A/N: Again, enjoy. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

"I'm Albus," said Albus hesitantly. He wished that Nurse had let him stay at home; Thom's words had made him feel very apprehensive about meeting any other little boys. After all, Thom didn't like him… what if the others didn't?

However, this new boy smiled and didn't look as though he thought Albus was weird at all. He had blondish-brown hair, soft brown eyes and there was a scattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. He was quite thin, although not as thin as Albus, and wore robes that seemed to have a rather second-hand quality about them - they were a little large from him and there were many places where his robes had obviously been ripped and then mended by someone who clearly didn't know how to use the Reparo spell on fabric.

"Do you want to race?" asked Samuel, holding out his broomstick and nodding at Albus's.

"Okay-" said Albus but then he stopped, remembering his friend and Thom. He turned to them to ask if they would mind, when he bit his lip. His friend had said that nobody but him could see them and Albus realised that it would seem very strange indeed if he began speaking to thin air.

Thom was completely ignoring Albus but the other boy seemed to understand and gave a smile and a nod to him. Albus felt relieved; he didn't want his first friend feel as though he didn't like him anymore. He turned back to Samuel, who was looking at him impatiently, one leg already hooked over his toy broomstick.

Albus grinned at him and set his own toy broomstick in the air before climbing on it. Samuel started immediately and soon both boys were zooming all around the park, laughing and screaming as they dodged trees. In reality, they weren't going very fast at all but it felt impossibly quick to both boys as their broomsticks vibrated under them.

Eventually, Albus won - his broomstick seemed slightly better than Samuel's - but Samuel didn't seem to mind. Albus remembered that Nurse had packed a picnic and asked whether Samuel wanted to join them.

"I think I could if Mother came," said Samuel. He turned and ran to find his mother.

Albus felt suddenly jealous. Samuel's mother went to the park with him - but Mother never went anywhere with Albus; it was always Nurse…

"That's because you're stupid and strange and Mother doesn't like you," hissed Thom, eyes glittering, seeming to know what Albus was thinking.

"He's wrong," argued the other secret boy. He glared at Thom with his emerald eyes. "Your mum loves you."

Albus gulped. He wished Thom would go away; he always made him feel bad.

He ran over to Nurse, who reading a book in the sunshine on the blanket. He asked if a friend and his mummy could join them for the picnic and Nurse nodded and said yes, just as Samuel and his mummy arrived.

Samuel's mummy was a thin, pale woman also dressed in robes that seemed ill-kept. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes that seemed permanently tearful. Lots of other people in the park were looking at her coldly as she walked over to Nurse and Albus. Albus thought his mummy looked prettier but said nothing.

"Good afternoon," said the woman, folding her legs delicately under her as she sat down. "I hope you have no objections?"

"Of course not, my lady," said Nurse, who was getting out the food.

Albus tried to talk to Samuel but he seemed to be enjoying the food too much to fully pay attention. Samuel's mother also seemed to be trying to talk to Nurse but Nurse grunted to everything she said so soon the picnic was taking place in an uncomfortable silence.

Albus no longer noticed this once Samuel had finished his food and had started nattering on about what he'd gotten for his birthday the previous week. He too had begun to talk about Professor Wood when Samuel's mother interrupted him.

"Excuse me, but what is your name? Samuel didn't say."

"Albus Percival Wulferic Brian Dumbledore," said Albus, standing up and politely holding out his hand.

The woman was silent for a minute and her eyes suddenly went cold. She did not take Albus's hand and Albus eventually put his hand down, feeling unhappy. Why didn't Samuel's mother like him?

Samuel's mother was still watching him and then her gaze softened slightly. She gave the confused Albus a small smile. "Thank you for playing with my son," she said.

Before Albus could reply, she had gotten up and had turned to Nurse. "Thank you for the picnic. Could you possibly pass on a message to Mr Dumbledore for me?"

Nurse looked at her with what Albus recognised as her neutral expression. "Depends what it is, my lady."

Samuel's mother was looking frosty again and she spoke in a rather harsh voice. "Please tell him that Marcus was only being friendly and that if he weren't so prejudiced, he would have been aware of that."

"More'n my job's worth to tell him that," answered Nurse, face impassive.

The other woman stared at her and then turned away. "Come along, Samuel."

"Wait," said Albus to Samuel as he got up. "What's your name? Your whole name, so I can tell Mother and Father about you."

Samuel beamed. "Samuel Aurelius Lupin."

Albus's grin faded and he gazed at Samuel in dismay. Father had told him not to go near any boys called Lupin! Samuel was a - a mudblood.

"You're a mudblood." Albus said it without any emotion, just wonderingly, as if speaking his thoughts aloud.

Samuel saw the look on his face, heard his words and seemed suddenly upset. "Lots of people don't like me because of that," he squeaked and he went back to his mummy, expression downcast. Mrs Lupin cast a hard look at Albus, who was frozen with indecision as the pair started to walk away.

His nameless friend stood nearby, face blank but staring intently at him. Thom sidled up to him and whispered in his ear.

"Good! You shouldn't play with nasty mudbloods. Father told you not to."

