Narcissa watched the boy walking around in a nervous manner. He had been like this the whole day and last afternoon. He sat down somewhere, only to stand up again, walk around again, sat down, got up, looking at his supplies only to sit down again. The whole time at least one of his hand cradled the egg on his chest and he had given up the pretence of not talking to the egg. He was talking to it the entire time now, with the most nonsensical things at times. He had told the egg at least three times now the things he had prepared.
In accordance with the book in a passage Sirius and Narcissa could read too, there were specific things that should be ready at the moment the egg hatched. For one a flask of clean spring water, for the newborn to drink. A bowl to catch the falling of shell. While it wasn't important in a regular sense, phoenix eggshells were highly valuable for potions and Harry was encouraged to keep it up. Then there was a small jar with flying embers. Young phoenixes ate small bugs like ladybugs, but a newborn was fed with embers from the feathers of their parents. They would ruffle their feathers so small embers would fall from it to feed the young. To recreate this Sirius had helped Harry by enchanting embers to not go out or fall to the bottom of the jar but also not to burn Harry's fingers when he picked them out. The book said that was the right thing to do. Then there was a towel to wrap the baby bird in it. It was enchanted to give warmth and stay this way. In the wild, baby phoenixes were kept close under the wing of their father while the mother bird protected the hatchling. Harry had intended to just cradle the bird on his chest but the book stated fathering phoenixes produce way more heat than a human could produce, so begrudgingly he had agreed to the towel. The last thing was a fire-safe carpet and a few anti-scald potions. While not thinking about it it was quite obvious, a hatching phoenix was a flaming incident.
"Please, Harry, sit down. You have everything you need. You have double the amount of embers and water that is stated, the towel is exactly like it should be and the potions are ready. Nothing to worry about. So sit down." Narcissa stated with a firm voice, her hands folded over her knee. Harry stopped himself from inspecting the supplies again, turning his head. His ears were a little red and he shuffled a little embarrassed. He was wearing a button-up shirt and trousers made of dragonhide, as well as arm protection made from the same grey material. While it wasn't very stylish or his taste, it was fireproof and that was all that mattered right now. The shirt he would need to take off when the hatching began. He looked at the clock. It was about twenty minutes to high noon. If the book was correct the hatching would begin exactly at that time. He sighed, petting the pulsing egg, whispering something to it what Narcissa didn't understand. The boy was nervous but he sat. The egg hadn't changed at all in the last two weeks. After it had turned slowly from grey to black in the first weeks it hadn't made a change. While that was normal in accordance with the book, it didn't put Harry at ease. Shouldn't it be different, so close to the hatching? The pulses of warmth kept coming like the little bird felt his unease and nervousness and tried to soothe him. Soon little one, he whispered when petting the small thing again. Suddenly they heard a knocking sound on the front door.
Narcissa raised her head. Who could that be? They didn't expect any visitors. Harry had declined to ask for any friend, had stated he didn't want the closer information of the hatching to get out at any mean there is. They heard both the sound of the popping Kreacher, opening the front door, while Narcissa got up to stand between Harry and the door of the sitting room. They heard muffled voices and a pop. There was strange music in the air, one which Narcissa couldn't place at all. After a moment the bowing house-elf popped into the sitting room. He wore his uniform and raised his head, looking at the two.
"Kreacher is terribly sorry to disturb the honoured Heir and Miss Black. It was said House Black doesn't expect visitors, but there are two elder men at the front door. One stated he knew the young heir and was his headmaster." Harry looked up at the door, surprised. What was Professor Dumbledore doing here? Narcissa stood there her arms crossed, looking at Kreacher.
"Did they state what they want or who the other man is? And what is that music?"
Kreacher bowed deep, shaking his head.
"The headmaster-man said they were here for high-noon and the other man was someone young Heir had researched in his first year. This music Miss Black is produced by a large bird on the headmaster-man's shoulder." Harry stared at the elf. Dumbledore was here? With Nicolas Flamel? And he had brought Fawkes? Then he remembered his etiquette lessons. He straightened his back.
