AN: The tenses in the prophecy was for aesthetics rather than chronological consistency, sorry for any confusion. The scene with Ron and the sausage was just a convenient way to get the twins with Harry for their conversation, I don't plan for Harry to retaliate against Ron.
HPCOC
Harry is out of control. Dumbledore thought as he paced in his office, just after Harry left after their tea. I wasn't planning on giving him the Hallow, anymore. I should have known that he would know about it already. I wonder if he already knows about the stone.
Albus' carefully laid plan was in ruins from the moment Harry asked for his vault key. Hagrid was supposed to take an impressionable, young, muggle hating, desperate for rescue Harry into the magical world as his first exposure. But nooooo, somehow someone managed to find the boy. Now the weak willed martyr is being trained. He has to die or Voldemort will keep coming back! It's right there in the prophecy, this meddler 'Nick' is going to doom the whole world!
Complaining will get me nowhere. How do I get Harry back under my thumb? I need something he wants enough that if I can offer it to him he'll drop his...whatever his relationship is with Nick. At least I can still use the Mirror. Dumbledore thought. The Mirror! Of course. It should be fairly easy to get an eleven year old to reveal what the Mirror of Erised shows him, so long as he doesn't know what it does. That's settled then, step one: get Harry enthralled by the Mirror. I'll just put it out tonight and wait for him to succumb to the temptation of exploring invisibly.
HPCOC
He never showed up last night. Dumbledore thought angrily the next morning. The Gray Lady checked for me, he was out of bed. The only way that my beckoning charm wouldn't have pulled him into the Mirror's room was if he was on the other side of the castle. Well tonight I just have to make sure he is exploring the correct part of the castle.
HPCOC
Harry woke up and remembered the new prophecy. He'd been wishing that he would have discovered that it had been a dream. It was real though, which means he needed to interpret it. With a sigh of resignation he pulled a new notebook out of his trunk and started writing in Parselscript.
Original prophecy, translation, still have to end Tom.
New Prophecy...
Together born shall be the Children of Change. Probably means me and Tonks, born within twenty minutes of each other if her mother is to be believed. We're also the only ones that were different initially in this time line, well us and Lisa...wonder if she plays a role...
The world that was once will never be. Future of this world irrevocably changed? Seems likely.
Destroyed by the Forge, The Boy of Change. This could mean a lot of things. What was destroyed? What is 'the Forge'? 'The boy of change' could be either of those answers. Assuming I'm the boy, this could have happened on that Halloween night, the forge could be whatever Mum did to protect me, or Voldemort, or my memories from the future, pretty much anything or anyone that got involved with me that night. I could be the forge having destroyed the chances that this universe will be like the last one. Or it could be something that hasn't come up yet, heck if the fates have a sense of humor the forge could be the Weasley twins. Or it could literally be a forge, beware of metal workers in the future.
For many years the Girl he won't see. uh...
The One was loved by all.
The other was cast out. These two lines seem to be simply to further identify the children...either line could mean either of us I guess...I'm the one in the other prophecy and the Tonks' were thrown out of Family Black...but I certainly wasn't loved by my family, and I was cast out of the magical world...
Together they'll join in fall. The season? Or someone failing to do something, as in a fall from grace/the light/something...Join how? Meeting up or fusing together somehow or something else entirely?
The Boy knows what's to come
With knowledge unknown. Duh.
The change was swift. Another line that's very ambiguous. I did start undoing things as soon as I was able too...is that what this means?
With his final form the Enlightenment. This is concerning. This implies either I die or I stop being a metamorph somehow...or something that I won't understand until it happens. All three sound unpleasant, hopefully it will be the third option.
He shall teach her. Probably means after the final form line...I don't know how I could teach her if I die, ghost maybe? This line supports not dying slightly...I hope.
