As much as Harry had wanted to storm Dumbledore's office for answers immediately after returning from the Department of Mysteries, the next morning he was grateful that Sirius had insisted that they wait. Of course, waiting meant that Remus couldn't join them since he had classes to teach, but Harry was feeling a lot calmer. He was glad that he had a free period first thing in the morning though since he didn't think he could have waited any longer.
"You ready?" Sirius asked, as they stood in front of the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office.
"Yes." Harry replied neutrally.
"Ice-pops." Sirius said, and the gargoyle stepped away revealing the staircase that led up to Dumbledore's office.
They climbed up the stairs in silence, before Sirius knocked on the door that led to Dumbledore's office.
"Come in, Sirius, Harry." Dumbledore called from within, and Harry found himself wondering what kind of ward it was that let the headmaster know who was there. It seemed very useful.
The door opened with a flick of Sirius' wand and then Harry followed his godfather into the office. He hadn't been in the room since first year, but it didn't seem to have changed much. Well, except the big mirror wasn't in the corner anymore.
Dumbledore was seated behind his desk and he looked over his glasses at the two of them. "What can I do for you, my boys?"
"Must we address the issue of familiarity yet again, Headmaster?" Sirius asked coldly.
Dumbledore looked disappointed. "Of course not, my apologies."
Sirius strode across the room and settled in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. Harry followed behind him and sat in the other seat.
"Now, what can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked again.
"Harry?" Sirius prompted.
Harry met Dumbledore's eyes. "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..."
Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprise as Harry started, and by the end of it he was looking rather pale. "Should I presume that this is the reason that you both left the Hogwarts's grounds last night?"
"We visited the Hall of Prophecies." Sirius told him. "The orb is destroyed now, by the way, so you can call off the guard."
"Are you sure that was the best course of action, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked in concern.
"Yes." Harry answered for his godfather. "I'd rather Voldemort didn't know any more about the prophecy than he already does."
"How much does he know?" Sirius asked.
"What makes you think he knows any of it?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"You mean other than the fact that he seems set on killing me?" Harry asked flippantly.
Dumbledore sighed. "You are right, Voldemort does know part of the prophecy. When the prophecy was first given to me…"
"It wasn't given to you!" Harry protested. "Just because you were there doesn't mean that it's yours."
"Of course." Dumbledore allowed.
"Don't say of course, like you accidently used the wrong words." Sirius reprimanded him. "You had no right to keep this prophecy from Harry."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry is so young, I wanted…"
"Then you should have told me!" Sirius interrupted him. "I am his guardian, after all."
Dumbledore was beginning to look frustrated. "If you will allow me to finish, Sirius…"
"No," Sirius interrupted again. "I know how you are, Headmaster. You'll weave words around us and try and hide the fact that you aren't actually telling us anything. We only want to know three things…"
"Four." Harry corrected quietly, shooting his godfather an apologetic look.
"Four things." Sirius amended smoothly. "Not all the fluff in the middle."
"My dear boy," Dumbledore started. "I don't know…"
"Familiarity, Headmaster!" Sirius interrupted again.
Dumbledore's expression became cold. "Sirius, I do not know what makes you think that I will allow you to treat me with such disrespect, but I would watch your tone if I were you."
Sirius raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Or what? You're not Chief Warlock anymore, Headmaster. You're just a headmaster and while, admittedly, we are in your school I can always bring this matter before the Wizengamot for their judgement. You did after all withhold vital information about my heir, even after the Wizengamot ordered you to turn everything over."
"I thought you said that you didn't want Voldemort to know the prophecy?" Dumbledore asked, almost smugly.
"I am sure that I could convince them that the contents of the prophecy are private." Sirius pointed out coldly.
Dumbledore was silent for a while, but eventually he sighed. "What is it that you would like to know?"
"How much of the prophecy does Voldemort know?" Harry asked.
"Only the first part, he did not hear the phrase about him marking you as his equal." Dumbledore answered. "The prophecy was given in the Hog's Head Inn, you see, and…"
"Fluff, Headmaster." Sirius interrupted warningly, earning himself a dark glare from the headmaster.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked, though Dumbledore had already partly answered it.
"You were so young." Dumbledore answered mournfully. "I wanted to allow you the chance to be a child."
"Then why didn't you tell me?" Sirius asked, his expression hard.
"Surely you had enough on your plate." Dumbledore explained. "You were recovering from your time in Azkaban and had only recently gained custody of Harry."
"What is your interpretation of the prophecy?" Harry asked quickly, before Dumbledore could continue.
Dumbledore peered over his glasses at him. "Surely that is obvious, Harry. It means that the only person with a chance of vanquishing Voldemort was born at the end of July, to parents who had defied Voldemort three times. This is of course you, given that he then marked you. So you have 'the power that he knows not' and so will one day kill him for good."
"And what do you believe is the power that Voldemort knows not?" Harry asked.
"Department of Mysteries contains a room that is always kept locked…" Dumbledore started.
"I've heard of that room." Sirius interrupted. "It's the room where they study love, isn't it?"
Harry stared at the headmaster in disbelief. "You think that my power is love?"
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "It is something that you possess much of, and yet Voldemort has none."
Harry scoffed. "Well, that answers my fourth question. You didn't train me because you think I'm going to hug Voldemort to death."
"There is no reason to be rude, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore told him firmly.
"No?" Harry asked. "You don't think so?"
"Harry." Sirius warned him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for your answers, Headmaster."
"Of course, Sirius." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "We are all on the same side, after all."
Harry wasn't sure that he agreed.
27-27-27
Harry found it hard to concentrate on his classes that day. If his mind wasn't trying to figure out what the prophecy meant, it was trying to figure what kind of language the screeching from the egg was. Still, he at least managed to get a good amount of notes and he promised himself that he would look back over them later.
He spent the evening reading about magical creatures that lived in water, and more importantly what languages they spoke, because it was the only practical thing he could do. He couldn't kill Voldemort, or even figure out what the prophecy meant, but he could do research.
He was so accustomed to not finding any information that he almost missed it.
Merpeople, blah, blah, blah, would be full-beings, blah, blah, blah, rejected the status, blah, blah, blah, language sounds like screeching out of water, blah, blah…
"Wait." Harry murmured excitedly, before reading the last paragraph.
Apparently, Merpeople spoke Mermish which, while it sounded melodic underwater, sounded horrible above the water.
Harry slammed the book shut and pushed it off his lap. "Tempus!" Damn, it was after nine so there was no way he could sneak down to the Great Lake and duck his head under it now. Well, no sensible way. He'd just have to wait for morning.
27-27-27
Harry snuck out of his dormitory just before dawn the next morning, golden egg tucked under his arm. He was scheduled to meet Remus, Takashi and Neville in thirty minutes for their run, but first he wanted to listen to the egg underwater.
The air outside the castle was freezing and almost made Harry turn back. Surely there was a better way to do this? Except he didn't want to wait – he wanted to know now!
Harry carefully made his way across the grounds and then onto one of the small beaches down to the lake. Then, after having double checked that no one was around, he began to strip off his clothes.
It a so cold that his heating charms barely had an effect and by the time Harry was standing next to the lake in just his underwear he had decided that he was an idiot. Still, he was most of the way there so…
Harry put a foot in the water and then pulled it out again with a yelp. Merlin! It was a freezing! He walked backwards and quickly pulled his trousers back on and then his shirt and jumper. He definitely needed to come up with another plan.
Thankfully, when he shared his dilemma with his running partners, Takashi offered to give him the password to the Prefects' Bathroom. Harry hadn't even known there was a Prefects' bathroom, but when he let himself in later that day he found himself sighing in relief that he hadn't ended up diving in the lake after all.
The bathroom was huge and ostentatious, but the idea of soaking in the bath sounded amazing. Harry quickly ran the bath, before shucking off his clothes and carrying the egg in. The water was amazingly warm and for a moment Harry just enjoyed the sensation, but then he grabbed the egg and ducked under the water before opening it.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Harry pushed himself out of the water and desperately gulped in a breath. Merlin, the song was long. If it had been a line longer he would have had to listen to it in two parts. So the Merpeople would take something from him, which he would then have to find under the Great Lake with a time limit of an hour. The last two lines of the song worried him a little, but he presumed it was probably a hyperbole. After all, the organisers of the tournament could hardly steal something from him and then refuse to return it.
27-27-27
"You seem to be in a good mood." Draco commented later that day when he, Harry and Luna were hanging out in Hoth. It was nice to be just the three of them, especially since it didn't happen very often anymore.
"He discovered the naiads' song." Luna explained from where she was lying on the couch.
"Pardon?" Draco asked in confusion.
"I discovered the naiads' song." Harry repeated for him with a straight face, before beaming proudly. "I figured out the clue."
"And you didn't tell me straight away?" Draco asked accusingly. "What is it?"
"The naiads' song." Harry grinned.
Draco levelled an unimpressed look at him.
"The screeching was Mermish." Harry gave in. "It sounds melodic underwater, but awful above water. It was a song explaining to me that the Merpeople are going to take something off me and hide it under the lake, then I'll have an hour to get it back."
"An hour under the lake?" Draco asked in disbelief. "What do they think you are, part fish?"
Harry chuckled. "Apparently. I have no idea how I'm going to do it yet, but I've got more than two months to figure it out."
"Plenty of time to figure out how to be a fish." Draco smirked. "Anyway, have you figured out the musical runes?"
"Yes," Harry answered triumphantly. "Remus has been helping me with them and we finished it earlier in the week."
"And you're just telling me now?" Draco asked in disbelief.
"Sorry, I've had a lot on my mind this week." Harry explained. "Family business."
"Don't worry about it, Harry." Luna told him with a wide smile.
Harry wondered whether she was talking about the prophecy or about not having told them, or both. You could never really tell with Luna.
"So have the two of you figured out how you're going to put it on the champions' robes?" Harry asked.
"Your robes with be easy," Draco pointed out, ignoring Harry's grimace. "But the House Elves have agreed to help with the rest."
"Amazing things House Elves." Harry declared. "I don't know how we would do half our pranks without them."
"So now that you're done, shall we do this weekend?" Draco asked. "Say tonight, through to Sunday night?"
Harry groaned. "That long?"
Draco smirked unsympathetically. "Come on, Harry, be a good sport."
"I am a good sport." Harry protested. "I just don't want the Imperial March following me around all weekend."
"Can you imagine Aceline Moreau's face though?" Draco asked. "She'll hate it the most."
"Her or Fleur." Harry agreed. "Though I think Fleur actually has a sense of humour."
"Exactly." Draco grinned excitedly. "So tonight?"
27-27-27
Harry honestly had no idea how House Elves did half their magic because somewhere between him sitting down for dinner and him standing up again they had attached the material with the musical runes onto his robes. Harry hadn't heard or felt a thing.
The entire hall stared at him as the music started up and Harry silently swore to get Draco for this. He felt ridiculous, walking through the hall with the Imperial March from Star Wars playing loudly. He was almost to the door when some of the students' exclaimed causing him to turn around and glare at the writing that had appeared on the wall.
'The Marauders' Apprentices bring you the Imperial March.'
Yes, he was definitely going to get Draco for this.
Since he was the first of the champions to leave the Great Hall, out of design rather than any specific place to be, Harry missed the other champions' expressions when they realised that they too were creating noise. Apparently Aceline Moreau had been the next champion to leave and her expression had been completely priceless. Cedric was next and he had apparently accepted it in good humour.
Of course by the time Viktor, Nina and Fleur stood up they had some forewarning and, while Fleur had seemed a little uncertain about the entire thing, Viktor and Nina had embraced it and had walked in time to the music.
While Harry didn't see the first reactions, it was fun to see the other champions walking around to the music for the rest of the weekend. Well, everyone except for Aceline since she refused to leave Beauxbaton carriage until the music stopped.
Viktor and Nina continued to stride along to the music and Cedric soon began copying them (though he had a much less intimidating air about him). Fleur didn't seem at all phased by the music, though Harry did overhear her saying that she wished the music chosen had been more personalised since the Imperial March didn't sound much like her. Harry thought it was a good point, though it was definitely too late to fix it now.
27-27-27
Harry met with his friends on Sunday afternoon to continue practising to become an Animagus and, with Sirius' supervision, managed to transform all four of his limbs for the first time. He was sure he looked ridiculous – human sized, with a human head and body, but giant bird feet and wings – and his friends definitely agreed. Harry was proud of his achievement, though a little nervous as well. Next week he would have to start working on transforming his entire head.
Dinner that night was delicious though, in Harry's opinion, the best part of it was standing up and walking away afterwards without any music following him. Merlin, that music had gotten annoying!
They had classes again the next day and, given that it was the second to last week before the end of the term, their professors were piling them up with extra readings and homework. Each of their professors had also warned them about the giant assignments they were going to be given to do during Christmas Break. Harry wasn't looking forward to it. With all the time he was spending researching how to breathe underwater and how to interpret prophecies (neither of which topic he'd had any luck with yet) he didn't have much extra time to dedicate to assignments.
It was a pretty normal week, especially given that two weeks ago he had been competing in the First Task, and one week ago he had found out about the prophecy, but then Professor Flitwick called a Ravenclaw House meeting and announced that there was going to a Yule Ball.
The announcement was met with excited squeals and whispers from the girls and groans from some the boys. Harry wasn't sure what he thought about it. On the one hand, an evening dancing with Daphne sounded wonderful, but on the other hand it would mean that he would miss the Malfoys' Yule Ball (where he would have gotten to dance with Daphne anyway).
Thankfully, Draco later assured him that his parents had shifted the date of their Yule Ball to take place on the day after Christmas. Apparently it was the first time in over a century that the Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy wouldn't host a Yule Ball on the 25th of December, but Cousin Narcissa and Lord Malfoy had thought that it was worth it to ensure that Draco could be there – not to mention Sirius and Harry. After all, what kind of society event would it be without Lord Black?