The room was dark. The centre was lit with floating candles casting long shadows around the wall. The Watcher stood behind the throne observing a group of masked figures shift nervously. The scent of fear permeated the room, and left the Watcher chilled to the bone and shaking.
Lord Voldemort was angry.
All through life,
The stars shine bright;
"My friends, I am disappointed." The figure on the throne had only a passing resemblance to a human and every word cut into the Watcher like knives as the fear grew stronger. "It has been three weeks, and yet you have made no progress. I have been away too long. You have grown weak."
One of the robed and hooded figures rushed forward and knelt before the throne. "Master forgive us, we were unprepared. We…"
"Crucio!" The red curse shot through the air and when it hit its target the Watcher screamed with him, feeling the pain every bit as much as the victim.
The moon and sun combined
Light the path to hope.
"Are you telling me that you, the elite of our society could not find a way? Crucio!"
As you sleep
Dream of laughter,
When you wake, a smile.
"There was a time when the Death Eaters where feared through out the world. Now you are reduced to petty violence and have lost the skills you once prized. Well you will learn again or you are of no use to me! Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!"
The Watcher writhed, feeling each and every curse. The world shrunk until all he knew was pain.
Sleep now, little one
And sail away on the moons light
Thousands of miles away Harry Potter woke up in bed drenched in sweat, gritting his teeth against the screams. He lay on the bed shivering, despite the summer warmth. He listened, the song calming his heart, soothing his fears.
Sail the seas to Avalon
Go you, rest well my dear.
As he drifted back off to sleep, it occurred to him to wonder idly where the song was coming from. 'It doesn't matter,' he thought as he let sleep claim him.
"Go deep inside yourself," Kero intoned. "Follow the pathways to find your centre. Look…"
"Kero," Harry cracked at eye at him from where he sat cross-legged on his bed. "I know how to find my magic. That's how I found you."
Kero huffed. "Fine. I want you to take your magic and draw it up so that it's sitting beneath your skin. Don't push at it, you're likely to explode that way. Just bring it up so that it's resting just there."
Kero had begun teaching him how to sense the Clow cards, and because of the vast areas they had scattered to, it would require a lot more power than he was used to handling.
It wasn't like anything he had done before. His magic wasn't directly in his grasp, but he had to control it or it would burst out of his skin. He had gotten the hang of finding cards in close proximity. Kero had him summon Thunder, and sent it roaming the house and grounds. Harry had been able to sense the direction it was in but hadn't been able to see it's location. Kero was instructing him on sensing cards at distance.
"With your magic under your skin you need to look through it, all the way out. Search the house."
It was more difficult then Harry expected. He couldn't keep his magic focused and stable under his skin and look out at the same time. It kept fluctuating, slipping out through his skin and falling back to his core.
"It's your magic." Kero said. "It will follow your direction. You don't need a wand to control it this way."
Harry nodded and tried again. He tried directing his magic as it left his core. It was slower but the magic settled underneath his skin without further prompting. This time it stayed where it was put, with much less concentration on his part.
"Now don't try to leave your body, use the magic surrounding you as a looking glass. Seek out the magic of the Clow."
Harry took a deep breath. Watching the world through his magic was different to anything he had done before. When he had been looking for the Clow book he had summoned his magic to his eyes, changing the way he looked at the world, letting him see magic. This was different. Magic had no concept of time and space only power and reach. He could sense the wards surrounding the castle, old and proud in a way he hadn't known magic could be. He found Thunder, running though the forest surrounding them, the ground absorbing it's power and spreading it out through itself.
So many things were distracting him, his focus shifted from one thing to the next before he really had a chance to study them. That room, those charms, Sirius, that amulet, Kero, the wards, that bird… Wait the bird?
FIRE.
Harry lost the magic surrounding him as he was jolted out of his trance.
"Wha…" Kero started.
"Sirius!" Harry rushed from the room. "Sirius!"
Sirius stuck his head out from a room down the hall. "Harry? What is it?"
"It's…"
He didn't get to finish as at that moment, the air in front of them burst in to flame and Fawkes appeared carrying a letter. But it was a Fawkes that didn't seem to be very well at all. Harry had seen this before.
"He's close to a burning day."
