24 The Poachers

Phoenixes were not birds to be underestimated, even if they were herbivores, as Draco and Theo quickly found out. Seeing the poachers trying to get away with a phoenix egg, the flock of colorful birds angrily tore at their clothes and skin, surrounding them from all sides.

Pitiful wails and cries could be heard from the pile of red and yellow feathers. Draco shuddered as he observed the foreign wizards' deserved punishment. However, seeing that the phoenixes were not going to stop any time soon without prompting, Draco tried to ignore the loud sounds and turned to look for Missy. His eyes quickly found her standing at the side, no longer invisible, watching the one-sided fight with fascination in her huge eyes. The blond boy could only hope that she didn't get any weird ideas from this event.

"Ehem, Missy," coughed Draco lightly as he approached her. He was still invisible, so even the house elf had hard time locating him at first. "I am in front of you," the boy said in lowered voice.

When she located Draco, Missy quietly snapped her fingers and her young master was visible for all to see once again.

"We need to find Theo," Draco whispered to the elf as he checked himself out, to make sure that all of his body parts were in place. Even after living two years in a wizarding family, he had never been invisible before and the experience was highly unusual.

"Missy knows where young master's friend is. Young master not move while Missy gets him," warned the house elf strictly but quietly – she also didn't want to attract the birds' attention. Draco earnestly nodded – he was too afraid to move anyway, in case phoenixes suddenly thought that he was in cahoots with the two unfortunate men and turned their attention to him.

It didn't take a long time for Theo to arrive. The boy's eyes were watching the phoenixes with sick fascination and the young wizard didn't seem to be able to tear his gaze away from the sight. Draco could completely understand him, so he didn't mind it when he was barely acknowledged with a nod by his friend.

After a few minutes Theo finally spoke up, his eyes still not moving away from the pile of birds, "We should probably stop them. If those poachers are killed, then the eggs, which have already been taken, won't be recovered…"

"If you have any ideas then, please, I am all ears," Draco raised an eyebrow at his friend and commented back. Suddenly his attention wavered as he noticed that few phoenixes turned to look at them, silently judging the boys with their beady eyes.

Draco instinctively grabbed Theo's arm and retracted few steps back. However, he forgot that behind him were trees and he almost tripped up on the protruding roots due to momentary inattention. Before he could make any more moves, three birds flew out of the pile of feathers and circled around the two boys, chirping at them urgently.

Draco couldn't understand what they wanted, however, Theo had a look of realization. He turned to Draco and said, "They must have heard it when I mentioned the eggs and want to know more?" he finished uncertainly.

The phoenixes chirped in agreement. The crying sounds also gradually died down as other phoenixes flew over to where the two boys were standing. However, few of them were still left to guard the poachers, who were laying prone on the ground – to make sure that they didn't escape.

Draco couldn't make out the foreign wizards' condition from the distance or even determine, whether they were still alive. He also found it curious that all this noise didn't attract other people to this place. The phoenixes once again chirped and the blonde's attention shifted to them. He opened his mouth, ready to explain what they heard when they spied on the poacher earlier, however, Theo was a bit faster.

"We also don't know much. We just heard them saying that there were few more phoenix eggs taken and their boss seems to be torturing one of the hatched phoenixes," the dark-haired boy said quickly.

"Chirp, chirp?"

"Umm…" Theo cast an uncertain glance at Draco, who shrugged, and tried to make out what the birds wanted. "You should probably question them yourself..." he trailed off as he realized how ridiculous the suggestion was. How could birds, never mind that they were magical, conduct an interrogation?

"If they are alive, we can try questioning them," offered Draco, trying to rescue his friend from the awkward position. Theo smiled in thanks.

The phoenixes seemed to understand what the two boys were saying. They chirped among themselves, as though discussing whether this solution was acceptable. After a few seconds all of them started nodding, which made for one of the weirdest sights Draco has ever seen in any of his two lives.

Seeing the birds in agreement, Draco cautiously approached the two wizards, who were laying on the ground covered in feathers, unmoving. Theo and Missy were behind him, with the birds surrounding the group. One of the phoenixes, who had been left to guard the unconscious poachers, angrily pecked the prone bodies a few times. When its attack didn't receive any reaction, the other surrounding phoenixes also pecked the men until the poachers released pained groans and tried to open their eyes. After cautiously using their hands to wipe away the feathers and blood, caked on their faces, they finally succeeded.

