December 10 Friday
The drama room echoed with the sound of jumping and clapping as the cast of Jenny rehearsed the final song, Not the boss of my body:
There's nothing wrong with being a woman on the inside, sang the entire ensemble joyfully with broad smiles on their faces. There's nothing wrong with conflicting body parts. Boy or girl, it doesn't really matter. All that counts is what's inside your heart.
The creators sat on foldable chairs beneath the stage.
"Nope, it's too cheesy" said James.
"It's ironic" Sirius explained. "I think"
"No. It's just cheesy"
The entire ensemble spun around. The gourd broke when Roy threw it in the air and failed to catch it. Goody was quick to run out on stage with a papier-maché gourd and the cast continued the rehearsal.
"Papier maché replica, eh?" Remus mumbled.
"Why don't you just nick a sword from Dumbledore's office and use that in the trap?" Sirius asked. "Meanwhile I am a little surprised that Greyback would be given such a non-terror related task. Why him?"
"Maybe Voldemort draws names from hats" James suggested.
"Maybe. For such an honorable mission I would have expected him to pick somebody who can control his own salivation"
Simon entered the drama room and went up to James to look crossed at him.
"Nice going releasing the weapon!" he said.
"We're not finished!" James told him.
"I failed to fulfill the prophecy so now I'm no longer chosen and my girlfriend dumped me! I hope you're happy! See you at quidditch!" Simon adjusted his eye patch before storming out of the room.
"I am a little" James muttered.
Sirius shook his head.
"The ingratitude of some people, think you can fix things over night"
"It's not too late to fulfill the prophecy, is it?"
Sirius shrugged. It was clear they needed to consult an expert, preferably an actual prophet and not a bogus prophet.
The closest thing the lads could find to a prophet was Mac who took prophet studies. They found her conveniently enough in the library dusting off prophecies with a special orb brush.
"Prophecies don't have deadlines, generally" she said and checked the prophecy in her hand for spots of dust and put it in the sack of dusted orbs when she didn't find any. "They are far too vague for that. It's never too late to fulfill a prophecy unless there are circumstances that make it impossible, in which case the prophecy in question is annulled"
She picked up Simon's prophecy and read: 'He who is valiant and pure of spirit'- of course it has to be a 'he',- 'And who was born in the beginning and will die at the end, he shall journey to the Location of Events and perform the Act for One cannot defeat another if there is no one to defeat.' Do you see?"
"But the weapon and the mountain, where do the details come from?" James asked.
"From his wise, old mentor probably. They interpret the prophecies and arrange the quests. As long as the 'weapon' is out there the prophecy is active, however" Mac put down Simon's prophecy and picked up another. "It's not rare for there to be rivaling prophecies and rivaling interpretations. Prophecies are as I mentioned extremely vague. If now Simon has been told he is no longer chosen it is probably because the Society of Interpreters have decided so for whatever reason. Maybe they think he is no longer necessary, maybe there's a better prophecy for somebody else that serves the same purpose. It could also mean they simply got the wrong person. 'He who has lived for as long as he has existed, he shall inflict discomfort on the enemy for no one can walk that has no legs'."
The prophecy was reunited with its dusted friends.
"Maybe we should just hijack another quest" said Sirius, thinking that it could get them new powerful items that could be useful.
"Do you really think you should be hijacking any more quests?" Mac asked.
"We're not finished!"
Mac shoved the open book before her aside and reached for a magazine entitled Prophet's Digest. "Well let's see: 'Wanted: right handed Scorpio with both wisdom teeth left.'. That's just the Prophet Seeks Prophet page." She turned a couple of pages. "Ok, listen: 'He who came to be when Venus descended'- That is, on a cloud free morning- 'he may bring order to the chaos for nothing can be found that hasn't been lost.' Now the Interpreters are arguing that this prophecy predicted that the quest you failed would fail, so that's some comfort for you-"
"We're not finished" said James.
"This is the most hyped prophecy right now. So, were any of you born on a cloud free morning by any chance?"
"That's it? You just have to have been born on a cloud free morning?"
"I don't know if it was cloud free" said Sirius.
"Any time in the morning or really early in the morning?"
"Depends on the time of year but around sunrise" said Mac and put down the magazine.
The clanky sound of chains and jewelry neared them. Fletcher was revealed to be the source and he wasn't just covered in jewelry; he was also wearing a white mink coat and star shaped sun glasses with glitter rims. He put his hands on the table and flashed Mac a sleazy grin.
"Hi, Mac. Still asexual?"
Mac closed the book and put it in her bag before leaving with her sacks with prophecies.
"Wait! You forgot your" Fletched picked up the magazine. "'He who came to be when Venus descended' I was born in the morning! 'Nothing can be found that hasn't been lost'. I have no idea what that means!"
"Thanks for nothing, then" Sirius stuck a cigarette in his mouth, ignoring the new no-smoking signs.
"Nothing has ever been lost that I didn't find" said Fletcher proudly, successfully confusing himself. Noticing that Fletcher was less short than usual Sirius looked down at his sparkling midnight blue platform shoes.
"Are those my shoes?"
Fletcher rubbed his hands together. "Fame and glory here I come! Where do I find a mentor?"
"Why would you want to be a designee?" Remus asked him. "It's scary stuff"
"H-how scary?"
"It's not scary" said James and yanked his disco glasses off Fletcher. "All you have to do is, I don't know, sign up somewhere and leave the rest to us"
"But then how will I get fame and glory?"
"We'll tell everybody it was you"
Fletcher considered the offer. "Ok. Well I better go talk to Sprout or something"
Fletcher took the magazine with him and walked out of the library on poorly balanced steps. Sirius was sad to see his disco shoes go but he knew that they had been defiled for eternity and that all the Shoe Freshener in the world couldn't cover the smell of sweaty junkie sock.