Chaos in the Headmaster's Office
"Follow me," Professor McGonagall said as she led Percy and Harry through the corridors, after Professors Sinistra and Flitwick had taken care of floating Justin to the Hospital Wing, while one of the students used an enormous fan to blow Nearly Headless Nick out of the corridor.
"Professor," Harry said immediately. "I swear, we didn't—"
Percy spoke almost at the same time.
"Yeah! We didn't do anything."
"That is beyond my authority, Messrs Potter and Jackson," Professor McGonagall said curtly.
The two brothers had no choice but to follow her in silence until they arrived in front of an extremely ugly stone gargoyle.
Both of them recognised it immediately.
They had seen it at the beginning of the school year, when they first came to Hogwarts through the Floo Network.
The Headmaster's office.
"Lemon sherbet," the professor said, giving the password.
The gargoyle immediately came to life and stepped aside while the wall behind it split in two, revealing a spiral staircase that slowly carried itself upward, almost as though it were mechanical.
Once inside the Headmaster's office, Professor McGonagall told the two of them to wait and left them alone.
The last time they had been there, they hadn't paid much attention to the room.
And now, with the possibility that they were about to be expelled from school...
They still couldn't bring themselves to appreciate their surroundings.
The curious silver instruments on the tables that emitted soft tinkling sounds or little puffs of steam.
The walls lined with portraits of former headmasters and headmistresses, all dozing quietly inside their frames.
Harry let out an audible sigh as he rubbed the back of his head.
Silence filled the office for several long seconds.
Percy was the first to break it.
"This is becoming a pretty bad habit."
Harry didn't even smile.
But he couldn't have agreed more.
At this point, he could even feel a faint irritation beginning to boil inside his chest as his gaze wandered around the office.
His eyes eventually settled on an old, patched hat resting on one of the shelves.
The Sorting Hat.
Which now looked like nothing more than an ordinary old hat.
But then...
As though it had felt Harry's eyes on it, it suddenly came to life.
Its folds and tears shifted like a face as it looked back at him.
"I see you still can't get it out of your head," the Hat said suddenly in a surprisingly calm voice.
Harry looked at it for a moment before answering.
"It's just... when you told me that depending on which House I chose, my destiny would be different... I... what did you mean by that?" Harry asked, finally voicing the question that had been with him ever since his first year.
"One path is never the same as another. Whichever House you had chosen, a great future would have awaited you. Whether because of your bloodline... or simply because you are yourself. Many believe that destiny is written and cannot be changed, but we all have more than one destiny, and each of them changes with every decision we make. Even if you had chosen Slytherin, Slytherin would have gained a great wizard. And that would not have changed...
"Nor would you.
"Would you?" the Hat said, turning its head toward Percy, who seemed distracted as he wandered around the office without paying any attention to Harry's conversation.
"A long time ago, there were also two boys who were like brothers, despite being very different. Each reminded the other of who he truly was. And so it remained...
"Until the day their paths had to part."
For a moment, the Hat's folds seemed filled with the weight of an old memory.
It let out a soft chuckle.
Harry had the distinct feeling he knew exactly who the Hat was talking about.
With what looked almost like a smile spreading across its folds, it continued.
"I'm glad you chose Gryffindor. After all... I never had the good fortune that he did. This time...
"I was the one who gained a truly great wizard for my House."
Harry frowned in confusion.
"What do you mea—?"
But before he could finish, the Hat suddenly lost the life it had possessed only moments before, becoming nothing more than an ordinary hat again.
Leaving Harry standing there in confusion.
Meanwhile, completely unconcerned by any of that, Percy, who had been wandering around the office, suddenly focused on something with great interest.
"Harry, look at this," Percy called out, pulling Harry from his thoughts.
Harry turned around.
Percy was standing beside a large golden perch behind the door.
Resting on it was a rather decrepit-looking bird, something like a half-plucked turkey, except its feathers were a fiery red that actually seemed to glow...
Though only faintly now.
It looked as though it was in its final moments.
Even so, Percy stared at the bird's glowing feathers in fascination, even reaching out to pick up one that had drifted to the floor, thinking it would make a nice gift for his mum.
"Idiot, don't touch it. It looks like it could die any second," Harry said, hurrying over before his brother managed to create yet another disaster.
The last thing they needed was for Dumbledore's bird to die because of Percy too.
But perhaps Harry had shouted a little too loudly.
Because the bird suddenly burst into violent flames right in front of Percy, whose hand was still dangerously close.
The bird was instantly consumed, turning into ashes in what looked like spontaneous combustion as it let out one final cry.
Then the flames died away.
And nothing remained.
Percy stood frozen where he was, his hand still raised.
Harry stopped in his tracks as well, freezing completely.
A heavy silence seemed to swallow the office.
Percy's face filled with panic as he spun around to Harry.
"Hurry, Harry, do something!" he shouted, pointing frantically at the pile of ashes. "Use Reparo or something!"
"You idiot! That doesn't work when something's been turned into ashes! It can't bring something dead back to life!" Harry shouted back, just as panicked.
"O-Okay, okay... I know. Let's call Uncle Hades," Percy stammered, desperately grasping at any idea that came to mind.
"Don't be ridiculous. Do you seriously think he'd bring a bird back to life just because we asked?... Although... could he?" Harry asked.
