The Maltese Phoenix
folder
Harry Potter AU/AR › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
10
Views:
3,442
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter AU/AR › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
10
Views:
3,442
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, and I do not make any money from these writings.
The Maltese Phoenix
Hermione Granger was standing in the center of Harry’s outer office when the unspeakable entered. She looked at him with worried brown eyes.
“Ginny went back to her hotel room to get some last minute things, but she never came back.”
Harry gave a stiff nod and walked past her into his office. Hermione followed him, her heels clicking as impatiently as their owner.
“Harry! Why don’t you care?”
“How did she go?” asked Harry ignoring her statement and turning around abruptly to face a confused Hermione. “Did she Apparate, walk, hailed a cab . . .?”
“Cab,” Hermione breathed. “She said that Voldemort was tracking her Apparitions.”
Harry gave a nod. “Good. Do you remember the name of the cabby or what he looked like?”
“He was a red-faced blond, very nice man. He is one of the cabbies that’s always outside.”
Harry exited his office once more, Hermione following him like a dog. “I have a big favor to ask you, darling”
Hermione nodded. “Anything.”
“Research The Maltese Phoenix, find everything you can about it and leave it on my desk before you leave today.”
Hermione nodded. “Sure.”
Harry gave her a nod of goodbye and exited his office, once he was out on the street he went to the corner-stand where two yellow taxicabs were parked. Their chaffeurs were standing together talking.
“Where’s the red-faced blond driver that was here at noon?” Harry asked.
“Got a load,” one of the chauffers said.
“Will he be back here?”
“Should.”
The other driver ducked his head to the east. “Here he comes now.”
Harry turned to look at where the driver was signaling, he spotted the man and walked up to him in fast strides. He stopped by the curb and waited for the driver to get out of his cab and light up.
“Excuse me, sir,” Harry called out, the cabby looked up.
“At noontime my secretary, a curly-haired brunette, got into your cab with a redhead girl. Do you remember them?”
Driver nodded and said in a gruff voice, “Sure.”
“You went to the brunette’s house first, didn’t you? And you dropped her off.”
The man gave a nod.
“But the redhead wanted to go elsewhere after, where did you take her?”
The chauffer rubbed his cheek with a grimy hand and looked doubtfully at Harry. “I don’t think I can tell you.”
“It’s alright. I can give you my full name, and I work right there,” Harry said, pointing at the building they were in front of.
The cabby gave a small nod and took out a notepad from his pocket which he handed to Harry who scribbled down his full name and work address. The chauffer pocketed the note and then looked up.
“We were going to her hotel first, but then she rapped on the glass and said she wanted to go to Tilbury Port Instead. There she paid me and went into the office.”
Harry thanked the cabby, said, “Get yourself a drink,” and gave him some muggle money he’d had on him.
Harry apparated to the port and strode into the main office. Once there, he stood in line in front of the tellers. While he waited he looked around the small office, to his left was a rack of ship schedules which caught his eye. Just when he was about to go get one, one of the tellers called him up.
“Hello, did you see a pretty redhead girl, mid-twenties about an hour ago? She’s my sister and I’m trying to look for her.”
The teller shook his head and looked to his right at the other tellers.
“Did any of you see a young, good-looking redhead about an hour ago?”
“Was she wearing a burgundy dress?” Harry heard one of the tellers ask.
“Yes,” he called out peeking through the window until he spotted a young mulatto walking over towards him.
“She got a ship arrival schedule and left.”
Harry smiled. “Thank you.”
He strode towards the exit and grabbed a schedule on his way out. He opened it up and scanned it until he spotted ‘La Paloma’.
“La Paloma arrives at Tilbury at . . . 4 pm.” Harry checked his watch, it was a little past four. He then checked the port list again looking for ‘Talbot’ where the ship had been set on fire. Sure enough, it was the port before Tilbury that ‘La Paloma’ was stopping at. The arrival time was listed at 3 pm. Harry gave a grim smile and nodded. He then Apparated back in his office where he found Hermione bent over her desk scribbling away on a sheet of paper, book on her lap. Harry smiled at seeing Hermione being . . . Hermione.
“Found anything?”
“Oh, Harry!” she exclaimed looking up. “It is so interesting! I had my father look on his computer and he printed all this out . . .” she gave him a short stack of pages. “It’s a general overview of it, but there were many finer points that I wanted to look into, so I Apparated to my parents’ house and picked up this book as well as the printout.”
