96 The Revealed Truth

The train pulled into the train station on January third and Amelia, Susan, and Harry stepped off of it. They walked through the crowds and made their way out of the train station. Amelia held out her wand and they waited for about thirty seconds before they heard a cracking boom and The Knight Bus appeared at the end of the street. It skidded to a stop in front of them and Amelia paid all three fares.

The three of them boarded the bus and cast the softening charm on everything, then they had another nice rumble and tumble ride back to Hogsmeade. They stepped off with their trunks, still in a good mood, especially since Susan and Harry had taken to pushing each other to see how far they could bounce on the last few turns. They were laughing pretty hard as Harry reached into his trunk and pulled out a box of cauldron cakes to give to Stanley.

“That's my last one.” Harry said, a huge smile on his face. “Happy Christmas!”

“You're alright, Harry.” Stanley said. “Hey, Ern! Harry's giving us his last box of cakes!”

“He rides for free next time.” Ern said from his armchair and didn't look.

“Ya hear that, Harry! Ern never does that!” Stanley said.

“Thanks, Ernie!” Harry said and waved to the both of them, then the bus took off and disappeared.

“That was so much fun!” Susan said loudly as they walked up the road towards the castle.

“You bounced three times!” Harry said and they both laughed.

Amelia let them chatter and enjoyed these last few moments together, since school would be starting tomorrow. She knew it would only be a week before she would see them again and she was still going to miss them. She would miss them both, and for some reason, she wasn't surprised by that. They approached the gates of the school and before she tapped them with her wand, she looked at her niece.

“Susan, I need to speak with Harry for a bit, so go on ahead.” Amelia said and tapped the gates.

“Okay, Mom.” Susan said and gave her a hug. “See you later, Harry.”

“See you.” Harry said and he watched Susan walk away with her trunk as he waited for Amelia to talk. The gates closed and he turned to look up at her.

“Harry, I wanted to tell you something. Something very important.” Amelia said.

“I remember what you said about girls and expensive gifts.” Harry responded. “I'll be careful.”

“I'm very glad that you understood what I told you; but, that's not what I meant.” Amelia said. “When I started bringing you into my home for weekend training sessions, I had a few people in my department look into you and everything to do with you-know-who.”

Harry nodded, because she was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

“Pushing aside all of the horrible things that happened, there was...” Amelia took a deep breath and let it out. “I personally don't believe in them... but...”

Harry reached out and took her hand, because she never had a hard time speaking.

“Thank you.” Amelia smiled at him and gave his hand a slight squeeze. “One of my clerks found a reference to something inside the Ministry. Of course, I investigated personally and even spoke to one of the workers in that department.” She said and let out a sigh. “Apparently, a prophecy was made about you.”

“About me?” Harry asked and looked confused. “What's a prophecy?”

Amelia let his hand go. “It's when someone makes a prediction about future events.” She put her arm around him. “I want to take you there to check it and see what it says.”

“You don't know already?” Harry asked, surprised.

Amelia shook her head. “Only people whose names are on it can check on it. Everyone would know about it if anyone could go into the department and check it.”

“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense.” Harry said.

“The Hall of Prophecy is very private.” Amelia said. “Almost no one goes in there.”

“Then why does it exist?” Harry asked.

“I'm not sure what you mean.” Amelia said.

“If only the people that the prophecy is about can check them and you don't let anyone inside, what's the point?” Harry asked. “That's like having a library and not letting anyone read the books because someone else owns them.”

Amelia opened her mouth to respond, then she chuckled. “How right you are, Harry. It does seem like a bit of a waste to keep copies of things that no one can look at.” She said and hugged him close. “Share with me and we'll apparate right over to the proper area.”

Harry shared his magic with her and Amelia let the feeling flow through her. She didn't have to count this time and took them from there and to the small hall where high level employees were allowed to apparate. Amelia let him go and led him over to the door and knocked. The door opened and a man stood there.

“Madam Bones.” The man said and bowed his head to her.

“I'm popping up to my office for a minute and then I have other business to take care of in the Department of Mysteries.” Amelia said. “I also need a visitor's pass.”

The man made marks in the ledger and held a hand out. She handed over her wand and he checked it on some kind of device that printed out a little piece of paper. He licked it and stuck it next to her name.

“Name of visitor?” The man asked.

“Harry James Potter.” Amelia said and the man's eyes widened. “Yes, that Potter.”

The man smiled and nodded as he made marks in the ledger, then held a hand out to Harry.

Harry felt bad about handing over his wand, though.

“It's all right, Harry. He's just checking it and recording that it's inside the Ministry at this time.” Amelia said. “We do this so that if there's any magic cast, we will know if it's been approved to be inside the Ministry or not.”

“Ooooh.” Harry said and held out his wand. “That's smart.”

The man chuckled. “It sure is. As soon as an unauthorized wand is used, the Aurors are notified.” He put Harry's wand on the device and the paper popped out. He licked it and stuck it next to Harry's name and that was that.

Amelia and Harry went to her office and they greeted her secretary, who gushed over how nice it was to see her boss a day early. Amelia dropped off all the paperwork that she had gathered during the two week trip and left it on her desk. She left her trunk by the door and Harry put his beside it, both under the watchful eye of her secretary. They left the office and went to the elevator and rode it down, and down, and down.