"Kreacher, the question for the headmaster is what the mirror showed him when he looked inside. If he answers socks, you may let him in." The elf bowed and popped away. A few moments later they heard footsteps and a knock at the door. Harry rose to his feet and called a come in. The door opened and a bright red bird swooped in. It had wide red wings, sending a gush of wind around. Golden feathers stripped his wings, little sparks flying around. The beak was open and it sang a beautiful song that much more than the egg had done send soothing waves through Narcissa's heart. Harry felt it resonating in his egg, a small tidal wave running through him of warmth in reaction. The bird flapped his wings two times, before landing on Harry's shoulder. He smiled as the warm tall bird nuzzled his neck for a moment, and he reached up stroking the bird along the neck, over smooth and warm feathers.
"Hey, Fawkes." He smiled before the bird leaned down and eyed the bulge on his chest. Harry had still his other hand over it but he opened for the Phoenix to inspect. The flame-red bird tilted his head, cooing a short whistle before quieting down. It sounded like approval. Then Harry raised his head at a chuckle from the door. Albus Dumbledore stood there in his signature sparkling robes, the half-moon glasses on the nose, his old hands folded in front of the long white beard. Next to him stood an equally white-haired man, with piercing blue eyes and a calm demeanour. He wore simple but well-made robes and had his hands folded behind his back. He moved in a slow manner.
"Professor. Why are you here?" Harry asked, stepping a step forward. Fawkes flapped his wings and landed on the backrest of the couch Harry had just sat on. A slight coughing sound came from Narcissa making Harry turn bright red again.
"S-Sorry. I mean welcome of course Professor. Please have a seat. From the words of my headmaster, I take you are Mister Flamel?" Harry asked stepping a little closer. The old man next to Dumbledore smiled a little and nodded, stepping a step forward.
"Ah yes, young Albus has always this fun in riddles and double meaning comments. That is right, I'm Nicolas Flamel, please call me Nicolas. After a few hundred years you get a little tired of all this formal approaches young man. And you must be Harry Potter wouldn't that be right?" The man smiled warmly stretching out his hand. Harry took it in a firm grip only softening it quickly when he saw the man flinch ever so slightly. He gestured at one of the couches when he let go. His hand was cradling still the egg.
"That is correct sir...I mean Nicolas. I'm ...well I was Harry Potter, now I'm Harry Peverell. But Harry would be better. Please, take a seat, would you like something to drink?" Harry was a little bit lost, making Dumbledore's eyes brighten in a delighted fashion. The old alchemist next to the headmaster nodded smiling sitting down.
"Ah yes, thank you young man, but of course, I would like to greet your lovely companion. I wish you a good day Miss." He bowed a little in his sitting pose but everyone in the room was certain the man was old, really really old. He moved with the care of fragile man and Narcissa made a small courtesy.
"Welcome to House Black Mr Flamel, Mr Dumbeldore. I'm Miss Black." She had a curt smile on her face, but the whole not formal approach, that Nicolas Flamel saw instantly, wasn't her kind of thing. So he nodded again.
"Thank you for having us, Miss Black. We are terribly sorry if we two old men are an inconvenience to you and your...uhm ward." The relationship between Harry and Narcissa was an informal one and so it was little hard to pin it down.
"Not at all. May I inquire about the reason for your visit?" Narcissa sat down, looking over the two old men. It was odd, normally whenever she had met Dumbledore he was the focus dominating every conversation, not directly in a much-talking way but in the way were everybody was made clear he was the wisest person in the room. Now he behaved all quiet like this wasn't his endeavour, making Narcissa calculate. Either the old headmaster really bowed to Flamel's superiority or he played the part of the dutiful student. Hard to say with a man like him. Flamel didn't seem to mind her look, only sighing.
"Well, when Fawkes came to me for something special I knew Albus would give an egg to someone. So I contacted him so he would tell me when the hatching would occur. In all my six hundred years of life I have seen this only four times, so of course, I wanted to be there. The last time was almost sixty years ago when I helped Albus to gain the friendship of Fawkes." He smiled looking up at the majestic creature. Narcissa stared just at the man, who just casually stated his age. Of course, she knew who the Flamels were, being the richest wizard family in the world, thanks to their stone, but still, it was weird to hear.
Harry who had just ordered Kreacher for some tea turned around and walked back to the couch, sitting next to Narcissa and watched the old alchemist.
