A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone

by gerandakis

57 - Winter

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Winter

---

As the weeks passed and Sunset continued her training with Vincent Crabbe, never twice on the same day or at the same time to avoid attention from the other Slytherins, the days grew progressively shorter – to a startling degree, Sunset found – and colder. In the process, they laid bare one of the major shortcomings of Hogwarts. The castle lacked both central heating and any thermal insulation to speak of.

In her comparative magic sessions with Professor Flitwick, she made it a point to bring the matter up and suggest that the coming rework of the castle's wards include isolation charms, if not a full suite of thermal regulation magic. To demonstrate, she placed the charms over the professor's office.

He then quickly requested a second demonstration. In the teachers' lounge. And he seemed to think he was being subtle.

Professor Dumbledore had, it seemed, informed both Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall of the coming rework of the wards. The headmaster had also requested that she come by between Christmas and the new year to help with her expertise of wards and Equestrian magic. Considering the promise of witnessing advanced Earthen magic for several days straight, it didn't take long before she agreed.

A few days into the month of December, the school woke up to find itself coated in snow. Sunset found herself covertly applying her thermal isolation wards to every room she found herself in. Magic wasn't technically allowed in the corridors, but that just meant she had to be more subtle.

She well understood the difference between not breaking the rules and breaking them without being caught doing it. One day, her sister would understand it as well.

The professors did an excellent job pretending not to notice.

A few days after the first snow, a message appeared before her in a flash of flame while she was sitting in the common room on a Friday evening. Long since used to it, she snatched it out of the air before it could fall and unfolded it, immediately recognizing Albus Dumbledore's handwriting.

Ms. Shimmer,

I asked the Headmaster to have Fawkes

deliver this message. I must urgently

request your presence in the medical

wing.

Poppy Pomfrey

Wondering what could be so urgent, Sunset got up, grabbed her bag and, with a few moments' focus, teleported to the medical wing.

"Ah, Miss Shimmer, there you are. Thank you for arriving so promptly. Mister Filch has been having headaches the entire day and claims they have gotten progressively worse. I called you because I'm not certain if it may be a side-effect of the treatment."

"I don't think 'side-effect' quite fits the bill, but please, show me." Nodding, Madam Pomfrey led her around a corner and to Mr. Filch. Lighting her eyes with magic, Sunset took a good look at the caretaker, then nodded. "Jup. As I thought. This isn't a side-effect. This is the effect." She turned to the man. "Congratulations Mister Filch, your magic should awaken soon. If you really had these headaches all day, it may only be a few minutes."

She turned back to the nurse. "The headaches are a result of the thaumic channels being fully clear and flooding with ambient magic. That prompts the body to start producing magic of its own. For a while after the process starts, the foreign magic causes dissonance with that produced by the magic, which causes the headaches. The first accidental use of magic causes the foreign magic to acclimatize to the user and synchronize with their innate magic, finalizing the treatment and stopping the headaches."

Mr. Filch suddenly took a deep breath. Recognizing the signs, Sunset readied her magic. When the aging man finally sneezed, only her hastily erected shield protected her and the nurse from the massive blast of air that accompanied it.

After a few seconds without a second blast, she lowered her shield and smiled at the man. "Congratulations Mr. Filch, your magic has awoken."

"Congratulations, Argus."

Filch simply remained seated on the bed where he had been the entire time. After a moment he closed his eyes with an entirely atypical, serene smile and took a deep breath. "So that's what it feels like when you have magic."

"Pardon?"

"All the years I have worked here, I found Hogwarts to have a very oppressive aura. Entirely unpleasant. I thought it was just a side effect of my jealousy, but the moment my magic awakened, it went away. Now I feel something different. It's pleasant. Welcoming almost."

Sunset looked at him with wide eyes. "The ambient magic. That ... that ... Oh my. That explains so much. Huh, I'll have to get in touch with Princess Celestia later. For now though, I think it would be time to inform the headmaster, wouldn't you agree?"

Pomfrey nodded. "Indeed. One moment, I'll let him know." She walked over to the fireplace, grabbed a pinch of powder and threw it into the flames. "Hogwarts, headmaster's office."

Sunset and Filch watched as she held her head into the crackling green flames for about half a minute before drawing it back and letting the flames return to their normal size and color. "He wants us to come through, follow me."

She quickly took another pinch of powder, repeated the address and stepped into the flames. Sunset and Filch quickly followed, the former landing with a lot more grace than the latter. Sunset spent a moment looking at the large cushion in front of the fireplace in bewilderment while the caretaker got up from it. Seconds later, it transformed back into the rug she remembered being in its place. Ohh ... Clever.

"Congratulations, Argus. Welcome among wizardkind."

"Thank you, Albus.

"Now then. I suppose we should discuss how we should go about going public with this. Any suggestions? Yes, Poppy?"

"I think it would be best to first break this news in healer circles. They can come by and check it over. I can also teach them the technique. I've had plenty of time to practice over the past few months, after all. Their support should prevent the public from declaring this a hoax."

Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, that would probably be best. I shall get in contact with the head healers of St. Mungo's. I will call you once I get an answer."

Madam Pomfrey looked at him for a short moment, then nodded and pointed at the fireplace. "May I?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. Have a pleasant evening. Hogwarts, medical wing."

Once the green light faded, Dumbledore turned back to the caretaker. "We will need to get you some training, but first, you will need a wand. We shall see about getting you one tomorrow. It will be good to see Garrick again." Suddenly, he seemed to recall that Sunset was still in the room. "Ah, yes, Miss Shimmer. Thank you for your aid."

"My pleasure. I really should have mentioned what the final stages of the treatment look like at some point."

"Ah yes. Would you mind giving us a summary of how the treatment works and what it does in written form? It would be an immense help in explaining it to the healers."

"Of course. I'll send it with Philomena."

"Thank you. And good night, Miss Shimmer."

"Good night headmaster, Mister Filch." With a crackle of static and a flash of teal, Sunset teleported back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Philomena?"

"Miss Shimmer's phoenix."

"She has a phoenix? Ohh. That's the eagle she always carries around with her, isn't it?"

"Indeed. Minerva advised her to keep that fact hidden for the time being."

---

On the Friday before most of the students would be returning home for the holidays, just as they were coming up from potions class and headed for the great hall, they found their path blocked by a massive fir tree.

The mildly annoyed grunting noises and the fact that the tree was shaking made it rather clear what was going on.

"Hey Hagrid," Ron called cheerfully as they came to a stop before the stubborn plant. "Need some help with that?"

"Nah, I'm alright. Thanks Ron," Hagrid replied with a merry chuckle.

"Would you mind moving out of the way?"

Several of the Gryffindors sighed more or less audibly as Malfoy, followed of course by Crabbe and Goyle came to a stop before the roadblock. All three were sporting annoyed expressions, though Crabbe's, to the careful observer, didn't appear to be directed at the tree or the gamekeeper behind it.

"Are you trying to earn some money on the side, Weasley? Hoping to be the gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose." Ron simply glared at Malfoy as he continued, a calming hand on his shoulders, courtesy of Hermione, holding him back from doing anything more. Luna was doing the same for Ginny who didn't seem to be any less hostile. "That hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Sunset and Harry simply stared at him with raised eyebrows and it wasn't long before the echoing footsteps of Professor Snape coming up the stairs behind them put an end to their little staring contest.

Malfoy and Goyle broke off and made their way through the tree, waving their arms wildly to bat away the branches and spreading needles over the ground in the process. Crabbe stayed behind a little longer, rolling his eyes with a glance at the other two, then gave an apologetic look to Ron and Ginny followed by a conspiratorial wink in Sunset's direction, which she returned with a sly smile.

Then he returned his attention to the tree, ducking beneath the tip just as Hagrid was lifting it up slightly. Not a single needle touched his robes.

"How long do you think it'll take those two to realize he isn't playing for their team anymore," Hermione idly wondered as they slowly followed Hagrid along the corridor towards the main stairway.

"Eh, give 'em a few more months and they'll come to the same realization he has." Sunset smiled proudly. "Ever since he started thinking for himself, he's become pretty good at subtlety. He's been subtly planting doubts whenever he's with them."

"Tha' was good, you two." Hagrid poked his bearded face out between the branches, smiling at Ron and Ginny. "Don' let 'im provoke yeh."

"We try," Ginny admitted with a sigh, "but it's hard. The things he says ... hit close to home."

"Guess they would. But now cheer up, it's nearly Christmas. Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall. Looks a treat."

And it did. The corridor led out onto the main staircase from where getting first to the Entry Hall, then to the Great Hall was trivial.

"Ah, Hagrid, the final tree. Put it in the corner over there, would you?"

As Hagrid plodded off to place the tree in the corner Professor McGonagall had indicated, the Gryffindor first-years looked throughout the festively decorated hall. It was a truly impressive sight. The tree Hagrid had just brought, now being decorated by Professor Flitwick, was the last of twelve towering Christmas trees. The walls were practically covered in Festoons of holly and mistletoe.

The main attraction, however, were clearly the trees themselves. Some were illuminated by hundreds of candles – with magical flames using a modified version of the spell she had helped Flitwick develop, Sunset noted – others were covered in glowing baubles, lit by a version of the Illumis charm she had taught the professor set to cycle through the colors automatically. Others again were covered in magical icicles that were not only made of real ice, but also, paradoxically, both weren't cold and didn't melt.

What they saw now were the preparations for the Holiday Feast the following evening, meaning they had only the remainder of the day and the entirety of Saturday left in Hogwarts, before riding the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross on Sunday morning. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had, originally, intended to have their children stay in Hogwarts over the holidays and visit Charlie in Romania, but their visit to Equestria in the Summer had served as ample replacement for that, not to mention Sunset had relayed Philomena's offer to bring both their eldest sons home for the weekend.

Of course, they needed to be reminded of that. After all, it took a while to get used to the convenience of having a phoenix around. In return, Mrs. Weasley had insisted to invite not only Sunset and the Grangers, but also Harry and Sirius as well as Luna and her Father to come by for the Holidays. She did, it seemed, quite enjoy hosting large numbers of guests.

She had even asked if Twilight wanted to come over as well.

The answer to that question, obviously, had been a resounding yes. That Sunset and the Grangers were spending their Holidays in the Swiss alps to go skiing and that Harry, Sirius and Twilight were effectively living in Equestria was no hindrance to their plans, once more, thanks to Philomena.

On Saturday morning, a cold and snow covered Errol had brought Sunset a missive from Mrs. Weasley, asking if she would mind coming by in the afternoon. Seeing how she had agreed with Professor Flitwick to continue their comparative magic sessions in the new year, she had the time and let Philomena subtly flame over an answer that she would come by after lunch and bring Errol along. She had offered the poor old owl to take him along when she went rather than sending him to fly through the icy weather of the Scottish Highlands a second time. He had seemed most grateful and perched himself on her left shoulder exchanging friendly hoots and trills with Philomena on the right one.

When Sunset did come by the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley asked if she would terribly mind placing her improved expansion charms on the house. When Sunset asked why they hadn't long ago placed regular expansion charms on the building, she explained that that wasn't actually legal. The traditional expansion charm was under unduly strict regulation because of the Statute of Secrecy, most pureblood families only had expansion work done on their houses by virtue of having had them since before that law was put in place or because they knew which palms to grease to get around that law.

Sunset's spell, however, she explained, opened up a bit of a legal loophole, as the word of the law was written with one particular spell in mind and didn't account for the possibility of a second spell with the same purpose. By bringing her knowledge of the spell's Equestrian equivalent and creating her own, enhanced version combining the power of both, Sunset had, unintentionally, opened up a legal loophole none of the wizards in the know had seen fit to inform the ministry about just yet.

"Of course," she added, "once we do, there are even odds they'll just strike down that old law altogether. It's far stricter than it needs to be and it only covers things the Statute mandates anyway. To be honest I don't know why we even have the thing."

Of course, Sunset hadn't actually shared the spell schemata for her upgraded charm with anyone yet – an oversight she really needed to rectify in her next session with Professor Flitwick, she noted – and thus was the only one who could actually apply the new charms to the Burrow.

An hour of charmwork later – she was seriously getting quick with that spell – Sunset had expanded every room in the house save the attic of which, in retrospect, there were surprisingly many, and she was sharing a cup of tea with Mrs. Weasley in the newly expanded kitchen, chatting amicably.

Letting her gaze wander across the furniture that suddenly felt way to small and sparse for the no longer cramped kitchen, Sunset couldn't help but frown a little. "Say, how are you going to adjust all the furniture for having so much more room?"

"Huh?" Mrs. Weasley let her gaze travel around the room. "Oh, don't worry. Arthur and I will have a good bit of work to do when he comes home later until we come fetch the boys and Ginny tomorrow afternoon, but don't worry. We'll manage. Making quick adjustments to the Burrow when needed is practically a family tradition at this point. That reminds me, shouldn't you be heading back soon?"

Sunset absently used a spell to check on the time and found that, indeed, she really should be getting back to Hogwarts. "You're right. I really should." With a final, long sip, she emptied her cup, then got up. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then."

"Right. See you then. And thank you for bringing Errol along, he doesn't do particularly well with long flights anymore." Mrs. Weasley watched as the girl and the disguised Phoenix on her shoulder wavered and disappeared, then shook her head with a rueful smile. "I don't know if she even realizes how much she is upsetting the status quo half the time." She let her gaze wander around the kitchen, looking at the far too small seeming furniture. She drew her wand with a sigh. "Oh well, best get started."

Author's Note:

Just a quick word of warning:

These past few chapters have been a bit tricky to write. They took a lot more time than the reasonably should so I'm a bit behind schedule. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I may need to skip a day uploading at some point soon.
If that happens, don't worry, it's not another hiatus or anything of the sort, just a matter of the story being a little difficult.

Comments

[Golden_Reflection]

The castle lacked both central heating and any thermal isolation to speak of.

I think you mean insulation

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

i'm curious to see how she'll help neville bring his parents back from their cruciatus coma

[link4]

how DARE the story be difficult... you are the holy one, the maker of all this story knows!! bad, bad story!

loving it btw...

[Twilight_Shimmer]

Take ALL the time you need with updates! I'd rather wait a bit for you to get a chapter how you like it then see it rushed As always I loved the update, and keep up the good work!

[TheDriderPony]

Missed a golden opportunity for a cheeky

Yer a wizard, Argus.

Also, I guess being a squib meant that he was partially affected by the antimuggle wards, which was why the castle always felt gloomy and oppressive to him.

[Neece]

"I don't know if she even realizes how much she is upsetting the status quo half the time."

It's those little moments that show the nature of the little filly, after all. She's just a child, genius and powerful, that likes learning, discovering and helping people. And making her mentor (mother?) proud

Sure, ambitious as heck and way more astute than nearly everyone gives her credit for, but still a child.

[World Theory]

They took a lot more time than the reasonably should so I'm a bit behind schedule.

A wi—uh… I mean…

A writer is never late. Nor is he early. He posts precisely when he's meant to.

Dang gender pronouns, and lack of a neutral gender singular pronoun! It just doesn't sound right with “they” or “it”…

[Starlight Nova]

Does this story pick up eventually, as TigeR said?

[HeartfireFirebrand]

"All the years I have worked here, I found Hogwarts to have a very oppressive aura. Entirely unpleasant. I thought it was just a side effect of my jealousy, but the moment my magic awakened, it went away. Now I feel something different. It's pleasant. Welcoming almost."

So that's why he acts like a dick

[Crystonian]

I love the burrow. It's such a cool house