"Why would Dumbledore risk sending him out in this condition?" Sirius asked as he gingerly took the letter from the rather bedraggled looking creature. Fawkes gave a very pathetic sounding cheep and landed on Harry's shoulder.
"I didn't think he was that desperate to get us back." Harry watched the bird warily. He moved back to his own room and allowed Fawkes to hop on to Hedwig's perch. His owl gave a disgruntled noise, but glided over to land on the headboard to give the sick phoenix some room.
"Is that a phoenix?" Kero asked in awe. "You must be something else for a phoenix to trust you while it burns. It's a great…" He trailed off as he studied the firebird. "Harry this phoenix has enchantments on it." He frowned. "Pretty powerful one's too. I can't tell what they are because they are being burned off by the heat of the burn. Speaking of which, I'd take a few steeps back there, Harry, this is going to be…"
Kero never of to finish because at that moment Fawkes seemed to explode. The heat that came of the bird was enormous. Sirius wrapped his arms around Harry to protect him but the heat was everywhere. The only thing Harry could think of to compare it to was the dragon fire from the tournament, but even that seemed to pale in comparison.
When the blaze finally began dieing down Harry looked up. He spotted Kero's tail sticking out from under the bed and smirked. His big brave guardian. He turned to look at Fawkes.
As had happened in second year there was a pile of ash that the baby phoenix was struggling its way out off. Unlike then however this wasn't just the remains of it's old body. The perch, which had been wooden, had been reduced to a fine powder as well as the curtains and half the desk it had been next to. Thankfully nothing other than the phoenix had caught fire.
"That was a little more dramatic then in my second year." Harry observed.
"You've seen a phoenix burn before?" Kero asked from his position under Harry's bed.
"Yeah, in my second year. I was in the Headmaster's office and Fawkes was looking pretty sick and then he burned. I was terrified Dumbledore would think I had killed him. But that wasn't anything like what just happened."
"The burn was a little more powerful then usual to burn off the enchantments but not much more. Are you sure it was a real phoenix you saw?"
"Yes it was this phoenix."
Sirius frowned as he watched the baby setting in the ashes. "What about those enchantments you saw? Are they gone?"
"Yep." Kero looked it over. "The heat of the burn is a purifying one. The new life beginning with a clean slate. You think the reason it didn't burn properly before was because of the spells?"
Sirius looked thoughtful. "We always wondered what Dumbledore had done to earn the loyalty of a phoenix. I mean he's strong but he's not Merlin. He defeated Grindewald but others have defeated Dark wizards in the past."
The three of them looked pensive, watching the tiny bird happily splashing the ashes around with it's wings. Harry crouched down and reached for the phoenix to dust off the ashes on it's head. His hand didn't get within half a metre of it before something else shot up from the ashes. A female with shoulder length blond hair, a bare torso, very long elf-like ears, and a crown of fire around its head. It also has large orange-feathered wings which were currently curved around the baby phoenix, sheltering it from harm.
"It's the Firey!" Kero yelled. "You have to capture it Harry. Firey is one of the elemental cards under my domain and it is a large part of where my power comes from. I won't be able to get back to my full form but I will be able to fight."
Harry didn't know what to do. He couldn't attack Firey while it was protecting Fawkes and he doubted it was going to just let him seal it.
"But what am I supposed to do? I don't want to risk hurting Fawkes."
"Sirius, try getting the phoenix out of the way first."
"Right." Sirius pulled his wand and tried a summon spell to get Fawkes away from the card. The spell never got near the bird.
The Firey screamed in fury, burning the spell up in mid air before shooting toward Sirius in a pillar of white hot flame.
"Hey it worked." Kero said brightly.
"Kero, you little shit!" Sirius screamed and he tore away from the Firey avatar.
Harry pulled out the sealing wand. "Power of Darkness, power of Light, surrender the wand, the force ignite. Release!" He yanked out a card. "Windy, bind the Firey with your power!"
The pale yellow women swept forward and wrapped the Firey with it's hair and wings but it did little more then slow the avatar down. The blazing avatar burst from it's confinement.
"It's no good. They are both elemental cards. The elementals, Windy, Watery, Earthy and Firey are the most powerful in the deck and they are each as strong as the other. You need to think of something else." Kero told him.
Harry nodded. Running over his cards in his head he had an idea. "Rain, pour as much water on the Firey as you can!"
The Rain avatar shot him a panicked look before directing it's rain over the Firey. The deluge it dropped on the Firey was at least a powerful as the one it had dumped on Harry that morning but, while it did slow the card a bit, Firey was able to burn the water off in a burst of steam.
"It's not strong enough!" Kero shouted.
"Sirius, shoot it with an aquosus spell!"
"I'm a little busy right now Harry!" Sirius shouted as the burning card chased him around the room. Never-the-less he pulled out his wand and shot a stream of water in it's general direction.
"Storm, give your power to the Rain card and drench the Firey!" This had a slightly greater effect and managed to slow the card down further. Harry added the final touch. He aimed the sealing wand at the cards and poured as much power as he could into the spell.
"Glacio!"
The rain pelting the Firey turned to ice and pounded into the Firey to a much greater effect. The card seemed to realise it was being defeated because it split off from it's pursuit of Sirius and tried to return to the tiny phoenix still snug in it's pile of ashes. But it was no use and soon the Card was encased in a prison of ice.
"Return to your power confined! Firey Card!" Unlike the other cards he had captured, which had accepted capture, Firey gave an anguished wail as the of the ropes of power extending from the Clow circle drew it's power back to card form.
Sirius collapsed in relief. As the card solidified and floated into Harrys hand, Kero began to glow.
"Kero?" Harry asked.
"Yes!" Kero yelled, spinning around the room. "Who's the bad ass Guardian now, huh?" He started posing in front of Harry. "What do ya think, eh? Not quite up to full Keroberos form but still, pretty damn hot, yeah?"
Sirius growled and launched himself at the pretentious guardian. "Damn it, you stupid plush toy! I thought that thing was going to barbeque me!" Kero squeaked. The dog animagus grabbed the little guardian, swung him by the tail and launched him out the window. Harry tried to hold down his sniggers as Kero's wail ended abruptly followed by a crash and a string of curses, none of which were flattering to Sirius.
Sirius looked pretty pleased with himself as he shut the windows and turned to survey the damage to Harry's room. Thankfully there wasn't anything burnt as the Firey card had been too intent at getting Sirius but there was ice everywhere.
Harry looked down at the card in his hand. The image seemed to glare at him. He raised his wand.
"What are you doing?" Sirius yelped, backing away. "You're not going to let that thing back out are you?"
"Firey, I summon you to protect Fawkes. Guard him from those who mean him harm."
It was a much more docile avatar that emerged from the card. It studied Harry for a few seconds, and bowed. With a small smile the Firey let out burst of heat, and melted all the ice leaving the room in almost the condition it had been in when Harry had been scrying with Kero, minus the burned out perch and desk. The Firey moved over to the pile of ashes and Fawkes settled himself down next to the avatar and slept.
Docile or not the Firey still wouldn't let anyone near the phoenix so Harry and Sirius left the room. Sirius pulled out the letter Fawkes had delivered.
"It looks like there's one for you and one for me." He asked. "Want to hear the old man has to say?"
"Not really." Harry grumbled. "He's just going to make me go back to the Dursleys again."
Sirius put his arm around Harry. "Don't worry. I won't let him take you." They settled into the living room and Sirius opened Harry's letter first.
Harry,
I am very disappointed you left the Dursleys. Your presence there during the summer was necessary for a reason. The protection afforded to both you and your family may prove to be essential during the next year. By abandoning Privet Drive you are depriving the Dursleys of what may be their only protection in the coming conflict.
I know you want to spend time with your godfather but you must understand that Sirius is still recovering from the effects of his extended stay in Azkaban. I understand that as a young man, this may seem to be a grand adventure to you but there are risks that you are not aware of. With the return of Voldemort you are in ever growing danger. And not just yourself but Sirius as well. If he were to be found in your presence by the Aurors then the worst would be assumed and there would be nothing I could do to stop him receiving the Kiss and you will lose him forever.
You can not allow your youthful sense of adventure to place you or your godfather in any more danger. You will not always be as lucky in the future as you have been in the past.
I insist you return to Privet Drive and wait for my arrival. Sirius knows where he may find shelter and hopefully you may see him later in the summer.