"You have helped Professor Dumbledore with Fawkes?" He asked pretty amazedly. Flamel nodded slowly, carefully.
"Oh yes, of course. Ember, you could say the mother of Fawkes and your hatchling to, is the familiar of me and my wife. Sadly, Pernelle is sick today, so she stayed with her. When one of us is sick, Ember won't move from their side, so she can't be here today." He smiled a little. Harry, while he couldn't point it down in his memory due to the spells on the book, felt it was right calling another phoenix his eggs mother. He smiled back.
"I would like to thank her at a later point that she entrusted me with the little one here." He petted the egg on his chest when the door opened again. Harry turned his head and blushed to see who stepped inside.
Early that morning:
Harry walked slowly through the house. It was about three in the morning and he couldn't sleep. He hadn't been able to calm down enough. So he tended to wander around, his hand on the egg in front of his chest, petting and brushing over it, while whispering to it. The house was dark, yet calm, not threatening. Harry felt safe here. A storm ruffled the outside windows and filled the entire house with small noises. Small raindrops ran down the side panels. Harry stopped in front of a sigil of house Black on the wall.
"This is the Black House Crest. See, the wand in the hand on the top. It is supposed to represent strength. The three ravens down there come from an old legend about the Tower of London. Apparently, the legend goes should the ravens ever leave the tower then Britain would fall. Narcissa told me that that story only appeared after the statute of secrecy. The older story is about the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. The House was placed in their duty to protect the wizarding world and stay pure by Merlin himself. To represent that, House Black took up the sigil of three Ravens after the Three Ravens that accompanied Merlin at all times. For the longest time House Black held residence in the Tower itself. First in the open, as it was their right, next to the kind itself, later when they couldn't do that, hidden in the dungeons. There began the legend of House Black being dark. Also when they left the tower to move here, the legend still stuck of Ravens being the protectors of Britain and should they ever vanish, Britain would too. Though three Ravens turned to six apparently. It is a little hard to remember, a little confusing really, but you get what I mean." He smiled, looking down the corridor walking on.
"All the Most Ancient and Noble Houses took their crest from Merlin, out of respect. House Greengrass white stallion was after the famous white horse the mage rode, you know? House Ollivander took up the staff as their symbol and Hous-" A pop behind him made him turn and stop.
Kreacher appeared, bowing to Harry.
"Young Heir Black is not in bed." He just stated in a somewhat accusing tone. Harry smiled, nodding.
"Yes, I don't feel like sleeping. So I wander around a little."
The elf looked at him with a critical look before shaking his head. " Young Heir Black needs to sleep, sleep is important for the young heir. Would the Heir want Kreacher to prepare a sleeping Draught?"
Harry smiled but shook his head. "No thank you, Kreacher. I will wander a while on, then I will go to bed. You should go to bed too." He was warmed by the elf's concern but he didn't want to get anything wrong for the next morning, so he wouldn't dare.
Kreacher bowed again nodding. "Very well, Kreacher will wind down for the night, when Lord Black is sleeping." The elf said with a strained voice like he didn't like Sirius being awake so late either. Harry raised his eyebrow. He didn't see Padfoot's form in front of Narcissa's door today, but he hadn't thought much about it. He just thought she had chased him away like she sometimes did. He nodded.
"I will see if I can get Sirius to go to bed. Where is my godfather?"
Kreacher pointed at a door a few feet down. There was light shining underneath it, noticed Harry now. "Lord Black is in his office young Heir." Harry nodded, smiling at the bowing elf.
"Very well Kreacher. You go to sleep now, I think neither he nor I will need your service tonight anymore. That is an order." Like he would let the elf stay up only because he and Sirius were restless. The elf frowned but bowed, not wanting to disobey an order.
"Very well Heir Black. Good night to Heir Black."
"Sleep well Kreacher." The elf bowed one more time and popped away. Harr turned to the door walking up to it. There was light shining through but he couldn't hear anything from the inside. Did Padfoot fall asleep inside? It was quiet on the other side of the door, no snoring nothing.
