A/N: Here's the next part. I'm sorry that it took so long, but I had other important things to do, like filling out medical school applications.
Harry Potter: Prophecy of the Phoenix - Chapter 4
The lack of ground beneath his feet jump-started Harry's mind. For a brief moment, he concluded that he somehow must have subconsciously cast a wandless levitation charm on himself, and then he noticed that his arms were no longer the correct configuration.
They had turned to wings
His... beak?... opened to express his utter disbelief, and the familiar timbre of the note that emerged from his vocal cords sent shivers up his avian spine.
Somehow in the raging winds of his emotional tumult, Harry had realized his potential to become an animagus.
He was a phoenix!
His mind erupted into several voices, each one demanding dominance, but the one that clawed its way to the front was laced with uncharacteristically innocent and buoyant enthusiasm.
Wait till Sirius hears about this. It took him and my dad years to do this.
Then reality hit him once again. Pushing away all of the voices, especially that whiny one nagging him about whether or not he would be able to resume his human form, he soared into the clouds, flight in this form coming as naturally to him as it had the first day he had climbed onto a broom.
If he had thought riding on his broom was exhilarating, then flying unfettered from any object was the closest to pure bliss than he had ever felt. He felt the burdens of his anxiety melt away as he simply let himself become swallowed by the blue-gray expanse of the September sky.
There was a tickle in the back of his mind that reminded Harry of a soft chuckle. Dismissing it as another one of his own internal voices, Harry startled when he heard distinct words resound in his head.
"Hello, Harry. Having fun?"
"Fawkes?"
Later, when Harry reflected on the experience, he would not be able to discern how he had known how to respond. He had just reacted on pure instinctive reflex.
"Yes, Harry. I've been waiting for a long time for you to realize this piece of your destiny."
"What destiny?"
"I'm afraid that you must discover that for yourself."
He's spent way too much time with Dumbledore.
That thought Harry voiced only to himself, but with the apparent amusement on his fellow phoenix's features, Harry began to question whether Fawkes had heard it after all.
Suddenly, the amusement fled, and Fawkes became frighteningly serious. Harry felt a foreboding tingle travel through his nervous system.
"Harry, I need you to listen to me carefully. You must tell no one about this: not your friends, not your teachers, and not even Dumbledore. Your life depends on this form of yours remaining in complete secrecy. Do you understand?"
"Yes, but-"
"Your friends will begin to worry. Do not fret my young friend, we will speak again."
Fawkes flew back towards the castle, leaving Harry a bit exasperated and wondering why no one would tell him anything, especially about himself. It was not as if Harry had ever had a normal childhood that he could remember.
Both with the Dursleys and with his experiences at Hogwarts, Harry had felt the need to grow up faster than his peers had. He wished that just once someone who knew the answers would see fit to confide in him the whole truth instead of falling back onto the excuse of his limited years.
He landed in an isolated and visibly obscured area of the Hogwarts grounds.
That panicked and whiny voice questioning his ability to revert to his human form was now back with a vengeance.
In all honesty, Harry did not know what to do. It was his subconscious that had invoked the first transformation, and his conscious mind was now in charge, completely devoid of any knowledge about how to accomplish the task at hand.
Harry closed his eyes, forcing a false calm into his body in an attempt to ignore the dire predictions of his own self-doubt. He brought the mental image of himself encapsulated in his human body to the forefront of his thoughts, and he focused on it with a silent prayer that he was doing the right thing.
The sensation was utterly foreign and borderline painful as his body began to stretch and his internal structure began to rearrange themselves. A small part of Harry's mind broke concentration to wonder how he had not felt the equivalent changes in that first transformation.
He lost his focus with a gasp. His legs seemed a bit unsteady beneath him, and his arms seemed sore from flying.
Supporting himself against a tree as his legs righted themselves, a strange sensation gripped Harry. Even though he had spent fifteen years in his present form, it seemed suddenly wrong as if his human form fit him as well as his cousin's clothes.
The sensation faded, lasting for that one inconsequential moment, as his legs grew sure about their ability to support his weight.
Sighing and looking up longingly at the sky, Harry began to head toward the castle.
