The Phoenix's Fire

The Phoenix's Fire

Chapter 10

Stanton had seen a lot of death in his life but never had so much been because of him. Trying to block out the sounds of those dying around him, he moved on to his next victim. Using his long curved sword, Stanton stabbed the person through the back. Pulling the sword out of the woman, the force of the tug caused her to topple down on top of him. Pushing her off, he staggered to his feet- and felt something hot and painful being shoved through his back.

Gasping, Stanton collapsed to the ground. 'Wood,' he thought helplessly. 'There's wood in my heart.' As the light began to fade out of his eyes and his breath ceased, Stanton felt his body collapse into dust, leaving his clothing lying on the ground with the stake.

*****

Shoving his way through the debris, Sirius made his way to where Albus Dumbledore stood fighting off a Death Eater. As soon as he had killed the hooded figure, Sirius got his attention.

"Sir, we need you to go into Hogwarts and save your energy for when Voldemort arrives. You'll be more valuable then than now. Please Sir-" Ducking a flash of green light, he continued. "Come inside!"

Refusing, Dumbledore moved to help a young man with two Death Eaters attacking him.

*****

Harry fought his way through the crowds, searching for any sign of the Dark Lord. He just wanted this night to end so that he could get on with his life.

'You won't be able to get on with your life if Voldemort wins,' a nasty, nagging voice hissed deep within his mind.

'Bugger off,' he thought back.

Having made it almost to the Forbidden Forest, Harry froze when a sudden cold swept over him. "Oh no..."

Spinning around, Harry yelled, "Dementors! They have dementors!"

Standing near the forest to fight was difficult. Having called attention to himself, the Dark Side was now taking extra care to destroy him. As others rushed to his aid, hundreds of dementors began to pour out of the forest. Dead silence descended over all those present but it wasn't long before screams began to erupt from those nearest the trees.

The dementors had lowered their hoods to administer their kiss and what he saw, Harry knew would haunt his nightmares forever. The faces were skeletal, with rotting gray skin hanging off in pieces. Where the nose should have been, there was only a hole and the eyes were merely open sockets. Out of the eyes crawled worms and the flesh that was still there moved and bubbled with maggots. Pus oozed out of the holes in the scull and on several of them, the brain could be seen hanging out.

Thoroughly disgusted, Harry was raising his wand to cast the Patronus charm when misty lights came pelting over the school and slammed into the dementors, driving them back. Unlike a Patronus, the lights did not drive them away completely but rather rounded them up and made sure they could go no farther onto the field or escape back into the forest.

Fighting his way closer so that he could make out what the glowing lights were; Harry smiled even as overwhelming pain washed over him from being so near to so many evil monsters. Harry recognized most of the glowing people that had trapped the dementors. They were all Voldemort's victims, all standing and willing to lose their souls to destroy the things that fought for the man that had stolen their lives. There were a few that Harry grinned at when he saw them: Cedric Diggory, Arabella Figg, Oliver Wood, Alicia Spinnet, and most importantly, his parents.

Feeling a hex just miss him, Harry turned back to the fight that was now some distance away from him. Disgusted at the Death Eaters who were obviously moving the fight away from the horrible creatures, Harry thought, 'Wouldn't want to be too near your own fighting force, now would you? God knows, they may suck your soul out.'

Sending a stunning spell at a nearby woman, Harry turned his back momentarily on a solitary figure and immediately paid the price. Feeling a slashing hex hit him in the middle of the back, Harry gasped at the unimaginable pain. All over him, deep stab-like wounds began to appear, blood flowing steadily onto the ground.

Sinking to the ground, Harry knew he was dying.

*****

From where she stood upon the roof of Hogwarts, Destiny watched as Harry received his killing wound. Glancing around at the rest of the battle field, she could see her father Sirius running to his Godsons' side.

Shifting into her Animagus form, Destiny flew across the battle field and landed at Harry's side. Transforming back into her normal self, Destiny knelt next to him, allowing her long white hair to trail on the ground through the growing pool of blood.

Blinking up at her through his pain, Harry croaked out, "Alexia?"

"No," she murmured, "Destiny." Rolling him gently over so that she could see the hex wound, she quickly changed back into her phoenix form. Bending her head over it, she began to cry on the gaping wound. After the most serious damage had been healed, she changed back and murmured, "Let's get you into the school so that I can finish healing you."

