Spells used in this chapter:
Arania Exumai (ah-RAHN-ee-a EKS-su-may) - This spell is used to blast away Acromantulas and, presumably, all other arachnids.
Mobilicorpus (MO-bil-ee-COR-pus) - Levitates and moves bodies.
Draco left Malfoy Manor soon after Phoenix did. However, he had the impending thought that his father would not hold to his word and harm Phoenix. He kept imagining what he would do if his thoughts came to light. It was with a heavy heart that he apparated into the Slytherin dormitories before dinner. Draco plopped down on the couch and stared at the fire as he just debated life in general. From behind, a female voice called to him. "Draco?"
He groaned in response and looked up at an angry looking Pansy Parkinson. "Why do you look like an angry snake?" Draco asked.
"Because I am an angry snake," She joked sarcastically, "but that's not the point."
"Then what is?" Draco said laying face down on the couch.
Pansy turned him over and pulled him off the couch, "Snape's got it out for you."
"That's rubbish, I'm his favorite student."
"It's not rubbish, not since you completely skipped Potions today."
Draco's eyes widened, "What about Phoenix? Did she get in trouble for being late?"
Pansy raised an eyebrow. "Why would Phoenix get in trouble for being late?" She asked as the two started to walk to the Great Hall for dinner.
"That's the reason I missed class," Pansy looked at him with a shocked face but Draco glared at her and continued, "that's not what I meant. We were working on a project about dragons when she left to go back to Hogwarts. But I was only a few minutes behind her so did she get in trouble for being late?"
"Draco," Pansy started, not knowing what to say.
Draco stopped and faced Pansy, "Did she?"
"Draco, Phoenix was on time for class."
"That's not possible."
"It is, she made it on time. I should know, I was there when she did." Pansy continued walking with Draco following close behind.
"But how? I apparated back a few minutes after her."
Pansy cleared her throat as they got to the Great Hall, "Draco, maybe you lost track of time. Just Ben prepared for Professor Snape to yell at you."
Draco nodded as they walked into the Great Hall. He looked at the Slytherin table and found Phoenix. She was turned around in her seat and talking with Harry about something. Somehow, Phoenix knew Draco was there because her head whipped to the doors of the Great Hall and she stopped talking to Harry. Phoenix stood up and practically ran over to Draco, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the Slytherin.
"When I said 'See you later', I meant 'See in you in Potions,'" She said seriously with a hint of sarcasm, "Draco, where were you? I thought you were going to grab your stuff and be right behind me?"
"I know. Believe me, you're the second person that's given me an earful in the past five minutes." Draco replied as he sat down next to Phoenix.
Phoenix glanced up at the head table and saw Professor Snape staring at them, "Has the professor already talked with you?"
Draco shook his head. "No, not yet. Thank Merlin."
"I'm so sorry Draco. I tried to cover for you but he saw straight through every lie."
Draco smiled, "Well, he isn't but the head of Slytherin House for nothing, Nix." Phoenix snickered and looked down at her hands. After a few seconds, the two spoke simultaneously.
"I'm sorry." They chuckled and Phoenix looked at Draco with a kind look in her eyes.
"I was out of line," Draco said.
Phoenix waved it off. "No, it was me. I should've realized what had just happened and that you were on edge and-"
"No Phoenix, it's my fault," Draco interrupted, "I was angry at my father for...something...that he said and I took it out on you. So I apologize for my outburst."
"I forgive you, Draco. But I hope you'll forgive me as well."
Draco genuinely smiled, something Phoenix had never seen him do before, and he softly said, "Of course I forgive you." Phoenix smirked. "I could never stay mad at you. Not with those puppy dog eyes." Phoenix giggled under her breath.
"I never knew you could make a pun seem so genuine." She smiled. Draco winked at her as Dumbledore stood at the front of the Great Hall.
He didn't his daily spiel about importantly updates in the wizarding world, then the Professor had to make it depressing with news updates about then wizarding world and Lord Voldemort. When he finished, the feast appeared and everyone dug in. "Phoenix!" Harry called. Phoenix turned around to talk with her brother and Draco glanced over at Phoenix every once in a while, just staring at her.
