Chapter 35: From the Ashes

It was raining in Islington, the skies pouring down water like tears falling from the sky. However, the rain was strangely concentrated in a small circular area over a certain London home that would only appear if you already knew the secret of where it was. Yes, the skies were weeping above 12 Grimmauld Place.

Sirius Black had already received two letters of complaint from the Accidental Magic Reversal Department about the matter. They were quite put out because, frankly, they were having a devil of a time reversing the situation, which was embarrassing. Further, it was the sort of thing Muggles would notice, having a downpour in just one small stationary place. Thus far their best solution had been to just make it rain around the whole area so it was much less noticeable, but that was not the sort of thing they could keep doing indefinitely.

For his part, Sirius had replied that he understood the Ministry's difficulties, but you couldn't expect a teenager, even one as remarkably well-adjusted as Harry, to simply shut off their emotions like a switch. What's more, the raindrops were a perfectly natural color and it was not a hurricane or any other such thing which couldn't be explained by the weather just being odd. And if they really wanted to tell The-Boy-Who-Lived to get over the death of his mentor just like that, they were welcome to try. The Accidental Magic Reversal Department had wisely stayed quiet after that.

Sirius, though, was trying his best to get Harry to come out of his room, where he had gone just after the disastrous events at the Ministry of Magic. For the past two days he had not come out. Not to eat, not to drink, not even to relieve himself. Sirius Black couldn't care less about suburban rose bushes drowning, but he did care that his godson was feeling so gloomy as to cause such an event. As much as he tried though, he got no response and he was wise enough to know that trying to force his way into the room would not help matters. So, when Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger asked if they could come see him, Sirius was glad of it.

"Harry, Ron and Hermione are here to see you," Sirius called through the heavy door. He got no answer. After a minute he called out again. "It's alright if you don't want to come out or answer me, but I have to at least let them come up and talk to you through the door—unless you want me to tell them to go away." Again no response.

After a minute Harry's two best friends were up at the door to Harry's bedroom.

"I know you're hurting, Harry," Hermione called out softly. "I'm devastated, too. Please, let me comfort you. I need you to comfort me, too." It was a very good tactic, appealing to Harry's desire to help others, especially his friends. There was the sound of a stirring in the room, but after a bit it settled and the door did not open.

"Harry, mate, I know what you're feeling. And it's alright, you can feel bad as long as you need to," Ron started, giving it a crack. "When Professor Trelawney died, I was just as upset and hurt and I didn't want to talk to you or Hermione, either. I didn't want to feel better."

There was another sound from inside the room. Sirius, Ron, and Hermione could all feel that Harry was just on the other side of the door now, but still it did not open.

"Do you remember who helped me then, Harry? When I didn't want to talk to anyone?" Ron continued. "It was Professor Dumbledore. He helped me understand that what happened wasn't my fault, and I bet he would want the same for you, too."

That's when there was a click, the door opened, and Harry stood there, tears streaming down his face. But now his grief was mixed with a glint of smoldering anger in his eyes. For just a moment, Ron thought he had said the wrong thing and earned Harry's wrath.

"But Dumbledore would be wrong this time," Harry said bitterly, "because this is my fault. I'm the reason he's dead." There was some heat in his voice and the sound of self-recrimination. Ron was relieved he wasn't the target of his friend's anger after all, but to see just how upset at himself Harry had become was heartbreaking.

"Harry, no," Hermione said with a quick shake of her head. She tried to put a comforting arm on his shoulder, but Harry shrank back, almost cringing away from her effort to support him. She continued trying to soothe him anyway, though just with her words. "It's not your fault. You protected both me and Ron the same way Dumbledore protected you. Would it have been my fault or Ron's fault if you had died then?"

Harry shook his head, rejecting Hermione's rational argument. "You didn't make the plan to lure the Death Eaters to the Hall of Prophecy, or to try to trick Voldemort. That was all me. And for what? Dumbledore's plan is ruined now. All his years and years of work, turned to ash in a moment."