One of the poachers, the one who climbed the tree to get the egg, whimpered as soon as he took in his surroundings, which were full of the vicious birds staring at them without blinking. Finally, he turned the sight on the two children and the house elf, who were standing amidst the flock. The other man also seemed to realize that there were other humans there as well. He almost opened his mouth to beg to save them, however, his mind quickly caught up with the events and he seemed to realize that these people were the ones, who thwarted their plans in the first place.

"You, it's you!" the quick-witted poacher shouted wildly, his finger pointing at the boys in turn, looking completely deranged. His companion also seemed to finally realize what was going on.

Draco felt surprised that these people still had so much energy to be active, after the beating they suffered just minutes ago. Their robes were completely shredded by claws, turbans were laying somewhere at the side and their bodies were full of wounds, which caused the blood to seep into what remained of their clothes, dying them red. The fact that these poachers rolled around in dirt among the feathers also didn't help to make their appearance seem less pitiful.

"Yes, it's us," replied Draco as he lifted his chin and adopted an arrogant look, trying to appear more confident than he felt inside. Theo seemed to catch up as he quietly followed the blonde's actions and even let a smirk show up on his face.

The two men felt really unfortunate – they were in this business for a few years, however, it was the first time that they suffered so much. And all of this was because of two boys, who haven't even reached puberty yet!

"Now, tell us, where are the rest of the eggs?" demanded Draco imperiously. The phoenixes surrounding him also chirped threateningly, adding their own two knuts. The poachers instinctively shuddered when they heard the birds' voices, seemingly just remembering who was responsible for their current sorry state.

"I, I will tell you anything, just, please, l-let me go! I won't do it ever again!" begged the man who climbed the tree before.

"Shut up!" raised the voice the other wizard, however, he was quickly pecked a few times by the guarding birds and went silent as a result, glaring resentfully at his companion but otherwise not daring to interrupt.

The timider of the two wizards started explaining after seeing that the other poacher went silent.

"The other eggs and the phoenix are held near Nuwameisa lake, still in Egypt, because if the change of environment is too large, it will be hard for the phoenixes to hatch," he explained quickly.

"How can we get there and how many people are there? What kind of wards are cast around the place?" Draco questioned.

"We have portkeys – it's the necklaces that didn't work earlier – we use them to go into the hideout. There are not many people around, maybe five or six at a time, because this base is not the main one – just one of the places where we hold and train the birds," said the wizard.

The surrounding phoenixes chirped angrily – they seemed to take offense to the word 'train' - however they quickly quieted down and continued listening as the man answered the remaining question at Draco's prompting.

"As for the wards – there are intruder alarms, which will be triggered if someone tries to get in without the pendant. There are, of course, numerous wards around the young phoenix and the eggs, which prevent any kind of magic from working inside certain perimeter. They are powered by the creatures' own magic, as far as I understand…"

"We should let the Ministry know so that they can retrieve the eggs," suggested Theo. Draco was about to agree but he noticed the other poacher's eyes flashing with triumph when he heard the dark-haired boy's words. Draco immediately knew that there would be some kind of trap if they approached the aurors with this problem. After thinking for a while, he could partly guess the answer.

The Ministry workers should be able to tell, how many people visited the enclosure at all times. When they issued the permission to come to this place, they were careful to check the visitors' backgrounds. The Ministry should also be aware of the problem with the missing eggs since these disappearances have been happening for the last few years. However, despite all this, these poachers were still able to come to the enclosure and calmly steal the eggs. Even the poachers' loud shouts when the phoenixes attacked them didn't attract any attention – indicating that there may be some kind of wards cast nearby. This could only mean that among the poachers there were Ministry insiders, who helped to organize this activity in the first place. If Draco and Theo went to report everything to the Egyptian Ministry, not only would the eggs not be returned, but these poachers would also, most likely, get away scot-free.

Draco felt indecisive. On one hand, he was really regretful about these majestic and cheerful birds getting stolen and tortured. On the other hand, he didn't want to get involved in these conspiracies, especially since he couldn't even defend himself, let alone Theo.