Not in a creepy way or anything, he just wanted to memorize every detail of her face. The most recent glance, Harry saw. And he did not like it. He wanted to say something snarky to Malfoy for looking at his sister, but Professor Snape walked over to the Slytherin table. Draco knew what was about to happen and gulped.
Phoenix looked at him reassuringly as Draco stood and walked out of the Great Hall with Professor Snape. Phoenix' eyes followed them out the door as Draco kept eye contact with her as long as he could. He needed some confidence right about now. Once they were out of the Great Hall, Professor Snape led Draco to his office. Once they got there, Draco gulped before going in.
The Professor sat behind his desk and folded his hands in his lap. "I suspect you know why you're here." Draco nodded. "Good," Snape scowled, "then you'll know the question that comes next." Draco nodded again and Professor Snape waited for an answer. Snape sighed and rolled his eyes, "Draco, you're better than this. So why did you skip class?"
"I didn't think I skipped it Professor," Draco explained. Snape raised an eyebrow and looked at Draco skeptically. "Honestly, I really was working on a project with Phoenix, but then she apparated back to Hogwarts and I thought I was right behind her."
"I know you were working with Phoenix, that's not the problem."
"Then what is, Professor?" Draco asked.
Professor Snape slammed his palms on his desk and startled Draco, "The problem, Draco, is that Phoenix was there on time and you were not!"
"I'm sorry Professor."
"I don't care if you're sorry Draco," Snape sighed, "You are usually on time to class and focused on your school work." Draco nodded and looked at his feet. "Everyone thinks you to be my favorite student, the 'Teacher's Pet' if you must," He said standing up and looking Draco directly in the eyes, "but I don't know who that student is. Because he's surely not the one standing in front of me now."
"Professor-"
"Five points from Slytherin for your forgetful behavior. Now get to bed, you don't to miss anymore classes."
Draco's head was spinning, "But Professor-"
"Leave, Mr. Malfoy." Snape said walking into a back room in his classroom. Draco huffed and stormed out the door. When he got to the Slytherin dormitory, he saw Phoenix waiting outside the door, leaning against the wall and talking with her brother. Draco sighed and walked up to the door and opened it, ready to go in, but Phoenix saw him in a huff and stopped him.
"Draco," She had a concerned look on her face, her eyes looking like they were analyzing every piece of Draco, trying to see what was wrong. Draco glared at her and freed himself from her grip before walking inside. He heard her tell Harry goodbye before entering herself and chasing after Draco. "Draco!" She said, just a bit too loud. He halted and sighed before turning around. "Tell me what happened."
"What happened," Draco said with an enthusiastically sarcastic tone, "let's see. Snape basically said that I had lost all of my credibility based on one mistake. A mistake that made him disappointed in me. A mistake that involved you getting a free pass because you didn't lose track of time."
"Draco, he'll get over it, don't worry." Phoenix tried to put a hand on Draco's shoulder but he slapped it away. Phoenix' face was plastered with a shocked expression. "I'm trying to help-"
"You've done enough." Draco turned his back on her and hastily walked to his room. As he was walking, he stopped, turned, and called back to her, "I shouldn't have stopped my father from calling the Dark Lord to terminate you!" Then stormed into his room. He changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth and combed his hair, ready for bed until Crabbe and Goyle came into the room with scared looks on their faces. Draco rolled his eyes at them and climbed into his bed, "Why do you two look so terrified?"
"P-Phoenix," Crabbe stuttered.
Goyle gulped and shook his head, "She's terrifying."
"What did she do," Draco chuckled, "growl at you?"
The two terrified boys nodded vigorously. "And she threatened to bite us if we didn't tell her why you were so mad at her." Crabbe explained.
Goyle slapped Crabbe's arm, "We weren't supposed to tell him that."
Draco rolled his eyes and plopped his head down on his pillow. "Go tell her, 'That if she wants to threaten my friends to get them information for her, she's as bad as my father.'"
