Harry Potter and the Legacy of Merlin

Chapter 6

Cat Among The Pigeons

When Harry and Snape arrived at Hogwarts, they found Dumbledore waiting for them. Over a huge meal, Harry related everything. Dumbledore was shocked.

"My niece! Aberforth never told me!" He summoned Fawkes and sent the beautiful bird to his brother with a hastily scribbled note. A few minutes later, an old man, very similar to Dumbledore in appearance, except that he had hard green eyes instead of Dumbledore's twinkling blue ones, arrived with Fawkes.

"What's this I hear, Aberforth? You had a daughter?" Dumbledore asked his brother, eyes flashing, his very persona radiating power.

"Albus, I-I did, but s-she was a S-Squib, so I-I gave her to M-Muggles. B-But how did y-you learn?" Aberforth quailed visibly.

"Harry Potter is your great-grandson, Aberforth, son of the daughter of your daughter, the very same daughter you threw away."

"Really? Then Cassandra was right after all. You know what she said, don't you? My, now I feel bad. I should have kept little Ursula after all. But believe me Albus, I made sure she would be happy with the Muggles."

"You can go, Aberforth."

Dumbledore's brother left. The Headmaster turned to face Harry. His eyes twinkled, and he seemed pleased by this bit of news.

"I daresay that you've had enough of prophecies, Harry, but this one may please you. It certainly creates hopes. I told you about Sibyll Trelawny's great grandmother, right? She was a true Seer. It was she who made this prophecy, which was her last. Let's go!"

***

They were at the Ministry again, in the room of prophecies. Dumbledore lead Harry to a glass ball and asked him to pick it up. Harry did, remembering from experience that only the people connected to the prophecy can displace it. Dumbledore's eyes glowed with pride. Even Snape looked awed. Harry replaced the ball and made a strange movement with his fingers. A shadowy figure of an old woman appeared, which said in a faraway, but sweetly mystical voice, "The Dark Era that approaches shall be brought to an end by the heir of the Great Four...the saviour shall bring an end to the evil though it shall cost him dearly...and restore peace and order...the heir shall then rule..."

Harry turned to face his astonished teachers. "How did you open that, Potter?" Snape asked.

"I really don't know, Professor. Does this really mean what I think it means?"

"Yes, Harry. There's no doubt about it. You are the heir of the Hogwarts Four. Aberforth's wife, Athena, had Hufflepuff blood. Aberforth and I have Ravenclaw blood. The Potters are descendants of Gryffindor. And Lily brought you the Slytherin blood from Voldemort. You are the Heir, Harry, and since Cassandra never made a wrong prophecy, we can safely assume it to be true. You shall win, my child."

"What is 'cost him dearly'?"

"We can only guess. Let's go back."

Harry has no appetite for food when they reached Hogwarts. The Ministry reminded him of Sirius. And the cost which the prophecy spoke about depressed him, too, for he knew it meant that he was destined to lose more loved ones than Sirius. It pained him to realise that he would live to see that days that many of his dear ones won't. He wondered how many others would be dead by the time he conquered Voldemort. He was suddenly jerked out of his musings by Dumbledore, who gently smiled at him.

Suddenly, Harry's scar started aching badly. He put his hand on his scar and cried out. He didn't even feel Dumbledore's gentle hand on his shoulder as he passed out.

***

Harry opened his eyes after a few hours and found himself in the Hospital Wing. He looked around for Dumbledore, but saw only Snape. Seeing him awake, Snape came over to him.

"What happened, Potter?"

"Inform Professor Dumbledore immediately, there's a Death Eater at Hogwarts!"

"Bad joke, Potter. The Headmaster knows about me."

"No, Professor, not you. There's another Death Eater, a student. Voldemort just marked him!" His voice sank to a whisper. "I saw the ceremony, Professor. It is a student, Voldemort said so."

"Oh Merlin!" Snape exclaimed and ran out to Dumbledore.

Soon, both the teachers were by his side, looking very grave. "Do you know who the student is, Harry?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"No, Sir."

"Rest now, Harry. We shall deal with this problem when the school reopens," he hesitated.

"I won't say anything about this to anyone, not even Ron or Hermione," said Harry. Dumbledore smiled at him and left.

Harry drifted off. He didn't like lying to his teachers, and his guilty conscience didn't let him sleep properly. He did know who the Death Eater was. It was not the pain which had made him faint; it was the identity of the new recruit to Voldemort's army. He had trusted the person completely. What could have possibly gone wrong? He didn't want to implicate his friend, so he had lied to Dumbledore. His slumber deepened, and his nightmares darkened, and again and again, he saw his friend's face looming up, accusing him, telling him that it was his fault, he was the reason for joining Voldemort.