Chapter 45 - The Unpredictable

A majority of things in life make sense for Louis, whether it be knowing why and how it rains to when exactly a volcano is going to erupt.

Louis wouldn't even mind if you threw him in a jungle to fend for himself, he'd most definitely make friends with the animals and become one with them.

What he doesn't get, is why deep down, he feels like he knows this transfer student even though it's the first time he's met him, why does the boy seem to know him, and why he was just greeted as 'Typhon'.

" I'm pretty sure my name's Louis. " He says, hands slowly taking the offered hand, shaking it slowly with judging eyes aimed at the boy.

" Huh? Don't You remember? It's me Phoenix, Pheonix Dionysus! " The boy says questions with surprise evident on his face, his fire coloured eyes resembling strong flames shaken by a gust of wind.

" Strange..." He mutters looking to the ground, black hair shadowing his eyes, when all he gets as response is confusion from Louis.

" So how do you know Louie? " Annie asks, her face looking kind but her words laced with hostility underlining curiosity for the transfer student.

As if he didn't hear Annie, Phoenix lifts his head from the floor, grin back on his face, and proceeds to take a seat next to Louis - thanking the twins shamelessly as he squeezes himself inbetween.

" Is it me, or is the noise level lower than usual. " Draco asks, finding the atmosphere in the dining hall stuffier compared to a few moments ago.

" You're not imagining it, take a look. " Richard says softly, burying his face into the bags of souvenirs still on the table, not liking the sudden attention at all, not one bit.

Turning his head slightly to the left and right, Draco finds the Gryffindor table in complete silence. Other than the occasional whisper of gossip about him eating at their table, judging eyes burn holes through the new student and Louis.

'They are acting way too familiar with each other.' They all think, not knowing what to feel.

The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students exchange glances with each other in the new found silence, communicating with each other through facial expressions, trying to figure out how one of their own knows the weird boy.

Slytherin is the same as usual, glaring at the Gryffindor house with as much hate their tiny bodies can hold and always seeming to want to hurl their hate straight at them with a cannon.

Some glares burning with hatred are directed at him.

" I see what you mean. " He answers with a soft pitch.

Draco looks to the four on his right, Louis' ignoring anything and everything going on around him happily enjoying his Jello, the transfer student - Phoenix - happily eating his own plate of meat stacked up high, and the twins doing who-knows-what in their own bubble along with Bandit.

Deciding that he doesn't have the energy in him to care much about the other students, Draco resumes to eating his own food, head bowed down.

When the group is just about done with dinner, they decide to head to the forbidden forest to spend some time with each other of the forest.

Draco splits up with them then, not wanting to draw any unneeded attention to the Princetons with his things are.

" I'll meet you guys there later. " He ensures, saying his temporary goodbyes as he heads off.

Getting up from their seats Louis, Richard, Annie, and Bandit - hidden in Louis' hoodie - head for the doors, " What are you two doing? " Annie asks the Weaseley twins when the three Princetons notice the two following along.

" Going where you're going. " Fred answers which George nods to in agreement, as if it's the most obvious thing.

" Mind if I join in? " Phoenix asks, coming out from the dining hall, barely able to escape the clutches of Gryffindor students, crowding him with questions and the like.

" I plan to hide from prying eyes until further notice - also, who's Harry Potter? " Blank eyes look at him, not able to process what Phoenix just said.

" I'm sorry, I must have had cotton in my ears, because I think I just heard you say that you don't know Harry? " Fred asks, disbelieving of the fact thaf there really is someone in the wizarding world who has no clue who Harry Potter is.

" I'm serious, who's this Harry Potter, and why does everyone keep asking me why I ignored him, and what does he even look like? " With a huff, Phoenix ruffles his bed head with hand, crossing his arms over his c.h.e.s.t, a dissatisfied look on his face.

The Princetons don't know if he's joking and the ginger haired twins don't even know where to begin.

" There you are! " An excited shout breaks the silence among the group, heads turning to the direction the voice came from.

Louis successfully manages to resist the sudden urge to sneeze in that specific direction.

" Don't you know I've been looking all over for you? " Lockhart asks, strolling up to Phoenix, his robe uselessly fluttering about behind him.

