Disclaimer: HP characters don't belong to me—all dibs go to JKR.

Title: Prophecy

Summary: AU. He had gone against one dark lord and didn't know if he would survive an encounter with a second one.

Albus Dumbledore had gone against one dark lord and didn't know if he would survive an encounter with a second one. But the dark Lord Voldemort was pursuing his aims with alarming tenacity and cunning—thus proving to be an elusive catch. The wizarding world was calling for him to step in. To save them again. Merlin, he was tired. All he wanted was to retire into the comforts of Hogwarts and watch the children explore the limits of magic with their innocence and curiosity intact. He stood up wearily as a witch wearing a dark hooded cloak stepped into the back room of the Hog's Head.

"Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Sybill, my dear. Please, have a seat. Something to drink?"

The thin witch, wearing slightly worn robes, sat down daintily on the edge of the offered seat and shook her head. "Headmaster, I hope you have a good reason for asking to meet me here. If it got out that I was meeting the head of the Order of the Phoenix, I would have Death Eaters at my doors in minutes."

"I assure you, my dear, that it is quite necessary." Albus extended a light field of legilimency and nodded as he detected one presence behind the door.

"Headmaster?" Sybill asked, raising an eyebrow. Not by any means a legilimens, Sybill Trelawney was a trained occlumens thanks to early lessons from her pureblood family. Anyone with the Gift of Sight had to be trained or risk being overwhelmed by their gift.

Albus signaled her to wait a moment. He threw a privacy charm on the door before withdrawing five vials of blood and setting them before her. "I need to know when these children will be born. I know it's possible for one with your gift to deduce such things, even if its easier to do so with the pregnant mother present."

Sybill narrowed her eyes and clasped her hands tightly on her lap. "And what exactly do you need this for, headmaster?"

He kept a steady eye on her until she acquiesced. Withdrawing her wand from her sleeve, she enlarged some potions from her purse and got to work. Two hours later, she reorganized the vials and nodded at the first one. "Late evening on Thursday, April 23rd. Morning of Monday, June 1st. Those two will be late July—the first one is finicky and may come a couple of days early, but the second one should arrive late on July 31st or early on Saturday, August 1st. As for the last one—due in two days. The first and last are girls, the middle three are boys." She paused. "Will you tell me why you have gathered blood from five strongly magical expecting women, Dumbledore?"

Albus didn't answer, his eyes far away. Wandlessly, he lifted the privacy charm on the door as he removed his glasses to wipe off the lenses.

"Thank you, Sybill. I'm sure you understand how difficult it is to find Divination Professors in heavy times such as these." He said lightly, looking up to meet her eyes. He locked her into a strong hold with his legilimency and pushed his considerable will against her. Slipping past her shields was made remarkably easier by her surprise. It only took a few seconds before she started to speak, her voice broken and strained.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."

Dumbledore sighed as he caught the witch before she slipped over the side of the seat. Reaching out, he noted that the presence behind the door was gone. The pieces were set. Now, he just had to get the rest of the players in place to lay a trap for the dark Lord Voldemort—before things got really out of hand.

"I'm sorry, Sybill." He said, gently laying her head on the table. "I'm doing this for the greater good and no one must ever know. Obliviate."

AN: Dark, I know. But the plot bunny jumped into my head and kept bugging me. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!