"I'm sorry, it's really my fault," Ron said, offering to take the blame. "It was my fault trying to pull the prophecy orb away from Bellatrix."

Harry scowled dismissively, "You were just trying to make the ruse look convincing. Voldemort had to think there was something secret we didn't want him to know. I told you to make it look good. You were just following my plan."

Hermione saw her chance. "And you were following Dumbledore's. No plan is perfect. You couldn't have known Bellatrix would try to fight half the Order. You couldn't have expected Mad-eye to use a blasting curse to cover the sound of the prophecy. You couldn't have known that Voldemort himself would be waiting in the Atrium. You can't take responsibility for things other people choose to do."

"And you chose to take a Killing Curse for Hermione and chose to put yourself in front of me," Ron added. "That's what you chose, and nobody would blame you for that."

At that, Harry suddenly teared up further, covering his eyes with his hands. "But you should. You all should blame me," Harry said looking down at the feet of the three people he cared for most in the world. "I didn't have to put myself in front Bellatrix's curse to save Hermione. I had other ways. I could have used transfiguration or just moved her out of the way. Instead I apparated in front of her to get hit by the curse."

Sirius, Ron and Hermione stared back incredulously.

"What?" Hermione asked, for the first time losing her soft consoling tone. "Why in Merlin's name would you do that?"

"It was my pride," Harry admitted bitterly. "I thought I could take it, and I wanted to prove to the Death Eaters that not even their strongest could take me down with their darkest curse. I wanted them to think I was as strong as Voldemort."

Tears stung Hermione's eyes. "You idiot," she said, shaking her head. The idea that Harry would risk himself for something so, so dumb was infuriating and hurtful to her. The idea that he would endanger himself….

Sirius, on the other hand, laughed. "And you did it, Harry! You took her best curse and got right back up! Oh, the look on her face! And now they all know you're stronger than them."

"No! Don't you see?" Harry yelled, startling his godfather. "It was all for nothing! I should never have chased the Death Eaters! I was too weak to take another curse, especially not from Voldemort. Dumbledore knew that, and that's why he sacrificed himself. Now the Death Eaters saw Voldemort kill Professor Dumbledore so they think he can kill anyone, including me! He'll be more powerful than ever!"

Sirius didn't quite follow that logic, but then Harry was not really in a rational mindset at the moment.

"Hang on," Ron interrupted. "So, when you jumped in front of me, when Voldemort was trying to….you-know, you knew you couldn't take another curse?"

"Well, yeah," Harry replied.

"Why didn't you do one of those other things, transfigure something or what-not, like you could have for Hermione?"

Harry shook his head. "There was no time. Voldemort is wicked fast, and I was too weakened from Bellatrix's curse. I couldn't be sure I'd save you that way."

"So you really did risk your life for me!" Ron exclaimed.

"Of course!" Harry said without hesitation. "I'd die for either of you."

"But not for your godfather, eh?" Sirius sniped good-naturedly. "You side-along-apparitioned me away instead of standing and taking it like you would for your friends. I feel so left out."

Harry was too exasperated with his godfather to remember to hold onto all of his grief and anger. "Come on, Sirius, you know I'd die for you too."

"Well," Hermione said, smacking Harry on the chest and stepping close to him and giving him a glare. "You had better not! If you jump in front of any more curses….I'll hex you!"

Even though the tears had still not all left his cheeks, Harry couldn't help a small laugh. It was just too ironic a statement. "That would be counterproductive, Hermione," he said.

"I mean it," Hermione said. "I don't want you dead, or cursed, or hurt. I couldn't stand it. Don't ever do anything like that again."

That was when the rain falling outside suddenly stopped. How could Harry continue to grieve so deeply in the face of such care and love? He put a hand on Hermione's shoulder as now she started to cry.

"I promise," he said.

That was when a most wondrous sound washed over the three of them, a sound so soothing and calming that all the tears and self-recriminations in Harry's heart were swept away.

"Fawkes?" Harry asked, recognizing the song of a phoenix.

"He's finally awake," Sirius answered. "His ashes were put downstairs in the drawing room just after you locked yourself upstairs. Dumbledore's wishes."

