Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, stared at the five preteens in front of him with an uncharacteristic expression of pure bafflement.

"I am sorry… could you please repeat that?"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny loudly burst out again, all talking over each other. Luna just watched with mild amusement.

"We think Harry's scar-!"

"-a Horcrux in my sister's-!"

"-about my dreams, I-!"

"-I've never read anythingabout-!"

"Stop!" Professor Dumbledore raised his hand, making them quiet down again. "One at a time, please. Miss Granger?"

"Professor," Hermione started, clearing her throat. "Is there a possibility that Harry's scar might be possessed by You-Know-Who? If so, how do we fix it?"

"Also, my little sister had a Horcrux in her bag! In her school bag, Professor! Who put a dark artifact in my sister's stuff?!" Ron quickly followed up, waving his hands frantically. "Why are there some many of these Horcrux things around all of a sudden? Was Quirrell just tossing them around or something?!"

"How do I get rid of Voldemort from my forehead?" Harry demanded urgently. "I don't care how, I- something has to be done, Professor! Please, I don't want to be possessed by the man who murdered my parents and tried to kill me twice!"

"You've got to hear Luna out, Professor Dumbledore!" Ginny finished, pushing her friend forward. "She's the one who sensed the Horcrux in the first place! If she's right, then she's got the best chances of finding these things, before they can harm someone!"

"...Is that so?" The Headmaster looked at Luna, giving her his full attention. Luna smiled gratefully at Ginny. "Miss Lovegood, is it?"

"Yes, Professor," Luna said, showing him the box she was carrying. "My parents and I have meant to speak with you about this for a while. We decided to wait until I came to Hogwarts, so we could deal with the issue quietly. But since my friends here are all already involved, one way or another, I think it's best if we try to figure things out together."

The others all fell silent, hanging onto her every word. Professor Dumbledore seemed suddenly very old, very tired but also very sharp. There was no cheerful twinkling in his blue eyes.

"Please proceed, Miss Lovegood." He told her, showing her his desk.

Luna put the box on the flat surface, and slowly opened it. The other four children looked over her shoulders to peer at what was inside of it. There were three objects beneath a glass clover. One of them drew the Headmaster's attention immediately.

Professor Dumbledore's eyes widened, as he realized what he was looking at. "This is…?"

"If you are thinking that this is Ravenclaw's Diadem," said Luna with a serene smile "Then you would be correct."

"The what?" Harry and Hermione asked in confusion, never having heard of it.

"The what?!" The Weasley siblings gasped in shock, looking at the diadem with awe.

"Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem." Luna explained. "A tiara said to grant wisdom to the wearer. Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

"It was lost for centuries," Professor Dumbledore said, stumped. "How did you find this, Miss Lovegood?"

"Oh, it was right here!" she said, smiling peacefully.

"...Here?"

"Here – in Hogwarts. Specifically in the Come and Go Room."

The rest of them stared at Luna in raw confusion.

"The Room of Requirement?" She elaborated, seeing they weren't getting it. "I asked the House-Elves where people might be hiding things in the castle, and one of them brought me to the seventh floor were it's located. It appears only when you ask for it."

"I see…" the Headmaster said, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"House-Elves…?" Hermione said, as if she only had the vaguest idea what creatures Luna was referring to. It occurred to her that Hermione was yet to discover the mistreatment of the House-Elves and starting S.P.E.W. Luna wondered if she should say something about it, but then decided they had more important things to focus on right now.

"Wait a second, Luna…" Ginny turned to her. "Are you saying that Ravenclaw's Diadem is… it's a-?"

"Yup, you guessed it." Luna nodded, proud of her for catching on so fast. "It's one of Tom's Horcruxes."

"I'm sorry- Tom?" Harry said, rubbing the scar on his forehead.

"Yeah?" Luna tilted her head at him. "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Who's Tom Marvolo Riddle?"

"Lord Voldemort, obviously."

Three of the preteens gasped in instinctive fear. Professor Dumbledore sharply looked at Luna. Harry just blinked. "Voldemort's name? His name wasn't Voldemort from the start?"

"Of course not! What mother would name her child Voldemort?" Luna laughed at the thought. "She would have been definitely under some really bad Nargle influence."

