Little Phoenix

My eyes flutter open to the sun leaking through my curtains. Frost is decorated over every building roof in my street, and the cold air bites at my cheeks as I open the window. A flow of excitement runs over me, because I have been waiting for today for a very long time.

Today is my first day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The only downside is that I am joining in the middle of the school year, it had to happen because I got expelled from my old school; Beauxbatons.

My dad wouldn’t allow me to go to Hogwarts in the beginning, even though we live in the UK, and it being much easier for me to study there, but he sent me off to the witchcraft school in France, which was hell. His reasoning behind it was that he didn’t want me to become a distraction for him while he is a professor at that school, which I think is rubbish.

I was there for four and a half years, up until recently. I set a few muggle firecrackers off in the headmistress’ office, so I was expelled, and my dad was furious. I’ve been wanting to go to Hogwarts for years, so I made him have no choice to send me there, he couldn’t get me in anywhere else.

As my father has already been there for the first half of the school term, I will be travelling by port key, which he will send me— I’m just waiting on our owl to arrive with the package. I’m not shy of using a port key as a form of travel; going across seas every school year had given me the confidence in travelling alone.

I pad over into my cold shower room, the cold tiles send chills up my legs. As I walk in, I glance at myself in the mirror, my white hair is tied up in a messy bun, which is slumped on my forehead from my nights sleep, with my curly baby hairs sticking out in all different directions.

My eyes are staring back at me with a strong yellow shade pigmenting my iris’s, which is expected, my mood is one of true excitement; I’ve never been so happy to be going to a new school. I’m sure my eye colour will soon change when the nerves kick in.

After getting showered and warming myself up from the cold morning, I dress in my new uniform my dad sent me by owl a few weeks ago. Pulling on my skirt, I tuck in the shirt hem in the waistband, the over the top I pull on my vest and tie my tie, finishing off with knee high socks, which I tuck my wand into. My uniform is all neutral colours, as I haven’t been placed in my house yet.

My dad is hoping for me to get into Slytherin so he can keep an eye on me, but the Sorting Hat will tell me which house is best suited for me.

I let my hair down and brush through it, it falls down over my chest in white waves, the morning sun bouncing off, making my hair look almost see-through.

Poking my head out of my window once again, I scan over the closely built houses to see if our owl in on her way, but I can’t see her. Closing my eyes, I take a deep inhale of the cool crisp air, the feeling of happiness and harmony wraps over me.

I roll my eyes inwardly as I feel them changing colour once again, a turquoise colour melts over my iris’s, changing the shade completely. Being a Metamorphmagus, it can be a blessing and a curse, in my case, it’s very difficult to hide my feelings from people.

A soft hoot of an owl pulled me from my thoughts. I squint my eyes from the blinding sun, but there she was, our beautiful owl, carrying a package with her tiny beak. I grin widely as the creature soars closer, pulling my head from the window, I allow her to land on my windowsill. She perches herself on my window ledge, giving me a soft hoot while ruffling her feathers. I take the package and give her a gentle pet on the head. After she was satisfied, she leaps off my windowsill and takes off once more, back to Hogwarts.

The small packed was wrapped in brown paper, tied with string and a sealed with deep green wax, detailed with a snake. Unwrapping it, there was a note on top of the small box:

___________

Phoenix,

I hope you are up and dressed.

Here is your port key, I will be waiting on the other side.

Love you always,

S

___________

I smile at the message, and bring it close to my chest.

Even though me and my dad rarely see each other during the school terms, I always enjoyed the time we got with one another, he teaches me a lot about potions, which I usually got top marks for in my old school, but one day I hope to be as good as him.

My dad seems portray a cold and dark personality towards a lot of people, but I know he’s a caring person really. Everything that I’ve needed in life he has supplied me with, and I know he’s had to make sacrifices to raise a child, but I feel that our family is perfect, even though sometimes he struggles to take my excitable and mischievous energy. My dad and I are like polar opposites, I have white hair and come up to about 5′3 in height, whereas my dad, with hair blacker than the night sky and being 6′1, we are like yin and yang, I guess that’s how we work.

Beneath the note is a small rectangular box. Lifting the lid, it holds a small lily. It was stunning, and rare to see such a lovely bloomed lily in the end of autumn. The petals were blush pink, the edges kissed with a bright fuchsia shade, and specs of bright yellow are splattered at the bottom of each petal.

I turn and grab my coat from the hanger on my door, the wrap a large scarf around my neck. Lifting my trunk by the handle, I grip it tightly as I lift the port key lily with my other hand, and within seconds my room was now a frosted courtyard.

Lifting my head, the snow is starting to fall, leaving a fresh, thin blanket over the stone walls. I could see my breath as I exhaled, the cold air making my cheeks and nose flush pink. Looking ahead, in the large doorway of the school; it was a deep wooden door, opened slightly ajar, held with a large stone archway that was detailed with carvings, and standing under the archway, is my dad.

As I approach him, I see in instantly inspecting my eyes. As a Metamorphmagus, my dad can understands my feelings much easier when they are portrayed as a colour through my eyes, he knows when I am sad or happy, even when I’m angry.

“Good morning, Phoenix.” Dad says in his deep and toneless voice.

“Severus.” I say, in a professional tone. I bite back my giggles, but as his face drops in disappointment, I let out a snort. “Hey dad, I missed you.” I wrap my arms around him, and his long cloak engulfs me as he hugs me back.

