October 2005

Lucy was just over two when her magic manifested. She was in the front room, playing on the floor with a set of blocks. Audrey was helping her build castles, balancing the blocks in illogical places to make turrets and crenels.

The sun was coming through the front windows warming the room and bathing the alcove shelves in a warm beam of light. In the patch of sun, an egg-shaped rock bigger than a tennis ball sat on a small cushion.

Lucy's gaze fell on the rock and seemed to fix upon it. Audrey noticed the direction of her daughter's gaze but couldn't see what had caught her interest so wholly from her spot on the floor.

Lucy let out an excited squeal of sound as she climbed to her feet, her hands outstretched towards the shelf. Audrey watched bemused wondering what her daughter wanted.

Lucy let out another excited squeal of sound thrusting her hands further forward. The rock shot off the shelf into Lucy's outstretched hands. The power of its arrival knocked her back onto her bottom. Lucy didn't seem to notice at all. Her attention was on the rock in her hands. She cradled it close to her body, her face bent to it, her attention fixed upon its smooth, shining surface.

Audrey was about to reach for Lucy to check her fall and catching the rock hadn't caused any injury as well as congratulate her daughter on her first bit of magic when Lucy's words stopped her short.

"Hello."

Audrey did a double-take when Lucy's greeting was answered with a cheep.

The rock wasn't a rock. It was a phoenix egg. The phoenix of a famous wizard. A phoenix who had retreated into its egg nearly ten years previously. For eight years they had been custodians of the egg.

At first, Percy had taken it to every meeting, party, dinner and conference hoping that someone would tempt the bird from its egg. After two years, when everyone in their circle had come into contact with it, Percy stopped taking it. He was worried about it being stolen or damaged and decided that if Fawkes wanted a new companion, then he'd have to hatch first. It seemed Fawkes had taken him at his word.

"Fawkes," Audrey said softly to the chick that was emerging from the egg onto Lucy's lap.

Fawkes bright black eyes were fixed on Lucy, Lucy was equally fascinated by the whole process, uncharacteristically sitting still while the chick got its feet under it. Finally free of the eggshell, Fawkes spread his skinny little wings, its chick fuzz damp and stuck together. Lucy reached out a gentle finger to stroke Fawkes head.

"Hello," she said again.

"Careful Lucy," Audrey whispered. "Gently. You need to be gentle."

Fawkes bobbed his head under Lucy's finger, then when her hand retreated, his plumage began to gently flame.

Audrey had a moment of panic thinking the bird was going to burn Lucy then set the house on fire in short order. By the time she had unfrozen, Fawkes was no longer on fire, and his plumage was dry. He was the bright orange and reds of flames; his tail was still short and stubby, not like the pictures Percy had shown her when he first brought the egg home.

Lucy giggled madly, reaching out to touch Fawkes again. The chick allowed it but shuffled in place after a moment or two.

"Alright, Lucy, that's enough, let get Fawkes a bed, shall we? He probably wants a nap, being born is hard work."

Audrey grabbed a doll blanket from the play box and made a makeshift nest out of it on the coffee table before carefully holding out her hand to the chick.

Fawkes looked her over before taking wobbly steps and falling into her hand. Gently and carefully, Audrey transferred the chick to the blanket nest.

Fawkes settled down and tucked his head under his wing. Lucy scooted up to the table edge, her eyes fixed upon the sleeping bird.

"Lucy, you mustn't touch him again, alright? He's small, and you don't want to hurt him. Mummy is going to see if we can find him something for a better bed."

"Sleep with me, Mummy."

Audrey nibbled her lip. She really wasn't well versed in magical pets and if Fawkes would want or need to be near Lucy for the foreseeable future. "If he will sleep in a birdcage until he's bigger, he can sleep in your room." She got to her feet and held out her hand to Lucy. "Come one. I think Daddy left an owl cage in the cellar. We can go get it and find somewhere to put it in your room. Fawkes will be alright for now."

