The Talk

"Harry, Harry, here so soon? Had a talk with Sirius I guess. "Harry nodded. Fawkes promptly landed on Harry's shoulder giving him an affectionate peck. "Hello Fawkes, you seem much better now." He looked around the room and it seemed much cleaner than when he had last left it. All the broken objects seemed to have repaired themselves. "Ah, I see that you've noticed that I've redecorated" said Dumbledore with a chuckle. Not that I didn't like what you'd done with the place, I really did!! Chocolate frog?? "  "No thank you"

"I really think that you will like this one! It's a collector's edition" Harry knew from Ron that the collector's editions were very expensive and had cards of really rare wizards.

There was only one left in the bowl and it was covered by a wrapper that seemed to change color at every other instant. There was also the croaking which disturbed Harry. This seemed to add far more realism to the frog than he wanted. "It'll be like eating the real thing….Yuck!!!"  Harry removed the wrapper and turned the card over to see which wizard he had got. It was 'SIRIUS BLACK' waving to him from inside the card.  "Since when have the started putting Sirius in the chocolate frog cards?" asked Harry. "Well since all charges against him were dropped this summer, the Chocolate Frogs decided him to honor him by accepting him into their collector's edition material. This card though has a few special charms to it; you might call it my own personal touch. Unlike other cards you can call out to him and he will be able to talk to you."

"Hey Sirius, you there? " Been here all this while waiting for you to call out? Ah…so professor Dumbledore this is what it feels like to be in a chocolate frog card!! Not too bad really. This way I can come with you everywhere, to your classes you games, wow, it opens up way too many possibilities. It might not be that bad to be dead ………….."

The 'D' word seemed to jerk all of them back to reality. After a moment of awkward silence "The Prophecy…." Both Harry and Dumbledore started together. "Go on Harry," said Dumbledore. "Well sir, I'm very happy that I have Sirius back "…."The feeling is mutual" squeaked Sirius from the card "and that I can share the prophecy with him and all that" continued Harry. "But I think I still need to tell Ron and Hermione, I tell them everything. How can I keep the biggest secret of my life from them?"

"Ah…I thought you might bring that up. Well Harry, it is your decision. But you must know this; Voldemort would do anything to get his hands on that prophecy. Letting people into the prophecy would endanger not only your life but also those who you choose to unload your burdens on!" "But….but does that mean…." "No Harry that doesn't mean you cannot have friends, in fact now is the time to rely on friends more than ever."

"I need to tell them sir, I need them. I'm sure they would learn Legillimency for me, I'm sure they would."  "I'm sure too Harry, let me think on it. I promise to get back to you within the week" Harry decided to drop the subject….for now. "Sir there is one more thing I need to ask you. Before I left the Burrow, Aunt Petunia acted kind of strange. She never talks about magic, and I'm not sure I heard right. She talked about the prophecy and how I should get rid of Voldemort and stuff like that. A few moments later, at dinner she pretended as if nothing happened!! It was almost as if I had been talking to a different person all together. I don't know who it was, but it sure didn't feel like Aunt Petunia to me."

"Could she have been under the imperious curse?" squeaked Sirius. "But why should someone use the imperious curse on Aunt Petunia and then tell me to get rid of Voldemort….makes no sense at all!"  "I'm going to have to agree with Harry, Sirius. It is most unlikely that someone would use an Unforgivable curse to give Harry a message of this sort. Hmmm……., it seems most unlikely but is the only possibility!!" murmured Dumbledore. "What, what is the only possibility?" asked Harry. "Such possessions are very rare and almost undocumented…yet, that ….." "Are you saying that it was someone else that spoke through Petunia?" said Sirius excitedly. Only one person would be able to do that ""LILY" said both Dumbledore and Sirius in chorus. "Huh…..you mean, you mean, I actually heard my mom speaking through my Aunt?" "Yes Harry, that; is the only explanation for what has happened. That is the only way your aunt could have known about the prophecy. That explains her change of nature. And that most importantly explains the message. This possible only in special cases is Harry. Your mother loved you very much. It was that love that saved you from Voldemort the first time. It is that love that brought her to you that day."

Harry was speechless. Within a span of 48 hours he had spoken to his mother. He had gotten a part of Sirius back. His life was not as bad at it had seemed a month ago.  "You know what, sir; I don't think that I've had a happier day in my life." Dumbledore nodded smilingly. "I know Harry, I know."

There was a brief moment of silence when Dumbledore surveyed the happiness wrought on Harry's face before suddenly Harry said fiercely "What do I have to do? What do I have to do to prepare for the prophecy?"

"Wow, that was out of the blue, said Sirius.  "I'm very proud of you Harry" said Dumbledore, "you didn't ask how to change the prophecy, and instead you asked how you could prepare for it. Like you said Harry, it is only possible to prepare for what's coming. Now that you know what's coming; you can do a better job of preparing for it. It is with this in mind that I got the decree for underage magic waived I'm for you Ron and Hermione."

"You got it done for Ron and Hermione as well? Great…..I didn't have much time to catch up with them. "

"There is a lot of work involved in your preparation and I don't expect you to get there alone. Besides, it is known that you never get into trouble alone. Ron and Hermione are always somewhere nearby" he added with a chuckle.  "Progress has to be shown fast and results have to be produced faster. I know that you are just children but you three put together have achieved far more than many fully grown wizards. It is my personal opinion that you are more than competent. You will be reading and learning about magic way beyond your requirements for even the seventh year of school. But it is necessary. "

"You must continue learning Occlumency and this time I will make sure that you get it right. I will teach you Occlumency everyday for an hour starting tomorrow at 5pm."

"Thank goodness Snape is not doing that anymore!!" flamed Harry. "Ah, but I have a worthier job for professor Snape. He" Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes "will be you defense against dark arts teacher until school reopens." 

"What…whoa…" Harry fumed "does that ...that……what; does he know about the dark arts…..you know what he did to me with his Occlumency training!!" practically yelling at this stage. "Don't ever question professor Snape's competence" said Dumbledore booming. "I accept that making him teach you Occlumency was a mistake, but I sure that I haven't made one this time. You mutual dislike will cause you to push each other more and hopefully hasten the learning process…come in Severus"

Harry turned aghast to face Snape looking as vindictive as ever. "Hello Potter" he hissed "seems you found yourself a new teacher!! Hopefully you are not as pathetic at Defense as you are in Potions."

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