McGonagall gasped as she saw Remus Lupin stumble through the secret entrance that connected Hogwarts to the Shrieking Shack with a rather large black dog at his heels. Immediately, she was at his side, maneuvering the werewolf so that she was supporting part of his weight.
"I need to see Dumbledore."
McGonagall did not like her former pupil and fellow teacher's coloring at all, mentally gaping at how sick he looked before reminding herself that the full moon had only been a few days before and that he had probably not been able to get proper rest nor nourishment since that time.
Wondering whether she should be leading him to the hospital wing instead as they began the trip to the headmaster's office, McGonagall managed to speak her relief. "It's good to see you, Remus. We feared that you were dead." Then, after glancing around the corridor quickly to make sure that they were indeed alone, she added, "It's good to see you too, Sirius."
The black dog that had not left Remus's side gave a yelp of surprise and alarm.
The very tips of McGonagall's lips were quivering almost-invisibly at the reaction.
"Circumstances arose such that I had to be let in on your little secret." She forced her stern countenance to hold as she continued, "Honestly. The lot of you becoming animagi in your fifth year. Perhaps the hardest transfiguration to be performed, and you never felt it necessary to let your teacher share in the pride in your accomplishment."
"I'm not an animagus" Remus protested.
"No, but you knew about it, which is just as bad. Ferret Fudge."
The climb up the staircase was slow, but the trio finally arrived outside the office door.
A flash of surprise followed by a flash of relief flooded Dumbledore's features as the group entered.
Seeing that they were the only occupants in the room, Sirius resumed his human form, helping McGonagall guide his friend into a chair before collapsing into one himself.
The pair of Marauders soon found their hands cradling warm cups of tea as a pair of cerulean eyes passed over them quickly.
"Are the two of you all right?"
Both nodded though it was obvious that they were both exhausted.
"Minerva, will you please go fetch Harry? This will be quite a load off his mind."
"Of course." She responded before making a crisp exit.
Sirius's eyes had narrowed slightly as he sensed something of importance underlying the headmaster's request. "What happened?"
"I believe that it is I who should be asking you that question." Dumbledore's eyes gleamed wildly for a minute before turning serious. "Harry had a vision and was quite convinced that the two of you were dead. I hoped that he was mistaken since he did not actually see you in the house, but there was no proof to the contrary. The destruction to the house was so complete that retrieving bodies would have been impossible, and Harry's violent reactions to the visions seemed to support his claim."
"Is he all right." Lupin spoke up, just beating Sirius to the same question. He looked and felt much better than he had only a few minutes ago and was almost certain that Dumbledore had slipped something into the tea.
"That, I fear, is much too complicated a question to answer at the present time though, if questioned, I'm sure that he would tell you that he's fine."
Dumbledore paused, and both of the younger men understood the elder's silent message that he did not believe Harry's self-diagnosis.
"Now, I need the two of you to tell me what happened."
Sirius was looking anxiously at the door as if he was debating whether or not to rush through it and find his godson himself.
"We were in the woods when we heard what sounded like an explosion. When we rushed back to the house, we found it burning, and the Dark Mark was hovering overhead."
Eyes still flickering towards the door, Sirius continued the narrative, sounding distracted.
"There was a strange breeze, and the flames died suddenly."
"We knew that a team from the Ministry would be there shortly, and with the corruption in the Ministry, we were afraid that the members of the team would be Death Eaters sent with the task to make sure that we were actually dead. After all, no one would probably think twice if they killed a werewolf and an escaped convict out of 'self-defense.'"
The last phrase was intoned with bitterness at the wizarding world's known bigotry towards lycanthropes.
"So we made a run for it and headed towards Hogwarts." Sirius finished, obviously wondering why the door had yet to open.
"Sorry it took so long, but I was still weak from my transformation and slowed us down."
"That's quite all right. All that matters is that the two of you got here safely."
That said, the door to the office opened.
Harry had no sooner stepped through the front doors of the castle than he was met by his head of house.
"There you are, Potter. Professor Dumbledore needs to see you immediately. Come with me."
Harry forced himself to suppress a groan.
Malfoy.
He had completely forgotten about what he had done to Malfoy.
Reluctantly, he followed McGonagall to the stone gargoyle, a smile flitting briefly across his face as he heard her speak the password. He trudged up the stairs and stepped into the office, as McGonagall ushered him in, ready to apologize.
