Chapter 14 Old friend

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At first, Harry thought this phoenix in front of him is Fawkes his headmaster's familiar but the more he looked at the bird the more discrepancies he found. Fawkes's eyes are black and the phoenix in front of him has amber eyes, this phoenix also feels very familiar to harry especially those amber eyes.

Suddenly all of it just clicked and just for a moment instead of a phoenix harry saw a beautiful snowy white owl sitting in front of him. Seeing this harry's eyes start to water and all he could say was "Hedwig"

Hearing this the phoenix gave out a happy cry and swooped down to harry. Hedwig sat on his arm and began nibbling at his ears like she used to do. Tears started to flow on his face as harry once again held his dear friend in his arms.

Harry lost a lot of people during the war but none of that even came close to the pain he felt after losing Hedwig. Hedwig was his friend even before Ron and Hermione, she was the one who was always with him no matter what. He spent more time talking with Hedwig than he did with most people. Hedwig was always much more than a pet to harry, she was his familiar but he only realised that after he lost her.

Now Hedwig came back to him in a form of a beautiful Phoenix, Harry is so happy that he doesn't even care how this even happened.

Suddenly a flash of fire appeared in Hedwig's beak and with that she is holding a white card.

He took the card and it read "Some bonds are so strong and magical that even I can't break them: Death" as soon as he read it the card disappeared like it was never there.

Harry just smiled and stroked Hedwig's head "Hear that girl it seems that even Death can't stop you" she visibly preened.

Suddenly Harry could feel Hedwig's happiness, how much she missed him, how happy she was when she finally saw him. Harry and Hedwig are connected to each other, they can communicate without even saying anything.

This only happens when a wizard and his familiar are magically bonded together. This bond has been developing between the two of them for years but Hedwig was killed before that bond could completely form. That's why as soon as they met again the bond was formed.

Through their newly formed bond, Hedwig told Harry how she woke up as a phoenix just a few months ago and how she has been trying to find him for months but couldn't feel his magic until tonight.

Both Potter Manor and Chamber of Secrets are under powerful concealment wards and in between he was under the cloak that's probably why Hedwig couldn't feel his magic and she only came after he removed the cloak and came out of the castle. Harry's magic is also weaker right now as compared to his teenage self.

This has been such a long night for Harry, he came to Hogwarts to just check on some things but he has already met a legendary wizard in the form of a thousand-year-old painting, he contemplated how this world is already so different from his old world and that difference is only going to get bigger with time, and now he is reunited with Hedwig after decades of separation, who somehow is a phoenix now. What's next? Is his trusty firebolt waiting for him on his bed? even though the broom hasn't even been invented yet.

This night has been an emotional rollercoaster for harry and now he just wants to go to sleep and deal with all of this later.

"It's time for me to go home now but don't worry I will call you as soon as I reach my room." He told Hedwig before disapparating.

Just like he promised as soon he reached his room Harry called for Hedwig and with a flash of fire she appeared inside his room. She flew across the entire room taking in the sights before finally settling down on his bed. Thank merlin he was given a private room after the triplets turned five or he would have no place to keep Hedwig.

"This is my room you can come here anytime you want, but don't go anywhere else in the house and don't let anyone else see you." He warned Hedwig, hearing this Hedwig turned away and flicked his tail feathers at him.

"No! I am not ashamed of you Hedwig, but I am trying to keep a low profile here and a six-year-old with phoenix is the opposite of that." He said tried trying to appease her.

Hedwig has always been a proud owl and now she is a proud phoenix so hiding away is not exactly in her nature.

She eventually understood and agreed to stay out of sight but after that promptly flashed away in a huff. It was hard to keep track of her even when she was an owl now it's going to be impossible. Harry made a promise to himself to stay on her good side before he finally went to bed.

Just like that a month passed and for this past month having Hedwig by his side made harry's life so much easier. He doesn't have to use the cloak to get out of the house anymore because Hedwig can just flash him to the chamber directly. Harry can go anywhere in the world with her and be back before his parents wake up.

For the past month, harry has been spending his nights making all kinds of preparations for his enhancement rituals like buying ingredients that were not stored in the ritual room, even though the main components are already there harry had to empty his entire trust vault filled with 10,000 galleons to buy the rest. He even had to bribe a goblin to make sure that they won't report this to his parents and a promise to return the gold to his vault in a month.

All of that just to make sure everything goes perfectly so he won't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity.