Yay!!! 5 Reviews! Of course, four of them were from the same person, but that's beside the point. As promised, 2 chapters! Give us 6 reviews and we'll give you another 2 in a week. Anyway, about this chapter. It's strange. Very very strange. All of a sudden i just started writing it and it came out like this and it was never intended to be so weird but here it is.
This is fanfiction, people. The very name says that we didn't actually come up with these people. Quit rolling your eyes! Onto the Spirit of Fire!
Chapter 16
The Spirit of Fire
It was a week after Harry had come to Grimmauld Place, and, once again, he and Sirius were practicing the Animagus transformation.
"Alright Harry, you're gonna do it this time, okay?"
"Easy for you to say." Sirius ignored Harry.
"So the book says, and I quote, 'Focus totally on yourself. Close your eyes and forget about everything but you.' Try thinking of words that can describe you, or things you like to do, that sort of thing. Just relax and forget I'm here. Just focus totally on yourself..."
Sirius's words seemed to fade away as Harry slipped into a kind of trance. What's happening? he thought to himself, walking through some mountainous region. Or maybe he was just imagining the walking. He couldn't tell. At any rate, there were mountains, huge mountains, with a reddish glow cast on them. Harry worried for a second that they were volcanoes, about to explode, but he quickly got over that. Even though he'd never seen this place before, he felt like he knew it as well as Hogwarts, or Privet Drive. He knew where he had to go, but couldn't figure out why, or how he'd gotten there in the first place.
"It doesn't matter, I'll just ask Sirius later," he muttered out loud as he continued walking. He looked up at the sky for the first time and noticed that it was red too, and wondered for a second where the light was coming from, but dismissed that thought as well as he suddenly walked into a cave in the side of one of the mountains. Here, he found, was the origin of the red light-fire was coming up through holes in the floor; he felt like he needed to walk through those flames, but it didn't feel hot or painful like a normal fire. On the contrary, it had a warm, comforting feeling, and as he passed through them and came out toward the center of the room, he realized that he wasn't burned or even blistered in any way.
He moved to the middle of the cave, and saw another flame shooting up, but this was a different kind of flame. It felt alive, like it had feelings and a mind, which, Harry shortly discovered, it somewhat did.
"Ah, I've been waiting for you." Harry looked around for the origin of the voice, but found no one else in the area.
"Who are you?" he asked hesitantly, still looking wildly about him.
"My name? I have no name, Harry."
"But, how do you know who I am? And where are you?"
"I am right in front of you, can't you see?" Harry turned to look, and saw, to his astonishment, that the fire in the middle of the room seemed to have a face. "And as for how I know you, that is not important right now. You may learn someday, or you may not, but don't fret about it like a fool."
"Okay, so, what are you?"
"I am simply the spirit of fire."
"But, what am I doing here??"
"You've been called here to accept your destiny."
"My-my destiny?"
"Yes, your destiny."
"I don't understand."
"You will shortly; I will explain. In trying to discover your Animagus form, you have stumbled upon this place. It is ancient and powerful, yes, filled with strong magic. For you see Harry, your courage, loyalty, faithfulness, and nobility have been evident since you were born. They set you apart, make you different from other wizards, even other Animagi."
"But I'm not an Animagus yet," Harry protested.
"That is not important. You will soon be an Animagus; I assure you that the transformation will be achieved before the Winter Solstice. But once again, that is only a trivial matter at the moment. You have been called here because of what you are, your inner animal."
"My what?"
"Your inner animal. Every person, muggles included, has an inner animal. Only those who become Animagi can bring theirs out."
"So, you're going to tell me what it is then?"
"Yes, I will, for, like I said before, you are different. Your loyalty, courage, all of your other qualities, and especially that love of flight, make you unique. For you see, Harry, you have an inner animal that no other person in the world has ever had, or ever will have for that matter."
"What is it?"
"You are a phoenix."
"I'm a-a phoenix??"
"Yes, a phoenix. As I am sure you know, a wizard will almost never have a magical inner animal. There have been a few dragons in the past, maybe a unicorn or two, I even remember one person becoming a manticore once, but a phoenix is so rare, so magical, so pure that you are the only person able to show all of its attributes."
