Chapter 3
Two Prophecies Revealed

Minutes later
Still in the first-floor girls' lavatory by the Charms classroom

Professor Quirrell volunteered to remove the troll from the lavatory, whilst Professor Snape repaired the lavatory. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall cast some kind of silencing spell about herself and the five first-years—a spell that Hermione craved to ask about.

McGonagall asked Harry, "Why did you and Mr Weasley come here? Why aren't you two in the common room where you belong?"

Harry replied, "Hermione, Lavender and Parvati missed Transfiguration class"—which McGonagall well knew—"and weren't at the Great Hall at lunch. I figured the other two girls were consoling crying Hermione, and it was taking a while. But hours later, they were missing dinner. Then Professor Quirrell made the announcement about the troll. I figured the girls didn't know about the troll, and the prefects were busy, so I grabbed Ron—"

"Pfft," said Parvati. "Useless."

"—then we went looking for the girls. I messed up, because at first I locked the troll in the lavatory with the girls. Sorry, ladies."

Professor McGonagall escorted the five children towards Gryffindor Tower. As they walked through the castle, the children told their stories. As much as Hermione wanted to lie so that Harry could not possibly get in trouble, the stories that Lavender and Parvati told Professor McGonagall made this impossible.

Once the elderly professor and the five firsties were in the Gryffindor common room, Professor McGonagall announced, "The troll is dead. Miss Brown, Miss Granger and Miss Patil subdued it, and Mr Potter killed it."

The common room went silent, with every face showing shock. The silence was broken by Ron yelling, "Oi, what about me?"

Professor McGonagall said, "Miss Brown, Miss Granger and Miss Patil, five points each from Gryffindor for missing today's Transfiguration class—which was about transfiguring a saucer into a teacup. By your next class, I expect you three to have read about the transfiguration and to have completed the essay assignment."

"Yes, professor," the three girls replied with downcast eyes.

"Mr Weasley, ten points from Gryffindor for your cruel, untruthful and ungrateful words which began these events."

"But—"

Professor McGonagall glared Ron to silence.

"Miss Brown and Miss Patil, five points each to Gryffindor for comforting a sad classmate. Miss Brown, Miss Granger, Miss Patil and Mr Potter, five points each for jointly defeating a troll. Mr Weasley, one point for helping the other four. Fifteen minutes ago, I would have said defeating a troll was impossible for first-years, but together, you five did it."

The five firsties grinned at each other.

"Now eat up. The Feast was moved to the common room, and hopefully the house-elves haven't removed the food yet."

Ron grinned. "We haven't missed the food? Wicked."

For Hermione, the evening in the Gryffindor common room was a comedy.

Percy was all set to lecture the girls for skiving off Transfiguration—till Lavender and Parvati explained loudly why they had done so: They were fixing the disaster that Percy's youngest brother had caused. Meanwhile, Hermione wanted to talk about anything except how Ron Weasley had made her cry, so she was trying to talk to Harry, Fay Dunbar and Neville Longbottom about the Transfiguration class she had missed.

The Weasley twins asked, "So what happened with—"

"—you lot and the troll?"

To hear Ron tell it, he and Harry had killed the troll (by unspecified means), whilst the three girls shivered and screamed. The three girls scornfully disagreed; they called Ron "a liar, a braggart and a coward."

"Coward?" the three older Weasleys said together.

Then the twin gingers looked at Harry—

"You've been quiet through all this."

"What do you say happened?"

Hermione noticed that Harry looked pained by the roomful of attention. Hermione answered instead of Harry: "It was Harry who killed the troll. He shoved his wand up the troll's nose."

The redhead twins high-fived each other. "A Gryffindor firstie killed the troll," said one.

"What spell did you use?" the other twin asked Harry.

"I didn't use any spell, because I don't know any spells. I did the first thing that I thought of."

A prefect asked, "How did you levitate your wand to go into the troll's nose?"

"I didn't levitate my wand. I climbed up the back of the troll, wrapped my left arm about his forehead and shoved the wand up his nose with my right hand."

Many in the audience gasped, hearing this.

