The Phoenix's Fire

"~~~"= Speech

'~~~'=Thought

Des is pronounced as Dez

*~ Necromancy- Conjuration of the spirits of the dead ~*

****Necromancy is the ability to see the dead, talk to the dead, and make the dead visible to the living. It is considered the darkest of dark arts. ****

The Phoenix's Fire

PROLOGUE

Five years. Five long years had passed since the day that Harry Potter had graduated from Hogwarts. In that time, many horrifying things had come to pass. Voldemort had seized more control over the Wizarding World to the point that the Ministry of Magic had collapsed under the rule of Cornelius Fudge.

Soon after leaving Hogwarts, Harry had been recruited by a group of elves to be trained as a Mage. After the age of nineteen, Harry Potter had re-emerged into a world full of chaos as a War Mage.

Though the years had passed and time had changed Harry from the carefree boy he had once been, he never forgot his first love. Destiny Black was always at the edge of his thoughts.

Remus Lupin had secretly returned from exile with the promised protection of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and still Destiny had not returned.

Even after five years, Harry Potter still awoke and went to sleep with the same thought: 'I'm going to find you Destiny. You can't hide forever.'

Hauntings of the Past

Chapter 1

**Past- 1997**

The graduation ceremony had ended earlier and Harry had just returned to the Great Hall when he first met Julia Snow, Destiny's infamous mother.

Enough time had passed since the end of the ceremony that most of the guests had returned home when Destiny's angry mother stormed up to where Sirius Black, Dumbledore, a few teachers, and Harry had gathered.

"Where is she?" Julia practically growled.

"Aw, Ms. Snow, what can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.

"Julia?" Sirius gasped at the woman before him.

The woman before him looked nothing like the girl he had fallen in love with. That girl had had long, soft, black hair and the most beautiful hazel eyes. This woman, whose blue- black hair was streaked with gray, had the once flowing mane up in a braid and had eyes that spoke of many years of hardships. Where the once unmarked face had been, there was now weathered skin that spoke of the strain, stress, pain, and worry that had filled her life for so long.

Glaring at Sirius, Julia Snow said with a great deal of worry, "Where is my daughter? I read of the Ministry's order and I am here to hide her."

"Ms.-"

"Julia."

"Julia, I am afraid to tell you that Miss Black has already left. I had assumed she would return to you." Furrowing his brow in worry, Dumbledore wondered where the girl could have gone to.

"Wait a minute," Harry said, finally understanding who this woman was. "You're Destiny's mum!" At her nod of conformation, Harry snapped angrily, "It's no wonder she didn't come to you! She told me how you treated her. You never even pretended to love her!"

This pronouncement brought on a moment of stunned silence.

"I love her," Julia whispered. "I'd die for her."

"She didn't feel loved," Harry respond with conviction.

Sighing, Julia pressed a hand to her eyes.

"Destiny was always a difficult child. She didn't play with dolls and never cared for anyone else's company. She saw other's as an annoyance and refused any affection shown to her. I gave her the surname Black before I had thought it through and spent most of her childhood trying to protect her from the persecution it brought. She never remembered me trying to protect her, only when I failed to do so. When I found out she was also cursed as a Necromancer, I sought to protect her from herself. I thought, if she doesn't use the powers, she won't have to deal with the consequences."

"Being hated," Harry whispered.

"Among other things..."

"What others?" Sirius asked.

"Insanity. Towards the end of a Necromancer's life, they lose hold of reality."

"But Destiny is only sixteen!" Harry snapped.

Looking sad, Julia whispered, "Yes, but the average Necromancer doesn't live to see their twenty-second birthday. Destiny is dying-"

*****

**Present- 2003**

Shaking the thoughts away, Harry Potter sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. Five years had passed and still that day haunted him.

Insanity.

Since that day, Harry had spent much of his free time searching for his lost friend- and ways to save the girl. The problem was, Destiny had turned twenty-one and he knew time was running out to help her.

'We'll find her. We'll find her before Voldemort takes over everything.'

He didn't know when things had changed. Once, he had only wanted to find the girl because he was miserable without her. Sometime in the last five years though, he had only thought to find her so that he could rid the world of the monster named Riddle.

'No, that's not all I care about,' he thought defiantly as a knock sounded on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal a girl who appeared to be no more than sixteen and a complete airhead. Looks though had long ago stopped having an affect on him. Just because you could see it, didn't make it the truth. Harry Potter's secretary was a demon.

"Hello Lana. I trust you had an eventful night at home."

"Always do," she purred from where she lounged in the doorway.

"Glad to see you're not burnt," he mumbled, shuffling through the papers on his desk in search of a quill.

"Hell is just a sauna," she replied, walking to his desk.

Finding the elusive object, Harry cocked his eyebrow at the blond girl in front of him.

"Was there a reason you were here or were you just stopping by to say hi?"

"A little of both. Hi to begin with and intelligence just received another poem-"

"Prophecy."

"Whatever. The point is, war is your area of expertise and these little riddles are pointing to some major catastrophic events- not that it'll harm me of course."

"Of course," he replied with an easy grin. Standing, he moved towards the door and said calmly, "Stop using office hours to seduce people and don't do it to anyone who works to stop Voldemort. We're limited enough without having to worry about whether or not they're going to have organs come morning."

