The Prophecy of the Phoenix

Forming a Plan

Severus had passed along the message as quickly as he could, but when everyone had arrived at James’ garden they were too late.  The site that greeted them was a clearing full of charred bodies and trees.  Dumbledore shook his head sadly and sighed.  “Looks like Voldemort just simply overwhelmed him.  What’s the body count?”

“Eighty nine by my count,” Severus chimed in.  “He definitely put up one hell of a fight.”

“We need to get him back!” Sirius cried. 

“Calm down,” Dumbledore tried to comfort him.  “We will do our best to rescue him.  Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he rescue’s himself.  He is incredibly resourceful after all.”

“Ill find out what I can,” Severus said as he apparated back to Hogwarts. 

**

James’ eyes fluttered open and it took a few minutes to remember what happened.  He was in a lavish bedroom with a steel cell door.  Sitting in an overstuffed armchair in the corner was Lucius.  “Thank goodness you’re awake!” he cried when he noticed James sit up.

James only growled at him.  “Gods help you if you’ve betrayed me.”

The blond moved to sit on the corner of the bed.  “I swear I didn’t!  I didn’t know anything about it until the morning about.  The very second the plot was revealed to me I sent word to Severus.”

“Do you think he betrayed me?”

Lucius laughed softly.  “Heavens no!  The man’s been madly in love with you since the sixth year of school. “

James nodded and let out a deep sigh.  It was then that he noticed the collar around his neck.  He reached a hand up to his neck and pulled at it a little.  “What in the bloody hell is this?”

Lucius sighed sadly and dropped his gaze to the floor for a moment.  “It’s the shackle of Isis.  It was created a few thousand years ago by a powerful Egyptian wizard to tame and bind Egyptian Veelas such as yourself.  Though it was made to bind a full blooded nydre.  It’s never been used on someone who was only a small part like you, so I don’t know how it will affect your human powers.”

He scanned the room for something to test his powers on and settled on a vase of flowers that was on the dresser across the room.  He concentrated hard on it.  The vase shook a little and just barely levitated about the surface of the dresser starting to fly toward them.  It only made it a few feet before crashing to the floor; with James collapsing back on the bed.  

 “Damn it!” he cried out.  “Just that took everything I had!”

“I promise you I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of here.”  Lucius hugged him tight. 

He watched as the wheels turned inside James’ head.  “Can you get me a collar that’s an exact replicate?” he suddenly asked.

“I suppose so…” Lucius replied.  “But what good would that do?”

“Just do it as soon as you can.  And I’m going to need you to bring me some potion ingredients.”

Lucius listened closely to what James told him he needed; hoping he could remember it all.  “Alright James, I’ll do what I can.  Some of the things on your list are going to be difficult to get though.”

“I have faith in you.  A Malfoy can do anything he sets his mind to.”

Lucius kissed him softly then left to go fetch the healer as Voldemort had instructed him to.

***

A/N:   Yep, back to short chapters, this time anyway.  This just seemed like a good place to stop for now.  Hmm, I wonder what his plan is…  I guess you’ll just have to come back and read it for yourself.  As always, please leave a review.  It only takes a few minutes and it could really brighten my day.