Reposted on11/8/05
THE NEW ORDER
By
Padfootjr24
Chapter Four: Classes and a New Prophecy
The moment Harry opened the first book his interest was peaked but as he read on his curiosity grew to new limits. It seemed to be some sort of log composed by Salazar Slytherin that, at first, merely detailed tedious day to day activities that centered on the running of the school such as overseeing the students to repairing the damage done by any dunderheads caused by fouling up a simple potion. 'God this guy really is a lot like Snape'. Harry thought to himself with amusement. However, soon the details written turned much more personal as the hand writing became so messy it was almost indistinguishable from the prim and proper script it had been before. It appeared that while documenting the activities of the day, thoughts weighing on Slytherin's mind caused his patience to snap and he began to rant and rave at the parchment he was scribbling on before the writing once more became very neat and clipped. Flipping through the next several pages Harry found many other examples of these seemingly random changes.
"Remus, come here!" Harry almost shouted, nearly causing the aforementioned werewolf to topple out of his chair.
"What is it? What did you find?" He asked hurriedly as Professor Flitwick looked on and Blaise merely ignored them and continued her own reading.
"Nothing ground breaking or earth shattering but interesting nonetheless. This book here looks to be a log of day to day activities around the castle written by Slytherin himself."
"Are you sure he wrote it?"
"Considering he described the other three founders in the present tense, yes I'm sure." When Harry replied both Remus and Professor Flitwick wore the same shocked expression while Blaise dropped her book on the desk and looked completely thunderstruck.
"What?" Harry asked after seeing their reactions. He was both thoroughly confused as well as a little worried.
"You don't get it Potter, of everything that remains from the time of the Founders nothing, and I mean nothing, written in their own hand goes into their own personal feelings. No diaries, journals or even a spare bit of parchment with something scribbled on it. The only reason we know as much as we do about them is because of accounts by their friends and colleagues. All four of them were very protective of their own privacy. That's why they were able to work together so well despite their differences, they respected each others personal space." Blaise explained as if she were giving a lecture.
"Um, what does it say?" Remus asked suddenly with a great deal of curiosity and anticipation that was shown clearly as he seemed to bounce from foot to foot. Chuckling softly to himself Harry picked the book up and as the other three listened with undivided attention as he began.
"Alright at first it goes into detail about any normal day you are likely to find within Hogwarts, however towards the bottom of the page he cuts off from this and the hand writing changes drastically as if he was trying to shout through the pages and begins to rant, cursing Gryffindor in some rather foul language for his so called high and mighty attitude concerning muggles and muggleborns. He fills up nearly a full page with nothing more than elaborate name calling. After that he calmed down and picked up his work where he let off as if nothing had happened.
He does this several more times through at least the first quarter of the book. His tendencies for these intense written outbursts of his while writing of the school is probably why he took the extra time to write this book is in parseltongue rather than English. One of the more interesting of these passages is as followed…"
"Fools, all of them. Don't they realize how big of a threat those THINGS are? They will stop at nothing to destroy us. It's bad enough that that pompous ass Godric stood against us but now he has even swerved Rowena and Helga with his blasphemous ideations. Conspiring with the enemy, that's what they are doing. Betraying their own kind for that filth. Soon, they will certainly come for us and we will show them what true power is. Soon…"
"Now that is one very disturbed mind!" Harry said as he observed the shocked faces before him. "Not only is he extremely paranoid and refers to himself as 'us' as though he were two different people but he was also sitting on an awful lot of rage. A very dangerous combination no matter how you look at it."
"Why would he leave something like that down here?" Remus asked in confusion. "Clearly he intended for his heir to find this place so why would he leave anything around that would prove him to be completely insane?"
"Well, after his confrontation with Gryffindor he was forced to leave the castle very quickly before he got himself killed. He may not have had time to make it down here to remove anything that did not portray him in the light that he wanted." Blaise answered after thinking for a moment.
