Adam
January 14th 1996

Adam was feeling very nervous. He had been half looking forward to and half dreading today ever since he'd returned to school after the Christmas holidays. Sirius had reminded him how important it was, and that he, for his own safety, should not under any circumstances forget about it.

Today was a year to the day since he and Ginny first got together and Adam wanted to do something special for her. He'd asked Sirius to get a present for him. Which Sirius had, presumably, asked Tonks to purchase.

Adam had also managed to get some flowers for Ginny. He'd seen some of the older students sending flowers to their girlfriends. However, these flowers normally arrived, in a grand gesture, by Owl post at breakfast. Adam didn't want to do that, it didn't feel right. Plus, Dumbledore would probably notice him spending his money and accuse him of attracting attention to himself.

So Adam had written a note to the flower shop asking them to deliver the flowers late yesterday evening. He'd been able to grab the flowers off the owl last night in relative privacy and then taken them up to his room where he'd kept them in water.

Adam was now waiting in the Entrance Hall for Ginny. He had his present and flowers under his arm, wrapped in his cloak so that they couldn't be seen. It made him look like he was pretending to be a tea pot but Adam didn't mind that.

"Hi, Adam!" Ginny said brightly as she approached.

"Hi, Ginny!" Adam replied, giving her a quick kiss. "Follow me!"

Adam led Ginny out into the school grounds. Luckily for his plan, today was a nice day.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked. "And why are you walking funny?"

"I just thought we could go for a walk," Adam said, trying to act nonchalant.

"Oh, okay." Ginny replied, looking slightly puzzled.

They walked around the outside of the castle, eventually reaching a quiet spot that overlooked the lake.

"Adam," Ginny asked in a quiet voice. "Do you know what day it is today?"

"What? It's Sunday," Adam replied, deciding to try to wind Ginny up a bit.

"Oh," Ginny said, her face falling.

Adam suddenly felt a surge of guilt as he saw how upset Ginny looked that he hadn't remembered.

Adam pulled his cloak off the flowers and held them up. When Ginny saw them she squealed excitedly and threw her arms around him.

"You remembered! You remembered!" Ginny squealed.

"Of course!" Adam replied grinning.

"These are lovely!" Ginny exclaimed as she examined the flowers.

"Do you still have the locket I gave you?" Adam asked.

"Of course! I wear it nearly all the time."

"I got a new photo for it, if you want," said Adam and he took out his present and handed it to Ginny.

"It's awesome! Thanks!"

Adam watched as Ginny slipped off the necklace and put the photograph inside. The photo was of Ginny and himself, both in their Quidditch uniforms. Colin had taken it and Adam had asked Sirius to get a copy made for him.

Once Ginny had put her necklace back on they sat down next to each other, leaning against the wall of the castle.

"I.." Adam began hesitantly. "I wanted to get you something special today because...." he paused. "Well I couldn't really give you anything in front of your family."

"Adam!" Ginny exclaimed. "You don't need to buy me expensive things," she paused, suddenly looking a little embarrassed. "Anyway, what I got you isn't anywhere near as nice."

"Oh, it'll be amazing, I'm sure!" Adam replied encouragingly.

Ginny had made him a wonderful card.

"Wow, Ginny this is amazing! You must have spent hours on this!" Adam said honestly. All he had done was spend money.

With their presents exchanged, they cuddled up together in the warm morning sun.

"I can't believe it was a year ago that I kissed you for the first time!" Ginny said softly, with a slight giggle.

"I know," Adam replied. "Ginny," he hesitated. "A-Are you happy with, you know... Us?"

"I am," Ginny replied.

"I-I-I just feel that you deserve someone better than me. I've got all this baggage, with all this," Adam gestured uselessly.

"Adam!" Ginny snapped, sitting up suddenly. "You do deserve me! I'm hardly perfect anyway, what with the diary and all."

Adam smiled at Ginny in response, deliberately ignoring her diary comment. "Do you think we'll still be together next year?" Adam asked.

"Don't jinx it!" Ginny exclaimed with a giggle. "But seriously, yes, I hope so. No, I know we will," she snuggled into Adam's side. "It's just so, perfect, you're my best friend and my boyfriend rolled into one. I'm always happy spending time with you, it... it... it just feels so comfortable. Even when we're not doing anything I enjoy spending time with you. You know?"

"Yeah," Adam replied. "I never really want to spend time with anyone else. Not when you're around."

Ginny grinned up at him. "It just feels right to me."