What Harry didn't know was the permanent muffliato charm that surrounded the office of the head of the house Black all the time. It was put deep into the wards of Grimmauld Place twelve, so when there were business meetings inside no one could listen in on what had been said. The first Lord Black that lived in this house had implemented these and they were fairly strong. But Harry didn't know that so he knocked on the door and just entered.
*Slap* The sound of flesh hitting flesh was the first thing that welcomed the boy. The centre of the room was a large oak desk. It looked a little like the Resolute desk of the American muggle president. The front was carved to of course show the Black crest. The walls were lined with bookshelves, updating themselves with all the incomes and trades of house Black. There were a few armchairs around the front of the desk. Behind the desk was a large leather chair, which, Harry knew was pretty comfy. He had tested it when Sirius had shown the room to him. A carpet with three ravens was laid out in front of the large desk. Sirius was standing behind the oak monstrosity, his hand raised in the air, completely naked. His tattoo on his chest was very prominent and even after one and a half month of freedom his body still showed signs of the abuse of Azkaban. His hair was open cascading to his shoulders. Harry's eyes almost bulged out. While seeing his entirely naked godfather was weird, his eyes mostly bulged because he wasn't alone. Bend over the oak desk, her hair dishevelled, holding onto the front edge of the wooden object was an also naked Amelia Bones. Her breasts were pressed against the cold wooden surface, her one leg held to the side by the man behind her. Sirius other hand came down slapping on her naked rear while thrusting forward.
"You have been a bad girl Melia, you need to be punished." He groaned, slapping again. Each slap produced a moan from Amelia, who bit her lip enjoying it obviously. Her cheeks were flushed and she moaned out.
"Yes I have been bad Lord Black I hav- EEEEEEEEEEEH" The woman suddenly squeaked out when she made eye contact with a flabbergasted Harry, jerking back, only revealing more of herself in the process. Harry couldn't move. His hand was still on the metal handle, he had frozen midstep at the threshold, his eyes wide. Sirius raised his head and his face turned ashen.
"Harry!" He called out in surprise and panic. The boy blinked, his mouth still hung open, before he realized what he was doing and what he was staring at.
"I'm sorry!" He squeaked out and slammed the door shut fleeing to his room. He didn't hear, due to the muffliato charm the curses and scramble for clothes. He beelined for his room and called Kreacher for a dreamless sleep draught as well as telling him to wake him the next morning. So he didn't hear when his godfather finally had dressed and knocked at his door. Sirius was wracking his head. How should he explain? What should he say? So when the boy didn't answer, he thought the best course of action was not mentioning it. And so he did, calling Remus over the next morning, almost losing his head over this. Remus had, of course, laughed at him, then had berated him for not locking his door and finally agreed the best would be to say nothing, let Harry come to him about it. Sirius had stayed away the rest of the morning, promising himself he would come out of his hiding place before the hatching.
The man came in, followed by his best friend and stopped in his tracks. For one the image of his panicked godson burned in the front of his mind. But there were also two persons more in the room than he had thought there would. He stepped closer, keeping his eyes of his godson.
"Albus, what a...surprise, what are you doing here?" He asked, stepping inside, stretching out his hand. He made a point by now calling the man by his first name in the same informal manner the man tended to do to him. Dumbledore rose to his feet smiling at him.
"Ah Sirius, Remus my boys, good to see you. Well, I knew the hatching would be today and my friend here has a keen interest in this, so I brought him along." Sirius eyed the man still sitting on the couch sceptically. He wasn't very fond of strangers in his house, not with Bella and Greyback out there. So he sneered a little.
"Oh really, did you? Yeah now that I remember, this is your home, after all, so no problem inviting others don't you think Albus?" Sirius sarcasm was pretty thick, clearly to hear. Harry got up, walking over quickly.
"Padfoot it is okay. That man is part reason why I got this wonderful gift. He is Nicolas Flamel. He probably knows more about phoenixes than anyone, so I would really like to have him here." Sirius eyed the man again who started the hard process of rising being very old. Sirius looked once at Harry.
"You sure Prongslet?" The boy just nodded, with Sirius returning the nod. He then smiled.
"My apologies Mr Flamel, at the moment I'm just a little on edge with strangers in my home. Please stay seated." He waved the man down before he really could rise.
