Chapter Three
Harry awoke slowly, he felt horrible, he ached all over and it felt like someone had cast a blasting hex at his head. He groaned, then everything came back to him and he smiled. He was proud and he should be, he was a beautiful creature after all and now he had countless years in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes and frowned as a curtain of blond hair obscured his vision. He realized then that his destined one slept next to him and he smiled, content despite the pain with simply having Draco beside him. He then laughed at the thought of how strange that sentence would have sounded a short time ago.
"You're awake, that is good." A cultured voice said and Harry frowned a moment, before remembering that it belonged to Lucius Malfoy. His memories tumbled together, the ones of the dangerous enemy and the caring man he had glimpsed as a phoenix at odds with each other. "Don't worry, confusion is natural and you're recovering much faster then I had hoped. Not much is known about your kind, phoenixes tend to be a secretive race, more so then most in fact. I thought that it might be best if you were with Draco when you awoke. In any event my son is more likely to allow himself to recover when you are near. What do you know of veela Mr. Potter?"
"Veela?" Harry said confused, what was a veela? Then images of beautiful creatures came to his mind and he frowned, as his head started to ache.
"Don't try so hard, your instincts are at odds with each other, it will come back in time. I remember the first time I transformed; it was a few days before I got all my memories back. Take it easy and for once in your life, do try not to rush." Lucius advised. "I'm also here because I'm the only one that can understand some of what you are going through, that has a vested interest in telling you the truth and ensuring that you understand and use what I am saying. In fact as I pointed out to those filthy friends of yours..."
"Don't insult my friends."
"Well I am sorry, but they do stink terribly, you would be able to tell if you but scented them." Lucius said and waved his hand about. "No matter, the fact remains that my son's life is in danger, from your ignorance."
"How?"
"Do not make any move as though to reject him, or what he says to you, until after you have completed your bond. It is important that you accept everything he is and everything that he tells you, otherwise he might go into dispario, which might be reversed if you realize your mistake and correct it. Yet considering the intelligence..."
"Do not insult my intelligence!" Harry said angrily. "I liked you better when I was Thunder."
"As did I you, but we can't all live life and act according to how much we like people. Otherwise nothing would get done and the world would fall to anarchy."
"I thought you liked anarchy."
"Not total anarchy, total anarchy would be no good to anyone, no a little bit of anarchy is good for this world and helps to maintain the balance. A lot of anarchy on the other hand..." Lucius said and Harry stared at him, at the word balance that knowing had come back, telling him that Lucius was right and there was in fact a balance to all things.
"I get it, you wanted to flip the balance, but still have it be balanced all the same." Harry said and Lucius smiled.
"Exactly, the way the laws are now, if we abolished the restrictions on magical creatures and applied them to Muggleborns and unclean sympathizers, the balance would remain and our population would prosper for the changes, not to mention the cultures and customs that we would share with one another, as it used to be. Before the other houses saw fit to educate the masses and have the balance upset every other year, as the Muggleborns try to pass another ridiculous law, that gives them more power and makes our world more like theirs. They clearly don't understand that while we share a planet, the two worlds are very different."
"That wouldn't solve anything, in a few centuries the Muggleborns would revolt and rise up against those that oppressed them."
"And be crushed easily enough, its the exact same thing that's being done with the sentient magical races, or would you enjoy being called a magical creature? I feel that I am not a creature and should not be called, or treated as such. Yes rebellions do occur, but they can always be beaten down again easily enough, its happened enough time in our centuries. Or do you believe that Dark Lords exist only to get power, if they merely wanted power, don't you think they would be better served in going into politics?" He said and Harry stared at him in shock. "You see only light, that is what Dumbledore made sure of, while my son sees a world of grey, though he chose the shadows, over the so called light. The light in this case is no better then the dark, it is just a force of nature." He said and Harry nodded, what Lucius said made sense to him, as Harry he would have been screaming, railing at Lucius in anger and fear. Harry wanted to reject every word Lucius said, yet the primordial knowledge of his other self, helped him to realize what Lucius was saying and appreciate his words. That is not to say that he instantly believed every word Lucius Malfoy spoke, far from it in fact. He remembered how he hated the man, when he had just been Harry Potter. The ridiculousness of that fact caused him to laugh, long and hard.