Percy frowned. "This was a dangerous thing to do."

A boy about Percy's age replied, "But Perce, he got the job done. Harry Potter was brave."

A third- or fourth-year girl asked Harry, "What about Wingardium Leviosa on the troll's club? These other firsties are telling different stories about that."

Ron gave Harry a look that Hermione interpreted to mean Don't make me look bad. Now Harry looked truly pained.

Harry answered, "Hermione cast the spell, but then the other two girls each put a hand on her shoulder—"

"Sharing their magic," an older girl explained.

"Anyway, Ron cast his own Levitation Charm along with the girls, after a minute. Together the two Levitation Charms knocked out the troll with his own club, and his face hit the floor. That's when my wand killed it."

A twin said, "You say that Ron waited a—"

"—minute before casting his own spell."

"What was he doing—"

"—during that minute?"

Harry glanced at Ron, then said, "Ron was, erm, watching the rest of us."

Parvati snapped, "Ron was standing by the door, ready to run away, whilst the rest of us were fighting the troll. Finally he did a bit of wand-fighting after I shamed him."

Harry did not speak up and agree with Parvati—but neither did he speak up to disagree.

Hermione noticed Ron's ears turn red. Then suddenly Ron hurried away to the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Many older Gryffindors came over to Hermione and complimented her on how she had acted during the troll-attack. By the time Hermione eventually left the common room for her own dormitory—with a stomach full of food and with her Transfiguration essay one-third written—the bushy-haired firstie was grinning.

As Hermione lay in bed, she thought, It's pretty obvious now, who the "true friend" of the prophecy is, and who the "false friend" is. Ugh, somebody hit me on the head with a rock if I ever consider marrying Ron Weasley.

The next morning (Friday, 1st November)
During breakfast in the Great Hall

Hedwig delivered a letter to Hermione from her mother. All of the letter except for the postscripts had been written four days ago.

.

Monday, 28th October

Dear Hermione,

Not much is going on here. Yesterday and today I helped Dan rake the leaves. He thought this was a fine act of kindness, so today he took me to a cinema—my choice of film. We went to see The Butcher's Wife at matinee. We enjoyed the film, mainly because on this Monday afternoon, the cinema was almost empty except for two happily married dentists. We chose this time of day for the film because your father likes legroom.

Mum

P.S (Thursday) The last note you wrote was interesting to read. Your father also thought your note was interesting to read, after I explained some things.

P.P.S Didn't you mention that Albus Dumbledore, your headmaster, has a beard that goes down to his waist?

.

The "note" that Hermione had written was the text of Professor Trelawney's prophecy, in the original French. For Dan Granger to have read the note, Emma Granger would have had to translate parts of the note for him.

Hermione remembered that the last part of the prophecy warned, "Beware the bearded liar." Emma Granger was asking in her post-postscript, Is "the bearded liar" your headmaster?

At noon

Lunch for Hermione and all the other first-year Gryffindors did not come too soon, after two periods of Potions.

Potions was annoying for Hermione as usual, with Draco Malfoy sabotaging Neville's potion without suffering points-loss or detention, whilst the Gryffindors lost points for ridiculous reasons.

But oddly, Hermione sometimes saw Professor Snape studying Harry—not all the time trying to catch Harry in some ridiculous error, but sometimes as if Professor Snape were trying to figure Harry out.

At lunch, the five troll-adventure firsties sat together at the Gryffindor table. Rather, Ron and Harry sat down first, and a minute later, the three girls sat as close to Harry as they could. Ron soon got insulting to Parvati and Lavender, who insulted him right back. (Hermione did not speak insults to Ron, but she often replied archly.) Hermione got the distinct impression that Ron did not want to share Harry with the three girls.

Ron's twin brothers thought the situation was hilarious. Ron's prefect brother Percy suggested that Ron, Lavender and Parvati should act "properly."

A half-hour later, whilst Hermione still was eating

Hermione watched two people in grey enter the Great Hall and walk up to the High Table. The two people wore grey robes with grey cowls pulled up; grey-wool masks covered their faces. The strange thing was, Hermione could not tell whether either of the two people was a man or a woman!

