Firebird's Son: Book I of the Firebird Trilogy Chapter 22: Grim Tidings, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: Chapter Twenty-One review responses are available in my forums.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Grim Tidings

Harry adopted a new habit over the remainder of his Christmas Holiday—Luna-watching. Each night when he went to bed, he pulled out the map and watched as Luna meandered haplessly throughout the castle, well after curfew. As a second year she should not have been left so alone, though he knew from Hermione in Care of Magical Creatures class that second year girls were not watched as closely as the boys were. After all, it wasn't as if older boys were out to poach the younger girls. Most seventh year boys were already bonded and living in married quarters, as were more than a few sixth years.

Luna would stop every so often and spin around in a circle before continuing her meanderings. Sometimes she would stop and stare at a wall, and in his mind's eye Harry envisioned her studying some of the portraits.

He did not have any more visions like that first time, and consequently did not feel any need to employ his newly learned Charms work. However, for reasons he couldn't say, it brought him some small comfort to watch Luna Lovegood's footsteps walk through the castle. It felt almost as if he were there with her, holding her hand and looking at the portraits with her. In his mind, at least, it felt like an intensely personal companionship, one he had never known before.

That's what he was doing two nights after Christmas, in fact, when he saw something new on the map. He didn't realize what he was seeing, at first. There were paw prints, rather than footprints, which was odd because the map didn't track any other animals that he had noticed. Moreover, the paw-prints had a name that the map illustrated in red with small animated fireworks: PADFOOT.

As Harry watched, another name appeared: MOONY. Moony ran toward where Padfoot was approaching the Gryffindor tower, his footsteps flying over the floor. Though Harry could not see exactly what transpired, he could hear a deep, resounding thud ring through the castle. Paw-prints turned to footsteps and the name PADFOOT changed suddenly to Sirius Black. Sirius black was facing Moony. Another thud reverberated through the floor of the tower, followed by a third, before Padfoot turned and ran away. Mid-step the footprints turned to paw-prints.

Suddenly a block of black appeared on the map, soaring toward Moony.

Harry jumped from his bed, with his wand in hand, and ran down the tower stairs to the empty common room. The Fat Lady screamed at him when he rushed outside, only to come to a sudden standstill.

Professor Remus Lupin lay prostrate on the ground while a cloud of darkness hovered over him. "Professor!" Harry screamed.

The shadow pulled back from Lupin and stared with an eyeless face at Harry. He raised his wand and shouted "Incendio!"

There were very few occasions when a person's elemental inclination made itself known with the exception of a handful of elemental spells. For Slytherins, this consisted of water-based spells. Ravenclaws were well known for powerful wind spells, while Hufflepuffs could conjure earth and were also very good at prodding plants to grow.

For Gryffindors, though, fire was their natural inclination, and Harry was more powerful than most Third Years. Moreover, his magic was influenced by desperation and fear. What emerged from his wand was not a small ball of fire, but a stream of near white-hot flame that slammed into the Dementor.

The power of the fire pushed the demon back, but did not harm it. Even while he forced his magic into his wand, Harry felt a sense of profound despair when he saw that the Dementor had risen upright and spread its skeletal arms out to either side, and was now absorbing the fire into its darkness as if it were nothing but a stiff breeze.

Suddenly he heard Lupin call out, "Expecto Patronum!"

A doe of pure white light burst from his wand and ran through the air right into the darkness of the Dementor. Where Harry's powerful fire spell had no effect, the doe had an immediate one. Where white magic collided with black demon, Harry could see the living darkness of the Dementor actually crack. The demon keened with a horrible cry before turning and flying back down the corridor it came from.

When Harry turned, Lupin was on his knees and as pale as a sheet. He started to tumble forward as Harry tried to catch him. "It's not safe out here," the professor whispered weakly. "You need to get back in your dorm!"

"No, I need to get you to the hospital wing," Harry countered. He stepped back and cast a Levicorpus on his professor, and then ran with Lupin floating behind him to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was asleep, but her seventh year intern was on duty. "What's going on here?" she demanded.

"There was a Dementor in the school!" Harry said. "It attacked Professor Lupin before he cast a Patronus!"

