1; The Shadow Phoenix and The Metamorph

It was a hot summers day on privet drive, perhaps not the hottest of the summer but scorching hot all the same. Not many were outside, one of these few was a scrawny fourteen, nearly fifteen, year old boy with a head of untameable messy black hair and emerald eyes, his name was Harry Potter. He was lying in the shade of some bushes to get some respite from the heat. He was glad he found this spot, not because the yellowing grass and dry earth was comfortable, no, because here he was hidden.

Harry was glad to find a hidden spot as it was safe from Dudley and his gang of bullies. He would have hidden in his room, but he was unwelcome at the Dursley's. He wished he was able to talk to his friend but no, they couldn't say anything to him, "Dumbledore's Orders" they said. What business did Dumbledore have meddling in his friendships; he was the headmaster not a god.

His friends just said "hang on" or "we'll see you soon" or some such, never anything important. They rarely even mentioned Cedric or anything to do with Tom, did they not care at all? Although, he supposed he was glad they never brought it up, he didn't need the reminder, the nightmares did that well enough.

He was startled out of his depressing reverie by the clucking of a young bird, it was black, or perhaps dark grey, he probably would have missed it in the shadows. Harry assumed it was newly hatched, it looked rather like Fawkes after a burning day, it peered at him curiously, like it was judging him somehow. It seemed to find him acceptable and nudged his hand with its head and looked up at Harry expectantly.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" Harry asked. It bobbed its head again and Harry chuckled softly and picked it up. He began to run a finger from its head down its back, similar to how he would with Hedwig. "aren't you a smart one?" he asked to which the small bird let out a soft trill of contentment and agreement, it again reminded Harry eerily of Fawkes.

It was then that Harry checked his watch and sighed as he realised the time "I have to go now" he said to the bird and moved to let it down. The bird glared at him, bit his finger and let out a trill of admonishment. "Ow, Okay, do you want to come with me?" the bird let out a smug trill and bobbed its head.

Harry got up and saw the bird flinch in discomfort as the light touched it, "are you alright?" he asked, concerned. He brought his other hand over and noticed the bird relax slightly in its shadow.

'Curious, does it dislike bright light?'

He voiced the thought as he kept the bird in shadow and received an affirmative trill and thankful look from the bird. "I have another bird at home, Hedwig, she's intelligent, like you. You're explaining this to her." He said as they neared number four, privet drive. "I need you to stay quiet as I sneak in, okay?". it bobbed its head and he opened the door quietly, he snuck up the stairs and into his room, breathing a sigh of relief as he noticed Hedwig was out. "this is my room" he stated for the bird's benefit "Hedwig's out, when she gets back you are explaining this". It bobbed its head and he put it on his bed, closed the curtain and said "I'm going now, I'll be back later" as he left.

He went downstairs and heard the shrill voice of his aunt and flinched, "And where have you been? You were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago, get started on the dinner, and be quick about it"

"sorry Aunt Petunia" he mumbled and got started as she glared at him and left through the door to the sitting room.

Harry returned to his room after his small and thankfully peaceful dinner. Hedwig was on the bed beside the new bird when he entered. "hello Hedwig, new bird… if you're staying you need a name" he said as he suppressed a sigh of relief as the two birds looked as though they get along and that Hedwig isn't mad at him. The birds gave him a welcoming hoot and trill.

"so… a name. Are you male?" he asked to which he got an affirmative trill

"male, black, likes shadows… shadow?" the bird shook its head

"not shadow then…" Harry said "what kind of bird are you? I don't think I've seen your species before, then again I'm not an ornithologist."

The bird gave him an amused trill. "y'know, you kind of remind me of Fawkes." The bird looked at him curiously and he explained "Dumbledore's phoenix"

Hedwig looked at him amusedly and gave a hoot which made him feel like she was a teacher who was congratulating him for solving a simple problem. "wait, Hed' are you trying to tell me he's a phoenix!"

The birds gave him a hoot and a trill that gave him an 'eh, close' kind of feeling. "are there other kinds of phoenixes then just 'fire' phoenixes?" the birds looked at him like 'no, really'. "so, what are you then, a Dark Phoenix"

The bird gave him a disappointed trill "hey I don't know much about phoenixes, I'm guessing here."

