Chapter Two

Draco didn't want to wake up, he moaned as the light hit his face and sighed in relief as something stopped the light from coming near him. He was warm and felt the familiar ebb and flow of magic in his house in the manor. He wasn't sure how long he drifted between waking and sleep, until his hair was pulled slightly demandingly. "Stop it Thunder." Draco demanded sleepily. "Sleepy, sleep now." He muttered and received another tug on his hair. "Oi you bloody bird, that's attached to my head." He said, cracking open a single eye and meeting the eyes of the Phoenix. "I'm sorry that was a bit uncalled for, but can't I sleep for just a little while longer?" He asked and Thunder shook his head, before pulling at Draco's hair. "Merlin that hurt, can't you entertain yourself for a while, I need to replenish my magical reserves and in order to do that I need to sleep."

The Phoenix squawked and pecked Draco on the cheek. "Oi my skin is delicate!" Draco said and slowly sat upright. "There you happy?" He asked and the Phoenix trilled, showing that indeed he was happy. "Bully for you, but I feel like someone hit me with twenty bludgers." Draco said. "Noxy!" He called and a House Elf appeared.

"Master is waking, oh happy day, master is waking. Master is being real sleepsies, he is sleepsing very long, couldn't wake master, or master's pretty bird, though many tried."

"How long has it been Noxy?" Draco asked and rubbed his pounding head.

"It is beings two monthes, we is beings worried, but Young Master's Father is being homeses."

"Father is home, what do you mean its been months?"

"Yes, they is sayings that it is beings only right, Young Master is needing his family and they is getting their families back, so Young Master should have his too. Young master is being very sleepsies, he is burnings too much magicsis"

"Have they woken up yet?"

"No, not yet, they is beings really sleepsies, more sleepsies then Young Master." She said and Draco frowned, that wasn't good. What Thunder and he had done, had never truly been attempted before, but they had somehow apparently managed it to a degree, he hoped that those he could save would wake.

"Tell my Father that I am awake and could you maybe bring some broth for Thunder and I?" Draco asked and the House Elf disappeared with a crack. Moments later his parents came into the room. "Mother, Father, are you alright?" Draco asked.

"It is us that should be asking that of you, you nearly burnt out your magical core Draco! We nearly lost you, what you did was more of the actions of a Gryffindor, or Hufflepuff instead of a Slytherin." His Father said to him and his Mother put a hand on his Father's shoulder.

"We were very worried dear, you know how your father isn't good at showing his emotions. We're both very proud of you however, I am glad that the little boy I loved wasn't hardened by this war." His mother said and came up to his bedside. "What you did was reckless, but also kind, we've always advised you to be amicable with those that are different then we are, but what you did many would not do."

"Father, I brought back some of the True Ones as well."

"Save your strength, you took them to the safe house didn't you?" His Father said and Draco gave a slight nod, his Father smiled at him and put a hand to his shoulder. "I am proud of you my son. You were right to tell me this information mind to mind, our house is being monitored still and we must maintain appearances. Are you in pain, the healers informed me that you might be in pain after you awoke."

"It is not so bad Father, it does hurt, but I've had worse." Draco said and his mother hugged him tightly.

"Oh darling, you must have been so frightened, all alone here." She said. "We'll get you a fairly strong pain potion, its clear to me when my baby is hurting." His mother said and Draco struggled not to laugh, where had this women come from, for although his Mother was kinder then his Father and loved him dearly, she wasn't like this normally.

"Not too strong, Thunder wants some company." Draco said and his mother sighed.

"You need to think of yourself first, not your mate, you should see yourself Draco, and you look a fright. A healer should come soon with your potions, make sure to take them all." His mother said and Draco nodded, as the house elf came with a steaming mug of soup and another bowl of charred meat

"I is thinking that it is being alright for birdy to havzes chard meatses, he is havings smokeses, so he is eatings more then Young Master." The House Elf said and Draco smiled.