At that moment, Albus saw Samuel look back at him. Samuel's face was flushed and a tear was leaking down his cheek; the boy was thoroughly miserable. His head turned away and Albus stared after him with big eyes.

"It's time to leave now, Albus," he heard Nurse say.

Suddenly, he was running across the grass, hair streaming in the wind, towards Samuel and his mother. He was waving his arms and shouting for them to stop. Mrs Lupin dragged her son onwards but Albus ran round so he was right in front of Samuel, forcing them to stop.

The expression on Mrs Lupin's face had grown even harder, so that it reminded Albus of a stone, but he ignored her. He held out his hand solemnly to Samuel, whose head was turned away from him and bowed, evidently not wanting to speak to Albus.

"Forever friends?" whispered Albus, some part of him inside writhing at the thought of Samuel crying because of him. Mrs Lupin's expression changed abruptly.

Samuel's head snapped back. His wet eyes widened and gradually, the suffusion drained out of his face. Albus looked at him nervously, wondering if Samuel didn't like him anymore.

Samuel took Albus's hand and gave it a shake. "Friends," he said very quietly but it seemed to sound extremely loudly in Albus's ears. Albus beamed in delight.

He risked a glance at Mrs Lupin, who was now smiling warmly at him. She patted him gently on the shoulder before taking Samuel's hand once more and leading him off. Albus waved at Samuel, who waved happily back.

"Bye!" he called.

"Bye bye!" called Samuel back.

Nurse fetched him, the basket back in her hand, looking a bit put out. Albus allowed himself to be dragged off. His nameless friend was grinning at him but Thom was snarling like a kneazle.

"Father will be angry!" he snapped.

"Father doesn't know," said Albus quietly, realising that this, like Thom and his special friend, would have to remain secret. Father might hex him if he knew. He had never done so before but Albus had once been threatened with it when he'd smashed a vase by accident when he was younger.

Above him, something amazing was happening.

It had been like a bolt of lightning. One moment Fawkes had been sitting and watching Samuel and Albus play feeling quite bored, the next, there had been a sudden revelation and a powerful yank in the direction of Albus.

It had happened when Albus had run up to Samuel and extended his friendship. The part of Fawkes that had been bored had found the interaction mildly interesting and that was it. However, the bit of Fawkes that had been there since his first birth (which was still fairly recent) had let out a very definite cry of ancient recognition. Something had moved within him and it wasn't his bowels. Then, without warning, an instinct had risen up inside him so strongly that he had had to fight to keep himself from flying over and landing on Albus's shoulder. It was if his heart was being pulled towards him.

There was that blazing moment of revelation that had flashed momentarily inside his mind: this boy will rise up above the deception and throw it down. He was the one.

Fawkes did not understand why such a simple scene had so utterly convinced his soul that Albus was the one he had been looking for. Yes, he had been considering the boy but nothing could have prepared him for that forceful yes that had sounded within his brain, within his very being.

For the first time, Fawkes looked down at the boy walking below and saw something else standing somehow beyond him, something astonishing. His mind had been made up for him.

But he's only a little kid with stupid orange hair, thought Fawkes, trying to somehow reason with himself. However, he was unable to stop the overriding force inside him answering back.

A little kid with stupid orange hair who might do something special.

'Special.' Heck, he knew Albus was strange - with his invisible friends, odd powers that had revealed themselves when he was a toddler and funny addiction to reading. Special? That would remain to be seen.

Now the only thing to do was to somehow catch Albus alone - without even his secret friends - to 'bond' with him. Fawkes would finally have to start 'shaping history' - though how one was exactly supposed to do that, he didn't know.

------------------------------------------------

Albus was sitting outside reading, it being another sunny day, when he saw the big golden bird again. He was sitting on the bench in the back garden and was finishing his book about Merlin when he heard a rustling sound in the nearby tree.

He looked up from the blindingly white pages of his book to see the golden bird sitting on a tree branch. His mouth dropped open and he gazed at the bird in awe.

"Pretty…" he murmured.

The golden bird suddenly took off from the tree branch and flew straight towards Albus. To the boy's amazement the bird landed right next to him on the bench. Albus was startled and slid off the bench onto the grass. The bird followed him, so that boy and phoenix were sitting and standing respectively on the ground, facing each other.

Albus looked into the bird's big brown eyes and all the background noises of the garden seemed to fade into nothing. There was just silence and the bird's big dark eyes staring right into his, looking so deeply that Albus felt as though he was no longer sitting in the garden at all; he was somewhere else - sinking into a deep lake filled with stars…

Without breaking eye-contact, the phoenix began to sing, weaving a melody around them both so that they were one, they were in harmony… It was the most beautiful thing Albus had ever heard in his life and there was nothing but the song and those eyes looking into blue eyes that were looking back at him again…

The definition between phoenix and boy ceased to exist. For one glorious moment, Albus was the bird, with a soft, lovely plumage of red, yellow, orange and gold and he was looking at a thin boy with wild hair and blue eyes out of which a phoenix stared.

Eventually the singing stopped. There was utter silence; the surrounding wildlife had heard the phoenix song. All Albus knew was that the golden bird and he were now interchangeable - there would be the boy, and there would be the phoenix, and they were no longer alone in the world.