Lucy happily followed Audrey to the cellar door and down into the back half of the cellar. Amongst the collected detritus was an owl cage. It was a big brass thing that would dwarf the chick, but the loop in the top meant it could be hung from the ceiling and not need to be placed on the furniture.

Audrey took the cage into the kitchen to give it a wash. Once clean, she took the cage and Lucy up to Lucy's bedroom to choose where it should be hung. Lucy picked a spot by the window and seeing no reason not to agree Audrey nipped downstairs to get the tools. Twenty minutes later, the cage was hung, and the chick transferred to his new home. Audrey sat on Lucy's bed while her daughter stood on it next to her, peering into the cage to see her new friend.

Audrey shook her head once. She had no idea what Percy was going to say about this. Or Maggie, for that matter, when she got home from school. They had never gotten around to getting a cat when Percy had first suggested it. Now with a bird in the house, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. Perhaps Maggie wouldn't want a pet as well, or maybe she'd settle for a guinea pig or rabbit. Something less magical and more explainable.

When Percy returned home, he was somewhat surprised to be met at the floo. Audrey was usually upstairs with the girls and would greet him once he had put away his satchel and hung up his outer robe.

"What's wrong?" he asked, reaching for his pocket wondering if he'd missed a call on his mirror.

"It's Lucy, her magic manifested today."

"It did?" he asked a pleased smile growing on his face. "What did she do?"

"She woke Fawkes from his egg."

Percy felt his smile falter as his brain took a minute to understand what Audrey had said. "Fawkes? The phoenix, Dumbledore's phoenix?"

"Lucy's now," Audrey responded. "They've been all but inseparable since he hatched in her lap just after lunch. I've hung the old owl cage up in her bedroom for him to sleep in, but Percy, I know nothing about keeping birds, especially not magical birds that grow as big as swans. I mean he's going to dwarf her, and we're going to have a swan sized bird living in the house! It will be like having a dog flying around at head height. It's going to be a complete nightmare, but I can't take him away from her. Her magic woke him up, that's got to be something, hasn't it? In magical terms that's important, isn't it? She summoned the egg right off the shelf, and he hatched in her hands."

Percy dropped his satchel on his desk and hung up his robe. "Yes, it is, we can't separate them. We're going to have to register him."

"With the vet?" Audrey asked with a laugh that verged on hysterical. "How the hell are we going to explain that?"

"No, with the Ministry. He's a class XXXX magical beast, if he's chosen Lucy, then he'll be with her until she dies. Usually, and I don't mean to say that domesticated phoenixes are common because I only know of two and one of them has apparently bonded to our youngest daughter, but usually when their chosen witch or wizard dies like Dumbledore did, they fly away, vanish, do whatever phoenix's do for the rest of their lives. That's what made Fawkes such an odd case. He didn't vanish, he chose to stay in his egg. They can take years to incubate, so it wasn't harmful to him to do that. Now he's hatched, after his burning days he'll only be chick sized for a few days before reverting to his normal size."

"Well, currently he's about the size of a blackbird. He was about the size of a sparrow when he hatched, but he's been eating fruit and salad like it's going out of fashion, and he's grown a bit. Which is good actually, because he was a bit too small for me to be comfortable with Lucy handling him. She wouldn't mean to hurt him, but he was tiny."

"I don't know how fast he will grow," Percy said helplessly. "I never thought I'd see him hatch if I'm honest. I thought perhaps I'd just look after his egg for the rest of my life. I can owl Newt Scamander again and see if he has more to offer in terms of what we can expect in rates of growth. Since he hatched rather than burned, perhaps he will have to grow like a freshly hatched phoenix would the first time. Swans take a year to grow to full adulthood."

"We need to go upstairs. They're watching the telly, but you know the peace never lasts."

Percy followed Audrey up the stairs his mind running over the things he would have to do in the morning to make sure Lucy could keep her phoenix. "Do you think he'll want a new name? I don't know who called him Fawkes first."