"Thank you Noxy." Draco said and started to slowly sip at the soup, smiling as Thunder approached the bowl uncertainly, before sticking his head nearly inside of it and tossing his head back, as he gulped down the meat. He reached out a hand and stroked Thunder's Feathers, which seemed to shine brightly once more. "How often do you think he will need to burn?"

"Once every five years generally." His father said. "Though sometimes more time can pass between burnings."

"What if he's more then just a phoenix?" Draco asked.

"He might be, he might not be, what is important is that he is your mate. Even if he isn't there are stories about full phoenixes giving up phoenix form and transforming into humans. I don't know if those tales are true, or what happens to the Phoenix afterwards, as my resources at the moment are limited. You should know that Harry Potter is dead."

"What?" Draco demanded.

"It was a cursed fire, most believe that some of the Dark Lord's Followers escaped and took their revenge out on Potter, but it could be that something much less malicious happened to the boy."

"You think Thunder?" Draco demanded, before laughing nervously. "There's no way that Thunder is Potter."

"Many things are possible with magic. Still many believe that those that followed the Dark Lord were responsible for his deaths, as if the remaining death eaters would be organized enough to plan such an attack." Lucius said bitterly.

"Father a seer said that we have to allow each other to know of our traditions, give both sides a voice, or there will only be more wars and bloodshed."

"What of it? We cannot have the old ways vanish into the steam of time, like so much else."

"Maybe we should attempt to teach others our ways."

"That has been done in the past Draco, the wizards that did it did not fair well. The muggleborns believe as strongly in their gods, as we do in the Mother and the Father and that is all I am going to say about this for now." Lucius said.

"If we don't teach it to them as our faith, but rather explain the guiding principals on how we..."

"Do you truly think that Mudbloods, blood traitors and those afraid to get their hands dirty will listen to what we say."

"Few enough were afraid to get their hands dirty this last war Father and I was one of them. I have never killed."

"I know you haven't, you are better then me, a true son of the Mother and Father and I am proud that you will not resort to violence to see what you want in life accomplished. Very few could say the same. There are some people in the world that won't take life, not unless it is the last resort. Still it was war and people often take advantage of those unwilling to kill."

"Yeah I kind of see what you mean." Draco said and sighed, he felt better now that he'd taken the potions. He smiled at Thunder, who looked drowsy from the meat. Draco stroked his feathers gently and smiled as he watched the phoenix. Thunder fell asleep quickly and Draco started to feel drowsy as well. "Father?" He asked and Lucius took his hand.

"As much as I wanted you to wake, you need to rest a little longer son, I'm sorry."

"Can't believe you managed...trick me." Draco said, before his eyes closed and he fell down into a vortex of oblivion.

When he awoke next, he felt much better. He opened his eyes and looked at the feathers covering his chest. He chuckled at the sound of Thunder's snoring, but then remembered himself and that the room was being watched. He schooled his expression, putting on his mask, as he yawned and stretched, before stroking the sleeping phoenix gently. The bird shifted towards his hand and Draco couldn't stop himself from smiling. He was glad to have a mate that needed him as much as Draco needed them. Often times the bond was one sided at first, but with the phoenix, they both were bonded to each other. He knew that phoenixes had bonds, but he was uncertain of what those bonds were. He wished he could read, but he knew that at this point in his recovery, he'd be unable to concentrate. He felt slower then he usually did, as though he couldn't think as clearly and he hated that.

"Noxy?" Draco asked and the house elf appeared. "Will you read to me Noxy? Out of the books on phoenixes I bought at Diagon Alley."

"Noxy would be happy to read to young master." Noxy replied and Draco smiled lying back in the pillows. "Young Master is to be keeping his eyeses closedesd, or Noxy is not goings to be readings to himses."

"Alright Noxy." Draco sighed and closed his eyes, most of the book on how to care for phoenixes that he'd gotten from the pet shop seemed like it had been written for idiots or small children. He couldn't help but laugh when Noxy read the part about it being important not to sweep away the ash that develops when a phoenix is reborn. "People really swept away the ash before?" Draco demanded and the house elf shrugged.