The three wizards and the witch quickly descended the stairs and moved into the Black family drawing room where Fawkes was perched on the middle of an antique table. The phoenix was already fully grown again, and now it had spread its great wings open wide, it's red and gold plumage glowing with a fire that warmed the room, but did not light the table below it ablaze.

Hermione gasped. "Look! There, at Fawkes's feet!"

They all looked and were astounded to see a shiny bluish green egg the size of an ostrich egg just beneath Fawkes.

"A phoenix egg!" Ron exclaimed. "But…I thought Fawkes was male."

The phoenix let out an indignant squawk and angled its beak towards the red-head.

"Whoa, whoa, I didn't mean anything by it!" Ron Weasley protested. "I'm just surprised is all. With people, only women have babies; I didn't know male phoenixes could lay eggs."

Fawkes squawked again.

"He didn't lay the egg," Harry said. "Fawkes was just protecting it." Harry stared in reverence at the great fiery bird, but his attention was drawn inexorably to the egg.

"How do you know that?" Sirius asked his godson quizzically.

"I…kind of understand Fawkes now."

The bird nodded.

Hermione sighed. "Of course. The boys get all the special gifts. Surviving killing curses, parseltongue, Chosen One," she gestured back and forth between Harry and Ron, "seer, broom prodigy, assistant professors. And now you can communicate with phoenixes. And me, I'm just the biggest bookworm of all time."

"Aw come on, Hermione, be a sport. You make it sound like Harry is some kind of protagonist in a heroic story or something! I mean, what's next, he's going to be made Master of Death or some other such nonsense?" Ron said throwing his hands up.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed.

"And even with all that we still can barely keep up with you, Hermione," Harry replied, earning him a hug from the witch.

Sirius tried to move closer to the table to get a better look at the egg, but Fawkes flapped his wings snapped his beak towards the wizard. Sirius quickly retreated.

When Harry approached, though, Fawkes did nothing, merely watched Harry expectantly. Harry reached out his hand and very carefully touched the phoenix egg. There was an audible crack, and fissures formed over the shell. Fawkes launched into the air, circling the drawing room while trailing fire, phoenix song filling the room with warmth and happiness. Then in a dazzling display, the adult phoenix disappeared entirely. On the table, the shell broke apart and fell away, revealing a small baby phoenix with red-gold plumage similar to Fawkes, but with a tinge of purple around the edges of its feathers.

I'm so happy to see you, Harry!

Harry's eyes went wide. Unlike with Fawkes, who he just barely understood generally, this communication was perfectly clear within his mind. "Albus?" he asked aloud.

Yes, it is me. Well, sort of. This is all a very new experience, and I must say I quite like it. Do you like my feathers? I feel quite proud of them.

"It's Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed.

"Merlin!" Sirius exclaimed, then he began to laugh. "Only Dumbledore!"

"I've never heard of a wizard becoming a phoenix before!" Ron said. "Blimey! That's amazing!"

Hermione was shaking her head. "I don't think it ever has happened before. I was reading in Burgstram's Guide to Magical Creatures that phoenix births are incredibly rare, only happening once every few decades. Most phoenixes stay together up in the mountains in India, Egypt, and China. They don't usually enjoy being around people much."

"Your feathers are beautiful, Professor," Harry said. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

Why thank you, Harry. Please, from now on only call me Albus. I'm not a professor or Headmaster or Supreme Mugwump anymore. And I am so happy to see you, too. In fact, I've never felt so happy before! But now I understand why we phoenixes do not usually stay around people. Too much sadness. I couldn't bear to come out of my shell while you were so unhappy.

At that Harry bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help being sad. Albus, I didn't mean for you to die, or to ruin your plan."

The young phoenix gave a squawk, then spread its wings and jumped up into the air. It flapped its wings frantically, barely managing to remain aloft as it made its way over to Harry's shoulder.

Nonsense! You were inspiring. I don't really remember whatever plan it was I had, but it doesn't matter. Things will be alright in the end, you'll see! Light will always win.

