Fated
"Getting a sense of déjà vu, aren't you?" said Neil, gesturing to the bed where Sally was lying, asleep.
Harry nodded. After Snape had brought him back to Hogwarts, there had been pandemonium. Madam Pomfrey had insisted that exposure to an Unforgivable Curse required a full day in bed, which meant that Harry had witnessed the arrival of Neil and Susan – who had taken the news that their daughter had stabbed herself rather well, considering – and the casting of several complicated spells on the girl in order to bring her back to a stable condition.
Finally, an exhausted Madam Pomfrey had declared that Sally was going to be fine, and that she would wake up in her own time. As well as Sally's parents, Snape and Dumbledore had decided to wait until that happened.
News of Harry and Sally's disappearance and subsequent return had spread through the school like wildfire, and a pile of cards and confectionery was slowly mounting on the dresser between their beds. Ron and Hermione had spent most of the day with Harry, only leaving when they were satisfied that he wasn't going to disappear again.
Sally's eyelids fluttered. There was a flurry of activity as everyone crowded round have bed to watch her slowly open her eyes.
There was a moment of silence as Sally tried to work out where she was.
"Am I dead?" she croaked.
Five voices immediately answered in the negative.
"Oh, okay," she breathed, closing her eyes once again.
By the next morning, Sally was more awake and coherent, although very tired. Once she was feeling more refreshed, she started asking questions.
"I remember everything that happened up to…the stuff with the knife, but after that it's all a bit of a blank. What happened?"
Snape described the events in the underground tunnel and their return to Hogwarts, being careful not to go in to too much detail.
"But wait," said Sally, realisation dawning, "if I didn't die, doesn't that mean that Voldemort's still alive?"
There was an awkward silence. Dumbledore stepped forward.
"You did die my dear," he said.
Sally stared at him. "What?"
Dumbledore began to answer, but Snape interrupted him.
"You stopped breathing and your heart stopped beating. Clinically you were dead. I managed to resuscitate you."
Sally nodded slowly, trying to process this information.
"What happened to Voldemort?" she asked, quietly.
Dumbledore spoke once again. "His followers, it seems, had assumed he was already dead and were trying to leave the castle. However, Snape managed to lead the Ministry of Magic there before too many got away, and most have been arrested. Voldemort's body has now been cremated. Twice. "
Everyone looked to Sally for a response, but she was staring straight ahead. Dumbledore sat on her bed.
"You've been very brave," he said. "You have no idea what this means for the magical community. You're going to be a national hero!"
Sally looked over to her mother. "Mum, can you get everyone to go? I want to be alone for a bit."
Susan sighed. "Of course sweetheart."
Sally gave each of her parents a hug and a kiss, and then lay down and turned to face the wall.
Harry, who had left the hospital wing that morning with strict orders to 'take it easy', entered the room a couple of hours later. Sally was still lying as her parents, Snape and Dumbledore had left her.
Harry sat down beside the bed. "Hi," he said.
"Hey," replied Sally, still facing the wall.
"You know," continued Harry, undeterred, "you are going to be so famous. Professor Dumbledore said that Fudge thinks you'll get the Order of Merlin First Class, although Fudge is such an imbecile I'm surprised he's even prepared to accept that you exist without written proof and DNA testing and photographic evidence and…"
"Did you know that I died?" asked Sally, turning towards him.
Harry stopped, taken aback by the question. He nodded. "Yeah, I knew. I was there."
Sally shrugged. "I don't know why I'm so shocked. I mean, that was the whole plan wasn't it? It's just – I suppose I wouldn't have done it if I had thought about it. Well I did think about it, but it was more of a single thought. Sort of 'Move arm up, and then swing rapidly downwards.' If Voldemort hadn't been in my head, it may have occurred to me that if I killed myself I would be dead."
"It was meant to be me," said Harry.
Sally sat up. "What?"
Harry took a deep breath. "Before I was born, it was prophesised that I was the only person who could defeat Voldemort. That's why he wanted to get rid of me, that's why he tried to kill me. And yet all that time, it wasn't true. It can't have been, because the person who defeated him was you."
"I suppose it just goes to show that prophecies are just bollocks," said Sally, smiling for the first time that day.
"Oh my God," said Harry, his eyes widening. "Your birthday is the day before mine."
"And..." said Sally, bemused.
Harry began to speak the words that had been etched on his brain since the first time he had heard them.
" 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 ..."
