Phoenix Tears
By phoenix ash
Rating: T
Spoilers: SS, COS, POA, GOF, OOTP, HBP.
Category: action/adventure/romance
(A.N.) J.k. Rowling owns all the characters. I only own the plot.
Chapter two
Return to the burrow
Harry woke up late Wednesday evening to the sound of Hedwig hooting at Fawkes. She eyed him warily and then drank thirstily from the water bowl.
"What time is it?" he asked blearily.
"Nine thirty p.m." Fawkes replied happily. Harry stumbled from his desk and put on his invisibility cloak and grabbed Fawkes's tail.
"Please take me to the Wales museum." He said. Fawkes gave a small chirp. He was engulfed in flames and Harry and Fawkes disappeared.
They reappeared in the museum right inside the entrance. Harry perused the directory for the ancient artifacts exhibit.
Finding what he was looking for, he ran quickly and quietly to the exhibit and started to search for the tablet. He found Welsh artifacts varying from bowls with pictures to replicas of columns from an ancient civilization. He finally found what he was looking for. A tablet, about two feet long and one foot wide lay inside a glass case, clearly heavily secured.
"Fawkes, could you flame travel the tablet out of the case?"
"I suppose I could. I'll transport it to your room" Fawkes replied. He stretched out his wings and was engulfed in flames for a second time and both he and the tablet disappeared.
Several minutes passed by until Fawkes reappeared.
"Come on." He said. Harry grabbed his tail and they were gone.
Once they got back to Harry's room, the first thing Harry did was study the tablet. It looked like it was written in runic and the map portion looked old and confusing with distorted lines and smeared paint. He tucked it in his school bag.
"What now?" Fawkes asked, tiredly.
"Seeing that I can't make heads or tails of runic writing, I'll ask Hermione to translate for me when we see her at the burrow. Until then I need to pack provisions for our journey to Wales." At this point Fawkes choked on some birdseed he'd discovered in one of Harry's dressers.
"Wales?"
"Well how do you expect us to track down the cup then?"
"What about school?"
"We'll do it before school, at night sometime in August and return before September first, hopefully by then we will have destroyed at least one horcrux." Harry replied.
"I assume that there will be more then just the two of us?" Fawkes asked worriedly.
"Hermione, Ron and Ginny will accompany us if they want to."
"I see." The bird went back to eating while Harry started to rummage through his trunk for useful things. He decided to pack a journal and some ink to record their journey. He also packed his invisibility cloak, some books from Grimwald place and other items of use.
He fingered the fake horcrux necklace that he now wore around his neck, a reminder of the past. It had become a sort of an amulet for him. He had still not discovered the secret of R.A.B. which had leered into his dreams from the darkest corners of his mind.
By the time he finished packing, it was ten thirty. He sat back in his desk and began to research locations from the king Arthur stories to real locations. Eventually he fell asleep, using his books as a pillow.
Sometime later in the night he was woken when Fawkes chirped a warning. "Wassup?"
"School Bag." Fawkes said. Harry swiveled around and saw that his bag was glowing green and it was floating in mid air. He got up and seized it and took out the tablet. It moved out of the moonlight and it returned to normal. Harry moved the tablet back in the light and the map and letters shifted and a pentagram appeared in the center of the artifact and the letters positioned themselves around it.
"Fawkes, have you seen anything this beautiful before?" he asked, fascinated.
"It does hold powerful magic, obviously." Fawkes replied, peering at the pentagram. "I've seen that symbol before in the muggle world, but I never have seen this used in the wizarding world."
Harry got out some parchment and some ink and quickly copied the formation of the letters and symbols.
"Fawkes I'd appreciate it if you'd not wake me again because I need to get up before noon so I can pack the rest of my things because the Weasley's are picking me up. "
"fine."
Harry climbed into his bed and fell asleep within minutes.
He woke up at exactly eleven, giving him enough time to get his things together. At exactly noon the doorbell rang. Harry froze in horror; he had forgotten to tell the Dursleys that the Weasley's were picking him up. "Damn!" he muttered as he flew down the stairs to find, to late, that Mr. Dursley had opened the door.
"You!" he shouted at Mr. Weasley.
"Um yes, we're here to pick up Harry." Said Mr. Weasley. Ron came in and walked toward him.
"Good to see you Harry." He said.
"Hey mate." He replied. "Could you help me with my stuff?" Ron sensed that Harry wanted to tell him something.
"Ok." He said. They went up to his room and Ron gasped at seeing Fawkes.
"Where'd you get him?"
