had to be some kind of tie between the basilisk venom and the phoenix tears that interacted with his genes enough to influence his magical maturity. He suddenly wished there had been some kind of magical genetics class offered at Hogwarts to answer all his questions. Of course, the wizarding world wouldn't be that practical or helpful though.

"Why me?" He sighed and finished washing up, not even wanting to deal with it. He took the time to pop out the lenses in his glasses and conjure clear glass into the frames before finally leaving the bathroom.

"Hey, mate, you didn't even wake me last night," Ron looked up from where he was polishing off a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast at the kitchen table when Harry entered. "Good on you. I thought it was terrible."

"Oh Ron, it really wasn't so bad," Hermione rolled her eyes at their friend and offered Harry a plate. "Are your eyes greener?" She asked, causing Harry to look down at the floor.

"Don't know," Harry shrugged and sat down.

Ginny immediately grabbed his chin and forced his face up to look at her. "Yep, they're a little greener," she agreed while Harry tried not to flinch back. "You also feel warmer…almost feverish."

Mrs. Weasley next manhandled his face to clamp a hand over his forehead. "You do feel a bit hot dear. It could just be your magic settling though. Do you feel alright?"

"Er, yes, ma'am. I'm fine," he assured him all. "I'm just a bit tired is all."

"What about his eyes though?" Ginny asked in concern.

"Magic does strange things sometimes, but it's usually for some kind of reason," Mrs. Weasley said wisely, saying just what Harry needed to hear in that moment, unbeknownst to her.

"Thank you," he smiled at the Weasley matron thankfully. He might have turned into something strange, but he was still Harry…just a little extra now.

"Now…you lot, eat up. I need you all outside and getting ready for the wedding in twenty minutes!" She ordered with a glare towards Ron who started eating faster. "Harry dear, do take it a bit easy today though."

Christmas

"Harry, are you sure you're ok?" Hermione asked for the thousandth time with a tone dripping in concern. "That injury…you're sure it came from broken glass and not Nagini…?"

"If it had come from Nagini, I'd be dead already. We both know she's venomous from when she attacked Mr. Weasley," Harry told her yet again as he wrapped the gash on his arm while the night turned from Christmas into Boxing Day.

What he was guiltily trying to cover was that he clearly knew the gash was from Nagini's fangs and had nothing to do with broken glass. He'd seen Nagini sink her fangs into his skin back when they were trying to escape Godric's Hollow. He knew in that moment that was it for him, the end of all this struggle to survive. He knew he should be terrified, but honestly he was almost relieved…he was so tired.

Hermione had apparated them away, and he'd just sat there for a minute, waiting to die. He didn't want to worry Hermione. There wasn't anything she could do at that point, so he waited, helping to bandage his friend. He figured he would make sure she was fine before he died at least. Nothing happened to him though.

He scratched the scales on his sides, they were itchy and shedding like a snake's skin. It had started a couple days before and was annoying. As he flaked a bit of scale off under his shirt, he really considered what would theoretically happen if Nagini bit a basilisk…probably nothing. A basilisk was so much more venomous than whatever Nagini was as the king of snakes, and it seemed that protection had worked its way into his new genes. It was a bit disturbing, but also welcome since it just saved his life. Now, if he could just shed the rest of his skin and find his wand.

"Hermione, have you seen my wand?" He finally asked as he searched. He'd already tossed his broken glasses. Luckily, he didn't need them anyway, and Hermione hadn't said anything about them yet. Thankfully, she also didn't seem to know how bad his eyesight had been before. Maybe he could just shrug it off when she brought it up.

"Erm, Harry…" she looked at him in sadness and worry before holding up two broken pieces of wood.

Harry sighed and just smiled at her kindly but with sadness at this new loss. All in all, he'd expected to be dead by now; a broken wand really wasn't that disastrous when he'd literally just cheated death once more. "Well, can't be helped now," he shrugged. "I'll take first watch if you don't mind me borrowing yours for a bit."

