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Perhentian
oOoOoOo
Chapter 46 - May - July 1998
Hermione glanced wryly at the piece of parchment on Voldemort's desk. All that for this. Months and months of never-ending discussions, not always avoided duels, regular shouting matches; to lead to these two little sentences.
"It's almost ridiculous," she sighed.
"You can remove the almost," Ginny replied snippily.
The five of them - Voldemort and the four friends - were in Voldemort's study that Saturday night of the month of May; Harry slumped in an armchair with Ginny right next to him; Ron distractedly looking sometimes at the glass of Firewhisky in his hand, sometimes at the fire roaring in the fireplace despite the summer temperatures; Voldemort who was managing to look as regal as ever in his chair; and Hermione half losing her balance, not wanting to get up from the couch where she was sitting while leaning over the coffee table between the five of them to reread the parchment.
Lord Voldemort pledges to assist Harry James Potter in stabilizing the magical flow of Wales' magical source, to the extent of what he deems necessary to prevent that magical flow from becoming irreversibly unstable.
Harry James Potter pledges not to use his Master of Death abilities to attempt to the life of Lord Voldemort.
They had ended up removing everything else. Whether crucial like what would happen to the Death Eaters, or more futile details, like Ron demanding the return of his Chocolate Frog card. Because the ritual of brotherhood was too restrictive to try to fit in there too complex clauses, and neither Harry nor Voldemort were willing to risk being stuck in a too tight ritual.
They had lengthily discussed all the other points though, and they also had an agreement on them. However, those clauses would not be part of the ritual of brotherhood, but more of a tacit agreement between them, as had been their collaboration in the past few years. None of them had wanted to accept that at first, but then, they had no other choice if they did not want to have a too complex – and too bidding – ritual. It was the only viable solution.
"When should we inform Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
"Never?" Voldemort suggested.
Everyone ignored him.
"After the NEWTs," Harry said. "I don't want to manage Dumbledore at the same time as the exams. We won't have time to deal with any kind of Dumbledore-ish debate while stuck in the NEWTs papers."
"There will be no debate," Ginny stated. "If Dumbledore is not happy with what we offer, then that's too bad for him!"
Voldemort leaned slightly towards Hermione.
"Her hatred for Dumbledore would almost make the Weasley sympathetic to me," he said.
"I hate you too, don't kid yourself," Ginny immediately reminded Voldemort.
"The issue is not really Dumbledore himself," Ron cut in seriously, "but rather when and how he intends to announce it to the Order. And it's the same question on your side, Voldemort, regarding your Death Eaters."
Hermione grimaced. The Order was not going to be happy. And neither were the Death Eaters.
"Let's do that after the NEWTs," Hermione agreed. "We will have more time to deal with any unexpected consequences during the summer anyway."
It seemed to suit the others as well, since no one commented. The next hour passed calmly, interspersed with a few scattered conversations on various topics, but generally silent. Then Harry, Ron, and Ginny decided to go back to Hogwarts, leaving Hermione alone with Voldemort.
She reread for the umpteenth time the parchment containing the terms of the ritual of brotherhood, and sighed.
"You're not satisfied with the solution," Voldemort said.
Hermione turned her gaze to him. He looked perfectly at ease, perfectly satisfied and sure of himself, but Hermione could see he was tired at the slight creases around his eyes. And she knew that he was as reluctant to engage in this ritual of brotherhood as Harry, that he would have preferred a thousand times to be able to take power without compensation, and that he did not consider this agreement a victory either, far from it, while for them having him in any kind of position of power sounded like a defeat.
"Not really," Hermione said finally. "It's fine, if only because we have not found better. But we all know that you are going to try to overtake us one way or another, and that we are going to try to overtake you one way or another. Are we really unable to collaborate together?"
"Of course we can't really collaborate together, Hermione, we all want power."
Hermione scowled.
"We don't want power," she answered.
Voldemort looked at her mockingly – a look that she would have mistaken for contempt a few years back, but she now knew him better than that –.
"Ah, so much obliviousness…" Voldemort said with a hint of smugness. "Of course you want power Hermione."
Hermione was about to protest but Voldemort cut her off with a gesture.
"Not in the same way as me, I'll grant you that," he said. "But you want to be the ones in charge. You want to be able to influence the fate of the wizarding UK, if not the whole world, you want to influence the laws, to be heard. You want Potter to rule with me. You want power Hermione, and the fact that you want it for what you believe is right doesn't change that fact."
Hermione winced slightly, finding nothing to answer to that. She could have pointed out the fact that Voldemort's moral compass was atrocious, that if they would not have been here he would not have hesitated to reign by terror, but she already knew what he would have answered. That history was written by the victors, and that it was the only thing that really mattered.
"It's not a bad thing to want power Hermione," Voldemort continued. "The main problem is that usually, the people who want power the most are the ones who deserve it the least."
"Like you," Hermione could not help pointing out.
Voldemort looked at her dubiously.
"Do you really think that, Hermione?" he asked. "Do you really think I am worse than a Fudge, an Umbridge or a Duke of Almeria?"
"It's hard to be worse than them thought," Hermione said without really answering Voldemort's question.
"Even several years ago, the four of you had already concluded that it would be better to have me back, rather than see the future you lived happen again, and that was when you thought you would have to deal with a version of me psychologically unstable because of the Horcruxes," Voldemort pointed out.
"Which does not mean that you deserve the place you are going to get."
This time Voldemort burst out laughing, the kind of laughter he had when he thought he knew a truth that others were too stupid to understand, and Hermione frowned slightly.
"You still think there is hope for the average wizard, Hermione," Voldemort said amusedly. "That if everyone had a say the future would be changed for the better. And that might have been true if everyone was like Potter and you. But the truth is that there are Fudges, Umbrages, and Almerias in this world, and letting that kind of person rule is a disaster. And you know that, Hermione, because that's what happened in your first life. You have done your best to achieve a just, fair, world; all that for the European governments not to trust you during the crisis with the source. And then, haven't you ended up taking more of less control of the situation by force in the end? To finally get things done?"
"Just because we failed the last time doesn't mean we should give up," Hermione answered. "And you know very well that we will never agree on your less than stellar opinion of… everyone. I remain convinced that every wizard and every Muggle have their place in our world, and that it is our duty to improve the living conditions of everyone."
"And I remain convinced that the average wizard is an incompetent fool, and that he would live much happier knowing exactly what is expected of him, rather than if he had to think by himself. People are fundamentally selfish Hermione, and it's a big mistake to ignore that."
Hermione rolled her eyes fatalistically as Voldemort poured her another glass.
"So much cynicism," Hermione commented.
"Rather realism, my dear," Voldemort corrected.
"It's realism only in your narrow view of the world," Hermione said.
"Ah, but isn't it rather cynicism only in your narrow view of the world?" Voldemort answered playfully.
Hermione could not help but smile back at him.
"Sometimes I really regret accepting Harry's plan to bring you back."
"Does that mean that sometimes you don't regret?" Voldemort pointed out. "I would have expected you to be more hypocritical."
"I am the hypocritical one? Now we've seen it all," Hermione said.
Voldemort only smirked as Hermione slumped further in the sofa. Voldemort was wrong about a lot of things, but deep down Hermione could only admit that he was right about her hypocrisy in regards to his return. Because despite everything Voldemort stood for, she could not muster the courage to regret the times they spent together.
If her relationship with Ron had been marked by the comfortable familiarity that there was between them, the one with Voldemort was marked by fascination and danger, and, perhaps because Hermione had finally socialized too much with the reckless Harry, she had to admit that she did not wanted the thrill to stop. As for Voldemort, she was already spending almost half of her time at Slytherin Castle, and he had not yet asked her to leave, which was already a big enough proof of is interest coming from the mighty Lord Voldemort.
oOoOoOo
"You owe me half of your fortune Bella," Barty said.
They were waiting for a first circle meeting to start and the Dark Lord was visibly late. Not that anyone dared to complain of course.
"And why, my dear Barty?" Bella replied haughtily.
