Blank.
White space.
Nothingness.
Empty.
Alone.
Phoenix' ears were still ringing and her eyesight was still blurry as she saw these things. However, when her eyesight adjusted, she saw a pair of grey eyes staring back at her. Phoenix scrunched her eyebrows and shook her head, trying to get rid of the blurriness.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the striking grey eyes were connected to a soft complexioned boy with dark colored hair and a kind smile. Phoenix recognized him from somewhere, she just couldn't remember where.
"Hullo Phoenix," he said softly. Phoenix tried to sit up but immediately felt light headed. The boy chuckled. "Careful there." He helped Phoenix lay back down and she gulped, panting slightly.
"Where am I? What happened?"
The boy smiled, "In time Phoenix, get up; walk with me." Phoenix looked at him strangely as he stood and started walking away. He stopped and turned to look at her, smiling, waiting for her. Phoenix swung her legs over the side of the bed she was laying on and sat up slowly. The boy wore Hogwarts robes and a Prefect pin on the outside of his robes.
Phoenix tried to stand but once again felt lightheaded. She sat back down and put a hand over her eyes. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a flicker of movement and took her hand away to see that the boy had outstretched his hand to her. She furrowed her eyebrows but took his hand as he led her out of the blank white room into what seemed to be Hogwarts.
Phoenix looked around and saw that the building was no longer destroyed; there was no debris, no holes in the walls, no paintings that had been rattled to the floor, just students milling around with their books in hand and smiles on their faces.
The students all smiled at her and bowed their heads as she passed. There was a loud clattering sound and she found herself squeezing the boys' hand tighter as a natural reflex. She turned around and one of the students had dropped their books. The other students around the little girl with curly brown hair clambered around her to help pick up the fallen books.
Every student here was in their robes, but none of them had their respective house colors. There was no green and silver for Slytherin, no red and gold for Gryffindor, no yellow and black for Hufflepuff, no blue and bronze for Ravenclaw. The robes were just plain black with the Hogwarts logo on the left breast pocket.
Phoenix remembered the boy next to her and looked to him for answers. He smiled and gestured to continue, "We're almost there. Come on now." Phoenix glanced back at the students helping the little girl once more before following after the boy whose hand she couldn't let go of.
The boy smiled back at her occasionally as the two of them ran down the halls of Hogwarts. She trailed behind him, a smile growing on her face. "What's your name," Phoenix called up to him.
"Cedric," He called back, panting, as they stopped in front of the doors of the Great Hall, "Cedric Diggory."
Phoenix' eyes widened as she realized who the boy was and how she knew him. "I saw you in my brother's dream! You died!" Phoenix whisper-yelled to him seeing as she didn't want to draw that much attention to herself.
Cedric smiled and looked down, "Yes."
"So does that mean..." She trailed off, knowing the truth about her fate.
"But hey," Cedric smiled and rubbed her triceps gently, "that's alright because you're safe now and out of danger. There's no more suffering here."
Phoenix sighed and nodded. A moment of silence passed before she spoke again, "So why are we at the Great Hall?"
Cedric grinned and opened the doors. "Someone wants to see you." Phoenix smiled at Cedric, there was something about his smile that made Phoenix feel like the happiest person in the world; it was so contagious. Cedric bowed, very princely, and followed Phoenix into the Great Hall.
Phoenix saw people crowded around the podium at the front of the Great Hall, they were talking and laughing about something. She inched closer to them, wondering who was in that group that would want to see her. There were students seated at the tables doing their work and looking happy about it. One of them stood up in a hurry and turned to rush out of the Great Hall.
The young girl accidentally bumped into Phoenix and her books fell. Phoenix turned and dropped to the floor to help pick up the books. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," The girl stammered. Her dark brown hair fell in her face as she grabbed her books.
Phoenix laughed, "It's no trouble, I should've seen you and moved out of the way. My apologies...Er...What's your name?"
The girl looked up and her face shocked Phoenix, "Alyssa?"
"Phoenix?" Alyssa was just as shocked to see Phoenix as Phoenix was to see her. However, the girls were not hostile to each other, they were rather friendly and their body language and the glance that they shared said that they weren't mad at each other.
"You're dead?" They said simultaneously.
"Is everything alright?" A deep male voice from the group by the podium called to them. Phoenix grabbed the last book and handed it to Alyssa. Alyssa thanked her and stood up, offering her hand to help Phoenix stand. Phoenix took it gladly and smiled at her.
Alyssa turned to the origin of the voice with a sly grin, "Yes Professor Potter, everything is fine."
"Wait," Phoenix was confused, "Potter?"
"Phoenix?"
Her head turned to the voice and she saw her father with a disbelieving, yet excited, look on his face. "Daddy," Phoenix breathed out. James Potter stepped away from the group and ran to Phoenix, and she ran to him. When they met, Phoenix threw her arms around her father and he picked her up, spinning her through the air.
