Chapter 12
The wind howled past Harry’s ears, cold and sharp as a knife, as he plummeted from the Astronomy Tower like a stone. His stomach lurched violently, his robes flapping wildly around him as gravity yanked him toward the ground at an alarming speed.
Oh, bloody hell-
His mind raced, caught somewhere between absolute terror and absolute fury.
JINX.
Of all the reckless, idiotic, completely deranged things…
SHE THREW HIM OFF A TOWER!
She actually did it!
His brain screamed at him to do something, anything, but what exactly was he supposed to do?! He didn’t have his broom, he wasn’t some kind of miracle wizard who could suddenly fly, and he sure as hell didn’t have time to grab his wand before he was unceremoniously hurled into open air like a sack of potatoes.
I am going to haunt Jinx. He thought viciously, I will come back as a ghost just to make her life miserable.
The ground was rushing up too fast. He could make out the cobblestone path below, the shadow of the castle stretching long and dark across the lawn.
THINK, POTTER, THINK!
His instincts kicked in; magic, magic, do magic! He reached for his wand, fumbling as it tangled in his robes; too slow, he was going to splatter across the courtyard like a badly transfigured pancake.
The ground was too close.
Harry braced himself for impact, every muscle in his body tensing, his mind a chaotic storm of fear and regret…
And then he burned.
For a split second, searing heat engulfed him from the inside out. It wasn’t painful, but it was overwhelming, like being caught in an explosion of light and fire. His vision blurred, his senses twisted, his body changed.
Suddenly, he wasn’t falling like a human anymore.
His arms, no, his wings, flapped wildly, catching the air as instinct took over. His entire body felt lighter, his panicked gasps replaced by sharp, rapid chirps. Instead of plummeting straight to his death, he was gliding.
What the hell?!
Harry barely had time to register his own shock before he lost control. His wings flailed as he tumbled out of the sky in a mess of golden-red feathers, his body moving in ways he had never experienced before. He crashed onto the grass with an undignified squawk, rolling head over tail feathers, before coming to an abrupt stop.
For a long moment, he just lay there, stunned. His heart hammered in his chest, except it wasn’t really his chest anymore, was it?
Slowly, hesitantly, he stretched out his wings. His actual wings.
He turned his head, caught a glimpse of bright, fiery plumage, and froze.
He was a bird.
An actual BIRD.
His brain completely short-circuited.
Jinx. That lunatic had thrown him off the Astronomy Tower, and now he had somehow spontaneously transformed into a bird.
I am going to kill her.
…Right after he figured out how to turn back.
Jinx landed gracefully on the grass, rolling through the impact before popping up onto her feet like it was nothing. She brushed herself off, looking entirely too pleased with herself as she sauntered over to where Harry had crash-landed.
What she found sent her into a fit of laughter.
A mess of dark, slightly singed feathers lay sprawled across the ground, wings twitching as the creature tried, and utterly failed, to untangle itself. The bird was enormous, with sleek, iridescent black plumage that shimmered faintly under the moonlight, edged with subtle flickers of red, like embers hidden beneath the surface. It looked regal, powerful,
Until it moved.
Harry, because it had to be Harry, gave an undignified squawk, flapping one wing and rolling onto his back in an absolute display of not knowing what he was doing. His talons curled and uncurled awkwardly, and his head jerked up, beady emerald eyes glaring at her in pure, unfiltered rage.
Jinx grinned. “You are the worst bird I’ve ever seen.”
The very unhappy not-bird flapped again, managing to push itself upright in an explosion of disheveled feathers.
Jinx snorted. “That was pathetic.”
A screech, probably intended to be angry, escaped Harry’s lips; he still looked like he wanted to kill her. Unfortunately, his new voice betrayed him; it came out as a warbling chirp instead.
Jinx doubled over, cackling.
Jinx wiped away a tear from laughing so hard and took a deep breath, finally managing to compose herself, mostly. She crouched in front of the disgruntled, puffed-up not-bird and smirked.
“Alright, feathery menace, change back,” she ordered, waving a hand expectantly.
Harry, still looking like he wanted to set her on fire with his mind, gave an aggressive shake of his wings. Nothing happened.
Jinx blinked. “... Well?”