The apology died on his lips as he stopped short and his eyes took in the other occupants of the room. His brain was shouting furiously at him that somehow his eyes were playing a cruel trick on him.
Sirius had risen in alarm as he had gotten a look at his godson, who looked thinner and even more haunted than the last time he had seen him. "Harry?"
As his brain finally accepted the information his eyes were sending it, Harry found his feet suddenly as heavy as lead and his vocal cords paralyzed.
How? How is this possible?
The question reverberated inside his skull as he tried in vain to make his lips echo his internal question.
His scar seared sharply as if the question itself had triggered something, and as the room began to lose focus, he knew that the vision was going to take him again. The last things that he was consciously aware of were the muffled sounds of his name being called in alarm and a warm weight landing on his shoulder.
"Are you sure that they're in there?"
"Y-yes. The werewolf won't leave the house in fear of hurting someone, and his friend won't leave him alone."
The pressure inside his skull began to increase as the whispers began to fill his head. He cried out in pain, not understanding why he was back here if Sirius and Lupin were still alive.
"Relax your mind, Harry. Don't fight it. Let yourself hear what you need to hear."
The voice sounded extraordinarily like Fawkes's.
Harry closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. The whispers began to coalesce into one audible voice, and Harry was struck by a fiery burst of pain.
Then Harry heard Wormtail's voice again, but they were words that had never been spoken aloud.
This is it, Potter. From now on I am no longer in your debt. I saved their miserable lives like you saved mine. Now I can be free to serve my master. Sweet Merlin. He's going to kill me for this.
Wormtail knew. Harry realized. He knew they weren't in the house. He suddenly realized that the Death Eaters were gone and saw for the first time the double pair of canine eyes taking in the ruins.
"Come back now, Harry. That is what you were meant to see."
Harry blinked, returning to Dumbledore's office, noticing that he was still on his feet though his balance seemed precarious and his thoughts seemed a bit cloudy. The pain in his scar was sharp but surprisingly manageable, and he was fairly certain that the lack of extreme reactions had something to do with the phoenix on his shoulder.
Harry felt a trembling hand on his back and realized that his godfather was guiding him to the chair that Sirius had previously occupied. Momentarily, Harry flashed back to the night of the third task.
If anything, Sirius looked more frightened now, and his eyes were glued to the mark of the storm that adorned Harry's brow on which beads of crimson were gleaming menacingly.
"Harry, your scar is bleeding." Sirius's voice was intoned with a soft horror, and Dumbledore and McGonagall moved closer at the words, knowing implications the words held from previous experience.
Still in a daze himself, he reached up with a slight tremor of his hand and found that once again his scar had opened, but the bleeding did not seem as profuse as before.
He opened his mouth to reassure the worried adults, but a note from Fawkes interrupted him and seemed to vibrate across the room as the phoenix hopped from Harry's shoulder to his head. Gently, the bird pressed his cheek against Harry's forehead and let a pearly tear fall onto the open scar.
Harry was almost sure that he heard a hissing sound as light magic collided with dark, and he could not suppress a gasp as the pain faded back to its normal background level.
The fog around his brain began to clear as well.
"Harry, what happened? Are you okay?" Sirius had broken through his state of shock and had evolved into a state of panic.
Sweet Merlin, he was tired of people asking him that question. He had faced Voldemort four times in his lifetime, and he had managed to survive every one of them. He was sick of people treating and looking at him as if he was a fragile piece of china about to crumble into a million pieces.
Instead of answering the proposed question, he ignored his growing frustration and turned his gaze to Dumbledore while Fawkes resumed his perch on Harry's shoulder.
"Do you remember telling me at the end of my third year that someday I would be glad that I saved Wormtail's life?"
Dumbledore nodded, his silence speaking volumes.
"You were right."
Dumbledore's cerulean eyes darted to each of the Marauders before meeting Harry's eyes again, which he was pleasantly surprised to find specks of emerald amongst the lifeless gray, and Harry knew that he understood.
Sirius was looking back and forth between his godson and headmaster impatiently, waiting for one of them to explain exactly what happened, and to make matters worse, there was an understanding glint in Lupin's eyes as if he understood, at least in part, what was going on.
Harry turned his attention to his godfather and former professor, and Sirius got the impression that suppressed tears were glittering in Harry's eyes.