"Draco!" Crabbed said.
Goyle whimpered, "She's going to bite us for sure."
Draco glared. "Go tell her that. I'd like to see how guilty she feels tomorrow." The two boys nodded and slowly walked back into the common room, only to see that Phoenix wasn't there. One of her roommates was though, Crystal was sitting by the fire, reading a book on Transfiguration. Goyle pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote her a note saying what Draco had told them to say.
He walked over to Crystal and she looked up from her book, glancing at the folded up piece of parchment in Goyle's hand. He handed her the note and said, "Don't open it. Draco said to give it to Phoenix. Tell her it's from him." Crystal nodded and the boys walked back to their room.
Crystal closed her book and walked into her room, wanting to look at the note but knowing she'd just be getting in the middle of whatever was going on, and she didn't want to do that. Crystal opened the door to her room and found Phoenix already asleep. She pulled out a quill and wrote, From: Draco, on the top of it and then set it on the top of her trunk before climbing into bed herself.
II~+~II
The next morning, Phoenix woke up with a heavy heart. She knew that she shouldn't have used Crabbe and Goyle to get information out of Draco but she was desperate. She wanted to know how to help Draco get out of the funk he was in. Phoenix laid in bed for a few more minutes before rolling out of bed and walking to her trunk to get dressed.
Phoenix saw a note laying on top and saw who it was from. She set it aside and grabbed her clothes from her trunk, putting them on and then brushing through her hair and brushing her teeth. She put her wand in her right boot and walked to breakfast. She was one of the first people out of the Slytherin dorms so she decided she would take her time and read the note that was on her trunk on her way to the Great Hall.
Phoenix unfolded it and started to read it, immediately stopping in her tracks. A couple Slytherin students around her took a quick glance at the note and ran ahead to warn Draco that Phoenix was about to blow up on him. Phoenix closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. When that didn't work, she opened her eyes and muttered, "Screw that." She walked hastily into the Great Hall and saw that Slytherin, being the overachievers of the school, was the only house that had started seating students.
It was easy to pinpoint Draco in the room because he was one of the only students in the Great Hall. Phoenix waited in the doorway and saw a few Slytherin telling Draco that Phoenix was coming for him. He stood abruptly and Phoenix leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath, still trying to calm herself down. When it followed the streak of not working, Phoenix burst into the Great Hall and rushed to Draco. He stood his ground and prepared himself for the worst.
Phoenix walked up to him and slapped him clear across the face. "HOW DARE YOU!" She yelled.
"Phoenix, I'm sorry." Draco said softly.
She rolled her eyes, "Save it!" Draco flinched at her angry tone. "If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have written it in the first place and instead, talked to me about what was going on!"
"I know but-"
"No 'buts'," Phoenix threw her arms up in anger, "Draco, you have no idea how much this offends me!"
Draco looked at his feet and nodded, "I know."
"Do you?" Phoenix laughed to herself. "Draco, from what you've told me about your father and what I've heard, I know he's a bad person. So to say that I'm as bad as he is for wanting information is highly unsettling to my nerves and stomach." Draco cringed at the thought that he made Phoenix sick. "Last night, I chose to look at the bright side; you stopped your father from calling the Dark Lord to terminate me, did you really?"
People around her gasped. Draco nodded, "Yes."
Phoenix smiled and shook her head, "See, I chose to focus on that, and that you were upset from something Professor Snape said. But then, you had to pull this out of a hat!"
"I said that because I wanted you to feel guilty for trying to use Crabbe and Goyle to get information from me, but when I woke up, I was the one feeling guilty. I had no idea they wrote a note and gave it to you. When I wanted to tell them not to say anything, it was too late," Draco's breath hitched, "I'm sorry, Phoenix."
Phoenix sighed, "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry that this happened but that doesn't change anything. We can finish our project in Care of Magical Creatures today." Draco nodded as Phoenix pushed past him and sat down. Students started to file in as the second to last day of the school year began. Phoenix and Draco had to present their project tomorrow and neither of them were looking forward to it.
