DISCLAIMER: Though I wish it was true I do not own any of the copyrighted things fromHarry Potter,only my original characters.

Chapter 7

"Harry is having one of his mood swings again," stated Ron, watching as his best friend entered Gryffindor Tower with a confused but happy expression on his face.

"Stop saying that. It's becoming annoying," scolded Hermione as she threw him a glare before returning to her book

Though he had been one his way to join his friends Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that another argument was about to begin. He had wanted to ask Hermione if she had ever heard of a clan that could change into phoenixes but that could wait.

Walking right back out of the tower, Harry had to resist the urge to run back to the forest to spend more time with his friend but he was determined to at least understand a little more about that Phoenix Clan. Perhaps the library would have some books on what he wanted to know so he wouldn't have to bother Hermione and make her suspicious of why he wanted to know about a pretty much dead clan, or worse how he knew about it.

When Harry reached the library, he was disappointed that all the tables within sight were full. He thought that maybe if he tried to find some books that by the time he was done there would be a table open.

It was about an half an hour later that Harry had found no books along with no one leaving the library.

"Potter, your constant pacing around is very annoying. Find what your looking for and sit down or leave," drawled a familiar voice that Harry didn't need to turn around to identify.

"Two problems with your 'suggestion' Malfoy. I can't find what I'm looking for."

"That's a very common problem."

Harry ignored the interruption.

"And there's no place to sit."

"Then why don't you leave?"

"Because I'm still looking."

Draco moved from his table behind Harry and grabbed Harry's book bag from him and before he could protest he placed it on the other chair at his table.

"That's one problem solved. Now what are you looking for?"

"You're actually offering to help me and let me sit at your table," questioned Harry, clearly perplexed by the situation. After all this was Malfoy, the boy who loved to torment him, we were talking about.

"Granger isn't the only one who knows their way around the library," commented Draco before breaking out in a smirk. "Besides, don't you think it would be interesting to see everyone's expressions if we were to willingly sit together?"

Harry almost laughed at that. IT would be funny to watch people staring at them in wonder, possible even working or laughing together as if they were friends. It made him wonder what would have happened if Malfoy hadn't made fun of Ron all those years ago and he had accepted Malfoy's hand in friendship.

But he hadn't and there was no changing that. Nor changing the fact that they were rivals, enemies in a way. He had called Hermione Mudblood, tormented Ron about being poor and tried to play countless of tricks on them again and again.

But, piped in a small voice in the back of Harry's head. He hadn't done anything along those lines all year. He's even helped you with your glasses before and he's offering to help you again. There's no harm in attempting to be civil.

"I'm looking for information about an old clan of wizards," began Harry before he could stop himself.

"You'll have to be more specific then that," pointed out Draco, looking slightly confused at what little he knew about Harry's request.

"It's a clan that has ties with phoenixes," continued Harry, not sure about how much information he could give Draco. He wasn't even sure if the clan was some sort of secret or if anyone knew that there was a survivor of the clan they would try to go after them, for he still didn't know what had wiped out the clan to begin with.

"The Clan of the Phoenix," stated Draco as if it was obvious, but then he became curious. "How did you know about such a… practically extinct race of wizards?"

"I overheard someone talking about it and got curious," said Harry quickly, hoping that Malfoy wouldn't question him further.

"Probably from Dumbledore," Draco reasoned to himself and shrugged. "You won't find anything about them in a school library, except maybe in the restricted section. They're not exactly… a popular topic."

"Then I guess I'll have to try and get a pass for the restricted section," said Harry, not really intending on trying on fear of being questioned again but wanting to shake Malfoy off so he could make plans to sneak into the restricted section that night with his invisibility cloak.

"Or you can ask me," stated Draco. "I learned all about them when I was younger from my Mother."

With that said he moved back to the table from which he came and sat there for a moment doing nothing, as if waiting for Harry to join him.

Harry almost walked away then but curiosity got the better of him and he across from his rival.

"Can you tell me about the Clan of the Phoenix?"

"I can," replied Draco.

When Malfoy didn't say anything after, Harry had to force himself not to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Will you please tell me about the Clan of the Phoenix?"

"Certainly. You know how some people are against half-breeds like centaurs and werewolves," began Draco, resting his head in his left hand as he faced Harry.

"I can mention a few," replied Harry, wanting to give Malfoy a pointed look which meant 'I mean you' but thought better of it.

"And I'm not one of them," stated Draco as if he wanted to make that point clear.

Harry's jaw literally dropped.

"But you are against muggle-borns and first year when we went into the forest-"

"-I was raised to hate muggle-borns, Potter and I may be afraid of werewolves but I have nothing against them when they're people. Professor Lupin, for example, isn't at all like a werewolf in his human form and is actually a good teacher."

Harry could only stare at Malfoy in unmasked shock.

"What's with the shocked look," questioned Draco, with a hint of annoyance.

"You didn't say Mudblood and you didn't insult Re- I mean Professor Lupin," said Harry as if Hell had frozen over.

"Isn't that a good thing," asked Draco.

"Yes… but it's not you," stated Harry.

Draco half laughed at this.

"I suppose not." His eyes glazed over somewhat as if remembering something. "But things change."

Harry almost asked what, but Malfoy continued.

"But to continue on, the Clan of the Phoenix could change into phoenixes and shared some of their abilities. For this people considered them half breeds and you know how most half breeds are treated.

'Some extremists actually formed a small army and attacked their village a couple of centuries ago and killed most of the clan to 'cleanse the world from their impurities'. Auras came in at just the right time and saved a small percentage of the clan but after that people saw them as dirty, cursed if you will.

'It was hard for them to get along with the rest of wizard society after that. No one wanted them for jobs or marriages and they couldn't keep marrying themselves, obviously. They tried to marry muggles but that just caused a lot more of them to be killed off in the end.

'There is only one known survivor of the clan and no one really knows who they are except their relatives by marriage because it's considered unsafe for that information to be out in the open."

"That's awful," commented Harry, not trusting his voice to say anything else. To think that his friend had that sort of background…

"It gets worse. Up until fifteen years ago there were two other survivors; The survivor we have now and their son and grandson. They were killed by Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the first war. The grandson was only a one year old baby. He would have been our age," said Draco, not bothering to hide that this is what bothered him the most about the entire thing.

"How do you know all of this," asked Harry.

"I told you, my mother taught me," said Draco.

"But why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

With that said, Draco gathered his potions book and left Harry to ponder over what he had learned.