Chapter Two: Facing the Music

Harry Potter sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall eating breakfast with his friends. He glanced up at the staff table and waved good morning to his favorite teachers; namely Hagrid the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Tonks, the rebellious Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher, and Dumbledore, the Headmaster. All of them waved cheerfully back, except for Dumbledore, who seemed to be avoiding his gaze.

"Well, that's odd," he commented to himself.

"What is, Harry?" Hermione Granger asked from the other side of Ron Weasely.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said, snapping back to the scene around him. Ron was shoveling food into his mouth at an amazing rate and was ignoring the conversation his two best friends were having over his head. Harry looked from Ron to his own empty plate, grimaced, and grabbed a piece of dry toast from a platter. He had been feeling off for the last couple of days. Though it might just be Ron's table manners. "Dumbledore's just acting a bit funny this morning."

"Oh, really?" Hermione asked, startled that she, of all people, hadn't picked up on something like that. Hermione refused to admit it, but she wasn't the quickest person to catch subtle emotional signs. Her specialty was picking facts out of books and memorizing them. It was usually better to leave the emotional ESP to Harry. Ron, lacking either skill, continued to pay them no mind.

"Hey, Harry," Ginny Weasely said, flipping her mane of red hair over her shoulder as she slid onto the bench across from him. "I was supposed to give you this," she announced, tossing him a piece of parchment. He caught it deftly and unfolded it. It was from Dumbledore, asking Harry to meet him in his office at his earliest convenience. Was this why Dumbledore was acting oddly a moment ago? Well, Harry had double Potions next with the Slytherins so going to Dumbledore's office instead would definitely be 'convenient'.
"Hey, guys, I've got to go to Dumbledore's office after breakfast. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll miss all of Potions."

This got Ron's attention. "No way! You lucky dog," Ron groaned. "What am I going to do without you for two frickin' hours with Snape and Malfoy? You've got to be kidding me." It looked as though he could easily rant about the unfairness of it all for a good long while, but he caught Hermione malevolent glare and fell silent.

"Honestly, you two! Harry, it's only the third day of classes! You'll miss something important!"

"I know Hermione, and it pains me, it really does," Harry began, trying to pacify her, "but the summons does say I need to go as soon as possible." Not true, but what Hermione didn't know wouldn't hurt his Potions grade. "Do you think I could maybe copy your notes after class?" he asked pleadingly. She opened her mouth to protest and he gave her puppy dog eyes. Against her will, she felt the corners of her mouth turning upwards.

"Oh alright. Since you do have a valid excuse for missing class. Just this once though."

"You're the best, Hermione!" Harry said with a beaming smile. He leaned around Ron to kiss her lightly on the cheek, earning a slight blush from Hermione and a death glare from Ron. He wasn't worried about Hermione thinking the wrong thing because, socially challenged or no, Hermione had figured out pretty quickly that he wasn't exactly straight. Ginny knew too—it must be a girl thing. He had been worried about anyone finding out, and had tried his best not to give himself away, but when they had approached him about it he'd told them the truth. He was glad they knew now; they were the only ones (as far as he knew) that were aware of it. It meant he could talk to them about just about anything. They were also always trying to pair him up, which amused him to no end. Ron, being macho-straight and narrow-minded, didn't know about Harry's little secret. He wasn't worried about him getting the wrong impression from him kissing Hermione either because he secretly hoped that if he did think Harry was flirting with her he might make a move himself. Hermione was always trying to pair him up, it was time he returned the favor. He glanced up and noticed that Dumbledore's seat was vacant. Perfect time to make an emergency exit. Giving Ron a cocky smile, Harry waved one last time and disappeared with his bag and his books out through the big Great Hall doors, giving his friends a backward glance and noticing with amusement that Ron was watching Hermione closely.

Harry took his own sweet time meandering in the direction of Dumbledore's office. He wasn't in a big hurry, still hoping that he might not have to suffer through Potions at all today. Though expecting to be in Dumbledore's office for two hours was a little bit much, he supposed. Harry reached the grinning gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's lair and realized that he had no idea what the password was. He glanced at his summons again, with a vague hope that it might reveal something to him, and down at the bottom, in curly script, was the word "snickerdoodle." He could have sworn that wasn't there the first time he read it. He shrugged and said, "Snickerdoodle." The gargoyle leapt aside and Harry ascended the stairs. He knocked on the large oak door and, after a moment, heard Dumbledore say "Come in."

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While waiting for Harry, Dumbledore paced the room.

"Albus," Fawkes said, torn between being amused at his partner's uncharacteristic nervousness and wanting to comfort him. "It will be all right. Honestly."

Still, Dumbledore jumped a foot when he heard a knock on the door. He took a moment to compose himself, sitting down behind his massive desk and trying to appear calm before saying "Come in."

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Harry entered the office and made himself comfortable in the chair across from Dumbledore's.

"You said you wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Harry, I did," Dumbledore said solemnly.

Harry waited for a moment, and when no information seemed forthcoming, he spoke again. "Um, what about, sir?"

He saw Dumbledore glance at Fawkes, who was perched across the room. The phoenix gave him a long look, then took flight, landing gently upon Dumbledore's shoulder.

