This Chapter contains flashbacks!

Last time…

"Avada Kedavra!"

Cerberus froze as the jet of green light him in the chest. The words of his last spell had not quite left his lips as his eyes widened.

Teddie felt her breath leave her body again, although this time it was due to the shock of what she was seeing, and not because some sadistic woman was punishing her.

Then… someone screamed.

Now…

Teddie awoke with a start.

She pushed herself up, realising quickly that she was lying in a bed, the blankets of which pooled around her waist. She looked around, her gaze scanning the white curtains pulled around several little beds, the great stone pillars and ceiling that hide her away from the outside world.

She was in the Hospital Wing.

"Ah. Good, good. You're awake," said Madam Pomfrey, rushing over. Her hair askew under her hat, and she was pulling the ribbons of her apron around her waist, tying them at the back. She smiled sweetly as she stopped beside Teddie's bed, quickly taking hold of her arm and checking her pulse.

"What happened?" Teddie asked. "How did I get here?"

"The headmaster brought you here," said Madam Pomfrey. "He said you'd been hurt, and you needed immediate looking after."

"How long -?"

"Only an hour, dear," said Madam Pomfrey. "Your friends have been to see you, but it's still quite late, and you were unconscious. I sent them away. They can see you in the morning."

Teddie's gaze turned back to the Hospital Wing. She cocked her head to the side as she found one of the beds opposite her had a curtain pulled around it, she then remembered that the rest of her friends had been hurt down in the Department of Mysteries.

"They're all fine," said Madam Pomfrey. "Your friends, I mean. I have pulled the curtains around their beds to give them some privacy while they heal and sleep. Them, too, you can see in the morning."

Teddie sighed and leaned back against her pillow. She wasn't tired, but she was confused. What had happened at the Ministry? What had happened after she had passed out? Why had it been Dumbledore that had brought her here? Where was Harry? Where was Theo? Was he behind one the curtains? Was he alright?

She sighed. Thinking of Theo made her heartache. He was probably really mad at her, and she couldn't blame him. After agreeing to come and find Harry with her - twice - she had led him straight into danger, she had reunited him, unintentionally, of course, with the man that had made his life a living hell for years, and the man that had killed his mother right in front of him.

All the questions raced through her head, causing her to spend the rest of the night staring at the ceiling.

~X~

The next morning, Teddie opened her eyes to find Mason, Daphne, Astoria, Blaise, and Theo sitting around her bed. She smiled at them, although she knew that she was in trouble. The look on Daphne's face was enough to tell her that she was not out of the woods, and she would suffer through their talking to before they could welcome her back with open arms.

However, before Daphne could speak, Mason launched himself onto the bed and buried his face into Teddie's shoulder. His cold tears splattered against her skin, and she rolled over, hugging him to her and kissing the side of his head.

She could apologise. But what would that do? She had willingly put herself in danger, willingly put herself in the path of Death Eaters, Voldemort, and Avery for the sake of a prophecy that didn't concern her. She had been reckless and stupid, and it could've cost her everything.

But she also knew that she had done the right thing.

Yes, she could have gone about things different. She could've stayed behind when Harry had gone running off to the Ministry, she could've stayed behind and alerted Snape, who in turn could've contacted the proper authorities and allowed everything to run its course. She could've then spent the evening after her exams relaxing with her friends down at the Black Lake, but no, she had to go and put herself in danger.

And worst of all, she had put Theo in danger, too.

Lifting her head from Mason's, Teddie glanced around at her best friend and reached for his hand. He took it, lacing his fingers with hers and squeezing. "Are you okay?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes," Theo replied. "And you?"

Teddie nodded. "What happened?" she asked.

"Not much after you followed Potter," said Theo. "I took Lupin and Kingsley back to the others. Granger said she had seen Harry run past, and then you a few minutes later, but she didn't know where you had gone. Kingsley told her not to worry about it, and then he helped round us all up, before Apparating us back here."

"What happened to me?"

Theo shook his head. "We don't know," he said. "Madam Pomfrey had just finished bandaging Ginny's knee when Dumbledore brought you in. Harry was with him, he looked like he had been crying, which is understandable given what happened tonight."

Teddie looked down. A flicker of memory rushing back to her -

"She killed him! She killed Sirius - I'll kill her!"

"Sirius," Teddie gasped.

Theo nodded. "Yeah. Lestrange hit him with the Killing Curse," he answered. "He fell through the veil. Whatever happened after you left the Hall of Prophecies, nobody knows apart from you and Potter."