Standing up, Destiny was reaching down to pull him to his feet when a Death Eater pointed his wand at her. It was as if time had come to a crawl for Harry. Things slowed and all he could think was 'NO!' He didn't know what spell was being used or what it would do when it hit, but the one thing he did know was that he couldn't allow it to hit her.

Pushing himself painfully off the ground, Harry lunged forward and shoved her out of the way, allowing himself to be hit in her place. When the black light hit, excruciating pain flowed through him. He could feel his blood vessels begin to pop. He knew, as everything went black, that his organs would soon explode and that he would never wake up again.

*****

Through the mirror that he watched, Voldemort got a close up view of Harry being hit by the last spell. Grinning evilly, he rose to his feet.

"Wormtail, it is time to show the world the man to which they will bow."

As he apparated away, neither Voldemort nor Wormtail saw Destiny Black stagger to her feet as her skin began to turn transparent.

*****

Destiny didn't see the curse coming so much as she felt it. Before she could react though, she felt something warm and heavy slam into her, knocking her clear off of her feet. She could feel the curse hitting Harry as his hands left her body.

Most people say that when they're about to die their entire life flashes before their eyes. This very occurrence happened for Destiny except that it wasn't her life. Shocked, the Necromancer watched Harry's life in the blink of an eye before agonizing pain ripped through her body. Trying desperately to scream, Destiny lay immobile on her back, locked within the memories of her own mind.

Seers were rare. Most were seen as lunatics and within a few years they actually were. Destiny had spent years fighting her visions, casting altering spells so as not to be driven insane by the constant memory of tortured deaths. In an instant, all of the memory alterations vanished and she was left with nothing but flash after flash of violent, horrific visions. Every vision she had ever witnessed in her twenty-one years flashed through her mind. Before her, friend, foe, and acquaintance, died. By the time it was over, even though only mere seconds had passed, Destiny's eyes were glazed over and blank, far past sanity.

*****

Sirius had almost made it to Harry's side when he saw Harry knocking Destiny out of the way of a curse. Having heard what curse was used, Sirius knew there was nothing he could do but watch his Godson die.

Harry had been hit with the Cunctor Mortis. The young man would suffer horribly before his death as slowly, blood vessels burst, organs exploded, and he choked to death of his own blood and pieces of lung.

Kneeling down beside him, he was grateful that Harry appeared to be unconscious. Keeping low to the ground, Sirius crawled to his daughter's side. Poking her in the side, he said, "Wake up! I know you're not dead, I can see you breathing." Leaning down to look closer into her eyes, he drew back suddenly in horror.

There was nothing in those eyes, no mind, no person, no life. Destiny's body may have been there but the very life that was her, was not.

*****

Trapped within her own mind, Destiny felt as if she were drowning in a swirling pool of darkness. Finally though, it stilled and allowed a vision of the end of the war to flash very clearly before her eyes. She saw who would win, who would lose; she knew the repercussions of both. Suddenly, the last prophecy she had made at Harry's house made sense.

'When ice does shine... The lake is frozen over... The Mage will die... Harry... Through the fires flame...'

It was as if a light bulb had suddenly been turned on and allowed her to open her eyes. Reflexively, Destiny's hand darted up and grabbed onto the man in front of her. There was a problem though. So much time had passed; her birthday was so close that Mortis Exolesco was almost complete. Her hand went straight through her father.

Ignoring his gasp of shock, she stood, passed straight through him and went to Harry, completely ignoring the curses that now flew right through her. When she was almost to his side, she staggered, fell to her knees, and became a little more solid.

Gasping for breath, Destiny brushed the hair off of Harry's face, kissed his lips while ignoring the blood spilling from them, and changed into her phoenix form. She had barely managed to change before her feathered body collapsed on top of him, flickering out of existence momentarily. Giving a loud shriek that drew the attention of most of the battle field, the Phoenix burst into flames.

*****

Blinking his eyes open, Harry groaned, sucking in a lung full of sweet smelling smoke and settling ash. Suddenly taking notice of the fact that he was in no pain, he glanced down and experimentally patted his body to check for any holes. After searching the places where the most blood had soaked into his clothing, Harry found nothing, not even a scratch.

"What the..."

"Harry!" Turning his head dazedly, he saw Sirius kneeling next to him. "Oh God, I though you were dead for sure!"

