Susan just returned home after spending the morning at Abbott's home with Hannah. Now, she was listening to Lyra about the happenings of the day.
"Unbelievable! Mum really did that? Too bad I didn't get to witness it. If only I hadn't agreed to visit Hannah today, I would have come." Susan felt sad for not being able to witness Amelia tricking Vernon.
" We also let Minny take all his school stuff from there so that Harry can live here with us for the rest of this month. After that, we took him to buy him new clothes. He refused to let us pay and insisted on paying for it himself, so we also went to Gringotts to pick up money..."
"So, Harry's gonna stay with us huh? Then he must be here, right? Where is he?"
"Well... You see, Harry was very interested in reading our charms book, so he was kinda reading then he decided to write his name on the first page and mum saw that..." Lyra tried to explain.
" He was just writing his name, right? It's nothing wrong..."Susan didn't understand.
"He was just writing his name, but the thing is he isn't used to writing with a quill and kinda scribbled... You know how mum is about these kinds of things right? So... He's now with our old penmanship teacher. He has to practice it for this whole month... I think mum's gonna arrange an etiquette teacher for him too..." Lyra said.
"Poor Harry...", both the girls sighed.
"Yeah, poor me..." a voice interrupted the two of them and as expected, it was Harry.
"So Harry, how was your first Penmanship lesson?", Lyra asked playfully.
"Oh, it was absolutely wonderful you know", Harry didn't hide the sarcasm in his voice.
"Hello, Harry. I'm Susan, Lyra's cousin." Susan stood up and extended her hand.
Harry shook hands with her and introduced himself, "Although you know me, let me introduce myself, I'm Harry"
Harry happily chatted with the two of them, even though it was mostly, Susan exposing Lyra's embarrassingly stupid moments or the other way round.
After a while the subject took a shift towards magic and magical subjects, Susan got bored. While Lyra was studious Susan was not; although magic amazes her (it amazes everybody), she was not quite into studying and therefore bid goodbye and went into her room.
Harry was curious about everything in the magical world and naturally, Lyra explained everything that he wanted to hear about. And Lyra was also curious about the muggle world. While talking to Harry, she concluded that chemistry was like potions. And she quite liked both mathematics and science from what she had heard from Harry.
Both Lyra and Harry were happy to come to the same conclusion that they both liked all the Magical Subjects, except the History of the Wizarding world. While it was informative and if studied carefully one might even figure out the evolution of the world, the truth is that it is a boring subject.
They both agreed on studying together in the evenings (Harry's etiquette and Penmanship classes end by 2 pm) and competing with each other in mastering spells. Though this made Harry's schedule quite full, he didn't mind learning magic at all.
Since it was already evening when they finished their little talk, they had Minny bring in some snacks and left to each of their own rooms.
Lyra wanted to do three things before leaving for Hogwarts. The first one was mastering the Disillusionment Charm. Though it was a complex spell, she was going to spend most of her day practicing that charm. So it should be possible. If she wanted to sneak out to explore the castle, that spell was necessary. She could sneak out without it too, but she was not gonna get caught. It would be absolutely shameful and would hurt her pride.
The second one was intent-based magic. Ever since her 11th birthday, she had been trying to lift books with only her intent. And she had seen only little success. But she wasn't going to give it up just like that. Maybe she could find some kind of book for it at Hogwarts.
...
Dinner was very lively since they had a guest over. And Harry didn't feel like an outsider at all. He felt that this was what it would feel like to be in a family. He liked all of them already. Even though Amelia was the Head of DMLE, she wasn't that strict with the children. Yeah, Amelia was strict about certain things but open-minded about several rules like using magic at home and several other silly rules. Of course, she wouldn't allow the children to use magic in front of muggles, but since it is their home, she didn't mind.
Lyra was thinking of whether to tell her mother about the Phoenix mark or not. She decided it was better to tell her. She didn't know what it meant after all. When everyone went back Lyra pulled her mother over, "Um... Mother, I have something to tell you... Can we talk in your study?"
Lyra always addressed Amelia as 'mum', she would only call her 'mother' when it was something serious. Amelia felt conflicted, actually, she had to meet Dumbledore now. Ha also said that he had something important to talk about. After contemplating it for a few seconds, she asked her, "Lyra, Dumbledore has asked me to meet him now, can this wait? Or is this really serious?"
Hearing this Lyra became very happy and said, "Then take me with you, maybe he would know the answer to my question"
"What question?", Amelia was confused.
"You'll know it soon, it's about my wand actually"
"Let's go then, But you can't disturb us when we talk. " Amelia took hold of Lyra's hand and side-apparated.
Hogsmeade.
Amelia brought Lyra to a battered-looking place with the sign " Hog's Head" hanging over it. When Lyra saw that she really wondered about the sanity of the Hogwarts' Headmaster. What kind of important meeting would take place at a dirty old bar.
The two of them entered the bar to Dumbledore sitting at one of the tables drinking Mead( a sweet beverage).
"Hello, Amelia and Lyra", he said.
"Um... hello headmaster" Lyra was unsure of how to greet him since he was her future headmaster.