"Well, I've been calling him Fawkes, and he doesn't seem to mind. We can't let Lucy name him, she'll call him something daft like 'biscuit'. I think Fawkes will do."

"I may have to take them both with me in the morning to sort everything out," Percy said as they entered the sitting room.

On the sofa sat close next to each other, the two bright red-haired heads of his daughters were bent over, concentrating on something in Lucy's lap. A wool blanket was bunched up on her thighs and from within the folds glinted the jewel-bright red and gold feathers.

Fawkes was watching both girls his head tilted. He warbled, and Maggie giggled, feeding him half a grape. Once he'd swallowed it, he made the sound again, and Lucy fed him another half.

"Who trained who?" Percy asked quietly with a laugh.

"Shh!" Audrey said, smothering her own giggle. "I think it was a team effort."

Audrey indicated she would be in the kitchen and slipped away. Percy approached the sofa drawing the attention of its occupants.

"Daddy!" Maggie said wiggling free of the sofa, throwing herself at his legs, hugging them with her arms and her chin tilted up at him. "Look! Lucy has a bird!"

"Yes, she does, and he likes grapes,"

Maggie giggled again nodding her head. "Yes. We did sums at school today, Daddy."

"Well, that is very impressive. Will you show me?"

"Yes. Do you want to say hello to Lucy and Fawkes first?"

"Yes, please."

Percy let Maggie go and carefully took her seat next to Lucy. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, carefully pulling her gently into half hug. "Hello Lucy, would you introduce me to your friend."

"Fawkes, Daddy."

"Yes." Percy lifted a hand a finger extended and ran it gently over the elongated neck and back of the bird. He was warm, his short tail feathers nearly hot. "He's very special, Lucy, you're very lucky he chose you."

Lucy looked up at him with a beaming smile, and Percy knew that somehow, they were going to have to make living in a muggle semi-detached house with a phoenix who would, as Audrey said, grow to rival a swan in size, work. Merlin only knew how they were going to explain it to Lizzy and Rick.

Percy kissed Lucy's cheek. "Love you, Lucy-Loo. Look after Fawkes while Maggie teaches Daddy to do sums."

Percy left the sofa as carefully as he sat on it, holding out a hand to Maggie, he asked her. "So, these sums you learnt, think you can teach me? I think they might be useful."

Maggie giggled and went to get her school bag as Percy dropped into the armchair. Bringing it back, she scrambled on to Percy's lap pulling out the worksheets she had brought home.

As Maggie told him all about her lessons and showed him how she could do the examples, Percy found his eyes land on Lucy from time to time. Fawkes had been fed the rest of the grapes and was now sleeping on Lucy's lap, his head tucked under his wing in the blanket nest. Lucy was gazing at him with a look of wonderous delight on her face.

When Audrey came back into the room to tell the girls they had to go and get ready for bed, he lifted Maggie from his lap and crossed the room to Lucy. "Let me take him, Lucy," he said quietly, waiting until she had nodded at him before carefully scooping the bird and blanket up in his hands. Letting the girls go up the stairs first, he followed Lucy into her room and opened the door of the owl cage, gently placing the bundle in the bottom of it. Fawkes woke up as he was placed down, so Percy left the door open.

Percy went into his and Audrey's bedroom stripping off his work robe waistcoat and tie, rolling up his sleeves and slipping off his shoes in favour of his slippers. He ran the bath for the girls and listened as they chattered at each other. While he supervised the bath, he heard Fawkes trilling from Lucy's bedroom. The sounds were climbing and sliding down a scale but seemed to indicate no sound of distress. Cocking his head Percy listened, the sounds started to warble a little, and Percy realised that Fawkes was teaching himself to sing.

Audrey stuck her head around the door. "Everything alright? I sneaked a look through the gap in the door. He's not in any distress."

"Phoenixes sing," Percy said. "I think he's just giving his voice a warm-up."