Teddie swallowed. She closed her eyes, focusing hard on Harry's voice as he yelled what Bellatrix had done before he gave chase after her. "I remember reaching the lifts just after Harry's closed, I was hoping that the doors would reopen and I'd be with him, but I didn't. I was alone for a while, contemplating how to hide the prophecy…" she broke off, her memory returning to her swiftly.

For at least half an hour, she relayed everything that had happened at the Ministry for her friends. Everything leading away from the battle in the Hall of Prophecies and up to -

"Cerberus!" Teddie gasped, snapping out of her memories. She met Theo's gaze, her throat seizing up as she saw the sadness reflected in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ted," said Theo, squeezing her hand again.

"No…" Teddie sobbed, shaking her head. "No. Please, no."

Theo nodded and Teddie removed her arm from around Mason, her hand from Theo's and wrapped them around her knees as she drew them up to her chest. She buried her face in between her legs and sobbed into the blanket.

Cerberus was dead.

He had died protecting her.

~X~

A little while later, after Teddie had calmed down, Daphne spoke for the first time. She was relieved, yes, to see her friends alive, but she was also disappointed, upset, and angry at them for running off in the first place.

"Why you?" Daphne asked. "Why is it always you?"

Teddie stared at the blankets on her bed. She had been expecting this, and she wasn't about to interrupt Daphne with some half-assed apology or justification for her actions. She deserved this scolding.

"Why can't you just leave well enough alone, Teddie?" Daphne continued. "Just because Potter likes to be the hero, doesn't mean that you have to be one, too. Do you even have an idea what could have happened last night? What if you hadn't have survived? What if Avery had gotten you again? From what you've told us, she was gearing up for another abduction. Maybe this time we wouldn't have been so lucky in terms of getting you back."

Teddie kept her head and gaze down, but Daphne's words hit her like a bullet train.

"Do you have any idea what sort of trouble you've caused?" Daphne asked. "Do you even care what we went through? Professor Flitwick personally came and got me and Blaise from the Slytherin common room because Mason was asking for you. He hadn't seen you at dinner, and he was worried. He tried to catch Blaise and I, but we had Prefect duties and so left dinner early."

Mason squeezed his sister tightly.

"Are you even listening to me?" Daphne asked.

Teddie nodded.

"Then say something."

"Like what?" Teddie asked. "I can't justify what I did, and I won't because you're telling the truth. I didn't think about my actions. I didn't stop and think about the consequences they would bring. I should've stayed behind, and I had every opportunity to do so, but I didn't. I followed Harry, blindly, like I always do, and it got me into trouble. Yes, I could've been abducted. Yes, Avery tried to kidnap me. She punished me to the point where I blacked out, but I think that was part of her plan to leave the Ministry with me."

She swallowed, her tears cresting her eyes.

"And because of my foolishness a good man is dead," Teddie added. "Cerberus Langarm gave his life to save mine. He's dead, and it's my fault."

Tears slid down her cheeks again, but she didn't try to wipe them away this time.

"I can't say I am sorry, Daph," Teddie said through her tears. "Sorry doesn't change what I did, and you all deserve so much more than that. But I also can't promise that it won't happen again. Harry and I are connected, somehow, and as long as he is going to be running off to thwart Voldemort, I'm going to be there to help. Besides, Harry and Voldemort have their own issues, my fight is with Avery. It always has been."

Daphne sighed and stood from her chair. She rounded the bed and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Teddie and hugging her firmly. "I know," she whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of her friends' head. "And I know I can't stop you from doing what is right. But don't expect me to not worry about you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Teddie. "Someone has to worry about me, after all."

Daphne rolled her eyes and returned to her seat.

"Now that that is out of the way," said Blaise, adjusting his collar. Since school was, technically, still in session, seeing as years 1-4 and year 6 students still had to sit their exams, the year five and seven students were still wearing their school uniforms. "Do you remember anything else?"

Teddie was silent for a few minutes, she played with the hem of her blanket and then took a deep breath. Her memory had started to come back, it was still fragmented, but she was remembering more and more of the events that had happened the previous evening.

"After Cerberus was killed, I remember someone screaming," said Teddie. "I realise now that it was me. I was wondering why it sounded so close…"

Her friends smiled softly.

"After that…"

The Atrium was full of people. The floor was reflecting emerald-green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall, and a stream of witches and wizards was emerging from them.

Across the hall, Teddie saw Dumbledore pull Harry back to his feet, just as the golden statue of the house-elf and goblin led a stunned Minister for Magic into the Hall.

"He was there!" someone shouted. He was pointing at the place where Voldemort had been standing a few minutes ago with Bellatrix cowering behind him. "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear. It was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated."

"I also saw Avery Sutherland," said a woman with long blonde hair. "She was - oh, oh no! Cerberus!"

Teddie looked up as a hand touched her shoulder. She had managed to drag herself across the Atrium floor towards where Cerberus' body lay, and was hunched over, sobbing into his chest when the woman appeared beside her.

"It's okay, dear, you're okay now," the woman said, soothingly. "Come on. Let him go."

Teddie shook her head, her hand clutching Cerberus robes tightly. "He can't be…" she whispered. "He just can't…"

"I know, sweetheart," said the woman "But, you have to let him go. Come on, now." She wound her arms around Teddie's shoulders and carefully lifted her up from the floor, supporting her against her side as she led the teenager over to Dumbledore and Harry.

Harry immediately seized Teddie, drawing her into his arms as the woman turned to Dumbledore and nodded. She then returned to Cerberus' body along with three others.

"- great heavens above - it doesn't seem possible - my word - how can this be?" Fudge was spluttering as he tried to make heads or tails over what he had seen.

"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore. "You will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."

"Dumbledore!" gasped Fudge. "You - here - I - I -" He looked around at the Aurors he had brought with him, and if could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, 'Seize him!"

Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men - and win again!" said Dumbledore. "But a few minutes ago, you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense."

"I - don't - well -" blustered Fudge, looking as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well - Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see… Dumbledore, you - you will need to tell me exactly - the Fountain of Magical Brethren - what happened?"

"We can discuss that after I have sent Harry and Teddie back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.

"Harry and - Harry Potter and Teddie Green?"

Fudge spun around so fast that Teddie was sure he was standing on a spinning disk. He eyed both her and Harry, his eyes bulging inside his head. The last time he had seen them was when they had been caught during a D.A. meeting.

"Why are they here?" Fudge asked. "What's all this about?"

"I shall explain everything" repeated Dumbledore, "when Harry and Teddie are back at school."

Teddie opened her eyes and found her friends staring at her. She could see her own sadness reflected in their eyes. Cerberus had been a good man, he hadn't deserved to die last night, and not in the way he had had. Sure, the Killing Curse was quick and painless, but it still left a lot of heartache in the ones that Cerberus had left behind.

"Does anyone know if Cerberus had any family?" Astoria asked.

Teddie shook her head. Despite being the closest to Cerberus, she hadn't once thought to ask him about his personal life. Their relationship had always been a professional one, and while he did ask her questions about her life, and how much she was excited to be going to back to school, and he was frequent in collecting her from the train station or dropping her off, they still didn't know each other personally.

"Mo would," said Teddie after a while. "I'll find out over the Summer holidays. I'll see if there is anything, I can do to help them. I mean, it's my fault he died."

"No, Teddie," said Blaise. "Cerberus did what he had to because he wanted to protect you, he wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"But I do blame myself."

Theo squeezed her hand.

"I know," said Blaise. "But Cerberus was an Auror. He knew the risks of being an Auror, and he was protecting his charge last night. Sure, he didn't want to die, but I'm sure he made a choice between you and him. It doesn't mean he deserved it, but you also didn't deserve to die either. You owe him your life."

"It doesn't make me feel better," said Teddie, shaking her head. "I don't want people dying for me, Blaise. They have their own lives to live for, they shouldn't throw them away for me."

"You deserve to be protected, Ted."

"Maybe."

Blaise sighed and shared a look with Daphne.

"What happened after you returned to Hogwarts?" Mason asked, resting his head on his sister's shoulder. "After Dumbledore brought you and Harry back."

Teddie took a deep breath and continued her story.

"Harry was upset and angry, naturally, he lost his godfather, but I was too disorientated about what had happened to even notice most about what was being said. Dumbledore brought us back to his office via Portkey. He sat me down in one of the chairs beside his desk and then turned to Harry. Harry yelled, threw things, broke things, and Dumbledore just watched him, before explaining about everything that had happened in Harry's life leading up to this moment."

"Did he explain why Kreacher told Harry that Black wouldn't return from the Department?" Theo asked. "Or why Professor Snape ignored Harry's request to help Padfoot?"

Teddie nodded. "Yeah. Apparently, Kreacher had been taking orders from Narcissa Malfoy," she answered. "It's another long and complicated story, but it happened over Christmas after an order Kreacher took literally. But, yeah, he was following Orders from another Black family member. As for Professor Snape, Dumbledore explained that he had to pretend to not take any of it seriously, but as soon as he left Umbridge's office he sent a message to Dumbledore."

"Why didn't he try and stop you from leaving the castle?" Daphne asked.

"I don't know," said Teddie. "Maybe he didn't know we had gone."

