66 The Letter

The days unnoticeably passed by as students prepared for exams, which were getting closer and closer. Their routine was only disturbed a few times – once, when there was some strange rumor about a dragon living somewhere in the premises of the castle's grounds, and another time, when some people thought that there was a monster roaming inside the Forbidden Forest and killing unicorns (most students were certain that it was a werewolf).

Because Draco had been paying attention to the events which were supposed to happen in the books, he was clearer than most on the details of these incidents.

"What did you find out?" he asked Zosar when the phoenix appeared in front of him in a burst of flames.

Draco had been sitting in his room, reading a book on the safe potion ingredients' experiments when his familiar interrupted him.

The colorful bird didn't hurry to reply. Instead, he flew to his perch and turned his head away from the blonde boy – making a show of being angry. Draco, who was used to his familiar occasionally showing a slightly more eccentric personality, immediatelly knew the reason for the phoenix's bad mood.

"Was it Fawkes again?" he asked with a wry smile. "What did he do this time?"

Zosar was silent for a moment, seemingly debating whether to cooperatively confess everything, or make Draco fawn over him a bit longer. In the end, seeing the boy's impatient appearance, he decided not to be too difficult and proceeded in explaining:

• I was investigating the matter of the dragon appearing at Hogwarts, like you requested me to, when that hateful bird suddenly appeared and started pestering me – asking me what I was doing, what kind of game I was playing by hiding in the alcove, whether I was hungry, or wanted to fly above the lake… Like hell, I was playing or wanted to fly with him anywhere! • Zosar harrumphed and flapped his wings with annoyance.

Draco seriously nodded:

"Yes, how dare he think that you were playing," he commented while hiding his slightly twitching lips behind a hand. "I suppose, you told him what you thought of his… misplaced concern?"

The phoenix haughtily nodded, his whole body leaking prideful arrogance.

• I, of course, told him to shove off because I was doing important stuff… But then Fawkes got interested in what could be so significant in following a few Gryffindor first-years. As I couldn't say that I was investigating serious stuff, I had to admit that I was playing, • Zosar muttered the last words with humiliation.

Draco consolingly stroked his familiar's feathers.

• Then he asked whether he could play too, and I had to agree in order not to appear suspicious. He dragged me to the lake to play with the Giant Squid, made me eat a lot of berries and dragged me to search for fairies in the forest. In the end, I had wasted a lot of time because of that dreadful bird! • Zosar finished indignantly, but Draco noticed the phoenix's carefully hidden guilty glances directed at himself.

"I understand, Fawkes is really too much… How did Dumbledore raise such a familiar?" the blond boy cooperatively complained, thus making his own familiar think that he didn't notice the sneaky looks.

Ever since the first meeting between the two phoenixes, Zosar was bent on avoiding Fawkes, thinking that the other bird was trying to humiliate him and point out his inexperience because he was younger. Fawkes, on the other hand, kept on following the prideful bird, often tempting him with food, games and other exciting activities which Zosar couldn't help but indulge in (very reluctantly).

If Draco didn't know any better, he would have thought that Fawkes was gay – with how he kept 'wooing' and trying to please Zosar. However, he understood that the older phoenix was just looking out for the younger bird, who was away from his flock and may sometimes get lonely.

In the end, Zosar's attitude got friendlier to Fawkes, yet, in front of Draco, he always complained about the other bird being too annoying and persistent.

…The blond boy was also speechless towards his familiar's 'principled' behavior.

"So, before Fawkes came to interrupt your mission, what did you find?" Draco asked once again.

• Ah, yes! • Zosar made a look of realization and narrowed his beady eyes while beginning to recount. • Well, apparently, there really was a dragon being raised on school grounds. No one noticed it for over six weeks, can you believe it? •

Draco mutely shook his head and continued listening with interest.

• The groundskeeper thought that it is a wonderful pet, for some reason, and kept it in his wooden hut. Last week the dragon was temporarily left alone and got bored – it finally decided to test out its fire-breathing ability and almost burned down the house. The incident wasn't noticed by the students only because the school's wards quickly warned the Headmaster, who, with the help of Fawkes, swiftly arrived at the place and restored it before the fire could burn everything down… All of this was hushed up, of course, and the dragon was sent away to Romania. •

"Interesting," commented Draco with some surprise. "And you found out all of that by following some first-years?"

Zosar was slightly sheepish as he replied:

• Fawkes told me about it. •

Draco couldn't help but wonder whether it was a good idea for the two phoenixes to get along. On one hand, it was a good source of information, as Fawkes lived in Dumbledore's office and knew everything that happened there.

On the other hand…

The blond boy looked down at his own clueless familiar and felt that it was slightly dangerous.

In the end, he didn't say anything – just patted the bird's feathers and continued listening.

• About that werewolf rumor… It is like you guessed - there's no monster which is bent on killing unicorns - just the Dark Lord's shadow hiding inside that teacher's head, sucking the poor creatures' blood. By the way, when will we do something about him? •

"We will not do anything… In a week or two there will be someone who will do all of the work for us," commented Draco after a thoughtful pause.

He spun on his chair, eyes unseeingly staring at the ceiling, and thought about the next course of action. Finally, his gaze turned more determined - he stopped the chair with one foot and stood up, heading to one of the shelves and taking out a roll of parchment.

• Is it finally the time? • Zosar asked, his eyes turning serious.

"Yes," the blond boy nodded and placed the roll on the desk, right beside his familiar's body. "Make sure to deliver this unnoticed."

The phoenix nodded and carefully picked up the parchment with his claws. With a sudden 'whooshing' sound and a surge of flames, he disappeared - leaving only half-invisible floating ashes behind.

Draco sighed and brushed back his hair, which was getting slightly long.

'Mr. Flamel, I hope that you won't disappoint me…' he thought tiredly.