'let's see, he's a dark colour; nearly black, a phoenix, likes shadows…' "Shadows! Are you a shadow phoenix?" the phoenix gave a happy trill and Harry pumped the air triumphantly.

A moment later Harry deflated "I don't know what phoenixes eat." The birds looked at him and he jumped as he had a thought "Hedwig! Could you find food for him?"

Hedwig stared at him incredulously, hopped onto the floor and started tapped her foot against the floorboard under which his stash of assorted foods that the Weasleys and Hermione had given him. Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise and he lifted the floorboard, Hedwig then proceeded to pull out some of his assorted sweets such as; bertie bott's, chocolate cauldrons and… lemon drops?

'When did I even get lemon drops' Harry wondered then realised that Dumbledore had probably given them to him, he was so lost in his musings that he missed the hungry look in the shadow phoenix's eyes at the lemon drops.

He only snapped out of it when Hedwig gave the drops to the young bird and it tore the packet apart gorging itself on 6 of the drops before Hedwig pulled them away.

He was stunned by the scene and when he recovered, he said "…so, I suppose you eat sugary stuff then…" the phoenix trilled happily at his shocked words. "back to names then… hmm, I wonder…" he trailed off in thought and just as the birds began to get worried, he snapped back to reality "Umbra!" He exclaimed and looked at the young phoenix "it's Latin for shadow, I think…".

'Umbra' trilled happily at his name and then Harry yawned and realised that it was getting late. "it's getting late" he stated tiredly "I'm going to sleep now, g' night". Hedwig left through the window, presumably to hunt and Umbra sang a lullaby for Harry. He was out within minutes, there were no nightmares that night… nor any other night Umbra sang him to sleep.

Over the next 2 weeks Umbra got to know Harry and Hedwig. Umbra grew rapidly, of course his rapid growth meant that Hedwig was on frequent lemon drop runs to keep Umbra fed, though they made sure he ate some vegetables, it would be unseemly to be a fat phoenix after all.

On the fifteenth night Umbra managed his first flight, Harry cheered, and Umbra let out an ecstatic trill and a burst of phoenix song. Two days later Umbra managed his first magical ability, other than phoenix song, he gained the ability to darken a small area around him at will. This meant that Umbra could stay in light now and that he left a short trial of darkness behind him as he flew.

"Do you think your shadowing ability will get more powerful as you practice?" Harry speculated after its discovery, Umbra responded with a hopeful trill and made the area around darker again, he seemed to enjoy his new ability.

That night Harry decided to send a letter to 'Dumbledore & co.' as he had taken to calling them in his head, and to solemnly swear that he was up to no good. 'time to vent' he grinned evilly and started writing

Dear (Dumbledore) lemon-drop-addict & co.

I am well, thank you for 'asking'. I write this letter to you as a solemn plea for information, I feel that I deserve to know the details of the sociopath-who-targets-my-miserable-existence's progress in his goals, namely; the aforementioned. I also ask that the communication blockade enforced upon me be rescinded, after all I am a young man who by all expectations should be wallowing in survivor's guilt and depression after witnessing the return of my parent's murderer and the merciless murder of a friend. All in all, I suppose I am rather fortunate that I am no longer the type to wallow in self-loathing and pity (unlike our lupine friend). I must say that I do not blame Mr. Padfoot nor Messrs. Gred and Forge (The Terrible Twins) for the information embargo as I also strongly feel that they would attempt to violate this inconsiderate restriction out of godfatherly duty & loyalty to our friendships respectively, and also for the sake of managing mischief, although I presume their attempts have been thwarted. Alas I cannot say I feel the same for Mr. Moony (our lupine friend) nor our authority-worshipper nor our carrot-topped-organic-waste-bin, as, regrettably the prior two are far too rule-abiding and the latter too lazy to attempt such blatant disobedience.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good (and am practicing CONSTANT VIGILANCE!),

Harry Potter

P.S: how do you like having Hyphenated-Names

Harry smirked as he finished a third copy of the letter. He figured Hermione and Ron would be together, so the last letter was to them (although it said Dear authority-worshipper and carrot-topped-organic-waste-bin,). The second was to Sirius with the addendum P.P.S: Imagine the looks on their faces, they'll get it in the morning. Mischief Managed! The original was straight for Dumbles.

