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September 2023 | A week before school starts | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scottish Highlands
Phoenix woke up in the morning a little disoriented. He got confused as to why the light blue walls in his bedroom were now yellow-bricked, then he remembered he was at the Hufflepuff dorms with his best friend, Sven Weasley, whose loud snoring echoed through the room. He was so glad his mum taught him the earplug charm. It was helpful especially when he was roommates with the spawn of Ronald Weasley.
Phoenix walked over to Sven; his red hair was the only thing visible when Phoenix shook him awake.
“Sven, wake up.”
“Coming, mum!” Sven sat up in attention with his eyes still closed.
Phoenix laughed.
“You’re not at The Gables anymore, Sven. We’re at Hogwarts.”
“Right, right.” Sven rubbed his eyes, wiped the saliva off of his mouth, and rubbed it all over his pajama top. When he opened his eyes, he gasped in surprise.
“Oh, come on! I don’t look that bad.”
Sven studied Phoenix closer.
“If you were really my best friend, what did we do in the summer of 2019?” He squinted his eyes in suspicion at Phoenix.
Phoenix sighed, “We became guinea pigs for Uncle George at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes – literally. Our mums even had Aunt Ginny do her infamous bat-bogey hex on Uncle George and he was sneezing bat-bogeys for hours.”
Sven paused for a second then concluded that it really was Phoenix.
“Did you charm your hair this morning?”
“What are you-” Phoenix stopped mid-sentence when he saw his reflection in the mirror. His hair was now platinum blonde.
“Ahhhh!” He touched his hair in disbelief. He even plucked a hair off of his head, but then a couple of seconds later, it turned back into his original hair color.
“What in the name of Merlin and Salazar?!”
Sven looked at Phoenix from head to toe while he rubbed his chin.
“You look like the male version of Lyra right now.”
Sven shivered, all creeped out.
“We need to go to Uncle Neville and ask him if he could floo-call my mum. She’d know what to do.”
***
Phoenix and Sven were waiting at the headmaster’s quarters with Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape’s portraits hanging up on the wall. It was a little intimidating if the boys were being honest
“Malfoy and Weasley. How interesting,” Snape remarked.
“Good day, Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore.” Phoenix nodded his head in greeting while Sven just waved his hand at the portraits.
“Hello, my dear boy, Mister Malfoy. How are your parents?” Dumbledore asked.
“They’re alright, sir. Still madly in love and sickeningly so to my siblings’ chagrin.” Phoenix smiled, remembering how Lyra scolded their parents at Platform 9 ¾ for kissing in public.
“Ohh! How it feels to be in love. Right, Severus?” Dumbledore smiled playfully.
“Yes, yes. Draco got the girl. How felicitous.” Professor Snape sneered in disgust.
“Well, we must be on now, boys. Headmaster Longbottom is on his way. It was good to see you, both. Though, Mr. Weasley seems to be preoccupied.” Dumbledore gestured to Sven sniffing around Neville’s office.
“Thank you for keeping us company, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape!” Phoenix called after Dumbledore and Snape then they were gone from their portraits.
“Sven, will you stop snooping and stay still? Uncle Neville won’t appreciate you moving his stuff around,” he loudly whispered.
“Phoenix is right, Sven. You wouldn’t want to accidentally get a purple face or worms for fingers now, would you?” Neville looked daunting as he was 6 feet tall and easily towered over Sven and Phoenix by a foot, but he’s known him all their lives. He was ‘Uncle Neville’ when other students weren’t around and ‘Headmaster Longbottom’ for most of the school year.
“Sorry, Uncle Neville.” Sven smiled sheepishly.
Neville turned to Phoenix, “so, what’s the emergency?”
Phoenix pointed to his head and Neville looked at him in confusion.
“Uncle Neville, my hair! It’s blonde!”
“Yes, I see that, but I don’t see how a change of hair color is considered an emergency.” Neville scratched his head in bafflement.
“Something weird’s going on! Look!” He plucked a strand of his hair and showed Neville how it magically returned to his original hair color a few seconds later.
“Huh. How do you feel right now? Any dizzy spells? Nausea? Vomiting?”
Phoenix shook his head.
“Okay. I’ll send your parents a patronus and we’ll go from there. For now, just tell anyone who asks, that you charmed your hair to look like that. Alright?”
Phoenix nodded and went in search of his siblings with Sven.