Harry made a noise, something between an indignant trill and a frustrated huff, and squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. A faint shimmer rippled over his form. Jinx tilted her head, watching closely. The shimmer flickered, then fizzled out completely.
Harry’s emerald eyes snapped open.
Jinx raised an eyebrow.
A long silence stretched between them.
Jinx slowly grinned. “You can’t change back, can you?”
Harry fluffed up even more, looking deeply offended at the mere suggestion. He tried again, squeezing his eyes shut and flaring his wings, his whole body trembling with effort. A tiny ember-like glow sparked around his feathers, then promptly died out.
Jinx started laughing again.
“Oh, this is amazing,” she wheezed, collapsing onto the grass. “You, you actually broke yourself!”
Harry let out an enraged squawk and snapped his beak at her, but Jinx just dodged, still laughing far too hard for his liking.
“So, what now, bird boy?” she teased, poking at one of his talons. “Guess you’re gonna have to learn how to preen properly.”
Jinx was panicking.
Outwardly, she kept her usual smirk in place, but inside? Absolute chaos.
Harry, her only real friend in this insane magical school, had just turned into some kind of shadowy bird-thing and now couldn’t change back. She’d be doomed if they got caught, because it was past curfew. So, she did the only thing that made sense:
She shoved Harry into her bag.
The feathery menace let out a muffled, extremely offended squawk, but she ignored it.
“Shut up, you broke yourself,” she hissed as she yanked the drawstring shut. She slung the bag over her shoulder, feeling it twitch slightly as Harry shifted around inside. She hoped he wouldn’t set anything on fire. Or suffocate.
Then she ran.
Severus. Sevvy will know what to do.
Her heart pounded as she sprinted through the dimly lit corridors, her boots barely making a sound on the stone floor. The castle was eerily quiet, save for the occasional flickering torch and the distant sound of Filch’s grumbling. She ducked past a suit of armor, nearly tripping over her own feet, and,
Almost slammed straight into Lucius Malfoy.
She skidded to a stop inches away from him, her breath caught in her throat. Oh, hell.
Lucius was muttering to himself, looking thoroughly irritated as he adjusted his pristine robes. He had just come from a meeting with Dumbledore, something about a dangerous animal in Care of Magical Creatures that had almost murdered his son if not for Jinx stepping in.
She had no idea why he was still here this late, but she did not have time for this.
Lucius blinked, his cold grey eyes landing on her. “Miss Jinx.” His tone was unreadable.
Jinx cleared her throat, forcing a tight-lipped smile. “Mister Malfoy.”
His gaze flicked to her bag, which was suspiciously squirming.
She took a small step back. Crap.
Harry, still very much stuck in bird form, pushed his head out of Jinx’s bag with a very unimpressed squawk.
Jinx’s heart stopped.
Lucius Malfoy stared.
His usual mask of cool detachment cracked, his pale eyebrows raising as his sharp eyes fixated on the dark-feathered creature poking out of the bag.
“…A black phoenix,” Lucius murmured, almost reverently.
Jinx froze, not daring to correct him.
Lucius took a slow step closer, his expression one of something almost like awe, which, considering he was Lucius bloody Malfoy, was insane.
“How… extraordinary.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “I did not think such a being existed.”
Jinx had no idea what he was on about, but she wasn’t about to question it.
Lucius continued, more to himself than to her. “A creature of purification through darkness before enlightenment… the Nigredo of alchemy itself.” He exhaled softly. “To think something so pure exists in this world.”
Jinx glanced at Harry, who had stopped struggling and was now looking at Lucius Malfoy like he had grown a second head.
Pure? Harry?
The same Harry who had just been cursing Jinx in bird noises five minutes ago?
Sure, Malfoy. Sure.
She forced a polite nod, tightening her grip on the bag before Harry could do anything dumb. “Yup. Super rare. Gotta go now, really important, life or death.”
Lucius barely acknowledged her, his gaze still fixed on the so-called ‘black phoenix.’ Then, with an almost imperceptible shift, his awe melted back into the usual Malfoy indifference.
He straightened his robes. “Be careful with such a creature, Miss Jinx. It is a being of great significance… and power.”
Jinx did not like the way he said that.
But she just nodded, offering a quick, “Yup, will do,” before bolting past him like her life depended on it.
She had to get to Sevvy.