He really wished he could see their reactions, ah well. He read the letter out the birds and got an amused hoot and trill. "Hedwig take it to Sirius first, tonight, then Dumbles and Hermione & Ron in the morning. 'Kay?"

Hedwig preened and took off. "'night Umbra" he yawned and as he drifted off, he thought of how much better his life had been since he found Umbra, or perhaps, Umbra found him.

Sirius Orion Black was about to fall asleep when he heard soft tapping on his window, curious he opened it. "Hedwig! What does Harry have to say?" He exclaims surprised. She gave him a hoot that sounded suspiciously like a laugh after she gave him the letter. After he opened it, she left and landed on a nearby branch.

When Sirius finished reading, he stowed the letter under his pillow and promptly started howling with laughter "Mischief Managed! Indeed"

Remus Lupin came in suddenly, shocked by the howls of laughter coming from Sirius' Room.

"Padfoot, what happened?"

"Fear not, all will be clear in due time my lupine friend"

Remus left to the sound of his friend cackling madly…

The next morning The Order of The Phoenix, Weasleys and Hermione Granger gathered at the table in Number Twelve; Grimmauld Place for breakfast. They hear a tapping noise on the window Molly Weasley rose and opened it. "Hedwig! What does Harry have to say?" Hemione asked as Hedwig gave her a letter and dropped another in front of the Headmaster and gave a superior hoot.

Hedwig then flew over to Sirius who was grinning like a loon and suppressing laughter and she landed on his shoulder.

"Dear Dumbledore & Co.," the Headmaster began. Only Remus noticed Sirius' grin widen and Moody begin to smirk ever so slightly. "It says lemon drop addict; Dumbledore is crossed out" Moody interjected

"I am well, thank you for asking-" he continued

"Albus, you forgot the sarcasm on 'asking'" Moody interrupted gruffly, lips twitching. Dumbledore glared at him and continued.

When Dumbledore reached "sociopath-who-targets-my-miserable-existence" some of the people around the table snorted and Sirius burst out into peals of laughter

When he reached "Unlike our lupine friend" Sirius burst out "he's got you there Moony", Remus pouted.

"-attempts have been thwarted"

"indeed, we shall" "persevere and" "Manage our Mischief" the twins alternated and finished together. Sirius snickered and saluted them.

"-organic-waste-bin" Dumbledore coughed at that last, Hermione and Remus were too stunned to respond, Ron was oblivious as ever, Padfoot, Gred and Forge were snickering, some members were stunned while other snorted or laughed and Moody's lips twitched even more.

"-blatant disobedience" Hermione had tears in her eyes, as did Sirius but for different reasons, Remus was still blinking in shock and Ron…

"why do I feel insulted" causing Sirius and the twins to burst out laughing again.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good (and am practicing CONSTANT VIGILANCE!), Harry Potter"

"good lad" Moody said gruffly and barked out "CONSTANT VILIGANCE!" causing more than a few to jump.

"P.S: how do you like having Hyphenated-Names"

Sirius guffawed, walked over to the window, withdrew a letter from his pocket, called out "Hedwig!" and held the letter out for the bird to take. "Mischief Managed!"

Remus looked at him accusingly "You knew this was coming"

Sirius nodded "Harry sent me a copy last night"

Dumbledore glared at him "what was in that letter?"

"information." Sirius smugly replied with a smirk. Dumbledore growled uncharacteristically.

Hermione opened the other letter, saw that it was a copy of the first and with tears in her eyes, she fled the room.

Ron picked up the letter, read it and his face went red "that bloody prat!" and left the room.

Harry and Umbra sat in his bedroom, looking out the window. The sun was still low and gave a rather nice view, but they were not looking out at the sunrise. They were waiting for Hedwig to return, hopefully with news.

Umbra let out a sudden happy trill and took off, trailing darkness behind him. After a moment Harry realised why, Hedwig was back, barely visible in the distance. He smiled briefly then suddenly frowned as he saw another shape moving to -intercept her, and it wasn't Umbra.

As the shapes grew ever closer, he realised the other shape was another owl. And it was moving to attack Hedwig, he noticed Umbra speed up. Umbra flew towards the owls and as he drew close, he slowed, and then turned back suddenly.