"So did I... Where's Destiny?"

Running his hand distractedly through his hair, Sirius replied with a desperate sort of panicked depression. "Jesus Harry, she used the rest of her life force to save you. Her phoenix fire allowed you to be reborn from the ashes, but... Des is just... gone."

Bowing his head sadly, Harry tried to choke back tears.

"Stop sitting there and help us!" Dakota snapped. "We need to..."

Startled to hear the out spoken Dakota shut her mouth without being told to, Harry immediately knew something was wrong. As a sudden hush fell over the battle field and all fighting ceased, he felt a chill run down his spine. Glancing up, he saw Voldemort approaching.

"And the great Harry Potter survives again. To bad about your little girlfriend though. Now you will die. Without her, prophecy dictates that I will win." Smiling evilly, Voldemort held out his hand. "Join me."

As Voldemort had been giving his speech, Harry had risen with surprising steadiness to his feet.

"Never," he snapped back defiantly.

Twirling his wand lazily in his hand, Voldemort pointed it at Harry and hissed, "Crucio."

Knowing that if he moved, Sirius, who was behind him, would be hit, Harry gritted his teeth and prepared to just endure the pain. Raising his arm instinctively to ward off the curse, he closed his eyes tightly.

At the gasp of surprise that went through the crowd, Harry opened one eye and looked at his out stretched hand. Shocked, he snapped his other eye open. Around his hand glowed a brilliant red light- the light of the curse meant to torture him.

'I'm holding the Cruciatus Curse...'

As an idea began to dawn on him, Harry smiled at the snake-like man before him. Drawing his arm back, Harry threw the curse that lay in his palm back at its creator.

Falling to his knees, Voldemort shrieked in pain. The curse lasted only seconds though and soon he was back on his feet, throwing the killing curse at the wild haired young man.

Thinking it was probably best not to push his luck and risk dying, Harry was tensing his muscles to move when an echoing voice whispered, "Don't move." Freezing, Harry suddenly got the feeling of being part of the air and saw the curse pass into him before stilling; glowing brightly in his chest, it died out after having no affect.

Frantically Harry thought, 'What's going on?'

"Don't panic, Harry." Glancing about, he saw his mother, father, countless friends- all ghosts that the others obviously couldn't see. "When Destiny gave you the gift of her fire, she allowed you to have temporary access to her powers. She may no longer be here Harry, but for as long as you wield her powers, she is standing with you." The voice seemed to come from all of the ghosts, from everywhere, from nowhere.

Understanding suddenly, Harry lifted his head to look Voldemort in the eyes. "No, prophecy says that a hero will come from the ash to save the world." Gathering his powers, the power of all those who had died opposing Voldemort, and the power that Destiny had left behind, Harry ignored Voldemort who had raised his wand and whispered, "Be free. Your deaths have been avenged."

Releasing the power from within him, Harry watched with the eyes of a Necromancer as Voldemort's soul was ripped from his body. Anybody else would have just seen the evil man collapse but Harry was able to watch as all of Voldemort's victims attacked him and destroyed his very soul.

Slowly, the ghost world that ran parallel to the living began to unfocus and finally vanished from sight.

Peace had just begun to settle over Harry when somebody screamed. The dementors were no longer being kept at bay by the spirits and were moving into the crowd. Raising his wand, Harry yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" Out of the wand burst the brightest, most powerful Patronus he had ever seen. As the stage ran down the dementors, they let out an unearthly shriek and one by one, exploded into nothingness.

Staggering a little, Harry used the last of the borrowed powers and his own to bind the fleeing Death Eaters before collapsing into blessed unconsciousness.

*****

The bound Death Eaters had been transported to a more secure location and out on the battle field, medi-witches and wizards walked among the wounded, helping those they could and pronouncing others dead that they couldn't. The numbers of dead were tremendous on both sides. The total count eventually rose into the staggering tens of thousands and, in the end, more had died than lived.

Walking around feeling helpless and slightly dazed, Dakota kneeled down beside a pile of clothing and a stake, sighing.

"Hey there," Remus murmured. "You okay?"

Gently picking up the clothing, Dakota hugged it to her. "How can I be? Everything I once knew, everything I believed in... It's all gone. Destiny, my father, Mia, Stanton, my brothers..."

Wrapping his arms around her, he lightly kissed her forehead and whispered, "You still have me... Besides, now that it's finally over, no more are going to die."

