2 hours earlier, 13th June 1995. The Headmaster's Office, East Wing, Hogwarts Castle. Professor Dumbledore is seated behind his desk as Hermione Granger smiles self-satisfactorily at him.
"I know."
The two words that Albus Dumbledore feared the worst.
So as a very smug-looking Hermione Granger stood before clutching two very ancient-looking books, Albus Dumbledore sent a quick prayer to Merlin that she didn't really know.
"I know, Professor."
She could be talking about anything, he quickly argued. She could be talking about his sister, or Aberforth, or his passion for knitting patterns or…or…
"I know you've been lying to Harry."
Damn, she knew.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Granger."
"Oh, Professor, I think you do. Do you know what else I think?" She surveyed him with her sharp brown eyes, and Albus regarded her as calmly as she could. "I think that Lily Potter was a very clever woman, and I think that Professor Binns' lessons aren't entirely useless when it comes to actually getting an education."
Silence.
"Have you read all of the books in the Hogwarts library, Professor?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, I have."
"Excellent. You'll have heard of this book then." Hermione carefully placed one of the dusty volumes on the Headmaster's desk. "So, a very clever wizard by the name of Eqorius Sabashan wrote two novels in his lifetime, a rather vague and unhelpful one called 'The Development of Cross-Changing Charms in the 17th century', and a more enlightening one named 'The Science behind Magic Expiration and Methods of Preventing it.' I took the latter out after a rather invigorating History of Magic lesson when Professor Binns casually mentioned that Sabashan had found a way to force his magic out of his body. So then I got reading, and this book, as you say you know, Professor, is basically about why witches and wizards generally live longer than Muggles, and how you can prolong your life. It's a load of nonsense, really, all guesswork, but there was a footnote, Professor, a very interesting footnote, that described something that happened to Sabashan when he was 39 and a quarter."
Dumbledore tried his best not to bang his head against the desk in frustration as she danced around the edge of the truth.
"You see sir, Mr Sabashan was a Squib when he wrote those books, aged 112, but he wasn't always a Squib. That footnote described in brief detail a duel that Eqorius had taken part in when he was 39 and a quarter, when his one of his rivals attempted to kill him, using Avada Kedrava. Here's where it gets interesting, sir, because you have been drilling into the wizarding world's heads that Harry Potter was the only wizard to ever survive the Killing Curse. However, Mr Sabashan did something rather extraordinary. He was, you see, a rather skilled Occulmens, and, when faced with the Killing Curse, in order to save his life, he forced his magic out of his body, and then Killing Curse destroyed his magic instead of him."
Dumbledore did something he hadn't done in at least three decades; he swore under his breath.
"Now, Professor, Lily Potter was a very intelligent woman, and when I went through the old school records, it turns out she was also a skilled Occulmens, having learnt it after she left school. This book had only been taken out by one person before me, and that person was someone called Lily Evans, which was Lily Potter's maiden name. So we can hazard a guess that Mrs Potter knew about Sabashan's method of beating death. So, on the night that You-Know-Who entered Godric's Hollow to kill Harry, I don't think it was Lily's direct sacrifice that saved Harry, although that essentially was what saved him. I think that when You-Know-Who went to kill Harry, Lily Potter did the exact reverse of what Eqorius did; she forced her magic out of her body, most likely sub-consciously, and allowed You-Know-Who to kill her, while saving her magic. That magic then went into the nearest living thing it could find: Harry."
Albus wasn't panicking. Nope.
"Isn't it curious, Professor, that Harry's scar is exactly the as the Rune for Protection? And it is taught in the fourth-year Defence against the Dark Arts syllabus that the Killing Curse leaves no marks. It is physically impossible for it to. The magical structure of the spell forbids it. So, where were we? Lily Potter hears her husband be murdered, and panics, grabbing the sharpest thing she can find and cutting the Rune for Protection lightly into Harry's forehead. As You-Know-Who enters the room, she pleads with him, and when he doesn't respond to that, she accepts her fate. In her last seconds, she remembers something, a book she read in her seventh year, and desperately tries to do what she thinks will help. She succeeds, and forces her magic, and therefore soul, out of her body. What You-Know-Who murdered that night wasn't Lily Potter, but an echo of her. She had already sent her magic into someone else: her son. Therefore, when You-Know-Who attempted to kill Harry, it didn't work. Not because of whatever excuse you were going to give Harry, but because the Killing Curse was designed to destroy the soul and body, at once. Its function was bypassed, or it got confused, if you will, and rebounded back on its caster."
"That is excellent reasoning, Miss Granger, however I must ask you-"
"I haven't finished yet, sir. You see, it wasn't only Lily who died for Harry. Her husband, James Potter, took the Curse as if it were for his wife and son, and in doing so unintentionally forced his magic out of his body as well. His magic went into his wife, and then both hers and his magic went into Harry. You've been lying, Professor, not just to Harry, but to the wizarding world."
"You certainly have done your research, haven't you, Miss Granger?"
She didn't respond, just regarded him with steady eyes.
The Headmaster sighed, and withdrew his wand from his pocket sorrowfully.
"Miss Granger, I am awfully sorry to do this, but you simply cannot be allowed to spread this information."
He raised his wand to wipe her memory, dread settling in the pit of his stomach, and the Elder wand flew from his hand.
"Hermione asked us to come," Harry Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin emerged from under James' old Invisibility Cloak, faces' set, in the centre of the room. "Said she thought this might happen."
"You may the most powerful wizard alive today," Sirius smirked. "But you're nothing compared to two people who've been fighting together for years. I'd sit still and listen, if I were you."
Hermione recovered from her shock and smiled.
"There's just one more thing I forgot to mention. Dementors are able to suck out people's souls because of a certain magical current that flows through them. They are attracted to magic, and magic makes up witch's and wizard's souls. It doesn't matter what religion you believe, whether you think we have souls or not, Dementors don't suck out our souls. They suck out our magical ability. As our personality and everything that makes us us comes from our magic, they essentially reduce to a sort of shell of what you once were. Muggles have souls, we have magic. And Harry's parents' magic is inside Harry right now, and I think it may be possible to remove it."
"Remove it? What good would that do?"
"It would essentially bring them back to life. Their souls would replicate their physical form, and they would be resurrected, as such."
"James, and Lily? You could…bring them back?"
Sirius' voice broke.
"Certainly." Hermione nodded pompously. "Does anyone have a chair? I think Harry might need to sit down for this."
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