The intern paled and then spun and ran to the wall where the funnel of a speaking tube projected out. "Madam Pomfrey, I need your help!" she yelled into the funnel.

A few moments later a tired-looking mediwitch stormed into the Hospital Wing. The intern filled her in immediately. "Mr Potter claims Professor Lupin was attacked by a Dementor, and he does show signs demonic proximity, but he's also been hit by a pair of dark curses."

Harry blinked before looking at his professor. "Oh, that must have been from Sirius Black."

The two women stopped mid-word. Her hand to her chest, Pomfrey finally sputtered, "What did you say, Mr Potter?"

"Sirius Black was trying to break into Gryffindor Tower and Professor Lupin stopped him, and it was after that that the Dementor attacked."

Pomfrey straightened, turned to her intern, and said, "Fetch the headmaster immediately. Use my Floo."

"Yes, Madam!"

Before the girl was gone, Pomfrey already had Lupin's shirt banished, exposing two black spots on his chest. To Harry, both spots were shimmering with deep blue magic that the fire in Remus's chest was fighting desperately against.

Clucking her tongue, Pomfrey started chanting in a language Harry couldn't even guess at. Her magic was white, like the Patronus, and seemed to surround the blue. However, it could not remove it, it simply surrounded it and seemed to separate it from the fire of Lupin's own magic. She did the same for the second spot, while muttering to herself that she had no idea how deep the curse had penetrated.

"Quarter of an inch, Madame," Harry said.

Pomfrey froze. "Hmm," she said after a moment's thought. "Forgot you were there. However…quarter of an inch, you say? You can see the curse, then?"

"It's a really dark blue."

"Alright, then, let's try something. Accio Essence of Dittany."

A large bottle flew into her waiting hand from around a corner, while she kept her wand on Lupin. "Potter, listen to me, I'm going to remove the cursed tissue. I need you to tell me if I get it all. If any of the blue remains, it could kill him, do you understand?"

"Yes, Madam,"

With a nod, she gritted her teeth and cast. Her magic came out as bright red, almost like Harry's fire but more controlled. Immediately the blackened skin on Lupin's chest started to burn away, sprouting blood. The man convulsed in agony despite being unconscious, but he could not seem to move beyond the bed, and Pomfrey continued unabated. Harry stared in sick fascination as the skin burned away.

"There, that got it all!" Harry said.

With an explosive sigh, Pomfrey released her spell and poured almost half the bottle onto the bleeding, open wound. The dittany was perfectly clear, like water, until it came in contact with Lupin's magic. It immediately turned the exact colour of his magic as it began replacing the flesh itself.

"So it makes his own magic heal him faster?" he wondered aloud.

"What's that, Potter?"

"The Dittany turned the same colour as his magic."

"Oh, well, yes. Dittany encourages the user's own magic to healing purposes. It's useless on Muggles, but on magicals, it's as close to phoenix tears as one can get without the phoenix. Now, we're going to do the same thing on the next curse. Are you ready?"

"Yes, ma'am."

They were just finishing with the second curse when Albus Dumbledore arrived, bedecked in purple. Surprisingly, though, he was accompanied by Kingsley Shacklebolt in red Auror robes. "How is he, Poppy?" the Headmaster asked.

"He'll survive. Black used level five restricted curses on him, Professor. I daresay if Mr Potter had not brought him in as quickly as he did, he'd be dead."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, casting a speculative glance at Harry. "And what was Mr Potter doing out of his common room so late at night?"

Not wanting to give away his father's map, Harry said, "I heard a loud thudding sound, Professor, and when I went to check it out I saw a dementor over Professor Lupin. I tried a fire spell but it didn't work. Professor Lupin cast a Patronus though, that chased it off, but then he collapsed."

"Impossible!" Kingsley said. "The Dementors have orders to stay out of the castle."

"Kingsley Shacklebolt, I'll have you know the boy's telling the truth!" Pomfrey said primly. "Remus's aura was touched by one of those demons!"

Shacklebolt looked shaken. "It must have followed Black into the castle, that's the only reason I can think of," he said.

"Just like they followed Black into the Quidditch game and threatened my students?" Dumbledore said his blue eyes cold. "Kingsley, please express to Madam Bones my grave displeasure at having those things by my school. Please let her know one of my professors was attacked, and remind her of why she had her department's budget restored."