Barty was jubilant. He liked having the upper hand over Bella, know things she did not know, because Bella had always been his role model amongst the Death Eaters. He had attacked the Longbottoms for her, he had been in Azkaban for her. Not that he was romantically interested in her, no, but he had always been fascinated by the assurance that emanated from her. This certainty that she had made the right choice by following the Dark Lord.
"Helen and the Dark Lord are involved," Barty said.
"Pardon me?" Bellatrix exclaimed, straightening up sharply.
Out of the corner of his eye Barty saw Lucius raise an eyebrow in obvious surprise, and he had the suspicion that Lucius knew who Helen was.
"It's impossible," Lucius said indeed.
But then, he might not have known that she was actually much older than eighteen.
"She confirmed," Barty said. "She told me herself that she was sleeping with him."
"She could have been lying," Bella answered. "She probably does this just to make herself interesting, to draw the Dark Lord's attention to her one way or another."
Barty chuckled. He had seen how Hermione Granger and the Dark Lord interacted, and he doubted it was possible to get more of the Dark Lord's attention than Hermione Granger was currently getting.
"I doubt she needs that," Lucius drawled. "If I do not think there is anything… carnal between them, the fact remains that she is very often in the Dark Lord's company."
"But isn't she also in touch with Potter and his clique?" Yaxley asked. "She left with him at the ministry ball a few months ago, and they seemed to know each other rather well."
Barty darted his gaze at Yaxley. He did not know that Helen had made an appearance at the ministry ball, his declared Death Eater status preventing him from being able to attend such events.
"That's right," Nott confirmed. "Is she spying on them for us?"
"Or maybe she's spying on us for them," Bella said venomously.
"Don't be jealous, Bella," Barty answered in a deceptively sympathetic tone. "You know very well that the Dark Lord tires quickly of his lovers."
"Helen can't be the Dark Lord's lover, Barty," Lucius Malfoy said. "She's just a kid."
Barty winced. What a pity that the vow subjecting the research team prevented him from revealing more.
"You don't believe me? Too bad for you," he simply said. "I stand by my bet, and Bella will owe me half of her fortune when you'll all realize that I'm right."
"I've bet 10 galleons with you, Barty. It might be half of your fortune, but it's far from even a thousandth of mine."
"Thousandth? You can't even access your vaults!" Barty replied.
Bellatrix pulled out her wand, and Barty did the same, a smile on his lips. It had been too long since he had had some exercise.
"The Dark Lord should really find them something to do," he heard Avery say. "They will end up killing each other."
"Do you have a problem, Avery? Maybe you want to join?" Bella asked fiercely.
Avery wisely chose to stay silent as Lucius looked at them with exasperation. Barty paid him no mind. If he could not attack wizards or Muggles anymore, he had to deal with his energy some other way.
oOoOoOo
"NEWTs haven't even started yet and I already want them to be over," Ron muttered during breakfast. "The practical part is fine, but the theory is so boring..."
"You can't say that Ron," Hermione answered, outraged. "Theory is what makes practice interesting!"
"There are times when I really wonder how you two could ever think that dating each other was a good idea," Ginny said.
Hermione and Ron both glared at her.
"Stop complaining," Neville said, sitting right next to them, "You're all cheating anyway, you all already passed your NEWTs once!"
"It's not like you can complain either, Nev," Ginny said. "We all know that the botanical section of Saint-Mungo's has already accepted your application for next year. And I don't see how you could miss your NEWTs with the superb revision program that Hermione had personally prepared for you at the beginning of the year."
"And if you don't pass a subject, let us know," Ron said. "It seems we're going to overthrow the ministry soon, we can always get you better marks."
Hermione glared at him as Harry abruptly stood up from the table.
"I'll join you later," Harry said.
He hurried away and Hermione shook her head.
"Well done, Ron," she said.
"Hey! It's not my fault if he's wondering again if he couldn't have done better than, once again, saving the whole world by sacrificing himself!" Ron answered.
"Where did he go?" Neville asked.
"In the kitchens, probably," Ginny replied. "He likes to talk to Dobby when he's not sure about himself."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"I hope Dobby will hit him with a frying pan if he feels he's not doing enough," he said.
oOoOoOo
Dumbledore examined with great concentration the scroll Harry had just handed him.