"Calling me headmaster already?", he chuckled.
"She has something to ask, Albus. She is telling me it is important", Amelia informed him.
Dumbledore didn't object to it and nodded at Lyra indicating her to ask.
She didn't answer but took out her wand and gave it to him.
"Elder-Acacia hybrid? And Phoenix feather, silver embedded and moonstone?", he examined the wand curiously, "A unique wand, very unique"
"So, what do you want to ask about? "
"Headmaster, can you sense anything on my hand?", she asked showing him her right hand.
He took a glance at her hand and said, "I can see concealing magic here, an elf's actually"
"Can you undo it?"
He nodded and with a wave of his hand, the Phoenix mark was revealed.
Both Amelia and Dumbledore were shocked at the sight. It was a silver phoenix. Silver Phoenixes were unlike normal ones. They were always said to be invisible and said to be only seen by their kind. No one other than a silver phoenix can see the other silver phoenix. So, nobody actually knows if they exist or not. They were said to be blessed by both sun and moon. And they were born only on the day on which the day and night are of equal lengths, i.e the equinox.
And Lyra was also born on the equinox.
(A/N: Lyra's birthday is on 7th July and I know 7th July is not equinox. But this is AU, remember? In their world 7th, July is the equinox. )
"When did this appear on your hand?", Dumbledore asked.
"At Ollivander's shop. When this wand chose me."
"I don't know why exactly this has happened, Lyra... But, I believe this has something to do with your birth. "
Lyra was disappointed at this. She thought, since he was the strongest wizard alive, he might know... But since even he didn't know, she didn't know what to do.
"Don't worry Lyra, with time everything would be revealed. But we have to keep this matter a secret. I know you would have kept the mark a secret, but what about the wand? Have you shown your wand to anybody? "
"No, sir. I use my wand only in my room. Nobody has seen it. Even mother saw it only now. And our house elf has seen my mark, but I trust her."
"I will try to get some enchanted things for you to hide both of them, I'll send them to you within this month before you come to Hogwarts."
Lyra nodded and bid farewell to both of them, and with the help of Minny, she went back home.
...
After Lyra left, Amelia turned towards Dumbledore and asked" So, what is such an important matter for you to tell me personally? If it is regarding something from the ministry, please come to my office and deal with it officially."
"Amelia, this is not about anything else. This is about Lyra."
"What about Lyra... Don't tell me this has something to do with that phoenix mark of hers"
"Actually, it might have to do something with it. All these years, I wasn't so sure, but after seeing that, I'm a hundred percent sure. First, you have to look into my memory...", he said as he took out a pensive. Then he pointed his wand at his forehead and took out a silver wisp and put it in the pensive.
"Why? Can't you just tell me?"
"Do you remember the day when Harry's prophecy was made?"
Amelia nodded, "Don't tell me that it also mentions her... If it does, then Voldemort would target her... Oh, no... This is the worst..."
"Calm down Amelia, Lyra is not mentioned in the prophecy involving Voldemort and Harry."
Just as Amelia let out a sigh of relief, he said" But you are right, this is the worst situation indeed."
"Since it doesn't involve Voldemort, how worse can it be?"
"Actually Amelia, if she was involved in Voldemort's prophecy, then it might have been fine. The situation is much worse than that. You better see it yourself..." Dumbledore said as he pointed at the pensive.
...
Inside of Dumbledore's memory, Amelia saw as Dumbledore interviewed Sybil Trelawney. She saw as she suddenly became eerie and heard her make Harry's prophecy.
Midway through the prophecy, Dumbledore noticed that someone was outside the door, the person ran away. That person must have only heard half of Harry's prophecy.
After that, Dumbledore informed Sybil that she had passed the interview and Sybil was overjoyed. Just as she was about to get up from her seat, She became eerie again... and in an awfully deep voice, she began to say...
"Born in the seventh month... blessed by both the sun and the moon... born as the star of the harp... she's the only hope... beware, the foul is still around... and she is what the foul seeks... for she's the most powerful of them all"
Then the memory ended.
...
"Everything matches, doesn't it? Until today I wasn't that sure about it. But her phoenix mark confirms it. She's the one"
"What does 'the foul' mean? The foul... as in 'Herpo the Foul'?"
"Yeah", Dumbledore confirmed Amelia's doubts. "Actually, I am more worried as we don't even know where he is, or what name he uses now"
"What does he want from my daughter? Why should she be the one that he seeks?"
"I also don't know Amelia... " Dumbledore said.
"Lyra and Harry... they are both just children. Why do they have to bear all these?" Amelia sighed.
"I know, I know... but we can't do anything other than supporting them by all means. Isn't that so? And one more thing, Amelia... no one knows about this other than me and you... The order members only know about Harry's Prophecy."
Amelia sat there silently, digesting the shocking news. Knowing that your young daughter has to face a millennium-old Dark Wizard was not something pleasant. After a while, she got up from her seat and said, "It's getting late, I'm leaving..."
"Please keep them safe by all means. Both Harry and Lyra...", Dumbledore said to her as she left.
