All righty, here I am again! Oh, just to a little more description as to what Ophelia might look like just so you guys can imagine her. If you watched Lord of the Rings, she kinda looks like one of the elves. Okay, that's all. Just keep that in mind when you read this chapter. Thanks to my awesome reviewers again, Lizzy Black (yes, I am evil but keep reading my story. I'm so touched you were actually about to cry but then I remembered that I was evil…heh), Laura Hermione Potter (here's the next one), blackcatmischief (thank you for reviewing!), Starlight (I will continue), silver feathers aka lily's fan (thanks for reviewing!), Zepp and Rico (Thanks, and hold on to your seat coz theres more after this), selena (thanks for your input, if you wanna email me, just email me at proudtobeanidiot@yahoo.com, I really like that you brought that up, thanx for doing that), samantha (don't worry, I'm updated as soon as I can), Frances (I will!)…As for everyone, I have finally felt that I should reveal my email address. So if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, or for the hell of it, just email me at proudtobeanidiot@yahoo.com. Remember, I'm here for you…hehehe…oh wells, here's chapter 12!!!!!!
Chapter 12: The Oracle of the Heirs
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(A/N: Previously) "Who are you?" asked Harry.
"I am Ophelia, the Oracle of the Heirs," said the girl, smiling.
Harry stared at her for a moment and asked in disbelief, "Who?"
But the smile on Ophelia's face disappeared. "I just said I'm Ophelia. Weren't you listening? Or was talking in that whispery voice again? I knew I should've used that anymore. That is the last time I am ever listening to Caleb."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me, Ophelia? What exactly is the Oracle of the Heirs?"
Ophelia stopped muttering to herself and looked at Harry. Her blue eyes blazed even more than ever. "The Oracle of the Heirs is a herald who delivers the message to the Heirs of Hogwarts."
"What's the message? And what does it have anything to do with me? Who are the Heirs of Hogwarts?" asked Harry, sitting down on the nearest armchair while Ophelia paced around the room.
"You mean you still don't see it?" asked Ophelia in disbelief. Harry remained in silent, but inside his heart was beating furiously. He knew what she was about to say but he kept a good job hiding his emotions. Ophelia looked like her eyebrows are about to go up to the ceiling. "Oh, come on, Harry. Don't tell me that you are not getting all this. You are an heir, for goodness sakes. Why do you think I would be speaking to you right now? To ask for directions?"
Harry stared at her with a blank look on his face. Ophelia stared back at him, exasperated. She rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "All right, let's start from the beginning if that's how you play. Have you ever wondered why you set things on fire whenever you feel any sudden emotion? Well, if you still don't know, you're the Heir of Gryffindor, because Gryffindor's element is the fire, and you're his heir. Are you getting this?"
Harry looked up to her. "But-but I'm not the Heir of Gryffindor. I-I just have a fire problem, that's all."
"Oh, right, and I just love the color silver," scoffed Ophelia, pointing at herself. "Look, it's hard to believe, but it's true. Think with me here, Harry. Let's recapture all of your memories. Setting Malfoy on fire, many dreams about fire, and burning the soles of your feet? Doesn't it all make sense now?"
"I suppose so," said Harry slowly. "But I have-"
"Many more questions? Don't worry. I'll try to answer all of them. But first things first, I have to give you your message." She cleared her throat and said, in a herald-like voice,
"All fire does not burn,
Nor all smolder those who kindle it.
Not all lions are fierce,
Though all are brave.
They who will bring the ways of the lion will rise.
Once the snake shall be fooled by the fire.
But, near the hour of coming, the true one shall be free…"
"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Harry, looking up to her.
"Well, it's in verse, so what are you going to do?" said Ophelia, shrugging. "Look, I'm only a messenger, all right? I'm not supposed to meddle in other un-earthly stuff."
"You're pretty weird," chuckled Harry, beginning to like the Oracle.
"Hey, have you ever met a oracle before?" asked Ophelia. Harry shook his head. "Well, you don't know what you're saying. Anyway, I have given the message, now what do I have to do? I have done this so long ago that I tend to forget."
"Wait, you have done this before?"