"Wormtail knew that the two of you weren't in that house. He saved your lives to repay the wizard's debt that he owed me." His eyes became brighter as the battle against his own tears intensified. "I thought-"
Sirius did not let him get any further as he pulled Harry into a protective embrace.
For a moment, Harry was surprised. Though he had known Sirius since the end of his third year, his godfather had never hugged him before.
Last year with Mrs. Weasley's embrace, he had finally known what it felt like to be hugged by a mother, and now he knew what it felt like to be hugged by a father. His barriers began to fall, but he found himself unable to cry.
Releasing Harry reluctantly, Sirius spoke, "I'm just fine." A mock-irritated clearing of a throat brought a smile to Sirius's face, "And so is Moony though he doesn't look it."
"Thanks a lot, Padfoot." Lupin grumbled good-naturedly.
"Hey, have you looked in a mirror lately?"
"I could ask you that same question."
Eyes twinkling with merriment, Dumbledore interrupted the pair's banter.
"All right you two, that's enough. Minerva, could you please take Remus to Madam Pomfrey and then make sure they both get a decent meal. I need to speak with Harry alone for a moment. Sirius, do you need medical attention?"
Sirius shook his head, and Harry looked at the pair reluctantly.
"Don't worry, Harry. You'll have plenty of opportunity to speak with them later." Dumbledore reassured him.
"I'll see you later, Harry." Sirius promised, also appearing reluctant at the separation, before transforming back into the large black dog and following the other two out of the office.
As soon as they had left, Dumbledore took a seat behind his desk, and Harry began to feel a bit anxious.
"Madam Pomfrey reported to me that Mr. Malfoy came in with a rather peculiar ailment."
"Is he all right, professor?"
"Madam Pomfrey was able to reverse the process, but she had to be creative in her treatment. I'm afraid that Mr. Malfoy's lips will be quite swollen for the next couple of days."
"I'm sorry." Harry spoke quickly, "He started taunting me about Cedric and my friends, and it just happened. I didn't even touch my wand."
Dumbledore sat forward urgently, "Are you sure, Harry?"
Harry nodded, intimidated and awed by his headmaster's intensity.
Dumbledore sat back and stroked the whiskers on his chin thoughtfully, plunging the room into silence.
Harry shifted nervously, hoping that maybe he would be finally supplied with some answers.
Dumbledore spoke a mere instant before Harry prompted him. "I've been hearing reports from your professors that you've made remarkable progress."
He paused, and Harry knew that once again Dumbledore was choosing his words carefully, deciding what he should reveal.
"Harry, I've sensed a great magical potential in you since the first time we met. Perhaps you are finally tapping into that potential. Although I am certain that Mr. Malfoy goaded you into your reaction, I must ask you to proceed with more caution from now on. If at any time you feel as if your powers have gotten out of your control, you are to see me immediately. Failure to do so could potentially put yourself and others in danger."
"I will. I promise."
"Very well. Now, may I suggest that you join your classmates in the Great Hall. I'm sure that Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger will be just as relieved to know that Sirius and Remus are indeed alive, and it looks as if you could use a decent meal as well."
Harry stood, uncomfortable with his headmaster's reference to his weight loss, and Fawkes flew to his perch.
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, and Harry, this bit of parchment was found among the impostor Moody's possessions, and I believe that it belongs to you."
A jolt of excitement shot through him as the Marauder's Map was returned to his possession. It had become one of his most prized possessions, and he had missed it greatly.
"Thank you."
Dumbledore offered him a small smile in acknowledgement.
Pocketing the map, Harry exited quickly as Dumbledore's eyes followed the younger wizard's form, wondering how such a large burden could be placed on such young shoulders.
"Where have you been?" Hermione demanded as Harry took a seat next to her.
A smile graced his features as he spoke loudly enough only for Hermione and Ron's earshot, "I was talking to Sirius and Professor Lupin."
They began to respond loudly, but Harry hushed them quickly, explaining to them the rest of the story regarding the pair of Marauders. They both looked disturbed at the mention of his latest vision.
Ron looked as if he needed to change the subject, and after a moment of silence and a glance across the Great Hall, he found the words.