"Thank you, young man. I have no problem in leaving if I'm inconvenient to you at the moment. Young Albus here brought me up to speed about the newest developments and I can fully understand if it would be better for me to leave." Sirius smiled at the little twitch in Dumbledores face when he was called young Albus. He shook his head.
"Absolutely not. There is a rule in this house if Prongl- I mean if Harry wants you here you are welcome." He reassured him with a nod smiling. The man eased into his seat again, before smiling at Remus. Sirius remembered and stepped over.
"Ah yes, this is my Solicitor and oldest friend, Remus Lupin." He introduced quickly his friend, who bowed slightly. Flamel returned a little nod, smiling at him.
"Hello, Mr Lupin. I hope your sickness doesn't inconvenience you too much."
Everybody froze at that statement, starring at the old man who took a sip of his teacup. There were open mouths even Sirius'. Sirius' eyes turned to the also surprised Dumbledore.
"Did you tell him?" He let the words linger a little, the tone threatening. Dumbledore quickly raised his hands, shaking them.
"I swear I did not...Nicolas, what are you saying?" The old man who just now seemed to realize he was the centre of all the attention shrugged a little.
"Oh, it is quite obvious. Deep scars, combined with, I'm sorry to say that, a sick look and that right at the day of the full moon and the intense stare of Fawkes over there, recognizing a predator in the presence of a hatchling? It is quite obviously don't you think? And with that name, again sorry to say that, but it is like tempting Arithmetic fate."
Everyone still stared at him, while Narcissa's eyes were glued onto Remus. She knew he was strange and she knew she didn't like him, but she never knew what he was. Whatever Flamel thought, this was not so obvious and that man had deducted it from being in the same room with Lupin for only twenty seconds? She revised her former idea who was leading and if Dumbledore only played his part or played Flamel. Flamel wasn't played by Dumbledore. The man was obviously a genius. Which made sense being the only one who for six centuries was able to create the philosophers stone.
After a moment Sirius carefully stepped closer, his hand itching for his wand. This was a really dangerous moment and everyone knew how Sirius was about Remus secret, how Remus himself was about it. Remus felt a big lump in his throat. This could really turn nasty. Sirius after a moment raised his voice.
"Mr Flamel. We...this is the information we would like to keep disclosed. It could really harm Remus reputation and life if it became public knowledge." He said in a low sound not sure what he would do if Flamel reacted wrong. The old man just shrugged.
"I will keep it to myself. Quite frankly I dislike the antipathy against those who are infected with lycanthropy. I have met quite a few over my years and liked some and some not. I really don't care about this kind of stuff anymore. They are completely harmless most of the month and since someone took pity and created the wolfbane potion, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. I sometimes think I should dabble in that matter or should have a long time ago. Finding a cure would be the best. Maybe I will put my mind to it."
Again everybody stared at the man who just casually had mentioned he would be able to cure a sickness that was considered incurable. That had been deemed life-changing for a very long time and he just thought it was a side project. Everybody just stared at him, because they kind of realised for the first time, maybe with the exception of Albus Dumbledore, what a different life a six-hundred-year-old genius would life. Harry still stared when a beeping sound filled the room. His timer for high noon. He looked down when he felt the egg shaking at his chest.
"I think it is beginning." The frightened, excited, terrified boy stated. He was so afraid of this moment but he had waited for it at the same time with so much eagerness. It was a whole tumble of emotions, while the egg shivered again.
AN
Yeah, I said the hatching would take place today but I AGAIN got sidetracked. At first, I just wanted to put in only Dumbledore but I kind of had this inspiration on a character I think is SUPER interesting and has a way too little limelight. What do you think about the first Flamel impression?
Also, his Phoenix Ember is named after a user suggestion. At first, I wanted to put it down as the name for Harry's Phoenix but then I got a connection in one of my other Fics and got to an idea I liked even better. So the suggestion got the Flamel phoenix instead.
Lastly, yes, as you see there will be kind of smut in this story.
it is not the focus maybe will not even be the focus of even one chapter but I thought at least here I should state it. So yeah our first pairing is clear, Sirius and Amelia Bones. I don't tend to put tones of pairings into my stories, so it will only be a few. Most characters will be single and there will be failing relationships as well. Just saying.