Right now, neither of them seemed capable of thinking straight.
Probably because they were panicking.
"Do you have a better idea?" Percy shouted desperately.
"Well... maybe if we paid him... if we stole the Master Bolt..."
Harry had completely lost his mind.
Thankfully, they heard footsteps coming down the staircase that led to what seemed to be Dumbledore's bedroom.
A moment later, the door opened, and the old wizard stepped out.
He seemed to have been drawn by the chaos the two boys had created with their panicked shouting.
Both of them snapped their mouths shut at once, making sure not to say another word about Hades or anything like that.
But the panic was still written all over their faces.
As it turned out, they didn't need to explain anything.
Dumbledore simply gave them a calm look before glancing toward the perch where his bird had been...
And at the ashes now resting in a tray prepared directly beneath it.
Then he smiled, thoroughly amused.
As though he already knew exactly what had happened from a single glance.
"About time," he said as he came down the stairs, still smiling. "He'd been looking absolutely dreadful for days. I'd been telling him to hurry up," he added, chuckling at the stunned expressions on Harry's and Percy's faces. "He enjoys giving people those little frights. He was probably waiting for the perfect moment to scare some student... or perhaps a professor."
Harry and Percy clearly had no idea what he meant.
"Fawkes is a phoenix. When the time comes for them to die, they burst into flames. And then they..." he said as he stepped over beside the perch.
"...are reborn from the ashes."
At that very moment, a tiny wrinkled head poked out from the ashes, its little beak opening and closing with soft chirping noises.
The panic instantly vanished from both Percy and Harry, replaced by overwhelming relief.
And then by amazement as they hurried closer to get a better look at the little creature.
"It's a pity you happened to see him during his final moments. Normally, he's quite magnificent, with brilliant red and golden feathers. Fascinating creatures, phoenixes. They can carry incredibly heavy loads, their tears possess healing powers, and they're wonderfully loyal companions," Dumbledore said as he gently stroked little Fawkes's head.
The tiny phoenix answered by rubbing his head affectionately against Dumbledore's finger.
The surprise of Fawkes bursting into flames had made both Harry and Percy completely forget why they were there in the first place.
But they remembered the instant Dumbledore sat down behind his desk and calmly fixed his eyes on them.
Before he could say a single word, however...
The office door burst open.
Hagrid stormed inside, his face full of panic, his coat still covered in snow and, for some reason, carrying a dead rooster in one hand.
"Professor Dumbledore, it wasn't them," he blurted out nervously. "I'll swear it before the Ministry o' Magic if I have to," he added, waving the rooster around in his panic and sending feathers flying everywhere.
"I know, Hagrid," Dumbledore replied calmly.
"You know?" Hagrid said, stopping mid-wave. "Ah... right then..."
Hagrid suddenly looked rather embarrassed.
"Then... I reckon I'll wait outside," he muttered before turning around with the same momentum he'd arrived with and hurrying back out.
Harry and Percy exchanged a glance.
Then they both looked back at Dumbledore.
"You don't think we did it?" Harry asked.
Both boys looked relieved...
And hopeful.
"Of course not. I don't believe either of you was responsible," Dumbledore said gently. "It's not as though the two of you happen to possess something capable of petrifying people. A curse, perhaps... or maybe, I don't know... Medusa's head from mythology?" Dumbledore said as he looked at them both.
For a moment...
That feeling of relief froze solid.
Not because they actually did have Medusa's head.
Well, certainly not here.
But because, for some reason, Dumbledore had mentioned it specifically.
"Uhh..." Percy managed, glancing helplessly toward Harry.
"Of course not, Professor," Harry answered, elbowing Percy before he could say something painfully obvious.
"Of course. Such things don't exist. Even as old as I am, I've wandered the world and seen so many extraordinary things..." Dumbledore said, trailing off before looking at Percy and Harry once again.
"But is there anything in particular you'd like to tell me?" he asked suddenly.
Harry and Percy looked into the eyes behind Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles, catching that faint sparkle within them.
An old man.
A very wise old man.
Then they looked at each other.
Before shaking their heads in perfect unison.
"No, sir.
Nothing."
After hearing their answer, Dumbledore continued watching them for another moment before that gentle smile returned to his face.
"Go back to your common room. I'll take care of the rest," he said calmly.
Both Percy and Harry nodded, turned around, and practically bolted from the office as though they were fleeing the Headmaster himself.
The door closed behind them.
Dumbledore waited until it had shut completely before slowly opening one of the drawers in his desk and taking out a file sealed with the emblem of the Magical Confederation.
Inside were several documents, a number of photographs...
And what appeared to be an experimental research journal.
When he opened the journal, it contained images of creatures that should never have existed.
Creatures used in a series of grotesque experiments.
The photographs showed rows of scorched holding cells and the remains of a half-destroyed manor.
If Grover had been there, he would have recognised it immediately as the very place where he had fought the Howling Beast.
There was also a photograph of Remus, who had been arrested there, buying time so Grover and the creatures could escape.
And among those documents lay another file filled with more photographs.
This time they showed what looked like an underground chamber.
One packed with eerily lifelike stone statues.
Dumbledore let out a quiet sigh.
"After all these years... I'm beginning to wonder just how much of this world I never truly came to know," he murmured as he slowly closed the file.
Fawkes let out a soft chirp.
The office fell silent once again.