The owls were close together and the Unidentified Flying Owl moved to attack Hedwig, who dodged, barely, and screeched. Then the owls were separated by Umbra, who matched their speed, let out a hostile trill and suddenly, there was darkness. Umbra and the owls were engulfed in a dark cloud, from which Hedwig and Umbra emerged, flying towards Harry's room at Umbra's top speed.

Hedwig could only keep up as she was in Umbra's slipstream. They left the other bird, now confused and disoriented from the dissipating dark cloud, far behind. The two birds landed in Harry's room. Umbra puffed out his chest and let out a proud, triumphant trill. Hedwig dropped the letter clasped in her talons and hooted gratefully.

"well done Umbra that was much more powerful than ever before!" Harry said proudly but worriedly added "I hope no muggles saw you though"

"And you Hedwig, you did great as well, I'm sure you would have gotten here without Umbra's help, but you might have been injured. Well done with the letter though" he said as he picked it up.

"Boy! Keep that ruddy bird of yours QUIET!"

"yes, Uncle Vernon" he replied wincing.

"Actually no, Get Out of the house and don't come back 'til seven!" his Uncle bellowed

"very well" he sighed, opened the letter, and was pleasantly surprised to find an information packet from Sirius inside, though a few facts surprised and angered him. He stuffed the letter under his pillow for later perusal and after exchanging farewells with his birds, he left the house.

Harry headed towards the playground at a light jog. As he jogged down Privet Drive, he thought he heard a twig snap behind him, he picked up the pace and decided on a slight detour. He turned left onto Wisteria Walk and halfway down the road he turned right, into the dirty alley that led between Wisteria Walk and Magnolia Crescent.

At the Magnolia side of the alley he stopped and spun around, drawing his wand. He saw some newly disturbed rubbish that he knew he hadn't touched and heard a quiet stumble.

"Who's there? Reveal yourself or I start casting in five" he threatened more confidently that he felt

"four"

"Three"

"Two"

"Stop! okay" a woman said as she took off an invisibility cloak, arms raised to show she hadn't drawn her wand. She had spiky, bubble-gum pink hair, violet eyes and a heart shaped face.

"Who are you?" he asked, wand trained on her.

"Tonks" she introduced herself "I'm with Dumbledore. I was supposed to… well…"

"you're the one that the lemon-drop-addict put on babysitting duty for the day. Hmm..." He supplied

"Guarding, but, yeah, I suppose so" her hair turning red at the embarrassment of having had her cover blown and being held at wand point by a pre-OWL student.

"how did you do that? With your hair." Harry demanded

She smirked, hair going back to its former pink. "I'm a metamorphmagus. I can change my appearance at will" she explained at his baffled look.

He blinked twice, slowly "huh… cool." he said, then smirked "well come on then, best be going. I mean, whatever will people think if they find me, of all people, in an alley with a pretty girl a few years my senior" and walked off, not checking to see if she was following.

She blinked in surprise then hurried to catch up, alongside him she asked "so. What kind of bird was that magical black one that flew into your room with your owl a while ago" she saw him wince.

"I had hoped your missed that" he sighed "I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to tell anyone else"

"I won't, unless it's dangerous" she said honestly, if he didn't want other people to know, well, he could have secrets, everyone did.

He fixed her with a piercing stare, judging her honesty. "very well…" he said slowly "he's a shadow phoenix"

She looked at him, mouth agape "oh…" was all she could say. Tonks knew there were other kinds of phoenixes than just the most common, fire, ones. She had heard of ice/water phoenixes and thunderbirds, who were closely related, but she had never heard of a shadow phoenix. Hell, she had heard rumours that an astronomer had spotted a solar phoenix.

He smirked at her "usually Umbra stays inside until its dark, we don't particularly want to break the statute" she nodded dumbly, and Harry decided to change the subject "what's your full name actually. You only introduced yourself as 'Tonks'"

"Nymphadora Tonks" she scowled

"Nymphadora. Bit of a mouthful, innit" he replied

She nodded "whoever let my mum name a child was probably insane… or too intimidated to protest" Harry snorted. "and call me Tonks"

"by the way Harry," she grinned "your letter to 'the-lemon-drop-addict' was rather, humorous. Though some people were rather unhappy."