"Although I am surprised no one felt the castle shake after that deafening scream, Ted," said Theo. "That reminds me, how are Malfoy and the others?" He looked to Blaise and Daphne, both of whom looked confused.

Theo quirked an eyebrow at the pair. "You don't know?" he asked. "Have they even been found, or are they still lying unconscious is Umbridge's office?"

"What?" Blaise asked.

"Why, what happened?" Daphne asked.

Teddie shook her head. "Let me finish one story at a time," she said. "As Dumbledore continued to explain Harry's connection to Voldemort, and why he had left him at his aunt and uncles' house all those years ago, he circled around the reason that Voldemort had lured Harry out of Hogwarts tonight and into the Department of Mysteries."

"The prophecy orb," said Theo.

Teddie met his gaze and nodded. "Yeah. The orb that I kept safe," she said. "The orb that I should have smashed when I had the chance. I almost lost it to Voldemort. When Avery cornered me coming out of the lifts, she took the orb from me and gave it to Voldemort. I was only able to get it back with a double attack, but it resulted in her punishing me for being a disobedient daughter."

"She suffocated you," said Astoria.

"Yeah. I didn't think she was capable of it," Teddie admitted. "I know she had a shield because that is where I get mine from, and when I was with her last year, she told me she had control over Blood Manipulation. But this… this was different. She wasn't controlling my blood supply; she was cutting off my oxygen. She told me to tell her when it hurt, but I couldn't breathe much less talk. I started to pass out, and then Cerberus was there."

Teddie fell silent again.

"What did the prophecy say?" Mason asked, sitting up and staring at Teddie. "Did you get to hear it? I mean, you said you saved it, right? Did you give it to Dumbledore? Did he show it to you?"

Teddie lay back into her pillows. The events of last night in Dumbledore's office playing in her head, as she relayed the scene to her friends.

"The prophecy's gone," said Harry blankly. "Avery gave it to Voldemort. He told me…" he broke off, turning to Teddie. "He told me that you had given it to Avery, and that you were bringing it to him."

Teddie shook her head. "If I'm honest, I forgot that I was carrying it," she admitted. "It was in my robes pocket when Theo and I came to look for you. I only realised it was still there when I was in the lift. I had every intention of hiding it the second I got out, but Avery was waiting for me."

Harry sighed and looked back at Dumbledore. "See? He has it," he said. "He knows what is going to happen. He knows how to kill me, how to win this war."

"Actually," said Teddie, reaching into her pocket. "They didn't get it. I managed to get it back from Avery." She produced the crystal orb and presented it to Dumbledore. "I told them I would smash it if they hurt any of us, it's what kept us alive, I'm sure of it. But, I knew, once they got it then the game was over, and I wasn't about to watch my friends die."

Dumbledore took the orb with a smile. "Once again, Miss Green, you showed incredible courage in the face of danger," he said. "You willingly lay your life down on the threshold of two worlds to keep Voldemort and Avery from finding a way to dominate."

"It's the least I could do," said Teddie. "The Muggle world is my home, no matter how much Avery insists that it isn't, and I have friends in the Wizarding world that I have chosen to be my family. I don't want any of them to be harmed."

"Indeed," said Dumbledore. "However, this is a mere record of the prophecy. A record that was kept by the Department of Mysteries. But the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person has the means of recalling it perfectly."

Harry and Teddie shared a look. They had risked not only their lives, but their friends lives, too, on a record?!

"Who heard it?" Harry asked.

"I did," Dumbledore answered. "On a cold, wet night, sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head Inn."

"S. P. T," said Teddie, remembering the initials on the orb's label.

Dumbledore met her gaze and nodded, solemnly. He turned the orb in his hands, set it on the desk next to him and tapped it with a small hammer. The glass cracked, and split straight down the middle, opening the orb and allow the mist inside to unfurl upwards, forming a slow revolving image of a woman.

"Professor Trelawney," Harry and Teddie murmured.

The image twirled in a slow, deliberate circle, and started to speak. Her voice as harsh and hoarse as it always was.

"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 the power that the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live with the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

Professor Trelawney fizzled out as the prophecy ended, and the smoke cleared, leaving nothing but a deafening silence in its wake.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry said very quietly. "It… did that mean… What did that mean?"

"It meant," said Dumbledore, "that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times."

"But that doesn't mean it's Harry," said Teddie, interrupting.

Dumbledore surveyed them both for a moment. "No," he finally said. "You're quite right, Teddie, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is Harry. Sybils prophecy could apply to two young boys born at the end of July - Harry and Neville Longbottom."

"Neville?" Teddie repeated.

"But then… but then, why was it my name on the prophecy?" Harry asked.

