Secrets of the Past

Dumbledore looked quite worried. He had hoped to not burden Harry with knowledge about the prophecy and horcruxes until he was older, but it was obviously too late to stop that now. On the bright side if the horcrux inside him had truly been destroyed then Voldemort was one step closer to being mortal.

"Are you sure you want to know the prophecy, Harry?" Dumbledore asked. "Sometimes it is easier not to know what fate has in store for us."

"I need to know." Harry demanded. Dumbledore nodded sadly in agreement.

"'The one with power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… And either must die at the hand of the other because neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.' That is the complete prophecy, Harry." Dumbledore explained. "Voldemort knows the first part of it, and it is for that reason he targeted your family so many years ago."

"How did he know about the prophecy?" Daphne asked, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. She, like the others, had not wanted to miss a single detail of Harry's story.

"A Death Eater overheard the prophecy as it was being made but was not able to listen to all of it." Dumbledore informed them. What he did not say, and did not plan on telling them, was that the Death Eater in question had been Severus Snape.

"Mom said that it could have been about Neville, too." Harry said, causing his friend's eyes to widen in shock.

"Yes, that was initially a possibility." Dumbledore confirmed. "But Voldemort has marked you with the scar on your forehead. He ensured that you are the one the prophecy speaks of." Neville visibly relaxed when he heard this. Harry nodded, he already knew there was no way he could escape his destiny.

"What now, Professor?" Harry asked. The war would be starting again now, there was really no time to waste. He would have to start finding and destroying the other horcruxes as soon as possible. Some would not be too difficult to get to, but there were some he still had no idea how he would reach. In fact, he knew of one he could get rid of before he left school without a great deal of effort.

"During the first war with Voldemort I was part of a group of people that opposed him. Your parents were a part of it, as were yours Mr Longbottom." Dumbledore said with a glance towards Neville. "For the past few months I have been contacting them in preparation for a day I hoped would not come to pass, but unfortunately now has. We will reassemble and continue the fight."

Harry nodded at Dumbledore's explanation, the Professor had not really told him anything he didn't already know or couldn't guess. He also remembered from what Daphne had told him about her family that Dumbledore had approached both her father and grandfather asking them to join his group but had been turned down on both occasions. Would Dumbledore try again? And how would Daphne's father, Daniel Greengrass, react to the 'Leader of the Light' this time around? Harry didn't know, but thought they would be important questions in the near future.

"Harry I do something to request from you." Dumbledore said, bringing Harry's attention back to their conversation. "I would like permission to view your memory of tonight's events. Perhaps it will give me some insight into Voldemort's plans." Dumbledore pulled an empty vial out of his robes and presented it to Harry.

"Ok, sir." Harry said. He had done this before and was therefore familiar with how it was done. Thinking clearly about what had happened today, including everything from the time he first entered the maze to when he reappeared on the stage with Wormtail, Harry pulled the memory out of his head and used his wand to place it in the vial. Dumbledore smiled brightly as he capped the glass tube and placed it back in his robes.

"Thank you, Harry." Dumbledore said gratefully. "I would like to discuss this after I have had a chance to view it and you have had a chance to sleep, if that is acceptable." Harry nodded at the suggestion while Dumbledores eyes twinkled. "Excellent. Then I shall leave you to rest, something that the rest of you might consider doing as well. Tomorrow promised to be an exciting day as well. Good night."

With that Dumbledore turned and walked out of the infirmary. As he left Harry wondered what Dumbledore might see in the memory that he had missed, but he would just have to wait and find out later. He turned and looked towards his friends to gauge their moods. Neville looked as if the amount of information had overwhelmed him and his mind was working overtime in an attempt to process it all. Daphne was trying her best to keep a brave face on for Harry's benefit, but he knew beneath the surface she was probably scared and worried like he was. Hermione was the hardest to figure out though. She had been shocked, like everyone else, when she heard he had been hit with another Avada Kedavra. But her shock had turned into something else. Harry stared at her for a moment, wondering what it was, and eventually it hit him. Hermione had the same look on her face that she got when she thought she did poorly on a test, although her case she almost always did better than she thought.

"Hermione," Harry said softly "Are you ok?"

"Me?" Hermione replied in surprise. "Of course. But what about you? You died tonight Harry! And we were here, doing nothing."

"There was nothing you could do, Hermione." Harry assured her. "You know that."

"No, I suppose there wasn't." Hermione agreed. "You need your rest, Harry. I'll come see you tomorrow, ok?"

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