This is of the utmost importance Harry.
I will speak with you there.
Dumbledore.
Sirius opened the second letter as Harry sat thinking over the first. "This one says pretty much the same thing as yours. 'You're being irresponsible', 'endangering Harry', 'bring him back' blah blah blah. No actual concern for me I notice." He looked up to see Harry's worried face. "Harry we are not being irresponsible. They can't find us here. No one can."
Harry nodded. "I know, but…"
"Even if he could, which he can't, we could head to the Black Keep."
"The Black Keep?"
"Yeah, it's a bit like this place. A private retreat for the Black family, though in their case it was to get away from the light wizards that were after them. Even if Dumbledore could find the place, which would be a mission by itself, cause he's never been there, he'd never get through those wards."
"Why didn't we hide there then?"
"Cause I've never been there for one. And I didn't want you to have to worry the whole summer about every little thing you touch. The Blacks weren't exactly a friendly family. This place is your home. There's nothing here that would harm you."
Sirius left the couch where he was sitting to move beside Harry. "You are safer here then you are at the Dursleys and there's no reason for Voldemort to even know you're missing. As for me, the Aurors already had orders to Kiss on sight. If Dumbledore was going to do anything about that he would have already."
He leaned into his godfather. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
Sirius gave him a squeeze. "Besides," he said, watching Kero's furious hammering on the siting room window, over Harry's shoulder. "You have all those Cards to capture and I doubt the Dursleys would be all that understanding."
That night Harry's dreams were filled with rats. They swarmed over everything, forming a moving wriggling blanket that covered every thing in sight. The Burrow and Hogwarts teamed with the creatures. Only barren wasteland was left of what had been old and proud structures. Cold laughter reverberated around the frigid air and a voice echoed over the masses. "Kill the spare. Kill the spare. Kill the spare."
All through life,
The stars shine bright;
The moon and sun combined
Light the path to hope.
Harry shot up in bed panting, sweat cooling on his heated skin as he shuddered.
As you sleep
Dream of laughter,
When you wake, a smile.
"In the morning," he said as the song calmed him and he drifted off back to sleep. "I'll find out where the song comes from in the morning.
Sleep now, little one
And sail away on the moons light
Sail the seas to Avalon
Go you, rest well my dear.
He might have remembered the next morning had he not been so rudely awakened. Never a morning person Harry was very much enjoying drifting on the edge of slumber, fragments of half remembered dreams drifting through his head. It was as close to perfection as Harry could imagine. Until…
"Ahhhh!!!" He screamed and leaped out of bed drenched to the skin with freezing cold water. He looked up to see the tail end of Sirius as he ran out the door.
"Sirius!" The Firey card, still curled up with baby Fawkes, huffed in displeasure at the water so close to it's charge. It released a burst of heat drying Harry. "Thank you." He told it. "If Sirius wants a prank war, I'll give it to him. Power of Darkness, power of Light. Surrender the wand the force ignite. Release!"
"But Harry I didn't do anything," Sirius insisted, giving up on his franticly trying to shoo away the small thunder cloud and just sulking under its constant down pour. Every now and then there would be a flash and shoot small bolts of lightning at Sirius causing him to twitch.
"Well there's no one else in the manor so unless you think Dobby did it, who else could it be?"
"Is this going to be a regular occurrence? Being woken up by screams I mean. Cause I need my beauty sleep you know."
"Is that why you sleep so much? Trust me it ain't working. And why couldn't he have done it? He's the great and powerful Guardian. How do we know what cards he has up his sleave?" Sirius asked his godson.
Harry scoffed. "How could he have done it, he's a plushie-"
"Hey! Not a plushie!"
"-besides I saw you leave the room."
"I didn't…"
The argument was interrupted by the arrival of Remus. He took in the storm cloud, Sirius's pout, Harry's frown and Kero's smirk.
"What did Sirius do this time?"
"Remus! Oh fine lets all pick on Sirius," he whined. "Never mind that he's actually innocent."
"For once," Harry, Remus and Kero said in unison.
Sirius pouted at them and the lighting flashed.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. We love hearing what people like.
Here's the new chapter. Enjoy.
The poem/lullaby in this chapter was written by Bec co-author for this story.