Adam nodded. He agreed completely.

"Enough talking now I think," Ginny replied with smirk on her face.

Adam completely agreed with that, too.

February 10th 1996

Adam pushed through the crowds in the Three Broomsticks towards the table where Ginny was sitting. Today was the first Hogsmeade weekend since Christmas, and they were meeting Sirius.

Adam and Ginny had spent the morning walking around the shops and enjoying each other's company. They didn't have anything that they needed to buy, so they'd decided to come into the Three Broomsticks and grab a drink.

"Here we go," he said as he sat down next to her.

They both sipped their butterbeers. They had half an hour to kill before they had to meet Sirius.

The Three Broomsticks was crowded with students, as it usually was on Hogsmeade weekends. Even though he had been earlier in the year, Adam still privately relished that he could come to Hogsmeade and not have to worry about sneaking out, as he had to last year.

When the time came, Adam and Ginny left the pub and walked up to the cave where they had met Sirius before Christmas, carefully ensuring that they were not followed. When they reached the cave, Sirius was already waiting for them.

"Hi, guys!" he greeted them as they entered the cave. "How's things?"

"Good, thanks!" Adam replied, hugging him.

"Did you like the photo?" Sirius asked Ginny with wink.

Ginny blushed. "Yes, thanks."

"So... any news on the Prophecy?" Adam immediately asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I'm doing fine, thanks," Sirius replied with a grin.

"Come on, Sirius, I know you don't do anything other than sit around that house," said Adam cheekily.

"No!" Ginny exclaimed with a giggle. "He's also trying to set up Remus and Tonks!"

"Guys..." Adam continued in exasperation. He wanted to know if Sirius had managed to find anything out about the Prophecy.

"Okay," Sirius began, gesturing for them to sit. "I asked Tonks. She told me all the Prophecy records are stored in the Department of Mysteries."

"Great!" Adam said. "How can we get them?"

"That's the problem," Sirius sighed. "We don't know for certain that the Prophecy is there and, if it is, only certain people can actually take them off the shelves."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked.

"The only people that can take the recording of a prophecy are those that the prophecy is about."

"Oh," Adam said. He felt bitterly disappointed. If the Prophecy was about his parents as he suspected, then he would never be able to view it.

"Yeah, that leaves us at a dead end."

"So where do we go from here?" Ginny asked.

"We keep looking," Adam replied. He needed to know why his parents had been killed. There had to be some reason why his life had been the way it had. "Or try to persuade Dumbledore to tell us."

"Okay," Sirius agreed. "Let's keeping looking. If we haven't found anything else before the summer, we confront Albus. Together."

"Together," Adam said.

"Together," Ginny agreed.

February 26th 1996

He was very short. He moved very close to the ground. He moved through a glittering room and into a room full of shelves. The shelves stretched up into the ceiling until they faded into the darkness. He moved down the room until he reached the row labelled Ninety Seven. He raced down the row, he was near now. So very near. After some indeterminate distance he reared up to bring what was on the shelves into view. Each shelf held a line of dusty glass orbs. Below each orb was a label. Two such labels attracted his attention. They were identical.

S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D
Dark Lord
and (?)Harry Potter

The two globes that sat above the label seemed closer together than the others nearby on the shelves. He got nearer and nearer to the orbs. He was almost close enough to pick them up. He heard a sound behind him. Someone was coming. He had been spotted.

"Adam!"

Adam sat up in bed. He was soaked in sweat.

"You were struggling like crazy in your bed," Colin said, standing over him. "And... And you're bleeding!"

Then the pain hit him. His forehead felt like someone was slowly slicing the skin away with a sharp knife.

"Arghhh," Adam hissed.

"You alright?" Colin asked. He looked slightly panicked

"I'm fine," Adam said replied with gritted teeth. "A bad headache."

"Oh."

Adam jumped out of bed and dashed to the toilets, leaving behind a bemused Colin. Reaching the toilets Adam dived into one of the cubicles and promptly threw up. Once he had finished, he stood up shakily and struggled over to one of the sinks. His forehead was bloody and, once again, the lightning bolt shaped mark was there. Adam wiped the blood off his forehead and, as he wiped, the scar had already begun to fade away.

Once the mark was gone and Adam felt confident he wasn't going to be sick again, he made his way slowly back to his room. His head was still pounding and his forehead prickled. He got back to his room and sat down on his bed.

"Okay, mate?" Colin asked from his bed.

