Chapter 49

There was a moment of silence, in which Harry wondered what they were talking about.

"Thank you for reassuring us brother," Ronan finally said and trotted back off.

Harry, seeing an opening, immediately, cast an Observe on Firenze.

"Your scrying magic will not work on centaurs Harry Potter," Firenze said, cutting through Harry's surprise at no window popping up, "Our kind invented it."

Harry paused, before warily dropping out of the tree. "How'd you know I was there?"

"The stars spoke of you coming soon." He looked up at the sky. "Mars has been bright these days. My people find it disturbing. Change does upset so many, regardless of who they are born as."

His eyes refocused on Harry. "But you don't fear change, do you, Harry Potter? No…you revel in it."

He turned and trotted off towards a muddy path on the forest floor. "Follow me, Harry Potter, I have promised to bring you to someone who has been waiting for you." Harry took off behind the centaur.

"Who's been waiting for me?"

"All will soon be clear," came the rather cryptic response.

"Add a turban and a crystal ball and you could make a killing at carnivals," Harry muttered under his breath before following him.

Harry's mental rant about overly clichéd mysterious centaurs had continued on endlessly while he had walked on with the four-legged creature. It was, however, interrupted when they suddenly stopped dead at the edge of a rather unusually large clearing in the trees. Firenze looked straight ahead and said in a grave tone, "Harry Potter. I would advise you to not use your magic in there. The ancient beings do not take kindly to such insults."

Harry was about to ask what he was he talking about when he suddenly felt the wards.

Throughout his time as the Gamer, Harry hadn't felt many wards. There was the Privet Drive wards, which had since dissolved, and the massively powerful Hogwarts wards.

This…this feeling of raw waterfalls of protective mana surrounding the clearing…it trumped them both.

Harry felt like he was being squeezed through a tight tube as he stepped into the clearing. His breath stopped as his lungs were squeezed dry and he slowly pulled through the wards. As his breath came back to him and his eyesight cleared, Harry's senses were assaulted by a veritable myriad of light and sound. Even with Gamer's Mind, it took a solid few minutes for the light bulb to go off in his head.

'So they were the immortals testing me,' he finally realized.

Phoenixes, dozens of them flew around the clearing that had formed where before there were only trees. Most of them were scarlet and gold with the occasional cheery blue. Their feathers glowed faintly in darkness, casting a dancing light upon the clearing giving it an almost dreamlike beauty. On the ground were nests, many of which each held a single egg each that glowed with a brilliant inner fire.

Suddenly, Harry realized what he was witnessing. He gasped.

"Be honored Mr. Potter," Firenze said, a slight bit of awe filtering into his own voice, "The immortal beings convene and lay eggs only once a century. Very few of your kind have ever witnessed this wondrous event. Your ability…the one that shields your mind…it has made you by far the youngest of those few,"

Harry didn't have to be told. The cries of the hundreds of phoenixes flying around, some tending to their young and some warming their eggs while others playfully fought about in the air, they were going straight to Harry's heart and lifting his spirits up so high that Harry felt almost dizzyingly high. A small part of his mind worried that he would have withdrawal issues afterward, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

He was too busy witnessing a miracle.

Firenze led the still dazed Harry to one of the nests that contained an egg. As they arrived, a beautiful scarlet phoenix dove down gracefully and landed next to it with a flap of her wings, leveling a flat stare at him. Harry could feel his Gamer's Mind barriers melting away as if welcoming the warm presence of the ancient being, letting it look right into his mind.

After a few moments, she withdrew and looked away, turning to the egg and brushing it with her tail feathers, letting out a gentle trill. With a gentle pulse, the egg started glowing brighter than ever before, and a crack appeared on its side.

Before his eyes, the crack spread, and soon the shell split open into pieces and revealed the whitest little chick Harry had ever seen with a tiny beak and big feet and stubby wings and a tail that was too small for its body. As the mother phoenix cleaned off all the remaining egg fluid from the little chick's feathers and helped it onto its feet, its eyes opened to reveal the brightest amber irises Harry had ever laid eyes on.

After being helped onto its feet, it stumbled around for a bit, taking in all the bright lights and colors around it until it caught sight of Harry. Letting out a happy little chirrup, it twaddled over to him on those tiny little legs.

Stopping right in front of him, it looked up at him and let out a commanding chirp.

Harry let out an incredulous chuckle, before bending down to pick it up. For some reason, his eyes were pricking. Raising the little chick to eye level, he turned to his four-legged companion in confusion.

"What is happening?" he asked Firenze, for he was thoroughly baffled.

Firenze smiled. "I would have thought it was fairly obvious Harry Potter. She has chosen you as her companion."

Silence.

"But the books said that phoenixes only chose the pure of heart," Harry finally said quietly, not because he wanted to, but because a stone had suddenly materialized in his throat, "I'm…not. I've done…horrible things. I don't deserve this. I'm not…not even close to pure of heart."

Firenze looked at him for a moment before looking back at the newborn phoenix; who'd decided to curl up in his palms and take a nap; and answering, "I believe the young one would beg to differ."

He stood there quietly for a while, wondering what he could say to that. Deciding to drop this line of worthy-or-not conversation, he asked, "So what do I call her? What is her name?"

"I do not believe she was born with one," Firenze said, "What do you wish to call her?"

Harry thought for a moment, before replying, "Hedwig. I want to call her Hedwig."

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