Prologue

Fawkes was perched on the sign to Little Whinging, watching him through the window of the dreary looking house. He often sat there, just to make sure that the boy was alright. Despite his great respect for Albus Dumbledore, Fawkes disagreed with him. He knew Dumbledore had a plan for the boy, but keeping him in such an awful environment was going to be of benefit to no-one.

After watching him for so long, Fawkes knew exactly how every one of Harry Potters days was likely to go. Each was filled with the same tedious tasks. Cook breakfast for his aunt, uncle and cousin, followed by cleaning the kitchen and finally Dudley's bedroom and whatever other room needed doing. If any of them weren't completed to a high quality, or weren't finished before it was time to go to school, Harry was more than likely going to go without food for the day. In fact, the only time he was actually allowed to eat at all was at night where he was given whatever was left over from their nightly meal.

As if the chores weren't enough, Harry also had to put up with a constant barrage of abuse. He was known only as the boy, but if that sometimes didn't seem to be sufficient to them he might be called freak or pathetic, or a plethora of further insults.

Occasionally though, the abuse ventured beyond verbal. His cousin, Dudley, rather enjoyed beating him at every opportunity, both at their school, where he was joined by his friends, and at home, where he was occasionally joined by his father, Vernon. It was true, Vernon only struck him when he felt as though Harry really deserved to be punished, but when he did hit him, he didn't pull his blows overmuch.

It was this combination of circumstances that had led Harry here, to another miserable morning of cooking for his family. Today was special though, even if Fawkes was the only one to remember why. Today was Harry's ninth birthday. He could tell that Harry was excited about it, even if the phoenix didn't understand why. If his past birthdays were anything to go by, it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps it was the fact that just last year his aunt Petunia had given him a present in the form of a sock. Just one sock, but it was the first gift he had ever gotten, and it was the first time anybody had ever remembered his birthday, at least so far as Fawkes knew. Maybe he thought he might be lucky enough for the family to remember a second time.

In Fawkes' eyes, that was the most incredible thing about Harry, always looking for the joy in life, instead of focusing on the negative. Despite his appalling circumstances, Harry always remained hopeful that his life would improve.

"Boy, stop daydreaming and finish cooking my breakfast already!" Vernon barked over his newspaper.

"Yes uncle Vernon" Harry responded obediently.

For what felt like the millionth time, Fawkes fought the urge to fly through the window and attack the huge beast of a man. But it would accomplish nothing other than to make himself feel better, so Fawkes restrained himself, as always.

Not for the first time, he found himself wondering why he let this go on. He could intervene and rescue Harry at any time. He even knew where he would take him, to that place he could be accepted and find a real family.

'If only it were that simple' Fawkes thought to himself. The prophecy still loomed over the poor boy, and if Fawkes was to take him where he wanted, there was no telling how it would play out. Sometimes he thought about disregarding Dumbledore's wishes and the prophecy both and simply taking him away anyway.

Fawkes was pulled from his silent contemplation when he heard Vernon roar out in pain. It took the great bird a moment to figure out what had happened. Harry had just begun to walk Vernon's coffee over to him when he had tripped, spilling the boiling liquid all over his uncle. Dudley was smirking behind Harry, who had gone paper white with fear and was holding his hands up in mixed innocence and apology. He had clearly been tripped by his bully of a cousin.

Fawkes' eyes widened when he saw Vernon's fat fist smack Harry across the face, knocking the small boy to the ground. Of all the times Vernon had struck Harry, it had never been like that, never enough to actually threaten his life.

Harry was only small, and a blow like that could easily have caused irreversible damage. Luckily, Harry seemed mostly unharmed, though terrified, and he rose from the ground and fled towards his cupboard.

"BOY!" Fawkes heard the man bellow as he rose threateningly from his chair, fists clenched at his side. The flame coloured bird barely even hesitated before he acted. It was time. For the moment, Dumbledore and the prophecy didn't mean a thing.

"BOY!" Harry heard his uncle shout angrily.

He quickly shut the door to his cupboard and shrank down behind his bed, curling his legs up in front of him and dropping his face into his knees.

Harry tenderly rubbed the side of his face where his uncle had struck him. Vernon had never hit him that hard before, not in his whole life had he ever been hit like that.

Harry closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears as Vernon bashed on the door. Curling into himself ever further, he waited for the inevitable beating he was sure to get once Vernon got the door open.

"Don't worry Harry, he can't get in"a voice said from the end of Harry's bed. His eyes darted open.

He lifted his head hesitantly, not even realising that the banging on the door to the cupboard had reduced to a dull thud, now almost entirely inaudible.

On the end of his bed, head lifted majestically and looking directly at Harry, perched a large bird. Its feathers were made up of various shades of red, orange and yellow, and Harry realised with wide eyes that the colours seemed to shift and change. If he didn't know better, he would have thought the bird was wreathed in flames.