***
That same day | The Orchard Cottage, Wiltshire, England
Neville’s lion patronus found its way to Hermione while she was planting fluxweed in their greenhouse.
The lion opened its mouth and in Neville’s voice, it said, “Hermione, nothing to worry about, but something is troubling Phoenix. Floo-call me when you get this.”
Hermione immediately took off her gloves and almost ran Draco over on her way to their fireplace.
“Woah, love. Are you alright?” Draco steadied Hermione by the shoulders and took a look at her disgruntled appearance. She still had dirt on her face and clothes.
“Neville sent me a patronus saying there’s something wrong with Phoenix. We have to floo-call him.”
Hermione and Draco speed walked to the fireplace, grabbed floo powder, threw it in, and floo-called Neville.
“Neville?”
“Hermione! Is Draco with you?”
“He’s here. What’s wrong with Phoenix?”
“Well, I don’t know how to explain it to you, but Phoenix has blonde hair.”
“What on earth are you on about, Longbottom?” That was Draco.
“Phoenix and Sven came to me this morning and said his hair turned blonde when he woke up. He said he hasn’t charmed it, it just turned blonde on its own. When he plucked his hair, it turned back to brown. Do you think Phoenix is ill, Hermione?”
“Hmmm. Draco and I have to look it up and see what we find. Did he say he felt ill?”
“No. He said he was fine. He just seemed frazzled about all this. I’ll keep an eye on him, though, and let you know if anything changes.”
“Okay, sounds good. Thank you, Neville. I’ll let you know what we find out.”
After the floo-call, Hermione and Draco were kneeling on the floor and looked at each other in puzzlement.
“What do you think about all this?” Hermione asked Draco.
Draco shrugged, “I don’t understand why it would manifest now.”
“Well, we haven’t seen him show signs of that ability since he was a child.”
Hermione closed her eyes for a moment and organized her thoughts. Draco waited patiently until his wife decided on a course of action.
“I’ll call Andromeda and you should talk to Teddy. We’ll ask them for their opinions, then if our theory is right, we’ll tell Phoenix together.”
“I mean, it’s not impossible, love.”
“I know, but isn’t it a little late to manifest now?” Hermione teared up.
“Oh, love. Come here.” Draco pulled Hermione in for a hug. “It’s going to be alright.”
“I know. I just... I don’t know if I should be happy or sad for him. Phoenix already feels different enough from his siblings. Hopefully, he won’t feel this sets him apart from them even more.”
“Phoenix is the son of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. There isn’t anything that he can’t handle. We’ll get him through it together.” Draco kissed her forehead.
As Draco pulled Hermione up, he said, “but first, you have a little...” he motioned to his face and tried not to chuckle but failed.
Hermione rolled her eyes, did a quick scourgify on her person, and sashayed to Draco’s study. She looked back at Draco and smirked.
“Don’t tempt me, wife.” He called after her.
“Talk to Teddy, husband.” She said in a sing-song voice as she got further into the house.
Draco grinned as he floo’d to the Ministry to find Teddy Lupin.
***
Meanwhile, at the Hogwarts Quidditch Training Pitch
Phoenix and Sven went to the quidditch training pitch to find Scorpius. He was the easiest to find as he lived and breathed quidditch – Gryffindor Team Captain and Seeker just like their father. When Phoenix and Sven reached the pitch, they found Scorpius flying on a broom trying to catch the snitch. Phoenix knew Scorpius couldn’t hear him as he was far away, so he opted to do a vermillious charm to get his brother’s attention. Scorpius caught the snitch just in time for Phoenix to send out the charm. When he saw Scorpius look down, Phoenix and Sven waved for him to come.
“What’s with the SOS?” Scorpius breathed heavily as he came down to meet Phoenix and Sven. “And what is with you going blonde all of a sudden?” Scorpius raised both eyebrows at Phoenix.
“He charmed it!” Sven said in a panic, all red in the face. He didn’t do well under pressure.
Phoenix patted his best friend on the back. “It’s okay, Sven.”
Scorpius looked at them suspiciously.
“What Sven meant to say was… Nevermind. I’ll explain later, but for now, you need to help me find Pyxis and Lyra.”
If Phoenix asked for help from any other person, he would have been questioned until they were satisfied with the answer, but Scorpius didn’t have to interrogate his brother before agreeing to find Pyxis. He knew Phoenix wouldn’t ask unless he really needed it.
