DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Harry Potter.
Warning: Mention of child abuse!
The Fire of the Phoenix
Prologue-
The lightning bolt will make her whole
The star and the moon will help her heal
And when you think it's hopeless
The Phoenix will reborn from ashes
And help to defeat the Dark One
The fire and the bolt are the same as one
When you see the crown of the lion prince
On fire in a lighting storm
You'll know the end of the war has come
Phoenix lived at Number 4, Privet Drive since she could remember. She and her twin brother were left on her Aunt and Uncle's doorstep almost 13 years ago, and they never failed to let the twins forget the burden they were. Terrible things happened inside #4 Privet Drive, things that defied the normality of what their relatives pretended to live.
First it was the fact that Phoenix and Harry, her twin, were both witch and wizard and studied on a boarding school called Hogwarts that taught magic in Scotland. Sometimes Phoen -the nickname her brother liked to call her - wished magic didn't exist. If it didn't exist her parents wouldn't have been murdered by Lord Voldemort - a dark wizard - and they wouldn't have to live in her relatives' house in the first place. Her brother wouldn't be The-Boy-Who-Lived and she The-Girl-Who-Lived-Because-Voldemort-Tried-To-Kill-Her-Brother-First. She and her brother wouldn't have to get 'the freakishness beaten out of them' like her Uncle liked to say and everything would be as it should. Phoenix knew she deserved every beating she's got, "she was a freak that was dumped in his door step with a twin brother and they were nothing but waste of space that lived with their relatives because of the goodness of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's hearts." The red-head knew her Uncle's speech by heart. But then, if magic didn't exist, her parents wouldn't have met each other, and she and Harry would have never been born, she didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing, anyway. She wished she hadn't born; sometimes, late at night, after a pretty nasty beating when she was tossed in her cupboard with her brother without food. Yes, cupboard.
Phoenix and Harry slept in a cupboard under the stairs since they arrived in Little Whinging. It was getting too small for them, even though they were a lot smaller and thinner than most 13 soon-to-be 14 year olds. That cupboard was their refuge when everything was too much or where they would be thrown in after a beating and were safe because their fat Uncle couldn't and wouldn't enter their cupboard. It was both their sanctuary and their prison.
The dizygotic twins looked slightly alike though neither of them knew which was older one - they never had anyone to ask about it. Harry was the carbon copy of their father only with their mother's eyes. Phoenix had her mother's dark red hair and her eyes, looking exactly like Lily Potter née Evans except some little differences that she inherited of her dad, James, like her nose and high cheek bones.
It's been four days since the end of their third year at Hogwarts and this summer was proving to be getting worse than the other ones. Their Uncle was fuming for last summer Harry blew up 'Aunt' Marge and Phoenix made all the glasses in the kitchen shatter, then both ran away only to come back on the next summer and get the worst four days of their lives. And believe me, they had had many bad days to compare those to.
At the end of the term they discovered that their godfather was innocent and spent the last 12 years in Azkaban, the wizard prison guarded by Dementors - evil beings that sucked all your happy thoughts and left you only with your worst memories. He was taken to the Ministry of Magic to await his trial. Their other godfather - though unofficial because he's a werewolf - is Remus Lupin who taught Defence Against The Dark Arts this year but resigned after Severus Snape, the Potions Master who seemed to hate Harry and somehow didn't hate Phoenix (only he never looked at her, not even to make a compliment about her perfect potions - not that she expected a compliment from anyone), told everyone in school about his secret, his furry little problem. So, Harry and Phoenix were alone once more for a hellish summer at Privet Drive, suffering from their Uncle's wrath worse than ever.
Phoenix always got worst of her Uncle's abuse, even if Harry tried to protect her and take the beatings himself; her Aunt and Uncle always had a special hate towards her. It reached the point that Phoen had difficulty talking - the only one who she talked to was Harry and only when they were alone. The twins helped each other, when Harry wasn't well Phoen took care of him and the other way around, they did what they could in a small cupboard with only rags that were their cousin's second hand cast offs for them to wear and a small cot for them to sleep. They could always feel when there was something wrong and sometimes they could even feel each other's pain. They always seemed to know what the other was thinking as well, their 'twin-thing' as they liked to call it was a nightmare and a blessing at the same time, it was hard to keep something a secret, but not impossible. Even after all this time, things happened at number four to Phoenix that even Harry couldn't fathom.
'Wake up freaks!' Their Aunt Petunia knocked hard on the cupboard's door and screamed.
Phoenix opened her eyes and looked around for her brother, he was sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed getting ready for the day and trying to do that without moving much.
'You okay Phoenie?' Last night their Uncle was particularly vicious, when he arrived home from work, drunk, he went directly towards the twins' cupboard to "give them what they deserve" and they were still barely standing, having received a beating yesterday morning as well. She nodded and then tried to not to groan when her head and neck ached because of the movement.
'You?' He tried to smile at hearing his sister's beautiful and quiet voice - even for him it was rare to hear her talk - though his smile looked pained.
'I'll live.' He said like it didn't matter, Harry always liked to stay strong for his twin sister but she could see right through his mask. She knew he was hurting, scared and wishing for someone who cared as much as her, only he tried not to show it.
Phoenix helped Harry to clean his wounds with the cleanest piece of cloth she could find, but it didn't do much since they were infected or had started bleeding again. He helped her the same way and they stiffly got up, Harry limping slightly and Phoenix with her light bleeding and dizziness. It didn't help that they could feel a bit of each other's pain.
Phoenix went to the stove to cook breakfast as Harry set the table, when Phoen was finishing the bacon, Dudley -their cousin- entered running in the kitchen and pushed her, making her sore legs give away and fall down with the bacon's oil all over her. There was silence, then a scream and her Uncle kicking and stepping on her, after a few minutes or hours, she heard Harry's scream echoing hers and knew that he was getting beaten for trying to protect her. 'It's entirely my fault.' She just cried quietly, she couldn't recognize her own voice or screams. She just knew that something happened because it all stopped. And suddenly she heard the doorbell.
A/N: Thanks for reading! CHAPTER REWRITTEN AND SPELLCHECKED
Pronunciation for those who are wondering:
- Phoen = Feen
- Phoenie = Feenie
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