𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝄂︎❂︎𝄃︎ 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘓𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘯

Chapter Two - A Phoenix and A Picture

She carefully walked over, sitting down, slouching into the comfortable chair. The others in the room were extremely uncomfortable. Edith suspected he bought this one just for her.

Albus rummaged through a drawer in his desk and pulled out an old looking photograph. He set it in front of her with a smile.

She looked down at the photo, confused at first. She picked up and examined it closer. It was a moving picture of a man and a woman. Both with wide smiles on their faces as the man kissed the woman's cheek. Between them was a young phoenix that looked oddly familiar. It was her patronus. The man of above average build had red hair and blue eyes. The small woman had light red hair as well along with gray hair. She looked up at Albus, almost as if to confirm what she was suspecting.

"Christie and Brian Féinics. 1958. Your parents, Edith." He folded his hands in front of him.

"My.." The words died on her lips as she stared at the picture, her fingers trailing over the hair on her fathers head. She stared at it in silence for a few minutes before speaking up. "Thank you Albus. Truly. How did you find this..?"

"I did some research. It seems most anything involving the Féinics family had been erased, likely by the laboratory. They wanted to keep you a secret. As we well know. But I managed to get a hold of this photo."

"This phoenix. I've seen it before. It's my patronus." Edith pointed to it in the photo as Fawkes flew up to rest on the girl's shoulder, to also look at the photo.

"Out of every phoenix your patronus couldn't have been me? I'm quite offended, Edith." Fawkes said with a scoff.

"Yes, that is the Féinics phoenix. You know your family raised phoenix's and studied them. That was your family's personal phoenix, passed down from generation to generation. No one knew what happened to that phoenix but I have a hunch. The scientists needed a phoenix to mix with you."

"They... They used my family's phoenix?" She put a hand on her chest, feeling a warmth ignite within her. Almost like an answer.

"I believe they did. He would have been the most compatible with you. I suspect that's why you lived and the other children... didn't. Their magical DNA wasn't compatible with the phoenix's they were using. Your phoenix has been with your family for so long that it was already a part of you."

"Shit.." She cursed, Albus not bothering to correct her language as she was already distraught. Somehow, this brought a smile to her face. It was horrible what they did to her parents... but she still had a part of them living inside her in the form of her phoenix. "Can I take this?" She asked, looking back up to Albus.

"Of course, it's yours." Albus said with a nod and a smile.

"I need to go show the boys. Thank you, again, Albus." Edith stood and put the picture in her pocket. She walked over to Fawkes perch as he stepped onto it. "I'll see you later." She said to Fawkes.

She walked out of the office, noticing how burnt her clothes were. "I really need to invest in some fire resistant clothing." She sighed as she raced down the halls to the Gryffindor tower. Luckily, class was still in session so the common room was empty. She ran up to the marauder's bedroom. She walked over to her trunk, yes she had a trunk in the marauders dorm. She spent most nights there anyway. She took the picture out of her pocket and set it on Remus' desk. As she pulled off her burnt shirt and tossed it to the side she heard shuffling from one of the beds and looked up to see Sirius sitting on his bed in the corner.

He simply waved. "Wow, studying and a show?" He set his book down on his lap. "What's with the burnt clothes Goldie?"

Edith rolled her eyes and pulled off her skirt as well. "Shut up, not the first time you've seen me in my knickers." She grabbed a new shirt and slipped it on, buttoning it up. "I was with Albus, Fawkes got too excited and wanted cuddles. And who am I to deny him?"