"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 his 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 ..."
Stumbling to destiny
There was a knock on the door, and a moment later, Ron's sister Ginny came in, laden with a tray of food that was slightly askew on the plates. The sausages were overhanging and the scrambled egg was close to spilling off the edge. Ron and Hermione were stiff and white, because of what Harry had just told them.
"Good morning, Harry." Ginny greeted him, handing him the try.
"Thanks Ginny." Harry replied, and Ron and Hermione looked unsure as to what should happen next.
"I heard you." Ginny told Harry. Hermione gasped faintly and Harry looked up sharply from his bacon
"Oh!" Ron began. "Very funny, wasn't it, Ginny?" Hermione shot him a momentary look of utter revulsion, before reaffixing her neutral expression.
"Oh, oh yeah." Harry caught on. "It was a joke."
Ginny's gaze flicked to Hermione. "What they said!" Hermione replied quickly, before forcing a smile.
"Yes, that seems exactly like Harry. He can never pass up a time to joke about the murder of his parents." Ginny snapped at the three. Ron and Hermione and Harry all looked abashed. Ginny softened her voice when she spoke to Harry again. "I'm sorry Harry, I stumbled outside your door and I heard everything."
Harry stared at Ginny's face. He knew she was an excellent liar. Could she have been eavesdropping? But Harry had seen the messed platter. That would be a sign of stumbling. Of course, Ginny could have messed up the platter herself to corroborate her story.
Harry stared at Ginny for a moment, while Ron and Hermione waited apprehensively.
"I believe you." Harry said finally.
"What I heard…." Ginny began. "Is personal to you, Harry. I will not repeat it to anyone."
Harry didn't say anything, but felt Ron and Hermione flicker their gazes back and forth from him and Ginny.
"I'll forget about it – or at least, I will pretend to, if that is what you'd want. Perhaps I could ask Professor Dumbledore to Obliviate me." Ginny suggested with a small smile.
Ron chuckled, remembering Lockhart. "At least he'll keep you knowing who you are."
'Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I don't know what I did on the night of Hallowe'en, but a cat has been attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and not myself. I think he suspects me...There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!'
"No." Harry said hoarsely. "No memory charms. And Ginny, Dumbledore mightn't want me to do this, but I've got to make sure you know exactly what was said."
And so, Harry recounted the prophecy for the second time that morning. Unlike Ron and Hermione, Ginny's reaction was far less fathomable, but that was probably because she had already heard it once.
"Professor Dumbledore told me after he portkeyed me back from the ministry. Only we and Dumbledore know the full contents of the prophecy. Trelawney didn't remember a thing, and Voldemort's spy was caught before he could hear the whole prophecy." Harry finished, Ginny didn't say anything for a few long seconds.
"Ron, what do you think?" Ginny asked her brother, much to his surprise. "About the prophecy."
"Well, Dumbledore says it's true. I guess that means it is."
"Hermione?"
"Trelawney is a fraud most of the time, but she has made genuine prophecies before. And the first part has already been fulfilled…"
"When did Trelawney make the prophecy, Harry? Was your mum pregnant at the time?"
"Yes. Thing is, it mightn't have referred to me at all. There was another boy whom the prophecy fit: Neville."
"Nev?" Ginny said. "But Voldemort chose…"
"Chose me."
"Could have he made a mistake? Might Neville be the Chosen One?" Ginny asked.
Harry lifted his fringe. Ginny's eyes flicked to his lightning bolt scar, then back to his eyes. "The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. Voldemort marked me, Ginny. It has to be me."
Ginny kept her eyes firmly locked on Harry for a much shorter time then it felt. Then she stood up from where she was seated at the end of his bed. "Excuse me." Ginny softly said, and walked out the door. Harry watched her go, his mind whirring.
"OI!" Harry felt a thump. "OI, Harry!"
"Ron, what…" Harry was cut off as he turned to his best mate.
"Arry, eet as been too long!" Fleur Delacour said, kissing each of Harry's cheeks in turn. Harry blushed with embarrassment of having not noticed her entrance.
"Oh, hello Fleur. Lovely to see you." Harry said in surprise. "Are you staying at the Burrow?" Harry asked.
"Yes!" Fleur beamed. "But…do you not know?" Fleur glanced at Mrs Weasley coming through the door.
"No, we haven't got a chance to telling him yet." Mrs Weasley replied with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Oh, Bill and I are going to be married!"
"Oh, err, congratulations!" Harry said, reaching out and shaking Fleur's hand.
"Thank you!" Fleur smiled brilliantly at him. "Gabrielle will be so glad to see you. She is going to be a bridesmaid with Ginny."
"Is Gabrielle here?"
"No. She is coming next year – that's when we're having the wedding."
Harry didn't know what to say, but Fleur stood up, furling her blonde hair around. "It's so good to see you again, Arry. Goodbye, Ermione, Ronald." Fleur said, and then left through the door.
Mrs Weasley huffed after her. Hermione scoffed as well. Ron was frowning at them both, as was Harry.
"Mrs Weasley, is anything the matter?" Harry asked.
"Oh, nothing dear." Mrs Weasley replied, but Harry thought it sounded like his 'I'm fine' answers. "Is there anything wrong with your breakfast?" Mrs Weasley asked, eyeing his nearly full plate.
"Oh, no, Mrs Weasley. It's great!" Harry said, taking a scoop of scrambled eggs to prove his point. "Thank you."
Mrs Weasley pulled out her wand and waved a warming charm over Harry's food.
"Thanks, Mrs Weasley!" Harry said. Mrs Weasley beamed back at him.
"You're welcome dear." Mrs Weasley said, and then she left the room.
Harry turned to Ron and Hermione, who were staring at each other. Harry waited for the inevitable explosion.
But there didn't seem to be a fuse to set them off, so they glowered at each other, until a distraction arrived in the form of Ginny's return.
"Hello again!" Ginny said brightly…too brightly. "Can we play a game?"
"Sure Ginny, we'll come down and meet you at the Quidditch field." Ron said quickly, to which Harry instantaneously added enthusiastic nodding. Hermione took a little longer to add her own nods, which were less eager than Harry's and Ron's.
"Love to," Ginny smiled at the three. "But first, can we play something else?" Ginny asked.
"Err…sure." Ron said, with a puzzled sideways glance at Harry and Hermione. Ginny pulled out three cards, their sides facing the trio blank, from her pocket. "I'm going to give a card to each of you. Please do not look at anyone else's card and do not show your card to anyone." Ginny said. "One for you Ron, one for Harry, and one for Hermione. "
The three stared at their cards for a moment, and then glanced up at Ginny, who didn't elaborate on the game. So Harry looked back down at the card in his hand. He could not make head nor tail of the splotches of ink.
Ron saved the day, by asking what they were supposed to do.
"Do you see anything?" Ginny asked. The three shook their heads.
"Well, Ron, you've got a horse, Harry, you've got a giraffe, and Hermione, you've got a sailboat."
There was a few seconds, before Ron said: "I see it now!"
"So do I!" Hermione added.
Harry smiled. "Me too."
Ginny grinned quirkily back at them. Put your cards down on the tray, please."
Ron, Harry and Hermione did so. Harry's eyes flashed in astonishment up to Ginny's face, then back down to the three identical images.
"All I needed to do was give your mind a suggestion. You saw a giraffe, Harry, because you were looking for one." Ginny explained. "You might have seen a giraffe anyway, but the chances are extremely unlikely."
Harry nodded, while Ron and Hermione looked impressed.
"Now imagine you are Riddle back in 1979. You are at the peak of your powers. The only wizard powerful enough to face you is Dumbledore. Now what would be your next biggest threats?"
"The Order of the Phoenix and the Aurors." Harry supplied.
"You have spies in the Order and in the Ministry. It's looking good for you. Then, suddenly, your spy tells you that your biggest threat is not Dumbledore or Alastor Moody or Filius Flitwick – he is an as yet unborn child. And you believe it. You believe a prophecy of one woman, which your spy repeated to you, completely ignoring common sense. You turn your attention to a foetus. You don't even wait and see if the prophecy is real or not, you believe, and you act. In acting, you make sure the prophecy, at least up to the part, 'The Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal' plays out to the letter. If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, it would have never happened. Voldemort might have murdered James and Lily, but not to get at you because he saw you as a threat." Ginny finished, her voice had faltered at the mention of Harry's parents.
