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Chapter Thirty-Five: The Second Prophecy
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'What?'
'What does it say?' Fred asked.
Ginny gulped and looked at Harry, who slowly took the seat beside her and stared at his shoes.
'We do not know,' said McGonagall. 'As it is, we have no way of hearing the prophecy.'
'So how do we find out what it says?' Ginny asked, finally finding her voice. This was insane. How could she and Harry be … prophesized about?
'Isn't it obvious? We have to go to the Department of Mysteries,' Harry said quietly.
'Absolutely not!' Mrs Weasley cried. 'No! Ginny isn't going back there, after what happened the first time round. And Harry isn't either, for that matter.'
'Molly,' McGonagall said reasonably. 'The circumstances under which they would travel to the Department would be very different than in the past.'
'I will only agree,' said Mrs Weasley after a long moment, 'if they go during the day with a guard – several guards.'
'But then others will be there,' Harry said. 'I mean, we can't clear the entire floor without attracting some attention, can we?'
'I am afraid not,' McGonagall said. 'It will have to be at night.'
'No,' Mrs Weasley said stubbornly. 'You'll just have to send someone else to retrieve it.'
'Um, Molly, dear,' Mr Weasley piped up. 'If the prophecy only has Ginny and Harry's names on it, then they're the only ones who can get it.'
'I'm going,' Harry said.
'So am I,' Ginny said instantly.
'You are certainly not,' Mrs Weasley said. 'Ginevra Weasley, you will do as I tell you.'
Ginny glared at her mother, but said nothing. She knew that arguing with her mum was about as productive as arguing with a wall, and twice as frustrating. She would have to think of something. She would sneak out if it came down to that. Surely Harry would let her come with him for this.
'I'm still going,' Harry said when Mrs Weasley rounded on him. Really? Harry wasn't even going to fight to get permission for Ginny to accompany him? 'We need to hear this. And if Ginny can't go, I'm the only one who can get it.'
'Harry –'
'When can I go, Professor?' he asked McGonagall. 'How about tonight?'
'You will need protection, of course,' McGonagall said. 'Kingsley Shacklebolt, and any team he puts together.'
'I'm in,' Ron said immediately. 'Hermione will probably want to come, too.'
'No way we're standing around doing nothing,' said George.
'Yeah,' Fred agreed. 'We're coming with you lot.'
'Harry will be accompanied by Aurors only,' McGonagall said.
'D'you think Voldemort's side knows about this yet?'
'I received word of this news early this morning,' said McGonagall, 'though I suppose it is a possibility. We need to be prepared for anything that may come up.'
Ginny reached out and clasped Harry's hand in her own. He looked up at her briefly before dropping his gaze again. She felt herself frown and tried to use their connection to speak with him, but he kept his wall in place and wouldn't lower it.
The adults argued back and forth for several more minute before McGonagall held out her hand. 'I will call a meeting with the Order,' she said. 'In the meantime, these two –' she gestured to Harry and Ron '– should to get back to their training.'
Ron threw Ginny a concerned look before leaving, and she nearly forgot that he'd been acting like such a prat not two hours earlier. She wondered what had happened with her brother and Harry, but then, upon noticing how both boys were wincing and moving so stiffly, she decided she would rather not know.
Harry stood and mumbled a goodbye before moving toward the door. Ginny wasn't giving in that easily. Tightening her grip on his hand, she followed him, not letting go until they were both out of Dumbledore's old office.
'Coming?' Ron asked.
'I –' Harry said, and by now, he knew enough to know that the look Ginny gave him meant trouble. 'Meet you at the Pitch.'
'Right,' Ron said gruffly. 'Bye, Gin.'
When her brother had taken his leave, Ginny turned back to Harry. 'Mind telling me what happened in there?' she asked.
'What d'you mean?'
'You wouldn't even look at me, Harry.'
'I … I know,' Harry said. 'I'm sorry.' He sighed. 'I'm always dragging you into this stuff.'
'I'd be involved regardless of our relationship,' she said softly.
'Maybe,' he said. 'But you wouldn't be in this much danger. There wouldn't be a prophecy with your name on it sitting in the Department of Mysteries right now. Merlin, Ginny, do you even realize how risky this is?'
'How risky what is?'
Harry lowered his gaze again.
'No,' she said fiercely, and shoved him as hard as she could manage. 'You aren't doing this. You don't get to write me off because you're the Boy Who Lived and I'm just your stupid little girlfriend. Maybe you're going to save the bloody world, but when it comes to that prophecy, I am just as important as you are!'
