Pawn of Darkness

Phoenix and her parents crammed themselves and Phoenix's trunk into the car, and tottered away in the old wreck of a Mercedes 6.9. Phoenix ignored her parents' chit-chat about their days at Hogwarts. She nodded at the right times, as her parents talked about their Houses (both had been Ravenclaws) and about feasts and such-like.

At King's Cross Station, Phoenix slid casually through the barrier. "Goodbye mum, goodbye dad," she said quickly. After over a year at the Manor, she didn't think she would really miss them.

The first empty compartment she found she jumped into. The train was starting to move slowly forward, to shouts of goodbye and good luck from parents. She sat in moody silence, pretending to look at The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One, but was really mentally reviewing her plan, and the more useful spells she had learned.

The door burst open suddenly, a mousy-brown haired girl burst in, carrying a her trunk and a large wicker basket. She sat down next to Phoenix, and Phoenix put her book down on her lap.

"Ah," the girl noticed, taking in the open book, "A studier. Hope you get in Gryffindor, I'm the only one there that reads like that there. I'm Hermione Granger, sixth year. What's your name?"

Hermione...the name was familiar...oh yes, one of Harry Potter's friends. It might be an advantage to get on Hermione's good side. "My name is Phoenix, Phoenix Argent."

"Oh," Hermione dug into her chest and pulled out The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six. Phoenix peered over Hermione's shoulder to look at the contents. She had passed all of that back in December. She would probably be frightfully ahead of everyone else, judging by the simplicity of the charms in her own level's book.

* * * * *

As the train pulled up to the platform in the village, Phoenix looked around. A huge man stood over by a large lake and a small fleet of boats. "Hi, Hagrid!" Hermione called, and the huge man shouted greetings back.

"First years, o'er here!" he yelled above the milling crowd, "Hiya, Harry!"

All the first years were piling into the boats, looking excited. Two boys and another girl were in the boat with her. As the tiny sailboats cast off, Phoenix jerked her fingers and mumbled a short spell to keep the wind blowing the right way for her boat. With no need to work, she relaxed and looked around the boat. The girl had long, dark brown hair and eyes. One boy had black hair and blue eyes, the other's was pale and tawny, his eyes were blue also.

The fair-haired boy spoke up. "My name's Randy Fletcher, what're your names?"

Obviously glad someone had broken the ice, the girl said, "I'm Glenn Wright. My parents are wizards, what about yours?"

The remaining boy grinned. "Same here, I'm Tam Pendleton."

"My parents are both Muggles," Randy admitted, "But I've tried to read up on the places and stuff."

Glenn looked at Phoenix with a look that said plainly, well aren't you going to introduce yourself?

"Phoenix Argent. My parents are wizards but they never told me until the letter."

Tam and Glenn looked shocked. "You're the one that was missing for a year!" Tam said, startled. "Was it frightening?"

"Yes, horribly," and she launched into the story Riddle had cooked up for her.

They got out of the boats in a large, underground cavern. A grey-haired witch with a firmly set line of a mouth greeted them. Beckoning imperiously, swept out of the cavern, all the first years trailing behind.

"Wait here," she ordered, "You will be Sorted in a moment."

An excited buzz of babble broke out as she strode away through the double doors. "How do they sort us?" Randy asked her.

"You put on a hat, and it tells you where you should go," Phoenix told him, "It's really simple." Randy looked immensely relieved.

The doors opened, and the teacher motioned for them to enter. On the platform they were led onto, there was a patched and graying hat. The students were all focused on it, and it's brim opened suddenly, it burst into song.

"Many, many years ago,

Lived great wizards four,

Who lived in search of learning,

Always wanting more.

Their names live on,

These wizards great,

And their noble,

Wonderous fate.

Tall and roaming Gryffindor,

Ravenclaw the wise,

Hufflepuff, so gentle,

Slytherin, surprise.

They came and founded Hogwarts,

But found that they did,

Disagree on what was best,

In each and every kid.

They chose their very favorites,

But how to chose when they,

Were dead and then,

Underground they lay.

They thought of me,

And put some wit,

Inside of me,

So come and sit,

I'll tell you where,

You ought to be,

I've never yet been wrong,

You'll see!"

The hall applauded, Phoenix joined in timidly. The grey haired teacher was unrolling a scroll. "Argent, Phoenix!" She called, and the wizard raised students whispered at her name. She strode forward, sat on the stool, and placed the hat on her head.

"Well, well. You're a born Gryffindor if I've ever seen one, and I've seen them all," the hat whispered in her ear, "Well, you're off to GRYFFINDOR!" Phoenix smiled and walked to the far table, which had erupted in cheers. But she hadn't done the Confundus Charm, had Riddle managed to do it from wherever he was off at? Certainly she couldn't really be a Gryffindor.

The girl Hermione was waving at her, motioning for her to come over and sit with her. Good, she was with Harry. There were several more people that seemed to be in Hermione's group. There was a tall, red-haired boy and a girl who had to be his sister and a round-faced boy next to Hermione.

"Congratulations," Harry said, she knew it was him, she had glimpsed the scar, "First new Gryffindor."