When breakfast ended, everyone went to their first class. Harry walked with Phoenix to Care of Magical Creatures and they talked about what had happened with Draco. "I'm going to kill him." Harry muttered. Phoenix shook her head. "Why not Phoenix?" Phoenix sighed and stopped walking for a second, running a hand through her hair and sighed. "Phoenix," Harry finally realized what was going on in her head and sighed, "if you want something, go after it."
Phoenix raised an eyebrow, trying to play it off, but sighed when she figured that she wouldn't be able to convince Harry of the same thing, "I can't."
"Why not?"
"It's complicated," Phoenix said as they walked into class.
Harry laughed, "What's complicated about having feelings for someone?"
"Exactly that," Phoenix smiled, "I like him, but I can't tell him. Not after what just happened."
"That's exactly why you should tell him." Harry admitted.
Phoenix shook her head, "Aren't you supposed to be the protective older twin? Why are you so okay with this?"
"I honestly don't know," Harry admitted. "But if he does hurt you, I will use the Killing Curse." Harry said before walking to his seat. Phoenix sat down in her seat, waiting for Draco to come in. As she was waiting, she saw the one person she never wanted to see again; Umbridge. Phoenix glared at her as she walked past an open cage of spiders.
Under her breath, Phoenix muttered, "Mobilicorpus!" Then, one of the spiders crawled out and started crawling on Umbridge. She was trying to get it off but she couldn't reach it because it was on her back. The spider was fairly large and fortunately for Phoenix, she didn't care if Umbridge got bit by an Acromantula and turned back to her desk. She made eye contact with Harry who gave her the 'Be the better person' face. To which Phoenix rolled her eyes and turned around.
"I'm sorry is that Acromantula bothering you Delores?" Phoenix asked sarcastically. "Fascinating creatures, their venom can kill a person within seconds of a bite." Umbridge whimpered as the giant spider stopped crawling and Phoenix swore that it winked at her, playing along with her. Phoenix smiled and took a deep breath. "Let me help you with that," She said as Umbridge looked away. Phoenix pointed her wand at the ground, away from the Acromantula - who she mouthed 'go with it' to - and spoke clearly, "Arania Exumai." The spell hit the floor and dissipated and while Umbridge was still not looking, the Acromantula detached itself from Umbridge's shoulder and hopped onto the ground.
Students who were watching laughed silently so they wouldn't blow Phoenix' cover and get her in trouble. Even Hagrid was barely containing himself from bursting out laughing. Phoenix let the Acromantula crawl onto her forearm and put him back in his cage. Umbridge opened her eyes and looked at Phoenix, "Thank you dear." Phoenix smiled and then turned her back rolled her eyes and imitating what Umbridge said.
The students laughed as Phoenix ceased while Umbridge was walking past her, towards the front, and then continued imitating her. Hagrid snorted and had to turn away from the scene. "Professor Hagrid?" Umbridge called. He turned around and smiled.
"Yes, Delores?"
"I'd like to apologize for trying to get rid of you."
Hagrid looked back at Phoenix who imitated what she had said and then acted out someone stabbing you in the back, to the extent of her falling off her chair for dramatic effect. Hagrid smiled and tried to keep himself together as he accepted the apology and Umbridge left the classroom. Once she left, Draco hurried in, closing the door behind him and sitting down.
One of the Hufflepuff students in the back stood up and glanced out the window to make sure that Umbridge was out of ear range and nodded when she was. At that moment, everyone burst out laughing. Phoenix, who was still on the floor, almost knocked Draco off his stool because he didn't see her lying on the floor, making everyone laugh even harder.
The rest of the class period was based on finishing the magical creature project, which made it extremely awkward for Phoenix and Draco. Draco brought his camera and had pulled the pictures off of it for Phoenix to use and Phoenix brought her drawings. Once they had finished putting the last details on their project, they briefly went over what they were going to say.