“I’ll get started on this,” Harry muttered grabbing the pages where the drawing of a gold, jewel-ridden bird was present under the heading ‘Wikipedia’. He frowned, it was oddly familiar. Harry sat down at his desk and began reading silently, there were a lot of pages . . . .
___
“Harry.”
Harry opened his eyes slowly and looked up from his desk where he had fallen asleep. His neck hurt from being in an uncomfortable position, Harry grimaced while placing his hand on it.
“What?”
She held out a letter. “It came a few minutes ago”
Harry checked the time, it was a little over five. He grabbed the beige envelope and tore it open. A letter fell on his lap, Harry picked it up and started reading.
Potter,
I charmed this letter so that you would receive it after I died. I realized a long time ago that it would happen whether by Ginny’s or the Dark Lord’s hand. It is all because of that damned Maltese Phoenix. However, I am not bitter because I know that Rodolphus and I got the best of them in the end. You see, both he and I knew the spell to evoke the Phoenix’s power, Ginny never did. I didn’t want the Dark Lord to have it for multiple reasons, more personal than altruistic I assure you.
Harry sniffed humorously, the corner of his lips tugging up into a smile.
As part of my revenge towards You-Know-Who, I decided to tell you the spell through this letter because I know that no matter how much you may pretend to be a Slytherin nowadays, you are still a Gryffindor at heart and won't use the bird’s power for harm. The spell is as follows:
“Avis ex malta , valde rutilus volucris EGO quaeso vos communico vestri opulentia quod vox me. Conservo quod impendo meus incendia oh immortalis creatura.”
“Harry, what does he mean dying by Ginny’s hand? She would never -"
“Ginny is not who she makes herself out to be, Hermione,” Harry cut in giving her a dark look while throwing the letter on his desk, and grabbing the printouts of the bird’s history.
“I suggest you go home,” Harry said, picking up where he left off. Hermione scoffed impatiently. “Harry, Ginny –”
“Will come looking for me,” Harry said, interrupting her once more. “Go home and rest. You have done enough, I will contact you tomorrow morning and tell you everything then," Harry said, looking up into her narrowed eyes. “I promise, okay? This ends tonight.”
He went back to reading, Hermione made a noise as if to say something, but then sighed and went out.
“Good luck, Harry, and please do take care,” she whispered, her head peeking into Harry’s study. He gave her a reassuring smile and focused back on the paragraph he had been reading . . .
“In the 16th century, the emperor Charles of Spain gave the Knights of Rhodes the island of Malta in exchange for a yearly effige of a phoenix as a sign that the island still belonged to Spain. The knights, wanting to please the king, had a gold bird made encrusted from head to foot with the finest jewels in their coffers. It is also said that they had their greatest magicians imbue the bird with a tremendous amount of power which would be transferred to the King as soon as he recited the spell.”
Harry paused for a minute and scribbled down some notes on the margin of the page. He then resumed reading.
“The bird was then given to a French galley commander to take to Spain; however, it never got there. The infamous pirate, Redbeard, took the galley and the bird to Algiers where its passing was recorded by French historian, Pierre Dan, who said that the bird remained in North Africa for about a hundred years after which it was taken by Sir Francis Verney, an English adventurer. There is no record how, but after his death, the bird appeared in Sicily where it came under the possession of Victor Amadeus III who went on to become king. The phoenix stayed with him until the mid 18th century when it came under the possession of Spanish coronel, Don Jose Monino y Redondo who raided the island. It remained in his family until the 1940s when it appeared in Paris during World War II where it was seized by the Nazis who allegedly enameled the bird in black so as to hide its true value and be able to smuggle it out of France, back to Berlin -”
“Harry!”
Said boy looked up towards the fireplace where Ginny’s head was floating, her eyes were red and teary.
“Harry, you have to come help us! Harry –”
“What, is Draco’s body too heavy for you to lift?”
Ginny stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. “Harry, that wasn’t me! How could you accuse me of something like that –”
“I know you blew up the boat,” Harry said coldly.
Ginny gave a nod. “Yes, yes I did, but I was only trying to get the bird before Voldemort, but Harry! He captured me, he’s holding Hermione and I hostage.”
The sardonic grin on Harry’s face went away instantly as he stood up. “Hermione?”
“I don’t like to be kept waiting, Potter, I know you have the spell,” came Voldemort’s voice from the hearth. Ginny looked worriedly at Harry. “Harry, he’ll kill us . . .”