"Of course, do you know Briana? I gave the Ravenclaw message to her. Blimey, you should've been there when she found out. Books flew everywhere, and they hit me on the head. I've got a scar to prove it right here"-she showed him a tiny straight scar on her forehead-"It's a good thing you're not setting me on fire right now. Or are you?" she narrowed her eyes at him. He smiled and shook his head again.
"I have enough surprises for tonight to not set things on fire," muttered Harry. But someone heard him because a voice came out of nowhere and said,
"Well, you obviously have not heard all of it." The person, to whom the voice belonged to, step out of the shadows of the room. It was Briana. She was standing near the portrait hole with her arms folded, obviously watching them ever since Harry had entered the room.
"Well, hullo, Briana!" greeted Ophelia. "How is your power working for you? The last time I checked, you were very frustrated with it."
"Things change, Ophelia," answered Briana, smiling and slightly blushing. "And, besides, I learned to live with it."
"Learn to live with it? I don't believe that!" scoffed Ophelia. "I remember the time when-"
"Reminiscing the past is not what you came here for, Ophelia," interjected Briana. "We have to do what you came here to do."
She turned to Harry and said, "There's no time to explain why I am here. But you do have to come with me, it's very important and cannot wait any longer."
Harry nodded uncertainly. Briana reached in her pocket and pulled out a bag of Floo Powder. She walked over to the fireplace and threw all of it in there. She beckoned Harry to come to her. He got up from the chair he was sitting on and walked up to her.
"Just go in and say 'Dumbledore's office'," instructed Briana. Harry nodded but he looked up to her and said.
"What about Ophelia?" He turned to where she stood but only to see that no one was there anymore. "Where is she?"
"She will follow us. Now there's no time to talk. Go now."
So Harry stepped in the fireplace, the flames tickling his sides, and yelled, "Dumbledore's Office!" He watched as he disappeared from the common room and traveled through many tunnels, where he caught a glimpse of many fireplaces around Hogwarts. At last, he saw the opening and fell out of it. While dusting the soot out of himself, he saw that his parents, Sam, Sirius, and Remus were still in Dumbledore's office. They were all apparently involved in a deep conversation and did not notice that he was standing there. It was only when Briana had arrived next to Harry that their attentions turned to them.
"Harry? What are you doing here? It's way past your bedtime," said Lily. "Annie, what is the meaning of this? Why is Harry up?"
"Well, this couldn't wait till tomorrow. So it has to be said now. I can finally reveal why you two are here," said Briana, dusting the extra soot off her.
Dumbledore gazed on his niece with twinkling eyes. He got up from behind his desk and said, "Well, did that meant that he had gotten his message?"
Briana grinned and stood proud next to her godson, "Damn right, he did. Just now, at the common room, I was there."
"What message? What are you talking about?" asked Sam. But James was positively glowing. He walked up to his son and gave him a big hug.
"I'm so proud of you," he said. Lily looked confused.
"Are we all missing something here that you three know about?"
"Actually, you are, Carrots. Let's see," Briana looked around the room and called out, "Ophelia! Ophelia!"
At the far corner of the room, a silver light flashed (A/N: Think Leo orbing from 'Charmed') and there stood the Oracle of the Heirs, Ophelia. She stood there and then bowed low, "At service."
"Whoa, where did you come from?" asked Sirius.
"Well, I don't really want to get into that right now," answered Ophelia. "Unless you have a really long time, I can tell you."
"We don't," said Briana. "Now, everyone, this is Ophelia, don't you remember her, Sam? She was the one who told me I was the Heir of Ravenclaw. And now, she has told Harry not long ago that he is the Heir of Gryffindor."
"And from a long line of wizards under him at that," said James, grinning from ear to ear. "Generations upon generations of FlameTamers-"
"You're pretty young for an oracle," commented Sirius, surveying Ophelia with wonder.
"Excuse me, but I am quite older than you, by thousands of years," exclaimed Ophelia indignantly.
"Wait, what are FlameTamers?" asked Sam.
"That's what the firstborn sons of our family are called. At the age of twelve, our fathers taught us how to control our powers that we eventually hand down to our sons. It's sort of a rite of passage kind of thing. Except of the Heir of Gryffindor whom we tell lores about. The Heir supposedly gets his later in his lifetime. There is a song about it that we sing in a ceremony:
'All fire does not burn,
Nor all smolder those who kindle it.
