Champions

Contingency

In the wake of the confrontation, Harry left the castle as quickly as possible. Barely maintaining control – part of him was horrified by what he'd just done – he strode purposefully through the empty halls, desperate to escape. Anger and fear warred within, and he wouldn't be able to suppress them for much longer.

Fawkes rode out the trip unnoticed on his arm, swaying to and fro like some sort of avian surfer.

Harry was shaking uncontrollably by the time he reached the entrance hall. He paused just inside the enormous doors and leaned up against the wall, closing his eyes against a torrent of raging emotion. He did his best to stifle it, but his efforts didn't come to much.

He was as shocked by his own actions as he was by the Headmaster's. Sebastian's coaching had allowed him a modicum of confidence, but not one of them had predicted that the man might go so far as to threaten expulsion. Idle or not, the threat worried him greatly: if Dumbledore was willing to go so far with his threats, what else was he willing to do?

Had they underestimated him?

Looking back, however, he could not see any other way he could have responded without giving in and revealing something. Planned or not, it was the right course of action near as he could tell, and now he had to deal with the consequences. It wasn't likely that the Headmaster would go through with it – they could ruin him if he did – but he still couldn't take the chance.

That meant he needed a contingency plan, and he berated himself for not thinking of it sooner. A transfer to Beauxbatons would have quite a few advantages, not least of which was the constant presence of his wife. When added to the fact that it would remove him from Dumbledore's control, he was surprised that none of them thought to consider it.

There was, of course, the language barrier to deal with, but that could be overcome with time.

But now he had to move quickly, and that meant he needed to get himself under control. It was much easier to hold his emotions at bay when faced with an active confrontation than it was to do so after the fact. He was almost certain that the encounter would add a new nightmare to his rather large collection; confronting Albus Dumbledore in any way was a terrifying prospect at best.

Closing his eyes, he did his best to focus on a single thought: an image of Fleur's beautiful face. He focused on it as best he could, but it failed to block out the rising tide of fear over his future. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice of image, given that his newest and most powerful fear was that his wife might be taken from him.

Just as he started getting frustrated with his inability to calm himself, however, a soft, soothing trill sounded, bringing him abruptly back to the present.

Harry opened his eyes, only to have them fall on Fawkes, and he immediately paled. He was so distracted when he left the office that he didn't even think to return the phoenix to its perch. While he was aware that humans couldn't command such creatures, he somehow doubted that Dumbledore would see it that way.

As though aware of his thoughts, Fawkes trilled soothingly once more, and then broke into full, quiet song. Harry's heart swelled at the amazing sound, and it assuaged his frayed nerves in that way that only the music of a phoenix could manage. It went on for several minutes, and he was much calmer and more collected when the creature finally fell silent again.

"Thanks, Fawkes," he whispered, reaching up to caress the bird's beautiful head.

Fawkes chirped happily at him and affectionately nuzzled his cheek.

Harry absently scratched the back of his friend's neck as he contemplated the situation. Going back to the Headmaster's office was the last thing he wanted to do, but he really hadn't the right to take the phoenix from his chosen domain. Then again, Fawkes could leave at any time, he supposed.