Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I also do not own the movies 'Dragon Heart' and 'Dragon Heart: New Beginnings.
A/N: I'M BACK!! Sorry to all my loyal reviewers out there (looks out and sees one person out there in the audience) uh...reviewer?... But I finally broke through my ??-month long writer's block!
Replies to reviewers:athenakitty: To answer your first question, they're soulmates. Second question, Sirius is alive because I started this story before the 5th book came out. Third and Fourth questions, I have no idea at this time.
Last time on Phoenix Fire:
'THAT was how Harry had been treated before he came to Hogwarts?! How could anyone be so cruel!?'
"Come on Hermione," Alexia whispered under her breath, "He's running out of time..."
"Hermione Granger?" he repeated, "Sorry, don't ring a bell."
"You don't know how to get out?!" Hermione yelled out in surprise, "It's your mind!"
Jordan turned to Harry after Alexia was gone.
"This is going to be a long vacation," he groaned, "A very long vacation..."
After Harry's near-death experience, time seemed to speed up substantially. The Phoenixes trained the entire time, finding new powers and honing the older ones. One day, Hermione glanced at he calender and saw that Harry's birthday was only a week away. She gathered up every one of the Weasleys that were still at the Burrow, told them her discovery, and they decided to plan a surprise birthday party.
Harry noticed how everyone seemed to be too busy for him. Everytime he asked Ron or Ginny if either wanted to play Quiddich the responses he got were either 'Sorry, I can't' or 'Sorry, too busy'. Hermione seemed to be furthest away from him and that hurt the most. Even Mrs. Weasley was far too busy doing something to have time for him. With Hermione, and the Weasleys, busy with something, Harry felt left out of the loop.Later that week...
Harry closed his eyes and sighed, hurt that everyone had been too busy to notice that he was feeling left out. It was only a few minutes until it was offically his birthday; it was 11:55 so there are only 5 minutes left. He was surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones, but he felt like everyone had forgotten his birthday.
It was raining heavily when the clock struck twelve. Harry felt that it was almost approapriate that it was raining on his birthday. He stood outside, under the pouring rain, not caring that he was getting soaked. Finally he broke into a run and climbed up a huge tree. He looked up at the sky from a high branch, thought of his parents, and felt like crying.
Harry started to sing, making up the lyrics as he went...
"Do you still recongize me?
I'm standing here alone,
Are you out there?
I feel so alone...
Are you watching over me?
They way they say you do?
Are you out there?
Do you love me, too?
I feel so alone.
Standing here in the rain.
Trying to understand.
Why all this pain?
They say I'm a hero,
I just wanna be.
Can't they find someone else? Can't they see.
I'm not a hero.
I'm not a man.
I'm not a child.
I don't know what I am...
I can't take the pain.
I feel older than I am.
Standing in the rain.
I just wanna be...who I am...
They say I'm a hero,
Can't they see? I just wanna be.
Can't they see.
I'm not a hero.
I'm not a man.
I'm not a child.
I don't know what I am...
Not a man.
Not a child.
What am I.
Am I...even here.
What am I,
What am I,
What am I..."
When he finished the song, he leaned his head against the tree and just cried. He didn't notice the figure at the base of the tree, hiding under a Muggle umbrella. Tears raced down her cheeks as she quietly moved back toward the house. Harry heard the movement, opened his eyes, and was surprised when he saw a shock of red hair running toward the Burrow.
'...Ginny'
Ginny raced into her room, up to Hermione's sleeping form, and started to shake her roughly.
"...Gerrof..." Hermione mumbled, still very asleep.
"Hermione, wake up!" Ginny hissed out in a whisper, "I need to tell you something about Harry!"
As if Harry's name was the keyword, Hermione shot awake.
"What's wrong with Harry?!" Hermione asked, concerned, as she shot to a sitting position.
"I don't know," Ginny replied calmly, "But I saw him standing outside in the rain like an idiot. I was going to go get him, but he took off in a run like he'd seen me and didn't want to be followed... He climbed that big oak in our backyard and then he started to sing..."
"What did he sing?"
Ginny took a deep breath and started singing the song she'd heard Harry sing just a few minutes before. Hermione was near tears when Ginny finished singing the song.
"He must feel so left out," Ginny whispered calmly, "We've been practically ignoring him for the whole week. He must think that everyone's forgotten that his birthday is today."
"Oh no," Hermione groaned softly.
"I think he saw me run into the house," Ginny stated softly, "But it was raining so hard that he probably couldn't really tell who it was."
"This is really bad," Ginny added softly, "If he gets any more depressed, there's no telling what he'll do."
"I'll keep him busy like we originally planned," Hermione stated calmly, "But you'll have to get the party ready all by yourself."
"No sweat."
The next morning...
Harry woke up to the sound of two feminine voices softly calling out his name. He focused his blurred eyes on the ground below him and saw Hermione and Ginny standing below him. Without really thinking it through, he stood up and did a front flip off the tree limb. As he landed, on his feet, on the ground, he registered Hermione and Ginny's shocked gasps.
"What?"
"Amazing," Jordan stated sarcastically from behind the two, shocked, girls, "You've already figured out how to unconsciously apply your powers to your normal body."
"What's so bad about that?" Harry asked out, as he straightened up his messed-up clothes.
"If you cannot control your powers, then they can surge through your body and cause a premature Burning Day."
"What's so bad about that?" Harry asked out, ignoring the fact that Hermione and Ginny were hanging on their every word.
"Any Burning Days will cause you to revert all the way back to your baby form...just like a normal Phoenix," Jordan explained softly, "Believe me, it will... Cause it's happened to Alexia before..."
"What?" Harry replied, confused, "When? Where? How?"
"When we were just developing our powers, she did exactly what you just did, only she used too much power at once, caused a massive surge, and..." Jordan suddenly looked as if someone had just told him Alexia had died, "...she actually caught on fire and burned up... I thought she was dead until I heard a baby crying... It took a whole day for her to regain enough magic to transform into her adult self."
"Does it normally take a whole day?" Hermione asked out.
Jordan and Harry actually jumped at Hermione's sudden speaking. The two young men had gotten so caught up in their talk that they had forgotten the two young women were there.
"Huh?" Jordan replied, trying to calm down his racing heart, "What?"
"Does it normally take a whole day for one to revert to their normal selves after a Burning?" Hermione asked out, repeating herself.
"No, not really," Jordan stated softly.
KER-BOOM!
Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Jordan all stared as a giant Water Spout hit ground and then disappeared so fast that it left the water behind.
SPLASH!
"DRACO!!" An angry Ron yelled out as Draco just rolled around on the ground laughing his head off and holding his sides.
"That is not funny!" Jordan yelled out at Draco in anger, thunder rolling in his voice, "You could have killed him!"
"How could I have killed him?" Draco asked out coldly.
"You are not trained well enough to handle such a powerful force of nature," Jordan stated coldly, the thunder still in his voice, "It could have broken loose and killed someone!"
"I had it under control," Draco snapped back coldly.
"Yeah right," Jordan replied over his shoulder as he strolled away.
"What's eating his shorts?" Ron snapped out.
The group looked amazed at him for getting a Muggle phrase correct.
"What?!" Ron cried out defensively.
They all shook their head and Hermione suddenly realize what she was supposed to be doing-distracting Harry so the others could get ready for the surprise party. She turned to Harry with a nervous expression on her face.
"Harry?" she asked gently, "Can we go for a walk or something?"
"Uh...sure," Harry replied lamely, confused.
Ginny shook her head as she watched to two walk off.
'What a day!' she thought to herself as she headed back into the Burrow, 'And it has barely even begun!'
