Flame of the Phoenix
Child of the new Dawn
A/N thanks for the reviews! Note that this is going to get a LOT darker. In this last part the second wizard war is really in effect and people are going to start feeling the consequences of war. At the moment I have two large battle scenes coming up, maybe more.
The New Turn
Harry tossed and turned in his bed, lost in the clasp of another nightmare.
He was in Hogwarts, standing in the middle of an empty corridor, with only flickering torches for light. He could dimly hear muffled screams and shouts all around him.
Suddenly, there was a shriek right behind him and he whipped around to see a girl, first year by the look of her, clad only in her night dress and a cloak, run toward him with a masked deatheater right behind her. Harry gasped as the girl ran right through him, sprinting down the corridor and out of sight, the deatheater still on her heels.
Still shaken, Harry walked over to the window and looked out onto the grounds. He cried out in shock; the school was on fire and deatheaters roamed the grounds, some dueling teachers and students, some rounding the younger students into groups, and some spreading the fire.
With a jolt he started to fall towards the ground, but was still able to watch the scene in front of him. He gasped when he saw a flash of red hair in the chaos below, and watched his best friend Ron fall to the ground, his eyes glazed and staring. He mouthed silently as he watched Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville meet the same ends.
Scarlet eyes stared into his own, when suddenly Hogwarts was gone. A black tree with withered brown leaves and a scarred trunk as big and thick as a house stood in front of him. A thick gold band with symbols engraved into them was clamped tightly around the trunk, so tightly it was cutting into the bark and a black liquid spilled over onto the gold. The wind blew, rustling the leaves and plucking one from the branch.
The leaf floated in the air before it was surrounded by a black mist, the mist thickened and grew forming long black hair and pulled back revealing a skeletal face. The new banshee shrieked and Harry clamped his hands over his ears as it flew away.
A withered black fruit fell moments later and a black blob pulled out from within the fruit and crawled away leaving nothing but a few brown leaves. It stopped suddenly and shook before becoming a scorpion with a menacing stinger, then a spider the size of a saucer.
Suddenly a cold wind blew and a blood red fruit from the tree shook slightly and then fell to the ground spiting in two. A thick black ball of smoke rose from the fruit, as it rose a frost began around the trunk and the fruit's blood red color withered into black. With a sudden burst of black light, Harry was pushed down on top of the gnarled roots. He looked up with a sudden feeling of foreboding and watched as a rotting hand pulled a tattered hood over an eyeless face. The new Dementor breathed in with a soft sucking sound and floated silently off.
There was a loud crackling sound and Harry turned sharply back to the tree's trunk. Cracks of bright light started to form on the golden band. A high pitched laugh filled Harry's head as his scar burned.
Tap Tap Tap
Harry jerked awake looking around wildly.
TAP TAP TAP
"Harry!"
Harry looked over at the window where Moony was smiling at him from atop Buckbeak, the sun fairly high up behind him. It was just a dream and it was late morning now.
Harry took a deep breath and smiled back up at Moony, "Hey Moony."
Moony gave him a slightly concerned look and said, "Meet me up on the top of the tower, do you think Tiernan will care if I put a hippogriff on the roof?"
Harry considered it, and then grinned, "Let's let him find out and decide for himself."
Moony grinned and nudged Buckbeck's sides with his heel, then, with one sweep of the hippogriff's wings they were gone.
Harry scrambled out of bed, threw on some clothes, and hurried up the stairs.
Remus was stroking Buckbeak's feathers gently and looking out over the edge of the tower. He was rather pale and tired looking, but otherwise no worse for wear. Buckbeak turned and gazed at him for a moment, Harry gave a quick short bow, which Buckbeak returned and Remus turned and smiled at him, still looking concerned, "Are you alright Harry?"
"I'm fine," Harry replied stroking the hippogriff's beak, "I just wasn't expecting you this soon."
Remus grinned, "Well, Buckbeak did all the work getting here, I just sat and enjoyed the ride."
Harry smirked slightly, "So you'll ride a broom and a hippogriff, but you turn green at just the thought of riding in a Gringotts' cart?"
Remus shuddered and made a face, "Yeah, you're fine. So what do you think of full moons with an entire werewolf pack?"
Harry beamed, "Kenani had Tiernan running with his tail between his legs."
"That's not how I recall it," called Tiernan's slightly hoarse voice, "Hello Remus, don't let anything that cub of yours says fool you, I had him right where I wanted him when the moon waned that's all."
Harry gave a disbelieving snort and Tiernan quickly changed the subject, "So Remus, I heard Dumbledore is meeting with the leaders and representatives today."
Remus nodded, "Yes, they're meeting about now I think. Dumbledore sent you an owl about coming to the new order headquarters right?" He glanced at Harry as if he wanted to add something, but remained quiet.
"I got an owl from him this morning, but I haven't" He gave a large yawn, "read it yet, because someone decided to put their hippogriff on my roof."
As usual, yawns were contagous and Remus and Harry were soon yawning as well.
"Moony, can we talk later?" Harry asked through another yawn.