Battle of Hogwarts

Harry's heart pounded as they ran from the burning Room of Requirement. It was fiendfyre and the flames hadn't even burned him! A little hot, yeah, but not burning. What the hell was happening to him?! Hermione was panting beside him with Ron close behind.

"But don't you realize, this means if we can just get the snake…" Hermione was explaining to them between frightened pants, not noticing Harry's freak out at all. "That's all of them!"

They rounded the corner to see Fred and Percy dueling the Minister of Magic and another Death Eater…Rookwood if Harry remembered correctly. Of course, Fred was cracking jokes the whole time until the air exploded around them. Harry was slammed into the stone wall, the force of which would have definitely stunned him months before when he was still fully human but now just knocked the wind out of him.

Harry immediately jumped to his feet as everyone else was still recovering. He quickly assessed the situation; everyone was moving except for Fred, and there seemed to be a lot of blood…too much blood. He'd thought Percy had taken the brunt of the blast being closer to the Death Eater who cast the curse, but the older Weasley was moving while Fred was concerningly still in a pool of red. He ran over to the twin and felt for a pulse. It was stuttering and almost gone.

"No, no, Fred, no…" He shook the twin in his arms, panicking at the thought of losing his friend. "Stay with me…"

Tears ran down his face, flowing more freely than he'd ever cried before. He was never one for tears, but large, pearly drops fell from his eyes onto Fred's body, mixing in the blood of his injuries. Harry gasped in shock as Fred's injuries began closing before his eyes…phoenix tears…

Percy started shifting beside them and was pulling himself off the ground, recovering surprisingly fast. "Fred?!" He screamed as he threw himself frantically over to where Harry was holding his brother in his lap, his golden-brown eyes pleading for Fred to be fine.

Harry tried to aim his tears to be most effective on the injuries, determined to save his friend who was dying in his arms. He ignored the gasp from Percy who clearly saw the gaping wound in his brother's chest close under the splashes of Harry's tears. When the visible wound was finally closed, Harry felt for a pulse once more, he felt it much stronger than it had been and sighed in relief.

"He's alive, Perce," Harry passed Fred to his brother as the twin started pulling in stronger breaths and his eyes fluttered open. Percy seeing what he did was of no concern when Fred's life was hanging in the balance.

"Fred! Merlin, I thought I'd lost you for a second," Percy pulled him close to his chest in relief. "Thank you," he breathed in awe at the teen beside him and gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze. "Whatever you did…thank you…"

"Look after him, alright?" Harry wiped the tears from his eyes and asked Percy with a dismissive nod. He didn't know how much he'd actually healed his friend, but he needed to keep moving, and someone needed to look after Fred now.

"I got him, Harry," Percy promised emphatically.

Seeing Ron and Hermione pull themselves together and shake off the debris, Harry closed his eyes to use his connection and find Voldemort. They needed the snake to end this. "Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked as she and Ron hurried over to the group.

"He's in the Shrieking Shack…we need to hurry," he told them firmly.

Death Eaters began to converge on them once more and they had to shield Percy and Fred from a blast. "I'll stay here with them," Ron looked at his friends frantically, his eyes begging for them to understand. "Fred can't fight now."

Harry nodded with a look to them all. It was time to split up. If he was going after a poisonous snake, he had a feeling this was a job for a basilisk anyway. "Right, be safe," he squeezed Ron's arm and gave Percy a nod before he and Hermione ran off into the battle.

Harry and Hermione dodged through heavy spell-fire, shielding and casting when they could. Hermione ended up saving Draco Malfoy from a Death Eater, then promptly stunning him. It was easier than actually trying to determine what side he was on. They then stumbled on where Tonks was frantically battling Dolohov over the body of Remus Lupin.

"No!" Harry shouted in shock, coming to a horrified stop just to the right of the Death Eater.

"Harry, run!" Tonks screamed at him in frantic terror.

Hermione tried to stun Dolohov who easily shielded the spell and rounded on them. "Well, well, Harry Potter," he growled, an insane look in his eyes, and raised his wand.

