Fawkes' Intelligence (Re: Chamber of Secrets same as Room..)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 101880

Geoff:
> '"First of all, Harry, I want to thank you," said Dumbledore, eyes 
> twinkling again. "You must have shown mw real loyalty down in the 
> Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."'
> 
> (COS "Dobby's Reward" p.244 UK edition)
> 
> How was Fawkes called? Did Dumbledore sense something or did the 
> bird? The import of Dumbledore's words seems to suggest that 
Fawkes 
> made a decision himself - to go to the Chamber and to take the 
hat. 
> Also the bird also knew how to get to the Chamber. OK, how 
> intelligent are phoenixes?

Jen: Hi Geoff! Thanks for all the canon quotes upthread.

I agree Fawkes went to the Chamber on his own. Otherwise, if Fawkes 
was primed by Dumbledore to go *only* if Harry expressed loyalty to 
him--that strikes me as a little too arrogant for Dumbledore! Unlike 
Voldemort, DD doesn't require adulation and expressions of loyalty 
to consider someone an ally.

Regarding intelligence, Fawkes appears to have more than many of the 
human characters ;). He is cognizant of what a person needs without 
direction, like shedding the tears on Harry's wound in the Chamber, 
and bringing the Diary to Harry so he could plunge the basilisk fang 
into it.

On another canon note of interest, we've seen examples of all of 
Fawkes magical properties as explained in FBAWTFT (p.32):

1) Disappear and re-appear at will (OOTP in the MOM)
2) Phoenix song is magical, reputed to increase the courage of the 
pure of heart and strike fear in the hearts of impure(GOF)
3) Carry immensely heavy loads (COS)
4) Tears have healing properties (COS)

Wonder if that means anything? FB states that the Phoenix can live 
to an immense age, but not forever. And we have no clue how old 
Fawkes is, or who he belonged to before Dumbledore. But surely he 
won't die in the series, since the imagery of the Phoenix is so 
important to the story.