"It's… light," he said. "Not that I don't understand the logic behind making the ritual of brotherhood as light as possible, but do you really think it's possible to trust him for the rest? To leave him so much leeway?"
"It also gives us some leeway," Ron answered.
Dumbledore scanned the scrolls again.
"For the Death Eaters…" Dumbledore said. "What you are proposing is pretty lenient…"
"It is," Harry agreed with a sigh. "But do you really think we could have gotten better?"
The Headmaster exchanged a long look with him before shaking his head sadly.
"No, I doubt anyone could have gotten better, in truth," Dumbledore answered. "But if I trust you to stick to your part of the deal, even if it's not under a vow, who says Voldemort isn't going to break his one at some point?"
"He's going to break it," Hermione admitted, "or at least find some ways around it. But it's all a question of balance. He may be immortal, but so is Harry. It will be our role to stop him as soon as he takes the slightest step in the wrong direction."
Dumbledore plunged once more into the scrolls listing the two small clauses of the ritual of brotherhood, and then all the terms of their tacit agreement with Voldemort.
"Very well," he finally said after a few minutes. "When do you want to perform the ritual of brotherhood?"
"The first day of the school holidays," Harry indicated. "Now that the NEWTs are finished, we want to use our last few days here to enjoy the presence of all our friends."
"A wise decision," Dumbledore agreed.
After a quick salute, the four of them left Dumbledore's office.
"I wouldn't have thought he would take it so well," Ginny confessed.
"He's not a fool," Harry said. "He knows we have little choice, and he has had the opportunity to interact with Voldemort himself a few times. He has realized that he is not as unbalanced as he was during the first war. Maybe he even decided to give him the benefit of the doubt… That would be typical Dumbledore."
oOoOoOo
"Ah!" Hermione exclaimed. "Yes, yes yes! Oh thanks Merlin!"
She got up and hugged Harry, then Ginny, then Ron, then all three at the same time.
"It's great, exactly what we needed!" she continued.
"Hermione," Ron said, slightly jaded, "why are you still immersed in a book when the NEWTs are finished, the weather is wonderful here near the lake, and these are the last days that we are going to spend as Hogwarts students?"
"Let her talk Ron," Ginny said.
Hermione looked at her gratefully.
"I figured out how to adapt Njörd's ritual to Harry," she said.
She had always continued to research on the subject, when she could find a few minutes to between the various things she was managing. And finally, finally, she had something.
"Adapt Njörd's ritual to me?" Harry asked, confused.
"Njörd's ritual allows to protect an Horcrux container," Hermione reminded. "Do you remember the resurrection ritual? It had destroyed all the Horcruxes' containers, except those protected by Njörd's ritual, and of course the resurrection stone. And with my adaptation, I am now able to apply the ritual to Harry, and then we can extract his Horcrux without killing him."
"Hermione, you're fantastic!" Ron praised.
"Wait Hermione," Ginny intervened, "doesn't Njörd's ritual require a transfer of magic between two… objects?"
There was at least one following.
"It does," Hermione answered. "And it is also a very problematic part of the ritual, because it should not be something that compels Harry's magic. But if we use the Elder wand, it fixes the problem, since the Hallows will obey Harry until the end."
"I must admit I was not expecting you would manage to find something," Harry said. "It's wonderful news."
"We will only be able to do this when we have all the cards in hand to kill Voldemort, however," Ron tempered. "Because he will inevitably realize it if he is no longer connected to you via the Horcrux Harry."
"Of course," Harry agreed.
But his smile was still shining. And not without reason. If they managed to find the last unknown Horcrux of Voldemort, they would have a mean to kill him without going through Death. Not that it was planned to kill him in the short term, but one was never too careful with Voldemort.
oOoOoOo
"Good evening Tom."
Voldemort immediately sent a Cruciatus curse, which crashed into the stone statue the Headmaster had just conjured in front of him.
"Was it really necessary for him to be here?" Voldemort asked, visibly annoyed.
"No," Harry answered, "but it's fine for him to be here."
Voldemort obviously disagreed.