"You. Killed. Remus," Harry hissed calmly and with the deadliest tone Hermione had ever heard him use. He didn't even raise his wand, he just stared deep into Dolohov's manic eyes, some instinct of his completely taking over, pushing what was human within him aside for the creature to take over.

"Avad…" Dolohov didn't even finish the first word of the spell before he collapsed dead where he had been standing.

"What…?" Hermione gasped as she stared at the Death Eater's swiftly cooling body on the ground.

Harry felt himself coming back to himself, something closing off inside of him. He closed his eyes and blinked before turning to Hermione. "You stay with her," he pointed to Tonks commandingly, firmly pushing aside dealing with what he'd just done until later and refusing to make eye contact with anyone now. "You protect Teddy's mother."

"Harry," Tonks protested, almost hysterical, and looking like she was ready to stun him and hide him away herself. She'd just lost her husband and was not going to lose her son's godfather as well.

"No, Remus is dead…" Harry couldn't leave Teddy without parents. Hermione and Tonks together would be safe. He didn't need them…he didn't need anyone for this. It's not like he was human now anyway, he thought as he fully embraced whatever it was he was turning into. He accepted with a sigh whatever it was he was becoming, knowing he needed to be stronger to end this for his family, for those he loved.

"Please, Hermione. Stay with Tonks. Protect each other…Let me go."

"Ok, Harry," Hermione squeezed his hand. "Whatever you just did though…do that to Voldemort for us, alright?"

Harry gave a short nod before barreling back into the action and leaving the two women to watch each other's backs. Somewhere in the back of his mind where his human brain seemed to be hiding, he processed the fact that on his way to the shack he actually bit Fenrir Greyback who'd just killed Lavender Brown. He bit him with all the venom of a basilisk and left the monster twitching on the ground with absolutely no remorse or second thoughts. Harry just kept running, wiping the blood from his chin and continuing on to the front doors of the castle. It wasn't pleasant but had some poetic justice he decided. He made it to the doors without much further incident until he was stopped by the horde of dementors converging on the castle.

"A little help please, Harry," Luna Lovegood gasped as she tried to cast a patronus, a silvery hare emerging from her wand.

Harry raised his borrowed wand but lowered it once more. If he was embracing whatever the hell he was, there should be a better way of doing this. He knew from DADA that phoenixes could chase away dementors as a natural enemy. "You know a good song, Luna?" He asked, not quite knowing how this was done.

"Er, the school song?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, still smiling at him in the face of a swarm of demons.

Harry shrugged and just started singing Hoggy Warty Hogwarts while striding directly towards the dementors. It came out as a stream of phoenix song instead of actual words, pushing the creatures away from them. He pushed them with phoenix magic and yelled his song at them until they turned away flying off towards the forbidden forest.

"I haven't quite heard it sung quite like that before," Luna giggled without questioning him before casting a blasting curse at an acromantula.

"Stay safe, Luna," Harry said, and then ran off towards the shrieking shack, pulling his invisibility cloak on at the same time.

Voldemort left the shack with his snake, Nagini, floating behind him, and Snape was gasping for air, slowly dying on the floor. Harry knew he should go after the snake, but something pulled him over to Snape. Something just wasn't right about that man, and it bothered Harry. Something had never added up with the Potions professor. Harry couldn't reconcile the facts that the man saved his life but also killed Dumbledore. That he bravely stood between him and a werewolf in third year but also wanted to turn him over to Voldemort. That he was the Half-Blood Prince Harry had so admired (and was frankly a bit obsessed with) but also a bullying git.

"Professor," Harry sighed as he sat on the dirty floor beside the bleeding man. He couldn't help it. He'd lost so much, and he knew…something about Snape…he couldn't let him go, not without knowing. He couldn't believe the Half-Blood Prince was unredeemable…that he'd completely become a different person from the one Harry had come to really like. Pearly tears dripped from Harry's eyes down onto the wounds left from Nagini.

"Take…it…Take…it…" Snape instructed when silvery memories dripped from his eyes.