"Okay, sounds good." Draco said, trying to make Phoenix smile at him. Phoenix, on the other hand, was trying her best to forget about her feelings for Draco. He will probably forget about me over the summer anyway. Phoenix thought. Little did she know, she would be all Draco thought about over the summer. The rest of the day, the two went on with their classes. It was actually quite boring since everyone was so hyped for the last day of school the next day.
Phoenix wondered where she would go for the summer. Usually she went with Remus, but he had Tonks now. She thought about going to the Dursley's with Harry, but she would have to ask him if it was alright. "Ms. Potter?" A voice broke her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Professor Snape standing over her. She realized that she was sitting on the steps out at the courtyard.
She cleared her throat, "Yes Professor?"
"Distracted are we?" He replied.
Phoenix smiled and nodded. "Yes, a little bit."
Snape nodded in understanding and sat down on the opposite side of the stairs. "Where will you go over the summer?" He asked. She laughed to herself.
"I was just thinking about this actually," She admitted as she looked out at the bridge. "I don't know. I was thinking that I would ask Harry if I could stay at the Dursley's, but I doubt they would be able to handle the Potter twins." Snape considered the thought and nodded in agreement. Phoenix laughed, "I mean, Harry and I are worse than the Weasley twins."
Again, the professor nodded in agreement. "Well, if going with Harry to the Dursley's doesn't work, send me an owl and I'm sure we could find you suitable summer living arrangements."
Phoenix bowed her head, "Thank you Professor, but I don't have an owl."
"What about a cat?" Phoenix shook her head. "Toad?" The same response. "You don't have a pet?"
Phoenix smirked, "I'm my own pet." Phoenix thought she saw the tips of Snape's lips start to pull into a smile, put it didn't happen. "Professor?"
"Yes, Ms. Potter?" Snape replied.
Phoenix hesitated, "Was my mother a good person."
The professor looked her dead in the eye and said two words that changed Phoenix' view on Snape, "The best."
The next thing Phoenix said surprised Snape, "You loved her?"
"Yes. Very much." He sighed, "But in the end, she chose your father."
"I'm sorry she hurt you Professor."
Snape waved it off, surprised. Phoenix was the first person that had ever said that to him. "She was better off with your father." Professor Snape admitted. Phoenix nodded in understanding but still felt sorry for the way her mother treated Snape. "Come, it's almost time for dinner and I believe that your brother is looking for you." She stood up and started walking inside but was quickly halted by Snape. "Don't be too hard on Draco, Phoenix." She gulped and nodded. Was it really that obvious? She thought. Does Draco know that I like him? No, he couldn't.
She walked into the Great Hall and saw Harry waiting for her at the Slytherin table. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. He was surprised at first but quickly wrapped his arms around his sister. Ron Weasley walked into the Great Hall and saw what was going on. Thinking it was Ginny that Harry had his arms wrapped around, he yelled across the Great Hall, "Hands off my baby sister, Potter!" The twins broke apart and Phoenix turned around.
Ron looked slightly embarrassed as his cheeks turned pink. Phoenix shouted over to him, "Wrong redhead, Weasley!" The three of them laughed and sat down for dinner. Towards the end, Phoenix turned to Harry, "Harry, could I stay with you at the Dursley's this summer?" His eyes widened and Phoenix thought she was too abrupt. "It's just, I usually stay with Remus but since he and Tonks...And with Sirius...I just thought I'd ask."
"No, Phoenix. It's alright. I thought you'd never ask," A grin spread across her face as he continued, "now I'll have backup when we get there!" He plotted. The rest of dinner was spent plotting different ways they could mess with the Dursley's. They came up with;
Pretending Phoenix was Lily and seeing Petunia's reaction; Shifting into Animagus form anywhere and everywhere to scare people; And so many more. They decided they would do all of them, spreading them out over the summer. With the conniving advice from the Slytherin and the quick wit and daring ability from the Gryffindor, the Potter twins were an unstoppable pair.
They soon went to their dorms and waited for the last day of school. Like so many other students in Hogwarts, everyone was giddy as they went to bed. Then morning came and everything was confusing.