The Phoenix Prophecy

The Phoenix Prophecy

Chapter 1

It's cold. She moves and her body is in pain. She opens her eyes and sees only darkness at first, and then slowly the silhouettes of tall trees emerge. Her clothes are bloody and torn. She gets up and tries to walk, but finds that she has almost no energy to continue. Slowly, she makes her way to a flickering light. The light gets larger and she can just make out a small stone hut in the distance. Moving closer, she sees beyond the hut a huge castle with grand turrets reaching the sky. A terrible pain shoots through her chest, as if a blade is piercing her ribs and she screams. Everything goes black...She feels herself floating and can hear murmuring. Someone is carrying her, and then she feels the softness of a warm bed. She is dazed and her senses are muted.

She hears a concerned woman's voice, "The poor dear. What happened to cause all these wounds?"

"Poppy, do you recognize her to be a student?" another woman asks the first.

"She be no Hogwarts stu'ent, perfesser," a ruddy man's voice cuts in.

"I agree, Hagrid, and you found her just on the edge of the Forbidden Forest?" an older man's dignified voice asks.

"I heard the scream, and found her, perfesser."

"And she has no wand. Nothing of magic can be found on her, but she IS magical," says McGonagall.

You then feel your shirt open and Pomfrey adds, "Only magic could have caused that wound, and only someone of magic could have survived."

"Let her rest. Minerva, I will contact the Ministry in the morning."

Her dreams are restless. She battles a great dragon. It charges and her sword pierces its chest, casting it down. She beheads it and sees its black eyes go white, and in their reflection her own eyes go black and dead... She wakes. She is still in bed, but this time bandages completely cover her body. Her eyes are also bandaged and she can't see anything. She senses that she isn't alone in the room. People come in and walk past her bed, and she pretends to sleep.

"Harry, how ya' feeling?" a girl's quizzical voice asks.

"Yeah, Harry, that bludger was bloody awful," a boy's jovial voice states.

"I'm feeling better, Hermione. Thanks," answers the boy who she assumes is Harry.

"Ron, did you take care of my broom?"

"Yeah, it's back up in your room."

"Oh, and I have all your homework assignments that you missed for the day," says Hermione and you hear what sounds like a stack of books slam on a table. "Professor Snape decided to assign some extra reading so you best catch up now," she adds.

"Bloody hell, I'm glad I'm not in that class."

"But you are, Ron, you're just always asleep!" laughs Harry.

Ron whispers, "Who's the mummy?"

"I don't know who she is. I heard Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey earlier this morning talking about her, and something about the Ministry and that it was a good thing Hagrid found her. I think she was dreaming earlier," Harry finishes.

"That means he had to have found her in or around the Forbidden Forest. I'm going to go talk to him. Coming Ron?" asks Hermione.

"Sure thing. We'll see you at dinner then, Harry?"

"Yeah, I think so. That's the last time I let Ginny, Seamus and Dean talk me into teaching them how to be seekers".

Ron and Hermione leave and the room goes quiet. Harry takes a look at the books for a few moments then pushes them away. She feels him looking at her. He must be curious, but she is even more so. She doesn't remember anything before that night in the forest and it's starts to sink in. She feels very alone and scared.

"Excuse me, miss, are you... awake?" She hears him get up from his bed and move towards her. Instinctively, her body stiffens and her arms rise in front of her ready for a fight. "It's okay, calm down. My name is Harry. Harry Potter," he says. It feels like her muscles are tearing just from sitting up that way, and her heart beats faster.

"Please... tell me where I am," she hears her voice for the first time; it is thin and weak.

"You're in the hospital wing at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I got here early this morning due to a Quidditch mishap. What is your name?"

"My name is..." her mind searches for an answer and draws a blank. "I don't remember anything. I don't know who I am, how I got here, or even my name..." Her voice trails off into sobs and she feels herself shaking; the bandages covering her eyes are damp with tears.

"Please don't, you're safe now, and Headmaster Dumbledore will see to it that it stays that way." He reaches over and takes her hand. "I will see to it that it stays that way," he says confidently. She feels his hand, and then suddenly a surge of energy hits her, like she's flying through the air. Harry's body tenses, no doubt experiencing the same rush.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing out of bed! Leave that girl alone and do the homework Ms. Granger has brought you. Professor Snape told me you can't use Quidditch as an excuse for class absence again!" scolds Pomfrey. With that, their hands let go and Harry returns to his bed.