"Some people really deserve an Avada…" he sighed.
And Hermione noticed that he did indeed seem to be squeezing his wand convulsively. He did not want to do this ritual, that was clear. But his life meant more to him than anything else. More than the nuisance of having Harry on his back for the rest of his life.
"It's not like you're the one sacrificing everything for this ritual," Harry groaned.
Ginny and Hermione both looked at them with exasperation.
"Come on, let's get this over with," Ron said.
If looks had been able to kill, Ron would have dropped dead.
"Have you done the ritual to strengthen your Occlumency, Potter?" Voldemort asked. "I have no wish to hear your insipid thoughts in my head after the brotherhood ritual."
"Better mine than yours," Harry answered. "But yeah, I've done my homework, Voldy."
The two stared at each other doggedly, before finally placing themselves in the centre of Voldemort's study.
- I, Harry James Potter, pledge not to use my Master of Death abilities to attempt to the life of Lord Voldemort.
- I, Lord Voldemort, pledge to assist Harry James Potter in stabilizing the magical flow of Wales' magical source, to the extent of what I deem necessary to prevent that magical flow from becoming irreversibly unstable.
Then the two cut their right hand with a flick of their wands, and after a second of hesitation, they shook hands with palpable aggressiveness. A red mist enveloped them, swirling around them, before suddenly disappearing. Harry and Voldemort immediately retracted their hands.
Then, at the same instant, Harry jumped, Voldemort frowned, and Dumbledore pulled out his wand as his gaze wandered into the distance.
"What's going on?" Ginny immediately asked.
Harry, Voldemort and Dumbledore exchanged looks more or less tinged with hatred and resignation depending on the person.
"Something happened with the prophecy," Harry finally answered. "Something not normal since Dumbledore, Voldemort and I all three obviously felt some kind of nasty signal coming from deep within the Ministry, and I don't see what else it could be."
"Give me a few seconds to check something," Dumbledore said.
And he disappeared into the fireplace.
"Like we need him to check anything…" Voldemort commented.
"It's not like you're sure it came from the prophecy either," Harry retorted.
"Because I am able to imagine more possibilities Potter, unlike your small brain which pushes you to throw yourself on the first assumption without even analysing the probabilities further."
Hermione frowned, finding their conversation a little too specific, but Dumbledore chose to reappear in Voldemort's study at the same time, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Sybil felt something too," he said. "I have never heard of a phenomenon of this kind however."
"We 'll have to get there to find out what's going on," Harry said.
There was a moment of silence. Hermione exchanged a look with Harry, who seemed determined to go see what was going on. Then with Voldemort who simply raised an eyebrow, and finally with Dumbledore, who very clearly was not going to be left behind.
"It won't be easy," Ron said. "Infiltrating the Department of Mysteries is not infiltrating the Ministry, and Scrimgeour has drastically tightened the security since he took over."
"Don't insult us Weasley," Voldemort said icily.
"That was not my objective," Ron replied with a roll of his eyes. "I was simply going to suggest that David Morrello, Alistair Jones and Albus Dumbledore could make their way at least to the Wizengamot floor without issues, that would make our infiltration faster."
"What about you?" Harry asked.
"Ginny, Hermione, and I will follow you under the cloak. From there, we'll see."
"There is a trinket detecting invisibility cloaks at the identification gates," Dumbledore pointed out.
"Not my cloak," Harry assured.
He pulled the cloak out of his pocket, and handed it to Ron.
"Would you mind take slightly less space, girls?" Ron asked.
Hermione and Ginny exchanged a look, before transforming into their animagus cat and hawk forms. The next moment they were perched on Ron's shoulders, and Ron covered the three of them with the cloak.
"You're animagi?" Dumbledore asked. "Shouldn't you declare it?"
"Let's go," Harry said, ignoring Dumbledore's comment.
Harry and Voldemort turned into Alistair Jones and David Morrello, and a few seconds after all six of them Apparated in the Ministry atrium. It was pretty empty – it was the beginning of July –, but there were still dozens of wizards walking one way or the other.
