[A/N: I stole 1-2 sentences of someone's dialogue in this chapter from the books. I'm not going to flag the exact lines because the mere fact they're from the books is a bit of a spoiler/bonus for observant readers, but I did want to come clean to you. Also, I haven't seen Gwendolena for awhile. I wonder what she's up to?]
Mr. and Mrs. Granger weren't happy about not being able to go with the children to the Ministry, but they understood both the restrictions and the danger in knowing the Prophecy. Sirius promised that he wouldn't let Harry or Hermione remember it without the four adults coming to a consensus about it, which mollified them a little while simultaneously terrifying them for an entirely different reason.
Sirius and Hestia walked them over to his old apartment, which he'd kept primarily to have a floo convenient to the Grangers' house without having to risk installing one there. Harry and Hermione did their best not to act nervous on the way, mostly so none of the adults would look too closely at what was in Hermione's purse.
They floo'd directly to the Ministry Atrium from Sirius's apartment where Remus and a tall, stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl awaited them. When she saw Harry, her breath caught and she brought her hands up to her mouth. "Merlin!" she said. "It's like looking into your father's face and your mother's eyes again. My name is Emmeline Vance, and I was in the Order of the Phoenix with your parents during the War."
She held out her hand and Harry shook it politely. "It's nice to meet you, too, Miss Vance. This is my best friend Hermione Granger."
Emmeline nodded and shook Hermione's hand, as well. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Miss Granger. I'm glad you've been able to learn so much about the Wizarding World before starting Hogwarts."
"Me, too," Hermione said. "Every little bit helps keep us safe."
Harry nodded.
"That's…um…nice," Emmeline said. "Anyway, if you'll all come with me, I'll get you signed in."
As she led them through the atrium toward golden gates near the back, Sirius spoke up. "You were right about this place being quiet on a Friday afternoon," he said. "That should help us keep anyone from bothering Harry."
She nodded. "You get used to the ebb and flow of activity in a building if you work there long enough."
Harry and Hermione looked around as they walked, taking in the enormous room. A ceiling of deep, iridescent blue stretched over their heads, swirling with indecipherable golden symbols. Their footsteps echoed across the dark, polished wood floor as they passed a huge fountain with golden statues of a noble-looking wizard and a witch receiving the adoration of golden statues of a goblin, a centaur, and a house-elf. Something about it made Harry feel dirty, and when he looked over to Hermione, she muttered, "Disgusting propaganda."
He had a feeling this statue was going on The List, too, and he wasn't going to miss it when it was gone.
The wizard at the desk stopped reading the newspaper and straightened up when they approached. "Auror Vance!" he said. "Mr. Lupin! I still can't thank you enough for helping me last weekend, and I'm sorry I was forced to attack you. I hope you can forgive me."
Hermione squeezed Harry's hand tightly enough to hurt. He understood; Mind Magics like that bothered him, but they terrified her.
"I'm glad I was able to help, Watchwizard Munch," Remus said, "but Miss Vance did most of the work."
"We completely understand," Emmeline added. "I remember the chaos that curse caused in the War. Can you sign my friends in? I'm bringing them all in as my guests."
"Of course, of course," Munch said. One by one, he took their wands and put them on what looked like a set of brass scales with only one arm. Each time, it vibrated, then spit out a piece of paper that Munch read to the wand's owner with information about the wand, like what it was made of and how long it had been in use. It was neat to hear what everyone's wands were made of, not that Harry understood enough to make any sense of that information.
Harry came up last and placed his wand on the machine. "Eleven inches with phoenix-feather core that's been in use for roughly one year," Munch said. "Is that correct?" As he spoke, his eyes settled on Harry's hair and widened. "Merlin's Beard! You're Harry Potter."
"That I am," Harry said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter," Munch said. "Thank you for everything you've done and I hope you have a wonderful day here in the Ministry. Please let me know if there's anything you need."
"Thank you, Watchwizard Munch," Harry said. "I'm sure I will."
As they walked through the gates, Hermione said, "You handled that very nicely, Harry. Andromeda would be proud that you remembered his name."
"Thanks. I just tried to remember that he thinks he's being nice," Harry said.
Hermione nodded appreciatively. "That's very mature of you."
Emmeline furrowed her brows, apparently having overheard them. "Wait, was he rude to you? I can put in a complaint."
"No, no," Harry said. "I just hate being thanked for having dead parents."
"Oh," Emmeline said, and fell silent again. Hestia rubbed Sirius's back a little as they walked, a reminder to Harry that he wasn't the only one who'd lost something that night. He wondered if it would be better to be in Sirius's position and not constantly reminded of it by well-meaning passers-by, but decided there was probably no way for him to know.
She led them into an elevator that seemed to expand to fit all of them as they walked in, which was a disconcerting experience, and took them down to Level 9. "This is the floor for the Department of Mysteries," she said as the door opened. "I can't take you in by myself because it's not allowed…"
Harry noticed she shot Remus a glance as she said that and he blushed a little, which made him suspect there was a great deal more to the incident with Watchwizard Munch than he and Hermione had been told.
"...So I've arranged for an Unspeakable with the Department of Mysteries to take us into the Hall of Prophecy," she continued. Sure enough, waiting in the centre of the elevator lobby was a person in featureless silver robes and wearing a featureless silver mask.
"Welcome," the person said in a magically modified voice that sounded completely gender- and age-neutral. There could have been a boy of seventeen or a woman of seventy in that outfit and Harry would have had no idea.
"Thank you for agreeing to take us into the Hall of Prophecy," Emmeline said. "I appreciate it."
"The pleasure is all mine, Auror Vance," the Unspeakable said. "Could you introduce me to your companions?"
"Certainly." Emmeline did a quick round of introductions.
After she finished, the Unspeakable bowed. "Harry Potter and a muggleborn witch not yet in Hogwarts! What an unexpected pleasure! I hope you both find this trip edifying."
"Thank you," Harry said. "I can't wait."
The Unspeakable paused. "I understand your excitement, young Mr. Potter, but I do hope you'll exercise some care, as well. There is a reason prophecies are so well-protected in this building: they are incredibly dangerous, both to their subjects and their subjects' enemies. They are fascinating, terrible things, and should be treated with the utmost caution."
Harry nodded. "I see what you mean," he said. "I'll be extra-careful with it."
