Antithesis

Antithesis

Two, never together.

One light.

One dark.

Two, never together.

One past.

One path to light.

One path to dark.

Two, never together.

Two futures.

One choice.

One fate.

Two, never together.

Two worlds.

Two choices.

Two futures.

Two, never together.

--Cloydenestra's last prophecy, July 31, 1920

Seventeen-year-old Harry Potter blinked groggily in the sunlight filtering through the window, wondering why he had been allowed to sleep so late. Oh, he remembered, reaching for his glasses, you're at Mrs. Figg's today and tomorrow. The Dursley's had taken a weekend excursion with Vernon's boss and left Harry with the cat-lady. The house still smelled like cats and cabbage, but it was better than at Number 4. Mrs. Figg had only needed his assistance once (to retrieve a cat from a tree) and let him do what he wanted, as long as it didn't bother her.

Harry sighed and sat up in bed, slowly willing himself to get up and get dressed. Tucking in Dudley's too big shirt he made his way downstairs. "Mrs. Figg?" he called entering the kitchen to find it deserted. A note on the table fluttered in the breeze coming in the window.

Harry-

Gone grocery shopping and then to bingo game.

I will be back around 3 pm.

Oh, right, Saturday was bingo day. So today he was free to finish up his homework. Good thing too, considering tomorrow morning Mrs. Figg was taking him into London to catch the Hogwart's Express (well, she didn't know it was to catch the Hogwart's Express).

Harry ate a quick bowl of cereal for breakfast and then returned to the room he was staying in to work. He groaned as he pulled out his books as he reminded himself that he still had to do his Divination work (Using tea leaves, predict your own future. Using your non-dominant hand predict your future from the lines. Compare and contrast. And Read Chapter 28 in Modern Prophecies and their Interpretations and summarize, be ready for a quiz on it.), his Herbology essay (Explain the differences between Aconite, Wolfsbane, and Monkshood), and Potions essay (Write a five foot essay on what potions are made from a base of Mandrake leaves and streeler juice).

He looked again at the Herbology assignment, wait a minute, didn't Snape tell us first year they are the same? Maybe it was a trick question. He started flipping through the text and found, to his disappointment, it was not a trick question. There were indeed differences, so much for Snape. However, he finished that quickly enough.

He moved on to his Divination work and finished up the first section even faster than his Herbology work (four years had given him plenty of practice in making up futures). He opened up Modern Prophecies and their Interpretations to chapter 28 and found it entitled "Prophecies of Light and Dark." To his great dismay, Harry found that the chapter was 50 pages long. Grumbling about crazy mumbo-jumbo and how Hermione had been right to drop the class, he soon found himself engrossed in the book. The prophecies, mostly somewhat vague, were picked apart in great detail and Harry began to see the riddles as puzzles and began enjoying himself. He even attempted to figure out one or two himself before reading the professional Diviner's opinions and conclusions.

He was reading and re-reading one riddle by Cloydenestra talking about "The Monster and the White One."

The White One, young.

The Monster, old.

The White One will lead.

The Monster will fall.

The Monster's blood shall be mixed.

The White One's blood shall be pure.

The Monster and the White One

A duel of fate.

One shall die.

One shall live.

"Well that doesn't make any sense," Harry muttered to himself, "it says 'the White Ones will lead" and "The Monster will fall," but that last part says ones dies and one lives, like it isn't sure which one will die." He studied it a little longer trying to figure it out and then gave up and turned the page to read what the experts had to say.

This prophecy is one of the easier ones to interpret.

First we will examine what we know already about the White one and the Monster and then find the proof behind the conclusions drawn.

The White One obviously represents a light wizard, who is younger than the Monster. The White One is a pureblood. This could mean two things: a) the White One is a member of a very old wizarding family or b) both parents are magical.

The Monster is clearly not a pureblood, meaning, again, two possibilities: a) the Monster is born of Muggle parentage or b) born of a Muggle--Wizard union.

It has long been established that the White One is Albus Dumbledore and the Monster was Heraldo Grindlewald.

Starting from this premise, we shall examine how it fits.

The Latin word "albus" means "white," an easy enough connection.

Grindlewald was indeed older than Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore is a pureblood with a line going all the way back to Merlin himself. Grindlewald was the son of a wizard and his muggle mistress.

In 1935 Albus Dumbledore became the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, while that same year Grindlewald fell from grace in the eyes of the Order for experimenting with Unforgivable Curses. It was from that point that Grindlewald delved deeper into the Dark Arts and became a Dark Lord.

In 1945 Albus Dumbledore and Heraldo Grindlewald fought one of the most famous duels in history, one living, one dying.

Looking deeper into the name "The Monster" we look to history's monsters. We find in wizarding history (and Muggle epic poetry, although the story is distorted) a hero who slew a monster.

The hero, a virtuous brave young man (another reference to 'white,' long seen as a symbol of purity and virtue) is named Beowulf. The monster is named Grendle.

