Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all, etc., etc.


Chapter 2: Friday

"What do you mean he found out they're from the future?!" Amelia Bones roared.

Dumbledore hesitated, looking rightfully uncomfortable. "There was a…" He paused again and sighed. "…a hole in our security that we did not anticipate. We had of course told very few people that the books are from the future. However, the leak came from a House Elf. Not one of the Hogwarts elves, but a servant to a person whom I otherwise trust fully in this matter."

"A House Elf told You-Know-Who that we have knowledge of future."

"Strictly speaking, the Elf told a Death Eater sympathiser, who then passed on the information."

"I don't care how it did it!" she snapped. "Are you saying this elf betrayed its master?" That was an alarming enough prospect in itself without Death Eaters involved.

"Unluckily, the elf in question has family on both sides of the war. His proper master can still exert full authority over him, but only if he is careful to close all of the loopholes. The elf was left with just enough flexibility to get a message out."

"What I'm hearing is that the elf still betrayed its master, Dumbledore. That's a serious matter. I ought to bring in Diggory from Magical Creatures for this."

Dumbledore's tone turned colder: "You will find, Madam Bones, that witches and wizards far too often overlook how much autonomy House Elves possess. They are only required to abide by the letter of their orders, and even a well-adjusted elf is loyal first to their family. This elf's family was traditionally on the blood purist side, and only with his current master has that changed. As a result, he and his master have developed a mutual dislike for each other, which led to this failure. And yet," he forestalled her next complaint, "as you can see, he knows too much for us to simply free him."

Bones ground her teeth. Dumbledore could tell it was still a shock to her that a House Elf could do such a thing. "At least tell me you closed this 'security hole,'" she grumbled.

"Of course, I personally saw to it at once," he said.

Dumbledore had managed to convinced Sirius not to kill Kreacher until they were finished with the reading, telling him (truthfully) that some instinct told him that Kreacher's part in the story was not yet finished. The elf certainly wouldn't go away in the story, plus they shouldn't dismiss the possibility of using him as a double agent. Even so, it was not without sufficiently dire threats and restrictive orders from Sirius to keep the elf on a short leash, all but literally. He wasn't optimistic about the Kreacher's survival chances after the war was over.

"Good," she said. "So, what do we do now? How is You-Know-Who reacting to this? What is he going to do?"

Professor Snape cleared his throat, and she narrowed her eyes at him. She knew his history, and she definitely wouldn't be trusting him if it weren't for Dumbledore's (somehow) absolutely sterling endorsement. But he seemed unfazed by her suspicion. "I am sure you are aware of my status as a double agent, Madam Bones," he said. "At present, the Dark Lord knows nothing of the actual content of the future books beyond the most banal details, and he is more interested in the outcome of his immediate plans. He has obviously tasked me with obtaining more information from them, but I am hopeful that his arrogance has prevented him from realising the magnitude of the danger they pose to him."

She shook her head and spoke deliberately in reply: "That is a lot to risk on some very questionable assumptions. Why would You-Know-Who be that passive about this? He knows we have knowledge from the future. He's already after that prophecy. And everyone knows the books are about Potter and written from his perspective. We're expecting them to show Potter defeating him at the end. Why wouldn't he make them his top priority?"

Snape scoffed. "You have not been close enough to see the true measure of the Dark Lord's arrogance. For the moment, he's fixated on the prophecy, and to him, anything outside that fixation may be important, but secondary."

She gave him a sceptical look: "What, so he just assumes he's always right? Is he really that dumb?"

"I believe I have something of the measure of the man, Madam Bones," Dumbledore spoke up. "Lord Voldemort is indeed arrogant, and with arrogance comes foolishness. He believes he can face any threat that comes—except for Harry, the one prophesied to defeat him. In his mind, the prophecy is certain to provide him with information about an existential threat to himself. The books only might do so, and if they do, they will be redundant with the prophecy, so to him, they are not as important."

"That's insane," she said, "and more to the point, it's still a lot to be risking on your guesswork about his motives."

McGonagall cleared her throat. "Do you wish to change our arrangement, then, Madam Bones?" she asked. Her tone of voice suggested she was half-hoping she did, just to free up the time from the readings.

Bones sighed heavily. "I'm sorely tempted to," she said. "It would be much easier if I could have my department tear the books apart and find a solution today, especially now that we've tipped our hand. Unfortunately, I still don't know who I can trust back at the Ministry. The only people I'm certain about are Scrimgeour and the ones I've loaned to you. And if we find a solution, we don't know how quick it will be. So, no. Keep going with your readings, and make sure we don't have any more of these…mistakes." She left them, very nearly stomping out of the office.

"Well, that could have gone better," McGonagall grumbled.

"It also could have been much worse," Snape retorted. "Although the real test will be whether the Dark Lord comes to his senses before we figure out how to kill him. Despite what I said, I worry that it could go either way with him."


They returned to the Headmistress's office after dinner for what they hoped would be a much shorter reading than the others.

"Before we begin," Albus said, "I must warn you—both of you—that the remainder of this chapter will reveal the full prophecy regarding young Harry and Voldemort. It is rather integral to the discussion, and I suspect it will come up again in the later books. If you do not want to bear that responsibility, we should consider other arrangements."

The interruption in their reading had been a boon in one other small way. After realising where the conversation with Harry was going, Albus had quietly read ahead and saw that the chapter did, indeed, contain the full text of the prophecy as spoken to him by Sybill.

He had at first considered simply removing the passage. He would have been open with Minerva and Severus about it, but he was reluctant to allow them to see the full text. Unfortunately, the discussion that followed was too deeply tied in with the second half of it, so he judged it was better to confide in them. Now, they would at least be prepared.

