Author's Note: Sorry for the longer than normal update but we went out of town for my son's birthday. I do not recommend camping at the end of September in Iowa when the forecast calls for rain and there is no plumbing or electricity at the campground. Needless to say I did not have a chance to update while we were gone. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews so far. Enjoy! Redfrog

Chapter 8

Harry, Ginny, Draco, Pansy and Neville hurried to the room of requirement so they would not be found and interrogated. They laughed at the chaos they had caused but were still upset with what Dumbledore had said. Neville left to go back to the common room to hear what the Gryffindors thought and left the other four alone to talk. Harry was ranting and pacing, with Pansy doing her best to get him to calm down. "What do I do now Pans?" He asked her desperately. "I am stuck between two sides, the side I thought I was on abandoned me and was a load of dung to begin with and the side that makes more sense wants to kill me."

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out," she told him pulling him into a tight hug and holding him while rubbing his back, neither paying any attention to the other two in the room who were quietly talking on the couch.

"I did some research lately and read older versions of Hogwarts a History and found that the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was all just in the spirit of competition before Dumbledore started school. It turns out that Grindelwald and Dumbledore were in school at the same time and were rivals, like you and Harry used to be. They hated each other so much that soon they had their entire houses hating each other and since then it has continued. It even stated that the rumors that all Slytherins were evil started once it was revealed that Grindelwald and the majority of his friends and supporters were in Slytherin. When Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald he played up Gryffindor as a house of light and just wizards and Slytherin as the house of dark and evil." Ginny told Draco quietly as they sat on the couch waiting for Harry to calm down.

"So this whole war and the one before it were because Dumbledore and Grindelwald had a school grudge they couldn't let go of and dragged everyone else along?" Draco asked in shock, wondering how that fact had never been brought to light before.

"Says that Grindelwald was a blood purist and had been commenting on it loudly to the others in his year and insulted Dumbledore. Turns out Dumbledore is the child of two squibs and grew up in the muggle world where his parents had retreated two to find jobs. He was never taught any wizarding traditions and thought the muggle way was better and told Grindelwald as much, thus starting the first war." Ginny told him, wondering how Harry and Hermione would react to what she had found. She knew Hermione was already having doubts as she was the one who asked her to research the topic in the first place.

"What do you think the wizarding world would think if they knew that Dumbledore didn't only start one but two wars that have so far cost hundreds of witches, wizards and muggles their lives?" Draco asked, wondering if Voldemort knew this information.

"I don't know; they would probably all turn on him," Ginny said sadly, "All but my family. My mum hates Voldemort more than anything, as long as the headmaster is against him she won't care what his beliefs are as long as she can try and avenge her brothers' deaths. My dad is a muggle lover; he loves absolutely everything about muggles but understands nothing and glosses over anything that could cause a flaw in his happy view of muggles. Then we've all heard Ron, he'll be the next one to start a war if he doesn't keep his stupid mouth shut. I don't know what the twins, Bill and Charlie think and I wonder if perhaps Percy left us to escape having to take a role in a war he didn't believe in."

"I'm sorry you'll have to go against your family Red," Draco told her softly, giving her a small reassuring smile. "We'll be there to help you, even if you have to move into the manor with me for a while." Ginny just grinned at him and the two continued talking, almost forgetting they were not alone in the room. Harry and Pansy joined the other two on the couches in the room a while later and they all played games until it was past curfew, determined to not have to deal with the rest of the world until the morning.

Tom Riddle was in an almost happy mood. He had read a newspaper article on the fight in the great hall between the two icons of the light. Some student had obviously quickly sent off a letter to their parents or the editor to get it in the next morning's edition. There was even an enclosed picture of Potter and Dumbledore glaring at each other. It was as if Christmas had come early for him when the following day there was a follow-up article on how the 'death eaters' attacks had stopped and perhaps they were not as evil as everyone made out. The icing on the cake was that evening when he received a letter from his daughter outlining the research both she and the youngest Weasley had done. He had been furious at first but then realized the magnitude of the information and had it leaked immediately to the press. The fallout from the articles portraying Albus Dumbledore as a vengeful and deluded man was like music to his ears. The fact that Severus reported that Albus had destroyed his office in his furry and had glared at all the students trying to figure out who leaked the info was hilarious.