Coincidence, that Gridlewald so closely resembles Grendle? Not a chance.

There has been little dispute since 1950 about the interpretation of this prophecy as presented herein.

"Well, I wouldn't have figured that one out." Harry said and turned the page to read Cloydenestra's last prophecy, often called the Antithesis Prophecy or the Prophecy of Opposites.

Two, never together.

One light.

One dark.

Two, never together.

One past.

One path to light.

One path to dark.

Two, never together.

Two futures.

One choice.

One fate.

Two, never together.

Two worlds.

Two choices.

Two futures.

Two, never together.

Harry looked at it again "I'm not even going to try." So he turned the page to see the experts' ideas. To his disappointment, there was no definitive answer of what it meant. However, Harry noticed that the prophecy was given on July 31^st, his birthday.

Then he shuddered, remembering something he had learned the year before: Voldemort had the same birthday as Harry.

"That is really freaky." He declared and Hedwig hooted in agreement. He got up and fed her and then turned back to the explanation of the Antithesis Prophecy.

This prophecy has been one of the most debated prophecies of the twentieth century, since its prediction in 1920. There have been no conclusive answers either, as to what it means.

We will look at it stanza by stanza in order to attempt to unravel its mysteries.

Stanza 1

Two, never together.

One light.

One dark.

Two, never together.

The constant refrain throughout the entire riddle of 'Two, never together' is where it got it's name from. It suggests two wizards who are each other's antithesis and nemesis, that the two cannot be allies, ever. One will be light, the other dark.

Stanza 2

One past.

One path to light.

One path to dark.

Two, never together.

The 'one past' has two interpretations. The first is that the two wizards will have similar pasts, the second is that the 'past' refers only to the history of one of the two. The second explanation fits best with the rest of the stanza. If it refers to one of the two's past it means that he will come to a crossroads in his life where he will find one path or choice that will set him on the path of light and one that will set him on the path of darkness.

Stanza 3

Two futures.

One choice.

One fate.

Two, never together.

This stanza supports the conclusion that the 'one past' refers to only one of the two, and not to a shared past. The 'two futures' are the two people that are affected by what came from the 'one past' where there is a path of good and a path of evil. The one referred to with 'one past' who decides which path he takes is the one referred to in 'one choice.' Because the two can never be on the same side, the first one makes a choice, while the second one must follow fate and be on the opposite side. If the first chooses the path of light, the second will inevitably become a dark wizard and vice versa.

Stanza 4

Two worlds.

Two choices.

Two futures.

Two, never together.

The 'two worlds' are the two different worlds created by each of the 'two choices.' If the one chooses good, he creates one world; if he chooses bad, he creates the other. The 'two futures' signifies that whichever choice he makes he will affect his own future and the future of his antithesis, because they are 'two, never together.'

Harry blinked rapidly a few times, looking at the prophecy again. "Weird," he shook his head and muttered finally closing the book (that was the last prophecy in the chapter) and pulled out his Potions text. He became so involved in trying to write a good essay for Professor Snape that he only noticed what time it was when his stomach growled. His watch (compliments of Sirius for his birthday) showed it was 2:45.

"Mrs. Figg should be back soon," he mused as he stood in the kitchen spreading peanut butter on a slice of bread.

Pouring a glass of milk he took the sandwich and cup back up to the guestroom to try and finish up his Potions essay. At 3:30 he finished. "I wonder where Mrs. Figg is," he said, standing and collecting all his books and parchment to replace them in his trunk.

As he turned toward his open trunk a searing pain shot through his scar causing him to drop his books and stumble back into the desk, knocking the glass to the floor and spilling what was left of the milk onto the carpet.

"Well, what are your conclusions, Wormtail?"

"Ma...master, it i...is ob-vi...vious the prophe-phecy refers t...to you and th...the boy."

"That much I knew Wormtail." Voldemort's voice was icy in a way that could only suggest that Wormtail would get quite hot in a second. "You are supposed to tell me if my plan might possibly work! Can you imagine how my power would increase if the boy would indeed join me?"

"I sh..shall try ha...hard...der."

"I'm sure you will, Crucio!"

Harry opened his eyes again, feeling the pain in his scar ebbing away. It had been a long time since Voldemort had revealed any good tidbits for Dumbledore, he had somehow figured out that revealing information while he was agitated led to Harry seeing what was going on and therefore he had curtailed all the important information for times when he wasn't feeling so murderous.

Immediately Harry wrote to his godfather and Dumbledore detailing the dream. Just seconds after letting Hedwig go, Mrs. Figg arrived home. Last minute packing ang revisions on homework kept Harry up for a while so he was rushed the next morning.

Grunting as he loaded everything into Mrs. Figg's old junk-mobile, he glanced at his watch and breathed a sigh of relief, he would make it in time.

Then there was a traffic jam and Harry almost didn't make it on time.