Chapter 176: Dumbledore’s Troubles

Chapter 176: Dumbledore’s Troubles

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 176: Dumbledore's Troubles

One week before classes, Dumbledore's Office.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts was not having a great summer. First, he had been stressed trying to locate his mentor, Nicolas Flamel. The man had become more elusive over the years, if that was possible, always going on some long trip and becoming unreachable in the meantime.

After a month of trying every method he knew, Dumbledore finally managed to establish contact and secure a meeting with the man. It did not go as well as he expected. Nicolas, despite his centuries of knowledge, did not have enough understanding about the complexities of time magic to offer any useful insight that could explain the bizarre recent events.

He did, however, promise to put him in contact with a friend of his who was a true expert on the matter.

Dumbledore could only hope his mentor understood the urgency of the situation and did not delay things too much, as he usually does.

"Headmaster, what am I going to do?"

Dumbledore's mind stopped wandering for a moment. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the frantic Divination professor, wondering what he could possibly tell her this time.

"Sybill... without knowing the cause of this issue, I have no solution to offer at the moment."

"But how am I going to teach classes like this? I have lost my gift!" She exclaimed.

Dumbledore sighed. This was her fourth visit to his office this summer.

During the first and second visits, she claimed that her visions were getting muddier and less accurate. He attributed this to stress and told her to take some time to relax.

But during her third visit, she claimed to have become completely unable to predict the future any longer. Now... that was concerning.

To be fair, Trelawney had never been the most gifted diviner he had ever met...other than that one time she made a prophecy about Voldemort, her predictions rarely came true, even the ones about the weather.

"Very well. Open the Floo... I'm coming through."

The Headmaster's eyes moved again to the Divination professor. "Perhaps you can come too, Sybill. This may be connected to your issue."

The two of them appeared in a big office. The Ministry of Magic and a few of his attendants were waiting for them.

"Ah, there you are, Albus!... finally, wait... who is this?" He pointed at the redhead woman.

"This is my Divination professor. If there is an issue in the Halls of Prophecies, she may have something useful to add," Dumbledore said.

"Oh... that's fine, whatever. Let's hurry; I have a press conference in an hour, and I don't know what to say. Someone had leaked the issue to the press, can you believe it?!" Fudge looked outraged.

"What is the issue, exactly?" Dumbledore asked.

"It's best if you see it yourself... come on, let's go!" Fudge and his attendants escorted the Headmaster and professor to the Hall of Prophecies, deep inside the Department of Mysteries.

"Let's see what you make of this," Fudge asked his assistant to open the door.

Dumbledore and Sybill entered the hall.

He was very familiar with this place, as he had visited often, especially after that foreboding prophecy made by Trelawney.

He now looked at the hall, and it took him a few seconds to process what he was seeing.

On a usual day, the crystal spheres would have some white mist inside them. This was the prophecy that was contained inside the glass ball. Once activated, this would start to shine with a bright white light.

Once the prophecy was completed, the sphere would go black.

"How could this have happened?" Dumbledore's eyes moved around the hall from one sphere to another, hoping to find a different one, but they all looked the same. "They are all clear!"

The crystal spheres were now all completely clear. There was no color to them and no white mist inside them. There was nothing inside them.

"The prophecies..." Trelawney picked up one of the spheres in her hands. "They are all gone... all the prophecies are gone..."

Dumbledore grew alarmed. "Gone?, how can they be gone?. What does this mean?"

"You know what it means, Headmaster." Trelawney looked at him directly.

"This means that...this is what I was afraid of... Fate has abandoned us."