I do not own Harry Potter and please read the note from Chapter 1. Ignorance is so NOT BLISS!

Sweetgirl23...- gives you a great big chocolate chip cookie. As Evergreen had done previously, although I disagree with your sentiments, you as well read between the lines.

Kelmo...- whistles and says nothing

Treck...- Despite me not seeing the forgive or forget at all in what I had written. I have read many Azkaban fics to and have yet to find one where he forgives.

You have all told me to leave the previous chapter as is and so I shall

Chapter 43

The Order...

It has been two weeks since the attack on Diagon Alley, and all attacks have seemingly stopped for right now. According to Severus Snape, Voldemort was still furious over the loss of not only McNair, but also of Bellatrix LeStrange. Considering she was his right hand woman, it was a severe blow to the darkness as well as a boon for the light.

Still it was all because of one young man...Harry Potter.

It was the thoughts of his once former student, which had led him to this meeting. Because other then thinking of the dark haired youth. He was also thinking of what the woman had told him. This Nimue...

There is always more then one meaning...

This had led him to think and to do research on the prophecy. His desire to return everything to the way it was, he wanted desperately to prove her wrong. To prove that Harry was the only one you can set them all free. That only with the death of Voldemort could the Wizarding world be set right once more.

Already many had returned from hiding as word, of Harry's return had spread. The Ministry was begging Harry to come forward to offer their apologies for his treatment at the hands of Fudge and his yes men.

But nothing had drawn him out. Hence why he had called the meeting...

When the battle for Diagon Alley was over and done with, he had apperated in despite the distance, desperately hoping that Harry was still there. Wanting to see the youth whom had often come to him for advice or simply just to talk while in attendance. Like Severus before him, Harry had become to a degree a part of Albus's family.

A family that was broken with the guilt of betrayal...

Guilt such a small world for a powerful thing...

Ever since his return had been confirmed by Ron and Hermione, it was also confirmed by the Ministry and the papers for as chance would have it. One familiar and practically a stalker in most of the Order's opinion, reporter Rita Skeeter had hid to report on the battle.

By chance she had seen and taken a picture of the World's hero and greedily auctioned it along with her story to the highest bidder. So now the world knew and many speculated...

How did he survive?

So lost in his thoughts, people began to appear in the Great Hall of Hogwarts by Floo. Because of having so many members nowadays, Grimmauld Place, despite Harry's supposed death had been shut down and the headquarters moved to the school.

"Professor...do you think he will come?"

Startled by the tentative female voice, Albus looked up to find Hermione sad and thoughtful staring at him. Ron beside her, the elderly wizard just looks old to the two of them all of a sudden and as much as they hope he would say yes, he says the three words that break their hearts a little more.

"I don't know..."

"I see...Remus and Tonks haven't contacted you either have they?"

Shaking his head, Albus gave a pained sigh as he looks away from the two hopeful gazes. After that battle in Diagon Alley, they had both reported that Remus had essentially admitted that he and Harry were reunited. That had made Albus visibly upset and not to mention envious over the closeness to the young man that Remus now instead of him.

Watching now as his two brightest and best students from Harry's time move to take their own seats, Dumbledore watches as one by one the Order members arrive. Hoping beyond hope that one in particular would come. He waits...

In the end, he as well as several of the others, primarily the Weaselys who are sorrowful and depressed that once again he has not appeared for them. And now at the moment, nor do they have Remus or Tonks to ask, with the revelation that Remus was now in the company of Harry. It only goes to assume that so was the pretty metamorphagus.

The meeting underway, it all goes smoothly until Albus talks of his visit from the woman. Speaking of what she had said and never revealing her name, he tells of what she had spoken. And that is when the uproar begins...

"How can that be?"

"The Prophecy can't have already been fulfilled Albus!"

"Voldemort's not dead!"

Cries and cries of that alike, it is Hermione, thoughtful as she knows of the prophecy as well, who starts thinking. While a majority of the order protests, and debates this with Albus, none of them notice the quiet appearance of three who have come. Running late due to an event that had made them laugh and smile...they had come to the meeting. Intent on not only listening...

But to tell them of what someone they all care about desires.

"No it is possible..." Hermione said sadly as she spoke up. The others not listening save Ron, the youngest of the Weasely men stands up and yells loud and clearly. "SHUT UP!"

An amused chuckle from the three in the shadows, they continue to listen as Ron turns to allow Hermione to speak. "Repeat that again..."

Nodding her head, and smiling at the back up that Ron has given her, Hermione spoke up. Confidence that she has lacked for many years was starting to re-emerge once more as she speaks. "It is possible, that the prophecy has been fulfilled. We forget that the meanings can change from belief to belief."

Sadly, Albus nods his head in acceptance despite his smile in approval of both of them. "Death does not always mean loss of life. A close friend had told me that and it had taken me a while to understand. To the Gypsies, Death can mean a change of path..."

"But Albus in most cases Death means loss of life..." Minerva interrupted in disbelief.

"Tarot cards..." Hermione said quietly. "Although I could not stand divination, I do remember that much from what I attended. And I bet if you were to ask Professor Trelawney, she would tell you that that the Death card is not always an assumption of a loss of life. In a basic tarot deck, such as the ones the Gypsies use as the Headmaster had stated, Death means a change of path to them. Not the loss of life."

Parvati Patil spoke up then at that moment, her face ashen as is her sisters. "Hermione is right Professor McGonagall." The young woman said in shock. Her sister beside her, the two were clutching on to one another in disbelief.

Padma who is now speaking nods her head in agreement as well. "She is right, and in our religion Death does mean loss of life, but it can also mean changing your path. When the only way you have open to you stops, your path is dead. Effectively killed as you can go no further, thus a new path is opened and you take that one instead."

"But it's fate... Harry must fight Voldemort."

"Actually he doesn't..." Came a voice from behind them all, a voice that belongs to one Nymphadora Tonks. The woman stepping forward now is accompanied by Remus Lupin, and by a woman that Bill Weasely knows all to well.

"Fleur..."

The discussion forgotten, at the appearance of this man and his two companions, exclamations and questions shoot towards them faster then they could blink. Remaining and silent and not answering a single one, it is Dumbledore this time who speaks.

"SILENCE!"

The fact that Dumbledore had to scream it with aide from his wand made many a wizard sit back down. Tonks, Remus and Fleur remain standing though. The latter laughing over something they are sharing with one another. It matters not as all eyes focus on Tonks, who begins to speak.

Sharing with them all what Isabelle had told her in that discussion long ago, one by one the Order sinks in defeat. Even Albus pales at her words, words that before would not have been believed. But since the visit of Nimue...were now more then ever sounding truer by the minute.

"It...it can't be true?" Molly Weasely protested.

"It makes sense though." Ron said quietly. "It's a strategy I never would have thought of."

"Or I..." Moody stated with a deep regret. "Voldemort played us like puppets...killing the path that was set before Harry and destroying him through us without having to lift a finger."

"Then...this...the prophecy has been fulfilled...and we lost?" Hestia Jones said with tears in her eyes. The need to be told that there was still hope was evident in not just her gaze but many.

"The prophecy has been fulfilled but all is not lost..." Remus said quietly and with a gentle smile. This time, he speaks now and as he passes Tonks his features shifts for a second to deliver a Wolfish look of delight that makes the auror, turn her hair all colors of the rainbow with pleasure.

Placing a small round ball upon the table, they all hear the voice of a young woman speaking...

Blessed by Nimue

One shall rise

Protected by the wolfen pride

Never a child but an adult first

Allowed to be a child again

And then an adult at last

Hope is the Phoenix that is and isn't

For Darkness shall fall before it

Confused to say the least, everyone is puzzled by these words. Albus paling as it was a woman named Nimue who had spoken with him. Making him think...and like many of the others he especially had questions concerning who Nimue was...

"This is one of two that we believe active Albus, which concern Harry in someway." Remus said quietly. "This one both he and I feel is the one related to Voldemort."

"What makes you believe this one?"

Stepping forward this time it is Fleur who poses the words without missing a beat. "When I had first spoken to Harry concerning something I had seen. What had allowed him to live reminded me of something I and my sister had read. I had asked him and was surprised to find a misconception here in Britain concerning what had happened to Merlin..."

"Misconception?" Hermione stated in confusion. "Everyone knows Merlin was trapped and kept from Arthur those last days by Arthur's sister Morgan Le Fey.

"To a degree that is true." Fleur smiled as she brought out a single book. Handing it to Hermione, as Harry had warned the older woman that Hermione would indeed protest what she is about to say. "But it was not Morgan Le Fay...it was someone else who trapped him. If you do not believe me, this is an obscure line from the known copies of her diary."

All protesting her words, saying that the Veela is wrong, Hermione finds pages that Fleur had marked. Waiting for the furor to die down, she begins to read aloud...

She came to me for aide in trapping Merlin. I of course turned her down directly in interfering. Unlike my sister, who had interfered and created that abomination of a nephew Mordred out of vengeance. I will not step in to the fates of others. In that rule I believe Merlin is correct... However indirectly I might, for I have seen what is to come and I must prepare. Camelot is ending and if Merlin interferes in trying to save it...it won't be pretty

"I don't understand?" Several voices spoke up in one form or another.

"How many sisters does Arthur have in your opinion?" Fleur asked softly.

"One...everyone knows that." Stated Shacklebolt with a puzzled expression, but it is cleared as Minerva speaks this time. Being a teacher of her caliber, she had caught on to what was written...

"She is speaking of two different women beside herself." The older woman responded in surprise. Fleur smiling nods her head, in approval of the woman who has listened as well as a few others who were explaining to those confused. "Arthur had three sisters from his mother's side. One of which we know little about, according to records on the mainland and among the stories I know is that it was his eldest sister Morgana who gave birth to Mordred not Morgan."

"What does all this have to do with Merlin and with Harry though?" Someone asked with a confused tone of their voice.

"In stories that I know concerning Merlin, it was not Morgan who trapped him but a Fae witch. One who had desired his magic and was intent on seducing him to get it. She would often appear to him in the form of a bird... before shifting into her normal form." Fleur replied as she brought out a scroll.

This time containing a single image of the man known to be Merlin, beside him as he appears to be slumbering is a woman who appears to be leaping in from the figure of a bright scarlet bird upon the windowsill.

Enlarging it for all to see, Fleur looks at the faces that are startled by the picture of a slumbering wizard and the woman sneaking in. "Everyone...this is Nimue. It was not Morgana who trapped him although she provided the spell. It was Nimue who had done it..."

Now words of the prophecy they had just heard hit them all. "Harry...Harry is this one blessed by Nimue..." Hermione whispered. Remus nodding his head, links arms with both Tonks and Fleur and starts to leave. "Indeed and it is because of that blessing that Harry is alive..."

"What do you mean?"

"Nimue is a phoenix...she's a phoenix Animagus." Albus worded in shock. Her surprising reference to referring to Fawkes as one of her children has come forth. And with that memory entering his mind combined with the image of the scarlet bird he put two and two together... "Harry is one as well isn't he?"

"Yes." Fleur said softly. "We know it should be impossible, but Harry is a phoenix Animagus."

"Harry was that phoenix with you those two times..." Albus stated with a matter of fact tone to his voice as he turns to Remus. "How...how did you find him?"

"Yes" Remus replied quietly. "And as to how I found him Albus...Arabella was right."

Leaving that said, the three walk out of the great hall as said woman looks almost smug as she a mere squib had been the first to see Harry in so long. As the order explodes with discussions concerning recent information, no one notices the two chasing after the three who just left with another hot on their heels.

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I think I did pretty good...