"But, why is a phoenix especially pure? Unicorns are pure too, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are pure, but they have an innocent type of purity. A phoenix's purity is of a different nature; one that will ensure that it fights evil, and triumphs, too. And that is why your inner animal is a phoenix. Do you see the connection, Harry?"
"I have to fight Voldemort..."
"Yes, you must fight Voldemort. You are the only person who possesses the kind of purity such as a phoenix. You must fight Voldemort, and you must triumph. You must Harry Potter, you must..." Harry noticed the fire lash out at him, and as it pulled back he could see a mark on his hand, like a burn, but it wasn't painful at all. "You see, Harry? My fire has left a sign for you, of your purity. It will remain as long as you live, but only those who you tell about it will be able to see it. And now, Harry, I am afraid it is time for you to go, although I am rather sad to say so. You have no idea how boring and lonely it gets being the spirit of fire. Goodbye, Harry Potter."
Harry felt the rock collapsing, the fire was falling all around him, and he was falling, too; falling into it.
"Harry-"
Harry heard a voice calling him. It was very faint, and sounded vaguely familiar.
"Harry!" It was getting louder, he could tell, and wondered who on earth would be disturbing him right now, right after he had learned of his inner animal.
"Harry!!" That time, the mysterious voice seemed to jolt him out of his thoughts, and he recognized its owner.
"Sirius, what do you want?" he murmured, trying to open his eyes.
"Harry, are you okay?"
"I think so, why wouldn't I be?" This was turning out to be a weird conversation, as Harry still couldn't open his eyes, and was still trying to figure out what Sirius was talking about.
"Harry, we were working on the transformation, and all of a sudden you just collapsed."
"I collapsed? But I was walking in the mountains."
"You were doing what?! Where?! What mountains?!"
"I don't know, the fire just said it was a really magical and ancient place."
"Let me get this straight-you were walking through a bunch of mountains, but you don't know what or where they were, and talking to fire."
"Yeah."
"Harry, are you sure you're ok?"
"Yes, I am."
"Can you at least open your eyes?"
"I can try." However, Harry failed miserably and could hear Sirius sigh somewhere above him.
"So, I'm almost afraid to ask, but what did this fire say?"
"He said that I'm a phoenix, that I'm different from all other people because I have a special kind of purity and have to fight evil and triumph."
"Okay Harry, you were officially having a weird dream."
"It wasn't a dream!" Harry had finally managed to open his eyes and sit up, though he had to hold on to Sirius for support.
"Harry, read my lips. You were having a dream. That's it."
"But, but, it was so real! And..." Harry trailed off as he looked at his hand and saw the mark the fire had left there.
"Harry, show me proof of how that wasn't a dream and I'll believe you."
"Okay. The fire made a mark on my hand, it said something about it showing my purity, and it said that only those that I told about it could see it. Well, I just told you about it."
"Harry, that's absolute rubbish, you don't have a...wow, you do have a mark on your hand. That wasn't there a second ago!"
"See, it wasn't a dream! Well, okay, it kind of was, but it kind of wasn't, you know?"
"Yeah, I think I know. Now, it said that your animal was a phoenix?"
"Yeah, it did."
"Well, that's new."
"I know. It said that no one had ever had a phoenix before, or ever would again."
"Well aren't you special."
"Oh, be quiet."
"Well, one good thing came out of this at least."
"And what's that?"
"Now we can move on to the next step!" Harry groaned and fell back into bed. "Oh, come on now, it's not that bad, is it?" Harry simply glared at him. "Okay fine, be that way. Now that you know what your animal is, I don't have to spend my time helping you become it."
"What else are you going to do?"
"Ummmmm..."
"Thought so."
"Hey, I have Order meetings to go to!"
"Yeah, once a week."
"So?"
"Never mind. Besides, the fire told me I would have the transformation down by the Winter Solstice."
"Well that's fast."
"I know. How long did it take you? About three years?"
"Hey, you've got help from an actual Animagus, and this book is a heck of a lot better than the pathetic library one we used."
"Yeah, I know. Excuses excuses."
"You be quiet."
Told you it was strange. Oh well. 17's right behind it!