"Yes, that would also explain why all of these other books are still here. When Voldemort was a student and finally found this chamber I'm sure he would have removed any books he felt he could use later on before he left Hogwarts. But then the Basilisk killed a student, Moaning Myrtle to be exact, and he pinned the blame on Hagrid but he could not risk opening the Chamber again while a student so these books have remained untouched since then." Harry finished for Blaise as everyone again sported shocked expressions. However Harry was not in the mood to be gawked at.
"What?" He shouted in irritation, successfully pulling everyone out of their stupor.
"Oh, sorry Mr. Potter. It's just that lately you seem to be taking a more Ravenclaw or even a Slytherin way of thinking things through." Flitwick responded proudly as Remus looked appalled at Harry being compared to Slytherins, it was just unthinkable.
"Well the sorting hat did want to put me in Slytherin at first but I begged it not to." Now Remus was shocked and looked about to have a heart attack while Blaise simply raised an elegant eyebrow, not unlike Professor Snape.
"Really! And why may I ask did you beg it not to?" She asked with a hint of steel in her voice as if daring Harry to say anything bad against her house.
"Well when the first thing you hear about any of the houses at Hogwarts is from Draco Malfoy preaching about Slytherin superiority and that the others were made up of trash, it kind of turns you off. Then of course I find out that the man that murdered my parents was from Slytherin so naturally I wanted nothing to do with it and be as far away from it as possible." Blaise listened intently, waiting for Harry to say something offensive so she could pounce on him for it but to her disappointment he did not.
"I guess I can understand that reasoning. Malfoy turns everyone off. He really is the worst type when it comes to Slytherins; it's because of people like him that give all of us a bad name. Everyone believes we are all a bunch of evil Death Eaters in training and can not be trusted. Speaking of which, you, being a Gryffindor, seem to be taking being paired with a Slytherin pretty well."
"Blaise, simply being put in Slytherin alone hardly qualifies for being a Death Eater, there are plenty from the other four houses. There are also plenty of Slytherins in the Order. Besides, in case you didn't notice, Fawkes was present in Dumbledore's office last night and again this morning, if you were untrustworthy he would have let everyone know." Harry explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh, um, alright. Well let's get back to work!" She replied hastily before heading back to her stack of books. Harry had sat back down and had been reading for several minutes before Remus and Professor Flitwick were able to compose themselves enough to get back to their own work. The level of maturity he had just shown was staggering. Given the five years he had spent at Hogwarts with the legendary feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin it was simply amazing that he could simply shove it aside so easily in favor of something more important. Most students and many alumni from either house would have difficulty with such an action and still allow childish house loyalties and animosities keep them from working together effectively. Case and point, Sirius and Snape.
The four 'researchers' scanned through book after book for another two and a half hours before Fawkes suddenly appeared in a burst of flames and weightlessly landed on Harry's left shoulder. He carefully untied the note attached to his leg as not to harm him in any way and began to read as Fawkes took off and he was greatly relieved at what he saw. 'Thank god. No more reading for now.' He thought to himself.
"Blaise, the others are finished running. We have to meet them in the Great Hall for dueling practice." Harry said in excitement, however Blaise looked as if she much rather preferred reading as she marked her page in disappointment and set the book aside.
"Fine, let's go!" She replied in a clipped tone and walked out of the library as Harry turned back towards the other two.
"I will change the password back to English so the two of you can use it again."
"Whatever!" Remus responded as he continued reading, completely engrossed in the text while the tiny charms professor twittered excitedly as he waved his wand. In seconds a great deal of dust in the room was pulled towards him and compacted itself into a solitary figure. The accumulated dust now took the shape a large jungle cat and was prowling around the room as Flitwick jumped around in excitement.
'Interesting.' Harry thought before something else occurred to him. "Professor, do you think it's a good idea to be using that magic?" He asked nervously, worried about the consequences of his professor using dark magic.
"Not to worry Mr. Potter, this isn't dark magic." He answered obviously picking up on Harry's concern. "It was believed that the last copy of this particular book was destroyed centuries ago. It contains several charms that were developed by Merlin himself as well as other of the most powerful witches and wizards of that age. It is quite a find." He explained while attempting many other charms to perfection and with precision and accuracy that only a charms master such as himself could accomplish in so short a time. "Dear lord, with this books discovery I will be able to completely rework my entire NEWT level course outline. Excellent!"
Harry was still chuckling to himself at his professor's excitement when he exited the Chamber of Secrets to find Blaise waiting for him in Moaning Myrtle's bath room. Wondering why she had waited for him his curiosity was quickly satisfied when she asked him what they would tell the others about their disappearance from the lake that morning and an excuse for what they were doing when they left to continue reading. After a great deal of pacing and thinking Harry decided that it was best to stick as close to the truth as possible. They would simply explain about the books written in parseltongue and that Harry had to translate them while Blaise was helping translate any books written in ancient runes as she was top of her class in that particular subject, just ahead of Hermione. To back this story up they would talk to Dumbledore and have some scrolls written in runes moved down there incase Hermione wished to help in the translations. Harry had no wish to lie to his friends but he really couldn't see any way around it, they couldn't let Blaise's parseltongue abilities become general knowledge. Blaise raised an eyebrow at his explanation as if to say, 'how very Slytherin of you', before the pair left and headed towards Dumbledore's office.
After a quick explanation of their plans the Headmaster agreed and sent several scrolls in his personal collection down with Fawkes to plant in the library incase Hermione wished to help in their efforts. After a quick thank you the two students left and headed down for their first dueling lesson which Harry was greatly looking forward to but Blaise seemed indifferent on the matter. Upon entering the Great Hall the changes could be seen plainly. Most notably was the lack of the four house tables and the staff table that sat at the head of the hall. Second was the large raised platform that dominated the center of the room. It appeared to be roughly seventy feet long and ten feet wide with a shimmering transparent gold shield surrounding it. The other eight students were seated along the wall facing the center of the platform so that they could see everything that took place with any given duel. After a moment both Moody and Tonks noticed their entrance.
"It's about time you decided to show up now take a seat so we can get started." Moody barked impatiently as he approached the area where everyone else was sitting. After Harry and Blaise had sat down he began.
"Now, due to resent discoveries and events the full meeting of the Order has been pushed back until late next week so that gives us a week and a half of hard solid training before you begin to work with your various teams. And as such you are here for one reason and one reason only and that is to learn how to defend yourselves, defend others and when the situation calls for it, to kill." At this last word many seemed to pale. The thought that they may have to kill another person had apparently not occurred to some. "In this coming war, and make no mistake about it, it is a war, many will die. There is nothing you can do to change this fact. Death Eaters have no qualms about using some of the darkest curses known to man and so you must be prepared. Half of you have already been in a position where you were forced to face Death Eaters in a life or death situation, some even more than once." As he said this his magical eye scanned Harry's friends before resting on Harry.
"Potter, at eleven years old you faced a Death Eater who was possessed by Voldemort, at twelve you faced possibly the oldest and strongest basilisk that has ever wondered the face of the earth, at fourteen you dueled with Voldemort himself in the presence of a dozen other Death Eaters and at fifteen you faced off against some of his strongest servants." Harry certainly did not like where this discussion was going. "Now I would like you to tell everyone here how you managed to survive these encounters while older and more experienced wizards have failed." Moody instructed as if he were searching for a certain answer.
"I got lucky!" Harry answered simply as he grew uncomfortable with everyone watching him so intently. Both Moody and Tonks however were very disappointed with his answer.
"You got lucky? Care to explain?" Tonks asked with a stern expression that was completely out of place on her usually jovial face. After taking a deep breath Harry began to explain.
"Well in my first year the only reason I survived was because Professor Quirrell was unable to touch me with out being burned, so I just held onto him until I passed out. Because Quirrell was dieing Voldemort was forced to leave his body.
In second year I would have been killed twice over but Fawkes showed up and pecked out the eyes of the basilisk so that I could see what I was doing without having to worry about its deadly gaze. He also brought me the sword I used to kill it and he healed me after I was bit.
Forth year was different but still just luck. Voldemort had me pinned down behind a headstone when he fired the killing curse at me. I just decided that I wasn't going to die hiding so I got up and fired a disarming curse at him. Our curses collided in midair causing our wands to be connected with a gold light since our wands are brothers and cannot work properly against each other. It is only because he and his Death Eaters were so distracted by this that I was able to get through the Death Eaters surrounding us and make it back to the portkey.
