Three Weeks Later

Harry's POV

"Have you heard the news?" The boy next to me with acne splattered across his face whispered to me, and I shook my head, ignoring his gibberish babble.

"She's back," he said to me, deciding to ignore my obvious reluctance to go into conversation with him.

Shaking my head, I took his words as nothing more than some figment of his imagination, and I stood up when his hand gripped my bicep.

"The Phoenix has risen from the ashes."

For a brief second I stared into his turbulent eyes, seeing fully the madness behind them, and I didn't know whether to believe him. Was she back already? Why had nobody else told me? But then again I was speaking to Mad Jack, and he seemed to know everything that went on in that place.

His words still ringing in my ears, I powered down the corridor with tunnel vision as I made my way to Phoenix's room, ready to embrace her as tightly as I could. I'd missed her with every fibre in my body, life was somewhat dull without her input.

Knocking on her door, I waited in agonising silence to see if she would open it. What if Mad Jack had simply been lying? Hallucinating? But just as my doubts were beginning to drown me, I heard a faint clicking of the lock opening on the other side and out stepped Phoenix.

She seemed smaller than I remembered her. Her hair had been cut to her shoulders, almost as if they believed that her power lay in the long locks that had cascaded down her back. Her eyes looked dimmed, and even when she smiled at me I saw a sadness in them. She had changed.

"Harry..." She managed to say, her voice hoarse and quiet- this was not the Phoenix I knew.

"Phoenix! How are you?" I tried to remain positive, but every second spent in the company of this new girl, this imposter of the girl I had known, only depressed me. Where had her fire gone?

"I am fine," she replied back slowly, her eyes scanning my face hazily and her fingers moving with each syllable that came out her mouth.

She sounded like she had been pumped full of drugs, almost as if she was in a permanent trance. What had happened to her sarcasm? Her temper? Her joking attitude to all things involving life?

"What was the other treatment centre like?"

Not only did I want to get more of insight into what had happened to her, but I also wanted some detail about the outside world. Locked up inside the treatment centre with only a small courtyard and garden to go into was slowly beginning to feeling like being locked up in a prison.

"It was a highly educational, well organised, and clinical place. The staff all had five to ten years training, and it is regarded as one of the best treatment centres in the world," as she regurgitated information she had obviously been told before, I felt my spirits sink and for the first time all I wanted to do was run away from Phoenix.

What had happened to her?

"Phoenix are you okay? You don't seem like your usual self," I asked her in a hushed voice, and she gave me a smile that confirmed my suspicions- she had been brainwashed.

"Of course I'm fine. I have just received the best treatment out there," she eyes flickered around, never meeting mine.

"Tell me what happened to you!" I said in a raised voice and I saw her take a step away from me.

"Leave her in peace Harold," I heard Smith say behind me, and I turned around to see his little smug face staring at me.

I wanted to punch him, but I knew that would only result in further punishment for me. So I walked away, fists clenched and teeth grinding against each other. Anger filled my entire body, but it was soon replaced by an immense sadness.

My Phoenix had changed into an almost unrecognisable person. Gone was the fire that had burned endlessly in the pit of her stomach, gone was the glint of life that stung her eyes. She had drifted away as calmly as a hurricane, and I was left to deal with the devastation of my emotions that were left.

Thoughts raced through my head, trying to piece together the situation I was in. Would she ever go back to normal? Or was the damage already done? Sinking down to the floor, I leant my head against a wall and raised my hands to cover my eyes.

What a mess. What a tragedy. What a waste of something so beautiful.

"Can I save her now?" I whispered to myself, wondering if Phoenix and I could ever be the same again.

I believe strongly in soulmates. That there is someone out there whose heart beats on the same frequency as yours, someone whose thoughts are parallel to yours. But can you still be soulmates if one of you no longer possesses a soul? Can you still be soulmates if the soul has been zapped from one of you?

Ooooohhhh what's happened to Phoenix? How will Harry cope? Will she ever go back to the way she was? You'll have to wait and see!

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