"Dumbledore said that many prophecies were only fulfilled because they had been heard."
"And now you are the Chosen one, chosen by Voldemort, and given the power to defeat him by his own hand."
Harry nodded, setting his tray on the bedside cabinet.
"Ron, Hermione, you have confidence that the prophecy is correct? That Harry is the Chosen One?"
"Yeah." Ron replied.
"It can't be anyone else." Hermione said decisively.
Ginny moved quick as a flash, and the butter knife was at Harry's neck. Ron and Hermione looked shocked at Ginny's behaviour, but Harry, containing his instantaneous reaction to fight, sat back quite still.
"What are you so worried about?" Ginny asked Ron and Hermione. " 'Either must die at the hand of the other. I can drive this knife through Harry's throat as much as I want – it'll hurt him, sure, but he won't die."
Harry was starting to feel inexplicably awkward yet unexplainably comfortable with Ginny's proximity to his body.
"So, are you going to trust the words of Sybil Trelawney to protect your best friend?" Ginny smirked impishly at the flabbergasted faces of Ron and Hermione.
"Fine, you win!" Ron threw his hands up in defeat. "Now please, stop scaring my best mate!" Ron cried, seeing Harry's confused expression.
Ginny pulled the knife away from Harry's face. Harry looked at her with the most piercing gaze he could manage.
"I'm sure you've got a reason for that, Ginny." Harry said. "No, wait, you're making a point!" Harry grinned triumphantly.
Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry, and then spoke softly but determinedly. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't let a few words rule your life. What has changed in your abilities and skills in order to defeat Voldemort since you were told the prophecy? Do you have a greater knowledge of spells and combat then before?"
"No." Harry admitted. "Which I expect is why Dumbledore's giving me private lessons this year."
If Ron had been drinking a butterbeer, he'd have spat it out in shock, earning a reprimand from Hermione, but since he wasn't, she didn't.
"Blimey, you kept that one quiet!"
"Yeah…" Harry said, scratching the back of his head. "Lot of stuff going on, it kind of slipped my mind." Harry looked back at Ginny, clearing asking her to go ahead.
"Voldemort's biggest weakness is his solitude. Oh, he may have a band of 'followers' but that is exactly what they are. Followers. He rules them with fear. Our greatest strength lies in our solidarity, and the fact that taking down our leaders - Dumbledore, Moody or you, Harry, have our respect. The Death Eaters will likely break if Voldemort was killed. If something happened to any of us, we would continue fighting." Ginny declared, while Ron and Hermione nodded emphatically.
"Ginny, I led you all into a trap in the Department of Mysteries. I nearly got you all killed."
"You didn't. And you kept your cool when the Death Eaters surrounded us in the Hall of Prophecies. You gave us a fighting chance. And we had some luck, but you had trained us for just such an event. Six teenagers fought off a dozen of the most talented Death Eaters."
"Sirius died…"
Ginny swallowed. "If Sirius had taken Bellatrix seriously, he would have probably survived." Ginny said, while Harry glared at her. "I'm sorry Harry, but the truth is the truth. On the whole, it was a massive blow to Voldemort. Eleven of his top Death Eaters back in Azkaban, the Prophecy was smashed, and six teenagers had survived when they should have been finished off in seconds. We were outclassed with skill, but none of us gave up. As soon as Dumbledore arrived, the Death Eaters, still armed, tried to scramble away like frightened monkeys."
Harry wondered how Ginny knew that, but she explained. "Neville told me what happened."
"Harry, the prophecy is just words, that's all it is. It shouldn't change you."
"I'd be ready to fight Voldemort anyway."
"And the prophecy will play out, because Voldemort will continue to hunt you, and you are not going to hide behind charms while he terrorizes the land. You'll be on the front line as often as you can. Riddle won't allow any Death Eaters to kill you because of the image he needs to present."
"You just said the Prophecy is just a bunch of words…and now you're saying it will happen?" Ron asked, flummoxed.
"Harry, you are either being dragged down the path by destiny written before your birth, or you choose to march to your fight with Voldemort of your own free will. The penultimate result is the same, and some may think that, win or lose, there is no difference which path you take, but in reality, it makes all the difference in the world."