The Second Potter

Not Over

        As Phoenix and Harry walked back through the empty halls of Hogwarts, they were just laughing and having a good time; being normal teenagers for once in their life. Harry was telling Phoenix about his travels with Hermione and Ron when they were searching for Horcruxes. Phoenix told Harry of her time with the Death Eaters and expected him to shun her and cast her out but he just gave her a loving look and continued to listen intently.

She was surprised to say the least, but Phoenix didn't dare tell Harry about how she died and about Kingdom Come. It wasn't that she didn't think Harry couldn't handle it, she just didn't want him to hear about all of the people that they had lost and how she got to see them but he didn't.

Harry knew that they were both Horcruxes and both had to die for Voldemort to be defeated, but he didn't know how Phoenix died. Everything about that was fuzzy and the only thing he remembered about Phoenix was seeing a glimpse of her leaping from somewhere above himself before he blacked out.

"Phoenix who did you see when you died?" Harry blurted. Phoenix stopped walking and was shocked by the question, almost falling over in surprise.

"W-what?"

"In the train station," Harry saw the look of shock on his twin's face and decided to rephrase his question in case Phoenix was uncomfortable sharing her experience, "I saw Dumbledore...Who did you see?" Phoenix smiled and looked down. Harry took her silence as her being uncomfortable so he spoke quickly after. "If you don't want to go back to that place, you don't have to answer, I was just curious."

"No, it's quite alright Harry. I saw Remus and Sirius." Phoenix looked up at her brother with a smile on her face and her eyes watering. Harry sighed and rubbed his sister's arm but when he did, Phoenix felt this shock go through her body and she stumbled backwards. Her ears rang and she got the most uneasy feeling. Harry rushed to her aid, trying to help Phoenix to her feet but she just sat on the ground with wide eyes and uneven breathing.

A figure caught her eye and she looked past Harry, seeing someone she never expected to see back here. She pushed Harry out of her line of sight and stood with her brows furrowed. "Cedric?" She breathed out. Harry muttered something that Phoenix didn't catch. She walked towards the former Hufflepuff who had a distasteful look on his face. "Cedric," Phoenix called to him, trying to get him to respond.

Instead, there was a slight change of scenery and Phoenix wondered where she had seen it before, there were headstones and the stone castle wall behind Cedric was replaced with a grassy scene. She saw Cedric take one last look somewhere past her head before he was thrown backwards by a spell. Phoenix screamed and ran after him but she was met with something cold and hard.

Phoenix stumbled back and saw that she was back in Hogwarts castle, with a very concerned twin looking down at her. Harry tried to help her up but she shrugged him off of her, insisting that she was fine. "Phoenix, you're not fine! You just ran into a wall calling Cedric's name? And Cedric who? Cedric as in Diggory?" Phoenix didn't listen to her brother's rant and left him trailing her down the halls of the castle.

She was soon thrown down the long staircase as a spell hit the exact spot on her stomach where she was impaled with a tree branch not a day earlier. Harry sprinted down the stairs after his sister, looking around for whoever shot the spell.

Phoenix finally stopped rolling when she cleared the second set of stairs. From there, Phoenix rolled onto her stomach and spat blood onto the velvet carpet. She pushed herself onto her hands and tried to sit up, but found that she wasn't able to.

Phoenix heard a familiar heartbeat and muttered a quick illusion spell. "Phoenix," someone called from the bottom of the stairs. Many people had now gathered at the mention of the witch's name. They all looked up at her as she stood, her back facing them.

She seemed to be looking up the stairs to someone. She took a glance behind her and saw that Draco was starting to climb the stairs. She smiled, held up a hand, and shook her head. Draco halted for a second, confused as to what was happening, but wished he didn't stop.

Phoenix suddenly collapsed as a green spell hit her shoulder. Her arm dangled lifelessly off the top stair and her head lolled to the side. For Draco, it was torturous slow motion as he tried to run to her. Draco thought he saw a shimmer of some kind as Harry knelt down to help Phoenix, but that could've just been the tears in his eyes.

No one had ever seen this side of Draco and at this point, he didn't care. He screamed out in anguish and sobbed loudly, begging for anyone to bring Phoenix back. "Please, can anyone help?!" He shouted down the stairs as some of the teachers started to crowd around the already packed staircase. Professor McGonagall bolted up the stairs in a rather graceful way and her hand flew to her mouth when she saw the sight in front of her.

"Please," Draco screamed. He leaned his forehead on Phoenix' chest and brought her body closer to his, entrapping her in a hug that he never wanted to get out of. Phoenix' limbs swayed lifelessly with the slightest movement. Again Draco pleaded, but this time he whispered it in Phoenix' ear. "Please Phoenix," he pulled away from her and planted a soft kiss on her lips, "please come back to me." But Phoenix didn't move and a large part of Draco died that day.

Not only had he lost his love, he had lost his rock, his comfort, his life. Because without Phoenix, Draco felt dead even though he was alive and that was something no one would be able to understand.

II~+~II

"Phoenix why are you doing this," Harry asked as they watched the scene before them unfold. Phoenix wiped away a tear as she saw Draco breaking inside.

She took a deep breath and answered Harry's question. "It's not safe for me to be around people right now Harry. You saw what happened not ten minutes ago. I'm doing this for everyone's sake." Phoenix crossed her arms and sniffled, trying to show that she wasn't affected by this, when really she was.

"Nix," Harry sighed, "I get that you want to protect people, but we're hiding behind an invisible wall where we can see the outside world but they can't see us...This is a bit much. You could've just said that you needed to go away for a while."

Phoenix shook her head, "He's strong he'll get over me."

"I'm not so sure about that." After a few minutes of silence, Phoenix turned and looked away. "Phoenix, he's dying, you can't do this to him." Still Phoenix kept her back turned to him. "Phoenix! Look at him!" Phoenix turned back with tears in her eyes and sobbed when she saw Draco's state.

She knelt down and look at Draco. "I love you," she whispered. Draco's expression changed when he heard Phoenix' voice and he looked around, searching for her. "I'm sorry I have to do this, but it's for your own good. We'll find each other someday. I promise."

Draco wiped his tears, but still cried over Phoenix body. Phoenix reached out to him, making sure not to touch her dead body, and placed a kiss on Draco's cheek. He flinched from her touch but nodded discretely so only Phoenix could see. "I love you so much," Draco muttered, his voice faltered.

"And I, you."

And then there was silence on Phoenix' end of things. Draco broke down in even harder sobs and screamed out, cursing out at someone. "He doesn't believe my voice," Phoenix said plainly, tears falling from her eyes, "he thinks it's a trick and that I'm actually dead." Harry rubbed his twin's back but she just faced him and told him that all he had to do was touch his illusion self and be transported into the non-illusion world.

Harry nodded and was about to do so but she stopped him, telling him that she had the flat picked out that they were going to share. He nodded and caught the key and the address attached to it that his twin threw at him. When he looked back, Phoenix had disappeared but he did as she said and touched his double, entering the real world.