"My poor dear, it's good you've awakened. You must eat something," as Madam Pomfrey places food on a table. She feeds her, and all the while Harry watches. What was that surge she felt? It was as if she gained a sense of her true self back. "Rest now and Headmaster Dumbledore and the Ministry will be here later. They will have all the answers."

Madam Pomfrey leaves. She must have given her a sleeping draught because she can't stop from... dreaming again... She runs through a ruined castle trying to find a way out. A voice in her head hisses, "THEY COME FOR YOU! YOU MUST LEAVE NOW! THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THEM!" She runs faster and faster until she reaches an open gate. She runs through only to find the edge of a cliff on the other side, and stops just barely in time. A deep chasm of jagged rock face fades to pitch black, and then she hears evil LAUGHTER behind her. She is too afraid to turn around, but then she looks up to see a beautiful red bird circling the air above. It keeps circling and makes her feel better, but the LAUGHTER gets louder, clawing her back...

She awakes in a cold sweat, and then immediately rips the bandages off her arms. She feels them, and her skin is completely healed. Carefully, she removes the bandages from her eyes. Everything is fuzzy, but she is able to focus.

The voice silently hisses again, "THEY COME FOR YOU."

She has that same feeling in the dream; as if something bad was going to happen. She hopes to see Harry, but sees his empty bed. She sees the clear night sky through the windows. She gets up and makes her way out of the hospital wing to a hallway. Everything is quiet, when suddenly she hears a group of people approaching.

"If she is part of the prophecy, then she must be destroyed," a man says as she hides behind a darkened pillar.

She waits, and then makes her way down another dark corridor. She runs faster down the hallway until she hears voices and laughter. Ahead lies a huge doorway, with students coming and going through the entrance. She moves forward to get a closer look inside and sees a great hall with banners of scarlet and gold, green and silver, black and gold, and blue and grey wafting above stone columns, and then recedes into what looks like the twinkling night sky. Students sit at long wooden tables eating dinner, while the professors keep a watchful eye from tables at the other end of the room. Still hiding behind a pillar, she observes three students - two pudgy and oafish looking brown-haired boys and one snobbish looking blond-haired boy, all wearing green and silver robes - pass. They talk about how Hagrid had found a girl in the forest and that she was so dangerous that the Head of the Ministry of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, arrived to resolve things immediately.

"I heard she was a monster with ten arms," says the shorter brown haired boy.

"And I heard Pansy say the girl is soooo ugly that they had to cover her face with bandages," says the taller one.

"CRABBE, GOYLE, do you believe everything you hear?" shouts the blond-haired boy as he turns and stares them down.

Crabbe and Goyle look at each other, then nod their heads, "Yeah we do, Draco. At least everything you tell us."

"Good." He smiles triumphantly, spins around and walks past. She realizes that they must be talking about her; she feels frightened and thinks that she must have done something so awful that she made herself forget

"YOU MUST LEAVE NOW," the voice in her head urges.

Then, she hears a familiar voice: "Everyone, may I have your attention."

The hum of the students goes quiet and you see an old man in flowing blue robes standing at the head table to the students. She assumes that he is Headmaster Dumbledore. Another man, wearing a bland suit and tie and looking very official (although somewhat boring), stands next to the Headmaster, and she assumes that he must be Cornelius Fudge.

"There is a young girl somewhere here in the castle. Do not approach her. Tell your prefects immediately if you have seen her. I will ask them now to escort you all to your common rooms." The chorus of nervous chatter amongst the students as they file out of the Great Hall continues past her. Still hidden, she waits and watches the teachers emerge and split up to search the castle.

Steel and wood creak and clank as an old man in tattered clothes and a red-eyed cat trailing behind him approach Dumbledore.

"She won't be leaving tonight, headmaster. Everything is locked up tighter than Azkaban."

"I hope she doesn't leave, for all our sakes," says Dumbledore as he slowly turns his head. It's as if he can see her in the dark, and she moves back further. "Why don't you check the dungeons, Mr. Filch?"

"Come along, my sweet," Filch leaves. Dumbledore smiles as he looks into the darkness, and walks off.

"THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THEM!" the voice hisses again. This time the voice doesn't frighten her; instead, it puzzles and reminds her of something: whom is she supposed to save? All is quiet, so she makes her way into the Great Hall and gets a true sense of the beauty of its hand-cut stone masonry, gothic arches, - roaring fireplace, and star-filled ceiling. She remembers the blackness of the night before and how she couldn't see the stars because of the trees; trees that seemed to suffocate and drown her.

Her stomach growls, "I wish I had some food."

She hears a whisper, and as she passes a table, a plate of food appears. She looks around cautiously and then hungrily takes the food. Tired, cold, and still wearing the hospital gown, she moves to the other end of the room. Behind the teachers' tables, she discovers another entrance to the Great Hall, surely used only by faculty. She enters, and finds an immense hallway with glowing torches and huge tapestries along its walls. She hears and sees no one, but can't help feeling that she isn't alone.

Four tapestries hang on the walls. Passing each, she reads the names RAVENCLAW, HUFFLEPUFF, SLYTHERIN and notices that each tapestry is dedicated to a wizard or witch and their greatest achievement. Inscribed on the fourth tapestry, within a banner, are the words: "GODRIC GRIFFYNDOR DEFEATS THE GREAT EVIL." The banner flies overhead two figures; a wizard, wand in one hand, sword in the other, faces off an evil beast poised to strike. The beast bears a remarkable resemblance to the one in her dream.

"THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THEM!" The voice booms again.

"I don't understand!" she cries out in frustration. Suddenly, she feels a hand on her shoulder and swings around to see two boys materialize as if from no where.

"Don't be afraid, it's me Harry. We met in the hospital earlier today." Now she sees him for the first time. He smiles and she remembers how he held her hand to comfort her. "This is my friend, Ron. We came looking for you." Ron cracks a smile, but is obviously nervous to be there.

She looks at Harry and time stands still. His eyes hold a sense of wonderment, but she feels something entirely different. She goes numb and becomes someone else. "Ow," Harry winces as he touches a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

"THERE SHE IS!"

The three look up to see a woman dressed in a nurse's uniform and a man clad all in black with scowl on his face running down a great staircase.

"MOVE AWAY FROM HER!" yells the man to Harry and Ron.

"Pomfrey and Snape. Looks like we weren't the only one's trying to find you," says Ron.

Flights of shifting staircases are crowded with curious students trying to make their way down to see the commotion. There is nowhere to run.

"I'm sorry," says Harry as Ron pulls him away. She hears the LAUGHTER again. It grows louder, coming from the tapestry.

"RON, HARRY!" Eyes fly up to a girl with bushy, dark brown hair screaming from the stair above, terror in her eyes.

"Harry...LOOK." Ron points to the tapestry.

Harry returns his gaze, and this time there is fear in his eyes. She turns her head and sees the tapestry undulating, the fibers unraveling as the great beast in the tapestry turns its head to Harry and Ron. Its ROARS knock everyone, except her, to the floor. The beast slowly emerges from the tapestry, its head nearly reaching the ceiling. Its skin - covered in thick, obsidian like scales - steams. Its heated breath envelops her, causing even the walls and floor to sweat. It poises to strike.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" yells Snape, but it has no effect on the beast.

"STUPEFY!" yells another woman wearing green robes and a tall pointed hat standing next to Dumbledore and Fudge above the perilous scene.

Again, nothing happens. The beast is distracted for a moment. Then, it sniffs the air and turns back to Harry and Ron.

"GET BACK!" screams the girl. Her voice booms rivaling the beast's own roar; the walls shake from the resonance.

Everyone stops to look at her, and even the beast turns its attention from Harry and Ron. She looks up at it and feels her muscles tense. Something rises from the pit of her stomach, and she feels a surge of energy build inside. She looks into the beast's eyes, and senses a familiarity. But the monster, holding no sentiment, rears its head back, and shoots a blue flame from its mouth directly at her. Immediately, she crosses her arms and blocks the flames, protecting herself, Harry and Ron who are not too far behind. She feels the power of the flames push her back. The energy inside her explodes and she SCREAMS. With tremendous force, the girl deflects the dragon's own flames back at the source, causing a blinding flash of light....