"I'm Ron Weasley," the red-headed boy announced, "This is Ginny, my sister," he pointed at the girl, "Neville Longbottom," the other boy, "Hermione Granger, and you probably already noticed he's the famous Harry Potter."

Harry stuck out his tongue at Ron. Phoenix laughed at him and turned to the Sorting Hat, which was sorting Randy Fletcher, a new Hufflepuff. "Howards, Rachel!" was a Ravenclaw, and "Renos, Testoy!" was a Slytherin, all the way down to Glenn Wright, who was the last of the students, and a Ravenclaw.

Tam came to sit next to Phoenix, he had been Sorted into Gryffindor as well.

A man at the top table was standing up, he had a long, silver-white beard. ("That's Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster," Hermione hissed in her ear.) "Welcome, students, old and new. I hope you had an enjoyable summer. With the threats of Dark Powers, one can never be sure one may enjoy life as one should be able to. I sincerely hope you enjoy your school year, and for those of you with more short-term minds, I hope you enjoy the feast."

Dumbledore - the man Riddle had told her to hide her skill from. He looked pleasant enough, so she didn't know why.

Ginny Weasley was looking oddly at Phoenix, like Tam had. "I've heard your name somewhere before," she said.

Tam nodded. "She's the little kid who got kidnapped for the year."

"But I'm pretty much over it, nothing could ever get me out from this school." Phoenix had to explain why she wasn't trembling and crying at those words. Harry looked uneasy, as though remembering something unpleasant, and his friends looked at him sympathetically.

Phoenix looked up at the top table. "That's the staff table," Hermione told her, "Those are your teachers."

"Yeah, the ugly, greasy-haired one is Snape, he teaches Potions," Ron said.

"And the one with the shorter black hair, the one who keeps glaring at Snape - "

"And the one Snape glares back at until Dumbledore glares at both of them - " Hermione butted in and giggled.

" - Is Sirius Black, the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. He's new. They've all been new," Harry waved to Professor Black and received a wave in return.

"We haven't kept a teacher in that subject for more than a year," Neville said. "It's the one jinx none of them could ever fight."

The sixth-years continued telling Phoenix the names of every single teacher until the room began to drain. " - And there's

Professor Trelawney too, and you won't have her 'til third year, and only if you're crazy and take Divination. She's a complete fraud," Ron finished the list with a large sigh.

"Oh, I have to get the first years out of here!" Hermione squealed. She stood up and called down the table, "First years, follow me, I've got the password!"

Phoenix, Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and much of the rest of Gryffindor followed her up the steps. Phoenix made sure to memorize the route for later.

Halting in front of a lady in a frilly pink dress, Hermione announced the password. "It's 'rooster egg'! Yes, I know it makes no sense, but just remember it, alright?"

The first years bobbed their heads up and down, as though this would be the first in a long list of things to remember.

Hermione escorted the first year girls to their room, another Prefect led Tam and the other boys away down another passage.

Their room had a brass sign that read "First Years" in big, clear, printing on a brass plate. The room was draped in scarlets and gold, with five huge four-posters in it, one for each of them.

A girl with curly hair was taking charge in the dorm. "OK," she addressed them, "Names. I'm Aly Darkenson."

"Elizabeth Trontwell, just Liz," That was a girl with long, blond hair that fell to her waist.

"Chris Mance, short for Christine, which I hate." Chris had dark brown hair in a pony-tail and green eyes.

"Kara Bell. My sister graduated last year - she played Chaser." Short blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles.

"Oh - I'm Phoenix Argent." Bracing herself for the wave of chatter about her kiddnapping, Phoenix picked out a bed, the on farthest from the door, hoping to divert the bombardment of questions.

"Oh." Aly was the only one who spoke. She bounced over to a bed in the center. Kara took the one nearest the door, Chris next to Phoenix, and Liz next to Aly and Kara.

"So, do any of you know any magic yet?" Chris asked the group.

"Not a spell of it," Liz replied, "Muggle born."

Chris and Aly were both half-bloods, and knew basic spells, while Karla had two wizarding parents and knew a few interesting things.

"I know some things," Phoenix released when pressed, "I just kind of picked them up."

"Oohhhh, show me!" Liz cried.

Phoenix had to think. She wanted to show how good she was, but couldn't show how much she'd learned, or the girls might get suspicious. She decided on a Mending Charm. She smashed the water jug next to Aly's bed, which made Aly scream

"Hey!", and shouted "Reparo!"

"Bravo!" Chris and Liz cheered.

Phoenix grinned. "It's stuff like that I picked up. Just the things you might use around the house."

"Can you show me how to do something?" Aly asked. "Dad didn't use too much magic around the house."

And so for the next half hour, Phoenix showed the girls how to open doors by magic. Liz had just gotten the hang of it when she swung the door open with her wand and there stood Hermione, her hand raised as though she had been about to knock.

"Lights out!" she told them, "Nice wand work, by the way." Then she shut the door with her own wand and walked away.

The girls now started chatting about their expected favorite classes as they got into their pajamas. Phoenix began to think. I'm really happy here, not happy because I'm pressing myself on and on to learn more and get better and stronger, but because they're my friends, and being with them is fun. And with that she went to sleep.