"Yeah, thanks," Adam said with a small smile. "I think I'm just going to try and go back to sleep."

"I reckon you might be coming down with something," Colin continued.

"If I don't feel any better in the morning I'll go and see Madam Pomfrey," Adam replied, as he lay back down on his bed.

Adam didn't manage to get back to sleep that night. He played the dream over and over in his mind, trying to keep the details from fading. Row Ninety Seven. Two Prophecies. My Name. If the Prophecies were in his name then he could take them from the shelf!

When morning came, Adam dragged himself down to the common room and collapsed into one of the chairs to wait for Ginny to emerge. She was a notoriously late sleeper. She finally appeared with only twenty minutes left until the end of breakfast. Adam smiled as he saw her stagger into the common room, her hair was messed up and she seemed half asleep. Adam slowly got to his feet and went over to her.

"Morning," she said, giving him a quick hug. "You look as bad as I feel," she said with a tired grin.

"Yeah," Adam replied. "I had a rubbish night."

They made their way down to breakfast, which they both ate in silence. Adam didn't feel much like talking and, apparently, neither did Ginny.

Today was a Monday so, unfortunately, they had Potions as first lesson. Once they had finished breakfast they wandered in the direction of the dungeons.

"So what's bothering you?" Ginny asked, as they walked down the stairs.

Adam kept silent until they reached the corridor that housed the entrance the Snape's classroom. Once there, they went down the corridor a bit so they would be out of earshot of any students arriving for the lesson.

"The Prophecy is about me!" he exclaimed to Ginny. "Well, there's more than one!"

Ginny stared into space. "So you can retrieve them!"

"Yes!" Adam replied excitedly.

"How can you know that?" Ginny asked, she seemed deep in thought.

"I saw it. There are labels."

"Both of the globes with the prophecy in are labelled with your name?" Ginny queried.

"Yes!" Adam replied excited. "Now all we need to do is figure out a way to get into the Department of Mysteries to get them!"

"You need to write to Sirius," Ginny said. "And we can ask..."

"Moody," Adam finished.

"Yep, we can do it later on," Ginny agreed.

"Ginny," Adam said softly. "You know what it means if the Prophecy was about me..."

Ginny was silent for a second.

"He wasn't after your parents that night.... he was after you," Ginny replied softly.

"Weasley! Winters!" Professor Snape's voice echoed down the corridor. "Are you deaf or just too stupid to understand the simple instruction 'Go in'?"

Adam groaned and he and Ginny walked into the classroom, it wasn't a promising start to the lesson.

Thankfully, Adam managed to escape with only a loss of ten points for Gryffindor. Snape had taken the points because his potion was slightly off colour. However, Adam noticed that he hadn't taken points from Harper, a Slytherin, even though his potion had started spiting globules of mixture all over the desk. Adam had long since stopped being bothered by Snape's favouritism of Slytherins.

Adam's spirits brightened slightly once Potions had finished. They had Defence next!

"You going to mention the dream to Moody?" Ginny asked, as they climbed up the stairs out of the dungeons.

"Yeah, I'll stay after class."

By the time they arrived at Professor Moody's classroom the door was already open, and they filed in and sat at their usual desk.

Professor Moody's lesson was just as good as ever. They covered basic counter curses. Adam and Ginny took turns in placing each other in the Leg Locker Curse and then they each practiced dispelling them. Once the lesson was finished, the students piled out of the room, but Adam lingered behind, determined to tell Professor Moody what he'd seen in his dream.

"Got some news for me?" Professor Moody asked bluntly once the rest of the class had left.

"I know where the Prophecy is and I can get it," Adam told him. "The Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. I even know what shelf it's on."

Professor Moody stood up from where he was sitting and walked over towards Adam. He clapped him on the back.

"Good work, lad!"

"Now all we need to do is figure out how to get there," Adam said. "I was wondering..."

"Of course!" Professor Moody replied. He walked back over to his desk, sat down and took a swig from his flask.

"The Department of Mysteries is on Level 9 of the Ministry of Magic. Once you come out of the lift, straight ahead and through the door."

Adam nodded. "But how do we get into the Ministry."

"The best way to get in is by Floo. If you go in the evening you will find it lightly guarded."

"Really?" Adam asked. He was surprised that the Ministry itself would be lightly guarded.

Moody smirked at him. "I can arrange it for you."

"Great!" Adam exclaimed. He could do it, he could really go and get the prophecy.

"You tell me the date you intend to go. I'll make sure I am out of my office, but my door will be unlocked and the Floo left open."