"What's a-?"

"Miss Lovegood," the Headmaster interrupted. "How do you know Lord Voldemort's original name?"

"It's a funny story, actually!" Luna said brightly. "A couple of years ago, my parents and I were on a trip for Magizoologist research. We were investigating the seasonal migration of the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks-"

"The what…?" Hermione muttered under her breath.

"-and we stumbled across a small village named Little Hangleton. Turned out Tom's parents used to live there."

"His what?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison. Luna couldn't help but grin at their reaction.

"Yup! His real parents. Tom Riddle Senior, and Merope Gaunt. They're both dead, obviously. Tom's mom died in childbirth, allegedly. Mr Riddle was killed by his son when Tom Junior was a teenager. Sixteen, I think?"

The four preteens gaped at her. "He killed his own dad?!"

"Of course he did, why are you so surprised? Tom grew up in an orphanage, so no wonder he had daddy issues." Luna patted her chin with a finger. "Also, he was probably trying to cover up the fact that his dad was a Muggle, since that kind of ruins his whole pure-blood ideology thing..."

"His dad was a Muggle?!"

Professor Dumbledore, who already knew most of it, was a bit less fazed than the children. "But how did your family figure this out, Miss Lovegood? I would think Voldemort would have left no evidence to his crimes."

"The Riddles had a gardener named Frank Bryce," Luna answered, once again not quite lying, just omitting things. "He still remembers them. Of course, Tom didn't leave evidence. He killed the entire family in one go, then he framed his uncle, Morfin Gaunt, who had a clear motive since hated the Riddles – and Muggles in general – so no one really questioned it. But it's obvious Tom did it, once you look into it a bit. For one thing, do you know how Horcruxes are made?"

"Do you?" Professor Dumbledore asked, looking at her with a bit of suspicion. Oh, riiight… Dark magic stuff. Really, really dark magic. Luna often forgot what wasn't common knowledge.

"My Inner Eye told me!" she said a bit defensively. "My family doesn't study Dark Arts." Her mom used to study mystical spell-craft, but it was probably better not to mention it. "Even if you don't know, it's really obvious, you know, anyone could figure it out. What would be needed for the most evil magic in the world? Take a guess." She turned to Ginny. "Like, the first thing that comes to mind."

"Um…" Ginny blinked, confounded. "Murder?"

"Ding ding!" Luna clapped her hands. "Exactly. To make a Horcrux you need to commit murder. Tom left a Horcrux in the shack where the Gaunts used to live. It's simple to connect a Horcrux to a murder that happened nearby. We found the shack on our trip, and the ring inside it. Of course, we knew right away that the ring-" she paused, suddenly remembering that Professor Dumbledore had History(TM) with the Deathly Hallows, so she changed what she was about to say "-was heavily cursed. Like, a curse of the most deadly variety. And I knew it was Tom's Horcrux on top of it, too – because of my Inner Eye I mean." She pointed a finger at Hermione's face and asked: "Now, the question is: why would a crazy megalomaniac like Tom leave a very personal dark artifact just lying around in the middle of nowhere?"

"Because…" Hermione frowned, carefully thinking about it. "Because that place was important to him?"

"Exactly! People don't leave things like that lying around a place without a reason. Turns out the ring belonged to Morfin Gaunt. So, obviously Tom had a connection to the Gaunts, and the murder of the Riddles. The Gaunts are a very old pure-blood wizard family, known specifically for two things: their connection to Salazar Slytherin, and their Parseltongue abilities. From what my parents told me, during the war Tom flaunted the fact that he was a Parselmouth – which means, he could to talk to snakes," she explained, seeing Harry's confused expression. "Hey, Harry, can you understand snakes by any chance? Have you ever tried chatting with one?"

"What?" Ron scoffed. "No way. That's, like, a dark wizard ability. There's no way Harry-"

"Actually..."

Ron turned to his best friend with a disbelieving face. "Bloody hell, mate. Are you kidding me? Why did you never mention this!"

"I thought that was just a normal thing wizards could do!" Harry protested. "Nobody told me it was unusual, I was raised by Muggles, remember?"

Luna nodded. "Right. By all logic, Harry shouldn't have this ability. His dad was pure-blood, but the Potters had absolutely no connection to Slytherin. And Lily Potter was Muggle-born. Parseltongue is hereditary. So unless Harry's mom cheated on her husband- don't look at me like that!" Luna raised her hands defensively at Harry's furious scowl. "I know she didn't! Everybody knows that – don't people constantly say you're a spitting image of your father or something?" When he relaxed, she continued: "As I was saying, unless Morfin Gaunt – the guy who has been in prison for like 50 years, is he even still alive? – was secretly your dad all along, it shouldn't be possible for you to talk to snakes. Unless you're a Horcrux, of course."

Immediately, Harry wilted, hands turning into fists. "So it's true, then? Voldemort is really possessing me?"

Ron and Hermione put comforting hands on his shoulders.

"Miss Lovegood," Professor Dumbledore spoke up. "I understand how you came across the ring, and how you figured out the truth behind the Riddle family's deaths..." Oh no, the man still sounded suspicious. Not good! Fortunately, she had her Occlumency shield on. "But that does not explain how you connected the identities of Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort? Or is it just speculation?"

"It's her Inner Eye, Professor," said Ginny, pointing at the black notebook under the glass. "She can sense things. She sensed Tom Riddle's diary in my bag!"

"My parents investigated with me, too. They are really good at uncovering conspiracies," Luna said, pulling out a piece of parchment and her trusty Billywig pen out of her bag. "Also, if Tom wanted to keep his identity a secret, he picked a pretty lousy nickname. Haven't you realized, Professor?"

One the parchment, she wrote down: TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. And underneath it: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.

"Check it out." She gave the parchment to Hermione. The bushy-haired girl stared at the paper in surprise.

"This… It's an anagram! All the letters are the same!"

"Picture this," Luna said with a mischievous grin, putting on the voice of a scary Halloween story being told to small children. "A long time ago, a young orphan named Tom Marvolo Riddle wandered the corridors of Hogwarts, plotting world domination. While his friends secretly wrote the names of their crushes in their notebooks, like an infatuated schoolgirl, the future Dark Lord named Tom scribbled down his future Evil Nickname on the margins of his notes. Where his classmates dreamed of their future careers, he dreamed of ruling the world so no one would dare to be mean to him anymore. He schemed for the day all would fear the Name – take that, orphanage bullies! 'I am a big boy wizard now!' the future Dark Lord thought, rubbing his hands in excitement, like a toddler in a candy-store. He searched through the forbidden section of the library to learn the Dark Arts and make a his first, very terrifying Horcrux… out of his own diary."

When she first began the monologue, the faces of the other children were apprehensive. In the middle, their expressions started to turn more disbelieving, even amused. By the end of it, the three were choking on suppressed laughter.

"All hail Dark Lord Tom," Luna said in a deep, mocking voice. "Who thought it was a brilliant idea to make his Dark Lord title out of a scrabble game, by just mixing the letters like a five-year-old who just discovered the alphabet…!"

Now, all three gave up and were laughing openly.

"N-no! Don't tell me he really did that!" Hermione said, putting a hand over her eyes, shoulders shaking in mirth.

Harry laughed the loudest, probably releasing all the stress he got since he learned about his scar. "He- he really did!"

"I- I can't!" Ginny giggled, holding her midsection. "I can't believe it! That's so dumb!"

"This- this is amazing!" Ron howled in laughter, holding himself up by putting an arm around Harry's shoulders. "It sounds like so-something like F-Fred and George came up with!"

Even Dumbledore chuckled lightly, seeing the humor of the situation. "It is quite childish, when you put it that way." Luna was relieved to see that all his previous suspicion about her was gone. She had not planned for it, but openly mocking Tom probably convinced him that Luna could not possibly be a Death Eater in disguise. No sane servant of the Dark Lord would dare to call out their master in such manner.

"Anyway," Luna continued when her friends calmed down. "That's how my family found the first Horcrux. We kept it quiet, because if anyone on Tom's side found out that we had it, we would be in big trouble. And we couldn't just destroy it, because we needed the evidence. We suspected – and clearly, we were right! – that Tom made more than just one of these. We need to find all of them to take him down once and for all."