Minerva barely hesitated. "I'm in, Albus," she said. "With the way the past few weeks have gone, I feel like you should have told me a long time ago."

"Very well," he said. "Severus?"

Severus was more hesitant. Albus didn't doubt his ability to keep the information from Voldemort, but it felt like crossing a line. Things were easier all around with Albus "refusing" to tell him all those years. But his hesitation was also brief. "I will not remove myself from these discussions," he said. "If I am pulled deeper into them instead, I will bear that responsibility."

"Then we will continue as we have been," he said, and he pulled out their three copies of the book. "Let us begin."


Chapter 37: The Lost Prophecy, Part II

"I must say, Albus," Minerva told him, "for all your brilliance, your skill as a grief counsellor leaves something to be desired. I'd have hardly blamed the boy if he threw one of those instruments at your head. You all but invited him to do it, in fact, saying he ought to be angrier at you."

Albus was unfazed by her comment. "While I am not privy to my exact thought processes in this chapter," he said, "I believe that I told Harry what he needed to hear. He needed to understand, and had a right to understand the full story of why Sirius died."

"Well, maybe he did, but that still doesn't forgive the way you went about it. Saying you cared about the boy too much after everything he went through is a mite condescending, and I quite doubt that it would be much comfort to him under the circumstances."

"As I said in the first book, Minerva, I will not lie to him. And I believe Harry is resilient even to this."

In the book, Albus had explained to Harry what Minerva and Severus already knew—about the blood protection on the Dursleys' house and why he had to go back there every summer. He also explained why he had hesitated from telling Harry about the prophecy for the last five years. (And as a side note, he told Harry he had not been chosen as a prefect because he had enough responsibility as it was.)

And of course, he had told Harry the prophecy itself.

Severus was silent after reading the chapter, but once Albus and Minerva trailed off from their argument and noticed the fact, he looked up at them. "So, that's it, then?" he said. "It does have to be either the Dark Lord or Potter."

"That is the path laid out by the prophecy," Albus said. "We have seen these past two weeks how radically the paths of fate can change."

"Still, it seems that Potter is…fated to be involved," he protested. "If Potter has to be the one to do it, why isn't he the one reading this?"

"Because we can still avert what was going to happen, Severus," Dumbledore insisted. "Even in the worst case, we can use the information in these books to bring Voldemort to his knees and then bring Harry to him. But more likely, Harry does not need to be the one if we have a path to do it ourselves. In the end, it means little what the prophecy truly means, or if it will even come true at all—for not all of them do. Lord Voldemort believes in the fragment he heard, and as such, the effect is the same. He will not stop until either he or Harry is dead. For now, we must be the ones to stand in his way as long as we are able."

"That much we would do anyway," said Severus, "though I'm beginning to wonder what the consequence will be of testing fate in this manner."

"Alright, both of you," Minerva cut in. She had had enough of these discussions for one week, and she wasn't likely to get much of a break, either. "This sounds…most unsettling, but we can deal with it when we know more. We're nearly finished with this book, so let's get it over with."


Chapter 38: The Second War Begins

"Well," Albus concluded after they read the final chapter, "while not ideal, that was far from the worst ending this year could have had. Voldemort did not learn the prophecy, and Harry, in his own way, found a way to block him out."

"By accident, not effort," said Severus. "I would not trust the Dark Lord to be deterred permanently from trying again."

"I think you underestimate how badly the power of Harry's love hurt him. You will note that in the book, I was witness to the encounter, and afterwards, I judged it safe to tell Harry the prophecy in full."

"Was it because it was safe, or merely for lack of other options?"

"Largely because it is safe, I think, although as I told Madam Bones, the greater value of the prophecy is to buy time by keeping Voldemort preoccupied. With his return being revealed, it would not be as high a priority."

Minerva sighed. "Still, such a high cost to Potter personally," she said. "Black is the only family he has who's worth a damn."

"That was a tragedy of miscommunication, I am afraid," said Albus.

Severus snorted. "That's putting it mildly. Typical, the both of them. Potter had too much pride to use what he was given, and Black had too much love of mischief to come out and tell him what he needed to know. I for one am not surprised that both of them acted the fool."

Minerva glared at him: "Hmph. Fool by your standards, perhaps. But at least we know they're using those mirrors now, and the poor boy won't have to face that. Nor the Dursleys, for that matter, though I admit sending Mad-Eye to intimidate those awful relatives of his was entertaining…at least, if the intimidation worked."

"Arthur's doing, I'm sure," Severus pointed out, "though I do believe Petunia's husband is just as much all bluster as he appeared."

She nodded and looked down at the book again, musing over the final chapter. "I'm glad that Lovegood was able to offer him some real comfort, as well. Honestly, Albus, you may have told him what he needed to hear, but I think she helped him emotionally more than your entire discussion."

Albus shrugged: "Alas, I no longer find it so easy to connect with the young, but we can at least rest assured that Harry is in the best of hands with his friends. The more so now that his future has been changed."

"Speaking of which," Minerva said, "when are you planning on telling the real Harry the prophecy. You know that he has every right to know it, don't you?"

"I do. Naturally," Albus said evenly. "However, with luck, we will not need to tell him until after Voldemort is defeated. And as he has not mastered Occlumency, that would certainly be the safest course of action."

"Hmph. Fair enough," she conceded.

"And unfortunately, Minerva, I fear we will need to impose on you to begin reading the sixth book tomorrow," Albus told her. "While we can still take the time to consider what we learn and respond prudently, Kreacher's betrayal has made the matter rather more urgent, so I do not believe we should wait through the weekend."

Minerva sighed heavily. She had really been hoping to take a break from this mess, but it seemed it was not to be. She sighed heavily and replied, "Of course, you're right, Albus. We will continue with the sixth book tomorrow evening. At least we wrapped it up quickly tonight."