"Brilliant!" Adam grinned. "Thank you so much!"

"Enough of that, boy," replied Professor Moody gruffly. "Off you go and let me know when you want me to make..." he paused. "... arrangements for you."

March 16th 1996

Adam and Ginny were cuddled together under the Invisibility Cloak as they sneaked out of the school.

Ginny was still wearing her Quidditch robes from the game earlier in the day. The Hufflepuff team had been a complete push over. The only question had been how many points Gryffindor would score before they caught the Snitch. Adam was pretty sure Angelina had even instructed Ginny not to catch the Snitch early, so Gryffindor could get as many points as possible. Ginny had eventually caught the Snitch resulting in a 630 to 40 point victory for Gryffindor.

While Ginny had been playing, Adam had received a letter attached to an owl. It was from Sirius. He was in Hogsmeade and wanted to meet with them that night.

Once they had left the school, Adam and Ginny quickly padded across the grounds until they reached the meeting place, the Whomping Willow.

"How do we get under the branches?" Adam asked in a whisper. "I don't fancy doing it like we did it last time."

However, there didn't seem be any other options, so they edged gingerly closer to the willow but, much to their surprise, the branches did not move.

"Sirius," Adam and Ginny said simultaneously.

Relieved that they wouldn't have to risk being hit by the tree's flailing branches, they crept forward and entered the tunnel beneath the tree. Sirius was sitting waiting for them in his dog form. Once Adam whipped off the cloak, Sirius transformed back.

"James' Cloak?" Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

"Yep," Adam replied, grinning as he hugged his godfather.

"Wicked! Now, as you Godfather," Sirius winked, "I must instruct you not to get into too much mischief."

Ginny giggled. "Don't worry, we don't and how did you get the branches to stop moving?" She asked.

Sirius laughed and pointed to a knot in the tree branch just outside the tunnel entrance. "You press here and it stops moving."

"But," Ginny asked, "how did you know we were coming?"

"Padfoot has a rather good nose," Sirius replied haughtily, causing Ginny to giggle and Adam to roll his eyes.

Once the moving branches were once against guarding the entrance, the three of them navigated the tunnel back into the shack itself.

"Here we are again," Ginny mused, as they reached the room where the confrontation between Sirius and Adam had taken place last year.

Ginny sat down on the battered bed and he sat next to her.

"You wrote saying you had something important to tell me?" Sirius asked.

"We know how to get the Prophecy," Adam stated bluntly.

"How?" Sirius asked.

"Moody is going to help. He will be able to get us into the Ministry. And we know where the Prophecy is once we're inside," Ginny replied.

"But how can you get the Prophecy?" Sirius asked.

"It's in my name."

"What?"

"The Prophecy is about me."

"How can you possibly know that?" Sirius replied, looking confused.

"I... I just know," Adam replied hesitantly.

"That's not good enough, Adam!" Sirius replied hotly.

"We've... I mean, Adam has had a vision. He's seen the Prophecies," Ginny added.

"Prophecies?"

"There's two!"

"Oh," Sirius replied, sitting down heavily on a nearby chair.

"Sirius! We can go and Adam can take them off the shelves!" Ginny said emphatically.

"I..." Sirius hesitated. "Guys, I don't like this. All this talk about visions. We're relying on this dream you've had!"

"Sirius. Please!" Adam pleaded. "I need to do this!"

Sirius looked extremely apprehensive and Adam felt his excitement fading, Sirius wasn't going to let them do it.

"Sirius!" Ginny said, standing up. "We're going to do this! With or without you! Don't you want to know yourself?"

Sirius stood up and began to place the room. Adam waited anxiously. They hadn't actually discussed doing it without Sirius, but he supposed it was possible.

"Okay," he said tiredly. "Let's set a date. I'll come with you, Adam."

"I'm coming, too," Ginny interrupted.

"Ginny...." Adam began softly.

"Don't you dare!" Ginny exploded, jabbing her finger into Adam's chest.

Adam blanched.

"I'll leave you two to settle that issue," Sirius said with a dry laugh. "So when are we going to do this?"

"Soon," Adam answered.

"No. I'll need time. I'm checking everything out myself first before you guys go. I'm not putting you in danger," Sirius stated.

"Sirius..." Adam began to protest.

"No. This is non-negotiable," Sirius said in a harsh tone. "How about the end of May?" Sirius suggested. "That'll give me plenty of time."

"Qudditch," Ginny sighed.