“I’m not doing this for you,” Harry said brusquely, he was rewarded with a grimace from Ginny whose head disappeared. Harry grabbed some floor and threw it in the hearth, he stepped in and was immediately transported away . . . .
“Ginny went back to her hotel room to get some last minute things, but she never came back.”
Harry gave a stiff nod and walked past her into his office. Hermione followed him, her heels clicking as impatiently as their owner.
“Harry! Why don’t you care?”
“How did she go?” asked Harry ignoring her statement and turning around abruptly to face a confused Hermione. “Did she Apparate, walk, hailed a cab . . .?”
“Cab,” Hermione breathed. “She said that Voldemort was tracking her Apparitions.”
Harry gave a nod. “Good. Do you remember the name of the cabby or what he looked like?”
“He was a red-faced blond, very nice man. He is one of the cabbies that’s always outside.”
Harry exited his office once more, Hermione following him like a dog. “I have a big favor to ask you, darling”
Hermione nodded. “Anything.”
“Research The Maltese Phoenix, find everything you can about it and leave it on my desk before you leave today.”
Hermione nodded. “Sure.”
Harry gave her a nod of goodbye and exited his office, once he was out on the street he went to the corner-stand where two yellow taxicabs were parked. Their chaffeurs were standing together talking.
“Where’s the red-faced blond driver that was here at noon?” Harry asked.
“Got a load,” one of the chauffers said.
“Will he be back here?”
“Should.”
The other driver ducked his head to the east. “Here he comes now.”
Harry turned to look at where the driver was signaling, he spotted the man and walked up to him in fast strides. He stopped by the curb and waited for the driver to get out of his cab and light up.
“Excuse me, sir,” Harry called out, the cabby looked up.
“At noontime my secretary, a curly-haired brunette, got into your cab with a redhead girl. Do you remember them?”
Driver nodded and said in a gruff voice, “Sure.”
“You went to the brunette’s house first, didn’t you? And you dropped her off.”
The man gave a nod.
“But the redhead wanted to go elsewhere after, where did you take her?”
The chauffer rubbed his cheek with a grimy hand and looked doubtfully at Harry. “I don’t think I can tell you.”
“It’s alright. I can give you my full name, and I work right there,” Harry said, pointing at the building they were in front of.
The cabby gave a small nod and took out a notepad from his pocket which he handed to Harry who scribbled down his full name and work address. The chauffer pocketed the note and then looked up.
“We were going to her hotel first, but then she rapped on the glass and said she wanted to go to Tilbury Port Instead. There she paid me and went into the office.”
Harry thanked the cabby, said, “Get yourself a drink,” and gave him some muggle money he’d had on him.
Harry apparated to the port and strode into the main office. Once there, he stood in line in front of the tellers. While he waited he looked around the small office, to his left was a rack of ship schedules which caught his eye. Just when he was about to go get one, one of the tellers called him up.
“Hello, did you see a pretty redhead girl, mid-twenties about an hour ago? She’s my sister and I’m trying to look for her.”
The teller shook his head and looked to his right at the other tellers.
“Did any of you see a young, good-looking redhead about an hour ago?”
“Was she wearing a burgundy dress?” Harry heard one of the tellers ask.
“Yes,” he called out peeking through the window until he spotted a young mulatto walking over towards him.
“She got a ship arrival schedule and left.”
Harry smiled. “Thank you.”
He strode towards the exit and grabbed a schedule on his way out. He opened it up and scanned it until he spotted ‘La Paloma’.
“La Paloma arrives at Tilbury at . . . 4 pm.” Harry checked his watch, it was a little past four. He then checked the port list again looking for ‘Talbot’ where the ship had been set on fire. Sure enough, it was the port before Tilbury that ‘La Paloma’ was stopping at. The arrival time was listed at 3 pm. Harry gave a grim smile and nodded. He then Apparated back in his office where he found Hermione bent over her desk scribbling away on a sheet of paper, book on her lap. Harry smiled at seeing Hermione being . . . Hermione.
“Found anything?”
“Oh, Harry!” she exclaimed looking up. “It is so interesting! I had my father look on his computer and he printed all this out . . .” she gave him a short stack of pages. “It’s a general overview of it, but there were many finer points that I wanted to look into, so I Apparated to my parents’ house and picked up this book as well as the printout.”
“I’ll get started on this,” Harry muttered grabbing the pages where the drawing of a gold, jewel-ridden bird was present under the heading ‘Wikipedia’. He frowned, it was oddly familiar. Harry sat down at his desk and began reading silently, there were a lot of pages . . . .