"Yeah... You know, I learned something from all of this." Giving her a quizzical look, he waited for her to go on. "Life's just too short to not do what you want to." Grabbing his face, Dakota yanked Remus forward and kissed him hard on the lips. Pulling back, she smiled sheepishly. "Would you like to go on a date sometime?"

Grinning so wide that it looked as if his face would split, Remus practically shouted, "YES!"

Laughing, Dakota raised her arms in a gesture for him to calm down. "Whoa! Calm down! So... you've liked me for a while then?"

"For years but you were the princess of my people and... how was I supposed to ask you out?"

"Simple, you walk up and say, 'Dakota, would you like to go to the movies, eat dinner... go back to my house...'"

Giving a little laugh, Remus shoved her away playfully.

"Why don't we just try that date first? We've got time now, so let's take this slow. Besides, there's so much to do and a lot of promises to make the humans fulfill. Such as, did Destiny ever choose who was going to co-lead the Wizarding World?"

*****

Twenty-four hours after the final battle had been completed Harry woke to find himself in a beautiful room that resembled the Gryffindor common room, alone. Sitting up, he let the events from the day before wash over him.

"Destiny..."

Drawing his knees up to his chest, Harry stared out the window beside the bed, never noticing the tears running down his cheeks.

*****

Over the next few days, funerals were held and the Order met to discuss what to do next. It was agreed that the Ministry would be reset up and two Ministers would be elected to keep each other in line. Harry was nominated by the Order, but when he failed to respond, it became apparent that for the time being, Harry wasn't going to be able to lead anyone. He was barely even taking care of himself.

It was unanimously agreed to that Hermione Granger would become the first Minister for the humans. Her knowledge was legendary and her alliance to the Light Side had never been questioned.

It had been agreed since the beginning of the Dark Creatures involvement that Destiny Black, as the Queen, would be the one to decide which of her people would share the leadership position. The humans, upon Destiny's death, didn't know how to even begin to pick who to give the job to. At first they had tried to give the job to Dakota Lupe, but she had flat out refused. She claimed she had enough to do just keeping her people in line. Without Destiny around to terrorize people into listening, Dakota was going to have a huge job of watching over everyone.

The very next day, a delay owl- one that would have a letter sent on a certain day that was picked- arrived with a letter. The owl was dated August 29^th, 2003 and it was signed by Queen Destiny herself. In the note, the deceased Necromancer had made her decision. Remus Lupin was made co-minister that very day.

That evening, before Harry headed back home for the night, he was approached by Draco Malfoy who had indeed been acquitted and thereby saved from Azkaban.

As Malfoy approached, Harry sighed. He just wasn't in the mood for a verbal spat. Gritting his teeth and acknowledging the fact that he wasn't going to be going home any time soon, Harry waited for the other man to catch up.

"Harry, there's something you need to know-"

"Look Malfoy, I don't care if you're sorry. Being sorry isn't going to bring her back. Why can't you and the rest of the world just let me mourn in peace?"

"Potter, you're not the only one who lost her, you know. Have you seen her mother? The woman is inconsolable! She just lost her only child! Have you talked to Black? The poor man is blaming himself for her death. He seems to think that if he had gotten their a little sooner, if he'd just ran a little faster, she would have lived. Have you bothered to ask me about her death because I just lost my only friend!"

Stunned, Harry stuttered, "I don't know what to say..."

"Don't say anything, just listen. Destiny was the best friend I ever had. She put herself on the line repeatedly with no gain to herself. Des spent her entire life being told she was evil. Towards the end she began to believe it would be easier for people if she allowed them to believe that. She wasn't though... Do you remember the Animagus Potion? Do you remember her insisting on waiting a day to take it?" At his nod of confirmation, Draco continued. "She made you wait so that she could steal some for me. That's why I was such a good spy. I can blend right into a forest setting."

"What are you?"

"A fox." In the blink of an eye, the snow white fox stood before him. Changing back, Draco continued as if nothing had happened. "You and the rest of the world need to know, the way that Alexia acted was not Destiny. Des was brave, loyal, cunning, and, most of all, just a regular person trying to do what was right. Destiny was cruel only when it made things easier for others to deal with. If she was cruel, it was because you needed her to be. Remember this: in the end, Destiny Black was only the person you wanted her to be."