Chapter 8: The Potters

Lily Potter sat at her desk in her family home in Godrick's Hollow, finally getting around to answering some of the letters that she had received over the past week. Motherhood, as much of a blessing as it was, turned out to be a real hindrance to productivity. She was slowly getting back to running her home-brewed potions business after having Harry, but she still wasn't able to accept as many orders as she used to. It was starting to seem as though that may have to wait until her son got a bit older and didn't require constant supervision. Now that he was crawling, there seemed to be no limits to what he could get his tiny little hands on.

As if on cue, the sound of a stack of books falling over could be heard, breaking the impromptu barrier that Lily had attempted to erect in front of the fireplace.

"Harry, no!" Lily shot out of her chair, quickly abandoning her work in favor of scooping up her son. He began to squirm in her arms, clearly objecting to being prevented from what he perceived to be a very important task. "Why are you so interested in the fireplace all of a sudden? Do you have places to be?" This was the third time today that Harry had tried to get to the fireplace. Lily's best guess was that he was trying to imitate what he saw his parents doing when they traveled via the Floo Network, but there was business to be taken care of at home today. No time to go out.

It was then that James Potter walked through the front door, back from his desk job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. His job mainly consisted of paperwork for now, but he had hopes of a promotion to 'auror' in the near future.

"Hello, Sweetheart, how was your day?" James asked his wife before giving her a kiss. Harry was still squirming as Lily held him, but now he was trying to get to his dad, who took him from his grateful mother.

"Busy. I've been trying to catch up on letters, but Harry has been very mobile today." Lily ran a hand through her hair, trying to soothe herself from the stresses of the day.

"You have, have you?" James asked his son. Harry giggled in reply, clearly quite pleased with himself.

"He keeps trying to get to the fireplace." Lily gestured toward all of the objects she had put up to block his path.

James adjusted his glasses and leaned down to peer into the fireplace, Harry growing heavy in his arms. At first nothing seemed amiss, but then he saw something move in the ashes. He straightened up quickly and hastily passed Harry back to his mother before grabbing the broom from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Lily asked, the fear of the unknown threat showing on her face.

"Something's in the fireplace!" James confirmed. He lifted the broom above his head and slowly moved toward the unknown creature. Lily backed away, ensuring she'd have plenty of space to run if the creature were to try to escape. Suddenly, the fireplace creature made a tiny cheap, like a baby chick.

James slowly lowered the broom and took a closer look. "It's alright, it's just a baby bird!"

Lily let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me!"

"I scared myself, too." James pushed aside the objects that Lily had placed to block Harry's path and reached out a single hand, palm up, toward the little fireplace creature. The baby bird shook off a bit of soot and eagerly hopped into James's outstretched hand.

"I've married a fairytale princess," Lily teased. She moved closer to James to get a better look at the bird.

"What kind of bird is this, do you think?" The little bird was about the size of a baby chick, but its feathers weren't quite as fluffy. It was a pale pink color that was likely to darken as it grew and become a nice vibrant red.

"Let me see." Lily transferred Harry to the floor and walked over to the bookshelf, picking out a book on birds. James took a seat on the couch, still holding the little fireplace creature. An interested Harry crawled over to his father to see what he had in his hand. "It looks like it's going to have red feathers once it's full grown." Lily flipped through the pages, trying to identify their new house guest, but not seeing anything that seemed like the right fit. That is, until she flipped to the chapter on magical avians, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Hey, Lily, come and look at this."

Lily looked up from the book to see James pointing to Harry on the floor. The bird was perched on their son's shoulder, gently nestling the top of its head against the bottom of Harry's chin. Harry sat with his shoulders raised, giggling in delight.

"Well, look who's made a friend," Lily said, shaking her head in wonderment.

"Were you able to figure out what kind of bird this is?"

"Yeah, I think it's a phoenix." The phoenix was an extremely rare magical bird, known for living extraordinarily long lives due to their continuous cycle of rebirth. They grow older and older until they ultimately burst into flames and are then reborn from the ashes. There was no telling how old this particular phoenix was, despite having the appearance of a baby, as it had likely experienced babyhood many times over.

The instant bond between Harry and the phoenix seemed at first to be cute, but nothing too unusual. It soon became clear, however, that this wasn't merely about a baby who loved animals. They were inseparable. The phoenix continued to stay in the Potter family home, showing no interest in returning to the wild. Harry would become fussy if he spent too much time away from his feathery friend. They installed a perch for the little phoenix in the nursery so they could sleep near each other. It was unlike anything James or Lily had ever heard of before. Being so intrigued by their son's relationship with this phoenix, and having fairly limited knowledge about phoenixes in general, the Potters decided to reach out to their old headmaster and friend, Albus Dumbledore, to see if there was anything they should know. After receiving their letter, Dumbledore became intrigued and arranged a visit to the Potter home to see for himself.

"Isn't that something?" Dumbledore said. Despite his age, he insisted on sitting on the floor to interact with Harry and the phoenix up close. Harry had thrown one of his toys, a set of colorful interlocked plastic rings, and the phoenix had picked it up in his beak and brought it back to Harry, much to his delight.

"They're like this all the time," James confirmed. "Is it unusual behavior for phoenixes?"

"Well, yes and no," said Dumbledore, his eyes still locked on the baby and his winged companion in fascination. "I had my suspicions when I received your letter, and now that I see it with my own eyes, I'm sure."

"Sure of what?" asked Lily. "Should we be worried? Their friendship has seemed pretty harmless so far, but I suppose it is a wild animal at the end of the day."

"Ahh, no, there's nothing to worry about. This little fellow would never harm Harry, I promise you that."

"So, what do you think the fascination is about?" Lily pressed.

Dumbledore finally stood up off the floor, stretching his back. "I'm getting a bit old to be sitting like that," he commented. "Phoenixes, of course, live very long lives. Some say they can live forever, in a never-ending cycle of death and rebirth. There are reports, incredibly old accounts, mind you, that phoenix eggs, brand new, unborn phoenixes, would appear to witches or wizards with great destinies. These witches or wizards would raise these eggs to hatch, and the little hatchlings would grow into their own personal protectors."

"Are you saying that this phoenix has been in our fireplace since it was an egg?" asked James.

"Unlikely," Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "But there are those who say that these hatchlings continue to watch over the families of their companions for generations. Sometimes they disappear for many years, reappearing when they feel they are needed most. There have been no accounts of these phoenix protectors for a very long time. Many question whether they existed at all. I, myself, didn't know what to believe on the matter. But seeing the love this bird and your son have for each other; I believe every word."

James and Lily looked at each other, trying to help all of this sink in.

"You said that the phoenixes reappear when they feel that they're needed," said Lily.

Dumbledore nodded. "I think it's very clear that this little one has quite the future ahead of him."

In present day, Harry sat in his chair at Hagrid's table, his brain reeling. This was already so much to take in, and the story wasn't over. He stroked the phoenix's head absentmindedly, finding the motion soothing. It was hard to believe that he'd first befriended this bird as a baby in his parents' home, yet at the same time it felt so incredibly familiar.

"Seeing you and that phoenix together all those years ago, was such a joy," Lupin said, taking up the story. "I'd come over to visit, Sirius as well, of course, and the two of you together would light up any room you were in." Harry smiled.

"I must confess to you now, Harry, that I did not foresee where things went from there, but it pains me greatly that I did not think this through," said Dumbledore. "It is my belief, though the evidence is insufficient, that whoever killed your parents may have wanted your phoenix for themselves."

"He protected you, that phoenix," Lupin said, his eyes glistening at the memory of his dear friends' passing. "Before anyone even knew what had happened, you showed up on Sirius's doorstep. The phoenix had used its magic to whisk you both away to safety." Harry's eyes also began to form tears.

"I failed to foresee the dangers that took your parents from you. Nothing will ever make that right, but I wasn't about to make the same mistake again," said Dumbledore, his voice dripping with regret.

"That's the reason for all the secrets," Lupin confirmed. "If there was someone after that phoenix, we didn't want them to have access to any more information about it. And as much as it was clear that it would hurt the both of you, the difficult decision was made to separate you to keep you safe."

"I agreed to take him in," Hagrid said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "I've got a special interest in magical creatures, you see. Dumbledore trusted that I would look after it. Until you came to Hogwarts of course."

Harry smiled and nodded at Hagrid but remained silent for a minute. "What's his name?" he asked after a time.

"You tell us," said Dumbledore.

Harry looked into the phoenix's eyes, and without even knowing how he knew, he spoke the bird's name. "Fawkes. His name is Fawkes."