She's Not a Bird... She's a Phoenix!

After all those years when she stood beside Dumbledore and watched her master, together with Harry Potter, journeyed towards their victory against Voldemort, Fawkes believes that her duty was finally over.

Voldemort was defeated and Dumbledore was gone. Although the wizarding world is her one and true home, for Fawkes, it wasn't the same without her master.

She sang one final mourning song for the wizards and witches who died in the course of battle. She spread her wings in salute for their bravery. She soared high and wished for their safety and happiness on the other world. She gave one final glance at Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, and flashed in a turn of fire.

It was her rebirth day, but now, Fawkes was not to be reincarnated as another magnificent phoenix like always. No. She chose to live a life where magic is not existent, a place where ordinary people can only live by.

Muggle world.
 

- - -
 

"Well if it isn't the pillow-kisser." Mr. Jackson, the chemistry instructor, snided coldly as Alexis Rush entered the classroom twenty minutes later.

"S-sorry sir! I... overslept." Alexis bowed 90 degress, his ears blushing red in rapid succession.

"Who cares loser?!!" someone from the class shouted, followed by snarky laughters of his other classmates.

Mr. Jackson snorted and tossed his nose in the air, slightly disappointed that his daily entertainment - which was humiliating Alexis - was done. He gestured the boy to take his seat, which Alexis was more than grateful to accept.

It has always been this same cycle everyday over and over again. He was late for school, he'll get humiliated by his instructor, and -

"Boo-yaaaaah!"

He'll crashed down the floor, butt-first, as his chair lost another leg caused by no other than his ultimate bully - Daniel Pierce.

The good-looking, seventeen-year old kid with a heart-shaped face and thick eyebrows  smiled malevolently at Alexis like he was daring the skinny one to retort.

"Got a problem?" he mouthed, flexing his fingers menacingly.

Alexis eyed Daniel's knuckles apprehensively and shook his head, having no really choice at all. He was lying to himself! Of course there's a problem, he's so sick of getting bullied! But then it seems that it was the weak's fate to get abused by the strong ones, the helpless against the powerful, the good versus the bad. And unfortunately, he's always on the losing side.

"Now, now Mr. Pierce, don't do that again." Mr. Jackson said in a mock-disapproval tone, although his lips were dangerously curving upwards. Everyone knows that it will always happen the next day and the next day after next, which Mr. Jackson puts no effort to stop.

"Yes, sir." Daniel answered, blinking his eyes innocently at their instructor before giving a deathly smirk at Alexis.

Alexis stood up and lifted his broken chair, only to place it at the furthest corner of the room where there stood a twenty or so more broken chairs (which was all from Daniel's doing, obviously). He then dragged the only remaining chair which seems plausible to sit on, then refocused his attention to Mr. Jackson.

As much as Alexis loves to study, he can't make the most of his high school life because of the bullies that roam around the school. They are everywhere. They picked on the smallest, most fragile kids in the school, making themselves almighty with imaginary power they built on for themselves. 

He knows that he was more than this nerdy kid who always gets picked by the bullies every dismissal time. He's protective and caring, and he'll dedicate everything for a friend.

He wants to have friends; to be appreciated; to be recognized and loved. He has so much plans for his high school life before but everything went down the sewers when Daniel Pierce came into his life.

The devil at its finest.

"Mr. Rush? Will you explain page 234?" Mr. Jackson piped in from nowhere, bringing Alexis back on Earth.

He skimmed through his book, cleared his throat and started explaining what Mr. Jackson asked for. Alexis proudly thinks that his wits, at least, were the only thing that Daniel can't mess from him.
 

- - -

"Spinach again Rush? Can't you eat anything but spinach??" Daniel sneered loudly enough for everyone in the cafeteria to hear.

Alexis sighed inwardly and continued eating his sorry lunch. Daniel seemed pissed when Alexis ignored him and so he tried a new approach.

"You don't have a mother to take care of your lunchbox, huh?" he smirked. "Did your mother got fed up on her butt-licking son so she just abandoned you somewhere in the streets?"

Alexis' fist tightened on his spoon, his jaw grew rigid. Daniel did not miss that action, of course. When it comes to bullying, he has the sharpest eye that can even beat a hawk's perspective.

He grinned slyly, pushing the issue further.

"Oops. Did I hit a nerve?" he asked, laughing evily. "I did, didn't I? But it's so sad to say Rush because I totally agree on your mother. No one would ever want someone like you for a son. You are a loser. You are pathetic. You deserve to be abandoned. Where else do you fit but on someone's toilet -?"

"SHUT UP FAT MOUTH!"

Daniel stopped in mid sentence, obviously stunned from Alexis' sudden outburst. Then his expression changed quickly, his eyes rounded dangerously, his nose flaring. Everyone on the cafeteria was listening eagerly now. Some students even pulled their phones out and recorded the scene, because for the first time in history, Alexis Rush talked back.

"You dare to shout at me?" Daniel whispered, his voice full of coldness and malice. "You dare to lift your tongue and talk back at me, HUH?"

He grabbed Alexis by the collar and dragged him outside the cafeteria, followed by his faithful cronies. Alexis wrestled out of Daniel's firm grasp, knowing absolutely well what will come next.

And soon enough, he found himself thrown on the dumpster at the nearby alleway, blocked by five seventeen-year olds with nothing for a weapon but fists.

Daniel and his sidekicks cracked their knuckles malevolently and started landing a punch on anywhere at Alexis. Five against one - and Alexis failed to land one single punch.

"This is what you get when you talk back to Pierce mother fucker!" Daniel kicked Alexis below the shins. The latter groaned, which encouraged Daniel to kick him more. "If you ever raise your voice on me again you asshole, you'll get worse than this! You got that?!!"

Alexis spit out blood and rolled over, clamping his stomach and curling into a ball as if trying to protect himself from Daniel and his friends.

"I asked you if you get what I said!" Daniel roared, landing one final blow squarely on Alexis' face.

The bloody young man was blinded by bruises, unable to breathe because of clogged blood. Nevertheless his ears were sharp, and he perfectly heard Daniel's threat. Helplessly, he nodded.

"Good. See you tomorrow, fat mouth." Daniel spit on the ground and wiped his fists tainted by Alexis' blood. He gave one final glare at the skinny one and strode off, knocking off the dumpsters on his way out.

Alexis inwardly cursed himself for being so short-tempered. He knew he should have not uttered a single word when Daniel was picking on him. If only he endured it for a few more minutes... If only he lengthened his patience a little bit more... then perhaps he was not in this painful situation again.

Yes, it was definitely painful alright. Emotionally.

For three years, Daniel made him feel like the egoless and wimpiest trash in school; a talentless kid who doesn't deserve attention and love. As if he doesn't had enough of that already.

He stared numbly upon the starless sky above him. Then he closed his eyes, thinking that if he would die in this kind of state, he should have prayed for the very least.

*Give me a miracle, Lord. Any miracle.* It was the first thing he thought.

When he opened his eyes, he saw fire floating right above him.

Alexis laughed out loud. Oh God, the hallucinations are starting to kick in!

Slowly, the fire turned blue, then pearly white, until it formed into a magnificent bird, spreading its majestic wings at the same time. He caught sight of its cerulean eyes, those kind of eyes that pierced even through his darkest heart.

"Ha..ha... a bird, huh?" he weakly mumbled, finally passing out.