7 and a half weeks! That's all it took for me to get this chapter done... Jokes aside, my sincerest apologies to everyone who has been eagerly waiting for this chapter. I have been absolutely swamped at work. And only a few days back did I get some time to focus on fanfiction writing. And hence, here I am, finally back with the 9th chapter of this wonderful story that I hold dear to my heart!
You may want to go back and have a glance at the previous chapters to get a hang of where the story was/is headed.
It was a cold rainy night when Dumbledore heard the prophecy involving Tom Riddle and a boy yet to be born. In the few days that followed, the only thought in his head was the prophecy. Every word felt like it carried some weight. And hence understanding it was paramount.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies and the sixth month is born... History will repeat as the houses combine... Neither can live while the other survives…"
"Power to vanquish… What was the power? And what did the word approaches mean? Is this person going to come from somewhere else?" he thought to himself.
While thoughts like this occupied his mind, there were others that bothered him too. Dumbledore was very well aware that Severus Snape had taken a position at Hogwarts to spy for Tom. And that had reached its peak inconvenience when the prophecy was overheard by him, which meant that Tom was aware of it. Though how much Snape heard was still unclear. Sybill Trelawney had to be given the job of Divination Professor immediately because there was no other way Dumbledore could protect her from Tom. One could argue that what followed in the prophecy was even more thought-provoking.
"Born to those who have thrice defied him… Well, that could be a few people from the order. But there were other people outside the order who had defied him too. The list of people wasn't extensive, but yet it was long enough." Dumbledore sighed at the prospect of having to alert all the potential targets. His eyes were closed. He was replaying those moments when he heard the prophecy again and again in his head.
"... born as the seventh month dies and the sixth month is born," was the part that stumped him the most. The first half of it was obvious. And if his calculations were right, the Potters and the Longbottoms definitely had to be alerted. But the second half and what followed in the prophecy was confusing and disturbing in equal measures.
"How could somebody be born at the end of the seventh month and the start of the sixth month?" he asked himself again and again.
"Could Sybill Trelawney have misspoken? Well, the state in which Trelawney was when she made the prophecy, did not suggest that." Dumbledore even wondered if the prophecy indicated 2 people and not 1.
"History will repeat as the houses combine… What houses? Wizarding families? But, as it stands, not a lot of wizards are willing to risk their lives to fight Tom. They have even resided in calling him You-Know-Who. And then there is the part about history repeating. When was the last time a dark wizard as powerful as Tom waged war against humanity?" wondered Dumbledore. There was of course Gellert Grindelwald, but that ended with Dumbledore defeating him. If history were to repeat, then that would contradict the first part of the prophecy.
"... name him Harry, Harry James Potter!" said a gleaming James. Dumbledore was truly happy for the young couple, but there was something else on his mind, the prophecy. Within a few weeks, it became clear that Tom had his eyes set on the Potters' son.
It was late evening on a cold rainy night when Dumbledore visited the Potters and their 3-month-old baby. Dumbledore told the couple about the prophecy made by Sybill Trelawney. Years after this, Dumbledore still remembered how quickly the smile vanished from the happy faces. After his conversation with the Potters, Dumbledore had the displeasure of having the same conversation with the Longbottoms. And within a few more months, the media had found out about the prophecy. The speculations were at large on who the saviour could be. The chosen one they called him. But like usual, the media frenzy did more harm than good. Especially since they only knew bits and pieces of the prophecy.
"THE CHOSEN ONE WILL VANQUISH THE DARK LORD!"
"OUR SAVIOUR IS HERE!"
"Why Dumbledore is The Chosen One..."
"10 Reasons why The Chosen One is not Dumbledore!"
"Dumbledore recruits Grindelwald!"
"Are the Ministry the Chosen Ones?"
The headlines kept changing as the speculations raged on. Despite everyone's best efforts, the inevitable day arrived. Only a couple of weeks earlier, Dumbledore had talked the Potters into moving out of the country. They were adamant to stay and fight it out, but eventually, they came around. Dumbledore had arranged for Grindelwald's release with great difficulty, and it felt like everything was coming into place. And then came the day.
As the day began, Dumbledore had a weird feeling at the bottom of his stomach. It was almost as if he knew something bad was going to happen. He checked on the Potters, and it all seemed fine. But a few hours later, he knew something had happened. The charm he had placed on the Potter's house alarmed him immediately. And by the time he reached the Hollow, the deed was done. The Potters were dead and so was their son, or so he thought.