And fifth year was nothing more than a giant blunder. One that got my godfather killed. It was shear luck that none of my friends were killed. Voldemort would have killed me if Dumbledore hadn't intervened." Harry finished, his eye downcast as he thought about Sirius and how he was the cause of his death.
"So because you had a little help in the end you credit it all to luck? Even without its eyes a basilisk is one of the deadliest creatures in the world and yet a mere child was able to destroy it. And in the Ministry last month you and your friends were able to hold off Voldemort's most powerful and cruelest Death Eaters for a very long time before help arrived. I understand that you taught your friends defense last year when that ministry cow refused to do so. The actions and abilities of your group of friends shows that you did an excellent job. The only thing I can think of that you did wrong was that you did not know how to work together in a combat situation so that is a major factor in what you will be learning from us." Moody lectured as his magical eye once again began spinning in its socket. "So Potter since you seem to be filled with good luck lets see how it holds out. Get on up to the platform." His voice boomed off the walls in the nearly empty hall and Harry's friends looked at him with sympathy written all over their faces as Harry gulped and moved forward to meet the ageing Auror.
"Now Potter, I'm sure you know the rules of a friendly duel so I will not bother to go over them." Harry simply nodded before bowing respectfully to his opponent but was suddenly caught off guard as a stunner came shooting towards him. Barely getting out of the way in time Harry shoot Moody a poisonous glare for which he only smirked.
"Never take your eyes off of your opponent. While bowing to an adversary may be required in a dueling tournament, it is not in battle. A Death Eaters will take your momentary lack of focus and turn it to his advantage so I don't want to see any more bowing, understand?" He growled to the others before turning back to Harry. "Now, we begin."
Immediately both combatants began launching curse after curse towards each other with blinding speed and pinpoint accuracy only to have them miss their targets and impacted the golden shield surrounding them. Although Harry liked to think his skills were at least fair he had a lot of trouble avoiding 'Mad Eye's' curses. His main problem lay in the fact that he could not hear what curses his opponent was using and therefore could not properly counter them and as a result he was forced to keep moving at a very fast pace. Moody on the other hand, who's knowledge of curses and counter curses was unparalleled, had nearly no trouble at all holding off Harry's attacks even with his physical shortcomings. Suddenly Harry was thrown to the ground when a bludgeoning spell violently impacted his left shoulder.
Grunting with pain he quickly rolled over to avoid a stunning spell and pulled himself back to his feet. Very quickly an idea suddenly came to him. With an almost wicked grin Harry swiftly sidestepped three more curses before raising his wand and crying out, "Expecto Patronum!" Immediately a giant silver stag burst forth from Harry's wand and began to charge down the surprised Auror. However since it could not do any damage Harry knew that this was not enough of a distraction. "Acio wooden leg!" If Moody and everyone else was surprised at Harry calling up his Patronus they were deeply shocked now. The peg leg being ripped out from under its owner had the desired effect as Moody began falling to the floor. "Expelliarmus!"
The disarming charm collided with his instructor just as he hit the ground, effectively knocking him back several feet while his wand sailed through the air to land on the platform at Harry's feet. He had hoped and believed that his idea would work but now that he had beaten the best Auror in centuries in a one on one duel he was finding it difficult to believe so he merely stood rooted to his spot as he stared down at the wand in laying in front of him. It seemed everyone else was just as shocked since all they could do was simply stare with their mouths wide open. Soon, however, a sound did reach Harry's hears, the sound of whispering. Looking back up from the floor Harry's eye didn't even get a chance to go wide as a disarming spell slammed into his chest sending him flying off his feet and colliding with the golden shield that sent a few shocks of electricity through him. Looking up in a daze he saw Moody looking down at him from where he stood balancing himself on one leg with a feral grin, another wand clutched tightly in his right hand. "Shit." Harry muttered to himself with a groan.
