Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [21]
“And I am forever in your debt for doing so Sirius,” said Lupin.
“The other reason we would not be able to raise you mom, Harry,” said Arabella,
“even if we did have our Orders is because an Order is strongest when used on a direct member of the family. While your mother is related to the rest of us, it is too distant to do he much good. She has been dead for a while, and it will take quite a but of magic to bring her back.”
“We need at least three phoenixes and it should be performed on her birthday, the day when the most magic will be with her,” said Lupin.
“Well, Harry can call upon one, and we can ‘borrow’ Fawkes from Dumbledore, so that means we only need one more,” said Sirius. Just then, Harry blurted out something:
“I saw a black phoenix the other day, maybe you can use that,” said Harry.
“What did you say?” asked Arabella. Harry swallowed hard. He just remembered that the fact that he saw the black phoenix was not a good thing.
“The other day, I saw a black phoenix in my room attacking Hedwig,” said Harry slowly and gloomily. Sirius, Lupin, and Arabella each looked at him as though he was Voldemort himself.
“Harry,” gulped Sirius, “that’s not a good thing that you saw that…”
“Why? What is the black phoenix? I know it has something to do with Voldemort, but what else?”
“Well Harry, you remember that story I told you about Garde?” asked Arabella.
“Yes, why?”
“Well, that man who was the leader of the phoenix-hunting group started his own Order of the Phoenix, only it wasn’t and order, it was The Chaos of the Phoenix.”
“But, you said he died! How could he have his own group?” asked Harry.
“Yes, Harry, but you’ve been to Hogwarts, so you know all about ghosts. Ghosts are people who have died, but still have enemies that they wish a vengeance upon. This is what happened to Veldomert.”
“Voldemort? He was alive back then?” asked Harry.
“No, no, not Voldemort, Veldomert,” said Arabella, “they are two totally different people. Where do you think Tom Riddle got his name from? Voldemort wasn’t an original name, just a slightly different version of another.”
“Alright, I get it,” said Harry. Arabella must’ve been older than he though since she knew Voldemort when he used to go by Tom Riddle.
“Anyway,” continued Arabella, “Veldomert started his Chaos of the Phoenix. He returned as a ghost and went back to his castle. There, he had a collection of phoenix skeletons. You see, the skeleton of a phoenix are not necessary for a healing potion, just the rest of the body. He conjured up a potion that bought the phoenix skeletons to life, though not back to their full life, a half-life, much like the kind of life that one would receive after drinking unicorn blood. They were are new type of phoenix, black and dark and more powerful than the normal red ones. Veldomert used these dark phoenixes to fight the Order of the Phoenix and used them to try and destroy Garde and his family.
“But, even a ghost is not immortal, Harry, and he was killed. However, his black phoenixes were not. They remained in his dark castle, waiting for someone to make use of them. Voldemort was that person, he used them as his weapons, and they became his temporary symbol. He sent them into houses, and just one could take out an entire family. It was horrible.”
“So then why did he stop using them, if they were so powerful?” asked Harry.
“He didn’t,” said Arabella. “He continued to use them until they all died, or at least we thought they all died. Evidently, he either hid some somewhere, or some escaped from his clutches.”
“And since you saw a black phoenix, Harry,” said Sirius, “that means that either Voldemort or his minions are here somewhere, and they are keeping a close eye on us.”
“But why would they care about me?” asked Harry.
“For the same reason we want you,” said Arabella. Harry twisted his face into an expression of confusion. “Just as a pure phoenix can bring your mom back to a full life, a dark phoenix can bring here to a