The passage of the identification gates went without issues, and as expected Harry's invisibility cloak was not detected. Harry and Dumbledore secured some space for Ron, Ginny and Hermione in the elevator, and they very quickly reached David Morrello's office.
"And now, how do we get lower?" Harry asked. "The elevators? … Hey! That's not a stupid idea, and it's still better than putting everyone we meet under the Imperium!"
He had turned towards Voldemort, his eyes flashing.
"It is stupid, Potter, and just because you've done it once before doesn't mean it's an effective way to do it," Voldemort answered.
"Oh by Merlin, the Occlumency ritual didn't work!" Ginny understood. "You're in each other's heads, aren't you? That's a disaster!"
Harry looked embarrassed.
"I told you Potter that it was better not to draw attention to this, but no, you have as much self-restraint as a Niffler in front of gold pile," Voldemort said drily.
"Have you been hearing each other's thoughts since the end of the ritual?" Hermione asked worriedly.
She was already thinking about how to prevent it.
"Yes," Voldemort answered, "but it will only be temporary. Keeping the link closed seems to require a certain habit that we lack for the moment. Especially Potter."
Harry glared at him.
"We could use the stairs that are right behind Tiberius Ogden's office," Dumbledore cut in. "They do reach the service corridors of the Department of Mysteries on the 9th level."
"Haven't they been condemned for years?" Ron asked.
"They have," Voldemort answered. "But likely by a ministerial moron that is barely able to use his wand."
With these words, he cast a particularly powerful disillusionment spell on himself, that the others imitated. Then Voldemort made a quick flick of his wand, before simply walking through the door of his office.
"It's possible to do that?" Ginny asked in a whisper.
"If you manage to lure the attention of the Ministry wards long enough to temporarily replace the door by an illusion," Hermione said. "I would love to say that it is easy and just a trick, but I think it is in fact pretty difficult to do so."
She then also walked through the door, and the others followed her. They quickly caught up with Voldemort, and a few corridors later they were in front of a perfectly mundane wall.
"Erebus ward, Kashgar's detection charm, and a bunch of illusions," Ginny diagnosed. "Easy."
"I'll handle the illusions," Ron said.
With impressive coordination the brother and the sister dismantled the spells, and a passage opened in front of them.
"There's no one in the passage at any level," Voldemort indicated.
The six of them walked into the staircase, and Hermione stayed back for a moment to reset the spells her friends had dismantled, before catching up with the rest of the group seven floors below. They were all standing in front the wall condemning the old staircase.
"This side is more complex, it has obviously been reinforced by the Unspeakables," Ginny said.
"Oh by Salazar," Voldemort sighed.
With a quick flick of his wand he blew up the passage using raw magical power, leading them into the Brain Room, in which a dozen of Unspeakables had been working.
"I hate this room," Ron muttered, as the Unspeakables turned towards them, raising their wands.
Harry was already on them, casting disarming charms and stunning spells. Voldemort and Dumbledore added a few spells, and soon the room was silent again.
"Have we triggered any alarms?" Ron asked.
"No" Hermione answered. "I stopped them."
"We're going to have to memory charm them," Ron said.
"It's already done," Voldemort answered.
He had not even moved his wand and Ron looked at him dubiously.
"Voldemort took care of it, Ron," Harry confirmed. "Let's move on. How do we find the right way to get to the Hall of Prophecy?"
"Enervatum, Imperio," Voldemort cast.
One of the Unspeakable rose, a blank expression on his face.
"I'm not sure…" Dumbledore started.
"This one has a master access to the Hall of Prophecy," Voldemort cut him. "If we don't use him, we'll have to either force the entrance with a Quetz ritual, or spend hours there."
That had the merit of silencing Dumbledore, the ritual of Quetz requiring a wizard to be bled to death in order to tap into his power. They followed the Unspeakable, that under Voldemort's control guided them towards their destination.
"Don't they have any wards detecting the Imperium?" Harry asked, surprised.
"They have," Ginny answered. "But I guess Professor Dumbledore and Hermione are preventing them from triggering."
"Miss Granger is the one in charge of that," Dumbledore corrected. "I am currently working on making sure that the other Unspeakables have no wish to come here."