Harry began to count them off on his fingers.
"Born to those who have thrice defied him – Voldemort tried to kill your mother three times and never managed it. Born as the seventh month dies – your birthday is the thirtieth of July. The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal – the runes all over you. He will have power the Dark Lord knows not – you fought the Imperius curse, he would have never thought that you could do that, never! Either must die at the hand of the other…"
Sally stopped him. "You've forgotten one, quite important, point. I'm not male."
Harry shook his head, as if this was a mere insignificance. "It still stands that you are the person who killed Voldemort, and that the prophecy about the person who was going to kill Voldemort fits you almost perfectly."
As Sally began to speak again, Dumbledore entered the hospital wing. "Now Sally," he said, "I know that this is an inconvenience, but the Minister for Magic wants to…"
"Could the prophecy be about her?" said Harry, not letting him finish the sentence.
Sally expected the headmaster to be confused at the sudden outburst, but instead Dumbledore simply bowed his head. "I underestimated you, Harry," he said, taking a seat. "I thought it would take a few more days for you to start wondering. Yes, it is almost certain that the prophecy made in 1979 by Sybill Trelawney was in fact about Sally."
"But it says 'he' all the way through," ventured Sally. "It's clearly talking about a boy."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Even with prophecies," he said, "there is a certain amount of convention. It stems from the time when 'he' was used as a generic pronoun, regardless of the gender of the person to whom it was referring…"
"So the prophecy could have been about a girl," said Harry, his anger rising. "In fact, it could have been about anyone! It didn't occur to you that the person in the prophecy may have been someone that no one had thought of did it? Instead you just narrow it down to me and Neville and completely ruin our lives. Look at Neville's parents – look at my parents! All because of a bloody prophecy that had NOTHING TO DO WITH US! AND WE JUST…"
"OH JUST SHUT UP!" shouted Sally.
Harry turned to her, still flushed from the effort of his outburst.
"You weren't the only person who was affected by Voldemort!" she continued. "You weren't the only person who was hurt by Voldemort! I DIED and I'm not throwing a tantrum like a two-year-old! Yes, mistakes were made, but people were just trying their best, and you act as though the whole world is against you. If you keep taking everything out on the people who care about you, well quite frankly they're going to just stop caring."
"Fine, well I'll just go then shall I?" said Harry, his tone barely disguising the hurt in his voice.
"Yeah, that's right!" retorted Sally "Go off and sulk, like you always do!"
Harry stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
"Harry? Harry?"
Scowling, Harry dragged himself to the door of his study bedroom. Outside stood Sally, swaying slightly. Harry's stubborn façade disappeared immediately.
"Sally! What are you doing out of bed?"
He guided her, weakly protesting, into a chair.
"I'm fine," she said, unconvincingly. "I snuck out when no one was watching. I had to come and see you. I'm so sorry that I had a go at you, you had a massive shock and I just made it worse and I just wanted to check that you weren't up here getting really upset and…I'm sorry."
Harry grinned. "I wasn't getting upset. I was just thinking…I have been a bit of a prat haven't I?"
"More of a diva," said Sally, smiling.
"Well I'm sorry for being a diva then."
"Hug?"
Harry obliged, careful not to hurt her. Suddenly, a thought struck him. There was something that he had wanted to tell her for the last few days, and this was his opportunity. He took a deep breath.
"You know," said Sally, crashing in on his thoughts, "of all the people that could have been there, it's a good thing it was Snape."
Harry shook his head, confused. "Why?"
"Well, since he's trained as a doctor and all…"
"What? He's trained as a doctor?"
"Not a doctor, he called it something else…"
"A Healer?"
"Yes, that was it. He had to give it up after the war with Voldemort started, but I don't know why."
I could have a good guess, thought Harry.
The moment had passed.
Harry decided he wait, and tell her at some other time. After all, he thought, I don't want to ruin things, not now.
Only one chapter left! Sob I'm going to miss this fic….and you lovely reviewers…
Jamie Prongs: I very much appreciate the thumbs : ) I don't know if I like Snape, but I think that he may be a bit nicer than we all assume.
Juno malabre: Us, me, it's all the same really. What would I have done without my lovely beta after all? And I'm pretty sure it wasn't originally from the lion king…
Rubber-duckiesofdoom: You read my mind actually! A sequel may well be happening…
Star19: Thanks! I liked that chapter too…
benwa: Ah, you see, I already had that all planned out…