Together they shall go forth. Again probably means after the final form line, might be in reference to the 'join in fall' bit. If the fall references me, it would support the dying interpretation of the final form, then the joining and together might mean that we share a body afterwards...this prophecy is getting more and more unpleasant.
Heroes to the World
All will bow to them
Together they will be
With time.
So we do something good maybe? Is she going to help me kill Tom? What if in this world she is the one in the other prophecy and my role is to help her? Am I the power he knows not? The original prophecy still marks the one as a boy though...
All this prophecy really says is that Tonks and I get together and do something...I think I need a second opinion...
HPCOC
Awkward was the best word to describe breakfast that morning. Harry was there first and eating quietly when Ron showed up, alone. He turned bright red when he saw that he was alone with Harry, and sat down as far away as humanly possible. Harry was rather grateful for this, the events of yesterday clearly at the front of both of their minds. Harry was fairly surprised that Ron would be up and about before his brothers, who came in a few minutes later. It didn't get any better when they arrived because the Twins took the seats on either side of Harry, and the Forge line of the prophecy came to mind again.
"You know, there are five of us right now." George said.
"If we can find three more people we could have a small game of Quidditch." Fred finished.
"Then there would be two chasers, a beater and a keeper for each team." George continued.
"Where would we find three more players?" Harry asked.
"We could ask the professors." George said shrugging.
"Or maybe recruit from Hogsmeade." Fred continued.
"Do you really think that there would be three adults who want to play outside, in the cold, for however long we want to play?" Harry asked. "They would probably get impatient."
"There are kids in Hogsmeade." Fred said, defending himself. "Some of the students here grew up in the village, we have a list somewhere."
"Dibs on Keeper." Ron called from downs the table, thankfully remembering to swallow his food first.
"How about you Percy?" George asked.
"If you can manage to fill out the roster I'll be the other Keeper I suppose." Percy said haughtily.
"Brilliant, and with us as beaters, that only leaves three chaser spots." Fred said happily.
"Those are the easiest spots to fill too." George said.
"You two will be the beaters?" Harry asked.
"Of course they will." Ron said before continuing with the words Harry really didn't want to hear. "Gred and Forge absolutely destroy the opposition."
That has to be coincidence, the timing is too perfect. Still better safe than destroyed. Harry thought. "Erm, I think I'll pass."
"Don't be like that Harry." Fred said. "We'll go easy on you."
"Yea, we know you don't play." George finished.
"No, that's really okay." Harry said slightly nervous. "I'm not really into sports."
"You've never even tried it." George said.
"And we've heard about your flying lessons."
"Everyone knows you're a natural."
"Just give it a chance."
"You might love it."
"No, I really don't want to. Just drop it." Harry said sternly as Dumbledore walked in. "Good morning Professor."
"Good morning Harry." Dumbledore said. "How are you this morning?"
"Just fine, and yourself?" Harry asked.
"Never been better." Dumbledore before turning to the others. "Percival, Ronald, George, Fredrick, I trust the morning greets you well as well."
"Yes sir." The brothers chorused, while Dumbledore sat down facing the doors.
"So what are your plans for the day?" Dumbledore asked eyes twinkling.
"Well we were going to try to get a quidditch game together." Fred said.
"But we need four more people now.."
"That Harry has backed out."
"What's wrong with quidditch?" Dumbledore asked Harry.
"Erm, nothing. It just isn't for me." Harry said. "Why does everyone keep pressuring me on it?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Dumbledore said. "It is just one of the most popular games in our world. It is unusual to find someone who doesn't care for it."
"Well I guess I am unusual then." Harry said, the discomfort of the situation was getting to be too much. "If you'll excuse me, have a nice meal."
As Harry was walking away Dumbledore did some discreet wand work under the table. If Harry wasn't so preoccupied with leaving he would have felt the silent spell hit him as he walked through the doors. Dumbledore sighed. "I think we have offended him."
"We?" Fred asked. "All he had done was reject the game before you showed up, sir."
"Fred!" Percy scolded. "Don't talk to the Headmaster that way!"
"It is fine Percival." Dumbledore said. "He might be correct."
"He should still show some respect." Percy said quietly, glaring at his brother.
"How can he not like quidditch though?" Ron asked. "It's the best game ever."
"Now now Ronald. It isn't our place to judge." Dumbledore said. "Maybe he had a bad experience, there was that freak bludger attack earlier this year."
"Yes, that could make anyone find the game distasteful." Percy said. "If I find out that any of you three have been harassing him about it I'll write mum."
"We would never harass anyone."
"About anything."
"Ever."
"How could you even think that of us?"
"Our own brother"
"Thinks we're nothing but harassing harassers"
"Oh the shame"
"How will we ever go on?" Both twins put their wrists to their foreheads and dramatically mimed fainting.
"What does 'harassing' mean?" Ron asked dumbfounded, causing the others to laugh, which in turn cause Ron to blush.
HPCOC
That evening, just after curfew, Harry was suddenly overcome with the need to try out the cloak. Specifically near the library. This naturally made Harry cautious. Checking the map he found Dumbledore sitting in the corner of a room near the Library. Harry was interested to note that it was an unused room. What's he up to? Harry thought as he took the map and cloak and left the tower.
As he walked he kept an eye on the map and noted with interest that the patrolling staff members were all on the other side of the castle. He doubted he would have run into any of them even without either cloak or map. Suddenly the castle itself seemed to be telling him where to go, and it was leading him right to Dumbledore. Might as well not fight it. I wonder if it is Hogwart's trying to get me there or if it is Dumbledore.
After a few more minutes of walking he found the room in question. One more check to the map showed that Dumbledore was still in there, so he blanked the map and put it away before pushing the door open. Sitting in the middle of the cleared floor was the Mirror or Erised.
Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot about that. Harry thought as he walked over in front of it, dropping his cloak along the way. It took all of his self control to not start laughing when he saw what his deepest desire was.
Harry was standing front and center like a regular mirror would show him, and in the background he could see the Mirror itself. What made it funny was that Voldemort and Dumbledore were both there as well, wearing dunce caps and circling the Mirror prodding it with their wands looking confused. The Mirror Harry turned and watched the futile search for a few minutes before turning back to the real Harry. Mirror Harry grinned like the cat who got the canary and reached into his pocket. The scene was very familiar as he withdrew his hand, with the Philosopher's Stone, and winked. When Mirror Harry put the Stone back in his pocket the real Harry felt it fall into his real pocket, just like last time.
"Well, I could watch this all night, but I'd rather not get caught." Harry said aloud and clearly. "I'd best go back to bed before someone comes by."
Harry gathered up his cloak from where he dropped it and as he threw it over his shoulders he turned back to the Mirror. "I'll be back tomorrow if I can."
That worked perfectly. Dumbledore thought, containing his glee until Harry was long gone. Tomorrow night I confront him about it and find out what he wants.
HPCOC
What do I do with you? Harry thought regarding the Philosopher's Stone, once he got back to his room. I obviously can't just hand you over to the fool. Maybe I should put it back in the Mirror. It gets destroyed at the end of the year anyway...or does it?
Harry smiled and quickly transfigured a quill into a replica of the Stone, but made out of glass. After examining them closely, and finding the fake to be almost perfect, Harry wrapped the real stone up in one of Vernon's old socks and stuffed it in the bottom of his trunk next to the Horcrux and the time turner. There are going to be a lot of questions if my trunk is ever searched.
"Marny?" Harry called out.
"Yes Harry sir?" Marny asked as he popped into the room.
"Do I own any carving tools?" Harry asked.
"Yes sir. Wood, stone or metal?" Marny replied.
"Could you bring the stone and metal tools please?" Harry asked.
"Yes sir." Marny said and popped off.
Might as well solve all of this mess. Harry thought and conjured two small boxes, one labeled 27 and the other labeled 42. Harry put Ravenclaw's diadem into the one marked 27 and the real stone in the one marked 42.
"Thank you." Harry said when Marny popped back in. "Could you take these boxes and put one in the Sicilian house and the other in the French one? I don't care which is where."
"Right away sir." Marny said and took the boxes and popped away.
Harry set the fake stone and the time turner on his desk before pulling out a new memory and placing it in his pensieve. He went into his memory with a notebook and a pen. The memory was from the late 2020's. This was the event that put Hermione's name in the history books forever. With this one discovery Hermione revolutionized the Statute of Secrecy. She called her discovery the 'Expectation Rune', it was a bit of a misnomer though, it was a rune set, and a very complicated one at that. These runes would make the person looking at whatever was inscribed with the runes see whatever they were expecting to see. In old Harry's time every Auror and hitwizard had pendants with the runes on them and, so long as they didn't get too flashy, no muggle would be able to tell they were using magic. Harry had the memory on pause for almost an hour as he painstakingly copied the runes down.
When Harry left the pensieve he noted the time and closed the curtains on his bed and put a silencing charm on it. Then, sitting down at his desk he pulled the fake stone and the time turner over to him along with the carving tools.
The sun was coming up when he finished carving. Now anyone who looked at the fake stone would see the real stone unless they expected it to be fake, all of their tests would confirm that it was the real thing too. The time turner would look like any ordinary necklace now, unless of course the viewer expected Harry to have a time turner. Harry noted the time again and undid the charms on his bed. Laying down his spun his time turner and went back to just after he started carving. Harry set his alarm and went to sleep hoping his idea would work.
That morning when Harry's alarm went off he knew he had ten minutes to get out of his bed before he saw himself. Harry did the only thing he could and checked the map before quietly warping away.
HPCOC
That night after curfew Harry felt the compulsion to explore again. Understanding what it meant Harry made his way back to the room with the Mirror. Dumbledore was in there again, disillusioned like every time before. Harry smirked, he was ready for tonight.
"I told you I would be back." Harry said to the mirror. Harry watched as his mirror self took the stone out of his pocket, feeling the weight leave his real pocket, and turned to throw it in between Mirror Dumbledore and Mirror Voldemort. Real Harry cracked a grin as Mirror Dumbledore and Mirror Voldemort saw the fake stone land and they both jumped towards it. The mirror seemed to have seen muggle cartoons because Mirror Dumbledore and Mirror Voldemort were engulfed in a cloud of dust with random body parts visible from random places at random intervals, just like two cartoons fighting over something. Mirror Harry was rolling around on the floor laughing at the spectacle and Real Harry was inclined to follow suit, but he knew he still had a job to do. "I could stay here all night."
"And that is the danger of the Mirror of Erised." Dumbledore's voice said behind him, Harry pretended to be surprised and quickly stood while turning around.
"I'm sorry Professor. I didn't see you there." Harry said doing his best to look embarrassed. "I guess I didn't fulfill my promise of not getting caught with the cloak huh?"
"Indeed not my boy." Dumbledore said smiling genially. "I'll do you a favor and let you off the hook this time, if you promise not to come to this mirror again."
"Thank you sir, you won't regret it." Harry said smiling up at him. "Why shouldn't I look at this mirror though?"
"The Mirror of Erised is a trap of sorts." Dumbledore said. "It doesn't grant us anything and it doesn't tell the truth."
"So what does it do?" Harry asked. "I know it can't show anything real. I figured that out the first time I looked."
"What do you see?" Dumbledore asked, schooling his nerves.
"I'm Headboy sir, and my parents are standing behind me smiling proudly, along with Nick." Harry lied.
"And what do you think of that?" Dumbledore asked leadingly.
"Well...I don't know..." Harry said, trying to sound disappointed with himself.
"The Mirror shows you what you want most." Dumbledore supplied. "In your case it would seem that you want to make your mentor and your parents proud of you."
