Only You Can Set Me Free

Authors note: To answer a good question posed by HazelWolf, Helios got his name due to the origin of the mythical bird. Some people believed the phoenix was born from the sun, and though Helios is coal black, his wings are, when he is happy or scared, even angry, ablaze with fire, looking quite a bit like the sun. Sorry I did not explain that thoroughly. I hope that clears things up pertaining to Helios. Oh, yes, I want to thank Miss Jany for the proper spelling of the spell, wingardium leviosa, thank you! ^-^

Chapter 18

No One Owns Harry James Potter!

Harry wearily stood against the wall as Fawkes held the gruesome Inferius at bay by blazing with fire angrily. Clutching the small locket in the same hand he held his wand, the hazel eyed boy tried desperately to remember Dumbledore’s fire spell. Mustering up all the courage he had, Harry took a threatening step into the battlefield.

‘Mr. Potter sir, please stand back, I can keep them away from you.’ Fawkes opened his wings farther apart to appear more threatening.

‘No, I can get rid of these guys, I owe it to Dumbledore.’ Harry tightened his grip on the wand and wove around the large bird to take over. Fawkes nodded slightly and cooled down. Harry’s mind reeled as he tried to remember Dumbledore saying the fire spell.

Then, the boys’ heart sank as he remembered that his headmaster had not said the spell at all. He had turned to see that Dumbledore’s wand was alight with a flame rope. Harry stared at the thirty something Inferius in dismay.

Suddenly, smacking his head at his own ignorance, Harry smiled slightly and brandished his wand at the corpses, who were nearly an inch from laying cold hands upon him.

“This is for Dumbledore, you bastards! **INCENDIA VERBERO!”

A long blazing streak of fire shot from the tip of his wand and slashed against one of the Inferius, causing it to moan and fall onto the floor in a steaming heap, not to recover. Harry smiled joyously as he swung his wand around, like a lion tamer would, the pale beasts stumbled backward.

“Wonderful!” Harry cried out joyously as he took three more down with a single flick of the wand. The other twenty something Inferius were retreating toward the door of the small room, upon noticing this, Harry laughed out loud.

“I don’t think so guys,” waving his wand above his head, the stream of fire formed a lasso of flames. Tossing the wand forward, the whip surrounded the bundle of Inferius and stopped them in their tracks. With a tug, the lasso tightened around them and cut them all in half. Their insides were empty, consisting of a dark mist that rose to the ceiling and stained the roof.

Harry jerked his hand down slightly and the flames disappeared. Looking down at the immobile creatures in disgust, he wiped at his brow quickly and kicked the nearest body sharply.

“Bloody gits… Good thing Mad Eye had told me about the spell or I would have been dead back there. Thank you Fawkes, you held them off a good long while.” Harry held out his arm as the large bird flew gracefully to land upon the outstretched appendage.

‘Seems Dumbledore was right about your abilities Mr. Potter, I assume you will want to prove them in a different setting. I believe you will do outstandingly in proving yourself against the headmaster.’ Harry frowned, head aslant in confusion.

‘What do you mean Fawkes?’

‘You can break away from your current submissive position in Headmaster Lupins’ reign as leader.’

Harry thought briefly of being leader of his own pack. He entertained thoughts of being a strong pack leader. With Draco, his mate, at his side, looking up to him for protection and love. He saw a few pups running around and enjoying the freedom of his domain. Harry closed his eyes and slowly opened them again to look down at Fawkes.

“I will win freedom from the Headmaster. I will take Draco and Sirius into my pack and lead them, together, we will defeat Voldemort. Also… we will hold strong ties with Headmaster Lupin and his mate, but I will not take being the weakling of his pack when I return. Fight him if I must, but… No one owns Harry James Potter!” Harry balled his fist in determination as Fawkes looked at the strong youth in amusement. Harry pocketed his wand and the silver chain and simultaneously poked at the other pocket containing the small chick. A slight chirp and shiver convinced Harry of his companions’ safety.

Fawkes, having flew onto his previous perch on the dresser while Harry was setting about putting his items away, called for Harry’s attention. Looking over at the bird, Harry motioned for the phoenix to speak his mind.

‘Where to now Mr. Potter, to find another horcrux… Or return to check on your mate and seek out Lupin for a chance to gain your freedom? Having Draco with you can strengthen your bond, you know…’ Fawkes stated matter of factly. Harry thought of the choices he now held and considered what his best plan of action would be.

‘I don’t know Fawkes; bringing Draco with me can place him in danger, seeing as how his father is a death eater and on bad terms with him. Yet, if I bring him on this journey we will be stronger. Then we can bring Siri along… he can perform the ceremony and be in our pack!’

Harry was smiling from ear to ear as he thought of collecting his mate and godfather, bringing them along to help him search for the few remaining horcrux, the hardest to retrieve being the one Dumbledore mentioned to be residing in Voldemort’s snake.