Dumbledore reached the Potter's house and to his surprise, he heard the sound of a baby crying. And the baby was Harry Potter. And there was no sign of Tom. Fitting the pieces was difficult. Dumbledore had questions, he didn't know where Tom was and how Harry had survived. But there was no time. The media was about to swarm the place, and they could not be told what had happened. Dumbledore, with the help of Hagrid, got Harry out of there unnoticed and collected himself to understand the pieces better.
A few months had passed since the night "You-Know-Who" was vanquished. The people were finally taking a breather without the threat of The Dark Lord looming. And the word on people's lips was 'Potters'. A wizarding family that was earlier known for its rich ancestry was now even more popular for they were known as the brave and undefeated. James was hailed as the saviour.
"It was Potter all along"
"James to the rescue"
"The Man who saved us all"
While there were some hailing James for something he had little part to play in, others were shedding tears for "the boy who never lived", Harry Potter.
"Poor boy, never got to live a life..."
"It's a real shame"
"He was James Potter's son. The world lost a great potential that day."
Conversations like this could be heard everywhere. While the world mourned and celebrated, Dumbledore's long term plan had commenced. He had successfully tricked the world into thinking that Harry was not alive. Following the events of that night, Dumbledore found his mind clouded more than ever. He kept convincing himself to forget the prophecy and move on. Yet there was something about the whole thing that felt out of place and incomplete. And then there was the case of Tom Riddle. Dumbledore knew that he wasn't truly gone, even though the world thought otherwise.
One fine evening, Dumbledore finally came up with an idea, something that had been formulating in his head for a while.
"We should initiate something, a group of people that will receive special training at Hogwarts," he thought to himself.
"But how will we decide who gets to be in this group?"
"Well, it should be the ones who understand magic and are able to manipulate it the best for their age."
"And this will be decided by our Professors?"
"Yes, but it should be a unanimous decision. We have enough problems as it is with the houses."
After a series of questions and answers, Dumbledore finally came to an agreement with himself about the fundamentals of this group.
"So, who will be in this group?"
"Students from 2nd year till 5th year. The 6th and 7th years are already old enough. And it shouldn't be more than a student from every house per year."
After much contemplation, Dumbledore finally shared his idea with all the Heads of the House. At first, the idea raised a lot of eyebrows, but eventually, everyone came to an agreement that the idea was bound to freshen things up. Once Dumbledore had the backing of his staff, he took the idea up with the Ministry and the Department of Educational Affairs. It took a whole year for this to be finally implemented. It was at the start of term feast of 1983 that this was officially announced to all the students.
In the subsequent years that followed, revisions were made to what this group meant, both internally and externally. And a new name was also coined for the group. 2 years after its inception, this group of elite students were called "The Zenith".
A year after its rebranding, in the summer of '86, Dumbledore was approached by McGonagall and other staff members with suggestions and requests in equal measure. Ever since the introduction of The Zenith, the workload of the Professors had risen. This led to a decision that got refined as the years went by. It was decided that the Professors wouldn't be the ones to teach The Zenith, but students themselves. It was decided that the 4th year students would train the 2nd and 3rd years. And that the 4th year students would be trained by the 6th year students. The Professors had decided that it'd be best if the training of the 5th years were conducted by the Professors themselves. It was a difficult transition at first, but as time went by, everybody started to enjoy this change. Dumbledore had started to notice how students of different years had now started to interact more, something that he very much liked. Another change happened in The Zenith a year later. It was decided that even 6th-year students would be part of The Zenith and that they'd also be trained by The Professors. It was also decided that students who were part of The Zenith, would not be considered for the position of House Prefect, owing to their already heavy workload.
Within a few years from their inception, The Zenith started getting popular amongst the students as well as their parents. Requests started pouring in from the parents to add their child into The Zenith. And it became increasingly difficult to explain how there could only be one student from a house per year in The Zenith. Because the entrant is chosen at the beginning of the 2nd year, it meant that there onwards, no more additions could be made to that batch. And this rule had its first exception in 1988 when a 3rd year Ravenclaw was inducted into The Zenith, much to the dismay of others who had dreamt of the same. But, since its inception in 1983, till 1995, this exception had occurred only twice.
The feast of 1992 was something Dumbledore had been looking forward to for the longest time. After the sorting ceremony, the new batch of Zenith was to be announced.
"I'll be announcing the names of students who have been chosen to be part of The Zenith. When I call your name out, please come forward," said Professor McGonagall. Everybody was eagerly looking at Professor McGonagall.
"From Gryffindor, we have..."
Every 2nd year Gryffindor looked at Professor McGonagall holding their breath.
"Hermione Granger..." finished Professor McGonagall.
A loud round of applause erupted on the announcement as Hermione made her way to the front. Hermione's announcement was followed by Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff and Elvin Oswald from Ravenclaw.