"Thank you." The Unspeakable nodded and led them toward a door framed in black marble that seemed to absorb light. They continued down a short passage of the same black marble, lit only by candles that glowed with a cold blue light, before passing through a door into a circular room made of the same black marble and lit by the same candles.
The doors on the outer wall of the room started spinning rapidly and Harry and Hermione immediately grabbed each other (as did Sirius and Hestia), but the floor on which they were standing didn't move, so they weren't thrown around at all. When the doors stopped spinning, the Unspeakable led them into one he'd seemingly picked at random.
"Don't touch anything in here," their bland voice said. "In this room we study Time itself."
Blinding, beautiful light assailed Harry's eyes as he walked through the door and a ticking sound as heavy as a hundred footsteps pounded his ears. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the sound was from hundreds of clocks of all shapes and sizes hanging on walls, standing between desks, or even hanging in mid-air over desks. Along one wall was a large display case with what looked like a bunch of pocket watches hanging in it.
"It's beautiful!" Hermione said. "I've never seen anything like it."
Harry nodded. "This place is awesome!"
"I'm glad you both like it," Remus said. He'd conjured himself a pair of sunglasses. "It's a bit much for me."
The Unspeakable chuckled. "Oh, to be young again. I'm afraid this is a bit much for me, too."
After leaving that room, they found themselves in a huge hall, almost like a giant church, filled with shelves stretching into the darkness above them. The shelves were all covered with little glass balls, some that flickered with an inner white light, but most were dull and dark. More of those blue candles provided the only light and no appreciable warmth against the freezing cold air of the room. Poor Hermione was only wearing a lightweight skirt and blouse due to the August heat outside, so Harry pulled her close.
"Thank you," she whispered, and suddenly Harry felt like he was warm enough to have heat to spare for her.
The Unspeakable checked in a book next to the door. "Mr. Potter's prophecy is right this way," they said after a moment, and led them further into the cavernous hall. When they reached Row 97, the Unspeakable stopped. "It's right down this row," they said. "Mr. Potter alone may touch it, and he must touch only his own prophecy. To touch another's prophecy orb would destroy your mind."
Hermione shivered at the warning, but Harry only nodded. He was ready for this.
Hestia also seemed paler than usual, and not just from the cold. She didn't react outwardly as Sirius spoke up.
"Thank you for the warning," Sirius said. "Would you mind leaving the Hall? A prophecy is an intensely personal thing, and we obviously can't steal anything."
"That is a sensible request, Lord Black," the Unspeakable said. "Tell me, though: are you not concerned someone will steal from you?"
"Steal what?" Sirius frowned. "We weren't going to take the prophecy; just listen to it."
"Your memories, of course," the Unspeakable said. "Voldemort would do anything for this information."
"Wait," Remus asked the Unspeakable. "How did you know this prophecy was about Voldemort? The index book at the front only tells you the location, not who else is mentioned in the prophecy."
"I might ask you a similar question about how you knew what information is displayed in the index book," the Unspeakable said.
Remus and Sirius both went for their wands, but literally in the blink of Harry's eyes, a long, black wand with odd knobs every few inches along its length was in the Unspeakable's hand. With a short, sharp waving motion, every single one of their wands flew out of their hands, pockets, or holsters, and landed in a heap on the floor. Hermione's purse twitched, too, but it was firmly zippered shut and pinned between its owner's left arm and her source of additional body heat, so it made no obvious motion.
Another wave of the black wand caused the featureless mask of the Unspeakable to dissolve into thin air. "There we go," said the old man underneath. "That mask is easily my least favourite part of this job. Well, that and the Void Phages." He shuddered. "Let us not speak of those."
"Albus?" Sirius asked. "What are you doing here?"
Harry sucked in his breath, but Hermione tightened her grip on him before he could move and gave his forearm three quick squeezes. He stopped moving, squeezed her hand thrice in response, and suppressed a sigh. He hated it when she was right.
Remus stared at Emmeline. "You…you didn't…"
"Of course not!" she said.
"Auror Vance is right," Dumbledore said calmly. "I merely used my not inconsiderate deductive abilities to guess that a trip to the Hall of Prophecy right after she met Remus might relate to young Harry."
She glared at him. "Dumbledore, put that wand down right now and this doesn't have to result in any prison time."
As the adults argued, Hermione moved her hand from Harry's forearm to rest on top of her purse. It was a smooth motion, not fast enough to draw attention or slow enough to look weird.
"I'm afraid I can't allow any of you to remember this," Dumbledore said. "That prophecy is far, far too dangerous to fall into the hands of the enemy. I shall leave only Harry there untouched, for it is imperative that he know not to attempt this sort of adventure again until he is ready." Dumbledore paused. "And yes, I know that the spell will not work on Mr. Lupin. However, Harry's memory will contain me casting the spell on him, anyway, so if he tries to submit a memory as evidence against me, it might cause Mr. Lupin some…issues."
Two of Hermione's fingers took the zipper of her purse and slowly unzipped it as Dumbledore spoke.
Remus took a step forward. "If you're threatening Harry with my safety, you've made a terrible mistake. Harry, tell people anyway. Don't worry about me."
As soon as Remus mentioned Harry's name, Hermione stopped moving her fingers and rested them on the zipper of her purse, covering the opening she'd already made.
"I don't think I'll have to choose," Harry said loudly. "I mean, this is the great Albus Dumbledore, isn't it? The Leader of the Light and the man my parents fought and died for. He wouldn't do this."
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid being a leader is more of a burden than an honour, Harry my boy. As you get older, you'll find you have to make a number of distasteful decisions, and this is one of mine."
"Were there others?" Emmeline asked, her voice low and dangerous.
"I'm afraid so," he told her.
"Was Dorcas Meadowes one of them?"
He froze. "What do you mean?"
Harry was so engrossed in the exchange that he momentarily forgot Hermione's purse, but fortunately Hermione hadn't and she was once again slowly sliding the zipper open.
"You were originally going to send me on that mission, remember?" Emmeline asked. "You seemed so sad about it, and at the time I thought you were just worried about me. Then I was cursed in the battle protecting the muggle girl's school and you had to send Dorcas, instead."
"Your parents had more children," Dumbledore said. "It would have been less of a loss to them, and I needed to ensure my only spy among the Death Eaters earned a place of greater trust."
Remus, Sirius, and Hestia's jaws dropped, but Emmeline just turned red in the face. "You would have sacrificed me just to get your spy promoted?" she shouted. "That's why Dorcas died? Did he get a nice pocket watch to celebrate the promotion, too? Dorcas would have wanted him to get at least a fucking gold watch in exchange for her life!"
All of that shouting was the perfect cover for Hermione to finish unzipping her purse. She didn't try to draw her wand, though. That would have been too obvious. Instead, just like they'd practised it, Harry used the visual cover provided by her left arm to slip his backup wand out of her purse, then carefully brought his arm around behind her back, then swung it down until his wand was directly behind her purse and pointed at Dumbledore, his heart pounding in his ears the whole time. Moving it without moving the rest of his body was awkward and slow, but reduced the likelihood he'd be noticed.
"Now, now," Dumbledore said. "Let's try to keep—"
Harry lowered his wand a few inches, focused on both precise wandwork and his intent to disarm the hell out of Dumbledore, and whispered, "Expelliarmus."
Dumbledore reacted with shocking speed as the jet of scarlet light sped toward him, but Harry and Hermione were so close that it didn't matter. The spell smashed into his chest and sent him flying backward down the aisle, and only Harry's superb reflexes allowed him to catch the wizard's knotty, black wand in his left hand before it flew into Hermione's face. As the wood touched his hand, it thrummed with power.
Emmeline surged into motion even before Harry's spell landed, diving into a roll toward the pile of wands at Dumbledore's feet. She came up with her wand just as Dumbledore hit the ground and before he could get up she'd stunned him, petrified him, bound him in ropes, and hit him with at least two more spells Harry didn't recognize.
By the time she turned around, she found herself staring down both Hermione and Harry's backup wands. Still breathing heavily, she held out her wand to Harry, handle first. "I understand why you don't trust me," she said. "I just wanted to ensure Albus was down. You can bind me now if you want. I won't hold it against you."
Without taking his eyes off of Emmeline, Harry said, "I believe her."
"I do, too," Hermione said.
As one, they lowered their wands. He also pocketed the wand he'd taken from Dumbledore. It felt almost too right in his hand.
"Merlin, Morgana, and Circe." Emmeline holstered her own wand. "I didn't believe Sirius when he told me about you two and I apologise from the bottom of my heart. You're both amazing. I have no idea how you did that and I'm an Auror!"
"They really are something," Sirius said as he, Hestia, and Remus retrieved their wands and passed the children their regular wands. "Care to share your secrets, kids?"
Harry grinned. "Well, Hermione had already glommed onto me for body heat, anyway, so it was pretty easy to pull a Case Three from there."
"Once I kept you from trying to slug him," Hermione added.
"I know, I know, I need to work on that," Harry said.
"Case Three?" Remus asked.
"When we were practising martial arts by ourselves," Hermione said, "I thought it would be helpful to identify some ways in which we could blend martial arts and magic, assuming we had wands. The third case I came up with was where we were being threatened, but hadn't lost our wands yet or had backups. The plan was that one of us would stand in front of the other and let the other draw a wand using our body as cover."
"Exactly," Harry said. "We had a bad feeling about this trip, so Hermione packed our backup wands in her purse. She unzipped it while Miss Vance was yelling at Dumbledore so nobody could hear it, then I slipped my wand out of it."
"My plan was to draw mine while Harry attacked Mr. Dumbledore, just in case Harry didn't get him," Hermione said. "Miss Vance did a great job taking advantage of Harry distracting him, too."
"That's because I'm an Auror," Emmeline said. "You're children and you handled that far more smoothly than most of my colleagues could have."
"Hermione's really good at planning," Harry said.
The girl blushed. "I do my best."
"That was incredible," Remus said. "James and Lily would not just be proud right now; they would be in awe."
"That's the truth," Sirius said. "You're an incredible team. I'm sorry you keep needing to be such an incredible team, but that doesn't make it any less amazing."
Hestia nodded. "I wish we could get you both 'O's on your N.E.W.T.s from this alone."
"It's OK," Hermione said. "I've learnt to care less about tests since meeting Sirius and learning more about the Wizarding World and our places in it. Tests are great practice, but moments like this are the real exams."
"And we intend to get perfect marks." Harry took a deep breath. "I'm not going to let Dumbledore stop me from getting the Prophecy Orb. Are you ready, Sirius?"
Sirius nodded, gave Hestia's hand one last squeeze, and walked into Aisle 97.
Hermione took a deep breath. "Are you sure about this, Harry?"
"Yes," he replied. "I'm positive."
"You're the bravest person I know," she replied.
He grinned. "You should look in the mirror more often," he said, then hurried up Aisle 97 after Sirius.
Shelves reached up at least ten feet around them, each covered with glass orbs spaced about six inches apart.. Fortunately, the spot Sirius pointed to was only about five feet off the ground. "Need a boost, kiddo?" he asked.
"Yes, please," Harry said. "I don't want to risk touching the wrong one."
"Me, neither." Sirius picked Harry up by the armpits and held him up to the shelf.
"Wait," Harry said, and Sirius lowered him again. "Why is there a question mark next to my name?"
"From what I remember from Divination Class, that happens when a prophecy had an originally unknown subject, but it was later narrowed down to you. Something must have happened after it was made to lock it down to you."
"Weird," Harry said. "Any idea who that other name is?"
"Albus Dumbledore," Sirius replied. "He has a bunch of middle names."
"Oh, OK." Harry squared his shoulders to the shelf. "Let's give it a go."
Sirius picked him up again. Gingerly, as if picking up a live grenade (which, mentally, it kind of was), Harry reached out and plucked the orb with his name engraved upon it from the shelf. Nothing happened, and he breathed a sigh of release as Sirius lowered him back to the ground.
"Let's get back to the others," Harry said. "I don't like it here."
"Me, neither," Sirius said as he followed Harry back to the group.
Harry held the orb up to everyone as he emerged from the aisle. "Success!" he said.
"Oh, good," Hermione said. "I was worried."
"Alright, Harry," Sirius said. "We'll go about a dozen aisles over so no one here can hear it, then decide if we want to share it or be Obliviated."
"One question first," Harry said. "Is there anyone over there? We don't want to be overheard."
"Probably not, but you never know." Sirius drew his wand and cast a Human Presence-Revealing Charm. Golden light washed over them all, briefly highlighted Dumbledore's bound body, and spread away into the chill darkness.
"Nope," Sirius said. "We're clear."
"Perfect," Harry said, and threw the orb as far as he could down the Hall. A tinkling sound came to their ears a moment later when it hit the ground.
The adults all stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Harry…why?" Sirius asked.
"The way I see it," Harry said, "there are two options: either that Prophecy must come true, or it might not. If it must come true, then it doesn't matter if I hear it, because it'll happen regardless. If it might not, then it doesn't matter if I hear it, because it's no better a prediction of the future than I could make right now on my own. Either way, I don't want to know, and I don't want any of you at risk from knowing, either."
"But…what if it had useful information?" Remus asked.
"It's not that simple," Hestia said. "I got an 'O' on my Divination O.W.L. and, in the process, I studied hundreds of prophecies. Not all of them come to pass, and the ones that do rarely come to pass in a clear, obvious manner. There's more or less zero chance that prophecy said, 'If you want to kill off Old Mouldy, stab him in the heart twice with two stakes of two different woods while singing 'The Twa Sisters.' The whole discipline is useless and most practitioners are frauds, anyway."
Remus raised his eyebrows at her vehemence. "But you said you got an 'O' in it."
"Of course I did," Hestia said. "I was only taking the class because my friends did, but that doesn't mean I was going to get less than outstanding marks."
"I respect that," Hermione said.
"What if it had been useful, though?" Sirius asked. "Harry, you really should have talked with us before you did that."
"Nope," Harry said. "Whatever I did with that stupid prophecy was going to hang around my neck for the rest of my life. I have enough around my neck already and it's my bloody neck! None of you get to tell me I need more. If I listened to it, I was going to spend the rest of my life either trying to figure out how to make it come to pass or thwart it, and sod that for a game of soldiers! I'm going to spend my life figuring out how to put Old Mouldy down permanently, then I'll sort any other arsehole who thinks they have some Merlin-given right to murder innocent people. That seems like a much better use of my time."
"Harry and I discussed this extensively," Hermione added. "I agree with his conclusions. One of us is going to execute Old Mouldy. Maybe the Prophecy tells how, maybe it doesn't. If it does, then it merely describes what we're going to do. If it doesn't, then it's going to be invalidated because Old Mouldy is going down anyway."
Remus sighed. "You really hated the idea of a prophecy that much?"
"It seems like just another way to control me, just like everyone has been trying to do since I was a baby," Harry said.
"And I hate the idea of taking away his free will," Hermione added. "Coercing him into doing something is one thing, but this seems far more insidious to me. If there's ever a prophecy about me, I hope nobody tells me."
That seemed like a good lead-in to Harry's pre-prepared lie, so he went for it and said, "I'm not upset at Gwendolena for telling me it existed, since that meant I could destroy it."
"I have to say," Hestia began, "I'm with Harry and Hermione on this. I don't know if I'd have been as brave as Harry were I in his position, but I hope I would be."
Emmeline shrugged. "I thought Harry would have wanted to know, but it didn't occur to me how much of a burden that knowledge could be. I don't think it's my place to make him bear that burden."
"It might be important, though," Remus said. "It probably relates to why He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named killed James and Lily."
"I don't care," Harry said.
"What?" Remus asked.
"I could not care less why that arsehole killed my parents." Harry shot Hermione a look.
She shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm not going to get on your case for describing him properly. He's an arsehole."
Harry grinned. "Like I said, I don't care what that arsehole's reasoning was. He murdered my parents. Maybe because he heard a prophecy, maybe because they wouldn't bow and scrape when he walked by. All I care about is that he murdered innocent people and we're going to ensure he never does that again. Why do you care?"
"Oh." Remus thought for a moment. "I…you're right, Harry. It doesn't matter. Maybe the Prophecy made him focus more on your parents than he otherwise would have, but he wouldn't have left them alone, regardless. He never would have had the power he craved as long as good people like them stood against him."
Sirius sighed. "All of this is missing the point. Even if it's not likely, the prophecy might have told us how to defeat Old Mouldy."
"That's a big 'might,'" Harry said. "It might've said a lot of things. Some might even have come true. I know I don't want to live my life weighed down by a prophecy, though."
Hermione shook her head. "There are a lot of people who think they know how Harry should live, and one of them is unconscious back there. Please don't become another one."
"I just want Harry to be safe," Sirius said.
"There's a lot more to life than being safe," Harry replied. "You know that better than anyone except maybe my parents."
Tears were beginning to form in the corner of Sirius's eyes. "I…wanted more for you."
"I have more," Harry said. "Sure, I have less in some ways, but thanks to you and Hermione I have so much more, too."
Sirius broke down and Harry lunged at him, pulling him into a hug. Hestia started crying, too. Remus and Emmeline just looked uncomfortable, like they hadn't earned the right to be involved in this moment.
"You're growing up," Sirius told Harry after a little while. "I'm not ready."
"I'm not sure I'm ready, either," Harry said. "I don't suppose that matters much."
"I don't suppose it does," Sirius agreed.
A teary Hestia added, "Did we just get schooled in philosophy by an eleven-year-old again?"
"He has his moments," Hermione said, smiling fondly at Harry.
"Again?" Emmeline asked.
"Long story," Hestia said.
Harry released Sirius and cleared his throat. "Would one of you mind creating a small glass ball to match the one I broke? That way, people will think it's still there."
"I might be able to help with that," Sirius said. "Hestia, do you have your basic cursebreaking gear?"
"I…do, as it happens," she said. "I got in the habit of never leaving the house without it."
While she spoke, Sirius pulled off his necktie and transfigured it into a glass orb with the same writing on it. "Perfect," he said when he finished. "Hestia, may I borrow your rune etching kit?"
"Sure," she said. "Why…wait, you can do it from memory?"
"I've always had a knack for embedded Charms," Sirius said, "and this was the one I practised on. Remus and James were much better at enchanting and arrays, though."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"One of the ways to use Ancient Runes is to embed a Charm in an object," Sirius said as Hestia somehow pulled a small leather pouch out of an even smaller leather pouch on her belt and handed it to Sirius. "A simple, but common, use is to embed a Lumos Charm in it so it gives off light."
That information somehow made Hermione's eyes light up, too. Sirius was too busy sitting down on the cold stone floor and laying out some small etching tools to notice, but Hestia knelt in front of Hermione and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "They're also very dangerous if you connect the powering runes improperly," she said. "The feedback loop can create an explosion. Promise me you won't power any arrays till you've worked with Professor Babbling, Hermione."
"I promise." Hermione nodded.
"Thank you." Hestia released Hermione and turned around. "Speaking of which…Sirius, it's not that I don't trust you, but maybe one of us should double-check your work first."
"That's fair." Sirius put the finishing touches on the runes and laid down the etching tools. "There we go. That's always a short one. Remus, will you check this?"
"Sure," Remus said.
The muscles around Hestia's eyes tightened for just a moment, but the expression disappeared long before Sirius turned back around to hand her the etching kit.
"That looks good," Remus said. "Want me to power it?"
"Go for it," Sirius said.
Emmeline and Hestia both raised their eyebrows. "You can power each other's arrays?" Emmeline asked.
"Oh, yes, we've been doing that since Third Year," Remus said. "All four of us could power each other's arrays."
"That's…different," Hestia said.
"So that's unusual?" Hermione asked.
"The person who carved the array usually powers it because they have a better feel for its magic," Hestia explained.
"I'll bet Hermione will be able to power my arrays," Harry said.
Hestia smiled. "I'll bet she will, too."
Remus held out the now gently-glowing ball to Harry. "What do you think?"
"That looks like a perfect match," Harry said.
He nodded. "Sirius and James were always the best at Transfiguration. Your mother was jealous."
"Mostly because we were prats about it for the first few years," Sirius said.
Remus smirked. "No comment. I'll go put this up on the shelf now."
"Thanks!" Harry said.
When Remus returned, he gestured at Albus. "I think there's only one thing left to sort out here. Emmeline, can you summon some of your colleagues?"
"Wait," Sirius said. "The orb said the prophecy was only given to Albus. Old Mouldy clearly doesn't know it. That means only Albus and anyone he told would know."
"Interesting," Remus said. "So maybe we should have a discussion with him before making any permanent decisions."
"I agree, but we'll need to be cautious," Emmeline said. "I'll get behind him and partially unbind him. Remus, you and Hestia take positions flanking him, then Disillusion and Silence yourselves. I'll do the same once I've unbound him. Sirius will lead the discussion. Feel free to step in and say something if you think it's worth it, but that will make you visible. Oh, and once you get into position, move toward me by about twenty degrees of arc. You don't want to be in each other's field of fire. I'll shift a bit to the right, myself, to stay out of Sirius's."
Everyone nodded and took up positions about five yards from Dumbledore. "Ready?" Emmeline asked.
Sirius, Harry, and Hermione all said, "yes."
The older witch paused. "I'm assuming everyone else is being quiet so as not to break stealth. I am reversing some of the Charms now. He'll be able to speak, but he shouldn't be able to move anything below his neck."
A moment later, Albus Dumbledore blinked his eyes. "I have taken scant little time in my life to appreciate the ceiling of the Hall of Prophecy," he said. "It is quite the work of magical art. I'm afraid that's all I can see at the moment, though."
Sirius waved his wand and levitated the man until he was "standing" in front of them, still bound in ropes and frozen in place. "Hello, Albus."
"Hello, Sirius, Harry, and Miss Granger," Albus said, a twinkle in his eyes. "Hello also to whoever awakened me. Your stealth is commendable, but I assure you I'm no threat at this point."
"That's precisely what a threat would say," Hermione said.
"Is this like that Creating Paradox you told me about?" Harry asked.
"Cretan Paradox," Hermione replied automatically. "Or Epimenides' Paradox. Not exactly, since he can both lie and tell the truth."
Albus chuckled. "I deeply regret that I shall not be at Hogwarts when they arrive. It should be most interesting."
"We're trying to decide if you should be in Azkaban," Sirius said sharply.
"I understand," Albus said. "I would be similarly disinclined to charity in your position. May I ask what you did with the Prophecy?"
"No," Sirius replied. "We have a question for you: who have you told of it?"
"No one," Albus said. "Voldemort learnt the first half of the prophecy from a spy, but I believe I am the only living person who knows the whole thing. To be safe, I have even removed the memory from my own mind so that none can find out about it from me."
"Good. If you're willing to take an oath about that, then we're willing to make a deal."
"Oaths are dangerous things," Albus said. "What would you have of me?"
"A promise not to tell anyone what's in the Prophecy and a promise not to use a spell or potion on any of us unless one of us approves it, or induce any else to do the same," Sirius said. "Frankly, I'd like to throw you into my old cell in Azkaban, but I don't want to publicise the existence of a prophecy about Harry."
Albus stared at him for a moment. "No…" he whispered. "That was our only chance to lure Voldemort out of hiding."
Knowing Albus Dumbledore was supposed to be brilliant was one thing, but seeing him so quickly piece together that they'd destroyed the Prophecy was another thing entirely. Despite himself, Harry was impressed.
Sirius raised his thick, black eyebrows. "You were leaving potentially vital knowledge accessible here as bait?"
Hermione glared at the old man. "I'm not surprised. Isn't that why Miss Vance said Miss Meadowes died?"
"Good point," Harry said. Once again, he was impressed with Hermione's memory. Even while she was under pressure, she never missed a thing.
"I understood the risks," Albus said, his voice calm but firm, "but I've seen how Wizarding Britain had to be dragged into awareness of two world-historical threats so far. Without seeing him for themselves, the Ministry will never believe Voldemort has returned."
"Are you sure you understood the risks?" Hermione asked. "It sounds like Watchwizard Munch was nearly badly hurt in the last attempt."
"He nearly lost his mind," Sirius said. "And Emmeline could have been killed or maimed, too."
"Worse happened in the last war," Albus said sadly, "and worse will again."
"That doesn't mean you should hasten it along!" Sirius shouted, his voice echoing through the empty hall beyond them. "You're awfully free with people's lives."
"I led through two wars," Albus said. "I would not wish that experience on anyone, but it does inure one to certain feelings. I fear you will understand soon enough, though."
Hermione glared at him. "People committed a lot of atrocities over the last century and later claimed they were 'necessary.' It seems to me that the only difference between you and them is that you claimed to be on our side."
"D'you suppose I was one of them?" Harry asked her. "My childhood, I mean. I always figured he didn't know, but now I'm starting to wonder if he knew and didn't care."
"I swear to you I didn't," Dumbledore said. "I knew they wouldn't like you, but I didn't expect them to be so horrifically abusive. Little is known about horcruxes, and I fear it's possible that extensive exposure to the one that was previously in your forehead affected them more strongly as muggles than it would have a wizard or witch."
"What the fuck, Albus?" shouted Emmeline from behind him. "How could you?"
"I didn't know and I didn't check on him," he replied, unable to turn to face her. "That was my mistake, and one I deeply regret."
"But…you left a horcrux in a child?" she asked.
"I didn't know the blood sacrifice of his mother would be enough to overcome it once it was no longer diluted," he replied. "I knew of only one other way to remove it, and he would not have survived as a small child. I wasn't sure he would survive as an adult."
"Wait, what?" Vance asked.
"Very few things can destroy a horcrux," Dumbledore said, "and only one can do so without destroying its container. I thought it was possible that a Killing Curse would kill the soul fragment instead of Harry once he was older and his soul more firmly established in his body, but I wasn't sure."
Hermione launched herself forward with an incoherent scream and drove her fist straight into Albus's crotch. The old man's eyes crossed and he tried to double over in pain, but his bindings prevented him from doing so. (The rope might also have absorbed some of the force of her punch, but from the look in his eyes, it didn't help much.) She drew back for another punch, but Harry leapt up behind her and wrapped his arms around her upper body.
"Hermione! Stop it!" he shouted. "Col. Fairbairn said not to hurt prisoners."
"You weren't even trying!" she screamed at Albus as she struggled against Harry's grasp. "You were just going to let him die!"
"Damn, Hermione," Sirius said. "Episkey. Albus, she has a point. If you knew that was in Harry, why weren't you trying to figure out how to get it out of him?"
"I…did," the old man replied, his breathing still laboured. "But I had limited research time—"
"Oh." Harry released Hermione suddenly. "I wasn't worth the time, was I? You didn't need to worry because I was going to die anyway. Do whatever you want, Hermione. I don't care anymore."
Harry turned around to walk away and Hermione raised her fist again, but Dumbledore spoke again in a pleading tone. "Harry, did you disarm me? I must know."
Harry didn't even turn around when he threw the man a two-finger salute.
"I had to become your first nemesis," Albus said quickly, with a wary eye on the witch about to punch him again. "That's why I was going to leave your memories untouched. I needed you to hate me so when you finally came for me you would hold nothing back."
"Why in Merlin's name would you want Harry to attack you?" Sirius asked.
"Because I had a gift for him that I could give him no other way," Albus said. "You feel it, don't you, Harry? The wand is yours now."
Harry froze. Almost of its own volition, Harry's left hand drew the dark, knobby wand from his pocket. "Yes, it is."
Hermione gasped. "That's…you had it?"
"You told her?" Albus asked sharply.
Harry finally spun around. "Of course I did! She's my best friend."
Hermione nodded. "I love him far more than I desire that wand."
Albus smiled sadly. "I said that once, too, and a great many people suffered as a result."
"I won't disappoint her," Harry said. "I promise."
Sirius shook his head. "Ignore him, Harry. You don't owe him any promises."
"I know," Harry said defiantly. "That one's for Hermione for the rest of her life."
"You give me hope," Albus said. "Thank you. I wish I could apologise to you for many things, Harry, but anything I said would be hollow and insufficient. I will carry my regrets to my grave, which I suspect is closer than you might think." He turned his head to address Sirius. "I see you've been training Harry to face threats. Please continue to do so. When the time comes, that wand will help. It is a masterpiece of Mykew Gregorovitch, uniquely suited to curses and offensive magic, and features prominently in histories of Grindelwald's War that this young witch has doubtless read. It is also a fickle thing, its allegiance easily won."
"Allegiance?" Hermione asked.
"Indeed," Albus replied. "Do you remember how Garrick Ollivander told you that the wand chooses the wizard or witch?"
Hermione nodded.
"A wand's choice can sometimes be changed if someone else defeats that person in combat," Albus continued. "Most wands require true combat to the death, so their previous owner is no longer present to notice the change. Some, though, are more fickle, and will accept an attempted murder that incapacitates their owner. An even smaller number of wands are like that wand there and will accept being taken from their owner if their owner is merely temporarily incapacitated, so long as the person who does so holds nothing back in their attack. Their 'Killing Intent,' if you will, a concept my Japanese correspondents would call 'Sakki.' I commend Harry for his intent when he attacked me, but I hope he does not deploy that against his fellow students at Hogwarts."
"It depends if they ambush my friends and threaten to mess with their minds," Harry said.
"I did only what I felt was necessary to protect—urk."
Hermione pulled her fist back for another strike. "I'll show you 'necessary,' you—"
"Hermione!" Emmeline said. "That's enough."
"Enough?" Hermione's voice dripped venom in a way Harry had never heard from her before. "Where were you to tell the Dursleys 'enough,' Miss Vance?"
She raised her fist again, but paused when Emmeline said plaintively, "I didn't know. I'm so sorry, but I didn't know."
Hermione threw another punch, but she was getting emotional enough that her aim was off and it only hit the lower portion of Dumbledore's stomach. He still squeaked in pain, though. "He didn't know, either," she said, "because he didn't care."
"Hermione," Sirius said, "no matter how much he deserves it, I can't let you beat a trussed-up old man to death. I don't want you to be that person."
"Then who's going to punish him?" she asked. "He was going to kill Harry!"
"I am," Sirius said. "His favourite thing in the world is candy, and he's going to swear that off in his oath, too."
Dumbledore's jaw dropped. "But…you can't expect me to—urk."
Hermione's knuckles were streaming blood from their repeated impacts on the ropes binding the old man, but she didn't seem to notice. "Harry went without hugs for over six years, you arsehole. Don't you dare tell me you can't go without candy."
Hestia's stealth shattered as she started sobbing.
"Motherfu—" Sirius began, but a roar from Remus cut him off.
"I trusted you!" Remus screamed. "I could have been there for Harry but I trusted you!"
"You would've wanted me to expose the poor boy to a werewolf?" Albus asked, apparently genuinely confused. "You could have killed him!"
Harry lunged past Hermione and slammed his fist into Albus's stomach. The ropes scraped his knuckles, but he couldn't find it in him to care. "Say he was worse than the Dursleys again!" he shouted. "I dare you!"
"Stop!" Sirius shouted. "Harry, listen to me. Your father once stopped me from murdering someone and I owe it to him not to let you do that, either. I'll let you decide his fate, though. We can turn him in and he'll probably go to Azkaban to die, or we can let him live and bind him with oaths to hide your secret. It's your call."
Harry stared up at the gasping old man in front of him and thought about his monstrous indifference, his convoluted plans, how they would have to reveal the existence of the Prophecy to prosecute him, his mentorship of generations of students, his willingness to sacrifice people who trusted him, and how he'd kept the secret of the Elder Wand. No one said a word while Harry sorted through it all.
Finally, he spoke. "I understand Bilbo now," he said.
All of the adults stared at him.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"Remember how I didn't understand why he didn't kill a creature as obviously evil as Gollum?" Harry said. "I finally understand. He's pathetic. Go ahead, Mr. Dumbledore. Live out the rest of your pathetic life and pretend you were in the right. Death will find you eventually, and when He does, He'll take you to my parents and Miss Meadowes."
The stroke of midnight that night found Hestia and Sirius holding each other tightly in Sirius's bed. Dim city light filtered in through the curtains, with only a sliver of the moon to supplement it.
"Why?" Hestia asked him. She wasn't worried about waking him because she knew there was no chance he was asleep. "Why is everything always so much worse than I feared? Even when I know it's going to be awful, it's still worse?"
"I wish I knew," Sirius said. "I also wish I knew why Harry was always at the centre of the storm. He's suffered enough."
"He might say the same about you," Hestia whispered.
Sirius's breath caught. When he finally spoke, he said, "I don't deserve him. Or you. Or happiness at all."
"Stop it." Hestia pulled her arms more tightly around his chest. "Don't you dare say that. Don't you dare deny him or…anyone else the opportunity to love you."
"All I ever wanted was to watch over him," Sirius said. "I never thought about introducing myself because I'd failed him so badly that I couldn't imagine deserving his affection. Now I have him and Hermione and you and I feel like the richest person in the world."
Hestia smiled. "And that's why I love you. You literally are one of the richest people in the country, if not the world, but you weren't thinking about money at all when you said that. In fact, you probably forgot you had it until I pointed it out just now."
"Um…yeah," Sirius said sheepishly. "Anyway, can we go back to that part where you said you loved me?"
"Of course we can," Hestia said. "I love you, Sirius. And you don't have to say you love me, too, because after you fought off that boggart I realised you'd loved me for weeks."
"Oh." He paused. "Huh. I guess I had, hadn't I?"
A warm glow spread throughout Hestia's body at that, but all she said was, "Yes, you had."
"I…never really thought about it," Sirius said. "Harry's been the centre of my world since…well, since his parents died. Now that he's going off to school…I just realised that I don't know who I am without him anymore."
"You won't be without him," Hestia said. "He'll just be an owl away."
"Theoretically," Sirius said. "He's an eleven-year-old boy. I remember being one of those and I would have been pants at corresponding home even if I'd liked my home."
"True, but he also has Hermione."
"Good point."
"Anyway," Hestia continued, "you won't be entirely without him, but I don't think he'd grudge you a life on your own. He'll be making a life on his own, too."
"I see what you mean." He sighed. "Now I just need to figure out what kind of life I want."
"Don't worry. You know perfectly well…" Hestia poked him over his heart. "Right here. You'll figure it out soon enough."
"Oh." He fell silent for awhile. "I…think you're right."
She smiled to herself. Several minutes later, when she thought he'd fallen asleep, he said, "I do love you, Hestia."
"And I, you," she replied, and snuggled into him. The world was awful and scary and trying to kill little children, but it was also way out there somewhere, and right now all she cared to think about was the man with her.
The stroke of midnight that night found Emmeline and Remus holding each other tightly on the bed in her flat. Remus gently stroked her hair in time with her slow, but unsteady breathing.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
"I wasn't good enough," she replied. "I'm one of the best in the department and I didn't stand a chance. I haven't felt so helpless since I was a child. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is going to kill me and everyone I care about and there's bugger all I can do about it."
Remus sighed. "First, you need to call him 'Old Mouldy' if you're going to keep hanging out with us."
"What?" She twisted to face him. "This isn't time for jokes."
"It's more than a joke," Remus said. "It's an ethos. He can kill us, but he can't make us respect him."
"Oh," she rested her head back on his shoulder. "That's a start, I suppose."
"You can't blame yourself for not expecting to be attacked in peacetime by a random Ministry worker who just happened to be the most powerful wizard of the last century. He defeated Grindelwald, for Merlin's sake!"
"That's what we're up against, though," Emmeline shot back. "We need to hold ourselves to that standard."
"And we will," Remus said. "We have time, and we're going to spend it training and preparing to kill him permanently. And his Death Eaters, too. I think the fundamental problem in the last war was that Dumbledore was horrified about what we would have needed to do to win, so he was just fighting not to lose. We're not going to make that mistake again."
"Do we even have a chance, though?" she asked. "He defeated us effortlessly today. I go to work every day knowing I might die, but at least with normal Dark Wizards I can give as good as I get."
"Yes, we do have a chance," Remus said. "Harry and Hermione showed us that even the most powerful wizard can be surprised and defeated. That's more or less how James, Sirius, Lily, and I survived the first war, too. We went up against Voldemort or an overwhelming number of Death Eaters a few times and survived by using prank spells and items to keep them off-balance. Lily had some great muggle tricks, too, and I'll bet Harry and Hermione could help with those."
"That's a good point," Emmeline replied. "Those children are amazing. I've never seen anything like them. I hate to drag them into the war, but I'm not sure they've a choice and they seem more ready than ninety-five percent of the adults in this country."
"I feel like we've failed James and Lily by needing Harry's help," Remus said.
She sighed. "We…well, I think we have. We're going to have a lot to answer for to them one day, but we can't change the past. The war is still here and it's going to come for those children regardless, so they may as well be ready for it."
"Damn it." Remus rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "You're right. I guess we owe it to them to leave them with as little to do as possible, though."
"Absolutely," Emmeline said. "I'll talk to Director Bones about this and see what kind of support she can provide. I know we can't trust all of the Aurors, but we don't have to do this alone."
"That's a good idea." Remus gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Thank you. She would be a valuable ally."
Emmeline nodded. "I just hope she'll help rather than insist we do things through normal channels."
"Same here," Remus said.
They both fell silent for a moment before Emmeline spoke again. "Is something bothering you, Remus?"
"I was thinking about how Harry stood up for me today," he replied. "He has every reason to hate me for how I abandoned him and he still lost his temper when Albus insulted me."
"It seems like you've given him reasons to care for you, too," she said, "and maybe those outweighed his anger at you."
"I…don't know if I deserve that," Remus said.
Emmeline raised her head again to look him in the eyes. "You don't deserve to be a werewolf, either. Sometimes, things just happen. The important thing is how you respond to them."
"Then I'll be there for him, no matter what," Remus said. "I won't screw this up again."
"Good." Emmeline rested her head back on his shoulder. "I believe in you, and I think Harry does, too."
"Both of those astound me," he replied as he rested his head against hers.
"One day they won't," Emmeline said. "You'll see."
The stroke of midnight that night found Harry and Hermione sitting as close together on the sofa as they possibly could and staring out into the nearly moonless night.
"You were amazing today, Harry," Hermione said.
"Not as amazing as you were," he replied.
She shook her head. "I don't think I know anyone else who would have been strong enough to turn their backs on a prophecy…or bury the Elder Wand in a Tupperware in the backyard."
"I'm not strong," Harry said. "I'm scared. I'm scared of what power like that might do to me and I'm scared of how knowledge of the future could twist my life."
Hermione gave him a squeeze. "Being scared isn't stupid here. You're dealing with some horrifying stuff right now."
"I thought about trying to break the wand," Harry said. "Just snap it right in front of Dumbledore, both to ensure it doesn't kill anyone else and to see the look on his face."
"That would have been funny." Hermione giggled quietly. "Why didn't you?"
"Now that I've touched it…I know I can't," Harry said. "I don't know how, but I know. The Hallows are as indestructible as Death itself. They'll be with us until the very last human takes them through the Veil…which is apparently an arch in the Department of Mysteries. I don't know how I know that, either."
"Oh." She stared out the window, lost in thought and idly rubbing the knuckles that had been torn and bloody until Sirius healed them. "So the human race is stuck with them?"
"Pretty much. They're not all bad, though. I…think we need them, too."
"Need them?" She turned to face Harry. "For what?"
"I don't know yet," he said. "I think this is the sort of thing you figure out gradually. I just have this feeling that they serve a purpose beyond the obvious."
"Interesting." Hermione fell back into thought. "We'll have to figure that out, then."
"It's tempting to use the Elder Wand against Old Mouldy, but I probably shouldn't," Harry said. "I can't risk him getting hold of it."
"You're probably right," Hermione said. "I want you to have every advantage, but maybe that's like trying to learn from Dumbledore in terms of not being worth the price you'd pay."
"Yeah." Harry sighed. "D'you think I should have sent him to die?"
Hermione looked away from Harry, out into the nearly moonless darkness. "Would you think badly of me if I said 'yes'?"
"Never. I was on the fence about it, too."
"My immediate reaction was to put him in Azkaban to die," Hermione said, "but I didn't want to let vengeance override the need to keep your secrets."
"Me, neither," Harry said. "And he kept the most important secret of all: the wand."
"True." She looked back at him. "I hate letting him get off so easily, but he could have caused you tremendous trouble there and chose not to."
"Yeah." Harry sighed. "I always knew we might have to kill Death Eaters and I wanted to be ready for that, but it's different when it's a dumb old man who did a lot of bad things and a lot of good things."
"Same here." She sighed, too. "It would have been easy for you to wash your hands of him and ensure he never did anything bad again, but doing the 'easy' thing was Dumbledore's mistake, too."
"I just hope I don't regret it."
Hermione shrugged. "You probably will, but that doesn't mean it was the wrong thing to do."
"I suppose so." Harry chuckled. "Sirius was right. Growing up is hard. I wish I could ask your parents for advice, but all that would probably accomplish is to guarantee they never let us leave the house unsupervised again."
"They're nervous enough after what we did tell them about today." Hermione said. "I'm glad we're going off to Hogwarts soon. I love my parents, but they're getting a little overprotective."
"I just hope nothing happens at Hogwarts to make them regret letting us go there," Harry said.
Hermione sat silently for a moment.
"We…um…may not want to tell them everything that happens there," Harry said.
"We may not," she agreed. "Um…Harry, can I ask you to buy me something really expensive?"
"Of course," Harry said. "Do you want a stallion, gelding, or mare?"
"Wait, what?"
"I've been researching horses for you."
Hermione's hands flew to her mouth to try to contain her laughter.
"What?" Harry asked. "I thought that's what you wanted."
"Not right now, thank you," she said after a moment, and kissed his cheek. As he rapidly blushed, she continued, "I think I'm going to need a space-expanded purse of some sort."
"Oh, sure," Harry said.
"That's probably more expensive than a horse," she said apologetically.
"Probably more practical, though," Harry said. "I try to think about how I'd defend each purchase to my parents when I finally meet them. For a horse, I'm probably going to have some explaining to do, at least to my mum. After today, though, they probably want me to buy one of those bags for you literally this instant. Like, I should stop talking and go do it."
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione hugged him tightly. "That's a wonderful way to think about your money right now, but so very, very sad."
"Thanks," Harry said, "but what did you mean about 'right now'?"
She released him from her embrace so she could look him properly in the eyes as she spoke. "Well, when you get older, you'll be the Lord Potter in your own right, and you deserve to do whatever you want with your resources without thinking about your parents looking over your shoulder. It's not that I think you should be frivolous, but rather that at that point in your life you should be holding yourself to your standards, not theirs. And I think your standards will be great, so I'm not worried about you at all."
He looked away from her and out into the backyard. "I don't want to, though," he whispered. "If I do that, that's the last thing they'll ever give me and it'll be like they're really gone. I don't want it. I don't want to look into that vault and realise that's all that's left of them and it's not enough and it will never be enough and it's all—."
Hermione pulled him back into an embrace and rocked him gently back and forth. "Hey, hey, it's OK," she said. "That's not all that's left of them. That's just stuff. You are all that's left of them, and you're amazing."
He burst into tears and, though he wasn't positive, he was pretty sure she started sobbing, too.