Chapter One: a Dream and a Prophecy
-"Under silver gibbous moon
"Stag and tiger awaken soon
"Ye whose son sleeps peacefully
"Come to find him in bed wooly.
-"These who come into your midst
"Are ones who have been truly missed.
"Welcome them home with open arms,
"And do not wonder at their charms.
-"Serpent's heir, Darkness' child,
"One whose soul with magic wild
"Assails the fortress of light
"To find it barred against his might.
-"Twin and flower, stag and cat,
"Will together ruin plan of rat.
"Those in hiding all these years
"Will embark on to new frontiers.
-"One who wields wand, sword and fire
"Whose heirs will end this time dire
"These so named, one prophesied,
"The other thrown through time with speed.
-"Hearken, O ye lion's sons,
"You will prove that you are the ones
"To defeat him who tries to
"Prove his revenge is overdue."
Remus felt Danger's mind return from dream-sleep.
Okay, I know why I felt like I needed a nap. That was not a normal doze.
When is anything normal for us, Danger? Normal is overrated anyway.
As Danger transcribed the poem, Remus turned his thoughts to something interesting his Pack-son had said, this morning…
"Moony?" A man, his auburn hair and beard liberally streaked with silver, looked up from his book to see a boy of about 10, with messy black hair and bright green eyes. Those green eyes were currently set in a face showing an unhealthy dose of nervousness.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Are you doing anything you can't put off?"
"No, but if it's a prank you're asking about, though, get Padfoot to help if you need it, and remember we're denning tonight." Notoriously prank-happy Sirius had gone overboard once, using some spell or other to fill the den-room and mattresses with melted cheese. Danger showed Padfoot how she got that nickname; when angered, she was a danger to herself and others. Padfoot spent a week cleaning up the resulting mess.
"Not a prank, for once. Where did my parents live, before…?"
Ah. So that's why he's slightly upset, it's Halloween. Duh. I feel stupid now.
And this is different from normal how, Remus?
Shush it, Danger, I'm talking to Harry. Did you realize what today is?
Uh…October 31st? Halloween? A pause. Oh my.
Yes, 'Oh my'.
"They lived in a little house in a village called Godric's Hollow. Why the sudden interest in where you lived?" And where your parents died?
"I had a dream-a nightmare almost. I saw my dad-dueling a…man? He didn't look like a man. Anyway, my dad got blasted into a wall with a burst of red light, and stayed there. The other man laughed a high-pitched cackle, like the villains from Padfoot's books. Other man said 'you'll never see the ones you love again, Potter. You defied me three times - you won't live to see a fourth - but I'm going to torture you, send you nine years into the future, long enough so you'll see the deaths of the ones you love.
"'I will reign supreme, and kill the one prophesied to have power to defeat me in front of you-your son. Then I'll torture your Mudblood wife, so that the ground around her will match her hair - red with blood. Have fun in the future! Futuro nove anni!'
"A jet of purple light hit my dad in the chest, Dad yelled in pain, and then a whole lot of swirling light kept me from seeing him, and by the time the light's gone, so is he. Then all goes fuzzy, like when the TV isn't getting good reception.
"It cleared, and I saw my mum, in a nursery, holding me as a baby when Other Man blasts down the door. She screamed, and yelled 'Not Harry! Not Harry! Please-I'll do anything!' Other man started to get mad. 'Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!' he said-and then did the same thing to my mum as he did to my dad. So now it's just me left. He got this funny look on his face, and said, 'I was going to send you to the future, but with every passing year you will only grow more powerful if you evade my grasp. Avada Kedavra!' then all went black.
"Why would I remember this all of a sudden?" Harry looked utterly bewildered as he finished recapping. His Pack-father was slightly less bewildered, his eyes swirling with brown as he thought.
"Why don't you go play Quidditch with the Weasleys, Harrikins-Danger and I need to talk. We'll call you and the other cubs for lunch."
"Yay, Quidditch!" Harry raced out the door into the dawning storm as if Dragon-fire was behind him.
Remus rose from his comfortable position on the couch to find Danger.
He found her, zonked out in the bedroom, in the middle of a truedream.
'These who come into your midst/are ones who have been truly missed.' Who do we miss, after all these years? 'Welcome them home with open arms/and do not wonder at their charms' And who would we invite into the Den, and all its den-secrets? Danger looked stumped, having never known the people in question; Remus had, however, and when it hit him like a ton of bricks he started laughing-it was dancing before their noses!
Silly question, Danger. It's Lily and James-look at the fourth couplet. 'Twin and flower, stag and cat/will together ruin plan of rat.' James is the stag, Lily is the flower… Neenie and I must factor into this - I think she's the cat, and my name means 'twin'. Their arrival from time-la-la-land means our freedom - with Lily and James alive, Sirius is off the hook with the ministry.
'Serpent's heir, Darkness' child/one whose soul with magic wild/Assails the fortress of the light/to find it barred against his might'. Hmm…Remus, who is the Heir of Slytherin? Danger asked rhetorically.
Voldemort. They both thought the name at the same time. A chilly autumn breeze blew eerily in and stirred the parchments on which the poem was written.
Danger, you remember that book you got me for my birthday, a couple years ago?
What, the one on the Founders? Sure, I remember it. A shocked pause. You think the line about the heirs means Gryffindor's heirs?
Can't think of anyone else that could wield fire.
But-if Lily or James is the Heir of Gryffindor, then Harry's a blood heir too-he's never shown any fire-magic!
So? They might've bound his magic to keep him from throwing fireballs whenever he was upset. Personally, I think it would be James. There was a rather interesting incident in seventh year…
Remus was doing Charms homework in the Gryffindor common room when a candle guttered out, and relit. He thought nothing of it. Then, a few minutes later, the same candle guttered out, and relit. A few minutes later, a repeat of the same. Eventually, Remus got peeved enough to look around-and his eyes fell on James Potter.
James was gazing into the common room's fire with an expression that said he was extremely bored, and flicking his wand at random torches and candles around the room. Each of them guttered out, and relit.
Remus didn't notice until long afterward that James had been using his off hand-and at that point in time, using his off hand for spells meant an explosion or worse.
I think we need to talk to Sirius and Letha both Remus and Danger said at the same time. They would have laughed at this, had the situation not been so serious.
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