"Take him down?" Harry repeated. "You mean, Voldemort?"

"Yeah, I mean, what did you think Horcruxes are for? Why couldn't anyone kill him during the war? As powerful as he was, he's still human. Humans aren't immortal. Unless they dabble in some very nasty magic, that is." Luna pointed at the box on the Headmaster's desk. "Just like that."

The golden trio stared. So did Ginny. "Wait, but you said a Horcrux is an object possessed by an evil spirit?"

"It is. It is also an anchor used by Dark Wizards to protect themselves from death. To make a Horcrux, one needs to first commit murder, then split a piece of their soul, then put in an object through some ritual. The last step is optional, apparently, since Harry is a Horcrux, and I'm pretty sure Tom never got to perform any ritual after he put that scar on his forehead. Which is good news!" Luna patted him on the back comfortingly. "It means you are definitely a defective Horcrux – one he never intended to make. Considering he didn't try to control you when you met him last semester, he either can't, or doesn't even know. Either way, we'll figure out how to pull out that sucker's soul fragment out of you before that can happen, trust me."

Harry smiled slightly, relieved at the revelation. Luna glanced at Professor Dumbledore and skillfully hid a wince at his not-so-subtle grim demeanor. Yeah… the man definitely did not share Luna's optimism. He was probably making plans on how to make Harry nobly sacrifice himself by facing Tom to fulfill the prophecy. She liked Professor Dumbledore, she really did, but seriously – what the hell, man?

"And I am sure" she said very loudly, unable to sit quiet while the man everyone in the school trusted to keep them safe was plotting a child sacrifice through heroic suicide 'for the greater good' or some nonsense "That we can do it in a way that satisfies the prophecy! Just so we tie all lose ends and all that."

"The what?" Hermione and Ron said at the same time, with Ginny right after them, and Luna took great pleasure at witnessing the great Professor Albus Dumbledore pale significantly, his glasses sliding down his crooked nose an inch or two out of pure shock.

"How do you know about that?" he asked with visibly forced calm, and oh wow, that was his Legilimency currently battering at the walls of her Occlumency shield, wasn't it? Good thing she trained for years for this exact moment, or she would have been done for. Stealing straight from Professor Snape's tactics for dealing with Tom's interrogations, she pictured her parents around their dinner table, discussing the prophecy Luna 'saw' with her Inner Eye – an image confirming the explanation she was about to provide.

"Like Ginny said," Luna said, keeping her body language and thoughts completely relaxed "My Inner Eye lets me know many things. And I have a knack for knowing Harry Potter-related things in particular, for some reason."

"Like what?" Harry asked, rising his eyebrows.

Luna was happy to provide an example. "Like the fact that you turned one of your teacher's wig blue when you were in primary school." It was, in fact, one of the first magical feats accredited to Harry in the first novel. She remembered it fondly from the first time she read it.

"Did that really happen, Harry?" Hermione inquired, still appearing hesitant to simply believe in Luna's strange power. Which was fair – since it wasn't actually real. But in Luna's defense, she was lying as little as possible about it, hardly at all, really. She never specifically said that she sensed or saw things. Merely that she knew them. No one could blame her for people making assumptions.

"Well, yes. Did I ever mention it?" Harry asked his friends.

"No..."

"I don't think so?"

"So, you know the prophecy," Professor Dumbledore said, watching Luna closely. "Do you know who originally said it?"

"What prophecy?" asked Ginny, but she was ignored for the moment.

"Miss Sybill Trelawney, right? Oh sorry, she's a Professor here, right? I should probably call her Professor Trelawney."

Professor Dumbledore sighed, heavily.

"Would the three of you please leave us for a moment? I need to speak with Miss Lovegood alone."

Luna's first instinct was to protest, but she quickly realized she could use it to her advantage.

"As long as my friends can come back later," she stated, smiling but firm. "I don't want to hide things from them. Harry especially deserves to know the truth."

"What truth?" Harry said, turning his head to look at both of them. "What prophecy? Is it something about me?"