Tom did not know what his next move was going to be. He still had an almost driving hunger to kill the Potter boy and he could feel his body begging for more dark arts. With the dark rituals he had performed his body was completely addicted to dark magic. He also felt more alive and sane than he had in a long time. He knew he would have to talk with his daughter before he did anything rash. Now was the perfect time to take over the ministry and get the changes he needed put in place and he wanted his heir by his side to do so.

The Order of the Phoenix was in chaos, they could not believe that their leader and so called Icon of Light was the cause of the war in the first place. They were appalled that he had been using them for his own agenda for years. Minerva was the hardest hit from the news as she realized that both the men she had trusted in her life betrayed her, first Tom and now Albus. The Weasley family was torn apart by the news. Molly immediately began defending Albus and Arthur thought his goals were good since he too wanted to open their world to muggles. Their children were appalled by both the headmaster and then their parents.

Bill and Charlie had a long discussion followed by a big fight with their parents when they tried to explain that what Dumbledore had done was wrong. When Charlie told his mother that it was insane to follow a man who would use people as pawns just to get revenge for deaths that occurred two decades ago she slapped him and told him if he wasn't going to follow Dumbledore he wasn't welcome in her house. Bill tried to plead his case to their father who just kept saying that muggles were so fascinating they couldn't be as dangerous as everyone believes. The two decided that convincing their father that muggles were dangerous would be like convincing Hagrid that his 'interesting creatures' were dangerous. The two packed what little belongings they still had at the house and were preparing to leave for good when the twins arrived. The ensuing fight occurred when the twins asked their mother how she justified throwing her own family from the house because they would not agree with her idea for revenge. They asked her if they meant that much less to her than her brothers when she had given birth to them and raised them and her brothers had been dead for almost 20 years. Both boys received a slap for that and were told if they didn't agree they could leave too. Charlie's parting comment almost swayed Arthur into asking them to stay, he told her that even the children of death eaters were welcome in their parents homes and what kind of mother was she that she no longer welcomed home 5 of her 7 children.

The rest of the Order broke away from Albus and the Weasley parents quickly after they found out how Molly was treating her children. The only other ones to stick around were the teachers from Hogwarts and then only because they feared for their jobs. They had had a secret staff meeting in Hogsmeade to discuss how to convince the board of governors to take control of the school away from Albus. Since his plans had become known to the world Dumbledore had decided to make some long anticipated changes at the school. He immediately banned the use of quills and ink and distributed muggle ball point pens to all students trying to show them all how much easier muggle items could be. He made muggle studies a mandatory class for all years and had them meet by year once night a week in the great hall for class. He also had muggle foods and beverages severed along with their normal meals and he was debating ending the dress code in favor of muggle attire.

The Board of Governors were concerned with what Dumbledore was doing and called an emergency meeting at which it was decided that all new school rules and policies had to be approved by a majority vote of the board. They then vetoed the mandatory muggle studies classes and the quill rule as neither one had anything to do with what Hogwarts was about. The twinkle was completely absent from the Headmaster's eyes the days following the boards decision and he actually snarled when he received a letter from the Wizengammot asking him to appear before them to defend himself and all that he had done in not only this war but the last as well. He couldn't understand what the people were thinking; he had defeated a wizard who used dark magic end of story. What did it matter what his politics were when there was a mass murderer on the loose. Voldemort needed to be stopped at any cost as he would completely separate the muggle world. Albus felt that if they completely lost touch with the muggle world theirs would crumble, he believed that they were all connected as the wizarding world followed a lot of older muggle traditions from previous centuries. His reasoning was that since there were more muggles than wizards that they should be able to blend in seamlessly with the muggle world and be able to use all the wonderful muggle inventions and sciences.

"How did we never know all this?" Harry asked as he paced the Slytherin common room still trying to wrap his head around how screwed up everything was at the moment. He didn't know what to do, he was the one that was supposed to kill Voldemort so he would stop being a murdering megalomaniac, but at the moment he believed Albus could pose an even greater risk with his dangerous ideas. Exposing the world to muggles was just as dangerous, even more so that allowing blood purists to 'purge' the wizarding world. Both options would end up destroying their society. The first by allowing muggles to blow them to bits with their weapons of mass destruction and the second from the loss of any new blood and soon magic would die out. "How do we fix everything?"

"We have to get both of them to stop what they are doing and start someplace in the middle," Ginny told him with a shrug indicating she didn't know how to go about it either.

"Great so all I have to do is create a third side to the war that is fighting both of the others and implement far reaching changes into our government and society while dodging death eaters bent on killing me and a crazy muggle loving headmaster who would use me as his pawn and then destroy me himself," Harry commented, throwing his hands in the air in desperation. Pansy and Draco started sniggering on the couch while Neville and Ginny were already laughing.