Nodding his head with vigor, Harry ran from the room, jumping over the fallen Inferius to reach the dim hall. In his haste, he tripped over one of the beasts and fell onto his face, none to gently.

Fawkes telepathically chided the young man.

‘Take heed Mr. Potter, minor slipups such as those can lead to your demise… Besides, I did not take dogs to be so clumsy…’

Harry scowled and leapt up, dusting himself off angrily.

‘Hmph, it is cats that land on their feet pal. It was an accident… I was just excited about going to retrieve my mate, that is all…’ Harry blushed slightly as the bird seemed to roll his eyes skyward. Harry shrugged nonchalantly and once again made his way to the hall, upon entering, he smiled in a goofy manner and sprinted now that there were no obstacles to interfere with his hastened pace. Fawkes flew above him regally, scanning their surroundings, seeing as Harry was to preoccupied with searching for his Firebolt. Quickly stealing a peek at his watch, the young man sighed inwardly.

‘12 in the afternoon already, I want to get back to Draco now damn it…’ He could not help but feel that he needed to get his mate as soon as possible. Remembering that he needed his forgotten broom, the lightning scar bearer tried to recall where he dropped it. Surely it was when the dementor attacked him.

“I know I dropped it around here somewhere… in the main hall!” Harry skidded to a halt upon entering the main lobby of the building. Searching the dirty ground, he spotted his broom lying beneath what looked like a very filthy rag. Upon further examining the rag, Harry was startled to discover the rag taking laborious breaths. Pulling his wand, he pointed it at the heap. The small creature turned quickly at the sound of a swish caused by the wand. Harry was none to happy to discover that the filthy heap was a rat. Not just any rat, actually…

“Wormtail…” Harry observed that in fact the rat was missing a tiny digit on his forearm. The rat, fearing for its life, quickly scurried from the broomstick only to be caught up into Fawkes’ long beak. Harry scowled and beckoned the phoenix to him. Fawkes reluctantly obeyed and dropped his would- be snack into Harry’s open palms. The young man quickly squeezed the rat, as to prevent his likely attempt at escaping.

“What are you doing here you filthy little maggot?” Harry noticed the rat expanding and quickly dropped the little creature. Fawkes sulked as his meal became larger and inedible. Raising his wand aloft, Harry sneered at the ugly little man as he finished his transformation.

“We meet again Potter… FOR THE LAST TIME!” Wormtail made a move as to pull a wand on the boy, but made a quick turn around and wobbled quickly toward the front door of the orphanage.

Harry had to bite his lip to contain the snicker that threatened to spill from his lips. The sight of the stubby man pulling such an obvious act of cowardice caused Harry to smile ruefully.

“Wingardium leviosa,” the boy murmured just as the man made it to the door. The older floating man cursed in irritation and rotated his short arms in attempt to break free, to no avail.

“Damn you Potter, you shall pay dearly for this!”

“Save your threats you pigmy. What are you doing here?” At the marauders stubborn silence, Harry sighed, idly flicking his wand, causing the man to bob up and down quickly.

Squirming uncomfortably, the rat man waved his pudgy arms in anger.

“I was sent by my master to see that you were not allowed to retrieve his neck lace. I suppose the Inferius and dementors were too much for you, poor little scar head freak. Little orphan Potter, being the cause of your parents’ deaths has given me such pleasure.” The man smirked at Harry arrogantly, watching anger wash over the hazel eyed boy.

“You are in no position to flap your lips in such a way Wormtail. I defeated everything your demented master sent my way, he will never defeat me on his own, so he has to hide like the coward he is and send his goons to get rid of me. As for my parents, I will now avenge their deaths slightly by killing you!”

Wormtail’s smile faltered as Harry’s eyes began to shine neon green. Scanning down the boys’ scowling face, he noticed sharp fangs protruding the others’ pink lips.

“This is new…” Wormtail squeaked out as he floated helplessly before the boy and phoenix.

Fawkes eyed the man sadly. Harry, noticing the large birds distress, sighed inwardly .

‘Alright Fawkes, here’s the deal, he remains a man, he is mine to kill. If he becomes his rat form, he is all yours. Deal?’ Harry talked telepathically to the bird. Said bird nodded his elegant head vigorously and turned shiny eyes to the large buffoon. Wormtail shuddered involuntarily upon seeing the birds’ hungry gaze. Looking back to the boy who lived, seeing the deep green eyes flaring angrily, Wormtail decided he would rather take his chances with the phoenix.

Transforming quickly, the rat fell to the ground as Harry relinquished his hold and smiled at the bird.

‘You win,’ Harry told the large bird, who was already in flight.