Hermione looked up the table at Fred and George. "Who are those two people?"

A twin answered, "They're Unspeakables. They study—"

"—Magic itself. They're part of the Ministry."

The twins said in unison, "They work for the Department of Mysteries."

Hermione saw that the two Unspeakables were arguing with the headmaster and with Professor McGonagall, though Hermione could hear no one's voice.

Dumbledore's words could not be heard, but his expression said You must do as I say, because I always know best. Before Professor Trelawney's prophecy, Hermione always had taken comfort in the headmaster's seeming assuredness—but no longer.

After several minutes of silence-charmed argument

Professor McGonagall, with her lips pressed together, led the two Unspeakables to where Hermione and her friends (and Ron) were sitting. "Mr Potter, Miss Granger, these two people are from the Department of Mysteries, which is part of the Ministry of Magic. They wish to speak to you as soon as you finish lunch."

"About what?" Hermione asked. She suspected the Unspeakables had heard about her prophecy, but why did they wish to speak to Harry?

Professor McGonagall replied, "They will explain their business with you when you all are someplace private."

Harry shoved a mouthful of shepherd's pie into his mouth, stood up, and gestured Lead on.

Hermione slipped her knapsack onto her back and followed Professor McGonagall, the two Unspeakables, and Harry.

Professor McGonagall led the Unspeakables and the two firsties to an empty classroom. The taller of the Unspeakables introduced both of them: the taller Unspeakable was "Unspeakable Twenty-Two," whilst the shorter Unspeakable was "Unspeakable Sixty-Five."

(The taller Unspeakable's voice was actually two voices—a man's voice and a woman's voice that spoke the same words in unison.)

Then the taller Unspeakable said, "Professor, please remain a moment, whilst we check for listening charms."

The taller Unspeakable waved a red(!) wand, and suddenly a blue-glowing strange shape appeared on each Unspeakable's robes. The shorter Unspeakable said (with two voices at once), "There also is a listening charm on Miss Granger's knapsack."

The taller Unspeakable snapped, "That whiskered popinjay. He insists on hoarding his own secrets like fist-sized diamonds, whilst believing himself entitled to know everyone else's secrets."

The taller Unspeakable waved his/her wand, and the glowing blue shapes vanished. He/she asked the shorter Unspeakable, "Did I get them all?"

The shorter Unspeakable did his/her own waving of his/her own red wand, whilst walking round the others. "All gone," he/she announced.

The taller Unspeakable looked at Professor McGonagall. "Sixty-Five and I will be taking the children to the DOM, where nosy, bearded old men can't listen in."

McGonagall replied, "The headmaster won't allow—"

"The four of us are involved in Unspeakables business, and Dumbles has no say. The children will be back before dinner at five."

Minutes later

The two Unspeakables, Harry and Hermione surprisingly achieved walking outside, into sunlight, before the headmaster ran up to them. "Unspeakable Twenty-Two, I refuse permission for these young children to leave the castle."

The taller Unspeakable replied, "They're on Unspeakables business now. Since you've shown that you won't respect their privacy in the castle, we're taking them to the Ministry."

"First-years are not permitted to leave the castle for any reason whilst school in in session."

"Would you care to make an oath on your magic that this rule has no exceptions?"

"I insist on knowing what your business is with Miss Granger."

Hermione felt surprise. She had a good idea why the Unspeakables might want to talk to her, but she could not guess why the Unspeakables wanted to talk to Harry; and she absolutely could not guess how the headmaster thought he knew the answer to this mystery.

Meanwhile, the taller Unspeakable was replying, "Insist all you want. But you have no right to know, not now and"—the taller Unspeakable's grey-wool mask turned to face Hermione's face—"not after she returns. Your responsibilities as headmaster do not allow you to ask Miss Granger about Unspeakables business. The same goes for Mr Potter."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other in confusion. What is the Unspeakable talking about?

Dumbledore said pompously, "I am also the Chief Warlock. You will answer my questions, to my satisfaction, or I will cut the Department of Mysteries's funding."