The elevator dinged and said what was on the floor, which was a new experience for Harry. He didn't ask Amelia about it, though. She looked way too serious at the moment and he stayed quiet as she led him down several hallways to a large black door.

“I need to blindfold you now, Harry.” Amelia said and Harry nodded. “Thank you for not asking why.”

Harry smiled and she put a red cloth over his eyes and tied it. He took in a breath through his nose and it smelled like her, so he relaxed and held a hand out for her to take.

“You are such a good boy.” Amelia said and took the hand, then they started walking.

Harry couldn't tell how long they walked, though. It seemed like it took a while and also like it didn't take any time at all. It was a weird feeling.

“Here we are.” Amelia said let his hand go, then the blindfold was removed.

“Wow.” Harry whispered and looked out at shelves and shelves of small orbs. It was a vast hall that had a very high cathedral ceiling and the shelves went almost up to it.

“Welcome to the Hall of Prophecy.” Amelia said. “Yours is down this way in aisle ninety-seven.”

Harry nodded and followed her across almost fifty shelves to the right spot. Some of the orbs glowed brightly, some dimly, and some were dark. When they came to the right spot, Amelia pointed. He looked at the spot and sure enough, his name was on it.

S.P.T. To A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord and ? Harry Potter

Harry didn't ask what the question mark next to his name meant. Instead, he reached out and picked up the brightly glowing orb.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches.” A deep and raspy voice said from the orb. “Born to those that have thrice defied him... born as the seventh month dies...”

Amelia took in a sharp breath and stayed quiet.

“...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal; but, he will have power that the Dark Lord knows not.” The voice continued to rasp. “Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives...”

“Great Merlin.” Amelia whispered as the voice paused, then the whole thing was repeated.

The two of them stood there for several minutes and listened to it, until Amelia remembered that she should be writing it down. She took out a quill and parchment and wrote it out. She read it over as it spoke again, just to make sure that she had the wording right, and then she nodded.

“All right, Harry. You can put it back.” Amelia said and put the parchment away.

Harry looked at the orb and thought about it.

“Harry?” Amelia gave him a concerned look.

“I'm keeping it.” Harry said, to her surprise.

“Harry, you can't just take...”

“It's mine, isn't? Only I can take it from here, since there is no way you would let you-know-who in here to get it.”

“That's not the point.” Amelia said. “It's only a copy and...”

“Who has the original?” Harry asked and Amelia pointed again. He looked closely at the writing on the little golden plaque and on the top were the S.P.T. initials and A.P.W.B.D.

“The prophecy was made by Sybil Patricia Trelawney, a descendant of a great Seer, to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.” Amelia said. “According to the date, it was a couple of months before you were born.”

Harry took a step back and stared at the spot. “He... he knew.” He whispered and tears came to his eyes. “He knew and didn't do anything.”

“Harry...” Amelia started to speak and then she gasped as Harry showed anger on his face for the very first time and then he smashed the glowing orb onto the stone floor. “HARRY!”

“He knew.” Harry said and wiped at the tears on his face, only the tears didn't stop. “He let my parents die. He is supposed to be... the world's most powerful wizard... and he did nothing.”

Amelia glanced at the shards of the glass orb and then ignored the loss and stepped forward to take Harry into a hug. “I'm so sorry, Harry. If I had known...”

Harry put his arms around her and held on tightly as he buried his face into her chest. He fought to stop crying and to stop his anger from overwhelming him. There was a crack from one of the darkened orbs and it made Amelia jump slightly.

“We need to go. Right now!” Amelia said and let him out of the hug, grabbed his hand, and ran. The darkened orb broke apart with a tinkling sound and she heard several more. “Harry! You need to calm down!”

“I can't!” Harry exclaimed. “I... I... I want to kill him!”

There was a very loud cracking sound as hundreds of the darkened orbs shattered. Amelia ran as fast as she could. She knew, for some reason, that if they stayed in that room any longer, all of the prophecies would be lost and not just the dead ones.

They reached the door and she yanked it open, swung Harry through, and then pulled him into a very tight hug. His face was buried into her chest again and she held him there as he hugged her back just as tightly. She needed to say something that would calm him down as quickly as possible... and then inspiration struck her.

Comfort! He needs comfort! Amelia thought. “I love you, Harry.”

Harry's whole body stiffened and his grip seemed a lot stronger than normal.

“I love you.” Amelia whispered and he lifted his still tear streaked face up to look at her. “I can't tell you when it happened, because I don't know.” She said and used a hand to cup the side of his face. “I just know that when I look at you and see you working hard and also enjoying it, I can't help but see you like I see Susan.”

“Susan?” Harry asked.

“She's not the daughter of my body; but, I raised her and that makes her my daughter as much as anything else would.” Amelia said. “If I had known you needed me as much as she did, I would have taken you in, too.”

The tears in Harry's eyes didn't stop.

“These last few months with you have been wonderful, and this trip was the best trip that both Susan and I have ever been on.” Amelia said. “That's all because of you.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “The look you see on my face when I hug you is love, Harry. It's love.”

Harry let out a sob and the tears flowed faster, then he put his face to her chest again as he cried.

Amelia could no longer hear the creaking and cracking sounds on the other side of the door.