Stuck AIAOY 2

Chapter 6

"Professor Dumbledore will be waiting for you."  Professor McGonagall told Rebecca as their silent walk came to an end in front of a statue of a phoenix tucked into a stone alcove.  "Sherbet lemon."  The password came from Professor McGonagall lilted and short, her voice strained.  While Rebecca went into the unknown, Minerva was going back to perform the now-known all to well: Owling home to parents with the news of another student's petrification.

Dumbledore's office was a treasure trove of oddities.  It's circular walls were laden with portraits of wizards and witches of all types and sorts, his walls shelves of indeterminable number and items.  Rebecca thought for a moment that, if this meeting wasn't for the reasons it was, she could have found herself lost in looking at everything for hours.

"Professor Dumbledore?"  She asked, quietly.  The silence in his office was heavy and he was not at the desk in the secondary room atop the few stairs she walked up slowly.  

The Sorting Hat was on top of a shelf in this next room, as well as a brilliant bird on a perch.  But her attention was not allowed to waver towards the bird, nor was her mind left to sit quietly while she waited for Dumbledore to appear.  The Sorting Hat began to speak.  "Bee in your bonnet, Potter Weasley?"

"Well-I..."  Rebecca wasn't aware that the hat was awake all the time.  She wondered for a moment if that was miserable, to be awake year round for a single night.  Then she had an idea.  "Actually, I was wondering if you put me in the right house.  Harry, too."

"Yes, I remember."  The Sorting Hat sighed, sitting back as best a hat can do.  "Of the two, you were particularly hard to place.  And I stand by what I said last year...you would have done well elsewhere, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw--The both of you would have done well in Slytherin, too."

"I don't think we could have."  Rebecca said quietly, not able to argue as vehemently as she felt but her disagreement forcing its way out of her in a lessened, muffled way.  The bird commanded Rebecca's attention with a quiet peep; it's feathers were spotty and its eyes tired.

Rebecca had no idea it was going to erupt in flames.  The heat washed over her even from her slight distance away, the bird's figure gone in seconds.  "Rebecca?"  Dumbledore asked, appearing at the top of the stairs to the raised room of the headmaster's office.

"Professor, I-Your bird!  There was nothing I could do, nothing I did!"  Rebecca's voice betrayed how panicked she felt, how overwhelmed she had been before the bird had ignited before her very eyes.  "He just caught fire!"

"And about time, too."  Dumbledore spoke levelly, exuding a calm.  "He's been looking dreadful for days.  Pity you had to see him on a burning day."  Dumbledore began to descend the stairs, one step at a time as he continued to speak.  "Fawkes is a phoenix, Rebecca.  They burst into flame when it is time for them to die, and then they are reborn from the ashes."

Rebecca stepped closer to Dumbledore as he pointed to the stirring pile of smoldering ashes, the center of which raised as a blinking, fledgling form's head appeared.

"So he's alright?  It didn't hurt?"  Rebecca asked quietly as they both leaned closer to admire the life beginning once more.

"Phoenixes are incredible creatures.  They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers-"

"Professor Dumbledore!"  A large voice boomed outside of the office door before it was slammed open by an equally large person.  Hagrid held a chicken in his hand and his eyes were wide.  "Professor, it wasn't Rebecca!"

"Ah, Hagrid-"

"I'll swear it in front of th' Ministry of Magic!"  Hagrid was frantic.

"Hagrid!"  Dumbledore brought a pause to Hagrid's panic.  "Relax."  Dumbledore stepped forward so he was beside Rebecca, nodding his head to her.  "I do not believe that Rebecca, nor Harry, have attacked anyone."