"Whoever said you had to do anything?" Draco asked, still trying to contain his mirth. "There is no real reason for us to get involved unless we want to write to the Wizengammot with suggestions for new laws. I mean we are just kids we can't do anything."

"I'm supposed to," Harry told them and then told them of the prophesy.

"Well that's a load of dung," Pansy told him. "Prophecy's are always very vague and can have multiple meanings. In fact the ministry never knows the real meaning behind one until it is fulfilled and only 25 of all prophesies are fulfilled, the others just cease to have any meaning."

"How is that?" Harry asked confused, "Dumbledore told me that it was my destiny and that the prophesy would come true no matter what I wanted."

"Well of course he told you that," Ginny said rolling her eyes at her friend's naivety. "He has been manipulating you, trying to use you as his pawn to win the war. As soon as he realized that you would be powerful he tried to figure out how to control you. He has been working to make the prophesy true, besides we don't even know if that is the full prophesy, just part of one or even totally made up."

"He used his pensive so the memory has to be real," Harry told her. "But I guess there could have been more to it that he didn't show me. I did always think it was strange that it repeated the first phrase of the prophesy again at the end."

"A memory can be faked if projected outside of a pensive. It would take a very powerful wizard skilled in mind magic to accomplish, but still possible. It is only if you delve into a pensive that the memories cannot be faked." Draco told him realizing that the headmaster was powerful enough to fake a memory.

"Can you tell us the exact wording of the prophesy again please," Pansy asked getting ready to write it down so they could study it.

"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..." Harry repeated verbatim, it was etched into the very core of his memory.

"Well it is more detailed that many of the prophesies I have heard of before but still vague enough that it could be quite a few people," Pansy told him with a smile of reassurance. "I also agree that there is most likely something missing at the end as well."

"It's too bad the real prophesy was destroyed that night at the ministry," Ginny commented, causing Draco to quickly turn to her.

"What do you mean destroyed? You can't destroy a prophesy," he asked her ignoring the fact that his father had been arrested that night.

"We destroyed hundreds of prophesy orbs that night," Harry told them. "They are made of glass and we shattered them to distract the death eaters. The one containing the prophesy about myself and Voldemort was smashed in the fight that ended up killing Sirius."

"All those orbs are is a recording and are spelled to return to their original state and position 10 hours after being smashed. Anyone who wants to hear a prophesy has to smash it to listen to it, it will then reappear in the vault 10 hours later. There are three types of prophesies, the ones with red smoke mean they are no longer able to be fulfilled, the green smoke means they have been fulfilled and the clear ones have yet to be fulfilled." Draco informed them, realizing that he was the only one who knew this information. "All the orbs smashed that night would have appeared back in their correct spots by the next morning."

"So Dumbledore lied to me again," Harry growled. "That's it, we are going to the ministry this weekend and listening to my prophesy. I demand to know what it says and what has been kept hidden from me. I hate to imagine what other things Dumbledore has kept from me or lied to me about." He was pissed, the fact that he could have viewed the real prophesy at any time and that the headmaster lied and manipulated him again and again was starting to wear thin. He was also beginning to wonder if the prophesy was genuine at all.

Tom was plotting the best way to take over the world when he was interrupted by an owl from his daughter. They had been staying in touch and discussing the war and the ramifications of Dumbledore's dethronement. Tom had been trying to slowly prepare her for what he wanted accomplished in his ultimate takeover of the wizarding world. Hermione had realized that her father was still the power hungry megalomaniac he had been before; he had just stopped the mindless killings. She realized that he was so infused with dark magic that he was incapable of containing his dark desires. She had hoped with the turn of tides in the war that he would become more like the Tom her mother loved and less like Voldemort.

Hermione's letter amused him as he noticed she didn't mention the war once during it. She told him how she was content in the chamber but it was lonely with only Winky to visit her. She had finished her homework for the rest of the year already and felt she could take her NEWTs now and pass as she had been doing nothing but homework and reading. She told him she was considering sneaking out of her hiding spot to visit her friends in secret. She asked him if he would be too terribly upset if she snuck out to see Severus, even if it went against the old traditions. He was amused that she was asking his opinion first, she had even asked what he would do if they were caught together. His first thought was to kill Severus, but realized that Hermione would only ever allow Snape to touch her if she wanted him to. She was a much stronger witch than anyone gave her credit for and he knew she would not be pressured into anything and could beat everyone in that castle in a duel save maybe the crazy old muggle lover himself.

Hermione was relieved to receive the letter back from her father telling her that she could sneak out to visit her friends, only if she used the invisibility cloak he sent with the letter. She smiled at the thought of having her own invisibility cloak and all the trouble they would have gotten into in their younger years with 2 cloaks! He told her that he would not murder or castrate Severus if they were found together as long as she had allowed the contact. He did tell her that if anyone found them together he would insist they marry immediately so she would have to be careful for find herself a wedding dress quickly.

That evening when Severus came to visit Hermione had the lights dimmed and was wearing a very sexy black lace nightgown with a black satin over robe. They were purchases from the French lingerie shops and she loved the feel of them and knew she looked wonderful in them as well. She had her hair pulled back away from her face, exposing the full view of her cleavage. She arranged herself carefully on the chaise lounge, making it look like she was just casually reading a book and making sure just the right amount of skin was showing.

Severus thought his heart had stopped when he looked upon Hermione sitting reading on her favorite lounge chair. He imagined that she had thought he was not visiting tonight as she was already dressed for bed. When she shifted slightly and her robe fell open more he could see the lace gown beneath and moaned. He had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted the one in front of him, and she was untouchable until the end of the courting process.

"Are you just going to stand there all night or come over and say hello?" Hermione asked him after giving him plenty of time to admire her outfit and drool.

"Must you torment me so by wearing so little?" He asked her, his voice gruff with strain from trying to reign in his lust.

"This is my most modest nightgown," Hermione told him, watching him as he shut his eyes obviously envisioning her less modest ones. "If it disturbs you so much I can go change," she offered, just barely able to suppress her smirk when she noticed his body's reaction to her.

Severus sat down on the couch opposite her and searched around for a topic of discussion and realized his brain had apparently shut down at the sight of the woman of his dreams decked out in black satin and lace. "Is there anything in particular you wanted to discuss tonight?" He asked her, desperate for something to distract him from her body sitting so close and wearing so little.

"Yes actually," Hermione said this time letting her smirk show fully on her face and he realized he had been set up. He was proud though as it was a very Slytherin move. After a pause to gather her nerves she asked, "What do you hope happens between us at the end of the courtship process?"

Severus realized immediately why she had chosen such an outfit, since on a night when his brain was fully functional he never would have been trapped into such a discussion. "I had hoped you would be agreeable to becoming engaged at that point," he told her trying to stay vague while his mind was screaming at him to just marry her now so he could have her body.

"Do you plan on marrying me Severus?" She asked, making sure to purr his name more than normal. She knew they needed to put all their cards on the table so to speak. She needed to know what he wanted from her and who exactly he was loyal to as well as let him know what she wanted as well.

"Yes if you will accept," he told her realizing he was trapped and she was planning on having a discussion he had not planned on having for a long time.

"Do you love me Severus," she asked him, making sure she shifted slightly to show off more bare leg.

"I believe I am falling in love with you although I have never been in love before to compare it to. You are the most important person in my life and I do not plan on making it easy on you to let me go," he told her, appalled at himself for leaving himself so open to rejection.

"That's good," she said standing up and walking over to him. "I know I am in love with you Severus Snape and have no plans to let you go ever." She told him, sitting down in his lap and bringing her mouth inches away from his. "My last question is, we are all alone miles below the school where no one knows we are together, why are we still following the courtship rules?" Severus could not think of one good reason at that moment with her body pressed against his and her lips barely inches from his own. He pulled her flush against him and devoured her lips in a passionate kiss, wanting to taste every inch of her mouth.

They continued their passionate embrace for what felt like an eternity until Severus finally came to his senses when he felt Hermione drop her robe to the floor. He broke their kiss to gaze lovingly at her body in its skimpy black lace covering that didn't cover much. "We must stop," he told her breathing heavily. "I refuse to disrespect you by taking you before we are wed."

"I respect your wish to wait to make love until we are married as that is my desire as well," Hermione told him but pulled herself close to his body again. "But there are many pleasurable activities we can indulge in without that occurring," she whispered in his ear giving his earlobe a slight tug with her teeth. "I want to enjoy the night together and wake up in your arms."

Severus was at war within his own mind. On one hand he had the woman of his dreams perched on his lap wearing next to nothing asking him to go to bed with her and on the other had he was supposed to be courting said woman using the old traditions. It was not so much the old traditions holding him back as the fact that she was the daughter of the Dark Lord who would easily and quickly take his life for disrespecting his daughter's body. "Your father would kill me," he told her as he made no move to dislodge her from his lap. It seemed that his body did not care that touching her in any way could cost him his life as long as he got to touch her it would be worth it.

"My father would not kill you," Hermione told him, pressing her chest into him and giving him a wonderful view of her cleavage. "If we were found together, which is impossible unless my father decides to make a trip to the school tonight, the only consequence would be that you would have to marry me sooner than you planned."

"Your father would not tolerate my disrespecting you and the old traditions," Severus told her still trying to convince his traitorous body that touching her was wrong.

"I promise he will not hurt you for touching me if I so desire it, he told me so in his last letter after I asked him if I could sneak up to visit you." She told him with a triumphant smirk at the gobsmacked look on his face.

His eyes were wide with shock and his mind was churning with the possibilities. "Well then Vixen; tell me what you desire so I may fulfill them." He told her with a piercing stare. Hermione just smiled and began kissing him again knowing it would be the most enjoyable evening of her life so far. She would be glad when she graduated and they could get married.

Hermione snuck into the school the next day under her new invisibility cloak and waited for her friends outside the great hall after dinner. She was going to follow them and surprise them when they were alone. When they had all entered the room of requirement she grinned and was about to take off her cloak when she noticed that the four of them looked awfully comfortable with each other and seemed to be paired off, but with the opposite pair they were supposed to be with. She decided to sneak around for a while more and see what was going on between them. It was fun being the devious one for a change.

"I can't wait to get done with school," Harry said tiredly. "I never thought I'd want to leave Hogwarts but as long as Dumbledore is headmaster I won't feel safe here either."

"I wish we had summer school classes," Ginny told them. "I am going to have to find a place to stay this summer and then ask my other brothers to pay for my last year of school."

"So your parents heard you broke from Dumbledore then?" Pansy asked feeling awful for her younger friend.

"Yeah they sent a letter this morning letting me know that unless I get my priorities straight and start acting more like their perfect little Ronnikins that I would be kicked out and cut off. Dad wrote that I should try and convince Harry to come back as well and then mum added that she would even consent to letting me get married before my 7th year if I brought Harry back to their side as my boyfriend. Ughhh, I hate my life." Ginny moaned. Hermione had expected that she would need to offer the younger girl a place to stay for the summer and had even told her father what was going on and not to target the Weasley's that had broken away from the headmaster.

"My father has promised that he will get the Board of Governors to offer you a full scholarship for next year and you are more than welcome to spend the summer at the manor." Draco told her with the sweetest smile that Hermione had ever seen. "I told him about your problems and he says we'll help you in any way we can." Ginny just burst into happy tears and hugged the blonde.

"I'm going to have to find a new home this summer to unless I figure out a way to break the Fidelius on my house. I know that I own it and what it's called but can't remember where it is, Dumbledore must have taken back the secret from those who broke off with the order." Harry told them with obvious fury in his voice that Sirius' house was hidden from him.

"I know where it is still, my mum must believe I will go back to them this summer," Ginny told him, "it's too bad I can't give you the location."

"It's ok Gin," Harry smiled at her, "maybe you should pretend to go back so that you can get some of my stuff out of there."

"I can do that," Ginny said with a mischievous grin. "I'll take all the books from the library as well as anything that was Sirius' or yours. Then I'll tell them all exactly what I think of them; hex Ron and apparate to Draco's." They all laughed imagining that scene play out.

"Come on guys we need to get going if we want to get to the ministry and back before dinner," Pansy reminded them, causing Hermione to wonder what they were up to. Taking off her cloak she asked them why there were going to the ministry and insisted that she wanted to go too. They explained about the hall of prophesy on their way.

The five friends arrived at the ministry, Hermione still under the cloak for safety reasons, and checked their wands and were instructed that they would have to wait for a department of mysteries employee to escort them. They only had to wait a few minutes before they were met by the official. A very curios Percy Weasley walked up to them, motioning for them to follow him. Ginny's eyes were wide at seeing her brother wearing the robes of an unspeakable. She wondered if this was the reason he broke from the family but didn't care as it was great to see him. As soon as they were away from prying eyes she launched herself into the arms of her brother.

Percy was amazed at the warm reception from his baby sister; he had hoped that now that Dumbledore had been exposed some of his family may talk to him again. "I missed you to Gin-gin," he told her with a smile. "Now what are you all doing here and what prophesy is it you demand to be shown?"

"I need to hear the prophesy about myself and Voldemort," Harry told him, noticing that Percy did not flinch at the name. "I believe Dumbledore may have lied to me about its contents and need to see it for myself. We are all requesting to see if there are any prophesies about us as well."

"Very well, Ginny I know there are none about you as I checked for ones about our family. Harry I believe there may be more concerning you and there are a few old ones referring to the Potter heir and at least one referring to the Malfoy heir. Hermione since you are muggleborn I doubt there are any about you and I will have to check on Miss Parkinson," Percy told them. He was confused by the laughter of the group.

"For working in the DOM you are out of the loop Percy," Harry told him once he was under control again. "Our Moine here is the heir of Slytherin as well as the daughter of Professor McGonagall." Percy's eyes widened at this news.

"I know there are no less than three prophesies about the heir of Slytherin but remember they are generic and all prophesies about heirs are not to be taken seriously as they could refer to anyone of the line and may not even occur for hundreds of years." Percy told them.

He led them into a waiting room off the prophesy hall and went to consult their listing of prophesies. He wondered at how the teens reacted to seeing him there, even his father did not know he was an unspeakable. Harry's reaction had startled him the most as the boy had not seemed bitter at all at the things he had said to Ron about him in his letter. He had been sad to have to push his family away but knew he would never have any chance of succeeding in his career otherwise.

When Percy returned he handed a piece of parchment each to Harry, Hermione and Draco with the locations of their prophesy orbs written on it. "Only a person who has a legitimate claim to the prophesy may take it from the shelf but once you break it anyone around you will hear it." Percy told them and then led them into the huge hall of prophesy. "I would suggest listening to them with everyone surrounding the orb and drop it in the middle of you. That way if you all place your memories in a pensive later you have a better chance of remembering the exact wording." He left them to it as he was not allowed to stay unless they requested it.

"Let's do mine last," Harry told them hoping they would get the hang of listening to them before they got to the important one. Hermione was relieved when all 4 of the heir of Slytherin prophesies were either red or green meaning she was not involved in any of them as they had either come true with the green ones or were obsolete with the red ones. Draco had three listed on his paper and they were concerned to see that the last one on his list was one of Harry's as well. The first two Malfoy prophesies were green and the last one was red but they decided to hear it anyway since it was on both of their lists.

The heir of Malfoy and the heir of Potter must unite in friendship to ensure the safety of the world. If the lightning child takes the hand of friendship offered by the dragon child, the dark will not rise. Beware of the redheaded betrayer who could sway the lightning child away from the dragon. If the lightning child becomes a snake all will be well in the world, beware a hazy future lay in store if the lightning child should choose the lions instead.

Harry and Draco stared at each other in wonder for a moment, "Well that would have been nice to know BEFORE I refused your handshake first year." Harry commented bitterly.

Harry's remaining prophesies were obscure and none of them believed they referred to Harry. When they finally approached the final prophesy, the reason they were there, Harry began to feel apprehensive. The stood closely together and threw the orb in the middle waiting to see if Dumbledore had lied once again. Harry began to feel relief immediately when he heard the familiar words from his 5th year, but it didn't end where Harry had believed.

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... He will be betrayed by those who should have protected him, and the light will rally behind him… Revered yet not feared, he will lead the wizarding world into a new era.

The one with the power to vanquish the Light Lord approaches… Born to those who will die to protect him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Light Lord will use him for his own ends, but he will be stronger than the Light Lord knows… And in his strength he will expose the Light Lord as a phony… The one with the power to vanquish the Light Lord will be born as the seventh month dies… He will be accepted by those who once hated him, and the dark will follow his lead… Revered yet not feared, he will lead the wizarding world into a new era.

The five friends stared at each other in shock and anger as the prophesy ended. Hermione and Ginny felt any remaining loyalties to Dumbledore shatter and fall away while the two Slytherins were trying to figure out what exactly was going to need to be done. Harry was in shock processing the fact that he had been so spectacularly lied to and manipulated by one of the two men he was supposed to fight against. For so long he had focused on his mortal enemy Voldemort and looked up to Dumbledore and now he finds out they are both his enemy. He could understand the fear Voldemort had of him and the desire to kill him before he could return the favor but the constant manipulations by Dumbledore made no sense to him. Finally Ginny summed up everyone's thoughts… "He's toast." Though no one was really sure which of the Lords she was referring to, they were all fully behind Harry, no matter what.