"Interesting tactics there Potter, however you overlooked a very important detail. You assumed that by taking my wand that I was beaten. Did it not occur to you that I may have another one or a different weapon all together? A duel is not over until one or both participants are completely unable to continue. Just because you have taken someone's wand does not mean they will give up. And it does not mean you should show them mercy. Now go take a seat, Longbottom get up here." He finished as he strapped his peg leg back on and got ready to face Neville. Harry walked back to his chair in a daze as he thought about what had just happened. He had beaten him plain and simple. Then he threw away that victory because he lost focus and didn't pay attention. Granted, yes he was still pleased with how he preformed but was upset at himself over his neglect. One by one the other nine students took their turn to face Moody and every one of them lost although most put up a good fight.
"Alright, now that that is taken care of we can begin planning your training regiment for the time being." Tonks began and then informed them of what they will be training, with who and when. As promised they had to run around the lake every morning beginning at five a.m. The moment they are finished running they will begin three hours of dueling practice followed by a late lunch. Afterwards they were to be tutored for three hours in charms, transfiguration, potions, healing, defense or survival skills depending on the day. The evenings would be left free for them to do as they pleased. They would keep this schedule for the rest of the summer except the running which will be dropped when their different teams are formed. Training with them would then take the place of running. However much the most of the student's displeasure potions was the lesson they would be having that first day.
"Three hours of potions! What was Dumbledore thinking? We will be lucky to get out of here alive." Ron complained to anyone that would listen as they sat waiting for their lesson to begin. He was quickly silenced however when Professor Snape stalked into the room.
"You are all here because the Headmaster is under the misguided belief that every one of you is capable of learning the knowledge I have to offer. I am not as optimistic. Summer or not you will follow the rules of this class as if it were taking place during the regular school term. If you do not, you will regret it." He sneered at Harry for a moment as he surveyed the class before waving his wand and a series of instructions appeared on the previously blank black board.
"While here you will learn to brew some of the most complicated potions known to man. They each have their place in a war time setting whether it be a strengthening potion to quicken your reflexes or some form of concealment draught so you can move around in stealth. Not only are these highly difficult to brew but they are also highly dangerous. The simplest mistake can quickly turn your potion into a poison. It is because of this that you will be working on your own instead of with a partner that way you don't take some poor fool with you when you kill yourself when it comes time to test whatever foul concoction you managed to complete. The first you will learn is the strengthening potion, the directions are on the board, now get busy."
When Snape had said that the potion was difficult he wasn't kidding. It required almost constant attention while often having to do two or even three things simultaneously. Of all the potions that Harry had brewed in his five years at Hogwarts this was the first one that actually required magic to brew. At regular fifteen minute intervals both cooling charms and thinning charms had to be used to prevent it from boiling over and hardening. By the time class was over Harry and his friends were pouring their potions into several vials where they would sit for four days until they matured. After a moments thought Harry put several unbreakable and locking charms on his samples to prevent anyone, namely Snape, from destroying them or adding something else to ruin them.
After class Harry sat down in a large comfortable armchair in front of the fire in the newly furnished common room. Almost immediately his friends descended upon him.
"Harry what happened? Why did Dumbledore what to see you?" Hermione asked quickly much to Harry's amusement.
"I'm surprised Hermione, I expected you to ambush me at lunch for any details." He said with a grin causing his friend to blush in embarrassment.
"Well I would have but between the run around the lake and three hours of dueling I was to tired to think about it much less care about the answer. So what did he want?"
"Alright, well Dumbledore wanted to see me because Remus found several books in the Chamber of Secrets that he needs me and Blaise to translate." He explained and enjoyed watching the looks of shock and disbelief pass over their faces. After a few moments Ginny cleared her throat.
"Not to sound patronizing or anything but since when are you qualified to translate anything? I mean the only language you speak is English."
"You don't get it." Harry began with a chuckle. "There are several books written in parseltongue so obviously no one else can read it. However Blaise is translating some scrolls written in ancient runes since she is the best student in that subject and Professor Vector is out of the country for the summer." At their dumbfounded expressions Harry explained how the written language of parseltongue was developed long ago by a witch named Methina and how every parselmouth since has had an instinctual knowledge of this language. To say they were surprised would have been an understatement. After they were able to shake off their shock they were able to begin discussions on lighter and more uplifting topics and skirted such subjects like Voldemort. After some time they decided that it was time to go to bed so they would be well rested when they were rudely woken the next morning to begin their run around the lake.
