Harry Potter and the Missing Prophecy

Chapter Five

All too soon, the summer holidays were over and Harry, Ron and Hermione were at King's Cross Station, bound for their sixth year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After lugging their trunks and Hedwig, Pig and Crookshanks's cages onto the train and storing them in the racks by the door, Ron and Hermione climbed back down onto the platform to herd the rest of the school onto the train, as was their Prefectly duty, telling Harry they'd catch up later.

Harry noticed what looked like faded writing on the side of the train, as though someone had written on it in large, indistinguishable letters, and then thinly painted over the top. Harry wondered what the train did for the rest of the year, and where it was kept when not in use, but the thought left him quickly when he saw Nymphadora Tonks (sporting electric blue spiky hair) and Mundungus Fletcher wave to him from the far end of the platform.

Tonks gave him the thumbs-up, a sign that, once on board the Hogwarts Express, they wouldn't be watching anymore. They had already told him that the Hogwarts Express was surrounded by protection charms and wards, similar to the school's.

Harry waved back, then turned to look for an empty compartment before it got too crowded.

It was time to tell Ron and Hermione.

Every carriage he passed on his way to the back of the train was packed with tiny people, all chattering and squealing. Whispering followed behind him, but Harry suspected he would have to get used to it. Again.

When he put his head round the door of one compartment, half a dozen first years went silent and one actually pointed at him.

In another compartment, a first year was showing a nervous, spotty boy how to do a spell.

"My sister showed this to me. She reckons it'll get rid of your spots. Eye of bat, tail of newt, make this boy, really cute!" She pointed her wand at the boy, but nothing happened. The boy looked a little relieved.

Harry couldn't understand how he could ever have been so tiny and Ron had could ever have been so naïve, but it made him laugh to hear the two talk, as it reminded him of his own first trip on the Hogwarts Express.

Further along, Harry had had to dodge quite a few people he knew, trying to avoid their invitations to join him. Everyone seemed happy enough now to believe what had happened after the Third Task was true. But it made him wish he'd taken his Invisibility Cloak with him anyway.

Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom were all sitting together in one compartment, and Harry literally had to run past their door to avoid them seeing him. Harry felt guilty at not including the three in his talk with his best friends after all they'd been through together, but it really wasn't safe to involve so many people, he reasoned.

Eventually, Harry found an empty compartment and closed the door behind him. He took his wand out, pointed it at the door and muttered "Presentia dissimulo", a spell that made anyone passing ignore the compartment door and his presence entirely. He had researched the spell beforehand, in anticipation of this moment. He could not risk anyone coming in.

As the train moved off, Harry sat back in his chair, and stared through the window at the scenes that moved past. Tall office buildings made way for sprawling urban townhouses as the train made its way northwards. Very soon, London disappeared entirely and the train only passed through the occasional town or village as it snaked through the lush green countryside.

The steady rhythm and clackity-clack of the train's wheels on the tracks sent Harry into a trance, where all thought left him, and fairly soon, his eyes were closing and he was drifting into sleep....

Invasion..... A million ants are eating their way through. Itchy. It's itchy, need to scratch. Something's trying to get in. Get it out. Claw it out. Buzzing. Buzzing. What? A drill.... Something's drilling into my brain. But it's not working. Ha! They can't get in! They're retreating. Fading now.

Where am I now?

Trapped. In a box. It's all dark. It's getting smaller! Pushing the walls, but they keep getting smaller... If I make myself smaller, maybe it will get bigger... but it isn't..... It's getting smaller and smaller and soon there'll be nothing of me left... what's that? A whooshing noise. I'm being shaken. I close my eyes...

Harry opened his eyes with a start. Ron and Hermione were standing over him. He was confused for a moment and looked around. It was ominously dark outside. The earlier sunshine had disappeared and now all that was left were rain clouds threatening to release.

What had that dream been about? It wasn't like anything he'd dreamed before. He expected more dreams of Voldemort when he slept, yet none of his dreams since his encounter with Voldemort in June had had anything to do with him at all. It was like the film had just been switched off. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Harry figured, but it was definitely worrying.

But this dream of being closed in.... it unsettled him.

Hang on a minute....

"How the hell did you two get in?" Harry remarked.

"Oh, come off it Harry. Hermy's the smartest girl in the year and we know you. We'd figured you'd be on your own somewhere," Ron chastised.

"Don't call me Hermy, ginger-boy," Hermione interrupted, then turned back to Harry. "Actually, I saw you looking up that spell in one of my books the other day. So I looked up the counter-spell, just in case. When we couldn't find you, I realised what you wanted it for. Just had to keep saying it in every carriage until we found you."

"Good. Saved me figuring out how you two were going to find me," Harry nodded, much to Ron and Hermione's surprise.

"So, what's with the hide-and-seek?" Ron asked.

"Needed some space on my own." Then Harry smiled warmly at them. "Until you were going to arrive, of course!"

Ron and Hermione exchanged unsure glances. They had expected Harry to be rather peed off with them for finding him.

"How long's it been anyway?" Harry asked.

"We're about half way there, I think," Hermione said, and sat down opposite Harry. Ron sat down next to her. "They kept us for ages in the Prefects' meeting. Talking about Voldemort and everything. Telling us how to answer questions from the lower years and stuff. Malfoy was there, of course."

"Did he say anything to you?" Harry frowned.

"Actually, it was really weird, 'cos he didn't say a single word to me or Ron. In fact, he didn't say anything to anyone. It was like he was off in space somewhere. He was still sitting there when we left."

"Bit suspicious, don't you think?" Ron said.

Harry shrugged. He wasn't too concerned with Malfoy at the moment. There wasn't much Malfoy could do now, anyway.

Right, well I can't just launch into it....

"Er, Hermione, did you put that spell back on the door?"

"Um, yea, why?" Hermione asked uncertainly.

"Can you put a silencing charm on it as well for me, please?"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other again. "Sure. But we have to patrol the corridors soon...." Hermione suddenly had a knowing look on her face, as she realised that this was the moment when Harry was finally ready to talk. Ron had the same look on his face. "Um, I guess the others can handle it for once." Hermione cast the silencing spell around the train compartment.

"Er, you've probably guessed that I want to talk to you both."

Ron and Hermione nodded. There was a brief pause as Harry tried to gather his thoughts. Where to begin? He had rehearsed this, but it wasn't easily forthcoming.

"Is this....is this about Sirius?" Ron asked quietly.

Harry looked thoughtful. "That's part of it, yea. But there's other stuff as well, and I've thought and thought about it, and I know that telling you is probably the wrong thing to do, and the most dangerous thing I could do, but you two are my best friends, we've done everything together and I've gone over and over it in my head, and only me and Dumbledore know about it and I really, really need to get it off my chest. I can't talk to Dumbledore 'cos it's his fault and to be honest I'm really mad at him..." Harry was rushing out the words, all the time looking at the floor.

"Wait, wait." Hermione waved her hands about to catch his attention. "Slow down, Harry. Firstly, what's this Dumbledore thing?" She spoke slowly, attempting to psychologically slow down Harry's thought processes.

Harry blinked. "I, er... it's really hard to explain, so you'll have to keep up." He took a deep breath. "Do you remember last year how we were all worried about this weapon and what it was and how the Order were obviously guarding it?"

"I did wonder about that. I mean, that was the Prophecy in there, about you and Voldemort. Hardly a weapon, was it? Unless you were going to bash someone over the head with it, and I asked my dad about it, but...." Ron said.

Hermione gave him a long look that said this really isn't the time for jokes. Ron looked suitable chastised.

"Actually, they weren't guarding the weapon itself. Oh no, the weapon was tucked safely away at Hogwarts the whole time."

Hermione's eyes widened. "You're the weapon, aren't you?!" she gasped.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Harry sighed. Ron's mouth was agape. "The Prophecy was one made by Professor Trelawney before I was born, which stated the only way that Voldemort could be destroyed forever. That's the only reason why Dumbledore kept her on at the school, I think. Two genuine predictions in her whole career as a Seer. Not a great CV, really, is it?" Harry gave a wry little grin. Only silence greeted him. He looked up and Ron and Hermione were looking at him expectantly, not daring to interrupt.

Harry looked up at a noise outside the door. "Are you sure the silencing charm's working?" he asked Hermione.

"Yep. I did two, just to be on the safe side." She replied.

"Hang on, the Prophecy was destroyed! Neville broke it!" Ron said.