"Yes, Chief Warlock," Shacklebolt said curtly. "And the boy?"

"Saved his professor's life, and that's done with," he said. "Go on now, Kingsley."

With that the Auror turned and walked away, shaking his head. Dumbledore turned to Harry and said, "It was a very brave thing you did, Mr Potter, but also quite foolish. Sirius Black means you harm, and while you are powerful and resourceful, you are also thirteen, while he is nearly forty, and quite the accomplished wizard at that. Please remember that. Now, I shall accompany you back to your room, while Professor Lupin recuperates from his ordeal."

~~Firebird~~

Lupin was back in class two days later. After their class was over, Harry lingered a few moments while Professor Lupin made a point of ignoring him in favour of a stack of essays. "Professor Lupin?" he finally asked.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I think I may need another detention."

Smirking, Lupin finally looked up. "Oh? And what have you done to earn a detention, Mr Potter?"

"I've been spying on my fellow students with my father's map." Given it was Lupin who told the twins to give it to him, Harry did not mind confessing he used the thing.

"Really?" Lupin stood and paced about with his hands in his pockets. "That's nothing we didn't do at your age. The map after all can't show you what someone is doing, only where someone is."

"Or who they're in," Harry said.

Remus barked out a laugh. "Indeed, I remember what the map does in that case. Very well, detention tonight. Now, the real reason?"

"I want to learn the Patronus Charm."

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "Mr Potter, your father was an Auror captain, and nearly washed out of training because of that spell. It took me almost six months of intense training to learn it myself as an adult and I've been called passing smart. Why in Merlin's name do you think I could teach it to a thirteen-year-old boy?"

"Can't you even try?" Harry asked desperately. "Please? Those Dementors…they're black. All black inside…"

"That's because Dementors are demons. They are anti-magic, like vacuums," Lupin said. "They feed on souls, and since our magic is an extension of our soul energy, they consume our magic as well. If you had made that fire with Muggle napalm, for instance, it would have burned. But since it was conjured fire, the Dementor simply absorbed it."

Harry looked down at his feet, feeling the familiar bitter taste of denial. "Fine. Thank you anyway, Professor."

He turned to leave when Lupin said, "Don't forget your detention tonight, Harry. I can't promise you that you'll learn it, but I am willing at least to try to teach you."

Harry fought down a surge of happiness and reduced it to just a smile. "Thank you. I'll see you tonight."

~~Firebird~~

Gryffindor pushed past Ravenclaw by thirty points thanks to Harry's beating Cho Chang to the snitch at the last minute. Unfortunately, Slytherin destroyed Hufflepuff, sweeping the first round, and guaranteeing themselves a place at the house championship game.

Classes continued apace, leaving little time for any of them to worry about anything else. Having eight straight hours of class every day would have been exhausting, physically and mentally, for normal children. The staff of Hogwarts, however, knew from centuries of experience that witchborn children were not the same as Muggle children. And so the young witches and wizards were continually pushed and prodded. Failure was not an option, and where a student struggled, additional intervention was made until that student made the minimum required grades.

Harry was certainly not the best student, but he was far above Ron Weasley, placing third out of thirteen boys, and ninth out of all forty third-years. He wasn't proud of his performance, or upset either. After all, he had no one to show his grades to; no possibility of having a report given a place of honour on the Dursleys refrigerator.

One of the few high points of his academic life was Care for Magical Creatures. Professor Sylvania Kettleburn was nearly ecstatic to learn that Harry was a magical omniglot and repeatedly asked him what specific creatures were saying. Often during class Harry would have to translate, "I am hungry, food" and "Itchy, itchy, balls itchy". It seemed even magical creatures really didn't have all that much to say normally. However, it was enough to ensure he received highest marks from the old, scarred spinster of a witch.

Divination, on the other hand, was simply a pain. He received six different visions during the first term, and another two in the second, from the various forms of divination, mostly from Cartomancy, Chiromancy (Palmistry—in which he learned Lavender would lose her virginity before leaving Hogwarts, though he was damned if he was going to tell her that). And Causimancy, which appeared to be a favourite of Gryffindors since it involved divination through fire.