Finally, they arrived in the Time Room, the last room before the Hall of Prophecy, and stopped just before the door leading there.
"There are people behind," Dumbledore said. "A few dozens. There must be an investigation going on."
"We're going to need a diversion," Ron said.
"That's for us then Ron, isn't it?" Harry answered with a smile.
"Without a doubt."
They cancelled their disillusionment charm and transformed, Harry into a lion and Ron into a bear.
"A lion, you don't tell me…" Voldemort commented, as he pushed the Imperiused unspeakable to open the door.
Immediately afterward Harry and Ron rushed into the room, galloping at full speed, and dragging a number of people in their path.
"Part of those are Aurors," Ginny commented. "It's strange."
"It's certain then, something unusual has happened here," Hermione said.
Dumbledore and Voldemort had already started walking, and Ginny and Hermione followed as screams echoed further away. Hermione smirked. Harry and Ron were probably enjoying far too much to drive the Aurors up the wall.
Dumbledore and Voldemort turned together in the row ninety-seven, and did not stop until they noticed two Unspeakables bustling around several burnt shelves.
"Stupid Aurors," one of them was grumbling, without noticing them. "As if they could understand anything to prophecies..."
"They think they are superior simply because they are convinced they know how to use their wands. They don't get anything about the subtlety of magic…"
Dumbledore knocked them out with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
"Please, Tom," he said.
Voldemort did not even glare at him as he levitated one the Unspeakables towards him, made his eyes open, and plunged into his mind. He came out of it a fraction of a second later, before extracting a silvery filament from the man's head. Then he let the man collapse roughly to the ground.
It was the moment Harry and Ron chose to reappear beside them, emerging from a perpendicular alley.
"Have you found it?" Harry asked, transforming into himself again.
"Do you have a bunch of Aurors on your trail?" Ginny asked.
"Nope," Ron answered. "We destroyed some of the shelves on the other side of the room, and they are all convinced they saw us disappear underneath."
Nor Harry, nor Ron, nor Ginny, nor Hermione had a lot of respect for divination and prophecies.
"We're going to need a pensieve to view the memory," Dumbledore said.
"No we don't," Hermione answered with a smile.
With a flick of her wand, she cast a complex projection spell on the memory, and it began to play in front of them, slightly similar to an hologram.
"Impressive," Dumbledore commented.
"The spell will be invented around the year two thousand twenty," Hermione indicated. "It's less interactive, but quite practical."
Then she focused on the memory. It was following the Unspeakable after an alarm went off in the Hall of Prophecy. He seemed to stand up resignedly from his desk, joining another colleague, and they walked through the rows until they came to where Harry and Voldemort's prophecy should have been. Instead they just found smouldering remains for several meters on each side.
"What is that?" one of them asked.
"I'm not sure, but it certainly means too much paperwork," complained the other.
The other one nodded, and they began to probe the damage when a third Unspeakable arrived.
"So, what happened here?" he asked.
"I think a prophecy exploded boss."
"Exploded? A prophecy does not explode!" The third Unspeakable pointed out. "Either it is accomplished and it becomes darker, or it is not yet accomplished and it remains unchanged."
The other Unspeakables exchanged uncertain looks.
"This one exploded, however," the other said. "Look at the damage, it's pretty obvious it has exploded."
The third Unspeakable made a few wand movements, and his face visibly whitened.
"So?" the two others asked with a hint of curiosity.
"It did explode… I can only see one explanation, even if it had not happened for hundreds of years… It seems that the Prophecy is now null and void. I'll have to warn the Minister."
The memory stopped there and the six intruders exchanged a look.
"I didn't even know it was possible," Ron said.
"Does it mean that neither Harry, nor Voldemort, need to die from each other's hand anymore?" Hermione wondered.
"It means that between the Horcrux, Death intervention in your favour, and the ritual of brotherhood our lives have become so intertwined that the prophecy no longer made any sense," Voldemort answered.
Voldemort and Harry exchanged a look – and probably a few thoughts –.
"Good riddance," Harry finally commented.
oOoOoOo
AN: Next chapter in two weeks.