"Maybes, I is not knowings." Noxy said and continued to read to him. Really the only thing Draco couldn't have automatically thought of himself was the part about nesting, apparently when his phoenix gave him a nest, he should be very appreciative of it, something that Draco had no trouble with, with being a veela. The problem he had was with the fact that like veela there were dominant and submissive phoenixes, the fact of the matter was that Draco wasn't sure if he was dominant or submissive. His family wasn't part of veela society, as the veela were just as pureblooded in their way as wizards and breeding with magical beasts had become frowned upon in recent centuries. Draco didn't really understand why, it sort of made sense with Trolls or Giants, beings that slowed the intelligence of those that bred with them. Still he couldn't understand why they didn't breed with more intelligent races. Though he personally would never couple with a goblin, he didn't see why there weren't more half blood goblin children out there. In fact children of goblins and wizards were highly intelligent and gifted with both forms of their parent's magic.

He hoped that goblin relations would better enough in the coming years for him to be able to learn magic weaving, he was interested in the old goblin art form and hoped to apply it to his own spells. He'd seen some old books that referenced it in the Malfoy Library, but he doubted that a goblin would be willing to teach him magic without anything in return. As it was, if he wished to learn spell weaving, he would have to break the law in turn and teach a goblin wizard magic. He actually had thought about learning Gobbledygook a time or two when he had been younger, but then the war had changed his plans. Draco frowned, realizing that he'd completely stopped following the book and sighed. "I won't learn anything from that one, try the one about phoenixes and their mates."

He laid back in the pillows and listened to Noxy read, he knew some elfish, but not enough to be fluent in it unfortunately. Centaurian customs were enough to make his head spin, even with the simplest of concepts. The most useful information was about gift giving, apparently the more dominant of the destined ones was supposed to give rocks of fire to the less dominant pair. Still the book made no mention of how dominance was decided, something that troubled Draco. He was worried that if he became the submissive mate, then Thunder would attempt to walk all over him, as much as a phoenix could walk all over a wizard. Draco was a strong and capable young wizard, a being that shouldn't have to answer to anyone or anything and the thought of doing so worried him. So far his veela nature had been quiet, lulled by finding his mate, but then it also seemed as though it was waiting for something to occur. Draco didn't like not knowing what was happening, he preferred to be aware of a situation at all times. Apparently like veelas submissive phoenixes could bare young and Draco briefly considered if the two species might share a common ancestor. He listened as the House Elf explained other aspects of courting and nest building. Draco was surprised at how detailed nest building could be, he supposed that Thunder would have to see him choose objects for their home, which meant that he'd likely have to get rid of most of the furniture in his wing of the manor.

Draco groaned at the thought of moving everything and putting it into storage, he liked the things in his wing of the manor, they had been there for his entire childhood. There were strong wards that had been in place when Draco was a child, but when he'd turned fourteen, his father had let him into the darker areas of the manor and started to teach him dark magic. Draco wished that he could stay focused on the book, normally he was very good at focusing at just one thing, but it seemed like he was incapable of doing so at the moment. He continued to listen to the House elf read, his thoughts becoming slower and more disjointed, until he started snore.

The House Elf chuckled putting the book away and tucking in the covers around Draco. "I was thinkings that it being much shorter time until you were fallings asleep. Still you are beings hard headidses." Noxy said before leaving the room quietly and disappearing with a soft pop.

For a while the only sound in the room was nasal snoring and small sleeping chuffs, until the phoenix opened his eyes. He glanced at his sleeping one and nuzzled his hand, before spreading his wings and taking off through an open window. It was wonderful to fly once more, to soar upon the air, as he was meant to. He let out a call of jubilation, as he flew upon the wind. He banked hard to avoid the trees, while he followed his inward compass, leading him to the nearest earth flame. He finally found one that was still living, the fire inside it still bright and dived near to the flames, without catching on fire. He found a rock outcropping and managed to pull a gleaming stone from out of the rock, he took it in his beak and flew away from the volcano, the firestone safely in his beak. Firestones were only to be given when an offer of mating was being made, they came from the very fires of the earth. As a mating began so would it end, when he lost his mate, he would throw himself into the primordial fire of a Volcano and his ash would join that of his ancestors.