Harry would never have thought that a bird could smile, but this one seemed to be, the corners of its mouth upturned behind its sharp beak.

"Don't be alarmed. I'm not here to hurt you"the voice said again. It was deep and decidedly male, spoken with a soft kindness the likes of which Harry had never had directed at him.

"Are…" Harry hesitated before continuing. "Is that you talking to me?" he asked the bird uncertainly.

The bird nodded its head once.

Harry gave the bird a blank look.

"But… you're a bird" he said stupidly.

The bird chuckled lightly, Harry scowling in response.

"Well I hope those special eyes of yours can see more than just that fact" he commented. "My name is Fawkes, I'm a Phoenix" he added.

The only thing that Harry had understood from what he had said was that his name was Fawkes. He rubbed the back of his head with a grimace as he tried to process what the bird has said.

What had he meant by special eyes? In the past, Harry used to see them as a curse. Nobody had eyes like his, with the almost pure white irises. They had been a frequent point of bullying by Dudley and his friends for years, and so Harry had resented them for all that time. It wasn't until his Aunt Petunia had accidentally revealed that they were the same as his mother's that he had stopped hating them. It was the only detail besides their names that Harry had ever learned about either of his parents.

"What do you mean by special eyes?" Harry asked curiously.

"Ahh never mind young one, you will understand what I mean in time" Fawkes said cryptically.

"But-" Harry began, but was cut off as the beating on the door returned with vigour, Vernon shouting about how much trouble he was in.

Harry immediately paled and shrank back towards the corner.

"Persistent isn't he" Fawkes commented dryly. Harry's eyes widened as the great bird turned his gaze towards the door, and the sound again diminished to a soft thud.

"How-" Harry began again, only to be cut off a second time, this time by Fawkes.

"Listen to me Harry, I have a purpose in coming here and talking to you" Fawkes said.

Harry turned his head slightly to the side inquisitively.

"I've come here to offer you a way out" he continued, his tone grave.

Harry brows drew together as he looked at the bird. Harry had no idea what to think. He was starting to doubt his own sanity now.

"So" Harry started doubtfully, "you're saying that you've come to my cupboard to offer me a way out of my cupboard? No offence, but couldn't I just open the door?"

Fawkes stared blankly at him.

"No, I've come to offer you a way out of this life, out of the Dursley's lives" he answered simply.

Harry scoffed loudly, despite how much he wanted to believe Fawkes, the entire situation was ridiculous. He was talking to a bird for goodness sake; and worse, the bird was talking back! He'd really lost the plot now.

"And uh, where exactly would you be taking me?" he asked mockingly.

Fawkes sighed, and Harry heard him mutter something under his breath.

"To a place where you'd be given a second chance. Somewhere you could find a new family, somewhere you can belong" Fawkes said, staring resolutely into his white eyes.

"And why would you do this?" Harry asked sceptically with a small shake of his head.

In one swift movement, Fawkes flapped his wings and landed directly in front of him.

"You could ask me questions all night, and you would still believe my words as little as you do right now. All I will say is that you deserve a better life than the one you've been dealt. I promise you that if you come with me…" he trailed off in order to stretch out a wing towards Harry.

"If you come with me" he continued where he left off, "you will become truly strong. Strong enough so that you will never have to be bullied by people like the Dursleys ever again."

Every logical thought in Harry's brain was telling him that this was a trick, that it wasn't real, but the thought of becoming strong enough to end the bullying… was all he had ever dreamed of.

Harry dropped his chin down to his chest, several tears spilling from his eyes onto his small bed. "This is crazy" he said with a cracked voice. "It's a dream, it must be."

"If it is, then when you touch my wing, you'd simply wake up" he fluttered the wing he had stretched out, the feathers shimmering, despite the lack of light. "But if I am telling the truth, it will take you away from here. Either way Harry, what do you have to lose?" Fawkes asked frankly.

Harry raised his eyes to meet the bird's golden gaze. For a bird, it had the most expressive eyes that he had ever seen, equal parts kind and wise. For a moment, Harry was reminded of the twinkling blue eyes he had seen in the face of a kindly old man from a dream he had once had. Harry remembered the dream so vividly, like it was memory instead of imagination, but more than anything, he remembered trusting the blue eyed man with all his soul. The same trust he felt now, looking into the golden eyes of Fawkes.

Slowly, tentatively, Harry reached out a hand towards the outstretched wing. As soon as he felt the soft feathers brush against his finger's the whole world began to spin around him. In his head Harry heard Fawkes voice speak once more.

"Good luck, Harry Hyuga" he said.

Notes

I hope you enjoyed the prologue!
So after this prologue there will be a several year time skip to a point where Harry is just about to take the final exam at the Academy, where he is in Naruto's class.

What happened between this point and that point will be eventually explained, some or most of it in the next chapter.

If you've any questions or spot any errors or anything please let me know, since this fic is self-beta'd.