He snorted "so he did have company then, I'm glad. And they deserved it."

"yes, nearly the whole order was there"

He burst out laughing "the Order of the Phoenix, right?" she nodded "Sirius mentioned it in the letter he got to Hedwig this morning."

"Dumbledore was furious about that… he actually growled"

The two talked for the next few hours, becoming fast friends. They talked more about the reactions to the letter, that caused Harry many laughs. Tonks told him about the aurors and the real 'Mad-eye' and he told her about his adventures throughout school, she was shocked that it happened under Dumbledore, dimming her opinion of him. They talked of other senseless things, losing track of time.

As it neared six Tonks got off the swing "My shift is nearly over, I've gotta go soon."

"ah well, I'd like to do this again sometime, it was nice" Harry sighed, then perked up "when's your next shift?" he asked

She smiled "Friday night".

"Great! I'll introduce you to Umbra then"

"sounds like a plan" she grinned

Surprising both of them, Harry got off the swing and hugged her "bye" he said, slightly flustered at his own actions.

"C'ya on Friday Harry" Tonks said and disapperated.

Harry left too, he'd hang around Wisteria Walk and Privet Drive until seven.

Harry was honestly surprised by how fast he struck up a friendship with Tonks and was truly looking forward to seeing her again in two days.

The next morning Harry was sleeping peacefully, until one side of his bed suddenly lifted off the ground and he fell in a heap onto the floor. Groaning he looked up and saw… his bed, floating half a meter off the ground, on its side. He looked up further and saw a black, birdlike shape. Umbra!

"Umbra! You can lift heavy stuff now! Awesome!" he froze, expecting the dulcet tones of his Uncle and breathed a sigh when all he heard was a loud snore.

Umbra gave him a laugh-like trill, put the bed down, flew over to Harry's feet and…

"Ow! Umbra! Let me down!" Harry hissed, held in the air by his legs, those talons hurt, but then suddenly the pain lessened until it was gone. Numbing talons, another power perhaps. He didn't have more time to think about it as Umbra let out another laugh-like trill and put him down. Hedwig twittered amusement at them.

Umbra put Harry down, Harry got up, found his glasses, glared at the birds and then started laughing quietly. He looked at the phoenix, "they grow up so fast, don't they Hedwig" he said nostalgically, Hedwig gave a mournful hoot. Umbra snapped his beak at them and flared the shadows nearby, mock-defensively. The three companions burst into their various noises of amusement again.

"wow, my feet are completely healed" Harry said in surprise as he remembered them having been pierced by Umbra's talons a moment ago. Then, he had an idea

"Umbra, Hedwig, it's still dark, do you want to go flying, Umbra could carry me." Harry whispered conspiratorially. A moment later he was sitting on the outside windowsill and Umbra flew out above him, talons grabbing his shoulders on the way out, Hedwig trailing behind. He felt the pain in his shoulders for a moment before it eased off and they were away.

They flew up high over Little Whinging, when they were high enough not to be easily seen Harry exclaimed "This is so much better than a broom!". They were twisting, soaring up, suddenly diving… it was amazing!

Umbra trilled and flared up the shadows around them and then dived sharply. "woooooo" Harry cheered, so much better than a broom, and he had an idea. "Umbra! Drop me and then catch me as I fall!" he yelled upwards. Hedwig gave them a panicky 'are you insane' screech to which they both gave her a devil-may-care look.

Umbra pulled the teen up to two kilometres above ground level and then, levelling out, he dropped Harry. Harry's last thought before falling was 'bloody hell, it's cold up here, and so bloody high'.

Hedwig dived alongside Harry as he fell giving him a 'you're in deep shit mister' kind of look. Harry gulped at that and then looked down as he dived straight down, grinning ear to ear. He looked behind him to see Umbra, a tail of shadows behind him, it looked awesome.

Harry's fall lasted a few seconds before spread-eagled and, at 500 metres or so above the ground felt the sharp pain of Umbra's talons in his shoulders and they slowed down. They landed on Privet Drive and Harry, on an adrenaline high cheered "that was bloody amazing"

Umbra shifted over to stand only on Harry's right shoulder, which was difficult as he was big now, and let out a cheerful trill and then suddenly choked as Hedwig descended onto Harry's other shoulder.