Wormtail squeaked in anguish and scurried toward a crack in the diminishing wall of the building. Fawkes extending his talons and grabbed for the horrified rodent. Missing by an inch, the rat quickly changed his course and scampered toward the door. The bird quickly rerouted his course and caught up to the frightened rat. Quickly snatching up the rodent, Fawkes landed upon the ground with an ungraceful thud and grabbed the squeaking animagis into his beak, swallowing it whole. Harry shuddered slightly and then, deciding Dracos’ precedence over the current situation, called the bird over.

‘We have to get going, I have a feeling something bad is going to happen with Drake.’

Fawkes nodded and flew through the front door. Harry, after mounting his broom, followed after Dumbledore’s companion.

‘We must make haste then Mr. Potter, your bond can be severed if he is hurt and you are not there to protect him.’

‘Yes, it should take two hours to get back now, without being seen, we have to go above the clouds, that will blind us and postpone our arrival… We have one less person to worry about with Wormtail gone. I wonder how Voldy will react…’

‘Who knows, let’s be off to gather the pack then Mr. Potter.’

‘Would you quit with the Mr. Potter stuff? My name is Harry darn it,” he zipped along after the crimson bird, once again patting his pockets to assure Helios, the chain, and his wand were all accounted for. Feeling all three, he wiped at his brow and squinted to see through the clouds.

*~_~*~_~*~_~*~_~*~_~*


Draco leaned forward casually on his desk, his chin resting in his open palm as he thought of Harry’s absence. He tuned out his surroundings and thought of his “mate” fretfully. He was currently rolling the diamond stud between his thumb and index finger.

‘It was quite sudden of him to just up and leave like that. Where did he go, and why? He has not been to any of the classes today, and no one has seen him… I hope he is alright. If I lost him, I don’t really know what I would do. His love and devotion are amazing, when I got that letter from dad… He was so concerned… That guy-…’

“Mr. Malfoy, I hope I am not asking too much of you while you day dream the class away, but can you give us just a few moments of your busy fantasizing to answer my question?”

Draco shook his head and peered around the room to notice a very irritated Professor McGonagall and a good many snickering classmates. Blushing slightly, Draco cleared his throat casually and sat up. Throwing on his trademark arrogant grin, he turned to his professor.

“And that was?” The class giggled and smiled. Ron, sitting near his girlfriend, tightened his grip on the marauders map beneath the table. The transfiguration instructor sighed and rubbed at her graying temples.

“I asked you, Mr. Malfoy, to tell the rest of us the correct hand gesture which would allow us to transfigure a bird into a pitcher.”

Draco feigned pondering on the woman’s irritated remark. Then, being in a rebellious and careless frame of mind, answered her smugly.

“I don’t know Ma’am, I thought it was your job to instruct us on such information. That is why you are employed, is it not?” He sat back casually and looked at the professor expectantly, hands folded under his chin in a nonchalant, bored manner.

The class suddenly became dead silent as McGonagall fumed, stamping over to the blonds’ desk. She stopped in front of him and slammed her shaking hand onto his table.

“Detention for you tonight Mr. Malfoy, you can serve it with Hagrid. I know how much you enjoyed your last detention with him so very much.” With thin lips, she turned on her heel and returned to the front of the class.

Draco shuddered at the thought of going into the forest with the half giant yet again.

‘Damn it all, why must I be punished with having to endure a detention with that dumb oaf?’ He sneered at his professor as the bell rang. Everyone scrambled out of their seats and made their way out of the class, a few Slytherins patted their friends’ back in sympathy. A great majority of the Gryffindors laughed at the seething blond, or turned their noses up as they passed his desk.

Grabbing up his books and shoulder pack, Draco stormed from the room, making his way to the Gryffindor tower.

Ron’s eyes followed the grey eyed youth in smug apprehension.

‘Tonight, in the forbidden forest. No witnesses, this is going to be absolutely brilliant!’ Hermione, who had just stepped beside her red headed boy friends’ side, looked up at him in confusion. She knew he had planned something horrible for Draco, she just did not know what.

“Ron, you are not going to hurt him, right? If Harry were to discover-…” Ron glared down at her, successfully quieting her protests. Hermione sighed forlornly.

‘What happened to us? Things could not have possibly changed that much… Oh Harry, where did you run off to? Why are you behaving so differently toward us?’ Hermione looked up at her boyfriend once more and scowled deeply.

‘Ron… you are such a prat… Harry will hate us even more if you go through with this… Draco, as of late, seems very important to Harry. What is going on!?’

Next chap: Bit of a little highlight… We will discover where Hermione’s loyalty lays, Harry will return to retrieve his future pack mates, only to discover one absent and one not willing to join him. Lupin and Snape are confronted and Ron goes after Draco.

** INCENDIA VERBERO:

Roughly translated from Latin meaning Fire Whip. I am not sure which spell Dumbledore had used, so this is just another fire bearing spell, taught to Harry by Mad Eye the summer after Dumbledore’s untimely death.