"Oh," Audrey said. "Are we going to have to chuck a sheet over his cage at night to make sure he sleeps?"

"I don't think so. They are intelligent birds. He'll presumably settle to our routine."

There was a loud pop making everyone jump and turn to the windowsill where it came from. Flapping wildly, Fawkes hovered just above the windowsill a bizarrely smug expression on his face.

"What the…?"

"Oh," Percy said. "Umm, they can apparate as well, although I didn't know they could do it so young."

Fawkes settled onto the windowsill tucking his feet under him. He shuffled his wings and stretched his neck so he could peer down at the bath where Lucy was.

"He can already fly?" Audrey said.

"Well it doesn't seem for very long, but I suppose small flights will help his flight muscles," Percy said with a shrug. "We might have to carry him back to Lucy's bedroom."

"Right," Audrey said with a sigh. "And he couldn't be a cat because?"

"Sorry love,"

"Not your fault. Will you have to take Lucy in tomorrow?"

"Yes, do you have the egg still? It might help to explain where we got him from."

"Yes. I put it to one side in case it was useful for potions or something. It's in a Tupperware box. Want a hand? Dinner is just warming through in the oven."

"I've got it. Go sit down, I'll be down as soon as the stories are done."

Audrey nodded and left him to it.

In the morning, Percy got ready for work then as Audrey got Maggie for school, he went into Lucy's room and helped her dress. He handed her over to Audrey to supervise teeth cleaning and hair brushing while he went downstairs to make breakfast for everyone.

Audrey brought Fawkes downstairs with her and for want of a better plan let him perch on the back of Lucy's chair while she ate her breakfast.

"I'll see if Lucy and I can go and get some perches for him today from the pet shop. Are you sure he'll be alright just eating fruit and vegetables? There's nothing he needs vitamins wise?"

"I'll owl Newt once I get back to my desk. We should be finished by the time you get back from dropping Maggie off. If you aren't, I'll take Lucy to my office, and if you just call me when you get in, I'll ask Kingsley if we can use his floo or I'll bring her back to the atrium floos."

"Why is Lucy going to Daddy's work?" Maggie asked.

"Daddy has to take Lucy and Fawkes to work to be registered so he can stay with us," Audrey explained.

"Can I go?"

"You've got to go to school, Maggie, I need you to learn some more sums to teach me. But as soon as I can I'll take you too," Percy told Maggie kindly.

Percy stood from the table, dropping a kiss on Audrey's cheek and one on Maggie's before holding his hand out to Lucy. "Come on, Lovely. Let's get Fawkes registered then you can go shopping for him." Lucy jumped down from the table, and Percy swept her up into his arms. "Right you've got to hold Fawkes, Lucy. OK? We're going to go through the floo, and you need to hold on to Fawkes and me very tightly."

Lucy nodded, so Percy scooped the phoenix off the back of Lucy's chair and summoned his things from the kitchen before heading to the cellar stairs. Holding on to Lucy, he removed the grate that closed the floo, shrank his bag and put it into his pocket and took a handful of the floo powder from the jar. He ignited the floo and with a determined 'The Ministry for Magic', they vanished in a swirl of green flame.

Percy stepped smoothly out of the floo at the Ministry for Magic and moved to one side. Stopping, he checked he had both his passengers and they were no worse for wear. Lucy was clutching him sniffling into his neck. Fawkes was making distressed cheeping noises where he was squashed between the two of them. Gently, he got Lucy to sit up in his arms. A swirl of his wand and the soot was gone. "It's alright Lucy-Loo it's over now. It's not very nice, Daddy's sorry, but we had to come to get Fawkes registered."

"I don't like it," she sniffled.

"I know, but look, we're here now."

Lucy looked around her with wet, unimpressed eyes. Fawkes trilled at her, and her attention dropped to the bird. A small hand ran over his feathers, and he chirped soothingly at her. A small smile twitched her lips upwards, and Percy let out a breath of relief.