"Do you remember the prophecy I told you about at the end of your fifth year? The one about you and Voldemort?"

"Yes, of course," Harry said, surprised. "I have to kill Voldemort... or he kills me. How could I forget that?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "There is one more line to the prophecy."

"There's... what?" Harry asked alarmed. "How?"

"I edited a line out of the memory of Sibyll Trewlaney's vision in the Pensieve before showing it to you."

"You did? But... why? What does the line say?" Dumbledore sighed and placed out a stone basin. The Pensieve. He pulled out his wand and nudged the contents inside. The revolving figure of Sibyll rose from it as before. Harry listened carefully as she announced the prophecy he had thought he had memorized. As she reached the end of the prophecy Harry knew, instead of repeating it like she had done last time, she continued.

"If he approaches the Dark Lord alone, without the bond of love chaining him to this world, the Dark Lord shall conquer him, for without it he has no advantage."

Harry was silent a long moment. "What exactly does that mean?"
"It means..." for the first time, Dumbledore hesitated. "In order to defeat Voldemort, you have to... fall in love."

"In love? What the f-" Harry caught himself just in time. "How do you expect me to fall in love? Why is everything so complicated?"

Dumbledore smothered a smile. That sounded familiar. "I do not know, Harry. I asked myself the same thing last night. I am sorry I did not tell you before."

"Yeah, why didn't you just show me the whole thing the first time?" Harry demanded, abruptly reminded of this little detail.

"You had been through an awful lot, what with the whole business at the Ministry. You had just lost Sirius," Harry winced, but Dumbledore continued on, "one of the only people you had let yourself love, and I did not feel that it would be wise to tell you that you would have to trust your heart to someone else in order to finish this. Also, I knew that even without losing your godfather, it was unlikely that you would welcome such news."
"Why did you think I would handle that worse then knowing I might be killed by some homicidal, serial-killing maniac?"

"Simple, Harry. It is against your nature." Harry shot him a confused look. "You see, I know you too well. I know that the moment one of your friends is threatened because of you and the prophecy, you will do all you can to push everyone away and shut them off. That is just the way you are. You would give up the support and love of those you lean on the most in order to protect them. Opening your heart to someone and letting them stay with you through to the final battle would be against all of your instincts. Am I right?"

Harry had to nod. It was true, he had already considered what he would do if he thought that he was putting his friends in danger, and the conclusion he had come up with was that the only way to keep them safe was to cut himself off from them.

"I think also that the line "without the bond of love chaining him to this world" means that if you cut yourself off from everyone, you will start to lose the will to win, the will to live. You have to have someone that you care deeply about to fight for if you want to fight your best. That is an advantage you would have over Voldemort, for he is fighting only for himself because he is afraid to die."

Harry was quiet for a long moment as he mulled over this idea. "I think I understand. I still wish you had told me from the beginning. I don't even have someone I'm interested in; how am I supposed to fall in love?"

"It will happen on its own. You cannot force this sort of thing. Just remember that when it does happen, you can not automatically push him away," Dumbledore said, standing up. Harry nodded his understanding, then froze when he realized that Dumbledore had said "him."

"You really do know everything, don't you?" Harry asked with a wry smile. Dumbledore smiled back.

"Well, that was not too hard to figure out. You see," he said with a slight wink, "I know where you are coming from." That wasn't exactly true. Fawkes had been the one who had suggested that Harry might prefer males while discussing who Harry might fall in love with. Like Harry and Hermione, Dumbledore was the logical one, while Fawkes was the emotionally intelligent one. Dumbledore had decided it was a logical assumption after Fawkes had suggested it.

Harry stared at him for a moment before understanding completely. "Oh," he said, blushing slightly. "I didn't know that. I thought maybe you and McGonagall..." Dumbledore chuckled. Harry realized he couldn't remember the last time he had heard Dumbledore laugh. It had been way too long. It hit him just then how much older Dumbledore seemed than the first time he met him, on the night when his the words of his opening speech had been "Nitwit, oddment, blubber, tweak." It was as if he had aged twenty years since then.

"No, Professor McGonagall and I," Dumbledore said with a smile, stressing the word "professor" slightly, "are only old friends. We have been friends for longer than I can remember, and she is one of the very few who knows where my heart truly lies. Well, Harry, Potions is nearly over. I suppose, to try and make up for my untruthfulness, I will give you my permission to skip the rest of it."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, sir. I'll see you later," he said, wondering briefly if Dumbledore had meant more than it seemed when he said that McGonagall knew his heart.

"Goodbye, Harry. Take care." Dumbledore watched Harry leave, then sank back down in his comfy chair.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Fawkes asked.

"No," Dumbledore said, "Not nearly as bad as I thought it might be."
"Nothing got destroyed. That's a definite plus." Dumbledore chuckled. "He didn't even seem to be angry about it."

"I am sure it just has not sunk in yet."

"Don't be so pessimistic. I told you Harry was growing up. He's handling this unexpected news very maturely."

"I suppose. I just can not get rid of the feeling that we haven't seen anything yet."