"Oh, well that makes sense." Harry said.
"Indeed. It will take work though if you want to be Headboy." Dumbledore said. "First you have to be a prefect, which means that you have to keep your grades up and follow the rules."
"Yes, sir." Harry said nodding. "Erm, sir?"
"Yes Harry?"
"What do you see?" Harry asked.
"I see myself holding a pair of socks." Dumbledore said.
"Socks sir?"
"One can never have too many socks Harry." Dumbledore smiled.
"Oh."
"Why don't you take your cloak and go back to your dorm." Dumbledore suggested. "The Mirror will be moved tomorrow."
"Yes sir." Harry said gathering up his cloak. "Goodnight Professor."
"Goodnight Harry." Dumbledore said and watched Harry leave. He wants to be Headboy? All I need to do to control him is tell him certain things will change the likelihood of that happening. Perfect.
HPCOC
The rest of the break went by without issue. Harry received a short thank you note from Sirius for the food, it also promised good things once Sirius was released. His trial was only a month and a half away, the Prophet still hadn't reported Pettigrew's capture. Harry understood the politics of releasing that information. The Aurors were going to release word that questioning Sirius revealed a new suspect and then they would catch said suspect quickly, boosting their public opinion and probably netting themselves some more funding. But that was neither here nor there because today was the day that the students would get back.
The day was dragging on and on. After breakfast the twins managed to distract Harry. Distract was a nice word, they had pranked Harry when he came into the Great Hall. Turning his hair hot pink was quickly remedied with his metamorph skills, breaking the charm that made his voice sound like he was a pack a day smoker since the first time he was eleven took a few hours. Getting rid of the plume of pink smoke that followed him took another hour, but Harry thought it may have just worn off instead of being broken.
At lunch Harry retaliated and stuck them both to the wall and hit them with a tickling charm. Dumbledore scolded Harry and told him that that was no way to make Headboy, so Harry released them, making Dumbledore very happy even though he didn't show it. The twins however were ecstatic and, while they called off pranking each other, they challenged Harry to several games of exploding snap. Soon though Harry was sitting in the entrance hall bored waiting for his girls to come home.
At long last Harry heard the train pull into Hogsmeade station. He never noticed how slow the threstrals pulled the carriages before. Soon though Harry saw a pink hat and a head full of bushy brown hair running across the hall towards him.
"I like your hat." Harry said as Tonks reached him first and gave him the biggest hug of his life.
"Thanks, so do I, even if it is a pun." Tonks said smiling and gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting him go.
"I assume the E is a pun as well." Hermione said taking her turn to give him a hug and kiss.
"Yea. I take it you didn't get the joke." Harry said smiling.
"No, neither did Tonks." Hermione said.
"I don't blame you." Harry said. "It's really lame."
"Tell me." Hermione commanded.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked one eyebrow raised.
"Yes."
"Alright." Harry said and then looked Tonks in the eye. "I had an easy time coming up with yours. But I just couldn't think of anything for Hermione. In the end I gave up and just gave Her-my-own-E."
When both girls just stared at him blankly he continued. "Until it regrows Potter is spelled P-O-T-T-R."
"Wow that's bad." Tonks said flatly.
"Yea." Harry turned back to Hermione. "If it is any consolation, that was the prettiest E in the shop."
"It's okay Harry, not every joke can be funny." Hermione said patting him on the shoulder. "So did you miss us?"
"You have no idea." Harry said shaking his head. "I haven't flirted with anyone in almost three weeks."
AN: Harry's deepest desire is to make Dumbledore and Voldemort look like idiots if it wasn't clear. The rest of this year should pick up pace, next chapter will be Sirius' trial, then after that will be 2-3 chapters of Quirrelmort resolution, and then 1 or 2 chapters of aftermath. Then Year 2 starts! Year 2 will be much further from canon than this year is.
