Chapter 49: Burning Day

Albus fell to his knees by the pile of ashes and brought his face close. He squinted—glared at the big gray pile.

Something deep in the pile shifted slightly, just enough to knock a bit of dust down the side, but Albus's eyes snapped there immediately. He watched intently for several minutes while nothing happened. He was completely still. An onlooker would have been hard pressed to tell whether or not Albus was breathing.

The pile moved again, just a little bit at the top, then the whole top of the pile lifted an inch to reveal the unmistakable ugly head of a baby phoenix.

"Harry?"

The phoenix hopped out of the ashes and looked at Dumbledore for a moment. Suddenly, it vanished in a whirl of flame and reappeared a moment later with a smoking branch with red seeds, the same plant that Fawkes had brought to Harry after hatching.

Albus looked from the bird to the plant for a moment and then clicked his fingers. With a crack, a house elf appeared.

"Roopie, will you please ask Professor Sprout to bring a large pile of Fireweed up here immediately? Thank you."

"Yes, Master Dumbledore, sir." Roopie vanished with a crack.

"Harry?" Albus asked again, once Roopie had gone. "…Fawkes?"

The baby phoenix yawned noncommittally and stumbled around stretching its little wings.

"Harry, is that you? Can you communicate? Harry?" He waited for a moment. "Fawkes? I am aware that whether you are Fawkes or Harry, you can understand me."

The bird did not react. Albus watched it stumble around on his carpet for a minute or two, lost in thought.

"Can you transform back?" asked Albus.

The phoenix pierced Albus with its little eyes and glared for a moment before hopping onto Albus's knee, digging its talons into Albus's robes, and vanishing both of them in a whirl of flame.

Someone shrieked as the flames subsided. Albus and the phoenix found themselves in one of the greenhouses, and Pomona Sprout was pressing her back against one of the glass walls looking quite shocked.

"Ah, Pomona. Sorry to startle you." Albus put on a polite smile. "May…" He cleared his throat. "May Fawkes eat some of your Fireweed? It accelerates his regeneration and growth process."

"Oh! Goodness…yes, of course Professor," Pomona said, recovering from her shock. "Just…mind the Banging Begonias. They're very volatile this time of year. Quite a lot of noise. Do you, ah…need any help?"

Albus turned to see that the phoenix had already invited himself to go much on the crop of Fireweed. Albus could already see that he had grown, and his feathers were returning to their usual fiery luster.

"I don't believe so. Thank you, Pomonoa—and do please call me Albus."

"Oh. Um. You're welcome Professor…er…Albus." She stood there awkwardly for a moment, not leaving.

"Was there something else, dear?" asked Albus, hiding any impatience he may or may not have had.

Pomona blushed scarlet. "No…nothing." Albus continued to pierce her with his blue gaze until Pomona continued. "It's just…You see, Sir—I mean Albus—I was looking through the school rules and…well…see…well…it…"

Albus cut her off. "You may feel free to reciprocate Mr. Longbottom's romantic advances, if that is your wish."

Pomona blushed even deeper.

"I was reviewing that clause just the other day," continued Albus, "and I thought that if I deemed it appropriate and desirable for two professors to court one another, it would not be fair if you were not allowed to court the students of your own age."

Pomona let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Prof—Albus. Algie's dropping Herbology now anyway. Says he only took it this year because he knew I was going to take it. How did you know?"

Albus twinkled and opened his mouth to speak, but someone beat him to it.

"Albus knows a lot of things he shouldn't," said a hoarse voice.

Both Albus and Pomona spun around to see just Harry's head sticking up from behind a five foot tall flowerpot.

"Hello, Harry, when did you …get here?" asked Albus brightly, though Harry could see the concern in his eyes. Harry himself was shaken from being burned alive and barely able to stand.

"Maybe Longbottom might like some of those Banging Begonias," Harry said, holding himself together.

"Oh…right. Thanks," said Pomona, quite embarrassed. She plucked several Begonias (each letting off a hefty bang as it was touched). "I'll…be off now. Let me know if you need any more help." She scurried out of the greenhouse, and several loud bangs followed in her wake.

Harry turned to Albus. "What's this about professors courting?" he asked, suddenly remembering.

Albus smiled. "It's been known to happen. I just happened to be reading that section of the rule book that banned inter professorial relationships and I—"

"You just happened to be reading that section of the Hogwarts rule book?"

"Do not underestimate the literary consumption of an old man left alone with his walls full of books for too long. Besides, this is all highly irrelevant. What happened, Harry?"

"Well," said Harry who did not think that inter professorial relationships were irrelevant, "to the best of my knowledge, Fawkes took it upon himself to start the transformation process himself...It turns out, it hurts a-fucking-lot to be burned alive…and then my memory's quite fuzzy until I turned back a moment ago. First thing I heard was something about professors courting. Erm…so…how did we get in the greenhouses, then?"

"I don't know about you, but I was teleported here by a baby phoenix."

"Right…ah…I suppose I…we…he…whoever…was after that smoking plant thing. Fawkes wanted that right after he hatched the first time."

"Indeed. So, you don't remember who was in control? Nothing?"

"No…" said Harry. "Hey, Albus? Could you give me some clothes, please? My wand's too far away for me to do any magic. I guess I should be glad I left it in my tower—it would probably have burned with me otherwise."

"I'm afraid my wand is gone, also. It…vanished when you changed. I could try to do it wandlessly—"

Orange flames appeared in front of Albus's face and vanished as quickly as they'd come leaving Albus's wand in their place. Albus caught it before it fell and looked to Harry.

"I didn't do it," said Harry, spooked.

Albus hummed in thought and flicked his wand in Harry's direction. Harry found himself in lilac robes.

"I think it's Fawkes," said Harry.

"That was my theory—that Fawkes is somehow asserting some measure of control and is performing magic," said Albus, "though I don't understand the magic behind it if it is true."

"Right," said Harry, suddenly feeling very, very tired. "Well, I'm knackered. I think I'll go and get an early night before the duel tomorrow."

"Harry, I think we should figure out—"

"Albus, I'm honestly too tired. I need an early night." He felt his eyes drooping closed where he stood.

"Harry, it's four thirty in the afternoon."

"Yes, well, I've had a long day."

"But Harry, you've just had a nap. Something's happening to you, and I can't allow you to go off by yourself right now."

"Ah…yes…well…Have a nice afternoon." Harry vanished in a burst of flame.

Albus was left standing alone in greenhouse four, definitely concerned. "Not likely…" he muttered.