"These had better have a good explanation for everything in them," Harry smiled as his tears seemed to force the venom from the man's wounds. He quickly conjured a vial and collected the memories.

"Look…at…me…" Snape rasped, searching Harry's green eyes.

"That hasn't been a good idea for a Death Eater already tonight," Harry warned with a little pat to the man's hand. "Besides, you just hold on there, and you'll probably make it. I'm not healing you up completely because I can't have you joining the battle again in case I'm wrong. But for now, I'm going to assume these memories explain something to me."

Snape was still struggling for air even as the venom left his wounds and they began to close. He hissed in pain, sharp fangs suddenly appearing in the man's mouth, involuntarily reacting with the pain he was in. Harry's tears stopped as he studied the man in complete surprise.

"How in Merlin's name are you actually a vampire?!" He asked in shock while Snape's fangs retracted slightly again. "Out of all the rumors about you, that was the one I never even considered believing!"

The man groaned and struggled to breathe. "Just let me die in peace, Potter."

"I'd give you some blood, but I'd probably just poison you more than Nagini," Harry sighed and raised his wand to cast the only healing spell he knew at the wound. He was absolutely certain that basilisk blood wouldn't be healthy to anyone wanting to stay alive, but hopefully Snape being a vampire would give him some extra strength to survive his injuries paired with Harry's limited healing knowledge and tears.

Snape looked very confused but blinked slowly a few times before finally passing out from the pain and blood loss. Harry just patted his arm again and stood. "I'll see that you rot in Azakaban for the rest of your life if these memories just turn out to be more insults," he warned the unconscious man.

Harry looked over the destruction as the dead were collected and the injured were seen to. His new powers hadn't helped much at all, and now it was the end. He looked at where the Weasleys were taking care of an injured but smiling Fred, at Tonks crying over Remus's body, and figured that the powers weren't for nothing. If saving Fred and Tonks was the only reason why he'd gotten these new powers, then it was worth it in his opinion. Snape, well he felt less like a crazy fool for saving him now that he'd seen the memories. At least the man would be alive to tell Ron and Hermione why Harry had to do it. Why he had to die. He took a deep breath and walked calmly out the front doors. He only stopped to make sure Neville knew to kill the snake in case he couldn't do it first. It was time…time to let go.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" Dumbledore said in his enigmatic way before everything went black around him.

Instead of waking up in the forest again as he expected, Harry stayed in that blackness. He looked around in confusion. "Hello?!" He called out into the nothingness wondering if this was it, if this was the end.

"Calm down, calm down, I'm coming," a grumbling voice called out before a rush of fire sprang to life in the blackness, leaving Fawkes just floating, not even flying, in the middle of nothing and in front of Harry. "It takes a minute for a phoenix to force a burning day…I'm not as young as I used to be you know."

"Fawkes?" Harry laughed in surprise at the bird. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"You burned yourself out," the same grumpy voice told him matter-of-factly. "Congratulations on your first burning day. That's an important day for a phoenix, like a new birthday."

"Fawkes? Am I actually hearing you talk?" Harry metaphorically jumped since he didn't really think he had a body at the time.

"Who else would you be hearing?" The phoenix almost seemed to roll his eyes if that were possible for a bird.

"I don't know. I just left a dead Dumbledore in a simulation of Kings Cross," Harry answered wryly with glare at the bird.

"Yeah, well, I love him, but the old meddler doesn't know everything. Frankly, he was mainly just grasping at straws there at the end," Fawkes responded with a dry chuckle. "Unfortunately, I'm not going to be much help myself…sorry about that."

"So…why are we having this chat in the afterlife then?" The teen sighed, really, really tired.

"Right, so let's start by talking percentages," Fawkes said in a business-like manner and a flutter of his wings, like he was a university professor gearing up for a lecture. "There are very few of us phoenixes out in the world, and even less basilisks, who are supposedly pretty much extinct…right?"

"Yeah, I'd imagine," Harry said, going along with it and wondering if you could get a headache after you died.

