I am both very estatic and very thankful for this thread having become my unexpected success story. Since the last update, Things That Should Have Happened in Canon has surpassed the stunning milestone of 500000 views and currently stands at 503600. That's literally an average of 5036 views per chapter. I'm also over 250 in both favorers and followers with 252 and 265 respectively. The success of this thread has greatly exceeded my initial expectations and I'm feeling my insides glow thinking about it's success. A huge thank you to all the wonderful men, women, boys, girls, and babies who have helped make this thread so successful. ❤️ This chapter is similar to the last one.

For the second time in as many years, Harry found himself in the position of needing to tell Neville something.

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore had told Harry exactly what the now destroyed prophecy about Harry and Voldemort had said. Dumbledore had also revealed that its contents could have potentially applied to Neville, but that Voldemort had chosen Harry.

Harry felt that Neville had the right to know that the prophecy could have applied to him, even though it didn't ultimately turn out that way, and Harry was certain that Dumbledore had not told Neville.

Harry strongly suspected that the prophecy 's contents would become public knowledge sooner or later.

There was also no doubt in Harry's mind that it would be a shock to the system for Neville to learn the prophecy 's full contents from a Daily Prophet article, a teacher, or worst of all, someone who wanted to mock him and prey on his insecurities.

The day after Neville got out of the hospital wing, Harry once again summoned him to Classroom Eleven where they once again met up at 11 P.M. Hogwarts time with the Privacy Charms to prevent sight and sound exiting the room applied to it.

"So," Harry told Neville seriously, "For the second time in as many years, I need to share something I have learned that you have the right to know. In this case, it relates to the prophecy we broke in the Department of Mysteries."

"So?" asked Neville slowly, "Does that mean that the prophecy has something to do with me?"

"The thing is," explained Harry, "The prophecy could have been about you and Voldemort instead of me and Voldemort. But Voldemort made a decision that made it about me. Dumbledore told me the contents of the smashed prophecy, since he was the one who heard it and could recall. He also told me that it could have been about you if Voldemort had made a different decision."

"Even though it doesn't seem to have ultimately turned out to have been about me, the fact that it could have been means Dumbledore should have told me since he knew" said Neville clearly.

"So," said Harry gently, "Hearing this will be a shock to your system. But you have the right to know and I'm going to tell you the full contents of the prophecy. I personally suspect its contents will become public knowledge sooner or later and it's better if you hear it from me in private than from the Daily Prophet, a teacher, or worst of all, someone who wants to mock you."

"Please tell me slowly so I have time to process it," requested Neville.

"Of course," agreed Harry, "This is an easy does it situation.

So, Harry slowly and deliberately read:

"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..."

"Our birthdays are a day apart," noted Neville slowly, "It would have startled me to have learned the full contents of the prophecy later on if its contents somehow became public. Harry, thank you for summoning me here and bringing this issue to my attention."

"I don't see anything wrong with the contents of the prophecy becoming public knowledge," said Harry matter of factly, "I just felt that if you didn't know about them beforehand, you'd get a huge shock when you learned about and would play in your mind over and over about how it might have been you. I felt me telling you privately allowed you to learn more gently. "

"If I'm truly honest," admitted Neville, "I'd rather have never learned the contents of the prophecy. However, I think it is now inevitable that they will become public. As such, I'm grateful that you had the decency to address me about this in a tactful way."

"You never want to crash your car or truck," explained Harry, "But crashing into a brick wall is far worse than crashing into a haystack."

"Great analogy, Harry," beamed Neville, who seemed to loosen a bit at this.

"It is beyond a shadow of doubt that I am the marked man. I was born as the seventh month died in 1980. The Dark Lord did mark me as his equal. I don't know if I have power the Dark Lord knows not, but I do know we have something Voldemort doesn't have," declared Harry.

"Yeah?" said Neville.

"Something worth fighting for," finished Harry.

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