Not all lions are fierce,
Though all are brave.
They who will bring the ways of the lion will rise.
Once the snake shall be fooled by the fire.
But, near the hour of coming, the true one shall be free…'
And my son is the Heir. I cannot be more proud to teach him the ways."
"What is the purpose of having the power?" asked Remus. "And how come you never told us you had such a power like this?"
"Well, it's sort of a secret, Moony. The purpose is, well, in our lore, Gryffindor was a very powerful wizard and able soldier. To use the power only for fighting for good and as a sign of his lineage, he had given his power down the line to every firstborn son. Ever since then, the firstborn son in our family have been given this gift," explained James.
"Is that why you're here?" asked Sam.
"That's right," said Briana. "According to prophecies, only parents can teach the Heir to control their powers."
Ophelia cleared her throat loudly so that everyone looked at her. "That's better. All right, I think I can explain this more thoroughly than have everyone asking questions and interrupting. So, please no interruptions and I will begin." *Silence*
"Good, let's see, Harry Potter is the Heir of the Gryffindor coming from a long line of Gryffindors existing for thousands of years. According to legends and such, Godric Gryffindor, from some strange reasons (in my opinion, making a large super soldiers, but again, this is my opinion) gave his bloodline his power against evil. It is said in my world that every firstborn Gryffindor male is given the gift in which he will have to harness throughout his lifetime. The job is almost impossible since the fire is difficult to control. Thus the males were given the name FlameTamers.
"Now Harry is no exception but is on special terms. Number one is because the last FlameTamer in his family had died; number two is he got his powers way to late; number three is because he is the Heir of Gryffindor. Now, to everything there are special treatments. My boss, the Unnamed Power, has brought back the last FlameTamer to teach the Heir how to control his power, but there is a downside to that, he has only a year to live and to teach the Heir. After that, he has to go back to being, er, dead. The training shall begin when I disappear after this, so you haven't got much time, to tell you the truth. Well, I guess I didn't miss anything, I hope. Any questions?"
There was a brief silence. Then Lily said, "Then why was I brought up with James if I am not a FlameTamer?"
"That's a great question," grinned Ophelia. "Well, you see the Unnamed Power had thought that this matter not only concerned Harry's physical being, but also his emotional state. Therefore, a mother's touch always seemed to keep one on the ground, and so you were brought with your husband to keep Harry stable."
"I will teach you so many things that my father taught me before. You, son, will have a good time," said James to his son. Harry grinned up to him. I guess there is some good part to this, he thought.
Yet there was another moment of silence. But this time it was Sirius who spoke, "So if James didn't die, then Harry could have gotten his powers at the age of twelve? I am so sorry, James. This is all my fault, if I hadn't switch with Peter at the last minute your family wouldn't be in this mess." He sat down on a chair and put his head on his hands. Briana made a move to him but James stopped her. Instead, James walked up to his best friend and put an arm on his shoulder.
"Sirius, it's not your fault. You did what you thought was the best thing. You didn't know that Peter was the spy. And believe me, he's going to pay for everything he has done to us."
Ophelia looked around uncomfortably. "Well, to answer your question, it's yes and no. You see it really depended on time and the Unnamed Power. If there are no more questions, then I must go for I am no longer needed here. I will be checking back after a year to see if all is fine. Good bye, all and blessed be!"
With a wave of her hand, she had orbed out of the room. Briana looked around her friends and uncle.
"Well, this is the start of a different life for you three. Just remember, nobody but all who are here know James and Lily are alive, and I would like to keep it that way. If any news gets out to Voldemort about this, there is no telling what he might do. And might I add that Harry is also the Heir of Gryffindor. It would be messy, I believe."
"You are right about that, Annie," said Dumbledore. "Sam, Sirius, and Remus, you three know what you must do now. Annie, I must ask you now to retrieve the key from Minerva. I must show James what is in it. Harry, I believe there are lessons tomorrow, so please go to sleep."
Sorry I had to end it here, I have no idea what to put next to tell the truth, hehehe. Sorry, mates, awfully long time to get this out. I was invaded by the flu virus, then laziness, then finals, but now I am alive!!!!!! Okay, I have nothing else to say 'cept I don't own anything and please read and review! The next chapter is the first quidditch game!!!!! Very, very exciting!