"Doesn't mean anything. I should have destroyed it myself, as soon as I picked it up. It's only a record of what the Prophecy was. It was made to Dumbledore in the Hog's Head when he was interviewing Trelawney for the Divination job. He heard it and remembers what it said." Harry took another deep breath and closed his eyes. "Then he told me. After, you know..."

An echoing silence fell about the trio, until Ron said: "So, what did it say?"

"Well, actually, it's a little confusing. I've practically memorised it, trying to work out what all of it means. Voldemort wanted it because he'd heard the first part, but not the rest. One of his spies had overheard the beginning and told Voldemort. He thought it told of who would be the one to kill him so he decided he'd get to that person first."

"So, Voldemort didn't come to Godric's Hollow to kill your parents..." Hermione started.

"...he came to kill you..." Ron finished.

"....but it didn't work....."

"....and he vanished...."

".....but now he's back....."

"....and he wanted the Prophecy...."

".....to find out what went wrong...."

Harry thought it was rather like watching a tennis match, or the Weasley twins.

Harry realised that his friends were suddenly looking at him, waiting for him to finish his story.

"The Prophecy says: '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 powers the Dark Lord know not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives'". Harry said this, trying to keep any emotion out.

"Um... What does that actually mean? What powers?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Dumbledore reckons love is the most powerful of all things and because Voldemort doesn't know what love is, that means the love that is in me," and here he rolled his eyes, "is more powerful and can protect me from anything Voldemort throws at me."

"But you don't believe that, do you?" Ron asked, picking up on Harry's sarcasm.

"Well, it's a bit.... fluffy, don't you think? I mean, can you seriously believe that love is a saviour of all things?"

"So that's what went wrong, isn't it?" Hermione said, to herself more than anyone. Harry could practically see the cogs turning. "Voldemort figured out who his enemy was, tried to kill you, but he didn't realise that doing that would only mark you, " Hermione pointed to his scar, "actually giving you the power that would ultimately destroy him! Ha, that's irony for you!"

"Wait a minute, all that Prophecy stuff was pointless then, wasn't it? It wouldn't have told Voldemort anything useful now, would it? I mean, it would only tell him why he couldn't kill you in the first place!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry nodded sadly, thinking of the price he had had to pay for his hastiness to protect a pointless white orb.

Suddenly, Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist and went deathly pale. She whispered: "'Either must die at the hands of the other...' Only Voldemort can kill you..."

"And only I can kill Voldemort. And it has to happen."

Ron looked confused again. "Hang on, hang on. It doesn't make sense.... all this either and neither business... doesn't make it very clear, does it?"

"Believe me, Ron, I've gone over and over this all summer long - those walks weren't all about brooding for Sirius y'know. Well, some of it was..." Harry shook his head to get his thoughts back on track. "It comes down to one thing though. Me and Voldemort, face to face. Either I kill him, he kills me, or I have to die in order for him to die as well."

Silence fell about the train compartment.

Ron whistled through his teeth. "Great wizards..."

"Tell me about it." Harry sighed.

Another awkward spell of silence followed, where Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at the floor, trying not to catch each others' eye.

Harry saw Hermione wipe a single tear from her cheek, then she reached across the seat and took Harry's hand in her own. She smiled at him, then turned to Ron and took hold of him with her free hand. They sat like that for a moment, before Harry suddenly shook himself out of his reverie, but he did not pull his hand away. Harry noticed that Ron suddenly had a surprised look on his face, as though he'd just realised he was squeezing Hermione's hand and slipped it from hers.

"Listen, guys, you have to understand that what I just told you goes nowhere else - it stays between us. In fact, we can't even talk about it at all anymore. Not even to each other. It's too dangerous. It doesn't matter if Voldemort does find out what the Prophecy said, but the fact that he doesn't know is dangerous in itself. He's gonna try any which way to find out what was in it. He doesn't even know I know...."

"So, if he finds out who does know what the Prophecy said," Hermione correctly assumed, "then all those people are in danger of being kidnapped, or worse...."

Harry nodded glumly.

"So, ah.... thanks for telling us then..." Ron said, rather bitterly. Harry gave him a weak smile.

"No, "Hermione said forcibly to Ron. "He was right to tell us. It's not something you should have to deal with alone." She said this last part to Harry and reassuringly squeezed his fingers, then released them.

"But what about Dumbledore?" Ron asked. "He knows....." Ron was cut off abruptly as he saw Harry's eyes flash with anger.