***
The Hogwarts Library
Scorpius was still in his quidditch kit when he walked up to Pyxis and Rose Weasley, the auburn-haired, fair-skinned, green-eyed, Gryffindor’s 7th year Head Girl to Pyxis’ Head Boy accolade.
Scorpius smirked when he saw Pyxis was having difficulty articulating every time he was around the Weasley girl.
He interrupted him before his twin could embarrass himself further, “Hey, Pyx. Hey, Rose.”
Scorpius made it his mission to annoy Pyxis at least once a day, so he winked at Rose for good measure. Pyxis scowled at his twin when he saw Rose blush.
“Hi, Scorpius.”
Scorpius smiled then he became serious when he turned to his brother, “We need to go. Phoenix needs us.”
Pyxis scowl turned into a questioning look but didn’t bother to ask anything, so he gathered his things and got up to follow his brother.
Scorpius stopped for a second and looked back to Rose, “you might as well come, Rose. Sven is with Phoenix trying to find Lyra.”
“Uhhh...” She glanced at Pyxis, hesitation obvious on her face but agreed when Pyxis nodded his head.
The three of them walked to the Viaduct Courtyard where they agreed to meet Phoenix, Sven, and Lyra.
***
The Viaduct Courtyard
Phoenix, Sven, and Lyra were huddled together at the far end of the courtyard. That’s how Scorpius, Pyxis, and Rose found them.
“Phoenix?” Pyxis inspected his brother from head to toe. He looked fine, except for the blonde hair, nothing seemed amiss. Scorpius didn’t give any details, well, because he had none to give. He just said Phoenix called for a family meeting.
“Now the twins are here, can we move along? I missed the Potions Club meeting for this.” Lyra said impatiently.
“Okay. Well, as you can see my hair is now blonde.”
“So? You charmed your hair blonde. Well, done.” Lyra was snappier than usual today.
“Can you let him finish, Ly?” Scorpius hissed at his sister.
“Well, that’s the thing. I didn’t charm it.” Phoenix looked at his siblings and Rose, waiting for their reactions.
“Explain,” Pyxis stated matter-of-factly.
“Before I went to bed, I still had my brown hair. Then, Sven pointed out that my hair turned blonde this morning. Look at this. Isn’t this weird?” Phoenix plucked a strand of his hair and showed them how it turned back to its original color a couple of seconds later. Their reactions were a mixture of curiosity and concern.
“Someone must have jinxed you,” Scorpius suggested.
“Or... Sven’s been pranking you this whole time.” Lyra gave Sven an accusatory look and he stuck his tongue out at her in return. Lyra was about to smack him on the arm when Phoenix tugged her braid gently to divert her attention from Sven.
“Hey! It’s not far-fetched. Sven used to play pranks on you a lot.” Lyra crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Pyxis was quiet the whole time as he reviewed in his head all the possible causes of his brother’s ordeal, but the most plausible one was...
“I think you’re a metamorphmagus.” Rose took the words out of Pyxis’ brilliant mind.
Phoenix gawked.
“It’s not impossible, brother. We’re part Black after all. Though Sirius Black wasn’t a metamorphmagus, he was an animagus at 15, and we’re related to Nymphadora and Teddy Lupin – the most well-known metamorphmagi [that we know of.]”
Phoenix was in total disbelief when he shook his head and laughed humorlessly.
“You’re joking. That can’t be.”
He couldn’t wrap his mind around having the rare magical ability to morph into anything at will. That must be a mistake. He slowly backed away from them, then started running as far away as he could.
“Phoenix!” Lyra yelled.
Without any place in mind, he just ran and ran. His siblings, Sven and Rose couldn’t catch up to him. Phoenix was pumped with adrenaline. All he could think about was escaping the possibility of being even close to ‘special.’ He closed his eyes as tears started falling on his face. Before he could even comprehend what was happening to him, his feet became talons, his arms turned into a red-orange glow of feathers that looked like embers, his mouth turned into a sharp beak, and his whole body morphed into an entirely different being.
He became his namesake – a phoenix.
At first, panic engulfed him but as soon as he took flight, the feeling of being caged within himself went up into flames and he felt lighter than air. He got his bearings together and flew towards the owlery – the only place that seemed to make sense in his current state. The moment he reached his destination, he breathed out a huge sigh of relief and started to calm down. His heart rate steadied and his thoughts weren’t as jumbled together as when the realization hit him that he might actually be a metamorphmagus. When Phoenix’s emotional state was more stable, he became human again – brown hair included.