"So, how many people do you think have survived a basilisk's bite?" Fawkes asked with a dry laugh. "I guarantee you it's the same number of people who have conveniently happened to have a phoenix sitting right beside them when they were bitten…want to take a guess at the number."

"I'm guessing one…" Harry responded dryly and with an eyeroll at his life.

"Right…so, the reason a basilisk's venom is so very terrible is that it isn't normal poison like any other snake," Fawkes explained like he was lecturing a class still. "It doesn't just poison you; it starts convincing your body that the poison is a necessary part of it, that it should keep and protect the poison…like venomous cancer. It never leaves your bloodstream until you're dead. It's why there can never be an anti-venom created for it."

"That's…wow, terrible," Harry shook his non-existent head. He'd never heard what exactly basilisk venom did to a person before and was infinitely glad he hadn't known that as a twelve-year-old.

"Indeed, so phoenix tears are used in many high-end healing potions, but they burn themselves out when whatever illness is cured. They never stay longer than a minute or two in a person's system before they are metabolized," the phoenix continued. "Your problem is that your body retained the poison, and the tears bonded to the venom so they couldn't burn out when the poison never left. Both the venom and the tears stayed in your body, constantly fighting each other. Now, you need to add in the factor of your magical maturity which sent a rush of magic into those dormant cells. A rush of magic, integrating them into your body and bringing them to life."

"I kind of figured something had happened when I started changing after my seventeenth birthday," he said with a metaphorical shrug, still not really caring at the moment.

"And that would probably have been the end of it, some slight changes in appearance and abilities, but you started drawing more and more on those characteristics, convincing your body that they really were part of you and to protect and even multiply those new cells," Fawkes almost looked accusingly at the teen. "You made your body accept and increase those characteristics, sending them into overdrive, and you took that slight change and enhanced it by your overuse during the battle out there, and causing a burning day by being hit with a killing curse cemented the changes."

Harry just shrugged again, too tired to care. "So, I'm some sort-of weird phoenix-basilisk hybrid now then. Does that mean I get to move on, or am I going back like Dumbledore said?"

"All right, brat, be patient. I'm getting there," Fawkes glared at him. "This clearly means that I have no idea what's going to happen to you. You're a new creature that no one has experienced before. Phoenixes aren't generally clairvoyant, and I've never been mistaken for a seer, so who knows what you'll be going back to when you are reborn! Let's just hope you don't end up a baby and get to retain your current age when your burning completes!"

"I think I liked you better when you could only sing," Harry grumbled, now afraid he'd wake up as a baby in the middle of the Death Eaters.

"Yeah, well…I've no idea how much phoenix or basilisk side effects you're going to get from your little jaunt through the battle and then burning yourself out," he continued. "Be on the lookout, and don't try to stare people to death if you can avoid it…maybe old Voldy, but try not to do it a lot at least. I don't think you'll continue becoming more creature-like, but we don't really know now do we."

"I just need to end this…what happens next…that I can't think about right now," Harry sighed. He just wanted to save his friends. It didn't matter what happened to him. He also needed to be an adult to do that though…

"Fine, I'm sending you back now, but there's a spell you're going to want to learn really quick," Fawkes almost seemed to smirk at him. "It's vestimenta."

"Ok…What does that do?" Harry asked while also committing the word to memory.

"It's the spell to conjure clothes…I suggest being really quick about it if you find that you aren't a squawking child," Fawkes laughed before he flamed out and Harry felt himself spinning away from the strange void once more.

Harry knew he was burning, he could feel the flames, but they weren't unpleasant, they were actually very welcoming. He also quickly realized he was thankfully his normal seventeen-year-old size and what Fawkes had meant by the spell. He thought of what his tattered outfit had looked like before, casting the spell just as the flames dissipated. He was not going to be left completely starkers in the middle of the Death Eaters. As Narcissa Malfoy leaned down to check and see if he was alive, Harry decided he'd try this Dumbledore's way first with the elder wand. If that didn't work, he'd bite the snake then stare Voldemort to death…probably not the best way to keep people from thinking he'd gone evil, but hey, maybe Dumbledore's way would work…