"I'll tell you guys later," Luna promised him. "Professor Dumbledore probably just wants to ask me something personal, that's all. You guys wait just a moment, alright? It won't take long."

It did not escape anyone's notice that Luna was in control of this discussion – not even the children. Still, the Headmaster gave in. "Very well."

"Sure," Ron said, a bit hesitant but obedient nonetheless. The golden trio and Ginny left the office, leaving only the Headmaster and Luna present in the room.

"Miss Lovegood," Professor Dumbledore started, but Luna interrupted them:

"Professor…" She took a deep breath. Then she released it. "You should know, I respect you, and your privacy. Unfortunately, my gift allows me to know many things, things I am well aware that you would not wish to share with anyone, least of all me. But regardless of how either of us feels about it, it is just how things are."

"What are you trying to say, Miss Lovegood?"

She had been hesitant to use this card. She really was. But she believed it was for the best, and she doubted the Headmaster would dare to threaten or hurt a student, even if they were alone and he could get away with it. And really, that was the least of her worries. She was probably not the one who would feel hurt or threatened in the conversation that was about to happen.

Still, she spoke, uncomfortably aware that she might just as well be stabbing the man in front of her in the gut with her words.

"I am very sorry…" Each word was stated plainly, sympathetic, but unapologetic in its honesty. "...about what happened to your sister."

If Professor Dumbledore went pale before, now he turned white as a sheet.

He sat down.

The exchange that followed was very reminiscent of a famous scene in Good Will Hunting movie from 1998. Basically, Luna gave the poor man crash course therapy by telling him: It's okay, sometimes bad things happen and we can't control that, even if they happened while you were doing something you were not supposed to be doing that does not make you guilty, like a kid who broke curfew and their parents died in an accident while on their way to pick them up that does not make the kid a murderer because that's what an accident is, alright? Yes, even if it was your spell. Which it probably wasn't by the way, who is the Seer here again? Yes, I would know stuff better than you, have you ever actually talked about this with someone who wasn't as hurt as you by all this, because it does not sound like anyone involved was acting rationally about this, actually? Especially your brother, with whom you should definitely talk to, because you're family and are you just going to die without ever trying to mend things, are you a responsible adult or not? And so on. It took a while. Definitely longer than the couple of minutes she hoped it would take. To be fair, Luna made Professor Dumbledore relieve the memory he had been successfully repressing for like a century, so it was understandable he would be a bit broken up about it.

Thank God for her psychology major.

In the end, she managed to avoid invoking a complete mental breakdown, which... she suspected he was saving for later. She could respect that. She was still a stranger, even if she gained an unexpected amount of trust during this conversation. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't be who he was if he hadn't partly figured her out in return.

"You are… much older than you appear," the Headmaster asked her, afterwards. "Are you not, Miss Lovegood?"

"I am exactly the age I appear to be." Luna was not lying. "But to be honest… I have seen much more than I should have seen... More than I ever wished to see." She shuddered. The World Wide Web was truly a terrible, dark place. She deeply regretted her parents never put on a safe search filter when she was young. Truly, some things could not be unseen. Welcome to the Internet, indeed.

"I see. Miss Lovegood, you said you respect my privacy, and I am grateful."

"You're welcome, Professor."

"But… there is still the matter of the prophecy. Mr Potter must not know."

"And how would you handle it, Professor?" Luna asked sweetly, done pretending she was an oblivious kid who knew nothing. "Not tell him anything until the very moment he needs to sacrifice himself for the greater good?"

The Headmaster actually flinched. Wow, Luna was really getting to him! "...It is not what I wish for, believe me, but I cannot see any other outcome. Unless of course, your Inner Eye has any insight to how to remove the Horcrux without harming Harry, because I have never heard of such a thing."

"I have an idea. Several ideas, actually. I just need to know something." Luna raised a finger next to her right ear, like in the classic image of the Godfather giving the offer one cannot refuse.

"Which is?"

"...Does Fawkes like stories?"

"What took so long? We were waiting forever! We were starting to starve, Luna," Ginny complained when the four children were let back in. She was right, they absolutely missed dinner.

Luckily, Luna knew just the solution to the problem. "Tinkle!" she called out.