"Oh," James had tears of joy rolling down his face, "my girl. My sweet baby girl!"
Phoenix had the same tears of joy streaking her cheeks and falling onto her father's robes. He still looked so young; probably because he was so young when he died. They finally pulled away when a crash and a startled shriek escaped the lips of a young woman at the doors of the Great Hall.
James set Phoenix down and looked past her, to the young woman at the door. "James...who?" James Potter grinned and turned Phoenix around. The woman had long red hair and bright green eyes. Phoenix instantly knew who the woman was, and vice versa.
"Mum?"
The woman's hand flew to her mouth and tears started to fall. "Is it...Is it really....Truly..." Phoenix just simply nodded.
"Lily, it is! It's really, truly, utterly her," James said excitedly, walking towards his wife. He turned back to Phoenix and gestured for her to follow him. Phoenix walked hand in hand with her father and stood in front of her mother.
Lily reached out a hand and touched Phoenix' cheek. Phoenix flinched at her touch and Lily pulled her hand away for a second before pulling Phoenix into a hug. The two redheads cried as Lily kept muttering things like "Thank Merlin" and "My little girl".
James eventually joined in on the hug and three out of four Potters were reunited. "Don't forget about us!" A voice called from the group at the podium. James moved so Phoenix could see who called for them. Once Phoenix laid eyes on the origin of the voice, she grinned and ran to the two people she loved more than anything.
"Sirius! Remus!" Sirius ran to meet Phoenix and she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Remus quickly followed in the hug and wrapped his arms around his goddaughter. The three of them laughed and hugged for a good three minutes until James and Lily came over and put a hand on Phoenix' back.
"Phoenix, how's Harry?" Lily asked.
Phoenix shrugged, "I have no idea, the last thing I remember of Harry is seeing Voldemort shoot the killing curse at him. He wasn't there when I woke up. I just hope he's alright."
Lily was about to say something, but then Phoenix remembered something, "SNAPE!" Everyone in the room looked at her strangely. Lily looked at her daughter, intrigued as Phoenix smacked her forehead. "I was supposed to go back for him! I wasn't supposed to get captured let alone killed. I should've stayed with him, I should have never ran off!" Phoenix started to hyperventilate and Lily led Phoenix to one of the tables and sat down next to her.
"Phoenix what are you-"
"Severus and I had a plan mum! I was supposed to get him out of Hogwarts and let Lord Voldemort think he was dead! I shouldn't have died, now he's all alone with no one to help him escape!" Phoenix buried her head in her mother's shoulder and whimpered, but couldn't find herself able to cry.
"Phoenix," Lily smiled and stroked Phoenix' hair, "he's already been here. He'll be fine, he's moved on."
Phoenix pulled away from her mother's comforting embrace. "What do you mean?"
"Phoenix?" Cedric called from behind her. Phoenix turned to him and Lily nodded as Cedric gestured for Phoenix to follow him. Phoenix got up and looped her arm with his - since he had set it out for her - and walked out of the Great Hall with the former Hufflepuff.
"Cedric, what's going on? What did my mum mean? Where are we?" Phoenix hounded him with questions but he just smiled and led her out of the castle and across the bridge, into the Forbidden Forest. They walked to the exact place that Phoenix had died and stopped. "What are we doing here, Cedric?"
Cedric sighed. "This place is called Kingdom Come," he paused and smiled, kneeling down to sit against a tree and gestured for Phoenix to sit next to him, "it was created by three of the four founding members of Hogwarts when Salazar Slytherin went rogue. They decided it would be a good thing to do in case Salazar took his wrath out upon Muggle-born wizards and witches. Sure enough, it actually happened."
Phoenix sat beside him, "So what are we doing here?"
"When Tom Riddle started showing signs of his predecessor, Professor Dumbledore and a couple of other powerful wizards and witches widened the scope of this place; now it's for people who fell at the hands of Voldemort and/or his minions," Cedric explained.
Phoenix nodded in understanding, but she was still confused about something, "So what did my mum mean about Severus moving on from here?"
"He was here. When he died, he came here for a short time, but then he chose to go back to the world of the living to help you. What he didn't know was that you were already on your way here."
"So I can go back too?!" Phoenix said excitedly.
Cedric sighed, the smile disappearing from his face. "Yes, but-" Phoenix started to stand, ready to leave and go back to Harry and Snape, but Cedric grabbed her wrist. Phoenix gasped and looked back at him, her smile fading and she just looked into his eyes.
"But what?" Phoenix sat back down, not breaking eye contact with him for a second.
"But, I'd really like it if you'd stay. It'd be nice to have a friend around here," Cedric chuckled to himself, causing Phoenix to do so as well. Phoenix thought about the possibilities for a second, but was profoundly distracted by the Hufflepuff Prefect staring at her. After minutes of doing this, Cedric spoke once more. "So what'll it be?"
"I'll stay," Phoenix agreed and smiled, "for now."
"Lovely."