___
“Harry.”
Harry opened his eyes slowly and looked up from his desk where he had fallen asleep. His neck hurt from being in an uncomfortable position, Harry grimaced while placing his hand on it.
“What?”
She held out a letter. “It came a few minutes ago”
Harry checked the time, it was a little over five. He grabbed the beige envelope and tore it open. A letter fell on his lap, Harry picked it up and started reading.
Potter,
I charmed this letter so that you would receive it after I died. I realized a long time ago that it would happen whether by Ginny’s or the Dark Lord’s hand. It is all because of that damned Maltese Phoenix. However, I am not bitter because I know that Rodolphus and I got the best of them in the end. You see, both he and I knew the spell to evoke the Phoenix’s power, Ginny never did. I didn’t want the Dark Lord to have it for multiple reasons, more personal than altruistic I assure you.
Harry sniffed humorously, the corner of his lips tugging up into a smile.
As part of my revenge towards You-Know-Who, I decided to tell you the spell through this letter because I know that no matter how much you may pretend to be a Slytherin nowadays, you are still a Gryffindor at heart and won't use the bird’s power for harm. The spell is as follows:
“Avis ex malta , valde rutilus volucris EGO quaeso vos communico vestri opulentia quod vox me. Conservo quod impendo meus incendia oh immortalis creatura.”
“Harry, what does he mean dying by Ginny’s hand? She would never -"
“Ginny is not who she makes herself out to be, Hermione,” Harry cut in giving her a dark look while throwing the letter on his desk, and grabbing the printouts of the bird’s history.
“I suggest you go home,” Harry said, picking up where he left off. Hermione scoffed impatiently. “Harry, Ginny –”
“Will come looking for me,” Harry said, interrupting her once more. “Go home and rest. You have done enough, I will contact you tomorrow morning and tell you everything then," Harry said, looking up into her narrowed eyes. “I promise, okay? This ends tonight.”
He went back to reading, Hermione made a noise as if to say something, but then sighed and went out.
“Good luck, Harry, and please do take care,” she whispered, her head peeking into Harry’s study. He gave her a reassuring smile and focused back on the paragraph he had been reading . . .
“In the 16th century, the emperor Charles of Spain gave the Knights of Rhodes the island of Malta in exchange for a yearly effige of a phoenix as a sign that the island still belonged to Spain. The knights, wanting to please the king, had a gold bird made encrusted from head to foot with the finest jewels in their coffers. It is also said that they had their greatest magicians imbue the bird with a tremendous amount of power which would be transferred to the King as soon as he recited the spell.”
Harry paused for a minute and scribbled down some notes on the margin of the page. He then resumed reading.
“The bird was then given to a French galley commander to take to Spain; however, it never got there. The infamous pirate, Redbeard, took the galley and the bird to Algiers where its passing was recorded by French historian, Pierre Dan, who said that the bird remained in North Africa for about a hundred years after which it was taken by Sir Francis Verney, an English adventurer. There is no record how, but after his death, the bird appeared in Sicily where it came under the possession of Victor Amadeus III who went on to become king. The phoenix stayed with him until the mid 18th century when it came under the possession of Spanish coronel, Don Jose Monino y Redondo who raided the island. It remained in his family until the 1940s when it appeared in Paris during World War II where it was seized by the Nazis who allegedly enameled the bird in black so as to hide its true value and be able to smuggle it out of France, back to Berlin -”
“Harry!”
Said boy looked up towards the fireplace where Ginny’s head was floating, her eyes were red and teary.
“Harry, you have to come help us! Harry –”
“What, is Draco’s body too heavy for you to lift?”
Ginny stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. “Harry, that wasn’t me! How could you accuse me of something like that –”
“I know you blew up the boat,” Harry said coldly.
Ginny gave a nod. “Yes, yes I did, but I was only trying to get the bird before Voldemort, but Harry! He captured me, he’s holding Hermione and I hostage.”
The sardonic grin on Harry’s face went away instantly as he stood up. “Hermione?”
“I don’t like to be kept waiting, Potter, I know you have the spell,” came Voldemort’s voice from the hearth. Ginny looked worriedly at Harry. “Harry, he’ll kill us . . .”
“I’m not doing this for you,” Harry said brusquely, he was rewarded with a grimace from Ginny whose head disappeared. Harry grabbed some floor and threw it in the hearth, he stepped in and was immediately transported away . . . .