'I know that!' he yelled. 'But you don't know what this thing says! It's not – I can tell you right now that it's not going to be something good.'
'How do you know?'
'When is it ever something good?' he asked, and his voice broke slightly.
She put her hand against his cheek. 'It's going to be okay.'
'And if it's not? What then?'
'Then we just … deal with it,' she said. 'Like always.'
Harry smiled slightly. 'Like always,' he repeated.
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The Weasleys had returned to The Burrow just after Hermione's parents had left, all of them seemingly on edge. Hermione looked to Ginny for an answer, but the girl shook her head and told Hermione that Ron could tell her when he got back from training. When Hermione nodded in acceptance, Ginny had trudged upstairs and gone into her room, but not before throwing one last glare in the general direction of Mrs Weasley.
Later, when Ron arrived home (Harry had stayed behind, apparently to get in a few more hours of training), he told her what had transpired in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts.
'A second prophecy?' Hermione asked.
Ron nodded. 'Yeah … that's what McGonagall says, at least,' he told her. 'Anyway, Harry's going to the Department of Mysteries tonight to hear it.'
'The Department of Mysteries?' Hermione screeched. 'But he – do you think that's best? I mean, after what happened there before?'
Ron shrugged. 'I dunno,' he said. 'Harry seems to be okay with it. I think he's trying to forget about it.'
Hermione was beginning to feel rather unsettled. 'Forget? How will he be able to forget? Ron, this – this isn't good! This is exactly what I was talking about before. We need to go with him.'
'There'll be Aurors with him,' Ron said, sitting down beside her. 'How much trouble can he get into with a whole bunch of guards keeping track of his every move? What can we do for Harry that they can't?'
Hermione frowned. Sometimes, Ron just didn't get it. The Aurors hadn't been there in fifth year, when everything had happened. They hadn't been around after, either, when Harry had kept apologizing and apologizing to them all, saying that if it hadn't been for the Order, he would've led them all to their deaths that night.
Regardless of whether it was true or not (while Harry had, technically, led them there, and they may have died, they had chosen to follow him, and so it wasn't his fault at all, was it?), Hermione didn't think the Aurors would understand how complicated this situation was.
What if Harry stumbled across that veil again? Hermione would be lying if she said she didn't find it more than a little creepy the way Harry had been so drawn to it. Both Harry and Luna had seemed to know something about it that Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville hadn't, because they were both so fascinated that they'd nearly gone right through.
She hadn't thought it was something so terribly awful until after Sirius had gone through and hadn't ever come back.
'We just have to go,' she said. 'I think it's best if we do.'
'We can't,' said Ron. 'We won't be allowed. Mum won't even let Ginny go, and her name's on the bloody thing. Ginny's furious.'
'Your mum can't tell either of us what to do,' said Hermione. 'We're both of age.'
'Well, even if that's true, the Aurors probably won't let us come. D'you know how much of a risk they're taking just by letting Harry go in after hours? They won't want two extra people that they have to watch.'
Hermione sighed. He was right, and she knew it. But would she really be able to just sit back and let this happen? Harry was possibly the strongest person she knew, but at the same time, he was also the weakest – his emotions often got the best of him, and what stronger emotion was there than the love for someone lost?
Harry didn't openly talk about Sirius – she could only remember one time when he spoke of his late godfather, and that was to Ginny. Really, then, how was anyone to know what he felt about Sirius? What if he got the idea in his head to reach into the veil and try to bring him back? Would it be possible? What if he pulled someone else out? What if Harry was pulled in?
And then there was the concern that Harry wouldn't be able to pull anyone out and he wouldn't be pulled in. What would that do to him? Harry often took it upon himself to save everyone else, and if he felt that he was the reason they were in such a situation – just as he had with Ginny, and surely just as he still did with Sirius – he would stop at literally nothing to right his wrong.
'Ginny's not allowed to go?' she asked after a long pause.
'Nope,' Ron said. 'I guess Mum thinks that Death Eaters are going to be sitting up there waiting for everyone to walk through the doors so they can kill them.' He shook his head. 'She doesn't realize that we're in just as much danger here as we are out there.'
'So you think Ginny should be able to go?'
Ron made a face, and then said what Hermione had not expected. 'Yeah,' he said. 'I guess. The prophecy's as much about her as it is about Harry, right? And if Harry does need someone to look after him, like you say he does, who better to do it than Ginny? She – she's the only one he'd ever keep in line for.'
Hermione smiled. 'Gone and grown up, have you?' Ron stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes. 'Maybe not,' she said. 'But I take it you've decided against murdering Harry for what happened at the party?'
'Can't murder him,' he said. 'Then who would beat Voldemort?'
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'Who is it?' Ginny called.
If it was her mum, Ginny wasn't going to let her in. She was still furious about not being able to go with Harry tonight. Didn't she deserve to go? The prophecy was about her, after all. She didn't even try to figure out her mother's logic any longer. This war must've made her go insane.
Ginny knew she could hardly blame her mum for being protective. Between Percy ditching the family, Bill being wounded so badly, Ginny herself being taken at the wedding, and the entire fiasco with Ron – not to mention that Fred and George were constantly up to their ears in trouble, and Charlie was in danger every single day while working with those awful dragons – Mrs Weasley had a right to worry.
But it was just so bloody inconveniencing sometimes.
And, of course, she got the worse of it. She was the baby and the girl. Those were two strikes against her that she couldn't erase no matter how hard she tried, no matter how safe she already was, and no matter how brilliantly she fought and protected herself.
She was used to it when it came to her family. To an extent, she could tolerate it. And when she was in a good mood, she could almost appreciate her parents' and brothers' concerns
It was different with Harry.
She was his girlfriend, not his daughter, and she had decided that it was about time that he learned the difference. It was not up to Harry Potter to keep her safe. She was her own person, and she could take care of herself quite well.
But what was there to do? Running out on her own to prove how grown up she was would just do the opposite – solidify everyone's thoughts that she was too young and too irresponsible to handle taking up an active role in this war.
It wasn't as though she could threaten to break up with Harry unless he started to treat her better. He treated her wonderfully, except when it came to this one issue. And she knew that if she threatened to ditch him unless he let her fight, he would end up ditching her first, to keep her safe. He always had her "best interests" at heart. Git.
And if they did break up, that would be awful. She didn't want that. She was fairly certain that Harry Potter was the one she was meant to spend the rest of her life with.
She couldn't make him see it her way, and she couldn't possibly let him do things his way. She had dug herself quite the hole.
'It's us.'
'Come in, then,' she said. She sat up in her bed as Ron and Hermione entered her room.
'I heard,' Hermione said.
'And you've come to make everything all better?' Ginny asked blandly.
'Actually,' Hermione said, 'Ron and I are here to help you out.'
'So lose the attitude,' Ron added with a small smile. 'Or we're out of here.'
'Help me?' asked Ginny skeptically. 'How?' She felt her heart leap at the various ideas that entered her mind. What were Ron and Hermione going to do for her?
She ordered herself not to get her hopes up. Of all people, Ron would not be helping her the way she really wanted to be helped – finding some way to go with Harry to retrieve the Prophecy. Even if she had to pull the wool over Harry's eyes this one time, she was willing to do it. Whatever it took.
'We talked it over,' said Ron. 'And we think Mum's making a stupid decision.'
'So?' Ginny asked, though not rudely.
Hermione closed the door and then produced Harry's Invisibility Cloak from behind her back. She said, 'So we're getting you to the Department of Mysteries.'
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Harry arrived home from training twenty minutes later.
Ginny had come out of her room by then, and everyone traveled to Headquarters by Floo powder.
Her mood had lightened considerably, but she tried to come off as upset as possible. She didn't want her mum wondering why she was suddenly so cheery. And since she was going to make her mum think she had locked herself in one of the rooms in Grimmauld Place to sulk (while, really, she would be off at the Department of Mysteries), she decided she had better start acting miserable now.
Her heart was thumping so fiercely that she thought for sure the others would hear. Was she really even considering pulling this off? And how was she going to convince Harry to help her?
She had the Invisibility Cloak on her, and even if Harry argued with her and refused to let her come, she was going to go anyway. He didn't have to know.
When she saw her opportunity, she pulled Harry aside and they spoke in hushed tones.
'I'm coming with you,' she said.
'What?' he asked, and much to Ginny's surprise, he didn't sound very annoyed just yet. 'Did your mum change her mind?'
She shook her head.
'Then how're you going to be coming with me?' he asked.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to explain the plan to him, just as Hermione had told her. 'I'm going to use your Invisibility Cloak to sneak out. And you're going to make sure nobody catches me.'
For the life of her, she couldn't get a read on what was going through his mind. His face was completely expressionless, almost to the point that she had to wonder if someone had just Stunned him from behind.
Harry took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. 'What do I need to do?' he asked.
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He was crazy to be letting her come with him. He was likely to get in loads of trouble with the Aurors if Ginny was discovered. But what could he do? This mission was as much his as it was hers, and even he couldn't turn a deaf ear to her when it came to this prophecy.
The Cloak fit her more comfortably than it did him, and as he walked around Grimmauld Place, he had to wonder if she was even following him any longer. She made virtually no noise whatsoever as she walked.
They had lowered their walls for the occasion. Harry thought this was for the best – he didn't need Ginny getting misplaced and left behind in the Department of Mysteries because he couldn't call out to her without the Aurors noticing. He knew Mrs Weasley was liable to kill him as it was. Imagining what would happen if he couldn't find Ginny was something he didn't want to contemplate just now.
Where are you?
Right beside you was her reply, and he felt a hand smack his bottom.
He wasn't exactly sure how they were going to work this entire scheme, but he knew that Ron and Hermione were going to cover for them. He was rather pleasantly surprised that they were both willing to spend their entire night downstairs with Mr and Mrs Weasley, in order to make sure nobody went upstairs to where Ginny was supposed to be and discovered that she wasn't there.
Crossing his fingers, he turned and faced Lupin and the Aurors – Kingsley and Tonks – responsible for getting him to and from the Department safely. Little did they know, they were also responsible for Ginny Weasley. And keeping an eye on her was easier said than done – and not only because she was wearing an invisibility Cloak.
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'No way we'll all fit in there,' Tonks said, looking at the telephone box. 'I'll go first. Remus can go with Harry. Kingsley can come in last.'
They all nodded in agreement. Harry waited a moment as Tonks went into the telephone box and followed procedure.
Once she was gone, Harry stepped into the box. He felt a brush against his arm and knew that Ginny had entered the small area just before him. Lupin followed in behind him, and Harry made certain that he put himself between the two. If he could help it, he was going to make sure nobody ever found out that Ginny had come tonight. Even though he was fairly certain Lupin would cover for them, Harry wasn't willing to take the chance.
'Six … two … four … four … two,' Lupin muttered under his breath as he dialed.
A cool female voice, somewhat familiar to Harry, spoke. 'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please sate your name and business.'
Oh, this was not going to be good. Would the Invisibility Cloak hide Ginny? Or would some sort of alarm go off if Harry only said two names, because magic would be able to tell that there were three people in the telephone box?
'Remus Lupin and Harry Potter,' Lupin said. He went to continue, but Harry interjected –
'And Ginny Weasley,' he muttered, out of total obligation, and then looked up at Lupin to gauge how much trouble he was in.
Lupin looked confused for only a moment before smiling. 'Of course,' he said. 'And Ginny Weasley. The three of us are here to take a tour of the Ministry.'
That was the best excuse they could come up with?
Harry heard Ginny snicker but, apparently, the reason was accepted.
'Thank you. Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes.'
Harry didn't even read the badge he was handed, just pinned it to his robes and waited for the telephone box to begin moving.
'Visitors of the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium.'
Harry closed his eyes and willed the silly little box to move faster. Finally, after what seemed like ages, it stopped moving.
'The Ministry wishes you a pleasant evening.'
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'So many shelves,' Ginny muttered to herself. She couldn't remember there being this many prophecies the last time she was here. They had all blown out the shelves to cause a distraction, which had destroyed hundreds – maybe even thousands – of prophecy records. Was it possible that more had been made since then? Exactly how often were prophecies made?
Lupin had offered to help Harry look around while the other Aurors stood guard. Seeing her opening, Ginny snuck in the door before Harry, and now the three of them were eagerly scanning the shelves.
She was not surprised that Lupin had reacted the way he did. He was an adult and a strong member of the Order, but Ginny still considered him to be someone she could trust and go to if she had a problem. He was the closest thing Harry had to a father, and if Ginny had to tell someone the secret about their connection, she would probably choose Lupin.
They all searched in silence for quite some time. The words seemed to blur before Ginny's eyes. She had read so many names by this point that she wasn't even certain she would recognize her own, or Harry's, if she were to come across their prophecy.
'Found it!' Harry called, the relief and anxiety evident in his voice. 'Let's get the hell out of here.'
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They got back to Headquarters and Ginny scurried upstairs quickly, then threw off the Invisibility Cloak and came back downstairs.
'Do you have it?' she asked.
'Yeah,' Harry said, and held it out to her. He turned to Tonks. 'Where can we go to listen to it?'
'Upstairs,' McGonagall said. 'I'll show you where.'
Harry and Ginny followed their old Professor up the stairs of Grimmauld Place and down a corridor, until they arrived at a room Ginny couldn't remember ever being in before. She glanced at Harry, and he looked equally confused. They had explored this house from top to bottom when they'd stayed here previously. How had they missed this room? Had it been locked all this time?
'Can we – listen to it by ourselves?' Harry asked.
'Do you think that is wise?' McGonagall asked. 'I cannot express how important this prophecy is. If you forget exactly the phrasing –'
'We won't,' Harry said quickly. 'Promise.'
'Potter,' McGonagall said sternly. 'You had better not disappoint me.'
Harry held up his hands and McGonagall nodded. She looked at them thoughtfully for another second, and then left.
'You ready?' he asked, the two of them stepping into the room. He closed the door behind him, clutching the small ball in his hands.
She swallowed. 'I love you,' she said suddenly. 'Even if – if it's something bad … I'm not going to stop.'
'I'm going to hold you to that,' he said, but she got the feeling it came out more serious than he'd intended. He asked again: 'So … ready?'
She nodded. Harry took his hand off of the ball and Ginny watched as it – the precious prophecy that stood to ruin everything she'd worked so hard for – fell to the floor and smashed into a million pieces.
She shut her eyes tight. It felt like hours before a small voice rang out.
'The one with the power is unforeseen and unsuspecting … she is the beginning and end, for only together can the true power be harnessed … but the Dark Light is forever lurking inside and she is the one who shall be led astray once more, and only too late will it be discovered … but either must die at the hand of the other, and redemption must be found in the purest of sacrifices, for only then can goodness prevail … the one with the power is unforeseen and unsuspecting.'
Ginny looked up at Harry. 'What – what does that mean?' she asked. The question hung in the air just a second longer than she'd hoped.
'I dunno,' he said. 'If the power means the same as it does in the first prophecy, then it's love.'
She had figured that already. She was focusing more on another part.
The darkness that forever lurked inside – that would be Tom. Ginny didn't have to wonder.
'She is the one who shall be led astray once more …' she quoted. But it was impossible that someone – a Seer – would prophesize Ginny becoming a traitor. Unless there was another meaning? 'Does that mean what I think it means? She must mean me, since I'm the only other name on the prophecy. But that doesn't make sense. Led astray? I would never –'
'I know,' he said, though with great difficulty. 'But … how could … I mean, it even references the other prophecy …'
Ginny sniffed. 'This isn't good,' she whispered. 'This isn't good at all.'
'It'll be okay,' he said.
She shook her head. 'What do – what do we do?'
'We do the only thing we can do,' Harry said, without a moment's hesitation. 'We lie. We make something up'
She sniffed again and Harry frowned, obviously realizing that she was beginning to cry.
'C'mon, quit it,' he pleaded. 'We can't pull this off if everyone sees you like this.' After wiping her tears away with his thumb, he pulled her into his arms and whispered, 'We need to come up with a fake prophecy to tell everyone.'
'But – we can't do that,' she said. Everything was vanishing before her eyes. 'The prophecy is a big deal. We can't lie to the Order, Harry. If someone were to find out, we'd be in so much trouble.'
'That's why we make sure nobody finds out,' he said. 'Dumbledore said once that a prophecy only comes true if the people in it make it true. We just … won't make it true. Nobody ever needs to know.'
It was a foolish plan with many flaws, but in this moment of desperation, it sounded perfect to Ginny.
'Okay,' she said slowly. 'But do you think we should at least tell someone about our … connection? I mean, maybe we can use this somehow –'
'No,' said Harry. 'We can't do that … please.'
She was startled. 'Why not?'
'Because,' he said. 'Everything that I do – my wandless magic, sensing Voldemort with my scar – McGonagall and the others always make a big deal about it and study it and try to define it somehow … they cheapen it. They … exploit it. And I'm not going to let them do that with what we have together. This is … this is the only thing that matters to me. They can use my power and my mother's love and even me, for that matter, all they want. But they can't use this.'
Ginny nodded against him. 'I don't want them to use it, either,' she said. 'It's just – Harry, sometimes … you have to admit … we don't make the best decisions.'
'I know,' Harry said. 'And the minute we notice something is going wrong … we'll tell Dumbledore the truth. But until then … I can't do it, Gin. I can't tell him. Can you?'
She shook her head. 'No,' she said. 'I can't tell Dumbledore either.'
And if either of them had bothered to look at the small portrait that was barely visible in the dark shadows of the room, they would have realized that Professor Dumbledore had already heard everything.
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Don't forget to check out my new one-shot, Lacking.
I'm going to be on a trip with friends for a week or so, and so the next update will be in two weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience – Hope everyone has a great long weekend!