"Hey, Harry," Ron spoke cautiously, uncertain whether or not Harry was still upset over the incident during Care of Magical Creatures, "have you seen Malfoy?"
Harry's eyes strayed to the Slytherin table. Dumbledore had not been exaggerating. Malfoy's lips resembled two very large and purple sausages. Guilt and amusement swirled through him at the same time.
"It's almost as good as the Ferret Fudge. I wonder how Fred and George managed it."
Harry placed a bite of potato in his mouth, not seeing the need to correct his friend's misjudgment.
"Kill the Spare."
Harry winced as Cedric's lifeless eyes gazed up at him.
Harry's scar suddenly erupted with pain, and a heavy gray mist began to wrap itself tightly around him, choking him. Harry's eyes began to water, and his respirations were wheezy. Just when he was sure that he was going to die of asphyxiation, the mist began to dissipate.
"Wormtail."
Voldemort was standing in a location that Harry did not recognize with Lucius Malfoy at his side.
"Y-yes, my L-lord." Wormtail stammered.
He knows!
Harry started as Wormtail's thought was heard clearly in his head. Somehow the connection from the vision earlier was still active.
"Lucius informs me that his son saw a certain pair of individuals at Hogwarts that I ordered to be killed a few nights ago. If I didn't know better, I would say that you did it on purpose."
"N-no. Of c-course not, M-master."
Please don't kill me!
"No, you're not strong enough to disobey me. Still, you must be punished. Lucius has already suffered for his failure."
Voldemort's red eyes were emblazoned with anger, and Wormtail was petrified in both body and mind.
"Crucio!"
Wormtail screamed with an awful high-pitched voice, and Harry's own screams soon intermingled with them. It felt as if he was under the curse himself, as if his link to
Wormtail's thoughts allowed him to share equally in the pain, and he was certain that his scar was going to split open again.
Just when the pain threatened to drown him, he heard the soft notes of the phoenix songs.
He grabbed onto it as if it was a lifeline, and the melody grew louder until it surrounded him instead of the scenes of torture.
Harry awoke, but the sound of the song was still loud in his ears, and Fawkes was nowhere to be seen.
He felt an invisible pull to go somewhere, and that pull increased in intensity along with the song until he knew that he had no choice but to follow it.
Silently, Harry gathered both his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map, wrapping himself in the cloak and not bothering to pause even as he crawled through the portrait hole with the Fat Lady demanding to know who was leaving.
He simply knew that there was somewhere that he had to be.
A/N: I'm so sorry about the horribly cliched animagus form, but it had to be done. It is vital for the ending of the story. Thanks for making it all the way through. Your reviews are what are keeping me going. Though they're not required for a new posting, they are really appreciated.
becki- I hope that this satisfies your fix. Fan club:) I don't think that that's necessary, but thanks.
Arizosa- Evil and brilliant... that's always a scary combination. Thanks.
solid- I'm glad that you thought it was cool. I hop that you're still alive.
Acacia Jules- I'm glad that you like my version of Harry. He has some issues to work out.
Wink At J00- I know that Tenchi is animae (forgive spelling if incorrect). One of my best friends watches it, but I'm afraid that I don't know much. You were right. Harry is flying.
valeries26- I hope that the e-mail helped. I hurried as fast as I could.
Serry- Yay! I'm glad that you enjoyed that part. I've wanted to do that for a long time.
baasheep- Okay, I'm asking again. Review #4, please? I personally was not fond of the chapter, but your strong encouragement surely helped to write this one. Thank you.
angelhitomi- If you look at the time line, it did come out sooner. Everyone cheer.
Nicky- Very good. That's what you were supposed to get. Is everything clearer now?
Ariel- Oh dear. I hope that you don't forget permanently. Your review just took me away. Thank you so much. I'm sorry that Dumbledore won't reveal everything, but as you can see, he does know something.
usakoesm- Someone else who understands my humor! Oh thank you! I love that invention as well.
sk8reagle- Interesting good or interesting bad?
Kathleen- Yes, flying "Harry"s are good.
Esperanza- Unfortunately, his dreams are not going to get better, at least for a while.
whiterose- Thank you.
Sunkist- Original? Are you sure? I thought that it was just your everyday normal fifth year fic. Thank you. I promise to stop by your bio page and leave you a review.