" I was looking for the way out. " The honest answer halts Lockhart's train of thought, not expecting the answer in the least.

He was expecting gushes of embarrassment and words of praise, after all, he did make best selling books based of his.....Adventures, after all.

" Ahaha...I see. " He awkwardly supplies, composure lost in the wind along with his initial confidence.

" Yup, so if there's nothing else, I'm going to get going now. Bye. " The words seem to do the trick for Lockhart, breaking him out of his stupor and starts to trip on his next few words to the boy.

" He-Hey, W-wait, s-stop right there young man! " He finally manages, unintentionally hollering as he grasps onto the boy's shoulder.

He lets out a high pitched wheeze, eyes bulging as they stare at the ceiling and beyond.

With a clap of his hands, Phoenix turns his attention back to Louis and his friends, only to realise that there's no one there and he's been caught in the act by some students, who are now in a not to silent discussion, whispering among themselves.

• • •

Annie had been very decisive while Phoenix was distracted. She took her cousins by their arms and they ran all the way to the forbidden forest, invisible powers be damned to merlin.

The transfer student is making her gut churn weirdly, like it's unsure if he means well, or not.

They lose the Weasley twins not long after, the twists and turns they take confusing the twins on which way to go.

At last in the comfort of somewhere familiar, Annie heaves a sigh of relief as she releases her grip on her cousins arms.

" You felt that too, right? " She looks to Richard, seeking confirmation that her gut really wasn't lying to her.

A nod is all she gets. But it's enough to know that Phoenix Dionysus is someone unpredictable.

Anything unpredictable is never a good thing. It's a lesson the Princeton family learned the hard way, a long time ago.

The three spend the night in the forbidden forest, watched over by it's inhabitants as they ensure their safety in the cover of the night.

Draco catches them alseep, lying comfortably on the ground when the moon's high in the night sky.

When the sun rises the next day Louis, Annie, and Richard, wake up to the sight of Draco using Meister as a pillow snuggled up against a tree.

" Should we wake him? We've already missed breakfast and class is about to start. " Richard asks, not to keen on waking up their friend who's sleeping so peacefully.

" Wake him-! "

BOOM BOOM BOOM...

Just as Annie's about to answer the question, the forest ground shakes along with explosions going off one by one coming from Hogwarts.

With the explosions going off without ever seeming like they'll stop, Draco startles up, head turning in all directions trying to figure out what's going on.

The four decide it best to check on the situation and see what's happening.

As the trees come to a clearing, and the laughter is more audible, Louis realises that the explosions are coming from the quidditch field.

Reaching the quidditch field, he stops in his tracks once he realises who it is.

" What in Merlin's beard is even going on? " He asks, not getting how the Phoenix, was able to get cauldrons out of school grounds along with potion ingredients that are fragile enough to explode upon the slightest impact.

" Hey Typhon, you're late I've already started without you! " Pheonix greets, his volume loud enough to go through the explosive noises.

" What did you even start? " Covering his ears to protect his eardrums, Louis jogs up to Pheonix's side, curiosity prevailing over caution.

" It's called the boom boom potion! "

'...The what now? '

" All you need to do to make the boom boom potion do it's thing, is a cauldron, some of this, some of that, " He throws in random ingredients one handful at a time, " and it's done! "

Seemingly proud of himself, Phoenix nods his head in approval and puts on a pair of gloves.

" Here, you might need these if you're not used to the sound just yet. " His flame coloured eyes swirl like a fire burning proudly at a festival as he passes a pair of noise cancelling ear muffs to Louis.

Putting on the offered ear muffs, Louis watches in awed silence as Phoenix takes out a lump of pure blackness and tosses it into the air, when it reaches a certain height, it starts to explode, not once, not twice, but more times than Louis can bother to count.

Once the explosions die down, Phoenix tosses another one into the air continuing on the cycle of explosions until there's no ingredients left.

And through it all, Louis can see the pure joy radiating from Phoenix while he laughs in obvious glee.

There's a warm feeling spreading out from the depths of his stomach the longer he spends with Phoenix, feeling like the boy understands him better than his own family, and vice versa.

But, he can't help the thought that comes to his mind ' Why does this all seem so...familiar. '