Yay another chapter! Thank you ever so much for your reviews, I do read every single one of them and I do keep them in mind when writing.
Thank you once again to my soulmate Lauren for allowing me to pester her into reading my chapters. I love you xxx
~PureBloodSnake xx
Grief and Guiles
"I want to do this alone, Draco. Please." Draco frowned, it had been a week since Sirius had died and for the last week Caelum had refused to acknowledge it. Draco, however, had noticed that Caelum was reacting to everything more extremely. He laughed more at things that he didn't find funny, he would suddenly stop mid sentence and become all sullen then pretend he had just forgotten what he was going to say. Nearly everyone bought his act, But Draco could feel the tendrils of dark thoughts slip through the bond and began to think Caelum was depressed. He wanted to write to their father for advice, but Azkaban were not allowing Lucius any privileges.
"Promise me that you'll tell me immediately if you don't feel up to it. I'll be out here." Pointedly Draco pointed to the seats outside Dumbledore's office. He wasn't pleased that Caelum was going in alone to discuss such a delicate topic such as the contents of the prophecy.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
"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... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Dumbledore recited the prophecy, staring off into the distance.
"I don't understand. That's not about me. My parents haven't 'thrice defied' the Dark Lord, and I wasn't born at the end of the 'seventh month'; my birthday is June." Caelum could feel himself become a little panicky, he knew he was overreacting but everything was beginning to feel too much. He tried to take a calming breath, it shuddered from between his lips. Draco was pressing slightly against their bond, reminding Caelum he was always there, the dark honey colour a place of comfort for Caelum to find refuge. He allowed to indulge himself in that small bit of comfort; Draco seemed especially pleased that he was able to help and Dumbledore sat patiently waiting for Caelum to calm himself down.
"The prophecy applies to Harry Potter and at the time where Voldemort marked him as his equal, you were Harry Potter in all but biology. Prophecies do not account for muggle sciences such as biology. What the prophecy probably did take into account was the fact that you were raised as Harry Potter. If you were raised rightfully as a Malfoy, there would be no Voldemort for you to fight."
"So because I was Harry Potter on that Halloween, the prophecy applies to me?" Caelum was a little confused, surely magic couldn't be that vague? No wonder Hermione hated divination.
"Essentially yes. The glamour placed on you was very old magic, old enough that more modern magic such as divination is not compatible." Dumbledore is trying to help, Caelum reminded himself, he's not trying to make you feel as inept as you did in muggle physics lessons. "However in a roundabout way you are the child of the prophecy."
"How?"
"You were stolen from your parents at the end of July, which prophetically could symbolise a re-birth." Caelum could feel doubt forming in his mind, this was too convenient.
"What about the thrice defied part?" What was Dumbledore going to say to fill that gap? There was something in the back of his mind telling him not to trust Dumbledore. It was most likely Draco, but there was also something a lot older and instinctual, like a childhood fear. But the headmaster had helped reunite him with his family.
"That's a more complicated matter. It's more what they have done since they have found you: they haven't told Voldemort about you, although their loyalties lie with him. Your parents refused him a place at Malfoy Manor over Christmas break, which they knew there would be consequences for. But most obviously your father helped you last week at the ministry. Your parents love for you has given them strength to defy the Dark Lord. In some mysterious ways, you are the child of prophecy, Caelum Malfoy." Dumbledore looked over his half-moon shaped glasses, his eyes twinkling slightly as he smiled sadly.
"Okay. I have another question. What does it mean when it says 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…'? That doesn't really make too much sense to me. Surely we've been living while the other survives for a few years now?" Caelum could feel Draco's impatience affecting his impatience for answers and he was struggling to keep his cool.
Can you just calm down slightly and be a bit more patient? I promise you I'm doing fine. I think we're almost finished anyway. The words felt a little empty, they didn't have too much feeling behind them and Draco easily picked up on that, but he did calm down a little and Caelum could feel the impatient nagging subside slightly.
"I think Caelum, for I'm not too sure, that it means that you are the only one that can kill Tom Riddle. As for only one of you surviving, I imagine that is because Voldemort is not going to stop hunting you down until he kills you. Even if you evade that fate, you're not really living if you're constantly in the run." Dumbledore looked into the distance, his eyes hardening for a moment of a second, before the twinkle returned and he smiled warmly at Caelum. "I think that is enough for today, your brother seems to be getting close to joining us." As he walked out of the familiar office, Caelum couldn't help but think there was something more to that grandfatherly smile and twinkling eyes.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
"I didn't get it all, can you repeat it?" Hermione sat with a muggle pen and notepad, scribbling down the prophecy rather rapidly. Narcissa sat slightly stiffly next to the brown haired muggleborn fascinated by the muggle pen. Caelum and Draco sat opposite the two witches, curled up on the sofa, a blanket over the both of them. Since his meeting with Dumbledore, Caelum had been even more jittery than usual and kept seeking Draco's protection. Draco was quite happy to baby his little brother, but e was incredibly worried, and with the looks his mother kept shooting him, he could tell she was worried too.
"So, at first glance this doesn't seem to concern you Caelum, but I'm guessing Dumbledore explained how you fit into it." Hermione tapped her pen against the pad in thought. The four of them were trying to figure out the prophecy for themselves. When recounting the meeting with Dumbledore, Draco had pointed out that he could feel mistrust across their bond and questioned the interpretations that Caelum had received, so between them they were about to figure it out.
"He gave me two ways that the prophecy could be interpreted to mean me: one being, that at the time of the attack that truly marked me as 'the chosen one' I was Harry Potter in all intents and purposes. The glamour was apparently old enough magic that divination doesn't take it into account." Hermione muttered something under her breath about an 'imprecise branch of magic' and Caelum shot her a small smile. "Second was that, in prophetical terms, the requirements applied to me."
