The Fall of The Phoenix

Betrayal and Apologies

TW FOR THIS CHAPTER: Very slight mentions of possible su*cidal acts

If this is something that you find triggering, I've noted the part of the chapter where it is mentioned so that you can skip over it. Stop reading when you get to the TW warning and pick up again when it says "End TW".

To summarize the part of the chapter without the trigger (chapter content spoiler warning, feel free to come back to this point once you get to the TW and then read on after): It's literally just Jay fussing over Phoenix! Don't worry, you won't miss much at all if you need to skip over it, it's two paragraphs where he goes from angry to concerned. It's just a very brief mention.

Please let me know if there's any element of this warning or the chapter that I need to adjust. As always, my messages are open, please feel free to reach out if you need anything. If you're reading as a guest, you can also private message me on Tumblr (iiowaw), though please know that I'm not always as quick to respond on Tumblr. All the love.

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Chapter Six: Betrayal and Apologies

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Behind the portrait of the Fat Lady, just before Common Room, with its sprawling mess of sofas, tables, and scarlet rugs, lies a short tunnel. The tunnel is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of my favorite parts of Gryffindor Tower. Each year, upon returning to Hogwarts, it adds an extra touch of magic to the already enchanting process of coming back to the castle. This tunnel offers just a hint of anticipation, the shortest of waits as one walks down the curve of the passageway, until the warm, sprawling Common Room is revealed in all its glory. It is that brief interval that allows the older students to witness the excitement of first years about to come home for the first time.

It is also inherently useful.

The tunnel provides an out-of-sight place to don the cloak of invisibility when I need to sneak out. Additionally, it makes a great quiet place to compose myself just before I enter the busy Common Room, when need be.

It is also a wonderful place to overhear the conversations that would otherwise conveniently end just as I enter the room.

It's not that I make a habit of eavesdropping. But when I need to know something, or I happen to hear my name fall off of the right person's lips...

Well, it's like my Aunt Fleur has always said: you never have to ask for anything if you never run from information.

And besides, anyone who's willing to discuss something in the hubbub of life that is the Gryffindor Common Room almost certainly wants the information to make its rounds.

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I practically danced back to the Common Room after my conversation with Professor Flitwick. Pride that I had received the offer to skip a year in Charms mixed with delight that I was going to be given the opportunity to learn even more about my favorite subject. Professor Flitwick had informed me that I had special permission to use magic over the summer, so that I could learn the spells my new classmates would be taught in the year I would be skipping. He had also given me the go-ahead to owl him whenever I'd like, should I find myself with a question or if I came across something in a book that I wished to discuss. Apparently, my parents had been mailed before he had brought it up with me, and they had readily given their permission and promised to monitor me, to ensure that I was only using magic to practice for my class. I knew that they had probably laughed as they signed the forms, as our house is under the Fidelius, so the Ministry couldn't monitor whether we did magic or not anyways.