In a loud snap, a friendly House-Elf appeared. Her friends jumped, surprised at the noise.

"Hello, Nice Miss Luna Lovegood!" Tinkle squeaked out, excited. "How can Tinkle be of service?"

"That's… a House-Elf?" Hermione asked, uncertain.

"It definitely looks like one," Ron confirmed.

"Hi, Tinkle, it's so nice to see you!" Luna patted his head affectionately. Immediately, the Elf turned cherry red out of embarrassment. He was adorable. "I would like to ask for a favor again, if it is no trouble."

"No trouble, no trouble at all! Tinkle would love to help Nice Miss Luna Lovegood!" Tinkle took in the other people of the room. "Oh, Headmaster Sir! Tinkle here, at your service! It is an honor, Headmaster Sir!"

"Hello, Tinkle," Professor Dumbledore said gently. "It is an honor to see you, as well."

"Too good, Sir Headmaster, Sir! Tinkle is a but humble servant." Tinkle turned back to Luna with enthusiasm. "What can Tinkle do for Nice Miss Luna Lovegood and Good Headmaster Sir?"

"The six of us were very, very busy, and we forgot to eat dinner. I am sorry to trouble you, but could you bring us some food, please? My friends are a bit hungry."

"Right away, Nice Miss Luna Lovegood! Good Headmaster Sir!" And with a snap, he was gone.

"He was very…" Hermione paused. "Polite. Are all House-Elves like that?"

Luna remembered Kreacher, and said: "Absolutely not. Tinkle is a treasure."

Professor Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, the Hogwarts Elves are very well mannered and eager to help. We are fortunate to have them. I try to make good accommodations for them, but truthfully, they never ask for anything. Still, I am glad to see people treat them with the respect they deserve."

Hermione was absolutely about to start asking questions, which Luna would like to avoid for now, thank you, so she quickly followed with: "Sooo anyway, about the prophecy. Professor Dumbledore and I talked about it, and it was decided you should know about it sooner than later. With the Horcruxes at our disposal, we might be able to turn it to our advantage."

"What is the prophecy?" Harry asked a little impatiently. "And what does it have to do with me?"

This time, Professor Dumbledore was the one to take the stage. The rest of them sat down, each with a plate of the delicious shepherd's pie Tinkle brought them from the kitchen. The captive audience listened to the tale of over twelve years ago: how Professor Dumbledore interviewed a candidate for the post of Divination Professor. How a prophecy was said in public, and someone overheard it, carrying the message to the Dark Lord. About what the prophecy entailed. Why Tom searched for the Potters, and why he attacked them on that fateful Halloween night.

The children silently listened to the story, all plates clean by the end of it. After a thoughtful pause, questions began.

"But… how did he know it would be Harry?" Ron asked, putting his plate away. "He couldn't be the only one born as the seventh month dies, right?"

"That's where part about born to those who have thrice defied him comes in," Luna responded, collecting the rest of the dishes and putting them on the Headmaster's desk. "But actually, you're on the right track. Harry wasn't the only candidate who fit those qualifications."

"I wasn't?"

"Oh, so you do know about that," Professor Dumbledore said. "I wondered."

"There were other candidates?" Hermione asked, pulling out a notebook like the diligent student she was.

"Just one. You probably know him, since he's in the same class as you." Luna leaned back, prepared to make an impact. "His name is Neville Longbottom."

"Neville?!"

"How come You-Kno- Tom didn't go after Neville, then?" Ron put his hand down forcefully, making the dishes rattle. "Why Harry?"

"Because he would need to mark him as his equal," Luna explained, and everyone glanced at Harry's forehead as if they couldn't help themselves. "Which means he had to choose his nemesis on his own. Neville wasn't picked by pure chance, probably. Or maybe because Neville is a pure-blood, unlike Harry, so Tom saw himself in him or some stupid reason like that. The point is – Tom decided to get involved in a self-fulfilling prophecy. It would have never came true if Tom simply ignored it. But anything that threatened his supremacy was a blow to his fragile half-blood ego, so he decided to get rid of the threat before Harry could grow up to be one," Luna spread her hands and shrugged. "And as we all know, that didn't work out so well for him. It's kind of hilarious, if you really think about it. He couldn't kill you as a baby, Harry, much less an eleven-year-old: just picture how terrified of you he is now."

