Sky full of stars {Harry Potter Fanfiction}

16. From the Ashes

PART TWO: FROM THE ASHES

I was floating.

I'd never felt so serene and peaceful in all my life. I was floating on an ocean so clear and smooth it felt like glass under my fingers, and it gently lapped against my fingers like a cat's soft tongue. Imagine every tropical ocean and multiply it by ten... that's how at ease I was.

The sun was so bright above me—reds, oranges and yellows all colliding with each other like the tails of fireworks. But somehow, I knew I wouldn't burn. The water was a soothing balm to... wait, why was I here?

Lyra.

The voice was familiar, and I looked around me. I couldn't see anything apart from the endless ocean and the beating sun above me. Wait, was it getting closer?

Lyra, it's time.

The world tilted on its side, and I was thrown from the ocean, the peace slipping through my fingers like silk. The sun seemed to engulf everything around me—the ocean, my skin, my eyes. Everything was tingling...

Lyra, it's time to wake up.

Involuntarily, my eyes shut. Everything disappeared.

But then, a new surrounding was beginning to appear from the darkness, murky shapes forming. Where was I going? Was this—wait, was I dead? Was I moving on somewhere else?

"No!" my voice cried out. "Don't take me!"

Don't worry, my child. I will be there.

**

With the force of a diver catapulting off the end of a spring-board, I jolted awake. There was no ocean, no sun.... where was I?

I was lying on a hospital bed, but mine was the only occupied. Six beds opposite me were shrouded in privacy curtains, but their occupants didn't make a noise. A quick look to my right and I saw a glass-stained Hogwarts crest.

Relief rushed through my body. I was in the hospital wing. I was okay. Then as quickly as relief passed through me, it left.

Images poked at my brain, forcing me to remember. The wall of fire, Voldemort on the back of Professor Quirrell's head, Harry with the Philosopher's stone in his pocket, Katherine bleeding to death on the chamber floor....

Swinging my legs out of bed I found the world tilting sideways. Wow, I must have been out for a while. Somebody had dressed me in a long white nightgown, but somebody had conveniently left my Weasley jumper, jeans and trainers in a pile on the cabinet.

Quickly stripping off, I changed into the clothes. They fit snugly on me, especially the jumper and the trainers pinched my toes. I didn't remember them being this tight.

"Right... what now?" my mind was like a vat of syrup, everything was coming back to me slowly. Where had Quirrell and Voldemort been?

Lyra. It was that voice again! The one in my dream with the ocean!

"Who's there?" I cried, my eyes darting to my wand on my bed-side table. "Why did I hear you in my dream?"

A soft caw came from behind me. Flipping around in amazement, I saw a majestic phoenix bird sat on a hospital bed. It was large and crimson with long golden feathers that fluffed out like a peacock's. Its talons and beak looked deadly, but I wasn't afraid. As it shared the same golden eyes as I did.

"How can you talk to me?" I asked. "Am I going mad?"

It might have been my imagination, but the Phoenix seemed to quirk his beak into almost a smile. My name is Fawkes. My sister, Adara was killed and her heart and very essence forcibly consumed by your mother. You and I are linked, child. I am the cry you hear when you draw from my sister's soul to heal others.