"Stop moving pillow." Draco muttered and Harry smiled, though he felt slightly irked at Draco's command, but he forgave his destined one in the next moment, for he was too adorable like this to truly be angry at. He ran a hand through the shoulder length blond curls.
"Very well my One, I shall do as you ask." Harry said.
"Stop talking." Draco complained. "Sleepy."
"You have given me two orders in quick succession, I do not appreciate being ordered about. I have had my fill of orders and people telling me what to do, because they believe it best. I am just as strong as you are, stronger maybe and the only reason I have humored you thus far, is that I wish for us to be bonded in truth. Still as I am a man now, I see clearly that you need my acceptance, as much as I need yours. Therefore you cannot order me about with impunity." Harry said and frowned, where had those words come from? Why had he spoken them, they didn't sound like him at all.
"I believe you insulted Harry's pride Draco, perhaps an apology would be in order."
"Sorry Harry, please can I sleep more?" Draco said Harry smiled.
"Yes, we'll be quiet." He said and kissed Draco's forehead. "Though I'd rather sit up."
"Not until you fully recover from the burning you had to do, in order to return to this form. I have already taken the liberty of talking with the Headmistress and inquiring if she could train you to become an animargus, therefore making the transition easier and less painful. There are not a lot of records in regards to what you are, as you are so very rare. Still I believe with the heart of a phoenix, there is nothing else that you could transform into."
"Do I look any different Lucius?" Harry asked and Lucius nodded.
"The changes are not unappealing, you may have a mirror if you so wish." Lucius said and Harry nodded, he stared at the face he saw, when Lucius gave him the mirror. It was clearly his face, but gone was his black hair; instead his hair was wrapped in a head cloth.
"Why do I have this on?"
"Because the bed sheets would burn if it wasn't, that head cloth is enchanted to withstand the fire from your hair."
"My hair is on fire?"
"No, your hair is the fire, while in Phoenix form you have several more layers of skin then wizards do, between the thickest of these two layers your eternal flame resides Your feathers are strong enough to withstand any attack and therefore there is no risk of the first layer being broken. If by some fluke the first layer were broken, it would cause an explosion large enough to level the main street of Diagon Alley. Therefore no one in their right mind is willing to risk such a thing. In human form however, you cannot have as many layers of skin protecting you and so your body adapts, causing fire to flare where the hair usually grows. I have yet to buy fireproof sheets for this bed and so I bought the entire stock of Saint Mungos bandages and have Draco wrap them around you, as he is your mate and the only one apart from you that your fire will not burn." Lucius said and Harry stared at him.
"My junk is on fire?" He demanded and Lucius burst out laughing, eventually he calmed down enough to merely chuckle, before nodding.
"Yes, I suppose you could state it that way, though as a phoenix you would be adverse to mating with anyone that is not your mate, at any rate." He said and Harry shuddered at the thought of being with Ginny. He had loved Ginny, he still loved her, but he couldn't imagine being with her anymore. Every time he tried his mind kept returning to eyes of silver and hair of moonlight.
"Too right." Harry said and shuddered again at the thought. It would be so wrong to betray his destined one in such a way. "How should I phrase this, my kind has another term, other than mate which we call those that are our mates."
"Really what is it?" Lucius asked and Harry frowned, as he felt that he shouldn't trust such information to Lucius.
"Nothing, never mind." Harry said and Lucius frowned. "Where did I get this sense of wisdom from, this sort of guiding presence?"
"That is your instinct, always try to follow it, it seldom leads you wrong." Lucius advised. " However you do need to still try to act at least somewhat human, others are unnerved if you do not and those that fear magical creatures would also fear you."
"Then what about when Draco was hurt by the Hippogryph, wouldn't he have known better?"
