A/N: Thanks to AlyssaMarie4Eva, Crye 4 Me, Intens1ty, NarinaPrincess12, Rogue200315, bhalesfb, dragonfly1339, Auroras Jenkins, Commando678, Lebiram, TheBravestOfThemAll, You'll never find me, angelgenius2, kiery101, perfectships, sbolzzz, LoonyRebekahJane, TrinaAngel, imjanonymous, mudbloodpotter05, piper-pants, rockmusicismylife, jezmp62, Megan Hermione Lovegood, Sikanda, & sacredmiko for all your follows/faves, & thanks to RRW, Hearts Glow, KodeV, Guest, & mudbloodpotter05 for the reviews!

A quick thought on Ron - a few of you commented that Harry & Hermione accept Ron much too easily after what he did, & I can totally see that. However, this is no worse than what happened in canon - not that I'm excusing it, of course, but in canon Harry & Ron are downright awful to Hermione right up until the troll incident, & then suddenly all's forgiven. Well then. Anyway, I didn't want to cut Ron out entirely - this would've most likely given me some issues down the road, as the Weasley family as a whole plays a rather large part in canon, & I rather like them for the most part - so he'll still be involved in some (most?) of their adventures, but his role might end up being a little different/not as prominent/etc. Hopefully that appeases some of you a little bit!

On with chapter 14, then - JKR owns all things Potter, I just play. Please R&R, & enjoy! :)

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, one long-fingered hand gliding slowly down the pages of an enormous old book as he checked the information within against the scroll of meticulous notes spread flat on his desk. What he was reading made sense, and yet, at the same time, it didn't - it was all very vague, for one, and each new find seemed to create more questions than answers. Theories, after all, were nothing without some sort of concrete proof.

The scroll, printed in Dumbledore's loopy script, contained everything the Order of the Phoenix knew about Tom Riddle, alias Voldemort, but what it didn't contain was the answer to a very important question: Why had Voldemort sought to murder the Potters? He and his followers had tortured and killed dozens, if not hundreds of people, but very rarely did Voldemort seek anyone out so specifically. Twelve years after James Potter's death, the answer still remained elusive, and Dumbledore was getting worried. Harry was at Hogwarts now, in the thick of his magical training, and Dumbledore would be a fool to guarantee the boy's safety even within the castle's walls - the old headmaster did everything in his power to keep his students safe, but Dark wizards were exceptionally skilled at moving in shadows, avoiding suspicion, and the like. The circumstances surrounding Peter Kensington's injury and Harry's subsequent selection as his replacement worried Dumbledore even further - something definitely wasn't right.

Pausing in his perusal of the old book, Dumbledore turned and removed his Pensieve from the cabinet behind his desk, placing it carefully on the polished wooden surface. His fingers fumbled beneath the desk for a moment before successfully finding the hidden latch that opened the secret drawer, from which he extracted a small crystal vial. He dumped the contents of the vial into the Pensieve and prodded the substance with his wand. It swirled slightly, light and fluffy as a cloud, before condensing into the form of a woman, her feet firmly planted in the stone basin. The figure revolved slowly on the spot and spoke in eerie, trancelike tones:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord has arrived in Wizarding Britain. In the darkest hour just before dawn, he will join forces with legends of old, and when the smoke clears, the final score shall be known.

"Yes, I remember it clearly...but what does it all mean, Sybil?" Dumbledore murmured to himself. Sybil Trelawney had spoken these words on a chilly winter's night in late 1980 during her interview for the vacant Divination post. Dumbledore couldn't deny the eccentric woman's words were a true prophecy, due to the applicant's sudden rigid stature, glassy eyes, and deep, chilling speech so unlike her usual airy soprano, but he'd never before heard a prophecy that gave so little information. Most of the prophecies in the Department of Mysteries gave at least some sort of hint as to who they involved, but this one merely said that their hero had 'arrived in Wizarding Britain' - well, that could apply to any number of people! The prophecy seemed to suggest that this person would face Voldemort in some sort of final conflict, but it gave no further information on time, location, how many people...again, more questions than answers. And what did the prophecy mean when it said 'he will join forces with legends of old?' The Wizarding world claimed a number of ancient legends, but once again, the prophecy offered no suggestions on narrowing the search.

