APEC Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves. 2018 -2019-2020
APEC Ch 25 The Prophesy Interpretation Department
When Albus and Cleopatra left the room, Harry told Hermione, "It would be nice if prophets could tell the future. All they can do is give you odds, and point you in the right direction, or give you warnings. Everything we are doing, all the intelligence and prophecies, tell us that we are heading in the right direction, but that the victory that we may see will come at a significant cost.
"Albus is taking Cleo down to talk to the prophets. She needs to come to terms with some of the struggles ahead. I think Albus is resigned to his fate, and determined to do all he can to survive and thrive despite the problems."
"A little like Ginny?" Hermione wondered as she stared at her best friend. "She seems thrilled with her life. She is married to Harry Potter, something she thinks is the best thing in the world. Despite the frustrations of raising the children, she feels very proud of her children, happy with her siblings and their spouses. She is happy with her career. The hearing in the one ear is a constant problem, her balance is bad on her good days and terrible on the bad ones, and I know the one leg is not quite right, but she just considers them small problems to put up with."
"Ginny is an amazing woman, and I am so lucky to be married to her," Harry agreed with a nod of his head. "Yes, despite the problems she puts up with, she is basically a very happy person.
"Albus is basically a very good person, and I think good things are ahead for him and for Cleo, but I am worried about what it will cost them to get to the end of the prophesies and to start to live a less dangerous life."
"What about Rose and Scorpius?" Hermione wondered, chewing her lower lip in concern.
"I do not think you can shield Rose any more than you could stop yourself from leaving on that strange and dangerous adventure with your two boys," Harry replied with a rueful grin. "And just like I could not have survived without the two of you, I do not think that Albus and Cleo can survive without their two good friends, Rose and Scorpius. And Hermione, if that scares you, it ought to."
Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes. As a mother you wanted to protect your children at all cost. If Harry was right this was one of those "do what is right, not what is easy" decisions. It was obvious to her that she should not try to protect her daughter from any danger by keeping her away from Albus and his friends, a frightening thought. Harry gave her a quick hug and a shake and she smiled sadly at him.
Ginny took off Minerva's rather filthy clothes and gave her a bath, while Jane watched. "Minerva is learning how to feed herself," Ginny pointed out. "If you were looking at her from across the table, you noticed that it was not the neatest process."
"She sometimes misses her face!" Jane exclaimed, looking quizzically at Ginny.
"She is learning," Ginny elaborated. "You just have to give her time. Minerva is a very cautious baby. She is walking, but never very far. She is always looking to see if you approve of what she is doing, which is a huge change for me. None of my other children were like that."
Ginny dressed Minerva for bed, and then sat down to nurse her.
"Does she bite you?" Jane asked, noticing Minerva's teeth, curious as to the process.
"No," Ginny replied. "All the other children would have by this time. That is partly while I am continuing to nurse her. It feels good for me and for her. This is one part of being female that I like."
"What part of being female don't you like?" Jane wondered.
Sensing an opening to talk about growing up, Ginny replied with a grimace, "I'm not all that fond of periods."
Ginny and Jane spent the next hour talking about the challenges of growing up female, and of the changes her body was going to be going through.
Albus and Cleopatra entered the offices of the Prophecy Department, where they were met by Steve and Valerie Bushman, the heads of the Prophesy Interpretation Department, and the Prophetesses Nausicaa Scheria and Sibylla Papadopoulos.
"It would be nice if prophecy foretold the future," Steve started out after the two children sat down comfortably. "It is not that simple. Valerie and I have some skill in interpretation of prophesies, a difficult and uncertain job.
"It looks like there is the potential for a major change in the ruling of the Magi about every five-hundred years or so. Valerie and I, with much help, have been going back over all the prophesies that led up to the potential changes, and trying to find out what went wrong.
"We are reasonably sure that the new king and queen, or ruler of the Magi, need to have a number of items. One is what is called The Resurrection Stone. As we understand both prophesies and other documents, the stone, and the ring it is in, can be used for good, by calling the ancestors of a sick person to help. The person who wields the stone cannot use it for a parent or grandparent, nor for a child or grandchild. You must use it for others. Using it to contact ancestors who are lost, or for your own good, is not allowed. It is potentially a very dangerous object, and the misuse of it has caused much tragedy over the years.
"We think Harry Potter's parents were able to walk with him to face Tom Riddle only because Harry was prepared to sacrifice himself for others, not to do something for himself.