"Oh please, Albus Percival Dumbledore"—the headmaster's eyes widened—"your threat was old when Polonius Dumbledore"—founder of House Dumbledore—"was a first-year. And the DOM's answer to every politician demanding secrets, remains the same now as it was in olden days: 'We don't have to say sod-all to anyone in Britain except the monarch.' Who has been Queen Elizabeth the Second since 1952, if you're not up on Muggle current events."

Then the taller Unspeakable said, "Sixty-Five, Miss Granger, Mr Potter, come—we have business at the Department of Mysteries. Headmaster, it's been an experience talking with you, as always. I suggest you reread the 1642 Treaty of Separation of Magical Britain from Nonmagical Britain; the Department of Mysteries rates four paragraphs on page 7."

Two minutes later
In the Hall of Prophecies
Part of the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, London

The taller Unspeakable was explaining to the two children, "We track prophecies here—"

Harry blurted, "Tell-the-future real prophecies?"

"Indeed. So why do we track prophecies? First, because it helps the Ministry to know about something consequential before it happens. Second, because a prophecy always comes true, even after someone tries to prevent this. When someone tries to prevent a prophecy's fulfillment, how the prophecy gets fulfilled just becomes more convoluted."

The two Unspeakables and the two first-years were walking through a gigantic, dimly lit room that was full of shelves. On those shelves were many, many smoky glass balls, each glass ball being about two inches in diameter. Some glass balls looked white; some looked dark.

Unspeakable Sixty-Five, the shorter Unspeakable, said, "The first thing you need to know about prophecy-spheres: Every one of those glass balls contains the words of a prophecy. Black smoke inside the ball means the prophecy is fulfilled; white smoke means the prophecy still is active. We have magic to inform us, the minute that a prophecy is fulfilled."

"Wow," said Hermione.

"The second thing you need to know: Don't touch any of the prophecy-spheres! Only the person who spoke the prophecy, the person who heard the prophecy, someone mentioned in the prophecy, or one of us Unspeakables may touch the prophecy-sphere. If anyone else touches it, he or she instantly goes barking mad."

Harry asked, "Why are you telling us this? Why did you bring us here?"

Instead of answering the question, the taller Unspeakable took over the lecture: "The difference between a divination and a prophecy is that a divination can be partly false or completely false; while a prophecy always comes true, eventually."

Hermione asked, "There are no false prophecies? 'I prophesy it will be sunny all day tomorrow at Hogwarts Castle,' but tomorrow it rains?"

The shorter Unspeakable replied, "A prophecy, by definition, always comes true—completely. This is why we have magic here that tracks prophecies—but not divinations. We know that a prophecy was spoken, the night before last, that Sybill Trelawney spoke the prophecy, and that you, Miss Granger, heard the prophecy."

Harry said, "You heard one? Wow! What did the prophecy say?"

As Hermione blushed red, the shorter Unspeakable said, "Mr Potter, in here, such a question is considered quite rude to ask."

Harry said, "Sorry, Hermione. So why is Hermione here, and why am I here?"

The taller Unspeakable replied, "Miss Granger is here so that we can take a recording of the prophecy from her memory, and can interview her about whom she thinks the prophecy might be about—"

Hermione grinned. "Then my memory will be set in a glass ball in this room forever!"

The taller Unspeakable pulled a prophecy-sphere from a pocket of his/her grey robes and showed the glass ball to Harry, before repocketing it. "The reason we wished to speak with you, Mr Potter, is that a prophecy was made about you, we believe, and you deserve to know this."

"A prophecy has been made about Harry?" blurted Hermione. She hugged the boy next to her.

Hermione noticed Harry flinch.

The Unspeakables took the children into a well-lit conference room, which had a table with eight chairs about it. A strange little object that had a concave top, and two rows of runes round its base, was set on the table. Also set on the table: what looked to Harry like a birdbath with runes on it.

A cupboard was mounted on one wall of the conference room. From the cupboard, the taller Unspeakable removed a clear prophecy-sphere, and set the glass sphere on the concave holder on the table.