"The official record was relabeled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child," said Dumbledore. "It seemed obvious to everyone, especially the keeper of the Hall of Prophecies, that you were the one the prophecy spoke of, or why would Voldemort have attacked you that night?"

"But he could've attacked the wrong person!" Harry argued.

"You are forgetting the next part of the prophecy, Harry, the final identifying feature of the boy who could vanquish Voldemort," said Dumbledore.

"The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal," Teddie echoed. She looked to Harry, reaching up carefully and pressing her fingers to his scar.

Dumbledore nodded as Teddie dropped her hand from Harry's face. "He chose you, that night," he said. "Not Neville. He marked you as his equal. He gave you the scar that has proved both a blessing and a curse."

"But he might have chosen wrong!" said Harry. "He might have marked the wrong person."

"He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him," said Dumbledore. "And notice this, Harry. He chose, not the pureblood, but the halfblood, like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far."

"But I always had help," said Harry, his gaze flittering to Teddie. "I didn't escape him alone. Teddie, you were always with me. Every single time."

"Except the last one," said Teddie, weakly. Her head was starting to hurt again, and she was getting really tired.

"But, still, you were there all the other times," said Harry. He looked to Dumbledore. "Does that mean… is Teddie a part of the prophecy, too?"

Dumbledore considered Harry for a moment. "There has been speculation," he admitted. "That the 'power that the Dark Lord knows not' was the love your mother bestowed upon you, the power that destroyed Voldemort. Or the power of his own daughter."

Teddie rested her head on her arm, turning it slightly so that she could survey Dumbledore through heavy eyelids. "Me?" she asked, breathlessly.

"You are a weapon of great power, Teddie," Dumbledore said. "If there is one thing that Avery and Voldemort cannot survive this war without, it will be you. They need you by their side, and they will stop at nothing to get you. If you choose to stand with Harry, then the fight is already over for them."

"That's why they're trying to isolate me," said Teddie. "Trying to get the whole world to not trust me. It was Avery that leaked my identity to the Daily Prophet, wasn't it?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. It was also Avery that killed your parents over Christmas," he confirmed. "She thought that by eliminating your source of familiar ties, that you would feel more alone. But you turned to your friends, and their continued support carried you forward."

Teddie lowered her gaze. Her friends were great, but there was still one thing about her that they did not know. How much longer would the support her if they knew the truth?

"But why did he do it?" Harry asked. Why did he try and kill me as a baby? He should have waited to see whether Neville or I looked more dangerous when we were older and tried to kill whoever it was then -"

"That might have been the more practical course," said Dumbledore. "Except, Voldemort's information about the prophecy was incomplete. We were overheard, but our one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building."

"So, he only heard…?"

"He only heard the first part," Dumbledore confirmed. "He only heard the part that the child that would destroy him was born at the end of July to parents who had thrice defined him. He heard nothing about marking him as his equal or the powers that the Dark Lord did not know about."

Harry sighed and looked down. He glanced at Teddie and found her staring at him, although she was barely awake as she did it.

"Even if the prophecy doesn't refer to me, Harry," Teddie said, reaching for his hand. "I choose to stand by you. Always."

"I don't remember any more after that," said Teddie. "I woke up here, and Madam Pomfrey told me that Dumbledore had brought me in."

Her friends were silent as they tried to absorb the information, she had just told them. They couldn't wrap their heads around the prophecy even though it did make sense that Voldemort would choose Harry as his equal. That fateful night had set a lot of things in motion, which had led to Harry being the boy he was today.

"So, does the prophecy mean you?" Mason asked.

"I don't know," said Teddie. "Neither does Dumbledore."

"How do we find out?" Astoria asked. "Could you do research, Mason?"

Teddie shook her head. "This isn't something you'll find in books," she said, "I think the only way we're going to find out if I am the power that the Dark Lord knows not is when we reach the climax of the war. When the battle for the Wizarding and Muggle world begins."

"But we don't know when that will be," said Daphne. "It could be tomorrow, or in ten years from now."

"It could be," said Teddie, "but something tells me it's not far away. Voldemort and Avery aren't going to wait that long. Not when everything they desire is within their grasp. They'll attack soon, and we have to be ready for them. We have to show them that we don't back down when challenged, and that we aren't scared of them."

Her friends shared looks and then nodded. If Teddie was willing to fight, then so were they. They would fight for each other, for their families, and for their friends. They would show Voldemort and his army that they were stronger, as long as they had one another. Because, while Voldemort did have an army that outnumbered them a thousand to one, they had something he didn't have.

A reason worth fighting for.

End of Book Five.