I am very sorry for the delay in updating. I saw The Force Awakens and it ate my brain. I highly encourage you to see it, if you haven't.
senawario: to clarify, I did mean "exactly as in this story." My particular Coyote and Raven are dear characters to me.
...
Fawkes sat on his perch in the Headmaster's office and listened to the conversation. He was a smart bird, and understood more than most people thought. They were planning the Triwizard Tournament- blasted thing. If they wanted to play games with the lives of young witches and wizards, they could just watch the Headmaster go about his daily business. Old coot. Her perked up when Durmstrang was mentioned, though. Maybe he could see his cousin! It had been a while since the Headmaster had let him out of the castle...
...
The Durmstrang boat rocketed out of the depths of Black Lake, much to the chagrin of Boris, who didn't understand why the school had needed to turn a perfectly serviceable caravel into a submarine. He rocked on his perch, and squawked a bit weakly. He was thoroughly seasick. Oh well, at least he got to see his cousin; it had been too long.
...
Fawkes flew across the lake with his cousin, trilling back and forth in their own unique songs. They lit on a tree and began conversing in their own tongue.
"It's good to see you, cousin." Fawkes said.
"And you as well, cousin. How are things in this miserable isle?" Replied Boris.
"It's not miserable in the summer, just as your country. And things are going steadily downhill." Fawkes replied.
"The Evil Ones are growing more powerful, the ones supposed to be in power are no longer good, and even the good is influenced by evil."
Boris made a cooing noise, and chuckled a bit.
"Almost makes me miss the Collective! They were at least less deceitful and more cohesive."
Fawkes was unamused.
"For the last time, I will not champion communism, cousin. I saw what it did to you and our other cousins in China. Still, I pity the hero's familiar. She is quite the fighter, but she'll lose him in the end."
"Cousin, all heroes are lost in the end. Need I tell you about another Ivan?"
"I still don't quite understand why most of your heroes have the same name. It sounds very confusing."
"At least I don't have gods with unpronounceable names, like Nuada Airgétlam!"
"He's not one of mine. I'm Egyptian, remember? It's Tutankhamun and Hatshepsut for me!"
"And here I'd thought you'd forgotten. It's unhealthy for a desert dweller like you to live in such a bad climate, you know. It's why you keep rebirthing so often."
"It's not like I can leave, Borya. The headmaster tied me here, remember? I'd go home if I could."
"How'd he do it, by the way? I mean, even my headmaster wouldn't do it and he is an Evil One."
"He has a bit of my ashes every time I rebirth put into a loyalty potion. The Brits are experts at such things after all."
"I suppose. I have a bit of hope for you, though: I was able to call a convocation and tell them. Once we get enough witnesses, they'll come and break it." Fawkes slumped in the relief.
"And how will we gather the witnesses? The Brits don't like me."
"Are there any familiars who do? Their testimony is accepted by the Convocation."
"Hedwig, the hero's familiar. Possibly the familiars of those close to the hero, I'm not sure."
"If we call a convocation here, Winona will not be able to ignore the Evil Ones. I hope you aren't particularly fond of any of them."
"There is one who is dark, but not evil. He protects the hero. Sometimes I think that he's the only one willing. Everyone else is blinded by the headmaster."
"Whose grand idea was it to give that much power to one man?"
"Says the former Soviet."
...
Over the next few days, if anyone had bothered to notice, the grounds of Hogwarts became a sanctuary for every kind of bird under the sun. Large, small (though there were very few of these), colorful, drab, they seemed to all come to the Forbidden Forest. The Wizards, oblivious as ever, had no clue something was happening. The Centaurs looked to their omens for important decisions, and the Unicorns kept to themselves and kept a close eye on their foals.
However, if one looked closely, one could see that these birds weren't ordinary. They had a certain majesty to them. Phoenixes usually made other birds look drab and weak. When Fawkes flew among these, he looked as an equal. The creatures of the forest looked and wondered.
...
A giant hawk with golden feathers sat on a thick tree branch.
"I call this meeting to order, under the authority given to me by the Creator."
"We're listening, Simurgh." A blue and grey hawk replied.
"Any progress on the Evil Ones, Fawkes?"
"No, Simurgh. They're spreading. I suspect corruption in high places."
"Heaven knows the de facto leader of the Light is less than an angel." Remarked a large bird, bigger than the rest.
"I'm not sure why you resist our interference." Remarked the blue and grey hawk.
"Winona, your idea of interference is a scorched earth policy."
"It works!"
"Welcome to Britain, Winona; they're more civilized than that." The large bird commented.
"Civilization is subjective, Roc." Winona replied.
"Not all of us can be Thunderbirds, Winona. You'll understand... eventually." Said Simurgh, somewhat condescendingly.
"I maintain that scortched earth policies make effective deterrents." Fawkes caught her eye and signaled for her to be silent. She acquiesced with bad grace.
"We cannot do anything until these allegations against the wizard are proven. We do not meddle in their affairs, Winona."
...
Nothing really got done for the rest of the meeting. Afterwards, the two firebirds met in a tree again to discuss.
"Well, that was about as helpful as starting a fire in a floodplain." Commented Fawkes.
"Cousin, you have a wonderfully sharp tongue in you. Please mind that you do not sharpen it further on me. I have tried to help." Boris replied, somewhat frostily.
"My apologies. I get frustrated." Fawkes said, guiltily. The Thunderbird, Winona, landed on a tree branch across the clearing and called over.