"How? Your birthday is in June and we are the Dark Lord's followers." Narcissa lowered her eyes in shame and trailed of at the mention of being on the opposite side of the inevitable war to her sons.
"According to Dumbledore, because my life was completely changed at the end of July when I was taken, that can magically be considered a birthday. Dumbledore called it a 're-birth'?"
"How dare he? How was you being taken away from your family a good thing?" Hermione looked outraged, Caelum curled further into Draco's side.
"The other part was that without realising it you had defied Voldemort, by not telling him about me, for refusing to allow him to stay in our house at Christmas and for Dad helping us last week." At the mention of Lucius, Caelum became very quiet and Draco sent as much comfort down the bond as he could. Sensing the uncomfortable silence thrumming in the room, Hermione spoke up.
"Well let's try to look at differently. We can start by translating it into simpler terms. Let's see: 'the person who will kill Voldemort is going to be born. His parents have defied Voldemort three times. Born at the end of July. Voldemort will mark him as his equal, but he will have a power that Voldemort doesn't know about. One of you must kill the others neither can live while the other survives. And then it starts to repeat." Hermione was using her business only tone and Narcissa edged closer gesturing for Hermione to give her the pen.
"You use it like a quill, right?" At Hermione's nod, Narcissa began scribbling down on the notebook. "The first line is self-explanatory, I don't think we need to look too much into that. The second one is interesting, if this refers to Caelum rather than Harry Potter, we need to think of three ways Lucius and I defied the Dark Lord before the two of you were born. The wording of the prophecy makes it sound like it is past tense, whoever it refers to will have defied him three times before the birth of the child, or before the child was marked." Caelum froze slightly, how had he not figured that bit out when Dumbledore was spouting nonsense at him, that was basic primary school English!
"So we need to look at it separately, let's start with before Caelum was marked as The Dark Lord's equal." Draco knew his brother was beating himself up for not realising he was being manipulated, so he spoke up subtly reminding his brother that they were all going to help figure this out. "Surely spending your time searching for Caelum instead of doing the Dark Lord's tasks is considered defying him." Caelum nodded into his brother's side.
"You prioritised finding me over him, that in Voldemort's opinion is betrayal and open defiance." Draco was a little unnerved at how easily his brother spouted knowledge of the inner workings of the Dark Lord's head. "He would also consider something like talking about his plans in distaste a form of defiance. Loyalty to him is complete subservience." The more that Caelum spoke the more confident he became and both Hermione and Draco could see Harry Potter more than Caelum Malfoy.
"Caelum," Hermione spoke softly, reaching out to squeeze his knee slightly. "You don't need to hide behind a façade, we all know that you miss Sirius. It's not healthy to bottle it all up." Hermione thought she saw a tear fall down Caelum's face and the way he curled into Draco's side even more confirmed her suspicions.
"Right, so what's the next line?" If there was any glimpse of Caelum's true emotions it had disappeared behind the mask as quickly as it had slipped through.
"Not right now." Narcissa stepped in after watching the interaction between her boys and Hermione. It was obvious that Caelum wasn't dealing too well with Sirius' death. She would have to figure something out to stop him from dangerously bottling everything up. Thinking about the prophecy would ultimately lead to thinking about Sirius and Caelum wasn't ready for that. "We made the first step, now we just need to take a break and reconvene later on. Caelum I'd like a quick word before you go." Hermione and Draco quickly departed the room knowing they were not wanted nor needed anymore, although Draco glanced back, making eye contact with his brother before nodding and following Hermione out of the door.
Allowing the silence to settle, Narcissa took a deep breath before turning to her youngest who was still curled up on the sofa. He looked tiny.
"Darling," She paused thinking of the right words and took a seat next to Caelum allowing him to snuggle into her like he had done when he was a baby. "You can't bottle this all up, it's dangerous and neither your brother or I can bare to see you suffer like this. We want to do all we can to help, but we can't if you don't tell us how to." She paused once again to allow Caelum to consider her words. She wondered if he and Draco were talking right now, or if his mind was solely focused on her. "I lost a cousin that night. Sirius and I didn't get on too well when we were children, but occasionally we'd join forces against Bella, Andy or Reg. Sirius could pull some cruel pranks. Once when he was annoyed at Bella, he turned her hair the most awful shade of Gryffindor red and nothing she did could remove the colour. It took two months for the spell to wear off." There was a small sound coming out of Caelum's mouth. A small laugh. Narcissa felt herself smile. "Another time…" and the stories continued. The more she talked, the more therapeutic this session felt.
"Thanks Mum. That's helped a bit. D'you know Sirius is, was the only one to treat me exactly the same as Harry Potter and Caelum Malfoy?" Narcissa felt her eyebrows knit together.
"What about Hermione?"
"Hermione's great and has adjusted to all of this really well, it's just, there are moments where I can see her realising she is best friends with a Malfoy, a Slytherin who can talk to snakes and has a pet one around his neck. Moments like that I catch her pinching herself. I also know that she's treating me differently, trying too hard to keep things the same between us. It's making it hard for it to be the same between us. When it was Harry and Hermione it was effortless friendship. Now that it's Caelum and Hermione the friendship is slightly forced and I don't want that. Sirius was the only constant in both my lives, and he's gone. I don't think I want any ties to Harry Potter any more." Caelum was picking with the edge of his sleeves and Narcissa was in half a mind to tell him off for fiddling but left it.
"What do you mean?"
"Dad and I, back in the summer, decided that at some point we would kill off Harry Potter, so that I could be Caelum Malfoy without any ties. That time's now. We're going to kill Harry Potter."