Still Thunder as his mate had named him was still young yet and didn't wish to consider such things because of his youth. Despite being young and a nearly immortal being, he knew that life was as delicate as fire was, as long as it had food it would stay burning brightly, even at the end embers would cling, in the hopes of becoming a fire once more. Thunder had taken those embers and nurtured them, called them back to life with his song and his tears. Still they yet needed him and he would always be able to find the ones he saved. Their lives were part of him, the life bond strong and sure. When he or his master wanted them, they would come and be glad to assist them in helping to save others. Thunder knew that he may need a lot of help, as each time he used his tears, to save a life or heal someone who needed it desperately, the time he needed to spend between burnings would shorten by anywhere from a few minutes, to a day, or even a month for a really powerful burning. He had already chosen to bind his destined one's lifespan to his and that meant that the price was doubled each time. He needed to be careful and take on those that needed him only, or else he would pay the price. Thunder shuddered at the thought of the pain of his first birth, it had been agony and to go through that constantly as some old phoenixes did for a short time...It would be better to surrender himself to the fire.

Thunder flew back to the manor and placed the fire stone on his destined one's pillow. Thunder nuzzled the sleeping face for a moment, before flying off once more. He laughed delighted at the feeling of flight, at how his wings rose and fell and carried him through the sky. Still he flew ever closer to those that he had saved, he would always be able to find them, always know where they were. He flew first to the closest and cried for them, bringing them back to consciousness, but still they did not move. Thunder frowned and took a deep breath, the stink of magic was upon this place, there was nothing he could do for those gathered and others needed his aide. He flew next to the larger group of people, they seemed to be in a large wizard nest and everyone seemed shocked to see him, but gave him the deference that was do one of his kind. He flew to the rooms of those that he had saved, already their souls were firmly anchored into their body, the break between the bodies and the spirits mended by the wizard's magic, all that Thunder would have to do was to wake them. That was much easier then bringing them back had been, he'd had to pull deep within himself for that and he would have to burn again in five years time. He wondered briefly how far he was willing to go between burnings, to protect creatures that would live only one hundred and fifty cycles but no more. He himself had only seen two full crossings and was on his third. He didn't know how much pain he could stand, yet he would finish what he started. They were in different rooms however and he didn't like going through the doors wizards favored, he found a seat for himself on an owl's perch located in the ceiling of the wizard nest.

"Have you come to heal them?" Someone asked and Thunder nodded slowly, before pointing his beak downward. "You want us to bring them here?" The man asked and Thunder smiled, he wore the green of healing that these mortals favored, he was a kindred soul to Thunder. Slowly Thunder inclined his head, but made a gesture with his claw. "Do you want us to not be in the room as you heal them?" The man asked and Thunder nodded, as a Phoenix he was impervious to the spells of lesser beings, but their concoctions still effected him and he would not wish to risk being imprisoned and kept from his destined one. Those that did so were horrific creatures, but everything was desperate for life, however they might take it.

"We'll bring them to you, would you take those that are badly injured as well?" The healer asked and Thunder shook his head, he had already sacrificed enough for these wizards and they would demand more of his time, more time spent free from burning? They were truly a greedy species and deserved their short and petty lives. He didn't understand how his destined one could be one of those mud dwellers, who were not even worthy of a sight of him. Yet still he felt oddly protective of the wizards, he supposed that it was in his nature to behave protectively towards all creatures. He was after all, a caretaker of this world, as were all creatures, though some had forgotten that.