The taller Unspeakable then returned to the cupboard and removed from it a sheet of parchment, an ink bottle, a quill and a pair of scissors. These items also were placed on the table.

Harry watched as the taller Unspeakable "copied Miss Granger's memory," which somehow involved the Unspeakable putting his/her wand on the side of Hermione's head and creating a glowing white oil on the tip of his/her wand. Then the glowing white oil was dumped into the "pensieve" (the runes-inscribed birdbath).

The taller Unspeakable asked Hermione, "Miss Granger, before I edit the memory and put it in this prophecy-sphere, do you wish for me to remove Mr Potter from this room so he will not witness your memory?"

Hermione looked at Harry, then at both Unspeakables. "You're going to play Harry's prophecy for him, right? If he'll let me see his, he may see mine."

"Sounds fair," Harry said.

As Harry watched, and as Hermione watched closely, the taller Unspeakable touched the tip of his/her wand to a rune on the pensieve. Above the pensieve, a three-dimensional image formed—

In a dark dormitory room, nightgown-clad Hermione slipped into bed and shut her eyes. Her breathing slowed. Fifteen or twenty seconds after she shut her eyes, she suddenly was awake, was still dressed in her nightgown and now was standing in a classroom that Harry never had seen before. In the classroom were Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, and a woman with thick glasses. Harry had seen the thick-glasses woman once before, sitting at the High Table during the Welcoming Feast. Now in the classroom, Hermione, looking panicked, talked with Lavender and the woman. As soon as Percy Weasley entered the classroom by climbing up a ladder(!), the thick-glasses woman began speaking French in a strange voice. When the woman stopped speaking French, Hermione's memory ended.

Now the taller Unspeakable held his/her wand against a different rune of the pensieve. The memory replayed, at half of normal speed, till the Unspeakable lifted his/her wand. This happened just as the thick-glasses woman took a breath to speak what would be French. The thick-glasses woman froze, unmoving.

The taller Unspeakable pressed his/her wand against a third rune, which flashed green.

The taller Unspeakable touched his/her wand to the first rune on the pensieve, and the memory replayed at normal speed. But now the only part of Hermione's memory that was shown was the thick-glasses woman speaking French.

The taller Unspeakable dipped the tip of his/her wand into the pensieve and removed the glowing white oil—but now there was much less glowing white oil than before. The taller Unspeakable touched his/her wand-tip to the top of the clear prophecy-sphere and said, "Memento aeternum." The glowing white oil was absorbed into the prophecy-sphere, as frozen white smoke.

Hermione watched the taller Unspeakable use his/her wand to touch a rune that had appeared atop the newly filled prophecy-sphere; Hermione watched Professor Trelawney speak French again. The two Unspeakables shared a look—or rather, they turned their grey-wool masks to face each other.

The shorter Unspeakable walked over to the cupboard. He/she brought back to the table an object that looked to Hermione to be a stone carving of lips, on which many little runes were painted. The shorter Unspeakable activated one of those runes with a wand-tip. Again the prophecy-sphere was made to play the memory of Professor Trelawney speaking French—but right afterwards, the stone lips spoke with an expressionless woman's voice—

"Hear me, daughter of tooth-healers. Tomorrow two friends approach—a true friend and a false friend. One day you will choose which one to marry. If you marry the false friend, your life afterwards will be ordinary, and you will sob regretfully during all the rest of your days. If you choose the true friend, you will bathe in joy during your later years, and you and he together will achieve greatness. Daughter of tooth-healers, you can change the world unless you choose the unfit man.

"Beware the bearded liar. He never speaks truth and he plots the death of your true friend."

It was Harry who broke the silence. "Hermione, you heard this two days ago, right? So 'tomorrow' in the prophecy was yesterday, right? So the prophecy has something to do with the five of us who fought the troll, right?"

The Unspeakables said together, "Troll?"

Meanwhile, Hermione nodded at Harry's question.

Harry asked, "So am I the 'true friend' whom you should marry, the 'false friend,' or neither?"

The shorter Unbreakable asked, "What's this about you two, three others, and a troll?"

