An egg for an egg

// THIS IS AN OLD CHAPTER. THE NEW CHAPTERS ARE IN VOLUME 2. YOU CAN READ THESE CHAPTERS IF YOU WANT SOME INSIGHT ON WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN LATER BUT SOME EVENTS CAN BE DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW CHAPTERS.

It was barely past midnight when Dumbledore invited me into his office. The portraits of the directors are already asleep above the shelves. A box with a glass cover is placed on the desk.

"Sit down Sean." I take a seat across from him as he sits behind his desk. "I played a few contacts and we're in luck. A female phoenix was killed while protecting her nest. The keepers of the reserve in India where she was kept did not know what to do with the egg and the director owed me a favor. " He slides the box towards me and when I look through the glass lid, I see a yellow, slightly golden egg.

"This is not what we agreed to. But we can close this deal if you're willing to help me take care of it. I have no idea how to take care of a phoenix egg."

"You don't have to worry. This incubator is specially designed to keep the egg at the right temperature. You just need to be present at the hatching for it to take you as its mother. Following this, the director of the reserve gave me an instruction list on what to do in each moment of its life. However, I warn you, there is no guarantee that he will allow himself to be tamed in the end. "

"Let's say we have a deal then. I'll give Harry the egg as soon as the sun comes up. If that's all, I'll go to bed."

"Well, I was thinking of having a glass of Scotch before going to sleep. If you feel like to put up with an old man's stories, I'd love to chat with you for a bit."

"You know I'm not supposed to drink alcohol."

"Not even the beer I saw in your hands at the ball."

"Touché." I take a seat in front of the roaring fire while the headmaster comes to sit next to me, handing me a drink. I quickly cast some detection spell on the glass looking for a potion or a spell, but I don't detect anything.

"I see that I still don't have your trust." Dumbledore apparently spotted the spell despite me casting it without a wand and incantations.

"I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that I'm a little paranoid about what's going in my body since the incident with Rose and the potion-stuffed chocolates a Hufflepuff wanted to give me on Valentine's Day. " Dumbledore sighs when I remind him of Harry's crime.

"It is not good to be on your guard all the time. You just have to look at how Alastor lives, without families, without friends. A life where no one can be trusted is not a life."

"And a life where you don't pay enough attention can quickly end." We stay a few minutes to contemplate the fire without saying anything, slowly emptying our glasses with small sips.

"Are you still planning to sign up for Ilvermorny?"

"Yes, the more time passes the more I tell myself that this is not a bad idea."

"And you would leave Miss Greengrass behind, as well as Rose."

"That's a low blow, besides, nothing says that a long-distance relationship is impossible. I just have to hide a teleportation door in the castle grounds and another in Ilvermorny and we could see each other when we want to. Besides my relationship with Rose is over, I don't see why you put it back on the table "

"I have lived on this Earth for over a century, Sean. I know things are more complicated than they seem. However, love is a wonderful thing, it can make us climb mountains, hide the faults of the loved one or even make us do a thousand follies. " His eyes were lost in the fire and the Headmaster of Hogwarts changed to the old man who had lived far too much for a second. "But I think I've held you back enough for tonight, it's about time you got back to your dorm. Don't forget to give Harry the egg tomorrow morning. And if you can help him get ready, I would be grateful. "

I leave Dumbledore's office with my new phoenix egg and his incubator in my hands. The object weighed awfully heavy for something so small.

When I walked through the dormitory door the lights were already out and the embers in the fireplace were starting to die. I go through the door of my room which attracts the attention of Styx who takes his head out of his vivarium

~ Did you bring me dinner? ~

~ No, don't touch that egg! It is very important so you must not eat it! ~ The snake plunges its head back into its vivarium with an angry hiss.

I get up a few hours later to go to lunch in the great room. Daphne is still sleeping, exhausted from the ball. I am quietly having my lunch when Harry walks into the room with the girl he invited to the ball just behind him and they sit down at the Gryffindor table.

"So, Sean, where have you been? We didn't see you when we got back to the dorm last night." Draco comes to sit next to me and help himself to some fruit juice and thick slices of bacon.

"I was in Dumbledore's office. He had something to give me."

"Oh good, and what was it?"

"A phoenix egg." He swallows the piece of meat he had in his mouth askew and takes several long sips in his glass to try to get it through.

"A phoenix egg?! But why would Dumbledore give you a phoenix egg?"

"We just had a trade, nothing very important." He looks at me in disbelief, but I change the subject before he gets too pushy. "Do you know who the girl next to Potter is?" Draco turns and pouts in disgust.

"She's a mudblood, her name is Sandra or something."

"I see."

When Harry and Sandra get up to leave, I'm going to intercept them in the entrance hall.

"Potter, do you have two minutes?" They turn around and Sandra looks particularly suspicious.

"Yes, I just wanted to ask you something."

As I went to take Potter to give him the reduced egg I had in my pocket. Sandra follows us.

"I don't want to offend you, but it is not with you that I want to speak."

"There is no way I'm leaving Harry with you. You could try to hurt him to get him out of the competition."

"Look, he's still in the competition after he got burned by dragon fire. But what I have to say to him is none of your business so go somewhere else."

"It's okay Sandra, I would like to ask him something anyway."

We head to the hallway on the fifth floor, and after checking that nobody is there, I hand him the egg after returning it to its normal size.

"Here, I found the solution to the riddle, you put it in the water, and you dip your head with it. Well now that it's done, goodbye." I was already turning on my heels to leave him alone in the hallway, but he holds me back by the arm.

"Wait, can you help me talk to Rose? I have to tell her I'm sorry."

"Are you serious? First, you're trying to kill me, and then now you're asking for my help to fix your bullshit with your sister."

"Please I really need your help. I don't know what got into me, I was angry all the time but ever since I tried to ... since the accident in the infirmary, my anger is gone, and I feel like I can think more clearly. "

"Before you came to find me, did you at least try to go talk to her?"

"I can't. Whenever she's alone and I approach her she avoids me. But I know she trusts you. If you could come with me maybe she would agree to talk to me. "

I really do not know what to do. On the one hand, he suffered a curse. But on the other, it was his real emotions even if they were multiplied.

"I don't know Harry. I'll think about it."