Sorry for the wait, but I've had a long few weeks. Finals are coming up.
Chapter 23
Phoenix Feathers and Manor Estates
McGonagall brought her into Dumbledore’s office and left her there to wait for the headmaster. If Harri weren’t so worried about being expelled she might have taken some time to pay more attention to Dumbledore’s office.
It was a large circular room, full of funny noises. There were a number of curious silver instruments that stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered by the portraits of past headmasters, all slumbering in their frames. In the far corner of the room sat the Sorting Hat.
Harri wandered around the room, not really focusing on anything, until she spotted a phoenix that looked close to a burning day. The poor animal resembled a half-plucked turkey. The phoenix’s eyes were dull and tired.
“Don’t worry, all the pain will be gone soon and you’ll be reborn from your ashes before you know it,” she assured the suffering animal in front of her.
As soon as the words left her mouth the bird ignited. It resembled a fire ball more than a bird. Harri jumped back worried that she might catch fire as well. The fire completely consumed the phoenix and soon there was nothing but a pile of ashes on the floor.
Harri heard the door open behind her and then she saw Dumbledore walk in. He looked somber, she figured that it was because of the most recent attack. Harri hoped that the headmaster would tell her what was going on in the school or maybe call the Aurors…they were rather helpful when it came to solving mysteries and stopping killings.
“Sir, your bird just ignited,” she informed the older man, completely forgetting why she was brought here in the first place.
“About time, too,” Dumbledore said. “He’s been looking dreadful for days.”
Suddenly, a small peeping noise could be heard from the ground. Harri looked down and saw that the phoenix was a little wrinkled baby bird, sitting on the floor. The second year Gryffindor scooped him up off the floor and put him on the Headmaster’s desk.
“There you go,” she told the baby bird, who was peeping happily on the desk, exploring its new surroundings.
“It’s a shame that you had to see Fawkes on a burning day. He is usually quite handsome with lovely red and gold plumage.” Dumbledore said to her as he pet the little phoenix chick on the head. Moving to his chair, he motioned for Harri to take the seat on the other side. “Now, Harriet take a seat, we need to talk.”
Harri sighed, she had completely forgotten why she was brought here. Maybe if Fawkes did something else that was cute Dumbledore would get distracted, but alas, the chick had fallen asleep on the desk.
“Professor, I didn’t do it! I think the universe has something against me! I was just coming from the library when I found Justin on the floor! I’m not the heir of Slytherin, no matter what the rumors going around say!” Harri nearly shouted.
“I know you didn’t do it, my dear girl, so calm down,” Dumbledore replied with a smile.
“Then why do you want to talk to me if you know I didn’t do anything wrong?” Harri asked with a raised eyebrow. He had something up his sleeve and she didn’t like it.
“I just want to know if there is anything that you wish to tell me, anything at all?” he questioned, his eyes twinkling. All of the sudden it felt like something was trying to get into her head, so she looked away from the elderly headmaster and the feeling went away. Was he trying to read her mind?
“No, nothing at all,” she answered hastily as she got up and left his office, giving Fawkes one last pat on the head.
The news of Nearly Headless Nick and Justin being petrified reached the students within hours of the attack. The fact that a ghost was affected by the monster was what scared people the most. If a ghost wasn’t safe, who was?
What annoyed Harri the most was that everyone was avoiding her, as if she was going to morph into a basilisk right in the hallway…well, everyone avoided her except her friends. The twins made an active effort to try and cheer her up. Instead of shying away from her in the hallway, they would walk arm and arm with her and tell loud and obnoxious jokes to make her smile, “Make way for the Heiress of Slytherin, seriously evil witch coming through!”
Percy didn’t find this funny in the least. He continuously tried to get them to stop, but that only seemed to encourage the twins more.
“This isn’t a laughing matter!” Percy shouted to them in the halls one rather chilly afternoon.
“Oh, get out of the way Percy,” Fred told him, shoving his older brother out of their pathway.
“Yea, Harri is off to have tea in The Chamber of Secrets with her fanged servant, you don’t want to mess with her,” George continued with a grin. Harri was trying not to laugh at their antics, but was failing miserably. For the first time in days she was laughing like the school wasn’t in danger.
At last the term ended and Harri and her friends were on their way to platform 9¾, where Sirius was going to be waiting for them.
“I’m so glad that I’m going to be away from all the craziness at Hogwarts for a while. I was getting tired of people running in fear from me,” Harri said as they exited the train.
“And here I thought you were enjoying the fear you instilled onto the students of Hogwarts. You could have fooled me,” Draco said cheekily. Luna and Hermione rolled their eyes at Harri’s and Draco’s bickering, they acted so much like siblings it was ridiculous.
The twins were helping Harri and Hermione drag their things off the train, while Draco was pulling his things behind him. Luna on the other hand was trailing behind the group of older students, much to her dismay. She didn’t want to come off as a burden, so she didn’t ask for help.
Since the twins were the tallest in the group, they went looking for Sirius in the crowd, leaving the younger kids to deal with their stuff. When Harri heard a shout and laughter, she figured that the twins found Sirius. She led her friends over to where the twins were and found Sirius standing still while both twins hugging him. It seemed that they had tried to tackle Sirius over, but it didn’t really work. Remus was standing behind his friend with a very amused grin adorning his face. He had obviously heard the twins coming and stepped out of the way.
“Hello, Remus. Sirius, I see the twins found you,” Harri greeted with a rather large smile.