***
Hermione and Draco floo’d in through the headmaster’s quarters as soon as they got a patronus from Neville saying that their son has been missing for an hour after their children figured out Phoenix was a metamorphmagus. Hermione could no longer wait for Phoenix to show up on his own, so she activated the emergency tracking spell she put on her son’s watch. Her wand glowed red [for Phoenix], the brighter it is, the closer she is to her son. Hermione and Draco followed the glow of her wand until they reached the owlery. They saw their son standing by one of the huge windows.
“Phoenix?” Hermione whimpered as she reached her son. She pulled him in for a hug, while Draco waited behind her. He wanted to squeeze the life out of him for giving them both a heart attack that took at least 10 years off their lives.
“Are you alright?” Hermione, who was as tall as their son, cupped both of Phoenix’s cheeks and scanned him for any visible injuries.
Phoenix’s eyes remained on the ground, afraid that if he looked at his mum’s tear-stained face he’d start crying himself.
“Hey, look at me,” Hermione said softly. “It’s alright, Phoenix.”
“Mum,” he sobbed.
Hermione hugged her middle child close and rubbed his back at a comforting pace. They were silent for a while, only surrounded by the hoots of the owls and sniffles from both of them.
When Phoenix was ready to talk, he pulled away from his mum’s arms and looked at his dad who remained at the back. Draco gave him an encouraging smile and moved towards him to ruffle his hair then to Phoenix’s surprise, Draco gave him a tight hug.
“I’m sorry for making you worry, dad,” Phoenix mumbled against his dad’s embrace.
Once Draco’s anxiety and fear settled, he pulled away and stepped back, so Hermione and he could talk to Phoenix about the whole ‘metamorphmagus’ situation.
“Why did you run away, son?” Draco, ever straight to the point even with his children, never pulled punches.
“I was scared.”
“And it’s okay to be scared, Phoenix.” Hermione rubbed his arm.
“No, mum. You don’t understand.” Phoenix paced in front of his parents before continuing.
“I’m afraid that I’ll let you, guys, down. I’m not like Scorpius who’s an exceptional seeker like dad, or Pyxis who’s as brilliant and inquisitive as you, or Lyra who’s a mix of you both in cunning and wit. I’ve accepted my fate as the ‘ordinary one,’ the ‘other Malfoy boy,’ the ‘family wallflower.’ I’m afraid that I will never live up to our family name. Dad’s a notorious businessman while you’re the Minister for Magic. I know my strengths, mum, but I also recognize my weaknesses.”
Hermione’s heart ached for her son. She held his hand in hers and gave him a watery-eyed smile.
“You are far from just the ‘ordinary one,’ Phoenix. You are remarkable, not because you are our son, nor is it because of this newfound ability, but because your heart is pure and full of compassion. Your ability to see the good in people and find a positive light in each situation amazes me and your father every single day. You are a peacemaker - the one that tethers your brothers and sister when they’re at odds with each other. You are special because you’re you.”
“Never doubt that your mum and I love you, and we’re incredibly proud of the person that you’ve become thus far.”
Gratefulness bloomed in Phoenix’s chest and he couldn’t help but hug both of his parents at the same time. He found comfort in his parents’ words, and he felt incredibly lucky to be their son.
He whispered in awe, “Thanks, mum. Thanks, dad.”
“Now, let’s get out of here. It smells absolutely horrid.”
Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust. Hermione and Phoenix just laughed.
***
The Great Hall
Scorpius, Pyxis, and Lyra all sat with Phoenix at the Hufflepuff table during dinner. Sven went over to his sister, Rose, who was with the other Gryffindors to give them some privacy.
Lyra, who wasn’t one for public displays of affection, gave her older brother a quick hug and pat on the back.
Phoenix kissedthe top of her head in thanks.
“Okay. That’s a one-time thing.” She held a finger up and then focused on putting food on her plate next to him.
Scorpius, who sat in front of him said, “Hey. You were great today.”
Then Pyxis, who was next to Scorpius, was never one for small talk or flowery words like their father, made him speechless when he said, “Mum’s right, you know? You keep us together.”
Phoenix, who didn’t want to dwell in the heavy atmosphere, mustered as much excitement as he could and exclaimed, “I became a phoenix today!”
“Yes, we saw. Glad you didn’t burst into flames.” Lyra expressed nonchalantly.
The boys looked at each other and dissolved into a fit of laughter.
All was right with The Malfoys and Phoenix finally found his ‘niche.’