Harry and Umbra cowered fearfully under Hedwig's glare, reproachful hissing, long cries and aggressive beak-snapping. The 'rant' was interpreted as "bloody teenagers", "stupid adrenaline junkies" and other such phrases. Then Hedwig swatted them both over the head with her right wing and took off toward Number Four.

The two males both feared and respected Hedwig, even though she was now the smallest of the trio. To Umbra, Hedwig was a sort of mother figure. To Harry, well, Hedwig wasn't Harry's Owl, he was her Human. Umbra 'sang' a foreboding verse. They hoped she didn't stay mad with them for too long…

Friday night finally came. Harry and Umbra had a plan, luckily for them Hedwig seemed to have cooled down and accepted their devil-may-care attitudes, especially towards Umbra's abilities. Umbra had become a terrible influence on Harry, though Sirius would have disagreed.

They knew Tonks' shift was about to start, so they 'prepared for take-off' and when they heard the faint sound of disapparition, they took off. They went straight up and looked for Tonks.

"down there, fly right above her" Harry pointed to the person standing in front of Number Two and Umbra brought them above her.

"Hello Tonksie!" Harry yelled and Umbra loosed a trill in greeting.

"Harry! Where are you?" she exclaimed, while she looked around in confusion.

"look up" he drawled sarcastically.

She did, and her mouth dropped open. "err… Wotcher Harry, you gonna introduce us?"

Umbra landed them and Harry gave Tonks a quick hug.

"Tonks, this is Umbra; the noble, complete awesome, cocky, shadow phoenix with a rightly inflated sense of self-worth" Umbra used his wing to smack the back of Harry's head in response and Tonks laughed.

"Umbra, this is 'she-whose-first-name-thou-should-not-speak' Tonks; the fun-loving, funny metamorphmagus, who changes bodies like she changes clothes. Avada-green hair suits you by the way." Umbra trilled his amusement and Tonks doubled over laughing, though her hair turned red at the roots at the compliment.

"Gryff-red mixes surprisingly well with it too" Harry commented dryly. She snorted and added red streaks to her hair, turned her left eye green and her right red. Umbra trilled his approval.

"Good to see you Harry"

"You too." He replied "What's the Order up to? How about Mouldy?"

"The Order is guarding something in the Department of Mysteries, The-Lemon-Drop-Addict won't tell us what it is though. Voldie is 'gathering his forces'"

"You think that the Order should be more proactive, not reactive. Am I right?" she nodded

"Maybe someday soon" Harry muttered casting a sidelong glance at Umbra who had hopped over to Tonks' far shoulder, she accepted it after the customary wincing.

"How so?" she enquired

"well, when Umbra can… shadow? Shadow travel? Then we can do hit and run attacks on known Death Eaters and supporters; Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, MacNair, Flint, et cetera."

"Yeah. That would do it alright."

The two chatted late into the night, swapping stories, when Harry told Tonks of his skydiving adventure, he convinced her to go for a fly with Umbra. He didn't perform the same mad stunts as their flight, but Tonks enjoyed it all the same. Tonks had been furious when he told her some details about his childhood, Harry barely talked her out of cursing the Dursleys.

Eventually Harry grew tired and Umbra took him back to his bedroom. Harry collapsed onto his bed and was out before his head hit the pillow. Umbra stayed out with Tonks for a while, flying around, showing off, until he grew tired too and left for the bedroom.

Tonks contemplated her new friendship with Harry, she liked the kid, he wasn't like his friends said he was, he had clearly changed over the summer if his friends' depictions could be trusted. He was nice, funny and had a sort of devil-may-care attitude to him. He also hadn't treated her differently because of her ability, he treated it 'like she changes clothes'. Tonks liked his suggestion for her hair, Avada-green and Gryff-red did go well together.

She was honestly surprised by how fast their friendship blossomed. She had told him some things that she hadn't told many others, she suspected he did the same, though he had a nasty habit of understating his accomplishments, no-one was perfect.

Tonks pondered their young friendship and the shadow phoenix for the rest of her shift, when it was time to change shifts, she was rather happy with how her night had gone, but now she could sleep.