Remus simply nodded and gave Harry a one-armed hug. He and Tiernan walked down the stairs to their respective rooms, leaving Harry to use his sleep clouded mind and figure out what to do with Buckbeak.
Eventually, Harry decided it would be better just to leave him out, at least for now, and went back to bed vaguely wondering what Dumbledore and the leaders were talking about.
Albus Dumbledore watched as, once again, the ministers and representatives of the other countries came together to speak on the fate of light.
The new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was easiest described as the exact opposite of Grimmald Place. With help from the, however unwilling, students, Number 11 of Godric's Hollow was fixed up for this meeting and habitation of the order members. Its marble floors were cleaned of dust and debris and all bogarts, spiders, and a small group of gnomes living in the garden were cleared out.
The meeting was being held in the dinning room; a room with a high ceiling, white marble fireplace, with a long dark wood table sitting on a worn deep red carpet.
When Albus had written Harry, he had mentioned Harry was welcome at any time; after all, this was the town Harry lived in when Lily and James were alive. Their house, in fact, once stood not far down the road.
Godric's Hollow once held both muggles and wizards, until after the Potter's were attacked. After Voldemort had met his temporary defeat due to Lily's sacrifice, the houses started to fall apart, a common occurrence with how much magic had been released, and eventually, the muggles unofficially declared Godric's Hollow haunted and condemned. It had been a ghost town until now.
Albus sighed, Remus made note not to stay here any longer than was absolutely necessary, haunted, no doubt, by the memories lost here. He had requested to tell Harry where the new headquarters lay and to let Harry make his own choice to come. Albus had agreed and arranged for Remus to meet Harry at Tiernan's castle after the full moon and tell him of the new headquarters and keep him updated on the news of the Braeden Tree.
The fire flared and Aman Marathi calmly walked out from the fireplace, brushing off soot from his white robes, before bowing to Albus. Albus returned the bow and greeted the blue-robed Adelaide Freda and then the purple-robed Caprice Tessa who arrived a moment later.
Madam Maxine and Canton Nicanor arrived minutes later by portkey.
(A/N just a reminder of who's who here: Canton Nicanor is the Spanish minister, Aman Marathi is the African representative, Adelaide Freda is the German minister, and Caprice Tessa is the Italian minister.)
Each called friendly greetings to one another as they seated themselves. Albus rose from his chair at the head of the table once everyone was seated, "Thank you all for coming. As each of you know, the past year has left us with many confrontations with the dark lord. The werewolves and vampires have been a huge asset to the light side."
Nicanor rose from his seat, "The castle where the werewolves and vampires are stationed has been attacked multiple times over the last year, and while victory for the light was taken every time, we have yet to break Voldemort's army." Ignoring the winces of the others, he continued, "If we are to defeat him, we must stop his armies from gaining more numbers and power."
As he sat down, Freda rose, "Should ze dark lord be killed, his armies vould fall apart. That should be our main objective; not sending what few people ve can spare to go on some suicidal mission to break into ze dark lord's castle only to be slaughtered by those monsters."
Tessa stood, "I agree, nudus alone take a hundred fully trained wizards to bring only one down. The creatures will have no power if we destroy Voldemort and his deatheaters. Once the main threat is taken care of, then we can-"
Marathi was on his feet, "You both speak of the dark lord as if he is some menial task to be done. In the first wizard war, we were no closer to defeating the dark lord than we are now. Who knows what would have happened if Harry Potter hadn't stopped the dark lord when he did! This one creature has caused all this chaos and distrust. He has broken the wizarding world in two! It will not be an easy task to destroy him."
There was silence as Marathi sat, Dumbledore rose to his feet, "Yes, the path to ridding the world of Voldemort will not be an easy one. Besides himself, there are deatheaters in his command that are just as ruthless and cruel as he is. For many, they are fighting some of their own families. The final battle is approaching; Voldemort has one final move that is already in progress. We must use all the time we have at the moment and prepare for the worst."
Madam Maxine finally spoke as well, "The dark lord's army and 'emself must be considered as one force. We must not assume anything."
Nicanor rose again, "Then I suggest we gather all the arours and duelist we can and form an army of our own. We can send some of these fighters to Lord Tiernan's castle to prevent them from being over-whelmed by the constant battles. Also, I suggest that Mr. Potter prepares for the war as well, if he isn't doing so already."
Freda rose, "More dragon riders should be called for, the light had a huge advantage last battle with such power in the air."
Soon it was all agreed on; each person would call on every available fighter: dragon trainers, arours, master duelists, and any one willing to go into battle, and join them all together to form the light army.
Madam Maxine held back as the others left, "Dumbly-dore, can Harry Potter really 'elp us en this battle?"
Albus sighed, "Yes Madam, Harry will play a very important part in this battle."
"To be forced to fight at such a young age," Madam Maxine mused sadly.
Albus simply bowed his head slightly; Harry would indeed have to be in this battle.
Bidding Madam Maxine goodbye, Albus pulled open the door to leave the room, when Ron and Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger came crashing down onto the floor. He chuckled slightly, "Well now, what do we have here?"
A/N comments? Please Review!!