“Hi, Bambi, I see you-” he started to say, but stopped when he saw her hair. He lost his concentration for a moment and fell backwards with the twins on top of him. Remus just looked surprised by her hair, but he didn’t fall over.
“What happened to your hair, Bambi?” Remus asked with a raised eyebrow. Harri pointed to the twins who were still hugging Sirius.
“They slipped a potion into my shampoo without me knowing about it. It turned my hair red and it also attacks on command,” Harri replied as her braided hair stood up by itself, looking like it was ready to strike.
“That’s some interesting magic, what did you two put into that potion?” Remus questioned the twins who mumbled something about Draco.
The blonde in question perked up at the mention of his potion, “I made the potion. I’ll show you the list of ingredients when we get to the manor,” Draco replied as he helped Luna with her trunk, despite her protests.
“Alright, boys, get off Sirius. It’s time for us all to leave. We’ve spent all week decorating the house for you guys,” Remus told the twins who looked rather put out that they had to get off their role model, but at the same time they were excited to see Potter Manor again.
The twins got up without much of a fight and Sirius got up and engulfed Harri and Draco in a hug. He missed both of them, even though Draco never wrote to him, but he figured Harri writes for both of them.
“You look just like your mother. I swear you trying to give me grey hairs showing up looking like this,” Sirius told his goddaughter good naturedly. He looked around and noticed that there was a new face among Harri’s friends. He figured that this must be Luna Lovegood.
The grouped arrived at Potter Manor without an incident. Hermione and Luna were surprised by the size of Harri’s family home, but didn’t say anything. When they opened the door Harri went into the large house first, followed closely by the twins and Draco. Hermione and Luna trailed behind, taking in the beauty of the manor.
The entrance was filled with holly and tinsel. A tree could be seen peeking out from the sitting room. There were toy soldiers that were charmed to walk along the marble entranceway in a circular pattern. Everywhere they looked there was some sort of decoration, but it never seemed tacky, it fit with the large house, giving it a very homey feel.
The two Marauders watched Hermione and Luna with knowing smiles. That was the same look they had the first time they visited Potter Manor with James, who, like his daughter, just walked in like he owned the place and showed them around like this was normal living.
“Hermione, Luna, hurry up! I’m going to show you two to your rooms! I don’t want you getting lost!” Harri shouted from the top of the stairs. Hermione and Luna ran after Harri, excited to see their rooms.
“There are four floors to the manor. The first floor has the kitchen, three different sitting rooms, a dining room, and a ballroom. The second floor has the library, a few more sitting rooms, and the family studies. The third floor has guest rooms. The fourth floor is where the master bedroom and their heirs’ rooms are, that is where we’ll be staying. I don’t like being up there alone. There are six rooms, one for the twins, one for Draco, one for Moony and Padfoot, one for Hermione and Luna, and one for me. The master bedroom is going to stay empty,” Harri informed them as she pointed out their rooms, which were all across from each other.
“Wait, you said there’s a library on the second floor? You have a library?” Hermione asked, jumping up and down in excitement. She couldn’t believe that her friend had a library.
“I’ll show it to you tomorrow after breakfast,” Harri promised her best friend.
Christmas came quickly for the group of friends, of course there was a prank war going on at the same time. It was Fred and George against Sirius and Remus. The Marauders were winning hands down. The twins were smart, but Moony and Padfoot had experience. Hermione, Luna and Draco were frequently caught in the middle of a prank, while Harri avoided them, having years of practice. There was a rather nasty prank including cat fur, a toaster, two bendy straws and steak sauce, but Harri didn’t want to think about it.
The exchange of gifts was when the winners were announced. Harri, Luna, Draco and Hermione had been the judges, even though they didn’t know till after the war started. The Marauders won, much to the disappointment of the twins, but they took the loss with stride and they all opened gifts happily.
During the holiday break Harri spent a good amount of time in the library with Hermione. Harri was reading about basilisks and their weaknesses, while Hermione was reading about anything she could find, the danger in the school completely forgotten.
“Harri, did you know that some families have enchanted engagement rings and the ring finds the perfect match for them? I feel bad for the person on the receiving end, they have no idea what they’re getting into and they don’t have a choice about the engagement!”
“Yes, Hermione, I know about it. There are all sorts of marriage laws in the magical world. There are laws for Veelas, there are laws for purebloods, and laws for crazy engagement rings. The magical world is strange. I prefer to do things the muggle way and fall in love on my own. Sirius says that he and my dad swore that I was only allowed to marry someone that they saw fit. I feel really bad for the boy who I bring home,” Harri replied as she closed yet another book on giant snakes. She had yet to find anything substantial.
“Harri, go outside with your friends! You’re going to grow old in that library!” Harri heard Sirius shout from downstairs.
Harri got up to go and motioned for Hermione to follow, but the studious witch shook her head and Harri left her to her own devices.
As soon as Harri stepped outside she was bombarded with snowballs. “This is what you get for studying, traitor!” The twins exclaimed as they tackled her to the ground.
Draco and Luna watched amused and the two Ravenclaws picked up their snowballs and chucked them at the twins and Harri, much to the Gryffindors’ surprise. And so, the great snowball fight began, it was brains verses pranksters and it ended up a tie, with both parties freezing and tired by the end of it.
The rest of the holidays ended much too soon for everyone’s liking, but before they knew it they were on their way back to Hogwarts.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! =)
~Animerocker
PS
I don't own Harry Potter...if it wasn't already obvious.