Despite himself, Harry Potter felt better. It was difficult to feel guilty or down when a being so full of light was perched on your shoulder. It was even more relieving to know that the death he had been partly responsible for resulted in an amazing reincarnation. It was a little alarming that apparently Albus had no memory of the prophecy, but Harry still was feeling optimistic with the phoenix with him. After a little inquiry, Harry started to get a good picture of how incarnation as a phoenix had affected the former wizard.

"Okay then," Harry explained for those who did not understand phoenix communications—which was everyone but him (which he now knew was possible because of his connection with Albus), "So, Albus doesn't seem to remember anything dark or negative. He only remembers the good and positive things. And while he remembers having been a wizard, he isn't one now, so he cannot use wizard magic. He may learn to replicate some spells using the natural power phoenixes possess, but there's no way he can just take on Voldemort or anything like that now."

Call him Tom Riddle.

"Right. I'll have to take on Tom Riddle. The problem is, now that there's no prophecy to use against him, it's going to be even harder to defeat him."

Ron frowned. "Why can't we use a prophecy against him?"

"Trelawney's prophecy orb was smashed and we're supposed to be trying to hide the exact details from him," Harry said. "We can't just blurt it out now."

"What do you mean, 'supposed to be'?" Sirius asked, taken aback. "The whole effort of the last six months has been to guard the prophecy from the Death Eaters and Voldemort!"

"Professor Trelawney's prophecy didn't have anything in it that we wouldn't actually have wanted him to know," Hermione explained. "And what he would learn would actually make the prophecy even more likely to happen. So, trying to stop him from getting it was misdirection."

"Wait, how does that work?" Sirius asked.

"You don't want to know," Ron said shaking his head and waving the explanation away. "It's seer stuff. I could explain it to you, but I'd need to go through three books, draw some diagrams, and probably perform a séance."

Sirius quickly begged off. He didn't need to know that badly.

"Anyway, it had taken years just to set up the prophecy as part of Dumbledore's plan in the first place. We don't have that kind of time," Harry said.

"We don't need time," Ron said with a grin. "You've got me. I'm already famous. And everyone already knows that there was a prophecy about you and Voldemort. If another one were to come out, who'd question it?"

"Hang on there, you can just decide to receive a prophecy?" Sirius asked, surprised again.

"Of course not," Hermione hastily replied, "but Ron is very talented as a seer."

Ron nodded smugly. "The Pillars of Fate and I are good mates. Got the best Inner-Eye of anyone in the last three centuries."

Sirius looked at Ron dubiously. "Come on, Ron, you really expect me to believe that? Remember who you're talking to here."

Harry shrugged, "The Chudley Cannons did win the British and Irish Quidditch League Cup and the International Quidditch Tournament this year, just as Ron predicted."

"Dear Merlin, you're right," Sirius said blinking as realization struck him. "If fate did that…how can anyone doubt?"

"The real problem," Hermione said with a frown, "is that after so many people saw Vold—Tom Riddle kill Professor Dumbledore, it will be hard to convince them that anyone, even Harry can beat him. They saw it with their own eyes."

An idea went off in Harry's mind like fireworks. "But what if everyone saw Tom Riddle try to beat me and fail?" Harry asked, starting to feel some excitement. "We won't just make the public believe in the prophecy, we'll make Riddle believe it himself!"

Hermione shook her head, "Harry, that's petitio principa. You can't use the outcome we are trying to achieve as a stepping-stone to achieve that plan in the first place."

"You're right, of course, Hermione," Harry said with a grin. "But we can use the illusion of achieving that end to make the true outcome more believable!" Harry saw that his godfather, girlfriend, and best mate were not following his idea. "Do you remember when I fought that dragon in the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

Ron blanched at the mention of his most shameful period. "Please, don't bring that up."

"Don't worry, if this works out, you won't just get Chocolate Frog cards as gifts, you'll have your own card," Harry said. "Hermione, I'm going to need your help with my idea, too. And you too, Sirius. We're going to defeat the dark lord with a prank."