Dumbledore had concluded that Voldemort must have seen something threatening in the Potters specifically - if Dumbledore took it that the other wizard had somehow heard the prophecy and had chosen to interpret the first line as, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord has been born into Wizarding Britain', that would explain his desire to take down Harry, but that theory had a number of gaping holes. If that was Voldemort's interpretation, why had he only gone after the Potters? Numerous other prominent Wizarding families, the Longbottoms and the Malfoys most notably, had children born within months of Harry Potter. True, Frank and Alice Longbottom and Lucius Malfoy had all been tortured into madness, and Narcissa Malfoy was dead, but all of that had happened after Voldemort had vanished, and therefore not at his hand. Was this one of those prophecies where one party solidified the other by actively choosing him or her from a group of applicable candidates? Such a scenario would make Harry the sole 'correct answer' to the riddle, but there wasn't really a way to tell if that were the case either.

Dumbledore sighed and removed the vial's contents before locking everything back up again and returning his attention to the book. If only there were more clues!

At last, he came across something that looked promising, although it had nothing to do with prophecies or legends. The small paragraph on blood magic caught his attention, and he read it carefully several times before making a few notes. Once he was satisfied with his work, he extracted a fresh piece of parchment from the pile on his desk and began to pen a letter to Lily.

"She's not going to like this very much," he muttered to himself as his quill scratched against the parchment.

"You need to write to your mum and Sirius," Hermione urged. "This is something they'd want to know about, definitely." Harry rummaged in his bag for parchment and quill while the other three settled themselves around the coffee table.

"Should I tell them about the dog?" Harry asked once he'd found what he was looking for.

"I wouldn't," Draco said. "It's a really weird thing to have in a school, but we weren't supposed to know it was there in the first place - unless you're up for some awkward questions, I'd leave the dog out until we have a legitimate reason to mention it." They all agreed that this seemed to be a reasonable route to take, and after much discussion and crossing out, Harry had a final draft of his letter:

Dear Mum and Padfoot,

This qualifies as 'urgent' but would be too complicated/long to explain via charmed parchment. Have you heard about the accident at the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match last weekend? Maya said there was a big article on the front page of the Prophet, so I wouldn't be surprised if you already knew, but in case you didn't, someone put a Hurling Hex on the Gryffindor Seeker's broom before the game, and the hex activated when he dove after the Snitch. He was pretty badly hurt - he's still in St. Mungo's as far as we know - and his parents pulled him out of school. Madam Hooch (our flying instructor) then insisted on bending the rules that first-years can't play and had us all try out at the end of flying class today - she chose me to be Gryffindor's new Seeker. Normally, I'd be ecstatic to play Quidditch, but the others and I all agree that something doesn't seem right here. Thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Maya and Draco send their love, and our friend Ron says hi - we can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Cheers,

Harry

"Looks good to me," Hermione nodded after reading the letter over Harry's shoulder. "Send it off straight away." The quartet took a detour to the Owlery on their way to dinner, where Hedwig greeted Harry with an affectionate nip before allowing him to secure the letter to her leg.

"Fly safe, Hedwig," he murmured, and the beautiful white owl soared out into the night.

They received a reply two days later, the alteration to Lily's usually neat handwriting suggesting she'd penned it in a hurry:

Dear Harry,

I agree - I don't like this at all. I'm not going to forbid you from playing, as I'm sure you'd have tried out of your own volition at some point anyway, but I must caution you to be extra careful - Quidditch is an incredibly dangerous game to begin with, and as you saw with this year's opening match, it's all too easy to stage something terrible and make it look like an accident. We have enemies worse than most people's, and this has Dark magic written all over it. Take every precaution that you can - never walk to or from the pitch alone, keep your broom locked in your trunk at all times when you're not flying (I'll teach you all some useful locking spells when you come home), and keep on your guard during games. Hermione, Draco, and anyone else you can trust should keep an eye on the crowd.