The next four days progressed much the same way the first did except Harry and Blaise did their reading after their final class of the day. However, that monotone sense of repetition was about to change.
On the fifth day of their training Harry and Blaise were sitting in the library reading. As Harry predicted Hermione insisted on helping to translated the ancient scrolls. Unfortunately that left Blaise in a position of pretending to do the same while she was present. After nearly an hour of reading, Hermione took one of the scrolls up to the Hogwarts library to find a reference to compare with the scroll. Blaise gave a sigh of relief and put down her scroll in favor of a book written in the snake language.
Harry sat reading and could not help the grin forming due to the Slytherin's predicament. After that first day he began writing down any personal thoughts or emotional outbursts that he found written by Salazar Slytherin. He had been sharing these notes with Professor Dumbledore and the old headmaster was trying to come up with some sort of psychological profile of the most mysterious of the Hogwarts founders.
He was in the process of reading yet another boring entry about conflicts between students when a sharp gasp pulled his attention towards Blaise. Looking over towards Salazar Slytherin's desk he saw that her face had gone as white as a sheet and her eyes seemed to bulge out of her skull as she continued to look between the book and Harry himself.
"Um, I , I think you should see this Potter." She choked out.
"What is it?" Harry asked worriedly as he walked over.
"It's a warning. Written by Salazar Slytherin himself, to his heir."
"What? What do you mean?" He asked, not sure if he wanted to read it himself. After taking a few deep breaths Blaise continued clearly seeing Harry's reluctance.
"Everyone knows that Rowena Ravenclaw was a seer. She didn't have visions very often but when she did they were always accurate so no one ever questioned her ability. Evidently she gave a prophecy through a trance that only Slytherin witnessed, so it was never recorded, except for here in this book. And since it came through a trance she didn't even remember it herself."
"So, Slytherin recorded this prophecy and a warning for his heir to find. I have a very bad feeling about this." Harry muttered in trepidation.
"And as well you should. Read it!" Blaise ordered as she stood up and began pacing around the room. Harry sat for several minutes staring blankly at anything other than the book in front of him. "READ IT ALREADY!" Blaise barked in annoyance. Taking a deep breath Harry turned the page that held Slytherin's warning to the page with the prophecy.
'When the heir of the snake finds that which was lost and releases the evil it contains a sequence shall start that can not be avoided. One shall fall before the heir leaves his lair to seek the power he craves and the obedience he demands. He shall reach new heights, and new lows until he is halted by his equal. Sought after since birth the lion will meet the heir at every turn and the mark of the storm shall be his banner. Through life he shall be hardened, through pain he shall be molded and with the love and the aid of the Brides he shall emerge victorious.'
When Harry finished reading he once again felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There were many parallels between his life and what is described in this prophecy but much still remained confusing. And judging by her reaction Blaise had been thinking the same. Unfortunately Harry didn't have the will power to deny that this prophecy COULD also apply to him. As much as he didn't really want to do it he felt he had to speak to Dumbledore and ask his opinion. Standing up, he picked the book up and made his way out of the library. As a thought struck him he turned back to Blaise.
"Don't tell anyone about this, anyone at all." He ordered her in a tone that said clearly that it was not up for debate before stalking out.
As Harry prowled through the corridors of Hogwarts he felt his anger reach new heights at this new prophecy. It was not that everyone expected him to defeat Voldemort or that he KNEW he was the only one capable of defeating him. No it was the fact that his future seemed to be predetermined and he had no say whatsoever in how his life were to play out. Learning of the first prophecy, Trelawney's, had effectively killed any hopes of ever having a normal life. This second one simply put the last nail in the coffin that belonged to the life he had always wanted.