"Old friend, may I help?"Both firebirds looked at each other, and Boris nodded. Winona flew over, and alighted on the same branch.
"Ah yes, the heroic capitalist. What do you plan to do?" Boris snarked.
"Shut it, Red. I was talking to him, not you. My cousins from South Africa, the Lightning Birds, were in a similar situation for years to your cousin's. We learned as much as we could, but nothing worked. We eventually managed to connnect them to the Emancipation Proclamation, and made the government free them. Slavery has been outlawed in England longer than America- is there nothing you can do?"
"Not in Magical Britain. We are foreigners, so our testimony is automatically inferior to Dumbledore." Fawkes replied. Boris had settled for glaring at Winona until she went away.
"How inhospitable."
"Quite."
"There are quite a bit of Unktehi around here. When did they get across the Atlantic? I had thought that we had contained them all."
"What are Unktehi?"
"Snakes the size of cargo trains, like to terrorize villages, hate Thunderbirds and Firebirds with a passion?"
"Sounds nasty. I haven't noticed any if there are."
"Trust me, you'd notice. Must be something else then."
Boris, who had evidently rethought his plan of attack, cut in.
"Ah yes, the giant creature from Alaska. How many of you did it kill again?"
Winona tensed.
"Three. I'd like to see you do better, Commie."
"Americans are pathetic! It would be easy." Boris scoffed. Winona began to smile, in a way distinctly unpleasant.
"I sense one right now, Ruskie. Three villages over and stuck in human form. Want to see if you can handle one?"
"As you Westerners say, Bring it." Boris glared back. Fawkes cut back in.
"That's not an Unktehi, that's Voldemort. Different skill set. Same level of evilness. I guess you're sensing the Death Eaters, too."
"They need to die too." Winona shot back. "I've kept up with the news."
Fawkes sighed. He wished his friends were more civilized, but he supposed he was lucky to have friends at all.
"I see I won't be able to stop you two. The Cold War is over, you know; you can stop competing now."
Boris and Winona leapt from their branches and sort of flowed as they fell to the ground. When they righted themselves again, two teenagers stood where two birds had once been. One was a young woman won dark hair in two braids and stormy eyes, and the other was a man with Slavic cheekbones and shocking red hair. The woman looked right at Fawkes and smirked.
"As my Confederate friends maintain, firebirdy, it ain't over until the last man surrenders."
Then both figures vanished into the forest.
...
That night, every single Death Eater, or at least the ones true to their cause, disappeared. The Ministry, investigating the disappearance of so many purebloods, was able to draw no conclusions. The only one to escape was Severus Snape, who was promptly revealed as a spy by Minerva McGonagall. Voldemort was never heard from again, and the Triwizard Tournament went off without a hitch.
Strangely enough, Dumbledore's quarters and office received a thorough sacking as well. His private journal was found on the Ministry's doorstep, and promptly read by several Aurors at the order of the Minister, revealing a history of manipulation that dated from the Second World War. He was promptly locked in Azkaban for six months, had his wand snapped, and was then placed in a small but secure asylum which pandered to his aspirations for greatness by making him Head Lemon Drop Eater. It appeared that Azkaban had completely toppled what appeared to be an already unsteady psyche, leaving the Headmaster a harmless, if annoying, old man. Fawkes had vanished, never to reappear again.
...
The next year, three figures met in a small cafe in Cairo, which catered mainly to tourists. The Russian man and the dark-skinned woman both greeted their Arabian friend warmly, and all three sat down at an out of the way table.
"How are you finding Egypt, Fawkes?" Asked the woman.
"As wonderful as I remember. I was able to talk to my family again, and I had missed the climate and the people. It's nice to be able to take human form again, if I want to."
"I'm glad, cousin." Said the Slavic man. "But I'm not sure what the big deal was about that Morty fellow."
"Honestly, I'm not sure either. He split himself, yes, but he didn't fight as one, he fought separately. I've had a harder time taken out field mice." The woman concurred.
"Then you must show me what a truly difficult fight is." Said Boris, with a shark smile. Fawkes put his head in his hands.
"Just once. Just once would I like to see my friends and have them not try to kill each other- or someone else!" He looked up to find them looking expectantly at him from across the table. With puppy dog eyes. He sighed.
"There are some troubles with the local crime lord, who's been getting bold recently. I suppose you could find his assassins..."
They grinned and took off.
Well, he supposed it was better than mutually assured destruction.
...
Notes:
Fawkes, as far as I can tell, was named after Guy Fawkes, of "Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot" fame. It means falcon.
Boris, not named after anyone in particular, means fighter. Borya is the affectionate form.
Many old superstitions from the British isles tell of hair and nail clippings being used to control the previous owner. I figured that Phoenix ashes would work the same way.
Winona is actually a Sioux name, meaning First Born Daughter. Thunderbirds are Native American legends, from the area of the Black Hills.
Simurghs were a wise bird from Arabia.
Rocs are giant birds from Arabian Nights, among other places.
Lightning Birds, or impundulu or thekwane, are storm birds from South Africa. I took liberties in making them Thunderbird's cousins.
Firebirds are a deity from the American Southwest.
Unktehi is sort of a generic term for monster in Sioux legend. However, this particular Unktehi was a giant snake, the enemy of the Thunderbird.
This is my first mega-crossover, and I'm not sure I managed to pull it off. Please let me know what you think!