Dumbledore has similar concerns and wrote to me about the same time you did - he also mentioned something very important he discovered in his research, something we all think you should know about. We'll talk more about this over the break, as it's not something that should be put in writing (Dumbledore knows how to securely charm letters to kingdom come, but as it's me writing this one I'm not going to chance it). Suffice it to say that we might be doing something a little different this year.

You'll be home for the holidays in just a few short weeks - Padfoot and I are so excited to see you all and hear what you've been up to. Until then, constant vigilance, my dears. See you soon!

Love,

Mum

"Well, Mum didn't really tell us all that much that we didn't already know, but it's good that she's aware of what's going on," Harry said once he'd finished reading.

"I wonder what Dumbledore found out?" Hermione mused, looking thoughtful. They tossed around ideas for nearly half an hour, but with Dumbledore, it could've been anything, and so they eventually gave up. The only thing they could agree on was that it had something to do with Voldemort - they knew their headmaster was still tirelessly researching the evil wizard and his motives, and it certainly qualified as a topic inadvisable to mention in normal correspondence.

The remaining few weeks of the term flew by, and before they knew it, they'd finished their mid-year exams and were packing their trunks to head home. Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, and Neville shared a compartment on the Hogwarts Express for the journey home, many of their friends popping in to say hello or wish them happy holidays as the train snaked further south. Most of the trip was rather uneventful, but after lunch, they found themselves with a good story to tell involving Pansy Parkinson and Ron's pet rat. Scabbers spent most of his time asleep in the Gryffindor boys' dormitories, as Hermione found rats creepy and therefore banned Ron from ever bringing his pet to the Room of Requirement (Ron didn't complain, however, as Crookshanks often followed them, and the huge ginger cat had once looked at Scabbers as if he were a particularly tasty treat). When Pansy showed up in the early afternoon, determined to annoy them as best she could, Scabbers stunned them all by biting her. Pansy fled the compartment, shrieking loudly that Ron had better prepare to face the Wizengamot when she inevitably contracted some deadly disease from his 'disgusting pest,' and the group didn't stop laughing for some time afterwards. By the time they reached London, they were all exceptionally tired and more than ready for a home-cooked meal, and the trio greeted Padfoot, Lily, and the Grangers enthusiastically when they met up on the platform. They waved goodbye to Ron and Neville, calling spirited greetings as they did so, before casually leaning against the barrier to return to Muggle King's Cross.

The three children chattered almost nonstop as Lily navigated through the late December traffic, but the excitement of seeing everyone wore off as fatigue set in, and they were all fast asleep in the backseat by the time they reached Surrey. Lily coaxed them out of the car with the promise of dinner, laughing softly at how sleepy they all looked and suggesting that they might just relax and watch telly while she finished making dinner.

"You all had a good term, then?" Hermione's mother asked when they were all seated at the table. "You didn't write all that much, you know." She gave the children a mock-stern look, and they did their best to look sheepish.

"As good as can be, I suppose," Draco said with a laugh, and Harry and Hermione chuckled in agreement.

"There's so much going on, it's almost mad!" Hermione added, "but I absolutely love it so far."

"Mad is right," Harry nodded as he contemplated a forkful of potatoes. "Took me weeks just to figure out those staircases! But I agree, it's an awesome place." The three friends took turns sharing various experiences of the term - nothing too in-depth, as they were still very much looking forward to bedtime, but enough to keep everyone entertained throughout the meal. It wasn't until they were making their way through dessert that Harry remembered the latter half of his mother's letter.

"So what did Professor Dumbledore write to you about?" he asked. Lily and Sirius exchanged glances.

"Erm...it's kind of a long story, Harry," Lily cautioned. "Are you sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow?"

"I guess...can I at least have an idea?"

"Well...we're going to your aunt and uncle's for Christmas dinner."