Before he knew it he was standing outside of Dumbledore's office when he realized that he had no idea what the password could be. The only two times he had been in there this summer he had entered using a portkey. He had met with the Headmaster a few times in other locations but the subject of his password never came up. After some time he got lucky with 'blood pops' and the gargoyle slid aside. Harry quickly marched up the stairs and without knocking he stormed into the office to reveal a rather surprised Dumbledore. He quickly made sure no one else was present before he approached to desk and slammed down the book.
"Read that!" He growled before pacing around the room in deep thought.
"I don't know if you realize it Harry but I can't read it." Dumbledore commented with an amused yet very confused and slightly concerned voice. Harry didn't even seem to notice the older man speak as he continued his pacing. Without even a second thought, or a first one for that matter, he waved his hand in the general direction of the book. Other than that simple gesture Harry ignored everything around him.
Dumbledore was watching Harry with concern when we quickly waved his hand in his direction. Sensing the gentle flow of magic from the gesture the old man looked down to see if Harry had unconsciously turned his beard pink, a feet Sirius Black had accomplished on numerous occasions. What he saw was not what he was expecting. His beard was in perfect order, however the text on the pages in front of him was not. Where nothing more than wavy lines once resided neat and proper English now stood.
Dumbledore quickly raised his head to ask Harry how he was able to accomplish this but decided against it for the time being as he still had a far away look to him. Turning his attention back to the ancient volume and began reading. His curiosity quickly changed to surprise and then to shock as he finished reading the prophecy. Looking back up, he was met with burning green eyes.
"Well, judging by your reaction I see you have come to a conclusion as to the subject of this prophecy. Would you care to share that conclusion?" He asked kindly much to Harry's shock and disbelief.
"What?" He nearly screamed before turning to the portraits of the former Headmasters. "Is he always this thick so soon before a meal?" He asked much to the portraits amusement.
"Not usually, but his brother stole the last of his lemon drops this morning so he's having withdrawals." Replied a man Harry recognized as Armando Dippet.
"No, not at all Harry. I have a fair idea what this is referring to but as this research is your area, I will leave it to you." Dumbledore explained much to Harry's confusion. If he knew what it meant than why bother having Harry explain it.
"Err… Ok. Well I'm going to assume that the 'heir of the snake' is Voldemort since he is the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Now it says that the heir will find that which was lost and release the evil it contains. That could easily refer to Voldemort finding the Chamber of Secrets while he was a student and releasing the basilisk which killed Moaning Myrtle, 'One shall fall before the heir leaves his lair'. It goes on to describe a search for power and obedience which is exactly what Voldemort did after graduating from Hogwarts. This prophecy talks of the 'heir' being stopped by his equal just as Trelawney's prophecy said that 'the dark lord will mark him as his equal'.
Now if Voldemort and I are the ones described here than I have no idea why I would be referred to as the lion. But it says that, 'the mark of the storm will be his banner," Harry paused as he tapped the lightening bolt shaped scar that made him so famous. "Then we have the last part. Hard life, yes. Pain, yes. 'With the love and aid of the brides he shall emerge victorious.' I have no idea what the hell that is supposed to mean. So what did you come up with?" Harry asked hopefully. If this was indeed about him he wanted to get the whole meaning as soon as possible.
"Roughly the same thing actually at the same parts. However I am at a loss as to the other parts as well. The reference to the lion could indicate an animagus form, a member of Gryffindor house or even one of Gryffindor blood. The reference to the 'Brides' seems awfully familiar to me. I am sure I have read something similar before but I will have to do some research on the subject before I can come to any concrete conclusion. Now I was wondering, how were you able to translate that text." The Headmaster asked with growing curiosity as he picked the book up to see that the words had once again reverted back to parseltongue. However Harry just looked at him blankly.
"What?"
"Ah, just as I thought. In your agitation and other pressures weighing on you, you were subconsciously able to translate the text of the prophecy for a short time. Did you not wonder how I knew it without you reading it to me?" He explained with a warm smile causing Harry to look down in embarrassment.
"I didn't really think about it. You knew what it said so who cares how."
"Indeed. Well it's getting late so why don't we head down to the Great Hall for dinner. Without any lemon drops for a full day I find myself exceptionally hungry." Harry gave a short chuckle at this before turning around and leaving the office with the Headmaster right behind him.
TBC