"Voldemort's not exactly stupid enough to try to kidnap Dumbledore, Ron," Hermione exasperated. She spoke to Harry again, softly. "But I get the feeling that Dumbledore's not one of your favourite people right now?"

"That's an understatement if ever I heard one." Harry sighed, and simultaneously realised he was doing a lot of that lately. "Dumbledore knew that Voldemort would try to get me to the Ministry in any way possible. Including lying to me through my dream-connection to him. Dumbledore ignored me all last year, he had plenty of chances to tell me. He didn't say why I had to take Occlumency with Snape. If he'd have warned me, and told me about the Prophecy before, then I wouldn't have believed that Sirius...." He choked on the words, "that Sirius was in any danger at all, and I wouldn't have...." Harry didn't finish the sentence, but let it hang, desperately trying not to let his friends see the glisten in his eyes.

Hermione and Ron looked sideways at each other and grimaced awkwardly.

"It wasn't your fault that Sirius died," Ron said, trying to say something useful.

"No, I know that now. It was Dumbledore's fault," Harry said through clenched teeth. He hadn't realised exactly how angry it had made him until this moment, when he could say it aloud. He hadn't known what to think, but it was all abundantly clear to him now. "You know, I don't think I'm even going to be able to look at him at the Start of Term Feast. In fact, I don't think I'm even going to go."

"Um, well, of course you don't have to go, Harry, but I really think you should. All those people. They all know the truth now." Hermione said.

"Exactly, they'll all be staring. Again."

"But you'll have to face them sometime, Harry," Hermione said gently. "The sooner you see them all, the sooner they'll stop talking about you and maybe you might be able to get through the next year like everyone else."

Ron snorted. Hermione looked sharply at him, and Ron suitably averted his eyes and said "sorry", although very quietly.

"I dunno, " Harry looked out the window again. It had started raining. It seemed to Harry as though it was a premonition of all that would happen from here on in. "I'll see when I get there."

"Speaking of which, I reckon we'll be there soon," Hermione said, looking at her watch. "Are you going to be OK?" she asked Harry.

Harry nodded. "I think so."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about, while we're all private and everything?" she asked Harry apologetically.

"Not at the moment, but thanks. Everything else doesn't need all this protection around it," Harry said, looking at the floor.

"Everything else?!" Ron looked incredulous. Hermione gave him a small, warning kick in his leg.

They passed the remainder of the trip in silence. They hadn't eaten since breakfast, as the witch that pushed the trolley obviously wouldn't have knocked. Occasionally, Ron's stomach would give a threatening growl.

All three stared out the window as the train rattled onwards towards Hogwarts, but ever so often, Hermione would catch Ron's eyes to say all sorts of things that Harry couldn't decipher. At other times, she would catch Harry's and give a reassuring smile. She has pretty eyes, he thought to himself. Ron resolutely refused to look at Harry at all. Harry wasn't sure what to think of that.

Not too long after, the train started to slow, and the trio headed down the corridor (after Harry had disabled the Ignore charm on the door) to find their trunks and get changed into their school robes.

As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, the trio's silence was greeted by general loud babble and occasional excited shouts as they jumped down from the carriage, trunks and animal cages in tow. Harry tried to ignore the stares he received.

Over the heads of the crowd of students, Harry spotted Hagrid calling for all the first years to follow him. He caught Harry's stare and waved, mouthing that he would catch up with him later.

Harry turned back and saw Ron's distinctive hair approaching a Thestral-pulled coach. Why didn't he wait? Harry grabbed the handle of his trunk and started towards the coaches, with Hermione right behind him, still yelling at some slow students to hurry up.

"Harry, wait up!" she turned and yelled. As she caught up to Harry, she said: "Listen, just ignore Ron at the moment. He's just trying to deal with it all, like you are. Don't push it. I think you need to respect when he needs some space of his own. He'll come round, just give him time."

Harry looked at her and realised that she was right. It always seemed that it was all right for him to have his own space when he wanted it, but thought it quite unnecessary and even hurtful for his best friends to do the same. He realised that they'd probably felt the same when he wouldn't talk to them before.

I've got to take Hermione's advice more, Harry thought, as he gave the Thestral an obligatory pat and boarded the coach that would take the trio to what once would have been thought of as sanctuary, but to Harry, now filled him with dread.