Hermione answered distractedly, "Yesterday two other Gryffindor firstie girls and myself used Wingardium Leviosa to grab the troll's club and knock him unconscious with it. Ron helped a bit, then Harry killed the troll."

As the two speechless Unspeakables again shared a look, Hermione turned to look at Harry. "Anyway, Harry, logic says the 'true friend' must be either you or Ron, and it's quite clear that Ron can't be the 'true friend'!"

Harry asked, in a voice filled with dread, "And 'the bearded liar,' it's Dumbledore? Dumbledore is plotting to kill me?"

The taller Unspeakable said, "A witch named Dolores Umbridge has chin-hairs, but I don't think this is whom the prophecy refers to."

The shorter Unspeakable sighed. "Unspeakable Twenty-Two tried to make a joke. The joke failed."

The taller Unspeakable inked the quill, then looked at Hermione. "What is your full name, Miss Granger?"

"Hermione Jean Granger."

"Mentioned in this prophecy, you believe, are yourself, Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore and Ron...?"

"Ronald Weasley," Hermione replied.

The taller Unspeakable wrote at the top of the parchment in small letters, "S.P.T to H.J.G: Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Albus Dumbledore. Prophecy in French." Then he/she used the scissors to cut the written-on parchment away from the blank parchment.

The shorter Unspeakable said to the children, "All done. Now Miss Granger's prophecy-sphere can be put on a shelf and labelled."

"Hold on," the taller Unspeakable said. He/she waved his/her wand, then picked up the quill and began writing on the blank parchment-remainder. But now the lower half of the quill and the words written on the page both were blurry; Hermione could not read the newly written words.

After a while, when the taller Unspeakable finally put the quill down, he/she used his/her wand to open the door to the conference room. Using both hands, he/she grabbed the parchment that had the blurred words and he/she folded the parchment into a paper aeroplane. Picking up his/her wand, he/she cast a spell to turn the paper aeroplane yellow, cast another spell to unblur the paper aeroplane's words then tossed the paper aeroplane towards the opening in the doorway. The yellow paper aeroplane flew out of the conference room and disappeared from Hermione's sight.

Instead of explaining to Harry and Hermione what just had happened, the taller Unspeakable asked, "Okay, what's next?"

Harry threw himself back into his chair. "Let's hear my prophecy now. It sure can't be worse than learning that Dumbledore plans to kill me."

Hermione laid a hand on Harry's arm. "Before we do, let me make you a promise. The prophecy says that if I marry 'the true friend,' who I think is you, I 'will bathe in joy.' If I marry you, I'll do everything I can so that you will bathe in joy too."

Harry said, "I'd like that. My life hasn't had much joy up till now."

The two Unspeakables shared another look.

Harry then stared down at the table. "But, erm, Hermione? Don't take this the wrong way, but I met you only two months ago, and we've been friends only since last night. So it's weird for me, to talk about me marrying you someday, maybe. I mean, you and me, and Ron and Neville all had an adventure together, getting growled-at by the three-headed dog—"

The two Unspeakables looked at each other.

"—but that didn't tell me how you'd be as a wife, you know?"

Hermione laid her hand on Harry's arm. "I understand, believe me. It's at least as weird for me to be told by the prophecy, 'Don't marry Ron Weasley, because he's bad news.' After how he made me cry in the lavatory yesterday, why would my older self think, for even one second, of marrying him? Does he develop Arnold Schwarzenegger muscles when he grows up? Will Ron someday start quoting passages from Hogwarts: A History?"

"Perhaps," the shorter Unspeakable suggested, "someday you're slipped a love potion. It wouldn't surprise me, considering who his mother is."

The taller Unspeakable removed Harry's prophecy-sphere from his/her pocket and placed the glass ball atop a conjured holder. Then he/she touched his/her wand-tip to the rune at the top of Harry's prophecy-sphere.

Like before, a talking image formed above the prophecy-sphere. Hermione recognised Professor Trelawney's thick glasses and "prophecy voice"—

"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 Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Harry said, "Well, bugger."