"Albus, if the centaurs know where the stone is, they should keep it safe. If you know where it is, do not use it. The documents from the past, and at least one current prophesy, say that if the stone can be not used until it is called to heal someone. If the first use is to heal, and whoever wields it never uses it for selfish reasons, then we have filled that prophesy. Albus, we think you are the one who will be using it, but we are not sure. It is possible, but not probably, that Cleo will have to be the one to use it."
Albus resisted the urge to feel for the ring in his pocket. He felt no temptation to use it, nor to let anyone else know he possessed it.
"There are two wands that the next rulers need. One is the Elder Wand that you, Albus, have. The other is the wand that your great-grandmother, Cleo, wields. We know that wand's history. It has been wielded by very powerful witches over the centuries, as many good as bad. We are almost sure that you two, Albus and Cleopatra, are going to have to somehow take the wand away from great-grandmother. We think you will have to fight her for it, but again we are not totally sure.
"You must show no mercy to your great-grandmother, Jezebel Nukpana. She has a glass knife that the evil Aztec Magi used for human sacrifice. We are reasonably sure that she has averaged one or more sacrifices a day throughout her over one-hundred-year reign, tying them to an alter and cutting out their still beating heart. That is over thirty-six-thousand people! Show her no mercy!
"The last objects are the first three Crystal Balls. One is here, and another is with Jezebel Nukpana, taken along with the wand when the first Pirate Witch Queen of the Caribbean left Switzerland and her betrothed about five hundred years ago.
"The third is with The Lord of the Dementors. We are not sure if that Crystal Ball was taken five-hundred or one-thousand years ago. Both five-hundred and one-thousand years ago, a wizard who could have become the Chief Wizard was lured to the cave of The Lord of the Dementors. We are not sure if one of them became the new Lord of the Dementors, or if both were lured to their deaths.
"Until this year we felt that all of the tokens would have to be recovered before you two, Albus and Cleopatra, would be able to take your place as rulers. It now appears that if all but the one Crystal Ball are recovered you will be able to become something like Crown Prince and Princess."
"When will all this happen," Albus asked, knowing some of the answer but wanting Cleopatra to hear it from the prophets.
"That is one of the most frustrating things about prophecy," Sibylla shared. "A prophecy almost never gives you anything like a firm date, and often they are phrased if-then, if this happens then this other thing will happen. Until you get to the first 'if' you have no idea that the other thing is about to or has happened.
"Things are, however, moving much faster than we thought they would. There is no indication that you will have to fight Jezebel this coming year. All we see indicates that you may have to fight her before you graduate from Hogwarts."
Albus and Cleopatra spent another hour talking about prophesies, and how they needed to be prepared to fight Jezebel.
Harry walked into his and Ginny's bedroom at the palace in Switzerland to find Ginny sitting on the bed, her knees up to her chest. It was her 'I've been thinking about things' posture, and Harry knew Ginny had things on her mind, things she wanted to talk about. Harry had been married long enough to know that Ginny was not looking for advice or answers, just an ear to listen to her.
Ginny looked at Harry as he came into the bedroom. "I had a good talk with Jane tonight, about growing up, how your body changes, periods and breasts growing. We talked a little about boys. Jane is very observant. She is also very shy and very cautious."
Harry nodded his head, knowing that he was just supposed to listen.
"Jane has noticed how almost maternal Cleo is, and how she makes you want to become a mother. There were many women who came with the children who carried babies one to three months old, like they had become pregnant within a month or two of being with the children last year who saw Cleo. A couple of them remarked to Jane that it was hard not to want a baby, or another baby, after seeing Cleo, especially with that fountain in the square."
Harry looked quizzically at Ginny. Did she want another baby?
"I'm not ready for another baby, yet," Ginny mumbled. "I've picked up three daughters over the last year, Minerva, Cleo, and now Jane, plus we have Lily, all different, different ages and stages of growth and personality. Why me? I was a tomboy, never frilly or feminine. I've always liked the physical side of sex and all that, but home decorating and cooking, making clothes, tending a garden, all the things my mother did that were woman's work, I've never focused on that. The Elves cook and clean and wash and put away clothes, and I am quite content to let them.
"I do not mind shopping for clothes, but I don't know style like Rose does, and I do not really care to always be the height of fashion. I've never wanted to redecorate the house."
"In some ways you have been a mother to Rose as well," Harry pointed out. "You have had more patience with her than Hermione when it comes to shopping, and I know sometimes she talks to you instead of her almost always busy mother."
"Rose, too," Ginny thought, as she took off her night clothes.
"You are a fantastic mother, Ginny," Harry let Ginny know, kissing her on the top of her head as he moved to get undressed.
"Make me a happy woman, Harry," Ginny cooed as she stretched out, naked.
Which he did.
2020