Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [176]
“Sirius, please release the phoenixes.” Sirius reached into a large brown bag that was next to the altar. He opened it up, and pointed his wand inside it. Slowly but surely, he magically bought each both phoenixes out, and placed them in the air above the altar. Once both were in the air, he took his magic spell off of them, and they began circling Harry’s mom’s skeleton, slinging softly. It was a very serene and tranquil song, that made Harry feel joyous and warm all over.
“Harry,” said Mrs. Figg, “now put your arms out, and say: ‘Liberate Lily ex inferis.’”
Harry took a deep breath, and did as she said.
“Liberate Lily ex inferis,” he whispered. Suddenly, Harry heard the sound a phoenix, but not one of the ones that was already circling. It sounded much farther away… but getting closer, and quickly! Within half a second, another phoenix appeared above the body, and began circling with the other two, singing in perfect harmony with them.
“Say it again, Harry,” said Mrs. Figg.
“Liberate Lily ex inferis,” said Harry again. The second the words left his mouth, a dim white light flew out from both of his hands, and into the skeleton. The phoenixes above began circling slightly faster as well, and singing louder. Harry let out a small gasp, along with Ron and Hermione.
“Say it again, louder!” said Sirius.
“Liberate Lily ex inferis!” he yelled. A bright white light flew out of his hands this time, and flowed right into the carcass, causing it to jump a little. The phoenix’s song was even louder now, and they were flying faster than before.
“Keep saying it!” yelled Lupin over the phoenixes. Harry repeated the words over and over, louder and louder each time. Now there was a constant flow of pure-white energy going form his palms to his mother’s skeleton. The phoenix’s song was almost deafening as they circled so fast, they were creating a blur in the air.
Still, Harry kept yelling over and over. His hands were beginning to hurt, just a little at first, but then it became almost excruciating. He couldn’t take it anymore, so he let go. He fell backwards onto the hard ground, and the flow of white energy stopped, but the phoenixes continued. The skeleton was now glowing a blinding white, so bright, that everyone had to turn away from it, or cover their eyes. Now the phoenix’s song was so loud, it made Harry’s ears fell like they were going to explode.
“It should be finished any minute now!” yelled Mrs. Figg, even though Harry could still barely hear her. He just kept sitting there on the ground, and watched this amazing sight. The skeleton was now beginning to hover in the air, and it was flying high; it came up right in the middle of the circling phoenixes, and began to spin in the center of them. Any second now, Harry would be reunited with his mother….
Just then, something new appeared: a black mark appeared in the white circle the phoenixes were creating from going so fast. At first it was hardly noticeable, but then it grew to be the size of one third of the circle.
“What’s going on!?” yelled Harry.
“I don’t know!” yelled Sirius back.
The skeleton was now going from a blinding white to a deep black, as was the rest of the circle the phoenixes were making. There was no more white, only black all over.
“Something’s gone wrong!” yelled Lupin. The phoenixes slowed down now, and Harry could make out the individual ones. Slower and slower they went, until finally, Harry saw the problem, and it was more worse than he could possibly imagine.
One of the phoenixes was a black phoenix.
“NO!” yelled Sirius. He jumped up to try and get the black phoenix away, but it was too high. He grabbed his wand, and started shooting at it, but every spell was just deflected away. The phoenixes were going incredibly slow now, but the skeleton was not slowing down; it was just a large swirling black mass. It began shooting off black beams of light in every direction, until the entire section of the forest was nothing more than a completely dark area.
Harry heard an explosion, and everything became white for just a