"June?"

"Exams."

"Okay, so when do your exams finish?" Sirius said, sounding exasperated now.

Adam counted on his fingers. "Last exam is the 14th June," he told Sirius.

"How about the 15th then?" Sirius suggested. "Most people will be celebrating the end of the exams," he rolled his eyes. "And no one will notice the two of you sneaking off."

"Okay," Adam said. "I'll let Moody know. He said we can use his Floo."

"Okay. On the fifteenth meet me here after dinner. We can sneak in with your cloak. And do not write to me. The owl that reached me with your last letter was injured. I think someone had tried to bring it down."

"Thanks," Adam said, trying to keep the excitement from his voice.

"I just hope I don't regret this," Sirius said, still looking agitated. "Now, I need to go. Albus doesn't know I've left Grimmauld Place."

After a very strained goodbye, Sirius rapidly left the building, leaving Adam and Ginny alone.

"Let's get back to Hogwarts," Ginny said, looking around uneasily. "This place gives me the creeps."

By the time Adam and Ginny reached the school, it was well past curfew. Even though they had the Invisibility Cloak, Adam didn't want to chance bumping into any teachers or patrolling prefects. The cloak made them invisible, but it didn't hide any noises they made, or stop Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, from smelling them.

Once they slipped in through the doors and into he Entrance Hall. Adam and Ginny huddled in the shadows and pulled out the Marauders map.

"Oh, no," Adam exclaimed in a slightly panicked whisper.

"What?" Ginny asked, peering over to look at the map.

"Dumbledore's coming down the stairs," Adam's finger traced the staircase on the map. "And Snape is coming up the path behind us. With Igor Karkaroff, whoever he is."

"He's the headmaster from Durmstrang," Ginny said in a surprised voice. "He was here last year."

"Never mind that!" Adam whispered furiously. "We need to hide."

Adam and Ginny ran forward, still hidden under the cloak, towards the staircase but it was too late. Hearing the echo of Professor Dumbledore's footsteps, they dashed towards the only place they could think to hide, the small chamber that the first years stood in while waiting to be sorted. From here they could see into the Hall if necessary but still stay out of the way. The last thing they needed was for Dumbledore to spot them.

Adam and Ginny kept their eyes glued to the Map. They watched the dots that represented Professor Dumbledore, Snape and Karkaroff eventually meet in the middle of the Entrance Hall.

"Igor," Professor Dumbledore's voice echoed softly through the deserted room. "I did not expect you at such a late hour."

"Albus, I had to come, I have to know," said an accented voice that Adam did not recognise. Presumably this was Igor. "What does it mean?"

"Your Mark...." Professor Dumbledore began.

"It is the same as mine," Snape interrupted.

"It means," Professor Dumbledore paused. "That he is back and regaining his strength."

"Then I must flee," said Igor, in a much higher pitched tone. "He will come after me. You lied to me Dumbledore! If I thought he would return I-I-I never would have..."

"Igor," said Professor Dumbledore. "That it is not yet black, means we still have time."

"I need to go," Igor said, his voice trembling.

"Igor, please! Let me help you," Dumbledore said softly.

"No," replied Igor, he sounded terrified now. "I trusted you once, but not again."

"Then go, Igor," said Professor Dumbledore, Adam recognised the tired tone of his voice.

There was a bustle and tap of footsteps on the stone floor and then silence.

"Fool," Snape spat, breaking the silence.

"Let me see your Mark, Severus."

There was a rustle of cloth.

"My Mark hasn't been this dark since...." Snape began.

"Since he came so close to retrieving the stone, four years ago," Professor Dumbledore finished.

There was silence in the Hall.

"I was right," Snape began. "Now, finally, you admit it?"

"Would that I had the wisdom to see beyond my pre-conceptions. I assumed it was merely an overly ambitious Professor. He showed no sign. He was careful to hide his true nature even after Quirrell died."

"The boy..." Severus began.

"That he is alive has changed everything," Professor Dumbledore remarked. "Come, Severus, this conversation is something best reserved for my office."

Adam watched intently as Professor Dumbledore's and Snape's dots on the map moved up the stairs.

Adam and Ginny both stood crouched under the cloak until the dots representing both Professors reached the Headmaster's Office.

"What the hell was that about?" Adam whispered to Ginny as they emerged from their hiding place and rapidly climbed the stairs to Gryffindor tower.

"I don't know. But it seems to have even Professor Dumbledore worried," Ginny replied.