Every time, he got a blinding headache and a vision that just wasn't worth the effort. He really did not want to know that Parvati would get an upset stomach and sick up on her bed that night, or that Gregoria Goyle had a dildo the size of a small baby that she played with almost nightly.

That last vision actually made his nose bleed and vomit come up, though not because of the power required to have it, but because of the vision itself.

Professor Trelawney was not only unsympathetic, but seemed to take a devilish delight in his pain. The other students, however, eyed him with equal parts respect and suspicion, since none of them ever knew what he saw.

Muggle Studies was just not the same, and Professor Geneva Pax simply wasn't as good as Charity was. Even if she were, Harry would never have admitted it. Still, he did his work every day and prepared for his GCSE the following year.

His detentions with Remus were less productive, but he refused to give up. Instead, he had the professor conjure his Patronus and watched how his magic gathered in his chest. Before it travelled to his arm, though, it merged with a sliver of silver from his mind, and it was that silver piece of magic which caused the Patronus to actually form.

"You said I have to use the happiest memory I have," Harry said. "Professor, what memory do you use?"

"I use a kindness done to me when I was sixteen," Lupin said with a sad, wistful smile. "A gift I've had only that one time, and never since. And no, I shan't tell you, Harry. Some things are too personal to share. What is your happiest memory?"

"Does it have to be a memory?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean?"

Harry felt his cheeks burn. "Well, er, I had a vision, you see. A really, really nice vision. It made me feel really happy."

"Even if it was only a vision, you remember it, and so you can use it. Actually, the fact you even made a mist is quite remarkable, Harry. Frankly I'm encouraged."

~~Firebird~~

Sometimes, though not as often as he did at Christmas, Harry pulled out his father's map. Always, without exception, he would find Luna walking alone through the castle well after curfew. Every time he found her, she would spin around a few times, before resuming her walks. He liked to think that she was greeting him in her own way, though of course there was no way she could know he was watching over her.

~~Firebird~~

With the first of February came another hard-fought match between Gryffindor and Slytherin to start the second round of play. This time, there were neither grims nor dementors, and Harry took exceeding pleasure in snatching the Snitch out from right in front of Malfoy's face to clench the victory.

That night, he watched on the map as Fred and George celebrated their victory with Angelina and Lee. He celebrated in his own way as well, while Luna spun about on the map in greeting.

~~Firebird~~

The second Saturday in May dawned bright and beautiful. It was the day of the championship between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and Oliver Wood had slipped entirely beyond the bounds of sanity.

He marched the halls of the tower screaming the Gryffindor Fight Song, which incidentally went by, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" to the tune of God Save The Queen. It was repetitive, certainly but also surprisingly easy to sing along with.

Harry was not nearly as nervous as his first two years. The game was that afternoon, so he ate an unusually large breakfast with the plan of eating a light lunch. He sat with his teammates that morning rather than with roommates, and for that moment it didn't matter that he was still the youngest person on the team, or that three of his teammates were busy shagging each other's brains out with a reservist every other night. At that moment, with Wood calling on them to fight and show their Gryffindor courage, all was right in the world.

Six hours later the game started, and kept on going and going. After the first hundred points Harry gave up on helping the Chasers and started concentrating on finding the blasted Snitch, but it was nowhere to be seen. After the first three hours, exhaustion began taking its toll. Both teams rotated in their reservists just for a chance to get a breather, save for Harry who had no official back up.

Play became sloppy on both sides, but Gryffindor managed to retain a slight lead well into the fifth hour. Finally, Harry spotted the Snitch hovering at the far end of the Gryffindor goals. He was so tired of playing that he didn't even bother to hide his approach, but instead leaned down and shot forward like a missile.

Draco, caught up short and just as exhausted, did not even move at first until he realized Harry had actually seen the Snitch. He shot after, but with far too great a distance to make up in the time remaining.

Surprisingly the Snitch did not dip or swerve to avoid his hand, and the moment he touched it two things happened. On the first, the gong ending the game sounded and Gryffindor won its third straight Quidditch Cup. The second was more curious to all who watched; Harry Potter disappeared.

Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading.