Harry was sitting in a misty courtyard; the sun shone brightly, lighting up the whole place. The sunlight danced in the air, reflecting and causing various rainbows to sparkle. Far off, a phoenix sang its morning song, the beautiful trilling echoing though the air.

Suddenly, a woman with lavender eyes appeared before him. "Harry," she acknowledged.

"Lady Shiara!" Harry cried out, happy to see the person who had once saved him. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my way to communicate with you, little one," she smile. "Through your dreams. Today, I'm going to introduce you to my sisters so we can get the bonding done."

"Bonding?"

"I'll explain once the introductions are done. For the basics, we are all goddesses, members of the spiritual world. We each rule one or two elements. Here," at this, the mist cleared away, revealing several other women. "These are my sisters. This," the Lady gestured towards a woman with dark hair tinged with blue. "Is Lady Skya, Goddess of the Ocean and Night. Her ruling elements are water and darkness."

Lady Skya gave Harry a small smile. "Welcome, child."

A woman with lush green hair stepped up next. "This is Lady Trisana, Goddess of Nature and Animal. Her element is Earth."

"Pleased to meet you, Lady," Harry said politely.

"This is Lady Elsa, Goddess of Sun, Moon, and Stars. Her element is Light." This was indicated to a woman with creamy-blonde hair and pale eyes.

"And finally, this is Lady Lyra, Goddess of Pain, Darkness, and Hope. She rules the elements of Wind and Ice."

There was something about this Lady that seemed to hold Harrys' attention. Lady Lyra had long, silvery-black hair which reached her waist. The curtain of hair danced around her and her eyes were a mysterious grey, with a tinge of icy-blue. Those eyes were piercing and penetrating, and Harry felt as if she could hear his thoughts. There also seemed to be an air of mystery about her.

"What element do you rule?" Harry asked, turning back to Lady Shiara.

"I rule fire, sometimes referred to as heat."

For the first time, Harry noticed that Shiara's hair was not pure black; the bottom fringe was dark, rich red, occasionally flaring up.

"Now that the introductions are done, we will move onto the binding. Binding will bind you to a certain goddess. You will be able to perform mental telepathy with that particular goddess so that she can help you with emergencies, and more importantly, give you mental training on dealing with things."

"What?" Harry was at a loss for words. "Why me? I mean.... Not that I'm unhappy to be bonded, by why do things always happen to me?"

"One of your mentors, Salazar, has taught you the basics. You can not possibly learn everything in only three years, and in order to defeat the Dark Lord, you must learn everything you need to know. You are special, Harry. You can not ignore that. You will be the one to bring down the Dark, which is why you must learn all of this. Now, for the bonding." She handed Harry a small crystal.

"This is what you must focus your power through. The light and power will be directed to the one you will be bonded to and then we can perform the rituals."

"Alright," Harry replied uncertainly. Taking the small crystal, he concentrated. He could feel the energy and power pulsing within him, pushing, trying to force its way out. Focusing all of the energy into the small crystal, he concentrated.

Slowly, a pure white beam erupted from the crystal. The beam stretched longer and longer until it suddenly split into many beams. The beams began to swirl and rushed through the air, faster and faster. Suddenly, it wrapped itself around Lady Lyra, twisting around her, spinning forcefully.

For how long he stood there, Harry did not know. The next thing he knew, the light and air slowly calmed as the beam vanished.

"Very good."

He looked up to see that it was Lady Shiara who had spoken.

"You have been bonded to Lady Lyra."

"I--" Harry was stunned. He had expected to be bonded to Shiara or Skya. Certainly not Lady Lyra. But though this Lady was not warm like the others, she had a charm of her own.

"Harry."

Lady Lyra's voice rang through the air, and Harry froze momentarily. The voice was soft and silvery, warm yet icy at the same time.

"You have been bonded to me. I would like to present you with one gift."

At that, the Lady raised her hand and a golden beam erupted from her fingers, hitting Harry. A warms spread through the boy's body.

"I grant you the gift of speaking Phoenixus, the language of the Phoenix."

Lady Lyra backed away as Lady Shiara stepped up again. She smiled at his look of utter amazement. "Young one," she said. "I would also like to grant you a gift." At this, she waved her hands, her silver robes flying in the air.

A minute later, the flutter of wings reached the ears of Harry. There was a swirl of air, and a phoenix flew into sight. Her wings were golden around the tips and reddish-orange around the middle. Her tailfeathers were a fiery red, long and elegant.

"I grant you your familiar."

"Familiar?" Harry asked, puzzled.

//Familiars are animals that are mentally attached with you. They're also able to perform mental telephathy,// Lady Lyra's voice said in his head, making him jump.

"Lady Lyra?" he asked out loud, confused.

//Speak in you mind, child,// the lady's voice once again echoed in his mind. //Remember, now that we're bonded, metal telephathy is also possible between us.//

Meanwhile, the phoenix was fluttering around, suddenly, it burst into a trilling song. The melody was beautiful and full of hope. To Harrys' surprise, he realized that he could understand its words. He suddenly remembered Lady Lyra's gift. So this was what she had been talking about.

Harry realized why this song seemed so familiar; it was the phoenix music he had heard when he had been battling Voldemort at the end of his fourth year. He smiled as he heard the song which had given him hope at the last possible minute, the tune which had silently cheered him on. Opening his mouth, he slowly joined in the singing, Phoenixus easily rolling over his tongue as if he had known it all his life. Their singing was the same, yet exactly the opposite at the same time. Together, they sang in harmony, Day and Night, Moon and Sun, Light and Dark, coming together to form a whole. Their trilling was soft yet with such intensity that Harry found himself shivering.

?Greetings, young master,? the phoenix said after it stopped its graceful singing.

?Greetings, elegant phoenix,? Harry replied in the same tongue. ?Honoured to meet you.?

?Name me, please, young master. I would like to have a name.?

Harry smiled. ?Hmm...? he said thoughtfully. ?You are a female, are you not??

?That is so, child.?

?Will Flame do?? he asked after a while of pondering. ?For you are the colour of fire.?

?Flame is fine,? was the reply. After a moment...

Harry let out a startled gasp; he had completely forgotten that his familiar had telepathic abilities when speaking with him. he said finally.

"One last gift."

Harry looked up and saw that this time, it was Lady Elsa who had spoken.

"This gift is from all of us." There was a flash of white light, and suddenly, two snakes appeared on the ground.

Harry gasped; the snakes were beautiful, unlike any other he had seen before. One was midnight black with a thin, white pattern down its back. The other was exactly the same, except its body was ice-white while the band of pattern was black.

~Good morning, young master,~ the black snake hissed in Parseltongue.

~Good morning,~ Harry replied, starting to feel a bit dazed. After all, he had just found out in the last ten minutes that he A) Now had a bond with Lady Lyra, allowing telepathic speech, B) had a new familiar named Flame and C) recieved two pet snakes whom he could communicate with.

~You are a speaker,~ The white snake stated.

~Yes.~

~Pleasure, young master. We are your's to do as you wish.~ This time, it the black snake who had spoken.

~Do you have names?~ Harry asked curiously. He was getting tired to referring to the snakes as white snake and black snake.

~Yes.~ The white snake spoke. ~I am Ice, and my sister here is Shadow.~

~Where do you come from?~ Harry asked, curious. ~And what species of snake are you? I don't think I've seen any of your kind before.~

~We are from Northern America,~ Shadow replied. ~We are from a species of snake called Serpentirus, but most people believe that we are extinct. In reality, we have just gone into hiding to avoid humans whom believe us to be evil.~

~Can we communicate with telepathic speech?~ Harry asked uncertainly. He felt as if anything was possible at the moment after the amazing events that had unfolded in front of him.

{I believe we can.} Ice's voice rang in his mind. The snake seemed amused as Harry jumped.

{You better stop scaring me like that or I might have a heart attack after this is over,} Harry scolded, but his tone was joking, not reprimanding.

//We must finish with this now.// Lady Lyra's firm voice interrupted. //Harry, you must go back you your world. Ice, Shadow, and Flame will be coming with you; You will have to make up an excuse as to how you got them. Do not be afraid; if you need me, just speak into your mind. I'll always be there now that we're bonded.//

//Thank you, Lady. I'm ready to go back.// Harry said confidently.

//Very well. See you soon, child.//

There was flash of light, and Harry was gone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry opened his eyes to find himself back in his room in Snape Manor. Stretching, he found Flame perched on the side of his bed. Ice and Shadow were curled up on his arms.

?You're awake, young master,? Flame said, trilling in greeting. With a poke, she woke up the two snakes.

After dealing with grumbling snakes and exchanging greetings, Harry got up and got changed.

Okay, now for the next problem. How was he going to tel Snape about his new pets? Harry finally decided to take it one step at a time: today, he would go to lessons with Ice and SHadow; Flame would be introduced when the opportunity presented itself.

At promptly nine o'clock, Harry started down the stairs with Ice and Shadow curled arond his left arm. In his right hand, he held his black wand.

~Remember,~ he hissed to the snakes. ~When we are down there, I can't talk in Parseltongue. I don't want Snape to know. We'll have to use telepathic speech.~

~Yes, young master,~ came the reply.

Harry took a deep breath and walked into the room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Severus Snape was sitting in a chair, book in hand, waiting for Sebastien to come down for lessons.

He had waited for ten minutes when the door flew open. He couldn't help but stare: his student had drawn himself to his whole height (which was almost as tall as Severus himself). The boy wore a pair of long, silver robes, and with his long, black hair swishing, Severus had to admit that the child would soon be chased by many girls.

But most stunning of all were the two snakes curled around the boy's arm.

"Um... Sebastien?" he asked. "Are those Serpentirus snakes, by any chance?"

"Yes, sir," th child smiled. "This is Ice, and that's Shadow." He gestured towards the animals.

"You DO know that Serpentirus snakes are poisonous?" Severus sat frozen, not moving an inch, watching the snake hiss.

Sebastien shrugged. "No big deal," he replied, reaching down to stroke the white snake.

Severus recovered from his shock and began his lecture on transfiguration. He kept a tight watch on the two snakes.

After transfiguration, Severus moved onto Potions. "Today," he began. "I'll allow you to choose which potion you want to make, as long as it's not illegal, harmful, or dangerous. Take your pick."

Sebastien pondered for a moment before repling promptly, "Windlight Potion."

Severus looked thoughtful. "Windlight Potion is one of the most powerful healing potions in the world," he said. "And the procedures are extremely difficult, although it can be brewed in a single day. The only problem is that it requires the healing properties of phoenix tears and phoenix tailfeathers, both which we lack."

"Not a problem," Sebastien said carefully. "Let's start brewing. Tell me when you need the phoenix ingrediants, and I'll get them."

Severus was starting to get slightly suspicious. The boy knew where he could get one of the most rarest ingrediatns in the world? Perhaps the child /did/ work for the Dark Lord after all. Voldemort was the only one he knew of that had every ingrediant in the world at his disposal. When the Dark Lord required Severus to brew a potion which required rare ingrediants, those materials were handed out exactly so that none was left over.

Oh well. He pulled out a cauldron adn several ingrediants as he watched Sebastien begin to brew.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry knew the second he had walked into the room that something was different. It took him a moment to realize what it was.

He could physically /see/ Sev-- Snape's aura. It was a shade of midnight blue.

//Lady Lyra?// he asked silently. //What's happening?//

//You are now an elemental, and because of it, you have new powers. One of the powers is that you are now albe to see auras.// came the reply.

//What's an elemental?// Harry asked, confused.

//I'll explain later,// The Lady replied. //Pay attention, your professor is speaking.//

After listening to Snape talk about transfigureing various objects (Harry had to hide his smirk at the way his teacher carefully watched the snakes' every move), they moved onto Potions.

Harry grinned; how ironic that Potions was now one of his favourite subjects.

He was thrilled when Severus--'Snape,' he reminded himself-- allowed him to pick whatever potion he wished. He chose the Windlight Potion which he had heard a lot about, but never made.

He felt a wave of saddness and hurt when he saw the cloud of suspicion in the Potions Master's aura when he mentioned having free access to phoenix tears and tailfeathers. He shrugged away the feeling as he began brewing.

After Snape added the jasmine petals, the Potions Master said, "We have to add teh phoenix ingrediants now in order for this potion to work."

Harry gave a curt nod as he let out a shrill trill in Phoenixus. he called silently.

He could see that Snape was shocked when he had cllaed out in the language of the Phoenix. He didn't care at the moment; Snape would find out sooner or later.

Harry asked.

?Of course, young master,? the phoenix trilled. Leaning forward, three drops of pearly tears dripped into the bubbling cauldron.

?Thank you, Flame,? Harry replied, not bothering to use telepathic speech. Snape knew already anyways, and it took more energy to use telepathic speech. He knew he would get used to it after a while, but for now, he just spoke in Phoenixus.

He heard Snape gasp again as he reached out. He delicately took the fragile phoenix feather Flame handed him. Dropping it into the potion, he stirred three times counter-clockwise.

"Okay," Severus said when the potion started to simmer. "What was that about?" He had been stunned when Sebastien spoke Phoenixus; it was a rare gift that only Merlin himself had had.

"This is Flame," Sebastien said, pointing to the phoenix. "He's my familiar. He just turned up this morning."

It was strange as Severus considered the situation; Phoenix only associated with the most innocent aura and purest magic. This

boy was clearly more than he seemed. He decided to let it go for now. "Fine," he replied, scowling, as he returned to the potion.