"No, most likely my son thought himself to be superior, although Hippogryphs are intelligent, they aren't as intelligent as the magical races as we call ourselves. Therefore we see the other creatures as our responsibility, we take care of them and expect respect from them. That Hippogryph was highly impertinent in even daring to think of harming my son." Lucius said and Harry frowned.
"So even with magical cre...Magical races, there are hierarchies?"
"Of course, veela are very powerful creatures, because we can simply charm others into doing and thinking what we want. A veela that has its mate can still attract others to it and get them to do what they want as well, regardless of whether or not they prefer the veela's gender when they look for sexual partners. Our family has thrived because of this for years; occasionally marrying veelas again to insure the blood stays true. Other families have magical traditions of their own, for some unknown reason its a right of passage in the Crabbe and Goyle families to mate with a troll at one's coming of age."
"They do what?" Harry asked remembering the troll.
"The trolls enjoy it just as much as the wizards do apparently, though admittedly they are somewhat sedated, they still tend to come when anyone of the family line bellows."
"That's...Thats..."
"A tradition for that family, each wizard family has their own traditions, as well as the ones common to our race as a group, though there are few of those anymore. For example your friends the Weasleys give you sweaters and sweets, because they consider you to be part of their family. Both the Weasley and Prewitt lines once boasted a proud and noble history of marrying Furies, who were creatures of fire and family. There isn't enough Fury blood left in the Weasleys for them to light flames around them, but they still find family to be important, regardless of how many generations have passed. By giving you sweaters to keep you warm and food to nourish you, Mrs. Weasley was instinctively caring for you as a chick. Once a chick is accepted by a fury, the fury considers them to be their chick for the rest of their lives. So despite not marrying their daughter, the others in that family will still consider you a nest mate, even though they might know why." He said and Harry frowned.
"That just confused me." Harry said and Lucius smiled.
"Very well, you may not be the most receptive towards conversation at the moment, so I will say one thing, clear and simple. Blood will out, blood always shows itself eventually, even if the mating took place thousands of years ago, some traits of the magical creature, or creatures will still be there. That is why Muggleborns are at their heart so dangerous, we have no idea of what they are capable of, as you yourself proved."
"So you don't believe that Muggleborns steal the magic of wizards."
"Hardly, do I look like a complete fool? No they are part and parcel of the stupidity of wizards and the biggest culprits are the Purebloods. We unleash Squibs on to the unsuspecting Muggle populace; those squibs find each other, drawn to one another's differences. The squibs produce more squibs, which produce more squibs, until finally a child is born that inherits enough magical ability to be a danger if they are not trained."
"So you think we should train Muggleborns?"
"Yes, just enough to stop them from loosing control, we should not however welcome them into our society."
"But Hermione is my friend and she's Muggleborn, my mom was Muggleborn and I might as well be. In your perfect world I'd be one of the ones that wasn't welcome."
"No, for the simple reason that you will bare my heirs."
"Yeah that's likely, I'm not getting preggers for you, or anyone else."
"If you don't Draco will have to." Lucius said and Harry stared at him. "Still its yet to be determined which of you is dominant, so this is a moot point. Unless of course you would be willing to surrender dominance to my son."
"No." Harry said surprised at how forcefully he said it. "No I can't."
"Your instincts should be strong, but with time and training you can learn to listen to them, while not letting them rule you." Lucius said and Harry smiled, before nodding.
"Its about balance right?"
"Exactly." Lucius said and smiled at Harry.
"So um, do I always have to have my hair covered?"
"Well Severus has agreed to make you some flame protectorate, but you would have to apply it every hour in order to make sure it stays on." Lucius said and Harry frowned, self consciously rubbing a hand to his hair. "No don't touch the cloth, that bed is an antique."
"So I'm really going to have to wear a nightcap?" Harry asked and sighed.
"Why wouldn't you, there are many that are specially charmed, in fact many wizards wear them, they are really quite useful."
"Draco doesn't, it will look stupid." Harry protested.
"That's because Draco doesn't move much in his sleep. Though he does snore he doesn't talk, if he did, he'd wear a nightcap."
"Why?"
"Why to prevent him from transforming of course." Lucius said and Harry stared at him.
"You can do that?"
"Well yes, but you can't, or at least we think you can't. We really can't be sure."
"Then you mean to tell me that I could have a nightmare and cause the bed to go up in flames?"
"You can't, now that your in this shape, we believe your locked into it, until you can master an animargus transformation." Lucius said and Harry rubbed his temples, watching Draco's eyebrows furrow. "You should eat something and try to drink your potions." Lucius said and pulled out his wand. "Solumnus." He said and pointed at Draco, who sighed and nuzzled against Harry's chest. "He should sleep for a while longer now, without you having to worry about waking him."
Harry briefly wondered if that had been necessary but decided not to say anything as he moved the pillows behind him, before slowly moving up to a sitting position. Noxy appeared and handed him a platter full of just about every kind of meat Harry had ever seen, asparagus and potatoes.
"You need to eat lots of protein, after you flame. Like fire needs kindling, you need meat."
"I don't think I can eat all this."
"Your metabolism will be in overdrive now, its all part of being a phoenix." Lucius reassured and Harry stared at the plate, before holding it in one hand and spearing at meats with the other. It was a bit difficult to manage with Draco on his lap. "How thoughtless of me, you don't have a wand do you?" Lucius asked and Harry's plate was floating within easy reach. Harry picked up the knife and fork, before cutting at his meat and slowly eating his meal. "You have very good table manners."
"Thank you, the people who raised me insisted on it." Harry replied and took a mouthful of salmon; he liked the taste, which was kind of surprising since he'd never had it before. Hogwarts didn't tend to serve a lot of fancy food, except on feast days and the thought of the Dursleys giving him salmon was laughable. Still it was nice, he continued to eat, finding that he really enjoyed seafood, although most of the food he had was slightly burnt, he found he liked the smokey flavor of the chard food and that it brought out the flavors more. He continued to eat and was somewhat surprised when he speared the last bite of sausage. "Will I always have to eat like that?"
"Depends on the magic you expend, most probably you'll only need two helpings to feel full most of the time." Lucius said and Harry nodded. "The healers wanted to know if you'd be interested in apprenticing with them."
"I always thought I'd be an Auror." Harry said. "Though that might not be the best thing, considering that my hair would stand out, can I even use Polijuice?"
"I'm not sure that would be a good idea, while polijuice is a powerful glamour potion, no one is really sure what the effects on you would be."
"I see and a lot of people have been discussing me?" Harry asked and Lucius frowned.
"You don't like being discussed, I thought from what Draco told me, you like being the center of attention." Lucius said and Harry laughed.
"Hardly, however admittedly Malfoy baiting was my favorite sport in school. Still Draco was equally good at getting me to loose my temper." Harry said and Lucius smiled.
"Ah yes, the schoolboy rivalry, I remember mine well. In fact I still can't stand Arthur Weasley. He was four years ahead of me in school, but there has been a rivalry between our families that goes back generations." Lucius said and shrugged elegantly. "By the time he graduated, I'd started dating Narcissia, I think that everyone is attracted to their soul mate at some point, they simply don't realize it mostly. I received Severus as my protégée when I was in sixth year."
"Protégée?"
"That's right I forgot that the other houses don't have them, in Slytherin each new student is assigned to a sixth year and they mentor them until graduation. Naturally do to the relationship and if they are matched correctly, they keep in contact for years. It is a way to arrange for business contacts and form strong magical ties to the community in which we live. Though most of Slytherin House is Pureblood and so many already know one another, before they even get accepted into Slytherin. Most people don't tend to notice the first years when they are in sixth year, so it is also to ensure that our students are doing well."
"It sounds like a good system." Harry said and frowned. "Should the room be blurry?"
"Side effect of one of the potions you took, you must be allergic to one of the ingredients."
"What I've never...been aler...allergic bef..." He trailed off his eyes sliding shut of their own accord.
"I am sorry, but you shouldn't move before you are truly recovered." Lucius said, before Harry was thrown into darkness.