Chapter 5.
The first place that Harry led Fleur to was a jewelers shop. He told her to pick out her engagement ring. She squealed with delight and covered his face with small kisses. Harry just laughed at the excitement and happiness emanating off of his love. She was soon busy browsing through all of the different rings that the store had on display and was in deep consultation with one of the sales people there and tried on a number of different rings before making her final decision. The ring was wrought of a band of silver and gold melded together by magic. At the centre of the cluster was a large sapphire that matched the color in Fleur's eyes precisely. It was then surrounded by a swirl of diamonds that swept around in an arc. It was quite beautiful and Harry was impressed with Fleur's choice. He handed his Gringot's card to the sales person and the transaction was soon completed. Harry then led a glowing Fleur to Madame Malkin's robes for all occasions for some warmer clothes as from Harry had seen from her wardrobe, she had only light clothing, mostly being made from silk. After a couple of hours they departed Madame Malkin's with several bags of clothes shrunk in their pockets. Harry then stopped off at the apocathery and Flourish and Botts to pick up catalogues of their current book lists and to register for a regular catalogue to be sent by owl post.
Harry then deciding it was time to eat, led Fleur to a restaurant above the book store and they were soon led to a secluded table in a candlelit corner to peruse their menus. Harry had specifically chosen this restaurant because he knew it had a French inclination and he noticed the flush of pleasure as Fleur recognized this as well as her eyes skimmed down the menu. She leaned over the table and cupping his face between her hands, she kissed him softly, lingering for a moment before breaking contact and whispering "Thank you for being so thoughtful beloved. You constantly prove to me you are much more than any legend or story could speak about you." Harry just smiled and blushed, not used to such compliments. Their waiter then approached and they both ordered. They chatted quietly while waiting for their meal, discovering more about each other in the process. Harry found out a lot more about Beauxbatons
and he now understood why Fleur had laughed derisively when Dumbledore hoped that they would have been as comfortable at Hogwarts as they were at their own castle. From the pictures that Fleur created with her words, Harry could envision a powder blue fairy like castle with sumptuous hangings throughout the castle, with inlaid wood paneling throughout and rich carpet under foot of each student as they walked to their classes. It sounded to Harry as if the French school was the lap of luxury so to speak, while Hogwarts held more of a medieval feel and look, because of the fact that it had been around for about three times as long as the rival school.
At the end of Fleur's description of her school their meals arrived. They ate in companionable silence, although every few minutes their eyes would move to meet the other's, making sure that they were still there, that this was not some dream that would soon they would be woken from. Harry noticed that Fleur preferred much lighter cuisine than the regular fare at Hogwarts and in the United Kingdom in general. He made a mental note to himself to make sure that Dobby let the kitchens know to cook French cuisine or at least lighter cuisines for his love when they returned to the castle. Lunch was soon finished and they rose quickly and Harry paid once more using his Gringot's card and they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron and back to Hogwarts.
A few minutes later they were once more back in Professor Dumbledore's office and were sitting across from him. Harry hesitantly asked "Professor, were you aware that I am Godric Gryffindor's
heir?" Fleur, seeing the thrust of her fiancée's question looked sharply at Professor Dumbledore, determining herself whether the words that were about to come out of the aged Professor's mouth were the truth. Dumbledore sighed and said "Harry I had some idea from some things that your father James said to me on occasions, but I had a pretty good idea when you managed to pull Griffindore's sword from the sorting hat in your second year to destroy the basilisk." Harry just nodded at this and then asked "I know you told me in first year that one day you would tell me the reason why Voldemort wanted to kill me and I believe now is the time to tell me sir. I have Fleur to protect now and a future that I need to fight for. I believe I have the right to know as does my fiancée."
Dumbledore considered Harry's words for a moment and then sighed as he realized what Harry said was true. Harry was now an adult within the wizarding world, which meant the blood protection offered by his relatives was effectively null and void. He was now more at risk than ever and did indeed need to know. He rose from his seat and walked over to the black cabinet set in the corner of the office. Opening it, Dumbledore took out an ornately carved bowl with runes and gems inlaid along the outer edges. Dumbledore walked back over to his desk and once more behind it, placed the bowl down and looking at Harry asked "Harry do you know what this is?" Harry shook his head in the negative and Dumbledore continued "This Harry is a pensive. It allows the user to withdraw memories from his mind and allows the user to relive them so to speak as a bystander to get more detail or to recall verbatim conversations that may have been held decades earlier." Harry just nodded as he absorbed this information ad waited for Dumbledore to continue. Dumbledore took out his wand and pointing the tip at his forehead with drew a long silvery strand from it. The memory then separated from his temple and dangled from the end of his wand until he deposited it into the pensive in front of him. "Approximately 14 years ago I was looking to hire someone for the post of Divination Professor and met up with a woman who was the great grand daughter of a well known seer. After talking with her for fifteen minutes I quickly deduced that she did not possess her ancestor's gifts and was in the process of gently letting her know that I did not think she was qualified for the position when she went into a trance and gave forth this prophecy." Dumbledore then jabbed his wand at the swirling memory and the spectral form of Sybil Trelawney rose from the silvery mass. Her ethereal voice spoke saying:
"The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born to those as the seventh month dies. The dark lord will mark him as his equal, but the one will have power the dark lord knows not and neither can live while the other survives. The One with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches as the seventh month dies."
Trelawney's form then melted back into the silvery liquid and Dumbledore used his wand to replace the memory back into his mind.
Fleur held onto Harry's hand in support as Harry's mind went over the prophecy and came to the conclusion he feared the most. "So I either have to kill him, or he kills me?" He asked softly, looking up at Dumbledore. Dumbledore sighed and nodded, saying "Yes Harry. When I heard this prophecy, a death eater overheard the first part of the prophecy and told his master. That was why your parents went into hiding. Unfortunately, they chose their secret keeper poorly and Voldemort found you and met his match after killing your parents and then tried to kill you. He marked you with that scar, so there is no doubt you are the one that the prophecy names."
Harry just nodded, sitting there, too shocked to say anything much for the moment. Fleur rose from her chair and knelt down in front of Harry and took his face into her hands and said softly "No matter what beloved, I will help you. I would follow you into the very depths of hell to help you if it took that much." Harry felt a warmth running through him at Fleur's words and he leaned forward and pressing his forehead to hers and then kissing her deeply, he said "I don't know what I would do without you at a time like this, love. I am just so grateful you are here and we are together. You give me a reason to want that to win. I want our future and our family's future." Fleur just smiled at these words and kissed Harry softly before rising once more and taking her seat.
Harry then turned to Dumbledore and with a new determination in his voice, he said "Ok Professor. If I am to defeat him I am going to need to be trained. I am going to also need to take my studies a lot more seriously and I will need your help in all of this." Dumbledore smiled and nodded his head and said "I have a few suggestions that may get the ball rolling so to speak." Harry nodded and motioned for Dumbledore to continue. He did so, saying "Your full magical abilities come to fruition at the age of 17. This is not a predetermined number, but is just the way the magical core matures inside a witch or wizard. For you, however, we need to harness your full potential as soon as possible. I therefore suggest that we administer you with a potion which will cause your magical core to mature prematurely. This can be quite painful, especially if you are as powerful as I suspect you are considering your excellent defense of yourself, Sirius and Miss Granger last year from the Dementors. Once that is done, I then think we should perform a ritual which will let us know what hidden or latent talents you may have that you can use and train to your advantage. While Voldemort is still in spirit form, he will eventually rise and I think it is best to be as prepared as possible for when that time comes." Harry thought about Dumbledore's words for moment and then nodded, agreeing to taking the potion and the ritual. Dumbledore smiled proudly at his young protégé and then said "Finally one more thing I think needs to be done. I will arrange for extra training to be given to you by a number of different tutor's in different fields. They will all provide you with useful strategies and skills you can use. Once you have completed this training, I will then personally take over your training and prepare you fully for your destiny." Harry was stunned at this news that Dumbledore himself would teach him. He just nodded dumbly, accepting this new information to process later. His emotions were in a whirlwind and he did not know what to think as the full force of the prophecy hit him. Dumbledore seemed to sense this and he said softly "This is a lot to take in Harry as you have had quite a day. Why don't you and Lady Potter go down and have some dinner at the great hall and talk with your friend Miss Granger. She is a loyal friend who will be able to assist you I am sure." Harry nodded and taking Fleur's hand walked silently from the office and made his way down the spiral stairs.
Dumbledore watched after his favorite student and a small tear slipped out of the corner of his eye and slipped into his beard. "I am so sorry to have to have burdened you with this Harry." He whispered softly. "I know you will succeed though. You do have so much power you know not of. All we need to do is make you aware of it and unlock it." With these words, he also rose and made his way down to the great hall for dinner.