Searching in his pocket with his free hand, he handed over his handkerchief. "Wipe your eyes lovely." When Lucy had smooshed her face into the handkerchief, he took it back from her then held it over her nose. "Blow," he said with a smile. She complied giggling as he playfully pinched her nose. "Come on then, let's sort all this out. Mummy will be waiting for you to get back so you can go shopping."

Percy strode towards the lift, ignoring the glances they garnered. He stepped into the elevator and took up a position towards the back. The elevator wasn't very full which Percy was glad of, and they travelled to level four. Percy stepped off the elevator and made for the office of the Head of the Creatures department.

Percy knocked on the door and was bid to enter.

The wizard behind the desk in the office looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry, I thought you were my secretary. Are you lost?"

"No," Percy said, closing the door behind him. "I'm Percy Weasley, this is my daughter Lucy. I've brought her to register her pet."

"We don't need you to register kneazles, its taken care of when you make the purchase," the wizard said dismissively.

"I am aware," Percy said drily. "Lucy's pet isn't a kneazle." Percy cupped Fawkes in his hand and brought him out so that the wizard could see him. "It's a phoenix, and I believe that as per the regulations regarding beasts classified as XXXX, he must be registered with your department."

The wizard blinked dumbly at him.

"The registration of my daughter's pet," Percy prompted him.

"Yes, of course. There are some forms." The wizard shook off his stupor a wave of his wand had a filing cabinet drawer opening, disgorging a roll of parchment and snapping shut. The parchment unrolled and settled on the wizard's desk.

"Might I take a seat?" Percy asked, pulling out the seat in front of the desk and sitting in it settling Lucy on his lap and handing back Fawkes.

"Oh, yes, of course. Right, full name, please. Yours and your daughter's."

"Percy Ignatius Weasley, Lucy Cassia Weasley."

"Where did you find the phoenix?"

"I have been in possession of the egg since September ninety-eight."

"Egg?"

"Yes," Percy reached into his pocket and withdrew the Tupperware box. "My wife saved the shell after Fawkes hatched."

"Fawkes?" the wizard did a double-take.

Percy sighed. "Yes. After Mr Dumbledore died, I was one of the first people on the scene along with the Minister of Magic. Obviously, I knew of Fawkes and went to check that enough provision had been left out for him until something could be organised. I found his egg in a pile of ash on the tray of his perch. I took the egg."

"You should have reported it at once to my department."

"Which I would have done, had Mr Dumbledore not have a living relative."

The wizard subsided. "Ahh, yes, carry on."

"I took the egg with me to notify Mr Dumbledore's next of kin. When his brother declined to keep the egg for himself, I asked him what he wished me to do with it, and he told me to keep it. I consulted a Magi-zoologist regarding the care of the egg. Yesterday my daughter summoned the egg from its place, and Fawkes hatched for her."

The wizard's quill was moving across the page, recording everything Percy said. When it had caught up, the wizard read over it and nodded. "Very well. You'll need to read over this and sign it. As your daughter is so young," he paused

"Two and three months."

"Yes," he looked at Lucy, who was humming gently at Fawkes, running a finger over his back. Fawkes had his head cocked and eyes fixed on her as if he was listening intently. "I will have to run a quick diagnostic spell on the phoenix to check his health, but it seems undoubtedly there is a bond there."

Percy nodded, pinching the parchment between two fingers and flipping it around so he could read it. Happy it was an accurate recording of what he said he slid his pen from his pocket and signed it before flipping it back over to the wizard.

"Do you want a copy?" the wizard asked.

"There's no need," Percy said. "I have access to the archives should I need a copy I can get one."

"Oh? l'm sorry, just what is it you do?"

"Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic."

The wizard gulped. "Ah, very good. Now, umm that diagnostic? Then you can get on your way. Wouldn't want to keep the Minister waiting."

"No," Percy answered, repressing his smile. "Best not to."