Harry blinked in surprise, as if it had never occurred to him that Tom was actually scared of him.

"So, according to this prophecy... I'm supposed to kill him?"

"That's highly debatable," Luna immediately denied. "Sure, it could be interpreted that way. But think about it Harry. No matter what happens, as long as you're alive, Tom will go after you out of fear that you have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. And you're a Horcrux. An accidental one. As long as the Horcrux is intact in your scar, he can't die. And you want to get rid of it, right?

"Of course I do!"

"So that explains the neither can live while the other survives part."

"I guess? ...Wait, so that's it?" Harry realized. "The prophecy is about the Horcrux in my scar?"

"That's my interpretation, at least. As long as you take part in destroying your Horcrux, that counts as either must die at the hand of the other, in my opinion." Luna turned to Professor Dumbledore. "Killing a part of Tom to make him mortal definitely counts."

"You make a fine case, Miss Lovegood, I admit," the Headmaster responded, caressing his beard.

Luna was glad to see that she successfully managed to convince him. It would be hard to help Harry without his support. And now, she had all the pieces she needed to put all of her other plans into motion.

"So… how do we get rid of the Horcruxes?" asked Ginny, fiddling with her hands.

"First," she said, standing up. "We have to find the rest of them."

"The rest?" Ron repeated, extremely aggravated. "Just how many of these bloody things did that nutter make?!"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Luna walked up to Harry. "Do you mind if I take a closer look at your scar?"

"Will that help?" Harry asked a little nervously. No wonder, since Luna had been constantly delivering mind-boggling revelations since they met several hours ago. She would be nervous too, if she were in his place.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything. I just want a closer look, that's all."

Harry nodded, and Luna came closer. For a long moment, she stared at the lightning-bolt shaped mark. She could feel the tension in the air as she examined it.

Then, she casually leaned away and sat back down. "Alright, so. You all want to first hear the good news, or the bad news?"

"That's it?" Hermione said, slightly puzzled. "No incantation, no… I don't know, card shuffling, crystal ball reading, or something?"

Luna shrugged. "I don't know how other Seers use their powers. I only know what my Inner Eye tells me. So, good or bad news, first?"

"Good news," the boys said together, while the girls said: "Bad news."

They looked at each other in confusion. Luna snorted.

"Make up your minds, guys," she teased them. "I can't say both at once."

"Good news! Good news first," Harry decided. "It's my scar, I get to decide, right?"

"Whatever you say, mate" Ron said smugly while Hermione pouted at them. Ginny just looked at her brother with annoyance. She pretended not to see Harry, since apparently every time she looked at him directly, she got tongue-tied. Luckily for her, Harry hadn't noticed.

"So the good news is, we have most of the Horcruxes right here. There are only two left, and I know exactly where they are."

"That's great!" Harry paused. "Wait, so what's the bad news?"

"The bad news," said Luna "Is that it will be impossible to get to them, unless we get outside help."

"Outside help?"

"Yup." Luna turned to the at the Headmaster. "Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Lovegood?"

"We need to get Sirius Black out of prison."

Authors Note:

Surprise! (Not.) I will actually write more than 2 chapters, actually, because this one is already as long as the first, so I'll try to squeeze the rest of the story and wrap it all up in the final chapter in part 3.

...Unless I don't manage that, then there will be 4 chapters. At most! I swear. (...I think.)

Look, I just want to cover everything important, alright? And there was a lot more of that to go through than I thought, so… It's not a bad thing I'm being thorough, right?

Right?

Right.

So you can expect the resolution of The Prisoner of Azkaban next chapter. Finally, I can bring my favorite character into the story! ...It's Lupin. I'm talking about Lupin. And Sirius, too. They're tied, honestly.

(Roooowling! I shall never forget you killing Lupin off-screen! How dare youuuuu! He deserved better, darn it!)

So, thank you all for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it! Please follow and favorite if you can, post a review if you liked the story, but most importantly – read on and enjoy!

Merry Christmas to you all! Have a wonderful time!