We make our way through the corridors, and I take everything in as we walk. I noticed some of the paintings whispering to one another, some were waving and welcoming me to Hogwarts with kind smiles.

The halls were vacant, as it was the middle of the school year, I guess everyone is already in their classes. As my father halts at another large doorway, he turns towards me and clicks his fingers. An older looking man limps towards us, with a cat following closely behind, he grabs my trunk from my hand, and takes it away, along with my coat and scarf.

As the older man limps away, my heart begins to race. I inhale deeply, letting out a shaky breath, the time has come for me to be sorted into my house. I chew on my lips and fiddle with my robe, making sure there is no creases.

“Nervous, are we?” Dad speaks up, startling me away from my thoughts and theory’s of all the things that could go wrong.

“How can you tell?” I say sarcastically, knowing that my eyes have revealed my anxious feelings.

I turn my head and I see my reflection in an old mirror, and to my expectation my eyes were turning a cold grey shade. I sigh and shake my head, my eyes make me more anxious when it comes to meeting new people, a lot of people my age don’t understand when it comes to Metamorphmagus abilities, being so rare.

“Don’t quit now, you’ve done too much to get here.” My fathers eyes twitch from the memories of chaos I caused while being at Bauxbatons months back.

“Good morning students...” A faded, yet prominent voice penetrated through the large wooden doors.

“There’s people in there?” I whisper to my dad, my eyes wide. I was completely unaware that I was going to be sorted in front of the whole school, my heart begins to race even more as my breathing quickens.

“Seek this as payback for that stunt you pulled at your old school, Phoenix.” My father says calmly, whipping around and walking towards the door.

“...I have a very special announcement, we have a new student joining us for the rest of the year and many years after.” The voice speaks again, then I hear mumbling chatter from students as I go to stand behind my father.

“I would like to welcome, Phoenix Grey!”

The doors swing open widely, the light from the hall pouring into the corridor. I am blocked by any form of view from standing behind my fathers large frame. He walks briskly down the aisle, his cloak flowing gracefully behind him. I am left standing in the doorway, nerves keeping me frozen in my spot.

Over a hundred pairs of eyes are focused on me, I start to step into the hall, walking down the same aisle as my father. I could hear small whispers and chatter from some of the students as a walk.

“Oh my god... that’s Snape’s daughter.”

“Her eyes are creepy!”

“I heard she got kicked out of Bauxbatons.”

Ignoring the whispers, I look up and over the filled tables and catch eyes with a particular group, many of them sporting fiery red hair, two obviously being twins, one small red haired girl, and a red haired boy, obviously all being siblings, they all look alike. Across from the red haired boy is another girl, with brown curly hair and large brown eyes, she’s effortlessly pretty. Next to her is another boy, this one I knew exactly who he is, from the daily prophet and my fathers stories, it was Harry Potter.

As I was walking past the group, they were all following me with their eyes. I pull my lips up into a smirk, and I the twins grin widely, then leaning in to whispering to each other.

As I got to the front of the large hall; a tall, bearded man greets me, I am aware of this man to be Professor Dumbledore.

“Welcome Miss Grey.” he says in his soft voice, taking my hand in his, and placing his other on top.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir.” I reply, smiling up at him. Turning my head, I can see my father sitting in his allocated seat, watching me with his dark eyes.

“Miss Grey will now be sorted into her house, this is where she will belong for the rest of this year, and years after!” Dumbledore calls out to the hall.

I take a deep inhale, I softly let it out as I sit on the tall stool. I hold my head high, with my heart pumping hard in my chest, feeling like it’s up in my throat.

I didn’t notice how beautiful the hall was as I was walking in, I didn’t appreciate it’s wonderful decor. The ceiling was a beautiful cloudy sky, accompanied by many floating candles, it was glorious. From the front to the back of the hall stood long tables, which were already filled with breakfast food.

I glance at the different tables which held students from the different houses. Spotting the group of redheads once again, the twin boys are still chattering to one another. Scanning over to another table, where the students were all wearing green accent colours. One boy stood out like a sore thumb, his platinum hair and cold eyes ripped through me, I’m not sure how, but he made me more nervous than before.

An older woman in a green cloak walked over to me, taking the old hat from it’s original placement, she smiled softly as I watched her.

“Welcome, Miss Grey.” She said, as she was placing the hat on my head.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” she whispered, I let a small smile creep across my lips.

The hat speaks up, in its grumbling tone. “Hmm, very interesting... a Metamorphmagus.” His words spark small chatter between the students.

“You’re an interesting one... Confident—Daring— very reckless... Interesting indeed.” The hat made me snicker to his words of my recklessness. I could feel my fathers eyes burning in the back of my head.

“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat shouts, making my heart jolt as the whole hall roars with applause.

The feeling of my eyes changing is prominent, I hear the group of red heads, the curly haired girl and Harry all cheering and clapping, the twins shouts are very dominant while they slam their goblets on the table. The whole Gryffindor house are standing. I turn to look at my father, he is clapping lightly, when he catches my eyes, he smiles softly—he knows I am happy.

I look further behind me and catch Dumbledore, he is raising his goblet at me, giving me a loving smile. The older lady takes the hat from my head, placing it back, gesturing towards the roaring group of Gryffindors.

“Congratulations Miss Grey.” She beams as I step down from the stool. Looking at the group again, the twins are yelling at me to come sit with them. I bite my lip and walk over.

The atmosphere in the room makes me feel warm, and full of happiness. This is where I belong.