"And finally, from Slytherin, we have… Daphne Greengrass" announced Professor McGonagall. The shock and disbelief were evident in the faces of Draco Malfoy and his friends.
"Congratulations to all of you! All of you were exemplary in your performance and that's why you've been chosen. You may go back to your seats," finished Professor McGonagall.
Dumbledore gave a long hard look to the new Zenith students. He knew somewhere inside him that those 4 Zenith students would be the most important 4 they would ever train. He just didn't know how true that would turn out to be.
"Son, is it safe for you to go?" asked Mr Oswald.
"I have to go, dad! I can't stay here when there is a war brewing there," replied Elvin.
"You will be targeted," added Mr Oswald.
"I'll be fine. I have great friends and Hogwarts will be the safest place for me," replied Elvin. Elvin left the house with his trunk and made his way to platform 9 ¾.
Elvin walked up to the platform and from a distance he saw a woman staring at him. After a few steps, his face brightened, because the woman was none other than his mother.
"Mom! Mom!" called out Elvin and rushed towards her, dropping his trunk on the way. He hugged her tight.
"How did you… how are you here?" asked Elvin with a broken choked voice.
"Oh my beautiful boy..." replied Mrs Oswald as she hugged Elvin back. It was the happiest Elvin had felt in a long time. But, something was wrong. He looked around him and saw a lot of people walking around. Everything looked normal, everything felt real, but there was something bothering him. His head hurt a bit. He could hear faint voices in his head.
He looked at his mother and asked, "How are you alive? And where have you been all this time?"
"I survived the crash. I was in a coma all this time. And I got discharged just now," replied Mrs Oswald.
"I'm so happy to see you," said a gleaming, teary-eyed Elvin and hugged his mother again. It all felt so surreal. Everything about the day that Elvin was having was happy.
The train journey was fun as usual. Elvin and Hermione bickered like always, while Ernie spent the entire journey making fun of Daphne. Just as they were getting off the train, they heard the voice of the Hogwarts' Gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid.
"Elvin," called out Hagrid.
"Hagrid," exclaimed Elvin, Hermione, Ernie and Daphne together.
"It's great to see y'all," said Hagrid. After a few moments, he continued, "Elvin, Professor McGonagall wants to see ya before the feast."
"Professor McGonagall?" asked Elvin confused. Only a few months back, Hogwarts was attacked by the death eaters. And Minerva McGonagall, head of Gryffindor had been one of the casualties of the attack.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall," replied Hagrid.
"She's alive?" asked Elvin, now even more confused.
"What do you mean? Of course, she's alive. Why wouldn't she be?" asked Hermione looking at Elvin.
"Did someone hit you on the head?" asked Ernie.
"Wait, what are you guys talking about? Death eaters attacked us, remember?" retorted Elvin. His head was definitely hurting now. Those memories flashed right in front of him. Elvin collapsed on the floor, his hands on his head.
"Elvin! Mate, are you alright?" asked Ernie as he checked on Elvin.
"He's burning up," added Hermione. A few minutes passed as Elvin lay awkwardly on the floor with his hands clutching his head. And suddenly he got up and stood up straight.
"Woah!" exclaimed Daphne, seeing the sudden movement of Elvin.
"What's going on with you?" she asked.
"My head, it doesn't hurt anymore," replied Elvin smiling. Hermione, Ernie and Daphne stood staring at Elvin, perplexed.
Elvin looked around him. The scenery had changed. He wasn't standing on the platform anymore. He was standing outside the Hogwarts gate. And in front of him was Professor McGonagall.
"You 3 can go inside, you'll get your briefings later," said the Professor looking at Hermione, Daphne and Ernie. "Mr Oswald, follow me," she added.
Elvin had a broad smile on his face. He followed Professor McGonagall to the staff room.
"Mr Oswald, the wizarding community owes you a great deal. You're being awarded the Order of Merlin, for defeating You-Know-Who," said Professor McGonagall.
"Thanks, Professor," replied Elvin. There was a sense of accomplishment on his face. He stood facing the Professor and closed his eyes.
After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and found himself lying on a bed at the Hospital Wing. He got up slowly and looked around and saw Madam Pomfrey.
"Madam Pomfrey," called out Elvin. His voice was much lower and a bit croaked.
"Ohh… Mr Oswald, you're up! How are you?" asked Madam Pomfrey as she rushed towards Elvin.
"I'm fine… just a little bit tired," replied Elvin. "How long was I out for?" he asked.
"More than half a day," replied Madam Pomfrey. "What happened?" she asked.
"Nothing, Madam Pomfrey. I just had a long dream," he replied.
PS - Chapter 10 is in the works, and will hopefully be out sometime this week!