He watched as his people were set on the floor, he could not save those that had their souls ripped, only a Phoenix and his destined one could withstand that. Still he had brought back those he could and they were there before him. He sang, spreading out his wings and cried for those that had come to him, careful to have the tears land where he intended. He smiled as they stirred, rubbing at their eyes and looking confused. He liked watching them, some were cute when they woke up, yawning and rubbing at their eyes, and others looked around frantically groping at their robes and finding only pajamas. They then leapt from the beds, those that were older surrounding the younger, creating a shield with their bodies.

"Where are we?" A man demanded.

"Dad?" A young man asked. "That's my Dad! He wouldn't be here if it wasn't safe!"

"Be quiet Fred, they could all be deatheaters in disguise."

"All of them? Yeah like that's likely, like there's enough polijuice in the United Kingdom for all these people. I highly doubt that's true." A young boy spoke and several people sighed.

"I understand that your Gryffindor, that you can be overly brave, but perhaps a more intelligent approach to this situation would be in order. We should not go rushing into a situation that is over...Do I smell bacon? Bacon! Bacon! Give me bacon!" The girl said and started to growl, as another looked terrified, as she sniffed the air.

"Oh no, Greyback, he bit me!" The girl said and seemed to crumple in on herself, several others looked sickened as well, while more took several steps away from those that had been bitten.

"Whatever has happened, its clear that these people aren't disguised, even death eaters wouldn't risk infection by werewolves to lure us into a trap." Another man said and everyone stared at him.

"Well you would know all about that wouldn't you Snape?"

"Do not you dare presume to talk to me like that boy, do you truly understand the finer points of battle strategy? Do you understand what it is to make a choice at seventeen years of age and be shaped by it for the rest of your life. Never to have anyone trust you, because of the house you came from, do you understand what it is like to be treated as a second-class citizen, because of your blood and the mark you bare? Well do you, because if you can understand that, perhaps you may understand one tenth of I went through. I am an oath breaker, not once, but twice, even though they were not unbreakable vows, they were vows I took seriously, both times I swore them. You do not understand what it is like to constantly search for a place you belong and be denied it again and again. Until you stop searching, give up on any hope of ever being accepted, but despite the fact that everyone despises you, you still want to save as many as you can. There is nothing you can do to hold back the tide of war, once it engulfs you yet again. Still even though they do not trust you, you have people you admire on both sides of the war and you face a terrible choice, no matter which way you turn. Above all you never give up hoping that perhaps one day they may surprise you and be true to you, as much as you could be to them. That perhaps they would see the world as you see it, for just a moment and try to make it better. Still you know if they ever come to see it that way, it will be after your death, for spies that turn on both masters seldom survive. You do not care and are willing to make the sacrifice for them, despite everything that they have done to you. For you can see the beauty of them, in the eyes of a long dead woman, the only woman who let you belong for a short time, to her, as she belonged to you. In all my life I have ever truly been happy for six years, the years in which I could call Lily Evans friend. So do not presume to criticize my choices, not unless you have made them yourself and come out the other side. Do what you will with me, but know that I regret none of it, for I did the best I could with the hand life delt me. Others might have better cards, but I was not so lucky"

Thunder frowned, that man's voice was familiar somehow, as had been the red headed young man. After the man's speech there was silence, a silence that filled the room and spoke much that it did not say. Thunder truly looked at the people for the first time and he recognized several of them, somehow he had seen them before, but he had no idea of how.

He felt confused and alighted on one of the perches, trying to calm his heart, which seemed to be pounding out of his chest. He felt a fire starting to burn and he panicked. What was this fire, what were the things he was seeing, of black robes, of a castle, of people that had understood him and followed him. He saw them then, as more and more people came into the room, the two of them standing grief stricken and he knew their faces, as well as he knew that of his destined one. He let out an anguished scream and almost fell to the ground. Everything was agony, it hurt all over, and by all the forces of nature it hurt. He screamed and screamed, as he caught on fire and was once again caught up in the flames, until finally everything ceased and he fell into sweet oblivion.