"Fawkes came to me. Apparently I can talk to him but that's not why I wanted to talk to you." Harry replied. "I've found out that one of the horcruxes is in Wales."
"Do you know a specific location?" Ron asked, anxiously.
"Well, not exactly." He took out the tablet. "This might tell us where Hufflepuff's cup is, but we need Hermione to translate. Although, last night in the moonlight, it changed into this." He showed Ron the sketch.
"Boys!" Mr. Weasley called. "Come on."
"I'll tell you more at the burrow." Harry said. They gathered his trunk and walked downstairs. They left number four privet drive silently.
"We'll be apparating. Harry, you'll have to side-apparate because we'll be appearing in town." Harry took Ron's arm and they disappeared with a small 'pop!'
The village of Ottery ST. Chappole was marvelous. As they made their way up to the Burrow, Harry noticed that the town was rather large.
As they entered the house they heard shrieks of 'Harry!' and two girls flew down the stairs and engulfed him in hugs.
"Glad I'm loved so much." He muttered. Hermione pulled away and went to Ron.
Ginny pulled out of the embrace and kissed him. He was surprised when he kissed her back. He finally got a grip when they heard two chuckles from the stairs.
"Ah, our little baby sis is in love." Fred and George said together. Harry and Ginny blushed.
"Gin, I'm sorry, I-"
"I kind of forgot too." Ginny said, still crimson.
Harry sensed that there was more to this then Ginny was admitting, but he decided not to pursue the matter.
"Harry, mate, can we talk?" George asked. Harry nodded and followed the twins to their room.
"Harry, what was that?" Fred asked, a little too calmly.
"What do you mean?"
"We mean that kiss. It's big news around here that you broke our dear little sister's heart."
"I'm not sure." He replied.
"When Ginny got home from the train station, she shut herself in her room for days and cried because you dumped her," George said
"So in the interest of our little sister we'll give you one chance to explain yourself before we decide your fate." Fred finished.
"You wouldn't understand." Harry replied, fighting back the rage and guilt pouring through his veins.
"Try us."
"Everyone I love dies!" he shouted, "My parents, Sirius, DUMBLEDORE! WHO's NEXT? RON, HERMIONE, "his voice broke, "Ginny?" he almost whispered.
"So you broke her heart to protect her?" Fred asked. Harry nodded
"If Voldemort can have Dumbledore killed, then he could surely kill Ginny. I broke up with her because I can't let her die."
"You still love her, don't you?" George asked.
"Yes, swear to me that you won't tell anyone of this conversation."
"We swear." They said.
"Well I guess that explains your question."
"You can go now." Fred said. Harry nodded and got up.
He got up and went to Ron's room. Ginny, Hermione and Ron were sitting on the two beds waiting for him.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"Fred and George wanted to talk about business stuff." He lied. "I have to tell Hermione and Ginny something. Do you remember the horcruxes?" Both girls nodded. "Well I've tracked one down to somewhere in Wales." They gasped, "but I think this," he took out the tablet," holds the key to its exact location, but it's written in runic, so Hermione, I was wondering if you could translate it for us."
Hermione nodded. "I'll do my best."
"There's something else. In the moonlight, it changes."
"I've never heard of a magical artifact that does that." Hermione said.
"Neither have I." Harry replied. "Once we know the location, we need to get there somehow and destroy it. Hermione, do you think you could translate enough to get underway and return before school?"
"I think so, but the inscribing on the moonlight version," she pointed to Harry's sketch, "is like nothing I've ever seen. That could take months. I'll get started right away."
"Here, take these books." He said, handing her several tomes on rune translation.
While Hermione worked, Harry spoke with Ron about packing provisions.
"We'll need blankets and food, depending on how long it'll take us to get there, do the deed, and get back."
"Do you think Hermione could make a portkey?" Ron asked.
"I'm sure she can, knowing Hermione."
Just then, George called, "Mum said dinner's ready!"
"You guys go on, I'll be there in a sec." Hermione said to them.
They bounded down to the kitchen where the smell of Mrs. Weasley's fantastic cooking.
"Where's Hermione dear?" she asked Ron.
"She'll be down in a bit,"
Harry found himself seated across from Ginny. All through dinner, he chanced glances at her, memorizing every detail of her angelic face.
Soon, dinner was over and they went up to Ron's room to find that Hermione was still working.
"Is it already after dinner?"
"Yeah." Ron told her.
"I just got so into this translation that I forgot about dinner. Well, night." She took the tablet and the books and she and Ginny walked off to their room.
Still sleep deprived, Harry had no trouble falling asleep that night.
I hoped you enjoyed it. Please R&R!