Percy lifted Fawkes onto the desk where the wizard cast him another glance before casting a spell on Fawkes. Fawkes chirped disgruntled, and Lucy reached for him. "Daddy!" she protested when she couldn't reach. Percy scooped Fawkes up and handed him back to Lucy.

"It won't have hurt him," the wizard assured Percy. "Probably just felt a bit cold. They run hot phoenixes."

Lucy was petting and crooning to the bird who was fluffing up his feathers. Percy watched as the bird shuffled a little then his feathers flickered with flame. Instinct made him catch Lucy's hands to keep them away, and he felt the momentary thrill of fear of having fire sat on his lap even though Audrey had told him no harm had come to either of them the day before.

"Well," the wizard said as Fawkes shook himself, extinguishing the flames and trilled happily. Percy let go of Lucy's hands, allowing her to touch the bird again.

"Yes," Percy said drily. "Is there anything else we need to do?"

"No," the wizard said. "You're all done."

"Thank you for your time," Percy said, settling Lucy and Fawkes before standing again. He turned to the door and left the office. He reached into his pocket, withdrawing his mirror and calling Audrey. She didn't answer indicating she was around muggles still, so Percy set off for his office hoping Kingsley wouldn't mind a visitor.

Kingsley was surprised but gave permission for Lucy to use his floo when Audrey was at home to receive her. In the meantime, Percy settled her on his knee at his desk and pulled some parchment to her and handed over a quill and inkpot so she could draw. Fawkes was put on his desktop, and Percy kept half an eye on the bird as he walked over the desk investigating. Percy left his mirror out, waiting for Audrey to call him and pulled a report forward to read.

Kingsley cleared his throat, breaking Percy's attention from his report. A quick glance told Percy less than ten minutes had passed. "Yes, Minister?"

"Nothing in particular," Kingsley answered. "She's cute as a button."

Percy glanced down at Lucy, who was scrawling an inky mess across his parchment. "She's heavier than one," he said, tightening the arm around her waist briefly.

"That's really Fawkes?" Kingsley came forward.

"Yes, you might recall you suggested turning him into an omelette."

Kingsley barked a laugh. "Yes, something like that wasn't it. Didn't think I'd see him again, to be honest."

"You aren't the only one." Percy's mirror rang out, interrupting what he was about to say. Percy flipped it open.

"Sorry," Audrey said. "The mums were going on and on, and I couldn't get away. I'm home now if you want to bring her through. Did everything go, OK?"

"Yes, everything is done. I'll bring her now." Audrey nodded, and the screen went blank. "If you don't mind?" Percy asked Kingsley.

"Not at all. You don't want to have to take her all the way back through the ministry when my floo is just here."

Percy took Lucy's quill and collected up Fawkes carrying them through to the floo. At the sight of the green flames, Lucy's face fell, and she buried her face in Percy's neck. "Sorry, Lucy-Loo," Percy whispered to her. "It won't be long. You keep hold of Fawkes for me." Percy ignited the floo and stepped into the flames calling for home. He stepped out the other side with Lucy once again sniffling.

"Oh, Lucy," Audrey said, holding out her arms. "Come here. Was it not very nice?"

Percy transferred Lucy to Audrey catching Fawkes in the cross over and setting the bird to perch on the back of his office chair. He swished his wand to remove the soot from their travel and closed and locked the floo putting the grate over it.

"I'll be back tonight at the normal time I think," Percy said, stepping forward to kiss Lucy and Audrey. "She was very brave about the floo though it wasn't very nice."

"Go on, you best get back. Thank Kingsley for letting her stay, and I'm sorry if it interrupted your morning."

"It's fine no harm done she was happy to stay on my lap and draw for ten minutes." Percy stepped backwards and apparated away to the ministry.

Audrey rubbed a hand up and down Lucy's back, soothing her until she had quietened. "Come on, let's get ready to go out and see if we can find Fawkes some nice things." She scooped the bird up and took them all upstairs.