𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭 {𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲}

| 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 | 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦

In folklore, a phoenix is a bird from Greek mythology that can be reborn or regenerate itself by bursting into flames, its new body rising from the ashes. In the Wizarding World, phoenixes are able to be reborn from the Killing Curse, and are also immune to the stare of basilisks.

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a n g e l

I was frozen in place. My arms felt like water, and I could not summon the strength to get up again. The sounds around me had muffled, as if someone had thrown a blanket over the room. I could only hear what was happening in front of me.

Draco's white-blond hair turned bright red, the smatterings of blood as if he had dipped his head in red paint. There was barely any lull between the thuds, some of them wet as the snake fangs drew blood from broken flesh and bone. 

Draco, who bat a Bludger into my side, who boasted about his Italian silk suit at the Yule Ball. Draco, who dragged the constellations down to earth just so I could touch them, who insisted to have me dressed in gold and jewels when I was neither royalty nor pureblood. Draco, who rested next to me every night, eyelashes of fine gossamer fluttering with uneasy sleep.

I looked to my friends. Susan had turned away, her face scrunched up in despair. Dear Susan, gentle as a running creek, who could hardly bear to sit on grass because it might hurt them. Uprooted from her home and torn away from her precious pets in a desperate quest to save her best friend. Forced to kill, to speak ugly spells she would never have otherwise used.

Lorcan was looking on bravely, his jaw set hard as stone. Lorcan the Laugh, who always knew what to say and whose eyes were never not crinkled with a smile. He would never shy away from atrocities; he always said it was important to know about the vile and wicked things happening in the world, even if you did not have the power to stop them. Knowledge is knowledge, even if it is undesirable.

Hannah had somehow forced out the gag, her mouth now wrenched open with muted shouts as her tongue catapulted insults and cusses. Dauntless Hannah, her words have always been loud. Loud, but never empty. She would move mountains to keep her promises. Always the shield and sword of the group, thrusting fearlessly into battle. I will forever remember what she had said when we were children; words that, years later, had shaken my memory and commanded it to remember the boy I loved.

They risked everything to save me, and it would be for nothing. The Second Wizarding War was fought in vain. Harry Potter, the Trio, the Order, and Hogwarts have lost everything only for this to be our future. 

I felt something, like a strike of a flame in between my ribcage. Anger.

It started small, a warmth that crept in slowly. Within seconds, it had grown into a bonfire. Its black smoke rose in my throat, choking me, and my chest heaved as I competed with it for air. It ate my soul, consuming it in its entirety. I let it.