"Sure-"

"In fact, stick to known criminals if you must do it at all."

Walking down corridors, up stairs, through doors, and passing identification points, Harry thought about his job.

After the collapse of the Ministry in 1999, The Order of the Phoenix had taken over; making secret buildings and recruiting anyone who wanted to help, no matter their age, race, or species. Phoenix Headquarters had also become a sanctuary for any Dark Creature who wanted to prove that not all of them were evil.

Harry had been recruited by a group of magical beings- mostly elves- to learn the art of the Mage. Deciding on the most practical branch of magic for himself, he had chosen War. Harry had completed the course as fast as humanly possible and had become the first human Mage in a thousand years- one month after the Ministry's collapse.

"Harry, wait up!" a voice called out from behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder, he smiled upon seeing a red faced Remus Lupin running to catch up.

"Have you-"

"No, there is still no word of her; nor do I know where Destiny is," Remus cut in with exasperated patients. "When I am able to tell you something, I will."

Clearing his throat, Harry changed his demeanor to a more professional manner and asked about the prophesy that had been received.

"The prophesy is most definitely from A-"

"Any leads as of yet as to who 'A' is?"

"No, but we've determined that they're female and have magical powers."

"And those bits of information are helpful... how?"

"Well," Remus stuttered, thinking hard for a good reason, "It does narrow down the search... a little."

"It narrows it none. It could still be any female; anywhere and a glamour can make her appear male. For God's sake- it could be a hag we're looking for!"

"Calm down kid. We'll find her." Seeing the glare he was receiving, Remus quickly corrected himself. "Sir."

Rolling his eyes in disgust, Harry walked into the room labeled 'Intelligence'. It was a large plain room with desks placed in three organized rows. The walls had been painted a bright white and there were no windows. All in all, it was not a favorite place of many.

Upon entering the room, Harry cleared his throat loudly, causing all of the occupants to jump in fright. There was an immediate scuffing of chairs as everyone rushed to their feet and stood as if they were being inspected.

"The new prophecy that was received; where is it?" Harry asked impatiently.

The room immediately went into action as everyone searched for a copy.

"It's not a prophecy," a dark haired man in the back of the room replied in an uninterested manner. Being the only one who had not risen to his feet, he how stood lazily and moved towards the Mage. "It's a riddle of how we can find this 'A'."

"So, where is she from Sirius?"

Grinning at his Godson, Sirius shrugged carelessly. "Don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Nope. The last word of the riddle is a giant ink splotch. All we know is that it's sunny and a perfect place for a hunter."

"That describes most of the continents," Harry mumbled darkly, shoving the hair out of his face and rubbing his scar absentmindedly. "Alright, get back to work. Write down everywhere that's plausible. If we can't figure it out, we'll keep working on it and hope for another riddle to help us narrow down the list. I'm going to leave now though. Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"Contact me if you figure anything out. I want a list of places on my desk tomorrow."

"Sure. And Harry?"

"What?"

"Maybe you should consider taking a vacation."

*****

With a copy of the new found riddle, Harry apparated to Hogsmeade and started his walk to the legendary school. He had made this trek to many times to count and it had become a calming ritual. It helped to know that when the relaxing walk ended, a comforting presence awaited him.

Letting his mind return to its wondering of the past, he sighed. He had changed since his school days. Back then he had been a happy boy who could allow himself to forget he was a hero. Carefree and smiling, that's how he remembered himself. Now though, he was so very different. Hardened, cruel even. It was whispered to new employs not to cross the human War Mage, that his temper was legendary. Even among those who he called friend, were fearful of making him angry. Only Sirius remained unmoved by his behavior.

'As proved by his vacation comment,' he mused to himself.

Pushing open the front doors to the school, Harry made his way to the Order of the Phoenix room. Entering the room, he moved to his seat near the head of the table. The meeting scheduled for today was for only select people; people who headed up each of the Special Force groups.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore smiled, not even seeming to notice that Harry was twenty minutes late. "Anymore prophesies or attacks been found?"

"A riddle as a matter of fact. We believe it tells us how to find this 'A'. What do you make of it?" he asked, handing the old man the paper.

"Hm... Where ever she is, it begins with a V. Besides that, nothing helpful."

"Why," Arabella Figg asked, "would she send us a riddle on how to find her? After all this time spent anonymous, why let us find her now?"

"I don't think she meant to let us find her. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even read what she writes," Harry replied thoughtfully. "As you know, Seers write out their prophesies using their subconscious, unless it comes as a vision."

Stunned, Hermione Granger said, "She writes the prophecy, gives it to an owl, and just forgets about it-"

"Allowing her to rest easy about having helped with the crisis without actually getting involved."

Nodding her understanding, Arabella said, "What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve. Brilliant and simple." Leaning forwards, she asked what was on all their minds. "How do we find her?"

Agreeing that it was necessary to send the information about the V to intelligence, an owl was sent and the meeting continued.

It was barely an hour later that Sirius Black burst into the meeting.

"We've got it! We know where she lives! It's been checked against every prophesy and the location spell keeps agreeing. Only one problem though..."

"Where is she?" Harry asked, knowing the problem stemmed from this very question.

"Las Vegas: home of the bizarre."